#let’s not forget lucas too the dude would LOVE them

[bvnga-aprikot]

quick which wmmap character would go absolutely crazy over moomin i’ll start definitely athy

[brisquad-unit-4402]

ik no one requested this but YO is anyone going to talk about how luca and his s/o would genuinely be the hottest couple ever.

a huge amount of how the kaneshiro mafia carries its reputation is by presentation. they have enough money that their aesthetic is all about classy, glamorous casinos and all that goes into keeping up that glamorous vibe. even their boss is young and spry, dude, you look at his coat and tell me that's not excessive. and. well. his tits

oh and in case you forget that they're not all talk the family has dozens of lovely members dressed sharp and with custom lion masks, and if you make the wrong move the boss is ready to shoot and thrill, and will get his hands bloody if he sees fit

and let's be real luca would so pamper his partner. evening wear? you got it. fine jewelry? all yours. he adores showing you off- look at my sweet Reader, the most precious thing in the world, baby you're so gorgeous- and you get to sit in the room where the big boys make the deals that fuel the criminal underbelly of the city all dolled up and seated by luca's right hand. you and luca would compliment each other sooooo well like imagine luca's fur coat over your shoulders while drinking with some contacts and you get to add onto the deals he makes, playing the part of the shiny and stupid sweetheart. "luca, love, 500k isn't enough. i want 650 or higher." the corny old farts think young love is so cute and give you their blessing while shaking on the deal, while the overthinkers make note that you're just some side piece that doesn't know a negotiation when they see one (possibly the coldest take in existence but hey, that just means you get the advantage of surprise, you're not about to correct them)

now let's say something goes awry while a deal's being made and you're out of the room to attend to a different matter, and while luca and a few family members are holding off a threat this poor goon all by themselves from a rival gang gets you in a chokehold. "don't move or you'll get it", lame threat, yadda yadda yadda but you're no floozy. you just step low and yank their arm down. their body tumbles over yours and crushes on the floor when you throw them. before they even stand up you've already pulled out your gun and press it to their temple. oh and by the way you're still in fine formalwear and just as beautiful as ever. that's on them for underestimating you as just another pretty face when they know luca has taste. you're beauty just as much as you are brawn and brains, you're the secret weapon of the kaneshiro family

lmao imagine being the lucub that turned the hallway for reinforcements only to see that you already took care of the threat and just thinking "oh my god i can't be simping over the boss's partner like this"

i just really have this image in my head of luca in the chair from the mafia cover or some other grand old seat for business, handsome as all hell in an unbuttoned shirt and his head resting on a hand as he looks down at the poor sod that seeks audience with the boss himself. and then on the other armrest is a person that almost looks too radiant to be in the dismal criminal world just daintily draped by luca's side. oh and if said poor sod tries anything funny? luca doesn't even need to move, just utters a command and his lovely partner that looks so harmless already has that fool pinned, and yet STILL looks like the definition of beauty. oh and while they were distracted by your surprise attack luca has a gun aimed and ready to fire, and his heated glare is only quelled by how icy cold your own eyes are when the target realizes escaping your pin is futile

power couple fr fr

[good-call-my-young-padawan]

I had a bad feeling about this

Once again, my guts are getting my suspicions right over and over.... I think we could say with all honesty, the PT fandom is devided, why? There's George Lucas, the original creator of Star Wars and there's the wannabe Derk Firloni & team fanfic version.

Lucas was a producer and current advisor in the series, not in charge of each episode check up! Plus I bet HE DIDN'T EVEN WATCHED THE CLONE WARS FULLY!!! He said his fav episode was one with a droids adventures, I mean 🫢🤭 he prefered to watch droids instead of the main character he said he loves as if these were his own children.

No wonder the trio was SO OUT OF CHARACTER!!! Not just the design, clothes but personslities!! Firloni purposely put Padmé Amidala down for sexist reasons. She was the one in charge, the mature and reasonable one, he couldn't stand a woman leading instead of a man. So he turned Padmé in a damsel in distress, workholic, bad taste in ex bfs instead of Palo, the lack of high fashion, lack of fighting skills (dude played denial from her leading taking the Naboo palace back at 14! And she fighting along jedi and troopers at 23!!) To make Anakin look like the mature one ("don't think you can read my mind", "duty comes first especially in war time *kiss*). Padmé would be the one clarifying Anakin of her duty, not him 🤣

Oh, but not just Ani and Pads were victims of his terrible takes. Obi-Wan too!!! He planned to make him have a child with Satine and somehow (he abandoned his son, son died, who the f knows??? and instead Obi went to watch someone elses children 🤣 that was the idea?? And wtf the commenter wanted to OC Obi too lol). According to a podcast mentioned on an inta comment; George had to tell him, "look you seem to know shit about my characters... Obi-Wan wouldn't do that is OC." Lol same when they wanted "Sith force ghosts", George again went on to tell them "you effing donkeys, Sith can't be force ghosts that's why they want to be inmortal!!!" 🥴🤣

What they only got right prob was that George wanted a puppet like design for the characters hah

Why they want to push Obi-Wan so bad to have relationships/flirting??? He's settled on his jedi ways and been so since TPM. They push him Siri Tachi, Ventress (wtf she's a Sith!?? 🤣 self betrayal ideals), Satine, the woman from the disney kenobi series.... but had to put that idea down, since well, out of character! A Jedi like Obi-Wan wouldn't be a fboy or into modern men dating views... He's a Jedi! Not just some jedi, but the ultimate one... yoda-windu like.

This type of characterization would fit better to characters like Ayla Secura, Quinlan Voss or Kit Fisto. Not stablished ones.

Well, there's a reason we got time travel in SW but not to prevent Anakin from falling to dark side or Padmé or Qui-Gon to die 🫠 let's use it to save filler characters that have nothing to add to the plot instead lmao

Not to forget they made Ani's head square/old 23 year old and hair brown??? like wtf 🤭

Rant end.

[nikkisheep]

I understand if this isn’t something your interested in but if you are and would write it that would be awesome!! Could you do a curvy fem wheeler reader x Eddie Munson one? The reader is Mike and Nancy’s older sister that left for college as soon as she was accepted. She’s a lot like Mike, she’s into dnd, the same type of music, nerdy comics and doesn’t fit in their little cookie cutter family. She’s got that hippie vintage vibe going on and actually left to go to art school. Most people forget they have an older sister because she’s just so much different than Nancy and their parents but to Mike she hangs the moon and is the coolest person ever. She’s the one person he can call for any kind of advice and is constantly telling the hellfire guys how cool she is. Well when she comes home for break and the boys need a sub they waste no time asking her, I mean she did teach them everything they know. Mike is so excited she’s playing and can’t wait to tell Eddie. Of course Eddie is excited to meet the older wheeler kid that is “Oh so amazing”. Let’s just say she’s everything he expected and then some, from her ripped up mom jeans to her tie dyed crop top, the long wild curly hair, tattoos and a nose piercing she’s nothing like her sister. He thinks he’s died and went to heaven.

(I know it’s a bit lengthy but I love the idea of Mike having a older sibling he looks up too and is into the same things he is, I feel like he doesn’t really have someone older to look up too like the other kids do.)

Eddie Munson x Wheeler!reader

Warnings: reader is a female, swearing, Mike looks up to reader, flirting (kinda), reader calls eddie pretty as a teasing way

Summary: Request above

Looking for a sub for Eddie's DnD was harder than Dustin and Mike thought, they had asked everyone they knew. No one wanted to hang out with the freaks of Hawkins. Especally, Eddie "the freak" Munson. They continued to ask but still no luck. They called it quites and went home.

---

You were laying on your stomach in your bed, flipping through one of Mike's comics that you knew he was going to threaten to kill you for taking. As the eldest Wheeler sibling, you took all of the disappointment from Mom and Dad, which left Mike and Nancy looking like angels.

You twirled your curled hair around your finger as you flipped another page. Your eyes scanned the words when a slam from the front door came. You weren't expecting your parents back until late tonight and school didn't end for a bit longer.

"Oh my God I hate this so much!" A young boy's voice yelled.

You smiled to yourself before hollering, "Maybe don't slam the front door."

You hear Mike gasp and hollered out a few "Hellos". You could not stop laughing at him. You hadn't seen him since you left for art school. You wanted to have an art studio by the age of twenty. You graduated at seventeen and left before you turned 18.

You rushed down the stairs, quietly, and grabbed Mike by the back of his neck. He let out a scream and tried to tackle you to the ground.

"Chill kiddo," You laugh.

"Y/n," He breathed before looking to make sure that you were really there.

"How's my little brat been?" You open your arms.

Normally, Mike didn't give many hugs unless they were for Eleven but still. He missed you. He was a lot closer to you than Nancy. You both felt that you didn't fit into the perfect family.

"Wha-When did you get back? Why are you here? I mean I-I am happy that you're here but like, why?" Mike scrambled out.

"Chill out dude, I came back to set up a studio."

"But about moving to New York?"

"Mike, my family is here. I missed playing DnD with you and the boys. I missed y'all."

He hugged you again.

"So, I have a campaign to go to tonight and we need a sub for Lucas," Mike started, "And I was wondering if you would want to fill in."

"Mike, I would be honored." You place a hand on your heart and smile.

Mike goes to phone the boys to tell them that he had a sub.

----

"Eddie, I am telling you, she is the best DnD player that I have ever seen. She is better than all of us put together," Mike said.

"I'm sure it's not that hard to be better than you," Eddie scoffed.

"He isn't lying, she is a badass." Dustin chipped in.

The boys nodded in agreement.

"She better be better than what you say she is, Wheeler."

Eddie didn't believe that anyone could be better than him. Mike was smug at the challenge that Eddie had given him. He knew that not only were you very good, but you also knew how to win.

"Oh I promise words don't do her justice."

----

Pulling up to the school, you step out of the car. Your tie die crop top was raised a bit from you stretching, your jeans hugged your hips very well. Your boots thudded against the ground before you walked inside the building.

Making your way to the DnD room, you could hear the guys yelling. You opened the door and the noise was louder.

"I'm sorry but this room is off limits to others during our game," A man with long curls yelled from his "throne".

"Y/n!" The boys yelled.

You nodded to them.

"Well, well, if it isn't the famous Wheeler sister?" The man said.

"Listen here, dude, I ain't got time for this so if you don't mind I would like to get to the game." You smirk at his faulter.

"Fiesty, Wheeler."

"Get to it," You smile.

You move to sit down but the man grabs your wrist gently.

"What level are you?"

"Level tweleve warlock," You smirk at the jaw clench he gives.

"What's wrong pretty? A girl can't be higher than you," You tease.

"Whatever, my name is Eddie."

---

The game starts but Eddie is not playing like he normally does. The boys notice that his attention is on your exposed cleavage and tattoos. He notices the nose piercing and the bird tattoo on your shoulder.

Eddie sends you down a dark cave and you clear out the enemies. Eddie is amazed and angry. He worked hard on this game. Normally, he goes home victory but now you were winning at every turn.

"Y/n what is your move?" Eddie asks.

"Go for the roll of eight," Mike shouts.

"Yeah, go with the eight." Dustin and the boys yell.

You roll and land an eight. The guys jump out of their seats and shout. The room is full of yells of victory. They finally beat their Dungon Master.

"Yes, Y/n you are the best," Mike yelled before giving you a hug.

You wrap your arms around him and cry out in victory. Eddie looks surprised.

"What's wrong Pretty?''

A jaw clench.

"Oh come on Pretty, try a little bit harder next time."

He steps closer to you, almost touching you.

He breathes, " You don't know how hard I can go."

"Maybe I want to," You whisper into the shell of his ear.

Eddie smirks.

"How are you so good at DnD?"

"Well, Pretty, I taught Mike and the boys everything they know."

"Well you didn't teach them very good," He laughs.

"I said I taught them everything they know, not everything I know."

You offer rides to the boys and wink at Eddie when you close the door.

"Jesus," Eddie whispers into the air.

[crappymixtape]

something infinite • part six

SOMETHING INFINITE • PART SIX A N D I T ‘ S S U C H A S H A M E

part six of something infinite – ferris wheel at 8 and another chance to see where this thing with steve is taking you, but when his friends find out will he be able to handle it? | ( 4k, fluff, lots of angst, enemies to lovers, steve x you, steve x reader – find the rest of the series and more here and find the series playlist on spotify here )

J U L Y 1 9 8 7 🎶 cold and holy, mono moon

You could see lights and hear the music from the Hawkins Fourth of July Celebration all the way from your aunt’s house. The field was close enough you could walk and everyone had decided to meet up there before leaving together.

“Jonathan don’t forget, Will needs to be back after the fireworks!”

“I know mom, I got it. After the fireworks.”

“And if you go back out just be safe, make good decisions?”

“Yeah, of course mom. Good decisions.”

“Hop’s on his way down there, so if you need anything–”

“Mom, we’ll be okay.”

Listening to Joyce give Jonathan the usual going-out lecture, your leg jiggled nervously as you sat on the porch swing waiting for her to just let you all go already.

Steve hadn’t come to eat dinner before and you couldn’t blame him. You didn’t think Hop would kill him, but if you were Steve you probably wouldn’t have tested that theory, so you’d spent the entirety of the evening asking Robin the time. Yanking Dustin’s arm to look at his calculator watch. Getting teased by literally everyone there.

“Are you afraid of heights?”

“What if it stops while you’re at the top??”

“Is he a good kisser?”

“Did he–wait–what, Max?”

“What? It’s a legit question.”

“Dude, are you kidding? I’m not gonna tell any of you anything,” you shot back to a chorus of groans and swear words. Eddie shot you a grin as Lucas asked Max again why she needed to know if Steve was a good kisser and then Robin’s hand suddenly slapped the top of your thigh.

“Chill. You’re gonna, like, take off into space.”

“I am not, I’m fine.”

“Yeah, okay. You’ve only been checking the time literally every minute. We’re gonna get there on time. Promise. You won’t miss out on round two with old Stevie boy.”

You fixed Robin with a look and let out a small sigh of relief as finally Jonathan came out to the porch, “Okay, let’s get outta here–wait! Will! Mike! You gotta stay close!” He didn’t hardly get a word out before the younger kids all took off and he and Nancy chased after them, leaving you, Eddie and Robin to bring up the rear.

“I’m not gonna lie, I’ve never seen Steve like this before,” Robin said giving you a grin, but it softened the longer she looked at you, “It’s nice.”

“It is nice, isn’t it,” Eddie repeated like he’d just had an epiphany. “God, he’s like himself around you. Sweet Stevie. The one we all love,” Eddie said giving your arm a squeeze, his fingers shining all silver in the moonlight.

“Oh great, no pressure,” you joked, trying to make light of the situation, but they both gave you a look and you felt your cheeks flush. “Alright, it’s not like we’re sending out wedding invitations,” you mumbled, but you couldn’t help the little flicker in your chest that was growing by the day. The one you held for this boy. This brown-eyed, messy-haired, obnoxious, beautiful boy.

“Okay, but like, when you do send them, we’re both invited right?” Robin asked, face all serious and you shoved her.

“Shut up.”

“Love you.”

“Love you too, dingus.”

“And love me too?”

“Yes. Love you too, Eddie.”

“Good.”

The fair was bright and loud and full of screaming children and sugar highs and summer and you felt your nerves creeping back in as the ferris wheel came into view.

“What time is it?” you asked Dustin again, grabbing his wrist, but this time he yanked it back.

“Time for you to get a watch. God. You have like five minutes, get the hell out of here,” and he gave you a gentle shove away from the rest of the group.

Max and Lucas made kissy faces at you. Mike and Dustin had gotten wrapped up talking game strategy, but Will and El each gave you a thumbs up. Eddie and Robin, well, they were less than appropriate as Jonathan and Nancy struggled to pull them away from each other and you couldn’t help laughing as you walked away. Walked toward the ferris wheel. The damn ferris wheel.

You have like five minutes.

How long did it take to get over there? Was he waiting for you? Was your outfit okay?

Your feet did all the work for you as your brain ran through every horrible scenario that could possibly happen and when you finally looked up from the ground you realized you’d reached it. Your meeting point.

The ride towered over you and you felt your stomach sink as the music playing on the old, shitty speakers tried to project happiness and joy, but all you felt was dread. It was so high up. Taking in a breath you attempted to reassure yourself, but a voice behind you made you jump, your moment of peace shattered.

“Hi,” Steve was grinning at you, holding cotton candy in one hand and a giant soda in the other, just like he’d promised.

“Hi,” you shook your head and gave him a tiny scowl, “Scared the shit out of me.”

“Oh, sorry. Did you need to hit the bathroom first, or…?”

“Shut up.”

Steve grinned, “Kidding. Here. Blue, just like you asked and 7-Up.” He held both things out to you, giving you the option, and you felt your own grin tugging at the corners of your lips.

“Big spender, huh?” you took the cotton candy and wrapped a tiny blue cloud around your finger.

“Had to. It’s your first fair. If we fuck this up we can’t go back,” he said seriously, taking a drink of soda, tentatively resting his hand on your lower back. When you didn’t shy away you caught his grin soften into a smile as he looked up at the ferris wheel and you felt the flame in your chest flicker again. God, you really liked this boy.

“Off to a decent start,” you teased, leaning into him and taking another tiny pinch of cotton candy, but this time you stayed close as he pulled you into line.

“Okay, so it’s the easiest thing ever. You just jump into your little carriage thingy and they close the gate and then it turns around super slow for, I dunno, five minutes? Thrilling,” he explained, wiggling his brows at you and pointing with the giant cup of soda in his hand.

“Sounds like it,” you laughed, but the longer you looked at the ride the more the knot in your stomach twisted. Clearing your throat you tried to sound casual, but your apprehension was obvious, “We won’t like…get stuck up there. Right?”

Steve looked down at you, all joking aside, and gave you one of his warm smiles, “No. And even if we do, you got me up there with you so. It’ll be fine.”

“Great. Perfect.”

“Hey,” he tapped a finger on your nose. “We’re not gonna get stuck, Princess. I promise,” and as he pulled you in closer at your waist you believed him.

The metal clanking of the ferris wheel turning to life shook the pod you sat in, thigh to thigh next to Steve, and as it started to lift you up into the air you felt your heart going with it. The stars were like countless glittering pin pricks in the inky black sky and you let the feeling wrap around you all hazy and bright.

Your pod swung jerky for a minute as the giant wheel moved along and your hand flew out to grab hold of Steve’s arm.

“S’okay,” he gave you a little grin, hand finding yours to tangle your fingers together. If your stomach hadn’t already flipped over from the loss of gravity it did then at his touch.

“I’m fine,” you tried to sound brave, but it was a miserable attempt.

“Oh. Okay. Well, if you need anything I’m literally right next to you, so…” his grin softened and you could feel him looking at you. You decided to look back, but only as a distraction from how high you were climbing into the air.

“Lucky me.”

“Yup. So, how is it? Everything you dreamed of and more?”

“And more,” you attempted a joke, but held your breath as the pod stuttered and Steve squeezed your hand again. “Cotton candy is top notch, soda isn’t too bad, and this ride hasn’t killed me yet. I do have one complaint…” you let out a tiny exhale and tried to give him a grin.

“A complaint?” nerves flickered on his face for a second.

