#will is robin's baby gay

[queen-of-hawkins-why-ler]

A friendship between Robin and Will is just as important to queer representation as canon Byler is. This show is capturing so many sides of the queer experience that you don't usually see in media, like the concept of being a "baby gay" and having an older, more sure of themselves, more well-grounded queer mentor to encourage you, remind you that you're not a mistake, and help you wade through all the bullshit and hardships you have to experience as a queer individual. Dedicating significant portions of Stranger Things finale screentime to spotlighting a mentor-mentee relationship between a lesbian and a gay boy is CRAZY. They really said, "Fuck being Netflix's flagship show we're going to dissect every single aspect of the queer experience into bite-sized pieces that you can chew on" 😭 😭 💀 Like

[kennahjune]

HEAR ME OUT?? Please—

I LOVE love LOve when like, in fics, Steve has this really weird talent or interest that nobody knows about or like nobody expects but then oddly enough it sort of fits him.

And just like— it opens up so much possibility for character projection.

My favorite is writer Steve but I’ve been growing increasingly obsessed with Steve who’s hyper fixation is snakes.

The image in my head is like— everyone’s hanging out at the trailer park for one reason or another, and they hear Robin fucking /screech/.

Everyone’s on their feet in a split second, worry and confusion and deep dread forcing the way into the forefront of their minds.

Turns out: it was a snake. A really small one at that.

Eddie and Wayne offer to take it and dispose of it, the two of them having done this various other times with the other snakes people find in the trailer park.

But Steve pushes to the front of the group yelling and scolding.

“No absolutely not!”

Eddie shares a look with Nancy, both chalking it up to Steve’s hero complex acting up and him trying to protect them from the potentially dangerous critter.

“Look, Stevie—“

“You are not going to kill that little sweetheart!”

Eddie paused, shared a confused furrow of brows with Nancy and Robin, and turned to face Steve fully.

“Stevie, baby, that’s a snake.”

Steve stood with his hands on his hips, a determined glint in his eye, and nodded. “No I thought it was a squirrel.”

Eddie sighed loudly. “Then what do we do with it?”

“Well not fucking kill it for starters! It’s harmless. Aren’t you baby?”

Eddie and everyone else watched Steve step up to the snake that was hanging from the trailer’s side door. “Um, Steve what’re you doing?”

Steve ignored them completely and simply plucked the snake from its place on the door. From somewhere beside Eddie Robin squeaked in horror and Will groaned while Lucas gave a violent shudder.

“Such a small baby aren’t ya?” Steve cooed at the little snake wrapped around his hand.

“Steve— that’s a snake,” Nancy said warily, eyeing said snake like it killed her mother. “A potentially dangerous snake.”

Steve scoffed while the snake lifted the front of its body to peer at him. “She’s not dangerous, she’s a goddamn rat snake. They’re harmless.”

Just as he said it, the snake turned its head and not his finger. Where Steve didn’t even blink, everyone else freaked.

Eddie and Robin rushed over to him, Eddie immediately taking a look at his hand but keeping his hands away from the snake. Robin kept her distance but rambled about rabies or whatever.

Steve huffed and laughed quietly. “Guys, seriously. It’s a rat snake, they’re completely and utterly harmless to humans. They have such a small amount of venom it doesn’t bother humans. And besides, this little baby’s so small she couldn’t even break the skin.”

He was right, there was no sign of breakage or even redness on Steve’s hand where he was bitten.

Eddie looked at his boyfriend a little in awe and even more in love.

Jesus Christ.

Dustin and Mike walked slowly over to Steve, each asking to hold the snake.

Steve held it out gently, Dustin taking it first and holding it delicately in his hands. When he passed it over to Mike, the snake wrapped itself around his hands and a bit up his arms. Eddie was a little in shock at the giggle the younger Wheeler let out.

Dustin, Mike and Steve sat on the trailer’s side steps and held the snake together, going back and forth about random animal topics that Eddie couldn’t be bothered to remember.

When he asked later, Will and Lucas were delighted to explain that the entire reason Dustin was allowed to join The Party was because in 4th grade he brought Mike a frog he found. Lucas explained that Mike and Dustin had both gone through and extensive reptile and amphibian phase in elementary school and still held onto some of that obsession.

From then on, whenever anyone in the trailer park found any form of snake or rodent that they wanted gone, they called Steve.

