#steddie soulmate au

[badcaseofcasey]

one single thread of gold (tied me to you) | Part 4 aka: my Steddie soulmates au, Eddie's POV Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 |Steve's POV

Eddie wasn’t sure how he thought Steve Harrington would end up coming back into his life - he wasn’t even sure Steve would come back into his life - but pinned against the wall of a boat shack at the end of a broken beer bottle was not it.

The past 24 hours of Eddie’s life had been something out of a horror movie. He wasn’t sure his heart rate had slowed down since he first saw Chrissy’s eyes glazed over in his trailer. And now, here comes his soulmate tagging along with the most unexpected combination of people he’s ever seen - including Dustin Henderson, one of newest recruits to Hellfire Club, and Max Mayfield, who moved into Forest Hills not that long ago.

He was reluctant to admit that his body instinctively knew to calm down once he realized his soulmate was there, instead choosing to believe it was down to the group of people who - against all odds - heard his story and believed him.

The next few days were… strange. Steve seemed intent not to mention their words at all, so Eddie followed his lead. There was a moment when Steve took off his sweater to dive into Lovers Lake where Eddie was able to see his words, clear as day. If he wasn’t convinced that Steve was his soulmate by then, that would have confirmed it.

Because much as Eddie hated to admit it, Steve had surprised him. Sure, Dustin and the others had spent the better part of the past six months trying to convince him that Steve was a good guy (no, really!), but he never expected it to actually be true. He said as much to Steve, and reveled briefly in Steve’s shy acceptance of the compliment. If it hadn’t been so dark in that godforsaken forest, he would’ve sworn Steve had blushed.

They had made it back topside and now he and Dustin were goofing around while the rest of the crew were setting up supplies and weapons. His eyes drifted briefly to where Robin and Steve were putting together molotov cocktails - a sentence he never would have even considered thinking before today. The distraction was long enough for Dustin to get a drop on him, knocking him to his knees. Eddie rolled sideways to avoid Dustin’s “spear,” laughing along with Dustin.

Dustin sat next to him. “All right, old man, catch your breath.”

Eddie gasped, pretending to be appalled. “Watch who you’re calling ‘old man,’ whippersnapper.”

Dustin looked out at the field and his hand drifted down to run his fingers up and down his forearm, where Eddie knew his soulmate’s words were. Eddie had learned all about Suzie within their first few sessions of Hellfire; it was a point of pride that Dustin got his words before any of the other members of the party did.

“Thinking about Suzie?” Eddie asked.

“Yeah,” Dustin answered, eyes still looking out into the distance. “I always worry when we’re about to do something like this. What if something… happens to me? We’ve kept Suzie out of this so far, so she has no idea that we’re facing off against literal monsters at least once a year at this point. If something happens to me, what will Suzie think?”

Eddie shook his head and sat up. “I hate that you’re having to worry about things like that. You’re only fourteen, man.”

“Yeah, but look at it this way,” Dustin said. “At least I know, for sure, that there’s someone out there for me. That no matter how bad things get, there’s something to look forward to. It gives me hope, and a reason to keep going when I think I can’t.”

Eddie smiled sadly. “That’s quite the bright side.”

“I try,” Dustin said. “What about you, do you have your words?”

Eddie weighed the options of lying to Dustin right now, but decided it wasn’t worth it. Besides, it felt like it would be a betrayal of the trust Dustin had clearly put in him. “Yeah, I do.”

“Really?” Dustin asked. “You never talk about them.”

“For good reason,” Eddie said, bumping his shoulders into Dustin’s. “Not all of us get our words from our adorable girlfriend from camp.”

“Well, whoever it is,” Dustin said, nudging Eddie back. “It can be a reason for you, too. You know, to keep going.”

“Hey, I already have enough of a reason,” Eddie stood and said, “‘86 is gonna be my year, right?”

Dustin smiled and accepted Eddie’s hand up.

“And Dustin,” Eddie said, seriously. “You know that one of us would take care of letting Suzie know. We know she’s important to you. She wouldn’t just be left in the dark.”

“Thanks, Eddie,” Dustin said. “You know, if you told me who your soulmate is, I could make the same promise.”

“Nice try,” Eddie said, ruffling the top of Dustin’s ghillie suit. “Come on, let’s go see if we’ve got our marching orders.” He slung an arm across Dustin’s shoulders as he steered them back towards the group.

Eddie couldn’t get Dustin’s words out of his head, even as they all made their way back into the Upside Down. Is that how Steve thought about him as he went through everything that Eddie gathered had happened over the past few years? Did Steve think about him at all?

The group was getting ready to split up, and Eddie was caught with a sudden need to talk to Steve. He called out his name as the group headed out towards the Creel House, then stopped when Steve turned to look at him.

There was so much to say, so much they had both left unsaid. Eddie didn’t know how he could possibly put all of what he was feeling in that moment into words, but here he was, about to watch Sir Steve walk away from him again, only this time, the dragons were so much more real. He just knew he couldn’t let Steve leave without saying… something.

“Make him pay.”

Shit. He probably could have done better than that.

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[kennahjune]

Thinking of Steddie Soulmates where you feel every pain your soulmate feels.

Thinking of little Steve feeling every backhand and punch from Eddie’s dad.

Thinking of little Eddie feeling Steve break his arm and the pain being so much worse because his parents refuse to take him to the hospital until the school gets involved.

Thinking of Eddie finally moving in with Wayne and sure, the paternal beating are done, but now he’s just a small town Freak that’s constantly targeted.

Thinking of Eddie and Steve in their Sophomore/Freshman years respectively, not knowing who the other is outside of rumors and (unknowingly) their shared pain.

Thinking of Eddie finally escaping pain, the bullying turning to mainly verbal shit.

Only to be thrust right back into pain because his soulmates a walking hazard.

Thinking of Eddie having no idea what’s going on when he suddenly feels like one giant bruise after Steve’s beat up by Jonathan. Eddie watching Steve fall from grace in his Junior year and not connecting the dots.

Billy coming along and smashing a fucking plate over Steve’s head while Eddie’s peacefully sleeping. Eddie jolting awake with a shout because /holy fucking shit ow—/

Neither of them connecting the dots.

Then Steve graduates, and Eddie’s held back. And the pain subsides for a bit.

And then fuck all happens in Starcourt and Eddie literally feels like he’s dying and Jesus H. Christ is his soulmate /ok/??? Like they are getting seriously fucked up.

And then that recedes and it ok for a while— Eddie will still get killer pains that seem to circulate in his chest and head, but that’s to be expected with whatever tf his poor soulmate is going through year after year.

And then the fuckery of March 1986 happens and Chrissy Cunningham is dead in his trailer— his home— and he’s wanted for fucking murder and hiding in Rick’s dingy ass boat house—

And then he’s shoving none other than Steve Harrington up against a wall with a broken bottle helps to his throat. Eddie’s so piped on adrenaline he barely feels the sting in his back, but he does feel the zing of pressure on his throat and ok /ow—/

And he’s staring at Steve Harrington, who looks kinda terrified and so pretty and Eddie’s holding a bottle to his throat and is that Dustin?—

And—

And holy shit.

Eddie’s eyes widen at the same time as Steve’s and the realization hits them both at once.

