#like dustin x lucas

[burtonbabygirlguster]

he may look like the child of Voldemort and Davy Jones, and he may be a killer, but at least he’s not homophobic!!

[oceanofflavor]

Hear me out on this one, Eddie Munson is about to have his moment. Look at the way everyone is looking at him, intently listening to what he has to say, I don't know what's going on here, but I do know that this is most likely going to be a confidence-boosting moment for Eddie where he gets to shine.

[rottenaero]

Ao3

Part 1

Part 2

Part 4

Part 3 of the roommate idea

Steve declines the hellfire invitation from Dustin, making up a pretend date, because otherwise he was not getting out of that one. He checked the time on the wall.

2:27

Yeah, alright.

He waited a few hours before getting ready and heading to the school.

The game starts in thirty minutes so they should be-

Steve grinned as he watched the back of Dustin move into the drama room.

Perfect.

He waited a minute, listening into their conversation before deciding that he didn't need to wait for them to stop because if they stopped that meant they were starting.

He slammed open the clubs door, making a couple people in the room jump.

“Steve! What are you doing here?" Eddie asked from his place on the throne. "DnDs over, pack up your shit.” He stated, leaving no room for argument.

Well, apparently a little room.

“What!! Why?! Last campaign of the semester, Mike leaves for Cali tomorrow!"

Steve furrowed his brows, and put his hands on his hips, Gareth, Grant, and Jeff weren't arguing, they knew he was serious, good.

“It can wait till he gets back, why would you even plan this a day before he leaves?”

“Why do we need to pack our shit?!”

Steve pinched his nose, "We're going to Luca’s basketball game.”

“What?!?”

“That traitor-"

“Stevie, darling, you can't be-”

“Why?!”

“You two know each other-”

Steve grimaced, a migraine starting at the fore-front of his mind.

“Please shut up, Christ.”

Eddie winced and immediately shushed everyone.

“We're going to this game, because even if Lucas doesn't get to play, we still gotta support him. Dustin, Mike, you guys have only gone to one of his games, his first one.”

He turned the other group, "Grant, Gareth, Jeff, fuck Eddie. None of you have gone to a game, I know it's not your usual shit but you gotta come. Hell, Erica, you're his sister, I mean, you’ve done an amazing job at showing up at the rest, so I can’t really complain about you.”

Dustin winced, “ Sorry Steve, but why does this matter so much to you? It's not the end of the world.”

Steve rubbed his arm, “ He needs someone to be there for him, even if he doesn't win. You can just do the damn campaign at Eddie's when Mike comes back.”

Mike, in question, scoffs, “And since when do you make the rules.”

Steve ignores him, reaching forward and grabbing Eddie's arm, and Erica’s shoulder. "Suit yourselves, but kinda hard to play DnD without the Dungeon Master, and Eddie and Erica don't have a choice.”

They make their way to the gym, a reluctant group of Hellfire in tow, and sit across the top of the bleachers. Steve waves at Robin from where he sits and then turns to Hellfire. “ Thank you guys for being reasonable."

Gareth scrunches his nose, “You cannot just keep stealing Eddie randomly.” Steve purses his lips, and leans into the man in question.

"Not stealing if he's okay with it, right Eds?” Eddie looked between the two, “ I'm sensing I should say yes?"

Steve grinned and patted his cheek. “Good boy."

Dustin turned to them, "Was Eddie the date you were talking about earlier? You tell seem awfully friendly."

Eddie flushed, and let's out an awkward laugh. " Steve wishes he could date me."

[dheelan]

001 and eleven be like

[bigskyandthecoldgun]

imagine eddie’s out of work because reefer rick got put away for good, and rick kept such a tight lid on his own supplier that eddie has no clue where to buy from now. he’s applied to a couple of jobs, but nobody’s gotten back to him yet. thankfully, his saving grace comes in the form of a flyer for someone seeking a babysitter.

enter single dad steve, who just needs someone to watch his five kids (and occasionally the miracle baby hopper-byers twins from nextdoor, because they’re best friends with his kids and refuse to be separated from them for longer than twelve hours) for a couple hours while he takes a much-needed nap every few days. he can’t keep asking their auntie robin and auntie vickie, after all. even if they’re more than willing to watch them, steve feels like it’s too big of an ask without payment, which they refuse to accept. and if the babysitter that responds to his flyer just so happens to be a very attractive guy whose guitar-playing and d&d skills are enough to captivate said children’s collective attention for those hours, well…that’s just an added bonus.

[londondziban]

byler constantly parallels jancy and jopper and even at times lumax. milevens don't want to talk about the fact that their ship constantly parallels stancy, a canonically failed ship (no season 4 wasn't setting them up to get back together), and the dart and dustin dynamic

[shinebrightlikeanarwhal]

Dustin: WAKE UP SLEEPY HEAD

Eddie: dude what the fuck?!