[ghl-osty]

Robin and Nancy cuddling with each other on the bed, romantically?

just for a minute, they forgot the end of the world is right outside.

[thaliagracesgf]

gnawing at the bars blah blah blah

[aaron-minyard]

happy pride month to the fruitiest team in all of collegiate exy

[hawkinsmethlab]

A follow up from this post, sometime after Steve and Eddie get together--

Steve: Dustin, I know myself better than anyone.

Robin: *Ahem*

Steve: Except for Robin.

Dustin: I literally knew you were gay before you did!

Steve: I wasn’t gay back then!

Robin: No, Steve, we talked about this, you’ve always been gay, even when you didn’t know it.

Eddie, from the other room: Babe, I turned you gay? Hell yeah!

Robin: Not helping!

[rageagainsttheapathy]

Part three/four of my Steve Does Rocky Horror au! Because I live here now, apparently.

Parts One Two and Three (slash two-and-a-half) here.

So Eddie spots Steve half in half out of his Frank-n-furter costume behind the theatre and basically SCREECHES his name in shock, and then when Steve jumps half a foot in the air and looks around frantically for whoever the hell just recognised him, because oh-shit-oh-fuck-what-if-it’s-a-homophobe-from-Hawkins and spots Eddie, there’s a brief moment of mutual deer-in-headlights staring at each other, before Eddie snaps of of it and BOLTS away, dragging Jeff behind him.

(The boy is a runner, okay, this has been established)

Jeff REFUSES to believe that Eddie saw THEE Steve Harrington behind the theatre. No, nope, you Have It Wrong, My Friend, That Man Just LOOKED Like Harrington, Let Me Live In Denial, Please And Thank You. Eddie, meanwhile is having a crisis about the fact that he spent a solid two hours lusting avidly over Steve Harrington’s thighs in fishnet stockings, which is an objectively INSANE sentence to think, what the FUCK is even happening?! Steve Harrington is NOT sexy! He DOES NOT sing and dance in high heels! THE WORLD AS EDDIE KNOWS IT IS CRUMBLING AROUND HIM!

The next day, Eddie has joined Jeff in denial. He is Not Thinking about Steve at all, no sir, Steve who? He just wants to enjoy getting to really know the new show he just watched, maybe learn the songs on his guitar, practice at shouting the right things at the right moment so that next time he goes to the stage show, he can properly Get Into It. He needs the film version! Get to know Tim Curry as Dr Frank, and not That Other Guy Who Shall Not Be Named And Also Isn’t Nearly As Sexy.

Let’s Go To Family Video, he says. It’ll Be Fun, he says.

(Guys, Gals, and Pals, you know where this is going.)

“No, Robin, I SWEAR, it was definitely Munson. You think I could mistake that guy for anyone else?” Steve is saying, still kind of worried about the whole thing.

Ding! Goes the bell over the shop door.

“GOOOOOOOD AFTERNOON, FAMILY VIDEOOOOOOOOO-Oh shit” says Eddie.

Because Oh Yeah, This Is Where Harrington Works. Why did Eddie choose NOW to remember that? Literally ANY OTHER TIME would have been a better time for him to remember that.

“…Munson.”

“…Harrington.”

“…Buckley.” Says Robin, who was feeling left out.

This time, the stare off ends not when Eddie panics and runs, but, when Steve, who is both awkward in uncomfortable situations and desperate for Validation, asks Eddie “the show wasn’t THAT bad, was it?” All self-deprecating and shit, to which Eddie responds with

“Are you kidding me, that shit was the COOLEST THING and you know it” which means that Steve, now adequately complimented, switches to Flirting Mode™️.

(He does not realise, Ladies and Gentlefolk, that he has switched to Flirting Mode. But don’t worry, Robin will (gleefully) inform him later.)

“Oh really? What was you favourite part?” He says, leaning forward with a seductive smile.

Which is about when Eddie remembers the fishnets and the corset, and loses the ability to function again.

Robin, stood off to the side, is watching both of them judgementally while also memorising this entire conversation to relay to their Gay Adoptive Parents on their next Indy weekend.

They’re gonna find it HILARIOUS.

[tumbling-rocks-no-danger]

Give me Steve who has no fucking clue how to date a man. Give me Steve who’s really good at dating women, does all the romantic shit. Flowers, movie dates, holding doors open, the works. He’s used to the way his bodies fit against theirs, being the rock, the furnace.

