#steddie...maybe

[madaboutmunson]

Circuits

For the dailydrabble prompt 'Static' by @strangerthingswritersguild

Ao3 Link

TW: Afterlife but not quite Characters: Eddie Munson, Wayne Munson, Steve Harrington Summary: Caught between life and death, Eddie must find a way to reconnect with the people who love him.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Inhale.

Exhale.

That’s all that he can hear other than a low, constant hum in the background of something, but not quite anything.

For a moment, he can see nothing. Then he can see himself, asleep, lying down, hair splayed out on a clinically white pillow like a frizzy spider web.

But he’s not looking in a mirror. Can't be. His eyes are open, and his reflection's eyes are closed, in what looks like a peaceful slumber. But the world is desaturated and hued in blue.

He reaches out his hand to his mirror image, but something slows his arm, as if it were moving through pudding.

What the fuck?

But as he lays his hand down, it’s about to get weirder. His hand passes through something. It sends goosebumps straight up his arm. He turns to see the fluorescent light strip buzz and glow, and he realises he’s on the ceiling.

And in that realisation, it’s a challenge to stay on it. Soon gravity is very present, and he’s falling. He scrambles. Fear makes him close his eyes for the impending drop. I don’t want to fall. And he slows to a stop, inches from the ground.

He realises he’s in control. He jumps up and stays up. He floats down and spins around effortlessly. It’s fun, it’s a buzz, it’s magic.

It’s only when he slows down that he notices another glow. In the sleeping version of himself’s hand, it’s bright and pulsing, and up to that point, everything around his sleeping self has been a blur, until he focused on the glow.

Someone is holding his hand. Why would someone be holding his hand? He moves closer, and at first he isn’t sure, but as it comes into focus, he recognises the wrinkled, work-roughened fingers of his uncle, and as he makes the connection, he appears.

Worry is creasing his brow. Eyes and mouth downturned. He’s mumbling something.

“Eddie. Eddie, can you hear me?”

“I can hear you,” he replies with an eager smile.

But his uncle does not turn to him, his eyes fixed on his sleeping replica.

“Son, please, can you hear me?” His uncle says again, leaning closer to the bed.

“I can hear you! I can hear you. I’m right here!” Eddie feels frantic, and he’s not sure why. He’s waving his hands, but his uncle won’t look at him.

“Eddie, you gotta wake up.”

“I’m awake! I’m right fucking here!” Eddie yells, but all that happens is the substance around him ripples.

His stomach lurches like he’s going to throw up as another entity passes through him and sits down next to his uncle.

Eddie can’t see them, but his uncle turns to them.

“He’ll wake up. It just might take time, that’s all.” Comforts the faceless person.

His uncle slumps a little more but nods, “I just wanna get him out of this place. I should have made him move years ago. Hawkins is too small for him. He’s too different.” His uncle sniffs, doesn’t cry, but Eddie can feel his sorrow. “He’s not what they think. He’s good. Right to his bones. Just different is all. Just different.”

The figure next to his uncle moves. A hand comes into view, but he doesn’t recognise it. The rest stays a blur. It rests on his uncle's shoulder. A soft, barely-there glow where they touch.

“I can’t thank you enough for going back for him.” His uncle turns and looks at the blank figure next to him. “I didn’t even know you was friends. So much I didn’t know. Maybe I should have listened more.”

“No, no. Hey. Listen, he's gonna wake up. And we weren’t friends until Dustin told me about him. Don’t tell him I said this, but that little shit wouldn’t shut up about Eddie, so I kinda knew he wasn’t bad like people made out.”

“How’s that, then?”

“Because Dustin is friends with me and told Eddie all about me, too. Good things. I’m not what I seem either.”

Friends with Dustin. Not what they seem either.

Eddie starts to see the hand come into view, dirt-scuffed, scratched, and bruised. The cuff of a jacket.

“I asked them not to be heroes, but he couldn’t help himself. Sure gave us a little advantage, though, and tried to keep Dustin out of danger.”

Steve? 

Then he comes into view, fresh bandages and clean in places, grubby in others. His hand squeezes his uncle's shoulder. It glows a little brighter where they touch.

Wayne nods. “Sounds like my boy,” he says gruffly, sighs and turns back. The glow where he’s holding Eddie’s hand pulses. It's glowing so bright now, it’s almost blinding.

Eddie reaches for it. He and Wayne shudder at the same time, and he notices his hair floating off the pillow slightly. The thinning hair Wayne has on his head and forearms is doing the same.

“Good God!” Wayne gasps, but he doesn’t let go. He’s squeezing harder. “Eddie? Can you hear me?”

“I can! I can hear you!” Eddie yells at the top of his lungs, and this time Wayne looks right at him.

“Wayne? Did you hear something?” Steve asks in a whisper.

Wayne nods slowly. He gestures with his free hand at the static electricity causing his arm hairs to stand on end.

“That’s not possible. His body is here. He’s not in the Upside Down.” Steve mutters quietly, mostly to himself, trying to figure it out. Wayne only can assist Steve with an extra helping of confusion.

Eddie desperately crawls onto the bed of his sleeping self, “I’m right here!” He says it again.

“God, Steve, I can hear him clear as day,” Wayne says under his breath, trembling slightly, eyes occasionally flicking up to the doors of the ward.

