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writinggarbage007 · 3 years

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Bad Bad Girlfriend

Chapter 2

Bucky Barnes x dark! reader

Warnings: Sex, stalking.Also murder, manipulating people,general mayhem, con woman

Casey in the bushes with a machete

Will update warnings on each chapter if necessary.

Slight AU

You showed Nick Fury out of your house and watched as he and Maria Hill left in a black SUV similar to your own. Shutting and locking the door you flipped on your security to the house and grounds. You were still irritated with Casey. She had put you in a sticky situation with Shield and now you were going to get her out of your life.

Walking up the wide staircase you plotted in your head. There was so much to do and so little time. Heading for your bedroom you stripped and got into the shower. You probably had an hour before Fury sent you the files he promised.

You went through your usual shower ritual and dressed in a loose tee and sleep shorts. Padding down the stairs you headed for the office and pulled up your email. Right on time there was one from Hill with a huge attachment. You read over the files for all Bucky's ex-girlfriends with amusement. They were suckers. They went all in after the first date and didn't see the break up coming. Not a mistake you would have made.

Emailing Maria back, you told her you would be in touch when you had information they could use and stood up. Dinner and a Netflix binge before bed sounded like a really good idea. Tomorrow you'd have to start digging into the underworld you tried to stay separate from so tonight was relaxation time, you thought.

It took a week for you to turn up a lead. A low level Hydra thug named Burke dropped off the grid in Richmond, Virginia a few weeks ago. Two days later, another Hydra agent, Astor went silent. He was reputed to be handy with a knife and had no respect for women. There was a pattern in the weeks leading up to the abduction. Then the doctor was flown into Dulles airport outside D.C., and his reputation was for experimentation and extracting information.

Wherever this Samantha assistant girl was it was looking like Hydra had plans for her. That was never a good thing.

You called Maria Hill directly with your info and ran it down for her. Dates, contacts, video you had hacked or gotten by pretending to be a police officer. You didn't tell her where you got it and she didn't ask.

"Are you sure this is everything?" Maria Hill asked, and you grinned at her formal tone.

"Just one more thing," you say turning toward the french doors of your office."My contact said one more person he knows of went missing in Brazil last week." You pause for dramatic effect, "Crossbones. Brock Rumlow."

"Fuck." Maria says and hangs up the phone. You barely hold your laughter in. You knew that name would get her.

The Avengers Compound:

Fury walks into the conference room like he owns the building, much to the annoyance of Tony Stark. All the Avengers were present as Fury had requested. He knew they thought he was dramatic but you had given him good information and he needed the team to follow up on it.

"We have information from an informant. The abduction was the work of Hydra. None of Barnes' exes were involved, although our informant says he may want to be on guard when it comes to Casey Piven. We still have her under surveillance, but she's bat shit crazy." He eyeballs Barnes as the former Winter Soldier sank into his chair. "We have a list of Hydra agents who went off the grid in the weeks leading up to Samantha going missing. You may recognize a few names."

Steve snatched up the folder Fury tossed on the table. He went white, standing and leaving the room. Tony sighed and took the folder and began reading the names to Friday for facial recognition and background.

When he got to the last name he paused before reading "Brock Rumlow."

Bucky stiffened and looked around at the rest of the team. They all had varying degrees of trepidation on their faces. He blew out a breath and rose to go after Steve.

"Barnes!" Fury barked,"walk me out."

Confused Bucky followed the leather clad man to the elevators. Once inside Fury hit the stop button and pulled a device from his pocket. Hitting a blue button he turned to Bucky and said,"We have 2 minutes until Stark's AI reboots the cameras. My informant would like to meet you. She is Ms. Piven's ex-step-sister and she has a lot of insight we can use. She isn't a low level con woman. She has….Skills. I would like you to take the meeting."

"Sir," Bucky began.

" Trust me Barnes she has a whole list of reasons she doesn't trust Casey Piven. She even told the chick to leave you alone. Her grandfather and I did business together and I have done business with her a time or two. Do a background on her. Of course then you have to disregard everything you read." Fury lets out a huffing laugh. "Name is Y/N Y/LN. Address and date of birth will be sent to your phone. Let me know soon. She isn't known for patience."

Fury restarted the elevator and when the doors opened strode away with a wave over his shoulder. Bucky pressed the button for his floor and chewed on his lip. He had an appointment with Dr Kate this afternoon and he needed to shower and check on Steve. He'd think about this then talk to Steve about it tomorrow. Getting off the elevator he saw his best friend sitting in the common room with his head in his hands. Maybe he'd talk to Natasha about it tomorrow. The Punk had enough going on.

The next morning Bucky headed to the kitchen to get breakfast early. He wanted to talk to Nat before Steve, Sam and himself went running. Entering the kitchen he saw Sam was already there but no sign of Nat.

"Has Natasha been down yet?" He asked Sam.

"Yeah, she left about twenty minutes ago on a recon with Clint. Fury's tip had Tony and her up all night." Sam replied sipping on his coffee. When Bucky's shoulders fell a little with a disappointed sigh Sam said, "You can talk to me. I probably won't make fun of you."

Bucky considered for a moment then related the story from Fury, everything except the shutting down of the security cameras. He low-key wanted to learn that trick himself. As he sat across from Sam and took a drink from his own coffee, Steve spoke from the doorway.

"You should meet with her. She might have more info to get Samantha back." Steve said with an intense look that made Sam and Bucky squirm.

"I know you're upset about your assistant Cap," Sam said, (ignoring Bucky's muttered Ya' think) But we don't have a background on this girl yet. Maybe we get…"

Before he can finish Steve is calling to Friday to run a background check and find any information she can on Y/N Y/L/N.

Bucky and Sam just look at each other for a minute as Steve storms out of the kitchen calling Tony to see if he has other ideas.

"He is taking this hard." Sam says and Bucky nods.

"He's always had a thing for her. He said he never asked her out because he was being professional."

Just then Friday announced that Bucky had a visitor. Looking at the security screen he saw his latest "girlfriend" at the front desk. He hasn't called her in over a week and had only texted her back once, but here she was. Damn he missed Samantha right now.

Going down to the lobby himself he took her aside and explained there was a lot going on. Their assistant was kidnapped and he didn't want to put her in that kind of danger so he was breaking up with her. When she started crying he patted her back gently leading her to the door. He felt like an ass. Did they all cry?

After she hugged him again and finally left he turned and the security guard at the desk asked if he wanted to follow the usual protocol. Bucky sat while the Guard, Mike he thought his name was, explained that Samantha blocked their numbers and revoked their access to the compound. He just nodded and walked to the elevator to go find Steve.

Steve and Tony were standing in the middle of the lab with your files floating in the air. Bucky looked at your driver's license picture and tilted his head a little. You were pretty. Looking at the rest of the floating files (he was never going to get used to that) he saw a picture of a large house. Where did women that lived in mansions get info on Hydra? There was something off about this whole situation.

"We can be wheels up in 20. It's a short trip, maybe another 20 to get there. I'll take Buck and Sam. We'll let you know if we need back up." Steve was telling Tony.

"Oh I'm coming along with you." Tony said rotating the files again. "I want to see what she had to say to the Manchurian candidate over there. And this background is too clean. There's no social media, no ugly secrets. She runs an office supply company and knows Hydra secrets. I'm not buying it."

An office supply company? Bucky was sure Casey had said that she worked at one when she was laid off. He asked Tony if there were lay offs at the company and wasn't surprised when Tony said not in the last ten years. Everything Casey had told him was a lie from the start.

Maybe this Y/N could help them find Steve's assistant before he had a total meltdown. She could also help him sort through Casey's lies. He still felt guilty that Samantha was caught up in his mess and if meeting this girl could help he was going to do it.

@supraveng @mycosmicparadise

#bucky barnes x reader #avengers x reader #dark reader #bucky x y/n #the avengers #bucky x you #bucky barns fanfiction

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zodiyack · 4 years

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Adventures In Babysitting (500+ Follower Special)

Pairing: Steve Harrington x Henderson!reader

Warnings: Swearing, angst, fluff, probably a shitty story lmao

Prompts: [2] “Small fire! I said to set a small fire! This is not small!” [11] “I have a solution.” “Oh thank goodness-” “It involves fire.” “Absolutely not.”

Note: I have two more follower specials to write and publish! Thank you guys so so much! You have no idea how much it means to me! I love you all so much, and your support really motivates me!

Taglist: @matth1w, @redspaceace

Masterlist | Stranger things Masterlist

This was great. Just great. Absolutely fantastic. Y/n Henderson mumbled complaints disguised as kinder words, obviously sarcasm, under her breath. She was left in charge for the weekend, every other adult who would have been in the house was going away for the weekend. No babysitters were necessary when they had an older child.

Unluckily for her, she had already planned a date with her boyfriend, Steve Harrington, and it was supposed to last the weekend. They were going to go on some sleep over kind of shit somewhere. But now? Now that was unable to happen.

Just as she thought it couldn’t get any worse, her brother decided to invite his friends over for the weekend. She was close to a few of them, however she didn’t know of the girls in said group. She knew Steve was the mama-bear of course, but she still was unaware of the details from their adventures that Steve chose not to include.

She was there for some of the ass-kicking, but Eleven? Nope, she thought El was just there as a one time thing. So when three boys and two girls showed up at her house, she was beyond confused.

“Umm... Dustin, I thought you said it’d just be your group- not a group of boys with two girls.”

Rushed footsteps sounded as Dustin tripped over things, and stopped at the door. He hunched over with breathy gasps, holding up a finger to sign that he needed a second before coming back up and raising his brows at his sister. “Did you forget about Eleven and Max?”

“Max? Who’s Max?” She turned back to the group of teens and almost immediately spotted the one child she had never seen before. “You, ginger, you’re Max?” The girl nodded and hugged her arms closer to her body. “Oh. Sorry, I haven’t been outside yet, I was supposed to be on my date by now, but this loser needed a babysitter. So. Yeah. Oh and, I’m sorry for keeping you guys out in the cold.”

The group smiled when she moved aside, Lucas and Mike rushing to get in, but their smiles turned upside down once Y/n moved in front of them again. She had a dark look on her face. “Boys. Ladies first.”

All three boys turned to the shivering girls, faces falling with a slight twinge of guilt. They moved backwards, allowing the cold pair to come inside first. The girls smiled up at Y/n and rushed inside, thanking her.

Before the boys could finally enter the house, a car pulled up. They knew exactly who’s car it was. The engine of the car turned off and Steve stepped out of it, gaining the kids’ attention as they turned to the automobile and guest.

Y/n smiled in a form of awe, disappointed emotions melting away, and stepped out of the house. She sped walk to him, allowing him to push her lightly against his car and press a kiss to his lips.

The kids groaned in disgust, causing Y/n and Steve to chuckle and separate, walking into the house side by side, hand in hand. Y/n called everyone into the living room.

“Alright. So normally, I wouldn’t mind watching you all, however, I was supposed to go with Steve and a date for the weekend. Meaning if I’m a bit grouchy or mean, it’s because of that. Steve and I will be in my room. If you need me...” Her eyes scanned the teens, “don’t.”

There was no time given to the kids to think or respond; Steve had already been pulled to Y/n’s room in a flash.

Feeling guilty for preventing their date, Dustin was the first of the party to speak up. “I have an idea and I need assistance.”

Steve moved his arm and rested his cheek on it, allowing him to admire his lover. One of his hands creeped up her arm, to her head, and moved a strand of her hair out of her face. The action made her flick her eyes up to his face and blush.

He kissed her softly, smiling as they parted. Their eyes studied each other. It was the most they could do while being forced to care for her brother and his friends.

Sadly, their cute and romantic moment was ruined by, speak of the devil, two of the six teens running into the room with looks of worry and panic. “Mike? Max? What’s going on?” Y/n and Steve sat up as quick as they could.

“E-Eleven!” Max managed to breathe out. “She’s gone!”

Y/n jumped up quickly. “Where was she last? Did you check the entire house?”

“Wait, you didn’t Let us finish... Dustin’s gone too.”

That was it for the young adults. They rushed out the door, ran around the house as well as outside of it for an extra check, and suited up. Minus the panic emitting from everyone in the room, it was actually quite entertaining to watch. After Y/n helped Max, and Steve helped Mike, Will, and Lucas, they set out in Steve’s car.

There was no stopping them. No one messed with Y/n’s baby brother or his friends except for her, and she made sure that was a rule everyone knew. Anytime Steve slowed just the tiniest bit, she made a huffing sound. The only time they stopped, was, well, about right now actually.

The car screeched to a stop when Lucas yelled, “I see them! Hurry, stop the car!!”

Y/n didn’t hesitate. Right before the engine stopped, her hand went to her buckle and it flew off, the door opening just as the car shut off. She looked over to Lucas, who pointed her in the direction he allegedly saw them go. Her feet had a mind of their own, carrying her faster than she’d ever ran before.

She stopped in an abandoned building, Steve and the four kids following behind. Silently, she gave directions, pointing to one person then a direction. There was a chance her brother was in danger, and she wasn’t going to make it any worse.

The ear-piercing girlish scream, that really did honestly sound like Dustin’s, got Y/n’s heart and feet racing. She followed the sound, calmness fading once the smell of smoke began to fill her nostrils. Steve and Y/n exchanged terrified glances, their feet quickening.

The screaming continued, followed by coughing and wheezing. It was definitely Dustin. Y/n approached the opening of another room, shoving past it and finding her brother, suspended in midair with ropes and a hook.

“Shit! Dustin, stay calm, we’re gonna get you out of there!” Steve looked around, trying to process everything and hunt for an object that could help all at the same time.

“Dustin? Bud?” Y/n began coughing as well, “Hang on, alright? I need you to hang on for me.” She too searched, unable to find anything.

His wheezing was intensifying. It wasn’t long before he could handle it, and the jig was up. “Small fire! I said a small fire! This is not small!”

“Oops.” The brunette girl walked from behind another door, using her powers to lower Dustin to safety.

“Yeah oops. You could’ve gotten him killed-” Y/n put her hand on Steve’s shoulder, calming him without words. “My point is, that was nowhere near safe.”

“We know.” Max turned, beginning to walk away. “It was Dustin’s idea in the first place.” She smiled, the footsteps of Eleven and the other boys, apart from Dustin, rushing behind her as Y/n turned to her brother, eyes widening.

“Fuck.” They cursed in unison, frowning at the state of the Henderson’s home. Had they not been planning a way to make it up to Y/n, they would’ve prevented the mess the other half of the party made of the living room.

Their grandma would be back anytime soon, and the mess would take hours to clean. “If any of you have any good ideas, speak them now and make sure they’re actually good.”

“I have a solution.”

She turned towards her brother, a sigh of relief leaving her mouth before she turned back around, “Oh thank goodness-”

“It involves fire.”

Her head whipped around so fast, Dustin thought she’d broken it. “Absolutely not.”

“Well you kids sure had quite an adventure!” The door clicked shut as their grandma, just as they feared, entered.

#steve harrington x henderson!reader #steve harrington #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington imagine #stranger things x henderson!reader #stranger things #stranger things x reader #stranger things imagine #henderson!reader #x reader #reader insert #all readers #zodiyack #500 followers #thank you guys so much!!#this means so much to me!#i didn't know how to pick this back up or end it oops

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kingofno-whereville · 4 years

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You potray billy and Steve well, I was wondering if you could write about the whole party getting involved to try and get billy and Steve together because billy and Steve just don't belivie that other is gay/bi or whatever

I tried something new with this prompt but I hope you like it!! it got pretty long ahah

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Max was glad Billy was feeling better. She wasn’t sure he’d live to see another day after the mall incident. But even though he was feeling better and being nice, he was closed off. She’d never seen him wear a sweatshirt before but now he practically lived in his grey sweatshirt with “San Diego” printed in bold across the front. He’d sit on the couch in the living room(he roamed the house a lot more freely since her mom kicked Neil out. Good riddance.) and watch tv or just...stare at the wall. Like he’d go to his own little reality on that couch.

She tried to pull him out of his slump. As happy as she was to see him doing better in terms of physical health, she couldn’t stand to see him the way he was. She was starting to miss his loud and proud personality. So she’d get him to drive her to the party’s meetings. Ms. Byers pretty much always hosted the little group in the house her and Hopper had bought(it warmed her heart to see how happy El looked to have such a big family.) It took almost a month of asking to get Billy to come inside. The party was expecting him since Max explained her plan to them. They were willing to give him another chance.

She could tell he felt out of place but before she even spoke to him, El was pulling him by the wrist to sit by her on the couch. Max didn’t quite understand the dynamic between her brother and El. El would visit him in the hospital and continued to visit when Billy came home. Sometimes she’d hear Billy reading to El in the living room. She was a little jealous because- yeah that’s her brother and she’d never admit it but she wanted attention from him. But she understood Billy needed his space. She’d wait.

The second time she got him to come, Steve was there. Everyone noticed them staring at the each other when they thought the other wasn’t looking. The third time, about half way through the session she noticed Billy and Steve had disappeared. She excused herself for a moment to look for them. She checked the porch and saw the two of them sharing a cigarette on the porch and laughing quietly. She left them alone. Maybe Billy would benefit from having a friend his age. But then they kept disappearing to sit on the porch and talk. After a month of them disappearing every Saturday afternoon, she confronted Billy in the car.

“What’s up with you and Steve?”

She knew Billy was gay. Found out before they moved to Hawkins. She walked in on him and another guy getting a little closer than she wanted to see. Not that she’s against being gay. She just didn’t want to see her step-brother half naked, getting hot and heavy on his bed with anyone.

“We’re just friends.”

“But do you like him.” He was quiet, quieter than usual at least, his knuckles getting white on the wheel and then barely flushing red before turning white again.

“He’s not into guys.” She left it at that. With Billy at least. But she’d get to the bottom of this.

Tuesday was Steve’s day to drive some of the kids to school so Max stayed after everyone got out at school.

“What’re you doing Max? You gotta get to school.” Steve’s such a mother hen.

“What’s the deal with you and my brother?”

“Huh? Nothing.” Steve’s a lot easier to read than Billy. She barely said anything and his cheeks were already pink.

“Do you want to kiss him or something? You’re always sneaking off together.”

“I- no we’re just friends.”

“That’s the same thing he said. I almost think you rehearsed it.” Steve let out a laugh.

“We’re just close Max. Now go to school, okay?” She got out but leaned in the window.

“If you like Billy you can tell me.”

“Alright. I’ll keep that in mind now go to school.”

Steve was a dead give away. The pink cheeks, the hesitation in his answers. So either they were already together or they needed an extra push. She’d ask her brother again when he drove her home from school.

But Steve was in Billy’s car when he picked her up. She had to listen to them flirt the entire drive home. Billy stopped in the drive way but didn’t turn the car off.

“Max can you tell Susan I’m hanging out at Steve’s tonight?”

“Yeah? See you tomorrow Billy.” He waved to her when she got out before driving off. She ran to her room and grabbed her walkie talkie. “Guys! Guys are you there?”

“What’s up?” Lucas was first to answer.

“I think Steve and my brother are like...in love or something.”

“Ok?” Mike didn’t sound very interested in Max’s revelation.

“I think we should set them up.”

“I’m down. I can’t stand the way Steve’s been staring at him since they started hanging out. He’s all..lovestruck or whatever.” Dustin.

“I’m thinking if we all give them little pushes in the right direction they can do it on their own.” She’d thought this through since she started picking up on the way they looked at each other.

“What do you need us do?” Lucas is like a dog in some ways. He’s loyal and if you throw him something he’ll get it for you. Too bad he lies.

“I think we should start by making it clear to both of them that they both like men. We can bring it up before they go sit on the porch.”

“How? Do they even know that we know they like..guys?” It’s always nice to hear Will’s voice. He usually doesn’t talk much during after school. He likes to do his homework as soon as he got home.

“Steve kinda...told me he likes guys? Not dramatically he just mentioned it in a conversation.” It didn’t really surprise her that Dustin knew about Steve.

“Ok well then maybe if you ask Steve if he’s got a guy he’s rushing off to when he gets up to leave then that’ll set them up for an opportunity.”

“How do you know Billy will make a move?”

“Come on. It’s Billy. Of course he’ll make a move.”

Saturday came and sure enough, Max was the first to see Steve moving towards the door. She kicked Dustin under the table, Dustin looking up to see Steve leaving now too.

“Where are running off to Steve? Got some boy waiting on you?”

“What? No! I’m just going outside.” Max looked behind her to see Billy looking a little shaken in his seat. Good.

“Alright have fun!” Steve shook his head before going out, Billy going outside not long after.

But nothing seemed to change. The weekend passed and everything stayed the same. But Steve was in Billy’s car Monday morning on the drive to school.

“Where are you two off to today?”

“We’re going to hang out why do you care?”

“None of your business.” The rest of the car ride was quiet but she kept an eye on the two of them. Even if they weren’t together, they definitely had feelings for each other. They would look at each other and then look away sometimes. At some point she saw them reach for the radio and bump hands, the two of them laughing quietly. She could see how red Steve’s ears were and could only imagine what the rest of his face looked like. She didn’t understand love much. She didn’t even think she’d ever loved someone like that. Not even Lucas in the time they were together. Not to say she never wanted to love someone. She wanted someone to look at her the way Steve looked at Billy, even after everything Billy had done. She was pretty sure Steve had brought Billy back out of the shell he’d been hiding in for months after the incident. Maybe they didn’t know it yet but they were meant for each other.

The party was waiting for her outside of the school.

“Hey guys.”

“Well? Did it work?” Dustin was always business.

“No. I don’t think it did.” Sure they were all lovey or whatever but she just had a strong feeling that they needed another push. “I think we need to set them up on a date. Clearly they can’t do it themselves.”