He doesn’t really like dating per se; he doesn’t like feeling like he has to rebuild himself after every single failed date and every single failed relationship. It’s almost as if King Steve has to come back, at least at first, for things to work out. He has to dip into the persona, the one he abandoned years ago. He needs to bring back the ‘Harrington Charm’ to avoid being off-putting. He has to hide the stranger facets to his personality behind King Steve’s confidence.

He doesn’t like dating, but he’s really good at it.

And then he starts dating guys (you know who, don’t be obtuse) and suddenly everything is confusing and awkward.

Is he supposed to get him flowers? Do queer dudes want their dates to give them flowers? Is it gauche? Is it kind of like the hanky’s? If he buys him roses, does it mean he, like, wants to shove an arm up his ass?

And it’s not like they can really go on dates in public either. They can’t really be all cuddly and romantic like that without getting attacked.

And who pays? It’s not like there’s a girl in the relationship, so who cuddles who? Who holds the door? Can you still be bros? Can you smack each other on the ass, or is that an invitation for sex? Can you burp? Are queer dudes okay with that? They do some crazy things in bed, so he can’t imagine it would be an issue? Are you supposed to share clothes? Also how do you not get envious about the other guy’s body?

That was why Steve didn’t realize he liked dudes, after all; he both wanted them and wanted to be them. He’d look at another guy in the locker room and he certainly didn’t feel good, but it wasn’t just envy…

How does this all work?

Whenever he does something traditionally romantic for Eddie, the guy gets this stupid face, like he just smelled something rank. His nose wrinkles and he looks at Steve like he just stepped on his brand new white sneakers. He supposes it’s just new to him, but what if that’s not the issue? What if it’s one of those cultural taboos, like, ‘don’t do anything heterosexual, it’s fucking weird’? Could it be an insult?

Robin had dragged him to that one bookstore in Indianapolis, the one with the rainbow flag in the window. The… people? The people working there had looked at him like he was lost, and it made him feel really, just, looked at?

Why does being queer require so much fucking reading? That was the one thing about school Steve was always fucking terrible at, and now, to not feel like Bambi stumbling through the forest on scrawny little legs, he has to do it? It’s not like he can copy off of Nancy’s notes this time, and Robin said that he has to learn some things on his own. The fuck? What happened to queer solidarity?

Is Steve just supposed to humiliate himself over and over again until things just work? That’s a little too vulnerable for his tastes. It’s enough that he has a man looking at his butthole multiple times a week and y’know, doing stuff with it, now he has to be a bumbling oaf about it?

So, yeah🌝

[morning66]

Just Robin in 1970 calling Garth Baby. Nothing to see here. This is totally not gay at all.

[deadqueerboys]

ARE YOU TELLING ME I CAN'T DO THIS MAN?!

Pls fvck me.

[eskawrites]

This is probably like at least 70% nostalgia talking but I’m rewatching the carmilla movie and I think it’s actually a perfect film?

So anyway of course I’m thinking of aus but the problem is Robin and Nancy are both Laura

Actually scratch that Laura is what would happen if Robin and Nancy ever had a kid

[unfinishedslurs]

do u love the colors of the comphet

When it’s over, when Henry Creel is dead and dust and they’ve emerged battered and triumphant. When she and Jonathan have ended things. When there is no more fighting to be done, she and Steve give it another go. 

She knows he’s going to ask the same way she knew in ‘83. There’s no waiting this time, no need to wonder if Jonathan might want her too. They gave it the old college try (He lied to her. He was lying to her for months, and she knew something was wrong before that. She thought they could work it out. She’s so fucking sick of lying to herself being lied to). 

He asks with wide, hopeful eyes, running a nervous hand through his hair. He doesn’t have anything to be nervous about. She made up her mind before he even asked. 

She can do it right this time. She can love this boy the way she wants to. The way he wants her to. They’ve both grown in the years since. She’s going to do this right. 

That’s the mantra she keeps in her head when he picks her up and spins her. I can do this. 

She can’t do this. 

It’s somehow the same and different from when they dated the first time. They’re going through the same motions, but there’s something lacking. They’re both older, more jaded. They’re not kids anymore, and it shows. 

They rarely kiss. He hesitates now in a way he didn’t before. Sex is something they don’t bring up at all. Eddie makes a crude joke once, something or other about what Nancy is like in bed, and she and Steve make eye contact. There’s something there, something like mutual understanding, before Robin smacks Eddie upside the back of the head and the moment breaks. She keeps thinking about it long after. Whatever it is that they shared, they don’t talk about it. 

