#Because he didn't even know Hopper when Hopper didn't give up on helping Joyce finding him even after his fake dead body washed up | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

corrodedseraphine · 1 year

Text

easy | one shot

pairing: eddie munson x fem!reader

summary: "But Eddie has a girlfriend!" Dustin said first. "He does?" Adam asked, crossing his arms over his chest. "I do?" Eddie muttered under his breath trying to understand what was going on. "Yeah, he is dating my sister y/n!" Will continued. "They're so in love with each other it's disgusting." Dustin rolled his eyes.

Everything would be fine if it weren't for the fact that neither you nor Eddie were informed in advance of the fact that you were a couple.

It promised to be a very interesting week. angst/fluff and almost smut (making out in the bathroom), friends to lovers

In this AU Joyce didn't move to California, but Argyle is there in Hawkins because he is too cool to erase him just like that.

TW: mention of injuries, blood, murder, drugs

the one shot is also avaliable on ao3

9 591 words

When I first got the idea, I thought it would be a very short and pleasant story. As standard, it turned out quite differently!

I know I said this fanfic wouldn't be related to any song, but as I was writing I was listening to one of my favorite songs about love Safari by Piotr Zioła on loop and couldn't resist adding elements of it in there.

eddie munson masterlist | general masterlist

"Here are my favorites!" Wayne said entering Eddie's room with a big cardboard box.

"Please let me tell Dustin that you called us that, this little shit will lose his mind." Robin grinned.

"He knows it. This is my uncle and sometimes he loves you guys more than he loves me." Eddie replied with a mouth full of pizza.

You were sitting in the Munsons' new apartment. After the huge compensation Eddie got from the government, they decided to give up on the trailer park and find a place where power failure and lack of hot water would not be on the agenda. You, of course, helped them with the moving out. Unfortunately, Eddie's condition was not the best so with the carrying furniture and cardboard boxes Steve, Jonathan, Argyle and Hopper helped Wayne. You, Robin, Nancy and Joyce took care of painting the rooms, but now it was time to eat to strengthen yourselves before continuing. You sat in a circle on the floor, since you hadn't yet had time to assemble the table. Suddenly there was the sound of a telephone in the apartment. Wayne went to answer it and returned after about 10 minutes with a worried expression on his face.

"If it weren't for the fact that the police chief is now sitting across from me I'd think I'd messed something up again." the younger Munson joked, to which Jim just rolled his eyes.

"We'll have visitors next week." sighed the old man.

"Who?"

"Remember aunt Theresa and her son Adam?"

"Jesus, no!" his reaction spoke for itself.

"They want to come for a week."

"So at the moment when we live in a trailer and can barely afford anything they don't want to know us, but when we suddenly get a lot of money and a new apartment they feel like suddenly renewing family ties?" he asked with disgust in his voice.

"It's only a week Son, you'll survive."

"Nope. I won't survive. Hopper you don't have a free cell for a week? I'll be much better off there than in their company."

"Don't be dramatic, kid." he replied.

"Joyce! Have mercy on the victim, store me for this time in your basement, you won't even notice I'm there," he whined. "I just got you out of the hospital, the doctor said that I am categorically forbidden to do any extreme activities!"

"How can a family visit be extreme?" Steve asked.

"When you meet them you'll understand."

You finished eating and everyone went back to their duties, but you went to help Eddie with changing the bandages. From the very beginning you were the only person he allowed in, because you handled him most delicately of all. You knew that Wayne was trying his best, however, Eddie always dramatically confirmed that everyone else wanted him to die in pain.

He sat on the edge of the tub as you cleaned each wound in turn. He hissed in pain from time to time, each time you heard it you sent him a slight smile whispering that it would be over soon and everything will be fine. When each wound was thoroughly cleaned you moved on to applying the ointment.

"Why do you dislike your family so much?" you asked while rubbing the ointment into his cheek.

"They have always considered themselves the best of the family, just because they have money. They love to brag about it, if they could they would wear badges that say 'we're fabulously rich, sucker,'" he said rolling his eyes.

"That doesn't sound too good." You sighed.

"I'll be hearing all week about how worthless I am. Too stupid to graduate from high school on the first try, too controversial looking to get a good job... The list goes on, if I were to list everything we'd have to sit here until night."

"Hey, look at me." you said grabbing his chin and turning him so that he was looking straight into your eyes. "You're not worthless. You saved the world, Eddie. You saved us all. The only worthless thing that exists is your hopeless aunt's words, do you understand?"

"You saved me, too. More than once." he whispered surprised with your words.

"I would have done it a second time without hesitation."

When you found yourselves in the Upside Down after passing through the gate at Lover's Lake the Demobats took you as their target. Without a second thought, Eddie rushed to your rescue when one of them wrapped its tail around your neck. Later, while Steve, Nancy, Jonathan and Robin dealt with Vecna together the two of you and Dustin were supposed to distract the monsters. Unfortunately, Eddie had no intention of listening to Steve and feeling a surge of courage he cut the line when you and Dustin returned to the trailer on the good side. That didn't stop you from jumping after him. You don't know if it was the adrenaline or the despair that overwhelmed you when you saw him that made you and the others able to get him back out the other side. The option of getting out of hell without Eddie simply didn't exist for you.

"I just... I don't want Wayne to be ashamed of me. I don't want him to listen to all the crap they say about me because I know he cares. He tries not to show it but I can see it. And that's the worst part of it all."

"Wayne loves you. And I know he would do anything for you. It's normal that when someone talks nonsense about people we love it upsets us. Remember when you had to pull me forcibly away from Craver who was bullying Will? I thought I was going to tear him apart then. I probably would have if it hadn't been for you."

"To be honest, you were terrifying, I was scared as hell," he laughed.

"If necessary I'm ready to defend you from your crazy family too. I just need to grow my nails so I can claw out their eyes better." you answered. When you saw the smile light up his face as well, you felt your heart skipped a beat. You meant it in all honesty. You would do anything for the people you love. He didn't need to know that you loved him in a little different way than the rest.

When the ultimate day arrived Eddie was sitting in his room with Dustin and Will working on the details of the next D&D campaign. This was to be Will's first time as Dungeon Master for the whole group so Eddie, as always, eagerly offered to help. They were fiercely discussing the final boss fight when the door to his room swung open gently and Wayne showed up in it.

"Hi Uncle Wayne." Dustin and Will said simultaneously.

"Hi boys. Eddie? Our guests have arrived." As soon as the last word left his mouth the door swung open wider allowing his aunt inside. There was a look of displeasure on Wayne's face at the fact that she had walked in there as if it were her own room, but he didn't comment. Immediately after her, her son Adam walked in.

"Hello, Edward!" she said in an overly high tone, looking around the room with a judgmental gaze. "Why don't you give an old aunt a hug as a greeting?"

"I'd love to, but unfortunately the doctor has forbidden me to have close contact with other people." Eddie replied in a flat tone causing the younger boys to snort quietly with laughter.

"Hm... I see you still haven't grown up. Adam threw away all his toys the moment he started high school."

"These are not some toys, they are needed for our campaign." He sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Are you still playing that satanic game?" interjected Adam.

"It's not- Yeah, you know what? Yes, I play the satanic game all the time. Actually, I'm the leader of the cult now, and these are its scary members Dustin and Will. Before you say anything, yes, I am bringing the Hawkins youth to the dark side of power to worship Satan with me." Their visit had so far lasted only five minutes and they had already made Eddie think about how much more fun it was to be ripped to shreds by demobats.

"Alright." Wayne interrupted his dramatic speech before things got too far. "Why don't I show you the rest of the house and the neighborhood?" Without a word they left closing the door behind them.

"Dude, they're awful." commented Dustin.

"Are you still playing this satanic game?" Will began to mock Adam.

"This is going to be the worst week of my life." The metalhead rubbed his face with his hands.

For the next few hours, Eddie didn't leave his room for a step, knowing that the enemy was sitting right behind the wall. He tried to focus on Will's campaign but anxiety and nerves didn't help him one bit. When the doorbell rang around the apartment all three of them left the room knowing it was Hopper. However, they didn't expect it was Aunt Theresa opening the door for him.

"Good evening officer!" she said. "My name is Theresa Munson, is something wrong?" A confused Hopper sent Eddie a questioning look, to which only the latter rolled his eyes.

"Nothing happened, I-"

"Did Eddie get into trouble again? I know he's been in trouble with the law several times before," she sighed. "Edward I'm sure what you did was not intentional right?" She didn't let him get a word in edgewise.

"What the fu-" Eddie didn't have time to finish when Wayne came out of the bathroom.

"Jim! How are you?" he said shaking Hopper's hand.

"Good." he replied still somewhat surprised. "I came to pick up the boys."

"Oh, so you're not here after because of Edward? What a relief!" his aunt interjected.

"Unbelievable!" Eddie exclaimed, banging his head against the wall.

"I'm just worried that you'll follow in your father's footsteps! Look at you, tattoos? torn clothes and that satanic music you listen to? That doesn't bode well, does it, officer? If you don't change something about yourself you'll never find any girlfriend or a good job."

It was a punch below the belt. Mentioning his father was crossing the line. Seeing Eddie clench his fists and the knuckles on his hands turn white Will and Dustin sent each other a communicative look.

"But Eddie has a girlfriend!" Dustin said first.

"He does?" Adam asked crossing his arms over his chest.

"I do?" Eddie muttered under his breath trying to understand what was going on.

"Yeah, he is dating my sister y/n!" Will continued.

"They're so in love with each other it's disgusting." Dustin rolled his eyes.

"Come on boys, we have to go." Hopper said, interrupting this bizarre exchange of words. "Your mother will kill me if we don't get back before dinner."

With that, the two teenagers left them all in shock, including Eddie. After they left, he quickly locked himself in his room thinking about the situation. Apparently you are a couple now. How should he behave around you now? He didn't know what to do with all this. These two little bastards had just put him in a game of pretend relationship with the girl he wrote all his love songs about. On the one hand, it was a great opportunity for him to finally make a move on you. On the other, he was paralyzed by the fear that nothing but rejection awaited him.

"You can pick the place." Hopper said as soon as they got into the car.

"What place?" asked a puzzled Will.

"Where I can bury your bodies when y/n finds out what you've done."

"Oh come on! Everyone knows very well that she has a crush on him!" Dustin exclaimed.

"They're both only have eyes for themselves, we're just helping them finally do something about it." Will tried to defend them. "Just helping!"

"Even if it's true what you're saying, they should come to it by themselves, not by your wild ideas," he sighed. "You know what? It doesn't matter. I'm not going to get involved."

And Jim was right. As soon as you found out what they had done you were furious, yelling at them that they had no right to decide for the two of you and put you in such a strange situation. However, it was too late. Locked in your room, you nervously played with your fingers while looking at the phone standing on the bedside table, not knowing whether you should dial the number to the Munson's house and explain the situation. Apologize for the behavior of these little shits and hope that your relationship will not worsen because of it. Plunged into your thoughts, you didn't even hear the knock at your door. After a moment of unresponsiveness on your part, Jonathan and El entered the room.

"Will told us what happened." began Jonathan slowly, sitting down next to you. El wordlessly followed him. "You know very well that they didn't mean a bad thing," he said.

"You can come in too." You sighed still looking at the door. After a moment, your younger brother emerged from behind the wall and, not knowing what to expect, walked slowly into the room.

"I know that a simple apology is not enough!" he began to defend himself. "But this aunt is really awful person! She started comparing him to his father, she thought Hopper had come to arrest him, or God knows what! She said he would never find a girlfriend, so we wanted to help him a-and then this idea came to our minds! At firs it didn't seem so bad. We thought...I am really sorry y/n."

"It's okay." you said quietly and you extended your hand towards him. "I forgive you." He ignored you hand and hugged you tightly with a relief.

"Eddie didn't protest, I think he liked the idea." he said quietly and you smiled.

Despite the fact, that thinking that Eddie liked the idea of being your pretended boyfrend for a week made you feel very warm you weren't able to stop thinking about what Will have just told you about his aunt's behaviour. She compared him to his father? Your blood boiled inside you. No one had the right to say such a thing, and you set as your goal to make sure it wouldn't happen again. At least not on your watch.

All Tuesday from the very morning you could not sit still. Lessons went on mercilessly, still thinking about the situation into which you were embroiled. When you told Robin about it at lunch she looked quite excited saying that finally something would happen between you two. She was the only one who knew how you truly felt about him and from the very beginning, she was trying to persuade you to finally do something more than rambling to her about your feelings. In her opinion, Eddie should be the person to actually listen to it. The longer you thought about it the more you had to admit that the excitement was getting to you as well. Yet you still didn't know what Eddie thought about it.

When the final bell rang, you quickly ran out of the school, got on your bike and headed toward Munson's apartment, stopping by a bakery on the way. Once there, you took three deep breaths and knocked on the door, which Wayne opened a moment later.

"And who do we have here?" He asked with a smile.

"Hi Uncle Wayne." You said answering with the same. "Is Eddie home?"

"I don't know where else he could be, come in." He let you in. "This is my sister Theresa and her son Adam. And this is y/n," he said as you walked deeper into the apartment. They were both sitting on the living room couch watching TV.

"It's very nice to meet you!" you said in an over-sweetened tone.

"We are also pleased to meet you." Replied a somewhat puzzled aunt.

"Did I hear my favorite Bayers?" Eddie leaned out of the room with a broad smile. Seeing his reaction you took it as permission to take it a step further.

"It's good to know that my little brother hasn't stolen that title yet." you laughed walking up to him. "Hi, Teddy." You kissed him on his healthy cheek. Not expecting it, he fossilized for a few seconds but after a moment he woke up.

"Hi baby." he said, smacking you on the forehead. "I see you've already met my wonderful family?" he added with a hint of sacrasm.

"Yes, Wayne introduced me." you confirmed. "Did you change the bandages today?" you asked wanting to change the topic.

"Not yet." he said, shrugging his shoulders.

"So here's the plan: First we'll change your bandages, then we'll take care of the school notes I brought you." you announced "Ah! I almost forgot! I was also at the bakery on the way, and I brought your favorite doughnuts."

"I told you she was the best." he said proudly looking his aunt straight in the eyes. Wayne watched you from afar with a smile on his lips. Pretend or not - it was nice to see you in such a position.

When you disappeared behind the bathroom door, free from the prying eyes of his guests, you breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank you..." he said quietly. "For playing along."

"Will told me about what you heard from her. I thought instead of clawing her eyes out right away we'd show her how wrong she is. If you don't mind, of course."

"Of course I don't. I was afraid it would be you who would mind. Those little shitheads hadn't decided anything about it with me before."

"So since neither of us has anything against it..." you said. "You told them I was the best?"

"Of course, and it wasn't even a lie!"

It took you more than two hours to come to grips with the notes. If Eddie had dispensed with his dramatic episodes the time would have been about half as short, but you were in no hurry. Sitting behind the closed door of his room nothing changed too much, your relationship from the very beginning was very good and full of laughter that reached the eavesdropper Theresa and her son. After finishing his study, Eddie played you some new songs he had written in his spare time. Three of them were related to each other telling the adventure of fighting the worst kind of evil, which was full of throwing fireballs, manipulating thoughts and knife-sharp fangs tearing skin. The fourth had no words yet. That, at least, was the version for you. The piece of paper with its words was tucked deep in the closet along with the rest he had written thinking of you. So that it would never see the light of day.

As dinner time approached Wayne called you into the living room where you helped set the table and get a few things ready. Eddie accompanied you, watching as you casually moved around the space talking and joking with his uncle. Feeling a pleasant warmth on his heart, he thought if it could stay like this forever. The way you jokingly patted his hand when he tried to snack, or when you pretended to be a princess in distress unable to open a jar, so he as a brave knight would come to your rescue. Such behavior was not something new for you, but this time as a wonderful addition, from time to time he could steal a little kiss from you on the cheek, forehead or tip of the nose, or without hesitation hug you from behind when you were standing at the counter cutting vegetables for a salad. You then leaned gently against his frame, creating an enclosure of safety around you. You both tried desperately to remember the feeling you had then if it was about to disappear as quickly as a soap bubble.

"So how did you two meet?" Theresa asked as you all sat down at the table.

"Eddie was friends with my twin brother, Jonathan, so it was only a matter of time before we met." you replied while putting food on your plate and then doing the same only with Eddie's portion. "I must admit that from the very beginning he had something about him that caught my attention." You continued.

"Interesting." she hummed. "Edward, how's the situation at school?"

"What do you mean?"

"Are you going to finally get out of high school? You know you won't be young forever." she paused briefly. "Adam is studying in New York. He's one of the best, he's getting a scholarship."

"That's great." you commented, not wanting to drag the subject further.

"And what are your plans after graduation?" Adam turned to Eddie with a contemptous look.

"I don't know, at this point I'm just trying to get better." He shrugged his shoulders without taking his eyes off the food.

"Eddie is great with cars!" you blurted out. "Before the accident he used to work for a local mechanic, he really appreciated him." You placed your hand on his, which was lying on the table. When you squeezed it gently he looked at you and sent a slight smile showing a dimple in his cheek.

"Well, yes, but without education you can't find a good job," he said.

"I believe that if someone is good at their craft they don't need any high degree at all to succeed. And Eddie is the best, and I'm sure that as soon as he finishes high school this year he will be very successful." Your voice was still kind however this time a hint of firmness could be sensed in it.

The rest of dinner passed in silence. When you had finished eating you helped to clear the table and wash the dishes. Then it was time to go home.

"My mother and Jim are hosting an engagement party this Friday. She said to tell you that you and Adam can also feel invited. It's going to be great fun, right Eddie?" you said already standing at the door.

"Of course sweetheart." he replied with a fake smile hating the idea of them being there with all his heart.

For the last time that day you placed a gentle kiss on his cheek. Although it was gentle Eddie felt as if your lips were leaving a permanent mark there, which imprinted all the way on his heart.