[batsbratsandbarbedwire]

Steddie soulmate au where your soulmate's favorite song constantly plays in your head.

How long til Steve's like "why is there always screaming?"

Eddie stomping on tables doing his little non-conformist dance with, like, Springsteen's I'm on Fire on loop in his brain.

Steve's concussions, the headaches, the chaos. He's alone in the dark, trying to sound out what the screams are saying to distract himself from the pain.

Eddie's got The Beachboys and ABBA and Springsteen cassettes hidden under his mattress because once you're a little boy who wasn't loved, even reformed under the unconditional love of Wayne Munson, you don't take love for granted at all, and he'll be damned if he's not gunna know everything about anything his soulmate loved.

Steve keeping little pencil mark tallies on the corner of his desk at home for how many times a week the song in his head changes.

An Iron Maiden song Eddie loved for a day catches for some reason, and he hears it back in his own head for the next two weeks and he's fucking giddy with it.

Steve fixated, gets really good at deciphering the screams, knows the full lyrics of every song by the end of the first night he hears them. Keeps him company at home.

Once, Eddie's picking Dustin up from Steve's. Steve waits out on the driveway with Dustin, talking shit and fucking off, Eddie pulls up. When Dustin climbs in, he shuts the door, windows are down, Steve pokes his head in to acknowledge Eddie, hears the song. It's been on loop in his head for three days. He knows every word. They don't always catch for that long. He looks up at Eddie. Blinks.

Eddie's caught for a second, by the look on Steve's face. Dustin's shuffling through his bag, looking for a miniature he wants to show Eddie, but Steve's lips quirk up a little. And then he says, "doubt sunk itself in you, it's teeth and talons through, you're living catch two two, deluding."

Steve watches Eddie's eyes flick to his radio, then back to Steve.

"This ones lasted a few days?" Steve says quietly.

Eddie's eyes drop to Dustin, then back up to Steve. He grins. "Modern witchhunt, mass hysteria. Fits, huh?"

"Yeah," Steve smiles. "Little bit."

Dustin pulls out his figure, starts rambling to Eddie, pauses, nods and says "later, Steve," before he's on about his figure again, talking a mile a minute.

Eddie laughs. He leans over the console. Grins innocently at Steve. He taps his temple. "We'll talk about why this caught you later, big boy."

Steve's warm as he watches the van full off. The song in his head doesn't change for another two weeks.

[strangersatellites]

i’m not the biggest fan of soulmark au’s but hear me out.

au where your soulmate’s signature shows up on your hip on your sixteenth birthday.

most people are able to either read theirs clearly, or decipher what it says and then set off on a search for their other half.

when steve turns sixteen he’s anxiously awaiting his own when he’s met with the sight of a bat on his hip.

he spends years looking for a connection, something that might give him a clue.

it’s not until several years later when he moves away from home that he sees the bat.

he sees it scrawled across the bottom of a beautiful mural in the city and realizes his soulmate is an artist.

and an anonymous one at that.

[stevesbipanic]

Soulmate Marks Steddie AU but instead of like a guitar or dice or something for Eddie they get a nail bat and a nail shield.

Steve had grown up very confused with his soul mark. The crudely made shield with nails wasn't like anything he'd ever seen, normally soulmarks were something that represented his soulmate and helped him find her. People had flowers and sports equipment and things like their name. Tommy had a Christmas Tree for Carol and she had Tommy's favourite car. So what his soulmate was a Viking??? Maybe she was super into history, he signed up for AP history in hopes of finding her, but no luck. His parents hated that he didn't want to cover it up, it's not very feminine, what will people think Steve, but he didn't care He loved his soulmark and his soulmate, whoever she was. He knew Nancy wasn't his soulmate even though she matched the warrior personality he'd created in his head of his soulmate and he wasn't surprised her camera matched Jonathan's notepad and pen.

He kind of forgot about his mark for awhile. Too busy with Upside Down stuff and the kids and Robin and work and his parents always being away. He had a bisexual crisis in the Family Video bathroom with Robin when she said it was ok to like both, eerily reflecting Starcourt.

When it all came back again he swore that he felt something for a brief moment when Eddie pushed him against the boathouse but then there was the lake and Eddie talking about how soulmarks aren't everything if he truly loved Nancy and the chaos of getting out of the Upside Down.

Maybe if Eddie and Dustin weren't always so loud, their laughter cutting through the gloom of the situation, Steve wouldn't have noticed what they were doing. But there they were, battling each other with shields that Steve was all too familiar with. He almost dropped the makeshift molotov.

There was no time to confront this though, they had a job to do, a Hawkins to save. Eddie had stopped him for just a moment and he almost said it then. Oh how he wished he'd said something then, when he'd come back to Dustin's screams, a rush of bloody bandages, a slurring dying Eddie in his arms and a speeding van to the hospital, police be damned.

Steve didn't move from his bedside for a whole week. By then the party had seen the soulmark on Steve's hip, they knew why he was there. Steve had never seen a more beautiful sight than Eddie finally opening his eyes.

"Those bats bit off half my bat tattoo those ironic bastards" was one of the first things Eddie said. Steve couldn't help but laugh, Eddie was still being Eddie despite everything.

"shit they better not have-" to Steve's alarm, Eddie was pulling on the edge of one of his bandages, "oh thank fuck it's still there," and there it was, Eddie's soulmark, Steve's nail bat.

Guess Steve's soulmate was a warrior after all.

[spectrum-spectre]

I'm having steddie thoughts again

soulmate au (my achilles heel) where you see in black and white until you and your soulmate touch, then you're finally able to see in color

but ALSO - rockstar eddie and normie steve!!!

steve won the tickets for dustin through a radio giveaway, including backstage passes, and they get to be first in line for the meet and greet 👀

cue steve insisting that this is all for dustin and he doesn't wanna "ruin the moment" and embarrass him during the meet n greet because he thinks he isn't cool in comparison to a literal rock star but dustin BEGS him to come so that he won't be as nervous meeting 1 of his heros

so steve goes with to get their picture taken, (dustin is practically vibrating out of his skin with excitement) and right as the photographer tells them to smile, his arm brushes eddie's, and everything bursts into color - the exact moment they realize what happened is captured on film

honestly I've imagined a few different ways this could go: Steve goes to shake his hand right before the photo, or they brush arms, or Steve trips on the little rug mat while walking in and Eddie goes to catch him (insert Eddie making a "falling for me" joke, he's such a fucking sap)

idk I just had the vivid mental image of the photos being taken-the first one is when they make contact, the second pic is when they turn to each other with the "oh shit" looks on their faces, and the third one being them smiling/hugging/making out while dustin is LOSING IT

[strawberryspence]

There's a red string, strung and tied into a small bow on Steve's pinky finger. It never breaks, never fades. It stretches for miles and miles and miles. There's a shimmer in it when it hits the sunlight. It's beautiful, meaningful. His connection to his soulmate.

Steve's always been excited, always been curious as to who is on the other end of it. His mother has always told him to not follow it, that it may be dangerous, he could get lost.

