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#Hop and Joyce for the parental issues

morganbritton132 · 1 year

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Steve is noticeably absent from Eddie’s TikToks in the days following their second live-streamed fight. Some people are theorizing that they separated and that they’re going to divorce, and others are saying that everybody should mind their own business.

So, the chat blows up one night when Eddie is live-streaming in his studio and Steve comes down to dig through their CD collection. Eddie interrupts himself to casually mention that Hopper and Joyce are staying with them this weekend and not at Mike and Will’s where they usually stay when they’re in town.

Steve asks why and Eddie gives him a vague answer about Jonathan and Argyle not getting a hotel room this time and there not being room there. He doesn’t mention the real reason, which is that Eddie asked them to stay at their house because Steve’s been having a hard time lately and he figured having supportive parental figures around would help with the inevitable disappointment his mother is going to be.

He doesn’t mention that at all which is fine because Steve’s already moved on to a more pressing issue: Eddie, we only have one guest room and that’s where Wayne sleeps.

Eddie: No problem. Wayne gets his room and Hop and Joyce can sleep in ours. We’ll sleep on the couch.

Steve: What if my mom comes?

Eddie, resisting the urge to tell him that she’s probably not: Then we finally take Diane up on her offer to use her guest room and Wayne can make a friend.

Steve: …Why would you subject Wayne to that?

Eddie: Because I love you

#Eddie spent the whole day before working out in the old Steve’s Surprise Party group chat why the only option is for Joyce and Hopper to #stay with them because he knows Steve’s going to try to find them better sleeping arrangements #Eddie just needs El ‘Friends Don’t Lie to Each Other’ Hopper to understand that it’s not lying if you just ignore their text #eddie munson tiktok saga #steve harrington #eddie munson

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smashtbh · 2 years

Note

daddy issues jonathan smut where he accidentally calls reader daddy when they're fucking? 🤭

i like your mind. also posting this earlier because i feel like you guys deserve it.

Daddy Issues — v. 11

Jonathan Byers x M!reader | fem aligned + minors dni!

not my photo!

CW: swearing, soft to somewhat rough smut, reader has a dick, whiny jonathan, dom!reader, DADDY, lord have mercy.

he/him pronouns are used to refer to the reader.

a/n: more porn. isn’t that great. this one has a lot more feelings though. also just wanted to add that my requests are open! send in some new and fresh ideas.

MORE HIGH WRITING BECAUSE THE PEOPLE ASKED FOR IT. this also comes with small grammar mistakes i wouldnt know though i didnt proofread this 💀💀

While Joyce loves having Y/N over, she won’t let him stay the night knowing that he’s dating Jonathan.

Ever since their incident with Lonnie, Jonathan has been reluctant to sleep alone.

That just means he has to sneak Y/N into his room every night.

Surprisingly, Jonathan has been getting away with it for a couple of days. He silently slides his window open every night at 10, letting in his boyfriend who’s carrying a backpack full of clothes that’s probably going to get lost in Jonathan’s room.

They usually talk for an hour or two, just basking in each other’s company, before falling asleep under the sheets together.

Tonight though, Jonathan hopes it goes differently.

Y/N throws his backpack on before hopping out of his window. It’s rare that his parents are home, but tonight they’re sleeping soundly in the house.

He climbs down the tree beside the house and gets on his bike, putting on his hoodie before pedaling away.

He makes it to Jonathan’s window, leaning against it while he throws his bike behind a bush. The window is open by the time he turns around. “Hey.”

“Hi” Jonathan says, leaning out of the window to kiss Y/N. “Missed you.”

“I just saw you a couple hours ago for dinner.” Y/N laughs, moving to climb inside.

Jonathan just steps back and blushes. “Sorry.”

Y/N sets his bag down quietly and kisses Jonathan again. “Don’t ever apologize for that.” He kisses him once more, “I missed you too, baby.”

Jonathan melts against him and Y/N circles his arms around him. Just holding them there. Breathing each other in.

They’re quiet together, but Jonathan slips his hand down over Y/N’s crotch. “Oh — hey there.” Y/N grunts.

“Can I..” Jonathan starts, but he doesn’t finish as he falls to his knees.

“Babe,” Y/N caresses his face, “I literally just got in here.”

“And I just got a boner from hugging you.”

“Damn.” Y/N breathes.

“Shut up.” Jonathan laughs as he unbuttons and unzips Y/N’s pants.

He pulls out a half hard dick, that’s slowly heating in his hand. He goes right in, sucking right below the head, cradling Y/N’s balls, and jerking him quickly.

“Mmmmph — needy?” Y/N pulls Jonathan’s hair. “I’m — fuck, you planned this.”

Jonathan hums around him, taking Y/N down his throat. He gags a bit, but takes all of Y/N’s length. He hums around him again, reaching to pull down his pajama pants. He squeezes his leaking cock and gags on a moan.

“You’re a fuckin’ angel.” Y/N groans.

Jonathan pulls off. “Thank you.”

Y/N smiles down at him, picking up Jonathan’s hand. “Come baby, the bed.” He leads him towards the mattress, “What’ll you tell your mom when she asks about your bruised knees?”

Jonathan lays down. “I’ll tell her that i fell.” He kisses Y/N’s neck. “She’ll believe me.”

Y/N clicks his tongue. “Oh yeah?“ He pulls Jonathan’s pants down. “Not gonna tell her you sucked off your boyfriend that you snuck in for the night?” He caresses Jonathan’s stomach, avoiding his leaking dick.

“N-no.” Jonathan whimpers.

“You’re too good to do that. Isn’t that right, baby?” Y/N grabs his chin, bringing his face close.

He gets a nod and a hum from Jonathan in response. Y/N takes off his pants, along with the hoodie and shirt he’s wearing. He also takes off the longsleeve Jonathan was wearing.

They’re both bare, Y/N moving in between Jonathan’s thighs. He holds out two fingers and Jonathan opens his mouth obediently. “So good for me.”

He sucks for a moment, then Y/N withdraws his hand. He moves it down Jonathan’s body, letting the spit drip on his nipples. He’s whimpering, so he doesn’t notice when the two fingers make its way to his ass.

“Oh fuck, oh fu…”

Y/N spits on his entrance and slowly moves his fingers inside. “That’s it,” He thrusts in faster, “open up for me, sweetheart.”

He preps him for a couple of minutes, occasionally spitting on his hole to get it wet. Once he’s got four fingers in his boyfriend’s ass, he pulls them out after thrusting them for a bit. “Ready?”

“Y-yes. Yes, please.” Jonathan whines. “Please.”

Y/N spits into his hand, smearing it on his cock. The precum that had been pooling helped lube himself up.

He lines himself carefully then leans down and mouths at Jonathan’s neck. “I’m gonna make sweet sweet love to you, lover boy.”

Then, with just the smallest whisper, “Please, Daddy.”

Y/N bucked his hips, his dick just breaching his boyfriend below him, making him moan. “Jonathan.”

“Ye-yes..”

Y/N grabs his chin. “Yes, what?” He stares into Jonathan’s eyes. “Say it again for me, baby.”

Jonathan shivers. “Yes, Daddy.”

“Sweet fucking jesus.”

He thrusts all the way in at that. To the fucking brim. Y/N is cradling Jonathan’s head with his hand, kissing him slowly. In opposite of his hard thrusts.

“Nnh — Mm — Hmmph — “ Are the soft noises coming from Jonathan.

Y/N pulls away to stare down at him. His eyes are half lidded and there’s drool running down his cheek. “Fuckin’ beautiful.” He bites down on Jonathan’s neck.

“Comingcomingcomingcoming — “ Jonathan starts to gasp, rather loudly. Y/N shoves three fingers in his mouth and stops thrusting.

Y/N shushes him, thrusting the fingers in and out of Jonathan’s mouth. “Quiet down.”

He pulls the fingers out and purposely drags it down Jonathan’s chin. “I’m so close.” He whines.

“Sorry,” Y/N starts to thrust again, takes his saliva slick fingers and glides them over Jonathan’s dick. “Let me make it up to you, honey.”

Jonathan starts to twitch and moan. “Daddy, please fuck me.”

There’s something that sounds like a growl coming from Y/N, “Holy fuck, I love you.” He thrusts harder into him.

They’re both moaning, Jonathan biting on his lip to try to stop his whining — but when he starts to taste blood, he brings Y/N’s fingers back to his mouth to keep him shut up.

Y/N’s hips start to stutter, affecting his quick pace. “Oh shit, I’m gonna come.”

“Fill me up.” Jonathan pants as he pulls out the fingers in his mouth. “Please make me feel good, Daddy. Please..”

Y/N’s hand is back on Jonathan’s dick, jerking quickly and offbeat with his thrusts. The double pleasure overwhelming Jonathan, who comes hard all over Y/N’s stomach.

“Nnnnmmphh! Come in me, please — oh my god.”

With a couple more thrusts, Y/N is filling up Jonathan with his warm cum. He grinds into him, watching Jonathan’s face spark with pleasure.

He silences Jonathan’s moans by kissing him again, letting it become sloppy as he slows down.

“Thank you, sir.”

“Keep that up and we’re gonna have to go another round, sweetheart.” Y/N moves the hair out of his lover’s face.

“I wouldn’t mind that, Daddy.” Jonathan grinds himself down.

Y/N slaps his ass, “You fucking brat.”

likes, reblogs, & comments are appreciated!

#stranger things #stranger things x male reader #male reader #x male reader #jonathan byers #jonathan byers x reader #jonathan byers x male reader #gay #gay jonathan byers #smut

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upsidedownwithsteve · 2 years

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Promptober: Day Fourteen

Eddie Muson x fem!reader 758 words.

You were positive your parents would’ve had more of an issue leaving you in the house alone with Eddie, if the boy wasn’t wearing your frilly, pink apron.

It covered his black jeans, his ripped band t-shirt, his denim vest with all the patches that your mother always stared at. It didn’t take away from his messy curls or his tattoos, but you thought he looked just as fucking as pretty as he always did.

“We’ll be home around midnight,” your dad told you, fixing his cuff links as staring at Eddie even as he spoke to you. “Remember and lock the doors properly after your friend leaves.”

He said ‘friend’ like a challenge, like he dared Eddie to argue. But the boy just smiled wide, dimples showing and leaning against your mothers clean kitchen counter, looking entirely out of place.

“Yes, dad,” you let him kiss your cheek before your mother did the same, leaving a cloud of flowery perfume behind. “Enjoy the show, guys.”

Eddie waved them farewell, holding back his grin as they both walked out the front door, eyeing him suspiciously until they couldn’t see him any longer. The door clicked shut and Eddie let out a snort.

You whacked the boy with a hand that was already dusted with flour, hiding your own smile as you tried to admonish him.

“Eddie,” you scolded, cheeks flushed. “Stop.”

