#no seriously mike cares so much about all of his friends which is something max isn't used to at all an it scares her

[maxmayfieldirl]

I wish we got more madwheeler bff scenes

[hairstevington]

mysterious ways (Steddie Week 2023)

Eddie Munson x Steve Harrington

Hello all! I am participating in Steddie week this year, and I am doing a seven part series reflecting each of the seven prompts. Thank you @steddie-week for the challenge! I will only have this first part on Tumblr, but will post the next six chapters each day on Ao3, so follow along over there if you're into it! :)

Summary: Steve feels lonely after the earthquake. Somewhere deep in the Upside Down, new life is born. (Prompts: Hunger - Pining - Somebody to Love by Queen)

WC: 1.4K (each part is going to be pretty short I think)

Warnings: Kas!Eddie/Steve, canon universe post-season 4, pining, angst, a bit darker than my usual fare but not by much, PS this fic will have a happy ending because all my fics do lol

A/N: I wasn't planning on doing Steddie week because I'm going through a bit of a tough time right now but I randomly felt inspired today, so I'm giving it a go. Shout out to @skjachukson for requesting Kas Eddie, I have a feeling I'll be writing him more after this lmao

Sometimes, when things are at their worst, Steve can shrug and say, “hey - it’s not the end of the world.” 

Of course, in Hawkins, it often is the end of the world. So now, Steve has no idea what to tell himself. 

His hometown, which - let’s be real - was never that glamorous, is now in shambles. After the “earthquake,” almost everyone fled, which was valid. The ones who stayed were mainly those who’d been directly involved, or those who have nowhere else to go. Many people lost everything, and Steve tries to give back where he can - they all do - but a lot of the time he’s just sad. 

His hometown was split in four, and all of his friends are in love. 

Steve feels so dumb for even caring, but he does. All he ever wanted was to be loved, really, and he’s gotten the short end of the stick the last few years. He used to feel on top of the world, and now he’s - well, he had been in the Upside Down, which was probably as close as he could get to the literal opposite of the top of the world. 

His friends found happiness where they could  - mostly through crushes and girlfriends and boyfriends. Steve doesn’t have any of that right now. He doesn’t even know where to look. Everything around him is sad. 

Robin and Vickie had bonded over peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, of all things. Since then, she’s been volunteering every chance she can with Vickie. Steve joins too, sometimes, but he feels very much like a third wheel. 

Some random dude with incredible hair and an even more incredible name (seriously, who names their kid Argyle?) showed up with Mike, Will, El, and Jonathan in a pizza van. A day later, the guy decided to drive back to Utah to visit his one true love or something. A woman with an equally badass name - Eden.

Steve wasn’t surprised when Dustin wanted to join, because apparently Eden lives with Suzie. Still, Steve was baffled by the whole thing. Usually, some sort of alarm would go off in his head about his surrogate little brother going on a road trip with a stoner, but Argyle seemed nice enough. 

Although, he did unironically use the word “brochacho,” and Steve didn’t really know how he felt about that. 

Steve knew Dustin was taking - uh, things - super hard, and so Steve encouraged any sort of break for the guy. Visiting Suzie seemed like the perfect way for Dustin to decompress, especially after what happened. 

So, Dustin took off. Robin’s busy. Steve is too mortified to even look at Nancy after he’d basically professed his love for her and she brutally rejected him and stayed with Jonathan. Lucas spends all of his time with Max. El and Mike are inseparable. 

That leaves Will. Steve doesn’t know Will that well, but he’s so lonely he doesn’t care if he comes off desperate or weird or whatever. 

Steve shows up at the Byers’ residence one Saturday morning, looking like a total dork. Hopper answers the door, even though Steve would have far preferred Joyce. She’s less, uhhh -

“Steve?” Hopper asks, gruffly. “What are you doing here?”

“I, um - I’m looking for -”

“Is that Steve?” a familiar voice calls from the living room. 

Ah, shit.

“Hey, uh, Nancy,” Steve says, giving a small wave. 

“Is something wrong?” she asks, joining Hopper at the door. 

“No, I -” Steve sighs. He’s mortified to even be in this situation. It was such a stupid plan in the first place. “I’m looking for Will. Is Will here?”

“Umm, yeah,” Nancy responds, retreating back into the house to presumably get her boyfriend’s little brother. 

“What do you need Will for?” Hopper asks, suspiciously. 

“Jeez, relax, Sheriff,” Steve replies. “I just wanted to talk to him. I’m the babysitter, remember?”

This explanation seems good enough for Hopper, even though Steve hasn’t really interacted with Will much prior to this. Not directly, anyway. He’d let the kids in to see movies for free back when he worked at Scoops, but that was it. 

After a full thirty seconds of awkward, painful silence, Will comes to the door. 

“Hey, kid,” Steve says. Hopper and the others had thankfully walked away to give them some privacy. “Do you - do you want to go to the music store with me?”

Will stares at him blankly for a moment, then shouts to the others behind him. 

“Mom! I’ll be back later!” 

Steve smiles, triumphantly. 

“Okay, have fun!” Joyce’s voice rings from somewhere in the house. “Be home by 5 for dinner!”

“You got it, Mrs. Byers!” Steve yells into the void. “Okay, let’s go.”

Will hurriedly walks out of the house and shuts the door behind him, then sighs in relief. 

“Thank god you’re here,” he says. “All the couples are driving me crazy.” Steve chuckles. 

“You and me both.”

-

Will turns out to be excellent company. He has good taste in music, and he’s funny. A little nerdy, like Dustin, but much quieter about it. They get along great, and end up spending a few hours together.

“My brother said he’d be there for me, and now he’s back to spending all his time with Nancy,” Will complains. 

“Yeah, well Nancy broke my heart into a million pieces, so,” Steve replies. 

Then, they riff on how annoying Jonathan and Nancy’s relationship is for a while. They aren’t saying anything out of genuine dislike for either party, but it’s still some much needed venting. Steve listens to Will talk about Mike and El, and that’s when he picks up on some things in between the lines. 

Maybe having a gay best friend makes him better at detecting that sort of thing. 

They pick out a bunch of music and listen to it as they drive around for a while. They both are big fans of Queen, so they blast that first. They get a little too into singing along to Somebody to Love, but neither of them poke fun at the other for it. As much as Steve and Dustin tease each other, and as much as he complains about being the babysitter, Steve loves these kids with all his heart. All of them, even the ones he doesn’t know as well, like Will. He would do anything to protect them. He’d done quite a bit already.

He drops Will off before dinner as promised, then heads home. It’s only after he passes by Forest Hills that he starts to think about Things again. The Things that he tries to suppress. The Things that bubble beneath the surface at any given moment. 

The Things that led up to the Earthquake. He isn’t ready to think about them. Not yet, maybe not ever. 

So yes, it’s far easier to reach out to other people who understand, and to cling to them as long as he can. And then he goes home, and instead of letting his mind drift to those dark places, he starts singing Queen under his breath. 

It’s stupid. It won't fix anything. But still, the need is there.

All he wants is somebody to love. 

-

Hawkins has begun to crack open, and soon what lay beneath will rise. 

It’s a dark place - somewhere that’s always on the verge of a storm. The energy in the air is thick with dread and impending doom. The creatures that live there are something that people may cast off as fictional, because their eyes aren’t open yet to how terrifying and big the world really is. 

Monsters, of all kinds. Some who had once been human, some who prey on humanity. Evil forces that keep kids awake at night. Forces that their parents insist are in their imagination. 

How foolish to think an imagination could be so vivid. Then again, perhaps imagination is what created this place to begin with. It could also be what sustains it.

A flash of lightning. Bats scattering. 

There’s a body somewhere in the fog, going through a transformation. Wings, teeth, and hunger. It takes several days for the body to resemble its altered form - one of strength, intimidation, and a deeply-rooted instinct for evil. 

Once complete, the body gasps in its new life. The soul of a tortured boy once occupied this space, but now there’s something else within him too - something ancient. 

Eddie Munson’s glowing eyes snap open.

He’s starving.

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

@paintballkid711 @abraca-fxckyou @allbimyself26 @jellybabiesforall @allbymyselfexceptformycactus @justaloadofgarbage-blog @alliemunsonsstuff @undreamingnscatworld @hobbitnarwhal @calivanus @wreckmyplans-thatsmyman @antheia @goodolefashionedloverboi @lillemilly @missmagillicuddy @steviesbicrisis @gamerdano @menamesniall eyeslikewildflowers111 @callmesirkay @stringischeese @eds-trashmouth @mnl-enuh @redfreckledwolf @itsanarrum @soulsofstarsliveinyourveins @gregre369 @stevesbipanic @momotonescreaming @aryakanojiaa @wrenisflying @comicmadlover @lilacrobin @itch-my-b0nez @anonymousbandgirl @disastardly @dangdirtydemons @daisyellsong @val-from-lawrence @starryeyedpoet17 @taikawaiteatea @clumsiluni @hollysimone @swimmingbirdrunningrock @witchofhawkins @steddiegarbage @suddenlyinlove @ricekristytreaty @eddielives1986

[oceanic-sunsets]

Byler fic rec part two: extra long edition!

How is everyone doing?? It's been a while since my last fic rec post, which means, I've read a lot more fics and I can give you an extra long fic rec list to enjoy during the holidays. This doesn't mean they're holiday themed (but if you want that, let me know and I'll make a different post with ONLY holiday-themed recs!).

Be aware that when I say this is an Extra Long list, I mean it, that's why I'll start the actual list under the cut. As always, my fic recs DON'T feature nsfw. Enjoy!!

let me steal this moment from you now by smoosnoom (moonsooms) | 13k words | canon compliant "Mike moves in his bed, and Will's eyes stay firmly on the ceiling. "I feel like we barely know each other anymore."

And Will can't argue with that, so he replies, "What do you want to know?"

There’s a long lapse of silence, and then –

“Can you come up here?” In the wreckage, Mike and Will spend a series of nights together." This fic is amazing. Mike and Will share a room , and he tries hard to disconnect himself emotionally from the situation. But Mike wants to be friends again, makes the effort, and Will finds himself unable to refuse his friendship. They slowly work to build up their bond again, but it's tentative, and also new, because there's something different about it now. A fic FULL of longing, and amazing characterization.

it's a choice (getting swept again) by wiseatom | 9k words | canon compliant, fix it "The problem is this: they’ve got a lot of problems right now, and every last one of them is more important than Will and his fragile, bruised heart.

A Season 4 fix-it wherein Will has a lot of feelings, El is the best sister, and Mike Wheeler has emotional intelligence." The one in which Will learns he deserves good things, and that doesn't make him selfish, but it'd be okay if he was a little selfish and indulged himself. Mike here also has good communication skills and uses his words for once to voice his feelings!

i've come home, i'm so cold by astrobi | 53k words | set in canonverse, but they're in college and the vecna stuff is over "Will's trying his hardest to make it through fall semester in one piece. Unfortunately for his degree, he's being haunted by maybe-feelings for his best friend (metaphorically), and also a maybe-ghost with rather abysmal fashion sense (literally)." This is probably my favorite college fic. It's amazing, seriously, it has everything you could wish for and more! Will's and Mike's friendship is so good, you can tell how much they care and love each other, and how that means they're afraid to make a move so it doesn't affect the friendship they've rebuilt. It has a fun ghost sideplot, which doesn't have that much relevance because it's not what the story is about, but it is a plus! Read this if you're in the mood for something good, heartwarming and unresolved romantic tension between two best friends.

honey-mouthed by smoosnoom (moonsooms) | 10k words | They're in high school, no one died and everything is okay! “Do you want to go home?” He questions, leaning close and voice soft, and Will pauses, before nodding again. Mike lets out a breath, and lets his hand press against Will a little more firmly when he starts to sway in place again. “Okay, let’s go.”

Then he looks up and is met with smug faces, and Mike flushes when he realizes his own hypocrisy.

“I don’t talk like that,” Max recalls, voice high-pitched and overly girly and – Mike definitely doesn’t talk like that.

According to everyone in his life, Mike has a voice reserved just for Will. He tries to figure out what that says about him." This fic is about the Will Voice. Everyone is aware that mike speaks differently to Will, except him. When his mom makes him aware of this, well, it sends Mike into a crisis. Fun, sweet, and has the tag "Mike is a cringefail loser" so what more could you ask for?

you can hear it in the silence by astrobi | 36k words | in this universe the UD stuff happened but it's in the past and all is good "mike wheeler on losing people and having them again, the difference between wanting and needing, and finally letting go.

ft. robin buckley, will byers, and the mortifying ordeal of working in the food service industry" Am I ever going to stop including astrobi's fics in my rec lists? No, please go read everything they've written! Now this fic is not the exception. Mike has a job in a dinner. Everyone else has moved away for college, including Will, with who he has a long-distance friend(relation)ship, as they talk on the phone all the time. When Will comes back, well, Mike is finally forced to confront a thing or two. This fic is really Mike centric, which I love because Mike's pov-centric fics are probably my favorites. Also, it has Mike and Robin friendship, which we deserve more of!

all this time (how could you not know?) by astrobi | 27k words | Senior year of High School, UD happened but only has light mentions. Mike sighs, looking down at his hands. "I always thought I would end up with someone more similar to me, you know? Someone I can talk about, like, hobbies and music and stuff with, without them visibly losing interest halfway through.”

You have more in common with him than El, says the voice in Will’s head. He wonders, briefly, whether it would be weird to shove his face back into the pillow and scream.

Will is definitely not qualified to be giving out any relationship advice. For one, he's never actually dated anyone before. Second, one of the people in said relationship is his sister. And third, the other person is the guy he's sort of in love with. There's no possible way this could backfire. Right? What did I tell you? yeah, another great piece by astrobi! This is 'Mike and Will with an enormous amount of pining and obliviousness: the fic'. It's about the party's senior year, and prom, so you know what all of this means. I LOVED the party's friendship here. It's something I could ramble more about, but it's better you should experience it yourself. Also, it made me have "Right Here Waiting" by Richard Marx on repeat for weeks.

spoonful of sugar by smoosnoom (moonsooms) | 6k words | college au “Just to be sure, you – what were you agreeing to?” Mike blurts. “Like, was it the seeing other people thing, or the kiss – the practice kissing thing? I was – I’m just making –”

“The second one,” Will forces out, feeling awkward to his very bones. “The – practice.”

Mike, somehow, turns even redder. “Right. Yeah. Okay.”

Mike offers to teach Will how to kiss. It goes well, all things considered." I think the summary is pretty self-explanatory. When you offer to teach your best friend (who you're in love with) how to kiss, well, it goes exactly how you'd expect. Fluff! They actually communicate!

i'd make a deal with god by smoosnoom (moonsooms) | 15k words | canon compliant "But he’s getting better. He’s getting better at it. Mike steps forward, and Will retreats. He’s getting better. “You’re avoiding me.” So, for Mike to barge into his room and demand an explanation for why Will has been pulling away – well, maybe he’s a little confused.

Will finally rips off the band-aid. Mike won't let him." This one ripped my heart off from my chest, made me tear up for real. Will's fears and feelings are so heartbreaking and so real here. He really wants to rip off the band-aid. He thinks it's the best for him and the best for Mike, but he's failing to consider something: Mike's feelings on the matter. So Will is avoiding him, but Mike won't let him. Will doesn't understand why, and it frustrates him to no end, because can't Mike just get it? But no worries! it has a happy ending. Just talking about this is making me want to re-read it.

i'm caught up in you by wiseatom | 18k words | S4 fix it, in the Upside Down edition "Mike keeps losing Will, time and time again. Time and time again, he always gets him back.

Or, alternatively: “Mike and Will’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Night in the Upside Down: and Other Tales” by Mike Wheeler" You heard it! Byler in the upside down in Mike's pov. Have I mentioned how much I love Mike's pov fics? yeah? well, that, and I also love Byler in the upside down fics. Which means this fic has two of my favorite things a fic could have. It also has a beautiful narration, which fits amazingly with Mike's character, who wants to be a writer! This is a must read.

there is thunder in our hearts by smoosnoom (moonsooms) | 9k words | canon compliant “Yeah,” Mike nods, but it isn’t the most convincing, and he can’t find it in him to care, in the late hour, “I was just – thinking.” It’s not the most significant outfit, but still. Will looks nice. He’s always looked good in white. Mike blinks. That’s – weird. That’s a weird thing to think about his best friend. He effectively turns off his brain. Will asks, “About what?” “You,” Mike replies, and maybe turning his brain off was the worst idea he could’ve possibly had at nearly three a.m., Jesus fucking Christ.

Mike confronts Will about the painting, and lets a few confessions slip." Yes, I'm also going to rec every fic by smoosnoom. This one is no exception. If you want to read a fic where Mike actually confronts Will about the painting, this is it. running up that road by smoosnoom (moonsooms) | 17k words | canon compliant fix it “I didn’t want to lie to you.” Will’s voice is quiet and breakable, so different from the defensive, factual tone it should be. He should be meaner. Harsher. Crueler. “I just – I didn’t think it’d matter.”

It feels like Mike’s entire body trembles, shakes like it’s about to burst. “You didn’t think it’d matter if you lied to me?” He hisses, and his voice cracks, just the littlest bit.

Mike Wheeler tries his best to navigate his way through the end of the world, with lots of maybes and misplaced anger." THIS is one of my favorites Mike's pov fics. Which is a big compliment coming from me. I truly believe the way Mike and his feelings are portrayed here fit perfectly with canon, what he feels and why. This one deals with grief, which I think is necessary and will be a big deal for Mike as a character in s5. And smoosnoom wrote it perfectly, so the Duffers better watch out. This Mike just feels so real and I love the author for it. Please do yourselves a favor and go read it!

i hate accidents (except when we went from friends to this) by blackdeathmamba | 16k words | Post canon, characters are in college "Alternatively: five times Mike kissed Will, and one time Will kissed back." Some of you must've already read this one. If you haven't, what are you waiting for?? This fic is sweet, fun and oh, poor Will.

baby, we're perfect by bookinit | 16k words | canonverse "Mike grabs Will’s hands and tangles them with his own, blinking up at him through his long, dark lashes. His eyes are endless. Solid black, like the night above them. So shiny that Will can see himself, tipsy and happy, in the reflection. “I want to be stuck with you,” Mike whispers, like it’s a secret. “I don’t ever want to leave.”

Will sucks in a sharp breath, squeezing his hands. “Then don’t,” he whispers back, punched-out and honest. “Stay.”

—

Senior year in Hawkins. Will and Mike figure some things out." This one is also popular for a reason. You just have to experience it yourselves. If you haven't read it, just trust me and do it. And keep reading. Things aren't as it seems. One second you're reading tooth-rotting fluff and the next you're breaking down crying along with Will.

playing pretend never felt so real by RomeoWrites | 23k words | no UD “So, what were you saying then? About your mom and the vacation?”

“Well,” Mike says slowly, coming to sit upright again. “I may have told my mom - and I promise this makes way more sense in context - but I may have told her that we were…well - I maybe told her that we’re dating.”

“What?”

OR

Mike and Will pretend to date. It goes exactly how you would imagine. I'm so glad we as a fandom are starting to hop into the fake relationship train for byler. It's a mess, it's fun, it's emotional and you'll love it! featuring: the Wheelers and Jonathan.

landslide by chamb3rs | 49k words | UD happened, but not heavily mentioned. They're in High School " [...] Will knows the day when he will have to detach himself is coming fast, but here in this basement, where nothing has changed in over a decade, time seems to have come to a screeching halt. It’s just the two of them, sat in the last place they were innocent together.

“Yeah,” Will whispers, “I’m okay.”

or; The Party's senior year of high school, in ebbs and flows." Another fic about the party's senior year of High School! there can never be too many, they're all different and unique. This is a long one that I read during one sleepless night. I don't regret it at all. It has the party as great friends, which i love reading about! Mike and Will's friendship is so special here, too, and we see them struggle with the pain of growing up, figuring out who you are, what you want, and fearing for the future. Will and Mike's friendship goes through ups and downs and misunderstandings, but there's always a chance to fix it and make it stronger. The confession scene here took my breath away, something that doesn't happen easily while i'm reading.

love in slow motion by astrobi | 29k words | They're HS seniors! "Honestly, Mike doesn't know what he thought being Will Byers' fake-boyfriend would entail, but he definitely didn't think it would involve this many ugly Christmas sweaters." Another fake dating fic, and by astrobi! This one has a hilarious premise: Mike finds out the party is betting when they'll finally them they're dating. The thing is, they're not really dating (yet). So, Mike, so is upset and thinks they have no right to assume when they just have a really close friendship, tells Will they should pretend and ruin their bet. It doesn't go as expected, of course.

eyecatcher by smoosnoom (moonsooms) | 9k words | canon compliant, post s4 “Nah, man,” Lucas shakes his head, leaning back as he snacks on an apple, “he got, like, buff. Do you see his arms?” Mike does, in fact, see Will’s arms. He has not stopped seeing his arms. “She definitely sees his arms,” Dustin very unhelpfully points out, waggling his eyebrows, and Mike gets the overwhelming urge to bash his own head in.

While volunteering at the Hawkins' help center, it seems like every girl around has a newfound interest in Will Byers, and Mike doesn't know why he feels the way he does. People are interested in Will. Mike doesn't like it. This fic is from Mike's pov, and features him being jealous, that's all you need to know!

To Hell and Back Again by perexcri | 144k words | canonverse "After Mike unwittingly stumbles into a series of interpersonal bombshells, he immediately sets out to find Will so he can find out what, exactly, that painting meant, and why Will lied about it. Unfortunately, Mike is obsessively obstinate and relentless to a fault, and he'll go to the literal ends of the earth to get the answers he needs.

