#like there’s only so much Steve & Eddie get to be privy to

[loveinhawkins]

I’m a little obsessed with the fact Nancy didn’t tell Murray she was held at gunpoint but told him enough about Eddie and Steve that he was able to correctly suss out the Thing they’ve got going on.

references the current latest chapter of nothing but the dead and dying

no but i died laughing reading this, i always love hearing your thoughts ❤️

the summary of their phone calls together is pretty much a very stressed Nancy repeatedly asking for updates on Murray’s leaking/cover stories. & Murray is like, “I’m handling it. Please relax. Like. Are you okay?” & Nancy is just “oh I’m fine :)” because if she pushes everything down into a little box & doesn’t address it, then it is fine, honest.

then for some relatively light relief she’s like, “anyway, do you want to hear about Eddie and Steve?”

Murray, who’s been following any little mention of “Steve Harrington” like he’s his favourite minor recurring character in a soap opera, & can absolutely tell some new Character Development is coming: “oh, do tell.” 🍿

[lexirosewrites]

Hey I’m the person that did the asmr/twitch steddie last time, and while I’m nervous to be off anon, I feel like you deserve nice things so I hope this one’s okay and that you enjoy it! Also I am not a good writer so please excuse any grammatical mistakes <3

Nerdy omega Steve that isn’t nerdy in the tech sense or even the book sense. No, Steve loves antiques and oddities to the point that he knows an absurd amount of history and facts about different eras from his research. It’s something he’s always been able to easily hide from the rest of the pack considering it’s not something that really comes up. The only one who even slightly knows is Robin, but even she isn’t privy to the extent of his interests. So when basically everyone has left Hawkins besides himself and Wayne, Steve decided that Roan county could use their own oddities and antique shop. He has more money he could ever imagine with the government payouts, so why not do something he’s actually interested in. This turns into him asking Wayne if he’d like to work at the store so that someone can be there while he’s out collecting and curating items for the shop.

Years go by and the store is actually really popular at this point, like hear about it in Chicago popular. Which is exactly how Eddie and Robin, who decided to live together in the Windy City, hear of it. They haven’t been back to Hawkins since they left, with Steve and Wayne coming out to visit them instead every time. Now however they are too intrigued to not make the visit, so on a whim they road trip back for the weekend, and to see if the rumors of a mysterious shop with an elusive and spellbinding omega owner are true. What a shock they get when they pull up to see Wayne sitting at the counter through the window reading a book. Despite their disbelief and quick work to get inside, the two alphas are floored when they finally walk into the shop. It’s absolutely beautiful, like it came out of a museum but without the stuffy feeling of one. And the smell, god the smell was so good, like old books, vanilla cinnamon with a hint of citrus. The smell definitely wasn’t Wayne’s calming soft lavender beta scent, but his scent also paired well with the other scents in the room. Amusement glinted in Wayne’s eyes only for him to start out right cackling at their faces when Steve comes out of the back dressed like an omega from the 1800’s.

Wearing a beautiful butter yellow floor length skirt his hair now grown out and pinned up, glasses askew on his face, Steve is too preoccupied with the small jar in his hands to realize his friends presence right away. After placing his jar, Steve finally glances up to see what’s got Wayne in such a state only to be so outwardly pleased that the smell in the room doubles. Eddie having been completely unaware of Steve’s designation is gobsmacked; Steve wearing blockers and his lack of talking about a heat or rut had him assuming he was just a beta. (Not that he wouldn’t have dated him either way but most betas prefer to stay with betas so he just assumed there would be no point). They spend the rest of their weekend trip getting filled in on all the ins and outs of the shop, how much of a success it’s been and how on the way Steve may have accidentally become the most sought after omega in the county. This seems to be a big hit on the head for Eddie making him rethink his hometown all together. Soon enough plans are made for him to start his own tattoo shop in Muncie now that he’s been in the industry for a few years.

After moving back and spending all of his extra time together with Steve and Wayne, Eddie finally gets the guts to ask Steve to court him. But of course he can’t do it like any other shlub, no it’s gotta be special. So he prepares and plans as close as possible to a historically accurate courting, the gifts, the gestures, the chaperoning, absolutely everything is tailored for Steve. Of course Steve was already head over heels for Eddie, but this was just the icing on top of it all. It takes a full year for the courtship to end. Which it does spectacularly, with a fantasy themed bonding ceremony in the spring. They are as happy as could be and both exited to finally start building their own little (it won’t be little but don’t tell them) pack together.

-💖🦇

oh this is so cute!!!🥺💕 steve and his dorky hyperfixation becoming his life and eddie happy to partake in order to be the alpha he deserves!! this is so beautiful, thank you for sharing with us!

[apomaro-mellow]

Scoops Troop dnd post

When Steve started dating Eddie, he was sure that meant everything would be out in the open. What secrets did they have left after that? Eddie already knew about the monsters and the Upside Down. Now he knew that Steve liked guys and was attracted to him specifically. There wasn’t much after all that.

“So you’re gonna tell your boyfriend about your secret hobby too?”, Erica asked one day when he picked her up from school.

“Dammit.”

Because that was a secret privy to only three other people. After the entire ordeal with the Russians in the mall, Dustin had officially sucked them into Dungeons and Dragons. First Erica, and then, somehow he and Robin. Steve still wasn’t sure if the drugs had been entirely out of his system then.

But the fact remained. Steve Harrington played DnD. And he did so with a band geek, a known nerd, and a middle schooler. So sue him if he wanted to keep that on the down low. Even as he came around to his feelings for Eddie, he didn’t want to bring it up. If Eddie knew, one of two things would happen. One, he’d accept Steve into nerdom with only the minimal amount of smugness and then invite him to the Hellfire campaigns. The problem with that was that Steve liked the little low stakes campaigns he did with Dustin, Erica, and Robin. He didn’t have to impress his expert boyfriend or the club members who would be scrutinizing every move he made. Or Mike. Not dealing with Mike was also a plus.

Or two, Eddie would absolutely be offended that Steve kept this from him and would rather have a little girl for his DM. Eddie had come to respect Erica’s style of play and rebellious attitude, but only when it wasn’t directed at him.

The more Steve thought about it, the more he convinced himself it was better Eddie didn’t know. It helped that never in a million years did Eddie think he’d be into it. Certainly not enough to sneak off and do it.

But while Eddie would never suspect a tabletop game, he would come to suspect other things.

When Steve gave sketchy answers about where he was going or where he’d been. When he woke up early after a night spent at Eddie’s and said he absolutely had to go. Something to do with his parents. But later on Nancy had confirmed that said parents were still out of town.

Eddie didn’t like assuming. But this whole relationship thing was still new. And he knew this type was new for Steve too. So could he be judged for having some suspicions?

Things came to a head when Steve called, saying he was going to be late for their date.

“Are you still at home?”, Eddie had asked. “Primping takin’ you that long, Stevie?”

“Haha, funny. But actually, Iiiii’m helping Dustin with his homework. So it’s gonna be at least another....”, he paused, like he was waiting for something. “Another half hour. Sorry, babe.”

“No need for apologies. Academics first, that’s what I always say.” Eddie commended how even his voice was. It wasn’t until the call ended that he began gesturing wildly and ranting while searching for his keys.

Helping Dustin with homework?! He couldn’t come up with a better excuse than that?! Steve was fucking someone behind his back and he was going to find out who.

“Helping me with my homework? Really Steve?”, Dustin derided from the kitchen table.

“I know, it was stupid. So let’s finish this up before he gets suspicious.”

Erica snorted. “If you roll for that perception, you’re at a loss.”

“Yeah, you’d think you’dve gotten better at lying at this point”, Robin added on.

“Game is continuing now. You guys have already made me late”, Steve said as he sat down.

They started again and even though they meant to close it, it kept going on and on until the sound of wheels parking was heard. Steve went to the front window and cussed under his breath.

“It’s Eddie!”, he hissed.

The rest of them did a mad dash to clean up the table while making the least noise possible. Steve put on his best ‘innocent face’ when he heard the pounding of the front door.

“Eddie! I thought I was coming to pick you up? Couldn’t be patient for me, huh?”

“Cut the bullcrap, Harrington. Where are they?”, Eddie asked.

“They? They who?”, Steve asked as his boyfriend pushed his way into the house.

“Whoever it is you’ve got here. Did you think I was an idiot?”

“No, Eddie listen. I-”

“Was it funny? Pulling the wool over my eyes for this long?”

“Eddie this wasn’t about tricking you. This was about, just, you know, blowing off some steam.”

For a moment, Eddie didn’t speak, just made faces and gestures as he tried to process this. “Is it Nancy? Huh? Or Jonathan? Or is it someone you pulled off the street?”

Steve raised a brow. “Nancy wouldn’t really go for it, I don’t think. And Jonathan...I don’t really know. I never thought about it.”

“It’s typically not the kind of thing you think about Steve.”

“So you’ve never thought of doing something like this with Wayne?”

“WITH WAYNE?!?”

There was the sound of movement in the kitchen. A breath and a clattering. Eddie was moving before Steve could speak, determined to find the hussy, only to nearly trip on some dice and come face to face with the three hideaways under the table.

Moving slowly, Eddie picked up the dice and examined it. Then his eyes went over to the notes that hadn’t been moved from the table. Then he slowly turned towards Steve.

“It appears I’ve made an ass of myself.”

“Huh?”

“But I’m not the only one. Because while I thought you were cheating on me, it turns out you were doing something even more scandalous.”

“Eddie I-wait, you thought I was cheating on you?!”

“Can we get from under the table now that the jig is up?”, Erica complained.

The three of them removed themselves with a groan while Eddie was looking at his boyfriend with new eyes.

“You play?”

Steve nodded.

“And you kept it from me?”

Steve nodded again.

“I think I made the right assumptions, given the information I had”, Eddie said. “Because you were in fact cheating on me. Just not sexually.”

“Eddie, I’m sorry. I didn’t know how to tell you.”

“You can’t just be mad at him”, Dustin said. “We kept it from you too.”

Robin balked. “Speak for yourself. I’ve been saying the whole time that Eddie should know.”

“I think all can be forgiven one one condition”, Eddie said, holding up his index finger. “And that is that my baby comes to Hellfire for an entire month.”

Steve let out a small breath of relief. That wasn’t so bad. Barely even a punishment really. But then Eddie sauntered over to him and whispered into his ear.

“And you’ll be in my lap the whole time.”

