#i will fight the duffers with my bare hands

[steddieas-shegoes]

I'll be full of the love you want

rated t cw: self-doubt, relationship doubt, light angst tags: happy ending, hurt/comfort-ish, super fluffy romantic words being said

a/n: firstly I am writing this absolute fluff because i've been listening to sleep token and decided i could handle listening to blood sport (i couldn't) and so now we get this fluff. second of all, i feel like before anyone comes for my throat, i LOVE nancy. i hate what the duffer brothers have reduced her character to canonically. she has so much potential, just sitting there, and what are they doing with it? making her worse. i do think that she is just very bad at reading what's appropriate to say to people, and that's what happens here. assume that it gets fixed and she apologizes later, this entire thing is to focus on the boys.

Sometimes, Nancy’s subtle comments remained in Steve’s chest, an unbearable weight that felt crushing.

“Eddie has plans, and they may not involve you.”

That’s what she’d said to him when he told her they were dating.

No congratulations, no friendly smile or hug, not even the expected game of 20 questions.

The words played on loop in his head as he found an excuse to leave movie night early, as he drove home, as he took a shower. 

He barely slept that night.

Nancy was right in a way; Eddie did have plans.

—-

“She what?” Eddie yelled.

“Eds-”

“No, that’s. Stevie, you know how ridiculous that is, don’t you?”

He did. 

But he also…didn’t.

It really wasn’t that ridiculous to think that maybe his boyfriend of barely a month would have plans that didn’t involve Steve.

Steve may be head over heels in love with him, but he hadn’t said that. 

“Is it?” Steve asked, not looking up at Eddie pacing in front of him.

Eddie stopped in front of him, dropping to his knees on the floor between Steve’s parted legs.

His hands gripped Steve’s knees, squeezing in silent comfort.

“Sweetheart, I know it’s hard for you to believe, but I’m all in with us. I’m not going anywhere that you can’t or don’t want to follow. If someone sends me to the moon, you better start packing your bags,” Eddie left a kiss on his thigh, looking up at Steve’s wide, glassy eyes. “I don’t think she meant to hurt you, Stevie. I’d just talked to her about the band possibly going to Chicago for a show soon and how excited we were about producers being there.”

“And if they like you guys, you’ll leave. And you should! I don’t wanna hold you back. I just was so wrapped up in the now, ya know?” 

Eddie looked up at him, eyes squinting at him for a moment before he stood up.

He sat down on the bed and pulled Steve onto him so he was straddling his thighs.

“You are more than just my now, Steve Harrington.”

Steve’s heart fluttered in his chest.

Eddie cupped his face in his hands, leaning his head down so their foreheads rested against each other.

“We’ve seen the end of the world together, we’ve seen each other at our worst, at our bruised, at our most vulnerable. You’re my entire world now, and in the future.” Eddie let out a shaky breath, something foreign for him, usually so confident in his words. “I love you. It might scare you off, but I do. I haven’t stopped picturing my future with you in it. Nothing could drag me away from you, not the band, not the kids, not myself. I’m yours, for the long haul, wherever that takes both of us.”

Steve sniffled, the tears pooling in his eyes fighting so hard to fall.

“You can’t say stuff like that,” he squeaked out.

“Why can’t I?”

“I might believe it.”

Eddie tugged him closer, one hand on the back of his head holding him against his shoulder, one arm wrapped around his waist.

“I need you to believe it, love. There is nothing that will keep me from loving you. If Vecna himself couldn’t, then Nancy’s words sure as shit won’t.”

And it could be simple.

It could.

Steve could believe it, he could say the words back, he could plan a real future with Eddie, something he’d never been able to do with anyone else.

“You’re thinking too hard,” Eddie interrupted his thoughts, his hand squeezing Steve’s hip.

Steve pulled back, looking at Eddie’s earnest face.

“I’m scared to love you the way that I do,” Steve admitted, voice barely more than a whisper.

Eddie heard him, though.

He beamed up at Steve.

“You can be scared, but you can love me anyway,” Eddie shrugged, as if it could actually be that simple.

Love was a silly thing. 

Steve felt it easily, for Robin, for the kids, for the Byers’, even Nancy still. He’d known what he felt for Eddie was love way before this conversation, but he hadn’t realized how much that love could grow when it was reciprocated.

Eddie looked at him now like he already knew, like Steve holding back wasn’t changing the fact that Steve had loved him for months now, maybe even longer.

“You can love me, Stevie. I want you to love me. Love me the way you feel,” Eddie continued.

His words cut through his heart, but in a different way than Nancy’s had.

Steve never got to love people the way he felt, always too much, always overwhelming.

His parents taught him not to be needy, let people show their love from a distance and don’t force your attention and care on them.

Nancy taught him that he couldn’t be someone else just because he wanted to love someone, that he had to accept that love wasn’t always enough for a relationship.

Eddie, though.

Eddie had taught him that there was nothing shameful about being loud with your passion, with your love. He taught him that he can’t hold back his feelings, not for anyone, especially not for himself.

He was showing him, more every day, that loving someone can and should be fulfilling.

He couldn’t be scared of loving Eddie, not when Eddie had always shown him how to be brave.

“I love you so much,” Steve gasped out.

It wasn’t the declaration he’d planned, or even wanted, but that somehow made it better for them.

Eddie’s beaming smile proved that even further.

“I’m so in love with you, I don’t know what to do with it all. I just keep thinking that one day I’ll wake up and feel less, but I just keep feeling more. I’m not good with words like you are, but I love you,” Steve added, finally gaining his voice.

“Feels good, right?”

“To love you?”

Eddie leaned up, kissed his chin, then the corner of his mouth.

“To show it to someone who wants it.”

Steve bit his lip, realizing that yeah, it did feel good. Really good.

“You’re gonna get so tired of me loving you.”

It was said as a joke, but it was his last genuine fear. The one thing that he knew always happened.

“I will never get tired of you loving me. Not for a single second. Not even when we’re old dudes sitting on our porch yelling at the kids with the loud music,” Eddie poked his side as he spoke.

“You won’t ever yell at anyone for loud music.”

“You never know. I could become a grumpy old man. Will you still love me?” Eddie pouted up at him.

“I think I’d love any version of you. Actually, I know I would.” “And you say I’m the sappy one.”

#steddie #steve harrington #eddie munson #stranger things #drabble #light angst #happy ending #fluff

[bibylers]

Byler vs Mileven

So, I haven't ever really "actually" thought about this question before. Mileven or Byler?

Byler, of course! But that's just what I think. What if we just think about it in general.

I decided to split this in three different questions.

1. Which one is better written? (long answer)

2. Which one is most likely endgame? (medium answer)

3. Which one has more fans? (short answer)

So, let's start with the first one!

WHICH ONE IS BETTER WRITTEN?

Let's start with Mileven.

Mileven has been canon ever since season 1, and is still canon in season 4. Let's think about how Mileven started.

A very original "love at first sight" scene. Mike, Lucas and Dustin are in the forest, searching for Will, but instead of finding Will, they accidentally find El. The camera right away starts zooming towards Mike instead of the other party members, which at least gave me the "oh okay so they're gonna be the main young couple" thought when I first watched s1.

I have personally never liked the idea of "love at first sight", which is one of the main reasons I do not like the way the writers started Mileven.

But, thinking in general, a love at first sight start is a normal and basic way to start a relationship.

We through st get to see how Mike and Elevens relationship escalate quickly from friends to lovers.

Now - what l'm about to say is of course very according to the writer, but as a (non professional ofc) writer myself, I don't enjoy writing a fast burn love story. And this doesn't just come from me, but many other writers too. A slow burn adds way more to the tension than what a fast burn does.

But, of course again, thinking in general, many people enjoy fast burns too.

Mileven in s2 is very well written in my opinion. I love how they made a long exhausting wait before finally letting Mike and Eleven meet again, after a year of not being able to even see eachother. They did not get a lot of time together, but they still got the emotional, slow motion reunion.

Season 3 Mileven is where Mileven were in their "honeymoon phase". Mileven shippers LOVED it, meanwhile, others did not. It started getting a little boring almost, with the same repeating cycle.

S1: Mileven get together, Mileven gets ruined (El "died")

S2: Mileven aren't together, Mileven get together (reunion)

S3: Mileven are together. Mileven break up. Mileven get back together.

Were the duffers EVER going to let Mileven just be together for a whole season?

Season 4 proved that the answer was definitely no.

S4: Mileven are together, they "break up", they get seperated, they reunite, and still do not officially get back together, despite Mike's love confession to El.

So, the basic compilation of Mileven:

Very healthy from s1-s2, got a little confusing in s3, getting completely ruined in s4.

Now, Byler time.

S1 Byler gets barely any screentime together, yet we still get the understanding that Mike and Wills relationship is very different from the other relationships (for example Dustin and Lucas.

Were shown that Will cannot lie to Mike & that Mike is the most concerned from the party about Will's missing.

S2 Byler on the other hand, has a lot of screentime together, and a lot of adorable moments.

For example, these:

Crazy together scene (2x02)

Mike coming over to take care of Will (2x04 & 2x05)

Mike tells Will that meeting him is the best thing that's ever happened to him (2x08)

Of course there are many others, but those are my favorites by far.

S2 was a great season over all for Byler. A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E.

Not yet generally thought as anything but platonic, but still, adorable.

S3 for Byler sadly wasn't the best season for them. Of course, Mike had ALOT of queercoding in this season and so did Will, but the Byler scene amount in particular were not even close to the same amount of Byler scenes in s2. We of course get the "It's not my fault you don't like girls" Byler rain fight (3x03), but that wasn't a very positive scene either.

This scene was the definition of Murray's "curtain explanation". The general audience does not usually try to look that deep under the curtain, meanwhile, hard core fans, st theorists and Bylers in particular LOVES to look behind the curtain. Search for clues everywhere.

And that search of course lead to this statement.

The duffers are building up a romantic plot between Will and Mike, specifically a Will Byers "gay plot" and a Mike Wheeler internalized homophobia plot.

And was that statement correct, 3 years later when S4 came out?

Oh yes it was.

S4: the Byler season

Bylers took over the whole fandom. (I'm not even joking).

S4 was of course mostly known for Max's plot, but secondly?

The byler plot.

Now, Byler compilation:

Very healthy from s1-s2, not at it's best in s3 (if you don't look behind the curtain), shining bright like a diamond in s4.

FINAL ANSWER TO QUESTION NO 1:

Byler.

Byler is better written.

There, I said it. Please do not MURDER ME.

Now, question NO2.

WHICH ONE IS MOST LIKELY ENDGAME?

Starting with Mileven, let's think about how s4 ended.

Broke up, seperated, never got back together.

Adding to this, El hadn't even spoken much to Mike after his love confession.

Now, that might sound a little strict, but the fact that all l just said was completely true, not even from behind the curtain, makes it just so clear how Mileven is obviously not at it's best, and most likely at it's end.

So, as a quick answer, I say: Mileven is most likely not becoming endgame in s5.

Now, Byler.

Awkward -> strong -> romantic.

Realize the buildup?

Their bond in S4 was absolutely adorable and strong.

Mikes face expressions towards Will:

I mean, do I even have to say anything?

So incredibly in love.

So, once again as a quick answer:

Byler is almost 100% becoming endgame. Reasoning to why some of the general audience doesn't realize this is once again, because of the curtain. But, looking behind it, you realize right away how incredibly endgame they are.

Final question!

WHICH ONE HAS MORE FANS?

Well, basic explanation to this:

Yeah. Byler it is.

So, FULL WRAP UP!!!

QUESTION 1: WHICH ONE IS BETTER WRITTEN:

Answer: Byler

QUESTION 2: WHICH ONE IS MOST LIKELY ENDGAME:

Answer: Byler

QUESTION 3: WHICH ONE HAS MORE FANS:

Answer: Byler

There you go everyone. Mileven vs Byler, who wins?

Personally: Byler

Generally: Byler

Answer?

Byler!!!!

#byler #<<target audience #will byers #mike wheeler #anti milkvan #milkvan is bones #platonic elmike #stranger things #byler st5 #st5 speculation #byler theories #byler endgame #stranger things 5 #byler is real #byler tumblr #byler is canon

[fizzigigsimmer]

On Steve, Billy, and fighting.

Let me just preface with I don’t think the Duffers have thought about this or done any character work with Steve beyond deciding where to aim him each season, but nevertheless I like the little peeks at character we’ve gotten thanks to Joe and head canons are fun.

I love reading and writing a badass Steve but I get why some folks go the route of “Steve can’t fight” and think that he is easily over powered; because lets face it the show does show that happening quite a bit, because punching Steve is fun according to the Duffers. My man has lost a fight to just about everyone but trained Russian soldiers and supernatural hell beasts. Which is just fucking… okay Duffers, but anyway I think it’s fair to assume Steve is just absolutely shit at hand to hand combat.

What I have noticed about Steve though is that he has really good hand-eye coordination (because Joe does) and as we’ve seen now with the bat and the phone, if you put an object in his hand he can be pretty dangerous with it. Which became something of a gag in S4 with Steve grabbing at random objects the minute he thought shit was about to go down.

My personal head cannon is that Steve is good at armed combat (I’m not talking guns but swords, knives, and other hands on weapons) because he’s got the skill, the stamina, and the courage obviously, but also it’s a style of fighting with a built in buffer between you and the violence you are committing. You get done bludgeoning something, and that can be plenty traumatic and intimate on its own, but never as intimate as harming someone with your bare hands is going to be. When you lay hands on someone, you have to feel it in your body and take part of the blow you’re giving. And I think it makes real literary sense that Billy as a character would excel at this style of fighting that requires you to be a weapon without a shield. Not all violence is viewed the same and brawling is a kind of violence that historically in the west has been depicted as dirty, low, and lacking in class.

Steve is both narratively and symbolically a knight in my opinion. The first time we see him in the role as a competent warrior he’s almost literally the kids knight in shining goggles.

This is why my personal head canon for after Billy survived being flayed (the S3 ending has no power here) is that Billy pulled this man aside and taught him how to fight with his damn knuckles.

Because it would piss him off I think, Steve being vulnerable like that because of some subconscious reluctance to grab something with his hands and wring blood out of it. He’s got it in him (dude bit off the head of a bat) he just needs something to bring it out of him and Billy would be determined. Imagine Billy working him on the mats, grappling, wrestling, Steve getting frustrated with Billy slipping out of his holds. Imagine them boxing, Billy constantly correcting his stance, egging him on like, “don’t be precious with it Harrington, hit me” until Steve just snaps and tackles him.