Or: Mike and Will's Apocalypse Romcom Spectacular" APOCALYPSE BYLER FIC! It's also a LONG one, so you'll experience a rollercoaster of emotions. Another must read, definitely.

i was going to make a joke about time travel but nobody laughed by iry | On-going fic | canonverse, but with several twists "At 16, Will Byers thought nothing could surprise him anymore, but he didn’t take time travel into account. Now he’s stuck on the other side of his infamous disappearance, trying to herd his twelve-year-old friends into planning a rescue mission for… himself?

Meanwhile, Mike Wheeler is having a crisis. Multiple crises actually, but the current and most important one is finding Will Byers who claims he's from the future after Mike just saw Will Byer’s dead body getting pulled out of the lake." This one, guys, this one. It was written as part of the byler big bang, so even if it is not completed yet, I encourage all of you to read it. It has several chapters already written, and they'll be posted soon! 12 year old Mike meets 16 year old Will, who was sent back to the past, and more specifically, the date of his disappearance for a mysterious reason. So Will has to work with the younger version of his friends to solve what is happening. Meanwhile, 16 year old Mike has his own Situation going on.

And.... that's it for now, guys. Wait for part 3! If you have any fic rec yourself please come to my ask box and tell me! I'm always looking for more works to read.

Lastly, I'm inviting all of you who enjoy writing fics and making art to apply as contributors (artists/writers or merch artists) for The Paladin and The Cleric, a Byler charity zine. I'm a Mod for the event and believe me, it'll turn out amazing and we have a group of very talented artists and writers already, but we still have many available spots!

[lunylune]

Inspired by this post

Ao3 link

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"No, that one's for my husband." "Wait what?!"

A Stranger things fanfiction.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Summary:

Steve knew he wasn’t the smartest one of the group, hell he didn’t rank top five, probably. Please ignore the aggressive validation followed by a loud dingus from Robin and Eddie, thank you. But really, he thought this plan was rather genius. If he told his family he was married to HIS HUSBAND, maybe they would finally accept that he did not need to be set up wit a girl (cousin or not, which, gross) and that he was perfectly happy with his boyfriend of seven years.

He, uh, just forgot to tell said boyfriend...

Whoops.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay, listen, seriously. 

Steve knew he wasn’t the smartest one of the group, hell he didn’t rank top five, probably. Please ignore the aggressive validation followed by a loud dingus from Robin and Eddie, thank you. But really, he thought this plan was rather genius.

He was a middle school teacher, sadly never got out of Hawkins, but it was fine. He managed to get his own place, which he shared with Robin for the most part unless his absolute best friend in the world was traveling. Nancy, Jonathan, the kids, everyone came over, they had movie nights. Max was healing, Eddie survived.

God, that stupid idiot.

They made it out, they lived, they were fighters. And all things considered, Steve liked to think that managing to be a teacher and all, he was pretty smart.

Well apparently he was every bit the idiot Mike kept calling him, because here he was, at thanksgiving dinner with his family being once again integrated by his dear grandmother and family… You know, the ones that skipped town when things got back in Hawkins and he only saw around the holidays.

Now you see, somewhere along the lines Steve realized he had a wonderful gift, one that not many others had. The fact that his parents cared immensely about their image. With Steve becoming the beloved babysitter of the town everyone knew, and later that sweet boy trying to be a teacher, and then mister Harrington of grade three, well… There was no way they could actually kick him out or disown him. The party forced Steve to do this thing he hated, which was talk about his feelings~ So if anything happened the whole town and police force and people his father considered “trailer trash” would know, would judge.

So while Steve had to work hard and had no support from his biological family, but his family of choice had grown three times in size and included a literal supergirl, at least five geniuses, three people who were gun experts and his boyfriend.

Oh, yeah, he had a boyfriend. Eddie, to be specific.

No he was totally normal about it and not blushing thank you!

Along with deciding his future should look however he fucking wanted, came some less fun revelations. He spend many a nights with Robin in multiple different bathrooms as he dealt with his internalized shit, about how it was always fine for her and everyone else, but not him, and how he thought maybe he should change how he thought about himself, because it wasn’t so nice. Robin alternated between hugging him and smacking him on the head (gently, for the head trauma). In the end and after a good year of pining, it had been pretty anticlimactic. Or well, Steve thought so, Eddie couldn’t get enough of recounting the story to their gremlins, all along with a reenactment Steve halfheartedly participated in. 

Basically, of course Eddie had known something was going on. No straight dude spends as much time on: one, his hair as Steve does. Two, staring at another guy's lips as Steve apparently had. Max called him grossly obvious, but nodded along when El called them sweet. It was when Steve had come over to watch the game with Wayne (something he regularly did now with Wayne and Hopper, god he was getting old). After it finished, he had gone to Eddie’s room to hang out, the other working on painting some new figures for the upcoming campaign. And his tongue was poking out just barely as he focussed, and Steve’s brain short circuited for a moment from something else than head trauma. Eddie was so… Just- So cute. Steve knew he had been staring, face getting warm, when Eddie looked up and grinned. “Just staring is not gonna make anything happen, princess.” It was such- It was a bad line, not nearly as creative as Eddie usually was with his endless flirting and teasing, but Steve just-

He had leaned in, planting a firm kiss on Eddie’s lips, face beet-red but smirking as Eddie blinked rapidly. “There. See, staring can help.” It had been so stupid.

They had been dating ever since, nearly seven years now. Seven wonderful years. Eddie lived with Wayne not even three houses down for a while (thank you government hush house), but stayed over more often than not and eventually moved in. Him and Robin of course got along and Steve was being attacked from two sides about his horrible movie taste now but he wouldn’t have it any other way.

So he moved out, had his gaggle of kids by choice, was a teacher for a whole bunch more and had an amazing family and boyfriend. He was a decently open bisexual man, and strangely not many people gave him trouble. Was the small town attitude working in his favor? People, weirdly, had a lot of sympathy for Eddie once the whole, held hostage by a serial killer came out. Seeing all the kids defend him and Eddie might have helped there, Steve’s new “golden babysitter”status helped. No one really talked about them in clear terms, but would sometimes talk about how “sweet it was that you two are such good… friends. And so supportive.” It was really fucking weird and every time it happened Eddie would look like a confused puppy afterwards. “Me? A good person? A good neighbor? Me?! What the hell is happening Stevie?!” Steve just rolled with it.

So uhm, he did have to tell his parents he was dating Eddie, but to be fair, they should have told them they would be home for christmas for the first time in five years. And knocked…. They should have knocked… He wasn’t disowned, but they wanted no mention of it. Threats which did not hold up as soon as Steve pushed them. Because what were they going to do, leave him to fend for himself? Oh nooooo…. How will he ever surviiiiveeee…

So they did not have the excuse of not knowing, and surely this news spread through the family like wildfire.

Did that stop them from calling it a phase, possession by the devilworshipper and trying to set him up with the nearest girl, no of course not don't be stupid.

So, thanksgiving. Why did he agree to spend it with these people instead of his other actually loving family? Right grandpa Stanford died two months ago… like that was his problem the man nearly shot him once, on accident but still. Grandma Jessie was alright though, a sweet older lady who might have the start of dementia. She was the main reason Steve was here. She was the only one who would scold his parents for leaving him to travel. Back when she could still walk well, she came over often to take care of Steve. He learned to bake from her.

He was glad he sat close to her, talking with her about the kids he was teaching. "I used to teach… all those girls were so sweet, but so bad at needlework." Different times. But Steve was happy to listen to her rather than listen to the political feud currently going on between his dad and uncle Dave from his mother's side. His mom chuckled, very fake, as she refilled her wineglass. "It's so nice we can all be together…" 

"Would be nicer if any of the kids had their shit together," uncle Dave groused. Aunt Carol and their kid Kevin both scoffed. Steve's mom chuckled again, sounding a bit manic. "It's just been… so long. Why. Don't we do this more often?" Yeah, why indeed.

On the other side of the table his cousin Kevin had gotten into a spat with Katherine and Willow, Steve's objectively cooler cousins he hadn't seen since he was like… eight? Willow was blinking slowly as Kevin ranted about "the queers" taking over and getting him kicked out of the sport team, utterly unaware he was probably the only "not-queer" cousin and thus outnumbered. Steve might only play sports with seven to ten year olds now, but he would love to kick Kevin's ass. He took a sip of his own wine, leaning over to refill his mom's glass and his dad's sister's glass. Aunt Diana was Willow's and Kathine's mom and really, outstanding job. She almost got Steve a job as a hairdresser before he became a teacher. Her useless husband Tom was nowhere to be found, probably still trying to evade charges for drunk driving. It was tradition in this family.

There was a knock at the door and grandma spoke. "Steward, open the door." His dad stood up, letting in the late guests. Dave glared. "you're late Hannah." Hannah was a distant aunt, along with her husband Tony and two daughters. Now imagine Steve's surprise at finding out that Vicky apparently was a cousin of his. He raised an eyebrow but waved. She smiled and waved back, sitting next to him. "Funny to find out you are part of my estranged family."

"Trust me, in ten minutes you are gonna wish it stayed that way. I give it fi me, I give it fifteen before you wish you had never found out.” Vicky took a chair next to him, so she could talk to grandma Jessie. “Where’s your sister…?” grandma asked, looking around.

Vicky looked apologetic. “She couldn’t come, the twins are sick and she felt bad leaving them with Laura, her…. roommate.” Steve nearly choked on his wine and Kathrine and Willow snickered. Ah, good, he wasn’t the only one who caught that. Roommates… Sure… 

Steve whispered to her, pointing at uncle Dave and his dad. “I give it ten minutes until they convince Willow to “get help” for her “condition” and aunt Diana mixes alcohol and painkillers again.”

Vicky was already massaging her temples.”Oh god are we going to need to call an ambulance?”

Steve cackled. “No, if it comes down to it uncle Kathrine will drive her. God forbid the neighbors see the ambulance.” Vicky let out a sigh, burying her head in her hands. 

“Fifteen minutes, you said, bit ambitious.” Kathrine said with a look at an already exhausted Vicky.

Look if Steve had to suffer, so did everyone. Except grandma.

It was the usual spats. Diana’s useless husband Tom not showing up, Willow being even more out than Steve despite Steve having a boyfriend, Kathrine’s lack of a highschool diploma. Diana was waving her fork around. “All I’m saying is, he’s a piece of shit, okay, but he’s been my piece of shit for five years so, leave it. I’m not getting a divorce.” She took another sip of wine. Steve still wasn’t sure if her husband was wanted for tax evasion or… murder…? It was so hard to keep track, with Kevin selling drugs and his own dad definitely bribing people about the cheating. Oh and Dave, doing all of that except the murder. Aunt Carol turned to him. “And you, got a job worthy of the Harrington’s yet?” Steve pitied her sometimes, so stuck on the name and her womanly duties that she didn’t pursue her own life. That was, until she opened her mouth. “Still a teacher. Oh, wait Kathrine, let me tell you about this kid-” who got stuck on the roof, but hey at least the ball was safed… They had to call the fire department…

He was interrupted by his dad. “Did you get a girlfriend yet?” Steve stopped, glaring at him. 

This had been an ongoing “fight” they had. Since they couldn’t actually kick him out. Diana and grandma Jessie wouldn’t let them, Steve was their favorite nephew/grandson. “No dad, I’m still with Eddie. Eddie Munson. You met him grandma, remember?” He could never get his parents to meet Eddie, so grandma was the closest he could get. Thankfully she had adored Eddie. “Oh yes, the boy with the big eyes and soft hair? The one with the good music. He was such a sweetheart and a gentleman. You found a good one, Stevie darling.” He smiled, happy someone was on his side, sharing the joy with his three female cousins and aunt Hannah. “Yes, that’s the one grandma. He’s gone for a tour now, or I would have brought him.” While Steve missed him, the phone calls were something to look forward to.

Grandma smiled. “Such a talented young man. You all are.” Well, the table was mostly women, but it was the thought that counted. Vicky gave him a small smile and a nod. Ah good, he fucking knew it. Boobies Robin, boobies.

His father scowled. “What about that girl you went to dinner with last year, Rachel, or something.”

“You mean Robin?” Steve asked, watching as Vicky took a very quick sip of wine. Hm, interesting. “She had to spend it with her parents. And she is not my girlfriend, dad. I’m not her type and she is not mine.” It had been seven years, seriously.

Willow asked tiredly. “So what is your type?”

“Curly hair and big eyes. It’s a whole thing.” He said with a shake of his head. His mom was smiling, trying to be nicer but failing miserably like how she failed to both raise her son and stop her husband from cheating. Not that it was her fault, but priorities. Steve was petty, okay. “And what about that girl you dated for a year, Nancy. I thought she and her boyfriend split up?” 

“No mom, they are still together. And very in love.” Jonathan and Nancy, a power couple that worked out some issues after ‘86 and still going strong. Nancy was still dating Jonathan. Jonathan was just… Also dating Argyle now. The three of them worked well together. Not that Steve was all that interested in getting back with Nancy, finally figuring out his delicate balance between platonic and romantic love thanks to many more bathroom talks with Robin and some normal talks with Eddie. He took another bite of turkey. “Besides, I’m with Eddie. Have been with Eddie for seven years. And you all would have gotten to meet him if you acted even slightly open to it.” Uncle Dave scowled and muttered something about “fags”, leading to Willow’s knife accidently cutting his hand. Steve hit his plate passive aggressively with his fork. “All I’m saying is. I’m with Eddie, I have been with Eddie, and I will stay with Eddie until the sun burns out and or the earth cracks open again, so drop it. It’s not going to change.”

Grandma patted his arm. “You should bring him around again sometime.” Steve reassured her he would, just as his mom had the nerve to say, “But Stevie,” a nickname only grandma and the party could use… “I’m just worried you maybe didn’t date enough people first. You might not have found the girl right for you.” Steve stared at her just. Just baffled. 

“Mom, are you seriously saying my relationship of seven years is a phase!?” She waved her hands as Steve raised his voice.

“No, no, I’m just saying that…!”

He interrupted her. “I need to date more girls first!? As if I wasn’t enough of a slut in high school as it was!” Not that there was anything wrong with it, but he knew it would upset uncle dave and aunt Carol. And right on cue, Dave slammed his hands as Kathrine snickered. “Watch your fucking language!” Aunt Diana twirled her wine glass, laughing but nearly in tears. “It’s so nice that we could all get together like this…!”

After a bit they all calmed down.

That was, until aunt Carol opened her mouth. Again.

Aunt Carol pointed at him. “I’m just saying, Steve darling, you should see a priest.” Steve had to take a second to digest it, watching aunt Diana reach into her purse for painkillers. Vicky glanced between him and aunt Diana, trying to say “should we call an ambulance in advance?” with her eyes, But Steve was busy.

“Wait is this family catholic?” Steve asked with fake confusion, tilting his head and staring at aunt Carol.

“No, why,” Willow asked as Steve’s mom muttered, “Reformed, technically, I think. It’s so hard to keep track. And it’s not like any of our children have been to a church in decades aside from Kevin and look where it got him…” He was sure she hadn’t meant to mutter so loud.

Steve stared his aunt down. “Oh I’m just trying to understand if the priest thing is genuine religious concern or another casual derogatory statement, but if we are not catholic I'm leaning to the latter.” Thank you Dustin for all those word-of-the-days.

Willow nodded. “Fair.”

Grandma smiled, waving to get their attention. “Your grandfather was a satanist in his youth, such a rebel. Which is why I know Steve picked a good one.”

“Thank you grandma.”

Kathrine shrugged. “If it took me sleeping with every boy in town to find out girls might be better, I can hardly blame Steve for doing the same with most girls.” Willow gagged as the adults let out cries of homophobia and Vicky shook her head in despair again, trying to hide her incredulous snickers. When she got it under control she turned to Steve. “Considering I didn’t know you were my cousin, I’m just so thankful you are not my type.” Yeah, Steve had a pretty good idea what her type was. Bumbling lesbians, mainly.

Aunt Carol slammed the table. “All I am saying is, Jessica would make a lovely wife for you.” For Steve, of course… But not for Kevin, god forbid her darling son ended up with the “slut” of the family. The amount of sexism was staggering. Nancy could probably do a whole scientific study just on his family. Vicky suddenly looked up. “Wait, you mean… My sister Jessica, his other cousin?” The table fell quiet.

Aunt Carol narrowed her eyes. “Maybe…?” Grandma shook her head. 

“No no, Jessica is veeery happy on her own.” 

Steve nodded. “She’s awesome, grandma. Shame she couldn’t come.” Unlike Diana’s useless husband Tom (which, the woman deserved better), Jessica was very much invited. But ever since she got pregnant at twenty by a boy she claimed not to know the name of, aunt Carol and Steve’s father had tried to shun her. Grandma Jessie refused though, as she was the only cousin that also regularly visited (Willow and Kathrine lived pretty far away, Kevin just sucked and Vicky’s side of the family had been estranged until today and probably again tomorrow if they valued their sanity). As far as Steve knew, Jessica was very happy alone living with her “roommate” and little twin eight-year-old Angie and Micheal. She worked together with her aunt Diana, a hairdresser for weddings, a business looked down upon by the family but made her a pretty good living. More than Steve's teacher job. He was honestly impressed. 

Vicky turned to him, making a face. Steve nodded fake solemnly. He felt a migraine coming on, but hoped he would have time to get home. Otherwise he might have to ask grandma to crash on her couch again… The conversation fell quiet, only grandma happily oblivious and happy the family was all together.

But of course, Steve’s father just HAD to give it another shot. “I’m just saying, you would change your tune if you actually got married. Could even bring your wife over for christmas. Take it from me, your life will be much happier than with that degenerate.” Yeah, take relationship advice from the serial cheater that was not in 80 percent of your life.

Steve was done, had an oncoming migraine and hated about half his family. So he, finally, chose violence. "Actually, me and my husband will be spending christmas with his family. This year." Silence fell around the table as everyone registered what Steve just said.

"EXCUSE ME?" People shouted.

"Oh, that sweet boy…" Grandma muttered, looking delighted. “He treats you right?” Steve ignored the calls from his parents and the arguing from his family to offer aunt Diana some water and to smile at grandma.

"He is grandma. If you want I can pick you up this christmas, as the rest is all on vacation." The judgment at them leaving this elderly woman alone on christmas dripped off his voice.

Vicky shrugged. “I won’t be, I could come?” Steve told her of course, a plan brewing.

His mother had messed up her perfect hair and Steve might take some joy in that. "No! Wait! When did you get married, how!? It's not legal!" Good point, cover story go. He had to memorize so many over the years, surely he could think of something.

Steve shrugged, brain working overtime through tipsiness (how much wine had he had? Enough to pull this off appearantly). "It was actually pretty easy. Hopper knew a guy at the registration office and Robin is an ordained minister." The second part was true. She claimed it was a cool party trick.

Vicky’s eyes were wide, smile pulling at her lips which she was trying to stifle. "Wait really?"

"Yeah don't ask. But anyway, once we got it all sorted all he had to do was pretend to be his dead female cousin. Named Emma Munson, made it real easy. And with his long hair, the people at the office thought he was a girl anyway and we got married. Both kept our names."If they ever actually got married, and god could a man dream, Steve would take Eddie’s name like so fast…!

Diana smiled through her about-to-pass-out gaze. “He does have lovely hair…” He made a dialing motion to Willow, who got up to call ahead to a hospital.

Kathrine huffed. "Treat you right, my ass! I don't see a ring."

Steve pointed at her, hoping he was not swaying like the room was. "Yes Kathy, because I'm going to flaunt my illegal marriage to my lovely husband in the middle of Hawkins indiana."

"You could get caught for this!" Aunt Carol shouted.

"Report me aunt Carol, and you will no longer see your husband. Or your children. You will all be in jail. I have dirt on every single person in this room don't test me. I just need to figure out which dirt I have on who, you are all horrible people. Wait not you Willow, you’re cool. And Kathy, but you are still a bitch honestly. Except you Vicky, I didn't even know we were related."

"Yeah it was surprising to me too."

In the end, migraine or not, Steve did not drive home. Diana was fine by the way, just… Yeah she did end up passing out. Dave was taking in by the police for starting a fight with Steve’s dad for, “putting a fag on this world,” seemingly not aware Steve’s dad shared his bigoted opinion. Carol got taken away for causing a fuss, leaving Kevin (who was on thin ice with the law) to bail out his parents. Kathrine and Willow drove their mom home, both without a license… but oh well. Steve’s parents were off to- Chicago? Honestly, how was he meant to keep track? He was decently sure Jessica called at some point, just to say hi. He thinks Vicky and the other Jones’s just went home… Maybe? 

He vaguely remembered Grandma asking before they left. “Which one of  you is a lesbian?” The cousins all shared a look as Kathrine said. “No one here I think. But me, Willow and Steve are bisexual.” 

Vicky had chimed in. “Me too, actually.”

Grandma had only smiled again. “Oh how lovely, here’s a twenty.” Kevin made a confused motion as he did not get any money. But that explained the twenty dollars in his pocket and also HA! Suck it Robin the boobies are never wrong.

He drove home the next day once his killer headache settled and he told grandma all about his wedding, making up so many facts but honestly this would be the dream, apologizing for not inviting her over brunch. She waved the apologies off. “I have a bad hip dear, would have been too much excitement if it really was the stealth mission you are describing.” She was awesome and she was going to outlive them all probably. 

God it was a shame his wedding day didn’t actually happen like that. Steve would have love it. Eddie would have too. Awesome husband. Yeah, perfect. (ignore his overcooking brain. Migraines are a bitch when trying to deal with reality.)

He fell into bed, needing like… a solid day to recover from the amount of family drama that was unloaded upon him. He dozed, still in his clothes from yesterday on his bed until he heard the door quietly open and someone draw the curtains closed. Oh yeah, that helped. He turned to squint, letting out a, “Hm?” 

He felt a kiss gently pressed to his temple and saw Eddie. “Don’t worry sweetheart, just wanted to help you into something more comfortable. “Ngh, later…” Eddie ran a hand Through Steve’s hair, which was nice hadn’t his head hurt. Took his shoes off too, how sweet.

