#its literally just that max is the kid hes friends with instead of dustin

[rosewaterandivy]

https://youtube.com/shorts/QuNRoe29bPA?feature=share

Something like that? PLS

Love you <3

Wow, thanks so much for the request! I tweaked it a bit to fill one of the prompts from here, hope that's okay. Love you 💜

83. “Stay there. I’m coming to get you.”

When you told him what you and Eddie would be up to Saturday night, Steve groaned so loud you could swear the couch vibrated.

You can’t be serious. And leaving me at the mercy of the gremlins?

“Yes,” you grin, “I’m sure the Harrington babysitting service can handle it.” And then you’re off to get ready for the party. “Knowing you, you’ll probably have some hot date booked for after you’ve dropped the gremlins off.”

It’s not that Steve worries, really he doesn’t, because you’ll be with Eddie and Robin will show up at some point, so at least you’ll be safe. But Saturdays were for movies with the party, taking full advantage of Steve and Robin’s (five-fingered) employee discount at Family Video and hanging out.

Recently, it’s been the only time when he can see you—busy with work and classes and helping Eddie with his GED. All your free time was accounted for, used up, leaving nothing left for him.

He tried (and failed) to be accommodating about it.

This resulted in frequent calls to your house, which your mother or father usually answered with thinly veiled annoyance (Sorry Steve, she just left. No, I don’t know when she’ll be back), interrupted study sessions at Forest Hills (Eddie’s exasperated, ‘Dude, what the fuck. You’re infringing on my right to an education here.’), and drop-ins while you were working at the diner.

In short, it was becoming a problem.

So when you mentioned, last minute mind you, that Eddie needed a hand dealing for a party this weekend and you’d agreed to help out, Steve took it about as well as could be expected.

Which is to say, not at all.

It’s bad enough that he’s making them watch Rocky IV, according to Dustin. But Steve pays him no mind and pops the tape into the VCR. The kids grumble and complain, but otherwise occupy themselves by half-watching the saga of Rocky and Drago.

His leg won’t stop bouncing as he reclines against the couch. It continues for the whole movie. When the film concludes with Apollo’s tragic demise, Max starts sorting through the rest of the tapes.

“What else is in here?” Throws out a few titles as she sees them, The Color Purple, 101 Dalmations, Out of Africa—

“Nope!”

Steve nearly hip checks Lucas in his haste to wrestle the tape from Max. They grapple for a bit, nearly coming to blows but Steve’s not about to hit a child and a girl at that. This sense of chivalry does not stop Max from smacking him upside the head, but he’s victorious in the end.

“And why can’t we watch that particular one?” Dustin ventures with a curious glance to Lucas before Steve settles back on the couch between them.

“I’ll, uh,” he stashes the tape behind the sofa, wedges its case against the wall. “Tell you when you’re older.”

Dustin and Lucas continue to eye each other warily.

Then El pipes up, “Friends don’t lie.” And before Steve can stop her from what will inevitably be an embarrassing calamity—

“It’s a … sad movie,” she continues, “The last time he watched it, he cried.”

Oh. Shit.

He wants nothing more than to bash his head against the wall, but can’t risk another concussion according to the doctors and literally everyone else. Maybe the earth could swallow him whole instead? Anything to end this humiliation.

“Didn’t you watch that with—” Mike begins, because he is an asshole.

“Oh yeah,” Dustin confirms, “They watched it like, a few weeks ago. I mean, her crying I get,” he turns to Steve, an incredulous look on his face, “But you—”

“Robert Redford is a good actor, okay?” He rushes to defend himself, “Very convincing.”

“Okaaayy,” Max drawls.

An uncomfortable silence ensues. The kids settle on watching Clue while Steve takes an opportunity to refill drinks and snacks. Tries to ignore the furtive whispers from the living room. Tries to focus on the popcorn in the microwave and not imagining what you may be up to at the house party with Eddie.

“Why don’t you just ask her out already?” Will says when Steve returns from the kitchen. 

The group falls silent, awaiting his response. Keep your cool, Harrington. He sets the bowl of popcorn on the table, doing his best to ignore Will’s probing question. Is almost successful until—

“Steve, you’re literally in love with her.”

He scoffs at Lucas’ blatant betrayal. Helped the kid practice everyday after school leading up to tryouts and this is how he’s repaid? 

“No,” he says with a tone to convey the end of this conversation. “We’re friends, just friends and that’s it.”

A beat of silence as everyone pretends to watch as Tim Curry greets the six strangers upon their arrival to the mansion.

Dustin coughs. “Friends don’t look at each other the way you look at her, Steve.”

“Oh my god.” Max looks like she wants to brain herself on the edge of the coffee table at the stupidity of it all. 

“Fuck off.” Steve huffs in annoyance, “Like I’m gonna take advice from a bunch of high schoolers.”

“Dude.”

“We’ve saved the world.”

“Like, multiple times.”

“And,” El annoyingly points out, “It’s good advice.”

Thankfully, Steve is saved by the bell. The phone trills its ring from somewhere beneath the couch cushions. Unable to find the cordless, he’s forced to answer it in the kitchen.

“Harrington residence.”

There’s music thumping and cross chatter down the line as he tries to make out who’s calling.

“Steve?”

“Rob, that you?”

A laugh, “Yeah, s’me. How you doin’ babe?”

Her voice has taken on that light, dreamy cadence it gets when she’s tipsy or high and, knowing her, it’s probably both.

“Uh, fine.” He turns to check on the kids in the living room, “Watching Clue. Did you need something?”

“Oh my god,” she rasps, “I love that movie!” A hiccup followed by a chuckle. “Nah, I’m good babe. I’m calling for someone else.”

He doesn’t know what to make of that.

“Rob, you know you called my house, right? The kids are here, if you wanna talk to them but—”

“Nonono Stevie,” she says in a rush, “M’callin’ about your girl.”

“My… girl.”

“Yep.”

The sounds of the phone being handed off to someone else. A few breaths and then, “Hi Steve.”

And oh.

Your voice is low and breathy through the phone, he can hear you giggling about something to Robin as you pull the speaker away from your mouth ‘I’m on the phone Buckley.’

He melts, just a bit. Because he knows that tone very well— when you fall asleep leaning against his shoulder during movie nights or take a brief nap sitting shotgun in his car, all raspy and sweet. 

“Hey honey,” he coos, voice incredibly fond. Steve turns, closing himself off from the din in the living room. “Y’doin’ okay?”

“Mmhm, tired though.”

“Is that right?’

A yawn. “Yeah,” he can hear the pout in your voice, “Rob doesn’t wanna leave yet and Eddie went upstairs with someone like, forever ago.”

Steve’s already grabbing his keys from the counter. “Stay with Robin, okay? I’m coming get you.”

“Thanks Stevie,” you sigh prettily, “You’re the best.”

_

Dustin (unhelpfully) advised him to get flowers before he left, so Steve put Max in charge, out of spite. Which unfortunately broke the levy for a barrage of romantic advice from literal children: hold the door, make eye contact, give her your jacket and be on the left side of the sidewalk.

It’d be endearing if it wasn’t so tragic.

He rolls up to the house to find not only Robin, but Eddie too, at your side seated on the sidewalk. He crosses the hood of the car as you stand with a soft smile, “Sorry Steve,” you say, less sloshed since the phone call, but still tired. “Didn’t mean to ruin your night.”

“C’mon honey,” he scoffs, “There’s no way you could ruin my night.” He ushers you to the passenger seat, arm around your waist. He can smell the beer from the keg and stale cigarettes on you, laced with the comforting scent your perfume. 

He shuts the door after reminding you to put on your seatbelt and turns back to Eddie and Robin. They look like they’re up to no good— Eddie’s smirking and got that glint in his eye that says he’ll be a problem, all the while Rob has a dopey grin on her face.

“She’s had water and we took the drinks from her a while ago,” Eddie says, waving back at you from the sidewalk. “Try to have her eat something.”

Steve rolls his eyes. Like he needs advice from a dungeon master on how to deal with a drunk.

Robin blinks owlishly, “Ooh, Hardee’s, get her that.”

Steve laughs as Eddie shepherds Robin away. Says something about not fucking it up and using protection. He can’t bring himself to care as he slides back into the car. The radio kicked on as he starts the car, David Byrne rhapsodizing about a girl as she was. 

He watched as you bop to the song in your seat, bringing an affectionate smile to his face— eyes closed, hair whipping back in the cool night breeze as you sing along. The axels squeak when Steve pulls into the drive-thru lane.

Try as he might to keep his gaze on you, to watch you a little longer, the intercom sputters to life—a young boy’s voice greeting mechanically but trying nonetheless to adhere to Hardee’s hospitality best he can.

The burger you’d gotten—medium, double meat, bacon, all toppings between—has completely fallen apart in a splat back onto the wax paper in your lap.

“Here, honey.”

He fumbles for napkins. But you wave his worries away, licking your fingers before diving in to deconstruct your food.

“Sorry—I promise I have my shit together.” Another giggle, “Not doing well here. Makin’ a mess your car and everything.”

“I, uh, I think you’re doin’ great.”

The words slip out before he can catch them and around a mouthful of fries, you thank him, and then you take a breath, and he can literally see you winding up for another enormous bite.

“Sorry,” you pause sheepishly, “M’ starving—skipped lunch on accident.” You take the enormous bite he saw coming, and then, “Also doesn’t help—mm—nervous.”

Steve chews on a fry and slurps his soda, driving with ease. “Nervous ‘bout what?”

You swallow and steal his drink, “Weren’t you on a date?”

He blinks.

You blink.

He blinks again.

“No, I was watching movies with the kids.”

His face is so hot that he thinks someone must have thrown a fire into him. Should he have just gone along with it instead? It’s old news by now that King Steve had turned in his crown for a walkie-talkie and chauffeuring a bunch of teens around.

A beat passes and he tries again, now at the end of the meal and the stain on your shirt starting to sink in and spread, heavy enough to dip toward the skin beneath. “Do you want to take your shirt off?”

You choke on soda and add another splatter down your chest, “What?”

“You can wear my jacket,” he clarifies. “Give it back later. I mean, if you…” He frowns. “Uh. Um.”

The beemer comes to a stop in front of he Harrington house. Lights still on in the living room signalling that the party is still there. 

You changed out of your shirt, ducking down in the front seat bashfully (“Look away, damn it.”), your old t-shirt in a crumple inside his pocket. His jacket hung a bit loose, but zipped up all the way and it was a good enough cover for a while.

There’s a smear of grease on your cheek from the burger and Steve knows it’s just a personality trait at this point. He laughs when you stick your tongue out, trying to find exactly where it is before giving up and asking him to wipe it off.

He shoves his hands in his pocket afterwards, thumb jammed inside his fist like a souvenir, keeping it there the rest of the walk up the drive, all the way up to the front door of his house before he wonders if he should have been trying to hold your hand.

Maybe not.

“I missed this,” he says, brushing his shoulder against yours.

You hum, knocking your hip against his. “Thanks for dinner,” you say, looking up at him.

“Yeah, of course.”

“And picking me up.” A beat passes. “And the jacket, too. It’s really nice… comfortable and, uh, smells… good. Like, cinnamon and… nice body wash and… trees.” You make a queasy face and close your eyes for a second, pinching the bridge of your nose uncomfortably as Steve looks on.

Oh, he realizes. You must be woozy.

Oh, he realizes. You’re gonna hurl.

“Steve,” Your voice is small and tight, and you look like you’re struggling to take steadying breaths. “I gotta sit down.”

“Right,” he replies. You laugh, rubbing the back of your neck before he turns and unlocks the door.

The kids are passed out on the sofa and reclining chairs in the living room. He locks the door and sneaks you upstairs, hands politely on your waist to steady you on your feet. Guides you to the left toward the guest bath and flips on the lights. 

“You alright?”

The fluorescents cast you in a hazy yellow glow, squinting at the bright light. You paw at the countertop for something, water? You turn to open a drawer and find a spare toothbrush— the blue one, yours, a freebie from a check-up and gloop some toothpaste on the bristles. With a nod in response, you begin to brush your teeth, faucet running as you fill a cup of water. 

Steve leaves you with a clean washcloth and towel, should you need them, and goes to check that his room isn’t a complete disaster. Bed sheets are clean-ish and he doesn’t have time to run them through the wash, though there’s always one of the guest rooms…

“Hey.”

He startles slightly, not hearing you walk in. You’ve toed off your shoes by the door and are looking sheepish, lip pulled between your teeth. “Can I borrow some clothes?”

“Yeah, sure.” 

Steve pulls open some drawers, rifling through for something for you to sleep in. Throws your top into his hamper while he’s at it. He turns back to you with a ‘Hawkins Athletics’ shirt that’s seen better days and a pair of flannel pajamas. Shoves them toward you awkwardly and then promptly turns around to let you have some privacy while you change.

“Thanks.”

He makes a strangled noise of confirmation and clears his throat. “No problem.”

Hearing the rustling of sheets, he turns back around and catches sight of your bare leg as you hunker down in his bed. Heat rushes to his cheeks when he spies the pajama pants neatly folded and placed on his nightstand. You turn on your side, burrowing and fluffing the pillows to your liking.

Steve makes quick work of brushing his teeth and getting ready for bed. Shoes by the door next to yours, jeans shucked into a pile by his desk, keeps his shirt on for the sake of decency, and slips in next to you. 

“I appreciate you coming to get me, y’didn’t have to do that.”

His arm drapes against your shoulder while you snuggle into him, casual affection being the norm between you two. He swallows thickly, tries to regulate his breathing when your hand rests against his chest.

“What’re friends for?”

“Hmm,” you consider for a moment. “Friends may not be the most accurate term.”

Steve bristles at that. 

“What do you mean?” He turns toward you, heart racing— did you not want to be friends anymore? Did he do something wrong?

Your face is impassive, blank. Steve couldn’t even begin to guess at what you’re thinking, is afraid to even try.

Then, you smile.

Fuck. That smile.

“S-so, not friends then?”

Steve is not a religious man, but he prays that your smile means what he thinks it does. Slowly reaching toward you, he brushes a lock of hair from your face, fingers grazing your cheek. 

Mischievously, you lean in, touch him soft on the lips and every beat of his pulse seems to be seeking out the sweet plush of your mouth. “If we were just friends, I shouldn’t wanna kiss you so bad, but we both seem to be … not good… at following decorum, so…” Your eyes light up teasingly, “What d’ya say?”

Steve makes a noise like a whimper. Wow. Babysitter extraordinaire with a bat of nails under his bed and it’s your smile that does him in.

You kiss him again, longer than the last, giggling softly and tugging on his bottom lip like you could pull his entire body toward you with just that. “I’m sure we could find a few more rules to break.”

[nightlight-stardust-and-rain]

Stranger things au where Steve gets powers after Starcourt. It takes a few month to settle in, so he doesn't gets the powers right away (give the poor boy time to rest lmao).

Basically, he's Venom. As in, able to go all liquid and to just..... Go into people's bodies. He's not like Venom as in he needs a host to survive, but without another person his powers are basically just Go Liquid (which can be useful in its own, he can escape from anywhere and hide in the narrowest places). When he's... Inhabiting? Another person, he can do the whole super-strenght and other Venom stuff easily!! But not by himself.

Robin is the first to know! Basically Steve just kinda dissolved into bright blue sludge one day, became human-shaped again real fast and proceeded to have a panic attack because this looked awfully like Upside-down stuff and he thought he was going to die !! So he calls Robin and she helps him calm down and at some points she hugs him real tight and he just melts into her but like..... Literally. Into her. Little bit of panic from both sides until they figure out how to separate. And then Robin is like... "... Wanna try again now that you know you weren't hurting me?" and it takes a little bit of convincing but eventually sharing a body becomes a casual thing for them.

Steve and Robin actually spend quite a bit of time sharing Robin's body. It's... Pretty comfortable? Because they're soulmates and have no boundaries and are codependent so literally living in the same body is..... Neat. They can be kind of bad at communication sometimes bc Steve has trouble asking for things and Robin sometimes has troubles identifying what she's feeling. They find out that sharing a mind makes communication stupendously easier. If Robin doesn't knows what she's feeling Steve can just go take a look (he's way better at identifying his feelings) and Robin can just take a look into Steve's mind if he can't say things. This leads to them knowing each other so well (inside and out lmao) that even when they're not fused they can guess what the other is thinking 98% of the time. They just spend a lot of time like this because sometimes Steve just wants to not exist and Robin likes to feel him wrapped around her bones.

The Party find out at some point obviously (Steve wasn't like..... Hiding it from them, he just wanted to be sure it wasn't anything bad before telling them). Dustin is super hyped and basically begs Steve inhabit him. It's an interesting experience because as i said, Steve can do the Venom stuff with people he inhabits so Dustin finds out what it feels like to be super strong and all and wow, he's like a regular superhero!! Doesn't lasts very long because Steve can (literally) feel the batshit ideas forming in Dustin's mind and no way he's doing this.

This is also good for communication bc Dustin can be a bit callous but Steve can see in his mind how much Dustin loves him and admires him and it's sweet! Dustin can also see in Steve's mind how Steve sees him as a brother too and and it's very nice!