Maybe they’re lying to themselves, both of them. Puppets going through the motions, too stubborn to admit they’re play acting as real people. Still, she can’t give this up. She can’t make the same mistakes all over again. 

Robin corners her two months into the relationship. Part of Nancy is surprised it took her this long. The rest of her is angry she brings it up at all. 

Saying she’s cornered might be doing her a disservice. They’re having a sleepover, painting their nails and talking about boys. Everything a girl is supposed to do. Except Robin is awkward and fumbling, and every name she brings up sounds like a question. Nancy only has Steve to talk about, and barely talks about him at all. 

Finally Robin sighs and puts down the nail polish. “I feel like this subject is making us both miserable,” she declares. “I don’t want to talk about boys, I was just doing it because I thought that’s what you’re supposed to do at girl sleepovers. I haven’t actually been to a sleepover since I was in middle school and the other girls decided I was weird, but I’m pretty sure the point is to have fun. This is not fun. This is agonizing. We should talk about something else.”

“Steve isn’t making me miserable!” She snaps, before realizing she sounds way too defensive. 

Robin peers at her. “Yeah, see, that’s not what I said. That’s not even a little bit close to what I said. Maybe we should talk about this instead. What’s the deal with you and Steve?”

“What deal? There’s no deal.” She turns around and rummages through the nail polish selection. Robin doesn’t exactly have a variety. Her options are red, dark red, and black. She chooses the brighter red with the absent thought that the black would look good on Robin, with her long fingers and dark eyeliner. Then she banishes that thought away. 

“There’s definitely some kind of deal.”

“There isn’t.”

“Nance.” 

She can’t help but turn around then, drawn in by the tone of her voice. There’s a glass wall inside of her, and someone is pounding on it, trying to get out. She wants Robin to see it. She wants someone to see behind the glass. There’s something in her trying to get out. 

“Nancy,” she says again, eyes searing into her soul, “are you happy?”

She smiles, fake and fixed on her face. The glass stays firmly in place.  “Of course I am,” she replies. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

The next time Robin wants to hang out, she’s busy with college preparations. 

It’s not just Robin. She thinks everyone can tell something’s wrong with her. Eddie gives her these looks every time she and Steve are in front of him, like he’s putting together a puzzle. Her mom keeps trying to talk to her. Jonathan keeps trying to talk to her. 

They know, she thinks wildly, every time. She doesn’t know what it is they know. She doesn’t want to find out. 

She avoids them all. 

When she and Steve go to dinner, the waitress captivates her. 

Long, dark hair in braids. Long fingers tapping against the notepad. Dark eyes in a dark face. She’s always loved brown eyes. Nancy has never been one to be jealous of other girls (lie, lie, lie), but suddenly heat floods her body. She wants to be as gorgeous as this woman. She wants her full lips, popping gum. She wants the woman’s swaying hips as she turns and leaves their table. She wants— she wants—

She tears her gaze away to find Steve already looking at her. 

The heat is dosed by the ice that fills her veins. All her senses go on high alert until she realizes he’s actually staring past her. She turns around to see the bartender. He’s handsome, she thinks, tall with tan skin and brown hair carefully styled. He’s talking to a customer, teeth shining as he laughs. 

When she turns back, Steve has firmly fixed his eyes on her. She could almost believe he’d never been staring at the bartender at all. 

There’s something there. Something just out of reach, something she could put a finger out and touch if she were braver. She doesn’t. There’s no gun in her hand here, no adrenaline to keep her going after it all falls apart. 

“What did your dumb boyfriend do this time?” Mike demands, storming in her room. Nancy has half a mind to yell at him to knock first before she registers his words. 

“Steve is- Steve is fine,” she says, startled. “He’s great, actually. Nothings wrong.“

“Then why are you so miserable all the time?” Mike accuses. 

“I am not miserable!”

“You are! You both are, and neither of you will tell anyone what’s wrong, or why-“

“I don’t know why!” She shrieks. Mike falls silent, eyes wide, and Nancy suddenly realizes she’s crying. 