Imagine the conversations, both boys exhausted and dripping sweat, Steve passing Billy his water bottle because Billy has drained his and asking him, “where’d you learn to fight like this?” And learning that Billy had to, because Billy was born in a war zone and he’s never had anyone to shield him. Until Steve starts pulling that knight in armor shit on him, stepping in front of the government guys who want to keep him from fully integrating back into normal life. Organizing a “jail break” with Max, and arguing with the Chief when Hopper finally tracks them down. Imagine Hopper, frustrated, asking Steve how any of this is his business and Steve telling Hopper Billy is his friend. And they just keep arguing over him while Billy is sat there, floored because Steve called them friends. And then Billy’s libido that took a hike during the months of physical therapy comes back with a vengeance to make their next session super awkward.

#harringrove #billy hargrove #steve harrington #meta #head canon #This kicks around in my head all the time #Kinda included it in another fic but still want to write it all out some day

[hyperfixationbi]

The boys in the band. (Corroded CoffinxReader)

A/N: so this eventually gonna probably turn into an Eddiexreader little short series but I wanted to give some of my other corroded coffin boys love to. Maybe write them looking for Eddie and everything since the Duffer brother didn’t give us much of anything and I personally don’t believe his band would just not care like that. If you see the name Jeremy it’s what I’m calling the unnamed freak since the Duffer brother didn’t bother with that either. Hope you all enjoy.

Warning: cursing/violence that’s about it.

Summary: The whole town had been in an uproar since the queen of Hawkins high Chrissy Cunningham was found dead in one Eddie the freak Munson trailer. Accusing him of being a murder and the leader of a satanist cult. Which was all bull shit. You and your friends knew that. Now with Eddie missing the town very much has put a huge target on yours and your fellow band mates backs. How far will you go to protect your boys?

You moved to the quiet town of Hawkins Indiana when you were in the 8th grade. You were one of the shyest kids in your class that was until you met a loud boy with a buzz cut and his misfit friends. You were helping prepare for Hawkins 8th grade talent show. When you heard his band practicing for it. “Wow you guys suck.” You teased when the boy with buzzcut jump off stage landing in front of you. “An you think you can do better sweetheart?” He smirked and you nodded taking his guitar and strumming a few notes. “I know I can.” You smiled up at him.

From that point forward you had become fast friends with the boys. Gareth walked you to your classes all through out middle school and high school. He knew you hated walking alone since you tend to get picked on a lot for being the quiet kid. Jeff always helped you with homework and school projects insisting you not get held back like Eddie so you could always stick with the boys. Jeremy taught you how to play D&D so you always felt included into what the boys were doing and talking about. Eddie though you were the closest to him. From the day you met he’d walk you home from school till he got his license then you always got rides. He always confined in you about his next campaign for D&D or a new song he wrote for the band to play. He let you crash on his couch when you parents we’re having an extra bad fight so you didn’t have to go home to that. You always helped him get corroded coffin gigs. You even sometimes stood in for Eddie during band practices if he couldn’t make it like today.

The whole town had been on the hunt for him. Some how Chrissy Cunningham the queen bee of Hawkins high had ended up dead in his trailer. You didn’t know how but you knew Eddie was innocent. So did other member of corroded coffin to. You need to blow off some steam and clear your head so you and the boys decide to practices some of the new songs Eddie had wrote. You once again found yourself standing in for Eddie. You were barely through the first song when you heard tires screeching and one Jason carver and few of his basketball buddies stepping out of his car.

”You’re a little early, fellas. Show’s not till next week.” Gareth stood up first. One of the thing you admire most about him was his willingness to stand up for his friends immediately. “Oh that what you call music?” One of the basketball players laughed causing you to roll your eyes. “We’re looking for Eddie Munson he in this band if that what you can even call this.” Jason spoke “what do you want with Eddie?” You finally spoke up. “That our business.” Jason snapped back looking you up and down. “Lucas what are you doing with these douchebag?” Gareth words drew your attention up to the younger boy who you recognize as a part of the hellfire club. “We’re just trying to find Eddie man.” “Well you’ve got eyes he’s not here!” Gareth said when Jason swung on him pinning him to the ground by stepping on his hand “gonna be kinda hard to play the drums with a broken hand. Where is he then?!”

You had finally had enough picking up your guitar and swing it at Jason back causing it to break and Jason to stumble back off of Gareth. “He’s not fucking here! We don’t know where the fuck he is now go!” The other basketball player act as if they were gonna grab you when you point the broken end of the guitar at them as if you’d stab them with it. “Go!” You yelled at them watching them drag Jason unconscious body back to the car and drive off.

You helped Gareth up making sure his hand was okay. “Guys we gotta find Eddie before they do.” “I’m Afraid of what they will do if they find him.” The boys all nodded in agreement with you.

A/N: sorry this didn’t get proofread it 3am and I just finished it I’ll correct any mistakes In the morning when I wake up. This is my first fic back I’m hoping to turn it into a little series. Hope you all like it let me know what you think.

#eddie munson #eddie munson x reader #jeff stranger things #corroded coffin #gareth stranger things #gareth emerson #stranger thing fanfic #stranger thing imagine

[rainparadefromhell]

s4 "quick" review.

SPOILERS AHEAD!!

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.

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this is probably the best piece of television i have ever seen. this is why i am so in love with writing and characters and storylines and imagination and creativity and my god do the duffer brothers have all those things. i am actually in awe.

some things that i LOVED that come to mind :

- literally loved every new character?? except jason, is that even his name he can rot why was he in every corner with the satanic shit giving me a migraine smh, eddie is the loml, rip chrissy she was cute and more importantnly steve FINALLY made a new friend his age yay!!!

- steve harrington is gonna do one thing every season and that is be steve harrington aka slay every and any one and he is the best character blabla u already know. also him fucking tearing that bat creature apart was so hot for no reason

- dustin!!!!!????! CARRIED this season. always loved him but his humor really stood out to me this season, gaten acted his ass off

- lucas and that little speech telling max he is always there for her? he has my heart

- sadie oscar when?

- i was screaming "WILLIAM!!" at any mike and will scene. idk why the government name jumped out of me buuuut oh my god i felt so bad bc he is clearly in love w mike and i don't think it's reciprocated....i do think mike knows bc some of them scenes were so awkward but cute i love will

- loved seeing jonathan be so fun (i mean he was high most of the time but still lolol)

- robin????? kiss??? me???? oh MY GOD, her steve and dustin were my absolute favorites, everything she says is comedic gold

- VECNA'S ORIGIN STORY FUCKING DUFFER BROTHERS PLEASE SPARE SOME TALENT. no but i was screaming "he's number one!!!!" when he tricked el. the actor is so talented and his monologue was perfectly evil without being corny. i LOVED them fleshing out the villains more and the whole 1920s victor creel storyline with that beautiful house and the clocks and everything was so stunning visually???

- THE FUCKING SPECIAL EFFECTS CGI WHATEVER THE FUCK WHEN VECNA WOULD BREAK PPLS BONES IT LOOKED SO FUCKING CREEPY AND AWFUL AND SADISTIC AND AMAZING R U KIDDING ME????? this just put ST on another level. the way that that genuinely freaked me out so much with their jaws hanging and missing eyes??? it was truly horror this season.

- hopper and the russian prison guard fighting the demogorgon actually had me on the edge of my seat, it was amazing!! also joyce saving the day by pushing random buttons is such a joyce thing to do lol.

- imma need a written note from netflix and the duffer brothers that my girl el will live a nice, calm and comfortable life in an isolated cabin somewhere after all of this on my desk by monday bc tf?? millie was just flexing her talent bc she was crying and in pain like 90% of the season so far. chefs kiss as always

- dr. br*nner is the biggest piece of shit i have ever seen and if we ever cross paths he is catching these hands. bitch.

things i didn't like :

- there is seriously just one big thing and that is nancy and steve. i love both characters and steve is prob my favorite even but my god do they just not fit at all....nancy and jonathan are both calm and very similar and i just wanted steve to thrive whether by himself or with a new girl. the show made a point that nancy never really loved him and now suddenly it's true love? give me a break, they barely interacted in ages. it just seemed like they didn't know what to do so they used them for cheap drama even though the nancy and jonathan long distance issues were, in my opinion, enough and completely valid and relatable. also emotional cheating isn't cute.

- wanted to see more of mike. a lot of people don't like him but i do. feels like the show doesn't know what to do with him sometimes though.

and that's it. bc the season was basically perfect in my eyes. 10/10

i was, as i'm sure many people as well worried that ST would decline in quality after season 3, hell even 2. but s4 just proved me the fuck wrong. it is absolutely my favorite season so far. i know we are getting a s5 but this makes me want at least 5 more!!!!! but i do trust the duffer brothers to end everything on a high note. but i just cannot wrap my mind over how good this season was??? everything just clicked with el's backstory in the lab and vecna's origin story they REALLY thought everything through and it SHOWS.

this is what tv should be. just pure talent and a thought out idea. and of course an incredible cast. what a delight. i am filled with serotonin. congrats to everyone involved in making this season from the creators to the cast & crew. we will be talking about s4 of stranger things for a looooooong time you best believe.

in short I FUCKING LOVE ART!!!!!!!

#stranger things season 4 #stranger things s4 #stranger things #stranger things spoilers #stranger things netflix #spoilers #mike wheeler #nancy wheeler #will byers #jonathan byers #eleven #steve harrington #dustin henderson #lucas sinclair #max mayfield #robin buckley #eddie munson #jim hopper #joyce byers

[dirtytransmasc]

I think I need to make this post about billy, so I don't have to explain myself every time someone tries to call me out for being a racist or abuser-sympathizer. It's yet to happen on here, but it's definitely happened in real life, so Im just trying to stay ahead of the game.

I like billy with some major terms and conditions. I liked billy for who he should have been and could have been had the duffers actually put effort into his character and used him correctly. I do not like/ignore/excuse his racist/aggressive behavior in the show. I simply understand why they happened, how and why they could be worked through, and I can see past the behavior to the little kid who acted that way out of fear and years of abuse. I think he deserved a true redemption.

I can look at him from the perspective of someone who has both been through his abuse type and as someone who studies the effect of abuse on children. I can see how he fits the role of a reactive type scapegoat from a narcissistic family unit to the T like he is absolutely textbook. Of course, he and max don't have a good relationship (more on this here). That's the point of a narcissistic family unit. Forcing them against each other by fitting them into opposing roles, tearing the kids apart so they can't find reprieve with each other, and so the blame can be shifted to the scapegoat. The scapegoat is aggressive towards the golden child due to (forced) resentment, they can then be pinned as the sole abuser of the golden child, and the narcissist can't be blamed for being 'rough' with the scapegoat cause they are "aggressive and unruly, of course I had have a heavy hand, I needed to put him in his place." Of course, Billy hit on older women while being 17/barely 18. He wanted his mom; he has some serious mommy issues after she was one of the only known people to give him love and affection, only to have left him when he was 9/12 (tops) with his abuser. He was desperate for any sort of motherly love, and what other way to get positive attention than by offering his body and charm since that's the only thing people seem to give a shit about. Billy being aggressive with steve and picking a fight with him is kinda justified. To be clear, billy is aggressive, but he found his little sister (who he just got slapped around for because she ran off, and he was forced to take the blame) with 5 boys, one of which was his age (meaning he was significantly older than Max), and was lied to about her whereabouts. If that was my sibling and me, I would have beaten the shit out of steve too. Not only was he wound up from his dad picking a fight with him and from the move* (*explained later in the post), but he had every reason to think his sister was in some sort of danger. Combine those with billy's ever-increasing anger, and the whole thing makes sense.

There are also the external factors that need to be considered it was the 80s, and while Stranger Things is set in an idealized past, racism/bigotry of the time still exists and seems to be pretty widespread outside of the main party. So hate to break it to you, but king steve from seasons 1 and 2 was homophobic, pretty sexist, and most likely racist, but no one calls him out (I love steve so much, he's one of my favorites, but there is definitely a bit of a double standard/blind eye to his behavior). Plus, it can be easily assumed billy's behavior is learned from his father, cause I mean, look at Neil; he is a textbook biggot just from looks alone, that and the fact he openly calls his son the f-slur. It can be assumed billy's racism (because even if I think it was an unnecessary feature of billy's character, I'm not going to ignore it because that is a dangerous form of erasure and is a very slippery slope into even more racist behavior and territory) and while that doesn't make it right, it explains it and shows that there is a possibility for growth. The second thing is that season 2 takes place after a major move for the Hargrove-Mayfield family, and I go into it here, but I have more to add. The reason moves are so stressful for abuse victims is because of three things. There is a lot of stress, meaning there is a lot of fear of slipping up and accidentally upsetting an abuser; said abuser is stressed out, so punishments are typically a lot worse, and when there is stress, an abuser's fuse is even shorter, and they may create reasons to abuse the victim. Second, victims will memorize the household schedule to avoid being alone with the abuser and to know when they can and can't do certain things like being home/out, eating, showering, doing chores, etc. After a major move, it can take weeks for a schedule to even come about and even longer for it to become set and stone/memorized. Therefore there is a lengthy period in which a victim is in constant fight or flight, months before they can settle down and go back to a more casual state of survival mode (which on its own is horrible and exhausting and explains billy's behavior all on its own).

I related to billy so much, his pain, his anger, the way he reacted to his shitty life. I can barely understand how people hated him when everything he did had a reason when it was all a cry for help (I go more into this in the bottom half of this post). But I will be honest, I sometimes forget not everyone studies psychology for fun, and not everyone was abused, so take the former line with a grain of salt. He was so scared, and he tried to hide it with anger, which considering his father thought he was queer (he called him the f-slur, and even if he wasn't queer [he totally was] it was very common for any 'feminine' traits' shown in boys would get them labeled as queer) meaning he was most likely punished for being emotional. Anger is one of the only 'manly' emotions, meaning it was probably the only way he felt even slightly safe working through his feelings.

The only reason he was a racist is that the duffers forced a traumatized and abused child to be a villain when it was completely unnecessary (more on this here).