(side effect of this is that Steve, knowing how Dustin feels about him, isn't jealous of Eddie at all ; he thinks it's sweet his kids have a new friend)

The other kids want to see how it feels too (except Mike). It makes everyone (but particularly Max and Lucas) feel super safe, because whoever Steve is inhabiting at the moment is literally the strongest person in Hawkins (since El left). They don't have to fear demorgorgons or bad people in the streets at night! Steve is careful to not let the power go to their head and remind them he's a person, not a tool they can use for reckless stunts (he does cave to using their bodies to jump from roof to roof because he knows it's not dangerous with his powers and he does thinks it's fun too). Also the fact that Steve loves all of them a lot and there's something incredible to feeling someone love you instead just knowing or thinking they love you. They trust Steve even more after that, not that they didn't before but being in someone's head and seeing how devoted he is to keeping you safe and happy is a whole another thing you know?

(also Max is really bad at communicating so when she wants to say something to Steve but doesn't knows how, she asks him to melt into her and just shoves her feelings into his brain. It's easier than talking.)

Steve and any of the kids never share a body for longer than a few hours because everyone in this equation likes their privacy and sharing a mind isn't really conductive to that. Steve and Robin, on the other hand, will share a body for fun or just because they feel like it. At some point they stayed together for so long that someone reported Steve missing and they remembered that oh shit, Steve as an entity physically separate from Robin was still a thing that existed. So now they don't stay fused together for too long or it'd be suspicious (also they don't fuse at work otherwise Steve would be fired for not being here!)

Just all-around fluff and the Party being even closer! (in certain cases, closer than humanly possible)

[byleraddict14]

Its been awhile since I've been on here but with season 5 starting i have a lot churning in my mind.

Firstly while I can understand peoples love for a friendship between El and Mike theres alot about it that just annoys me. People keep saying that Mike and El arent fit for each other and Mike is holding El back but I dont necessarily agree. Mike knows El's favorite song, food, and generally what she feels however El knows next to nothing about Mike. What little Mika actually likes aboit himself she tears down and makes fun of like his singing. Anyone else notice he doesn't sing again after that. El's letter is also all about hows things are going for her but she necer asks how Mike is, in reality the only people who really ask how he is would be Will and his mom. I find it very interesting that it was never specified whose idea it was to lie about curfew during the summer. Setting aside the fact that El moat likely knows something is up between him and Will, I get the feeling she leans more towards Will liking Mike than seeing Mike's feelings. They would make good friends if they could ever get around to just being themselves together. Mike does have a tendecy to push her concerning her powers when Wills concerned but when he blurted out he loved her i bet he was thinking more about what they palnned to do. El intended to spy on the shadow monster she was doing what Will had done eight months prior. What mosy people forget is Mike was the only kid who was really in the lab when the dogs attacked. Will was knocked unconscious and the rest were adults. To make it worse Mike literally saw people get ripped apart by the dogs on the cameras. Lucas, Dustin, El, Max, Steve, even Jonathan and Nancy didnt actually see people get ripped apart. Im syre somewhere Will has memories of it but Mike saw it in real time, he stepped over the bodies I'm sure that messed him up real bad and here they were planning to do the same thing using El's powers. Mike didnt even looked very surprised when the monster came after them, he probably expected it. No one even asks Mike why he refused they just keep saying he's trying to control El. I would have been more surpirised if Mike didnt snap and yell something to get their attention. He most likely meant he loved her just wasnt in love with her. He lost her once he knew how it felt.

Jonathan's hostility towards Mike was also a bit uncalled for. While I understand his need to protect Will the only thing Mike did that Jonathan knows about is his awkward hello at the airport. Other than that even after Mike and Will make up Jonathan still glares at him. With how close Mike and Will are theres no way Jonathan doesn't know Mike very well. Lets be honest Jonathan was the one to respond with Will's with Mike when others looked for him. Jonathan also knew to use Will's wakey to get ahold of Mike when they were running from the lab guys. Out of all people I believe Jonathan is one of the only people to figure out Mike's feelings for Will along with Max.

When watching the 4th season I noticed Mike was the only one Max didn't fight with or be sarcastic she even chose to stand next to him at the assembly. I also find it highly interesting Max knew where paper and crayons were in the Wheeler household. Lets be honest as many drawings as she made she was most likely up before Ted or Karen, I don't Molly told her and Nancy defentely didnt know considering she freaked out when Max disappeared. I noticed when she handed the letters to Lucas she said Mike's name first not El, she also keeps Mike instead of Michael when saying she wouldnt stay in the basement. Hell she didnt even have to say Mike at all she could have said the Wheelers basement but she specifies Mike. Honestly out of anyone who would understand her feelings and self hatred Mike takes the cake. I'm not saying that their the same person different verse just that their very similar. Max suprisingly enough defended Mike against Lucas over the summer and didnt automatically blame Mike when the curfew incident happened she stated they had been that way all summer.

To be perfectly honest Mike was the only one she went out of her way to be friends with even after he buffed her several times. When Lucas wouldnt tell her the whole truth she got mad and stopped talking to him, when Dustin was mean to her she brushed him off, Will never really had a problem, El completely ignored her and was mean when they first met but she didnt chase her instead El came to her later. Mike was the only one who was completely hostile and she never let up, she wanted to know why he didnt like her and kept trying to talk to him again and again. One of her favorite memories that made her happy when fighting off Vecna was that day in the gym when she got Mike to laugh. Mike chose not to ask her to play DND most likely knowing she wouldn't want to. He doesn't pester her about how she's feeling or whats wrong. He even sat next to her in class and the look on his face when her nose started bleeding. I personally think they grew closer but their natural sarcasm and attitude towards each other makes them seem far more distant than they are. Despite Mikes blatant dislike for Max in the beginning not even he could stop from sming when he saw her note in the trash. I especially love when their a sassy duo.

I love that Dustin and Mike stayed together in highschool even though he had Eddie and Steve while Lucas had basketball but its sad that Dustin completely missed Mike's feelings for Will. Dustin once accussed Mime of being unobservant in the first season but lets be honest he's the most observant not least. Mike didnt even yell at him for what Dart did to his cat while Lucas chewed him out. Mike of all people had the right to be mad at both Lucas and Dustin for breaking the rules but he doesn't yell at either of them he just focuses on Will and losing Bob. Dustin also doesnt ask Mike what he's thinking or hows he's doing he just kinda blames him in his own way but still sides with him.

The fact that both Lucas and Dustin condeem him for being nice to El when he was just showing basic human decency. He also knew she was connected to Will and that was more than enough for him to play nice. I know that Mike drew first blood and many think it was his fault and Lucas had a point but honestly I think Lucas deserved it. Now dont get me wrong I love Lucas but he could be very self obsssed and a genuine jerk sometimes. When El and Mike broke up Mike didnt ask for Lucas's help in fixing his relationship but Lucas volunteered without actually Mike how he felt. Granted Mike was lying about why he lied but he had a tendency to give into what other people tell him. Everyone told him his feelings for El were more than friendship simply because he was nice to her not actually taking his denial into consideration just more proof. Mike and Lucas spent most of their time talking to each other over walkeys because they lived so close thats why he got so jealous over his friendship with El but they never actually just talk. Mike may get grumpy about Max in the beginning but he did listen to Lucas when he talked about her. Mike tries to be understanding for the most part.

I dont even want to start with Nancy mind you she's amazing, strong, smart and for the most part a good person but her relationship with Mike is very strained. You'd think having another person who understood what it felt like to lose their bestfriend in the same house would have lead to more talks and closeness but it didnt even accur to Nancy that Will would be with Mike where he generally is. While i get Nancy is older and has her own ambitions its like shes just leaving Mike to fend for himself. She needed Jonathans comforting when she saw the Demagorgan eating the deer but after the lab and the sheer number of people Mike watched die vetween it and El there was no comforting. Proof of that was when she got out of the car and hugged him because she was worried. Mike wad genuinely perplexed because it wasnt their usual relationship.I'm sure they've gotten better and maybe a little closer since Mike considered asking Nancy to play DND and she gave him a ride to school plus their blantant annoyance with their inability to get ahold of the Byers but theres still distance.

Mike relationship with Will would take a completely different tyraid. What I find concerning is Mime has a perpetual tendency to be sassy both to his friends and family but even more so to the people around him. He was never afraid to be himself in the beginning no matter how that turned out for him but he began digging even deeper into his self after Will's possesion. Eddie even pointed out he had to draw Mike out which probably had to do with Will not being there but he tends not to give into bullying for the most part in the beginning. While in season five we see Will being more open with who he is, El struggling without her powers and her identity, Jonathan not wanting to leave his family, Nancy's distance issues with Jonathan and her determination in helping, Robin and Steve have become very close with Steves uncomfortableness of losing Dustin to Eddie. Dustin has managed to spend time with Mike, have a girlfriend, bounce between Steve and Eddie all while keeping his head on straight. Lucas is desperate to get Max to open up to him and get through the day with horrible bullies. Max is drowning in grief and guilt and then theres Mike who for the most part looks after everyone else and keeps everything about himself hidden away. Man for the most part is the defenition of self sacrificing. He stepped off a cliff ledge not knowong El would save him for crying out loud. Tended to shield both Jonathan and Will during the shooting at the house, was willing to head off a Demagorgan to protecr El and everyone else. Very rarely does he save himself simply for himself its usually to protect someone else.

[intergalacticaquarium]

Gonnaaaaa start posting some Max and Eddie au fics tmrw lmk if u wanna tag

[anonymouslyel]

eddie who is so open with his affection and appreciation to everyone about what they do for him.

dustin offers his house for a d&d session and eddie's like "i love you, hendersen. do you know that?"

robin pays for a dvd rent one time and eddie goes "if we weren't you know, i'd marry you. thanks, buckley."

nancy gifts him some metal trinkets from some store near her college and eddie kisses her head, saying "you are a dream girl, nancy wheeler! i'd fight buckley for your hand," with a teasing nudge to robin

lucas and max randomly gives him some patches for his new vest and he hugs the teens tightly saying, "you two are the most adorable couple in all of hawkins!"

el finally caved in and made eddie float at least five inch above the ground with her mind and he praises eleven so hard saying "that is the most metal thing ever! ozzy could never!" while smiling wide and patting el's head

mike and will gifts him dice (the one eddie has been talking about every end of a campaign) and eddie dramatically wipes an imaginary tear, before kissing the head of the teens so affectionately (will smiles so wide while mike pushes him away but eddie knows mike is just shy)

steve sees that and wants to be hugged and kissed and praised like that (he's already done with realization and panicking with the help of robin and nancy). so he does everything that could elicit that kind of reaction from eddie.

he tried so hard to curate music that, aside from what eddie usually listens to, eddie would like. that took him probably three weeks with the help of, surprisingly, argyle, and, not surprisingly, jonathan.

all that got him was a "this is very thoughtful, steve. i'll ket you know what i think after i listen to it" with a sincere smile.

(steve didnt know how big eddie's smile is as he went home that night. wayne had noticed and was so curious about what (or who) put that big smile on his nephew but eddie only said a friend made him a mixtape. steve doesnt know how eddie had to bite his tongue to stop hinself from kissing steve harrington in the middle of the school's parking lot.)

steve didnt give up and buys some patches too. he wants to be hugged that tight too.

this time steve was graced with a tight hold in the arm bc apparently steve bought him a metallica patch. "you said you basically listened to them only for a week," steve said.

(eddie rewarded himself that night for only grasping steve's arm instead of hugging and twirling the other man in front of the hellfire club members by buying a pizza for him and wayne)

steve tries to go for the kiss on the temple with a sincere praise by learning how to play the first verse of master of puppets. he was blindsided when eddie literally tears up because "no one had ever exerted that much effort for me."

it's steve who pulls eddie to his side in a hug, careful of eddie's guitar, and pressed a closed lip kiss on eddie's temple, saying "i'll learn the whole song for you, eddie."

(eddie couldnt help himself as he tells what steve did to wayne that night. wayne went "this harrington kid played guitar for you?" "that's what i've been telling you wayne!" and wayne knows how important playing the guitar is for eddie so he nods and said, "let me meet him sometime,")

steve doesnt know what happened because it seemed like they went two steps backward. steve gave eddie a leather jacket. at first, he thought eddie didn't like the idea of someone buying him something expensive. so steve reassured him by saying "that's mine, munson. mom gave it to last year but its not my style so i only wore it once to show her it fits."

(but inside eddie's panicking so much because for him, this is the equivalent of some jock giving their girl their letterman jacket. but for eddie, he loves leather jackets more. and the love of hi life is giving one to him)

eddie lets himself hug steve, one arm on the waist and the other on the shoulder. "thanks, stevie. i'll take care of this," he said before ruffling steve's hair. he waits for the usual teasing irritation about not to ruin his hair but none of that happens. instead, steve is giving him a look that eddie's been the subject of this past few months. a look that eddie's been giving to steve too when the other is not looking at him.

(steve replays the sensation of eddie's warm hugs at night and decides that he wants to be hugged like that for a long, long time.)

at some point of him just giving eddie gifts or doing something for eddie, steve realizes that more than loud and obvious show of affection that eddie do to others, steve prefers the soft "thanks, stevie", the cheery "you are the best, harrington", the teasing "i'll take you up on that offer, big boy"

so whenever eddie profess his eternal love for dustin, or his everlasting gratefulness for robin and nancy, or his untamed affection to lucas and max, or his loveable teasing to mike and will, or his brotherly affection to el, steve smiles because eddie has his own way to show and tell all of those that is reserved for steve only

(the way this went in my mind:

someone: does something nice for eddie

eddie: please marry me

steve: does something nice for eddie

eddie: thanks, steve

steve, irritated: why arent you asking me to marry you!?)

[jokenotfunny]

we’re going to summer camp bitches!

a/n: not a new chapter unfortunately 😭 but i found that when i have writer’s block, if i write other little things something will come to me

so this is y/n’s involvement throughout the seasons to get to know her relationships and her personality ☺️

pre-series :

- you were friends with steve since you were 4 and he was 5

- your parents were good friends with his, hence why you two grew up together and why you’re in a lot of each other’s family pictures

- your parents along with his were away often, albeit not as neglectful as his are

- your father is a tour coordinator while your mother is a rock promoter so they constantly leave

- started babysitting the boys when you were 11 and they were 7

- your mom played bridge with dustin’s and was in the same book club as mrs. wheeler, and her and joyce knew each other prior as well.

- from there they referred you to the other moms

season 1 :

- you were the boys’ babysitter (obv)

- you protect them with your life honestly

- played dnd with them constantly

- you have no favorites (it’s will tbh 🫤 he’s the least difficult)

- was very upset when will went missing

- helped the boys look for him, and was with them when they found el.

- best friends with steve, but wasn’t really hanging around him when he was in his “king steve” era (because he was a prick 😭 and you didn’t like that)

- tore him a new one when you found out what his “friends” did to/ said about nancy and how he just allowed it

- were with the kids at the school, while everyone else was getting will.

- heartbroken when you thought that el died.

- shocked when you found out steve was involved

- you started hanging out with steve again

(not much for season 1 honestly)

season 2 :

- were with will 100000x more than before

- the boys told you about the new girl “mad” max mayfield

- but you already knew her since you worked at the arcade

(yeah you come from money, but you liked making your own)

- which meant you knew about billy hargrove

- and boy did you dislike him

- tried to get at you a few times , but was quickly shut down

- were going to go trick or treating with the boys, but they insisted that they go alone so you and jonathan went tina’s party where steve and nancy were, instead.

- not wanting to be apart of the dick measuring competition between steve and billy, you found your classmate eddie munson and just hung around with him for majority of the party.

- and by hung around i mean you basically just made out and shotgunned with him the entire time

- imagine seeing alf without his head and a sexy indiana jones making out at a party 🫤( sounds like a dream i would have tbh)

- was confused when you saw nancy leave the party with jonathan, but were quickly filled in by a heartbroken steve, who was ready to just go home.

- so you said your goodbyes to eddie and left with steve

- tried to give him comforting advice as he drove you two home, (being that you literally live next door to each other) but him being too deep in his thoughts so you just went back to your house.

- cue you walking into your room, only to hear dustin’s screeching “code red” and for you to come over as quickly as possible

- you drove over, thinking someone was dying, but when dustin opened the door, dragging you to his room, as you yelled out a quick hello to claudia, you realized it wasn’t that serious.

“dustin what’s up its like 10 pm and we have school tomorrow.”

“this won’t take long, but i need to show you this.”

- you weren’t as impressed as he thought you’d be.

“why doesn’t it have eyes!” you nearly screamed, as you jumped away from it.

“i don’t know, but his name is dartangan. short for dart!

“okay! well… i’m going back home now! don’tget eaten by that thing please!”

- things escalated heavily from there tbh

- next thing you know, you’re at the hospital with will, mike, joyce, hopper, and bob.

- however you left before things could go to shit to give the others an update on will’s well-being.

- so imagine your surprise when you found your best friend steve, driving around with dustin, lucas, and max.

