#notice how Joyce and Jonathan both notice when he's going through it in the car

[ashestoroses018]

Four Puffs (1/2)

Originally posted in 2017.

mikeygc3000 (mikeygc3000.tumblr.com) said: Could you write one where you’re Dustin’s older sister and all the kids can tell that you and Steve are in love but are in denial so they set up a blind date by tricking you and Steve and you both end up together in the end???? And lots of fluff!???? (P.s I just found your blog and I’m in love with it)

“Dustin, where the Hell is my hair spray? Did you steal it to do your hair again?” You shout through the house.

“Language, F/N!” your dad yells at you. It’s not often that he’s home, considering he travels for work, and when he is home, you have to fight the urge to roll your eyes every time he opens his mouth.

“Dad. He keeps stealing my hairspray and using, like, all of it. And the little shithead never asks first!”

“F/N! One more outburst like that, and you won’t be going out tonight!” Your dad looks over his newspaper at you, an eyebrow raised.

“Sorry, Dad. Do you know where Dustin is, by any chance?”

“Dusty’s over at Will’s house.”

“You couldn’t have told me that before I started yelling for him?”

Your dad folds the newspaper on his lap. “I didn’t have the chance, missy. Just call Joyce. I’m sure she can get him on the phone for you.”

Your battle against the eye rolls is futile, this time. Instead of even gracing your father with a response, you just grab your keys and a scrunchie, tossing your unruly hair up lackadaisically while holding your keys in your teeth.

“Be back before dinner, F/N! Your mom’s cooking meatloaf!” your dad calls behind you.

“’Kay, Dad!” You slam the door behind you, jogging to your beat up ’68 VW Beetle.

She is your baby, but shit if she hasn’t seen better days. Your seats are stained, and the engine makes this weird sound, if you drive Becky the Beetle for more than about twenty minutes at a time. One of these days, she’s going to crap out on you, and fuck if that day doesn’t terrify you. Who bikes to school at eighteen years old?

It takes you roughly three minutes of driving to arrive at the Byers’ residence, and you thank every god you can think of when you see your baby brother’s bike outside on the lawn, thrown there while he was obviously in a rush. What you don’t expect is to see Steve Harrington’s brown BMW in the driveway.

However, when you see that Joyce’s and Jonathan’s cars are both gone, it makes more sense. He must be playing babysitter for the thirteen year olds again. With a sigh, you go up to the door and knock, knowing that you’re about to embarrass the hell out of yourself in front of Steve, considering you’re in exercise clothes – leggings, leg warmers, and a ratty sweatshirt. All over your petty need for hairspray.

You raise your brow when it’s your brother who opens the door. “Oh shit.”

“Hey, Dustin. Wanna let me in?” Your tone of voice brooks no argument.

“I can explain, F/N, I swear.”

“What can you explain, Dustin?”

“I didn’t realize I still had your hairspray in my bag, and you have the Farrah Fawcett spray, and you know they discontinued it, and I really like your hairspray, because it’s better than Aquanet, and – “

You follow your brother through the Byers’ residence. In the living room, his friends are sitting around a table, playing Dunces and Diapers, or whatever the hell the stupid game is called. In the corner, a bottle of Coke in his hand, sits Steve Harrington, whose eyes meet yours as soon as you walk in the room.

“Well, Dusty?” you ask, your voice suddenly saccharine sweet. Your brother gives you an incredulous look at your impromptu change in demeanor. “Where’s my hair spray?”

“I can’t believe you needed it so bad that you actually came all the way out here,” your brother mutters under his breath as he digs through his backpack. “interrupting our game and shit.”

After a moment, he hands you the bottle of Fabergé Organics hair spray, which you immediately notice is nearly empty. “What the hell, Dustin? You used all of it! Do you know how hard this shit is to find?”

He looks down at his feet, biting his lip. “I’m sorry, F/N.”

“I had a date tonight, but I guess I’ll have to cancel. Aquanet sucks.”

“You, uh, you had a date, F/N?” Steve suddenly speaks up, and you glance over at him.

“Yeah, it wasn’t anything crazy, but Billy Hargrove seems like a nice enough guy.”

The redheaded girl, Max, gags audibly. “Billy is a shitstain of a human being. What are you talking about?”

“He really is, F/N. You shouldn’t go out with him. Did you know he beat up Steve?” Your brother is nodding emphatically with Max, his eyes wide.

You raise an eyebrow. “Really?”

“Yeah, he was defending Lucas! Billy’s a terrible person, F/N. You should cancel that date and just hang out with us tonight.”

“Fine, Dustin. I’ll take your word for it, this time. Hey, Will, where’s your phone?”

The Byers boy points you towards a wall handset, and you connect with the operator quickly, asking for the Hargrove residence.

“Hello?” A woman, whom you presume to be Billy’s stepmom and  Max’s mom, answers the phone.

“Is this Billy Hargrove’s house?”

“Yes, it is. One second. Billy!”

A moment later, Billy’s on the line, and though you’re not particularly interested in the boy – aside from his obvious physical appeal – your heart skips a beat at how charming he can be. “Hargrove residence, Billy speaking.”

“Hey Billy, it’s F/N Henderson.”

“Oh, hey, babe. What’s up? I’m still picking you up at 8 to see Ladyhawke, right?”

“Actually, no. A bit of a family emergency came up. Sorry, Billy.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, what?”

“Yeah, sorry. Our, uh…cat went missing again. My mom loves that kitten, so Dustin and I have to look for her.”

“Just tell her that you’re looking with me, F/N.”

“I really can’t do that to my mom, Billy.”

Steve comes up to you, hearing the tension in your voice. You okay? he mouths towards you. You just nod, your mouth pursed.

“Fine. Forget about rescheduling, though. I can get a more attractive whore at Hawkins High.”

“Excuse me? What the fuck did you just call me, Hargrove?”

“A whore. Everyone knows you’re fucking Harrington.”

You glance over at Steve, embarrassed that he’s going to witness what you’re about to say. “I am not fucking Steve Harrington, asshole. And you’re right. We’re not rescheduling. Get bent, shitbag.”

You slam the handset back onto the hook, actually shaking through the force of your anger. “Dustin, come on, we’re going home.”

“Wait, what? But I don’t need to be home until dinner.”

You give your brother a Look. “Please, let’s just go.”

“Let him stay, F/N. Why don’t you stay, too?” Steve asks, in a placating voice.

You bite your lip. “I need to be alone for a bit. I was hoping my brother would be there for me, but I fucking guess not. I’m going home Dustin. Dad says to be home by dinner.”

There’s a fierce migraine brewing in the left side of your head right now, and you just want to take a bath and ignore the world. Careful not to slam Joyce’s front door, you jog to your car, however your beloved Becky the Beetle won’t start. You turn your key in the ignition seven or eight times before slamming your forehead onto your steering wheel. This cannot be happening to you right now.

Giving up, you walk back into the Byers’ living room, much to the shock of everyone there. Steve is the first one to break the silence. “Change your mind then, Henderson?”

You sigh. “My car’s not starting, so I’m stuck here. Maybe you guys can help me push start it?”

“Can we do it after our game, F/N?” your brother asks.

Once again, you sigh. “Yeah, I guess. I’ll just go…sit with Steve, I guess. Enjoy or whatever.”

You collapse on the Byers couch next to Steve, who glances over at you. “You can’t tell anyone this,” he whispers.

“What?”

“I…have a few spare bottles of the Farrah Fawcett spray. Is that what you use?”

Your eyes widen. “Wait, really?”

He smirks gently at your excitement. “Yeah, I do. I can bring a bottle over to your house tomorrow, so you have it for school on Monday.”

“Oh my gosh, Steve, you’re the best!” You lean over and give him a hug, forgetting, for a moment, that you’re not looking your best.

He blushes slightly, his smirk turning into a shy smile. “Glad to help, F/N.”

[whoisshel]

The Bathtub

pairing: Eddie Munson x Reader

word count: 4113

tw: swearing

At the police station, you sat with Jonathan at the officers desk, as Nancy went to get ice for his face. 

You kept taking small glances at Jonathan who was hunched over and handcuffed, looking gloomy. Trying to lighten the mood, you tried to make a joke of the situation, “I really liked when he punched you in the face and you weren’t fazed at all, and then punched him twice.”

“Y/N.” Jonathan sighed, not in the joking mood.

“Sorry.”

After a few seconds, Jonathan started to softly chuckle. you looked over at him starting to laugh too, making Jonathan laugh even louder. “You really pummeled his face in.”

Jonathan could only nod, as he continued to laugh. The laughter died down again once you both remembered where you were and why you were there. Once you had gone back to your solemn mood, Nancy had returned with a rag full of ice. “Found some ice.”

“Thanks.” The three of you sat there awkwardly as Nancy held the towel up to Jonathan’s face looking at the desk, Jonathan just stared at her, and you stared at the ceiling feeling the most awkward. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah, everything’s fine.”

Looking between the two as they stared at each other, you grimaced, deciding to let them sit alone. Slapping your knees, you started standing up, “Well, this has been fun, but I’m going to talk to my favorite receptionist.”

“Hi, Florence, how are you?” You asked, once you reached Florence’s desk. Florence just gave you a look of ‘are you serious’

—----------------

As Florence and you were gossiping about the drama that’s been happening at the police station, Joyce walked in with Hopper not too far behind her.

“Thank god you’re finally here, what took you so long, Hopper?” You asked, trailing behind the two adults.

All you got in return was, “Not now, kid.”

“Jonathan!” Joyce called out once she saw her son. She then was able to take in the bruises all over his face and hand. “Jesus, what happened?”

“I’m fine.”

“Why is he wearing handcuffs?” Joyce shouted at Callahan.

“Well, your boy assaulted a police officer. That’s why.” Callahan tried to explain, but Joyce wasn’t having any of it.

“Take them off.”

“I am afraid I cannot do that.”

“Take them off!”

“You heard her, take ‘em off.” Hopper intervened, having enough of the shouting.

“Chief, I get everyone’s emotional here, but there’s something you need to see.” Powell said.

The officers started walking out of the building with you trailing behind them. Noticing the young girl, Hopper stopped in front of you before pointing at the chair you were sitting in previously giving you a pointed look. You just huffed and turned around to go sit.

They came back inside, setting a box of the stuff that was in Jonathan’s trunk on the desk in front of all of them.

“What is this?” Joyce asked going through the box, seeing all the stuff they bought to trap and kill the monster.

“Why don’t you ask your son?” Hopper replied, “We found it in his car.”

“Why are you going through my car?”

“Is that really the question you should be asking right now?” Hopper said, leaning onto the desk. “I want to see you in my office.”

“You won’t believe me.”

Hopper leaned in closer, talking softly like he didn’t want the other officers to hear, “Why don’t you give me a try.”

In Hopper’s office, the three teenagers explained everything to Hopper and Joyce; you even showed them the picture you had of the thing.

Looking up from the picture, Hopper asked, “You say blood draws this thing?”

“We don’t know.” Jonathan answered for them, looking between his mom and Hopper.

“It’s just a theory.” Nancy added, as she looked down still unsure that they would believe what they were being told.

Joyce took Jonathan into the hall to talk to him alone. You looked up at Hopper who was looking at you with a stern face, thinking it was because he didn’t believe them, you tried to plead with him, “Please believe us Hopper, we’re telling the truth. Look at what it did.” You pulled up your pant leg to show your ankle that was covered in gauze, that was starting to get bloody again from all the walking you’ve done.

Hopper’s face softened a bit at the injury, he then looked back up at you giving a sigh, “We do, we believe you.”

“You do?” You gave him a look of surprise, turning to look at Nancy who had the same look. Standing up, you took the few steps to Hopper to hug him. “Thank you, thank you.”

Patting you a couple times on the back before grabbing you by the shoulders to get you off, “Alright, alright, sit back down. I’m going to grab the first aid kit to clean that up.”

“That’d be great.” You sighed sitting back in your chair, but the three of you stopped talking and looked towards the door hearing Callahan and some lady shouting. Stomping towards the door, Hopper opened and walked out to go deal with the shouting.

—----------------

The five of you now stood around Hopper’s car across the street from the Wheelers’ home. You watched as people in suits took boxes of stuff out of their house and brought it to their cars. Hopper watched with binoculars to get a better look at what was happening. Standing behind Jonathan, you looked next door at your house where you could see your mother peeking through the windows with the phone to her ear talking to someone. You could also see that she looked extremely worried, you knew it wasn’t for the Wheelers, but also believed for the first time it wasn’t for your family's reputation.

“I have to go home.” Nancy muttered, worried about what these people would do to her family.

Without taking his eyes off the house, Hopper replied plainly, “No, you can’t.”

“My mom… my dad are there.”

“They’re going to be okay.” Nancy didn’t listen to him and started walking away, Hopper followed after her grabbing her arm. “Hey, hey, hey! Listen to me!”

“Let go!” Nancy shouted, trying to rip her arm away from him, but he held on.

“Listen to me. The last thing in the world we need is them knowing you’re mixed up in all this.”

“Mike is over there-”

“They haven’t found him.” Hopper cut her off, pointing to the sky where a helicopter was slowly flying around. “Not yet, at least.”

“For Mike?” Nancy asked, completely shocked at how much everything escalated and how far Mike was in all of it.

Dragging her back to the car, they all got in with you sitting in between Nancy and Jonathan. Once you all got in Joyce and Hopper turned around to face you, so you could all come up with a plan of what to do next. “Look, we need to find them before they do. Do you have any idea where he might have gone?”

“No, I don’t.” Nancy insisted, still in shock at everything that was happening.

“I need you to think.”

“I don’t know. We haven’t talked a lot. I mean, lately.”

“Is there any place that your parents don’t know about that he might go?” Joyce asked, understanding these kids better than Hopper did.

“I don’t know.”

“I might.” Jonathan muttered, interrupting Nancy’s stuttering. “I don’t know where he is, but I think I know how to ask him.”

During the ride to the Byers’ home, you could only keep your mouth shut for their whole conversation. You felt bad that you couldn’t help, but you don't know these kids anymore. You haven't had to babysit them in awhile. You haven't been friends with Nancy since your parents weren’t able to force you to be friends anymore; and yeah, you’re friends with Jonathan, but that doesn’t mean you hang out with Will since he has his own friends. You just hope they get the kids home safely, and if that happens, you promise to never let them out of your sight again.

Once making it to the Byers’ house you all quickly got out of the car and followed Jonathan inside. Making it a couple feet into the house Nancy and you stopped, taking in the state of the place, looking a bit trashed with Christmas lights hanging all over the place. You had seen the Christmas lights before, but now there were more and also a hole in the front of the house that someone tried to cover up themselves.

“Whoa.” The two girls whispered at the same time looking at each other with confused looks. Noting everyone walked by, you continued after them to Will’s room where there were lamps all over.

You all looked around the room for the walkie talkie you came here for, when Joyce called out that she found it from under Will’s bed.

You moved into Jonathan’s room to have more room, Nancy and Joyce sat on the bed, while the rest stood around. Nancy started talking into the walkie talkie trying to get a hold of Mike. She continued to call for Mike, but there wasn’t a reply. 

Getting annoyed, Hopper took the walkie talkie from Nancy’s hands to try and get them himself. “Listen, kid, this is the chief. If you’re there, pick up. We know you’re in trouble and we know about the girl.” They still weren’t getting a reply, but Hopper kept trying to convince them. “We can protect you, we can help you, but you gotta pick up. Are you there? Do you copy? Over.”

Still getting nothing back, Hopper set the walkie down, turning back to everyone else. “Anybody got any other ideas?”

As you all looked around at each other Mike’s voice finally came through, “Yes, I copy. It’s Mike. I’m here. We’re here”

—----------------

Hopper made the four of you stay behind at the Byers’ house, while he went and got the kids to bring back. It became dark outside, which spiked their anxiety even higher as you all sat on the couch waiting in silence not knowing what they should say. Finally, you heard a car screech into the driveway and the headlights go across your faces. You each stood up quickly walking over to the door.

Joyce opened the door running outside with the three teenagers following after. Once out there, Hopper and the kids started piling out of the car.

Nancy saw Mike come out of the car, so she started running to him shouting, “Mike. Oh, my god! Mike!” bringing him into a hug. “I was so worried about you!”

“Yeah, uh, me too.” Mike replied, confused on where this Nancy was coming from since she’s become more distant.

Looking up at the other kids, Nancy took notice of the girl that Joyce and Hopper had told them about. “Is that my dress?”

As they all walked into the house, you patted each of the kids on the head which was your way of comforting them. They all looked at you confused as to why you were acting this way as they’ve barely seen you since they reached the age of not needing a babysitter. The girl was the only one that looked up at you with an awkward smile, to which you returned with a sweet one. From here on out you are sticking to your promise to yourself and watching over them like you were their babysitter again.

Now that you were all in the house, you sat around to hear the kid’s side of what they knew. Which turns out was a lot more than the people older than them.

“Okay, so, in this example, we’re the acrobat.” Mike explained holding a picture he drew to help him explain everything better. “Will and Barbara, and that monster, they’re this flea. And this is the Upside Down, where Will is hiding. Mr. Clarke said the only way to get there is through a rip of time and space.”

“A gate.” Dustin added, to try and simplify it.

“That we tracked to Hawkins Lab.” Lucas said

“With our compasses.”

The four of you sitting on the couch listening to everything just looked at the younger kids in complete confusion at everything you were just told. Seeing your confused faces, Dustin tried to simplify it even more. “Okay, so the gate has a really strong electromagnetic field, and that can change the directions of a compass needle.”

“Is this gate underground?” Hopper asked, interrupting the dumber-downed explanation.

“Yes.” The young girl, which you learned is named Eleven, whispered to Hopper.

“Near a large water tank?”

“Yes.”

“Ho-how do you know all that?” Dustin stuttered, asking the question you were all wondering.

Mike answered for him, looking down at the table, “He’s seen it.”

“Is there any way that you could… that you could reach Will?” Joyce asked in a pleading voice, “That you could talk to him in this-”

“The Upside Down.” Eleven reminded her.

“Down. Yeah.”

She only nodded, before Nancy followed wanting to know about her friend. “And my friend Barbara, can you find her too?”

