#they’re thirteen and think they’re the coolest people ever but they’re all LOSERS and i love them

[starstruckodysseys]

the kids in this fic are the funniest characters to write ever. technically this is a carshall fic but really it’s about the thirteen year olds if we’re being honest

[tibby]

Can you speak more on Steve Harrington's trauma? I've never seen anyone address it, seemingly dismissing his character as just a "dumb mom friend" or whatever...

sure! i’ll stick to the show with this, because even though i have a lot of thoughts wrt steve and his life and why he acts the way he does, it’s all personal interpretation and not actual canon (though would happily discuss those more anytime.)

before i get into any specifics with regards to what steve has been through during the show, i do want to discuss a little about what we can assume of his relationships pre-nancy, and pre-everything: 

canon doesn’t give us a lot to work with in regards to steve’s parents, but based on what we do know, it doesn’t seem good. we can assume that they’re somewhat neglectful and have an unhappy marriage, presumably featuring adultery. he only refers to his father as an asshole or a douchebag and seems reluctant to follow in his footsteps. it seems like he has a slightly better relationship with his mother, but we also don’t know much about her outside of her following his father on business trips because she doesn’t trust him. regardless of how people personally interpret how bad it is, at the very least, he seems lonely and uncomfortable with his family.

up until the final two episodes of season one, we know that steve is king of the school and uses this power to his advantage. but despite his clout, he doesn’t seem to have any actual friends outside of tommy h and carol (and nicole, i guess, but she appears in like three scenes and we don’t really know much about her.) and tommy and carol aren’t good people. it’s not just that they’re horrendous bullies to jonathan and nancy, but they’re not great to steve either, given how quickly tommy turns on him. how quickly he threatens him, and how scared steve is in that moment. and given that tommy participates in mocking steve with billy a year later, it clearly was never that healthy of a friendship. your only friendships being with toxic people who don’t care about you as a person is always going to be damaging, regardless of how “popular” you are.

(steve’s unpleasant family/friendships pre-nancy seem backed up by a quote from the duffers that i can’t read because it’s behind a paywall but is referenced in the wiki: “what kind of family life [Steve] comes from and maybe this girl Nancy is quiet and listens in a way that other people haven’t listened to him at this point.”)

which brings us to the show. steve finds someone, maybe the first person who’s ever really cared about him, the girl he really likes. and he’s protective of her and wants to be with her and ends up fucking up in the process (i maintain that steve had every reason to go after jonathan for the photos, but he was absolutely in the wrong for the slutshaming and the alleyway fight.) 

but the fight shifts something in him, makes him want to right his wrongs, so he finally dumps his toxic friends (one of whom physically threatens him in the process) and goes to apologise. and walks right into a monster trap.

steve gets no context as to what’s happening when the demogorgon shows up, doesn’t get any explanation from jonathan and nancy (not that they’re at fault for that, given the circumstances,) and is basically just confronted with the sudden knowledge that monsters are real. and he ends up saving nancy and jonathan from it.

in an ideal world, the trio would have helped each over with their trauma together and would’ve been friends and would’ve had more natural progressions of their relationships. i don’t like reducing nancy and jonathan’s traumas to Just the monster thing, but it’s how the show tends to handle it, and i really feel like steve’s own trauma with what happened that night should have been addressed even slightly, particularly in relation to the two of them.

(quick sidenote: my issue with the way the show handles jonathan/nancy and their “shared trauma” is a whole other thing, but i really don’t understand how the show can basically reduce it to the fact they fought a monster together, and then leave steve out of the equation entirely. i wouldn’t have an issue if the show actually looked into the trauma both jonathan and nancy have outside of the monster stuff, but since it refuses to develop that, it…bothers me that steve’s role in what happened and resulting trauma is shoved aside, and they both now just ignore his existence entirely.)

but the show didn’t do that, so let’s get into season two, and steve harrington’s very rough week:

gets dumped! it should be noted that i don’t blame nancy for the breakup, nor do i think she was a bad person who set out to harm him. she’s a confused seventeen year old girl dealing with the loss of her best friend, and i don’t think she deliberately led steve on for a year or knowingly lied to him about her feelings. but it’s still going to be hurtful when your significant other reveals that they didn’t love you, they only thought they did. and steve loved nancy, cared about her, took comfort in her - she was the first person to listen to him, to care about him, to like him for who he really was, not for the mask he put on. i wish they’d gotten a proper conversation about their relationship in either season two or three, particularly as the destruction of the high school fairytale (the relationship between the coolest guy in school and the girl next door) is an important element to both their characters. i know steve says that he’s over her in season three, but i still know that that’s an incredibly heartbreaking thing to go through, even if it wasn’t a relationship based on an illusion - the kids that they were before.

