#nancy steele is missing

[vintageerieteacup]

Jail lunch flirting.

[noirgasmweetheart]

Snippits of Ugarte being a difficult prisoner...

"Visas? Yah, I have tons, lying around my apartment. I don't keep track. Maybe I accidentally rolled them into refers, who knows."

"...signed by General de Gaul?! Two of them?....Hmm....nope. doesn't ring any bells."

"Why don't you try looking up Major Strasser's ass-hole. You were probably gonna do that anyway, huh Louie?"

"...son of a bitch didnt even try to help me."

"Sounds like my wife."

"If I ever see his putrid--"

"--Oh! Good morning Louie! Did you and the major manage to find those fucking visas yet?"

"You can tear Casablanca apart brick by brick. You will never find those visas."

"...Rick what the hell are you doing here."

"Looking for a pub. I'm rescuing you, moron."

"I suppose a refined cafe owner is always fashionably late."

"Chew me up when we're on our way out of here."

"Who else is with you?"

"Louie."

"Renault?" [Rhaspy laugh.] "This just keeps getting better and better."

"Look it's a long story. Hurry up or you won't get to hear it."

[peterlorrefanpage]

Peter Lorre as Professor Sturm in "Nancy Steele is Missing!" (1937), with Victor McLaglen.

Once again those eyes of his are gorgeous. Love that second pic the most, I think.

Watch this prison melodrama here:

[peterlorrefanpage]

So adorable, so so adorable. That top one gets me every time. Here are a few more:

From a photoshoot during Nancy Steele is Missing (1936)

[queereads-bracket]

Queer Adult SFF Books Bracket: Round 1

Book summaries below:

Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire (Wayward Children series)

Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children No Solicitations No Visitors No Guests

Children have always disappeared under the right conditions; slipping through the shadows under a bed or at the back of a wardrobe, tumbling down rabbit holes and into old wells, and emerging somewhere... else.

But magical lands have little need for used-up miracle children.

Nancy tumbled once, but now she’s back. The things she’s experienced... they change a person. The children under Miss West’s care understand all too well. And each of them is seeking a way back to their own fantasy world.

But Nancy’s arrival marks a change at the Home. There’s a darkness just around each corner, and when tragedy strikes, it’s up to Nancy and her new-found schoolmates to get to the heart of the matter.

No matter the cost.

Fantasy, portal fantasy, mystery, magical realism, boarding school, novella, series, adult

Paladin's Hope by T. Kingfisher (The Saint of Steel series)

Piper is a lich-doctor, a physician who works among the dead, determining causes of death for the city guard's investigations. It's a peaceful, if solitary profession…until the day when he's called to the river to examine the latest in a series of mysterious bodies, mangled by some unknown force.

Galen is a paladin of a dead god, lost to holiness and no longer entirely sane. He has long since given up on any hope of love. But when the two men and a brave gnole constable are drawn into the web of the mysterious killer, it's Galen's job to protect Piper from the traps that await them.

He's just not sure if he can protect Piper from the most dangerous threat of all…

Fantasy, romance, mystery, secondary world, standalone-ish within series, adult

[detectivejay]

Detective/Mystery Media List

Open to more recommendations if I’m missing any favorites I should check out, let me know! Particularly any other good Sherlock adaptations, but also interested in finding more female, PoC and/or queer-led detective media.

Watched/read/played/etc:

Sherlock Holmes (ACD canon)

Sherlock - Basil Rathbone adaptation film series

Sherlock - Granada, Jeremy Brett adaptation TV series (some episodes, need to rewatch) - shoutout to @thegreatandlovablespacedorito for reminding me to revisit this one

BBC Sherlock TV series

Sherlock - Robert Downey Jr movies

Enola Holmes (movies)

Moriarty the Patriot/Yuumori (manga and anime)

Ron Kamanohashi: Deranged Detective/Forbidden Deductions aka RKDD (anime, need to read the manga)

Hercule Poirot novels (not all but a large portion) - need to watch more of the TV show Spenser novels by Robert B Parker (not all but a large portion)

Auguste C Dupin - The Purloined Letter by Edgar Allan Poe (short story)

The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett (book)

The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler (book)

Case Closed / Detective Conan (anime, some episodes/seasons)

Knives Out movies

Psych TV series

Only Murders in the Building TV series (caught up to the current season)

The Dresden Files books

Brookyln 99 TV series

House MD TV series

True Detective TV series

Monk TV series (watched some episodes)

Murder She Wrote (a few scattered episodes)

Hannibal TV series

Bones TV series (some episodes, not all)

Fargo movie and TV series (watched some episodes)

White Collar TV series

Justified TV series

Miami Vice TV series

Nash Bridges TV series

Killing Eve TV series

High Potential TV series (American version)

The Clue movie

Anita Blake book series (up to book 10)

Some Nancy Drew books

Ace Attorney video games (AA1-AA6 plus Investigations 1+2)

Professor Layton video games (not all but I believe at least the first 3)

Sherlock Hound

The Great Mouse Detective

Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century

Inspector Gadget cartoon

Scooby Doo cartoons

The Boxcar Children

Detective Pikachu movie

The Case Study of Vanitas (anime/manga)

The Millionaire Detective - Balance: Unlimited (anime) - @prapo237 got me into this one x3 so silly

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (read years ago, need to watch the show) - recommended by @holisticcomedian

The Residence TV series on Netflix

Currently watching/reading/playing/etc:

Sherlock Holmes and Co - podcast (currently listening to The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax - Part One, thanks to suggestions from @wasabitheweirdo and @cuil-chan)

Sherlock - Elementary TV series (on 3rd season)

Miss Sherlock - Japanese TV series also suggested by @meg-pond (just started)

The Invisible Library novel series by Genevieve Cogman recommended by a friend IRL (up to book 7 currently, The Dark Archive)

The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles - video game duology, includes Herlock Sholmes (on case 3 of game 2)

Case File nº221: Kabukicho anime - unusual modern day adaptation of Sherlock in Japan (on episode 3)

My Dear Detective: Mitsuko’s Case Files manga suggested on the JR Discord (on volume 2)

Persona 5 (video game) recommended by friends on the JR Discord (only beat the first palace so far)

Watson's Sketchbook by @contact-guy

To watch/read/play/etc:

Detective L - Chinese Sherlock-inspired TV series on Youtube recommended by @meg-pond

Bodkin TV series on Netflix - Irish, female-led, recommended by @rubycountess

Columbo TV series

Remington Steele

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle novel by Haruki Murakami

More Auguste Dupin stories and other mysteries by Poe

Murder on the Orient Express movie

The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes film

Bonnie MacBird Sherlock Holmes books recommended by @romanathree

Soviet made Sherlock Holmes film recommended by @imlostatau on Youtube

Famous Five books

Midsomer Murders TV series

Twin Peaks TV series

Mindhunter TV series

Murdoch Mysteries TV series

Death in Paradise TV series

Phryne Fisher's murder mysteries books and TV show recommended by @milenathebrave

Turner and Hooch TV series

Magnum PI TV series

Father Brown TV series

The Professionals movie

Homeland TV series

Cadfael TV series

Broadchurch TV series

Criminal Minds TV series

Shetland TV series

Police procedural shows like NCIS, CSI, etc.

Baskerville play by Ken Ludwig suggested by @wolfyraged

Without a Clue suggested by @helloliriels

Young Sherlock suggested by @helloliriels

Vera Stanhope novels by Ann Cleeves suggested by @nightshadezombie

Charlotte Holmes books by Sherry Thomas suggested by @lej418

Sherlock Holmes stories by Anthony Horowitz ("House Of Silk" and "Moriarty") recommended by @bringerofworlds

Miss Marple novels by Agatha Christie

Any other Agatha Christie novels I haven’t read (Sad Cypress recommended by @romanathree )

AJ Raffles books by William Hornung recommended by @romanathree

The Hardy Boys books and TV series

Elemental Masters by Mercedes Lackey

Holmes, Marple and Poe by James Patterson - curious to see how this book treats these original characters inspired by the greats, the new characters are Brendan Holmes, Margaret Marple (maybe related to Jane Marple?) and Auguste Poe (takes his first name from Poe’s detective, Auguste Dupin)

The rest of the Dupin stories

The rest of the Raymond Chandler books

More Arsene Lupin stories (including ones vs Herlock Sholmes)

Nero Wolfe novels by Rex Stout

Pet Shop of Horrors anime/manga recommended by @eden-falls

Otherside Picnic recommended by @eden-falls

Lonely Castle in the Mirror recommended by @eden-falls

The Angel of the Crows by Katherine Addison, saw this one posted recently by @seeingteacupsindragons and I'm curious so added it to the list

Magnus Archives horror/thriller mystery podcast recommended by @writingandwritten

Fawx & Stallion podcast - @224bbaker

The Beekeeper's Picnic indie game - @beekeeperspicnic

Hearth & Holmes indie game - @abigailmoment

Undead Murder Farce or Undead Girl Murder Farce - Manga Adaption / Anime Adaption - female led series suggested and recommended by @leithianeth

Kyouko Suiri / In/Spectre -invented inference- Light Novel -> Manga Adaption -> Anime Adaption - female led series suggested by @leithianeth, recommends the manga

Gosick - Light Novel -> Manga Adaption -> Anime Adaption female led series suggested by @leithianeth - older series

The Detective Is Already Dead - Light Novel -> Anime Adaption female led series suggested by @leithianeth (but not really recommended)

Sakurako-san no Ashimoto ni wa Shitai ga Umatteiru / Beautiful Bones: Sakurako's Investigation - Light Novel (a redditor has been translating them very diligently) -> Anime Adaption - female led series suggested and recommended by @leithianeth

Kindaichi Shonen no Jikenbo - older manga and anime recommended by @pinkvoidsandwich

EDIT: Last updated 5/22/25

[bylerfanfics]

FIC DAILY: DAY 10

MAY 19, 2025: 12 NEW BYLER FICS!!