He grabbed at you, brown eyes all fine as he manhandled you into a hug, arms wrapped around you, looking at you with a wicked gaze.

“What?” He spluttered, “does your daddy not know I sneak into your bed every night?”

The boy kissed your cheek, nipped at your jaw when you poked your fingers between his ribs, nose scrunched in embarrassment because he was right.

“Of course he doesn’t know,” you scoffed, reaching up to tug at a stray curl. “D’you want me to tell him?”

Eddie grinned and shook his head, pushing you back into the counter with a familiar look in his eyes.

“Absolutely fucking not,” he whispered, leaning down to catch your lips with his.

You indulged him for a little while, lazy kisses that tasted like brown sugar and vanilla, all Eddie, a hint of smokiness underneath. But when his tongue licked over the seam of your lips, you grinned and pulled back, patting at his chest.

“You’re supposed to be helping me, not manhandling me.”

“You invited me over under false pretenses, woman,” Eddie sniffed but there wasn’t any malice behind his words. “You told me that we’d have the house to ourselves.”

“We do,” you reminded him, picking up the wooden spoon again, swirling it into the batter that was almost overflowing from the large, red bowl.

The whole house smelled like sugar and vanilla, the kitchen counters littered with stray chocolate chips and dusted in flour. The same white powder was flecked across the boy’s curls, a suspiciously Eddie sized handprint on your ass.

“Nothin’ was mentioned about making brownies for El’s bake sale,” Eddie grumbled good naturedly.

You knew he didn’t mind, because he’d let you loop the pink apron around his neck without complaint, smiling at the mess you’d gotten yourself into, humming in delight when he kissed you and you tasted like chocolate.

“Hop’s is picking up late shifts and Joyce is with Will and Mike at some convention thing in Ohio,” you told him, doe eyed and placating. You weren’t even sure why you were trying to justify yourself, you knew Eddie didn’t mind. “She needs help.”

Eddie would do anything for you.

It’s why he smacked another kiss to your cheek, caught the corner of your lips too and grinned, throwing back his curls a little dramatically and inspected the batter in your bowl.

“Promise I get all of your attention afterwards?” He stuck his finger into the chocolate goo, laughing when you batted his hand away.

“Only if you behave yourself.” It was a lie, you’d give him all your attention regardless.

As if to prove your point, his hands snuck back out to pull you into him, egg shells and icing sugar spilling off of the worktops as he spun you against him. You squeaked, tried not to give in and smile, but god, it didn’t work.

Eddie kissed you sweet, nice and soft, the way he was good at, nipping at your bottom lip like he was promising something more and when he finally pulled away, flour streaked white across his black t-shirt, he said:

“Sweetheart, when have I ever behaved?”

#eddie munson #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x you #eddie munson x y/n #eddie munson fic #eddie munson fanfiction #eddie munson fanfic #eddie munson fluff #eddie munson blurb #eddie munson imagine #eddie munson oneshot #stranger things fic #upsidedownwithsteve's promptober

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erikiara80 · 10 months

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Theory: Jancy’s first lie scene is also about Jopper and the curse

I was rewatching Murray scenes in S2 and S3 and I noticed something in this one I never did before. This could be a big evidence that young Jopper, or at least Hop, are really cursed and that they probably were together in the og timeline.

I talk about the possible hints that they were married and are Will and El’s parents here

So, I think the first parallel/connection is when Nancy and Jon mention the theory that El is russian (later they also drink vodka)

This is foreshadowing of Jopper’s storyline in S4, not Jancy’s. Hopper is in Russia, Joyce gets a doll from him but Murray suspects it might be pregnant with an explosive device. Something Owens compares El to a few episodes later. And interestingly the doll is actually “pregnant” with the message that Hopper is alive.

Then the first lie scene. If the vodka and the mention of Russia are foreshadowing of Jopper’s storyline in S4, this could be about their past

After Nancy and Jon say that they're just friends, Murray laughs. "You told me a lot of shockers today but that... that is the first lie.”

That reminded me of the First Shadow. In my defence, I couldn’t make the connection before they announced the prequel, lol.

And @chirpsythismorning noticed something very interesting. The song that plays when Hopper is stuck in the tunnels in S2 is Shadow in the tunnel. That doesn’t mean that he is the shadow, but that he is associated with it.

Nancy insists: "It's not a lie." Murray: "No? You're young, attractive, you've got chemistry, history. Plus, the real shit. Shared trauma." This could be about young Jopper too. Because we know that something bad happened way before 1983. In 1959, the year Hopper said he started to feel cursed.

Murray continues and tells Jon (our Hopper here): "Trust issues, am I right? Something to do with your dad."

"No, I mean, my dad is..."

Nancy: "An asshole." This is about Lonnie, but it could also be about Hopper's father, who thought his son was a piece of shit.

@shippingfangirl013 I have to quote you here: And the “my dad is…” “An asshole” Paired with the “well they must have gotten married for some reason” in S1. “I wasn’t around for that part” = Jonathan’s parents being in love.

Yep.

And then Murray mentions a curse: “It's a curse to see so clearly."

First lie, First Shadow, and a curse...

Hopper is the only character who’s been saying since S1 that he feels like he’s cursed. In S4 he even says that HE is the curse. And Jo pointed out that episode 4x02, Vecna’s curse, starts with Hopper apparently dying, only to reveal that he’s actually alive. Hm, stuck in a loop, maybe? I’m working on a post about Hopper and the curse, but I’ll just say that after he wakes up in 4x02, we see Max wake up too, from a Vecna nightmare, we see the poster of The Endless Summer and hear the clock-bike sound effect. Here the video.

But back to Murray and the first lie. It’s Nancy’s turn. Murray tells her that she wants safety (like Joyce)

Then another big parallel with Jopper. The We like Steve (Bob) But we don’t love Steve (Bob)

Murray calls Nancy out. Saying that she loves Steve (Bob) is the second lie of the evening (and so is Joyce not being with Jim, the man she loves)

As Kayla says: Safety = Bob = MK Ultra manipulation, because of the flashbacks she has in S3 after being around Hopper.

Then THIS poster. It never made much sense to me when I thought about Jancy. But it makes a lot of sense if the scene is not just about them, but a parallel with Jopper and Hopper, the cursed one.

Here another parallel. Murray tells Nancy and Jon to have sex. The same thing he tells Joyce and Hopper in S3.

(red and yellow here, El and Will’s colors)

And I think this is important. That night Nancy and Jonathan GET together, and we don’t see the poster when they kiss, because they're not the ones that are cursed. Hopper and Joyce Maldonado are. The part with Murray is the parallel with Jopper’s past. Someone has been watching them for a very long time.

Note: The poster is a Big Brother poster. Brother, The lost brother, the original title of The Lost sister, an episode with tons of references to One and the lab (here, here and here)

Kayla also made another great connection with the song at the end of S2, Every breath you take. Maybe it’s not just about Will or El. It’s about their family. They’re all there. Will, El, Jonathan, Hopper and Joyce.

And the last words we hear before the last shot, the Mind Flayer looming over the school: Oh don’t you see? You belong to me

(Water is always involved too, right? Sorry, just wanted to point it out)

So, in conclusion I think that this Jancy scene is Jopper coded and maybe it tells us what happened to them.

The question is: why is Hopper cursed? Were he and the others there, Joyce, Bob, maybe Scott Clarke, when the exorcism happened and something went wrong? Or maybe they stopped Betty, who wanted to help Henry, because they wanted to protect her (if she's really Bob's sister it makes sense) But without her help, something horrible happened. Or maybe something bad happened to her.

I feel like Hopper did something that changed everything. Maybe he thought he was doing the right thing but he was wrong and made things worse. We’ll see!

Anyway, I really like this theory. Tagging you too @lilitblaukatz

#jancy #jopper #willel twins #willel #st prequel #the first shadow #st vecna #joyce byers #jim hopper #jonathan byers #nancy wheeler #st parallels #st theory #stranger things

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bylertruther · 1 year

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How do you feel about Joyce?

i think, like most single mothers in her position, that she tries her best. unfortunately, due to a lot of factors, her best isn't the best, but she is trying, and her kids know that. she could make an effort to be more involved in jonathan's life, rather than expecting him to take care of himself (and everyone else) as he always has—there's a reason he had to learn and perfect that skill in the first place.

i sincerely hope she has an actual conversation with jonathan next season and encourages him to chase his own dreams without fear that he'll be "abandoning" her and will. she's treated him like a co-parent for way too long—she needs to set him free and offer him support. it'd be so dissatisfying for me if she didn't.

i enjoy her character best when she isn't being reduced to a plot device to further hop's development and involvement, like in season four. i felt like they totally nerfed her character in that season actually which is unfortunate. so many characters getting more complex storylines, and then they made her a joke. so cool, writers room. thank you for that. 👍

ummmmmmmm. what else... i like her androgynous / gender-neutral sense of style. i like that she asks will about his drawings. ...kind of really wish she'd be shown on screen doing the same with jonathan and his photographs lol.

idk what else to say! she's okay. she's got her good stuff, her bad stuff. a lot of people think the good cancels out the bad, but the truth is that they coexist and exacerbate her sons' issues greatly. every time i think about something she often does for will, i can't help but ask why she can't do that for jonathan, too. she's a layered character guilty of a lot of the things some people accuse other characters of (*cough*karen*cough*), but somehow it's never brought up.

oh, something else: i'm crossing my fingers that they give us juicy, serious background lore in that play that's coming soon. i'd love to hear more about what she and her life were like before her kids. and i also hope she teams up with karen next season. joyce tries to blow her off like she always does, but karen digs her heels in and insists that she be involved in whatever the hell is going on. something like that would be fun, i think—and it'd get joyce away from the same two male characters she's always grouped up with.

that's about it for my thoughts on joyce!

#me when joyce is on my screen 🤗🤗 me when hopper comes in yelling and being aggressive and so cowboy-esque 😐😐😐😐😐#not rereading this u get what u get and u don't get upset goodbye #asks

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asbealthgn · 1 year

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people seemed to like the last one (thank you btw!) so here is the first lil snippet of one of my longer fics on ao3:

As Steve peels out of his driveway, he runs through the catalog in his head of places he can crash.

If it wasn’t two in the morning, he would already be on his way to Robin’s by now. She’s been having just as many issues with insomnia as Steve has, so there’s a decent likelihood she’s still awake, but he knows her parents wouldn’t take all that kindly to him showing up in the middle of the night.

He could go to Dustin’s, but the kid has gotten annoyingly responsible about going to bed on time on school nights, and he gets pissy if he doesn’t get his eight hours. And anyways, what would Steve say to Mrs. Henderson?