Eddie said quietly, “Okay princess. Later. Get some sleep. Tell me all about the family drama later.”

“Hmhm, g’d, y-... ‘maz’ng… -and…” What he meant to say was, god you are an amazing husband, something he would have been embarrassed about had he not been half asleep and Eddie couldn’t understand, chuckling. “Sure darling. Sleep first. Love you.” With a final kiss, Eddie left again so Steve could rest, warding off the rest of the party.

“Love you too.” God how did Steve get so lucky with his husband?

[schrijverr]

Life Is Ours, We Live It Our Way 2

Chapter 2 out of 18

Genderqueer Stevie with platonic soulmates Robin and Eddie living their best queer life.

In this chapter, Steve and Eddie recuperate in the hospital, sharing a room. They form a trio with Robin and agree go to the city after Eddie and Robin have come out to each other. The three of them go to a gay club and Steve first encounters words that will stick with him.

On AO3.

Ships: none

Warnings: hospital, Steve's childhood mention, brief AIDS crisis mention and the overhanging period typical homophobia of the 80s

~~~~~~~~~

Recovery

When he wakes, he is in the hospital.

It’s not the Hawkins Hospital, Steve learns. It’s a government secret lab hospital and he and Eddie are both under observation for their bat bites. Seems the scientists took Robin’s fear of other dimension rabies seriously.

But he only learns that later, because when he wakes up, Hopper is standing over him, looking thinner and pale and bald. Which is confusing, because he should be dead, but if Steve is also dead that makes sort of sense. Then the hurt sets in and he croaks: “Ugh, I thought the afterlife wasn’t supposed to hurt.”

That makes the Hopper above him laugh softly, before he disappears and comes back with a glass of water, helping Steve drink. He says: “You’re not dead yet. Don’t be dramatic.”

“Yeah, Stevie, don’t be dramatic,” a shit eating voice comes from the bed over and there is Eddie in all his annoying glory. He is barely upright, a bandage around his neck, but he looks alive with the comic on his lap his hair up in a bun and out of his face.

“Eddie?” he asks, now ever more confused.

“That’s my name, don’t wear it out,” Eddie replies with a grin.

“You’re alive?” he has to check, because from where he is sitting, he is in a random white room with two people, who should, by all logic, be dead. It’s not doing much to convince him he’s still alive.

“I am,” Eddie assures him, face turning soft. Then it turns into a teasing grin. “I didn’t swoon like a damsel, because I didn’t idiotically let my wounds get infected, by not cleaning them and telling everyone I took care of it.”

And now that Steve looks back, that might not have been the smartest move, but they had to keep going and they didn’t have time for that, so he had assumed he’d be fine. Wrong, apparently. Still, he defends himself: “At least it wasn’t another head injury this time. I still have to get the vision in my left eye back from the last one,” before he remembers no one knows about that.

“No one mentioned you being blind in one eye, Steve,” Hopper frowns.

Immediately Steve backtracks: “I’m not blind! It’s just a bit blurred there, like a smudged window or something. Nothing to worry about really.”

Hopper sends him a look that tells him, he doesn’t believe Steve for a second. “I’m mentioning that to a doctor,” he tells him, before walking away.

Belatedly Steve yells after him: “You haven’t even explained how you’re alive!” but Hopper is already gone, so now it’s just him and Eddie in the weird white room. He sighs as the door falls close, then turns to Eddie. “Where even are we, man?”

“I don’t know, some sort of lab,” Eddie shrugs. “I’ve only been awake for a day, haven’t heard much. Max broke a bunch of bones and her vision is fucked, but she’s awake and gonna be fine. The other are fine too, by the way.”

And Steve hadn’t realized how much he needed to hear that until Eddie told him. He lets out a breath as if it’s punched out of him and says: “Thank fuck.”

Eddie fills him in that Eleven (who is totally epic, by the way) killed Venca through her powers with the help of Jonathan, Will, Mike and a new friend of Jonathan’s named Argyle (who is the chillest dude on earth).

Before he can learn more about what went down, however, the room is filled with doctors and he is subjected to all sorts of tests for awhile.

He falls asleep again when the doctors are done, too exhausted to stay awake, despite the fact that it can’t have been for more than an hour or two. When he wakes up again, almost everyone is there again. Steve has never gotten this many hugs in his life before and he doesn’t care that the pressure hurts, because they’re all there. They all made it. Steve didn’t fail.

Finally he gets fully caught up with everything that has happened, before he gets lectured because Hopper blabbed about his vision in his left eye. Which is rude. But he has only been under for four days, which is good to hear. He’ll recover completely, just has to do some (a lot) of physical therapy for his muscles, which were eaten. Yay.

“We’ll be therapy buddies, Stevie,” Eddie grins and it should be fucking stupid and he’s only telling him that to be annoying, but after everything, he can’t even be mad about it.

Eddie is part of their group now. He is already on Steve’s mental list of people to check on and his headcount list. Trauma bonding, Robin called it, Steve just calls it natural clinging. So, he just smiles fondly and says: “I’ll cheer to that,” before spilling the cup of water he holds up, which makes Eddie’s startled look morph into a snort.

They – Eddie and him – have to stay in the hospital for quite a bit and since Robin is practically glued to Steve’s side, the three of them get impossibly close, just from continuously being cooped up together.

Robin and Eddie together are mildly terrifying. Especially since they’re both out for Steve’s blood for no reason. They have mercilessly teased him for his six nuggets speech, then dragged him for not cleaning his wounds and now they’ve moved on to his ridiculous flirting and mom behavior among other things.

“Yeah, yeah, see if I drag you out of hell again,” Steve pouts, though he isn’t actually mad, after Eddie makes another overprotective mom joke. He can’t help that he wants to be sure Dustin drank enough, alright, the kid had been crying.

“I want you to know that I am grateful. However, I don’t remember that at all,” Eddie tells him casually. “For all I know, Dustin dragged me out.”

“Dustin?” Steve repeats indignantly, even though he doesn’t remember either.

“Yeah, man,” Eddie grins cheekily.

“You think Dustin could have dragged you out?” Steve raises a brow.

“I don’t know, the kid has potential,” Eddie shrugs. “I mean, if you really wanna prove it, do enlighten me about how difficult it was to carry me, like a damsel.”

And now Steve has to confront that he can’t, so he doesn’t have much proof that he carried Eddie out, other than being told and a few flashes. It’s not like he can recall it perfectly. And judging by the grin creeping over Eddie’s face, he knows that too. So, Steve just groans and says: “Rob, best friend rules, back me up.”

Robin, who had joined the teasing, but smartly retreated before Steve set his counter offense, looks up from her magazine. “Alright, normally, I wouldn't have dingus’ back.” “Rude.” “However, it was pretty cool, so I’m helping.”

“It was?” Steve asks, genuinely curious. In this weird hospital room, he has been feeling more and more settled, thinking he can be alright with being the mom-friend and temporary badass, as long as he isn’t in charge of everything. He’s this close to finding himself, he can feel it. But he hasn’t stopped to think of how others perceived his actions in the Upside Down.

In a way it’s surprising that it hasn’t crossed his mind, since has spend most of his life trying to conform to what others want to see. A giddy sort of pride bubbles in his chest.

And because Robin is practically his other half, she puts together the same line of thinking pretty quickly. She gets off her chair and plops down on his bed, giving him a hug as she grins, ruffling his hair (which has not been kept as perfect in the hospital, so he doesn’t even pretend to care).

“Okay, am I missing something?” Eddie asks from the other bed, raising an amused yet confused eyebrow at the duo.

They share a look, before Steve shrugs: “It’s a long story.” It’s the type of thing that Steve isn’t ready to tell yet.

Robin backs him up: “Yeah, you have to get tortured by Russians and barf together, before sharing secrets on the bathroom floor. It’s a whole initiation process.”

“God, I don’t even want to know,” Eddie grins, catching that he shouldn’t push, before switching topics. “So, Robbie, you were gonna tell us about Stevie’s heroics.”

“Ah, yes!” she lights up. “Like, it was obviously stupid, because you were injured as hell and I practically got carpet burn watching you slide down on your knees when you saw Eddie. I’m glad I missed them cleaning that wound, because yuck.”

“Robin,” Steve pouts. He’s not here for a lecture, though he’s getting less sure if he wants to hear about him embarrassing himself, which is sounding more likely.

“Sorry,” Robin says. “Anyway, I was freaking out and Dustin was freaking out and Nancy is trying to keep us cool, which wasn’t easy. It’s good Steve used to be lifeguard, let me tell you, because I could not have broken your ribs like that, Eddie.”

“You’re the one, who broke my ribs?” Eddie exclaims. “Those hurt!”

“It can happen during CPR,” Steve immediately defends.

“Still rude,” Eddie tells him.

Before Steve can argue CPR techniques, Robin cuts in: “Boys, boys, it doesn’t matter if Steve broke your ribs and gave you mouth to mouth, you were fine.”

“He did?” Eddie asks, voice almost a squeak as he blushes, though Steve doesn’t know why.

“A person needs air,” he shrugs casually.

Robin looks between them for a second, having a look that Steve doesn’t catch onto for once. She then quickly moves on: “Whatever, Eddie was breathing again. Nancy ordered us through the portal and when we turned back Steve was climbing through with you over his shoulder.” She gives Eddie a look, that she turns on Steve. “And then you both fell flat on your face and neither of you were conscious.”

“That doesn’t sound very heroic,” Steve tells her tentatively.

“It wasn’t in my opinion, Nancy calling you an ambulance all cool and collected was much better than you two idiots,” Robin shrugs. “But it took us all the days before you woke up to get Dustin to stop gushing about how cool it was. We assumed neither of you wanted the reminder.”

“Henderson was gushing?” Steve asks, right as Eddie groans: “Not again.”

He looks at Eddie and blushes. He knows it sounds conceited, but being cool for the kids has been one of the things he has done that he has chosen himself and actually likes. And after the past year, he can’t help but be glad the kid still likes him. But he can imagine how it sounds to Eddie, who probably knows him as egotistic King Steve.

“Yeah, it was all ‘oohh Steve was so cool carrying Eddie like he weighed noting’ and ‘oohh Eddie saved my life, he’s a hero!’ It was getting kinda annoying,” Robin shrugs.

“Dustin said that?” Eddie asks and Steve feels happy for the guy, he deserves the kids looking up to him after he what he did.

Robin realizes that too after she sees Steve proud look, because she smiles: “Yeah, all the kids look up to you, Eddie.”

“You deserve it, man,” Steve smiles.

Eddie hides behind his hair, concealing an embarrassed look and his blush. Part of Steve wants to see him, but for now he just contents himself with grinning at him. Before the conversation drifts to other topics.

A day after Hopper comes in, still looking gruff, but Steve is happy to see him, especially after being in his shoes during one round with the Upside Down. So, he greets; “Hey, Hop. How’re Joyce and the kids doing? The move back going alright.”

“They’re doing great, El is still a bit clingy, but that’s to be expected,” Hopper tells him, fondness creeping in.

“It’s still weird to see the police chief and him not immediately arresting me,” Eddie comments as Steve tells Hopper how great it is to hear that.

“Yeah, yeah, better get used to, because I have good news for both of you,” Hopper says.

“You do?” Steve asks, while Eddie just raises an eyebrow like he thinks it’s nonsense.

“I do,” Hopper says. “I have been reinstated as chief of police and coordinated with Dr. Owens on a cover story for what happened here. With that, we’ve gotten Eddie cleared of charges, so no longer wanted for murder. You’re actually quite the town hero.”

“Really?” Eddie says, eyes shining like he can’t believe it.

And Hopper confirms telling them about how Eddie has supposedly saved a bunch of kids from the murdering Henry Creel, who has been following in his father’s footsteps. He concludes: “That also means your uncle can see you now.”

“He can?!” And screw shining, Eddie is sparkling and Steve thinks it’s a great look on him.

“Yeah, kiddo, he’ll be by later,” Hopper assures him.

Steve lets them have a moment, throwing out a “Nice, dude,” before saying: “It’s not that I’m not happy for Eddie, but why is this good news for me?”

Hopper turns more careful and he softly says: “Well, your- Once we manage to contact them, your parents could come too. I’m sure they’re concerned,” and Steve knows that years as a police officer making house calls for noise complaints and his last stay at the hospital means Hopper knows there is a reason they haven’t been able to contact them.

From beside him, he sees Eddie frown and he wants to hunch in on himself. He’s more ashamed that the other now knows he’s so much of a fuck up that his own parents don’t even care, despite what Eddie said in the Upside Down. He can’t bring himself to be sad about them not even picking up the phone.

Tiredly, he suggests: “You can try calling his secretary. If he isn’t fucking her, she usually picks up the phone.”

He has never been so blunt about it with Hopper, not to mention someone like Eddie. Though he supposes that after everything he can get away with a little whining about his parents, even if Eddie has had it worse. They’re on that level, right? He hopes so, because he’s too tired to care.

There is a beat of silence, wherein Hopper gathers himself. He awkwardly coughs and says: “But that is not the only thing. Here’re your glasses, kid. You’re allowed to drive again with those. And don’t think, I won’t pull you over if I see you behind the wheel without them.”

“Aye, aye, sir,” Steve promises, smirking cheekily as he opens the case to hide how much he hates this.

It’ll be another thing that chips away part of him that fits with the vision Hawkins has of him. Steve Harrington can’t have glasses. It’s a sign of weakness, until you have gray hairs and it’ll be distinguished, his father used to say. And yeah, he has been working on caring less about being the image his parents try to maintain, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t hard.

Dutifully, he puts on the glasses anyway, because he knows Hopper expects him to. It is nice to see clearly with his left eye again, the right one only being a dummy lens, but he knows he must look like an idiot. To throw off suspicious, he puts on his best ‘The Hair’ smirk and asks Eddie: “So, how do I look?”

He expected some funny insult or dramatic joke-y exclamation back, but instead Eddie just smiles and says: “Pretty as always, Stevie.”

And he likes that more than he should for some reason.

So, he shoves the feeling away and tries to focus back on Hopper, while also ignoring the looks he is throwing them. Steve is great at pushing stuff down and smiling. He has his charms and his mother has always pressed him about how important it is to be a conversationalist, so it’s easy for him to drag Hopper into another mindless conversation about everyone.

Finally, Hopper leaves and while Steve is glad to drop the small talk, he knows Eddie well enough to realize that the moment Hopper is gone, he will ask his questions with little regard for how intrusive they might be. His mother would probably cluck and call him uncivilized, but Steve appreciates the bluntness most of the time. Appreciates that there is no double meaning for him to miss or mistakes to make.

“Your parents haven’t tried to buy their way into the secure lab, hospital, thingy?” Eddie immediately asks.

“Why would they?” Steve shrugs, too tired to lie. “It’s not like they came last time, when they were very much allowed in. Besides, I haven’t spoken with them since right before Christmas. How would they know I was in here?”

Against all laws of the universe, Eddie falls silent for a moment. Then he casually says: “Oh that suck, sweetheart. Your parents are assholes.”

He says it so matter of fact, like that is the only natural conclusion, instead of Steve not being worth the trouble as they often like to remind him. He just tells him that what he is going through sucks and that his parents are assholes.

It’s the best response Steve could have gotten, so he just snorts and says: “Yeah, you’ve got that right.”

They share a smile and Steve now gets to see the depths of Eddie’s face better. It’s a good face, he decides. Handsome. Then immediately disregards the thought and starts flipping through one of the comics Dustin left last time he was here.

When Wayne finally comes by (the next day, the second it was allowed. Steve tries not to think about it), he is asleep.

Well, he wakes up halfway through and then decides to pretend to be asleep to give them their privacy. And tries not to look too much into the why of it all when he feels like crying while listening to Wayne repeat that he is so happy that Eddie is alive, how much he worried and how much he loves him.

It’s stupid for Steve to feel jealous about that care. He knows it is. Steve has never had to worry about money like Wayne and Eddie, never had to be put into the care of an uncle. He had everything growing up. He shouldn’t be feeling like this.

But when Wayne talks, you can feel the pride in his voice. You feel it in your bones that he cares so fucking much about Eddie. And you can feel that he loves Eddie no matter what, there are no expectations there, besides trying to be happy.

And Steve just wonders what that’s like. He remembers Robin telling him about just trying things until you find something that sticks, something that you like. Eddie knows what he likes and Steve wants that for himself too. He remembers that trip he and Robin were supposed to take before it all went to shit again. He wonders if Robin will still be up for it once he gets out of here.

Once he leaves, Steve ‘wakes up.’ He’s pretty sure Eddie doesn’t buy it completely, but neither of them mention it.

Before the strange vibe has time to settle between them, Robin comes bustling in already talking about her horrid shift at Family Video and how Steve needs to get better soon, before she will die of boredom.

Steve feels relief at seeing her, the person who has accepted him and is always there for him when he needs a shoulder. His soulmate, honestly. He can’t help his smile. “I’m sorry for my slow recovery after being mauled, Buckley.”

“Apology accepted,” she grins back cheekily. “Anyways, I heard you got your glasses and I need to see you in glasses, because you are, like, King Steve. Not anymore, of course. I mean, I haven’t seen your hair this bad since watergate, which is saying a lot. But you still have that image and I need to make fun of you for it now, even though you’re probably gonna be annoying and still get babes with them and shit.”

Her word vomit is so welcome and he loves her. He knows she will bully him for the glasses, but she won’t mean it. He always knows she doesn’t mean it. That’s why she’s allowed to do it.

So, without further ado, he grabs the case on his nightstand and slips the glasses on, before turning towards Robin and letting out a deadpan: “Tadaa.”

She keeps a straight face for all but three seconds, before she’s cracking up and calling him a nerd, blabbering about how the tables have turned. He allows her a moment to have her fun, before huffing: “Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. I was less clumsy than you, even with shitty depth perception, so don’t get too big of a head.”

“Was dangerous to drive before this?” Robin squeaks.

“I didn’t know that it wasn’t. I thought it was fine,” Steve defends himself. “Besides, better that we find that out now than on the road. Though, I’m sorry we missed out spring break trip to the big city. You were looking forwards to it.”

“Not your fault, dingus,” Robin informs him, her tone gentle now.

“What were you going to do in the city?” Eddie asks from the other bed.

Because of course Eddie will ask, it’s only natural and Steve is panicking, because he can’t very well tell Eddie that they were planning on finding the gay people, so Robin can be herself for a change. So, he just looks helplessly at Robin, begging her to take the lead.

Robin gives Eddie a calculating look, before saying: “To visit my friend, Dorothy,” and as she says it, it feels like more than just a cover up.

A feeling which is only cemented by Eddie’s eyes turning as big as plates, before he’s grinning and saying: “Really? I know her like that too. Is she friends with both of you?”

“Just mine,” Robin answers. “But Steve is cool with her.”

And Eddie nods like that means something to him, like that whole conversation cleared something up. So, confused Steve asks: “Was that something I was supposed to grasp or was that nonsense you made up to mess with me?”

The two share a look and Steve feels a little left out, before they come to a conclusion and Robin explains: “It’s gay code. Covertly asking someone if they’re gay.”

It takes a second for it to click, but then he sees Eddie’s nervous face. Immediately, he assures: “Oh, that’s cool, Eddie. Hope you have better taste in men than Robbie does in women.”

“Oi, I have great taste, Steve!” Robin protests.

“Muppet,” is all Steve responds, before they’re both laughing again, this time Eddie confused, though Robin assures him, she’ll explain later.

But with Eddie in the know about it, Robin can openly talk about her plans. She sounds so excited and Steve smiles fondly at her, already vowing that they’re going this year one way or another even if it kills him. And with Eddie also part of the scene, he offers up: “You should go in June. Lot of gay shit is happening then. They’re commemorating the riots in New York then. They happened in ‘69, I don’t know if you heard about them.”

“I was just born then, so no,” Robin tells him, before asking for more information.

So, Eddie talks to her. He tells her about the shitty police, the arrests, the drag queens, the transsexuals, the sex workers, the black community, the poor. How they stood up. How they raged and rioted. How they showed themselves for who they were, daring anyone to say a thing.

And Steve knows he isn’t part of that. It isn’t his history. But he can’t help but look up to these people, wanting to tap into their strength and how they found themselves and built a community of people like them, uncaring of what others think. He admires them.

They remake their plans right there in that hospital room.

The three of them are going to the city in June, Steve is driving because Eddie’s van is in need of many repairs after it had been left on a random parking lot while he ran. They’re going to rent a motel room, sharing to save costs and Robin has already declared it will be the most fun she is ever going to have.

A small part of Steve can’t help but agree, already looking forward to the getaway. Just the three of them. A few days of not being responsible for the kids or worrying, but in the city having fun like people their age are supposed to have.

It’s something to look forward to and it’s what helps Steve and Eddie as they get better and better until they are released.

Robin is still a frequent guest along with Dustin and the other brats, but Wayne also comes over more and Steve can’t pretend to be asleep each time. It’s quite obvious the man doesn’t trust him near his boy and with Steve’s last name and reputation, he can’t really blame the man. Though he can’t deny that it hurts to not have the approval of someone so kind and accepting.

He throws all his charm Wayne’s way. Tries to think of what would impress a hard working man like Wayne, while also taking in account his love for Eddie. So, he tries to talk about sport, asks after work and showing genuine interest, praises Eddie where he can within his NDA and shows a little bit of his own weird side (bragging about the kids).

However, he wins Wayne over without intending it, by not noticing the man while he talks with Eddie.

They’re finally allowed out of bed, the nurses trusting them not to rip open their stitches – a right they had to earn back after a stint where they tried to visit Max and subsequently did just that. And Steve is making the best of it by sitting on the foot of Eddie’s bed, who had the worst injuries out of them and for whom moving hurt more.

He’s sitting with his legs crossed holding a pencil and being very confused while surrounded by books. Wayne appears in the doorway behind him, right as Steve asks: “Can you read the passage to me again? The words keep jumping and I don’t get it, what do the classes mean again?”

Naturally that means Eddie has to launch into a detailed explanation about everything again and Wayne recognizes it as his fantasy game that kids at school made fun of him for. But there he stands and watches the Harrington kid listen with rapt attention, asking questions and smiling fondly at the theatrics of his nephew.

