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for a time after season two mike is convinced max is mean, not because she is, but because he only ever acts antagonistically towards her. and the party keeps trying to explain to him that max doesn’t hate him, he hates max, but he’s just like “no when i insult her she insults me back, it’s mutual.” it goes on for weeks until mike decides he wants to learn how to skate because skating is cool and he wants to be cool. this has nothing to do with max according to him. so now everyday he’s sneaking out after dark to hang out in the skatepark. until one night, decked out in his dorky ass shoulder pads, knee pads and oversized helmet, max is exiting as he’s entering. max starts yelling and mike isn’t listening, he’s already in his head like “she’s right. skateboarding’s her thing. i’m a wheelless loser.” when he actually listens she's excited. she didn't know he could skate, or wanted to skate, it doesn’t matter, if he doesn't know already she can teach him or if he does they can skate together! she wants to see his board, see his tricks, teach him things... so, basically, like. shit! okay! maybe they are friends!
mike and max skate together long enough for them to bond but not long enough for mike to get good at skating. it was good while it lasted, but alas, mike was not cut out for the board
#stranger things#max mayfield#mike wheeler#madwheeler#platonic madwheeler#mike: why is max so rude to me every time we see each other??#mike every time he sees max: hey asshole#it’s some mix of thinking she is the mean one because she retaliates and thinking she’s cool and trying to match that and mike thinking#being cool is being mean#anyway i think that is their dynamic for a very short amount of time when they’re still healing from season 2#otherwise they are nice to each other :)#kind of#i think they are the kind of friends that physically play fight#they tussle for funzies
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Road Trip |Steve Harrington × FemReader
~ You and Steve make plans for a road trip to the beach that is 30 minutes away from Hawkins, the drive from there and back is a total mess and it's up to you and Steve to calm everyone down and control everything so that it goes planned
Requested? ✅
Warning: Use of y/n, readers pronouns are she/her (sorry), complete chaos, mentions of the events from the upside down, Steve feeling left out and 'targeted', might be some misspelled words, a little bit of a cliff hanger at the end. (Enjoy and pls request more ideas)
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“Okay and turn right here”
“Here?”
“Yes babe here!”
It was hard for Steve to hear your directions due to the people in the back of the Volkswagen (that you and Steve rented for this particular trip) were talking a little too loud just for them to be 2 inches away from each other. “Y/n did you get my sandals?”. “Yes I have them in the front with me!” You shouted back to Max so that he could hear you, “oh wait did you get my towel too?”. “I brought an extra one so yes I did!” This time you shouted back to Lucas, “and what about my sunscreen?”. “I have everything that you guys need with me!” You responded to Mike loudly while also talking to everyone to prevent them from asking any further questions.
“How long is this ride gonna take, you know it's hot back here!?” Robin says with an annoyed grunt while moving around, “we're like 5 minutes away just give me a second okay!” Steve replies back to Robin with an annoyed tone. Steve has trouble with being able to concentrate at multiple things at once, he tends to get frustrated or he starts feeling pressured, that's why you're always around, to prevent Steve from blowing up on the kid or even Robin and Eddie.
“Here Robin is the air hitting you know?” You say while moving your air fan towards the back in hopes that it reaches to her. “A little, I would feel more if Eddie's hair wasn't making me claustrophobic!” Robin sounds even more cranky but you couldn't blame her, she was in the very back with a guy who only gets a haircut every 7 months and to top it all, there was a whole lot of movement In Front of her that prevented any access of air going towards her.
“Well beauty takes up space, we already talked about this!” Eddie responds back to robins complaints, he seems to be the only one that doesn't seem physically bothered with his overgrown hair. “Here take one of these” you reach your hand out as far as you can to give Eddie a rubber band, “no that's gonna make my hair look bad at the beach, no girl is gonna want me with my hair up, why else do you think I grow it out!” Eddie replies back while pushing your hand away from his direction to deny your offer. “Well no woman is gonna like your hair being a mess while looking like you haven't showered in weeks” you say to Eddie while moving your hand back to his direction while also trying to dodge your arm from hitting any of the kids heads. Eddie finally took up on your offer and snatched it out of your hand while pouting a little and mocking you under his breath,
“That's true, honestly man, what conditioner do you use cause Jesus, that thing is a bird nest!” Steve butts in the conversation while looking at Eddie through the rear view mirror, “Clubman but that's cause it's always on clearance so I work with what I can get” Eddie moves his head as he talks to Steve to show that he's trying to give him attitude, “that's why, you should use the one that Steve uses, he uses this shampoo called Fa- HEY!” Your sentence was rudely cut off due to Lucas pushing himself through the little gap between you and Steve to get the bag full of snacks that sat on your lap, “sorry excuse me” Lucas says before he sits back down and opens the bag for Dustin and Max to see and grab what they want. “Hey no no no half of those are robins and Eddie's, don't eat them” Steve tries to stop the kids from eating what's not theirs, “yea guys, half of those are mine come on!” Robin says while trying to see and check that none of the kids take her candy, “y/n! Get your kids, they're practically robbing me!” Eddie screams out to you while trying to grab any candy from Dustin's hands.
“Hey, give me the bag”. “Okay just give me a second”. “Guys give her the bag!”. “That one's mine STOP EATING IT!”. “Let me have one!” chaos broke loose over candy, everyone was screaming and talking to each other at the same time, Eddie and Robin were moving in their seats to get a closer chance of getting their candy back from the greedy kids, Mike, El and Will were complaining about Robin and Eddie hitting their heads with their grabby arms and hands while you were yelling at max, Lucas, and Dustin for not listening to Steve and the other 2 adults while also trying to prevent them from eating more candy. Steve wasn't sure if he liked the commotion, he sure didn't like it while driving but he knew that it wouldn't be a perfect road trip without an argument breaking out over something little such as candy.
“OH WOW LOOK AT THAT WE'RE HERE!”
Steve says loudly which grabs everyone's attention, that one sentence has everyone go quiet and look out the windows. Hawkins was the most boring town known, I mean any new folks only go there for a bathroom break to Disneyland so something as basic as the beach was thrilling to everyone including you and Steve.The moment of calmness and quietness was soon over when Dustin and Max opened their side doors to run out. “Woah woah hey guys hold on!” Steve says frantically in hopes of slowing down everyone from getting out of the car, but no one listened to him instead they just kept getting out of the car until it was just you and Steve left, “they never listen to me” Steve sighs and unbuckles his seat belt to get out, he then goes to your side of the car and opens to door for you and help you carry anything that you needed help with. The kids seemed to have found a perfect spot that was not too far from the water but not too close.
you and Steve watch everyone set their towels down onto the sand from afar, “you know what Max told me” you say to Steve to start up a conversation, “if it has something to do with my bathing suit then dont bother, her and lucas already made fun of me enough” Steve says while moving his left arm (since his right hand is dragging along a cooler filled with refreshing drinks) around to make awareness to himself that his swim suit is a joke to the kids, “what? No….well..” you look Steve up and down
“Okay maybe your bathing suit is a little funny” you giggle at Steve which causes him to laugh as well, “no but max told me that she always wanted to go to the beach since coming to Hawkins cause that's the only thing that reminds her of California” you say while squinting your eyes a little to look up at Steve, “is that why you planned this trip? To make Max happy?” Steve questions you, “I want her to feel at home in Hawkins, and with us since we're basically the only ones she has left” you respond back as you watch Max and Robin move Lucas's and Mike's towels and replace it with theirs.
“You know she looks up to you right?” Steve breaks your stare from Max and Robin and you turn to him, “she also looks up to you too, she told me she sees you as her older brother” you look at Steve to see him smile. Steve is an only child (it's pretty obvious) so for him to hear that he's an older brother to someone's eyes, it makes his heart jump from excitement, “they're annoying and all but I still love them you know”
“What purpose would we serve if we don't become role models to these knuckleheads” you say as you gesture your head towards the group of people that you and Steve would kill for. Both of y'all finally catch up to where everyone was at, “Jesus can y'all walk any slower” Mike complains and moves to reach for the bag that hangs around your wrist but you pull your arm away before he can grab it, “hey you should be thankful I bought your stupidly expensive sunscreen, I mean who needs a specific type of sunscreen that costs more than $3!” You complain back to Mike while you dig in the bag filled with supplies in attempt of finding Mike's ‘special’ sunscreen, “I have delicate skin okay I can't help that” Mike moves his arms around dramatically, “how many times do I have to tell you, your skin isn't delicate it's all in your mind” you let out a sigh before handing Mike his bottle of sunscreen which he rudely snatches away from your hand but before he can walk off Steve hits him in the back of his head, “hey have some manners, you're only here cause El’s here so be grateful!” Steve raises his voice at Mike so that he can hear him but he was already walking away from you and Steve while rubbing his head.
After everyone got themselves situated and set all their belongings down in their own area, the kids ran into the water while Robin and Eddie moved not too far away from you and Steve to play and build with the sand. You have your bikini on and your sunglasses and right when you're about to lay down to finally enjoy the breeze, a heavy breathing and soaking wet teen runs up to you (which causes you to lift your sunglasses up to look up at him). “hey uh me and my friends wanted to know if you'd like to play volleyball with us over there” he points to a group of teenage boys standing and waiting there awkwardly, “um…no thank you I just wanna relax for today” you reject the teens offer before lowering your sunglasses down over your eyes, “okay um….” The teen stands there quietly before talking again “can I maybe get your number and we can hang out sometime?” this causes you to laugh, “Jesus dude take a hint and besides you're like 15, I'm too old for you alright so stay in school and go play with your geek friends'' you wave him off but before the teen boy can make any more comments to defend himself someone butts in, “babe do you need help with putting sunscreen on your back?” Steve makes his appearance known as he walks up to you with a sunscreen bottle in his hand, “yes please” you reply to Steve's offer before sitting up straight and giving the teen boy a smug look, “you know this kid?” Before Steve applies sunscreen onto his hand, he points a finger towards the teen who was still standing there, “oh no he was just leaving” you say and this time you wave at him in a mocking gesture, he walks off towards his friends who were laughing at him. “jesus you didn't seem to change since highschool” Steve laughs at your mockery towards the kid while rubbing sunscreen on your back, “sometimes I gotta bring the old me back you know” you mumble due to you enjoying the little message that Steve is giving you as he applies sun protection on your back.
Steve then finishes up your back and he lays flat on his stomach waiting for you to do the same gesture towards him. Yours and Steve's relationship was always equal, for Valentine's Day he'll get you something and you'll make him something, at restaurants y'all both would split the bill, when eating food you'll give half to Steve and he would give half to you. So Steve didn't have to ask you if you can put sunscreen on his back, he kinda just expected that you would and you would've expected the same for him if you were in Steve's position right now.
You straddle Steve's hips and sit on his butt. You apply sunscreen on your hand and rub them together to get the cream warm since you knew that Steve flinches and complains when you don't make any type of lotion warm before putting it onto his back. As you put pressure onto Steve's back, he starts to groan. You make sure that the sunscreen is all over his back but you didn't get off him but instead you continued massaging him. Steve deserved a massage due to always being booked and busy with work or the bills or even the kids, so you're hoping that your massage helps him feel relaxed while at the beach.
You finish massaging him after a while and once you get up from sitting on his lower back half, he slowly rises up with a face that looks like he just woke up from the best nap. “Jesus I really needed that thank you” Steve says now fully sitting up and stretching his arms, “you were looking stiff anyways so I couldn't help but loosen you up” you reply back with a teasing smile “oh God what did I just walk into?!” Eddie walks towards you and Steve with Robin following behind him, “you perv we weren't trying to sound like that” Steve gives Eddie a disgusted face for having his head in the gutter. “Yea sure hey um we're kinda hungry” Robin moves next to Eddie while swinging her arms forward and backwards, “you guys are old enough to make your own sandwich” you tell both Robin and Eddie while gesturing towards the bag and cooler filled with enough supplies to make a sandwich, “oh but I bet if we were any of your scrawny kids then you would've made us a sandwich” eddie replies back to you while pointing towards the kids and moving his head in a sassy way, you look to where eddie was pointing and see all the kids walk out of the water and head towards y'all.
“Oh look what you did now, you summoned them” Steve shakes his head as he watches the group of soaked kids walk to y'all, “I guess I'm making sandwiches” you sigh before getting up and setting everything that you needed up onto a table (that Eddie brought). “Y/n we're hungry”. “Can we eat the sandwiches now?”. “Y/n can you make me a sandwich!?”. “Oh can you make me one too please!?” The kids were now bugging you like you were their mom's and you're already used to their constant complaining and bickering so you did what every ‘mom’ would do, “alright everyone line up no cutting- HEY Eddie, I said no cutting get to the back!” You kept clapping your hands together to have the kids move faster while forming a line. As every kid came up with a towel wrapped around themselves while standing in a single file line, Steve was getting their drinks and chips ready for them to take and sit down. “Can I have mine with no mayonnaise please”. “Yea I know, no mayonnaise and no pickles” you say as you just add ham and cheese to Will's sandwich, “i want mine with no cheese and no mustard?”. “That's how you ask?”. “Oh can I please have no cheese and no mustard” you already had the sandwich set up and you give it to Mike but not after mocking his cranky face as he walks off. Everyone (including you and Steve) were now sitting down and eating y'all's sandwich with chips. “Ooo you know what sounds good right now?” Robin turns towards you, “what?”. “Watermelon” Robin says with an excited tone and smile, “I think we have one in the car, do we have one in the back of the car babe?” You then turn towards Steve who was eating his sandwich and zoning out, “huh?”. “Don't we have the watermelon in the back of the car?” You tell Steve twice knowing that he isn't the quickest thinker, “oh uh….I don't know, you want me to check?” Steve starts getting ready to walk to the car, “no no sit down, Hey Dustin”. “Yea?” Dustin responds to you calling his name (since he was the first one done eating), “can you do me a favor and check if we have watermelon in the back of the car please” you say with a cheeky smile, it was a smile that looked so nice and innocent and hard to say no to.
“....fine” Dustin lets out a sigh before throwing away his bag of chips and heading towards the car. Everyone goes back to their conversation while finishing up their sandwiches, “isn't your birthday coming up?” Max asks you, “oh yea next month” you say while nodding your head, “oh my God we should totally have a girl's night” El tells you and you just widen your eyes at her idea. You didn't have any sisters and you never had a girl's night so the idea excites you mostly when you're going to spend it with people who you dearly love. “I never had one, what would we do?” You say now fully engaged into the idea of a girl's night, “wait you never had one!?” Robin's face was fully shocked, “no why is that bad?” You say with curiosity, “oh no no that's not bad it's just that I thought you had one before, I mean what about all the girls you hung out with in highschool? You never had one with them?” Robin questions you due to the shock of you never having a day out with only girls, “no not really, I mean we would all hang out but they're boyfriends would be around so does that count?” You question the girls again. “no that's called a hang out, we're talking about a girl's night with no one else but us girls.” Max clarifies for you, “yea that means not talking about boys, no calling boys, and definitely no boys being invited” Robin says while eyeing Steve who was listening and watching y'all's conversation, “but I'm acceptable right?” No one answered Steve's question, not even you. “If you go then you're gonna hog y/n away and it'll just be me, max, and Robin” El was the only one that answered Steve's question, “I won't-” Steve couldn't even finish his sentence without being cut off and shut down from the girls, “yea you will”. “You most definitely will”. “Yes you would” with the girls ‘attacking’ Steve he looks at you waiting for you to defend him, “....anyways, do y'all go out or do y'all just go to someone's house?” You decided that it's best not to actually reply to Steve's question but instead go back to the previous conversation. Steve's face was filled with disbelief so he chose to listen and join in on someone else's conversation. “And that when the master comes in and proves to all the other peasants who the real king is but just before he can put his foot down he-....” Eddie stops his conversation with Lucas and Mike to turn his head towards Steve, “can I help…you?” Eddie raises his eyebrows at Steve, “oh me? No I'm just listening” Steve says as he moves his hand around to show Eddie that he can continue, “you wouldn't like it, let alone understand it” Eddie tells Steve and he takes it as a sign to just not join into their conversation anymore.
Steve sat in-between the 2 groups of people and he zoned out while staring at the ocean, his trance was soon broken when he felt someone's presence sit down next to him. He turns his head expecting to see you looking at him with a warm smile but instead it was Will, the least person that he talks to. Even though Steve didn't talk to Will that much, it didn't mean that he was uncomfortable around him, it was just that he wasn't sure what they had in common. “Hey…” Will says to Steve, “hey” Steve nods his head towards Will as a gesture of saying ‘whats up’. Will tries to hand Steve a small bag of chips but he kindly declines, “no thanks man, I ate too much junk today” Steve says before turning his head towards the ocean again, “what junk? I just saw you eat a sandwich with chips and a can of coke, that's nothing” Will scoffs at Steve, “yea well I gotta keep in shape for my lady” Steve repondes back to Will while turning his view from the ocean to you laughing with El and max covering robins mouth as if Robin was gonna say something she wasn't supposed to say. “you do know that she doesn't care if you lose weight or gain weight, she'll still go home with you” Will tells Steve as he opens and starts eating the bag of chips, “yea...that's why- i don't know, sometimes I feel like she's too good for me” Steve says as he still stares at you laughing with the girls, “you know what's crazy, she told me the exact same thing” Will looks at Steve with faint smile and Steve then finally looks at Will, “she said that? She told you that?” Steve knows that you have a strong bond with all the kids so he wasn't sure why he was surprised that you would tell Will something like that.
“Oh yeah, she talks about you a lot when you're not around and it gets annoying sometimes but it's also pretty cute” Will responds in a calm tone while Steve had a face full of shock, “what else does she tell you?” Steve now being more curious leans in closer to Will, “um… I don't know if I'm supposed to tell you” Will leans back a little thinking that he said a little too much than needed, “come on man I drove you here and besides it isn't anything bad, right?” Steve became more and more curious with Will not telling him what you talk about behind his back, “umm….I think she said something about not wanting 6 kids” Will says to Steve with a sour face as he watches Steve's eyes sadden, “oh…”
“Instead she only wants 3” With Will's response this causes Steve's eyes to lighten up with joy, “really?! What else?” Steve asks Will for clarification that he heard things right, “yea and she also said she wants to get married at-” Will didn't finish his sentence due to Dustin walking towards everyone while complaining and empty handed.
“I'm not doing it next time, Jesus that's a long walk. What the hell” Dustin lets out a huff of breath before sitting back down onto the sand. With everyone's attention towards Dustin, Steve grabs Will's attention back towards him to have him finish his sentence, “when does she want to get married!?” Steve is making direct eye contact with Will in hopes that he can answer Steve's question that he's been waiting for since 2 years. “Um… she said when she's-”. “Alright everyone I'm ready to go, it's starting to look a little cloudy!” you scream out to everyone so they can start packing their stuff up and heading back to the car. Will was quick to get up and away from Steve due to the pressure that he got from wanting to answer a basic question that was so important to Steve. This led to Steve sitting there in disbelief and a little bit of frustration, “babe come on help me with the bags please” you call Steve over to you, “yea Steve actually do something” max laughed at Lucas's statement since steve was in fact the only one not doing anything but Steve didn't find anything funny so he threw them both a glare which causes them both to laugh even harder. “Hey cut it out guys but seriously babe, help me out” you tell the kids and Steve while you grunt out of struggle of trying to hold all the bags in one, this causes Steve to move and help you.
With the help from everyone, things got put away quicker than expected, “wipe your feet'' Steve tells Dustin before he even steps a foot in the car, but Dustin being annoyed that he had to walk back and forth to the car, he decided to wipe his feet in the car while making eye contact to Steve. “On the outside not the inside!” Steve screams at Dustin before shoving his head in the car since he's already tired and worn out. Steve pulls out of the beach area and starts heading home, of course the kids (including Robin and Eddie) are going to freshen and clean themselves up at yours and Steve's house and if Steve's feeling chill then he'll even let them spend a night.
Everyone wasn't talking as loud as they were before, Mike and El are falling asleep on each other, Robin and Eddie are looking and daydreaming out the window, Max and Lucas are talking to each other, and Will and Dustin are jamming out to the music that was playing on the radio. With no one talking and everyone being in their own world Steve thought it would be the perfect time to bring up his unanswered question. “Um…you know a little birdie told me that you plan on having 3 kids, is that true?” Steve looks from the road to you back and forth just so he can see your reaction, “is that so? What else did this little birdie tell you?” You look at Steve while raising your eyebrows at him in a mocking way. Steve is a very curious person, he feels the need to know something even if it does change or affect him in any way and you've grown to get used to it mostly since in highschool he would constantly want to know who you would go on dates with. “Well the little birdie WAS going to tell me when you want to get married and I'm just curious cause you know I get like that…when do you actually want to get married?” Steve emphasizes the word ‘was’ and he looks at you now even more anxious to hear any sort of answer to his desperate question, “you really wanna know?” You still look at Steve while loving the way he looks back and forth from the road to you while also nodding his head frantically, it just shows that he really really REALLY wants to know. “Well I want to get married when I'm….” You look at Steve and before you can answer his question someone screams from the top of their lungs from the back of the car.
“I LEFT MY SANDALS!”