This is a compilation of why I love him and why I would do anything to bring him back and give him the second chance he deserved. he wasn't a villain. He was a misunderstood child (being 4 months and change past your 18th birthday doesn't magically make you an adult). Billy Hargrove was a hero. He fought a monster that took over his body and made him do horrible things, but he never gave up. It took 1 gentle touch and a reminder he was once happy for him to win against a monster. And even then, he didn't run; he stood up and saved the entire group (11 people; 7 kids, 4 teens) and subsequently all of Hawkins and most likely the world. Almost every second he was on screen, he was close to tears/crying. Every time the mind flayer used him, he cried with the last bit of control he had. he never wanted to hurt anyone; he taught little kids how to swim, for christ's sake. Deep down, at the very end of the day, under all of the angst and anger he used to protect himself, he was a good person and truly deserved to be loved. He didn't want to be angry, he was just so scared, and he had to be exhausted. I speak from experience when I say living through that mask all the time is tiring.

He should have gotten to escape Neil, apologize to the party, grow a relationship with max, get adopted by Joyce and Hopper, maybe spark a friendship with steve, and finally get to just live freely and happily. He deserved that much after almost 2 decades of pain and fear. Not become a cheap villain just for shits and giggles, and die horribly choking out an apology to his sister, only to be used as torture porn for max in season 4 and have his entire sacrifice boiled down to 'well he deserved to die anyway' making his entire backstory as a victim pointless (that actually did a lot of harm because it validates the perfect victim concept which is a super toxic view on abuse victims that caused a lot of pain and suffering for reactive victims. So screw the duffers for that. another user sums the concept up here)

#billy hargrove #max mayfield #steve harrington #stranger things #the duffer brothers #duffer brother slander #hopefully I covered everything #please just let me love billy in my own mentally ill way #I only like him because I was abused and have psychology as a special interest #please dont dox me for this #dirtytransmasc

[dalekofchaos]

Duffer Bros glorifying the abuser/bully is disgusting

I’ve noticed a disturbing troupe about the show that just disgusts me. The Duffer Bros constantly goes out of their way to try and make the abuser sympathetic.

Lonnie. Let’s start with Lonnie. As we know, Lonnie is abusive towards Joyce, WIll and Jonathan. The actor himself went out of his way to make Lonnie a vile scumbag. Now why am I listing him as a sympathetic person? Because before they decided to make Steve Harrington the best character of the series, Steve was supposed to fill the role of human villain. He was supposed to win the fight and beat Jonathan up and apparently SA Nancy(gross???) than originally it was supposed to be Lonnie who was gonna save Jonathan and Nancy from the Demogorgon. Thank fuck Joe Keery put a stop to that bullshit. Oh and I better not fucking see them try to make Lonnie sympathetic in season 5.

Troy. Troy was the asshole who bullied and harassed the party. Called Will homophobic slurs. And went as far as forcing Mike to jump off a cliff while holding Dustin with a knife.  We never see him again, so why list him? They made a comic attempting to make us feel sorry for the little asshole. No fuck you, I don’t care if he was the school’s whipping boy for El making him pee himself. I don’t give a shit that his friend turned on him and I don’t care about his parents have had enough of him. Fuck him, as far as I’m concerned he got what he deserved.

Brenner. The guy who is responsible for everything. Experimenting on children. Marking them as numbers, taking them away from their parents. Forcing them all to call him “papa” even forcing them to fight each other. For all I know Brener planned to continue to experiment on the children if he ever got his hands on Will Byers. And El FINALLY calls him for all his bullshit, he still continues to be an abusive bastard. And what happens. Sullivan shows up, he leaves with El and we get a forced goodbye asking El to understand what he did was for her own good. I literally screamed “AARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME” when I watched that scene. 

002. Fuck this guy. No, I don’t feel sorry that Henry killed him. He was a teenager bullying and attempting to kill a child because she humiliated him. Fuck him and he deserved to die. 

Billy. Abusive step-brother, tries to run over the party, racist, and tried to kill Lucas and Steve. So what do they do one season later? WOOBIFY HIM AND TRY TO MAKE US SYMPATHISE WITH HIM. I am glad he’s fucking dead. Fuck him. He was supposed to be the Henry Bowers of the show, the human villain and the most vile characters introduced. And instead on continuing that by making Billy a willing participant with the Mind Flayer(or really Vecna) they have Billy flayed and try to woobify him and act like the shit he did one season ago never fucking happened.  He did the bare minimum by saving El. Max’s sadness, while understandable, wasn’t earned. They had no meaningful relationship, all we got from season 2 is abuse, mutual hatred and the ending was a sign he was gonna leave her alone. There is no scene of them together to show they remotely started fresh or any sign that Max forgave him. It felt forced and unearned. It’s like if Stephen King tried to pull a complete 180 and tried to woobify Henry Bowers and sacrifice himself to stop Pennywise. Yeah, that would’ve been fucking stupid if that happened.

Angela. Oh my god, fuck this bitch. She has been making El’s life in California a living hell. All the girl wanted was a friend. Oh and this fucking bitch had the nerve to use Helen Keller as a presentation for what she did for disabled people when she acted cruelly towards El for being different. Oh and they have the nerve to present Angela as sad and sympathetic when she gets what she fucking deserves. I’m supposed to feel sorry for this bitch? They wanted El to feel like shit...FOR WHAT? They didn’t even use the EVIDENCE that El was provoked. It was right on fucking camera and they didn’t even do it.  And to top it off, Joyce couldn’t even pick up that El was being bullied at all. She knows Will has been bullied, yet Joyce couldn’t pick up on it or at the least tell that El was sad. Parent of the year.

Hopper. Long version, see post here. Everything Jim has done in the series is forgotten and swept under the rug. Selling El and the party to Brenner? Never brought up again, even when Brenner was alive in season 4. Treating El like a prisoner and threatening to send her back to Hawkins Lab? Never brought up again. Threating Mike so bad that he stays away from El in two episodes and he never tells El nor does Hopper ever fucking apologize? IT’S NEVER BROUGHT UP AGAIN. Everything sketchy Hopper does is never brought up again. Hopper has been glorified by the Duffers and the fandom and it really disgusts me that El took Hopper’s name. 

The Duffer Bros has this really disgusting troupe by making the most vile abusers and bullies sympathetic/woobifying them and it really disgusts me that they still keep fucking doing this. The only credit I will give them is they didn’t try this shit with Jason. Mason did everything to make Jason as hateable as fucking Joffrey. I haven’t hated a character like this since Joffrey, that’s how good Mason was. 

Jason does the following

Riled up an entire town against a minor and said town was like yeah, sure, fuck the police, we’ll just hunt him ourselves

Beat up Gareth and stepped on his fingers, threatening to break his fingers knowing he was a drummer

Saw his friend Patrick die under very weird supernatural circumstances and still thought Eddie had something to do with it 

Took his friends to buy guns and weapons to hunt Eddie

Aggressively tried to intimidate Nancy into telling him where mike and Mike’s friends were

Brutally beat up Lucas Sinclair, a highschool freshman, and almost killed him by shooting at him 

Had his friend assault Lucas’ sister, a middle school girl

Yet never once do they try to give Jason any sort of nuance or made us sympathize with him. “If Chrissy was in trouble, she would’ve came to me” Self-Centered much? If you couldn’t tell Chrissy was going through some problems, that should tell you everything you need to know.

Also as awful as Billy was, he never hid behind an excuse of “We’re doing the right thing” in order to indulge his psychopathic urges. Jason used the fact that he knew he was well-off enough to not get in serious trouble for it as an excuse to hunt down someone with the full intent of murdering them brutally.

Point is, aside from Jason. the Duffer Bros have this weird feitish of trying to make the abusers of the series sympathetic and it’s really gross. 

#Stranger Things #Anti Duffers #Anti Jim Hopper #Anti Billy Hargrove #Anti Hopper #Martin Brenner #Lonnie Byers #Troy Walsh #Angela Stranger Things

[sixofpomegranates]

☠︎ 𝚅𝚒𝚘𝚕𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝙴𝚗𝚍𝚜 ☠︎ -𝙴.𝙼.

⚡︎{Eddie’s Masterlist}•{Requests/Feedback}•{Guidlines}⚡︎

Summary: Duffer Brother-Esque pain. You’d be perfect, but the stars don't favor your love.

A/N:  !Body, Ethnicity & Skin color Neutral! I just Duffer Brothered myself. It's a retelling of what happened to Eddie with an x Fem!Reader element.

CW: All Angst - No Happy End! 18+ | Mentions of Bullying/Jealousy/Eddie's Parents(abuse/neglect)/Underage Drinking/Tattoos (y/n & Eddie), Drugs & selling & use of (Weed), Pining/Childhood Crush, Death, Blood, slight gore, Major Character Death,

*picture does not describe the looks of the reader*

My entire life, I'd been in love with Eddie Munson.

It was something about his smile, about how he seemed scary and insane but was actually a weird sweetheart. Whenever he smiled, my heart skipped a beat, and when he laughed, a soft warmth spread through my body.

Once, I was nine, I fell off my bike and scraped my knee. Eddie had noticed it, seen me from afar, and stopped to check on me and hand me a band-aid. He had lots he carried around, for moments when he got into fights, for moments he accidentally hurt himself, or for when his father had been abusive and he'd left his home in a hurry.

After child protective services finally gave custody over him to his uncle, Eddie had lost his brown curls. His uncle had to shave his head because nobody had taught Eddie how to care for himself; it was full of knots and lice.

Everybody knew, and kids were teasing him and staying away from him, making him an outsider. Yet, he never lost his smile or humor.

I found it endearing.

The first time I realized that my childhood crush was still there and had only become so much bigger, was a month before it came back.

Robin and Steve had taken me to a party hosted by one of the basketball players from Junior College. None of us had wanted to go, except for Steve, but he'd been right when he told us that although we saved Hawkins, we needed to move on and live the life after it as well.

Robin, lastly, just went to see him get rejected by college girls...

At the party, I'd met plenty of guys, either drunk, or high, or both. None had piqued my interest, so I just grabbed a beer and snug outside. It'd been too full to find my friends anyway.

The front yard was almost empty, some guys hanging out on the porch, buying drugs. I sat on the white Hollywood swing, drinking my beer. The men passed me, one sitting down next to me.

I'd already counted on this guy hitting on me, but instead, a familiar chuckle came from him. "Hey, [y/n]."

I looked to my side, Eddie sitting there, lunchbox in his lab. "Hi," I gave back. "I thought you didn't like parties?"

"Oh, I don't, but they're good for business."

I nodded, taking a sip from my beer, while Eddie lit himself a joint. I watched his coarse hand full of big rings lead the joint to his lips, the other one brushing through his curly mane. He was handsome.

Not the type you took home to meet your parents, but the type of beautiful that gave you butterflies nonetheless, making you forget that the stars could maybe not favor the both of you together.

"Want a hit," he suddenly asked, having caught me staring. I nodded, taking a hit while he still held the joint for me. "You're graduating this year as well, right?"

I nodded, taking a sip of my beer. "Yeah. Class of '86."

"It's a good year."

"Is it?"

He nodded, a boyish grin on his lips. "Absolutely. I can feel stuff like that."

I handed him my beer, offering him to drink just as he shared his joint with me. The loud music was barely as annoying as it had been inside. Sitting there with Eddie was nice.

"They have zero taste in music in there, now do they?" Eddie asked appalled, seconds after the third song of The Bee Gees started to play.

I giggled. "You don't like it?"

Rolling his eyes, he couldn't help but grin. "Awful."

Staring at him while he took another sip from my beer, I started biting the pillowy part of my bottom lip.

He flashed me a smile as he noticed it. "Careful," he said, coming a little closer. "I might end up thinking you have the hots for me."

"You're so full of yourself, Munson," I snickered, softy hitting his chest.

"Yeah," he chuckled. "But wouldn't you like to be?"

We stared at each other for a moment and then burst into laughter.

"This was the worst pick-up line I've ever heard," I exclaimed, watching him wipe the tears from his eyes.

"It's the worst I ever used," he admitted. "I feel dirty, and not in a good way."

As we collected ourselves again, he began swaying us back and forth on the Hollywood swing.

"I like you, Eddie," I told him gently. "You're always so happy and sweet."

Pressing his lips together, he began to blush, "Thanks."

"Just tell me you're getting flattered easily?" I gently teased him.

He nodded, solely becoming redder. "Flattery works with me very well."

"Kay, I'll remember that."

As both joint and beer were finished, we simply continued talking.

"I don't know if you can remember, but when I was eleven, I saw you fall off your bike and hurt your knee. I was kinda the first responder."

I nodded, "Yeah, how could I forget? You gave me a band-aid with tigers on it."

"Y-You cried, and I didn't know what else to do."

Eddie carefully laid his hand on my thigh, and I began playing with his rings. They were cold, forming a harsh contrast to his warm hand. I liked the feeling.

As another Bee Gees song began to play, he curled his nose, shaking his head a little. "Hey, would you- would you like to dump this party and go eat a burger instead? My treat."

My first instinct was to say yes, but instead, I said, "I- I'm here with friends..."

Eddie quickly nodded, pulling his hand from my grasp. "Yeah, sorry. That was stupid of me. I- It's the pot, you know. Makes me a little dumb." He jumped up. "I need to go anyway. Got some homework to do. See ya around."

"Eddie, I didn't mean..." He'd already run away.

I felt a knot form in my stomach. I should've talked faster and said things differently. I would've loved to grab something to eat with him.

Robin soon found me still sitting on the Hollywood swing, and although she loved to tease me for not acting on my feelings towards the metalhead, this time, she solely listened and held my hand while I talked myself crazy.

Then the Upside Down came back to haunt us, and it also began haunting Eddie. He was now a wanted man, searched for murder in the name of his satanic cult.

He'd done nothing wrong and yet paid the price. I wished that it wouldn't be a common pattern in our fight against this other side, but it was.

As we met for the first time since hell broke loose, it was at Skull Rock. We stared at each other for a second, and I knew he wasn't sure if I, as well, thought him to be a monster.

Only after he'd eaten and found out that I was in on everything, he felt brave enough to talk to me. I'd welcomed it, helping him catch up with all that happened since the night Will had disappeared.

"So, you guys do that often?" he asked me, trying to sound casual while we walked through the woods.

I nodded. "Steve, Nancy, and the kids more often than me, though. I joined them at the freaking 4th of July disaster."

"So, Billy Hargrove, the mall...?"

"Yep."

"And this girl, Eleven, doesn't have her powers anymore, making us basically defenseless..." he concluded while looking around, clearly overwhelmed.

