#stranger things earrings

[artrealla]

[mimi-maru]

the girl with the sony walkman

[blushweddinggowns]

I'm all for the angsty overhearing a conversation trope where it's all sad because of a misunderstanding. But I also love the opposite. Overhearing a conversation where the other person is just singing their praises. Especially with Steve and Eddie.

Like Steve being very aware that he likes Eddie, but way too afraid of rejection to actually do anything about it. So he just pines away, and gets closer and closer to him with the full expectation of it never going anywhere. Until one day, he comes to pick Dustin up from Hellfire too early, and he can hear everyone talking through the door. About him. But mostly it's Eddie, his loud voice carrying across the room. And he's just raving about him, and somehow managing to bring him up in conversations that have nothing to do with him.

Do you remember that time Steve saved my life by shoving my guts back into my body? Yeah, that's the level of skill and luck you're going to need to survive this.

Did you guys know that Steve actually gave me this background music? He's weirdly knowledgeable about classical stuff. Isn't that cool? He's so smart and-oh, yeah, the merchant agrees to the deal.

So uh, is Steve maybe seeing anyone? He isn't right? Like he would tell me if he was, wouldn't he?

And he doesn't give a single fuck at the collective groaning of the group whenever he gets going, never failing to pull out the I almost Died saving the world with you card to get them to shut up. And by the time it actually ends, Steve is a glowing, blushing mess who can't stop smiling.

Or the other way around. With Eddie full on assuming he has 0 shot because Steve's, Steve.

The golden boy who could obviously never be into him like that, or any other guy for that matter. So he doesn't do anything about his feelings, he just hangs out with him more and more and falls for him more and more, waiting for the inevitable day when he gets a girlfriend and his fantasies could finally die. Except one day, he spends the night at Steve's, but he isn't in bed when he wakes up. He goes to find him, just to hear him downstairs loudly talking to Robin. Because neither of them know the concept of inside voices when they're together. And he waits at the top, listening in just for the fuck of it, but mostly because he doesn't want to interrupt.

"I just feel like bed sharing the way you guys do is gay as hell," Robin sighed, "Especially at your age. Also, should we even be talking about this with him in the house?"

And before Eddie has time to freak out over that and the possibility he's gotten caught with his feelings, Steve is already answering, "I know right? And don't worry about it, he sleeps like the dead. But I don't know what to do about it. He still hasn't done anything. Am I just reading this whole thing wrong?"

"Well you could try making the first move instead of trying to trick him into doing it," Robin tried.

"And ruin our friendship incase I'm wrong? Yeah, no. Besides, I go like, full dumbass around him when I'm nervous. He's too hot. I'd probably walk into a wall in the middle of professing my undying love."

"Yeah," Robin sighed, "You probably would."

And Eddie is just having a moment upstairs. A full on I think I may have to jump for joy moment. Or even, I think I'm five seconds away from squealing like a teenage girl moment.

Yeah, I like that shit.

[ikarakie]

steve's favourite thing to do is interchange the names in songs with people's he knows. usually just as a bit of fun, like singing "gimme, gimme, gimme ro-bin after midnight!" to make her laugh in the car when she's had a bad morning. or, "i wish that i was dustin's girl!" in a horrific impression of suzie that makes the kid body slam him in retaliation.

so one day, when him and eddie are hanging out in his kitchen, amicably flitting around each other as they make food, he can't help himself. the drums start up from the radio in the corner and a smile spreads across his face, because he thought of this one weeks ago and has been dying to use it.

he whirls around and points at eddie, who's looked up at the sudden movement, with the business end of a wooden spoon. "oh, eddie you're so fine! you're so fine, you blow my mind! hey, eddie!" he takes a step forward, relishing in how munson's jaw drops to the floor. "hey, eddie!"

he does a sort of half shuffle, half dance around to eddie's other side, where he continues, jumping up and down and shaking his head back and forth with the beat, "oh, eddie you're so fine, you're so fine, you blow my mind!" he gets up in eddie's space, to where they're practically nose to nose, "hey eddie!"