Yesterday's Fic Count: 12,742

Today's Fic Count: 12,754

THIS POST WILL BE SPLIT INTO 2 PARTS!!

THIS IS PART TWO: 6 FICS

I apologize if I miss some new fics. If you want your fic to be shared on this blog, please go to my asks: fic shout-out! And send me a link to your byler fanfic on ao3.

Show some LOVE to byler authors by leaving kudos and kind comments on their fics!!💙💛

LOOK AT THE RATING, WARNINGS AND ALL TAGS BEFORE READING!

Fics are not mine. Please support these talented authors. Happy Reading! — bylerfanfics

KEEP READING TO VIEW NEW BYLER FICS!!

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Ashes of Us (10516 words) by blrbbn Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Stranger Things (TV 2016) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death Relationships: Will Byers/Mike Wheeler, Will Byers & Mike Wheeler Characters: Jonathan Byers, Joyce Byers, Nancy Wheeler, Mike Wheeler, Will Byers Additional Tags: Angst, Heavy Angst, Teen Angst, Angst and Tragedy, Character Death, Love, Dorks in Love, Falling In Love, Boys In Love, Accidents, Mike Wheeler Loves Will Byers, Gay Mike Wheeler, Mike Wheeler is a Mess, Will Byers Loves Mike Wheeler, Gay Will Byers, Will Byers Needs a Hug, Mike Wheeler Needs a Hug

Summary:

Mike and Will’s quiet, profound love is shattered by a sudden tragedy that leaves Mike grappling with unbearable grief and loss. Through art, writing, and memory, Mike carries Will’s spirit forward—transforming pain into a lasting testament of love that lives on in brushstrokes, pages, and whispered promises. Their story is not just about heartbreak but about enduring love that shapes and heals, even when the world feels unbearably empty.

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and when waves splash, we'll still be crazy in a dash. (828 words) by gyukisser Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Stranger Things (TV 2016) Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Will Byers/Mike Wheeler Characters: Will Byers, Mike Wheeler Additional Tags: Drabble, Finger Sucking, Sweat, Summer Love, Love Confessions, Boys Kissing, Popsicles, Dirty Thoughts, Joyce Byers mentioned - Freeform

Summary:

‘'I know El didn’t request that painting.’’ Mike suddenly blurts out, and Will snaps his head to look at him so fast he winces and worries he broke something in his neck. After a short moment, Will clears his throat.

‘'Yeah? How so?’’ He finally replies to Mike, and Mike needs to think on how to word this. How he’s known since that dreadful day in the van, he’s known ever since Will started talking and claiming it was all El. They both knew.

or: mike finally confronts will about that painting.

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Hallow (520 words) by blrbbn Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Stranger Things (TV 2016) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Will Byers/Mike Wheeler, Will Byers & Mike Wheeler Characters: Will Byers, Mike Wheeler Additional Tags: Paladin Mike Wheeler, Cleric Will Byers, Protective Mike Wheeler, Mike Wheeler Loves Will Byers, Will Byers Loves Mike Wheeler, Will Byers Needs a Hug, Heavy Angst, Angst, Angst and Tragedy

Summary:

In a realm fractured by shadow and silence, two boys—one guided by light, the other by faith—carve their path through pain, prophecy, and sacrifice. As war inches closer and hope thins like mist at dawn, Mike Wheeler must grapple with the unrelenting weight of choice, love, and the ache of what lingers after loss. A tale of devotion wrapped in steel and sorrow.

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Cursed with Bad Breath (and Maybe Feelings (665 words) by blrbbn Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Stranger Things (TV 2016) Rating: Not Rated Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Will Byers/Mike Wheeler, Will Byers & Mike Wheeler Characters: Mike Wheeler, Will Byers Additional Tags: Mike Wheeler Loves Will Byers, Gay Will Byers, Will Byers Loves Mike Wheeler, Mike Wheeler Being an Idiot, Gay Mike Wheeler, Mike Wheeler is a Mess, Will Byers/Mike Wheeler in Love

Summary:

It’s May 12, 1985, and 14-year-olds Will Byers and Mike Wheeler are spending the afternoon in the Byers’ kitchen—scrapbooking, sipping milkshakes, and arguing about movies like it’s an Olympic sport. Will’s taste leans toward the creepy (Evil Dead, Poltergeist), while Mike’s living in a galaxy far, far away (Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back). But when Mike shows up with a handwritten list—and a not-so-subtle excuse to see Will again—the banter turns flirty, the breath mints get shared, and a cursed movie list becomes something a little more magical. A nostalgic, soft, and hilariously awkward rom-com set in the glow of VHS tapes, glitter tape, and first kisses.

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Swords, Sass, and the Princess Who Wasn't (593 words) by blrbbn Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: ranger Things (TV 2016) Rating: Not Rated Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Will Byers/Mike Wheeler, Will Byers & Mike Wheeler Characters: Mike Wheeler, Will Byers Additional Tags: Mike Wheeler Being an Idiot, Gay Mike Wheeler, Protective Mike Wheeler, Mike Wheeler Loves Will Byers, Gay Will Byers, Will Byers Loves Mike Wheeler, Protective Will Byers, byler

Summary:

Will Byers is a prince. A very unbothered, very bored, creatively imprisoned prince who was locked in a tower because some royal astrologer said he was “too soft for war and too sassy for politics.” Which, rude. Meanwhile, Mike Wheeler is a paladin with a sword too big for his ego and cheekbones that could cut glass. When their fates collide—Will being held hostage and Mike being the knife-wielding rescuer they definitely didn’t order—the result is chaos, glitter, sarcastic banter, and maybe a kiss or two behind some very dramatic curtains.

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Hydrangea Blue (709 words) by blrbbn Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Stranger Things (TV 2016) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: Major Character Death Relationships: Will Byers/Mike Wheeler, Will Byers & Mike Wheeler, will byers and m Characters: Will Byers, Mike Wheeler Additional Tags: Angst, Heavy Angst, Tragic Romance, Gay Panic, Mike Wheeler Loves Will Byers, Will Byers Loves Mike Wheeler, Will Byers Needs a Hug, Gay Mike Wheeler, Gay Will Byers

Summary:

Will Byers has always felt different—quieter, more observant, a boy with trembling hands who sees the world better through crayon and sketchbook pages. Drawing was his safe place, a silent world he could control. And Mike Wheeler, with his quiet rebellion and big heart, saw him when no one else did. From a shy kindergarten friendship sparked over a shared moment to a love that grew in the silence between, their bond deepened over the years. But even love can’t hold back death. As Will’s light fades, memories return—of blue hydrangeas, promises whispered, and one vow that carries across lifetimes: "If you go crazy, we go crazy, together."

Dang blrbbn!! You are FEEDING us!!

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12 NEW BYLER FICS!! LET'S GOOO!!! See you tomorrow, byler authors and readers.

[peterlorrefanpage]

You are so right about his focus and drive. His body may appear to be stagnating in so many square feet, but his mind, oh, his mind was making every second count! Gives me the good chills. As does that quote. Excellent depiction and setting.

I'd love to see or read about Prof Sturm on his own, yes indeed, @peterlorres21stcentury

Four of Swords

The four of swords is a card about contemplation, meditation, ‘a great focus in life’. Reversed it can be stagnation, precaution, testament. So I decided upon the most patient Lorre character of all: professor Sturm from Nancy Steele is Missing. This character quietly observed his celmate, Dannie, and remembered every little piece of information he let slip from his mouth. Biding his time and sitting out his sentence for seventeen years (!), he waited for the moment he could get out and claim the reward for revealing where the missing daughter really was. In the original card, three swords hang from the wall, and the fourth one lies under a sleeping knight, here, they are the bars in the prison window, and the shiv Sturm is holding in his hand, contemplating about what he is to do with Dannie.

‘When I came here, they pushed me around too, you know. But now, they no longer do.’

[female-woman-wiffman-lass]

Though in think tank:

It's just the two of us (three actually, its a tricycle now)

harringroveson, metalsandwhich

just the two of them wanting the same guy and finding each other

while said guy is trying to be filling. they're having the feels and steve is horny. he's fine though. I'll decide if I can keep this going. they will fuck nasty. in like, the next parts.

Billy Hargrove and Eddie Munson are hooking up. They've got a good thing going on.

They're into each other, they have stuff in common, be it music, the fashion, their preferences. They're fast and quick. Furious and sharp, all teeth when they're together. Get a thrill and kind of comfort with how consistent and similar they could be. They bounce off and work each other to heights. It feels like it's only the two of them, like steel sharpening steel. In this small hick town.

Billy's always felt a lot, even more now he's stuck here. Always ran hot now he's stuck in a chilly, dreary town, used to feel like he could breathe slow and easy out there but not when he's stuck here. And with Eddie. Well, Eddie always wanted more, knows he's made for more. He's flagging half-heartedly in a small town, and now Billy has to tuck himself in. They both always feel bigger on the inside. No one is like them. Not in the way they know.