"It gets easier," I assured him. "Well, first it gets worse, but then easier."

"Because you get used to the crazy?" he chuckled, making me giggle.

"Yeah, kind of."

"Awesome. Can't wait."

As our laughter ceased, his hand wrapped around my wrist. Eddie stopped walking, making us stay behind and out of hearing distance.

"I- I didn't-" he stopped, swallowing roughly. "I didn't hurt Chrissy. I- I didn't kill her. I could never hurt anybody like that. I- I don't even like confrontation when it isn't just being a dick from afar."

"I know," I said, noticing the tears he held back. "I never thought you did it."

Within a second, his arms were wrapped around me, his face buried in my neck. At first, I was shocked, just standing there, but as a shaky sigh escaped him, I immediately relaxed. I wrapped my arms around him, and he pulled me even closer.

His clothes smelled like they were in desperate need of a wash, but I didn't care. My heart was nearly jumping out of my chest, my stomach was full of butterflies, and for a moment, nothing else mattered.

'I could get used to this,' I thought. But sadly, he let go of me after a while, quickly turning his back to me in an effort to not have me see his tears.

"Hey," I cooed, laying a hand on his shoulder. "We'll find a way to fix this."

"Everyone thinks I'm a murderer, [y/n]," he said, turning around. "How would we fix this?"

I pressed my lips together, removing my hand from his shoulder. "I- I don't know," I admitted, making him scoff.

"Yeah, thought so."

Eddie turned in the direction the others had gone and, again, ran. He ran before I could say anything else. Before I could come up with a plan, or at least a lie, that would buy me time.

This was a mess, a mess so bad that it had probably not only killed but also buried my chance ever to be more to Eddie than just an acquaintance he was saving Hawkins with.

Distraction. Eddie, Dustin, and I would be distracting the demobats, while Nancy, Steve, and Robin would hopefully kill Vacna with Max as bait.

A sense of dread overcame me as we prepared ourselves and our weapons in a field near the trailer park. We'd seen what those bats could do – attacking Steve like little, flying piranhas. We'd seen what Vecna was capable of.

After running around with Dustin, still able to laugh after all that had happened these past days, Eddie walked up to me. He flopped himself down on the grass next to me. Since he ran from our last, there had been no conversation solely containing us, and I'd actually thought that he would continue to avoid me.

"We made some pretty cool shields," he said, smiling at me carefully.

"Yeah, saw that," I smiled back.

His hand sneaked to my thigh, resting there. "What are you thinking about?" he asked, while my hand went down to his, so I could fidget with his rings.

"Premonitions," I mumbled.

Eddie frowned. "A gut feeling? You're having one of those right now, Sweetheart?"

I nodded. "We're in over our heads," I said, looking over at our friends laughing.

"You wanna tell the others?" he asked, but I shook my head.

Watching Lucas and Erica bicker, I giggled before feeling a wave of sadness crashing down on me. This little bit of normality shouldn't be so rare and pleasant to see.

"You know what's the worst part of all this?" I asked Eddie, and he shook his head. "Erica is eleven years old. This started when she was nine, and the boys were only twelfth. They're not at an age they should worry about dying while saving the world."

He looked over to the kids, seeing how Erica flung something at her brother, Steve stepping between them.

"They don't seem like they're worried... Except for Max. They're tough little shits," Eddie shrugged, laughing as the kids all attacked Steve, throwing him to the ground and making Nancy step in since he was still injured.

"Can you promise me something?"

"Anything," he whispered, leaning closer and staring at me with those beautiful brown eyes.

I swallowed roughly, looking away from his gaze. "I definitely wouldn't say I'm an adult just because I'm eighteen, but here, in this situation, we are the adults," I explained, licking over my lips and swallowing down tears. "It's our duty to protect the kids. They deserve the chance to grow up and move past this."

Before I could say anything more, Eddie interrupted me, "I- I know where this is going. [y/n], we're gonna make it, all of us. We have a plan, Nancy Wheeler is an insane person with guns, and you all went through this before."

He tried looking away, but I put a hand on his cheek, forcing him to keep eye contact. "If push comes to shove, we have to get Dustin out of there. He's with us; he's our responsibility."

Eddie took my hand from his cheek, holding it in both of his. He smiled gently in an effort to keep me calm, "We're all going to make it."

"Promise me that you won't play hero," I insisted, making him laugh.

"Sweetheart, you know I'm not a hero. I see danger; I run."

"Some situations need you to be smart and run. Just promise me you'll take Dustin with you."

He nodded, still having a boyish grin on his lips. "I promise. But like I said, we're all gonna make it out. Worst case, I'll throw the two of you over my shoulder and pull a speed racer."

Fair enough, this made me giggle again. Eddie's self-deprecating humor had me wrapped around his little finger.

"There we go," he chuckled. "You're so much prettier when you laugh."

"Now don't you start flirting with me, Munson," I warned him jokingly, having him raise his eyebrows and lean so close I recognized small, almost invisible freckles on the bridge of his nose.

"Why? What would happen if I did?"

His question knocked the air out of my lungs. I wasn't sure if he'd guessed my feelings, played with me, or solely wanted to keep our little banter up, but he drove me crazy in a very unknown to me but welcomed manner.

"I- I-" I stammered while his hopeful eyes fixated on my lips. "I would-"

"Guys, it's showtime," Steve suddenly yelled, having us look over. Everyone was getting into the stolen RV.

Eddie grinned at me, flirtatious. "Hold that thought, okay?" he said, helping me up. "We'll talk after we killed Vecna." Then he walked up to our friends.

"Eddie," I called after him, making him turn around and chuckle.

"Protect the kids. I know, Sweetheart."

So close to disaster, I finally caught a glimpse of heaven. Eddie Munson was beautiful, and no matter how often I had seen him play at The Hideout with his band Corroded Coffin, I couldn't get over how beautiful he looked, wholly focused on his music.

Our distraction had become Eddie playing 'Master of Puppets' by Metallica, having him pull on every earthly string attached to my silly little doll-heart.

Hiding in the trailer, Eddie and Dustin began jumping up and down, excitedly yelling about having been part of the most metal concert ever. Eddie's arm wrapped around my waist, making me jump with them.

But soon, the bats came through the vents. We hadn't thought about the vents; how could we have forgotten? Outside the trailer, inside Eddie's room... there were thousands of bats trying to find their way to us.

Eddie and I exchanged a look, him pushing Dustin and me behind himself, his spear ready to protect us.

"We need to go," I told Dustin. "Climb, climb," I hurried him.

"They're just gonna follow us through the portal," the boy yelled, having me feel the same dawning premonition as when we were out on the field.

These bats couldn't come to our dimension. They'd wreak havoc on our town.

"LET'S Go!" Eddie screamed at us, the door to the bedroom starting to give in. "LET'S GO!"

"Just climb, Dustin," I told the boy, trying to hide my panic. "It's gonna be okay."

When he was safe on the other side of the portal, Eddie turned to me; spear still pointed in the direction of the door.

"Next you, Sweetheart," he said, but I shook my head.

"Dustin's right. They're gonna come through the portal."

He nodded. "We're gonna barricade it once we're out of here."

"That won't be enough, Eddie."

Our eyes met again, and I could swear he saw what I was thinking.

"GUYS!" Dustin called us. "HURRY UP!"

"I'm gonna distract them," I told Eddie, quiet enough that Dustin couldn't hear me. "You go through the portal, and if bats start coming through it... Just barricade it."

He shook his head, determined, "I am not going to leave you here."

"You have to."

"I don't have to do jack-shit," he scoffed. "Not letting you play bait for those things."

"You promised me we're going to put the kids' well-being before our own."

"[y/n]-" he started more gently, but I interrupted him.

"I'm going to be fine," I lied, looking into Eddie's big brown eyes one last time. "I'll see you later."

Storming out of the trailer, bats already started swarming me, scratching every inch of skin they could reach. The first scratch across my face burned terribly, but the next ones were dulled down due to the adrenaline in my veins.

I grabbed one of the bikes lying around and jumped on it, driving down the road as fast as I could. I was directionless, tears pricking in my eyes as the screaming bat came closer and closer.

Then they attacked, throwing themselves at me and the bike. I lost my balance and crashed onto the ground. Having nothing to defend myself with, I curled up into a ball.

The bats were relentless, biting, scratching, and tearing threw my skin. I screamed; in a weak moment as one wrapped its tail around my neck, even begging for the pain to stop, for them to leave me alone. The tail around my neck had me struggling, trying to get away, and lastly, departing my defensive position, allowing these monsters to tear into the vulnerable flesh of my stomach.

That was when the bat strangling me got flung away. Eddie entered my teary-eyed view, bloodied and mangled like me. He collapsed then and there, crawling closer and wrapping his arms around me as though he was still able to protect me.

After a long while, the demobats grew sick of us. They weren't like regular animals. They hadn't hunted us for nourishment. They had hunted and tortured us for fun. Now that we solely lay there, weak, defenseless, close to dying, we weren't interesting anymore.

They simply left.

I whimpered in pain as Eddie let go of me, both of us still lying on our sides and facing each other. "I- I know, Sweetheart," he croaked, coughing up blood.

"Where's Dustin?" I asked, and he smiled weakly.

"Safe. Made sure he had to stay on the other side."

I sighed, looking at Eddie's face, tears running down my cheeks and burning in my facial wounds. He began crying as well, his hand full of rings, brushing hair out of my face.

A louder groan escaped me as my rips began filling with deep-seated pain. The adrenaline was leaving me like it had left Eddie earlier.

This was it. This was how we were going to die.

"I'm sorry," I whispered. "I- This is my fault."

"It's not," he whispered back. "Protect the kids, remember?"

Pulling a pained grimace, Eddie nodded, letting out an agonized grunting noise as he cursed under his breath. "Fuck."

I whimpered the only thing I could think of, "I don't wanna die."

We were still kids; our lives hadn't even fully begun. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair that we had to pay the ultimate price, although we'd never done anything to deserve this.

I wanted to graduate, go to college, experience love, get married, and have a family of my own... But I was going to bleed out in the Upside Down.

There was no happy ending this time.

Eddie seemed so angry and scared, cradling my face in his hands. As he assured himself I was looking into his eyes, he said, "I love you."

A shockwave of butterflies erupted in my chest as he continued, "I loved you ever since you shared your lunch with me when I was ten because mom didn't care enough to make me one. I- I started driving the same way home as you after that, although it took me twice as long, but I never had the courage to talk to you."

"I love you too," I cried happily, one hand rising to his cheek and the other to his softly beating heart. I had so long dreamed of hearing and saying these words.

He clenched his jaw, "I should've said something earlier, but every time I got the chance to be alone with you, I got scared and ran. I never would've thought you'd feel the same."

"I wish I would've gone with you when you asked me to leave the party with you," I told him.

Edie shook his head a little, "I should've asked you out properly. I'm sorry I never did, but- but I didn't run away this time."

I started becoming cold, unnaturally cold, and my eyes became heavy. "Eddie... hurts," I whimpered. We both knew that we ran on borrowed time.

"I know, Sweetheart," he assured me, pulling me close to his chest, his forehead resting against mine.

Is heart became weaker, and all the happiness left my body. We would not get to be together. We would die before we could graduate, go on our first date, or even have our first kiss.

"I wish I could've made you happy," Eddie cried, pulling me the tiniest bit closer and pressing his lips on mine.

Everything hurt as he did, it pained him as well, but it was a kiss, so soft, so sweet, so innocent. It was like a false promise that the stars could still start favoring us.

"I wish we would've had more time," I whispered against his lips, and Eddie rested his forehead against mine again.

"I'm glad you are the last thing I'll get to see," I smiled sadly.

He chuckled, clinging to his last moments, "I love you so much."

"I love you too, Eddie Munson."

Breathing became hard, and as the light left Eddie's eyes and the heart under my fingertips stopped beating, I closed my eyes and let go as well...

We loved each other, we would've been perfect, but the stars simply didn't favor us.

•

•

#eddie munson fluff #eddie munson x fem!reader #eddie munson x you #eddie munson #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson angst #eddie munson fic #eddie munson fanfic #stranger things s4 #stranger things fic #stranger things fanfic #stranger things angst

[dallasbyersclub]

ok. ok ok ok.

so this season was disappointing to so many. and the marketing team at netflix did their best to make it as cruel and unusual a punishment as possible. still, i'm grateful for all the amazing folks here who have been doing The Most in media analysis and art and writing. it's been a blast and i'm proud of you guys.

i've already seen a trend start to form of people trying to find hope that somehow, somehow we weren't queerbaited. that byler can still win-steddie and ronance are dead (in the former's case, literally) in the water at this point and i am so very angry- but maybe, maybe there is some hope for byler. because the writing doesn't make sense and the marketing doesn't make sense and it's so blatantly awful what they did- surely they wouldn't be that ignorant, right? i mean surely they wouldn't be that cruel?

i don't want to say it's a bad idea to have hope. i don't want to say it's a bad idea to theorize, because this fanbase Kills it when it comes to media analysis and theories. but i do want to address this idea-that b/c it doesn't make sense means that there has to be some other explanation- because there is another explanation. it's that the duffer brothers are bad writers. and they don't care about their queer audience or their audience of color or any kind of real representation. they just do not care. netflix does not care. they want our money and love capitalism (new coke ad s3 my worstie) and have been making a show that glorifies and romanticizes the 80s since day one because they do not care about us. likely they are simply ignorant- i don't even mean this in a perjorative sense i mean they literally Do Not Know how bad it was in the 80s for minorities and they do not care to know. it's not a priority for them they just want to make their fun show with synth music and star wars references. the only type of oppression they can understand is the #nerd oppression that they try to peddle. this show has never been kind to minorities and it will continue not to be kind to minorities. because even if (if!) byler somehow, somehow happens. you still have the myriad of issues that this show has developed over the years in regards to its characters of color, female characters, and queer characters. i just wanted to lay it all out on the table, because regardless of whatever happens in season five, we have to hold netflix + the duffers accountable. let's talk about it- here's how stranger things has handled representation:

we have poc being written off as stereotypes, comic relief, or just not getting to play a significant role in the story. see erica embodying the sassy black girl trope , kali getting shafted and forgotten, argyle just being a comic relief machine. and lucas...

lucas continuously gets done So Dirty!! by the writers. he is regularly separated from the group i.e. season 1 where he gets in a fight with mike and has to go off on his own, season 4 where he had that storyline with the jocks that didn't really go anywhere, and seasons 2-3 where he just barely appeared and even when he did...