Because even if Eddie had gotten the wrong notion, it wasn’t a bad idea to remind Steve who he belonged to.

[xzerosparrowx]

Another little excerpt from the Steddie 'be gay do crimes' WIP. In this fic Eddie still lives with his parents. In this excerpt, Steve and Eddie finally meet. -

A loud whistle cuts through the noise, the music stopping abruptly as the attention moves to the dining room. Standing on the large, dark wood table is a guy; light brunette hair stylishly swooped back, broad shoulders against a maroon and blue sweater, and a smile that is equal parts cocky and charming. The guy- the man, holds a champagne bottle in his hand, dangling it by his side as he waits for the house to fill with silence. 

“Friends. Exes. Acquaintances,” he greets, voice low and cheeky, earning a laugh from the crowd, “this party was hell to plan. A lot of sneaking and scheming to get my parents out of the house.” Another laugh, like an inside joke that Eddie isn’t privy to. 

“But I have persevered!” the man smiles at the cheer and applause that erupts. It feels surreal, like a movie, to be in the presence of someone who holds so much attention, who effortlessly commands it. 

“And now we’re celebrating my twenty-second birthday!” For a second the man’s gaze falls on Eddie, he can feel the weight of it on his skin, in the pit of his stomach. For a second the whole world tunnels. For a second the whole world had its eyes on Eddie. 

Fucking hell he needs to get laid. 

“Happy birthday!” The crowd cheers in response and then the man pops the bottle of champagne, alcohol spilling from its neck. He drinks it from the bottle, the crowd cheering as he chugs nearly half of it. 

The party resumes with a renewed vigour, the music playing even louder, and Eddie watches the man jump off the table into a throng of boys and girls, passing around the bottle of champagne. The boy is beautiful, magnetic like a movie star and Eddie has to make a concerted effort to tear his eyes away from him. Cannot be caught staring at a boy.

Eddie eyes the crowd that’s slowly dissipating, searching for Jonathan’s dirty blonde hair and finds nothing. Maybe Jonathan isn’t here, which is just Eddie’s fucking luck, being at a party that he was barely invited to only for the only person he would know to bail last minute. It is a slow, horrible realisation when it finally dawns on him how utterly out of place he is in this house, amongst the rich kids of Chicago. It makes something in his skin itch, a sudden urge to snark and bite at everyone around him. A rabid mutt in a park full of pedigrees.

Jesus, he should have brought his lunchbox. The beer isn’t doing enough, he needs a goddamn joint. 

He walks out to the patio where people are either smoking or taking off their clothes to jump into the massive pool a few feet away. The music is muffled where he stands, his back to the kitchen windows, leaning against the wooden bannisters overlooking the pool that glows blue. He lights up his joint and relaxes into it, sucking in as much as his lungs can hold before releasing. 

“Hey,” Eddie jumps at the voice beside him, nearly dropping his joint into the bushes below, twisting his head to see swooped brunette hair and large, bambi eyes staring straight at him. Fucking hell. 

“I don’t remember inviting anyone like you to my party,” the man slurs, a lopsided smile on his face, swaying where he stands. Normally, Eddie would bristle at that, get the guy to explain what he means by “anyone like you,” but he watches the man hold the bannister for support, still smiling at Eddie and he just can’t seem to get the anger and bitterness to rise up. Sue him, the guy is cute.

“Yeah, you didn’t,” Eddie shrugs, bringing his joint back to his lips and catches the way the man’s gaze follows it.

“What’s your name?” the man asks, taking just a tiny step forward. They’re not too close, if anyone looked through the kitchen window it would just look like two friends having a nice chat outside, but Eddie can smell expensive cologne, can almost feel the heat radiating off this very drunk, very handsome man.

“Eddie, yours?” 

The man smiles wide, a genuine geeky sort of thing that someone cool rarely makes, “I’m Ste-eeeee,” the man hunches over the bannister, vomit spilling onto the bushes below.   

It is automatic, the way Eddie cares for drunk people. An expert at it by the time he was thirteen, getting home from school and caring for his parents passed out on the living room floor. He is immediately by the man’s side, a hand rubbing circles into his back before he even realises that some men don’t like it when other guys touch them.

“Don’t sto-oooo” another awful retching, “it feels nice,” the man groans, spitting out remnants of bile, and Eddie resumes rubbing soothing circles.

“I was about to congratulate you on not immediately chucking up that half bottle of champagne you downed,” Eddie chuckles, taking another hit off his joint, ”but it seems pointless now.”

“Ugh, so mean to me on my birthday,” Ste-something whines to the bushes, “I’m not as drunk as I look,” he continues, wiping his mouth with his back of hand and straightening himself up, he still sways but his eyes are bright and alert, “champagne just makes me wanna hurl a bunch.”

“Then why drink it?”

“I did it once when I was eighteen and now it’s like tradition or something. If you go to a Steve Harrington party, then at some point a bottle of champagne will be opened.”

[imfinereallyy]

Am I a Taylor swift girlie? No. Cannot I not resist the swiftification of steddie because of this post? Also yes. This is for all the swifties and @harringtonisms who inspired this post.

“You know, there was a brief moment where I thought about proposing to Nancy.”

Eddie almost chokes on his beer, and Steve has to lean over to pat his back. Steve can’t help but feel a little bad for startling him.

“Excuse me, what?” Eddie turns his head to Steve, finally calmed down. Steve thinks the pool lights reflecting off his pale skin makes him look even prettier than usual. It feels unfair.

“Sorry, we’re talking about life and stuff, and it felt natural to bring it up!” Steve shrugs his shoulders, regretting saying anything in the first place.

“I was talking about how we should all move to Indy, and you thought to bring up how you almost proposed to your high school girlfriend at, what? 16?”

“17.”

“Jesus Christ.” Eddie wiped a hand down his face. “The longer we are friends, the more deeply unsettling things I learn about you. Just when I think there can’t be more, boom! You hit me with another thing, Stevie.”

Steve feels himself get prickly, “Hey man, no need to be a dick.”

Eddie’s face softens, “Sorry. Sorry. Took me by surprise. I am a little curious, though. If you’re…still willing to share.”

Steve takes in Eddie for a moment, debating whether to explain. He knows he can trust Eddie. He trusts him with his life, and, more importantly, the kids' lives, and he knows most of Steve’s secrets. And Steve looks at Eddie, like really looks at him, and knows that even though he will make fun of him, he won’t judge him.

Steve is starting to learn the difference.

“The summer between my junior and senior year, things with me and Nance started to turn sour. Right after the first round of the Upside Down, we broke up for like two weeks. I hadn’t known at the time, but I think it was because she was waiting for Jonathan to make a move.”

“Shit dude, that sucks.”

“It’s fine. Stupid high school love triangle. Felt like the end of the world at the time. The irony is not lost on me.” Steve pats around his pockets for his cigarettes. The one secret Eddie is privy to that Robin is not. He only does it when he is stressed or drinking, and now he is exposed to both.

Steve puts one in his mouth and lights up; he motions the pack to Eddie in offering. “Thanks, man.” Eddie takes the cigarette and leans into Steve, the motion familiar, almost routine. Like Eddie knows he shouldn’t bother to ask for the light, that Steve will do it for him.

Steve flicks the lighter open while Eddie cups his hands. Steve doesn’t move away when Eddie blows smoke in his face. Steve will take it. He wants desperately to take it directly from his lips, exhale the taste of menthol and Eddie’s tongue, but he can’t. So he’ll take this.

“So summer it turned sour?”

Steve clears his throat, leans back a little but doesn’t move away completely. He rests his elbows on his knees. “We got back together after those two weeks, and suddenly it was like Nancy was clinging to me. Well, in the most Nancy way possible, which isn’t much, but for her, it was a lot. It was like she needed to prove to herself she was making the right decisions. When summer came around, though, I think everything settled in for her. The Upside Down, Barb being dead, me being unfit for her.”

Steve takes a drag, “She started criticizing me a lot. Saying I wasn’t committed, telling me I’m unfocused. That I didn’t understand. That I was pushing things aside. It was a bit unfair of her, considering she didn’t really want to talk about things; she didn’t want to explain, she just wanted to do what she wanted. I mean, I can’t really blame her—her best friend died, and it was my fault—“

“Sweetheart,” Eddie tries to cut him off,

“Never mind, off-topic.” Steve waves his cigarette hand in the air. “Anyway, in the summer, I took that as she saw me not committed to her. That I wasn’t focused enough on her, and her wants. Which, in retrospect, probably was naive of me, but I was 17 and madly in love with her. So I thought about proposing. The thought maybe lasted a week, right before school started. I thought, ‘This will show her I care. That I am in this.’ It didn’t seem that crazy to me at the time. I mean my parents got married at 18, had me at 22. It wasn’t exactly out of the normal. I even bought a ring—“

Steve laughs manically for a moment, while Eddie stays silent.

“—which was insane of me. It wasn’t a nice ring, either. I had to use the money I saved from lifeguarding. Which wasn’t much, so it was a dainty little Diamond on a small band that I found in a pawnshop in Bloomington. But like I said, the idea only lasted about a week. Once school started, Nancy got really distant. And my parents came home, and I was reminded about why you shouldn’t get married at 18. So I just let the thought go, kind of. But I held on to the ring, because I think part of me still held on to the idea. And then the ‘bullshit’ incident happened, and well, you know the rest.”

“Jesus, Steve. I’m sorry.” Eddie’s cigarette is almost down to the filter, the ash building up at the end. He barely hit it the entire story.

“Not your fault, Eds. I think she was kind of, right anyway. We weren’t right for each other, and I was more worried about being normal, and moving on that I didn’t let her move on the way she needed. I wasn’t the best, even now. I get it. I…”

“What?” Eddie moves closer, their knees brushing against each other. Steve can’t look him in the eye. “What, Stevie?”

“I wouldn’t marry me either.”

Eddie takes in a sharp breath. The sound cuts through Steve so suddenly he wipes he head up to face Eddie.

When Steve’s eyes meet Eddie’s, he isn’t expecting the tears. He isn’t expecting the softness. He certainly isn’t expecting Eddie to cup Steve’s face with a tenderness he hasn’t known since he was a child. “You don’t really think that do you?”

Steve’s frustrated voice turns into a soft whisper. “Of course I do. Eddie, I wouldn’t want to stick around someone like me. I’m broken beyond repair, and the only thing I would have going for me is money, and it isn’t even mine. Like I said, the ring I bought isn’t even nice.”

