#she says she feels the same was about mike as i do about billy

[taylorswiftshipsbyler]

I just found out that my cousin is a billy stan

[steddiealltheway]

I just BARELY made the deadline in my time zone, but I did it! This is for Lex's Summer Challenge, Dialogue prompt #25 :) Thank you @thefreakandthehair for organizing this!! <3

It's New Year's Eve, and Steve is not excited. 

The kids have all mostly agreed to stay together, setting off fireworks at the Wheeler's house. Robin has a band thing, meaning she will try to cozy up with Vickie but chicken out before the New Year's kiss. And Steve... he plans on checking in on Max who hasn't confirmed if she is going to Mike's. 

Things have been rough for her since Billy passed only a few months ago. She hates the trailer she had to move to, and as far as Steve can tell, her mom isn't around much. And if she is, she isn't sober. 

The worst thing is that Max doesn't open up to anyone, but there isn't much Steve can do about that. What he can do is drive to her place and bring her dinner. 

He goes about making her way too much spaghetti and makes the drive over. The sun is starting to go down, but he just hopes he can make it home in time to put on headphones and pass out before people start celebrating the new year.  

He just doesn't want to make it anyone else's problem that he no longer likes the look or sound of fireworks – flashes triggering migraines and memories of Russian torture – so he's put a plan in place. Luckily, everyone should be too busy with New Year's celebrations to pay him any attention. 

He pulls up to Max's trailer and parks outside, walking up to the door and knocking quickly. He waits a few seconds, listening for the sound of footsteps coming to the door, but they don't come. He pulls his jacket a little tighter around himself, shifts the tub of spaghetti from his left side to the right, and knocks again.  

After waiting a few minutes, Steve turns and notices the sun is now on the horizon. 

He glances around the trailer park, cursing himself for not bringing his walkie. His eyes land on a van at the trailer across the way that looks somewhat familiar. He notes that there are no negative thoughts that accompany looking at it, but rather, he feels a bit indifferent to it. 

He starts walking that way, hoping he knows the owner, and further hoping that they're nice enough to let him use their phone. He walks up the steps and knocks before stepping down. 

Luckily, this time he hears the sound of footsteps from inside and a bit of muffled cursing before the door swings open. 

Oh. That's how he knows the van. 

Eddie Munson looks down at him, totally bewildered, and shifts uncomfortably, eyes flickering toward the spaghetti while asking, "What are you doing here?" Before he can answer, Munson gets a look of realization and answers himself, "Right, my great supply." 

"No," Steve says quickly. "I just need to use your phone." 

Munson quickly stiffens again. "Why?" 

Steve sighs and shifts the tub again which has started to feel heavier with every passing moment. "My friend lives over there," he says, throwing his thumb over his shoulder, "And I need to check if she's okay." 

"No way," Munson says, hands coming up before he crosses his arms, "No way I'm letting you use my phone to call some hookup." 

"It's not a hookup. She's in middle school." 

"What?" Eddie asks, looking even more horrified. 

"Not like that!" Steve says and runs his free hand through his hair. "She's friends with a group of kids that I babysit." 

"And why do you want to call her?" 

Christ. "Because I'm worried about her, okay? She's not someone who asks for help, and she's not answering the door. I just need to know if she's safe at her friend's house." 

Eddie stares at him for a few more seconds then asks, "What’s the spaghetti for?" 

"Her." 

He's fixed with the same suspicious stare until Eddie finally nods his head and opens the door for Steve to come inside. Eddie gestures to where the phone is and leans back against the kitchen counter, crossing his arms and watching his every move. 

Steve tries to shrug it off as he dials the Wheelers and waits for one of them to answer. 

"Hello?" 

Steve smiles and politely replies, "Hi, Mrs. Wheeler, it's Steve." 

"Oh, Nancy is currently-" 

"No, no," Steve cuts her off, seeing the way that Eddie is starting to tense up. "I wasn't calling about Nancy. I was just wondering if Max was there with the other kids. I stopped by to check on her, but she didn't answer the door." 

Steve can feel his heart thud in his chest as he waits for the reply. "That's very kind of you. But she's with the boys right now. Did you want me to pass a message to her?" 

"No," Steve says in relief. "No, I just wanted to make sure she was okay. Thank you, Mrs. Wheeler. Happy New Year." 

"Happy New Year, Steve," she replies and hangs up. 

Steve puts the phone back and turns to Eddie. "Thanks, man. I owe you one." 

Eddie tilts his head to the side and narrows his eyes. "Why do you care about her so much?" 

Steve sighs and gestures toward the counter with the container of spaghetti in hand. "Can I?" Eddie nods in response, so Steve sets it down. He runs a hand through his hair and asks, "Do you remember Billy Hargrove?" 

Eddie scoffs, "Like I could forget the asshole." 

Steve nods. "Well, Max was his step-sister." 

"Oh," Eddie says, shifting uncomfortably. 

Steve shrugs. "They didn't have the greatest relationship, but she's been really closed off since...” he trails off uncomfortably, trying not to remember the moment he died. 

Eddie nods his head. “Right.” 

Steve nods back and gestures toward the spaghetti, changing the subject. “You can have that by the way as a thank you for letting me use your phone. I really appreciate it. And hey, Happy New Year.” 

Eddie’s jaw drops slightly as if he wants to say something but none of the words come out. So, Steve walks to the front door and opens it. He doesn’t even move a step down the stairs before a big firework lights up the sky as the loud noise rings out. 

Steve freezes. He feels his breathing getting shaky and shallow as he remembers the fireworks exploding on that spider looking thing’s back. 

He closes his eyes tight, trying to fend off the images, but the darkness only reminds him of the black that slowly devoured his vision when the Russians knocked him out.  

“Hey, hey,” a soft voice says, “I’ve got you.” 

Steve notices the way he’s somehow on the ground with his back pressed against something warm and that same heat wraps around his torso. He blinks back into reality a bit as warm hands run up and down his arms slowly. “You okay?” 

Steve sinks back into Eddie’s arms and closes his eyes. "Fireworks aren't exactly... my favorite thing." 

Eddie breathes out sharply through his nose. “Yeah, I kind of picked up on that.” 

Steve just nods, allowing himself to be comforted for a few seconds before he tenses up and begins to stand up. “Sorry,” he apologies as he makes his way back to the front door. “Don’t know what got into me.” 

He puts his hand on the door handle, moving his body to block Eddie’s view from his shaking hand. 

“Hey,” Eddie says close behind him, “Just stay until the fireworks stop. I don’t want you driving into my trailer on the way out or something.” 

Steve turns and asks, “Are you sure?” 

Eddie nods and gestures to the container. “Plus, there’s no way I can eat this whole thing on my own.” 

Steve is about to say that he’ll be fine when another firework goes off outside, startling him again. “Okay,” he agrees, wondering how the hell this is going to end up. Steve “The Hair” Harrington and Eddie “The Freak” Munson spending New Years together. 

Eddie hands Steve the container and grabs two bowls and forks before walking off. Steve follows behind him to what he assumes to be Eddie’s room, slightly confused about the change in scenery. 

“Sorry it’s a mess. I wasn’t expecting visitors,” Eddie says awkwardly shoving things around. 

Steve just smiles as he looks at the room. “I like it. It feels comfortable,” he confesses. And it does. With the way his parents force him to keep a spotless room that never feels lived in, it’s nice to be in a bedroom that really reflects someone. 

Eddie considers him for a moment and just nods as he takes the container and sets it on his dresser alongside the bowls before pointing at his stack of tapes. “I’m going to guess our music taste isn’t really similar, but feel free to dig through for something you might like that’ll drown out the fireworks.” 

Steve’s heart skips a beat at the thoughtfulness before he makes his way to the tapes, digging through several unfamiliar names that he kind of wants to ask about, but instead he can’t help but ask, “So, what are you doing alone on New Years?”  

Eddie scoops himself a generous amount of pasta as he answers, “Gareth is at a school thing, Jeff is with his family in New York, and Grant’s parents kind of don’t like me.” 

“Why’s that?” 

Eddie fixes Steve with a look. “I’m not exactly ‘meet the parents’ material, and it doesn’t help that I used to hold band practice in his garage and would play louder whenever they told us to quiet down.” 

Steve smiles. “I would love for you to do that to my parents. God, they would be so pissed.” He grabs another tape and instantly smiles and holds it up to Eddie. “I love Queen.” He immediately puts it into the cassette player and turns the volume up enough to block out additional noise while still being able to hear Eddie talk. 

He turns and finds Eddie handing him a bowl and fork with a soft smile on his face, “You know, you’re not what I thought you’d be.” 

“Yeah?” Steve asks. 

Eddie nods and sits cross legged on his mattress. “Honestly, I thought you’d be an asshole. You know. King Steve and all that shit.” 

Steve runs a hand through his hair as he sits next to him. “I don’t think I’m ever going to live that down.” 

“You will if you get out of Hawkins,” Eddie says, shoveling a forkful of spaghetti in his mouth. 

Steve twirls his pasta and stares at it. “I don’t know if I’ll ever leave here,” he confesses. 

“Why not?” 

“I’m not smart enough to make a living somewhere else. Plus, if I move, my parents likely won’t support me – my dad likes keeping me under his thumb. And the kids need me to drive them around.” And they need him in case Hawkins gets another dose of Hell, but he can’t tell Eddie that. “Plus, I don’t think there’s anywhere that would accept me, a former jock and asshole whose only friends are children and Robin. And they’re all so smart that they’ll eventually realize they’re dumb for keeping me around.” He stabs at his spaghetti before putting the bowl down and resting his head in his hands. “I don’t know, man.” 

There’s a pause, and Steve hears a dull thud from a firework outside the trailer even over the music that startles him a bit. It’s so damn annoying that something small like this can reduce him to this. 

“Run away with me.” 

Steve head slowly comes up. “What?” 

Eddie wipes his mouth and sets his bowl on his side table. “Run away with me,” he repeats. “After I graduate, I’m going to run like hell out of here. Come with me to find a place that accepts a former jock and a...” he trails off and looks away nervously. “Uh, a freak,” he awkwardly fills in. 

The bowl in Steve’s hand suddenly feels like it’s in the way, so he sets it on the floor before turning to Eddie and leaning closer to him, hands itching to reach out. “Come on, you can tell me what you were really going to say.” 

Eddie searches his eyes before laying back on his bed dramatically, trailing his hands over his face. “You know what I was going to say. You’ve heard the rumors. Everyone has.” 

Steve has heard several rumors about Eddie, including one about how he worships the devil and does satanic rituals on top of his trailer in the middle of the night. But he has a feeling he knows which rumor he’s talking about. “Yeah, but rumors are rumors for a reason. You never know which ones are true.” 

Eddie sighs and looks up at Steve. He looks like he’s on the verge of telling him before he asks, “So, why aren’t you with your friends tonight? The kids or Robin.” 

He looks down at Eddie for a few moments, wondering if he’ll drop the question, but he holds his ground. Steve shrugs. “Robin is at the thing with all the band kids, chickening out with her crush, and the kids don’t want their babysitter around. Plus, they want to launch fireworks or play Dungeons and Dragons or something.” 

Eddie perks up and sits up on his elbows. “Dungeons and Dragons? The kids you babysit play that?” 

“Yeah. And don’t make fun of them for it. They talk about it all the time, and I think it sounds cool,” Steve says, always quick to defend Dustin even if he’s into weird nerdy shit. 

Eddie sits up entirely and looks at Steve excitedly. “You think Dungeons and Dragons is cool?” he asks in disbelief. 

Steve shrugs in response. “It’s not really my thing, but yeah.” 

“Dude, I’m the leader of Hellfire. You know, the Dungeons and Dragons club at school? What are the kids' names?” 

“Dustin, Lucas, and Mike.” 

Eddie bounces up and down excitedly. “Holy shit, I thought Dustin was kidding when he said he was friends with you.” 

It suddenly clicks, Dustin had mentioned Eddie’s name before, but Steve had never really thought about it as Eddie Munson of all people. “Shit, Dustin talks about you all the time, I just never connected the dots.” 

“He doesn’t shut up about you. The kid adores you. He’d kill me if I took you away from here.” 

“And he’d kill you if you ever left.” 

Eddie smiles and nudges Steve. “Looks like we’re both stuck here.” 

Steve smiles back at him, eyes tracing over Eddie’s face. He’s not sure why he’s never really noticed him before. He guesses he’s always been so stuck in his own shit that Eddie just kind of passed him by somehow. But he’s finally noticing his dimples, and the way his eyes are so deeply brown and easy to get lost in, and his lips looks so full and- 

Eddie lightly shoves him back, a pink blush appearing on his cheeks, “Eat your spaghetti before it gets cold.” 

Steve grabs his bowl and does as he’s told, watching as Eddie gets up to turn up the music a little louder. When he sits back on the bed, the two eat in comfortable silence, letting the music fill the space. Steve’s not sure if he’s ever been able to warm up to someone so quickly, but it makes sense that he’d be able to bond with someone who loves Dustin. 

The song ends and goes into the next. Steve finishes his last bite of spaghetti and laughs as “Somebody to Love” starts playing. He puts his bowl down and lays back on the bed, letting the song wash over him. He sings the lyrics under his breath until he hears Eddie doing the same thing and turns to look up at him. They lock eyes just in time to sing, “Can anybody find me somebody to love?” 