Everyone stood around the table watching as Eleven tried to reach Barbara and Will. She had her eyes closed with a picture of Barbara in front of her and static coming from the walkie. You all sat in silence waiting for something to happen. The lights around you started to flicker and the static became quieter.

Eleven opened her eyes, looking at Joyce in silence before finally muttering, “I’m sorry.”

“Wh-wh-what’s wrong?” Joyce questioned, concerned about what that means. “What happened?”

“I can’t find them.” Eleven started tearing up, becoming upset that she couldn’t help them.

You all dispersed, letting Eleven take a break, but once Eleven walked into the bathroom you all sat around the table, as the kids took turns explaining to you what was happening with Eleven. 

“Whenever she uses her powers, she gets weak.” Mike started the explanation.

“The more energy she uses, the more tired she gets.”

“Like, she flipped the van earlier.”

“It was awesome.”

“But she’s drained.”

“Like a bad battery.”

“Well, how do we make her better?” Joyce asked, since this kid was the only way to find where her son was.

“We don’t.” Mike answered. “We just have to wait and try again.”

“Well, how long?” Nancy insisted, but all she got was an ‘I don’t know’ from Mike.

Seeing how tired Eleven is, you tried to advise the group against pushing her, “Maybe we shouldn’t force her to do something if she’s drained, what if that could hurt her?”

“The bath.” Eleven muttered from behind you.

You all turned to look at her confused. “What?” Joyce asked, wanting more of an explanation.

“I can find them. In the bath.”

Dustin decided that their science teacher, Mr. Clarke, would be their best option on finding out how they could make a sensory deprivation tank which is apparently the best way for Eleven to connect with the Upside Down; or at least, that’s what you got from what they were all talking about, science is not your best subject. So now, you all watched from your same spots around the table as Dustin called Mr. Clarke. It seemed to take some convincing, but Dustin was able to get everything he needed to know from Mr. Clarke and wrote everything he was being told down on a notepad.

“I’ll see you on Monday Mr. Clarke, bye.” Dustin hurriedly hung up the phone so he didn’t have to answer any of Mr. Clarke’s questions on why he needed this information. Once he set the phone down, Dustin looked over at Joyce, pointing the pencil still in his hands. “Do you still have that kiddie pool we bobbed for apples in?”

“I think so, yeah.” Joyce looked over at Jonathan who confirmed what she was saying.

“Good, then we just need salt. Lots of it.”

“How much is ‘lots’?” Hopper asked, making Dustin look down at the notepad with his calculations.

“Fifteen hundred pounds.” 

“Well, where are we gonna get that much salt?” You question as everyone looks at each other shocked by how much salt they’re going to need.

—----------------

Hopper came to the realization that the schools would have the amount of salt they needed, so you all drove to the school in separate cars. You split up to get everything you needed to make it all go by faster. You went with Dustin and Lucas to set up the kiddie; which was a bigger struggle than you thought it would be. Thankfully you got it standing up straight by the time Nancy and Mike came in with the hose to fill the pool with water.

“Colder!” Lucas yelled over to Nancy and you as he took the temperature of the water, so you or Nancy could change the direction of the faucets. “Warmer!”

“Jesus this kid.” You shook your head as you chuckled.

“Why do you think I needed a break from them?” Nancy laughed with you.

“Try babysitting Lucas and Dustin together.” You rolled your eyes, remembering the times you had to have the two of them together. “They never stop screeching.”

“Oh, I know, they’re all in my basement all the time. I can hear them throughout the whole house.”  Nancy scoffed, knowing exactly what you had been through.

Looking down at the ground for a moment with a soft smile, you then turned to face Nancy, “Will’s always been my favorite.”

“He is a great kid.” Nancy gave you the same smile. You take notice of Nancy saying ‘is’ instead of was, because both of you know that they’ll find Will. You stood in silence for a moment, both of you tearing up slightly, before Lucas broke the quiet by yelling that the temperature was perfect.

Nancy glanced over at you before looking at the ground, hesitantly asking, “Hey, why weren’t we ever friends after 6th grade. I tried to be, but it seemed like you never wanted to be friends.”

You kept looking at the ground not knowing if you wanted to tell her the real reason. You felt bad since Nancy did try to be nice to you for the longest time, but you just continuously shot her down. You decided that you could finally tell her the truth. “Um, to be honest, I’ve always been a bit jealous of you.”

“Jealous, wh-why?” Nancy was in complete shock at hearing that, never expecting you to ever be jealous of her.

“Yeah, I mean, my whole life my mom compared me to you, and would always say that she wished I was more like you.” You let out a humorless chuckle at the many memories of your mom berating you. “She was always yelling at me ‘Why can’t you be nice like Nancy’ or ‘Why can’t you be smart and get good grades like Nancy.’ The latest one, since you started dating Steve, is ‘If you were more like Nancy, you could be dating someone as respectable as Steve, but instead you get someone like that trailer trash, Eddie.’ It doesn’t even matter though, she’d find some reason to make me feel less than.”

“If it makes you feel any better, I’ve always been a bit jealous of you too.” 

You shot your head up to look at Nancy completely stunned. “Why the fuck would you be jealous of me.”

Laughing at your vulgarity, continuing with what she was saying, “Reasons like that, that you just don’t care what people think and you do what you want without care of what everyone will say.”

“Well, when you grow up with parents like mine.”

“You’re mom seems like such a bitch.” Nancy said, barely getting out the last word as she started to laugh. You started to laugh too, in slight shock from Nancy swearing. 

Calming down a bit, you looked over at Nancy in admiration. “You know Nancy Wheeler, after this whole thing, you are actually so badass. Way more than me, I’ve gone to Eddie crying these past few nights.”

“You really think so?” Nancy had a big smile on her face, thinking that’s the best thing someone has ever said to her. You just gave her a big nod with an equally big smile. “Thanks, Y/N.”

“No problem, Nance.”

“If you two are done with your gossiping, the pool is about to overflow!” Lucas screamed, interrupting the nice moment you were having. Quickly, the girls turned to turn off the faucet trying to contain your laughter.

Jonathan and Hopper walked into the gym with barrels full of bagged salt that they poured into the pool until there was enough for Eleven to be able to float in it. Once it was ready, Eleven put on the safety goggles covered in duct-tape that Joyce made, so it would be pitch black. Hopper and Joyce helped her into the pool, and she laid down, floating. The lights in the gym started flickering, before they finally went out letting everyone know that she was in the Upside Down.

“Barbara?” Eleven whispered, after a few moments. Eleven started breathing heavily and the lights began to flicker again.

“What’s going on?” Nancy asked, once the lights went out again.

Mike answered quickly, “I don’t know.”

“Is Barb okay?” Nancy yelled out, leaning closer to Eleven. “Is she okay?”

Eleven started repeatedly saying, “Gone” and screaming the last few. Nancy started crying, putting her hand over her mouth to try and stay quiet. You put your hand on her shoulder and gave it a light squeeze. 

Joyce was trying to tell her it was okay, while her and Hopper held her hand, trying to console her. Eleven was finally able to calm down before whispering her next words, “Castle Byers.”

“Will?”

Joyce gasped when Eleven said her son’s name. “You tell him… tell him I’m coming. Mom is coming.”

Eleven repeated what Joyce said and in reply a weak “Hurry” came through the walkie talkie in Will’s voice.

“Okay. Listen, you tell him to… to stay where he is. We’re coming. We’re coming, okay? We’re coming, honey.”

Once she was able to get the message to Will, Eleven started breathing heavily again. She quickly sat up from the water, taking the goggles off, Joyce grabbed her into a hug at the edge of the pool to comfort her.

—----------------

Nancy and you sat in the hall outside of the gym, you both sat on the ground holding your knees up to your chest. Nancy kept her eyes on the ground, while you took short glances between Nancy and the ground not knowing what you should say.

“I’m sorry.” You finally said, “I’m really sorry about Barbara.”

Nancy kept quiet before letting out a weak, “It’s all my fault.”

“No, no, it’s n-”

“Yes, it is, it’s all my fault.” Nancy continuously nodded her head, tears starting to fall rapidly down her face. “I’m the one who left her alone, so that I could go have sex with Steve Harrington and now she’s dead because of me.”

“It’s not your fault, it's that thing. It’s the one that took Will, and it’s the one that killed Barb. So instead of sitting here blaming yourself we’re going to kill it.” 

Continuing her nodding, but now with determination, Nancy stopped pitying herself and instead put her energy into the idea of killing the monster that killed her best friend. “You’re right, I want that monster dead.”

“Yeah, that’s it!” You cheered, before your face turned into one of disgust recalling what Nancy said before. “Also, Steve Harrington.”

Nancy could only laugh at the way you said Steve’s name with the most disgusting tone. Going back to your sitting position before, Jonathan walked in seeming stressed out. He came over and sat down the same way the two girls were sitting.

“We have to go back to the station.” Nancy told Jonathan, coming up with the way that you can kill the monster.

“What?”

“Your mom and Hopper are just walking in there like bait.” You added with a bit of intensity.

“That thing is still in there.” Nancy started tearing up again. “And we can’t just sit here and let it get them, too. We can’t.”

“You still want to try it out?” Jonathan asked, seeing where the two of you were going with this.

“I wanna finish what we started. I want to kill it.” Nancy responded, turning her head to Jonathan.

You jumped up, rubbing your hands together. “Let’s finally kill this piece of shit.”

[epitome-of-an-openbook]

An alternative to my post earlier this year about Steve and Jonathan revealing they used to crush on each other after coming out with their respective relationship of Steddie and Jargyle is this -

After everyone gets back into town and after Nancy and Jonathan breakup, Jonathan decides to give Steve a chance at becoming friends but it very quickly becomes apparent that they have unresolved romantic/sexual tension so they enter into a secret relationship - not because they think people won't support them, but rather because they're worried that the two of them might not make it, due to their complicated history, and then after awhile it stays secret because they like the privacy.

Anyway Will clocks immediately that Jonathan has been happier lately. And all that Will can get is that Jonathan has been seeing someone. And Robin also notices something is up with Steve and eventually confronts him when she notices he has a hickey but has quite clearly not been talking to her about any recent romantic or sexual endeavors so "What's up with that Steve?" so all Robin ends up getting out of Steve is that Steve is seeing a man and "it's new Robin so could you please be patient and let me come to you about it because I really want this to work out."

So Will goes to El and Mike and is like "Jonathan has no friends and him and Nancy broke up who could he possibly be dating?" and El is like "Argyle?" and Mike is like "No, yeah that totally makes sense it's definitely Argyle."

And on Robin's side of things she's definitely convinced its Eddie, because the two have them got really close post Vecna, and Eddie (being Eddie) is almost constantly inside of Steve's personal bubble.

Dustin and Max also notice something is going on with Steve and kind of bully Robin into admitting that he told her he was in a relationship and Max and Dustin also both go "ahhh it's Eddie isn't it"

So all this happens and so the Party + Robin all think that Jonathan is dating Argyle and Steve is dating Eddie.

And eventually it comes out when there's some sort of gathering at the Byers and Steve is nowhere to be found and so the kids start pestering Eddie about where he is and Eddie is like "Uhhh why would I know?"

Which leads to a whole conversation about how "Uh no? I am not dating King Steve Harrington."

Then Jonathan walks in from his bedroom to the dining room, a little mussed up and sleepy looking and Joyce says, "How was your nap sweetie?"

"it was good"

and then she hands him a mug of coffee, drops a kiss on his head and says "could you bring this to Steve, he looked dead on his feet when he came in today"

to which the kids start loudly complaining about how Steve isn't here, only for Steve to then stumble out of Jonathan's room also mussed up and sleepy looking wearing clothes that clearly aren't his asking them all to "please just shut up already, I was trying to nap"

Which shocks everyone into silence.

(Except Erica who loudly proclaims "Did you nerds really not know those two were dating? Because Steves been playing nothing but that stupid British experimental rock in his car for weeks.")

And then everyone has to go through the motions of explaining that they all thought Steddie and Jargyle was what was happening

(Argyle: woah i totally appreciate that you guys think that Jonathan and I could work together but I am totally in love with Eden and no offence to my boy here but even he is not worth losing that totally perfect babe over)

(Eddie: oh my god🤣 oh my god🤣 oh my god🤣 Robin YOU thought I was dating Steve? That would totally ruin my image as a scary devil worshiping metal rocker)

(Robin: Shut up shut up shut up, I think I've seen the two of them in the same room maybe three times in the entire time I've known them! How would I have possibly put that together! And you! You live inside Steve's personal bubble and you're ALWAYS flirting with him! What was I supposed to think!)

[bisexualbumblebee-writes]

Russian Refugees Part 2- Dmitri Antonov x OC

Dmitri Antonov x Judith Horowitz

Description: After a while of living together, Dmitri and Judith receive very happy news. 

Word Count: 2.4k

The next few weeks at Judith’s house were spent with her and Dmitri learning quite a bit about each other. It actually took a little while for them to get used to each other and their routines. While Judith had been involved with almost everything that led to Alexei staying with her, she had no idea what happened that resulted in Dmitri ending up in her house. Once she understood everything that happened to both him and the rest of the group, things were smooth sailing. 

With the earthquake that recently occurred, the town was in dire need of whatever help it could get. Because of that Judith was gone for most of the day trying to do as much as she could to help. As she did so, she learned the truth about what really happened with Dustin and the rest of the Hawkins gang that resulted in the earthquake and how her sister’s group had helped them. Nevertheless, she did everything she could to help before finally going home at the end of the day to cook dinner for her and Dmitri. 

While she was away during the day, Dmitri got used to his new living arrangement and American culture in general. That meant exploring the house and some of Judith’s property (where no one could see him) as well as watching a lot of tv. When they were done with dinner he would always be the one to clean up so he could show his thanks to Judith. His presence didn’t stop her from living her life, which he was thankful for. The last thing he wanted was for her to be forced to not do what she loved. 

After being forced to stay inside Judith’s house for the time being, an opportunity presented itself for them to be safely outside. Judith’s birthday was today and Joyce wanted to celebrate at Hopper’s cabin in the woods, where they’d be unseen and safe. Naturally Judith and Dmitri accepted the invitation, eager to be outside without prying eyes. That afternoon they changed into the appropriate attire and hopped in Judith’s car, heading through the woods towards the cabin. 

Once they arrived, they were met with a newly furnished and decorated cabin full of her family and friends. The party ended up being a success. Judith finally got to spend time with her nephews and niece, who she hadn’t really had the chance to see much since they’d arrived in Hawkins with  Jonathan’s friend Argyle. There were several times where she’d be messing around with them then notice that a certain Russian was watching her. When her eyes met his, he would always turn away as if he hadn’t been looking. She couldn’t help but giggle at the interaction, especially when it happened the second and third time. 

By the end of the party everyone was exhausted. Judith and Dmitri said their goodbyes before heading out. The drive home was mostly silent aside from the music that played softly from the radio. When they got home Dmitri helped her carry all her presents and leftovers inside, setting them on the table. A card fell from the stack and Judith was quick to crouch down and pick it up. Once she stood up again, she couldn’t help but stare at the card. 

It was a homemade card that Will had made for her. The picture on the front was of her in what looked like quite possibly the comfiest sweater she’d ever seen. Her hair was up in a bun with two paint brushes sticking out of it, presumably holding it up. She was surrounded by hearts and balloons with the words “Happy Birthday” at the top of the card. A small smile appeared on her face as she examined it, and that didn’t go unnoticed by Dmitri. 

“You are very good with them,” he mentioned softly. 

“It’s been that way since they were kids,” the girl responded in the same tone, looking at him with the same soft smile. “After Joyce’s ex husband left I would always be the one looking after them when she had to pick up extra shifts. They’re my best friends aside from Joyce, and I love them more than anything.”

“You remind me of me and my son. I think you would really like him,” he muttered, his smile turning bittersweet. Judith stared at him with a sympathetic expression. By this point she knew a fair bit about Mikhail from what Dmitri had told her. And if there was at least one thing she understood, it was that Dmitri loved his son more than anything in this world, and he missed him. 

“Well, I would love to meet him,” she answered easily. “If he’s anything like you, then I know that he’s an amazing person.” The man couldn’t help but smile at her words as he nodded shortly before she pulled him into a hug. Thankfully they’d known each other long enough for it to not feel awkward. . 

“And it won’t be like this forever,” Judith added softly. “You will see your son again. We just need to be patient.” Dmitri nodded again, looking comforted by her words as he returned her hug.

Something had changed between them that night. Something blossomed between them that they chose not to name just yet while they were still trying to figure everything out. It was unspoken, but that didn’t stop their actions from speaking louder than any words could. Any gestures that the other made seemed much more intimate and tender now. 

Just a few weeks later Dmitri and Judith were having dinner. Conversation between them flowed easily, as it usually did by this point. Their peaceful meal was suddenly interrupted by the shrill ring of Judith’s phone. The girl offered him an apologetic smile, which he quickly waved off, before standing and walking into the kitchen to pick up the phone. 

“Hello?”

“Is this Judith C Horowitz?” A deep voice spoke on the other end of the line. The girl, naturally, was surprised by this. 

“Who’s asking?” She asked, trying not to let her nervousness translate through the phone. 

“My name is Sergeant William Nacks, I am the one who helped a man by the name of Dmitri Antonov arrive safely in America. I was told by your sister, Joyce Byers, that he would be staying with you and gave me your number. Is Mr. Antonov there?” Judith was once again surprised by the information, but she remembered Joyce mentioning his name so she answered. 

“Yes, he is. Do you want to talk to him?” The Sergeant agreed and so she pulled the receiver away from her and faced Dmitri, who’d walked up behind her after hearing her hesitation. 

“It’s for you,” she explained, holding out the phone for him. It was his turn to hesitate now, but she only offered him a reassuring smile. 

“It’s Sergeant Nacks,” she added, which let him know that it was safe. It was her reassurance that made him grab the phone. Judith stepped away to give him some space as she crossed her arms and leaned against the wall. After a moment she watched him perk up and say something she couldn’t quite hear, then he hung up the phone and faced her with a wide smile on his face that she couldn’t help but mimic. 

“What is it?” 