Steve has his hand in his hair, wide-eyed, “I hear him too. Come on, think. You can hear Eddie. I could hear Dustin and then the others. Joyce could hear Will. Jonathan knew it was Joyce. Oh!” He exclaims before getting up and scrambling for his flashlight on his person and handing it to Wayne.

Steve, you clever son of a bitch!

Eddie passes his free hand through the torch, and it glows brightly. Wayne nearly drops it. But Steve wraps his hand around his uncle's, holding it tight. Where all their hands meet a bright, deep orange glow.

“It’s ok. It’s ok. He’s here. Holy shit.” Steve is half laughing, half in shock.

His hand grasps Eddie’s leg, and there it is again. That bright glow. Eddie leaves the torch and places his spectral hand where Steve’s is. His hair shoots up on end as he does a full-body shudder.

“That’s gotta be him,” Steve says, swallowing hard, “That electricity feels like him, doesn’t it?”

“I ain’t sure what you mean,” Wayne says, perplexed.

“Doesn’t matter. All that matters is he’s here. There or somewhere.”

Eddie crawls closer. His form was almost sitting in the unconscious version of himself.

“Wayne, look,” Steve said, pointing at something that Eddie can’t see, but he can hear it.

Beep. 

Beep.

Beep.

Somehow, Eddie knows what he has to do. He releases Steve’s hand. The famous hair falls back into place, but the glow where he touches him remains. He lies back into his real-world form, and suddenly his ears are assaulted with a cacophony of noise.

Beeping, shouting of his uncle, Steve yelling in the distance, trolleys being rushed in. He tries to open his eyes, but it’s too bright. All he can see is the ceiling.

He feels himself being picked up.

“No!” He yells as he can feel his hand slipping from his uncle's. “NO!” He screams until he feels a sharp pain in his neck, and it all fades to black.

He opens his eyes again. It's not easy. They are a little stuck together. A machine beeps steadily at his side, but there is no chaos this time, only a sudden feeling of warmth.

Someone is holding his hand.

“Uncle Wayne?” He slurs.

“No, but he’ll be back in a minute. So don’t freak out. It’s just me. I mean, uh, Steve. Remember me?” He speaks so softly and suddenly releases his hand, but Eddie grabs hold of it tightly.

He shifts his head to the side and opens his eyes as much as he can. “That was pretty smart of you.”

“Smart?” Steve asks, bewildered.

“The flashlight. You remembered the lights. They were all near lights. It’s the electricity. That’s how he could hear me. And he was touching me. It's like a circuit or something.”

Steve doesn’t say anything for a few seconds, “Yeah, like a circuit. With all the static. And the lights… Yeah. That’s how we knew you were there. Oh hey, he's here. Let me get out of the way.”

Steve smiles at him, and Eddie feels woozy as he squeezes his hand one more time.

“He’s just woken up again. I’ll give you some room, but I’ll be right outside.” 

“Thanks, son, I appreciate it.” Wayne’s low timbre rings out, and Eddie tries to turn towards it.

Wayne moves quickly to the seat nearest Eddie, “Hey, buddy. You doin’ ok? Need anything?” His voice is calm and sure, and it soothes Eddie's very soul.

Eddie just reaches for Wayne’s hand, and it’s quickly scooped up by his uncle.

“Now I don’t wanna be too dramatic, 'cause the nurses said it could upset you, but I sure am glad to see and hear ya.” Wayne smiles and blinks the tears from his eyes.

“Glad to see you too. Thank you for not giving up.” Eddie croaks out.

“I never would, son. Never would. Not gonna lie, though, that was some scary shit you pulled on us.”

Eddie chuckles dryly.

“Glad to see your sense of humour is intact.”

“Steve’s smarter than I thought.” Eddie grins.

“Yeah, well, who knew love really can cross barriers?”

“Love?” Eddie half raises an eyebrow.

“Yeah, a connection across planes of existence? Or something like that. Dustin said. Why Joyce heard Will, how Jonathan knew it was his mom, how y’all heard Dustin, but Steve heard him first, heard him loudest until you all tuned in. Love and hope.” Wayne says with a fond crooked smile that makes Eddie's heart swell.

“I saw that. When you held my hand, it was glowing. I touched it, and it went all weird, like static.”

“You see, uh, any other glowing points whilst you was floatin’ around?” Wayne quizzes, clearing his throat.

“Yeah. Steve.” Eddie smiles, “Circuits”.

“Yeaaaah, circuits.” Wayne’s eyebrows raise, and he nods like Eddie is missing something.

“You know, son, when they all got out, when that other place was falling apart or something. That Harrington kid…went straight back in after ya. Miss Wheeler and Miss Buckley practically had to drag Dustin away. They said Steve didn’t even hesitate. He carried you out to a hospital, but they couldn’t tell me because of the government. But you know I couldn’t rest until I seen ya. I got nosy. Eventually, your friends convinced them to let me in.”

“Huh,” is all Eddie can manage, surprised into silence.

“I think we should invite him over for dinner when this is over. Maybe all your new and old friends, huh?”

Eddie nods and feels tiredness take hold of him.

“Yeah. Sounds good.”

“You need a rest? I’m gonna be right here, ok?”

“Thanks. I promise to stay in my body this time.”

“You better!” Wayne chuckles.

“Love ya, ol’ timer.”

“Love ya, son.”