“We could drag them to the movies on Friday after school?”

“That’s actually a great idea. Thanks Will! Some of us can ride with Billy and Dustin you can get Steve to drive the rest of you.”

“Alright.”

She asked Billy on the way home if he could drive her, El, and Lucas to the movies on Friday. Of course he said yes. Dustin gave an all clear on Steve driving the rest of them to the movies over their walkie talkies. Friday came. Max got Billy to come inside with them, said the movie was supposed to be really good. It helped that it was scary. He got them a big bowl of popcorn to share and sodas. Steve, Dustin, Mike, and Will walked in while they were getting their sodas.

“Hey guys!”

“Hi Max!” Will waved to her from the door. They all met up in front of the the theater but Billy and Steve stayed behind.

Steve had been there for Billy during a really tough time after the incident. He made him feel like himself again. Maybe that’s why he stopped him outside the theater. He did love him. After everything, how could he not love him?

“Do you want to sit with me during the movie? Away from the kids?”

“If I was smart I’d think you were asking me out Billy.”

“I am.”

“Alright. I’m saying yes then.” Steve’s smile always made his heart skip a beat. There’d been so many times where he’d smile and Billy’s thought about kissing him. He’s kind of glad he waited though.

Max spent the entire movie trying not to look behind her. She knew that Billy and Steve had picked a seat in the way back of the empty theater but she wanted to let them be. Near the end of the movie she couldn’t help herself though and she was glad because she just barely caught them kissing and laughing quietly about god even knows what. She’s glad they had each other.

#harringrove #billy hargrove #steve harrington #max mayfield #stranger things #will being soft #max is very smart #i had to rush the end because it's 1am and I feel like i dragged this on for a while #it took way too long to respond to this request

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flohamilton · 5 years

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

Protect You

Steve Harrington x Byers!Reader

Warnings: Fluff, cursing, mentions of blood

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“A little birdie told me she was here.”

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

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

“Well she’s not here.” You spoke up.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Steve please,” Max begged.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Wow.” Steve said with wide eyes.

“Yeah, wow.” You said.

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

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

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

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bluewatsons · 5 years

Text

Michael Goldberg, Dennis Wilson: The Beach Boy Who Went Overboard, Rolling Stone (June 7, 1984)

He was the wild one. He could never get enough of anything: drugs, women or booze. But in the end, he had nothing

Dennis Wilson from the Beach Boys, 1970

It was almost midnight on Christmas day, 1983, and Dennis Wilson’s head was a bloody mess. The thirty-nine-year-old Beach Boy had been beaten up by a male friend of his estranged wife — nineteen-year-old Shawn Love Wilson — at the Santa Monica Bay Inn. Wilson had checked himself out of the detoxification unit at a local hospital and had been drinking in the area when he ran into Shawn’s friend, with whom he picked a fight. He lost that fight.

Several hours later, drunk and puffing on a cigarette, his face a ghastly gray, Wilson was vowing revenge outside St. John’s Hospital and Health Center in Santa Monica. “I just want to go down. there and kick his ass,” said Wilson in a gruff croak. “Call the cops. Close the place [the Santa Monica Bay Inn] down. Bust everyone.” Steve Goldberg, a close friend who had brought Dennis to the hospital, did his best to calm him down.

Inside the hospital, Chris Clark, another buddy of Wilson’s, was on the phone, trying to convince Dr. Michael Gales to readmit Wilson, an alcoholic and drug abuser, to the hospital’s detox unit, from which the Beach Boy had checked out earlier. But Gales didn’t want to have anything to do with Dennis Wilson.

“He’s just too much trouble,” Gales allegedly told Chris Clark.

“He may die, you know,” Chris Clark told Gales.

“He might have to,” the doctor allegedly replied.

Three days later, on December 28th, Dennis Carl Wilson was dead, his body pulled out of the cold, murky water of nearby Marina Del Rey. Toxicological tests showed Wilson’s blood alcohol level to be 0.26 at the time of death — more than twice the legal limit for driving. A week after his death, Dennis Wilson’s ashes were sprinkled into the Pacific.

“Dennis Wilson was the essence, the spirit of the Beach Boys,” recalled Fred Vail, a longtime business associate of the band’s. “We used to think of him as the Steve McQueen or James Dean of the group.”

For one thing, Dennis was the only Beach Boy who knew how to surf. He was also the band’s sex symbol. But while he was breaking hearts at their live performances, he wasn’t always playing on the records.

By the time the Beach Boys’ fifth hit single, “Little Deuce Coupe,” was released in 1963, Dennis was frequently being replaced in the studio by session drummer Hal Blaine.

It apparently didn’t bother Dennis that Blaine was drumming on the Beach Boys’ records. “I think as soon as the checks started rolling in, Dennis had other things,” says Blaine. “He was buying things; he was appreciating his motorcycling and hobbies and so forth. When you’re sixteen years old and you’re literally handed millions of dollars, you get crazy.”

And Dennis Wilson loved to spend money. “He was a Sixties type of person,” said Robert Levine, his personal manager. He wasn’t concerned about materialistic things. He would give away clothing, money. . . .”

Wilson was famous for letting people crash at his house — when he had one. In 1968, Charles Manson and his “family” moved into Dennis’ Sunset Boulevard home. By then, Dennis had divorced his first wife, Carole Freedman, and was participating in orgies and other debauchery under Manson’s direction. During this, period, he also tried heroin for the first time. The Manson Family spent $100,000 of his money and wrecked an uninsured $21,000 Mercedes. But rather than kick them out when things got too heavy, Wilson himself split, moving in with Gregg Jakobson, a friend and musical collaborator.

Wilson’s involvement with Manson was not atypical in at least one respect: The drummer loved to flirt with danger. In the early Seventies, he would drink a six-pack or two, smoke some grass, then get in his jeep and drive through the desert at top speed with the headlights off.

“Whatever he did,” said Chris Clark, “he did in excess.” Including sex. Dennis was a notorious womanizer; he was never able to remain faithful to one woman. “He called himself ‘the wood,'” says one friend. The wood? “Yeah,” the friend said, gesturing to his crotch.

Even his manager acknowledges Dennis’ satyriasis. “Dennis was a sex fiend, plain and simple,” said Levine. “The man used to think more with his sex organs than with his brain.”

Wilson was married five times, and had filed to divorce Shawn — the illegitimate daughter of his cousin and fellow band member, Mike Love — a month prior to his death. He is survived by four children: Jennifer Beth, by his first wife, Carole Freedman; Carl Benton and Michael Dennis, by his second wife, Barbara Carol Charren; and Gage Dennis, by his last wife, Shawn.

Wilson’s relationship with actress-model Karen Lamm was by far his craziest. Their first date was in 1974 at Mr. Chow’s, a Beverly Hills restaurant. “He reached over and grabbed my right breast and said, ‘Great tits!”‘ Lamm remembers. “I ran to the bathroom; I was so humiliated. I thought, ‘I never want to see this guy again.”‘ But Lamm and Wilson saw each other for the next six years, a period during which they were married and divorced twice. “We were so out of control,” said Lamm. “It led to a very wild existence with each other.”

Indeed. Like the day in 1975 when Wilson hit Lamm, prompting her to fetch a.38-caliber revolver from her house. She had decided to put on an act to keep Dennis in line. “You get your ass off my property and don’t come back,” said Lamm, waving the gun. Then she shot a hole through the side of their Mercedes, just missing the gas tank. Lamm says they both broke up laughing. In 1978, Dennis drove Lamm’s Ferrari down to Venice Beach and, in another fit of rage, doused the interior of the car with lighter fluid and torched it. “Then he went up to a house on Venice Boulevard and played the piano while it burned, like Nero,” recalled Steve Goldberg.

ll was not wanton destruction while Dennis and Karen Lamm were together. Dennis’ most creative period came in the mid-Seventies, when he wrote and produced a marvelous solo album titled Pacific Ocean Blue. Released in 1977, it sold a respectable 200,000 copies.

Wilson recorded about half of a follow-up album, though most of the songs were never finished. “Dennis was not what you would call a completer,” said Levine. Part of the reason may have been his use of heroin. According to sources close to the band, Dennis had started to use the drug in 1978, and during a tour of Australia that year, he was allegedly sharing his supply with Brian. At one point, the drummer checked himself into a hospital under an assumed name and cleaned up, but his overindulgences were creating problems within the Beach Boys.

Toward the end of 1978, Wilson took up with Fleetwood Mac’s Christine McVie. The romance began while Fleetwood Mac was recording Tusk. “Dennis walked into the studio one night and whisked me off my feet,” McVie recalled. The two went out for nearly three years, and Wilson even moved into Christine’s house in Coldwater Canyon. “It was probably the experience of a lifetime. Dennis was such a character. Half of him was like a little boy, and the other half was insane. A really split personality.”

With McVie, Dennis was both a great romantic and a drug abuser and alcoholic. He had a heart-shaped garden planted at her home in 1979, and at a surprise birthday party the following year, Dennis hired a symphony orchestra to serenade her as he sang “You Are So Beautiful.” McVie and Wilson sang and wrote songs together at the piano. They considered recording an album together, and she dedicated a song on the last Fleetwood Mac LP, Mirage, to him.

Still, along with the romance and good times came bouts of drunken destruction, when Wilson would storm through the house breaking anything within reach. “He used her place like a hospital,” said Steve Goldberg. “Then he’d call me, I’d go and pick him up, and she wouldn’t see him for a week. When he was totaled out — he wouldn’t sleep for a week — he’d go back. Over and over again. He cared about her, but his priority was having a good time.”

In 1979, the Beach Boys had had enough. Dennis was frequently missing tours, and when he did show up, he was often too messed up to play. Finally, he was kicked out of the group.

When his business affairs in disarray, the drummer hired Levine as his business manager. Within a year, Levine also became Wilson’s personal manager. “It wasn’t the easiest situation,” said Levine. “He was heavily in debt when he came to me. The whole gamut. Two years of back taxes. He owed everybody in every store money. We set up a program where it took us about two and one half years to work down the most pressing debts.” In 1980, Dennis rejoined the Beach Boys and began to tour again.

By the beginning of 1981, Wilson and McVie had split up. Dennis moved into a house in Venice Beach with his seventeen-year-old daughter Jennifer and some other friends. “Things got real bad,” said Steve Goldberg, who was also living at the house. “When he was living at Christine’s, he was doing a lot of coke. [The drinking] kind of started to ease the shakes from the coke. By the time he moved to Venice, he was carrying around a ready-mixed jug. It just progressed to a continual drink.”

Up until his death, Dennis Wilson would show up at the Venice Beach home of Garby Leon, a friend with a doctorate in music composition from Harvard. There, Dennis, Garby and sometimes Brian would hang out and make music late into the night, with Brian on Hammond organ and Dennis on grand piano or harp. During that time, Brian wrote nearly an album’s worth of material.

But, Garby Leon says, the other Beach Boys didn’t like Dennis and Brian’s new songs. In late 1981, the Wilson brothers spent a few days making demos of several songs in the studio, but money to pay for the sessions was cut off.

It was while Dennis was living in Venice that the affair with his illegitimate second cousin, Shawn Love, began. Shawn, then sixteen, recalls showing up at Dennis’ house in Venice with a mutual friend.

“What’s your name?” asked Dennis.

“Shawn,” she replied.

“What’s your dad’s name?” asked Dennis.

“Mike.”

“Mike what?” he asked.

“Why?”

“Just tell me who your dad is,” insisted Dennis.

“His name is Mike Love.”

Then, she recalled, “he started talking to me like a big brother. He said, ‘It’s not safe for you to tell everybody who your dad is.’ All of a sudden he changed the conversation. At first, some people thought he was coming on to me to get at Mike.” Soon they were living together.

Dennis did go back on the road with the Beach Boys, but it was rough for everyone. Bodyguards were needed to keep Dennis off the bottle prior to performances. When he drank, he could be boorish onstage, as well as an erratic drummer. There were raging battles between Dennis and Mike Love. Finally, restraining orders were issued to keep them apart.

Wilson used to get a kick out of hassling Love. Once, on the way to a concert date, Wilson walked up to the area on their private jet where Love was meditating, pulled open the door and threw up.

By the end of 1981, Dennis and Shawn’s relationship showed signs of strain. “He was acting like a real punk,” said Shawn. “He was drunk and high. It was embarrassing to me. One of my girlfriends told me he was trying to take another girlfriend to bed.”

Shawn was furious. “I ran up to him in the alley, and I just slugged him in the face,” she said. “I came up to him like, ‘I am going to kill you.’ We got into a full-on fight. He didn’t actually punch me, but he had me down. He dragged me by my hair.”

Despite the ongoing friction, Dennis and Shawn were married in July 1983, nearly a year after their son, Gage Dennis, was born. By the fall of 1983, there wasn’t much of a relationship left. Scrawled in crayon on the walls of their house at 6120 Trancas Canyon Road in Malibu were the phrases “No love” and “No respect.” The house was a shambles. Doors were broken. On one occasion, Shawn nearly drove her silver BMW into the front door. Less than a month before he died, Dennis smashed the windows of the same car with a baseball bat.

Dennis and Shawn separated. “I left partially because of me and Dennis not getting along because of personal things — jealousies and stuff,” said Shawn. She moved into a $150-a-week room at the Santa Monica Bay Inn, a stone’s throw from the drug connection Dennis Wilson turned to when he needed cocaine. A divorce was in the works at the time of his death. Shawn claims that they were working things out, but adds, “We probably would have been together, then apart again.”

***

In 1982, the more business-minded beach Boys — Carl Wilson, Al Jardine and Mike Love — and their manager, Tom Hulett, felt there were two big problems that had to be solved: Brian Wilson and Dennis Wilson.

Brian had ballooned to over 300 pounds. He wouldn’t bathe, he would eat and then throw up his food, and if drugs were around, he would use them. He was, as one associate put it, “extremely nonproductive as a human being.”

The task of curing Brian eventually fell, as it had once before, to psychologist Eugene Landy. Landy had once worked for a fan magazine, Teen Screen, and was later a record company A&R man before becoming therapist to the stars. In 1976, he became a celebrity for his role in getting Wilson out of the bedroom and into the recording studio. Eventually, Landy was fired when he allegedly began asking for a percentage of the Beach Boys’ income and wanted to become active in the management of the group.

Nevertheless, it was Eugene Landy whom Tom Hulett turned to. Though Hulett refused to be interviewed for this article, he told the Los Angeles Times last summer that he had Brian Wilson’s interest at heart when he enlisted Landy. “I told the other guys in the band that if we didn’t do something, Brian was going to be the next headline (death) in Billboard.”

In late October 1982, Brian Wilson was told by his accountants that he was broke and that he owed the government tens of thousands of dollars in back taxes. A week or so later, at a meeting attended by Mike, Al and Carl, plus various managers and accountants, Brian was fired. He was handed a letter dated November 5th, 1982, that read, in part: “This is to advise you that your services as an employee of Brother Records, Inc., and otherwise are hereby terminated, effective immediately.” Though it was signed by the four other Beach Boys, Shawn Wilson claims that Dennis didn’t know what he was signing, if indeed he signed it at all.

“They told him that the only way that he could be a Beach Boy again, and the only way they would release his 1982 tour disbursement money, was if he would agree to see Dr. Landy,” says Brian’s girlfriend, Carolyn Williams, who was present at the meeting. “Brian started yelling that he didn’t like Dr. Landy and that [Landy] was charging him $20,000 a month the last time. He was willing to see anybody to get the weight off, but he didn’t want to see Landy. And they said, ‘Well, no, you have to see Dr. Landy. That’s the only way.”‘

A while later, Brian was taken to Hawaii to begin a program with Eugene Landy. Brian remains under Landy’s care to this date; his fee is rumored to exceed $50,000 a month. Landy has recently become the Beach Boys’ “recording manager” and may share song writing credits (and, thus, royalties) with Brian Wilson on the next Beach Boys’ album. Because of his relationship with Brian, Landy actually told a reporter from California Magazine, “I’m the one who’s making the album.”

The three Beach Boys and their manager then apparently turned to the other problem: Dennis Wilson. “When they put Brian in the Landy program,” said Shawn, “A couple of our friends said, ‘Dennis, as soon as they have Brian done, they’re going to try to do the same thing with you.’ He said, ‘No, they’re not going to do anything.”‘

Dennis was wrong.

Mike, Carl, Al and manager Hulett had already banned Dennis from some concerts during 1983. Finally, Dennis was told he would not be allowed to tour with the band unless he went through a detox program. “Which was okay,” says Levine. “They were all interested in helping him. I was in full agreement with that.”

To hear Dennis’ Venice Beach friends tell it, the rock star was literally put out on the streets. For a month prior to his death, Dennis was without a home. He had no car and little money. He lived a nomadic life, crashing with various friends. “If Dennis had had a place to live, he might not have died,” said Garby Leon.

At least one member of Dennis Wilson’s immediate family agrees. “I feel if Dennis had had a place to stay, he might not have been down in the marina that day,” said his daughter Jennifer.

Though Bob Levine feels Wilson was fairly serious about straightening out his life, Steve Goldberg maintains he was just telling people what they wanted to hear. In late November, Dennis checked into a country club-style therapy center in Arizona. He left after two days.

Over the next month, he bounced from friend to friend. There was a scene outside an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, where Wilson and Beach Boys manager Tom Hulett argued about money. Hulett reportedly pulled out a wad of bills, peeled off fifteen dollars and offered it to Wilson, who wouldn’t take it. Hulett threw it on the ground. The next day. Hulett apparently gave Wilson $100.

On Friday, December 23rd, Dennis Wilson checked into St. John’s Hospital and Health Center in Santa Monica. Dr. Jokichi Takamine, the doctor caring for Wilson at St. John’s, says that “he was very serious” about the program.

Wilson and Takamine spoke at length on Saturday; the doctor says he told Wilson he would be away on Sunday, Christmas Day, but would see him on Monday.

But Dennis checked himself out of St. John’s Hospital early in the evening on Christmas Day. Although Shawn had apparently agreed to come to the hospital with Gage to visit, she never made it. “He just showed up at my mom’s,” said Shawn. “He said he was really lonely and that he wanted to be with us on Christmas.”

He spent about an hour with Shawn and Gage, then left. A friend bumped into Dennis walking along the road near the Santa Monica Bay Inn. They went for a drink at a club. It was later that night that Dennis stopped by the Santa Monica Bay Inn and was beaten up by Shawn’s male friend. After being denied medical attention at St. John’s hospital, Dennis was admitted to Daniel Freeman Marina Hospital at around two a.m. He spent the night.

Wilson checked himself out at 11:30 a.m. the next day and called Steve Goldberg an hour and a half later. “He was at a beer bar two blocks down the street He wanted me to drive down and pick him up,” said Steve Goldberg. “I told him I was working on my van and said, ‘Why don’t you just walk over here?”‘ He kept calling me back. He wanted money and a ride. He ended that conversation [with the word] termination. Click. I don’t know if he was referring to the conversation, our friendship or his life.”

***

On Tuesday, December 27th, at about eight p.m., the phone rang on Bill Oster’s boat, the Emerald. Dennis wanted to visit. The old friends had been out of touch for nearly a year, but Oster was happy to hear from him and agreed to pick up the Beach Boy and the girl he was with, Colleen “Crystal” McGovern.

Wilson had met Oster, a mechanical engineer, a few years earlier when his boat, the Harmony, had been docked next to the Emerald at a Marina Del Rey slip. After Wilson lost his boat, Oster hid a key on the Emerald so Dennis could have use of the boat. Dennis had called Oster from Colleen McGovern’s house in Culver City. McGovern was a casual friend; she and Dennis had been seeing each other only for a few weeks. After talking with Oster, Dennis was excited. “He said, ‘We’re going to the boat; we’re going to have a good time. And tomorrow I’m going to go to detox,”‘ recalled McGovern.

When Oster picked the couple up, Dennis said, “Gotta get a bottle.” They stopped at a liquor store, Wilson bought a fifth of vodka and some orange juice, and they drove to the boat.

Oster, his fiancée, Brenda, McGovern and Wilson sat around in the boat’s small cabin that night, reminiscing and drinking. At one point, the conversation turned to Dennis. Oster told the Beach Boy, “It wasn’t six months ago that I said to Brenda, ‘I hope the next tune we see Dennis, it’s not at his funeral.” Wilson looked right at Oster and said, “Don’t you worry about that.”

“We talked about his alcohol rehabilitation, detox and why he didn’t want to go in,” recalled Oster. “He said, ‘They won’t let me back in the band until I do it.” He didn’t like the atmosphere [at St. John’s]. There was a place in New Mexico he was willing to try.”

Wilson was drinking heavily. “If anybody else had been drinking the way Dennis was drinking, they would have been smashed,” said Oster. “But Dennis drank like that normally. I don’t think I ever knew him sober.”

At about midnight, Dennis passed out. He slept fitfully. “Dennis was just sweating like I’d never seen him sweat,” said McGovern. “It was just dripping down his face. I was mopping his forehead constantly.”

McGovern eventually fell asleep, but was awakened an hour later by Wilson. “I could see right away he was wound up again.” Wilson made several phone calls, apparently including one to Shawn. “Dennis and I ended up staying up all night,” said McGovern. “We would sleep a few minutes, then he would wake me up again. Every once in a while he’d say, ‘Honey, what are we going to do?’ And I’d say, ‘We’re going to get some sleep.’ And he would say, ‘I can’t sleep, ‘I can’t sleep.”‘

The next morning, the foursome sat around talking. At about ten, Oster suggested that he and Wilson go rowing. “We set it up, put the oars in it,” said Oster, “and he’s wandering around. ‘I want a drink, I want a drink!’ The girls had hid the stuff. He finally found it and mixed himself another drink.”