“Yeah. I didn’t get a bear yet. And I feel like that’s a pretty integral part of the fair experience.” Steve bit back a laugh and then took on a very serious expression.

“So sorry to hear that,” he started, trying very hard to maintain his concern, “We’ll fix that right away. Just so happens your date holds the record for most free throws in a row, so, should be able to get you a bear in no time.”

“Most free throws in a row?” you broke first, a skeptical smile cracking your face and he huffed a laugh.

“What? I do. Why’s that funny?”

“You’re a dork,” you say back, but it doesn’t hold any bite and when you glance away you realize how far away the world has fallen, all the little people below milling around like tiny ants, your soda and Steve’s flannel waiting for you all the way at the bottom. You swallow thickly and screw your eyes shut, taking in a steadying breath. Steve squeezes your hand again.

“Hey. We’re okay. Here, look at me,” his fingers gently tucked under your chin to lift it and when you finally opened your eyes he was smiling at you so sweet and soft and you felt the anxiety that had been clutching at your chest melt away. “See?” his eyes were warm, flecks of gold swimming in honey, and you felt like you were going to float away.

God, he was so pretty it hurt.

You knew what you wanted to say, the words were loaded and ready to fall out, but you couldn’t find the bravery. The look in his eyes was making your brain feel all mushy, but when his hand dropped away you ached for his touch and it was all the motivation you needed.

“Kiss me.”

Biting in a grin his hand moved back to your chin, holding it gently between his thumb and forefinger, tilting it just so. “Second time is usually better,” he quoted you, voice low and warm and the air crackled between you, electric, like sparks from a fire.

“Usually,” your voice was a whisper as his eyes closed, long lashes sweeping against his cheeks, and you felt yours fluttering shut too as he pulled you in to catch your lips with his.

The first time had been curious. Tentative. New. But this was braver. Bold. Wanting. Faintly familiar. He tasted like cotton candy and soda, like spearmint gum and summer and you wanted more. Twisting in your seat to face him, he took the cue and wrapped his arms tight around your waist, tugging you impossibly closer. A tiny gasp escaped you as he pulled you in, taking you both by surprise, but Steve recovered and grinned into the kiss, letting your bottom lip go with a small pop.

“Get a room!” someone in the pod above you laughed and you felt your cheeks flush, but you were grinning just as stupid as Steve was.

“Better?” he asked, smug and already knowing your answer.

“Hmm. Yes, but you’ve set the bar pretty high for yourself, genius,” you teased.

“S’fine, I like a challenge,” he lifted a hand to tuck a couple of flyaways behind your ear, still pressed into you as the ferris wheel slowed, creaking and protesting against the ceasing of movement. You wished you could stay close like that forever, but a voice shook you back to reality.

“Alright, everybody off!” the grizzled ride operator appeared at your gate. Rolling his eyes at the state of you both he undid the lock, hurrying you out for the next group of impatient couples who wanted what you’d just had.

“Jeez, maybe you should give him a kiss,” you muttered as the operator walked away and Steve poked at your ribs.

“He wishes.”

As you left the platform, Steve scooped your giant soda off the railing and handed it over, “Here, hold this for a minute, I’m gonna grab my flannel.”

You took a sip and turned to get out of the way of the growing line of people when something, someone, ran smack into you. With a Pop! the giant cup of 7-Up in your hand busted open, spilling all down the front of your shirt.

“Shit,” you sucked in a gasp, the cold soda soaking through to your bare skin, shirt ruined, but before you could say anything else you heard laughing. Not I’m-Having-Fun laughing. More like What-A-Fucking-Mess laughing and you glanced up to see a brown haired boy looking down at you.

He was tall, cheeks smattered with dense freckles, lips twisted up into a smirk as he laughed and you felt the knot in your stomach tighten.

“God, freak, watch where you’re going,” he snarked.

“Didn’t know there’d be a wet t-shirt contest,” another boy behind him snickered, blonde hair set across his brow just-so, and he elbowed his friend with a wicked grin.

“Gross,” a red headed girl next to them quirked a judgmental brow at you, nose crinkled up in disgust.

Cheeks burning you wished the ground would open up and swallow you whole. You didn’t know who these assholes were, but somehow they’d devoured every bit of your confidence in that moment just by looking at you.

Soaked and feeling the soda drying in a sticky mess on your bare skin you glanced over your shoulder for Steve, but you didn’t have to look far as he walked up on the four of you.

“Hey, sorry that guy tried to give me someone else’s–” but when he looked up from the ground the color drained from his face. “Tommy?” fell out of his mouth.

Tommy. Your stomach dropped.

“Harrington? What the fuck are you doing here with a Byers?”

Steve’s eyes flicked from Tommy to you and back again, his fingers fumbling with the flannel he held in his hands. It was like he was stuck, short circuiting, debating.

“Harrington?” the blonde boy repeated and it seemed to shake him.

“Oh, hah, yeah that asshole at the ferris wheel asked me to give this back,” he hastily shoved the wadded up fabric into your sticky soda hands making you fumble the empty paper cup to the ground.

“Always taking on the charity cases, Steve. C’mon. We’re supposed to go to Kyle’s. His brother got a keg,” the girl gave you another disapproving look and rolled her eyes.

You were frozen in place as you listened to the exchange. As if you hadn’t just kissed like you were the only two people left on earth. Like he hadn't just promised he'd be there for you. Like you hadn't shared everything over the last month. Like you hadn't shared you.

The shift in Steve’s body language made your insides hurt, made you want to throw up, made you want to go home and scrub him off of you. He’d turned away, shoved his hands into his pockets instead of reaching for yours, and you could see his tongue darting out to lick at his lips nervously.

“Give this back?” you repeated, tone edged with venom, “Charity case?” Steve finally looked down at you as spat your words out and the cool facade he’d tried so hard to put on cracked a bit, driving you further. “I’m sorry, we’re on a date,” you clarified for everyone and silence lingered for a moment before everyone but you and Steve burst into laughter.

“A date? With Harrington? No fucking way.”

Silence.

“Wait, seriously?”

“I–what I mean is–we didn’t–” Steve fumbled over his words and something in you snapped.

“We didn’t what? What was that then?” you threw a hand back over your shoulder at the ferris wheel, “What was that?”

“Oh shit, someone’s pissed,” Tommy laughed, high-pitched as he watched your face turn sour and Steve stayed silent. You practically shoved him over with the force you used to drive the flannel back into his stomach and started to walk away, throat tightening as you fought back tears.

Steve seized up again as he listened to Tommy squealing, listened to Kyle wolf whistle after you, listened to Carol drawl on in her nasally, annoying tone.

“Bye, freak!”

“God, what a mess.”

“Fucking weirdo.”

Something in him swelled, was building to a peak as they yelled after you and laughed and snickered and god he couldn’t take it anymore.

Steve broke.

“God, shut the hell up, Tommy! Just. Shut. Up,” Steve hissed, rounding on the other boy and getting right in his face. Kyle and Carol both stopped, mouths dropping open into little ‘o’s.

“The fuck is wrong with you?” Tommy shook his head, a mixture of irritation and confusion on his face.

“You. You’re what’s wrong with me. You’re such a dick. All the time.”

“Me? Oh that’s rich, Harrington. Why don’t you tell me how you really feel?” Tommy took a step closer to Steve. His tone held an edge to it, dangerous, like it could tip one way or the other and it hinged on what Steve said next.

“Yeah? Okay. I’m tired of your shit. I’m tired of the way you’re always dragging everyone, including Kyle,” Kyle’s face shifted in shock. “You’re so hung up on stupid shit that doesn’t matter. We’re not on the basketball team anymore, Tommy. We’re not in high school. It’s over. And you cheat on Carol pretty much anytime she’s out of town.”

“You what?” Carol looked like she could kill Tommy and Tommy’s face was burning, fists in balls at his sides.

“You’re no saint,” Tommy snapped at Steve, “You’re always talking shit about Carol. Telling me Kyle’s a little bitch. Have since we were Freshman. King Steve right? You’re the worst out of all of us!” Tommy thrust his hands up into Steve’s chest, grabbing fistfuls of his shirt, and pulled him in close. “Don’t fucking tell me I’m the one to blame.”

It was like an instinct, Steve’s hands flinging into Tommy and shoving him away, following after as he stumbled backwards. Tommy started laughing again.

“What’re you gonna do Harrington? You gonna hit me?”

“Yeah. I am,” and as Steve walked up on the boy he loosed a punch into Tommy’s jaw, the smack of skin on skin loud against the fair music.

“Shit,” Tommy hissed, fingers gingerly touching the spot on his face where a bruise had started to bloom and when he looked back up at Steve he had fire in his eyes. Picking up a sprint Tommy lunged at him, grabbing Steve around the knees and shoving them both to the ground. He threw one, two, three punches – Steve’s nose, his jaw, his cheek.

“Tommy, stop! Hopper’s coming!”

And it was over as quick as it started. Tommy clambered off Steve, Kyle and Carol hot on his heels as they took off into the crowd. Hopper shoved past the last two people in his way and let out a grunt of frustration.

“You shits! Get back here! God dammit,” stopping where Steve was still laid out in the grass he shook his head, grumbling curses under his breath. “Alright, kid?” he offered the boy a hand.

“Not really,” Steve touched his lip and brought away blood on his fingers as Hop pulled him onto his feet.

“Yeah, you don’t look great. I’d say you should get home, but if I were you I’d fix that first,” Hopper pointed to your figure, still walking to the edge of the field and Steve didn’t need any convincing as he took off at a sprint.

“Hey! We were just about to get a spot on the grass–” Eddie saw you coming up on them at the edge of the fairgrounds, but his words cut short when he saw the look on your face. “Damn, are you okay, sweetheart?” he asked, but you walked right past him, Steve not too far behind.

“What the hell, Steve?” you heard Robin snap at him as your feet carried you further away, and then everyone joined in.

“Oh shit, what happened?”

“Who did that to you?”

“It was Tommy–” Steve tried to get a word in.

“Tommy? I’m gonna kill him!”

“Go fix it!”

“Jesus. I know! I’m going!” Steve scrambled across the ground, shoes slipping against the unkept grass, hair wild and heart pounding in his chest.

You should’ve started running too, but he was too fast and you could hear him sucking in breaths as he closed the gap between you.

“Wait, wait, wait. C’mon. Please wait,” Steve’s hand tried to wrap around your wrist, but you flung it away.

As you turned around you saw his split lip, the lilac bruise that crept across his cheek and jaw, all jammy and purple like plums in summer and worry tugged at your heart, but you tried to shove it away. Tried to keep hold of your anger.

“Who did that to you, Tommy?” and Steve kept his mouth shut, frame crumpling a little as you took him in. “Did he?”

“Yeah.”

“God. Why?” you said under your breath, but then he grabbed your hand and your heart stuttered.

"Please.”

Your eyes traced a path from your hands, up his arm, across the moles dotting his cheek, hair all messy and swept across his forehead. When your eyes finally met his, deep and hazy and brown, your heart ached. The look on his face wrecked you. Broke your heart into tiny little pieces and when you spoke again it was wobbly.

“What, d’you want to pile on? Get a good laugh in?” the sob that was clawing up your throat tried to strangle you, but you fought it back. Determined to not let him see you cry.

“No, no it’s not like that, I–”

“What are we, Steve?” the first time you said his name and it was like a curse on your tongue and it hurt.

“I–I like you. I want you.”

“And your ‘friends’?” it was like you’d sucked the air out of his lungs.

“Tommy just gets worked up–”

“No. Tommy? Your ‘friends’? Are assholes. They treat you like shit,” he looked like you’d just punched him and you felt guilt creeping in, but you had to keep going, “It’s simple. You’d rather fit in, be ‘popular’ or whatever. And that’s fine, but I don’t want to get dragged along for the ride. I can’t.”

You left out how your heart felt like it was being crushed in a vice. Left out how much it hurt to watch him just stand there while Tommy and Carol and Kyle laughed. Left out how much it sucked getting lied to.

He’s our dingus. He’ll come around, you’ll see.

Just give him a chance.

He’s got a big heart, he just needs someone who isn’t going to break it.

Steve let your words sink in, standing there in the wheat field while stale fair music played in the background, mocking the weight of the conversation, making everything that had happened before seem like a joke. What was he supposed to do, tell you his friends were ‘just acting up’? Pretend like they weren’t assholes? Pretend like he hadn’t deserved it?

He couldn’t justify his actions or words just by telling you he got his ass kicked for speaking up after you’d left. Couldn’t tell you it was all even now, because it wasn’t and he knew it. He owed you more than that and you weren’t ready for it.

So he shut up and kept his mouth closed.

And your feet moved you away from him.

You could hear the fireworks starting behind you, but you didn’t dare turn around. The tears were coming faster now, your shoulders shaking as your walk turned into a jog and then a run. Long stalks of wheat whipped against your thighs, whoosh whoosh whoosh, Steve’s voice fading away in the distance as he said your name over and over into the dark.

SOMETHING INFINITE SYNOPSIS: hawkins, indiana, 1987 – your mom is out of town for the summer on business and she sends you to live with your aunt joyce and her husband jim in hawkins while she’s gone. joyce works at the library and jim is the town sheriff – the kids, will, jonathan and el slowly warm up to you and it’s after you get in with them that you really start to feel at home, but there’s one person who just annoys you to no end. one person you’d love to just boot off a cliff – steve fucking harrington. ♥️ find the rest of the series and more here and find the series playlist on spotify here.

[talkingwoman]

Disbelief, disappointment, resignation...

Just a few moments ago, I re-posted the text I wrote the day Elizabeth and Armie jointly and quite amicably announced the ending of their marriage. I posited that for better or worse, we would discover whether the belief in the Armie/Timmy ship was, like the profoundly wished for sequel to CMBYN, in fact a mirage, a chimera born of heated imagination, fan fictions, and yearning for romantic beauty. As often happens when I post something contrary to the prevailing beliefs in the fandom, the response was crickets. Turns out I may have been prescient, but this is not about a "Toldja so!!" moment. Rather, this post is like my stages of grief, as yet incomplete.

When Armie embarked on his parade of liaisons with young, yet publicly active and recognizable women, I questioned the move, but could never have imagined the shitstorm that descended as women complained vociferously about his sexual and emotional treatment of them. What happened next was swift and merciless. Crisis management researchers may use Armie's experience as a case study someday, but the finstas, DMS, and other messages central to the events are probably too raunchy for academic texts. Certainly his flat denial of any wrongdoing strategy failed dismally. Throughout the cascading losses of agents, film, tv, and stage contracts, I kept waiting for someone, ultimately anyone, to speak in defense of Armie. Most particularly I was stunned by the silence from Timmy, Luca, and others I had foolishly believed would publicly support a colleague, let alone friend or lover, who was enduring such attacks. Well, forget that. I literally could not believe no one came forward, but having stumbled down the Charmie trail, I couldn't understand why even a very simple line like, "Talented actor and scene partner. Loved working with him. I don't comment on anyone's private life." was not forthcoming. Mostly, I couldn't believe Timmy would display such public indifference. Saddening. Hurtful, whether intentional or not (see? I'm still making excuses for Timmy,)

In the ensuing years, Timmy gave three interviews to major media outlets. To say that I was disappointed that he dismissed the question posed by Time, as "worthy of a larger discussion" and said nada, zilch, nothing remotely supportive of the guy he once called his brother, role model, etc. is a massive understatement. In his second "Woodstock" interview with GQ he not only took pains to address rumors that his relationship with a woman he loved (his words), LRD, was a PR sham, but also failed once again to affirm his onetime friend and mentor, Armie, was a part of the "making and re-making of Timmy" that the article focused on. Well, he didn't credit Luca G. or James I. either, but they were not twisting in the wind like a bashed in dollar store pinata. Loyalty counts, even in the often cynical world of entertainment, right? Not so much, maybe.

Between the second and third GQ interviews, the AirMail interview Armie collaborated on appeared, and while that piece was gravely flawed and quickly vanished, it was another missed opportunity for Timmy or anyone else to speak consoling, compassionate words for a guy embarking on his addiction recovery journey. Not gonna happen. The most recent installment of the GQ articles should not have surprised me, but it's surely clear by now that for all my bluster I am not free of my gullible Charmie predilections. Timmy had every opportunity to say something kind, even in a dismissive mode, like, "aw, dude, ancient history. total mess for anyone to endure." about the scandal. Surely he and his team had prepared for this. What came out in the article was enigmatic in the extreme. "I don't know...it was..disorienting is a good word." Is that it? It's Timmy's world and Armie is exiled forever?

OK, I give. You, Timmy, owe me, your fans, and Armie nothing by way of explanation. Whatever you think or believe is your business. Having reluctantly accepted your continued behavior as personal agency in this matter, it is my problem and mine alone that I perceive it as a bitter betrayal of that gorgeous man who instead of showing resentment that he was not also Oscar nominated, gave you that momentous, loving push toward the snapping cameras and said "now, go shine, shine, shine". How long ago and far away that seems today.

And yet, it was there before my own eyes in this GQ article. Indisputable, maybe inadvertent revelation about the state of the Timmy/Armie ship came with the discussion of the fishy coincidence of the Bones and All announcement less than two weeks after the cannibalism stories erupted. What were the chances, Timmy questioned? What is immediately clear is that neither he nor Luca was in touch with Armie at all. When there is even a casual friendship between actors they talk about projects they are pursuing, engaged, and don't forget, co-producing. If there was any contact Armie would already have known. But check Timmy's reaction. Did he say, "I needed to let my friend know there was no evil intent in our announcement." Instead, he felt he HAD to do the project b/c it came from a book rather than someone's social media nightmare. Still, the cannibalism/Armie/Bones and All discussions endured and some would argue were exploited through to the premiere and even into awards season, with Dakota Johnson's snarky joke at Armie's expense when introducing Luca at a banquet. That's what friends are for, yeah?

The mirage seemed real. Sometimes I still flail, but time and circumstance continue to pile on evidence to the contrary. That does not make me happy AT ALL.

#heartsandparts

[piracytheorist]

I cannot imagine why people read the name "the connections" and go oh yes this is a company that would advertise that they create incredibly powerful bioweapons in their day to day life? like imagine once you get deep enough to learn illegal bioweapon dealings and just being able to leave. you want to quit but can't because you know things so they can threaten you and the people you love who're you gonna tell... so why is Mia so hated for part of this? like I 100% can see the Connections watching all the shit going on the tanker as oh no... someone should have done something then started collecting data they sent two people escorting a powerful bioweapon without the treatments needed to keep it stable also Alan the person transporting Eveline with Mia I rarely see him get mentioned he says "its my fault Evie got out" and before Alan dies he is stuggling and to keep him from falling to the ground Mia reaches out and stabilises him shoulder asking Evie to stop and that's when Evie infectes her and Mia gets shoved away by Alan and then he dies... i have a lot of thoughts about the connections and because Evie turned up in shadows of rose I'm choosing to believe that RE9 will bring back the connections in some way (don't worry the clown costume is ready and waiting because of the stupid "winters story is now down" with Rose)

I mean, just because the Winters' story is """over""" doesn't necessarily mean they won't bring the Connections back... it may be hopeful thinking but you never know.