The rest of the week looked similar. Except for the day of Hellfire, you came to him after school bringing notes and spending the rest of the day together. You could get used to such a course of events, unfortunately, when Friday came you felt nostalgic about the fact that this could be the last of the days like this. Theresa and Adam were going home Sunday morning which meant that these were also the last days to enjoy Eddie's closeness. Feeling a weight in your chest, you got off the bike and headed toward the apartment. You didn't expect Adam to open the door for you. He was shirtless. You immediately felt extremely uncomfortable and wanted to turn back but he stopped you.

"Wayne and Eddie went to get some groceries, you can wait for them inside." he said smiling broadly.

"Thanks." you muttered and squeezed past him in the doorway.

"I just finished doing my home workout. You know, we have a gym at the university, so I go there every day, I can't stop." He winked at you coming closer. Responding nothing with a quick step you walked to the living room and began to unpack the contents of your bag. In addition to your notes after school, you entered the store and bought the new figures for D&D that Will kept talking about that they would need for the new campaign. You carried the notes to Eddie's room, then sat down on the couch in the living room and began spreading out the figures and paints on the coffee table. Adam never took his eyes off you, watching your every move making you feel increasingly nervous.

"Do you play this stupid game too?" he asked, sitting down next to you.

"I participate in campaigns from time to time." You replied shrugging your shoulders. Not wanting to lean on the couch as his arm was stretched across the backrest, you aimlessly moved things from one place to another, making you not notice how close he was to you. It reached you when you felt his hand on your cheek. Surprised, you looked in his direction and immediately jumped away standing up on your feet.

"What the hell are you doing?" you shouted.

"Oh come on, don't you wanna mess around? It will be a while before they come back from the store." he said getting up from the couch.

"Jesus, no! Have you lost your mind? What made you even think that I might want something like that?"

Adam was wrong. Eddie and Wayne returned from shopping, but you were so preoccupied with the situation, and your voice was so loud that you didn't hear the door open. Eddie, seeing you with his half-naked cousin in the living room, felt his heart suddenly get very heavy. He was just turning to leave the apartment and not look at it when Wayne grabbed him by the arm and with a hand gesture showed him to be quiet and watch what would happen next.

"So you're saying all this talk about having a crush on him when he was just your brother's friend is true? You fell in love with a trailer trash who worships Satan? The scars are turning you on?" he smirked. "A better Munson is now standing in front of you, baby, don't waste this opportunity."

"Don't you fucking dare to say one more word!" He crossed the line. It wasn't even about how he behaved toward you. You were too concerned about what he called Eddie. "I tolerated your and your mother's snarky behavior just so I wouldn't make Wayne uncomfortable. But since he's not here now I'm happy to answer your questions. Even homeless Eddie would be much better than you. You don't measure up to him you damn asshole! I don't care about your expensive car you are so enthusiastic about, I'd rather walk everywhere my whole life than get in it. I don't give a shit about your apartment in New York. I would have had a better life homeless under a bridge. And yes, I loved Eddie when he lived in the trailer, I loved that he made me feel at home there, trailer or not I fucking love him so you have to remember that the next time you talk shit about the person I love nothing will hold me back anymore. I will make you regret it for the rest of your miserable life. I'm disgusted with you. I'm disgusted by how self-absorbed idiot you are and how your ego blows the scale. And you are right. You're damn right that these wounds are incredibly attractive. Do you know why? Because they remind me that my Eddie is a fucking hero! You don't even realize how many lives he saved back then! So yes, he and his scars are the hottest in the world and definitely much more hotter than your pathetic gym routine." The words flew out of your mouth like bullets. The shock on his face encouraged you even more but then you heard the door slam.

"Adam?" the voice of Wayne made you tighten your lips into a thin line and take a deep breath.

"Y/n! Good to see you!" he said bringing in the shopping bags.

"Hi Wayne." you said getting the nicest and the calmest tone you could afford at that moment.

"Sweetheart!" before you had time to respond Eddie with a quick step and a wide smile on his lips was already at your side. What you didn't expect, however, was what came next. He cupped your face and kissed you. Eddie was kissing you. You experienced a three-second shock and then completely surrendered to the kiss by placing your hands on his chest. His nose gently touched your cheek, you felt its tip was cold. Yet his lips were burning. Even though the kiss was brief, you felt as if your soul had left your body and had travelled to a completely different dimension. Was it a dream? If so, you didn't want to wake up.

After Eddie heard what you were saying, he felt he had to do it. Many times he saw you defending your loved ones from all kinds of attacks. You weren't afraid to cover Will with your own body when Vecna tried to get him, so verbal attacks were not a problem for you. You also handled this one very well. More than once he had the opportunity to witness this. Now you were doing it for him. This awakened completely new feelings in him. He was sincerely touched and happy. In that moment you gave him something he had not felt since Wayne took him in. He felt wanted and loved. Even if it was pretended at that moment. Nothing could take that moment away from him, so he decided to take a risk. The risk definitely paid off. He enjoyed every second of it. The satisfaction was also a bonus. He wanted to show "the better Munson" that you were his. As if what you said wasn't enough. He wanted the kiss to be a seal saying she is perfect, and she is mine. Damn, he wanted you to be his so bad.

As if nothing ever happened, you sat down on the couch with Eddie and took up painting. You didn't say a word about your exchange with Adam, and Eddie pretended he hadn't witnessed one of the best moments in his life. Painting took you a lot longer than you expected. Plus more because every now and then you glanced in his direction focusing your attention on his mouth as he told you more details of the campaign. Could you have become addicted to something you had only tasted once?

"They are being chased by a pack of wild mutant lions so they run into an old hut where the master of nightmares is waiting for them." He tells you while gesturing with his hands. You're interested in what he's saying, but damn did his lips always look this beautiful? "Earth to y/n!" he yelled clapping his hands.

"Shit, sorry, I zooned out." you woke up suddenly. "So what exactly is it about the master of nightmares?"

"He throws you into a vision that replicates your greatest fears," he said.

"And what is Eddie the Banished's greatest fear?"

Losing you. That was his first thought. "Y'know it will probably be bats." he cuckled and winked at you.

"I am so sorry Eddie, I didn't mean-"

"It's fine, clam down." he said, yawning.

"You're tired, I should go."

"No, stay." he grabbed your hand. "I mean... if you want to of course, I thought you'd wait until they're dry to take some home for Will."

"Oh, sure." a smile crept onto your lips on its own as you accepted the proposition. Lips. You had a feeling you never thought about that particular body part as often as you did today.

"We can chill a little in my room." he suggested. You knew perfectly well what he meant.

"You know very well that I won't agree to this kind of chilling." You crossed your arms over your chest. "Those strange doctors have made it very clear that until the traces of the Upside Down are out of your system for good, there is no question of smoking anything."

"But- please! Have mercy on my poor soul." fell to his knees in front of you making you giggle.

"Don't you dare use those puppy dog eyes on me Munson. It's for your own good." you said softly and tenderly stroked his cheek with your thumb.

"You heartless woman." he faltered, laying his head on your lap.

"Okay, I am able to bear the weight of those words." you chuckled. "There are many other ways to relax, you know? We can listen to music, or read."

"Will you read to me?" he asked raising his face toward you. Big chocolate button eyes glared at you. His face looked so innocent. Rarely did anyone get a chance to see it, since Eddie almost always wore his mask. The fact that he didn't have it with you made you feel very special.

"Come on, adventure awaits!" you helped him stand up and walked to his room. After a moment of deliberation and dithering about whether you should read The Hobbit for the millionth time, you decided that this time it would be some new fantasy book that Wayne had bought Eddie while he was still in the hospital.

"Wayne won't mind that I'm staying this long?"

"Of course not. Besides, we still have some time before they come back."

"We have plenty of time before a pack of wild lions reaches us?"

"And before one of your worst dreams hunts you down" He replied and patted the bed indicating for you to lie down next to him. With that, you began to read, but after a short time you both began to get sleepy. The dim light of the bedside lamp, the warmth that eminated from the two of you, the comfort and peace that you felt in each other's company succulently lulled you to sleep. When you heard a quiet snoring in mid-sentence you looked at its source with tenderness in your eyes. Feeling your own eyelids getting incredibly heavy you put the book aside. Just five minutes. You thought and, moving closer to the boy, allowed yourself a small nap.

It was not as small as you thought.

"Yes, Joyce, you have nothing to worry about." Wayne said. "They were already asleep when we got home, I don't want to wake them up. Yes, I'm sure. They will manage, they are adults. Yes, it won't be a problem for sure. Okay, bye. See you tomorrow." Eddie lazily opened his eyes and rubbed them with one hand. He listened to his uncle's words looking on in disbelief that you were still here. And much closer than before he fell asleep. He brushed your hair away from your face as gently as he could so as not to wake you up.

"Hey, kid." Wayne whispered. "I talked to Joyce, she can stay."

"Thanks, Wayne."

The man smiled and winked at him, closing the door behind him. Eddie took the blanket that lay at the other end of the bed and covered you. In your sleep you turned your back to him and he took the opportunity to embrace you becoming a big spoon. Feeling you move even closer and snuggle into him he thought his heart was about to explode. Your back touched his abdomen causing a slight pain in the areas of the still healing wounds, but this pain was bearable. Besides, it was nothing compared to the happiness he felt.

As the first rays of sunlight broke through the cracks in his blinds and his watch indicated the unmercifully early hour Eddie sighed unhappily. He had never been one of the early birds, and there was no promise of change in that regard. When he opened his eyes he remembered why he was actually sleeping in his clothes. You must have turned in the night because now your face was facing his. You kept one hand under the pillow and the other lay on his side. He wanted to close the gap between you and wake you up with a kiss like in one of the cheap rom-coms, but he didn't know if he could let himself do that. Kissing you in front of his cousin was justified, since you were going to pretend to be a couple, you had to be convincing, but wouldn't doing it when it was just the two of you be too much? He was weighing all the pros and cons when he noticed your eyes slowly open.

"Good morning Eddie." you said stretching.

"Good morning, panda." he replied in a whisper. You looked at him questioningly, and with his thumb he lightly rubbed the black mascara marks under your eyes that must have formed there overnight.

"Oh, shit." you said while covering your face. "'m sorry." you muttered and sat down on the bed.

"Don't be, you look cute." So cute I want to kiss you again and again and... again. His brain didn't let go recalling these visions every now and then. Instead, he simply told you that if you wanted to dress up you could borrow something from his closet. Since your top was a bit sweaty after the sleep, you agreed by taking one of the Hellfire shirts and went to quickly get yourself cleaned up in the bathroom. Then you waited for Eddie to shower and get dressed and helped him with his bandages as you always do. You had seen him shirtless countless times, but now that he was sitting in front of you on the bathtub in only loose sweatpants you were overcome by a feeling that you only allowed yourself in the privacy of your room by fantasizing about your friend. You were afraid of the fact that these fantasies were now at your fingertips, and before you could stop yourself your hand actually moved toward him. Eddie, as if in a trance, equally enchanted by the moment, watched your every move. Your fingers gently traced a path on his body. Starting with a healthy cheek, continuing on his neck, shoulder and then chest.

"Do you like what you see, sweetheart?" he said, unable to catch his breath.

"Very," you whispered biting your lower lip.

"I like what I see, too." He confirmed by pushing your hair off your shoulder. He imitated your movements. Starting by gently brushing your face, neck and arm which was slightly exposed by the fact that his shirt was too big on you. Your breathing became faster and faster as you rested your forehead against his. His hands quickly found their way to your waist pulling you as close to him as he could. And then you kissed him. No matter how close you stood to each other until your lips were joined the gap was too huge. Initially shy and tentative sparks ignited a fire. The desire that had been bubbling inside you for a long time exploded. Still kissing you, he got up from the tub pushing you toward the wall so that you were trapped between it and him. Trapped? You were not going to escape even if you were to burn in this fire. As he laid wet marks on your neck you sank your hand into his curls. The temperature was hotter than hell when you felt his hands go under the shirt you were wearing. His lips returned to yours as he pressed his body against yours and you felt how hard he was. You thought you were going crazy.

"Eddie..." You didn't control the moan that spontaneously left your mouth.

"Yes, Angel?" he asked pulling away from you. His eyes were darker than usual but on his lips was the same smile as always. The same dimple-showing smile that made your knees weaken.

"Please." That was all you could get out of yourself before you put your hands on his neck pulling him close. This time he was the one who moaned right into your mouth and started to roll up your shirt to take it off. And then a fire truck arrived. A huge bucket of icy water to extinguish the big fire between you. A big downpour called Theresa.

"Hello? I think you've already finished changing the bandages! Some people need to use the restroom!" she shouted, knocking quickly and hard on the door. Of course she was eavesdropping. Of course she was doing her best to squeeze in where she wasn't needed. Eddie moved away from you and unlocked the bathroom door. Visibly angry, he passed his aunt without a word and went to his room to get dressed. He was definitely uncomfortable with the fact that they could see his wounds. When he returned, he noticed you in the hallway putting your shoes on. Seeing his sad expression you smiled slightly.

"I have to go help my mom get everything ready for tonight's party." You explained grabbing his hand. "But don't miss too much, we'll see each other in a few hours, right?"

"Yeah." one corner of his mouth lifted

"See you later." In farewell you kissed him on the cheek and left the apartment. Leaving him alone with thoughts of what the hell just happened.

When you got home, you didn't have much of a chance or time to think about the morning's events. You and the rest of the household threw yourselves into the whirlwind of preparations. You sat with Mom and El in the kitchen while Jonathan and Will helped prepare the garden, carrying chairs and tables there. After some time, Steve and Eddie also came to help. Because of his condition, Eddie stayed close to you in the kitchen and Steve went to help set things up in the garden. There was a kind of tension between you and the metalhead, but it wasn't bad. All the time you were sending each other glances and smiles. When you handed him vegetables to cut, his fingers brushed yours. The tiny gestures created a kind of attraction between you, which was terribly hard to resist. Despite everything, you did not bring up the subject of what happened just a few hours ago in the bathroom.

The party was going on at its best, Hopper and Wayne were sipping beers while keeping an eye on the meat on the grill, and right next to them at the table sat Joyce, the Sinclairs, Mrs. Henderson, Jonathan, Will, Eddie, and Theresa with Adam, who today was being extraordinarily, suspiciously nice to Eddie. Shouts and laughter came from the other end of the garden. Together with Dustin, El, Robin, Argyle and Steve you were playing fresbee, while Lucas and Max cheered you on from the sidelines. The disc flew out of your hands almost every time though you didn't give up. Seeing your persistence Eddie couldn't hold back a smile.

"Eddie!" shouted Will. "Are you even listening to me?" he rolled his eyes.

"Of course! You were talking about the new campaign."

"Yeah! What exactly?" Silence and the Dungeon Master's reddened face was the only answer he got.

"Will give him a break, you can see that something else is on his mind." interjected Jonathan. "Or rather, someone?"

"Is that someone our sister?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." he muttered while covering his face with his hair.

"So, Theresa! How is life in New York for you, life in the city must be very interesting!" the voice of Joyce caught the attention of all three so they turned their heads towards the aunt.

"Oh, it is! It's also very hard. It's hard to maintain the role of the Munsons, who have not followed in the family footsteps." she laughed artfully. "Fortunately, we're doing great with Adam."

Eddie's leg began bouncing under the table at an incredibly fast pace.

"What does that mean?" Joyce asked a visibly confused.

"Our family doesn't have a very good reputation, as you well know. Not many of us are able to get out of a miserable life in a penny trailer or avoid owning a police cartorette." She sent Eddie a quick glance, through which he knew he was about to receive the final blow. As his aunt continued, his leg began to move even faster, which did not escape the Byers brothers' attention. They both sent each other somewhat frightened glances but did nothing, waiting for the situation to unfold. "When we found out that Eddie was wanted for murder we were immediately horrified that he had followed in his father's footsteps-" she didn't have time to finish when Eddie stood up abruptly looking at her. Father. A word that caused even more pain than the pack of demobats tearing through his body.

"Don't-" he began in a shaky voice. "Don't you dare mention him. Don't you dare call that man my father, you understand." he tried to be calm. In truth, with all his might he wanted to be self-controlled now, but it all seemed too much. All week he had bravely endured everything she said about him. But now when she did it in front of everyone he cared about, when she did it in front of your family, pulling the strongest card in the process he couldn't stand it. Wayne and Hopper became alarmed and walked closer to the table, but that didn't stop him. "This man is nobody to me. A stranger. A fucking sperm donor nothing more. He is a murderer. He killed my mother, and your sister. His last name is Davis. Not Munson." He felt something tighten in his throat. Something making it difficult for him to breathe. "My father's name is Wayne Munson. He raised me, he changed my last name, so don't you ever dare call that man my father again." Saying all this, he looked her straight in the eye. He wanted to make sure she understood every single word he said. Feeling tears come to his eyes and he quickly turned away walking into the house. He couldn't afford to cry in her presence. That's why it wasn't until he was in your room that everything he held inside gave vent. Angrily, he grabbed a pillow from the bed and threw it with all his strength onto the floor then sat on it himself while leaning against the bed. He took the pillow cuddling his face into it. As the smell of your scent filled his nostrils even more tears flowed into his eyes. Like tentacles full of venom, thoughts of Aunt Theresa being right wrapped around his mind. He thought he wasn't worthy of you. Maybe she was right that he didn't have a good future ahead of him. If he couldn't provide it for himself how could he provide it for you as well? How could a freak hated by the whole city be worthy of someone as wonderful as you? He felt like screaming. At that moment he hated himself even more than his aunt.

"I thought I'd find you here." Hopper said as he entered the room and sat down next to him.

"Yeah?" Eddie earned a smile while wiping away tears.

"Actually, I think that would be everyone's first thought."

"So obvious."

"Listen... I shouldn't say this, but your aunt is really insufferable. Don't worry, okay? Everything she said was one big bullshit."

"Looking at how many times I rode with you in the police car I wouldn't agree," his words were bitter and full of sadness.