He only tried following the string once. He was twelve, alone at the big house, with no parents and no friends. The string reminds him that there's a person on the other side of it, there's comfort in that. He follows it— follows, follows, follows— until he reaches the Hawkins Sign and sees the road ahead. The string still goes for ages, and it could go anywhere. He goes home to that dark, lonely house, and cries so hard the string vibrates in the dark.

When Steve finds the other end of his string, he thinks, its too late. The people around him— his parents, his friends, his peers— has already dictated who he was supposed to be. He finds the other end of it just at King Steve's peak. He finds it in between the fame and arrogance. He finds it, in the middle of the cafeteria, standing high on top of a table.

The string tightens, almost like it's pulling him to the other end. But as they stare at each other, from opposite sides of the cafeteria. Both having the realization that they are each other's soulmates and both knowing they can't do anything about it.

Steve tears his eyes away from him, tears his eyes away from Eddie Munson, tears his eyes away from his soulmate and continues back to his life. He continues as he learns that monsters exist, that there are kids being experimented on, that he can still change, that not everything is set in stone.

When the kids first mention the mysterious, eccentric, dungeon master that adopted them. The one with cool tattoos and long, frenzied hair. A name the kids cheered for in between the shelves of Family Video, that makes Steve's string glisten in anticipation. He thinks, maybe it's not too late.

And when Spring '86 finally comes around, and Steve watches as Dustin and Max scurry to find the man. Steve relents, his own concern and worry overflowing from the beams. He tells them to get in the car, as Robin closes up the store. They all silently watch as Steve follows his string.

"What are you doing here?" Eddie whispers, broke bottle held against Steve's neck.

The string between them shimmers in anticipation, its the closest they have ever been to each other. They can almost feel it vibrate in excitement.

"We're here to help." Steve answers back. He wishes— not for the first time— that he knows his soulmate. Knows what comforts him, knows what makes him feel better.

But as Eddie pulls away, finally calming down and telling them what truly happened. Steve thinks that his curiosity could wait till later. It's not too late. Not yet. Steve just has to help Eddie out of this.

"You want to talk about it?" Eddie asks, just after Steve thanks him for coming after him in the lake. Like Eddie would leave his own soulmate to drown and die in the underground world that just ate him.

"About what?" Steve asks. He knows what Eddie's asking, but he wants to be sure, doesn't want to step into boundaries.

Eddie raises his pinky, the string lifting with his hand, and it's fascinating as Steve sees his string being pulled this close by the other end.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Steve asks back, eyes wide.

"Do you?" Eddie challenges.

Steve is tired, and there's an ache in his body, maybe it's the bites or maybe it's the ache to be near Eddie. "Yes. I want to talk about it. But maybe not right now. Not here."

Eddie's taken aback for a second before he chuckles, "Yeah. Okay. We'll talk later."

"Later."

There's no later, not when they're just about to go to war with some evil wizard that can gauge their eyes from the inside. Just before it's time to go, just before it's time to go to war. Steve reminds Dustin and Eddie to be safe, to not be heroes. Steve turns because he needs to leave, if he doesn't do it right now, he's not sure if he'll ever go. Eddie calls him back.

"Steve."

Steve turns back. Only because it's Eddie and he'll always turn back for Eddie.

Eddie looks at him. Big brown eyes shining under the red sky. Eddie raises his pinky again, the ribbon tied on it tightens instinctively. There's a certain softness in his face; tender and hope mushed together.

"Stay alive."

Steve nods, raising his own pinky.

"Later."

Eddie nods, and they both turn from each other.

There's a moment. Just a sliver of it, where they think they won. If Steve has to describe it, he will say that it feels exactly like gasping for air after a long lap in the pool.

Steve realizes that they're wrong when the vibrant red of his string flickers to something duller. It's the first time it ever does that, and his heart drops. No.

"I told you not to be a hero!" Steve cries out, as Eddie's blood spills from everywhere.

"I know. I am sorry." Eddie smiles weakly at him.

"We got to move you. We got to—" When Steve moves him, Eddie moans in pain, tears spilling from his eyes. Steve steadies him again, doesn't move another inch to give his soulmate some kind of comfort. The pain of it goes straight into his ribs and into his chest.

"There's not gonna be a later. I am sorry, sweetheart." Eddie looks up at him, smiling softly as he cups Steve's face. "I am sorry I didn't talk to you earlier."

"I am sorry I didn't either." Steve sobs, clutching on Eddie's hand.

"We're soulmates." Eddie says. There finality in the statement, no room for questions and confusion. "We'll find each other again."

"No, Eddie." Steve shakes his head, stubborn as ever.

Eddie's hand slips off Steve's face, "See you soon, sweetheart."

Steve doesn't know what happens next. Nobody ever explained it to him. He thinks it's cruel that nobody ever prepares you for this moment. As he watches the once bright string finally die down, the shimmering turning into nothing. Slowly, but surely, disappearing. His only connection with his soulmate— with Eddie— forever gone.

The only thing that's left is a black string, tied on his pinky without its other half.

It's too late now.

-> my beautiful @undreaming-fanfiction's happier ending

[withacapitalp]

On the first day of school, Eddie had stood on their table in the cafeteria and declared that this was going to be his year. 

Well, ‘86 was going to be his year. Technically it was still ‘85 for three more months, but semantics semantics.  The rest of the club was confused, not exactly sure why he felt like this year was going to be different to the years of torture and mayhem that had proceeded it, but they appreciated Eddie’s insane amounts of optimism. 

Then two weeks later, Eddie spotted a group of lost little freshmen sheep. The one wearing a Weird Al t-shirt introduced himself as Dustin Henderson when Eddie came over to offer them refuge amongst the freaks of the school, and there was no doubt in the world that Eddie had been right. 

‘86 was going to be his year. 

Because it wasn’t like Dustin was a super rare name, but Eddie had never met a Dustin in Hawkins before that day. Meeting Dustin Henderson wasn’t just a fantastic coincidence, it was fate in action. 

Because Dustin Henderson was going to be the reason Eddie met his soulmate. 

Eddie had never shown anyone but Wayne his words. They had always been something sacred, special, no one else needed to know. There were people who showed everyone in the world, always looking for the person that might be the one to complete them, the one who would have words that matched their own. Eddie wasn’t one of those people. 

Even Gareth didn’t know.  

But, every night before bed, Eddie would carefully unwrap the bandage he always kept wound around his upper arm, looking down at the words and carefully tracing them with a single fingertip. 

Yeah. On Dust-Dustin’s mother. 

Dustin’s mother. They were so distinctive, so unique. It wasn’t the thing everyone dreaded- ‘How are you?’, ‘How can I help you?’, or even the worst, ‘Hi’. Eddie’s words were special, and that meant his soulmate was special too. 

Eddie had no idea what to expect from that first conversation, but he knew it was going to be wild. Probably some long winded crazy debate with laughter and sharp quips, and finally those words pushed out between giggles, which was the reason they would be shuttered. 

What Eddie never would have expected was to hear those words come out of Steve’s Harrington’s mouth. 

He never even thought that the words might be stuttered in fear, not laughter. Fear because of Eddie. Fear because of the broken bottle being held against his neck by his own damn soulmate.