“Show me it, trust me, if it’s anything like you, I bet it’s beautiful.”

Steve chokes back a sob, “I pawned it back, actually. Months ago, for Robin’s birthday. I bought her that chunky turquoise ring she wears on her pointer instead.”

Eddie laughs, a small wet one. Steve knows he’s thinking about how often Robin accidentally smacks people in the face with it, but adamantly refuses to take it off. “Good, Buckley deserves pretty things.”

“That’s why I keep telling her to take a shot at Nancy.”

Eddie gives a big laugh this time, his hands still clinging to Steve’s face. The laugh sends vibrations through Steve, making him feel warm and safe.

“That’ll happen, I guarantee it, but it will take ten years. Going to be some rom-com kind of story for them to get it together.” Eddie brushes the hair from Steve’s face. A thumb caresses his cheek. “Steve, I don’t think I’m the best person to unpack all of that. Truly I am a disaster of a human being when it comes to love. But I do know that anyone, and I mean anyone, would be lucky to have you. Nance didn’t see it—or maybe she did and knew she wasn’t right for you. I don’t know. But someday, someone will not just want to marry you, but need to. They are going to want to keep you forever and do their best to accomplish that.”

“I don’t have much, Eddie. I’m just an empty shell, with an empty wallet, going nowhere. Who would choose me?”

Eddie leans back, taking his hands away from Steve’s face. He doesn’t move very far, but he looks up at the sky and whispers, “Oh, Steve. You just don’t see how amazing you are. You don’t need anything for someone to want you.”

Steve doesn’t want to break whatever moment Eddie is having, so all he can manage is a simple, “Yea?”

Eddie looks back at Steve, really looks at him, and says,

“I’d marry you with paper rings.”

Steve breaks a little. In a good way, in a needed way. Like he is breaking himself open to see what’s inside. And inside is this unwavering love for a man who he calls one of his best friends. Steve isn’t sure what to say, really. Eddie’s unwavering stare says he understands. That he doesn’t have to say anything at all.

Steve grabs his empty beer bottle and peels off the label, and starts to roll it and twist it into a tiny circle. He grabs Eddie’s hand and puts the makeshift ring on his finger.

Steve brings their conjoined hands to his mouth and kisses the back of Eddie’s. “Me too.”

***

Sue me, the 10 minute version of All to Well is a masterpiece and it would be silly to not admit it.

also this is unedited…like I wrote this and ran. Thinking about doing another version with the quotes reverse because I have an idea.

[dreamwatch]

STWG daily prompt 07/10/23

Prompt: star

****

It starts in the hospital.

Eddie isn’t really there, at first, in and out of consciousness for the first week or so. But once he’s awake for long enough to hold a conversation he starts asking for the blinds in the room to be open. Always. The nurses keep closing them, but Steve’s been there a couple of times when Eddie’s woken at night to find the blinds closed. Saw how agitated he got. So Steve swings by later and later and makes sure they’re open. He does what he can.

When he comes home, back to a small two bedroom house that they all fought tooth and nail to get for the Munsons, Steve notices the curtains are always open. Living room, kitchen, doesn’t matter. Wayne Munson isn’t over the moon about it, he’s worried about intruders, about people coming for Eddie. The curtains won’t protect them, they all know it won’t put anyone off if they’re determined, but it makes Wayne feel better if they’re closed.

Problem is, it makes Eddie feel better if they’re open.

As he gets better, able to move around on his own, Eddie spends all his time on the porch. Everytime Steve rocks up, dropping a kid off, picking one up, Eddie is outside waiting. 

“Does Eddie ever go inside?” he asks Dustin on the way home one night. Tries to frame it like the  joke they both know it isn’t.

Dustin is silent for a long time, plays with the cuffs on his shirt. Steve knows he’s trying to make things better for Eddie, things have changed. Eddie has changed. But it’s taking it’s toll on Dustin.

“He doesn’t like the dark. He hasn’t really… hasn’t really said that. I’ve just noticed.”

Steve squints as he drives, thinking. “It’s dark outside, though. Like, darker, surely? He sits out there at night, right?”

Dustin nods. “I don’t know what to tell you, Steve. He likes it out there, just stares up at the sky for hours.”

When he’s well enough, Eddie moves to Cincinnati. He needs to get out of Indiana, he says, but it’s only a couple of hours from Wayne. Steve helps him move, not that he brings much with him. He has a little apartment on the edge of the city. Steve assumes it’s because the rent is cheaper, but he doesn’t ask.

The first thing Eddie does is take all the curtains down.

Steve thinks about Eddie a lot. Misses him more than he ever thought possible. They talk on the phone sometimes but Eddie always sounds distant. Lost. 

Robin says she’s ready to try college. She put it off last year, just couldn’t face starting over somewhere, not then. She needed to be close to them, she said when Steve asked her why she didn’t leave. He gets it. Nancy left in the fall, as planned. Jonathan went to the community college a couple of towns over from Hawkins. But Robin needed the closeness. The feeling of safety, familiarity.

“What about Cincinnati?” he asks her.

They don’t move to the same neighbourhood as Eddie. Steve gets the impression that he still needs the space and doesn’t want to spook him, even though he sounds excited that they’re moving close by.

Eddie invites them over, they hug, Robin squeezes him tight, whispers something in his ear that Steve isn’t privy to. But while Eddie has his arms wrapped around Robin, Steve sees them. The tattoos that weren’t there before.

An interlocking sun and moon, surrounded by stars on the inside of his right arm. And a shooting star, a trail of smaller stars in its wake, wrapped around his arm like a vine, moving up under the sleeve of his t shirt. 

Eddie and Robin break and he catches Steve looking at the tattoo. Eddie takes a deep breath.

“They weren’t there,” he say. “It-it makes me feel better, being able to see them. Makes this feel real.”

And Steve nods. Finally understands.

When they move in together a couple of years later, the first thing Steve does is go from room to room, removing all the curtains.

[steviewashere]

The Sound of Silence

Rating: General CW: Internalized Ableism, Quick Mention of the 'R' Word (It's Not Written, Quite Literally as 'R' Word)Tags: Post-Canon, Post-Season 4, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Selectively Mute Steve Harrington, Negative Self Talk, Miscommunication, Mean Eddie Munson (For a Split Second It's Part of the Miscommunication and the Plot), Eddie Munson is a Sweetheart, Neurodivergent Steve Harrington (Implied), Pre-Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson, Eddie Munson Calls Steve Harrington Sweetheart

I should say before this that a lot of Steve's thinking here, a lot of the metaphors and such used, are from personal experience. They are things I think about myself when I'm mute. So be civil and kind about this piece.

💛—————💛

Steve Harrington is a man of few words on most days. He does talk, he loves talking sometimes, has so many things to share. But on a lot of occasions, Steve can’t muster the strength to say hello. Can only make sounds, hums and gasps and subtle clicks. And often times, he hides away when he gets to that point. He’s been like this for as long as he can remember. Though, the first time it happened, he’s not sure what really caused it. Just that something was too much, or he was too little and then it all began. There had been therapists and specialists and urgent care doctors. A lot of conversations between him and his parents that often ended in him being yelled at. Something about him too far left of ‘normal’. And he knew, when the bad stuff came, that part of him may just be this way.

Now, years later, he can put some recognition to what silences him. Sometimes it’s the lack of comfortable sleep the night before. Or it’s the social energy completely drained out of him. Or it’s a particular jab that somebody makes. The raised voice that pushes him over the edge. A nightmare so harsh it rips him of not only the ability to mutter whole sentences, but also the ability to crawl out of bed.

He’s only clarified this with a select handful of people. The people in his life that were closest to him or that would understand. Robin was the second. Words written on a steno pad in the middle of the night, three days in a row where he hadn’t been sleeping properly, nightmares of a cold bunker and rough hands. Notes passed in quiet lulls, pencil scratches the only sound. She only looked at him with a sort of empathy he’s never been privy to. Her eyebrows scrunched in concentration as she focused solely on conversation in written text. He didn’t have to beg with her, which he thanked whatever god gave him her presence in the first place. Then, it was Nancy before their breakup. She could just tell. Her notes accommodated him. Space he took up was always welcoming. And her voice carried softly to his ears, gossip and pet names and gentle praise. Even if she broke his heart some time later, he would always remember her better than alcohol stained and too tipsy to make sense. Max was most recent. She, surprisingly, didn’t tease him for it. Didn’t make him feel bad. More sad than anything. Her voice was raspy in her hospital bed, “I’ll be your voice, Steve. You can be my eyes.” He could see the white, nearly iridescent glaze that permanently altered the blue color underneath. There were no words exchanged after that, but he placed his hand in hers and squeezed.

The others either didn’t notice or were too intimidating to tell. It’s not that they’re scary. But they can be harsh about certain things. And he just wasn’t ready. His voice, the absence of his words, have always been a soft, insecure, and vulnerable part to him. Laying out his cards face up on the table was too much.

But he probably should’ve considered Eddie to be one of those people that he can trust. Especially since Steve lets him move in, take up space in a spare bedroom, rummage through his cupboards. Maybe because they’re roommates. Maybe because they’re friends. Maybe because Steve wants more.

———— It was a bad night. An even worse day.

The images flashed under his eyelids every time he blinked. Blood and loose skin and wet muscles. Echoing screeches of those creatures that ruined his nearly blank torso. That sadness rippling from Dustin. His wobbling lip, wet eyes, the snotty nose, and strained yells for help. Steve’s stomach turns with every subtle movement of his body. Every single time he stretches, the scars moving with him. 

In retrospect, he shouldn’t have gone to work. Not when he woke up, throat scratchy and the seizing of his chest overwhelmingly intense with every sobbing gasp. Or when he realized, the energy somewhere else, that mustering words was the heaviest burden to bear. He shouldn’t have gone to work, where he gets yelled at for not communicating. For not counting out the change. For not selling the new movies. Where he’s called things he’s heard since he was a little boy, ‘Dumb’ and ‘Stupid’ and the infamous ‘R’ word.

He’s out of it by the time he’s able to sit down in the driver’s seat of the car. Part of him wants to bang the softest parts of his palms on the harsh, stiff leather of the steering wheel. Another piece of him wants to lean down into those same hands, pressed into the sockets of his eyes hard enough to speckle his sight with black spots, and cry until there’s nothing else to do but go home. There’s the encroaching need to scream, to hum behind his lips, wiggle his arms until they’re too tired to move, too heavy to lift, a worse burden than speaking. But he knows that it’s too open to break down in Family Video’s parking lot. So his drive home is ninety percent heaving breaths and squeezing the steering wheel to remind him he’s nearly back to his bed; his safety away from the world, somewhere where he can recharge, power through this, get back on track.