Steve: *barely intelligible whining*

Dustin: *surprised laugh while he runs for his life*

[marvins-linguinie]

corroded coffin got nominated for a grammy. eddie wants steve to be there, but it's in la and steve hasn't ever left hawkins. eddie decides to tell him, and assure him that it's okay, and that eddie doesn't have to be there, but steve protests. steve suggests that the kids come along, that way, when they leave hawkins, he won't have anything to worry about. the first kid they go to is max. eddie explains the situation, and max says no at first, until steve tells her that kate bush will be there too. next, they go to will and el. will says yes without hesitation. two checked off.

el, however has a lot of questions. "what is a grammy?" "how do we get there?" "why?" eventually, she agrees. steve tells lucas, and he agrees, as long as max goes. mike agrees to go, as long as will goes. steve sits dustin down, and has a long, off topic conversation with him, until eddie finally just asks. he agrees. the week before, eddie took each of the kids to his fashion designer to have them fitted for their outfits. the night before, steve triple checked that the tickets for their flight were purchased.

everyone slept over at steve and eddie's house, so it would be simple for them to get to the airport on time. this was not the case. yes, steve walked through the house, yelling for everyone to get up, and keep in mind, this was 4 in the morning. everyone was on edge, arguing, pushing past one another. around 6am, they finally got all of their suitcases packed into the car. everyone got in, and steve started speeding to the airport, claiming that if they missed their flight, he was going to be pissed.

turns out, they arrive with an hour to spare. steve and eddie sit down and drink some coffee, while the rest of the kids bicker. when they're called to board, the all get on, and the flight is mostly silent, except for the crying babies and max and lucas arguing about something. their plane lands, and cc gets escorted to a car, trying to lay low and avoid the paparazzi. steve and the kids are told to get in a different car, and as they drive away, paparazzi chases both cars. steve hasn't noticed how famous cc really is. they live in a small, empty town.

yeah, sometimes when they're walking downtown together, people will want an autograph, but that's practically nothing. the cars park in front of a large house, and they're guided inside. make-up artists, and fashion designers steal the kids, one by one, and then steve. cc is nowhere in sight. steve hasn't worn make-up since 89', and that's because eddie wanted to put eyeliner on steve. they blend some type of powder into his face, and style his hair.

he gets handed a suit and led to a changing room. this place has to be bigger than his parents house. steve quickly changed into his suit and was led back outside into a limousine. the kids were already dressed and waiting for him. cc squeezed into the limo with the rest of them, and they took off. corroded coffin's manager went over all of the rules, and told the kids how to respond to certain questions.

once they arrive to the red carpet, they all sperate. steve stays with eddie, though. they get asked about their marriage, and who the young adults that showed up with them are. soon, the ceremony began. cc was nominated for a few categories: best group performance, best metal performance, and album of the year. ozzy ended up winning best metal performance, and metallica won best group performance. their last chance was album of the year. if they didn't win, they were still honored to be at the grammys, let alone be nominated for three categories.

when they announced that corroded coffin had won, it took eddie a bit to process it. when it finally sunk in, cc ran into stage. steve wrote eddie a speech to say just in case corroded coffin won. eddie pulled the speech out of his pocket, shook his head, and balled it up, shoving it back into his pocket.

"hi." he says, ignoring the feedback from the microphone. "wow. this is um.. this is wild. i mean, we've spent our entire lives working together in corroded coffin, and never in a thousand years, did we think we would be standing on this stage. i want to thank a lot of people, but there's one person in particular. he um.. he wrote what i was supposed to say for this, actually, but he didn't mention someone. the person who made it possible for corroded coffin to be here. himself. when we would have to stay late in the studio, he would bring us all dinner. he would stay up until i got home. and, he made sure to make time for me. this is actually his first time out of our hometown, and he demanded that he come with. steve is the most selfless person i know. he's also my favorite person. if you guys knew him, you would understand where im coming from. so, i want to dedicate this grammy to steve. i love you stevie. thank you all!" the audience shifted to cheers and applause.

eddie ran off stage, cc following behind, and steve met him with a kiss. tears were running down both of the boy's faces. maybe leaving hawkins wasn't so bad after all.

[lumaxramblings]

i saw your post and please tell me about the party taking the place of the hexsquad. who's going to be who? what about the covens?

I AM SO GLAD YOU ASKED

i have moodboards for all of the party minus el, and it goes like this:

will will (lol) take the place of luz mike will take the place of amity dustin will take the place of gus lucas will take the place of willow max will take the place of hunter el will take the place of vee!

vecna will take the place of belos, and obviously his real name (like philip) will be henry. and alice creel takes caleb's place:)

as for the covens, i don't have much. all i have is that steve takes the place of darius and maybe robin taking the place of eberwolf. jonathan obviously doesn't get involved for a good while because he's at home

i don't know all the EXACT placements yet which is why i'm asking for what i should do specifically with the older teens. if any of yall have any ideas for what should happen w them send an ask, this au is in early development so pretty much everything apart from the party/hexsquad is on the table!

[missjashin]

So Robin is off to college and the kids are back at school and growing so.. they don’t need their babysitter as much.. So Steve gets little lonely at times. Sure there’s Eddie who hangs out with him occasionally but he seems to have like million other friends too and he is always a busy guy, especially now since his healed and cleared and the town is starting to forget. So Steve tries not to reach out too much because he doesn’t think he is welcome (he is). And it’s been little weird between them lately anyway, like it’s nice and he genuinely enjoys spending time with Eddie but sometimes there’s this tension and he doesn’t know what it is or what to do with it (it’s called a crush Steve, don’t worry you’ll get there). So he is alone a lot and gets lonely.

And one day he just announces that he is gonna get himself a dog. He thought about a lot, did research how to take care of one and all. Just like he did as a kid but his parents never got him the wished puppy.