“I don’t know why,” she repeats. “Everything is fine. He’s like, the perfect fucking boyfriend. It’s me, I’m the problem. There’s something wrong with me. There’s a beautiful boy who loves me, and I’m- I’m trying. I’m trying so hard to love him back, but I can’t. I can’t. There’s something wrong with me.” She’s desperate now, wiping away tears as she curls into a ball. She feels pathetic, crying in front of her little brother. She’s the oldest, she should be keeping it together, she shouldn’t let him see her like this. But she can’t help it. There’s something in her screaming to get out. 

Mike, with all the grace and bewilderment of a newborn deer, gingerly pats her shoulder. 

“Have you…talked to Steve about it?”

She gives him a cutting look. It’s probably not as effective as she wants it to be, with her red eyes and tear streaked face. Mike holds his hands up. 

“I’m just saying! He’s your boyfriend, you should talk to him. And if you don’t want him to be your boyfriend, you should really talk to him.”

“I want him to be my boyfriend, I just need to get past whatever this is—“

“Nancy,” Mike says. “It’s not just you. He’s miserable too.”

“Because of me. I just need to—“

Mike shakes his head. “I don’t think it is. If it were because of you, he’d be acting different. More…kicked puppy, or whatever. He’s just being weird,  and won’t tell anyone why. Dustin said he asked Robin, and she doesn’t even know.”

Nancy doesn’t have anything to say to that. 

“I think you need to talk to him,” he says again. “I think you need to talk to each other.”

“When did you get so smart?” She asks, instead of crying again. 

“I’ve always been smarter than you.”

She kicks him for that blatant lie.

“Are we holding onto a dead thing?” She asks out loud. 

He rolls over and looks at her. She’s worried she’s hurt his feelings, broken his heart again, killed any chance they have at a relationship, romantic or not. Then he snorts. 

“Robin got to you too, huh?” He asks, flopping back onto his back to look up at the sky. 

“Mike, actually.”

“Mike? That shithead? What does he know about relationship problems?”

“Are we having relationship problems?”

“I mean,” he says, wry twist to his mouth, “we haven’t had any arguments.”

“Nope.”

“Or general drama.”

“That might be debatable.”

“There’s no need to spice up our sex life.”

She snacks him for that one, and he laughs. She props herself up to look him in the eye. His face is more open than she’s seen it the entire time they’ve been dating. 

“I think you have to be in a relationship to have ‘relationship problems,’” she tells him. “Are we in a relationship?”

He visibly considers this. “I mean, I asked you out, and you said yes. And we never broke up.”

“We haven’t kissed in at least two weeks.”

“Did you want to?”

She takes a moment to think about it. “Not really,” she admits, and his face splits into a grin. 

“Not that you’re not still wonderful, Nancy Wheeler,” he says, teeth shining, “but I don’t think I want to kiss you either. Isn’t that weird?”

When they dated in high school, it was like he couldn’t stand being away from her. He spent every moment he could kissing her, wherever he could. Sometimes it felt almost like a performance he put on for the people around them, lifting her up and spinning her just so everyone would know how in love they were. It was stifling at times, feeling like something to prove. Still, it was how he was, so in love he could burst with it. 

Now, she wonders if it was always a performance. Maybe they’ve both been on a stage, and neither of them noticed the lights blinding them until now. 

“It is a little weird,” she says finally.

“Right?!”

He holds out a hand to shake, the other one firmly in his pocket. God, she wishes she could love him. “Good go, eh Wheeler?” He asks, smile crooked and shaky. 

She snorts. “We made ourselves and everyone around us miserable,” she points out. But she takes his hand. 

[bakafurai]

Man I haven't touched P5R in a hot minute and it shows bc i missed these goobers,,,

[ladykailitha]

Meet Me On the Dance Floor Part 1

Okay, we have now gotten a story I am most concerned with publishing as this is the one where my lack of knowledge is going to show the most. The first part was the original story and if you want, you can stop it there, no harm done. However from part 2-4 is where I take my leap of faith. It’s where we get into a headcanon I have about Mike regarding with how he treats Steve (I’ll put it in the tags for the final 3 parts) and it fits for the story, but I’m not sure if it will stick to the wall so to speak. Also the fourth part will be marked as mature, just heads up for sexy times (Steddie).

*

Steve was sleeping deeply for the first time in what felt like ages.

“Harrington,” someone said above him.

He just snuggled deeper into the covers.

“Steve,” the voice insisted.

He really didn’t want to wake up.

Someone shook him. “Come on, Stevie,” the voice said, warm and inviting.

Steve opened his eyes to see a worried Eddie leaning over him.