Though, he’s drained when he goes home. Exhausted. Beaten down to just a bag of meat and blood and bones. The Beemer is parked in the driveway. And he jiggles his keys in the door. And slips his shoes off, hangs up his jacket, places his wallet in the little dish in the foyer. Each step of shedding his work skin like tiptoeing on a bed of nails. Barely even makes it two steps before he’s bombarded by Eddie’s constant, erratic, and chaotic nature.

“Hey, Stevie!” he crows. “I made dinner while you were on your way back. It’s on the stovetop, covered it in foil so that it retains the heat. Oh, and I did the laundry, cleaned up our bathrooms a little bit. Made progress with the physical therapist on my bad leg and I—“

Steve sighs heavily through his nose, blinks sluggishly, and places his palm out to stop Eddie. He tries to say anything, something. But all he does is open his mouth, squeak in the back of his throat, promptly close back up, and sag. Shakes his head, sidesteps, and clambers to his bedroom.

Undressing himself like wrestling with bears. Climbing under his covers as if his comforter is a taut iron sheet. He can already sense it, the shift from charismatic Steve Harrington to odd Steve Harrington. Can’t even suppress the aching, sizzling pang that shoots through. Naked skin to his cold bedsheets. Blanket heavy. The darkness of his bedroom will coddle and consume him, he’s sure. 

Tomorrow is another day to try again. And maybe he’ll finally be able to explain himself.

But of course it’s not that simple. Of course his eyes are crusted over and burning like he spent the entire night crying. His whole body aches. And, unsurprisingly, there’s no way to conjure words from deep in his chest. Just whistled little breaths. Coming short and strained from his nose. He stays in bed for the rest of the day. Blearily, he wonders how Eddie’s doing. If the dinner from last night made it to the fridge. Wonders if the phone has rung at all, because he should be going to work.

He tries it. Tries speaking to the lonely, cold, inky blackness of his room. As if seeking for a light. The sounds strain and garble. Like his emotions are honey and he’s gargling. Choking on it. It hurts. He wonders if speaking should be like death, like a demobat tail wrapped around his tender skin, squeezing with razor blade spikes, tugging on him as stiff and thick ropes. Wonders if Eddie can hear him struggling.

Wonders if Eddie can sense him as a shadow in his own darkness, half of a man, barely a person. Thinks that there’s a million ways to explain himself, the words on paper as he did with Robin, or if Eddie will pick him up like dead star fragments and piece him back together as Nancy did, if he’ll just have to wait this out and whisper it in the fragile, sterile, fluorescent light of his childhood home—it’s a hospital in a way, maybe Eddie can perform the role of Max. Steve would offer his legs to take over for Eddie’s bad one, if he’ll be the boisterous noise that should be croaking from him any moment.

Futile, however much he wants it to work. Steve curls himself tighter in his blanket and goes back to sleep. 

Tomorrow will be another day. And he’ll be a full person again, tomorrow.

Some day, surely, he thinks on day three.

And the same on day four.

And when he can smell his skin like molded vegetables in the drawer of his fridge, only then does he stand on doe like legs, awkwardly ambling to the shower. He is twenty years old, mute as the day he was born—breathless and making noise if only to mark his presence; he thinks of himself as the stain on his bedspread, that is his presence, he’s sure. Twenty years old, moving like the toddler his mother was worried about. Crawling backwards. Unable to lift his head on his own for too long. He wonders a lot in the silence of his own existence. It doesn’t end now, in the shower with steam clearing his nasal passages. Ponders, Will I always be this way?

Surely.

The dirt swirls in invisible tornadoes down the drain. Those are his words. Still gone. Through the pipes and out to the sewer. He stands on the plush rug protecting the warm soles of his feet from the cold tile. An overly used towel, threadbare and rough, wrapped around his waist. He slips into pajamas easily enough. Hair sopping and wilted into his eyes.

Tentative creaks down the stairs. Shuffling if only to take up space. Frozen to his spot in the kitchen doorway. There, in the kitchen, shrouded in amber light with a warm mug of what appears to be hot chocolate, is Eddie. He looks up from the pale brown liquid in his cup. His eyes are richer than that of what he drinks. And Steve is startled by how sad, though ferociously angry they are.

“I know this is your house and you’re allowed to do whatever the fuck you want, but you can’t just be a piece of shit to me,” Eddie rasps. His voice is nearly hollow. Penetrated by shrapnel between his teeth. And Steve also wonders if that’s what he’ll sound like after this. This limbo he can’t control. “Seriously, Steve. I thought you were, like, changed or something. Thought you were supposed to be this good guy now. Not a douchebag, remember?”

‘Douchebag’ spits from him like acid. Steve is burning. He is sizzling. Can’t help the trembling in his hands. Or the subtle, missed by Eddie, flinch that forces him back a step.

He looks away from those molten eyes of Eddie’s. Towards the floor. At his bare feet. Going cold against the hardwood. Wants to throw it all up. The explanation. His thoughts. Every little other thing about him that’s always made him some sort of spectacle in his parent’s marriage. Am I the cold, he asks to nobody in particular, or am I the body drowning in it?

Eddie sniffles. Clears his throat. Sighs disappointingly.

Steve is five years old. His dad is sitting at the table. He is being scolded for not speaking up. Steve is eight years old, covered in mud and pink lines from being scuffed on the concrete. He is being scolded for not speaking up. Steve is eighteen years old, bloodied, beaten blue, sweaty, and soot on his new shoes. He is being scolded for not speaking up.

He is traumatized. And he is tired. And he can’t explain, no matter how much he wants.

“Maybe I should’ve expected this,” Eddie mutters, “being friends with Steve Harrington was always a sort of fantasy anyway, right? Who could like a freak?”

It’s not loud, though it disrupts the quiet Steve thought could never be broken again. He sobs. Wretched and screeching. The tears like a flash flood. His chest caving in. All the sounds escaping him, garbled and messy and drowning. He is drowning. He is different. He’s a freak. And Eddie must know, but not like Nancy does. Or he must have found something, the steno pad. Must’ve talked to Max, something.

He collapses into one of the dining chairs. A heaping mess of blood and skin and bones and meat. Just this. He is this with nothing to explain for it. 

Out of the corner of his eye, though blurry, he sees Eddie stand from his chair. Making some sort of aborted movement. And, without much thinking, Steve scrambles his hands forward, wrapping them tight on Eddie’s forearms, tugging him in too close. Forcing him to stumble into his knobby knees. Fingers still squeezing, fingernails biting into Eddie’s soft skin.

“Hey, whoa, whoa,” Eddie’s whispering, “Stevie, hey.” He crouches down, arms encased in Steve’s terrible hold. It’s almost hard to picture, the space and positions between them. Eddie’s wobbling on his own feet, probably sore and aching on his bad leg. Though, there’s a palm warm on Steve’s cheek. Wiping away at the tears. Trying to, at least; more keep streaming. Fingers carefully scooting into his hairline. Massaging on his scalp, pruning with the cold water in his hair. “Steve,” he murmurs, “hey, it’s okay. I’m sorry. That was—I’m sorry, Steve. I really am. That wasn’t okay.”

He doesn’t know what comes from him next to cause Eddie’s eyes to widen in both surprise and horror, but it must be something awful. A scream. Loud and piercing and high pitched. Shooting from him like a bullet, shattering everything between them. Shrapnel from between his teeth.

Eddie frees from Steve’s grasp, wrapping his arms around his shaking back, bringing him in gently. Rocking him from side to side until he’s only whimpering. Petting down Steve’s hiccuping back. “You’ll be okay,” he whispers against Steve’s ear. “I was being mean. I’m sorry, sweetheart. I’m sorry.”

Eventually, he pulls back some. Putting a small amount of space between their bodies. Steve is shaking from it all. Unable to do much. Eddie soothes a hand down his left arm. “Tell me what’s going on? How come you’ve been pulling away?”

Steve shakes his head. Placing a tired and limp hand on his throat.

“You lose your voice? Are you sick?” Again, Steve shakes his head. And Eddie goes quiet for a few slow moments. Until, a lightbulb seems to shine bright and shatter over his hair, amber light still causing him to glow, despite it all. He scrambles up off the floor. Squeezes Steve’s shoulders. Lightly says, “Stay here, okay? I’m gonna go find a pen and some paper. Be right back.”

When he’s back at Steve’s chair, the both of them significantly calmer, a brand new steno pad is in his hands. He hands it off with a chewed up ballpoint pen. “Tell me by writing it down.”

And so Steve does. Gives it back. Lets Eddie read his chicken scratch scrawl.

‘I don’t know what’s wrong with me,’ is the first thing. Followed by, ‘I’ve been like this since I was a little kid. When things get bad or I just don’t have the energy, it’s like my body forgets how to talk.’

“Oh,” Eddie whispers. He blinks at the paper and looks up to Steve. A sad little smile flashes on his face. “Okay, Steve. I—I think I get it. Kind of like when my day gets really busy and then when I go home, I just shut myself in my room and listen to music until I fall asleep. Kinda like that?”

Steve shrugs and reaches for the paper again. Writing, ‘Sort of. But it’s for a long time. Like…You know now. Sometimes I don’t talk for weeks. Sometimes it’s a few hours. But I get like this a lot.’ When he’s finished and Eddie goes to speak again, Steve immediately writes some more. Eddie’s mouth shuts with the soft click of his teeth.

‘Am I really a freak?’ Is what Eddie reads next.

His head shoots up from the paper. Eyes impossibly wider than they’ve ever been. Startled and desperate and unbearably sad. “No,” he murmurs quickly. “No, Steve, you’re not a freak. What makes you think that?”

The pad trembles in Steve’s grasp. He doesn’t want to write it, wouldn’t even want to speak it. But still, he sketches, ’You asked me, “Who could like a freak?”’ He tilts his head at his own words. Ducks back in, his hands shaking too much and his eyes moist. ‘It’s okay if you think so. I’m kind of used to it.’

Eddie snatches the paper from Steve’s offered grip. He swallows heavily and locks eyes with him, they’re still so sad. He wonders if that’s what Eddie’s seeing, too. “Stevie, no,” he whispers. “No, I was talking about myself. I thought you were mad at me. Thought you didn’t like me. I don’t think of you that way.”