No one else feels jagged or rough. Neither Eddie nor Billy know anyone who can stop the itch, the aches in their jaw, the tightness.

Enter Steve Harrington. Just, not really.

Now, Steve seemed exactly nothing like either of them. Yes, he's masculine. A man. But he's not.. like them. Not dark or sharp, probably not what either of them would experience, probably doesn't feel like a whirlwind in his body, doesn't scratch. But it doesn't stop either of them from ogling. Shooting the shit with each other, letting out comments and thoughts on guys the've seen. And even if Harrington was open, or experimenting, or anything that would lead preppy jocks astray, he probably wouldn't be any good. Wouldn't be fun, no matter how pretty. No matter how soft.

Billy and Eddie's standards on the anyone in Hawkins, any man they might think of in the sense they'd think of each other. None for now, just them. Clocked each other so fast and collided with each other like a car crash. But both can agree, yeah. Steve's hot.

Billy's been knowing about it, having been hanging out with Steve. Knowing who he is, mostly on the court. Gets a kind of satisfaction being able to push this boy around.

And Eddie, who's there with his comments as they talk, will also have assumptions. He's known the guy longer. (If he ever really knew him. What more do you need when everyone else knows some.)

"Bill, he's just the usual, man." He takes a drag out of his cigarette, leaning on the side of his van. "Harrington. He's just a dude. I mean we're in Hawkins. Pretty boys like him got to be repressed. One way or another."

He scoffs, turning his head to him, eyebrows raised and hands waving vaguely in front of him, "have you seen him with Tommy? Before you came around those two were—" he puts up a tight fist and shakes it, like it would mean something. "Y'know? Tommy boy's been trailing after him since eighth grade."

Billy let's out a sharp laugh, stealing Eddie's cigarette, "calling me a homewrecker, Munson?"

"Is it homewrecking when you 'wreck' both parties? You ensnare Tommy away from the King and then you come round to have a chat with Harrington in the showers?" He let's Billy have the cigarette, crossing his arms as he leans in closer, "which, what was that about?"

(Eddie's been in this town, longer than the fresh meat Billy was supposed to be. Has seen the King parading around, stuck in his own little world. Head up in the clouds and not bothering to look down and check if his feet were even touching the ground. Til '83 that is.

It was weird. After Nancy Wheeler, sometime in November with all of them being gone for a while after two people go missing —one was Byers' little brother he remembers, he wasn't sure who the other one was, a girl?—only to come back with Wheeler on Jonathan Byers side of all places. Sweet and looking at each other like they've found someone who understands. Found someone who knows life outside. As if they knew there'd be more out there.

And Steve. Steve looked settled. Looked normal and still moving even when he looked at either of them, the couple. Like he knows he's small in this stupid town but doesn't feel tight in his own skin. That even though he hasn't found anyone like that, and even lost something he's still fine. That he's seen more and knows better even when he stood still. He's found out about the same things Byers and Wheeler had. Went through the motions. Was just waiting for a pin drop to be able to live. It fascinated, Eddie. He envied it. He scoffs in his mind, what would Steve Harrington know?

Will he ever get to know? The boy and the why?)

Billy rolls his eyes, taking one last drag from his cigarette before putting it out, dropping it on the concrete for hi to stomp, "fucking nothing, Edward."

Not nothing. He heard Eddie and his 'normal dude' rant. But he can't fool Billy. He knows the guy saw the same thing in Harrington he did. He was different and radiant in this stupid town while also fitting in perfectly. He was fucking lame and didn't know a single thing. But. He also knew some things. Makes it seem like the things he knows were life altering

Harrington was an enigma. A person with thoughts and feelings and in some kind of state. He was your average fucking prep. Image obsessed, vain, and so impossibly normal. And a flea who only knows the jar can't jump over the cap. But Steve. It's like he doesn't care. He doesn't know why he only knows this side of The King's rebrand. How he only knows one side to the story. How he knows Tommy and his weird obsession with Steve and how he left, and turned fucking bitch. Acted like he was now bottom of the barrel. But the King (although Billy has a feeling he isn't one anymore) is fine. Acted like dropping his nuclear friend group and demographic was nothing. Which in the grand scheme of things, maybe it wasn't. But it's supposed to be something, to boys like Steve Harrington. He doesn't know why he cares.

"Ouuh, fucking nothing, Edward, blah blah. Also, don't call me that." He huffs. "You're not the only one thirsting, William. Everyone wants, envies, covets at a piece of Steve Harrington. But again, he's just a dude. Hell, I had the hots for him too. Besides," he knocks shoulders with Hargrove, finger going up to flick at his piercing then to loop around a blonde curl.

"Ya got me right now."

Billy looks at him with considering gaze, before smirking. He straightens up off the van, "you wish, freak." He goes round to the back of the van, opening it up, before crawling in.

Eddie grins, scampering off after him. He pushes the both of them obssesed with Steve Harrington bit away from his mind. He's hanging with Billy.

Steve frowns a bit as he sees both men hop into the back of Munson's van. He was just passing by the parking lot. He sighs, scratching his head. He needs to go to another fucking bar. His nightmares are acting up again. Who knew the eerie light of the pool and his own house lights would make him twitch? What a life. He's okay though, pretty sure.

He smiles as he hops in the car. A night in Indy will fix him up. Surely. It always does. (And although Nancy –and Jonathan suprisingly– were worried, he assures them both as sweetly as he could that it was definitely not alcoholism. It's either more or less better than they expected. But he's glad his new friends slash two wheels he third wheels slash co-monster fighters were worried.)

As he drives off, he takes a glance at the rear view mirror, before shaking his head. Why would they hook up out in the open, in that back of the guy's van in a parking lot? Sure they could be hotboxing or some shit and smoking the weed in that dweeb Munson's lunchbox but Steve doubts that. With how hot the both of then are and how intensely they were looking at each other they were for sure fucking. He thought at least Hargrove would know better.

"Shame, shame," he shrugs, even though no one can see him, his expression set in 'it is what it is.' He wonders what he should wear and what he should order. He licks his lips and hums happily. He gets to feel alive for the weekend.

[juanabaloo]

one day i'll learn to make gifs but until then you get this little unhinged BTVS rant (with bonus pieces of other people's gifs).

ep: 3x19 choices - Faith is fully aligned with the Mayor and in her spiral. But she hasn't killed Prof. Lester Wirth yet, that's not until 3x21.

AND THEN THIS!

ep: 6x21 Two to Go - Willow stole magic powers from Rack and is in her spiral. She killed Warren in 6x20 Villains and has JUST killed Rack.

"It's way too late," said casually and cheerfully versus "I promise it's not too late," said with such aching hope. How Faith lashes back at Willow for hurting her. How Willow lashes back at Dawn for (inadvertently) hurting her. More script quotes below the cut if you want this to gnaw on your brain.

ep: 3x19 choices - Faith is fully aligned with the Mayor and in her spiral. But she hasn't killed Prof. Lester Wirth yet, that's not until 3x21.

"Check out the bookworm." "Faith!" [Willow is surprised] "Anyone with brains, anyone who knew what was going to happen to her, would try to claw her way out of this place. But you, you just can't stop Nancy Drewing, can you? Guess now you know too much and that kinda just naturally leads to killing."

"Faith, wait. I want to talk to you." "Oh yeah? Give me the speech again, please. [Faith is sarcastic here.] Faith, we're still your friends. We can help you. It's not too late." "It's way too late. [Willow says this quickly, calmly, cheerfully, casually.] You know, it didn't have to be this way."

[Faith's smile fades, she retracts, very very slightly.]

"But you made your choice. I know you had a tough life. [Faith is back to smirking.] I know that some people think you had a lot of bad breaks. Well, boo hoo! Poor you. You know, you had a lot more in your life than some people. [Faith studies Willow here, considering her violent options.] I mean, you had friends in your life like Buffy. Now you have no one. You were a Slayer and now you're nothing. You're just a big selfish, worthless waste."

[Faith punches Willow in the jaw and she falls to the ground.]

"You hurt me, I hurt you. I'm just a little more efficient."

[Faith pulls her knife on Willow. It seems like Faith might actually kill Willow, but The Mayor interrupts.]

COMPARE TO

ep: 6x21 Two to Go - Willow stole magic powers from Rack and is in her spiral. She killed Warren in 6x20 Villains and has JUST killed Rack. "Dawnie, what are you doing here? 'Cause if you're looking for me? Now's not a great time." "You look terrible." "Do I?"

... "I have to go." [Dawn is nervous]

[Dawn moves to the door but Willow appears blocking her way. Dawn cries out, definitely scared.]

"Why? So you can run and tell Buffy?" "Willow … please, just listen to me." "You don't have to talk. Just think real loud. I can hear you."

[Willow advances menacingly.]

"You're freaking me out." "Oh, don't be like that. I'm just a little wired. And I have some things to do. I thought if anybody'd understand - " "I miss Tara, too! But this? [Something plays over Willow's face. I think she pauses for a second, she feels the pain a little more.] What you're doing here? This is not the way to go! You're only going to make things worse! [Willow studies Dawn, considering her options. I think she steels herself for what she plans to do, resigned to it.] But I promise, it's not too late to - "

[Willow proceeds to be very cruel to Dawn. She hurts Dawn with her words, efficiently.]

