yours-etc

[yours-etc]

Job interviewer: Name?

Steve: Uhh Steve.

Job interviewer: Sex?

Steve: Absolutely.

Job interviewer: No, male or female?

Steve: Doesn't matter.

[yours-etc]

Give me Steve Harrington looking at local freak bad boy Eddie Munson with all his tattoos and jewelry and metal shit and being like

"Yeah, I could fix him"

Only for Eddie to look at local pretty boy turned loser Steve, and all of his unprocessed trauma, his abandonment issues, the way he'd never admit he wasn't okay, and his tendency to serve others before himself, and go

"I love him already."

[yours-etc]

not enough secret gardens and hidden passageways and bookshelves that open to a mysterious library these days. get working on that girls.

[yours-etc]

Steve cannot wink

No one has told Steve he thinks he can

Eddie will not be the one to tell him he thinks it's adorable

[yours-etc]

You know the new trope we’re doing in fandom where someone sends a message to a famous person on Instagram and is shocked to get a reply, thinks they’re an assistant so keeps talking to them, yadda yadda fanfic magic, it really is the famous guy, something something, hook up with a rockstar. You know that one?

Let’s take Steddie and invert it.

Invert. Not reverse.

In a series of events neither could explain, Robin and Steve find themselves working in social media roles at a music label.

Robin is working for pop-Star Chrissy, and spends almost all her time on TikTok and Instagram liking posts Chrissy would like and blocking creeps, and finding things that Chrissy should do a video response to. Yes, this is boiling Robin’s brain because she ends up seeing a lot of really offensive messages, and she’s spiraling a bit because she has had similar thoughts. However. This is not about them right now.

Steve is working for a big name in Metal and Rock doing essentially the same job. Down Devastation is more popular than Steve would have expected, and he had a training session on how to impersonate a heavy metal guy. The front man is a guy named Eric, who he can admit is hot when he’s not in his stage makeup.

His job is to filter the bad ones, like some things, share things, and send stuff to Eric that the guy would want to reply to with more than a button tap.

At some point, Down Devastation gets tagged in a cover of one of their early songs, and it’s actually good and it wasn’t tagged by the group. It’s other users tagging it. They’re a band called Corroded Coffin, and Steve was told specifically that Eric likes to lift up baby-musicians. It gets sent to Eric. Eric stitches/edits/whatever and promotes their upcoming (teeny tiny) show. That should be the end of it.

Corroded posts some extra videos from their show - biggest crowd they’ve ever had (75 people! All conscious! There on purpose!) and Steve makes sure he likes them all, chooses one to share on the DD account.

A couple days later, while scrolling the thousands of notifications and messages, Steve spots one from a user he remembers was tagged in the Corroded Coffin stuff.

The guy, Eddie, sent a message from his personal instagram to say thanks.

It is legitimately part of Steve’s job to stalk people a little bit before replying, so he gets to see this guy who, if Steve is being honest, is fucking adorkable. The message isn’t raising any flags, the guys profile is clean without looking fake, and the guys band did get a callout. This is solidly in the list of things that are Steve’s job.

Steve sends a you’re welcome, uses some of the descriptions and phrases Eric had actually used, and figures that since the guy is normal, that’s the end of it. Eddie sends another message a few hours later, not like he’s trying to be that weird fan, not leading or forcing a conversation, but mentions something nerdy. It catches Steve’s eye the next time he’s clearing insta messages.

It accelerates pretty quickly into an actual conversation. Steve is used to being the character of Eric, but it slips a little when talking to Eddie. Not on purpose, but also not a big deal. Eddie has proven he’s pretty saavy, so the guy definitely knows that Grammy winners don’t answer their own DMs. Steve has almost jumped the conversation to his own account, but he’s paranoid that he’ll use the wrong one at some point, so never has.

it’s not until a few months later, when Eddie actually calls Steve ‘Eric’ in a message, instead of the joking ‘King’, that Steve realizes; no. Oh god, no. Eddie doesn’t know that. Eddie thinks he’s been talking to a famous metal head.

Choose your own adventure on how much angst there is in the space between that realization and the happy ending.

[yours-etc]

We used to have the milkman and the mailman, now we have to doordash guy and the gig economy has screwed him so much that he doesn't have time to impregnate other people's wives. This is what capitalism has done to us.

[yours-etc]

first accident happening right as i’m about to pay off my car??? perfect!

[yours-etc]

Modern Steddie where Steve is a very tired firefighter who just wants to sleep, and Eddie is his obnoxious neighbor who’s always setting off the fire alarm in their building.

This happens at least four times before Steve loses his patience. On the fifth time, Steve gets out of bed, goes straight to Eddie’s door and pounds on it until he finally opens. Whatever complains or curses he was about to yell are completely forgotten, though, once Steve sees the black smoke all over the other man’s apartment.

He panics for only a moment or two, his instincts kicking in then and making Steve search for the source of all that smoke. It comes from the open oven, where there’s still a pan inside with something that at some point had been food, but now just looks like char.

Turns out Eddie is setting off the fire alarm so often because he is just hopeless in the kitchen and cannot be trusted near a stove.

“I just forget sometimes,” Eddie explains. “I put the pan in the oven, then something else catches my eye and I lose track of time.”

For the sake of his own sleep schedule, Steve buys the other man a timer and offers to teach him some basic dishes that even Eddie won’t be able to fuck up. And that’s how Steve finds himself spending most of his days off in Eddie’s apartment, drinking beer, chatting and watching closely as Eddie follows his instructions every time they try a new recipe.

But Steve doesn’t mind because it’s been two months since the last incident with the fire alarm and he’s been sleeping like a baby every night. That's a major win for him, really.