They returned an hour later; at noon, they had turkey sandwiches. Wilson had consumed three-quarters of the bottle of vodka by this point. When he spilled a drink on his pants, Oster loaned him a pair of cutoff jeans. That’s when Dennis began diving into the slip next to the Emerald. He surfaced and handed Oster an old piece of rope.

“That was the first thing he brought up,” recalled Oster. “He kept diving down, scrounging around, bringing up junk. Why he was doing it, I don’t know.”

Wilson came out of the fifty-eight-degree water after twenty minutes; back on the dock, he was shivering and his teeth were chattering. He sat in front of a heater inside the cabin. His friends brought him towels, and after about fifteen minutes, he stopped shaking. He ate another sandwich and had another drink.

Then he made a few more dives. He found a silver frame that had held his and Karen Lamm’s wedding picture. He had thrown it off the Harmony in 1980, when they were divorced.

“He was really excited,” said McGovern. “He said, ‘Guess what I found! A chest of gold!”‘ Back on board, the Beach Boy sat around for about two and a half hours, relaxing and drinking. He finished off the fifth of vodka. He was talking about what he thought was at the bottom of the slip: a tool box, the “chest of gold,” a sack of silver dollars. “He was psyching himself up to go back in after his treasures,” said Oster. “I told him there was nothing down there. We tried halfheartedly to talk him out of going back in. There was no I talking him out of it.”

At some point, he found a bottle of wine on the boat and drank from it. Around four p.m., Dennis was ready to go back in the water. But first he walked to another houseboat on the other side of the dock in search of booze. He managed to talk a friend into giving him a partially filled fifth of vodka and had another drink.

Then he made his last dive. Oster was standing on one of the slender piers that extend between the docked boats, across the slip from the Emerald. From there, he saw air bubbles. “I saw him come up to within two feet of the surface,” said Oster. “Then I saw him swim behind my rowboat, where I couldn’t see his face or what he was doing. I think I heard him take a breath of air.”

Oster called out, “Dennis, what did you find?” There was no response.

“At that point, I saw him go straight down and back out of sight. I said to myself, ‘That sucker’s playing a game on me, he’s trying to hide.’ That was my fatal error. Because that was the last time he went down. I took a few puffs on a cigarette, waiting for him to come up. Didn’t hear or see anything. So I quietly walked around to my side of the empty slip. I didn’t see him, so I stomped on the dock and made a whole bunch of noise and said, ‘Hey, Dennis, where are you? Ha ha. I can’t find you.’ Still no response. Then I started looking. It was just clear enough that you could look under all the docks and see if there was an object under there. There were a lot of places where he could have come up and hid.”

But when Dennis didn’t surface, his friends became worried. Oster was going to dive in himself when he spotted the harbor patrol. According to the autopsy report, “The harbor patrol searched the waters for approximately thirty minutes before finding the body. The time that the body was pulled from the water was approximately 1745 hours [5:45 p.m.]. Dennis Wilson was pronounced dead three minutes later.

***

“We are not disbanding,” announced Carl Wilson at an L.A. press conference on Monday, January 9th, twelve days after Dennis Wilson’s death. “We are postponing currently scheduled dates during this period of mourning.”

Regardless of their personal feelings about Dennis, the Beach boys will continue — and at least one member thinks the band will be stronger. “A chain is only as strong as its weakest link” is how Mike Love characterized Dennis’ effect on the band during his decline. “Dennis had his problems: drugs, alcohol. . . .”

Now middle-aged men — Love is forty-three; Brian Wilson, forty-one; Al Jardine, thirty-nine; Carl Wilson, thirty-seven; and Bruce Johnston, forty — the remaining Beach Boys are caught in a bind. Their last studio LP, Keepin’ the Summer Alive, sold fewer than 200,000 copies, and the band members have reportedly been unable to hang onto their money. (Mike Love filed for bankruptcy last year.)

As a result, they must tour constantly to afford their extravagant lifestyles. So, to no one’s great surprise, the Beach Boys were performing at Harrah’s, a casino in Lake Tahoe, a little over a month after Carl’s announcement.

Renewed concert activity is not the only front the Beach Boys are now active on. A million-dollar deal with Vestron Video to make a home video, The Complete Beach Boys, has been made. Culture Club producer Steve Levine, who has recently spent time working on music with Brian in Jamaica, will produce a new Beach Boys album in London. Recently, the Beach Boys aimed up on the soundtrack to Up the Creek. A collaborative Beach Boys-Four Seasons single titled “East Meets West” has been cut, and the band is pairing up with international pop star Julio Iglesias on a remake of the Hollies’ “The Air That I Breathe.”

At the late show at Tahoe, Brian Wilson did not perform. The others, backed by an eleven piece-band, including a horn section and two drummers, offered an unexceptional rerun of the Beach Boys’ oldies. With the exception of “Rock and Roll Music,” which reached Number Five on the pop charts in 1976, and a couple of tunes off Carl Wilson’s solo albums, the Beach Boys performed music that was nearly two decades old.

Toward the conclusion, the band sang a weary version of “Fun, Fun, Fun.” Conspicuously absent was any mention of Dennis Wilson. The period of mourning was apparently over.

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thosekidswhohuntmonsters · 7 years

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The King of Hawkins Goes Soft

Summary: The reader helps chaperone the winter formal, which leads to a very eventful night involving the King of Hawkins.

Word Count: 2648

Song Pairing: Talking in your Sleep- the romantics https://youtu.be/PtxiZItyYh8

authors note: kinda spoilers for season two? This also doesn’t 100% follow the plot! I had SO much fun writing this!! Let me know what you think!! (single mom Steve is the best Steve)

You smiled to yourself watching the event unfold. Steve was giving some version of a pep talk to Dustin before the winter formal, and you laughed as you saw the deal sealed with a handshake.

Dustin walked by you with a huge grin, “Hey (y/n)!”. He saluted you, and you saluted back matching his grin. You winked, “Good luck tonight soldier”.

By now Steve had parked his car, and was resting against the hood. You walked over to him, “What are you doing here? Hate to break it to ya but you’re a little too old-”.

Steve crossed his arms over his chest, laughing while shaking his head. He smiled, “I gotta keep an eye on the little shits”.

You raised an eyebrow, there always seemed to be more to Steve than he let on. You stood next to him, “Don’t tell me the king of Hawkins has gone soft on me”.

He rolled his eyes, but a smile soon formed upon his lips. Steve ran a hand through his hair, “That’s rich coming from you (y/n), you’re like an AV god to them”.

It was true, you’d grown a soft spot for the little gang after the numerous hours you’d spent with them in the AV club. Laughing you said, “Don’t tell me you’re jealous of some middle schoolers Steve”.

You couldn’t explain it, but for some reason you felt brave tonight. You just had a feeling that it was now or never for everything. You’d been close with Steve, and harboured a huge crush for him, but you’d never done something about it before.

Steve smirked, he liked this new side of you that you were showing. He nodded his head, “Jealous of the little dipshits? They are pretty fucking badass huh”.

You heard you name being called remembering you were on duty, “Shit”. Steve laughed softly hearing you swear, normally you’d keep it together. You smiled, “I’m uh monitoring the dance”.

Steve held out his arm, “Need a date? They are pretty fond of me…”. Your heart raced, but you tried to push your doubts away. Holding onto this new confidence you linked your arm with his, “Softie”.

Once again Steve found himself smiling as he walked into the dance with you. His smile faded when he saw Nancy, but he tried to brush it off. He was distracted when the gang ran over to you guys.

Lucas smiled, “You didn’t tell us you were helping out (y/n)!”. You shrugged your shoulders, “And miss my favorite kids killing it? Ya right”.

Steve’s thoughts became happy again as he watched you joke around with all of the kids. They really looked up to you, and seemed so comfortable with you.

He was pulled from his thoughts, “I thought the hair looked familiar”. Dustin winked to Steve, holding a finger over his lips hinting at their little secret. Steve laughed, “Killer right?”.

You laughed too, “Sure thing, I’ll be right back guys”. You left the group and went to go get something to drink. The second you walked away Dustin let it all out.

He raised his eyebrows, “So (y/n) huh?”. Steve was taken back, and tried to deny his feelings. Lucas held up a finger, “Don’t even dude, it’s pretty obvious”. Steve ran a hand through his hair, trying to deflect things.

Mike laughed, “You’ve got it back Harrington”. Steve looked over his shoulder and saw you coming back. He moved his hands so the kids knew to lower their voices, “If any of you dickheads say one thing you’re all dead, got it?”.

They all looked to each other, smirks plastered across their faces. You laughed when you saw everyone’s expressions, “What did I miss?”. They all tried their best not to giggle.

Dustin patted Steve’s shoulder, “Nothing really, right Steve?”. Steve blinked, and then licked his lips. He put his hands in his pockets, “Yeah nothing”.

You raised an eyebrow, “You guys are getting weirder by the minute, go pretend to be normal boring kids for at least one second”.

They all nodded their heads smirking, muttering yes and okay and of course. Laughing you turned to Steve, “I swear, why do I get this feeling that I never know what’s really going on around here”.

Steve was unsure of what to say, almost feeling guilty about everything you’d been left out of. Things got worse when Nancy walked over to you both, “Hey (y/n) I was-”. When she noticed Steve her train of thought stopped.

You tried to fill in the gap, “Were you looking for the attendance sheet? I gave it to Mr. Clarke”. She faked a smile and nodded her head, “Yeah, exactly”. She walked back over to the photo booth where Jonathan was.

Turning to Steve you said, “Look if you want to talk about whatever that just was with someone, I’m here”. You could clearly tell that something was up, you’d heard rumors about a possible breakup but something deeper was going on.

Steve nodded his head, becoming more sure by the second, “You know what? That’s exactly what I want”. You raised an eyebrow, not expecting him to actually agree.

Once again he extended his hand, “Let’s ditch, besides the little shits will be fine and who cares about everyone else?”. You giggled, and nodded your head. Together you walked back out to his car.

You both got into the car, and Steve automatically turned on the radio. He tapped his thumbs against the steering wheel, “You know me and Nanc aren’t as perfect as we seem”.

When you close your eyes and go to sleep, And it’s down to the sound of a heartbeat

I can hear the things that you’re dreaming about, When you open up your heart and the truth comes out

He shook his head, “Far fucking from it actually”. You felt bad, it was clear how hurt he was. Lowering your head to look at him you said, “What happened?”.

Steve laughed dryly, “Bullshit…that’s what happened b-u-l-l-s-h-i-t”. Biting your lip you tried to think of what to say next. He shook his head, “You know the halloween party the other day?”.

You tell me that you want me, You tell me that you need me

You tell me that you love me

You nodded your head, “Yeah I mean I didn’t go but….yeah”. You cursed yourself for sounding so lame. Steve continued, “Well Nancy got super wasted and-”. He stopped for a moment.

He looked out the window, “She said she doesn’t love me anymore”. Your heart sank seeing how beaten up this was all making him. Steve shook his head again, “And her loverboy Jonathan took her home”.

And I know that I’m right, Cuz I hear it in the night

I hear the secrets that you keep, When you’re talking in your sleep

Before you knew what you were doing, you rested a hand on his knee. Steve’s eyes darted towards yours, and you took your hand away.

While trying to hide your blush you said, “Well maybe she’s going through something and-”. You didn’t want to just bash Nancy, because at the end of the day despite your own feelings for Steve, you knew he cared for her.

Steve cut you off, “we all are…what gives her an excuse?”. Nodding your head you continued, “Okay Steve I’m going to be honest with you”. He nodded his head, knowing he desperately needed to hear whatever you’d say.

You sighed, “I know I sound like a damn fortune cookie, but everyone is put into our lives for a reason. Maybe Nancy was supposed to help you grow, help you see things in yourself that you couldn’t before-”.

When I hold you in my arms at night,

Don’t you know you’re sleeping in a spotlight

Smiling you continued, “I mean you’ve changed Steve…I know you like to pretend you don’t care but seeing the way you act with Dustin…I mean…you’re such a good role model for him”.

Steve needed this, god he needed this. He was pretending to be fine with everything, but he was so unsure. Steve might have seemed okay on the outside but on the inside there was a little voice telling him he wasn’t good enough.

So Steve was silent, he let you keep talking because your voice was so happy, your eyes so bright, you believed in him…you cared. Steve marveled in the fact that for once, someone was showing concern for him.

“Just because Nancy doesn’t love you anymore doesn’t mean everything good about you is suddenly gone Steve” it was like you knew exactly what he needed to hear.

And all your dreams that you keep inside

You’re telling me the secrets that you just can’t hide

You rested a hand on his knee again, “I know there’s a lot you don’t tell me, and hey that’s fine. But I want you to know that you don’t have to act all brave around me okay? A lot of people put pressure on you Steve, but I want you to feel safe with me”.

Steve felt it, the electricity. As he watched all of the emotion you put into your words, he felt it too. The entire time it felt like the both of you were just building up, and now Steve wanted to let it all explode.

So he crashed his lips against yours, and god damn it the electricity only got stronger. To his surprise your hand moved up his leg, but then the kiss was over as quickly as it had started.

You pulled back, “Steve..I don’t want to be a rebound for you”. As he looked into your eyes he saw how nervous you looked, as if it one second this was all going to come crashing down on you.

His voice was soft, “You’re right about me (y/n). I pretend everything is fine, I pretend that I don’t care….but I do.”. It was your turn to remain silent and hear what you so desperately needed to.

Steve continued, “I’m not going to lie to you, Nanc hurt me-”. Your heart sank a little, afraid that he was going to give you the “just friends” speech. He now smiled, “But like you said, I gotta move on…she’s not right for me anymore…but you are”.

He moved closer to you, “Can’t you feel it (y/n)?”. His face was inches from yours, and you could see the glimmer in his eyes. Biting your lip you said, “I do Steve”.

You weren’t lying, from the moment you’d sat down in the car with him you’d felt it. It was like every nerve in your body tingled with anticipation. From the moment you’d first saw him tonight, you felt it.

Steve’s eyes were practically begging you to just let go and roll with it. Your face was inches from his, and you decided once again now or never.

So you were as daring as you could be, and jumped into the driver’s seat, straddling Steve. Instantly he smirked, “Damn (y/n)”. Looking down at him you rolled your eyes, but you couldn’t even stay remotely annoyed with him.

You found yourself smiling before kissing him deeply. His hands slowly slid up your legs before gripping your hips. Breathlessly you said his name, your voice much needier than you’d planned.

Steve started to kiss your neck, leaving marks all over your skin. He moved his lips to graze your ear as he whispered, “You are so damn beautiful baby”. You swallowed hard, melting into his touch.

Softly he whispered again, “I can’t even control myself..I want you so badly”. A whole new side of him was showing, a side that was going to be the death of you. Licking your lips you moved his head to look at you.

You were cupping his face, “Then take what you want”. Steve swallowed hard, not expecting something like that to come out of your mouth. It was like the more he got to know you, the more he realized how badly he needed you.

Steve had always been drawn to you, but he’d never thought he could feel this way. He knew that you were making yourself just as vulnerable as he was, and that made him feel safe.

No matter how much he’d loved Nancy, he’d always felt like he was waiting to make some mistake that she just couldn’t forgive. That with one wrong move, no matter what it was, suddenly she wouldn’t want him.

But within ten minutes of truly getting to know you, every insecurity he’d ever had melted away. And contrary to popular belief, Steve Harrington had a lot.

Steve smiled and as he opened his mouth to speak, but there was rapid knocking on the car window. He groaned throwing his head back, “Come on!”. While still sitting on his lap, you rolled the window down.

There stood a very worked up Dustin, who was closing his eyes, “Do you guys have clothes on? Can I look–if you don’t-”. You found yourself shaking your head laughing, but Steve wasn’t as amused.

Steve moved to roll up the window, “Look dickhead, now is not the time I-”. Dustin put his hands on the glass, stopping Steve from rolling it up further. Suddenly the rest of the gang ran up to the car.

You watched Steve’s eyes widen as you sat there confused. Mike spoke up, “Look it’s Will, he and dart-”. Steve’s whole demeanour changed, and you felt the need to take action. You got up off of him, getting out of the car.

Taking a step forward you asked, “What can we do?”. Steve not so gracefully got out of the car, and now stood next to you. The kids looked to each other, and then back at you.

You spoke up again, “Guys if Will is in danger then I want to help!”. To your surprise they formed a small huddle and started whispered to themselves. You sat there with your arms crossed, “Guys come on!”.

The huddle broke as Lucas said, “We don’t have time”. You’d had no idea what they were talking about, but you mentally prepared yourself to be ready for whatever.

Dustin pointed at Steve, “Grab you bat and follow us to the back lot”. You raised an eyebrow, and Steve put his hands up. His voice was stern, “Yeah no way guys, it’s not safe for (y/n)”.

Will repeated, “We don’t have time for this Steve!”. You were becoming more curious by the second. Steve pointed at Will, “I said no, not gonna happen”.

Dustin shook his head, “Son of a bitch, just get the bat!”. As the boys went back and forth for another minute you took it upon yourself to look for the bat.

You smirked to yourself as you pulled the baseball bat from the back seat, shaking your head at the fact it was covered in nails. As you returned to the group you saw they were still fighting, “Listen dipshits, is this really necessary”.

You played around with the bat, getting a good feel for it. Clearing your throat you got their attention, “this bat?”. The boys had smirks plastered across their faces as Steve looked at you with shock.

Dustin smirked, “Yeah that bat, let’s go come on!”. You started to walk away with them, until Steve pulled you back. He pressed you against the car, “I’ll be damned if I let anything bad happen to you, don’t leave my side okay?”.

Playfully you whispered, “Softie” before kissing him one last time. As you joined the group Steve stood there smiling to himself for a minute. While watching you walk away he thought, “Those dipshits are right..fuck I have it bad..”.

#stranger things #steve harrington #steve harrington x reader #steve Harrington smut

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creativeashproductions · 7 years

Text

Uniform Romance 02 // Steve Harrington

Summary: Young and in love Reader and Steve make an impulsive decision that has lasting problems. Years after separating they come face to face with a challenge between them and lost feelings. But what happens when they meet agains years later during a time of crisis?

Characters: Reader x Steve Harrington, Jonathan Byers, Dustin Henderson (mentioned), Nancy Wheeler (mentioned), Chief Jim Hopper (mentioned)

Words: 2318

Disclaimer: I do not own Stranger Things or the characters involved. Nor do I own any images or gifs that may appear.

Warnings: Swearing, angst, young romance, heartbreak

Author: Caitsy

A/N: Part two of three short blurbs. Based loosely on a Hallmark movie I watched a few days ago.

Master list

Prompt List

ASK US A QUESTION LIST

“Officer Hargrove.” You stated from the entry of your office, “Did you attend the anger management classes?”

“No sweetcheeks. I don’t have the time.” Billy smirked collapsing into the chair in front of your desk with a smirk. His teeth holding a tooth pick in his mouth while the sleeves of his blue uniform were rolled up.

“We talked about this.” You sighed looking up at him, “I can’t have you on the force if you’re going to snap at suspects. You pulled a gun on a kid that looked at you wrong.”

“I’m the best.” Billy chuckled.

 “You’re suspended.” You blankly stated stamping one of the sheets of paper before getting out of your chair, “Place your gun and badge on the desk.”

You strolled out of you office into the busy room with a few desks and workers sitting at their desks. You ignored the greetings before stopping at the the receptionist desk where El was reading a book.

“Miss Hopper.” You spoke as the younger girl lifted her head up with innocent eyes and a wide smile.

“Chief Y/L/N.” She grinned with a pair of rosy cheeks.

“Can you mail this?” You asked passing the paper over to the girl. She nodded before you started towards your office again.

Hopper took a leave of absence, he was tracking Martin Brenner, leaving you in charge of six officers, and a up and coming detective. You were usually working or training high students to understand the physicality of being an officer. You vividly remembering joining the force and watching your father train Dustin Henderson, Lucas Sinclair, Mike Wheeler, Will Byers and Max Mayfield. Out of all of them only Max and Lucas continued on.

Max was a well respected detective, a feat everyone was jealous of, and the youngest one in history. She was often out helping other counties while also training officers driving techniques. You were hesitate with Max and Billy working together.

 “Morning Officer Sinclair.” You nodded at the man before inconspicuously gesturing to your office.

“What’s wrong?” Lucas questioned once your door was shut tight.

“Have you heard from Hopper?” You questioned quietly. Lucas and Max were often the ones in charge of the less…normal side of Hawkins. Patrolling the pumpkin patches was a frequent job they did.

“No.” He spoke confused.

“He must be still out of service.” You sighed shaking your head before releasing Lucas from the door, “If he contacts you let me know.”

You spent the rest of the day doing paper work and calmly telling elderly Flo that her cat wasn’t something you were able to heal. You pointed her in the direction of the local veterinarian but for some reason they two never got along.

You were bored and tired when you got home to the childhood house your parents still lived in with your fiancé also. You were greeted with a kiss from him as he walked you to the kitchen where the food was already on the table.

 “Thank you.” You sighed cracking your neck. The phone rang just at that moment leaving you to sigh, “Y/L/N residence. How can I help you?”

  “I’m Mr. Shank.” Your family lawyer spoke, “I got your file and I’ve found that your still married to a Steve Harrington.”

You choked on air remembering the brown eyes and well kept hair. You were shocked to know this development. You hadn’t really thought of the boy you had married so young for years now.

“It’s annulled.” You hissed from the living room, “I’m getting married! I can’t be married already!”