"oh my god, what is happening?" eddie asks, trying his hardest to suppress a grin. steve continues to dance and sing like an idiot, abandoning the spoon on the counter to grab both eddie's hands and pull his arms back and forth in an attempt to get him dancing too.

by the start of the first verse eddie is half-heartedly bouncing along, watching steve with wide eyes and flushed cheeks. he thinks he's fucking beautiful like this- big blinding smile, full of energy- and takes a second to ponder the turns his life has taken to bring him here, in this moment. where steve harrington is singing a cheesy, upbeat love song at him, having replaced the name in it for his.

steve cups eddie's hands together and uses them as a makeshift microphone, belting out the lyrics to the chorus as eddie giggles along in the background. "-oh, eddie! what a pity, you don't understand," puts his best pouty face and places eddie's hand on his chest, over his heart. eddie's eyes widen. "you take me by the heart when you take me by the hand! oh, eddie, you're so pretty," really fucking emphasises the word pretty. because, damn. "why can't you understand? it's guys like you, eddie!" grabs him by the shoulders and rocks them both back and forth with each word. eddie's hand drops from his chest to circle around his waist, seemingly out of instinct, and fuck, he liked that.

eddie was staring at him now, sparkly eyed and hopeful. steve clasped his hands together at the base of eddie's neck, as he sung, a little less overzealous now, "oh, what you do, eddie, do eddie," as the gap between them got less and less. steve had to work to bite down the grin on his face.

"don't break my heart, eddie." he said, barely loud enough for them to hear over the music. eddie grinned, pressing their lips together as the chorus ended.

it was objectively bad, with the way they both smiled and giggled through the whole fucking thing, but god, who cares. to them, in that exact moment, it was the best damn kiss either of them had ever had.

until, that is, when eddie pulls back (very fucking regretfully) and realises something.

"we did not just have our first kiss to 'hey, mickey!' by toni basil." he whispers, in genuine horror. steve throws his head back with such bright laughter, still pressed against him, that it almost makes it worth it.

keyword almost, because then the menace leans back in, all coy, and replies, "i'm never, ever letting you forget it."

[steddieas-shegoes]

cw: mentions of scarring, canon-typical violence, flashback (not graphic), minor body horror (again, not graphic, mostly just emotional feelings about scars)

♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️

Everyone gave him weird looks when they walked in, quickly schooling their features when they noticed he was awake and watching them.

He didn’t know exactly what that was about.

They had him on a lot of good drugs.

But eventually he got weaned off them, and he noticed the pull of bandages on his side, and his arm, and his neck, and his face.

He was still unable to get out of bed. Still couldn’t even reach his arms above his chest for more than a few seconds.

But he damn sure reached up to feel the cloth and plastic surrounding his cheek. How had he not noticed for days? How had no one bothered him about it?

Maybe they had and he just didn’t notice. The morphine was one hell of a drug.

Wayne was soft, patient with him. Saw him touching it, saw the way his eyes filled with tears. He’d never been particularly vain, hadn’t cared much about what he looked like to others, but this felt bigger than that. This felt like he was changed in a way that everyone could see.

Add it to the list of things people could bully him for.

He cried himself to sleep, Wayne’s hand in his, silently comforting in the way he’d always done.

When he woke up again the next morning, he was alone.

It was the first time he’d been alone since the boathouse.

He could swear he heard bats outside his door, screams coming from the attached bathroom, flashes of someone dying on the ceiling.

He felt the sharp sting of teeth puncturing his skin.

He felt hopelessness creep into his bones as he gave in.

Maybe this time they would finish the job.

“Eddie!”

Steve Harrington’s voice broke through the thoughts, panicked enough to bring Eddie back to his hospital bed within a second of hearing it.

“Shit, are you okay?” He continued, hand brushing against Eddie’s bandaged cheek.

Eddie nodded once, closed his eyes, leaned into the touch.

He could blame it on any number of things if Steve felt weird about it. The morphine, the flashback, the loneliness.

“You’re okay, Eddie. I promise. Won’t let anything happen to you,” Steve whispered.

Eddie believed him.

He fell back asleep with Steve’s hand gently cupping the mangled side of his face.

If Steve could still touch him there, then maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.

♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️

Steve came by every day, sometimes in the early morning, before visiting hours officially started, sometimes well after Wayne had left to get some sleep. He always smiled when he walked in, a genuine one, not the one everyone else gave that was so fully of pity and pain he couldn’t bear to make eye contact. He sat down on the side of the bed, not the chair like everyone else, not scared to be close.

And every single day, without fail, he would run his finger along the edge of Eddie’s bandage on his face, watching his own movements and cataloging any changes.

Eddie sat quietly, still, scared to put words to anything happening. Scared to tell Steve what it meant to him to have someone acknowledge his pain in this way. Scared to think Steve could mean anything by it.

It was easy to pretend Steve was doing this because he cared.

Maybe he did care.

But he didn’t care the way Eddie wanted him to, needed him to.

So he stayed quiet, still.

He watched.

He fell asleep while Steve talked about his day, the kids, what Joyce made Hopper do around the house.

He woke up alone most days, but that was okay, because Steve would be there eventually.

♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️

“You ready to get that thing off?” Wayne asked, gesturing to the bandage.

“Oh. Today?” Eddie suddenly didn’t want to ever be without the bandage. Removing it meant he’d see what was under it.

It meant seeing how much that place had ruined him.

The pull of the stitches hadn’t been as obvious with the pull of the bandage masking it.

But now it’s all he felt.

The nurse smiled at him as she put some antibiotic cream over the area, saying he would probably still have to keep it extra clean for the next week or so while the stitches did their job.

Wayne smiled at him in the way that meant he didn’t really want to smile at all, but knew Eddie needed him to.

Steve didn’t come.

Eddie didn’t sleep.

♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️

He woke up with panic in his chest and a silent scream in his throat.

He woke up with Steve’s hand on his face.

Gentle, soft, but a strong comfort.

“Promise I washed them first. They said we have to be careful about germs,” Steve said quietly.

“You don’t have to. I know it’s…it’s gross. It’s ugly. I’m ugly.”

Steve shook his head. “No. Not gross. Not ugly. Alive.”

“Steve-“

“You’re alive, Eddie. You could have your entire face held together by staples and you would still be a miracle. You’d still be the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”

Well, Steve’s charm wasn’t an exaggeration, was it?

He wasn’t even sure if the skin barely pulled together could blush anymore, or if the heat that should be on his cheek was burning on the outside the way it felt like it was on the inside.

“It’s gonna be awful when it heals. I saw it in the mirror.” Eddie could feel every stitch in his jaw, the few that spread across the corner of his mouth and bottom lip, the ones that were nearly up to his ear. “I’ll always have a crooked face. The scar will always be huge. It’s all anyone will see.”

“Then they aren’t looking.”

Eddie bit his lip, eyes searching Steve’s. “But you are.”

“No. I’m seeing. There’s a difference. I see you. I see what you’ve survived. I see the mark it left on you. I know it wasn’t just the scars that cover your skin.” Steve leaned his head down, touching Eddie’s forehead with his own. “We all have them. And we’re all still here. Your heart’s beating. That’s all that matters to me.”

“Who knew you were so good with words?” Eddie smiled sadly.

“Robin says I’m just good at not having a filter.”

“She’s right as always.” Eddie wrapped his fingers around Steve’s wrist, turning as slowly as he could to kiss his palm. “You’re not scared of it.”

“No. Are you?”

“I’m scared that you’ll change your mind when it’s always there as a reminder of what happened.”

Steve kissed his nose, making him smile for the first time in what felt like years.

“I’ll have the reminder that I got you out of there. That no matter what, the bats couldn’t finish the job. That you were stronger and you made it.” Steve let his hand drop, but quickly laced his fingers with Eddie’s. “I know it’s a lot to ask of you to trust me, but will you? For today?”

“Just today?”

“I’ll ask again tomorrow.”

“And what? Every day after that?”

Steve smirked.

His eyes were glistening with tears, but Eddie could tell it wasn’t sadness or fear.

“If that’s what I have to do.”

They hadn’t even talked about feelings, not really. Nothing that made any sense to Eddie, nothing that they could define. A part of Eddie was still convinced he was in a coma and dreaming this entire conversation up.