Steve nods, sagging with relief. And with it a few tears spring loose from his eyes. A hand softly cups his jaw, thumbing at his fat hot tears. He closes his eyes and sighs. “Not mad,” he forces, his voice like raw, out of the box grits. It hurts, but he swallows. “You are my friend,” he musters before falling silent again.

A soft, sad hum emanates from Eddie. His hand tenses on Steve’s skin, but it holds to him gently, like he never wants to let go. “You’re mine, too, you know that? I’m genuinely sorry for what I said,” Eddie says. The apology sweet and drenching. “That wasn’t okay of me. I’m sorry.”

There’s no words Steve can press from within him. He lays his hand over Eddie’s and squeezes. Eyes now open and darting between Eddie’s own. He pushes their joined hands further into his cheek, sighing with it. Boneless in his chair.

“Okay,” Eddie mutters, “I understand, sweetheart. I get you now.” His thumb soothes more. Petting—caressing Steve in a way that makes his stomach flutter. “We’ll get you through this,” he promises, “I won’t go anywhere.”

💛—————💛

[strangersteddierthings]

I love the way you wrote Nancy. I see her as someone who only thinks of people’s feelings in a very abstract way and she never considers how her actions will have consequences. So her trying to get back together with Steve, who she clearly views as a back up plan or as a way to boost her own ego, only for him to say no? That would really throw her for a loop. Steve isn’t supposed to tell her no, he’s supposed to be her dumb jock ex boyfriend who never moves on from her. And her reaction to Steve turning into a doll is just perfect, too. She wouldn’t want to spend time with him, just to know he’s safe like Eddie, she only wants Steve’s time when he can give her something. And obviously, as a doll he can’t give her anything, unless she wants to try and fish for compliments through El.

Thank you so much for taking the time to tell me! I'll admit that I was a bit worried about writing Nancy's part.

She's such a complex character and I love her, but she definitely gives me Logic Over Emotions vibes, which I feel is hard to get right for me because I'm an Emotions All the Time Always Girlie myself. I worried about making her seem like a villain, or completely emotionless, which I'm not trying to do! She's not a villain! She's just a teenager, barely into adulthood in the Porcelain Steve AU, who hasn't really had time (or maybe even a good way/outlet) to process what they've gone through and how to cope with it.

Like, she's having difficulty wrapping her Logic Based Brain around the fact Steve has turned into an inanimate object wtf. As opposed to Robin and Eddie's emotions run our life and we know in our hearts that this is Steve, Nancy's the 'odd man out' and doesn't really have anyone to talk to about it.

So, yea, I was hoping to convey the fact Steve said no did throw her off. Since the Upside Down, I imagine having Steve in her back pocket has been the one constant she's been able to rely on. (Especially with whatever messy drama/rising old emotions happened during Spring Break '86, when Steve was there for her, but Jonathan was not, y'know?)

There's a lot going on behind the scenes of the story that doesn't get shared because it's written from Eddie's POV, and there's just things he wouldn't be privy to. Nancy isn't going to talk to Eddie about these things! They're Trauma Bonded and Found Family By Default, but not friends yet (ever?).

Anyway, that's a lot more words than needed to say 'Thanks for getting the characterization I was hoping to portray'.

[urdreamgirls-dreamgirl]

okay so admittedly I haven't seen wwdits either (at least not yet) but it occurred to me earlier this morning after seeing the wwdits au again that it could really funny if Steve's whole "No, Eddie's really going to turn me, he said so 🥹🥹" deal was actually him doing some sort of emotional blackmail thing to Eddie (poss w Robin's help (I am a platonic soulmates Stobin truther)), and eventually he's going to start slipping in stray remarks about how he REALLY likes/is into Eddie and he thinks Eddie's into him too but they keep dancing around each other and what if Eddie loses interest in him as Steve ages? Or what if something happens and Steve dies? If Eddie turned him into a vampire Steve wouldn't be so worried about them running out of time. And, you know, Steve wouldn't even mind staying human if he knew he wouldn't end up losing Eddie bc of it (remember the joke about the age gap between the >100 yr old vampire & his 70~80 yr old girlfriend? Picture that but Steddie in this scenario). Just lots of little comments like that, often with Robin twisting the knife as soon as Steve's out of earshot. Maybe at some point the Party figure out what Steve's doing and start deliberately leading conversations that way/editing for max emotional impact. Steve figures one of three things will happen: 1st and preferred is Eddie feels bad enough to turn Steve, and at some point either before or after they figure their shit out enough to begin a relationship. Close 2nd is that they begin a relationship but Steve stays human (bc it really is convenient to have someone around who can walk around in daylight and do all the practical shit like shopping for household needs, Steve acknowledges). Very distant third is Eddie actually isn't into Steve at all and admits he was just using Steve, at which point Steve would leave. In the last scenario Robin proceeds to make Eddie's life hell, in the most amusing for a documentary way possible. I think Steve is Exactly canny enough to come up with this and enough of a bitch to actually do it. (Sorry for the length)

yesssssss. i think that steve is pretty obviously using eddie too tbh… he wants to be a vampire! who wouldn’t! and a really important aspect of the show is that they really are all assholes, guillermo included. guillermo participates in bringing them victims and in their absolutely batshit insane schemes. he steals from the nightclub for his own gain. he manipulates nandor and laszlo and nadja! they’re ALL bad people lol and that’s what makes everything so funny.

so yes, I do kind of love this idea of steve using eddies feelings and insecurities against him (once a mean girl, always a mean girl!) and im kinda obsessed w the idea that robin would absolutely egg steve on and even threaten to turn steve herself—bonds are formed between maker and made and eddie would absolutely seethe at the idea, i think. just the thought of steve calling anyone but him master would have his ice cold blood absolutely boiling lol and robin would just be sat in the corner eating the chaos up with a spoon.

in my mind, steve is very much aware that eddie has no intentions of turning him any time soon (he’s been his familiar for ten years, for god’s sake!!!) and that if he really wants to be turned, he has to take matters into his own hands.

the reason that i haven’t written too much of this au rn is because im trying to figure out how to convey this idea of editing/cinematography showing the audience things that not everyone in the house is privy to all at once, because i absolutely love the idea of dustin, lucas, and will taking matters into their own hands and trying to manipulate eddie into treating steve better lol but i think a kind of mix of povs without getting too entrenched in interiority of the individuals can be the only way to go lol

but in this au, eddie and steve are very much very into each other and have been since they met at a nightclub and pretty much everyone knows it but them!!! they’re just very fuckin dumb lol

[greatunironic]

Hey!! I absolutely love your writing. You always strike such a good line with emotion, characterization, and background character management (I'm looking at that scene where Will is running book on Steve and Eddie). I was wondering what your writing process is like? You just fit so much in so seamlessly and its just so good.

aw shucks thanks -- that means so much!! also this got long so i'm dropping it under the cut so i don't clog up people's dashes, and folks can ignore me rambling pretentiously about The Process lol.

(i should also preface this with saying that i am a very type a person, and i like lists + guides, and the idea of writing a story without an ending in mind makes me want to break out into hives.)

(and also everybody is different!! write how you want to write, write what you want to write and what makes you happy, and have fun, and if you find something valuable in this, that's awesome! if you don't, that's awesome too!!)

so my personal background with writing comes from playwriting, specifically, and then screenwriting, so i feel like i come at it from that angle a lot? or, at least, it informs how i think about structure + storytelling + planning...

when i'm getting started, i like to do a sort of logline, which helps solidify the main story thrust for me; often these will become my summaries, which you can see for "remarkable" specifically + also the regency au.

from there it depends on if i want to do a one shot or something with parts. if it's a one shot, i'll expand the summary and write out the major events that i want to happen in a list; if it's a multi chapter project, i'll write out the major events for each chapter. for example, here's what i did for the first three parts of the regency au:

part one: introductions to steve + the harringtons, loch nora manor, robin, the town; we go to market day, listen to some gossip, begin to see a little something going behind steve’s mask part two: the new tenants arrive + steve, robin, chrissy go to say hello; eddie is introduced; we also get a glimpse into something that happened to steve post-eddie, that only mrs hopper (nee byers) and max (hopper’s ward) seem privy to part three: steve finds himself becoming part of the hopper family’s day to day existence, after the children find out he is an excellent rider, all of them demanding lessons from him on his gentle bay mare bimmer; steve is slowly befriending hopper’s demon horse as well, is determined to ride it at some point; he attends a few dinners with the hoppers, etc etc; two encounters of note: one with mrs hopper, and one with eddie; we also introduce heather in this part as a potential love interest for eddie

this is also when i write out the list of characters i'm using, and the roles i want them to play in the story. another regency au example: "joyce: a former governess, now his wife – knows steve’s darkest secret from when she was a governess for the hargroves ". depending on the story, these will be more fleshed out here + there in an attempt to make sure everyone has some sort of internal life i can reference, even if they're not the main focus of the story. sometimes this gets unwieldy; i have a genuinely insane document in my google docs called "remarkable apocrypha" that details the lives of the kids and other characters off screen for that story.

if we're covering a lot of time, i also write out my timeline around this step for any prior major events that may have happened preceding the story, so that i can easily reference them + make sure i'm internally consistent with said timeline.

also, if there's any specific research i want to do for the story, i do that around this time too, and give that it's own google doc. (each story or universe has it's own folder in my drive, so i can manage it easier lol.) i compile any musical influences, or mood boards, here too to get my vibes in line. (i talk a little about that here in reference to titling stories.)

after i have those written out + organized, i do an outline; these typically look like the diary of a crazy person, to be totally honest. it's stream of conscious stuff, lots of asides to myself, occasionally actual lines and phrases that i want to use. it's really about fleshing out smaller events around the main beats that i want to hit with the story-telling. having written all the character + timeline stuff previously, i pick + chose from there too to add any background color for people, or throw away jokes (specifically like will running book on them in "remarkable").

once i have the plot completed, i'll start writing in earnest, using my ramblings as a guide post. obviously, things change. (if you're reading the regency au, you'll see above that the part three summary makes no mention of the dance -- this idea appeared when i was outlining/plotting it out.) sometimes my ideas don't work, or sometimes i think of something else to add, and i need to shift some stuff around to make something make sense. sometimes i get long winded and end up writing 8k about a fictional dnd encounter and have to add an entire extra chapter to something because i've lost control of my own life! shit happens!!

all of this to say: this is why i find all the leg work i do leading up to writing the actual story super valuable, because if i write myself into a corner, there's usually something in there that helps me get out; or, if i'm writing + posting in real time, it helps me adjust course + fine tune ideas based on reader feedback or observations or, indeed, those verbal sojourns into nonsense (but fun) interludes.

then, after i get a part (or a story, if it's a one shot) finished, i let it marinate out of sight for a few days before i circle back. this is when i like to read it on a different device than i wrote it on -- personally, i write on a laptop and then read it on my phone. something about the way it looks helps on a different screen helps me see it in a new light as i begin the first phase of editing. i also like reading aloud here and there, because that also helps me catch typos or overly repetitive lines, and if the dialogue actually sounds like a human being and not too overly poetic or pedantic.

i edit it myself a few times like this, switching between devices and sometimes just even changing the fonts or background colors (i'm in dark mode constantly on my phone and it's a white background on my laptop), i'll try to send it off to one of my homies for a final pass + edit from a different set of eyes. usually, tho, i'm pretty happy with it at that point -- usually by the time i'm writing, i've worked out most of the bugs through the outline or the idea generation stage, but sometimes someone will suggest different pacing, or moving a scene around.

finally i set it free in the world (and catch a few new typos on the ole ao3, naturally) and anxiously await the approval of the readers like i'm sweet dee in "it's always sunny". (tell me that was good tell me tell i'm good tell me i'm good tell me --)

anyhoodle. i hope this answered the question, and i hope if you got to the end of this there was something interesting in it lol.