"I know you Eddie. I admit that at some point you were not on my list of favorites, but later I got to know you from a different side as well, and I have to admit that Wayne did a great job raising you."

"Wayne is a great guy," he said.

"So are you." Seeing Eddie only nodding in the negative, he sighed heavily and continued. "I know the man your aunt was talking about. And you are nothing like him. You almost died protecting my kids. You are a hero. And you make one of my daughters damn happy, so as far as I'm concerned you're one of the best people I've met in this messed up life."

"You think I make her happy?" the wall of sadness was shot through with tiny hope.

"Very happy. That's why I don't even want to dig into why she came home in your T-shirt today."

"That- it's not what you think," he began to explain.

"I said I don't want to hear about it. Besides, she came back today very smiling. I haven't seen her like that in a long time."

"Eddie what happened? Jim?" when you noticed that Eddie had disappeared from the table you asked Will where he had gone, and he only said that towards the house, without giving you any details. Moments later you found him sitting on the floor with Hopper. His eyes were a little puffy and red, and you knew he had been crying. You were afraid that Hopper might have said something that led to this, and as if reading your mind he raised his hands in a defensive gesture.

"I didn't do anything. Your boy just felt a little worse, you know yourself how wounds can sometimes give you a hard time."

Hearing this seconds later you were on your knees next to Eddie. "Do you need painkillers? Maybe you need to rest? You can stay here and sleep." With concern in your eyes, you watched his eyes become even glassier. "What can I do to help you, Eddie?" without a word he pulled you close with a hug. You were his safe heaven. He knew that with you he could be vulnerable. "Eddie, I don't want to hurt you, I don't want your wounds to hurt you even more." You said quietly scared that such closeness could inflict more pain on him.

"I don't care 'bout them," he muttered into your hair.

"Come down to us when you're feeling better, we'll be making a fire soon to toast marshmallows." Hopper said, leaving you alone.

The two of you sat cuddled together for some more time. When you returned to the rest of the party, you didn't leave his side for a moment, making sure he was feeling fine and everything was okay. The rest of the evening passed peacefully, especially when you all sat around the campfire listening to the melody of the acoustic guitar that "slays dragons."

When the day of salvation arrived and the intruders left the Munson kingdom Eddie could breathe a sigh of relief. Even Wayne admitted that their visit was too much to bear and they deserved a rest. Still, Eddie could not rest. Staring at the ceiling, he wondered what your relationship would look like now. Will you forget everything that happened? Such as how close you were to each other? He tried everything to clear his head. Playing his guitar, writing songs, planning campaigns, drawing- nothing. Completely nothing was able to pull his thoughts off track. Countless times he approached the phone and was already almost grabbing the receiver but chickened out at the last moment. At the point when he could no longer handle himself he sat down on the couch with Wayne and they watched TV in silence. But whatever was playing on it didn't help. Then he heard a knock on the door. The thought crossed his mind that maybe it was his aunt who had returned, which in itself made him feel sick. Fortunately, it was you. Although the look on your face didn't indicate that you just came here to hang out. You were nervously biting your lips and your eyebrows crinkled together as you played with your fingers.

"Eddie, we need to talk." you said when he let you in and without a word you went to his room.

"What's wrong? I know pretending to love me for a week was hard, but I didn't think it was that hard." he tried to joke.

"Shut up!" you exclaimed. Your lower lip began to shake and tears came to your eyes. You had thought about the course of this conversation many times before coming here, but you didn't expect to be so carried away by your emotions. Seeing his surprised and then somewhat hurt look made you feel terrible for having erupted like that. He deserved an explanation. He deserved the truth. He didn't deserve yelling at him, for sure.

"I'm sick of how badly you talk about yourself. I'm sick of how you think you're not worth loving, because- because loving you is easy, Eddie! The easiest." you began, feeling like you were about to die of nerves, but you came here with a purpose and you were going to fulfill it. "I want to love you the way you deserve it. And you deserve the purest, the most honest and the strongest kind of love in the whole world. And I know that if you only let me, I will be able to give it to you. But I want you to know that I will understand if you don't feel the same way about me," the last words passed through your throat with extreme difficulty. You were ready to take the risk. A broken heart was a better option than keeping your feelings for him hidden. Especially since you had the opportunity to see what life at his side might look like. It looked like a dream. And you have to fight for dreams.

"You know I'm not the best at talking about feelings." he sighed. "So I'll use a little help," he said taking a couple of D&D figures in his hand and sat down on the bed. You sat down across from him. "If this were one of the campaigns I would say that a very important part was when Eddie the Banished and Y/n Golden Heart had a battle that lasted a week with two, extremely nasty monsters," the figurines portrayed a small fight scene. " After the monsters were gone they both met, in King Harrington's palace in the lobby, just by the door. Not feeling like feasting, they sneaked out and climbed onto the roof of a small shed that was nearby. Under the cover of night, they felt like they were the only people in the world. The night was beautiful. And the fact that evil was not lurking just around the corner gave it an added charm. The wind gently rustled between the trees, the hushed sounds of the feast could be heard in the background, and they were so immersed in a conversation they had created that they forgot about everything else. They talked about comets, about the next adventure that awaited them, about anything they wanted to talk about. The stars in the sky shone brighter than usual. They heralded the beginning. A good beginning." He grabbed your hand. It was a little sweaty because he vas nervous but you didn't care about it at all.

"How do you know it's a good one?" you asked quietly sniffing and feeling that you were calming down. You've always known that Eddie is amazing at storytelling, but this was the first time it involved something so sensitive.

"As the first shades of orange appeared in the sky and the sun gently began to illuminate his companion's face, Eddie the Banished realized a very meaningful matter."

"What kind of matter?" you waited impatiently for the continuation.

"From the very beginning as soon as y/n Golden Heart appeared in his life he couldn't stop thinking about her. He couldn't remember anything because all his thoughts were directed only toward her. At first he thought she charmed him with a bunch of curses, after all she was the most powerful witch in the kingdom. Because of this, he thought, he felt a constant need and desire to always be by her side. Having once been under the influence of the fumes created by the powerful herbalist Argyle, he wondered what kind of magic it would take to reduce him to the size of a rat, so that he could hide in a pocket in her robe to be by her side for a few moments longer." He laughed, and you dreamily listened on. "His life was like a hurricane. It rushed dangerously with unimaginable speed bringing with it a lot of destruction and dangerous changes. But despite the hurricane, he waited for a warmer front. That morning when y/n the Golden Heart closed her eyes and smiled slightly feeling the warm rays of the sun surround her face, he realized that she was the warmer front. They had survived a lot, rescued each other by pulling out of fires and getting out of rivers, defeated the scariest monsters in the kingdom. And they were together. They never left each other's side. It reached him that his feelings were not caused by curses. What he felt was stronger than a curse. It was love. Simply put, he was in love with her, and to his last breath he wanted to be with her."

"Eddie..."

"Yeah?"

"How many points do I have to roll to kiss you right now?" hearing this sentence from your mouth he knew that nothing more was needed for his happiness, so without hesitation he joined your lips together.

Eddie was right that this was the beginning. A very good beginning.

taglist: @i-me-mine

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dee-writes-smut · 1 year

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CALLING OUT YOUR NAME

FEATURING Steve Harrington x adopted!hopper!reader

CONTENT WARNING description of injuries, mentions of trauma, hurt steeb :(, angst, fluff, childhood friends to lovers, Steve being an asshole in high school

SUMMARY just when you thought he had forgotten you, he called out your name

AUTHORS NOTE ahhhhh! I don't know where this went but enjoy :)

You lost. Eleven hadn't been able to get to Vecna in time and you lost. Max, Lucas, Robin, Dustin, and Steve were all in the hospital because of it. Some in worse condition than others, but it didn't matter, you had all lost. When it had happened you were with Lucas, screaming, crying, and begging as you held little Max in your arms, her ragged breathing crushing your heart into shards. You pleaded with whoever was out there to save her because she wasn't done living yet, none of you were. After rushing her to the hospital, you had fainted in the main lobby scaring Lucas and Erika. The doctors had you admitted for the night to keep an eye on you, but they were sure that it was just a bodily reaction to stress and exhaustion. You were released the next morning without a hitch, but that didn't stop Erika from staying in your room all night.

Due to your inability to leave your hospital bed, you were late to be filled in on what exactly had happened. When you were released the next day, you were immediately swarmed by your friends. Eleven, who you had basically helped Hopper raise, jumped into your arms, clutching onto tightly as she cried. After Mike dragged her from your arms, Jonathan swept you into his arm, sobbing as he held you tight. The two of you had dated for a stint in high school, but when he and Nancy started to get close you let him go on good terms. After breaking it off the two of you stayed really close friends, still loving each other, but in a more platonic than romantic way. Will was next along with Mike and Nancy, their group hug was short but tight and filled with care. Then they got into the nitty gritty, Eleven and Nancy pulled you to sit on your bed and explained the whole thing. Eddie and Dustin had managed to distract the bats, at the cost of Eddie's life and Dustin's leg, but Vecna had known their plan all along and trapped and almost killed Steve, Robin, and Nancy. Eleven was able to fight him off of Max and that's how she barely managed to survive. With him psychically distracted and weak, the group was able to try to full fill the last of the plan and kill the son of a bitch, but he disappeared before they could finish him off and the gates fully opened in Hawkins.

"Holy shit," you gasped, unable to even comprehend what they were telling you.

"I know." Nancy sighed, rubbing your arm warmly.

"Okay, but how was he weak? How were you able to get out of the root shit?" You asked, mind reeling at all the information.

"About that.." Eleven trailed off, nodding at Will who left the room for a second before returning with Joyce and Hopper behind him.

"Oh my god." you froze, unable to move as your eyes brimmed with tears.

"Hey cupcake," Hopper smiled, holding out his arms for you. The tender nickname you had heard him call you your whole life snapped you out of your trance and you set off running into his embrace.

"Pops," you sobbed into his chest, "how?"

"You two kids weren't the only ones who didn't give up on me," he said lovingly as he looked at Joyce. You smiled your heart warming at the sight of your adopted father finally finding someone to share his life with. When looking over at Joyce and wiggled your eyebrows at her knowingly. You had been her favorite of Jonathan's girlfriends and she loved you like a daughter, which meant you had a lot of girl talk. Joyce rolled her eyes at you then winked causing you let out a laugh.

"Where is everyone else?" You wondered aloud, feeling so left in the dark.

"Dustin broke his leg so they have him holed up in the room to the left of you. Robin broke her windpipe and almost died so she is on a respirator in the room next to Dustin. She hasn't woken up yet, they had to put her under and perform emergency surgery so she's high as hell, but they think she is going to be just fine." Nancy informed with a warm but burdened smile. Hopper held you close to his warm chest, keeping you steady while you processed everything.

"Lucas is in the room next to Robin with Max who is in a coma. He has a swollen eye that they are going to drain tomorrow and Max has shattered both arms and legs, they also don't know if her eye sight is going to come back or not. The doctors told us to play it by ear and see if she'd even wake up." Jonathan continued as Nancy started to cry. He pulled her into his arms and you wearily smiled at him, proud but so incredibly hurt.

"Oh! Also.. uhm.." Mike hesitated, unsure whether or not it was his place to say anything.

"Also what?" you asked anxiously, worried someone else might have also died by the grim looks on everyone's faces.

"Steve has been asking for you." Eleven smiled, completely lost on the hesitancy of the other people in the room. She joined your quaint little family after 'the Steve incident' so there is no way she could have known. 'The Steve incident' was a hefty source of deep seeded sadness for you and you had refused to talk about it, ever.

"Why? What does he want?" You asked, slightly irritated that he even has the audacity to ask for you.

"He won't say, kid." Hopper spoke up, his voice low with anger. He remembers 'the Steve incident' like it was yesterday. "But if you want him out of your hair, I'll handle it."

"Wait, hop. She needs to, it's been long enough since-" Joyce tried her intention full of love.

"No." Hopper disagreed, vehemently shaking his head.

"Pops," you smiled, hugging him tightly, "I'm an adult now. I got this." The encouraging smile on your face doesn't match the dread in your heart at having to speak to him.

"Whatever you say, kid, but I don't know if I trust his intentions after the-"

"Please don't finish that sentence." You pleaded, a grimace on your face. Hopper let out a long sigh before placing a fatherly kiss to your forehead and letting you go. You smiled warmly up at him, your eyes reflecting your joy at him being alive and in front of you. "I've got this, pops. I'm your daughter, and if you can come back from the dead, I can take care of a kid I used to be friends with." You tried to reassure him, but it felt, and sounded, more self directed.

After pressing a kiss to your dad's cheek, you followed Joyce out of your room and to the door at the far end of the hall, right next to Max's. "He's in here with a few broken ribs, chunks of skin missing, dehydration, and a concussion. When he came to, he immediately asked how everyone was doing. After we told him you had fainted, he was adamant on leaving to go see you, Jonathan and Hopper had to step in to hold him down." Joyce explained, leaving you completely and utterly lost. You hadn't spoken, or even looked at Steve, since he broke your heart as a kid. He didn't seem adamant on wanting to speak with you either, so why now?

"Thanks," you smiled, letting out a large centering sigh before walking through the door.

"Y/N?" Steve called, coaxing you farther into the room. "Oh thank god." He sighed, relaxing onto the bed with a wince. "Are you alright?"

"Why do you care?" You snapped, crossing your arms across your chest while you scowled at him.

"Listen," he huffed, his face looking a bright shade of white. "I messed up, okay?"

"You messed up?!" you scoffed, you scowl turning murderous. "I don't think you spreading rumors around high school about me being "a whore who puts out for anyone" is a mistake. I think it was intentional." you growled causing Steve's face to curl up in a grimace. "Seriously, how dare you have the audacity to ask for me, to care about me, after the stunt you pulled. You used to be my best friend, the person I trusted most in the world, and you knew damn well I was a virgin!"

"I know! I fucked up and I am so, so sorry Y/N." Steve pleaded and you lost it.

"No! You don't get to apologize. Not anymore. Not after you ripped my heart out. You know what? I can't do this. Hope you have a shit life Steve." You spit before turning on your heel and gunning for the door.

"I was scared!" He called, stopping you in your tracks. "I was scared." he said softly, more vulnerable. You stayed quiet, guarded, but turned back around to see that he had gotten out of bed and was right behind you. Too close. You took a step back and he continued. "I loved you so much that I thought I was going to die. You were gorgeous and everything that I ever dreamed of, but things with my parents were starting to get really bad. It went from casually throwing comments my way to yelling and throwing things and threats of kicking me out and I just," he stopped, taking a deep breath before meeting your gaze. "I couldn't put you through that, not after you had lost your mom and little sister."

"That doesn't excuse the rumor spreading you dick." You spoke, but quieter and with less malice behind your words. Steve reached over and grabbed your arms, you quickly removed them from his grasp.

"Y/N please." Steve pleaded. "I almost died. You almost-" he sighed, running a hand through his perfect hair. "When I was stuck in those things fighting for air, the only thing that came to my mind was you. It was you Y/N. I was about to die and all I could think about was how I lost someone so special, someone I wanted- no want to spend the rest of my life with, and it me being scared is a stupid excuse. I should have never done that to you, but I can't take it back. The only thing I can do is ask for a second chance." Steve explained, baring his heart to you and praying to god that you didn't stomp all over it. "I love you," he whispered, "I love you and I just want to take you out on a date. Just one, and then you can decide for yourself whether or not you ever want to see me again. If you don't, then I'll leave you alone. But.. but if you do, then I think we could really be something special together and I swear to try my best to fight for us." The room went coldly silent for a long while. You were hesitant, scared of letting him back in after what he'd done, but he had a point. It could have been the end for both of you, it still could be at any moment. So why not seize the time you have left? If you got hurt, you got hurt, but at least you could say that you tried. Right?

"Okay," you breathed, waiting with baited breath to see if he was going to laugh in your face and say 'jokes on you I was kidding'. But he didn't. Instead he grabbed your waist and pulled you close, stopping just before kissing you, waiting for your permission. You looked into his deep brown eyes, the ones you had cried over time and time again, but this time you could see the sincerity in the small golden flecks and that was when you knew. He wasn't going down without a fight. So, you closed the distance, sharing a heated kiss that left you both breathless and wanting. "Just don't go and fuck it up this time, okay?"

"Okay." Steve smiled before pulling you back in for another kiss.

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fastcardotmp3 · 1 year

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even if they were never going to let hopper stay dead after season three because the don't know how to Do That, I still think it's bonkers that they chose to tease him being alive in the post-credits sequence LIKE.

his death felt impactful when I watched it the first time when it was released. it felt like a really big deal and a great set-up for questioning well fuck what are they going to do without him next season? what will happen to El? How will Joyce cope? what will the police force look like without someone in the know in charge?

and yeah, those questions still get answered in season 4, but during that (extra long) hiatus between the two seasons, we didn't even get to relish in ASKING because three minutes after the show ends it's just a letdown of hard-won emotion like. oh. oh he's still alive so no matter what changes it's just gonna... maybe not matter? lasting impact TBD?

there's just. like okay if he HAS to come back from the dead lets think about a slightly different way to do it, yeah? for shits and giggles?

(I am just having fun I am just playing what-ifs please do not take this too seriously fjsdklf)

step one: let the audience actually grieve that character.

let them believe he's dead or at least be very uncertain about his ability to get back up from that particular fight. let them mull on a ST universe without him because that's part of the joy of ongoing TV right?? that we get space to think about what might happen next? let them MOURN.

step two: don't send him to russia.

why are we sending him to RUSSIA when we have access to the opportunity for trapping him in the very dimension his daughter both single handedly opened and closed. why are we sending him to RUSSIA when the upside down was brought into contact with Hawkins by his kid, this girl who he has to find determination to stay alive for, who he has to find pieces of in this rotting place because if she had even some small hand in touching it then there must be something good here right?

