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tinycryptid18 · 2 years

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ok steddie time travel fic au bc stranger things brainrot has taken over my life (sorry in advance for a really long post):

before i start there are two fics that inspired me for this, and i wanted to tag them. the first is If I Could Turn Back Time I Would Find A Way by MooseMan and Run, boy, run by UnifiedCreations, both on ao3. they both inspired me for steve and eddie's powers, as well as the plan for trapping the demogorgon. they're such great fics, i get excited whenever they update, and this idea i came up with definitely takes heavy inspo from them. if you like this idea and want to read a full fic, definitely go read theirs!

links:

If I Could Turn Back Time I Would Find A Way by MooseMan

Run, boy, run by UnifiedCreations

- after vol2 (yes everything happens exactly like in the show, just more mourning over eddie)

- steve starts noticing strange things happening to him, like managing to catch something falling off the counter faster than he should've been able to, the clock seeming to go even slower at work than normal (bc even tho the world is lowkey ending family video is still up and running and surprisingly robin and steve didn't get fired)

- he's also been getting random nose bleeds, and at first he thought it might have been vecna coming back, but he realized none of the other stuff was happening, and he was fine a week later, so he just ignored it

- the rest of the party noticed how odd steve had been acting, and how he'd kind of been pulling away from them, so they did an impromptu sleepover at his house without his permission to cheer him up (it helped)

- notes about the party: el and mike broke up, johnathan and nancy broke up, argyle is still hanging around after calling his parents to tell them everything's ok & he'll be back soon, and this was his last hangout with the party before he had to fly back to cali

- also the byers will be going to cali next week to move their stuff back to hawkins as quickly as possible, they'll be staying in hopper's cabin until things calm down and they can get a permanent place to stay

- school is held off indefinitely in hawkins bc of the literal apocalypse

- anyways the next morning steve is making breakfast, and el was the only one sitting at the counter chilling with him while snacking on some fruit he had out, when steve knocks over a glass of water onto the floor and it shatters, and bc el has powers too she literally sees time rewind and the glass repair itself

- this is the first time steve had ever done anything super obviously power-y to where he clocked in to what he did, so he's like wtf just happened

- his nose is also bleeding so immediately el is like "brother?" bc she thinks he might be a lab kid

- dustin, lucas, mike, and will basically all walk into the kitchen the same moment el is lunging at steve's wrist to see if he has a number, and sibling-esque bickering is happening between the two of them bc "there's nothing there el!!"

- anyways dustin and lucas see the nose bleed and immediately freak out thinking it's vecna, so dustin starts screaming for robin to find steve's walkman and favorite tape, and the older teens run into the room to see what the fuck is happening

- when things calm down a bit el explains what she just saw and that she thinks steve has powers, so steve has to recount the things he's been experiencing recently

- basically they come to the conclusion (mostly dustin) that the demo bats were responsible for steve gaining powers, bc the was the only one who was attacked by them (who's still alive), who suddenly developed cool powers, and then they start talking about how vecna had his powers without any lab experimentation, and that el's mom had started developing some power-esque tendencies after the experiments, so it's possible that some people just have the potential to have powers and it needs to be awoken in some way, and demon bats could be one way it's happened

- so anyways they decide steve needs to learn how to use his powers, so he can figure out what exactly he can do, and so that he can learn to control them

- the byers, el, and argyle still leave for cali the next day, but they come back the next week in record time, and while they're gone it's up to the boys, robin, and nancy to come up with a plan to test steve's powers (lucas isnt as involved tho bc he and erica are still visiting max in the hospital regularly)

- so it time skips a few months where steve's been learning how to use his powers, but monsters have started coming out of the upside down and they have to keep going around fighting them to keep the town safe (hawkins basically gets set on lockdown, the national guard is there to help, and any civilians left in the town are now in the know about the upside down and fight the monsters too, led by hopper)

- when all of this starts happening it makes steve super fucking anxious, which makes him start to lose control of his powers, the two most notable times being where he accidentally skipped a day ahead, and he accidentally lived a day over again