Also yes a lot of people miss the point about Mia not being a high-up in the Connections. They act like she was some kind of criminal mastermind or whatever, when she was 100% expendable for them. After Eveline attacked the ship, ended up in the Bakers' house and started infecting everyone, did the Connections try to rescue Mia? Did they at least consider observing the situation through her? Nope. They sat back on their chairs and got Lucas to give them info on Eveline's development. Granted, Lucas had more control over his mind than Mia did, as we see in Not a Hero, but they still let their own operative get fucking infected and potentially murdered in there, while choosing to observe the situation via a random murder-happy civilian. Doesn't sound like Mia had a lot of pull in that company if that's how easily they practically made her part of their experiment.

And like, as you said, it's not like all people who end up working for criminal organizations reach that point by choice. It's not like they start working and giggle evilly all cartoon-villain-like while waiting for the moment they'll be given license to kill. It's a slippery slope and before they realize it they're actually committing crimes, and by that point it's too late to just say "Yo I quit I wish y'all well" nah dude you either stay or you die. And it's not like criminal organizations advertise the fact that they do crimes. Evil people do not realize they're evil, and it's dangerously easy to forget that.

Also it looks like pretty much immediately after they were rescued, Mia spilled out everything she knew about the Connections to the BSAA (per The Baker Incident Report), which is why she was put under witness protection. Like those people who complain why she wasn't put in jail- you've never heard of an informant, dude? Step up yo game man, this stuff is actually happening in real life it's nothing new. Mia was given a way out of the Connections, and seeing how they had treated her like yet another experiment she went like "fuck 'em bitches" and just spilled everything. Having shared sensitive intel about a criminal organization, and being a witness of bioterrorism, there's no way she could have been placed in a normal jail.

(Plus I'm convinced the BSAA knew Ethan was all moldy boi by that point, kept that a secret and instead they let him and Mia go live together with a semblance of freedom cause they were betting on them having a child at a later point; a child the BSAA would potentially use later on for their own purposes. So you've got a moldy boi who begs to have his wife back and said wife has received an antidote for that moldy infection. Why keep them apart when you could let things be for a while and potentially repeat the Eveline experiment with a significantly less amount of money spent?)

[themeganator5000]

🤡🎢🎶🧠 (and good luck with homework 😩)

Alright, this one got a lil long so buckle in (also thank u king!! 🥹)

🤡 What’s a line, scene, or exchange you’ve written that made you laugh?

MAN, that’s a toughie. What’ve I written that HASN’T made me laugh?? Uuuhhhhh obviously all of Truth or Don’t You Dare, that’s probably my favorite fic ever ngl. Okay, I’m bad at decisions so we’re just gonna do a lil Best Of list rn let’s goooo

Pretty much all of this scene from One Night in Portorosso just cause I can see it so clearly:

And damn, Without You is really funny too. Underrated classic 👌

Oh my god, how could I forget Pornos and Protostars??? This whole damn fic is a gold mine 🤩

(P.S. i like to think that Guido is Portorosso’s local gay porn dealer and Alberto bought all his magazines from him in private. i do not know where Guido gets them. maybe Ercole.)

Luca HAS to some kinda weird space kink, right?? Like,, just fuckin lookit him

And Alberto making suggestive drawings of his then-best-friend at age sixteen is just 😘👌

Uugghgjkdhfkfhgk i know there’s more but this post is already so damn long i gotta stop. But trust me my dude, i write da funny shit, it’s what i do 😜

🎢 Which of your fics would you call your wildest ride?

Oohohohiohh definitely Truth or Don’t You Dare 😏

I won’t spoil anything for the select few who see this post and haven’t read it yet, but here’s a quick summary:

🎶 Do you listen to music while you write? What song have you been playing on loop lately?

Answered!

🧠 Pick a character, and I’ll tell you my favorite headcanon for them.

Okay, so I more or less answered this like a year ago here, but obvi I’ve had some more thoughts since then. And, y’all are gonna hate me for this, but I do have a favorite.

I think Luca and Giulia should hook up in college.

Not as a long-term thing, more like a one-night stand (but possibly without any actual sex, i still like my asexual Giulia headcanon). I see them going to the same college together, Luca studying astronomy and Giulia studying marine biology, and they’re roommates cause it’s cheaper and they practically grew up together anyway. Luca’s already securely with Alberto at this point and Giulia thinks she’s a lesbian, so it’s all whatever. Everyone’s all happy, Luca loves Alberto, Giulia loves both the boys as her best friends/family, Alberto is no longer jealous of Giulia, yadda yadda yadda.

But like. What if they fucked it up.

What if they kissed. 😳

Idk I just think it’s a fun and interesting scenario cause like, Luca is missing Alberto and he’s all sad that Alberto’s not there, but like. Giulia is. 👀

fhdjjwhfk idk there’s kinda a lot to explain which is why I don’t talk about it much but I’ve already written one fic about it (which is kinda underrated in my opinion). And I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but I just think their bond is so strong it’s almost hard not to imagine them in a semi-polyamorous relationship (i ain’t doin incest tho srry). I’m also working on another Giulia/Luca/Alberto fic where essentially everybody just goes to town on Luca and it’s great, but I have no idea how to wrap it up so no promises that’ll be out anytime soon :P

Thanks for letting talk at’cha! 😋

[lovestuckyhatemarvel]

My bastard boy cat was a bastard child to my old lady cat and just kneaded a blanket while yowling as if he’s the one who was put upon. Anyway, here’s Stranger Things Season 4 Episode 6. Let’s see what’s dumber: the show or my cat.

1.) Patrick’s corpse looks too goofy for me to feel bad for Jason right now.

2.) “Eddie is a vessel for Satan.” Lmao this was a dude who like last episode swore he didn’t believe in the Supernatural. Not to tell him his business but I would not be jumping to Satan even when I was a kid who believed in that shit.

3.) Also, maybe the cops should be worried about a teenager who already hunted down Eddie once when he’s being like ‘EDDIE IS A VESSEL FOR THE DEVIL’. Like I’m gonna be real with you, small town cops will put you in psych ward against your will for less.

4.) I need everyone to understand that even though America’s military fucking LOVES torture, torture does not work. It does not work. It will get you a false confession long before it will get you a real one. Part of the problem though is that media fucking looooooooves torture. Like this isn’t bullshit ‘media makes you violent’ nonsense. Congress literally cited the show 24 during talks about whether torture works. Because it always worked in the fictional bullshit garbage TV show 24.

5.) The shot of El walking down a hall with a team behind her while Brenner talks about how she had a LITERAL STROKE is hilarious.

6.) To be clear, you do not repair broken or dead connections in your brain. Once those are dead, they’re dead forever. They do not come back. You create NEW routes.

7.) Can we talk about how Kali has not been mentioned once? Did the Duffers forget she exists? Like Brenner sucks but he’s not an idiot, so he should be aware that someone is killing people from the fucking place.

8.) Sneaky Eddie steals a walkie with his tongue out.

9.) I love that Robin talked about Eddie’s doe eyes.

10.) The cops releasing Eddie’s name and photo as a ‘person of interest’ in this town based on Jason’s stupid testimony that sounds insane is B-B-B-Bonkers.

11.) Poor Eddie is like, very close to a breakdown and I do not blame him.

12.) Why can’t they just tell Argyle that Suzie’s family is Mormon.

13.) Okay no one ever mentions people are being bonkers in Suzie’s house. Also there are so many kids.

14.) Argyle has a mega crush on Eden that people also never mention.

15.) I’m glad Joyce and Murray survived their plane crash but how did they do that with zero injuries.

16.) Oh, the traitor is still alive too.

17.) I will say that leaving someone in the middle of nowhere tied to a tree is actually killing him. Lmao Like not to get into ridiculous semantics, but just because it wasn’t directly 100% by your hands doesn’t not make it murder.

18.) Yuri decides to help them though because the show can’t actually have either of them do anything terrible.

19.) Oh Antonov is like, catholic or some shit.

20.) What is with this feast?

21.) Hopper was doing SOMETHING on the floor during this rando telling people about upside down monsters.

22.) Hopper was the first dude to figure out the last meal shit????

23.) has anyone edited this plinking scene with El to put a horse into it?

24.) Brenner saying One didn’t exist is hilarious. Like, no kids, we just started at 2 for funsies. Like maybe just say he died or something.

25.) Oh now they finally mention Kali, but still no mention or attempt from anyone actually in charge. Just a memory of a mention.

26.) “We should have just told her the truth”. Sirs, I don’t think you actually know the truth.

27.) When exactly did Steve practically invent Skull Rock as a make out spot?

28.) Lucas is so goddamn sweet.

29.) Why would Robin of all people hint that Nancy and Steve should get back together???????

30.) Robin and Nancy are cute.

31.) Dustin’s dads calling him a butthead is great.

32.) this town hall is bullshit.

33.) Oh god, Jason and his stupid crew. I hate his stupid face. Also suddenly he’s not giving details. Probably because no one would actually believe him. Why doesn’t he just say ‘vessel for Satan’?

34.) Oh suddenly some of the people in the crowd realize their kids are accused cult members.

35.) Jason I wanna beat you silly.

36.) WHY THE FUCK HAS NO ONE CUT HIS MIC? WHY HAS NO ONE ARRESTED HIM FOR ATTEMPTING TO INCITE A GODDAMN RIOT?

37.) Jesus Christ, Powell, you are 5 minutes late and a dollar short.

38.) why are they lying to Susie oh my god.

39.) I love Eden.

40.) Karen, don’t call the cops, oh my god.

41.) “The thing I do now, apparently. I ran.” This implies that this is a new development for Eddie.

42.) Dustin’s gate reveal.

43.) Steve pointing out they can’t put Eddie in danger via a walk in the words.

44.) I’m gonna be real with you, technically Eddie’s statement is nonsense since the Shire isn’t burning into after everyone gets back from Mordor.

45.) IDK who needs to hear this but putting extra black people in the show just for most of them to be background or killed is like, not actually representation.

46.) It’s actually kind of nonsense that Henry is so obsessed with El in the past.

47.) Yuri has a point. He doesn’t need to need to do anything to them at this point. Either they succeed or they die.

48.) Ohhhhhhh Murray is now Yuri and Yuri is now Murray. That’s smart. Maybe. If they’d actually established that no one knows what Yuri looks like, which they didn’t do that first.

49.) Antonov is kind of right about hope. Also, people can absolutely defeat a demogorgon. Hopper should know that. So man I hope this is a distraction or something, because damn, otherwise what are you doing?

50.) Oh Hopper and Antonov got taken out.

51.) I also don’t know how they got a demogorgon here.

52.) Oh, Hopper did have a plan. Good job, bud.

53.) Okay I know what the internet is and I know how I got access to it in the 90s, but I just realized I don’t know how Suzie’s household has it in the 80s.

54.) Oh, Eden and Argyle were getting high.

55.) Maybe one of you two cops could have actually done something about Jason before he became a riot inducer. Maybe when he accused Eddie of being an agent of Satan.

56.) Robin would put Nancy in charge.

57.) “Miss you already.” Robin, you’re the queen of my heart.

58.) What’s with the bully group of kids?

59.) For real why do these kids fucking hate El?

60.) El literally does not know what happened?

61.) Nancy watching Steve and Robin watching Nancy and Eddie watching Steve. Also, Max approves of Steve’s chest hair, almost guaranteed.

62.) Merman Steve Harrington. He can hold his breath for at least a minute.

63.) Max distracting the cops.

64.) damn he really does get just yanked across the ground.

65.) Nancy jumps in. Dustin gets caught by the cops. Robin follows. Eddie calls it stupid and then follows seconds after.

66.) Steve’s first time in the upside down. And he gets to fight mutant bats with an oar and immediately get his ass kicked as he’s strangled. There was like, definitely a version of this where he died.

[televinita]

La Brea thoughts, 2x01-05

Twenty months after I binged season 1 -- so long ago that I had to watch the entire "previously on" recap just to remember half of what happened, because my general impression of this show is that visually it's great and the ideas are cool, but its cast is lackluster and its dialogue often cringe, so it doesn't stay with me -- after five episodes in a week I have had basically four pressing thoughts:

(you get zero context for this because I don't think I have written about this show before even to myself, let alone Tumblr. oops.)

1. I keep forgetting the 1988 story exists so every time we switch over, I feel like I've been smacked in the face by how beautiful and vibrant Riley is (with really great hair). Veronica St. Clair is one of the few true standouts in this cast.

2. Speaking of, Scowling Head of the Mine/Guard Dude is the first character EVER to make me sit straight up and go "hell-o" on sight. Extremely excellent Dark and Brooding face, and also great hair.

3. With the simple addition of slightly growing out his already good hair, I have gone from being meh about Gavin (which always frustrated me because objectively? good looking man. i just felt no screen presence), to being full steam ahead OTP: MARRIED PARENTS; I WILL DIE ON THIS HILL; EVE FORGIVE HIM AND STOP BREAKING IZZY'S HEART ABOUT HER BROKEN HOME OR SO HELP ME... Just full swoon up in this joint now. Man loves his wife, has gone to extreme lengths to reunite, is willing to forgive a whole lot without judgment if she'll do the same; end of story!

3.5. This is a carry-over from me hating Levi's face since it first appeared as THE WORST DUDE in Off the Map. In 2011. This man still has not earned out his badwill from that character, even as the most upstanding military hero character one could imagine. No hope for him!

4. BUT. Here is the thing -- I actually think this is the most interesting love triangle/adultery story I have ever seen on television, because I get it. I understand how it is actually a difficult choice for Eve, because for all my shipping I don't actually know who is the better choice for her right now. I understand how and why the cheating happened and I don't even judge it, which I have literally never felt in the history of ever, ESPECIALLY when a cheater has kids. I understand how you could love both of these men at the same time, and why both of them have valid claims to her heart.

All of this is beautifully complicated by Gavin and Levi being close friends, and my FAVORITE part of it all is Izzy standing in for me and being my sounding board and saying everything I would say and feel in this situation regardless of my age.

I am going to need it to resolve with Levi dying, because this is fully a "I am not sorry you lost them but I'm sorry you're hurt" type of comfort situation in the making, but I think I could actually handle up to an entire season of UST and/or Eve officially choosing wrong for a while, if i could retain some hope.

I will abso-LUTELY riot in an Eve/Levi endgame situation, though. You know how I am about marriage.

Update, BONUS/LEFTOVER THOUGHTS:

Lucas's interactions with Veronica lately: *Dean Pelton voice* what is this? what is this creepy business?

(no seriously why does this feel like UST even though she definitely looks like a teenage child and he is definitely a grown-ass adult. i have never been so viscerally reviled by age difference in my life)

Para has been one of my favorites almost since her introduction and that love has only gotten stronger

Still want the pothead dope to bite it

Less Sam is always better too

MOAR CGI CREATURES. I loved the rhinos, in particular, so g.d. much.

One more thought about the Harrises: despite Gavin and Izzy having spent a whole season sequestered together already, this is really the first time I have gone feral about the father/daughter bond -- I assume this is related to the former becoming Gavin With The Good Hair -- so when the love triangle breaks my heart too much, at least I have this. Honestly, it's really nice seeing her back with her mom too, and any scenes that involve the parents working together to protect/comfort her? Special favorites.

(the son they're all risking life and limb to reunite with? still relegated to Season 1 Gavin status; change my mind)

[zaenight]

His girl chapter 7

Episode 5

-----------

"Wake up!" Gabriella said wacking a snoring José .

The two had fallen asleep on Gabriella's bed.

"déjame dormir nena." José groaned turning away , before snoring again.

(let me sleep babe)

Gabriella's eye twitched , Before getting up and snatching the blanket off of him , then grabbing his legs and dragging him of the bed , startling him awake.

(Fun fact : I do this to my little sister all the time😈)

"Ow!" The eighteen year old exclaimed , his body on the floor with a soft thump.

"Goodmorning we gotta go to clubhouse." Gabriella said as José got up.

"Im getting you back for that , I hope you know that." José said as He leaned in.

"Yeah you do that ." She laughed , before placing his clothes on the bed.

"Hurry up we're already late. , and my dad's gonna murder me!" She exclaimed.

---------

"The hell is that?" She asked , seeing a man talking to lou , clipboard in hand.

"Don't know." José shrugged.

"You!" Carlos said pointing to his daughter.

"One , im eighteen , im an adult , Two , It was all his fault pops he distracted me when I was gonna call you!" Gabriella said pointing at José.

"Yeah right , your the one who couldn't keep your hands off me! just look at the scratches on my-" Suddenly José and Gabriella stopped talking , glancing towards a gaping Carlos , forgetting he was there.

"Pops you okay?" She said waving a hand infront of his face.

"You , him , you , my little girl , ustedes dos lo hicieron, ustedes dos lo hicieron, mi niña ya no es tan pequeña." Carlos rambled , if this was a cartoon , waves would be coming out of his eyes.

(you two did it  , you did the deed , my little girl's not so little anymore)

"Sorry pops , if it makes you feel any better , im on the pill , no mini marquez's anytime soon." Gabriella said with a cheeky smile.

José was red in this face looking down , Carlos was stuttering over his words.

"We-We'll I , Okay you two are adults , your right , But You! You hurt my little girl José , we're gonna have a problem." Carlos said slamming his hands on top of shoulders.

"Could never dream of it." He said , as the two went two the batting cages.

"Really!" He exclaimed to her as she gave him a cheeky  smile , he gave her a playful glare.

"What , you almost dug us into a deeper hole , so therefor-" She was cutoff with a kiss.

"Just stop talking , and if you think about it , I totally got you back for the morning." José said as they kissed again , before turning on the machine , working on their batting.

------------

All the players were in the clubhouse , talking and eating.

Lou was trying to put His papers into the computer , that dude with the clipboard told him to put all the information into the damn computer , And Lou , Lou was as old school as it gets.

Pete finally came in from school , Gabriella watched as Lou struggled , Pete looked to be helping.

She was chowing down on some food , José walking over with his own plate.

A few hours later that guy came back , him and Pete spoke , José came back in with Gabriella , the two going back too the batting cages.

"Yo scrub you have a visitor outside." José said holding Gabriella , one because he loved having his arms around her , two , she almost lauched at Pete's friend when she realised he was the one too spray her with paint , she's still very pissed about it.

"Tell your friend to count his days." She grumbled.

José then dragged her to the one place that would make her feel better , the food table.

-----------

That Computer dude had pressured Lou , with the reports and computer , so he quit , They were all sad , Lou was important to them in so many ways , Gabriella was pissed , you never , and I mean NEVER wanna piss off Gabriella "Luca" Tavares.

"I can't believe it Lou quit , he quit , just like that , that computer dude , im gonna wring my hands around his neck and-" Gabriella was cutoff , José grabbed her and sat her down beside him , on the couch in her living room.

"cálmate , Look Lou's gonna come back , this isn't gonna last long." José said as Gabriella put her head on his shoulder.

"I hope your right mi amor." Gabriella said as she fell asleep.