“They found Mikhail,” he answered eagerly, pulling her into a tight hug without a second thought. “They have found my son, and they are bringing him to the U.S.!” Judith couldn’t stop the excited gasp that left her even if she wanted to as she returned the hug. 

“That’s amazing Dmitri!” She exclaimed before pulling away to look at him, her hands coming up to rest on his shoulders. “I told you that things would get better.” The man’s smile went from ecstatic to fond. 

“That you did,” he muttered sincerely, leaning down a bit so he was eye level with her. At first they just stared into each other’s eyes, then Judith spoke. 

“When is he coming?” She inquired softly. 

“Two weeks from now,” the man answered, earning a nod from her as they shared yet another smile. 

“Well then, I guess we better prepare for him.” 

The next two weeks went by in a blur. During that time they learned a bit more from Sergeant Nacks. Mikhail would be arriving at a private airport not far from Hawkins in a government jet. Dmitri’s ex wife was refusing to come, however. Of course she understood that this would be the safest bet for her son since Dmitri was considered a traitor and enemy to the Motherland, but she wasn’t afraid of them. Though the man was sad to hear the news, he understood why she didn’t want to come. 

Also during their wait, Judith decided that they should set up one of the extra rooms for Mikhail. They didn’t know how long he and Dmitri would be staying with her, so they may as well make it comfortable for him. After consulting his father she learned what he would and wouldn’t like and together they decorated it accordingly. 

Finally the fateful day came where a government car arrived at Judith’s house, ready to escort them to the private airport to pick up Mikhail. Dmitri was practically bouncing in his seat from excitement, and Judith had to all but hold him down so he wouldn’t annoy the driver or the soldier that was escorting them. When they arrived Judith held his hand as they waited on the landing pad. 

Thankfully they didn’t have to wait long before the soldier escorting them instructed them to stand back. They had to cover their ears as they watched a large jet finally land just a few yards from them. The first one out of the large vehicle was someone they assumed was Sergeant Nacks. He took off his hat as he walked down the steps over to the duo. 

“Dmitri Antonov?” He questioned, earning a nod from the man. He offered him a small smile as he shook Dmitri’s hand. 

“Your son’s transit was successful. Airman Hanson is currently waking him up and he should be out any minute.” Dmitri was visibly relieved by this information and he took Judith’s hand once again, as if trying to ground himself. 

“Thank you, sir,” he muttered. 

“No, thank you,” the Sergeant answered shortly before a young sounding voice called out from behind him. 

“Папа (Papa!)” It was Mikhail! The young boy all but sprinted down the steps against the jet and ran towards them. Judith didn’t have to look at Dmitri to know that he was already about to cry as he let go of her hand. Sergeant Nacks stepped to the side and Dmitri fell to his knees, opening his arms as Mikhail approached them. As soon as his son entered his arms a small sob left his lips and he embraced him tightly. 

“Папа, знаешь что? Я должен лететь на двух больших самолетах! Они оба пролетели так быстро, и я съел немного самолетной еды, и это было очень весело (Papa, guess what? I got to ride in two big jets! They both went so fast and I ate some airplane food and it was lots of fun),” the boy rambled excitedly. As he did so, all Dmitri could do was nod along tearfully as he stared at his son. 

“Похоже, тебе было очень весело (It sounds like you had a lot of fun),” he finally muttered. “Я скучал по тебе (I missed you).” 

“Я тоже скучал по тебе (I missed you too),” Mikhail answered, still excited. It was only then that the young boy noticed Judith standing behind them, and he became shy. Dmitri followed his line of sight, then smiled before facing him again. 

“Михаил, это моя подруга Джудит (Mikhail, this is my friend Judith),” he introduced in a gentle voice. “Мы останемся с ней на некоторое время, хорошо (We will be staying with her for a while, okay)?” Judith took the chance to crouch in front of him with a kind smile. 

“Привет, Михаил. Твой отец так много рассказывал мне о тебе (Hello Mikhail. Your father has told me so much about you),” she greeted, which made the boy beam at her. “Вы готовы идти (Are you ready to go)?” 

“Да (Yes),” he answered simply. The trio only stayed long enough to get Mikhail’s luggage and thank the people that made this possible before heading back to the car. Judith couldn’t help but coo when the boy fell asleep on the way home, and she and Dmitri shared a smile at the sweet sight. 

She ended up being the one to carry him inside while Dmitri grabbed the bags. Mikhail’s arms were around her neck lazily as she laid him down in his new bed in his new room. She then watched from the doorway and his father covered him up and pressed a kiss to his forehead before they both walked out, her closing the door behind them. 

“I knew you would like him,” Dmitri muttered quietly despite the fact that they were now in the living room, several rooms away from his son’s bedroom. 

“And I knew that he would be as amazing as you,” Judith shot back with a small smile. “Though, he is much cuter than you.” That earned a laugh from the man, which she joined in just a moment later. 

“I must agree with you there, but you cannot deny that I am handsome.” It was meant to be a joke, but Judith still found herself nodding in agreement. 

“You’re definitely right about that,” she answered without thinking. As soon as she realized what she said a deep blush coated her cheeks. Dmitri’s eyebrows shot up and he smiled amusedly at her. 

“Well, if you truly feel that way about me, would you like to have dinner with me?” 

“Isn’t that what we do every night?” The girl retorted with a small giggle. 

“Yes, but usually it is you who cooks it. I would like to show you some of my cooking,” he answered. 

“As long as I can help you,” she said with a small smile. A small chuckle left his lips as he began leading her to the kitchen. 

“I believe that can be arranged.”

[willel]

[munsnz]

TRICKS OF LIFE — STEVE HARRINGTON

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐯𝐢. — 𝐈𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐬

Overview : Y/N and Hopper discuss about the events from yesterday, they venture off into their regular lives while looking for Will. She makes an interaction where Steve ends up inviting her to a “gathering”. They stumble across Jonathan and look at their past as friends.

A/N: IM SORRY FOR NOT UPLOADING IN THREE MONTHS-

Navigation — Mixtape

As the waffles popped out of toaster, a hand carefully trying to grab the warm breakfast by the sides, but failing miserably, sending a yelp to come out of their mouth.

”Ouch!” Y/N hisses, the sharp burn of pain hitting her fingers. She waves her hand around to try and cool down her hand, blowing on the index finger.

A grumpy, tired voice was muffled by the food in the man’s mouth, pointing towards the female, “You gotta be careful with that, kid.”

”Sheesh I know that dad!”

“Well if you know that, then don’t do it,” Hopper rolled his eyes, grabbing the car’s keys from the hook, “Now I’m heading out early to meet Joyce. Then I’m going to meet another group for a search.”

”What?!” Y/N exclaims while hurrying to place the sticky syrup on the soft, thick waffles satisfying her nostrils, but making her sneeze, “Are you going to tell her what I saw? I could come along and help-“

”No, you have school which is a priority, and you’re sick,” Her father sharply mumbled the response, letting Y/N’s mouth hang open, “We aren’t sure if it was Will or not anyways, we can’t tell Mrs. Byers so she wouldn’t get so... Overwhelmed.”

”Overwhelmed?!”

”Yes, overwhelmed.”

The girl stuffed her face with the breakfast, upsettingly gabbling at the bearded man, “How overwhelmed? I know what I saw! What if it was Will and we just didn’t want to say anything because we could overwhelm Joyce?! The mother always needs to know she-“

Next thing Y/N noticed that no one was listening to her statement as in she was alone in the small home. Hopper was already turning the car engine on, like a regular Tuesday morning. Sighing angrily, she sped towards the door to almost trip by the front porch, catching up to the car door, swinging it open.

”I cannot believe you forgot your one and only daughter!”

Chatter of crowds walking past Y/N as soon as she walked out of the vehicle, she frantically waved. Her father drove off before she could say anything, he seemed more in a rush knowing about Will’s situation and helping his family, more than herself. Y/N stood alone for a quick second to think until a guy on a skateboard drove past her in a vast amount of speed in front of the school. She sighs and clutches to her backpack, finding a familiar female standing in patience.

”It’s Barbie!” Y/N jokes loudly enough for the red-head to hear from the vast distance they were parted from. The girl whom she was calling out for, whipped her head around to make eye contact and smiling. Y/N walked towards Barb, before she bumps shoulders with none other than Nancy, with her crystal blue eyes squinting at her, while she nudged her friend, “I see you’ve been up to some studying.”

”What?!” Nancy’s face expressed her surprised feeling, watch the two other girls smiles widen cheekily. She realized that they could read her like an open book, her face turning slightly pink as the three of them walked in the entrance of the school, “How did you know-“

”I guessed,” Y/N tilts her head and slings an arm around Nancy, “It’s kind of obvious if you think about it. Mike said you were going to hang out with Steve last night.”

Nancy rolls her eyes with a failed poker face. She shakes her head and hands both Y/N and Barb a stack of flashcards as they traveled inside the full enough hallways, “Maybe be a little more useful and help me study.”

”So did you study or not?!” Y/N’s eyebrows rose, receiving the flashcards and flipped through them, earning a subtle glare from Nancy.

“When alpha particles go through gold foil,” Barb spoke upon them, helping Nancy study by asking the question, “They become....”

“Unoccupied space,” Nancy answers, finishing the sentence. Both Barb and Y/N looked for the answer behind the card, finding out that Nancy’s response was in deed correct.

“Let me try this one!” Y/N holds a flash card, ready to question Nancy for the second time, “A molecule that can- Hey!”

Suddenly, a quick hand snatched the stack of flashcards out of the girl’s hand, her E/C eyes rapidly turning up to see who it was. A tall brunette appeared to hold the flashcards in his hands, another male and female following him behind, the second guy teasingly putting a finger in Barb’s ear. Somehow  Y/N getting obnoxiously nudged by the short red-head.

“Well shit.”

It was Steve, Tommy and Carol, a sense of annoyance growing on Y/N, she subtly stayed back and quiet, hearing Steve’s cocky voice, “I don’t know, I think you studied a lot Nance.”

“Steve-“

“I’m telling you, you know, you got this. Don’t worry,” He confidently assured Nancy, “Now, on to more important matters.”

”Like what? Your jerk face getting in our way?” Y/N begins to walk away from the group of friends, but getting held back thanks to Steve yanking her backpack towards him, making her not move.

”Since when has motherless Hop been a bully now?” Steve lightly teases, giggles from Tommy and Carol were heard as Steve  continued on his statement, “Well as I was saying, my dad has left town for a conference, and my mom’s gone with him, cause you know she doesn’t trust him.”

”Good call,” Tommy jokes, making Steve smile, Y/N silently grumbling under her breath.

Steve looks over at Nancy, ”So are you in?”

“In for what?”

Nancy furrows her eyebrows, then Carol speaks as she leans against the wall, “No parents? Big house?”

”A party?” Nancy frantically guesses, Y/N knew it was obvious they were hosting a gathering.

”Ding ding ding!” Carol sarcastically mocks Nancy, She guessed correctly.

Y/N groans, Steve subtly lets go of his grip on her backpack that sustained her. She shuffles away from him freely. Nancy squints her eyes, “But it’s Tuesday.”

“It’s Tuesday!” Tommy mocks as well, “Oh my god.”

Both Tommy and Carol snigger, Steve becomes serious and loudens his voice, “Come on. It’ll be low key. It’ll just be us. What do you say? Are you in or are you out?”

”That’s a definite no,” Y/N comments, she is now placed next to Nancy who faced Steve.

”Hmm maybe bring Y/N along with her girlfriend Barb,” Carol talks back, Steve shushes her sharply.

Nancy hesitates, “Um…”

”Oh god, look,” Carol says with a disgusted face, everyone moves their glance across the hallway, they spot Y/N’s familiar friend. Jonathan.

Y/N felt relieved to see one of her closest friends, she thought he was in some danger yesterday. But he was back in school, it seemed like he was putting up a flier on the bulletin board.

”Oh, God, that’s depressing,” Steve awkwardly speaks, Y/N feeling this slight feeling of anger sit in her stomach.

Nancy turns to the group and requests softly, “Should we say something?”

”I don’t think he speaks.”

Tommy leans against the wall, he watches Jonathan, “How much you want to be he killed him?”

”What-“ Y/N’s eyes widen and made her even more upset as she shot a glare towards him.

Steve shoves Tommy by the arm, “Shut up!”

Nancy contemplates and moves towards Jonathan to speak to him. She began to have a conversation with him a few feet away, all five watched them. Steve had his hand on his hips, he felt annoyed. Y/N noticed Jonathan and Nancy, she remembers how close they were as kids, in middle school.

All three were a known trio, parents knew each other, siblings did too. They got along, played and hung out together. It was perfectly fine, they shared great moments. Up until high school, Jonathan got called a weirdo, Nancy began getting popular, and Y/N stayed Y/N. High school divides people, social status as well. Ever since Nancy had something going on with Steve, she grew extremely distant with Jonathan. Y/N knew it was wrong to just stick with one, so she evenly had her time with them. But it wasn’t  the same.

The two continued to talk, but none of the others were able to listen to the words being spoken. They watched and watched until surprisingly, the bell rang loudly. Y/N stride forward to meet Jonathan and Nancy as Nancy started saying her farewells to the teenager.

“Good luck.”

”Thanks.”

She finishes off, Nancy moves past Y/N to meet Steve along the way. No one actually waited for Y/N, they walked to class without her.

Y/N stands a little closer to Jonathan, “Hey Jonathan. Is everything okay?”

”Hey,” He replies, closing his bag after setting up the papers indicating Will’s information to be able to find him. “I just hope he’s okay.”

Both of them look at the flier, Will’s face was pasted on it, every word describing about his features. Brown hair, brown eyes, short, and 13. None of them had ever thought this moment would come, ever. In the silence, Y/N assured, “We got a lot of search parties, Victor and I are helping. I’m sure we can find him.”

”Yeah, my mom told me you were helping out,” Jonathan smiles softly, watching her on his side. After, he started to walk slowly away to the exit door.

”Where are you going?” Y/N asks, following him in the hallway, “Don’t tell me you’re skipping class!”

”Y/N I have to go,” Jonathan defends his actions, walking closer to the exit, “I’m going to Lonnie’s for Will.”

”No- Jonathan!” She yelled, seeing that the boy ignored her. Disappointed, Y/N peered outside the door, the car was driving off out of Hawkins. She hoped Jonathan wouldn’t be in any more trouble. Why did this ever happen?

”Attention students, at 8 pm tonight, there will be an assembly on the football field in support of Will Byers and his family. All are encouraged to attend,” The PA system called out in the hallway. Before she would get detention, Y/N sighed and walked to Chemistry, where she would take that unawaited test. Probably the test she would fail for the second time. Walking to class, she started thinking about the invite to the party, did she really want to go?

[paladinsbrainrot]

CHAPTER THREE: THE MONSTER AND THE SUPERHERO CHAPTER FOUR: DEAR BILLY CHAPTER FIVE: THE NINA PROJECT

I’ve decided to combine everything (that I can remember) from all three of these episodes since there wasn’t much I picked up on. (I tried to watch the show instead of thinking of stuff to analyze this time lol)

This is probably irrelevant but the title of episode 3 reminded me of Chapter Five: The Flea and the Acrobat (from s1), and when El calls herself ‘the monster’. Looks like I was right about these parallels, El calls herself a monster in this episode and this is when they’re close to figuring everything out. 

LAB

- Brenner cradling El parallels to S1

RUSSIA - Hopper being referred to as the Crazy American, crazy because his love for Joyce gets in the way of everything. He will do anything he can for love. 

(If you haven’t been familiar with the phrases ‘crazy’ and ‘stupid’, they are basically metaphors for love in the Stranger Things Universe)

HAWKINS

- I think Max’s hair being in a ponytail for majority of the season represents her lack of expression. From the promo to the ponytails to the braids, she’s definetly going through it. The only time we don’t see her without a ponytail is in this scene, where her hair is loose and she’s wearing a rainbow shirt, quite like the ones she wore during season three. 

I really want to make a big analysis on this, but just to sum it up briefly, Max tying her hair up can represent her lack of communication and her not wanting to open up to people. She locks her hair up in a ponytail just like she locks up her true feelings. Max is really struggling, you guys. I’m going to do an in depth analysis on this, probably picking apart what her loose hair means, what her ponytails mean, and what her braids mean. 

- Anyways, another thing I noticed about the Hawkins plot this season is that when Robin says "What are we looking for exactly?” it reminded me of Mike in season three. I’m really hoping Robin is going to become the new Mike of the group, just including that little bit of fuzz and snarky comments. I’m hoping we get more parallels between them this season. 

- I think that music being able to save Vecna’s victims from their trances parallels to s2 when the gang uses Should I Stay or Should I Go to break Will out of his possession from the Mind Flayer

- Lucas saying “I thought we lost you”/ Mike saying “I feel I lost you”

- When Nancy and Robin visit Pennhurst, Victor Creel describes his boy as a ‘sensitive child’ like how Joyce describes Will as a ‘sensitive boy’. They both like to draw, and wear relatively similar outfits. 

CALIFORNIA

- When Argyle drives the Byers + Mike home, I noticed that when Jonathan and Argyle hum a circus tune we zoom in on El and Will, and they look severely distressed and uncomfortable. Will’s can easily be justified- we know he was quite horrified by clowns when he was younger. But El- it makes me wonder if there’s something more. We did have the fun fair in S3, but El was at Starcourt and wasn’t able to see it.

And they both stare out the window, paralleling. I wonder if El’s just distressed because she feels bad for hitting Angela, though. 

- Mike and El’s “you don’t love me conversation” parallels to Stancy.

Wheeler siblings can’t say I love you to their supposed love interest. 

-I don’t know wether to put this in Hawkins or California but I noticed this

- Will’s conversation with Mike overlaps the scene where Will looks at Mike. Will’s voice says “You can’t let him get to you” before we switch to the shot of Mike and Will on the car. I have a feeling this was done on purpose. I even originally thought this was Will talking to himself- not leading into another scene. So I do think this was intentional, this referring to Will & Mike instead. A deeper meaning. 

Will can’t let Mike get to him. They literally have bigger things to worry about. He has to put aside his feelings for Mike. 