- the worst was when he was trying to protect el and will from a hoard of demodogs who had gotten through the gates and were actively targeting will for some reason, not el

- steve got separated from them by a demodog tackling him and starting to tear away at him, and all he saw was will dragging away el who was screaming for him, her powers were really drained so she couldn't do anything to save him, and then steve just felt this pulling in his gut, and all of a sudden he was shooting up in his bed on the sunday morning the day before he started freshman year of high school in 1981

- once he processes the fact that he traveled back in time, he feels this sensation like a string connecting him to something else, tugging on him to follow it, so he does, and he makes his way on his bike all the way to eddie's trailer, who's sitting on the porch outside looking freaked the fuck out and chain smoking a pack of cigarettes

- the second eddie sees steve he stands up and runs to him, and the two hug, and steve has no idea what the fuck is going on bc even if he did time travel this far back how could he have taken someone else with him? and why eddie? how? eddie had been dead for 6 months at this point

- anyways they sit in eddie's trailer (wayne was already at work) and catch up on everything, steve explains what happened after eddie died, how he got his powers, what they do, and what led him to losing control of them and traveling back in time

- eddie explains that he did die, but he remembered waking up in the upside down, and that he couldn't really remember anything that happened to him down there, just that he was scared and in a lot of pain, and he thought he had heard vecna talking to him a few times but he didn't know how or why

- they concluded that steve brought eddie back bc he wasn't really dead, and that maybe the whole bats thing was the connection? but neither of them really understood, and they were just happy they were back together and safe

- they start making a plan to fix things so that the upside down stuff never gets as bad, but since it's 2 years away from starting they have time

- they have no way to get el out of the lab, and they feel bad about it, but they know she'll be fine for the most part until she breaks out

- their big plan for now is to bring their friend group together of all the teens, except only eddie and steve are in high school right then, with eddie being a sophomore and steve being a freshman, so they have to wait a year until robin, nancy, johnathan, and barb get to high school

- steve and eddie decide that steve will join hellfire (steve already knows he's crushing hard on eddie, and the fact that he just got the guy back from the dead means that he's pretty much willing to do whatever eddie asks of him, how hard will learning how to play d&d be?)

- this would mean that steve wouldn't be hanging around tommy and carol anymore, and wouldn't become king steve, so that saves him from getting that asshole reputation, and then they'd have an excuse to try to become friends with their newly freshman future friends the next year, under the guise of asking them to join their club (eddie in the past had formed the club that year anyways, so it was bound to happen)

- steve also decides to take up babysitting, mostly hoping to watch over the kids in the party, but he wouldn't really complain about watching other kids around town too, bc turns out he actually enjoys taking care of kids, but then this will give him the excuse to hang out with the boys sooner so he doesn't look creepy

- anyways the only stuff from this year that will get elaborated on is the first day of school with steve dumping tommy and carol for being shitty friends, and then getting recruited to the hellfire club, the first hellfire club meeting with steve where the other members kind of protest the douchey freshman at first until they realize he's actually cool, and then eddie finding out he has powers when he gets startled one day in the parking lot after a late hellfire club meeting, and all of the car alarms in the parking lot (there were a decent amount bc there was a band concert going on that night) started going off and a few lightbulbs in the parking lot exploded

- also i wanna add in a chaotic scene where steve is babysitting dustin, and they're being their usual selves

- the next year starts with steve and eddie testing their powers out in the quarry, mainly eddie bc his are very explosive (im getting inspo for their powers on the fics if i could turn back time i would find a way by mooseman for steve, and run boy run by unified creations for eddie)

- then it shows eddie inviting nancy, barb, johnathan, and robin to hellfire (only robin and johnathan end up joining, robin bc she found out steve was in it, and after sitting behind him in click's class for the first week she was like why tf is this jock playing d&d, i need to know) (steve is still a jock, on the basketball and swim team, he's just not hanging around douchebags anymore, so he's even more likeable at school now bc of it, and the king steve nickname has a bit of a nicer meaning to it)