Once Eddie is done, Steve says: “Dustin’s a fighter right? I’d like to be his backup when I play. What would you recommend?”

“Paladin, holy warrior with an oath of protection, it suits you,” Eddie tells him without hesitation and Steve takes his word for it with only a little blush and duck of his head.

That’s when Eddie notices his uncle and calls out a happy greeting. Steve immediately straightens up and is already apologizing and telling them he’ll get out of their way, much to Eddie’s disappointment, Wayne sees, so he says: “You can stay, son. I don’t mind. You seem to understand his rambles better than me.”

“Oh, uhm, thank you,” Steve replies softly. “Dustin, he talks about it a lot, so I had some background. They wanna play once Eddie is allowed out of here and I thought I’d surprise them by joining, so Eddie is teaching me. That way I won’t make a complete fool out of myself.”

Wayne nods and tells him that’s awfully nice that he’s willing to try and just like that Steve has his approval. All he had done was listening to his friends, because he likes listening to his friends. It makes them happy and he feels less alone. It’s just him and that is enough for Wayne.

It feels a bit like a revelation.

His own parents don’t show, though he gets a card from France on one of the last days in there. The handwriting is that of Stacy, his father’s secretary. He knows because he has seen it on all his birthday cards and Christmas gifts.

Their walk out of the lab/hospital is victorious with Max joining them on her crutches, which will likely be permanent, or at least partially. The three have to go back for physical therapy, Steve the least and Max the most, but other than that, they’re free.

And it truly does feel like freedom. The Upside Down likely is no more, this time more certain than the ones before. They have won and now they get to move on.

Steve is luckily also right that the others will be delighted when he joins their DnD game. Even Mike doesn’t grumble about it, which is a huge win.

In the end, he doesn’t know if he’s dismayed that he actually genuinely likes DnD or if he’s happy about it. After all his complaining about the nerd game, it feels a bit like karma that it’s fun. But he also tried something for himself and liked it.

Yeah, he can argue that he is doing it because Dustin has been begging him for literal years to try it, but he knows that’s not it. He planned to do only a one shot, because he knows the kids find their first session after a stint with the Upside Down the hardest. So, he just wanted to be moral support and then leave them to it.

But it’s just fun. Actual fun.

Eddie is a great DM and all the kids try and help Steve when he’s confused about it. And when he rolls an 18 at the last second and slays one of the beasts, it feels good to celebrate with them. It puts his need for protection into something else, ensuring he can slowly let go of the hyper-vigilance in his real life, because he gets bursts of it in fiction.

So, they play DnD, hang out, watch movies and force Eddie to study so much he complains about his eyes hurting. And slowly the summer creeps near.

When June is there they decide to go Thursday the 26th till Monday the 30th. Since Eddies van still isn’t running (lack of funds, time and willing mechanics), Steve is driving and the three of them pile into the car with all their stuff.

Before they leave Steve checks in a million times with everyone, making them promise to just call if they need anything. They call him a worried mother, but he knows they appreciate it and the joke has long lost its sting. If he is their mom, then he is. He likes the role.

He is a protector and he knows he can’t bring his bat, no matter how much he wants to. But if he has a small knife with him that’s no one’s business but his own.

The car ride there is infuriating. Eddie is a horrible navigator, especially since he is in the backseat and he argues the entire ride with Robin about the radio station that should be playing. They take three wrong turns and Robin nearly pees her pants again before they can find a gas station. And it’s the best car ride ever.

It feels like the post-graduation trip Steve didn’t have and now he gets to do it with a few of his favorite people.

As expected, the motel is very shitty and they have a room with two queens. They agree that no hookups are to be brought to the room, before Robin exclaims that it is too hot to share a bed, even with Steve. And after spending weeks together in a hospital room, neither Steve nor Eddie care much about having to share.

That first night they go to a Chinese restaurant, none of them have ever tried the food and Steve is excited about it. This is what the trip is about for him, trying things and finding stuff he likes. He finds he likes Chinese food, but he likes it more to hang out with Eddie and Robin and just doing stupid youngster stuff.

During the next day, they mostly fuck around town, taking dumb pictures, making fun of hats in stores, finding the perfect mug to bring back to Wayne and checking out all the record shops, because they ‘just don’t have good music like this back in Hawkins, Stevie.’

For the evening, Eddie knows a gay club in town and drags them with them. This, Steve isn’t all that sure about. He hasn’t partied since his King Steve days and crowds aren’t his biggest friend nowadays, but this is for Robin and Eddie, so he gladly goes along. He knows this is their night, so he offers to be the designated driver, which is on brand after their stint with the Russians. Still he has to ensure them over and over again that it’s fine.

The club is strange in the best way. Steve mostly just lets his eyes glide around, trying to take it all in, but being overwhelmed by new stuff everywhere he looks.

He’s sure that he and Robin at least look like newbies and very out of place, but Eddie moves like he’s at home and it makes Steve wonder how long he’s been coming here.

They get drinks, Steve coke, Robin and Eddie beer with fake IDs that aren’t well checked. For now they stick together, trying to get used to the crowd of people. They watch as couples grind on the dance floor all sort of combinations, dressed in clothes ranging from day wear to practically bikini’s to evening gowns.

Steve loves it.

He doesn’t feel like going into the crowd himself, but happily watches as Eddie drags Robin onto the floor and spins her around. The two doing goofy moves and grinning like idiots. They’re obviously having fun and being themselves, and Steve is so glad for them, because this is their place and they deserve to be happy.

His eyes glide over more in the crowd. There are women in full suits, but also in short dresses, some are kissing, other just talking. He lets himself watch them, but doesn’t focus on them in the same way he didn’t focus on Robin like that after she came out to him.

It’s the men that catch his attention more. Mostly the outfits. They’re so diverse and Steve just wants to take it all in. A majority are nothing like what Steve has been told a man should be. There are men dressed in crop tops and short shorts, men with glitter in their hair, men without shirts and even men in dresses and full makeup.

He recalls Eddie telling him and Robin about drag queens and figures that they must be that. A part wants to go up and talk to one of them, feeling strangely drawn to the dramatic faces, sequins and glamour, but he doesn’t want to make a fool of himself either, so he stays to the side.

On the dance floor, Robin is dancing with a beautiful babe. She catches his eye for a second and lets hers grow wide with an ‘are you seeing this!!!’-look, which makes Steve smile. Eddie is in the midst of it, dancing like a maniac and somehow making it look good. He grins fondly and shakes his head, before making his way back to the bar for another coke.

Tonight is busy, so he has to wait a moment before he gets his drink, which isn’t really a problem for him. He’s content to stand there and lean on the bar.

A girl in a white dress shirt with a checkered slipover slides in next to him at the bar and orders a drink for herself, before noticing Steve and smiling. If it were another context, he might assume she was flirting, but instead he just gives her a friendly smile back.

“You new here?” she asks him, leaning close to be heard over the music.

He laughs a little and blushes, asking: “That obvious?”

“Not that much, you just look a little lost,” the girl smiles kindly.

“Got to admit that I am a little,” Steve tells her. “I’m just here for my friends. To support them and stuff. Plus, I have a car. Steve, by the way. Nice to meet you.”

“I’m Brooklyn, call me Brook,” she replies. “It’s nice to see someone show up, like that.”

“It’s nothing,” Steve shrugs. “We’re from a small town, I’m just happy to see them smile and be free like this.”

“Ahw, that’s so sweet,” Brook says, leaning in and showing her cleavage a little. “Hopefully you have time for a conversation with little old me, maybe take a bit of a break from watching your friends.”

And Steve has been purposefully not flirting, but it really sounds like she is flirting with him. So now he’s a bit confused. Not wanting to make the wrong move, he says: “Sorry, if this is, like, totally inappropriate to ask, but are you flirting with me? Are you also here as support? Or am I reading this wrong?”

Brook looks at him for a second and he thinks he fucked up here, already on the point of apologizing when Brook grins and says: “Oh, you really are a newbie. Don’t worry about it, it wasn’t offensive. Glad you checked. But, yeah, I was flirting, I’m bisexual.”

“Bisexual?” Steve repeats, he has never heard that word before.

“Sorry, I keep forgetting you’re new to the scene in it’s entirety, you look at home here,” Brook tells him. “Bisexual means being attracted to both men and women. Though some people still use it to say they’re both female and male, so always good to ask when someone says. But most are shifting transgender or transsexual with that last one. People are still looking for a better term for people who are not a man nor a woman in zines and stuff, but don’t worry about that.”

Confused Steve looks at her grin, a million thoughts race through his head, but all he manages to form coherently is: “You can do that?”

“You can do whatever you want and be whoever you want with whomever you want,” Brook informs him cheerfully.

From the other side of the bar a group of women call her name and she looks genuinely apologetic as she scribbles something on his hand (where she got the pen, he does not know) and says: “If you have more questions, call me. It was nice meeting you, Steve.”

“Yeah, you too,” Steve tells her a little distantly, realizing what she left is a number, right as she fully disappears into the crowd again.

Once she is gone, he sips his drink and stares into the void before him with unseeing eyes. He didn’t even know those were things that existed, but Brook just threw them around casually, like it’s a natural part of the world. Common. Just there, existing.

It makes his head spin a bit. He tries to tell himself it’s because it’s a lot of new information to take in, he remembers how he felt after he heard Eddie talk in that hospital room. However, another more hidden and smaller part of himself whispers that it sounds nice.

Steve has never fully identified with what is expected of being a man. For a long time, his father would yell at him, telling him he wouldn't raise a sissy or a fag. But Steve couldn't help that he liked making sure his friends are okay more than roughhousing with them. Couldn't help that he liked it when his mother took the time to fuss over him and his hair, instead of making his little suit dirty playing in the grass like the other kids at functions.

Besides, he likes cooking after it had become a necessity when microwave meals and take-out were tiring. He had to learn how to do his own laundry, his own dishes and keep the house clean, because his parents expect it to be clean, but fired the help. And if he finds those tasks soothing than that is only a good thing.

And it has never been his fault that his father doesn’t understand that he hates the idea of being a career man. That he wants to stay home, be married and stay home for his kids. To give his home life like his current house doesn’t have, be present like his parents weren’t, care for his kids because he knows how he needed it.

He has always been too softhearted for his father, for his friends, for what society had planned for him. But here in a dingy club in the big city with strangers and his two best friends, he feels like that doesn’t matter much.

It’s both freeing and terrifying.

Before he can spiral on the terrifying part, Eddie practically falls into the bar next to him, grin so wide it can split his face. “You enjoying yourself, Stevie?” he asks.

“Yeah, man, this is fun. People here are nice,” he replies. “I saw you talking with someone earlier, that work out?”

“Nah, I’m not really looking for a hookup,” Eddie shrugs.

“Okay, but if you are and you’re stopping yourself because you’re scared with everything that’s been happening, I do have condoms and I can give one to you no problem,” Steve tells him seriously, because he just wants his friends to be happy.

Eddie gives him a look that is both amused and a bit awed, making Steve a bit uncomfortable, if he’s honest. Then Eddie smirks: “You truly are a mom, prepared for everything. Why do you even have those with you in here?”

“Maybe because I watch the news and I want you to be safe, dick,” Steve rolls his eyes. Then shrugs: “Besides, some people are bisexual, I got a girl’s number.”

“Only you can get a girl’s number at a notorious gay club,” Eddie laughs. Though he ignores the first part of what Steve says, he can tell the other is touched, but he doesn’t push it. The crisis that’s been going on isn’t exactly a topic of conversation for a night like this.

Soon Robin is joining them, her eyes wide and bright, face flushed. Loudly and happily she exclaims: “I kissed a girl, Steve. Me! And I touched a boob.”

“Hell yeah, Robs,” he grins, giving her a high five as Eddie snorts before also congratulating her on her first gay kiss.

She is so pumped that she drags the both of them to the dance floor jumping around like a maniac and her elbows hitting Steve multiple times. But she’s laughing and Steve is laughing and Eddie is grinning like a fool too and making sure Robin doesn’t hit too many people. They must look like idiots, but none of them care too elated and happy.

It’s nearly four when they stumble out of there, all of them high on life. They’re giggling, Robin and Eddie because they’re tipsy and Steve because he’s just so happy. He has pushed all he’s heard tonight to the side to be in this moment, for once not worried about the future.

They crash onto the beds when they get home. Robin fully dressed, Eddie shedding his jeans, before passing out. Steve is the most lucid, he actually changes into pajamas and brushes his teeth then falls on the bed next to Eddie.

He just lies there for a second, listening to the breathing of Robin and Eddie. It’s peaceful and quiet and it settles his nerves like nothing else.

Beside him Eddie is warm and, as Steve had discovered in the hospital, a mover. Though maybe not. Eddie shifts for a few moments, but then his hand hits Steve’s chest and before he knows it, Eddie has gripped the shirt and dragged him close, like it was nothing. He traps Steve with his arms so that his head is pillowed on Eddie’s chest, his legs pinned by Eddie’s.

Steve can’t help but hold his breath, waiting to see if Eddie will do anything else. Move again, maybe. But it seems that holding something – holding Steve –is enough to settle Eddie. His deep breaths fanning over the top of Steve’s head.

With the peace returned, Steve lets out a breath and relaxes. A part of him tells him it’s weird to cuddle with friends, that real men don’t do this. But he pushes those thoughts away. He and Robin cuddle often enough and it’s always soothing, he can cuddle up with Eddie – who is his friend, thank you very much – and it is just a friend thing.

Right at that point the word ‘bisexual’ pops in his head again.

Immediately Steve pushes it away, he isn’t gay, or bisexual. Or, at least, he doesn’t think so. But then his mind replays Eddie tugging him into the hug like he weighed nothing and a warm flush goes through his body.

He tries to tell himself it’s because he’s embarrassed. He’s just being moved like some sort of rag doll that’s a blow to his masculinity. That’s all.

However, his mind betrays him yet again, wondering when Eddie got so strong. His hold on Steve is tight and though Steve could escape if he wants, it would be a struggle. He knows Eddie has been working out more with the physical therapy (and to be better should something else happen. Good old trauma, their old friend).

Steve lies there and tries to decide if he finds it attractive. It may just be admiration for muscles that Steve wants for himself. That’s normal behavior. That’s what he should feel.

Again, his mind betrays him by whispering how he doesn’t want that at all, that it felt safe to be dragged around like that. He likes that Eddie tucked him into his side like it was nothing, that he sunk into the mattress with peace once he had Steve in his arm, as if he could only rest with Steve in a protective hold by his side.

Before he can decide whether he likes the muscles or how it makes him feel, the hour takes him and he falls asleep.

Steve wakes up to giggling and then a bright flash. He groans and buries him deeper into the warmth that is shielding him from the world. However, the warmth shakes a bit and he hears a rumbled laugh above him. The noise makes him frown. It takes him a second before he realizes where he must be; Eddie’s chest, all cuddled up.

Shit.

He doesn’t want to make either of them think he’s uncomfortable with Eddie and cuddling up with a man, but his heart is pounding as he sits up as fast and normally as he can. He glares at the two of them, matching grins on their faces, and rubs his face as he asks: “What are you two shitheads laughing about now?”

Robin shows him a still developing polaroid, though the image is clear. It’s of him and Eddie in the bed, Steve drooling on Eddie’s chest, cuddling close, fast asleep. Eddie on the other hand is awake, his hair a mess, one arm wrapped around Steve as he flips off the camera. Written below in Robin’s messy scrawl is: ‘Indy 28-6-‘86 morning cuddles after the club’

It’s a really nice picture if Steve is honest. Fucking embarrassing too and he is blushing. But it also feels homey and comfortable. He likes it and he’s unsure why.

“You alright there, princess? Or still asleep?” Eddie asks in a teasing yet genuine voice.

The pet name is new, but it makes something float up in Steve’s chest. It always comes up whenever Eddie calls him a pet name, but he usually shoves it away. Now, however, he can’t help but note it’s the same feeling he got last night when Eddie pulled him close.

“’m awake,” he grumbles instead of letting his mind drift. “Just been rudely awoken by two assholes.”

“Ahww, you love us, Stevie,” Robin teases him and she knows she is right. She has taken to Eddie’s nickname for him and Steve doesn’t mind. He likes the name.

“Yeah, we’re so sorry,” Eddie tells him without sounding a little bit sorry. “How can we make it up to you, sweetheart.”

“Go get breakfast while I shower and I might forgive you,” Steve tells them, but he is already smiling.

“You heard him, Robbie,” Eddie says, swinging his legs out of bed and grabbing the first pair of pants he finds on the floor, putting them on. They’re Steve’s light wash jeans, but Eddie makes him work with his messy look.

He slings an arm over Robin’s shoulders and drags her out of the room, both laughing as Eddie calls back: “Don’t use all the hot water, princess.”

Then Steve is by himself in their little room and he isn’t sure whether he hates it or is glad for the brief moment of peace. He loves his friends, but he has much to think about. However, he also doesn’t really want to think about it.

With a sigh he peels himself out of bed and gets in the shower, turning on the water. The pressure is shit and doesn't get hotter than lukewarm. Yet Steve welcomes it anyway. As he washes off the grime and sweat of last night, he mulls over his thoughts.

‘You can do whatever you want and be whoever you want with whomever you want’ that’s what Brook told him.

And it’s overwhelming and enticing all at once. Steve has only known for a year, maybe two, that it’s okay not to mold yourself to whatever other people want. So, someone telling him he can be whoever he wants, is wild.

Though it’s not just that. Robin, Dustin and Eddie all have told him not to conform to some bullshit because it was expected, that isn’t new to him. Not anymore.

No what’s new is that is that Brook casually informed him he doesn’t have to just like girls, he can like boys too and that’s fine. Hell, he doesn’t even have to be a boy, if he doesn’t want to. And Steve had never even considered the possibility.

…But now that he has he can't get it out of his mind.

It feels like something illegal, like something that isn’t allowed. Exciting but also scary, like the first beer he had or the first joint, or even that first time he played DnD.

He knows that he can talk to Robin and Eddie about it. That they will listen and try to help without judgment and only excitement for him, but he doesn’t even know what he wants yet. It feels too personal, not fleshed out enough.

Steve has never been good at knowing what he wants and he just wants more information before he opens his mouth. So, he decides to make the most of this trip and ask around when hanging in queer spaces. That’s what this trip is about anyway, right?

~~

A/N

Steve is really like, ‘I personally relate to the queer things I have heard and read on a deep level and I think I’ll feel at home, but I am not queer, why would you think that?’ And just lives his life like that without question until he’s actually in the middle of it.

Also I went into this to write genderqueer Steve, I named by document ‘Genderqueer Steve’ yet it takes him 15k words to first hear about the concept… I have issues with letting my fics get out of hand, gonna be honest with y’all lmao

Doing queer research for this has been fun! USA Queer History isn’t my history, but it’s connected anyways and writing about queerness always makes me emotional

[theburningbread]

Do you think after everyone happily went back to high school (all alive and healthy of course) that Eddie is even aware of the fact that he does now have a cult of people around him willing to protect him at all costs??

Clearly he did before, and it was in fact the Hellfire club, but NOW?? A teacher could make a joke about Eddie graduating in class and Chrissy Cunningham herself would subtly shame the teacher just as loudly for it. Guys from the basketball team would walk towards Eddie like they’re going to start something and suddenly Lucas Sinclair is in their path, or even more terrifying, Erica Sinclair.

Someone jokes at the newspaper about writing a piece on how Eddie finally graduated and so Nancy pretends to be in on the joke and writes the most complimentary biography of a student to ever be published. Eddie’s Spanish grade was already a mess but a bad test sunk him below passing, then Robin Buckley is dragging him into the teacher’s class during lunch and making her give Eddie all the bonus work she gave Robin. Which Robin helps Eddie nail and it not only fixes his grade, it improves it.

Some Cali guy named Argyle very seriously holding Eddie’s hand while listing off the best types of weed to sell to Jonathan. Telling him how much he trusted him based of him being Jonathan’s former dealer, and how important this hand off was since Argyle had to drive home now before him family and work lost their minds. And Jonathan Byers who now ended up hanging out with his old weed dealer and younger siblings every day at school.

Eddie’s old friends, his band mates and members of the Hellfire club are now surrounded with new people they had never spoken to before the week the town went on a witch hunt for Eddie. His old friends who all stayed close to Eddie’s side despite watching the end of their table fill up slowly with some of the smartest and funniest women they’d ever met, and some of the best D&D players they’d ever seen. Yet none of those new folks ever tried to take their seats right next to Eddie, so next to him they got to stay.

Eddie finds a new DM for the Hellfire club in Will Byers and feels even more at ease in passing the club down to the younger generation. And then finds a newbie to teach as his last task as leader in Jane Hopper. Who definitely didn’t cause the guy who shoulder checked Eddie in the hallway to trip, and absolutely has never made a dice roll to a higher number so her character could push Mike’s off a wagon.

Mike Wheeler and Dustin Henderson who swung so quickly from being intimidated and amazed by Eddie to being endeared but still equally obsessed with him. Mike who hears someone make fun of something Eddie wore and he wears the same thing the next day. Dustin who spends an equal amount of time following Eddie around in dazed wonder and dragging Eddie behind him because yes Eddie, you do actually have to actually check with the advisor that you’ll graduate high school.

Max Mayfield who pretends not to care about much of anything or anyone despite probably caring the most drags an irritated Billy Hargrove over to Eddie’s trailer when she sees him and his uncle trying to fix the roof on their own. The siblings are both assholes about it but it gets done more than twice as fast and definitely twice as well as it would have without them.