Everyone is just like okay Steve, go get a dog. And they all think he is gonna get one of the bigger dogs. You know like an active dog he could go to long walks and/or runs with. It would be fitting, Steve likes sports. And in all honesty, that’s what Steve probably thought too.

The day comes when Steve is getting the dog. He needs to drive to a bigger city tho and he goes alone. He is leaving in the morning and driving back for afternoon anyway, on a school day so. Yeah anyway. The kids obviously want to see the dog right away so after school they go to Steve’s place, Eddie is driving them. They let themselves in and what greets them inside is a very tiny and very excited Pomeranian with a cutest pink little collar. It’s a little shocking but the girls are definitely first to recover, squealing with joy of how cute the dog is. Steve appears and just smiles, tells them “her name is Betty” and refuses to give any more explanations. The kids fold easy tho, Betty wins their hearts over in a (heh) heartbeat. Eddie gives the dog few pats and scratches but claims that, although she is very adorable, he is not that big of a dog person himself.

But. Next time the kids come over to Steve’s for a movie night Eddie is already there, lying on a couch, Betty lying on his chest while he gives butterfly kisses to her. And he has the audacity to ask “what?” when the kids give him a look™️

Bonus: Steve’s parents suddenly announce they’re coming home. Steve hasn’t told them he got a dog and is panicking because shit he didn’t think this one through. Eddie is right there offering to have Betty over for while his parents are in town. A little too eager for a guy who doesn’t really care for dogs that much too 🤨

Tltr: Steve gets a dog. Eddie is a dad who doesn’t want a dog but ends up loving it more than anything ever. Gets her a badass new spiked collar too.

Inspiration:

[biillys]

STRANGER THINGS 2.02 – trick or treat

[robinbuckleysfringe]

There's No Place Like Hawkins

pairings: steve harrington x oc

warnings: nothing beyond anything that happens within canon of the show

word length: it's a long first chapter, 5k

notes from the author: I picture Catherine Henderson as a mix between Saoirse Ronan and Alyson Hannigan (specifically her Buffy era), but feel free to picture Catherine as whoever you would like :)

Cast of Stranger Things as themselves, unless stated otherwise

Chapter One (episodes: S1.Ep.1)

prev. chapter | next chapter | masterlist

The Vanishing of Will Byers

November 6th, 1983

Hawkins, Indiana

Catherine Henderson was sat in the basement of the Wheeler's house, watching her brother, Dustin, and his friends play their game of Dungeons and Dragons. "Something is coming." Mike Wheeler, the younger brother of Nancy- one of Cat’s best friends- announced, leading the game as the dungeon master. "Something hungry for blood. A shadow grows on the wall behind you, swallowing you in darkness. It is almost here."

Cat focused her attention back on her book, hardly paying attention to the game. Despite having babysat the majority of the boys’ games, she still didn’t have a clue as to how it worked. She would rather be hanging out with Nancy upstairs while she waited for her brother to finish his game, but the brunette was busy talking on the phone to the third friend in their group, Barbara Holland. This didn’t upset Catherine too much, she wasn’t Nancy biggest fan when the girl spoke about boys, Steve Harrington in particular. It just reminded her of bittersweet memories.

"What is it?" Will asked quietly. He was also the younger sibling of another one of Cat’s friends, Jonathan Byers.

"What if it's the Demogorgon?" Dustin suggested.

"The what?" Catherine asked, lifting her head from her book to look over at the group. She hadn’t heard them mention this particular creature in previous games.

The boys ignored her, continuing with their game. "Oh, Jesus, we're so screwed if it's the Demogorgon." Dustin added, shaking his head.

"It's not the Demogorgon." Lucas told him.

"An army of Troglodytes charge into the chamber!" Mike yelled suddenly, placing a mini figure onto the game board. Cat sighed, turning back to her book. She understood very few of the words that the kids spoke during their Dungeons and Dragons sessions.

"Troglodytes?" Dustin questioned.

"Told ya." Lucas chuckled, smug as he had been right about the monster not being a Demogorgon.

The boys chuckled for a moment before Mike whispers, "wait a minute." He paused. “Did you hear that? That… that sound? Boom… boom…” He yelled again, slamming his hands down onto the table. "That didn't come from the Troglodytes. No, that... That came from something else." The boys all looked at Mike expectantly before he slammed a figure onto the table and exclaimed, "The Demogorgon!" He yelled as the others all groaned in annoyance.

"We're in deep shit." Dustin pointed out.

"Language!" Catherine chided her brother. Dustin simply responded by sending her a glare, knowing hers was always a lot worse.

"Will, your action!" Mike told the small boy.

"I don't know!" The young Byers cried, shaking his head.

"Fireball him!" Lucas suggested.

"I'd have to roll a 13 or higher!" Will pointed out to him.

"Too risky. Cast a protection spell." Dustin suggested.

"Don't be a pussy. Fireball him."

"Cast Protection."

Mike slammed his hands down onto the table. "The Demogorgon is tired of your silly human bickering!"

"I'm tired of your bickering too." Catherine muttered. "But at least the whatever it is isn't real and gets a break from hearing your voices." She rolled her eyes.

"It stomps towards you." Mike continued. "Boom!"

"Fireball him Will!" Lucas yelled.

"Another stomp, boom!"

"Cast Protection." Dustin yelled.

"He roars in anger!"

The boys all continued to yell over one another, telling Will what to do.