“I’ve got in contact with Steve and I just need you both at the hall tomorrow morning.” Mr. Shank replied before mumbling off the phone to his wife, “I have to go. Mary is trying to put her finger in the socket again.”

You chuckled remembering the mischievous toddler Jason Shank had with his wife Angela. You went silent when he hung up and kept your phone against your ear. You knew you would have to at least tell one of your parents, most likely your mom given the way your Dad reacted, of your absence tomorrow.

“Babe?”

“Coming!” You exclaimed hanging up the phone and removing your uniform jacket.

The dining room was set up with small papers of different fonts and colours in front of your mother and fiancé. You nearly groaned at the sight of the piles deciding you’d rather get shot then sit through planning the wedding.

 “This is a more elegant font.” Your mother explained to one of the huge amounts. You sighed leaning back in your chair gazing longingly at the living room.

“Simple. We decided simple.”

You ignored the conversation going on between the two of them to remember the times of fun and love you had with Steve Harrington. It felt like yesterday when you sat and remembered everything. The suitcase was tucked away in the back of your closet too full of memories to be properly put away.

“Y/N.” You snapped to attention hearing the exasperated voice of your mom.

“Sorry. Bad day at work.” You shook your head clearing it to focus solely on this wedding. You had been engaged for two years and has just chosen the date to work mainly for your parents and his.

“We can come back to this.” Your mother sighed, “What’s another two years.”

You winced watching her retreating back before locking eyes with him and glanced away when you saw Steve’s eyes instead. It made you uncomfortable how you were seeing parts of Steve in this relationship just because of that call.

 “You should probably help her.” He admitted, “I’ve been avoiding the living room.”

“Go.” You softly spoke sending his sulking to watch some sports game he hated. You wandered into the kitchen seeing your mom holding a cup in hand staring outside.

“What really happened?” She asked.

You glanced over your shoulder before gesturing her to follow you outside of the house. You kept silent until you were inside the greenhouse she had kept for the last few years. The door closed before you turned to her.

“Mr. Shank called.” You spoke.

“And?”

  “Apparently I’m still married to Steve.”

“What?” Mom spat shocked, “Your dad sent the papers in years ago!”

  “I know. He told me. You told me. I signed.” You sighed leaning against a wooden box, “No one but you and Dad know we got married!”

“We can’t ask your dad.” Mom shook her head sighing along with you, “The doctor explicitly told us no stress.”

He had his third heart attack in the last nine months striking fear into the family and taking more of his independence away. He was on disability while your mother was working full time again. He was a shell of the laughing man you remembered and you were truthfully getting married so soon because he was all excited to walk you down the aisle.

“I guess I have to go tomorrow and see him.” You sighed shaking your head as stress built on your shoulders.

“You can do it.”

A new day with the sun breaking over the landscape was how you spent your time having gotten little sleep. You were on a tight schedule today with the approaching meeting and the atmosphere in Hawkins changed overnight. It was reminiscent of the Upside Down in 1984 and you were more than nervous it was coming back.

Hopper was AWOL leaving you in charge and with no ability to contact him…well you could say you felt unprepared. That meant all hands were on deck, even with Billy’s suspend ass, so you were going to the meeting wearing your uniform. Way to knock Steve on his ass with your mature changes.

The outside of the office matched in the inside with the white drab paint and dull coloured clothing on the employees. You felt the judgemental eyes on your Chief jacket and the femininity you displayed.

“Chief Y/L/N.” Mr. Shank jovially spoke as you slid into the office allowing him to take your jacket and hang it up.

 “Morning Mr. Shank.” You smiled staring at the picture frame of his happy family, “Wher-“

“I’m here. Sorry I’m late.” The winded familiar voice spoke from behind you, “Am I in the wrong?”

  “Mr. Harrington.” Mr. Shank spoke with a grin, “Been awhile. How’re you doing?”  

“I’m…holy shit.” Steve gaped as you turned to look at him, “You’re an officer-“

 “Chief.” You firmly spoke flicking your eyes over his body keeping aloof.

Steve wore black slacks paired with a starched white button down and loosely kept tie but the one thing that didn’t change was his hair. It was kept just as short as it was when you last saw him and some minor changes to his face and muscle definition but other than that nothing was different.

“Wow.”

“Can we get on this? It’s a busy day.” You spoke turning your attention to Mr. Shank.

“Okay so I went through the paperwork that I could find. However the meaty part must have been lost in the mail. Meaning you’re still legally married to each other.” Mr. Shank said glancing through some papers neatly stacked, “Now I have a court time for later to-“

Your phone broke his sentence loudly, El and Lucas were the ones to integrate the cells into off duty, earning looks from both of them.

“Sorry.” You winced answering it, “Chief Y/L/N.”

“We got a problem Chief.” The frantic voice of Lucas spoke.

“What’s the matter?” You sat up straighter. God you recognized that tone of voice from years ago.

“There’s something odd.”

“Are we talking…?” You trailed off ignoring the looks from Mr. Shank.

“Max and I think it’s back.” Lucas spoke. You froze feeling icy terror crawl up your back and through your veins.

“Shit.” You groaned, “Tell El. I’m on my way.”

“Sure thing.”

You strode to the coat hanger grasping your jacket tightly before slipping the phone into the holder on your holster. You checked your gun and badge on your shirt before opening the door with a singular goal in mind.

“What’s going on?”

  “Rain check the court meeting!” You called out over your shoulder slamming the outside door open before heading for the police truck.

 “What’s going on?!” Steve called close on your heels with Mr. Shank.

 “Chief! We need to clear this up for you to get married!”

“What?!” Steve exclaimed as he slid in front of you and your door, “What the hell is going on?!”

“Police business.” You spat reaching around to unlock your door.

 “I can help.” He spoke.

 “Bullshit.” You huffed stepping closer, “Move aside before I put a bullet in you.”

“Why can’t I help?”

  “You ain’t police.”

“I’m a detective. Newly minted.” He spoke softly. You bit your lip before nodding towards your truck. He kept quiet on the way to the station glancing over every once in a while, “So you’re engaged.”

“And still married apparently.” You muttered shaking your head. He opened his mouth but El, Max and Lucas all flew out of the station towards you. Once they were inside Lucas was throwing out directions.

“Steve?”

“Lucas?” Steve asked surprised to see him in uniform.

“Been awhile.” Lucas spoke looking at him, “How’ve ya been?”  

“Pretty good.” Steve awkwardly returned looking at Max, “So you’re an officer.”

“Detective.” She spoke earning another gaping expression, “Went to Indianapolis but hated it. Prefer Hawkins so I came back.”

 “You’re so young!”

“I work hard.” She rolled her eyes while El kept to herself playing with the simple necklace she had received a few years back from Mike.

“So what the hell is going on?” You asked Lucas.

 “I was on patrol on route thirty six of the hundred and twenty Hopper ordered a few years back. I heard this groaning sound so I check it out and I swear to god a tree was oozing this goo.”

“Shit.” You spoke groaning. 

“What the hell is going on!?” Steve exclaimed, “Where is Hopper? Why is there two detectives on the force in a small town?”

  “Because Lucas and Max deal more with the events that residents aren’t aware of.” You replied, “Hopper’s away on business.”

“Works out in our favour.” Max shrugged slouching down, “Don’t like one of the officers though.”

“He’s your step brother.” Lucas chuckled placing his hand on hers, “Of course you don’t like him. Besides he hates that you can order him around now.”

“Billy is an officer?!” Steve exclaimed, “How in the hell did someone let him join the force.”

  “His impeccable aim.” You spat unhappily, “The ass toes the line more often than not but he knows what he can do without getting kicked off.”

  “I’m shocked.” Steve grunted leaning back.

 “He’s suspended until he takes anger management classes for the act he did recently.” You sighed coming to a stop at the abandoned pumpkin patch.

 “Why are we-“

“Because the Upside Down is rearing its head again for the fifth time in the last five years.” You grunted moving to the back of the truck where Hopper had inserted a hidden compartment. You tossed a shotgun to Lucas and Max before grabbing the last one. Once loaded you started towards the woods.

Steve hung back before catching up. He left his gun in the safe in his car with his badge also. He was empty handed and severely out of his element. It had been more than fifteen years since he had dealt with the Upside Down.

“What have I missed?” Steve muttered to himself.

“Y/N’s getting married.” El softly answered him with a smile, “They bonded over you leaving town and Nancy leaving for college after a fight with Jonathan.”  Steve froze blanking for moment.

 “She’s getting married to Jonathan.”

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miss-wanderlustwriter · 7 years

Text

The Sky (Part 3)

Billy Hargrove (Stranger Things) x Reader

~4000 words (Each part just keeps getting longer, sorry guys) xD

Let me know what you think, this is my first Billy fanfic!

Feedback, suggestions & requests all welcome ♥

Summary: That night at the Byers.

Warnings: Violent Billy. Arguments. Angst. Language.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 4 Part 5

(Of course I don’t condone the actions of Billy at all in the show, but I’m intrigued by the character and let’s face it Dacre Montgomery is hot as hell, and such an amazing actor!)

The next week at school flew by. Billy felt confident in his maths test for the first time ever, and did carry on meeting me for lunch, sometimes we actually sat in the canteen as opposed to the library; ignoring all the stares and whispers surrounding us, or trying to at least.

He drove me home from school most days and I finally got to meet Max properly. She definitely had her walls up but I managed to get a few smiles out of her eventually, when I think she realised I wasn’t just another one of Billy’s one night stands and that I actually cared about her as a person.

She was a really cool kid, a great skater and I was interested in her how her day had gone and how she was fitting in at school. It sounded like she’d made friends with Lucas and the guys so that was a good sign!

Another Friday rolled around and I was sat at lunch thinking about calling round Nancy’s that evening. This has been going on far too long now, I hadn’t seen her or Jonathan in weeks and I was getting nothing out of Steve when he was around. I’m pretty sure Max is probably involved. It’s a mess.

I was so far gone running around my own head I jumped when Billy slammed his tray down opposite me, looking pissed off and wearing another one of those bloody shirts with practically no buttons done up.

“What’s wrong with you? I questioned his attitude.

"Nothing.” He answered in short. “So are we going for a drive tonight or what?” Changing the subject and forcing a smile, clearly not wanting to talk about it so I let it go.

“Yeah sure!” Trying to recover from my worry about a certain alternate universe.

That’s when I heard it again, the whispers.

“They’re sat together again.”

“I know I told you, it’s everyday.”

“It’s weird!”

I lowered my head playing with my food, the doubts creeping back in along with all the other words I’d heard over the past few weeks: Are they friends? Are they fucking? Why is Billy hanging out with her? What does he see in her? She’s so weird. Maybe he took pity since her other friends have left her.

Billy notices my silence. “Hey. Princess.” And when I don’t answer “Hey, look at me.”

I put my fork down and sigh, looking up at Billy. I see his cute furrowed brow and find myself wanting to reach over and smooth the worry away. He just waits, eyes fixed on mine, giving me the time to gather myself.

I sigh again. “It’s just… We’re friends right?”

He looks so confused “Yeah of course, we shook on it didn’t we.”

“Yeah but I mean like actual friends, like you’re not just bullshitting me and this is all some joke where I’m the punchline?”

“What? Where is this coming from Y/N?”

“People here. I hear them whispering every day: I’m weird, why would Billy Hargrove want to spend time with me.” I looked down embarrassed by my confession, expecting him to admit it.

“Hey, look at me right now. Don’t you listen to these idiots, they are not worth your time. I like you Y/N, I like spending time with you, you’re different than everyone else in this shit town. Besides, you’re a pain in my ass, so do you think I’d voluntarily hang out with you if we weren’t friends.” He raised an eyebrow at me as the corners of his mouth lifted slightly.

I was momentarily taken aback before my face lit up, I could feel it, and a smile spread across my face. “True. Thanks Billy.”

“Anytime Princess.”

When the school bell rang to signal the end of another week, Billy met me by my locker.

“What’s up, I thought we were just meeting at your car like always?”

“Just want to make sure you get there without anyone filling your head with lies Princess.” A smirk creeping across his face as we started walking to the parking lot. “Seriously though are you okay now?”

“Yeah I guess so. I mean, I just have one other genuine question.” I bit my lip with concern.

He took a deep breath before replying “And what’s that?”

“Well, do you actually buy your shirts with no buttons or do you just pull them off yourself?” I broke into a smile and a run as we got outside.

“Hey get back here! You cheeky…” He shouted after me and started to chase me towards his car. My pace slowed down because I was laughing so much, I turned around and tried to dodge him but it was a failure. He grabbed me, arms wrapped around my waist and lifted me off the floor twirling me round, both of us a laughing mess.

“Okay, okay, I can’t breath!” I protested. He lowered me to ground and put his arm around my shoulders as we walked the rest of the way to his car, trying to catch our breaths.

Max was waiting for us at the car and her eyes flitted between me and Billy as we go closer, his arm still around me. “Hey kid, you okay?” I smiled as I broke away from Billy to give her a hug, which she returned.

“Yes thanks.” And it sounded like she meant it, and I swear I heard her whisper to Billy as she got in the car “I like her the best.” I pretended not to hear, but saw Billy slightly shake his head as he tried to suppress a smile.

We chatted all the way home, Max actually getting involved, and once I’d waved them off I ran straight to the phone. Both my parents were away this weekend, thankfully, if anything kicked off they were better far away from this town. I rang Nancy but Mrs Wheeler said she was out, shocker. I tried Steve’s house but he wasn’t home either. Something was definitely wrong I could feel it.

My fears were confirmed later than night as Billy rang and cancelled our drive. It was a short conversation, and worrying. He sounded upset, angry and stressed but he refused to talk to me and hung up before I could protest.

I was facing my long night in of worrying about everyone I knew it seemed. I started doing some chores before heading to bed when the phone rang again.

It was Nancy. She was panicking.

“Nancy, Nancy slow down! You’re where?”

“At the Byer’s place, please Y/N can you come?! I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important.”

“Yes of course, is everyone there?”

“Yes, it’s like last year. We’re currently safe here and forming a plan.”

“Okay I’m on my way!” I hung up, grabbed my old converse and my hoodie to throw on over my Def Leppard t-shirt and ran out the garage. Thankfully Mom and Dad had taken the project car my Dad had been working on for months so I was left with the family car.

As I was pulling up at Jonathan’s house I saw Chief Hopper leaving with a girl I’d never seen before as everyone else was gathered on the porch. He nodded to me as he climbed in his truck. Nancy flung herself forward into my arms before I was barely out the car. I’ve never hugged someone so tight, all my fears from the last few weeks just burst out of me and I was so glad she was here, I missed her so much.

We broke apart both wiping tears and she lead me inside with everyone else as Hopper and the girl drove off.

“So let me get this straight, this,” I pointed to the hundreds of drawings covering the walls, “is a map of tunnels underneath Hawkins that are basically the Upside-Down, with… Demodogs? Running around in them?”

Everyone nodded.

“Hopper and El, who is from Hawkins lab, have gone to shut the gate to the Upside-Down which will stop all this, while you, Jonathan and Mrs Byers take Will to Hopper’s cabin to sweat out the Mindflayer that’s currently controlling him?”

Everyone nodded again.

“Yeah pretty much.” Nancy confirmed.

“Oh okay. Great. Glad I’m caught up.” I let out a breath I didn’t realise I’d been holding. “Wait, what are those?” I asked alarmed, pointing to two syringes on the side.

“Oh, we need to sedate Will before we move him so the Mindflayer won’t know where to find us.”

“Okay. Reasonable.” My voice was small, my head was mashed.

Steve took Max, Mike, Lucas and Dustin to the living room to give me some space, and Mrs Byers went to prepare the sedative for Will. Jonathan looked at Nancy hesitant to leave her side but she gave him a nod and he went to his Mom. I saw the look on both of their faces and knew. I clung to a moment of clarity in this madness and turn to Nancy “So, you and Jonathan?”

“Is it that obvious?” She asks sheepishly.

I nudged her with my shoulder “Only to me. I’ve known you both a long time and all I can say is finally.” I smile at her “And I’m really happy for you both.”

“Thanks Y/N. I think we need to go, but I’ll see you once this is all over, I promise. I’ve missed you.”

“Me too Nance. Stay safe.”

And with that they were gone.

Max took Nancy’s seat next to me, and my mind flew back to Billy. I hoped to God he was okay.

I looked at her, she was carefully watching me. “It’s okay Y/N, I’m in the same boat as you. I just found out as well. It’s crazy.”

“I can’t believe you’re caught up in all this. Wait. Does Billy know?”

“God no! What made you think that?”

“He rang me earlier, cancelled our plans. He seemed stressed and upset but wouldn’t say anything else, just hung up. I’m worried about him.” I answered, my optimism destroyed, something else was obviously wrong with him.

“Oh. Can I ask you something?” She shifted in her seat.

“Yeah sure.”

“Are you and Billy still dating?” She looked down as she spoke.

I couldn’t help but laugh “Aw Max, we’re not dating, me and Billy are friends.”

Her head shot up and a confused look fell across her face, and I know they aren’t blood related but I could swear it was the same frown as Billy’s, the one I’d only seen earlier that day.

“Oh.” She hesitated before continuing “Well I’m rooting for you. He’s been changing since he started hanging out with you. He hasn’t shouted at me once. I like you being around.”

“Max, come here.” I say as I wrap my arms around her. “Me and you are friends now, no matter what happens with me and Billy. So if he ever shouts or does something horrible, you come to me okay?”

She gives me a small smile. “Okay, thanks Y/N.”

“Anytime.” I give her a squeeze and we head through to the rest of the guys in the living room.

“Okay so house rules.” I start “One: no one leaves this house. Two: Any problems, thoughts, worries you come to me or Steve. We’ll just stay here, stay safe and wait for news from the others.”

Steve looks shifty as he adds “Rule three: no on go in the freezer.”

Max, Lucas and Mike all mirror my confusion. “And why’s that Steve?”

But Dustin answers for him “There may be a dead Demodog in there. Potentially.”

“Oh Jesus. Okay no one go in the freezer.” I run my hands through my hair and tie it up in a ponytail. “Right guys, stay here I’m going to do a perimeter around the house, just to be sure.”

“No Y/N I’ll do that.” Steve interrupted.

“Honestly Steve, I need to do this to put my mind at rest and I could do with some air.”

“I’ll come with you.” Dustin offered with a smile.

“Okay kid let’s go.”

Dustin followed me out the front door as I was armed with Steve’s bat, and we started circling the house being as quiet as possible to listen for anything suspicious. We got round to the back of the house and checked the shed at the bottom of the yard, where they had evidently been housing Will. I let out a sigh of relief as we left the shed with nothing to report.

We stopped dead in our tracks as we heard a car engine pull up.

“They can’t have closed the gate and helped Will already can they?” I turned to Dustin, his eyes wide in shock? Fear? I couldn’t tell.

“I don’t think so, follow me.” We crept down the side of the house, peeking out to see Billy’s Camaro parked next to my car.

“What the hell, that’s Billy’ car.” I whispered to Dustin.

“Oh this can’t be good.”

“Come on.” I took the lead this time, striding back to the front door, my pace picking up when I heard raised voices.

Me and Dustin burst in the house to find Mike shocked into silence beside Max, who was shouting at Billy, who was holding Lucas against the wall while Steve advanced on them. Before I could process what was happening Steve pulled on Billy’s shoulder spun him around and landed a right hook across his face drawing blood.

“Yes! Looks like you’ve got some fire in you after all!” He mocked Steve, laughing while his nose was bleeding.

I did not recognise this person at all. It was terrifying.

“Billy! What the hell?!”

Everyone stopped.

Lucas took the opportunity to run to Mike and Dustin, who held him and pushed him behind themselves. Away from Billy.

Billy’s eyes locked on mine and for a second I thought I saw him in there, the guy who remembered that I loved the sky; but then he broke it, and his gaze flew from me to Steve.

“You… You and Harrington?”

“As if Billy. Don’t be stupid.” I scoffed.

“Yeah because that’s me! Stupid Billy! You. You were worried and it turns out all along you’re the one bullshitting me! Been laughing about me behind my back have we? You and Harrington all cosy together while I’m the joke? Am I right?!”

I could not believe what I was hearing right now. I walked up to him, he stank of whiskey and cigarettes, and was still laughing manically to himself under his breath shaking his head.

“Billy. Do you hear yourself right now?” I tried to take his chin in my hand and make him look at me. “You’re wasted, let me clean -”. But I couldn’t finish. He slapped my hand away from him, and in the same instant Steve pushed me out the way and pushed Billy backwards away from us all. “Hey man, get out.”

“You don’t tell me what to do.” Billy’s voice lowered to a threat and he lunged for Steve, who dodged out the way and landed another punch.

“Woo! I’ve been waiting to meet this King Steve that everyone has told me so much about!” This time he gets his punch back in on Steve.

It was mayhem. We were all shouting at them to stop, no one could be heard over the barrage of noise. Shouts and punches filled the air. I didn’t realise I was crying until I felt the sobs ripping through my chest. Two of the people I cared about most were beating the shit out of each other.

“Billy. Please.” I pleaded, I begged. But my voice fell to a whisper, I couldn’t breath properly.

He had Steve pinned to the ground now, he was unreachable, the red mist was down and he would kill Steve.

Then Max appeared, syringe in hand and before anyone could move another inch she had plunged it into Billy’s neck. He stopped, span around and already started wobbling as he pulled the needle out “What did you do to me?” He tried to step towards Max but couldn’t and he fell to the floor while we all looked at Max in shock as she picked up the bat I’d dropped and threatened Billy with it before he passed out.

I turned away, tears still streaming down my face trying to gather myself. Okay breath. Focus.