The entire school is bewildered every time they see Steve Harrington and Eddie together. They park next to each other when Steve picks up kids or Robin, and They see Eddie joking with Steve “the Hair” Harrington like the two of them had been lifelong friends instead of guys who had never spoken to each other in public despite attending school together for two years. Their confusion blossoms when Billy and Chrissy join the two. Steve, Chrissy, and Billy? Sure, Chrissy had been friends with both of them before they’d graduated. Steve and Billy? Only a little weird that their tense rivalry had somehow turned into an equally tense friendship. But Eddie? Munson?? With the three of them? That was more baffling than Billy Hargrove showing up after a year of being dead. Yet it was clear that the three popular and beloved old and current students of Hawkins High formed an impenetrable circle around the school freak.

The freak that people now looked at with an even stronger feeling of fond bemusement. The one that everyone felt… actually happy for to see him graduate. Maybe they were confused as well, but Eddie’s friends had not only kept him safe, but they’d kept him loved.

It wasn’t surprising by the time graduation day came to hear a roaring cheer spread through the room as Eddie Munson’s name was announced for him to walk across the stage. Not surprising to anyone but him at least who paused to look out to the crowd in confusion and had to be pushed forward by the guy behind him before he snapped out of that daze and walked across the stage to more cheers. The exaggerated bow and handshakes he gave showed he was back to himself by the time he stepped away diploma in hand.

But at least by then Eddie too would know how special he was to so many in the crowd.

[atmilliways]

Dreams In Which I’m Dying (9)

part 9 of 16 | 871 words | Teen +

Donnie Darko AU | parts 1 & 2 | part 3 | parts 4 & 5 | parts 6 & 7 | part 8 | parts 10 & 11 | parts 12 & 13 | part 14 | parts 15 & 16 (complete)

Summary:

Now that the weapons are ready Robin is further afield getting a shooting lesson from Nancy, but Steve is here, with him. He’s trying not to read too much into that.

9 - Reflects

Eddie Munson reflects, as the Party prepares for the big showdown, how much of his life he's spent thinking of Hawkins as hell. Same old worn-out places, same people he’s seen every day since moving in with Wayne for lack of anywhere else to land. Hawkins has always been his absolute last resort.

“So it’s weird that I’m trying to help save it, I guess,” he explains to Steve. Now that the weapons are ready Robin is further afield getting a shooting lesson from Nancy, but Steve is here, with him.

He’s trying not to read too much into that.

Steve looks thoughtful, crosses his arms like he’s trying to hold something in. “You don’t have to, you know. All this, you kinda got thrown in with no warning—which I guess we all did, but, uh. If you wanted to get out, you could. Just get out of dodge, you know? Get somewhere safe.”

Eddie quirks a skeptical eyebrow. “What exactly is the minimum safe distance for something like this?”

The crossed arms loosen a tiny bit and Steve shrugs. 

And Eddie gets it. Steve is the protector, the Paladin with a nailbat. He’d seen it in the Upside Down when the guy had swerved his bike between them and the diving bats. For a second, Eddie had even seen it coming: a nothing reaching out from Steve’s chest that he followed like a train on a track, like a snail trail in reverse. Something inevitable, as though there wasn’t a world anymore in which Steve Harrington would simply let other people get hurt.

So Eddie shrugs back and says, “I run from it now, one way or another it’s going to keep chasing me.” He pauses, buckling briefly under the weighty truth of that, and almost regrets saying it out loud. “Um. Plus, these kids need all the help they can get, because they’re clearly never going to back down.”

Steve lets out a genuine laugh, his gaze flashing over towards where Max and Erica are doing a weird blend of pole fighting and jousting with the makeshift spears. Lucas stands back with both hands on his head like he’s just waiting for it to end in bloodshed. “Got that right. Remember how I told you Erica can take care of herself? She’s still only eleven, but point that out and she’ll go straight for the jugular.”

Eddie grins, remembering his initial confrontation with the kid. She had gotten his friends to laugh at his expense, which just went to show her talent at coming up with a good burn at a moment’s notice. 

Not that it would help her against monsters, but. That kind of spark deserves protection. Erica has it, Dustin has it. . . . Lucas has been avoiding the Hellfire lunch table lately, but championship bullshit aside he had put in the work to play both games all year. And there’s no question about Max, who on her own just about qualifies as a wildfire.

He wonders if Mike is alright, unreachable out in California for so long it seemed ominous as hell, considering everything else going on.

It occurs to Eddie that he thinks of Nancy, Robin, and Steve—young adults but still young—last. They’re the so-called responsible ones taking care of the kids. 

Although Steve looks out for Robin and Nancy, Eddie doesn’t really see anyone looking out for him because, you know. It’s Steve. Big strong guy, several concussions already under his belt, proven track record of handling himself. . . . That seems to be how he likes it.

“How’re you holding up?” Eddie asks, after a moment of rolling the question around on his tongue. It comes out in a cheeky imitation of Steve but, still, he’s asking.

Steve blinks. “That’s my line.”

“I’m older than you, so I’m pulling rank. Seriously man, your turn to answer the question.”

Looking away, still blinking, Steve doesn’t even seem like he knows how. Eddie gets that; he knows from some of the skeletons in his own closet, the things that are hardest to tell get that way because they’re the hardest to take.

“I’m, uh. . . . I’m fine,” Steve says finally, rubbing the back of his neck and glancing over at Eddie out of the corner of his eye. “The bites don’t hurt as much anymore. I’ve . . . been meaning to thank you, man. For patching me up.”

Feeling brave, Eddie bumps their shoulders together. “You’d’ve done the same for me.”

They stare at each other for a second. Then Steve’s hand encircles his wrist, tugging him unexpectedly into the RV. It’s not until they’re inside with the door closed that Steve says, “Yeah, I would’ve,” and pulls him into a kiss.

It’s a good kiss. And brief, because a moment later Lucas sticks his head in asking for bandaids for Max and Erica. But that single moment suffuses every molecule in Eddie’s body with an enthusiastic yes. Even when Steve mouths ‘Later’ at him and he catches the word because he’s too busy staring at those plush, perfect lips and absently licking his own.He hears the flap of fleshy wings and a whisper of wake up in his ear, but the sky is clear when he peers out the windows.

[luxshine]

After my bit of a pause with RRR (Which, in case you haven't watched it, you should watch. I am in love with those two idiots) I am back to Stranger Things and to find that damn it, Billy is not dead yet.

I REALLY need to stop cheering before I actually see the dead body.

And now there are two of them. I know that the second one must be either the Mind Flyer or a new monster of the season, but still. Two Billys. And none is dead. Series, you will lose me if I get more Billy than Steve in this season.

GOOD to see that Hooper put the fear of god into Mike. I still think Mike's an idiot because what kind of idiot teenager who HASN'T been living 13 years in a bunker doesn't know NOT To do hanky panky when your girlfriend's parents are at home!

AAND Hooper goes back to being an ass. Ok, series, go back to the good people. I need to see Steve.

AAAND again, Joyce is the first one to see something is wrong. Because Magnets don't de-magnetize just like that.

AAAAND Nancy is once again a terrible girlfriend. No, seriously, I hate the Wheelers. ALLL the Wheelers.

AWWW!!! Dustin and Steve are such great friends now. And Steve is SO Happy to see Dustin, to hear about the girlfriend, to hear about how he ended up listening to Russian communication, and Dustin wants Steve help!

Ok, series, dump everyone else. I want to see one hour of just Dustin and Steve. Robin can come, she's also very cool.

Oh, Eleven is FINALLY Talking to Max. It only took her a whole frigging year to realize that she needs a girl friend.

Poor Will. Seriously, get new friends. And a new crush.

Max has dumped Lucas five times? Man, she should keep him dumped.

And I'm so glad that El is now having a friend who is teaching her that yes, there's more life than boys.

Fuck. Billy is still alive. Or, worse, cloned. But we still have the exact same actor, so I will count him as Billy.

Oh, he may be Billy, but he is not in his best. I am still hoping he dies.

Lucas's sister is a terrible costumer.

Robin is still an amazing person and I love her. And I love how Dustin trusts Steve's judgment. And I insist I want more Steve and Dustin in this series.

On the other hand... Nancy is still terrible, and that old lady is great!

CARY ELWES?! First I get Mike from the Goonies and now It's Westley? This is so great! Even if he has all the markings of dead guest star walking. I just hope that he dies AFTER Billy.

Max, you are a child but you should ALREADY know that "What's the worst that could happen?" Is asking for trouble.

On the other hand, FINALLY someone is caring about getting El some socializing, some personality and some life away the men who control her life. GO YOU MAX!!!

Joyce is on her way to become the biggest scientist in town, isn't she?

Oh, Weird Al in the soundtrack!

And Science teacher is back! I Forgot his name, but I like him!

... I just re-read The Green Mile. And omg, that Rat? That rat is not Mr. Jingles.

Nancy is the worst girlfriend... and the worst reporter as she just missed the BIGGEST lead of her case for being a jerk.

And oh, hey, the BLOB!

Billy is so wrong. But yeah, I can see him surviving until the end of the season. SIGH.

The obligatory 80's clothes montage with the girls was perfect. The part with the boys... not so much. And seeing El laugh and smile? Oh, that was so perfect. She totally needed a girl friend.

Will, get a new crew.

Steve can't turn off his babysitter instincts.

Mike is an idiot. El needs a better boyfriend. And she knows it! I love that he got dumped!

Will, seriously, get a new crew.

Ah, Hooper and his attempts to date are... sad. But he's going to get stood up, isn't he?

People need to stop telling Joyce she's seeing things that aren't there. She's two for two.

Robin is amazing. She gets to be babysitter two. Not shipping her with Steve, their vibe is totally siblings. But she needs to join the party officially. The Dustin party, not the Mike party because Mike is an idiot and so is Lucas.

Hooper is too drunk and I don't like that.

Oh, evil Russian is here and he was talking to the Major so... Cary Elwes is evil, not just slimy. Gotcha.

And Billy is being sort of controlled, sort of threatened, sort of dunno what, into being a serial killer.

Not that I thought that he wouldn't become a serial killer without help.

[meant-to-be-a-hero]

Season Four, Chapter Eight: Papa

You'd think the penultimate ep would be the calm before the storm, which for most of the plot threads it is, but El's big blow-out battle with the military is pretty season finale-sized.

I forgot that the Rainbow Room gate closed again, that was what confused me about the Season 1/Season 4 timeline when I was rewatching it before.

How dare you insult Eddie's music collection!

Vecna's got that slow villain walk going on, he's not in any rush.

I know it's just me being gay AF, but Nancy's laying there suffering, and all I can see are Steve's arms.

That's two false funerals Joyce has been to.

El misses her dad :(

I can't believe the Jungle Fury Rhino Ranger expected his guards to NOT shoot the Demogorgon, seriously.

Grow Your Own Demogorgon, just add water. 1986's hottest Christmas toy.

Maybe El could have practised her powers on something less expensive than the Nina tank?

Will's fucking speech, man. Every fucking time. This show has managed to make me cry again at every single point I cried the first time around. I know the last episode's going to break me.

Vecna's plan has been in front of us, right from the beginning. It's all very clever.

Ah, the Yellow Pages. Sometimes you can almost forget the 80s setting, and then you get something like that to remind you.

The whole RV heist is just perfect. It's just left enough of farce to be hilarious without being stupid.

"Big boy." Eyebrow waggle.

Brenner likes his dramatic staircase entrances, doesn't he?

Huh, Nina's two hours away from Nellis Air Force Base, which is where Area 51 is.

Real talk, Owens is probably the best non-parental adult figure I've seen in media for a while. He's reasonable, he listens, he does his best, and he's not just telling people what they want to hear so he gets what he wants. He genuinely cares about El.

Steve/Nancy is the only alternative I'll accept since Steve/Eddie isn't going to be an option.

"That's presumptuous of you." is a callback to the first time Lucas and Dustin spoke to Max in Season 2, which I didn't realise when I watched this the first time.

Lucas saying he'll "call in Kate Bush" kind of makes me want to see Kate Bush descend into the Upside Down and kick the shit out of Vecna, ngl.

Ah, The War Zone. Only in America.

I love that they brought Erica inside, because of course they did.

I can't believe they just sell this shit to minors without even blinking.

If that shotgun Nancy's buying is $121, how the hell are they paying for all this? She doesn't get paid by the school newspaper, and I doubt Robin and Steve have that much cash laying around from Blockbusters.

Shut UP Argyle lmao, this dude.

Fucking Brenner. He always has to be right, even when he's wrong.

It's kind of nice that El and Brenner get to hash all this out, now that she's able to communicate properly. It feels more even, as opposed to what we've had before, him talking down to her. It's been a long time coming. I did expect a "My name is Jane!" at some point though.

Lucas and Erica's banter is so authentic, I could see me and my sister having conversations like them.

Robin's basically a precog at this point, predicting that this isn't going to end well (Vecna wins) and they're not all going to make it out alive (Eddie :( )

Because the only thing this season was missing was a military civil war.

I do hope that's not the last we see of Owens, his fate's kind of left up in the air. I'm sure if Sullivan was going to kill him, we'd see it on camera.

Bye bye Papa. At least he does one good thing before he dies.

Jonathan and friends' arrival is very well timed, lmao.

Mike and El reuniting with Will framed in the background is just a MEAN shot, isn't it? There's no reason for that other than to hurt me.

El not giving Brenner what he wants right at the end is pretty poetic, actually.

He's definitely dead this time, right? Although I wouldn't rule out one last Season 5 appearance as like a memory or something Vecna taunts El with.

One left. Kate Bush was wrong - it does hurt me.

[hargrove-mayfields]

Back when things were still easy, Billy and Max used to have sibling days on the weekends when Neil wouldn’t be home, setting aside their issues to have just one day that was meant for doing something fun together.

The tradition had been dropped after the move to Hawkins, and Max thinks that’s where a lot of the strain on their relationship comes from. Without those designated times to let go of some of the tension building between them, they fall to pieces.

There’s one day in particular where it’s just Max at home all by herself, her mother and Neil having gone on a trip to the city she opted out of, when Billy shows up much earlier than he said he would be back, ruining the calm when he slammed the front door so hard a picture frame fell off the wall.

Neither of them say a word to the other, all she gets is an apologetic and glossy looking glance for the noise as he storms past her like she isn’t even there.

She doesn’t see Billy again for a long time after that, just hears the angry music blaring in his room. By now, she’s wisened up enough to know that meant he was probably crying in there, and though she doesn’t know what happened, she feels bad.

It’d been far too long since they acted anything like real siblings, not that they were actually related, but they used to be just as close, so after her brother’s been brooding for literal hours, she knows she wants to do something.

Her opportunity to bring it up comes when Billy makes his grand appearance at her door, stopping by to ask if she ate dinner just so he, quote ‘wouldn’t get any shit for it.’ She nods in agreement and asks, “Do you know what day it is, Billy?”

He shrugs, “28th of June.”

“Well, doy, but it’s also Friday.” Billy raises an eyebrow, missing the point, and Max rolls her eyes. “Friday. You know, like, the one day we get to hang out.”

Too cool for that stuff anymore apparently, he scoffs and leans against the doorframe, and she just knows he’s going to say something snarky, so she turns the puppy dog eyes up a notch, “Please? It’ll be fun.”

It works, Billy sighs way over dramatic and steps into her room, throwing himself down onto her beanbag chair. She can’t contain the smile on her face when he asks with fake defeat, “What did you want, shitbird?”

“I want a makeover day. Like we used to do.”

“Not gonna happen.”

“Why?” She crosses her arms, “Just because that’s what I want to do?”

He fixes her with a look that says ‘seriously?’, and explains, an edge of frustration to his voice, “No, because you know what’ll happen if I’m struttin’ around in nail polish and shit when Neil gets back.”

“They’re not supposed to come back until like, Monday though,” in response to her excuses, he mimics her in crossing his arms over his chest, so she tries harder to reason with him, “And we can always just take it off when we’re done.”

“That’s just a waste of your stuff, then.”

“Come on, Billy, please?” she’s out of actual arguments and he’s winning, so she brings out the big guns, the little sister privilege, the one surefire way she knows will always knock her brother off guard, “I miss you.”

He squints at her, seeing through the attempted guilt trip, but he can’t muster a frown, and he must know it wasn’t all fake, because he says, “Whatever.”

She knows that’s his version of a yes and he’s just too proud to admit he caved, so she squeals and claps her hands together, taking off like a shot to dig under her bed for the stowed away beauty kit. It’s a little wicker basket filled to the brim with nail polish and makeup, the same one they’d used years ago before everything went wrong, and it makes her happy, bringing the old thing back out.

She stops to put a record in her player, choosing Queen as the closest thing to a middle ground between their respective music tastes, they at least both weren’t supposed to listen to it, and drops down into the other chair beside Billy.

On the latch-hook rug in front of them, she starts to empty the basket, lining up all her brightly colored bottles of nail polish, slightly dried out after months of not using them. “What color?”

“Why do I have to go first?” Billy asks. All Max has to say in response is a know-it-all “Because I said so.”

“Fine. You pick.” The moment he says it he looks like he regrets it, Max is notoriously bad at making decisions, but she ignores him and starts holding up bottles anyways.

First, after few minutes deliberation, she chooses a pretty dark green, and he scrunches his nose and doesn’t say anything. She picks a purplish color, which he tosses away on the bed, a very firm ‘no’ that makes Max giggle. Then she gives him a bright orange bottle, and he holds in front of his face, studying it before turning that one down too.

“God, if I knew you’d be so annoying I would’ve just painted them all the colors.” She remarks, lining up her polishes so she could do just that.

“That’s actually probably not a very good idea, kiddo.” Looking a little panicked, he digs through the bottles himself, settling on one he pulls away and stares at for a second before handing it to her and telling her, “Just do ‘em red.”

It confuses her, but she agrees regardless, and makes him turn in his seat so he’s facing her and his hands are flat on the floor. His hands are a little shaky, so her paint job isn’t the best, she even drips some on the carpet, which she hopes her mother won’t notice, but Billy doesn’t say anything about the mess.

With his nails done she moves onto his hair, she wants to do double braids like how he taught her to do in her own hair, so she shoves his arm to get him to turn around. “Scoot.”

He lets her push him around until he’s in the right place that she can reach his hair, but once he’s facing the far wall he tells her, “Don’t you dare use that brush on my hair, Maxine.”

“Jeez, relax. I’m not gonna mess up your princess curls.” She mocked, but she still went for the comb to run through his hair instead.

She waited until she could get it through without catching on any tangles before bothering trying to talk to him. When Billy was upset, he tended to clam up, but she didn’t particularly like feeling awkward in the silence, leaving all the talking to the record player. “Can we talk about why you were mad earlier?”

“Nope.”

“Would you tell me if I told you about my day?” She tries, but he shuts it down again with an “Unlikely.”

“I’ll tell you anyways.” Max didn’t know what had happened with Billy, but she knew she hadn’t had the greatest morning herself either. “I had to ask Lucas to bring me home early because me and Mike got in a fight.”

Billy snorted, and spoke with just as much sarcasm as Max had used on him. She learned that from him anyways. “You and Mike? No.”

“Yeah. He was being a total ass about El, trying to like, own her or something, so I told him to lay off ‘cause that’s totally not fair.”

She knew that Billy, having graduated and turned 18 now, was probably getting a little old for this type of drama, but he was a good listener, no matter how much he pretended not to care, always giving little bits of insight and saying things to make her laugh.

She continues, “Well, anyways he like, totally bit my head off for sticking up for her, so then I told him he was just a miserable mouth breather who’s jealous of El being happy, and he tried to kick me out.”

Billy laughed at that, muttering a little ‘ow’ when the action made Max pull his hair, “But you left before he could kick you out right?”

“Duh.” She sighs a little, the fun part of the story over. “Then when we pulled up outside, Lucas said something stupid about it being my fault or whatever, so I dumped him again.”

“Good. I told you not to take any shit from them anymore.” Billy had been less than happy with her friends a lot recently, when she’d come home from school or from hanging out upset over something they said. They never meant to hurt her feelings, but Billy didn’t like it all the same, and made her promise she’d stand up for herself a little more. Like she did to him.

“Yeah, I guess.” It makes her feel light on the inside, to know Billy was proud of her for following his advice, in his own way at least. “So? What happened to you?”

He shrugs again, and blows her off, “It’s nothing.”

“You were crying.”

“Yeah, and it’s none of your business.”

“Maybe not,” she fumbles with the braid and loses it, Billy’s stupid uneven mullet making it way too hard to braid so many different lengths of hair, “But I’m like, an expert now. El says she likes my advice.”

Under his breath, Billy mutters, “‘Course she does.”

Max purses her lips and pretends she didn’t hear that before continuing her offer, “Anyways, I can always try to help.”

“Listen, it’s just stupid dating stuff. Nothin’ you need to be worrying about.”

“But I’m a girl. I can give advice about that.” She thinks about it for a second, “I mean, I know more about being a girlfriend than having one, but it’s probably about the same.”

“Maybe.” Billy mumbles, focusing all his attention on picking at the nail polish that had missed the edges of his nails, and just from the way he tensed up she can tell she’d overstepped Billy’s boundaries in some way or another.

She finishes of the braid she had already started over twice now and puts a blue scrunchie on the end of it, giving him a minute.

When she starts combing out the rest of his hair is when Billy speaks again, not a drop of his distinctly Billy attitude in his words as he admitted softly, “You know, shitbird, I never said anything ‘bout having a girlfriend.”

That’s confusing to her at first, because he had just told her it was a dating thing, but Max’d been hearing all the nasty things Neil said about Billy for years now, and while she might just be a kid, might be the clueless and annoying little sister, she still knew the weight of what he’d just admitted to her.

It had always made her sad, to know Neil didn’t really like Billy, all the mean words he used, ones she wouldn’t dare repeat, to describe Billy and his friends, all the lies he told about him behind his back. But she doesn’t buy it, what her asshole step-dad had to say.

Her brother was cool, and she liked hanging out with him, when he wasn’t being such a jerk. The fact that he had a boyfriend instead of a girlfriend didn’t change that in the least bit.