[jadewritesficshere]

Robin accidentally puts a letter (meant to ask a girl out on a date) in the wrong locker. She waits, watching totally inconspicuously, except her crush walks up to the locker NEXT to the one she put it in. And dear old Eddie Munson strolls up to the same locker.

Robin watches as he unfolds the letter and blushes. She's immediately groaning and feels bad, because now this guy thinks someone likes him. And thats just mean but to confess and break his heart? She's missing lunch lamenting on the pay phone about the situation to Steve who is at Family Video.

Steve who has thought about Eddie for years. Captivated by the guy who will get up and yell on top of tables but also stopped and helped a freshman pick up all their papers when they dropped them. Steve who once got winked at by Eddie and felt his entire worldview shift.

"Well I'll go- yea, I can go in your place. Don't even worry about it." Steve offers. And Robin is so thankful she feels she would have combust spontaneously if she had to break Eddie's heart. Robin thinks Steve is gonna let him down gently. Meanwhile Steve is putting on his date jeans and adding a bit of lip gloss and winking in the mirror ready to charm the pants off eddie

[skyrigel]

and then it's the hottest thing ever

[lazylittledragon]

if i had a nickel for every au spawned from twitter that i SWORE i was going to be normal about

[kingdomvel]

Steddie | 3.4k | ao3

five times people don't believe Steve and Eddie are dating + one time they have to

Made the silly post, decided to actually write it

1.

Eddie stops his van in front of Dustin’s house. His was the last stop of the drop off after the dnd session at Gareth’s house. Dustin turns towards Eddie. He is drumming his fingers on the wheel to the beat of the DIO song playing, never still. When Dustin doesn’t move, he turns to look at him with his eyebrows raised.

“Anything wrong, Henderson?”

He is looking at him with his big eyes and Dustin gulps. Even after everything they have been through, Dustin can’t help but feel nervous. There is still this feeling that tells him he has to try to impress Eddie, to be cool enough to be his friend.

“Will you teach me how to play guitar?” Dustin blurts before he chickens out.

Eddie looks at him with surprise, blinking a few times. He was clearly not expecting that question.

“Sure.”

“Wait- really?” Dustin is genuinely surprised. A part of him knew that Eddie wouldn’t say no, but he fully expected some teasing, some ‘what, Henderson, you wanna be like me?’ which. Yes. But he didn’t want Eddie to say it.

“Yeah dude, why not?”

Dustin lets out a delighted laugh and slaps the dashboard. “Yes! Thank you! When are we starting? Any time is good for me-“

“Calm down,” Eddie says with a chuckle.

“What about tomorrow? I can do tomorrow. I will bike to your house after school and you can teach me the basics or-“

“Calm down Henderson,” Eddie repeats louder. Dustin shuts up. “I can’t do tomorrow.”

Dustin’s heart breaks a little. “Why?”

“Because this humble bard has a date with Steve Harrington.” He has a stupid smile on his face when he says it.

There are a couple of seconds of silence and Dustin knows that he is pulling a face.

“Dude, don’t say it like that.”

“Like what?” Eddie looks baffled, almost offended, but there is a shiver going down Dustin’s spine.

“Like that! A date? Just say you are hanging out like a normal person.”

He is used to Eddie’s way of saying things, rarely in a normal way, but that was weird. Don’t get him wrong, he is very happy that Steve and Eddie have stopped acting like idiots every time Dustin mentioned the other and that they are hanging out now. But it’s still strange, seeing them actually getting along so well.

“If I’m going to have the King all to myself I am calling it a date.”

“STOOOP! It’s weird.”

“What is it Henderson?” Eddie says in a teasing tone as he leans towards Dustin. “Jealous that me and Steve are giving each other a bit of love?”

“Stop saying it like that!” Dustin screams. This would be so much weirder if Dustin didn’t know he is just teasing him. Maybe it was better when they were not friends.

The front door to his house opens, and Dustin scrambles to get out of the van before his mother can come and embarrass him more. The last thing he hears is Eddie’s crackling laugh.

2.

“Okay, what is happening?” Robin asks as soon as the door closes after the girl that had just rented Back to the Future.

“Something’s happening?” Steve sends a brief look around with a confused frown on his face before he looks at Robin.

“That girl.” Robin gestures to the door for emphasis.

Steve snorts, “yeah. Back to the Future? That’s funny.” He says as he crosses his arms in front of himself.

“That is not what this is about.”

“It’s not?”

“No! She was a babe!”

“Was she?” Steve looks at the door again, like he had not even seen the girl, like it had not even occurred to him to look at the girl. Robin could kill him.

“Yes! She was!”

“Did you want me to set you up with her? Because I will, you know that. Maybe we can have a code for that, you say- I don’t know- ‘have you watched Fast Times?’ and I will put my best wingman skills to use. I will get you a date in no time.”

Steve is the best friend Robin could ask for. He is also incredibly dumb and she is going to strangle him.

“I didn’t want you to set me up with her.”

“What’s the problem then?”

“The problem is that you are Steve Harrington and you didn’t even try to flirt with her! You should have been all over her, trying to get a date or her number. You haven’t been on a date in weeks! And it’s not even that you are striking out like in scoops, you are not even trying Steve. What is wrong with you?”

“What do you mean I haven’t been on a date in weeks, I was with Eddie just yesterday, I told you.” He has this confused frown on his face, like he seriously doesn’t understand where Robin is coming from.

