#it's a lot of 'why would robin like steve when jonathan is so much better and more like her and and and' well she does. so what now | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

goodlittlerobot · 1 year

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Steve doesn’t really understand how he got here. His life has definitely been weird the past few years, but he thinks that hanging out alone, with Eddie “The Freak” Munson, in his bedroom, might take the cake.

He sort of knows how it happened, after everything happened last spring, things started to settle. The town worked on rebuilding, Vecna seems to be gone, or at least maybe under control, school started back up for the kids, work resumed, everyone was just trying to get back to whatever normal was now.

And as things slowly got a little more boring, Steve found himself with more time to spend with friends and less worrying about the world ending. But as Steve started forming a friend group, Eddie Munson somehow became a part of it. Which Steve wasn’t upset about, Eddie had won him over in the upside down. He didn’t dislike Eddie, he’d actually grown on Steve a lot, which was unexpected.

As unexpected as it was, Steve still gets how it happens, but ending up alone with Eddie like this? Technically he knows how that happened too. The whole group had gotten together for a while at Eddie’s, then Robin and Nancy had decided to split up and go have their own night, complaining that there was “too much testosterone in the air”. Steve didn’t blame them and was happy to see Nancy and Robin become friends as well.

But after Jonathan and Argyle left a little early, it was just Steve and Eddie. And that’s when Steve quickly became aware of the fact that he’s never really been alone with Eddie before, and he isn’t sure why that makes him nervous. Sure, they’ve been alone but not for that long and not like this. But even still, Steve isn’t sure why he’s getting so flustered.

Eddie is smiling and telling him all about…something. Steve realizes he stopped listening a while ago, but he knows Eddie’s excited so he’s doing his best to act like he’s listening.

Eddie finishes with a “you know?”, Steve nods and hopes it’s convincing. “Where’d I lose ya, Harrington?” -it wasn’t.

Steve sighs, “Yeah, I zoned out pretty hard there.” He admits, smiling a little.

Eddie laughs, Steve’s heart flips. That’s weird. “Okay, let me try this again…”

It’s a few hours before Steve leaves Eddie’s place, they’d both completely lost track of time while talking. Eddie played some records, and Steve didn’t even hate them like he thought he would. They ended up listening to music and laying on Eddie’s floor, they hadn’t shut up in hours but suddenly the room was quiet. Eddie has his eyes closed, his hands behind his head and a soft, small smile on his face. Steve cannot look away. He keeps telling himself to look away, he knows Eddie’s gonna catch him staring. Steve is searching Eddie’s face for answers, but he doesn’t know what questions he’s asking. His heart is racing and his hands are starting to feel like static, and he can’t look away.

And then it happens, Eddie’s eyes open slowly and he turns his head to face Steve, “Like what you see, Harrington?”

Steve’s breath catches and he doesn’t know why. “Yeah-“ he realizes what he says, as it comes out of his mouth. “I mean no-“ he finally tears his eyes away from Eddie to close them and run a hand over his face. “I mean, wait-“

Eddie laughs, “If I didn’t know you better, I’d say you had a crush on me.” He looks away from Steve and grins at the ceiling.

Steve lets that repeat in his head, and it keeps repeating. His chest feels tight and his face is hot, shit he knows he’s blushing. He shakes his head, hoping the thoughts will just fly out. “No, no, no. I-I’m just-I didn’t mean to like, stare at you, I was thinking and I just-“ he is falling over his words, he isn’t even sure how he’s talking, the only thing he can hear right now is Eddie’s voice still echoing in the back of his mind.

A big smile spreads on Eddie’s face slowly, he’s the one staring now. “I was joking, jesus.” He chuckles lightly.

Steve starts to feel a little more relaxed, but he still feels like he’s…drunk? high? dreaming? He turns his head again and locks eyes with Eddie, the second he does his heart flips again and he makes a note to see a fucking doctor.

Neither of them say anything for a second, it feels like a lot longer to Steve. He’s never felt this self conscious before. He’s so aware of how much space is between he and Eddie, it’s less than a foot, and Steve can suddenly feel the heat coming from the boy next to him. He starts to wonder seriously if maybe he is dreaming, and then he finally pulls his eyes away from Eddie’s to the clock on Eddie’s dresser. “Holy shit, it’s late.” He says sitting up, “I completely forgot I have to work in the morning. I better go.”

Eddie sits up too and watches as Steve stands up and grabs his jacket off of the bed frame. “Lame.” He says, standing up to follow Steve out. “but responsible.”

When they say goodbye, Steve keeps thinking he’s forgetting something. He’s checked his pockets like ten times, he knows he’s good, what is he missing? He realizes as he’s walking to his car that he just doesn’t really want to leave, he wants to stay. He wants to keep listening to records and he wants to keep laying next to Eddie.

When he starts driving away, he glances back he notices Eddie, still leaning against his doorframe, still watching Steve. That’s when Steve starts hearing Eddie’s stupid joke playing in his head again.

And he hears it over and over and over, the rest of the night. He hears it when he drives home, he hears it when he showers, as he brushes his teeth, and it’s the loudest when he tries to sleep. He tosses and turns for hours, unable to stop replaying the night in his head, unable to think about anything but Eddie Munson. Usually he’d be grateful for a night with no flashes of monsters and death in his mind, but tonight he thinks he might prefer it.

Around 2am he sits up, throws his blanket to the side in frustration and just sits on the side of his bed for a minute. He debates going downstairs and just waiting out the next few hours until he has to go to work. He thinks about taking a walk, maybe that would clear his head? He’s way too tired for that though.

He just sighs and puts his head in his hands, he decides the only thing he can do right now is face it.

“If i didn’t know better, I’d say you have a crush on me, Harrington.”

He thinks about it one more time. He asks himself why is he feeling the same way he felt the first time he liked a girl, why was he as nervous at Eddie’s house as he was on his very first date? Why did his heart flip when Eddie smiled at him the same way it used to for Nancy?

Because that’s the thing, six months ago Steve was planning this big life in his head with Nancy. He was in love with her, he was attracted to her, he liked her. He doesn’t like Eddie. -Not like that.

Steve Harrington isn’t gay, he knows that. He knows that because he still thinks Nancy is beautiful, he thinks Robin is beautiful, he’s attracted to girls. Steve loves girls, he likes their long hair, he likes their soft lips, he likes boobs. If Steve knows anything, he knows he likes boobs.

Eventually he talks himself down enough to lay back down. He likes girls. He doesn’t even know why he was acting like that now, he feels like an idiot.

So, of course his heart wasn’t doing flips because he likes Eddie. He was tired, he was distracted, and it was his first time one on one with his new friend. He was just a little nervous? Yeah, no, he was just a little nervous. He likes girls. He didn’t think that when Eddie smiles the world feels brighter, and he definitely didn’t notice that Eddie’s hand accidentally brushed against his when they were talking, and he never even thought about how those brown eyes would just light up when Eddie got excited.

Steve likes girls. He likes girls with long, wild hair, he likes girls with big brown eyes, he likes girls with soft lips, he likes girls with tattoos, he likes girls with ripped jeans, he likes girls who play weird dorky games, he likes girls who listen to heavy metal, he likes girls who look at him for a little too long while they lay on the floor together. Steve likes girls.

And that’s what he tells himself the rest of the night, but the rest of the night only lasts a minute or two before he finally falls into a peaceful sleep.

He wishes. Instead he’s tossed right back into Eddie’s room, the faint sounds of guitars and laughter fill the space, brown eyes on him again. Maybe it is a little peaceful, until he hears his alarm.

He wakes up, the room finally bright again, he barely recognizes it after spending so long tossing and turning in the dark last night. He sits up and shuts his alarm off, he sleepily makes his way to the bathroom and somewhere between brushing his teeth and getting dressed he remembers his dream. He just remembers flashes, bits and pieces. He remembers Eddie. He tells himself it’s not a big deal, even though something in him is begging to disagree.

He ends up being a couple minutes late, and when he gets in he expects to hear Robin giving him shit about it, but instead he hears “What happened?”

He furrows his brow and looks at Robin, who is giving him a look for some reason. “Hmm?” he barely had the energy for that reply, but he makes his way in and throws his jacket on the counter as he gets the rest of his things ready.

“You look awful, Harrington.” Robin says from behind him, “Are you sick?”

Steve blinks, and turns to face her. “Actually, you know what?” He laughs a little, and Robin gives him a concerned look. “Yeah, maybe. Maybe.” It all makes sense, that’s gotta be it. He’s sick. He’s coming down with something and he’s just getting confused because he’s sick. He’s just sick. “You know, that would explain it. I’ve been feeling so weird.”

Robin frowns a little, “Do you need to go home? What’s wrong? fever? Chills? Headache? You know, I was reading this magazine with Nancy last night and it said that you could cure almost anything with tea-“

“I’m good, I’m good.” Steve smiles, cutting Robin off. “I don’t feel sick, but no like I’m probably about to be sick or something.” He rationalizes out loud. “I barely slept, I was up all night.”

Robin gives him a weird look, “Wait, you don’t feel sick? Why were you up all night?”

Shit. Now he doesn’t know what to say, he usually finds it hard to lie to Robin. Steve thinks her habit of oversharing must be contagious. He opens his mouth to reply, but closes it and just kinda shrugs. But she’s still looking at him, confused. “I was just…I couldn’t sleep.”

“Yeah?” She looks him over for a second before going back to her stack of returned VHS tapes she’s sorting through, without looking up she asks “How long did you stay at Eddie’s after Nance and I left?”

Steve looks at her out of the corner of his eye for a second, “I was there a while, I dunno.” He says quietly, pretending to be reading the cover of the movie in his hands. “I uh, I ended up listening to records with Eddie for a few hours.”

“A few hours?” Robin looks at him again, “With, like- you and Eddie alone?”

He doesn’t know what to say, or why Robin is asking like that. He’s had enough of confusion and questions in the past how every many hours, he just looks at Robin for a second, takes a breath as if he’s gonna say something and decides against it again, instead he simply walks away with the VHS still in his hands. He doesn’t even know what it is, he glances down and reads the title for real this time. It goes on the other side of the store, he turns and pretends he doesn’t notice Robin following him.

“Like just the two of you?” She asks again, on his heels. “Have you ever even been alone before?

He puts the tape away and sighs. “Yeah, we were alone. I don’t see why that’s a big deal.” He crosses his arms.

“What?” She scoffs. “It’s not, it’s just you guys are kind of…” She trails off and Steve raises an eye brow at her, “opposites.” she finishes.

Steve relaxes, he doesn’t know why he got so nervous. He doesn’t know why he thinks that Robin would think…-okay, he’s overthinking things. “I don’t know, he’s cool.” He shrugs, avoiding looking at Robin. “I guess we’re friends now.”

Robin nods slowly. “Just when I thought I’d seen it all, King Steve listening to heavy metal with the town weirdo.” She snorts softly. “Now that’s something.”

He rolls his eyes. “Let’s just do our jobs for once, okay?”

The rest of their shift goes by completely normally, it’s a slow day, there’s not a ton to do and they’re just about finished for the day so they have time to sit around and talk. Steve is thankful for the downtime, he is exhausted and all he can think about is going home and going to sleep.

He’s doing his best to not doze off right now, sitting on the counter and talking to Robin as she organizes the candy for probably the tenth time today. She’s rambling, and it’s comforting even if Steve isn’t paying close attention.

The bell chimes from the door and Steve begrudgingly slides off the counter out of habit, he goes to turn to greet whoever came in when he hears a familiar “Hey, Harrington.” and his heart does that thing again.

He blinks a few times and keeps thinking he’s going to respond but doesn’t. He’s thought about Eddie so much these past how ever many hours that he’s not even sure if Eddie is really here or if he’s just hallucinating. But then Eddie adds, “Buckley, my lady.” with a small, dorky bow.

Robin laughs and rolls her eyes, “Thank god you showed up, it’s slow as shit and I don’t know what you did to Steve last night but he’s been falling asleep for the past half an hour.”

Steve tries so hard to say anything before Eddie can, he already knows there’s going to be some kind of retort, but Steve’s too slow.

“Sounds like I wore you out, huh big boy?” Eddie smirks and looks up at Steve as he leans his forearms against the counter.

Steve’s chest feels like his heart might just burst out of it, it’s beating so fast. “Yeah, whatever.” He rolls his eyes, wiping his palms on his pants absentmindedly, why are they sweaty? He’s sick. He’s for sure sick. “What brings you in, Munson?”

“Well I’d like to say I just missed you nerds, but believe it or not I need a movie.” He taps his knuckles on the counter quickly. “Got a date, recommend something, Steve.”

“A date?” Robin and Steve say at the same time, but with differing tones. Robin sounds interested, Steve sounds shocked.

“Oh, is that such a surprise?” Eddie rolls his eyes and makes his way to the first rack of movies he sees.

“Kinda?” Steve admits, turning to follow Eddie. “You should have Robin recommend something, she’d be better at knowing what girls like.”

Eddie looks at Steve for a second and Steve knows there’s a reason for this look, but he’s unable to figure out what it is. “Probably so.” Eddie says slowly, “But hey, you’re ‘The Hair’, I know you’ve got moves.”

“Yeah, I guess.” He shrugs. He looks around for Robin and notices she’d stayed behind at the counter, he also sees that she’s been watching them. Steve takes note of that but keeps talking to Eddie, he tries to hide that his hands are shaky while he gives suggestions.

They walk and talk around the store, it feels easy but it’s not. Not for Steve at least, he feels like his brain is running on empty. After a handful of recommendations, Eddie is reading the back of a case and Steve can’t stop himself from asking “So who’s the girl?” he asks quietly, and he’s not sure why.

Eddie looks at him, “What?”

Steve attempts a small smile, “Your date?”

“Oh,” Eddie blows out a laugh, but pauses, he looks at Steve for a second and now Steve feels like maybe he’s the one with answers on his face this time because Eddie has this look, and Steve can tell he wants to say something.

Steve doesn’t break eye contact though, even though his brain is begging him to stop looking at Eddie, he can’t. He isn’t sure why his eyes betray him this way, but he glances at Eddie’s mouth for a second and he nearly falls over when it hits him. He kinda wants…maybe- no. Steve likes girls.

“How’s the movie search going?” Robin asks, and Steve isn’t sure when she got so close.

Eddie looks at her as if he wasn’t just looking right into Steve’s soul, he smiles “Harrington here has been a delight, you should give him a raise.”

“If i had that power, I would use it to fire him for standing around and flirting with the customers all day.” Robin says,

“Oh my god.” Steve mutters, rolls his eyes and heads for the counter. “I’ll be over here, working, if you two wanna keep doing…this.” He takes a stack of movies and wishes he knew what they were for but he’s gotten pretty good at just looking like he’s working today.

Robin and Eddie stay behind, chatting. Steve tries his hardest to not listen, he’s not sure why he cares. He doesn’t care. There’s nothing to care or not care about. He does a good job at minding his business at first.

“So did you pick a movie for your date?” is all Robin says, but just the word date is enough to get Steve’s attention. But, he doesn’t care. He’s screaming in his head to stop listening, but doesn’t.

“Yeah, but movie nights aren’t really about the movie, right?” Eddie says and Steve doesn’t look but he can hear his smirk. “Mostly background noise.”

Steve feels a new feeling he can’t name. It doesn’t feel like it did last night anymore. Last night was weird, but it felt better than this. This unidentified feeling feels…bad. His heart is still beating like crazy, but not quite like it was. No, now he feels kind of like he’s mad. Why is he mad? Jealous? He feels kind of jealous. No. Steve decided that’s crazy, forces himself to stop listening and just takes a breath. He’s losing it.

He gets out of his head just in time to see Eddie and Robin heading back to the counter, he reminds himself to act normal but already knows he’ll fail.

“Alright, Harrington. I’m going to listen to you but if this movie sucks i’m never taking your advice again.” He puts the movie down and Robin takes care of the rest.

Steve leans on the counter behind Robin, facing Eddie. “Listen, just rewind it before you bring it back, ‘kay?”

“Whatever you say, big boy.” Eddie says, before grabbing the movie. “Tell you what, if it doesn’t suck, you can suggest another movie and we’ll watch it together, make a night of it.”

Steve can feel his face go red. He knows Eddie did not mean it like that, he knows that. He still can’t stop the images that spark throughout his brain. He can’t help but think about how a night like that might go. He takes a shaky breath, “Yeah-“ his voice is too high, he clears his throat a little. “yeah, no movie night sounds fun.” He glances over to Robin, who is a little wide eyed and Steve can tell she’s dying to say something but she can’t. “Movie night?” He says, a little quickly, nodding. “We sh-should do a movie night with like, all of us one night. That-that could be fun?” He says, putting a hand on his hip, and he’s not sure how to stop stumbling over his words and he’s also not sure why he’s only looking at Robin now. He’s spent this whole time nearly unable to tear his eyes away from Eddie, but now he can’t get himself to look at him. “Hmm?” He adds because Robin is still silent.

She nods, “No, yeah. That would be super fun!” She says, but Steve sees her wheels turning and he desperately wants to stop them for a second because he can tell she’s about to do something. “Oh, but like, I’ve been so busy with, stuff. and Jonathan and Nancy are…you know they’re in love and they do stuff-together i mean, they spend a lot of time together, as a couple. And you know, I think if it takes us a while to find a good time you and Eddie should solo it…i guess it’s not solo if it’s together but, you could be like, alone together, kind of poetic.” She smiles. “Just saying, you know since everyone’s so busy right now, maybe you guys should go ahead.”

Steve looks at Robin with a please oh my god stop look, “Yeah.” is all he can get out.

Eddie smirks and looks between them. “Alright, I’m out of here, kids.”

“Have fun.” Robin calls out as Eddie walks toward the door.

“Always.” Eddie replies, “Later, Harrington.”

Steve can only bring himself to wave. When Eddie leaves, Steve waits about one second, looks around the store, walks over and locks the door.

“We are not closed.” Robin says, “And I don’t think closing the store is good for business.”

“What is going on?” Steve says, feeling like he’s finally cracking. “I-I mean, like all night right? Like I was up all night, and then when I finally did sleep? Guess what? That was all…messed up too. Like, I think there’s something going on.” He turns to Robin, he can tell he looks a little crazy, and his arms are swinging as he talks with his hands, “So I wake up, I go to work, and like… today?”

“I am gonna need some kind of context, or a clue, Steve.” Robin says and then glances at the door. “Oh, duh.” She adds, mostly under her breath.

“No,” Steve shakes his head, wondering if she can see into it. “whatever you’re thinking no, no.” He turns to unlock the door but stops, “That was weird, right?”

“What? You locking the door and saying gibberish?” She asks, walking past him to unlock it herself. “Yeah, a little weird.”

“You know what I’m talking about, Robin.” He says, a little louder than he meant to. “Like that whole thing at the end?” He crosses his arms, “Since when is everyone I know too busy to hang out? I saw you all yesterday!”

“I know, but I thought maybe you and Eddie should spend some more time together, you know? He said he had a great time last night, and I think you did too.”

Steve can’t stop himself, “He said he had a good time?”

“A great time.” Robin repeats with a smirk. “So?”

“I’m not-“ he starts and suddenly his throat is dry, he shakes his head a little. “I’m not-“ He tries again and fails. Robin is waiting, Steve can tell she’s gonna try to let him talk. But he’s not sure if he can. “I don’t-…”

“Shh.” She presses a finger to his lips, “you have been a crazy man today, Steve.” She walks back to the counter and sits on top of it. “Look, if you wanna talk about whatever is going on, I am here to listen, and if you want to never speak of it, well, i’ll just talk enough for both of us, yeah?”

He nods. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what’s going on.” He leans on the counter next to her. “I just, I guess like…” he trails off, and looks at her, “I don’t wanna talk.” He admits, and even he can hear how pathetic he sounds right now.

“Good, my turn.” She smiles and Steve hopes she knows how thankful he is.

He goes about the next two days as well as he can, no one has noticed that he’s been avoiding pretty much everything yet. He goes to work, he does what he needs to and he goes home. And for two days that worked, but Dustin called and asked if he wanted to go do something so Steve picked him up, and they went out for lunch and hung around Hawkins, killing time in the few stores that had rebuilt already. It was nice, and Steve felt more relaxed than he had in days.

Until on the drive to drop Dustin back off at home, Dustin suddenly says “Shit, I forgot, could you drop me off at Eddie’s?”

The request takes Steve by surprise for no reason, he does this all the time. It’s a normal thing, why would Steve care? He doesn’t. Sure, he’s been avoiding Eddie like the plague for reasons that aren’t entirely even clear to himself but this is fine. It’s fine. “Eddie’s?”

“Yeah, I almost forgot, I got a few new comics that he and I were talking about so-“

“Yeah, no, I mean, yeah I can take you to Eddie’s.” Steve nods and thinks he manages to sound mostly normal, “like his place?”

“Yes.” Dustin answers slowly. “Did you hit your head? You’ve been so weird.”

“You’re weird.” Steve retorts but there’s nothing in his voice to back it up. “I haven’t been weird.”

“You’ve been weird, even weirder than usual.”

Steve scoffs, and they ride in silence for a minute. He doesn’t want to go to Eddie’s, he knows it’ll be fast, he’s just dropping Dustin off. But if he sees Eddie, he’s going to think about Eddie, and he’s going to think about Eddie’s date and then he’s gonna only think about all of that for the rest of the night. But now he’s already thinking it, and he can’t stop. They’re nearly there when Steve blurts out “Does Eddie have a girlfriend?”

Dustin looks a little surprised, “I don’t think so.” He says. “Eddie doesn’t really talk about girls.”

Steve nods. “Right, I was just wondering cause like, if he doesn’t…maybe I’ll set him up with someone, you know?” He hopes the lie at least makes sense, but judging by the look on Dustin’s face it doesn’t. “Like I-I figured, since we’re friends now and-“

“You’re friends?” Dustin asks, looking suspicious.

“Yeah,” Steve says, glancing over at Dustin, “is that cool?”

Dustin smiles and nods, “It’s very cool. I told you that you’d like him.”

Steve sighs, “You were right, okay?” He looks over at Dustin and things feel like they make sense again, for the first time in weeks, in months. Maybe years? “I do like him.” Steve says, but when he says it out loud it all kind of just hits him.

He does like him. He likes Eddie. He likes Eddie. He likes Eddie? All those feelings come flooding in, he starts to panic but this is not the time. Not only is Dustin smiling next to him in the passenger seat, but he’s also literally pulling into Eddie’s. His hands are shaking and feel a little numb when he stops the car, his ears are ringing and his chest is tight. He hears Dustin in the distance, but quickly realizes he’s still in the car with him.

“Steve?” Dustin says, again and Steve blinks back to reality. His eyes oddly damp, and his face a shade too red. “Steve?”

“Yeah?” He says, not looking away from the steering wheel. “Yeah. Sorry, I just remembered I-“ he stops, shaking his head a little. He smiles at Dustin before pulling him into a hug. “I just remembered that I should never doubt you.”

“Jesus, dude-“ Dustin pushes him off, “seriously, you are so weird.”

Steve laughs. “Have fun, don’t do anything stupid.” He says as Dustin gets out.

Dustin goes to say something but is cut off, no. Not now. “Harrington!”

Steve freezes, mouth open slightly, he looks at Dustin as he runs toward Eddie. Steve sighs, he thinks quickly about just absolutely gunning it. He could be gone in thirty seconds, he doesn’t even have to stop driving. He can just leave, run away, never talk to anyone again, change his name, start a new life- he opens the car door and takes a breath, when get gets out he feels like his legs are jello, and he stumbles a little before leaning on his car. “H-hey, uh I-“ He stops, seeing Eddie is too much right now. Steve likes him. He’s trying so hard to act normal, how does he act normal? He likes Eddie.

“You got a while? We’re gonna read comics and hang, you’re invited.” Eddie says, and it’s so casual. Steve doesn’t feel casual.

“No, no, I would, but I-I’m going to Robin’s so-“ he absolutely had no plans with Robin, but he decided before he even got out of the car that he was definitely going to her house as soon as he left here, he’s not even sure if she’s home. He doesn’t care, he’ll wait. “thanks though.” He attempts a smile, but he worries he looks more pained.

“Cool, maybe next time.” Eddie waves, Steve nods and goes to get back in the car, “Oh,” Eddie stops, and looks back at Steve. “The flick? It was good, Harrington. Movie night soon, yeah?”

Steve feels like he could scream, this is a lot for him to take at once. But when he actually goes to reply, his voice gets stuck in his throat and he can just sort of nod like an idiot for a second before choking out a quick “Yeah, yeah, absolutely.” He clears his throat, “Sounds good.”

Eddie smiles, and it’s so bright and warm and intoxicating. “It’s a date.”

Steve’s breath catches and he isn’t sure what the right response is. He is freaking out, he needs to get to Robin’s. He barely chokes out “I-uh, Robin-“ before he just decides he’s had enough, waves again, gets in his car and heads out.

The whole way to Robin’s, Steve keeps replaying the other night at Eddie’s in his head, but his whole perspective has changed. He has the questions now, he has names for these feelings, he has words for these thoughts.

He likes Eddie. But, Steve likes girls. How can that happen? Can he like both? Can he just like, make an exception?