---------

[lovely--lover]

Hellfire Club Things

Just my thoughts on the Hellfire Club members and there role in the club 😊 thank you for the idea @sat-nam-saint​ 

Eddie Munson

🔥The leader of course!! Bosses everyone around and tells them what to do and they listen because they all look up to him

🔥Takes credit for the creation of Corroded Coffin but it was totally Gareth's idea. Gareth was like we should start a band 😊 and Eddie said no that's stupid and like 2 weeks later Eddie was like we should start a band 😊 and ta da Corroded Coffin was made

🔥Loves to DM because he gets to do different voices and be dramatic the entire time (and he gets to control the story)

🔥Asked his uncle to build him the D&D table because the one the school gave wasn't big enough. He and his Uncle stayed late at the school for a week building it.

🔥Gives all the members a ride home when it rains because if they were sick they couldn't make game night but its actually because he loves them or whatever 🙄 lol

Gareth

🔥 All I can say is poor Gareth 😔

🔥Gareth is the Hellfire Club pickle trash can. If its cheeseburger day at school there will be a small pile of pickles on his tray and the other members won’t let him leave until they're gone.

🔥“Gareth this smells weird...eat it” “Gareth I saw a spider in this box.....stick your hand in it” “Gareth there’s something on your shirt.....got you!”

🔥Eddie throws dice at him when he’s mad

🔥 Watches romance movies and tried to talk about it with the club and everyone was like "Shut up Gareth" 🙄

🔥What I’m saying is Gareth cant catch a break!! 

Jeff

🔥He is the most ‘normal’ member of the group (his name is literally Jeff)

🔥Sets up study sessions for Gareth and Eddie. Eddie will not study at all and raid his pantry. Gareth will study for a little before joining Eddie and eating all of Jeffs food and playing his games. (And yes Jeff’s mom does yell at him because were does all the food keep going she just went grocery shopping 🙄)

🔥Secretly loves to bake and occasionally brings them to Hellfire Club and says his mom made them 

🔥Washes his Hellfire Club shirt by itself because he doesn't want it to accidently get ruined

🔥When the club name was being created he suggest Dice Dudes and Eddie was like I’ll hurt you don't say that ever again

Dustin Henderson

🔥 Watches romance movies and talks about them with Gareth in secret (he wants Eddie to think he's cool 🥺)

🔥Argues about the accuracy of fighting techniques in D&D

🔥When the other members need help with homework they immediately go to Dustin because he is the smartest of them all!

🔥Brags about having an amazing girlfriend Suzie to all the other members! And tries to give them dating and love advice since he is so experienced lol

🔥Always tells Eddie how he should continue the campaign and what should happen next. Writes out detailed documents to Eddie about different storylines

Mike Wheeler

🔥 Designated Hellfire Club spider killer. Everyone else is too baby but Mike is like whatever 🙄 stomps on it

🔥Puts up with the foolery because he likes D&D

🔥 Also is the foolery because he always comes late and unprepared to sessions. No dice, no pencil, character sheet? Must of left it at home

🔥Forgets Gareth's name so he’s always like “Hey....you!” because he doesn't want to ask and later on Dustin is like “You forgot his name again huh?”

🔥Honestly is there for the vibes and Dustin 

Lucas Sinclair

🔥What do you think 🙄

🔥(Before the betrayal) He would always forget to wear his Hellfire Club shirt

🔥Whenever something was up high or out of reach the other members would always ask Lucas to grab it

🔥The most reasonable D&D player and make everyone wait while he plans out the different scenarios that could happen and everyone is like omg hurry up!

Erica Sinclair

🔥Everyone is lowkey scared of Erica (as they should be 😌)

🔥Puts everyone in their place when they're out of line

🔥 Tells Eddie his hair is as bad as his DM skills when he gets on her nerves which is often

🔥 Gareth asked her about My Little Pony once and she was like get the hell away from me now!

Freak 1

🔥He’s there to laugh at Eddies jokes and hype him up basically

🔥 Chronic cheese dust fingers 

🔥I do not know this man sorry if he’s your babe or whatever lol

Masterlist

[stardancerluv]

Blossoming of a Shy Violet

Part Twenty

Summary: Eddie and reader, his girl continue to be intimate. Though there is an appearance of Gareth and Dustin.

Warning/Notes: 18+ only! Explicit & harsh language. Voyeur on the part of Eddie & reader, fem!masturbation, fingering, p in v sex, touches of soft!dom!Eddie, teasing, references to Gareth getting beat up by Jason! (taken from the show) Eddie smokes in one scene. Please do not start..horrible & unhealthy habit!

Feedback is welcome! ❤️s are welcome…along with re-blogs! If you want to be tagged, please let me know! And don’t forget…now I have a Joseph Quinn Master List (👈🏻click here to find it!)

Eddie stirred, blinking. He glanced over his shoulder at the clock on the nightstand. If nothing had happened, he would be practicing with the guys. He sighed, he never slept this late.

Turning back, part of him didn’t want to move. He loved your naked soft body against him. Hearing only your soft breathing, he rested his chin on your shoulder. Tightening his arm around your middle, brought a sweet sigh from you. It made him smile. He was relieved that you were so deeply asleep; especially after being visited by that monster. “My sweet little flower.” He murmured softly and replaced his chin on your shoulder with a kiss.

As he tried to will himself back to sleep he couldn’t. Not sure how he how he been able to do this, but once again he managed to slip away to take care of his needs without stirring you.

He shivered, the room had grown cool. It didn’t help that he already missed your soft warmth.

Glancing around for his boxers, they clung to a chaise lounge by a vanity. In his mind’s eye, he could still see how the two of you shed your clothes and raced to the shower. The memory made him chuckle on the way into the bathroom. Remembering you, he lifted the seat, flushed and washed his hands. Eyeing his reflection, he ran his fingers through his tangled strands hoping to tame some of it. Turning the faucet, he splashed some cool water on his face, it felt good. With a sigh on his lips, he stretched before the mirror. Scratching his stomach, he smiled as he spyed a missed smudge of pudding. Wetting some tissues, he wiped it away.

Finally slipping on his boxers, he eyed a bag with the fresh clothes they had bought for him. He was almost afraid to look. But seeing a fresh pair of jeans he pulled those out. Pulling them on, he moved in them, they felt very different then what he usually would buy. Steve certainly had a strange taste in jeans.

The idea nagged on him, that practice was going on without him. He’d have to call Gareth and the guys to see how they were doing. They were creatures of habit just like him. He knew they would still practice today, even without him there.

Careful to not creak too much, he decided to head downstairs. He probably shouldn’t especially with all that was going on, but he had to know they were all ok. They were not his friends, and his Corroded Coffin mates for nothing.

******

“Hello?”

He smiled, relieved Gareth was the one who picked up. “Hey buddy!” He twirled the cord.

“Eddie?”

His voice sounded strange. It made him sit a little straighter.

“Gareth?”

“What do you want? Where the hell are you?”

“Hey, hey what’s the matter?”

“Nothing.”

Eddie could practically see the stubborn, annoyed expression splashed across his face. He had seen it enough when he rolled badly. “Gareth, I might not be there but I know you’re lying.”

“Seriously dude?”

Eddie grimaced. “Talk to me.”

Gareth sighed, Eddie was certain Gareth was he running his fingers though his short curls. “Aright. Well, the cops questioned us all. We’re in the clear I guess.”

“Good. Good.” He exhaled, he not realizing he had been holding his breath till then.

“But shit really hit the fan about an hour ago.”

His stomach churned. “Gareth is not the time to be cryptic. What the hell happened?”

“That asshole Jason showed up with his two lackeys and Lucas.”

“What?” Anger began to brew in him, just at the mention of Jason’s name.

“Jason came looking for you and Y/N. Fucker threw me into my drum-set man.”

“I will get that asshole.” He growled, jumping to his feet.

“Don’t. Stay hiding. Don’t let them find you and Y/N are.

Eddie didn’t answer.

“Look you are a cool dude, I know you’d keep her safe with you.”

Eddie nodded. “Thanks buddy.” Gareth’s words actually warmed him. “But ok, listen what hell do you mean he threw you?”

“We all knew for some damn reason Jason had it a special brew of hatred for you, but now well let’s just say he snapped. My jaw is still tender from his sucker punch and somehow, my drum-set somehow is ok, despite me flying into it.”

“I don’t even know what to say.” He rubbed his brow. “You said Lucas was with them.” It wasn’t a question.

“Yeah, I don’t know what got into him, he’s supporting their search for the two of you.”

Eddie’s jaw tightened.

“There is one more thing.” Gareth’s voice took a turn, something else happened.

He knew it. Not as of this all had not been bad enough. Eddie’s stomach lurched once again. He grew ill. “What?”

“That fucker began to squash my hand under his foot. He. threaten to break it.”

He pinched his nose. Wait till he saw Jason. He had always wanted to kick Jason’s ass. What he had done to you before and now to Gareth he couldn’t see any better reason to finally do so. He inhaled. “Are you ok?”

“Yeah, but I got scared. I told him go and ask Dustin where you are?”

He mumbled a curse.

“I’m so sorry.”

“Just go and warn Dustin about Jason.”

“Stay safe.”

“Don’t worry about Y/N and I, we’re safely tucked away.”

Eddie hung up and sprung out of the chair. He began to pace. A few muttered curses flew out of his mouth. He felt caged.

Going over to his knapsack, he grabbed it. Opening the kitchen’s back door, he went and sat on a bench he had seen when Steve showed them the kitchen. He tore open his knapsack, a faint smile spread across his lips when he saw his pack of cigarettes.

It wasn’t a serious habit, he’d rather be rolling a joint, but he needed to have a clear head. Honestly, right now he only wanted to calm his jangled nerves. Placing one between his lips, flicking the lighter, he lit it and inhaled. Feeling, the calm wash over him, he exhaled skyward and tossed the lighter back into his bag. Sighing and closing his eyes he leaned against the house.

One day, he didn’t know when but he would make Jason pay. He inhaled again, exhaling skyward then tapped the ashes near the bench.

Finally, he glanced around as he slouched. It resembled a post card, of course Harrington’s parents would have a place here. He made a face and inhaled again.

******

Rolling over, you stretched with a very contented smile. Rolling over onto a cool place on the bed, you frowned. Eddie wasn’t there but unlike in your dream you knew, you were awake. Shivering you grabbed the pajamas you shed last night and quickly slipped them on.

Walking into the bathroom, you practically hopped till you reached the plush carpet. The tile was freezing. You quickly took care of your needs.

Walking up to the mirror, your eyes grew. Your looked at the lion mane that had been your hair. Whimpering, you ran a comb through your hair. You made it through some tedious knots. You were able to calm the mane a little.

Remembering why you had the lion’s mane and you closed your eyes at the memory. A soft achy pulse blossomed between your legs. What had Eddie done to you, you thought desperately. Taking a breath, you tried to calm your heart.

Turning, you decided to go and find him. You crept down the hallway. You stopped at the top of the stairs as you heard, Eddie’s raspy voice.

“Don’t be. Just go and warn Dustin about Jason.”

Worry curled in your stomach. What had happened. You went down a few of the steps.

“Don’t worry about Y/N and I,” You stopped hearing Eddie again. “we’re safely tucked away.” You heard him continue.

You went to the bottom of the stairs, this house was far too big. Where was he? You looked around. Hearing a door, you went in its direction.

Reaching the kitchen, your stomach churned. Grabbing a glass and opening the fridge, you soon were pouring yourself a glass of juice. Taking a hearty gulp it eased the hunger in your stomach.

Looking out the window, you saw a cloud of smoke. You placed the glass with a soft clang on the counter beside the jug of juice. Taking a breath with one hand you hoisted yourself onto the cool counter top. You were able to peak out.

You saw Eddie and smiled. How he looked with closed eyes, his legs spread and cigarette dangling, somehow was very sexy. It made the ache between your legs more intense.

You swallowed. Was this really possible, you wondered. Just the sight of him, the memory and you were unbelievably aroused.

You envisioned, going onto to him and straddling his lap. You bit your bottom lip, you couldn’t go out to him. Your stomach fluttered. No, that was scary you couldn’t do that. Maybe..maybe you reasoned as you grew wetter and the pulsing ache, grew between your legs. You needed relief. With your heart beating harder, with your free hand you cupped yourself. You squeezed, it only pulled a moan from you but did nothing to squash your ache.

One of your fingers slipped and it easily slid between your wet folds. You trembled.

“Show me what I taught you.” You remembered Eddie urging you while you both laid in your bed.

Easily, you slid your finger between the wet folds, making your breath catch as you grazed your opening. Seeing him just on the other side of the window as you dragged your finger up to your little bud made you whimper. Closing your eyes, you slipped another finger against yourself. That was electric.

******

Eddie, pulled back from reclining against the house. He could have sworn he heard something from the kitchen. Had you woken up, he wondered. He pulled on the cigarette a final time, stubbed it out and exhaled skyward.

Grabbing his knapsack, he decided to head back, opening the door he stopped where he stood. He grew hard, the sight made his cock twitch. There you were leaning against the counter, head thrown back and a hand between your legs. Stepping forward, palming himself a soft sound poured from his lips.

Eyeing your abandoned, half filled glass. He practically inhaled the orange juice. Grateful you had left the jug open, he grabbed it and took some very deep sips from it. All the while he never stopped looking at you and he grew harder. Not able to take it any longer, he put the jug down. He rubbed his mouth with the back of his hand.

You were entranced by your moving fingers between your legs, and somehow balancing you still had not heard or seen him. He watched as you gasped, licking at your lips. The sounds that came from your wet pussy were almost too much for him.

Carefully, he came up behind you. He figured that actually might be the safest. The sight of how your back twisted, the curve of your hips and he twitched hard in his jeans.

“You naughty minx.” He breathed close to your ear. He left little space between the two of you.

You scrambled, a scream began to peal from your mouth. He acted fast and managed to cover your mouth before the scream could be heard outside. Easily had managed to catch you so didn’t fall into the counter or onto the cool linoleum. “We don’t want to alert all of Hawkins, sweetheart.” He whispered, pulling you close against him.

How fast you managed to turn to face him, was surprising. “Eddie, you beast!” His stomach tightened hearing how breathless you were as you tried to talk to him. You hit his arm.

“Ow!” He pretended to wince, though he allowed himself to chuckle before his lips curled into a smirk. “Am I?”

He remained holding you close, the sensation of you chest rising and fall was growing in intoxicating. Your nipples were becoming more erect with against the fabric.

“Yes.” He could feel as your body began to relax.

“I’m not the one finger deep in my very, very wet pussy.”

A soft sound was all that came from your voice as your mouth opened and closes to reply to him. He tilted his head from side to side, he was feeling very playful. Seeing this new and incredibly wicked side, he was going to see just how much he could unleash.

“Is that sound from feeling hard cock pressed against you?”

You closed your eyes and nodded.

“I’m not finished my little minx. Or is it from my voice?”

Your body trembled, he saw your cheeks become a deeper shade of scarlet before you buried your face into his chest.

Making a disapproving sound, he very easily picked up your curvy body and eyeing a safe spot, placed you on the counter. You made a soft sound as your thighs felt the cool ceramic.

“Minx, what have I told you?” He asked as he bent close, so his lips grazed your ear as he spoke to you. “I want you to use your words. I enjoy hearing you.”

Stepping back, he looked you up and down. The shirt is a size too big. Yet it still showed off how wonderfully erect your nipples were against the cotton. Since the shorts were also too big, he glanced between your legs and was please with what he saw. The swatch against your pussy was soaked through, his finger tips tingled, wanting to feel you. Since you were incredibly aroused, your soft pussy was flushed and puffy wanting far more attention then your fingers had given it.

You whimpered and shifted from side to side ob the counter he placed you on. “It’s you Eddie. And I need you.”

Making an endearing sound, as he drew close to you. “Do you minx?” He placed a hand on either side of you. “When I walked in, you looked as if you were doing a good enough job without me.” His eyes met yours, the desperation he saw matched his own but he was going to rein his in. You on the other hand, he wanted to make squirm more.

You whimpered. “The sight of you helped,” Your eyes pleaded as you looked up at him. It made his stomach tighten. His desire for you grew. “But, but my fingers are not as good as you.” You continued.

“I do enjoy making you feel good.” He gently grazed his nose against yours. “Though, I never realized just what a naughty minx you are.”

A sound came from you that made him swallow. You were making him so hard. “What do you mean by that?” Your cheeks grew warm but this time you didn’t hide your face.

“We’re in the middle of Steven Harrington’s parents summer home.” Your eyes grew as he spoke. “Their kitchen to be exact.” He licked his bottom lip before continuing. “And you were mere moments ago touching,” Easily, he slipped one of his hands between the cotton of the shorts and your very wet pussy. “yourself, here.” He smiled, as you easily made his fingers slick.

You whimpered and bucked against his hand. Chewing on your bottom lip, moving just so you rested your forehead against his. “Umm, umm” He felt you tremble.

He pressed a quick kiss against your lips as he let his fingers slip between your folds. “I promise to not tell Steve.” He smirked, as you whimpered.

“Please.” You begged. He felt you move against his fingers. He did like that every much. “I couldn’t stop myself. I woke up, craving you, then seeing you I couldn’t stop myself.”

“You’re my girl. There’s no way I’d ever rat you out. And as it is…” Teased your opening, making you gasp. “I find this very hot.”

You breathed his named, he felt you once again move against him.

“I like the sound of my name on your lips.” He grazed his thumb upward and against your little bud, your little clit. Last night, he had really enjoyed finally feeling it against his tongue.

You moaned.

“Shall I make you cum, sweet little nymph?” He dragged his thumb down to your opening and back up to your clit.

As he looked at you he enjoyed seeing how you gripped the counter and he realized you had even opened your legs wider.

“Please, please make me cum.”

“Good girl, you used your words.” He slipped his thumb in, making you moan. “So proud of you.” He cooed softly, gently moving his thumb in you.

“Eddie, oh Eddie.” You panted, your breath warm in his face.

He wasn’t going to tease longer. He didn’t want to cum in these jeans. But he did want you to cum first. He began nibbling, kissing and gently sucking a trail on your soft throat. Even there you tasted so good.

Not relying on just his thumb he moved more of his fingers on you. Meeting your eyes, he slid in two fingers. They grew while your pussy were very snug around his fingers.

“Shall I do it like this? Want to cum on my fingers?”

You nodded. “Please.”

He easily moved them in and out, the wet sounds that came from you, were a delight to his ears. It made him so happy. Sighing, he moved till he lips trailer a path to one of your very erect nipples, it stranded against the shirt. He lapped at it. That made you shake.

“Does that feel good?” He glanced upward.

“Yes, yes please.” Moans pouring from your lips. “Don’t stop, don’t.” You echoed.

“I won’t.”

He lapped at it, letting taking it as best he could into his mouth. He quickened his fingers as they moved in and out. His lips curled into a smirk as he felt your fingers entwine in his hair. This time he didn’t stop till you called out loudly and gushed around his fingers. You melted against the ceramic counter and cabinet behind you.

Slowly he pulled his fingers out of you. You looked amazing. He licked them clean. He made a soft sound. “So good baby but..” Deliberately, he let his fingers trail off.

Blinking, you were breathless as you looked up at him. “What’s the matter?”

“I need you. I want to be inside of you.” The jeans were getting far too tight around him as he grew even harder.

“Then I’m yours.”

He stepped back and offered his hands. “Hop down for me little nymph.”

You looked confused but you did.