I wiped my tears, took a few more breaths just to hear Max jingle Billy’s car keys “Let’s go.”

I twirled around “What? Go where? And no!”

“Ooh where are we going?” Dustin questioned.

“You’re not going anywhere!”

I was ignored as Mike answered “To the tunnels, we’re going to the hub to light a fire and distract the Demodogs, to give El a clear shot at the gate.”

“Err hello! No you’re not.”

“You sound like Steve.” Lucas chimed in with a sigh.

Steve.

We all looked down at the two unconscious boys lying in the Byer’s kitchen. Oh Jesus.

“Right. Right. Someone go see if there’s any first aid stuff in the bathroom.” I saw Max make a move, and got the boys to help me move Steve to the sofa. He was messed up, and was my main priority at the moment as I barely glanced at Billy.

Max came back with some coloured plasters and nothing else. Shit.

I got a damp cloth to try and clean the blood up on Steve, but it wasn’t great.

“Okay, guys, I need you to look at me and promise me right now that you will stay here and not leave this house. I need to go to mine to get some proper first aid things to help Steve.” Not even able to think about Billy or say his name. My despair had transformed into anger.

I glared at Mike, Lucas, Dustin and Max in turn as they protested. “No. This is important. Promise me.”

They all nodded. Little did I know that each one of the buggers had their fingers crossed.

As I was driving back down with the Byers’ house in view, first aid kit on the passenger seat, I noticed straight away; Billy’s car had gone. No way, he can’t have woken up this soon and bolted. I ran straight through the front door nearly trampling Billy as he lay exactly here he’d fallen.

Steve however was not there, and neither were the kids, or the bloody plasters. Shit.

I tried to stay calm. A million thoughts running through my head: Maybe Steve woke up and agreed to the kid’s plan. Who am I kidding, Max took the car keys and they took the unconscious Steve. I really hope Max knows how to drive, oh god.

Okay breath. They’ll be fine. Steve will wake up with one hell of headache, but he’s good with them, he’ll look after them, and he knows more about this situation than I do, and what we’re actually up against. I was trying to convince myself more than anything. But obviously none of us expected Billy to be one of those obstacles.

The first aid kit got disregarded on the table, and I turned to the house itself. Cleaning and tidying as best I could without disturbing the drawings, and distracting myself from that person lying on the floor because that was not my Billy. That was not the beautiful boy I had left hours earlier. How could it be. How could he do this. He had been so mad, no, he’d been furious.

I thought I could get through to him when our eyes met, he stopped when he saw me, but seeing me and Steve together fuelled the rage within him. What ignited that rage? And why did thinking I was with Steve make it worse? This is Billy Hargrove, he didn’t catch feelings; did he?

After doing what I could I came to a loose end, I couldn’t sit still, I was fidgeting and pacing. I couldn’t stand it any longer and I forced myself to walk to kitchen and look at Billy.

My heart ached. The contrast between the pure fire and anger to this peaceful innocence as he slept. No lines, no scowls, no frowns; just a 17 year old boy who must be going through so much pain but never lets anyone close enough to help. But even as I pushed his hair off his face and cleaned the blood away I couldn’t forgive him. The pain in chest deepened as I sighed “Oh what have you done Billy.”

With great effort I dragged him over to the sofa and lifted him onto it. I wiped my brow and then I just sat with him; savouring the moment before wakes up and the inevitable takes place.

As he started to stir so did my anger in the pit of my stomach. I got him a glass of water and some headache tablets before he woke up properly. I left them on the table in front of him and retreated to lean against the kitchen counter.

I saw the initial panic flit across his face as he tried to sit up looking around the room before his eyes rested on me. “Take those and drink that while your memory comes back to you.” I said with as little emotion as possible. He did as I said, elbows now resting on his knees and head down for a moment before standing up and turning to face me. He was still a bit unsteady on his feet as he took a step towards me “Y/N…” He whispered. Almost begging.

“No. Billy. No. You don’t get to say my name like that.” Tears were already rising in me, and I was internally cursing myself for being an angry crier.

He stopped trying to come to me, whether that was because of my reaction or his own ability to walk I don’t know. He stared hard into my eyes across the room, but just like the first night we met, I wasn’t backing down.

“I know, I’m sorry.”

“You’re sorry? You’re sorry?!” I spat out a humourless laugh and pushed myself forward to stand up straight and give myself confidence. "You physically threatened Lucas, a 13 year old boy! And you nearly beat Steve to death!” Emotion was getting the better of me as I threw my hands in the air “What is wrong with you?!”

His eyes hardened and his jaw set “What’s wrong with me Y/N? I get shit off my Dad for not knowing where Max is every second of the goddamn day, so I get sent out to look for her, and she’s here at this crazy house, where low and behold I find you and Steve fucking Harrington playing happy families!”

“Are you kidding me right now Hargrove?” The volume in my voice rising. “There is nothing going on between me and Steve, not that I even have to explain myself to you. And why do you even give a shit?!”

He glanced away and a nervousness overtook him for a split second.

“Are you…” I nearly couldn’t get the words out “Are you, jealous? Is this how you get when you’re jealous Billy?”

“No.” His gaze back on me, even more intense and determined. “This is how I get because I’m a piece of shit that you should never have trusted to be friends with.”

My own voice dropped, along with my stomach, all my fight had gone. “Well, maybe that’s the most sensible thing you’ve said all evening. I don’t know this person standing in front of me right now. This is the person I assumed you were before you sat with me in the library.”

“No Y/N you don’t know me, so stop trying to.” He fenced himself back in behind his walls and stormed right passed me out into the night.

And in that moment the pain in my chest intensified, I collapsed to the floor, my tears finally making their appearance; and I swear I could hear my heart break.

98 notes · View notes

gracieheartspedro · 7 years

Text

Stuck with Me (Steve Harrington x Reader) PART 2

NOTE: IM SO HAPPY! The response on the first part had me so happy, I had to post quicker than I wanted to originally. Thank you all for the amazing comments! I don’t have a tagged thing up yet, so if you want to be tagged, please message me and I will add you. For now, I’ll just have to post and hope all of you see it. I will get a tagged list ready for Part 3!

Word count: 2348

Warnings: NONE (yet (-; muahaha)

PART 1

After school homework sessions were now me and Steve’s everyday routine. We would sit on the living room floor, eat whatever my uncle stocked up on, and help each other with our work. It was productive but also super fun. We would have breaks in between and talk about random stuff. Whether it was about school, life, anything, Steve was always up for conversation.

By Friday, his essay was ready to be turned in, and I was ready for the pop quiz we had.

The rest of my school days went well, except for the constant threat Billy would say something to me. On Wednesday, he asked me to go to the basketball game and watch him play but I said I had plans, which I did, technically, but I just wanted to avoid him. On Thursday, he stood outside my Physics class and walked me to my last period. He kept asking me when I was going to let him bring me to the movies. I told him when he turns into Tom Cruise and takes me to a movie premiere. He chuckled at my answer and told me I was “a piece of work”.

His laugh was kind of cute. His genuine laugh. I heard it once when I said something catty to him and he threw his head back. In that moment I thought I saw decency within Billy Hargrove. The feeling and realization faded when he told me I looked “hot” in my skirt as I walked into my classroom. Every time he said it, it sent a tingle up my spine. It wasn’t the adjective I was looking to be called and every time I heard his deep voice mutter it, I wanted to shrivel up into a ball and die.

Steve, on the other hand, called me “cute”. He said I was “unlike any other girl he’s hung out with” and that I made him laugh than other people in his life. He made me feel important and always complimented me, in a not-creepy-type-of-way. He smiled and laughed at my jokes, even when they were terrible. And when I sang in the car on the way home from school, he was always harmonizing with me jokingly.

We decided whatever was going on between us, needed to be taken slowly. I wanted nothing but to kiss him and hold him, and he made it pretty obvious he felt the same way, but we knew flying into things would end up making things awkward and weird. Taking it slow and being friends first was the best bet to make this thing last.

So for another week, he drove me home and we watched TV together. Sometimes we played wrestled and fought over shows we liked. He even started picking me up in the mornings, so Hop didn’t have to drop me and Jane off at school. He would bring me breakfast biscuits and we would talk about upcoming assignments in math and how we couldn’t stand Billy. As time went on, he started staying around longer. He would stay after school with me until 7, which was an hour before Hopper got home. He said he “didn’t have anything else to do” but I knew something else was going on. I could feel it as his demeanor changed when people were near us. Jane, people at school, whoever. He just shut down and got quiet. It was odd, but I decided not to question it.

He told me wanted to see some horror movie, which I gladly said we could go see together. He told me he’d hold my hand if things got too scary. I giggled and told him he could hide in my hair if things became too much for him. He didn’t laugh, just huffed and said he was fearless. We decided on Friday night and promised each other it was just a “friend date”, whatever that meant.

So when 8 rolled around and my uncle pulled up to the house, I was ready to present my case for a 9 o’clock movie with Steve Harrington. He walks in, huffing and puffing. He doesn’t notice my dressed up attire, as he headed to the fridge to grab a beer. He had one or two a night. I made sure he’d cut back, especially since Jane was around now.

“Uncle Jim, I got a question…”

“Does it involve me leaving the house?” He groans, sitting down on the couch next to Jane, who was reading a book she had for school.

“No, I’m just going out with Steve tonight and I was wondering if it was okay?” My voice started to go up in nervousness.

He chuckled, “You two dating, now? Do I have to scope him out?”

“Not dating, just hanging out.”

Jane looks up from her book, “No more homework here?”

Hopper furrows his eyebrows.

Shit.

I didn’t really tell him Steve was coming over every day. He always left before he came home, anyway. I knew he wouldn’t go for it and probably yell at me.

“You have him over without me here?” He asks, his voice guttural and demeaning. He sits forward more, his elbows on his knees.

“Uh… yeah. We’ve been doing homework here after school.” I respond, nervously. Please don’t be mad.

“And were you planning on telling me or we just going to start inviting guys over all the time? Yanno what,” His voice twists. I know he’s about to be sarcastic, “Hey Jane, why don’t you invite Mike over for a sleepover? Maybe he can even sleep in your bed!”

Jane’s face twists, “Sounds stupid.”

“And what aren’t we Jane?”

“Stupid.” She turns the page of her book, her face deep inside it, her curls the only thing visible.

Hopper looks over at me, his face steady. “Bingo.”

“It’s not like that! We honestly just do homework, and sometimes eat your cracker jack bu-”

“I knew it was going too quickly!” He yelled, sounding more angry about the cracker jack than he was about me having Steve over.

“I’m sorry, I’ll buy you more!”

“Y/N… I need you,” He stops to think and collect himself, “I need you to be honest with me okay? I just need communication. I know ever sin-”

“Don’t pull that with me,” I say, my throat getting tight. Don’t bring her up.

“Just tell me what’s going on and I won’t get mad, okay? You can go out tonight but,” He scans my outfit, “Put on pants.”

I roll my eyes, “Madonna doesn’t wear pants with mini dresses, Hop.”

“You’re not Madonna.”

I return to my room to change.

“Have a good night. Have her home before midnight, Harrington.”

The door closes behind us as we get into Steve’s BMW. It’s a little chilly tonight, so I was grateful I changed when I was told to. I changed into some black jeans and a simple red top, putting my jean jacket over all of it. I also touched up my lipgloss and mascara, ensuring I was a little more done up than usual.

I buckle up and glance over at Steve. He huffed after turning on the car, placing both of his hands on the wheel.

“Everything alright?”

“Yeah, just,” He stops, biting his lip, “I had to sneak out because my dad is mad at my Biology grade and we fought when I got home from school… it’s dumb don-“

“Why didn’t you tell me you needed help with Biology?”

“Because then it would’ve taken up more time with you that i’d rather spend just listening to you talk about other stuff,” I watch him curl his lips, trying to figure out what to say next. His eyebrows raise, “I mean you could talk about cheeses and I’d listen to you for hours, but..”

I blush, placing my hands in my lap, “I really like mozzarella.”

He snickers, putting the car in reverse. “Tell me more?”

“I would be I’ll have to find a cheddar time.”

We both grow silent before laughing loudly, filling the car up with our awful cheese jokes. We switch the conversation, Steve bringing up how my uncle sure went easy on him. I told him he found out about him coming over, and he shrugged.

“We didn’t do anything, anyway.”

“Yeah, but he thinks we are,” I reply, running my hand through my curls.

Steve was quiet. He seemed even more off tonight. When he came in to get me and say hello, he wouldn’t even look at Jane. He just silently muttered a hello, and continued conversation with Hop. I suspected he was hiding something from me. Maybe it was me being wary of letting people in, maybe it was just my mind playing tricks on me, who knows.

“So how’s Jane doing in school?” He asks out of the blue, watching the road.

“Fine. She has problems with teachers because she’s kind of quiet.” I respond. Jane was a lot of things, but mostly to herself and silent. When I first met her less than two months ago, she wouldn’t even shake my hand. She either had something smart to say or nothing to say at all. She kept to herself, reading and watching TV. On the weekends, she got to go over to Mike’s house and hang out with her friends, but other than that she went to school and came home.

“She’s a really strong girl,” Steve says. It sounds like he’s trying to take the conversation elsewhere, but I’m not completely sure where he’s going with it. And it was a completely random statement. What are you hiding, Harrington?

“Yeah, her mom not telling my uncle about her and then watching her mother die? It’s awful. I think that’s why she’s quiet. She doesn’t really know how to take it all in. I’m just glad Hop stepped up to be a father again. I knew it was hard on him.” I say, watching Steve carefully to see if his expression changed. But it stayed steady and calculated. Like he was rehearsing the whole exchange in his head.

Steve cleared his throat, “Yeah, absolutely.”

I furrow my eyebrows, before returning my eyes to the road. “What are you thinking?”

“Huh?”

The question was not apart of his script. He was thrown off that’d I’d even ask it.

“What. Are. You. Thinking?”

He was silent for a moment, “How great you look in that jean jacket.”

I stare down at my outfit, shaking my head. “Not the answer I was going for, love.”

“What was the answer you were hoping for?” He asks, almost annoyed.

I don’t look over at him even though I know he’s glancing over at me, “Maybe how you wouldn’t even look at Jane when we were back at my place. And now you’re bringing her up in conversation. Maybe that.”

“I’m just curious?” He began to get defensive, sparking our first argument.

“Well, it just seems a little weird and off to me.”

“I don’t know why. Do you think I know something you don’t?”

“Yeah, actually I do.”

“Well, I don’t!”

I look at him, a fire in his eyes I’ve never seen before. His face scrunched his hands tightly around the steering wheel.

“Pull over.”

“What?” His voice cracks, nervous at my request.

“Pull over!”

He slams on his breaks, pulling off the main drag of town, almost driving straight into a ditch. I huff loudly, crossing my arms. We sit for what feels like hours, in complete silence.

“If you know something about her that I don’t, I need you to tell me,” I whisper, looking down at my lap, before looking over at him. He’s staring down at me, his mouth opens a little like he’s about to say something.

“There’s weird shit happening in Hawkins, that I don’t understand. I know she and her friends are involved, and that whatever we all thought was over is back. And it came back as soon as you showed up.”

His statement took me aback. My heart started racing, my mind wondering.

“What kind of weird shit?”

He leans back into his seat, “Things you’d only imagine to happen in movies.”

I almost want to laugh at how stupid he’s being, but when I break, smirking a little, his face stays the same. He doesn’t laugh, he doesn’t smile, just a stern seriousness that almost scares me.

“And all this ‘weird shit’ began again when I showed up?” I mutter, trying not to piss him off. I keep my instinctual giggles to myself.

“Yeah… I know it sounds made up and stupid, but I am genuinely afraid of Jane. She can do stuff- I-I just don’t understand. I just…” He drifts off, “I don’t want you to get hurt, that’s why I started driving you home. Because I wanted to make sure nothing happened to you. I don’t need help with English, and I am not acting weird because of my dad, I’m acting weird because when we left, Jane wouldn’t stop staring at me and I felt like she was trying to tell me something.”

“She was staring at you? Maybe it’s just because you’re extremely attractive and she’s questioning her love for Mike.” I smirk, going to grab his face.

He rolls his eyes, “I’m not fucking around, Y/N!”

His tone completely throws me off. I stop going towards him, retreating back into my corner.

“I wish I was. I wish this wasn’t happening again, but something is up. And I know you won’t understand this all from me.” Steve continued, his voice tamer.

“We are going to miss our movie.”

“That’s fine. I have a better idea.” He puts the car in drive, speeding off towards the outskirts of town.

“What are you going to murder me?” I ask, almost anticipating him to actually be an ax murderer who is completely delusion. This night couldn’t be any more of a disappointment, anyway.

“No, I’m going to bring you to someone who can explain it all, way better than me.”

#Steve Harrington fanfic #Steve Harrington #Steve Harrington smut #billy hargrove fanfiction #billy hargrove #steve #harrington #stranger things #stuck with me #stuckvvithme #stranger things fanfiction

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nelson-riddle-me-this · 7 years

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Rules: tag 9 people with excellent taste

Colour(s) I’m currently wearing

Mostly white - I’m wearing my bathrobe. My mom got it for me and it’s great. It’s not the softest but it’s good and it’s got cool blue and grey horizontal stripes on the bottom. Normally it’s very frustrating for her to try to get clothing gifts for me, but she hit the nail on the head with this one.

Last band T shirt I bought

I’ve never bought a ‘band’ t-shirt. The artists I really love don’t have much in the way of t-shirts and if they do, they look really corny. Like I’m not gonna get a Streisand t-shirt and look like some middle-aged empty-nester out grocery shopping.

Last band I saw live

I guess our evening Jazz Ensemble - it’s professional adult musicians - at my school’s Jazz Ensembles concert. They’re great. As for non-school performances, I think? the last concert I went to was a Brian Setzer concert at the Hollywood Bowl with my mom a while back.

Last song I listened to

youtube

I tried listening to some contemporary pop from the Love, Simon (2018) soundtrack today and it was really difficult so now I’m at the computer enjoying some tumblr-time and listening to my most-chill and most-favorite Doris Day album.

Lipstick or chapstick?

I used lipstick once for my Katharine Hepburn halloween costume last year and - tbh lipstick is so much work - makeup in general. Like it would be fun to be a girl and wear dresses and be super pretty and stuff - but wo-MAN it’s so much work!

So chapstick. The tube I use is some Burt’s Bees pink grapefruit that I really love. This might sound weird but I only have it because a boy I had a small crush on once asked me to hold it while he changed clothes and forgot to collect it from me..

Last movie I watched

I went to the movies last weekend with @adamsberg and another one of my best friends and saw Love, Simon (2018). I really really really really loved it.

I hadn’t even heard of it until a few weeks ago I saw a trailer on YouTube, but I thought it looked great and it was everything I hoped and more. I have this soft spot for angsty contemporary teen dramas like this [The Fault In Our Stars (2014) and The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012) are also in this micro-genre]. While I love my classics, I also love these great movies that are being made here and NOW! Sometimes I feel apart from the rest of the world - and not in a good way. I wasn’t friendless in high school - but I wasn’t anywhere near as close to any of my friends as any of these movie teens are... as accepted and loved as I am to/by an amazing, small, group of my friends now. I have no horror stories, but I don’t have very many stories and that’s just it - I could have had so much more, but I didn’t. Part of it was because I wasn’t out yet and this film so wonderfully explored that. I highly reccomend it - and not just for the good plot, it’s hilarious and an overall great experience.

Last 3 TV shows I watched

911 (2018-present)

Sometimes my mom’s taste in first-run television is pretty bad (NCIS stopped being good like a decade ago) but in this case I am totally on-board. Angela Bassett [WAIT HOW IS SHE 59???????] is an inspiration (I WANT HER CHARACTER’S HOUSE!), the writing and production values are generally very good - it’s a solid, interesting show. Still, can anyone tell me what the deal with that middle-aged white lady (who’s a few years younger than Angela Bassett but lowekey looks 20 years older) who dresses like a suburban mom trying to dress like her teenage daughter - like what’s the deal with her dating that guy in his 20s?

Frasier (1993-2004)

My mom and I watch this show somewhat regularly as it’s on like every flippin’ night on the scourge that is the Hallmark Channel (generally decent reruns, but I hate the channel itself and their original programming is complete trash). In a lotta ways I really love it - it’s hilarious, witty, sophisticated, adult, and has the power to create a real poigniant moment like you rarely see so fully-realized in sitcoms.

It has its issues though. Frasier and Niles (especially in early seasons) can get annoyingly whiny/snobby. I get that their characters are kinda built around that, but there’s a point at which they take it too far and it becomes disengaging. Also it’s a super white-people-centric show (I wonder why Hallmark likes it so much...) so diversity could be a lot better. Still, it’s generally a high-quality program.

Gosh I don’t remember what else I watched last. I haven’t had a lotta TV time lately so Imma use this opportunity to plug...

Stranger Things (2016-present)

One’a my best friends, Grace, introduced me to this show and I absolutely love it. The period’s really well done - not just accurate, but alive and real and relatable. The acting and casting is great. Winona Ryder is a treasure and I have a shameless crush on Joe Keery’s amazing hair and the person it belongs to. The scoring is effective, interesting, and very different from the kind of film music I usually am exposed to (I’m really making an effort to expand my horizons beyond classic orchestral sounds lately). The production values are great - it’s just an amazing show.

Last 3 characters I identified with

1.) Simon Spier from Love, Simon (2018)

While there are some things about him I definitely don’t identify with (message me personally if you wanna know specifics- I don’t want to spoil anything), I very much identify with his coming out story and coming to terms with his sexuality on his own terms.