- you were proud of him and made fun of hum for taking your spot as babysitter

- sad when bob died, he was a good guy

- shocked that el was alive, but happy nonetheless.

- you know your way around a gun pretty well so you went with hopper and el back to the lab, so el could close the gate.

- not before demanding that the kids not give steve a hard time and telling steve to keep protecting them with his life

- when you finally got back to them after it was over, they told you everything that happened and you were not happy in the slightest

- next time you saw billy at school, you made it hell for him

- burnt cigarette butts on the hood of his car

- parked next to him and purposely slammed your door into his

- pretty much just hurting his car really

- volunteered at the snoball dance with nancy

- took pictures of all the cute little moments with everyone (just like sev because those deserved to be documented 🥹)

season 3 :

- once starcourt opened you worked at the scoops ahoy with steve and robin

- you already knew robin from school and honestly loved her

- steve didn’t understand why

- liked to sit on the sidelines as robin and steve had their back and forths, but did join in at times causing steve to call you a traitor

- he was just mad because you made the scoops uniform look good

- the few times the hellfire club came in (pre- dustin, lucas, and mike of course) you always insisted that you’d be the one to serve them.

- cue you bringing the ice cream to their table.

- robin : “i think she’s really got it bad for munson.”

- steve : “no way, i know her and she’d never go for- her shorts weren’t that short a second ago right????

- moving on ☺️ (mind your business steve..)

- were apart of the scoops troop

- you did not want erica involved, but majority rules 🫤

- the boys came running to you after mike lied to el.

- “you need how much??? for a fucking bear?? you’re on your own.”

- you slipped a few dollars to will, but they didn’t need to know that.

- when robin and steve were caught by the russians, you freaked out

- was pissed when you found them drugged and beaten

- when everyone met back up at starcourt, you stayed there as steve, dustin, robin, and erica went to dustin’s cerebro

- was shocked when you heard all the people who were flayed and even more so when billy sacrificed himself

- after starcourt burned down, you comforted el and max.

- was sad that the byers + el were moving but understood

- visited them throughout the year

- argyle 🤝 you

pre-season 4 :

- the kids are in highschool now !

- you, robin, and nancy are in your senior year

- you were in the same social circle as steve was, just without the douchiness

- you were a social floater pretty much

- so now the boys are in hellfire club!

- so you came over and decided to be embarrassing

- “aww i knew you guys would find something!”

- just hugging them, messing with mike’s hair, and pinching their cheeks as they tell you to leave them alone

- you leave after telling eddie to take care of them

- now he’s curious though

“there’s no way you just got publically doted on by y/n y/l/n. how do you even know her??”

“she’s our babysitter!” - dustin

“ex-babysitter! she’s our friend.” mike corrected

“ehh she’s still pretty much our babysitter man.” lucas mumbled to mike.

- except one day they decided to be nosey

- because one night after hellfire you were there to pick them up.

- but as they got into the car, you got out and started talking to eddie

- they didn’t think anything of it until you two started getting flirty.

- i’m talking : you two animatedly conversating, eddie’s hands somehow sneaking around your waist, and you two whispering and giggling at each other.

- the icing on the cake was when you just casually kissed him goodbye like????

- so now they have to ask

- “eddie how exactly do you know, y/n?”

- “we’re classmates and friends.”

- “dustin’s my classmate but you don’t see me kissing him.. are you two dating?”

- “well we’re uh.. we sometimes- hmm.”

- now eddie has to ask

- cue him at your locker with you

- “hey i have a question..”

- “what’s up?”

- “when you go to parties.. what do you do??”

- he pussied out because he was going to originally ask “what are we, exactly?”

-“well.. i get there, usually with steve, talk to people i know, make out with you, drink with you, smoke with you, and that’s pretty much it until i have to leave.. why?” you explained.

- “okay, well..at the ones i don’t deal to, what do you do???”

- “okay… i go, again usually with steve, talk to people i know, drink a little, dance with some friends, then i leave! again, why?” you said, now suspicious

- oh! he didn’t expect that answer.

- “no reason…”

- “is it because of the kids asking if we were dating? because they asked me too and i didn’t know how to respond either..”

- you : 🌚 eddie : 🌝

- you’ve now found yourselves heatedly making out in your room??? was school even over girl ? imma need you to stand up 🫤

- “wait. soo does this mean we’re together??” - eddie panted as you tried to get his shirt off.

- “depends, do you plan on doing this with anyone else?”

- “never.”

- “then absolutely”

[kaypeace21]

I believe that byler is an endgame

but why would they spend 3 seasons winding up with mileven?

People REALLY need to pay attention to the shows the Duffers cited as huge inspirations to them. Cheers,dawsons creek, freak &geeks did exactly what the Duffers are doing (and the Duffers said these shows inspired them)

. Cheers for over 5 seasons built up the pairing of sam and Dianne- had them break up in the s5 finale and then in the last 2 eps of the 11th season have them get back together and once again break up explaining for the 100th time they were wrong for each other and brought out the worst in eachother . Cheers would build up multiple pairings (Frasier /Lilith (s4-11/broke up in s11) , sam/Dianne (s 1-11, broke up in s11 permanently) , rebecca /sam (s8-10) Rebecca/robin (s8-9) -these pairings lasted for multiple seasons and they all broke up! They built pairings up for multiple seasons but showed throughout the show why those pairing in cheers could never work out in the long term. The same Thing happened with almost every pairing in Dawson’s creek (they’d build up multiple pairings up -sometimes for multiple seasons- sprinkle in good but also dysfunctional aspects of those relationships- and then break them apart for good ).

Also in Dawson’s creek 2 characters (a rich girl and poor guy with daddy issues) date and breakup- but both of their gay brothers get together and are endgame instead of them (cough jancy vs byler). One of the gay guys (the rich one with the book smart sis) even dated the main girl (Joey) for a while before admitting he was gay and that he was in denial (while dating the main girl for more than a season ). In D.C even the main guy(Dawson) / girl (Joey) don’t end up being endgame (despite teasing it for all 5 seasons) . They did this with a lot of couples in the show. Honestly, the Duffers pretty much borrowed this idea of showing pairings with issues and breaking them up -but toned down how long they’d bait them . Like 11seasons of showing dysfunctional couples date -ick. And Dawson’s creek ... my god it had a literal love octogon/ love webs (so many love squares/pentagons/ and on and off relationships). The 1 adult couple broke up and I’m not exaggeration 4 times, and Dawson got back with 2 of his girlfriends like so many times. And ugh I’d say each (of the 4-5) main characters dated at least 4 people -and each of those relationships lasted for like 20+ eps each... and then after all that build up -break up ). That’s not even including the people the main 5 or so characters would date for like 5-6 eps . Thank god it was toned down compared to Dawson’s creek or cheers. i can’t imagine the frustration watching those shows during its airing 😂

Freaks & geeks (set in the 80s)was also inspo.14 y old Sam who is bullied and called “homo” “queer” etc throughout the whole series - he also obsesses over a cheerleader girl for the whole series and in the second to last ep of the series- they finally start dating  and he realizes they have nothing in common and says “it’s boring. all we ever do is makeout.She likes nothing i like. We can’t talk to eachother. We never have fun.” And he admits he only keeps dating her cause everyone would call him “crazy” to not date her. sam and her are also said to be “from different planets” and “different species”  just like mileven in s3 lol.  The gf of  sam also says before they dated she saw him ‘like a sister’ (like El asking mike if he’d be her brother in s1, before they date). And after this sibling comment various characters -encouraged the couple and said they would be good together (before they dated-like what we’ve seen in st with mileven and other ships ).Sam eventually decides to not cave to peer pressure- and breaks up with her. Meanwhile sam’s sis (is a straight A student, who is initially into a popular guy and starts hanging with the cool kids).  After getting over the first (popular) guy, she later dates another guy- a music-obsessed-stoner-guy  with a cruddy dad...and she breaks up with him (like jancy?). That couple was even called ‘romeo & juliet’ before they broke up-similar to mileven being called “romeo & juliet’ before their breakup. plus r&j were never in love... just like mileven.

All 3 shows had the main guy/girl date but not end up with eachother in the end . And both shows -would build up several pairings that looked like endgame but would show faults in those relationships and would have them breakup (because those pairings were never that healthy together). Which I believe is what they’re doing with jancy, jopper, mileven and lumax (explained in my analysis here all the evidence for why I don’t think they don’t end up together). I mean there’s many reasons I listed in the analysis but you think it’s a coincidence - jancy, lumax, mileven , and Steve/rando girl who rejected him in s3-all incorportated spying on their love interest ? you think the duffers think that’s good to have all these romantic pairings spy on eachother? When in the show they canonically have the us gov (villains) spy via phone taps, and hidden recorders, and cameras? Brenner used El as a spy for his own gain ? they even call the mf a ‘spy’ (which the characters perceive as the  main villain)... i don’t think the mf is  actually villainous but that’s off topic).The point is narratively equating spying as something ‘wrong’ by characters our main cast of heroes is against. But having that same cast of heroes partaking in spying themselves … specifically on to their romantic partners- and not also showing it as a negative. But romanticizing it? Would be quite hypocritical. And a HUGE narrative oversight.

Also build up?

S1- mileven kiss right after el asks if he’ll be her “friend” or “brother”. Has others compare el to mike’s sibling /cousin. Hint Will is gay . Have hints mike is queer too/ and cares deeply about Will. Constantly mention how el physically resembles Will/a boy. Parallel mileven to ted/Karen who were “never in love”. Have Nancy and mike verbally compare the jancy/stancy love triangle to mileven/byler . And at the end of the season mike writes a story for Will that likens the 2 to han/leia. Flo says about jancy/Jon “ only love makes you that crazy and that damn stupid”. (Which flo wasn’t entirely right about since jon punched Steve for insulting his family- for Jon it was familial love -not romantic love. But put a pin in that phrase)

S2- was pretty much byler season (and mileven barely interact that season). Byler say they’d go “crazy together”. But el’s new catchphrase is she’s “not stupid.” They Compare mileven to luke/leia (siblings that kissed) . Ref ghostbusters and parallel byler to the romantic pairing of Dana /venkman (but have el just be a ghost and mike a ghost buster which isn’t romantic but the opposite) .parallel mileven to hopper/el. Have el spy on mike, el hurt a stranger cause of unhealthy jealousy, have mileven dance to a song about a possessive spying/Stalking ex gf . Throw in mileven burns like “they’re not in love they’re not even from the same planet.” (El being et ref) . Have mike say annoyed “a bond ?! (Scoff) cause you shared nougat?! “ (egos like s1 ) “. Mike saying after knowing max for a week “hate you? I don’t even know you?” (He knew el for a week too so no way he loves her -cause he doesn’t know el , just like max ) . mike even criticizes his friends’ instant attraction to max saying “you haven’t even spoken a word to her.”Dustin saying “ I don’t have to . I mean -look at her.” Which makes it even more suspicious that mike was into a girl who multiple characters said looked like a boy (specifically Will) in s1. Have El watch a soap opera (all my children) and mimic the scene of  erica kane and her love interest michael. Which in the soap opera-isn’t endgame, and ended with some stalking after their breakup.

S3- mileven is finally dating : multiple characters (lucas, Will, Hopper, dustin,Max, etc) in the show dislike and verbally complain about them together . In cheers all of sam’s friends hated him dating Dianne and would vocally complain about it (similar to joyce they even clapped/cheered after 1 of their many breakups) . Mike is horrified by the spying(that mileven fans romanticized in s2) , el is happier single and neither is heartbroken over the breakup. They date for 2 eps and then breakup . Mileven being together inhibits El’s character arc from s2 (aka she went from wanting to explore the world and leave the cabin in s2 to see her friends, to ignoring her friends and cutting herself off from the world in order to stay in the cabin all day to make out with mike for 6 months - she would literally lie to her friends about curfew to return to the cabin and kiss mike -going against her ‘friends don’t lie’ mantra from the past 2 seasons too ). Mike canonically doesn’t trust her / doesn’t believe in her ability to make decisions and lies to her and never apologizes for lying. And el doesn’t apologize for spying . They throw in more gay hints of mike & Will. Mileven is called “bullshit” like s2 stancy . And Both pairings in the show kissed a bunch and said “I love you” (but they weren’t endgame). They also contrast s3 mileven scenes to s2 byler scenes and have byler win out. And once again parallel mileven to hopper/el and Karen/ted. As well as paralleling and likening Mileven to stancy in numerous other ways (besides the “bullshit “ line) . They also parallel mileven to stobin (both are straight baits) .They parallel the stobin confession to the mileven one -both confessions have them sitting on the floor, both girls have bandages on their legs, and both confessions are interrupted by dustin. Also both Steve/mike use the terms “crazy & stupid ” to confess to robin/el. But unlike Will who agrees to be “crazy “ with mike .El confused , asks “ what makes you crazy?” And robin says she didn’t have a crush on his “stupid hair”. el even says in reference to mike “there’s more to life than stupid boys.” Showing how el/robin don’t have romantic feelings for the boys-like the flo phrase of s1. Unlike Will who after fighting with mike calls himself “stupid” over and over and rips up the photo of him and mike where they promised to go “crazy together.” Even Steve says in s2 stancy should should “pretend to be stupid teenagers” in love. Emphasis on “pretend”. And when el says she loves mike “the first I love you” plays -the only other time that song plays in s3 is when robin rejects Steve (cause she’s gay.) cough cause mike is gay too.

There’s a lot more in each season (that illustrates mileven was built up -but not as a positive couple but a problematic one that was never was in love to begin with ). But I’m trying to keep this short . You can read this post here where I go in more depth about all of this .

S1-2 builds up the problematic ships (but showed good and bad aspects of their dynamic) . like the spying of jancy, lumax, and mileven or the jealousy. of Hopper in s2. In the s2 finalie they have them kiss or hug/exchange romantic glances. And in S3 we see the after math of this with all the couples officially dating - and they show all the couples issues at the forefront . I already talked about mileven. But, Lumax broke up 6 times (they dated for 6 months- and every month they dated max dumped him ). Jancy fight in the opening of ep 1 and don’t understand each others issues (sexism/poverty-and Jon’s issues with his dad) . And neither supports the other in their passions of journalism & photography.Nancy is also called “nancy drew” who in 1986 (year of s4) before going to college dumps her long term highschool bf (who helped her in many of her past mysteries/novels ). Their relationship was also shown as complex and somewhat dysfunctional because of both parties -before nancy drew dumps him. And (even if not dating like the other pairings) jopper almost go on a date in s3. Joyce was trying to hide the fact she was moving, Hopper was horribly jealous, and all they did was yell and argue.Murray says to joyce regarding hopper “he’s a brute... probably reminds you of a bad relationship” (aka lonnie/Joyce) . They even have Joyce watch a cheers ep- which directly compares jopper to (dianne/Frasier) who weren’t endgame in cheers but a rebound .  Hopper /fraiser both drink chianti . Fraiser asks dianne to marry him/Hopper asks Joyce on a date-both women stand them up. Or when Joyce asks Hopper out she calls her self ‘detective byers ‘and Hopper name drops miami vice. Which had an on and off again relationship for several seasons- of the male /female detectives.The relationship faded out as Gina realized they mainly got together when one or both needed someone. Crockett was very protective of Gina, and had some jealousy when Gina was involved in relationships , but was the first one to be there for her when things went wrong. And they realized it was better to not be together romantically. Heck seems like all these couples have negative film/tv parallels... lucas in s2 mentions not liking winston in ghost busters cause he came ‘super late’ (like Max). in s1 disses michael myers (which Max dressed as). And at the end of s3- lumax dress identically to eric/donna from a ep of that 70s shows (in the ep  eric/donna were broken up).

 (s3 was marketed as the “summer of love” and “summer love” is a euphemism for flings that don’t last.) s4-5 Will probably show good healthy ships/break up the problematic ones from past seasons .

So first 2 seasons focus on the unhealthy ships / and the last 2 seasons focus on healthy ships. S3 the middle season would be considered the turning point -and why none of the popular ships (assumed to be endgame) came off looking that great (compared to how they were presented in s1-2) .

[afishlearningpoetry]

Screaming that Jason the beloved quarterback and boyfriend of essentially 2022 laura palmer led the town to mass psychosis of paranoia becoming an angry mob and nothing happened. A few people had to wait in the car while the others went in the store, that’s it. Jason and his friends weren’t that difficult to deal with and the town never had to confront they were outsourcing their anxieties onto an outsider. The funny thing about it being it’s very much a stephen king thing to have a monstrous evil paired with a human evil that’s just as threatening, and that’s what season 2 did with billy, well I might add, and this time they’ve amped the scale of it from the abuse being not just to max/her friends but a wide range of teenagers who are lost and confused and depressed and the community didn’t have to look inward and reflect on how they were responsible for creating those conditions and for blaming an innocent eddie, and this theme might come around later but the biggest issue is they don’t have to deal with consequences for it: like if a mob had actually spotted him, reported him and sent people after him, chased him, killed him instead of sacrificing himself to distract some bats for no reason, it would thematically connect the two in the way THE STORY SET UP. Monster evil and human evil, appearances are deceiving, man is the real monster, there is Vecna after all, cops are so incompetent they might as well have aided and abetted. Pretty fundamental supernatural and horror themes.