(this also has the added bonus of opening up Joyce and Murray for having a more narratively impactful arc too. Like as if they both haven't gone down the government conspiracy rabbit hole in the wake of losing their friend? as if they wouldn't take an opportunity to investigate their OWN government and military if there's some sense that Owens is still hiding something from them?? let Joyce be contradictory in the face of having lost so much; let her outwardly look for a safe place to raise her kids and actively chase down danger because she doesn't know how NOT to at the same time)

(anyways ahem)

step three: don't bring him back in episode one.

maybe not even episode 2 or 3 either. maybe let us watch characters want him or need him or miss him in the aftermath of his loss in a mirror of what the audience feels in the wake of his death too.

step four: bring him back in a moment of high stress or action.

bring him back when Steve's got a bat's tail around his throat and his friends are wailing on monsters with rowboat oars because it's all they've GOT. bring him back-- equally changed, looking hardened and rough on the outside but with this flash of shining hope in his eyes when he realizes-- if they got here, then they can help him get home.

step five: give him the chance to be Different Now.

He's single-minded and single-missioned-- get back to El-- and that has the potential to get in the way of a lot. just because he's in hawkins this time around doesn't mean he's going to be all that helpful when the kids have a different first priority than he does. don't worry, they can still lose this time around, especially when you add the conflict of not knowing how much help Hopper is going to be when he's running exclusively on adrenaline and love for his kid.

step six: the reunion.

there is so much satisfaction to Hopper and El reuniting I love that scene in canon, but imagine how much better it could feel if, instead of his season 4 arc being about getting out of russia it could be about coming home to El.

they've both, in their separation, come to understand each other better this way too-- El because she better understands the grief that has run Hopper's life since Sara died and Hopper because he has become so familiar with the world and the creatures that have haunted El for so many years.

let there be symmetry to their reunion. let Hopper realize he wasn't there when she needed him, let El realize that she left Hawkins when he was there the whole time.

let them both be changed and have to get to know each other all over again.

let them be willing to do it.

bonus alternate tragic ending if you're into that:

there is no reunion because he dies in place of Eddie and El has to face the realization that he's been alive for 10 months only for him to die as soon as they find him and before she even gets to see him okay BYE

#dot post #hopper #think about this All The Time it was eventually gonna become a post who are we kidding afjkdsljf #i love playing posthumous script doctor i love dissecting media i care about

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thestrangestthing89 · 10 months

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I feel like for the most part, the show has done a great job showing what life was like in the 80s but that doesn't mean they aren't allowed to take artistic license with some things. It's not a documentary but a fictional show being written in 2023. They are allowed to add a more modern approach to certain things since that's where the audience is coming from.

I think the main message of the show is supposed to be about found family and overcoming adversity. The bullies always lose, and not only that, the bullies aren't ever part of the main cast. Billy was there for two seasons and was the bad guy and he dies. The middle school bullies lose. Steve was a bully in Season 1 and reformed and is likable now. Jason dies.

All of the main characters are outcasts in some way and find support with each other. I don't think this is unrealistic. People who don't fit in tend to band together. But I also don't think it's a problem if people who would have normally been homophobic IRL aren't shown to be on this show. A cop in real life would have likely been homophobic, but that doesn't mean they are required to show Hopper as that. He already knows Will is gay because Joyce told him in the first episode. His "is he?" comment in response to this was not judgmental, he was looking for clarification. He's gone out of his way to help Will. He could have ignored that he went missing and no one during this time would have questioned it. But that didn't happen. He's consistently show as someone who doesn't do things in the conventional way (a major theme of the show). This show likes to invert tropes and not having Hopper be depicted as the cowboy someone like him frequently is shown as, isn't a bad thing. It's keeping in line with the themes of the story. He's messier than this and he frequently questions and works against authority/institutions to protect his family.

Same thing goes for the Wheelers. They are shown to slowly start questioning their conventional upbringing even though they have a Reagan sign on the lawn. Karen almost has an affair and isn't happy in her marriage. She is also shown to emotionally support her kids. She isn't going to suddenly start shouting homophobic things at Mike because she mentioned Margaret Thatcher's name one time in a vague conversation. They are allowed to show the complexities of human behavior. Even Ted starts to question the media propaganda at the end of the season. He's realizing that the normal explanations aren't holding up. It doesn't matter if this would or wouldn't have happened IRL. It's a story. And showing them questioning convention falls in line with the themes of the story they have been telling from the beginning.

I think the Reagan sign is there to show what kind of town Hawkins is and how the Wheelers fit into that. But when the whole town starts hunting Hellfire Club we can plainly see that the parents are not on board with this and are worried about their kids. They are questioning the mindset of the town. They are questioning the conventional ideals they were taught. They think separately from the masses because the masses are hurting their kids.

The bullies have consistently worked against the main characters. The whole point is that they work together as a team to overcome their problems. I think Season 4 was meant to be a set up for what's to come for Mike and Will next season (and obviously for the rest of the characters too but specifically with regard to homophobia). It's showing how these characters are outsiders in their own town, but not within their group. Like it always has. It has consistently done this since the beginning. This isn't working against the 80s backdrop in any way. They are using familiar themes from 80s movies and giving them a modern twist. They aren't trying to write another 80s movie as if we still live in that time.

#forced conformity is killing the kids #also the adults #byler #gay mike wheeler #will byers #jim hopper #stranger things

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erikiara80 · 7 months

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A beautiful Byler-Polivia parallel, Will's truesight and other parallels with Fringe

I said I could make 50 posts after my rewatch of S4. I'm gonna start with the parallels with one of my favorite shows. Let's go! @lilitblaukatz

Olivia Dunham is Subject 13, and she has the ability to see and travel to the parallel world. In ST there are many mentions of number 13, and imo that's a hint that there are different timelines (not actual parallel worlds) and we've been seen them since the very first episode. In fact, Will mentions the number 13 in the first scene of the show.

Will-Olivia parallels

It was a seven. I read many theories about this moment and Mike's strange reaction. That maybe Will is in a Vecna vision, and that's why the lights flicker and "Mike" doesn't know what he is talking about.

Well, I think Vecna is spying Will; those eyes on the skis behing Mike! I think this detail proves that Will's abduction wasn't a coincidence.

But if this Mike is actually Vecna, shouldn't he know about the game and the Demogorgon? He can read minds, wouldn't he at least try to smile?

Then I remembered why this scene seemed familiar. It reminds me of a scene of Fringe, ep 3x15, when Olivia, who can't control her powers yet, travels to the parallel world and for a moment sees the other Dr Bishop, who is quite surprised by what she says.

(in 3x15 Olivia also meets Peter for the first time)

So, I don't know, maybe Will does have a Vecna vision later, at home. But when he talks to Mike, I think he's seeing a Mike from another timeline/or he ended up in another timeline (because the gate just opened?) I don't know. Maybe a timeline where Karen interrupted the campaign earlier, or Will rolled the dice and won. That would explain Mike's confusion, and the flickering lights.

And now I'm thinking about other parallels

The zeppelin and the Rainbowship

The first time Olivia sees the parallel world, she draws this

What if Will didn't just imagine the Rainbowship, but drew what he SAW, like he drew the vines?

Nina kinda looks like a little spaceship, so, maybe... I don't believe what Owens said. I think they were already using the silos before El lost her powers.

(EDIT: Spoilers of The First Shadow- Now we know that in 1943, the ship of Brenner's father wound up in Dimension X, during the Philadelphia Experiment, which was connected to the Rainbow Project. So, maybe Will's Rainbowship is a reference to that and a hint at different timelines)

But back to Olivia and Will. Here she's drawing while the adults are talking about her, and Will is drawing while Joyce and Hopper are talking with Owens, who gives major Walter Bishop vibes, and even has a son named Peter.

Byler and Polivia, the parallel of their first meeting

The Rainbowship is mentioned in the shed scene, the same scene in which Mike reminds Will of the first time they met.

In 3x15 Olivia draws the zeppeling, and in the same episode Peter finds her sketchbook and sees her drawing of the field of white tulips. Her drawings, that are connected to her powers and visions, help him to find her. And this is a beautiful parallel with Will and Mike, because Peter's life changes when she meets Olivia. They talk about her abusive father (in the shed scene Jon mentions Lonnie) and it's after they talk in that field that Peter decides to accept his new family and his new life.

Asking Will to be his friend is the best thing Mike has ever done, and their lives changed too, when they met.

I don't think there are parallel worlds in ST, just different timelines, because for some reason they're stuck in a loop. They mention time loops a few times, and Max even mentions it when they are in Henry's house.

In S2 Nancy tells Murray that his timeline is wrong, and in his letter Hopper says that you can't turn back the clock... But then Henry does it in the flashback. There's also this Back to the future line: The appropriate question is 'When the hell are they?'

And if there's really a time loop, I think Will and Henry can see other timelines or maybe the timelines are merging? There are so many hints.

From Will's Marty Mcfly outfit in S1, to Henry seeing the Mind Flayer when he was a kid. The crystal ball in the Will the Wise drawing, used by clairvoyants, the Forever Clock that Dustin gives to Will, Will's name engraved on the grandfather clock and him saying, in his Will the Wise outfit, that he's seen into the future. If they're stuck in a time loop, then the future is actually the past, since the story has repeated itself many times. Steve and Robin even mention the whole going back to future/present thing.

In 4x01 El says that they're all time travellers, so yeah, if Olivia can see and travel to a parallel world, maybe in ST people can see (or travel to) different timelines of the timeloop.

Eleven, Twelve and Thirteen

In the Nina scenes I noticed that Thirteen is often in the frame with El or Twelve (who I think represents Will). At first I didn't understand why. She never speaks or interacts with El. And I didn't know why they cast a girl that looks like young Millie. The actress said that the crew kept telling her that she looked like Millie, and before S4 many fans speculated that she would play El. Everything means something in this show, and the casting is always on point, so I thought maybe they want us to notice something? Then I remembered that Olivia was Subject 13.

So that kid could be a subtle hint that we're seeing different timelines in Nina. From the beginning, when El wakes up and see the rooms of Four and Nine. 4+9=13

Twelve and Thirteen

Twelve and Thirteen in the Rainbow Room. It's interesting that in both these scenes they focus on 12, "Will", and 13, who looks like little El, after they show the twins. Willel, twins, and different timelines...

Brenner and Thirteen's room

Thirteen and Eleven (and Twelve)

I really think that Thirteen is a reference to Olivia, and since Olivia can see parallel worlds, maybe this is a hint at the ability to see/travel to other timelines. I already thought that El was seeing different timelines, and that she was actually there, with her mind, but this is a nice detail.

*Another interesting 13 mention. The 13th birthday of a kid named Georgie. George, like George Smith in the play? We know that Will's birthday is important, and since this scene is about his parents, I think this mention is connected to both Will and Henry/Edward

Hm, a bit lost, because of other timelines/a time loop?

Anyway, I love Fringe and I love that ST has so many parallels with such a beautiful story.

#byler #tfs spoilers #the first shadow spoilers #will byers #mike wheeler #twelvegate #willel twins #time loop theory #timeline theory #henry creel #vecna #st theory #st parallels #el hopper #stranger things

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henrysglock · 4 months

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Patty being the one who makes Henry want to be a better person is so funny to me because that bit specifically stems from the fact that she's dropping mixed signals re; unconditional love the same way his mother does. He's still got hope that she might be able to give him that love he craves from his mother, which makes him want to be a better person so he might be "worthy" of it. Patty gives Henry a healthier version of the mixed signals Virginia gives him. She's caring and accepting up until a point, and then she turns on him at the last minute, despite "loving" him and despite seeing that something is clearly amiss.

It's literally so funny (it kills the man) when you think about it, because with Mr. Newby/the attic attack, Patty just, essentially, leaps right from

"Henry, you're a miracle!"

to:

"Hm. Yeah. This was all Henry's fault. It was all definitely deliberate, too, and he's definitely stalking me/out to kill me for...??? reasons. Because he's Henry. IDK. Math is mathing for sure."

There's no:

"Henry was trying to stop me from going through with that plan to use his powers. Maybe there was a reason for that? Maybe he was trying to warn me that it's dangerous for us both. So maybe he isn't what's dangerous about this, maybe he's just a vessel for something else, something he struggles to control. Maybe that's why he straight up begged my father to get me out of the attic when he showed up to collect me as things went wrong."

despite her supposedly talking Henry through beating the Shadow in the attic. (Which...I don't think she ever actually helped Henry with the attic possession. I think Henry made that all up to save himself.)

There's also no:

"Holy shit, Henry just disappeared after this whole debacle? Last time I saw him, he was half-aware on the floor of the attic. Is he even alive? Does anyone know where he is?"

either, which is something we even got from Joyce and Hopper.

Joyce and Hopper care more about Henry's wellbeing after the attic incident than Patty does, because she veers directly into being terrified of Henry...despite her supposedly having confessed her love to him while witnessing him fighting off possession!

"2+2 = George Washington" type math going on here.

Patty tells Henry early on that whatever powers he has might be a miracle rather than a mistake, only to veer directly into "Henry's a monster. He's going to hunt me down and kill me" each time.

Mixed signals.

And then when she learns better, when Mr. Newby tells her about the Shadow and she goes to find Henry/makes plans to run away with him, all Brenner has to do is tell her about the Creel murders and she's suddenly against Henry again! Despite knowing about the Shadow and about the conditions Brenner had Henry under in the lab!

There was no:

"Did Henry have a choice? What really happened here? What were the circumstances? This doesn't sound right, it sounds like you might have your fingers in all this, Dr. Brenner. Was Henry cornered into this situation?"

It's just:

Mixed signals.

It's not solid love, and it never was.

(This is why Will's exorcism succeeded, too. He had unconditional love on all sides, regardless of the fucked up things the Shadow had him doing. Joyce and Mike didn't care that Will sent all those soldiers to their deaths, they just cared about helping Will. Jonathan felt guilty that he wasn't there to help handle Will. They were all afraid for Will, not of Will.)

#in which i posit: henry creel would have kicked the shadow's ass out of his head so damn fast if he had even a LICK of self esteem #if henry creel believed he was worthy of love and worth fighting for we wouldn't have a show. period.

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willel · 2 years

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Unfortunately, I still hear whispers saying "People just copy all of El's traits onto Will" and it bothers me endlessly. YOU DON'T GET IT. AT ALL. And you'll probably never read this, but I'm going to type it out anyway.

The point is NOT to copy El's traits onto Will! The point is that Will ALREADY has a lot in common with El! TVTropes is not an official source, but have you looked at their trait list? They've been mirror each other since season 1! Their similarities only become more obvious as each season progresses.

Let's look at some and you tell me if it's really that ridiculous to point out how similar they are.

Beware the Nice Ones: Will is a polite, sweet kid. However, the very first episode shows that when he was threatened by an unknown entity, he immediately ran into a shed to load a gun, and then point it in the direction of said entity. Beware the Nice Ones: Her sweet natured and mellow personality is genuine, but so is the fiery temper she has deep down; push her too far and this girl will not hesitate to melt your brain with a literal Death Glare. Also overlaps with Beware the Quiet Ones.

Does "Beware the Nice Ones" seem ridiculous to you? Does this seem like something someone just made up for the sake of ships or to copy El's traits onto Will? If you want to get logical here, Will's example came before El's did in the show, not that it matters because IT ISN'T COPYING, it's just similar.

Heroic Sacrifice: His D&D character, "Will the Wise", performs a heroic sacrifice during their game in the first episode, a fact which Mike uses to convince his friends to continue the search for Will even when it gets dangerous. He was also willing to die in order to close the gate on the Mind Flayer. Heroic Sacrifice: In "The Upside-Down", El, already exhausted from repeated use of her powers to protect Mike, Lucas, and Dustin, finds herself faced with the Demogorgon about to kill her friends. In response, she pins it against a wall before disintegrating it, but seemingly dies herself in the process. She's Not Quite Dead, though, and returns in Season 2.

They both made a pretty important heroic sacrifice, thinking they were giving up their lives to help their friends and family. Are we gonna pretend like they DIDN'T do that? Even Hopper has his heroic sacrifice moment. We gonna pretend like he didn't because it'd be "copying El"???

Daddy's Girl: She becomes this in Season 2 to Hopper after a year living together, some healthy, plentiful bickering, and her going "runaway-train" on him. When he ends up (apparently) dying in Season 3, she is utterly devastated. Momma's Boy: If having your head screwed-on enough to survive what he goes through, partly thanks to how Joyce has raised him to keep going in a physical and emotional crisis by seeking support, is being a Momma's Boy, then his dad is right.

Season 2 played these tropes so clearly. Every scene that Joyce had with Will was pretty much mirrored with Hopper and El. You know what happens right after that scene where Joyce catches Will in a lie, gets him to confess, and has him crying in his arms? It switches right to Hopper being the opposite of Joyce and not handling the situation well, resulting in El tossing stuff around and crying in her room.

Even at the end of the season, we get Joyce hugging Will so tightly after that terrible ordeal. It's followed by El hugging Hopper after using all her strength to close the gate. Will and El are hugging their parents in the exact same way, on the same shoulder and everything. Guys please. IT'S NOT COPYING, IT'S ON PURPOSE.

Nice Guy: Even though Will spends most of Season 1 trapped in the Upside-Down, he is still shown to be an honest and kind person. Before his taking in the first episode, he admits to Mike that the former's roll landed on a seven and finished him off in their D&D game. When he's rescued and hospitalized near the end of Chapter 8, one of the first things he does when he wakes up is ask if his brother is okay when he sees Jonathan's bandaged hand. Nice Girl: She has a strong sense of right and wrong, even when she has been almost completely socially deprived for most of her life. She also lacks malicious intent and does her best to help and protect her friends, though she goes overboard a couple of times.

If anyone tries to argue Will and El aren't good sweet kids and that this is just "copying El", then you're just straight up completely wrong. They've always been nice, good, and sweet. BOTH OF THEM. Yes, they have their moments, but so does literally everyone else.