She hums, trying to gather words and, her voice strained against the outburst of happiness, says “See? I can totally help with boy stuff.”

[drarrily-we-row-along]

Day 66: Bond

There was a certain bond that formed between two people when all of your friends were paired off and dating someone. When the two of you were the only single people so you got paired off to share food, and be partners in games, and all other manner of things.

Harry supposed that tonight would be just one more of those nights as he arrived at Ginny and Luna's. And he wasn't complaining (not anymore, at least) it had taken a couple of years but he and Draco had warmed up to each other. They had compatible styles for partner games, Draco always gave Harry any treats with nuts and Harry gave him any treats with mint, and Harry genuinely enjoyed his dry sense of humor.

If he was being honest, he'd started looking forward to all of the time that he got to spend with Draco on Friday nights.

But things felt different the moment he entered the house, even though he couldn't quite put his finger on why. He spotted Ginny first, standing against the counter, pouring a couple glasses of wine, "Hey," he called.

She looked up and bit her lip.

"What?" he asked with no small amount of dread. He knew that look; it was the look she'd given him right before she'd told him she might be gay and in love with Luna, a look that said she was afraid of breaking his heart.

Ginny opened her mouth but no words came out.

"Ginny, what?" he said, taking several steps toward her.

"I don't know how to say thi-"

"Oh, good," he heard Draco say from behind him, "You're here."

His mouth stretched into a grin even before he turned around "He-" he broke off when he saw that Draco was standing with his arm around some bloke who Harry had never met before. "Hey," he finished.

"This is Matt," Draco offered.

And frankly, Harry would rather die (again) than shake his hand but before he could have any say in the matter Matt had stepped forward into his space and was gripping his hand. Hard. "The Harry Potter," he drawled. "My, my."

(Read more below the cut)

Harry glanced over at Draco who looked vaguely uncomfortable.

"Draco has told me so much about you. I could hardly believe that he was telling the truth." He leaned toward Harry conspiratorially, "He's known for embellishing the truth, you know?"

Harry wrenched his hand from Matt's grip, "Actually, I've found Draco to be honest to a fault. Hardly anyone else will tell me when my outfit doesn't match or I've got something stuck in my teeth."

Matt's eyes flashed and Harry's proverbial hackles stood on end he didn't like that look, "I-" Matt started

"Hey," Draco said, taking Matt's hand and drawing his attention, "Let me introduce you to everyone else."

"Nice meeting you, Mark," Harry called.

Draco narrowed his eyes at him, "Matt," he corrected, before mouthing, 'behave' at Harry.

"My mistake," Harry said, maintaining eye contact with the other man until he turned away and followed Draco into the other room.

"Okay," Ginny said, drawing his attention away from them, "First. Men are disgusting; I can't believe I thought I was attracted to them for so long."

"What?" he asked, slumping over to the counter and sliding onto a stool across from where Ginny was still mixing up drinks. He was feeling a little nauseous, fire rushing under his skin.

"That," she said, gesturing to where Harry had been standing talking to Matt and Draco, "The little pissing match to decide who's dominant."

"What?" Harry asked, "that guy is just an asshole."

She rolled her eyes, "Second, you're still an idiot."

"Wow. I'm just going to go home," he said. "Between you and the dude who was trying to break my fingers, I don't think it's going to be a great night."

Ginny leaned across the counter and instinctively Harry leaned toward her, "How long are you going to continue denying you have feelings for Draco?"

His brow furrowed, "I don't. We're just mates," he added.

"I rest my case. You're still an idiot," she said as she leaned back and started mixing drinks again.

Harry slouched on his stool turning that thought over in his mind, "That actually would make sense," he admitted.

"Harry, I love you, you know I do," she said. "But honestly, I can't believe you're just figuring this out. The rest of us have known for ages. We were all shocked when he walked through the door with Matt; he told us he was bringing someone but we thought the two of you were just making a joke."

"Well now what am I supposed to do?" he asked. "Why couldn't anyone have said something sooner?"

"Because we thought it was obvious," she hissed.

"Let's just get through the night," he sighed. "Then we'll deal with the rest. We'll need to come up with a plan."

-----------

He spent the rest of the night calling Matt the wrong name (Miles, Maurice, Mike, Max, Moses, Mitch, Mason) to the point that Ron either caught on and decided to help or got confused enough that he started calling him the wrong name, too. Harry also couldn't help but rub it in Matt's face how much better he knew Draco; telling inside jokes, asking Draco specific questions about his work and his parents, and reminiscing about fond memories.

Draco seemed a bit exasperated by it but Harry couldn't help himself. Once he started, he just couldn't seem to stop.

Eventually as everyone was getting ready to leave and Luna was saying good bye to Matt, Draco cornered him, "Do not move a fucking muscle," he hissed, "I am not done with you."

"Dra-"

"I mean it, Potter. Stay right here," he said, jabbing him in the chest with his finger before he turned and made his way over to his date.

"Hey," Matt said, smiling at him much the way Harry imagined an alligator might smile at his prey.

"Hi," Draco replied softly. "I'll floo you tomorrow, yeah? There are a few things I need to take care of."

Matt frowned, "I thought we were going back to my place."

"No," Draco replied steadily. "I have a five date rule." He stepped back, "I'll floo you," he repeated.

And Matt looked pretty pissed about it, but he seemed to take the hint and disapparated on the spot without so much as a goodbye to anyone.

"You're all the literal worst," Draco fumed. "Except you, Luna," he added. "You're a goddess."

Luna gave a little curtsy.

"Seriously," Draco said, glaring at the room even though none of them looked especially repentant. "And you," he spat, spinning to glare at Harry, "You're the worst of all."

"Does that make me special?" Harry quipped, arms folded across his chest.

Draco groaned, "Bloody fucking Griffyndors. I hope you're all happy," he grabbed Harry's arm. "Come on we are going back to mine to have a chat."

"I thought you had a five date rule," Ginny called.

Draco flipped her the two finger salute before apparating them to his house.

Harry always liked being in Draco's house; it was small and cozy, and it always smelled vaguely like chamomile. Just being here made his soul feel lighter, calmer.

"Alright," Draco growled, "Spill. What the hell was that?"

"What?" Harry asked innocently.

"Potter," he warned.

Harry sighed, "He's an asshole."

"And you know that how? You didn't even give him a chance".

"Draco his handshake was like a vice!"

Draco stared at him, "You've got to be kidding me. Are you that much of a child? He hurt your hand so you thought you should bully him?"

"I didn't bully him!" Harry exclaimed.

"No?" Draco asked. "You didn't use his given name even once." Harry winced, maybe that was overkill. "You spent the entire night trying to make him feel stupid and inferior to you. Which, let's face it, everyone does anyway because you're Harry fucking Potter!" Draco exploded.

"That's not fair," Harry said, betrayal slicing hot through his gut. Draco knew that he hated being famous, hated the preconceived notions attached to his name.

"Yeah well, neither was what you did."

"Draco, I-"

"No," he said, holding out a hand, "That was such bullshit, Harry."

"But he's awful."

"You didn't even give him a cha-"

"I didn't have to!" he exploded. "The first words he said to me were to disrespect you. He's an asshole and I will chase a million of them away from you."

"That's not your job."

Harry threw his hands up in the air, "I'm your best friend! Whose job is it, if it's not mine?"

"You don't just get to decide things for me!" Draco cried.

"Fine," Harry spat. "You want to date that wanker, go ahead. But I have seen his type before. Don't come crying to me when he's beaten you to a bloody pulp for looking at someone the wrong way." He pushed past Draco and made his way to the door, walking out and slamming it behind him.

He started down the sidewalk, debating trying to figure out where Matt lived and have a chat or maybe go over to Ron and Hermione's to get some advice and regroup.

But the further he walked, the more the anger faded from his veins, and the guilt settled in.

There was no choice really, he turned around and headed back to Draco's house once more. When he arrived he knocked on the door even though he normally would have just let himself in.

"Go away!" Draco shouted.

He knocked again, "Draco, please."

"No! Go away. You're the worst."

"I know," he called back. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. Please."

After a few seconds, during which fear settled heaving in Harry's gut, the door opened and Harry slipped inside, Draco was curled up on the couch, hugging a pillow to his chest.

Seeing him looking so small and sad made Harry ache. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "I shouldn't have said that."

"Which part?" Draco asked bitterly.

He sighed and came over to sit on the couch beside Draco, "I'm not sorry for chasing him away. But I will always be here for you, no matter what. You can always come to me."

Draco leaned over and put his head on Harry's shoulder, "I know," he whispered.

"Forgive me?"

He nodded and they sat together in silence for a few minutes, both trying to collect their thoughts. Eventually Harry said, "I really wish you wouldn't date him."

Draco sat up, "Harry look at me."

Harry turned on the couch to look at him and raised his eyebrows.

"I won't ever floo call him, we'll never go on another date, and I'll never see him again." Something eased in Harry's chest. "But it's not because of what you said or did. It's because I, too, have had shitty relationships. I have also lived through trauma and I have had to learn from it just like you."

Harry looked down at his hands.

"And if you have concerns about someone, there is a better way to tell me than what you did tonight."

He nodded, suitably chastised, "You're right."

"I appreciate your concern, though," he added and Harry looked up to see that Draco's mouth was quirked up, he really must be forgiven, apparently. "And I genuinely forgot how petty you can be."

He shook his head and reached out for Draco's hand, "Draco, I want you to be so, so happy," he said. Then he added, "I'm an idiot."

Draco raised an eyebrow.

"And everyone knows it, you included, so you can't really hold it against me," he said.

"I'm pretty sure I can."

He huffed, "Just hear me out. I'm an idiot and I didn't realize until tonight that I'm a little bit in love with you. And it's fine if you don't feel the same but you are my best friend and I had high standards for you even before I knew I had feelings for you. It hurt me to see you with someone who treated you so poorly."

"Sorry," Draco said, "I need you to repeat that."

"I said, I'm an idiot," Harry started.

"Not that part."

"It hurt me to see you with someone who treated y-"

"Not that part either," Draco said.

Harry swallowed, "It's fine if you don't fee-"

"Harry," he grumbled. "Say the other part."

He rubbed the back of his neck, "I'm in love with you," he whispered.

Draco blinked at him, a smile blooming at the corner of his mouth, "Say it again."

A grin tipped up the corners of his mouth as well, "I'm in love with you."

Draco launched himself into Harry's arms and covered Harry's lips with his own, "say it again," he mumbled into the kiss.

"I love you," Harry repeated, murmuring the words into Draco's mouth.

Draco pulled back slightly, "I love you, too."

"I hoped that was the case," Harry replied.

After he kissed him again, Draco said, "Alright, fine. Now you get a say in who I date."

Harry grinned, "Is that so?"

He nodded.

"Will you date me, Draco Malfoy?" he asked, brushing his nose along Draco's.

"Yes," he whispered. Then with a smirk he added, "But we'll have to get my best friend's approval and rumor has it that he has very high standards."

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

Day 65: Question | Day 67: Soulmate (Take 1)- Your traditional soulmate trope or Day 67: Soulmate (Take 2)- just using the word 'soulmate' as a prompt, not the trope.

[yurtletheturtlehenderson]

COSMIC - S3:E2; Chapter Two, The Mall Rats - [Pt. 4 - FINAL]

A Will Byers x Reader Series

Baffled with Mike's sudden behavior, El seeks out Y/n and Max for advice while Will struggles to get through to Mike and Lucas. Billy takes his co-worker on a field trip, and Steve and Dustin enlist a helpful ally in their top-secret mission.

⚠️: s3 mike wheeler, y/n and mike angst. more google translate. the reader eating ice cream [if you're lactose intolerant, it's dairy-free xp], mama steve loving and worrying about his children, his little henderson ducklings especially 🥰 *heavy sigh* oh yeah, kidnapping and more possible allegory to r*pe :( as usual, a marker will be placed but it plays till the end of the chapter so you only need one

🔑: y/f/o = your favorite [ice cream] order

📝: idk if the tip seems small or not but either way keep in mind this was the eighties so inflation hadn't gotten quite as bad yet. As far as the Mike stuff, I know he wasn't being possessive, he was just worried she would get caught and taken away or worse but also he handled it badly, and then everything else in this chapter just kinda rode that angsty bad decision train outta here lmao.

|| 𝟑𝐫𝐝 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐏𝐎𝐕 ||

"если действовать осторожно... неделя длинная. серебряный--"

Robin pauses her pacing momentarily to point at the tape Dustin has in his hands.

"Wait, that last part, just one more time,"

The sounds of the wires hissing as they rewind fill Robin's thoughtful silence.

"если действовать осторожно... неделя--"

"Okay, that word!" She says, and Dustin quickly presses pause. "Um... it's pronounced... 'dly-nna-ya.'"

"'Dly-nna-ya'" Dustin repeats, nodding excitedly.

"Which is spelled—"

"-D... D, D, D..." Dustin mutters, springing up from his seat, scurrying towards the whiteboard as Robin grabs the book. "The— The chair! The chair-looking thingy!" He says, pointing to the Russian 'д'.

"Yeah, okay," Robin mutters excitedly, hurriedly scribbling into their notes.

The glass partition swings open with a loud clang alerting Steve at the counter.

"We've got our first sentence,"

"Oh, seriously?" He asks, turning around with two orders in his hands.

"Yeah," Robin nods. She drops her voice into a lower pitch and imitates a Russian accent. "The veek is longh,"

Steve's face falls. "Well, that's thrilling,"

"I know, but," she shrugs. "Progress."

With that, she retreats into the window and slides the door close leaving Steve to return to his ice cream slinging duties.

"Okay, here you go. You got uh, a vanilla with sprinkles and extra whipped cream and one y/f/o,"

Steve hands off the rest of the orders to El and Y/n who gladly take them. Max stood next to them, digging into the order she had already been handed. She only comes up to say 'thanks' in near sync with her friends.

"Wait a second," he says, a thoughtful look falling over his face as he frowns at El. "Are even allowed to be here?"

The girls freeze, once again pausing to share a knowing look with growing ice cream-mustached smiles and giggle. In a hurry, the three of them scurry for the door. Y/n nearly makes it before coming to a skidding halt that leaves her bouncing on one foot as she catches her balance. She runs back to the counter with a mischievous smile and a dollar in hand.

Steve watches confused as she tucks the dollar away in the tip jar, and sends him what he finds to be a childish wink.

"Keep this quiet?" She asks, and he almost laughs. But he could tell she was all too serious. "Also this is your tip! Thanks, Steve,"

Steve watches utterly baffled as she turns on her heel and makes a break for the girls waiting just outside and around the corner.

"Okay?" He says, beginning to trail off. "Wasn't gonna tell anyone anyway?"

She's nearly out the door when he realizes what her being here means. He hopes it's not too late to call after her.

"Hey, wait a sec!"

Thankfully, she hears him and turns back around. He motions her forward and while confused, she ultimately complies.

"Hey, uh, does Dustin know you're here?"

Y/n tilts her head as she thinks about it then shrugs.

"I'm not sure, why?" She asks, taking a lick of her ice cream.

Steve hooks a thumb over his shoulder, gesturing to the window but he pauses when he realizes it's better she doesn't know what he's doing here. He quickly plays it off and plants both hands on the counter to lean against it.

"I don't, uh— It's just that he came by earlier and he seemed pretty down about last night,"

Y/n's shoulders slumped immediately, her eyes widening a little.

"He did?" She winced, nibbling nervously on her lip as she looked guiltily at her ice cream. And in doing so, any budding feeling of anger and protectiveness vanishes in Steve. "It's just, he wasn't there when I left and I assumed he went with the guys to Mike's."

With the same, guilty look in her eyes, Y/n glanced over her shoulder at her waiting friends and Steve instantly regretted bringing it up. He sighs, shaking his head.

"Look, it's—"

"If he comes back, will you tell him I'm sorry?" She laughed a little, very sheepishly. "That we can guilt Mom off the TV again so we can a have a monster movie night like we used to, or something?"

In that moment Steve decides not to be honest with her and tell her he's probably still too upset for that, he just doesn't have to heart to. Nor does Steve have the guts to say it wouldn't matter anyway, that he's right in the back room decoding a top-secret Russian communication. So instead, he forces his lips into a firm line that was supposed to be a smile and nods.

"Sure thing, kid,"

She perks a little. "Thanks, Steve. I'll see ya later,"

"Alright, take care," he straightens from the counter, watching as she retreats back out of the shop. He sighs again, almost hating how soft and protective he's become, and calls after her, nodding discretely in El's direction. It all comes out in the form of annoyance, though, naturally. "And don't be stupid, alright?"

Y/n smiles in response and returns to her friends. Together, the three of them disappear into the crowd.

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

One of many sets of double doors swing open as Y/n, El, and Max step back out into the sunlight.

Despite their every desires to keep their special day at the mall going, the three girls knew the bus back into town was leaving shortly. Y/n takes another quick and frantic lick of her fastly melting ice cream as Max turns to El and gestures to her strawberry ice cream cone.

"Wanna trade?"

El responds with a giggle and eagerly trades off her vanilla cone for strawberry.

"No... fair," Y/n grumbles, nearly attacking her ice cream as it turns to a puddle before her eyes. She spares only a single second glare enviously at their still freshly frozen cones while she has spent between licks.

"You're not," lick. "making your," lick. "ice cr━ shit!" two licks. "melt."

The girls giggle again, wholeheartedly amused by the sight before them.

"Shut up," another lick.

"That's ridiculous," came a nearby, all too familiar whine. "Why can't I just—"

Max's face falls into a glower, pulling Y/n and El into a stop next to her. "Oh, you gotta be shitting me."

Just across the concrete entrance, fumbling to separate their bikes from the bike stands were Mike, Lucas, and Will.

Forgetting her melting ice cream momentarily, Y/n takes a moment to sigh at the ground when she realizes whatever is about to pass, will be far from good.

"—haven't got that much," Lucas says.

"Okay, what if we split it?"

"Split it with what? Does that even make sense?"

Two of the three boys continue to bicker, completely unaware of the three angry figures making their way towards them. More specifically, two angry figures and one slightly disgusted one who tosses out her nearly finished ice cream cone and the napkin she used to wipe her hands off with in the trash cans they all pass.

"Isn't this a nice surprise?" Max asks, plastering on a smirk as the three boys and their bikes come to a halt before them.

Mike's face pales when he realizes Max had caught him, and even more so when he realizes El is with her. His bike crashes to the ground, forgotten as he gapes at her.

"What are you doing here?"

"Shopping." She answers matter-of-factly, her icy stare never once wavering.

"This is her new style," Max says, eyeing him carefully. "What do you think?"

"What's wrong with you?" He spits, gesturing to El. "You know she's not allowed to be here."

"What is she, your little pet?" Max fires back.

"Yeah. Am I your pet?" El asks.

"What? No!"

"Mike, she needed this," Y/n says. "Besides, you lied to her! What are you doing here? You're not supposed to be here either."

Mike finally turns his wild gaze to Y/n, utterly baffled at the stance she was taking.

"Are you kidding me?" He gawks, ignoring her eye roll. "You of all people should know about keeping her a secret,"

Y/n hotly takes a threatening step forward. "Meaning what?"

"Meaning you would know, you're good at hiding her,"

Everyone inched closer, apart from El who was seething at Mike. Y/n, on the other hand, scoffs loudly, throwing her arms up in frustration.

"You said you were over that!"

"Yeah, well, guess I'm not,"

She looked around quickly, her voice falling into a whispered hiss. "What, so I should be locked up all day, too?"

"Maybe!" Mike said, instantly feeling guilty.

"Mike!" Will snaps, stepping forward another few inches. And so did El, her shoulder subconsciously shielding Y/n. Shielding her from, Mike, or Mike from her, she wasn't sure.

But she knew she was livid. And hurt.

Mike sighs, putting his face into his hands and running them tiredly over his face.

"I'm sorry, that was over the line," he sighs, sounding embarrassed.

"-You're damn right it was," Y/n snapped.

"But that doesn't change the fact that she really can't be here," he corrects himself, looking El in the eye carefully. "You can't be here. It's not safe,"

"I can take care of myself," El says.

"I mean," Mike sighs again, frustrated as he trips over his own words. "you and a lot of other people could be in danger if anybody starts asking questions. I just care about you, alright? And I don't want anything to happen to you, not again,"

El shakes her head, all visible anger melting away leaving only sadness in its wake.

"Then why do you treat me like garbage?"

"What?"

"You said Nana was sick,"

The panic returns to his eyes, and he and Lucas desperately try to cover their tracks.

From over their shoulder, Y/n meets eyes with an exasperated Will, and the couple shares a look and tired shake of the head.

"She is. She is sick!"

"Yeah, sick— she's sick," Lucas nods. "She's super sick. And that's why we're here, actually."

Y/n silently meets Will's eye again and makes out the subtle firm line he presses his lips into and the small shake of his head 'no'.

Oblivious to Will, the two continue.

"Yeah, w-we're shopping! Not for us, but for her, for Nana,"

"For Nana."

"Also," Mike sighs, giving El an earnest look. "we're here to get a gift for you. It's just, we couldn't find anything that suited you and I only have, like, $3.50, so it's hard."

"-super hard." Lucas sighs, giving an honest, apologetic look to all three of them. "It's— It's expensive,"

"Speaking of," came Will's, softened voice. "Here ya go. Sorry it's not real,"

He takes a step forward and sheepishly offers the small goodie bag to Y/n. Everyone watches confused and almost a little intrigued as Y/n takes it curiously. Quickly, she dives her gaze and hand into the baggie and smiles as she pulls out the small y/f/f candy ring.

"Oh, a ring pop?" She flashes Will a beaming smile as she rips open the package and slips it on her finger. "Thanks, Will,"

He nods happily, completely relieved she was this happy to get one.

Y/n's smile drops instantly when she remembers what they're interrupting and she quiets, clearing her throat a little.

"Sorry," she mumbled, sending an especially sorry look to El as her hand graces her shoulders in a gentle apology.

El sends her a weak smile, eyes falling back down. Sadly, she looks to her ice cream and then deeply into Mike's eyes as the day's events all come crashing down on her. And it's with great disappointment she realizes what has hurt her, and what hasn't.

She shakes her head softly, the disappointment evident on her face now more than ever.

"You lie," she says finally, all the more saddened to see Mike squirm under her gaze, only confirming her words. El shakes her head again. "Why do you lie?"

She waits and waits and when Mike can't give an answer, the screech of the bus's tires in the distance tells her a decision must be made. And it's with a seething glare, El makes up her mind.

Everyone watches carefully in silence as she takes three tantalizing steps until she's staring up at Mike. He's frozen, as is everyone else as he fears her next words. And he has every reason to.

"I dump your ass."