In the old days, he maybe could have gone to Hopper’s, since the chief could usually be relied on to be up at all hours. These days though, he’s settled in with the freshly returned Byers family, and Steve doesn’t really feel like disturbing Joyce and the kids.

If it was just about finding a place to sleep tonight, Steve could park up at the quarry and pass out in his car there. It’s not like he hasn’t done it before. Hell, he could even go let himself into Family Video and crash on the couch in the back.

But it’s not just about sleeping. Steve doesn’t want to be alone right now.

Really, he’s left with one option. He’s driven past the sign for Forest Hills and is pulling up in front of the new Munson trailer before he even realizes that he’s made the conscious decision to do so. Steve cuts the engine.

It makes sense to come here. Eddie’s uncle Wayne works nights, so the only person he’ll be bothering is Eddie. And Steve knows Eddie to be a light sleeper from that night over the summer when they all camped out in the Wheelers’ backyard, so he feels reasonably confident that Eddie will wake up if he knocks. If he’s even asleep. Steve has seen the dark circles under Eddie’s eyes and has wondered if he’s been having the same sleepless nights.

Steve pushes open his car door and gets out. The door falls shut behind him before he can catch it and he jumps at the noise, heart leaping into his throat. Just a car door, he tells himself. Nothing to be afraid of.

He hops up the steps to the trailer two at a time and knocks on the door. Pounds on the door. Is really hurting his hand on this door until it finally swings open. Eddie is there, hair fluffed out in a halo around his head, rubbing sleep out of his eye. He’s not wearing a shirt, something Steve takes note of even in his addled state.

“The hell are you doing, Harrington?” Eddie slurs, voice lower and more gravelly than usual from sleep. Then he seems to notice the look on Steve’s face and drops his hand. “What happened?”

Steve leans his shoulder against the doorframe. “Can I come in?”

Eddie steps aside to let him through, shutting the door again once Steve has entered. He looks Steve up and down, maybe making note of the pajamas and disheveled hair and downturned expression.

“Is it about your parents?” Eddie asks.

“Kind of,” Steve says. His parents came home a few days ago, and it’s had Steve on edge. Eddie came into Family Video the other day and caught part of Steve recounting to Robin the latest installment of Steve’s dad telling him how he’s a disappointment, how he’s a burnout, how he’s a disgrace. Nothing new, really.

Eddie opens his arms and Steve steps into them. It’s something he loves about Eddie; he’ll be waiting with arms outstretched before he even knows what the problem is. Steve lets himself sink into Eddie, head on his shoulder, feeling momentarily safer in the circle of the other man’s arms.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Eddie asks against Steve’s ear.

“I had a nightmare,” Steve says. It sounds stupid when he says it out loud. He has nightmares almost every night. But this was a particularly bad one. The finer points are slipping away, but Steve remembers a swirling cocktail of every awful thing he’s faced in the past three years with all the details swapped around; Dustin getting lifted into the air with his bones snapping, Will melting into a puddle of flesh and blood, Robin walking into Steve’s pool and never walking out.

“I’m sorry,” Eddie murmurs, hand running over Steve’s hair. “I get them too.”

Steve closes his eyes, feeling calmer with the soft skin of Eddie’s neck against his cheek. “I can normally handle them better,” he says.

On the nights when his parents are away, Steve will go downstairs and turn the TV on at top volume to distract himself. He’ll drink or smoke to calm himself down. He’ll turn on every light in the house. He can’t do any of that when his parents are home.

“I woke them up,” Steve says.

“Your parents?” Eddie asks.

Steve nods. “I didn’t mean to,” he says, “I can get loud sometimes, when the nightmares are bad. It’s not usually a big deal when it’s just me.”

Eddie hums against his ear. Steve takes it as encouragement to go on. “My dad came in, got pretty mad at me.”

“Mad?”

“For disturbing them. Thinks I’m too old to be having nightmares, especially the scream-yourself-awake kind.”

“God, Steve,” Eddie murmurs. He rubs his hand over Steve’s back and Steve feels just a little more okay.

“It’s not a big deal,” he said, “Couldn’t stay, though.”

“You can stay here,” Eddie offers, like it’s nothing. It’s everything to Steve.

“Is that alright?” he asks.

“‘Course it is,” Eddie says, “Come on.”

Steve lets himself be led into Eddie’s room. Eddie pulls back the blankets on his bed and climbs in, scooting all the way to the far side. Steve crawls in after him. He hesitates a second before sliding closer to Eddie and putting his head on his chest. Eddie’s arms go around Steve immediately.

“You’re safe here,” Eddie tells him softly.

And as Steve’s eyelids get heavy, he thinks he may just believe him.

#steddie #steve harrington #eddie #steve x eddie #stranger things #the rest is on ao3 if you want to read it owo

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bluebugjay · 1 year

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I think a big thing people need to realise with fictional media is that the things that happen are always done with a specific intention, and because it is fictional that intention doesn't always line up with how it would be received if they same series of events played out irl.

For example, this scene is played for laughs. It's comedic. We even have bts of the cast laughing whilst trying to film it. It's supposed to be funny.

If it happened irl though it wouldn't be funny at all. Hopper is a grown man acting emotionally constipated, dealing with this situation in such a chaotic and intense way that it really didn't call for. Hopper lying to Mike that his Grandma is sick wouldn't fly irl. Hopper essentially threatening Mike wouldn't fly irl. If Mike's parents gave a shit for longer than five minutes and he told them what Hopper said it'd probably be a whole issue.

but!!! it's fictional. It's a comedy bit. Intentionally. Watching the unessaccary anger on Hops face, watching Mike react to it, the bit where they keep locking and unlocking the car door, being shown the scene after where the boys are talking about it and Mike calls Hop crazy. It's funny. (and that's all the ga are going to take from it because that's all they're shown)

In real life what he did would be super shitty and we can view it as a bad way to handle the situation because we get the scene of Joyce telling him how he should do it and that he ignores that completely.

The overprotective dad trope has always been a thing and often times played for laughs. That's all this is intending to be. In no way were the Duffers trying to make Hop out to be abusive or a villain and therefore that is not the correct way to perceive it.

tldr: Basically, fictional shows exaggerate things for whatever the intended purpose is. You've got to be aware of that intension or you can dive too deep into how it could be recieved and completely miss the point.

#that being said im not denouncing analysing shows or anything and having an opinion on things #its just that sometimes i think u can get so wrapped up in analysis u miss the big picture #stranger things #mike wheeler #jim hopper #joyce byers #stranger things season 3 #jopper

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tartarusknight · 6 months

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I don't know what you're hunting. It's not me, it's something else - part 6/10

Also on ao3 Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6: Like some child possessed, the beast howls in my veins. I want to find you, tear out all of your tenderness

CONTENT WARNING!!! this chapter includes violence and death

El tore at the sandwich Hopper handed her to get her energy back up. She watched Jonathan snatch the walkie from Will's hands. “You guys are okay?” He asked.

“I think so, after I shot at him and ran we haven't dealt with much of anything. But we're staying alert.” Nancy's voice is tired, not as strong as El was used to hearing.

“Dustin you head back to the cabin or Wheelers. We don't need you out looking for us right now.” Robin's voice joins Nancy's and El is just a little relieved to hear both of their voices.

She was on edge, feeling the phantom claws on her arms and seeing the gruesome image of what she now knew was Eddie Munson. The man that gave his life for Dustin, for the party. Jonathan looked to be slightly relaxed at their voices as well. “Do you want Hop and I to come and pick you guys up? Where are you?” He asks.

“I already asked them where they were.” Dustin chimes in and El can't stop the small smile at her friend's voice. “So, where are you guys? Which direction did you run off to?” He asks but there isn't an answer. “Guys?”

“Nancy?” Jonathan asks and El's feeling of relief vanishes. “Nancy? Are you there? Come in Nancy.”

“Robin?” Dustin says and El's heart is sinking. She looks over at Hopper whose face is frighteningly blank. “Robin, what is your location?”

“Do you-” Mike's voice is cut off and that has the panic in the cabin triple.

There's a sound of a car pulling up and Will's opening the door. El can't see who but she hears the two boy's voices. Dustin is nodding to something Mike said. “We were close to Steve's maybe they-” but El's out of her chair and getting in their faces.

“Did you say Steve's? They might be at Steve's?” She asks, feeling frantic and scared for her friends.

But she already knows the answer before Dustin answers. “Yeah, is that- what's the issue?” He asks and El looks at the others in the cabin.

“The monster,” Will whispered and El nodded. Will cleared his throat, “When El went looking for Steve in his house she was attacked.”

She looked at her arms, “they are not safe there.” El jumps as Hopper stands quickly. Argyle is grabbing the keys just as quickly and El barely has a chance to speak before they are all running to the pizza van. Hopper pulls a few guns from his truck and takes the passenger seat. El climbs into the back and ignores her parent's arguments that they should stay here. Stay safe.

“We aren't staying behind, just go,” Will says and El nods in agreement. Joyce grits her teeth but stays in the back with them quietly as Argyle starts out onto the road. The road is dead, everyone knowing without being told to stay inside after dark lately. El's eyes follow the edge of the road and her heart stutters at the sight of Steve's broken abandoned car. The car that all of them had so many memories in.

“Was it a different creature or was it Eddie at Steve?” Mike asks and El looks over at him. “Are there multiple creatures we should be looking for?”

She thinks about the feeling she got from the two different interactions. “I don't know... I think- I-” she stumbled, unable to answer.

“It's best to assume the worst,” Hopper states. “Then we can prepare for the worst.” He says and El silently thinks it might be two different creatures, she just doesn't know how to explain it.

There's a roar in the distance and El straightens, hoping that she'll be able to protect them. All of them. Before Argyle can pull into the Harrington driveway figures are running onto the road. They dive out of the way of the car as Argyle slams on his brakes. Both Nancy and Robin are dripping wet and scrambling onto their feet as another mangled cry echoes. Jonathan opens the side door just as a figure on all fours darts onto the road.

It turns and El's eyes widen as the stretched and deformed figure of Steve Harrington turns towards them. Nancy throws herself into the van but Robin's eyes are stuck on Steve. The way his arms seem to have grown an extra foot, and his fingers have long claws on them. As he stands up on to legs, his mouth pealing open like the Demogorgons, spit flying as he lets out another earsplitting shriek at them.

He seems taller than before, but he's hunched over, letting his fingertips touch the ground. His eyes are black, and he's covered in more black blood. Showing that this transformation was anything but easy. “Robin!” Hopper shouts and it sets both Robin and Steve into action. He runs forward with the speed he didn't have before as Robin scrambles to the van.

El flings her arm up as Steve catches Robin around the middle and they hit the ground. The claws embedded into Robin's torso are ripped away as Steve is flung back. The scream Robin lets out is almost a cry as her flesh ripped audible to their ears. Nancy is scrambling from the safety of the van without a second to waste, reaching for Robin. Robin lets out an agonizing wail even the slightest touch.