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Pls send requests on anything, thank you and I hope you enjoyed
#steve harrington x reader#steve harrington imagine#joe keery x reader#stranger things#dustin henderson#eleven hopper#lucas sinclair#max mayfield#mike wheeler#robin buckley#eddie munson#will byers#stanger things imagine
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The Gate Pt.1
pairing: Eddie Munson x Reader x Steve Harrington
word count: 3311
tw: swearing, no Eddie but he is mentioned this time
previous part
“Eleven.” Mike sighed in relief, seeing the girl everyone else thought was gone for good standing right in front of them.��
“Mike.” Eleven gasped as they both took a couple of steps forward and fell into a hug.
They stayed like that for a few seconds, just holding each other and crying happy tears so that they could be together again.
“I never gave up on you,” Mike said, pulling back from the hug. “I called you every night. Every night for-”
“353 days.” Eleven finished the sentence. “I heard.”
“Why didn’t you tell me you were there? That you were okay?”
“Because I wouldn’t let her,” Hopper answered, walking to Eleven as Mike stepped away confused at what Hopper was talking about. “The hell is this? Where have you been?”
“Where have you been?” Eleven asked back, as Hopper pulled her into a caring hug.
“You’ve been hiding her.” Mike realized what Hopper meant, he jumped at Hopper hitting him on the back. “You’ve been hiding her this whole time!”
Hopper quickly turned around to face the younger boy and grabbed him by the front of his shirt, “Hey! Let’s talk. Alone.”
Hopper took Mike into a bedroom away from everyone. The rest stood by as Eleven walked up to her old friends, happy to be with them again. As Max tried to introduce herself to Eleven, the short-haired girl wanted nothing to do with her and walked over to you.
“Hey, kid.” You smiled, patting Eleven on the head like you did a year ago, “I’m diggin’ the style.”
“Thank you,” Eleven replied, slowly with a shy smile.
“I’m glad you’re back.” You said, softly trying to hold in your tears. Eleven just nodded with the same smile before walking over to Joyce.
“So, that’s the girl with the superpowers,” Steve said once Joyce and Eleven had walked away to the room Will was in.
“Yup.” You replied, plainly. She wasn’t trying to be rude or anything, you were just in your head too much at the moment and still trying not to cry.
“I thought she had a shaved head.”
You turned to look at Steve in complete disbelief at the words that just came out of his mouth, “It’s been a year, Steve, hair grows.”
“I know, but, never mind.” Steve shook his head, not having anywhere to go with that sentence.
Joyce and Eleven walked back in and over to the table in the kitchen. Everyone walked over to them, hearing that they were talking about the gate.
“Do you think if we got you back there, that you could close it?” Joyce asked.
Eleven turned to look at Joyce, taking in the hopeful expression on her face. Eleven then turned back to face forward knowing what she had to do to save them and to save Will.
—----------------
They all stood around the kitchen as they figured out their next move. Joyce explained her idea, but Hopper was a bit apprehensive about it.
“It’s not like it was before, it’s grown.” Hopper sighed, “A lot. And, I mean, that’s considering we can get in there. The place is crawling with those dogs.”
“Demo-dogs.” Dustin interrupted Hopper to correct him.
“I’m sorry, what?”
“I said, uh, Demo-dogs. Like Demogorgon and dogs. You put them together, it sounds pretty badass-”
Hopper cut Dustin off, annoyed by his interruption to explain something irrelevant, “How is this important right now?”
“It’s not. I’m sorry.”
“I can do it,” Eleven said, determined.
“You’re not hearing me.” Hopper practically pleaded, not wanting to have the young girl be put into a dangerous situation.
“I’m hearing you. I can do it.” “Even if El can, there’s still another problem.” Mike interjected, “If the brain dies, the body dies.”
“I thought that was the whole point,” Max said, confused at what he was getting at.
“It is, but if we’re really right about this, I mean if El closes the gate and kills the mind flayer’s army…”
“Will’s part of that army.” Lucas finished Mike's explanation.
“Closing the gate will kill him.”
Everyone looked at each other with worry, they had a plan but they didn’t know how to execute the plan without killing Will.
They all walked into Jonathan’s room where Will was lying, still unconscious.
“He likes it cold,” Joyce muttered out loud, but mainly to herself.
“What?” Hopper asked, wondering what she was talking about.
“It’s what Will kept saying to me. He likes it cold.” Joyce walked over to the window and closed it. “We keep giving it what it wants.”
“If this is a virus, and Will’s the host, then…” Nancy started.
Jonathan finished what she was saying, “Then we need to make the host uninhabitable.”
“So if he likes it cold…” Nancy once again started coming up with a plan.
“We need to burn it out of him,” Joyce said with so much anguish thinking about the pain her son is going through already and how much pain they’ll have to put him through to get the mind flayer out of him.
“We have to do it somewhere he doesn’t know this time,” Mike recommended so that this time the mind flayer can’t stop them.
“Yeah, somewhere far away,” Dustin added to Mike’s idea.
Hopper said that he knew a place, so he picked up Will as he explained to Jonathan and Joyce where they were going. While Joyce and Jonathan were going to try and get the mind flayer out of Will, Hopper and Eleven were going to try and close the gate. Which left everyone else to stay at the Byers to wait until everything was complete.
Nancy and Steve were outside looking at the pile of stuff from the shed to find the heater. You were asked to go too, but Steve asked you to stay behind so he could talk to Nancy alone. When he came back in, Steve looked a bit downcast but he had a smile on his face to try and act like he was. You saw right through and went up to him to check on him.
When you walked up to him, you put a hand on his arm, “Everything okay?”
“Yeah, yeah, um,” Steve nodded as he continued to look at the ground, “I told her to go with him.”
“With Jonathan?”
Steve nodded again, this time he looked at you with a more genuine smile but there was still some sadness in his eyes, “Yeah, but it’s all good she needed to go with him.”
You just nodded, you didn’t want to push him anymore, you already knew what he meant by that.
Steve and you walked outside with the kids to stand on the porch and watch as everyone else left in their separate cars. They all looked back at each other with slight fear at the unknown of how this could go
—----------------
Back inside the house, Dustin was throwing everything out of the fridge to try and make room for the Demo-dog Steve was holding wrapped in a blanket. While you were cleaning up the mess Dustin was making so Joyce didn’t come home to a pile of her food on the ground.
“All right, it should fit now,” Dustin said, once he cleared out the fridge.
“Is this really necessary?” Steve asks, not liking the kid's idea to shove a monster into a fridge.
From your crouched position on the ground, you looked up at the two annoyed, “No, this is ridiculous, Dustin.”
“Yes, it is, okay?” Dustin insisted, not listening to the older girl's opinion. “This is a ground-breaking scientific discovery. We can’t just bury it like some common mammal, okay? It’s not a dog.”
“All right, all right, all right.” Steve stopped Dustin from continuing his rant. He walked over to the fridge and before he put the thing in the fridge he turned to Dustin, “But you’re explaining this to Mrs. Byers, all right?”
Steve then tried to shove the Demo-dog into the fridge, but was struggling, “Help me out?”
“What am I supposed to do?”
You stood up to get out of their way, chuckling as you did so, loving the struggle these two idiots were putting themselves through.
“Get the door, man, the door.”
“All right, I got the door.”
The two slammed the fridge door shut before the creature could fall back out. As soon as it was shut, they both sighed in relief and Steve gave a pat to Dustin’s head. Hearing the girl behind them continue to chuckle, they both turned to face you with irritation all over their faces.
“Oh, like you could have done better.” Steve sarcastically said.
“Yeah, I could have, because I wouldn’t have tried to shove a monster from another dimension, that has tried to kill us, into a fridge.”
Steve put his hands on his waist and nodded, “That’s fair.”
“What about the scientific discovery?” Dustin whined, looking up at Steve, thinking they were on the same page.
“I just wanted you to shut up.” Steve sighed, walking away to grab a towel to clean his hands of the slime that came from the Demo-dog.
Dustin and you turned to the living room where they could hear Lucas and Mike arguing.
“That lab is swarming with hundreds of those dogs.” Mike reminded Lucas since he had been the only one of the group that had seen what happened in the lab.
“Demo-dogs!” Dustin yelled as he walked into the living room followed by you.
Not listening to their curly-haired friend's correction, Lucas continued to try and calm Mike, “The chief will take care of her.”
“Like she needs protection,” Max muttered from the ground, where she and Lucas were sweeping up broken glass.
“Listen, dude, a coach calls a play in a game, bottom line, you execute it. All right?” Steve walked in to try and convince Mike that staying at the house was what they were supposed to do, but his analogy didn’t work.
“Okay, first of all, this isn’t some stupid sports game.” Mike fumed, “And second, we’re not even in the game. We’re on the bench.”
“So my point is-” Steve paused, not knowing what else to say, “Right, yeah, we’re on the bench, so, uh, there’s nothing we can do.”
“All right, so you’re done talking,” You put a hand in front of Steve’s chest to get him to stop before bringing it back down and putting your attention to Mike, “Let me try and put this in words you might prefer. The Dungeon Master has given everyone their part in defeating the mind flayer, and since you don’t have superpowers or are possessed by the mind flayer, you are not a protector of one of them. Your job is to sit back and wait not to cause any more problems, okay?”
“That’s not entirely true,” Dustin interjected.
“Well, I don’t completely understand the game-”
“No, I mean, these Demo-dogs, they have a hive mind. When they ran away from the bud, they were called away.”
“So, if we get their attention…” Lucas started, seeing what Dustin was getting at.
Max continued Lucas’ idea, “Maybe we can draw them away from the lab.”
“And clear a path to the gate,” Mike added.
“Yeah, and then we all die!” Steve tried to stop the kids from going any further with this idea.
“That’s one point of view.” Dustin disagreed with Steve.
“No, that’s not a point of view, man. That’s a fact.”
“I got it.” Mike gasped, running into the kitchen and everyone followed. He went over to one of the drawings of the map Will created and pointed to a spot, “This is where the chief dug his hole. This is our way into the tunnel.”
Mike walked over to the spot in front of the hallway where a pile of drawn-on papers was on the ground, “Here, right here. This is like a hub. So you got all the tunnels feeding in here. Maybe if we set this on fire-”
“Oh, yeah? That’s a no.” Steve sassed, hating this idea even more.
The kids continued with their back and forth as if they all shared one brain.
“The mind flayer would call away his army-”
“They’d all come to stop us-”
You tried to intervene, “No, guys, now way!”
“Would circle back to the exit. By the time they realize we’re gone-”
“El would be at the gate.”
“Hey. Hey! Hey!” Steve clapped his hands, finally getting the kids to stop and look at the teens behind them. “This is not happening.”
“But-” Mike tried to object.
“No, no, no, no, no.” You cut him off before he could go any further, “There will be no arguing. Steve and I promised that we’d keep you shitheads safe, and that’s exactly what we plan on doing. We’re staying here and we’re waiting for the others to finish their side quests to defeat the monster. Does everyone understand?”
“This isn’t a D&D game!” Mike argued back.
Steve took the towel off his shoulder, and pointed it at Mike, “She said, does everybody understand that?”
“I need a yes.” You ordered one more time, but before the kids could respond a loud revving of an engine was heard outside.
Max ran over to the window and sat on the couch to look outside, “It’s my brother. He can’t know I’m here. He’ll kill me. He’ll kill us.”
Steve and you went outside to wait on the porch for Billy to pull up to the Byers’ house, so they could send him back on his way.
Billy got out of his car with a cigarette in his mouth, taking a puff he took it out of his mouth smirking, “Am I dreaming, or is that you Harrington? And I see you have the Virgin Mary with you.”
“Yeah, it’s us. Don’t cream your pants.” Steve replied in a monotone voice.
“We know that’ll be hard for you since you seem like the premature ejaculation type of guy,” You commented in a bit of a more smart-ass tone.
As Billy took his leather jacket off and put it in his car, Steve stepped off the porch and walked over to him, while you stayed with your arms crossed.
“What are you doing here, amigo?” Billy asked
“I could ask you the same thing. Amigo.”
“Looking for my stepsister. A little birdie told me she was here.”
“Huh, that’s weird, I don’t know her.” Steve fibbed to try and get Billy to leave.
“Small? Redhead? Bit of a bitch.”
“Doesn’t ring a bell. Sorry, buddy.”
“We don’t know her, so leave!” You shouted from your spot.
“You know, I don’t know, this…” Billy sighed dramatically, pulling the cigarette out of his mouth, “This whole situation, Harrington, I don’t know. It’s giving me the heebie-jeebies.”
“Oh, yeah, why’s that?”
Billy took another puff and shrugged his shoulders, “My 13-year-old sister goes missing all day and then I find her with you two in a stranger’s house. And you both lie to me about it.”
“Man, were you dropped too much as a child, or what?” Steve gave a light chuckle, “I don’t know what you don’t understand about what I just said. She’s not here.”
“Then who is that?” Billy pointed over Steve’s shoulder with his cigarette.
Steve and you turned to look at the window where the kids were peeking out of. You looked at them all with wide eyes, mouthing, ‘What the hell’ as they quickly ducked down.
“Oh, shit. Listen-” Billy pushed Steve to the ground before he could finish his sentence.
“I told you to plant your feet,” Billy said, before kicking Steve in the stomach.
You stomped up to Billy and gave him a shove, “What the hell, Hargrove?”
Billy just shouldered you to the ground like she was nothing and continued his walk into the house. You were too in shock to comprehend what was happening and before you knew it you landed on your butt. You caught herself with your hands before you could end up landing on your back.
You quickly stood up and walked over to Steve to check on him. He was still lying on his side, holding his stomach in pain. You lightly pushed him by his shoulder to get a better look at him and see if there was any other damage.
“Are you okay?” Steve could still only nod as he tried to catch his breath again. “Okay, you’ve got to get up, we need to help the kids. Come on.”
You grabbed Steve by the elbows to pull him up from the ground. Once they were both standing, they charged towards the house where they could hear the kids freaking out. When they walked into the house, they could see Mike, Dustin, and Max watching Billy yell at Lucas.
Steve quietly walked up behind Billy while you stood in front of the kids to block them, as Billy continued to shout at Lucas, “You are so dead, Sinclair! You’re dead.”
“No, you are.” Steve shoved Billy back before landing a hard punch to Billy’s face knocking him over slightly. This gave Lucas enough time to run back over to the rest of them, hugging them all.
Billy stood back up cackling with his nose now bleeding, “Looks like you got some fire in you after all, huh? I’ve been waiting to meet this King Steve everybody’s been telling me so much about.”
“Get out” Steve growled, pushing Billy back with his two fingers, trying to make space between them after Billy got extremely close.
Billy swung at Steve, but Steve was able to duck in time before coming back up and punching Billy in the face again. Billy fell back onto the table and then turned back laughing again like a maniac.
“Yes! Kick his ass, Steve” Dustin cheered on from behind you.
“Get him!” Mike shouted along with Dustin.
Steve got two more punches into Billy’s face, when Billy grabbed a plate and smashed it on Steve’s head, making Steve stumble back a few steps. Billy stomped forward and punched Steve in the face hard. You pushed the kids back as the boys walked into the living room to continue their fight.
Billy grabbed a hold of Steve's jacket bringing him close to his face, “ No one tells me what to do.”
Billy head-butted Steve, causing Steve to end up on the ground. Billy crouched over to Steve and landed continuous hits to his face.
You had enough of this lunatic's behavior and advanced towards him landing a harsh kick to his ear. Billy fell off of Steve, holding his ringing ear, he looked up at the girl that just kicked him and let out a loud growl-like scream. Billy stood up and made his way towards you, but before he could get too close you kicked him in the balls.
Billy recovered quickly and practically threw himself at the girl before you could do any more damage. He grabbed you by the throat, pushing you against the wall and lifting you off the ground a few inches. As you gasped for air, you frantically clawed at Billy’s face leaving a couple of scratch marks. You swung your legs around trying to kick, but couldn’t seem to hit anything major.
Your vision started to go black and your ears began to ring when suddenly you felt yourself fall to the ground. Landing on your hands and knees, you tried to catch your breath reaching a hand towards your throat that no longer had Billy’s harsh grip but still felt tight. You could hear something happening in the room, but couldn’t fully make out the words and your vision was too spotty to see anything.
“Eddie.” You croaked out before falling to the ground and passing out.
#eddie munson x reader#stranger things x reader#steve harrington x reader#eddie munson#eddie munson fanfic#eddie munson imagines#eddie munson x fem!reader#joe keery imagines#joe keery x reader#joseph quinn#joseph quinn imagines#joseph quinn x reader#stranger things imagines#steve harrington#stranger things#steve harrington fanfic#steve harrington fem!reader#stranger things fanfic
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Merry Christmas!! This is my @bylersecretsanta fic as a gift for @vivelegalite. one of the prompts they gave was “1989 prom”. i hope you like it! :)
As soon as “Every Breath You Take” started playing on the shitty high school gym speaker, Mike groaned. Max and Lucas were already on the dance floor, with Dustin and El following behind them, and Will snorted.
“What’s wrong, Mike? You don’t like this song?” Will teased, leaning into Mike’s personal space in a way that was far from platonic only for a moment, too afraid to risk it longer in such a public area.
“Stop,” Mike laughed, shoving his face away. “You don’t need to remind me of my own stupidity.”
Will nudged him. “Don’t call yourself stupid, asshole.”
Mike’s nose crinkled, but he didn’t bitch about how Will could insult him but Mike couldn’t insult himself. Will’s voice was fond enough that it couldn’t be confused for anything but affection.
“I’m not saying that I’m stupid, just that it was stupid of me to push you away.”
Will looked at him fondly, a sight that was all too common every time they got a bit of privacy. He glanced away for a moment, and Mike didn’t have to follow his gaze to know he was looking at El.
“She’s such a pill,” he told Mike, also not seeing the need to clarify. “We spend two seconds alone together and she’s so nosy about it.”
“I realize she was integral in the whole ‘me getting my head out of my ass’ thing,” Mike said. “But are we sure she needs to know. Like, maybe we could stage a break up. Get ourselves off the hook.”
Will tried to hold back his laugh, but it burst out in a loud pfft. He threw his hand over his mouth to cover it.
“Oh, as if she would fall for that. She’d see right through your pasty ass in a heartbeat.”
Mike huffed. “Okay, first of all, rude. Being nice to your boyfriend is like, rule number one of boyfriends. Second of all, you’re the one with the freaky mind connection to her, why wouldn’t you be the one she sees through?”
“Because, my dear paladin,” Will said playfully, something Mike hadn’t realized he’d missed until it had come back into his life. “I, unlike you, know how to lie.”
Mike rolled his eyes. “Okay, well, I’m pretty sure Max thinks I’m still in love with El, so…”
Will rolled his eyes. “She absolutely does not. You just can’t fathom any other reason for her to intentionally annoy you.”
Mike sputtered in offense. “If she doesn’t think I’m in love with her best friend then why does she make me sit in the back when she drives!”
“Because your friendship hinges on you both pissing each other off.”
“Wow, I am so done with you.” He began walkijg away, only making it a few steps before turning to see if Will was following.
“Are you coming?”
Will raised an eyebrow, something Mike remembered them trying to do when they were kids. As soon as Will had gotten the hang of it he had never let Mike live it down (Mike, who still couldn’t do it. It was harder than it looked, okay.)
“I thought you were done with me?”
“I am. Come on.”
Mike left the gym, trailing through the halls of Hawkins High with Will following at least a few steps behind. He didn’t bother looking back to check, despite the silence of Will’s steps, he knew he was following. He always did.
Little did Will know, Mike had a Plan(TM). They reached the classroom in a few minutes after several detours (another thing that confirmed Will’s presence, considering he snorted every time they passed the same route more than once), and Mike easily clicked the door open.
When he turned, Will was right there, as expected, looking confused.
“I thought they locked all of the classrooms?”
Mike felt nearly giddy. When he was younger, he’d always loved getting presents, and while he still did, he had recently learned how much he enjoyed giving them. (And if he had a favorite person to give them to, well, no one else had to know.)
“They do, El unlocked it for me.”
Will rolled his eyes. “Of course she did. I’m beginning to wish you two were still dating. The constant pining was less painful than how annoying you two are together now.”
“Okay, just because I appreciate one of my best friend’s talents doesn’t make us annoying. It just means we’re more likely to get free stuff.”
Will sputtered. “You can’t just—“
“Oh please, you and I both know you were the one to come up with the casino plan when we picked El up from the NINA project—”
As he spoke, he pushed the door open, revealing the room. Will’s eyes went wide.
“Surprise?” he said, suddenly nervous that Will wouldn’t like it.
Since El was on the dance’s planning committee, she was able to get her hands on some of the leftover decorations from the prom, and she had helped Mike set this up. There was crepe paper in all colors of the rainbow hanging from the ceiling and balloons in the corner with string lights scattered across the room. They’d set up a plastic table, on which was an unlit candle, some fake roses, and a shit ton of junk food. On the other side of the room (with all the seats they’d shoved over) was Jonathan’s old boombox (used with permission).
“Mike,” Will said softly.
“Sorry the colors all clash,” he apologized, suddenly feeling the need to explain everything. “We only had the ones left over, so there’s a lot of blue and yellow which makes it look kind of awkward and bright but I promise that’s not what we were going for. I just wanted us to have something private because I know we can’t really do anything at prom and—”
Without Will moving a muscle, the door slammed shut behind them, the lock clicked, and Will pulled Mike into a kiss, peppering them across his face.
