#And I really really really love the scene in season 3 where Karen tells Nancy not to give up on what she wants from this life

[candied-cae]

And Who Are We At The End Of The World? - Please, Be Gentle with My Breaks - III

Chapter 18/? - - - Read it on AO3

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Word Count: 10,480

Summary: There's a difference between being broken and having a few breaks. But a lot of these kids and been dealt a lot of blows, and not just from physical monsters of the Upside Down. There's still a lot of stuff hidden just under the surface that they haven't been able to show just yet.

TW: Depictions of PTSD - Triggering events and flashbacks

More ST Fics

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Friday morning - the morning Family Video was set to re-open its doors and begin taking business again - had finally come.

It was a sunny morning. The kind that starts with birds chirping from the trees and the smell of coffee drifting from the kitchen. Robin and Steve had made plans to be at the store early, a few hours before opening, to eat breakfast together in the back office and take care of any possible final business that could come up. It was going to be a very good day. They'd decided that much.

Robin was still asleep and a little while away from starting that very good day when a noise that was less pleasant than birdsong rattled through her window.

It had been a week since the morning after the earthquake, and the construction crews had finally made their way to the suburbs near the Buckleys to take care of refortifying, structural concerns, and general repairs. One such house that required their attention, was the neighbor's from right behind them. The one that happened to be closest to the wall of Robin's room.

She was woken up when the racket started.

There was yelling, the workers shouting across distances and making their plans. Her neighbor's house had a lot of worry. She usually wouldn't mind the yelling that much. She could ignore it until Steve arrived to whisk her away. But she had been asleep and would've liked to stay that way. And all the noise outside made it impossible to fall back asleep. So she rolled out of bed and pulled her thin, red curtains closed, trying to block out just a little bit of the early morning sun.

It was about then that the foreman of the crew grunted with displeasure and came to a decision.

“Too much mess here. The whole foundation's got cracks in it, I don't like the way these wooden support beams are splinting, these warps in the flooring don't look good, and that roof damage is only going to get worse with bad weather. Call the homeowners. They can bitch about the facts all they want, but this house is going to be next with the demo team and need a complete reconstruction before anyone moves back in.”

Robin had already finished getting ready. She was washed up and dressed, and finally, the noise softened. Maybe they were done for the day. And she probably had another hour before Steve would be rolling around. So she dove back under her covers and tucked them in around her. Closing her eyes and drifting back off to sleep for just a little bit longer before she'd be taken away from her warm, comfy bed, and would be made to face the daunting trials of customer service.

Maybe forty minutes later, Robin was in that slippery state between sleep and awareness while the heavy machinery of a demolition team rolled down the street. All at once, those titans of force began to unmake the house right behind theirs. So close to where she peacefully slept. And the house did not go down easy.

Robin was startled awake in a red-tinted room, with the impossibly loud sound of destruction erupting from right behind her. The strength of it was rumbling the bed under her body, accompanied by the shriek of over-used and under-cared-for mechanical parts.

And all of it just sent her.

It felt like Thursday night. In the Upside Down. Where the red-tinted sky opened up above her, and the ground shook under her feet so hard she almost fell over. When the groans of an old house moved around her and filled up her ears. Until it all became echoes of screams instead.

Lucas's screams.

“Erica! Call for help!”

She felt it. She felt the fear again. Like it was all occurring to her for the first time.

Max was dead. Lucas was hurt. Eddie was going to die.

Her hands started shaking. She felt the sweat stick to the back of her neck, on her forehead under her bangs. Her arms and legs almost felt numb- or maybe they felt disconnected from her? They didn't feel right. Or useable.

She was frozen. And she tried to reason with herself. Thursday night was Thursday night. It was over a week ago. It all already happened, and she's supposed to be fine. She's in her room.

But as she looked around, none of it seemed familiar. It all looked foreign. Alien. It even started to look like the room was covered in vines, and dust, and cobwebs.

And she was alone. Steve and Nancy weren't there with her. By her side. Helping her run through the terror anyway.

She was alone.

A tear slipped down her cheek, and then one of the neighbor's walls went down. Everything shook even worse. And while she was petrified just a second ago, she was then thrown into urgency. She all but pushed herself out of the bed and backed up under the frame. In the little space between the floorboards and the box spring. She just tried to crawl further and further back, closing herself into something small and hidden.

Nothing bad should be able to find her under there.

She started crying harder.

Somewhere in it, her parents started asking questions. Asking if she wanted any breakfast before she left. Trying to make sure she was still up. Wondering why she wasn't answering. But none of it reached her. She just stared straight forward, trying desperately to cover her ears and make it stop. She just needed it all to stop. But all she felt was the tremble. And all she heard were the screams.

Her dad opened her door. He and her mom poured into her room and kneeled on the floor to find her down there under her bed. They tried talking to her. To figure out what was happening. None of them understood why it was happening.

Max was dead. Lucas was hurt. Erica was in danger. Eddie was going to die. Dustin was limping. Steve was bleeding.

Nothing was okay. And Robin was alone.

Steve's car rolled to a stop in front of the Buckleys. But Robin wasn't sitting, waiting for him on the stoop. She probably just woke up late and needed another minute, or two, to finish getting ready. They were going in early anyway.

Steve wasn't in any rush.

So he just sat in the driveway. Letting the radio play through “You're Much Too Soon” by Hall and Oats. But still, as the song ended and the host announced that The Cars would be playing next, Robin wasn't outside.

Which was starting to seem unusual. He'd never waited very long for her to run out. It's not like she was someone to go to a rager and be hungover the next morning. And there was no way she had something with Vickie that went so late she couldn't wake up. At least no way she wouldn't have mentioned it to him.

He wasn't sure what her deal was, but he still didn't really want to risk getting Mrs. Buckley's stink eye by knocking on the door. A person only makes that mistake once. So he shrugged to himself and honked his horn in two short bursts. To make sure she knew he was there. Not to sound passive-aggressive, but maybe she forgot what time they planned on leaving.

And in that dark space between what was happening and the memory playing over reality, Steve's car broke through.

Robin knew that beep.

From all the times she was already packed into his car after closing, and he was taking too long to lock the door to Family Video, so she'd lean over to the driver's seat and honk at him from his own car. From every time they'd gotten talked into running one or a couple of the kids somewhere, and they were taking their sweet time, so he'd honk at them. From any time someone peeled out past a stop sign in front of them, Steve would curse, ask how much they think his car is worth, and he'd honk at them because he couldn't expect an answer.

Robin knew the sound of Steve's Beemer.

Which meant Steve was there.

That was the only thing she could grasp and hold on to. Steve was there. Somewhere out of sight, but there. Steve was there, so she wasn't alone.

“Steve? STEVE?” she called for him. Past her parents that didn't fit the picture in front of her, she yelled for her best friend to fill in.

Just when Steve was really starting to wonder what was up, he saw Robin's father open the door.

“There's something wrong with her!” he shouted, looking more scared than grown-ups usually let him see.

And Steve didn't even think he'd ever run so fast for anything. Before he could even worry about what specifically could be wrong, before he could worry about the Buckleys not being his biggest fans, before he could worry about not technically having been invited inside their house - he was through the front door and following the sound of Robin's voice down the hallway to her room. Where her mother was crouched on the floor trying to reason with where Robin must've been under her bed.

He just shucked the jacket off his arms and scooted himself under there beside her.

“Hey. Hey, Rob. I'm here. It's me.”

She looked at him. And he made sense. As much as all of it didn't make sense, Steve being there with her while she felt terrified? That made sense.

Robin's fingers released a sweater that had been lost under her bed and instead grabbed onto the short sleeve of Steve's white shirt.

“Steve. Steve, it's- i- it's shaking. Everything is…”

“I know. I know, it is.” He nodded with her,” But, hey, I’m right here with you. Okay?”

There was barely enough room for the width of their bodies under there. But even so, Steve untucked his arm from beside him and pushed it into the space over Robin. He held her tight around her shoulders, her hand still twisted in the fabric of his shirt. She was probably going to stretch it out, but Steve wasn't even a little worried about it then.

“It's so loud…” she whispered, trying to cover up one ear without letting go of Steve.

“That's okay. That's okay, because…” Steve reached over to his discarded jacket. In the pocket was his walkman and one of his mixes he was keeping on him until he made the one specifically for Vecna. He slipped the headphones over her ears with a little difficulty, due to the angle and tight quarters. But after he got it on, he'd quickly sped through the first third of the tape, because ABBA's “Lay All Your Love On Me” should've been the fifth song on it.

He pulled her tighter against him while she listened to the music and spoke right into her hair,“ I’m right here. And I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”

She continued to cry.

Robin's parents just looked at the two in shock. They knew that they had gotten close, but they never imagined… Steve was the kid in town with a reputation for getting around. They always assumed there was something there, something he was chasing her for. They weren’t happy about it but figured - maybe just maybe - Steve Harrington got drawn into Robin’s refusal of his advances and it just made a game for him after they worked together at the mall.

But the way he was looking at her, it was love.

And not a romantic or lustful thing. It was just love in its purest form. Like they were two halves of the same person. Destined to link their arms together for the rest of their lives, despite whatever husband and wife they would get tied to down the road. It was something bigger than her parents understood.

But they were starting to.

Robin eventually stopped shaking so badly, and stopped crying so hard. Steve asked them if the construction crew could stop what they were doing. Even for just fifteen minutes. Just long enough to let Robin calm down some and get out from under the mattress and put some distance between them.

And the parents left them to each other. Somehow, they completely trusted that all Steve Harrington wanted to do was help their daughter feel better. When they told the crew that their kid was having something of a nervous breakdown, they were incredibly apologetic and immediately shut off all the equipment. Mrs. Buckley brought out some lemonade for them as a thank-you while they killed a little time.

“You doing better, Rob?” Steve asked when she looked like she was coming back to herself.

The room didn't look so scary anymore. Her mind wasn't covering her floor and walls in leathery tentacles. She couldn't hear kids screaming and crying in her ears. She knew Max was safe in the hospital, and Eddie was right next to her recovering. Lucas, Erica, Dustin, and Steve all made it out with bumps and bruises, but they were fine.

Robin pushed the headphones off of one of her ears and nodded to Steve, wiping off her face,” Yeah. Yeah.”

“Do you wanna get up?” he offered.

She thought about it. But her legs still felt like jello, and she still had an icky feeling making her hair stand up. It didn't look like the Upside Down anymore, but she was still scared it would again as soon as she made it to her feet.

“Not yet? It feels safer down here. Closed in, nothing can surprise me.”

“Okay. We’ll stay down here for a few minutes.”

Robin shook her head. She felt silly. “We’re going to be late to work,” she told him.

“Fuck work.” Steve remarked, and she laughed through a sniffle,” I’m the manager now. I say Family Video can re-open tomorrow.”

But then the worry hit her again,“ But, Steve, if I stay here all day and they start again, I-”

Steve just shrugged against her shoulder,“ We can go wherever. Wherever you want.”

And she relaxed again.

They got her up off the floor, splashed some water on her face, and got packed into the car after Robin hugged her parents. Told them she was going to be fine.

They blared music from his car and stopped back at his house first to grab snacks. She met the Antonovs while Steve stole a boombox and a handful of cassettes from his room. And then they made quick goodbyes and were off again. Steve figured a good place to go, to get away from everything, was that junkyard past the quarry.

They drove up the gravel road, around the big open water, into the break of the trees, and out through the clearing of abandoned cars and scrap.

“So, this is where Dustin took you, huh?”

She'd wondered what kind of place made for a demodog trap and makeshift fortress to hunker down in. Not enough to actually ask for a visit to a place that screamed serial killer central, but she'd wondered about it.

“Yeah. Except we came from the tracks and walked the whole way from town.” Steve told her.

Robin crinkled up her nose at the idea,“ If you're gonna bring me to the edge of the world, I'm not walking there. Only way you're getting me all the way out here is if I'm riding in style.” She leaned back in the seat, popped her feet up on the dash, and closed her eyes. Like she was trying to become the picture of luxury.

Steve just smiled softly and hummed,“ Of course, you are.”

The Beemer was parked and the two climbed out together. Robin's first instinct was to comment on the mess. The broken glass and the dented-up metal. Steve pretended it was all damage from the demodogs. She didn't know any better to push it. But they sat down in an open spot. Dug into the leftovers of Claudia's brownies while they just talked and looked out over the hill.

And then Robin brought the conversation back to something she considered to be of high importance.

“So, what's the plan with Nancy?”

Steve completely turned away from her, echoing her question like that'd make her drop it,“ What's the plan?”

And, as if she didn't even hear the annoyance in his tone, she agreed,“ Yeah. What's the plan? What sort of idea do we have on the docket?”

“Robin. Her boyfriend is sleeping on my couch right now.” Steve reminded her.

“Which is why I want to know the plan. Situation's gotten complicated.” Robin crossed her legs and popped a bit of brownie into her mouth.

But he declared,“ There is no plan.”

And she almost sounded disappointed. "Steve.”

“You guys keep trying to open that door - and maybe you could entertain the idea while Jonathan wasn't around - but it's different now.”

“You guys?” Robin pointed out,” Who else has been talking about you and Nancy?”

Steve muttered,“ Munson might've said something stupid…”

Her eyes widened,“ See! Multiple people-”

“Just the two-”

“Multiple people think there's something there! So why aren't you going for it? We got your confidence back, you're acting like the hot commodity you are again. Don't get why you're wasting time.”

He tried to redirect her,“ Why don't we focus on the Vickie front?”

She argued,“ The Vickie front is fine!”

“Oh? So what are the two of you then?” Steve pressed.

Robin got quiet before eventually saying,” I don't know.”

“That doesn't sound very fine.”

Which thankfully seemed to pull her away from Nancy Wheeler.

“How do I broach that topic then, Steve?” she asked.

“Well, you're gonna wanna get all dressed up, look real nice, lean in close, and then you're going to ask her where this thing is going.”

“And if she doesn't think 'this thing' is going where I want it to go? Then I've just outed myself and started the countdown until I become the town pariah.”

“You just gotta be covert enough it's safe, and direct enough you get a clear answer,” Steve advised. Which sounded like an impossible balance to strike.

And Robin was at least a little bit annoyed he'd even say such a thing. “Oh? Is that all?“

“That's all it takes!”

“Then…” Robin leaned over and got all in Steve's space before she put on a husky voice,“ Where do you think this Nancy thing is going?”

Steve cried out “Shut up!” and shoved her shoulder. They both fell into boisterous laughter while they lay out on the grass. Leaving behind the horrors of that morning and knowing full well that Family Video wasn't opening by 10 am as they planned.

Karen got a phone call that morning from Theresa. Robin's mother mentioned that they'd had a rough morning at their house, and asked if Karen had noticed Nancy going through anything after the earthquake. Seeming like she was reliving it at all, or stuff like night terrors? Karen truthfully told her that she hadn't seen any of that from Nancy, but what she kept to herself was that their kids didn't just face an earthquake. Karen knew they'd seen more than they needed to.

And with her soft heart, knowing that Robin got really shaken up and quickly left with Steve that morning to get away from the ruckus, Karen decided she'd pay the two of them a visit. Offer a little kindness and remind them that - even if they couldn't turn to their own parents for help - she was on their team now. Like what Nancy had said the night she found out what was going on.

So Karen baked a batch of fresh cookies in the oven. Her oldest daughter was pouring over her school work, the new and the old, and paying extra attention to her essays. Karen slid a plate on the dining room table to Nancy as they came out. Still warm and gooey, practically falling apart as Karen warned her to let them cool a minute so she didn't burn herself. And then she headed out the door. Packing herself and her Tupperware container away while she drove over to Steve's place. Where surely the two of them would have gone after Robin's fright.

The oddest thing was, as she came up to the front porch and knocked on the door, it wasn't either of them that answered. Nor was it Hopper or Joyce, or any of the kids. Instead, there was a man she'd never met before. A very attractive man, for the record, wearing a pretty skimpy pair of cut-off jeans that were halfway up his thighs and what probably used to be a tee shirt until the sleeves were snipped off to the shoulder and the bottom cropped until it almost showed skin.

Which was a little out of the usual considering Spring just started and nobody else in Hawkins would be dressing like that for weeks, if not months. Just wasn't warm enough for it yet. But there this mystery man was, looking like he was ready to host a Summer cookout and work on his poolside tan.

He pursed his lips under a crisp mustache and asked, with a strong, deep voice and accent,” Yes?”