Eddie laughs and lays next to him joining him through the rest of the song. Steve feels ridiculous, but Eddie makes a show of playing air guitar, yelling, “I know how to play this!” Steve just laughs and watches him, feeling his heart beat a little faster in a way it hasn’t for somebody else in a while. 

He sings the rest of the song, mainly focusing on Eddie and the way he so easily gives into the music, unafraid of what Steve might think. As it comes to an end, Steve feels something shift inside him, but Eddie is quick to laugh, “Steve Harrington how can you be struggling to find somebody to love?” 

Steve smiles sadly. “I think I’ve been looking in the wrong place all along, but I’ve been starting to think that maybe I’m unlovable.” 

Eddie scoffs and moves closer to him. “If you think you’re unlovable then there’s no hope for the rest of us.” 

Steve has to move closer to hear him over the music and talk without shouting. “Does that include you?” 

“What do you think?” Eddie asks, tilting his head with a curious smile. 

“I think,” Steve starts, unsure of how he’s going to finish the sentence, “If there’s no hope for you either, then maybe...” 

“Maybe?” Eddie prompts. 

Steve’s eyes glance down at Eddie’s lips. “Maybe...” He looks up at Eddie’s eyes, seeing the confusion, slight fear, and hope. “Maybe you should finish what you were going to say earlier.” 

“Steve...” Eddie says, “You can’t be asking me...” 

“Then, I’ll ask you. Is it midnight yet?” 

Eddie’s eyebrows furrow in confusion. “Not even close.” 

“What if I lie and say that it is so I can ask you for a New Years kiss?” Steve asks boldly. 

Eddie’s breath hitches. “Then, I’d say yes and start counting down from ten.” 

“Nine,” Steve says immediately. 

“Eight,” Eddie replies, shifting onto his knees. 

“Seven.” Steve scoots closer, leaning in to brush their noses together. 

“Six,” Eddie exhales. 

“Five.” Steve’s hands come up to hold onto the back of Eddie’s head. 

“Four.” Eddie’s hands press into Steve’s back to bring him closer. 

“Three.” Steve tilts his head, already brushing his lips against Eddie’s, sending a shiver down his spine. 

“Two,” Eddie whispers, hands gripping on tighter, left hand tracing up between his shoulders to slot their torsos together. 

“One,” Steve says, barely finishing the word as he presses his lips against Eddie’s, finally ending the longest countdown of his life. 

He deepens the kiss immediately, tasting spaghetti and a hint of something that is purely Eddie which he finds entirely intoxicating. 

The music fades from one song into the next, and Steve’s pretty sure a firework goes off in the silence, but he’s too distracted by Eddie to really respond to it. He feels Eddie’s arms tighten around him, slowly guiding him down to lay back on the bed. 

Eddie breaks the kiss to look down at Steve. “This okay?” he asks. 

Steve nods and says, “Happy New Year.” 

Eddie smiles and shakes his head in disbelief. “Happy fucking New Year.” 

He finally understands why people cheesily talk about fireworks going off during a kiss. And maybe even with everything, fireworks aren’t too bad if this is what he can associate them with. 

[clarkegriffins]

do u ever stop to think about this whole love triangle discourse and end up laughing bc there shouldn't be a discourse to begin with? like one boy wants nancy in his life and says that she's the most important part and the other boy looks like he's two seconds away from being put out of his misery because of his relationship with nancy to the point he's ghosting her and she thinks he's cheating. also do u ever think about how both of these boys talks about nancy? how they describe her? and the reasons they love her? how they see her?

first we have jonathan saying this:

first of all, i love his lack of energy go girl give us nothing (why he looks like he wants to d word, ur literally talking about ur girlfriend 😭) so, that's him saying all the reasons he loves her, and ofc we know that nancy is like that but why he's talking about her work ethic and not about her, like u should all read this post about how much nancy cares about other people and how being a reporter allows her to listen to other people's stories and help them, but jonathan only talks about that, work work work, how she behaves in work, how she is ambitious at work which we know she is, that's not a bad thing at all, i love how determined she is, how she works hard for that, it's actually one of my favorite traits of nancy, but i don't see people (and jonathan) talking about what drives that ambition forward which is helping other people, now going back to jonathan's speech which is even more ridiculous when we watched s3, because according to him he loves how hardworking nancy is, and yet:

wait a second, drop the story? i thought you loved how she's never done a single thing halfway in her life? and then:

anyways, that doesn't sound like someone who loves all these things he listed in season 4, now moving forward to steve, i was talking before how jonathan only said things about nancy's work ethic and not about her and what drives her forward but can u believe that steve does that? and not the fully developed steve in season 4, no, the s1 steve, the one who still messed up from time to time

i think it's very refreshing to see someone describing nancy and acknowledging how caring she can be, how she worries about other people, how she wants to help people, and he sees that, and this isn't even a big speech bc good knows narrative wasn't at their side in s1-s2, it's just crazy to me how there's scenes of nancy being there for jonathan in awful times (when will was being possessed, she held his hand, she was there, and yet not a single thing about that, about how much she's caring and protective) it's just sad bc do u see how she describes him? "caring, compassionate, protective, never back down from what's right (only when he wants to lie to her countless times i guess)" how could he not do the same for her? THE nancy wheeler who stood in front of A CAR to protect him and her friends when billy was about to crush her, and you know this isn't just an issue with jonathan, i feel like this is an issue with the fandom too, i feel like the fandom only seems to care about that side of nancy, like her career is the only thing she cares about and nothing more, and that's just isn't nancy wheeler, but then again, she's one of the characters people misunderstand the most in st (just like her brother, i guess is the wheeler's curse) we have 14 year old mike wheeler listing how much he loves el on her bad days, on her good days, with her powers, without her power, for exactly who she is, and all jonathan can say about his girlfriend is "she works 👍"

[stop-talking]

How do you think jhutch characters would handle a baby?

I'm not quite sure if you're asking "what would they do if you handed them a baby" or "what would they do if you told them you're pregnant" but I'm gonna assume you meant the latter. (feel free to send another request if I got it wrong)

Ranking Jhutch characters from worst to best fathers:

Billy

☆ Would play dumb when you hand him the pregnancy test.

☆ "What's this? Oh, you're pregnant? Can't be mine. My pull-out game is too strong." (literally has NO pull-out game, refuses to use condoms because he "can't feel" with them on)

☆ Basically ghosts you until the paternity test proves it's his. Then he actually ghosts you.

☆ Drops off the face of the fucking Earth for years. Doesn't pay a dime in child support.

☆ Maybe he comes back like 3 years later drunk and demanding to see "his" kid idk. Literally the worst.

Derek

☆ Honestly I headcannon he had a vasectomy at like 24-25.

☆ His mom hit him up once she heard about his prostitute scandals and chewed him out. Gave him "the talk" even though he's a grown ass man... finally got him to get snipped when she brought up the possibility of paying income-based child support for 18 years.

☆ Assuming he doesn't have one, though...

☆ He'd initially be mad and blame you. "I thought you were on the pill!!"

☆ Then he'd be like "Is it too late to... you know... get rid of it?" (and kind of dance around the subject because he's too much of a wimp to just say the word abortion)

☆ Wallace and his mom would both force him to get his shit together and apologize. Eventually he'd come to terms with the fact he's gonna be a dad.

☆ He'd be the kind of bastard to throw an over-the-top gender reveal party. The kind that burns down half of California or pollutes a major water channel.

☆ I think he'd be a really good girl dad. He'd let her paint his nails and stuff. Spoil her. <3

☆ He would treat a son completely differently. Teach him to "be a man" or whatever when he's still learning to walk. Force him into random ass sports.

☆ He'd have them mostly taken care of by a nanny. That's probably how he was raised, anyways. Derek Danforth is NOT changing a diaper.

Futturman

☆ Whether we're talking pre-show or post-show, he'd freak the fuck out if you handed him a positive pregnancy test. I'm talking full-on pass out.

☆ Pre-show Josh would be like "Babe we can NOT afford a baby I literally live at home with my parents and work as a janitor."

☆ His parents would be so crazy supportive though. They've been hinting that they want grandkids for YEARS.

☆ They literally clear out a room IMMIDEATELY after hearing the news and offer it to you to use as a nursery.

☆ His mom buys you more baby clothes than you could possibly need. His dad builds a crib from scratch.

☆ Overall Josh is stressed asf but he does his best to be there for you, and his parents are OVERWHELMIGLY supportive.

☆ Post-show Josh, on the other hand, doesn't have that support. But he's survived unspeakable horrors across multiple dimensions, how hard could a baby be?

☆ Extremely hard, apparently. One day he just loses it and makes a huge decision without asking you.

☆ "Josh WTF happened to our savings??"

☆ "TRUST ME BABE we need to invest in Apple!!"

☆ You're pissed but it pays off in a few years and you're both able to live comfortably.

☆ Then in 2015-ish he did the same thing again, pouring all your savings into bitcoin. This time you SWEAR you're going to leave him, but it all pays out in the end. He gets your kid through college with that money.

☆ Overall he's a really good father, too. He had great parents, and even if he's not experienced with kids, he's naturally a very caring and attentive person.

Mike

☆ Cries when he sees the pregnancy test. He's not even sure if it's happy or sad tears.

☆ Gets sick to his stomach overthinking about how he's going to be a terrible father. His dad walked out on him, so he has literally no idea how to act.

☆ Abby, on the other hand, is absolutely delighted. She's always wanted a "little sister". Mike has to remind her that technically it's her niece. Or nephew. There's no guarantee on the gender yet.

☆ Eventually he comes to terms with it all. He's taken care of Abby for ten years, he isn't completely clueless.

☆ Takes you to all of your Dr.'s appointments, checkups, etc. Holds your hand. Makes all of your weird pregnancy cravings and doesn't judge.

☆ After the birth, he lets you rest. Nearly works himself to death trying to take care of the baby all on his own because he wants you to recover.

☆ I'm talking getting up bleary-eyed at 2am every night to microwave some formula and feed the baby. After working a 10 hour shift.

☆ Pulls the "I have a baby on the way" card at work in an attempt to get a raise. It works, thankfully. (In the novel version of the movie; it says he gets a job as a contractor at the end. So hopefully he can afford a kid...)

----------♡----------

[Remember: these are just MY headcannons. If you think differently that's fine. I didn't include Clapton because he's literally in highschool... and we all know Peeta is an amazing father.]

[willbyersabyss]

This shot has been discussed extensively about how it hints at byler and El eventually figuring it out, but I want to talk about the drawing just before this one. And maybe even consider a different context for this drawing too...

The drawings are completely different. This one has a wider head and the thought bubble is skinny. These two drawings symbolize different things.

So what does this version of the drawing mean? Well just listen to what El is saying. She says that Vecna is going to be in someone's mind, but the thought bubble that represents the mindscape is above Will. This means that Vecna is already in Will's mind. But Will doesn't feel him until he gets back to Hawkins... why? And why would Vecna be in Will's mind during the finale, but we never see? Well... we did.

The Upside Down is Will's mindscape. This is hinting at that. Vecna has been residing in the UD the entire season, and we do in fact see this in the finale.

If that didn't convince you then the next thing El says will. El mentions Terry and Billy who both have a shit ton of parallels to Will. Terry's mind loop sequence relates to Will (see here). Billy's name is literally William, he had an abusive father, and he was possessed, all things that relate to Will. Interesting thing to bring up while the mindscape bubble is above Will.

Terry's mind is in a loop/stuck in time and so is the Upside Down. Billy's mind was stuck in the memory with his mom on the beach. The Upside Down is stuck because of a memory. Will's memory.

Let's bring El's drawing back into it's original context for a second. The girl in the middle represents Max. The two figures in the mindscape are Vecna and El. But they're above Will. So Max's mindscape somehow also collided with Will's. When did this happen?

When she travelled to the Snow Ball. Vecna and El are both in her mind at the same time during the Snow Ball. This is when El's drawing comes true! And this is when it connects back to Will!

This is the only time we see the California crew once El reaches the Snow Ball memory. Will is almost entirely out of shot! We don't see his reaction at all here. Very convenient that we don't see even a snippet of how Will is feeling during the Snow Ball sequence. We only see him again once they go into Vecna's mindscape...

OK! But how do we know the Snow Ball memory connected to the UD at all? When Vecna showed up, so did the spores. It started rotting and turned dark just like the UD. The only thing that's missing is the vines which we see in Vecna's mindscape later.

(I already have another post explaining how Max's Snow Ball memory links to the UD being stuck in time here!)

Robin says that Nancy's house is frozen in time, not the entire UD. We honestly don't even know if the entire UD is stuck on the same day. It's entirely possible that the Wheeler house is stuck on November 6th, but other parts of the UD are stuck on other days. Why? Because Will travelled into a memory.

When Will got kidnapped, he was probably trying to think of happy memories because he was scared and accidentally ended up in a memory. This transformed a once rocky smoke land into Hawkins.

What memory? This is where the other byler drawing shot comes in. El's drawing lines up with Mike and Will here to represent how Will chose a happy memory with Mike (and others) to hide in when he got kidnapped. Not just a memory Mike is in, but MIKE'S HOUSE! We only saw evidence of the Wheeler house being stuck. So I think Will thought back to the most recent happy memory of the party playing DnD just before he got kidnapped. This would place Will at the Wheeler house and explain why it's stuck on that day.

If the rest of the UD is on different days, it's possible that Will mastered this trick and continued memory hopping until the entire UD transformed to replicate Hawkins. But if the entire UD is in fact stuck on the same day, maybe Will wandered too far out of the Wheeler house memory and this triggered the rest of the UD to look like Hawkins.