- johnathan almost didn't go, but he mentioned the club to will and will looked so excited at the thought of other people than his friends playing d&d, and how cool it would be to join when he got to high school, that johnathan went, even if it was just a way to get will to sit in on a meeting eventually, and even to just learn more about the game that made his brother so happy (joyce and lonnie had just split up earlier that year so johnathan was being a good big brother to will)

- steve still starts becoming friends with nancy, and by association barb, bc steve and nancy were in the same math, and steve asked nancy for help bc he was struggling (even tho they had just gone through a whole year of high school again before, he still was struggling in school bc it had been a long time for him since he graduated and everything he knew just vanished, plus he's dyslexic bc i say so)

- nancy starts crushing on steve bc this steve is nice and sweet, but steve is lowkey and oblivious bc he is having very gay thoughts for eddie, and they're dancing around each other even tho they've been in the past together for a year, and eventually it's robin later in the year who gets them together

- the last thing shown in this year is a d&d game hosted by eddie for the younger kids over winter break at steve's house with the rest of the hellfire club, where the kids become honorary hellfire members, and will gets announced as the first legacy member, bc when he joins when he gets to high school it will be the first time a relative of a hellfire member has joined the club

- nancy goes along with mike bc their mom would only let him go to a strange older kid's house if nancy was with him, which is when nancy starts really becoming friends with the other older teens bc they seem super cool after this

- basically the kids love eddie

- after this party is when steve and eddie finally get together after much pushing from robin, bc the sight of eddie being so good with the kids makes steve want to spill his feelings to eddie

- the next year opens on november 5th, 1983, the day before will goes missing, where eddie and steve are hanging out at his trailer making a plan to keep will safe the next night, and to find el soon after

- the main parts of the plan are that steve will be over at nancy's studying the next night, and he'll offer to drive the kids home instead of them biking, and that when he drops off will he'll hang around until johnathan or joyce get home, and he'll be prepared to fight off a demogorgon just in case

- eddie will be searching the woods near the lab for el during this, and then they'll meet up the next morning when eddie takes steve to school to discuss any further steps depending on how successful they both are (maybe not the best plan, but it's what they came up with)

- so steve takes the kids home the next night, and after he drops off dustin and is driving will home, he swerves on the road bc he sees a figure standing in the middle, so when he gets to wills he immediately goes in with him and locks the doors and looks for the closest available weapon, a lamp

- when they realize the thing is trying to get to the house, will mentions the gun in the shed, so they rush to get it, but then weird light flickering starts to happen in the shed, and the lock on the door that they had done once they got in the shed unlocked in a way that steve knew demogorgons couldn't do, and when the door opened he did see a demogorgon, but he saw vecna behind him (it wasn't actually vecna there, he was just projecting his image, also no vecna doesn't remember the future like steve and eddie, i just love the theory that it was really vecna who took will, but that since he physically couldn't get out of the upside down, he was guiding a demogorgon to do it for him and making sure the demogorgon didn't just immediately eat the kid, bc he'd always been planning on trying to find a vessel and will was the perfect candidate. he didn't kill steve tho bc he sensed that steve was like him (like el did) and so he took them both, not after steve got injured trying to fight back tho)

- so both steve and will are in the upside down

- things go the same mainly that morning with joyce reporting will missing, but since karen wheeler told her steve took the kids home, she told that to hopper too

- johnathan was gonna look for steve at school the next morning but he couldn't find him, and then eddie came up to him clearly freaked out, asking if he'd seen steve, and when he said no, eddie ran out of the school to report steve missing too (he knew where steve was, but if he didn't report no one would, since steve's parents left for their trip early that week)

- steve's car was not at the byers even tho that's where he left it, the lab had already tracked the demogorgon to the byers house, realized the two had been taken, and crashed steve's car on mirkwood to make it seem like something happened, and they were gonna plant the bodies in the quarry later in the week to explain why they disappeared

- hopper had already been getting ready to leave to find steve and talk to the kids when eddie came into the station freaking out about steve being missing, and when hopper implied that maybe steve ran away, or that he took will for some reason, eddie kind of blew up on him, and told him that he knew steve wouldn't do that bc they were in love and he knew steve better than anyone