"You miss her?" "Yes." "Did you cry? [Dawn is shocked.] Of course you did. I get that. I understand the crying, you cry because you're human. But you weren't always." "Yes, I was." "No, please. You're telling me you don't remember? You used to be some … mystic ball of energy. Maybe that's why you're crying all the time, Dawnie. 'Cause you don't belong here."

[Willow continues, taunting Dawn and mocking her, super cruel.]

[Willow backs Dawn into a wall. It seems like Willow might actually kill Dawn, but Buffy interrupts.]

Gifsets of some of this, both by starryeyesxx ep: 3 x 19 choices ep: 6 x 21 two to go

I think S6 Willow is eons scarier than S3 Faith, but Faith could have killed Willow with her knife, maybe. I think Faith is super glad The Mayor interrupted so she doesn't have to decide. Good doggie Faith (affectionate). I think Willow wanted to hurt Dawn, and then as she got going she thought death by Buffy was an OK option, and what better way to ensure death by Buffy than killing Dawn?

Also later in 6x21 Willow says, "I've got big party plans." Just like Faith in 3x10 Amends!

[mixsethaddams]

Robin and Nancy? Robin and Nancy.

“It was never about Steve, just so we’re clear,”

Robin paused, mouth full of soda while she processed what Nancy was trying to say.

“What…uh…Steve?” Robin stuttered, trying to catch up.

“Why I didn’t like you, at the beginning,” explained Nancy, short curls bouncing around her face while she spoke. “It was never about him. And I wanted you to know that,”

Robin carefully set her glass down on the table. The diner was quiet, tuesday nights were never busy in any part of Hawkins. Nancy toyed with the edge of a napkin, throwing a quick glance around to see if their waitress was coming back with their food any time soon.

“Ok…thank you?” ventured Robin.

“I just…” Nancy cleared her throat and straightened her shoulders, still looking down at the table between them. “Since we’re…doing this now, this, us… I need to get it out there,”

Robin’s stomach leapt at the mention of them being an us despite only a handful of unofficial dates as she leaned slightly over the table, raising her eyebrows to encourage Nancy to keep talking.

“Barb Holland was my best friend,” said Nancy quickly. “She meant a lot to me,”

Robin practically felt the floor fall out from under her.

“When she went missing you…” Nancy steeled herself again. “I heard you saying things about her that were cruel and mean and… You said a lot of things,”

Robin was frozen. She got the impression this had been rehearsed in the mirror.

“So I need to know why you did that,” finished Nancy with a sharp nod. “Why you said all that,”

Nancy’s gaze finally lifted from the table and locked onto Robin’s. Robin opened her mouth but nothing came out. She thought about Barb every day, but there were some things that not even Steve knew. There were some things that were too painful to remember.

“Well?” asked Nancy, her face like stone.

Robin took in a trembling breath and leaned back into her seat.

She didn’t know what do to, what to say. Barely knew how to say it. Never mind after being put so firmly on the spot like that. Robin’s mind raced. How would Nancy react if she knew the truth? Had Barb told her anything? Obviously not, if this was the conversation they were having.

The longer Robin stayed uncharacteristically silent, contemplating her next move, the harder Nancy’s face got.

Hell, Robin didn’t even know what that next move was going to be.

Robin thought of us. Whatever came next, it had to be to protect us.

“Truth is, Nance…” Robin started, folding her arms on the table. “I thought she stood me up, and I wanted to get back at her,”

Robin hated herself for finally admitting it. Hated admitting that the reason she spent two days backbiting and badmouthing Barb, her Barb, was for something so shallow. She’d heard the cheerleaders talk before a game. She’d picked up a few things on how to make someone feel guilty. All the little one-liners to make someone stomach clench and their mood plummet. Those girls were masters of ruining someone’s day and Robin used every piece of overheard ammo she could. Robin wanted to hurt Barb like she’d hurt her. Or at least, the way Robin had thought she’d been hurt.

“You and…” Nancy’s eyes grew wide. “Oh,”

“Yeah, oh” said Robin with a sarcastic laugh. “We were supposed to go out the day after Steve’s party. Right after school we were going to catch a bus to Jackson and spent the whole night just… walking around somewhere new, I guess? We had tickets to a movie and everything, my dad drove me out the day before so I could buy them,”

“Oh… Oh Robin,” sighed Nancy, putting a hand on Robin’s arm.

“She wasn’t in school that day, and I thought well maybe she skipped?” said Robin, her voice wobbling. “She never skipped but I didn’t want to think she was sick because then that would mean cancelling, you know?”

Robin quickly swiped a tear from under her eye with the edge of her sleeve.

“But then she wasn’t at the bus station either,” said Robin softly. “I didn’t even think about going by her house, her parents didn’t know about…me… I just went home instead. I think… I think if I had have gone there, that maybe I would have found out something was wrong sooner and not said the things I did,”

Nancy’s face had softened entirely. She was looking at Robin with wet eyes, trying to keep her bottom lip from pouting out.

“You didn’t know,” whispered Nancy. “It’s ok,”

“I swear, I swear I didn’t know,” said Robin.

“I know,” promised Nancy, squeezing Robin’s arm.

Their waitress appeared and dropped their plates between them. Nancy shuffled out of her side of the booth and pushed in beside Robin, grabbing her hand under the table to subtly lace their fingers together.

“I didn’t know about the two of you,” said Nancy quietly. “She never told me,”

“We never told anyone,” answered Robin. “I wish we did. If someone knew then I wouldn’t have been able to get away with trying to… bully her when she was already…”

“Gone,” said Nancy, finishing where Robin trailed off.

“I hate myself for it every day,” said Robin, clinging to Nancy’s hand. “Every single day I think I’d do anything if it meant I could take it back, and tell people how amazing she was instead,”

“She really was pretty amazing,” agreed Nancy.

Robin took a shaky breath.

“I… I don’t know if I can say this, you know, considering this, and all,” Robin squeezed Nancy’s hand for emphasis. “But… I really miss her, Nance. I think about her a lot,”

Nancy nodded.

“I do too,” she said. “And that’s ok,”

“It is?” asked Robin tentatively. “Some days it feels like I’m under water with how bad it feels,”

“It is,” said Nancy. “I get that way too sometimes. Thinking about how I could have stopped it,”

“You couldn’t-“

“You don’t need to do that,” said Nancy gently. “Thank you, but, you don’t,”

Robin nodded solemnly.

“We have each other now,” said Nancy. “We can be there for each other when it gets too much. I’ll keep your head above water if you do the same for me,”

“That sounds like a plan,” said Robin, feeling a small sense of relief.

“Good,” said Nancy. “Come on, don’t let your food go cold,”

Robin ate one-handed, the other still hanging on to Nancy’s. Thinking about Barb still made her world turn on it’s axis, but at least now Nancy Wheeler was there to keep her steady. She suddenly wasn’t alone with it anymore. They would face it together whenever they needed to.

They had each other.

Us.

[peterlorrefanpage]

Nancy Steele Is Missing! (1937)

Revisiting this photoset because (a) Peter Lorre is gorgeous, and (b) His role in Nancy Steele Is Missing! is, as usual, the highlight of the movie.

And he gets to look like this as well, which is equally scrumptious. This man knows how to use his curves and angles:

Watch:

"His face is amazing in its changing lights and shadows. It is, in the space of a second or two, pleasant, amused, sinister and sad. Interesting, clever, kind and smiling, that face. . . obviously cannot be cataloged with any other face in the world." - a journalist in 1935, about Peter Lorre.

What we really need is a Peter Lorre Flip Book, only it would have to be a digital/online one because just one set of pictures for one instance of Peter Lorre would comprise 10s of 10000s and even then you wouldn't get all of his expressions. Still. Anyone want to try? 😛

The above series of portraits was made in 1936 during the filming of Nancy Steele Is Missing! A studio photographer did indeed attempt to capture "Lorre’s outstanding ability to reveal psychological complexity as the varying emotions chase each other across those extraordinarily mobile features."

Peter is 32 in these pictures. Source

That top middle one is divine, and I'll always like the last one seen through the bars where he's all dejected - I could keep going about each of these. But this one below, I keep coming back to. Something especially compelling about it, or resonating with part of my psyche at this moment, I don't know.

[hawkeifiedwrites]

‘Steve, you need to run!’ A one shot based off *that* spoiler audio.

November 1987

The warehouse was dark, and foul smelling. Cobwebs hung around the walls, like some kind of late Halloween decoration. The air was cold and icy, so cold that you could feel it on your breath.

Hopper had chosen this location as an ideal spot to try and take down Vecna once and for all. Isolated. Away from the decaying Hawkins. A few months had passed since Vecna’s first attempt at destroying Hawkins, losing Eddie, Max’s coma, Eddie’s funeral, a quiet affair with Dustin and Wayne as the primary grievers. Dustin’s mother Claudia was one of the fallen during the Earthquake, and with Dustin’s house being destroyed, he moved into Wayne’s trailer, spending their evenings reminiscing about Eddie.

Nancy stood, armed and ready, her face portraying no emotion, hard as steel, but inside she was deeply terrified. Jonathan stood next to her, also armed with his own weapon. Will stood beside his elder brother, his eyes closed, hand raised to his neck, trying to sense Vecna’s presence. Steve was standing a few feet away from the trio, eyes alert and his bat located over his shoulder. Robin stood next to him, fierce like Nancy, but again, her insides felt icy and cold.