we have racism in smalltown america. the duffer brothers are somewhat aware of this in their periphery but they don't know how to address it and most likely won't hire any writers of color to help them to. i don't think any writer who has actually experienced racism would decide that it's a good idea to just ignore it and pretend everything was fun and cool while the one black character gets shafted in the story- and when there does come a time where he faces racism they can't even do it authentically. Billy Fucking Hargrove is a racist piece of shit and he targeted lucas for a very specific reason and we all know what it is but no one in the show addresses it, comforts him, or tries helps him process his assault at the hands of a violent racist asshole. no one talks about the fact that he got fucking hatecrimed. lucas does not get to process this-he does not get to go home to his family and hug his mom (a lá season 1 mike) and tell her his was really scared. he doesn't get to talk to his friends about the fact that they don't understand what it's like for him and most of the time they don't even try to. he doesn't get to express to max that he somewhat understands why she wanted billy dead because he was scared of her psycho brother too. no. because the writers don't care!! and don't understand!! and don't want to!! they gave billy a hamfisted and poorly executed redemption arc, but a redemption arc no less- and it wasn't one where he actually atoned for his racism, misogyny and abusive behavior. he just got a hero's death and isn't that just so easy.

not a lot of people talk about this one, but i actually feel like stranger things doesn't always do right by it's female characters either. i mean- let's talk about the fact that the ratio of female characters to male characters is wayyyy off; in the first season there was eleven, joyce, karen wheeler(ish), and nancy (and barb, sort of). in season 2 they added max (and kali sorta) and in season three they added robin. erica and suzie get bigger roles. s4 there's chrissy(dies immediately) and vicki (not a fucking character i'll get to that) meanwhile in s1 there's mike, will, dustin, lucas, hopper, jonathan, steve, brenner. and when they've added about four or five new female characters across the span of three seasons, they've added at least eleven new prominent male characters: billy, dr. owens, murray, bob, eddie, argyle, vecna/henry, enzo, yuri, alexei., jason.. all characters with a prominent role and multiple scenes and character beats in the story. and so many of the male characters we do have have wayy more prominence and care put into them than their female counterparts. i mean, look at erica in s3 vs alexei. both were side characters, and alexei was arguably an even smaller character than erica, but alexei was portrayed sympathetically and authentically. people cared about alexei. people had emotions about alexei. people cried over him. meanwhile erica was thrust into the SassyBlackGirl comic relief trope. there was no emotion, no nuance. and the way kali's story(which i have my own opinions on how that was handled) was introduced and then completely forgotten because the general masses weren't chomping at the bit for a cashgrab spin-off. so they dropped her. even when it would've made sense to bring her back for the vecna storyline, they dropped her because it wasn't making them money, because again, the duffer brothers do not care!! i mean, why are they always concocting new ways to create gamer oppression but there's like, not a lot of female nerds? max likes arcade games but there isn't much more overlap (see, her not being interested in d&d) suzie is a nerd but we almost never see her and erica has her moment in s4 but we don't really get to see her make references the same way dustin or will or eddie do. idk i think i'm just upset that there were no girls in the hellfire club. why are there no girls in the hellfire club. why are their no gi-

female characters being dismissed/reduced to a love interest. we see it with joyce especially in season 4- she barely gets to do anything, murray does most of the heavy lifting for no discernible reason, she spends most of her time worrying over hopper (a trait that is becoming a serious problem for a character who's life/ story in every season revolves around the men in her life) while he spends his time positioning her as a goal he can win over - see season 3 hopper character assassination where he became possessive and angry over joyce not wanting to go out with him/feeling like she owed it to him to go out on a date...despite her losing her boyfriend less than a year ago. also? the weird scene where they're changing clothes-why are they changing clothes i don't get it their clothes were fine-but anyway the way the camera focuses on joyce undresses and pulling down her pants slowly and taking off her shirt to reveal her bra... unnecessary!! like yes we all know winona ryder is a milf and i would welcome it any other day but the fact that it was only done the season where she was reduced to a love interest.. hm. we've also seen this with eleven's character arc revolving so much around mike, her only being able to defeat vecna when mike told her he loved her. she is reduced when she is around him. she is made small.

hopper season 3 misogyny, possessiveness, toxic masculinity. see above or check out this video.

robin flanderization. ok this might be a hot take but i didn't like the direction they took robin's character this season? like with her being a bumbling klutz/ comic relief/ wacky sidekick/ scaredy cat. like, listen. i'm All About women being imperfect and silly and not falling into the #perfect girlboss can do no wrong Trope but the problem with this is that... that's not what robin was in s3? robin's role in season 3 was pretty much the opposite- she was capable and was the key to the success of the scoops troupe mission, she's smart, she keeps her cool in situations where it would totally make sense for her to lose it- to the point where i actually thought it was strange how ok she was about the whole thing. in s4 we just see her constantly being the one who goofs up, the one who's awkward and clumsy and freaked out. and again, i want to stress that i'm not against this kind of character in theory. but what they set up this season was a dynamic of robin doing something silly or weird, nancy getting frustrated, and steve going Haha that'a classic robin! silly robin! she went from functional lesbian to disaster lesbian seemingly so they could further stancy development of all things.. i was just disappointed by how it felt like the focus was on steve and nancy's hamfisted romantic revival and not on robin and steve's well established friendship or nancy getting to bond with another girl her age after losing barb. just- so much of the emotional depth of robin was gone. she was turned into comedic relief/het ship fodder (sound familiar?) and had even less of a role than in s3, despite the fact that we were promised lesbian rep...

vicki. i personally despise it when writers attempt to give their gay characters relationships by introducing a onedeminsional character that exists as nothing but a love interest. while the Straights get developed and poignant romances in a show that has pivoted its focus to romance, the gays get tragedy at worst(will,eddie) and scraps off the table at best. vicki was in three scenes and like five minutes total, spends one scene kissing her boyfriend and not saying a word to robin, and doesn't even get to play a significant role in the story. like, if they introduced eddie and inserted him into the story, there was no reason for them to not insert vicki/ a love interest in as well and actually have her relationship with robin develop and have her be a real character with a real bearing on the story. because as of right now there's just robin and robin's love interest. this is not diversity this is not representation this is checking boxes.

eddie. fucking. munson. queercoded to hell and back see hanky code, plus his reaction to be hunted by the town and his feelings about being a "freak" and "different"... anyway they killed him for no other reason than to look edgy and create angst. it did not serve his character or any other character it did not further the plot it did not address any overarching themes. i don't think they killed him because he was gay/ to fulfill the bury your gays trope, i just think they didn't know or care.

will byers. god i'm so tired. i'm so tired of seeing him suffer for no reason and have him pine over someone who (they're making it out to seem) doesn't love him back and may even be freaked out by his queerness?(see mike's awkwardness about his intimacy with will that doesn't make sense unless either a. he's gay and repressed and scared, or b. he's homophobic). the fact that they won't even have him come out despite promising to address it in s4, the fact that there are still people who watch this show who are denying it/have not clocked that shit means that they are not doing what they said they'd be doing. they are using his feelings for mike to further m!leven, shafting his role in the story so that every time he's in screen it's just him suffering for being gay, and handling it with the utmost clumsiness WHILE the netflix marketing team queerbaits the shit out it's lgbt fans. it's cruel. it's a marketing tactic so they can draw in viewers and it's so blatant and so heinously cruel it's rolls back around to being funny for me in its absurdity. they did this. they did this.

i honestly could go on because i have a lot to say but i'm just tired at this point, and the point i'm trying to make is this: it's okay to hold out hope, it's great that people are speculating and engaging and making content. this is good. what's not good is people trying to make excuses for how-maybe the duffers aren't so bad maybe this is just a red herring maybe maybe maybe

because it doesn't make sense. you're right. this season doesn't make sense. this SHOW doesn't make sense. but let's not try to rationalize the creation of some straightwhitemen when it is bad and has always been bad at handling diversity with any kind of competence. and let's not forget, in the wake of all this, that the duffers have failed so many times, and even if they do something right in season 5 and they flesh out vicki and a character and will gets to come out and byler reconciles do not forgive these guys. don't forget lucas, kali, erica, eddie, everything else on this list and more. [oh and before anyone accuses me of inciting harassment- i'm not saying that you should harass these guys. it won't do shit and we're better than that. they're not worth it. accountability is not harassment it just means that you don't give them your money anymore and you stop praising their show and you write some scathing reviews. also maybe boycott netflix but that's a post for another time]

cool? cool.

#stranger things #st4 #byler #txt #will byers #mike wheeler #mine #long post #stranger things criticism #stranger things reflection #duffer brothers #fuck the duffers #robin buckley #eddie munson #erica sinclair #lucas sinclair #max mayfield #joyce byers #jim hopper #kali stranger things #argyle #netflix #queerbaiting #stranger things racism #stranger things misogyny #stranger things queerbaiting #stranger things homophobia

[clarkegriffins]

BYLERS I NEED YOU’ALL TO STAND UP, WE NEED TO FIGHT FOR THE THING THAT MATTERS THE MOST NOW: I NEED YOU’ALL TO BULLY THE CRAP OUT OF THE DUFFERS FOR THEM TO GIVE WILL A GOOD STORYLINE IN S5, IS THE ONLY THING THAT MATTERS, IF WILL IS NOT RELEVANT IN S5 I’LL KILL THE DUFFERS WITH MY BARE HANDS, IF WILL DOESNT GET A SUPERNATURAL STORYLINE IN S5 I’LL END THE DUFFERS

#stranger things #will byers #stranger things spoilers

[luceat-eis]

the chances of eddie munson, my beloved, coming back alive (read: as kas the bloody-handed) for st5 are staggeringly low, I fear. there’s just not a whole lot to go off on, like the clues we had to hopper surviving at the end of st3, and joe quinn saying he wouldn’t be returning/the duffers saying that eddie was always meant to die.

HOWEVER. I’m still holding out hope against the odds for a secret/surprise cameo, and I think it could be so cool if he appears as like a “guardian angel” for max. 

(explained under the cut because it got really long lol, if anyone else is as desperate as I am to see eddie again please feel free to read and give your thoughts. ♡)

first, I know the duffers said max is “brain dead” (which is obviously irreversible irl), but I’m moving forward with this theory on the assumption that they don’t have a full understanding of what true brain death is, and what they really meant is that she’s in a coma with an uncertain prognosis. because there has to be some kind of narrative significance to not outright killing her—if the duffers wanted her dead, they’d have done it (as we see with eddie, where they’ve been very open about the fact that he’s capital-D Dead. this is in direct contrast to their statements on hopper following st3, whose fate they left intentionally uncertain in interviews and in the post-credits scene). plus, I can think of few things crueler than pointedly not killing her with vecna, just to force her friends and family into pulling the plug on her. so going along with a theory I’ve seen that el couldn’t find max in her own headspace because she’s trapped in vecna’s, this is how I imagine it:

max’s consciousness is trapped with vecna, unable to break free from him or to communicate with anyone outside, including eleven. the reason eleven couldn’t find max in her own mind is because she isn’t there—she’s with vecna. he doesn’t need to pursue her so aggressively anymore, as he has already done what he planned to do with her when her heart stopped, and the last gate opened. he’s maybe planning to use her still-living body as a vessel after his own body was so significantly weakened during the events of “the piggyback.” in this way, he’s like a parasite: he needs a host in order to survive and take true control over the new world he’s created, similar to the mind flayer with will in st2 and billy in st3 (what is it with this dude and guys named william seriously lmfao). now he wants max, because her body and mind have conveniently already been separated from one another. but the problem is, he’s unable to get her to relent and allow him to use her body. they get the better part of a season’s worth of duking it out psychologically, with max still unwilling to let go of hope that the party/el will save her in the end. finally, maybe toward the end of the season, she is worn down and unable to keep that hope alive, so vecna starts to take over her body—right as max’s mom is getting ready to discontinue her life support on the outside, after seeing no improvements in her condition.

and then, just when max believes she is all out of strength to save herself any longer, she begins to feel the life forces/spirits of the others killed by the mind flayer cheering her on (maybe as part of the hive mind of the upside down; maybe all the people killed by vecna or in the upside down inhabit some space in his mind, since the mind flayer and all the demo-creatures have been under his control the entire time). this also opens up the door for a cameo from barb, and bob, encouraging her to hold out, to keep fighting. it could be such a cool homage to past seasons. 

but the last to show up for max is eddie, right when she’s about to break. and he tells her, “red, I barely knew you, but I didn’t die for this bastard to win in the end. don’t you let him.” I’m imagining this as similar to the harry potter/voldemort duel at the end of goblet of fire, where the ghosts of those killed by voldemort appear to harry and assist him; or, for another example, the grey’s anatomy episode “some kind of miracle,” where a dying meredith sees and talks with the spirits of patients who have passed, and they encourage her to keep living. this uplifts max and ultimately allows her to triumph over vecna. and we get to see eddie again ♡ 

if you made it this far, I’m so sorry if that was utterly incomprehensible lmao. obviously it doesn’t take into account will’s more central role planned for st5, or the use of eleven as the ultimate hero that I’m sure is intended for the series finale. idk, I don’t think I’m a good enough writer to pull it off, but I might make this a fic just to satisfy the urge.

#stranger things #stranger things 4 #stranger things theories #st4 #stranger things spoilers #eddie munson #max mayfield #ramblings #feel free to disregard lol #I just miss eddie sm already I’m pining #long post #writing #stranger things fanfic

[tedsprestonesq]

the duffer brothers: we will allow two (2) gays, and one of them will be confined to subtext

me, a bastard: everyone is queer, there’s lots of homos, and half the characters are trans

#stranger things #st #duffer brothers #queer #trans #i will fight the duffers with my bare hands #gif #stranger things spoilers #st3 spoilers

[strangerthings4theories]

Eddie's father?🤔

Interesting! Yeah that would be my guess? 👀 Damn, though. The DC names are strong with this family 😆 First Eddie, now Wayne.

Okay so, if we meet Eddie's dad, that means Eddie is - or was - a real person. (Unless the Mind Flayer created a fake family, but I very much doubt that lol) I'm remembering the backstory I wrote for the weirdly Eddie-esque character I created for fic (you can read my post about that here)--

Originally, Luke Torrance, who's the same age as the Party, lived in a town neighboring Hawkins. The foster child of a sweet older couple, he was a bit of a loner, but he had dreams and ambitions. He loved music, played the electric guitar, and wanted to start a band.