“You—” he said in between kisses. “—are—the most—incredible person—i have ever met.”
Mike pulled back.
“You like it?”
Will nodded fervently. “I love it, Mike, oh my god. How did you—?”
Mike just grinned. “A magician never reveals their secrets.”
With a fresh bounce in his step (Will liked it! Loved it, even!) Mike grabbed his other present out of his jacket pocket and headed over to the boombox.
“You can have this after we’re done,” he told Will, holding the mixtape up to show him. “But for now…”
With a click, it turned on, and soft music began to play. He held a hand out to his boyfriend.
“Wanna dance?”
Will stared at him for a long moment, his eyes full to bursting with emotion (he had always been like that, ever since he was a kid. He had so many emotions that it was hard for him to keep them bottled up. It was why he cried so often, otherwise there was nowhere else for those feelings to go.)
Mike stared back, letting Will have his moment. He liked to pause, so Mike just sat back and let it happen.
When his eyes shifted focus back to Mike (instead of focusing on… well… probably Mike.), he took Mike’s hand.
“I’m so glad I asked you to be my friend,” he told Will, and—just like every other time he’d said it—Will grinned wolfishly.
“Was it, perhaps, good enough to be the day your life started?”
Mike groaned. “Are you ever going to give that up! God, you’re almost as bad as your sister.”
Will sniffed. “I mean, we were both good enough to catch your attent—” He yelped as Mike tackled him to the floor and began tickling his ribs, making him shriek with giggles. The string lights Mike had hung turned on suddenly, flickering wildly with Will’s excitement.
Mike stopped tickling him, shifting so they were laying side by side.
“This floor is probably so disgusting,” Will informed Mike, who hummed noncommittally.
“Y’know, the whole point of this was so that we could dance, but you are kind of ruining my plans.”
Will gave him a look so fond it hurt.
“When I was dating El,” Mike began.
“Oh, bringing up your ex-girlfriend, how incredibly romantic.”
Mike whacked him gently. “Shush. When I was dating El, I felt like romance was overdramaticized. Like, I love her, and I loved her so much, but defining it as romance just felt…pointless. We held hands and kissed and all that and it felt like it was just going through the motions I had to do in order to spend time with her. We barely talked when we were dating because we were so busy making out.”
Will raised an eyebrow, and Mike blushed.
“Right, TMI. Sorry. My point is, I don’t feel like that with you. I want to do everything with you. I just… want you, all the time.”
Will reached for him, but instead of a kiss, Mike found himself pulled into a hug.
“I want you too.” He pulled away just far enough that he could look at Mike in the eyes. “I tried to move on when I was in California, but you’re impossible to move on from, Mike.”
“El did a pretty good job of it—”
“Oh my god, how am I in love with you?”
Mike’s heart fluttered and went mushy the way it did every damn time Will said he loved him.
He pushed himself to his feet and offered a hand to Will.
“Come on. I came for dancing and dancing we shall get.”
Will took the offered hand to pull himself up. The song was halfway over but Mike just shifted his grip in Will’s hand and wrapped his other arm around his waist, while Will put his arm on Mike’s shoulder and interlocked the fingers on their other hand.
I never dreamed there’d be somebody to hold me,
Until you told me,
“Thank you,” Will said, pressing his head into Mike’s neck. His hair tickled and the angle couldn’t have been comfortable considering Will was barely shorter than him, but neither of them complained.
And now that I’ve found you, even the nights are better,
Now that we’re here together,
Even the nights are better.
Since I found you.
Will pulled his hand away just enough that he could tap gently on his wrist with his pointer finger.
Dot dash dot dot. Dash dash dash. Dot dot dot dash. Dot. Dash dot dash dash. Dash dash dash. Dot dot dash.
The first time Will had started tapping his wrist, Mike had been worried, making eye contact to silently ask him if he was okay. Once they were alone, Will explained that it was Morse Code, something Mike had… not been keeping up on as much as he should, considering the amount of times it had saved their lives. But even unable to recognize most Morse Code, by now he was immediately able to catch the phrase Love you from his boyfriend, squeezing his hand three times in return.
Under the multicolored fairy lights, with love songs playing in the background, in a shitty high school classroom in 1989, Mike Wheeler smiled.
(available on ao3 here)
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s4 thoughts so far
I think the duffers excel at horror but fall flat with characters. As someone who watches shows for characters, it has been a pretty disappointing season so far.
Steve is in the same place as he was two seasons ago—pining after Nancy, desperate for a romance. It's getting boring. I would love for him to feel secure in his loneliness and find solace in his platonic relationships!! I also feel like you could really feel Joe Keery pulling away from his love of ST and it was apparent in some of his performances /: I love him and completely get why, this is not a diss on him! They've reduced Steve to some bumbling idiot despite proving the past three seasons that he's competent, just has some blonde moments
Nancy is once again being tossed between two men. I physically need to see her single. It makes ZERO SENSE for her to want to be with Steve again given her reasons for breaking up with him. I'm fine with a recouped romance plot but only when both characters have developed and grown in the time apart: Nancy has a little, Steve has a little, but it hasn't been enough?? Idk I just hate that they're trying to make them a thing again. Really hoping it's a red herring and when she and Jonathan break up she'll realize she's at her best when she's focusing on herself and her future. Both Steve and Jonathan just drag her down as neither know what they want for their life/future, and she does ):
I felt like Dustin and Steve's dynamic was very strained? Like Dustin was so rude to Steve and constantly putting him down, idc that Eddie told Steve he worships him when he's overtly unkind to his face. It's sad be they had such a beautiful and understanding love between them and now i don't even know if they even like each other???
Will and Mike basically did fuck all which is the norm for them at this point. The duffers have no fucking idea what to do with those two so they keep shoving them aside.
Lucas, Max, and Jane were all excellent imo. I felt like we really got inside their heads and got a good look at each of their psyches (Jane literally lol).
I actually LO00OVED Jonathan this season. It makes complete sense to me as a reformed stoner who also went thru some shit. Like I get it! I do wish he had more to do but I feel like Charlie had a LOT of fun this season with his character and it showed!
Robin was okay? She had some good moment and some truly annoying moments that I'm attributing to the writing.
Eddie was SO MUCH FUN and such a vulnerable, funny, and complex character. I feel like I know more about him at this point than Steve, and it's his first season!! Really hoping he survives and we see him again!
The adults were amazing. Loved every moment of their storyline. I know a lot of ppl didn't like the Russian plot but I thought it was rly good? Idk maybe I just haven't seen a lot of Russian's in media so it was fresh and fun for me lol. Also the adults are the best actors by far so I was sucked into every scene w them based on performance alone!
Some of the CGI was LAUGHABLEEEE omfg especially young Jane. They didn't even try to make cgi Jane look like MBB and it was so funny seeing her squished body on screen.
Also I think the building of suspense for one group and then a hard cut to another group doing something to ally different was rly disappointing... I wish the scenes were totally different bc I would find myself wishing to go back to the other group while watching the current one.
One last thing... I think it could have been interesting from a directorial standpoint to hold off on showing us viewers what vecna was doing to people in their heads. It would have been sooo much more compelling to just see contorting floating bodies then find out LATER wtf was going on internally for those kids.
overall I thought it was a 5/10!
#stranger things#stranger things 4#stranger things season 4#st 4#st 4 spoilers#stranger things spoilers#steve harrington#robin buckley#nancy wheeler#mike wheeler#jane hopper#max mayfield#lucas sinclair#dustin henderson
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i dont understand why you all hate mileven so much, they are very nice together they have always been for each other in every season and i dont see anything toxic between them. and why call eleven for 363 days if you don't really love her mike? making byler canon it would seem very forced to me,it would be a shook for the fandom. I'm not saying this to be rude and disrespectful btw
i dont hate m*leven and ive never said that i dont think mike cares about el. he does a lot, just not romantically. i really hope theyll be close friends after their relationship ends. i also never want anyone to think i hate el. i know thats not what you said but i just wanna put that out there. i love eleven so much.
the word toxic makes it seem like im trying to say their relationship is abusive or manipulative. obviously i can see that they do care for each other and its nothing like that. i think a better word for them would be unhealthy or forced. we first see how unhealthy m*leven is in s3, which is also the first time we see them as an actual couple. one thing that stood out to me that felt forced is the fact that all they did when they were alone together was kiss. we see cute moments of lucas and max like when they were at the hospital throwing candy in each others mouths and jancy chose to work together whearas all we see of mike and el is them making out. it seems like a better way to establish how emotionally close they are is them bonding over other activities. i know el was limited bc she couldnt go in public, but why didnt mike try to get her into dnd? or just literally watching a movie together. instead all they do is make out bc both of them think thats just what normal couples are supposed to do.
i think mike called her everyday bc he did care and miss her a lot but again, not romantically. i think it was easy for him to believe his feelings were romantic when el wasnt there with him. when we do see them as a couple in the following season theres no romance besides them making out and that insanely awkward kiss at the end of the season where mike didnt kiss her back, didnt react at all to her saying she loves him, and just looked confused when she walked away. why would he have that response to her saying she loves him and kissing him if it was intended to be a romantic moment?
there have been many clues to byler already but also i dont think itll feel forced at all just bc this next season is so damn long. its not like the second episode m*leven will break up and he’ll get together with will. there will be plenty of clues hinting at it that lead to them admitting their feelings for each other and it wont feel forced because of that slow progression.
idk if any of this will convince you and i dont really care tbh but those are my thoughts.
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Spoilers for Stranger Things 4V.2
I gotta say, it didn’t blow me away. Some thoughts.
- Max carries the whole season imo. It was great, especially because I didn’t really care that much about her character before, this was a nice change.
- We don’t HAVE to kill someone each season, you know? We could have just kept Eddie?? I get that there was no way he was getting out from underneath those murder charges now that Hopper isn’t sheriff, but cmon.
- Will’s speech about Mike was 1000 better than Mike’s big “I lOvE yOu” moment with Eleven. I don’t have anything against their ship, but if there is one trope I am getting really tired of it is tHe PoWEr oF FrIEndShIp SpEeCh that is in every show these days. I feel like we can do better.
- About that speech, Mike says a couple things there that I didn’t vibe with. Firstly; he says that his life began the day they found El in the woods. Pardon, but that was also the day your best friend went missing. And he’s like right there. Rude. Second; he says he can’t live without El. I am TIRED of media showing us this idea of love where you are so ‘devoted’ to the other person you can’t live without them. No. You live for yourself, first and foremost. You are a person of your own, deserving all the good things life has to offer. Stop this idea that there is a person out there that you are living for. There might be someone out there that you want to spend the rest of your life WITH, but not FOR. Big difference.
- The whole train of thought where the adults in Russia thought ‘hey we don’t know when the fight will take place, but hivemind, so lets go kill the things’. Yeah that was just weird to me. It felt like they needed a reason to keep them in the plot all the way from Russia.
- Hopper and Joyce getting together. Hell yes.
- Why is Max the only one running in this mindscape we are in. Vecna is just going for a little stroll, he’s in no type of hurry. But Eleven. My friend. Pick up the pace. If you see a cloud of death approaching while in your friends mind, maybe get a move on? Her walking in that skatepark memory LORDD
- I loved the moment between Dustin and Eddie’s uncle. “I never even saw him get mad” really hit me for some reason. I loved Eddie okay. Fuck this
- Hell yeah Robin you go get that girlfriend
- Why did they just kind of bait us with the Steve/Nancy/Jonathan love triangle again and then not do anything with it. (They’re probably getting into it in the next season but uughh)
- Joyce and Hopper finding out that Eleven broke a girls nose is gonna put a damper on the cute reunion.
- “Lucas is fine, he’s at the hospital. Oh, you don’t know” WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY DON’T KNOW?? ELEVEN IS THE ONE THAT BROUGHT MAX BACK IN THE FIRST PLACE. SHE HAD A WHOLE MENTAL BREAKDOWN IN THE MINDSPACE OR WHATEVER. DUDE.
- Wtf happened to Yuri and Enzo at the end? Are they safe in Indiana now?
- I liked that Eleven didn’t give Dr. Brenner what he wanted from her while he was bleeding out. Like hell yes girl you don’t owe this creepy ass anything.
- Speaking of creepy ass. Here’s a drinking game. Watch this season again and take a shot every time Brenner enters a room in a dramatic way that is supposed to make the audience GASP. This dude does not know how to walk normally into a room, seriously.
- I loved the moment between Will and Jonathan. I literally went ‘Good Brother Jonathan’ out loud.
- That scene where Eddie plays Metallica in the Upside Down. Fucking amazing. Top tear TV.
- Jason’s whole thing. Sigh. I wasn’t born in the 80′s, but if I saw one of my friends get murdered by what seemed a ghost above a lake, my first thought wouldn’t be: “yeah its that guy that was almost drowning there with me, he did this”. I get that he didn’t have his mind right because of Chrissy, and that if you believe something to be true it is very hard to let that go (Chrissy would never buy drugs, Hellfire is a cult, Eddie is guilty). BUT he felt like a plot device needed to make everything just a little bit more complicated so the finaly wouldn’t be boring on the Normal Hawkins side. Because if this dude and his possy of Riverdale Archie knockoffs would have had even a little more chill, a whole lot of annoyance would have gone away. Because yes, that is all that they were. A lot of them dissapear halfway through, the guy with the curls that goes after Erica is never heard from again after she kicked him in the nuts, and Jason just dies. They have no real impact on the plot other than annoyance, and stepping on the headphones.
- Then for next season. I’m curious what they will do with Will’s connection to Vecna, and if he will actually play a part in the plot again apart from Sad Gay TM. I’m not complaining about his arc about his sexuality, I like what they’re doing with it, but he didn’t do much else. This dude has been terrified of the Upside Down for all of these seasons now, and he deserves to be the one holding the bat with nails for once, beating some creature to mulch. I think Vecna still has a hold of Max’s mind somehow and that is how we see him again next season, because Max’s mind is just 404 page not found right now. It all felt a lot like a setup for season 5. We needed to establisch how scary Vecna is, and that El can handle him but only in the best of circumstances. Then we needed to create a crisis that can haul us over to next season. Check.
All of this is very random, feel free to add random thoughts
#stranger things#stranger things s4#eddie munson#steve harrington#nancy wheeler#mike wheeler#eleven#dustin#Lucas#Max#max mayfield#kate bush#will#jonathan#joyce#hopper#Dont get me wrong im still gonna watch season 5#it was still fun to watch#just not great
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This is probably asking a lot from you, but could I get a 5+1 story from you? I was thinking in honor of the day, five times someone jokingly called Steve a mom and the first time the kids meant it. Happy Mother's Day to you and all the beloved ladies you hold dear.
1.
“Jesus Christ. How do you not know how to do this?”
Steve pulled Dustin closer to him, making quick work of his tie. Dustin had been struggling for minutes with it, and he was already late for meeting his Homecoming date fro pictures.
“I’ve never had to tie one, Mom.” Steve rolled his eyes. “Not all of us grew up at Country Clubs.” Steve swatted at the side of Dustin’s head, making him yelp.
“Know how to tie a tie is a good skill to have.” He was fixing Dustin’s collar now, making sure the knot was straight. “Especially for someone like you who’s going to end up working in some professional research lab or something.”
“Not if I play my cards right and end up on an expedition team.” Steve could feel himself getting that soft smile on his face, thinking about Dustin all grown up, discovering new species in the rain forest. “Oh my God, Steve. You are a fucking mom.”
2.
“Wait, so you two are together? Like together, together.”
“Yes, Mike. It’s really not that difficult to understand.”
The party had let themselves into Steve’s house, because why wouldn’t they dig through the potted plants on the front step to find the spare key and barge in on Steve and Billy making out on the couch?
“Okay, but it’s Billy.” Dustin threw his hands around, extra dramatic.
“What’s wrong with Billy?” Max did this thing when she was confronting someone, puffed up like an angry cat.
“He’s an asshole!”
“Not for nothing, but so is Steve.” Steve slapped Billy’s chest. “See? He’s awful to me.”
“Look. Steve is like, like a mother to us. If you mess with him, we’ll, we’ll mess with you.” Steve thought it was so cute, Dustin getting in Billy’s face, giving him some kinda shovel talk.
“Mom or not, if you hurt Billy, I will personally shave your head.” Billy high-fived Max.
3.
Steve put another helping of potatoes on Will’s plate.
“Oh, thanks Steve. But, I’m, I’m okay.”
“Will, you’re so skinny. Eat the potatoes.” Billy rolled his eyes. It was Family Dinner Night at their shitty little apartment over the convenience store. Steve had been in the kitchen all day, making food for the little beasts.
Joyce had started Family Dinner Night with a few lasagnas and a glare at Hopper, and the tradition had grown, rotating every week between Billy and Steve’s place, The Byers-Hopper house, and Claudia Henderson’s immaculate dinning room. It was usually pot-luck style, but Steve loved cooking for these people, these people that loved him.
“If the kid says he’s full, he’s full.” Steve just shot Billy a Look.
“Will. Potatoes.” Will shoveled in a bite of the potatoes.
“Hey, Mom, will you throw some on my plate while you’re at it?” Max had a grin on her face as Steve just deftly took her plate, scooping some of the roasted potatoes on it, handing it back to her over Billy’s head.
4.
“Can I talk to you guys?”
Will had shown up at their little apartment early on Friday morning.
Billy had opened the door, shirtless and half asleep, had gone to rudely wake Steve up when he noticed how scared Will looked.
“Things have gotten, they’ve gotten kinda serious between me and Peter, and I, I want him to meet my mom and Jonathan, but I, I’m so nervous.” Will had been dating the same guy for the past year and a half, keeping it a secret from everyone but Billy and Steve. “I was just wondering if I could bring him around here some time, so that, so that we can kinda practice meeting the family and all that.”
Steve reached out, closing his fingers over Will’s wrist.
“Of course you can bring him. We’ll feel him out for you.”
“And beat the shit outta him if he’s not good enough for you.”
But Peter was sweet, he was kind to Will, and looked at him like he hung the fucking stars in the goddamn sky.
“Thank you both so much for welcoming me into your home. I was so nervous to meet Will’s family. He calls you guys his other parents.” Steve laughed, topping off his and Billy’s wine.
“That’s kind of a joke between his friends. They call me Mom.” Billy threw an arm over Steve.
“That’s because you are a little mom.” He kissed Steve’s head.
“Will told me you two were the first relationship he ever saw between two men. You are really important to him.” Steve’s were a little misty. Billy couldn’t poke fun at him with a tear in his own eye.
“Stop talking about me.” Will had come back from the bathroom, pushing Peter’s shoulder.
5.
“I can’t believe you two are leaving us.”
The kids were helping them pack the moving truck, taking boxes out of their little apartment and shoving them inside. The Camaro was going to be tethered to the back as they drove to California.
“None of you even live here anymore.” The kids were dispersed around the country, all away at university.
Billy and Steve had taken time off, had worked for a few years to save up enough money to get out. They had saved and saved, and were leaving, were started their new life, together.
“Yeah, but it’s the idea of it. I can’t believe our parents are abandoning us.” Billy tussled Mike’s hair, laughing as he pulled a bitch face, dodging outta the way.
El hugged Billy around the middle after putting a big box of dishes in the truck. He patted her hands, watching Steve get that fond look on his face.
“We’ll be back. And you guys can always come and visit.” The truck was loaded, the Camaro hitched to the back. It was time.
They took their turn hugging each kid.
“Don’t forget your kids out there in the Golden State. Remember, you’re a mother first.” Steve laughed throw his tears, holding all the kids close.
They climbed in the truck, waving out the windows as they set off, went west.
+1
The baby was wailing in Dustin’s arms.
“Um, Steve, I think your baby hates me.”
Billy and Steve had gotten cleared for adoption four months ago, but the agency was still hesitant to give two men a baby.
They had gotten a call a week and a half ago that said they were finally getting a baby, a daughter. She was two months old and was defined as a difficult case, born of a mother with a drug addiction, she started her life in withdrawals.
So she was fussy, to put it lightly.
But Steve had held her first, and Billy had cried, and most of the party had flown out to California to meet their precious little Aletta Rose Harrington-Hargrove.
Steve smiled softly at Dustin, reliving her from him. She quieted almost immediately when she was in his arms, reached up at his face. Her fist closed around the necklace he wore, the one that was Billy’s.
“She loves Steve. I would be offended, but he can get her to stop crying so fast.” Billy’s finger was in her other fist. He cooed down at his little daughter. She was still learning to smile, and everyone watched her closely as she made a gurggly little noise back at him.
“Well, Steve is the best mom in the world.” Steve was putting the now-calm little baby in Lucas’s arms. “God knows he had plenty of practice.” Aletta stuck her tongue out. Everyone aww’ed.
“Is it weird to anyone else that Mom and Dad are like, actual parents now?” Max was gently squeezing Aletta’s chubby little arm.
“Nah. Steven was born a mom.” Dustin clapped him on the shoulder. Steve’s cheeks were a little pink, but he was biting his lips to keep from fucking beaming.