- hopper calms him down, assures him that he'll find steve, and starts the search, starting with talking to the kids

- this sets the kids off to go find will (and steve this time) in the woods, but eddie runs into them (looking for el but claiming to have joined the search party), and they all find el, and eddie goes with them to mike's basement (he would've taken them to the trailer but wayne wasn't working that night, so they wouldn't have privacy)

- eddie explains to the kids everything then, showing off some of his powers (only by making the lights surge a little, he doesn't wanna break anything or do anything too destructive, and el helps him by floating stuff)

- the kids are skeptical for a bit (minus dustin who thinks everything is super cool, and is mostly mad steve and eddie never told them anything), but basically they all make a plan to rescue will, starting with filling in the other teens

- the next day eddie, who brought the idea up to nancy and she thought it was a great idea (all the older teens, even barb, knew eddie and steve were dating so she's very understanding why eddie wouldn't wanna be alone) to have a get together at her house to comfort each other, and she invites johnathan

- johnathan is already lowkey in love with nancy at this point, and after telling his mom, and her telling him to go and that she'll be fine, and that she's glad he has friends who care, he goes

- that's when eddie fills the older teens in on everything, and they really start forming a plan.

- the main points of the plan are:

- 1) figure out where steve and will are hiding in the upside down

- 2) make hopper suspicious of the lab faster by sabotaging the bodies the lab is gonna plant, taking pictures of the lab people dumping the bodies and giving them to hopper anonymously, and making an anonymous call about suspicious people by the quarry before the lab can send out that one guy to "find" the bodies

- 3) fill in mrs byers when the time is right, make sure she's had some contact with will in the upside down and is willing to listen to them

- 4) collect weapons to fight the demogorgon

- 5) trap the demogorgon (most likely at the byers house, but just in case figure out where exactly steve and will are, and contact them to fill them in on the plan) and sneak through the gate it makes, pull will and steve out of the upside down, kill the demogorgon, and close the gate it leaves (if it doesn't close after the demogorgon dies, or if it stays open too long and other things try to come through)

- 6) figure out how to get the lab off of el's back, that part of the plan would have to wait bc eddie doesn't know what really even happened, neither does steve, and they had both been planning on dealing with that after making sure will didn't get snatched, which didn't end up happening

- the others agree to the plan, and so the next day the kids kind of just continue on as normal, but of course they break el into the school so she can use the big radio so they can get proof of life for will and steve, bc lucas is still skeptical (and rightly so, all of this is batshit crazy)

- nancy and robin go after school to buy the weapons, and start assembling things so that they'll set up their trap faster once the time comes, they also send in the anonymous call once eddie and johnathan give them the signal (every group has walkies at this point, steve bought a bunch a few weeks before bc he figured it'd be necessary)

- eddie and johnathan hide in the woods to sneak pics of the lab being sketchy at the quarry, and eddie uses his powers to get the bodies out of the lake, they cut into them so the stuffing is clearly visible, and they put them back then get the fuck out of there, they develop the pics at the school, and then drop them outside of hopper's house, then go check on joyce

- when they go to check on joyce she had just been talking to will with the alphabet christmas lights, and she had run out of the house bc he told her too, and eddie checked inside the house to make sure it was safe, then they took joyce inside and explained everything, with the help of steve who was using the lights to communicate to them

- meanwhile, hopper had just gotten back from visiting the lab, and was frustrated by the lack of rain on the security camera, and he'd just gotten back from the library too after looking at records on the lab and finding out about terry and jane ives, when he sees the envelope sitting inside on the floor right by his front door

- he didn't get the chance to look at it bc he got called to the quarry, but he took them with

- after pulling the fake bodies out, he was confused af, and he finally opened up the envelope to see the pics, so he drove to joyce's to let her know what happened and show her the pics, and tell her that there was something fishy going on, he was gonna tell her that he was gonna go visit terry ives, and maybe try to break into the lab, but when he got there johnathan and eddie were there, so they filled hopper in, and even tho he was ver skeptical, he agreed to the plan and they set it up for tomorrow, at steve's insistence once he found out eddie had already used his powers a lot that day