[aliea82]

Unfinished

He paused. He didn’t know why, but he did, something telling him to turn even though his heart was pounding, and his hands were shaking so bad he had to turn. So, he did, only to find Eddie stood by the sofa, head downcast, eyes closed, his free hand fisting the back of the sofa cushion.

“Why are you staying here?” He saw Eddie jump slightly, obviously not expecting Steve to still be so close, his fist tightened on the sofa again, and when he looked up, he looked angry.

“What is it to you, Harrington?” Steve took a step back. He knew that tone, that was full-on angry Eddie, and he had only been privy to it once.

“I just… sorry, it's none of my business. I’ll see myself out.”

Before he reached the door, a hand grabbed his arm, turning him and pushing him against the nearest wall. Blindsided was an understatement to how he felt when Eddie loomed over him, despite Steve being taller, because he was not expecting it.

Holding his breath, he went still as Eddie placed his hands either side of Steve’s head and leant forward till his forehead pressed against Steve’s. At the sudden contact and proximity, Steve felt his skin ignite, his eyes fluttering close as he bit back a gasp.

Eight years vanished in an instant, he dropped his bag, his hands finding slim hips covered in what he discovered was a silk shirt, while Eddie moved a hand to the side of Steve’s face.

“I promised myself once that if I ever saw you again, I would just walk away, that I wouldn’t let you do anything to get under my skin again, that I would just ignore you and leave.”

“Eds- “

“Shut the fuck up.” The command was hissed, and Steve shut his mouth, his heart pounding so hard he was surprised it had not ripped out his chest.

“Do you have any idea how hard you are to get over? Do you have a single clue as to how hard it was for me not to come crawling back? And then you come here of your own free will, to a place you said you hated. Why Steve? Why the fuck are you here?”

Eddie’s eyes were so dark when he finally looked at Steve, his hand hot against Steve’s face, his body having moved closer, pressing against Steve in a way only a lover should, and it was surprising to Steve that he hadn’t passed out from the intensity of the situation.

“I...” Eddie chose that moment to brush his lips softly at the corner of Steve’s mouth. “Fuck.”

“Answer the question, Steve: why are you here?”

“I needed to be.”

“Why?” Eddie asked, his lips now at Steve’s jaw.

“I... I don’t know. Fuck, Eddie, stop.”

“Why?” Eddie moved up to his ear speaking directly into it. “tell me Steve, do you still like to be tied up? Do you still like to be fucked so hard you cannot sit for a week? Do you still like to have your control taken away so completely you are left vulnerable and bare for all to see?”

“Oh God.” Steve’s legs gave out, but Eddie caught him, his arms wrapping around him, holding him up against the wall.

“Ah, I see.” Eddie smiled before he pressed forward and kissed Steve so intently, Steve was sure he would have lost his legs again if Eddie had not already been holding him up. Steve kissed him back, his hands going from hips to hair, his fingers delving into curls they had missed so much it was painful.

However, before he could really settle into the kiss, Eddie pulled away completely, leaving Steve cold and wobbling on his feet. He watched as Eddie returned to sofa falling onto it without looking at him.

“Like you said, see yourself out, Harrington.”

Steve felt like he had been hit, the breath knocked from him at the blatant dismissal. Pushing away from the wall, he ran to the front door, pulling it open and letting it slam close behind him as he stumbled to his car.

Find the full story over on my AO3 page, link below.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/42428037

[berenwrites]

Beyond the Battle - Chapter 28 - Stranger Things - Steddie

Beyond the Battle­: Action & Consequence

Click here for All Posted Chapters

Summary: Steve hits things with a bat or gets hit depending on who you ask. He definitely does not have anything to do with the psychic stuff. That is El’s domain. However, as Vecna is defeated, the rules change.

Pairing: steddie (Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson)

Other Relationships: Steve & Robin, Steve & Dustin, Eddie & Dustin

Rating: Teen

A/N: Multi-chapter story, updated regularly. Honestly not sure how many chapters it will have yet because it's still a bit hand wavy in the middle, but definitely more than 12. Thank you to my beta for find my mistakes and to all those who read/like/reblog.💖 Follow #st:beyond-the-battle for updates.

Also on AO3

Chapter 28.    Backs Against the Wall

Steve looked around the room and hoped someone had an idea, because he was all out. Making sure the house was safe was about as far as he could get. When it came to the more complex plans, he was happy to help, even add a suggestion or two, but he was pretty sure they had many better strategists than him.

“We stay together,” Joyce said before anyone else could speak up.

Hopper looked distinctly torn about that.

“Until we know what’s going on, I want to know where you all are,” Joyce added. “Do we have any way to contact Jon and Argyle? They need to be warned.”

“We don’t have any way of contacting anyone at the moment,” Mike said. “The phones are down, and a jammer is blocking the walkies.”

“Then that should be our first priority,” Hopper said. “We need to…”

A very loud bang interrupted the conversation.

“What the hell was that?” Steve heard his mom ask.

Hopper and Wayne exchanged a look.

“That sounded like a large calibre weapon,” Hopper said, and Wayne nodded.

Steve had no idea what military experience Wayne had, but it seemed as if he knew what he was hearing.

“Nobody move,” Hopper said and headed into the room to the right of the front door.

It was the only downstairs room that had a good view down the drive. Steve put aside the small amount of mac and cheese he had left, sitting forward as his appetite deserted him. When Hopper came back, the man’s expression was grim.

“There’s a heavy armoured car on the driveway,” Hopper said. “I think they just put a warning shot over the house.”

“Holy shit,” Eddie said.

This was part of the shit-show the Upside Down brought that Eddie had never had to deal with; the stupidity of their own government. Steve couldn’t say he was shocked, nor that he blamed Eddie for his reaction.

“They’re trying to intimidate us,” Erica said, as always, wiser than her years.

“It’s working,” was Gareth’s comment on the matter.

“They must have followed us from our house,” El said, sounding guilty.

“They were probably already watching this one,” Steve said, hoping to nip that in the bud. “If they were following Nancy, they were probably following all of us.”

“At least with most of us in one place they can’t pick us off one by one,” Dustin agreed.

There was a momentary, high pitched whistling sound.

“Surrender the girl and this will be over,” came the distorted instruction from outside the house. You have twenty minutes to comply.”

Another crackle and there was silence once again. Everyone in the room shared a look.

“That was him,” El said, confirming what they had suspected.

The day was not looking up. Steve was not privy to all the details of what had happened with project Nina, but he knew enough. This colonel was very bad news.

“Do you have any guns in the house?” Nancy asked, looking at Steve.

He in turn looked to his mom, since he didn’t know of any. His dad was more into golf than hunting or anything like that.

“There’s a rifle in the lock box in the front garage,” his mom said, “but I don’t know how much ammunition there is. David is a terrible shot, so it’s only ever been for show on the odd business hunting trip.”

“Can you show me?” Joyce asked.

His mom stood up with a nod and took the other woman to find the gun.

“I have my service weapon,” Hopper said, producing the handgun from under the back of his jacket like it was a perfectly normal place to keep it.

“I have three bats and plenty of nails if we need to improvise weapons,” Steve revealed, “and I’m sure there’s stuff in the second garage that we could use for Molotovs.”

“Three bats?” Lucas asked.

“I wanted to be prepared,” he replied. “They’re under the bed in Eddie’s room. They’re mostly meant for monsters, but they could come in handy if the standoff doesn’t last.”

“Do you think this colonel will risk a frontal assault?” Dustin asked, and sounded for all the world like he was discussing a strategy for Dungeons and Dragons.

The fact that the kids looked the least likely to panic out of a room full of older teens and adults said so much about their screwed-up world. Steve would have liked to meet their currently faceless enemy with his old bat for putting them all through this again after it was all supposed to be over. It simply wasn’t fair.

“The neighbourhood is mostly empty,” Steve said. “Not many people have come back yet. They’re probably waiting it out in their beach houses until everything’s back to normal.”

He didn’t bother hiding his contempt for his neighbours. It had been a long time since he held any of them in high regard.

“Yeah, but this house is not a secret government base, and it’s full of innocent American citizens,” Hopper pointed out. “That’s a lot harder to cover up, especially when you’re not the only government team on the field. That should make him more inclined to negotiate than come in all guns blazing.”

“They covered up Russians under Starcourt,” Robin pointed out.

“They were all on the same side then,” Will said.

“So, we need to get working on contacting someone before that changes,” Dustin said, sounding as confident as ever. “Steve, do you have any kind of radio equipment we could use to boost the walkies?”

The kid sounded so completely confident in his own abilities that Steve wished he had an easy yes to the question.

“Nothing springs to mind,” he said, “but you can look.”

“Would a cellular phone be of any use?” his mom asked, reappearing with Joyce carrying his dad’s rifle. “There’s no coverage in Hawkins, but I have one in my bags if it could be helpful.”

Dustin’s face lit up.

“I bet we could modify it to patch into the government systems via Cerebro, or, or, Murray. He always has ears on,” the kid said, clearly all sorts of ideas flashing behind his eyes.