“Steve, hanging out with Eddie doesn’t count as a date. Also, ew, don’t put that image in my head, I know he is our friend now or whatever and that you like hanging out with him but I would hope for you to have better taste than that.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means that Eddie? Seriously? Did you see the stains on his mattress?”

Steve pulls a face, like had not thought about it before. “We’ll buy a new mattress.”

Robin looks at him, trying her best to communicate how gross she finds Eddie with her mind. Steve looks back at her with his eyebrows raised, daring her to say something else about Eddie.

The bell at the door interrupts them. It’s not a babe this time, just a normal guy, returning a tape. They act like the professionals they are until he is out of the door again.

“Aren’t you going to ask me why I didn’t flirt with him?” Steve asks, his hand gesturing to the door in that annoying way of his.

“No,” Robin says, but Steve doesn’t really wait for her answer before he continues talking.

“I didn’t because I am dating Eddie!”

“No you are not,” Robin answers with a snort.

“Yes I am.” Steve looks completely betrayed. “I am with him almost every day.”

“Oh, I know what is happening.” It’s so clear, so easy to understand now that Steve has said that. She puts her hands on Steve’s shoulders. He looks at her with a frown, a tilt of his head as he uncrosses his arms in confusion. “Steve.” She tries to convey as much seriousness as she can, just so Steve understands what is happening too. “Just because you have realised you like boys and he is gay and you two are hanging out, it doesn’t mean you two are dating.”

“Oh fu-“ he tries to move away from her but she clutches his shoulders tightly.

“You have to learn how to have friends your age, Steve. Remember when you though you liked me? I got away because I don’t like boys, and Eddie does! But that doesn’t mean he is into you!”

Steve rolls her eyes at her. The audacity. He bats her arms away with more easiness than Robin would like to admit. “Whatever.” He just says.

3.

“Steve”

“Mike” Steve answers in the same serious tone. If not a bit confused. Mike had followed him inside when he had come to get some drinks. He can still hear the others in the pool outside.

“I saw you speaking with Nancy.” Mike states. They had been speaking, close, too close. “And Dustin told me you were making eyes at her during the Vecna thing.”

“What?” Steve whispers as he shakes his head while he takes the drinks out of the fridge.

“Anything to say to defend yourself?” Mike asks him. He crosses his arms, tries to put on a serious pose. Intimidating, as much as he can.

“Listen,” Steve starts, he turns towards Mike him and leans back on the counter. He crosses his arms, and it makes Mike shift, conscious of his own crossed arms. He doesn’t like his tone, as if he is talking to a kid. “I know you are still pissy about me dating your sister, for some reason,” he uncrosses one of his arms to say it. “But she is with Jonathan now and I am totally over her.” Mike just squints at him. He doesn’t believe him. Everyone knows that Steve is not over Nancy. “Totally! I mean it. I’m dating Eddie now.” He says it like it’s a question.

Mike snorts. That is the stupidest lie Steve could have come up with to try to get out of this. “As if.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Eddie is too cool to date you.”

“He is too- I’ve saved your life,” he points to Mike.

“Eddie is still cooler.”

Steve takes a deep breath and Mike doesn’t really want to hear what Steve is going to say to defend himself. Thankfully he doesn’t say anything, his mouth closing as his eyes drift someplace behind Mike.

“I was promised beer,” Eddie’s voice comes from behind Mike.

“You’d have it if Mike here hadn’t decided to give me shit,” Steve answers as he moves to open a can of beer and hands it to Eddie when he gets to him.

“Just-“ Mike huffs. “Don’t get any ideas with my sister.” He says it as he points to Steve while he walks back outside.

Mike doesn’t stay to see Steve’s reaction, but he hears Eddie say “anything I should be worried about?” before the noise of the others drowns everything else.

4.

Max and Eleven giggle as the stand outside of the window to Eddie’s room. He is inside, they can see the lump inside the sheets and the mess of curls on the pillow. They look at each other and nod with a grin before they start banging on the window and shouting his name.

Eddie starts on the bed, Max could swear he lifts a few centimetres from the bed she can hear him scream ‘jesus christ’ through the window before he turns towards them with a squint. He sits up on the bed and reaches across to open the window, he is not wearing a shirt, so they have a full view of all his tattoos. It’s not like Max ever wants to see them so close, but she knows El likes them.

“What the FUCK Mayfield,” he asks, but it doesn’t sound like a question. Then, after a second of him squinting and them more. “Mini Hopper.”

Max doesn’t answer, because behind Eddie another lump is raising from the bed and looking at them with a squint. “Max? Is anything wrong?” Steve asks as he rubs his face and hair with the hand that is not currently propping him up.

“I…” Max starts, but she doesn’t continue. Sure, she had seen Steve shirtless at the boat that one time when they were going after Vecna, but it was nighttime and she had to look through some shitty binoculars.

Eddie reaches a hand back to try to push Steve back down, but it doesn’t really work. He just pushes his face, and Steve lets himself be pushed, just for a bit, before he is straightening again.

“Hey, hey,” Eddie says as he snaps his fingers in front of Max. It works on bringing her attention back to him. “Anything wrong?”

Max shakes her head.

“Are you having a sleepover? I also sleep with Max when we have a sleepover,” El asks.

Eddie looks between them for a couple of seconds before he says, “sure we are.”