- Will and Mike on the cars, in the middle of a junkyard, is a direct parallel to Lumax in s2. 

[sanguine-tenshi]

Stranger things S01

God. I’m rewatching season 1 of Stranger Things after that cluster fuck of a 3rd season and the difference in quality is so glaringly obvious now.

I’ve had two rant posts so here’s some praise for a change of pace. I’ll keep it to just praise here, especially since we loose a lot of this as the seasons progress.

I really am doing this as chaotically as possible aren’t I?

Word count under the cut: 2,136 words.

Episode 1

The opening scene is so good. It’s attention grabbing and it immediately shows you there’s something weird and dangerous afoot.

Character introductions are good, to the point, quick. Just enough to give you a glimpse and a feel for the character. There’s no unnecessary bloat or nothing. No forced conversations to point out the character personality traits the writers NEED you to notice.

Hopper doesn’t take Joyce seriously at first because it’s a small town, nothing ever happens. And she’s a divorced mom, he’s already assuming the most likely scenario happened, there was an argument kid ran, probably to his dad. But Joyce knows her kid. And here we see so much of her character, because she isn’t swayed, like at all. She knows something is wrong and nothing anyone says will change her mind. We see that stubbornness that’s at the core of her character.

Joyce and Jonathan are looking at pictures of Will and it triggers guilt in Joyce. Because she realizes she hasn’t been spending enough time with them and she doesn’t know if she’ll get to spend more time with Will so she needs to cling to Jonathan. And she just needs to make things right where she can. And this just makes Jonathan feel guilty. Because she isn’t mad, she’s not blaming him and she should. Because he should have been there. If he had maybe Will would still be there. And you can just see the guilt and the shame and Jonathan is barely holding on and you can see him curling in on himself. And Joyce notices immediately and just starts reassuring him because Joyce is a good mom and she can’t put that shit on her kid. And just the emotions in that scene just flow so beautifully and naturally into each other.

Just, characters processing their emotions.

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Episode 2

Jonathan asking to go see Lonnie because, even with Joyce’s reassurance, he still feels guilty and he NEEDS to do something. And Hopper tells him to stay because he can handle the search and both Jonathan and Joyce need each other right now.

Will and Nancy being shithead siblings to each other. 

The lab taking interest in Will only AFTER the weird phone call and immediately connecting the dots.

Jonathan going to see Lonnie because of course he is. Just as stubborn as his mom.

Eleven immediately gets triggered when Mike closes her in the closet. Just curling in on herself and silently crying. Because trauma is a thing this season guys!

Jonathan not taking anything from Lonnie. Not the aggression, not the affection. And then he checks the trunk of Lonnie’s car as soon as he sees it. And it tells you exactly what Jonathan thinks of his dad. What sort of relationship they have. And just the fact he doesn’t raise to any of Lonnie’s bait. That is so fucking brilliant. He came to check for Will and he keeps that shit on. fucking. point! He doesn’t let Lonnie stir the conversation in a different direction. Doesn’t raise to the bait, doesn’t even emote. And Lonnie tries! Tries SEVEN times! Just fucking yes! Yes so fucking much! And the only bait that Jonathan actually raises to is the one about Lonnie wanting to see him and that tells you where most of his hurt is. And then the second he realizes he took the bait he drops it immediately. Just such a perfect example of how to deal with an abusive narcissistic parent. Oh and that final dig! I cannot express how good this scene is.

(And also why not allowing Billy to deal with Neil grinds my gears as much as it does.)

Joyce being absolutely terrified out of her mind when the monster fist tries to come through the wall and still going back inside because it’s somehow connected to Will.

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Episode 3

Joyce slowly going insane the next morning and still believing what she saw. This just reaffirms her ironclad self-assurance. Because you know, you know that most people would have been looking for any excuse to convince themselves what they saw wasn’t real. That shit is fucking scary of course you’d try to convince yourself that it wasn’t real. But not Joyce. Joyce is really here going on absolutely no sleep and still staying firm. Joyce stays on fucking point!

Just the way Hopper “bullies” his way into the Hawkins lab that first time. He asks for the guards name, immediately establishing a friendly connection, being very open about the situation, making him empathize and then he asks for a favor. A simple favor that is nothing out of the ordinary, that doesn’t put the guard on spot or in danger of going against protocol and loosing his job. Just ask his boss. You can ask, no harm done. Just simple, to the point. 

Steve confronts Jonathan in a realistic way. Like they are teens of course they’d confront him themselves, even for something this bad. And this scene is so good because it helps establish Steve more. It shows that he’s not a physically confrontational person. And some creep squatting in the bushes taking pictures of you and your friends, of your girlfriend as she’s taking off her shirt, yeah, this is 100% a swing first ask questions never type of situation. But nope he just points out the wrong thing and goes after the camera. And also Jonathan just takes this. We’ve seen by now that Jonathan isn’t a doormat. So the fact that he just takes it shows that he knows this shit was wrong. That he fucked up. That he fucked up again.

Joyce’s quick thinking with the lights and letters.

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Episode 4

Jonathan tries to be there for Joyce, but then as she starts to get more animated and louder and starts explaining the weird stuff he just starts to slowly loose it and has to walk away. And just, his way of dealing with it is to put noise canceling headphones on and just hug himself. And just...because it’s his comfort place, that’s how he’s used to dealing with trauma from when his parents fought. Just drown out all noise and hug himself. And then compare that to how Will deals with trauma right after. He sings to himself because that’s how Jonathan protected him. Put on songs and drowned out the bad things going on.

Just Hopper trying to bullshit his way to information this episode only to resort to violence. Just something funny about it. Also the fact he’s doing things out of uniform the second he starts suspecting a government cover up. It’s just, the gloves have come off. No need for protocol anymore.

Also just the level of stress Joyce shows the second she hugs Lannie. Considering the history between the two and what we saw of Lannie, oh boy. Just shows you that she’s at the end of her rope, absolutely stressed and sleep deprived and emotionally drained. 

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Episode 5

The way Lannie manages to weasel his way in. Because he finally has a way in, and he just fucking takes it. Both Jonathan and Joyce are emotionally raw. And he knows just how to needle Jonathan to drop the topic of Lannie leaving. Oh and that last dig at Jonathan because he just can’t help himself. Has to make a dig at Jonathan any chance he gets, has to have the final word. And Jonathan hit him where it hurt and Lannie just doesn’t know enough about Jonathan to make it really hurt. So he goes after something superficial and unimportant. The fist thing he sees. Also tells you that he doesn’t care about Will dying. Because who the hell would complain about a shitty fucking poster at that moment.

And then later on Lannie is the one greeting everyone, Joyce is standing behind him closed off. And later at the reception as well, with Joyce looking disgusted and annoyed. Knowing his previous behavior that really shows you why he’s here.

Just the fact Jonathan doesn’t even think twice about stealing Lannie’s gun. And also him refusing to tell Joyce when he was first planning to talk to her about it, before he saw Lannie was back. Needing to prove that he can protect her and all because that is the button Lannie pushed during their last fight and it’s at the front of his mind. Add in that guilt over Will and he just has to prove that he can protect his mom.

Lannie trying to plant the seeds for his master plan and immediately Joyce is suspicious of him. She just knows this idiot and she knows when he’s up to nothing good. And then immediately confronting him and calling him on his bullshit, not letting him steer the conversation. She’s been through this shit and she’s over it. Just love both Jonathan and Joyce knowing how to deal with Lannie. Best shit ever.

Dustin figuring out the compass thing because of what the teacher said. Because who the hell checks a compass in this day and age. And also El being immediately afraid of what that means.

Nancy wildly swinging the bat around because yes that’s how a teen would prepare for a possible monster hunt.

Hopper calling his ex-wife because he knows this shit is serious and he just might not make it to the other side and she’s the closest thing he has to a family.

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Episode 6

How absolutely scared both Jonathan and Nancy are as soon as they get home. Nancy has a panic attack as soon as she’s alone in the shower. And Jonathan just clutching the gun close the whole time. Also Nancy being so terrified out of her mind and then her response is to do research. To try to define what she saw, add as many characteristics as she can, find something she recognizes. Comparing it to animals. Rationalizing. Meanwhile Jonathan is next to her snuggling a gun.

The way Dustin just takes no one’s side, solves the issue and makes a plan. Good for him. Being assertive, but also knowing when to be assertive. And later on being objective and seeing everyone’s side and calming the situation down. Generally being the voice of reason. Just good for him.

Nancy answering monster hunting to the shop keeper. It’s such a good moment. Because yeah, that’s the reaction that would get. I never understood how secretive everyone was in supernatural shows always avoiding the topic and making up shitty excuses. Just tell the truth. Who’s gonna believe it? Best you’ll get is a chuckle and a head shake. So yeah loved this moment.

Jonathan snapping at Steve because Steve just starts hitting all the buttons. Comparing Jonathan to his dad. And then insulting his mom and brother. And this time he did nothing wrong...so he just...snaps. Also Steve taking so many fucking hits because this idiot isn’t one for fighting. But also he waves Tommy away because this asshole slept with his girl and that’s enough for him to snap.

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Episode 7

The way Karen just immediately dislikes Brenner. Like this slimy fuck is trying to be all relatable and reassuring. Says the right words goes through the right beats but something about his demeanor is just straight wrong. This asshole is just too far removed from his humanity to emote properly. And Karen immediately clocks his bullshit.

The way Dustin bullies his teacher into giving them the information they need. Such a little shit and I support his shitty little shenanigans. 

Nancy and Mike being shitty siblings to each other no matter what.

Joyce being such a damn mom. Like she really wants to get Will back home safe. But El is just a scared little kid and she NEEDS to reassure her in any way she can. And then you compare the way Brenner talks to and treats El and how Joyce does.

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Episode 8

Again Brenner pretending to be human, but Joyce just knows too much about his skeletons to even pretend to buy his shit. I just live for people calling Brenner out on his shit.

Steve having the most human reaction to a fucking monster dropping out of the celling ever. Just yes, that! That’s precisely how most would react. Just straight up loosing your fucking shit on the spot.

Also Steve turning around and helping when it counted the most. The whole season we saw him being a self-centered asshole and then trying to make amends once he’s had time to cool down and actually think about his actions. Trying to be better. And it’s only now that he makes the right decision. Because now it’s serious. It’s life or death serious. Character development everyone!

[kaypeace21]

The fathers of Stranger Things:  (narrative analysis)

This analysis will discuss all the dads in st. But will mostly focus on the parallels between Brenner, Lonnie, Neil,and Hopper. And the ramifications on their kids.And no i’m not saying Hopper is necessarily as bad as these other fathers/doesn’t have his reasons. But i think the parallels are worth mentioning.

Cycles of Ab*se  & internalizing your father’s teachings

Baseball-We see in s2 the cycle of abuse is there- Billy mimics Neil, and then Max mimics Billy. And uses violence to stand up for herself- which earlier she said she was trying to combat … explaining she can be angry like Billy sometimes but she never wants to be like him (her nickname symbolizing this: aka ‘mad max’).  

We see in s3 Neil taught Billy baseball and bullied him  and called him a “p*ssy” so Billy as a child bullied others and calls them a “p*ssy” (internalizing his father’s teachings and probably venting his anger towards his father on to others). We also see Billy in s2 antagonizes max and demands “say it. say it!”And later Max yells at Billy “say it! say it” and attacks him with a bat. Showing that even Neil has influenced her to a certain extent (via Billy’s ab*se of Max). 

We also see in s3 when Will is frustrated he destroys cb (a symbol of his artistic ambition/the day his father left) and destroys it with a  baseball bat (and then we see the mf officially return) . We also see in s2, Will has a baseball next to the mf drawing (in his room). This is noteworthy due to the fact Jonathan in s1 asks if Will even likes baseball or is just doing it to appease his father. in s1, Will admits he isn’t a fan of baseball -showing how this ‘interest’ in baseball in later seasons just reflects his desire to win his father’s approval (through more sterotypically masculine hobbies).  And we see how both Neil & Lonnie taught both their sons baseball- who are both named William -and who they would call  “f*gs”. We also see in s1 Jonathan lugs around a baseball bat & his father’s gun -however neither tool is used by him in the end successfully. However, in s3 we see Jonathan using an axe (like Joyce) showing by this point he’s mostly taken on Joyce’s influence. 

El’s spying , fighting the Russians, and  lack of care for her safety shows she internalized Brenner’s teachings- We know in s1 El was trained to be a spy/weapon against the soviets (by Brenner). And in later seasons when it comes to her interpersonal relationships- she continues to spy on everyone around her.  she spies on Mike despite his vocal discomfort in s3. Brenner specifically tells her to spy and repeat the words the guys are saying back to him- which is exactly what she does to Lucas and Mike (spying on them and repeating their words back to Max). And when Mike is concerned for her safety we also have El mimic Brenner’s words (from s1) . in s1 she is also said to be taken by Brenner to be a “weapon to fight the commies” and in s3 that’s exactly what she did!  She does literally everything Brenner ever wanted from her!!!!!!!

Jonathan & Billy’s fights with Steve (reflect their father issues... which Steve accidentally triggered)- We see Billy and Jonathan both shoved into walls by their father’s . For Billy this is in a direct consequence of Max running away and for Jonathan- Will’s disappeareance. Billy first shoves Lucas into the wall similarly to Neil. And both Jonathan and Billy are told to “STOP”.

Billy also breaks a plate over Steve’s head. What’s interesting to note is in s3 we see Billy’s mother threw a plate at  Billy’s father (so he was mimicking the dysfunction he saw as a child). kind of like how in s3 he backhands max (mirroring how neil backhanded his mother in the s3 flashback). 

When it comes to jonathan we see jonathan tell nancy to leave and it’s “not worth it” to argue with Steve. However he stops in his tracks when Steve says he’s “like his father”. Then Steve proceeds to insult his family. And  eventually Jonathan who throughout every season is generally portrayed as non confrontational attacks steve. similarly when Billy and Jonathan are beating Steve (who is laying on the ground)-multiple people are yelling for them to stop.But both are in too much of a triggered daze to stop themselves. Even when the cops come- Jonathan elbows the cop in the face and kicks steve with handcuffs on and even says handcuffed for the cop to “get off’ (like he told Lonnie earlier). 

Both would rather do this to their own fathers-but Steve (and the cops) were used as their proxy instead. The fights might reflect what the boys have been taught by their fathers-aka vi*lence. Also on some subconscious level jonathan may have been like-oh you think i’m like my dad? I’ll show you what my dad is like (beats steve with no mercy).

***also, tw se*ual ab*se (you can skip)-during the jonathan fight they also bring up the “pervy photo sesh”- which jonathan took right after seeing his father. in the movies said to inspire s4 they often had a se*ually ab*sive dad/relative who would take innaproriate pics of his kids.uuuuugh. So jonathan may have just been mimicking that past behavior of his father. ugh.***

father’s ab*se  reflects the supernatural

*if you know about my did theory-part 1 and 2 you’ve heard this stuff in detail but i’ll just give a brief synopsis 

- The demogorgan that attacks Will in s1 is  a demon called the “deep FATHER” in d&d.

-El first comes across the demogorgon  (“deep father” ) eating it’s own eggs- symbolically this shows the ‘father’ is hurting it’s own kids ( a motif in the show)!

hunting/baseball/trunks connecting to Lonnie and the monsters:  Will is attacked by the demogorgan in Lonnie’s old shed (and Will tries to defend himself with Lonnie’s old hunting gun). The demogorgan jumps on Jonathan and knocks the bat out of his hands, when he tries defending himself from the demogorgan( both activities: hunting/baseball Lonnie taught the boys).  We also see the demogorgan also attack hunters and a deer- a ref to the lonnie & Jonathan hunting story about Bambi. In s1 we see Jonathan check Lonnie’s trunk to see if Will is there . But also we see the mf throw heather and later her parents in the trunk as well. Also when Jonathan starts talking car repair lingo in s3 -Will senses the mf (since Lonnie repaired cars as a hobby in s1). When lonnie returns in s1 jonathan asks Joyce “did that thing (demogorgan ) come back?” And when Lonnie says he explored around the quarry-jonathan mentions how the demogorgan only traveled a few miles  around his house. When Lonnie says “someone should be held accountable” for what happened to Will- it transitions from lonnie hammering a nail into the wall to Mike piercing a pencil into paper explaining the hole in the upsidedown and how Will got trapped there- hinting at how Lonnie causing trauma to Will is the explanation for everything supernatural. Also need to point out how we zoom in on the lightbulb in Lonnie’s shed (after Will is taken) and they later zoom in on a red lighbulb (when Jonathan tears the innappropriate photos down from the red room) and then it transitions to the christmas lights. And then we see Lonnie berate Jonathan and there’s a glowing lightbulb beside Lonnie (to mirror him to the demogorgan).

-flowers & monstrous fathers: when Brenner (”papa”) first hurts Terry on a hospital bed she wakes up with sunflowers next to her bed. Lonnie in s1 is shown to have a sunflower blanket, and in s2 we see a sunflower book next to Will’s bed after he has a nightmare. We also see that the demogorgan ( ”deep father’-also called the “the man without a face” in s1 ) have a face that resembles a flower. Brenner also gave El a flower when on her bed (although not a sunflower) before forcing her to face the demogorgan for the 1st time.

I believe  credit goes to the tumblr user lazy-storm-cloud for noticing Lonnie’s sunflower blanket. I noticed most of the flower imagery but never noticed that blanket until they mentioned it.

-supernatural “wounds” connecting to Will,  El, Kali and fathers.The lab workers say the upsidedown’s influence over crops/hawkins is “spreading”  while joyce says the tunnels Will drew are also “spreading”. Will says his now-MEMORIES” (connected to the mf-who parallels lonnie) are “growing, spreading, and killing.” Later, Kali in reference to Brenner says her wounds “spread” because she didn’t address her pain caused by Brenner (her papa). And when kali creates a brenner-double he says El has a terrible wound that’s “growing, spreading, and eventually it’ll kill you.” (if not addressed) and they don’t stand up against their father.