He keeps trying to tell himself that maybe he’s losing it, and he’s making this up in his head. He thinks maybe he’s just confused, or sick, or tired, or something. Because he can’t like Eddie, right?

But then he thinks of the other night, and how maybe when Eddie’s hand brushed his, it wasn’t an accident. He thinks about how he couldn’t stop staring at Eddie because he didn’t want to, he wants to stare at him. He wants to look at his hair, and his eyes, and his body. He really wants to look at his body. Steve tries to hit the brakes on that thought, but can’t stop it. He wants to touch Eddie, he wants to feel his hair, he knows it’s soft. He wants Eddie’s hand to brush against his again, he wants it to stay there. He wants more.

He gets to Robin’s and wastes no time, barely remembering to shut the car door behind him before he darts to Robin’s front door. He knocks and things finally work out for once, she’s home and she answers. “Steve?” Her smile fades quickly when she looks at him, “Uh, you good? Did you run here?”

“What?” He realizes now that he seems a little out of breath, “No, no. I need to talk to you.”

“Everything okay?” She asks, her brow furrowed, “Is everybody okay?”

“Everyone is good, it’s me-I’m fine, but-“ he sighs and takes a quick look around, “I can’t talk about this here.”

“Lucky for you my parents aren’t home, I’m not supposed to have boys in my room.”

Steve chuckles a little as he goes inside and follows her to her room. Once they’re in Steve realizes he doesn’t even know where to start. He doesn’t know what to say. He doesn’t even know if he should say anything.

What if he’s crazy and this is just like, something that’ll go away in a few days? What if this is all made up in his head and he doesn’t actually feel these feelings.

But it felt real, it felt real when they were sitting in Eddie’s room laughing together, it felt real when they were laying on his floor listening to records, it felt real when Eddie smiled at him. Steve tries his best to tell himself maybe it’s not real. But it is. He knows it is. He’s just stuck in this loop of uncertainty and he doesn’t know how to get out. He knows talking to Robin will help, that’s why he came over. He needs to say something, but where does he even begin? He isn’t sure where any of this began. One day he barely knew Eddie, and all of a sudden, they’re friends and Steve likes him?

Robin sits on her bed and looks up at him, Steve starts fidgeting with his hands and isn’t sure if he wants to sit or not. He feels restless. “So what’s going on?” Robin asks, calmly. “This isn’t like a spooky monster or government secret thing, right?”

“No,” Steve waves a hand dismissively. “Nothing like that, it’s…it’s personal.” Steve starts pacing just a little. “Like I’m physically fine but my brain is-“

“I mean everyone knows you’ve been acting weird this week.” Robin says, bluntly. Steve gives her a quick look of annoyance before she continues. “What’s going on? Is it like, girl troubles?” Robin raises her eyebrows.

“Robin,” He groans, -he knows he can tell her. Why can’t he tell her? He doesn’t think he has the guts to say this out loud. “Not exactly.” He says it slow, looking at her nervously.

“It’s not about Nancy, is it?” She asks, sitting up a little straighter. Steve can tell she’s fighting a smirk, she’s doing a good job of it but Steve can still tell.

“Oh my god.” Steve mutters. “Absolutely not, no. I told you, that’s over.” He runs a hand through his hair, “It’s not Nancy.”

Robin just stares at him for a second, waiting. Steve just holds her stare and she gives in, “Okay! So, what?” She throws her hands up a little, “This is about whatever has been making you crazy, right?”

Steve nods, and makes a noncommittal noise.

“So what is it, Harrington?”

Steve takes a breath and turns to fully face Robin again, “Look, whatever I say next stays between us, right? Like, no one else can know.”

Robin leans forward a little, “Of course, come on. We both have secrets.” She reminds him and it makes him feel better for a minute.

He drags a hand across his face and starts, “I-“ he stops, not sure what to say, not sure if he should even say anything, not sure if he should tell Robin everything, tell her that he’s having a breakdown because he thinks he likes boys, but he knows he likes girls, and that even if that wasn’t an issue, Eddie? Why Eddie? And can he even tell Robin that? Would that make all the times they hang out weird? But, he can’t bring himself to care as much as maybe he should. He knows he wants to tell her, he just doesn’t know how. He puts his hands on his hips, thinking it over for a second. He still has to say something, “Okay, look so, I like-“ he stops again, trying to choose his words carefully, “someone.” he finally says.

“Yeah?” She smiles, before gasping a little. “Love sick!” she says, pointing at him for a second. “That’s what was going on the other day, Steve.”

He rolls his eyes, “No, it’s not like-“ he scoffs, “I just, you know, I don’t know what to do about it.”

“Well, who is she?”

Steve feels his heart drop a little, this is the part he isn’t sure he can admit. Not only to Robin, but just out loud. He thinks about just making up a girls name and forgetting all of this.

But he can’t, because his brain has been caught on a loop of the past week. Eddie’s house, the video store, Eddie having a date, feelings having no names, he thinks of the heavy metal that was playing in the background and how he could barely hear it over his own heart pounding in his ears. He can’t fight it, he’s tried. He’s powerless.

“Robin,” He starts, weakly, leaning against her wall. His heart is beating fast again, and he can hardly bring himself to look at her, his eyes are wet now and he doesn’t know why. “This isn’t about a girl.” He admits, and he hopes she gets it.

She blinks at him a couple times and he can see that she’s thinking her next few words over carefully, something she actually does well for occasions like this. “Okay,” She nods, slowly, looking at Steve like he might break if she moves too quick. He doesn’t like it, but he can tell she’s just trying to keep him calm for this. “You like someone.” She starts, and looks up at Steve.

He nods and doesn’t say anything because he knows he can’t right now, he does not want to cry about this.

“And it’s not a girl?”

Steve swallows and shakes his head, “Nope.” He finally chokes out. “I, uh, I like…” He looks at Robin, he tries to stop himself, but he can’t. He knows this could mess everything up, but he feels like maybe he should tell her everything. It felt good to tell her part of it. Mostly, he just doesn’t want to be alone with these thoughts anymore. He sighs, sliding down the wall and sitting on the floor. “I’ve been losing my mind, Robin.” He admits, his voice low. He feels himself losing the fight he’s been having in his own head, if he doesn’t get this over with he’s going to explode. He can trust Robin, he reminds himself before taking a breath and starting again. “The other night, I couldn’t sleep, I was up nearly the whole night thinking about him, right? And then I-I finally fall asleep and I fucking dream about him, I kept thinking about everything, I kept going over the whole night, you know? We talked, we listened to music, but the whole time I could barely pay attention to anything, I didn’t care about any of it. I just wanted be around him. And then, like, he says stuff that I know is a joke, but god, it still just…” He trails off and checks to see if Robin’s going to say anything, he’s sure she’s probably dying to ask questions or say something.

But Robin is just watching him, with somewhat concerned eyes, and just waiting for him to finish. She gives a small nod encouragingly when she notices him looking at her.

Steve looks away and sighs, “Robin, I like him.” His voice breaks again, just slightly. “I like him so much.”

“I know,” She says, nodding. “And that’s okay!”

Steve scoffs. “I can’t like him.”

“Why not?” Robin throws her hands up, “You can so like him.”

“I can’t like him.” He repeats, shaking his head. “For starters, I still like girls so-“

Robin gives him a puzzled look, “Steve,” she laughs softly, “You can like girls and like guys too!”

Steve just looked at her. “Are you serious?” He asks, sitting up away from the wall a little.

Robin looks at him for a second, smiling. “Yeah, Harrington. You can like whoever, you don’t have to pick guys or girls.”

“Shit.” He says, blinking and resting his head against the wall. “I thought I was like…the only one.”

Robin rolls her eyes, “Sorry, you’re not special.” She smiles, “You’re just bisexual.”

“Oh, huh.” Steve looks down, he lets it soak in for a second. This whole time he thought this was something wrong with him but it has a name. He can just like whoever he likes. He chuckles a bit, feeling a little embarrassed for freaking out about it. “Learned something new, I guess.”

“It’s not like you could have known. Look around this town, not a lot of people like us.” She says shrugging. “But welcome aboard, glad to have you. “

“Yeah, thanks.” Steve rolls his eyes. “That solves that but like, what do I do?”

“Well, technically you still haven’t told me who this is.” Robin says, grinning.

Steve glares at her for a second, “Robin, don’t make me say it.” He whines a little.

“How can I help if I don’t know who it is?”

Steve closes his eyes and presses his palms to his face for a second. “Robin, oh my god.”

She tries to hide laughter, but isn’t very successful. “it could be anybody!”

“Fine, fine!” Steve throws his hands up in defeat and looks at her, she is absolutely radiating excitement and he hates how endearing it is. “Eddie.” He says, but as quietly as possible. It still feels awkward to say out loud.

“Hmm?” Robin puts her hand to her ear, “I didn’t catch that?”

“Eddie!” Steve shouts a little, tossing his head back in defeat. “I like Eddie.” He admits and another weight floats off of him. “I really fucking like Eddie.” And now he feels like he kind of wants to keep saying it, it’s therapeutic after days of bottling things up and keeping secrets from himself.

Robin sits up on her knees, “I knew it! I knew it! I-I’ve known it for months!” She says excitedly.

Steve sits up straighter, “I’ve only known for like, an hour. How could you have known for months?”

“Oh, please.” She rolls her eyes, “It’s so obvious you guys like each other, all you do is stare and flirt. It’s pathetic!”

Steve’s whole body feels hot, he feels sick, but he feels almost hopeful. “He-no. You’re so wrong, there’s no way-“ he shakes his head. “You’re crazy, he doesn’t- he likes girls.”

“Steve, you like girls.”

Steve’s eyebrows go up and he nods a little, “That’s fair.”

“And how do you know? How do you know he doesn’t like you?”

“Why would he like me?” Steve shrugs, “Like we have almost nothing in common, you know?”

“So? He liked hanging out with you. If you guys are so incompatible, why would he want to hang out with you? Alone?”

Steve sighs, “There’s no way.” He says again, seriously. “And we don’t-we don’t stare at each other.”

“Yes, you do! All the time! Just like, get a room, oh my god. It’s disgusting.”

Steve laughs and for the first time he can breathe. He feels okay. He thinks maybe this won’t be so bad. Maybe he can just navigate this crush and somehow keep things together. But eventually he realizes he can’t just stay here in Robin’s room forever, and sooner or later he’s going to see Eddie again, they’re going to hang out and Steve is going to have to pretend that he isn’t hopelessly obsessed with him.

He and Robin talk for a while, and things start to settle for the night. It feels weird to just keep going through life after this. He’s supposed to just go home and go to bed after it feels like his whole world has flipped? He realizes he’s fucking head over heels for someone and he’s supposed to just act like he’s not?

It’s quiet for a minute and he and Robin are sitting across from each other on the bed, both lost in thought. He glances at her, “What do I do now?”

She looks like she thinks it over for a minute, before taking a breath, “You could go to his house, tell him how you feel and make out the rest of the night.” She looks at him and gives a small shrug, “That’s an option.”

Steve’s breathing gets a little shaky, that was definitely not something he’d considered. He tries to stop thinking about it, but he wants to. He shakes his head, “No, that’s not happening. I’m not gonna tell him.”

“Well maybe see if he wants to hang out, then you could kind of get a feel for things. Maybe you’ll see that he does like you and you can just see what happens.” She suggests and Steve doesn’t hate this idea.

He thinks it over, another night alone with Eddie, another night where Steve would get his full attention, another night where Steve could lay way too close next to him, a night where Eddie might let his fingers linger against Steve’s again. Steve nearly feels lightheaded just thinking about it. “Maybe.”

“Hey, he was just talking about a movie night, right?”

Steve’s eyes snap shut and he puts his head in his hands, “Oh my god.”

“Okay, so maybe not-“

“No, yeah. He just…when i dropped Dustin off he actually asked about that.” He looks at Robin a little nervously, he can feel his face going red. “I said sure, he said it’s a date, and I just-“ Steve makes a motion with his hand, “got the hell outta there, I came straight here.”

“Oh.” Robin says, “Even better, sounds like you already have plans!” Steve worries her face is going to get stuck with this excited smile she has.

“I don’t want to,” Steve sighs, nerves building already just thinking about it. “but yeah, i’ll try, okay?”

“That’s the spirit!”

The next few days, Steve tries his best to be cool. He’s not freaking out like he was, he knows better now. He knows more now. That doesn’t mean he feels quite like himself still. He’s still overthinking and over tired, the last few nights unfortunately have become dedicated to Steve just thinking about Eddie and all the different ways this could go, he’s played out every scenario. He doesn’t know what to expect, but he wants to be prepared for anything.

And yet, he finds himself very unprepared for Eddie’s voice coming through the line when Steve absentmindedly answers his phone while going through the mail. But the increasingly familiar “Harrington!” chimes in Steve’s ear and he drops the stack of envelopes he was holding.

Steve fumbles through the whole phone call, but keeps it together just enough to get by with using the mess he made as an excuse. He knows Eddie called for something, but he’s just kind of been rambling for five minutes and Steve starts to wonder if he might be a little nervous too. He also realizes that he has never given Eddie his phone number, he smiles a little to himself when he thinks that Eddie would have had to ask someone to give him Steve’s number, so he kind of went out of his way to call him.

“Anyway,” Eddie says, slowing down. “Look, you coming over tonight or what?”

Steve’s body does that tingly thing again, and his face is burning. He tries to respond but his words are stuck. He clears his throat and tries again. “Yeah, okay.” is all he mages to get out. It wouldn’t have mattered if he tried, he can’t tell Eddie no.

He hears Eddie laugh softly, and it’s basically the last thing he hears because he’s got a thousand thoughts running through his mind and he’s trying to sort through them. When he hangs up, he immediately calls Robin.

He does a double check to make sure he’s still home alone before she answers, “Hello?”

“What are you doing tonight?” He asks, quickly, skipping the greetings. He doesn’t really mean too, but his brain is moving too fast.

“Hello, Steve.” She says, huffing into the phone slightly. “I’m picking up a shift at the store tonight, why?”

“Okay, okay so no one else is going to Eddie’s?”

“No, everyone’s busy.” Steve can hear her smile through the phone, he knows she feels so smug.

He sighs, “Great.”

“You’ll be fine! You’ll have fun!” She reassures him, “Just relax.”

Steve tries to take that advice but he spends the rest of the afternoon doing anything but relaxing.

The last few days have dragged on so slowly, but today flies by, and he hates it. It’s all a blur of nerves, he spent 30 minutes just looking at the clothes in his closet. He didn’t even know why, but he just went back and forth between three different shirts before he realized he was taking forever and felt stupid for caring this much. After he gets dressed, he thinks that maybe he has done this before, once or twice before he’s gone to hang out with Eddie. He knows he changed twice before he went the other day, he couldn’t figure out why then, he figured he was just having an off day and brushed it aside. He feels like an idiot now.

He can barely drag himself to his car when it’s time to leave, he wants to go, but he also wants to just disappear. He’s unbearably nervous, and he circles the block once before he feels like he has enough courage to finally head in the right direction.

When Steve gets to Eddie’s door he pauses, he suddenly thinks about every scenario he played out last night. He thinks about the different outcomes, he weighs the pros and cons of knocking.

But before he can, the door swings open, “Harrington!” Eddie smiles before pulling Steve in gently by the wrist.

Steve feels like he would probably follow Eddie anywhere if he kept his hand wrapped close by his. “H-hey!” Steve wishes he was better at acting normal by now.

“Okay, you made it, so-“ Eddie let’s go of Steve’s arm and claps his hands together. He starts talking, going on about his ideas for the night, and Steve is listening but it’s difficult.

He’s trying so hard to think everything through, he doesn’t want to make a wrong move. He doesn’t want to be obvious, and he’s so worried he’s going to slip up and just say something fucking stupid.

Because every time he tried to play out all those different versions of tonight, he kept saying something stupid. He just doesn’t know how to not say something stupid.

After they settle in with some beers and a movie, it gets increasingly harder for Steve to focus on, well anything.

He’s basically missed the entire first half of this movie, instead he keeps taking too long and too frequent glances over to Eddie, who is sitting just a little too close to him, which is a major factor in Steve’s lack of focus. He keeps forgetting to focus on not slipping up, too. Once he and Eddie start talking, he can’t help himself. It’s just so easy that he forgets it’s supposed to be difficult.

When they’re talking, or even when they’re just in a comfortable silence, Steve forgets that Eddie doesn’t know, he forgets that Eddie doesn’t like him, he forgets that he’s worried about any of it. He’s just focused on Eddie, and that’s all that really matters.

Steve starts to realize that maybe the beer hasn’t helped him act normal, and that maybe that wasn’t his smartest move. But, he thinks he’s doing okay. Yeah, he’s still risking far too many glances Eddie’s way for it to not be weird, but he doesn’t think he’s been super obvious about it.

And yes, this time he’s staring again and he’s telling himself to stop, but somehow he just ends up resting his head on his hand and completely losing thought.

He doesn’t know why he thinks he’d get away this this, he hadn’t before. And just like last time, he gets caught. “You better stop looking at me like that, Harrington.” Eddie says, slow and quiet. He turns his head to face Steve. “You’re gonna give me ideas.”

Steve’s mouth goes dry and his heart is pounding in his ears, he thinks of a hundred lame excuses at once but can only manage a “hmm?”, hoping playing dumb would just work out for him.

Eddie rolls his eyes, “What’s on your mind? You’ve been looking at me for like five minutes.” he sits back and rests his own arm on the back of the couch, his body facing Steve’s. “I’m all ears, Harrington.”

Steve tries to blow out a laugh to seem casual, but feels like maybe it just makes him look more suspicious, “I-I haven’t been-“

“Steve,” Eddie raises his eyebrows. “Come on.”

Steve can’t help the small smile that spreads across his face, even though he feels absolutely crazy. He tries to think carefully and quickly about what to say, thinking about all the stupid stuff he wants to say and making sure none of that leave his lips. “I was just…I guess I-“ he sighs and looks at Eddie, who hasn’t taken his eyes off of Steve this whole time. He’s listening, whatever Steve says he’s going to listen and Steve doesn’t know if that’s good or bad. “I was just thinking, about something Robin said the other day.” He lies, thankful for his brain taking over for his heart.

“Yeah?” Eddie quirks a brow, “wanna share?”

“She said she thinks we should spend more time together,” Steve says, watching Eddie’s reaction for something he isn’t quite sure of. “I guess she thinks we make good friends.” Steve shrugs and keeps waiting for a reaction, even though he isn’t sure what he’s expecting. He’s unsure that he’s selling this, he wonders if Eddie knows he’s not saying everything. “I think she’s right.” He adds slowly before looking back at the tv, but only for a second before he feels Eddie’s fingers lightly press against his cheek and turn his face back to his.

Steve feels dizzy, drunk, he feels like he’s floating and he hopes that maybe out of all the outcomes he’s prepared for, he’d get a good one.

“You know what I think?” Eddie asks, and his voice is quiet and low, it makes Steve feel weak.

“Huh?” Steve says, and he can hear how dumb he sounds, his brain is just totally off. All he can see are brown eyes looking into his, all he can hear is his own heart pounding and all he can feel is Eddie’s fingers still resting on his face.

Eddie smiles, “I think…” he lets his fingers trail down Steve’s chin and neck, it’s quick but Steve can feel his heat lingering for longer than he knows is possible. Eddie sighs and glances at the screen, then back to Steve. “I think you should come over more.”

Steve nods slowly, closing his mouth, and trying to come back to life. He can’t get his mouth to form words, he just takes a swig of his beer and looks back at the tv. He’s trying to ignore the fact that now Eddie’s the one staring, he doesn’t know how he’s supposed to feel about it. Why is he staring? He glances over and accidentally makes eye contact. “What?” He laughs a little, in the back of his head he notes again that the beer is definitely not helping.

“Oh, so you can stare at me all night but it’s weird if I do it?”

“I was not staring.” Steve lies, knowing there’s almost no chance that Eddie would believe him.

“You know I have eyes right?” Eddie asks, “And i use them? And I use them to catch you staring at me.”

“Oh, will you shut up, Munson? So I looked at you?” Steve rolls his eyes, his argument half hearted, he’s loosening up and it feels good. He’s fighting to not say or do anything dumb, and he worries he’s going to lose. “What are you going to do about it? hmm?”

Eddie smirks at Steve, and Steve immediately realizes what he sets himself up for. He only realizes now that he might have done it on purpose. “I have a few ideas.” Eddie says after a second that feels like forever.

Steve’s brain checked out about ten minutes ago, he’s scrambling to think of anything to say, something that he can get out of this with. He settles for rolling his eyes and just pretending to watch the movie. After a minute, he feels Eddie move just a little closer, he uses up all of his focus to just keep his eyes on the tv.

“You know what’s weird?” Eddie says, breaking the silence that Steve desperately wanted. He can’t say something he shouldn’t if they’re not talking.

“Do you ever stop talking?” Steve asks, rolling his head to look at Eddie, happy to have a reason for once. He tries to sound annoyed but the smile on his lips betrays him.

“I thought all the Vecna, Upside Down, horror movie come to life stuff was going to be the weirdest experience of my life,” He says, and Steve is all of the sudden very aware of just how much closer Eddie got. “but this? You and me, hanging out, being…friends? This is definitely weirder.”

Steve laughs softly, “No, you’re right. It’s kind of weird.”

“It’s weird,” Eddie repeats, looking at Steve for a second before he takes a breath. “But, I like it.”

Steve’s heart races, and he can’t stop his eyes from darting to Eddie’s lips for just a fraction of a second. He nods, “I like it too.”

Eddie doesn’t take his eyes off of Steve, “Good,” He smiles, “You’re stuck with me now, Harrington.” He says, going back to the movie.

Steve takes the opportunity to internally panic, both of them sitting just a little too close to each other facing the screen. Steve reaches for his beer and starts going through what the fuck just happened. He isn’t sure if he’s reading too into things, or if he’s just seeing what he wants to. But he’s starting to think maybe Robin’s right, maybe Eddie -maybe- has some similar feelings. He can’t stop himself from testing the waters a little, hoping to not be as obvious as he feels. “So, y-you liked the uhm, other movie?” He stumbles out, looking ahead, a little afraid that if he looks at Eddie, he’ll give himself away.

“Yeah,” Eddie replies. “yeah, it was good.”

Steve decides he’s gotten this far and chances testing the water, “How’d the date go?”

“What?” Eddie looks at him, “Oh, yeah,” he laughs quietly. “It didn’t.”

Steve can’t stop himself from looking over, “It didn’t?”

Eddie watches him for a second, and Steve can tell he’s thinking something over. He’d give anything to know what. “Yeah, but it was for the best.” Eddie shrugs, “Wasn’t really what I want now anyway.”

Steve nods, “Well, she’s missing out.”

Eddie hums an agreement and goes back to looking at the screen.

Steve sits and tries to not get his hopes up for five minutes straight, and that’s when he feels Eddie’s fingers lightly brush against his own.

Steve instantly looks over at Eddie, who is focused completely on the screen in front of them. Steve blinks and looks back at the tv too. He doesn’t know what to do, he doesn’t even know what to think. The only thing he knows right now is that he’s about to do something stupid.

He brushes his fingers against Eddie’s this time, slow and a little shaky. This time he ignores the other when he looks his way. Instead, Steve can’t even help himself and he does it again, this time letting his fingers go up to Eddie’s wrist, tracing against the edge of his bracelet.

They both go quiet and still for a second, and Steve starts to panic. Why did he do that? But why did Eddie start it? His face is burning and his hands feel empty and cold.

The panic subsides quickly when he feels Eddie’s fingers graze against the top of his hand. He smiles, and looks over at Eddie.

This time Eddie looks back, his head resting on the back of the couch, “What?” He asks, innocently as if nothing is going on.

Steve can feel the heat coming from Eddie, they’re so close and all he wants to do is fill the space that separates them. He looks at Eddie for a minute, he swears he hears those records from the other night playing somewhere in the back of his mind, or maybe it’s real he can’t tell. Nothing really feels real.

Steve’s starting to get exhausted, he’s not good at this. He’s not good at hiding feelings, he’s not good at lying, he’s not good at pretending. He thinks if he doesn’t leave right now he’s going to lose.

“I might do something stupid.” He says without thinking, reason and sense left him the second Eddie touched his hand.

“I don’t doubt that.” Eddie quips, smiling softly. He waits for a second to see if Steve is going to continue, and Steve notices. But he can’t bring himself to move or talk. Luckily Eddie rolls his eyes a little and keeps talking, “If you’re gonna do something stupid, promise to do it with me.” He whispers, Steve can nearly feel his breath on his face.

Steve looks at him, he’s grasping at excuses and subject changes in his mind but he can’t seem to hang on to any long enough to stop himself from thinking about kissing Eddie Munson. As soon as the thought enters his mind it consumes him. He remembers Eddie said something, and he pulls his eyes from Eddie’s mouth to his eyes, unsure of how long they’d been there. “I really-“ he stops himself, unsure of how he’d finish that sentence, the words on his tongue trying to escape. “I uh,-“ He tries to turn away from him, he tries to pretend things aren’t as intense as they feel. He tries, but he can’t and he’s right back to looking at Eddie, right back to trying to figure out what to do, how to tell him without saying it, how to make this less awkward. His thoughts are interrupted, and he’s almost thankful.