The Quiet One: Not to the same extent as El, but he's definitely on the quiet side. The only times he talks at length are when he's around his closest friends and family or when he's being asked about the Mind Flayer; otherwise, he usually hangs back and lets other people do the talking. The Quiet One: Given her upbringing, she's a quiet girl, usually talking only when spoken to and during times of conflict, often preferring hand gestures to get her point across. She's more vocal in Season 2, which in no small part seems to be due to being around Hopper for nearly a year and picking up a lot more vocabulary from him. By the beginning of Season 3, Eleven can talk like a normal girl her age, though she tends toward the terse side, and she sometimes struggles with pronunciation. However, she struggles to articulate herself when stressed, and nearly becomes mute when interrogated by police in Season 4 which… does not help her case with them.

Like... come on. Are you really about to pretend like Will and El aren't the super quiet ones of the group??? You really think this is just "copying El's traits onto Will"??

Trauma Conga Line

Not even gonna copy and paste that one, it's two long for both of them and UNDENIABLY TRUE FOR BOTH.

Unwitting Instigator of Doom

Another undeniably fact that they both caused some oopsies with the Upside Down shennanigans. First it was El. Then it was Will. Then it's El again in season 4. Who knows, maybe it'll switch back to Will again. Either way, IT APPLIES TO BOTH OF THEM and HAS applied to both of them since at least season 2.

For now, I will leave it there. I did not include all of them, nor do I feel inspired to compare the tropes that are very similar for the sake of this essay. I did it in the past and maybe I'll do it again in the future.

It's not a theory that they're similar. It's not something fans are doing because "misogyny" or "because ships". It's literal. It's official. This from the Duffers:

In the episode, Will unveils his painting from Volume 1 and explains the complexities of El and Mike's feelings for each other. To Mike, he's talking about Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), but for Will, Jonathan (Charlie Heaton), and the audience, we can see that he's also talking about himself. The Duffer Brothers both wrote and directed these final two episodes, and through this scene, in particular, they use a variety of camera angles to create a sense of duality on top of Will's speech.

source: https://collider.com/stranger-things-season-4-will-byers-speech-car-scene-sexuality-duffer-brothers-comments/

Ignoring the shipping aspects of this (for the love of god PLEASE focus on the characters here), they are creating a duality between Will and El on purpose.

Will and El are MEANT to be similar, yes, even down to their love lives unfortunately. They have similar personalities. Similar interests. They're similar people, period.

Have you all never got invested in two character who are very similar interacting with each other or forming a familial bond??? Have you never enjoyed some found family??? Do you scoff at the idea of found siblings or not-actually-twins twins? Like???

I'm so confused how you see all these similarities between the characters and what they've gone through and you come away from that thinking, "You're just coping El" or "You just don't want to support a female character". ??????????

The point of them being similar is to BE SIMILAR TOGETHER. That requires TWO characters who are not identical, but SIMILAR ENOUGH.

Will and El HAVE similar trauma because of the Upside Down and the lab. Literally Will was so tired of the tests and questioning that he begged Joyce not to take him back after he that horrible experience in the field in episode 2. Even that wasn't enough to make him want to go back to that place where El was held captive for years and experienced the same stuff. Will KNOWS what it's like.

Will and El have similar personalities. We already discussed them above. Quiet. Kind. Self sacrificial. A little bit snarky when they want to be. Genuinely good kids who easily pass as siblings raised by the same mother. What, is El copying Will now cause she got some bowl cut bangs??? Of course not.

Will and El have/had similar parent dynamics. Season 2 did not spend all that time comparing and contrasting Joyce and Hopper's parenting styles for you to be like "You're just coping El and Hopper's bond." El and Hopper's bond isn't the same as Joyce and Will's bond, it's just similar! As for Hopper and Will, in season 1 and season 2 we saw Hopper step up as a protector and savior for Will, but obviously it's not quite like being a father for him. Still, it was cute that he called him "buddy", showed up to all their appointments at the lab, and carried him around while he was unconscious. Not to mention Will ALSO be paralleled with Sara in season 1 as Hopper and Joyce were trying to resuscitate him. 🙄. I almost take back what I said, Will and Hopper do have a connection, but it still isn't like El and Hopper's.

Will and El are BOTH tied to the Upside Down and the supernatural and have been since the beginning of the show. All of these similarities of theirs? All of it leads back to Henry Creel.

Yeah, I saw some people saying "You're copying El's connection to Henry!" Please sit down and listen.

Just because Will and Henry unfortunately met in 1983 does not suddenly erase all the events leading up to El yeeting Henry through that gate in 1979???? Do you think Will just took a dry erase board and washed all of that away???????? Don't you see how ridiculous that is???

It's CONFIRMED that Will and Henry are tied. We saw with our own eyes how El and Henry are tied. These three are a trifecta of crazy shenanigans that is finally coming to a head, but all you can think about is "They're just copying El"??? SIGH

The conclusion you should be drawing from this is not "Will is copying from El" or "Will is stealing her spotlight" or "If you like WillEl you're probably misogynist" or whatever else you're implying.

You should be realizing that Will is the backup and support El has always needed to defeat this uniquely powerful foe. Just her strength isn't enough to undo all the harm he has done. We've seen her strength and her power. It is unmatched.

But as Will once said, "Sometimes, the bad guys are smart too."

It will take more than her power this time, wouldn't be nice if you know... she had a partner who can take care of the "background noise" so that she can focus on the front lines??? Doesn't that not sound cool? Is that not a satisfying conclusion to all their similarities and parallels rather than making this about your ship wars with Michael Wheeler?

I'm asking you to think big. Think Vecna. Think plot. Think story. Think conclusions. Stop thinking small and digging your heads in the sand. You could be enjoying this story and these characters so much more if you didn't determine their worth and their story through the lense of your ships.

I'm asking people to stop saying WillEl is the equivalent of copying El or being misogynist. I'm asking people to stop using WillEl for their ships. Let them be individuals who can come together to defeat the big bad and live happily ever after with their family, friends, and loved ones.

#stranger things #will byers #el hopper #willel #analysis #sorry I ranted again #I am legit so.....#so angry #I think it's ok to say I'm angry now #because things are just getting worse and it's legit pissing me off #I don't get why people are like this #how did they watch season 4 and get WORSE???#people say that willel hug and were like #'gasp el hugs people that means will is copying her' that's how silly they sound to me ok #and the whole misogynist angle is even more stupid #I WANT EL TO HAVE A BROTHER LIKE HER AND A FAMILY WHO CAN SUPPORT HER SUPERNATURAL NEEDS #is that so wrong???#wth??????#I did not wait allllllllllll these years for willel moments for people to be trying to tear them apart like this

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scanboii · 9 months

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a hunger we keep inside

tags : steddie , vampire!steve , blood drinking, starvation word count : 2,372 summary : they won. everything worked out, everyone survived, everything’s finally okay. but what’s up with steve harrington?

Five days after they defeat Vecna, Steve Harrington finds himself at Hopper’s cabin for dinner.

–

The place has been cleaned and fixed considerably since Steve last saw it. Apparently Joyce and Hopper have been busy because it’s actually quite nice inside, all things considered. It’s still dimly lit, like it's always been, and there’s less furniture. (The Byers are still in the process of moving back, so Steve’s sure it will feel as homely as it ever was in a week or so.) The hole in the ceiling is patched, and the boards on the windows have been replaced with glass. Steve makes a note to offer a helping hand. (He remembers Hopper mentioning renovation plans to add a couple more bedrooms for Jonathan and Will and he knows the process would go a lot faster with more bodies.)

The house is split into two groups. The kids are all packed away in Eleven's room, eating and chatting. Laughter filters through the crack in the door and it makes Steve smile. The 'grown ups' (Steve isn't convinced that straight out of high school should mean you're an adult but who is he to say) are sitting around a big sturdy dining table. The unpolished wood is rough against Steve's wrists where they rest at the edge of the table, but it doesn't bother him. He smiles around himself, taking in all of the side conversations everyone is having in between bites of their food. He doesn't remember the last time he had a meal like this.

His parents didn't have dinners with him. They were always too busy, always away. And Tommy and Carol stopped having lunch with him after their falling out. So for the rest of high school he spent most of his lunch period eating in his car. Even now, graduated, he eats alone most of the time.

"Steve, honey," Joyce's voice breaks him from his thoughts. She's quiet, leaning closer to him to keep from drawing attention. "You okay? You haven't touched your food."

Steve recoils, cheeks aflame. Truth be told, he hasn't been eating much lately. His appetite has gone and it refuses to come back and instead lingers a bit of nausea. He's not entirely sure why. He thinks, perhaps, he's getting sick. Or maybe he already is, but whatever is wrong with him doesn't feel normal. It's not an illness he can put a name to.

Steve cradles his body, where the bat bites have scabbed over but on occasion still pulse and sting, and smiles at Joyce. He gives her a half-assed excuse and grabs his fork, psyching himself up to choke down a few bites. He doesn't want to be rude and the food does look rather good.

The first forkful goes down okay, though it feels like lead at the pit of his stomach. And the second takes a bit more chewing but he manages that too. He's concentrating so hard on keeping it all down that he's missing the conversations happening around him. Robin's beside him, talking with Nancy and Jonathan across the table. Or, she was, but Steve realizes he can't hear her voice anymore and he can feel eyes boring holes into his head.

A hand comes to steady his own. "Steve, you're shaking." Robin points out, too loud for his liking. And when did he start trembling like a goddamn chihuahua? Now everyone's looking at him, and that's not- he didn't want to cause a scene.

Steve drops his fork, tucking his hands under the table, and shrugs. "Just a little cold."

Robin nods, eyebrows furrowed. "I've noticed," she says, squeezing tighter. "Your hands are freezing."

He pulls away gently, shaking himself. "I think I might have caught a cold or something." Steve says with an abashed smile, hoping he doesn't seem as shaken as he feels. He steels himself further and looks around, offering eye contact as assurance that he's just fine.

The night moves along but Steve doesn't try to eat again. He leaves early, claiming to be tired and in need of rest. He only makes it halfway to his house before he has to stop and expel the food from his gut.

Nobody sees Steve for the three days that he tucks himself away in his house, but he makes sure to call Robin to assure her that he’s fine, just ‘recovering’. He knows he can trust her to relay that to the others.

Steve doesn't sleep the first night. Despite his claim, Steve doesn't feel tired at all. He lays in bed and stares up at the ceiling and his mind races but he doesn't feel the need to toss and turn, just reflect. It's unlike him, which maybe cements that somethings not quite right, because he's never been able to keep himself still before.

He thinks of asking for help once it starts to feel like a habit with no effect on his body or mind. That should worry him right? Steve should really tell someone. But on the third day in a row, when he thinks he might go another sleepless night, he’s pleased to suddenly fall into unconsciousness. The heavy fog in his mind weighing him down into peaceful darkness. Something deep within is terrified but he doesn't dwell on the feeling as sleep welcomes him in with open arms.

Eight days after they defeat Vecna, Steve Harrington unknowingly dies from the wounds on his stomach, in his sleep, in his big house, alone.

–

The next morning, Steve wakes up with full awareness in the second it takes for him to open his eyes.

Despite the night of ‘rest’, he feels, as he looks down at himself with vibrancy he’s never managed before (he swore he might’ve needed glasses before this), weird. Nothing about him feels right.

The sharpness of his sight shocks Steve as they catch dust floating above his head, and his ears are picking up on things suddenly that he’s sure he’d never been able to hear before. The piping in Steve’s house rattles, and his watch, the one he’d thrown half haphazardly onto the bathroom sink counter, clicks mechanically away behind the closed door. The smell of everything around him and the texture of the fabrics rubbing against his skin make him cringe even though he's sure they never used to bother him before.

He thinks maybe he’s losing his mind.

And worst of all is the gnawing hunger in his gut. Because food doesn’t help, there’s nothing in his fridge he can keep down. He craves, but what he craves doesn’t come to mind.

Steve finds himself at the park in Forest Hill.

It's not a place Steve finds himself often. Especially not lately.

But it's a place he knows will be quiet and peaceful as he has a meltdown. His body hasn't decided whether it wants to break apart or not but he’s trembling and his heart is beating so fast and he can hear the blood rushing in his veins. It reminds Steve of the feeling like all of the times he's teetered on the edge of a panic attack.

Steve clutches at his stomach, and licks his lips anxiously.

He's so fucking hungry.

It's painful and all consuming and nothing he does alleviates it.

Steve slides a box of cigarettes out from his back pocket, scowls as his hands shake in front of him and pulls one out along with the lighter stuffed beside it. After setting the end ablaze, he inhales the smoke deeply, holding it there to settle into his lungs. It burns but it’s not painful and he marvels at the amount of smoke he manages to exhale without coughing. It’s nice, and familiar, but doesn’t calm him down. (It doesn’t quell his hunger either.)

He’s on his second cig before the sound of footfalls and crunching leaves captures his attention. His head swivels towards it and there, ambling towards him, is Eddie Munson.

Eddie waves, grinning, and shouts, “Harrington, the hell are you doing out here?”

Steve returns the gesture and drops his butt, stamping the ember out. “Munson, hey, I was just-” And he has to stop, nearly chokes as Eddie moves closer. He realizes he suddenly can’t breathe, wants to inhale too much, feels like he can’t get enough. Saliva begins to pool under his tongue. And that hunger, that hunger, my gods he could eat his own hand. There’s something that pinches the inside of his bottom lip but it’s merely a background thought in his haze.

His feet are moving towards Eddie before he has a chance to think through his actions. He reaches him far quicker than he should’ve and Steve gets Eddie to the ground in one fell swoop, arms out to dig Eddie’s wrists into the dirt.

Pinned down, Eddie yelps helplessly. “What the fuck, dude?” He huffs, struggling under Steve’s iron-like grip.

Eddie’s heart is beating so fast (Steve can hear it), and an acrid stench hit’s Steve’s nose behind the delicious scent of Eddie’s veins. Steve wonders if he’s smelling Eddie’s fear, he can certainly see it. He wants to ask him what he’s so afraid of.

“Steve?”

Steve pauses, inches away from Eddie’s throat, and marvels at the fact that he’d been moving at all. He licks his lips.

“Harrington, what’s wrong with you man?” Eddie’s voice quivers beneath him.

He tries to look away, towards the other man’s eyes, but Steve’s caught on the fluttering of Eddie’s jugular vein. He can’t avert his gaze, instead licks his lips again. “I’m really hungry, Eddie.” His voice comes out more pathetic than he means it too. “It hurts, it won’t go away.”

“Okay,” Eddie starts, hands flexing under the uncomfortable grasp Steve has on them. “Okay, we can… we can get you something to eat, yeah? How ‘bout it?”

“No, no, it won't help,” Steve shakes his head manically, rocking forward, gets impossibly closer. “It won’t help. Tried everything–” He drools, and feels Eddie flinch under him as it drips along his neck. “You smell really good…”

Steve’s grip tightens, he can hear the creaking of Eddie’s bones, and it pulls out a yelp of pain. The acrid stench is everywhere, it burns his nostrils, but he knows once he gets a taste it will all be okay. He knows Eddie won’t be afraid once his lips are around his neck, he knows the pain in his stomach will subside. He needs it to abate or he fears it might kill him. His mouth opens, more drool drips from his teeth, and they start to wrap around the enticing stretch of skin along Eddie’s neck.

“Harrington, Steve– Steve, I'm really scared, man!”

The sound of his name brings him back again, and the terror in Eddie’s voice makes him wrench away. Steve throws himself away, hands over his mouth and nose and he moans loud and long at the stabs of pain ravaging his belly. “Go away, go away, go away,” He mumbles.

Eddie’s up now, Bambi legs knock kneed. “Steve, I want to… I want to help. I don’t really know what’s going on with you, but I think we both know what you need right now.” He starts to stumble closer making Steve curl up on his side. “I just need to know you’re going to stop. I need to know you’re not going to kill me.”

Steve can see Eddie analyzing him as he tries to really think it through. He looks at Eddie, at one of the people he risked his life to save. Someone he could now confidently call a friend. He sees Dustin in Eddie, recognizes the influence and he sees a reminder of hope. And Steve thinks he knows the answer. Can say with near certainty that he can endure this. Won’t indulge. Has had his lifetime in practice on not indulging himself. He nods to Eddie, works his mouth to speak, has a mind to verbally confirm his capability to stop before the point of no return. “I won’t hurt you.”

There’s a wary few seconds where the metal head just stares at him, and he stamps the bout of impatience bubbling in his chest. Then Eddie nods too, and drops to his knees beside him. The long black sleeve covering Eddie’s wrist is pulled up and Steve swallows thickly. “Okay, not too much…” Steve nods, transfixed, and sucks in a breath as Eddie moves his arm up closer to Steve’s lips.

He latches on immediately, teeth sinking into the skin, and delights as blood gushes against his tongue. He moans, can’t help the sounds that are coming out of him as he sucks down the red. A shiver runs down Steve’s spine, and he feels good. Hasn’t felt good in a while, so it’s a welcome change.

When Eddie’s heart starts to beat too slow for comfort, Steve pulls away. He doesn’t think he’s satisfied, but the hunger pains have gone and the fog in his brain has cleared.

“Munson?” Steve calls hesitantly when the other man still hasn’t moved. A groan answers him back, and he sighs in relief. “You need rest.” He says, and it’s more to himself than to Eddie, who might have already fallen asleep.

Steve wipes the blood from his lips on his jacket, and dabs the wound on Eddie’s neck clean the best he can before he scoops the man up in his arms. He’s far lighter than Steve imagined, but he’s sure that has something to do with what's wrong with him now.

He doesn’t take Eddie back home to Wayne, instead carries him all the way back to his house. He lays Eddie down gently on his bed and takes the time to clean the wound better. Steve tries not to think of everything he’s going to have to do, and talk about, and figure out later. He wants to live in blissful ignorance but knows that he can’t. He sits beside the bed and watches the rise and fall of Eddie’s chest, scared he’s completely ruined this friendship. Terrified of the monster he’s become. Wary of the state of his future.