- so the next day, which should be thursday, november 10th, the whole party plus barb (no erica, she hasn't been filled in on anything yet bc she's too young, but she will be in a few years) gather at the byers house and set up

- the plan (which i am using if i could turn back time i would find a way by mooseman as heavy inspo, bc it was done very well) is that eddie and joyce are gonna go into the upside down to get will and steve, hopper and johnathan are gonna drive the demogorgon down into the hallway where the bear trap is set up, and nancy and robin will shoot flames and a gun at it to keep it down, while el stands near the gate in case she needs to close it, and the boys and barb hide in the bedroom at the end of the hall (joyce's room) at the insistence of everyone, bc the kids are too young, and while barb didn't want nancy going into this without her, she was still too terrified at the moment to actually face the demogorgon

- everything goes off without a hitch, until they're getting will and steve back through the gate, when demodogs and demobats start making their way over (they accidentally stepped on a vine), and eddie makes joyce take them through first while he tries to hold them off

- eddie manages to blast away a wave of demodogs and demobats with his powers, and then steve (who's not in good shape but is like "no more self sacrificing for my boyfriend") with el drag eddie through the portal, and el begins to close the gate (eddie finds out then and there that he can transfer some strength to el to help her close it) but a demobat got through and went for steve, ala season 4 which brought up some bad shit for steve, but basically johnathan and hopper help him take it down, and then in a burst of adrenaline from steve, he grabs a machete and chops off the demogorgon's head once it broke free from the trap and tried to hurt robin

- after everything calms down will and steve take turns showering off the upside down gunk, get some soup from mama byers, and promptly pass out (will in joyce's bed and steve in johnathan's), the others clean up the demogorgon and demobat, get something to eat, and all crash too, promising to get more filled in on all the fuckery tomorrow and figure out what to do about the lab and explaining steve and will's reappearance then too

- the kids, including el, take over will's room, robin, steve, and eddie are in johnathan's room, joyce, will, and johnathan are in joyce's room, and nancy and barb take the living room, with hopper staying up in the kitchen to take first watch bc he doesn't trust that they're all safe just yet (eddie was planning on getting up to take the next watch from him so hopper could get some sleep, but he had exhausted himself and he just wanted to cuddle with his boyfriend and his boyfriend's emotional support lesbian)

- now i feel like im getting a little lazy with the problem solving when it comes to the lab, but i dont even care bc im just gonna do what i want, but basically the next day hopper, joyce (who didn't really wanna leave will, but with all of the people there she was like ok alright), and steve (who they had tried to tell him no bc he was going mama bear mode and he was gonna take that lab down), they all go to the lab to threaten brenner to call off the search for el, let her live with hopper and be a normal kid, cover up for will and steve disappearing, provide everyone involved (but especially will and steve) with some seriously needed therapy

- brenner declines and tries to kick them out, but owens comes in & gets brenner removed, and is like "yknow what, fuck it, i never liked the whole child experimentation thing anyways, we'll just fake "eleven's" death and we'll get some documents set up so hopper can officially adopt her in a few months while everything settles"

- he comes up with a story to explain will and steve's disappearance, and basically makes up some crazy murderer escaping from pennhurst and stumbling upon will and steve in the road, and taking them to some abandoned cabin in the woods to eventually kill them so they don't go to the police and get him locked up again, and the thing the cops pulled out of the quarry were the guy's shitty attempts at dumping fake bodies of them to throw off the police, but hopper got suspicious and found them, but steve had already knocked the guy out bc he'd been about to hurt will, and so hopper arrested the guy and took will and steve to the hospital, and then when the guy got locked up again he committed suicide (a batshit wild cover up, but i thought steve being a town hero would be fun after all of this, and honestly it made the rest of everything ive planned flow in a way that i liked)

- so basically after the story breaks the news steve's mom finally comes home, hopper had been trying to get a hold of his parents the whole time but they weren't getting the messages