-doors connecting to problematic fathers: We see Will in s1 have a sign on his bedroom door that says “do not enter”. And he also requires a password for cb for people to enter. When joyce in s1 hears aggressive knocking on the door she assumes it’s lonnie and says to “go away, Lonnie”.  In s1 we the demogorgan unlock the door telepathically and chase Will. later we see Will stare at the shed door terrified as the demogorgan sneaks up  behind him. in s2 we see the mf slam open the arcade door by itself, and also open his house door in the same manner . when the house door opens it zooms in on the back of his neck- which indicates it’s based off an old memory-a now memory.  We have El also telepathically unlock people’s doors in a similar fashion-not respecting such boundaries. And El asks in s1e1 for the door to stay open.  And Neil, Hopper, and Billy  angrily yell to “OPEN THE DOOR!!!!!” And Hopper slams doors open demanding they stay 3 inches open. We also see El enter a door in the void to see Heather being attacked in a tub and entering the darkness.

tubs:brenner forces El into a sensory deprivation tank. Later El refers to it as a “tub” after seeing the byers tub. we later see the mf is afraid of the byers’ tub. And tub iconography shows up for billy & heather. the s4 movies hint at Will having a tra*matic memory occurring in the tub.

The fathers of St  (recap):

Brenner (“papa” to El and Kali). He forces El into a dark room for hours when she doesn’t obey him. At one point tries to force her to k*ll an animal.  Given the way she ate at Benny’s- he may have starved her as another form of punishment.He allows El no ability to express herself (and dresses her in a masculine/androgounous way) and bans her from the outside world. He tries using a calm-kind demeanor to try and manipulate mothers (Joyce & Karen) into thinking he cares about their kids. And uses El as a weapon/spy .  He would read to El and give her flowers and  a lion plushie . in the st novel  (suspicious minds) he compared the children/numbers to  “rabbits” he could “hurt”.

Lonnie-(dead beat dad of Jonathan and Will). divorced.Forced Jonathan to k*ll a rabbit. It’s implied he has thrown his kids in his dark car trunk  (since Jonathan checks if Will is lonnie’s trunk in s1). He tries manipulating Joyce into thinking he cares about Will. But he just wanted to use Will’s death to make money. He canonically-joked about his son dissappearing. And insulted his ex wife. Then when he realizes he can profit off his son’s death-who he hasn’t seen in years. He leaves his 20-something live in gf, flirts with Joyce calling her “babe”. And pretends to care for Will and the rest of his family. Then gaslights them when they call out his bs. He also has called Will a “f*g” and it’s implied he forced Will to hunt/play baseball. He also shoves Jonathan into a wall. He can have a relatively calm demeanor like Brenner-but then blows up. He smokes, and it’s implied he may be an alcholic since beer cans are littered all over his house. Will has lion plushie in cb (and since lonnie means ‘lion’ it may have been given to him by Lonnie?). He  (like Hopper) implies Joyce is mentally ill and that she’s hallucinating due to grief-and says she’s going to go “over the edge” mirroring Hopper’s words about Joyce in s1. 

Neil- divorced.Calls Billy a “f*got”, and forced him to play baseball. He later shoves his son into a wall and slaps him. He has a calm demeanor and then yells to make his points with Billy.  He also yells at first wife cause romantically jealous. Him & Lonnie both have fights with their ex wives where the phrase “I’m not lying to you” is used. 

Hopper- divorced.in s1-3 we see he smokes, pops pills,  and is an alocholic. The pilot pitch explicitely states he is . He is shown to have anger issues, sells out El’s location to Brenner in s1. In s2 threatens to send her back to her ab*sers if she doesn’t listen to him/ stay isolated from the outside world. dresses her androgonously and tries controlling her romantic relationships. He yells at Joyce cause romantically jealous . joyce annoyed at Hopper: “yes everyman i speak to is my boyfriend”. El says “you are like papa.” And in the pilot Brenner and Hopper were said to dress similarly. And Murray says to Joyce that Hopper is a “brute” who “reminds (her) of a (past) bad relationship”. Aka Lonnie. 

Steve’s dad- is called an “asshole” by Steve and it’s implied he cheats on his wife.

heather’s dad - is sexist to Nancy and cold to his wife. We see Heather (who is the same age as Nancy) has some hidden resentment towards him.

Sam (Max’s dad)- divorced/out of the picture like Lonnie. in the novel ‘runaway max’ is said to be a criminal who often took Max to shady places/bars. And also taught her how to pick door locks-similar to how Jonathan picked a car lock open in s1 like max with a door in s2.

Dustin’s dad- also out of the picture ? dead... maybe?

Recap: Parallels of fathers

forced their kids to k*ll animals/violence toward rabbits/throws kids in dark places/gave their kids lion plushies/tries unsuccessfully to manipulate mother’s  into thinking he cares for their kids: Lonnie & Brenner

taught kids shady stuff like how to pick locks: Lonnie & Sam 

are described as poor/called their sons “f*gs”/forced sons to play baseball/slam sons into walls/have their sons attack Steve/have sons who are into hard rock music: lonnie & Neil

“i’m not lying to you”-:Neil/ex wife and Lonnie/joyce

dr*gs/smokes/alochol ab*se/womanizers/hunters: lonnie & Hopper

imply Joyce is wrong about the supernatural and is just mentally ill: Lonnie and Hopper. Both use a similar expression of her being on “the edge”.

lie to Joyce: Lonnie and Hopper (specifically lies claiming he took her advice and uses that lie to try and get a date with her)

Gave them cat plushies: Lonnie,Brenner, possibly hopper with sara’s tiger 

being connected to flowers: Brenner & Lonnie

yell at love interest when romantically jealous:Neil and Hopper in s3

Hopper: compared to Lonnie (by Murray in s3) and Papa/brenner (by el in s2). in the original pilot Brenner & Hopper were supposed to look similar. Brenner was supposed to have a beard, and wear jeans and plaid shirts similar to hopper in s1. it’s also interesting to note how Hopper started to look more like Neil -they’re both blondes-and in s3 they have matching moustaches (and billy started growing out a moustache in s3-mirroring him becoming a mini neil too).

dress El in masculine clothes/isolate her from outside world/spy on El/read to El:Hopper & Brenner

calm demeanor but quick to anger/ also divorced: Hopper, lonnie, Neil

yells to “open the door”: Neil, Hopper, (and possessed Billy) .it’s also implied Lonnie can pick door locks open.

outliers

jonathan - In the pilot pitch he’s described as taking on the father role for Will (after Lonnie left).  However, he is often paralleled to the mothers of st. Most likely because he never had a healthy father figure- and distrusts even good men like Bob- so models his parenting behavior more so on maternal figures. We see  Jonathan being paralleled to the mothers taking photos of their kids on Halloween, and Jonathan being paralleled to Karen twice.  We even see him bored/annoyed in s2 watching the film “mr mom” since the comedic premise was haha - dad has to stay at home- cook for their kids , drive them to school, do laundry, whaaa how can a man do that ... look it’s so hard  ? isn’t that what moms do instead? All things Jonathan does without literally tripping over himself and failing like the older male film character, initially does .  He also in canon helps pay for the mortgage. We also see Jonathan is unlike the other problematic fathers (who demand entry into their kid’s room) since we see him knock on Will’s door and get verbal permission before entering Will’s room in s2 (respecting Will’s sign). Similar to joyce ringing cb’s doorbell and getting verbal permission from Will to enter.We also see on Halloween Jonathan mocks Bob but when Will defends him Jonathan later mimics Bob telling Will “hope it doesn’t suck” (in a vampire voice) showing at least subconsciously he was mirroring the parenting-like behavior from Bob (since Will liked Bob). So Bob became the first male he used as an inspiration for his ‘parenting style’.

Ted-  is shown in direct opposition to Lonnie.In s1 we see Ted help Mike put on a tie mentioning to Mike it has to be a “little tight” and that it “looks good”. And  after this scene: we see Jonathan struggle to put on a tie (and then ripping it off in frustration-signifying his lack of a father figure that could have taught him how to do this when younger). So in s3 we see Jonathan’s ties are always poorly done and slightly loose around his neck. The same season Jonathan comments about how Nancy’s dad makes 6 figures and his dad “isn’t even around”. He finacially supports his family. cuddles Holly on his fav laze-boy and takes her to fairs. Wants to comfort Mike after Will dies (but listens to Karen to give him time). Has Karen tell Mike that if he wants to talk to him about Will’s death- he can call him at work and he’ll come home for Mike. His calm demeanor seems genuine -unlike the other father figures who quickly lose their cool facade (Ted has never yelled at his kids). Even when kids yell or insult him he doesn’t lose his cool. Worst things he’s done: told kids to stop cursing, naps alot, gives an outdated football analogy about How Mike needs to stop acting out . Why st fans claim he’s a bad dad : boring af aka the human embodiment of wonder bread, in loveless marriage,  and not rambo-esque like Hopper so people act like he’s a horrible dad in comparison to Hopper. Despite being a  more stable parent in the normal everyday situations.

Lucas’ dad- unfortunately we saw very little of him. But he seems somewhat similar to Ted. He’s nice and gives somewhat dated  advice at the table to his son-like Ted did. He seems like a mellow, chill dude, who finacially supports his family. But,Unlike karen/ted it seems like he loves his wife and vice versa.

Bob-the wannabe stepdad-  as the first romantic interest after Lonnie-He contrasts him. He doesn’t do drugs or smoke.  Is emotionally vulnerable with Joyce and vice versa. He never makes fun of Will or Joyce’s mental health issues. he relates to Will -who was bullied as a kid, and is into computers, comics, and was in av club (just like Will). He is supportive of Will’s non-manly interests and encourages those interests (bringing brain puzzles, and board games over when told Will is sick).  Unlike Lonnie who tried to force ‘manly’ interests on to Will. He isn’t mad when Will busts his brand new camera but is simply concerned that Will is being bullied. He’s also shown being concerned about Will’s mental health. He helps joyce with little things like finding her keys and taking Will to school. His happy calm demeanor  is genuine-and he is never shown yelling in anger. He kindly disagrees with joyce on the ‘ drawings on the walls game’ cause he was concerned it wasn’t good for Will’s mental health (and tells her she can talk more about Will’s issues). He sacrifices himself to save Will, joyce and everyone around him.  And unlike Hopper- Bob was never jealous or mean to joyce about the men in Joyce’s life. Bob was serious about Joyce and the boys-he wanted them to be his family and move them near his own blood relatives. We see he had an impact on the boys at the end of s2- Will drawing the “bob newby superhero” drawing and Jonathan using Bob’s camera. 

[yurtletheturtlehenderson]

COSMIC - S1:E5; Chapter Five, The Flea and The Acrobat - [Pt. 2]

A Will Byers x Male!Reader Series

𝘏𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘣 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘴 𝘔𝘳. 𝘊𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯.

|| 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫'𝐬 𝐏𝐎𝐕 ||

"Fear not, for I am with you. Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you."

'I can't believe I'm at Will's funeral.'

"Yes, I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." The pastor continued.

I spared a glance at the people around me.

I looked to Jonathan, his head bowed, and poor Joyce who was sitting nearby.

I can't imagine what they must be going through.

Joyce was like a second mother to me, and she has always treated as if I was one of her own. I'll always be grateful for that. I lay a hand on her shoulder.

She looks up to me confused like I had pulled her deep out of her thought, upon seeing it was me she smiles thankfully. She put her hand over mine and gave it a few gentle pats and then a small stroke with her thumb to say thank you.

I smiled solemnly at her and let go, listening to the rest of the service.

"It's times like these that our faith is challenged. How, if he is truly benevolent... could God take us from someone so young, so innocent?"

I looked down at my feet.

"It would be easy to turn away from God... but we must remember that nothing, not even tragedy, can separate us from His love."

I felt a nudge on my shoulder and turned to look at Dustin. He wore a sly smirk as he looked to his right, past me and Mike.

Frowning in confusion, I turned my head to see what he was smirking about.

"Just wait till we tell Will that Jennifer Hayes was crying at his funeral." Dustin said cheekily.

I scoffed under my breath, rolling my eyes.

"Since when has she cared about Will? She couldn't even get his name right, remember that week she called him Bill?" I huffed, crossing my arms in distaste.

The boys smirked at me.

"What?" I asked.

"Somebody jealous?" Lucas smirked.

"No-! Not ev- Shut up!" I scowl.

The boys giggle earning more than a few concerned and offended glances making me smile to myself. Mrs. Wheeler leaned down and shushed the boys making me smirk more.

'Serves them right.'

Soon enough, the casket had been lowered into the growd and roses had been thrown on top. I made my way to the very side of the grave, looking down.

"I know you're not dead. But I swear to God, if you don't come back I'm gonna kill you." I muttered to the casket in the ground.

As people began to filter out, we watched as Mike's mom said her condolences to Will's parents.

"I'm so, so sorry."

"Oh, thank you so much for coming." Will's dad said.

I never liked him.

Joyce was just standing by herself quietly, her arms crossed looking down at the grave.

"Yeah, if there's anything we can do..." Mr. Wheeler offered, shaking the man's hand.

"I appreciate it. Thank you so much."

I said goodbye to Lucas who had to follow his parents out, even though we would be seeing him later at the wake. I did the same with Mike, and soon enough Mom was waiting for us so we could get to the car.

"Mom, will you give me a minute?"

"Of course, Pumpkin," She smiled at me with sympathy.

I turned around wove through the crowd that had separated me from Joyce. I tapped her on the shoulder, seeming to jostle her from her thoughts a second time.

Upon seeing it was me, she smiled.

"Hi, Ms. Byers."

"Oh, hi Y/n. Thank you, for coming, sweetheart," She smiled.

I captured her in a bear hug and she gladly reciprocated, giving my several comforting strokes.

"Of course. I'm so, so sorry for your loss." I said, letting her go.

"Oh, thank you, honey. T-Tell me, how have you been holding up?" She asked gently.

My eyes welled up.

"I'm not gonna lie, it's- it's been really hard. I just, I just miss him so much. Your son was such a good person. Always a gentleman." I knew what I was saying.

Even if he is alive for sure, everything I said was true. He always has been nothing but kind to me.

Not to mention, I owe him for so much.

She seemed extremely thankful for hearing that and I was glad I could make her genuinely smile on this sad day.

"Really? Oh sweetie, thank you. That means, just so much to me."

I look back to my mom and brother waiting for me by the car, and I return my gaze back to Ms. Byers.

"Um, I better go. My mom is waiting for me. I guess I'll be seeing you at the wake. Goodbye, Ms. Byers."

"Thank you again, Y/n. I'll see you later, okay?" Her face slightly fell and she smiled at me.

I nod and begin walking backward sending a small wave her way before turning around a breaking out into a small jog to catch up to my mom.

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

Being at the funeral of your best friend is daunting and quite surreal.

Being at the funeral of your best friend who is quite possibly alive in another dimension and you and only four other people know this is a completely different ballpark.

We had all met up at the wake and regrouped.

The plan was to ask Mr. Clarke if there was anything he could tell us about the theories regarding alternate dimensions. I'm just praying that we don't arouse suspicion given the setting.

"Mr. Clarke?" The tall man turned his attention away from the buffet to look at us.

Mr. Clarke smiled sympathetically. "Oh, hey, there."

The somber look came easily to my face as I looked to Mr. Clarke, Mike, and Lucas on either side of me while Dustin was digging into the buffet.

"How are you kids holding up?"

Lucas speaks up for us, slightly distracted by Dustin's blatant chewing. "We're... in... mourning."

"Man, these aren't real Nilla Wafers," Dustin sighed, shaking his head.

My eyes widen softly, and I look to Mr. Clarke trying to cover for him.

"You'll have to excuse my brother, Mr. Clarke, he's-" I stop midsentence to see him happily munching on more snacks, and look back to Mr. Clarke. "well, he mourns in his own... special way."

"We were wondering if you had time to talk?" Mike asked, wanting to move things along as quickly as possible.

"We have some questions," Lucas added.

I shook my head in agreement. "A lot of questions, actually,"

Mr. Clarke complied and the four of us found ourselves at the nearest table, asking our teacher about other dimensions at our "dead" friends' wake. Not something I ever could have imagined doing.

"So, you know how in Cosmos, Carl Segan talks about other dimensions? Like, beyond our world?"

"Yeah, sure. Theoretically." Mr. Clarke replies, noticeably confused at the subject of our questions.

"Right, theoretically,"

"So, theoretically, how do we travel there?" Lucas asked.

"You guys have been thinking about Hugh Everett's Many-World's Interpretation, haven't you?" A ghost of a smile on our teacher's face.

"Yeah," I chuckled, nodding my head in response.

The boys looked at me, wondering why I had said that.

I gave them a look that said, 'I don't know, just go with it.'

"Well, basically, there are parallel universes. Just like our world, but just infinite variations of it. Which means there's a world out there where none of this tragic stuff ever happened," I found myself nodding along, not for the sake of being believable, but actually lost in the idea.

"Yeah, that's not what we're talking about," Lucas sighed, leaning back.

"Oh."

"We were thinking of more of an evil dimension, like the Vale of Shadows. You know the Vale of Shadows?" Dustin asked, taking another loud bite of his off brand Nilla Wafers.

Not thinking that our science teacher would know anything about Dungeons and Dragons, I was completely taken aback by his next words.

"An echo of the Material Plane, where necrotic and shadow magic–"

"Yeah, exactly." Mike said cutting him off.

I shift uncomfortably in my seat.

"If that did exist - a place like the Vale of Shadows - how would we travel there?"

"Theoretically, of course." I add.

"Well..."

Mr. Clarke grabbed an empty paper plate and pulled out a pen from his jacket pocket. He then drew a straight line across the paper plate as he spoke, creating a visual for us.

"Picture... an acrobat..." He drew a small stick figure on top of the lines. "standing on a tightrope. Now, the tightrope is our dimension. And our dimension has rules."

He began drawing arrows on either side of the acrobat.

"You can move forwards, or backwards. But, what if..." He drew a very small creature under one of the arrows. "right next to our acrobat, there is a flea? Now, the flea can also travel back and forth, just like the acrobat. Right?"

"Right." We all agreed.

"Here's where things get really interesting. The flea can also travel this way... along the side of the rope." He drew arrows indicating the flea's direction around and under the rope, causing me to furrow my brows. "He can even go underneath the rope."