But even the nurse had noticed the way Steve watched him, how he touched him, how he fought for him. She said he’d been a firecracker from the moment he carried him into the hospital, dripping blood on the tile, staining the halls with his demands for help.

Wayne said he barely left his side the first day, only doing so when the doctors had told him they would call the cops if he didn’t.

Erica even noticed how things had changed between them, stating that she refused to watch her babysitter and the only DM she had respect for make out.

But Steve held Eddie, made him feel like he could get out of the hospital bed and live a life that wouldn’t keep him running. Steve was there.

Steve might even love him. If not now, then some day.

And Eddie could trust him today.

He could probably trust him tomorrow.

“Kiss me?” Eddie probably shouldn’t. The stitches tugged when he talked, and another mouth anywhere near his wounds was just asking for an infection.

But Steve would be careful. He knew what Eddie could handle.

It was barely a kiss. A graze of the lips at most.

But it was the best kiss Eddie had ever had.

At least until tomorrow.

[corrodedcoughin]

I feel like Eddie is the type of guy to always have a slide whistle in his pocket and uses it to make incidental sound effects for the conversations that happen around him.

Nobody knows where he gets them all from and they don’t ask incase he takes one out and starts playing with it.

Wayne is so happy every time he loses one of the whistles. He absolutely never tells Eddie when he finds one of the numerous whistles that have rolled under the couch. He has an agreement with Steve to dispose of them secretly and securely.

Except one night when Steve’s driving around town with Eddie, he opens the glove box and there’s a bag full of whistles (seriously nobody knows where he’s getting them from. And in bulk?)

And Eddie is all ‘HEY!’ Which immediately makes Steve tense up in preparation for an argument with his easily antagonised boyfriend about the possible theft of offending musicals instruments.

But then Eddie continues with ‘more whistles! I didn’t take you for a fan dude!!’

And promptly shoves one up each of his nostrils and one in his mouth and tries to play them all at once while demanding Steve watch instead of watching the road.

Steves going to have to think of a new hiding spot.

[imthursdaysyme]

Max Mayfield my love

[artiststarme]

Lonely Once Again

Steve hated being alone. He was used to it, he had to be after ten years of his parents escaping Hawkins to travel by themselves and forget they had a son that needed them. But just because he was used to being alone didn’t have to mean he liked it.

The world was too quiet when it was just you in it. The creaks of the walls, the settling of the floor, the breeze rustling the outside leaves. None of it could stand up to the oppressive silence of it all. So he tried to fill it with people. He filled his home with parties and lured his friends into companionship with promises of beer and weed. But it never lasted.

Steve always ended up alone. When his friends left, he wasn’t shocked. When Nancy left, he wasn’t surprised. Hurt, but not surprised. He was left once again with his battered ego and the suffocating silence that always crept too close.

The Upside Down changed a lot for him. He got adopted by a chaotic group of children and enveloped into their Party. He gained a soulmate in his coworker that he could’ve sworn had hated him before. There was never enough room for the quiet when Robin was around. Her frazzled words and long-winded rants kept character in the air and scared off the threat of silence. Steve never felt alone when she was near.

Their last bout with the Upside Down brought tormenting nightmares, gnarly scars, and a foreboding sense of paranoia. But it also brought Eddie Munson. Eddie was the exact opposite of everything Steve hated in the world. He was larger than life, loud, confident, and passionate about everything he set his mind to.

It didn’t take Steve long to fall in love with him. He put off his declarations out of fear of being abandoned by Eddie, just like Nancy had all those years ago. He stayed quiet in his love, forcing the words down and isolating himself in the process.

But Eddie wouldn’t stand for that. He pried the words out of him with gentle hands and loud love. After that, Steve was never alone in the silence again. Eddie kept him happy with whispered assurances, loud music that screeched in off-keys, and random conversations that Steve couldn’t help but love.

[robin-buckely]

NANCY WHEELER in STRANGER THINGS 4.02 | Chapter Two: Vecna’s Curse

[finalgowrl]

this is it. the greatest joe keery look of all time.