He’s at least very grateful to not be starving anymore.

#steve harrington #eddie munson #steddie #tw: vomit #blood

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miseries-mistress · 2 years

Text

UNFORTUNATE CIRCUMSTANCES | EDDIE MUNSON

Synopsis: It's been 8 months since the incident. The one that killed the only real father you've ever had; Hopper. You watched him die in front of you, and since then, sleep doesn't come easy anymore, not while you are tormented with nightmares because you insisted on being there. After all this time, you never thought that it would come back and haunt you like this.

Warnings: female reader, S4 EP 6 SPOILERS, mentions of shitty parents, mentions of bullying, y/n has a fucked up childhood (not going into details), reader is cursed by vecna, heavy angst, give my man eddie a break, fluff if you look closely. W/C: 4914

Note: This is much longer than usual, but I really like this one

Starcourt Mall. A place for friends and family to shop, dine, and enjoy themselves; the exact opposite of what you're doing.

The fourteen of you sat around discussing your next plan of action against the Russians and the Mind Flayer. Hopper had finished by saying that he, Joyce, and Murray would go alone to the Russian lab.

"Let me go with you," you spoke up a second later, lifting your head. "You guys need me. I mean, I know technology better than any of you. If you run into issues, I can help. I also speak fluent Russian, and the last time I checked, you're going to be separated from your translator. You will need another one of you to want to make it out alive."

Hopper places a gentle but firm hand on your shoulder. "This is too dangerous for a kid. We've got this covered. Stay–"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Whoa. Slow down. You can speak Russian?" Steve asks, lifting an eyebrow at you

"Konechno pridurok, ya ne bespolezen. (Of course you moron, I'm not useless)."

Steve looks around at the others, whose mouths have parted in disbelief. Steve glances at Dustin, clearly confused by what you just said. Dustin and Lucas look at each other before returning their gaze to you.

Hopper runs his hands through his thinning hair, pulling on the ends. "You're not going to give this up, are you?"

You smile and shake your head.

Hopper loudly grunts and peers at Joyce, who shrugs her shoulders. "Fine. But you do everything we do. You listen to everything we say and follow every order we give you. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes."

You wish that you never tagged along. That you never insisted on going with Joyce and Hopper. You didn't know this would happen, and if you did, would you still have done it?

You didn't know.

You just wanted to help.

You, Murray, and Joyce sprinted out of the facility, Murray pulling you along the entire time as you remained in a detached state of grief.

Stupid.

That's all you could think about over the next three months, drowning yourself in your sorrows and self-pity.

Why him?

You racked your mind for an explanation. Why did Hopper have to sacrifice himself? Why did you have to lose the closest thing you have to a father? The only father you ever had. He was always there for you when he took your parents into custody practically every other Thursday. He would sit with you all night and even let you stay over while your parents spent a couple of days in the county jail. He made you feel loved, appreciated, and heard after dealing with your parents.

He was always there for you, but in his weakest hour, you could not be there for him, resulting in his death.

The leaves crunch under your feet as you try to shake the memory away while you continue your trek into the forest. Twenty minutes ago, Eddie contacted and informed you about his whereabouts at Skull Rock. That left the rest of you scrambling around to get there before your time was up. You were desperate to see Eddie, to feel his muscular body against yours and his delicate touches that soothed you like no other. You needed him right now, more than ever.

Eddie didn't know that you were cursed due to you finding out the night before.

When you were digging into the student files at school, you suspected it was a possibility. You've had nightmares, bloody noses, and severe headaches, like the other victims have described, but you've never had hallucinations, unlike the other victims. That is what made you write off the possibility until last night at the Creel house.

While walking around the old and decaying building with Steve, you saw a grandfather clock merged into the wall. It was like they carved the wall around the clock to fit it perfectly.

You heard it chime and crept closer, looking around you before letting your gaze fall on the peculiar sight. Two chimes. You take another step forward, slightly marveling at the details of the old clock while a stifling wave of fear sweeps over you. Three chimes. The face starts to crack, and you take a step back, still watching the clock intently. Four chimes. The face of the glass breaks open, and spiders- black widows- spill out, running down the mahogany. You stumbled back, away from the spiders.

"Hey!" You gasped and whipped your head around at Steve's concerned features. He took his hand off your shoulder, studying you. You shifted on your heel to the wall with the clock, but there was nothing besides rotting wood. "Are you okay, Y/N?"

Your gaze flitted between the wall and Steve as his eyes filled with concern. "I..." the words died on your tongue. How were you supposed to explain hallucinating a clock? "There was a clock there…just a second ago."

Steve's eyebrows knit together. "There's no clock."

"But…" the realization dawned on you; this was no coincidence. Vecna's victims hallucinated something a day before they died. You've had every symptom besides a hallucination.

Steve seemed to arrive at the same understanding as you, and his entire face dropped, his eyes filling to the brim with disbelief.

"No…" Steve didn't dare continue. He just gaped at you, waiting for a reaction or for something. Instead, you stared blankly at the wall where that damn clock was supposed to be. A part of you didn't fully comprehend the magnitude of the situation. You were going to die, and there was not a damn thing you could do to stop it.

"We should tell the others…" Your chest constricts, your throat closing as you look back at Steve. He ran his hands through his hair before he grabbed your hand, squeezing it, silently telling you that he was here for you and you were not alone.

You and Steve met with the others and recounted what you saw, and the sheer panic on their faces was nothing you've ever seen before.

Thanks to Nancy and Robin, you now know music has a particular effect on the brain that should, in theory, help you when Vecna comes for you. Safe to say, you went back home right after the Creel's house and grabbed your favorite cassettes, shoving them into your bag along with your Walkman, sliding in new batteries.

Now, Dustin and Steve are arguing over the directions to Skull Rock, with Steve boasting about how he founded the spot. Robin and Nancy trail behind you, quietly talking to themselves, while Lucas and Max follow at a further distance.

"See, I was right, you butthead!" Steve pushed back the shrubbery to reveal the clearing. There are three massive rocks. The biggest of them is leaning against another, its face shaped, well, like a skull. Steve held the branches back as each of you stepped out of the narrow path. Dustin looked down at his compass, perplexed before he began walking around.

"I concur, Dustin Henderson. You are a massive butthead." Eddie jumped down from the rock, and Steve flinched when he landed. You all seemed to breathe a sigh of relief that he was alive and not in police cuffs.

Dustin and Eddie wrapped their arms around each other. "I thought you were a goner," Dustin replies while Eddie pats his back.

"Me too, buddy."

Eddie caught you nervously shifting from side to side, and the next second he was holding you close to his chest. You wrap your arms around his midsection as you bury your face in his shirt, which now smells heavily of lake water.

"Hey," your voice was muffled against the fabric, but Eddie heard it loud and clear. He chuckles, the sound low and rough and oh so attractive.

"Hey, pretty thing, thank you for coming to my rescue." Now, it was your turn to laugh, a light and airy sound, as you basked in the warmth and safety he provided you. You grew weaker to his heat as his fingers traced the back of your neck, creating patterns against your skin as you calmed down.

Finally, he leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on your lips which, of course, you reciprocated. He tasted like perfection, and your mouth moved against his, hungry for the contact you've been deprived of for the last four days. As he pulled back, he traced his thumb softly along your bottom lip, relishing in the fact that your lips belonged to only him.

Steve, who stood awkwardly to the side, cleared his throat loudly, and you broke away, clearly embarrassed.

"We brought snacks." Robin lifted the shopping bag in the air. "And the six pack you requested."

Within seconds, Eddie was next to Robin, plucking the bag from her hands with a hurried "thank you" before taking a seat under the shade of the rocks. You joined him, sitting in a circle while Nancy explained her findings. Eddie's hand remained, almost possessively, on your thigh, creating designs over your pants. His other hand supported his drink, taking gulps every few seconds as he tried to digest the information with the barest of alcohol coursing through his veins.

"That's what we've learned so far..." Nancy trailed off, purposely leaving out the part pertaining to you and Vecna. The entire circle's awareness shifted to you, and you instinctively shrunk away from the attention. Eddie noticed the tension growing with every passing second as he set down his beer. He took careful notice of everyone's anxious and downcast expressions, all the while wondering what had put you in such a sour mood. Finally, he turned to you, who seemed to be radiating pure anxiety.

"Hey, sweetheart, y'know you can talk to me, right? I won't judge you or anything like that." A fist of panic squeezes your chest, and you take a deep breath, internally bracing yourself.

You pinch your lips. "Something happened last night."

Eddie's own anxiety grew at your incredibly vague statement. He watched you, waiting for your body language to hint at the truth of the situation. His throat clenched. "What happened?"

"Vecna's victims suffer from bloody noses, nightmares, severe headaches, and hallucinations. I thought I was getting myself worked up over nothing since I never had any hallucinations, but last night, I saw something...something that wasn't there."

Eddie felt his heart sink into his stomach, and dread crawled up his spine. He stared at you, and mentally, he tried to process it, but it was as if a roadblock prevented him from coming to the terrible, terrible truth. It was like his mind was protecting him from reality because it knew that once Eddie accepted it, the force of it would break him.

"I think I'm cursed."

That was the reality of the situation. The woman he loved so dearly that it made his head hurt would suffer a horrible, unthinkable fate filled with nothing but agony.

"This is shitty." Eddie's face fell into his hands, and he stared emptily at the dried-up leaves and twigs by his feet. He bit his lip and took controlled, deep breaths, trying to stave off the sensation of tears pricking in his eyes. He couldn't cry now, not while he needed to be strong for you. You were the one suffering, not him.

He lifted his face from his hands and placed his heavily ringed hand over your trembling one. He didn't say anything; he didn't need to. He's just letting you know that he is here for you. That no matter what, he will be by your side.

"I'm sorry to ruin the moment," Nancy interrupted, her normally stoic face twisting into a guilty one. "But we need a game plan. Y/N has her music, so she, in theory, has a way to escape Vecna, but we need to find a way to get to him."

The six of them descended into conversation, and you vaguely listened, more focused on Eddie's fingers drawing circles over your hand. You leaned your head against his shoulder, and his arm wrapped around your waist, pulling you closer to his side.

"After this, do you wanna smoke a joint?" Eddie calmly asks, briefly tearing his eyes away from the others. You smile, and for the first time since last night, you feel the flutter of hope in your stomach.

"Yeah, I'd like that."

According to Dustin, there's a snack-sized gate located north of here, and following his compass will lead you to the location. You stood up with Eddie, his hand leaving yours as Dustin discussed the details with Steve.

You left the shade of the rock and stood in the clearing next to Eddie while you waited to start your adventure.

A clock chimed loudly in your ear.

Your eyes roamed around the now deserted forest.

"Eddie!" you cry, turning around. There was no reply. "Steve! Dustin!"

There's another chime, and your heart rate spikes, flashes of white-hot terror seizing your body. You frantically whip your head around, searching for any signs of Vecna, as the clock chimes for the third time. Your heart jackhammers against your rib cage, bile rising in your throat. Then, ultimately, there's the fourth and final chime.

You blink, and you are somewhere else entirely. You take in the white walls, the control panel against the glass overlooking an industrial machine below, and you know exactly where you are: the Russian lab. Except, it's deserted, with no traces of blood or bodies.

You are left standing behind the glass, overlooking the machine that would open a portal to the Upside Down.

"Why did you let me die?" A voice, rough but authoritative, questions. Your hands grow numb, and fear tingles at the base of your spine, your arms erupting into goosebumps. You open and close your clammy hands, all while your mind goes into overdrive as you gape, slack-jawed, at him.

Hopper is still wearing the Russian disguise, but the fresh blood stains on his face and clothing are new. He wasn't wearing his usual smile, and instead of the friendly gaze he usually offered you, it was full of hate and deception.

"Why did you let me die?!" he repeats, taking another step closer. You take a step back.

"I-I didn't." He's closer this time, slowly backing you into a corner.

You jumped back at his voice, which was now louder than before. "Why must you be so useless?" he questioned aloud. It sounded just like him, looked just like him, and that made his words all too real. You ignored the stinging sensation behind your eyes, yelping as your back hit the wall.

"I think a part of you wanted me to die that day; that's why you turned the key. That's why you killed me," he spits, his voice laced with venom. He stopped a few meters short of you and looked down. His fleshy, human hand descended towards your face.

From here, you could see the thin scars that littered his hand, the callouses from all those years of laborious work, and the veins protruding from them. It came in contact with your chin, pulling your face up to meet his. The skin on his entire body melted away, leaving only a creature you could describe as hellish. Its fingers were long and thin as they tightened their grip on your face. The rough, charred skin was a sharp contrast to yours. You shivered at the sensation.

"Y/N." You stuck your hand out and yanked his wrist away. In a second, you ducked under his arm and ran through the door. You sprinted down the hallway, refusing to look back while you heard his feet slap against the tile. You make a turn and another before you come to a conclusion; It's the same hallway as before. No matter where you run, it will lead you back to that room, back to him.

But despite the hopelessness of the situation, you turn around and head in a different direction because you refuse to give up when you have so much to live for; Eddie, Max, Dustin, Steve, Robin, Lucas– all of them have a special place in your heart, and you refuse to abandon them.

All of the confidence you had built up before comes crumbling down when you reach a dead end. You let out a cry of frustration. This can't be happening, you think.

Then, out of anger, you punch the wall, and to your immense surprise, it cracks around your fist. You look up in wonder and hit it again, the pieces of drywall cutting into your knuckles.

"Where do you think you're going, Y/N?" a chilling voice asks. Your heart thuds at the back of your throat, the words banging in your head. You ignore him and the dread he brings into your body and punch it again, again, and again, as chunks of wall fly out. "You cannot escape me."

You feel not an ounce of pain in your hands as they fly to the wall. With this final hit, the wall crumbles away along with the rest of the place, leaving you in another plain entirely.

The only word you could think of to describe this place was hell. And if you didn't know any better, you would assume that the Christians were right, and you landed smack dab in it, destined to burn for eternity.

There was a mist sinking and layering every inch of your exposed skin, twirling around the atmosphere. The sky was a vibrant blood red, with dark clouds accompanying it. There was a crack of lightning now and then as you tip towed through this foreign land.

You had heard what the Upside Down looked like from Hopper and Joyce, who had entered it three years ago, but this was nothing like how they described. You didn't even see the particles they depicted floating around the air.

Your foot landed in a puddle, and you winced at the loud splashing sound it made.

The staircase leading upwards into the most intact part of the building catches your attention. Jagged rocks stand still in different areas of the plain, adding dimension to the otherwise dreary place.

"Y/N," Venca called out again. "You're not supposed to be here."

A chill creeps over you like cold fingers over your body. You feel the sweat clinging to the back of your neck, dampening your hair.

You spun around as he spoke again, the voice even closer to your ears. "Y/N."

If it were physically possible to jump out of your skin, you would have when you whipped around to face the man that's been torturing you these past five days.

You're able to get a good look at him now, and you're not even sure he's human, for that matter. Tendril-like things squelch and slowly slither around his skin, which is shriveled and a sickly red color. His face is even more horrific, the cartilage seemingly evaporated from it, and the bones themselves seem to be attempting to escape his skin from the way they protrude from his face. Venca lacks hair, but his head gleams under the red glow.

What captures your attention most is his eyes. They're a piercing, cloudly grayish-blue that gazes right through you as if they're reading and scouring through the most intimate thoughts and feelings you've buried deep within your soul.

A vine by your feet stirs to life, wrapping around your ankle, and with a sharp tug, you fly to the ground. The impact knocks the wind out of your chest, rendering you immobile for a couple of seconds.

A force, a pressure, pushes you against a structure, and for the second time in a row, your breath escapes your lungs in one sharp huff. You feel the tentacles stir and slither under your back.

You try to wiggle away from the unpleasant sensation, but they move faster, binding your wrists and feet to the structure. Next, the slimy, wet thing moved to your neck, wrapping around your neck, tightening its grip as more and more of it encased your throat. You choked on your breath, the air entering your body at a much slower and lesser rate. The cold fingers of fear brush up your spine, sending a sickening terror through your body.

A voice, one you've heard so many times before, fills your ears like a ray of light on a cloudy day. The familiar tune was one that you've listened to many times before, one that you and Eddie both adore.

You blink, and an opening presents itself in the void of the Upside Down, connecting you to your Hawkins, to your friends who are desperately shaking you from your spot on the forest floor. Eddie looks hysterical, shaking your shoulders so violently you think he intends to dislocate them.

"They can't help you, Y/N."

Venca turns his back on the portal that opened. "There's a reason you hide from them. You belong here. With me."

You gasped as the pressure on your neck increased, sending black spots to dance across your vision.

"No…n-not here." He takes another step closer, his face inches away from yours. You could see every scar and hole in his face, every vein running from his forehead into the gashed skin.

"I am giving you everything that you want. To be released from the agony that haunts you."

The slimy tendril cuts off more of your oxygen, leaving you barely able to form a thought besides the overwhelming need to breathe.

"No…" you sputter.

Vecna's hand inches to your face, and out of pure instinct, you shrink and turn your head away from his claw. A desperate frenzy fills your head, voices screaming out with the primal need to live.

Vecna's eyes roll back, and his head tilts as his hand is a hairbreadth away from your forehead.

You set your gaze on the open portal behind you, of your friends screaming while your body levitates at least seven feet off the ground. From this distance, you can tell Eddie is pleading to whatever God might be listening not to take you. That he couldn't bear it if he lost you.

As the music picks up, memories cloud your vision. All significant events and ones that hold meaning and sentimental value are all you can see and hear, and vaguely you wonder if this is your life flashing before your eyes, if you're going to be the next victim of Hawkins, like Hopper, like Barb or anyone else unfortunate enough to be dragged into this shit.