#yikes writes#Steve harrington says:#if your mom sucks become your OWN mom#dads harringrove#harringrove#steve harrington#billy hargrove#steve harrington x billy hargrove#billy hargrove x steve harrington#harringrove fic#harringrove ficlet#harringrove drabble
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sstts none of the kids ""relationships"" should have happened. and at this point they shouldn't last. it would be much healthier and more real if they were all just friends.
now this is the ultimate take. recently i rewatched the show and then i watched atla for the first time (technically still am but i only have the finale left) and during both of those viewings i was like wow i cant believe how much better this would be without weird forced romance between children.
aside from just the real world issue of forcing child actors to kiss on camera despite them being obviously uncomfortable with it (like we’re all supposed to find the interview of 12 year old millie saying kissing sucks to be cute and funny instead of just......weird that they forced her to do that? ok) i think from a story angle the show would be So Much Stronger if the kids were just friends. OR! if they eventually explore the topic of shared trauma not being a healthy basis for a romantic relationship, which they will not.
im not saying kids cant have crushes. i think the best example of a well done “relationship” between the kids is lumax. i think its overall very age appropriate, they have several scenes in season 2 where the crush lucas has on her is kinda on the backburner and the real focal point is max’s emotional arch and him providing her support regardless of any romance, and really it’s used for comedic relief in season 3 more than anything. that’s fine. like i said, it doesn’t monopolize max’s plotline in either season and if they would GIVE lucas a plotline, im sure it wouldn’t monopolize his either.
mileven is the real issue in my humble opinion. i dont know how Anyone can watch the opening scene they have in season 3 and not feel so insanely uncomfortable that they have to look away until it’s over. i do not want to see 13 year olds making out. i dont want to! and i bet millie and finn dont want to be doing it either! knowing the way millie and finn are treated, i think its kind of irresponsible for the show to put them in this position. wouldn’t it have been nice if the showrunners stopped and said like wow, these kids we introduced into stardom are being grossly sexualized by people way older than them and one of them was named “sexiest tv star” by a magazine when she was only 13 years old, let’s actively counteract that behavior by letting them be KIDS in the show? but they didnt. and in terms of the show, it made season 3 mike suck! i LOVE mike but in season 3 he was boring as fuck and blatantly ooc. they really want me to believe that mike who jumped to his fucking death to protect dustin would just ignore all his friends for an entire summer, be blatantly rude to will, not even bother to ask where dustin might be during this crisis all because he’s too absorbed in his romantic relationship?? its dumb. its cheap conflict.
one of the dynamics in the show that i think has the most potential is dustin and el. i dont know why but i LOVE when they have scenes together. i think it has to do with the fact that dustin unquestionably accepted el in the first season despite obviously being uneasy about the general mystery surrounding her powers and where she came from. he was just nice to her. “she’s our friend and she’s crazy” was so special and meaningful because instead of just making that a scene about mike and el, it included dustin. there’s still little scraps of their friendship in seasons two and three (he held her hand when her leg was exploding :’0) but it’s pretty much entirely sidelined because the show wants to focus on el’s romantic relationships more than anything. even when she finally gets to have a friendship with max, what is every conversation ABOUT? mike. boys. it’s exhausting. it would be so much more exciting and genuinely heartwarming if the kids were all just friends and their motivation for protecting each other was entirely platonic, and if that friendship was split equally six different ways so that the show wasn’t constantly forgetting that dustin and will are friends, or el and lucas are friends, etc etc etc.
in conclusion: stop making children kiss and let them have scenes with their friends.
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Things I didn't like about Stranger Things Season 3
Now don't get me wrong I love Stranger Things. Its been such a fun ride and inspired me with its 80's feel and DnD vibe. I adored it and still do, I'm so excited for season 4 and can't wait to see the gang again. However when season 3 came out and I watched it certain things didn't sit well with me. So I guess I'm just getting them off my chest. Now reminder these are my opinions if you think something different that is completely fine. I'm just venting at this point and might view things differently from others. So read on if you want.
Spoilers Ahead
Relationships
My biggest struggle watching this season was how they handled relationships. Either how they where handled, or how they weren't handled, or things I see people overlook when it comes to them that should be addressed. So I shall go down the line on what I didn't like and analyze them.
Nancy and Johnathan
Over the seasons I have fallen in love with Nancy's character. I like how the show played into stereotypical 80's tropes. Nancy was the mean older sister, but soon turned into a badass sharp shooter. In this season her character wavered for me a bit. I still love her don't get me wrong, but I was upset a bit how she handled her and Johnathan's situation at the job.
I felt like neither Nancy or Johnathan really talked about how the other made them feel or really get that they understood anyone's plight with the dialogue we where given.
With Nancy is wanting to get on the case and find out what is happening. She wanted to shut up those rude assholes in her office and I applaud her for that. However during that time I don't think she was truly listening to Johnathan's concerns. Now say what you want about Johnathan, I do feel like at the end of the day that he loves and cares for Nancy and will back her up when he can, but in this case we the audience see him become frustrated when he gets fired from a job he really needs to support his family. Now mind you Johnathan had a bad time at the job too, but him being made fun of is something he has grown a thick skin too has seen in previous seasons. He explains to Nancy that his family doesn't come from much money. Honestly him and Will have the lowest income in the friend group compared to the other kids and to me watching them struggle through the seasons compared to the other kids homes. With Nancy she was going off to college and wouldn't need this job for long with how accomplished she is between the high schoolers we know she is probably the only one with plans on going to college. I was a bit upset she didn't consider Johnathan's emotions and situation beforehand discovering what was going one with the rats.
Now Johnathan isn't innocent either he should have been more compassionate with her problems since this was something she wasn't used too getting in a work place. He should have talked to her more and communicated, heck maybe try to find a different job together. With Nancy she admits to her mom how she was unfair to Johnathan. When she then meets him again they didn't have that dialogue with each other at all, instead a few quick lines that left me in a weird place. It felt unfinished and I was not convinced either really talked through it. It felt unfinished and left a weird taste in my mouth in regards with the two. All and all I just wish it was handled better, but I can say that about most things on this list.
Max and Eleven
Now when these two started hanging out I was excited I think their cute and I'm glade El got a friend who is a girl. Its fun to see them talk to each other and bond going on adventures, however I started to raise a brow at Max's behavior and advice. Now side note I know they are children and they are not going to be right about things like relationships all the time. I get that I really do, however I'm still pissed she gave El terrible advice, and I don't think she was fully held accountable for her and El spying on people which is not okay powers or not. I'm glade they started to find about about Billy, but they weren't looking for that and stumbled upon it from spying on others. Its just something they shouldn't do in general to be honest.
Max supports and cares about El I just believe she wasn't the greatest of friends in terms of relationship advice and how she acted towards Mike and the others. Max was projecting her experience with relationships onto El's and Mike's and it did not end well at all. It was up to El at the end of the day to make her own decisions and speak to Mike to fully understand the situation and talk to each other. I understand why people praise and love the relationship, but also don't see its faults or the problems it had. When I found out Max and Lucas break up every other week I was like "are you serious, and you went around giving El advice, and didn't see anything wrong with that?!" I don't think Max ever talked to El about it or El talk to Max more about it, and then there's the whole thing with Mike that I can talk about later.
I just feel like Max wasn't solely positive in her and El's relationship, and I wished El tried to find answers on her own instead of listening to everyone.
(P.S. When Max showed El Wonder Women which is nice. Max makes a comment when El points out Wonder Women and she said. "This is why you can't hang out with Mike all the time." I first I was like okay, showing El a female superhero is cool. However I got to thinking Wonder Women and El don't have much in common besides being women. Mike gave her Grand Master Yoda and he has more in common with El then Wonder Women does. In terms of powers and such Yoda fits more with El, and El is the wisest and level headed out of most of the kids in my opinion. I'm upset at the writers when they seem to forgot Mike gave her a hero more like her in what she can do and who she is. They should've chose someone like Jean Grey who uses her mind and is a red head like Max, it would've made more sense. She appeared in 1963 so Jean would have fit. Also maybe Mike showed her Yoda and thought more about what he does and says that reminds him of El then thinking about what gender she was. Just a thought I guess.)
The Friends Group
Now with age I understand relationships change and mature esxpecliy through friends. This is shown with Lucas and Mike wanting to hang out girlfriends and Dustin having his own thing with Steve. I can see why the writers did this to have different storylines going on but it was weird. You would think after all they been through, they wouldn't get has distanced as they did. It didn't feel like the group was whole and then at the end of the day Will moves. Mike and Lucas where distracted by their own relationships which I can understand, but the whole argument with Mike and Will was strange. You have these kids who fought tooth and nail to get Will back and they can barely give him the time of day?! I get you have girlfriends and such, but come on. It seemed out of character for this group after so much they went through together and to get Will back. The argument with Will and Mike was heartfelt and you could feel Will's plight and Mike's, I guess I was just upset out how distant it was, and how the kids just brushed each other off for their own drama when we've seen many times that they don't do that to this degree.
Characters
There where many characters I either had problems with how they where written or felt like there could've been more.
Mike
Mike's character I feel like was shit on a lot in this season from characters and some of the fanbase. Now I will say upfront that I like Mike, heck I like most of the characters in this show. They got faults and positives that I can see and understand. This season with Mike I feel like his character didn't get the understanding from the other seasons. He's either the bad guy, or the grumpy kid who brushes off all his friends for El. Mike is shown growing his relationship with El and trying his best to be a good boyfriend and protect her. It upsets me when people don't look at the all aspects of a character and see their flaws and good traits. With Mike we have seen this kid put his fucking life on the line for his friends and become distraught when he loses El someone he loves dearly. Its understandable why he is a grumpy mess during the last season, he sat and tried to reach out to El for 353 days when she left. He lost her for a whole year and never stopped trying to see if she was out there, just like for Will he never gave up.
It doesn't surprise me that Mike wanted to do all he can to protect El no matter what so he doesn't loose her again. However when Max starts accusing him of wanting to control her, basically saying he is trying to treat El like property it made my blood boil. We has the audience saw him fight for El and protect El, and never stop looking for El. Then getting this whole "women are a different species," narrative between him and Lucas. How the writers went about that was weird to me seemed a bit forced. For two guys we know fought along along side El and saw her has equal and feel for her, too oh women are a different species we can't understand them at all didn't make the much sense by how hard they where pushing it.
It kind of sucks to hear people hate Mike. Like if you do that's fine, its all good. I just feel like his character doesn't get a fair review at times. Will gets brought up a lot from what I seen. I agree that Mike was being insensitive and like I said before doesn't make sense to brush off Will like that after all they went through. People like to talk about the whole "Its not my fault you don't like girls." Side note I don't believe Will is gay. If you do go for it, I just see the situation a bit different. Will just came out of a very traumatic event and just wants to go back to normal just like the old times with his friends and the hurt he experiences with them all moving on and being not what he remembered. They where not what they used to be. With Mike he is growing up and moving on and in a fit of anger he tells Will its not his fault he doesn't like the relationships him and the others are forming. Like he saying its not his fault Will isn't growing up, and moving on. insensitive yes, but I can understand where both are coming from and dealing with different problems.
Mike isn't a prefect character, and he makes mistakes. I just felt like towards the beginning of the season till some of the end he wasn't treated the best writing wise.
Max
When I first met Max she was such a fun character I love them bringing her into the group. She is fiery and compassionate and I think she brings something new to the group of kids. I think she still does. In the third season I just had a lot of problems with her and her attitudes.
I have already explained her part in El and her relationship. I guess her attitudes towards Mike and Lucas I was upset about.
Lucas and Max didn't get lots of screen time to showcase there relationship more, but by the whole they break up every week detail and attitudes towards each other I don't think its that solely positive to be honest with the scenes we got.
Her attitudes towards Mike made me pissed off a bit. Yes, Mike should not have lied and Max is right to call it out, but to go to say he is controlling El and these other terrible things. To the audience we know that is not true seeing Mike goes to the ends of the Earth for El and Max knows how deeply her disappearance effected him. Mike stood in front of her and his friends from Max's abusive brother Billy. However in the third season she gets a whiff of him lying its like she has nothing to give him the benefit of the doubt on. When in fact she does. She reduces him to a controlling and lying boyfriend, and yes pushes that idea onto El and it just rubs me in the wrong way. I was very upset with Max and how the writers where treating some moments like something to praise. El dumping Mike was sad and upsetting I didn't find it very funny, but hey that's just me. She had El spy on people esxpecliy the boys and I feel she really doesn't get many consequences for it. However Mike is treated like a monster after getting threatened by Hooper and lying about it. He should not have lied of course, I just don't feel like they got equal treatment for their actions, and yes I know there kids they are stupid at times. I can still call out bad behavior and warning flags.
Billy Hargrove
Billy was wasted potential on the writers part. His character is a very known presence in the last two seasons. When you find out about his past and El reaching out to him, I feel like him sacrificing himself for the group and living could have been such a good example of character growth and getting better, and I feel like his story was cut to short for how much time and effort was put into his character. He was bad yes very bad, but with this latest season you got to see little sparks of his character come out more, his good sides. Billy Hargrove was wasted potential and I really hope they hold the dad accountable for his abuse in the next season, and also the mom. She was a victim yes, but she should not have left her son with to be emotionally and I believe physically damaged by his dad. His death should have consequences that all parties need to hear and see. If they really brush him under the rug I'll be pretty upset.
Alexi
I love his character and I just miss him is all.
That is just some of my thoughts on the third season I hear people say is one of the poorly written seasons of Stranger Things. Has much as I love the things in it. It has some writing issues and characterization where I would have to agree.
Welp those are just some of my thoughts. Love them or hate them its is what it is at the end of the day. I hope whoever is reading this has a nice day. Peace
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The Haunted Arcade.
a/n: Maybe I shouldn't start another au when I haven't finished the first one... but the temptation was too strong! I am very happy with how it turned out and that I managed to move my favorite cartoon to the Stranger Things world. I’ve also made teenagers here not too fond of each other, but without exaggeration, just for the sake of history. Feel free to write me if you liked it and who do you think is a specific member of the Mystery Inc.!
summary: Scooby-Doo au!- When an arcade in Hawkins is attacked by a ghost in a mask, nobody believes and wants to help the terrified Y/N. No one except Steve 'The Hair' Harrington, smart Robin, photographer Jonathan and beautiful Nancy. They definitely know something about monsters. You can find my Masterlist here.
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Fridays were crazy. No matter how much time was left to close the arcade-it could be twenty, ten or even five minutes-and people still wouldn't want to go home. They pressed the buttons on the slot machines with incredible speed, unable to stop until they had a score that would satisfy them.
So yes, Fridays have been crazy. The gaming room was so overcrowded that the kids waited in line to play their favorite game. Working there was pretty funny. Looking at kids who were running through the room like puppies always made you happy. On Fridays, children were not so happy though because big, rude and older teenagers occupied their favourite play area.
On that cool, spooky evening, when the wind outside made terrible sounds, the room was full of people until the very end. Steve Harrington came as every week with Robin Buckley. They were standing by the Dig Dug, which Dustin Henderson was looking forward to. Nancy Wheeler came in with her boyfriend, Jonathan Byers. She was completely unable to handle Pac Man. She had been coming here for a while and Jonathan patiently tried to teach her. Their brothers, Will and Mike were trying to hide their laughter.
You looked at the watch over your head, watching as the blue hand was dangerously close to 11:00 p.m. Five... four... three... two... one... game over.
“I'm very sorry, but we're closing for today!” you shouted, clapping your hands. The music stopped playing. Keith turned on the regular lights instead of the colored ones, which kept the room in dark glow. Everyone moaned loudly, not wanting to leave yet. “I'm really sorry, but you're all welcome tomorrow! Let's give our hands and eyes a rest for today and be ready to play next time, am I right?”
“Son of a bitch. I didn't get to play the Dig Dug” Claudia Henderson's kid walked out without saying goodbye. You laughed quietly, holding the glass door for outgoing customers. “She beat me again. I feel like loser” Lucas Sinclair pointed out his red-haired, proud girlfriend.
“It'll be better next time. If you're gonna practice!” you yelled after him. “We both know he'll never be able to beat my record” Max snapped. “I wanted to be nice” you said so quietly that only she would hear you. She laughed and gived you a high five. The crowd was going out, talking to each other. Steve tried to squeeze ahead to catch up with Dustin, but he stayed to finally accompany Robin.
“Good night, Y/N. I'll see you tomorrow, I hope?” Steve asked, going to the exit. His dark eyes were shining in a sharp light. He was always nice when he came and paid for the tickets for himself and his friend. They've been coming here regularly since Dustin brought them here. Always in his company.
“Could you make sure that Henderson gets to Dig Dug first tomorrow? That big boy didn't even let him play once” Robin stabbed Steve hard in the back with her index finger. “I'll do my best. But you know the rule, Buckley. A favor for the tip”. “How could I forget. See you tomorrow!” the girl smiled. Will Byers sneaked under your shoulder, running out with Mike so fast that the door almost slammed in your face. “Sorry. Sometimes they can be too excited” Jonathan smiled shyly. Nancy was trying to put a coat next to the door, then they both went outside, where it was completely dark. The lights of the lanterns highlighted the wet asphalt. It rained for a good two hours, the air was crisp and fresh.
“You're sure you can handle it yourself? I can wait until you close the place” Keith crushed a pack of cheese crisps in his hands. The crumbs fell on the carpet you're about to clean. That's what working with Keith was like. He wanted to help when he was just making things worse. You sent him a forced smile, shaking your head. “I'll be fine. I'm gonna do some cleaning and I'll walk home. I'm a big girl”.
“Brave enough of you. I'd be scared if I were you. Hawkins is not safe... especially at night” Keith muttered, closing the glass door behind him. His words made you shiver. He didn't say anything unusual, but... but maybe if it was a little brighter outside, you wouldn't have to be afraid that coming home alone might not end well. Just in case you turned the key in the lock to make yourself feel safer.
You grabbed a broom to clean the floor from crips, popcorn and cookies. In normal light you could see the dried spots of spilled coke in some places. Keith unnecessarily scared you. You're alone, but you're safe. Just turn the key on the door so no one gets in and-
Something sneaked in between the slot machines. Someone's shadow, too fast to look at it or recognize the shape. You stopped sweeping so that the broomstick wouldn't drown out anything... or anyone else in the room.
“Hello? Is there someone here?” you asked loudly, swallowing your saliva too loud. The wind outside was trying to get in, it was bumping into the glass panes, shrieking too loud. There's no way anyone could stay inside. The kids repeatedly wanted to hide here to spend the night in their dream place, but they never succeeded. And again. Something went behind your back and you turned around so fast that your neck started hurting. Whoever was inside hit a row of vending machines with their shoulder now, and they started knocking terribly at each other. “Who's here? Come on... this is not funny at all!”
The lights went out. Well, actually, they only went out for a while to light up again. Someone was trying to change their color, so the whole rainbow was flickering before your eyes. “Keith, I swear to God, if this is just some stupid joke...” you let go of the broom, running to the counter to call somebody, anybody when the music started playing in the room. But not one you had on the tapes. A terrible rasp of the violin combined with a scream. You stumbled on the carpet and leaned your back against the counter, covering your ears with your hands. You clenched your eyelids tightly, trying not to scream. Your heart was pounding on your chest, and there was no one around to help you. The lights kept changing their colour, someone's loud steps were breaking through the music. For a moment... for one short moment you could swear that you felt someone's hot breath, heavy sigh on your neck. Your eyes started tearing.
And all of a sudden, everything went quiet. The lights stopped flickering, the music went off. It seemed like there was no one inside again, and the only sound you could hear was a whistle of wind. You put your hands on your knees, looking around for a few more minutes. And then you called the police.
-
“I don't know which way he came in. I was alone, and... I can swear I shut myself in to finish cleaning up. All the customers had already left and my coworker did it too like... half an hour ago”.
“I see” it was the only thing Hopper said after your statement. The notebook was trembling in his hand, he was holding a lit cigarette in the other. He dragged a lot of smoke inside his lungs, nodding his head at two officers coming out of the arcade. “You got anything, guys?”
“It looks like nothing's gone. There's no shortage of money in the cash register" said the first one. “Nothing's broken. No machine, the windows are all right too” said the other. “Some signs of a burglary? Footprints, broken lock on the door?Anything?” Hopper asked. They both turned their heads. Sheriff turned to you with a sigh. He rested his hands on his knees and leaned over to be about your height.
“Listen. It's really late. I understand you might be tired. It happens. Sometimes I see my own grandmother when I'm sitting at the police station until two o'clock in the morning and I don't drink coffee, and it's just Flo who insists on watching over me and the boys all night. We'll take you home and forget about the case, okay?” “Forget it?” you asked in disbelief. The policeman blinked. A cigarette trembled in his mouth. “Someone was there! I didn't make it up! I know what the threat is to call the police for no reason. I wouldn't call if nothing had happened. And something definitely happened. Maybe it wasn't a burglary, maybe...”
“Maybe your coworker forgot his car keys, went back to the arcade, came through the back, took them and left. Could that be?” Hopper raised one eyebrow. The annoyance took in you like a wild wave. One more minute, and it'll flood you completely.
“I was scared. What if that someone comes back here again? Aren't you going to do anything about it?” “I would if I had the evidence. But I don't see them. I'm sorry, kid”. “Don't call me that” you clenched your teeth. “You won't even call my boss?” “I don't see a reason. We'll just scare him off. You need sleep and rest. Take the day off tomorrow. You'll sleep everything off and you'll see that you'll stop seeing ghosts”. “What about the lights?” you asked. Hopper stopped on the way to his van. He threw out a cigarette and trampled it with his shoe. His mind was definitely somewhere else.