And since they took inspiration from twin peaks for chrissy, that show did that story to its logical end: that she was being abused both by her father and the supernatural entity that took to him, for years, and nobody did anything because no one wanted to say anything, they were all complicit in her death, episode 3, her football boyfriend says it explicitly, and the same thing happens again to her cousin. I’m not expecting anyone inspired by this to rival all their inspirations but I expect them to try if they bother putting it in something. ST has never been complex about weaving in social themes, but they used to do it implicitly well that still made for good entertainment. And then when the gates finally opened, Hawkins would’ve been forced to confront that maybe THEY were responsible for opening the gates to hell. What is anyone supposed to learn if eddie supposedly died in the earthquake? If Jason did too and isn’t heralded as a hero? What if Jason did it or claimed credit and was later (this season, or the next) revealed to have killed an innocent man? What if the parents blamed their kids and there was a conflict there? Why didn’t the COMMUNITY blame them and shun them at the end? Why was THAT set up if nothing was gonna happen in volume 2? ST just feels so afraid of consequences and naming social themes even when they talk constantly about outsiders and geeks and satanic panic, letting gay characters call themselves gay, killing off major characters so they introduce someone new instead (even kind of replicating steve’s relationship with dustin onto eddie; he was supposed to die in s1, why not here?). There are absolutely literal and emotional consequences this season but they mostly feel isolated from each other in their own closed loop systems, stories recycling previous stories, themes missing point B or even A before jumping to C, totally allergic to actually breaking skin and touching on that real human darkness they keep avoiding.

[imagines-by-a-typical-fangirl]

The Perfect Bad Boy (Pt. 14 of 18)

Pairing: Billy Hargrove X Reader

Word count: 3 K

Summary: Working as a lifeguard in the Hawkins Community Pool, you try to fit in after moving from New York. Things were going pretty well when you notice you've been under someone's stare. Billy Hargrove, Hawkins' bad boy, has been staring at you since day one. You never intended to have anything to do with him, judging by the reputation he has. But Billy won't leave you alone, determined to show you his feelings are different this time...

As if your heart flooding you with confusing feelings wasn't enough, there are weird, strange animals lurking in the woods... But those have to be just part of the wild live of the woods surrounding Hawkins... Right?

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{Stranger Things Masterlist}

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Hunt and Destroy

“Alright... A lot of new words and names...” You mutter, looking at the floor between your feet. It's late now, and Eleven has been talking for over an hour. The story is long and you had to stop her to ask a few questions. More than a few, actually. Everything sounds like a very strange story, the weirdest, something nobody could come up with. To prove it, Eleven turned the TV on with her mind, skipping through the channels before turning it off again. But you didn't need any proof. You know what you saw and it was very, very real. “Upside down, Demodog, Demodorden...”

“Demogorgon. With a G.” Dustin corrects you, smiling. How can he be smiling?

“Demogorgon, ok.” Nodding, you take a deep breath and stand up. “So... What's the plan?” You ask, pacing around the living room.

“Well, we need to gather the whole party for this,” Max says and the others nod.

“I'll talk to my mom and Hopper,” Jonathan speaks out. “We have to do this as soon as possible so... tomorrow.”

“Yeah. Can it be here?” You're not sure if you can make this demand, but right now, being anywhere else after dark is too much. The sunlight is your protection since it's deadly to the... Demo-something. It burns them. They like it cold, said Eleven.

“Sure.” Jonathan answers and you offer him a small smile in return. “Could it be by five? Before the sunset.”

“Yeah. We can sneak out of the pool again.” It shouldn't be a problem, and if Anthony is there, you could pretend to be sick.

“Tomorrow is our day off.” Billy reminds and you take a deep breath, running a hand through your hair. You completely forgot that.

“By the morning them. Maybe we'll get something figured out we can start working on through the rest of the day.” Mike suggests and the whole party agrees. “We should get going though. It's late.” Mike gets up from his spot on the floor.

“Wait.” Mike can't possibly be for real now. “You're not gonna head home now. With those things out there.” They're getting closer to the town, and it means they'll hang around all night. “It's dangerous. You should stay.”

Most of them agree easily, chattering among them. Max seems excited, but Mike exchanges a look with Nancy. “I don't think our mother would let us crash at Billy's place.” She says with an apologetic look.

“Oh.” You know why. Billy told you where he was going to when the Mind Flayer almost got him... Or better saying, who he was going to meet. Mrs. Wheeler. You did felt weird back then, and it sure makes you feel weird now, but whatever he did before, you left it where it belongs. In the past. “Just call and tell her you'll be crashing at my place.”

“Yeah, man. C'mon. Slumber party.” Dustin cheers, smiling, and once again you can't understand why they aren't terrified. Guess they're just used to it. But how can someone get used to monsters lurking around?

“Alright, then.” Mike agrees, making his way to the phone.

“They didn't get it yet,” Billy whispers in your ear.

“They didn't get it.” Repeating, you wrap your arms around his neck. “I'm really trying not to freak out right now.” The words come out of your mouth, rolling out your tongue.

“Let's go to the bedroom so you can rest and we can talk.”

“Ok...”

“Alright. It's done.” Mike comes back with his sister, gesturing at the front door. “Should we get going?”

You and Billy exchange a look. They really didn't get it. “Uhm... So that's it, guys.” You start, taking Billy's hand and pulling him with you. “You can crash either here or Max's room. First to wake up makes breakfast.”

“Wait. You made me lie to my mom?” Mike asks as you move further into the hall.

“(Y/N) is living here.” Max ends the mystery, and you can feel her massive eye roll.

“Holy shit.” You hear Dustin and Steve mumbling as you get inside the room.

Billy lets you shower first, and as you wait for him, you look through his college books. Everything seems very complicated. Your fingers run through one of the pages, taking in the many numbers, but not really reading anything. Your mind is too far away right now. The scene keeps playing back, over and over. The... Demodog, as the kids call it, its face opening up, the guttural noises it made. You wish it was just a nightmare, but everything seems very, very real.

Billy's sudden touch makes you suck in a sharp breath, shaking a little. “Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you.” The feeling is quickly replaced by the usual warmth he makes you feel. Safety and comfort.

“It's ok, I'm just... How is it possible that the kids seem to be so fine with it?” Turning around, you lay your head on his chest as he pulls you close.

“They've been through a lot. They know how to deal with it and you don't have to participate if you don't want to.” Billy touches your face, fingers caressing the soft skin of your jaw. “I'll do anything to keep you safe, you know that right?”

You do. But staying out would not only make you a coward, but it would mean one less person to help them do whatever they're planning to. And, whatever this thing is, it had a part in messing with Billy's life. With Max's life, and all her friends. It's kind of personal. And, if Billy is in danger, you want to be there to make sure you'll do anything to save him. “I want to do it. I just need time to... Process everything.”

“You won't be alone. And I'm not talking only for myself, but for everyone else too.”

“Ok.”

“Now come. You need to get some sleep.” Billy pulls you to the bed, and, instead of laying beside him as usual, you decide to crawl on top of him.

“Am I crushing you?” You ask as you lay your head on his chest, smiling to feel his strong arms around you.

“Haven't you noticed the weight I can lift? You're nothing compared to it.”

Closing your eyes, you feel as he places a kiss on the top of your head. You've never been like that with Billy, literally on top of him, and it's good. Today, more than ever, you need to feel safe. Protected. And he's the only one who makes you feel this way. “I'm so happy we don't have to go to work tomorrow.”

“Me too.”

Pulling yourself up, you move upwards until your face is close to his. “Do you think the kids are talking about us?” Despite your mind being apparently stuck reminiscing the same moment, the terror in your chest, you try to change the subject. Hopefully, it'll keep you from having nightmares tonight.

“I'm sure of it.” As he speaks, a noise of glass shattering reaches us. “Max!” Billy yells at the top of his lungs, startling you. “What the hell!”

“Stop yelling.” You giggle, playfully slapping his shoulder.

“Just a glass, Billy,” Maxine answers from somewhere in the house.

“Better clean this shit up!” He shouts again.

“Shut up!” You whine, lowering yourself on him a little. “Or else I'll have to make you and it won't be nice.”

Billy raises an eyebrow, that usual smirk making its way to his lips. “Oh, and how exactly wouldn't it be nice?”

Yeah, you didn't really give much thought before making the threat. “Okay then.” Smirking, you close the distance between you until your lips are brushing on his before you sit up abruptly, a hand covering his mouth. “See? I told you it wouldn't be nice.” He opens his mouth under your hand, and you feel his teeth biting your skin. “Billy!” You complain, taking your hand away from his mouth. “I can't believe you bit me, you jerk.”

“You got what you deserved.” He suddenly pulls you down, making you lay next to him. “Now, quit playing around and sleep, princess. Tomorrow will be a long day.”

“Kiss me goodnight then. To keep the bad dreams away.” You ask him softly, melting into the slow, warm kiss he gives you.

It doesn't help with the nightmares though. Twice that night you wake up, a breath caught in your throat. You struggle not to let Billy notice, snuggling closer to him.

You're more than happy when morning finally comes. The house is so damn loud, and breakfast in a mess. You like it though, the craziness distracting you from yesterday's events. The rest of the party is here by nine, thanks to the urgency of the matter. And then, after everyone is fed up and the dishes are clean, which took half an hour since nobody wanted to do it, everyone sits in the living room to talk.

And you just can't seem to keep up with it. The boys speak fast, Hopper yells, Joyce tries to calm him down, he argues with Eleven, which is like his daughter, you got that, and then he argues with Mike. Nancy and Jonathan always check with each other before saying something, Steve always finds the flaws on the kids' plans, pointing out the many ways it could go wrong, and Dustin often gets into some kind of argument with him. There are a hundred different ways things could go wrong. A thousand ways you could die. Running a hand through your hair, you hold onto Billy's biceps, laying your head on his shoulder. You're the only one who didn't say anything since the conversation started. There's just nothing you can help them with, you'll just stick up to whatever plan they have.

What they know for sure that these Demodogs are here because some of them must have been left behind in some kind of incubation period until it started growing again.

“So that's it. Hunt and destroy.” Lucas says, nodding to himself.

“Yes. We don't know exactly how much time we have until they start going full Demogorgon, so we should start acting now.” Mike states. “Immediately.”

As if something was lit up, everyone starts moving. “My place in one hour, everyone,” Hopper says and suddenly the crowd disperses, the house once again silent.

You're still in the same place you were, on the couch, legs crossed, eyes on the floor. “Hey. You ok?”

“Yeah.” Taking a deep breath, you stand up. “So. Hopper's place. One hour.” Saying this more to yourself than to him, you get up and pace around the living room. “Should we take the baseball bat?”

“Steve has one far more fun than that. You'll like it.” You can tell Billy is keeping his voice nice and soft, trying not to push you over the edge with everything that's going on. “(Y/N), you don't have to go. You know that, right?”

“I do. But I'm going anyway.” Walking over him, you tiptoe to place a kiss on his lips. “Those kids are so brave. I don't want them to think I'm the weak link.”

“Alright, but we stick together. No exceptions.”

“I agree.” It does make you feel a lot better.

In the next hour, you and Billy shower and get ready. You make sure to wear short jeans and a light shirt so you won't feel too hot. The plan is trying to find the Demodog's nest. This part has to be made during the daylight, to make sure no attacks will happen, so you have no choice but to walk around the woods under the sun. Billy makes sure to shove a lot of water on his backpack, using literally every bottle he found in the house. And Max gathers some snacks for the day.

You reach Hopper's place at the same time Nancy, Jonathan, and Mike does, realizing it's also Joyce's place. The party is gathered in front of the house, a big map of Hawking on the ground. Beside it, a pile of some random stuff that you guess will be the... Weapons you'll use. Just in case.

Hopper is the one to assign everyone a place to start, the area they'll have to cover, and where they'll have to stop. There are lines drawn over the map, and you hope Billy has everything memorized because you don't even know where is where. Then, the groups are separated. Billy of course says he'll take you and Max. And Lucas, much to his dismay, will come along too. When people start taking stuff from the pile, you immediately get what Billy mentioned earlier. There's a baseball bat with nails on the top. Smiling, you take it.

“That's so badass.” You mutter, looking at Billy. “This will be my weapon of choice.”

“Hey. That's mine.” Steve exclaims, reaching out his hand.

“Not anymore, buddy.” You sass at him, swinging the bar and hitting the air.

“But–”

“She's good with the bat, trust me,” Maxine says and you nod. Some people have an interrogation on their faces, and Steve keeps staring at the three of you, as if waiting for further explanation.

“We have an inside joke.” Lowering the bat, you turn to look at Billy.

“Restricted to the Hargrove family,” Billy states, taking one the radios from the pile and starting the make his way to the car. “And Max.”

“But what about me?” You feel a little set aside by his affirmation, wondering what he meant. It's impossible that he's ignoring the fact that you were there that day. “I'm in the joke too.” Whining a little on purpose, you follow him.

“You still only notice half of things.” Billy winks at you as he gets inside the car, and after Max and Lucas get in the back seat, you get in as well. “I know you know what I meant.”

“Maybe I didn't.” Billy has this way with you. You were expecting the first sensations to fade, but they didn't. He still makes you nervous, the butterflies on your stomach doesn't seem to grow immune to him. And part of you is still scared of the things you think he means. You did got what he said, but it's safer to just pretend you didn't, right?

The short drive is filled with chattering. The kind of chattering you didn't want to hear since it's all about the Demothings. You stop by the woods, and Max and Lucas will be the ones responsible for the map since they have a compass.

And so the ‘hunting’ starts. You're glad it's not a real hunt though. You remember when you invited Billy for a trail with your friends, but walking through the woods feels different now. Before, you had only the normal wild animals to worry about, not some monsters that came out of the gates of hell. But you try to keep in mind that the sunlight means protection, so you'll safe. For now.

“Billy, can you make sure we'll have enough daylight to make the way back to the car?” You ask him, putting your hair up on a ponytail.

“I will, don't worry.” He moves closer, taking your hand in his. “We'll be ok. Just focus on trying to find anything unusual in the woods.”

“Sure.”

Billy doesn't let go of your hand until you stop to eat something. Lucas and Max start arguing a lot when you resume your walking, complaining about the directions. Billy is clearly pissed, not very fond of the idea of his little sister dating. It's cute the way he keeps staring at the young couple, paying attention to whatever they're saying. You wonder if Billy ever thought about having kids.

Wait. What the hell? Step back, you tell yourself. Too soon for that.

At some point, a fresh breeze starts blowing, and you couldn't be more thankful for it. Letting your hair down, you run a hand through it out of nervousness.

“I'm telling you, we have to go West now,” Lucas says.

“Yes. First West then North.” Maxine takes the map from his hands, taking a look at it. “It's obvious if you think about it. Just look. Try using your head for a moment.”

“Are you calling me dumb?”

“Yes!”

“Alright, both of you.” Billy intervenes, his voice with a tiny hint of anger. “Will you two make a goddman decision or will I have to?”

This will be interesting. Billy and you have been walking a couple of feet behind them, so as he moves ahead, you stand there, crossing your arms. The breeze brings a soft sound, that looks like the sound the pools make when it's windy. Following it, you spot water, only about ten feet away. Leaving the guys behind to their fights, you make your way there, making sure there are no big trees hiding you from their sight. When you get there, you bend down, putting one hand on the freshwater.

“(Y/N)!” It's Billy's usual yell, the one he always uses to scare the shit out of you. “Do you want to give me a heart attack?” When you turn around to look at him, he's already close by, Maxine and Lucas coming right after.

“Sorry, but I found this lake.”

“Lover's lake,” Max says, sitting down on a rock, eyes on the map.

“Lover's lake?” You repeat, crossing your arms and looking at Billy. “Why haven't you ever brought me here?” By the name, you think it would be a nice romantic date. And you remember by what you saw on the map, the lake is shaped like a heart, the reason for the name.

“Oh, you're new here. Sometimes it slips my mind.” He puts he bag down, safely away from where the small ripples reach. “People usually come here to... You know. So I thought that if I brought you and then you found out what really happens here you'd come to the wrong conclusion about my feelings for you.”

That's a very good explanation. And it makes you feel... Special. Different. “Thank you, then. For... Having this in mind.” As you speak, you take off your white shoes, all dusted by now.

“What are you doing?” He asks, an eyebrow raised when you look up at him, using his arm for balance to take off the other shoe.

“I'm using the Lover's Lake to something else than making out.” You start walking backwards, into the water.

“Whoa, look at what (Y/N)'s doing,” Lucas says, and you give them a glance. Max giggles, putting the map down.

“Try to drown Billy, would you?”

“I'll do my best.” When you stare back at Billy, he's already in the water.

You move back until your feet stop touching the bottom, so you start swimming further away. The freshwater is a blessing, washing the hot day from your skin. For a moment, you decide to leave the worries behind, just for a couple of minutes. Billy is quick to reach you, and you're suddenly aware of the kids staring. “We have an audience, keep that in mind.” You tell him when he pulls you close, strong arms encircling your waist.