Vickie Turnbow, her girlfriend, stood next to her, holding a crossbow, her hands shaking with pure fear.

Dustin had headphones upon his head, and was verbally communicating with Hopper’s group via the radio.

The entire group was covered in army gear, taking precautions against Vecna’s powers.

Hopper’s group, which consisted of himself, Joyce, Eleven and Mike, were currently working on developing Eleven’s strength and powers in order to undertake the final battle.

Will shuddered, his breath hitching, and his eyes shot open. ‘He’s here’. The group braced themselves, clutching their weapons tighter. Jonathan moved closer to Will, his protective older brother instincts kicking in.

Vecna emerged from the shadows, like a animal stalking their prey, his claw shaped hands bent beside his withered skin. His demon liked eyes fixated upon the group.

Dustin spoke into the radio ‘Eyes on Vecna. Repeat, eyes on Vecna!’

Vecna smiled. Nancy felt her blood run cold.

She blinked, and he was in front of her.

She screamed, before shooting straight up into the air.

‘Nancy!’ Jonathan screamed. high, fearful, spine shaking. Robin gasped, watching her friend levitate in the air. Steve closed his eyes.

‘Dustin, music, quickly’ Jonathan pleaded, his voice cracking. Nancy’s favourite song rung out across the warehouse.

But Nancy was somewhere else. Somewhere with Barb, Her little sister Holly, her mother Karen. Somewhere away from Vecna. Somewhere safe.

Crack. Her left arm. Crack. Her right leg. Crack. Her right arm. Crack. Her left leg.

Each time Jonathan screamed, tears falling down his face. Steve joined him in flinching, and becoming distraught. He wrapped his arms around Jon, and pulled him away. ‘You don’t need to see this’

Jonathan struggled. ‘No. No. Nancy’ he wailed, his grief evident in his face, his eyes, his voice. Steve bawled too, his love for Nancy never stopped. Both the boys loved Miss Nancy Wheeler, at different times in their lives, but she was an important figure within their lives.

‘Don’t look.’ Steve turned Jonathan away.

Squelch. Will flinched as Nancy’s eyes popped out of her face. The image will stay with him forever. Nancy’s body dropped from the sky like she was a bag of rubbish.

Robin roared, like a mighty lion, and speed towards Vecna. Her friend laid there, eyes empty and void, Jonathan caressing her corpse, Steve comforting him. Will leaning his head on Jonathan’s shoulder. Grief and anger carried her feet.

‘Robin!’ Vickie screamed.

Robin faced her demons, in the form of Vecna. The cause for her nightmares. She’s been here multiple times, but this time was real. She could feel his breath on her face.

Vecna raised his hand, and Robin threw through the air, landing painfully on her back.

Steve rushed over to Robin, who lay unconscious, having hit her head. Vickie snapped, loading her weapon, and fired directly at the monster.

Her arrow landed in his shoulder, and blood emerged from the wound.

Dustin joined Vickie in her stance, glaring viscously at the creature who killed his friends.

‘You can kill us. You can torment us. But you will never win.’ He spoke fiercely, never breaking eye contact with Vecna.

Vecna rasped ‘you’ll never win.’ He stepped forward towards Jonathan.

Will step in front of him. ‘Not another step.’ He snarled. ‘You’ve ruined my entire childhood, took Nancy, but no, you’re not taking my brother.’

Vecna simply stared at him, eyes devoid of emotion, and flicked his hand, sending Will into the wall.

Will screamed ‘Jonathan!’ and pushed himself up with all his might. His muscles ached, but it was better than watching his brother die.

Vecna’s hand came up, and Jonathan struggled, gasping for air.

Steve wailed at the thought of losing another friend, his hands cradling Robin’s head.

Vickie snarled, notching another arrow and shooting. This time, her arrow hit the bullseye, and landed right in Vecna’s eye. He screamed, in pure agony, and Jonathan dropped from Vecna’s control.

Will rushed over to Jonathan, and pulled him into a hug. The brothers both weeped with joy.

Vecna turned his attention towards Vickie.

‘No. No.’ Vickie screamed, as Vecna moved towards her.

Steve crawled towards Nancy’s corpse, to find her gun. He pulled it off her body, and fired towards Vecna, but missed. He sobbed violently, yelling ‘cmon’.

Vecna’s hand came up across Vickie’s face, and he creepily whispered ‘I’ll kill you all.’

Vickie sobbed, her ginger hair falling in front of her face.

Her eyes rolled back inside her head, and she began to float.

Jonathan heaved with effort and determination, standing up on shaky legs. He grabbed Vickie’s crossbow, which she had dropped, and aimed.

The arrow entered Vecna’s chest, and he roared. Turning towards the brothers, his eyes flashed with both pain and anger.

Will screamed with his whole chest ‘Steve, run. You need to run.’

‘Take Robin and Dustin. Go.’

Steve looked torn, but ultimately nodded, gathering up Robin in his arms, and gesturing for Dustin to follow him.

‘I’m not leaving.’ Dustin declared, turning back towards his friends.’

Steve hesitated before gently placing Robin down.

‘Me and you. We’re a team.’ Steve said, placing his hand on Dustin’s shoulder. ‘We stick together. All of us.’

Steve turned to the others, and smiled. ‘Vecna cannot win, because we love and he doesn’t’

Vecna snarled.

Steve levitated away from Dustin, who pleaded with him to remain with him, and Vecna’s hand came down.

Crack. Crack. Crack. Crack.

‘No! No! No! Steve.’ Dustin sobbed, as memories of their friendship travelled through his mind. Searching for Dart. Girl advice. Bonding over Star Wars. Scoops ahoy meetings. The Russian Basement escape.

Steve dropped, his eyes empty.

Dustin wailed.

Jonathan stood and ran over to Dustin, holding him back from attacking Vecna.

As he did so, he took his eyes off Will.

Will Byers, at the age of 16, angered by Vecna, by constantly tormenting him and his loved ones, snuck around behind Vecna, and aimed.

His aim was true.

Vecna roared as he took the arrow within his back.

‘Will!’ Jonathan screamed, his voice hoarse, and his face pale.

‘Leave my loved ones alone!’ Will took all the anger and courage into one breath. He stared Vecna down, and the latter recoiled like a wounded animal.

Vecna turned and disappeared into the darkness.

Will breathed a deep sigh of relief, and he ran towards Jonathan.

The Byers Brothers hugged, relieved they had survived, but knowing that there was a bigger fight coming.

Jonathan moved towards Nancy’s corpse, picking her up gently, and carrying her out of the warehouse.

Vickie moved towards Robin, who stirred awake, clutching her head.

Blood trickled down her forehead, reaching her neck, and she groaned.

‘Robin. Robin, slowly, carefully’ Vickie advised her girlfriend.

Robin turned and looked around the space.

She came across her best friend’s body, not breathing, face pale and cold.

The noise that emerged from Robin’s throat was ear piercing and raw. One that Vickie hoped she would never hear again.

Robin was leant over Steve’s body, screaming her lungs out, grief and anger transforming into rivers of tears.

‘I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry I couldn’t save you.’ She repeated over and over again into his brown hair.

Vickie moved forward. ‘Robin, we have to go.’

Robin nodded sniffing loudly, moving towards Steve’s legs. Dustin gently stepped forward, and picked up Steve’s arms.

‘Let me help. He was my family too.’

Together, the group exited the building, full of sorrow, grief stricken and sadness.

Six went in. Only four came out.

[ks-caster]

Stranger Things Theory: The Creatures aren't Attracted to Blood. They were Created to Collect and Bring Back Water.

My evidence, in no particular order:

Within the Upside Down, vessels that should be full of water, including natural ones such as Lover’s Lake, are empty. Yet everything that seems to be alive (vines, demo-critters, even the gates) is at least moist. The things require moisture to survive but don't appear to have a natural source of it.

In season 2, Will's entire concept of Hawkins as a place is through the waterways. When he goes looking for Hopper via the Mind Flayer, that's the only thing he can see in terms of regular landmarks. Hawkins' waterways are something that the Mind Flayer is aware of.

Everything in the Upside Down is a hive mind. However, the creatures also follow some form of biological laws (such as molting and eating). Therefore it stands to reason that the vines exist for a reason. Perhaps rather than vines they function more like roots, explaining why there are so many of them in places like a lake basin, a pool, and climbing up trees.

On the night in season 1 that the demogorgon escaped the lab, it was surrounded by tasty scientists that it had easily murked, but it didn't really stop to eat them. Predators generally eat when they're hungry, so this is unusual behavior. (could it have been hunting El, yes. But then why deviate and go after Wil? Give me a moment.) Clearly none of the scientists were a threat to it, so why would it leave the lab that night, if it was hungry and surrounded by blood-filled bodies? We're told by Hopper that it was raining--storming, in fact--on the night that Will went missing. A creature seeking blood and flesh would have stayed inside. But a creature just seeking the biggest source of moisture would have gone straight for the drainage pipe, which would have filled with running water.

Everything from the Upside Down likes it cold, but nothing likes it frozen. Will had the window open and his shirt off, but he wasn’t jumping in the freezer in season 2, and Billy may have been bathing with ice cubes, but he was also able to be outside in the summer in a long sleeved shirt for many hours at once in season 3. Plus if they wanted frozen, a walk-in freezer would have been a better setting than an old steel works building for the mind flayer to create its monster. Everything from the Upside Down also fears fire/hates heat. The warmer an environment is, the faster water evaporates--but get an environment too cold and water freezes, such as the water within living bodies. The water needs to be liquid.