“I'll take care of it myself. I'm an electrician-slutter specialist" he opened the door to his police car. His two officers were already waiting in their own. “So what's it gonna be? Are you coming with us?”
“I still don't understand why you don't believe me, Hopper” you muttered, looking at the road. “For you, it's Chief Hopper, kid. Are you coming or not?” he opened the door wide. The inside smelled like coffee and cigarettes, but it looked a lot better than the prospect of walking all the way home alone. You got in without a word more, pressing your forehead against the glass. Day off. Sounds wonderful.
-
The boss didn't find out about anything. Nobody at home noticed that the sheriff of Hawkins Police picked you up after work and you had no one to tell about the adventure of yesterday. It was a necessity to go to work. Your heart was beating like crazy when you crossed the arcade. You were sick just of thinking you had to sit in the same place as yesterday, look at the same room... where you weren't alone last night.
Steve noticed immediately that something was wrong. When he saw you the other day, you were smiling at every customer, helping to start a game, or cleaning screens of unused machines. Today, you didn't even move. It's like you're glued to your chair. He looked at you with curiosity, waiting for any sign that there was nothing to worry about. For a smile, a head up, a joke aimed at the kids. Nothing.
“You'd come to work if you were sick?” he asked suddenly, biting a straw from his drink. “Of course not. I'm not suicidal” Robin snorted. She put her tongue out, in the corner of her mouth, as if it would improve her dexterity. She squinted her eyes at Donkey Kong's character. “Why?” “Y/N seems to be some kind of... absent” he shrugged his shoulder. “I don't like it.”
“I don't want to be mean, dingus, but you weren't optimistic when you came to work either”. “I know, but... I don't think that's the point. Something must have happened-” “Why don't you come up and ask her? I see you want to” his friend touched his arm. Steve put his hand on his hip and twisted his head after a moment of silence. “I doubt she likes to confide in random customers”. “You're unbelievable. You want to ask how she feels, you don't invite her on a date. Unless that's what you mean and that's why you're so nervous about it-” Robin wanted to say something more, but she didn't have a chance. Nancy and Jonathan were passing by and Steve's ex-girlfriend ran into his friend. A little bit of her orange juice landed on Robin's shirt. Steve took in the air with a swish.
“Oh, my God, I'm so sorry” Nancy put her hand in her mouth. She tried to look for the tissues in her purse to help. “Sometimes it can be so crowded here...”
“No worries. It was just my favorite shirt” Robin shrugged her shoulders. “She said she's sorry. You can wash it” Jonathan said. He probably didn't mean anything by it, but Steve involuntarily clenched his jaw. It's in the same way for a while now. Steve hold a grudge for Jonathan, so he's rude to him. Robin doesn't really like Nancy, so even if she's trying, sometimes her reluctance comes out. And they start arguing. He couldn't explain why it's happening every time when they bump into each other. Why he still can't leave his past behind and argue with someone who used to be the most important person in the world to him? He couldn't explain why it's happening. But it happened. More than once.
“You don't have to be nervous, man. Nobody wanted to say something bad” Steve replied calmly. “I doubt it. I don't know what else to do to stop Miss Buckley getting angry” Nancy tangled her hands up on her chest. Max and El turned to them for a moment, but they stopped eavesdropping when they saw the fight was going on between the same people as usual.
“I'm just going to start” Robin smiled at her, wanting to take a step towards her. Steve held her hand, seeing you rise up and he whined. He didn't want to cause you any trouble. Not today, for sure. Even though he stopped Robin, you've already gotta get to them.
“I don't want to intrude, but... kids are looking at you, guys. You can't yell at each other inside. If you have something to explain to each other, please do it in the parking lot” Steve nodded his head, feeling like he was about to apologize to a teacher in grade school. Jonathan clenched his mouth in a narrow line.
“I'm calm. But someone's nervous” Nancy said, pulling Jonathan away. “You heard that?” Robin squealed outraged, trying to get back in the game. “Damn it...” “You're gonna fight again?” Dustin asked, raising his eyes from over his game. “Dustin!” you all shouted at once to silence him. You breathed deeply.
“I'm sorry, but if you can't calm down, you really-” you stopped when the light was flashing over you. Normally, it wouldn't be a big deal. But not after last night. The lights started to change color, somebody was scrolling through the tape on the equipment, so the speakers were still scrolling through the same song. And suddenly the kids started screaming.
A tall figure jumped on two slot machines, miraculously maintaining balance on them. The guy's face- because it certainly wasn't the figure of a woman- was behind a ghostly mask, made of glued together cables and electric wires that shone in the glow of colored lights in the game room. Steve experienced too much in his life to believe that anything that now was on slot machines could be a monster, but when he looked at the man in the mask the only word that came to his mind was: a ghost.
Frightened children ran to the back of the arcade where they felt safe, that is, with you. Together with Nancy, Robin, Steve and Jonathan, you tried to take as many of them as you could so that no one would get hurt. The Phantom standing above you was dressed in a cape that shone in all the colors of Pac Man's evil ghosts. The figure turned to all the gathered, looking at you with empty, dark eyes.
“If you don't leave this place within a week... I will make sure that every person present in this room meets a terrible fate” he said with a rough, unpleasant voice. Your pulse accelerated to such an extent that you were afraid your heart would jump out of your chest when a light bulb broke just above your head.
“Watch your heads!” Steve yelled and the kids covered themselves with their hands when all the light bulbs in the room started to crack, plunging you all into total darkness. One of the kids started to cry. You heard another crack and dared to open your eyes. The windshield of the place splashed into a tiny poppy. Three gaming machines were lying on the ground, the cables they were plugged into were cut. All of this was done just in a few seconds. You looked at Steve, who was breathing deeply, not knowing what to say, what to do to calm down after what had just happened.
“Jinkies” Robin muttered quietly, being the only one who dared to speak.
Taglist: @mochminnie @queen1054 @krazykatkay456 @ghostineleven @sydzygy @the-almond-dinger @l0ve-0f-my-life
#steve harrington#steve harrington imagine#steve harrington x reader#robin buckley#robin buckley imagine#jonathan byers#jonathan byers ima#nancy wheeler#nancy wheeler imagine#stranger things imagine#stranger things#dustin henderson#dustin henderson imagine
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i LOVE your analysis especially byler ones so please don't take this as hate, it's the last thing i want to do. but while i love the byler theories do you actually think the duffers are smart enough to realize the potential/brave enough to follow through on the relationship. bc tbh i think our viewpoint is skewed i don't think anyone but byler shippers see the canon possibility. and also it really seems like m/leven is going to be endgame? just wanted to know more of your thought process
Even if byler never happens- I’m 100% sure mileven won’t be endgame XD. Regardless of byler, Mike and El are just not going to happen. (Even if they’re ‘dating’ in s4). I could try to explain the reasons why I think byler will be endgame though. I’ll give the cliffnotes version. This will probably be a mess- because focusing on all the reasons isn’t as good as analyzing , each reason as it’s own separate post, in depth).
Why mileven isn’t endgame
- The duffers said, while filming ST, El was supposed to die in s1 (glad that didn’t happen). And this was also their plan when pitching their show ‘Montauk’ (later retitled ST), saying that the hypothetical s2 sequel would be about the boys returning to their town 10 years later. Mileven was never ‘planned end-game’. They also describe mileven kissing but never mention the word ‘love’ like how Jancy was described in the Montauk pitch. Nancy’s bio says “ she will experience love for the first time.” But when they describe mileven, they say, “If Mike is the Elliot of our show, Eleven is our “E.T.” Like that’s … not romantic, Duffers. And if it was supposed to be … WTF did you guys watch the same film? 0-O
- In the byler centric s2, the Duffers kept mileven separated. And the mileven kiss wasn’t written in the show. Millie pretty much said “they had to do it.” Much to Matt’s confusion but then the Duffers agreed. And used ‘every breath you take’ (a song about divorce), and just by coincidence their 2nd back-up song was also a song about a divorce? Nah, they were trolling.
- Most of the women (Nancy & Max) in the show critique Mileven saying Mike treats her as if she’s stupid, can’t take care of herself, or as she is a possession.
-in the first ep of s3 almost all the guys (who had/have gfs) Hopper, Lucas, and Dustin all criticize the mileven relationship and think it’s unhealthy.
Hopper says “ They’re spending entirely too much time together… It is constant.It is constant! Okay? That is not normal, that is not healthy! ”
Lucas mocks Mike, saying “ Oh El, I wish we could make out forever and never hang out with any of our friends.”
Dustin says when they flake on him, “It’s bullshit, I just got home!” (insert Nancy calling Stancy ‘bullshit’)
and before this Dustin talks about Romeo & Juliet (while mileven is out of frame). R&J is all about the dangers of not knowing the difference between love and infatuation. Juliet after Romeo is banished just complains about how in love/sad she is but never pursues looking for him (sound familiar)? R&J claimed that they were in love with each other after knowing each for a few days and deciding to get married-sabotaging the closest relationships they had with their friends/family (all in the name of ‘true love’) . Similarly Mileven thought they were in love after only a week of knowing each other, and the second they are reunited they start dating and spend all their time with each other. El is allowed out of the house (and her friends are allowed to visit), but El hasn’t interacted with Max nor Will? They spend almost everyday in her room just making out. Mike puts very little effort into integrating her into his life or as part of the group. The only time they go out- is for Mike to show off El to Dustin like a possession- then before El can even do the boding activity with the group (with the radio tower)- Mike convinces her to leave to make out. They are both complicit in this and they both bring out the worst in each other and they make each other blinded to their loved ones’ feelings.
- El literally asks Max “How do I know what I like?” Do I have to explain why this could be problematic? She even says “I don’t know”, when Max asks if Mike is a good kisser.You can call me ‘ableist’ my abused-autistic ass will disagree. But El is not ready for a romantic relationship! it makes perfect sense for El to be confused by the distinctions of romantic, platonic, and familial love- when the first 12 years of her life she didn’t receive any form of love , PERIOD! And she is not like normal abuse victims (she has never had proper socialization with peers her own age or even adults).All she had was television. She latches herself on to anyone who is kind to her (something I used to do). Without Mike she used Max as a replacement almost immediately, and even starts repeating/mirroring the things she says (specifically coping phrases from her …over 6 times!). She’s also susceptible to doing what others say or want her to do, “dumping his ass” (with Max’s validation and encouragement). El might love Mike but I don’t think it’s romantic, she latched on to the first person that was kind to her. Before their first kiss she asked Mike “Will you be like my brother?” And she’s hurt when he says “no”, asking “Why not?”. He then kisses her (she watches a lot of soap operas and she assumes it must be ‘romantic love’). You’re telling me that if she was ‘in love’ with Mike she would have been that happy over dumping him? I’m not saying El is dumb for not being able to discern these things (I think people without such backgrounds may still struggle with this concept). But it makes perfect sense for El to be confused by the distinctions of various loves or even the differences between ‘crushes’ , ‘physical attraction’ and ‘romantic love’
- In the last ep El asks about what he said at the cabin to Max, specifying “you talked about your feelings?”. He says and I QUOTE “Oh! Oh, yeah that.Man, that was so long ago. Um…” and starts to scratch his head. Then he excuses what he said at the cabin, saying it was “in the heat of the moment stuff and we were arguing… I don’t actually remember. What did I say exactly?”
Now either he legitimately forgot! Or he lied! You know the thing that broke them up in the first place! The one thing that El holds as her most important value in life- honesty. And he lied- about something as important as his romantic feelings?! Make up any excuse (about being shy/character flaws all you want), but this isn’t real life- it’s fiction (everything is done for a narrative purpose). That wasn’t an accident ( mileven wasn’t “written out of character”- like milevens claim, the duffers were criticizing the ship on purpose) .And the fact he lied again! Wouldn’t bode well for a long term relation with each other. The whole season, criticized their romantic relationship ! That wasn’t a coincidence neither was the fact he looked confused by her confession, and kept his eyes open the whole time and didn’t kiss her back .
And as she smiled and walked away, he looked confused. That wasn’t a directing mistake, like so many milevens are claiming! You really think they wouldn’t make sure their ‘fav ship’ didn’t have a good final kiss?
Especially since it was right after a romantic Jancy scene (which was directed amazingly)- where Nancy even mentions Mileven- to make us compare the 2 pairings romantic scenes even more.
* I know I sound like an assh*le but I’m just annoyed. I’ve always censored my byler posts trying not to offend/criticize mileven. I never cross tagged my byler meta with the hashtag mileven (never will, cause it’s rude). But (without sounding pompous) my byler posts generally gets reblogged a lot- and now the milevens have seen my posts (and are sending lots of hate my way) and worst of all they’ve invaded the byler tag. Today I saw 2 posts in the byler tag saying. “We’re delusional” and “stupid”- and also in the same posts they say they “feel attacked” by us.Um… there’s a difference between byler shippers privately criticizing a ship without bothering mileven shippers (and only tagging it byler) . Versus Mileven shippers tagging things byler (and ranting about the ship and it’s shippers). Loved the comment about how Mike can’t be bi cause “he loves El too much”.I think Mike is probably gay and in denial. But, um that’s not how being bi works- didn’t know bi people love women and men ½ as much as the gays/straights. Thanks for informing me (rolls eyes for eternity).So kid-gloves off, nothing left to lose! Time to compare the ships.
‘The breakup’ vs ‘fight’ parallel
comedic vs dramatic! The casual sunny day vs the dramatic framing of the storm (a romantic trope) . The ‘break-up’ being a scene with multiple onlookers vs the fight being with Will and Mike only (making it more personal/intimate). ‘Cold as ice’ playing after the mileven breakup vs the sad instrumentals playing during the byler fight. The comedic after-math at the mall. El and Max laughing, and another joke being made as the bus leaves.El’s happiness vs Will’s heartbreak.
Mike’s drastically different expressions after their fights. He looks regretful with Will, and almost annoyed with El dumping him. The fact Mike apologized right away more than once to Will, and ran into a storm to apologize a 2nd time. But with El he just lies to cover up the first lie, and then after the break-up he just complains/lounges on the couch (not taking any responsibility). He literally says about El “Why is she treating me this way? What did I do to deserve this? What did I do wrong?”.( He lied and made her feel “like garbage”!) Then he burps and laughs about chips- and makes sexist comments. Neither EL nor Mike are heartbroken by the breakup.
But when he angers Will (by him trying to finish the game early), he immediately tries to de-escalate saying softly “I was just joking- c’mon, let’s finish the game”. But when Will just yells back (much to Mike’s confusion) he doesn’t dismiss his feelings as irrational (like he wrongfully did to El) but chases him to the garage- and begs him to stay since it’s raining.
In the garage, Mike immediately apologizes saying “I said I was sorry, alright. It was a cool campaign.” But after this, they fight and Mike runs into a storm to apologize a second time , and says to Will’s door “ WILL! I’m sorry I was being an asshole. Can you just come outside and we’ll talk? WILL!” He immediately takes responsibility and apologizes. And he’s desperate to resolve things. And when they find him outside castle Byers he just asks (Mike’s catchphrase) “Will, Are you ok?”
Shed scene ( “best thing I’ve ever done” vs “the most important thing in the world to me”) parallel
When Mike says to El “you’re most important thing to me” in the pool shed. El doesn’t even acknowledge the comment (and neither should the audience- cause the words were empty). She completely ignores his words, and responds by asking him about his previous comments. Asking whether Hopper was right about them spending too much time together.
I didn’t edit (or delete any scene after his proclamation) this is how fast it was delivered ! The framing of this mileven scene was not cinematic or heartfelt, and neither was the delivery from Mike. He’s not crying, trying to reach her with proclamations of his genuine feelings. There’s no dramatic music, framing, lighting or shot composition. And El just responds and cuts his supposed ‘true feelings’ off- only to agree with Hopper and says “ she should spend time with her own species.” And if this ‘romantic moment’ wasn’t already undermined enough. This is when Mike realizes she was spying on him , and feels wrongfully violated (something she doesn’t apologize for, saying “I make my own rules” . He even brings this up in a later episode (this clearly bothered him)!
Juxtaposed to the MUCH longer byler scene. A literal single tear falling down his cheek as Mike , recounts the first day they met. Mike being in the back drop of darkness only his face being illuminated (having him appear like a guiding light to Will). Saying “ I felt so alone and so scared… but you were alone too” (alone together/crazy together) . He then talks about asking Will to be his friend, and then he pauses and breaks eye contact , before looking him in the eye and smiling (lost in the memory) saying softly “you said yes, you said yes.” (cough like saying yes at a wedding).
So, after he says “you said yes, you said yes.” It’s important to mention that he takes a deep breath and breaks eye contact again, (looking down and to the side) as he says this line. Subconsciously, I believe he knows this line is romantic and he’s too afraid to say it to his face. Only flicking his eyes up to look at Will after he finishes the entire sentence, and to gauge Will’s reaction.
This whole monologue is only of tight shots of just their faces (their bodies aren’t shown like in the pool shed scene). This is a personal moment between them and them alone- and the fact we zoom in on their faces (expresses this to be important emotionally) . And when we see Will’s reaction to Mike saying “it was the best thing I’ve ever done”. We just see Will’s face only- no music is playing and all we hear is Will’s whimpers and Mike crying in the background.
“ Blank makes you Crazy” vs “ Crazy Together parallel
When Mike tries to confess his “love” to El he says “Well they do say it makes you crazy”… much to El’s confusion.He has to try to explain it a second time to El- who just gets even more confused, by his ‘confession’. Saying “you never heard that expression? Like blank makes you crazy … like the word (love)?”
But when Mike says he “feels like he’s going crazy” Will immediately responds with “Me too”. Mike even smiles at the comment. So that moment in s2 means more than we think, when Mike (with tears in his eyes) smiles at Will’s comment and asks them to go “crazy together”.And when Will responds back “yeah, crazy together” (who also has tears in his eyes). They even linger on the moment as they just smile and stare at each other.
Mike is in denial, and may not even realize he loves Will, but he knows subconsciously that he does. He heard the phrase “love makes you crazy and that damn stupid”, 100′s of times and that’s why he said that phrase to Will. And why it made him so happy when Will reciprocated , by saying “ yeah. crazy together.” In addition to why we see them both go from happy, to immediately upset over the conversation.The scene was already romantically coded in s2 (but the scene in s3 re-contextualizes the whole thing) . Mike thinks “love makes you crazy” , and he asked Will to go ‘crazy together’ with him. And When Will is at castle byers looking at the Halloween pic of the 2 the day Mike said that, Will cries and calls himself “stupid” (4x). Can’t get more obvious… Like look what the duffers did!
El and Will’s opinions on Mike (Parallels)
-When asked if Mike was a good kisser, she just said “I don’t know he’s my 1st boyfriend.” (implying she’s thinking, at least subconsciously, of having other boyfriends ,who are not Mike in the future). But when Mike pretty much asks’ if Will thought they’d never get girlfriends, and spend the rest of their lives with each other’.Will just sadly responds “yeah, I guess I did. I really did!” Unlike, El, Will always saw Mike as his future, his forever.
-And when Mike says “it’s just a break” , Max says “No it’s not!”, and we see El laugh along with Max’s comment. She is not heartbroken at the idea of never getting back together with him, romantically. Right after they break up she was laughing, reading comics, and playing games with Max.
But Will is devastated over the fight! And out of all the memories in Castle Byers it’s the Ghostbusters photo from Halloween that causes Will to pick up the bat and start destroying everything. That was the night that Mike agreed to go “crazy together” with him. He tears it in ½ right in the center where Mike and Will are. He was so stupid to think it meant anything. The “crazy together” scene, that Mike initiated in s2 was always meant to be romantic. Not only because of Will’s reaction to the photo in s3, but because Mike in s3 says “They do say it makes you crazy…blank makes you crazy.” Which is exactly what happens to Will, as he has his breakdown.Castle byers was built on a rainy night , the same day Will’s dad left, when Will was 5 (the same age he met Mike). And lonnie called him a “queer” and a “f*g” and forced him to do “normal things” like baseball to have him “be more of a man”. And then on a rainy night, after Mike says “It’s not my fault you don’t like girls”… what does Will destroy castle byers with? A baseball bat! The fact Will has a baseball bat (despite in s1 saying he does not like baseball) in Castle Byers, surrounded by things he loves: drawings, d&d, art supplies, a microscope, comics- just shows what an impact Lonnie’s problematic conditioning and abandonment had on him. He used a baseball bat to destroy something he loves -castle Byers, and symbolically he was trying to reject his feelings for Mike using Lonnie’s old tactics of fixing him.
- Also, El doesn’t even seem to appreciate when Mike acts like his true self (goofy/like a kid). She laughs when Max complains he talks too much. Rolls his at his jokes with the cpr-dummy, covers his mouth and tells him to stop when he tries to joke and sing, ignores him when he gets excited about talking about dinosaurs. Which relates to my next point
The only characters who’s character bios focus on ‘escaping’ through d&d is Mike and Will.
Will in the Montauk pitch was described as having “sexual identity issues… LIKE MIKE , Will ESCAPES through fantasy gaming where he can be himself, uninhibited.” Like what is Mike escaping from… being a nerd? Because they could of said ‘like his friends’. And no it’s not because they’re best friends- they even specifIed in Lucas bio he’s “ Mike’s best friend” (which was even mentioned in s1).