gets involved with more monster hunting stuff, this time with a bunch of bratty middle schoolers! overall, i think stranger things handles the collective trauma the entire gang have like…terribly. i find it weird that it’s been three seasons and the only time the party/the teens/jopper are ALL together is in the final two episodes when it’s Boss Battle time. and i know i shouldn’t expect much from a show which barely lets separate people handle their trauma, but i feel like…maybe they should all like, sit and talk and comfort each other? keep an eye on each other? i don’t know. i think the trauma steve has is trauma he would share with all the others, especially since season two properly involves him with all the monster stuff (plus fighting them is hard enough without also having to deal with his past experiences, a big head injury, and the lives of a bunch of thirteen year olds in his hands.)

gets beat up! again! this time it’s not deserved! i really don’t understand why the fandom acts like steve’s repeated injuries each season are a joke and not like…a genuine cause for medical concern within the universe. i get that it’s basically played for laughs in the show and this incident in particular is used to once again highlight how violent billy is. i don’t have much to elaborate on here but i feel like someone needs to check in on steve and all the head related trauma he’s suffered through in the past eighteen months.

and after all of that, steve is just…left on his own to deal with it. he gave up his friends for nancy, and they weren’t particularly good friends in the first place. nancy left him. he and jonathan don’t ever talk. all he has are the kids and it’s not as if he can really talk about his trauma with a bunch of fourteen year olds. out of all the main cast, he’s the one that has the least support when it comes to this. nancy and jonathan have each other. joyce and hopper have each other. the party has each other. the byers family has each other. el and hopper have each other. but steve doesn’t have the same support system, and there’s nothing to suggest in canon that he actually interacts with the other teens/adults.

steve’s left alone in general, really. he maintained somewhat of his social status following the events of st1/st2, since he mentions being prom king to robin, but does he really…have any friends his age? he lost tommy and carol when he chose nancy, and those two latched onto billy (who, again, is someone who hurt steve and who steve does not like.) he and nancy broke up, and considering he shared about ten words with her and jonathan in st3, it’s safe to assume he’s not really friendly with them. and we don’t ever see any acknowledgment that steve has friends his age, even if it’s just…normal people who don’t know about the monster stuff.

it’s not until he meets robin that he really finds someone he can talk about any of this with, and even then it just comes with more trauma. i feel like steve’s experiences tend to get played for laughs and i really got that vibe in season 3. steve was tortured and drugged. he took another beating, arguably his roughest one yet. he and robin both thought they were going to die down there. it’s not really handled at all within the show, but it’s a lot for someone to go through, especially when combined with the past year and a half of steve’s life.

anyway. i don’t think the show will ever actually address steve’s trauma (or anyone’s, really) which is sad because like the others, he’s been through a lot and i think some acknowledgement/discussion of it would further help his character development. but i guess that just isn’t as funny as writing him off as an idiot and a loser.

[kegareki]

talk abt shisui's babysitting service plz

i spent like two hours typing a response and it’s like. story format. so i hope you enjoy!!

---

it starts simply enough. when mikoto begins transitioning back to active duty, shisui takes over bringing satsuki and sasuke to their favorite park. he has the time, and he doesn't really mind babysitting, anyway. he's good with kids.

("satsuki cried when they first saw you," itachi points out when shisui says this, "and sasuke yelled at you and made you apologize."

"that was because of a misunderstanding," shisui insists. "and besides, satsuki was cuddling me within the hour. they love me now. they do. right? itachi? itachi???")

***

satsuki and sasuke mostly keep to themselves--the other uchiha kids usually stick to the nearest park to the compound, rather than this one, which is a distance away--and shisui knows that they're capable of interacting with other kids their age, and he hates that they act like it's a given not to interact with non-uchiha.

after a week and a half, shisui puts his foot down.

"you want us to make friends?" sasuke repeats, scandalized.

"you have to make at least one friend," shisui confirms. "each."

satsuki looks down and away, twisting their fingers. they're more anxious than sasuke is, and shy around strangers. shisui is hoping, though, that the passing familiarity of seeing the same kids in the same place every day will be enough for them to make an effort, anyway.

"all of you are like, four to six years old," shisui continues, waving his hand to encompass the playground. "all you have to do make friends is ask to join in on a game or something." looking down at sasuke's mulish expression and satsuki's uncomfortable frown, he sighs. "I want you to at least try, okay?"

sasuke, predictably, goes to join a clump of kids who look like they're hitting each other with sticks.

satsuki ends up approaching uzumaki naruto.

shisui's life flashes before his eyes. there will be accusations of the uchiha clan trying to take control of konoha's jinchuuriki--rumors will start again, newly aggravated--but naruto is mikoto's godson, for all that the sandaime uses loopholes and makes up new laws to prevent her from taking him in, and that means something.

when satsuki asks if naruto can have dinner at their house, shisui says yes.

when sasuke asks if kiba--who, apparently, abandoned his stick to start biting people instead--can have dinner at their house, shisui says uh. let's go check with his mom.

tsume laughs. it's a very big laugh and very loud. satsuki and sasuke and kiba all stare at her. shisui feels a lot like they're being made fun of, which is more or less the truth.