Y/n's eyes find Will's once again, this time, regret clouding them when she realizes. Tonight was meant to be spent at his house, dinner with him, Jonathan, and Joyce at least but it seems the day had different plans in mind. She stood rooted to the spot, her lips parted in shock as she processed what had just happened.

She detected sadness in Will's eyes, as she was used she had in her own but reality came crashing down, breaking her from her spell.

"I'm sorry," she sputters, more so to Will than Mike and Lucas. "I didn't think she would," she breathes.

"What?" Mike's widened eyes land on her, flickering between her and El's retreating figure. "Did you tell her to do this?"

"Of course not!" She said, eyes darting between him and Lucas sympathetically. "But it's still their decision. I'm sorry. I am,"

"Y/n! You coming?"

Y/n looked over her shoulder to find El and Max moving up the line, nearly ready to board. From there, El looked between Y/n and Mike, as if she were worried Mike would take it out on Y/n more. Y/n gave her friend a weak, reassuring smile and turned back to the guys.

Will specifically.

"I'm sorry," she said to Will, beginning to back away even though she didn't really want to leave him. "But I think I need to be with them right now. Is it okay if we take a rain check?"

Will smiled, nodding and she felt a fresh wave of guilt. She could have sworn she saw a hint of sadness but if it was ever there, he had buried it for her sake.

In a spur of the moment, she ran forward and planted a kiss on his lips before pulling back. She shot Lucas and Mike a lingering look, not really knowing what to feel for them in the moment.

And then she took off.

The three friends stood baffled, reeling from how much everything had changed so quickly. Their legs kicked into gear and followed the crowds to the bus but the doors had just swung closed. From where they stood at the curb, they could make out three familiar lingering silhouettes from behind the tinted windows, all piling in together.

Max had nabbed the window seat, El seating herself next to her. It was only a matter of moments before Y/n had joined them, plopping herself in the seat directly behind them. She peeked out over the low backs of their seats, wedged right in between them with a breathless look.

For just that moment, the three best friends sat there in stunned silence before breaking into a breathless laugh.

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

The sun had set behind even the lowest of valleys, bathing the town in a pale glow and unforgiving chill that couldn't be quenched even on the hottest days of summer. Starcourt mall was alive in every way but one; the hum of the neon lights reached every corner, but the mall had long since closed leaving it a beautiful, vibrant wasteland.

The only remaining occupants were tucked away in the backroom of Scoops Ahoy, standing before a whiteboard facing the daring truth they had worked so hard to uncover. In perfect sync, they read the words aloud with confusion muddling their brains and exhaustion filling their systems.

"The week is long, the silver cat feeds when blue meets yellow in the west."

Steve, Robin, and Dustin stand before the translation willing something to make sense. But all they were left with when they turned in for the night, closing the grated metal gate that went with closing up shop was utter bafflement.

"I mean, it just..." Steve sighs into the ground, the keys in his hand turning in the lock. "It just can't be right."

"It's right," Robin assures. When Steve returns to his feet the three of them begin their lazy journey to the exit.

"Honestly, I think this is great news," Dustin shrugs.

"How is this great news?" Steve chuckles bitterly. I mean, so much for being American heroes. It's total nonsense."

"It's not nonsense. It's too specific. It has to be a code."

Steve's face screws up into a puzzled pout. "What do you mean, a code?"

"Like a super-secret spy code,"

"That's a total stretch,"

"I don't know, is it?" Robin scoffs.

"You're buying into this?"

"Listen, just for kicks, let's entertain the possibility that it is a secret Russian transmission. What'd you think they were gonna say, 'Fire the warhead at noon'?"

"Exactly," Dustin gestures, his gaze returning up to Steve to see the gears spinning in his head.

"And my translation is correct," Robin assures. "I know that for sure, so... 'The silver cat feeds'. Why would anyone talk like that unless they're trying to mask the true meaning of their message?"

"Exactly!"

"And why would anyone mask the true meaning of their message unless the true meaning of their message was somehow sensitive?"

By now, Dustin was rubbing his triumphant smirk in Steve's face. "Exactly."

"So I guess that confirms your suspicion," Robin says, looking to Dustin who remains triumphant.

"Evil Russians,"

Robin wears a tired smile as she looks back at Steve with a dry chuckle. "I can't believe I'm about to agree with this strange child, but, yeah, totally evil Russians."

"So how do we crack it?" Dustin asks, flashing his charming toothless grin her way.

"Well, I guess we translate the rest and hopefully a pattern emerges."

"A pattern. Right, like maybe 'silver cat' is a meeting place?"

"Or a person."

"Or a weapon,"

"It's probably gonna take a super genius to track it, but..." Robin trails off when she notices she is one dingus short. "Where's Steve?"

The new duo spin on their heels where they spot their missing friend a few yards down. He had a frown screwed onto his face as he stood in front of one of the many kiddie rides, his hands diving into his pockets no doubt searching for coins. Sure enough, the clinking of coins rattling together as he purs them out in his palm confirms their suspicions.

"Hey, Steve," Robin calls, her empty hand swinging limply out in a puzzled gesture. "What are you doing?"

"Uh, it's," Steve doesn't bother answering her question and the only time he picks his eyes up off his hands is to check the mechanical horse for its cost. "a quarter. I need--" he mumbles to himself, looking hopefully to his friends. "Do you have a quarter?"

Despite her confusion, Robin lets out a chuckle, and she and Dustin quickly shuffle over to Steve's side. "Sure you're tall enough for that ride?"

"Quarter!" He yells, jumping forward to catch the coin Robin flipped out for him.

He catches it with a clumsy spin and drops his knees to insert it into the ride. They watch was Steve remains huddled on the ground, a funny look on his face as the ride begins. Robin can't resist poking fun, and does with little strain on her voice to be heard over the music.

"You need help getting up, little Stevie?"

"Shh-shh! Shh!" Steve snaps, gesturing to the galloping horse. More specifically the music it plays. "Would you two just shut up and listen?"

Robin and Dustin are almost shocked at his seriousness, but the smile remains on Dustin's face from Robin's comment. That is until it eventually slips off his face when he realizes why the familiar tune being played before them was so familiar.

"Holy shit," he breathes, locking eyes with a grave-looking Steve. Dustin looks to Robin, helping her to connect the dots as he begins shedding his backpack from his shoulders. "The music,"

He had heard it all day. They all had while translating the tape. The very tune Steve had been complaining so much about.

"The music!" Dustin cries again, dropping to his knees as he desperately fishes his bag for the tape.

How had he not recognized it? Y/n and him used to ride the Indiana Flyer at the fair as soon as they were old enough. And then the caricell, over and over every year until they were old enough to ride the bigger rides. And even then, the tune carried out across the Fun Fair where it could be heard from as far as the top of the Ferris wheel. The two of them would drag their mother every year. It was the sound of his childhood.

Dustin presses play on the tape, and as he gazes up at Robin, silently pleading for the dots to connect the sound of the song on the tape is louder than Russian for the first time all day.

But Robin only shrugs between them.

"I don't understand,"

"It's the exact same song on the recording,"

"Maybe they have horses like this in Russia?"

"The 'Indiana Flyer'? I don't..." Steve shakes his head. The look on his face made clear he wished he was wrong. He looked... unsettled. "I don't think so. This code, it... it didn’t come from Russia."

And they that unease. They could feel it settling into their chests, making their hearts beat a little faster and their stomach twisting up into knots at what he said next.

"It came from here."

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

The roads are empty, even still. Crickets sing into the night and the steady breeze taking itself through Hawkins back roads are momentarily swept up with the leaves when a lone Chevrolet Camaro pulls into Brimborne. The lot remained abandoned, seemingly, other than the figure stepping out of the car, with sweat on his brow.

The summer sun had set hours ago, taking the searing heat with it. But the humidity that clung to the air felt to be Billy like he was sitting far too close to an open fire. But still, he lumbers to the trunk where the reason for his being here lies.

The latch opens with a loud clunk, and the trunk lid opens slowly. His eyes find the contents immediately, as does the murky light from the trunk bulb onto his face.

She was still unconscious.

A foreign voice in his brain — the one who had brought them both here, the one to have put here — spoke up again without permission. And yet, it didn't exactly speak in words, but feelings. And all that shot to the surface was one thing — one word.

Good.

It was Billy who couldn't stop thinking about it. What he had done. The small part of him that fought.

[■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■]

- 𝗙𝗟𝗔𝗦𝗛𝗕𝗔𝗖𝗞 -

Among the pain, Billy feels tears building up inside him when he realizes what that tug in his gut is ordering him to do. He can also feel it happening again. He can feel himself slipping away, just as he had when he fled for the showers. But this time he fought it.

God, he fought it so hard.

But it wasn't enough.

His nails dug into the flesh of his knees that he had been clutching so tightly to his chest. That and the tears racing down his cheeks now blending with the water were the last things to happen that were truly Billy's doing.

"Billy, are you okay—?"

The last thing Billy sees before he loses control is his hand lunging for Heather's throat. His iron grip locks her in a chokehold and her hands fly to his. Desperately she claws at his hands, her nails raking into his skin but he never flinches. She feels her feet leave the ground, her toes grazing the tile floor as he picks her up and pins her to the stall doors.

Her widened, fearful eyes look deep into his but all she finds as he rips the curtain closed is the lack of human emotion within him. His eyes were hollow, the whites of his eyes running black and they are the last thing she sees before unconsciousness overtakes her.

- 𝗘𝗡𝗗 𝗢𝗙 𝗙𝗟𝗔𝗦𝗛𝗕𝗔𝗖𝗞 -

She's limp in his arms as he carries her throughout the darkness of Brimborne whose only source of light is moonlight spilling through the dirtied glass window panes hanging high above. He walks with all the time in the world, his eyes dead set on the last place Billy ever wanted to see again. The only sound to be heard within miles was the scuffle of his rubber soles scraping against the dirt and leaves sprinkled across the concrete.

The scratchy thumps of his boots turn to metal echoes as he disappears down the darkened stairwell. From there, inky blackness like the sludge coursing through his veins is all that can be seen. Little moonlight has survived the journey through the grated floor, but there was enough to illuminate Heather's body that he places onto the cement floor.

Soft, discomforted groans break through the duct tape over her mouth as she comes to. She rolls onto her back, confused as to why she feels pain in her head and cement digging into her spine.

But everything she needs to know becomes all too clear almost instantly when she sees Billy's hollowed eyes staring down at her from where he's perched above her. Panic sets in, and as she realizes all too late why she is unable to move her hands or feet. That doesn't stop Heather from trying as she fights against the restraints, eager to use her dried-out voice.

Her breath is knocked loose when Billy throws her back into the ground after she managed to sit up even an inch.

He keeps a small majority of his weight on her shoulders as he leans in close, his breath on her ear.

"Don't be afraid. It'll be over soon."

Tears tickle her temple when they escape her eyes. She prays for many things, but she'll even settle for the small possibility the sweat collecting on her skin is enough to weaken the tape on her mouth. Then maybe, just maybe she can scream for help.

"Just stay very still."

This specific hope fizzles away, drowning in her own confusion when, without moving his head, he looks to her and slowly peels the tape off of her lips.

She's too shocked to do anything. Too afraid. But she wasn't prepared to let that stop her. Heather was going to do something, she had to. She would.

But that all died when Billy suddenly stood up, looking almost disinterested in her as an eery, unnatural sound reverberates throughout the darkness before her. Slowly, her head turns to face the dark abyss when she catches movement out of the corner of her eye.

His face is as hard as stone though his eyes hold a flicker of struggle and pain when it all unfolds. Heather may be the only one in binding, but she is not the only one who is trapped. There is nothing at all Billy can do but watch as the large and bloodied mass of flesh stomps forward from the shadows, ready to feast.

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

68 Ways To Donate in Support Of Asian Communities - [link]

FSFAPV Justice: "community family coalition that offers help and justice to families in the Twin Cities and nationwide that have lost loved ones to police violence" - [link]

30 Organizations That Are Boosting African American Educational Achievement - [link]

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

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[femmeharringrove]

see, it's not like steve's ever been good at coping.

it's bad after starcourt, but instead of dealing with it then steve just puts everything into healing others. he comforts eleven, stays on the phone all night with lucas or dustin, helps will learn not to fear the cold, gives billy a shoulder to cry on and a place to live.

and so billy gets a front-row seat to steve's self-destruction.

he doesn't think it's his place to speak, initially, but he does worry when steve leaves early in the afternoon and comes back wasted, bruises on his throat and traces of powder on his clothes. some weekends he doesn't come home, he goes to indianapolis and shows up late sunday evening with a massive hangover and billy just gets him to eat and drink a little before getting him in bed. steve's not eating enough, he's losing weight and billy worries because this is his best friend, not even heather matches their level. and steve's done so much good for him but he doesn't know how to return the favor - not until steve barrels out of the bathroom one night shaking like a leaf, tears streaming down his face. billy takes one look inside, catches sight of two life-changing sticks, and rushes out after him.

and it's then, when he finds steve out by the quarry in a panic, that he knows how to help.

"i didn't mean to get pregnant," steve sniffles, and the moment billy crouches next to him the brunette is shuffling closer, scared and in need of comfort. and billy's still working on the physical thing, learning it's okay to be affectionate, but he doesn't hesitate to hold steve as close as he can.

"i know," he murmurs. "it's okay. we'll figure it out. you aren't doing this alone, you hear me?" and initially billy thinks he's fucked up because steve starts crying again, but when this round of sobs passes the other boy gives him a shaky smile.

"you promise?"

"cross my heart and all that shit." and that's just it. whatever steve needs, billy's got him.

steve initially doesn't want to go through with it, but decides ultimately it could be a good thing. he's thought about parenthood before, always wondered if he could be a better father than his own. this is a chance to prove it. and billy gives him all the support in the world. nobody messes with the only child of the harrington family, they can't afford the fallout, but he's always gotten dirty looks after coming out and they get worse now that he's pregnant. but billy follows him everywhere now amd anyone who gives him a look has to face the blonde's anger. and sure, he's not where he once was. he's still putting on muscle and learning to use his hands again, but half of what makes billy hargrove scary is the way he presents himself, the glare that suggests he knows people won't mess with him. and they don't, amd they don't mess with steve either for the same reason.

and when billy isn't around to do the protecting, steve's got others. joyce has kicked people out of melvad's before, for harassing a fifteen year-old steve. and five years later she still does it, voice calm and eyes steely. claudia is at every appointment he has, making sure the other nurses and doctors call him by the right name and pronouns. she's there when steve sees the baby's hand for the first time and has a breakdown because he's growing a whole person and doesn't know if he'll really be able to take care of them.

and claudia, she remembers being confused and a little judgemental when steve came out as steve, but that was before she caught him shuffling down the aisles of the library one day, small and clearly anxious about everyone he came across. thirteen year-old steve had lacked the easy confidence he sported now, and it was when she saw him that it sort of clicked. she didn't understand how someone could be a gender other than the one they were born as, but she made a point to greet him as steve any time she saw him and made an effort to accept him. now he's like the older son she never had, dustin's big brother, and when he weeps frantically over the daunting trial of parenthood she takes him by the shoulders and gives him the most serious look she can muster.

"nobody is ever ready for parenthood," she tells him, and one hand comes to wipe his tears away. "but you have exactly the heart for this job. you're going to be the best father in this whole town."

which steve doesn't agree with. the best dad in town is hopper.

hopper, who's been harassing people for harassing steve for years, but is more aggressive about it now because steve really means something to him now. sometimes, eleven calls him her brother, and hop figures, yeah, the kid could use a dad. so he makes a habit of checking up on him, and it gets more frequent now because he's also checking on billy, and with a baby on the way hopper's protectiveness is at an all-time high. nobody wants to fuck with the chief, so no one fucks with steve.

when the harringtons find out, steve's dad is livid, but it's steve's mother who keeps him from lashing out. the couple can't stand the blow to their social life and so it's off to lansing for them, a fresh start or whatever. the house stays under their name, though, and steve and billy make it theirs. the cosy master bedroom becomes steve's, billy finally decorates the guest room downstairs as his own. his mother calls sort of regularly, she's not thrilled about the situation but she's eager for a grandbaby to spoil, and steve counts that as a blessing.

of course, the party freaks out when steve announces his pregnancy. it's not like they didn't know steve could get pregnant, but they've never considered the idea that he would. eleven, max, and will are immediately thrilled, discussing baby names and wanting to pat his belly - especially el, who's never really experienced a pregnancy. mike and lucas are a little weirded out, but mike brings steve a bunch of baby books left over from holly and lucas donates his own old toys, declaring that baby harrington was going to be the coolest baby ever if he got to help look out for the little one. dustin doesn't know how to feel initially, which stresses steve out, but when someone throws a slur at steve three weeks after that dustin flips out, yells himself hoarse at the fucker, and declares himself steve and the baby's most ardent protector. the whole group has already discussed babysitting schedules and, yeah, maybe steve did cry about it, but he's pregnant and it was probably the hormones and not anything else, thank you.

robin gently berates him about sleeping with strangers out of town when she finds out, but after that she takes her position as aunt very seriously. within four weeks she buys three outfits, five stuffed animals, and a french record to help the baby learn the language.

"no such thing as too early," she says as she drops it on the dresser in steve's old room. the new nursery.

it's a labor of love, mostly by billy. woodworking is a big help with his hands so he was all too happy to make a crib himself. again, steve cried, but this time he feels it's justified. billy's put a rocking chair in too, and a record player too - "your taste in music is shit," he'd deadpanned as he brought the thing in. "someone's gotta culture the little snot." amd billy does that all the time, he's called the baby a snot, a turd, a little shit, all that jazz. but his face is softer than it's ever been and that makes steve smile every single time.

steve's labor of love starts five weeks early, much to his horror, and it hurts like a bitch. he gives birth early in the morning after a rainy night. she's a little replica of steve, down to the moles on her cheek, and he doesn't think he's ever known love until he looks at his daughter and feels the almost painful swell in his chest. he cries as he hugs her against his chest and swears on his life he'll do right by this wondrous little girl. her name is nikita - no, not after the elton john song, though later when she asks that's what he tells her, just so she can throw her head back and groan, "daaad!"

no, she's named after his grandmother. and she gets rosaline for a middle name after billy's mother. because, even if they didn't say it, it's clear billy intends to co-parent. he doesn't call it that, he just says he's helping a friend, but he's the one who changes her diaper at night and bounces her to sleep listening to metallica and teaches her to eat spaghetti.

and originally, he's the one she calls dad.

first it's baba, which steve thinks is in reference to the fact that billy bottlefeeds her, and billy thinks it's similar enough to "billy" to not be anything more than that. but she gets older and learns to say billy and steve, and still calls him baba. baba and papa. and to the outside world it makes sense, they're a little family, steve and billy ooze a chemistry anyone else can't deny. but it takes them three extra years to get with the program and become a couple.

to this day, niki claims there aren't more clueless people out than her dads when it comes to love.

[paperbodiesamongthestars]

“Tell the truth,” Billy says, low and intent, and Steve closes his mouth on a flippant response. For a second he feels exposed, pinned down. Not literally (if only), but still. He wants to protest—We don’t do that with this topic, remember? Or We’ve spent the last year being so goddamn careful, what are you doing?—but the rules of this particular game have only ever been unspoken. He glances over and sees Billy’s eyes on him, focused and intense and so, so blue, and he realizes that they’re actually doing this. He feels a surge of adrenaline, and the perverse little thrill that always comes with it (there is definitely something wrong with him). Well fuck, he thinks, here we go.  

Steve's never been sure whether it's a game or not. It was a thing they started doing after Starcourt, a way to push at each other when Billy was in a hospital bed and actual shoving was off the table, maybe. Steve remembers exactly how it started, because of course he does. He was at the hospital almost every day, shuttling Max and some combination of the others back and forth, but it's not like he and Billy actually talked to each other that much. Why would they? The only thing they had in common was mutual animosity, and Steve had kept his distance after he ended up concussed. Steve understood that night at the Byers' house better by then, after they all found out about Neil, but he still wasn't sure where that left them. So he was cautiously friendly, Billy was carefully neutral; they managed to coexist. Sure, sometimes they locked eyes across the hospital room and there was...something? maybe? but one or the other of them always looked away. Steve told himself he was fine with it, and it probably would have gone on like that indefinitely, except, well. Steve was always a sucker for a pair of sad, pretty eyes.

It was an evening like most of the rest of them, and Steve was rounding up Max, El, and Mike to leave the hospital. Max ran back to give Billy another hug, which was a pretty new development, and one that Billy seemed completely unprepared to deal with, which was kind of endearing. Steve ushered the kids out of the room and glanced back briefly with a stupid little wave. He caught the look in Billy's eyes before Billy saw him looking and gave him that ridiculous smirk. Steve rolled his eyes and left, but that expression stayed with him. Billy had looked...lost. Like he was dreading the silence that was going to follow their departure. And Steve was intimately familiar with that feeling.