.In Mike’s character description it says “ bullying and near-crippling insecurity. He has never had a first kiss, much less a girlfriend.He ESCAPES his insecurities through reading fantasy novels … retreating into his own vivid imagination. The Dungeon Master of his Dungeons and Dragons group, he writes sprawling adventures with fantastical monsters.When he finds himself on a real adventure, facing real monsters, he will discover a courage he didn’t know he had. By the end, he will even kiss a girl.”
*Interesting that Mike uses D&D to escape his insecurities about not having a gf (retreating into his imagination). While Will (who is somewhat aware of his sexuality) uses d&d to escape and be himself uninhibited. They’re foils in a sense- using d&d for opposing reasons.
So the s3 fight about d&d games has a lot more meaning
Mike equates heterosexual romance with ‘growing up’ and his feeling for Will as something childish he has to grow out of.When they fight over d&d. Mike says “It’s not my fault you don’t like girls!”, then he tries to ½ apologize only to say, “I’m not trying to be a jerk. Ok? But We’re not kids anymore.” He pretty much explains, this is just the way things are-boys fall in love with girls, get girlfriends, and that’s just a part of growing up (heteronormativity). And tells Will “I mean, what did you think, really? That we were never gonna get girlfriends? We were just gonna sit in my basement all day and play games for the rest of our lives?” And poor Will who is probably more aware of his feelings just responds. “Yeah. I guess I did. I really did.” And after this Mike rushes to Will’s house and apologizes saying he was an “asshole.”When he tries to say he loves El . It was very forced. He can’t even use the world love or explain his feelings, “A feeling … yeah, like, something… like OLD PEOPLE say it sometimes”.
He can’t even describe love and what his “feelings” entail for El , he then says “Yeah, like something , like old people say it some times. He doesn’t even say it back in the last ep, when she confesses. It’s all talk, but no feeling, it’s just a part of becoming an adult in Mike’s mind.
In the last ep before the mileven kiss, he even invites both El and Will over for Christmas saying “ And Will too… we could all have new presents to play with and… *scoffs* Sorry, that made me sound like a 7 year old... ”
And it’s implied in the last ep (before the mileven kiss), because of the 3 month breakup Mike is back to liking d &d. When Mike sees Will put his own d&d book in the donation box he stops him.
Mike: “WHOA, dude that’s the donation box.”
Will: “ I know, I’ll just use yours, when I come back. (pause) if WE still want to play?”
So then Mike asks, shyly …
Mike : “Yeah, but what if you want to join another party?” (cough- girls , the other ‘species’, or just someone else: girl, guy or otherwise)
Will: “Not possible.” (Will will always love Mike- insert Mikes immediate heart-eye reaction to this comment).
I think people don’t notice what the subtext is here- regardless of his intentions, Mike broke Will’s heart. He made him feel “stupid” for ever thinking he ever had a chance with Mike. He always saw Mike as his forever, but Mike shot any hopes of that down in the garage. Will doesn’t trust his own instincts. Mike could straight up flirt with him in s4/5- and Will would dismiss it as his imagination. He essentially said ‘he’ll always love Mike- but if something is going to happen. It’s up to Mike to initiate it’.
Mike was queer coded since ep 1 (and he’s more queer coded than Will)!
I LITERALLY thought (in s1) Mike was queer before Will!
- 3 rainbow references. Mike in s1 in his basement has a red heart being propelled by a rainbow sign. We see this again in s3 as a drawing. Mike also stands next to Will behind a rainbow apple poster in s2. Forbidden fruit + rainbow = queer forbidden romance. Also the apple poster was in the AV Club and at that time the rainbow apple-mac sign was suspected to be in reference to for Alan Turning (the gay ‘father of computers’).
In s1:
- 4 separate characters said El looked like a boy, but Mike doesn’t care! Even one of the men thought El might be the missing ‘Byers boy’. When El loses her wig , Troy said “she doesn’t even look like a girl” to the cops. But Mike just calls her “really pretty”
-Nancy says “I thought you were acting weird, but I thought it was because of Will” And Mike responds “I thought you were acting weird too I thought it was because of Steve … Do you like Jonathan now”?” Nancy: “No, do you like Eleven?”. They literally compared the explicit love triangle between Steve/Nancy/Jonathan to the Will-Mike-El dynamic!
- Mike literally uses gender inclusive pronouns when talking about crushes using the word “someone” (3 times), and embarrassing himself because he can’t articulate the difference between friendship and romance. When he could of simply given the 80s heteronormative answer of ‘when a boy likes a girl’.
Mike: “ you go to school dances with someone.
You know someone that you like”
El: “a friend?”
Mike: ‘not a friend uh … uh someone like a” (gives up and kisses her)
-Mike’s mom said “ What’s been going on with Will, I can’t imagine what it’s been like for you. I just … want you to feel like you can talk to me. I never want you to feel like you have to HIDE anything from me” (she even emphasizes the word ‘hide” (which is heavily queer coded)
- when Will ‘dies’, “we can be heroes” by David bowie (a bisexual singer) plays, “And we kiss as though nothing could fall and the shame” is the lyric that plays when Mike returns to his house and cries in his mother’s arms over the ‘death’ of Will. Do I have to explain how ‘kissing and shame’ are queer-coded . And how such a lyric is oddly romantic- if we’re supposed to see their bond as nothing but platonic XD
-his dad jokes “Absolutely not” *turns to wife* “our son with a girl?”.
- when Lucas makes fun of his crush on EL, Lucas gets down on one knee and says “ I love you so much, will you marry me?” and literally 1s later, we’re introduced to the bullies and the idea (for the first time) that Will is ‘gay’, and Mike is in the forefront of the scene and unlike his friends he is THE ONLY ONE physically assaulted as they cause him to fall face first into a rock (like a gay-bashing) . They leave Lucas and Dustin unharmed. Even though Lucas just proposed to another guy- which should have gotten him a beating by the homophobic bullies.
It’s supposed to subconsciously hint Mike is queer like Will, and likes Will. The first interaction with the bullies, they mention Will being ‘gay’ right after they mention Mike’s crush on androgynous El and have a guy propose to Mike. Mike says to “ignore them” ( the homophobic remarks) but is assaulted anyways. And when asked what happed he doesn’t want to tell El the details cause he’s ashamed .
2nd time the bullies talk about Will, Mike is once again in the forefront, unlike his straight friends who are in the background . But this time Mike initiates the confrontation), as the bullies say Will is “flying in fairyland with all the other little fairies. All happy and gay”. Mike was literally on the verge or tears at this comment (despite being happy a few moments earlier , telling the others to ‘act sad’ because they’d look suspicious other wise). But this is the comment where Mike snaps and pushes Troy back (because he took it personally/wanted to defend Will).
The framing of Mike once again being in the front and snapping at the homophobic remarks ( gifs don’t do it justice, just rewatch the scene -Mike eyes water at the remarks). Then the last time the bullies appear , Mike jumps off the cliff and “flies like a fairy” (like Troy said) thanks to El . Troy at the police station even uses the word “fly” not levitate.
-Mike sneaking out to find Will, as Steve sneaks in to Nancy’s. They both even make eye contact (and pretend not to have seen each other).
- they share dinosaur toys , in s1 and 2 they appear to be the only ones with dinosaur toys.
- The s1 mom hug scene where Mike feels he lost Will is paralleled in s3 - signifying how he lost him a 2nd time.
- Mike in the 1st ep being the one to insist on looking for Will in the rain (callback to s3). But he never went looking for El when he saw her through his window? Even when Mike saw Will’s dead body, the second he heard his voice he convinced his friends to help rescue him!
- You remember the binder (from s1) that Mike keeps, filled with 100s of Will’s drawings, and how he caresses the drawing after thinking Will was dead. That’s totes platonic.
- Mike in s1 proclaiming “I’m the only one who cares about Will!” Seems like something a kid with a crush might say ( because obviously his other friends care about Will). But he thinks he cares the most. He was even the first to worry about Will not showing up to school, the first to suggest looking for him while speaking to Hopper, and when Hopper and his parents say ‘no’ he sneaks out anyway (and is the first to suggest forming a search party). The first to believe he was alive after seeing his dead body.The only boy to have a scene dedicated solely to him mourning Will. Mike being the only boy to stay awake at the hospital, and the first boy to see and hug Will. The only one to have a private one on one talk before Will goes missing. The only one who was literally given 100s of Will’s drawings. And yet Dustin says Lucas’ is Mike’s best friend? So what does that make Mike and Will?
In s2:
- Will in all 3 seasons identifies as a wizard. But in s2 Mike (the paladin) says Will is a cleric. Meaning this reflects how Mike actually feels about Will. In d&d, they have similar moral values, powers, and generally need and depend on each other in the lore of d&d. Paladins have similar healing powers to clerics, but clerics have stronger healing abilities - which is interesting since Mike has always been viewed as the protector. But to Mike Will has helped him (maybe deal with the loss of El and other trauma) , just by being there. And if Mike says Will is a cleric,despite Will still identifying as a wizard in s3, it shows how deeply Mike actually feels about Will. It shows he views Will as one of the only people who understands him and views him as a healing presence and his moral compass.
“ strength of conviction gave many paladins a sense of common fellowship but did not always endear them to others. In many cases, paladins did not get along quite as well with other non-paladin adventurers, with the exception of clerics with similar beliefs.”
“A Paladin tries to hold to the highest standards of conduct, but even the most virtuous Paladin is fallible. Sometimes the heat of emotion causes a Paladin to transgress his or her oath (of honesty, courage, compassion, honor ,and duty). A paladin who has broken a vow typically seeks absolution from a cleric who shares his or her faith or from another paladin of the same order. After a rite of confession and forgiveness, the paladin starts fresh.”
This proves Mike knows he treats Will special/different than his other friends- and unlike a relationship with El (they are still individuals who are not dependent on each other). And Mike thinks being with Will quite literally makes him a better person. Juxtaposed with how him being in a romantic relationship with El made him blind and apathetic to those closest to him .
- All the mileven s1 parallels vs byler s2 parallels were ALL initiated by Mike. If the parallels were meant to show a one sided love triangle (on Mike’s end). They would of made Will the instigator not Mike! Parallels can be watched here , start at 6:50)
-Mike initiated the “crazy together’ line- and in s3 he said ‘blank makes you crazy’. So subconsciously he knew the line had romantic connotations.
-Mike initiating the hand hold (with a zoom in shot) and in the show this is only done for romantic pairings. Also Mike being the one to initiate the ‘arm thing’ which is generally romantic. But in s3 , Lucas also does this, saying “I am spending quality time with my girlfriend’
-Mike saying, asking him to be his friend was the “best thing I’ve ever done”
-Mike constantly following Will around, asking if he’s okay or biking to his house to check on him in s2 . In s3 running out to chase Will to the garage and apologizing, and running into a storm to apologize a 2nd time.
YOU SEE A PATTERN! Mike is whipped! And is the one constantly chasing and pursuing Will, not the other way around! Before s3, people always portrayed Will as the (stereotypical- problematic trope of a) sad-pinning-gay in a one sided love with Mike. It’s like people didn’t even watch the show (and just assigned tropes/stereotypes they wanted, that weren’t actually there). Will (probably too shy or scared to- because of homophobic taunts) never initiated a single byler moment- it was ALWAYS Mike!!! If people were actually objective, they would of thought it was Mike who was the one pinning!
- Which brings me to Mike literally pinning! Mike forcing Will to dance with a girl (who has a rainbow hairclip), but you literally see Mike’s shocked expression like ‘what,why’d I do that ?’ And after this, they show Dustin looking sad about Max/Lucas dancing and then they have Mike get into the frame (next to Dustin) and look sad when Will/girl are dancing in the same exact frame as Max/Lucas. As they switch between these last 2 shots.
the cannon Spotify playlists-called ‘Mike’s basement beats’- These are character playlists that Spotify and St worked on together after s2.
-his first song is “small town boy” an 80s LGBT anthem about living in a small town and being queer and bullied. Every band member was openly gay.
-his 11th song is ‘don’t you want me’ from a “celebrate your gay pride” album
* But queer people are “delusional” for thinking Mike isn’t straight? And are told to “open your eyes and watch the show” (that was an actual quote in the byler tag). Ok? Take your own advice, then! XD
One of the Duffers cited inspirations for ST is SUPER GAY (and what they based the byler dynamic off of).
In the Will comic, Will throws an old 1970s book called “house of stairs” at the demorgorgan. And in a later chapter Mike and Will just read together at the library (just silently reading together, enjoying each others’ company-totally not a romantic cliche).And Mike warns Will the book ‘could have spoilers’ for the d&d campaign. Also look at this byler-centric cover :)
Peter (Will) is shy, quiet ,initially a pushover, and gay-coded. And as a coping mechanism he has psychological-breaks with reality where he thinks of his best friend from the orphanage, Jasper (Mike) . Another kidnapped boy, named Oliver (who looks just like Jasper/Mike) is also queer-coded (but a violent-sociopath). And, unlike Jasper who actually wanted to protect/take care of Peter -Oliver starts to gets a sick thrill out of making Peter dependent on him (which Peter catches on to pretty quickly). Oliver was insistent on being the only one to ‘wake’ Peter from his episodes (just like how Mike did for Will, in s2), except Oliver calls him pet-names like “sweetheart, baby, etc.”
And again to prove it’s queer-coded I’ll read some of the (shortened) quotes, in the order they were written. These are quotes from Peter (Will’s) pov talking about his childhood best-friend Jasper (Mike) .
-“his room. His and jaspers room. Jasper looking up from his desk, smiling glad to see him. Jasper saying . Something very important. The most important message, the secret message. He couldn’t hear him . But jasper keeps smiling , keeps talking . What was the message, jasper? What was the message? The dream had been beautiful at the beginning, terrible at the end, but he longed to be in it again. If only he hadn’t awakened.”
-“Jasper sitting on the bed and taking off his shoes ,smiling, ‘you’re okay pete, you’re better than a hundered of those slobs put together. Tomorrow I’ll tell them so myself‘ jasper’s strong, hard body as he got into bed ,so different from peter’s. Strong, to protect him to take care of him. Jasper, who always took care of him”.
-“He wanted to think about oliver it it was like having Jasper back again. It would disturb him to see Oliver go off with Abigail… the rejection quite painful. It had never been like that with Jasper…jasper.
-The room they shared with rainbow colors, murmuring comforting words to him , enclosing and protecting him. He let himself drift into it, the rainbow hues dimness.”
-“No one ever depended on him. It was he who always depended on others, on Jasper. jasper, who had always taken care of him. Jasper…”
later he admits his feelings for Jasper to Lola/el. Lola and Pete are plantonic soulmates. The only reason why they survive and don’t succumb to their dark and violent urges/psychological brainwashing is because of each other. Lola has brown hair and eyes and has a buzzcut and is heavily implied to be a lesbian (as she is the only girl in the group who is not fooled by Oliver’s ‘nice guy act’. Which makes the other girls ‘suspicious’ and alienate her). Also this was written in the 70s… she has a buzzcut and is said to “look like a boy”. It’s not that subtle! There was a reason that the author whose first name was WILLIAM (was suspected to be gay/bi when he was alive)! XD
-Peter says “ he was my friend we were always together . Jasper his name was jasper .in the dream he’s taking care of me’. Now he was beginning to cry, his throat constricting and tears welling up in his eyes .’taking care of me … he always took care of me… taking care of me, and , and … and loving me’. ‘”It was the best time in your life’ she murmured’. ‘Yes’ “
* cough protective childhood friend, rainbows, ‘best time of your life = best thing I ever did.
S3 ending (byler centric ending)
When we first see Mike during the Hopper mologue, the moving truck leaves. “Like you’re pulling away from me or something. I miss playing board games every night (d &d)”… (the last thing they talked about was Will visiting to play d&d and their fight this season started because of a disagreement about d&d.)
Then Mike looks back at the Byers house (just lingers there and looks back as his friends leave) like how Will did seeing Mike hold hands with El and leave . “But I know you’re getting older, growing, changing. I guess, if I’m being really honest, that’s what scares me. I don’t want things to change.”Mike , like Will “doesn’t want things things to change”. He doesn’t want his his feelings of friendship to become romantic in regards to Will, it “scares” him (especially in rural 80s Indiana). Right after Will cries, it immediately switches to Mike hugging his mom- to mirror the time he thought Will died in s1 “So I think maybe that’s why I came in here, to try and maybe stop that change. To turn back the clock. To make things go back to how they were.” He goes back to his mother for comfort, like he did the 1st time he lost Will. But also to reverse back time, to s1, before he realized his feelings for Will were romantic. When things were simpler.
“But I know that’s naive. It’s just not how life works. It’s moving, always moving, whether you like it or not. And yeah, sometimes it’s painful. Sometimes it’s sad. And sometimes, it’s surprising. Happy.” (byler endgame)
Will (in s2) even says everyone treats him like ‘freak/ that something is wrong with him’ (purposely leaving out Mike from the discussion). And then when Will disparages himself as a freak,and Jonathan agrees but asks Will, ‘who would he rather be friends with- David Bowie (who was openly bi since the 70s) or Kenny Rogers’? And when Will says Bowie, Jonathan agrees saying “see, it’s no contest”.
So, it’s just another coincidence that when Will ‘dies’ (in s1) a David Bowie song (‘we can be heroes’) plays. And as Mike hugs his mom, mourning Will - a romantic lyric from the song plays during the hug?“And we kiss, as though nothing could fall. And the shame” (which is heavily queer coded)?
And then in the last ep (in s3) Mike mirrors this scene in s1, hugging his mom, since he feels like he’s losing Will all over again. And right after the hug (‘we can be heroes’) plays again!? I’m not saying byler is endgame. But- WAIT THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT I’M SAYING! XD
These men literally invented ‘hetero-baiting’ (with Robin & Steve) and you think they’re going to queer bait?!
Also, if Will was a girl named ‘Willow” no one would call byler ‘delusional’ ! Even the most casual viewer would say it’s obvious they’d end up together in the end!
If the witness said about El in s1 , “ same height… it could be the Byers girl”, instead of ‘boy’ (pointing out the resemblance). Mike only meeting El cause he was looking for Willow. Proclaiming “i’m the only one who cares about Willow!” . Mike getting into fights and getting upset (almost crying) about the bullies insulting Willow. Mike only getting angry at El when he thinks she lied about Willow being alive. Mike being the only boy who has a scene dedicated to his loss of her (with the same romantic lyrics playing). Mike having a whole binder of her drawings and caressing one of the drawings, after he thinks she died. Mike being the only one of her friends to stay awake at the hospital, waiting for her to wake up- so he can see her and hug her first. People probably would of started shipping it the second Willow stared at him and was the only one who didn’t lie to him, in the first ep! Another parallel to El!
If Will was Willow, the majority of the fandom would be byler shippers. Think about it! . Mike having s2 byler scenes that are identical to s1 mileven scenes, and then additional unique byler scenes. Mike staying by Willow’s side 24 hours a day for several days (not even changing clothes), carrying her out of the hospital, grabbing her hand (with a zoom in shot),constantly asking her if she’s okay at least 5-7 times, putting his arm around her twice, being the only one who could tell something was off with her (and it wasn’t her normal type of quiet). Calling and running all the way to her house and banging on the door to check on her, desperate. Watching her sleep cause he’s so worried. That shed scene reminiscing about how they first met in perfect detail, saying “I asked, I asked if you wanted to be my friend. You said yes, you said yes. It was the best thing I’ve ever done. (like a marriage proposal)” The “crazy together” scene. Them being close since they were 5 vs the girl he knew for a week (but is somehow in love with?). In s2 if Mike sadly watched Willow dance with another guy , while Dustin does the same to Max. Forget it- everyone would already know mileven would be doomed to fail.
And again think about s3 if Will was a girl.They parallel the (comedic) mileven breakup vs (the sad/serious) byler breakup. Then Mike just complains and burps on the couch vs apologizing to Willlow multiple times/even going into a storm to apologize a 2nd time (and to ‘talk’). Willow having a breakdown over the fight vs El laughing and high five-ing Max after.The shed vs the pool shed scene- “best thing I’ve ever done” vs “you’re the most important thing in the world to me”, “blank makes you crazy’ (as El stares confused) vs “crazy together’ (where Willow says ‘yeah, crazy together’). Mike going on ‘movie dates with Willlow all the time’ right after making out with El. The last mileven kiss where Mike has his eyes open the whole time, and doesn’t kiss back. And saying he doesn’t remember saying “I love” you to El (and doesn’t say ‘I love you’ back). Right after having a talk with Willow about playing games when she comes back (the crux of their fight). Mike getting excited that he’ll be able to visit El and Willow on Thanksgiving and them visiting him on Christmas (those are holidays where family usually introduces their S.O.) Having the last scene of Mike, be him looking back at Willow’s house, and have that whole monologue about “feelings changing”, and then he goes to hug his mom like the s1 byler scene where he thought Willow was dead, signifying he lost her again. And that’s not even all the scenes- and every time byler won by a landslide. If Will was a girl, we wouldn’t be ‘delusional’! It would be obvious writing on the wall, that Mike would eventually choose Willow over El by the end of the series.
But since they are 2 boys, we’re delusional, because queer kids don’t exist … apparently.