“Uh, yes, I- uh- I’m Karen. Wheeler. Mike and Nancy’s mom.” she explained. Remembering herself after a moment and shifting the cookies onto one arm, reaching out with her other hand to shake his. Friendly, polite, and mannerly. Maybe a little more bashful than she should be.

He smiled kindly and shook it with a firm grip,” Dmitri. I am Mikhail’s father.”

“Oh, yes, I’d heard- that, um, that we had someone new coming into town.” she made the connection and thought to herself that she was being silly. Stuttering and sputtering for no reason.

“Ah, yes.” Dmitri nodded,” Once your government sends me some papers, I may move out of this boy’s home. Maybe then we will even be neighbors, yes?”

Karen smiled and agreed,” Yeah, maybe.”

It was quiet for only a moment before he wondered,“ Was there something…?”

“Oh! Yes! Sorry, um, I assumed Steve and Robin would be around. Wanted to drop off a snack for them.” she motioned to the container she held.

“That is very kind of you. They are out, but I can put it in the kitchen.” he offered.

She handed the sweets over with a simple “thank you,” but she didn't exactly want to run back home so quickly. And she thought it was only reasonable to try and get to know him. Being another adult on the end-of-the-world team and all.

“How- how are you and your son adjusting? To Hawkins? I'm sure it must be a big change.”

“It is fine,” he assured her. “Mikhail wishes he were in school. Also wishes he had his own room, but that will change in time. We are fine. Much better away from where we were. And I, myself, am most enjoying all the time free from work and the warm temperature.”

Dmitri remarked on it all with a smile. Pale, blue eyes shining under the midwest sun. Which must've been a stark difference compared to the snow-covered country he'd called home just days before. He really seemed happy to have completely turned his whole life around.

It wasn't like he had much of a choice. By the sound of it from Murray, Hop, and Joyce, he had to leave. There wasn't anything left for him or his son in the Soviet Union after he was imprisoned, escaped, and every person at his workplace - convicts and guards alike - was killed. He was a renegade, no matter what. So he had to pack up his kid and him, board a sketchy helicopter, and come with the people he'd become loose companions with. Chasing “hope of a better life” and “the American dream” as far as it'd take him.

It sounded terrifying for Karen to imagine putting her own family through. But here, the man stood. In the door of a teenage boy's home because it had a spare room to borrow. In a country he didn't know. Without a clue about what exactly was going to happen in the coming days, weeks, months, or years. If they made it that long.

And he smiled under the sunshine. Because he was away from work, and they had nice weather in Hawkins, Indiana. And that was enough to be happy about.

“Really?” she asked him.

“Oh, yes. Certainly. If I could spend the rest of my days like this, though in a home of my own, I would. Waking up early, making food, spending time with Mikhail and sending him off, enjoying this lovely weather… it is all I need.”

Karen had to laugh to herself. It sounded like the life of a housewife this man was wishing for. And she knew it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows. It wasn't as easy or as fulfilling as it seemed like it was when a person summed up in one clean sentence.

“Your son must be better behaved than mine.” she joked.

But Dmitri's eyebrow raised, and he leaned in closer to drop his voice,“ You think too highly of Mikhail. He is still a handful.” He sat back and mentioned,” Though, I suspect I am lucky to just have the one. You manage two.”

“Three, actually.” she corrected,” I have my youngest, Holly, too.”

“Three, then. Miss Wheeler, you are a mother of considerable strength, to do so on your own.”

“Oh, I’m not on my own. My husband, Ted, he-” Karen stumbled for a second. Not exactly sure how much she could speak to her husband's adequacy as a father. Not when it came to the softer parts of childcare. “Well, he supports us. Has a good job and brings home the bacon.”

“But you manage the home and children?” the man restated.

“Uh, yes, I guess, he mostly catches the bills, and I manage the house. And the kids. The day-to-day. If you want to look at it like that.”

“Then that makes you strong,” he argued.

Karen just averted her eyes and brushed her hair off her shoulder. “You’d be the first to think so.”

“Americans do not think their mothers are strong?”

“It’s-” She didn't get very far.

“They should. I believe you are very strong woman, Miss Karen Wheeler.” Dmitri said with full sincerity.

She couldn't help but notice he didn't correct to “Mrs.” even though she brought up her marriage. But it was nice to hear the rest of that sentence too. She was a strong woman. Seriously spoken, because it was no laughing matter.

Karen also couldn't help but ask a question she's wondered a few times by herself.

“Was it easy? To work and take care of your son on your own?”

It seemed a little rude to ask. She'd only known the man for a few minutes, and she only knew he was a widower or some kind of divorcee because it was sort of the elephant in the room. You don't think to grab the kid and not the mom if everything is going well. So he was in the parenting game on his own. And maybe sometimes Karen wondered if she could do something like that.

“Absolutely not.” he answered honestly,” My wife passed many years back. And my job it- it kept me away from home a lot. Only way we got through it was our sweet neighbor watching him when I could not. I only hope I may find way to tend to him more now.”

“You’d want to be a house-husband?” she asked, surprised.

“If I could? Absolutely. Just be a little… little trophy for the Missus to show off while I take care of the home and my boy.” he mused. “Sounds like a fine life to me.”

Karen only let out about half a laugh. “You’re a very interesting man, Dmitri.”

“What? You do not agree?”

“I can see the appeal, from the outside view. I’ve been in the housewife spot for a while now. It can be nice at times, but I definitely miss…” her eyes wandered,” the freedom.”

“I take it you have a passion then? One you put away to take care of your family?” Dmitri leaned against the door frame. His exposed bicep squished against woodgrain, though Karen tried not to notice, and he watched her carefully. Listening.

She admitted to him,“ Yeah, I did. Once upon a time. Many, many years ago.”

“Well, I hope you find it again, Miss Karen.” There it was with the “Miss” again- “Maybe your kids straighten up and give you time to chase it? Or your husband takes over some responsibilities of the house?”

“Oh, that’ll be the day.”

“You think Mr. Wheeler is not strong enough for the job?”

“He does his job.” Karen had to defend her husband. She began to count on her fingers,” Provides the roof over our heads, food on the table-”

But this Dmitri wasn't having it. With one hand, he gently closed his grip around hers. Only enough pressure to stop her, so he could say,“ If your husband leaves you so dissatisfied, then I do not believe he does his job very well.”

And Karen could feel the heat in her cheeks go hotter. He was close. And touching her hands. And serious but not afraid to laugh. And sweet in the way he talked about his kid. And attentive to her in a way no one has been since she and Ted first met.

It swelled something in her chest that scared her.

She smiled politely, and pulled her hands back,“ Sorry to have taken up so much of your time. I wasn't planning on more than a quick drop-off. But I’m happy to hear you’re both settling in. Feel free to help yourselves to the cookies as well.”

“Thank you,” he said, smoothly. No hint of dismay as she backed out. And then he added,” But it was no bother to speak with a beautiful woman on a nice day. Especially if she's brought over her own baking.”

In a moment of bravery, Karen agreed.

“It was no bother speaking to you either. I’ll see you again sometime.”

“Until then, Miss Karen. To your free time and the rise of house-husbandry.”

And Mr. Antonov stayed at the door while Karen returned to her car. He popped open the top and swiped himself a cookie in the wait. Watching as she opened the door and slid into the driver's seat. He only closed the front door of Steve's house once he'd seen the engine turn over fine. Making sure she'd have no problem getting home.

A length of care just beyond what was necessary.

It'd been a long, long time since Karen felt like anyone had extended that attention toward her.

Not that it mattered much. She was a married woman. A housewife. A stay-at-home mom. And Dmitri didn't convey much confidence that she was able to be anything else anymore. Not with three children to look out for. Even if Nancy was going to be off to college soon, Mike still had three years left. Hell- Holly was only six.

She needed to get back home.

Get back to what she knew how to do.

Time passed by in the junkyard. The sun rose up and eventually hung high in the sky overhead. Steve and Robin nearly emptied the last of Claudia's brownies. They were probably ready for some real food soon. And to get back to civilization.

But, for the moment, they just lay out on the ground next to each other.

Trying not to think about all the dirt getting into their hair and rubbing into the back of their clothes.

But Robin finally felt like herself again.

“Thank you,” she said to him. Her best friend. Who sat with her through the whole thing. Even though it snuck up on them out of nowhere, and they've never dealt with anything like it themselves.

“For?” he asked her.

She filled in,“ For being there for me.”

“Rob,” Steve rolled over onto his side to look at her,” I always will be. You know that.”

Robin nodded,“ I know. I just…” she started to explain,” didn’t realize it could get that bad. Nothing ever hit me like that after last summer. Nothing was ever similar enough to what happened that I just- I don’t know. But then I was just in my room, and I looked around, and it was just like Thursday night. Like some amalgamation of my bedroom and the Creel house, and the sounds were just- ”

Steve put his hand on hers where she'd started mindlessly ripping grass up by the roots.

“I know. But we’re fine. We’re fine.” he assured her.

“Yeah. We are.”

“So we’re feeling better now?”

“Yeah. We’re feeling better now.” Robin squeezed his hand.

“All the way better, or is there still something you need to be all the way there?”

She chuckled and smiled up at the bright blue sky. A big toothy smile. The kind her mother would've told her to reign in if they were taking family pictures. But the gentle fondness of Steve Harrington could be funny when he overdid it. Like a mother hen checking on his little chickadees over and over again.

And Steve might've been thinking about cruising by a drive-thru to finish off the comfort, but Robin had another solution in mind to settle any lingering anxiety.

“Well, if you’re offering… you know what my favorite thing ever is…”

And that was all the leading she had to do. Steve's eyes narrowed at her. But he didn't resist much.

“… Fine. Since you had a shitty morning.”

And then Steve went to his cassette player and dropped in “Robin’s Mix.” A tape he'd put together some time ago that always got the most runtime when its namesake was with him. It only took seconds for the sounds of ABBA's “Dancing Queen” to come out through the speakers. The first song on it. Robin stood, dusted herself off, and joined Steve by the hood of his Beemer where he'd propped the player. Fully set on turning the patch of seclusion into their own private dance floor.

And as the Swedish singers came in, Steve was quick to mime a microphone of his own. Directing every single word to his very best friend. Just like they had for her birthday.

“You are the dancing Queen, Young and sweet, Only seventeen! You can dance, You can jive, Having the time of your life, Ooooo~ See that girl, Watch that screen, Digging the Dancing Queen!”

They spun around each other. Robin shook out her hair, dropped her shoulders, and grooved side-to-side. Put her hands up in the air and swept them around in smooth motions. Steve was jumping around, posing, and kneeling to bask up at her. Like she was a real celebrity.

They probably put too much energy into it. If anyone serious was looking at them and compared their moves to the music at hand, they'd probably have said they didn't fit together. But to the two of them, it was how the song was meant to be danced to. It's what was right when everything came down to just Steve and Robin. No one else on the planet was invited.

And just being Steve and Robin was the easiest thing most days.

They made it all the way through the song before Robin nearly collapsed against him in giggles. He put away the phony mic, tossing it somewhere behind him to catch her before they both ended up on their asses. “One Way Or Another” began to fire up, but neither was listening too carefully.

“Thank you,” Robin said, almost out of breath.

“You already said that.” Steve pointed out.

“I know. But seriously,” she grabbed his hand and squeezed it like it was the most tangible lifeline she's ever had,” Thank you. For being my favorite person in the whole world.”

He squeezed her hand back, just as much love expressed in the simple act,” Thank you for being mine.”

Eventually, Robin stood back up on her own two feet. And they decided on that drive-thru meal to offset all the sugar and chocolate they'd had in lieu of a balanced breakfast. And interestingly enough, they also decided on going back to Family Video anyway.

They had no plans to open. More so just get out from under the sun before one of them (Robin) got sunburnt. Maybe even avoid the mosquitoes for the rest of the day. And Robin's Mix played through Steve's stereo the whole drive.

It might've only been Friday, and the nurses might've said they wanted to hold on to Eddie through Tuesday, but he was getting stir-crazy.

He hated, hated, hated just sitting there on that bed. He wasn't supposed to get up and move around too much, lest he desire to face Nurse Tracey's wrath. But it was torture. The tv was no adequate entertainment, and it killed him to know that everyone else had something to do. Some way they were healing or fixing things.

Just “getting better” wasn't a good enough assignment.

Not when there was so much at stake. Not when he was laying down right next to Max, who was stuck where he'd gotten out of. They told him it wasn't the same. But it should've been. They both died, and El brought them both back, and they both got to a hospital. But she wasn't awake.

And it pissed him off so much.

She played decoy, and so did he. And they both did their parts a little too well. But she didn’t get up after.

Wayne dropped in and ate breakfast with him on his way to work. Expressed his sorrow about Eddie's ring. Eddie's mom's ring. His fingertips drifted to his right ring finger where he'd always worn it. Not on the left, because that was the spot dedicated to his own engagement one day.

He missed it. The black gem, cut in too many facets that it caught the light too much. It didn't have the same mystique as domed, smooth onyx that seemed more like a void set in silver than a stone. He'd looked at some in pawn shops and understood the appeal.

But as much as his mom's ring didn't exactly fit the idea of what his aesthetic "should" be, it was better.

And it was gone.

He didn't cry when Wayne mentioned it. Didn't cry when Wayne said he was going to ask around, keep an eye out, and look wherever he could think to. Didn't ruin it for him by saying," I know I wore it into battle. I fucking kissed it before climbing up a twisted version of our trailer and starting my set. So if it's gone, it's gone in another dimension. And, honestly, it was probably eaten by a demobat, given how much they bit at me. So it had to be fucked up for good after sitting in dead monster stomach acid all this time."

No. Eddie just smiled at his uncle. Told him thanks for everything. Said he was going to make it up to him with a spaghetti night when they settled in a new place to call their home again. Wayne smiled and told him not to forget the garlic bread.

"You know that's the best part." he laughed.

Wayne's eyes caught on his watch, and it was time to go. He laid a hand on his boy's shoulder, kissed him on his forehead, and told him to just keep getting better. Try not to worry about anything in the meantime.

Eddie didn't promise him anything.

He finished his re-read of The Hobbit. Sniffled at the end like he always did. He looked over old notes and put together new ones for a campaign. The boys, including Josie and Erica, and even Will, all came by. It was nice.

It wasn't a very complex storyline he'd thought up, but for a one-shot, it would do. The gang of nine players packed around his bed was given the task of sneaking into a masquerade party held in a castle. The queen had received word that her daughter was in danger, but she didn't know who it was. It could've even been a member of their own royal guard. So she'd hired the band of adventurers to make sure the princess would be safe. The hard part was, she'd survived an insane labor of nine. Yup, nonuplets. So there were nine identical princesses to keep an eye on and protect while they tried to find the bad guy. And just as fate would have it, one of them died.

It was only thanks to Will's impeccable notetaking that they figured out it was not actually Daphne in the pale green dress, but Rowena who'd swapped their clothes and taken the place of her sister. A scheme worked up with an assassin she'd fallen in love with to steal the title of "eldest daughter" and have the first claim to the throne. She had been the youngest of nine, after all, she was far down the list before she'd see a crown.

But they solvest the mystery. Earned a good chunk of change from an incredibly distraught royal family who not only lost one child, but a second too. Everyone cheered for each other when they got the confession and defeated the enemies in combat. Tucked away the characters with mentions that it might be nice to dust them off and revisit the theme again another time. Make a regular habit of these Sherlock Holmes-like mysteries dipped in a little bit of fantasy flair and ass-kicking to close it all out.

It was fun. Mostly. But holding the session around his bed, where he felt like he was some weak little thing he didn't think he was… it hurt Eddie in a way he wasn't expecting. It itched against all the other feelings he was holding on to. And he didn't like it.

He was feeling cagey.

So, after they all said their goodbyes, he made a break for it.

Or, more exactly, he told Tracey he had to get out of there and begged for any way to make it happen. She was not happy. Looked at him down her hooked nose, through her thick glasses, from under crumbling mascara that rimmed her eyes. A scornful expression like she was trying to intimidate him into pulling up his covers and saying how much he actually liked it there.

But he stood his ground. And she admitted, him being a legal adult and all, that he could fill out an Against Medical Advice form - meaning he couldn't sue if he fucked himself up for leaving early - and he'd be free. So he asked her, very nicely, to fetch such a document for him. And she did. She still pestered him about calling or coming in the minute he felt bad. To watch himself for a high temperature, upset stomach, sweating or chills, bleeding, puss, or extra sensitivity around the injuries. So he swore up and down he would.