[heathenoushound]

I had a tome challenge to complete and I’m the type of player who goes feral for getting my challenges done and while crossfaded 🍃 my friend tried to warn me and all I could think of was this sound afterwards 😭

[byler-alarmist]

Something just occurred to me......almost all the times Will is shown crying, it's not with Mike there. He may have tears in his eyes, but he's usually alone or with his family when he full-on cries. The only time Mike even alluded to Will having cried in front of him is when he said it sounded like WIll whimpering over the walkie because he'd heard him sound like that when he'd fallen of his bike and broken his finger.

I wonder if Will actively tries not to cry in front of Mike. I wonder if the van scene was the first time in a long time he had cried with Mike present, and even then, he turned his face away so Mike wouldn't see.

[http-byler]

☆ MASTER OF PUPPETS ☆

[emblazons]

it's a cruel summer spring break with you.

Eleven x Cruel Summer (by Taylor Swift) aka a gifset my brain wouldn't let go of until I made it

[steddie-there]

"Can I talk to him?" Steve asks plaintively.

There's a beat of silence.

"He's a rabbit, Steve, it's not like he can answer you back," Dustin tells him and even though they can't see him over the phone, he's definitely rolling his eyes.

Eddie tries not to laugh, he really does, but Steve has gotten all huffy and he has a hand on his hip and his patented "would you just listen to me for once, Dustin?" scowl on his face. "Just put the phone by his ear, Henderson, so he can hear me."

They've been gone for a week, visiting Nancy on her spring break at Emerson and normally when they travel, Robin is their go to rabbit-sitter but since she's traveling with them this time, they asked Dustin. And they've never been gone for more than a few days at a time, so between Dustin being not-Robin and how long they've been gone, Steve had gotten antsier and antsier until Eddie finally told him to just call and check in. Leading to now, when Steve just wants Dustin to quit being a little shit and let him talk to his rabbit.

Dustin heaves a melodramatic sigh but then there's a rustling noise and his voice sounds more distant when he says, "Okay, say something."

And Steve's face lights up and he practically coos into the phone and it would be hilarious if it wasn't the most goddamn adorable thing Eddie's ever seen. "We're gonna be home soon, Paul, okay? So just be good for Uncle Dustin for two more days and we'll see you soon."

There's a loud clicking noise that has Steve and Eddie sharing a "what the hell?" look before Dustin comes back on and laughingly tells them Paul bit the phone.

Eddie giggles and Steve pinches the bridge of his nose but he's laughing, too.

Once Dustin has satisfied Steve that, yes, Paul is okay and yes, he will continue to be okay until they get home, Steve finally hangs up the phone. He drops his head onto Eddie's shoulder.

Eddie drapes his arms around Steve. "Dustin's responsible. He's got this. Didn't you tell me he kept one of those demo-things alive once?"

"Yeah, with nougat. And then it ate his cat."

Eddie snorts a laugh at Steve's bitchy tone and Steve giggles a little, starting to relax. He sighs against Eddie's shoulder. "Sorry I've been so anxious," he whispers, "I know it's silly."

Eddie tightens his arms around him. "Stevie, you don't have to apologize. And it's not silly. It's part of how you love. And honestly? It's one of my favorite things about you."

Steve pulls back to look at him with a raised eyebrow. "Really?"

"Really," Eddie says, pressing a gentle kiss to his forehead.

Steve leans into Eddie's hold again. "I love you," he murmurs, heart full when Eddie whispers it back.

Two days later, they come home to a happy, healthy rabbit and an entire wall covered by a huge series of ramps and climbing platforms, enclosed with plexiglass to prevent one adventurous bunny from taking any falls.

There's a note from Dustin.

He likes to be tall. Thought this might help.

Steve looks at Paul where he's peering out from halfway up the wall. Eddie watches Steve standing there, his hands on his hips, considering Dustin's gift.

"Henderson is never watching him again," Steve declares and Eddie dissolves into gales of laughter. Steve pokes his arm, but soon he's laughing too and they collapse into a tangle of limbs on the couch, watching Paul explore and enjoying the feeling of coming home.

---

other Steve and Eddie are rabbit dads stories

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7

ao3: And Rabbit Makes Three