BUT I’ve also been recently pondering another theory. The UD isn't just Will's mindscape, but multiple, or a meeting place for mindscapes. Perhaps Vecna's collection of minds completed the Hawkins puzzle being pieced together in the UD. Will contributed first, but so did other victims. Evidence? Max's Snow Ball memory was already seen in the UD at the end of s2.

The Snow Ball decorations are there. This along with Robin's comment proves that the UD might not be entirely stuck on the same day. The Snow Ball decor shouldn't have been there if that were the case because the dance wasn't until December, not November. As I said in the other post I linked, Max travelling into her Snow Ball memory influenced the UD version to replicate it. There's some time paradox stuff happening here.

So basically: El's drawing hovering above Will was not only to hint at byler, but also to link him to the concept of memory travel, implying that he has done this before, despite us never seeing this occur… or did we?

[mr111202]

The Strange Parallel Between Mike Wheeler and Disney’s Mulan (The Mike/Disney Parallels 1/2)

Okay, I know what you’re gonna say: “Wait, Mulan’s a Chinese girl from the Hun Dynasty, and Mike’s an American boy from the 1980s. The hell do you mean??” Admittedly, it does sound strange, but stay with me here. I’m not saying that Mike and Mulan are the same person, definitely not. But, they both do have one big similarity in common:

Their self-confidence issues, and the need to protect those who they love.

In the beginning of her movie, Mulan is shown to have some major self-confidence issues. Most prominent with her thinking that she’s brought shame to her family for not being “the perfect daughter” cause she failed to impress the matchmaker.

Like wise, through season four, we can see that Mike is also struggling with his own self-confidence. The most famous example that people like to use is the Van scene before Will whips out his painting. Mike talks about how he feels inadequate and useless when it comes to his relationship with El (“she’s Superman, and I’m Lois Lane. But even that doesn’t work.” To paraphrase). And, if we do take in the aspect of Mike being gay as well, it can also be said that he feels this cause he thinks he’s not “the perfect son” cause he likes boys.

Both characters feel inadequate and feel like as if they constantly let people down.

Then, later on in the Disney movie, Mulan decides to disguise herself as a man to join the army. Not cause she wants to or to prove a point, but cause she doesn’t want her father to get killed in battle. She seems to be the kind to risk her life for those she cares for. She does this again when she saves Shang during the avalanche, despite her bleeding from a stomach wound via Shan-Yu’s sword.

Similarly, Mike has been shown to be the kind of person who will risk his life to keep the people he loves safe. There’s the time in season 1 where he was ready to throw himself off the quarry to save Dustin from Troy. Then there’s the time in season 3 when he took a pipe to Billy’s back during the sauna test to save El. Then, also in that same season at the finale, bro threw his skinny ass body at Billy (who’s jacked and possessed) as a way to keep El safe and buy her time to escape the mall.

With all that said, this is something I personally want in season five. I sincerely doubt that the Duffer Brothers would do this, but a girl can dream.

I want Mike to have his Mulan moment.

Much like how Mulan developed confidence in herself thanks to her experience in the army, I want Mike to be able to grow confidence with himself and be able to accept himself for who he is (that he’s great the way his is, and that being gay and loving Will is okay).

And much like how Mulan was able to use her smarts and wits to defeat Shan-Yu, I would like to see a scene where Mike uses his own smarts and wits to come up with a plan to defeat Vecna, affirming Will’s statement in the van scene that Mike is the “Heart of the Party”. Much like how Mulan is kind of the “Heart of the Army”.

Though admittedly, a little montage or a creative time shot of Mike getting buff wouldn’t be too bad.

[imagines-by-a-typical-fangirl]

The One I've Been Waiting For {Part 13 of 13}

Word count: 1.3 K

Summary: Billy Hargrove is just one of the many students you're supposed to help. The last thing you expect from your interaction is that he'll start flirtt with you... Much less that Billy would stir up feelings you'd rather keep hidden. Despite the mutual sentiments that soon enough start to grow, there are a lot of reasons for whatever it is to be left alone, and one of them is your age...

{Stranger Things Masterlist}

A/N: In this story, reader is 5 years older than Billy, who's 18.

•••

Epilogue

 You're seated on Billy's lap on the armchair, softly swinging your legs. He's explaining about this new research he'll be participating in his internship. Billy is currently studying whales, and you've never seen him so excited about anything before. He even got you a necklace with a whale's tail pendant.

 “And that means I get to bring you when we go whale watching.” He says, pecking your lips. “The Marine Biologist and the veterinarian. We're a perfect match.”

 “No shit! Really?” You smile, wrapping your arms around his neck. “That will be amazing.” Kissing him again, you only pull away when the bell rings.

 “I'm showering!” Max yells from her bedroom.

 “Maxine, aren't you the official door opener?” Billy shouts back.

 “Well, since I'm at the top this time, I'll get the door.” You say, pushing yourself up and winking at Billy. Before you even open the door, you know who's on the other side because of the many voices. So you yell at the same time you pull the door open, at the top of your lungs. “YOU'RE ONE DAY EARLY!” You burst out, making them scream like scared, little babies.

 “Damn it!” Billy mutters from the inside, and you know you scared him too.

 Looking at the kids, you smile. They'll spend two weeks here with Maxine, but you guess they decided to make a surprise and show up earlier. “Come on in.” Stepping aside, you watch as the small army moves inside. Mike is carrying a box, which gets your attention. “What's that about?”

 “It's your first-anniversary gift.” Eleven answers as Mike puts it on the couch. “But you can't open until Wednesday.”

 “But now I'm curious!” You complain, walking over to the box.

 But Lucas and Dustin stand in your way. “Nah, nah. Wednesday only.”

 Showing off your tongue, you go back to Billy, sitting on his lap again. “Let's wake up real early and take a peak.” You whisper in his ear.

 “Definitely.” He answers, placing a soft kiss on your neck.

 You've been married for almost a year now. You and Billy had a simple party, for family and friends only. It was beautiful, and it happened on the beach. And Billy has been a responsible man now, a loving, gentle husband. There were times when he told you that he was scared to be like his father, but you told him then, and you'll keep telling him for as long as he needs, that he isn't.

 Some people say that you got married too early, still trying to find flaws in your life. But the truth is that every day with Billy is the best day ever. You do have some arguments, but you never go to sleep before settling things down. Love is the priority, and neither of you will let anything get in the way of that.

 But what really matters to you, is how happy Billy is. He tells you that almost every day when you wake up, still in bed. He thanks you for the life you've given him, for your love and patience. He says that he doesn't think he deserves this. But he does.

 When Maxine is done showering and comes to the living room, you smile to see how happy she is with the surprise. Life is good now, and it'll only get better.

°°°

 Billy's heart is filled with good things. Only good things. He left the past where it belongs. All the anger, the bitterness, the agony... She chased it all away. (Y/N), the light of his life.

 “So, Wednesday,” Maxine says, a finger pointing at (Y/N) and her brother. “You two will have an amazing romantic day at that super romantic hotel, and then come back here for your party.”

 “And open this huge box!” (Y/N) says, jumping on his lap a little.

 “And to open your gift.” Max rolls her eyes. “But until then-”

 “Beach. Pretty please.” Dustin asks in a fake begging tone. “I've been daydreaming about his for weeks. Can we just go?”

 “Go put on your swimsuits, kids.” (Y/N) is still speaking when they move. Billy caresses her side to get her attention and smiles at her when she looks down at him.

 “Why don't we go change as well? There will be a nice sunset today.”

 “Mmm.” She raises an eyebrow, a half smile on her lips. “The kids will crowd the house for a few days. And we'll have plenty of time to join them at the beach. Why don't we stay here and enjoy some alone time?”

 At this awesome idea, Billy smirks. “It sounds way better than going to the beach with some kids.”

 “It sure does, love.”

 “I love it when you call me that.” He whispers, his thumb caressing her lower lip. And he does. It melts his heart every damn time. Hearing her use that word referring to him in that soft, honey voice... Drives him crazy.

°°°

 “That's precisely why I call you that, love.” Smiling, you stand up. “And you should enjoy some action while you still can. I'm late this month so any day now.” You say, stopping before the box. You were super embarrassed in the beginning when it came to these things, but Billy always made you feel comfortable. “What the hell can this be?”

 “You're late.” He says, and you glance at him before looking down at the box again.

 “Yeah, that's what I said.”

 “You're... Really late.” He repeats and, deciding to leave the box be, for now, you turn towards him.

 “... Are you keeping track of my period, Billy Hargrove?” Crossing your arms, you raise an eyebrow.

 “Yeah. I drive past the drugstore every day, I'm the one who buys you tampons most of the time, (Y/N) Hargrove.” That makes you blush, and you stick your tongue out at him before walking to the kitchen. “And...” He starts, following you and leaning against the sink as you take a bottle of water. “It's always a party when your period is over. For both of us.” With that stupid smirk on, Billy comes closer, pinning you against the sink.

 “Would you keep it down? We have a bunch of kids to be aware of.” You whisper.

 “How late are you, babe?”

 “I don't know. I don't really keep track of it. I only know it's coming because I have cramps.” Shrugging your shoulders, you look at the fridge, at the calendar. “Mmm... Been a while actually.”

 “So.” He mutters, his big hand laying on your stomach. “There's a possibility it won't be coming any time soon.”

 “What?” You nervously chuckle, pushing him away when you hear the kids coming. “I don't think so, Billy.”

 “Well, we're not always being careful, are we?”

 “And whose fault is that?” You ask, hands on your hips.

 “Fifty percent mine.” He answers with a smile.

 “Billy, forget it. I'm just...” Your voice fades as you take a closer look at the calendar. “...Around two weeks late.”

 “Kids!” He yells, startling you. “You gotta walk. I'm taking car one to the drugstore and car two won't fit all of you.”

 “What the hell, Billy,” Maxine complains, coming to the kitchen with her army behind her. “What do you need from there? We have the meds box, and it's full.”

 “I'm not buying any meds.” He says, as you just watch the scene, arms crossed. “I just need a pregnancy test.” And with that, he's off, leaving you with all of those wide-eyed kids.

 “Oh. My. God.” Dustin mutters.

 “Holy shit, I can't believe it!” Maxine shouts, and you slide a hand under your shirt, touching your belly.

 It's still too early to be sure, but you were never been this late before... And you remember feeling sick a couple of days ago. So maybe, just maybe, there's a tiny, fresh life growing inside you.

 “Maybe...” You whisper, a smile taking over your lips at the thought of having a baby with Billy. “Maybe.”

•••

@aunicornmademedoit @alexa4040 @goth-cowgirl-03 @nyctophilic0vitnir @minispice-1

[pinkkinoko]

That one time Billy told Max he, too, had a nerd boyfriend

The sound of the front door opening and closing let Billy know that Max was back from Lucas’s house, she was holding a milkshake in one hand and had her skateboard tucked up under her other arm. She propped the skateboard up against the wall and made her way to the kitchen, flinging her backpack onto the sofa as she went.

Billy was leaning against the counter, eating a sandwich and flipping through a magazine. He was wearing his reading glasses, something nobody believed he even owned. One time, when she was late getting to the movies, Max had offhandedly explained that it was because Billy was giving her shit since he was convinced she’d touched his glasses. The truth was he just couldn’t find them because he’d left them at Eddie Munson’s house. Lucas just looked weirded out, and Mike had yelled “He reads?”

To which Dustin had replied: “It’s probably just playboy magazines…”

Billy didn’t really wear his glasses around anyone—though it looks like now he wore them around Eddie—and he was actually a pretty big reader. To be fair, she never thought Billy read anything other than the road signs—and that was just so he could do the opposite of what they said. But Billy read a lot; she noticed it a few weeks after Neil had moved in, though he didn’t read out in the open. She’d caught the scene by chance as she was skating back from the boardwalk, Billy’s car was parked in a relatively empty space, his eyes fixed on a heavy book about what she later found out was marine biology.

It was the first time she’d seen him look quiet.

Not bored, or angry, or lazy; not wound up like when he was with his friends, or dangerous like when he was at the dinner table. For once, he just looked quiet, and she thought that maybe, just for that moment, he seemed like every other dumb high school sophomore she’d ever seen.

She was surprised by the glasses, he’d always been pretty, but now he even looked somewhat boyish—if she imagined him with a different hairstyle, one less ambitious and more subtle, she could even see him as a nerdish bookworm.

Still, as she had passed quietly by his car, she could hear the faint sound of his favorite metal tracks playing from the speaker. It was like a reminder, at that time, that he was still Billy, all hard-edged and dangerous.

Things had gotten better, between them, after Neil left. So many things had happened over the summer in Hawkins, especially after Billy got fed-up with lifeguard duty—and Neil—and took a road trip back home to Cali. She’s kind of glad that Billy hadn’t been there, not just because shit had hit the fan with the whole upside-down shit-show, but because of what had happened to Heather, too.

Things between her and Billy weren’t kittens and rainbows, even if they’d gotten better, but the thought of what happened to Heather possibly happening to Billy too—

It made her feel like razors were scraping all down her back.

“Oh no way—what are you wearing?”

Max stood on the threshold, between the carpeted living room of the trailer and the tiled kitchen area, noticing for the first time the dumb shirt she’d had the bad luck of seeing everywhere lately; the glaring words “hellfire club” written in bold across the front.