Her body is shaking as she sobs, looking like she is struggling to catch her breath. El feels frozen at the sight but Jonathan is up and helping Nancy in a second, Mike following instantly. The three of them doing their best to lift her off of the ground. The blood left behind looks bad. It looks like she's losing blood too quickly.

Before she focuses on Robin's injuries, Steve breaks through the treeline, looking angrier than before. He lets out a wet roar and in the distance, there is an answering call. El stands, getting between the others and Steve lets out a low chittering sound. It sounds like a warning but El sticks her ground.

Blood dripped from Steve's petaled mouth and taloned hands. Making El unable to ignore the pained sounds coming from Robin. El pulls at her tired powers to keep Steve back. Robin's hiccuping sobs and Nancy's frantic demands of others make the stress bubble up.

The roar from what had to be Eddie sounded too close now. El looked back as they got Robin on the ground of the van. She looked back at Steve or rather what took over Steve's body. “Go!” She yells, throwing him back. The sound of him hitting a tree has her wincing but a hand grabs her arm and pulls her to the van. The moment she and Mike are in, Argyle tears away.

As Joyce shuts the door, El is forced to pay attention to the scene in front of her. The floor of the van is growing red as people crowd around Robin. Hands here and there, putting pressure on the wounds Steve left behind. Dark red bubbled up from Robin's neck as Nancy pressed down harder.

Robin looks too pale and her hand scrambles to hold one of Nancy's and one of Dustin's. “He-” her words are intercepted as she coughs. Blood splatters Dustin's gray shirt as it drips from Robin's lips. She doesn't seem able to stop now that she starts and El is frozen as she listens to it.

“Shh, shh, you're going to be okay,” Nancy promises and Robin's eyes look up at the other girl. “You-you're going to be fine and we're going to figure this all out.”

Robin's hand grips onto Nancy's harder, “Ra-rabies.” She says, causing the coughs to grow harsher and wetter.

“Hey, don't try- don't try to talk,” Dustin says and gets Robin's attention. “You gotta save your energy.”

“You need to drive faster,” Joyce shouts before she's looking at El. “Put your hands here,” she says. Gesturing to another wound that no one could cover.

Blood flows between El's fingers and she knows if she had been faster or smarter this wouldn't have happened. Robin would've been okay if she had been faster. If she had pushed past her shock. “Robin,” Nancy's voice breaks and El realizes the coughing stopped. She looks over at Robin's face and sees blank eyes staring off in the distance. “Robin, stay with me. Stay- stay with me,” Nancy's voice is breaking and tears are falling. “Don't- don't do th-this, stay r-right here with m-me.”

“Don't stop,” Nancy snaps as Joyce's hands slacken against Robin's abdomen. “We- we can't l-let her b-bleed out,” She orders.

But they can all see it's pointless. Blood is soaking into their pants at a rate of no return. They couldn't breathe air back into her. There wasn't much they could do but hold her. “Nance,” Jonathan says and it's so soft that it hurts to hear and it wasn't even directed towards her. “She's gone,” Jonathan whispers and El feels an equally bloody hand grab hers. She looks over to see Mike not tearing his eyes from Robin.

Nancy's shaking her head even as her hand falls from the big bite mark that ripped into Robin's shoulder. Although she doesn't let go of Robin's other hand. She just lets Jonathan pull her into his arms. El looks away and sees Joyce doing her best to hide her tears.

The car was silent minus the sobs coming from Nancy and Dustin. The van rolled to a stop in front of the hospital, even if it was too late now. Robin Buckley, the girl they had gotten to know, the teenager that wouldn't grow up because of this.

My fingers claw your skin, try to tear my way in (Howl - Florence And The Machine) Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10

Tags: @ellietheasexylibrarian @nburkhardt @artiststarme @flowers-that-sing @juleswashere3 @indiearr @remosdeerica

#im sorry #tw death #tw blood #horror #stranger things #robin buckley #el hopper #nancy wheeler #steve harrington #the party #knightly talks #i don't know what you're hunting. it's not me it's something else

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idiotcurls · 10 months

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For Auld Long Syne, My Dear

Chapter Two: Dinner

Chapter one is here. The whole thing on AO3 is here. After Steve finally arrived to the New Year’s Party at the Byers-Hopper house, the gang is sitting at the dinner table, bantering, eating and drinking. Nancy and Robin are forcing Hopper into a speech, which he hates but reluctantly accepts. Mike and Will have some sort of issue with eachother and are making it everyones problem. When emotions boil over, Steve goes into mum mode and Eddie finds himself as a bigger brother figure to Mike. Pairing: StevexEddie but they are idiots, WillxMike but they don’t know that yet, established NancyxRobin, platonic Stobin d’uh

Tags: slow burn, found family, post vecna world, dealing with trauma, coming of age, hurt/comfort, eddie is alive obviously The kitchen is filled with laughter and conversation. Plates are empty, bellies are full. Steve is sat next to Joyce and Jonathan, his thumb in a brand new band-aid, provided by Joyce. He had gotten his glasses from the car earlier too, to avoid more mishaps like this.

During dinner, Steve politely reminded Hopper that he wasn't becoming a teacher, but a guidance councilor again, when he asked how the studying was coming along.

That concept was foreign to Hop, but Steve had no problem explaining it all over, every time they met, even though he knew Hop would keep on calling him 'Teach'. The kids were bickering, Dustin screeched about something Max had said. Steve rolls his eyes but was in all good spirits. He was happy to see them laugh. Glances between him and Eddie were exchanged during the dinner.

Eddie basically inhaled Joyce's Lasagne. When she got up to put a third load of Lasagne on his dish he almost didn't dare to decline.

„You will make the boy explode, Joyce.“ Hopper intervened. „Oh well, they're still growing.“, she deflected. „That is a grown man.“, he pointed at Eddie with his fork. „I once arrested him.“ Eddie seemed to flinch. „That was a long time ago!“ Eddie added quickly, looking between Steve and Joyce. “That's probably like... statue-barred or something.”

Eddie being so damn lovely with Joyce and Hopper made Steve's heart feel warm. He acted like a polite son in law, trying really hard to impress some girl's parents. Steve swallowed hard.

“Well, I think by now you can say, he redeemed himself, don't you think?“ Joyce reached across the table to give Eddie's hand a quick, affectionate squeeze and he froze for a second there. He just nodded. “Th-thanks, yeah.”Jonathan sighed.

„I think we all suffered 3 times worth all of our respective sins.“ Nancy gave Jonathan a serious side eye.

„Since when do you believe in the concept of sin?“, she asked.Jonathan shrugged. „Argyle's mum is italian catholic. It comes up in conversation.“ Robin made a 'uh huh?' sound, while she looked into her glass of orange juice, but didn't dig deeper into the topic.

“Speaking of, where is Argyle?”Jonathan apparently just came back from a short holiday in California, where he stayed with Argyle, his mum and his abuelita. Steve noticed he was tan. For Jonathan at least. He looked happy and healthy.

“They would kill him, if he wasn't at home for the holidays.”, Jonathan explained. “But he doesn't seem to mind that, at all. He likes being molly coddled by them.” Jonathan looked into the middle distance. Steve couldn't help but wonder, what Argyle's family dynamics were like. And why they made Jonathan weary.

Speaking of sins, Steve looked over to Eddie. He looked down on his band-aided finger and back at him. He watched him smile while listening to conversations on the table. He didn't talk too much, almost seemed shy. Steve would have never thought, that a family dinner (of sorts) was the one thing that made Eddie shut up.

Steve's eyes got stuck on Eddies lips, on his dimples, that appeared when he smiled like that. There was Eddie's sharp jaw line, in contrast to his big brown eyes, that searched everybody's faces with curiosity. Sometimes he added insightful comments. This time about Catholicism. How can one person be so smart and so bad at school at the same time?

But the school system made Steve feel less than as well. He still sometimes thought he was dumb. And in Eddie's case, maybe the teachers just didn't like him, or had preconceived notions. He wore being an outcast well. But Steve sometimes wondered, if it came to him that easy. The snarky comments, the no fucks given attitude.

It must have been lonely behind that mask in school. But it was a mask and a loneliness Steve knew too. The mask just had a different colour. Steve promised to himself, that he would never treat any of his kids like this. Once he got through the course. Once he was a guidance councilor. It was either that, or becoming a hairdresser. He chuckled to himself, imagining doing Eddie's hair in a salon.

On the other side of the table, Nancy and Robin whispered something, they seemed to hatch out some sort of scheme, he saw it in their eyes. That always rang an alarm bell in Steve's head, so he tried to take his eyes off Eddie and watch out for those two agents of chaos.

For some reason Robin brought out a more playful, joyous side in Nancy. He loved their dynamics, even thought, truth be told, sometimes they got on his nerves. But this light-hearted Nancy, he hasn't seen that version of her since before Barb died. Not with him and not with Jonathan. So he was grateful.

Mike seemed to chew El's ears off about a topic she didn't seem to be interested in. Will and Dustin talked about that 60s movie they watched before. He had a feeling Robin also talked about it before. She wanted to watch it with him, to broaden his horizon.

He saw Will for the first time this evening at the dinner table. Will didn't seem to be in a very chatty mood, so Steve decided not to pester him with too many questions. Will was stabbing his food with the fork and provided short answers, when someone talked to him. Max was in a chatty mood today, but Steve learned not to disrupt her quiet phases aswell. It was a time where she intently listened to what was going on around her. He saw her quietly smile into herself sometimes, when one of the boys said some stupid shit.