“Were you ever kissed underwater?”

“No.” Your smirk matches his as you take a deep breath and push yourself down.

The kiss is a mess. You have to focus on holding your breath through the process, what makes you laugh, throwing bubbles on Billy's face. You manage to reach the bottom, your back hitting the rocks as Billy floats on top of you. But eventually, the oxygen you were saving is over, so you push him away and swim back up, laughing when you reach the surface.

“What a chaos.” You burst out when he comes back up as well. “We suck at underwater kisses.”

“I think I swallowed some water,” Billy says, coughing a little.

It only makes you laugh harder, removing the hair glued to your face. Swimming closer to him, you wrap your arms around his neck.

“Hey! Mr. and Mrs. Hargrove! Let's get moving!” Lucas shouts, making you roll your eyes.

You burst into laugh again when Billy flings you over his back, carrying you back to land.

And the walking restarts, with Max and Lucas constantly arguing and Billy trying to make them stop. The good thing is that it distracts you. And the bad part is that it distracts you from searching around for any signs of a Demothing nest. Your eyes scan through the woods, among the trees, looking for–.

“Holy shit!” Lucas exclaims and then he jolts away, running, followed by Max. You and Billy exchange a look before rushing after them.

Before you can ask what was that, you see it. A huge hole on the solid ground. It would fit a car in it. The thing goes down, in a slope, and then it keeps going until it makes a turn left. It's clear it doesn't belong to any kind of wild animal. It's not natural. A low, guttural low snarl reaches your ears, and you involuntary gives step back.

“Call them. Them then we found it.” Lucas says, taking a pencil and making a mark on the map.

The moment Max takes the small radio, you hear static. “Everyone listen up.” Steve says, more voices talking behind him. “We found it. A freaking hole in the ground. It has to be–”

“That's it.” Eleven's voice cuts him off. “We found it too.”

It was supposed to be just one.

“What?” Steve asks.

“Head back now. Everyone.” Hopper says and Max turns the radio off.

This is far worse than you thought.

×

@chloe-skywalker @dpaccione @dreamin-of-dacre @funeral-7 @uncookspaget @youhavemyfantasticbeasts @halloweenbitch2764 @redlovett @multific @shinydixon @nikkixostan @clockworkballerina @nope-thanks

[hargrove-mayfields]

Please do a story where autistic max is getting bullied and billy steps in

warnings for ableism and implied child abuse.

Max is fourteen now. She doesn’t need anybody looking after her like she’s some baby or something just because she’s, as her mother had put it when she was refusing this very same notion, special. She can handle herself.

That’s what she believes at least, and definitely what Billy does too, the both of them tired of being babysit and doing the babysitting respectively, but her mother is very adamant on keeping her pearls clutched in one hand and the other tight fisted in any decision or action her daughter makes.

So naturally, because this is the same woman that thinks Max is immature and faking half her symptoms go spit her, she also assumes she’s completely incapable of taking care of herself, whether that’s because she’s disabled or because she’s a faker is another story, so that’s the way things go anyways, with her step brother having to watch her like she’s still seven years old and meeting him for the first time.

Their relationship is on the upswing after things settled in Hawkins, but Max still wants her independence and Billy wants to give it to her, the last thing a seventeen year old boy really want is to watch his little sister like she’s on a play date, so their usual agreement is for Billy to take Max wherever he gets told to take her and just drop her off, finding something else to do in the area until it’s time to pick her up.

That system had yet to fail them, so when Max gets an invite to the arcade literally the day after she gets ungrounded after sneaking out again for the third time since they moved to Hawkins and begs her mother for literal hours to let her go this time, the compromise is that she can go, but only as long as Billy goes with her, and just like usual, he just drops her off at the door with a promise to be back before too late, and drives off to go do something she probably doesn’t want to know the details of.

Her friends are already there, and they all play together for a little bit, but while Max was bargaining for permission and waiting for Billy to get his lecture from both parents before they could even think about leaving for the arcade, Lucas and Mike and Dustin and Will had already been there and playing, so by the time she showed up, it didn’t take long for them to get bored of being there or run out of pocket change.

Max doesn’t like plans changing though, and she came to the arcade to play, so even as the last of the party is getting on their bikes or in their own respective cars to be picked up, she just waves goodbye from the door before turning sharply back to the dig dug cabinet, too set on replacing every high score with her name to just leave on a whim because her friends were.

Similarly, Max also finds it pretty hard to keep track of time. It’s like once she starts doing something she planned to do, she has to finish it, so by the time she’s gotten bored of literally everything there is to play in the place and spent nearly every last quarter she’d been collecting for the weeks she was confined to the house as punishment, it’s already fallen dark outside, the arcade close to closing.

That’s not really a problem in it of itself, she has no curfew anymore now that she’s not off the hook, and anyways that was only ever about punishment, not safety, since her mother said bad things don’t happen in small towns. Billy argued that they do if you’re the right kind of person though, for which he got promptly smacked in the mouth, but Max thinks he’s probably right.

Because she’s autistic and she has a gay older brother, and currently she’s one of only a handful of kids left at the arcade at closing, and that is exactly the problem. Max is alone, at night, in a town that’s still mostly unfamiliar as with the person who was supposed to be watching her nowhere in sight, and she’s being tailed as she goes towards the double door exit by the only other kids there, two boys and a girl all at least a year older than her whose names she’d never really caught.

This wouldn’t be her first run in with this group. She’s just an easy target, and that’s exactly what they’re looking for, and these three had been picking on her practically since she showed her face in the arcade for the first time. Only they’d never really stayed this late, and the extent of their tormenting was typically unoriginal insults thrown from the other side of the room that she was bored of and could ignore pretty easily.

She’d like to think that maybe this wasn’t a bad thing going to happen, just a coincidence that those three were still lurking around. Keith was about to close up the arcade anyways, so they were probably just waiting until it closed to leave too.

Max realizes that definitely isn’t the case though when the second they’re out those glass front doors, the girl roughly snatches her bag off of her shoulder.

Usually she’d leave the bag in Billy’s car when she went out somewhere, but she had enough extra money saved up tonight that she wanted it in a change purse instead of her pocket so she didn’t lose it, and since the change purse was small and easy to misplace and her brain a little bit flighty, she just brought the whole bag.

The whole bag which happened to have everything of importance to her in it, not only her money, but also her notebook, her school id, and all of her stim toys.

By her parents' rules, she wasn’t allowed to stim loudly or in a way they deemed embarrassingly, especially not in public, so she brought toys with her everywhere, and now they were being stolen from her because she was too busy trying to think like Susan, that nothing bad could possibly happen, unless of course she brought it on herself, but that’s just not the case.

And either way, she needed those toys back, the situation at home worsening and leaving behind her favorite behavior therapist during the move and so many other things had made her stress skyrocket, and likewise her meltdowns, so she truly needed those toys to help her.

“Give that back!” Max insists after a pause where she was trying to wrap her mind around what was happening, and tries to snatch the bag back, grabbing the straps and trying to pull it back towards herself when the girl starts rummaging through it.

All that gets her is being shoved roughly into one of the boys, who grabs onto her arm tight enough to leave bruises in the shape of his fingertips on her pale skin, and a taunting sneer of, “Sorry, retard. Finders keepers.”

The girl digs around in her bag, looking for a wallet or a checkbook or something, but Max wasn’t even trusted to take her walkie talkie out of the house, let alone any actual money other than the quarters she and Billy saved up, so other than the now empty coin purse, she was broke.

When all she finds is Max’s things, she drops the bag, making everything she’d disrupted spill out of it, and curses, “What the hell is all this junk?”

Max isn't really listening though, because the minute the bag spilt, the two boys took to picking the things they thought might be of value, and in the case of the things they didn’t, like her magic snake that clicked in just the right way when it moved, they’d drop them again, and literally stomp on them, or snap them in two first.

Her mind is much too focused on watching her toys be broken or stolen, that just she doesn’t hear it when she’s asked a question. She very much feels the consequence though, a slap to the back of the head from the boy who didn’t have a grip on her arm hard enough to make her neck sore and bring tears to her eyes, so she forces herself to tune back into things.

“We asked you a question, dumbass. Why are you carrying around a bag of toys like a baby or somethin’?”

“B-Because I need them so I can stim.” Max answers honestly, trying her damndest not to cry, to prove to them she was not a baby, but it didn’t feel like it was too far off, as she was getting more and more emotionally overwhelmed, also getting closer and closer to a meltdown.

“Stim? What the hell is that?” She hears one of the boys ask, and the other chimes in, “Probably something to do with being retarded.”

The older girl snaps at the boys arguing behind Max, “Does it matter? Let’s just take her money and get the hell out of here.”

They keep arguing, and Max is again past the point of processing really anything that’s going on around her, the arcade with all its lights and noises and crowds was already an overwhelming sensory experience, and now with the other kids shouting at her and the aching bruises that were now forming on her skin, it’s all just too much for her.

It’s for that reason that she doesn’t have enough focus left for it to really click what’s happening other than the kids surrounding her freezing up, and bright lights and loud noises that make her squeeze her eyes shut and cover her ears.

What it is though is Billy, brights on, stopping with the front two wheels of the camaro on the sidewalk, and slamming his door hard enough as he gets out that it echoes off the trees way at the back of the arcade.

Billy’s yelling too, threats to call the police and damnation and all kinds of things that Max is too busy trying to remember how to breathe and pick up everything that had spilled out of her bag to hear, and the bullies end up scampering off once Billy’s voice gets scratchy and angry in that way it gets when he and Neil argue, dropping everything where it was and just bolting.

Max hears Billy sigh and sees his kneel down next to her, his face so much kinder to her than he had looked for those kids who were hurting her, come into her limited line of sight as he kneels down next to her on the sidewalk, which she hadn’t even noticed she had sat down on, and he asks her, “You okay, Max?”

And at first, Max was going to say yes, she’d taken worse than that from teachers who didn’t want stim toys in class and as punishments from her parents, but it scared her, the way that he had asked, because he didn’t call her shitbird or kiddo or brat face, he called her by her name, and she bursts into tears almost immediately after he asks.

She’s still not really in a meltdown, which was exhausting, those emotions needed to come out and they just weren't, but it’s still bad enough Billy has to sit fully down on the sidewalk and wait it out with her before they can get back in the car. He puts his hand high on her chest and makes her sit up straight to keep her breathing under control and lets her rock herself until Max’s heavy sobs eventually slow to a couple of stray tears, and then she nods, a wordless way to tell Billy she was ready to go home.

Before they can leave though, they still have more to talk about, a conversation that they don’t want their parents a part of, and they both know it. Still, the car is silent for a minute, nothing but the sound of Max’s sniffles and the creak of the leather steering wheel cover cracking under the pressure of Billy’s angry grip, fists opening and closing around it.

Max is the first to break it, her voice so weak with residual fear and tears it’s barely audible as she gets her brothers attention, “Billy?”

He sighs through his nose, to try to calm down before he talks to Max more than anything, and lets go of the wheel, knowing that was only making things worse, “What is it, kiddo?”

“Are you going to tell?” She’s doing that thing where she presses her palms together and pushes until her knuckles turn white, very clearly nervous asking, so Billy clarifies, “Do you want me to tell?”

Immediately Max shakes her head no. They both know this little incident could get them back on lockdown, Max because her mother would be worried for her precious, breakable little daughter, and Billy because he was supposed to be there.

Not that Billy gave a shit about saving his own hide at the moment, but if Max didn’t want him to tell and get them in heaps of trouble, he wouldn’t, and that’s exactly what he tells her, “Then no, we’ll keep it between us, but you gotta have an excuse ready for those bruises and scrapes.”

Max shrugs, almost too nonchalant, “I’m a skater, skaters get lots of injuries.”

“Don’t think I like how quick you came up with that.” Billy looks over at her, and Max’s gaze shifts to the window behind him as she responds bluntly, “Yeah, well I learned from the best, didn't I?”

“I guess you did.” Billy sighs, doesn’t like to admit the influence he’s had on Max’s in that way. He wants to lead a good example, be the big brother she needed him to be and instead he was teaching her how to lie to her parents and make excuses for injuries.

Though really, in the case of their parents, he guesses that was exactly the type of brother he needed to be. One who teaches her how to avoid her abusers instead of how to avoid annoying boys at school, and who will help her figure out loopholes to punishments and rules instead of her math homework. Just the thought of that concept makes his chest ache.

He starts the car, noting that the vibrations of the engine through the car help to ease the tension out of Max’s shoulders and revving it a couple more times than necessary, “Let’s just get you home, shitbird.”

[mayabruhbruh]

Stranger Things 4 Analysis and Theory

I don’t know if anyone else has done posts on this stuff yet (it’s really likely, but i’d not want to take the credit if i’m not the only one who’s thought of this)

I know @kaypeace21 has made tons of posts on the s4 movies from Video Store Friday, and many others have theories and analyses, but back in July I took it upon myself to research more into the very last few scenes of s3. Specifically the three months later time stamp, where Steve and Robin are in search for a new job.

My main focus was the four movies that they mentioned for Keith at the counter. “Animal House”, “The Hidden Fortress”, “Children Of Paradise”, and “The Apartment”.

(reminder that if you read this, it could be spoilers for the final cut of the actual show if i end up being correct about some of this, so read at your own risk)

My first theory, which I’ve already discussed in a separate reblog, is about The Hellfire Club. But i’ll say it here too.

Basically,

(sorry for the sucky quality)

Animal House is about two awkward freshmen going into college and joining a fraternity of rejects. It matches Mike, Dustin and the Hellfire Club perfectly! Personally, my lowkey theory is that they’re going to have to go though an entirety of initiation activities (possibly drugs too, if what we’ve heard is correct) and Lucas and Max will be in their own storylines up until the supernatural threat brings them back together again. This could be wayy off, but still its my idea.

As for Max and Lucas...

I’m not sure about the entirety of the plot of this movie, but the last line sounds a lot like something that would happen between Lumax. Lucas is a basketball jock now, I think that’s crystal clear now seeing from the Pep Rally poster, and how he’s always been the one in the group to be able to mask his nerdy side. For Dustin and Mike, I know it’s much harder for them. Anyways, Max, I’m pretty positive by now, is going to be extremely distant and defensive from everyone just like she was in the beginning of s2, since she just had a big change happening in her life. It’s the same now, except with the grief and loss of Billy. My guess, from the hints of this movie and other stuff, is that Lucas is going to come face to face with his reputation as a popular kid, and his love for Max. Like the summary says, he must decide between the advancement of his career or the girl that he loves. Real hard hitting stuff.

Onto the next one. MIKE WHEELER. (or will byers)

I watched an analysis video on this movie, because I haven’t seen it yet, but again the very last line is what I’d like to focus on.

My. Jaw. Dropped.

I’ve read many analyses of Mike Wheeler being gay (courtesy of @kaypeace21 @hawkinsschoolcounselor and MANY others), but I dunno, I was always just so skeptical no matter how much it made sense. But when I saw this WHAT THE HELL?!?’);/&? It’s stupid of me to not have believed it sooner, but I hope this is the movie that foreshadows Mike’s storyline this season. I’m assuming Mike will have to “prove his expertise in battle”, or perhaps prove he can go through with all of the initiation shit for The Hellfire Club, while hiding his growing revelation that he might be gay/bisexual.

BUT a possibly more likely scenario would be that this movie connects with Will Byers’ storyline this season instead. Perhaps the hardships of a new school and a new town has Will shaken up, and he also has his sexuality awakening that he has to hide from new people. I say that it’s more likely for him, because Will has always been more heavily queer-coded (not exactly heavier, but just extremely much more apparent and obvious opposed to Mikes queercoded subtext that we really had to dig for).

I also didn’t mention this in my reblog from earlier, but I want to address my opinions on the apparent cheerleader that meets Mike and befriends one another. One of my friends on twitter said Chrissy (her name, or so we think lmao) might be a key component to Mike being able to discover and come to terms with his sexuality. But then again, a different friend of mine thinks that the amount of content were getting is oddly suspicious, and that the Duffers are feeding us all the wrong information to lead us to all the wrong conclusions. But, at this point, why not both. At the moment, everyone thinks that Chrissy is Mikes new love interest, but what if she really isn’t, and they’re pulling a Robin on us (i call it a robin because it was technically straight-baiting in s3 LMFAO). I’m not saying that she might be a lesbian (although 👀 it says on her character info that she’s 18 (robins got some game to work with now ahaha)) but it could be a straight-bait up until she helps Mike realize his sexuality (i would have said realizes his love for Will😍😍 but recently ive been trying not to input byler into everything i fucking say, so theres how that’s going). Anyways. Last movie!

Now, I’m currently not super concrete on this one to be completely honest. I have a few in mind...

Okay, so don’t attack me, but this could possibly be a mileven storyline. It sort of fits. They have an undeniable connection, but “their fortunes shift considerably and they’re pushed apart” aka the misfortune of the mindflayer and hawkins not being safe for them leads them to moving away and literally being pushed apart. I don’t know about the pursuing other relationships, but we still have no idea what’s going on with El Hopper tbh, i havent a single clue what’s going to be happening with her storyline atm. But either way, that could be it.