I feel like there are people who will criticize the film based on Simon’s extreme normalcy - like he’s honestly a fairly stock white, middle-class, suburban teenage boy and, aside from his involvement in theater and ‘ya know liking boys he doesn’t do much that would be considered “gay” - but that’s kinda the point of the film. Being gay is just something that is and anyone can be gay - they’re not weird or whatever just for being gay - that was one of my fears - that I would be treated (or even just feel like) some strange unwelcome outsider just because of this one thing.

I had a long conversation tonight with an older kinda mentor’y friend of mine (though I’m more of the mentor) who’s gay and who was having a really rough night. Among the lotta things he said was that all gay men cheat that there’s no true monagomous love in the gay community and like lightning I shot him down with a fervor and wisdom and riteousness that would make Kate proud (wayto blow my own horn).

That’s the exact kind of idiotic prejudice that makes people afraid to come out in the first place. It’s fear that kind of small-minded judgmental behavior which was most responsible for me remaining closeted in high school. It’s a hard thing to explain to someone who hasn’t been there because after you’ve been through it, it can kinda feel like nothing afterwards - all this fear and conflict and it’s really kinda purposeless. You find that people still love you and the people who don’t are really not good people anyway. I wish I had come out in high school, I could have been happier. But I am happy now.

2.) Tracy Lord from The Philadelphia Story (1940)

Dedicated followers may remember I rewatched this one a few wks ago on what would have been a date with me and my crush until he cancelled. That time I saw Trace and Kate herself through lenses less tinted than ever before, but still she’s there in all her glory and all her not-glory. Tracy is riteous, despises drinking and gets very contemptful of what she views as weakness, such as her ex-husband’s drinking problem or Mike’s cynical view of the rich. I am often that way (in large part due to the second-generation effects of my mom’s own east coast catholic upbrining) which has it’s merits certainly - that specific east coast almost ‘puritan’ toughness (I think Dick Cavett, said Bette Davis and Kate both had it) can be a tremendous source of strength and sense. It can also easily become cold, prudish, snobbish, and condesending. I have tried to unlearn these aspects and I am still working on that. This is kinda what Tracy’s arc is about, learning to be human and be loved and to love others.

Though it’s not as recent, the next one that comes to mind is

3.) Nancy Wheeler from Stranger Things

I already mentioned that my friend Grace got me into this show, but I didn’t mention that I only ever watch it with her. Not that I don’t really love the show - I do - but I like saving it for when we’re together - it makes it more special.

Anyway, more than perhaps any other single character on that show, I identify with Nancy Wheeler. Regular suburban teenager who’s better - not just a regular suburban teenager - she’s aware of the sort of suburban ‘don’t do much with your life ‘cept rasie kids [not that there’s anything wrong with having and raising kids, that’s wonderful] trap. I also found the episode with her at Steve’s house really resonated with me. Barb telling Nancy “this isn’t you” really got to me. Part of me still has an internal ‘Barb’ that kinda ties in with the whole east-coast ‘puritan’y’ morality but there’s also the part of me that wants to be young and just a person and do cool things with my friends and kiss boys and watch great angsty contemporary teen dramas. They both have their merits and drawbacks - the young side has life but can be stupid and reckless - the old side is wise and careful, but can be paralyzing and stagnating.

Books I’m currently reading

I have a whole slew of books checked out that I’m supposed to be reading (for my own enjoyment).

The Unanswered Question: Six Talks at Harvard by Leonard Bernstien

I loved his The Joy of Music so I figured I would like this too. He’s a great music lecturer. I’m only like 5 pages in so far.

Elizabeth Taylor: A Private Life for Public Consumption by Ellis Cashmore

This one I’m a little further on, though most of that was just the introductory timeline of her life with a key notating each illness/medical episode, marriage/actual or rumored romantic relationship, and neaar-death experience (her life is such ‘drama’).

I also have a book about motifs in Hitchcock’s films with the car picnic from To Catch a Thief (1955) on the cover. I haven’t started reading it yet.

And I have some book about Lerner & Lowe, the duo responsibly for My Fair Lady, Camelot, etc...

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

This was really really wonderful to participate in. Thank you, my amazing friends, so much for tagging me @adamsberg and @in-the-key-of-d-minor. I’ve enjoyed lots of asks and tag games, but I’ve never felt this good about one before...

I tag

@hildy-dont-be-hasty @tyronepowerbottom @reluctant-martyrs @thevintagious @littlehappyrock @n2ninvisiblegirl @solasdisapproves @hepburnandhepburn and @her-man-friday

If I didn’t tag you but you wanna participate, have at it!

What’m I gonna do, fire you?

#personal #asks #tag game #love simon #gay #the philadelphia story #katharine hepburn #stranger things #doris day #andre previn #jazz

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wsmith215 · 4 years

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Ringside seat – Your guide to the return of Top Rank Boxing

Jun 6, 2020

Steve KimESPN

Boxing returns to the United States this week as Top Rank promotes cards on Tuesday and Thursday night. These will be the first shows in North America in which Top Rank has been involved since the Tyson Fury-Anthony Joshua rematch on Feb. 22.

There were two Top Rank cards canceled in mid-March due to the coronavirus pandemic, and outside of a few minor fight cards internationally, these upcoming shows represent the restart of the sport on a much larger scale.

Starting this week, there will be cards staged by Top Rank that will air on various ESPN platforms multiple times a week. Other promotional outlets and networks will soon follow suit with their own schedule of fights, with Premier Boxing Champions set to hold fight cards beginning in mid-July and Matchroom Boxing’s next card set for July 25.

But first things first. Here’s what you need to know ahead of the upcoming week of fights at the MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas.

Tuesday

Olympic silver medalist Shakur Stevenson (13-0, 7 KOs), who faces Felix Caraballo (13-1-2, 9 KOs), won the vacant WBO featherweight title last October by easily outboxing Joet Gonzalez over 12 rounds. But in this headliner, his title won’t be on the line, as this scheduled 10-round fight will take place at junior lightweight.

Top Rank Boxing is on ESPN and ESPN+. Subscribe to ESPN+ to get exclusive boxing events, weigh-ins and more.

Tuesday, 7 p.m. ET on ESPN: Shakur Stevenson vs. Felix Caraballo, 10 rounds, junior lightweights

Thursday, 7 p.m. ET on ESPN: Jessie Magdaleno vs. Yenifel Vicente, 10 rounds, junior lightweights

Stevenson, the 22-year-old native of Newark, New Jersey, and 2016 Olympian, was bitterly disappointed when his March 14 title defense against Miguel Marriaga was canceled. It was a lost weekend he says he’ll never forget.

“I trained eight weeks, spent a lot of money on training camp, and then to find out that I wasn’t getting paid, that kind of made me mad,” Stevenson said. “To find out I wasn’t fighting made me mad because I put a lot of work in. I was going to perform.”

There has been talk of a unification bout with IBF titlist Josh Warrington, but the two sides seem to be going in different directions, after Warrington left promoter Frank Warren, who works closely with Top Rank, to sign with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing. At this point, because Stevenson is still growing, the more time that passes without a fight against Warrington, the more likley it is that Stevenson might not even go back to 126 to defend that belt.

Shakur Stevenson is 13-0 and holds the WBO featherweight title. Andrew Mills/NJ Advance Media via AP

“I don’t know, yet. I’ve got to see how I feel at 130, making the 130 weight,” Stevenson said. “That will be a question I can answer for you after the fight.”

The co-main event is a women’s junior lightweight bout between another 2016 U.S. Olympian, Mikaela Mayer (12-0, 5 KOs), and Helen Joseph (17-4-2, 10 KOs). Mayer has made it clear that she wants a title shot — sooner, rather than later — and this figures to be her toughest test to date as a pro. Joseph will give Mayer all she can handle; from a physical standpoint, Joseph will be the strongest fighter Mayer has faced in her career.

On the undercard, Robeisy Ramirez (2-1, 2 KOs) matches up with Yueri Andujar (5-3, 3 KOs) in a six-round featherweight contest as he looks to push further past a disastrous pro debut. Ramirez was signed to a much ballyhooed contract with Top Rank last year, as he has two Olympic gold medals (2012 and 2016) for Cuba in his trophy case. The boxer he defeated in the gold-medal round in Rio? Stevenson.

Other fights

Heavyweight: Guido Vianello (6-0, 6 KOs) vs. Don Haynesworth (16-3-1, 14 KOs)

Heavyweight: Jared Anderson (3-0, 3 KOs) vs. Johnnie Langston (8-2, 3 KOs)

Middleweight: Quatavious Cash (11-2, 7 KOs) vs. Calvin Metcalf (10-3-1, 3 KOs)

Catching up with: Mikaela Mayer

play

5:22

It’s one of the unlikeliest pairings in boxing, yet Mikaela Mayer and trainer Al Mitchell have not only thrived inside the ring, they’ve also left a lifelong impact on each other off of it.

Mayer was another boxer on a canceled Top Rank card in March and she jumped at the opportunity to perform on the first card back.

“I haven’t fought since October, so it was kind of a bummer that my fight got canceled before I was going to fly out to New York [back in March], and then not knowing how long this was going to last or when we are going to fight.” Mayer said. “So when Top Rank started discussing potentially having a card, [my manager] George [Ruiz] informed me, ‘If they do have a card, they’re going to want you on it. You were one of the last fighters who was supposed to fight.’

“So I was all about it. That’s important to me, I don’t want to be out of the ring for a year. I want to keep the momentum going. I feel I’ve had a great couple of years, but I’m at that point now where I’m ready to step up — and Top Rank’s ready to step me up, too.”

Her enthusiasm doesn’t preclude her from thinking about safety, and that of her 76-year-old trainer.

“My only concern was I didn’t want anyone to get sick because of me, the No. 1 person I was thinking of was someone like coach Al [Mitchell],” she said. “Things have settled down, testing is now opening up, states are opening up. I didn’t know what coach Al was going to say. I called him and we discussed it, ‘Hey, they want me to fight in four, five weeks, how do you feel about that?’

“It just shows how coach Al is. He’s going to live and die boxing, because he was excited. He said, ‘Please, get me out of this house, I’m ready to work, and get back to camp. Let’s do this.'”

By the numbers

Stevenson is the fourth man from the United States in the past 20 years to win both an Olympic boxing medal and a world title, joining Jermain Taylor, Andre Ward and Deontay Wilder.

Predictions

Stevenson vs. Caraballo: Though Bob Arum says that Stevenson is “a master, Floyd Mayeather-type boxer,” given this stage, and how bitterly disappointed he was about his fight being canceled a few months ago, he’s going to want to really make a statement in an event that will be televised nationally. Stevenson TKO7

Mikaela Mayer, left, was to have fought in March, but she’s excited to be fighting on Top Rank’s first card since then. Mikey Williams/Top Rank

Mayer vs. Joseph: This is the best pure matchup of the night. If Mayer is indeed ready to fight for a world title, this is the type of bout that she has to win — against the stout Joseph, who has one of the best monikers in boxing in “Iron Lady.” I’ll go with Mayer by split decision.

Thursday

Former WBO junior featherweight champion Jessie Magdaleno (27-1, 18 KOs) was also slated for the March 14 card at Madison Square Garden. Now, he returns to face Yenifil Vicente (36-4-2, 28 KOs) in a 10-round bout. Since losing his WBO 122-pound belt to Isaac Dogboe via 11th round stoppage, Magdaleno has notched two victories, against Rico Ramos and Rafael Rivera.

In the past, one of the knocks against Magdaleno was a questionable work ethic, which reared its head when he wouldn’t come into fights in top physical condition.

“That was the old Jessie, the immature guy,” Magdaleno said. He admits the loss to Dogboe was a much-needed dose of reality for him. “I’m a grown man, I have my eyes on the future. I have a lot of things I want to get done before I end my career. I’m not going to go through the same mistakes that I did in the past. It’s a new and improved me. I’m just ready to rock ‘n’ roll.”

Jessie Magdaleno hopes to carry the momentum of two straight wins forward into his move up to 130 pounds. Mikey Williams/Top Rank

While Magdaleno was quarantined for the first several weeks of the pandemic, he turned his garage into a makeshift gym, complete with a heavy bag, treadmill, resistance bands, weights and jump rope.

“It’s everything I use in the gym,” Magdaleno said. “It’s hot as well out here in Vegas, so I could train and lose weight here at the house.”

1 Related

The semi-main event on Thursday’s broadcast is a fight that was originally scheduled for Thanksgiving weekend, as Adam Lopez (13-2, 6 KOs) faces Luis Coria (12-2, 7 KOs) in a 10-round featherweight bout. Lopez opened some eyes when he willingly accepted an 11th-hour assignment to face former WBO featherweight titlist Oscar Valdez, after Andres Gutierrez missed weight by 11 pounds.

Lopez, who moved up in weight for that fight, put forth a strong performance — even flooring Valdez in the second — before getting stopped in the seventh round. Lopez-Coria figures to be a fun fight between two young fighters with good offensive skills.

Other fights

Lightweight: Bryan Lua (5-0, 2 KOs) vs. Dan Murray (5-3)

Lightweight: Eric Mandragon (3-0, 2 KOs) vs. Mike Sanchez (6-0 2 KOs)

Bantamweight: Gabriel Muratalla (2-0, 2 KOs) vs Fernando Robles (2-2)

Catching up with: Adam Lopez

Lopez has fighting genes — his father is the late Hector Lopez, a respected junior welterweight contender in the 1990s. Coming off his strong effort against Valdez, Lopez says he believes Thursday’s fight will be the launch point to bigger and better things, as he moves back down to his natural weight class.

“I’m very excited, I’m looking forward to the fight,” the 24-year-old said. “In my eyes, this fight is more important than my last fight. I’ve just go to confirm to everybody that I’m the real deal and I’m here to make a statement.”

Adam Lopez scored a second-round knockdown against Oscar Valdez before ultimately falling in the seventh round. Mikey Williams/Top Rank

Despite the loss to Valdez, Lopez says he feels what he gained from the notoriety and experience, outweighed the final result of the bout.

“I think it was worth it, I had to take the risk, now I’ve got people’s eyes on me. They want to see Adam Lopez, and that’s what I’m going to give them.”

By the numbers

At featherweight, 41.1% of Magdaleno’s landed punches were to the body (compared to the featherweight average of 29.5%)

Predictions

Magdaleno vs Caraballo: If anything, Caraballo is durable. In 42 professional bouts, he has never been stopped. The 33-year-old from the Dominican Republic, like Magdaleno, began his career as a junior featherweight. So in essence, they are the same size. But Magdaleno, a fast southpaw, with above-average power, has the superior skills. Don’t be fooled by the Dogboe fight. This is a talented guy. Magdaleno should cruise to a wide decision.

Lopez vs Coria: This figures to be an action fight, because if there’s anything that Coria can do, it’s throw a whipping left hook. Coria is in the camp of Robert Garcia, so you know he has had quality sparring in the past and he knows he can’t afford another loss in this early stage of his career. But Lopez is the more well-rounded fighter, and his experience against Valdez will serve him well. Eventually his steadiness and class will overtake Coria, and Lopez will score a late stoppage.

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lgrwclapclap · 8 years

Text

There Will Be Blood

I didn’t know my face was caved in, but I knew it wasn’t good.

I knew it wasn’t good from the sound my cheek had made when it hit the dasher above the boards. I knew it wasn’t good because the referee had blown his whistle so quickly. I knew it wasn’t good because our trainer, John Wharton, had jumped over the boards right away to check on me.

I saw the blood on the ice, but I didn’t know the right side of my face was caved in.

My only thought was, O.K., this is a bad one. How many stitches?

It was Game 6 of the ’96 Western Conference finals against the Colorado Avalanche. We had to win the game in their barn to keep the series alive. The whole series was a bloodbath. To say “there was no love lost” between us would be an understatement. I rarely ever use the word “hate,” but I’ll use it here. We hated them. They hated us. That’s just the way it was.

Moments before, I had collected the puck along the boards and made a pass, and I was drifting backwards right by our bench. The next thing I knew, I got hit from behind. I felt my face hit the top of the boards. Everything went black for a second. I was on all fours, trying to get up, but I couldn’t.

I looked up at our trainer and he was blurry, but I could see this look of horror on his face. I’ll never forget that look. He put a towel over my head to hide my injuries. The last thing I remember is him and Keith Primeau helping me to my feet and escorting me off the ice to the dressing room.

Then I blacked out.

The next thing I remember is waking up in the dressing room, and looking up at our trainers and our doctor, and finally feeling the pain.

Then I blacked out again.

The next time I came to, I sat up and the pain was gone. I didn’t know it, but I was on some serious painkillers. So I started trying to put on my shoulder pads so I could get back on the ice.

Our team doc said, “Kris, what the hell are you doing?”

I said, “What period is it? Am I stitched up?”

He said, “Uh … Kris, you better take a look at this.”

And he walked me over to the mirror.

The right side of my face was caved in.

He told me the damage: Broken orbital bone. Broken cheekbone. Broken nose. Broken jaw.

That was not the worst news.

I asked, “What’s the score?”

“It’s 4–1. Colorado.”

O.K.

Then I asked, “Who hit me?”

“Lemieux.”

March, 26, 1997.

Say the date to anybody in Detroit or Colorado and they’ll know exactly what you mean.

March, 26, 1997.

Exactly 301 days after I broke my face.

It’s hard to believe that it was 20 years ago this month. But if I just tell you the story of that brawl, it won’t do it justice. A 21-year-old reading this right now was just a baby when it happened. If they’ve only seen the YouTube videos, they probably think we were all a bunch of animals. But the reason things got so out of hand on March 26, 1997, is because of everything that happened before and after that brawl.

See, we have to go back.

Everybody involved in that fight had a story. For me, you have to go back to Career Day when I was in sixth grade in West Hill, Ontario. The teacher went around the room and asked every kid what they wanted to be when they grew up.

Doctor. Lawyer. Teacher. Veterinarian.

Everybody smiled and nodded.

When it was my turn to go, I said, “I’m going to play in the NHL.”

I was a small kid, so there was some laughter in the room. After school was over, I was sitting outside on the portable step, and I’ll never forget this as long as I live: This kid (who shall remain nameless), came up to me and said, “Ha! You’ll never play in the NHL.”

Just the way he said it, with such certainty, always stuck with me. I used it as motivation. I’d picture his face, and just the way he said it, and I’d think, Oh yeah? I’ll show you.

My mentality was that I was going to do whatever it took to make it to the NHL, and for the first few years of my career, it was a real struggle. I spent four years in the Winnipeg Jets’ system, mostly toiling away in the minors before they traded me to the Red Wings in ’93, just as Scotty Bowman was taking over as head coach.

So one night I’m playing for the Adirondack Red Wings in the AHL, and I score a hat trick. I come out of the locker room after the game, and there’s Scotty with a few Red Wings scouts. I had no idea they were in the building.

I’m thinking, Finally, they saw the hat trick. Now they know what I can do. Now I’ll get my chance.

The first thing Scotty says to me is, “Do you know how many face-offs you won tonight?”

Face-offs were just starting to be kept as an official stat, especially in the AHL.

So I said, “No, sir, I’m not really sure.”

Scotty said, “You won 19 of 21. Can you do that in the National Hockey League?”

Six weeks later, I got called up to the Detroit Red Wings. The implication was pretty clear. If I wanted to be one of Scotty’s guys, I had to grind. I was 5′ 10″, 180 pounds and I was joining a team with unbelievable skill guys — Sergei Fedorov, Steve Yzerman, Slava Kozlov, Keith Primeau, Vladimir Konstantinov, Paul Coffey, and a young Nick Lidström. So my mindset was that I was going to be the biggest pain in the ass you ever played against. I definitely knew my place. But I didn’t know my exact value until we played the Sharks in the ’94 playoffs. After we beat them in Game 3, I was getting interviewed by a reporter from a San Jose newspaper. After he finished up, he turned to me and said, “Hey, not bad for a kid who was traded for a dollar, huh?”

And he started to walk away.

I said, “Excuse me … what did you just say?”

He said, “Yeah, a dollar. Winnipeg traded you for a buck. Now you’re playing in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Pretty good … Wait, you don’t know the story?”

I turned and looked at our public relations guy, totally confused.

He said, “Uh, yeah, Kris. It’s true.”

I’m like, “What? I was traded for future considerations.”

He says, “Yeah, well, you know, when Scotty called you up from the AHL, they still hadn’t worked out the considerations, officially. So Bryan Murray called Mike Smith and … well … you were traded for cash considerations.”

“A buck?”

“A buck.”

Whenever somebody tells me I was traded for a bag of pucks, I have to politely correct them — because a bag of pucks would’ve been a lot more expensive. But I loved it, because the whole story just added to my underdog mentality.

We ended up losing that first-round series to the Sharks in seven games, which was bitterly disappointing. Then in ’95, we felt like we were so close to the promised land, but we got swept by the Devils in the Stanley Cup finals. That’s when the questions started.

A lot of people don’t remember this now, but at the time, we were getting a tremendous amount of heat for not being tough enough to win a Cup. The media was questioning the leadership of guys like Yzerman and Fedorov, if you can believe that. They were questioning the way our whole team was built. The implication was that we were skilled but soft.

So we came out in ’95–96 with a gigantic collective chip on our shoulders. The first two months of the season, we were on fire. With our speed and skill, we overwhelmed teams. Then, on December 2, 1995, we went into the old Montreal Forum to play Patrick Roy and the Canadiens. That night, something happened that changed hockey forever.

We came out hot. Roy let in four goals, then five, then six….

For whatever reason, they wouldn’t pull him.

Seven. Eight. They still wouldn’t pull him.

We were all kind of looking at each other on the bench like, What’s the deal here?

At one point, the crowd did a mock cheer when Roy made a save. It was ridiculous, because he was such an incredible goalie.