“Then we could call in the cavalry,” Mike added.

Steve couldn’t help being amazed as his mom disappeared again, this time to grab the phone and the kids went into action. His house might be about to lose some electronics, but it was a small price to pay.

“Operations Comms is a go,” Hopper said.

“Now we just need to hold off the insane army colonel until help arrives,” Nancy said.

“If I go out to distract…” El started to say.

“No,” was the resounding opinion from every direction.

El looked kind of shocked at the vehemence. Hopper slung an arm around her and pulled her close.

“No noble sacrifices on my watch,” Hopper said very firmly.

“We can take out the armoured car,” Will said, looking at El and trying to sound confident.

El nodded.

“You need to be careful though,” Joyce spoke up. “We don’t want what happened to El after Starcourt and the battle with Henry Creel to happen again. I know you’re stronger together, but a stroke is very, very dangerous. You can’t push too hard.”

“What if they can,” Steve said as a lightbulb went off in his head.

Several sets of eyes stared at him as if he had gone mad.

“You can heal it before it happens,” Robin said, of course immediately getting what he was trying to say.

He nodded.

“How can you be sure?” Hopper asked.

“Because I was trying to do the same thing to myself earlier today,” he replied. “I’m fed up of getting blood out of my clothes, okay?” he added as several people eyed him. “I didn’t get as far as healing myself because I didn’t have time, but I figured out what was going on. I could see where the pressure was.”

El was giving him one of her very serious looks.

“You are not just talking about the nosebleeds,” she said.

“No,” he agreed. “The pressure inside.”

He was pretty sure no one else except Will really understood what they were talking about.

“Show me,” she said, stepping towards him holding out her hand.

“El,” Hopper said, but she looked back over her shoulder at the man, and something must have passed between them, because he backed down.

Steve reached out and took El’s hand, feeling the familiarity of her presence as soon as he did. Closing his eyes he let his healing power rise, giving his instincts free reign as he focused on El. He knew then she had been right, he had healed her before, because he sensed the same level of familiarity he had when he had returned to finish healing Max.

“Ready,” he said.

He sensed it as El slipped into the Void, but he ignored the urge to join her, remaining in the half state, focusing on El’s physical body. It was like sparks along his spine as her abilities rippled through her physical form. He did not need to smash through the barrier for this, not yet at least, El’s own body was quite capable of healing itself from the damage being done. His instincts knew what to do, boosting El’s own healing and preventing the injuries almost before they could begin to form and before they could cause harm.

The crackle of El’s carefully controlled power was awe inspiring as he observed it at such a fundamental level. She was amazing.

When that power was pushed back down, he opened his eyes to find El already looking at him. As soon as their eyes met, she smiled.

“Steve is right, he can heal us,” she said.

“He forgot himself again though,” Robin pointed out.

“Well healing someone else and healing myself at the same time is hard and going to take way more practice than we have time for,” he replied, pulling out the Kleenex he had in his pocket to deal with the slight dribble of blood from his nose. “And healing doesn’t cause the same intense pressure as moving things or going to the Void, I’ll be fine.”

He left the ‘I hope’ off the end of that.

“Try me,” Will said, standing up and walking over to offer his hand.

As he had done with El, Steve took Will’s hand. This was familiar, they had worked together a lot over the last few days, but he had never healed Will. He allowed his instincts to rise once more, carefully feeling out Will in a way he hadn’t needed to with El. Simply letting his instincts rule was not an option for this, he needed to be in control because he would have to be fully aware when they needed him.

“Ready,” he said after taking a good few minutes for his awareness to sink into Will’s physical being.

It felt the same when Will slipped into the Void, but the sensation lancing up Steve’s spine was very different as he focused on Will’s power. The feeling brought with it a sense of fire rather than the lightning like reflection he had felt with El. It whispered of power, carefully controlled, but it was a little bit wilder with untapped potential. What was the same, however, was the pressure that came with it and the damage it could do.

Steve did exactly as he had with El, using his own energy to push Will’s natural healing into overdrive, smoothing over any damage before it was little more than an idea. It was easy, like he had been born to do it.

He was pretty sure it would be harder when El or Will exerted themselves, but he knew he could be ready for it. When he opened his eyes again, Will was already smiling at him.

“I think that’s definitely proof of concept,” Robin concluded.

“But can you heal both of them at the same time?” Joyce asked the next sensible question.

“And how long can you keep it up for?” Hopper added.

“I think so, and as long as I have to,” Steve replied, because he refused to be beaten by any part of this.

He was still holding Will’s hand, so he held out his other one to El once more. All he could do was try.

End of Chapter 28

Chapter 29

[trekkiepirate]

*screams while throwing this into the Steddie fandom as a...fic? Ficlet? Random bit of silly nonsense that came to my head fully fleshed out?* Hi, I’m new here. Loved this show for 4 years and am only now dipping my toe into the fandom (stupid Steddie and stupid Ronance turning me into a heart eyes emoji and immediate shipper). *screams again and hides behind couch, peeking over the top to see if anyone notices this*

“No! No! No, no, no, no, no, no, no!” Dustin shouted as the opening notes of “The Never-Ending Story” were being hummed by his friends. He crosses his arms. “No, everyone in this room swore an undying oath to never use that against me at any time,” Dustin says with an air of finality.

Will shoots Mike a smug glance and Steve nudges Nancy, mouthing, “You too?”

Nancy just shrugs and nods before she asks the same of Jonathan and gets the same nod. Apparently Dustin had covered all his bases last year.

A beat of silence passes, two, then Dustin’s eyes go round with realization.

There is one person in the room who has not been privy to the forbidden weaponized usage of “The Never-Ending Story” theme song.

Slowly Dustin turns to look at Eddie, sitting on the arm of the couch, one leg tucked between Steve’s.

Eddie blinked his wide eyes at the room. “Uh, am I missing something? I feel like I’m missing something.”

Steve abandons twirling Eddie’s hair around his finger (oh gods, they need to just get a fucking room, they’re his DADS and Dustin doesn’t need to see their nauseating couple-y cuteness every fucking time they hang out). “So Dustin and Suzy-“

“Nope,” Dustin points a finger at Steve. “No, no, you are all now forbidden from telling Eddie anything about this.”

“Seriously, guys,” Eddie sighs. “I have no idea-“

If Steve didn’t feel the tensing of muscles, he’d have been as shocked as everyone else when Eddie stands up and sings, “Turn around, look at what you see/In her face,” Eddie hops over to Robin and holds her face in both hands, dramatically singing at her while she laughs as much as she can with her cheeks squished up. “The mirror of your dreams,” Eddie took the last word and held it for several seconds, pitching his voice as high as it could go.

Everyone except Dustin is cackling, falling over each other giggling.

“That’s my man!” Steve calls, clapping enthusiastically. “Encore, encore, encore!”

“No! No fucking encores,” Dustin frowns at Eddie. “You traitor. You absolute soulless fucking traitor. Fuck!”

Eddie sweeps his arms wide, bowing to the laughter and cheers of the others. He ruffles Dustin’s hair as he passes on his way back to his perch by Steve. “We have no secrets,” he gestures towards Steve. “Getting matching scars from our times as demobat chew toys and traveling through a mirrorverse hellscape has bonded us for life. Everything I knows, Steve knows.”

“And everything I know,” Steve grins so soppily at his boyfriend that Robin, Dustin, Erica, and Lucas all make matching retching sounds, “Eddie knows. Including everything I know about you little buttheads.”

“I am surrounded by fucking traitors,” Dustin huffs, settling down into an armchair.

[munsontm]

IMPORTANT PORTRAYAL HEADCANON:   EDDIE MUNSON  &  DUSTIN HENDERSON.

I haven’t done one of these in a while, and it will be available on my pinned post with all the other important hcs to my particular portrayal.

Eddie develops lots of new potential friendships over the cours of S4. But no relationship is as important as his relationship with Dustin Henderson. (apart from Wayne, of course)

First of all, they come from similar single parent households, where both fathers have left for whatever reason, and i suspect that perhaps Dustin’s dad wasn’t so great either. I really think this is a huge part of what ignites the bond between them. They see each other as the big brother and the little brother dynamic. Which is convenient since Eddie had always wanted a younger sibling, and given how Dustin eventually latched on to Steve, the same can probably be said vice-versa. The two of them form a brotherhood that’s as strong as any blood bond because they understand what it’s like to be missing part of your family. They fill a certain void in each other that is needy to expand on the small families that they have. They look out for one another like brother’s do as evident when Dustin immediately shows concern for Eddie multiple times when he is accused of murder, and is the only person we see that 100% believes Eddie is entirely innocent. Eddie stops Dustin from falling in the lake, and then later on---you know, dies protecting him. Making the ultimate big brother sacrifice.

Dustin is also the only person to see every single side of Eddie, which shows just how comfortable he is with Dustin, they’re literally like family. He’s seen performer Eddie, both in the canteen, and likely as a frontman due to his belief in Eddie’s music being a good choice to distract the bats. He’s seen scared Eddie, neurotic Eddie, dork Eddie. But most of all, and most importantly. Dustin saw the most vulnerable and loving part of Eddie during Eddie’s death when Eddie proclaimed his love for Dustin. No one else was privy to Eddie’s emotions in the entire season other than how shit scared he was. He literally cried and told Dustin he loved him, and used his last words to tell Dustin how much he believed in him. If that’s not true platonic love, then I don’t know what is.

They’ve shared many battles together in D&D, and talked at length about LOTR, laughed, played together; as demonstrated when everyone is making weapons. They are the epitome of brothers. It’s not like Dustin and Steve, where Steve had been teaching Dustin to be more confident, but also be more like Steve...which isn’t even working out for Steve. Eddie tells Dustin to be himself (which is also aother example of Eddie letting Dustin see his gentler self), which is also what Steve needs to hear tbh. Because who Dustin is is already absolutely fine. He doesn’t need to be popular and a lady killer because ultimately high school does not matter in the grand scheme of things. There’s an extraordinary naturalness to their relationship which I don’t think Dustin has with Steve. What Dustin has with Steve had to build up. But I don’t get that sense with Dustin and Eddie. They feed off each other’s nerdy energy and being a know it all lmao.