Robin and Nancy's whispering turned into a giggle and then into a chant, far away from quiet. “Speech! Speech! Speech!” They looked at Hopper, starting to bang their fists on the table. Hop rolled his eyes and mouthed a stern 'No!' Nancy seemed to have sobered up a bit, still red cheeks, but she had this determination in her eyes, that Steve loved so much about her. El watched the girls chant and bang on the table for a second, before she chimed in, ignoring Mike's monologue. The more Hopper refused, which he did, the louder everyone got. Max was quietly smiling to herself. She put her hands on the table, like she tried to feel the vibration of the bangs on her hands. “Okay, okay, okay.“, Hop finally said. He got up, taking his glass of scotch into his right hand and put his left hand gently on Joyce's shoulder. Clapping and whoo-ing ensued. Well, from almost the whole table. Eddie didn't shout as loud as the other participants, but clapped. Apparently he still had a lot of respect, or maybe some sort of god's fear of Hop, which Steve found hilarious in a way. Mr. „Fuck the rules“ in awe of a cop. Steve smiled. He wondered why Hop arrested Eddie back then and how it all went down. He had a faint idea, since he sometimes bought weed off of him, back in high school. But that is a story for a different time. „Y'people are cruel, you know that, right? Y'know I'm bad with words.” He cleared his throat. “But uh, I will try my best.“ He seemed like he didn't quite know what to do with his hands or face. Joyce looked up to him, a sparkle in her eyes. She patted Hopper's hand on her shoulder and whispered „You can do this.“ Hopper was wearing a nice shirt and Steve was 200% sure it was a gift from one of the girls. It was very colourful, so he figured El gave it to him and it mattered so much to him, he wore it anyway, like a proud dad. A proud dad. Steve had a bitter sweet feeling in his stomach. But he couldn't imagine anyone other, that deserved a proud dad as much as El and Max. „I want to thank you all for coming here. It's uh... nice to have a full house. I guess we're still making this house a home...“ He looked around the table at all the eyes fixed on him and seemed to get honestly emotional. As if he felt...touched. „I never reckoned, that I would have a wife and four children to boss me 'round.“, he looked at the kids intently. His voice broke a little, Steve was sure about it, he heard it! “And...-“ „She's not your wife yet!“, Max interrupted with a smug smile on her lips. Hopper sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose with two fingers. „Yeah, well. That is a fact. A fact that I was going to get into, if you would let me finish...” „They are getting married in spring!!“ El blurted out. „That is why Robin and Nancy wanted to hear a speech.“ El was proud. Mike next to her, seemed somewhat disconnected from the ruckus on the table. Will, who was sitting next to Mike, just watched the burning candle in front of him intently. Joyce laughed. „Don't steal his thunder! Come on now, go on, now.“ Her smile was wide and genuine. Something clicked in Steve's head. He looked at Joyce's hand and saw a new ring which she didn't wear the last time he visited. Joyce seemed to notice him connecting the dots and winked at him. He raised his eyebrows in disbelieve and shot Robin a look. She winked at Steve too, she knew already, but didn't say a word to him. Wow. Steve was surprised, Robin could shut up that long. Especially in front of him. Good for her. All the times they spoke on the phone and yet. He was almost proud.

If there hasn't been the conversation he had with Joyce when he came in, one could have thought everything was alright. Just a happy, big family celebrating new year's. Steve wished it could at least be true for the evening. He had a feeling they all shared that wish.

„Who's gonna be your best man? Can I be your best man?“ Dustin piped up. Mike punched his shoulder.

„You can't be a best man, you're way to young! You have to be like, 30 to be a best man.“ „Ow, dude, that is so disrespectful.“ Dustin shot back. „I'm allowed to ask!?“„As a matter of fact-“ Hopper raised his voice to interrupt the fighting, looking between Mike and Dustin. „We are getting married in spring. And uh I... we! We wanted to inform you, that you're all invited. We want you to be there.” Dustin looked at Hopper with big eyes, waiting for an answer. „I'm sorry kid, but Jonathan is going to be my best man.“, he said, not unkind. Dustin frowned. “Damn it.“ „See, I told you!“, Mike hissed at him under his breath across the table. “I am allowed to ask!!!”, Dustin hissed back.Jonathan who was just watching the back and forth between the kids, raised his hands in defense and shook his head. „First of all, I'm not 30? And you are very welcome to help me prepare stuff.” Dustin nodded enthusiastically, ignoring Mike's sour expression. It was the first wedding he was invited to, so Dustin thought, he had every right to be excited.He could practice wedding stuff, for when Suzie and him would get married, once they were old enough. Even though he didn't really know if Mormons married differently. He only knew weddings only from TV anyway, so this was a good place to start. El searched for Steve's attention. „I'm going to be a flower girl.“, she said unable to contain her excitement. „Me and Max both. That means we will go down the isle and throw flower petals on the ground.“, she explained. „Before Joyce walks down to get married.“ She was so proud. Her cheeks turned a rosy hue.Steve nodded. „That is very nice, I love that.“, he said sincerity in his voice. He looked over at Eddie. He had his hand on his chin, leaning on the table, just listening. If he wouldn't have known better, Steve thought, he was moved. But he couldn't read his face, since Eddie hid half of it and avoided eye-contact with Steve. Maybe he felt embarrassed about earlier. „So, please remember the date. 7th of may. I want us all to be together. It's important to celebrate, even during hard times.“, Joyce added. „You will get the invitations later. Oh, and thank you Robin for helping us make them!“ „Hear, hear!“ Robin raised her glass, putting her arm around Nancy. “I'm happy I could help.“, she smiled her beautiful, broad smile. Nancy looked up to her, studying her profile, flustered. Steve knew that look, but hasn't seen it in a while. Apparently Robin had helped them craft beautiful typography and added some flowers into their design.Hopper was so concentrated to provide a speech, he couldn't be annoyed by their blatant flirting. Steve knew, it wasn't because they were both young women. It was just because it was...them. „So now that that is out of the way...“, Hopper said after he kissed Joyce's head. „Let's have a nice evening together, but let's not get over board.“, Hopper continued, looking at Nancy. Steve couldn't help but laugh. Nancy shot him a look. Neither Will nor Mike had any emotional reaction to the situation, that was appropriate. Steve was wondering what was going on behind the scenes on this one. He had a little suspicion. “To Hopper and Joyce!” Nancy raised her cup. Everyone followed her. Even so Mike, who seemed to watch Will from the corner of his eyes the whole time. The only person who didn't raise his glass to the happy occasion, was Will. Steve was surprised. „This is not right.“, he said quietly still staring at the candle. The table grew quiet all of a sudden and everybody looked at Will. Raised hands sank back down. Mike rolled his eyes and leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms.Maybe Will had been in a mood all day. Which was unusual, because that role was solely Mike's, commonly. „Honey, let's talk about this again later...“, Joyce said, reaching out to her son. „No, I don't want to talk. I'm so sick of everyone pretending everything is fine, when it's clearly not!“ Joyce couldn't speak for a second, she was taken aback. And hurt, Steve figured. She opened her mouth to say something but closed it again, afraid of saying something to make it worse. “Will....”, Jonathan started. „I can't take this talk of us all being together, when people are missing from 'together' and everyone is just, like, ignoring the truth.“ „Do you want to talk about this truth? Now?“ Hoppers voice was not unkind, but stern. „Enlighten us?“ Steve didn't think it was possible for the room to get even more silent but somehow it did. Dustin put his glass of sunny D down quietly, as if he was afraid to be noticed. “We're just playing pretend. Lucas and Erica are gone and Max-“ He stopped. His voice broke. The sound of his chair grinding back on the kitchen floor seemed to ripple through the room. „I have to go.“ He looked at the shocked faces around him and seemed to grow smaller. Will walked out of the kitchen. They could hear his steps ascending up the stairs into his room, followed by a door closing.Max lowered her head. Nobody dared to say anything. Joyce let her head sink into her hands, rubbing her forehead. “I'm sorry” she said softly to no one in particular. „He is going through a lot.“ “Puberty.”, Dustin nodded knowingly. Steve shot him a look and mouthed 'not now', shaking his head slightly. Dustin folded and shut up. Hopper laid his hand on Max's and whispered something to her. She nodded, but her expression seemed conflicted, still. Everyone missed Lucas and Erica the way Will did, but they were all faced with the same helplessness in the situation. Steve's stomach turned. It reminded him of the helplessness he felt, when Nancy was grieving Barbara. And he was a shit boyfriend back then. But also a teenager facing impossible situations. Not knowing where they are, made him lose sleep as well. He looked at Eddie. He seemed to want to add something to the conversation, but didn't dare to. He loved Lucas and had grown more fond of Erica ever since she called him a long haired freak. Everyone looked hurt, staring down at the table. Except for Mike. Mike seemed furious, like he could barely swallow his rage. Not annoyed, like he usually was. A more common sight, but fire burning furiously. Steve had a feeling, Max blamed herself partly for them leaving. Even though none of them had confirmation on how the situation took place and it surely wasn't Max's fault. He knew Max was smart. Smart beyond her years. But knowing something doesn't immediately mean, you know how to deal with your emotions. He knew that for sure.Jonathan cleared is throat and put down his bottle of beer. „I'm going to talk to him.“, he uttered under his breath and got up to follow his little brother upstairs. Mike watched Jonathan go after Will and something in him was about to snap. He shook his head. You could see the white on his knuckles, he was balling his fists so hard on the table. El looked at his fist and back up to him. But before she could say anything, Mike finally snapped. „This is so stupid.“, he spit out. „He should be happy he has all of this!“, he waved across the room. “Mike! Stop it!”, Nancy snapped at him. Mike shot his sister an angry look across the table, before the second time a chair grinned the kitchen floor. “Don't act like you know whats going on at home!” He left the room, put on his shoes and slammed the front door behind him, without grabbing a coat on the way out. El didn't follow him. She looked the other way and grabbed Max's hand. Max seemed relieved. Everyone else was looking at the table, perplexed on how fast a general mood can switch.Nancy shook her head and furrowed her brows. “Just ...let him calm down.”, she said, defeated and waved her hand. Robin put an arm around her. Just being there, a silent support. “They are always angry, lately.”, Max said quietly. El nodded, knowingly. “They are.”, she said with a lowered tone. “Something is changing.“, she added. Steve couldn't make out if Hopper was extremely angry or extremely sad. He did work a lot on his anger lately, he knew that from Joyce. So maybe it was somehow both.