“Steve,” Eddie says, quietly with a new air of seriousness to his tone that Steve isn’t expecting. “Whatever it is that you want to tell me…” he trails off, and without any plan they both move a little closer, Eddie doesn’t look away from Steve this time when he moves his fingers against his. “I’m waiting.” he finally says, and doesn’t move away.

Steve can’t take anymore, he feels like he’s not dreaming for the first time. He feels like this is real, he didn’t make this up, it’s not in his head. He likes Eddie, and he can’t help but think that Eddie likes him too. He feels another soft stroke against his palm and he gives up. He takes Eddie’s hand, finally threading their fingers together. “Yeah, well-“ he starts, he looks from their hands, back to Eddie, he can barely catch his breath as he leans in, stalling for another moment to be absolutely sure he’s not dreaming, but then Eddie leans in slowly and he stops caring about any of the things he was worried about before. “I’m done waiting.” Steve says, before he finally closes the distance between them, slowly. He brings a hand up to thread through Eddie’s hair, and it’s just as soft as he’d imagined. He feels Eddie kiss him back, it nearly knocks him out. Eddie brings up a hand to rest on Steve’s side, and pulls him closer, he can’t stop the small noise he makes.

Out of every scenario he planned, every version of this he rehearsed in his head, nothing compared to how it actually felt. His heart is pounding, his hands are shaking while he runs them over Eddie’s body, he feels like he’s on fire, he’s overwhelmed but in the best way.

Everything gets a little colder though when he and Eddie finally pull apart, he desperately wants to just dive right back in but he takes a second to try to wrap his head around everything. The nerves start to creep back in quickly as he worries if he’s made a mistake. What if he read everything wrong?

He takes a breath, hoping he doesn’t let any of his panic show. He looks away and shudders out a soft laugh. “Sorry, I-“ he stops and looks over at Eddie, unsure of what to say or do.

But Eddie’s watching him, looking a little unsure himself. “So…” he starts slowly, both of them backing away a little. “Do we…talk about it or-“

“I like you.” Steve says, surprising even himself. He didn’t mean to say it, he didn’t plan on ever telling Eddie Munson that he liked him. He doesn’t know why he can’t stop, he couldn’t stop himself from touching Eddie, he couldn’t stop himself from kissing him, and now he’s just telling him this and he doesn’t know how to stop. He blames the alcohol but knows it’s not that. The words have been threatening to leave his lips since he realized they were there.

Eddie raises his eyebrows, giving Steve a second. “Yeah?” he grins, just kinda beaming at Steve expectantly, and patiently.

Steve sighs, realizing there’s nothing he can do now. He’s done everything he promised himself he wouldn’t, and now he’s just going to have to follow through with it and hope for the best. “Yeah,” he rolls his eyes a little when he notices the smug expression on Eddie’s face. “I can’t believe it, but yes, Munson. I like you.”

“See, I knew you had a crush on me.” Eddie says, before getting a little closer.

“Oh my god,” Steve groans a little, “don’t even start.”

Eddie laughs softly, and relaxes back into the couch again, glancing back at the credits rolling on the screen. “I’m gonna be honest, I don’t think I even know what happened in this movie.” He turns to Steve, fidgeting a little with his hands and watching him a second, “It doesn’t matter though, cause I didn’t ask you to come over for a movie. It was just an excuse to see you.” He waits a second before looking head again.

He starts to feel nervous again, but it’s different than before. Fears and uncertainty are now replaced with a need to get this right. It’s been a while since he’s gotten something he’s wanted, he doesn’t wanna ruin it. “You didn’t need an excuse.”

Eddie smiles, he barely glances away from the static on the tv, “This might surprise you, Harrington, but I’m not the best at talking about feelings.” He admits, locking eyes with Steve, “But, I like you too, okay?”

Sure, Steve kind of got that already, but hearing Eddie say it still made his stomach flip. He smiles a little, trying to wrap his head around it. He likes him. Eddie likes Steve.

Steve finally starts to feel better, his world is changing again, but it’s slowing down a little. He feels like even if he doesn’t know what happens next, or what he’s supposed to do or say, he’s going to be alright. He can’t remember the last time he felt like he was going to be alright, so he tries to soak it in while he can. “So…what now?” He asks, smiling a little nervously.

Eddie looks like he’s pretending to think about it, looking up at nothing with a small smile, tapping a finger against his lips, “Well, we could watch another movie.” He suggests, looking at Steve, and something about this look makes Steve feel nervous, but not in a bad way.

Steve takes a breath, he tries to assess the situation, trying to figure out if Eddie is implying what he hopes he is. “We didn’t even watch the last one.” He reminds him.

“Yeah, we aren’t going to watch the next one either, Harrington.” Eddie says, leaning close and pressing his lips to Steve’s, barely giving him time to react before he stands up. “Stay there, I get to pick this time.”

Steve just watches as Eddie runs off to find a movie, he feels completely dumbfounded as he takes this in. He attempts to figure out the exact moment this started, but quickly realizes he doesn’t actually care. It wouldn’t make a difference.

Eddie puts the movie into the VCR and quickly turns back to Steve, walking over to him, “The goal here, by the way, is to see as little of this fuckin’ movie as possible.” He says, before threading this fingers into Steve’s hair and kissing him, pushing him back onto the couch. “Sound good?” Eddie says, after a few seconds, taking a breath and pulling back to look at Steve.

Steve nods quickly, “Sounds great.” he pulls Eddie back down into another kiss, feeling him smile against his lips. He doesn’t care about anything other than this right now, he just wants to get as close to Eddie as he can. And he does, they spend the whole night together tangled up, nothing but the tv and the post lamp outside shining in the dark.

When Steve leaves, he kisses Eddie goodbye, this time he doesn’t feel like he’s forgetting anything, but he still doesn’t want to go, he’s already counting down until he can come back. And when he drives away, he checks his rear view and catches Eddie watching him drive away again and Steve knows he’s going to spend another night awake thinking about Eddie Munson.

He still isn’t sure how this happened, he knows he could sit and think about it forever before it made sense, but it doesn’t have to make sense. It doesn’t matter to him how he got here, he’s just happy that he‘s here now.

#THIS IS 11k WORDS #JUST AS A WARNING #steddie #stranger things #i’m posting this while i am at work so i’ll come back and edit it up in a lil while #steve harrington #eddie munson #fanfic #fanfiction #long fic #one shot #idk how y’all tag these nowadays

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ladykailitha · 1 year

Text

Do You Know What Shovels Dig? Graves Part 1

Just dipping my toe into the shovel talks trend.

“Hey, Steve?”

Steve turned around and Jonathan frowned. Steve’s eyes were puffy and his nose was red. “Oh, hey, man. What’s up?”

Jonathan could tell he was trying not to wipe the obvious tears from his face. As if that wouldn’t draw attention to them.

“I wanted to talk to you about you and Eddie’s relationship--”

Steve crumpled. That was the only way to describe it. The man was barely holding it together as it was, but it seemed that that was straw that broke the camel’s back.

“Look, I get it,” Steve snapped. “Don’t break Eddie’s heart. It sooo soft and I’m suuuuch a bitch. I don’t need the shovel talk from you.” The last word was said with such venom, Jonathan was forced to take a step back.

“Who’s been giving you shovel talks?” he asked.

Steve threw his arms in the air. “It would be easier to list off who hasn’t. The Byers family and El, only I can’t say that because you’re here. So just Will, your mom, and El.”

Jonathan frowned. “Even Robin?” Because that didn’t sound right. He had seen the two of them together and they were like freakishly close.

“Oh, yeah,” Steve snarled bitterly. “That’s the latest one. The one that makes me just want to throw myself into the god damn pool.”

Well, shit.

“Apparently this is Eddie first real relationship and since being gay is so hard right now, breaking his heart would be a disservice to humankind,” Steve mocked. “I asked her about my heart and my first relationship with a guy. But apparently that is as important as Eddie’s experience.”

Now that? Jonathan didn’t believe. But Steve was clearly hurt and was being dramatic about it. Which he was going to allow because holy shit.

But apparently Steve was just getting started. “At least Eddie’s friends all showed up together to give one shovel talk so that was nice. Hop and Wayne each did it while cleaning their hunting rifles, like they weren’t terrifying enough. I mean Mike’s an ass, so his I could brush off, but Dustin and Erica? Why does Eddie get more loyalty from them when I literally saved their lives? But Lucas and Max also double teamed me, so that was all sorts of fun. Nancy casually brought up that she has three guns now. So yeah, just get it over with so I can go back to being the worst boyfriend in Hawkins!”

Jonathan forced him to sit down. “That was a lot to unpack, I’m not going to lie. But take a deep breath for me, can you do that?”

Steve nodded and took a deep breath.

“Now let it out slow,“ Jonathan continued. Steve followed his instruction. “Great now keep doing that until your heart no longer feels like it’s going to burst out of your chest.”

Steve started breathing more normally and Jonathan sat next to him. “I’m not actually here for a shovel talk. I was wondering if you or Eddie would be willing to talk to Will about liking boys.”

Steve blinked at him for a moment. “What?”

“Yeah, he’s going through a really hard time with it right now,” Jonathan explained. “And I’m not really getting through to him because I’m straight and it’s pretty much meaningless coming from me.”

“Oh.”

“But no, I get your reaction, dude,” he said. “I really do. Has anyone given Eddie the shovel talk?”

Steve shrugged. “It’s not like I can ask, is it? ‘Oh hey, Eddie, anyone threaten your life over our relationship lately. No, no, not homophobes, I mean our friends? No? Well that’s just peachy!’“

Jonathan barked out a laugh. “Yeah, no matter how you phrase that it’s going to come off as bitchy. Especially if no one has.”

Steve nodded.

“Look, if you talk to Will for me,” Jonathan said, “I’ll talk to Eddie. Deal?”

Steve looked at the hand for a moment before he shook it. “Deal.”

Jonathan knocked on the Munson’s door. Eddie opened it with a look of surprise.

“Look, man,” Eddie said with a sigh. “I don’t sell anymore. And besides your friend from Cali has better stuff.”

Jonathan held up his prized. “Oh, I’m aware, I’m offering to share.”

Eddie looked at him for a moment and then closed the door behind him. “Yeah, okay.”

Jonathan lit two blunts and passed one to Eddie.

Eddie took a drag and sighed. “Shit this stuff is good.”

Jonathan just smiled.

“Not that I don’t appreciate the share, man,” Eddie said after a few minutes, “but why are you here?”

“I went over to Steve’s to ask him if he would be willing to talk to Will for me,” he said after taking a drag.

“Because your brother is gayer then the May pole?” Eddie supplied.

“Yup,” he replied. “Only our Stevie wasn’t doing so good.”

Eddie leapt to his feet. “What?!”

Jonathan tugged on his pant leg. “Sit down, dude. Let me explain before you go off half cocked and make things worse.”

Eddie sat down with a grumble. “You better start talking and you better do it fast.”

“In my experience shovel talks are for people you don’t trust not for people you care about,” Jonathan said slowly. “Only it seems our friends didn’t get the memo.”

“People have been giving Steve the shovel talk?” Eddie asked, eyes wide, jutting his chin forward in shock. “But no one’s said shit to me!”

Jonathan winced. “That’s kinda what me and Steve were afraid of.”

Eddie felt his heart sink to his stomach. “Do you--did he say how long it’s been going on?”

Jonathan shook his head. “But the fact that only my house and El haven’t given him the shovel talk I would probably bet since you two announced your relationship.”

“Shit,” Eddie whispered. “I bet the first two were funny, endearing even. Steve likes that kind of stuff. And then as it kept happening...”

“Yeah,” Jonathan agreed. “Has he been distant lately?”

Eddie closed his eyes and nodded. “Now I know why.” He thought for a moment. “Is there a way to call everyone together without alerting Steve, too?”

Jonathan shrugged. “If his boyfriend were to ‘accidentally’ turn off the walkie for an hour for some hot makeup sex...”

Eddie laughed. “I can absolutely do that.”

“I’ll set it up,” Jonathan said. He flicked the remainder of his blunt to the ground and stood up to grind it out under his boot.

Dang it, this was getting longer than I planned, but I’ll put out a part two later.

Edit: and it’s later! And part three! Part four and Part FIVE! Part Six!!!

#My writing #stranger things #steddie #jonathan and steve are friends

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scoops-aboy86 · 2 months

Text

If You Were Serious (Secret Admirer pt 7)

Okay, so there will be more than seven chapters. For now, please enjoy Steve on painkillers and creative mix tape shenanigans.

(The crossed out thing after the first "Dear" is the first line of an E.)

wc: 3226 / rated: T / set end of/after season 3 / also on ao3

Dear I

Dear Secret Amdirer,

Sorry, painkillers kicking in. I got pretty banged up in the mall, in the fire. Well, less the fire and more getting hit by stuff. Mall fell down. I have ribs and eye and nose, and concussion this time so I had to stay over at Robin’s because someone had to keep an eye on me sleeping and my parents are still out of town. Dustin said I won at upper body injury bingo but I didn’t even know I was playing, that sounds like really a shitty game.

Anyway, I haven’t been home so I don’t know if you tried to call. If you did, don’t worry!!! I’m not mad. I don’t not like you anymore just because you’re you. And this isn’t the durg drugs talking because I read your letter first before they kicked in, but I have to write this ASAP so it can get to you faster.

You could’ve called back that night but if you needed some time to breathe I get it, it’s cool. And I kinda had a feeling after that you might be a guy? Like, shit, man, they’d eat you alive in this town. Not me, I learned my lesson after Jonathan wrecked my face after I called him and his family some bad things. I deserved that. Kinda funny how the next year he stole my girlfriend and now I like you. If you could still be interested in somebody who used to be like that.

I know I like you because when you hung up I was really worried, you sounded like you were breathing really fast, maybe a panic attack? I have those after nightmares now. Robin too. (Don’t worry, we bonded and she’s like my sister now, she says we’re playdoh soulmates

“Oh my god, I knew explaining who Plato was was a bad idea. It’s platonic, Steve, not Play-Doh.”

“Stop reading over my shoulder! … How do you spell that?”

“P-L-A-T-O-N-I-C.”

“Thanks Robbie.”

she says we’re playdoh soulmates platonic soulmates.) I was worried about you and thought maybe you might be a guy but, that wasn’t as important as wanting you to be okay, you know? You still wrote me all those nice letters. You’ve made me feel really good about myself, why does it have to be different just because you’re not a girl? I can’t tell you why Robin knows about this stuff but she says I might be bysix bisexual. Not sure why I need a big fancy word for it when I didn’t have one for liking girls, I just know I care about you a lot and want you to like me.

And you’re not a coward, you’re very very brave. You reached out first, you went for what you wanted even when I didn’t get it and tried to ask for too much too soon. And then you kept coming back to try again, even though I kept doing that. That’s so brave.

I’m not feeling so awake anymore so I’m going to stop and have Robin mail this for me. (No way am I going out dressed like this. Her dad wears grandpa shorts dude, it’s pretty bad.) I’ll write more when I’m feeling better. Are you okay? Hope you weren’t anywhere near the mall the other night. Thanks for the rainbow song I will look for it.

Love Steve

Once Eddie is done reading, he screams into his pillow for a different reason. Several, actually.

First, he’s been so sure for the past week or so that he would never hear from Steve ever again. The only reason he’d checked his mail today was because he should have another zine coming in soon. He didn’t, but there was a yellow envelope with familiar, if slightly messier than usual handwriting on it. And inside that, stationary with colorful geometric shapes along the edges that Eddie now surmises is Robin’s.

Second, Steve isn’t even writing to tell him to fuck off right to hell. Because yes, Eddie had heard the rumors about Steve calling Jonathan Byers a queer. The irony does send a seam of semi-hysterical laughter through his screams. It’s fine. It’s fine!

Third, Steve hasn’t been avoiding his calls. He just hasn’t been home. He’s hurt, and it sounds like his head and torso took quite a beating. Eddie remembers seeing him around school both times after the other concussions and that had looked bad enough, and that had just been his face. This sounds worse.

Fourth, Steve is… still interested? Has talked to someone about this and might be bisexual?! Eddie’s never had anyone talk to someone else about him, has always been completely anonymous with a possible option of becoming a dirty little secret. And then the letter ends with ‘Love Steve.’ Love? Love Steve?!

Fifth, Robin knows he sent Steve that ice cream. Eddie doesn’t know what all “platonic soulmates” entails, but what if she tells him? What if she already has?!

Sixth, despite being injured, and having panic attacks apparently, Steve is still asking if he is okay.

Seventh, beneath his name Steve had also doodled a lopsided happy face with what he can only guess is an ice pack balanced on top. Or… maybe it’s hair. Or some kind of hat.

Any of these would be enough to make his head spin on their own, but it’s all happening at once and he doesn’t know what to do. So he screams into his pillow for a while longer, kicking his feet for good measure.

He wants to rush out and find Steve, wherever he is. Wants to call him, but doesn’t know what he would say even if he did know the number to reach him right now. What he could say. Wants to wrap both arms around him and kiss his poor head better. Hell, if he’s turned Steve gay he doesn’t just want, he deserves to make that guy the little spoon for the first time in his life probably and just. Hold him.

Except… he’s not sure he’s ready for face to face yet. He will be! Soon. Once all the emotions bubbling in his chest have settled a little. And after he’s pinched himself a few million more times just to make sure. But until then…

A thought occurs to him, and Eddie rolls over to frown consideringly up at the ceiling. He’s sent Steve words to comfort and reassure him before, right? Maybe there’s something else he can send, a different way of offering a part of himself to Steve until he works up the nerve to face him for real.

It’s just going to take him a little time, and some recording equipment.

Dearest Steve,

I hope this address is still okay to write to you while you stay with your friend, but I don’t know where she lives.

You have no idea

Holy shit man. Holy shit. Are you serious? No, strike that, you’ve been nothing but genuine in these letters and I trust you, I do. Holy shit though. It’s you. Clearly I never thought I’d actually have a chance, from the way I approached this whole thing, so you must forgive me for how utterly poleaxed, completely flabbergasted, and genuinely gobsmacked I am.

And shit, I’m still sorry for hanging up on you. That golden years line—and this heavy secret of the most basic fact of who I am weighing on my shoulders, pressing down so hard I couldn’t breathe. I wish I’d just said something. But you’re right, I needed… space? And a push, to work up to writing the last letter I sent you. I got yours the day I put that in the mail, by the way, and that spun me even more because what if you read mine and took it all back?

But you didn’t. You didn’t, sweetheart. I’m still reeling in the best possible way. Again, axed like a pole, flabbers gasted, and gob thoroughly smacked.

Enough about me. More than enough about me. You’re concussed; I ought to wrap that gorgeous head of yours in bubble wrap and offer to fight all your battles henceforth, even against falling buildings. I’m glad you have someone out there who’s looking out for you though. I guess… you’ve told Robin about some things? Maybe these letters? Which is absolutely fine, by the way. It’s great! Fuck knows it wouldn’t have occurred to me to explain what bisexuality is, since I hardly dared to dream so big and only swing the one way myself. You’re an amazingly open-minded person by the way, Steve; I hope you know how rare that is, especially in a place like Hawkins. And Robin too, apparently. Please give her my highest regards, she is an angel among mortals and an inadvertent champion of this sad wet rag of a human being (me).

At any rate, wishing you the speediest of recoveries and I hope you’re already feeling at least a little better. My condolences on the grandpa shorts, although personally I’m convinced you could wear a trash bag and still look like an Adonis.

It’s taken me a little longer than I’d like to send this because I made something for you. Enclosed is a tape with some of the songs from our call that you said you liked, played acoustically by yours truly. Rainbow In The Dark is one of them. You mentioned having nightmares, and whenever I had bad dreams as a kid my mom would play for me until I calmed down. She’d hum instead of doing the words, to make it more like a lullaby. I hope it’s at least a decent distraction, sweetheart.

Let me know if you like it? I can make one of your favorite songs too, just you let me know what they are. In the meantime, I remain, as always—

Your Secret Admirer

“You should tell him that you know,” Robin whispers, at some point during the fourth night in a row they’ve ended up crashed on the same bed listening to the Anti-Panic Attack Metal Mix.

Her dad sleeps like the dead and her mom sleeps with earplugs in because he snores, so they get away with it, but Steve always insists on laying on top of the covers anyway. The friendship is still new, for all that they’re trauma bonded, and he wants to make sure she knows he’s not getting any funny ideas, that he gets the whole lesbian thing, that even though he’s new to being into a dude he’s committed to it and not wishy-washy or greedy or whatever.

He fiddles with a loose string on the blanket for a minute before answering. “No… I don’t want to freak him out again. It’s all going to be on his terms from here on out, no more pushing.”

“Well you’ve got to do something. Come on Steve, I’m invested now. Ask to meet him.”

He rolls his eyes. “What did I just say?”

Immediately he gives an inward wince, because that came out bitchy. But Robin just snorts and murmurs “Fine,” sounding amused rather than offended, so he relaxes.

They exist in silence for a while, side by side. Just close enough to not feel alone, drifting on the soft notes and low, rich hum. It’s soothing.

“What if,” Robin starts, and ignores Steve’s huff. “What if you go somewhere you know he might show, and then give him the opportunity to talk to you?”

“Oh yeah,” he scoffs, “like what?”

“Summer house party.” Her whisper picks up a little in excitement as she warms to her own idea. “I bet we can find one that’s coming up soon. Everyone knows that Munson sells, it’s one of those never invited but always welcome things. Then if he doesn’t come to you, just buy some weed and see if he says anything.”

“No,” Steve whispers back.

She rolls over to squint at him in the dark. “Just think about it, okay? You wouldn’t be forcing him to do anything, just… providing an opportunity. Come on, Stevie-evie, this is my chance to see a gay love story go right.”

“Vetoing that nickname.” With a sigh, he rolls onto his side too, facing her. “My face still looks like raw hamburger meat, Robs. I have like zero charm right now.”

The swelling has gone down, at least to where he can open his eye again but the bruising remains spectacular. It looks like a sunset exploded across the side of his face, and not in a good way.

Robin rolls her eyes. “You’re more than just your face, dingus. It wasn’t your rugged jawline, sculpted cheekbones, or pimple-free forehead that wrote those letters, it was you. Steve.”

He goes to wrinkle his nose at the descriptions, but quickly remembers that’s still a bad idea with a swallowed grunt. “Please, never describe me again.”

“I make no promises. And anyway, if you’re willing to try makeup I think we could get most of it covered so no one’ll ever notice. Not at night, anyway.”

That gives him pause. He rolls onto his back again to think about it, staring up at the ceiling of Robin’s bedroom and tracing imaginary constellation lines between the glow in the dark stars she has up there. Beside him, he feels her settling on her back too without having to look.

It’s not like when he’d found a little brother in Dustin—who has visited pretty much every day during Steve’s convalescence, sometimes with Erica or Mike, Lucas, and Max in tow, spouting off things he’s read in books about the various still-healing injuries. As annoying as it is, Steve appreciates that the little dork took the time to study what’s wrong with him enough to provide armchair diagnoses and give him advice about things that he already knows.

Robin is… more of a twin than a sister. (Which, yeah, twin sister, whatever. That’s not the point.) They’re on the same wavelength in a way he’s never experienced before, not with Tommy or Carol or even Nancy. The closest thing Steve has ever had to this was during basketball games, in the heat of a play where everyone on the team knew where everyone was and where they’d be and how to work together as a unit, perfectly in sync. Only with Robin, it’s all the time. Sometimes they can even finish each other’s sentences—though they try not to do that around her parents, in the interest of not wanting them to think they’re a couple.

They’re more like a pair of bonded kittens at the pound, Robin says. Must be adopted together. (“Okay, but why can’t we be dogs? Dogs are cooler.” “Because, dingus, you have a one-hundred-and-twenty-seven step hair and skin routine and you’re incredibly aloof when you want to be. I could go either way, but you’re one hundred percent cat.”)

“Maybe,” he whispers finally.

He’s not sure she’s still awake—he’s not sure he’s still awake, with the soothing music lulling him back to a calm he hadn’t felt even before he’d gone to bed the first time. But he wants to think she hears it, just like he wants to think that he’ll run into Eddie and find out what it’s like to hold his hand, maybe even kiss him, all in the same night. He’s worn lip gloss, he can deal with a little makeup.

“Maybe I’ll go.”

Dear Secret Admirer,

Thank you for the tape, it’s perfect. It helps me get back to sleep because it feels like you’re there, watching over me. Like nothing bad can happen. Sometimes the nightmares still come back after but I think it’s getting better. It takes a while, you know? Last time, after the after Billy after my last concussion it took a while to stop having bad dreams. I guess the mind needs time to heal too, even if the stuff that happens to it isn’t as “real” as breaking a nose or a rib. Who knew?