- and it's just steve's mom bc his dad is a bastard, but im gonna make his mom try to be a bit better after this than she has been

- so she's all happy steve's ok, and giving him some much needed attention from his actual mother

- and when his dad finally gets home he doesn't really give a shit, but he keeps up appearances that he's proud of his son

- and it makes things awkward bc for the first time since he was 12, his parents invite his extended family to thanksgiving, which there's family beef so they haven't gotten together in like 5 years

- steve hates all of his extended family, he just sort of vaguely remembers his aunt on his dad's side being pretty chill

- when they all get there tho he realizes she's definitely a lesbian and that's why she's so cool (she's living with her roommate in a big town, no kids, no love interests, and has been for years), so she immediately likes her (last time he saw her was in the first timeline when he actually was 12 so it had been a while, and he had a shit gaydar at that point so he didn't know)

- but steve's trying to deflect his family's intrusive questions about his kidnapping, and trying to make his younger cousins feel more comfortable bc this event is very stuffy, but he does have a heart to heart with his aunt, who's spending the long weekend in the guest room, about eddie and she's like "if my brother ever kicks you out for being gay you are more than welcome to come to my house, and then i'll go kick his ass"

- then the story flashes forward to a week before christmas, where steve's parents throw a flashy christmas party to show off how grateful they are that their son is home, and they actually invite the byers which they'd have never done before, as well as a bunch of other rich families (so nancy and mike and their family are there), and basically it just shows some shenanigans between the present party members hiding from the party in steve's basement and playing board games and being besties

- then it shows steve the day after christmas being dropped of at the byers house by his mom (he had broken his arm in the upside down and it was still not 100% healed so he can't drive himself, plus she wanted to give gifts to the byers and hopper) for a christmas party for everyone involved with the upside down

- and basically while his mom's there it's awkward bc she's making some lowkey backhanded compliments, and her gifts are money for them while making comments about how they need it, so the whole thing is awkward

- but then she sees eddie and goes over and hugs him and thanks him for reporting steve missing and for looking out for him, which is wild bc even tho eddie doesn't have as bad of a reputation in this timeline as before, it's still not great, so mrs harrington willingly breathing in his direction is a shock to anyone

- and it makes steve a bit emotional bc even tho his mom has no idea they're dating, it's still his mom showing some approval of his boyfriend and all he's ever wanted is for his mom to be accepting of him

- but anyways so they all have a nice christmas and they all sleep over, minus hopper and el who go home (el has a short social battery at this point and she's like, i love you but i wanna go sleep in my own bed, which same)

- so then that's it for 1983, and in 1984 it speeds up to the day before max gets to hawkins, which is sometime in late october, and it shows max entering hawkins with her family in the car, and she seems a little anxious, and when they've emptied the move in truck, she tells her mom that she's gonna skateboard around and explore town a bit before she unpacks, and since they showed up on a weekend her mom's like "sure kid go nuts, be home before dinner" bc they don't know about what happened in hawkins last year, so no caution

- so then she skateboards off, immediately heads for steve's house

- steve and eddie were hanging out there, since steve's parents were gone for the weekend (his mom only hovered around him til mid february before she started joining his dad on his business trips again, so they were barely ever home once again, and steve was taking the empty house as an opportunity to spend the whole weekend with his boyfriend)

- and he'd lowkey been feeling weird since that morning, just a weird feeling in his stomach, and when the door knocks he answers it and it's max, and she remembers everything

- she explains to them that she's woken up in california in 1981 with the last thing she remembered being losing her fight with vecna (she has no memories of the hospital), and at first she thought she died and was reliving some memories, but turns out she traveled back in time. she hasn't immediately rushed to hawkins bc she had no idea if anyone would remember her, so she just vibed in california (and put billy in his place so he wasn't being as much of a dick to her), and she figured when she got to hawkins she'd start meddling to make sure no bad shit happened, but when she entered the town she felt a tug that she was compelled to follow, and she followed it to steve's house

- eddie and steve were super happy to see her, but now they were even more confused on how steve had brought her back in time with them, and they figured they'd bring dustin up to speed and bounce theories off with him, but since it wasn't urgent at the time there wasn't a reason to