And he made it out.

His car was still at Wayne's hotel, wherever that was exactly, so Eddie just hopped the bus and made it downtown. He didn't have an exact plan, but he was not going to go home. That trailer was practically a fallout zone and wouldn't make for much of a shelter at that point. And he also didn't want to even figure out where Wayne was pitched up at. Because he was bound to go stir crazy there just the same as he had in the hospital.

He ended up on the idea to stop by a certain video store to annoy a certain pair of employees and whatever poor souls decided to shop there on the day Eddie Munson became a truly free man.

“What? Am I not pretty enough for you, Robin?” Steve asked.

His voice dripped with offense, like the discussion at hand was the cruelest thing anyone had ever said to him. They'd been making plans for Robin to ask Vickie on something more obviously a date. To help bridge that gap between girl friends and girlfriends. Robin had suggested something more like what she and Steve do anyway, getting together at someone's house when there are no parents home for a movie. But that also painted what they do as being inherently romantic and she gagged. Now, Steve was on some tirade about being a wonderful date and she should be so lucky.

He leaned against the shop counter and struggled to pop his hip out in a way that could even come close to feminine. But none of the shapes were there, and Robin could only look at him with pity. Not an admission of defeat.

“As much as I love you, Steve…” she tried to soften the blow,” You already know the key thing keeping us apart is my particular interest in…”

”Oh, right.” Steve's tone dropped, and he cupped his hands on his chest as if it was the first time the thought had occurred to him,” Boobies. I don’t have those for you.”

The comment caused Robin to crinkle her nose in a sharp cringe,” Stop calling them that!”

“Why?! It’s what they are! Not my fault you can’t handle the proper word for them!” he pushed.

“ANYWAY!” she tried to take control of the conversation,” I like them a lot, so stop pressing it. It's starting to get really sad.”

“Alright, alright, I'm hearing you, but what if I turned like this.” Steve turned around and arched his back as he shyly looked over his shoulder at Robin. Trying to pull off a more pin-up pose. Like, because she couldn't see his front, she could forget he was missing the pair features they both enjoyed so much. Like it made him girly enough at all.

Robin tried to hold back her snickers at his display. Steve closed his eyes and shook out his hair behind him for effect. He put on a pretend sultry voice before asking her,“ Does this do it for you?”

“What did I just walk in on?” Eddie froze in the open doorway.

As Steve's brain registered that the question didn't come from Robin, he snapped open his eyes and jumped out of the pose. Some kind of less-than-manly shriek flew up from his mouth, and all too quickly he practically tumbled over the countertop and crossed his arms over his chest to cover himself behind it. As if he was even topless in the first place. He wasn't, but he still felt pretty exposed.

“Can't you read the sign?!” Steve griped. A pointer finger shot out to where the “closed” side of the board was clearly facing out the door to any foot traffic on the sidewalk.

Robin was less focused on Steve's cause for concern and complaint. Instead, she joyfully exclaimed,“ Eddie! You’re out of the hospital!”

“Yup, doc declared me as less than ‘healthy as a horse’ but not likely to bleed out at any moment, so I've been released on good behavior for bedrest at my own home while the wounds, you know, do their thing and scar over.”

“If it’s bedrest, shouldn’t you be, ya know… in a bed? Resting?” Steve questioned him. Maybe a little pointedly, but hey, he was allowed to feel a little sour over Eddie walking in on his and Robin's nonsense. That stuff's supposed to be private.

“Didn’t really feel like hitching a ride across town for a quiet hotel room packed with Wayne's and I's stuff while he finishes the rest of his shift.” Eddie excused,” Plus I’d miss out on whatever the hell all this is. So I’ll ask again; what did I just walk in on?”

“Steve’s just really sad that he’s not pretty enough for me.” Robin mused teasingly. Figuring that context was innocuous enough for the present company.

“Oh, man. Tough break, Princess Harrington. My condolences.” Eddie said, putting one hand over his heart and the other on Steve's shoulder like he actually meant to console the man's wounded pride.

Steve swatted away the gesture immediately. And then he decided something new about Eddie being a member of the party.

”You two are insufferable!” he said with a pair of aggressive finger-pointing,” I don't like this duo! I don't need the two of you ganging up on me! It's unfair!”

“Wait till we get Dustin in on the action too. Three on Steve seems like fine odds.” Eddie added just to see the way it made Steve twist up his face. He even started getting a little red!

Through it all, Eddie and Robin found some kind of understanding between the two of them. An understanding of how fun it was to push all of Steve's buttons. And somehow, they still secured invites to his place for dinner. Maybe it was their wicked pair of sad eyes, maybe it was more of that “feeling way too bad for everyone” gene he's got, but Steve let them both pile into his car while he made his way home.

Eddie met their European guests, shook more hands, and made more small talk. And by the end of the meal, Steve would say he narrowly survived the onslaught of teasing. Steve ran Robin back to her place and stayed parked right outside until she buzzed him on the walkie and said she wasn't having a panic attack in her room again and he needed to clear out before someone accused him of stalking. Eddie and Steve laughed, and as the driver wondered where he was sending Eddie off, he admitted he didn't know.

Still hadn't even called his uncle to find out which spot across town he was camped up in.

And somehow… that conversation ended with another invitation to Steve's house. That time, one to spend the night. Eddie was eager to accept. A bustling house of kids and the most random assortment of adults sounded like the exact opposite of falling asleep to the sound of his heartbeat beeping on a machine next to him, and Max's a few feet away.

And thanks to an already stacked dance card - the Byers and Co. on the couch, Joyce and Hop sharing the master, Murray laid claim to the first guest room, the Antonovs in the other - there was really only one place with any spare room without tossing one the injured men to the floorboards.

And that was to partner up and share Steve's bed with him.

It started with Eddie trying to break the ice. Pointing out the grid pattern painted on Steve's walls and hung up on his curtains. Mentioning that it was nothing like how he imagined the King of Hawkins slept. It looked more like a cage than anything else.

Steve shrugged, agreed with the sentiment, and tried to focus on grabbing his own pajama options and getting the night over with. As awkward as it was shaping up to be. But drawing attention to his closet, drew attention to the desk and chair right in front of it. And the denim vest hanging on the back of that chair, which rightfully belonged to Steve's most recent guest.

“There it is!”

Steve turned around and followed Eddie's eyes to the battle vest he'd accidentally borrowed for too long.

“Oh, right! Sorry.” he picked it up from its perch. “Didn't mean to steal it. Just forgot it was there a little.”

“Wow. I let you dress yourself in my battle vest - watching out for your delicate purity so that it might not be besmirched - and you forget about such a deep moment we shared?” Eddie lamented the tragedy. Wondering to himself if it would be too much to try and force a tear.

“I didn't mean I forgot about it like that. Just- I was trying to figure out what to do with it, and I forgot to give it back.” Steve quickly handed it over,” Here.”

Eddie barely looked at the item before he asked,“ What to do with it? That sounds a little spooky. Did you have some kind of black magic spell in mind that you needed it for? You're not gonna steal a lock of my hair after I fall asleep, right?”

“No. Absolutely not. I, just, I was wearing it while I was all gross and sweaty and bleeding, so I figured the same rules as borrowing gym clothes applied, and I should wash it before I gave it back.” Steve tried to explain,” But you have so much stuff on it I didn't want to get ruined, and I wasn't sure how to go about it, and everything has been so insane all the time-”

“I get it. Worry not, Stevie.” Eddie tried to release him from whatever pressure he put on the idea. “Plus you don't really wash a battle vest. It's kinda supposed to go through hell and come out the other side with some authentic grime.”

“But another guy's blood and sweat? That's pretty extreme.” Steve commented. But his face said he leaned more towards 'nasty' than just 'hardcore.'

“You don't understand the culture. That's okay.”

“Alright. Well, then I guess my dilemma turned out for the best.” Steve ducked back into his closet.

Eddie more carefully examined his vest for all the wear and tear it saw. None of the patches or pins looked like they were in danger, but there were some new loose threads he could think about playing with. As he looked it over, he commented with a chuckle,“ Yeah, if you wanna uselessly panic about other stuff and wind up saving the day through inaction, there's the Vecna guy I don't know if you've heard about. I think those magic powers could really speed things along and get us all to summer break in one piece.”

Steve quickly turned out of the hanging garments and urged Eddie,“ Don't let Murray hear you strategize, or he'll barge in and spend an hour actually trying to make a plan out of it.”

He said it so seriously Eddie couldn't even get a response ready while Steve slinked out of the room to go across the hall. To change into the jammies and take care of his nightly routine in the comfort and privacy of his own bathroom. And before Eddie knew it, he was left alone in Steve Harrington's room. Sitting crisscross on the edge of his bed, a pile of denim in his lap, and far too much awareness of how fresh their friendship really was.

The rest of the house had gotten pretty quiet. They'd all turned in for an earlier evening after a long afternoon of work at Hop's cabin and some folks still adjusting their internal clocks to Hawkins time. A big, big house, packed with people, and yet there wasn't much noise.

Steve came back to his room just after a few minutes. He tossed his clothes from the day in a dirty laundry hamper and sat on the other side of the bed. Pushing down the covers before he swung his legs up under them. Eddie followed suit. Standing up to put his vest back on the desk chair for the time being, and climbed into the bed next to his roomie for the night.

And then Eddie and Steve were left to each other. In Steve's bed. Laying still as statues to get some well-deserved rest.

And it was nerve-racking. All of Eddie Munson's nerves were racked. He couldn't help thinking about how the whole situation was so far off the map for him a few weeks ago. On the 22nd of March, Eddie Munson held a broken glass to his neck, and everything's been so strangely on the up and up since. Minus the whole almost-dying part. They'd been forging a bond, a weird one, given such a distinctly separate history. But there they were. Having a sleepover in the famed King's bedroom.

And it wasn't any easier for Steve to deal with. It shouldn’t have been a big deal. It shouldn’t do or mean anything to him. Steve's done this sort of thing with Robin tons of times. Falling asleep next to someone you’re not attracted to should be easy and simple. But it wasn't.

Like, with Robin, they were both allowed to stretch their limbs out in all directions and hug the night away before they tried to kick one another off the bed. But, with Eddie, they were both practically on the edges of the mattress with their backs to each other so they wouldn't accidentally touch or even look at one another. And Steve wasn’t falling asleep. Instead, he felt like he couldn’t move without bothering Eddie.

What if his stitches were still super sore? What if he was lying about the vest and was actually bothered about the condition it was in? What if he was mad about his mom's ring?

And all of a sudden, Eddie started talking.

“You didn’t, by the way.”

Which didn't exactly make any sense as the first thing either of them had said in almost thirty minutes.

“What?”

“Stomp on me.” he clarified.

And it didn't immediately click. But after a second, Steve remembered what he said while Eddie was still in the coma. The part about “I was a bully,” and “I hope I didn't bully you,” but “I wouldn't really remember,” and “Tommy called it stomping on the ants” like that excused any of it. So that was the stomping Eddie was thinking about.

“Oh… so you…“

“Heard that bit?” Eddie finished for him. “Yeah. When our girlie woke me up in my head, some stuff outside started coming through. When there were a lot of you in the room, I couldn’t really follow any of it or understand what you were saying. But you stopped by on your own. Said that bit. It was easy to hear then.”

“Sorry. I honestly didn’t think you’d catch any of it.” Steve tucked his hands in closer to his face. More thankful than anything else that they couldn't see one another for this conversation.

And yet, Eddie joked,“ You planned to waste such a moving monologue on deaf ears? For shame, Harrington, for shame.”

“I just-” he tried again,” I’m sorry-“

But the other wouldn't hear it. “I just said you didn’t do it. Alright? Nothing to waste ‘sorry’ on.”

“But I must have, at some point.” Steve reasoned.

Unsure why his idea was to argue that, no, no, Eddie, actually he did mistreat you, you must be mistaken, think harder. But Eddie didn't waver. His voice was sure and even. And he simply affirmed the fact.

“You didn’t.”

“But-“

“I’ll admit, I convinced myself once or twice that you orchestrated all of it. Sent out your legions of jocks and goons to carry out your dastardly demands for you while keeping your hands clean. But, I know now that I was wrong about that idea.”

And with a pang of guilt that gnawed at his ribs, Steve spoke quietly,“ But I know I’ve said it.”

Freak. He called him The Freak. He knew he did. Hell, he said it just weeks ago when Dustin invited him to the game. He knew that.

But Eddie didn't dwell on it. Didn't deem it the important part.

“Not to me. Not once did you shove my face in it.”

“I’m still sorr-“ but Steve felt a smack on his shoulder. Carefully, he looked over to see that Eddie was laying face up, no longer with his back to Steve. The wall of air between them was gone, in one way or another. So Steve shifted over, joining him in laying back until he was looking up at his ceiling too.

“And do you always do that?” Eddie asked as he tried to get comfortable.

“Do what? Apologiz-”

“Talk through movies?” Eddie interrupted, steering the conversation way out into the left field,” I mean, I was unconscious, but I still heard your whole commentary on Grease. Very strong opinions you have on that one.”

“Okay, Sandy did nothing wrong and shouldn't have had to 'compromise' with Danny at the end just because he lied about their relationship to his guys for points. Had her story been about actually wanting to be less of a goody-two-shoes for her own reasons-”

Eddie stopped him before he really got going,“ That is what I'm talking about. Seriously, dude? And you had something specific to say every minute of it. Was practically watching it with you even with my eyes closed because you'd remind me what beat we were on without fail.”

He bumped into Steve's shoulder with his own. Small laughs bubbled up. And the whole situation didn't feel so awkward and stilted anymore.

“Yeah, I guess.” Steve agreed with a smile,” Rob and I are usually pretty chatty when we watch ‘em together. I think I picked it up from her.”

“Oh, yeah, you’re a real Chatty Cathy, Steve Harrington.”

“That such a bad thing?”

Eddie paused to think on it. But quickly decided otherwise. “Nah. I wouldn’t say so. Felt way less lonely with someone talking.”

Steve felt some pride settle back into himself,“ Then you’re welcome.”

“Oh, great,” he groaned,” Now I went and gave you a big head about it.”

“I think most people would tell you I already had one.” Steve pointed out.

“A big, stupid head.” Eddie took a finger and poked Steve right on the side of his forehead. But before Steve could really say anything else, he tugged the blanket up and rolled over in the bed. His back was up again, but it didn't feel so insurmountable. It was comfortable.

“Go to sleep,” he commanded. As if he wasn't the one that started their discussion in the first place.

Steve rolled onto his own side,” You go to sleep.”

A comeback fit for a first grader. My, how the mighty have fallen. But sometimes falling could be a good thing. Brings a person back down to Earth. Reminds them of all the other people that didn't climb too tall on their high horse.

And that kind of falling, the kind that Steve Harrington did, didn't make him shatter into broken pieces on the ground.

Some parts of a person need to break. Explicitly so they can put themselves back together. And maybe the breaks were always going to be there. But maybe he'd be the better for it. Maybe they all would.

#Totally didn't forget to post this for a while what are you talking about I've never- #Yeah #I did. Sorry Tumblr I need to get back into the habit of checking in on y'all over here. Working on it. #Anyway #I hope this chapter was everything a person could hope for a more? #I really wanted to develop the trauma they're all kind of going through - Robin has some PTSD - Eddie has some survivors guilt - etc #And more importantly than just the pain they are going through is the reality that none of them are alone #Even if they feel alone for a little while. Someone always shows up. And they don't have to sit in it by themselves anymore. #Also some Karen Wheeler X Dmitri Antanov because when I'm not making her sapphic that's my fave guy for her <3 #And I really really really love the scene in season 3 where Karen tells Nancy not to give up on what she wants from this life #And you can kind of see there's a little bit of longing as she says it to her. Pushing away maybe a little bit of regret what she didn't? #And I never see that stuff addressed - so I'm doing it #These characters are so complex goddamn #Also the lil D&D bit was heavily inspired by Drawfee's Drawtectives on YouTube and everyone should watch it #I dm-ed a similar session and it's so fun highly highly highly recommend #And I finally threw two character into an 'and there was only one bed' situation #After all my years of writing fanfiction I'm finally hitting first base #I have a lot of reasons on why I wrote that Steve didn't really bully Eddie in HS - I might make a whole discussion post about it #I know it's a pretty divisive headcanon - but after all the times I've poured over this show - this feels like the most accurate answer #Steve Harrington #Eddie Munson #Steddie #Steveddie #Steve x Eddie #Nancy Wheeler #Robin Buckney #Ronance #Robin x Nancy #The Fruity Four #Stranger Things

[revengeismygender]

Thinking about how Nancy Wheeler deserves women. And I mean that in all ways. I’m literally always thinking about that scene in season one where she’s trying to tell the two useless deputies that Barb is missing and they just slut shame her instead and how that is basically her fucking joker moment.