*S3-I’m not repeating my literal essays but they’re probably better than this post so here are the links to pretty much all my s3 byler meta. (x) (x) (x) (x) (x) (x) (x) (x)
gif credit: 1st few have the name stark in the gifs, 2nd byler gif (found on wheheart.com- user dream_daisy, not sure if they also have a Tumblr , 3rd livelovecaliforniadreams, 4th &10th Cath-avery, 5& 6th unknown, 7-9 eggogorgon . Tell me if you know the unknown one so I can give credit , please.
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28 with Steve? :) 💛💛
you’re still mad.
(thank you to the amazing @harringtonhq for helping me when i was stuck! (: )
you love him. you love him. you love him.
you chant to try and cool your boiling nerves. you love steve harrington, you really do, but sometimes he could be so stupid, you wanted to scream (and often did).
so much about him was endearing, there was so much about him to love. he had a kind heart, a great capacity for love, always wanted the best for others, was eager to learn, had a wonderful sense of humor, the list when on. but, everyone has their flaws, and steve was definitely was not exempt.
he was stubborn, vain at times. he gave horrible advice and could often be too proud for his own good.
somehow along the way of dating steve, you had been roped in to hanging out with a group of thirteen year olds. at first, you would just sit quietly next to steve as he talked to them, praying for it to be over soon. you weren’t necessarily jumping up and down to hang out with children in your limited free time. though as time went on, and you got to know each kid better, you started to like the time spent with them. you now enjoyed all the kids that your boyfriend was friends with, which can still be an uncomfortable sentence to say. you generally got along with all of them, but with max and el, you were bonded to them in a much deeper way. they were floundering for any positive female energy by the time you showed up, and you happily took them under your wing.
so, when steve was off with the boys, you migrated towards the girls. you enjoyed them deeply as friends, but you also enjoyed feeling looked up too. you relished in your new role as the cool older girl in their eyes. you loved that they trusted you, that they would come to you with questions and concerns about the world, and would take your advice seriously.
you had developed a strong protective instinct with the girls over the past year, and that was why you had sped over to max’s house as soon as you received a hysterical call from el. when you arrived you fled your car and went to knock loudly on the hargrove’s door. to your dismay, billy answered it with a smarmy grin.
“finally ready to give in to what we both want, (y/l/n)?” he leaned his bare shoulder against the doorframe.
“ugh, in your dreams, hargrove.” you gagged, and pushed past him into the house.
“every night princess! lemme know when you’re gonna allow me to make all yours come true!” he called after you.
you rolled your eyes, and thankfully got to max’s bedroom before he could say anything else.
“your brother is so gross.” you scowled as you entered.
“i know.” and your head snapped up to where max and el were sitting on her duvet.
max’s face was flushed pink, her eyes were glossy and her cheeks painted with tears. el had a comforting arm around her.
you went into immediate lioness mode, “what happened? who hurt you?”
you rushed forward and pried max from el and into your arms.
“lucas.” el stated simply.
“my god, what did he do? i’ll kill him!” you pythoned the redhead closer.
“he was being so rude. so rude and just ignoring everything i said. and, and he was just so…”
“rude.” el chimed in.
“yes! god!” max wailed into your t-shirt.
“what exactly happened, honey?” you murmured, stroking her hair calmly.
“I was just trying to talk to him, to have a conversation! but nothing, and i really needed to talk to him about all this stuff with neil and my mom and i got nothing. when i pointed out that he was being an ass he told me to stop being so crazy.”
“he what?” you gasped, still trying to console her.
“yeah, so then i told him that he was a dick and that we were over.”
“again.” el said, mostly in observation. she wasn’t wrong, lucas and max broke up all the time.
“i just can’t believe him!” max sobbed.
“it’s like he just didn’t care.”
and then it clicked.
didn’t care.
“son of a bitch!” your tone had changed so drastically from sweet and reassuring to anger and frustration, it caused both girls to jump.
“what, what is it?” max pulled away to look up at you.
“do you know where he is now?”
“at the mall. he, dustin and mike are gonna sneak into stupid top gun again.” max wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand.
“perfect, let’s go. get your shit.” you released max and started towards the door.
“what are you gonna do?” el asked, scrambling off the bed with max as they searched for their shoes and jackets.
“i’m gonna rip my boyfriend a new one for giving that dumbass advice to her boyfriend.”
“wait steve told him to do that?” max questioned as she followed you.
you lead the girls to your car, and whipped out the hargrove driveway and toward the mall, grinding your teeth. chanting away in your head to remind yourself to not follow max’s lead when you saw steve.
meanwhile, el and max were beside themselves with excitement. they loved you for so many reasons. you were smart, intelligent, compassionate and always ready and willing to stand up for yourself and others. you were a badass. a badass who lent them your copy of the feminine mystique and preached the gospel of angela davis. they just thought you were cool.
when you all arrived at starcount, you were a woman on a mission. you knew that you were probably overreacting, but if you let your boyfriend continue to think for one more minute that ignoring women and what they have to say will someone get them to desire you more, you’d be failing yourself.
so, you with your two little ducklings in tow marched toward scoops ahoy, where luckily, dustin and lucas already were waiting. no doubt your boyfriend was nearby.
“hey, tweedle dee and tweedle dumbass, where’s the ring leader?” you jeered when you entered scoops.
“oh, so you’re still mad…” lucas spoke first, glancing back to max whose face soured.
he knew that if you were showing up this mad looking for steve, there was no doubt max tattled to you.
before you could respond, the man himself stepped out from the backroom.
“hey baby, wasn’t expecting you.” steve smiled affectionately at you, not processing your anger.
“you!” you moved and pointed an accusatory finger toward him.
“me?”
“yes, you! god, dammit steve! what exactly did you tell lucas?”
you watched steve go through a facial journey. of being confused by your anger, to looking at max looming behind you, to lucas, back to max then back to you, and finally understanding.
“nothing. i said nothing.” he shook his head.
“nothing? huh, really? so, you didn’t give any advice that might simmer down to being a dickbag to a girl to make her like you more?” you hissed.
“he actually said-”
“lucas! shut up!”
“too late, he just sold you out, harrington. now, what did you say?”
steve looked to both boys for support, but they averted their gazes.
“i didn’t say anything! why would i say anything like that? he clearly thought of that himself.”
“excuse me?” lucas chimed in.
“wanna play dirty? fine, let’s do this,” lucas turned to you, “steve told me and i quote, “you gotta act like you could take it or leave it. that if you didn’t talk to her today it wouldn’t matter.” end quote.”
your eyes widened and you turned back to your boyfriend for now, “are you crazy! who gives advice like that? to a child no less?”
“hey, i’m fourteen!”
“eh, eh, eh, i don’t care.” you said impatiently back at lucas.
“i just… look, ok, it works! how do you think i got you? who is the best thing that’s ever happened to me, by the way. have i mentioned that lately?” steve batted his eyes at you.
“how you got me? seriously? i only started liking you after you cut out all that pompous dick behavior! but y’know that? maybe i acted to soon, maybe i was wrong.” you crossed your arms over your chest.
“(y/n/n), come on, ok, listen! it’s just standard advice, my dad gave it to me and i’m sure his did to him. i’m only passing on the legacy.” steve tried to explain.
“the first problem for all of us, men and women, is not to learn, but to unlearn, gloria steinem.” max chimed in, causing everyone to look back to her.
“see! that!” you gestured to her.
“baby-”
“do not baby me, steve harrington.”
“sweetheart-”
“you don’t actually believe that works, do you?”
steve made an unsure sound, and racked a hand through his hair.
“i cannot believe you! if you ever give that advice to anyone again, impressionable child or not- i swear on my life i will lose my mind.” you clenched your fists.
“this isn’t you losing your mind?” lucas asked.
“not the time, not the time. abort, abort.” dustin said under his breath to his friend.
lucas immediately clammed up and looked away from you.
“forget about coming over tonight, harrington.” you sneeded, and turned on your heel to leave.
max and el looked between each other with huge grins, then followed after you, rife with giggles and praise.
“oh man, you’re so fucked.” dustin chuckled with a shake of his head.
“nah, nah. this is fine, this is cool. it’s all good. it’ll be fine.” steve muttered, placing his hands on his hips as he watched your figure become smaller in the distance.
“go after her.” dustin advised.
“what? no, we’re…”
“go after her.” he reiterated, and steve was already fleeing his post behind the counter to run after you.
“baby, i’m sorry! i’m an idiot, what’s new? i love you!” both boys watched steve catch up with you and start to apologize. he placed on hand on your cheek, and seemed to pouring on the amends thick.
“he was kinda right?” lucas mused.
“excuse me?” dustin asked aghast.
“i mean she just left like she could care less and steve was tripping over himself to follow her.” he shrugged.
“if you let (y/n) hear you say that, i won’t stop her from kicking your ass.” dustin snorted.
“she couldn’t-” dustin gave lucas a pointed looked, “ok fine, yeah she could.”
feedback is greatly appreciated pls & thnk u!
#steve harrington x reader#steve harrington x you#steve harrington imagine#steve harrington imagines#stranger things imagine#steve harrington fanfiction
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what would have been your ideal s3 of st?
i mean my ideal st3 would not have happened and would have fixed things in st2 which i dislike even more (mainly because i’m primarily in this for the teens and i hated the way they handled all of that.)
my problem isn’t inherently the plot itself and i enjoyed the ridiculous moments of camp but everyone was just....written so badly? hopper was an abusive asshole, byers family barely spoke to each other (even though their love has been the backbone of st1/st2), nancy went from being occasionally insensitive and selfish to just generally classist and rude, jonathan???? had no character but at least he was entertaining to watch, steve’s been reduced from well-meaning guy who is occasionally confused and stupid to a complete idiot, the kids to a certain extent i’m more lenient with because that’s kind of what being fourteen is like but also mike, lucas and will all deserved better writing lol. trying to redeem karen because she had one Women Rock! conversation with her daughter bothered me given that she regularly neglects her kids and the season started because she wanted to have an affair with a teenager. murray’s a fucking freak and i don’t see why “creepy middle aged man who gets teenagers drunk and encourages them to have sex” needed to be a character at all, let alone a returning one. billy’s redemption was even more poorly handled and even though there’s no way in hell i was ever going to care about them, the entire thing was just like. a mess.
also i don’t have a problem with possession storylines and i think it could work well in a show like stranger things but...it just doesn’t have the same impact if you do it with a character very few of the other protagonists care for. it’s not that i’m sad that billy had no friends or whatever, but it’s kind of like...only max actually cared about his wellbeing the others were just doing it to destroy the monster. and to me it just takes out so much of the emotion of a story like this, and it would have made more sense for it to happen to like, jonathan.
not even going to get started on the continuously terrible way this show handles abuse and abuse survivors, or the fact it doesn’t seem to care about the lasting impact all the shit has had on ANY of them unless it’s to prop up romantic relationships.
i guess more than anything i would have switched up the teams because everyone that has followed me for an extended period of time knows how much i hate the fact it’s just the same fucking groups over and over. i like the party and i like jopper (though hopper’s behaviour this season made me care far less) but like...we know they work well together? jonathan and nancy are arguably the most screwed over by this because my opinions on the ship aside, it makes no sense neither of them ever acknowledge their siblings!!! like the best received dynamics in st2/st3 were steve + the kids & scoops troop respectively, which...should tell you something? given that they’re the only dynamics that have brought something new to the table? sure you could give some of the credit to joe keery’s charisma but also like...they’re new and fun and interesting!
plus generally speaking i think the show needs to stop taking itself so seriously and focus on the characters more than the plot. not to bring up my unironic love for riverdale but riverdale works because it’s aware of how fun and campy it is and leans into it, whereas stranger things puts out cw level dialogue but pretends it’s a masterpiece of television. and the characters MAKE the show, you can throw in as many 80s homages and monsters as you want but the characters are what makes people come back. how can you have an ensemble show in which everyone is an interesting character and nearly every dynamic has incredible potential and not only do you NOT care about your characters, you also don’t let them talk to most of the others? it’s just stupid.
anyway i suppose my ideal st3 would have been keep the plot but switch up the teams, learn what consistent characterisation is, stop trying to “redeem” terrible people with minimal effort, and either go full camp or actually figure out how to write a serious tv show.
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Hawkins’ Charm (Part 7/?)
Synopsys: They had gotten out of Hawkins. After all the shit that had happened, all the heartache and pain, Billy and the Reader had gotten away from that hellhole, building their life in California as he had dreamed. But when Max’s graduation rolls around and they go to celebrate, it’s as if the Upside Down was just waiting for all of them to return. And it has a bone to pick.
Pairing: Billy Hargrove x f!Reader; platonic!Steve Harrington x f!Reader
Genre: angst, lil bit of fluff
Warnings: blood, mentions of injuries and death, fighting, swearing, mentions of sexy times, but not smut
Word count: 3337
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT CONDONE BILLY’S ACTIONS AND THE THINGS HE’S DONE! THIS IS BASICALLY AN AU, WHEN REALLY LOOKING AT IT! SPOILERS FOR S3! READ AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION!
It was like the air had suddenly been sucked out from the world, leaving him a heaving, dizzy mess in the void. His dad. His old man. The person that was supposed to love him unconditionally but had been abusing him since he was a little kid was the one the Mind Flayer was using as a host. “I’m gonna kill him,” Billy seethed. “Did he touch you?” he doublechecked every inch of Y/N’s body. “I’m gonna fucking murder him.” “Billy, he didn’t do anything,” she put a hand on his cheek, and he practically melted, taking in a shuddering breath and nodding. “I didn’t even see him. I’m alright.” “Was he,” he gestured vaguely around, “you know, possessed when we went to his?” Y/N shrugged. “I don’t know, but he was by the time that whole thing at Tina’s happened. But Billy… he knows… about Clara. I tried to keep them out of my head but,” her chin wobbled, and Billy had to keep his composure. “He’s so strong,” Y/N whispered. “Like, not to say what happened to you wasn’t horrible and painful and bad, but he’s,” she shook her head. “He’s so fucking strong. I don’t know how we’re gonna stop him. If we can stop him.” They thought the Mind Flayer might have evolved, they knew it could, but with the way El had struggled against the small piece inside of Y/N, she couldn’t even imagine what battling against the full force of that thing would be like.
“We gotta close the Gate,” Hopper said. “It’s our only option.” A murmur of agreement spread through the people in the cabin, Billy’s attention still on Y/N as she flinched when she reached for the glass of water Robin had offered. She practically gulped the whole thing in a second. Only then did Billy realize how thirsty he was too, but he could wait. “Is my mom,” Max’s lip quivered, making Y/N look at her, and Billy reached for his sister's hand squeezing it in comfort, something that just five or even three years ago he would’ve never voluntarily done. “Is my mom one of them?” When Y/N shook her head no, Max almost sagged to the floor in relief. “I didn’t feel her. He has a lot of others under his control – Tina, Tommy, Vicky, pretty much everyone else that didn’t leave the party that night… they drugged the punch and knocked everyone out, and then Neil helped them bring the rest to Benny’s where… ya know… they got possessed and shit…” Y/N groaned trying to stand up, but when her knees buckled, she opted for staying on the bed. “How does your back feel?” Robin asked, making everyone remember that before being possessed by a Mind Flayer, she’d been dragged away by a monster with knives for fingers. “Like a Demogorgon wanted to make a skinsuit out of me,” Y/N shrugged and hissed at the pain. Without it possessing her, she was back to herself, and it meant she was back to feeling things and not just ignoring the unpleasant itch in her back. Billy was instantly in action mode. “Okay, we need to clean those. Don’t want you getting an infection.” Joyce was immediately on her feet. There was an old bottle of vodka, she’d found in Hopper’s room from that day when she’d ditched their ‘date but not date’ to instead go to Mike’s science teacher, and she went to grab it. “Vodka doesn’t have an expiration date,” she muttered to herself taking a clean cloth as well. “Here,” Joyce gave both of those things to Billy, and Y/N sighed. “This is gonna hurt like a bitch,” he warned soaking the rag with the alcohol and reached for one of the leather restraint that had been wrapped around her wrists. “Yeah, I’m kinda expecting it to,” she grumbled and bit down on the belt. With one final nod, Y/N readied herself, and he pressed the cloth against her wounds. Searing hot pain erupted throughout her body, and for a second Y/N’s vision went completely white. She grabbed onto the sheets and fisted them between her fingers, holding back the scream. Honestly, she’d rather be possessed by the Mind Flayer than feel every single time the alcohol ate at her wounds. And oh god, when Billy had to peel away the scabbed over parts… Y/N thought she’d pass out. Hoped she’d pass out. Childbirth had been easy compared to the torturously slow movements as each crusted bit was ripped from the gashes leaving them open to the air. She spit the belt out to the floor and growled, “Hurry the fuck up!” “Sorry, sweetheart,” Billy murmured seeing Y/N’s face scrunch up as he dragged the cloth across the third out of five slashes. “But I gotta be thorough.” It dragged on for five more agonizing minutes before Billy and Joyce deemed Y/N’s skin would not rot and fall off her back. For the time being at least. She’d definitely need to see the doctor first thing in the morning. “I think these might need stitching,” Billy trailed a careful palm along the two of the deepest gashes. “Yeah, nope,” Y/N shook her head heaving and shuddering, and Joyce applied a compress to her back. It had some sort of a cold salve on it, and it instantly relieved her blazing skin. She’d been the only one smart enough to remember about El talking about Y/N’s wounds, so while everyone had gathered tons of tinfoil, Joyce had bought a first aid kit and some other things that she considered might be necessary. “Thank you for cleaning them up, but I ain’t letting you anywhere near me with a needle and thread,” Y/N smirked. “Wha- hey!” he exclaimed. Usually, he’d slap her arm playfully, but this time he opted out on it. “Do I need to remind you when you tried, keyword tried, to sow up Clara’s dress?” she gave him a pointed gaze and shook her head, smiling as Joyce muttered a ‘men’ underneath her breath. Steve who had joined their little group once the gross stuff was out of the way, crossed his arms and snorted. “What happened?” “I ended up having to throw it out,” Y/N gestured at Billy. “Because cross stitch is so hard.” “It wasn’t that bad,” Billy protested but accepted his defat and helped to wrap the layer of gauze around Y/N’s back. Immediately it got soaked and turned a scarlet color, but it was better than leaving the scabs on with millions of possible infections underneath them. And the red was a much pleasant color than the pitch black. “She’s just being dramatic.” “Frist of all,” Y/N hissed and pointed a finger at him. “I’m allowed to be dramatic. At least right now. Second of all, you managed to sow the dress to your jeans, and then, when I told you to just cut the thread off and pull it out, you cut a hole into the dress.” “It was a stylistic choice.” “Yeah for what, her third arm?” It seemed insane to be bickering about what were now minuscule things. A ruined dress. Billy’s inability to sow. Him being in absolute denial about it. Insane, but nice, given how the actual things they needed to worry about were the possible invasion of their world by an interdimensional alien, a Russian army opening up the Gateway between the two universes and her father-in-law being the main henchman. “How do we explain this to Clara?” Billy nudged his chin towards Y/N's back, and her eyes widened. “Fuck,” she swore under her breath. “I hadn’t thought about that…” There was no way she could just brush it off, and their little Terminator had to know everything. It had been an interesting enough conversation when she’d asked about her dad’s scars, but now when her mom would arrive home with a destroyed back was not something, they thought they’d have to deal with. “You might also wanna figure out what to say to mom,” Alex said as he stood to the side, arms matter-of-factly crossed over his chest. “What? Why?” Alex’s eyes widened. “Graduation’s in like a few hours, and you're gonna show up like that?” That’s when the rest of the kids also remembered Friday was just three hours away, and graduation only fifteen. “Oh, shit,” Max muttered sharing a look with Mike, Dustin, Will and Lucas. El hadn’t gone to a public school, having been taught by Hopper and then Joyce at home. “Well, we can’t go,” Mike said. “This is bigger than some fucking graduation.” “Hey, watch your mouth!” Hopper said pointing at the teen. He was still in the mindset of ‘keep the door open three inches’, no matter if four years had passed. “I think going might be our best bet,” Y/N butted in. “Or at least, you have to go.” “Not to be rude, ‘cause I know you went through some pretty dramatic shit,” Lucas said, “but Mind Flayer versus getting a piece of paper,” he made a gesture as if he was weighing the options with his hands. “The Mind Flayer wins.” Y/N shook her head and stood up, leaning heavily against Billy. “He still needs to keep up the appearances. I mean when Billy was possessed, he went to his job at the pool, so I can guarantee he’ll be at the school. And that’s when we can strike.” The thought of attacking the Mind Flayer and bringing the fight to him, instead of how it usually had been with it striking first, made everyone perk up and start talking, but Billy didn’t join in, even though he might have the most cause to. Instead, he tugged on Y/N’s palm making her attention flit just to him and look at his furrowed brows. It seemed as if the formulation of the words on his tongue were the hardest ever, but in the end, he got them out. “What did you mean by ‘the three of us…?’ When you said you wouldn’t let me taint the three… of you…” “I don’t know…” she shook her head. “I have no clue where that came from.” “Do you,” Billy swallowed harshly and wrung his hands together, “do you think you might be pregnant again?” That thought had crossed her mind, but Y/N didn’t think it to be plausible. Every time they’d had sex they’d been very careful, as they weren’t planning on having another kid. Sure, Clara hadn’t been planned either and turned out to be the best gift ever, but they were doing really well at that moment, so another gremlin would be quite jarring. “I don’t think so… I had my period right before leaving.” “Yeah, but we did have a lot,” he emphasized the word and smirked, “of fun at the motel in the morning. And when we got to yours in the shower… and before going to Tin-“ “Okay, you don’t need to recount every time,” Y/N chuckled feeling heat crawl up her body. “I remember, I was there.” “You better, otherwise, I’d need to remind you.” She tilted her head to the side. “I wouldn’t complain about that. Like at all.” A beat passed before she spoke again. “If it was though…” Y/N bit down on her lip. “Would you want it? Another kid? Would you want one?” Billy snorted cupping her cheeks and giving her a sweet kiss. “If you’d ask me to run through Hell barefoot, I’d fucking skip through it with a smile on my face.” “So, would that be a yes?” “You’re such a dork,” he shook his head, the affectionate grin never leaving. “Yeah, but I’m your dork.” He scoffed. “You better fucking be.” “We’ll figure it out…” Y/N nodded her head as if affirming herself they would. “If we get out of this alive.” “When,” he growled back. “When we get out of this alive. Don’t you dare talk that way.” She rolled her eyes. “I’m just being realistic.” “Well stop it then.” He grumbled like a toddler being told he couldn’t have any more candy. “Be optimistic.” Y/N scoffed. “Yeah, because you’re not only Keg King, but the King of Optimism as well.” He watched her bring Nancy’s given shirt over her head and helped the woman let it slip over her body. Billy loved that body with every inch of his being. He loved each and every birthmark, scar and dip, and now it had been completely rearranged by some monster. There was nothing in the world that would make him think of Y/N as anything as beautiful, but a small part in his head screamed at how much he hated the rips that would scar over at some point. They had been his fault. His ugly marks on her gorgeous body. “Where’s uh where’s your ring?” Y/N asked, clearing her throat and bringing him out of the pondering. This was so not the conversation she thought she’d ever have. It was like they’d had a silent agreement to never take the golden circlets off, so seeing his finger bare, with a pale line around it, made her stomach churn. “When you were missing, I asked El to help find you. She needed something that had a connection to you…” he shrugged flexing his fist. “This was the only thing I could think of.” “And why haven’t you put it back on?” It seemed like the question completely shifted the mood, and Billy let out a sad chuckle. “ ’Cause I don’t think I should.” Y/N’s eyes widened. “What?” She could feel tears burn at the edges of her eyes, but Y/N was not going to let them fall. Instead, she cleared her throat and repeated the question in a much softer tone. “That day when we got married, I promised to protect you. I might have not said it out loud, but I promised it to myself.” Unlike her, Billy allowed himself to fully feel the emotions, a drop rolling down his cheek. “And I failed. How can I put it back on, how can I promise that to you, when I broke it in the first place? I know it wasn’t you saying all those things, that it was the Mind Flayer using my fears against me, but it had a point. I don’t deserve you. Or Clara. For years this whole life has felt like a dream, like a fluke that I’d gotten so lucky. And now I know it is, ‘cause there’s no way I could ever deserve you or your forgiveness.” Y/N thought she’d be sad and hurt by his words, but instead, she was just pissed. “Forgiveness for what?” “For this whole thing,” he gestured at her torn-up body. “Had it not been for me, you wouldn’t have been possessed by that fucker. Had it not been for me, we wouldn’t have gone to Tina’s. I wouldn’t have gotten drunk and pissy, and you wouldn’t have had to wander off into those fucking woods… this whole shit’s my fault…” Her lips were pursed into a very thin line before, Y/N nodded. “Okay, so answer me this – did you know the Gate was open?” “N-no,” Billy stuttered out not sure where the conversation was going. “Did you know the Demogorgon and the Mind Flayer were back?” Once again, he replied with a soft ‘no’. “Did you have any clue any of this would happen?” her voice was getting louder with each word. Billy hid his face in his palms but shook his head no. “Then why are you punishing yourself?” “Because who else am I supposed to punish?!” he exploded jumping up. “You?! I was the one who put you in danger, I am the one with the shit father who’s even shittier now! All of your biggest problems in life have been because of me, and now whenever we’ll go to the beach, whenever you’ll take a shower, I’ll have to see those fucking marks on your back that you wouldn’t have if it wasn’t for me!” Y/N was practically shaking as she stood face her husband, despite the tendrils of pain rippling down her back. “I did not sit by your hospital bed for two whole days while you were unconscious, I didn’t spend my last summer here with you in the ICU for you to say this bullshit to me,” she seethed and moved closer. “Now, you’ll listen to me Billy Hargrove, we’ve been through so much shit, it’s insane. I could write a novel about it and still, there wouldn’t be enough pages to tell the full story.” Her gaze was piercing, and he couldn’t pull his eyes away from Y/N’s. No matter how much Billy wanted to, it was impossible as every word found its mark, yet he still listened to her, still nodded along and let the tears slip down his cheeks, his wife’s soft thumbs brushing them away. “I did not go through childbirth, through doubting myself if I’m a good person, let alone a mother; I did not go through this shit, only for you to tell me that you don’t wanna wear that ring anymore, cause guess what? I’ve fucked up too. That day at the pool when we got into that huge argument and the whole Mind Flayer shit happened to you? I blame myself for that.” Billy’s mouth dropped open in shock. “But – but it’s not. You had nothing to do with it… it just happened, it was bad luck.” “Exactly,” a painful smile of relief made her lips pull up hoping he'd get where she was going with it. “I know it wasn’t my fault, I can’t control the Mind Flayer, but I still blame myself. Maybe if I’d been more understanding, maybe if I’d tried to work it out, it wouldn’t have happened... you wouldn’t have gotten hurt.” His hands shook as he settled them on Y/N’s waist, pressing his forehead tightly to hers. He’d never even considered that she blamed herself for that summer’s events. He never even entertained that idea, ‘cause it was simply untrue, so he didn’t spend time on it. “You blame yourself for this, and I blame myself for what happened to you... even though it was neither of our faults... So,” Y/N let out a shaky breath, “put that fucking ring back on your finger, or I swear, I’ll serve you some divorce papers.” Billy chuckled, pulling back from the embrace to fish out the ring from his pocket, but not before pulling Y/N in for a passionate kiss. Fuck, did it feel good to kiss her again. “Yes, mam.” Beautifully, as if it was made to sit at the base of his left ring finger, the piece of jewellery slid on and stayed there. As it would forever. “I love you,” he whispered pecking her lips. “I love you too, dumbass.” “Whatever you say Mrs Dumbass,” he bit on his bottom lip and glanced down at her. “You’re an amazing person, by the way. And an even better mother.” Y/N mouthed a ‘thank you’ against his lips before caressing them again. “You two okay there?” Joyce asked peaking inside the bedroom as they stepped back from one another. Only then did they realize when the argument had started everyone else had left the room to give them privacy to work things out. Billy nodded, smiling over at Y/N. “Yeah, we’re alright. But I think we’ll be even better when we decide what to do with the whole Upside-Down thing.” “I think I have an idea,” Y/N sighed and, leaning heavily on Billy’s shoulder they entered the living room where everyone else was. Max raised a concerned eyebrow, thumb between her teeth, and when their eyes met, she gave the redhead a small but assuring smile, making her heart lift from her feet back to her chest, knowing that everything was okay between the two. Hopper opened his arms and then put them on his hips. “We’re all ears.”
Tags (crossed out wouldn't take):
Hawkins’ Charm tag list: @genius2050 @aiifandomsunite @ashleymarieriffle @littlefool-smalljester @infinitelycharmed23 @llcalumllhoodll @benevolentgemini @rxmanovbby @euphoniumpets @krazykatykat456 @believerofall @ccidk @babechief @meganmj @blackhood5sos @fml9603 @noodlenerd101 @universefinds @kuroidesuchloe @im-a-stranger-thing @grxxn-gardxns @springholland @beforethebraces @robinisourlesbianmom @queeneliza108 @neenaw-neenaw @lexisntthatweird @choicesismylife @mckenzie2020 @kcd15 @snuggleducky @reckless-sofia @didyouseetheflair @silver-winter-wolf @jay-ta-blog @hopeless-lovex0 @anyasthoughts @robinismyqueen @yeah-butyourenot-dacremontgomery @mcrganstarks @psychoticobsession @cutehipstergirl25 @sbfandom @mickmoon @jackyfrost01 @txhmine @dark-princess99 @morgangrice18 @changingmylifestyle367 @sweetdayme4427 @alowexpectation @sexyvixen7 @golddvstwoman @evelynfreakinaddams @sunfucked @sataninsatin @queenbbarnes @venomavocado @rangotangomango @psychosupernatural @sereiins @frickin-bats @bandsruinedmylife @thee-brunette-princess @queenskyster @aspiring-fangirls-world @gracethegeek9902 @katiexdacre @dreamwavej @escaping-reality21 @void-fire-rose @slvtherinseeker @paranoiadestroyah @arromite @jojo-buttercup @danarysstormborn @graveyard--baby--666
Forever tags: @lumelgy @palaiasaurus64 @supernaturalbaesduh @breezy1415 @crazy--me @thatawkwardlittlefangirl @sea040561 @staryeyedgirl @deathbyarabbit @s-c-a-r-e-d-po-t-t-e-r @reblogger-not-a-blogger @m-a-t-91 @dalilx @i-need-a-hero-i-need-a-loki @maladaptive-ninja-returns @averyrogers83 @in-the-end-im-still-trash @gallifreyansass @dewy-biitch @avxgers @unlikelygalaxygiver @sweet-ladyy @magicwithaknife @ollyoxenfrees @bnhvrdy @tvwhoresblog @celebsimagines @thatkindofgurl @sj-thefan @teenwolflover28
A/N: heya! Sorry for the delay on this part, but I had such a full weekend that I just didn’t have the time to write or post, but I hope you enjoy this part. The next one might be the last or close to that, but I have a few other Billy imagines in mind, so if you wanna be tagged in any of the future fics drop a message (whether Hawkins’ Charm tag list, Forever tag list (means you’ll be tagged in EVERYTHING or just Billy’s :) )
ALSO! HOLY SHIT WE HIT 6K!!!! WHAT THE FUCK!!! THANK YOU!!! I CANNOT BELIEVE THERE ARE SO MANY OF YOU THAT LIKE WHAT I CREATE AND IT MEANS THE WORLD TO ME THAT YOU’RE STICKING AROUND :****
P.S. my tags are always open
P.S.S. what did ya think? :)
#billy hargrove#billy hargove x reader#billy hargrove imagine#billy hargrove x you#billy hargrove x reader#billy hargrove x y/n#dacre x reader#dacre montgromery#dacre montgomery x you#dacre montgomery x reader#dacre montgomery imagine#dacre montgomery x y/n#stranger things#stranger things season 3#strangerthingsedit#stranger things 3#stranger things spoilers#stranger things 3 spoilers#netflix#netflix stranger things#hawkins’ charm#hawkins#hawkins indiana#max mayfield#maxine mayfield#steve harrington#nancy wheeler#johnathan byers#the party#demogorgon
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Halloween Surprise
Little nonny, thank you so much for this request, I had a lot of fun writing it and I feel like I could totally seeing something like this happening! I'm sorry it got so long, anyway I hope you like it and I hope I made your vision come to life. The prompt list is here if you need it to send requests!! ♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡ Request- anonymous asked: You’re so great at writing!!! Can you do Steve x Reader 23, 30, 41, 68. I know it’s a lot but I thought they all fit the idea well but don’t worry if you can’t fit them all!! I’m picturing a Halloween party for the kids and Steve lost a bet to Robin so he has to actually dress up (maybe Dracula or Frankenstein some classic nerdy monster) and he’s screwed because Robin also invited his new crush to the party. (Female Reader is sweet and girly, you can pick her costume!) 23- “I immediately regret this decision.” 30- “Is that blood?” 41- “I’m not drunk enough for this.” 68- “This isn’t what it looks like.” ♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡ *Steve’s Point Of View* “I bet you can’t ask (Y/N) out next time you talk to her.” Robin dared me as as watched (Y/N) put the returned movies back on the shelf, putting them all in the correct spots. “Okay, you’re on. What’s the wager?” I asked Robin, believing in myself that I could ask the girl that I have been slowly falling for ever since she set foot into Family Video. “You win, I’ll find out if she likes you or not, that way you can talk to her with no fear of rejection.” Robin promised making me sigh knowing that if that was the pay off then the downside would be horrible. “You loose and I get to pick what your costume is for the Halloween party.” She smirked making me scoff, that was it? If I loose than a couple of kids get to see me dressed like a dork for a night? “Deal.” I confirmed, Robin and I shaking on it, just before (Y/N) walked over to us with an empty box. “So what’s next?” She smiled, looking at Robin for her next task and I just studied her, her smile, how sweet she was even to the rude people that came in here, a trait that I wish I had. “We were actually just talking about what our plans for the weekend, what are you up to this weekend (Y/N), got a hot date?” Robin asked making (Y/N) shake her head back and forth with a slight blush on her cheeks. “No, nothing like that. I think I’m just going to stay home, maybe watch a movie on Halloween. What about you guys?” She asked, her eyes locking with mine, making me clear my throat and ran a hand through my hair. “Yeah, hum, just gunna, uh, hand out candy…and well read?” I hated my answer as soon as it came out of my mouth, read? Really Harrington, idiot. I mentally punched myself as (Y/N) nodded with surprised eyebrows. “Didn’t know that you read, at least not unless you had to, good to know.” She smiled, trying to make my dumb answer have a reason behind it, god why does she make me so nervous? “I actually need some help with putting together some new displays, and I wanted to run something by you anyway, follow me?” Robin asked (Y/N) making her nod and shoot me a small smile and wave as she followed Robin to the back room. I threw my head back in defeat, as Robin walked backwards and mouthed “loser” to me with a big smile on her face. Wow I really messed that one up, now I can only wonder what costume Robin had in store for me. ** “I immediately regret this decision!” I yelled as I stood in my bathroom, Robin waiting for me in my room, to come out in costume. The kids asked me to hold a Halloween party for them seeing as they thought they were too old for Trick or Treating and I couldn’t say no, not after what we all went through this summer and last Halloween. Robin showed up to the party as a Russian soldier, a inside joke with the group, and as I dug deeper in this box for my costume I couldn’t help but groan at each piece that I was pulling out. Fake teeth, fake blood, a giant cape, hair gel?! Oh I was going to kill her. “Hair gel, Robin?! You want me to kill my hair as well as my Halloween?” I asked her through the door as I began getting dressed into my costume. “Dracula is classic, a ladies man, and he has an awesome cape. I went easy on you, dingus, just change and stop complaining, you lost.” She ranted making me nod even though she couldn’t see me, all I had to say was thank god (Y/N) wasn’t going to see me. ** I was finishing putting out the snacks for the kids, putting some drinks in the fridge for Robin and I as the doorbell rang. “Oh, I’ll get it! I invited someone, I hope you guys don’t mind.” Robin jumped up from the couch, telling all the kids, making me look up out of pure confusion. All the kids were here, Nancy and Jonathan were on a date so it wouldn’t be them and all the kids parents were happy that they were out of their hair for a night. Besides, Robin was only friends with me and (Y/N)… shit, (Y/N). As the door opened, I saw (Y/N) walk in, El and Max running over to her to hug her, Dustin looking back at me, knowing about my crush on (Y/N). She was dressed as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, a movie I use to watch a lot as kid. She looked amazing, her hair in two braids, her blue and white checkerboard dress, her ruby red heels, she even brought her family dog in a little basket, it’s like she walked right out of the movie. I turned around and put my forehead on the fridge. “I’m not drunk enough for this.” I mumbled, opening a beer, taking swig before Dustin walked over to me in his Marty McFly costume from Back to the Future. “You are so screwed.” He commented making me look down at him. “Yeah, no shit. If (Y/N) didn’t like me before Dracula, she certainly won’t like me now.” I grunted taking another sip of my beer. Robin set me up, she knew I would take the bet if she left out one detail of (Y/N) coming to the party. I just sighed as I looked at (Y/N) with all the kids, hugging each of them, letting the girls play with the puppy while she complimented the boys costumes. She looked up between talking to Lucas and Mike, locking eyes with mine. “Shit, go back over there.” I pushed Dustin back towards the living room, as (Y/N) walked my way, her heels clicking on the tile. “Nice costume, Dustin. I love that movie.” She smiled making Dustin nod his head towards me. “So does Steve, he helped me with the costume.” He proudly stated, making me smile at him trying to earn me some cool points back. Her smile lit up a room, her personality making me weak the knees. She wasn’t like every other girl, I wanted to keep her safe, to hold her, to have conversations with her, deep ones, I wanted to know everything about her. “Is that blood?” (Y/N) panicked once she reached me, and I both nodded and shook my head no at the same time. “It’s fake blood, so yes, it’s blood but it’s not real.” I explained making her nod and let out a breath. She looked me up and down before smiling at me, making my heart race. “Dracula, huh?” She perked making me nod while taking another sip of my beer. She was about to say something else but I cut her off. “I think the kids wanted to watch a movie, maybe order some pizza, want to help me pick the movie? They always fight on what to watch so I just end up picking.” I offered making her nod with a big smile, more than eager to help me. That was the first time I didn’t sound like a complete idiot while talking to her, maybe this beer was helping me, or maybe Robin planned this all along. ** (Y/N) and I ended up picking E.T., a movie that wasn’t going to freak the kids out but was still entertaining enough that they would get bored. As (Y/N) and I sat next to each other on the couch, I couldn’t help but graze my hand against hers, it was taking every thing that I had not to intertwine our fingers. The doorbell rang, startling us all, (Y/N) getting up from the couch to get the door. “El want to help me?” She asked the girl sitting in front of her, El and (Y/N)’s relationship was a lot like mine and Dustin’s and that just made me fall for her more seeing how she was with her. Once El thanked the pizza guy and they carried it all inside, I saw Robin follow the pair into the kitchen, my curiosity peaked at the trio I got up from the couch to see if they needed any help. *(Y/N)’s Point Of View* When Robin asked if I wanted to go to Steve's Halloween party, I was hesitant at first. I liked Steve, a lot but he didn't seem to like me too much which is his choice, but I didn't want to make things awkward. Robin assured me that Steve wanted me to come so I agreed, not having set plans for that night anyway. I used a costume that my mom had made and wore when I was younger while I dressed up as the good witch, I remembered how much I loved her costume and thought it would fit me, perfect enough, it did. The whole day, I was excited, excited to see Steve and all the kids in costumes, excited to have a fun Halloween. When I got to the house, the kids all welcomed me with warm smiles and hugs, Max and El especially. Steve was quiet, a little distant but what's new with him? I thought him asking me help him pick a movie was a good start but the whole time while we were watching, he didn't do or say anything. So when the pizza got there I knew I could get away from the confusing mess that this party was. I asked El to help me because she was my little side kick, my partner in crime and Robin must have followed us into the kitchen. "He didn't want me here, Robin. He has barely said two words to me." I whispered, not wanting anyone to hear what I was saying. El held my hand as she saw me begin to tear up. "Friends don't lie." El said looking at Robin making me cock an eyebrow, what was she talking about, what was Robin lying about? "Okay before you freak out, Steve and I made a bet that if he could ask you out, I would find out if you liked him or not, if he couldn't then I got to pick his Halloween costume, I just didn't tell him that I invited you to the party because I know if I did he just would have spazzed out more. This isn't what it looks like, he likes you, he just doesn't know how to talk to you without being a puddle of a human being" Robin confessed making Steve clear his throat from the doorway, making me turn around to dry my tears, hoping that he didn't see them. "Talk to him." El said before letting go of my hand and walking out of the kitchen, taking Robin with her. I took a breath before turning around to see Steve leaning against the door frame. I didn't say anything, I just started to plate some of the pizza for the kids. When I went to grab another slice, I felt Steve's hand on mine and I looked up, our eyes meeting. "Why were you crying?" He asked softly making me shrug and sniffle. "Robin asked me here under false pretenses." I responded and he just sighed, taking the pizza out of my other hand and turning me towards him. "I do want you here, I just didn't want you to see me dressed like this. I was excited to see you walk through that door, looking beautiful like always, I just didn't know you were coming, let alone that you came because you thought I liked you, which I do, I just- you make me nervous, you are smart and sweet and the prettiest girl I have ever seen and you deserve better than me." Steve poured his heart taking me by surprise. I couldn't help but laugh at the situation, he scoffed as I laughed, and I started shaking my head, trying to make him understand that I wasn't laughing at him. "I'm sorry, I just- we both like each other but we were both too scared to say anything but when we did, you are dressed Dracula." I giggled out causing Steve roll his eyes and taking his fake fangs out, making him look a lot more like himself. "I love your smile, your laugh, everything about you." He swore, cupping the side of my face, making me smile even harder. "Just shut up and kiss me, Steve." I wished and he smiled before connecting our lips at my request, this was certainly not the Halloween I was expecting.
#stranger things#stranger things season 3#stranger things season 2#stranger things season 1#robin stranger things#steve harrington#steve harrington imagines#steve harrington x reader#steve harrington fluff#dustin henderson#eleven#mike wheeler#max mayfield#lucas sinclair#will byers#stranger things imagine
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