(A few weeks later, Steve is the one who sets off the fire alarm and it’s all Eddie’s fault. He was the one who distracted Steve by kissing him in the middle of the kitchen, without giving him a chance to turn off the stove first. Steve's not complaining, though.)

[yours-etc]

I get that his sacrifice was necessary for his character but I just need a better closure.

[yours-etc]

They have taken over my mind..

[yours-etc]

It's giving:

[yours-etc]

fuck it, yurifies your huntrix

[yours-etc]

L Jinu moment

[yours-etc]

Dreamy 🤤

[yours-etc]

Eight-year-old Eddie watches the Hawkins fireworks with his hands over his ears, flinching at every boom--- until he sees a younger boy sitting calm and still, serenely watching the sky as if it isn't actively exploding. As the show reaches the grand finale, Eddie doesn't look up to the sky once. He just shoves his fingers in his ears and watches the way the light dances across the boy's face, the boy who controls his fear in a way Eddie never learned and is starting to worry he never will.

Meanwhile, the Deaf Steve Harrington has a weird feeling in his tummy--- maybe it's because of the rumbling boom of the explosions, or maybe it's because he can tell the boy with the curly hair is staring back at him now.

[yours-etc]

Eddie and Steve settle down in a town just outside the border of Indiana, so close that it's only a different state in name, and carve out a little place for themselves.

They live in a tiny house at the edge of town with other like-minded recluses. They're all friendly, but they mind their own business. It's an open secret what they share in their house as two men with no wives or girlfriends, but they're not the only ones in similar positions.

Eddie gets a position at the only mechanic shop in town, which is always understaffed. Steve works at the grocery as a clerk and shelver.

After a handful of years of being with Eddie, Steve fully lets go of any lingering hope of having children of his own. It hurts a little, but even if the system would deign to give a child to a gay couple, it certainly wouldn't be two men living in a tiny bungalow at the ends of the forest. He wouldn't trade what he has for the world; he loved Eddie more than anything, but it's something he has to come to terms with.

Then one day, when they're both closer to 40 than 30, a kid starts lingering around the storefront for hours. He's probably around 11 or 12 give or take, small and skinny in a way that makes Steve ache a little. He wanders in and out a little, looking around at the shelves of cool drinks and fruit with a cautious eye until something startles him and he scuttles out to the front.

He watches it happen for almost two weeks. It's driving him crazy how no one is saying or doing anything. They're all just pretending they don't notice. He raves about it almost every night to Eddie, who calms him and nudges him a little to talk to him.

The next night, the kid is still there when Steve gets out at nine, later than he's ever stayed before. He takes a moment to waffle about what to do, but he grabs two iced teas from the fridge and two of those pre-packaged danishes and heads out.

He sits on the curb without saying anything, a safe distance between them, and drops half of his loot by the kid's leg. He doesn't look at him, just opens his own drink and looks out into the waning summer sun. He can feel scrutinizing eyes glaring at the side of his head, not touching the food.

They sit for a good five minutes before the kid snatched the drink and food up, turning his back halfway to scarf it down quickly. He scurries away quickly after he finishes, Steve watching him go.

Steve continues this routine, the kid, Jake, getting more comfortable as Steve continues to be kind. He opens up a little bit more about school and interests, but he never talks about home.

One day, Jake doesn't show up, and Steve freaks out. He goes home and gets Eddie so they can both drive all around town. Steve has a terrible feeling in his gut that sinks completely when they don't find him before the sun comes up.

Eddie holds him as he urges him to get some sleep before his shift.

The next day, all Steve can do is look out the big windows, waiting for ratty off-brand Converse and a red hoodie to walk through the doors. It takes almost his entire shift, but he does eventually see Jake slink around the corner of the store across the street, walking slowly toward the store.

Steve tears off his apron and makes some excuse to the other clerk, and runs out into the street to meet him. He knows he shouldn't, but he's just too relieved to stop himself, and scoops him into a hug.

Jake flinches but clings back desperately, clinging to Steve and sobbing into his shoulder. Steve doesn't give a shit if it's right or wrong or whatever, he knows Jake has been hurt and he's taking him home.

They get to the house, Jake having calmed down a little bit but still holding right to Steve's hand. He goes around and scoops Jake into his arms and takes him inside. Eddie is waiting on the porch, backlit by the soft glow of their living room.

Jake is hesitant at first, especially with the new man in the picture, but he knows Eddie from stories, and they get him to open up about what happened. The entire time, Steve is crushing Eddie's hand in his own, overwhelmed with rage.

They let Jake pass out on the couch, belly full of grilled cheese and tucked under their plushest blanket. The two men don't sleep that night, staying up until the sun rises again, discussing what to do.

In the end, Steve and Eddie leave in the early morning, going to the house Jake described in his story. They're greeted by a gruff-looking man reeking of booze, already spitting angry insults for the early wake-up call.

What they do is less than legal, but in a town this small, things tend to work by their own rules. They make it clear that Jake won't be coming back, and that they'll be keeping him under their roof. The man gives only a token protest before he lets Eddie bully his way into the house to find what exists of Jake's documents.

They go home and present their offer to Jake. They have room for him, if he wants to stay. He's old enough that he can make his own choice, and they won't force him, but they would love to give him a home.

Jake is a difficult, troubled kid, but he brings to much joy and purpose into their lives that they didn't even know they were missing. Their sparse neighbors keep them under their protection, making sure the budding little family has what they need to keep themselves afloat.

[yours-etc]

Couples shirts. One says "IM FUCKING WEIRD" and one says "IM WEIRD"