I really am serious, yeah. Even though I’m me. Whatever that means. I don’t really know what to do with myself or what I want right now. (Except you. Kind of cheesy, but maybe you like that about me? I guess it’s something I always tried to hide before because the guys would’ve made fun of me, fuck knows Tommy did all of junior year, but I kind of like the idea that maybe you saw it anyway.) Once my face heals up me and Robin are going to try and get jobs together somewhere else because we’re cats that have to stick together or we’ll get stressed out and claw all the furniture. Other than that I don’t know what I want to do except leave Hawkins someday. But stick around to make sure it’s to see the kids graduate. Dustin’s starting high school in the fall, maybe you could keep an eye out for him? Curly hair, no collarbones, ego bigger than the whole state, total nerd but in a good way, even if he’s sometimes a butthead about it. He plays that game with dragons and those weird looking dice, do you know it? Him and his friends Mike and Lucas are kind of bully magnets. (Max is starting freshman year too but she can take care of herself in that department.) They’ve all been pretty down after the mall and with Will and moving away and everything. Erica, Lucas’ little sister, I guess I’m her “babysitter” now too, is still in middle school but I don’t know if she’d be glad or insulted if I waited around to see her graduate. She can take care of herself too. She and Dustin were with us for most of the Starcourt burning down and it was a lot, but kids are resilient. I don’t think she gets nightmares, not that she would ever admit to anyone if she did even though in her own words “we’ve bled together.” She’s getting into the nerdy dice game too and is planning her campaign for President of the USA as soon as she turns, what, 40? 50? Whatever age you have to be before you can do that. I’ll probably still be in a town like Hawkins with another lame retail job by then, but she’s got my vote. She’d do a hell of a lot better job than Regan, that’s for sure.

Is your mom My mom never sang to

Also, you are really good at guitar, man. I still think about your hands, I bet you have long fingers. Really… What’s a word for ‘good with his fingers’? I think about that sometimes. I don’t really know what kind of stuff two guys can do together except the obvious but I think about that a lot. I want you to play me like your guitar. I’d let you fight my battles too, at least until my ribs get back to normal and then we can both fight both of our battles. You know I’d do that for you, right? If you ever need me. I really like these letters. I really like you.

Love, Steve

P.S. If you were serious about making me another tape (which you really don’t have to, this was already going above and beyond), my favorite songs are…

Tag list (and if you missed the earlier chapters check the "#secret admirer steddie" tag on my blog): @hotluncheddie @lawrencebshoggoth @sofadofax @tangerinesteve @steviewashere

@cryingglightningg @theresebelivett @sleepy-steve @rozzieroos @lunaraindrop

@just-my-latest-hyperfixation @wheneverfeasible @swimmingbirdrunningrock @yesdangerpls @matchingbatbites

@ihavekidneys @p0lybl4nkk @grtwdsmwhr @cheesedoctor @whalesharksart

@thetinymm @envyadams-vs-me @practicallybegging @imhereforthelolzdontyellatme @dauntlessdiva

@nerdyglassescheeseychick @fuzzyduxk @chaosgremlinmunson @greatwerewolfbeliever @goosesister

@dolphincliffs @friendlyneighborhoodgaycousin @beckkthewreck @pitrsattabhaadmeinjao @kurofuckingshi16

@bookworm0690 @millseyes-world @live-laugh-love-dietrich @the-tenth-mus-e

#steddieweek2024 #scoops words #secret admirer steddie #steddie #eddie munson #steve harrington #robin buckley #platonic stobin

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writingdumpster · 2 years

Text

camping

pairing: Eddie Munson x reader

warnings: suggestive language

summary: the teens of the group know about eddie’s crush on you and your crush on him so they orchestrate a group camping trip to push you and Eddie together.

word count: 2,000

A/N: I just hit 2K. Thank you all so much for reading my work and supporting me. I just got done with school, so I’ll be posting a lot for the next month. (I hope). Thank you again, it means something to me.

The leaves crunched beneath your boots as you hopped out of the passenger seat of Eddie’s van. Eddie pulled the back door of the van open and the kids started piling out of the back. The whole gang was going on a camping trip for the weekend.

“Why does y/n always get to ride shotgun?” Mike complained as Steve’s car pulled up with Robin, Nancy, and Jonathan.

“I rank the highest,” you said. Eddie chuckled.

“No, I do,” Dustin interjected. Lucas and Will started pulling out the tents.

“Not true. She’s right. She outranks everyone,” Eddie said.

“You met her after us! She isn’t even in Hellfire,” Dustin complained.

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Max joked. Dustin flipped Max off before returning to the van to get the last remaining ice chest.

All of you began setting up the tents. There were two four-person tents and two two-person tents. Jonathan and Nancy were the obvious occupants of the first two-person tent, but the other didn’t have an obvious pairing.

“El and I can take it,” Mike volunteered when it came into question.

“No,” Nancy and Steve said in unison. Dustin and Lucas chuckled when Mike’s expression deflated. Robin had a mischievous smirk on her face.

“Eddie and y/n should take it,” Robin said. Your cheeks burned as you glared at her. She and Nancy were the only people you had told about your crush on Eddie.

“Yeah, Robin and I can split up and make sure the kids don’t get up to anything,” Steve said. It was Eddie’s turn to glare at Steve, the only person that Eddie had told about his crush on you. You and Eddie then both looked at one another and gave each other kind smiles.

“It’s fine with me,” you said nervously.

“Yeah, that works,” Eddie agreed. You went towards the van to go collect your bag. Steve was walking away when Eddie grabbed his collar.

“Why would you do that?” Eddie hissed. “I’m not gonna be able to keep it together if I’m sleeping next to her!” Steve chuckled. He patted Eddie’s shoulder and Eddie released him.

“Robin told me she’s got a crush on you too,” Steve said with a smirk.

“She likes me back? Wait, how long have you known that?” Eddie questioned.

“A while, it’s kinda obvious. But we were talking about it on the way here,” Steve said.

“So, Jonathan and Nancy know too then?” Eddie asked.

“Well, y/n told Nancy she liked you. Jonathan was the only one who was totally out of the loop,” Steve said. Eddie laughed at that. He liked Jonathan, he just didn’t know Jonathan that well.

“Was this all a set-up?” Eddie questioned.

“Not entirely, maybe like 70% set-up 30% camping trip,” Steve joked. Eddie watched as you ducked into the tent that you and Eddie were meant to spend the next two nights in. “Go get her.” Eddie nodded and followed you into the tent.

“Hey,” he greeted you. You were kneeling on one side of the rectangular tent. You had a small duffle bag and a backpack in front of you.

“Hi,” you greeted with a smile as Eddie dropped his things onto the other side of the tent.

Say something to her. Eddie thought as hard as he could in search of something good to say to you. Maybe he could say something that would make you laugh. Eddie loved to hear the sound of your laugh, especially when he was the one who’d made you laugh. You started to unroll your sleeping bag and before he could think better of it Eddie opened his mouth.

“That’s your sleeping bag?” Eddie asked.

“Yeah?”

“You’re going to be freezing!” He exclaimed.

“What and yours is so much warmer?” You asked. Eddie gestured down at the thick, fleece lined, down sleeping bag that he had laid out.

“Yours isn’t meant for the outdoors, princess,” Eddie said. Your cheeks heated at the nickname.

“It’s the only one I have,” you told him.

“You should’ve told me. I would’ve brought Wayne’s,” he said. You shrugged.

“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” you said.

“You can always share with me,” Eddie said with a smirk. You rolled your eyes.

“In your dreams, Munson,” you joked.

“In yours too, I suspect,” Eddie teased back.

All of you spent the afternoon on a hike up to the waterfall by the campground. Eddie held his hand out to you a few times to help you down particularly steep jumps, and you weren’t sure when but at some point you didn’t let go of his hand after you had landed safely.

When it got dark Eddie and Robin got a fire going while Steve and you laid out s’mores supplies. For a while you were seated beside Eddie, both of you on a blanket spread out over the ground, backs leaning against a log that sat behind you. You got up at some point, off to find another sweater. You were stepping over Eddie’s legs when he grabbed your hand.

“Come down here, sweetheart,” Eddie called sweetly. No part of you wanted to resist as he pulled you down into his lap. He pulled you up close so that your back was against his chest, tucking his chin into the crook of your neck so he could continue to listen to the campfire chatter. His arms were around your middle, but you tugged on his hands so that his fingers were interlaced with yours.

“Since when are you two toge—ow!” Mike was cut off when Nancy punched him in the arm. Your body tensed but Eddie’s thumb rubbed against the back of your hand tenderly. It was like the rest of the day had been. No words were being spoken, but the two of you wanted each other.

“You smell nice,” Eddie whispered when Lucas started telling a scary story. You smiled and Eddie could feel your cheek move against him.

“Probably just the mountain air,” you said.

“No, it’s lavender. Is it your shampoo?” Eddie asked. You were quiet for a moment, surprised at how observant Eddie was when it came to you. You had seen him walk right past ‘do not enter’ signs and ask for directions to a location that was just on the other side of the street. Despite that he was noting that your shampoo smelled like lavender.

“Yeah, it is. My conditioner is too,” you told him. Eddie hummed in approval. He leaned his nose into your hair and inhaled.

“I like it,” he murmured. You snuggled back further into his chest.

“I like the way you smell too,” you said. Eddie chuckled.

“What? Cigarettes and sweat?” He joked. You turned your head so you could take a whiff of Eddie’s distinct masculine musk.

“Whatever it is, it’s nice,” you said. Eddie smiled. “I think I’m gonna go to bed,” you whispered.

“I’ll come too,” Eddie said. He held his hand out to support you as you rose from the ground and bid everyone a good night.

“Good night, love bird—ow! Jesus, Nancy!” Mike’s jeers were once again interrupted by a punch from Nancy. Your cheeks burned as you ducked into your tent.

You and Eddie faced away from one another as you changed into your pajamas. Eddie couldn’t help himself when he glanced over his shoulder. All he saw was the back of you, but he was enamored by the way your waist curved into your hip, the dimples that were on your back, and the way your skin looked in the dim light from his electric lantern.

“Are you dressed?” You asked after you’d slid on your sweatshirt.

“Yeah,” Eddie said. The two of you turned around. Eddie was in flannel pajama pants and a henley. He had pushed the sleeves up to his elbows and somehow in the most innocent of clothing he looked irresistible.

“You really should sleep in my bag, princess. You’re not going to be warm enough,” Eddie said.

“Nice try, Eds. I’ll be fine,” you said.

“I’m serious, sweetheart. It’s cold out here,” he tried.

“I’ll be okay,” you said. Eddie raised his hands in surrender.

“Whatever you say,” he agreed.

“Um…good night, Eddie,” you said as you crawled into your sleeping bag. Eddie smiled.

“Good night, princess,” he replied as he tucked himself in. He was sure you’d be in his sleeping bag within an hour. After ten minutes you were shivering in your thin sleeping bag. Eddie was right. It was not designed for outdoor use. Your teeth started chattering as you lay curled up tightly.

“Princess?” Eddie’s voice cut above the sounds of the forest.

“Yeah?” You asked, turning your head to look over at Eddie. He had unzipped the side of his sleeping bag facing you and was holding it up with open arms.

“Come here,” he called. You didn’t need to be asked twice. You crawled out of your sleeping bag and into his, immediately tucking yourself into his chest and trying to absorb all his warmth.

“Jesus, you’re freezing!” Eddie remarked. He reached behind you to pull the zipper of his sleeping bag up before wrapping his arms around you and pulling you tight against his body. He moved his hands quickly against your arms, trying to generate friction that might warm you up. He felt your face to see if it was still cold. When he found it was, he pressed his hands against your cheeks. He leaned in and exhaled hot air against your neck and you let out a little hum of pleasure. Your heart dropped before beating like the drums that Eddie’s band played.

“What was that I just heard, princess?” Eddie called down to you. You refused to look up at him but you were sure he had a smug grin across his face.

“I didn’t hear anything,” you said. Your cheeks were burning as you tried to tuck your head back down. Eddie reached up and tipped your chin to make you meet his eyes.

“Really?” He asked. “I thought I heard something.” You shook your head. Eddie’s eyes turned to your lips.

“Eddie…” You whispered quietly.

“Yes?” He asked, his tone teasing. His hand had moved to your neck, the skin still cold.

“I…You’re so close,” you murmured. You were holding your breath.

“I could be closer,” Eddie said. “Do you want me closer, princess?” You nodded. “I need to hear it.”

“Yes,” you whispered. Eddie’s lips were on yours. They were warm and velvety soft and his kiss enveloped your whole body in warmth as if you had walked into a cozy cabin with a roaring fire. His tongue moved against yours smoothly, the two of you working in perfect harmony as if you had kissed each other for centuries. It was undoubtedly the best kiss you had ever had. His hands moved away from your face, arms settling around you again. You met his eyes and the two of you broke out in laughter.

“We just kissed!” You giggled. Eddie grinned.

“I’ve been wanting to kiss you since we met, angel,” Eddie confessed proudly.

“Me too,” you told him. “It was better than I imagined.”

“Your lips are soft,” Eddie said. You smiled but didn’t respond. He blushed, wondering if he had said something too forward. You smirked as he looked away from you. You leaned up and pressed your lips to his exposed neck.

“You deserve some softness, Eds,” you mumbled against him. He turned his head down to catch your lips in his again.

“Are you gonna be the one to give it to me, sweetheart?” He asked. You nodded.

“If you’ll let me,” you said. Eddie smirked.

“Oh, angel. I’d let you do anything to me.”

#eddie munson fluff #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson fic #eddie munson x reader fluff #eddie munson imagine

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steddieas-shegoes · 1 year

Note

Hello ❤️ I know you’re back home and I think are doing these on an as-you-can basis. If you’re just completely done, let me know! But I got in my feelings today about always being the third wheel and of course my brain wants to whump Steve about it, so here’s two lines from a conversation I had with a friend:

“When do I stop being a last resort?”

And

“When will I get people who care the way I care?”

Again, if you’re not doing these any more, that’s completely fine! Just thought I’d submit these in case you are. Feel free to use one or the other, or both! ❤️

Hello my star ✨ I am technically not doing them, but it kinda sounds like we both maybe need this one and I'm gonna use this a lowkey plug for everyone to consider participating in the @steddiemicrofic challenge. I'm going with the first one because I believe that even at Steve's lowest, he knows he has Robin to care about him a whole lot ❤️

----------

When the dust settles, when everyone seems to find a new rhythm, when they don't always look over their shoulder and wait for the next world-ending crisis, Steve finds himself alone a lot.

When Robin leaves for college, he finds himself alone most of the time.

The kids are back in school, everyone except Jonathan and Eddie have gone off to college, and those two seem to get along just fine without Steve inserting himself into their friendship.

They still come hang out with him sometimes, usually when they wanna rent a movie using his discount, or if Eddie wants to borrow his dining room for Hellfire.

The worst part is he says yes, puts a smile on his face, pretends he's happy just to get some attention, any attention.

And he is a little happy. Some attention is better than none, especially for a lonely person like him.

He watched everyone around him have each other, while he has himself.

He talks to Robin every other night, but he feels like he's burdening her, but would never say that. He just waits for her to stop answering the calls.

It all comes to a head one evening when Eddie is over at his house late, still cleaning up after Hellfire.

Steve had a bad week at work, customers just being rude over nothing, a migraine two days in a row, and now Eddie dragging his feet to leave.

The worst part? He didn't want him to leave.

Just the thought of another night alone had him tearing up.

He made sure to stay facing away from Eddie, unable to stop the tears from falling, but at least able to stay quiet.

Not quiet enough.

"Steve? What's wrong?"

He sounded so concerned.

"Nothing. Just a little overtired. Head still hurts a little. You know how it is."

He couldn't quite laugh it off, the sound more of a choked sob than anything.

Eddie's hands were on his shoulders, turning him around so he had no choice but to look at him, his worried gaze more than Steve expected.

"What's actually wrong?"

So much.

"When do I stop being a last resort?"

He hadn't meant to say that. He certainly didn't expect Eddie's reaction: pulling him close to his chest, his grip on his back and hair enough to make Steve sink into it.

He hadn't been hugged since Robin left for college.

"What do you mean? You're not a last resort."

"I'm no one's first choice. You only come here because I have the most room. The kids only ever call if they need a ride somewhere. I think at this point Robin only talks to me so she knows I'm alive."

The words were hard to get out but he did it. He felt slightly better just knowing he'd said them.

"Fuck. We've- I've been so stupid."

Steve pulled away.

"I just thought you wanted your space. We're done fighting monsters, so you can go back to just being Steve Harrington. I don't think any of us thought you still wanted to be around us. But we've taken what we thought we could get."

"What? Why would anyone think that?"

"Because you only got involved in all this protect people. Now you don't have to."

"I protected everyone because I cared. Why would I just stop caring?"

"When you put it like that, it sounds stupid."

Steve rolled his eyes.

"Because it is stupid."

"So you do want us around?"

"Yes! I thought no one wanted me around anymore since they didn't need me."

Eddie shook his head, disappointment settling over him.

"That's so far from the truth. Dustin was upset the other day because he was convinced you were going to start telling him no when he asked for rides and he didn't know how else to see you."

Steve let it sink in, the words and the way Eddie still hadn't let go of him completely, still had his hands resting on his lower back as Steve looked up at him.

"For a smart kid, he sure is dumb."

Eddie laughed loudly, smiling down at Steve as some of the tension released from his body.

"I guess we all are."

"Including me."

"You're very loved, Steve. By all of us."

"All of you?"

"Yes. All."

#steddie #steve harrington #eddie munson #headcanon

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strangersteddierthings · 2 years

Text

Writing prompt from this list, requested by @luciana-rowan. #60. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were trying to seduce me." with Steve seducing Eddie with dnd.

This was supposed to be like 1.2k tops however you activated my secret trap card, which is DnD.

“Okay, that’s gotta be all there is, right?” Robin asks as she flips through the book again, pausing to flip back and forth between two pages, eyes narrowed like these pages have offended her personally. She’s leaning against the customer side of the counter at Family Video, and Steve is on the other so they can be facing each other.

Steve is double checking all the notes they’ve written out on notebook paper, Robin’s neat print mixed with Steve’s quick scratchy penmanship. They’ve finally condensed the contents (pages and pages of contents) into easier to look through notes and once they close Family Video, Nancy and Jonathan are going to join them at Steve’s and help him and Robin organize the notes in a way that will flow and be easier to follow.

Nancy because she’s good at the organization part, and Jonathan because he’s the only one of them that’s ever even played Dungeons and Dragons, even if it was only twice (he’s a good older brother, after all).

“Jesus Christ, I hope that’s all,” Steve slides the notebook across the counter and offers up a hand for the Dungeons and Dragons book. They swap, to double check that neither has overlooked anything.

“You know,” Robin says, “this is a lot of effort for one game. Do those kids really have all this memorized?”

“Seems like it,” Steve groans, running a hand through his hair. “That’s why I need the cheat sheet. I can’t be holding up their game for twenty minutes just to look up if something is allowed or not.”

Robin looks across the counter and grins at him. “I think it’s so sweet that you’re finally gonna agree to play. Going to this much effort for it, though... You might make Dustin cry.”

“Well, that’s the goal now,” Steve laughs. “Dustin cries or I’m flipping the table.”

“Well, now I want to be there. Either would be great to witness!”

“It’s not too late to make you a character,” Steve says, aiming for nonchalance and knowing that he might have hit the mark for anyone else, but this is Robin, and she’s always seen right through him. She was the one he ranted to this last time Dustin had asked (read: begged) Steve to join a game, the time that worked because Steve could no longer think of reasons to say no. He had said no, though, to Dustin’s face, but once he got home, he scooped up Eddie’s damn Dungeons and Dragons player handbook. Then called and recruited Robin to help.

Robin’s smile softens into something less teasing. “I can join, if it’ll make this less awkward for you.”

Steve’s surprised by her answer. “Oh. You’d- really?”

Robin shrugs. “Yeah, dingus. You might have had a long-standing weird vendetta about being asked to play but. Well, no one’s ever asked me before, so I guess I never had to think about if I would or not. It’s like you said on the phone ‘it might be nice to just to fight imaginary monsters for once’.”

“Our characters could be twins.”

Robin grins but before she can respond the ding of the door chimes. Steve swipes his hands across the counter, causing the book, notebook, and pencils to clatter behind the counter out of view. Back to work.

It all started when Dustin asked him to stay for a game months ago. It was the third Dungeons and Dragons game he’d dropped him off at after they’d survived Hell for the fourth (hopefully final) time.

“We play the game, but it’s also a time to like, catch up and chat,” Dustin said, all but pouting at Steve.

Steve had put his car in park and shut off the engine. “If Wheeler’s basement still smells, I’m leaving.”

“Yes!” Dustin cheered.

So, Steve followed Dustin into the Wheelers’ house, called a hello to Karen Wheeler, and made his way to the basement. There had been several startled looks in Steve’s direction, but he’d just walked past the table and plopped onto the end couch beside El, like it was something he did every day. Eddie, Will, Lucas, Erica, and Mike were already sitting at the table, using whatever they could find as chairs. Dustin and he were the last ones to arrive it seems.

El smiled up at him. “Hi Steve. It is nice to have company. I have been watching by myself, since Max can’t get down the stairs yet.”

Well, fuck. Now he’s got to walk Dustin in every time in case El’s in the basement, all lonely on the couch, watching her boyfriend play make believe. “Happy to keep you company, El. You have any idea what’s happening here?”

“I have an understanding of the story, yes,” El nodded and slid across the couch to be close enough to whisper to Steve. She filled him in on what she knew, which is not much because it was a new campaign, but she had sat with Mike and Will when they made their new characters and had been to the two previous games.

When the game got going, Steve watched as El leaned forward on the couch, elbows on her knees and chin in her hands. She had seemed raptured with the story, so Steve started to listen in, too. Dustin must have done a shit job at explaining how this game was played these last years, because as he had watched it progress it seemed more enjoyable than it had sounded when described.

More than that, Steve watched as the stress of real life melted away from the kids and Eddie. They were no longer a group of outcasts who had gone through Hell and barely survived. They were a group of friends having fun in a way Steve couldn’t remember experiencing since he had been in elementary school.

It was two more games and one pool party at his own house later before Steve got the idea to offer his dining room up for the game. Specifically, because at the pool party he saw Max sitting in his living room and did a double take at her, the pieces slotting together in his mind. Max couldn’t manage the steep stairs at the Wheelers house, but everything she needed to get to at Steve’s house was ground level – kitchen, bathroom, living room, dining table.

Next session before everyone scattered to the wind, Steve had said, “Hey, what do you say about moving this game to my house?”

Everyone sitting at the table whipped around to stare at him, mouths open and everything.

“What? My house doesn’t smell like armpit and, uhh, Max could come hang out again,” Steve shrugged and was almost mowed over by how quickly El threw herself on him, wrapping his waist in a hug.

“Yes! Yes!” She answered for everyone.

The next game was moved to Steve’s house. He’d rotated the couch so it would face the dining room table so Max, El, and he could sit comfortably and had even bought a bunch of snacks and soda.

Eddie had been the first person to show up. It had taken him four trips back and forth from his van to the dining room to unload everything he’d brought.

Steve eyes it all critically. “I haven’t seen you use half this shit when you play at Wheelers, yet to lug it back and forth. Do you really need it?”

Eddie shrugged, “Who knows? Better to have it and not need it or whatever.”

“You load and unload all this shit every game?”

“Yeah. Wheeler helps usually but he isn’t here so….”

“If you had asked, I’d of helped,” Steve said. “I didn’t know you would need it, or if you’d want it.”

“Oh.”

Steve’s not sure what to think of Eddie sometimes. They’re friends now, or at least friend-adjacent. Well, it didn’t used to feel like ‘friend-adjacent’ until Steve started to sit in on the Dungeons and Dragons games. He got to see a freer side of Eddie, then. One that smiled and laughed a bit more than Steve ever saw. It’s fine. Steve’s fine. He’s not- he is not hurt that Eddie hides this part of himself from Steve.

Besides, Steve knows he’s the problem. Because Eddie doesn’t have this problem with Robin, or Nancy, or Jonathan. He’s seen Eddie relaxed and chill when they hang out, so long as Steve keeps his distance. And even if he hadn’t been sure that he was the issue before, he was after the first time they made eye contact during a game (accidentally) and he watched Eddie reigning himself in. Made himself smaller right before his eyes. Steve doesn’t understand why but he does his best to give Eddie space.

He thinks, maybe, that he makes Eddie uncomfortable on some level. He doesn’t know how, or why, or if he can change it.

Anyway, the next few games after that Steve helped Eddie unload and reload his van until he finally offered for Eddie to just keep the things he didn’t need at his house.

“If you don’t, y’know, use all of this to actually plan each session, you can just keep it here,” Steve said as they cleaned up, Max, Lucas, Erica, and Dustin helping, since Eddie had offered to pick them up and drop them off this time.

Eddie paused in his gathering of papers to study Steve before saying, “You sure?”

“Yeah. It’s not like I use the dining table unless you guys are here. So, just take what you use and leave the rest.”

Eddie took the Dungeon Master book but left his copy of the players handbook.

And those series of events have led to this Thursday night, with Robin, Nancy, Jonathan, and himself sitting at his dining room table, making a character sheet for Robin, and polishing up the one Steve had already made, because Steve isn’t embarrassed about asking for help these days. Jonathan even brought him the set of dice Will had given him when he’d played.