Except no. No it couldn’t be him. Steve Harrington was not his soulmate. Steve Harrington was a jock douchebag, the kind of person Eddie had spent his entire life campaigning against. Steve Harrington was the epitome of everything Eddie wasn’t, and there was no way the universe or fate or god meant for them to be together. 

There had to be someone else in the room, someone he hadn’t seen who was going to appear out of the darkness and repeat exactly what Steve said.  

“Did you just say the words Dustin’s fucking mother to me?” Eddie growled out, desperate to be wrong, watching as Steve’s face grew impossibly whiter. There was a sharp burn on his upper arm, and he shakily dropped the bottle, hearing it shatter on the ground between the two of them. 

No doubt about it. Steve Harrington was his fucking soulmate. 

“Oh my god,” Robin Buckley said faintly from the background, but Eddie didn’t turn to face her. He couldn’t turn away from Steve, who was staring at him with the widest, most beautiful set of brown eyes Eddie had ever seen. 

“I’ll show you mine if you show me yours,” Steve offered, his voice barely more than a whisper. 

Eddie stumbled backward, the back of his thighs hitting up against the boat he had been hiding in. He roughly jerked at the right sleeve of his shirt, pulling it upward until the deep black words were visible, standing out against his pale skin. 

Steve fell back against the side of the boat house with a shaking sigh, slowly pulling off his jacket and peeling back one side of his stupid button down polo. He had left the top three buttons undone which made it easy for Steve to expose his soulmark to the rest of them. 

And there, sitting right over Steve’s heart, were the words he had just said.

Did you just say the words Dustin's fucking mother to me?

The first words Eddie Munson had ever directly said to Steve Harrington. 

[brbsoulnomming]

Tell Me Sweet Little Lies Part 27 (final part)

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | AO3

rating: explicit

-----

In the morning, Jonathan and Steve and Argyle make breakfast together, and Eddie watches them move around each other kind of bemusedly. He's not sure how, but somehow, it works, and the end result is a spread enough to feed even this hoard.

They trickle out sometime after that, most of them checking on Eddie and Steve one last time. Robin hurries some of them - Dustin and Mike - along, saying Steve has to help Eddie with his physical therapy.

"Wayne's dropping me off at home," she tells them, when it's just her and his uncle waiting in the truck left. "That's my gift to you - you get the weekend to enjoy your physical therapy."

She waggles her eyebrows meaningfully, cackling at them as she leaves.

When it's just them, and the house is utterly silent, they look at each other.

"I'll lock up downstairs," Eddie offers.

"I'll take upstairs," Steve agrees, already running towards it.

Eddie checks the doors and windows, just to be safe, then books it upstairs.

Steve's already sitting on the bed, eyes scanning what looks like Eddie's discharge paperwork.

He looks up when Eddie walks into the room, his expression lighting up in a way that makes Eddie's heart beat a little quicker.

"We need to talk," he blurts out, before he can let himself get distracted by the urge to kiss Steve senseless.

Steve's face falls. "Oh," he says. "Um. Yeah, okay, sure."

"About Jason," Eddie adds hurriedly. "And everything that happened."

"Oh! Right, you're right. Of course." Steve sets the papers aside, scooting up on the bed so Eddie can come sit across from him.

Steve immediately gets his hands on Eddie's knees when he does, leaning into his space. "How are you doing?"

That's not what Eddie meant, but he lets himself think about the question anyway.

"I don't know," he admits. "Can we come back to that?"

Steve makes a face at him. "That won't work forever," he warns him.

"I know," Eddie says. "Does it help if I say this time, at least I knew I wasn't alone?"

Steve considers that. "Does it help you?"

"Yeah," Eddie says slowly. "Before - when I was in the boathouse, or on the lake, or in the woods alone, or even in the Upside Down, there was a lot of times that I thought for sure I was going to die. But last night? I believed I'd be okay. I knew you were there, I knew you all had my back."

"We always will," Steve promises, tipping his head to kiss him.

"That's the other thing we need to talk about," Eddie says. "You always being so ready to be the one to take the hits."

Steve rolls his eyes. "Why does everyone keep bringing that up? I'm not trying to get hurt."

"You still do, though," Eddie points out. "Every time. You think we don't worry about you? Look, if you can look me in the eye and tell me it's a hundred percent not because you think you're worth less than the rest of the party, or that you're only as good as what you can do for them, then I'll drop it."

Steve's jaw tightens, throat working as he swallows.

"Thought so," Eddie says when Steve's been silent for a while.

"I don't exactly think I'm worth less," Steve says.

Eddie waits, but there's no lie, so he relaxes a little.

"But I guess I do think this is what I'm good for," Steve continues. "This is how I can help them."

"Stevie," Eddie whispers, his heart breaking a little. "There's so much more to you than just that, okay? You're more than that to them. To us."

He knows that Joyce said it last night, and he's pretty sure that Robin must have told him it at least a dozen times, but he's also pretty sure that Steve needs to hear it as much as possible.

Steve gives him a bittersweet little smile. "What else am I supposed to do, Eds, sit on the sidelines? Let one of the kids get hurt instead?"

"That's not - okay, look, I'm not going to ask you to stop. No when it's for the kids, and not when we all make plans for Vecna. I get it, I do," Eddie says. "But I don't want you to do it for me."

"Like you weren't going to do the same thing when Jason had the gun pointed at you," Steve says.

Which -

"Okay, fair," Eddie concedes. "But if I don't like it when you do it for me, and you don't like it when I do it for you, where does that leave us?"

Steve frowns. "I don't know. I guess - I guess we work as a team?"

Eddie scrubs a hand over his face. "We did okay once we actually got on the same page?"

Steve drums his fingers on his knee. "I think this is a conversation we need to have with Robin here," he admits.

"Good call," Eddie agrees.

Steve's quiet for a moment. "But I hear you, okay? I do. I know you and Robin don't like it. Like I told her, I - I'll think about both of you before I do anything."

And that -

Yeah, actually, he thinks that's all he needs right now.

"But you have to do the same," Steve adds. "No more like what you did with the demobats."

Unlike when he promised Dustin he wouldn't do that again, he actually thinks it through this time.

"If it's Dustin or me," he says slowly. "It's going to have to be me."

Steve looks at him pointedly, and Eddie winces.

"Right, I know, it's the same for you. But I-" Eddie cuts off, trying to figure out how to say this and be honest without being too vulnerable.

"Eds," Steve murmurs, thumbs rubbing over the inside of his knees.

Right. It's Steve, his soulmate. He can be vulnerable. More than that - he thinks he needs to be vulnerable.

"I wanted to be brave," he admits. "I didn't want to run anymore. I know you don't think I had anything to prove, but I thought I did."

"What about now?" Steve asks.

"I don't know," Eddie says. "I don't think I'm an NPC anymore. But this is - I'm not like you guys, I don't know what I'll do next time. If I'll run again."

Steve frowns. "What's an NPC?"

Eddie huffs out a hollow little laugh. "Non-player character. It's the side characters in a D&D campaign, the ones that no one actually plays, they're just there to facilitate the story and then disappear."

Steve's face smooths out into understanding, and he leans in to kiss him, just the softest brush of their lips together. "Yeah," he says when he pulls back. "I figured you felt like you weren't really one of us, and that you weren't going to make it. But you don't anymore?"