“Shut up Max, it’s a lame fucking shirt, I can wear lame shit too, alright.”

Billy didn’t bother to look up from the magazine, Max had a feeling it was mostly because he knew she would give him the biggest shit-eating grin in all of Hawkins—and he wouldn’t be able to say anything back. Max thought the shirt was the stupidest thing, and so she knew Billy had to think the same. They disagreed on way too many things to keep track of, but call it a sibling-sense, she just knew he agreed with her on this.

“My boyfriend is in that dumb club and he couldn’t pay me to wear that thing, what bet did you lose?”

The magazine slapped against Billy’s thigh as he let his arm fall forward, an annoyed sigh leaving his mouth.

“Yeah, well mine’s the fucking president, Max. Don’t get used to it, same thing I told Eddie, it’s a one time thing.”

Max had seen Billy kissing Eddie once, it was late and she’d gone out to feed the dog. She saw Billy getting out of Eddie’s van and following him up the steps into his trailer. Before they’d gone inside, Eddie had turned to say something that they’d both laughed at before Billy pulled him down into a kiss.

She’d be lying if she said she wasn’t caught off guard—it made her rethink a whole feature-film’s worth of stuff in her memory—but after the initial shock wore off, she was left with mixed feelings.

She didn’t really like Munson. Sure, Lucas seemed to think he was alright, and Dustin had pretty much found a new older brother in the guy, but she still wasn’t really convinced.

Not to mention Mike liked him, which was not good advertising; the only good choice Mike had ever made was El, and he still managed to royally fuck that up.

Maybe she was worried whatever issues Billy had, they’d only get worse with Munson around. Saying Munson was a “bad influence” felt like she was pushing Billy around in a stroller; that kind of sentiment was reserved for sweet, over-protective moms who kept track of curfews and supper-times, women like Mrs. Byers.

Still, maybe because it looked like things could actually start to work between her and Billy, Max felt nervous.

Turns out she didn’t really have anything to be nervous about. If anything, Billy mellowed out after meeting Munson, she can’t say it’s not 80% weed, but even 20% feels like miles compared to before. Apparently, the guy can even get Billy to wear the dumbest shirt on the planet, so maybe he’s not that bad after all.

He can even get Billy to date.

Max didn’t even know Billy knew what that word meant, she’d only seen him switching through girls faster than he drove, but maybe she was just looking at it wrong from the start.

Either way, she was happy for him. There was still a ton of shit to work through before she could really feel herself around Billy, she’s sure it was the same for him, but the point was that they had time now.

That’s more than could be said for a lot of people after Starcourt; people like Jim Hopper.

“Well, I guess it looks alright on you.”

He raised an eyebrow at her, and there was a tiny millisecond in which Max was scared again, that maybe he’d snap at her—that maybe Neil was going to walk in the room with her mother on his arm, looking small and timid all over again. But it didn’t happen, Billy’s lips gave a little pull to the right, a smirk, and he bit back;

“Everything looks good on me, Max, even this nerd shit.”

He then went back to reading his magazine, and as she opened the fridge to grab something to snack on, she found a sandwich saran-wrapped and sitting on a plate. She knew it wasn’t her mom, not just because she wasn’t even home since this morning, but because the sticky note on top of it that read “Max” was in Billy’s handwriting.

She smiled, they’d be alright, somehow; if it was the three of them, they could do it.

Billy did, by the way, keep wearing that shirt. It was only around the house, or when he knew nobody but Max would see him in it, but she could tell he liked it.

God, her brother had horrible taste.

[dwobbitfromtheshire]

A/N: I had to write this. I needed Nancy and Steve being parental as well as Steve being bitchy. Everyone's relationship is up in the air except for Robin and Joyce's. Joyce is clearly with Hopper. Robin is always with Vickie because people hate on Vickie for no reason. Anyways, love to all, no matter what you like. Unless you like Billy, then I'm judging you harshly.

Steve was already annoyed because his date backed out at the last minute, but now he was even more annoyed when he found out from Robin that they wouldn't be at Lucas's game. Just for one night, Lucas wasn't asking them to abandon the game completely but to take one night off. Don't they understand that this is what Lucas was afraid of? Not being able to be a jock and to be able to still be a nerd? Of losing his friends? One night wasn't an unreasonable thing to ask for. Sometimes, being a good friend means supporting them when they need it even if you don't like it or understand it, not all the time but sometimes. How do they expect Lucas to compromise for them when they need it if they never do it for him?

Steve was too in his own head to notice that someone else was striding towards the drama room. He arrived at the doors at the same time as Nancy. Their hands reached for the door handle. They stared at each other, and for a moment, Steve had forgotten what he was doing. Nancy looked so beautiful when she wasn't angry at him. Oh, she was angry. Was she angry at the same thing he was? Oh, right, Mike, Dustin, and Erica.

"You mad at the kids for abandoning and replacing Lucas, too?" Steve asked.

"Yes!" Nancy exclaimed.

"Well, let's do this together then, shall we?" Steve asked.

They opened the doors, causing them to bang loudly against the walls. Nancy and Steve stormed in, their hands on their hips.

"Hey, assholes!" Steve and Nancy exclaimed in unison.

They paused and looked at each other in surprise for a moment before turning back to them.

"Oh my God! They're together and they're both pissed!" Dustin shrieked.

"You're damn right we're pissed!" Steve yelled.

"Lucas asked for one night for you guys to be there to support him, and you couldn't give him that?" Nancy asked.

"It's not our fault Lucas went to the dark side!" Mike exclaimed.

"The dark side? So, all people who play basketball are Darth Vader?" Steve asked.

"You know Darth Vader?" Dustin asked.

"Of course, I do! I can be a little nerdy sometimes!" Steve exclaimed.

"He reads comic books, too!" Nancy yelled.

"What? Why didn't you say?!" Dustin asked.

"Whenever I try to join in on your conversations, you brush me off and scoff!" Steve yelled, and then his eyes went soft, as well as his voice. "Do you guys just think of me as a dumb jock who gives you free rides?"

"Nice mom guilt," Nancy whispered to him.

"Thanks," Steve whispered back.

"I mean, really, everything that Steve’s done for you. . .for Lucas, especially in Starcourt. He saved Dustin and Erica's life!" Nancy exclaimed. "And do you just think that all people who enjoy basketball are assholes?!"

"Nice dad guilt," Steve whispered.

"Thanks," Nancy whispered back.

"Hey, Mike, didn't you promise Will that you wouldn't join another party?" Steve asked, snapping his fingers at him.

"That's right, I mean, if D&D means so much to you, then why are you sitting here in another party?" Nancy asked.

Mike opened his mouth and closed it again, unable to find the answer. Dustin looked incredibly guilty. Good, Steve thought. Eddie scowled and stood up.

"Who gives a fuck about some stupid laundry basket game?" Eddie asked. "This is when we play. It's not our fault that Sinclair chose the wrong game."

"Lucas gives a fuck about that laundry basket game!" Steve snapped. "He wasn't asking for you to give up the game completely, he was asking for one fucking night so he that he wouldn't feel like a freak for enjoying both games! He wanted his friends to accept him for that and for someone who stood up on a fucking table to preach against forced conformity - yeah, Robin told me about that - here you are trying to force Lucas and his friends to only comform to D&D!"

Steve was pleased to see that Eddie looked like he had been slapped in the face.

"That's not - I mean - ," Eddie stuttered.

"Yeah, Robin was pretty much agreeing with you until you went after science and band," Steve said. "I mean, are you telling me that all of you have the same exact interests? Do you all like the same food? Do you all like the same music?"

"The problem isn't basketball. The problem is that every group has their assholes but they also have their good people, too," Nancy said, looking at Steve.

"And sometimes people can crossover into other groups," Steve said. "It happens."

"We didn't think Lucas actually enjoyed basketball," Dustin said.

"Yeah, he told us he wanted to stop being bullied," Mike said.

"Hm, and which group was he talking about?" Steve asked.

"What happens when one of your players gets sick?" Nancy asked.

"Well, yeah, we postpone then because it's a good excuse," Gareth said.

"A championship is a good excuse," Nancy replied. "But it's nice to know that you guys aren't completely heartless."

"Heartless?! We're not the ones beating the shit out of people because of what they like!" Eddie snapped.

"No, you're just letting them know that they're replaceable if they decide they need to explore other options," Steve said, and then he scoffed. "Can't believe I ever had a crush on you."

Eddie's eyes widened as the whole table gasped dramatically.

"You're fucking with me," Eddie said.

"No, I'm not," Steve said. "I like men and women. I know that liking more than one thing is a hard concept for you to grasp."

"That's not, I mean, you can like whatever you want, but liking basketball and D&D is different than that," Eddie frowned.

"I don't see how," Nancy said, shaking her head. "Do you guys play every day of the week?"

"Well, no," Eddie said.

"Well, if you don't play every day of the week, then it's not going to be the end of the world if you wait just one more day?!" Nancy asked.

"Okay, enough of this. I don't care if you guys come or not, but Dustin, Erica, and Mike, you guys are coming to the game to support your friend," Steve said clapping his hands.

"But - " Mike started to say.

"You heard your mother! I mean, your Steve! You heard Steve!" Nancy exclaimed, shaking her head again.

Mike and Dustin ducked their heads as they gathered their things. Erica held her head up high as she did the same thing.

"I didn't do anything wrong, they tricked me!" Erica exclaimed.

"Erica!" Nancy scolded.

As they were leaving with the kids, Steve overheard one of them - Frankie? - speak up.

"I wasn't ever going to say anything, but I, uh, kind of like watching basketball," Frankie said.

"Fine, fine! We'll go to the goddamn game," Eddie said.

It didn't take long for them to catch up with the group.

"Decided to join us assholes, huh?" Steve asked.

"Yeah, look, you were right, and Nancy was right. . .it's not going to be the end of the world if we wait one more day," Eddie said. "And of course, I know that Sinclair isn't going to turn out like those assholes especially if he has the support of his friends."

"Yeah, well, I'm not the one you need to apologize to," Steve said.

"Yeah, that's true. . . So, you have a crush on me?" Eddie asked.

"Had. As in past tense," Steve replied.

"Yeah, I suppose I deserve that," Eddie said. "I am curious to know if you are seeing anyone, though."

"I just tore you a new one," Steve said, looking at him in confusion.

"I know," Eddie grinned.

"Well, I'm kind of seeing someone," Steve said.

"Kind of?"

"It's on and off."

"Is he being intentionally vague?" Eddie asked Nancy.

"I can't say," she grinned.

"By the way, was I little too bitchy in there?" Steve asked Nancy.

"No, you were perfect. I know someone else who would have loved it like a certain someone did," Nancy said.

"Okay, you two aren't bad assholes, just annoyingly vague assholes," Eddie said, and they both giggled. "This is going to be a long game."

The game wasn't so bad as Eddie had thought it was going to be, especially when Chrissy jumped up and waved excitedly at the sight of him. He eventually got caught up with it when Lucas was sent in to play. He was glad he did come when he saw the pure joy on the young man's face when he saw almost everyone he cared about was there to cheer him on. When Lucas scored the winning shot, Eddie hugged Nancy and Steve both tightly. He needed to be reminded every once in a while that it's not just about him and what he likes. He started Hellfire to give lost sheep like Lucas a place to belong, and he almost ruined that because of a few bad eggs who happened to like basketball. Besides, people needed to know that just because you have different interests doesn't mean you have to be enemies.

"Thank you for making me come," Eddie told them. "I would have regretted it."

A week or so later. . .

"So, Nance, what were you saying about it not being the end of the world if I postponed the game for a day?" Eddie asked with a cheeky grin as he laid in his hospital bed.

"We stopped it before it could happen," Nancy rolled her eyes. "Do you regret going to Lucas's basketball game?"

Eddie grinned as he thought about the pure joy on Lucas's face.

"Nah!"

"Well, no one stayed dead, so there's that!" Chrissy grinned.

"Well, Hopper's still dead," Steve said.

"Oh, yeah," Chrissy frowned.

Suddenly, there came a knocking at Eddie's hospital room door. Robin got up to answer it.

"Steve, you were wrong. Hopper is very much alive!" Robin exclaimed. "Holy shit!"

Robin let Hopper and Joyce into the room. Moments later, Vickie skidded in behind them.

"Hey, guys, did you hear? Someone said they saw Chief Hopper wandering the hospital!" Vickie said and glanced at Hopper for a moment. "Hiya, Chief! Isn't that crazy, Robin? He's supposed to be dead, right?!"

"It takes her a moment," Robin said. "She gets there eventually."

"Oh my God! . . . Eddie, is that your mom?"

[strangerqueerthings]

Lifeline

Joyce finds an unconscious Billy Hargrove in her house after getting the Mindflayer out of Will- and her first instinct is to take care of him.

(Also: Why we didn't see much of Neil after S2- Joyce Byers put the fear of MOM into him.) CW for child abuse and Neil Hargrove. On AO3

The scene Joyce comes home to that night would have sent the average single mom into a spiral of panic, but Joyce Byers is anything but the average single mom.

She’s come home to many strange things, the past year bringing even more strange and frankly, terrifying things, so she feels like this isn’t nearly as bad as it could be. In fact, it’s just your garden variety “odd” thing, compared to everything else.

Even the demo-dog falling out of her fridge is almost “normal,” all things considered, but she can’t be bothered to ask why there’s a monster in her fridge.

She has more important things to deal with- like the unconscious boy on her living room floor.