It just sounds like he just wants to get rid of them.

“You boys are gross, can’t you put a shirt on?” Max asks. Billy was always walking around shirtless too.

“Keep telling yourself that,” Eddie just replies.

“Did anything happen?” Steve insists.

“We had a sleepover,” El says.

“Yeah, gathered that,” Eddie deadpans.

“We came so you will take us out for pancakes.”

Eddie groans as he lets himself fall back on the bed and looks up at Steve.

“I totally blame you for this being my life now, just so you know.”

Steve just laughs and pushes his face to the side. Max pulls a face, their friendship must be one of the weirdest things that has come out of the whole Vecna thing. Steve turns towards them with a stupid smile on his face.

“Go get your things, we will be out in ten minutes.”

“Ten minutes?!” Eddie protests, but Max and El don’t pay attention to him, already celebrating and running back to Max’s.

The last thing she sees is Steve leaning down towards Eddie with a hand on his face out of the corner of her eye, but she doesn’t really put much thought to it.

5.

Lucas loves having Steve to play with. After all the Vecna stuff, he didn’t really want to hang out with the guys from basketball all that much, so Steve had stepped up. He had bought a hoop for his big driveway for them to practise and everything.

The day is hot, and they have been going at it for hours, so they are both sweaty and tired. They are at Steve’s driveway. It’s just them, sweaty under the sun, and Eddie sitting on a folding chair on the side, for some reason. He was already here when Lucas had arrived, and he had refused to leave. He is on the shade, reading a book, looking way more comfortable than them.

“Pause for drinks?” Steve asks, and Lucas is very happy to agree with him. “Hey!” he yells towards Eddie, he jumps as he looks up. “Don’t think I don’t see you looking at me like a creep. You should be getting us drinks.”

“Sorry sweetheart.” Eddie shouts back as he waves his book.

“Drinks, now.” Steve says with a jerk of his head towards the house.

Eddie drops the book in his haste to stand up and follow Steve inside. They are weird, they act so weird all the time. They should get girlfriends, that way they would maybe stop being weird with each other.

“You want anything, Lucas?” Steve asks as he walks away.

“Just a soda!” Lucas calls out after them.

Steve gives him a thumbs up as he goes through the door.

It’s ten minutes later that Lucas starts to wonder what’s taking them so long. He got tired of practising shoots, and also of sitting down on the grass waiting for them.

The house is blessedly chilly and dark when he comes in.

“Steve?” he calls out.

He walks towards the kitchen. There is sound coming from it, shuffling. When he gets close enough to the kitchen he hears Eddie speak quietly.

“Were you afraid your neighbours might see, big boy?”

“Shut up,” Steve answers. Then there are some wet sounds and when Lucas comes into the kitchen Steve is all over Eddie and-

“DUDE!” Lucas screams. Steve jumps away from Eddie. “What are you doing? What if Robin had seen you?”

Steve looks around. “What?”

“Dustin said you like Robin, what if she was here and she saw you…” he can’t even describe what they were doing, he just knows that if some girl saw that, she would never consider dating Steve.

“I don’t want to date Robin, why does everyone think I want to date Robin?” Steve says.

Lucas doesn’t answer. He just looks at Steve. If it’s not Robin, it’s Nancy, for sure. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell her, or anyone.”

Eddie laughs like a maniac, Lucas just squints at him and goes to grab his soda.

+1

Robin is not sure how they have ended up here. At the Hideout. On a Tuesday. With all the kids and Eddie’s band helping them get ready before even the freaking owner has arrived. She doesn’t know what about Eddie he thought was reliable enough to give him the keys to the bar, but she guesses it’s ‘I don’t want to go work early because some teenagers want to set up their instruments to play their shitty music’. It works for them though, because the kids had been saying how much they wanted to see them play, but they are not allowed to come into the bar when it’s open, so they have come extra early so they can listen to a couple of songs before people start arriving.

“Hey lovebirds!” A voice shouts. It’s one of Eddie’s bandmates. Gareth, Robin thinks he is called. “Stop being disgusting and come here so we can start?”

Robin turns to look for who he could be calling out for. Nancy and Jonathan have not come today, and everyone is in the stage area, everyone except…

“Did you just call Steve and Eddie lovebirds?”

“Yeah, since they started dating they’ve been unbearable.”

“DATING?” Dustin shrieks beside them.

“Shit, sorry, was that supposed to be a secret?” Gareth asks, and he sounds genuinely scared. Robin would normally appreciate it but-

“Oh, you think they are actually dating?” Dustin asks, but it doesn’t sound like a question, more like a realisation.

“Aren’t they?” Jeff asks.

“No, no, it’s just Eddie saying weird things.” Dustin dismisses, but Robin is frozen in place, the cogs in her mind turning.

“You are not dating?” Gareth asks to the side and yep, there Eddie and Steve are, now close to them. Eddie has his arm around Steve’s shoulder and they are leaning against each other.

Shit.

“We are,” Steve says easily. “They just don’t believe us.” Eddie bumps his head against Steve’s and he moves his head slightly away with an annoyed look that looks more fond than anything else.

Robin and Dustin are gaping at them and, from the sudden quiet around them she guesses the rest are too.

“Wait you two are actually dating?!” Lucas voice comes from behind them. “But Dustin said you weren’t going out with anyone because you liked Robin?”