Then, in late '86, he went missing. The community was abuzz with the news; tongues wagged. Was this disappearance connected to the ones in Hawkins? Just a few days later, however, he showed up again. He claimed he ran away, changed his mind, and came back. Most people accepted his explanation. The people closest to him did not. Something happened to him, they said to each other. He's not the Luke we knew. He barely plays his guitar anymore. And what happened to his musical ambitions? He's just floating through life now, like he's waiting for something.

They were right: something did happen to Luke. That fateful night in '86, the real Luke was pulled into the Upside Down and killed. In his place, the Mind Flayer created a Doppelganger and sent him out into the world. The Mind Flayer had big plans for this false Luke, world-altering plans. Within a year, he'd take the first step in realizing them.

In the summer of '87, for seemingly unrelated reasons, Luke's family moved to Hawkins. That fall, Luke began attending Hawkins High, where he met the Party.

Though similar to Billy in some ways - charming, rebellious, has a pierced ear, smokes cigarettes - Luke is also Billy's complete opposite. He has dark hair and eyes, always wears black, stays quiet, and is more interested in lurking than vying for kingship. He doesn't play sports or get into fights. He spends his time slouching in corners, lit cigarette in hand, watching everything with his eagle eyes.

The Duffers might be doing something closer to this than I thought. If they are, I'm gonna S C R E A M

Also, Eddie's been confirmed to play the electric guitar 🎸😭😭

#eddie munson #stranger things 4 #stranger things theory #stranger things analysis #stranger things #billy is a christ figure #and eddie is his dark reflection #answering your mail

[yurtletheturtlehenderson]

S.T. REWRITE - S2:E9; Chapter Nine, The Gate - [Pt. 1]

A Will Byers x Reader Series

The survivors turn up the heat on the monstrous force that's holding Will hostage, and Y/n's powers are put to the ultimate test in the process. Eleven makes plans to finish what she started.

A/n: heads up, another ask the characters is coming up at the end of this book so if you plan on asking questions relevant to the plot I do ask you hold off until the rest of this episode. If you have just simple or silly non-plot related stuff I guess I don't mind taking them here 😊 thx for reading!

Also, the El/Dustin/Lucas reunion [and friendship tbh] is criminally underappreciated and always makes me cry happy tears. Same with El and Joyce. Always broke me, always will. Duffers, give me more. Also, Max blushed in this scene, and yall can @ me I don't care, but it happened.

||3rd Person POV||

Their feet shakily carry them across the floor to each other. Their hearts both stop as they gaze one another, both in their own unique form of shock.

"Eleven." Mike's voice barely tumbles out in a strained whisper.

Her smile grows bright at the sound of her name on his tongue, a sound she had missed all these months.

"Mike!" She gasps tearfully, and they collapse into a tender hug.

For a moment they relish in one another's embrace, not caring they have to stumble for balance as they cling to one another. More sniffles and tearful gasps spill from their lips as the others look on in a mixture of sadness and excitement filled shock.

Apart from Max, who's brows furrow above her widened eyes as she leans in close to Lucas in a whisper.

"Is that...?"

Dustin and Lucas nod silently, still in as much disbelief as the collective few.

Finally, but all too soon for the pair, Mike and El break apart.

"I never gave up on you," Mike swears. "I called you every night. Every night for--"

"353 days." She finishes softly, drawing out another look of shock on the boy. "I heard."

Despite the small but taunting thought that had always lingered in the back of her mind that told her otherwise, he does not get mad. He merely tilts his head in confusion.

"Why didn't you tell me you were there?" He asks gently. "That you were okay?"

Before she can form a proper sentence, Hopper speaks up from where he had previously stood rooted to the ground.

"Because I wouldn't let her."

Mike swivels on his heels to find Hopper looking back at him, solemnly. Mike stumbles back agape as Hopper glides forward, and gestures in waining and worn down stress over the girl.

"The hell is this?" He grumbles softly, relief flooding his voice. "Where the hell you been?"

"Where have you been?" She spits back, in an equally sounding failed attempt at anger.

His gun hangs limply at his side as he takes El into his embrace, who gladly accepts by coiling her arms around his large frame in content.

"You've been hiding her," Mike gasp gravely. "You've been hiding her this whole time!"

Everyone flinches as the Wheeler boy launches an unexpected attack on the chief. He jumps forward, throwing his weight into his arms as he shoves the man.

"Hey!"

He turns, knowing the fight this boy is going to attempt and grabs at his shirt to steady him. Mike fights against his effort briefly, but he can't hide the spark of fear in his eyes as Hopper towers over him.

Hidden amongst the stunned group, Y/n shuffles on her feet nervously as she witnesses the strength of Mike's wrath. And yet, numbly, her feet carry her forward to accept the damning sentence she always knew would befall her. Her guilt had grown thrice its size in the brief moments of Mike and El's reunion and she can keep the secret no longer.

Weakly, she tugs Mike away from the chief in half-hearted protest.

"Mike,"

Her voice comes out in a wavering and cracking demand and she has to try again to be heard over his cries of protest.

"Mike!"

Finally, he, rips his attention -and arm - away from Hopper's hold, and whips his head to snap at her. Her hand remains wrapped around his sleeved arm as if hoping her gentle touch will soften the blow. But even she knows it not make a difference.

"What?"

Her eyes flicker from him to Hopper and El in a frightened manner.

"What?!" He demands. "You can't seriously be defending him?! He hid her from us! He knew!"

The words she ached to say died on her tongue, though she knew now she didn't have to tell him. Her e/c eyes went glassy, her bottom lip began to quiver and his eyes suddenly shifted.

"No," he whispers, eyes jumping from El's new attire to towards hers as he shakes his head. The pieces had fallen into place. "No, you wouldn't...?"

"I'm so sorry, I-"

He rips his arm away from her in disgust and cradles it against his chest. The small act creates another crack in her heart as he looks at her in fury and loathing. Will already looked at her like this, and now Mike, too.

"What the hell is wrong with you people?!" He demands, glare flying between Hopper and Y/n. "What is wrong with you?!"'

"Mike, I wanted to tell you--"

"BUT YOU DIDN'T!" His anger is now fully directed at Y/n. "YOU DIDN'T TELL ME!"

It's Hopper's turn to tug Mike away from Y/n, but again, Mike violently rips himself away.

"It wasn't safe!" Y/n pleads.

"Bullshit!" Mike shoved the girl in front of him away.

"Mike-!" El interjects.

In his anger, Mike doesn't seem register her pleas. All of his attention - and pain - directed soley on Y/n.

She stumbled back, not surprised at such a harsh response but she tries to stay calm for the sake of everyone around her. Her hands begin to darken as heat bubbles to the surface.

"I can't believe you, Y/n!" A fresh batch of tears welled in his eyes but he dismissed hers. Unable to care.

He shakes his head, not knowing why he even bothers to ask but it slips out in a dark whisper. "How long have you known?"

Y/n takes a long, shaky deep breath. Her voice quivers as she speaks.

"The day Dart escaped, and... and right before the Mind Flayer got Will on the field."

His face twists into a bitter scowl. "Five days? You've known for five days?!"

"And it's been killing me, Mike! But she said it would keep you safe!"

"Killing you?! It's been killing you?! You think I give a shit? YOU LIED-!"

He storms after her again, ready to shove her but his hands never reach her shoulders. Her body tenses as he charges and a small, involuntary burst of energy explodes around her, protecting her.

He falls back in a yelp of pain, Hopper is able to catch the boy before he reaches the ground and everyone watching - those especially who hadn't previously known about Y/n's abilities - flinched in shock. Several items around her within a two-foot radius shook and even tumbled off the shelves and tables. Y/n looks at everyone and then back at Mike in a worried glance.

"Mike, are you okay? I didn't mean--"

"Get off me!" He swats at her outstretched hand and she flinches.

Hopper's fuse runs out and his voice comes out in a thunderous bark.

"Hey, hey! Alright!" He discards the gun against the wall. "ENOUGH!"

The two bickering friends falter at the volume of the man's voice and stumble back when he reaches for them. A firm hand on either of their shoulders, he looks them in the eye with a scowl.

"Enough." he seethes, prying Mike off of Y/n and begins pushing him in the direction of Jonathan's room. "Let's talk. Alone."

Everyone watches in surprise as the two storm off down the hall, now stewing in the shock of all that has unfolded in the past few minutes alone. El shuffles on her feet, her eyes trailing two of the three people she cares of most as they disappear down the hall, unable to shake the stress of her situation and the harm it inflicts on everyone.

"Protecting her! Protecting her?" Mike fumes.

"Now, Mike--"

"You guys really expect me to forget the fact that you two blatantly lied to my face that she was alive?"

"Mike--"

"For a whole year?!"

"ENOUGH!"

Mike's eyes widen suddenly in shock, it dissolves quickly but his anger does not. Hopper sighs, bringing a hand to rub at his eyes before shrugging at the kid with a hardened expression.

"You are going to listen to me, and you're gonna listen to me good. I kept her from you,"

He says to Mike admittedly, then gestures in the direction of the living room.

"and so did Y/n. And that sucks. I get it kid, but you have no idea what kind of consequences you and your family and anyone - including your friend -," he points to the door again, still seething with anger. "face just knowing she's alive. It is an IMMEDIATE and PERMANENT target on your back."

"Oh, what so I should be THANKING you?"

"I'm not asking you to thank me!" Hopper screams back, voice, and fuse straining. "I'm asking you to try and understand!"

"I don't! I don't understand!"

"That's fine. That's fine! Just do not blame her, she's upset enough as it is."

"I don't blame her! I blame you! I blame you!"

"That's fine, kid." Hopper spits through a fake smile, and he throws his arms up in surrender "That's okay. In fact, blame me for all of it. El, your friend, even this damn Mind Flayer, or whatever the hell else you can think of. That's okay with me, but--"

"NO! Nothing about this is okay! Nothing about this is okay!" Mike launches another attack on Hopper who stumbles back.

He eases his arms out, trying to calm the kid down. But Mike does not relent. All of his heartbreak and misery since the moment she disappeared in the cloud of ashes, to every moment of radio silence with his walkie. It all erupted out of him and he charged at Hopper, swinging punches left and right into his gut until he was backed up at the door.

"You're a stupid, disgusting-"

"Okay. All right!"

"-lying piece of shit!"

"Stop it! Stop it-"

Hopper makes a grab at the boy's arms, trying to calm him down.

"LIAR! LIAR! LIAR!"

"It's okay. Stop it!"

As he had with the Will just minutes ago, Hopper wraps his arms around the boy in a hug. And though Mike continues to cry out, his efforts against Hopper begin to weaken before fading out altogether.

"Liar! Liar! Liar!"

Mike is now collapsed into Hopper's chest and allows his cries to drain him completely. His tears streak his pinkened cheeks and stain Hopper's coat. All frustration with Mike evaporates completely and all that's left beneath is the fatherly instincts he had never let go of. He holds him tighter against his chest and lays his right hand on Mike's head with his chin buried in his hair.

"You're okay, kid." He whispers. "You're okay."

Mike's whimpers disappear into Hopper's chest though they still manage to coat the silence. Hopper holds the boy tighter, his hands rested gently against his shoulders and he whispers once more.

"I'm sorry, kid."

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

After their disappearance down the hall, El gladly found herself in the embrace of Lucas and Dustin. Like Mike and Y/n, they looked the same apart from the inevitable touch of time she noticed. They had approached her timidly, but each wore similar blinding grins. El has trouble battling a smile at them and to their surprise, she eagerly launched into a hug that they gladly accepted.

"We missed you," Lucas says.

"I missed you, too," she murmurs contently.

"We talked about you pretty much every day," Dustin says, and her small smile returns.

She pulls away to look at them, but her soft brown eyes widen when she notices Dustin's smile. Curiously, she reaches out to Dustin, poking her finger at his mouth as he pulls back confused.

"Teeth," she says.

"What?"

"You have teeth,"

Dustin and Lucas share a chuckle through their still matching grins. Dustin nods, smiling extra bright to show off his new set of teeth.

"Oh. You like these pearls?"

Dustin rolls his tongue in a purr, and El's eyes grow wide as saucers in concern. Lucas and Dustin chuckle in response. They had indeed missed their friend very much, especially her confusion and shock to most regular things.

"El?"

The boys parted for Max who approached her with a shy and eager smile.

"Hey, um," she blushed, extending her hand. "I'm Max. I've heard a lot about you."

El recognized now why the redhead was so familiar, and her gaze flickered to her outstretched hand. That small flame of jealously in the pit of her stomach licked at her heart again. Intentionally ignoring the gesture of the girl and the girl herself, she pushed past her, bumping her shoulder with Max. Max's blush darkened, this time in embarrassment and she looked at the floor in hurt.

El was more focused on the woman she had spotted across the room. The first adult to ever put El needs before anyone else, even if it meant finding her son would be next to impossible. The first person to ever treat and care for her as she was, not a weapon, but a child deserving of love and nurturing. The woman who now stood across the room with tears in her eyes, a quivering smile and arms open wide as if she was her own daughter.

She collapsed in Joyce's warm embrace and no sooner did they both burst into tears. El melted in her gentle and soothing touch, and an audible whimper escaped her when she felt Joyce's palms rub small and gentle circles in her back.

It was the cozy and safe motherly embrace she had longed for all her life.

"Hey," Joyce coos softly in her ear. "Hey, sweetheart."

Another small cry bubbles out of her mouth and for a moment she feels embarrassed for wetting Joyce's jacket, but Joyce doesn't seem to care. She pulls apart from El and strokes her cheek and hair lovingly. Instinctively, scanning the girls face for any signs of injury.

"Hey," she coos again, and El sniffles.

"Is he okay?" She whispers.

Joyce tilts her head, a crooked but sweetened smile forming at El's worry, and her thumb strokes her cheek one last time.

"It's not looking good, sweetie." El's face falls at the answer, and she fears she got here too late. Her eyes pick up again and begin scanning the room when she realizes her greetings aren't done.

Her eyes land on Y/n across the room who had fallen silent after her encounter with Mike. She was far in the corner, her hand picks at the ends of her sleeves and she looked up cautiously at El.

El turns and crosses the room to her best friend.

"Y/n..."