He's about Jonathan's age, a bruise on his jaw, his lip bloody, knuckles raw, and blood dried under his nose. He’s clearly been in a fight- and based on the fact that Joyce can’t find the kids, or Steve Harrington, they were involved somehow.

What makes Joyce concerned, however, is the empty syringe on the floor beside him, and the bruise on his neck.

Two years ago, Joyce would have panicked. She would have called Hopper, or Gary, and Jonathan would have helped her calm down while they got the boy to the hospital.

She’s not that same woman anymore.

Joyce kneels beside the boy and puts her fingers to his neck, checking for a pulse. It’s slow, but steady, and his chest is rising and falling rhythmically. He’s fine- mostly- but out cold.

“Jonathan, do you know this boy?” she asks as her eldest comes inside, cradling Will in his arms, Nancy behind him.

“That’s Billy Hargrove,” Jonathan says, frowning. “Why is he here? What happened to him?”

“That’s what I need to know,” Joyce says, peeling off her jacket and bundling it up so she can slide it under Billy’s head to prop it up.

Outside, an engine roars, and headlights rake across the house. There’s a crunch of gravel as a car comes to an abrupt halt, and moments later, the car is shut off, and the sound of many feet coming towards the house is heard.

Joyce gets up, hands on her hips as Will’s friends approach the porch.

“Everyone inside, now,” she orders, her tone leaving no room for argument- even Steve is cowed as he comes inside.

She can see the bruises, the swelling, the cuts all over his face, and it’s obvious who Billy got in a fight with- and who lost that fight.

But how did Billy end up knocked out on her floor? And why was he even here?

“Everyone is going to explain this, right now,” she says, pointing at Billy, then at the car.

They all clamor to explain at the same time, and it’s a blur of words. Billy going nuts, beating the shit out of Steve, threatening Lucas, Max’s brother, then the syringe, and something about a baseball bat with nails being smacked into her floor-

“Enough!”

Everyone stops as Hopper and El enter the house, Hopper bellowing out the word to silence the chaos of too many explanations at once. Hopper points at Steve.

“You first.”

As Steve recounts the events of the evening after Hopper had left with El to shut the Gate, Billy moans and stirs. His eyes flutter open, and he tries to sit up. His eyes are unfocused, blurry, then fall on Joyce and Hopper.

“Shit.”

The way his face drains of blood, his expression going completely dead, the way he won’t look either of them in the eye all send alarms going off in Joyce’s head.

“Hey,” Joyce says, kneeling beside him. Her voice is soft, careful.

“It’s okay. No one’s in trouble, here. We just want to know what happened.”

“He beat the shit out of Steve, is what happened,” Mike interjects. “He would have killed him if Max hadn’t drugged him!”

Billy’s expression doesn’t change, but his left eye twitches ever so slightly, his hard, dead eyes falling on Steve.

“I had every right,” he manages, his speech still a bit slurred. “The fuck were you doing with my step-sister, Harrington?”

Joyce glances at Steve, who still manages to look affronted, despite the severe beating he took.

“I wasn’t doing anything!”

“Max runs away through her window, and I have to go looking all over town for her, only to finally find her here, near the lab where people say weird shit happens, it’s dark, there’s all these weird ass drawings and polaroid tapes all over the place, there’s no adults, and you flat out lie to me that she’s not here? What the fuck did you expect me to think, Harrington? And then I get drugged, and it’s-“

Billy stops his rant, glancing at his watch, and his face pales even further- something Joyce didn’t think was possible.

“It’s two in the morning, do you know how much shit I’m gonna be in when I finally get home?”

The way his voice trembles at the end is soft, barely noticeable, but Joyce knows that sound when she hears it- and so does Hopper. They look at each other, and Hopper nods.

“You’re not going home, kid,” Hopper says gently. “We need to get you to the hospital. You might have a concussion.”

Billy is so pale now that he looks like he might faint, and his eyes are glittering with unshed tears of panic.

“I can’t,” he says softly. “I gotta get Max home…”

Hopper shoots a sidelong glance at Steve.

“I’m sure you don’t want to be brought to the station instead, but if you agree to go to the hospital, we can avoid that, or any charges.”

Steve and Billy glare at each other, an unspoken argument sparking between them as they wait for one of them to make a challenge. It’s Steve who looks away first, shrugging.

“No, I don’t want to deal with going to the station. My old man would be pissed as hell if I was brought up on charges for fighting again.”

The look he and Jonathan exchange says it all.

“Come on, sweetie,” Joyce says, holding out her hand to Billy. “Let’s get you to the hospital and make sure you’re okay.”

The way Billy shies away from her hand, flinching like she’s about to slap him, then the way his eyes look from her hand to her face, like a kicked puppy that isn’t sure if the hand is a threat or not breaks her heart.

“It’s okay,” she says softly, just loud enough to where only he can hear. “I want to help you.”

He still doesn’t take her hand. He shifts his legs and stands up on his own, wobbling and swaying a bit as the floor spins under his feet. Joyce slides an arm around his waist, steadying him.

“Come on,” she says kindly, and leads him outside to the vehicles.

“My car,” he manages, sounding upset.

There’s a dent in the front driver’s side above the wheel well where Max had hit a mailbox. Billy looks devastated.

“What happened to my car?”

“Easy, Billy,” Joyce soothes him. “We’ll take care of it, I promise, but for now, we need to get you to the hospital.”

Billy is quiet, withdrawn, as he’s helped into the back of Joyce’s car. Max gets in beside him, and he refuses to look at her, closing his eyes and dozing in and out the entire way there as the drug works its way out of his system.

The ER is bright, clean, and it makes Billy’s head ache. The sounds of monitors beeping, the buzz of doctors and patients alike all make him want to scream. In the curtained partition beside him, Steve is having his wounds cared for, and on the other side, Will is being examined for who-knows-what, but Billy saw how pale, sweaty and beat up the kid looked, and Billy wishes he could sneak out while Will is getting the medical attention he needs.

Billy doesn’t need anything except to go home before it’s too late.

Joyce flits between Will and Billy’s partitions. She soothes Billy that it’s going to be okay, Hopper is taking care of it, and no one will get in trouble. He wants to believe her, but he can’t.

Joyce sees the haunted look in his eyes, the way the panic in his face is slowly increasing with each minute they’re there in the ER. She sees the way he keeps looking at his watch, the way he’s fidgeting and fussing, restless and nervous.

When the nurses take off his shirt to put him in a hospital gown, Joyce feels her blood boil, her concern exploding into outrage.

The Hargrove boy’s back is a mess of bruises of varying shades and colors, and scars of different ages ranging from years old to possibly only a few months.

Hopper gets a glimpse of the boy’s back when Joyce yanks hard on his arm, motioning silently in Billy’s direction, and his jaw sets firmly. He knows what likely caused those scars. He’s seen it enough to know, and the panicked look on Billy’s face just confirms it.

He knows why Billy is so desperate to get home, while being absolutely terrified to at the same time.

When Neil Hargrove shows up, Hopper has every intention of pulling the man aside, to talk to him, but Joyce, as is her wont to do when her maternal instincts are riled up, beats him to it.

“I’m here to collect my son,” Neil is saying to a nurse when Joyce is immediately in his face.

“So you’re the bastard who’s made his own kids scared of him? What, are you going to take him home and beat him with a belt again?”

Neil recoils.

“And who the hell are you?”

Hopper steps between them.

“I’m the Chief of police, can I have a word, Mister Hargrove?”

“What did William do this time?” Neil all but snarls.

“Your son had a car accident. A deer leapt in front of the car,” Hopper says, the lie coming out as smooth as butter.

Between Owens, the lab, El, and Murray, he’s gotten a lot of practice lying to people.

“Thing is, he swerved- he side swiped a tree, but it would have been a lot worse if he hadn’t. Might have had casualties. He would have gone straight off the edge into the quarry if he hadn’t. Even in a situation like that, he’s got great control of his car. Rather impressive, really.”

“By the quarry?” Neil asks in disbelief. “He was supposed to be finding his sister.”

Hopper lifts a brow.

“Kids her age go hang out by the quarry. Good place to stargaze at night. No harm in it.”

Neil catches a glimpse of Billy through the curtains, and Billy flinches, pressing back into the pillows to get out of view. Neil scowls.

“And he got into a fight, it looks like.”

“Max had an older kid with the group watching over them. Your son misunderstood the situation and was defending her. The other boy isn’t pressing charges, by the way.”

“So let me get this straight,” Neil says. “He finds his sister, thinks a boy his age is being inappropriate, beats him up, tries to take her home, and nearly wrecks because of a deer… and you somehow show up and bring him to the hospital?”

Joyce is trembling with rage beside Hopper, and she finally speaks up.

“My son was out there, too,” she says heatedly. “Jonathan was the one who went and got Hopper when he went to pick Will up and saw the wreck.”

“My question is,” Hopper cuts in. “Why was your son driving so recklessly in order to get home? Why is he afraid to even look at you right now? And how did he get all those bruises and scars on his back?”

Neil doesn’t have an answer as Hopper stares him down, and Joyce is glaring at him with an unbridled fury that has him taken aback.

“He knows his place- he has respect and responsibility, and he knows it’s meant to be upheld,” is all Neil can think to say.

“You’re a real piece of work, you know that?” Joyce spits. “When I told him we needed to take him to the hospital, he panicked. He was scared to go to a hospital, even though he’d been in a car accident, because he’s scared of you.”

Joyce is a tiny woman, but Hopper swears she was ten feet tall right then, for how small Neil Hargrove looked in the face of her fury.

“You don’t have anything to take me in for,” Neil says softly. “Billy’s a klutz and a daredevil, always has been. Just ask anyone who knows him, they’ll tell you he’s a reckless driver, or how he used to cut himself up on rocks when he surfed.”

“Look, Mister Hargrove. Both kids need to be cleared from the hospital. It’s late- or early, as it were. Go home. We’ve got it under control, and we’ll call you when the doc says they can go,” Hopper says.

Neil smiles, a cold, sickly expression that makes the contents of Joyce’s stomach curdle.

“They’re my children,” Neil replies. “As such, I have the authority to take them home if I deem it necessary.”

“Not if I suspect child abuse and want to make a report,” Hopper says coldly, dropping his casual affect and going into Chief-of-Police Mode. “Then by all means, we can go to the station and take your statement, make it a matter of record for CPS.”

“I’m their father-“

“You’re not a father, you’re a bully, a monster, and I don’t know if anyone told you this yet, but in Hawkins, we don’t tolerate monsters of any kind,” Joyce cuts in.

The dead demo-dog in her fridge was proof of that.

Hopper folds his arms over his chest.

“Go home, Mister Hargrove. We’ll call you.”

Neil deflates, defeated, but Hopper suspects this won’t stop him. If anything, it’ll be worse when the kids are released. At least for Billy, it will.

“You made things worse,” Billy says when Hopper comes back around the curtain. “He’s only going to tighten the leash now.”

Joyce sits beside him. Normally, she would feel guilty, giving so much attention to a boy she barely knows, when her own son has been through a terrible ordeal, but Will is asleep, sedated, and for now, all she can do for Will is wait with him until Owens and his team come to handle the details the civilian doctors aren’t privy to.

For now, she can at least give this poor boy some reassurance.

“Listen,” she says, pulling a piece of paper from her pocket, and grabbing a pen from the clipboard at the foot of Billy’s bed. “Here’s my number. If anything happens to you, and you need a safe place to go, you call me, okay?”

“I…”

“Put my number on there, too, Joyce,” Hopper adds. “If he hurts you, or your sister, you call me, and I’ll drag him to the station.”

Joyce hands him the piece of paper, and Billy stares at it.

“He won’t hurt Max,” he says quietly. “It’s always my fault, so it’s always my punishment.”

“If he hurts you, you call me,” Hopper says again, insistently.

Billy folds the paper over and over into a tiny little square, and tucks it into the very corner of his wallet, making it as unnoticeable as possible.

“Thank you,” he says, unable to look at either of them.

“I mean it,” Joyce says. “We don’t tolerate monsters like Neil in Hawkins. You call us if he hurts you, and we’ll handle it.”

Billy nods. It’s clear he doesn’t believe her, but the fact that he took care to hide the number in his wallet says more than his mute nod does. He’s saving it as a lifeline.

“I just want to sleep,” he finally says. “…thank you, for bringing me here and chasing him away.”

Joyce squeezes his shoulder before leaving, and Hopper nods at him, closing the curtain behind him to give Billy some privacy.

Billy lies back into the pillows, staring at the ceiling. His head hurts, his nose burns and still smells like salt and copper, his neck is sore from where Max jabbed him, and his heart is still racing from hearing Neil’s voice.

He knows he’s going to get the full brunt of it sooner or later- once Neil thinks that Hopper and Joyce won’t be paying attention, or in a different way that doesn’t leave marks, or some other punishment that won’t involve a beating, but will still be just as bad, if not worse.

For now, though, he feels like he might be able to handle it.

There’s a small spark of hope, a tiny lifeline, hidden in his wallet, and maybe, if he can be brave enough, he can use it to keep from drowning.

[multi-fandomfuckboy]

Stranger Than Fiction

Part 20: Snowball

Billy Hargrove x Reader (Slowburn)

Part 1,... (Masterlist)...Part 21 (Coming Soon)...