The monsters do not have eyes. Their heads are literally all mouth. Not just all mouth, but all teeth—teeth in a way that doesn't really make sense. They don't have teeth for cutting or for chewing, they don't have rows for slicing, and the petals, as we see in Bob's death in season 2, don't close when they feed, they actually open wider. They don't seem to have strong jaws for biting, just teeth-covered flaps for wrapping. Those mouths are designed for ripping and tearing, and its the prominent feature of their heats, which makes not a whole lot of sense if they eat meat--but plenty of sense if their main purpose is to drink liquid (such as blood out of a victim).

When they kill Bob, they don’t go for the throat, or the head, or the heart. They tear him open at his torso. It takes time, it spills a TON of blood. They’re going for his gooshy organs.

Same deal with Steve and Eddie; the bats go for their torsos. They’re not interested in killing or in eating flesh, they’re going for blood, intestines, bile, and lots of it. 

The Demogorgon doesn’t show up to the Byers house to attack Jonathan and Nancy with the bandaged cuts on their hands, but it smells dinner when Steve shows up with multiple bleeding cuts to his face.

Conversely, when El is in the mindspace, she’s always in water. She’s in the bath, she’s walking on water. Perhaps because she approaches the mindspace from this side, from her human-ness? I don't have a great explanation for this one, but it feels relevant.

When the Russians are creating a Gate manually, they're using or at least transporting a ton of mystery liquid--but we know the liquid isn't for power, because we know that the power comes from the grid (per Alexei, season 3). So what was the liquid for? A LOT of it was stored in the elevator, but only a little was taken down to the lab. So the liquid--not water, but liquid that burns and destroys--is related, but it's not the power source. We never did find out exactly what the Russians were doing with it.

Furthermore, the only thing that can travel from the Upside Down to the regular world without El pushing it is electricity (see the lights in every season, Will using the tape deck and the phone in season 1). Y'know what travels pretty well through water? Electricity.

When One first arrived the world visually appeared dry, barren. He meets the mind-flayer, which appears like black smoke.

Smoke is solid particles and water vapour. White smoke is mostly water vapour, but black smoke is mostly oil, particles, things that are NOT water.

Find a photo of Henry meeting the mind flayer. His eyes are sunken and his skin is wrinkled, exactly as one might expect of a person dying of thirst.

Consider One's victims and the physical locations in which he choses to open gates. Between the events of the earlier seasons, it's most likely that the majority of Hawkins has some kind of trauma he could have pulled on if he wanted to, but he picked:

Chrissy: a person with a history of Bulimia Nervosa, who due to the exact trauma he pulled on to activate her would have been statistically more likely to die in a bathroom, where we see her taking shelter early on.

Patrick: One waits to attack Patrick until he's out over Lover's Lake, creating a gate in the middle of a water source. (Due to the gravity differential the water doesn't pour through, but we see the vines--I still say roots!--just chilling and soaking in the lake until they snake up and pull Steve down. They certainly don't MIND being underwater!)

Fred: While Fred doesn't have the same connection to water as Patrick and Chrissy, he does have a serious fear of fire due to the car accident. As a victim, he would at minimum be someone who also would not be able to defend himself (being afraid of the only thing that could potentially save him). Additionally, if Vecna is starting to attack people close to the Party (Patrick for Lucas, Max for Eleven, then Fred might have been a jab at Nancy as well.

Max: In Max's case, she was a pretty clear jab at Eleven. She doesn't have the same MO as the others, so I got nothing here.

My theory is that something or someone somehow took all of the water out of the Upside Down, burning and starving the Mind Flayer. Or the Upside Down is a place where there never was any water, and the Mind Flayer was banished there somehow, unable to die.

It might have worked, but then El sent One there (accidentally, as we know she intended to kill him). One and the Mind Flayer joined forces, and One taught the Mind Flayer how to create creatures—suckers like spiders, since those are his obsession—to go out, gather what they need, and come back to build an ecosystem. Mostly water to revitalize the dead world. 

After all, we know One doesn't particularly want to return to this world, he doesn't like it here, he said so. He'd rather build his own

The original Demogorgon left out of the lab filled with tasty people because it was raining. It soaked up the wetness, and then went after Will, maybe thinking he’d have more nutrients? That explains why he was kept alive even after being taken—he was essentially in a larder. A farm? Maybe they tried to do something like that with him and Barb, but Barb hit her head? Broke her spine? Maybe they realized it would be more difficult to keep them alive than they thought, especially when more people with flamethrowers and guns keep showing up. However, it’s notable that when Will returned, he was NOT dying of thirst. He also didn’t actually wash his hands. He DID vomit up a pollywog, showing that he was infected from being down there. He didn’t die of thirst, but he WAS an incubator.

So the hive mind hatches a bunch of little demo-dogs this time, to go out and swarm like bees, find what they need.

Dart likes nougat of all things, which is sugar or honey whipped with egg whites. Egg whites provide protein and water to an embryo of a chicken. Dart literally ate Demogorgon baby food. 

I really think I might be onto something here.

[history-class-menace]

Band of Brothers oc

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Nancy Donovan.

Tw: Mention of domestic abuse, period typical sexism, war trauma, idk what else lmk if i missed anything

Note: when I write things like this i am not ever trying to disrespect real life veterans who fought in wars, this is based off the HBO series

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Born: April 12, 1921

Appearance: 5'5, large greyish brown eyes, thick dark brown hair, fair skin, def has a sleeper build. dark circles under her eyes, 30% deaf in her left ear.

Personality: Nancy is practical and tough, her will doesn't break easily. She's as stubborn as she's pretty. She's intelligent, brave and fiercely loyal but she feels like she needs to protect everyone, all she's ever done is take care of other people and she's forgotten how to take care of herself first. She doesn't feel like she deserves to be called a saint or an angel and hates it when people call her that. She hopes to find peace one of these days but for now she's got work to do on the battlefield.

Backstory: Nancy was born in a small town just outside of Casper, Wyoming to a working class Irish American family. Her father, Paul, was a lumberjack, her mother, Rose, was a housewife. Nancy was the eldest of three daughters, her two sisters are Bonnie (17) and Mary (15). Her father wanted sons, he loved his daughters but his trauma from the first world war mixed with the fact that he had his first daughter quite young meant he didn't really know how to be a father be there for his children. Nancy raised her younger sisters with her mother while her father worked all day, the silent resentment brewing as they struggled to get by during the Depression. When Nancy was 16, she fell in love with James O'Ryan, another Irish boy in town. They had grown up together. His father had a good job and he was smart, handsome and respectful, and her father liked him. It seemed like a dream come true. They became engaged when they were 18 in 1940. They had a generally happy relationship even though James' expectations for Nancy to be a quiet housewife and to know her place were clear, Nancy tried to play along even though it got on her nerves. In 1941 when the United States declared war on Japan and the Axis Powers, Nancy wanted to enlist and become a nurse withJames, who was enlisting in the Airforce, he forbid her from it, saying it wasn't her place and that she was to stay at home waiting for him like a "good woman". They fought about this until James made the mistake of hitting her during the argument, trying to "knock her down a peg". Nancy left that night with a bruised face, broken heart and a steel resolve and enlisted in the Army to become a combat nurse, she was placed in the 101st Airborne Division, in the second platoon of Easy Company. Not only did she join the Army to escape her abusive relationship, but to also prove that she could do anything a man could do after being told her whole life what she can and can't do. Sobel resented that Nancy was a woman and was trying to keep up with the men (and succeeding), and made her life a living hell at Toccoa. She worked twice as hard as the other men and gained their respect because of it.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Random Facts

-She has dyscalculia

-She keeps a journal, writes in it everyday. (i might write it at some point)

-allergic to pollen

-Sometimes writes poetry

-Daddy issues

-Thought daughter

-insomniac, girl does not sleep

-calls herself dramatic but people just don't listen to her until she's hysterical and don't give her credit for the countless times she's regulated her emotions when she wanted to scream her head off (same)

-It took a little while for the men to fully accept Nancy but once they did it was like she was one of them (oversharing, complete lack of personal space, fierce loyalty and lifelong friendship)

Rip Nancy you would've loved Mitski

[metalhoops]

Like a lesser hero in a fantasy tale, the night was cut clean in two by the dull glow of a flashlight beam, flanked by two boys. It was an odd pastime but a familiar one to them. They had grown at home in the strange dark places of the town, aware of what might be lurking in the shadows between the pines. 

Eddie, the first boy, with his hair and clothes as black as the forest floor, shook the silent woods with the intermittent clatter of his stainless-steel rings on the metal shaft of the light, his makeshift weapon. Each ring was a treasured yet well-worn possession. The ear of the pig ring and the temple of the skull were permanently scratched from the repeated action.

Steve, the other boy, was more prepared. He came brandishing a baseball bat, its wooden body a sister to the surrounding trees with a halo of gnarled nails, hinting at the more sinister air of their surroundings.  

Unlike Eddie’s fantasy games, the backstory didn’t matter. It was the reason the boys were there, of course, but it was also the imminent threat they didn’t wish to speak of. In their shared pasts, there had been portals to other worlds, monsters beyond human comprehension and near-death experiences that’d brought on the winter of Eddie’s life, and the spring of Steve’s. 