That shakes Robin out of it, if only to turn around and say, “Ew, no.” Doesn’t matter who he is talking to.

“And I told Mike and Robin I was dating Eddie,” Steve says. “And you saw us kissing.”

“Yeah but- I don’t know.”

Eddie’s bandmates are now dying of laughter, Robin can’t even blame them.

“How was I supposed to believe you were telling the truth!” Robin exclaims. That provokes more laughs.

“Wait,” Max intervenes. “So that day you were sleeping together without a shirt…” She trails off, but they all see in her face what she just realised. “Gross!”

“Oh shut up Mayfield,” Eddie says. “I saw you looking at my boyfriend’s tits.”

That shuts Max up.

“You really are dating Steve?” Mike asks.

“Yes, and no stupid comments or your character is dead Wheeler.” Eddie states, pointing to Mike with the arm that is not around Steve.

And that shuts Mike up with a huff and a shake of his head.

“So you two are boyfriends?” El asks. “I think that’s cute.”

“Thanks El,” Steve says.

“I can’t believe you got with a boy before I got with a girl!” Robin exclaims. “And I didn’t know!”

“You would have known if you had believed me!” Steve exclaims back.

“Well sorry for thinking about your dating record and drawing conclusions.”

“Okay, okay,” Gareth interrupts them. “As funny as this is, we need to start now if we want to play anything before the owner arrives.”

“Let’s get this party going,” Eddie exclaims. He moves away from Steve to grab his guitar, and then goes back to Steve and kisses him on the lips. Actually kisses him on the lips in front of everyone, and Steve doesn’t really react except from a smile because why would he? They have been boyfriends for weeks apparently. “Be back in a minute sweetheart.”

Robin fake gags.

Steve moves to stand next to Robin. He has this shit eating grin on his face that Robin can’t stand.

“Shut up,” she says.

Eddie is on the stage now, looking at them with a stupid smile on his face. She should have known they were dating.

“Told you so,” Steve just says.

[lee-da-vinci]

obsessed with the idea of eddie and erika having beef, solely due to steve. like maybe eddie has a habit of including steve-esque npcs in hellfire campaigns. erica while young is smart and it doesn’t take long for her to recognize the pattern of the npcs and she is not impressed ™. she doesn’t quite know what eddie is doing and why (it’s some unholy combination of loathing and infatuation most likely) but that’s HER, she actually doesn’t really know how to categorize him but Steve is hers and is one of the only people she listens to while minimal complaints (she might even respect him and robin a tiny bit, unlike dustin, she has long since realized exactly what Steve and Robin did for them in that base, if her parents were that grateful to the two dumbasses for “saving them from a fire” she can’t imagine what they’d do if they knew exactly how much steve has done for the family over the years). Regardless, no raggedy, hyper-active metal head while be fucking with steve on her watch and so starts erica repeatedly calling eddie out on any and everything and eddie, digging his feet in and refusing to give up his mechanism for coping with gay yearning, willingly enters a beef with a child.

[livwritesstuff]

i went on a deep dive of the Steve & Hopper ao3 tag yesterday and and it got me thinking about what would happen if Chief of Police Hopper ran into Steve and Eddie while he was on patrol after pseudo-adopting Steve, and it’s been long enough that Hopper is sort of a safe-person for Steve so Steve goes into full-fledged bitch mode when Hopper tries to pull cop stuff on them, and Eddie (who knew about none of this because Steve is a chronic under-sharer) is so totally baffled.

He’d spent years watching Steve sweet-talk his way out of trouble. Even before they started hooking up it used to drive Eddie goddamn insane, because if (when) Eddie pulled any of this shit Steve gets away with, he’d be totally screwed, but all Steve has to do is flash a sheepish grin and run a hand through his hair once or twice and say, all baleful, “I really didn’t mean any trouble,” and he’s home free.

It has its perks though, or so he's learned during his last few months of hanging around with Steve, so when Steve and Eddie’s make-out session is interrupted by the tell-tale red and blue lights of a cop car pulling up behind where Steve parked the Beemer a few hundred yards down a maintenance road, Eddie’s not all that worried. In fact, he’s got a pretty good amount of faith in Steve’s ability to spin up some story to keep them out of any real trouble, and as Chief Hopper ambles over to them, Eddie prepares himself for a whole show of, “Yes Chief, sorry Chief, it won’t happen again Chief.”

So imagine Eddie's complete and utter surprise when Hopper barks, “Hey, morons! What the hell do you think you’re doing?” and Steve only rolls his eyes and says, “What’s it to you?”

Eddie feels his jaw drop.

“Steve,” he mutters through gritted teeth. He tries to elbow Steve into shutting the hell up, but he misses because Steve has already taken several steps forward to meet Hopper, his face turned up in a kind of defiance Eddie doesn’t think he’s ever seen on him before.

“What’s it to me?” Hopper repeats, glowering at Steve, “It’s midnight. I’m on patrol. You’ve got one of the most recognizable cars in this entire damn town parked in a restricted-access zone with this idiot–” Hopper gestures at Eddie (Eddie didn’t think the pointing or the idiot were necessary, but clearly, clearly, he’s missing something here), “–who’s been dragged into my station more times than I could count.”

“The town line, Hop, is over there,” Steve says, pointing at an indiscriminate spot over Hop’s shoulder that may or may not be part of the Hawkins town line, “We’re not even in Hawkins anymore. You’re totally out of your jurisdiction.”