„Sometimes people are angry when things change.“, Joyce offered them softly. The candles were flickering on the table and the TV had since started broadcasting the New Year's eve celebrations on times square. 1988. Almost a new era. “Let's just clean up a bit. We'll give you guys some time.” Robin said towards Joyce and Hopper, as she got up. Nancy seemed to snap out of a trance and got up too. Steve knew, Hop wanted the best for his new family. Steve respected that. But it also must be a lot of work and “new territory” so to say. “I'll go out to check on the fire.”, Hopper said, getting off the table.Joyce got up too, to frantically put plates together. “Come on let's all help. Dustin! Grab a tea towel. I wash, you dry.”, Steve announced. Dustin groaned. “Do I have to?” “Yes. You do.” Steve said with a stern voice and gestured towards him. In reality Dustin was probably relieved. He didn't seem to know what to do with his hands, or the Situation as a whole, if we were perfectly honest. “Go be with Hopper. We got this”, Nancy said softly, touching Joyce's arm. She sighed and laughed thinly. “Thank you. I'm sorry about this.” “Don't be.” Nancy was serious. Steve saw Joyce grab a packet of cigarettes out of one of the kitchen drawers, before she grabbed a coat and left into the night to talk to Jim. El pushed Max's wheelchair out of the kitchen, towards her room. El nodded to Nancy before they left. Nancy nodded back and touched El's shoulder affectionately before they left. It wasn't close to midnight yet, but still a good time to have a little festive fight, Steve figured. Nancy and Robin were clearing off the table, bringing used plates and cutlery to Steve and Dustin. Eddie had gotten up from the table and stood in the room awkwardly, not knowing what his role in this was exactly. He looked towards Steve, helplessly. Crisis-mode Steve was pretty good at diffusing situations and just reacting to problems. So he did. Steve turned on the water and plugged the drain, before looking over his shoulder at Eddie, nodding towards the door, raising his eyebrows. He seemed to have forgotten that Eddie doesn't really have a code to follow in “family situations” like that.“I think I, uh... I want to go smoke a cigarette?”, Eddie asked

“Yes. Yes you want to do that.” Steve answered and nodded towards the door again. Someone should check on Mike. “Right. Got it.” Eddie snapped his fingers and walked out the kitchen towards the front door, grabbing the ear warmers and his coat, following to where ever Mike Wheeler turned to hide himself. Steve sighed, already feeling bad for being bossy. But he knew Mike looked up to Eddie. Mike grew his hair out, despite his father threatening, that he would somehow end up in prison with a haircut like that or worse, unemployed. The kid was a sucker for Eddie. Even today, he wore his Hellfire shirt, hanging on every word Eddie uttered, all evening. When he wasn't sulky or angry. If he didn't know it any better, he thought Mike had a crush on Eddie. Nancy for one, didn't quite get the infatuation her brother had, but decided, there were worse role models to pick. At least Eddie was someone who tried to make high school a tolerable place for kids like them. He basically ran around high school adopting kids. Which was cute. She remembered wanting to look out for Jonathan, when they were in school. And he had proven himself to Nancy Wheeler since. She put a stack of used plates next to Steve and sighed, watching him scrub away on the dirty plates, brows furrowed. He loved to stress-clean. He used to stress-clean a lot, when they were dating. Back then, she found it endearing. Now it's just comedy relieve. Also, Robin was a slob and she already got used to that. But it was Steve's way of helping and dealing with complicated situations. “You know he had a hard time, since Robin and me got together.”, Nancy's big dark eyes seemed still seemed a bit clouded. Steve listened to her, keeping his eyes on the warm water and bubbles. “He is so fucking angry all the time, we don't know what to do.”, she said, sighing again. “I don't know what to do and he is not talking about it, like, at all.” Dustin shook his head and scoffed. “We have been talking, aaall the time! But nobody can fucking tell me what's wrong.” Dustin sounded defeated drying another plate, Steve put into his hands. „Maybe, they just need a little bit more time. To figure things out.“ Robin's voice was quiet, and soft like velvet, her eyes rested on Steve. Then she leaned over to Dustin and gave him a little nudge. “Don't worry too much about it, Dusty-Bun.” Dusty-Bun groaned loudly.“Yes! But we know Will is gay. We don't care! The party does not care!”, Dustin was obviously annoyed by the whole Situation. “Eddie had this one gay character in DnD and we all decided we loved her!” he almost screamed. “It is just FINE. So what else could it possibly be?” Robin decided to ignore him. She remembered Sapphire the Sapphic all to well. When Eddie told her about Sapphire, she knew, that motherfucker wasn't totally straight. How else would he know the word sapphic and why else would he tell that to her. They had a silent agreement since. But Robin was happy he seemed to try to teach the kids something.Robin had seen Eddie with girls around Hawkins High. But she had a suspicion. The same suspicion she held with Steve. Not all that easy to read, but the moment Eddie appeared in their lives, she could smell something was off with Steve too. Since they knew each other, she had never seen Steve look at a girl the way he looked at Eddie. Steve never looked at her that way, when he thought he was in love with her too. “Is he angry about you and Robin?”, Steve asked Nancy and gave Dustin yet another wet plate to shush him, lovingly. “He seemed to take it fine. When we told him. Together. ” Nancy said. “But then, all of a sudden he decided to be a huge dick. To everyone.” “More than before?” Steve couldn't hide his undertone. Which was fine in that situation, he figured.“Uh, Yes. A lot more.”, Dustin said, swinging his towel. “I would have told you, if you'd pick up your phone more often. Instead of, uh, I don't know, going on hot dates with lots of girls or whatever.” Robin poured herself a cup of mulled wine from the stove and laughed out loud, leaning on the counter.“How are those hot dates going, Harrington?” Steve dropped a plate back into the foamy water, to look at her, eyebrows raised. “Okay, ouch. I don't like either of you two very much, right now. I'm actually studying and working. Trying to become my own man, you know?” Steve shrugged. “I'm trying to become a better man.” He nodded to himself. He wasn't quite sure if he believed it, or what it meant, exactly. His glasses fogged up from the hot water, so he took them off and placed them on his head. “Jeez, that shouldn't distract you from being a good older male role model for me, Steve.” Dustin threw the tea towel over his shoulder, like an old lady, perfectly mimicing the way Steve did it. Steve didn't say anything to that. He just looked at Dustin and shook his head.„What do you think about it, Buckley? I mean, about Mike and Will.”, Steve finally asked, going on to investigate his suspicion. She sighed deeply, taking a sip of the hot wine, contemplating.„I think they are teenagers. We weren't any better, were we? Figuring stuff out. Fighting, being mad. There IS a lot of change happening right now. We're still trying to cope too. And their brains aren't really fully developed yet. You should know that, Mr. Councilor? The prefrontal cortex and everything? Do you have yours?”Steve scoffed and nodded. “Yeah, haven't taken that class yet. Next semester. Too busy being a rolemodle.”, he looked at Dustin theatrically, who sighed.The warm water in the sink felt good on his hands. In the beginning he tried not to get his band-aid wet, but aborted the mission half way through. Scrubbing plates gave him something productive to do. From the kitchen window, he saw Joyce and Hopper standing by the fire. Hop was shaking his head while Joyce was talking and blowing blue smoke into the cold winter air. „What are we figuring out though?“ Dustin put a salad bowl on top of the pile of clean plates. „Stuff. Teenager Stuff.“, Steve said. „I want to be included. I can't trust you to figure the case out by yourself. You need me. You know, to connect the dots.“ “I don't know man. I am still not sleeping well either. At least sometimes. So I guess that?” Dustin nodded. He seemed to understand that. “I talk to Suzie a lot when I can't sleep.”, his voice went a little bit more quiet. “Some teenagers have to figure stuff out, other teenagers don't have to.” Steve pondered, thinking of Mike and Will. „Also, you can't put a half dry bowl to the dry dishes! Jesus!“ Steve took the tea towel from Dustin's shoulder and put it on his own. Robin smiled kindly. “That is actually true. You know you can still figure things out even though you're not a teenager anymore, right Steve?” Steve and Robin locked eyes. Nancy looked between them, confused about the tension in the room. Outside the house, Eddie stomped through the crisp snow, silently hating himself for jumping on whatever Steve tells him to. He could imagine a thousand things that were better than running after an angry teenager on a night he looked forward to for weeks. Could he say no to Steve though? Not exactly. Would he do anything for that rag-tag family type situation going on in there? Yeah, probably. He figured it was safe to feel that way. They did that for each other all the time, he knew. Eddie did actually know a thing or two about being a teenager and being an angry one, so.

Steve knew that. That's why he sent him out to talk to Mike, he figured. It made him feel a little proud. Steve knew the kids longer than he had. So Eddie loved, that Steve trusted him with looking after one of the difficult ones.

They both cared about the little shrimps. He felt included. It warmed Eddie's heart, something to examine later, after the mission.And Eddie also knew very well, that he could have used someone in situations like that. Needed someone to understand him. Dads and uncles sometimes couldn't do that in a way that actually helped.

Even though, he regarded himself lucky, to even have an uncle, to go after him when he stormed out into the dark of night. Which he did frequently, back in the day. Why he never got eaten by a Demogorgon or something like that, in hindsight, he couldn't explain. The fool's luck.

„Shit.“ He rubbed his hands together, looking around to find any sign of Mike. He looked up to the sky. The moon was a very thin sickle. Only sparse clouds in the sky. Which made sense. It's to cold for much clouds if it's too cold for snow. And there wasn't any snow in a while. It made sense, because of the lack of moisture. He really liked the colour of the sky though.

The footsteps in the snow he followed, led him behind his own Van. Mike was crouched down, leaning on a dirty front tire. He angrily wiped away a tear or two in an hectic movement, when he heard Eddie's footsteps approach. Little Idiot, Eddie thought. He looked younger.

„Hey there. It's a bit cold to hang around out here.“, Eddie said.

„What else is new.“ Mike's tone was cold. He clearly didn't want any company. Yet, there Eddie was. Feeling like he was in a different dimensions, where the roles were reversed and he was the one to strike up a meaningful conversation. No biggie, though. The van's door was cold on Eddies back, as he leaned against it, while crouching down next to Mike. He reached into the pocket of his too big jacket and produced a packet of cigarettes and a zippo lighter, with an intricate design on it. There was only a zzsk, zzsk noise abd a small orange flame from the lighter, as he lit his cigarette.

He casually blew the smoke into the cold December air, like he didn't just got sent out into the cold to retrieve a teenager. He offered the package over to Mike, who raised his hand to take one out, but Eddie pulled back in a quick motion. “Gotcha. I know you smoked before. Don't start it.” Mike shook his head, defeated. He knew he earned that. “I had to throw up after.”, he confessed quietly. Eddie nodded. “I thought that much.“, he said ashing into the snow.When he saw Mike the first time, he got bullied by some jock from Mike's English class. The perfect victim for becoming a new member of Hellfire. But that was why Eddie started Hellfire for. A refuge for nerds, freaks and outcasts. And they flocked to him.Now the situation was a different one. The “shared trauma” as Robin and Steve called it, was a bit more than some assholes in a cafeteria calling you a name. It was new for him, he barely survived. Thinking that those kids have done this since they were so small, blew his mind. Made him feel small in comparison.Since then a lot changed, times changed and the kids grew up a lot. But hell, so did he.

If somebody would have traveled back in time and told him, that he would spend New Year's with Steve Harrington, Nancy Wheeler and a Cop in 3 years time, he would have spat into the time traveler's face, despite being impressed by, you know, the time traveling.Once you graduate and leave the small little bubble of high school, get thrown into real life, a lot of important things seemed silly. It almost made Eddie feel nostalgic.

Like he yearned for easier times with less at stake. Jocks against Nerds. Nothing more. Black and White. Not all of this greyish hues that bloomed in front of him, like boring but insightful flowers of early adulthood.He wondered if the little spark he had with Chrissy could have bloomed into a friendship too after high school, if... if things happened differently.

Their friendship would have have had pink and yellow petals, he thought. Eddie imagined her at college. He imagined her having fun with her friends and grow up to become a woman. He saw her smiling. She would have been so amazing. It stung.But despite all of it, Mike was still partly in this bubble, with his stupid views on the stupid world and his big anxieties, that were very real. The kids were pushing 18, learning and growing and being dumb.