Robin’s not going to join until the next game, but she is going to come watch. Jonathan had explained that adding one extra character would be easy to accommodate but adding two was harder.

“So, if you like the game and want to continue, talk to Eddie about finding a good way for Robin to join,” Jonathan says, pushing the finalized ‘cheat’ sheet and character back to Steve. “If you don’t like playing, she can just replace you next game.”

“Dustin’s going to lose his mind tomorrow,” Steve laughs, having found that the papers look good, and he should be ready to go.

“I think we’re all sticking around to see it,” Nancy says. She’s volunteered to bring Mike, Lucas, Erica, and Dustin tomorrow night, and Jonathan is bringing Max and Robin when he brings El and Will.

“Hey guys, thanks for this,” Steve says when they clean up and everyone gathers to head out.

“Anytime, man,” Jonathan nods to him as Nancy gives him a quick side hug. Robin gives him a hug that lasts far longer before following them out the door. Steve had asked if she wanted to stay over but her parents are expecting her home tonight.

Once Steve is alone, he heads to the phone and dials Eddie’s number.

Three rings and, “Wayne speaking.”

“Hi Wayne, it’s Steve. Uh, Steve Harrington,” Steve says.

Wayne doesn’t chuckle into the phone, because Steve’s not certain he can chuckle, but he’s definitely amused when he says, “well, Steve Harrington, Eddie’s not home. I can leave a note for him to call you back. I don’t know when he’ll be here.”

“Oh, a note’s fine. I’m usually up late anyway.”

It’s a little past eleven when his phone rings. Steve is half asleep on the couch, but the ringing wakes him right up. And if he trips over his own feet on the way to the phone, there’s no witnesses so it didn’t really happen, did it? “Eddie?”

A soft laugh on the other end of the line, “it’s like you were expecting me, Harrington.”

“I was. Or, uh, I was hoping you’d call any way, not expecting because that feels like… loaded somehow.”

Silence, then, “so what can I do for you?”

“Could you, um, come over early tomorrow? Like thirty minutes sooner could work. An hour would be better, though,” Steve looks down and realizes he’s twirly the phone cord around his finger. He stills his hand and yanks it away from the cord, tucking his fist to his chest to keep it in check.

“Oh, I know what you want,” Eddie’s voice says, suggestive in a way Steve can’t decipher, “Yeah, I can come over an hour sooner.”

He’s been caught before he can even surprise anyone, he realizes. That’s the suggestive tone. Eddie knows. And if Eddie knows what he wants, there’s no way Dustin doesn’t already suspect. Ah well. Surprise ruined but it’ll still be fun for the kids. He hopes. Steve puts a smile on his face so he won’t sound upset with himself when he says, “thanks man. I appreciate it. See ya tomorrow.”

Eddie arrives a little more than an hour early but Steve’s not going to complain. He’d been pacing in the kitchen near the front window, so he watched as Eddie pulled up. He has the front door open before Eddie is halfway to the door.

“Someone’s excited,” Eddie wiggles his eyebrows at him as he passes, moving to the dining room to deposit his armful of stuff on the table.

“Nervous, actually,” Steve says, shutting the door and turning to follow. He almost runs into Eddie when he gets to the turn that leads into the kitchen, and dining room beyond it. “Oh, hi. Thought you were at the table.”

Eddie looks confused. “I gotta go grab the lunchbox. Wait- did you say nervous?”

“What do you need your lunchbox for?”

They stand in the kitchen entrance, just kinda blinking at each other for a moment before Eddie says, in a very confused, slow voice, “maaaaybe I don’t know why I’m here early. What did you want?”

Steve heads to the dining room, motioning for Eddie to follow. He pulls out two chairs next to each other, sliding into one and waiting for Eddie to sit in his. Steve reached across the table, to the player’s handbook and the notebook under it, dragging them closer. He turns to be facing Eddie, sitting sideways in his chair now. “I wanted to see if it was okay for another person to join the game. Today.”

Eddie’s eyebrows get lost behind his bangs with how high he raises them. “What? Who do you know that wants to play?”

“Uh, me,” Steve says, pulling the notebook out from under the handbook, taking out his character sheet and flipping the notebook open to the end of his notes, where he’d taken the time to write out some bullet points with ideas for his character backstory. Then he fishes out the dice from his pocket and deposits them on the table.

Eddie is deathly still and absolutely silent. The only movement is his eyes, which flick between the dice, the pages, and Steve’s face. He’s quiet so long that Steve is worried he made a mistake.

“Or, uh, if you’d rather I not- sorry, I just- Dustin tries to invite me all the time so I thought it would be okay,” Steve says, moving to close the notebook. That’s when Eddie comes back to life, his hand flying out to catch Steve’s, halting his hand.

“No! No, of course it’s fine. I’m just- surprised,” Eddie says, slowly, “you’ve been so against it, very vocally, so I’m just surprised.”

“Yeah. I was kind of an asshole about it all, wasn’t I? But when I think about it, like really think about it, I don’t know why I was against even trying it, y’know? Leftover shit from high school, I think. But I’m not that person anymore, so…” Steve shrugs with one shoulder, not sure why he’s telling Eddie these things. They don’t talk like this, usually. Steve finds he wants to, though. “Plus, watching the games, it looks like you guys have fun. Like, real, forget about your day kinda fun. Besides, Erica enjoys it, and she’s the coolest out of all of us. If Erica likes it, it can’t be just a nerd game.”

Eddie laughs and Steve gets to see that carefree smile Eddie seems to reserve for the kids. “Can’t argue with that. Erica is the coolest of this lot.”

“So, here’s what I was thinking,” Steve says, pulling the notebook between them to discuss the ideas Robin and he had come up with. He was going to play a fighter, so he didn’t have to worry about memorizing spells. If Eddie’ll let Robin join, he’d like for them to be twins, or siblings of some sort at least. Eddie nods, jumps on that instantly. Offers for them to have been separated on accident, so they could work on adding Robin more naturally later, with their two characters having been looking for each other this whole time.

Before Steve even realizes it, he’s been word vomiting for far too long about his character’s backstory and why he’d want to join the Party and Eddie has been silent the entire time, just listening to him, a soft smile on his face. “So, that’s what I got for now.”

Eddie let’s out a whistle and says, “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were trying to seduce me.”

Steve’s brain skips, or freezes, or something, because it just replays that whistle and those words for a few second in his mind before it helpfully supplies the thoughts ‘yes’ and ‘I didn’t know I could seduce you’. He’s just had an epiphany. Unfortunately, his mouth is still working while his brain does this, so it says, “are you feeling seduced, Eds?”

“AHAHA!” Eddie lets out a laugh that is more a bark before he stands up quickly, the chair falling backwards because he hadn’t bothered to scoot the chair back to give him room to stand. “Funny. Dustin’s right, you’re hilarious. I need a cigarette,” and then he all but runs out the front door.

Steve just watches him go before picking up the fallen chair. He can’t wait for Robin to get here. He needs to talk to her.

When Eddie comes back in, it’s with Robin, Jonathan, Max, El, and Will. Steve slaps his notebook shut quickly and hopes that Will didn’t notice it. Eddie is talking animatedly with Will upon entry, though, so he seems safe. Robin fast walks to the table and scoops Steve’s dice and shoves them in her pocket, because Will will recognize them if they stay out.

Steve stands, notebook in hand, and grabs Robin’s wrist with his free hand and drags her out back. He makes sure the slide-glass door is closed firmly and leads her around to the other side of the pool. He doesn’t want any eavesdroppers.

“Robin. Ok, so you remember by sexuality crisis last year?”

“Of course, Michael J Fox in Teen Wolf got you hot under the collar,” Robin says, “how could I forget? You cried about it.”

“You cried about yours, too! I just wasn’t there for it.”

“Not mocking!” Robin holds up her hands in defense, “just saying.”

“Robin. I think I like Eddie.”

“Oh!” her eyes go wide, and her mouth stays in a little ‘o’ shape for a moment. Steve stands there, letting her process. “Oh. Ooohhhhhh. That- that makes sense in my mind in a way I cannot put into words. Of course, it’d be Eddie Munson -the exact opposite of Michael J Fox, by the way- to also get you bothered. Why didn’t I pick up on that? How did I not notice this?”

“Because, despite our best efforts, we have yet to successfully combine,” Steve says, linking his fingers the way Robin had that day in Family Video before unlinking them to flip a hand back and forth between them. “We do not have time for you to have a crisis about it because I am having a crisis about it, and one of us needs to be level-headed.”

“Right,” she sobers instantly. “Right. We cannot spiral together. You first, I’ll wait my turn. So, you like Eddie. Enough to…. Want to do something about it?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, that was a quick answer. You… you really like him. Give me the details. What am I working with here.”

Steve thinks about it. “When he held a broken bottle to my neck, I was terrified. And a little aroused.” Robin says ew. “I’ve thought he was hot since then. But… when he came to at the hospital, all high on the medicine. He’d smiled softly at me and the first thing he said to me was glad you’re here, big boy. I think the actual crush started then.”

“Make sense, tracks, what with your hero complex and praise kink,” Robin nods and paces before turning back to him. “And the realization?”

He can’t argue the hero complex and praise kink thing, because they both know that would be a lie, so he answers, “When I was done rambling about my character idea, he whistled and said If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were trying to seduce me and my first thought was yes.”

Robin’s eyes light up before she starts marching in a small circle around him as she thinks out loud. “Fuck, Steve, you really don’t do anything halfway. Alright. So, you want to do something about this, but you have to decide what you want to do. Because you are my soulmate and I want you happy, but like Eddie is also my friend and if you are experimenting… Just. You have to be sure.”

“I’m sure.”

She stops her circling to squint at him and read his mind, he supposes, because her face lights up in delight. “Oh shit! It’s not sexy thoughts! You want to like, hold his hand and cuddle on the couch, and like, cook dinner together and serve him breakfast in bed and bicker about whose turn it is to pick up Dustin from school!”

“Jesus Robin, can you not shout that! We are out here, so they,” he flings his hand in the direction of the house, “don’t hear. But, yeah. I… I like him. A lot.”

“I can see that. Like, really see that. You like him so much that just his company would be enough. Disgusting. Let me think,” she waves him off, like he has been dismissed but instead she’s the one walking away, walking figure eights around area in front of him for a couple minutes before whirling around to say, “You have to make your character a flirt. An outright slut, even. For information gathering purposes of course.”

“What?”

“He plays all the other characters, Stephan,” she says, dragging out his name to make it sound like ‘Steff-fawn’, “and you know he’s good at this… being in character thing! So, like, if you can trip him up by being all flirty, then that’s like, got to be a sign that he likes you, too, right? If he doesn’t like you, he can take it in stride. But! If he’s crushing on you, too, this will be like, too good to be true to him, yeah? That’ll fluster anyone, especially if he plays on our team and probably hasn’t had many guys openly hitting on him. Plus, you can always tell when someone likes you. You haven’t been checking for signs that Eddie might like you because you weren’t even aware it might be possible. And I’m not going to get your hopes up, Eddie could be, like, a totally straight dude, but when will it ever be safer to test this?”

Steve nods. “Yeah… yeah. Eddie is good at this character thing. And I do know when people are interested. And this is safe. If I flirt and he doesn’t react, or if he recoils in disgust, I can write what I’ve done off as it’s the game and I’m just trying to be a good player. Oh God, Robin, what if he’s like not okay with gay people.”

“Then we bodily throw Eddie out your front door, never speak to him again, and tell Will he’s the new Dungeon Master.”

“That seems extreme.”

“It’d be fitting. Eddie didn’t bat an eyelash when I came out to everyone after my date with Vicki. He actually congratulated me. So, if he only hates gay men then he’d be a disgusting lesbian fetishist and he’ll have to go ASAP. I doubt that’s the case, though.”

Steve barks a laugh and jerks his head towards the house, an offer to return inside. They turn towards the house and are greeted by everyone lined up along the glass door and windows that lead to the pool. A few of them (Nancy, Max, Will) have the decency to try and pretend they weren’t watching by turning away quickly but otherwise everyone just stares at each other until Dustin hauls open the glass door and shouts, “Are you two fighting?”

“No, we aren’t fighting,” Steve says as he shoves his way past Dustin and back into the house. “Let me grab the snacks and the game can begin.”

Steve moves to the kitchen, with Robin and Eddie following behind to help gather all chips, dips, candy, and soda and deposit them on any nearby surface in the dining room. Steve then slides into the chair to Eddie’s left, where Dustin usually sits before anyone else can take that seat.

Dustin slides into the chair next to him instead of arguing about it, saying, “Captivated, aren’t you? Guess I’ll let you have my spot so you can pay attention better. Told you this game was great.”

“I’ll be paying plenty of attention, don’t you worry,” Steve says to Dustin before turning to Eddie, who has taken his place at the head of the table, and winking at him, “right, Eds?”

Eddie stops moving for barely any time at all, and honestly, if the whole point of where he sat wasn’t to be close enough to catch and catalogue all of Eddie’s reactions, he would have missed the freeze. “Oh yeah. Steve’s been following the story closely.”

Steve looks around the table and watches the kids exchange glances and shrugs before Eddie begins to recall what happened last game and where the Party is headed now. Steve waits for his cue. Eddie’s got several ways to introduce Steve’s character, just in case the kids don’t grasp onto the plot hooks. But they’re good players, who know when an adventure hook is being dangled in their face. When their characters read the notice board, looking for quests, and come across the one of a man looking to hire help in searching for his lost sister, they buy into it quickly.

“You find yourselves at the tavern where the help wanted poster said to meet. There are three other people inside this early in the day, not including the barkeep.”

“Can I go and ask the barkeep if he knows who put the poster up?” Will asks. Will speaks in the first person who it comes to his character far more often than anyone else, Steve’s noticed.

“Of course. The barkeep is a surly looking dwarf who keeps rearranging the glasses behind the counter. He sees you approaching and listens to your question before saying,” Eddie says in his normal tone, before dropping into a deeper, Scottish accent. “Aye. You passed him on the way in. He’s sitting there, close to the door.”

“Do we approach as a group?” Lucas asks, and after a quick discussion and confirmation that the table their quest giver is sat as has enough seating for them all, they agree to approach together.

Eddie nods and says, “You all approach the table and the figure sitting there looks up as you do. Steve, please describe what they see as they approach you.”

Steve opens his mouth to answer but the table explodes. Dustin shrieks and throws out his hands to grip Steve’s arm and just shake him. “Oh my God. Oh my God. OH MY GOD. STEVE!” Dustin is yelling basically in his ear. Everyone is exclaiming something in excitement, and it gets loud, fast. With no end to the onslaught of screaming in sight, Steve resigns himself to this fate.

It takes far longer than it should for everyone to quiet down, and Steve’s a little red after all of it. Because he hadn’t expected this reaction. He thought Dustin might be a little hyped, sure, but this level of love he feels from all these kids, and for them, and how doing something so small, like joining their game, brings them this much joy… He regrets not joining sooner, honestly.

Finally, they quiet and Steve gets to describe his character, Sir Gregor of House Buckington (Robin’s idea of a last name, he’s not afraid to throw her under the bus for that) and the game progresses. When Steve’s asked to make his first roll of the night, everyone jumps to offer their dice, but he just calls out to Robin. She still has his in her pocket. He shoots a look at Will, who he can see recognizes the dice, and smiles at him as he rolls his first D20.

It's almost two hours into the session before Steve sees his chance to flirt. The Party is trying to negotiate a discount for some healing potions, and they’ve failed their check. They can’t afford the potions and Erica, playing the rogue, offers to try and steal them.

“Can I give Erica advantage by distracting the shop keep?” Steve asks.

Eddie looks intrigued by these. “… Maybe. How would you distract him?”

“Sir Gregor will lean against the counter and say ‘Sorry about my companion’s awkward attempts to swindle you of your goods for a fair price. I should have stepped in sooner, but I was a bit… captivated watching you shut them down’ and try and fluster this guy by flirting with him.”

It’s a mixed bag of reactions from the kids that Steve barely hears because he’s focused on Eddie. Eddie, whose face looks a bit redder than it usually does.

“You wanna… flirt with the shop keep?” Eddie’s voice is a bit higher than normal too. Interesting.

“If that’s allowed.”

“Umm, uh, y-yeah,” Eddie stumbled over his words and Steve can feel himself grinning like the cat that got the cream. Eddie is flustered. Steve has flustered him. Oh. This is going to be a good game. “Roll a persuasion check.” Steve gets a 17. “Lady Applejack, if you would, roll sleight of hand with advantage as Sir Gregor seems to have successfully taken the attention of the shopkeep.”

“I am going to enjoy having Steve play,” Erica says as she picks up her dice. “No one else helps me steal things.”

They play for almost four hours, an hour longer than normal, but Steve is surprised by how quickly it slips by and finds that he’s a little disappointed that it has to end, especially since they’ve stopped one round into combat. It’s a terrible place to stop, but if the kids are any later getting home there might be a reckoning done by some parents. The only reason there isn’t one now is because Nancy, ever practical about things, called all the parents about an hour and a half ago to let them know the kids might be an hour or two late getting home.

“We’ll pick up next week,” Eddie says, standing to get a good look at the battle map to copy it into his notebook.

“You can just leave it out so you don’t have to recreate it,” Steve says, like he does every week. “I won’t mess with it.”

And like every week before, Eddie just pulls out his graph paper and starts to track how many squares apart everyone is as the kids pack up their own things and head out. Steve walks them all to the door and Robin hangs back to talk, waiting on the front step. Steve walks out and shuts the door behind him.

“He’s absolutely into you,” Robin whispers. “Do you know that this means? We can go on double dates! I’ll be Eddie’s fake date, because I’m not sure Vicki and Eddie should be left alone to conspire against us but-“

“I think it’s a bit too soon to be planning double dates, Buckley,” Steve cuts her off. “Yeah, Eddie’s into me. But like… into me? Does he even know he’s into me?”

“Right. Could also be in the denial phase, still,” she says, then deepens her voice in a poor imitation of Eddie’s and adds, “I think Steve is hot but in a purely platonic friend-like fashion.”

He laughs, shoving Robin towards Jonathan’s car, where everyone else is loaded and waiting, “go home.”

She leaves laughing and Steve waves them off before going back inside. He finds Eddie at the table, placing the minis carefully back into the tacklebox he keeps them in.

“Seriously, you don’t have to put everything away,” Steve says and Eddie jumps.

“Jesus! Don’t sneak up on me,” Eddie clutches at his heart dramatically.

“I didn’t sneak! You’re lost in your own head if you didn’t hear the door slam or my footsteps,” Steve leans back against the wall, watching Eddie. The other man nods to himself, hands still fiddling with a mini in his hand. The one he’d used for Steve’s character. Steve watches and wishes he could read Eddie’s mind as easily as Robin reads his.

“Thank for playing tonight,” Eddie finally says, placing the mini back onto the table instead of in the tacklebox before turning to Steve. “You did real good.”

Steve gives him a smile he hopes Eddie can see if soft and fond, “yeah? I put a lot of effort into this. Robin, Nancy, and Jonathan helped me.”

“You recruited all three?”

“Yeah. I wanted to put in the effort. I’ve watched several games now; I see how much time you all put into this. It’d be an asshole move to agree to join and not, like, at least read the rules.”

Eddie hums an agreement, “would be kinda asshole-ish, but you’re certainly not an asshole anymore.”

Steve fakes wounded, “you thought I was an asshole?”

“Well, it would be a pretty dick move on my part to think you’re an asshole after everything,” Eddie takes a step towards Steve, then seems startled at himself, like he can’t believe he moved. “Anyway, you willing to play again next week?”

“Yeah, man. Looking forward to it.”

“Cool. Cool,” Eddie nods before turning to gather up the stuff he brought with him. “I’ll see you next week, then.”

“Totally.”

Steve watches Eddie head towards the door and feels something like regret in his stomach. Logically he knows he doesn’t have to rush this. Doesn’t have to fling himself at Eddie immediately now that he knows he wants to, knows that Eddie is at least enough into him to get flustered with his ‘fake’ flirting.

But.

But Steve has lived through four apocalypses and Eddie almost didn’t survive one and life is worth taking a chance on doing things he never thought he’d do (like playing and enjoying a game of Dungeons and Dragons), so- He picks up his D20 from the table and gives it a roll, leaves it up to chance if he should do this now or wait.

It rolls around the table, bounces off the books still left on the table before rolling to a stop.

Eh, 8 is good enough.

“Eddie, wait!” Steve flings open his front door and shouts. Eddie, in the process of backing out of the driveway, brakes. Steve runs across his yard and Eddie, window already cracked, rolls it the rest of the way down.

“Yeah?”

“Wanna go on a date with me,” Steve says, then winces. He used to be better at this. “Please. I mean, go on a date with me. Oh, that sounds worse, like I’m expecting you to. Which I’m not-I don’t expect you to like me just because I like you. Fuck, I’m ruining this. Would you like to go on a date with me, please?”

Eddie just lets him shove his foot in his mouth, but he looks fond more than annoyed. Still, he says, “I, uhh, didn’t know you were… into guys.”

“Guys in general, sure. You, specifically? Ridiculously into you.”

That brings a smile to Eddie’s face. “Yeah?”

“So, uh date tomorrow? After I get off work?”

“Tomorrow,” Eddie agrees easily.

Steve watches Eddie drive away and suddenly he can’t wait for work tomorrow. Robin’s going to implode when he tells her.

Eddie, after getting off the phone with Steve the night before the game: Oh, he wants to do drugs before having to suffer through watching us play dnd again. Better bring my druglunchbox

#steddie #steve harrington #eddie munson #platonic stobin #they're slowly combining they just dont know that yet #my fic

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autistic-robin · 4 months

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more dynamics i need to see in st5 for my mental wellbeing

1. el and dustin. that’s it send post. they were genuinely so sweet in season 1 and i miss their mad scientist/test subject vibe immensely. i know el and lucas are going to be paired up this season because of their shared connection (polyamory) to max, but i would love to see more scenes between dustin and el— maybe some lighthearted bonding over their matching leg injuries or daddy issues.

2. mike and robin. i don’t think you understand i need this like i need air. will has already had his gay awakening he doesn’t need a queer life coach!! mike on the other hand is out here in the TRENCHES. this man is down critically horrendously morifyingly BAD for will but is convinced el needs him and that will could never reciprocate his feelings. he needs robin’s gay intuition and advice if anyone does.

3. steve and jonathan. HELLO??? FOR THE LOVE OF GOD HELLO???? i know this is pretty much guaranteed to happen in st5 because full-circle character development and hammering in themes and blah blah blah but i’m still gonna talk about it because listen. steve got his shit rocked by jonathan one (1) time and immediately decided “fuck my idiot friends” developed a moral conscience and SHOWED UP AT HIS HOUSE to apologize. he wasn’t there for nancy he had no idea nancy was there!!! he bought jonathan a new camera!!! he was so respectful of nancy and jon even when nancy dumped his ass a season later!!! yet we never get closure between him and jonathan or even a conversation and i’m PISSED about it. matt and ross duffer rectify this or else.

4. hopper and jonathan and will. you see the vision. these kids have never had a stable father figure who truly understands them (i love bob but he was only there for st2 and was sweet but naive) and everything they’ve been through. jonathan DESPERATELY needs to be de-parentified and released from the emotional burden of constantly putting will and joyce before his own needs and dreams, and hopper desperately needs to feel like he can protect his family instead of “cursing” them. will needs a loving father figure who supports his queer identity, and hopper only had a fire lit under him in s1 when joyce mentioned it could have been a hate crime. this is like textbook recipe for healing and closure for these characters.

5. joyce and karen? i just think it would be neat. we know karen’s getting more involved this season and i think she should get to be a little gay for joyce as a treat. we had crumbs of their dynamic in s1 and on a more sincere note i honestly think joyce could help give karen the courage to leave ted or demand better from him moving forward.

6. nancy and mike. if they don’t have a genuine conversation i’ll actually be fuming raging pulling my hair out. i get it i get that they’re both emotionally repressed but GOD i wish we had more moments with them talking about their trauma or empathizing with each other’s survivor’s guilt and crippling savior complexes. all the “max and mike are the same character in a different font” business is very valid and i agree madwheeler is like ten shots of espresso injected directly into the bloodstream HOWEVER, nancy and mike’s traumas and emotional issues are so so similar please let them talk about it!!!!

7. steve and robin???? please for the love of god????? literally what the fuck was happening in s4 they were NOT given enough screentime together. not cool. i want them BACK on their queerplatonic bullshit in s5, fully codependent disgustingly clingy like god intended.

8. jonathan and el. i just want them to be siblings together!!! we got a lot of willel sibling vibes in s4 and some sweet jon-and-will moments, but i would love for them to delve into jonathan and el’s dynamic. this girl is a big reason why will was saved in s1 and we just… never really see the byerses address that? jonathan has a lottt of self-blaming tendencies when it comes to will and i’d love for el to help remind him he isn’t responsible for protecting and saving his brother all the time. conversely, i’d love for jonathan to remind el that she’s just a kid and that the weight of the world shouldn’t be on her shoulders. they’re both really soft-spoken and sweet characters with hard veneers and i feel like they’d pair well together for more emotional scenes.