Her only female friend in seasons 1-3 is Barb, who dies after literally two episodes. So she goes to Steve for help, and he blows her off. She goes to the male cops, who blow her off. The only person who actually attempts to do anything helpful is her mother, before she eventually teams up with Jonathan.

And okay, that’s great, but then in season three we’ve got her out here trying to figure out wtf is going with the rats and her stupid male boss and colleagues ignore her and even Jonathan blows her off (I know he has his own valid points but still). Once again, the only person to help her and tell her to fucking go for it is her mom (in this house we stan Karen Wheeler).

And now in season 4 even Jonathan is gone and she’s out here trying to figure out wtf is going on and she comes up with a Victor Creel theory and once again no one really believes her except another woman, this time Robin. And finally we are blessed with Nancy having a supporter, a female friend, someone who believes her and sees her brilliance. And she puts her in charge and backs her up at every moments And then we get Max staring at Nancy with adoration as she saws off a shotgun. And we get Robin staring at her in awe as she blasts Vecna to hell.

AND NANCY DESERVES MORE WOMEN IN HER LIFE DAMMIT!!!! She deserves sleepovers with El and Max where she teaches them to shoot a gun and spa days with her mom where she can finally fucking relax for ten minutes and she deserves to get drunk with Joyce and talk shit about how both of them are literally always right and no one ever believes them and she deserves to be in love with Robin and be supported and be a kickass investigative team and literally destroy the government ITS WHAT SHE DESERVES YOUR HONOR

#Nancy wheeler #ronance #Robin Buckley #Joyce byers #max mayfield #el hopper #Karen wheeler #stranger things

[jjtheresidentbaby]

I’m not trying to be that person, and I totally understand if your not comfortable with this question but….Stancy or Jancy?

Oh anon the way I could talk about this for a million years

But, in simple terms, I prefer Stancy

(more explanation under the cut)

I respect both ships and would just like to say my own personal opinions so if you can’t respect that please leave

Okay so I loved Jancy in season 1&2 but 3&4 has sufficiently made me dislike them.

We’ll start at 3 since that comes first, it feels so different to how Nancy and Johnathans relationship was in season 2, it’s so dull, uneventful (romance wise) and it seems like they don’t understand each other anymore. Nancy’s so headstrong while Johnathan just goes along with it, then gets kind of upset for his own choice about going along with it. And while I know Johnathan has never been the outspoken type, it just gave me an ick to them being together.

Season 4 really cemented how much I don’t like Nancy and Johnathan together, them both being so distant, Johnathan lying, Nancy kind of doing the same by saying things are fine. The whole college thing, Nancy admitting multiple times that Johnathan hasn’t been there, Johnathan basically telling Argyle that he’s going to/needs to break up with Nancy— they’re bones at this point. I can’t see them working through the issues at hand or trying to fix it, they need to breakup and be done.

Okay on to Stancy, oh how I love them so much. They’re both some of my favorite characters so call me biased but I don’t care.

Obviously season 1&2 was spent building up Jancy, which is fine, I like watching it, but the bits and pieces we get of Stancy throughout them is like gold to me.

God that scene where Steve’s like ‘I’m not a good boyfriend but I am a good babysitter’ it just kills me every fucking time. Because yes their relationship was hella bad in season 1 but I think a lot of that lays with the fact that Barb died during their relationship, hell Nancy was in the middle of being with Steve while Barb died, she has to feel extremely guilty over it.

Then watching Steve grow throughout the seasons, him fighting the demadog with Johnathan and Nancy, helping the kids, working with Robin, the whole Russian thing, helping the kids even more and then, finally, him and Nancy being partners up again. It is absolute heaven.

I see a lot of Jancy people criticizing the scene where Steve tells Nancy he wants six kids and to go traveling but I feel like they’re taking it out of context. Nancy was happy with the idea, she smiled and said it was nice aside from the six kids but which was obviously a joke. Steve isn’t demanding or asking Nancy to be in a ‘nuclear family’ like Ted and Karen, he was just sharing his dream, and again she liked it.

Then Steve stopping Nancy in the upside down to say that she was in the dream, I fucking screeched because holy fuck do I love them! Nancy and Steve have both grown as people, both been through some heavy shit and the idea of them being together again with a better understanding of themselves sounds so good.

People say Steve had his chance or whatever, I disagree, Steve’s a different person, he’s changed for the better, he said it himself and I think him and Nancy could totally work out. They’d be adorable, it’d be a full circle moment that I live for.

So in conclusion, Stancy better happen in 5 and Johnathan should just date Argyle.

#stancy #jancy #nancy wheeler #steve harrington #johnathan byers #my sweet anons <3 #jj asks

[thestobingirlie]

Ok, so Nancy's lack of emotional intelligence. The really obvious ones are seasons 2 and 3.

Season 1, there are just little things, and a lot of it can be written off as her being a teenager. Like her being pissed off about not being allowed out because Will is missing. Karen is obviously worried that if they go out alone after dark something will happen to Mike or Nancy, and likely thinking about how Will went missing on his way home from their house. Mike is a bit of a mess, because his best friend is missing. But Nancy is unhappy because she can't sneak out to see her boyfriend (But as I said, she's 15 with what could be her first boyfriend, so it's more of an age thing.) Another minor thing is her reaction to Steve's worry about his parents (his reaction is something that is very open to interpretation, it could just be a teenager not wanting to get in trouble for underage drinking, or it could be something darker), but again it can be written off as a teenager who has never had to think about why some kids could be scared of their parents.

And her showing up at the funeral home where Jonathan is looking at coffins because he thinks he has to bury his little brother to talk to him about Barb? Just felt a little tone-deaf to me.

I think a slightly bigger thing in season 1 is how she doesn't seem to understand why Steve's upset in the alley when he'd seen her in her room with Jonathan, despite the fact it is heavily implied by Steve and Tommy that Steve's dad is unfaithful to the point his mom follows him on business trips "My moms gone with him cause she doesn't trust him." "Good call." and she was a part of this conversation, she heard it.

Then there's the time skip scene at the end of season 1, when she's back together with Steve. She'd already been shown to have feelings for Jonathan, but as we're told in season 2, she only waited a month for him to be ready for a relationship before going back to Steve. This was unfair to both of the boys, because she wasn't truly invested in a relationship with Steve, and was really stringing him along until Jonathan was ready, and because she expected Jonathan to be ready for a relationship within a month of his brother going missing, being pronounced dead, having a funeral, then being found alive but in a poor condition. Obviously, he'd want time with his family.

In season 2, we've got the part where she thinks she sees Barb and is ready to put a lot of people in danger to tell the Hollands what happened (Not just her and her family, but Steve and his family, the Byers, Hopper, Lucas and Dustin. Anyone who knew what happened could be put at risk if one told.)

The start of the party, when she's acting like Steve's in the wrong for them going to the party, and she decides to get very drunk. Like, she was shown to be excited for the party, to the point she talked Jonathan into going to the party when he'd made it very clear that he wasn't interested.

The whole bathroom scene doesn't really need going into. When she says "like we're in love" ties into the stringing Steve along when she's not interested in him, she's interested in the attention.

When she and Steve argue outside the school gym, she's putting her own inconvenience over Steve's hurt. She brushes off everything he says about what had happened the night before, and acts like he is the one in the wrong for feeling hurt.

She disregards the hurt the Byers have been through in comparison to losing Barb. "It's different for you, Will came home." As if the weight or trauma Jonathan is carrying is lessened by the fact that Will is alive.

The night she and Jonathan are in the motel. She gets huffy when Jonathan points out that she only waited for a month before going back to Steve. This, to me, feels like she clings to relationships rather than processing her own trauma.

Season 3, the big one is after she got herself and Jonathan got fired. She completely disregards the fact that he needed the job to pay bills in favour of 'but I didn't get to do what I wanted.' The whole Oliver Twist routine comment (which was so classist) seems to imply his financial instability isn't a big deal in comparison to how she feels she was wronged. And then, later, she gets smug when Jonathan told her she was right "I look forward to you never doubting me again." and doesn't apologise for hurting him and targeting his insecurities.

Season 4, as I said before, only watched it once, but I can think of a few instances.

Her relationship with Jonathan. Yes, both of them are at fault for the lack of communication, but we're just talking about Nancy. She seems to blame their position in their relationship on Jonathan, but doesn't seem to make an effort to be the one to reach out to work through the issues. Like, she's the one in the relationship with a financially stable family, she could have easily gone with Mike to visit the Byers in California. And expecting him to follow her to Emerson. That's her dream, not his. His dream school, at least until s1, was NYU. And she knows how protective of Will he'd been, so it seems pretty obvious he'd be hesitant about going to a school on the opposite coast to where his family are, he wouldn't want to be 3000 miles away in case something went wrong.

How she treats Robin until Robin makes it 100% clear that her and Steve are not a thing. Like, you have a boyfriend, why are you worried about who your ex-boyfriend (That you cheated on with your current boyfriend) is dating or friends with?

How she does seem to be sending mixed signals over what she wants with Steve, and with the end scene between her and Jonathan it really implied that she has feelings for Steve again. Which takes us back to the leading her partner on when she's not interested/ losing interest.

(I know some of the relationship stuff in s4 was lazy writing pushing for the love triangle story again.)

This feels a bit disjointed compared to when I wrote about her lack of common sense, but yeah. I feel Nancy isn't this brilliant, every type of intelligence person a lot of people make her out to be.

Oh, and adding to the emotional intelligence thing (same anon). Nancy just seems to not care about how her words impact others. She always has to be right and is quick to point out other peoples perceived lack of intelligence (Steve), or lash out if her position as the smartest person is challenged (Robin, Jonathan, and to an extent Fred.) And she puts people in danger just for her constant need to be right.

i think a lot of nancy’s emotional insensitivity does just come from her not being able to understand other peoples situation. however, she also seems to refuse to understand. like you said, a lot of her actions in s1 are understandable, because she’s a young teen with very limited life experience. as seasons have past she’s gained more knowledge, but refuses to use this knowledge to treat people with more sensitivity, and seems content to remain in her own understanding of the world.

but yeah, super funny to me that she just approached jonathan, in the middle of his appointment, to ask him to look at a photo he took while hiding in steve’s back garden. she couldn’t even have waited till he was done picking out a child sized coffin?? lmao

i can excuse her not understand steve’s complex relationship with cheating, because she has just been called a slut lol. so a girl that’s already not very empathetic isn’t gonna feel like trying to see the situation from steve’s pov.

the whole relationship situation is so messy at the end of s1. her dating steve is very much so influenced by her trauma, but again, she’s getting in a relationship with steve, while clearly either not ready for one, or in love with someone else, without considering steve. the actual person she’s dating.

s2 is the point where we see that nancy’s trauma and lack of emotional intelligence stops her from understanding steve’s position, to the point that she lashes out. at the halloween party, nancy gets drunk to spite steve. and obviously she can’t control what she says when insanely drunk, but she can control her reaction to those words. which is to basically laugh in his face. she doesn’t take his feelings seriously in that scene, and it isn’t until she’s with jonathan later that she even shows emotions.

i think with misunderstanding jonathan’s trauma that also comes from the duffers minimising trauma that isn’t about someone dying. but yeah, it is, again, nancy not being able to understand the way other people feel, and feeling a bit… maybe bitter that jonathan got his brother back, but she didn’t get barb.

oh and nancy 100% uses romantic relationships to avoid ever working through her trauma. if she’s never alone, and she always has someone to be with, then she doesn’t really have to process barb’s loss.

interestingly, even while barb was alive, there was a shift in priorities when dating steve. which is common when teenagers get their first boyfriends! so it’s kind of like, as long as nancy has a boyfriend, she can spend all her time with them, and it’s normal! instead of her acknowledging that she’s alone because she’s lost her best friend.

oh god, i hate the s3 fight. yeah, both of them don’t recognise each others issues in the workplace, but jonathan admits he was wrong, and nancy never does. nancy definitely struggles to admit when she’s wrong, which is probably part of the whole emotional immaturity thing, and is one the biggest things that’s holding back her development.

nancy can’t let herself admit when she’s wrong, with relationships or breaking someone’s heart, or investigating a murder. which i think is another trauma thing, better to make a decision and move on, because if she looks back and regrets, her life kinda starts to fall apart.

i think her relationship in s4 is partly her refusal to regret things, so she can’t acknowledge when her relationship has major issues, and also it comes down to her kind of… self-involved sounds a bit mean? but it’s like, her dream is to go to emerson, so her plan is to go to emerson with jonathan, regardless of his dream college. she has a plan, and she wants to go through with it regardless of jonathan’s wants. (jonathan definitely made mistakes in s4 too!!! but this is about nancy’s role)

robin and nancy are rough in early s4. nancy is seemingly jealous, and takes this out on robin. it definitely doesn’t scream emotional maturity.

i think nancy’s trauma has definitely emotionally stunted her. and i would say she prioritises scholarly intellect over emotional intelligence, which is why she’s pretty smart and savvy and everything, but seems to struggle when it comes to empathy and connecting to people emotionally. like you said, she puts her need to be correct before keeping people safe, or treating them with kindness.

in my opinion, nancy’s emotional issues are the main things holding back her development, and though i hope that the duffers do dive into it in s5, i cannot see that happening.

#nancy wheeler critical #stranger things #asks #anon

[ur-a-banditlikeme]

thinking about karen wheelers development and how that will very much possibly effect mike if he ever has a coming out scene to her. because let’s be honest, if mike is gonna come out to anyone in his family, it’s gonna be his mom. ted would probably be the homophobic one, or seemingly not really care for mike if he finds out about him, but in my opinion, all of karens development over the course of the show has been leading up to a big moment between her and mike.

i mean at this point her character has been all about rejecting normalcy or conformity. in season one she’s the average suburban mom in an unhappy marrige who just goes along with what her husband believes in. nancy simply says that her parents aren’t in love anymore but doesn’t go deeper than that. she has many moments with her kids that season that show that she’s trying desperately to get through to them, but not really being able to understand them or their struggles.

in season 2 we see cracks in the wheeler home (more than we’ve seen already) when we see karen openly frustrated with ted, and overall, the two don’t really acknowledge eachother. she’s now reading raunchy romance novels in the bath, showing the audience that she’s clearly not fulfilled in her marrige. she starts to have her own storyline by the end if s2 when billy shows up at her door and the two flirt a little.

then season 3 shows us a more independent karen than ever. she’s showing up to billy’s work, openly flirting with him, dressing up for him, etc. but at the end of the day, she chooses her family over her own satisfaction, showing that even though she might not be in the happiest marriage, she would never hurt her family by making an irreversible mistake. she also has a really great talk with nancy where she tells her to not stop standing up for herself to the sexist world around her, basically saying that she wished she could’ve done the same. this is the most progressive we’ve seen karen in the whole show, and that scene is the perfect display of her development as of now.

we don’t see much of her in season 4 but in that season she seems a lot more content at just being herself, dressing the way she likes, and loving her family, even if she’s not in the happiest marrige and may not agree with her husband’s values. i feel that this development has been done on purpose to show that if there’s a moment where mike were to come out to his family, she would love him no matter what, since her whole storyline has been about slowly breaking out of the conservative bubble that she was in at the beginning. now i believe she has been through enough development to be able to finally see and understand her kids more.

#stranger things #byler #stranger things 4 #mike wheeler #karen wheeler #mike wheeler i know what you are #and so does ur mom #i can see a tearful coming out between mike and karen and i think that would be so beautiful

[wheelercore]

Wheeler Family s3 Color Symbolism

What the hell was going on with the Wheeler family color symbolism in season 3- once you see it you cant unsee it and its driving me insane lol. So I'm making this post. It was clearly showing that mike is having tween relationship problems and how those problems can manifest into Serious Big Adult Problems when applied to his parent’s relationship because their individual influence on him.

Anyways- lets start with Karen.