„So... what was that all about?“ Eddie tried to swallow his teasing tone. „What do you mean?“, Mike spat, looking at the cigarettes tip glistening in Eddie's hand.

„Come on.“ Eddie leaned into Mike's space. „You're going to tell me, Baby-Byers storming off and then you storming off are not in perfect correlation?“ „I know you think of me as this wise old man, but I'm actually not too unfamiliar with the teenage drama.“ Mike shook his head and rolled his eyes. "It's not that." Mike said. “It's not drama... It's just... I'm just...Will got all of this attention from being 'out' and everyone is walking on eggshells around him. He gets to start over at a new place and Joyce and Hopper are madly in love with each other, it's gross.“, it bubbled out of him. Ding, Ding, Ding. Jackpot, Eddie thought, but let the kid continue.„He is living with El and Max and Jonathan is there a lot. Everyone loves him, despite... you know? But he runs around being depressed and angry and anxious. What does he have to be angry about all the time?!“ Mike was angry, too.

Eddie took the last drag off the cigarette and flipped it into the snow. They both watched the little light go out. Eddie decided to not follow up the 'despite', not yet. He also swallowed the 'what are you so angry about?' question. That was for another time.

„Are you jealous?.“, Eddie said, breathing out smoke. Mike was hesitant, breathing out through his nose, like a child that got caught. He seemed to gather his thoughts together, so Eddie let him.

„I'm alone a lot. Everyone is here. Lucas is gone. I barely get to see them.“ Mike's voices cracked.

„What about Dustin?“ „He is in a total nerd mode. Only cares about finishing school. And talking to Suzie.“ He scoffed. "He wants to marry her?" Eddie nodded. "That's young." He knew about that. Not feeling included, being alone. Except Mike gets to do it from a nice home with a family around him. He did not know a lot about his parents, despite the fact, that they don't seem to love eachother .„And El and you...“, Eddie started. „We're taking a break!“, the answer shot out of him. „It's just a matter of time. We'll be together again soon.“ 'We will be happy again', Mike wanted to say but didn't. Eddie had a feeling that this wasn't exactly true on what he had observed that evening. But the boy needed something to hang on to, so he wouldn't drown. Eddie wasn't going to be the one to take the straw away from him.

The first heart break was always the worst one. But he'll get over it, Eddie knew that too. „I can't say anything about you and El. But you guys all love each other. And you won't live in your parent's place forever. You can all venture out into the world together one day.“, Eddie mused, gesturing towards the sky.„I know, but what if...“ Mike's voice gave out completely. „What if they forget me? Just move on?“ He turned to look at Eddie with genuine sadness and fear in his eyes. A tear on the brink of rolling over his pale cheek. Oh god. Genuine emotions made Eddie feel weird. Who could blame him, when he had to swallow all of his own grievances and hurt for so long, just to survive. Those kids were emotionally so much more in tune with themselves than he was at their age. He swallowed. Don't mess this up, Munson. „Well...I for one, haven't been a part of what ever this is for a long time.“ He nodded towards the house. „But I can assure you, those people in there love you as much as you love them, man.“ Eddie chuckled. „I'm just a sort of bystander and I have felt sick all evening from all of this love and understanding going on in there.“ Mike laughed a little. „It's pretty bad.“, he admitted.„Yeah it is. And I think nobody would like, shoot you if you talked to them about it. You could even say, that you uh, miss them or something.“ Mike nodded. He knew Eddie was right. There was a small pause. Far away, there was the noise of fireworks going off, prematurely. And the cracking of the fire in the backyard. „You're not a bystander, Eddie...“, Mike said after that long pause, looking at his shoes. The tables have turned, Eddie thought. But that was the way those kids worked.„Sshh. I wasn't the one storming out of a family event just now.”, Eddie deflected. “Try to swallow your pride. You think you can do that?“ Mike nodded, bated. “And maybe you can work up some understanding for Will? Doing what he is doing, isn't that easy either.“, Eddie said with a stern voice. “And doing what you're doing is hard aswell. Be soft.” Mike nodded. He didn't quite know what Eddie meant, but he liked to feel acknowledged. He wondered what 'being soft' meant. „Okay. Good. So let's get up and go back inside. Your sister is going to skin me alive if you get sick because of me. “Mike seemed to understand those worries and reluctantly got up to walk back inside the house. For a second Eddie stopped in front of Steve's Beemer, looked at the leather seats and his bags neatly put together in the back.

When he raised his head, he took in the sight of a house filled with light and love and smelled the burnt wood from the backyard. There was some sort of commotion coming from the kitchen, a crash, like broken glass and something that could be a cat dying or Dustin. Eddie and Mike shared an amused look, before they entered the patio, to walk back inside. Eddie put one Hand on Mike's back, ushering him inside. He looked over his shoulder to check the woods, before he closed the door behind them. Old habits die hard. Maybe there was a slight chance for a nice evening, after all. People were still scattered around the house. When Eddie walked in, he immediately loved the warmth. He seemed to melt into it. Steve and Dustin were still cleaning and arguing. Apparently Dustin had dropped a plate and Steve was ushering him around to get out of the way, for Steve to sweep up the shards. In case any one of them went downstairs to get a cheeky sandwich, barefoot in the middle of the night, so nobody would get hurt. Seeing Steve, wearing his glasses on his head, a tea towel over his shoulder, bossing around a kid, Eddie felt a strange sense of longing for domesticity. Not that he ever had the nuclear family, mum-dad-kid holy trinity of the American dream at his disposal, but he liked evenings in, when him and Wayne would cook a proper meal together and watch a sitcom on TV. When he was younger, Wayne let him stay up longer and watch things that, in hindsight were not appropriate for 12 year old kids, but it was what it was. And Eddie was thankful for every minute of it. Bonding time. After they made their way back into the kitchen, Eddie noticed, Dustin also put his tea towel on his shoulder, the way Steve did. It was so absurdly cute how much Dustin looked up to Steve. One time Eddie asked him, if he'd share the secret of Steve's perfect hair, if he knew it. As a joke. Dustin got this really serious expression and told him, “I am not at liberty to discuss that with you, or anyone as a matter of fact.” and shut down the conversation. It took quite a lot out of Eddie not to laugh out loud. But that meant, he did share his sacred hair regimen with Dustin. And Dustin guarded it like it was the declaration of independence. In that moment, Eddie had a vision of him and Steve in an imaginary shared flat, where Steve was at the stove, in the middle of making dinner, on a random Tuesday night and Eddie hugged him from behind, to kiss his neck and smell his hair. He imagined them making out between chopped vegetables and bubbling sauce. Greetings from the kitchen, or whatever rich people called it. Maybe it started with something benign like Steve letting Eddie taste test his homemade tomato sauce, excuse him, Sugo, the one with the fresh basilico and authentic grana padano. But it ended with him whispering into Steve's ear, how much he loved him and his Sugo. The three course menu for Eddie was Steve, Steve, Steve. He immediately felt bad after imagining that. He had fever dreams like this all the time. He felt double bad, because Steve was obviously straight and it made his gut turn, that he imagined stuff like this about a friend. He felt like a stupid horny teenager, when there was more pressing matters to attend to.Eddie's eyes were glazed over, standing in the doorway to the kitchen. Mike, whom Eddie forgot about for a second there, didn't seem to want to disrupt whatever was happening with Eddie. He cleared his throat semi-politely and announced he was going to sit with Nancy and Robin to watch the festivities as they unfolded on TV for a bit. Nancy and Robin were graceful and didn't make a big deal of the disgruntled teenager returning back to the mothership. Bless them. Eddie's and Steve's glance met, when Steve put away the last pieces of broken china. Eddie immediately looked away, a pink shimmer on his cheeks. Steve sighed and washed his hands. “Can you go sit with Mike?”, he said towards Dustin. “I want to talk to Eddie.” “There's a lot of talking going on today, that's for sure.”, Dustin grumbled passive aggressively, walking out of the kitchen. Steve felt a bit bad about it, but he was going to make up for it later on, he figured.

When Eddie sat down at the table, he had a beautiful smile on his face, that also seemed sad or embarrassed, Steve could not tell. The cold from outside must have turned his cheeks a rosy hue. There were some candles still burning, other ones were already out.Steve swung the tea towel over his shoulder yet again and put some little bowles of chips and other snacks on the table. “So...What's up?” Eddie shook his head. “Angsty teenager stuff.” Steve laughed. Eddie patted on the empty chair beside him. Steve followed, pulling up the chair, using it backwards, leaning his arms on the back rest. “Thanks for talking to him.” He nodded towards the living room, where Mike awkwardly sat on the rest of the couch, while Dustin joined them, immediately diving into the popcorn. “Yeah, no problem. He's just, you know, Mike.”

Steve snorted. “Yeah, he is.” “And I think. They're still having a hard time.”, Eddie continued. Steve sighed and leaned his chin on his forearms. “They miss them. A lot. Hell, even I miss that snarky little Erica voice.”, Eddie continued. “Who could blame them?”, Steve said more to himself.

“I think Mike feels lonely in Hawkins.”, Eddie said quietly, tilting his head towards the living room. Steve didn't say anything for a bit. The kitchen felt weirdly quiet after all that noise before. “Do you feel lonely in Hawkins?” Eddie scoffed. “Got lots to do. M'shifts at the mechanic. People don't have money to buy new tractors and cars. I'm in the back, so nobody gets to me.” He sighed. “Uncle Wayne is giving me a hard fucking time about that government housing. Constantly wants me to help him fix shit, or change shit. He hates it there.” “Move.”, Steve said, simply. Eddies eyebrows furrowed. “What?” “Move away. Doesn't Wayne have friends from the army somewhere?” Eddie was surprised, that Steve remembered that. “Yeah, but they live somewhere secluded, in east Jesus nowhere.”Some of the vets were not happy how they were treated after serving. And they did not get the assistance they needed to get back into civilian life. They lived somewhat self organized, somewhere in the desert. Wayne sometimes got letters from them, Eddie remembered Wayne chuckling to himself, while reading. And the only time he saw him writing was when he had to do tax returns or write back to his friends.

“It's not that easy, Steve... I can't just leave Uncle Wayne and the money...” “But we did get a good amount. You could start off somewhere new.” Steve offered.Eddies eyes got darker. He felt a little burning pit in his belly. “I don't have the same opportunities you do.” What he wanted to say was, I only have Uncle Wayne left. Where was he supposed to go? With whom?“I'm just saying-” Eddie sighed loudly, interrupted Steve with it. “I don't really think, you understand my situation here, Harrington.”Steve sat up in his chair. The 'Harrington' stung. Eddie hasn't called him that since before. It was a reminder of their past roles and Steve's status from before. Even if before didn't exist anymore and Steve was sure they let that part of the past behind them. Because it wasn't relevant anymore, not to him, at least. El and Max entered the kitchen again, Max's hands full of fire crackers and small fire works. Not the big ones, because no one liked loud noises at this point. “Do you guys want to go out and cause some chaos?”Steve looked at Eddie and raised his eyebrows. Eddie nodded. “Sure, why not. Get dressed.”, Steve said to the girls. Eddie watched Steve get up to get coats and shoes ready for outside. A tiny voice in him shouted derogatory terms. He didn't quiet know why he was so defensive right then. Defensive and a little bit mean. But he got up to follow them, anyway, cursing under his breath.