The boys and I all shared the same look before returning our gaze to Mr. Clarke. "Upside Down."

"Exactly."

Mike spoke up. "But we're not the flea, we're the acrobat."

"In this metaphor, yes, we're the acrobat."

"So we can't go upside down?" Lucas asked warily.

"No."

"Well, is there any way for the acrobat to get to the Upside Down?"

"Well," Our teacher furrowed his brows, a thoughtful look coming upon his face. "you'd have to create a massive amount of energy. More than humans are currently capable of creating, mind you, to open up some kind of tear in time and space, and then..."

He folded the paper plate in half, creasing it shut before shoving his pen directly through both sides of the paper plate. "you create a doorway."

"Like a gate?" My brother asked eagerly.

"Sure. Like a gate. But again, this is all–"

"Theoretical." I smile, nodding my head.

"But... but what if this gate already existed?" Mike asked, timidly.

"Well, if it did, I... I think we'd know. It would disrupt gravity, the magnetic field, our environment. Heck, it might even swallow us up whole."

Mike seems to gauge our reactions, and I'm the only one who met his eye with an equally uncertain gaze.

"Science is neat." Mr. Clarke continued. "But I'm afraid it's not very forgiving."

We all lean back, digesting the information.

[dadbodfanatic-x]

Paper rings; part 7

Jim Hopper x Original female character

A/N: this one is heavy, mentions of murder, death, cussing, just hard shit. This one is also a long one and on mobile so I’m sorry for taking up your dashboard

You groaned as the cold finally settled in, you moved to snuggle into something to feel more warm but when you shifted you realized you weren’t on Hoppers shoulder any longer. When you sat up and looked around you realized you were in what you assumed was his bedroom, in his bed but when you looked to your side there was no Jim to be found. You reached out your hand to the other side of the bed and it was freezing cold which means Jim must have carried you to his bed and then left. You frowned at that realization, it would have been nice to wake up to him laying beside you. You’re sure that sleep is the only time Jim might look peaceful, he takes on so much for this town that you know he carries such a heavy burden and since finding out about his daughters passing you realized you really didn’t know the weight of everything else he carried in his life. When you looked to his side table you saw the hour on the clock and realized you still had enough time to run home and change so you didn’t roll into the station looking like you slept somewhere else. You padded into the living room where you saw Jim asleep on his couch, it hurt your heart at how uncomfortable it looked. As you were walking into the kitchen you noticed a coffee machine and decided to be a little nice to the gentle giant and started brewing a pot, while it was going you couldn’t help but just stare at him. You poured yourself a mug and then found a larger cup for him and poured him one as well, you pulled a bottle of pain reliever from your purse and sat it on the table next to his coffee and decided to write a note. “Since mornings are for coffee and contemplation I made a cup for you. I’ll see you at work. Xo Nora P.S next time we can both take the bed (:”

The drive to your house was quiet and quick and when you opened your front door you thought about just laying back down for a little longer, you almost didn’t want to shower since you smelled so much like Jim’s house. Like the way it smells before it rains mixed with whisky and a dull hint of smoke, you wanted to let that scent seep it’s way into your everyday life. To mingle into your own everyday life and create something unique to the both of you combined. You decided to would just throw the flannel that you “borrowed” from his closest on your bed and shower to start your day.

You were completely finished getting ready and still had time to kill before your shift so you thought about breakfast or even driving back over to Hoppers to make his hungover ass some too when your phone rang “hello…”

“Nora hi it’s uh me it’s Jonathan. Do you think you could come by? Moms uh moms talking to lights and I just…I just need some help” your heart broke

“I’ll be there in 5” you ran to your car and maybe also ran some stop signs on your way over.

Jonathan was on the front porch when you arrived “she thinks Will is talking to her through the lights and she’s hearing his breathing on the phone and I…” you just hugged him tight. So damn tight.

“Hey you take a break alright I got it”

When you walked into the room you saw Joyce sitting in the middle of tons of lamps asking Will to please talk to her. You sat beside her and squeezed her tight.

“Nora oh hi! I bet he’ll talk to you too! Will honey, Nora is here. Show her how you’re talking to me baby” and you both sat and watched and out of the corner of your eye you saw one of the bulbs flicker “see!” She yelled

“Oh hey wow!” You said and not condescendingly at all. You wanted her to know you were here for her and that you understood just what a parent would do for their child.

“I just came by to check on you guys, figure I’m gonna have to spend my D&D planning days with you and Jonathan making dinner or breakfast till Will the wise is back. Right will?” Joyce held on to you and cried harder “thank you” she whispered “for believing me” and you held Joyce Byers while she cried for her lost son.

When you saw Jonathan walk by you looked down at Joyce and then to him “hey, Joyce why don’t you try to grab some sleep and I’m gonna make breakfast okay?” And she just shook her head while Jonathan walked out of the room again.

While you were making breakfast Jonathan told you about the lamps and the phone and how his mom mentioned something about music and the wall you knew that while Hopper and the whole station was doing everything to find Will that Jonathan was doing everything to save his mom and no one was looking out for him, the kid who also lost his little brother and the kid who was picking up the pieces of the life their dad tried to destroy and in that moment you decided you were going to look out for Jonathan Byers.

After you made sure everyone at the Byers resident was set you headed into work, as soon as you walked in everyone was staring at you.

“Sorry I was checking on the Byers”

Hopper informed you all that Hawkins Lab was the first thing on the agenda today so you all climbed into his bronco and headed down the road. While Powell and Callahan were having some conversation in the back Hopper patted your hand so you looked up at him. “Thank you for this morning..” he smiled at you

You shot him a wink “anything for you honey” and you watched him give you that lopsided grin that you loved so much.

Hopper made quick work of the guard at the gate with some ole cut me some slack man I’m trying here charm and you were in. The air inside Hawkins lab felt thick and something about the smell made you on edge immediately and on your way to find the control room to view the camera footage you found out why. The security guard mentioned a Dr. Brenner that was in charge and you didn’t miss the way your stomach turned when you heard the name, it stuck with you like a bad habit and you couldn’t figure out why. When you all began watching the tapes something still felt off but you couldn’t figure out if it was the name still sticking out to you so you watched Hoppers reaction and you caught it, maybe no one else in the room did but you’ve watched Hopper enough to see the micro expression on his face, something felt off to him too.

“The night of the 7th we had a search party for Will, you remember anything about that night?” Hopper questioned. Powell gave him back an answer but you felt like the question was directed at you, you racked your brain for what it could be when it smacked you in the face.

“It was piss pouring the rain…” you said when it finally clicked.

“You see any rain on that tape?” And you realized you hadn’t. That was what he was so uneasy about, why lie to you about footage if their was nothing to hide? Oh you did not like this.

“What’s up with you?” Hoppers voice pulled you out of your daze “what’s going on? I know you something’s off, you get a weird vibe in there or what?” You looked at Hopper before you looked back at Powell and Callahan having a conversation and it’s like he read your mind immediately “okay yeah..” he said. He made some excuse about dropping them back off at the station and having them meet you at the library in about 20 minutes and so they left.

“I just got a bad vibe in there is all and then when they mentioned Brenner my stomach just flipped. I’m not sure why but his name rings a bell I just need to figure it out. The whole thing just felt off and then you made a face in the control room and I could tell you felt off too so it just made things more uneasy…”

“I didn’t make a face.. I was playing it cool till we were out” Hopper was quick with his reply.

“No I don’t think anyone else noticed it was just a quick shift in you but I could tell…” when you finally looked up from playing with your hands you could see him smiling

“You could tell?” You just shook your head and laughed “well I could tell you were off too doll” and he was right. He called it right on the money.

When you all piled into the library you were the last one to enter, walking up behind Hopper when you heard “sorry I didn’t call and wasted your time, I’m a dick” and you were at full attention standing beside him now.

“Yep….” He trailed off “we could go out again next week?” Your eyes snapped to him and you could feel yourself becoming more pissed off by the second and then when you turned to look back at her as he was asking about newspapers she was looking directly at you and well that just pissed you off more.

“We have the times, the post, all the big ones…” she said while motioning to you all

“We need anything on the Hawkins lab” you barley even registered Jim beside you

“Well, shouldn’t you be looking for that missing kid..” you couldn’t even help the puff of air you forced out of your nose before the ever impending word vomit

“Yeah” you quipped through gritted teeth “we are!” As she walked off you heard Hopper beside you “what was that?” You began walking towards the back so you could look for articles “what was what Jim?” You were annoyed by his presence now.

You were looking over dozens of articles about abuse claims and lawsuits, missing kids and failed inquiry’s into the lab “you were jealous!” You heard him beside you. “I wasn’t..” you were attempting to rub the headache that was forming away by pushing your fingers into your temples “it was before you came into town…” he quietly said beside you and that’s when your anger bubbled to the surface and you snapped “yeah and asking her out right in front of me? Was that before or after promising to kiss me?” You snapped in his direction fiercely. It felt odd to be angry at him but you couldn’t believe he did that in front of you. You just turned your chair away from him and began searching again.

Powell finally broke the awkward tension when he said “this terry ives sounds like a nut to me, I mean her kid was taken for LSD mind control experiments?” That peaked your interest so you turned back to the group and when Hopper put down a picture of Brenner with kids in hospital gowns it clicked.

“This is CIA level stuff right?” They both looked at you. You quickly stood up and began pacing and hopper followed you “what’s up?”

“You know why Brenner sounded familiar?” You were connecting all the pieces now “because he killed my dad…”

“Wait what?” Hopper was confused

“No no stay with me here okay? My dad was a scientist and when I was little he use to work in this lab and he would always come home and talk to me about his day and he really loved what he was doing and he was having these breakthroughs but then he started bringing journals and charts home which was weird for him and then one night he just packed me up with all this stuff in the car and started driving. He said that his partner was trying to sell off some of their research to the government and he wanted to begin testing on human subjects and he didn’t like that ya know?” You looked at Hopper “He uhh said we had to leave town because he was taking his research with him away from these bad people. We uhh got a few towns over and we moved around a lot to different hotels and then one night I just asked if I could go play with a girl I saw in the lobby. She was listening to music and playing and dad didn’t pack anything for me since he ran so fast and I was so tired of being locked up.” You could feel the tears begin to fall “he didn’t want to say yes but I begged” hopper was standing in front of you now “when I came back to the room the door was unlocked and open a little. All dads papers were scattered everywhere and stuff was missing and dad was sat at the table with a gun in his hand. Dead” when you finally looked up at Hopper that’s when you realized it clicked for him.

“That’s why you had such a hard time with Benny?” You shook your head at him.

“They didn’t even listen to me. Case open and shut in 10 minutes tops. They ruled it a suicide. That’s why I went to college for this, so I could tell them they were idiots.”Hopper wiped the tears from your face “I have some of dads old stuff he had mailed to his parents at my house. I recognize Brenners name from his journals “ Hopper understood everything now and knew these men were hiding something he grabbed your hand and pulled you back to the table where Powell was.

“Look, hospital gowns on all the kids…that’s what the teacher found in the pipe right? The fabric. What if Will saw something he shouldn’t have?” You thought about excusing yourself to go vomit again at the thought of Will being tortured by the same men who killed your father but you couldn’t dwell on it long when you heard Callahan asking for the chief on the walkies.

It was chaos, all loud noises and screeching tires as hopper sped down the road. There were other cop cars behind you and an ambulance not far behind all sirens blaring in the night like an anthem to the chaos that Hawkins is becoming. The grip Jim had on your hand was tightening with every turn he made and you were just pleading with anyone or anything listening to please let this be a lie. Please let this not be real and a small fucked up please let this be someone else even crossed your mind. You had to shake that thought away. When he finally pulled into the Quarry he gave you a final look and a one word plea “stay” as he got out of the car. You watched him like a hawk and even surrounded by all those people you could see it, the slight turn and the defeat that slumped his shoulders down.

“No..” you sobbed, you had to see for yourself. This was your job and you needed all the facts, you would question all the findings. You would make sure without a damn doubt this was Will Byers. When you got out of the car you turned in time to see Mike Wheeler drive off on his bike “fuck…” you started off towards the other boys when you felt an arm wrap around you. “I’m sorry…” is all he said as he hugged you tight.

“We have to tell Joyce” you said as you finally pulled back and looked at him

“I’ll do it..” he said as he cradled your head against his chest again.

“I wanna be there too, I have to be there for Jonathan. I promised someone would be there for Jonathan.”

[namjoonswifey99]

What The Heart Wants Pt.4

Billy Hargrove X Reader

Warnings : Steamy , Profanity ,

Author Notes : It's a little steamy in the beginning and while reading you should listen to Feenin’ By Jodeci and Make It Last Forever By Keith Sweat if you want.

Y/N couldn't believe what was happening right now here. She is kissing her best friend who she’s in love with. 

Meanwhile Billy was in heaven and he been fantasizing about kissing Y/N and being with her. Ever since he came to Hawkins she was the only one who didn't run from him and didn't try to use him. She helped nursing him back together after the mindflayer incident. He’s been extremely hurt knocking at death's door and he pulled through even the doctors wasn't expecting him to survive

When Billy woke up he noticed Y/N and her family was there and Max was there she was curled up to Y/N side on the layout couch from that moment he knew he was in love with her.

Both of them were so lost in the moment that they didn't notice Max was on  Billy’s side of the car grinning at them. Max knew the pair had feelings for each other; she just was waiting on them to make it official.

Max then knocks on his window making the pair jump apart. Billy looked to the side seeing Max and rolled his eyes. Y/N turned around to hide her face. She was so embarrassed right now. 

“ You don't have to turn away Y/N. I've known you loved Billy. It was only a matter of time.” Max says while getting in the backseat. It has always been a program they wait a block away from fom Max’s school then they'll head to grab half of the crew while Hopper brings the rest. 

“ Max hussssssssh” Y/N says even more embarrassed. Y/N was trying to put more space between her and Billy but Billy grabbed her thigh and looked at her.

“ It's okay Y/N if anything I'm happy for you two  you finally told each other your feelings for each other.” Max says with so much excitement she has been waiting for them to be together. She loves Y/N so much like a fun older sister or another mom figure she couldn't imagine her life without Y/N.

“ MAX” Both Y/N and Billy yelled out in surprise they weren't expecting her to say that.

“ Wait you love me since when” Billy asked Y/N with wide eyes.

“ Um i kind of been in love with you since i came to your house and seen what your dad did was doing to you ever since then” Y/N said looking down at her hands shyly. 

Billy looked at her shocked that it was almost two years ago. Billy was honestly stuck; he was really blessed with an angel named Y/N.

“ What about you when did you realized you love me”. Y/N said now looking at Billy.

“ Well late last year when you took me and Max in and i fell deeper when you was by my side with the mindflayer I’m so glad I got another chance so I can live with the rest of my life with you whichever way you’ll have me” Billy said looking at Y/N while hold her hands.

Y/N can see how he really feels since they are facing each other and all she see is love. 

“ Well Billy Hargrove you just got yourself a girlfriend.” Y/N says while smiling from ear to ear.

“ No I don’t got me a girlfriend i got me a wife”. Billy says while just admiring how beautiful Y/N is.

“ Okay lovebirds can you guys try not to eat each other's faces in front of me please”. Max says groaning in the backseat.

Billy and Y/N looked at each other and laughed. They decided to cut her some slack.  Billy then started the car to head towards the Byers house to go get Will. 

“ Soooooooo how are things with you and Lucas”. Y/N said in a teasing voice she wasn't the only one who was in a relationship now. 

“ Well our winter formal is coming up so I'm hoping he’s going to ask me and not assume just because we are in a relationship he doesn't have to ask”. Max says with hope in her voice.

“ I believe he’s gonna ask you he’s probably just nervous , you know guys they are a little slow”.

“ Hey i take offence to that statement” Billy said feigning heartbreak.

“ Oh hush don't be a big baby” Y/N said pinching Billy cheeks.

“ Y/N stopppp”. Billy says whining trying to remove his cheek from her grasp.

“ You guys are so cute it's disgusting and cute at the same time”. Max says genuinely happy for Billy.

After 30 minutes Billy pulls up to the Byers house. Y/N then gets out the car to walk up to the door and rings the doorbell. Jonathan then comes to the door with his camera in his hand. “ Hey Y/N looking for Will ''. Jonathan asks.

“ Yea is he ready to go”. Y/N said feeling awkward especially after what happened at school and what she said.

“ Hey Jonathan I want to apologize for what I blurted out about you.” Y/N said looking sad. Y/N is not the type to hurt other people's feelings.

“ Hey its okay Y/N I know you didn’t mean to say that its no hard feelings.” Jonathan says putting his hand on Y/N shoulder.

“ Y/NNNNNNNNNNN  I missed you!” Will says running towards her and almost knocking her off her feet with a hug.

“ I missed you too” Y/N says while wrapping her arms around him.

Even though the kids love Steve they prefer Y/N. She just understands them more; she helps out more; she is basically the real mother hen of the group. Anytime the kids need help or in trouble she comes to the rescue. Plus her cooking is amazing. Will definitely grew attached yo Y/N after his incident she cared for him like no other she took up for him when other kids bullied him she took the time t fully understand what happened she helped Jonathan and Joyce nurse him back to health Y/N was like the best big sister he always wanted.

“ Come on Billy waiting on us” Y/N says, grabbing Will’s hand and walking back to the car.

Billy just couldn't he got the girl of his dreams even after all the bullshit he went through he’s glad Y/N stayed by his side he’s going to treasure Y/N to his last breath.

Please leave feedback i would appreciate it.

Taglist:

@justfangirlthingies

@miss-starkov

[gloomyhearts]

That's life || Steve Harrington

Chapter ten

October 30, 1984

Y/N POV

Almost a year after Will went missing. The boy did recovery very well at least it looks like he did but this afternoon in the arcade changed my mind.

I started to work at the arcade three months after Will was back. My brother was happy but for him because I could give him coins to play.

So today after school Dustin and his friends wanted to meet at the arcade and Dustin wouldn't be him if he would have to search for some coins. He searched through the whole house including the shed.

"Dusti you're alright?"

"I totally am."