Once you did, he gave your hands a squeezing before letting go and easily pushed down on your shorts and they pooled at your feet. You looked at him.

“Don’t you trust me?”

You nodded. “I do, I’m just wobbly.”

“Good. I like you wobbly.”

Picking you up again. “Hold onto me.” You did, your legs immediately wrapped around him. He liked your instincts. He loved how your curvy body felt against his as he carried you to the he had lounged on last night.

Only this time, he sat down in the middle of the incredibly plush sofa. Holding you by your hips, easily he moved you onto his thighs. Reaching then between the two of you. He undid the button and the zipper of his jeans, the metallic sound of it competed with how breathless you sounded. He liked that.

Easily he moved enough to free himself of his boxers and jeans. A tremble went through him as he held his cock. His cock stood very hard between you, precum gently slid down the one side.

He reached out. “Now, I want you to slid down onto me. I want you to ride me.”

“Oh Eddie.” You shook, making a soft sound.

His thumbs caressing your hips. “Do you think you can do that?”

“Yes, I want to.”

“If at any point you don’t please say something.”

******

“Ok.” You replied softly.

“Yes, that would probably be the best way for you to ride me.” Helping you, he guided himself to the apex between your legs.

Slowly you sunk down the length of him, you couldn’t stop yourself from letting your head loll back. A soft moan poured from your mouth.

His hands squeezed your hips. “You feel so good.” His voice had grown deeper, his fingers made their way to the hem of your shirt. Helping him, you were soon free of it. “Look at you.”

Despite feeling him very deep within you, you still flushed at his compliment.

“My sweet little nymph even with my cock nestled deeply within you, I can still make you blush.” His words made you tremble.

“Eddie.” You breathed. “Oh! Oh, you feel so good too.” You managed moving around on him.

You made a soft sound as you finally looked at him. “So you do.”

“Follow my hands.”

Soon the two of you had found a rhythm. You got so wet as he slide in and out, stretching you. You don’t know why, but you shifted and led to actual bounce. Your eyes widened, “Oh!” You gasped.

“Do that again.”

Wrapping your arms around him, you began what felt like bouncing but so deliciously erotic. His jeans against your bare skin felt great. “Oh, oh Eddie.” You panted out, drawing close the two of you shared a sloppy hungry kiss. Your tongues, lips hungry for each other

Your excitement grew sharper, you began moving faster.

“That’s it, ride me. Ride me.” Your name broke his lipa but it changed into a moan.

Pleasure ripped through you, making everything pull from between the two of you. You grasped onto him hard, your nails digging into his shoulders. “Eddie…” You whimpered, you getting desperate to cum as you met his eyes. “I am getting close.”

“Cum for me then little nymph, I want to feel it.”

******

He pulled open the glass shower door, “Give me a kiss little nymph.”

Giggling, mid-soaping you leaned carefully over and gave him a quick kiss.

He didn’t know what had sent you to him or what he did to even deserve you, but he was grateful. Going into the bedroom, he slipped back on the jeans that were now much more comfortable. They kind of smelled faintly of you, but that didn’t matter to him. Compared to how long it has been since had actually done his own laundry. Had it been a week, no more like two since did Wayne’s at the same time.

Up ending the bag, he let the rest of the clothes they bought for him spill out. He actually made a face when he saw some striped polo shirts, man how much input did Steve put into this. Dustin was there, he should have known better, he pushed them aside when he finally spotted a plain black tee, he pulled that on.

“Eddie? Y/N…” The walkie talkie crackled. “Eddie, Y/N are you there?” But the squeak of the voice that did manage to cut through it, he’d know anywhere.

He held it close to his mouth and squeezed the button. “Dustin?”

“Oh, thank god.”

“Dustin, stop being dramatic. Who else other then Y/N would have answered.” He sat down besides the discard pile of polos.

“Good point but Jason is on the war path.”

“So Gareth got ahold of you?”

You came over wrapped in a towel. “Who is that?” You mouthed.

“Dustin.” he mouthed.

“No, what happened? Is he ok?” Dustin’s voice became shrill.

“Jason, went to his place and was asking around for me.”

“Oh, ok. Erica called me after he stopped by.”

“Is she ok?”

He heard, Dustin inhale a squeaky sound. “Of course she is. Why?”

“He threw Gareth into his drums and..”

“What?” Dustin squeaked.

“Yeah. Because I wasn’t there.”

“Holy shit.”

“Yeah. He’s flipped.” He pressed his lips together. “He may be looking for you next.”

“Me! Why? He doesn’t even know who I am.”

“When he threaten to break Gareth’s hand,” Eddie, looked up at the ceiling. “He mentioned that you may know where I am.”

“Well, I have Steve and the girls. He won’t mess with me.”

“I hope you’re right.” He rubbed his forehead.

“I’ll be ok.”

“You better be. Umm, when will you guys bringing our the rest of the food.”

“Oh that yeah, tomorrow. We found some clues about that Vecna that we are going to follow.”

“Huh? And how will that keep you safe Henderson?”

“Like I said, Steve is here.”

“Alright, tell him I will make him pay if anything happens.”

“I heard that Munson.” Eddie heard a muffled Steve.

“Well,” Eddie swallowed. “Good.”

“Alright see you two in the am tomorrow.”

“Ok. All you stay say alright.” He could practically see Dustin’s metallic smile. “We will be.”

******

You held up one of garishly colored polo shirts, once you were finally dressed in some a soft pleated skirt with a tee and the cardigan. The blouses like polos were a bit too much.

“Are they trying to make you look like a country club type?”

A bark of laughter came from Eddie. “Feels like it. You will never see me in one of those, especially that one. Those colors.” He made a face.

“So, tomorrow they’re coming.”

He smiled, reaching out he pulled you close. Your stomach gurgled loudly. You both shared a smiled but when your stomach seemed to protest and gurgle, you broke out giggling.

“We better go and make you something to eat.”

You nodded.

*******

Once downstairs, Eddie promised you that he could whip up something fun for the two of you to eat. So he urged you to go and relax on the sofa with the notebook the girls had gotten you. Curled up in one of the corners, you pulled the large cardigan down around your legs. Not used to skirts much less short little pleated ones, you were a little cold so that helped.

You began to scrawl and even draw some doodles. You were tempted to start a new story since it was a new notebook and all, but you were not sure if you could. You chewed absently on the pen.

You did manage to draw a few little hearts and all the comes to girl who is happy with her boyfriend. It was something you had always wanted to do.

“Eddie & Y/N! Y/N hearts Eddie.” Eddie’s raspy voice was close by. You jumped, turning a small scream came from you. Eddie playfully loomed above you.

He chuckled. “Sorry little nymph, I didn’t mean to make you jump.” He pressed a kiss to the top of your head. “I found something for you to nibble on before I make us something.”

“Oh?” He produced a bowl with some pretzels.

“Perfect.” You immediately grabbed a few and popped them into your mouth.

“Alright, I’ll be scouring the kitchen for our feast.”

You giggled. ”I can’t wait.”

“My little nymph?” He turned.

You turned. “Yes?”

“Heart you!” He made a heart with his fingers.

You rolled your eyes. “Eddie, hey.”

He chuckled. “I mean it.” He held up a heart.

You placed the notebook and pen in your lap. “Eddie!”

“Yes?”

You held up a heart with your fingers.

Eddie held up his heart as he walked backward into the kitchen, stumbling he exaggerated his trip. Before announcing, he was back at the search.

So once again you were scrawling away in your notebook. Glancing towards the kitchen, once at again, you watched as he nibbled on a few pretzels while he went about opening and closing some of the cabinets.

Catching your at one point mid-nibbling, he winked at you. You smiled back at him. This was nice you mused the situation you both had been thrown into.

@eddieswifu @twentysomethingwereyote @gabriella-gvf @apocalypticwafflekitten @blackberries45 @buckymydarlingangel @readers-posts @grunge-grrrl @ofherscarlettwitchways @making-the-most-0f-it @chaos-incorp @dandycandy75 @poltergeistsblog @alyssinwunderland-blog-blog @helpimspiraling @thegirlwhohides @sebastianstvn @notbeforelong

[stranger-marauders]

shattered

twenty-four: the war-zone

chapter summary: The gang goes to War-Zone. Kate strikes up an unlikely friendship with someone she wouldn't have expected.

chapter warnings: language, jokes about steve's implied breeding kink

word count: 2.5k

series masterlist | masterlist

KATE HAD BEEN surprised by the number of people in the War Zone parking lot.

She didn't quite know what to expect. She knew that the hunting store on Main hadn't been able to come back from its closure after the mall had opened up, so the fact that they had business wasn't too shocking. What surprised her what that it looked like every single person that lived in Hawkins was currently inside the store based on how many people there were in the parking lot.

"Pull into the back," she said, looking at Steve. "There should be space behind it."

He nodded, bypassing the parking lot and pulling behind the building. Whenever he put the Winnebago into park, Nancy stood up from her seat, standing in front of everyone but Steve and Kate.

"You three need to stay here," Nancy said, looking at Dustin, Lucas, and Eddie.

"What? Come on," Dustin said annoyedly, sitting in the back of the Winnebago. "Seriously?"

"Yes, seriously. Based on what you told me earlier, the entire town is looking for every member of the Hellfire Club right now, not just Eddie."

"All we really need are the guns and the Molotov supplies, right?" Kate asked. "I mean, maybe some clothes?"

"Clothes? What would we need that for?" Steve asked, confused.

Her eyebrows furrowed together, looking down for a moment at the lack of shoes and of a shirt on him. "For you?"

"Oh."

"Yes, that's what we're looking for. That and anything else that could be deemed useful," Nancy said. "Now, come on, let's go. I don't want to waste any more time than we have to."

Without another word, Nancy opened the door to the Winnebago, and Robin quickly followed her out, as did Max and Erica. Before Steve and Kate could leave, however, their attention was quickly snagged by someone else.

"Hey, Hop—uh... Sam–Samwise!" Eddie shouted, moving toward the door.

Kate and Steve turned around, both confused. "What did you just call me?"

"Doesn't matter. Hang back, will you? Henderson, uh... dude needs your help with something."

Dustin gave him a confused look. "No, I don't."

Eddie looked back to her awkwardly, flashing a smile. "He doesn't know what he's talking about."

She gave an annoyed laugh, almost as if she didn't understand him. "All right, first off, you call me Samwise, which I find highly offensive, but—"

"Jesus, Samwise, stay behind or I'll go inside with you, take your pick."

Kate and Steve exchanged glances, and he finally sighed. "Just... stay with them. I don't trust them alone in this thing, anyway."

"Hey!"

She scoffed. "Yeah, tell Nancy to pick something good, please? I don't want a piece of shit that doesn't do anything."

Steve nodded. "All right, I'll be back. With clothes and shoes."

She stifled a laugh, pressing her lips together. "Good." Kate closed the door behind him, turning around to Eddie and immediately losing the smile on her face. "Now what do you want? What could possibly be so important—?"

"Oh, nothing. I'm just checking on you after that lovely conversation you and Harrington had earlier. Didn't want him around when I asked."

She gave him a somewhat confused look. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Come on, man, you don't have to do that. He's not here, what he doesn't know won't hurt him."

"No, I seriously don't know what you're talking about."

"You know, the six nuggets and the Winnebago," he explained. "I didn't think you would forget that harrowing and simultaneously traumatizing experience so quickly. It's not even a cool dream, man. It's honestly more impressive he thought that was, like, okay to say out loud to you."

"Okay, it wasn't that bad," she said, almost as if she was trying to defend him.

"So you do remember!"

She sighed. "I mean, yeah, but it wasn't the worst thing I've ever heard. He doesn't... have any siblings, you know?" She looked back to Lucas and Dustin, who were both completely uninterested in the conversation—at least she only had to deal with Eddie. "And you haven't met his parents, but i–it makes sense if you've met them." She paused, collecting her thoughts. "It explains a lot about him, I promise."

"But six kids? Samwise, that's diagnosable."

"Okay, where the hell did Samwise come from?" she asked bitterly. "You could pick any Tolkien character, literally any single one, and you pick Samwise? I'd be less offended if you called me Smaug, honestly. At least I wouldn't be a damn gardener."

"Quit changing the subject, Sam! Also, it's completely accurate, so it's sticking."

"No, it is not."

"As I was saying, Sam, I just wanted to apologize on behalf of Harrington, but as well as myself," he explained.

She furrowed her eyebrows together. At this point, she knew she had to accept the name—it had already stuck, and there was nothing she could do to change that right now. "Wait, why are you apologizing? You didn't do anything."

"Oh, trust me, I did," Eddie said, shaking his head and dismissing the thought with his hand. "No, this is, like, almost entirely my fault." Whenever he sighed, she began to listen to him more intently, completely absorbed in what he had to say. "There I was wandering the woods last night, and along the way, I saw a poor, lost boy who still somehow gets cotton-mouthed the second he comes within five feet of you, so I attempted to give him some advice. I'm sorry that I didn't explain it to him like a five-year-old. How was I supposed to know his mind would jump straight to telling you he wants to knock you up as soon as possible—"

"Oh my God, that's not... that's not what he meant," Kate said, her face turning red. "That's... No. That's so gross."

She didn't exactly know where Eddie had gotten that idea from. Surely Steve hadn't meant her specifically. She didn't think he would be that bold, especially not with something like that. The most important thing they'd even come close to talking about was married, and even that conversation got pushed aside for later and was never talked about again. Kate couldn't imagine him saying that with the intent to be aimed at her, especially not so publicly.

Eddie, however, wasn't buying it.

"Oh yeah, Samwise, that's exactly what he meant," he said. "I just wanted to let you know that I understand if he's now been deemed completely undesirable to you, as that conversation was straight out of a horror movie even from my point of view. You took it, like, extremely well, all things considered."

"He wasn't even talking about me!" she replied, wiping her face to try to get rid of the pink tinge. "He was speaking generally. He's probably just, like... I don't know, out of it or something. He lost a lot of blood, okay? Give him a break."

"While I appreciate you giving him, and me by that extension, the benefit of the doubt, you're allowed to walk away from him now. Like, full permission, dude." Eddie shook his head. "Very cute of you to defend him, by the way. Makes all that stoic shit way less scary, because now you just look like a big softy." When her mouth fell open in shock, he chuckled. "I'm just kidding. Kind of. I admire your loyalty to him. He doesn't deserve it after that, but it's admirable. I get why he's so obsessed with you now."

She pressed her lips together hesitantly. "He's not... obsessed with me."

"Now I'm concerned you're the one with brain damage."

Kate tried to stifle a laugh, suppress a smile. "Thank you for the apology, Edith, but I—"

"Wait, hold on, Edith?"

"Did I stutter?" Whenever he didn't reply, she took a deep breath. "Look, I appreciate it, but it's not that big of a deal. If that's the weirdest thing he says to me this year, then I'm good."

Eddie hesitated. "Good?" He chuckled uneasily. "I'm sorry, Harrington implied he wanted to impregnate you six different times and you're just... okay with that fact?"

"I don't think it was directed at me, but if it was, I kinda have to be, you know?"

"I'm pretty sure that's, like... not the case, but okay."

"Listen, okay? I've been dealing with that asshole my entire life. That's probably not even the weirdest thing he's ever said to me."

"Jesus Christ."

She shrugged. "But it's not about me, so it doesn't matter. He's just crazy and wants six kids, apparently."

Eddie nodded, giving her an unconvinced look. "Sure."

"Why do you care so much anyway?"

"Because you, Sammy, have somehow won the affection of Mr. Steve Harrington himself, which is proving to be more of a chore than a privilege, but it doesn't matter. I was just rooting for him to get the girl, you know? He's trying really hard for you, man, he's just bad at it."

"Oh my God, how many times do I have to explain it to all of you? He does not still have feelings for me." When Eddie looked at her like she was insane, she scoffed. "And I—you know, I don't have feelings for him either. We're just... friends now. No strings attached. Okay?"

Eddie only gave her an unconvinced look in response.

Before she could even begin to defend herself, Steve burst through the door of the vehicle, already moving to the front of the Winnebago to start it up. "We gotta go."

"What happened?" Lucas asked.

"Your old friends are here," Erica said somewhat anxiously.

The Hawkins High basketball team—the same group of boys who had been hunting down Eddie, and by that extension any member of the Hellfire Club, which also included Lucas and Dustin..

"Shit!"

"Let's go! Let's go!" Dustin shouted.

"I'm going! I'm going! Sit down!" Steve shouted back.

Steve sped out of the War Zone parking lot, passing by Jason Carver as he loaded his car up with supplies of his own.

Nancy had picked out a shotgun for Kate, after all, much to Steve's dismay.

That was why Nancy, Kate, and Max currently worked on modifying them for their needs, sawing off the barrels just in case they were in close range.

"Is this legal?" Max asked, holding Nancy's gun in place as Nancy worked the saw.

"Actually, I think it's a felony," Nancy said, continuing to saw the barrel off without a care in the world. "Kate?"

"Oh, yeah, definitely a felony," she said, nodding her head once.

"Right," Max said, smiling slightly. Out of anyone there, she wouldn't have thought that Nancy and Kate would be the ones to commit a felony without a second thought, but she figured she would stop assuming she knew anything.

"But it guarantees one thing," Nancy said, continuing to saw the barrel of the shotgun off. "We won't miss."

"That or won't have them turned on us."

As they worked on modifying the guns, Steve and Robin were busy making Molotov cocktails.

"I mean, it just doesn't make sense," Steve said, holding the alcohol and funnel while Robin poured the gasoline.

"What doesn't make sense?"

"That was Dan Shelter," Steve said. "He graduated, like, two years ago."

"So?"

Steve was referring to what he and Robin had seen inside of the War Zone. Vickie had been with Dan Shelter, who had proven to be her boyfriend whenever they'd started kissing in the store. Robin had been heartbroken, immediately running away from the scene and out of sight.

Steve, however, wasn't convinced that was the whole story.

"So he's in college. Which means he was visiting on spring break," Steve explained. "Fast Times was returned, like, I don't know, a week ago? Right? Unless she's got some horndog brother we don't know about, which is possible. Or she's just, like... really into Judge Reinhold? Nah—"

"Steve," Robin said, cutting off his rambling.

"What?"

"I don't care," she said somewhat firmly, "and I don't understand why you do either with everything that's going on. Honestly, this feels like a perfect time for that little pull of the rug because... in the face of the world ending, the stakes of my love life feel spectacularly low."

"Yeah. I mean, I get you there, but... I still have hope." Steve passed her the finished Molotov cocktail to put on the side.

"Not everything has a happy ending."

"Yeah, yeah, believe me, I know," he said, putting the funnel on top of the next alcohol bottle. He looked over at Kate again, who was currently trying out her modified shotgun, getting a feel for it. Absolutely crazy, she was.

He still couldn't believe how put together she seemed only hours after she'd been taken by Vecna. She'd been absolutely shaken up that morning, but now she'd seemingly pushed it all past her, ready to take on the monster that had threatened her and the people she cared about. She had seemingly pushed it all past her now that she had a shotgun in her hand.

Kate was preparing for battle on the very thing that had been terrorizing them for years now, and that was something that absolutely horrified him. He knew he wouldn't hesitate on doing what it took to get rid of him. Vecna had declared war on Hawkins, and Kate was leading the defense.