“You wanna know something about jurisdiction, smart-ass?” Hopper asks, “If my report says shit happened in my jurisdiction, it happened in my jurisdiction.”

“Wow,” Steve deadpans, “Way to not sound totally corrupt. Nice work, Chief.”

Hopper’s jaw twitches for a second, and he’s clearly debating if he wants to keep arguing with Steve who, to Steve’s credit, looks like he’s got debate in him for days. Ultimately though, Hopper decides against it and stalks back over to his squad car.

“If you’re not home by one there’s gonna be hell to pay. You hear me, Harrington?” Hopper yells, “One AM. Hell to pay.”

“Oh, sure,” Steve rolls his eyes, “Totally hear you. One AM. Loud and clear or whatever.”

Steve flips the cruiser both birds as it peels away, which Hopper only flashes his high beams at a couple times before he’s gone, kicking up a bunch of dirt and mulch and leaves in his wake, and Steve is wearing an exasperated expression as he turns to face Eddie again.

“God, he’s so annoying. Let’s just go to my house.”

Eddie gapes at him.

“What the fuck was that?”

“Huh?”

“What the fuck was that?” Eddie repeated, gesturing wildly towards where Hopper’s car had just been.

“Wha– you mean with Hop?”

“Uh, yeah?!?”

Steve just brushed him off, “Whatever, just ignore him. He’s basically my dad.”

“What?”

EDIT: read the expanded fic on AO3 :)

[fly0nthwindscreen]

decided to make a steddie sideblog and post this here, also. twitter is gone and i miss steddietwt already </3

[justiceforplutoo]

I feel like steddies are always going for bi steve/gay eddie but consider: comphet gay steve/bi eddie. I'm so sure someone's said this before but...consider with me, ok?

consider a young child steve whose father still works in hawkins but is never with the family, leaving steve with his mother and his mother's girl-friends. they talk all about their husbands and their families and one day steve, all innocent, asks his mom, "when will I get a husband?"

his mother clutches her chest and says, "oh no, stephen, that isn't how that works."

steve who confusedly nods along and goes with it.

steve who chastises himself every time he catches himself staring in the locker room, or in gym, or at swim meets.

steve who finds himself, years later, confused as to why he can't find himself feeling for the girls he dates the way they do for him.

steve who convinces himself that he'll find the right girl one day.

consider steve sitting on the floor of the starcourt bathrooms with robin, covered head to toe in vomit and blood. and this is it, right? this is the part where he gets the girl. and something in him cringes at the thought. something in him says, no, you don't want her.

he brushes it off as king steve telling him who he should and shouldn't date.

and then robin starts panicking and talking about tammy thompson (oh.) and suddenly they're singing muppets and steve has this paradigm shift because he doesn't have to get the girl.

it takes him a couple months and one "don't ya, big boy?" to make him realize that he doesn't have to get the girl.

and it's funny - honestly, it is - because robin comes out and so does will and eddie is...himself, but steve thinks to himself, well, that's good for them, but it could never be me.

and he keeps saying that it could never be him until the split second before he realizes it is him.

it could never be him, he thinks, but rocky horror picture show is playing in the background and eddie leans into his space and talks all about how sexy rocky's body is and somehow that leads to jocks and somehow that leads to, "so what do you like, steve?"

and somehow that leads to a strained and breathless, "I think I like you, eddie."

and then they're kissing, and steve is desperately pawing at eddie's collar, unsure where to put his hands. it's a blur, and all steve really registers is that they're kissing, and then-

and then steve starts crying. silently, at first, and in the heat of the moment, unnoticeable, except then steve is pushing eddie away and eddie looks hurt.

"I read that wrong, didn't I?" says eddie.

steve gulps in air, face red, and barely manages out a "no".

"...no?"

"I don't think I like girls, eddie. but I like you."

"you know you can like both, right? I mean, I do."

steve nods, then shakes his head. "I think I just like boys, eddie."

"oh, okay."

eddie leans in for another kiss.

[fruity-calamity]

Steve starts debating with Eddie about music as a joke. He likes watching Eddie go on his passionate rants about the things he loves. The intensity in his eyes is as addicting, as his voice is a balm on his soul. Which is to say a *lot*. The thing is, is he doesn't actually know much about music. Like he knows a lot of terms by osmosis from simply knowing Eddie and Robin. But he doesn't actually know what they mean or how to use them to describe music. So he ends up just using his feelings to describe them. He thinks Eddie is just humoring him when he makes a show of considering his words. He assumes that the ones that end up on the mixtapes Eddie makes them to listen to when they're together, are just a mix of songs that Eddie tolerates and the handful of metal songs Steve has admitted to actually liking.

But Eddie, he's actually taking their little debates more seriously than he did all 3 years of senior year *combined* . He's absolutely*enamored* with the way Steve describes music to the point that he actually manages to convert Eddie on some of the billboard hits. He starts making mixtapes of all the songs Steve converts him to and the ones he catches Steve humming as a sort of love letter to him. Steve is absolutely floored the first time he catches Eddie singing along to an ABBA song. He's completely awed the first time Eddie actually requests a tears for fears song and even sings along with him.

[sp0o0kylights]

A Steve who cannot buy his boyfriend Eddie's movie tickets all time, take him out to bi weekly dinners, or even publicly win him a teddy bear at the fair is a Steve who pivots, and starts making trips the the closest hobby store.