AN: Long time coming for this one! I hope you guys enjoy it! I had a great time writing it and I have honestly been thinking about this for a while so it's so good to finally get it posted! I want you all to know that this is only a season finale and is NOT the end of the story. We have a little ways to go ❤️

Word Count: 4,569

Warnings: Anxiety, mentions of death, dancing, guilt, mentions gun

The coming days are a blur. There was a lot of talking that night. Everyone explaining their side of the crazy story that had been unfolding all around you. The pieces began falling into place and by the end of it you had a pretty clear picture of what had occurred over the past 4 days and where exactly you fit into it. 

By the time the stories merged together everyone was ready to sleep for a week. You went with Steve to drop off Dustin while Jonathan dropped off Nancy, Mike, and Lucas. It was around 3 in the morning when you finally got home, Steve’s car pulling to a stop in front of your house. You feel nervous. Exhausted but on edge, still worried about the darkness lurking around the corners. 

You jump when Steve places a hand on your knee. Meeting his eyes in the dim light of the car you see understanding. He doesn't want to be alone either. 

“Do you mind if I stay here?” He asks. You look at your empty house and for a moment think of your mom coming home in a few hours and finding Steve Harrington on her couch. But when you look back to Steve, you can’t imagine being alone right now, not yet. “My parents aren’t home and… I don't know, I just…” He sighs heavily, running a hand through his hair frustrated. 

“No.” You cut him off. “You can stay, I-I feel the same way.” you admit, smiling gently. He returns your smile gratefully. You instruct him to park a little ways down the street so he can sneak out when your mom gets home. 

The two of you enter the house and you lead him to your bedroom, grabbing extra blankets from the hallway closet. You set up a little sleeping area for him on the floor next to your bed. You each take turns showering, and you let him borrow some of your baggiest clothes to sleep in. When you are both settled in bed, there is a tense silence. You don’t know how to tell him that you're grateful he’s here. That you feel better knowing he’s next to you after all of this. 

“Can you leave the light on?” he asks. You smile up at the ceiling. 

“Yea.” you say, there was no way you were turning off the light anyway. After another beat of silence you turn onto your side, lowering your arm off the bed and take his hand. He threads his fingers through yours without hesitation. It’s the most comforting thing you can think of right now, and it seems to work because both of you are asleep in minutes.

You wake up a few hours later to the sound of your mom coming in. You wake Steve and quickly sneak him out the window before going to greet your mom. She only has a couple of questions about your weekend at Nancy’s and you do your best to come up with a story. She doesn't press though, most likely just relieved that you’re spending time with friends like you used to. 

It is strange going back to school. Similar to the last time, but now everything just feels… silly. Days ago you were fighting for your life against other worldly creatures and now Mr. Johnson is asking if you completed the make-up assignments. It’s enough to give you whiplash. 

Luckily, you have Steve, Nancy, and Jonathan there. Never all at the same time though. Things are still uncomfortable now that Nancy is officially dating Jonathan. Steve hasn’t talked to you about it once. You know that he thinks if he keeps on acting like he doesn't care, eventually he won’t. But you see it in his eyes each time he sees them together, his heart is broken. 

You and Steve have been hanging out a lot more now, even without Nancy. Something about surviving a near death experience together really makes a friendship stronger. Nancy had Jonathan so Steve had you. 

Things are still strange between you and Nancy. Even after everything came out and Hawkins Lab took responsibility for Barb's death, there still seemed to be this space between the two of you. You, sometimes, wonder if it will ever be the same between you. If it ever could be. 

You are working on it though. Making an effort to remain friends with her. You still love her, but it’s different now. You both are. 

You manage to attend Barb’s funeral. You don’t remember most of it. The chilling numbness creeping over you, the fog descending in your mind as the priest spoke and they brought out the casket. You know that you cried and that when you started to shake Steve wrapped an arm sound you. You couldn't watch as they lowered the pine box into the ground, turning your face into Steve’s shoulder. He didn't say anything, and you're thankful for that. At some point Nancy took your hand, squeezing it tightly, crying next to you. It was comforting to know that Barb’s parents would get some amount of closure, but you doubt you will ever be able to look at them without feeling the stab of guilt. 

It’s good to finally be able to grieve the loss of Barb, with Nancy. It heals some of the space between you. As the weeks go by most of your time together is spent filling out late admission college applications. It doesn't feel as daunting when she is talking you through the process. She even helped you submit a couple of creative writing scholarships. It’s strange, actually thinking about the future.

Mrs. Henderson must have spread the word that you were babysitting again after she ran into you the night you were looking for Dart, because the next week you started getting calls. You were hesitant at first but with the thought of paying for college looming over you, you slowly started to take jobs. Keeping it within the party at first, but eventually branching out. 

You never did get a call from the Hargrove house though. 

You haven't spoken to Billy since that night. You have seen him around, of course. In the halls, in class, driving by. But, every time your eyes meet he looks away quickly or avoids you completely. You try not to dwell on it too much, when you think about that night you can’t ignore the twisting in your gut.

Billy not speaking to you could have something to do with Steve, who had not gotten over his broken nose yet, sticking close to your side. You had tried to explain to Steve that he didn’t have the whole story. But, it's difficult to do that without sharing things that were not yours to share. 

You can’t say that you mind. Steve is one of the few people you would trust with your life. But, it’s getting a bit ridiculous. You swear that any time Billy comes close to you, Steve will angle his body to block you. He always plays it off, but you know that it’s intentional. 

A new routine starts to form as the weeks pass. You still walk each morning, Steve driving you to school most days. You typically spend lunch with Steve as well, since Nancy normally eats with Jonathan in his car. After school you spend an hour doing homework and college prep with Nancy. You pick up babysitting jobs on Tuesdays, Thursdays and weekends. The rest of your time is filled with writing. 

The stories are still dark, mirroring the dreams that still haunt you each night. It just seems like the best way for you to get the darkness inside of you out, on paper. Luckily you haven’t felt anything close to what you felt in your mind the night El closed the gate. The only person you had told about it was Steve, both of you agreed that since it had stopped there was no need to worry the rest of the group.  

When the Snowball approaches Nancy convinces you to volunteer with her. She explains that it would look good on scholarship applications. You agree, and that’s how you ended up picking up trash around the middle school gym. 

You found an outfit in the back of your closet that you are fairly certain hasn’t seen the light of day in 2 years. Despite your mom’s best efforts, it still managed to look wrinkled. 

It isn’t all bad. The music is decent and you get to spend a bit of time with Nancy, reminiscing about your own middle school dances. Best of all though, is watching the awkward pre-teens navigate their feelings for one another. There's something refreshing about the way they take a deep breath, stealing their resolve, before taking the plunge and asking their crush to dance. Their minds, undoubtedly, spinning with panic and fear of rejection. 

It must seem so important to them, so terrifying. That’s what kids their age should be scared of. Not monsters and government cover ups. 

You smile to yourself, watching Lucas pair off with Max. You had seen that one from a mile away. A girl even asks Will to dance. You watch Dustin attempt to ask a girl to dance. She laughs and walks away. He turns to try again, only for the other girls to turn away. Your heart gives an uncomfortable squeeze. He looks around lost, alone… before heading for the bleachers. 

Setting down your trash bag you take a step towards him but feel a hand on your elbow, stopping you. Turning you see Nancy smiling knowingly at you. 

“I got this one.” She says, nodding in Dustin’s direction. Her smile is kind but there is a glint of sadness in her eyes. “Kind of reminds me of when we first met.” Your brows draw together, trying to recall when that was. You have known each other for so long it is hard to say. Seeing your confusion she chuckles softly. 

“We were all so little, I’m not surprised you don’t remember.” She says kindly. “Barb and I were at the park, and there was this group of boys that kept messing with us, knocking over our toys and pulling our hair.” The sadness in her eyes makes sense, the memory flashes through your mind. 

How could you forget the day you all became friends? 

“We were both crying on the bench when you came out of nowhere and started yelling at them.” you laugh at the memory, tinged with the sadness of missing your friend. “I’m not even sure you were saying actual words.” She recalls chuckling. 

“I think I was pretending to be a dog.” you add causing her to laugh. 

“Well whatever you did, you scared them away and got our toys back. When you came over you told me that we looked sad and scared so you wanted to help.” Her gaze flickers to where Dustin sits on the bleachers. “You’re the reason we all became friends in the first place.” She says, her voice laced with sadness. “You’re always trying to help, and I guess what I’m trying to say is… Thank you.” When your eyes meet hers again there is a glint of unshed tears in her eyes. 

Swallowing past the lump in your throat, you smile, pulling her into a hug. She holds you tightly. 

Clearing your throat you pull away, not wanting to cry in the middle of a dance. 

“You got this one.” you say gruffly, moving to pick up your trash bag. Nancy gives you one last smile before crossing the gym to Dustin. You watch her lead him to the dance floor, gently showing him how to dance. Your heart aches watching them. Memories of Nancy, Bard and you dancing together fill your mind. Nancy doing her best to get the two of you to move in any coordinated manner, eventually devolving into a mass of giggles and jumping around. 

You have to turn away. You continue around the gym, picking up trash, until you see Eleven walk in. Mike sees her instantly. You watch as he leads her to the dance floor, the two of them cautiously coming together, so happy to be in the same place, together, alive. They awkwardly sway to the music and you can’t help but recall what Max had said to you on the kitchen floor. The comparison she had made between Mike and yourself. 

Seeing Mike reunited with the person he thought he had lost hits you in a way you were not prepared for. The idea that something so amazing could happen for them and the fact that it would never happen for you. El is back, but Barb is gone forever. A bitter resentment twists in your gut, acidic bile rising in your throat at the thought. 

You're disgusted at yourself for the feeling. You should be happy for them. What kind of monster thinks something like that? 

The large gym suddenly feels too small, the music disorienting. The jumble of bodies makes it too warm. Your palms feel moist where they grip the black trash bag with white knuckles. Looking around frantically, you see the exit out the back of the gym and hurry towards it. 

Pushing open the doors you rush out of the bustling gym into the freezing December night. The frigid air bites at your feverish skin, soothing you. You focus on taking deep breaths, in through your nose and out through your mouth. You stare after each exhalation, a small puff of breath shimmering in the dim light. Each inhale like ice, slowing the pounding of your heart, cooling the fire churning in your mind. After a few moments, your breathing comes more evenly and you run a shaking hand though your hair. 

The world around you is so still. The cold seems to have calmed the earth, as well as your racing mind. Standing in the alleyway between the gym and the rest of the school, you gaze up at the night sky. The inky darkness speckled with shining stars. It’s calm. The sound of music drifting softly from behind you. 

Hearing something move in the darkness to your left, you jump. Turning, you freeze, spotting a shadowy figure leaning against the wall in front of the dumpster, roughly 100 feet from you. You can’t make out their features from this far away in such low lighting. You see the low glow of embers flickering at the end of a cigarette that dangles from their lips. 

Your body is rigid, muscles taught, your hand reflexively moving to your waist despite knowing your pistol is not there. Before your mind can decide between fight or flight the figure speaks. 

“So, they put you on trash duty, loca?” A familiar voice calls. You feel yourself relax at the sound of Billy’s voice, releasing a breath. Billy pushes himself off the brick, standing upright as you approach, your eyes adjust to the light and you see him more clearly. 

“Lurking in alleyways now?" You ask, drawing closer. "Very cool.” you shoot back, hoping the panic is gone from your voice as you stop in front of him. His outfit is more formal than you are used to seeing, a collared blue button up that matched his eyes well, along with a leather jacket and jeans. You vaguely wonder if the jacket is doing much to keep him warm. His lips twitch upwards at your comment, the embers of his cigarette glowing brighter as he inhales again. 

“Not lurking, just…” He turns his head upwards, exhaling the smoke above your heads before levelling his eyes back on you. “Chaperoning.” He finishes, flicking the butt of his cigarette to the ground, using the toe of his boot to extinguish the remaining embers.

“That makes two of us.” You say, taking a step around him to get to the dumpsters lining the alleyway. Setting the garbage bag down, you open the lid of the large green container allowing it to fall back clanging against the metal loudly. You reach for the bag, preparing to hoist it in, but Billy’s hand beats you to it. 

“I got it.” He says, quickly lifting the bag and tossing it in with little effort. You stare at him for a moment, confused. 

“Thank you.” You say, hesitantly. He wipes his hands on his jeans, only grunting in response.

He hasn’t said so much as a sentence to you in over 6 weeks and now he’s doing you favours? Turning back to you, he shoves his hands into his pockets. He seems to make himself look somewhat smaller, hunching his shoulders slightly. You’re reminded of the way he had shrunk next to his father, your stomach flipping uncomfortably. His eyes find yours and you see the conflict in them. He opens his mouth like he’s going to say something but stops, closing it again. 

The only sound between you is the music drifting from the dance. His eyes hold yours and you have to look away, suddenly feeling warm under his intense gaze. You clear your throat, hoping to relieve some of the tension. 

“Well, I-uh, I should…” you trail off, gesturing behind you to the doors leading back to the gym. Billy’s eyes remain transfixed, you feel heat begin to creep up your neck. Swallowing thickly, you move to take a step back, hoping to avoid any confrontation. 

Before you can pull further away Billy’s hand reaches out, grasping your arm. His hold on you is surprisingly gentle, almost hesitant, and you notice that despite the cold air, his palm is warm. Glancing down at where his hand makes contact with your skin, you notice the healed scars on his knuckles. Your mouth suddenly feels dry. He clears his throat, drawing your attention back to his face. 