"No," Eddie says. "I don't really know what to do with it, but I know this is it. This is where I want to be. You, uh. You're it for me, too, Stevie."

He'd already accidently fessed up to overhearing Steve and Robin's conversation, after all, so he might as well go all in.

Steve huffs out a little laugh, kissing him again. "I love you."

"Love you, too," Eddie whispers. Then he pulls back, arching one eyebrow. "So how about that physical therapy?"

Steve pulls Eddie's discharge paperwork back out.

"Wait, you - you actually wanted to do the stupid stretches? I thought that was a euphemism!" Eddie says, disappointed.

Steve bumps their knees together. "If you don't stretch out that leg first, you're going to cramp up in the middle of something you really don't want to be cramping up in."

"Oh. Oh! Okay, I'll take it." Eddie flops onto his back on the bed, legs sprawled out. "Okay, Stevie, you're the jock here. Get me stretched out."

Steve laughs, scooting over to get his hands on Eddie's leg. He spreads the paperwork out next to him, looking at it for a moment before he dives right into it.

Eddie lets out a surprised grunt as Steve maneuvers his leg, one hand cupping his knee and the other on his thigh. He can feel it deep in his hip as it rotates nice and slow, can feel the stretch of his thigh, but no there's no sharp pains like he might have expected.

"Tell me if it hurts," Steve says, glancing back at the paper and then moving him again.

The diagrams hadn't been all that helpful when Eddie'd looked, and he'd figured he'd have to actually read through the written instructions a few more times to make any kind of sense of them. But Steve moves his leg around easy as anything, his guiding hands gentle and firm and every movement nice and fluid.

Eddie props himself up on his elbow so he can get a better look at Steve. "You're pretty good at this. Hey, I bet you'd make a good physical therapist."

Steve hums noncommittally.

"No?" Eddie asks.

"I mean, sure, maybe, one day. For now? I might get the Family Video job back, or somewhere else around town that's still open, but until Vecna's down for good, my full time job's gonna be - what'd you call it? Being a paladin."

Eddie can't exactly refute that, but shit, everything about that statement sucks.

Well, almost everything.

"You know, I can see the barbarian side of you, too," Eddie teases.

Steve rolls his eyes. "Fine, full time paladin, part time barbarian."

Eddie snickers. "You're already multiclassing."

Steve scoffs, but his expression is unbelievably fond. "I can't believe how into it I am when you're being a giant nerd, it's pretty embarrassing."

It makes Eddie's insides go all warm and gooey, Steve looking at him like that, and yet -

"You are, though, right? Into it?" he finds himself asking.

"Eds," Steve murmurs, leaning in closer. "I'm into everything about you. It's you."

Eddie tries to just accept it. It's clearly not a lie, but something about the way Steve says it like it should be obvious makes him hunch in on himself a little.

"Right, who wouldn't be into a nerdy, virgin, drug dealing super super senior?"

Steve frowns, pulling back to look at him. There's a scrunch between his brows that says he's thinking hard about something, and Eddie wants so bad to reach out to smooth it out.

Wait.

Now he can.

Eddie presses his thumb to the little spot, rubbing it like he's rubbing away whatever Steve's thinking about that's making him make that face.

Steve huffs out a laugh, batting his hand away. "All right, let's look at this," he says, rocking back on his heels and holding up one finger.

"First - in case you haven't noticed, all of my friends are huge nerds, man. I'm kind of a nerd, I just look like much less of one compared to all of you. Second -" Steve puts up another finger. "All right, I'm not super thrilled about the drug dealing when it comes to the harder stuff, but you did what you had to, and I'd be a huge hypocrite if I complained about the weed. Third - it's high school. Weren't you the one who said it feels like it's a lot less important now in the face of everything else?"

"That's different," Eddie mutters, feeling a little bit overwhelmed. He's not used to having someone systematically refute almost all of his points about himself like that, and he doesn't know what to do with it other than focus on the one it feels like Steve doesn't understand. "That was social conformity, this is - this is fucking graduating, man."

He's not sure what he'd do if Steve brushed it off again. Fortunately, Steve just shifts a little, laying down on his side next to him.

"Will you tell me?" Steve asks.

Eddie turns to face him more, hand coming up to fiddle with the hem of Steve's shirt. "My dad never graduated," he says finally. "Dropped out after junior year when they told him that it wasn't looking good for him to be able to graduate, said there were bigger and better things out there than high school, anyway. I don't want to be like him, I don't want to give up."

Steve brushes his hair back, tucking it behind his ear. "You fought Vecna with us. You stuck with us, even now. You decided to work with me on making our bond romantic even when you thought Robin and I were together. You aren't the give up type, Eddie, and if graduating is important to you, then it's important to me, too. I know you can do it."

Eddie slips his hand under Steve's shirt, thumb rubbing over his waist. "Yeah? You gonna cheer for me at graduation?"

Steve quirks a little grin. "I'll yell for you and Robs so loud you'll hear me over everyone else."

Eddie kisses him.

"Noticed you didn't say anything about the virgin thing," he jokes when they break for air.

Eddie doesn't actually think that's an issue for Steve, not after how he'd reacted when Eddie first told him, but when Steve doesn't say anything, it makes him frown a little.

"Steve?" he asks, pulling back to look at him.

"It's not like that's going to be true much longer," Steve points out, but there's something about the way he says it that makes Eddie narrow his eyes at him.

"Steve Harrington," Eddie drawls, delighted. "Is that a thing for you? Do you have a virgin thing?"

"I don't have a-" Steve starts to protest, then amends it to, "I don't exactly have a virgin thing."

"Oh, but you have a sort of virgin thing?" Eddie teases. "You're into it, aren't you, popping cherries?"

Steve shoves him as Eddie cackles, and before long Steve's giving a little snort of laughter too.

"Shut up," Steve says. "I just - I like being able to make someone's first experience a good one, okay? I like that someone's trusted me enough to be their first time. And - maybe I really like the idea of being that for you."

"Yeah?" Eddie asks, his voice softening a little. "You gonna make it good for me, Stevie?"

Steve props himself up so he can lean over Eddie, dropping a kiss to the corner of his mouth. "You gonna let me?" he asks, just as soft.

Eddie swallows. "Yeah. Yeah, I'll let you."

Steve hums in response, kissing along the line of his jaw.

Eddie grunts when Steve bites him just under the edge of his jaw, his hips bucking up involuntarily at the sensation of Steve's tongue soothing over the sting from his teeth.

His hands push under Steve's shirt, fingertips scratching through the hair over his stomach as he pushes the fabric up.

"Off," he mutters, tugging insistently, until Steve finally pulls away from his neck to strip off his shirt.

Eddie groans, finally getting to openly stare at him the way he couldn't do the last time Steve was shirtless. He reaches out eagerly, palms sweeping up Steve's ribs before he pushes his fingers through the fucking lush mat of hair on his chest.

Steve grunts as Eddie skims over some of his soulmate words, eyes going wide. "Fuck."

"Right?" Eddie agrees, sliding one hand back down to do it again.

Steve shoves his own hands under Eddie's shirt, manhandling him a little to get him sitting up enough that he can pull it off.

Eddie's dick twitches, practically straining against his jeans - yup, Jesus Christ, confirmed that is definitely a thing for him.