"Would you all shut up!" Catherine cried out, having had enough of the racket. At the same time, Will yelled, "Fireball!" and rolled the dice. They all watched as it rolled off the table and onto the floor.

"Oh, shit!" Mike exclaimed as they all stood up to look for the dice.

"Where'd it go?" Lucas asked as they began to search on the floor. "Where is it?" Catherine sat back on the couch, content now that they'd finally stopped yelling.

"I don't know!" Will spoke, answering Lucas's question.

"Henderson, help us look for it!" Lucas yelled, turning towards the eldest Henderson.

"Nope. I wasn't playing and therefore I don't have to help you." Cat retorted, not even bothering to spare a glance from her book.

"Kit, please help us." Dustin begged, pausing his search to look over at her. "Please, please help us look for it."

Cat rolled her eyes, sitting up in her seat. She looked down by her legs, peering at the small area of floor by her feet. Upon seeing nothing, she sat back on the sofa and turned back to her book. "There, I've looked, and I can't see it anywhere near me. You're welcome."

 The younger Henderson rolled his eyes at her behaviour. "Is it a 13?" He asked, turning back to his friends.

"I don't know!" Will replied, shrugging his shoulders. “I didn’t see it before it disappeared.”

"Where is it?" Lucas asked again, becoming increasingly frustrated.

"Oh, my God!" Dustin repeated over and over again while he paced the floor of the basement.

"It's just a dice." Cat snapped. "You're panicking over nothing."

"Nothing?! This isn't nothing, Henderson." Lucas shouted at her. "It's a life-or-death situation."

"It really isn't, Sinclair." Cat retorted, just as Mrs. Wheeler yelled Mike's name from upstairs.

The boys continued panicking about the dice while Mrs. Wheeler opened the door to the basement. "Mike!" She called and the boy looked up at her from where he was stood at the bottom of the stairs.

"Mom, we're in the middle of a campaign!" He complained her.

"You mean the end? Fifteen after." Mrs Wheeler told him, pointing to the watch on her wrist before walking away from the basement, Mike running up the stairs behind her to try and plead for more time to finish their campaign.

"Oh, my God! Freaking idiot!" Lucas yelled to no one in particular. After a few more minutes of searching, Will announced to the group that he’d found the dice.

Cat dramatically threw her head backwards against the sofa. “Finally!” She cried, throwing her arms up into the air. “Does that mean we can leave now?” She asked, watching her brother start to grab his jacket.

"No!" Lucas snapped, to which she just rolled her eyes.

"Does the seven count?" Will asked, looking to Lucas.

"It was a seven? Did Mike see it?" Will shook his head. "Then it doesn't count." Lucas told him.

"I believe that's called cheating," Cat stated, marking the page of her book with her bookmark, and putting it in her backpack.

"No one asked you, Henderson." Lucas snapped at her.

While the boys gathered up their belongings and started to head up the basement stairs. Dustin stopped, noticing the pizza box only had a couple of slices left. "Yo, hey, guys." Dustin called to them, and Will and Lucas stopped on the stairs for a moment. "Does anyone want this?"

"No." They both responded, shaking their heads and hurrying up the stairs.

Dustin turned to Cat who had just finished zipping up her backpack and had started putting her arms through the sleeves of her jacket. "You want this, Kit?" He asked, holding the pizza box out towards her.

“No, that’s alright. Thanks though, Dusty. Just leave it here or throw it in the trash." She finished putting her jacket on and started to walk up the stairs, Dustin following behind her.

“I’ll meet you outside. I’m gonna see if Nancy might want it.”

Cat shrugged her shoulders at him. “I doubt it, but that’s sweet of you Dusty. Just make sure you hurry up, alright? Mum wanted us home…” She looked at her watch. “Oh shit. She wanted us home at least an hour ago.”

Dustin nodded, leaving up the stairs to the second floor of the house while Cat headed towards the front door. She made sure to stop in the kitchen and thank Mrs. Wheeler for allowing the boys to hang out in their basement, before heading outside to wait for her brother.

Catherine was just climbing onto her bike when Dustin walked out of the Wheeler's house. "There's something wrong with your sister." He grumbled to Mike who was standing outside while the others got their bikes together.

"What are you talking about?"

"She's got a stick up her butt." Dustin explained.

"Yeah." Lucas agreed. "It's because she's been dating that douchebag, Steve Harrington." He rolled his eyes.

Cat couldn’t help the scoff of agreement that left her lips. Ever since Nancy had started dating the most popular guy in school, Steve Harrington, she barely spoke to Cat about anything else. Every conversation ended up relating back to Steve and it had started to get on Catherine’s nerves.

Steve Harrington used to be her best friend up until he dumped her for popularity when they started high school, and unfortunately, he happened to be the guy that Cat was totally head-over-heels for. A fact that she wouldn’t admit to anyone except her best friend Barbara Holland, and that was only because the redhead had figured it out before she had.

"Yeah," agreed Dustin. "She's turning into a real jerk."

"She's always been a real jerk." Mike argued.

Cat shook her head. “Not true. We used to be able to have conversations that didn’t always involve talking about her boyfriend.”

"Exactly.” Dustin agreed. “She used to be cool. Like that time both she and Kit dressed up as elves for our Elder tree campaign."

"I told you never to speak of that again." Cat muttered as she started to cycle to the end of the Wheeler's driveway.

"That was four years ago!" Mike called out as the boys began to follow Cat down the drive.