ORRRR the MUCH more likely scenario, Jancy :)

Bloggers on here have already predicted that they wouldn’t be endgame, and I was only slightly skeptical because although their relationship was built on shared trauma, a very unstable foundation to have for a ship tbh, i still hung onto the fact that they cared for eachother a lot :,( But the entirety of their season 3 bickering and this summary kind of sealed the deal.

Just like Mike and El, Nancy and Jonathan have been pushed apart aswell. It was already seen in season three that they’d be better of leading separate lives, aka Jonathan was doing fine at the internship, whereas Nancy could have been somewhere better for herself. I doubt they broke up at the end of season 3, but there’s bound to be new relationships for them seperately. It sucks bc I love Jancy, but s3 showed how badly they snap at one another when there isn’t a life threatening event at hand. Jopper on the other hand, I thought their bickering was adorable, but i’m getting off track, sorry lmfaoo.

Once again, I probably am not the first to talk about these, but jsyk if you steal this from me specifically i will track you down and end you. I’ve been speculating about these things since April and July, which is pretty weak tbh, but that was when i had nothing better to do LMFAO. i hope i got at least something right, but i haven’t seen many of the video store friday’s movies, which sucks bc those could really help. But whatever.

(i wrote this really late at night, and it’s poorly edited bc my eyesight sucks lmfao, but i hope you get what i mean)

And that’s it! I hope you like it, or had some sort of impact from it idk, just sharing my thoughts tbh. Anygays, if you have any questions/added ideas/thoughts of any kind, my inbox is always here, you can private message me, and comment if you want!! i love y’all sm lmfao, so excited for the upcoming content were about to get soon, byee!

[katecarteir]

why do you hate stranger things 3 so much?

Okay so it’s been a year but I’ll admit, I still don’t think I’ve ever been REALLY able to express what it is about the third season of Stranger Things that just made it so-bad but I’m gonna try. Like short answer? For a show that got it’s whole thing from the importance of family and friends, season 3 shoved all of that aside for poorly written romantic relationships. Long answer?

There’s many things but I think that the biggest thing is that even with a pretty decent “main plot” Stranger Things 3 started off almost immediately from the get out with no chance of actually being good, because right away none of these characters were still in character with who we fell in love with, you know?

Joyce Byers, who at a serious base of her character, was an amazing and extremely dedicated mother spending seven out of eight episodes seperated and unconcerned about her children even when she’s suspicious that something was going on. Her kids don’t reach out to her either, even when the literal world seems to be ending around them which is very weird for both Will and Jonathan who are super super aware of how vital and active Joyce has always been in this fight and they don’t even wonder out loud for second why she isn’t there.

And Mike- oh, Mike, sweeties, my dude, I am so sorry- has, sure, always been kind of a little prick. Very stubborn and kind of struggles to see things from other people’s point of view but there was so much more to Mike Wheeler than having a crush on El. Something just does not sit right with me that I’m supposed to believe that Mike threw down on sight for the entire first season for El’s right to be considered a friend to Lucas and Dustin and then apparently, basically, actively took part in the season three concept that she.... didn’t have any friends, and wasn’t friends with anybody except him, and that she never actually became friends with Dustin or Lucas after Mike fought them so goddamn hard about it. It doesn’t make sense! AND NOT TO MENTION, that Mike sent two seasons- two- with an obvious view that saving Will or protecting Will was the most important thing to him and it still took what like? Four episodes for Mike to realize that something was wrong with Will and even then he continuously undercut it and I don’t know who that was but it wasn’t my Mike Wheeler.

LUCAS WOULDN’T BE LIKE THAT. Aside from the whole weird thing where they set up Lucas and Max has been an actually great relationship and then they brought back that season with a showcase that Lucas and Max basically break up once a week and fight continuously to the point where they both think that’s the most normal thing in the world.I just think that- and I know I’m not the only one- is that I am glad that we got a call back to the season one throwaway line that Mike and Lucas are best friends because outside of Dustin saying that, we never really saw it. Lucas seemed to really have little to no patience for Mike at any given point, and I get that, I totally get that. Like, season one they had the same goal- save Will- but they both wanted to go about it in a completely different way (i.e Lucas didn’t really want to waste time on the girl with the superpowers they found in the woods, because he thought their time would be better spent actually looking for Will) and then in season two, Mike runs around being a total dick to the girl Lucas likes and fucks off in end of episode four without word about it and has progressively tried to keep Lucas and Dustin from what’s going on with Will for the most point (because he doesn't trust Max and he was right in believing that Dustin or Lucas would tell this total stranger about Will’s trauma.) and I totally digressed here, but because I was glad to see Lucas and Mike being friends in season three, the concept was highlight they just- went about it so so wrong. Because Lucas has never been shy about telling his friends- and especially Mike- that they’re being fucking idiots. I cannot imagine Lucas actually encouraging Mike to pursue this crack scheme of chasing after El post-break up. Especially not the way it went down, which Mike immediately accepts that El has dump him and it’s over and then Lucas convinces him that it’s not. It very much does hold roots in the poor writing of the Lu/Max relationship this season, but Lu/Max was written the way it was so that they could have Lucas in Mike’s corner and Max in El’s corner to validate and uplift the horrible Mi/leven relationship arc this season in which Lucas for sure would not be in that spot whatsoever if it wasn’t for the poor writing of Mi/leven since the second they left the Snowball. Lu/Max is very much a support piece in Mi/leven rather than its own relationship, and yet Max continues to get her own storyline this season (as... yeah... as that storyline was) but Lucas became a casualty to Mi/leven this year, and only slightly differently to the way Will has been a casualty to Mi/leven... and Mike has been a casualty to Mi/leven. If your main relationship continues to assassinate and rip dry the characters both inside and around it, then it’s really time to take a step away from that relationship and determine if its working or if you just suck at writing for no foreseeable reason.

And like, I guess it’s fair to talk about Max here since it’ll be any easy transition in the sense that- Max Mayfield a casualty to Mi/leven. Like that meme with the people holding hands and it says “my character survived the Mi/leven relationship of 1985” and its Max Mayfield and Dustin Henderson. NOT TO SAY that Max’s character isn’t all over the board, it is a lot harder to decide what Max would or wouldn’t do regarding Mike and El. Because.... we never saw anything with the Max/El relationship outside of Max wanted to know her, and El absolutely wanting nothing to do with that because Mike smiled at her one time and El saw it. Mike and Max is actually a different story, and the more complicated relationship I guess? El/Max was good, even if I didn’t agree with all of the advice that Max gives El (particularly the we make our own rules concept, I fucking hated that and I’ll get there. Oh, I’ll get there.) BECAUSE Mike and Max are just... the Sharpay and Gabriella of Stranger Things. They feud all season for whatever reason, they make up and find common ground at the end, and then it starts back up and they hate each other with no explanation to the understanding that they found. And it wasn’t funny, there wasn’t anything about their rivalry that was funny or amusing or even really served a purpose outside of the fact that they needed to showcase the whole Lu/Max and Mi/leven crap so Mike and Max could be friends because the couples needed to be against each other so Max already needed to hate Mike prior to El coming to her for advice, and therefore the rekindling of their potential friendship at the end of season two was re’cont for that purpose. And it really wasn’t necessary because Max would have had enough going on without being in the middle of the weird Mi/leven break up, and losing her boyfriend. I think a huge like, obvious issue with Max is that season two Max left a lot to be desired. Understandably, season two was a lot bigger than the Duffers had time for so they ended introducing characters (Billy and Max) that we didn’t get to develop in their introductory season enough that where they ended up in season 3 was logical or sensical at all because Billy did nothing except be an evil piece of shit two years until the end where he decides to stop himself from killing this little 13 year old white girl and dies and suddenly he’s a hero who sacrificed himself for the greater good when he really didn’t. And seeing Max horrified and traumatized to him does make sense to an extent, she has known him and lived with him for a large chunk of her life and seeing that happen to anybody would be traumatizing. And people don’t get to determine how someone would react to their abuser dying, because you are not that person and you are experiencing what they are experiencing. HOWEVER, Max did not receive enough explanation from a writer or viewers’ POV for her defending Billy or believing Billy could be good to make sense when she spent almost all of season two avoiding her relationship with Lucas because she knew that Billy was racist and violent and horrible. Max grieving and being traumatized over Billy’s death and quite literally seeing his body, but her actions up to that point didn’t make much sense because not enough writing went into Max as a character since the beginning because she is a victim of the classic Too Many Characters, Not Enough Screen Time to Share.

Ha. The relationship between El and Will really needs to be it’s own point before I even get into them as characters. It’s so... It doesn’t make any sense to me why Will and El are like that. And I guess it does or it can trace back to Mi/leven. The idea that Mike purposely kept El from having any friends and Will would have been a victim of that, and the fact that Will very obviously likes Mike and that showcases in him... not like El??? because they’re dating. But I’m not sure how I’m supposed to believe that Will and El don’t have a connection? El saved Will’s life t w i c e and I’m supposed to believe that he hates her because she’s dating Mike and therefore that doesn’t matter to him and he calls her by a number instead of a name and he overly just seems extremely indifferent towards her at best. But I actually do believe, the lack of an Will & El dynamic is (besides being a totally missed opportunity) was like... blank brained of the writers, I think they genuinely just didn’t think about it because they were really caught up in the relationship drama this season they just didn’t bother to develop El and Will. Which is dumb, because of the whole “we’re supposed to believe that Hopper & Joyce are a good ship” but also supposed to believe that Will and El have never spent any time together AND THEY KNEW THAT THEY WOULD BE L I V I N G TOGETHER at the end of the season and they still nothing to give them any relationship growth at all, and if anything took away what little potential hits of a dynamic they had from the first two seasons. For the sake of what does not sort of look like a queerbait of Mike/Will OR best case scenario (still bad!) a love triangle between the three characters.

For a show that had two seasons dedicated to the importance of Will Byers, it was kind of weird to see him so shoved aside this time around. And this isn’t to take away from El’s importance. It’s not an argument over her being the main character- although I think it’s important to note that they original plan for this show was for her to die in season one, and while I’m glad she’s alive and they changed that, we can’t deny how that decision itself would completely alter the path every single character (especially characters like Mike and Will in particular) would have made. BUT FACTS ARE, this entire show started because of Will. That is something that cannot be argued. The Vanishing of Will Byers was the kick off of this entire thing, and every single main character aside from possibly Steve Harrington, are in this fight because of Will Byers. Not because of El. And yes, El is most definitely the ~stranger thing~ and the titular character of the show, it’s fucking ludicris to try and imply that Will is not pretty much as just as important as El. And so for season three to undercut everything about that and use Will as detection device (that only gave you about 15 seconds warning) and have his actual emotional storyline dropped in the 4th episode and only come up again in the sense of refusing to even hear apologies from Lucas or Mike, is the epitome of bullshit.

I’m just going to start off here by saying, I like El, I do. BUT- I’m very aware that El is a victim of her surroundings. She doesn’t have much of her own personality, she has from the beginning allowed herself to simply accept what other people tell her and do that. Say that, repeat it. The Best Time for El as a character was with Kali and her deepest moment of like, personal reflection is when she said no to going with Kali because she needed to go back to Hawkins and save her friends. That really set up a lot of really good growth for El, the idea she was becoming her own person and that she could move forward as herself, who she is, who she wants to be. And I understand the trauma behind her and why she has such an unstable sense of self but it was still disappointing to watch her revert back to following by example in her personal life while continuously forced to be seen as leader in any situation. She follows Mike’s example in the beginning, with Hopper and being super obnoxious but she’s also very quick to jump back over to Hopper’s side when addressing Mike later and burshing off what he’s trying to tell her (i.e your father threatened my life and I didn’t know how to proceed from that point and I’m sorry I lied to you) and she also word for word quotes Max a lot. Including situations which the boy she’s supposedly in love with expresses his discomfort in her. When El reveals that she’s gone into the the void and watched the boys doing whatever, Mike quickly jumps to point out that those were “against the rules” aka personal boundaries that have obviously been set between Mike and El for a reason and she shoots back that she makes her own rules, like Max said about a pretty different situation nonetheless, and invalidates what Mike is trying to say in that moment again. It also doesn’t really sit right with me that she plays dumb with Mike in that grocery store will he is clearly having trouble declaring love for her (which says a lot about how Mike feels) and then bringing it back up three months later, and using it as a justification for kissing him and declaring love towards him after he has said he didnt even remember the conversation she’s referencing from three months earlier and she does not say “I love you” she says “I love you, too.” Which is so very different, because it is her literally acknowledging that she sat there and played dumb (not didn’t understand, which is totally different, but did understand and wanted and enjoyed him struggling to say something) and they threw it back at him as a validation of their relationship- yet it was something he was unable to say to her. I think a big issue with El, is that she has somehow become somebody above being criticized for her actions. What was wrong with Mi/leven this season is not 100% an issue with Mike Wheeler, El very much had a hand in that destruction and with how the season ended, I don’t doubt that she was will  have an even larger hand in the problems going forward because El is smart, and she understands shit, but she pretends that she doesn’t when it’s works for her. Being around Hopper and to even greater extent, the things she lived through in the lab, El is very aware of how to manipulate people and it’s a behaviour she is going to have to unlearn. She might not even be completely aware of just how wrong it is but nobody is going to tell her what she’s doing because I don’t even think it’s realized that she’s doing it and fandom itself chooses to ignore that she’s done it.

And I don’t know how a show that could create the iconic character growth of Steve Harrington is also writing all these other character development blunders, full stop.

[flohamilton]

Hi love ❤️your work is amazing and I was just wondering if you could write a Steve Harrington x Byers!reader where the reader is Jonathan and wills middle sister and she’s in the house when billy shows up and instead of Steve fighting billy the reader does and she puts up a good fight but billy beats the fuck out of here and when Steve gets to billy he freaks out and fights billy and wins and admits he likes the reader sorry if it’s so specific thank you love ❤️

Protect You

Steve Harrington x Byers!Reader 

Warnings: Fluff, cursing, mentions of blood

hi anon!!! I’m so sorry this took so long, I just really wanted this to be accurate with the actual episode! I really enjoyed writing this and I hope you love it! (I kinda got carried away oops) and thank you so much for sending in a request!!

It seemed to you that all hell was breaking loose at the moment. As if your family hadn’t already been put through enough with your little brother Will’s disappearance a year ago, this year was somehow even worse, as Will was now possessed by this shadow monster thing, and you were too terrified to even question it. Your mom, brothers, and Nancy were currently in Hopper’s cabin, trying to expel the demon-like entity from Will’s body, Hopper and El were closing the gate at the lab, and you were at your house, along with Steve and four very chaotic children. 

You had offered to stay at your house, because it was where you felt most safe, and also because dealing with four kids would have been too dangerous anywhere else. Steve had offered to stay and help hold down the fort, which you were thankful for because to be quite honest you were scared shitless and could use a little company from someone your own age. You also weren’t complaining because you had been crushing on Steve for a while now and having another opportunity to spend some time with him sounded pretty good to you. Well as good as things can be when you are fighting an inter-dimensional monster and all of its spawns. But nonetheless, you were glad Steve was here with you. 

You had always seen Steve around school, and sure you thought he was cute, but his ego was always too much for you to handle. He was so concerned about his title as “King Steve” that you knew he would never give you the time of day. Then Nancy and Steve began dating and you shut off all of your feelings toward Steve for the sake of your friendship with Nancy. You two weren’t the closest of friends, but your brothers were best friends so you saw a lot of each other and you enjoyed her company from time to time. Now that Steve and Nancy had broken up, you felt the familiar feelings coming back, and you knew you were in for trouble. Now that Steve had become involved in this whole demogorgan thing, you got to see his true character. He was a really sweet guy, he enjoyed being around the kids, and you realized he wasn’t the duchy “King Steve” you thought he was. Now it seemed like he was just Steve.

But crushes and love were not what you were concerned about at the moment. The kids were all a little nervous, which was expected, but especially Mike. The poor kid just saw the love of his life for the first time after almost an entire year and she had just been swept away to complete the potentially most dangerous task of any of your lives. You felt bad for the kid. Steve and Dustin had just finished arguing about where to put the demodog, and the general consensus had somehow become your fridge. 

“Is this okay?” Steve asked whilst shoving the creature into your refrigerator, “who am I kidding of course this isn’t okay. Jesus Christ Dustin, why couldn’t we just bury the damn thing!” Steve said shooting you and apologetic look. 

“Because Steve! This is a scientific breakthrough and we can’t just bury it like a dog!” Dustin shouted passionately. 

“I am so sorry, y/n” Steve said once the dog was successfully stored in the fridge, “We will buy you a new fridge.”

“Don’t worry Steve, we’ve got bigger issues at the moment,” You said, chucking slightly, still mind-blown that you were even in this situation. Not only were you nearing the apocalypse but your crush Steve was in your house with you, helping you babysit four kids. 