“Listen, I’m not really… good… at stuff like this.” He admits gruffly. His eyes hold yours, his brows pulling together as the small muscle in his jaw flexes. You swear that in the dim light you see a dusting of pink in his cheeks, it must have been the cold. You wait in silence, watching him struggle to speak.

“Thank you.” he practically has to spit the words out. Your mouth gaps slightly. Billy was not one for niceties and you’re fairly certain this is the first time he has thanked you for anything. 

Your shock turns to confusion, not entirely sure what he’s thanking you for. 

“For what, exactly?” you ask as gently as you can. His eyes shift, falling to his boots. 

“For that night you helped me find Max.” he explains, avoiding your eyes. “You really saved my ass with Neil.” he goes on. Your stomach twists at the memory. More specifically the way Neil had looked at his son as he stood, terrified, on the front steps. It had put you on edge then and now you know for good reason. 

The gratitude you had seen in Billy’s eyes before he disappeared into the house suddenly makes sense. You have no idea what Neil would have done if you hadn’t insisted on speaking with him that night, but if Billy’s demeanour is anything to go by, it couldn’t have been good.  

“You’re welcome.” You say, your voice barely above a whisper. Billy’s eyes meet yours again as he takes half a step closer to you. Against your will, your heart races at the proximity. You are suddenly aware of the heat radiating off of him, making the empty air behind you feel even colder. The hand encompassing your arm twitches, the warmth from it seeming to creep over your skin. You find yourself wanting to draw closer, to close the small distance between you and be consumed by the warmth. There is a pause of silence, the music emanating from the gym filling the space. 

“Dance with me.” Billy says, suddenly. It’s less of a request and more of a gentle demand. You gap up at him not knowing what to say. It’s such an outlandish offer. It’s the middle of December, in an alleyway behind the gym at a middle school dance. His lips twitch upwards at your bewildered expression. 

“What? Never danced with a guy before?” He asks, in a tone meant to be teasing. Your face heats up as you try to recall a time that you had been asked to dance, it had to have been in 8th grade. 

“N-no, I have.” you deny. “It’s just we’re in an alleyway and- and it's freezing out.” you try to explain your hesitance, his grin only growing wider. The flash of his white teeth makes your stomach flip. 

“Don’t worry loca, I’ll lead.” He assures you, the hand on your arm sliding down to gently hold your waist. He takes another step towards you and all the excuses die on your tongue as he smiles softly down at you. Your mind races, trying to recall what Nancy had taught you. 

Squaring your shoulders towards him, you place your hands, arms extended, on his shoulders. Billy’s brows pull together, taking in your rigid posture. 

“Jesus christ, what are you? 12?” he asks. You open your mouth to bite back at him but the hand on your waist pulls you closer, pressing your body fully against his. Your breath hitches as he slots one of his legs between yours. 

“Now your arms go here. '' he instructs, his free hand moving your arm up around his neck, moving you, impossibly, closer. Your heart is pounding against your ribs so hard that you're certain he can feel it through where your chest is pressed against his. His hand trails down your side to your back, holding you against him with a firm pressure. He lowers his head, leaving the only space between you a few inches between your faces. You can feel his warm breath mingling with yours. 

“Now feel the music, move with it.” He instructs, his tone gentler now, just a whisper between you. You can feel his breath fanning across your cheeks, under the smell of cigarettes you smell his peppermint toothpaste. You do your best to focus on the song over the sound of blood rushing in your ears. Taking a deep breath you begin to shift your feet slightly. Billy clicks his tongue. 

“Loosen up a little, move from here.” He tells you his hands sliding down your sides to grip your hips, moving them against his in time with the music. You’re not fully aware of the butterflies fluttering in your stomach, too consumed by the way his body is moving. Feeling him sway along with you helps you move more rhythmically. The two of you begin slowly, building your confidence, Billy leading you. His body seems to consume you, guiding you along with him. Part of you is amazed at how he is able to fluidly move the two of you together as one, along with the music. 

You begin to move independently, feeling more confident, his arms always around you. Becoming engrossed in the way the two of you are moving together, not even aware of the cold anymore. Your hand absentmindedly moves along his shoulders to the base of his neck, your fingers threading through his curls. They are surprisingly soft. You hear Billy hum, the sound vibrating through his chest. Without warning, he bows his head, leaning forward into you while his hands support your back, lowering you into a dip. 

You can’t stop the laugh that bubbles up in your chest. Billy chuckles at your reaction, lifting you back up. Your smile remains on your face as he continues to move the two of you. 

As the music slows, so does he. You pant a breath, trying to contain your smile as he slowly comes to a stop. He smiles back down at you in a way you haven’t seen before, his blue eyes sparkling. The closest you had seen was when he was talking about California, or when he was drugged. It makes your head feel fuzzy. He still holds you close to him, his eyes on you. With his eyes searching your face so intently, you suddenly feel embarrassed, averting your eyes. 

“Thanks.” you say, not even sure what you’re thanking him for, but feeling like it needs to be said. You feel his hands tighten slightly on your waist. 

“Don’t mention it.” he breaths. There is a pause, your eyes glancing back up to him. Your heart skips a beat when his eyes shift over your face, flickering momentarily to your lips. “I owe you anyway.” he chuckles, pulling himself away slightly. Without his body pressed against yours, you're aware of the cold air is around you. As much as you want to pull him close again, you reluctantly remove your arms from him. 

You're about to ask him what he means by owing you when the sound of the gym doors opening startles you both. Nancy stands in the opening, peering out into the alleyway. Seeing her before she can make out your face in the dark, you take a step away from Billy, his hands falling from your waist. Finally seeing you, Nancy sighs.

“Hey, I was looking for you.” She says. You try to smile, tugging at your clothes, suddenly aware of how wrinkled they are. 

“Sorry, I was taking out the trash.” You explain, hoping that the darkness conceals the reddening of your face. Nancy’s eyes narrow, adjusting to the darkness, darting between you and Billy before settling on you. One brow quirked inquisitively. “Right.” she says. You know that her investigative mind is already spinning. “Just making sure you’re okay.” It's a question. Nancy knows what happened between Billy and Steve. She knows what he is capable of, something you had momentarily forgotten.

“I’m good.” you assure her, smiling as best you can. “I’ll be back in a second.” you say quickly. Nancy glances at Billy once more before nodding and closing the door. 

Exhaling, you turn to look at Billy. His gentle smile has been replaced by a cocky smirk, it makes you want to shove him. 

“Smooth.” He crows, stepping back to lean against the wall. Rolling your eyes you run a hand through your hair, goosebumps rising on the skin of your arms, trying to put the way Billy had felt against you out of your mind. Glancing at him, you watch as he fishes his pack of cigarettes out of his back pocket. You’re not sure what compels you, but you swallow past your embarrassment and speak up.

“Did you want to come inside?” You offer. Billy levels his eyes on you, a new cigarette dangling from his lips.

“Nah, I’m good ‘chaperoning’ from here.” He says, putting air quotes around the word, before retrieving his lighter and igniting the cigarette. Part of you wants to stay, another part wants him to come with you, but in the back of your mind you know that he will stay and you will go. That’s the way that it has to be, for now.

Turning, you head for the doors back to the bustling gym.

“I’ll see you around, Loca.” Billy calls after you.

Despite everything, you smile at the familiar goodbye.

“See you, Billy.” You reply, before opening the doors, walking back into the light of the gym, leaving Billy in the cold, dark, outside. 

Part 1,... (Masterlist)...Part 21 (Coming Soon)...

AN: I hope you guys liked it! Finally a bit of steam in this slowburn!! Just a little taste of what's to come! Let me know what you guys think, leave a like of a comment! I read every one of them and appreciate it SO MUCH!

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[mike-haters-dni]

So while I'm Saying Shit, I also have a problem with this idea that El was upset that Mike wasn't saying I love you specifically because her love language is words of affirmation so she really needed to hear it? I mean, first of all I think the idea of love languages is mostly useful as a quick generalized way to discuss how we respond to and express affection—a messy nuanced human behavior thing that is hard to talk about, and the show is written with that nuance, but even then I don't think El particularly craves or requires words to feel loved anymore than anyone else does. I think in s4 she was really just confused about why her boyfriend was refusing to say the word 'love' under any circumstance to her? Especially after she heard him say it once already and then she said it back to his face in response so its like, he said he loves me before and I let him know I feel the same and now he won't say it again? Not even as a way to end letters—a normal thing people do for someone who means much less to them than she supposedly does to him sooooooooooo like what's the fucking deal? The contents of the letters sure implies he holds a lot of affection for her and he brings her flowers in her favorite colors and ok we're in love and then he signs 'from' on the card and its like ????? like even as the audience you're supposed to be confused lol like he clearly has some kind of hang up I wonder what it is? Then after El smashes a girl's face in she thinks "oh yeah, the hang up is that he actually hates me because I'm evil haha lemme just start projecting real quick" and then, you know, s4 happens. I mean, it's not like she doesn't value words at all, I just don't think her relationship to them is particularly tied to her trauma like people say, or if anything, maybe she values them less because that's all Brenner would ever give her? Like, perhaps the big Love Confession hits the hardest because it came after Mike and company spent a week or whatever driving across the entire western united states to save her from the government. Idk, something to chew on.

Honestly, if anyone's love language is words its Mike lmao he's the one whos constantly telling El how amazing she is. He's also desperately trying to tell her he loves her in like 5 scenes (arguably succeeding except for not saying the actual word in most of them) before he actually does like, he wants to so bad it almost comes spilling out of his mouth against his will (except for that one time it does ha) he's just terrified of doing so because it would essentially be ripping his entire beating heart out of his chest and handing it to this powerful-in-every-way girl on a silver platter for her to do whatever she wants with—like crushing it into a fine paste in front of his eyes, killing him instantly and preventing him from having the strength to love anything ever again. Like, the other half of the love language thing is that you also speak the love language, meaning you are more likely to show affection by doing the thing you want for other people, and Mike does this waaaaay more than El does for anyone actually (something I would love to see her do more in s5 lowkey. Like, she was at a severe disadvantage before and was too busy dealing with her own shit to have a ton of emotional energy for anyone else so it makes sense, but we're matured now. I think now is the time for a heart-to-heart that goes both ways u kno).

If I wanted to be cute, I could argue that both Mike and El's main love language is actually acts of service. They're both little heroes who jump at the chance to do anything for the people they love with no regard for their own personal wellbeing. Also, adorably, the thing that gets them back together in s3 is Mike saving El from Billy, which El responds to by helping him and Lucas with the vending machine. One offering of m&ms later and we're back baybee it's the quiet understanding that no matter what they'll always be there for each other for meeee

If I'm not being cute I'm saying the idea that everyone has a main 'love language' is bullshit and you're gonna appreciate different things at different times and people are not that easily categorized but it's still a good jumping off point for discussion so—

Anyway El saves the world and Mike saves her and they're dying in each other's arms thank you for your time <3

[blushweddinggowns]

Mike wasn’t homophobic, okay? He just wasn’t. And he really wished that Dustin would stop making jokes about it. He knew that he was kidding and he knew that he kind of deserved it for how much he shit on Steve, but he still didn’t like it. 

He didn’t want Eddie to think about him like that. He didn’t want anyone to think of him like that. Them being gay wasn’t the issue, there was no issue. He just would never understand what Eddie saw in the guy he decided to devote his whole life to. 

Because Eddie was awesome. He was so freaking talented as an artist, as a storyteller, as a musician. He was confident, took zero shit from anyone who dared to comment on his weird hobbies, and… he was kind of hot. But not like in a gay way, of course not. Mike wasn’t like that. More… in a tough guy kind of way. Especially when he got to bear witness to him beating the ever-loving shit out of Billy Hargrove, which outside of the things El could do was probably the coolest thing he had ever seen. 

He’d be lying if he said that Eddie wasn’t the sole reason why he started growing his hair out in the first place. He just… wanted to be like him. Even if he still would never understand his choice in romantic partners. 

It wouldn’t never not be weird seeing Eddie and Steve together, even after all this time. Like okay. Yeah, Steve wasn’t ugly. And he could be funny sometimes. Maybe. And yes, he was brave as hell and may have saved his life once or twice. But he still didn’t get it, not really. Though… Mike also didn’t quite get why El was into him either. Not when she was literally a freaking superhero and he was just… himself. 

Huh.

But that realization still didn’t make him understand why the two of them were so obsessed with each other. Maybe it was because they’d known each other for so long? Everyone knows they weren’t actually together in grade school, but that didn’t stop the two of them from acting like they were. Eddie never missed the chance to mention that they’d been together for over a decade, always with a big, dumb grin on his face. 

It makes Mike’s mind wander into odd directions. It was so weird, being with someone for that long. It would almost be like if he and Will had gotten together as kids. Except they had known each other even longer, since Kindergarten. What would that be like? Would they be just as weird as Eddie and Steve? In all honesty, Mike kind of thought that they would be weirder. If he was gay. Which he wasn’t. And neither was Will, so it was a moot point, but that doesn’t stop him from thinking about it. 

Maybe it’s because Eddie and Steve are always shoving how in love they are down their throats. It was so stupid that it kept making him think about Will instead of his actual girlfriend. Whom he loved. Like a lot.

Just… not enough to say it recently. But it’s not like it’s a big deal, right? It was just in letters. Besides, saying I love you felt like an in-person thing, didn’t it? It was more romantic that way. He’d say it to her when he saw her next, simple as that. She’d only have to wait a few more months, though Mike felt a little… weird about their plans for spring break. 