"Just saying." Dustin called back as he cycled after his sister, who was now cycling quite fast down the road.

"Later." Lucas called back to Mike with a wave as he disappeared down the hill.

***

The three boys and Cat had been cycling for a short while before they approached Lucas' house. "Good night, ladies. And older Henderson." He called, starting to turn into his driveway.

"Kiss your mom 'night for me." Dustin called to him as they continued to cycle down the road. "Race you back to our house?" He asked Will. "Winner gets a comic."

"Any comic?" Will asked.

"Yeah." Dustin confirmed and the two boys began racing on their bikes down the street.

"You know I could just buy you both one?" Cat called to them, but she didn't get an answer and she began cycling faster to catch up to the two boys she was meant to be looking after.

She cycled as fast as she could down the hill, catching up to Will who was winning the race.

"You sure you don't want me to cycle with you to make sure you get home safely?" She asked him, slightly out of breath from the cycling.

"No thanks, Cat. I think I'll be fine." Will told her.

Cat nodded. "Okay then. Be safe." She called out to him as she stopped her bike next to her family's mailbox. She watched him cycle away, waiting for Dustin to catch up with her before the siblings walked their bikes down the driveway.

***

The next morning, Cat awoke with a bad feeling in her stomach. Deciding that it was probably just irrational anxiety about the upcoming school day, she decided to ignore it and instead just get ready for the day. She threw on a black and white stripped t-shirt and a pair of overalls that she had painted yellow stars onto the front of. Grabbing her toothbrush from the bathroom, she hurriedly squeezed toothpaste on it before shoving it in her mouth to brush her teeth. As she started brushing her teeth, she ran back out of the bathroom and ran down the stairs to the phone. She grabbed the phone off the wall and dialled, pacing back and forth while she waited for the other end to pick up. After a couple of rings, the person at the other end of the phone picked up.

"Jonathan!" Cat greeted her friend down the phone, although you could barely make out what she was saying as her toothbrush was still in her mouth.

"Hey, Cat. What's up? That is you, right?" He asked through the receiver.

Cat ran over to the sink to spit the toothpaste out of her mouth, phone still in hand before she answered. "Yes, it is me. Sorry." She placed her toothbrush next to the sink and begun to run the tap. "For the record, I was brushing my teeth. Also," She stopped running the tap and picked an apple from the fruit bowl, taking a bite from it. "Am I cycling to yours this morning?"

"Yeah sure. I'll give you a lift to school from mine, like usual."

"Sweet. I'll see you soon Byers."

"See you soon, Henderson."

Cat hung up the phone, took another couple of bites from her apple before throwing it in the trash and running back upstairs to her room so she could get her shoes. She grabbed her trainers, shoving her feet into them as quickly as she possibly could before running back out of her room, calling out a goodbye to Dustin and her mom. She shut the front door behind her and hopped onto her bike before racing down the street to the Byers's house, not noticing the porch lights flickering on and off behind her.

***

Roughly twenty minutes later, Cat reached the Byers' house and hopped off her bike. She leaned it against the wall next to the door. Her fingers pushed the doorbell, signalling her arrival. "Its open," called a voice from inside the house, which Catherine recognised as Jonathan's. She pushed open the door and saw her friend standing in the kitchen cooking breakfast.

"Well, that smells nice. What 'cha making?"

Jonathan turned around and smiled at his friend who had perched herself on the kitchen counter next to the back door. He was about to reply when Joyce Byers' voice rang through the house. "Where the hell are they?"

Cat looked at Jonathan in confusion. "Keys." He simply said and Cat nodded her head in understanding.

"Jonathan?" Joyce called out from the living room.

"Check the couch!" He suggested.

"Ugh, I did." It was silent for a moment before Joyce announced that she'd found her keys. She walked into the kitchen just as Jonathan started dishing up the breakfast he had made.

"Hi Mrs. Byers." Cat greeted.

"Oh, hi Catherine. I didn't hear you come in." Joyce walked over to the teen and gave her a hug. "And call me Joyce. You practically live here, anyway, might as well call me 'mom'." She chuckled and Cat let out a short laugh.

Joyce picked her bag up from the table, saying goodbye to her eldest. "Okay, sweetie, I will see you tonight."

"Yeah, see you later."

Joyce went to leave but stopped, realising that Will wasn't in the kitchen. "Where's Will?"

"Oh, I didn't get him up yet." Jonathan turned around to face his mom. "He's probably still sleeping."

Joyce sighed. "Jonathan, you have to make sure he's up!" She stressed.

"Mom, I'm making breakfast."

Joyce shook her head and walked off down the hall towards Will's room. "I told you this a thousand times." Cat heard Joyce say, "Will! Come on, honey. It's time to get up."

"I think it was pretty late when they left last night so he's probably still really tired. I think Dustin was, although I didn't really see him before I rushed out of the house this morning." Cat told Jonathan, raising her voice a little so Joyce could hear her too.

Joyce walked back down the hall to the kitchen. "He came home last night, right?"

"He's not in his room?" Jonathan asked.

"Did he come home or not?" Joyce asked her son.

"I don't know." He replied, placing the plates on the table.

"You don't know?"

"No." Jonathan stammered. "I got home late. I was working."

"You were working?"

"Eric asked if I could cover. I said yeah. I just thought we could use the extra cash."

"Jonathan, we've talked about this." Joyce told him.