Finally, after nine goals, Roy had had enough and just pulled himself. Later on, it came out in the press that when Roy got back to the bench, he turned to the president of the Canadiens and said, “This is my last game in Montreal.”

Roy was traded to the Avalanche a few days later. That was the moment when the whole rivalry between us and Colorado got its spark. He never forgot what we did to him at the Forum. From that moment on, he took it to another level when he played us.

It felt like destiny that we would have to go through Colorado in the playoffs that season. And, wouldn’t you know it, who was waiting for us in the ’96 Western Conference finals? Roy and the Avalanche.

This is the part of the story where things get a little crazy.

Most people think that the feud started when I broke my face in Game 6. But it started way before that. From the first drop of the puck of Game 1, guys were taking runs, slashing, grabbing, sucker punching, you name it. There’s no point in even going over every incident. We did stuff. They did stuff. If you played in the NHL playoffs back then, you were not coming out unscatched. I’m not glorifying it, but that was the way it was.

Early in Game 3, Slava Kozlov rammed Adam Foote’s head into the glass and cut him pretty good. Later on in the period, Claude Lemieux snuck up behind Slava and sucker punched him in the back of the head to get revenge.

Our bench went crazy. And then the whole game went crazy. And then the whole series went crazy. Everything turned into a battle. We were battling over loose sticks from the benches.

Game 3 was the moment when the rivalry rose to another level entirely. We wanted to win that series so, so bad. Colorado was not a team full of goons. That’s the thing. They were an unbelievable team that had everything you could want — pure skill with Sakic and Forsberg, grit and experience with Lemieux, Kamensky and Ricci. And, of course, they also had Roy.

They had everything we had. They were a tremendous team, and we didn’t like them one bit.

So when I looked in the mirror after I got hit from behind in Game 6, and I saw my broken face, I was kind of numb.

But when the trainers told me that Colorado had won, and that the series was over….

I was beside myself. I was so disappointed.

The doctors advised me to stay in Colorado to have surgery right away, but I wanted to be on the plane with the guys. I wanted to be back in Detroit. So I draped a towel over my head and walked out of the building, and I got on the plane and waited for the guys.

My teammates didn’t actually know how bad my injuries were until they got on the plane and saw me. So they had gone through the whole handshake line not knowing my face was caved in. That’s the backstory for Dino Ciccarelli’s famous quote about Lemieux: “I can’t believe I shook this guy’s friggin’ hand after the game. That pisses me right off.”

I still remember sitting at the front of that plane with the doctors, and all my teammates getting on and tapping me on the shoulder and telling me it was going to be alright.

When we got back to Detroit, I was in the hospital for four days. I couldn’t eat solid food for six weeks because my jaw had to be wired shut. Having your jaw wired shut sucks, but it sucked even more in 1996 because they didn’t have all the protein shakes and fancy smoothies in every store like they have today. For the most part, I was drinking Ensure. Sometimes I got lucky and they’d let me have a chocolate milk shake.

I wish this story could have Smell-O-Vision, because if you could only smell a vanilla Ensure right now, you’d know how miserable I really was. But the worst pain, by far, was knowing that the Avalanche were dominating the Panthers in the Stanley Cup finals.

I couldn’t stand to watch. It’s still the only Stanley Cup finals that I’ve never seen a single second of.

As I was sitting in that hospital bed, I promised myself two things:

I wasn’t going to let the hit affect me mentally.

It wasn’t to change the way I played.

You have to understand what hockey means to me. It was always my joy in life. I was a small guy to start with, and I made it to the NHL by playing a certain way. If I took my foot off the gas even just a little bit … if I was even just a little bit timid because of that hit, I wouldn’t be effective. I’d be letting my teammates down. I’d be letting the city down. The people of Detroit were in my corner every single day of my recovery. I mean, the response from fans was so overwhelming that I had to get two hospital rooms: One for me, and one to store all the flowers, cards, and stuffed animals that people sent to me. There was so much that I couldn’t take it all home. I donated all the stuffed animals to the pediatric ward.

Detroit is such a blue-collar town, and they love their Red Wings so much.

We had to get back to the Western Conference finals. We had to beat Colorado. We had to win a Stanley Cup.

I would close my eyes and picture the weight room and think, Soon.

As I was leaving the hospital, my doctor gave me a pair of pliers.

“Keep these on you at all times,” he said. “Whenever you leave the house. Whenever you go to bed.”

I couldn’t speak. I just shook my head, confused.

“If you get sick and have to throw up, you’re going to have to cut the wires to keep from choking.”

So I went home with my pliers and my cases of Ensure. It was a long road. I ended up losing almost 20 pounds over the six weeks that my jaw was wired shut.

I’ll never forget the day they came off. My first meal was at Andiamo on the riverfront in Detroit. I ordered the angel-hair pasta. But I still had to have these restrictive bands on my teeth, so I sat there eating it noodle by noodle for like an hour. My friends were on dessert by the time I made it to the 10th noodle, but it was the best feeling ever.

That was the end of June. I had two months to gain 20 pounds back before camp. Whenever I needed motivation to drink an Ensure, I’d just think of The Joe on opening night, and the feeling of walking down the dark tunnel and taking that first step onto the ice.

To be 100% honest, I rarely thought of getting revenge on Lemieux. It wasn’t about that. Unfortunately, Detroit did not feel the same way. It was like the entire city took the hit personally. When the season started, and I was back in the lineup, all anybody wanted to talk about was our first game against Colorado. But, as fate would have it, Lemieux wasn’t in the lineup for our first two games. The third game in Colorado got very heated — you could feel the tension — but the referees were on top of it. Nothing major happened. But you could feel the hatred building and building….

Right up until March 26, 1997.

When it all exploded at The Joe.

I pulled into the parking lot of the arena that night and a TV cameraman followed me from my car to our dressing room. Camera guys never followed me. They’d always follow Yzerman or Fedorov. That’s when I knew: O.K. Here we go.

You could feel it in the dressing room before the game. You could feel it during warmups. They were 3–0 against us that season. They were No. 1 in the division. This was our last game against them going into the playoffs. It was a huge moment.

But the game was relatively tame for most of the first period. Until….

Igor Larionov and Peter Forsberg, two of the most skilled guys in the league, got into a wrestling match by our bench. At first it was nothing — just a small scuffle. The refs came over to break it up. The building was quiet.

And then you just heard this incredible roar out of nowhere.

I look to center ice, and there’s Mac.

Darren McCarty, the guy who visited me in the hospital every day. Mac is reigning punches down on Claude Lemieux right in front of our bench. Lemieux’s helmet pops off, and he goes down on all fours, trying to turtle to protect himself.

And then another huge roar — louder than the first one.

Patrick Roy leaves his net. Mike Vernon leaves his net.

They’re skating toward one another from across the rink, like a Wild West movie.

But then, out of nowhere, Brendan Shanahan intercepts Roy and they both go flying.

Next thing I know, Mac is dragging Lemieux over to our bench, as if to say, I told you I’d get him, boys.

Then Vernon and Roy finally make it to one another, and they start brawling at center ice. Not just tying up, but throwing haymakers.

In the middle of all this pandemonium, Marc Crawford, the Avs coach, is yelling at me, “You started all this, Draper!”

And then Scotty Bowman starts yelling at Crawford, “Don’t talk to my players! Don’t you ever talk to my players!”

When the refs finally got ahold of everybody, there were helmets and sticks and gloves and jerseys and blood all over the ice.

What can you say? You just say the date, and everybody knows.

March 26, 1997.

Exactly 301 days after I had my face caved in, my teammates stood up for me. We settled it. But this is what a lot of people don’t remember: For the players on the ice, that night wasn’t just about the fight. That night was about proving that we could beat Colorado on the scoreboard.

After the refs cleaned up the ice, there was still a game to be played. We were down 5–3 in the third. If we lost, and Colorado swept the season series, then the fight would have meant nothing. But we started chipping away at their lead, and we tied it up at 5–5 to send it to overtime. In OT, who do you think came out and buried the game-winning goal?

Darren McCarty.

We couldn’t have scripted it any better.

The brawl was one thing. But us winning that night changed everything. It gave us the belief that we could beat them in the playoffs. We knew we’d see them again in the Western Conference finals. We just knew.

When they dropped the puck in that series, the tone had already been set. The vibe was different. As soon as Lemieux turtled at The Joe, everything changed.

We beat them in six games, and I got what I really wanted — what I had burned for since I was in the hospital. I got the handshake line. I got to look every one of them dead in the eyes, and I got to shake their hands knowing that I was going to the Stanley Cup finals, and they weren’t.

In the finals, the Flyers were heavily favored to beat us. They were “too big, too strong, too fast.”

First shift. Game 1. Philly comes out with the LEGION OF DOOM. Lindros. LeClair. Renberg.

Everyone expects that.

But nobody expected who Scotty sends out.

The Grind Line.

Me, Joe Kocur and Kirk Maltby.

What a feeling. Almost exactly a year to the day that I was laying in a hospital bed with my jaw wired shut. Now I’m starting Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals.

We came out flying. After finally beating Colorado, we were not going to be denied. We took Game 1 on our way to a sweep.

That first time you touch Lord Stanley, after so many years of burning for it, your life flashes before your eyes. Your whole journey plays like a quick film in your mind. I wanted that Cup so bad, for so many reasons. But mostly I wanted to prove to myself that one hit wasn’t going to define my career, or change the love I had for the game.

We won again in ’98, 2002, and 2008.

Now, we’re known as champions. But on March 25, 1997, we were called “soft.” Our leadership was questioned. Some people wanted to blow up the team.

Do we still win the Stanley Cup without that brawl? Maybe. But I know that it certainly didn’t hurt.

Over the years, Lemieux and I never spoke about what happened. He never apologized, and I didn’t need him to. They won Cups. We won Cups. Even if I didn’t like him very much, I actually respected how clutch he was as a player.

Then, a couple of years ago, I was at the 2014 NHL draft as a member of the Red Wings’ front office. My whole family was there with me — my wife and three kids. When the draft was over, we were waiting outside for a taxi to take us to the airport, when my wife’s face suddenly went pale. She was looking right through me.

She said, “Lemieux’s walking towards us.”

I wasn’t going to turn around. I didn’t think I had anything to say to him.

Sure enough, I feel a hand on my shoulder. I turn around and it’s Claude.

He says, “Oh, is this your family?”

My son, Kienan, has watched every single YouTube video in existance of the Wings-Avalanche rivalry. He knows the whole story. So he was looking up at Claude with these big eyes, like, Oh, my God. Here he is, in real life.

Claude bent down and shook his hand, and my son just kind of looked at him in awe. Claude politely introduced himself to my whole family, and shook everybody’s hand.

And that was it. We went our separate ways.

I’m glad we had that moment. For everything that we went through during that rivalry, the beauty of our game is that at the end of the day, as (much older) men, we are still able to shake hands.

Now that it’s the final year for The Joe, people have been talking about their favorite memories of the place. We won two Stanley Cups in that building, and yet every time I meet a Wings fan, you know what they want to talk about?

March 26, 1997.

Those gongshow days are gone now, and it’s probably for the betterment of the game. But ask anybody from Detroit, and they can tell you exactly where they were when that brawl went down. Long after that arena is torn down, people will still remember that night.

It defined a rivalry, and it defined my career for a lot of fans.

But for me, when people ask about my favorite memories of The Joe, I always give a boring answer. And I do it because it’s the truth: It’s the Stanley Cups. The sacrifice it takes to lift one Stanley Cup is almost beyond words.

I went on to win four of them with teammates who I consider brothers. They can never take that away from us.

So, to a certain sixth grader in West Hill, Ontario, from a very long time ago, I’ll say it again: Oh yeah?

KRIS DRAPER RETIRED / DETROIT RED WINGS

#red wings #drapes #i cried reading this #omg #i'm speechless #we love you so much drapes #everything about this article is amazing #except the part where kris' hurt #poor drapes i didn't know he suffered that much

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welcometowcwmondaynitro · 6 years

Text

WCW Monday Nitro 29/07/1996

Here we go boys and girls...

You know, I just realised I have no idea what that “Q” shape in the top right hand corner actually means. To Google!

OK well, I had a brief check and I still don’t know. Answers on a postcard.

Something else I just noticed...

Hogan’s screaming face right next to a building that says “prescriptions”... I don’t think I need to comment any further.

“WCW Monday Nitro ignites once again!” screams Tony Schiavone as we get a high shot of the WCW set at Universal.

The magic kingdom has never been more magical.

As always we are welcomed by Mr Schiavone and “Living Legend” Larry Zbyszko. They’re both wearing Mickey Mouse shirts which is somewhat appropriate. Larry doesn’t look best pleased about it.

Tony informs us that there are two title matches tonight. The Giant will be defending his World Heavyweight title against Arn Anderson, whilst Rey Mysterio Jr will be defending his cruisweight title against Eddie Guerrero. I’m guessing one of those matches is going to be far more entertaining than the other. Tony also hypes the American Males Vs the Steiner Brothers, but... meh. The American Males suck.

Tony brings up that WCW has recently been under attack from the New World Order. Larry refers to them as the “new world odor”. Very clever, Larry. Zbszko says the nWo are in control and picking their spots. Really they’re just being allowed to do pretty much whatever they want. WCW could have these guys thrown out in their asses for all sorts of shit, but nope. Nobody ever questions why.

We go to footage that Tony says was sent to them (not established by who) of Hall and Nash standing outside some kind of building looking a little bit high.

Next up we see footage of Luger and Sting coming out the back of some arena. Apparently this is a WCW Saturday Night taping. I assume the Outsiders filmed this footage or had somebody film it for them, as you can hear them saying mostly unintelligible shit in the background. Luger gets called away, leaving Sting by himself.

At this point the Outsiders attack Sting from behind, shove him half way into the boot of a car and slam the door onto his back. They then beat Sting up some more before running off. This is all being filmed. Larry and Tony express minor disgust, as if they aren’t literally watching a guy getting the shit beaten out of him on tape, and say it’ll be dealt with at the Hog Wild PPV.

Obviously another way to deal with it would be to, I don’t know, send this tape to the police? A blatant, pre-meditated assault filmed in its entirety before and after. You aren’t going to get much more clear-cut evidence. But, y’know, wrestling.

Tony calmly states that Sting is OK and suffered “minor injuries”. Well, that’s fine then.

Some vaguely old school Western movie music plays and out comes the former Mauler, Mike Enos, aka one half of the worst named team in the world, “Rough ‘n’ Ready”. I think he was Ready.

His opponent is the ultra patriotic numbskull Jim Duggan. “Not Hacksaw” sighs Larry, and I’m with you living legend. Why? Why?

Mike “Ready” Enos Vs “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan

What a way to start the show. And yes, that was heavy, heavy sarcasm. For fuck’s sake. Couldn’t we have started with Rey Vs Eddie? Maybe just not had this match at all?

There are some contrasting emotions in the crowd as Hacksaw comes out...

The guy on the right seems happy to see Duggan. The guy on the left looks like me when I realised who was coming out. Come to think of it, I think that guy on the right was the dude aggressively booing Konnan last time. Loves ultra patriotic Jim Duggan, hates Mexican konnan to the point where it looked like his head was about to explode... pretty sure this guy is now a Trump supporter. I’ve just dated this blog, but for reference we’re in 2018, so that’s a relevant thought for at least another few years.

The crowd start chanting “USA” straight away. I think they’re both from the States so it’s not a chant that favours either man. Hacksaw is instantly furious, for some reason, and wants to start beating up Enos before the bell event rings.

The ref is like “bro, bro... calm down. We’re at Disneyworld.”

Duggan clotheslines Enos over the top rope after about a minute. Remember how last week Norton got disqualified for doing the exact same thing to Dave Taylor? No such luck here. Damn it.

I notice Enos has “Rough and Ready” on the back of his sleeveless jacket..

.What’s the snake meant to represent? Are snakes known for being rough or ready?

Enos and Hacksaw give each other some pretty nasty looking headbutts...

What’s funny is that Enos’s headbutt was more of a leaning his head in and pushing, whereas Hacksaw just went charging in there and smashed their heads together. Looked brutal. Also Hacksaw is fucking thick. And I don’t mean “thicc”, I just mean thick. Stout. Rotund.

Larry repeats his “new world odor” phrase for about the fifth time already. It’s not that original or funny Larry, give it a rest.

Look how empty the front row is. Where the hell is everybody? Normally that front row is full, and usually with really strange people too. I wonder if the black guy in the bottom left still has his “hulkster” shirt, or whether that’s now been disposed of...

Enos is putting on this really shitty looking chinlock.

It doesn’t look remotely painful. He’s literally just cupping Hacksaw’s chin in his hands. I mean, to go from those brutal headbutts to this is silly. This goes on forever. Even Larry basically says the chinlock is bullshit and not being applied properly.

This match has been going on for about 6 minutes and Duggan looks like he’s run a marathon.

Duggan comes off the ropes and goes for a roll up...

Did not want or need to see Enos’s arse crack, thanks. Sometimes I wonder if WCW understand their audience is predominantly heterosexual males. I mean, between this and that baywatch-esque clip from a few shows ago with Jim “Jobber” Powers, Alex Wright, etc stripping off their clothes in slow motion... I’m starting to wonder.

Tony actually calls attention to the four empty seats in the front row and wonders whether they’re for the new world order. I suppose it’s possible, and I can’t blame them for deciding against watching this classic.

Match ends when Enos is arguing with the ref, allowing Duggan to tape up his fist and crack Enos over the head.

Check out the black guy in the upper right. He’s loving this way more than I am.

“Hacksaw” Jim Duggan defeats Mike “Ready” Enos via Pinfall.

Expert shit-stirrer Mean Gene is in the ring to interview Duggan.

Poor Hacksaw looks like he’s ready to go to bed.

Okerlund asks Hacksaw for his opinion on the nWo. Not sure why anybody would be particularly interested in what Duggan has to say on the subject, but whatever. Hacksaw gets unusually serious as he asks people to listen.

Hacksaw asks “Hulk, what have you done?”

He reminds Hogan about the kids who look up to him, and brings up going with Hogan to the make-a-wish and special olympic events. Duggan asks why Hogan would turn his back on everything he loved, and everyone that loved him. Duggan says Hogan has held his children, and the first word his oldest child said was “hulkster”. That’s not weird at all. Duggan says “Hulkster, you’re a great technical wrestler” - lol - “but I don’t want to wrestle ya, I wanna beat ya up”. Broadly the same thing but OK. Gene says, referring to Hogan, “if you put a good apple into a basket of bad apples... enough said”. I guess so.

Hacksaw’s promo here was actually pretty good. He conveyed his emotions well, and his facial expressions really sold what he was saying as genuine. Just a shame I had to watch a match with him involved first.

We see footage of Arn creepily peering into a random limo last week...

Totally normal behaviour.

WCW loves showing this shot of Mickey. Maybe they were contractually obliged to do it.

Ric Flair’s music hits, and out come three of the four horsemen, plus the ladies.

As of yet no explanation has been given for Flair’s no-show last week. The horsemen don’t seem overly bothered by it though.

Sting’s theme music hits, and out come the Stinger, Lex Luger, and the Macho Man.

I’ll admit to having a bit of a soft spot for the “Man Called Sting” theme song. I actually like a lot of those older WCW songs - Man Called Sting, Steinerized, American Made... I have an eclectic taste in music. Don’t judge me.

Tony repeats that Sting only suffered “minor injuries” after being attacked and he thinks the Outsiders were “just trying to send a message”. Uh, no. If they were sending a message they maybe would have shoved him over, or yelled some threats, or something else vaguely threatening. The pair of them quite literally punched Sting repeatedly and slammed a car boot against his back. I love how the commentators don’t see this as anything major. Just another day in the crazy world of wrestling. Larry calls it “a game of chess”. Most people would call it criminal assault.

Well anyway, these guys waste no time, a brawl starts...

And the match is on.

Ric Flair, Steve McMichael & Chris Benoit Vs Sting, Lex Luger & Macho Man

The match starts with mostly brawling outside of the ring. Sting and Flair are in the ring fighting for about twenty seconds but they’re soon out on the floor as well. We have to go to a break, and during that break we see...

Remember how I noted the dates had been dropping from the “coming soon” part of Glacier’s promo? Now even COMING SOON has gone. Maybe eventually it won’t even show “GLACIER” any more, it’ll just be the symbol in the background. Then a black screen. Then maybe it’ll just become a Mortal Kombat advert. Would have been a better idea than what eventually happened, but let’s forget about BLOOD RUNS COLD for now.

We come back and the bell sounds. Things are finally under control.

We start off with Sting and Benoit. Sting takes charge and Benoit rolls over towards Flair and Mongo. Flair holds out his hand for a tag...

And comes in. Sting is going to tag Macho in but Flair knocks Macho off the apron before Sting can make a tag. Soon Flair and Savage are fighting on the floor, near that stupid unnecessary VIP table. The ridiculous candlestick in the middle gets knocked over...

Good. Although they’re lucky it wasn’t lit, or that shit could have ended up on fire. Meanwhile Savage picks up the bowl of fruit and dumps it onto Flair.

Fruit all over the floor. What a waste.

Flair runs back into the ring but immediately eats a press slam from Sting.

As you can see, the crowd are loving it.

Macho gets tagged in, which leads Flair to drop to the outside and plant a kiss on Miss Elizabeth. This angers Macho who runs over, but gets caught out and double-teamed by Flair and Mongo. The advantage doesn’t last for long though, and soon Savage is back on top. Annoyed by how useless he is at fighting, Flair walks off.

Bye, then.