"Have you talked to her at all about last night?" Robin asked, watching him carefully.

"About what?"

"About how she was very visibly upset when she thought you were going to die?"

He shook his head as she poured gasoline into the bottle. "No. We didn't... We didn't really talk about anything other than the, uh... the Vecna stuff, you know? She was pretty shaken up."

"I heard the conversation you guys had earlier," she said softly. "I think you had a good chance, but you probably blew it with the six nuggets."

He looked up, almost cringing at what she said. "You heard that?"

"You are... extremely loud. I'm pretty sure everyone heard that."

He groaned. "Seriously?"

Robin shrugged. "I don't know, but I think you've still got a chance. She cares a lot about you, for some reason."

Steve chuckled, putting the funnel on another bottle of alcohol.

She looked over to Kate again in the field, who was now checking Nancy's shotgun. "But I wasn't talking about potentially failed romance." She poured the gasoline into the alcohol bottle through the funnel. "I just... I have this terrible, gnawing feeling that... it might not work out for us this time."

"So you think we shouldn't be doing this?"

"I think we're mad fools, the lot of us, but—" Robin sighed, watching over the rest of the group— "but if we don't stop him, who will?" She looked back to Steve. "We have to try, right?"

Steve hesitated to look back at Robin. "Yeah." He held up the next alcohol bottle, holding it out to Robin as if he were going to toast it. "To killing Vecna."

Robin held up a finished Molotov cocktail. "Slash Henry."

"Slash One."

They clinked the two bottles together, hoping that it wouldn't be the last toast they ever made.

next chapter

taglist:

@thatsonezesty13 @cece5298 @thepowerstoner @alovelytardis @coolchick333 @stand-tall-pineapple @littlet-holmes @guichu @cinderellacauseshebroke @blackbirddaredevil23 @mads-weasley @ilovemarauders @pearlstiare @liableperfections @khaylin27 @girlwiththerubyslippers @cyarikaaa

[spoodrm4n]

Better Than Me

the song in this fic

Pairings: Steve Harrington x Musician!Reader

Summary: Band AU where Steve has been ignoring you for a couple of weeks and you have no clue as to why. Robin convinces Steve to go to one of their concerts and you let him know how hurt and angry you are.

Warnings: angsssttt but w/ a happy ending :)

Word Count: 2.6K

A/N: this is highly self indulgent sooo hope yall enjoy

Steve stood at the very front of the stage alongside Will, El, Dustin, and Lucas who were chattering excitedly. A decent sized crowd had formed behind them, making the atmosphere almost suffocating. The sun had gone down an hour ago and the lights of the stage were the only source of light within the vicinity. The stage was lit up and had all of the equipment set up and ready to go. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from the front and center of the stage that held a microphone stand. You were going to be there. And you were going to be singing. Singing right in front of him.

Robin had invited him a few days ago when they worked their usual Tuesday shift together at Family Video.

“Hey dingus, how come you haven’t been to one of our shows yet?” Robin tossed a tape onto the counter by Steve as she walked up to the opposite side of the counter across from him. 

“I keep forgetting. Stuff just keeps coming up,” Steve shrugged, struggling to hide the pink that was now gracing his cheeks. 

“You keep forgetting or stuff keeps coming up? Sounds like excuses to me, Harrington.” Robin raised an eyebrow, shifting to lean her elbows on the countertop. 

“Whatever. When’s your next show?” Steve huffed, keeping his eyes trained on the computer. He knew Robin was grinning at him like a mad man. 

“This Friday night. It’s gonna be at the fairgrounds. We’re using that stage.” Steve could hear the smile in her voice. “8pm sharp, Steve.”

“I’ve got it,” he waved his hand, attempting to sound disinterested. 

“I know why you haven’t gone to one yet.” Steve finally turned to look at Robin, eyes narrowed at the girl. 

“Do you?” He bluffed, standing up straight.

“Y/N is our lead singer.” Robin blurted out and Steve’s eyebrows shot up. 

“That is not why– I mean why would you even? Why would that make me not go? I like Y/N.” Steve stumbled over his words, crossing his arms over his chest defensively. 

“I know you do, that’s why you’ve been avoiding her.” Robin deadpanned, standing up straighter to match Steve. He wasn’t intimidating to her. 

“I have not been avoiding her–” Steve started.

“So you admit that you like her?” Robin smirked up at him. 

“That’s not what I said, Robin.” Steve groaned, throwing his hands up in the air. 

“And you totally have, dude. She keeps asking me if she did something wrong to make you upset with her. Honestly it’s getting old and I’m tired of covering for your pathetic ass.” Robin raised her eyebrows, daring Steve to challenge her. Steve knew better. “You really hurt her, Steve. You’ve got to fix this mess.”

“I’ll go Friday, okay?” Steve sighed, letting his facade crumble. Robin’s lips turned upward and she nodded. 

“Okay.”

“Mike’s been stressing over this all week. He’s played me the bass parts for their whole set at least fifty times.” Steve turned to look at the teens beside him. “I kept telling him that he’s gonna do great. He always does,” Will was smiling and Steve was too. Steve adored how much the two boys loved each other. 

“That’s funny because I think Max maybe practiced for ten minutes before claiming that she’d do perfectly.” Lucas laughed and El nodded, a knowing smile on her face. 

“Are you excited, Steve?” Dustin was speaking up, eyes finding his own. 

“I mean yeah. Robin’s been pretty excited all week.” Steve tip-toed around your name but the teens in front of him all shared a look before El was speaking. 

“What about Y/N?” Steve swallowed, forcing a smile onto his face. He was incredibly nervous to have to actually acknowledge you because then it made all of his feelings for you real. He wasn’t sure if he was ready to have his heart shattered to pieces again. 

“She’s the lead singer, right?” He managed to get out, shoving his hands into his jean pockets. 

“Yeah! She’s insanely talented. You’re going to be blown away.” Lucas bragged for you. Steve nodded and bit the inside of his cheek. 

“I wouldn’t be surprised if she made a career out of it. She’s got what it takes.” Dustin added, elbowing Steve in the side. Steve glared at him, flicking the brim of Dustin’s hat down, blocking his vision. 

“Maybe you guys are setting the bar too high–”

“They’re not. She’s good.” Will said cooly with a shrug. Steve sucked in a breath and bit his bottom lip. Why did he ever agree to be here?

“Here they come!” El cheered, pointing towards the right of the stage. Steve watched as Eddie, Robin, Max, and Mike all walked on stage, the crowd behind them yelling and applauding. Eddie picked up his guitar, taking the far left side of the stage and earning some screams from a few girls towards the back. Mike slung his bass on, fingers skimming over the frets and Steve watched as Will leaned in farther, eyes focused on only him. Robin took her place behind the keyboard, hands messing with the knobs and buttons on the instrument. Max sat down behind the drums, picking up her sticks and twirling them. She shot a wink over to Lucas and El and the two shared a smile with one another. 

Steve furrowed his eyebrows. You weren’t there. You weren’t there. He didn’t realize he had been holding his breath till he was letting it out, shoulders falling. Maybe he had lucked out tonight. 

The lights suddenly darkened and Eddie and Mike started the first few chords, the crowd going quiet. Robin joined in, fingers dancing elegantly over the keys. Finally, Max came in, striking one cymbal and foot punching down on the bass drum. Steve held his breath. He had gotten lucky. 

“Every boy from here to Soho,” and Steve’s mouth had gone dry as your voice filtered into his head. He kept his eyes locked onto the microphone stand, now frozen. “Beautiful and smart, and not good for me at all.”

“Steve, look!” He faintly heard Dustin shout, but he was already looking. There you were, waltzing onto the stage as if you owned it. You approached the center of the stage. You still hadn’t seen him, but Steve knew that wouldn’t last long. He was smack dab in the front of the crowd, lined upped perfectly with you. 

“All your girlfriends go to film school.” You sang, placing the microphone in it’s stand as you reached it. Steve barely recognized the cheering roaring behind him at the sight of you. You looked like a completely different person. The stage lights made your skin glow in the best way possible, the normal crease between your eyebrows was gone, and you took up so much space. Steve loved this look on you. 

“Robin was in plays in high school– how bout that?” You turned, motioning to Robin behind you who shot you a wink. 

You were fully aware of Steve in the front row. You had seen him standing there before the show had even started. You had been excited that he was there, since he was your best friend and you had a massive crush on him, but he had been ignoring you for the past couple weeks now. You had cried yourself to sleep for the past week wondering what you had done wrong. You were now determined that you were going to ignore him tonight. At least that’s what you had told yourself. But when the next lyrics rolled off your tongue, your eyes met his and you glared daggers into him, hoping that he could feel the hurt and anger laced in your voice.  

“Me, I’m gonna play the imbecile, oh,” he was staring back at you, eyes wide and mouth hanging slightly open. “Who keeps choosing you even though you're bipolar and you’re selfish and I hate you–” You yelled into the microphone. You could see the guilt in his irises, but you tore your gaze away, sucking in a deep breath. 

Steve couldn’t help but stare back as your gaze pierced through him. Will had even chanced a glance at the brunette, noticing the unwavering eye contact between the two. Steve felt the breath get knocked out of him as you looked away, anger written all over your face. 

“Everyone is better than me, I think, everyone is better than me,” you turned around, strutting over to where Max was at the drumset, still singing but also sharing a moment with the red head. You weren’t going to make this about Steve. He had already robbed you of enough emotion this week.

Max grinned back at you, blue eyes twinkling in the stage lights. You smiled back, finishing the chorus and letting the rest of the band have their moment. Your friends were so unbelievably talented and you swore they never got enough credit. 

Steve watched as you danced to the music, hair a wild mess and fingers gripping the microphone you held at your side. You looked so happy and carefree. Steve was sure that he would ruin that– ruin you. He wouldn’t let himself do that. You deserved the world and he didn’t have the world to give to you. 

The instrumental quieted down and you were back at center stage, holding the microphone to your lips. Steve was dangling off the edge of a cliff, holding onto a rope, and you were the one at the top holding it; keeping him from falling. 

“Look what you’ve done, now I’m a mess.” Steve drank you in, eyes finding each other again. He could feel you sawing slowly through the rope that was holding him steady. He barely registered the tremble of his hands. 

“Are you okay?” Steve snapped his head down to see El standing beside him, worry pinched between her eyebrows. 

“Yeah–” He breathed out.

“Yeah, everyone is better than me!” Steve’s head snapped towards your voice. There you still were, eyes narrowed and locked onto him.

Your eyes flickered between him and the crowd. “Throw your hands up if you agree with me!” You were angry. You were so angry. He had treated you like you were nothing for the past two weeks and he thought he could just show up to a random Friday night concert, front row, and look upset about it. You couldn’t help but single him out. 

“Now everyone is better than me.” Steve’s ears rang, the volume of your voice making him dizzy. You were angry with him and it was all his fault. 

“I think, everyone is better than me.” Steve felt his stomach lurch and with that he was pushing past people in the crowd. He needed to get out of there. 

You watched as he disappeared into the crowd and you barely even noticed that you had dropped your microphone. The crowd of people in front of you cheered, assuming the mic drop was a part of the song as the rest of the band behind you continued to play. You stood there dumbly, blinking away tears that threatened to spill over your lash line. Steve didn’t care about you anymore. He had made that abundantly clear. 

Suddenly the stage lights were entirely too bright, the instruments accompanying you were overwhelmingly loud, and the air around you was stuffy, choking you out. You felt sick as you turned, jogging off stage quickly. You heard as the band trailed off into silence behind you, Robin’s voice filtering through the microphone in a quick apology. 

You ran until you were colliding with something, getting knocked on your ass. You hit the ground with an ‘oof’ and looked up. The breath was knocked out of your lungs as your eyes met Steve’s big, brown ones. 

“What are you doing here?” The malice in your tone was a deeper cut in the rope that Steve was holding onto. 

“I-I came here for–”

“You know what? It doesn’t even matter. Why would I care when you clearly don’t give a shit about me.” You cut him off, frustration seeping into your words. You felt the hot tears drip down your cheeks and you mentally cursed yourself. You hated that you cried when you were angry. It made you feel extremely vulnerable. 

“Y/N, listen. I know I’ve been an asshole the last two weeks,” Steve started and you shook your head, standing up and hands balling into fists at your side. Steve stayed on the ground, head tilting up to look at you. 

“Yeah, you have. I’m so glad you’ve noticed. You didn’t even tell me why, Harrington.” Steve flinched at his last name. It felt foreign coming from your lips. 

“Because I thought it would be better if I didn’t.” He admitted, standing up slowly to meet you. 

“That’s stupid, Steve. It felt like you just abandoned me.” You cried, avoiding his gaze.

“I’m sorry. I just didn’t want to get hurt.” Steve tried, avoiding the truth still. He didn’t want to outright say he was in love with you. His mouth felt impossibly dry.

“That’s selfish of you. And why would you ever think I would hurt you? I’ve known you for years, Steve! We’ve only gotten into one real argument!” You threw your hands in the air, voice cracking with emotion. 

“No, I know you would never hurt me.” Steve argued, voice rasing with yours. 

“Then why are you avoiding me like I would?” You yelled, no longer caring if anyone else would hear. You were incredibly confused and Steve wasn’t doing much to clear his name right now. 

“Because I’m in love with you!” Steve’s chest heaved and you snapped your mouth shut. The only sounds that could be heard were muted instruments and crowd. 

“Oh.” You choked out, blinking at him. And that was the final cut to the rope that held Steve there with you. Steve looked away from you finally, face crumbling and a hand running through his hair. 

“Yeah, oh.” He breathed, clenching his jaw. 

“Steve.” Your voice was gentle now and Steve wanted to look at you, but he was still falling from the rope that you had cut. He continued to look at the ground beneath him, acting as if the blades of grass beneath him were more entertaining than the girl in front of him. 

“Steve, look at me.” And you were gently grabbing his chin, turning him to face you. He begrudgingly met your stare for what seemed like the millionth time tonight. “I love you too, dumbass.” You laughed, tears watering your words down.

“You love me?” He repeated, eyes searching your face for any signs of a lie. He found none and all at once the rope that had been cut was replaced by your hand, hoisting him up and over the edge to where you were. 

“Yes. You should’ve just said something.” You smiled, tears still fresh on your cheeks. Steve decided that you looked ethereal that way. 

“I’m sorry–”

“Just kiss me? Please?” You cut him off. Steve nodded before he leaned in, lips finding their way onto yours. You melted into him, arms circling around his neck and drawing him nearer to you. His palms laid against your waist and pulled you closer, thumbs brushing against your sides gently. 

Will shushed Dustin, Lucas and El quickly as he stumbled upon the two of you kissing behind the stage. Lucas and El gasped and shared a look with each other at the sight of you two. Dustin wore a wide grin on his face.

“Dude, I told you!” Lucas whispered, punching Will playfully in the arm. “Pay up, Byers.” 

[whydoyouwantmyname]

Imagine life after the Starcourt Mall

Spoilers for season 4

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

6 months later

-Robin was insistent that you and Steve needed to get away for a weekend, she was even going as far as to suggest places for you to go.

"Robin... I can't just leave..."

"I will watch El, and on the afternoons I work late I am sure Mrs. Wheeler wouldn't mind her and Mike making out at their house."

"Robin it isn't just El." You smiled, "What would you do a whole 72 hours without me to save your sanity from the kids?"

"I would..." She started as you gave her the look, "I would beg you to never leave me again."

"Exactly, and besides Keith would murder Steve if he asked for a whole weekend off."

-That night while you were reading El Ronald Dahl, Steve stuck his head into Robin's room and whispered, "Any luck?"

"No, she saw my bluff, and pulled the what would you do without me with the kids for 72 hours."

"Shit." Steve hissed as Robin replied, "We'll figure this out dude, we always do."

-Steve's favorite thing to do when the kids were around was to walk about behind you and start dancing in the kitchen, normally to whatever movie soundtrack you had bought them that week. Whatever was cooking would be making background noise, as he twirled you around the kitchen, acting like he didn't have 5 sets of eyes on him as he dipped you.

-He did it cause he always wished he could have experienced a love like that, or that his parents had expressed to each other their love in that way.

-Dustin would tease Steve about it sometimes.

-Lucas always wanted to practice for Basketball, so you invested in building a mini basketball court with one hoop beside the trailer, the first time he saw it he gasped, as you handed him a new ball, "Steve can help you run drills, he might not look like it, but he is actually pretty good. You can come use it anytime."

-Lucas would groan when you would invite Erica to come play DND with the boys, and said that they were training the youth in the ways of the strong.

-When Lucas started to pull away from the group, he would still come to play. You would always bring him a drink to the court and talk, "You know Lucas, I get what you are saying about no longer getting bullied, but don't forget that these douchebags aren't really your friends."

-You and Max would always talk about music, and you would share with her all the different music tapes that you would find.

-You gave her the Hounds of Love cassette, "I thought you might like it."

-She came to your house often to avoid her mom, or to talk about her feeling. She also came to your house the night she broke up with Lucas.

-Max told you how she believed a part of her died the day Billy did, you were the only one who knew.

-After her and Lucas broke up however, she didn't come around as often, and would only visit you at the station, since she didn't want to see anyone.

-She always complained about the counselor, and how she just didn't understand.

-You were the only one who knew Max was still having the nightmares, and she was the only one who knew you were having nightmares too.

-She told you about her nose randomly bleeding in class, "It's probably just because of how dry the air was yesterday."

-You always thanked Max for bringing out the best in El.

-The three inches rule was still a rule.

-You always thought it was funny when the Boys would argue who had the best girlfriend, in which Steve would always interject, "I win, hands down, I have Hopper."

"You don't count." Dustin would say as you smiled, "I say he does."

-When he would have a day off, Steve would go to the cabin to fix it up for you. Sometimes you would go with him to help, but he wanted it to be a surprise, so he wouldn’t let you see too much.

“Don’t get me wrong, I love this trailer, but I want us to have a home that is all our own, and then the trailer can be their escape, and we will have our escape.”

-You would always host a girls weekend at the trailer every month, no boys allowed. Steve would end up going to his parents for a weekend when you had them.

-You would force Max to come, "Honey, even if you just stay in my room, and don't socialize with a soul, that's fine."

-She never did that

-The four of you would just gossip, and joke around about how idiotic the boys were. Robin would always show up with some sort of thriller and you would pick up whatever snacks and fast food the group decided on the week before.

-Steve would always come back and complain about his parents, so finally you looked at the girls and sighed, "Can Steve stay here for girls weekend, if he promises to not leave his room?"

-El convince Steve one girls weekend to let her paint his nails, which made you smile. She was so careful with the brush as she glided over each fingernail.

-That night after everyone went to sleep, you snuck into your bedroom where Steve was, he was still awake playing the Mattel Electronic's Dungeons and Dragons game that Dustin had gotten him for Christmas, "Thank you."

"For what?" He lifted his head as you leaned against the door, a smile on your face as you whispered, "For being so great with El, it really means a lot."

"She's your sister. Of course I am going to treat her right, cause her and her sisters are princesses that don't need a brave knight to rescue them."