9. literally the entire byers-hopper family they are the heart and soul of the show and i will never forgive the duffer brothers for losing that in s3-4 in favor of expanding the scope of the story. i miss them.

10. steve and el. i would maim and kill for this dynamic actually. both of them are involved in love triangles and have arcs centered around independency and platonic/found familial love, and steve has his whole mom-of-the-group shtick that could be really endearing paired with el’s plucky weird-little-girl vibe. idk i just think they would be a cute team, maybe paired with dustin or lucas.

11. stoncy and robin. literally give me this team or give me death. i miss stoncy’s iconic end-of-season-1 monster-hunting trio dynamic SO MUCH i would give anything for them to go on a sidequest and really just hash it all out with each other. and robin could offer steve moral support and comic relief— while we’re on the subject i would also kill to see her and jonathan interact!! like they are so similar in that brooding-noncomformist way and i feel like they would either immediately gravitate toward each other based on values OR immediately clash due to their personality differences. jonathan is all quiet and avoidant and robin can be… A Lot (said with love) when she’s not masking like s3. i just think they’d be funny together.

12. this is devolving quickly so scott clarke and the party. no i will not elaborate. thank you for your time

#stranger things #st5 #mike wheeler #will byers #el hopper #st the party #willel #jonathan byers #steve harrington #stonathan #stoncy #byler #< target audience

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upsidedownwithsteve · 2 years

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could I request modern!steve surprising reader at college? maybe she has been super homesick and it’s all fluffy?

Steve frowned at the maps on his phone, ‘cause the estimated time told him the journey would take three hours, but he was certain he could do it in less. Two and a half, maybe, if he didn’t stop. He grinned as the group chat pinged with notifications, Robin asking you if you were still planning on staying in tonight.

He breathed a sigh of relief when you replied with a ‘yeah, too tired to leave the dorm.’ How was he supposed to surprise you if you weren’t there to open the door for him? So the rest of your friends sent messages back, saying how they missed you as much as you missed them, how they hoped exams weren’t stressing you too much and would you be home soon?

Steve knew your exams were taking a toll on you, he could hear it in your voice when you called each night, cheek pressed to the pillow and voice soft with sleep and longing. When it got particularly bad, he could hear you get a little watery, words splintering in the middle when you told him you really just wished he was there to give you a hug.

So Steve was gonna do just that. Drive two and a half (three) hours to your college to wrap you up in his arms in the hug he so desperately wanted to give you. Robin was the one who convinced him to surprise you, who told him the sneaking around and white lies would be worth it.

‘Cause Steve had already had to reject your call by the time he reached the outskirts of Hawkins and it pained him. You knew he was off, why wouldn’t he take your call? His phone pinged through with a message from you.

‘Missing you ♥️’

Steve stepped on the accelerator a little harder.

He did in fact make it sooner than his sat nav told him, a smug feeling of pride mixing with anticipation and nerves in his stomach. It wasn’t like he rarely got to see you, no, you came home all the time, the train ride back to Hawkins even faster than the drive but exams had you holed up in either your dorm room or the library most weekends this month. Steve parked his car in the lot, felt his stomach flip when he saw your bedroom window from the sidewalk, cracked open for some autumn air, curtains tangling in the breeze. If he squinted enough, he could just make out the photo frame on the sill, the one he knew held a photo of you and him last vacation, you on his lap in front of a campfire at the cabin at Sugar Creek, taken by Jonathan.

He counted the doors to yours, each footstep echoing almost too loudly in the narrow corridor, blurred with the sounds of too many different spotify playlists, chatter and someone yelling about a grade they got. Steve sucked in a breath before he knocked on your door, your name along with your two roommates written in red pen on the whiteboard pinned to the wood. He hoped they’d gotten Nancy’s Instagram message, that they knew the plan and would let you open the door.

Sure enough, you were the one behind it when it swung open, the movement making the hair falling over his eyes lift and he grinned at the sight of you, rucksack over one shoulder, a bunch of peonies in one hand.

“Surprise,” Steve managed, the last syllable knocked out of him in a soft oomph, as you launched yourself at him, pink petals crushed between you both, your arms around his neck and he laughed as he held you to him, your toes barely on the ground at the exuberance of it all.

You were crying, he could feel them on his neck, where you’d buried your face and sniffed. “Happy tears, I hope,” Steve murmured, letting his bag and the flowers drop to the hallway carpet so he could hug you a little better.

You nodded, making a small sound, a watery pleased noise that made Steve laugh even more.

“You’re such a dick,” you choked out on a sob, pulling back to smile at him to show you didn’t mean it. You usually weren’t one for surprises, and your boyfriend knew this, but god, you’d never been so grateful to open the door to the person you least expected. “You didn’t answer my call. Thought you were sick of my whining.”

“Missed you too, babe,” Steve quipped but pushed a thumb to your cheek, pouting at the tear he caught there, your flushed cheeks and wet lashes. “Nah, me? Sick of you? Unheard of. Illegal, actually, to even think of such a thing.”

You sniffed again, lip wobbling and Steve couldn’t stop his grin. “Christ, woman, c’mere.”He pulled you back to him, hand cupping the back of your head so you could cling to his shirt and pretend that you were definitely not crying.

“I missed you,” you told him, words pressed to the skin of his throat, along with a kiss, tear soaked and soft. “A stupid amount.”

You got a proper kiss in response, sticky with fondness, a little salt from you but it was still Steve. It still tasted like home.

…

#steve harrington #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington x you #steve harrington x y/n #steve harrington fic #steve harrington fluff #steve harrington imagine #steve harrington fanfic #steve harrington fanfiction #Steve Harrington blurb #steve harrington oneshot #Steve baby blurb

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heyitspersephone · 11 months

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Thinking about stranger things again now that the strikes are over and how, narratively, it would be way, WAY cooler to have Mike get Vecna’d instead of Will in s5

It’s just something about the way Mike’s trauma is never addressed or handled in any way?? Like, he hugs his mom twice and then when he was depressed in season 2 and 4 nobody did anything (his parents scolded him for his behavior in s2 ig but that’s not support). His best friend went missing leaving from his house, he watched his body get pulled from the quarry, watched El (in his eyes) kill herself stopping the demogorgon, watched Will be possessed, saw Bob die, was in Star Court when everything went down, saw Billy die, had his best friend move away, was SHOT AT (and really too few people talk about the shooting in Cali bc omg??), buried a body, and watched the apocalypse start. And that’s just off the top of my head.

(And yes I’m aware that the other characters (especially Will) are traumatized too but I will get to my point in a second just hold on)

The plot is geared towards this idea that Will and Henry have to have some big face off (and they should, in my opinion, but I don’t think it should be in a possession, or at least not the the Vecna kind of possession, yk?) but that makes it all the better, writing wise, to have mike be the one in danger. Will was helpless and hiding in s1, I think Will should get his big strong moments in s5 where he gets to be the hero of the story.

It would just be a lot more fun to work with Mike being Vecna’d than Will, because what are we going to bring up with Will’s visions? His dad? His sexuality? The events of s1 from his perspective? It would be cool to see, for sure, but we already know most of that. Mike, on the other hand, has a number of untapped things, like jumping off the quarry, why he’s so hesitant to tell El he loves her, how someone who was smart and kind enough to take El in in s1 and come up with the spy and sauna plans in s2 and s3 could turn into the oblivious asshole that he was in s3 and s4 (he needs therapy, ik, I still love his character but I want to explore the reasons he went from his s2 characterization to his s3 one)

It would be a very interesting parallel, I think, to explore Mike’s thought processes in this way, especially with all of Mike’s repression business (bc whether you ship byler or milkvan he is repressing his feelings HARD. Like, beyond his inability to say I love you there’s the fact that he doesn’t bring up the apparent many times he called pre-s4 during the Rink O Mania fight?? That literally would’ve absolved him of guilt in that argument since he WAS reaching out to Will the whole time? Hellooooo????).

Anyways, this all brings me to my main point: Vecna targets isolation as much as he targets trauma and guilt. The whole party was traumatized by the events in s1, s2, and s3, but Max was the one targeted. Plus, Henry went for Fred, Chrissy, and Patrick (I think his name was Patrick) instead of going for the perceivably easy targets that the mcs would make (ik narratively that would’ve made it more boring but shhh), so why Max and those three specifically? They were isolated. Lucas and Erica have each other, Dustin goes to Steve and Robin, Will and El have each other and Jonathan and Joyce, Nancy probably goes to Jonathan, and who does Mike go to?

No one. And don’t say Nancy because if those two have heart to hearts then I’m the next coming of Christ. Max separated herself from the Party in the aftermath of her grief and guilt over Billy, and it feels quite obvious that Mike was doing the same (like I said, he has repression issues). So Mike is traumatized, alone, and guilty (be it Will getting taken from Mike’s house, losing El in front of him multiple times, the many deaths he has witnessed, or the internalized homophobia angle), which makes him more of a target than Will, in my opinion (or at least an easier one, especially given his tendency to put himself on the line during fights (quarry, most of s2, s3 mindflayer fight), which would set him up on the suicidal ideation path)

Furthermore, as I’ve seen a few other people point out (and I can’t find the posts but one of them had eight screenshots of the various moments), Mike is always the one getting in the way, so it would be a strategic move for Henry to target him to get him out of the picture. Mike was the one that found El and got her involved in saving Will s1, he was the one who came up with the spy plan and called out the ambush in s2, he was the one to monologue Will out of his possession s2, he was the one with the sauna plan for Billy in s3, he was the one trying to help El get the strength to fight s4 (even if the monologue sucked ass it’s the intention that counts). As much as people like to hate on Mike, he is in the leader position most of the time when the party is grouped up (barring his mental health struggles slowing that down beginning of s3 and throughout s4, but he’s still capable of it). He’s the idea man, and he’s the one whose character’s foundations were built on the desire to keep his friends safe, so it would be a very fun plot line to watch him be the one targeted in s5. Like Will said, as lovestruck and cheesy as he was, Mike is the heart of the party when he’s on his A-game, so Henry should 100% be trying to keep him in the issues he’s been struggling with.

Obviously, Will and El are the Targets with a capital T for Henry since they’re the ones that got away or whatever, but I think Mike is a weakness of Will’s (and El’s tbh but also I think they need to have separate character arcs and I don’t exactly ship milkvan) that should be exploited.

TL;DR: Mike should get Vecna’d instead of Will in s5 because it would make sense in lore and be a very cool way to resolve his character arc

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mossyivy · 8 months

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𝗡/𝗦𝗙𝗪 𝗔𝗹𝗽𝗵𝗮𝗯𝗲𝘁

Eddie Munson, Jonathan Byers, Robin Buckley, Steve Harrington x Reader

𓆩Eddie Munson𓆪

ᗢ𝗦𝗙𝗪

A = Affection (How affectionate are they? How do they show affection?)

Personally I feel like Eddie isn't a massive physical affection kind of guy. PDA is a no go for him with the exception of hand holding and the occasional kiss on the cheek or lips if he's feeling generous.

B = Best friend (What would they be like as a best friend? How would the friendship start?)

Let's be honest, this friendship has to have started through a mutual interest or a friend of a friend type situation.

Like maybe you frequent a game shop Eddie likes but can't shop at frequently. An you know the store inside out, better than the own employees do. You point him in the right direction of new stuff the store just got in or even the sales rack.

He starts talking your ear off about the latest D&D manual and suddenly he's asking for your home phone number so he can invite you to some of his future campaigns he hosts at his trailer.

C = Cuddles (Do they like to cuddle? How would they cuddle?)

Although I don't think Eddie is a big affection guy, he does like cuddling. But he has to be the big spoon or at least holding you to his chest in some fashion. If not, it's just uncomfortable and too awkward to him to enjoy it

D = Domestic (Do they want to settle down? How are they at cooking and cleaning?)

I think Eddie craves connection but doesn't want to quite admit it. But once he meets "the one" it's like he's in a whole new world and understands why people talk about marriage.

As for cooking, Eddie grew up in an environment of needing to get by constantly. (We love Uncle Wayne, best uncle ever.) And I'm not 100% sure where Eddie would exactly fall.

But I do know this mf is the king over microwave meals or cooking something with step by step instructions. Mostly because I think he can't focus long enough to follow an actual recipe versus something premade.

E = Ending (If they had to break up with their partner, how would they do it?)

Young Eddie would have no problem dropping someone like a sack of potatoes.

Older Eddie would take a lot to get to the point of loving someone so I think he'd really struggle breaking up with someone if the time came. But if it did come to that (as much as I hate to admit it) I don't think he'd be able to do it face to face and probably do it over the phone.

F = Fiance(e) (How do they feel about commitment? How quick would they want to get married?)

(See Domestic for the commitment part of this question)

Eddie would definitely be the type of guy to just refer to his partner as his wife/husband or anything else gender non-conforming.

But one day Eddie would probably just drop the question on you and you'd end up just getting papers signed instead of having a massive wedding or something.

G = Gentle (How gentle are they, both physically and emotionally?)

Physically Eddie is gentle (unless...)

Emotionally... I feel like Eddie is too blunt for his own good. Even if he's not intending to be an asshole he just comes off that way by nature of his personality. A relationship with him is not for the faint of heart.

H = Hugs (Do they like hugs? How often do they do it? What are their hugs like?)

Like I said before affection isn't really something Eddie thrives at BUT I do believe this man is a hugger. The kinda guy that bear hugs you and lifts you off the ground if he hasn't seen you in a while.

I = I love you (How fast do they say the L-word?)

When Eddie falls, he falls hard. But my God is he emotionally constipated...

I feel like it take him a good few months to say "I love you". Unless his partner says it first then I think he'd have zero problems with saying it. Maybe even saying it more often than his partner.

J = Jealousy (How jealous do they get? What do they do when they’re jealous?)

I don't think Eddie gets jealous per say. But I do think he has his boughts of thinking he isn't good enough for his partner.

Or even possibly just waiting for the "inevitable" to happen (i.e. being broken up with)

K = Kisses (What are their kisses like? Where do they like to kiss you? Where do they like to be kissed?)

Eddie is not experienced in the slightest...(don't come for me, we love him but be honest with yourselves he was "different" and that was frowned upon in the 80s)

At first he'd probably stick with simple pecks but slowly learn what you like and adjust to that following your lead.

I really do believe Eddie is the kinda dude to squish his partners face and give them a hard kiss on the cheek until their face scrunches up. Which makes him laugh before going back to doing whatever he was doing.

But for him... He likes being kissed on the back of his hands. Think about it, his hands are probably all calloused from playing guitar for so long and if you can appreciate their beauty... He'd melt!

L = Little ones (How are they around children?)

Eddie is fun uncle material. He'd entertain the hell out of kids. Probably be the one little kids would run to with books because he's not afraid to do goofy voices or act out things from the book while reading.

Definitely would be adored by children with how imaginative he is alone.

M = Morning (How are mornings spent with them?)

Eddie gives me grumpy in the morning vibes. If you wake him up before noon on weekends you're definitely getting dirty looks unless it's life or death.

But when he does get up he's the one making the coffee strong enough to grow hair on Sasquatch's chest.

N = Night (How are nights spent with them?)

Eddie is a night person. If he's not doing gigs at the Hideout he's at home practice or watching movies with you. I imagine he probably has an extensive collection of recorded VHS' of the most random ass movies you could think of.

And only half of them are labeled. So you two could be watching the original Halloween movie and suddenly after it's over you get the opening credits to Risky Business out of nowhere.

O = Open (When would they start revealing things about themselves? Do they say everything all at once or wait a while to reveal things slowly?)

Eddie is mostly an open book when it comes to random sprinkles of information about himself. But feelings take a while.

P = Patience (How easily angered are they?)

Eddie is probably a 50/50 kinda guy. He can have the patience of a saint and then the next day he's irritated by something taking too long in the microwave.

Q = Quizzes (How much would they remember about you? Do they remember every little detail you mention in passing, or do they kind of forget everything?)

Eddie has a hard time remembering things (except your birthday, he most definitely wrote that on his arm or hand the second you gave him that information) but if someone asked him about a random obscure thing about you he'd be able to rattle off the most weird shit possible.

R = Remember (What is their favorite moment in your relationship?)

Probably when one of you confessed first. Most likely because that was the biggest relief Eddie's felt in ages but he was also incredibly happy.

S = Security (How protective are they? How would they protect you? How would they like to be protected?)

Eddie probably is protective to a fault (I mean c'mon look at what he's been through)

When it comes to defending you he's more than happy to step up and get in between you and whoever is trying to cause problems.

Now could he win a fight? Depends. If the person he's fighting is massive, no. But if it's equal grounds, there's no doubt in my mind he could lay someone out.

But Eddie getting protected is different. He would most likely just pull you out of the situation of you defending his honor and tell you how it wasn't worth arguing with someone like that. Regardless he'd be thankful though.

T = Try (How much effort would they put into dates, anniversaries, gifts, everyday tasks?)

He's the epitome of try. Eddie isn't a massive romantic by nature but he sure tries his damn best to make his partner happy.

U = Ugly (What would be some bad habits of theirs?)

Leaving his shit all over the place! This man is a mess when it comes to keeping places tidy.

V = Vanity (How concerned are they with their looks?)

Eddie doesn't give a shit how people look at him. He solely dresses for himself and himself alone unless it's a special occasion.

W = Whole (Would they feel incomplete without you?)

As much as I'd like to say yes, I really think Eddie could go his entire life without having a partner. Especially with the career he wants to have in the future.

X = Xtra (A random headcanon for them.)

He'd most definitely make you look through his collection of old guitar picks and pick your favorite one.

Once you did you'd see him messing with it for a while and come back to you later with it tied to a piece of twine and into a makeshift necklace.

Just so you could have a piece of him whenever he's not around.

Y = Yuck (What are some things they wouldn’t like, either in general or in a partner?)

Judgemental people, if he so much as got a sign of his partner being judgemental he'd be out of there in record time.

Z = Zzz (What is a sleep habits of theirs?)

Definitely passes out around 4am every night and wonders why he's always so exhausted.

But also somehow the type of guy to take a 45 minute nap and act like he slept for 8 hours.

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

ᗢ𝗡𝗦𝗙𝗪

A = Aftercare (what they're like after sex)

Attentive. Probably likes to spoon and play with his partners hair.

B = Body part (their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner's)

Chest guy... Yes, yes. Eddie is a boob man. He's a very simple man, he sees booba he's happy.

Now his favorite body part of his own (I know I mentioned this already but shhhh) his hands. Definitely his hands, he's got years of playing guitar built on those things. He's damn proud of them.

C = Cum (anything to do with cum, basically)

Strongest pullout game in the West. Not only does he live of the edge of almost cumming inside of his partner but he'd be the last guy to deny it really does feel better raw.

He's clean and knows you are too. Knows his partner takes proper precautions for birth control if needed so why mess with a good thing?

D = Dirty secret (pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

Eddie is a frequent masturbater. It started as a stress relief thing and once he started seeing someone just became a habit when he starts thinking of them often.

E = Experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they're doing?)

I wouldn't say Eddie is experienced but very interested in making the experience the best it can be for whoever he's with.

F = Favorite position (this goes without saying)

Without a doubt in my mind it's cowgirl. He just really enjoys watching his partner riding him and the reaction they have whenever he bucks his own hips up to match their pace.

G = Goofy (are they more serious in the moment? are they humorous? etc.)

Eddie is definitely cracking jokes during sex. You can't even count the times he's tossed you onto his bed onto to flop next to you and give the usual "You come here often" gag. An even though you've heard it dozens of times the look on his face, that cheeky grin he gives everytime just makes you laugh.

H = Hair (how well groomed are they? does the carpet match the drapes? etc.)

I think Eddie wouldn't care to keep himself trimmed unless his partner asked him too since his hair is so damn thick and curly.

I = Intimacy (how are they during the moment? the romantic aspect)

A little goofy but keeping his jokes to a minimum to not ruin the moment completely.

J = Jack off (masturbation headcanon)

(See Dirty Secret)

K = Kink (one or more of their kinks)

Bondage (to you), Hair Pulling (to him), Dirty talk (both ways)

L = Location (favorite places to do the do)

As much as a risk taker I think Eddie is I don't think he'd like adventuring outside the bedroom. Maybe the back of his van if you're both feeling impatient enough to not wait till you get home.

M = Motivation (what turns them on, gets them going)

Probably his partners outfit choices. Wether it's fishnets and a tight skirt or just walking around in his old band T-shirts he just finds his eyes constantly wandering to you.

N = No (something they wouldn't do, turn offs)

No exhibitionism

O = Oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.)

I'd say it's about 50/50. Maybe slightly leaning towards giving because he really enjoys watching his partner enjoy the fruits of his labor a little bit more than getting something of his own.

P = Pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.)

Eddie is definitely a slow and sensual type of guy. He likes to take his time and unravel every part of his partner and make the moment another time to remember when their brain wanders the next day.

Q = Quickie (their opinions on quickies, how often, etc.)

Don't think he's a fan of them. Like I said he likes to take his time.

R = Risk (are they game to experiment? do they take risks? etc.)

Eddie is definitely open to experiment. He even encourages it.

S = Stamina (how many rounds can they go for? how long do they last?)

Since Eddie isn't really the athletic type I think he's good for at least 2 rounds without any real issue.

T = Toys (do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?)

Eddie most definitely has a collection of toys stuffed under his bed in a box. Hell he even has his handcuffs proudly on display on the rail of his bed.

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

Eddie is a massive tease. He's definitely the type to walk up behind his partner when they're doing something and suddenly his hands are under the bottom on your shirt. Playing with the waistband of whatever bottoms you're wearing at the moment. Ghosting ever so lightly as his thumbs pull at the band and make it snap against your skin.

All while his head is sat on your shoulder watching what you're doing and talking about mundane stuff.

V = Volume (how loud they are, what sounds they make, etc.)

Eddie is mostly quiet, with the exception of heavy breathing and the occasional grunt or groan.

W = Wild card (a random headcanon for the character)

Loves it when you call him Sir.

Accidentally found out when you were being sarcastic in response to something he said with "Yes Sir." And he immediately got hard and a little bit embarrassed.

X = X-ray (let's see what's going on under those clothes)

Eddie to me is one of those skinny nerdy white boys that just be packing heat for no damn reason... Shower not a grower at a solid 7.5 inches and girthy as a mother fucker

Y = Yearning (how high is their sex drive?)

Probably pretty average. Maybe craves actual sex 2-3 times a week.

Z = Zzz (how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

Eddie has maybe 10 minutes tops in him after sex. He makes sure you're okay and taken care of and then suddenly he's sleeping like a hibernating bear.

𓆩Jonathan Byers𓆪

ᗢ𝗦𝗙𝗪

A = Affection (How affectionate are they? How do they show affection?)

Jonathan is a rather private guy so PDA is usually a no go for him. But when you guys are alone or among good company he's decently affectionate.

More often than not he'd probably be holding your hand just has a hand on you some how.

B = Best friend (What would they be like as a best friend? How would the friendship start?)

Jonathan is an amazing friend but it takes a lot for him to consider someone a friend. I have a feeling he's a life long friend kind of guy.

So his friendship started in early childhood (probably Kindergarten or 1st/2nd grade) and you two basically grew up together. Most definitely one of those friendships where you'd call his family, your family by extension.

C = Cuddles (Do they like to cuddle? How would they cuddle?)

Jonathan is definitely a cuddler. He'd probably want to be big spoon out of habit but if you asked he'd be more than happy to let you hold him.

D = Domestic (Do they want to settle down? How are they at cooking and cleaning?)

He would most definitely want to settle down but not until his late 20s/early 30s. Jonathan loves his family dearly and definitely would want one of his own someday.

Jonathan is extremely self sufficient. He can do most house work (I think he really hates doing laundry though) and cooks extremely well from living as basically a second parent to his younger brother.

He also strikes me as someone who could pull together very cheap meal that are extremely good.

E = Ending (If they had to break up with their partner, how would they do it?)

As we saw his previous relationships... (*Cough, cough* Nancy *cough*) He'd probably ride that relationship until you break up with him or it dies. Unless something major happened or you fuck up badly he's not letting you go.

F = Fiance(e) (How do they feel about commitment? How quick would they want to get married?)

Jonathan to me would make it very clear how much he wants to marry his partner the second he starts thinking about it. He'd probably propose and you two would be engaged for a few years and slowly save up for your perfect little wedding surrounded by everyone you care about.

G = Gentle (How gentle are they, both physically and emotionally?)

He's quite literally the epitome of gentle in every way. Especially with how he grew up with his parents constantly arguing and with how his father was, he'd want to be the exact opposite of him.

Physically, Emotionally and verbally all around Jonathan is gentle.

H = Hugs (Do they like hugs? How often do they do it? What are their hugs like?)

Jonathan adores hugs! He'd be the kind of boyfriend to hug his partner constantly and maybe cling just a little bit but not too much.

At the beginning of a relationship though he'd be too in his own head to hug but would eventually work up the courage to ask. But once he got that first one it be hard to get him to not want to hug you.

I = I love you (How fast do they say the L-word?)

I can imagine Jonathan being in love before even getting into a relationship with someone.