She spends most of the season in outfits that are either yellow or have yellow accents. However, interestingly enough, when she’s about to cheat on Ted with Billy, she's completely in red- with blue accents (her earrings and her belt).

This is one of the few times, if not the only time this season we see Karen wear red in such a way. I don't really think its meant to symbolize love, per se. Karen doesn't love Billy. She lusts for him, sure, but she doesn't hold any emotional attachment to him. Personally what it means to me is freedom. Karen is trying to regain what autonomy she lost growing up as a young woman in the 50s-60s and how she settled for Ted because of how the world "beat her down" as she tells Nancy later on. Now, as I'll get to later, this meaning doesn't exclude love. To others *cough cough* mike *cough cough* it could mean the freedom to love.

Her blue accents, however, tells the story of what's holding her back from her freedom- Ted. He's in a lot of blue this season, and I'm not surprised to see that its a color that lingers on Karen in this scene. Because Karen doesn't love Ted romantically, but what is holding her back from her freedom is the security that he provides. Not only is he the breadwinner, Karen cheating on Ted would tear their family apart- leaving emotional scares on Holly in particular with her being so young (and part of why Karen stays).

But its not only Karen with the colors of their significant other on them in this scene-

Teds socks. Blue (Ted), yellow (Karen), and green, which is the two colors mixed. A reminder to Karen of their marriage.

Its hard to say that this means anything for Ted himself since we never get any insight into his inner thoughts. Ted's POV simply Doesn't Exist (which is VERY similar to how Mike's POV has been sorely lacking in s4).

But lets get back to Karen.

As mentioned before, for the rest of the season Karen is in a lot of yellow, particularly this scene the day (?) after she chooses not to cheat on Ted:

Her swimsuit- that she previously flirted with Billy in- is being worn over by a yellow dress (with red flowers). Imo, the yellow is meant to symbolize holding oneself back and lies/dishonesty/secret desires. Not to rag on Karen or Mike, just an objective observation. Karen is no longer free in her red.

This scene is great because it really is in your face about how Mike and Karen are in similar situations relationship-wise.

Mike lies to El about why he can't spend time with her anymore. Karen, despite not it being shown explicitly (I think lol I only skimmed s3 a second time), probably lied to Ted about where she was going that night and who she was going with. Both Mike and Karen are shown to lie to and betray those that they are in a relationship with.

While Mike's lie is comic relief and basic teen boy shenanigans, what we are being shown is the beginning of a relationship not built on trust, honesty, and love- and how it manifests in an adult marriage.

The end scene when Karen hugs Mike is important

Karen and Mike are in the same situation- realizing that they don't love their significant other but decided to stay with them regardless because that's what's expected of them. Neither of them are aware of what the other is going through but still Mike goes to his mother for comfort and Karen gives it. Also notice how Karen is wearing three colors in the end: a lot of red, some yellow, and some blue. Karen still yearns to be free, but is still lying to herself by staying with Ted.

Its critical that Karen was in both of these scenes in the beginning and the end. These are the two scenes that parallel her own situation these most.

Anyways some more of yellow Karen before I move on lol:

(I believe in the second image Karen also has a tiny sliver of red on her shirt).

Now lets get onto Ted

This section is going to have some assumptions in it because honestly was goes on in Ted Wheeler's mind is an enigma to me. So I hesitate to say anything definitive. Lets jump to comparing him and Mike:

Mike wears a blue outfit incredibly similar to what Ted wears to the fair. The most standout scene I came across from when Mike was wearing this outfit as it relates to his relationship/sexuality woes was the men's sauna scene, the iconic Mike-has-a-gay-panic scene.

The most interesting thing about the way the sauna scene is shot is that you see Mike never look at the men in the locker room leading up to the full frontal assault when he opens the door. Its almost as is he's deliberately, yet casually, looking away until its shoved into his face. Oh, and the men lifting the weights- *looks at s4 wrestler scene* why is that constantly following Mike around xD?

And also, a casual sidenote, look at Will wearing red stripes? As he repeatedly for the rest of the season, including here:

Something something Will in red representing Mikes yearning for his freedom to love him without societal consequence something.

Now going back to Ted and Mike's outfit- remember the 'see what happens?' line from s1? How Mike looked ashamed after staring when he opened the door at the spa? In my opinion blue (this shade in particular) is shame, repression, and conformity.

This makes sense for both characters, Mike may be gay and suffering from internalized shame and a need to be ''''normal''''. He's avoiding his thoughts and why he doesn't like girls. He's repressing himself to conform.

Meanwhile, everything about Ted screams conformity. He's a middle class white republican dude in a small town in Indiana. He (at least outwardly) doesn't question authority. He does what he's expected to do societally (be the breadwinner) while doing nothing more than that (emotionally neglecting his children in the process).

But also its important to remember that historical trends matter a lot in ST and Ted is a member of the Silent Generation.

... which is kind of against the whole theme of ST.

What we see here is Ted's influence on Mike. The "see what happens" line is particularly interesting, because while extremely homophobic and victim-blamey - its the perfect way in which Ted would be homophobic. Not yelling slurs or being obnoxious about it, but by being cautionary. See what happens when you stick out? When you make yourself seen outside the already socially acceptable structures? People will hurt you and you will be asking for it because you could have just chosen to keep your head down and not rock the boat.

(And you also see it in the way Ted belittles Mike repeatedly, indirectly and directly. "Mike with a girl?" and calling Mike's D&D club a high school drop outs club. He is one of the active people in Mike's life who causes Mike to to feel shame for the things he enjoys/ loves. But I don't think its a case of Ted being deliberately cruel, I think its a case of a parent perpetuating the same abuse onto their child that was perpetuated onto them, because they never unlearned it. Ted does this a lot- think of when he suggests in s4 that the sheriff threaten Dustin, Lucas, and Max with jail time to loosen their lips. In Ted's mind, it was perfectly acceptable to threaten to throw a child for night in jail if they are disobedient. However, us the watchers and even everyone else in the room in the 80s reacted with revulsion at the thought of doing that. Ted seemed shocked by this, probably because it was such a normalized thing to do when he was growing up, corporal punishment in the 50s and all that).

It makes me wonder if Ted has personal experience with such things, because if one thing was established between Karen and Nancy in S3 it's that Ted isn't brave or risk-taking and it defines so much of how he presents himself. And how much of that fear of sticking out he has passed down to Mike through his upbringing (which we see him rebelling against in s4).

Also I personally believe, just as much as how Karen was pressured into marrying Ted, Ted was also pressured into finding a wife and starting a family as he got older, hence their marriage being one of convenience rather than love ("I don't think my parents ever loved each other").

Mikes justification to Will for dating El is that he needs to grow up and get a girlfriend already. Sound similar? I wonder who he picked that up from.

It's about how conformity put both of them in a loveless relationship where they are completely emotionally checked out. It's the cycle of being completely miserable in life that Ted pressures Mike into, that he himself was pressured into.

I don't want to discuss s4 in this post all that much (because I don't have screenshots lol), but it's also very telling how they completely double down on Mike-Ted parallels in s4 when it comes to Mike and El's relationship. And it really isn't just clothes/ color symbolism and the dinner scene- the lack of Mike's POV is also a parallel to Ted hardly having a POV throughout the whole show.

Also, interestingly enough, Ted does wear some red to the fair- his pants has red stripes. It's much less noticeable, but it's there. Could possibly be tied to Ted putting aside his discomfort for once and getting on the rides to make his daughter and wife happy. Or perhaps there is a small part of him that desires to break out of this conformist system.

Finally, we get to Mike.

Towards the end of the season, before two month the time skip, Mike puts on a third outfit:

And this one is a combination of the last two. The yellow stripes (Karen; holding ones self back/dishonesty) and the light blue (Ted; repression/conformity) . It's in this same outfit he attempts to tell El that he loves her- but can't get it out completely. He tried to do it however because he thinks it's what he's supposed to do (blue) but it would be a lie/dishonest (yellow).

Also to mention again, Will is wearing red accents all throughout this part of the season also.

He's real object of Mikes desires, whom, if Mike was free to love whomever he wanted, he would choose.

All in all, s3 had such a large focus on Mike's inner turmoil as it relates to him recreating his parents relationship in his own with El. He lies to El, directly paralleled to how Karen is dishonest with Ted as a result of their empty marriage that is not built on trust and love. El breaks up with Mike (comically) as a result of learning about his lie. But on a more adult scale, this would have probably also happened with Karen and Ted if he had learned of the attempted cheating. There is no active resolution to Mike and El's woes as there is no active resolution to Karen and Ted's problems either. A m*leven break up in s5 my opinion, is closely tied to the probability of a Ted/Karen divorce, which is very likely.

Mike actively represses himself and seeks to conform, caused by Ted who puts pressure onto him to do so most likely because that's what was perpetuated onto Ted as he was growing up. How Ted ended up in a half assed marriage and family that he's checked out of, and how that would be Mike's future if he doesn't change course- and knowing s4 and the cultural (more liberal) change in society in the 80s during which Mike is coming of age, it's the perfect backdrop for him to break out of that cycle in s5. And because of that I'm very interested in seeing Mike come out to Ted in particular.

#stranger things #mike wheeler #ted wheeler #karen wheeler #byler #(slightly) #as you can tell im very interested in mike and teds relationship bc its fascinating to me. i love the cycle of conformity angle to it. #kinda insane about them tbh

[brownsugarh]

!!stranger things 4 vol 2 spoilers!!

ngl i loved all of volume 1 and i just feel disappointed with volume 2. a lot of it felt like cheap writing.

eddies death was predictable within the first half of the second last episode and the track record of killing off loveable, one season characters wasn’t working in his favour. his actual death scene was well done, but afterwards no one but Dustin seemed to care even tho it seemed like Eddie had cemented himself within the group and found an unlikely group of friends in Steve, Robin and Nancy. but no one seemed to mention it and his body was left in the upside down?? also mike was never told even tho he was in hellfire as well as dustin???? and steve robin n nancy didn’t even react like it was just cut out!! like he was part of their group for so long and died for them and got no recognition. I just wish they would have killed off a main character instead of giving them lousy plot armour. as much as I love Steve and Nancy i feel like it would’ve been more impactful if one of them had died.

don’t get me started on will byers. honey what did they do to you. they had a perfect set up to let will tell Mike how he really feels and also to tell Jonathan in the pizza shop!!! I literally don’t get why there wasn’t a coming out scene. especially between will and jonathan. would it kill them to provide clarification in characters queer identities!!!

next. why did they make mikes character a giant douche if it wasn’t to show an internal struggle like queerness?? was all that angst over eleven even tho there was a heart to heart scene with will that made it feel like it was because of something else. if anything expanding his friendship with will should have been the priority not a cop out ‘I love you eleven’ scene whilst she’s near the brink of death. we’ve seen it before!!

also I wish they could just let Nancy and Steve exist as friends. why was Steve telling Nancy he wants kids with her when he already accepted she had moved on to Jonathan in season 3?? they literally were good friends at the end of the season and it seemed solid and healthy. there was no reason to bring it back up. If anything it felt forced and took away from the dynamic of the four (eddie, robin, steve & nancy)

as much as i love max literally how is she still alive. I know she’s in a coma but her heart literally stopped and since when could eleven bring ppl back from the dead?? again it felt like plot armour and the duffer brothers fear of killing off main cast. however I have to say seeing Lucas distraught over max’s death would have finished me off so there’s no winning with this one.

Finally why was Robin’s love interest hardly shown. i think Vickie should have gotten involved with the main group. I feel like she would have fit in and made a good addition and we would have a healthy queer relationship alongside all of these hetero ones and will Byers melancholy. it just seems like lazy writing to have her pop up now and again. also the way she mirrored robin like please stop making queer characters all one dimensional Netflix I beg.

Karen wheeler should have been a part of the upside down somehow. I don’t care the Alice creel theories were INSANE and it would’ve been such a clever move.

Overall I feel like headcanons and theories about vol2 outdid the actual show. it’s sad bc vol 1 was so good and so much was set up to happen in an incredible, clever way but they just did cheap cop outs :( only storyline I felt ended well was the Russian one even tho literally where was yuri. however I feel like a character should’ve died there or gotten SEVERELY injured (murray, yuri) bc that was probably the most dangerous one (besides the vecnas lair scene ((justice for max))) oh yeah and let eleven say f*ck!!

#stranger things #stranger things 4 #stranger things volume 2 #st4

[lovestuckyhatemarvel]

Season 1 finale time baby!!!!!

1.) six people have been taken in one week by the demogorgon

2.) Joyce knows Brenner is full of shit and her telling him to go to hell is so good

3.) hopper way too calm from being tased

4.) i forgot that the kids got left at the middle school

5.) hell yeah nail bat my beloved. Jonathan made you but you’re Steve’s

6.) I did forgot that Hopper initially gave up El to the agents

7.) Brenner super thought Will was doomed and it’s not the first or last time he’s been a moron

8.) I forgot how cute Sarah was 😭 but also Hop was so sweet and gentle with her

9.) Dustin has priorities and those priorities are chocolate pudding

10.) the inherent intimacy of bandaging each other’s wounds

11.) Steve!! Steve is so sorry and so worried and then a gun’s pulled on him

12.) Steve got thrown into the deep end of knowledge

13.) I forgot the demogorgon fucked off for a bit

14.) I truly think the duffer brothers forgot how soft and sweet they had Hop be with Sarah

15.) Steve ran until he saw the blinking lights and then he truly became Steve Harrington goddamnit

16.) teamwork makes the dream work but they should have let it burn a bit longer

17.) I know they had a partner deal and they wanted her to love eggos and know nothing but what did the feed el in the goddamn facility???

18.) I forgot Mike kisses el this episode

19.) El murder spree time and then collapse time

20.) I really hate Brenner. I’m really sad he doesn’t die this episode

21.) I forgot Dustin carried El away

22.) hopper spots Barb’s body but it’s also where Will is being held so I am pretty sure it’s not Steve’s pool. Still no indication of characters knowing where Barb died

23.) the wrist rocket is definitely an It reference

24.) this self-sacrifice moment would have been more impactful had the lights not been strobing to all hell

25.) I do appreciate that since they just show the CPR motions and not try to bullshit the chest moving. Hopper definitely saved Will’s life

26.) Winona Ryder is a national treasure

27.) I do have a new love of Karen Wheeler

28.) the audio balancing of this show is terrible.

29.) I forgot Steve waits with everyone in the waiting room for Will

30.) one month laterrrrr and it’s Christmas and Mike is dming again

31.) ok this dnd session is definitely criticizing season 1 right????

32.) ok Nancy gave Jonathan the camera and Steve asks if she gave it to him but it’s not actually clear if it’s from him???

33.) it’s ok little baby Byers, I feel like I’ve been sucked into hell when I have to hack something up too

Season 1 thoughts:

I still think this season is fun and has some really good performances. That being said, the CGI aged like milk, the pacing is kind of breakneck, the audio balancing is garbage (I would turn down the volume because of a monster scene only to have dialogue be barely audible in the next) and we already see a referential problem with the Duffer Brothers here.

And what I mean by that is that they know references to much better media both by copying the visuals or by having props or by having a character mention it, but frequently they don’t really seem to understand it. And even if they did, they happen so often that they’re rendered mostly meaningless anyway. It comes across less as directors who have something new to say about famous products and more of a cheap Ready Player One, ‘hey fellow nerds, do you remember the Millennium Falcon exists and you wanted to make that toy fly?’

#stranger things #stranger things rewatch #season 1 #s1e8

[drunkengodsofslaughter]

Top 5 Stranger Things episodes?

This is in no particular order with my preferences byw

1. Holly Jolly (season 1 episode 3) : this honestly is just an amazing and insane episode though. Like the cinematography of Joyce just trying to connect to Will with the lights. And then you have that cinematography with Holly and seeing the lights flicker in Will’s room while she doesn’t know what’s happening. Also the scene at the party where Steve and Nancy have sex juxtaposed with Barb dying. Then of course the actual boys and El with the moments that they have with one another. And then the iconic ending where the boys and El see the police/hopper drag Will’s body out of the lake. And they realize that their friend is dead (he isn’t but in that moment they see that sooo) which leads to the hugs with Joyce and Jonathan, and Mike and Karen. It’s just sooo good.

2. Dear Billy: this entire episode is just sooo good. Also I may be biased because I love the entire sequence at the end. Also this is where max tells the gang what is actually happening and going on. You have the backstory of Victor and his entire situation which just god the fucking performance in this scene is amazing. Then you have the shoot out scene at the Byers which was just done phenomenally and I fucking love that. Even the Russian part was done well and I especially loved it in this ep. Honestly I think I love this ep because the tension is done perfectly. This entire episode was just tension and tension for everyone no matter where they were. And honestly I just loved it!