"I know, I know."

"You should have called me. I wouldn't have minded babysitting him until you guys got back." Cat spoke up, quietly so as to not involve herself in the arguing.

"You can't take shifts when I'm working." Joyce continued at Jonathan. "Or at least ring Catherine and ask her to babysit. She wouldn't mind." She gestured in the direction of the girl.

"I honestly don't mind looking after Will. Or any of the boys, really." Cat added.

"Mom, it's not a big deal. Look, he was at the Wheeler's all day. I'm sure he stayed over."

Both looked over to Catherine who was still sat on their kitchen counter. “Um, well, not to my knowledge. I cycled with them all home. I even asked Will if he wanted me to cycle back with him to make sure he was okay. He didn't want me to, said he would be fine. But maybe he came back here and grabbed some stuff and headed back to the Wheeler's for the night." She shrugged. "I didn't see his bike outside this morning."

Joyce sighed. "I can't believe you." She mumbled; the words aimed at her Jonathan. She walked over to the phone and dialled the number for the Wheeler household.

Cat had another thought. "Or maybe he left extra early this morning and that's why I didn't see his bike out front." Jonathan shrugged in reply as Joyce started speaking into the phone.

"Hi, Karen. It's Joyce." There was silence for a moment as Karen Wheeler spoke on the other end of the phone. "Was that Will I heard back there?" She asked. "Will didn't spend the night?" She was starting to sound worried. Cat shared a look with Jonathan as if to say, 'I told you so'. "Um, you know what? I think he just left early for... for school."

Catherine threw her hands up in the air as she whispered to Jonathan, "That's exactly what I suggested." Joyce thanked Karen and hung up the phone. She looked really worried.

"I'm really sorry Joyce." Cat hopped off the counter and walked over to the woman to give her a hug. "If I'd just have followed him back here, you would know where he is."

Joyce wrapped her arms around the teenager, "It's okay. We'll find him. It isn't your fault."

Cat pulled away from the hug and looked at the clock. "Shit. I've got to go. Jonathan, are you still able to give me a lift today? I mean I could always cycle to school today. Or... or I could stay and help you look for Will?"

"You get to school dear." Joyce told her. "I'm sure if Jonathan drove you, you'd get there in time."

Jonathan nodded his head, grabbing his car keys and headed outside to his car, telling his mum that he'd be back soon.

"I'll come by after school. I'm sure Will's fine. He's got to be." Catherine gave Joyce one more reassuring hug before rushing outside and jumping into the passenger seat next to Jonathan. She pushed down any guilt that started to bubble up. She should have insisted on walking Will home, then they'd know where he was.

***

A little while later, Jonathan’s car pulled to a stop in the carpark outside Hawkin’s High. Catherine’s hand hovered over the door handle as she undid her seatbelt. “Thanks for giving me a lift, Jonathan. You didn’t have to. I know you’ve got a lot going on today.” She grabbed hold of her bag from between her feet, pushing the door open slightly.

“It’s no problem, honestly. Besides, it’s our routine and I was gonna drive into town anyway.”

Cat hummed, pushing the car door open further and placing one foot on the tarmac. “I take it you’re not coming into school today.” She turned her head to look at him and the boy shook his head. “Well, I’ll pass on any work that you miss.”

Jonathan smiled at her. “Thanks, Cat.”

Catherine nodded at him. “No problem.” She gathered her belongings into her arms and stepped out into the chilly November air.

“Hey, do you need a home this evening?” Jonathan called, just as she was about to shut the door.

“Oh shit, I left my bike at yours.” Cat sighed. “Yeah, I probably will. But if you can’t, I’ll get the bus. See you later Byers.” She waved with her free hand as she slammed the car door shut.

"See you later Henderson." Jonathan called, sending her a wave as he drove off.

Catherine took a moment to herself before she turned and began heading into the school. Spotting Nancy just a few feet in front of her, she called out for her friend. "Hey, Wheeler!" She called, shoving past people in order to reach the girl. "Hey, Nancy! Wait up!”

Nancy finally heard her and stopped walking, turning around to face Cat. "Oh, hey Cat. I didn't see you."

"Or hear me, apparently.” Cat chuckled.

Before either of the two could say anything else, Barbara fell in line with the two of them and began walking on Nancy’s other side. "So, did he call?" She asked.

"Did who call?" Cat asked them, not understanding.

"Steve. And keep your voice down, Barb."

 “Ah, yes. Of course, Steve.” She sighed, rolling her eyes. When were they not talking about Nancy's significant other, Catherine's ex-best friend and secret crush?

"Did he?" Barbara asked, nudging Nancy’s arm.

"Yeah, Nancy, did your pretty little boyfriend call?" Cat asked, clearly mocking the girl. She didn't mean to, but it was becoming annoying with how often Nancy talked about Steve Harrington.

"I told you, it's not like that." Barbara gave Nancy a look, knowing she was lying. "Okay, I mean, yes, he likes me, but not like that."

"Then like what? How does he like you if it's not 'like that'?" Cat asked. "I've seen him look at you and it's very clear how much he likes you."

The three girls approached Nancy's locker. "We just... made out a couple times." Nancy told the two other girls as she opened her locker. Catherine leaned on the locker next to Nancy's, watching her friends.

"'We just... made out a couple times.'" Barbara mocked Nancy, using a dreamy voice. "Nance, seriously, you're gonna be so cool now, it's ridiculous."