Furthermore, I think that Eddie sees a lot of himself in Dustin. Obviously, there’s the similar family situation and their shared nerdiness. And while I don’t think Eddie quite holds the level of intelligence that Dustin has, he is also on a constant curiosity voyage---perhaps a more reckless one, though the two of them are great at getting themselves into trouble. And the way Dustin reacts to the police questioning him after the lake. Stupendous, amazing, full on Eddie energy. It’s the same with Ted Wheeler too! Both Eddie and Dustin shrug off authority figures because that usually means bad news for them for differing reasons. I’m js they’re both great at getting into trouble for sticking their noses in where they shouldn’t. I can’t imagine the things they could get up to if left alone too long!

In conclusion, while i enjoy Eddie’s other relationships. His one with Dustin is extremely important and often gets overlooked for Steddie and Hellcheer. He ‘died’ for that kid and clearly thought of him as his little brother to the point where he was jealous of Steve for being the other big brother. There is so much to them that the Duffer’s have left untouched, and it’s extremely annoying.

[badpancakelol]

The new school year brings close bonds between the Hellfire Club’s existing and new members. Eddie is dead set on graduating this year (and for your information, no, it is not because he’s going to be phased out and legally too old to attend anymore. He just thinks he can do it. Actually do it).

DND sessions run later than ever, and, you know what? It does actually bring a tear to his eye to see the youths enjoying the campaigns so much. Normally, the club will only bring in one or two new members every year — just enough to keep the club a club by school standards and regulations, but not enough to have a fully fleshed out group. But this time? This time, they’ve pretty much doubled their numbers.

And it’s not like they’re inexperienced players, either. From the way that the kids talk about their friend, Will, it seems like they used to play all the time before their friend-slash-dungeon-master moved states. 

(Eddie tries not to dwell on it too much — how they talk about what happened to Will. Sometimes it’ll seem like they’re talking about something completely different until he walks in, until they see him. He’s heard their not-so-quiet whispers about how Will was taken or how he had been hurt, how there’s nothing that can hurt him, now that he’s far away. That it stopped last year. 

There are context clues within there, and even though they never mention his last name, Eddie knows that their friend is Will Byers. He knows about how he went missing, how his body was found, how it wasn’t actually his body. He knows how people talked about him, about Jonathan. It doesn’t take a genius to know that there’s something that happened there that he’s not meant to be privy to, that nobody is really meant to be privy to.

So, Eddie takes to coughing loudly, or stomping his feet, or talking to the other guys in a way that is just loud enough to be heard, not loud enough to draw more attention to himself. If they want to, they’ll tell him. It sounds like they’ve been through enough mistrust).

The trio are weird in what, and especially who, they’re talking about. One day, they’re talking about how shit their grades are, who’s house they’re sleeping over at, normal teenager stuff, and then the next they’re talking about how they were there when the mall burned down. They talk about people he’d expect (Will, Jonathan, Nancy, Max) and then people who really just leave Eddie scratching his head (Steve, Robin, Hopper).

He hears so many out of context conversations, even when they know that he’s there. Yeah, maybe he doesn’t outright hear about Will and what happened to him anymore, but instead he’ll hear stories about Hopper being soft, and taking them to the pool, and how he one-hundred percent had a crush on Will’s mum, did you see the way he looked at her? There’s no way there wasn’t something going on. And, because they’re pre-teens, Dustin’s question (statement. It was a statement), is rewarded with a chorus of gross! and ew! and dude c’mon! 

Eddie will hear about Robin, and how she’s doing at work, how she’s doing at school, how they think she and Steve should just get together already. Well, it’s less Mike and Lucas talking about Robin like that, and more of Dustin pushing for the two to be together which — ouch? Eddie doesn’t know what exactly he feels when Dustin talks about how Robin seems to be doing better, or how she seems to be happy. Maybe a little bit of regret or guilt or something else that stings a little bit to know that he could have just came and said hello.

What he does find a little funny though, are Dustin’s continuous failed attempts to bring Robin and Steve together. It’s safe to say that he doesn’t know Robin’s secret, doesn’t know that she doesn’t swing that way at all, but whenever lunch rolls by, every week on a Thursday, and he’s talking about yet another failed date between the two, it makes Eddie huff a laugh. 

“Dude, Steve said that were just friends—”

“Platonic with a capital P, I know, Lucas, but they spend all their time together! Every waking moment!”

Eddie watches as Mike flicks off the tomatoes from his sandwich towards Dustin’s lunchbox. “Okay, and? Didn’t Steve say he was going on a date this weekend?”

“Yeah,” Lucas says, humming appreciatively slightly as the tomatoes are passed to him. “He had to move it so he could pick us up from DND tonight. Remember?”

“I remember.” Dustin says, rolls his eyes. Eddie thinks that he’s a little bit of a know-it-all, but it’s endearing. Most of the time.

That’s another thing — the pickups. It’s not like the kids use the last names of their friends all the time, and Eddie had really, really hoped that their older friend called Steve was very much a different person. But there’s only so much denying that he can do before he sees him, face to face, in the school parking lot after dark.

It goes like this: every week, every day that they have planned to sit through a session, inching their way to the end of the campaign, Harrington will waiting for them in the parking lot. He’ll sit on the hood of his car, close enough to still be illuminated by the school’s lights, far away enough that he’s hard to spot, smoking. And when the doors open and the kids rush out, he throws the cigarette to the floor and wafts away the smoke as if it’ll get the smell off him, as if the kids don’t already know. It is not endearing, and Eddie is note staring. Nope. Nuh uh.

But, sometimes, it’ll go like this: the session will run long, and since Eddie is the one that does most of the planning, brings most of the snack and drinks, the others clean up. He goes to the carpark in lieu of a smoke break while they pack, and he’ll go to the edge of the lights, where Harrington sits on the hood of his car. Eddie will say got a light? and Harrington will nod, and hold his hands over the end to shield the flame from the light breeze. 

The first few times, they don’t even speak. Just smoke in silence. 

“Thank you.”

“Hmm?” Eddie looks away from the doors of the school, towards where Harrington as leaned back a bit, tilted his head up to the stars.

“For looking out for them.”

Eddie nods, stores away the little bit of info that he has been gifted, that says that a heart exists within the boy next to him, and that the heart is filled with care. Just not for Eddie. 

They’re normally short conversations, and Eddie thinks that they both seem jealous of each other. Like, Eddie will mention how Mike will be so engaged, and Harrington will get this faraway look in his eyes, and then say that he’s happy that Mike seems so comfortable, that he’s found his people. Or, sometimes, Steve will say something about how Dustin invited him over for dinner, and there’s something that builds in his gut, roiling and bubbling and ugly.

Maybe Eddie’s just projecting. He hopes he’s not just projecting. 

He thinks there’s a part of him that wants Steve to be jealous of him. Because everywhere he goes it seems that Steve is already there — picking up Max, being friends with Dustin and Lucas and Mike. It’s… weird. To say the least. That they went from having nothing in common whatsoever to just— this.

The dam breaks open, then. Conversations are stilted and awkward, still, but it’s something. Eddie tries not to gush too much to Jeff and Gareth after they happen, lest he looks like a fool. With time, he realises that Steve is careful about what he says. He pauses in almost hidden movements, and he directs conversation to flow to something more meaningless, safe.

It’s like a little game that he plays. Eddie crosses off little conversation topics within his brain, too afraid to write them somewhere someone will see. Steve won’t talk about his family, his house, his money, reputation, holiday plans. Occasionally, he’ll talk about work. But work normally leads to Robin, and that still kind of hurts, but he pretends it doesn’t, because, really, why is he the one hurting, and finds himself happy to hear that she’s okay. He’s seen her sparsely since that time in Family Video, but from the way Steve talks about her, it seems like she’s got more life in her eyes.

There is one topic, though, that Steve is always willing to talk about, and it’s a surprise to no one: the kids.

Eddie thinks it’s a little cute. The way that he gushed over them like a proud mother, or the way he drives them everywhere, cooks them food. When Eddie had asked why he did it, why he cared is much for this little misfit group, Harrington had paused. “I’m like a halfway house.” He sucks a breath in, and Eddie follows the movement as he taps ash from the cigarette to the ground. “I’m just making sure that they’ve got all the support they can get before they move on.” 

I get it. Eddie wants to say. I don’t want to be left behind, either.

-- -- --

another opening for a new chapter!! "THE SECRET"

[queeniebee6]

Everyone not privy to the situation is certain Steve and Robin are dating - obviously. 

But because the foursome of Steve, Eddie, Robin and Nancy are practically inseparable, it starts to creep into the rumour mill that Eddie and Nancy are dating, much to everyone’s shock horror. 

After much insistence from Eddie - and to Nancy’s chagrin - they decide to go along with it… mostly because it makes them feel a little safer in a place as backwards as Hawkins. 

Whenever Eddie puts an arm around Nancy’s shoulder, she looks at him with a wide-eyed smile. 

“Looking good, Wheeler - I mean, babe.”

Sometimes Nancy moves a piece of hair from in front of Eddie’s face - only because he always moves so frantically that he makes a right mess of himself, but the people on the other side of the video store didn’t need to know that.

Their gentle touches and soft words are always in jest, and never loud enough for anyone to hear. It’s simply their silly way of going along with the heteronormative jokes. 

It works well for everyone, really

When at the diner, in the crusty hours of the morning, they sit opposite their ‘lover’ under the guise of longing gazes and loving smiles. But really, Nancy’s fingers are knotted in Robin’s beneath the edge of her skirt, and Eddie’s grip on Steve’s inner thigh is only just hidden by the tablecloth. 

When Steve and Eddie are both in the car to pick the kids up someone roughly asks them where they’ve left the missus’. Eddie gives an equally rugged response about leaving the ‘ol’ ball and chain at home’ - he apologises profusely to Nancy that night, even though she is most definitely not his missus. 

And when it’s just Nancy and Robin walking through the square on the first perfect night of Spring and one of the young mums asks where the boys are, Nancy gives her a coy laugh and tells her they left the husbands at home for some peace and quiet. Robin and Nancy can barely make it into the alleyway past the hardware store before they erupt in giggles… giggles that turn into unseen kisses. 

Behind closed doors, when it’s just the four of them, Robin sits between Nancy’s legs - back against the armchair; and Eddie curls up against Steve’s side - feet tucked into the cushion for warmth. They joke about people’s oblivious words. 

“You really bagged someone like Nancy Wheeler?”

“Time to settle down, Harrington - put a ring on it.”

Eddie jokes about just having a quadruple wedding and all getting matching bands, so then they could carry on their fantasy without anyone being any the wiser. They all laugh, but Steve hopes like hell he’s joking because he knows the rings that he and Robin bought together last week don’t match.