- as far as steve was aware there hadn't been any signs of upside down bullshit yet, though he was antsy bc if it was gonna happen then it was coming soon, but for now their plan was to get max integrated into the younger kid friend group before explaining to them all who max was and what to possibly expect next, and they were planning on taking it slow bc billy was still an asshole so they had to be careful

- the last thing i thought up for this was a scene where max introduces herself in her science class with dustin, and dustin is like "holy shit she's cute" and max is like "ah yes dumbass number 2, good to see you again bud", and then another scene of steve driving the kids (el included bc she's now started at hawkins middle, going as jane hopper) to the arcade and dustin asking steve questions on if they ever found out who mad max was in the future, and if it was the cute new girl who showed up in his class, and steve was like "please stop asking me questions about the future just so you can find out who's kicking your asses at dig dug"

- this scene at the arcade, and wherever steve will be hanging out while waiting for them, would be good to a) introduce billy to some of the older teens bc he'd just dropped off max too, and im assuming steve's gonna meet up with his friends somewhere nearby while he waits for the kids, b) maybe do some mind flayer shit, like setting up for that, but i cant decide whether i want it to be will who's possessed, steve who's possessed, or eve both. or maybe they both show signs of potential possession, but then later only one of them gets actually possessed, idk yet, but i still wanna work in dart somehow, and the part where max is driving steve's car, just like in different circumstances bc eddie, steve, and max know what's going to happen, and have already been changing things, and wanna avoid most of the upside down disasters obviously

#steddie #stranger things #steve harrington #eddie munson

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tinycryptid18 · 4 years

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let’s talk about racism in the danmei fandom

alright so originally i wrote this for twitter, but i felt like tumblr could benefit from it too. today we’re finally getting the long awaited “deconstruction of racism in the danmei fandom” post. and lemme preface this by saying- i’m chinese-american. i’m nblm. i do, in fact, have the cultural and historical background to know what i am talking about. so let’s get into it.

this is gonna be a long post, because we have a lot to talk about. first, racism doesn’t have to be as blatant as calling me a chink, or saying all asians look the same, or not wanting to consume asian media, or making ching chong jokes.racism can be as subtle towards asians as it can towards any other race. if you think i shouldn’t have to say that, join the club, bc same.

second, racism towards asians, especially in the west, has a long history of being overlooked and accepted. now, let’s talk about how racism dictates some of the takes you see in the fandom. firstly, what originally inspired this thread- the mxtx rumors and the jokes being made about her and censorship. now, obvs some ppl are gonna say that they were just jokes made in poor taste. and, sure. but they were jokes made in poor taste, steeped in racism. the jokes being made about mxtx going to jail happen bc ppl do not view her as a real person. not rlly. she’s an author, sure, the author of one of their favorite novels, but she’s not, like. a person with thoughts and feelings and a life. and that sort of casual lack of humanhood and agency given to danmei authors is rooted in the severely racist dehumanization of asians that’s prevalent in the west. this is something that can be seen other places, too- a good example being when parasite was notably nominated for every oscar category *except* the acting ones.

it’s this lack of personhood, this lack of agency, that allows ppl to have takes like “censorship isn’t actually bad, and here’s why”. yes, this is a real take that i saw. this take argues that the cql is better than mdzs, bc it is “softer and less graphic”. in general, a lot of ppl have the take that mxtx’s works in particular are too graphic, with problematic sexual elements. now, i’ve talked before about how that’s a homophobic take bc gay relationships should also be allowed to be messy. but it’s also deeply entrenched in racism. it’s why white gays can have the take “this is Problematique and here’s why” and claim it’s not homophobic.