"Do I have to take you to the arcade?" He just nodded as he lifted the pillow from the sofa.

"Dustin Henderson what are you doing? you're scaring Mews" he walked over to the cat and excused himself.

"Dustin I can borrow you some" he turned to face me

"and you're saying this now after half an hour of my search?"

"You could have asked me but you didn't and it looked funny" I laughed and my mom too.

"Mo-om" he threw his arms in the air sighing.

"Dustin don't screw your pants." My mom's a real savage.

"Ready?" He nodded and walked out the door.

We drove to the arcade and I parked the car, "are you staying the whole time?" He nodded and I rolled my eyes, "you're stupid. Call me when something is wrong" he nodded and walked away from me.

Two hours into shift Nancy stormed into the arcade earning glances of the nerdy gamers.

"Nanc what's wrong?"

"There is this Halloween party and I want you to come" she was enthusiastic

"there's no way I'm going"

"please Billy's there too" Billy is the new boy at our school he almost hit me over with his car as I was walking to the entry and then he tried to flirt with me. Nancy thinks I have a little crush on him.

"Y/N please this will be fun. Steve could take you there" yeah Nancy and him are still together and it's still driving me crazy I don't want to be near the couple if I could

"but I promised Jonathan were going with our brothers on trick or treat."

"Jonathan is coming too"

"that's not typical for him. You sure?" Nancy only nodded.

"Y/N" I heard Dustin shout through the arcade. He came running towards me.

"Will is.. He is standing outside and we think he has an episode again."

"fuck" I came forth the counter and walked over to Will.

"call miss Byers" Dustin nodded and walked into the back.

"Will. Hey it's me Y/N I'm here. Everything is alright. You're not going to the other world again" I touched him slightly and he came back from wherever he was.

"Will you're good? Joyce is coming" he didn't say anything and just hugged me. I caresseshis back and whispe, "I'm here Will, it's okay." I noticed that he was shaking and lightly crying.

Five minutes later Joyce arrived at the arcade and thanked me for looking after Will.

"I'm so thankful you were here. Will really likes you. Thank you so much" she hugged me and went to their car.

"Y/N" Dustin walked over to me again.

"Do you know who's mad max?"

"I heard the new kid Billy called a red haired girl Maxime. Maybe her I don't know. I'm sorry Dusti"

"it's alright."

"Oh and Dustin. Only an hour to go buddy" he nodded and joined his friends again.

"I feel so bad for Will. He was such a lovely boy and now he's just scared" I forgot that Nancy was still here.

"Yeah I'm so sorry for the boy and his family" we stood there in silence.

"So you're coming?"

"I have no choice or?" She shook her head.

"Great. Call me when Steve arrives at yours" she nodded and left.

Ok so eventually I like Halloween but not with dozens of teenagers around me and alcohol. I always enjoyed to do trick or treat with my brother and his friends.

"The time is up Dusti time to go. The arcade is closing."

"Noooo I didn't revenge on mad max." He cried out as I drag him out to the car.

"That's so unfair."

"What? You can stay even a few minutes more than the others you should be grateful"

"I'm not because of mad max"

"you're such a stupid boy. Please shut up"

During the drive home we didn't talked that much and when we arrived Dustin ran into the house.

As i passed the bins I heard some hustle but I ignored it.

"Hey darling. How was work?"

"Great as everyday." She smiled and I sat down at the table to start dinner.

"Are you ready for Halloween Dustin?" He stopped eating and smiled as wide as he could.

"And you Y/N?"

"That's it. Nanc asked me to come to the Halloween party" Dustin and my mom widened their eyes.

"You're not coming with us?"

"No but Jon is, you're going to be alright" my mom calmed down after she heard they wouldn't be alone.

"I'm finished can I go upstairs?"

"Yeah honey. Good night" I gave her a quick cheek kiss and left.

When I arrived in my room Steve sat on my bed.

"Who allowed you to come in?"

"You?" He pointed to my window which wasn't closed at all.

"Idiot"

"Love you too dumbass" I sat down next to him and he lays his arm around me.

"How was work?"

"It was boring. I can't believe I took that offer"

"it's okay Y/N only a year and then you're almost off to college" I lay down on my bed and he was now laying next to me

"is this cheating?" I turn in his arms to face him.

"You and me laying here and talking?" I nodded, "when you think that this is cheating then you've got your answer."

"No I don't think so but everyone is interpreting different"

"so what would Nancy interpret as cheating? I mean she laid in the same bed with Jon a whole night and they talked. We are just laying here and talking I'm leaving soon if you want me to go"

"no stay, please. So you're going to the party as well?"

"You're coming?" I nodded, "that's great finally you're interacting with people in your age."

"Shut up" I slapped his chest, "you have to take me with you"

"in my car?" He laughed.

"Yeah Nancy said so"

"so she's now deciding over both our lives?"

"Looks like. Steve I'm so tired"

"do you want me to leave?" I couldn't even answer because I felt asleep on his chest.

Steve's pov

I was laying in her bed waiting for her to come upstairs after having dinner.

Today she worked the longer shift and hasn't really got a break. I'm feeling sorry for her because she's working her ass off and they are paying her like shit. Hopefully she's happy to see me.

"Hey there" I said as she entered the room still in her working clothes.

"Who allowed you to come in?"

"You?" I just pointed towards the window which she didn't closed at all.

"Idiot" she teased me.

"Love you too dumbass" she sat down next to me and I laid my arm around me.

"How was work?"

"It was boring. I can't believe I took that offer"

It was kinda hart to her y/ec full of tiredness, without the sparkle, "it's okay Y/N only a year and then you're almost off to college" She lays down on her bed and I was doing it like her.

"is this cheating?" She looked me in the eyes.

"You and me laying here and talking?" She nodded.

Why would she think over that

"When you think that this is cheating then you've got your answer."

"No I don't think so but everyone is interpreting different"

"so what would Nancy interpret as cheating? I mean she laid in the same bed with Jon a whole night and they talked. We are just laying here and talking I'm leaving soon if you want me to go"

"no stay, please. So you're going to the party as well?"

"You're coming?" She nodded

"that's great finally you're interacting with people in your age," I chuckled and her eyes lit up.

"Shut up" she hit my chest, "you have to take me with you"

"in my car?" I just laughed.

"Yeah Nancy said so"

"so she's now deciding over both our lives?"

"Looks like. Steve im tired"

"do you want me to leave?" She hadn't answered because she felt asleep on my chest.

I totally missed her. I have her back, finally. I won't loose her again I couldn't handle it. I think I love her.

October 31, 1984

Y/N POV

The next morning Steve wasn't there. Steve and I become closer again but I still feel the same towards him and I don't know if he knows. I'm scared that Nancy would assume that Steve would cheat on her with me because he isn't! We are friends!

Today was the day. The party. I hate to interact with others I don't know. I hate being around too much people.

"Dusti could you help me please" Maybe he has an idea what to wear.

"What's wrong?"

"Can you help me? I don't know what to wear," he rolled his eyes and opened my closet.

"Go as Sandy Olsson."

"From Grease? I'm too ugly Dustin"

"okay you're the totally opposite of ugly Y/N!"

"you're only saying this because I'm your sister."

"AAah" He sighed. "maybe a bit but only a quarter."

"Oh thanks Dusti but I don't have any clothes she has worn"

"of course," he went inside to have a better view. He threw a black leather pant into my face followed by a black crop top and a pink jacket.

"And you're taking moms black high heels."

"I'm not wearing heels!"

"of course you will. Please that would suit the outfit so good."

"fine," I sighed and walked to mom asking for her heels which she gave me. "Okay and now?"

"A bit make up," he opened the drawer and picked some utensils. "Great you can do this by yourself," i dragged him towards the door, "thank you Dustin. Love you."

"too," he left the room and I applied the make up.

Nancy called around eight o'clock telling me they would be here around twenty minutes later. I waited outside for the couple and hopped in as soon as they arrived.

Dustin left two hours before so Jonathan could join them for an hour and a half.

"And what do you show?" Nancy turned in her seat to look at me.

"Wait let me guess. A pink jacket. And the black clothes. Mm." She thought.

"She's Sandy Olsson Nancy."

"Steve I wanted to guess," she clapped her hand on his chest, in the raw view I saw him rolling his eyes

"I'm sorry," I smiled lightly.

We arrived to many already wasted teenagers, almost everybody held a red cup in his hand, swaying to the music.

"I'm getting drinks for ya Y/N," I nodded and she walked away.

"You're looking stunning Y/N," I felt heat in my cheeks.

"Mm thanks. You're not that bad yourself," Nancy came back with red cups.

"I'm not drinking Nanc I'm sorry" I put the cup on the counter next to me.

"Oh please only today. It's party time" she threw her hands in the air.

"Mm no thanks Nancy." We stepped on to the dance floor in the living room where everyone were when Billy and his friends including Tommy and Carol arrived.

"They are assholes," Steve muttered under his breath and focused on Nancy again who was drinking her fourth cup.

"Nancy I think that's enough" Steve tried to take the cup away but it spilled over her white blouse.

"Nanc.. I didn't want to. Nancy I'm sorry" she ran upstairs to the bathroom and he followed her leaving me alone in the fully living room.

"Y/N," I felt a tap on my shoulder and as I turned to face the person behind the voice I realized it was Jonathan.

"Jon you're not dressed," he turned a little bit around to show a bunnytail.

"Nice. I like it."

"Where are Steve and Nancy?"

"In the bathroom"

"couldn't they wait until home?"

"No ihhhr.. they're not doing it. Steve spilled Nancy's drink over her shirt"

"that's bad. How is the party"

"as an anti party person I hate it," we laughed when Nancy ran past us.

Jonathan began to walk after her and I wanted to do the same but someone grabbed my arm.

"Y/N can we talk?" I nodded and he lead me to the backdoor.

"What happened?"

"Nancy said that our relationship would be bullshit. That she doesn't love me. That it all is bullshit." A tear rolled over his cheek and I wiped it away.

"I'm so sorry Steve." I looked at him and saw his red eyes. As I saw him like that my heart began to hurt and a tear left my eye too. A strand of hair fall in his face and I pulled it behind his ear. A few moments later I hugged him and we stood like this a few minutes.

"You know Steve when someone is drunk they are saying the truth. Always. I'm not saying this because of you know. I'm saying it as your best friend I just want the best for you," I hugged him again and we drove to my house.

"You want to come in?" He nodded and locked his car.

"Thank you Henderson."

"You're welcome Harrington."

[moonlit-imagines]

Wasn’t Ready for That

Jonathan Byers x male!reader

warnings:

a/n: slightly altered so that reader is just the older sibling of nancy!

prompt: anonymous: “Jonathan Byers x male reader - the reader is the twin brother of Nancy , and he and Jonathan are best friends, Jonathan has a crush on the reader and kisses him but the reader freezes Up and Jonathan runs away before he can say anything. The reader has a crush on him too and ends up buying Jonathan something like candy or a bear idk and tells him he like him to and they end up cuddling and kissing.”

You and Jonathan had been through it all together, years and years of friendship that could never fade. And now it was like tradition since your younger brother and his were also best friends! Friends.

Sure, you guys were friends. Friends who spent nearly every waking moment together, friends who secretly pine over one another when no one is looking, friends who feel like they could just die when the other is away.

“Y/N, I think Jonathan’s here!” Your mom called up the stairs and almost immediately heard your footsteps as you rushed down the stairs, nearly tripping and tumbling down. “What did I tell you about running though the house?”

“Sorry, mom, just excited. See you later tonight!” You grabbed your jacket off of the coat rack and raced out the door and all the way to Jonathan’s car.

“Miss me?” He joked as he switched gears and began to drive off, you were actually out of breath from your little workout.

“Can’t say I did.” You smugly replied and felt him lightly punch your arm, both of you let out some intoxicating chuckles before letting them fade and sighing. “Where are we going?” You asked.

“I actually heard that the sunset looks really cool from the bleachers at school, wanna head there and hang out while we wait?” Jonathan shrugged at his own idea, it sounded better in his head, but you couldn’t pass up an opportunity to hand out with the one and only.

“Sounds good to me, hit the gas, Byers!” You pointed onward and Jonathan did exactly as instructed, the speedometer quickly rose. Your best friend would honestly do anything you asked him to, he knew it’d make you happy, even the stupidest of things.

You finally arrived at Hawkins High on a weekend, which didn’t exactly have the same mood as a weekday morning.

“This feels wrong.” You told him as you shut the passenger door.

“Yeah, it kind of does.” Jonathan draped his camera strap over his neck and led you over to the bleachers, picking the device up and pointing it your way. “Hey, y/n, smile!”

“Cheeeeese!” You gave the most over-exaggerated smile your face could handle and heard the picture snap. “Did I look good?”

“You always do.” He complimented and turned pink in the cheeks. Nice one, Jonathan. While he was stressing over what may or may not happen tonight, you ran ahead to climb on the bleachers. Don’t fuck this up, Jonathan. He kept repeating that in his mind until he noticed you waving to him from above the empty metal seats, so he decided to snap another photo.

“Come up here, Byers!” You shouted and watched as he meandered over. “Really? Can’t go any faster than that?”

“I could trip!” He argued insincerely and finally reached you on the top steps. “Happy now?”

“Meh, I guess.” You teased, but it was odd because Jonathan didn’t reply, maybe he didn’t catch your joke. But Jonathan was busy with his thoughts.

This is it. Kiss him. Over and over in his head. Your best friend stared at your lips and back up at your eyes. Now. Jonathan leaned forward and quickly pushed his lips into yours and pulled back just as fast. “I-I’m sorry.” You were frozen in shock. “I’m really sorry, I don’t—I thought maybe you were, I don’t know...” He didn’t know how to make up for his actions.

“It’s okay. I gotta go.” You made your excuse and hustled down the bleachers and onto the pavement, Jonathan groaned and called over:

“I can drive you home.” But you just kept walking. He may have fucked up beyond repair. What if he just outed himself for nothing? This whole time he was dumb enough to believe that you two could have been a perfect couple...shit!

You took your walk back home to reflect on what had just happened. It’s not like you didn’t feel the same way. Maybe you were scared? And surprised? He obviously liked you back and you just left him in the dust! Fucking hell. Just keep walking. And then you were home. You didn’t bother saying “hi” to anyone, you just walked right upstairs, nearly making it to your room before running into your sister, Nancy.

“Hey, everything okay?” She asked, noticing you were just a bit tense, which was unusual after a day with Jonathan.

“Perfect.” You snapped, which gave away your mood just like that. She wouldn’t leave you be and she wasn’t an idiot. You were her brother, she knew almost everything there was to know about you.

“Jonathan kissed you, didn’t he?” Nancy quietly asked so that none of the other house members could hear. That question made you freeze up just as much as the actual kiss. “I knew it.”

“What do I do, Nance?” You eagerly whined, seeing a smile creep on her face. “This isn’t funny!”

“Y/N, it’s obvious that you like him back. Go fix whatever you messed up before it’s too late.” She shook her head at you, leaving your jaw to drop.

“Wait, you know that I like guys?” You scrunched your eyebrows up, she seemed utterly unsurprised.

“I mean, I guess? I figured you liked Jonathan, but it was pretty obvious that he liked you.” Your sister explained. “Doesn’t matter right now, go! Do the right thing!” She nudged you along and you reluctantly returned to the stairwell and down to the front door to sneak out (with dad’s car keys).

You kept beating yourself up on the inside, why didn’t you just sit and talk with your best friend instead of booking it home? You knew that Jonathan would’ve talked about it if you had just let him. On your way to the Byers residence, you stopped by the convenience store that his mom, Joyce, worked in to pick up an excuse and an apology.

“Y/N, it’s good to see you! What are you doing here?” Joyce shuffled out from behind the counter and gave you a hug.

“Just picking up a quick snack!” You put on your mask of lies and plucked Jonathan’s favorite candy off the shelf, setting it next to the register. Joyce already knew who that was for. She rang it up real quick and you handed her a dollar, then swiped the candy off of the counter and said a quick goodbye. “Nice seeing you, Ms. Byers, love ya!” The door shut and you hopped back into dad’s car and drove in the direction of Jonathan’s house, hoping he was home by now. Lucky for you, his car was back in the driveway. You jogged up tonthe door and gave it a good knock before his younger brother answered.

“Hi, y/n. He’s in his room.” Will let you inside and closed the door behind you.

“Thanks, kiddo.” You approached Jonathan’s door and gave it a few taps.

“Come in.” You heard his defeated voice muffle through the door. You slowly pushed it open and surprised Jonathan with your presence in his dark room as you kicked the door shut. “Shit, hi.” He scrambled to sit up straight.

“Catch.” You tossed his candy to him. “That’s my formal apology.” You smirked, your sense of humor was still there. “No, but really, I’m sorry.”

“Why? I was the one that kissed you.” He unwrapped the candy bar and took a bite, diverting eye contact from you, but there was just a bit of light peaking through the window to illuminate a track of tears that had ran down his face. You did that.

“Yeah, but my reaction was a little uncalled for.” You shrugged and sat down beside him in bed, dippinb the mattress just a bit.

“Well, if you’re not gay, then you’re not gay.” He sighed and cringed as he replayed his actions again and again in his mind.

“I came here to tell you that I like you back.” You finally revealed and Jonathan’s neck whipped around to look at you, you weren’t joking.

“You couldn’t have lead with that?” Your best friend swatted with a cheeky smile, reaching his hand out for you to take.

“Oops.” You giggled and took his hand, pulling him close enough for a do-over that lasted just a few seconds minutes longer than the first one had. It was good to have this all cleared up, and it’d be a great story to tell one day. He soon wrapped his arms around you and got you to lay with him for just a while, taking in the fact that this was real.

“So, are we going to be boyfriends now?” He curiously asked, hoping that it was a “yes.”