For some reason Flair stops walking away, sees Savage coming after him and just drops to his knees begging off. This never works and I don’t know why he didn’t just start running. Schaivone says Flair was trying to hide, but if so that was a pretty shitty place to try and hide. Savage throws Flair into the metal bleachers. As he leads Flair back to the ring, I’m sure I hear someone in the crowd say “Macho, put some cheese on it”. What? He might have said “Nacho” instead, so I guess that is kind of a burn, but... not really. I suppose it’s possible he was advising a friend how to best serve nachos, very loudly, and just happened to get picked up on camera. You gotta put cheese on nachos, no doubt.

Next up Mongo and Luger are tagged in. Oh joy. The fans chant “Luger”. Say what you want about Lex, but until mid-1998 or so he was consistently over with WCW fans.

As Larry is talking about Mongo having “great teachers” in Flair and Anderson, Mongo completely botches running into the ropes and somehow falls through them.

Look at the faces on Lex, Benoit and Flair. W T Fuck? Mongo - unable to run the fucking ropes without botching, but still a member of the Four Horsemen. Both hilarious and tragic. The announcers cover for this by saying that Luger threw Mongo out of the ring through sheer strength. It’s not a bad save in fairness.

Thankfully Mongo tags back out to Flair, who is able to run the ropes without falling outside the ring. He just gets beaten up again though. Flair is just the worst fighter. He so rarely gets in any offence. Benoit comes in and kicks the shit out of Luger. Savage comes in and takes Benoit down, even though he isn’t the legal man.

Tony mentions that the Dungeon of Doom have “literally” put a bounty on Benoit’s head. I assume that’s just to beat him in a wrestling match, not actually kill him, but it’s the Dungeon of Doom so... who fucking knows. It might be to shave Benoit’s entire body. According to the Giant that’s what the Dungeon like doing.

Flair takes a brutal superplex from Sting.

That image is a second or so after they landed. Some serious impact. They both literally bounce up like they’re on a trampoline. Mongo is then tagged in again - uh oh spagettios. He basically clotheslines Sting in the corner, executes a tame looking backbreaker, and tags back out to Benoit. Good idea.

Eventually it’s back to Flair and Sting. Slick Ric puts Sting in the Figure Four.

Sting isn’t really selling it much. He looks mildly inconvenienced. Flair starts slapping Sting in the face.

This just annoys Sting, who ends up reversing the Figure Four. Flair tries locking it in again but Sting counters into a rollup.

Flair kicks out and tags in Benoit. The Crippler attacks Sting’s leg and hits him with a snap suplex. Sting kicks out at two. Benoit then puts Sting in a nasty looking Lion Tamer.

He struggles to get full extension on it due to the height difference but it still looks uncomfortable to say the least.

Luger comes in and breaks the submission up. Benoit tags Flair back in.

Suddenly Jimmy Hart comes running out, yelling at the cameraman that “we need help” and for him to “come to the back”.

What good is a cameraman going to do if you need help?

Drunk?

Well, regardless, the cameraman decides to listen to this lunatic and starts running towards the backstage area. Hart gets up on the apron and tries to get everybody’s attention.

Hilariously the wrestlers just totally ignore him, even though he’s going berserk on the apron.

Hart finally gets Luger’s attention and yells at him that they need to get to the back.

Who’s on the bottom of Jimmy’s insane tie by the way? I want that tie.

We cut to the back where the cameraman has assumedly ended up, and we see Arn Anderson is down. Hall and Nash are hanging around with baseball bats.

Not sure what that stain is down by Arn’s foot. Not sure I want to know.

I love how these two are just smashing the shit out of people with baseball bats, and still... no thought to call the police. I feel like at this point these two could literally cave somebody’s head in with those bats, murder them live on TV, and Tony would say they’re “sending a message”, Larry would say it’s a “game of chess” - where you smash the fuck out of your opponent’s pieces, apparently - and they’d try to settle it at a PPV.

Anyhow, the other guy laying on the ground is Marcus Bagwell.

His tag team partner Scotty Riggs comes out and turns his back to the Outsiders, oblivious to the fact they are obviously the cause of his partner’s injury. What a dunce. He’s also standing like he’s got rickets.

Hall cracks him over the head with something like light rigging. The camera turns...

And we see Rey Mysterio is standing on the rails here like it’s a turnbuckle. He tries a flying cross body onto Nash, but the big man catches Rey like he’s a small child, aims him towards the trailer and...

Tosses him into the side of it like a lawn dart. One of the more iconic moments of the original nWo invasion, one that everybody remembers. It looked like a rough bump to take, but kudos to Rey for taking it.

The Outsiders get back into their limo just as the Macho Man arrives. Savage dives on top of the limo and reaches through the sunroof as it starts to drive off...

This won’t end well.

The limo literally drives off with Savage riding on top. Nice knowing you, Macho.

As Savage rides off into the night atop of the Outsiders’ limousine, the backstage area is now filled with wrestlers and yellow shirt security. Just where the fuck were these fuckers when the Outsiders were beating the shit out of people? Obviously the wrestlers in the ring had a reason not to be there, but what were these security people doing? It’s a bit late to be out there now, assholes.

We come back from a break and Woman is cradling Arn like he’s about to die.

Liz and her boobs are there too.

A fire truck arrives. What incompetent idiot called for a fucking fire truck? You have three choices and the only wrong choice would be to call a fire truck. Yet here we are. What are the firemen going to do, hose everybody down?

Rey is on the ground, holding his head and yelling that “there were four”. Well, unless he’s counting the baseball bats as members of the nWo there were definitely only two. I suppose you could count three if you include the limo driver, but the assumption is that he was just a random dude hired to drive, rather than an nWo member.

An ambulance turns up. That’s more like it.

I’ve just realised this fucks the rest of the card. Eddie Vs Rey ain’t happening now, neither is American Males Vs the Steiners or Anderson Vs the Giant. Why do I get the feeling the replacements in these matches are going to be a significant downgrade?

Mysterio is having a neck brace put on, and during this time Alex Wright is yelling “Hey Rey! What do you mean by four? What do you mean by four?” ... dude, the guy just got thrown head first into the side of a fucking trailer. Screaming questions at him probably isn’t the best thing to do right now. The medics take Rey’s mask off to treat him. Tony acts shocked by this and says that in Mexico masked wrestlers never take their masks off. Of course, in Mexico they probably aren’t propelled head first into trailers either, so, you know. Hard to treat a head injury when the entire skull is covered by a mask, Tony.

Benoit appears to be crying over Arn’s condition.

Eddie wants to go to the hospital with Rey, but Alex Wright reminds Eddie he’s got a match, and he’ll go instead. The match was with Mysterio so actually Eddie doesn’t have a match anymore, but whatever. If I was Rey I wouldn’t want some German guy sitting next to me yelling “WHAT DO YOU MEAN FOUR?” over and over but the ambulance crew evidently don’t see a problem with it.

Benoit is still on the verge of tears. He looks like a little boy who’s just seen a dog get run over. Larry says “I know how much Benoit looks up to Arn. This is disheartening”. Disheartening? Is that the best word you can come up with, Larry? Disheartening would be if Arn forgot a conversation they’d had last week. The guy just got attacked and apparently severely injured by two big guys with baseball bats and all you can say is it’s “disheartening”? Jeez.

For some reason Benoit starts getting into it with Meng...

Good thing those ambulances are there. Benoit’s going to need one as well if he starts on Meng.

We go back to Tony and Larry who look a little lost. How boring must this be for the fans out there? As far as I’m aware there’s no screen anywhere showing them what’s happening out the back, so they’re just sitting there looking at an empty ring. I appreciate the tickets were free, but still...

We go to a break, and when we come back there’s still nothing of note happening.

Bischoff and Heenan (wearing the same shirt as Zybszko) have arrived, but Tony and Larry haven’e gone anywhere yet. I’m surprised the crowd are still hanging around to be honest. It’s surely been at least twenty minutes for them now.

Heenan says he’s not going to do the broadcast tonight unless he can be guaranteed he won’t be physically hurt. Probably a conversation that should have happened off-air, but whatever. Bischoff says he can’t give Heenan any promises and he should do whatever he feels he has to do. So Bobby leaves.

Tony says “the wheels are falling off here”. Bischoff says that “fortunately” the fans in attendance can’t see what happened or is happening in the back. Yeah, Eric, I’m sure they would much prefer to stand around staring at an empty ring for half an hour. What a fun time.

A funny thing to note whilst this shit continues to go down - apparently during this incident somebody legitimately did call the emergency services as they thought a gang fight had broken out. At Disneyworld. I’d like to know which gang has claimed the Disney/MGM studios as their turf. Going around spraying Mickey Mouse graffiti everywhere. You don’t fuck with the DisneyWorld Baseball Bat Crew.

Understandably, there’s a loud “BORING” chant from the crowd. Eric says the crowd are “anxious”, Tony points out more astutely that it’s because they’re not seeing what’s going on backstage and nothing is happening in the ring. Of course they’re fucking bored. This is a really cool angle on TV, don’t get me wrong, but those poor fuckers in the crowd are being screwed over big time.

An “nWo” chant breaks out. We see Arn Anderson getting loaded into the ambulance. Bagwell is then loaded into the same ambulance. Sting is holding one of the baseball bats that the Outsiders used. Bischoff calls it “evidence”. Should probably be handing that over to the police, although it only appears that an ambulance and fire truck have shown up. It’s almost like in the world of WCW police simply don’t exist. They’re never mentioned and never seen. The best we get are security guards who are absolutely useless. Remember a few Nitros ago when it took about a hundred security guards to get Hall and Nash out of the arena, and half an hour later the Outsiders were still backstage fucking shit up? WCW hires terrible security and has no understanding of how to file a charge with the police. No wonder Heenan ran off.

Fireworks inappropriately go off behind the WCW sign as we go into a commercial break. That’s the most exciting thing that crowd has seen in about half an hour or so.

It looks like High Voltage are replacing the American Males.

They’re both yelling stuff that makes no sense.

These kids have become so bored that they’re screaming in excitement for High Voltage of all teams.

“Here’s a story of two brothers, Rick and Scott...”

Scott’s gigantic arms are covered by his Michigan jersey. The Steiners come out looking quite subdued, with Rick constantly looking behind him. The Outsiders drove off in a limo with Macho Man on top, guys, I think you’re OK. Macho hopefully isn’t laying splattered on a pavement somewhere. Nobody really seems bothered that they saw Savage hanging onto a moving vehicle as it drove away.

Even though Rick is clearly bothered by what’s happened, he’s still barking. But it’s kind of a sad, tentative bark. You could argue that he shouldn’t be barking at all, but, that’s another story. A lot of things happen in WCW that make no sense.

The Steiner Brothers Vs High Voltage

Scott Steiner starts off dominating Chaos. Fireworks are still going off. Rick Steiner is still totally distracted and won’t get up on the ring apron.

Scott is starting to get pissed off.

Rick gets tagged in. He barks a few times, then turns away from Chaos and starts pointing towards the empty entranceway. Chaos takes advantage and hammers Rick with a few punches. Rage gets tagged in, and he and Chaos hit a double drop kick on Rick Steiner. Fireworks are STILL going off behind the WCW sign. I have to assume WCW has no control over this.

Rage hits Rick with a flying shoulder block from the top turnbuckle. Rick kicks out at two. The crowd bark in unison to try and lift Rick Steiner.

Chaos goes up to the top turnbuckle, and I think Rick is supposed to reverse Chaos’ jump into a powerslam, but Rick instead just kind of ignores Chaos and does a half-hearted slam motion as Chaos flips over him and crashes to the mat. Made Chaos look like a total chode.

Scotty gets tagged back in and hits Rage with an underarm suplex. For some reason Scotty tags Rick straight back in. Questionable decision considering Rick seems to be struggling to focus unless the crowd is barking “woof woof woof” at him.

Well anyhow, Rick tags Scotty back in after hitting a few moves on Rage and knocking Chaos off the apron. Scott picks Rage up in a Falcon Arrow type position, holds him there for a few moments...

Then drops him right on his head.

It’s basically the Falcon Arrow but way more hardcore.

Scott gets the three count and this one is over. Low Voltage.

The Steiner Brothers defeat High Voltage via Pinfall.

The crowd are very happy with this outcome. Two guys in the front row exchange a double high five. I guess they wouldn’t mind getting Steinerized.

Yeah... sorry. Anyway.

We’re back to the broadcast position and Bischoff calls it “A heck of a broadcast so far”. Yep. As long as you aren’t in the crowd it’s been a fairly good show.

Tony and Larry look like they’ve just been told Christmas is cancelled. Cheer up guys. Bischoff says “half of WCW have left in ambulances”, which is a pretty significant exaggeration. Bagwell, Riggs, Rey and Arn. That’s four. So unless WCW only has an official roster of eight people I think we can say that an estimate of half is wildly out. I suppose you can count Alex Wright, Sting and Flair as well, since they hopped into the ambulances too, but still.

I think Tony and Larry are supposed to be looking upset/irritated, but Tony just looks fucking depressed and Larry looks like a kid who’s just been given a time out. Eric says the Outsiders will go “wherever there isn’t security, wherever the weakness of WCW is. That’s where they’ll be”. Well, to review, they’ve come through the crowd and into the ring without being stopped. They’ve ended up at the broadcast booth multiple times without being stopped. They’ve been able to commandeer a live microphone and talk trash multiple times without being stopped. They’ve draped banners over the WCW logo without being stopped. They’ve broken into the production truck and fucked around with the broadcast without being stopped. They’ve powerbombed Bischoff off a stage on PPV without being stopped. They’ve attacked Sting after a Saturday Night taping without being stopped. And they’ve just beaten up multiple people with baseball bats without being stopped. So, yeah, WCW’s weaknesses are basically everything and I’m not convinced they even hire genuine security. If they do then they should probably look at hiring another company.

Oh, here comes Rey’s replacement.

You’ve got to be kidding. How is Big Bubba an appropriate replacement for Rey Mysterio? He weighs about five times as much as Rey and has about a fifth of Rey’s ability in the ring. The name graphic makes it look like Jimmy Hart is “Big Bubba”, which did make me chuckle.

Out comes Eddie.

Eddie Guerrero Vs Big Bubba

This match goes on for a while. I’m skipping towards the end because who cares about any match involving Big Bubba?

I skip ahead and get this visual.

Imagine waking up with that hovering over your face. Terrifying. He mumbles “Big Bubba Rogers” but I can’t make anything else out.

Match ends when Jimmy Hart attempts to throw Bubba his megaphone to use as a weapon.

Hart also hugs the referee.

Bubba lets go o the megaphone, which goes flying into the air, as Eddie grabs him in a rollup. Eddie gets the three, and that’s that.

Eddie Guerrero defeats Big Bubba via Pinfall.

We come back from the break to “the following announcement has been paid for by the New World Order”.

Cool. I think this is the first time we’ve had one of these on Nitro. The Outsiders and Hogan are in some kind of studio. The camera cuts randomly between them as the nWo music plays in the background. The video begins like a computer game struggling with inconsistent framerate.

Hogan says “it’s a tough job, but someone’s got to do it”. Nash says “people wonder who’s gonna be next? Don’t call us, we’ll call you”. “Yeah,” says Hall. “It’s invitation only, chicos”.

We get a shot of the three nWo members, whilst video highlights of Hogan play behind them. Hogan says there’s a new world order, and he hopes that’s okay, because there’s nothing anyone can do about it. Nash lists “power, fame, money, and now our own corporation” as the positives. Hall says “think about it, nWo, we’re new, we’re taking over World Championship Wrestling, and we’re giving all the orders”. Not sure the nWo name really needed an explanation, but OK, sure. Hogan yells “it’s the new way, is that OK, billionaire Ted?” ... not sure if he intended to rhyme or not. Hogan quotes humpty dumpty be saying all of Ted Turner’s horses and all of his men won’t be able to put WCW back together again. That’s the second promo in recent times that’s referenced humpty dumpty. First the Giant, now Hogan. Coincidence, I guess? Or the WCW locker room really loves that nursery rhyme.

Hall starts talking about who the fourth or fifth member of the nWo is going to be, and Hogan starts laughing really loudly. A typical evil villain type laugh which kind of throws Hall for a second.

Nash is trying not to laugh at Hogan’s cartoon-villain cackle. Hall says that Sting and Luger have gotten soft at “billionaire Ted’s country club”. He says that he and Nash have had to claw and scratch for everything they’ve got, and that they want Sting and Luger. In the ring, I assume/hope.

Hogan says he almost forgot that he’s wrestling the Giant at Hog Wild for the world title. Liar. He says that he finds it ironic that WCW could be so weak to have to beg for the Giant to save them from the nWo. Hogan says on August 10th the Outsiders will become the Insiders, and with 500,000 “vroom-baa Harley Davidsons” by their side the nWo “will establish itself as the greatest wrestling organisation on the Earth, brother”.

OK. The nWo is not exactly a wrestling organisation. It’s just a faction with three dudes in it. Later on you could argue it’s more of an organisation, but right now? No.

Hall calls Sting a “painted face punk” and says “don’t sing it, bring it.” Nash says they call it “Armageddon” and that “Genesis has begun. It’s the beginning of the new world order”. Didn’t expect a shout out to the bible in here but there you go. Hogan finishes the promo by saying that as the Outsiders take care of the “top talent” in WCW, the Giant will crumble at his feet.

It’s amusing how in these promos Hogan is still basically in Hulk promo mode, yelling, hollering and using big words that don’t necessarily mean what he thinks they mean. Hall and Nash have much calmer, cooler delivery which contrasts quite sharply to Hogan’s more 80′s approach. They pull it together well by editing a lot of Hogan’s stuff to make it more succinct and to the point.

Eric Bischoff has left the broadcast position, leaving Tony and Larry to handle the last fifteen minutes or so of the broadcast. They recap events from earlier in the night. The crowd have had another long wait, between the end of the last match, the nWo promo which none of them would have seen, and now this recap of events earlier in the night that they’re also not seeing. Oh, and they had to sit through long matches involving Jim Duggan, Mike Enos and Big Bubba. I know they got into this show for free, but they still deserve a refund.

Still, we have the main event left. This is WCW’s chance to replace Arn Anderson with somebody exciting, somebody fresh, somebody who can get the crowd on their feet, somebody who...

Oh.

Greg Valentine.

Greg “charisma” Valentine.

I mean, if this was 1986 then this would have been a decent replacement, but it’s not. These poor fans.

On the plus side this is unlikely to lost long.

The Giant Vs Greg “the hammer” Valentine

It’s for all the gold. The WCW world title looked so awesome.

The Hammer manages to rock the Giant early on with a few chops to the chest and clotheslines.

Doesn’t last long though. Giant knocks Valentine down, picks him up, smashes him across the back, then puts him into the corner and chokes him with his boot. Giant then throws Valentine across to the opposite turnbuckle, goes for some kind of weird splash/elbow but misses in a move very obviously telegraphed, yet somehow the cameramen miss it anyway.

Valentine heads up top and hits a double axe handle. Giant is momentarily dizzy, but as Valentine scrambles up to the second turnbuckle to try another move, Giant drops the strap on his outfit, runs over and puts his hand around Valentine’s neck.

Uh oh.

Splat. Unsatisfied, Giant roars a few times then picks Valentine up and hits a second chokeslam.

Thanks for coming, Greg. Hey, I’ve just noticed, the dude in the middle on the left with the tash has definitely been at previous shows. So has the woman three to the right from him. I remember her dancing with her daughter to the Nasty Boys theme. The daughter doesn’t appear to be there this time. No Nasty Boys, no interest, I guess. I had no idea WCW had repeated customers for these shows, I always assumed it was just random park guests turning up.

As an aside, check out the guys on the bottom right. Either doing the most awkward wave ever or vicariously living through the Giant chokeslamming poor old Greg.

The Giant defeats Greg “the hammer” Valentine via Pinfall.

Post-match, Giant leans into the camera and says “I want you to listen real close Hulk Hogan. Pay attention, and listen real close”. He then walks away. I assume he’s going to be interviewed?

Yes, indeed, Mean Gene is in the ring with the Giant. Haven’t seen much of Gene-o tonight. I kind of missed the shit-stirring bell.

Giant is either ripping a major fart or mocking Hogan’s poses. Hopefully the latter, although Jimmy Hart’s expression suggests it could be the former.

Gene asks Giant about Hog Wild. Giant continues mocking Hogan by saying “well you know something Mean Gene, I’ve been to the top of the mountain brother, I’ve walked through the valley of the shadow of death...” Gene pulls the mic away and asks if the Giant has lost his marbles. “That’s a knock off on Hogan!” - no shit, Gene.

Giant laughs. He says Hogan “conned America”, because he didn’t believe the things he preached. Giant says Hogan started the nWo because he knew he couldn’t be “the big fish in WCW”. Giant says that whilst Hogan has been making movies, he’s been defending the title. Giant says if WCW doesn’t hang together, then they’ll all hang separately, and he’s got a chokeslam noose that’ll fit around Hogan’s neck.

For some reason Okerlund gives the mic to Jimmy Hart, who appears to have taken a shitload of High Voltage’s uppers. He’s all over the place, ranting about “living wrestling 24/7″ and says sometimes he lies so much he believes in his own lies.

Hart says that one day he’ll have to pay for the things he’s done, but at Hog Wild, they’ll take Hogan out. Well... OK, then. Sounds like Jimmy is involved in some pretty shady shit.

Gene bids us goodnight from Orlando, and WCW decide to show the Outsiders beating the shit out of the WCW guys one more time. Because why not, I guess? They show a slow mo of Rey getting lawn darted into the trailer, and the show ends with a still shot of this as the Nitro music plays in the background.

Nice. I’m sure Rey appreciates that.

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