Eddie had spent the past month jumping at shadows in the corner of his new bedroom or in the woods beyond the trailer park. Steve, on the other hand, had bloomed beautifully and brutally before Eddie’s eyes. Before the Upside Down, he would look at Steve and all he’d feel was ire, righteous indignation and a small yet frustrating, pang of lust. 

When he looked at Steve in the yellow glow of the torchlight, he saw a man who’d come when Eddie called, in the middle of the night, with haste and a plan. He saw someone who believed in him or at least, cared enough about him to go willingly into the night when Eddie had reported seeing sinister shapes shift past his window.

It was enough to get Steve to leave the confines of his isolated mansion and slum it with the poor folk down in the proverbial trenches. Eddie now saw a man he very well might be in love with. Jagged shadows cast by stray branches sliced across his face, resembling the snaking vines of the Upside Down. The boys had barely escaped the place and every moment after felt as though they were living on borrowed time. 

“What’d you say we do one more loop past the old train tracks and call it a night?” Steve asked, at last, his body sticking close to Eddie’s side. He felt a pang of guilt for dragging Steve out of bed, again, just to find nothing. 

“We can head back now, I’m probably going crazy, man.” 

“No, I wanna check. Otherwise, it’ll bug the hell outta me. We’ve all been a little crazy after everything we’ve been through. I mean, I’ve almost died like ten times. Think the eleventh time might be the one that sticks- you know?” 

It reminded them of another night, in another world. It had been a quick yet intimate conversation with a stranger. If we get out of this, Eddie had thought at the time, I might actually want to get to know this guy. Months had passed. He still felt like he didn’t know Steve enough to say what he wanted to say, but Steve needed to hear it. 

“That’d be a real bummer, you know? If you died. I wouldn’t have anyone to go on long walks in the moonlight with.” 

The two boys had fallen out of step with one another. Steve had charged forward in the semi-darkness leaving Eddie a few paces behind.

“Nancy would come with you.  After the first time, when Will and Nancy’s friend went missing, she’d swing by my house, and we’d sit on the deck chairs watching the pool. Honestly, you might be better off with her. She’d bring a gun,” Steve spoke, tossing the jagged bat from hand to hand, with the skill of an ex-high school sports star. 

“Why is it you and I always end up in the woods trying to set each other up with Nancy goddamn Wheeler?” Eddie spoke disbelievingly as he jogged to catch up with Steve. He laughed, his hand bumping Eddie’s side as the two fell back into step. 

“She’s not my type, Stevie. You can have her,” Eddie tacked on, trying to defuse some of the tension that had arisen between them, skimming his light amongst the trees. 

“I don’t think she’s my type either. Well— not anymore. We tried it. It didn’t work out. We wanted different things,” Steve admitted.

Once they reached the train tracks, Steve surveyed the old wood and rusted metal. The place also had history. He could smell freezer burn and rotten meat on the breeze. When looking at Eddie’s profile he felt a sudden charge to the air like the calm before a thunderstorm. 

He thought of a conversation he’d had years before with Dustin on those very tracks. He knew with sudden certainty why he’d hauled himself out of bed in the middle of the night, once again to chase Eddie’s hunches. He and Dustin had been talking about love.  He gave himself the same advice he’d given the kid all those years before. 

Don’t fall in love. It’ll only break your heart.

“Right, you wanted that whole hoard of kids and an R.V. vacation thing? Three girls, three boys. A whole brood of Harringtons,” Eddie breathed, kicking up dirt and leaves with his shoes. Steve shot Eddie a perplexed glance, surprised he’d been listening and shocked he’d remembered the statement word for word.

“Right, yeah. I know, make fun all you want, dude. It’s crazy I know.” Once more, they fell out of step. 

Eddie stopped while Steve kept walking, playing the role of a funambulist, his hands outstretched as though standing at a great height as he walked foot over foot across the thin metal. 

“This might surprise you Steve but for once I wasn’t going to give you shit,” Eddie replied, walking beside Steve, jumping from wooden beam to wooden beam. 

The metal track gave Steve a good half inch of height, making it so that for once the two weren’t eye to eye. Eddie kept flicking the light between the vast track ahead of them and the empty woods behind. He still felt as though any moment something could burst through the cracks in the earth left in the wake of the quake and drag them back down into Eddie’s personal version of hell. He couldn’t help but think of Steve’s words. The eleventh time would stick. Eddie didn’t know what he’d do without him. 

“So, what do you want?” Steve asked, shaking Eddie from his thoughts. When his answer didn’t immediately present itself, Steve continued.

“I mean, you know what I want. Six nuggets, touring the country. What do you want?” 

The question startled a scoff out of Eddie. It wasn’t as though anyone had bothered to ask him that before. He didn’t know. 

“I’ve got no clue. I’m not like you. I don’t sit around thinking about the future. I’m just trying to get through today,” Eddie confessed, speaking more candidly than he’d intended. 

“Alright. You don’t know what you want to do with the rest of your life. That’s pretty normal, but having nothing? Dude. You’ve gotta have something. Let’s start small. What do you want to do tomorrow?” 

“I don’t know. I wouldn’t mind having breakfast with my uncle and spending some time with the kids and the band. Maybe if I’m lucky I’ll get to see you, hopefully under some better circumstances,” Eddie explained as Steve misstepped, almost falling from his perch. 

He corrected himself, placing an outstretched hand on Eddie’s shoulder for balance. Eddie tried not to preen beneath the other boy’s touch. 

“I like the sound of that,” Steve confirmed, daring a glance at Eddie. 

The storm within him continued to brew. Eddie’s plans for whatever small future stretched out before them involved Steve, which was more than he’d gotten from anyone else.

Nancy wanted a career in investigative journalism. She wanted to change the world for the better. It was a noble goal. One Steve had admired endlessly but he couldn’t help but feel like a small child asking for a seat at the grown-up table when trying to compete with the hopes and dreams of Nancy Wheeler. For her, he would’ve changed his dreams to play a small part in her life, but he’d come to realise that wasn’t a good way to love. 

Every relationship Steve had went to hell eventually. He didn’t want the same fate with Eddie. He wanted to continue walking the fine line between friendship and whatever awaited them on the other side of the electric storm. Steve didn’t know if he was ready for all the complications being in love with Eddie would entail. It’d wreak havoc on his sense of self and take a hatchet to his dreams of white picket fences. That was on the slim chance Eddie felt the same way about him. 

When Steve looked at Eddie he felt as though he were back at the bottom of Lovers Lake. To love Eddie was to drown beneath the crushing weight of possibilities. 

“You okay?” Eddie asked, a hint of concern in his tone. 

It was only then that Steve realised he’d stopped walking, his knuckles turning white as his fingers dug into the fabric of Eddie’s jacket. 

No. Steve was far from okay, but he couldn’t voice it without ruining everything. 

“I need a minute,” Steve muttered, stumbling back from Eddie, removing his hand as though he’d grabbed the wrong end of a hot poker. 

He’d moved on instinct, forgetting where he stood on his precarious perch. He tumbled ass backwards off the train tracks, trying to save whatever sense of dignity he had left by scrambling to his feet quickly. He heard his bat clatter to the forest floor as he headed off into the woods, unsure of his direction. He needed space to sort his head out. 

There were only two ways Steve knew how to face a crisis; two base and primal instincts, fight or run. Eddie wasn’t a wayward creature that devoured cats or a schoolyard bully. He couldn’t punch himself loveless and doing anything to hurt Eddie was worse than torture. 

Steve wanted Eddie to hit him. It’d shake loose some of the tension in his chest at the sight of the boy’s brown eyes; the eyes that reminded Steve of the deep warm wood that was fashionable in homes during his childhood. The familiar floorboards of the entryway where he’d lay with Tommy after hours of swimming, drip-drying on the wood, warping it to the shape of their bodies. 

Eddie’s eyes reminded him of home. Not the place he’d grown up in, but the sensation one felt when they recalled a fond memory, years removed from context and complications. Steve couldn’t imagine a future where Eddie would hurt him, even if that’s what he wanted. 

He did what he did best. He ran away. 

Without Eddie’s flashlight, the woods were a gaping maw of some unseen creature. Even the breeze on the back of his neck felt warm. Steve collapsed at the base of a tree and searched his pockets for a lighter. He didn’t bring his cigarettes but there was something soothing about the weight of the object in his hand and the repeated action of sparking the flint and extinguishing the fire with a twist of his wrist. 

Steve heard approaching footsteps signalled by the crunch of leaves underfoot.  He prayed Eddie wouldn’t ask why he’d run. If he asked, Steve knew he’d tell him. Then they’d both be screwed. 

Steve tried to spark the lighter again, but no flame would ignite. It was out of lighter fluid. Just his goddamn luck.  

“Steve?” Eddie’s voice echoed through the trees. 

The direction was all wrong. Eddie’s call came from a distance. The footsteps were close. Right goddamn on top of him. Fuck. 

Steve acted fast, fumbling in the underbrush, trying to find a weapon. He grabbed a stray branch with enough heft to wield. He was good at making use of what he had. He held the wood aloft, scrambled to his feet and fumbled with the lighter, desperate to get one last spark out of it. He knew how much the creatures hated fire. In a way, he was thankful that he knew what he was dealing with for once. 

The swiftness of the footfalls and the length of the shadows cutting through the blackness let him know within seconds he would be face to face with a full-sized Demogorgon. 