When it's Steve, at least.

He expects Steve to get his hands on him, the way Eddie's still stroking possessively over Steve's chest, but instead Steve dips down and gets his mouth on his collarbone, sucking a mark into his skin.

Eddie makes a choked off sound, something between a moan and a curse.

"That okay?" Steve asks quietly.

One of Eddie's hands abandons Steve's chest so he can push it into his hair instead, tangling in the soft strands so he can hold him right where he is.

"So fucking okay," Eddie says.

Steve huffs out a little laugh, the puff of warm air against his collarbone sending a little shiver down Eddie's spine.

He doesn't dive back in immediately, though, leaving Eddie squirming and arching his hips up.

"What're you waiting for?" he demands.

"Looking for something," Steve replies.

Before Eddie can ask what, Steve dives back in, tongue dragging a line over his sternum.

Right where Eddie knows it says I don't think you're brave.

If Eddie thought it was overwhelming before, having Steve's hands on his words, it's got nothing on his tongue. The wet heat against his chest seems to have a direct line to his dick, and when Steve's lips brush over another line of words on his stomach, he feels it fucking everywhere.

Eddie's not entirely sure how, but somehow, they manage to get both of their jeans and underwear shoved down and tossed aside.

There's so much fucking bare skin, and Eddie's greedy for it, reaching out and touching anything he can reach as Steve practically makes out with every bit of soulmate ink he can find.

Eddie throws his head back as Steve sinks lower, tongue carefully tracing one of raised red lines of his mostly healed bite marks without quite touching it, teeth grazing along one of the bisected words instead.

His hands tangle in Steve's hair again, grip a little harder than he means to - but Steve gives this punched out moan, and fuck, okay, Eddie's going to assume a little hair tugging is on the table.

Steve finds the words on the inside of Eddie's thigh, the ones that say I don't care about my soulmate, too, and I won't do anything to keep them safe, and if Steve's hands weren't on his hips, Eddie's pretty sure he would have hit Steve in the face with how hard he bucks up when Steve bites him there.

"Steve," he manages to get out. "Steve, I'm gonna-"

"Yeah," Steve says, getting one hand around his cock and stroking over him. "Come on, Eds."

His grip on Steve's hair tightens so much it has to hurt when he comes, spilling all over Steve's hand and his own stomach with a strangled shout. Steve strokes him through it, like he's trying to get every last bit of sensation out of him that he can.

Eddie's panting harshly when Steve finally lets go, and his hands slip out of Steve's hair as Steve pulls back to sit up.

His brain is practically mush, and he's not sure he can even feel all of his limbs, let alone move them, but he still makes a greedy little noise when Steve rocks back on his heels and Eddie gets his first good look at his cock.

"Gimme," Eddie mutters, hands twitching as he tries to reach for it.

Steve laughs softly. "Next time," he says.

Instead, he takes one of Eddie's hands in his, lacing their fingers together. With his other hand, Steve jerks himself off, stroking quick and rough, and Eddie's fucking mesmerized by the sight.

It doesn't take long for Steve to come, too, and Eddie's feeling pretty fantastic about that. Steve is so fucking beautiful when he comes that Eddie's spent dick gives a little jolt, and he wonders how quick Steve could be ready for that next time.

Steve drops down next to him when he's finished, and they press together as close as possible, trading kisses that are more like panting into each other's mouths than anything else.

"I love you," he murmurs in Steve's ear, when he's finally got enough breath left to speak.

Steve holds him closer, burying his face in Eddie's neck. "Love you," he returns.

They lay like that for a long time, as Eddie slowly feels his heart start to calm down - as it sinks in that this is fucking real.

"You okay?" Steve asks after a while, voice soft.

"I'm fucking fantastic," Eddie replies.

Steve hums happily, finally tipping his head up so he can kiss him. "That was a first for me, too, you know," he admits quietly.

Eddie smiles. "First boy Steve Harrington ever slept with, that's a pretty good achievement."

Steve rolls his eyes. "First and last," he points out, which -

Hmm.

Okay, apparently that might be kind of a thing for Eddie, too.

"Ruined you for all other men, didn't I?" Eddie asks smugly.

Steve snorts, pinching his side.

Eddie just grins at him, wide and gleeful, until Steve huffs out a little laugh and kisses him again.

"You're lucky I really like seeing you like this," Steve retorts.

"What, all fucked out?" Eddie asks.

"Nah. Like seeing you happy."

Oh.

"Stevie," he murmurs, gently pushing his fingers through Steve's hair.

Steve tilts his head into his hand for a moment. Then he smirks. "Besides, that wasn't anywhere close to what I plan to do to get you all fucked out."

Eddie's dick twitches again.

"So, uh. How soon can we have that next time?" he asks.

Steve grins at him. "Lunch first, then round two?"

"Hell yes," Eddie agrees.

It's going to be a fucking fantastic weekend.

—

Robin Buckley and Nancy Wheeler graduate with the rest of their class that year.

And this time, finally, so does Eddie Munson.

Graduation doesn't happen until July, with all the delays, but Eddie is right there among the class of '86, wearing Steve's jeans and one of his uncle's button ups and all of his rings and chains under his cap and gown.

Robin's name gets called first, and Eddie joins the near deafening roar that comes from all of the people cheering her in the bleachers. He can faintly hear Steve shouting "That's my girl!" over everyone else, but Eddie's not sure if that's because Steve's actually louder than all of them or because he's listening out for Steve more.

When it's Eddie's turn - he honestly doesn't know what to expect. It might be dramatic of him, but he wouldn't be all that surprised if he got tomatoes thrown at him.

What he gets, though, is a roar just as deafening and a fucking standing ovation from two rows of the bleachers. He can hear his uncle shouting "That's my son!", a whoop that sounds like a battle cry coming from the party, and Steve damn near screaming, "That's my boy!"

Eddie can't resist throwing out a pair of devil horns after he takes his diploma.

Vecna is still out there, and Hawkins is still a shithole, and Eddie still doesn't have any more of an idea of what his future holds than he did when he was still in high school.

But he's got two soulmates, and a boyfriend, and a family big enough to fill two rows of the bleachers, and as long as he's got them by his side?

They can handle anything that comes for them.

-----

And we have officially reached the end! I do have a little bit more planned in this verse eventually - a couple of B side things and some prequels from Steve's POV, and a one shot of the campaign they all agreed to play, but for now, this is completed.

I wanted to give a huge thank you to everyone who liked, reblogged, and commented! The response to this honestly astounded me a little, and I wouldn't have been so motivated to finish this without reading everyone's comments and tags in their reblogs. Thank you all so, so much, and a massive thank you to the Steddie fandom in general!! I'm definitely not done with this pairing, and I hope to have more done for them soon.