Technically he had no reason to feel like that. Everything was totally fine. El was doing great in California. Will was probably doing fine too, not that he asked anymore. He… didn’t like to think about Will much at all anymore, for reasons he’s not quite sure of himself. 

But not thinking about it was so much fucking easier. He was too busy enjoying his first year of highschool, something that he would never have thought was possible. But Eddie and Hellfire just had that effect on him. Though… he could really do without the sessions where Steve was hanging out in his lap. 

It’s not that seeing them together grosses him out or anything. Well… it does. But in the same way seeing Nancy and Johnathan making out was gross. And it kept making him think of all of that weird Will shit. If anything it starts to piss him off a little, even more than his sister’s relationship used to, it was seeing how happy they always were. 

But he was in control of it. Maybe his mom was right about teenage hormones making him crazy after all. It’s not like it has anything to actually do with Will. 

Right?

From the newest chapter of this fic

[loveswrites]

Alive Poly Harringrove x reader

Poly! Billy x Reader x Steve

Time it took me: Probably around 4 hours while watching a movie and cooking dinner.

Word Count: 1614

I wrote this for me but I wanted to post it so here you go my loves! <3

"I don't want you to go." Billy said firmly.

"Wait what? You need me, you can't win this without me! Eleven can't win without me. She's not strong enough." You said, shaking your head.

"No you're not going!" Billy yelled, making you jump.

"Billy, you know she's right.. We need her, El can't do this without her." Steve said, running his hands through his hair. His eyes were slightly glossy and red. 

There was a new force of evil running through the veins of Hawkins. It was stronger than anything you've ever fought before. El has lost multiple times to it and so have you. The group has started to call it Vecna. You've had dreams about it, you've had visions about it. You've seen each and every outcome of this battle. 

You've seen them fail. 

Win.

Die. 

You've seen you lose Yourself and everyone you love and care about. 

Billy.. Steve.. El.. Max.. everyone. That was your power. The gang Nicknamed you the fortune Teller or fortune cookie. You can see the future of everything and everyone. Every decision they make you can see their life path and purpose switch. Rather the ending is good or bad you can see it all. But you can’t necessarily tell them what happens or you lose sight of that person's path of life.

When you and El escaped from the lab you both were frightened to death. Both were scared of getting caught and taken back to Dr Brenner. You two were his favorites. And from your visions you knew he would stop at nothing to get you both back until he was dead. His ending was always the same. So much that you stopped looking for a different ending.

 He chose his life.

 And he chose his path.

You were a year older than El. You knew a lot more about life than she did. Only things from your vision though. You still knew very little. But that didn't stop you from immediately having a crush on Steve when you first saw him. You liked everything about him. From his big head of hair to his try hard charm. He liked you as well but he felt like the age gap was too much. Though you already knew that you saw the vision. You would always tell him small things about his future that you were sure would happen just to freak him out. 

Anytime Steve would talk about a girl or having another crush you'd always shrug it off and say "I don't know why you're so pressed about it, we're all gonna end up together anyways. You just have to wait for Billy" Each time he and everyone else would ask "Who's Billy?" "What are you talking about??" They all questioned you until Billy came into town a few months later.

When Mike,Lucas and Dustin came fussing about MadMax all you could do was smile. when they asked you why you said "Billy's here." They would tease you about having an imaginary boyfriend until they saw that Billy was MadMax's brother. 

"That's impossible." Lucas said.

"It's like she's a wizard! No guys hear me out-" Dustin yelled in excitement.

"No, that's crazy!" Mike screeched.

That was until you met Billy. He was busy yelling at Steve about something you can't remember about what. You walked into the room and when his eyes landed on you his eyes softened and his voice lower. The rest of the gang was there, staring at the scene unfolding in front of them.

"Hello Billy." You said softly, smiling at him.

"Do I know you pretty girl?" He questioned softly, frowning his eyebrows.

"You feel that flutter in your chest? It's a sign that you already know me Billy. You've felt it for a couple of days haven't you?" You said walking closer to him. As you did Steve backed up a little from Billy's grip.

"How did you know that?" He whispered tilting his head.

"You shouldn't fight with Steve like that. We'll be together, all three of us. I wouldn't want any fighting when I'm around. It's a headache." You finally made your way to Billy. Bringing your hand up to his check you tucked his hair behind his ear. To which he leaned his head into your hold. 

"Who are you?" He questioned.

"You already know."

Approximately 2 months later from that day You, Steve and Billy started dating.  It was very bumpy in the beginning. Steve and Billy fought a lot no matter if it was about you or not. But you always were the only one to be able to break them up and for them to just kiss and make up like big boys. 

Everyone was shocked when you three started dating besides El. She knew your visions were always real. Soon after everyone did too. Whenever you didn't want to do something and you were adamant about not going somewhere. They all knew something bad would happen so they all would just stick with you. The group has grown to trust your judgment. To the point they would ask you pointless questions about their day to day life.

"Can I go to the grocery store?" Joyce asked, holding onto her purse looking at you. 

"Yeah? Why wouldn't you be able to?” You questioned.

“Just checking.” Joyce said, walking away with a soft smile.

“Is this going to be a good brush for my hair or am I just wasting my time?” Steve asked, holding up a brush for you to see.

“Your hair will tangle up easier.” You said as Billy tightened his hold on your waist.

“Damn it.” Steve said, walking to put the brush down.

“Is Mike ever going to pay me back?” Lucas said, running up to you panting out of breath.

“Most likely not.” You said shrugging, flipping the page of the magazine you were holding.

“I told you! I knew it!” Lucas yelled to Mike.

“She doesn’t know what she’s talking about! She doesn’t know what I’m gonna do in the future!” Mike screeched out.

“Like hell she does!” Dustin yelled out.

“You’ll die! I can’t let that happen.” Billy said, shaking his head. 

He started to pace the room. A sign that you’ve learned that he does when he's scared or nervous. You're sure he's feeling all of those things right now. Billy is way more protective over you than Steve is. Steve will be protective over you till a certain extent. Billy will protect you to his death. He refuses to let anyone hurt you. Even himself. 

“Way to throw good vibes in the air.” Steve mumbled under his breath.

“I’m not fucking around right now Harrington!” Billy said pushing Steve a little too hard to your liking.

“Billy, I will be fine. But I can’t sit around and watch you all die knowing I could have tried.” You said without even thinking.

“All of us?” Robin questioned.

“Oh great. Just great! She’s confirmed our death and you guys still want to go?!” Eddie said, jumping up from the sofa. 

“We’re gonna die..” Nancy said, looking down.

“I- It’s a path but it’s not the only one! Billy I have to go or else it will be the only path. As much as you love me I can’t let that happen. I would never be the same. They’re my family.” You said keeping eye contact with Billy. His eyes were facing the ground. His eyes kept moving like they were searching for something but you know it was his attempts to keep his tears in. 

“I- I..” Billy struggled to say. You walked closer to him with your head tilted a little.

“Billy, I have to go.”

“I can’t lose you. You're all I have. I can’t live a life without you.” Billy said lowly. His voice cracked a little but you heard him perfectly fine.

“You won’t lose me. I promise. And I’m not all you have.. You have Steve.” You said promising and in attempts to make him feel better.

Billy let out a bitter laugh.

“We fight like dogs.” He huffed out.

“Because you love each other just as much as you both love me. Just in your own ways.” You said softly grabbing his billy lifting it up slightly so you could see better. Wiping his tears you kissed his lips softly. 

“We're going to be okay. I promise.”

“Pinky promise?” Billy and Steve said at the same time making them look at each other as Steve moved closer.

“Pinky promise.” You answered softly, smiling.

Steve kissed your forehead and brung the three of you into a small group hug. You all felt each other relax in each other's hold. With this you saw their life paths change. They’d stick together no matter what happened tonight and that was all you needed. If there was a sacrifice that had to be made, Your two lover boys would have each other's backs to the end.

“So are we still going?” Eddie asked, making you three break away from the group hug.

“Yeah we are.” You said nodding. 

“And are we all going to live?” Erica questioned.

“If that’s what you call it.” You said starting to walk away.

“Wait what?! What do you mean by that?!” Eddie screamed.

“Oh hell.”

“That’s it! We're doomed!” Dustin said.

This would be one hell of a fight and all you knew was One of you was not walking away from it alive. And you would be damned if it was one of them.

There all you have.

And no one was going to take them from you.

[thestrangestthing89]

I think there are a lot of interconnected plot points to consider with Will being the center of them all. One of which is that I think he created a few characters - El, Billy, and Eddie. I think of these characters like Dawn from Buffy. She was created to be Buffy’s little sister in S5. All of her childhood memories are fabricated (along with everyone's memories of her) but from when she is created she is real and is able to form her own thoughts and relationships. I think these characters are similar to this but Will has a bit of control over them unknowingly i.e. he’s able to call for El when he needs help. I think when he feels some things strongly he ends up influencing things unintentionally. But otherwise they have their own free will. So he’s creating people, and then he’s unintentionally manipulating things that already exist based off his feelings in the moment.

In S2, Joyce finds Will’s drawing of the MF and Will tells her it’s for a story he is writing. I think there are parts of this show that have been a story he is creating - there are parts that are real and parts that are a coping mechanism for his traumatic childhood.

Eddie shows up in S4 and is frequently called a "freak" - a thing that Will is called in the first two seasons. He is a nerd who loves D&D, and this is emphasized a season after Will is desperately trying to play D&D with his friends and keeps getting ignored. But in this season, we see Eddie - who is nerdy and enthusiastic about it like Will - getting his friends back to playing D&D and making it cool. One of Mike's points to Will in S3 was that they couldn't keep playing kids games for the rest of their lives and that having girlfriends made them grown up. But here is Eddie, no girlfriend in sight and loves playing D&D. Because he is older than them, Mike and Dustin look up to him and start to embrace being nerds again. They have fun playing even though they are a little intimidated by Eddie (at least in the beginning of the season).

Eddie also says a few things that don't add up - he was held back 3 years but then Chrissy remembers him from middle school. I think there are odd discrepancies like this whenever Will is involved in manipulating his surroundings.

Eddie's role in S4 is to get Mike and Dustin back to playing together - a thing that was upsetting Will the previous season. Lucas on the other hand, still isn't interested (at least on the surface).

Eddie has other things in common with Will - he is poor and his father isn't around. He's misunderstood and made out to be the bad guy by the town but isn't responsible for any of the things he gets blamed for. We see some members of the town blame Will for being queer and they seem to see his disappearance as the starting point to their bad luck (a thing I think is going to come up again later).

By the end of the season Eddie has emphasized he is not a hero. He runs away and hides when there is trouble. Something that Will has done in the past. But when Will stands his ground in S2 against the MF, it ends up hurting him even more. And when Eddie decides to be a hero and run back out into the UD to lead the demobats away and buy more time, it ends up killing him. And the same song plays when Eddie dies as when Will dies in S1 (When it's Cold I Like to Die).

Eddie fulfilled his role in the story. He was there to reunite the party and get them interested in D&D again. Lucas does realize he doesn't want anything to do with Jason and his friends and ends up helping to protect Eddie along with the group. I think there is a bit of foreshadowing here with the town hunting the freak. I think this is likely to happen to Will next season while the group protects him.

Also interesting to note that Mike seems to have had a crush on Eddie, indicating that Will's nerdy side is actually appealing to him. Even though he tried to say otherwise in S3.

[nicxxx5]

why mike wheeler is autistic

these are some of my thoughts on why i think mike wheeler is autistic. 

he has narrow special interests (dnd, science, writing)

he only has a couple of friends, also with the same interests as him (it is common that autistic people have a difficult time making friends)

he hates change (he didn’t like the addition of max into the group without being made aware of it first, instead of using highschool as an opportunity to be someone else like lucas did he went back to doing things that brought him comfort like dnd, he’s always the first to notice when something is off with will (him missing/being possessed))

he is very logical (dustin and lucas ask why they can’t just let his mom deal with el when they find her in s1 and mike reasons that they’ll get caught for sneaking out so they have to handle it themselves, he rationalizes most of the plans in the party (in s3 when lucas says they win if they get the mindflayer out of billy mike reminds him that they wont because it didn’t work with will, jonathan thinks he’s ridiculous for wanting to go to suzie for help in s4 but mike reasons that she is the smartest person they know)) he also doesn’t budge much on his thoughts when it comes to this

he has a difficult time with his emotions (he mixed up romantic and platonic feelings with el, he also didn’t know how to properly confront her about this when he realized), he becomes overly emotional often (when he realized hopper knew el was alive the whole time and he got angry and broke down)

he is a people pleaser (he cares a lot for his friends, especially will and el, which is why in s4 he kept pretending he was in love with el because it’s what he thought she wanted, and why he hid how will leaving affected him because he didn’t want to make their friendship awkward with his newly realized feelings)

he’s not bound to societies standards (to a degree) (why he continues to play dnd even though he gets made fun of and why the upside down wasn’t a difficult concept for him to grasp because to him it made sense easily) 

he misses sarcasm (s4 at suzie’s house)

he misses double meanings to things (his conversations with lucas in s3 about el, he took most of what he said literally)

he is very blunt (often he is quick to tell things how it is even if someone gets upset with him)

i did this pretty late at night and kinda on a whim so it’s probably not my best. let me know what you think or any ideas you have and i might add them to it!