Steve felt the creature before he saw it. A sudden force collided into his body knocking him from his feet. He had just enough time to get the jagged end of the stick between himself and the creature. He felt the branch wade into the creature’s soft flesh. 

Eddie called his name once more, drawing the creature's attention away from him. Steve had an opening.

His trembling hands flicked the lighter again. This time, for a brief and brilliant moment, it sparked. He shoved the naked flame against the creature's wound. He wasn’t sure if he’d hurt it or just made it mad. It thrashed and writhed, grabbing at Steve’s body, and pounding him into the damp earth. Now Steve had its attention. 

He tried to strike out but this time the monster was too quick, its body bared down on Steve and before he knew it, he was face to face with the monster's strange unfurling flesh mouth and razor-sharp teeth. So, this was how he’d die. 

“Mother fucker,” Eddie muttered as two shifting figures caught his attention. 

Steve was pinned to the ground by something that looked fresh out of his nightmares. The others had told him there were more things out there than the bats and demonic, skinless hell-wizard they’d faced but Eddie’s mind had never been able to conjure a creature that would match the true beast before him. 

Steve was doing his best to keep the creature at arms-length. A rotted wooden branch cut at the palm of Steve’s hands and had gone straight through the thing’s body.  Eddie scoured his brain, trying to remember everything he’d been told about the creature. Heat. They hated heat. 

Eddie had grabbed Steve’s bat as he followed him. He’d wanted to be the kind of person who could give Steve space but every fibre of his being had told him to chase after the boy so he had. 

He dropped the flashlight to free up a hand and searched the pockets of his jacket, thankful he always had his lighter handy. He knew Steve would be pissed if Eddie torched his favourite weapon, but desperate times called for desperate measures. He’d rather have Steve pissed than not have him at all. 

He set fire to the bat, throwing more hellish shadows over the wicked tableau of the snarling beast and the desperate boy pinned beneath its grasp. The smell of burning wood and flesh hung heavy in the air. He had the element of surprise on his side. 

The flaming bat collided with the creature’s skull sending it reeling. It let out an inhuman whaling that scattered the nightbirds. Eddie readied the bat to swing again, expecting the beast to charge. Instead, it ran off into the blackness of the night. It’d finally happened. What they all knew had been inevitable. The Upside Down, and in turn Vecna was back. Though for now, he and Steve had brought themselves time. 

Eddie watched as Steve sat wide-eyed but seemingly unharmed. He guessed Steve Harrington had more lives left in him yet. Thank Christ. 

“Please tell me that looked as badass as it felt,” Eddie breathed trying to alleviate some of the tension between them. 

He dropped the bat, snuffing out what was left of the flame and moved unthinkingly to pat down Steve’s body, checking for wounds. He had a gash on his forehead and a split lip, but he’d live. 

“It looked pretty badass,” Steve confirmed and froze as Eddie’s hands raked through his hair. 

“You’ve got something in your...” Eddie’s voice trailed off as he pulled a leaf out of Steve’s hair, holding it aloft in front of his face. 

Steve’s eyes glanced from the leaf to Eddie before tentatively reaching out, his hands searching the planes of his body, dancing cautiously over the barely healed wounds that’d once littered his side. Steve was checking him over.

“I’m okay. You okay?” Eddie assured holding up a hand before reaching into the back pocket of his jeans. 

He pulled out his bandana and inched forward to wrap it around the gash on Steve’s head. The boy cringed beneath his touch. Eddie muttered an apology. 

“I’ll live,” Steve confirmed leaning back, trying to get some space between them. 

Eddie hadn’t realised how close they were. He shifted back, remembering with sudden clarity that Steve had practically begged Eddie to give him a second alone. He wasn’t willing to do that, given they’d already run into one hell beast that night. There could be others. He did something uncharacteristic. Eddie Munson sat with Steve in silence. 

They sat in stillness for so long that the birds and insects returned to the woods around them. 

“I’m sorry,” Eddie spoke when the silence was too loud. He didn’t know what he was apologising for, but he couldn’t think of anything better to say. 

Steve looked up at the boy with alarm. 

“What’re you sorry for?” He asked, feeling as though he was caught in another echo of the past. 

He remembered a seemingly endless car ride to Nancy’s house, trying to find ways to apologise for some transgression he wasn’t sure he’d committed. He’d wanted to apologise because he’d loved Nancy and he’d been scared of losing her. 

He wondered what motivations were behind Eddie’s apology. He worried that The Upside Down’s strange relationship with time had leaked into Hawkins, that some pasts were destined to repeat. 

��I don’t know,” Eddie admitted after a breath, letting out a nervous laugh. 

“I’m sorry for doing whatever I did to make you go all space cadet on me. Tell me what I did, and I can tell you I’m sorry,” he continued. 

Steve was certain at that moment, Eddie loved him too. It was already too late to change things. They were trains on a track, their futures seemingly already locked in place.

“You know if you want someone to talk to about whatever’s going on in that head of yours, I’m here Steve,” Eddie kept pushing, unable to take Steve’s silence as an answer. 

His tone was so soft, sincere and unlike anything that Steve expected from the boy that he couldn’t help but speak the words out loud, despite his better judgment. 

“I love you.” 

Eddie had thought he’d been prepared for anything, but he hadn’t been prepared for that. It was then that Steve let out a strangled sound between a scoff and a groan. 

“And it's screwed now. I always mess it up.”  

Eddie could hardly hear the boy’s voice over the rush of blood in his ears. His heart was a high-strung choir, singing the same repeated tune, ‘Steve loves me’. When his common sense kicked into gear, he noted the panic in Steve’s eyes and knew he needed to say something. 

“I love you too,” Eddie managed, feeling both heavier and lighter. 

He’d never said it before. He sure as hell hadn’t pictured a world where he’d admit he loved a boy before they’d started dating. Steve was moving at a breakneck speed and Eddie was desperately trying to catch up. To his surprise, Steve hardly stirred at the confession. 

“I know,” Steve admitted sounding broken as his eyes met Eddie’s. He gave the boy a tight-lipped grimace. All of Eddie’s momentary joy fell just as it’d begun to soar. 

“Please tell me that was a Star Wars reference,” Eddie whispered, earning a real smile from Steve. It was soft and fleeting as freshly felled snow on a warm palm. He knew despite all of Steve’s posturing, he was a huge nerd when it came to science fiction. 

“Eds, my track record...” Steve’s voice trailed off. 

Eddie realised the thing Steve had been dancing around. They were still talking about Nancy goddamn Wheeler in the woods. 

“Stevie,” he breathed, for once at a loss for words. 

He was a storyteller, but he didn’t want to give Steve a story. He couldn’t promise him a world where everything was perfect. They lived in a land of blight and monsters, a time of trouble. The town was still after Eddie’s head on a pike and Steve was running out of goodwill with those that’d once called him king. He wanted to show Steve what they were. 

Damn the past. Kill all possible futures. All they had was the brief and infinite present. 

Eddie wanted to show Steve what they could be at that moment. 

He crossed the space between them, pausing for a breath, leaving room for Steve to push him away. When no such protest arose, he placed one hand on Steve’s cheek, the other cupping the nape of his neck. 

“I’m not good at this either,” Eddie admitted tentatively. 

He’d kissed guys before. It’d always been desperate and sloppy. He didn’t want loving Steve to feel like an afterthought as it had with the other men. 

“But I think it’s worth a shot,” Eddie concluded. 

He’d laid everything out on the table, all that was left was for Steve to pick it up or turn it down. 

Steve didn’t surge forward. Instead, he moved achingly slow. One hand landed on Eddie’s thigh, the other tangled in his hair. He gave a gentle tug to pull him that last inch closer. 

Eddie’s lips were wind-chaffed and cool, melting ice on bare skin, shocking and a good kind of painful. Steve’s face had the faintest hint of stubble, it was rough as the rocks, and forest foliage beneath their bodies. He smelled of wet earth, blood, and faded cologne. Their hands traced each other’s topography with fingers, lips and tongues, toppling over in the process. 

When they pulled apart the whole world seemed to hold its breath. The wind was still. The night was silent. An invisible audience waited with bated breath for a conclusion. 

“Christ,” Eddie choked, hand fluttering dramatically to his heart. It was a kick drum in his chest. 

Steve’s hand followed, sliding beneath Eddie’s shirt. 

“Christ,” Steve echoed with a goofy grin. Eddie loved him. The thought came easily. It was the only thought populating his mind. 

“We should probably, you know, shelve this and try to stop the world ending... again,” Eddie proposed, trying to think straight. 

“Only if you promise to take me on a date after,” Steve countered. He pulled himself to his feet and extended a hand to Eddie. 

“Me take you? You’re meant to be the ladies' man with the killer dates,” Eddie argued, falling into step with Steve easily. 

“Exactly. It’d be nice to be the one getting the flowers for a change. Technically you’re the one who wanted to give this a shot. I’ll get the second date.” 

Eddie scoffed disbelievingly. The cocky bastard.  He’d never picked Steve as someone who liked flowers. He’d give Steve a garden, a forest, a kingdom. 

“Alright, save the world. Buy you flowers. Go on a first date. Go on a second date. Seems like I might actually have a plan for the next few days down pact.” 

“And after that?” Steve prompted. 

“If you want me to say six nuggets and a Winnebago you’ve gotta buy me dinner first.”