Your mind is redirected to more recent memories, memories of Eddie. Each one warms your heart as they pass in a blur. His confession, your first kiss, the Metallica concert, smoking, Hellfire, his music, everything swirls together, and somewhere inside you, it steels your will to live. Faster and faster, you feel the will grow until it takes over your mind completely, eradicating thoughts of misery or pain. Your hand flies from the vine's grasp, and you blindly thrust it out in front of you. Your palm catches a chunk of Vecna, and you pull with all your might, ignoring the prickling sensation of pain in your throat. The piece of flesh rips out of his skin, and he doubles over.

Venca gasps and the tentacles loosen their grip immediately. You dive under Vecna's outstretched arm, and you're still gagging and struggling for air as you make a beeline for the portal.

The boulders, once floating aimlessly in the air, crash inches from where you were. You lose your grip on the uneven terrain, and you slide, falling to your knees. The water, as frigid as the air, seeps into your clothing. You pick yourself up a moment later, continuing your race towards the portal.

The music, your favorite song, blasts in your ear, shutting out the sounds of your ragged breathing and the rocks crushing the earth. Time slows in a way you thought only possible in movies. The portal is so close you can almost touch it while the music pounds against your eardrums, helping fuel your tired and sore legs just a little further. That's all you need to go, just a tad further.

Your eyes shoot open, and your body crashes to the earth, and for the third time today, the breath is knocked clean out of you. Instantly your friends rush to your side while your back burns from the pain. Eddie is hovering over you first, holding your face in his hands, disbelieving but relieved beyond belief. You struggle to regain air in your needy lungs, and someone pushes Eddie back by his shoulder, allowing you breathing room.

There's a cry of relief as Eddie, despite Nancy's pushing, cradles you in his arms.

"I'm here, Y/N, I'm here, sweetheart, shhh," Eddie coos, and you look up into his misty brown eyes, and at that, you could no longer hold back your tears. They escaped in full force, no matter how hard you shoved them down. Every bubbling emotion you experienced in the past five minutes was released with your ugly sobs as you clutched Eddie's shirt like a lifeline and practically collapsed against him. You were scared out of your mind.

You escaped Vecna; that was the good thing, but that doesn't mean he won't come back again, and maybe next time, you won't be so lucky.

You could still sense the phantom feeling of his touch surrounding you, and although there was no bruising, no sign of how you almost died, you still felt everything. The scene seemed to be scarred on the back of your eyelids because every time you closed them, you were back in that ratchet place, alone.

Eddie holds you against his chest, caressing your face while whispering the words repeatedly. That you will be alright, that you will live, that you don't need to be afraid anymore.

Before you knew it, his mouth engulfed yours. You responded instantly, silently informing him that his touch was welcome. The kiss was tender and passionate and so full of love you could hardly believe it. Your lips parted a moment later, and he held your face delicately in his hands, wiping the tears that never stopped flowing.

A tear, a single tear, escaped the confines of his eyes. Eddie had witnessed not one, but two people die in that gruesome and tragic way. The fact of the matter is, you almost met that same fate, and that tore him apart from the inside out. Yet, you are his anchor, the only person who stuck around long enough to find out who he really was and loved him for it. Not for the drugs, which were an added bonus, not for the sex, but for him.

After the messy situation with his parents, he was left without constant care and affection from his mother and felt unloved. But you made sure he never felt like that, and in the process, you became the only constant in his life. Losing you- the person who fills his once empty heart to the brim with love- was incomprehensible.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," you wept in his embrace, your tears staining the unwashed fabric of his shirt.

"You have nothing to be sorry for, sweet thing," Eddie planted a chaste kiss on your forehead, pulling you into a hug. He held your head to his chest as another sob ripped from your throat. He gazed behind you at the others, who all sat down in a small circle next to him.

Steve's hand was constantly running through his hair, Max and Robin's legs anxiously bounced up and down, and the rest sat quietly, waiting.

You pulled away from his tear-stained shirt. "I ruined your shirt."

"Princess, that shirt was ruined days ago. You did no such thing," he reassured you, smiling down at you. You laughed, your voice still thick with emotion.

The space lapsed into silence, the air thick with tension, while Eddie rubbed your back.

"God, I thought you were a goner," Eddie remarked. You swallowed the lump that had formed in your throat.

"I did too."

And for the moment, no words needed to be spoken. There was nothing you or anyone else could say.

Eddie's grip tightened as he pressed his lips to your forehead, letting them linger for a second. This, right here, was okay. You were forever safe, surrounded by the people you loved the most.

But alas, all good things must come to an end, and someday you will have to confront him one last time.

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bluebugjay · 1 year

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stranger things characters, can they whistle?

Will: Yes! He learnt off Jonathan and was a natural. Sometimes he whistles and sings to himself whilst drawing without even realising

Mike: Yes but badly. And he worked for it. Nobody can ever guess what song he's whistling because it's so off-key but it's become a running joke so even if he did improve they'd still lie and say they didn't know

Lucas: Yes, he specifically set out to learn to whistle and wouldn't give up until he mastered it! He showed off to Max the day he finally learnt, pretending he'd always known how, she didn't buy it

Dustin: Not really, every so often though he'll whistle a perfect note and be like "See! See guys I told you I can do it!!" Doesn't matter though because he's more of a singer anyway

Max: No but she doesn't care. She ends up just blowing raspberries and Lucas teases her by whistling perfectly straight after her attempt so she rugby tackles him

El: She's getting there! She can whistle a few wobbly notes and almost string together a song. Somehow everyone can always guess which song she's whistling over whatever Mike whistles which she always finds funny

Erica: Yes and with ease. She whistles cartoon intros a lot (one time her and Dustin did a very off-key duet of the My Little Pony intro)

Steve: He can whistle with his fingers but not otherwise. He only really whistles to herd the kids around so he prefers it that way because it's louder anyways

Robin: It's a toss of a coin whether today will be a good whistle day or a bad one. Sometimes she can whistle a full song, no pauses with every note perfect and other days you have to put your fingers in your ears but either way she whistles with confidence

Nancy: Yes but she prefers not to because she can only whistle super loudly. She used to whistle to tease Mike when he couldn't but now prefers to just sing along to any song stuck in her head instead

Jonathan: Yes, pretty well too! Though he again prefers to hum to songs instead of whistle. Him and Nancy end up hum-singing little accidental duets whenever they're together

Argyle: Can whistle a song perfectly but if he tries to whistle a single note to get someone's attention or something it's the most off-key thing you will ever hear. It does it's job in getting whoevers attention though

Eddie: Yes but the louder he tries to whistle the worse it gets. He's used to quietly humming or whistling a tune to himself whilst trying to translate it to guitar chords and that's when it sounds good. But anytime he whistles loud enough for others to hear its bad and he revels in that

Hopper: He can whistle the odd common jingle or something he's whistled a lot before (You don't mess around with Jim chorus) but anything new sounds super wobbly

Joyce: She whistles whilst around the house or at work, it's not the best but sweet all the same. She can whistle the loudest "Everyone quiet and listen to me!" type of note which will literally silence a room

Murray: Yes he can do anything. He whistles at the most tense moments though because it 'helps him think' and everyone tells him to stop it because it doesn't help them think

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antisociallilbrat · 1 year

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do you think the party could defeat IT?

and yes, i did read the whole thing and i love it, i love you and your brainworms /p

- kori -

Kori! You know eventually you're going to regret asking me these things, but thank you for encouraging my brain worms. Let's do this.

Again, I've been thinking about it all day, could the Party defeat It?

I've said this before, but we pretty much know that the Loser's club were the blueprint for the Party. This is especially reflected in season one. For those who didn't know though, the Suffer brothers wanted to direct the It remake and when Warner Brothers said no, they went and created Stranger Things instead. Here's actually a pretty good article on that.

So let's set this in a universe where it's Holly that gets taken/killed by Pennywise. And I say Holly because Bill was blue print for Mike. Again though, Mike did grow into his own character in later seasons. Side note: I have whole another post with the Party and Losers Club comparisons and who was probably based on who.

Secondly let's say in this universe there's no powers and Max and El is already apart of the party. Just a group of regular kids against a monster. Can't give the Party an advantage if we're giving a fair judgement.

So Holly, she's gone. Mike? He wants to find her and kill the monster that took her. The Party obviously is going to help him, but first let's talk about how It would terrorize these poor kids.

It would taunt Mike like how It taunted Bill, with a corpse version of Holly. Also Ted and Karen, like Bill's parent's, become completely despondent to him but I would argue so would Nancy- We're going to get to that.

Lucas and Dustin would be taunted I would like to think with monsters from DnD. It's a shapeshifter after all. (Yes I know that's an oversimplification) But their fears could something else and I am open to suggestions on this.

El, who I would argue has similarities to Beverly, would be taunted with Papa and Max would be taunted with Billy. I would also argue that It would manipulate Billy into doing It's bidding like how It did with Bowers. Like how Billy was flayed, more parallels between St and It And Will, oh poor Will. I think Will is a mixture of Richie and Eddie and like how It tortured Richie, It would tortue Will with 'his secret'.

So now we know how It would terrorize them but what about Joyce, Hopper, and the teenage crew? In Stranger Things they help the Party against the dangers from the Upside Down but they're not helping against It. Especially Hopper and Joyce.

It isn't just a monster, It isn't like Vecna. It can control a whole town. Make the adults not notice the missing kids, make them numb to the evil It extrudes over the town. In Derry the parents of the missing kids eventually forgot about them. And you could argue, oh Joyce would be the exception but she's not. Bill's parents, who we know loved Georgie, forgot him. I love Joyce but she isn't overcoming that.

The teenagers are more of a different story, especially Nancy since it's her sister that got taken, but I think It would have the same affect on them. Especially since the teenage crew is so close to adulthood.

So the kids are their own. They don't get outside help like they do in Stranger Things.

It takes El, Mike finds out, and he would go to Lucas. Mike and Lucas would've gotten into the fight after Neilbolt because Lucas and Mike's friendship is very reminiscent of Bill and Richie's. Especially in season one.

They charge in, yada yada yada, all that shit goes down, they put It into an early hibernation. We know how it goes, here's how the Party deviates from the Losers Club. One them isn't staying behind.

None them are going to stay in their hometown. You could maybe say Dustin but I'm not sure. So how would they even know It came back in 27 years? Remember, It would make them forget when they grew up and left.

But let's say It called them home. They got some funny feeling and returned home, not sure as to why until they run into each other and start remembering. Because one them didn't stay behind, they have no research on how to kill It. They're already at a disadvantage.

Also we've have seen cracks in the Party as they've gotten older. I feel like the love triangle with Bev, Ben, and Bill has a lot similarities with El. Mike, and Will. If they didn't heal those cracks as teenagers I can only imagine what they're like when they return as adults. Yes they love each other, but there are cracks! And I really hate to say this, but after Mike finds out Holly is dead, I don't see him having motivation to fight It again. I don't think the Party would have made a 'blood oath'. This isn't any failing against them, I'm just trying to think of them as them and not the Loser's club.

I believe the if there was a driving force to go fight It a second time it would be Lucas. Maybe El and Will too, but mainly Lucas. Knowing there's a monster out there that no one is doing anything about is very much something Lucas would want to take care of.

I'm realizing this as I am typing this, I don't think the Party could defeat It. I hate to say that. Them not having someone staying behind really hurts them. (Mike H was the reason the Losers Club beat It, he's a badass.)

I'll sum this up: if the Party does decide to fight It as an adult, they die but there's chance they just wouldn't. I'm open to different opinions, because obviously I understand the Losers better then I understand the Party.

The reason the Party fights the monsters from the Upside Down time after time is because they're in direct danger and it's not just them. They have help. They have adults when they're kids. Mike has Nancy. There's Hopper and Joyce.

Against It, they would be by themselves, even as adults. The more I think about it, I just feel the Party wouldn't fight It a second time, they may not even return to their hometown after the 27 years.

There's more I could say but this is way too long, my God. If you read all this, thank you for listening to my brain worms. I know other people probably have different opinions and please share!

Kori, do you regret encouraging me yet? AAAAAAA

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thestrangestthing89 · 1 year

Text

Mike character analysis: Season 1 -Part 1 here

Part 2:

Mikes reaction to Will's fake body being found is very different than Dustin and Lucas. They are all upset but Mike is devastated and angry. El lied to him about Will (or so he thinks) and he just watched his body get pulled out of the water. He is heartbroken and bikes home to his mother crying. They only show Mikes reaction here because that's the one that's important to the narrative. Not that Lucas and Dustin don't care about Will - they do and are clearly upset - but it's different. They probably went home crying to their mothers too but Mike's reaction is where the story is, just like the bullying. And it's a direct parallel to Joyce's. Joyce finds out about Will and is comforted by Jonathan and Hopper while Mike is comforted by his mother. It's the first of many parallels between the two. They both (along with Jonathan) love Will the most. But even Jonathan believes that Will is actually dead when Joyce is trying to explain her theory to him. And she does sound crazy. She sounds like a grieving mother who doesn't want to accept the truth so she clings to the crazy, unrealistic story. Mike does the same thing. He believes the unbelievable thing El tells him and tries to get Lucas and Dustin on board. Lucas is immediately against it in the same way Jonathan is (and again Lucas gets the most criticism from the GA for this attitude even though he's not the only one) and Dustin seems like he's on the fence but goes along with Mike. Both Joyce and Mike love Will so much they are willing to believe and do anything rather than accept that he's gone.

The boys end up dressing El up in Nancy's old clothes so she can go outside because she isn't "normal". They say this right in front of her face, which is what leads her to ask Mike if she's pretty later. She wants reassurance that she's a normal girl. Mike gets prompted by Dustin to respond here and says "pretty" in response to Dustin. He gives the answer he is supposed to give. He would't be saying them if Dustin and Lucas weren't there. He's performing. And so is she. El has on normal girl clothes and is now going to act like she's supposed to. Mike is doing the same. They are conforming.

(Edit: I want to add that Mike's kindness toward El is entirely contingent upon how cooperative she is looking for Will. When she helps he is nice and when she lies and leads them in the wrong direction he gets mean and screams in her face. Does this make Mike a terrible person? Of course not and it's incredibly simplistic to say so. What it does mean is that he doesn't trust her and why should he? He doesn't know her and she's done nothing to earn his trust.)

Right before Will's fake body is pulled out of the quarry, Mike and El have a brief conversation on the train tracks. Mike doesn't want to tell El he's been bullied but she presses. He tells her he didn't want her to think he was a "wastoid". He doesn't think this superhero can understand what being bullied is like. This whole conversation sets the stage for all of the problems in Mike and El's dynamic. Mike is insecure about what other people think. He wants this superhero to think that he's cool. El claims to understand this, but this conversation comes up again later in S4 and she doesn't. They don't really bond here. This wasn't a big moment of connection that Mike took it to be. It clearly doesn't mean much to El when she dismisses him for bringing it up in S4. And Mike spends the rest of the season feeling insecure about how he's a loser who found superman on his doorstep. This whole moment at the train tracks is about his insecurities and tying his confidence to El. El thinks he's cool so he's cool. But if she thinks he isn't then he spirals into self-doubt. (It's only Will seeing him as The Heart that fixes this because Will is the one who actually sees the true Mike.)

It's a dynamic they continue to have through season 4. El lies to Mike because she thinks he won't understand her bullying and she's scared. He needs her to be the superhero that saves the day all while most of his attention is fixated on Will. They have never communicated well and they have never grown into a more emotionally mature relationship let alone a friendship. They are stuck. They've also grown more emotionally mature separately but together they coexist in the way that 2 people who have been through a lot together do. They share trauma and nothing else but they can't let each other go because they went through something major together. It's not a romantic dynamic let alone a friendship.

Part 3 here

#gay mike wheeler #anti mileven #byler #mike wheeler

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cannibalistic-vampirefag · 2 years

Text

Thing I would change in vol.2

in order

The scene where Vickie kisses her boyfriend doesn't exist because what was the point of having it there if not to make Robin suffer? it didn't further the plot, didn't further her character, it was there just to give us a bit of queer pain for nothing.

During the hug between him and Jonathan, Will says something that is undoubtedly queer (not necessarily "I'm gay", but even just a referce to him having a crush on Mike so The Straights can't interpret his feelings as something else) because the discussion of Will's sexuality was hyped up a lot and what we got was underwhelming.

Steve gives Eddie a talk about how he isn't a coward for running away because what he did was all for survival instinct, but when he was actually given the choice to stay safely behind (at the lake and once they got back to Hawkins) he still chose to follow his friends into danger to help them knowing the risk.

Murray dies. I feel like someone from the Russia plot has to but it obviously isn't going to be Hopper, since he's just come back from the dead, or Joyce, since the Byers have already lost so much. Murray is just right because he's not a main character, but he's also not a background one.

No Steve/Nancy talk because in my version for season 4 the writers never tried to make Steve and Nancy get back together.

Jason goes to Eddie's trailer instead of the Creel House and there he finds the portal to the Upside Down while Eddie is playing, so he gets in and Dustin explains everything. Even if he's confused, he understands the situation and believes them (considering he's literally in another dimension about to get attacked by demobats and it's clear that Hellfire isn't leading them but actually fighting them). He sticks with them to help them fight.

The demobats are attacking the trailer but at one point they stop abruptly and we see that they are heading towards the Creel house to kill Nancy, Steve and Robin, so, after making sure Dustin is safe in the normal world and cutting the rope, Eddie and Jason run to distract he demobats again. They get followed but keep running until they can, but at one point they reach a dead end and have no other choice but fight. Jason is dying after fighting alongside Eddie, while he's bleeding out he apologises for being a dick, accusing him of murder, and sending an angry mob after him. His last words are 《I'll tell Chrissy you said "hi".》

Therefore, yea, Eddie also doesn't die. by now we've understood the trend of killing off all the new characters, do something different. how do they handle him being wanted by the whole town? I don't know. maybe they hide him in Hopper's cabin like they did with Eleven in seasons 2 and 3, maybe Jason said something to his friends after finding out the truth, maybe he clears his name in season 5, maybe they help him leave the town.