3. The Spy: so I am also very biased in the fact that this is when Steve and Dustin’s bond forms. And I just love their bond because it’s sooo beautiful. And honestly there are so many layers that their bond goes through in this one episode and it’s a wonderful journey. And then of course you have the stuff in the lab that is just fucking incredible. It’s just fucking amazing and I love it so fucking much. Honestly I just love this ep and there’s so much to gush about and I don’t want to spend all the time to gush about lol

4. The Lost Sister: okay this one isn’t on everyone’s fav but honestly I fucking love this ep. Honestly it meant so much to el and her character’s development. This was the first time I believe that we got to know about other kids in the lab which honestly I loved. This was also where El got to interact with her mother and her aunt. Which that just always sent chills down my spine and the angst in those scenes. Because god it honestly just fucking hurt but I also loved it. I also loved the nuance in this episode a lot like it was just a perfect balance and I loved the nuance here. And I think the conflict that El went through this episode was way more important than a lot of other internal conflict that they had with El in this show.

5. The Battle of Starcourt: I just love the battle so much. And I think this one is the most bitter sweet for me and honestly I just loved it. Ngl I also just love them just throwing fireworks and dynamite which is just honestly I fucking love this. Honestly I just love the whole ep. It’s just sooo iconic.

This was harder than I thought lol and I honestly was gonna pick ‘the bite’ for season 3 but I only really remember loving that one scene where Robin comes out to Steve and that whole bathroom scene. So I didn’t put it on here lol.

#answered asks #thanks soo much for this!!!

[azaleadynasty]

why is that most m*leven shippers are trying to push the “m*leven is the most popular ship the duffers won’t get rid of it” and “mike is straight, he’s with el” and bla bla bla.

like i don’t know whether byler is fr gna happen, but you can’t ignore the blatant queercoding of both characters! also the idea that because mike is with el he’s straight(i personally think he’s gay) when it was very common for, in this context, gay men to have a so-called “beard” in an attempt to potray heterosexual.

another thing that rlly annoys me with most m*leven is that they don’t actually analysis the show and then go around claiming their ship is endgame without any other evidence besides “they’re popular” or “they’re relationship has been built up throught s1-3,” the latter even being wrong!

s1 - will goes missing, mike proposes that him & the party go out looking for them, they come across some random girl in the woods, who throughout s1 is mention as appearing “boy-ish” and similar to will. mike calls her a “weapon” to the party, and sees as a chance of finding will, so he is nice to her. when the idea of will being dead occurs, once his “body” was found, he immediately lashed out at her, however, as soon as el gave him back the hope that will was alive, he goes back to being nice to her! of course we have the m*leven kiss, but again we have the connotations of el being similar to a “boy” and “will”, she’s also not considered attractive to the rest of the party bar mike, and we know both karen & nancy wheeler thought mike was acting strange because will, also to point where we had karen basically tell mike that she supports no matter what (because she thinks he likes will!!) when will is saved and is in the hospital, mike is the only one in the party to stay awake to wait for will to wake, and when he does he is immediately up and running to give him a great hug! ( i may have missed something but oh well) basically it was always about will, not el!!

s2 - do i really need to explain? the whole season showed byler, probably my fav season so far (maybe s4 will change that 😏) and in comparison to s1 where mike was obsessed with finding will even after his body was found! when he had the suspicion that el was still alive, he ignored it and didn’t look for her. you can probably find more in depth (is that the right way of saying it) explanations and what not but like im not writing all of the stuff that you can find anywhere on the byler tag or even yt. also the “crazy together” scene comparing to the “only love makes you that crazy” with canon ship j*ncy, and then further in s3 we have the m*leven scene in the mall where mike cannot even say it and even says that it is what old people do (in movies & with his parents who aren’t shown to be in love?!?)

s3 - the only season where m*leven are actually in a relationship, which is basically in crumbles throughout the season, the only thing they do together is kiss basically. i do love them together, platonically that is. mike not being able to apologise to eleven the girl he’s with, but being able to easily apologise to will. mikes “because i love her” scene sounding very rehearsed, with a certain lucas sinclair being quite cheerful over it. the mall scene i mentioned before. the m*leven kiss being awkward at the end (all of them really) mike being confused/ shocked because he thought it was over and not being able to reciprocate els feelings of romantic love, whilst he’s stood in wills room, with the closet open and el i believe with wills teddy-thing. the scene with byler abt d&d, where mike is very happy.

more could probably be said, but you’d have to look into others posts(?) abt that. also i didn’t mention a lot of mikes (&wills) queercoding in this besides in s1 where i mentioned elevens appearance. but er oh well, just sorta did this as a slight rant out of annoyance for m*leven stans being annoying on byler posts

#byler #byler s4 #stranger things

[inkykeiji]

hello, bby💞💞 i absolutely ADORE everything u write, ur insanely talented!! I wanted to ask, you’ve mentioned several pieces of art, precisely songs and films, that have inspired ur work; could u give us some music and movie recommendations that have similar vibe to some of ur fics??? Thank u in advance, I hope u have an incredible day/evening, lysm💓💞💖

THIS QUESTION OOOOOOOH YES ANON YES okay okay first of all, thank you so much!!!! i appreciate that a lot <333 YES i love film so much hehehe <3 my music recommendations are pretty much the same as they always are. the films i’m recommending here; i’m not exactly sure if they have a similar vibe to my fics as i’ve found it difficult to find many films that fit that criteria, but here’s a nice huge list of films that have influenced my main series’, and how!!

beware!! very long post under the cut hehehe AND POTENTIAL SPOILERS FOR BMB IF YOU KNOW THE FILMS HEHEHEHEHE

𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐦𝐲 𝐛𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬

the godfather, part 1 + part 2

AAAAAAAAH okay, literally one of my favourite films of all time, the godfather (+ the godfather pt 2) is a fucking masterpiece. tomura’s close relationship with his father was both inspired by bnha itself as well as michael corleone’s relationship with his father, vito. michael is the golden child even though he’s the youngest, and i love love love how cold and ruthless he can be!!! he’s also super smart.

goodfellas

listen. if henry hill from goodfellas and michael corleone from the godfather had a baby, it would be tomura. he’s slightly more henry than he is michael, but his characterization pulls from both of these characters!! henry is fun, he’s reckless, he’s young, he feels like a god and he loves cocaine. henry also becomes very paranoid, a path with tomura is currently speeding down (albeit much more intensely, with legitimate mental health issues, but you get it). i also love the subtle ‘mafia princess’ trope goodfellas has going on with henry’s wife, karen (that scene where she says she’s going shopping and asks him for money, and he takes out that massive wad of cash?????? brilliant, one of my faves hehehe). henry also has some difficulty dealing with his emotions!!

narcos season 1 + 2

k, i can’t say too much about how this incredible show inspired bmb; i kind of feel like listing it is already giving away too much hehehe BUT i love the pure POWER pablo exudes, and i love his relationship with his wife and how family oriented he is.

scarface (both the original 1932 version and the 1983 version)

WOOOOOOOOOO OKAY. for the 1983 film: cocaine my friends. cocaine and violence and toxic relationships!!!!!!!  i kind of love elvira hancock more than anything else; she’s so glamorous and fun and just aaaaah she’s definitely not as ‘baby’ or ‘good girl’ as bmb!reader is, but her sheer class and cute dresses and just how SPOILED she is reminds me a lot of bmb! for both 1932 + 1983: tony’s relationship with his sister, gina (which tbh borders on incest). gina’s another one of those ‘mafia princess’ types, and tony is extremely overprotective of her and spoils her like mad, too. she’s also fits that ‘good girl’ archetype a lot more!!

reservoir dogs

purely the violence. the violence the violence the violence, the crude and crass way the men talk to each other, and the fact that they’re like a lil organized crime group put together by a boss. i am IN LOVE (IN LOVEEEEEEEE) with mr blonde (aka vic vega <333). mr blonde’s extreme sadism reminds me quite a bit of both dabi and tomura, and he’s even referenced in the lil torture piece i wrote!! also, you literally cannot tell me that vic wouldn’t spoil the absolute HELL out of his good lil princess if he had one <3

(not a film, but!!!!!) hamlet

break my bones is very very very loosely based on hamlet (which is my favourite story of all time. literally. i love hamlet so much i can’t even put it into words); with tomura as hamlet, dabi as a mixture of horatio and laertes, and reader as ophelia. hamlet, my precious baby, is a spoiled fucking brat, who loved his father and was loved by his father. he’s also very intelligent, but falls prey to his indecisiveness and his inability to make decisions, in addition to the rapid decay of his mental health. that’s all i’ll say hehehe

baby driver

the relationship between baby + debora reminds me of the relationship between dabi and reader a lot <333 i also just love the aesthetic of this film, and the undercurrents of organized crime!!

the shining

just a teeny tiny bit; i cannot say anything about this or i think it’ll give something away!!!!!

burning

trios!!!!! trios!!!!!!!!!!!!and the relationship dynamic between jong-su, hae-mi and ben??????? absolutely incredible and reminds me quite a bit of the dynamic between tomura, dabi + reader!!

𝐭𝐚𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐀𝐔 (𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐞) + 𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐲𝐚-𝐧𝐢𝐢

i’m grouping these two together, because a lot of their influences overlap in terms of dabi + reader’s relationship!!! (i’m pretty sure we can all agree that touya-nii is so fucking Daddy, too <3)

true romance

i fucking love this movie, so so so much. i’d go as far to say that clarence and alabama’s relationship has without a doubt inspired or influenced every single romantic relationship i’ve written in at least some way, shape, or form. i LOVE them. i love their co-dependency on each other, i love their whole ‘it’s you and me against the world’ vibe, and i love how far they’re willing to go for each other. also, again, organized crime (no surprise), and alabama is just the cutest fucking thing i swear to god. that scene of her + virgil in the hotel room will forever be one of my absolute FAVOURITE scenes in cinematic history. i would die for this woman i love her more than anything. she’s so cute yet so strong, so brave, so IN LOVE, and aaaah that is just one of my favourite characteristics ever ever ever. i love women who are soft and strong at the same time, even if that strength isn’t physical.

sid and nancy

hello to one of the most famous toxic relationships ever!!! honestly, i don’t think i have to explain this one much LMAO. obviously my readers aren’t as hardcore as nancy and almost always fall into the ‘innocent good girl’ category, but their RELATIONSHIP itself reminds me quite a bit of the relationship between touya-nii and his princess <3

bonnie and clyde (1967)

ahahaha yet again, another very toxic, very co-dependent type of love. like clarence and alabama, i love how these two are literally willing to die for each other—they’d go straight to the ends of the earth for one another, no questions asked. this type of love is extremely unhealthy, obviously, but it’s something i am extremely fascinated with and love exploring in my work! also, that whole ‘fuck the world let’s commit crimes together’????? very tag you’re it dabi x reader!!!

pulp fiction

more specifically, the relationship between mia and vincent. the sexual tension there is fucking crazy, and i love how mia is yet again one of those ‘mafia princess’ types. really, this film applies to bmb as well, but i’m putting it here because the way vincent gets so so SO soft for mia reminds me of the way touya-nii and dabi in these two series in particular get soft for their readers. also, to a lesser extent, the relationship between butch and fabienne. i know a lot of people don’t like fabienne and get annoyed with her, but i think she’s just the cutest thing and i heavily relate to her and her babie/crybaby nature <3 and of course, the relationship between pumpkin and honeybunny (for tag you’re it especially!) <33

breathless (a bout de souffle)

there’s just something about michel that reminds me of touya-nii SO much. i think it’s a combination of his attitude as well as his petty life of crime, and the way patricia hides him in her apartment...i don’t know, it’s difficult for me to put into words, but i love him a lot <3

𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤

the joker + harley quinn: i feel like this is so obvious LMAO but i’m obsessed with the idea of that all consuming voracious love that borders on serious obsession. extremely possessive socio/psychopath and his dumb lil baby????? yes <3 (**i also wanna make a note to say that harley isn’t dumb AT ALL, but J will often insult her in such a way, and sometimes the men who write her portray her as such as well >.> but harley is one of my favourite female characters ever. i LOVE how girly and fun she is while still being extremely strong and (sometimes, depending on the version) independent. she isn’t without flaws, and i love how her mr j is basically her kryptonite <3)

speaking of batman, bruce wayne: what can i say, i just love spoiled rich men who have serious issues dealing with their emotions and walk the line of good and evil <33333

anakin skywalker/darth vader: listen, anakin was seriously slighted by those prequel films. but underneath all of that bad writing, at his core, anakin is a fantastic character. he is SO strongly governed by his emotions and is extremely selfish, and his love for his wife and family is ultimately what leads him down the path to the dark side <3 his emotionally charged motivations remind me a lot of CANON dabi!!!

thelma and louise: i just love their relationship, like, a lot hehehe. their relationship and the ending of this film reminds me a lot of my snowman & me; just yet again that whole ‘it’s you and me or it’s death’ type thing.

the darjeeling limited: it should be obvious at this point that i love trios, and i love complex characters and the relationships that come along with them. the relationship between the whitman brothers, the dysfunctional family, the truama and sadness...i love it all. this film is absolutely beautiful and really doesn’t connect much to my work other than the character dynamics, but i love it so dearly.

mad men: again, those misogynistic toxic relationships and the dependency betty has on don for the first few seasons!! also my god, the aesthetic, i am obsessed.

twin peaks: this hasn’t shown up too much in the work i’ve posted on my blog just yet, but i’m head over heels in love with the dreamy unsettling feeling that saturates this entire series, as well as the drugs and crime. also dale is my baby, protect him with everything <3

blade runner (both films): for city aesthetic

suckerpunch: an absolutely awful film but also one of my guilty pleasures, purely because i love babydoll so so so so so much <33 again, more for aesthetic than story.

𝐌𝐔𝐒𝐈𝐂

honestly, my music recommendations are exactly the same as they are in this post right here. lana del rey, lil peep, chase atlantic + the neighbourhood are the four that i’d say influence my work the most tho, and have the most similar vibe to my stuff!! also, nicole dollanganger is an incredible artist and lyricist, and i’ve been told more than once that my work and her work are quite similar (which i agree!!!). her stuff is hauntingly beautiful, but i have a lot of difficulty listening to it because it hits a little too close to home and makes me cry literally every single time. so please be wary of that, i’m giving a general trigger warning for her because she can get quite dark. but her work is absolutely fantastic, i highly recommend as long as you feel that you can handle it!!! <33

AAAAAH I KNOW I’M MISSING LIKE A MILLION THINGS I SWEAR but these are the films (and tv shows) + artists that readily come to mind!! thank you again for your question anon, i love stuff like this so much and i love discussing films and art hehehe <33

#THIS POST IS FUCKING *MASSIVE* #U HAVE BEEN WARNED LMAO #i could just go on forever about film i love it so much #so so so much #i know i'm missing so many that have had an impact on me i can feel it #but yeah!!! #really the biggest trigger warnings here are for toxic relationships and drugs #so proceed with caution please!! #i hope you're having a fantastic wednesday anon bb <333 #please stay safe out there and drink enough water!!! ily!!! #clari gets mail #clari RAMBLES #my goodness #inky.bb

[itsonlystrange]

☕️ I find Jonathan to be a little bit annoying (I mostly like him thought, just sometimes...)

Agree and disagree! He definitely can be very one dimensional which I wouldn’t blame on Charlie (who plays Jon) but more so on the writers and how they just completely ignore Jonathan’s character. I feel like if Jonathan had more of a backstory and more of a character arc with personality traits other than being the overprotective photographer brother, I feel like he’d be way more likeable. The thing is, I love Jonathan and he’s such an amazing big brother, but I also find him a bit boring sometimes and also a little bit- - weird? Like he literally photographed Nancy half naked and while she literally lost her virginity to Steve- that’s weird. And it also felt very out of character for him to do that, too? Like everything else about his character would make you think that he wouldn’t even do that or even think about doing that, so when I go back and watch season one, it always baffles me. And also how that was never really touched upon again? It was just glossed over?