“Hey, man. There you are. I was getting worried. I thought you wanted to come with us tonight.”

Steve sat up in a rush. “Shit!” He rubbed his eyes trying to get his vision to clear. “What time is it?”

“6:37pm.”

Steve leapt from the bed, nearly knocking Eddie over. “Shit, shit, shit!” he scrambled to find the clothes he was going to wear. He looked over his shoulder. “Do you think I have time to shower?”

Eddie looked at his watch and winced. “Probably not.”

“Damn it.”

He dashed into the bathroom to at least put on deodorant. But when he went to spray himself, the can was empty. “Fuck!”

“I keep some cologne in the van for times when I smoke at school, I can grab it for you?” Eddie said from the doorway.

Steve sighed in relief. “That would be great. Thanks, dude.”

Eddie hurried out the van while Steve got dressed.

When Eddie came back he was shocked to see Steve’s outfit. He was wearing black dress pants, with a black t-shirt, and black suit jacket. He paired the outfit with his white sneakers. Around his neck was a simple silver chain that barely brushed his collar bones and he had a couple of chains on his belt.

“Looking good, Stevie,” Eddie said with a whistle.

Steve looked over at Eddie, who was wearing his tightest torn-up jeans with a black button up and dark grey vest. He had bangles on his wrists, and chains on his belt. He wore his black bandanna over his hair.

“I could say the same, Eddie,” Steve said with a grin.

Eddie tossed him the can of cologne and Steve gave himself a couple of sprays and tossed it back.

Eddie shoved it in his back pocket as he circled Steve. “I didn’t know you wore black, Stevie. You’ve been holding out on me.”

Steve blushed. “I haven’t worn this in a while, because it’s what I was wearing when Nancy broke up with me. But it’s the only thing I’ve got that’s club worthy and I’m ready to make new memories in tonight.”

Eddie stopped in front of him and tapped his lips with his finger. “It’s missing something.”

Steve looked down at himself and then back at Eddie hopelessly. “Yeah?”

“I’ve got it!” he cried. He pulled off one his rings and put it on Steve’s right hand. “There we go. It would be better if your ears were pierced but this should add just that right amount of style.”

Steve blushed, looking at the ring on his pinkie finger.

“You ready to go?” Eddie asked.

Steve looked up. “Yeah. Yeah, I think I am.”

*

Eddie slid into the back seat when they picked up Robin. “Nothing against Stevie being here, but we are going to a gay bar. Do we need a token straight for that?”

Steve and Robin shared a glance before they started laughing.

“Dude,” Steve said. “I thought you knew. I’m bisexual.”

Eddie raised both eyebrows.

“Dingus didn’t even want to come until I said you were coming,” Robin added.

Eddie could see that the back of Steve’s ears had gone bright red and figured his face matched.

“Partly,” Steve defended. “I went from no to maybe when she said you were coming.”

“So what made you decide to come?” Eddie asked as they pulled up to another house.

Steve laid on the horn and Will came barreling out the front door.

“For him,” Steve said quietly.

Eddie got it. Everyone knew Will was gay and everyone knew he had feelings for his best friend.

This whole night was about getting Will out of the straight, white Hawkins and to some place where he could meet other queers. Maybe even some his own age.

Eddie slid over to the opposite side window to give Will some room to get in.

“Hey, guys,” Will greeted shyly.

“You ready to have some fun?” Robin asked.

Will nodded.

“Good.” Steve smiled at his young friend through the rearview mirror.

*

When they got to the club, the music was bouncing and Robin bounced with it.

Steve pointed at the bar. “I’m going to be over there if you need me!” he shouted over the din.

Robin nodded.

Eddie watched Steve head to the bar. “What’s that about?”

“He doesn’t dance. Says he dances like a drunk Muppet!” Robin yelled. “Come on!”

She led them through the crowd and introduced them to some of her friends from college. Soon Will had relaxed enough to start dancing himself. Robin kept her eye on him, while Eddie kept his eye on Steve.

About half way through the night he nudged Robin. “That’s the fifteenth guy Steve has sent away. What the hell is telling them to get them back off so quickly?”

Robin raised an eyebrow. “Honestly?”

Eddie nodded. “Yeah.”

“He’s telling them he’s bisexual.”

Eddie frowned. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“This your first time at a gay bar?” Robin asked.

He shook his head. “I’ve been to a couple of others.”