Tag list: @vampireinthesun @koibug @estrellami-1 @mentalcyborg @allbimyself26 @questionablequeeries @the-s-is-silent @whimsicalwitchm @a-gae-af-racoon @tinyplanet95 @n0-1-important @velocitytimes2 @swimmingbirdrunningrock @newtstabber @jcmadgirl @roblingoblin285 @lexyvey @paperbackribs @goodolefashionedloverboi @evix-syne666 @raisedbylibrarians @stxrcrossed186 @nightmareglitter @greekgeek24 @starman-jpg @crazyhatlady86 @imfinereallyy @manda-panda-monium @deleataecount @prideandsensibility @chaoticvictorianspirit @maydillydally @disrespectedgoatman @scarlet-malfoy @i-less-than-three-you @hbyrde36 @hallucinatedjosten @dragonsandgayships @arepaconchocolate @g4ys0n @novelnovella @bisexualdisastersworld @ghostofyourvampiregf @scarletyeager @pettrichore @nerd-and-nervous @hiimlevi @queenie-ofthe-void @cinnamon-mushroomabomination

[teddywesworl]

🌷 final chapter is up.

6/6 44k complete

[badcaseofcasey]

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7

If anyone asked Steve about his words, he’d say he didn’t even remember getting them. That he was so young when it happened, he can't remember. Some would tell him he’s lucky; he knows his soulmate is out there, but he doesn’t know who, so he can date and meet people freely, knowing that one day he’ll meet back up with the person he’s “meant to be with.”

Others would shake their heads in pity, tell him that it must be hard to have met your soulmate and then lost them again. To not remember that magical moment of the words buzzing across his skin as they appeared and he first caught a glimpse of his soulmate. There were entire genres of movies, books, and songs dedicated to that first moment, and he doesn’t get to remember it.

But of course Steve remembers it.

How could he forget the moment when he realized that finally, he knew for sure that there was someone out there who loved him and would keep loving him no matter what? At least, that’s how it felt when it happened, all the way back when he was in elementary school.

He had been at the park one day after school with one of the many nannies he had growing up, his parents away on  another of his dad’s business trips. Even this young, he can remember seeing the other parents at the park and wondering if it was weird that he always seemed to come with his nanny.

Steve was working on building a very intricate sandcastle in the sand box when he heard his words, and felt the accompanying prickle across his rib cage that he would later learn meant his words had snaked their way up his side.

“Hey, wanna fight a dragon with me?”

Part 2

[orionchildofhades]

steddie soulmate au, swapping bodies once in a while after a certain age part 1

and i can wait for you

part 1 | part 2 | Ao3

---

eddie cannot wait, he has always loved the idea of soulmates, of someone, be it platonic or romantic, meant for him, just as he was meant for them. he loved to know that someone, out there, in the big bad world, would accept him for himself. he clinged to it after his parents disposed of him, after his father went far far away once his mother passed from a disease no one had bother naming for him.

of course he had heard of people without soulmates, or of those who didn't get along like they should, or disagreed too strongly on some matters that they couldn't look at the other.

but eddie refused to believe he would be one of them, because then, the universe would really hate him, wouldn't it? because eddie, at least until Wayne, had no one. nobody by his side. the universe would make it all alright by giving him a soulmate that would love him. he knew it. he had to.

because what else could he do when he had been alone, scared in some shitty apartment where the electricity had been cut out for days, and not a soul had stepped through the doors for just as long. when the cops barged in, carried him out and told him he wouldn't be seeing his dad anymore, when he was left with a man he had never met before and been told this would be his new life.

so Eddie hopped and waited, patient, alone. but he had Wayne to tell him stories. tales about his own soulmate, Patricia. She was german, tall, and lived on the road, driving through Europe in her big truck just like Wayne had done for years through the states. they never met, but both agreed that their life was too much of a mess, too much moving, too much distant, to try and connect. they had their lives, they adored each other but as soulmates goes, there was nothing more than deep, platonic care for one another.

the first time Eddie met Patricia had been wild.he had woken from nightmare with a jerk, finding waynes too smiley face above him, all soft eyes and laugh lines out, and he flinched so hard he fell on the floor. she had apologized, they both had laughed. it was all fine and well. they spent the day cooking after that. Patricia, using Waynes body so differently than her soulmate, had cleaned and complained, reassured the young boy that she loved doing it and seeing what wayne had done with his life, that complaining, for the pair of them, was a way to show that they cared. she introduced him to the lord of the rings for the very first time.

so he waited and hoped until his fifteen birthday, he waited and listened to stories, to Patricia who told him in hushed tones in front of the trailer while hanging the laundry to dry, about soulmates who were not woman and man, about same gender couples, she told him about things he would hear but shouldn't listen to. and he listened to people ar school saying things that went the other way around. about the way the universe sometime made mistake and how gross and terrible it was.

but eddie did not care, he just wanted his soulmate.

the say he turned fifteen, he was buzzing. waiting desperately for it. he might not meet his soulmate now, he was young and couldn't afford to travel, but he could learn to know them, little things about their lives that built the soulmate he was meant to have. and Wayne kept repeating that he shouldn't get his hopes up.

Eddie knew, of course, that soulmates might not swap immediately. his soulmate could be younger, and swapping came at random. once he had not seen Patricia and her soft accent for almost six month before she was there again, and then she spent three days by his side, laughing loudly about how much Wayne would appreciate the time on the rainy roads of southern England.

and he waited and waited some more while he saw peers around him behaving strangely before they announced being the soulmate. there was a girl once who started spatting japanese at a teacher's face when he kept asking about her homework. and Eddie waited.

[flowercrowngods]

Okay here's hoping tumblr isn't hungry haha

PART 1

Soft steddie idea with soulmates, but instead of feeling the other person's pain you feel their joy and happiness. But steddie doesn't know who the other person is.

Eddie feels it when Steve was a kid and when he wins metals for winning in sports. Steve feels it when Eddie moves in with Wayne and gets his own mug from the collection.

Eddie feels it when Steve was with Nancy, and he never understood why he didn't feel hatred or jealously seeing them together, just a fond sense of happiness from somewhere deep inside him. (Eddie of course has a minor crush on Steve, I mean, how could he resist it?)

Steve feels it when Eddie gets his first acoustic from Wayne, a hand-me-down from his mother that was in storage. He feels the joy when he's learning to play and when he finally nails one of the songs his mother loved.

part 2

And then nothing for a bit from Steve, due to the Upside Down business, until a random summer night in 85'. Eddie's on stage playing a gig, the mood is a bit down because Eddie has to retake his senior year again, when suddenly he feels joy. So much joy he laughs and pushes himself and his guitar. The room responds and it's electric. Corroded Coffin were booked to play the same gig for weeks after that.

And in a Starcourt bathroom, Steve felt the response to his joy, an echoing he thought was due to finding his platonic soulmate.

And then they come together but it's stressful with the Upside Down and the murder charges. And they don't realize it but they're trying soothing each other. Steve's trying to take Eddie's mind off Chrissy's body floating and cracking, Eddie's trying to help Steve's burden of responsibility by making him laugh and complimenting him.

And then in the final battle, Steve throws the Molotov and feels a sudden burst of joy. It makes his aim true, and lights Vecna on fire.

And then nothing.

They say that the strongest feeling you'll get from your soulmate is their happiness. But Steve knows differently. It's the absence left behind the joy, when there's nothing left, and it feels like there's a block in your soul, taking pieces of you away.

It was the same feeling he got seeing Eddie's bloody body and Dustin crying over him.

It helped him ignore his own injuries and exhaustion as he picked Eddie up and ran to the gate, not stopping till he collapsed in the hospital when every was safe. Everyone but his joy.