Max dies because this time Vecna knows about the music thing and makes sure she can't save herself again. she and isn't brought back to life and dies in Lucas' arms while the portals open. The reason for this is that I feel like so far all the main characters have had huge plot armor and killing one would really raise the stakes, make it clear that from now on everyone is in real danger.

Also to raise the stakes, I feel like one between Nancy, Robin and Steve should die but honestly I don't know, I'm not sure (obviously not Robin, one of the only canon queer characters, and I do think the Duffers want to keep Steve's death for season 5, so maybe Nancy? not sure though, so this is just an idea, not necessarily something I'd for sure change)

Antonov doesn't follow the others to America, he goes back to his family so they can all move somewhere safer with Yuri's help.

Nancy and Jonathan have a serious talk and Jonathan tells her the truth about the college letters. they understand that them going to college together isn't going to work, so they break up, but Nancy still tells Jonathan to not stay stuck to his family forever, but to go to NYU instead (y'know, NYU, literally Jonathan's dream school since he was six, as is mentioned in season 1?). after season 5 we learn that they got back together after they were both done with college and being a journalistic power couple and are as strong as ever, and the break up helped the grow individually.

no time skip at the end of the season because I don't really see how it could work out with the finale. also, every other season has had a time skip of some months, and it would be nice if, for once, two seasons happend in direct sequence. I do understand that they are doing it for the actors' ages, but also, I don't care.

this is it, I think.

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stranger-marauders · 2 years

Text

fractured

twelve: hawkins lab

chapter summary: The next morning brings a more pressing situation than Hopper's disappearance. Steve and Dustin set out to find Dart.

chapter warnings: language, past parental issues

word count: 3.4k

series masterlist | masterlist

KATE, BOB, AND Mike only watched Will in silence as he finally slept in peace. Even though the sun had risen, not a single one of them, except for Will, of course, had slept.

Joyce had left the three of them to watch over Will while she sat in a meeting with a few of the doctors. She hadn't wanted to leave him alone for too long, but the doctors insisted that they have the conversation in one of the conference rooms, away from Will. Since then, Kate, Bob, and Mike had been left to their own devices.

Kate had still yet to see her father. She didn't know where he had been shuffled off to, but she knew his SUV was still sitting outside, still parked as shittily as it had been the night before. She couldn't understand why she hadn't been able to see him yet. The doctors hadn't given her a solid reason, something about possible infection, something about needing to go through decontamination. She didn't care: she wanted to see her dad.

She eventually looked to Mike, who seemed physically, mentally, and emotionally drained. She couldn't remember a time when she'd seen Mike so… empty. She thought it had been that night at the hospital after Eleven had supposedly died so all of this would be over. Now that it had come back, though, and his very best friend was absolutely suffering, Mike was rightfully more than broken up about it. "Hey, bud, how're you holding up?"

He nodded sluggishly in response. "I'm okay."

She pressed her lips together, her eyebrows furrowed. "Yeah?"

"As okay as I can be, I guess," Mike said somewhat sadly.

She frowned slightly, scooting closer to him. "I know this isn't exactly the best time, but I… I've been meaning to check up on you guys. I was going to on Halloween, but…" She trailed off. She and Jonathan had gone to that Halloween party at Tina's instead. "I don't know, I just worry about you guys sometimes. Like, have you been… doing okay? I mean, before this week, anyway?"

"I guess," Mike answered, his face laced with confusion. "Why?"

"Because I care about you," she said softly, playing with the blue hair tie on her wrist. "I don't know, I just feel like it's… important to check up on you guys every once in a while. Make sure everyone's okay."

While she hadn't been speaking the exact truth about why she was asking about his well-being, she had been completely honest in saying she cared about the Party. She really liked those four boys, even if they were all about four years younger than her. While she hadn't quite understood their Dungeons & Dragons game, she did think it was cool that they loved it so much, and she certainly loved all of their Star Wars and Lord of the Rings references.

Mike shrugged slightly, almost sighing. "I mean, I guess… I don't know, I just miss El. She would've known what to do to help Will."

Kate hated that she couldn't tell Mike about Eleven. She hated that she couldn't tell him that no, she hadn't died, but El was currently living in her and her father's cabin and no one knew she was alive except for the two of them. Mike had taken care of her that first week that Eleven had been outside of the lab, showing her love (and giving her an obsession with Eggos). She hated lying to him, but she knew she had to.

"I don't know, it's stupid."

"Hey, it's not stupid," Kate said softly. "I… I think she would be proud of you, you know? Taking care of Will. Helping me find my dad."

Whenever Mike nodded somewhat solemnly, Kate put her arm around him, letting him use her as a pillow for the time being.

She hated that she had left that night now, the night of the fight. If something had happened to El, had happened to her dad, she wouldn't know what to do with herself. Right now, she felt like if anything happened to either of them, it would absolutely be her fault. Even though she knew it wasn't, that the thought was completely unrealistic, she couldn't help but think it.

The only thing calming her from it now was the thought of Steve, more specifically the previous day that they'd spent together.

The memory that currently replayed in her mind was when she'd been sitting next to his pool in the backyard of his house, just close enough to the edge where she could dip her hand into the water. Steve had still been inside to her knowledge as she dipped her hand in for only a second, barely touching the water before deciding it was much too cold to get in. Even if it was a heated pool, she knew getting out would be absolutely painful. She hadn't yet had the opportunity to get more than a step or two away before Steve had pushed her into the pool, flipping in after her. By the time she'd reemerged, he'd already come back up, flipping the hair out of his face and dying of laughter. Whenever she saw his face, her mouth fell open as he ran his hand through his hair, the other grabbing her arm. "Oh my God, Steve!"

"You fell in!" he said, trying to contain his laughter. "I just saved your life!" Whenever she scoffed, not yet smiling, he started laughing again. "What? I'm not a certified lifeguard for nothing."

"You're such an asshole." She shook her head, trying to stop herself from laughing. She couldn't help but smile as she rolled her eyes: his freaking wheezes. "I hate you."

She smiled again at just the thought of him, everything seeming to calm down for a moment. She wanted, more than anything, to be with him again, to make all of this go away, but it wasn't possible. For now, she had to wait and hope everything would be okay.

"Everything's gonna be okay, Mike. Trust me."

Steve, once again, found himself doing something he never thought he would do, especially with a thirteen-year-old boy he had barely even met yesterday.

As he pulled meat chunks out of the trunk of his car early on a Sunday morning, he didn't know what to think. What worried him more was that he hadn't heard from Kate in a day. Whenever he had gotten home the night before, he'd called her old number once or twice, the same answering machine tone going off ("Hey, you've reached Jim, I'm probably doing something incredible right now—"). He hated that he was so worried about her, partially because he knew that she must've been okay, that or she would be okay. Maybe she had gotten in trouble with her dad after leaving for a couple of days and he'd grounded her, leaving her at home with nothing to do. That would explain how Dustin hadn't been able to get ahold of her, which he'd explained to him that morning. He could only hope that whoever she was that somehow she wasn't wrapped up in all of this, too.

Before he could think about Kate much longer, Dustin's radio sounded. "This is Lucas. Do you copy? Dustin?"

"Well, well, well, look who it is," Dustin said into the radio, leaving Steve to continue pulling the buckets full of meat chunks out of the trunk of his car.

"Sorry, man," Lucas replied. "My stupid sister turned it off."

"Well, while you were having sister problems, Dart grew again, he escaped, and I'm pretty sure he's a baby Demogorgon."

"Wait. What?"

"I'll explain later. Just meet me and Steve at the old junkyard."

"Steve?" Lucas sounded as if he couldn't believe it.

"And bring your binoculars and wrist rocket," Dustin added.

While Dustin had been communicating with Lucas, Steve had finished pulling the supplies they had gathered, including his own backpack, his bat's handle sticking out from the top of it. "All right. Let's go."

"Just be there, stat. Over and out," Dustin said, signing off as he and Steve began their journey to the junkyard.

Kate waited impatientlyfor news about her father.

She still hadn't been able to fall asleep, even if she was absolutely exhausted. She couldn't help but worry about her dad—she hadn't heard any news about him in hours, and she still had yet to see him. She had gladly let Mike use her as a pillow as they both cuddled up in the blankets that a doctor from the lab had given them. Since then, she had only listened in on Joyce and Bob's conversation, playing with the blue hair tie on her wrist.

"They made us sign, like, a thousand documents. I mean, we all had to. We had to," she explained to Bob. Since she'd come back from a meeting with a few of the doctors at the lab, she had been explaining the events of the past year to him. "I mean, I lost track at a certain point. They're gonna make you do the same. I'm sure."

"Yeah. Well, hey, whatever," Bob replied. Joyce only stared at the man, who had since grown slightly worried. "What kind of documents?"

"Uh, confidentiality, and there were these official forms saying, like, nothing ever happened, which is why…"

"Will got lost in the woods," Bob finished.

"Yeah."

He shook his head. "Man, I always thought stuff like this happened in movies and comic books. Certainly not in Hawkins, and certainly not to someone like you."

"Or you."

"Yeah." Bob chuckled softly. "Bob Newby, superhero."

They both stared at each other, slightly shivering. Joyce looked to him. "You cold?"

"Uh, just a little jitters, I guess," Bob replied, smiling as if nothing was wrong. "Hey, don't you start worrying about me."

"Okay," Joyce said softly.

"Okay? I'm fine," he replied. "It's not like you didn't warn me. 'This is not a normal family.' Isn't that what you said?"

She almost smiled,. "Yeah."

Bob chuckled. "You weren't kidding."

She sighed in response.

"It kinda makes my idea of moving to Maine sound a little less crazy, right?"

"Oh, it… it's not crazy at all," she answered.

Kate perked up slightly with that. Maine? She didn't know what she would do with herself if the Byers moved away. While she had come to admire her friendship with Jonathan, she had also come to love his entire family, especially his mother. Joyce had been the mother she'd never had—one that would give her advice on stupid things like boys, and she didn't judge her for anything, and certainly would never leave her behind, not purposely as her own mother had. She couldn't handle them leaving because, while they may not have been "normal," they were much more normal than her own family.

Joyce looked over to Kate, noticing her jerk up slightly. She hadn't even realized she had still been awake. "Kate, you okay?"

She nodded, glancing at the hair tie on her wrist. "Yeah, I'm… I'm just worried about my dad, you know?" She then looked at Bob. "Thanks for helping. I–If it wasn't for you…"

"Of course," he replied simply, giving her a soft smile. "If I would've known what we were looking for…"

Before she could reply, Will softly called, "Mom?"

"Hey," Joyce said, smiling at the boy softly as both adults set down their coffee cups, moving closer to the boy.

Bob ran outside of the room, shouting, "Is there a doctor? We need a doctor!"

"Sweetie, how you feeling? You okay?"

"Okay, they're on their way," Bob said, coming back into the room.

Kate didn't even have to try to wake Mike for him to find that his friend had awoken, too. They both looked over at him, his skin still pale. He still seemed weak, but considering the episode he'd suffered from, Kate considered him lucky to be alive.

"Hey," Bob said, smiling at him.

"Who is that?" Will asked.

"What?"

Bob chuckled. "It's me, big guy. It's Bob." When he went in to touch his arm, Will pulled it away.

"Are you… a doctor?" Will asked.

"No. No, it's just me. Just… Just Bob," he said, still smiling. Kate knew that even if he wasn't showing it, Bob was still absolutely crushed on the inside.

Kate, before too many doctors had flooded into the small room, had finally found her father.

Whenever he had come into the room, seemingly just like any other doctor with the scrubs he was wearing, she immediately engulfed him in a hug, tears breaking n her eyes. "Dad, I–I'm so sorry. I was so worried about you."

After a moment or two, her father pulled away. "Wanna talk outside, kid?"

She nodded, wiping the stray tear from her face. "Y–Yeah."

When they'd moved outside to the hallway, Hopper sighed. "Katie… I'm so sorry for the other night."

"Wait, that's what you want to talk about?" She laughed, trying not to cry. "We almost lost you, and you're apologizing for that?"

"Well, yeah," he replied, shrugging. "Look, kid, I thought about what you said, and… you're right. For the most part, anyway. I'm sorry everything's been so… screwed up between us. After Sara and your mom, I didn't… I never thought about how I made it worse for you after that."

She looked at the hair tie on her wrist. He said her name. "Dad, you didn't—"

"Yeah, I did," he said, sighing. "And don't try to let me off the hook for it, kid, because I don't deserve it. I screwed up, Katie. I wish I could take it all back and that I could've been better for you, but I can't, and I need to stop acting like I can." he sighed again as he watched Kate look at the blue hair tie on her wrist. "I'm just glad you raised yourself good, kid. You're about the only kid I know that isn't stupid, crazy, or annoying." He paused. "I'm sorry for getting so angry with you the other night, I just…" He looked around, lowering his voice. "I need you on my side with her. She's different than you."

Kate stifled a laugh. "Yeah, that's for sure."

"She's way different." He cleared his throat. "Sometimes, I need you to just… go with me. She listens to you much more than she ever does to me. I guess you are better at being a parent."

"That's not true," Kate replied, her eyes still glazed over. "It's just different."

"Yeah, this is my first time having to actually raise a teenager," Hopper replied, chuckling. "You made it so easy for me, and I… She's just different than you, kid." He cleared his throat again. "But I'm sorry. For everything, okay?"

She hesitated at first. "I'm sorry, too."

"Katie, you don't have to be sorry."

"But I am," she said, wiping the tears from her eyes. "I got mad, too, and I shouldn't have left. I should've stayed and worked it out with you guys, not just…" She cut herself off and sighed, looking at the hair tie on her wrist. "Even though you're not saying it, you are doing a good job with her. I know sometimes I make it more difficult, but from now on I got your back. At least, in front of her. Who knows what I'll say to your face when we're alone."

Hopper chuckled. "All right, kid. So we're good?"

She gave him a tight-lipped smile. "Yeah. We're good."

As more doctors flooded Wil's room, Hopper sighed. "Guess we better get back, huh?"

Kate only nodded before the two Hopper walked back inside of the small room. As they entered, it had almost seemed like every doctor at Hawkins Laboratory had gone inside since they'd left just to check Will out.

"Do you know your name?" Dr. Owens, the main doctor of the lab, asked.

"A doctor?" Will replied.

He nodded. "Have we met before?"

"I don't remember," he said softly.

"You don't remember me?" he asked him.

Will only shook his head in response.

"Okay, how about, uh… How about this guy here?" Dr. Owens asked, pointing to Mike. He waved as the doctor continued. "Know who that is?"

Will only stared at the boy in front of him.

"It's all right. Take your time."

"That's… my friend," Will finally replied. "Mike."

"What about that girl, there?" Dr. Owens asked, pointing to Kate.

When she smiled at him softly, he shook his head in response. "No."

"What about me, kid? You remember me?" Hopper asked.

Will stared at the man for a moment before shaking his head slowly again.

"They tell me you helped save me last night. You remember that?" he asked, keeping his voice steady.

He only shook his head slowly once again in response.

Kate sighed softly. The way she saw it, anyone that had met Will before he'd gone missing had been completely erased from his memory, and slowly, even the people before it began to disappear from his memory, too.

"Do you remember anything about last night? About what happened?" Dr. Owens asked.

"I remember they hurt me," Will said.

The moment that Will had collapsed in the rotten pumpkin patch the night before replayed in Kate's mind, sending shivers down her spine. Her father put his hand on her back, signaling he was there for her. Thank God.

"You mean the doctors?" Dr. Owens asked.

Will shook his head slowly. "No. The soldiers."

"The soldiers hurt you?" Dr. Owens asked for clarification. The soldiers hadn't even come near him, nor any of the kids—how could they have hurt him?

"They shouldn't have done that," Will said, his face darkening. "It upset him."

Hopper and Kate turned to face each other, exchanging the same worried and confused glance. Him?

"You say, 'upset him.' Is that him?" The man showed him a photograph of one of Will's drawings, more specifically the one Kate had seen on Will's desk the day before with the shadowy figure surrounded by red lightning. She hadn't thought much about the drawing then, but now it would be permanently etched into her memory. She didn't even want to think about what the people at the lab had done to get a picture of the drawing.

Will looked at the photograph, then turned back to look at the doctor, nodding at him.

"Okay. Okay, I wanna try something," Dr. Owens said, looking at Joyce. "It's gonna seem a little odd at first, but I think it's really gonna help us understand what's going on. Is that okay?" He turned back to look at Will.

Another doctor soon came in with a glass box and a flame thrower. Whenever Kate looked into it, she found that it held a piece of vine that had seemingly come from the tunnels they'd found her father in.

"Now, Will, I want you to just let us know if you feel anything. Okay?" Dr. Owens said.

Before he could reply, the torch ignited, and Kate watched as Will eyed it nervously. She couldn't help but notice that he almost seemed scared of it.

As the ignited flame inched closer and closer to the vine in the glass box, it began to screech softly, and Will only watched the flame nervously. As the heat increased, Will became physically more uncomfortable as the heart rate monitor attached to him increased its speed, increased his pain. He yelled out in pain as his mother begged for the man with the torch to stop the experiment.

"Stop! You heard her! That's enough!" Hopper yelled, stepping in between Will and Dr. Owens. "That's it! We're done!"

As the man over the box lifted the flame away from the vine, Dr. Owens calmly said, "Okay." Will relaxed slightly as the monitor began to slow its beeping back to a more stable speed.

"Sweetie… Sweetie, it's okay," Joyce said, trying to comfort her son.

Dr. Owens took Joyce and Hopper into the hallway to speak more privately about Will's current state, and the doctors all shuffled out of the room, leaving Will, Mike, Kate, and Bob alone together. As Kate watched Will, the boy who was only a shell of who he used to be, she only hoped that someone could do something to help fix him. She knew that Will wouldn't forget them if something wasn't seriously wrong with him.

That was, if Will was even there anymore.

next chapter

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