“Well, you probably just didn’t notice,” she said. “Bisexuals get shit for being able to ‘pass as straight’,” she said putting air quotes around the last three words.

“Oh.”

Eddie looked over at Steve. “That must fucking suck. Not being able to fit anywhere.”

Robin shrugged, cocking her head to the side. “He says it weeds out the assholes.”

Eddie laughed. “It looks like he’s about to go through the whole fucking bar.”

“All but one,” Robin said, bumping his shoulder.

Eddie gulped.

“Go get him, tiger.”

Eddie looked over at Steve. He sitting on a barstool, leaning on the bar with both of his elbows, nursing a beer. His long legs were stretched out front of him. Eddie licked his lips. He could see why every gay man in the club was seeking him out, hoping for his attention.

Eddie moved through the crowd like a snake on the hunt. Weaving the through the throngs of people, silent and deadly. He licked his lips in anticipation.

Steve clocked him coming in and bit his bottom lip.

“King Steve, keeping court,” Eddie murmured when he got close enough for Steve to hear him.

Steve flashed him a brilliant smile. “Just waiting for my prince to come.”

Eddie looked around them. “Plenty of them out there tonight.”

Steve scoffed. “These frogs? Not hardly.”

Eddie raised an eyebrow. “I don’t know about that. There are some pretty hot guys here just waiting for their chance with you.”

Steve cocked his head to the side. “Can you see the stars during the day?”

Eddie frowned. “Of course not, the sun’s out.”

Steve sat up and looked Eddie in the eye. “Exactly. Who can see all those glimmering stars when the sun is right here in front of me.”

Eddie blushed. “Yeah?” He put his hands on Steve’s thighs and gently pushed them apart so he could stand closer to him.

“Oh yeah,” Steve breathed.

Their faces were so close.

“I wanted to mark you so bad,” Eddie admitted. “A bite mark on your neck to show everyone you were taken. That you were mine.”

“But you already marked me as yours, Eds,” Steve said, breathless. “I’m wearing your cologne and your ring. They might not have known who I belonged to, but they knew I belong to someone. And now they can see who it is.”

“Stevie,” Eddie said, taking hold of the sides of Steve’s face and pressing their foreheads together.

Steve lifted his chin, bringing their lips together. Eddie let out a low moan swallowed up by the thumping music.

“I’ve been sitting here, hoping you’d ask me to dance,” Steve admitted.

Eddie chuckled. “Robin said you dance like a drunk Muppet.”

“Oh, I do,” Steve said softly. “But I don’t care what people think as long as I’m with you.” He finished his beer and set it on the bar top.

Eddie jutted his chin at the empty bottle. “How many of those have you had?”

“Just this one,” Steve said. “I’m driving. Elise has been kind enough to ply me with tonic water all night.” He thumbed the bartender behind him.

Elise eyed Eddie up and down. “You’ll do.”

He turned to Steve with a raised eyebrow.

Steve shrugged. “My best friends are lesbians, what can I say?”

Elise laughed. “Go on.” She swatted Steve with her towel. “You know I only tolerate you because you shove a twenty dollar bill in my tip jar at the start of the night.”

Steve laughed, and let Eddie lead him to the dance floor.

*

Robin watched Eddie make the moves on her best friend with a fond smile.

Will came up to her and asked, “Where’s Eddie?”

She pointed at the bar where Eddie and Steve were talking.

“About time,” Will muttered.

“I know, right?” she said with a giggle. She bumped his shoulder. “You having fun?”

Will nodded. “Thanks for taking me.”

“It’s good for you to go out meet with different kinds of queers,” Robin said. “Of all ages. Hawkins isn’t the end of the world, no matter how many times it tried to be.”

Will laughed. He watched as Eddie and Steve made it to the dance floor. “Oh god. He does dance like a drunk Muppet.”

“Yup.”

*Also if you want I can write the coda for the scene Robin asking Steve to come with if anyone is interested. It’s the scene that started the fic in my head I just couldn’t fit it in the actual story. Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

[findafight]

Thinking about gay Jonathan Byers. Gay Jonathan who sees what his baby bro goes through and thinks well, people might whisper about them but he doesn't get nearly as much flack as Will. Who convinces himself he's never really looked at anyone so he's not gay. Probably.

Gay Jonathan who sees Nancy as an unattainable girl so perfect that it's easy to have a "crush" on her, especially when she's dating Steve (who came back, rushed in, grabbed a bat and swung when he didn't have to. Could have run away. Who was only there to apologize for being an asshole and wouldn't leave without at least yelling through the door. Who sometimes elbows Jon gently and smiles like they have a secret together.)