"No, I'm not." Nancy disagreed.

"You are. You totally are, Wheeler." Cat told her, looking completely bored as she leaned on the locker next to her friend’s.

"You better still hang out with us, that's all I'm saying."

Cat nodded her head. “Yeah, I can’t afford to lose another friend to the popular asshole clique.” She half joked.

"If you become friends with Tommy H. or Carol-" Barb started, being quickly cut off by Nancy.

Nancy shook her head, waving her hand at the pair. "Oh, that's gross. Okay, I'm telling you, it was a one-time..." Both girls raised their eyebrows at Nancy. "Two-time thing."

Cat rolled her eyes as she watched Nancy pull a note out of her locker. "What's that you got there, Wheeler?" She teased.

Both Barbara and Cat leant over their friend’s shoulder to read the scrawny handwriting: “Meet me. Bathroom. -Steve.”

“You were saying?” Barbara asked, a hint of sarcasm in her voice. She smiled teasingly at the small blush forming on Nancy’s cheeks.

Catherine excused herself from the two girls. "I've got to go. See you two later." She couldn't help it, she couldn't help the feeling of jealousy that was bubbling up inside her. She hated it. She hated how jealous she was because Nancy got to date Steve Harrington, the guy Cat had been practically in love with since they started high school (even if he did dump her for popularity). It was ridiculous, feeling like this when her friend was just simply being happy. But, Nancy was getting a better status while Cat was still being picked on and bullied by everyone else except her three friends- Jonathan, Barbara and Nancy. And though Steve wasn’t one of the people that picked on her, he didn’t exactly stop his friends who did. Hell, most days he didn’t even acknowledge her existence.

Cat pushed her way through the crowds of students to the bathroom on the opposite side of the school, not wanting to be anywhere near where Nancy was meeting Steve. She shoved open the door to the stall furthest from the entrance and sunk down to the floor. She locked the door before burying her face in her knees, forcing herself to not let the tears fall from her eyes. They would be stupid tears anyway. It’s not like Nancy knew of her crush on Steve, the poor girl wasn’t doing anything wrong. She was simply going after a boy she liked, and Cat was trying so hard to be supportive of her friend, but she couldn’t sit through any more conversations that circled back to being about Steve. It was becoming too much.

But the tears began to fall anyway, and pretty quickly she found herself crying in the girls’ toilet. Her thoughts drifted to poor, small Will Byers and she couldn’t help but feel guilty for his disappearance. She was supposed to have cycled him home. That was her job as the group’s unofficial babysitter. But she let him cycle home on his own against her better judgement, and now his family didn’t know where he was. How could she visit their house again, how could she show her face to the Byers knowing it was her fault that Will wasn’t there with them.

She let the tears fall until the bell rang to signal the second period of the day. She ripped off some of the toilet paper, making sure to wipe both her eyes and her nose, before picking herself up off the floor. “Pull yourself together.” She whispered to herself, hand hovering over the door handle. “There’s no need to be jealous of Nancy. They’re gonna find Will. He’s gonna come home. They’ll find him.” She repeated the last phrase in her head over and over as she unlocked the stall door and washed her hands. “Everything’s gonna be okay.”

***

“Ah, man. This is it.” Lucas sighed as the cycled down the hill towards the woods. After being pestered by the boys once they’d all arrived home from school, Catherine had agreed to come out and help them look for Will. It didn’t take much to get her to agree to help. The guilt was beginning to eat her up inside and she didn’t want any of the other boys to disappear while looking for their friend, especially not her brother. It would kill her. The only problem was that she had unfortunately forgotten to grab a jacket before Dustin had dragged her out of the house to meet the other two outside Mike’s house.

They came to a stop at the edge of the woods where there was a piece of police tape strung between the trees. Cat let out a sigh as she dismounted her old bike. "You three stay close. Okay? I'm not having any more of you kids going missing. Not while I'm around. You got it?" They all nodded. "Especially you Dustin.” She pointed to her younger brother. “Mom would kill me."

Dustin nodded his head at her, jumping off his own bike. "Hey, guys. You feel that?" He asked the others as thunder rumbled in the distance. "I think maybe we should go back."

"No." Mike said, determined to find their friend. "We're not going back. Just stay close, like Cat said. Come on. Just stay on channel six. Don’t do anything stupid." He parked his bike before starting to walk through the forest and the rest followed, leaving their bikes behind.

"Hey, Mike." Cat called out to him after a few minutes. "Did Nancy have any plans tonight? It's just, she rarely hangs out with me outside school anymore."

The younger Wheeler shrugged his shoulders, glancing back at her. "Um, all I know was that I saw Steve climbing through her window when I left." Cat couldn’t help the frustrated sigh that left her lips.

"Do you have a crush on him, or something?" Lucas questioned her. She simply rolled her eyes at him, deciding to give a verbal response.

"Kit's like totally in love with him." Dustin blurted out.

"I'm gonna kill you, Dustin." Cat muttered angrily, shaking her head disappointedly at him.

Mike pulled a face of disgust as he looked over to her. "You're in love with Steve Harrington? He's an asshole." He pointed out to her, rolling his eyes.

Catherine sighed softly. “Yeah, I know. I know he is.” She turned sharply towards her brother. “Dustin, you are so dead for telling them. That was a secret.”