racism against asians has long since created a trend of sexualizing them- thinking asian men are sexy while also removing their sexual agency. asian men can be sexy, but they can’t actually *have sex*. not explicitly. there’s a historical, real world element to this. “not fats no femmes no asians” could definitely be seen on ppls grindr profiles, back in the day. asians can be sexy, sure. look at kpop boys. but they can’t be sexual. they’re infantilized. they have to remain pure and wholesome, or they’re dragged as problematic and homophobic and fetishizing, a word that’s thrown around so often it’s practically lost meaning. fetishizing is my ex-bf telling me i’m sexy bc* i’m asian, it’s bl/yaoi fans approaching a gay couple on the bus and gushing over how “cute and yaoi they are.” fetishizing is *not* showing your 2 male main charas having explicit sex. if it is, then every white fan in danmei is fetishizing asians.

but i digress- back to the point about racism. the fact that ppl can argue about censorship shows that they, as a whole, aren’t considering the ramifications of censorship on the literal country it exists in, and it’s citizens. i, obvs, do not live in china. but i’ve got relatives who do, and who did. i’ve got relatives who fled china. not everything is about you and the media you want to consume. and then, of course, there’s the casual racism. the everyday racism. the racism that lies in things like saying all the names are too similar and it’s hard to keep track of them. the racism in saying things like “i’m just here to have fun,,,like sure, i’d persevere through dostoevsky, but this is danmei”, as if danmei is somehow inferior, as if danmei isn’t meant to be critically engaged with, as if danmei doesn’t tackle and critically explore some of the deepest and darkest issues.

asian media is often presented that way, from kung fu movies to danmei. there is a type of racism, of eurocentrism, that exists in the belief that western media has deeper, more engaging morals. asian media is more “fun”. asian media is almost entirely based on morals and deep thought, it’s just not based in western ones. for example, two of my favorite authors are haruki murakami and kazuo ishiguro. both are japanese authors, who’s works i’ve heard westerners describe as weird and without a point, when in fact they are simply telling stories with innately eastern asian morals and teachings. it’s the same type of racism that causes ppl to make jokes about asian food, to not view it as a craft the same way they do french food. it’s asian- it must be “less than”, be inferior, be inherently not worth as much.

casual racism about asians is normalized, which isn’t a word i use often. it’s normalized to the point where ppl don’t even realize they have that sort of implicit bias, and we know ppl don’t rlly come on the internet to think critically. but unintentional racism is still racism. it still has an impact, still does damage. ppl need to think intentionally and critically in how they consume and interact with media not made for them, but they don’t, instead choosing to come in with their preexisting biases, and bc of that, it’s easy for fandom members to dismiss the cultural concerns of chinese ppl within the fandom. it’s easy, for example, to say “calling them martial brothers is incest apologism”, ignoring the inherent cultural roots of martial brothers.

now, we’re gonna get in to the current “drama”. i do not ship chengxian. i think that even bears repeating. i Do Not ship chengxian. i have written them, in a modern au, as adopted brothers. but there is a real historical and culture relevance to the idea of martial brothers, of community, that westerners willfully refuse to hear, claiming instead that “you’re disregarding adopted families!” no. that’s not what’s happening at all. what’s happening is ppl are refusing to look at their own, western bias, and placing western values on an eastern idea. community raising of children, community family bonds without being adopted families, is important in east asian culture. there is a long history of community being whats important, and ppl don’t get that you can be a “communal/community family” without being considered familial. jyl choosing to view wwx as her brother, bc he is a martial brother, and chengxian being in love, are things that can technically coexist. whether or not you choose to perceive them as such, refusing to acknowledge the real history of martial brothers, and scremaing “incest apologism” whenever someone tries to explain it, is inherently racist. it’s you assuming you know my culture better than me. it’s you assuming your western ideas are the only ones that exist. which is, at its core, the basis for most racism in the danmei fandom.

most racism in the danmei fandom comes from this idea that casual racism against asians isn’t *really* racism, and therefore asians don’t *really* get to have a say, and it shouldn’t matter anyway bc we’re lucky you’re even engaging with danmei, with asian content, since it’s shallow and inferior anyway. the racism comes from a place of moral superiority, of ownership, of this assumption that westerners are entitled to not just consume danmei but also bring their western lens and apply it to something that was never written for them in the first place.

#important #danmei #mdzs #cql #the untamed

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