Y/n's eyes flutter around the room briefly, all too aware of the prying ears. Cautiously, her old name slips out. "El..."

For a moment they stew in silence, not knowing what to say and the others watch befuddled at their behavior. By now they know that Y/n had discovered El's survival, but that was all they knew. But seeing them together now, both dressed in similar bold outfits they were able to piece together the two had spent some time together in the past few days. Particularly, the rest of the party.

"You came back," Y/n muttered, surprised.

"I saw everyone in danger," El answered. "I had to come home."

Y/n's eyebrows twitched ever so at the word before frowning. Her eyes flicker behind El briefly at the others, to see if they were listening. To her relief, she saw Joyce send her an understanding smile before pulling the others away into the kitchen.

"I thought you were home. With your sister. Someone who understands you," Her words came out more bitter than she anticipated but she makes no effort to take it back.

"She does, Y/n. What it was like there... Something you won't ever understand."

A look of hurt flashed across Y/n's face and her eyes take her somewhere else. Anywhere that wasn't El. She didn't want her to see how upset she was.

"But that is good." She says gently, causing Y/n's eyes to flicker back at her before returning to the floor. "It was a bad place, and... it was not your fault."

Y/n now looks back at El, her brows still creased in a frown but at least she was showing she was listening.

"How I grew up. I don't blame you."

The Henderson girl's expression softened, but her frown still lingered. She seems to consider her words, and then her attention falls to the inside of her jacket. She begins digging inside and finally she pulls out the files. The words Missing Experiment scribbled on the front. El's stomach sinks, her lips creasing together in a nervous habit.

"Then why did you keep this from me? You know that I've been searching for answers, and you had them with you that whole time! Why?"

El shifts on her feet, and when she speaks she mentally scorns herself for her wavering voice.

"I was afraid."

Y/n shakes her head with a somber and disappointed look. "Afraid of what, Jane?"

Tears started to brim in El's eyes now, not only at her mistake and the guilt it brought but the sound of her name on Y/n's tongue. It didn't feel right. Jane didn't feel right. Not anymore.

She licks her lips nervously, before answering.

"That you would leave. That once you had them... you'd go back home and I... wouldn't be able to see you again."

"El-" Y/n stops, sighing at the floor as she shakes her head. Still not used to the name. She looks back to her friend. "Jane. I wouldn't do that. You're my friend, and I wanted to help you. I did help you!"

"The truck," El threw back with a quirked brow.

Surprisingly enough, Y/n felt a weak chuckle bubble up.

"There's a very good reason why I didn't want us to ride in a truck. But I told you, we could have found another way! A safer way,"

Why is Y/n so afraid of trucks? El wondered.

"All I'm trying to say, Jane, is that I wouldn't have turned around and left as soon as I got what I was looking for. Friend's don't do that. I wanted to find out about myself, sure, but I wanted to help you, too." Y/n explains in sad exasperation. "I wouldn't have just left you..."

"But... you did?" El asks confused.

"Because they said they wanted to get rid of me!"

El looked taken aback.

"That's what I was trying to tell you. They didn't want me there and they were going to get rid of me. Besides, I asked and you said you were going to stay... You understand why I couldn't, right?"

El nods looking to the floor. She takes a deep breath and looks back at Y/n, searching her eyes. She feels a tug at her heart.

"I'm sorry, Y/n."

The ends of Y/n's lips twitch into a soft smile. She inches forward, and for a moment El fears something bad will happen. Like Y/n will shake her head and leave. But she's delighted to find how wrong she was when Y/n pulls her into a hug.

"I'm sorry, too." She whispers.

Both girls begin to sniffle, drawing the attention of the others who had previously parted into their own conversations to give them some space. After a moment, they pull away.

"So," Y/n says, offering a hopeful grin. "friends?"

El felt as if all the weight she had held on her shoulders vanished, and something the girls both noticed now was a much stronger bond forming before their very eyes. This bond was only established and sealed forever by what El said next.

"Sisters."

They smiled brightly at one another, and El's quickly melted into a shy smirk.

"El." She says finally.

Y/n's expression fell into that of a confused frown.

"Huh?"

"El. Not Jane," she looks to the floor sadly before muttering. "Never was."

Y/n's lips molded into a sympathetic smile, and the pair met in another hug. El felt the warmth return, the warmth that had disappeared the morning Y/n had back in Chicago when Y/n mumbled contently into her ear.

"I'm really glad you're back, El."

They break apart, a soft look echnaged between one another with grins to match.

"Me too," El mutters.

Suddenly El's smile fell. It was replaced with a shocked look, and she turned to look between Y/n and where Joyce had dissapeared, the panic setting in.

"Will!" She says in a worried realization. "Can... I see him?"

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

El opens the door slowly to ease its creaking, and timidly she steps inside. Joyce and Y/n follow closely behind as El approaches Jonathan's bed that holds a sleeping Will. El kneels beside the sleeping boy, Joyce, and Y/n taking a seat on either side of the bed. El watches his chest steadily rise and fall, and she notes he is just as pale and weakened as he had been the last time she saw him in the void.

"H-He's not doing well," Joyce eases.

El hesitantly places a hand on his bedside, and she feels a small lump in her throat.

"I know," she mutters sadly. "I saw,"

Joyce and Y/n look to her in slight surprise.

"What else did you see?" Joyce asks.

El looks between her friend and Joyce, sadly. Her stomach begins to coil into several knots, and her hands began to clam up at the question. El recognizes the feeling all too well, it was the same feeling she'd get whenever she had to get into the bath. Or when Papa made her repeat words from men in different rooms, or when he asked her to hurt the poor cat. It was a feeling she had almost every second she was inside that lab, the room, or any time Papa was near. It was an awful sickly feeling, but as she looked at Will now, she knew.

It had to be done.

She knew what she had to do.

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

El stood before the Byers kitchen table with Joyce and Y/n. Her eyes bore into the back of the notepad where the two words that sparked this dark feeling inside her were scribbled out in red.

CLOSE GATE

Y/n's eyes widen when she sees their translation for the first time. It dawned on her what Will had been telling them, and she recalls what El had tearfully admitted at the quarry just one year ago.

"The gate," she mumbles.

A look of realization hits Joyce, and she points to it eagerly. "You opened this gate before, right?"

El looks up and off to the distance, stuffing down her last bit of hesitation and she answers in a hoarse whisper.

"Yes,"

"Do you think you think if we got you back there, that you could close it?" Y/n looks worriedly back at El. The task was no doubt a large one for El to handle all alone, and though she knew it was likely their only hope, it made her fear for her.

What would happen to her? But then a simple thought crosses her mind, perhaps from the smaller corner of her mind that wanted to provide assurance and she asked herself.

It was just a gate right, surely it couldn't be that big?

Right?

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

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[tibby]

I’ve been thinking about all the weirdly conservative views in stranger things lately and am wondering if your have any stranger things hot takes? I love all your stranger things and riverdale posts!

it’s been brought up before but it truly is like...baffling that this show is so pro capitalism and one of the main families are proud reaganites and yet neither of those things are criticised. i understand that that was the mood and beliefs of a lot of people in the 1980s, but they were not good things, and presenting them at face value with no criticism is lazy writing at best and something the duffers support at worst (although, honestly, i wouldn’t be surprised.)

for a show set in a small town where a large percentage of the residents aren’t wealthy (the byers family is an obvious one, but we can safely assume dustin and his mother aren’t super well off either, not to mention everyone who lost their jobs in st3) stranger things really does not like to discuss class disparity. 

following on from that: they had so much potential to discuss how corporations and Shiny Malls damage family businesses and the livelihood of small business owners, and they just...did nothing with it? like yeah the mall gets burned down and the mayor gets arrested but like. it’s never properly addressed and if i remember correctly (it’s been awhile since i watches s3, so i could be wrong) hopper even arrests some of the protestors. you know, the people who lost their jobs and businesses thanks to the mayor’s shady deal to make starcourt happen.

generally speaking, the glorification of hopper.

anyone who has followed me for an extended period of time knows i hate murray but WHY would a man that has countless conspiracy theories and who doesn’t trust anyone suddenly turn around and start preaching about how america is the land of the free and so great? murray has always sucked but his speeches to alexei in st3 didn’t even make sense for the character.

see also: erica being made a main character (yay!) but giving speeches about how america is great and capitalism is good.

the treatment of lucas and the sinclair family is a whole other post and one that isn’t really mine to write, but the way he’s treated at the hands of other characters is rarely ever addressed within the show and it’s incredibly disturbing.

the fact that they genuinely seem to think that a wealthy white woman having a shitty boss is like, the peak of misogyny. i’m not denying that what nancy experienced was bad (although, honestly, seperate from the sexist comments, if i ran a newspaper and two teenage interns tried to tell me about insane rats, i wouldn’t believe them either), but like...her storyline was not the feminist masterpiece they made it out to be. giving her a #girlboss moment was the absolute bare minimum they could do and they didn’t even do it right.

discussed this plenty of times before but nancy being a woman does not give her a free pass on classism.

feels like i’m really ragging on nancy here but like...her st3 “journalism” plot was so bad, but it didn’t have to be! i complain a lot about st2 but at least that storyline made sense for her. she was investigating the us government because its corruption led to the death of her best friend. having her and jonathan continue their investigations into the us government due to the damage and trauma they caused to them and people they loved would have made sense, and it’s not like that corruption started and ended with the hawkins lab. instead it was throwing us into the idea that nancy always wanted to be a reporter (???) and decided to get her poor boyfriend fired so she could do an article on weird rats (which didn’t even contribute to the plot at all.) maybe i’m being too harsh and maybe it is another flaw of their Time Jumps, but honestly to me it just reads as them trying to be #feminist and having reporter teens without having to criticise america any further. 

last nancy point but my GOD can this show stop with its weird pro gun message via her. like i understand they have to fight monsters but at this point it’s just them trying to make her seem badass and also she canonically enjoys the act of shooting a gun, which is like, lmao.

the sudden switch to “america is good, blame the scary russians for everything” is something that’s been unpacked multiple times by people much smarter than me, but like, fucking hell.

and look, i get it. i understand that most of this is just reflective of the time period and that plenty of people believed the messages that the show parrots. but here’s the thing: you cannot present these views and not criticise them. you cannot set a show in the 1980s and then refuse to address any kind of social issues and injustices outside of a few offhand comments. i’ll give credit where credit is due and admit that they made a decent effort to at least explore classism in season one, but that hasn’t really been brought up since, and no other issues have ever being decently addressed. and i probably shouldn’t expect much from netflix’s cash cow and the duffer brothers themselves, but the entire show really is....uncomfortably conservative.

#sorry these are all on the weird conservatism of the show apologies if you wanted takes on other things #also i got more annoyed than i expected so f for me #my controversial take is idm that they haven't really explored gay issues outside of robin because like #a) it's a small town in a red state in the 1980s #b) i'd rather die than watch the duffers unpack the aids crisis #and c) i do think will being gay will be made canon eventually but also he's 15 in 1985 give it time #ask #Anonymous #meta

[baldrambo]

On Joyce Byers....

Joyce Byers is a bad ass.  So why is she handled with kid gloves by everyone?  This is a bit of a companion discussion to my Hopper post from a few weeks ago. Like my prior meta, I will discuss what I believe to be truths about Joyce and her arc, which don’t appear to be aligned with most analyses of her character that I’ve seen elsewhere. I will make 5 assertions and address each of them below the cut because (as per the norm) this got really long and I am not trying to clog up people’s dashboards.

Assertion 1: We have no canon evidence that Lonnie was physically abusive and making Joyce his victim does a disservice to her characterization

Assertion 2: What Bob represented to Joyce was more important to her arc than Bob himself (aka Bob/Joyce were not really a good match)

Assertion 3: Making fun of/being frustrated by Joyce’s magnet obsession misses the point of her arc in S3, which was about her pro-activity rather than reactivity

Assertion 4: Joyce inappropriately attempts to compartmentalize Hopper (aka Joyce needs to let Lonnie and Bob go if she’s to ever move on)

Assertion 5: Joyce is not a delicate cinnamon roll in need of our protection she is a BAMF and should be treated as such.

Assertion 1:

Our first introduction to Joyce is as a small, mousy, anxious, chain-smoking single mom who….can’t find her keys.  And not because she is is careless. She has literally SO much on her plate at any given moment that the location of her keys is trivial until it’s not.  She works long hours at a low-wage job to support her boys.  She really has no life outside of work, paying bills, and cleaning house.  Wash, rinse, repeat.  She is just barely scraping by. 

And yet we learn through flashbacks fairly quickly after Will’s disappearance that despite working long hours, despite the constant stress….she still manages to find time to parent her boys.  And not just be any old parent, mind you.  Joyce Byers is a good parent.  When Will is out in Castle Byers she doesn’t just barge in.  She respects his personal space, remembers a unique nerdy password, and waits for him to tell her that she can enter.  She then trusts his judgment when he says that he can handle watching Poltergeist. This is later juxtaposed by the scene in Nancy’s bedroom with Jonathan where Karen attempts to enter the bedroom after Nancy has had to lock it.  Jonathan looks at Nancy, a little shocked, and says “she doesn’t knock?” Which is weird to him, of course, because Joyce would always knock.  Now lets contrast Joyce, who is Mother of the Year, with Lonnie Byers who is a Grade A Piece of Shit™. He abandoned the family and hasn’t seen them in years.  And when he was around, he spent his time being a deadbeat, calling his son a faggot, and trying to force his boys into being “manlier” and more mainstream.

We first meet Lonnie in 1x2 when Jonathan drives out to Indianapolis to confirm that Will is in fact, not with his father.  When Lonnie’s girlfriend answers the door, Jonathan pushes past her and into the home, shouting for his brother.  Lonnie then comes in from outside, grabs Jonathan, and pushes him up against a wall.  Only then does he realize it’s his son.  Lonnie hadn’t seen Jonathan in so long that he almost didn’t recognize him, and initially thought him an intruder. Jonathan angrily shoves Lonnie back, who steps back and laughs. Notably, Jonathan does not appear to fear Lonnie and Lonnie makes no attempt to otherwise assert any other type of physical control over Jonathan. Lonnie talks to him like he’s an adult.