"You know what I mean." You whispered as you gave him a knowing look, "Listen, all I mean is, it's nice knowing someone else cares about her as much as my dad did. He, umm, he would let her do his nails too in the cabin, and his makeup once." You giggled, "It was a disaster but he never said anything. Getting the lipstick off his checks though... that was an interesting adventure."

"Hey." You looked up, to see Steve walking over, his arms wrapping around you as he put his chin on top of your head, "He would be really proud of both of you."

-Eddie would come over sometimes for movie night with the kids, whenever he did you were always offering him extra snacks, and to do his hair.

-He was honestly surprised you remembered him, "You were always in the popular crowd with the pretty boy king, and all his little puppets."

-You made him a mixtape of songs you thought he would like, that way he had music to play at your house.

-You chuckled when Mike was telling you what his parents called Hellfire Club, "What your father lacks in imagination he makes up for in stale parenting."

-You always told the kids, "Make sure you are home from Hellfire by 10, nothing later, or else all of your parents will be mad at Eddie."

-You would always offer to host Hellfire Club, and sometimes Eddie would agree, however Robin would always complain about the music they played before a campaign.

-You were always trying to convince Eddie to let El in the Hellfire Club, however he always responded, "She just has to play for a bit longer, and master all the rules before I can allow her entry."

-Eddie would come over sometimes and just sit in your living room, while you helped him study so that he could succeed at his dream of flipping off Principal Coleman. Also however he would ask you advice about Chrissy, and you always thought it was cute that he was bashful about her.

-He invited you, Steve, and Robin to the hideout, usually only you would go, which Eddie appreciated.

-When the kids weren't at your house though the three adults of the house would always just hang out, and talk. Your head resting on Steve's shoulder as you watched bad tv and gave Robin dating advice.

-Both you and Robin would groan whenever Steve would say Boobies, however he knew that you found it adorable.

-You and Robin always would do your makeup when Steve was driving, which sometimes bothered him, "I swear neither of you listen to me when you have those stupid wands out." He teased as you joked, "Sorry babe, what was that?"

-You were in constant communication with Joyce trying to figure out when Will and Johnathon could come visit. You had both settled on Spring Break, and as hard as it was, you knew El missed Joyce as well, so you proposed El and Mike going to California instead of the boys coming to Hawkins.

-El was astatic when you told her. She immediately started trying to plan out what to pack.

-You were also invited to join, but you replied, "I can't, I need El to see that I trust her, and am trying to treat her like a grown up. And besides, Steve would drive Robin crazy if I was gone for a week."

-Joyce always told El that she loved her job when they would talk on the phone, but you knew the truth.

"Everyone is fucking idiotic, and so argumentative." She would sigh as you smiled, "That's telesales for you."

"Honestly I don't know why I took this job."

"Because in person sales is worse, and besides, you get to be a part of something revolutionary." You replied, as Joyce chuckled

"You sound like your dad."

-She would say that almost every call.

- Joyce never shared with you about the Russian Doll. She didn't want to get your hopes up, even though she knew you would be excited by the letter.

-You stayed up all night with El making her visual aid about her heroes, you were laughing while she painted the figure that represented your father, as you glued together the popsicles stick cabin.

"Thank you, by the way." She whispered

"No problem, honestly it brings back memories of when Pops helped me with mine." You smiled before continuing, "And Steve's."

-You took the week of their spring break off, and teased with the party that Steve and you were going to go on a adult vacation for once as a couple.

-You got mad at Dustin when he told you that he had Susie changing his grades, "Dusty Buns, that's not very nice to have your girlfriend do."

"Don't call me that." Dustin groaned as Steve clapped his shoulder, "Yeah Dusty Buns, why don't you just ask Hops here to help you study?"

"You two are insufferable." He groaned as you smiled, "It's almost like this joke is a never ending story."

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh." Steve sang to the tune and Dustin facepalmed

"We do it because we care." Steve added as you looked at Dustin, "But honestly, just ask me for help next time."

-The day before Mike and El went to California, you took off of work, you not only wanted to clean, but also wanted to make sure El had everything she needed.

-You skipped the pep rally for the basketball team, and sent Steve in your place since both he and Robin had the morning off, and you stayed home to clean.

-Dustin called you to play in Hellfire, and you laughed, "Sorry Dustin, I can't tonight, and neither can El."

-Before El came home from school, you found yourself sitting on the floor in the living room, your eyes scanning over the piece of lined paper that had been folded and unfolded so many times from you and El rereading the handwritten scratches of letters on the page. Your mind clinging to everyone as you absorbed the words on the page.

The truth is for so long I'd forgotten what those even were, I mean I knew I felt something, I had [Y/N] to remind me that I had them, but other than the feeling I felt towards your sister, I had been stuck in one place, in a cave you might say, a deep dark cave, with occasional cracks of daylight created by your sister. And then one day, your sister talked me into leaving a pile of Eegos out in the woods, and you came into my life. You made it so that for the first time, in a long time someone other than my daughter made me feel something, you helped me feel happiness El, you completed my family. Lately however, I guess I have been feeling distant from you, like you're pulling away from me or something. I'm finding myself jealous even of your sister because I feel like you are more connected to her now than me. I mean I never experienced this feeling before with her, but then again, maybe I just ignored it, just like I did her profound relationship with Steve. Looking back, you and Mike remind me a lot of her and Steve, but with you, I feel more like I need to protect you, because she wants to save you from every bad thing in the world. I miss how the three of us would play board games every night, or watch movies while eating whatever unhealthy food we could find before dozing off. I miss making triple decker Eego extravaganzas at sunrise, and watching you and [Y/N] exploring the woods. I know you are getting older, that you are changing and growing into a remarkable young woman, and I remember faintly having this fear too the moment I realized your sister was growing up too. I guess though, if I am being honest with myself, that's what is scaring me the most, I don't want to lose my girls, I don't want things to change, and for you both to forget me, just like how I did my parents when I was grown. I think that's why I am more hard on you than I was her because I want to stop that change, however I can. I want to turn back the clock to before, when it was just us three, laughing and living life together in the woods, in our own paradise. I know that it is naive to want that, and that time is only moving forward, cause life doesn't work that way. And yes, sometimes time moving forward is painful, and sometimes it's sad, and scary, but sometimes it's surprising and happy too. You definitely were a surprise to my life, in the best way, and I know you have been such an impact on [Y/N]'s life too. I mean I haven't seen her smile so wide since Sarah, Steve never made her glow like you do. So you know what, keep on growing up kid, don't let me, or anyone else stop you, make mistakes, learn from them, and when life hurts you, because it will, remember the hurt, the hurt is good. The hurt means you're out of that cave. And know that I will always be here to support you no matter what. But please if you don't mind, for the sake of your poor, old, dad, keep the door open three inches, I don't need Mike moving into my house like Steve did.

-You had tears rolling gently down your cheek as you remembered the day your father told you that you didn't need to keep the door open when Steve came, because he figured you two would never do the stuff that Mike and El did. You didn't even hear the door open, or hear El's house keys hit the counter before she saw you crying.

"Are you okay?" She asked as she softly crouched down besides you, and placed a hand on your shoulder, your fingers wiping under your eyes as you sighed, "Yeah, I was just..."

"I miss him too." She whispered, as she put her head to yours, "Want to watch a western?"

"Yeah, I would like that." You smiled, "However we will have to go to the video store to rent one."

"That's fine, I like picking on Steve at work." She joked as you looked at her laugh at the thought of joking with your boyfriend, and best friend.

-You noticed that Robin loved to help El tease Steve, and occasionally you would join in too, however you always found yourself defending him at some point of the teasing.

-You noticed the visual aid was crushed when you were leaving, but before you could bring it up she was dragging you out the door.

-"How was school?" You asked as you both drove the truck into town, her head leaning against the window as she watched the trees whiz by.

"Good."

"El, sisters don't lie."

"Why are people mean to me?" She whispered as you put your hand on her leg, "Because they are jealous of everything you can do."

"But my powers..."

"El, you are more than your powers, you are smart, beautiful, creative, adventurous, you make the best Eegos, and you are the greatest mage I have seen in DND other than Will. You are fantastic at everything you do, and you have come so far in the past year. Like it's strange for me to remember that just a year ago we were living in a cabin in the woods, just the three of us."

"Now we live in a trailer with everyone." She smiled as you put your hand back on the wheel, as you pulled into Family Video, "And now we live with two people that can get us the hook up on whatever movies we want."

-When you got to the video store, El opened the door, and while she held it asked, "Can we also get the Black Cauldron, I know Will mentioned in one of his letters wanting to see it, but he can't find it."

"You might not be able to either, I think Steve said that one was a popular pick." You whispered as you looked to the empty counter.

"I swear they never do their job." El chuckled as you ruffled her hair, "It's probably over on the display, and if you have time, see if you can grab Silverado."

"Yeah sis, don't make out too much." She smiled before jogging to the display, however when you leaned over to ring the bell, you noticed it was gone.

-You causally walked behind the counter and peaked your head into the back room, where you found Robin fast asleep on Steve's shoulder, as he softly snored besides her.

"I am honestly shocked that this place hasn't been robbed yet." You stated causing both young adults to awake with a fright, as they looked at you, "Honestly, you heard that, but not El and I coming in?"

"We were busy." Steve whined as you walked over and plopped onto his lap, his hands going to your waist as you mocked, "Yeah, real busy."

"Where's El?" Robin asked with a yawn as you smiled, "She is trying to find Black Cauldron."

"I better go tell her where it is, Keith caught me trying to hide it in here for your children, so I hid it out there, with the adult films." Robin responded before jogging out and calling, "El, where are you?"

"Over by the westerns." She replied with a shout, as Robin walked towards that section, leaving you and Steve alone.

"Why the westerns?" Steve asked, as you put your head on his shoulder, his arms pulling you closer to his chest as you whispered, "Cause to celebrate her going to California tomorrow, we were going to watch one, in honor of Dad."

"And Black Cauldron?"

"Don't tell Keith, but she wants to watch it with Will."

"So she is taking it to California?"

"Yup." You whispered as he kissed your temple.

"So what's got you down sweetheart? You normally are more energetic when we are in this room."

"That's just because we are normally having sex back here, while Robin watches the front." You replied as he smiled, "It's nothing, I was just missing my Dad."

-After a few moments of silence you whispered, "Did you know that there was day when we were living in the cabin that he and I were talking about what a normal life would look like for El, and we were just rattling off all these different ideas and scenarios, like how she would be an A+ student, how she would be the fastest bike riders, Dad even said she was going to master her culinary skills and make the first gourmet Eego restaurant. However one idea he was dead set on, he always wanted to take her to see the ocean, and now Joyce is gonna be taking her, instead of him."

Steve tilted your head up towards him, and ran his thumb across your check, wiping away a tear that had fallen without your knowledge, "He would be okay with that probably, everyone knew he had a thing for Joyce anyway."

-When Robin was ringing her out, you asked Steve, who had joined her at the counter, "Do you want me to pick up pizza tonight?"

"Yeah, I don't know what time the game will be over, but I promise I won't be out too late." Steve answered as Robin rolled her eyes, "Oh that's tonight."

"Yeah, and you told him you would go with him."

-As you went to leave Steve stopped you, "Umm wait a moment, my two favorite Hoppers are leaving, and I don't even get a goodbye?"

-El ran around the counter and gave him and Robin a hug, as she released though, and headed back to the door you leaned over the counter and kissed him.

"I love you." He whispered after you pulled away.

"I love Robin more." You teased before walking out of the store, Robin chuckling as Steve stood there watching you leave, before sighing, "How did I get so lucky?"

"I don't know, honestly I am still trying to figure out why she loves you." Robin teased as Steve replied, "Yeah, me too."

-When Steve got home that night with Robin, he couldn't help but smile at the sight he saw, both you and El were asleep on the couch, her head on your lap as your head leant to the side, a quilt you had made El out of some of Hopper's old shirts thrown over her as she cuddled her teddy bear, reality tv playing softly, since you were waiting for Steve and Robin to watch Silverado. He let out a small chuckle as Robin closed the door, and saw the sight.

"Are you thinking what I think you are?" Robin whispered as Steve nodded, "We scare them awake."

-He snuck up to the couch, and screamed, "Baby! Wake up!" Causing you to jump, and wake up with a fright, El waking up as well from the movement and sound as you grabbed a decorative pillow and chucked it at Steve, "Fucking jerk."

-While you all ate pizza, M&Ms, and watched Silverado, Steve put his arm around you and pulled you into his side, "I'm sorry."

"You better be." You whispered, as he offered you a bite of his pizza.

-Steve excitingly told you all game, and how Lucas made the winning shot.

-That night when you were laying in bed with Steve he whispered, "This is going to be super weird."

"What is?"

"El is going to be gone for a whole week." He whispered as you snuggled closer into him, "Have you two ever been away from each other?"

"Not since she ran away." You whispered, "Like I always see her at least once a day."

"She's growing up so fast." He whispered, his response greeted by silence.

- "You know they brought up Hops at the rally." Steve whispered

"Really?"

"Yeah, they said they were motivated to win the game because of all the lives we lost."

"What idiots." You replied as Steve smiled, "I love you Hops."

"I love you too Harrington."

- You offered to drive Mike to the Airport, and you sat with the two while they waited to board, going over their plans, and some rules, "Now don't forget no kissing a lot in-front of Will, or going off alone."

"Yes mom." Mike groaned as you raised an eyebrow.

"Don't forget to give him my present." You called after El, as she waved.

-Once they were on the plane and boarded you went back to your car and just sat there for a while, letting the reality of the situation sink in. Tears slowly welling up in your eyes at the thought of how independent your sister had become.

"You were right Dad, she is growing up." You whispered to yourself before wiping the tears from your eyes and starting the car.

-"Hey, so you know how we always talked about the two of us, and maybe Steve if you thought you could tolerate him, were going to go to California one day, and you were going to show me ocean. You always said in school that I would love it there, and how a sugar mama like me would be the most desired babe on the whole coast. You wanted to show me all the places your mom showed you, and have me try a Fajita. You were joking too that when we came back to this dump of a town that we would open something similar to the California scene, if we didn't just decide to leave. But you always knew I would never leave, I could never leave my family, the kids, or my friends behind, I like to secretly think that's why you liked me, because I was undying loyal, and constantly there for the people I cared about. Which was something you were never used to. I fucking miss you, so much. I mean even know I feel like you are laughing at how loyal I am, because I turned down going to California, because I couldn't go without you. I'm an idiot, I know, but.... Sometimes things just happen, and you have to deal with it." You spoke to the stone, while your chin rested on your knees.

-After you went to visit Billy's grave you walked into work and sat down at your desk, as you heard Florence whisper to you, "Have you heard?"

"Heard what?"

"About the body found over in the Munson trailer, looks like your new little friend mangled the Cunningham's daughter and just left her to rot in his uncle's trailer. Powell was wondering when you were going to be in to question you to see if you knew where he might be."

"We aren't that..."

"I told him you weren't close with Munson, and you wouldn't be back in the office until Monday, because you were going on a weekend trip with your sister, go." She answered as you bolted out of the office and to your car, before racing to the Family Video.

-When you walked in, Robin and Steve were illuminated by the light of the TV, as the reporter stated, "We're in the Forest Hills trailer park in East Roane county, we don't have a lot of details yet but we can confirm that the body of a Hawkins high student was found early this morning, police have not yet released the name of the victim however we have been informed that the local authorities are notifying the victim's family."

"Holy shit." Steve whispered as you spoke up, "It's Chrissy Cunningham."

"What?" Robin asked as you continued, "Chrissy Cunningham's body was found mangled in a trailer early this morning. The trailer belongs to Wayne Munson."

"Wait, isn't tha..."

"Eddie's uncle." You cut Robin off, "They can't find Eddie."

"Has he tried reaching out to you?" Steve asked, now understanding why you were looking at him freaked out.

"No, Eddie didn't do this, you don't know him like I do, and besides.... Her body was mangled. Nothing human can do that."

"Calm down... I am sure..."

"I should have went to California with her, I shouldn't have left her alone." You were panicking now, Steve was quick to run to you as he grasped your arms, "Babe, breathe."

"Steve, she lost her powers, she can't... what if it's back, what if it's Billy all over again, and I can't protect her."

"Babe, we will find Eddie, and we will stop it, if it is back."

"But what if it's looking for her?" You whispered as he pulled you into his chest, "It can't be back, we killed it, your father and Joyce blew up the machine, there's no way..."

"Don't lie to me." You whispered as he kissed your forehead, "If it is back, we will find it, I promise."

"I have to find the kids." You whispered as Steve held you there, "Baby, I love you, but you can't leave."

"Why?" You gasped, "If that thing is back, then I need to make sure..."

"Babe, you're fully panicking, and I know that you are going to hate the kids seeing you like this, so go in the back room, take a seat, and I will be right there with snacks."

"Steve...."

"Go." He whispered, putting his forehead to yours, "I will be right back."

-Once you were in the room Robin whispered, "She's not wrong."

"I know. And that's what worries me." He whispered, "Don't let her leave."

-when Murray was talking to Joyce about the note and how they were trying to lure her in to kidnap her, he added, "If I am wrong, then why didn't they send his goodie two shoes daughter the ransom note? Wouldn't you think a KGB friend of Hopper would want to let his loving daughter know that dear old daddy is alive?"

"We are not telling [Y/N]." Joyce hissed as he laughed, "No shit."

-When Max told Dustin what happened he immediately said, "We need to find [Y/N]."

-Max and Dustin immediately went to your house, and when they saw it empty, they raced to Family Video. When they exploded in the door Robin immediately went, "The back room."

-When they walked in, you were standing in the middle of the room, your arm crossed over your chest while you chewed on the skin of your thumb, your eyes meeting theirs as you gasped.

"I know what happened, and I need your help." Max stated as Steve stood up, "Guys, I really don't think..."

"Shut it Harrington, Max, ignore him." You replied.

-After she told you everything she shared with Dustin you looked at Steve, his eyes wide knowing already what you were thinking.

"Baby." He started as you looked at him, "Baby, we don't know it was..."

"I do." You whispered, "I know it is."

"Baby, El is fine." Steve whispered, "I need you to take a deep breath."

"Love." You whispered, "She is all I have left as family, she is my little sister... and..."

"Baby, the best thing we can do is..."

"What do you need?" You asked Dustin, "Do you know how many phones they have here?"

"Three, why?" You asked as he set down his knapsack and pointed to the old computer in the corner, "Is that a working computer?"

"Yeah, why Henderson?" Steve asked as he raced over to it and started typing, "Welcome to HQ."

"Dude, what is it with you and turning my jobs into headquarters?" Steve groaned as Max walked over to you, "We'll figure this out, I promise. Maybe it's a good thing El isn't here."

"Yeah maybe." You whispered as Steve and Dustin bickered about Eddie.

-You helped Max and Dustin call leads while Robin and Steve ran the store. However Robin looked at him and whispered, "Hey, she is gonna be fine."

"You clearly don't know her then." Steve whispered, "After the first incident, back when Barb died, and we saved Will from those things, El was presumed to have gone missing, and Hopper... well she pulled away, and turns out she pulled away, because she was taking care of El. She chose El over me, and has risked her life more than once to save El, and protect her. I know her, and I am terrified she is gonna do it again, and this time, I don't have her dad to talk sense into her, and as you can see, she doesn't listen to me. I just.... I can't lose her."