Meanwhile Mike, Lucas and Max were orchestrating an elaborate plan to storm the tunnels and light a fire to distract the dogs and lead them away from the lab in order to protect El and Hopper. 

“This is not happening. y/n and I promised to keep you shitheads safe, do you understand me?” Steve said, his inner babysitter coming out strong, making you swoon. 

Before anyone could say a word you were interrupted by the sound of an engine revving furiously. Max jumped up and peered out the window. “That’s my brother! He can’t know I’m here, he’ll kill me. He’ll kill us!” She said, a panicked look forming on her face

“Don’t worry Max, Steve and I will take care of this,” You said, putting on your brave face. The apocalypse was literally looming over Hawkins, how bad could Billy Hargrove be? “He’s on my property now and I’ll make him leave. He can’t tell me no.” You said defiantly. 

“No y/n,” Steve spoke up, “I don’t think that’s a good idea, you should stay in here with the kids.” 

“It’s okay Steve, what’s the worst he could do?”

Max opened her mouth to speak against you, but before a word could come out you saw the bright headlights of Billy’s car pull into your drive way. Before anyone could stop you, you were opening your front door and walking out to meet Billy in the drive way. Steve followed behind you anxiously. 

“Can I help you?” You asked, your attitude making an appearance. Billy snarled at your words and you suddenly had major regrets about coming outside. 

“Yeah, what are you doing here, amigo?” Steve asked, now standing protectively in front of you. 

“I could ask you the same thing.” Billy said. Tension becoming so thick you could practically cut it with a knife. 

“We’re watching a movie,” You said, improvising, “Indiana Jones!” 

Billy scoffed, “I’m looking for my sister.” 

“I didn’t even know you had a sister Billy, what makes you think she would be here?” You asked, playing stupid.

“A little birdie told me she was here.” 

“Huh, weird. No one’s here but me and y/n. You’re kinda interrupting movie night, so if you don’t mind…” Steve said, waving his hand off, motioning for Billy to leave.  

“I don’t appreciate being lied to.” Billy snarled. 

“Well she’s not here.” You spoke up. 

“Then who is that?” Billy asked pointing behind you. You turned to see the four kids, looking our from the living room window.

Billy stormed past you barging through your front door. “Hey asshole, you can’t just barge in my house like this!” You shouted at him. Billy swiftly pushed you to the ground, knocking the wind out of you. 

“Oh shit are you okay?” Steve asked, helping you up.

“I think so, just knocked the wind out of me.” You said standing and rushing into your house where Billy was currently holding Lucas against the wall. 

Your inner motherly instincts kicked in and you suddenly had no fear of Billy whatsoever. “Don’t touch him!” You shouted, and suddenly you felt as if you soul had left your body and you were now functioning on autopilot as you punched Billy square in the face.

Unfortunately, your punch had virtually no affect on Billy, “Big mistake.” He said, a maniacal laugh coming from his lips.The next few moments were a blur to you. Billy threw a punch directly to your nose and you were sure it was broken as you felt a tremendous amount of blood gushing from it. Once you were on the ground he repeatedly kicked you in the ribs. He even kicked you in the side of the head and your ears began to ring, the pain becoming too much for you to handle. You heard shouting in the background, but it was only faint. 

Suddenly you saw Steve come up from behind Billy. With one swift punch, Steve had knocked Billy on the floor, and was on top on him, repeatedly punching him in the face over and over again, Billy’s face becoming bloodier and bloodier by the second. A few moments passed before Billy was knocked out cold. 

Steve got off of Billy and rushed over to where you were on the floor, a bloody and whimpering mess. 

“Hey you’re okay,” Steve said, taking your face in his hand, “That asshole isn’t gonna hurt you anymore.” He whispered softly, eyes wide at the destruction Billy had caused to your body.

“Steve,” You whimpered, tears flowing liberally at this point. 

“No, no y/n don’t cry, you’re okay, I got you.” He said, bending down and softly placing a kiss on your forehead. “I need to get you cleaned up. I’m going to take you back to your bedroom, okay y/n?” Steve said, gently picking you up and carrying you in his arms back to your room. He carefully placed you onto your bed making sure to be extra gentle. 

“Just stay still okay, I’m going to get some bandages.” Steve said. You nodded your head slightly and closed your eyes, trying to focus on something other than the extreme pain you were in. 

While Steve was in the bathroom gathering first aid supplies, you heard him talking to the kids. “She’s not good. There’s no way I’m leaving her to go into those tunnels. No way. It has to wait.”

“But Steve this is our only chance!” Dustin said.

“And what about Billy?” Lucas asked, “We can’t just leave him here?”

“I can drive us.” Max said, followed by protests from everyone else. “No I’ve done it before when Billy was drunk. I’m pretty good! Anyway, we can get Billy and drop him off at our house, he’ll be out cold for the night so there’s no chance he will wake up and try to find us. Then we can go to the tunnels ourselves while you stay here and take care of y/n. It’s a great plan!” Max said. 

“Absolutely not.” You heard Steve say in his babysitter tone again. “A. I’m not letting you drive a car, you’re literally 9 years old. And B. I am definitely not letting you go into the tunnels alone.” 

“So what, we wait here with Billy’s useless body and put El and Hopper in even more danger than they already are? I don’t think so Harrington!” Max yelled. You had to admit, Max was mature for her age and you didn’t doubt that she could drive a car. The thought of your favorite kids entering the terrifying tunnels alone made you shiver, but you also had to admit that it was better than leaving El and Hopper for dead. 

“Steve please,” Max begged.

Steve huffed, “Fine. But please do not speed, and don’t forget to turn your headlights on. Also bring a walky-talky and make sure you radio in if anything happens. Okay?” He asked, and you heard everyone agree. “Please be careful. I’m trusting you guys.” Steve paused. “Let me put Billy in the backseat before you go.” You heard the sound of Steve lifting Billy’s unconscious body off the the floor and go outside, followed by faint voices from the kids. You heard an engine rev and you knew the kids had left. 

“Hey sorry to take so long,” Steve said, and you saw that he hand an arm full of various towels, bandages, and rubbing alcohol to clean you up with. 

“It’s all my fault.” You said, voice cracking and tears flowing again. You couldn’t handle the guilt you were already feeling at the thought of Mike, Lucas, Max, and Dustin in danger. 

“Hey no its not, shh, you didn’t do anything wrong, y/n.” Steve said, sitting next to you, wrapping his arm around you as you leaned into him. 

“I had to go and pick a fight with Billy and now you can’t even go with the kids to help them in the tunnels. I could have stayed behind, I would have been okay.” You cried. 

“No, y/n I’m not leaving you.” Steve said, tightening his grip around you. “And I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I have faith in the kids. They’ve been through a lot. They can handle it.” 

You began to cry harder now, “I’m just worried about them.” 

“I know. I am too, but they’ll radio in if anything goes wrong.” Steve said, looking down at you, wiping a tear from your cheek. “Let’s get you cleaned up, alright? Just lay back okay, I’ve got you.” 

You nodded, sniffling. The pain in you body was still debilitating, but you had become more aware of your surroundings. Steve was being the kindest person ever and you were in shock that you were in this crazy situation with Steve. 

“This may hurt a little,” Steve said as he dabbed your nose with a wet towel, and you flinched. “I’m sorry, I’m almost done,” he said wiping away the rest of the blood from your face. 

“I also brought you some ice to hold on your ribs, you got kicked pretty hard.” Steve said, handing you an ice pack. 

“Thank you for taking care of me. You really didn’t have to… Will you come lay with me?” You asked, scooting over in your bed, whimpering at the pain your ribs were causing you.

“Of course,” Steve said, climbing onto the bed next you to. You leaned into him and he put his arm tightly around you shoulder. “I’m so glad you’re alright. I care about you so much and to see you get beat up like that hurt me a lot. I never wanna see you get hurt again, y/n.”

You began tearing up yet again at the thought of Steve being so kind to you. Never in your life had someone been as nice to you as Steve was being now. 

“You look so beautiful when you cry. I mean it makes me really sad when you cry, but you’re so pretty.” Steve said, his face turning slightly red. 

“Even after I just got pummeled?” You asked, giggling. 

“Yes. Always, y/n. Actually,” Steve paused, “there’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you.” He took a deep breath, “These past few weeks I feel like we’ve gotten so close and I love it. I love being around you. I mean I always saw you in school and thought you seemed nice, but getting to know you has really made me see how awesome you are. You’re so kind to everyone, you’re a great friend, and you might even be a better babysitter than I am. But that’s beside the point. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I like you. Like a lot. And I can’t wait anymore, I had to tell you. I just care about you so much and seeing you hurt makes me realize that I want to be there to protect you forever.” 

“Steve,” You said, not much louder than a whisper. You were so shocked and your emotions were already all over the place that you could help but let the tears flow again. 

“I’m sorry if that was too much, you don’t have to say anything back. I’m sorry if I made this weird-“ 

You cut him off, “I like you too, a lot actually.” You signed a breath of relief, finally getting it off of your chest. “I’m kinda embarrassed to tell you, but I’ve kinda liked you since sophomore year.”

“Really?” Steve asked, a shocked look on his face, followed by a goofy smile, you nodded. “This is amazing. I can’t believe this is actually happening! The girl of my dreams likes me back!!” Steve said, more to himself this time, making you blush.

You snuggled closer into Steve, if that was even possible. 

“What do you say when all of this is over, and if we actually make it out alive, you let me take you on a date?” Steve asked. 

“I would love that.” You said, sighing. Despite the current situation your heart couldn’t be more happy. 

“Good. So would I.” Steve said, looking down at you, staring into your eyes. He slowly began to lean in, you did as well, almost like you were a magnet being pulled towards him. Steve’s lips gently landed on yours, and you depend this kiss, leaning into him slightly for a few seconds before pulling away. 

“Wow.” Steve said with wide eyes. 

“Yeah, wow.” You said. 

“I’m never leaving you, y/n. I’m always going to be here to protect you. I promise.” Steve said, and eventually the two of you drifted off to sleep. 

A few hours later you were woken by the sound of people entering your house. You sat up quickly, worried you may be in danger. 

“Don’t worry,”  said Steve who was awake next to you, “it’s you mom and brothers, and everyone. Everything’s okay. Its over.” Steve said, pulling you into a tight embrace, not letting you go for anything, and knowing he would continue to protect you and never let you go as long as he could help it. 

Send in your requests!

[just-my-fandom]

Hey so um I see a lot of "Dustin's older sister" for Steve... can I request a "Steve's younger sister" for Dustin?🐉

___________________________________________

"Dustin?"

The young boy looks up in alarm at a girl, who wears a plain dark crimson red dress, that touched the floor so it covered her silver shoes on her feet,

Y/N Harrington. Dustin had only met you twice, once through Mike when Steve and Nancy were hanging out and Steve dragged you with him, and the last time you met, you were getting attacked by a Demogorgan,

"Do you maybe...wanna dance?" You finally speak up again, breaking him from his trance he didnt know he was in. A smile was on your face, that damned smile that was the same as Steve's, that had all the boys coming for you,

Dustin tilts his head, confusion in his eyes "You, Y/N Harrington, want to dance, with me?"

You softly laugh, nodding, "C'mon," You extend your hand, Dustin taking it and letting you drag him onto the dance floor,

Dustin confusingly looks at his hands, where you laugh again and take his hand, putting them on your waist as you move yours to his shoulders, pulling him closer,

"Ever danced before?"

Dustin shakes his head, your smile softening as you link your hands behind his neck,

"Now you just sway to the rhythm of the music, left, right. Then you slowly lean forward,"

You smile as Dustin leans towards you, and when his lips touch yours, your hands find the nape of his hair, your feet stopping

"Hey, Nance," Steve walks up to the table littered in drinks, glancing around, "Have you seen my sister?"

"Yep," Nancy grins, Steve waiting for her to reveal your place, but instead follows her gaze to you and Dustin, inhaling sharply,

"That little fucker," Nancy makes out under his mumble, grabbing his suit sleeve to stop him,

"Dont go over there! She's having a good time, she'll hate you if you ruin it," Nancy raises an eyebrow, Steve turning back to her,

"But hes kissing her!"

"So?" Nancy leans forward, eyes moving back to you. You had pulled away and began laughing, Dustin only grinning toothily and staring at you, "Shes happy. Thats all that matters,"

Steve rolls his eyes, leaning into the table, eyes watching you grab Dustins hand and spin yourself, then hold a lock of his hair, and Steve can visibly see you complimenting the do,

"Do you want a drink? I think Nancy's running the tables," You look over for conformation, eyes landing on Steves gaze, "Shit,"

"What?" Dustin looks over, and you wave your hands, "Nothing! I'll go get the drinks,"

You quickly walk off, Dustin sighing and searching for any of his friends, spotting Mike and Eleven at a table,

"What are you doing here?" You ask harshly, stopping in front of Steve and crossing your arms, "You're not even one of the helpers,"

"Sure I am," Steve takes the drink container from Nancy, pouring two cups and handing them to you, "And Im totally not spying on you if thats what youre thinking,"

"Yes he is," Nancy snatches the drink from Steve, pouring a kid a drink before looking at you, "He saw you kiss Dustin and everything,"

"What?" You groan, "Stop spying on me! I might have a chance with him,"

"Im just keeping an eye on you," Steve sighs, "Go back out there and have fun. Ill leave if it makes you feel better,"

"Please," You plea, "You're still picking me up right?"

"And the Wheelers," Steve nods to Nancy, "But yeah. I'll see you at eleven, squirt,"

"Bye, asshole," You tease, grinning ar his gasp and walking off. Your eyes scan the large room, breathing out when finding Lucas and Will waving to you from next to Dustin,

"Tell us the details!" Lucas demands, your eyes narrowing as you sit down next to Will,

"What details?"

"The kiss, duh!" Will exclaims, looking at Dustin, "We saw it!"

"Jesus, did everyone see it? Literally Lucas and Mike both kissed a girl yet you were focused on us," You snarl, passing Dustin his drink and sipping your own,

"Wait, you kissed Max?" Will asks in surprise, looking at Lucas, offended, "Why did I not hear about this?"

"Not your business," Lucas scoffs, and you raise your eyebrow,

"Exactly, and neither is my business. So both of you shut up, I already have my brother spying on me," You look to the table Nancy was at, thankful Steve wasnt there. Nancy meets your eye's, sending you a thumbs up to tell you he had left,

"Y/N!" Max runs up, grabbing your arm when one of your shared favorite songs comes on speakers, "Come on! Its our favorite!"

You yelp when Max pulls you out of your chair, your eyes looking over your shoulder to Dustin, mouthing, 'help,'

Dustin, Will and Lucas all laugh, watching Max grab your arms and bounce on her heels, urging you to copy her motions,

Maybe you werent so bad after all

A/N; Shorrrt Im sorry :(

[intergalacticaquarium]

Eddie and Max would've been the best combo bx their friendship would lead to a complete lack of personal safety but Eddie thinks he's doing like. A great job role modeling

(OK I realized this after I wrote it and this screenshot got more notes than the fic ever did but I feel like I should just say like. If ur gonna do something like that don't actually wrap the handle around ur wrist bc then you'll get dragged. Water skiing, sledding behind snowmobiles, skateboarding behind cars, all those, just hold on tight but u gotta be able to let go if u fall)

[robinskey]

Lover (Steve Harrington x Reader)

A/N: GUYS as you’ve probably noticed, I’m incredibly excited about the release of @taylorswift‘s new album. IMO, Lover is one of Taylor’s best songs to-date, and I thought it would fit perfectly with a fluffy, domestic Steve one-shot. 

Warnings: Mild language, heavy fluff. Story under the cut.

We could leave the Christmas lights up 'til January

This is our place, we make the rules

And there's a dazzling haze, a mysterious way about you, dear

Have I known you 20 seconds or 20 years?

It wasn’t until you and Steve moved into your first home together that you realized how deeply in love he was with holiday decorations.

You had started the process of moving your belongings into the new place at the end of September. By mid-October, Steve had begun pestering you about shopping for Christmas decorations. You reminded him that you hadn’t even unpacked the last box yet, and Halloween hadn’t even occurred yet. Steve was persistent that you needed to get the lights up as soon as possible to “maximize the Christmas spirit.”

After a lot of convincing, Steve had finally agreed to wait until November. By then, you figured, he’d forget about it. I mean, this was the guy who couldn’t remember his social security number and occasionally wrote it on his stomach (“because I’m not dumb enough to keep it on, like, my hand, Y/N, where everyone can see it.” When when you suggested he just carry his social security card with him, he told you he didn’t trust himself not to lose it.) Surely, that guy would forget all about it, right?

Wrong. On November 1st, you were nursing a Halloween-candy hangover when Steve dragged you to Goodwill. You returned home with enough decorations to light up a mansion and spent the rest of the afternoon stringing them all around your tiny one-bedroom house. After dinner, you and Steve headed outside. As the sky faded to black, Steve wrapped an arm around your shoulders, and he watched in wonder as your small townhouse transformed into a winter wonderland.