The first thing Eddie felt when he woke up was happiness. Stronger than he'd ever felt before, and it empowered him to open his eyes.

Wayne was on his right and to his left, Steve.

He lifted a shaky hand to Steve's wet cheeks and smiled softly. "Hey sweetheart."

"You asshole, I told you not to be a hero." Steve sobbed and laughed.

"I knew you got me, my sunshine. My joy."

Wayne snorted, with eyes wet with tears. "You've always been a dramatic one, you get it from your mother."

Eddie hummed and closed his eyes.

He heard Dustin asking if he was alright and Steve answered for him.

"He'll be alright, he's happy."

Eddie squeezed Steve's hand tightly and smiled wider.

He was happy.

🤍🌷 THE END 🌷🤍

aaah oh my god??? feeling someone’s joy as the link?? (also not my angst brain getting stuck on eddie not feeling steve’s joy for months, if not a year!!! 🥺😭) BUT THEN THE ENDING!!!! god!! yes hhhh thank you so much they’re so!! 🥺🥹🤍 thank you for writing something for me!! 🌷

[str4wb3rry-guy]

i keep seeing all these soulmate aus where when you turn 18 your soulmates name appears somewhere on your body yada yada ...

however, i want to see one where their true name appears. like stevie harrington appears somewhere on eddie/robin (personally i think robin should always be the (platonic) soulmate), but steve hasnt realized hes trans yet or just hasnt come out. so eddie/robin is just rly confused.

OR ALTERNATIVELY

eddie munson appears on steve/chrissy (again, i lean towards chrissy being his platonic soulmate) when theyre kids, but eddie is still eden munson or something. so theyre just confused and assume its someone else that happens to have the same last name or something.

did any of that make sense? 😭 i just think it would be neat

[allthingssteddie]

When Steve was a kid his dad would force him to go on fishing trips with him.

Backstory so Steve’s father’s boss had a summer home on the beach and his boss was really into fishing with his son. So he would volunteer him and Steve to go fishing with them. Steve hated it. He was terrified of water ever since he almost drowned one summer. When the the boss kid finds out he teases him relentlessly and then being alone at the dock one night he pretends to push him in but ends up accidentally really pushing when Steve’s fighting him away. When Steve wakes up he’s at the hospital with parents arguing with the police. They tell him he’s been missing for a week. He can’t remember anything but starts to have dreams about a boy with brown curls smiling at him. When its summer vacation Steve and Tommy and Carol and some other friends decide to go to Carols dads beach house to party and after the night ends he can’t sleep he’s hearing some kind of song he at first think maybe someone had left the radio on in the living room he goes to check but that’s not it but the singing gets louder and he starts to feel some kind of deja vu and starts to walk outside he feels something is pulling him towards the ocean.

Side note Eddie’s a siren. Also the summer home is located in a fishing town and everyone would hear tales of sirens and men in the village would wake up in the middle of the night and just get up and walk towards the ocean and drown. And this was going on for a long time. Another thing he would wake up to a man staring at him he’s freaked out at first but he thinks this man looks familiar and Steve’s asking him questions and Eddie looks like he’s going to say something but nothing comes out. When Steve’s about to leave to go back to the house he hears “ Steve, don’t leave me again” So I would think maybe Eddie follows Steve around and maybe like Eddie’s hiding from someone i don’t know. I’m not like in love with this idea but I thought I might as well post.

[stevesbipanic]

We're back with another soulmate AU cause I'm a sucker for them.

Steve had never known a time when the names of his soulmates weren't on his wrists. One platonic, one romantic. Some people were born with two romantic although rare, some born with two platonic, some with just one and some with none.

Steve couldn't wait to meet his soulmates, as a kid he told his mother that his soulmate was going to be the prettiest girl in the world and that his best friend would be the coolest guy ever.

He knew his parents weren't soulmates, his mother's soulmate had died when she was young and his father didn't have anything in his wrists. It didn't matter to Steve though, they weren't around much now that he was older.

He waited all through high school to meet his soulmates, Tommy and Carol had met each other in middle school and he wanted what they had. As the years went on, his parents grew distant, his world became more about popularity, he slowly forgot about his names. He went through girls with the hopes of filling the void inside of him.

It wasn't until one Nancy Wheeler didn't fall for his charms preferring to wait to meet her soulmate did it feel like a knock to the head. He found a friend in Nancy a friendship he didn't even regret once he was pulled in by proxy to a whole other world under their town. He held Nancy as she cried losing her platonic soulmate Barb and met her romantic soulmate Jonathan.

He felt more like himself now that he was hanging around friends that cared about each other rather than their images. He adopted a gaggle of children who also needed protecting from the monsters on their doorstep and started thinking about soulmates again.

Nancy helped him graduate, barely. He didn't want to leave Hawkins without the kids or Nancy and Jonathan and so he started working at Scoops Ahoy. Where he met his soulmate, finally. Robin Buckley was funny and loud and smart and beautiful. Steve didn't want to rush into anything in case he was wrong and by the time he had gotten up the courage to show her his tattoo there were Russians and blood, so much blood.

High on Russian drugs he confessed to her, told her about how she was everything he'd dreamt of in a soulmate when he was little. How she was funny and amazing and that he loved her. He hadn't expected Robin to start crying, words tumbling out how she's not what Steve wants, not what Steve deserves in a soulmate, that she can never love him the way he wants. That day Steve discovers who his platonic soulmate is. From that day they're inseperable.

Steve doesn't know how he went through life without Robin once she was in it. She got on great with all his friends, called him out on his bullshit, comforted him through nightmares and was always there for him. She taught him that it was ok to like boys and girls and that his romantic soulmate will love him despite his King Steve days because she loves him too.

After already having one soulmate in danger from the Upside Down he never dreamt that the first time he'd hear someone say his other soulmates name it would be attached with "murder". Slammed up against the walls of the boathouse, Steve didn't think he'd ever seen anyone as beautiful as Eddie.

"Soulmates huh?"

"Yeah, sorry."

"Well, I know Dustin's one is definitely platonic, since he's a kid. Wonder what ours is?"

Steve wanted to tell him that he wanted everything with Eddie, but he knew his past, and knew that Eddie knew too. So he let himself hope, let himself laugh with Eddie, let himself be close. Nothing had been harder than leaving Eddie and Dustin there as distractions but he had a job to do.

As he'd held bloody bandages desperately to Eddie's wounds and begged him to stay awake, he wished he'd told Eddie everything he'd been thinking, how he was everything Steve had wanted and more.

"Please, Eddie! Stay awake, just hold on a little longer!"

"I think I figured us out, sweetheart."

And those were the last words Steve heard from his soulmate before Eddie had gone limp in his arms.

Steve held on hope for weeks beside Eddie's hospital bed. He had traced Eddie's name on his wrist over and over, memorising it. The tattoo had stayed dark and clear, Eddie was still there, he was still alive next to Steve.

Steve could've kissed Eddie as soon as he saw his eyes blink open but didn't want to injure him further.

"I figured us out too, Eds."

Little Steve had been right, his best friend was the coolest person he knew, and his soulmate was the most beautiful person he'd ever known.