"Steve, you aren't going to..."

"You don't know that." Steve whispered, as he quickly wiped under his eyes

"I got a lead!" They heard Max yell, as you all turned to her.

"Where?" You asked quickly as Steve and Robin entered the room.

"So apparently Eddie gets his drugs from a guy named Reefer Rick, and sometimes Eddie crashes there."

"Awesome, where does he live?" Dustin asked

"Well that's the problem, no one knows." Max replied, "He is more of a legend that a lot of people have heard about then a physical being."

"Do you have a last name?" Robin asked as Max shook her head no.

"Bet the cops would know a last name." Steve answered, looking at you, "I mean if this guy is an actual drug dealer..."

"I can't, Florence lied to them about where I am so that I won't get questioned."

"But he is in the system probably, I mean if he is an actual drug dealer, then he probably has a record."

"Really Steve, the cops, that's your suggestion." Dustin snapped as he looked to Steve, who replied, "Well at this point don't you think they should be filled in on what we..."

"No." You whispered, "This isn't like how it was 6 months ago, we go to the cops with this, they will drug test us all."

"Or reward us for helping them find Eddie."

"No cops." You sighed as he put his fingers to the bridge of his nose, "Listen I am all for innocent until proven guilty and all that constitutional bullshit, but we can't rule out that he did it."

"That's exactly what we are trying to do Steve." Max snapped as he snapped back, "And what if you are right and we get to Eddie and find out that the thing that was possessing Billy is back, what then?"

"We don't need them." Robin replied, running to the computer and typing in Rick, "12 Ricks have accounts here, and I can look at their rental history to narrow it down."

"You're a genius Robin, finally someone who works here who is willing to help." Dustin cried as you looked to Steve, "we kill it."

"What?"

"You asked what we do if it's back. We kill it, and then once it's dead, we leave."

"What, babe, you aren't making any..."

"We kill the monster hunting my sister," you whispered, "And then we leave Hawkins for good, and we never come back."

"What about them?" He whispered as you looked to Steve, "They'll understand."

-Your attention was pulled away as Robin celebrated, "I found it! Rick Lipton, he lives out by Lover's Lake, middle of no where."

"That's where he would hide, perfect place." You answered, before racing to your car, the kids close behind as Steve and Robin quickly closed the store, and all piled into your car.

-When Nancy was talking to Wayne, he brought you up, "You want to know who the real Eddie was, talk to anyone in the Hellfires, or Sheriff Hopper's girl."

"[Y/N]?"

"Yeah, Eddie was close to her, even if they have only been friends for a few months."

-When you got to the lake, you killed the engine, and looked at Max in the front seat. The whole place was dark, except for the light inside the house.

"I'm gonna go." You said as Steve laughed, "Alone, bullshit, I'm coming..."

"Eddie will talk to me and Dustin, that's it." You said, as Steve snapped, "We all go, or none of us."

"Fine." You groaned as you all got out of the car, and huddled on the porch, as Dustin rang the doorbell and pounded on the door, "Eddie! It's Dustin! Listen we just want to talk, no cops!"

-Peeking into the inside of the house you could see how empty it was, and started to round the side of the house, where you saw the shed.

"Oh my goodness is that a foot?" Steve asked, as Robin went, "No you idiot, it's a shoe."

"Hey guys, look what [Y/N] found." Max called as she snuck up behind you.

-Once you all were at the shed, you pushed open the door, "Hello?"

"Is anyone home?" Robin asked as she approached behind you, as each member of the group filed in one by one.

"This place is a dump." Steve replied as you looked around, not noticing him grabbing the oar, until his was stabbing it into the boat, "What are you doing? What are you even doing?" Dustin questioned as Steve looked defeated, "Just making sure."

"By violently stabbing a tarp?" You questioned as he sighed, "He could be in there."

"So just take the tarp off." Dustin pointed out as Steve lowered the oar, and said, "Okay tough guy, you take the tarp off."

"Well someone was definitely here." Max replied as Robin added, "maybe they heard us and got spooked, took off."

"Well it's okay cause if anyone is hiding under these tarps Steve will get them with his oar."

"I know you are being funny Henderson, but considering everyone in this room has almost died a million times, I personally don't find it the slightest bit funny."

-As he said it something jumped up behind him and screamed, causing you all to jump, however it was Eddie slamming Steve into the wall that got you, "Eddie, it's us!"

-You ran to his side and put your hand on his shoulder, trying to make him look you in the eyes, "Eddie, it's me... It's the girl that hung out with the pretty boy king and all his mindless puppets, okay, hey lower the knife from my pretty boy's throat."

"How do I know..."

"Eddie, do you really think Dustin and I would bring the cops here?" You asked as he started to lower the knife, "Eddie, look at me..."

As he did you saw the look in his eyes, it was the same one you remember El having when she saw Billy possessed, and you whispered, "What did you see?"

"You're gonna think I'm..."

"My sister.... She has seen it before too, if this is what I think it is...." You started, "We can help you Eddie."

"What are you even doing here?" He asked

"We're looking for you." Dustin replied, "We're here to help, and we're on your side, I swear on my mother."

"I swear on Dustin's mother as well." Robin and Max said, and Steve hissed out as you looked at Eddie, "I swear on my relationship, we are here to help."

-When he heard that he lowered the knife, cause he knew how important Steve was to you. As he did he lowered himself down the wall, as Steve gasped and bent away, your feet carrying you Eddie, "Now tell me, what happened?"

"You won't believe me if I did."

"Try me Dungeon Master Munson." You smiled as he let out a breath, and told you everything. When he was done he looked at you, "You think I'm insane right?"

"Eddie, we don't think you are crazy."

"I know how it..."

"Eddie, you know my sister, Jane." You whispered.

"Yeah, the one you always want me to let into Hellfire."

"Yeah, her name wasn't always Jane, it's Eleven, she was a test subject at the Hawkins National Laboratory. She escaped when she was 12 years old, and helped save Dustin's friends from a world called the Upside Down, an intergalactic gateway that she opened. After that she lived with my father and I in secret, until we had to defeat a creature called the Mind Flayer. Once we defeated that we thought it was over until a Mind Flayer possessed Max's brother Billy, and we once again had to fight it. I watched Billy die because of it... we both did. Steve, Robin, Dustin and Lady Applejacks were almost taken by the Russians, who were trying to create a gateway to use the Mind Flayer as a weapon. My father died blowing up that gateway, so trust me when I tell you, I believe you."

"So the curse of Hawkins is real then?" He asked as you inhaled, and whispered, "It is for me."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because if these monsters are back, we need to know, I need to know for my sister's sake. See the last time we fought them, in the Star Court Mall fire, my sister lost her abilities. I need to know if they are back, so I can protect her, because she can't protect herself without them."

"Did you see anything?" Steve asked, "maybe dark particles, almost like swirling dust?"

"No, it's like I said, she levitated, got pinned to the ceiling, and all her bones just snapped." He answered, and then he added, "You know, I tried to wake her, but she... she couldn't move. It was like she was in a trance or something."

"Or under a spell." Dustin added as you looked at Eddie and took his hand, "or a curse."

"Vecna's curse." Dustin piped up as you looked at the duo, "You're joking."

"I'm sorry, whose Vecna?" Steve asked as Robin asked, "Do you just not listen when they are at your house? Eddie is always telling your girlfriend about his plans for Vecna."

"Vecna is an undead creature of great power." You started

"A spell caster." Eddie added

"A dark wizard." Dustin continued

"Vecna is the final boss of Eddie's DND campaign, and now it looks like, a member of the Upside Down." You hissed as you got up slowly and looked at Steve, before whispering, "I told you."

"I know." He whispered, "I just wanted to believe that you and El were not in danger."

-Doctor Owens immediately tried to get a hold of you on a secure line, but you weren't home to pick up the phone.

-Murray was insistent that Joyce should call you and tell you about Enzo's letter, but Joyce refused, "I don't want to tell her until I know for sure I can bring Hopper back to her. I can't get her hopes up and fail her, she doesn't desire that."

-Jonathan and Will also refused to tell you that El got arrested when she was there, she had taken a skate and hit Angela upside the head when she was picking on Will for being different.

-When Enzo was talking to Hopper, Hopper reassured, "And my daughters?"

"Weren't even mentioned, my guess your little angels are still convinced Daddy went boom."

-The next morning you got up before Steve and went to the local grocery store, and picked up some food for Eddie, and drove it over to him. When you gently knocked he opened the door cautiously and smiled, "Hopper, aren't you a sight for sore eyes."

"You just saw me Munson." You smiled, handing him the bag, "I figured every mighty warrior needs his provisions, so I come bearing lucky charms and chocolate milk."

"You are a life saver." He smiled as you also extended him a coffee, "Also I brought the good stuff."

-As he ate you heard more car doors close and looked out the window to see the others, "Seems I have been joined finally by our accomplices."

"Greetings weary travelers, care to hold up for the day in my inn." Eddie joked as you opened the door to see them, before Max snapped, "Way to leave without us, we all had to cram in Steve's car."

"Sorry, none of you were awake when I left." You smiled as they all entered, Steve came into the shed last and leaned in to kiss you, "I was scared you fled to California."

"Hopefully, the Vecna doesn't leave Hawkins, otherwise I might just have to." You whispered as Dustin spoke, "So I have good news, and bad news, which do you prefer first?"

"Oh bad news, always." Eddie replied as Dustin continued, "Okay, so we might have hacked into the Hawkins PD database," which caused Dustin to then look at you, "sorry mom" he said before looking back at Eddie, "and there is definitely a warrant out for your arrest. Oh and they are pretty sure you are the one who killed Chrissy."

"Like 100% convinced." Max added

"And the good news?" Eddie asked

"They haven't released your name publicly yet, however when they do, I am sure others will be able to find you as easily as we did. And once that is released, everyone and their shallow minded mothers will be gunning for you more than usual." Robin spoke

"Hunt the freak, right?"

"Exactly. So before that happens, we need to find Vecna, kill him and prove your innocent." Dustin answered.

"That's not gonna be all Dustin." Eddie answered, as you added, "Listen I know it sounds crazy but we have done this like 3 times before, it works."

"Yet it keeps..."

"No, different creatures keep attacking, totally different." You cut him off.

"Listen I know it sounds delusional, but trust me, I have been doing this with them since '83, works every time." Steve added as you smiled

"However we normally heavily rely on Hopper's sister's powers but since she lost them, and is in California with her boyfriend we are kind of just in the brainstorming phase right now." Robin added as you looked at her and said, "Could you have sounded a bit more confident in the our brainstorming."

"Oh no, I am fully confident in yours, I mean you are normally with El when she saved the world, it's us I am worried about." Robin gestured to her and Steve, as you rolled your eyes, "Ignore them, we got this Eddie."

"There's nothing to worry about." Dustin said as you looked to Eddie and smiled, "Totally under control."

"Thanks, you guys sure know how to reassure a guy."

-When you heard the sirens you immediately went, "Under the tarp, quick."

-As you watched the ambulance and the cars drive by, you knew there was another body, "Fuck." You hissed

-They all took your car to go check out the crime scene, while you stayed with Eddie, "I promise, we know what we are doing."

"I know, I just...." He started, "I can't get the sound of her bones snapping out of my head."

"It goes away after a while." You answered, "Trust me, I can still hear my sister's screams of agony sometimes, or see her nose bleeding."

"Is that why you are so wicked protective of the kids?" Eddie asked as your feet dangled off the side of the boat, "Yeah, I ummm I started off as just their babysitter, mainly Will, Mike, Lucas, and Dustin's, and then one day Mike called me needing a dress and makeup. That's when I met El, and my life changed forever."

"Do you think you can beat the Vecna, like for real?"

"Yeah, I do, I mean if Jonathan, Nancy, and Steve can defeat a Demigorgon with fire, we can defeat a Vecna without Telekinesis."

-Before Steve went to go see the shrink he looked at Dustin and Max, "We are going to go get my girl, and then we are leaving. I don't think I can handle being your babysitter without her."

-Eddie was sad when they came, "It was really nice talking nerd with you Hopper."

"Likewise, I'm probably gonna grab burgers before I come back, hold the ketchup, as usual?"

"Yes please." He smiled, as you jogged to the car and got into the back with Max, "Dustin belongs in that seat more than me."

-They filled you in on the way to the counselor's office.

-While Max was talking you were sitting in the car with the boys, "So what do you think Nance's shot in the dark is?"

"No clue." Steve said, as Dustin looked at him, "Alright she's in."

"Thanks Steve, but if you remember, I'm missing collarbones, not eyes." Dustin groaned as a silence settled over the car, "So are we going to talk about this?"

"Talk about what Henderson?" Steve asked, looking at the saddened expression on Dustin's face as you leaned back.

"The fact that we didn't get ice cream before this, you know to relive the Scoops day."

"I agree with Dusty Buns." You answered as Steve smiled, "How about after we kill Vecna."

-When Max got in the car and demanded Steve drive you asked, "What did she say?"

"Nothing, but we need to go to Hawkin High."

"Why?" Dustin asked

"I'll explain later, just drive!"

-When the kids were going back and forth on the radio, you leaned forward, "Didn't you say that Lucas's basketball captain was dating Chrissy?"

"Yeah, why?" Steve answered, as you snatched the radio from Max, "Lucas, is the team looking for Eddie?"

"Yeah, and now they are looking for Dustin, someone spilled the beans that he was looking for him."

"Shit! Turn around!"

"What?"

"You just told them exactly were Eddie is, Turn around!" You screamed as you looked at Dustin, "I swear you are the smartest one in the room, but the dumbest at the same time."

-When Doctor Owens was talking to El about restoring her powers she leaned back, "I want my sister."

"I can't get a hold of her sweetheart, my guess..."

"She knows." El answered

"Yes, and knowing her, she is trying to figure out how to kill it, and I am terrified, it might kill her first. El, some think you are the cause of this problem, but me, I think you are the cure. If you want to do this, I believe it can work, but you must know, if it fails there is a very real possibility that you will never see your sister, or friends again."

"They are in danger, [Y/N], Steve, Robin, Max, Dustin, and Lucas right?"

"Yes, and so many others."

"What if I am the monster though?"

"Listen I don't know you that well Kiddo, but I do know one thing, your sister fought like hell to keep you in Hawkins after your father died, she knew I was developing this program, and she knew you were capable of using your powers to save the world. She believes that you are not a monster, and I have come to trust her judgement, I mean she is the one who convinced your father to adopt you."

"If it will save them, then do it." El answered

-You were driving back from checking on Eddie and making sure he was okay, when they shared they found what they needed

-Once you got there though, you pulled your radio out of the car, "Henderson, you copy?"

"Yeah, bad news though."

"What?"

"Max is next." The radio lowering as you heard him screaming your name

"How do you..." you started, picking it back up to your face as you fought back tears

"Max had a vision, she saw a grandfather clock in the wall."

"It's establishing authority over Hawkins." She whispered, "Vecna is trying to show us it is..."

"Baby." Steve took the walkie, "Where are you?"

"Parking lot, why?"

"I need you to come inside, right now."

"Okay."

-"Why would you tell her to come in, we are about to leave?"

"He is targeting traumatized people right, people who have had life altering events right? What's more traumatic then your father blowing up while saving the world? And then having your best friend die in front of you, and having a sister who had super powers, and then lost them fighting one of these assholes, a sister who all you want to do is protect her, and when they were younger their biological sister died slowly from cancer, and their mom just bailed."

"She's going to next.... Eventually.... She is on the target list probably."

-While you were entering Sinclair was coming in after you. You looked to him and asked, "I thought you were with those losers?"

"No, I just rode 8 miles back, I didn't tell them where he is, I took them somewhere else in the woods."

-When you reached the group you ran forward and hugged Max to you, as Lucas spit out everything he knew about the basketball team. As he did Max whispered, "I'm sorry."

"Hey, Hey, listen there is nothing that could have been..."

"It's my fault." She whispered as you got down to her level, "Listen, we will get through this, we always do."

"Are you still having the nightmares?" She whispered, as you looked at her, "Yes."

"What about headaches?" She whispered as you tilted your head, "Other then the mild one yesterday, no."

-Steve heard what you said, and just tilted his head back, and silently pleaded with God that you weren't next.

-As they caught Lucas, and you up on everything, you all went back to your trailer, the kids crashed in El's room, Robin in her room, Nancy slept in your room, and you and Steve were once again on the couch.

-Steve didn't sleep at all that night, he just kept looking at you, cherishing the way your chest slowly rose and fell as you slept. Every once and a while he would get off of the counter stool and push a strand of hair behind your ear.

"Please don't be next Hopper." He whispered.

-In the morning when you woke up, the whole crew had gathered in the living room, and were reading over print outs of the article, as you made waffles. The boys bickering over Victor Creel, as you spoke up, "Why don't we just go visit him?"

"What, are you mental?" Lucas asked as you shrugged, "I mean, he survived, maybe he can give us some insight about the Vecna."

"Baby, there is no way you are going to see this..."

"Nance is the journalist, not me." You interrupted, "Besides.... I don't want to leave her."

"Has she come out of the room yet?" Dustin asked as you shook your head.

-Steve was ready to fight Nancy on going with you, if she was insistent that you were going to visit Victor Creel instead of Robin, but she looked at Steve and whispered, "She isn't going to leave Max, I know her."

"Yeah, and you also hate her so it makes sense that you would try to do something.."

"I don't hate her okay!" She yelled, "I never did, actually I pity her, she was the smartest in her grade, and yet somehow she is stuck here because she befriended people who held her back, and is dating a boy who all he has going for him is his good looks, and ability to talk someone to death. Why do you think I want to get out of this town so badly, and start an amazing life with Jonathan, a man who encourages my dreams, and wants to improve his life? I agree, she is the best thing to ever happen to you, but you aren't the best thing that has happened to her."

"I am so glad that you only ever want to talk when the world is ending." Steve's voice was monotone as he looked at her, "And for the record, I see why she always disliked you."

-When Enzo made a remark about eating with his sexy woman, Hopper's response was, "No, I will be eating with my daughters, and my idiot son in law."

-When you were dressing Robin up in your clothes, you were smiling at how ridiculous she looked, "I hate this outfit on you, you look like a 10 year old being forced to go to Mass."

"That's how I feel." She groaned as you smiled, "As soon as you return, I nominate we burn this outfit."

"Agreed." She smiled as you leaned over, "Remember, kill them with kindness."

-When Max handed out the letters she gave you yours last, "And for you."

-She wrote mom on the front of yours, and Said, "I didn't write that either to funny, I mean it."

-She also gave you Mike, El and Will's to give once you saw them again.

-When the boys started to open them you snapped, "You can't open them yet, you have to wait until after we save her."

"Don't, just don't." Max snapped

"But Max, everything is going to work out." Lucas rebuttaled as she sighed in frustration, "I don't need you to reassure me that everything will work out, okay? People having been doing that all my life, and it never works out, and it's never true. I mean, of course this asshole curses me, should've seen that one coming."

-When she asked about East Hawkins you knew exactly where she wanted to go, and you grabbed your keys.

"Well come on fellow babysitter." You teased as the boys scrambled to get up.