Jonathan who likes being Nancy's friend and confidante, who loves feeling close to another person without the pressure of sex or romance, who thinks his life would be so much easier if it was actually Nancy he had a crush on since they fought a monster in November of '83. Who sees Steve rush out of the bathroom at Tina's Halloween party with tears in his eyes and gets asked to make sure Nancy gets home okay and does so. Of course he does.

Jonathan who thinks that he must be in love with Nancy because what else could it be? Who thinks this is what he's supposed to feel so it's what he feels. Who follows her to a man who reads their relationship as something Jon wishes it could be but inst sure it's what it is, who thinks if some random guy sees it then it must be true. It must be.

Gay Jonathan who sleeps with Nancy Wheeler because he wants to be the kind of person who sleeps with girls, dates girls, loves girls, even if he isn't quite sure he likes it. Jon who goes back home to his brother possessed and Steve leading the pack of middleschoolers through the woods with a jacket and sunglasses and a nail-studded bat and doesn't have time to process anything because his baby brother needs him to be strong, to protect.

Who doesn't think about it after everything is done.

Jonathan who dates Nancy and thinks that he could be okay like this for the rest of his life. Who thinks that there are far worse ways to live than beside Nancy Wheeler.

Who becomes friends with Steve again in spring of '85 after the sting of his girlfriend dumping him then immediately hooking up with Jon has faded enough. Jonathan who has a fight with Nancy in May and gets drunk at Steve's, just them two, and kisses him hard. Who wants Steve to be the one he sleeps beside and touches and loves. Who gets kissed back, head cradled gently. Who isn't the first to pull away.

Jonathan who gets told by Steve that it isn't fair to Nancy. That Steve can't do it. Who thinks for a second he's going to get punched, called slurs, kicked out. Who's told that if he and Nancy really are broken up, come back in a week and they'll talk. Who thinks he could have done it, broken up with Nancy and wrapped his arms around Steve a week later and held on, and kissed, and wanted.

Jonathan who accepts Nancy's apology and apologizes himself the next day.

Jonathan who has a fight with her in July, worse than in May, because they don't understand the way the other struggles with prejudice and hardship. Who feels like he might be able to breathe because maybe they'll break up over it. Maybe they'll be hurt for a while but still be friends. Maybe he could go to Steve and ask for another shot, ask for a chance.

Jonathan who gets pulled into supernatural bullshitery again and can't find the emotional strength to sort through everything again between worrying about his job and brother and whatever the fuck is happening with the town.

Jon who moves to California with a little brother and a little sister, thinking maybe the distance will make it easier to break up with Nancy and not ruin any friendship they might have. Who meets Argyle his first day in school and thinks he can do it. Who talks to Steve on the phone after will and El have both filled in their babysitter on all the happenings he's missing from Hawkins.

Who hears Steve gush about Robin, his best friend, his soulmate, his other half. Who listens as Steve says, earnest and soft, that he's so glad he and Jon are friends. That he hopes California treats him well, that he loves him.

Jon who knows it's not in the way he wanted back in July. Who's pretty sure he's okay with that now.

Gay Jonathan who smokes with Argyle because there's nothing better to do and he's still doing long distance with Nancy because he doesn't know how to make the words I think we should break up come out of his mouth. Who watches Argyle smile at Will and El on the way to school and wants it to last forever. Who wants to hold his hand over the console and kiss his knuckles and thread his fingers through his long hair. Who loves so much he thinks he might cry with it, might blurt it out at any moment, might tell Nancy over the phone before he tells her they should end things.

Jonathan whose little sister has been arrested and whose mom isn't answering and who has to deal with Mike wheeler breaking both his siblings' hearts in one goddamn trip and can only think to call Argyle for help. Who drags his best friend into the insanity Hawkins has been going through for years because he can't think of anyone else he wants by his side. Who saves his sister and nearly punches Mike and doesn't hold Argyle's hand.

Jonathan Byers who rolls into his hometown to gate to hell opening up.

Idk I'm just thinking about gay Jonathan angst I guess...

[doctorwormcore]

What i think i love the most about the live action is just how much love there is? Yeah its different from the anime, but honestly....kinda better. I love how kind they all are, the strawhats clearly just love each other already, their own little family