When Lonnie returns in 1x5 for Will’s funeral, he is an immediate negative influence who has Joyce up drinking all night, calls her crazy, and starts sniping at Jonathan about some stupid poster in his bedroom being inappropriate.  However, there is no real confrontation until Joyce finds the flyer in his belongings and realizes he is attempting to collect on Will’s “death.”  She screams at Lonnie and holds her ground when he shouts back.  She shoves him. She gets in his face and throws his bag at him.  And then little 5′2 Joyce Byers successfully throws a grown ass man out of her house.  He never raises a hand to her.

This is not a Lonnie Byers apology piece.  Lonnie Byers is a shitty dad, shitty partner, shitty person.  I think an entirely separate piece could be written on the emotional abuse of his boys (although in the 80′s Midwest much of that would be considered normal, but that’s another essay).  But there is nothing to suggest that Lonnie ever hit them, or Joyce.  If the Duffers wanted Lonnie to be physically abusive, they would make it obvious, no?

The most clear example of this? Neil Hargrove. When he enters Billy’s bedroom in 2x8, he has complete control.  Over Billy, his wife, the conversation.  He overtly strikes Billy, humiliates him, and it’s clear that Billy fears him.  Susan Hargrove also fears him, and she stands in the background for the entire confrontation, avoiding eye contact, saying nothing.  The only time she attempts to intercede is to diffuse the situation, diffuse Neil, when he commands that Billy apologize and quickly shuts up when it’s clear her efforts didn’t work.  She then exits the room, first allowing him to leave the room before her. The dynamics here are light years from Joyce/Lonnie/Jonathan.

Ok so.  Why am I bringing all of this up? Because, imo, turning Lonnie into a physical abuser cuts at the heart of Joyce’s characterization.  Joyce Byers is a fighter.  That’s what Bob loved about her.  “You fight back,” he told her, in a somewhat awestruck voice.  Joyce is not a Susan Hargrove. None of this is to suggest that Susan is to blame for what she has gone through, or that somehow Joyce is better for not being like her. I contrast them because the Duffer brothers do. Joyce will steamroll anyone and anything that gets in her way to protect her boys.  If she’s on a mission….if she is trying to save someone…watch out.  Making Lonnie a physical abuser so he can be a plot device, or because it makes it easier to hate and villainize him upsets the core of Joyce’s character. And it changes the entire show.

Assertion 2:

Much of Joyce’s inner strength shines through in S2.  When S2 begins, Joyce can’t leave Will’s side and still worries about him incessantly.  She’s overbearing and “struggles to function” whenever she is not with him.  She is forced to re-live the horrors of what her and her family went through every time she goes to Hawkins Lab and worse…she has to place her trust in the very same people who nearly ripped her family apart.  Yet, she doesn’t give up, she soldiers on for Jonathan and Will.  But so much like S1, S2 Joyce is helpless.  She is unable to control what is happening around her.  The events of S1-S2 make her reactionary, she gets dragged along by the plot instead of driving the plot.

But there is one bright spot of happiness for her…..Bob.  He is the exact opposite of Lonnie in every way.  He is kind, thoughtful, hardworking, honest, and trustworthy.  He put Joyce first, he tried to bond with and be a parent to Will and Jonathan. And he was willing to jump in to the fray when he had no idea what was going on to save her, save everyone despite being absolutely terrified.  Bob Newby. Superhero.

There are some early warning signs that perhaps….we as the audience are not supposed to view this as the perfect match? Jonathan, in particular, doesn’t seem to approve at all, in fact, it downright confuses him.  He confides in Will that he doesn’t understand what Joyce sees in him and later gets agitated when he learns that Bob has stayed the night.  Hopper, too, seems to struggle with it. And while a lot of that can probably be chalked up to the early signs of jealousy, his forced “I’m happy for you” appears to be at least somewhat tied to his inability to take her dating “Bob the Brain” seriously.  Why drop all these hints if it doesn’t mean anything?

It’s the conversation she has with Bob in 2x2 on Halloween that really cements Joyce’s arc and Bob’s central purpose.  While they’re dancing to Kenny Rogers, he starts prattling on about moving to Maine.  He’s in love with her, he knows being in Hawkins is hard for her.  So why not start over again and be a family? “We aren’t a normal family.” She tells Bob.  His response is simple: “It could be.” And that moment plants that seed for Joyce.  What if they COULD be a happy, nuclear family?  What if they COULD leave all that trauma behind them and finally find safety and security?  She starts thinking on it so much that by the end of S2 when Bob brings it up again, she’s all but ready. And the Duffers have confirmed, if Bob had survived she would have gone with him to Maine.

But here’s the thing: what if someone else besides Bob had planted the idea in her head? Would she have wanted it any less?  Or consider, was it really Bob himself that drove her desire, or was it always lying dormant there waiting to be activated?  If she had started dating Hopper after S1 instead and HE had been the one to make the suggestion, would she have desired it any less?  Did she really love Bob himself, or the idea of him?

It’s easy to romanticize Bob because he seemed perfect, he represented the happy ending that Joyce wants, that WE WANT for her, but here’s the thing.  There is no perfect guy.  You can’t move a few states away and leave behind Demogorgons and another dimension that nearly killed your son.  That stays with you wherever you go, and you have to face it and deal with it.  You can’t run away from trauma, and Joyce has to realize this.  Joyce is chasing a mirage. Perhaps Bob was kind of a mirage, too. 

Assertion 3:.

The Joyce we see at the end of s2 seems….like she’s going to be okay.  She has her boys, Hopper’s friendship.  She’s lost Bob but the Gate is closed now, everyone is safe (or so everyone thinks).  But then there’s S3 Joyce.  She’s lonely, isolated, sad, discontent, and restless.  The kids are trying to move on from the events of S1-S2.  But she’s unable to.  She’s unable to move on from Bob, from her fear that her boys could still be in danger, from the feeling that something is going to go horribly wrong again and she won’t be able to stop it. 

So Joyce preemptively reshapes her arc.  She decides she is going to put her own house on the market.  Bob may not be coming with her but goddammit she is going to move anyway and find safety somewhere else.  When she notices the magnets fall off the fridge she is not going to wait and see what happens, SHE is going to go research magnets and solenoids and weird science stuff she doesn’t understand and SHE is going to figure it out and SHE is going bring it to Hopper before shit hits the fan.  And when they call the military, SHE is not going to wait around for them to show up and save her kids.  She’s going to take action herself.

Thus, Joyce is driving much of the plot in S3, rather than being dragged along by the plot as she was in S1-S2.  She is not focusing all of her time and energy on Will and his safety, and reacting to where he is and what he’s doing, she is able to focus on Hopper, El, the Party, the bigger picture.  Will kept her focus narrowed, magnets expanded them.

And perhaps most significantly, the magnet obsession is what ultimately saved the day.  Joyce is the hero of S3.  Think about who saved the day in S1-S2.  Who were the heroes?  El and Hopper.  In S1, El sacrificed herself to kill the Demogorgon and save the Party and Hopper resuscitated Will.  In S2, El and Hopper closed the Gate.  In S3, who saved the day? El?  She had no power.  She wasn’t even the one fighting the Meat Flayer. Hopper?  He was trapped on the platform.  Who closed the Gate and killed the “Meat Flayer?”  Joyce.  By herself. This ended the threat, this stopped the “Meat Flayer,” this saved El and the Party.

I think it’s easy to miss all of this due to the tonal shift in S3, which added some silliness to the plot lines that didn’t exist in S1-S2.  On the surface, obsessing about magnets instead of your son seems ridiculous.  But this shift gave Joyce’s character a chance to breathe, a chance to grapple with her own feelings, what she wants, it gave her a chance to just be Joyce instead of Mom™.  So S3 is about her, instead of what is happening to her. 

And i think, ultimately, this tonal shift in S3 is what allowed that to happen.  If the circumstances in S3 were the same as S1-S2, then the Duffers wouldn’t have had this freedom.  If we want to see Joyce grow as a character, there has to be time and energy spent on her away from her kids and away from the same closed loop of S1-S2. Which brings me to my next point.

Assertion 4:

Jopper.  You can’t expect me to write this long ass meta on Joyce Byers and not talk about Hopper, right?

In early S3 there is obviously a marked shift in her relationship with Hopper.  There are no longer secrets (El) or other relationships (Bob) that they can use to hold each other at arm’s length anymore.  There are no other adults in town now who understand what they’ve been through.  Joyce is effectively co-parenting El with Hopper and it’s clear that he not only asks her for advice often but that they spend a lot of time together.  This did not happen between 1 and 2.  It’s made fairly clear upfront that Hopper is hopelessly in love with her, but what of Joyce?  She’s more difficult to read.  And this is due in large part to the fact that she is more complicated than Hopper and her feelings are more complicated than his.

I am not here to argue about whether I think Joyce loves Hopper.  This entire analysis is based on the assumption that she does because I think the Duffers and Winona have given us more than enough to go on to draw that conclusion.  What I AM here to argue, however, is that Joyce is still grappling with what she wants and (inappropriately so) is attempting to compartmentalize Hopper.

Adult relationships are complicated and particularly for a character like Joyce, who has been to Hell and back a few times, there is added complexity that has to be dealt with and worked through.  She’s been in prior relationships before.  She knows what it’s like to be in love and she’s felt the pain and grief that comes along with it.  She’s been divorced already, had a spouse that abandoned her, children  to prioritize over her own love life, and trauma stemming both from the events of 1983-1985 and separate from it.  Joyce, especially, is fresh off the train of losing a love interest who she got close to very quickly.  You can imagine her hesitation about leaping forwards again with someone else who could die.

There’s your backdrop for Joyce in S3.  Throw a healthy dollop of she has feelings for Hopper and then point blank ask her: “What do you want, Joyce?”  She could probably tell you that she wants to feel safe again.  That she wants to be free of the pain and grief of losing Bob and what happened in S1-S2.  If you really can get her to open up (or if you are a mind reader like Murray) you would also find out that she is still holding onto that desire to have a normal, happy family which includes a “nice guy to settle down with.”  The thing about Hopper is that he fulfills all of this for her, just messily.  Joyce is still looking for that coloring book of life to be filled in by an artist (Bob). Hopper fills it in like a 3 year old with disorganized scribbles that cover the picture but can’t quite stay in the lines.  Lonnie is easy: he never even filled in the lines to begin with.

Hopper shares personality traits with both Bob and Lonnie.  Like Bob, he makes her feel safe, she can trust him, she knows he cares about her, feels more than friendship for her.  But he’s also brash and loud and argumentative and after spending a decade of her life screaming with Lonnie….she doesn’t want that again.  He probably at times DOES “remind her of a bad relationship,” but Hopper is not Lonnie.  He respects her, treats her like an equal, trusts her judgment. But she can’t escape the constant comparisons.

And what I’ve seen from a lot of the fandom are the same attempts to shove Hopper into the “Lonnie” box or the “Bob” box that Joyce keeps trying to do.  S1-S2 Hopper is in the “Bob” box.  We like S1-S2 Hopper. But S3 Hopper, man.  He is in the “Lonnie” box.  He yells and stamps his feet.  This Hopper isn’t “good enough” for Joyce.

But here’s my radical proposition: Hopper IS good enough for Joyce if he is who she wants.  And he is what she wants.  But she needs to let Lonnie and Bob go first.

Lonnie and Bob still have a hold on her and if she is going to be able to take that leap forward with Hopper she needs to put their ghosts to rest.  She couldn’t save Bob, but maybe she can save Hopper.  Maybe Hopper isn’t perfect and has a temper, but that is ok because he loves her and respects her unlike Lonnie. I think if we see Joyce work through this in S4 and join her on her journey of making the decision to be with Hop and making that choice FOR HERSELF rather than the plot or some other force making that decision for her, the payout is gonna be huge.

Assertion 5:

Finally, I wanted to touch on the common theme of this whole analysis: that despite this inner strength, despite the growth and change her character has undergone, she is still largely handled by the ST fandom with kid gloves.  Like she is someone that can’t take care of herself, and who we need to step in and defend and protect against….the world.  Here are a few examples I’ve seen over and over:

1) Mischaracterizing S3 Hopper as an “abuser” that Joyce needs “protection” from, much like she needed “protection” from Lonnie. 

2) Attempting to turn Jonathan into her protector/her keeper.  

3) Defending her when she is in the wrong because she is Mom™ (see i.e. standing Hopper up for their date and being non-apologetic about it.)

4) Analyzing “what is best for Joyce” without thinking about her canon feelings or what SHE wants

As I dissected above, Joyce never needed protection from Lonnie. She doesn’t need protection from Hopper. Or anyone.  She doesn’t need Jonathan stepping in for her and she does not need us the fandom, to decide FOR her what she wants and what she can and cannot do.  All this does is, ultimately, build her arc around men and strip her of her agency as a character.

All the canon evidence suggests that she is a bad ass.  She curb stomps assholes on the regular and saves the day, multiple times.  So why is it next to impossible to find any discussion of Joyce that doesn’t involve complaints of what man (Duffer or otherwise) is wronging her at any moment?  Is it because it’s just easier to pidgeonhole characters, particularly female characters, into villain/oppressor and “the good guy?”  Because if we open her up into complexity outside of being our cinnamon roll mom we worry she could disappoint us? Because we cannot accept that a good female character doesn’t need protection?  What happens if Joyce is just a complex person who is both mom and badass? Focused on her kids and herself? Deserving of her own life and respect for her autonomy? Is both selfish and selfless?

Joyce, imo, has one of the most compelling arcs on the entire show.  We are introduced to her as a Mom who is barely holding it together already and then loses her son, sending her into a spiral that her inner strength alone carries her through.  After nearly losing her kid again, she loses her boyfriend horrifically, and just when she thinks they may have finally escaped it all permanently she has to single-handedly close the Gate, torching the only other man she loves in the process. So she packs her shit up and moves her family away from the danger.  She goes from the most reactive character on the show to, perhaps, the most proactive one.  

She may not have “powers,” she may not be able to effectively wield a gun, but she can knee an asshole in the crotch and that makes her a hero to me. I say let her be everything she is, allow her to explore her own wants even if they are imperfect, let her make mistakes and stand up for and protect herself, and let her be her own person outside of the character arcs of other male characters.

Andddddd end scene.

#joyce byers #jim hopper #jopper #jonathan byers #lonnie byers #thank you for coming to my long winded ted talk part 2 #aka joyce byers could beat my ass and i am here for it #also this got me all kinds of hype for s4 lemme tell you its gonna be JOYCES SEASON #anyway if you read this please give me your thoughts i love to hear what other people agree and disagree about #i get so wrapped up in these im sorry they're so long jfc #meta