Along with this, I feel like Charlie hasn’t been given much to work with. I mean Charlie does great portraying Jonathan with what he’s got but honestly I feel like Jonathan needs way more of a personality. He’s such a good character and on paper, the concept of his character is so good. I just feel like it isn’t as fleshed out and he’s usually side lined and grouped together with the other lead characters. I think Jonathan was his best in season two, and more a minute there, it actually looked like the duffers new what they were doing with him. His plot line was more fleshed out in s2 and you could really see how much he bonded with Will and also how much he cared about everyone around him.

Then in season 3, they gave him basically nothing to do. And what makes it even worse, is that they PAINTED HIM OUT TO BE THE BAD GUY, WHEN HE WAS THE ONLY RATIONAL ONE. For example: during his fight with Nancy, while I also think they both brought up good points and were also BOTH in the wrong, It felt like Nancy got almost no consequence for her actions? I mean Nancy WAS being selfish. And the thing is is that Nancy got this beautiful scene with her mom (which I love - - and I love Nancy so much) and I genuinely thought that arc was going some where and that Nancy was finally going to apologize for being In the wrong, but she didn’t! And instead they just glossed over their whole entire fight and instead Jonathan is the one who apologizes?? Not saying Jonathan also wasn’t being inconsiderate, because he was and sexism was and is still a very real thing that we saw Nancy experience, but it felt so weird for them to have that heartfelt scene with Karen where Nancy acknowledges that she was in the wrong just for her to never apologize ?? And then they painted Jonathan out to be the bad guy when Jonathan was just being rational! He was right! They were interns. And as much as it sucks, Nancy’s optimism about making the top story in a week is what literally ruined their relationship. Jonathan was very supportive of her, even when Nancy just disregarded him and A. Continuously broke into the photo developing room when the light was on, therefore ruining hundreds of photos and B. Got them fired! Because Jonathan is right! He needs this job! And yes, what Nancy experienced is not excused and I as I said before, they both had great points brought up and I am in no way invalidating Nancy’s experience with sexism at all, but my point is: Jonathan was being rational and actually looking at the bigger picture. They DID false identify themselves as reporters. They DID break into someone’s house. Yet all those things were made out to be “okay”?? Like in what world is breaking into someone’s house okay - - I understand it was a plot device but ST really made it look like Jonathan was in the wrong for thinking that breaking and entering, lying to an elderly woman, and literally breaking the law, was a bad thing! Because it is! So why did they portray Jonathan as being the villain here for being rational and for being morally correct? It just baffles me. The whole Jancy fight was very well executed in the beginning but then they just forgot about it (same with the Byler fight) and focused on other things and honestly..that’s bad writing. The scene with Karen was heartfelt and beautiful but it lead to nothing and it only created more problems. Jonathan and Nancy should have had a proper apology scene rather than Nancy getting Jonathan to admit he was wrong in an elevator. Because Nancy needs to own up too! Nancy literally admitted to feeling bad about what she said to Jonathan yet never acted on her guilt? You’re telling me they had time to write in so many unnecessary misogynistic and disgusting jokes in season 3 but couldn’t even write in a good apology for a couple that has been built up since season 1?

Anyways, I went on a tangent here, but yes. He can be annoying at some times. And I really do wish he had more development because some things he has done have been ...questionable. Another thing is: I really love Jancy and I really hope they get better development in season 4. Where they properly apologize. That fight they had was very raw and emotional yet had terrible follow up. We deserved a scene where they both apologized.. because they were both in the wrong.

I love Jonathan, just wish he had more to himself then being the photographer older brother of Will. I mean we barely know nothing about Jonathan. And I want him to be one of my favorite characters so badly!! Please duffers!! Give him development!!

Anyways, thanks for this ask!! :)

#nancy wheeler #jonathan byers #stranger things #stranger things 4 #jancy #st4

[fireladybuckley]

911 Verse this or that

Indirectly tagged by @perfectlynervousbeard <3 

Buck or TK. Look I adore TK, Ronen is seriously one of the cutest guys I’ve ever seen and TK is adorable and easily my favourite LS character.  But it’s not even close when comparing him to Buck, Buck is my comfort character, my absolute favourite of just about anything, ever.  I adore Oliver and there’s not a single person you could compare to Buck that I would pick over him, lol.

Eddie or Carlos.

Again, I really do like Carlos.  I firmly believe Carlos (Rafa) doesn’t get enough screen time and his character development suffers because of it and I hate that.   But again, I love Eddie just SO much.  Comparing him and Carlos isn’t fair because they’re very different and Eddie’s storyline and character in general are SO much more developed, I feel like we’ve gotten to know him so much better and that just makes me love him more, I’m more attached.  Plus Eddie’s relationship with Christopher alone is just so precious and I love it so much.

Bobby or Owen.

Easiest question ever.  Bobby is amazing and the best dad and Owen sucks.

Chimney or Judd Not that I hate Chimney or anything (he gets on my nerves sometimes but overall he’s fine) but Judd is just wonderful.  I love his whole southern gentleman vibe while also being a bit of a mischievous little shit which makes me laugh.  And the way he loves and respects his wife is just so refreshing to see. <3

Hen or Marjan I wonder if this is kind of like how I feel about Carlos; I really like both Carlos and Marjan, but I feel like I barely know them.  Marjan is badass and awesome and everything but aside from her arranged marriage stuff, I feel like we barely know anything about her.  Whereas with Hen, I feel like we know her so well she could just be my best friend and it would be amazing.   She’s smart, compassionate, hilarious and just awesome and I adore her.  I also love her relationship with Karen and Denny and now Nia.  If they take Nia away I’m going to riot

Maddie or Grace.  This one was tougher, and REALLY close.  I really love Grace, she’s amazing and badass and I love her and Judd’s relationship.  I just like Maddie slightly more.  I love how much Maddie has overcome and how strong she is, how she took care of Buck their whole lives (which was NOT fair to her), and I love their sibling dynamic.  I love her relationships with the other 9-1-1 operators.

I will say though that they are both BADASS 9-1-1 operators and they are both queens.

Athena or Tommy Tommy’s fine but she’s very new and I feel like I don’t know her at all (though I love Gina Torres).  Not that that matters, however;  Athena is QUEEN and no matter how awesome Tommy could be, she would never surpass Athena.  Athena is just so amazing and I love her so much.  She is compassionate, badass, hard working, hilarious, terrifying when mad but at the same time so gentle and kind.  Her and Bobby are amazing together (especially earlier in their relationship), she’s such a good mom to Harry and May (and by extension Buck, and maybe even Eddie).  She’s just amazing, ok.

Albert or Mateo  I’ll be honest, I was going to choose Albert because I find him adorable and funny and I wish we knew more about him.  But this time it’s the opposite problem of the others... I feel like we barely know Albert, even though he’s been around for a while now.  The 9-1-1 writers have done a terrible job giving him meaningful backstory imo.  Like he’s been in LA for how long now?  Does he even have a job?   Is he still speaking to his parents? We know barely anything about him besides that he’s Buck’s roommate and he has been on some dates.

Mateo on the other hand is much more flushed out.  I loved the story arc where he is just SO dedicated and driven to become a firefighter despite his dyslexia and I’m so glad it was made possible for him to have allowances for the test.  I love that his crew doesn’t mock him for it or treat him like he’s stupid, they ALL help him as much as they can, and I LOVE when Marjan goes and gives the tattoo parlour who intentionally fucked up his tattoo a reaming.  He’s an earnest, eager younger brother who just wants to help and prove himself and I think he’s adorable.

Michael or Paul. I like Michael, but I like Paul a bit more.  I just wish they would give him more screen time and a storyline that doesn’t involve people being transphobic.  I’m sorry (not sorry) but the sister storyline thing still pisses me off

118 or 126.  The 118, no question.  They feel far more cohesive as a team and I love their relationships more, both with each other and with other people.  The 118 feels so much more real than the 126, and I’ve no doubt it’s because of LS’s continued sidelining of its characters that are not Owen (and, I’ll admit, TK.  I love that he gets a lot of screen time, but not if it comes at the expense of Marjan/Paul/Mateo being shunted to the side). 

Maybe the 126 will get better with time.  I’m certainly hoping that with TK in his new role, maybe they’ll bring in another firefighter to replace him (hopefully a woman!  Both shows definitely lack women in the fire-fighting department imo - but the OG is definitely worse; only Hen in 9-1-1, and only Marjan in 9-1-1 LS but at least LS has Tommy and Nancy as medics.  the 118 needs another featured woman firefighter!!)

California or Texas.  I don’t know if it’s the filming choices or if Texas is just like that (having never been there, I have no idea), but Texas doesn’t seem nearly as nice as California.  That could just be my personal preference; I love lush greenery far more than the more desert-y types of things, and I love the ocean so much.  I feel like LA has prettier settings, and LS is more gritty.  Not that there’s anything wrong with that at all, I just prefer pretty haha.

Buddie or Tarlos I feel like this is a bit of an unfair question, since it’s still up in the air whether Buddie even exists in canon, and Tarlos is unquestionably real.

But of course, if I’m forced to choose, it’s Buddie.  And that’s not to say Tarlos isn’t amazing, because it is... I adore BOTH ships so much.  I’m just too drawn into Buddie, and how their personalities compliment each other, and Buck’s special relationship with Chris that places him firmly into the Diaz family unit, Buddie or not.  I really do feel like they’ve set them up 100% as a potential romance and as far as slow burns go, it’s amazing so far.  Plus, even if they don’t become a couple, I am still so invested in them as best friends.

That being said, Tarlos is fucking adorable and I live for their scenes on LS <3

Tsunami episode(s) or Tornado episode.  There was just SO MUCH going on with the tsunami.  Of course the entire plot arc with Buck and Christopher is amazing and easily one of my favourites in the entire series, but I also loved that the tsunami episodes showed EVERYONE in their element, doing everything they could to help people.  I love that it brought Lena into the mix (I know the fandom is divided on her but I love her unashamedly).  The amazing scenes with Athena and May, the scenes with Maddie and that girl with the drone... it was just SUCH A GOOD ARC and I love it.  The fact that I can remember SO much about it and I barely remember what happened with the tornado tells me just how much more I enjoyed it, as well.

911 or 911 Lone Star.  Unquestionably 9-1-1.   I feel like the firefam has become part of my own extended family and I just don’t feel that with LS.  Maybe after a couple more seasons it’ll be more like that, but for now, 9-1-1 is EASILY my favourite.  I do love LS too, though.  I just wish there was less of Owen and more of everyone else.  AND I WANT MORE CROSSOVERS!!!

I have no idea who has been tagged so I’m just going to pick a few random people.  If you’re reading this and want to do it, consider yourself tagged by me!  (And tag me back so I can read yours! <3) @firemedicdiaz @that-firehouse @bicepsie @tulipsfrom-medusa @evaneddie @kittycat-cas @bvckleydiaz @ashavahishta @matan4il And anyone else!!

#911 #9-1-1 lone star #this or that #make me choose #this was fun #and it's become very obvious that Lone Star criminally under uses most of its characters #FIX THAT LS #lksjdflkjsd

[willel]

Random Season 4 Wishes

Here is a random list of things I want to see in season 4 in no particular order. Some of these are more like predictions than wishes, but at this point, any prediction made is just a wish. 

A break from all out romance. The romance wasn’t really handled all that great last season. Other than the looming monster danger, it was the forefront of season 3. I would like a return to a season 1/season 2 formula where while there is still romance, it is never the focus. Stranger Things excels with subtle tender moments and meaningful physical contact. 

Character growth over character drama. Another issue season 3 had is too much conflict between character. Hardly any of it really contributed to character growth. The only character growth to be seen is Mike being a little less clingy and El being a little more independent. Nothing else noticeably changed, not on screen. Conflict is important... but it should be pushing our character forward, not locking them in place. 

Recapture the importance of family. Our cast has been divided in two. The Byers + El are somewhere new while the others stayed behind in Hawkins. This leaves an excellent opportunity to revisit old threads long forgotten. I would love to see Nancy and Mike actually interacting. Not just one conversation or exchanging a glance. Full out brother and sister duo. I feel similarly about Jonathan with his own family. I would like to see a plot where all the Byers + El are in it together. 

Return of Kali. Kali, I feel, is a very important piece of El. While season 3 would have us forget her influence of El, I hope next season doesn’t completely ignore her presence. It would be interesting if Kali’s prediction comes true, that no matter where she hides or who she’s with, “they” will never let her live in peace or have a normal life. Not because I want harm to come to El, but because I don’t for a second believe the government is done with her or the other experimented children.

Proper strategist Michael Wheeler and proper action man Lucas Sinclair. I would like to see the return of the strategist Mike who always seems to have a plan and can get everyone on the same page. In season 3, he was fumbling around distracted. I feel normally, Mike would have set a trap for the Mind Flayer or would’ve formulated a proper plan to escape the mall or the cabin. In Lucas’s case, they did ok with him in season 3 actually, but it was really out of character for him to freeze up while El was being choked out. I want to see a more forward athletic Lucas. 

Will to make new friends. In season 3, we saw at least 2 of the 4 boys interests changing drastically and the other was all too eager to go off and hang around new people. Given Will’s situation (new town, new house, new school, distant old friends), I’d like to see Will gain some new friendships. That’s not to say he’d drop the old ones. They’re the OG after all. But, before all the drama of next season picks up, it would be nice to see Will being happy and acknowledged by new friends.

US Government becoming a threat again. Personally, I did not enjoy the Russian plot. Everything seemed like a joke. When the US government were the bad guys, everything felt more dangerous and dire. You never knew who was listening. Who was watching. What would happen if they found El or if they would hurt the boys and their families. Next season, I feel they could make the Russians feel like as much of a threat as the US government if both governments are clashing and in a race to the bottom. By that, I mean the government should become a major foe again racing against the Russian government to do bad things. Open a gate? Control a demogorgon? Allow the Mind Flayer in again? Both these governments should screw up equally. 

A slow return of El’s powers. I want El to get her powers back, but I want it to be a slow daunting process. It’s like she starts back at square one. She can move and pick up small things, but even that has taken her months. She’s stuck between being seemingly normal with no powers, but also missing the power she once had. 

Casual power training. As we know, Will is really into comics. El might be too since Max introduced her to them. A classic of comics is the super hero training to regain their strength or to become stronger. It would be really interesting if Will contributed to El slowly regaining her powers by setting up obstacles and challenges just for her. Maybe on the weekends, he designs a building and she must use wooden blocks/legos to make it with her powers. Or, build a house of cards. A game of darts using powers only. A game of catch. (I was going to say Jenga, but it looks like that didn’t get released in the US until 1987) Anything Will can creatively come up with that he thinks will help her regain her strength. (whether it does or not is up for debate) It’s mostly casual fun. Some bonding opportunities. Who doesn’t enjoy training the hero/super hero? (basically, it’s roleplay) 

Will’s power expanded. I am writing a proper theory page on Will’s/the Byers’s powers, but let me explain exactly what I mean here. It’s clear Will has powers, but they severely limited them in season 3. Examples:

Instead of only sensing the Mind Flayer when it’s nearby, he should be able to close his eyes, concentrate, and locate the center of activity

Will should have great insight into the Mind Flayer’s intentions even if it’s just honest guesses on what the Mind Flayer wants and what he’s trying to do (like in season 2)

Will’s danger senses should happen immediately, not delayed like we saw in the hospital or in the mall. He should be able to tell the Mind Flayer is coming for them from miles away or even across dimensions.

Will should retain true sight, the ability to see into the Upside Down. A dangerous ability to be sure, but can be useful if we’re going to have gates popping in and out around the world like what’s been implied.

Karen possibly discovering the truth. Honestly, Season 1 Karen is such a good mom. And in season 3, that discussion with Nancy was superb and beautiful. I would love for Karen to learn a little more what her two eldest kids have been up to. If not that, I’d like for her to at least give more guidance to her kids. I’d like for Nancy and Mike to vaguely come to her for advice and she’d grant it, no questions asked. (ok, Karen used to be very nosy so maybe she does ask questions, but takes a step back and respects their privacy)

Joyce to be believed right away. I honestly do not understand why people doubt Joyce, you know? She’s been right 3 years in a row now (Nancy too). I swear if anyone questions her intuition next season, she should give them her classic Joyce sneer until they realize how silly they’re being. In order of “alarm bells”, I think it will go like Will >> El >> Joyce >> Jonathan in quick succession. All 4 family members should be very sensitive to weird things as this point. 