"you wanna bring my son into fugaku's house," tsume repeats delightedly. "oh, absolutely. I ain't gonna stop this for anything."

***

kiba and sasuke get into an argument during dinner over which of their older siblings is better.

satsuki points out that maybe itachi's the best brother and hana's the best sister.

"and you're the best sibling!" sasuke concludes.

kiba thinks this over, then nods agreeably, backing down from the fight that had him snarling just a minute before. "yeah, makes sense."

everything is quiet, and then:

"wait," sasuke says, alarmed, "does this mean I'm not the best brother?"

***

it's the latest ino-shika-trio next. shisui stopped paying attention for five minutes while talking to hana about itachi, and when he looks over at the kids next, they've got three more people with them and they're playing ninja tag.

or… something like that. there's someone who's running after other people, but everyone they tag also starts running at other people, until there's only one person left who's fleeing from everyone else. that person gets tackled into the ground.

"I have no idea what they're doing," shisui says.

hana shrugs. "they're kids. no one ever knows what's up with kids."

***

ino, sasuke, naruto, and kiba attempt to kill each other with sticks and fangs while satsuki, shikamaru, and chouji apparently make friends with an aburame through close inspection of bugs on the grass.

and then it's a civilian kid with pink hair.

and then it's another civilian kid who reminds shisui strangely of gai.

and then it's another civilian kid with twin buns in her hair and a fondness for projectile weapons.

(shisui takes great delight in informing itachi that he's been replaced as "the coolest shuriken user ever." itachi doesn't believe him right then, but as dinner goes on and sasuke chatters on about how cool tenten is and how she went fwish! and thwack! and made her name in a tree with shuriken, shisui can see itachi's realization that he's no longer the coolest person sasuke knows.

"sasuke," itachi cuts in smoothly, "would you like to practice with me after dinner? I can show you how to make shapes with shuriken."

"tenten's showing us tomorrow," sasuke says dismissively.

shisui tries to disguise his laugh as a cough.

satsuki pipes up, then, with a look of pity toward itachi. "but if nii-san shows you now, you can show off tomorrow, right?"

"that's right," shisui agrees. "just imagine tenten's face when you progress so much faster than kiba."

sasuke straightens immediately at that. "he's going down," he hisses. "nii-san, you have to show me how to do it. I need to rub it in kiba's face that he's a loser.")

***

and then, somehow, at some point, they stop meeting at the park and start meeting at the uchiha compound.

the guard at the gate gets a list of the kids that are part of sasuke and satsuki's retenue.

"huh," they say, amused. "this is the best networking the clan's had in years."

"right?" shisui says. "I know I told them that making friends when they're four is easy, but I wasn't expecting it to be like this."

***

"itachi," shisui says, without taking his eyes off the thirteen children that he's supposed to be looking after, "if you leave me alone with these kids, I'm never going to forgive you."

"oh, no," itachi says blandly. "whatever shall I do."

"itachi!" naruto yells. "you cannot escape your fate!"

that's a new line. it has to come from one of the hyuugas they've picked up.

"return to your family at once!" lee agrees with the kind of intensity that makes shisui worry about the kind of mayhem he may inflict in pursuit of whatever goal he may have at the moment. "otherwise, you may lose that which you can never recover!"

"and what would that be?" itachi asks with vague interest.

"your dignity," satsuki replies.

shisui snorts before he can stop himself.

"… why would I lose that?" itachi asks, this time with vague dread.

"because," satsuki says, with the grand assurance of a queen, "if you don't stay, we're going to chase you around konoha and use you as target practice. and if you disappear, we're going to ask around for you, and all of konoha will know that there are thirteen children trying to find you who want to beat you up with sticks."

shisui slaps a hand against his mouth. the mental imagery that evokes is glorious.

itachi stays still for a long moment, his eyes locked with satsuki's, before, finally, his shoulders sag in defeat. "I will give in," he says, "on one condition."

naruto eyes him suspiciously. "what's that?"

"I want my siblings to meet me halfway."

shikamaru's eyes narrow, and he shakes his head at naruto, but sasuke and satsuki are family. naruto shrugs back.

sasuke, satsuki, and itachi meet in the middle of the training field… and then itachi picks them up like sacks of flour and deadpans, "I have returned to my family. you can do nothing to me now."

the kids wail in protest.

shisui says, "no, no, please don't--" but, nope, there they go, running after itachi and still shouting for sasuke and satsuki to be released.

shisui drags his hands down his face and groans.

then he jogs to catch up so that he can make sure none of them get kidnapped or something.

***

(a little over half a decade later, shisui is looking at three suna shinobi and the hopeful faces of his kids.

"let them stay for one night," satsuki pleads.

"satsuki," shisui says slowly, "these are the kazekage's children. that's suna's jinchuuriki."

"he could be our jinchuuriki," satsuki says, "if you let them stay with you."

even sasuke is doing his best puppy eyes.

shisui curses his soft heart. "you're telling your mother."

the kids cheer as quietly as they can.)