He dropped the kids off and was headed back to his big empty house, and he couldn't get that damn look out of his head. He tried to convince himself he hadn't really seen it, and then that it wasn't any of his business, and then that he didn't actually owe Billy fucking Hargrove anything, and then he was turning his car around and making a stop before he headed back to the hospital.

Visiting hours were over, obviously, but Steve had talked his way past the nurses before, when Max wanted to stay late sometimes. He didn't have much trouble with it this time either, and it wasn't long before he was slipping back into Billy's room, a paper bag in one hand and a milkshake in the other. He was half-expecting Billy to be asleep, but he turned his head when Steve opened the door. Billy's eyebrows shot up in surprise when no one followed Steve through the door. He turned down the TV and gave Steve a long look.

"What are you doing here, Harrington?" Steve shrugged and dropped the bag on the table next to Billy's bed, dropping into the chair and tilting it back onto two legs.

"Thought you might want something that wasn't hospital food." He nodded toward the bag, and then leaned forward and pulled out his own burger and fries. He shoved the bag toward Billy and took a long sip of his milkshake.

"You brought me food." It wasn't a question. Billy's voice was laced with skepticism, which was fair, actually. They weren't friends. Steve just shrugged again.

"If you don't want it, I'll just eat all of it. I'm starving." Billy stared at him for another long moment and then reached out and pulled the bag toward himself. He quirked an eyebrow at Steve's milkshake.

"I didn't see a second one of those anywhere?" Steve just grinned at him.

"Thanks, Steve, I really appreciate the burger and fries," he said in a ridiculous voice, and then he took a long, obnoxious sip of his milkshake. Billy choked on a french fry, recovered, and snorted a laugh.

"You're a dick," Billy said, and Steve stared at him, mock offended.

"I brought you food! How am I the dick in this scenario?" he demanded. Billy looked at him, expression a little bemused, but he didn't say anything.

Silence fell as they both ate, but it was companionable somehow. Billy turned the TV back up and they watched part of an action movie. Steve leaned his chair back again, propping his feet at the end of Billy's bed just to be irritating. Billy shot him a glare, but didn't kick his feet off the bed. Steve decided to interpret that as gratitude. He hung out for a couple of hours, until they were both yawning.

"Time for me to go," he finally announced, when he could barely keep his eyes open. He stood up and stretched, a little stiff from the chair. "I'll be back with Max and whoever else wants to come tomorrow." Billy didn't say anything, but Steve could feel his eyes on him as he turned and headed for the door.

"Hey Steve?" Billy asked, just before Steve opened the door to leave. Steve could count the number of times Billy Hargrove had called him by his first name on one hand. He turned back to see that Billy had that bemused expression on his face again. "Why did you actually come back here?" he asked. It was a little accusatory, but there was a thread of genuine curiosity in there too. Steve opened his mouth to reply, but Billy cut him off. "Tell the truth," he said quietly, tone stuck somewhere between a command and a request. It was a challenge, but there was an appeal in there too. Steve thought for a long moment and then he shrugged and told the truth. Most of it, anyway. 

"It beats my empty house," he said softly to the floor, and then he looked up and smiled a little bit. "And I thought you might not hate the company." And if that wasn't the entire truth, well, how could he be expected to tell someone else the whole truth when he wasn't sure he understood it himself? Billy nodded slowly, but didn't say anything. Steve waited for a beat, and then he slipped out the door and went home.

Steve was back a few nights later, this time with two enormous Slurpees. His parents had called earlier in the day, which always put him in a bad mood, and he finally decided he couldn't stand the silence anymore. Billy glanced up when he slipped through the door, and Steve could have sworn he caught a ghost of an actual smile before Billy shot him a smirk.

"Did you get lonely again, pretty boy?" Steve scoffed.

"I am, in fact, doing you the favor of keeping you company," he replied, dropping into the chair and setting the drinks on the table. "You can have cherry cola, or...cherry cola," he said, taking one and sipping. Billy watched him for a moment and then reached out and took the other Slurpee. "So what's on tonight?" Steve asked, leaning back in the chair and propping up his feet. Billy let his feet stay where they were and his glare was halfhearted this time. Steve gave himself a point. They watched another movie, horror this time, and talked about nothing much. And that turned into the pattern.

It was a few weeks later when it came up again. Steve had stayed late--it was after midnight--and he was reluctantly dragging himself to his feet. Billy was laughing at him.

"Seriously, Harrington, go home. You really can't find anything better to do than disturb my beauty rest?"

"Shut up, you love it," Steve muttered through a yawn. "Or at the very least, you don't hate it." Right? Steve wondered. Billy snickered again and opened his mouth to say something, but this time Steve stopped him.

"Tell the truth," he said, aiming for the tone Billy had used last time, and landing on something a little more intent than he would have liked. Billy stopped smiling and an expression Steve couldn't identify moved across his face. Steve wanted to take it back, tell him he had been joking, but Billy spoke before he could find the words. He looked away from Steve and then down at his hands. 

"Sometimes I..." he cleared his throat. "Sometimes I think too much when I'm here by myself." His eyes went to Steve's for just a fraction of a second, and then moved away. Steve nodded and turned away, heading for the door. He paused right before he left, but he didn't turn around.

"I hate that," he said to the doorframe, and then he left. 

After that, Steve started coming back more often. They watched movies and TV, and talked about nothing and occasionally something, and it didn't come up often, but it did keep coming up.

"Tell the truth," Billy said one night. "What are you afraid of?" Steve stared at the ceiling and thought about how much truth to tell.

"The dark," he said to the ceiling tiles. "Being alone." He didn't just mean in his empty house. He huffed a little laugh, but there was no humor in it. "Being a disappointment. Not having a future." There was a long pause. That you'll hear the things I don't say, he thought. That you'll never hear the things I don't say.

"Yeah," Billy finally breathed. He didn't look at Steve. "Yeah."  

"Tell the truth," Steve said weeks later. "What do you want, after this?" There was a very long pause.

"I want to get out of this town," Billy said slowly. He was staring at the ceiling this time. "College, maybe? Go somewhere warm. Try to forget," he said with a bitter laugh. The silence stretched out. It felt meaningful, like maybe there was something else coming, but nothing ever did.

"Yeah," said Steve. He tried, but he couldn't keep a thread of wistfulness out of his voice. He went home not long after that. 

Once Billy got out of the hospital, Steve half-expected them to stop hanging out, but they didn't. Billy showed up at Steve's house at random intervals, and they drank beer sometimes and got high sometimes, although Billy's tolerance for both was absolutely nothing at first, to Steve's laughing delight. Steve told the truth to the surface of his backyard pool, and the vast darkness of the quarry, and the stars beyond the tops of the trees at the ends of long, dark roads. He knew better than to look at those pretty eyes when he was trying to be careful. Even so, he started to worry that Billy was eventually going to notice that his silences had a specific shape.

"Tell the truth," Billy reiterated one spring night, well past midnight. He had said it twice, so the question was going to be important. Steve nodded a little drunkenly, listening, his eyes on the trees above them and the sky beyond, but a question didn’t come. Just silence and Billy’s harsh breathing. Steve was about to glance over when Billy finally spoke, his voice so low it was almost a whisper. 

"Do you think I was already a monster? You know, before?" Steve turned his head to stare, but Billy was facing away from him, looking out at the woods instead.

"No," Steve said simply, but it didn't seem like enough. "I don't think you've ever been a monster," he added, and he had never meant anything more than he meant that. There was no response except for a hitch in Billy’s breathing. Steve watched, but Billy didn’t turn his head. It was possible that his shoulders were shaking, but Steve knew better than to notice.

If it was a game, Billy was much better at it than Steve was. He always managed to get a little bit more truth out of Steve than Steve wanted to give. He couldn't even be mad about it--on the rare occasions that Steve was really honest with himself, he admitted that would be happy to lose every single time as long as they never stopped playing.

Pretty soon, though, it was summer again. Billy had a diploma and a scholarship to UCLA, and Steve was doing his very best to ignore the fact that summer was eventually going to end. If he just never thought about it, he reasoned, then he didn't have to look at how empty his future was about to be. As July turned into August, though, he got worse at not thinking about it. He had dark circles under his eyes, and his laugh turned brittle, and the Party all looked at him with concern in their eyes when they thought he couldn't see, but he didn't know how to keep it together when panic was bubbling up in his chest, just, all the time. 

And now he's at the quarry with Billy, who is leaving for California in two weeks, and Steve hasn't slept for a while, and Billy's question rings in his ears. What do you want, after this? There's an unexpected weight to it because Billy's still looking at him instead of at anything else, gaze intense, waiting. I can't tell the truth to your face, Steve wants to say but doesn't. Instead, he sits up on the hood of the Camaro. He looks out at the quarry. He feels unprepared for whatever this is, but then again, he almost always feels that way. He glances back at Billy again, hoping he's looked away, but he hasn't.

Steve takes a deep breath. Here we go, he thinks, the risk effervescent under his skin. He stares into those pretty ocean eyes (and realizes that they don't look sad at all, haven't for a while now), and he tells the truth. This time, he doesn't leave anything out. 

[itsonlystrange]

Stop saying “(insert character name here) has never done anything bad in their life. They’re babie and are so innocent.” Or “(insert character name here) did this so they’re the worst most selfish character and deserve to die next season!!”

news flash! Every. Single. Character. In . Stranger. Things. Has. Made. A . Mistake.

AND THATS OKAY!

All characters have flaws. If they don’t it makes them boring characters. I’ve seen FIVE. F I V E people say today that will is the most selfish character of stranger things and deserves to, and I quote, “die next season, #killwillbyers .” No. I’m not kidding.

For starters: Will may have been inconsiderate last season but reminder!! 1. He’s a 14 year old boy 2. Him wanting to play d&d doesn’t make him a bad character it makes him a DIMENSIONAL character. Stop expecting him to be perfect. He’s learning. He’s growing. He doesn’t deserve to die just because he wanted to play D&D. Him calling El stupid was a throwaway line. Mike didn’t even care that Will called El stupid because Mike understood Will didn’t mean it and that he was frustrated, so you shouldn’t either. I admit, calling El stupid wasn’t cool, but neither was El assaulting Max but apparently that’s justified. My point is: EVERY CHARACTER IS FLAWED. Every one. Stop pretending like Will is the worst thing that’s happened to the show and stop pretending like (insert character here) is the most small harmless bean ever:

This is coming from an EL STAN aswell. I’m just pointing out the hypocrisy in this fandom. Because it’s insane. Apparently Will calling El stupid (which I’m not saying wasn’t bad- I’m just saying you can’t seriously hate a character for making a realistic mistake and refusing to acknowledge all of the selfless things Will has done and only pointing out the one thing he’s done that makes him flawed.) but point is, apparently Will calling El stupid makes him the most selfish awful person ever but El assaulting Max and completely not being understanding in some elements of seasons 2 and season 3 and in ways being a brat, it’s fine because “it was a mistake”, which it WAS! El doesn’t deserve to be hated for those things because she’s a dimensional character and I love her. But stop ridiculing others for things you wouldn’t ridicule your fave for.

Every character has messed up. Stop expecting characters to be perfect. I’ve seen people say Will was worse than Billy. Billy, the racist abuser. Exactly.

These characters need to have flaws to be good and entertaining characters. And remember, the party members are KIDS! They’re brains are still developing! They’re children! They’re learning and developing. They aren’t the Pope or Obama. They say and do mean things. Doesnt mean their actions shouldn’t have consequences, it just means that you have to understand that your fave isn’t going to be unproblematic all the time. Deal with it.

Every one of the party members has made a mistake or multiple.

MIKE: made out with el for 6 months straight and ditched his friends. Can be a complete asshole. Ignored the “best thing that’s ever happened to him”, tried to control El, is an ass to Max

LUCAS: was wary of El and insulted her. Can be too blunt and can forget about his surroundings and about others feelings

DUSTIN: kept dart despite knowing it was from the upside down. Can be selfish

WILL: was inconsiderate of Mike’s break up, called El stupid.

EL: assaulted Max, spied on mike despite knowing mike hated it, was very blunt and rude in ways, can be a brat and doesn’t understand some things that are meant to keep her safe

MAX: Can be a total asshole. Very set in her ways. Doesn’t like to understand peoples point of view

THIS DOESNT MAKE THEM BAD CHARACTERS! Instead of paying attention to their bad traits start recognizing all the good things they’ve done. All of their GOOD traits. This fandom can be so pessimistic at times.

Every single member of the party has made mistakes and have done morally incorrect things. But they’ve also done very good things too!!! 97% of the things the party members have done have been GOOD. Stop paying attention to that 3% that isn’t morally correct or selfless or kind. You’ve made mistakes and I’m sure you’d hate being ridiculed for the rest of your life over one thing you did months ago. Or one mistake you made when you were younger and more naive or when you were still growing.

Instead of pointing out the bad things each party member has done and holding them up to impossible expectations because they are CHILDREN, take a minute to appreciate all of the good things they’ve done, which include (but aren’t limited to)

MIKE: Loyal, kind, patient, understanding, puts his friends needs infront of his own, will do anything for the people he loves, trustable

LUCAS: rational, leaves no man behind, defends his friends no matter what, brave, fights for his friends

DUSTIN: Patient, uplifting, funny, always will be there for you and will listen to you. Super smart, can get you out of any scientific or mathematical situation. Unapologetically himself

WILL: loyal, kind, a great listener, the mediator, peaceful, selfless, loves you unconditionally, puts his needs behind everyone else so he won’t worry his mom or the party

EL: selfless, brave, would sacrifice herself for her friends and family. Kind hearted and genuine. Always forgives people for their actions

MAX: will beat someone up if she found out they bullied you. Very uplifting and encourages you to be independent and to love yourself

AND THATS NOT EVEN ALL OF THEM!

Appreciate the good traits your favorite characters have! I’m not saying you aren’t allowed to dislike a character but it’s complete bullshit that you’d create some personal head canon that so and so is an awful person or make up lies about a certain character just to get an excuse to dislike the character.

These kids have trauma. Stop expecting them to deal with their trauma in 100% healthy ways. This is the EIGHTIES. They can’t just go find a support group online or go on Quora to find the answer as to why they’re acting a certain way.

These kids are misunderstood and they really just need a hug. Stop making a certain character out to be something their not.

And for the love of god, El and Will are both great characters and are my 2 favorites so can we stop this war it’s pointless

AND ALSO:

If you wish death upon ANY of the party members I will personally kick you into orbit. They are 14. who wishes death on 14 year old children?! That is disgusting.

Anyways, have your faves. Enjoy the show. And I’m not telling you NOT to dislike a character but instead of hating on them, level with them. Put yourself in their shoes. Reason with them and ask yourself, “Well maybe I also would act like this if I went through what they went through.”

Character are going to have flaws! Don’t let that stop you from appreciating the parts of their character that are good and lovable.

I’ll say it again: a good character needs to have flaws to he entertaining.

So no: the statement “(character here) has never done anything wrong in their life ever.”

Because they have. And that’s OKAY! Normalize having flawed yet lovable and enjoyable characters. That’s why I love ST so much. The party is REALISTIC. The kids ACT LIKE KIDS. Stop expecting them to be and act like 45 year old men or women. They’re learning. Growing. And developing.

PS: this does not go for the characters that have no good qualities and simply are villains *cough, Brenner and Lonnie cough*

[willow-tree-writes]

���Snow Solitude❀

Steve Harrington x Reader

Summary: Snow days aren’t a rare thing in Hawkins, Indiana, but that doesn’t mean they’re put to waste. For a group of dipshits, they know how to spend it.

Request: N/A

Author’s Note: I’m so sorry about going MIA! I got sick after I published part 2 of Bet, and lost any and all motivation to write. But it’s slowly coming back! I’m hoping to post a couple blurbs for Christmas/wintertime, and (fingers crossed) Bet part 3 soon.

Word Count: 1.2k

Warnings: Cursing

!I don’t own this gif!

The block of ice was colder than normal snow. It was ice that would make this igloo into a fort. Make this snow day into a snow war.

Steve wasn’t one to spend his snow days doing anything. He didn’t need to shovel - his parents paid people to do that. He didn’t play in the snow - he was a teenager for Christ’s sake. At least, he didn’t ‘play’ in it until the Party decided he was their honorary babysitter.

“Look, dipshits, I’m not getting in there.” Steve planted his feet in the four inches of snow with crossed arms. 

Dustin mimicked Steve in a playful way while Mike did it a little more seriously. “You didn’t help make it, so you have to get into it.

Steve rolled his eyes. “Who’s the boss here? Oh right, it’s me.”

Lucas groaned and stooped down to grab some snow. “Why is this such a big deal?” He packed the snow together to form a sturdy snowball.

“Because Steve doesn’t pull his weight around here.” Mike looked from the teenagers to his friend.

With an eye roll, Steve said, “I’m the one who drives you all around and makes sure you don’t kill each other, dipshit.”

“Well, we know how to do that ourselves.” Mike retorted.

“Oh do you?”

“Yeah, we do.”

“Do you really?” Steve egged on.

This went back and forth between the children for a couple minutes until the sound of snow crunching drew the attention of the sane five. 

You had taken a walk to enjoy the snow day when you stumbled upon the party and Steve. You started to approach them, thinking you’d join in on their fun. You didn’t think you’d join in on an argument.

“What’s going on here?” You ask, looking between them all.

Dustin shook his head as he looked away from Steve and Mike. 

Max looked over at you. “Idiots being idiots.”

You nodded with a ‘seems legit’ face. You weren’t going to question it. “What’s the idiots being idiots about?” You were surprised said idiots still hadn’t noticed your arrival.

El pointed at the igloo. “Snow.” They were arguing about snow.

A laugh escaped your lips as you shook your head. Only these boys would do that. “Hey, babies!” You call out to them and they look towards you. “Wanna stop the fighting and actually have some snow fun?”

You wanted to have fun. You didn’t want to, and you were sure the Party didn’t want to, stand around and listen to this bickering. 

“Y/N, when the hell did you get here?” Mike asked, crossing his arms. Steve hit him in the arm for ‘aggression’ in his voice.

You smiled sweetly at them. “I believe it was towards the start of this little quarrel.” You gesture between the two of them. “Which was long enough to know that whatever it was about is stupid.” Who argues about snow?

“It’s all Steve’s fault.” Mike weakly defends himself.

That earned a sigh from you and a smack in the back of the head from Steve.

“All he has to do is go in the fucking igloo!”

You scold the boy a little. “Bite your tongue.”

He rolled his eyes. “I’ll bite my tongue if Steve grows balls.” He muttered.

You sigh a little. “How about I go in? Will that satisfy your weird needs?”

“If Y/N goes in, then I’ll go in.” Steve piped up a little too fast. 

Mike threw his hands up exasperatedly. “Fine! Just go in!”

You laughed and rolled your eyes. You didn’t understand why this was such a big deal. It was an igloo. An igloo.

You pushed past the two, lightly hitting your shoulder against Steve. When you got to the entrance of the snow fortress, you ducked down and carefully crawled in. Sure, you were decked out in a winter jacket, a beanie, a scarf, and gloves, but that didn’t mean you didn’t shiver your ass off when you fully got inside.

Steve was close behind you, which wasn’t shocking as this was a small, enclosed space.

You plopped your butt down by the back of the igloo, careful not to lean back. You wouldn’t want to ruin the Party’s hard work.

Steve sat down a little off to the side and looked around. As if there was much to really look at.

“They did a nice job.” You said after a moment of silence. 

It was painfully obvious that once Steve was away from the Party, they went into a full blown snowball fight. The yelling and laughing wasn’t hard to discern.

Steve nodded. “At least they know how to do one thing.”

“I’m sure they know how to do other things,” you reply with a smile. 

He chuckled and shook his head. “You’d be surprised…” He trailed off as his eyes landed on something that seemed to be stuck on the ceiling of the igloo. 

You couldn’t tell what the look on his face was, so you took a look for yourself.

A plant seemed to be stuck smack dab in the middle of the ceiling. The leaves were undeniably familiar, and the red berries attached made it even more definable - mistletoe.

You both were at a loss for words. It was right above you. 

“Those little dipshits…” Steve muttered under his breath.

“How’d they…” You started to mutter at the same time. You didn’t finish the thought, unsure if it was, “how’d they get it up there,” or “how’d they know we were going to be under here.”

He cleared his throat a little. “We… We don’t have to do that.” You looked at him, trying to read his face. “Those dipshits won’t have to know.”

You didn’t know if you should feel rejoiced he wasn’t going to make you kiss him, or disappointed. You didn’t know until you spoke without much thought.

“But… what if I want to?”

He looked to be in shock for a second, but he tried to recover quickly and smoothly. So that he could, without much else said, move in closer to you and place his lips on yours.

He had been King Steve in high school, and that charm slowly had worn off him. But there were moments where he did things like this; and it was unclear if he was still that teenager from high school or the boy slowly becoming a man. Or maybe both.

You tried to hide your surprise as you kissed him back a second after he went in for it. You didn’t think he’d actually go for it. You’d thought he’d awkwardly laugh it off or something. But you’re glad he went for it.

Steve was less dressed for the cold than you, so his icy lips felt like they were walking through a fire while against your warm ones. While your hands sunk deeper into the snow below you, his found your cheek. In contrast, his touch burned with passion against the surface of your reddening face.

Just as he was the one to go in for the kiss, he was also the one to pull away.

You tried not to lean into him, but you wanted more. A longer kiss. Anything. Everything.

As you fluttered your eyes open, you were greeted by a smile gracing the lips that you wanted so bad to pull back to you. But the smile was a contagious one, allowing you to calm down your urge for him.

“I gotta give it to them - those dipshits know a thing or two once in a while.”

You let out a laugh and throw your head back a little, looking up at the mistletoe.

You had to thank them all later today.

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