“Odds are in your favor, Byers.” You brushed some hair from his face and gave him a kiss on the forehead. “But I gotta get going soon, I stole my dad’s car to get here and I don’t know when he’s going to notice.”

taglist: @locke-writes // @queenofthehairharrington // @bonniesbabybunnie // @lotsoffandomrecs // @wolfish-willow // @captainshazamerica // @ravenmoore14 // @purpleskiesstorm // @breezykdilan

[psychdelia]

season 3 but instead of billy, neil was flayed.

he had been acting... off the last couple of weeks. distant and withdrawn, completely the opposite of how he usually is with billy.

he first notices the difference in behavior when the abuse stops. maybe he gets home late for dinner and instead of the usual stern look he gets before a smack when max and susan go to bed, neil just smiles all big and wide, but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes, before he welcomes his son home.

then neil starts coming home later and later, giving susan some bullshit excuse about work and overtime and she eats it right up. chooses to believe that he’s somehow morphed into the perfect husband and father overnight. on top of that, he smells like bleach and chemicals and his eyes seem so dead. billy can tell what the guy is thinking or feeling through one look at his expression, but now he’s just eerily blank.

so billy follows him on 4th of july, surprised to find himself in the starcourt parking lot for the second time that day - he dropped max off earlier to hang out with her shithead friends, but it’s past closing hours so she shouldn’t still be inside unless she’s at the movies, the only part of the mall that remains open late. he watches as neil marches into the mall, fists clenched at his side. billy has no idea why neil is even at the mall so late when he should be at work or wherever he’s been going and lying to susan about. so, he follows him in.

he doesn’t know what to expect, but seeing his little sister and her gaggle of friends screaming as neil gets closer and closer to them. squinting, billy can see black veins crawling their way up neil’s neck, discoloring his face and eyes. he jumps when he hears the first bang, the sound of a firework exploding way too close for comfort.

then he spots it. the huge slimey alien being that screeches when the first firework hits it, then second, third, and so on.

and like. what the fuck.

his eyes must be as wide as saucers as he stares at the thing, gangly and screeching with every hit, trying to swing at anyone it can reach. he doesn’t have time to process what the actual fuck he’s looking at when he hears someone yell his name. max.

“billy! BILLY!” she screams, absolutely terrified. “DO SOMETHING!” she demands.

immediately, his eyes search for fireworks. looking up, he finds harrington on the second floor in matching work uniforms with a girl - buckley, his brain distantly provides. they had the same ap literature class. the fireworks get louder and louder along with the monster. he eventually finds a small kiosk set up for the 4th, so he follows suit and grabs his lighter, blindly throwing at the monster as he watches the scene unfold in front of him. his father approaching a girl around max’s age with a maniacal expression on his face, eyes about to burst out of his goddamn head. he hears the kids screaming in protest to no avail. pretty soon, they run out of fireworks and his dad’s got this girl beneath him on the floor.

he’s about to intervene when the girl lets out this piercing scream, almost louder than the shadow, and suddenly his father is thrown up in the air then launched right at the monster. he’s caught mid-air by a tentacle - wait a goddamn second are those human body parts??? and teeth????? - right in the center of his chest. billy flinches, watching in horror as his father screams in pain before he’s dropped onto the floor, head smacking the tile before he goes limp.

it feels like the world goes still for a second, everyone standing still, eyes wide and mouths open in shock at the scene before them. distantly, he hears the monster screeching, but his eyes are locked on his father’s body - torn open and bleeding out. what eventually brings them all out of their stupor and back to the real world is the same girl standing and screaming at the monster, merely feet away from the thing. her hand is shaking in the air, nose dripping with blood as the monster’s screeches grow quieter, its body shrinking. soon enough, it hits the ground just like his father. limp and silent.

billy just watches the scene unfold, his mind racing yet completely blank. he knows he should move, grab as many little shits as he can and run, but he’s stock still, unable to process what he just witnessed. ironically, it ends up being the kids who run to him first.

“billy,” max calls as she reaches him. “billy!” she grabs his shoulders, shaking him until he acknowledges her. “billy we have to go. now! come on billy let’s go!” her hands are shaking as she grips his shoulders.

he blinks a couple of times before he nods once, then again.

“shit!” he hears harrington yell, footsteps approaching them as the two teenagers run down from the top floor right before it comes crashing to the ground. soon enough, the mall is falling apart, the ceiling caving in.

billy finally kicks into action, wild eyes and expressions matching everyone else’s as the teens drag the kids out of there, the group sprinting outside in time to watch the mall crumble to the ground with his dad’s body trapped in it.

he doesn’t know how much time has gone by when ambulances, fire trucks and police cars appear. he’s stuck in place as parents reunite with their children while paramedics check on everyone, wrapping heavy blankets around them. billy manages to sneak off to the side, hiding behind an ambulance. he spots max with sinclair and susan, harrington with buckley, girl and boy wheeler close to the three byers, accompanied by the police chief.

billy’s alone, he realizes. he looks back at the mall, now in flames and taking his father down with it. his hands and legs begin to tremble and he’s sliding down the side of the ambulance, unable to breathe as he hits the floor. hugging his knees to his chest and holding his head low, he takes in short breaths and ends up wheezing, unable to get enough air into his lungs. he doesn’t realize he’s crying until his vision is blurred and cheeks are wet. he’s hyperventilating and is pretty sure he’s about to black out.

billy’s alone.

everyone here has someone and he doesn’t.

his mother left and now his father is gone and he doesn’t, can’t understand why. yeah, neil was abusive and cruel but he was all billy had left. he lost his friends, the ocean, his life the second neil ripped him away from california and dragged him to a state where he knew he’d get hurt if neil caught him with a boy again like in cali, except this time he knew it wouldn’t be just neil pounding on him for his “sickness.”

billy misses his mom. wants nothing more than to be held and comforted by her. to hear her soft voice as she sings or hums or shushes him as she rubs his back and plays with his hair and kisses his head and tells him everything’s going to be alright.

except everything’s not going to be alright and now he’s sobbing silently, soft whimpers and harsh wheezing being the only noise leaving his body.

with the rest of the world tuned out and only hearing his own choked sobs and sharp breaths, he flinches when he feels the hand on his shoulder, trying to scramble away from it.

“hey,” the soft voice says. “its okay. hey, kid, it’s okay. it’s just me.” she immediately pulls her hand away, holding both up to prove herself as unthreatening. “just me.” she repeats gently.

billy slowly raises his head, eyes and cheeks red and blotchy and puffy and wet. he finds exhausted, sad brown eyes looking over him.

“oh, kiddo, you look like you’ve seen hell.” she sounds motherly. “c’mon, breathe with me. take deep breaths, okay? count with me.” she encourages as she kneels down to his level. “deep breaths. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, breathe. in and out, just like that. you’re doing good.”

pretty soon, his wheezes and rushed breaths even out. he takes his first deep breath of fresh air, releasing a shaky relieved sigh.

“you must be billy, max’s brother. i’m joyce, jonathan’s mom.” she introduces, except neither of them are in the mood for small talk. “i, uh,” she sighs. “there’s a lot we all have to talk to you about,” she sits down beside him. “but that can wait,” she assures. “until you’re ready.” she adds on quietly.

he stares at her a couple seconds before he breaks again, a strangled loud sob ripping its way through his chest and out of his mouth. he doesn’t even think about it before he launches himself at her, fully prepared to cry to this woman he’s barely met yet spent hours knocked out cold on her ground only after breaking one of her nice plates.

she - joyce - seems to have the same idea because as soon as he starts crying again she’s opening her arms and reaching for him. they meet halfway in the middle.

“it’s not fair.” billy chokes out, trembling in joyce’s surprisingly strong arms as she holds him upright. “it’s not fair.” he repeats, louder yet more broken.

“i know, sweetheart.” she nods, rubbing circles on his back with one hand, the other gently running through his hair. “god i know.” she sighs and, poor woman, it sounds like she’s been through it. he vaguely remembers hearing about her sons - zombie boy and creepy byers. his brain isn’t processing enough to connect any dots just yet.

“she-she just left,” he holds onto joyce tightly. “she left and now he’s gone.” he cries. “he’s gone.” he repeats, again and again. “they all leave. why do they all leave?” he asks weakly.

joyce’s heart breaks for the boy shaking apart in her arms, using her last remaining strength to hold him upright and provide any comfort she can. she can’t help but look around, searching the crowd for anyone who might be there for him. she frowns when she finds everyone’s eyes on them yet no one making any moves to approach. she wishes she could hate them all a little bit for it, for leaving him alone. letting him feel alone and unwanted. unlovable. she knows the feeling and it’s the worst.

“well, blondie, looks like you’re stuck with me now.” her attempt to make him feel less lonesome seems to work, just a little, if the way he squeezes her for a second is anything to go by. “i don’t give up. i don’t leave. i promise.” she kisses the top of his head, gets the scent of hairspray, cigarettes and ash.

over the top of his head she finds steve harrington still watching them, a distant look in his eyes. he seems conflicted, staring at billy with wariness as he bounces nervously from foot to foot, holding the blanket hanging loosely around his torso.

he seems to make a decision when billy releases another sob at her promise, striding over and draping his blanket over billy’s shoulders. he goes out of his way to tighten it around him, making sure it’s comforting and cozy around his trembling figure. he hesitates once again as he goes to walk away, fist clenching and unclenching at his side before he looks back to billy with sad, tired eyes and rests his hand on the blonde’s shoulder, squeezing just once before he walks away. the same hand is nervously flexing at his side once again.

[akire-echo]

It’s Simply a Henderson Thing- Chapter 5

You weren’t sure what you were going to do about the man with no face.

But you had little time to think about it that day…it was Will’s funeral.

You got dressed and then helped Dustin, tying his tie and taming his unruly curls.

You didn’t know how or when to bring up the fact that Will might not even be in there, that it might be a fake body.

Until you had proof you weren’t going to say anything, it was easier that way. He would be devastated if you were wrong.

At the cemetery he stood with his friends while you stood next to your mother, looking over at Nancy and then to Jonathan periodically.

They both knew something wasn’t adding up. You were determined to get to the bottom of it with them.

Luckily they pulled you into a chat behind some headstones.

“What’s up?” You looked between them.

“Got something useful.” Jonathan said, holding up a piece of paper. It was a map.

You crouched down near his side.

“So, this here is?” Nancy pointed.

“That’s Steve’s place. And that’s the woods where they found will’s bike.” He pointed to another section.”and that’s my house.”

“That’s all so close.” You commented.

“Yeah. Exactly.” Jonathan confirmed.”I mean it’s all within a mile or something. Whatever this thing is, it’s…it’s not traveling far.”

That was definitely spooky.

“Wait…you want to go out there, don’t you?” You asked him.

“I mean, we might not find anything.” He said.

“I found something.” Nancy replied.”and if we do see it…then what?”

There was a pause as you all thought.

“We kill it.” Jonathan stated outright.

“What? Do you have any weapons?” You asked.

He nodded, getting up and telling the two of you to follow.

You ended up by the cars where Jonathan took out a gun.

“Seriously?” You almost scoffed.

“What? You want to find this thing and take another photo? Yell at it?” He asked back.

“This is a terrible idea.” Nancy said.

“It’s the best we’ve got.” He offered.

You sighed. You hated that he was right but it was the only option.

“He’s right. No one is going to believe us if we just outright say it. We need…proof.”

“Joyce would believe us.” Nancy levelled.

“She’s been through enough.”Jonathan replied.

“She deserves to know.”

You kind of agreed with Nancy too, it was Joyce’s son you were talking about.

“I’ll tell her…when it’s dead.”

You sighed.”Well? What are we waiting for? Let’s get more weapons.”

They agreed.

Nancy went off to get something that could be a weapon, while you raided your storm cellar for the weapons your dad had left behind. He was a big believer in government conspiracies so he kept rations in the cellar, plus weapons and other useful things. Books on how to rebuild society, that sort of thing. He had been a real nut-job but he was your dad. He had taught you a few things before he died, a few things that you never thought were going to come in handy. For instance, wielding kukris didn’t prove all that useful in the real world until now. You wondered if picking up the knives again would be just like riding a bike.

The blades were a little worn, they’d need sharpening but not too bad.

You carefully swung them, trying to remember the correct form. When you didn’t hear the clang of metal on the ground, you were pleasantly surprised.

You’d have to practice a little before meeting up with Nancy and Jonathan, but you were confident you’d be able to stand up against something.

You went back into the house, grabbing your blue leather jacket and your best shoes.It was time to kick some monster ass.

You picked Nancy up, her with a baseball bat in tow.

“Swords? Really?” She raised a brow at you.

“At least they are sharp.” You shrugged.

”We meeting up with Jonathan?”

She nodded.

You drove to the secluded spot he had chosen, only to see him shooting at cans and missing horribly.

“You’re supposed to hit the cans, right?” Nancy nearly chuckled.

Jonathan noticed you both, mostly Nancy if you had observed correctly. It was nothing new. Jonathan had liked Nancy since Will and Mike had become friends.

He casually commented back,”No, actually, you see the spaces in between the cans? I’m aiming for those.”

You were impressed, he was finally talking to her normally.

You smiled, taking out your knives to just practice more.

“Whoa, what are those?”

“The weapons of a very very paranoid man.” You swung one around like it was second nature.”But we should get you both prepared with that peashooter there.”

“Ever shoot a gun before?” He asked Nancy.

“Have you met my parents?” She chuckled a little.

Jonathan began to tell a hunting story about how he couldn’t kill a rabbit.

Nancy seemed to think it was endearing that he had cried over it. It was kind of cute, made him sound actually normal.

If he had enjoyed killing a small bunny, you would’ve been a bit worried about being with him in the woods far from anyone else. Though, with his aim, you were sure you could take him.

His thoughts moved from that to his parents marriage, and how bad it was.

Nancy took the gun as he spoke.

She started talking about her parents too. Lord knows you’d heard about them plenty of times thanks to some of Nancy’s rants.

You knew the Wheelers, and they didn’t seem to love each other but that wasn’t your place.

You weren’t sure you knew what love even looked like, couldn’t remember how your parents had ever interacted. Dad had died so suddenly…

Nancy shot as she got angry at her parents suburban little life.

But she hit a can on the very first try.

It made you smile.

“Couple more rounds and we’ll be in business, Annie Oakley.” You jested as they both smiled.

All three of you headed into the woods, looking for the monster you’d seen.

“I’m going to ask.” Nancy told you.

You gave her a confused look, raising a brow.

“About the picture.” She clarified.

“Which one?”

She blushed a little.”The half naked one.”

“Because?” You drew the word out a little.”You’re curious about why Jonathan wanted to keep a picture of you without clothes on? I mean, I can tell you why-“

“No.” She replied a little incredulously.”I want to know what he saw in me, under the surface…not just skin.”

You sighed softly. She was definitely complicated, but you loved her for it.

“I will go on ahead and scout then, seems like a private conversation.” You told her.

You took a few steps in front of the two, keeping distance but not so much as to get separated. You didn’t want that to happen, or else you might disappear too.

Their voices raised behind you, just a bit of light arguing.

Then the whole tone changed and you had to stop.

“I was actually starting to think you were okay.” You beard Nancy say.

“Yeah?” Jonathan asked back, a little venom in his response.

“Yeah.” Nancy crossed her arms.”Yeah, I was thinking ‘Jonathan Byers, maybe he’s not the pretensions creep everyone says he is.’”

“Nancy!” You shot her a look, you felt like that’d been too harsh. Even you wouldn’t have said that, no matter what he had said before.

“Well, I was just staring to think you were okay.” He said back.”I was thinking ‘Nancy Wheeler, she’s not just another suburban girl who thinks she’s rebelling by going exactly what every other suburban girl does…until that phase passes and they marry some boring one-time jock who now works sales, and they live out a perfectly boring little life at the end of a cul-de-sac. Exactly like their parents, who they thought were so depressing, but now, hey, they get it.’”

“That’s too damn far, Byers!” You spoke up.”We need to just focus. We have a mission here.”

Nancy’s jaw clenched as he walked ahead.

You knew his words had hurt her. She hated her life, you knew it. She never wanted an ordinary life, she didn’t want to be like everyone else.

You put your hand on her shoulder.

“You aren’t going to end up like your mom.” You assured her, knowing it was what she needed to hear just then.

She smiled but it wasn’t genuine.

“Let’s get this no faced creep, yeah?” You asked.

She nodded and sighed. “Yeah.”

The sun was setting the further you walked. It was dark by the time you’d reached your destination, walking in total silence. You could slice the tension between Nancy and Jonathan with a knife. It was certainly uncomfortable but at least it helped make you less scared.

You heard something faint in the distance.

Nancy stopped.

“What? Are you tired?” Jonathan said, a little annoyance could be heard in his tone.

“Wait.” You said.

“What?” He asked.

“Shut up.” Nancy said in a urging way.”I heard something.”

There was small, indistinct whimpering.

You followed the noise with them, flashlights scanning.

You came upon the dying body of a deer, blood covering its soft coat.

The helpless animal let out soft breaths, blood pooling under it with each slow heartbeat.

“It’s been hit by a car.” Nancy speculated.

“Shit, it’s suffering.” You said to her.

“We can’t just leave it…”

Nancy got out the gun, but she hesitated.

The deer whimpered more.

“I’ll do it.” Jonathan offered, holding his hand out for the weapon.”I’m not 9 anymore.”

You stood with them as he cocked the gun, breathing heavily.

You waited…

But before he could pull the trigger, the body was snatched.

It’d been a split second, you recoiled.

“Shit!” You whisper yelled.

“What was that?” Nancy whispered back.

“I know this is a bad idea but we’ve got to follow it.” You suggested.

“It might be the monster.” Jonathan said.

“Even more of a reason, we can get close enough to kill it.” Nancy agreed.

The trail of blood lead you pretty far into the woods. It seemed like this monster liked to move it’s prey from the point of disappearing to a more familiar nest of sorts. A true predator if you thought about it.

But then the trail just stopped abruptly.

“Where’d it go?” Nancy asked.

“I don’t know.” Jonathan answered.

“There’s no more blood to follow.” You looked around, eyes scanning the forest in the dark.

You searched around, all covering a different spot near the end of the blood trail. On one hand you wanted to find this monster, but on the other you prayed you’d never have to lay eyes on it again.

You heard a scream, it sounded like Nancy.

Jonathan yelled back her name and you found him at a tree, Nancy’s backpack and bat left at the base.

“Nancy? Nancy, where are you?” He asked.

“Nancy!” You called out, worried beyond measure.

You had to find her, you just had to.