The bigger one, that sells more than just a handful of D&D manuals.

The guys who hang around there are initially confused--the sports guy who should clearly be buying sports cards is instead coming in once a month to load up on everything from fantasy books to new dice. Clearly he has to be a nerd in disguise.

Yet when one brave soul casually asked what his preferred game was he said basketball, like a total normie.

Finally after a full year of this, the guy opens the door to the shop, but for once doesn't step in. Instead, Eddie steps through and gasps, before spinning and loudly accusing Steve of hiding the store from him.

"It's not my fault you refuse to drive this far out." Steve fires right back but there's a smile on his face, and the stores entire crew watch in awe as Steve follows Eddie around.

Steve is always careful in Hawkins, when it comes to not acting like they're in a relationship but its hard in the moment, and he's not as careful as he should be.

Eddie brings an entire armload of things to the front of the store and Steve insists on paying because;

"It's your birthday man, I'm not gonna make you pay for your own presents."

They leave, the two of them practically floating, leaving behind a bewildered group of people who immediately start arguing whether or not they heard the weird sporty guy call the metalhead "baby."

[lovelylittlegrim]

I really love the idea of a supportive Wayne Munson buying books and zines on bisexuality to give to Eddie. And Eddie who mistakenly thinks that Wayne is trying to come out to him when all Wayne was trying to do was show Eddie that it’s okay to like girls and guys and that maybeee Eddie’s friendship with Steve Harrington isn’t as platonic as the two young men think.

So now Wayne’s just accepting a big hug from a supportive Eddie. And listening to Eddie tell him how proud he is for coming out and asking if Wayne has found someone and if maybe that’s why he’s decided to tell Eddie now and Wayne is just flummoxed on what he’s supposed to do now.

“Now wait just a minute,” Wayne is trying to say.

“Dont even worry about it,” Eddie claps him on the shoulders. “We’ll have you a boyfriend in no time.”

Eddie does take the books though because he wants to be “the best ally” for Wayne.

(Eddie Bursts into Wayne’s room like a week later all wide eyed and frantic, holding one of the books and is just like ‘is being gay hereditary?’ Because holy shit Eddie’s pretty sure he’s bisexual too and half in love with Steve Harrington)

[jadewritesficshere]

Steve is nonchalantly browsing the chips, waiting for Eddie to return (who in all honesty is probably getting the bag of sour gummy worms Steve already said they couldn't grab).

Steve feels a tug on his shirt. He smiles as he turns, expecting to see his boyfriend but-

Steve looks down at the child staring up at him. "Uh hi?" Steve looks around the empty aisle," Where's your parents bud?" The kid shrugs, but points to Steve's shirt," Tiger."

Steve's faded shirt from his freshman year of high school, now the most soft and comfortable after years of wear, does in fact have a tiger. "Yeah, sure is. Who-" the kid cuts Steve off with a loud roar. Steve can't help but chuckle as he crouches down to be on the kid's level.

Steve is fully focused on this kid, trying to find whoever the kid should be with. When he stands back up, he holds his hand out to the kid, who tentatively grasps his hand. The kid continues to roar and talk about tigers.

Meanwhile, Eddie has watched most of this exchange. Seeing his beloved boyfriend talk to this random child, the concern on his face? Eddie watches from a distance as Steve finds the mother, who was freaking out (understandably).

Eddie can't help but watch as Steve says hi to the baby in the stroller, laughing as the baby reaches out and grabs his finger. Steve says goodbye to the family, roaring back at the kid, who lights up.

Eddie can't help but think how good Steve is with kids. How good of a parent Steve would be. Which, started innocent, but then Eddie's mind jumped to the process of how a child comes about.

And now all Eddie can think about is how he's gonna give Steve one. He doesn't give 2 shits about biology, Eddie's putting a baby in that man.

[ghast1yghosts]

paramedics Steve and Robin go help someone needing to get up to their apartment but the elevator is out of order.

Eddie getting a piggyback ride from a (extremely hot) paramedic while the guy’s partner carries his wheelchair up the stairs behind them.

[whathehonestfuk]

The house the government gives the Munson's post vecna bullshit is a big 4 bed 3 bath that was beautiful, was, probably 20 years ago it isn't condemned but needs a fuck ton of work

Steve and everyone else is pissed but the government bastards claim they kept up their end of the bargain and are eager to once again wash their hands of Hawkins and forget it even exists

Steve never one for being idle and with an intense need to take care of his people throws himself into fixing the house up. its a rare day that Steve isn't sweaty dirty and working on something or another (he's got his parents paying for the materials by telling them the earthquake fucked up their house)

Eddie is both thoroughly entertained and suffering through his recovery

[rotteneldritchhorror]

Eddie obviously knows how to sew (hes not only dirt-poor living off of a single consistent paycheck and whatever he earns selling drugs, but hes also a punk- theres no way he DOESNT know how to sew), but steve most definitely does. not. one of his shirts get a hole and he throws it out.

When eddie first witnesses this, hes fucking MORTIFIED and ends up digging a t-shirt out of the trash and sewing the hole closed and fixing the loose stitching on the hem and gives steve a lecture about not wasting fabric and money.

And from then on, steve just shows up at the munson household every now and then with various clothes in his arms, asking eddie to fix them for him.