Would probably just blurt it out haphazardly one day and you say it back. Followed by a surprised stare from him, forming into a smile. You'd have a conversation oh what exactly you both meant by it and now you're together...

J = Jealousy (How jealous do they get? What do they do when they’re jealous?)

Much like Eddie, I don't think Jonathan gets jealous but he does think he isn't good enough for his partner. Maybe even would fear that he's being "too much" on occasion and wonder if he's going to lose you.

But since Jonathan isn't emotionally constipated he voiced his concerns with his partner and actually talks it out. To which he is reassured and knows you love him very much.

K = Kisses (What are their kisses like? Where do they like to kiss you? Where do they like to be kissed?)

Jonathan is definitely a soft kisser. Slow, passionate and full of love everytime his lips touch yours.

He's definitely a temple kisser. But for him, he would probably not admit it but he really likes when you rub your nose with his after a kiss on the lips.

L = Little ones (How are they around children?)

Great with kids, better with older kids though. He is a family man after all, he definitely had to have picked up something from watching his Mom take care of him and his brother growing up.

But babies... Babies are his downfall. I think he'd be so scared of dropping a baby or hurting them by not holding them propy. That it takes a lot of time for him to not be nervous around babies anymore.

M = Morning (How are mornings spent with them?)

Younger Jonathan isn't much of a morning person. Struggles getting up in the morning but pushes through it.

Older Jonathan is most definitely a morning person through and through. He's up at the ass crack of dawn to go take pictures of nature and back in enough time to make his partner breakfast and head to work.

N = Night (How are nights spent with them?)

Night's with Jonathan consist of him reading poetry while you do your own thing in the same room as him. You two don't need to constantly do activities together to spend time together. Merely being in the same room is enough to make you both happy.

O = Open (When would they start revealing things about themselves? Do they say everything all at once or wait a while to reveal things slowly?)

Once you get past the threshold of Jonathan's trust he's an open book to you. If he trusts you, he's telling you everything and anything you're curious about. But only if you ask.

P = Patience (How easily angered are they?)

Jonathan has the patience of tired mother.

Very patient but once he's past the boiling point it's best to just leave him alone for a little while.

Q = Quizzes (How much would they remember about you? Do they remember every little detail you mention in passing, or do they kind of forget everything?)

Knows you like the back of his hand. Jonathan is the observant type so most of his information on you is just him watching your actions and not him asking.

Often you'd be surprised to get a random little gift of something practical because he noticed you were in need of it.

R = Remember (What is their favorite moment in your relationship?)

Probably your first anniversary together? Jonathan would make sure that was the most romantic night he's ever shown you and continue to sweep you off your feet from that point on.

S = Security (How protective are they? How would they protect you? How would they like to be protected?)

Jonathan is definitely protective. He's a quiet guy who doesn't talk often but if something happens he's more than willing to step in an defend the one he loves. We already know Jonathan can hold his own in a fight.

But for him, Jonathan usually doesn't expect to be protected he's use to being the protector. Probably wouldn't know how to process it at first because no one outside of his family has stood up for him before.

Eventually he'd be thankful though.

T = Try (How much effort would they put into dates, anniversaries, gifts, everyday tasks?)

Jonathan is really caring in general so I don't think he'd really see his good treatment of his partner as "putting in effort" and just simply view it as everyday things he does.

But Jonathan is extremely thoughtful and tends to get more practical gifts over shiny and new things.

U = Ugly (What would be some bad habits of theirs?)

Being too quiet. I know I've said Jonathan is in touch with his emotions but he still has his boughts of holding in things he thinks are too heavy.

Almost to the point where he tends to boil over and spill his guts every once in a while.

Aside from emotional things I think Jonathan would have a hard time letting go of sentimental things like random movie ticket stubs from dates you've been on, to a sweater that could be used as a rag it's so old and beat up. But he refuses to get rid of it because it was a gift from your first anniversary together.

V = Vanity (How concerned are they with their looks?)

Jonathan doesn't think he's attractive and is honestly baffled how he caught your eye in the first place. But he does try to look his best when leaving the house. And goes the absolute extra mile when going out with his partner.

W = Whole (Would they feel incomplete without you?)

Yes. Jonathan adores his partner more than anything and if he were to lose them he probably wouldn't know what to do with himself.

X = Xtra (A random headcanon for them.)

Absolutely a coupon queen and sales rack fiend.

I could totally see Jonathan sitting at the kitchen table with a binder and the Sunday paper clipping coupons to save as much money as possible.

Y = Yuck (What are some things they wouldn’t like, either in general or in a partner?)

Someone who doesn't share his music taste. Jonathan would be the old guy to say "kids these days don't know good music anymore" and then turn on The Cure.

Z = Zzz (What is a sleep habits of theirs?)

Light sleeper, sleeps on his side most of the time and every little noise he hears his eyes open immediately.

More often than not Jonathan probably isn't getting a full 8 hours of sleep a night, most likely 6 hours at best.

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

ᗢ𝗡𝗦𝗙𝗪

A = Aftercare (what they're like after sex)

The most attentive man on the planet. Cleans up, checks in with you constantly, gets you water and makes you at least eat a small snack after everything. Probably all while cuddling up to you and giving you little kisses in the process.

B = Body part (their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner's)

Jonathan most definitely loves you as a whole but really admires your face and how beautiful he thinks you are. And enjoys how expressive you can be.

If someone asked Jonathan what he liked about himself physically he probably wouldn't know how to answer the question. But if he really thought about it he would most likely pick his eyes.

C = Cum (anything to do with cum, basically)

Cumming inside his partner is an immediate no. Probably a real stickler about using condoms and still wanting his partner to take precautions of their own just to be safe.

D = Dirty secret (pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

Definitely has a polaroid of you naked that he said he got rid of ages ago. But everytime he tried throwing it out he just stared at it and couldn't bring himself to do it because of how beautiful he thought you were in the moment.

E = Experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they're doing?)

Jonathan knows what he's doing most of the time but really appreciates a partner who's willing to be vocal and tell him where he can improve but also praise him when he's doing well.

F = Favorite position (this goes without saying)

I know it's boring but missionary. Mostly because he likes looking at your face and seeing that you're enjoying yourself to the best of his abilities.

G = Goofy (are they more serious in the moment? are they humorous? etc.)

Serious, if you crack a joke during sex he'll probably laugh but not say one back and just continue on with everything. Needs to concentrate somewhat so he can stay in the right headspace.

H = Hair (how well groomed are they? does the carpet match the drapes? etc.)

Keeps himself trimmed after getting into a relationship.

I = Intimacy (how are they during the moment? the romantic aspect)

Romantic and gentle during. Doesn't care much for rough treatment but loves seeing you enjoy yourself more than anything.

J = Jack off (masturbation headcanon)

Only masturbates when stressed or hasn't had sex in a while.

K = Kink (one or more of their kinks)

Sensory deprivation (both), Praise (to him), Edging (to you)

L = Location (favorite places to do the do)

Leaving the bedroom is fine but the house? No. Definitely not. But if he had to pick a favorite place probably the living room on the couch. There's just something about the small space he really enjoys.

M = Motivation (what turns them on, gets them going)

You teasing him. Jonathan thrives on you teasing him with your body or even just saying something he wouldn't expect.

N = No (something they wouldn't do, turn offs)

No exhibitionism, no slapping or hitting of any kind

O = Oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.)

Jonathan is definitely a giver more than a receiver. 25/75. He finds it awkward looking down at you when you go down on him that he can't focus enough to let himself feel good. So if he does get head he needs to be blindfolded so he doesn't have to worry about looking at you.

But when he goes down on you... The man acts like it's the last time he's ever going to see you every single time. Damn near rips your soul out of your body with how well this man can work his tongue.

P = Pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.)

Slow and sensual all the way. Really enjoys taking his time and being thorough with everything.

Q = Quickie (their opinions on quickies, how often, etc.)

(See Pace)

R = Risk (are they game to experiment? do they take risks? etc.)

Jonathan is open to experimenting as long as it doesn't include pain. He can't bring himself to even think about laying a hand on you in that way.

S = Stamina (how many rounds can they go for? how long do they last?)

Jonathan makes sure to get you to cum at least twice before he even lets you near his dick. He could definitely go 3 rounds, has a slow refractory period.

T = Toys (do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?)

I don't think Jonathan has any toys but if he did it probably just be something simple like those finger sleeves with the bumps all over them.

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

Jonathan isn't the teasing type but he enjoys being teased a lot more than he'd like to admit.

V = Volume (how loud they are, what sounds they make, etc.)

Definitely the whimpering type. Not super loud but you'll definitely hear him every once in a while.

W = Wild card (a random headcanon for the character)

Jonathan is a Sub. There's no doubt in my mind that when it comes being in charge he lets you call the shots.

X = X-ray (let's see what's going on under those clothes)

Ah yes, another skinny nerdy white boy packing heat. Grower not a shower. Definitely has the appearance of an average joe but when you get him going, stands at 8 inches at least.

Y = Yearning (how high is their sex drive?)

Jonathan isn't super driven by sex but he enjoys having sex at least twice a week. Other than that it's more of a "when you're in the mood" type of thing.

Z = Zzz (how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

He stays awake for quite a while. Even if you're out like a light he's still holding you and watching you sleep for a while.

𓆩Robin Buckley𓆪

ᗢ𝗦𝗙𝗪

A = Affection (How affectionate are they? How do they show affection?)

Robin is moderately affectionate. She's happy to hold hands or hug in public but kissing is private or in the right company (a gay in the 80s... Need I say more?)

B = Best friend (What would they be like as a best friend? How would the friendship start?)

For Robin you'd definitely become friends because you frequent her job. After renting tons of videos you would start calling eachother by first names and just start talking about your shared interests. Become quick friends.

C = Cuddles (Do they like to cuddle? How would they cuddle?)

Robin isn't much of a cuddler but I do think she wouldn't mind it if her partner asked for it. But she definitely prefers be little spoon so her arms are free to move about while she talks.

D = Domestic (Do they want to settle down? How are they at cooking and cleaning?)

She'd definitely want to settle down. I could picture her getting a quiet little condo with a few cats.

Robin, surprisingly, is really good at cooking. But cleaning she can't focus long enough to fully finish each task. She gets bored really easily.

E = Ending (If they had to break up with their partner, how would they do it?)

Robin would struggle but I feel like she could break up with someone. And it have to be over something major for her to end a relationship.

F = Fiance(e) (How do they feel about commitment? How quick would they want to get married?)

Robin falls hard and fast. Would definitely call her partner her wife (or something gender non-conforming) within a few months of being together as a joke between the two of you. But deep down she knows if she could she would marry you ina heart beat.

G = Gentle (How gentle are they, both physically and emotionally?)

Robin is physically gentle but like Eddie can be harsh without intending to be. Her mouth moves faster than her brain can sometimes and she just talks without thinking.

H = Hugs (Do they like hugs? How often do they do it? What are their hugs like?)

Loves hug, absolute hug machine. Will run in for a hug and squeeze you til you can't breathe.

I = I love you (How fast do they say the L-word?)

Like I said, when she falls she falls hard. And Robin can talk about her emotions pretty easily so I could see her saying "I love you" within 6-8 weeks of dating.

J = Jealousy (How jealous do they get? What do they do when they’re jealous?)

Robin is the jealous type... Hands down she doesn't like it when girls talk to you but she isn't territorial about you, just scared someone with swoop in and try being better than her.

K = Kisses (What are their kisses like? Where do they like to kiss you? Where do they like to be kissed?)

Very soft, super soft lips. Always using chapstick because she forgets to drink water most of the time.

L = Little ones (How are they around children?)

Young kids and Robin don't mix well. She finds them mostly irritating but she does have a soft spot for babies.

Older kids she doesn't mind and has quickly gotten use to due to being around the gang so often.

M = Morning (How are mornings spent with them?)

Struggle bus rider in the morning. Hates mornings, finds it difficult to wake up and tends to run late most of the time in the morning unless someone else is waking her up.

N = Night (How are nights spent with them?)

Robin is definitely a night person. Tends to stay up pretty late doing random shit around the house.

O = Open (When would they start revealing things about themselves? Do they say everything all at once or wait a while to reveal things slowly?)

Robin is very open about herself and tends to talk more than necessary. She gives up information about herself without really thinking about it.

P = Patience (How easily angered are they?)

Very impatient if it's something she doesn't enjoy something. Robin tends to struggle with waiting without needing something to entertain her.

Q = Quizzes (How much would they remember about you? Do they remember every little detail you mention in passing, or do they kind of forget everything?)

Robin would retain important information (important dates, favorite colors/animals, possible allergies) but if someone asked her on the spot it would evaporate from her brain as if she never had the information in the first place.

R = Remember (What is their favorite moment in your relationship?)

Your first real date. Robin would set up a picnic in a nice clearing in the woods. You two had a romantic time and it also ended in your first kiss.

S = Security (How protective are they? How would they protect you? How would they like to be protected?)

Robin isn't super protective of her partner but isn't scared to throw dirty looks at people who try starting trouble.

You on the other hand tend to be protective over Robin. She doesn't need to be coddled but quite enjoys being with someone protective.

T = Try (How much effort would they put into dates, anniversaries, gifts, everyday tasks?)

Robin pulls out all the stops when it comes to her partner. Really thoughtful and fancy gifts. Cooks meals for you constantly and enjoys watching you eat what she's made for you.

U = Ugly (What would be some bad habits of theirs?)

Never on time/Gets side tracked easily. Though it's not necessarily her fault she tends to not have the best concept of time. It's so bad you've gotten into the habit of telling her you'll be leaving for places an hour in advance just in case.

V = Vanity (How concerned are they with their looks?)

Robin always wants to look her best for her partner. Constantly preening herself as she looks at her reflection while getting ready to see you.

W = Whole (Would they feel incomplete without you?)

Yes, Robin loves you with her entire heart. And she's attached now so being without you would suck for her.

X = Xtra (A random headcanon for them.)

Robin tends to find random things while out of the house and just picking them up off the ground.

Mostly she brings home rocks she finds cool and has a collection.

Y = Yuck (What are some things they wouldn’t like, either in general or in a partner?)

People who are too serious. Anyone who gets too serious when it's not needed she doesn't want to be around. Robin understands needing to be serious but not all the time.

Z = Zzz (What is a sleep habits of theirs?)

Robin tends to stay up later at night. Probably to around 2am, but ends up sleeping til noon or maybe longer if you let her.

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

ᗢ𝗡𝗦𝗙𝗪

A = Aftercare (what they're like after sex)

More than likely Robin will be wide awake still and want to do something together (watch a movie, cuddle up, maybe cook a meal) This is when Robin is at her clingiest and isn't afraid to show it by sticking to you constantly. (Not that you mind it)

B = Body part (their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner's)

Your stomach, soft or not the few times Robin doesn't mind cuddling up to you she lays her head on your stomach and enjoys the comfort of it.

For Robin it's her smile. She simply just has a very beautiful smile that can and should be appreciated.

C = Cum (anything to do with cum, basically)

When you first met Robin she was completely untouched, never even masturbated before. But once you started dating you showed her how to get off.

Now she has a slight obsession with getting her partner off by tribbing most of the time.

D = Dirty secret (pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

Nothing gets Robin going more than giving her compliments. And if you dare to call her a good girl she'll be putty in your hands.

E = Experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they're doing?)

Very in experienced when you met. Probably only kissed before.

F = Favorite position (this goes without saying)

(See Cum)

G = Goofy (are they more serious in the moment? are they humorous? etc.)

Robin would be cracking jokes constantly. Probably so often it would break both of your focus unless you shut her up.

H = Hair (how well groomed are they? does the carpet match the drapes? etc.)

Extremely well groomed.

I = Intimacy (how are they during the moment? the romantic aspect)

Robin would be goofy most of the time but once you're in the moment everything becomes sensual over time.

J = Jack off (masturbation headcanon)

Now that she knows what she's doing, Robin tends to masturbate once in a while but would likely prefer sex.

K = Kink (one or more of their kinks)

Praise (to her), face sitting (both ways), hair pulling (to you)

L = Location (favorite places to do the do)

Definitely would like it all around the house, back of a car maybe even in the bathroom of a party you're at. But her favorite place would be in the shower.

M = Motivation (what turns them on, gets them going)

Just being close to her partner and teasing her. She's pretty easy to get riled up.

N = No (something they wouldn't do, turn offs)

No Anal, no painful stuff

O = Oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.)

50/50 but part of me really thinks she'd like receiving a lot more.

P = Pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.)

(See Goofy)

Q = Quickie (their opinions on quickies, how often, etc.)

Robin would be down for quickies.

R = Risk (are they game to experiment? do they take risks? etc.)

I could see her being paranoid about getting caught but once you reassure her she would enjoy herself and not really think about being caught.

S = Stamina (how many rounds can they go for? how long do they last?)

Robin bounces back pretty quickly and has a lot of energy so I could see her going for a while.

T = Toys (do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?)

I could see Robin buying a double ended dildo or even one of those little vibrators that looks like lipsticks.

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

Robin isn't much of a tease but just very forward with what she wants.

V = Volume (how loud they are, what sounds they make, etc.)

She's definitely a little louder when moaning. She's talkative by nature so I could see her being noisy.

W = Wild card (a random headcanon for the character)

Robin enjoys riding your thigh. So much that you end up buying a grind mat just for her.

X = X-ray (let's see what's going on under those clothes)

Robin probably has a smaller chest (b-cup maybe?) But has nice round hips.

Y = Yearning (how high is their sex drive?)

Robin doesn't have a high sex drive but if you were to ask she'd be more than willing to go.

Z = Zzz (how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

She's a ball of energy so she'll be up for quite a while. Probably off do whatever activity she enjoys until the early hours of the morning and then falling asleep.

𓆩Steve Harrington𓆪

ᗢ𝗦𝗙𝗪

A = Affection (How affectionate are they? How do they show affection?)

Steve is affectionate mostly by words not actions. Tends to baby you (kind of)

But when he does things for you it's weirdly subtle stuff. Like tying your shoes, taking you out, buying you stuff he knows you like or just random little trinkets as "just because" gifts.

B = Best friend (What would they be like as a best friend? How would the friendship start?)

He's very much a mom friend.

Constantly checks in on friends by asking if they're okay. He always asks you the most though. Plus he forces food and drinks on you whenever he's around so he knows you're definitely eating.

C = Cuddles (Do they like to cuddle? How would they cuddle?)

Steve probably isn't much of a cuddler but if you're having a rough day (or if he is) he's gonna want to cuddle. Prefers to hold you to his chest/facing eachother.

D = Domestic (Do they want to settle down? How are they at cooking and cleaning?)

Steve is gonna want to put a ring on your finger the moment it feels appropriate. Probably would start talking about having a family together after being together for 6 months.

Fantastic at cleaning! Cooking?

...Steve is terrible at cooking. Man could burn water somehow. He can somehow burn something but have it still be raw in the middle.

E = Ending (If they had to break up with their partner, how would they do it?)

Steve could end a relationship. It would crush him to dump someone who he loves regardless of what happens but he could do it.

F = Fiance(e) (How do they feel about commitment? How quick would they want to get married?)

(See Domestic)

G = Gentle (How gentle are they, both physically and emotionally?)

Both physically and emotionally Steve is gentle. Comes off very harsh but never actually says anything that would be hurtful or mean.

H = Hugs (Do they like hugs? How often do they do it? What are their hugs like?)

Steve doesn't care for cuddling often but hugs. He loves hugs. Would be the kind of boyfriend who would hug you from behind when just standing somewhere.

I = I love you (How fast do they say the L-word?)

From past experiences (*cough, cough* Nancy again *cough) he'd probably be hesitant from saying it at first but if y said it before he did he'd be elated.

J = Jealousy (How jealous do they get? What do they do when they’re jealous?)

Oh he's definitely a jealous guy. Doesn't mind you hanging out with people (obviously) but if he sees someone hitting on his partner he's not gonna happy. Probably would go about flaunting how much he can hug/kiss/touch you in front of whoever decided to try talking to you. Just to rub it in that you're taken.

K = Kisses (What are their kisses like? Where do they like to kiss you? Where do they like to be kissed?)

Steve is a fantastic kisser, definitely the best on the list from how much practice he's had. Like Robin he moisturizes, not because he doesn't drink water but he just wants to make sure his lips don't get dry or chapped.

He's a forehead kisser and I will die on this hill. He'd take your face in his hands and kiss your forehead. All while telling you how much he loves you.

Enjoys cheek kisses but specifically on his little beauty marks the most.

L = Little ones (How are they around children?)

We've all seen how Steve is basically mother hen with the Party. Babies adore him, small kids like him but he would probably find them irritating with the vast amount of questions they ask. Doesn't mean he doesn't have the patience for them though.

M = Morning (How are mornings spent with them?)

Steve wakes up early, but my god is he never on time in the mornings. Definitely hogs the bathroom just trying to get his hair to look right, it's gotten so bad you'd buy a vanity for this man to do his hair at out of fear of your bladder exploding eventually.

N = Night (How are nights spent with them?)

Beauty routines, and in bed by 11 at the latest, midnight if he really wants to push it.

O = Open (When would they start revealing things about themselves? Do they say everything all at once or wait a while to reveal things slowly?)

It would take a lot of trust for Steve to open up about himself. He's had a bad childhood and craves a family to be around but also has difficulty trusting just anyone with his past.

But once you break past that hard shell he's open and honest about everything he's been through.

P = Patience (How easily angered are they?)

Very patient. He has to be since he's the designated babysitter for the Party. Honestly if he wasn't as patient as he is he'd probably be balding by now from all the stress he'd be under.

Q = Quizzes (How much would they remember about you? Do they remember every little detail you mention in passing, or do they kind of forget everything?)

Knows you like no one else. Pays extra attention to all your likes and dislikes. Probably even ends up correcting others when they say you like something or get something about you wrong.

R = Remember (What is their favorite moment in your relationship?)

The first time you said "I love you".

You said it first in passing like it was nothing and he'd stand there stunned for a second. Ask you to repeat yourself and you would. Word for word with a smile to match your confession. He'd nod along with what you said, say it back before you continue the conversation and keeping a straight face.

But on the inside he'd be doing cartwheels and screaming with joy over it.

S = Security (How protective are they? How would they protect you? How would they like to be protected?)

Very protective. Steve would be the kind of boyfriend to pull you closer or step in front of you if there's a problem. He may not have the best track record when it comes to fighting but he sure has the spirit.

But if roles were reversed and someone said something bad about Steve an you jumped down their throat defending him... Well he'd be shocked. He's so use to having people expect him to defend himself he wouldn't know what to say hearing someone defending him.

T = Try (How much effort would they put into dates, anniversaries, gifts, everyday tasks?)

Steve is putting in THE MOST effort. At anytime he needs or wants to get you a gift he knows exactly what to get.

And not all of his gifts are practically but they're something he knows you'd like everytime.

U = Ugly (What would be some bad habits of theirs?)

Withdrawals after arguments. Steve isn't the most in touch with his feelings all the time and would probably have difficulty talking over issues with you after an argument but he'd try after taking time to cool off.

V = Vanity (How concerned are they with their looks?)

I love Steve but oh my God he's like a bird at times...

Always preening himself to make sure he looks good for his partner or just in general. An no amount of reassurance of how attractive you find him even when he's a mess can make him calm down with it.

W = Whole (Would they feel incomplete without you?)

Yes, like Robin, once he's attached he has a hard time detaching (*insert 3rd Nancy mention here*). If anything happens to his partner or if y'all broke up it would honestly devastate him. He'd be pretty lost for a while only because of how much love he has for you.

X = Xtra (A random headcanon for them.)

(Listen... I will go to bat for this headcanon, you can rip it from my cold dead hands!!!)

He'd be a fantastic teacher. Probably English or History teacher at Hawkins Middle School. Plus he'd be a coach of some kind. Even fills in for the Highschool Gym classes on occasion if needed.

Y = Yuck (What are some things they wouldn’t like, either in general or in a partner?)

Stuck up people. They'd remind him too much of his past self and how much of an asshole he use to be.

Z = Zzz (What is a sleep habits of theirs?)

Sleeps like a rock most of the time but if you wake him up he does that scared mom gasp and jolt up. Like everything is emergency... But you're just waking him up cause he's hogging the blankets or something.

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

ᗢ𝗡𝗦𝗙𝗪

A = Aftercare (what they're like after sex)

Aftercare KING! Holding you to his chest with rubbing your back. Gives you soft kisses on the head and already had water prepared for after. Probably would want to take a warm bath together afterwards and just enjoy eachothers company.

B = Body part (their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner's)

Steve is an ass man... Touching it, squeezing it, smacks as he walks by just to mess with you. Just loves your ass with his whole heart.

For him... Surprisingly his arms. Steve is most definitely a lot stronger than he appears. His clothes tend to be a little baggy but he's got some nice arms that look even better when he's lifting something.

C = Cum (anything to do with cum, basically)

This man would want to cum in side you any chance you let him. He's somewhat territorial and would probably see it as some way of marking his territory but also fulfilling another need itching inside him.

But if you weren't exactly happy with the idea of that he'd probably wear condoms or just finish on you.