“Look at that, Y/N! We did that,” he said. The various colors of the lights reflected in his eyes as he gazed down at you.

“I didn’t know King Steve Harrington could get so excited over Christmas lights.” Your smooth teasing was foiled by a strong gust of wind that left goosebumps on your arms and caused you to shudder.

“I’m full of surprises,” Steve said as the two of you started back towards the front door. “For example, you probably didn’t know, but I can make the best cup of hot chocolate in the state of Indiana.”

“Oh, really?”

“Oh, yeah. Grandma Harrington taught me her secret recipe.”

Even though you’d known Steve for years, you learned new things about him every day. You wondered if you’d ever run out of things to learn about the boy you’d known all your life.

Can I go where you go?

Can we always be this close forever and ever?

And ah, take me out, and take me home

You're my, my, my, my lover

We could let our friends crash in the living room

This is our place, we make the call

And I'm highly suspicious that everyone who sees you wants you

I've loved you three summers now, honey, but I want 'em all

Dustin Henderson started referring to your place as “our house” before you guys even moved in. He dropped by several times a week with updates on the newest happenings at Hawkins Middle or questions about how to handle a Suzie situation. At least once a month, Dustin crashed on your couch after a weekend movie night. 

On one occasion, you and Steve returned home from a date night to discover half a dozen adolescents gathered around the television in your living room. A curly-haired kid carried around a bag of chips in one hand and waved cheerfully with the other. He flashed his infamous toothy grin, which you met with a half-scowl, half-squint of confusion.

“Dustin? How did you get in here?”

Dustin spoke through a mouthful of Doritos. “My mom dropped us off. And then I used my key.”

Your glare switched targets. This time, you directed it at Steve. He clamped his hand down on his face; you weren’t sure if it was to avoid your gaze or express his frustration.

“Dude, I gave you that key for emergencies only.”

“This was an emergency!” Dustin threw up his hands, sending an army of cheesy corn chips into the atmosphere. After falling back to earth, bright orange triangles wedged themselves into your new white rug. “The season premiere of our favorite show is tonight, and we didn’t have anywhere to watch it.”

You crossed your arms over your chest. Your eyes scanned over the gang sprawled across your couch, armchairs, and carpet. Judging by the boxes of candy and cans of soda littered across the floor, Dustin must have raided your pantry. Apparently, the kitchen wasn’t the only place he infiltrated, since almost your entire linen closet was spread out over the living room. Lucas and Max shared the recliner beside which Dustin was currently standing. Will sat on a pillow with his back against the coffee table, his attention still focused on the television screen. You turned your attention to Mike, who was curled up next to El under a crocheted blanket you’d received from your grandmother. 

“Doesn’t your family have a TV, Mike?” 

"Yeah, we do, but my mom kicked us out so she could watch a soap opera or some shit. She and Nancy love that crap.”

Nancy. 

That name ignited the flame of jealousy in your chest. You knew it was totally irrational; she and Steve hadn’t dated since high school. They’d both moved on-something Nancy did almost instantaneously. Steve had told you the whole saga of their mostly-one-sided relationship, and you were fairly certain Nancy never really loved him.

Still, Nancy was Steve’s first serious girlfriend. She was the first girl-the only girl, other than you-to whom he’d said “I love you” and meant it. Nancy was, and would always be, Steve’s first love. There wasn’t anything you could do to change that.

“Y/N? Hey, babe, you good?”

Steve’s voice jolted you back to reality. You shook your head slightly to clear it, then nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine.”

You pretended not to notice the way his mouth twitched downward slightly in concern.

“Great. So we can stay?” Dustin interrupted. The hopeful gleam in his eyes was too much to resist.

“I guess,” you sighed, earning a chorus of triumphant “yeah!”s from the kids. “Your show’s probably about over by now, anyway, isn’t it?”

Dustin furrowed his thick brows, as though that was the most blatantly incorrect assumption you could have made. Lucas let you know that “it doesn’t even start for three more hours.”

“Won’t that be, like, midnight? Your parents aren’t going to freak out if you come home at two in the morning?” Steve asked.

“Actually...” Dustin drew out the word until he finally ran out of air. Then, he spoke the next few words in one breath. “We were hoping you’d let us spend the night here?”

You and Steve exchanged glances. Between your schoolwork and Steve’s work schedule, the two of you hadn’t been able to spend as much quality time together. You’d finally both managed to secure a responsibility-free night and a cheesy rom-com to watch while cuddling on the couch. (Steve pretended to hate those movies, but he almost always teared up at least once during the show.)

None of that mattered now, though, because your boyfriend could never say no to his favorite child-or so you thought.

Steve scratched the back of his neck. He glanced at you out of the corner of his eye before saying, “Actually, Dustin, tonight’s not the best night for a sleepover. Y/N and I kind of had plans.”

Lucas raised his eyebrows suggestively. “Plans, huh? What kind of plans?” he said, earning a smack on the arm from his girlfriend.

Color rose to your cheeks; Steve picked up a pillow someone had haphazardly tossed on the floor and launched it at Lucas’s head. Instead of hitting its intended target, though, the cushion collided with Max’s face. Ever the hothead, the ginger quickly contorted her neutral expression into a deep frown. She chucked the pillow back toward Steve with tremendous force, along with a few other throw pillows. Only one actually hit Steve. The rest rained down on you.

And, as a mature, homeowning adult battling literal children, you knew there was only one correct response: to hurl each and every one of those pillows right back.

It didn’t take long before the scene devolved into utter chaos. Fluffy rectangles flew across the living room, smacking into bodies or simply into walls. The kids outnumbered you and Steve three-to-one, so you were doomed from the start. However valiant of an effort you two gave, the party still overcame you, burying you and Steve under an avalanche of pillows.

“Clearly, we won this fight,” Dustin said as he loomed over you. Steve had tried to act as your human shield, so he laid beside you on the floor. “I think that means we earned the right to stay.”

“Dustin-“

“No, Steve, it’s okay,” you said, turning towards him. “I know it’s not what we originally planned, but maybe a sleepover with the kids would be fun.”

Steve looked at you with admiration glittering in his chocolate eyes. “Yeah?” he asked softly.

“Yeah.” You shifted a few pillows to get closer to Steve and plant a gentle kiss on his mouth. He smiled as your lips brushed his, and for a moment, you forgot about the gang of gangly tweens in your living room.

Then, a symphony of “ew”s and “aw”s and “can you not”s and “I think it’s sweet”s erupted throughout the room.

Steve shot into an upright position, pointing his finger in the general direction of the sitting area. “Hey, this is my house, and my girlfriend, and if I want to kiss her, I will. And if you dweebs want to stay here to watch your stupid show, you’ll keep your mouths shut.”

“As long as you keep yours shut,” Dustin quipped. “I think I can speak for everyone when I say we’d rather not see you and Y/N sticking your tongues down each other’s throats.”

You tossed the last pillow throw of the night at Dustin but agreed. You and Steve kept the PDA to a minimum that night. They were just kids, after all, and you didn’t want to corrupt them. However, when Nancy came to pick up Mike the next morning and Steve waved to her from the porch, you didn’t hesitate to flounce out the front door in your robe and draw Steve into a passionate kiss.

You just had to make sure Nancy knew what was yours.

Can I go where you go?

Can we always be this close forever and ever?

And ah, take me out, and take me home

You're my, my, my, my lover

Ladies and gentlemen, will you please stand?

With every guitar string scar on my hand

I take this magnetic force-of-a-man to be my lover

My heart's been borrowed and yours has been blue

All's well that ends well to end up with you

Swear to be overdramatic and true to my lover

And you'll save all your dirtiest jokes for me

And at every table, I'll save you a seat, lover

Your favorite part of the day was coming home to your best friend.

Steve more or less memorized your schedule. You arrived home around the same time every evening, so Steve knew when to start listening for the sound of gravel crunching under the wheels of your car. He would then meet you on the porch with a “hello” kiss and a “how was your day, honey?” You always feigned indignance as he took your bags, murmuring something about how weak he must think you are to not be able to carry them two more steps. But, secretly, you spent your entire commute home anticipating the interaction.

This was especially true on the stressful days, the ones you felt would never end. Even though Steve was completely clueless in most situations, he could typically tell when you were in a foul mood. Those were the times he pulled you a little closer to his heart, hugged you a little tighter, loved you a little extra-just in case you needed it.

Today, you really, really did. It had been one of those days where everything seems to go wrong. You couldn’t wait to crawl into bed with Steve and snuggle all your sorrows away.

As you pulled into the driveway, your heart beat faster in anticipation. You watched the front door swing open. It took you a second to realize that the figure standing on the porch wasn’t your boyfriend. Rather, it was a short, stocky kid with a halo of golden curls. If it hadn’t been for the unmistakable hair, you might not have recognized him; you’d never seen him sans ballcap but plus a paisley-print bowtie around his neck and certainly never with dish rag was draped over his arm.

“Hey, Dustin,” you said. When he responded by simply smiling back at you, you asked, “What...what’cha doing here, kid?”

“Hello, Ms. Y/L/N. I’ll be your server for the evening,” he responded without missing a beat. 

“My server?”

Dustin bent his head slightly in what he must have considered a sophisticated spin on a nod. “Indeed. Now, if you’ll follow me, ma’am...”

You kicked off your shoes and set down your purse before wandering after your guide down the dimly-lit hall. Something crinkled under your footsteps. You quickly noticed small ovals scattered across the wood floor. As you stepped on one, it felt like silk against your bare feet. 

Petals?

You were too busy staring at the flowers scattered across the hall to realize you’d reached your destination. Dustin stopped, and you ran right into his back. You stumbled before regaining your balance and taking a look around the room.

The “server” had escorted you to your own kitchen-a place you were quite familiar with, since Steve couldn’t cook a decent meal to save his life. (To be fair, though, you weren’t much more skilled with the stove, so approximately 90% of your diet was comprised of takeout and peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches.) However, you’d never seen the kitchen quite like this.

It was the cleanest it had been since move-in day. Not a dish sat on the counter or even in the sink. The crumbs typically scattered across the floor had been replaced by rose petals. Sparkling white Christmas lights stretched across the room, and Elvis Presley crooned over the record player in the corner of the room. You didn’t even know Steve owned a record player. (As you later discovered, he didn’t. He’d borrowed it from Jonathan Byers.)

In the center of the room, your cheap card table was draped with a lace tablecloth. Wedged between two covered silver platters that looked like they belonged in a castle, a flickering candle cast shadows on the face of the boy sitting beside it. As soon as his eyes fell on you, he scrambled to his feet and over to you.

“Hi,” Steve said, winding his arms around your waist. He sounded breathless, even though he’d literally just walked a few feet.

“Hey.” Your eyes flicked from his slicked-back hair and freshly-shaven face to his crisp button-up and newly-polished shoes. “What’s-um-what’s all this?” you asked, vaguely gesturing around the room.

“Oh, you know.” Steve pressed a quick kiss to your lips before taking your hand and leading you to the table. “I just thought I’d do something special for you tonight.”

"That’s...really sweet.”

Steve scooted your chair in before placing himself back into the seat across from you. Dustin disappeared into your pantry, then returned with a bottle of sparkling grape juice. As you watched the teenager carefully pour a splash into each of your glasses, you asked whether Steve had bribed or tricked him into spending his Friday night playing restaurant.

“This is my full-time job, ma’am. This is how I earn my living,” Dustin answered dutifully before breaking character. “Besides, four of my stupid friends are on a double-date, and Will’s sick, so I had nothing better to do.”

“Way to sell us on the idea that you want to be here, dipshit,” Steve remarked.

“Hey, show our waiter a little respect!” you teased, gently kicking Steve under the table.

“Thank you, Y/N. But, actually, I prefer the term server,” Dustin corrected. He proceeded to produce a notepad from his pocket and read you the specials-or, rather, special, considering there was only one: spaghetti with meatballs. “On our regular menu, we also offer a wonderful noodle dish with a marinara sauce for the same low price as the special-zero dollars.”

You quirked an eyebrow. “So...just spaghetti again?”

Dustin clapped a hand over his heart in mock offense. “Excuse you, madam. It’s spaghetti without meatballs, which is a completely different experience.” Dustin glanced around as though someone might overhear before quietly adding, “Personally, I would recommend the spaghetti with meatballs, unless you want grubby hands digging around in your dish to pull out the meatballs, which may or may not already be incorporated into the pasta.”

You rolled your eyes but laughed nonetheless. “I guess I’ll have the spaghetti with meatballs, then.”

“Excellent choice. And for you, sir?”

“I’ll have the same,” said Steve.

“Well, you’ve both made this very easy for me. Pardon my reach,” Dustin said, leaning over to pluck the covers off the platters. A heaping hill of noodles, red sauce, and meatballs lay underneath. 

Dustin took the lids and disappeared into the living room. You weren’t sure if Dustin was just trying to stay out of the way or if he was going to attempt to wash them in the bathroom sink. It definitely wouldn’t have been the weirdest thing he’d done in your house; once, you and Steve caught him trying to explain morse code to a squirrel in your backyard. That kid was truly an odd duck. 

And speaking of weird behavior, you were still seriously questioning what was happening. Steve was a sweetheart, and he did everything in his power to make you happy. This definitely wasn’t the first time he’d surprised you with a thoughtful gesture, but it was probably the most all-out he’d ever gone. The last time he even attempted to cook for you was during senior year of high school, when you first started dating. As an after-school snack, Steve had popped some pizza rolls in the microwave and promptly forgotten about them...until, of course, the kitchen appliance burst into flames.

As strange as it was, you didn’t want to ruin the moment by verbally expressing your curiosities. You simply swirled slightly-soggy spaghetti around your spoon and savored the small talk. Eventually, Dustin reappeared to clear your plates and ask if you wanted dessert. 

“What are my options?”

Dustin’s excellent waiter facade faded for a second. He glanced at Steve with wide eyes. His gaze begged for guidance-which Steve failed to provide. He simply squinted at Dustin as if to say, Figure it out for yourself.

The entire ordeal lasted about fifteen seconds. It was too long for Dustin to turn back to you with a tight-lipped smile plastered on his face as though nothing had just happened between them.

“The final course is-the dessert, uh-it’s a surprise.”

Out of the corner of your eye, you could have sworn you saw Steve offer a nod of approval.

“Okay...” You drew out the word as your mind jumped to every conclusion possible. “Is it a good surprise? Or is it, like, a somewhat-edible science experiment that might actually poison me?”

“Oh, no, no. It’s a good surprise. You’ll like it. I promise,” Dustin said. “I-uh-I’ll go get it,” he said, then disappeared once more. 

“Steve, why did Dustin just head toward the bathroom? I swear, if he made Jell-O in the toilet or something, I’m going to lose it.”

Steve just shrugged. He avoided your gaze, and a few beads of sweat had broken out across his forehead. That pretty much solidified your suspicions that Steve and Dustin were pulling some weird sort of prank on you.

Dustin returned a few minutes later with yet another silver platter. (Seriously, where was he getting these things?) This time, though, there weren’t any noodles on the plate he unveiled. Instead, a small velvet box sat on the metal.

The next few seconds happened in a blur. You recalled Steve rising from his chair and reaching for the box. Then, suddenly, he was on one knee in front of you. The box opened like an oyster. Instead of a pearl, though, its treasure was a glimmering diamond ring. 

Tears began clouding your vision before Steve’s lips even parted. As soon as he spotted the water in your eyes, Steve started to get choked up, too. He tried to power through, but his voice became more strained with each syllable.

“Y/N. These past few years with you have been the best of my life, and I never thought...shit." Steve blinked rapidly, attempting to clear away the tears. “I never want to spend my time with-with anyone else-damn it,” he murmured as a drop of water finally escaped his tear duct and rolled down his face. “I’m sorry, Y/N. I had this whole speech prepared, but now I’m a mess-”

You stopped his ranting by placing a gentle palm on his cheek and a kiss on his forehead. “It’s okay, sweetheart. I love you for the whole-ass mess you are.”

Steve leaned into your touch for a moment and whispered, “I love you, too, Y/N.” Then, he straightened up, cleared his throat, and softly asked, “Will you marry me?”

“Of course.”

Steve barely had the patience to slide the ring on your finger with his shaking hands before he picking you up and swinging you around. He kissed all over your face, and your happy tears mixed with his in a joyous saltwater solution. 

The kiss fest didn’t end until Steve, caught up in all the excitement, accidentally pressed his lips to your nostrils. The two of you burst into a fit of giggles amplified by the ecstasy of the emotions you were feeling. Your hysteria lasted for several minutes and ended with you and Steve laying on the floor, lungs devoid of oxygen and limbs tangled together.

“Are you guys really that happy, or are you, like, on something?”

You both glanced toward Dustin, whose presence had completely slipped your mind. Luckily, Steve had a response ready. It was cheesy and cliche, but nothing could have fit the situation more perfectly:

“No, dude. We’re just high on life.”

Can I go where you go?

Can we always be this close forever and ever?

And ah, take me out, and take me home (Forever and ever)

You're my, my, my, my

Oh, you're my, my, my, my

Darling, you're my, my, my, my lover

***

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