Jonathan gets a plot. I want to see things from Jonathan’s perspective again. After season 1, we’ve barely gotten anything. I want to see Jonathan putting forth plans or leading the charge, at least for a little while. There is a great opportunity for this next season since he’s the man of the house about to graduate from high school if he hasn’t already. (*sobs remembering Will is taller than him now, officially). Heck, if we want to switch around the order of “alarm bells”, maybe Jonathan becomes alert of something wrong before Joyce does this time. 

Less product placement. In season 1/season 2, there was product placement, but that was because they were really setting the scene. It was 1983. This is what products used to be like. This is what was popular at the time. But season 3? They cranked that dial up 2000% when they didn’t need to. It really made it feel less serious and set in reality. Don’t dare use Lucas to spit out a damned Coke ad ever again. 

Genuine friendship moments. I’ve mentioned this earlier, but with less romantic drama and stuff, I’d like to see genuine friendships return. The El and Max friendship was great and all, but it’s really a shame it was so heavily focused on Mike. I hope in the future, these two girls are able to share screentime without the boys being mentioned or thought about. Same with the guys, it would be nice if they could hang out like before without splitting off into pairs or focusing entirely on their romantic lives. They don’t really feel like a friend group anymore, just a group of double dates (hence why I’d like for Will to make friends outside the original group.)

Proper use of the supernatural. Season 3 was weak when it came to the Mind Flesher imo. They had this whole idea of the Flayed who seemed to be totally normal (and sweaty) just walking around town living their lives until a flip was switched. Whyyyyy in the world weren’t they used to try to get at our cast? The only time they did it was in the hospital, but we saw dozens and dozens of people who could’ve served the same purpose except it could happen anywhere. Maybe there were other ‘patients’ in the waiting room that also turned on the kids that they had to fight off? Maybe strange people came to all their houses trying to find them or break in? They could’ve gone full creepy like season 1/2 but they didn’t. I’d like to see them fully use the horror aspects next season. 

That’s what I got off the top of my head. 

#stranger things #theory

[kaypeace21]

Mike Wheeler and other queer subtext

How come no one ever talks about how just changing one word in his speech  makes what Mike said to Will sound like a marriage proposal?

“And I asked you to be my {friend} and you said yes ... you said yes. It was the best thing I’ve ever done”.

Is it just me? I mean think about all those speeches in the shed. Jonathan talks about the day their dad left (the same guy who called Will homophobic slurs) and lets be honest him thinking his son might be queer, may have been one of the reasons he left. Jonathan even mentions that ‘castle Byers’ was built after their homophobic dad left, the place where Will felt the most safe while in the upside down as he sang ‘should I stay or should I go’ was that place. He sings the same song Jonathan played for him when Lonnie didn’t show up for visitation and Jonathan told Will “He’s trying to force you to like normal things. And you shouldn’t like things because people tell you you’re supposed to ... especially not him.”

What makes Will feel safe is the antithesis of his father.Lonnie left when Jonathan was 10 so will was about 7 or 6 (maybe)? And it was on Jonathan’s 10th birthday when he was first taught how to use a gun, and was traumatized because he was forced to kill/shoot a rabbit to be “more of a man”. SO why does Will know how to shoot a gun when Lonnie wasn’t in his life at 10 years old ?! Can you imagine how much more shit he forced Will through (compared to Jonathan) if he thought he was queer and was forcing him to ‘man-up’?! 

So then, what Joyce says before Jonathan’s speech about his “rainbow ship” and “being proud” isn’t just an overt hey look Will’s lgbt+ ! Its makes narrative sense given what the family knows and we’re supposed to put 2 in 2 together.

So the fact that Mike’s speech about how they first met, is RIGHT AFTER Jonathan’s speech about their dad leaving is interesting? So let’s think about this ; WHY does Lonnie think Will is queer? Speaking from personal experience , to most straight people if you aren’t an ‘over the top stereotype’ (nothing wrong with that, by the way) no on believes you even if you say it to their face (although that may be more of a queer women problem, but I digress.) My point is Mike met Will at age 5, BEFORE Lonnie left. And I sort of gather that Will & Mike were probably very close (especially because they probably weren’t taught yet what was considered normal-friendship behavior), and Lonnie got suspicious about how close they were. In other words, Mike was the literal catalyst for Lonnie leaving! I mean if as teens, they are still more affectionate than what the 80s  deemed ‘acceptable’ who knows how they acted before being conditioned to be told what was considered ‘wrong’ and ‘not wrong’.

Essentially these stories tell us a chronological order of events: Mike and Will meet. Lonnie gets suspicious of their bond and his abuse escalates as he tries to ‘fix his’ “queer, fag” son, but he eventually gives up and leaves . Joyce even says  “You never cared about him” (because he wasn’t straight), when she learns Lonnie wasn’t mourning for Will’s death but simply using him to make a quick buck. However, Will  feels safer and happier without such a toxic individual in his life and his mom does everything to make up for the damage he’s caused- as she tries to support her son’s sexuality  .

Will and Mike being ‘suspiciously’ close actually makes a lot of sense if you look at what other characters say about the 2 in season 1. When Will went missing in s1 , Mike’s mom said “ What’s been going on with Will, I can’t imagine what it’s been like for you. I just ... want you to feel like you can talk to me. I never want you to feel like you have to HIDE anything from me” (she even emphasizes the word ‘hide” it’s so heavily queer-coded and it makes me feel like she suspects something because she was around to see the interactions between the 2 we never did).

Even his dad jokes “Absolutely not” *turns to wife* “our son with a girl?”. If you rewatch the scene Karen doesn’t make eye contact and literally freezes at the comment and blinks rapidly (She’s clearly uncomfortable). Bisexuality wasn’t really something people believed in so it’d be kind of funny to think Mike’s parents thought he would turn out to be gay the whole time because of his interactions with Will.

Also, how come no one talk about that binder? You know the binder (from s1) that Mike keeps, filled with 100s of Will’s drawings. Think about that! Will has been giving his drawings to Mike for years! And Mike not only accepts them but treasures them so much he keeps every single picture Will’s ever given him . When Will is believed to be dead, we see Mike look through the whole binder, he even gently strokes the drawing of the cleric, probably thinking he’ll never get another pic from Will again. Also when Will ‘dies’, “we can be heroes” by David bowie (a bisexual singer) plays,  there’s no romantic lyrics in the song except one lyric “And we kiss as though nothing could fall and the shame” and this is the lyric that plays when Mike returns to his house and cries in his mother’s arms over the ‘death’ of Will. Do I have to explain how ‘kissing and shame’ are queer-coded XD

Hell, even when Lucas makes fun of his crush on EL, Lucas gets down on one knee  and says “ I love you so much, will you marry me?” and literally 1s later, we’re introduced to the bullies and the idea that will is ‘gay’, and Mike is in the forefront of the scene and unlike his friends he is physically assaulted (like a gay-bashing) . It’s supposed to subconsciously hint he has feelings for both of them. The first interaction with the bullies, they mention Will being ‘gay’ right after they mention Mike’s crush on androgynous El , Mike says to “ignore them” but is assaulted anyways. And when asked what happed he doesn’t want to tell El the details cause he’s ashamed . 2nd time the bullies talk about Will, Mike is once again in the forefront , as his friends are in the background , and the bullies say Will is “flying in fairyland with all the other little fairies”. Mike was literally on the verge or tears at this comment (despite being happy a few moments earlier telling the others to ‘act sad’ because they’d look suspicious other wise). But this is the comment where Mike snaps and pushes Troy back (because he took it personally) and El protects him in the end. Then the last time the bullies appear , Mike jumps off the cliff and “flies like a fairy” thanks to El saving him . Nancy even says says “I thought you were acting weird, but I thought it was because of Will” And Mike responds “I thought you were acting weird too I thought it was because of Steve ... Do you like Jonathan now”?” Nancy: “No, do you like Eleven?”. They literally compared the explicit love triangle between Steve/Nancy/Jonathan to the Will-Mike-El dynamic!

And since this devolved into me talking about the Duffers making Mike bi since the very beginning. Lets not forget when El was in her wig , he called her “pretty” and she looks at the mirror happily restating the word “pretty”. And after she lost her wig and broke Troy’s arm, at the police station he says “ Her head’s shaved she doesn’t even look like a girl”. And in the same episode, El looks in the mirror sadly and asks Mike “Still pretty?” And he say “Yeah, pretty, really pretty.” And they almost kiss! Note that 3 separate characters said El looked like a boy, but Mike doesn’t care he still wanted to kiss her! Even one of the men thought El might be the missing ‘Byers boy’. I’m not saying Mike has a thing for quiet-brunettes with super powers, and daddy-issues but ... wait that’s exactly what I’m saying. XD

I mean in season 1 when El asks him the difference between friends and crushes, Mike literally uses gender inclusive pronouns by using the word “someone” (3 times), and embarrasses himself because he can’t articulate the difference. When he could of simply given the 80s heteronormative  answer of ‘when a boy likes a girl’. 

Mike: “ you go to school dances with someone. You know someone that you like”

 El: “a friend?”

Mike: ‘not a friend uh ... uh someone like a” (gives up and kisses her)

And I mean the dance- we’d be here all day with all the hints! But, Will’s first instinct when asked to dance with a girl (who’s wearing a rainbow hairclip)  is to look at mike and say “I.. uh, don't”, and then after Mike forces him you literally see Mike’s shocked expression like  ‘what. why’d I do that ?’ After this, they show Dustin looking sad about Max/Lucas dancing and then they have Mike get into the frame (next to Dustin) and look sad when Will/girl are dancing in the same exact frame as Max/Lucas. They have 2 scenes of Mike moping - one where he's moping about El (and she shows up immediately to convey he was thinking about her) and another moping scene of him just looking at Will dancing with a girl.

Sorry for the rant but there’s just SO much subtext, a lot of which I didn’t even mention (like all the scenes that directly parallel byler and mileven ) and I’m really curious about what will happen between the 3 in later seasons, I want it to be July and until we get a teaser or something I’m going to bother people with content 😂  

#byler #byeler #Mike x Will #bi mike wheeler #stranger things #Mileven #milevill #stranger things theory #stranger things meta

[palmviolet]

season 3: my thoughts

CONTAINS SPOILERS

so. we’ve got the good and we’ve got the bad. starting off with what i liked:

joyce. she was so powerful and strong this season. they didn’t diminish her trauma from bob or even s1, showing she has ptsd. they also allowed her to be the one who saved them all and i’m so proud of my tiny wife :’)

jancy. i loved jancy’s storyline. probably the only storyline i didn’t have any issues with. i loved how they discussed the different issues facing them - sexism and classism respectively - and managed to come to an understanding. it was good to have another explicit recognition of the class issue with the byers family as well, rather than just subtext. but like, them as an investigative duo, ‘you’re relentless, you know that?’ like GAHHH

robin. now this was something i really didn’t expect. i was very apprehensive about the scoops troop because of the four of them only one was an original main - but turns out i didn’t need to be. i actually really enjoyed these scenes and they didn’t pander to the meme too much. and robin’s coming out scene?? poetic cinema. i actually felt so understood and while it’s likely not very realistic (especially from steve, who has been homophobic in the past) steve’s immediate acceptance felt so warm and nice.

erica. at first i was worried because they were going with the sassy black girl stereotype, but then- THEN- they fleshed her out, they made her a ‘nerd’ too, and honestly it was really good. she could have been annoying but she managed not to be. (congrats to priah, she did a good job).

elmax. i did enjoy elmax this season, though only tentatively (see below). finally we got some good solid female bonding. the mall scene was great. i also loved the scene when el came down the street to meet her with the skateboard. iconic.

mike and will’s fight. ‘it’s not my fault you don’t like girls.’ phew i got whiplash from that line - will’s face- i really wish they’d actually had will coming out this season or having any plot at all but i actually got chills with this. and then will destroying the castle???? i was crying.

jopper, murray, and alexei. i really liked this storyline. hopper being a smug bastard, murray playing freud again, idk i loved it. im glad jopper didn’t get together directly after murray psychoanalysed them like jancy did tho, because it felt a bit more mature which was right :) and alexei was so cute lol

hopper-byers family (ish). i am so goddamn happy that el ends up with the byers. it’s the only sensible place for her to end up after hopper dies. i just wish it was foreshadowed a bit more with joyce having a more obvious role in her life as a co-parent.

now, onto the dislikes. yikes.

hopper’s character for 80% of the season. i’ve talked about this already but honestly?? they screwed him up so much. horrifically overbearing parenting, drunkenness, and snark that was less sarcastic and funny than cruel. i didn’t like him half the time which honestly sucks, especially since this season they should have been building him up to make his death more tragic. so-

hopper’s death. it was done well, with his final acceptance and everything, giving joyce permission to flip the switch, but holy shit. joyce has been through so. goddamn. much now. the duffers are actually making their own jobs harder, because you can’t keep on piling your characters with trauma upon trauma without them suffering the consequences. they will have to be very careful next season with their handling of joyce. especially since this season the grief for his death was mainly focused on el, when it was joyce who spent all season with him. they should have grieved together, as the two who loved him most, but instead even when joyce does get her moment el has to come and interrupt it and make it all about her again. which leads me onto-

female bonding. sure, we got elmax. but it was placed in direct opposition to mileven. idk i got a lot of vibes that el could either be friends with max or date mike, which was not a great message to send - the whole elmax friendship seemed to be based on ideas about the boys. (does it pass the bechdel test? barely, probably.) and then the only other female bonding we get (aside from erica and robin, which was minor) is nancy and karen. they share a lovely scene, but it’s completely out of the blue. karen has been so absent and problematic these last few seasons and now she’s suddenly mom of the year again? it was a good scene, but personally i actually think it would have worked better with nancy and joyce. they have so much in common, they’ve been through a lot of the same things, and yet all we get is a silent hug at the very end. hmm. or even better, we keep the nancy & karen scene and get lots more female bonding scenes too. but i guess that would be too difficult.

will. oh my god, will. why the hell did they do him so dirty? his entire arc was ‘can we play d&d now, oh girls are stupid and gross, oh my friends treated me like shit but it’s all cool now.’ he had so much potential, even if we didn’t go with the will has powers storyline, even if we didn’t go with the coming out storyline like- ugh. noah is such a talent and they’re squandering him. like.. what??

m*leven. ugh i’m sorry i just... don’t care about m*leven. they’re cute?? i guess?? but so much time was spent on them. and they’re literally 14, i really don’t think they’re old enough to say they’re in love.

b*lly’s death. i guess he redeemed himself?? but ugh i didn’t want him to. didn’t shed a single tear ngl. and why was max so upset? he’s treated her like shit the entire time they’ve known each other.

the epilogue. the entire thing was awful in my opinion. the hopper voiceover was done well and i had tears streaming down my face the entire time but the context of it, and the scenes surrounding it- ugh. so we start off with a steve & robin scene that feels so incongruous i got whiplash. it’s really long, as well, and i just couldn’t concentrate on it because it lacked all the emotional weight of the scenes before. it was not good. and then we go through all the other characters’ reactions to the byers moving before we finally get to el and joyce, the two most affected by hopper’s death. el gets a very, very long scene. which is fine, because she needs to grieve her father figure. but throughout the season the el & hopper bond was so lacking that it felt odd for it to be so laboured at the end. meanwhile joyce gets little more than a sad look - an excellent look, winona deserves all the awards - but just a look. it lacked the emotional payoff we needed. and them all leaving? i get that joyce desperately needs a fresh start after hopper’s death, of course, but el needs her friends. and how the hell is s4 going to work? tbh i’m wondering if they’re just going to end it there. i hope they don’t, but they’re going to have to work very hard to make s4 succeed.

byers family. where the hell were my family interactions? joyce was apart from her sons all season (which in some ways was good, because she could grow beyond just being a mother) but the byers are what make this show so special. jonathan and will barely spoke to each other despite being in loads of scenes together. will should’ve been allowed to talk to jonathan or joyce about what he was going through with his friends. there should have been some bonding, goddamnit. maybe if they’d cut that karen and b*lly bullshit at the beginning, which, by the way, served absolutely no purpose?? at all? it didn’t advance the storyline in any way, shape or form?? wtf

anyway i’m sure there’s stuff i’ve missed, but here’s my preliminary thoughts. i actually did really enjoy this season, but i obviously have a lot of issues with it lol. it also didn’t really feel?? like stranger things?? like the vibes were completely different idk. feel free to drop me an ask telling me what you thought!

#jopper #joyce byers #jim hopper #stranger things #will byers #st spoilers #stranger things spoilers #st meta #st3