D = Dirty secret (pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

Claims to be a Dom but is a service switch. He just really enjoys your reactions more than anything.

E = Experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they're doing?)

Steve is the most experienced person on the list. He's dated a lot of people, slept with a few girls. Had at least 1 girlfriend. He definitely knows what he's doing when it comes down to it.

F = Favorite position (this goes without saying)

Doggy style, good position for your pleasure and he gets the perfect angle to smack your ass whenever he wants to.

G = Goofy (are they more serious in the moment? are they humorous? etc.)

No Steve is serious. Can't crack a joke when he's in his head about performing well and making sure you're feeling the best he can give you.

H = Hair (how well groomed are they? does the carpet match the drapes? etc.)

If you saw Steve before he dove into the lake in season 4 we know that man isn't shaving. Trimmed a bit maybe but nothing too major.

I = Intimacy (how are they during the moment? the romantic aspect)

Very sensual and romantic. Slow in his actions and always has a hand on you somewhere.

J = Jack off (masturbation headcanon)

Since getting in a relationship I think Steve doesn't see the need to masturbate. If he wants to get off he'll just ask or try getting you in the mood (taking concent into consideration of course).

K = Kink (one or more of their kinks)

Breeding kink (to you), edging (to him), degradation (to you)

L = Location (favorite places to do the do)

Steve is not like anyone else on this list. He does not give a fuck where you two are if either are you are horny it's being dealt with asap.

Most of your experiences end up in a bed but if he had to pick a favorite place it probably the kitchen. There's been many of times you've ended up bent over a counter with him behind you in some fashion.

M = Motivation (what turns them on, gets them going)

Just his partner doing mundane everyday things. One second he's just appreciating having you in his life and suddenly his brain is just shifting to the thought of how much he wants to stay with you forever and start a family with you. An something in him just keeps scratching at his brain with the thoughts of fucking you.

N = No (something they wouldn't do, turn offs)

No choking or cuckolding

O = Oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.)

Prefers receiving because he prefers usithis hands on you and talking you through making you feel good instead.

P = Pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.)

Starts slow but sometimes gets carried away an becomes fast and rough. But you can be guaranteed that Steve isn't leaving you high and dry.

Q = Quickie (their opinions on quickies, how often, etc.)

Steve usually refers taking his time but sometimes he just can't.

R = Risk (are they game to experiment? do they take risks? etc.)

(See Location)

S = Stamina (how many rounds can they go for? how long do they last?)

Steve is in good shape so I'd imagine he can go for a while. I'd say 3-4 rounds if he's really in the mood.

T = Toys (do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?)

Definitely owns a vibrator, probably an egg vibrator he likes using for extra stimulation when he's inside his partner.

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

Oh Steve is a massive tease. He'd go as far as to mock you if you end up trying to beg for him to touch you even. He'd never pass up the chance to degrade you.

V = Volume (how loud they are, what sounds they make, etc.)

Listen... Steve is probably still stuck in the whole stigma of "men shouldn't moan" but when you're on top of him... It's like he becomes a completely different person. Whiny, moaning mess who can't seem to keep him mouth shut for long.

Tries to save face by shit talking but gets shut up pretty quickly with a grind of your hips on him.

W = Wild card (a random headcanon for the character)

Steve as multiple sex mix tapes... No I will not be further explaining this.

X = X-ray (let's see what's going on under those clothes)

Steve carries the confidence of a guy with a massive dick. But honestly I think he's just above average but not huge. So I'll just say 7 inches. Definitely a shower.

Y = Yearning (how high is their sex drive?)

Steve has a high sex drive. Craves you constantly but refrains out of fear of being way too much.

Z = Zzz (how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

His main concern after sex is making sure you're okay even if he's exhausted he stays awake. But the second he realizes you're out he's down for the count and sleeps like a log.

#🌿 ivy writes #eddie munson x fem!reader #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson #jonathan byers x reader #jonathan byers x fem!reader #jonathan byers #robin buckley x reader #robin buckley x female reader #robin buckley #steve harrington x fem!reader #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington

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palmviolet · 4 months

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Hii, not wanting to seem weird or bother u, but what happened to Parallel Lines? It was a work in progress of yours and It was steddie so maybe thats why u never finished It, but did It have anything cool in It, i love music aus even more If theyre in the 70 with lots of acurate facts 😭😭😭😭

omg... parallel lines... i'm so pleased you remember that lmao this made me go reread the 5k or so words i had written for it. i'm afraid to say i'm not all that pleased with them (given my style has changed a huge amount since 2022) but the base ideas are so much fun — steve as an ordinary guy who put his passion for music behind him at his dad's behest, dating nancy the rolling stone reporter who interviews eddie munson, top of the world as the guitarist/frontman for marchwarden, a huge hard rock band with a three-day residency at the roxy to kick off their third us tour. nancy brings steve along backstage; steve and eddie hit it off. they spend the whole tour talking over the phone; when eddie gets back to la, things evolve.

the idea was that the fic would span three volumes and several years. this all begins in 1976; by 1978, they're broken up and eddie is living in london having written a breakup album, including the song 'parallel lines.' this of course is not the end of the story: steve and eddie get roped back together by robin, who's an up and coming artist under the same label as eddie, management attempting to make them each other's beards, trying to convince steve to join her band. they meet again at the marquee club in london when eddie gets her a supporting gig there.

steve eventually gets into music himself, at the perfect time for the ascendancy of synth in the late 70s/early 80s and the decline of the golden age of rock — steve on the way up and eddie (relatively) on the way down. add to this queer culture, love songs with the pronouns changed (or not), and david bowie. steve as a solo artist names himself vanity; robin's band (which includes max) is called giraffe; eddie's is marchwarden (as i was going for a more 70s vibe, led zep style, vs. corroded coffin as a very 80s metal name). at some point nancy starts dating photographer jonathan, probably breaks that off and winds up with robin instead. eddie's manager is lonnie until lonnie turns out to be a piece of shit. everybody's lives are tangled up together and it would have taken me years to write lmao

so yeah. i will not be writing this, probably, given the steddie interest is lingering only long enough for me to finish better by you and no longer. which is a shame, but c'est la vie.

thank you for reminding me of this! it's fun to talk about.

have the interview that would have opened the fic beneath the cut, anyway:

MW. So, let’s talk Parallel Lines. It’s quite different from the other songs on the album, isn’t it? Almost a surf-rock feel to some of the chords.

EM. Well, let’s not go quite that far… [laughing] But yeah, I guess it is pretty different. That’s not by design, necessarily, it just kinda turned out that way as a result of the lyrics and my idea behind the song.

MW. Which is…? I mean, it sounds to me like a breakup song, but that seems a rather simplistic explanation for a songwriter whose catalogue includes — expanding for the readers, here — an entire concept album about an evil wizard.

EM. [laughing again] Shit, well, thanks, Mick, I’m honestly very flattered by that. I mean, like, sixteen-year-old me, all teenage angst and growing my hair out of a really bad haircut, he would have died if he’d known I was writing a song about a breakup. Like, he’d totally have killed me! And maybe I’d deserve it! But, yeah, you got me, I wrote a song about a breakup.

MW. The lyrics aren’t simplistic at all, though, I mean, the mathematical concepts, the metaphors… I think it’s safe to say no one’s going to mistake this for your typical breakup song. There’s something almost hauntingly analytical about it.

EM. Hauntingly analytical… yeah, I like that. It’s sort of an attempt to process something that happened in a way that doesn’t come all that naturally to me — or, I guess, to anyone. Who relates to a breakup through math, right? But if something totally alters the way you see the world, it’s like… a total paradigm shift. Sorry, more math speak. You wanna know the ironic thing, Mick? The person this song is written about hates math. Like, loathes it. Even more ironic, I absolutely hate it too. I had to call my friend at Caltech, he’s majoring in Physics, I had to ask him to check my math…

MW. [laughing] I’m impressed at your dedication to accuracy. So is that the point, then, trying to connect with someone in a language that neither of you understand or enjoy?

EM. Yeah, pretty much. I mean, that’s the thing with parallel lines, right? Never the twain shall meet. Always separate, doomed by fate, if I can put a horrible little cliché in there for you. Magazines love that shit.

MW. But they run side by side still, don’t they? Going in the same direction?

EM. There is that.

MW. You’re famously reluctant to talk about this song, if I may say so, yet you’ve been incredibly generous with me — thank you! Is there a reason for that, or did you just decide that now’s the time?

EM. Now’s the time, I guess. Different country, different magazine. Maybe I’m hoping the person it’s about won’t see it, [laughs dubiously] if you can believe it — who knew I was such a coward? Had to cross the Atlantic before I could talk about a song I play to tens of thousands every night.

MW. Well, I’m honoured, whatever the reason. One last question on it, before we move on to that killer performance on Top of the Pops — I think you changed a great many British women’s lives with that one — any relation to the Blondie album?

EM. Y’know, I get asked this a lot. I mean, I’ll tell you the usual stuff: I have great respect for them as artists, the album’s great, the song’s unrelated, we just happened to release them within a couple months of each other. Debbie’s great, we caught up at the VMAs the other week and we’re totally cool about the title. But what I will add, since apparently I’m in a, um, confessional mood — something else ironic is that the person the song’s about probably prefers the Blondie album.

MW. Well, what can you do? Birds do like Blondie.

EM. Sure. Sure they do.

— from ‘Eddie Munson: Parallels to the Past’ Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 16th August 1978

#my fic #steddie #parallel lines #asks

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ladykailitha · 5 months

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Omegaverse BTS

I was loving people's reactions to the final chapter but wanted to talk a couple of things the name of Steve and Eddie's kid and Tommy Hagan. Because in this 'verse he's so fascinating. Thanks for the comment @eyehartart!

I went back and forth on this so many times you have no idea. At first Dustin (as in Henderson) was their son because the only ones mentioned of the Party are Max and Lucas. So I thought why not be the reason Dustin is never mentioned is because he isn't born yet.

Then when I first started writing the sequel I wanted the whole party at the wedding. And after much thought, their first child is merely named after Dustin and will be explored deeper in the sequel.

Tommy, Carol, and Steve (Nancy and Jonathan, too, just not Corroded Coffin and Chrissy and Jason or Robin) all went to the same high school. All born to rich parents.

It was expected that Carol would be the omega and the two boys would be alphas.

Steve presented first and got tested 24 hours after his first heat. Carol and Tommy commiserating with him being infertile.

Then Carol presents as an alpha, so now everyone expecting Tommy to be an omega as Tommy and Carol are the top couple at school (after Steve and Nancy broke up).

He presents as an omega and then he too is infertile (actually infertile none of the other omegas you meet in the story who are escorts aren't golden omegas, just Steve.)

Carol immediately dumps him and starts sleeping around with fertile omegas.

Also, like Steve's parents Tommy's parents blew up when they found out he was infertile, but they did the golden test. So not only were they "saddled" with a "broken" omega they were out a lot of money too.

Tommy actually wanted to be a wet nurse for the elite, as his tough guy persona was just that, an act. He wanted to go into one of the other nurturing fields but his parents forbade him.

They were going to get their money back from having such a useless son.

They were expecting him to get at least close to Steve's million dollar cherry price, but only got a third that.

His parents were livid again. But they took their money and never looked back.

In the eight or nine years it's been since they were auctioned off, Tommy's parents have never contacted him. They made sure he got into the best schools for the skills he would need as an escort, paying for it out of his bid price. But he's never received so much as a post card from them.

It took him three years to pay off his debt while it only took Steve less than one year.

So despite all the training and everything he got, he was never as popular as Steve.

Resentment grew.

He stayed with Starcourt Services because he had to prove to Carol, to his parents, to the world that he was better than Steve. That if he just had more time, he could beat Steve as one of the top earners at the agency.

It never happened. The wage gap between Steve and Tommy grew with each passing year.

And then the events of the story take place and Tommy does not have a good time.

So when Starcourt washes their hands of him he becomes a teacher.

His first year is tough, but rewarding. Only on the last day Tommy gets told he might not have a job come August. And he just breaks down. A parent of one of his now former pupils comes in because she left her jacket in his class. The parent is a single female alpha whose bondmate died shortly after the birth of their daughter due to complications.

And she just helps him through it. Then over the summer she helps him get a job at another school and they fall in love. Since now he's at different school then her daughter Tommy doesn't feel like a conflict of interest and they bond.

Now that's not to say that all this justifies Tommy's behavior. Because it absolutely doesn't. But I wanted him to find a happier life outside of being an escort as sort of a "this job can chew up and spit out and you still be a person at the end of it all".

Tag List: @mira-jadeamethyst @rozzieroos @redfreckledwolf @emly03 @itsall-taken

@spectrum-spectre @estrellami-1 @zerokrox-blog @swimmingbirdrunningrock @gregre369

@a-little-unsteddie @chaosgremlinmunson @chaoticlovingdreamer @messrs-weasley @goodolefashionedloverboi

@maya-custodios-dionach @val-from-lawrence @i-must-potato @danili666 @carlyv

@wonderland-girl143-blog @justforthedead89 @bookworm0690 @bookbinderbitch @yikes-a-bee

@littlewildflowerkitten @vecnuthy @scheodingers-muppet @y4r3luv @cinnamon-mushroomabomination

@genderless-spoon @anne-bennett-cosplayer @awkwardgravity1 @irregular-child @nburkhardt

@apomaro-mellow @yellowdevilkitten @eyehartart @mangoinacan13 @demolvr

@ellietheasexylibrarian @rememberthatiloveyou @slowandsteddie @r0binscript @alyelf

@melodymeddler @mogami13 @annabanannabeth @disrespectedgoatman @manda-panda-monium

@lexirosewrites @lawrencebshoggoth @lingeringmirth

#my writing #stranger things #steddie #ladykailtiha writes #bts

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kitseddie · 1 year

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This Must Be The Place

Chapter 2: High & Dry

Part 1

Part 3

(Eddie Munson x GN!Reader)

Summary: Eddie spends movie night at Harrington’s like always, expect this week they’ve got a lot to pick his brain about. His plans to see you are the gossip of the friend group. But it’s not date. Is it?

WC: 2.3k +

Warnings: smoking/drugs (weed)

A/N: Hi!! Thank you for all the love on my first post of the series, it’s already doing a million times better than it was on ao3. This chapter and the next is from Eddie’s perspective but the rest will be from the reader’s!

It was movie night. Eddie, Steve, Robin, Jonathan and Argyle were spread out in various areas of Steve’s living room. Robin lay with her back to the coach, her head tilting as she watched the movie upside down. Steve was on the floor, his back pressed against the leather as he shovelled popcorn in his mouth. Argyle and Jonathan were void of any personal space, not that was anything new.

Argyle nuzzled his head in Jonathan’s chest at some point and after a millisecond of thought, he naturally wrapped his arm around his back and they laid there comfortably. Focusing on the joint, Eddie sat on the opposite end of the sofa in the same position as Steve slowly bringing it to his lips. His head tilted back as he gently blew out the smoke and took a deep breath, handing it behind him to Jonathan.

It was known that Steve and Robin weren’t huge horror fans, Steve was pretty jumpy and Robin was easily grossed out by gore. But they were outvoted by Eddie who needed everyone to see Night of The Living Dead. It originally started as a Robin and Steve thing, watching movies like fast times so they could both gawk over the babes. Then Eddie tagged along, then Jonathan and Argyle when they found time to fly over from California.

Eddie wouldn't admit it, he knew it would be fueling everyone's ego too much or that they‘d tease him about it, but this was one of his favourite pastimes. Don't get him wrong, band practice with Jeff and Gareth was certainly up there. But he liked his newfound friends.

“So Eddie, how’s the studying going?”. Robin asked seriously as Eddie and the guys snickered, he was grateful to be alive. But having to go back to regular ol’ Hawkins High and finish his third year of high school wasn’t much of a reward.

“Swimmingly.” He smirked, as she rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to the movie. A character in the movie shot at a gas pump causing a huge loud explosion and everyone but Eddie jumped. Argyle and Jonathan let out a “WOAH!” and Robin chuckled at how intense the scene was.

“A girl in band told me they're letting the trainee's tutor now, a way to get extra teaching credit or something. I can get them to put your name down?”. He sighed and shook his head, he could barely focus on class when he wasn't being watched. Having a helicopter tutor wasn't exactly his idea of fun.

“Come on dude, don't you want to finally graduate this year?”. Steve interjected, resting his head back to meet Eddie’s eyes. He knew he was right, he didn't want to have to repeat this year again. Especially when all his free time was either spent working or at school.

“Fine Buckley, you win. Just don't expect too much personal growth from me, this is but a baby step.” She smiled slightly, kicking his leg as he grinned back at her in thanks.

“Woah man, Eds is right. Every step a baby takes is a baby step...because they're babies.” Argyle spoke up as Jonathan seemed entranced by this realisation as everyone else just shook their head with a chuckle. “Why was the moon dude taking one small step? Isn’t he like 5’11 or something? He should totally be taking big steps.”

Eddie leant behind him and patted Argyle’s knee with a wide grin on his face. “I’ve missed you, man.” He chuckled as Argyle nodded with a smile, Eddie reached for the box of Surfer Boy Pizza and funnelled it into his mouth. Whilst his mouth was too full to rebuttal, Steve shared a glance with Robin before seizing his opportunity.

“So it’s Friday tomorrow“. Eddie seemed confused, watching as Steve’s smirk grew wide. After swallowing the food left in his mouth, the older boy chuckled a little.

“I was all wrong about you Harrington, clearly you’ve got the brains and the brawn”. Without much of a second thought, his mouth took another large chomp and he chewed in blissful ignorance.

“Well, I just figured you'd be a bit nervous about your date tomorrow.” Eddie’s eyes widened, staring back at his friend in pure shock. His neck snapped back to Robin who shrugged with guilt, she didn't mean to tell him. She just really can’t be trusted with secrets. He swallowed harshly, not losing his composure.

“For your information, it's not a date. Strictly platonic, like I said I'm not-”

“Boyfriend material, yeah we got it. But do you ever consider you’re not giving yourself enough credit? I mean you're not...terrible looking.” He shook his curls and laughed to himself, taking a sip from his beer bottle.

“Man, thanks, Rob.” She rolled his eyes at his sarcasm and flipped onto her stomach, to make eye contact with him.

“Okay, you're charming and funny and you're like really passionate about a lot of things...and guitar, you play the guitar and you're in a band and people really find that like...attractive? Or something?.” It wasn't that she didn't have a lot of good things to say when it came to her long-haired friend, it was just a little harder to figure out what parts of him would be considered attractive.

“Robin, I love you but you are terrible at pep talks.” Steve watched his friend crash and burn as he tried to latch onto the true meaning of what she was saying.

“What she means is, you're a good dude. You got a lot going for you, they’re gonna be totally into you by the end of the day. And if not? That’s their loss.” Eddie smiled at that, trying not to show Steve how much that meant coming from a guy like him. Because it did, and he wished to have even half the amount of confidence he radiates but he's never been confident. He's just passionate. And sometimes unapologetic passion can be mistaken for confidence.

The rest of the night he hogged the joint and spent a lot of his time staring blindly at the television set, feeling the flicker of light against his face. His mind quickly went from blank to full of emotions and thoughts he'd never even considered when agreeing to make plans with you. Just the two of you. This wasn't something he did like, ever, and it wasn't like it was a stranger it was, you.

“Eddie? Edddieee? Earth to Munson?”. Dustin’s voice cracked through the veil, shaking his hands in front of his face to grab his attention. He glanced back at the Hellfire club, as they waited for him to make the next move. Lucas and Mike were taking a while to figure out how to use up their turns, and after about five minutes he had almost completely zoned out. This sucked. His anxiety shouldn’t be this bad over something so minuscule, and it certainly shouldn’t be affecting his dungeon master skills.

He threw himself into his alter ego and the anxiety he felt began to slowly subside. After the game was over everyone scattered and he looked over to see Dustin sitting on the seat closest to his throne. Glancing over his board he noticed his incessant stares and turned his attention to the young boy, eyebrows raising as he gestured for an explanation.

“Are they cute?”. He said plainly and completely unprompted, the dungeon master’s eyes widened, impatiently waiting for him to elaborate. “Steve told me you were flirting with someone at work.” A sigh escaped him, his eyes rolling in his head before he cursed Steve for discussing his business.

“My flirting or non-flirting communication with people doesn’t concern you, Henderson”. Dustin scowled slightly, Eddie taking a small pause before looking back up at him. “But yes…they’re cute”. A small smirk pulled up the side of his lips, as Dustin smirked back at him.

“So you’re gonna date?”. His hands subconsciously grabbed a hold of the die on Eddie’s board and he swatted his hand away like a fly.

“That is beside the point, the point is that Harrington is a snitch and you, my little friend, are a rat, Christ…with you, him and Buckley I can’t catch a break”. He pulled at the collar of his Hellfire shirt and shook his head, gathering his stuff before heading towards the door. He paused in his tracks and sighed to himself, slowly turning back at the curly-haired boy.

“You need a ride home?”. Dustin just nodded and Eddie sighed again shaking his head, then gesturing for him to follow him to his van. “No questions on the way back, or I will murder your character in cold blood”.

“Oh, I don’t doubt it.” He muttered and Eddie shook his head, smirking to himself. He was a good kid really. He didn’t mean to intrude, he knew the real culprits were those two numb skulls. His ringed fingers gripped onto the back doors of his van and he flung Dustin’s bike into the back with the rest of his junk.

“Hey!”. He protested and then saw the look in the older boy’s eye that said “ try me ”. So he zipped his mouth and Eddie closed the back of the van, both of them piling into the front. As the key turned the car filled with ear-piercingly loud metal music, and immediately Eddie bopped along to the song and tapped his hands against the steering wheel as he pulled out of the school parking lot.

It took a little less than a minute before Dustin reached over to turn the volume down, Eddie swatted away his hand once more before turning it up. “EDDIE! C’MON MAN!”. He yelled over the noise as the other boy gave him a death stare, turning it down to a respectful volume.

“You’re such a buzzkill, Henderson”. He muttered, focusing on the road in front of him. It was silent in the van, apart from the heavy guitar riffs coming from the mixtape. There was tension for a minute and Eddie knew Dustin was dying to irrigate him about his evening plans with you. What Dustin didn’t know was that Eddie had something he needed to get off his chest.

”Alright…” The child’s head lifted at the sound, a beat passed before he released the breath he held in his chest. “Alright. Here’s how this is going to go, one piece of advice for one question. But no pushing it. Got it?”. Deciding any rebuttals would leave him at a disadvantage the young boy nodded silently in agreement. Silence fell again.

“How did you know each other?”. He chuckled to himself with a shake of his hair, he should have known he was smart enough to make the first move.

“We were neighbours, basically? Joined at the hip since like birth and then their Dad joined the army, so they shipped them out to some other state”. Dustin just nodded in response, Eddie still working up the courage to be vulnerable. He trusted Dustin, he knew he wouldn’t judge him but saying it out loud made it real. And this was new territory for him.

“How do I know if it’s a date?”. He blurted, watching his friend's eyes widen in shock. It was rare he was ever so open like this and he’d seen Eddie scared but never nervous. Never worried and never about something like dates. His private life was just that, private. Dates, sex and relationships were his business and he kept that shit close to his heart for a lot of reasons.

So he knew you were different. You were making him shift in his seat at the thought of you, you made him think about stuff he wouldn’t ever consider, or at least not really.

“Why, do you want it to be a date?”. Eddie snapped his head to look back at him, feeling angry and quickly regretting his decision to be vulnerable. But the look in Dustin’s eyes eased him, his hands gripped at the steering wheel as he kept his composure.

“You already used up your question, Henderson.” He said sternly, looking back out at the road. He hated this. Because did he want to go on a date with you? Did he want to get to know you all over again and shoot his shot? The answer was beginning to become too blatant for him to ignore.

“I mean you just ask them, dude, I know it sounds like the obvious choice but it’s the only way you’re gonna get a straight answer.” He nodded, he sort of knew that would be the only way to go about it, he just wished that it wasn’t. There was another pause, the silence felt more comfortable this time. “Do you want it to be a date?”. The air immediately felt thick again.

“I said, don’t push it .” The driver growled, his walls beginning to rise.

“I’m not pushing it.”

“Henderson-“.

“I gave you advice! I’m asking my question! And just know that you not answering it, totally answers it, dude”. Once again he was saved by the bell, taking a sharp turn that caused Dustin to grip onto the roof to steady himself. He swerved his van into a spot outside his house and shifted it into a park. The curly-haired boy's eyes were wide in shock as his older friend remained deadpan.

“This is your stop, kid.” He was mad. But not at him, at himself. Dustin wasn’t feeling any better, not only did his swerve almost kill the both of them but it was reckless. He hated when he got like this. So guarded that he wouldn’t let anyone in. Eddie wanted to speak, to apologise but his throat felt so dry he couldn’t get a word out.

“Thanks,” Dustin muttered before throwing his backpack over his shoulder and hopping out of the vehicle. Eddie’s eyes followed him until he safely made it inside, and then he relaxed against his headrest. He had a lot to think about.

#eddie munson #stranger things #eddie stranger things #eddie Munson fic #stranger things fic #eddie Munson x reader #eddie munson x gn!reader

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