"How was I meant to know it was a secret?!" Dustin argued back to her. “You never specified!” The two siblings began to bicker as the group walked further into the forest.

***

The rain had begun to fall a lot harder with the sound of thunder growing louder the deeper they walked into the woods. Drenched head to toe, Cat was cursing herself for forgetting to wear her coat. With each step the group took, they yelled out the name of their friend. And the more that their voices echoed around the dark trees, the more the that Cat’s worry grew.

"Guys, I really think we should turn back." Dustin spoke up after a while of finding no sign of Will.

Cat nodded her head, wiping drops of rain from her face. "I agree. It's not safe out here." She wrapped her arms around herself in hopes that she would be slightly less cold. She wasn’t.

"Seriously, Hendersons?" Lucas snapped at the siblings, annoyed they were already willing to give up their search. "You wanna be a baby, then go home already!"

"We're just being realistic, Lucas!" Dustin yelled back while Cat simply scowled at the younger boy.

"No, you're just being a big sissy!" Lucas shot back.

“No! You’re not being realistic, Lucas. It’s dark and it’s beginning to storm.” Cat shouted over the noise of the rain and thunder. “We’re not gonna have a good chance of finding Will like this. There’s more chance of us ending up like Will than finding him by wandering around the woods at night!” She stressed to him.

"Do you ever think Will went missing because he ran into something bad?" Dustin asked them out of the blue.

"Don't say that. God, please, just don't suggest that." Catherine pleaded, hoping that wasn't the case and he was just seriously lost. She didn't think she could live with her herself if something seriously bad had happened to him. If only she'd just insisted to walk him all the way home... She leant her back against a nearby tree, holding her head in her hands.

"And we're going to the exact same spot where he was last seen?" Dustin continued.

“This is a bad idea.” Cat muttered into her hands, shaking her head. “This is the worst idea any of you have ever had.” She straightened herself, grabbing hold of Lucas’ arm and beginning to turn around with the intention of heading back to where they’d left their bikes.

"Henderson, what the fuck are you doing?" Lucas shouted, yanking his arm out of her hold.

"I'm taking you guys back. And you're all going to go home." She ran a hand through her sopping wet hair. "I knew this was a bad idea. God, why didn't I stop you three? Why didn't I just cycle home with Will and made sure he got home alright? Ugh, this is all my fault. This is all my fault."

"May I remind you that we have no weapons, or anything. At all." Dustin pointed out as the boys ignored Catherine’s demanded to turn back.

"Dustin, shut up." Mike said to the curly haired boy as they continued to walk further into the woods.

"I'm just saying, does that seem smart to you?"

"Dustin’s right. This isn’t smart.” Cat voiced her opinion. “Why don’t we come back in the morning when it’s light out and hopefully not raining. Or, you know, let the police do their jobs and look for Will themselves.” She shrugged her shoulders sarcastically.

"Shut up. Shut up." The group finally stopped bickering and they heard what Mike had been trying to listen for. Somewhere nearby was the rustling of leaves. “Do you guys hear that?" More rustling could be heard, and the group quickly pointed their torches at the trees. Cat stood in front of the boys to make sure whatever was near them couldn't harm them. There was more rustling, and the group sharply turned to their right to see a girl stood in a long, drenched t-shirt, eyes wide with fear. At least, she looked like a girl- it was difficult to tell between the dim light and her shaved head.

[theladyrebecca2]

mike's tyrantrum is 100% called roary

(and he's friends with will's aurorus, stompy)

lucas and will walk boltrund and arcanine together every day

dustin's slugma and sligoo are besties, do not separate

likewise with lucas' totodile and max's krookodile (both menaces)

max's purrloin and fennekin perch on each shoulder

other serial perchers include el's tiny pumpkaboo and dustin's rowlet (usually on top of his cap)

mike's snivy is the smuggest bitch ever and has an epic rivalry with max's purrloin (both vain boys)

el's meganium is like a mother hen who breaks up all the fights

will's shiny dragonite is super sweet and lets smeargle graffiti on him because he's already green

smeargle tried to paint snivy once too. only once

el's mimikyu and will's mismagius love to scare people together

dustin's ampharos is the most powerful of all. don't mess with her

max's flareon and lucas' vaporeon recently hatched an egg... they gifted it to erica, who now has a baby eevee ♥

[eddiesblklvr]

am i wrong or is hating eddie over this petty ass shit crazy like??

“that’s what he gets for speakin on lucas” you can’t be fr 😭

like eddie doesn’t like the basketball team anyway because they literally bully him?? you think he finna postpone his campaign for a basketball game? in his eyes it’s like “oh lucas chose being popular over us that’s crazy.” (hints the “taken by the dark side”)

you can’t tell me you wouldn’t think like that too especially if you were being treated like how they treated eddie 😐

(someone else said it could be eddie just simply wanting lucas to do what he wants to do and tbh that makes sense too.)

no other group would’ve postponed just because one person missed it so eddie shouldn’t have to either. like he literally makes the rules anyway it’s his group 😭

[dheelan]

I want they're friendship back there such a good duo

[orbi29]

ok ik this is a dead blog but yeah i have a miraculous ladybug x stranger things au that ive been working on with a friend :D i have designs for will(mr.luck), mike(catwalker), lucas(chronoviper), dustin(plastron), max(vixen), eddie(sabertooth) and nancy(bunny miraculous holder i havent given a name for her atm) yeah thats my ted talk see you after another year lol