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findafight · 8 months

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Controversial headcanons/opinions! That are mostly about Steve now that I read them back.

1. Stancy’s biggest roadblock is Nancy’s inability to admit she’s wrong/makes mistakes.

2. Jancy’s biggest roadblock is Jonathan’s parentification. Jon loves Will, but some of his devotion to him is tied up in that - something I think fandom tends to overlook. We’ve already seen that Nancy either forgets or underestimates how much the Byers rely on Jon and I would not put it past her to view him looking after Will on the same level as her having to look after Mike & Holly.

Even once it’s revealed and they talk about it, it’s going to open a rift between them.

3. Joyce doesn’t give a shit about Steve and never will. Hop gives a shit reluctantly, in a mostly professional capacity but will be haunted with guilt if Steve dies.

4. Karen Wheeler is a shitty person and if the Duffers wanted me to think different maybe shouldn’t have teased her considering sleeping with a kid her daughter’s age. Also doesn’t give a shit about Steve, but is better at hiding it.

5. Billy, while being in the closet and brimming with self hatred, did not have a crush on Steve - he wanted the weird codependent yet weirdly void of sexual tension friendship that Steve would go onto have with Robin.

The fact that Steve hated him and was constantly ignoring him or pushing back at him was part of the appeal. That and the fact Steve’s a bitch - Billy thought that was hilarious.

6. Steve intelligence wise is average and actually has a fairly broad general knowledge - he just has difficulty with the terminology and isn’t great at explaining things to other people.

7. Steve’s kids are Dustin, Max, Lucas and Erica. He will absolutely protect the other three, but any presence he continues to have in their lives is a by-product of the other four.

8. Mike has a on again/off again crush on Steve and it’s part of the reason he turns into an angry cat around him.

9. We will meet Vickie’s entire family before we see the Harringtons on-screen.

10. Jon would *not* react well to Stargyle happening - he refuses to believe Steve is queer, assuming he’s just messing with Argyle/trying to get revenge on Jon for cheating with Nancy (for added tragicomedy, this is how Steve finds out about that).

11. Eddie likes ABBA. I have no fucking idea why fandom seems to think that he’d hate it and has me genuinely questioning how many people in fandom have met an actual metalhead. I know he’s a pretentious douche, but *Jesus*.

12. Whatever else happens between them, Robin will always hold a grudge against Nancy for not knowing who she was when they were first introduced. Steve has the excuse of being a popular kid who was ignorant of his surroundings at all times. Robin is the person who could swipe Valedictorian out from under Nancy but chooses not too. See also, Barb and the handful of grudges she has with Nancy regarding Steve.

omg so many anon! let's do this. long post so I'm going to add a readmore!

Yeah I mostly agree? The inability to let Nancy apologize or be wrong I think really sets back her growth as a character no matter what, and it's really pronounced with stancy! It is something that could be resolved but I do not think the show will do that. Steve wasn't the person Nancy needed in s2, but maybe he is now. Idk there's better stancy meta out there haha There are issues they have I'd love to see addressed but. doubtful they will. Idk if nancy will end up single (like I think she should) but I also don't know if they're actually going to follow through on stancy revival in s5 or just leave jancy as is.

2. Jonathan's parentification!! Absolutely agree. He needs to work through his inability to move on and look to the future for himself. His focus is on Will, who needs more of an older brother from him than another parent, especially now Will is closer to the age Jon was when everything started. Jon is defined by his family, and them needing him. But we sort of see in s4 that Will is growing up, El is too, and they don't need him in the same way Will needed to depend on him in earlier seasons, and Jon is spending time smoking with Argyle, but not actually dealing with what he's feeling.

this is room for Jonathan to develop character-wise, but it's also so interesting how his parentification has been an issue with Nancy! Like she wants to be a priority, but Jon can't do that, because he hasn't figured out how to 1) focus on himself and his wants 2) let himself look at the future as something that isn't looming but something to look forward to!

God I would love to see him figure out what he actually wants and how to balance that with his loyaty to his family in the show! or read a jon focused fic where he gets to deal with these things.

3. Joyce doesn't like steve :'| why would she? he's just some guy to her that Jon didn't like and who used to date her son's girlfriend. Steve's not on her radar at all she doesn't give a shit about him lol (I should write more of the joyce doesn't like steve fic)

4. uhg yeah I think I've already posted about alternatives to the stupid Karen side-plot where it's like. random pool middle age affair man, flirting with mr. clarke, or just her making moves on her own husband to show she wants to make changes in their marriage and the fair being a little date for the wheelers or SOMETHING to make her not creepy and actual have it mean something to her character? or just. not! include! any karen plotline at all!

5. billy is interesting because i would say there might be some one-sided sexual thing happening between him and Steve, and Steve hating and ignoring him would totally egg him on with whatever was going on in his brain. idk if he wanted it actually actionable but was probably going for some weird and very intense pscho-sexual homoerotic relationship. maybe not what could be described as a crush but certainly not whatever stobin has going on (though if he had lived stobin would have also pissed him off lol)

6. Yes! steve can understand a lot if he's given time to understand it. like he's just not a genius or talking fast, and he asks clarifying questions so he (and everyone else) knows exactly what's happening. maybe that might look like he's getting left behind but he's making sure everyone is on the same page, which is actually an important part of plans and sharing info. I'd also say he'd probably have pretty good head for strategy!

7. Dustin, Max, Lucas and Erica are absolutely steve's kids! thank goodness we got Steve and Max content in s4, but I'd love to see more of Steve and Lucas and Erica! I do love Steve with El too, because I think they should and could have a great dynamic, but that's all fanon, unfortunately. Mike and Will having some kind of relationship with Steve are just byproducts of Steve being friends with the others.

8. Mike and his mortifying crush on steve is so precious to me. He'd be so mad about it. It'd be so funny. to me. not for him. but for me :)

9. Harrington parents will remain an unsolved mystery haunting the fandom forever and always. We will know the names of Robin's grandparents and their pets before we see or hear anything more than Mr. and Mrs. Harrington.

10. I am obsessed with this idea. I love stargyle sort of coming out of nowhere for other people. My favourite. They can bond over having great hair and being a chauffeur for children not related to them. Jon side-eyeing this so hard even tho maybe he's been focusing on Nancy and their relationship when steve and argyle are having their Bonding Moments. The confrontation of Jon accusing Steve of getting with Argyle to mess with him, Steve going "what the hell. why would I have an elaborate polt to mess with you that included pretending to be queer? and kissing a man? multiple times??"

and Jon blurting about how of course he would to get back at jon for cheating with Nancy and steve just stopping. and trying to clarify. and Jon digging himself deeper. ooooooh. something to think about and expand on?? 👀👀👀

11. it was the 80s and disco was way out of style but also. who doesn't like ABBA. don't trust anyone who doesn't like at least one ABBA song. suspicious. Eddie would be vocal about his hatred for Progressive Rock though.

12. Robin and her grudges!!!! omg yes if robin was holding herself back from being valedictorian she'd be Pissed that Nancy didn't know who she was. like at least know your rivals! that in combination with the barb thing and all the steve things. Robin's not letting it go. I love her pettiness she's so funny and great. Queen.

#findaanswers #stranger things #steve harrington #jonathan byers #nancy wheeler #robin buckley #eddie munson #argyle stranger things #idk if i should tag the ships #not billy hargrove friendly #even though it's not not friendly let's be safe i guess #anonasaurus #stranger things meta #honestly i had some computer issues answering this and ive been trying to finish it for. hours no so here it is I'm going to bed #stargyle

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boldlyvoid · 1 year

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Come on Eileen | Part 7: they're back...

Summary: the undead army is awoken.

Warnings: season 4 re-write, canon typical violence, resurrection, zombies, mentions of past sexual assault, electrocution, fire setting, planning for the big fight

Word count: 5.7k

Masterlist

Hop goes off on Brenner and Owens just a little bit harder than Eileen did, rightfully so, as Eleven lay unconscious on the table. She used a lot of energy to keep everyone safe doing the earthquake. What they also learned was the feeling of another gate opening in Hawkins.

However, how many Venca needed to crack open the earth and reign hellfire down upon Hawkins? They had no fucking clue. They just knew they opened where ever someone has died under Vecna’s curse and it looked like he was trying to spread them out with the distance between Chrissy and Fred.

Priority 2 was to get Patrick to the lab before he could open the third gate, the main priority stayed keeping Max safe.

Till then, everyone gathers in the Lab's cafeteria for pizza.

The parents have a million questions and the rest of the plan needs to be assembled, still. They can’t start planning fully till Callahan and Powell get back from their daily patrol, so they eat the most delicious dough in the whole world, topped with amazing choices all thanks to Argyle.

She feels like she hasn’t eaten in a month as she stuffs slice after slice in her mouth to feed not only herself but their baby. It’s so good she could kiss argyle right on the mouth as a thank you.

Nancy and Robin are back with Victor who’s reacquainted with his daughter after all these years. Mike meets him too, asking all sorts of questions to Henry for eleven's sake. Both she and Will sit on either side of mike as they talk to him, learning about the man they had to stop at all costs in a few days' time. It was difficult seeing the father of a monster feel so sad knowing his son had to be defeated, but it was the truth. He had to go, there was no question about it.

At Eileen's table, however, she meets Susie and Eden, who also wants to kiss argyle but not just as a thank you for the pizza. She thinks he’s cute, she told Eddie so earlier when they were painting sigils all over the building. She came with a lot of witchy knowledge for a Mormon girl, it was interesting, to say the least.

And Dustin was so smitten with Susie. Everyone was nervous to meet her, seeing as the two of them broke out into song all the time, but they were pretty quiet actually. Disgustingly cute, but quiet as they stayed in their own happy bubble together.

The room is full of laughter and conversations, everyone has someone to talk to. It’s some of the strangest groups of people ever but it works. They all get along like a family, like this is the mess tent in mash, even on their worst days they’d still come together for the same cause.

They’re all almost done with dinner when the police show back up. Powell and Callahan walk through the doors in a bit of a rush, scared looks on their faces, catching their breath and everyone's attention. “We have a bit of an issue.”

“What?” Hopper stands up followed by Joyce, Steve and Nancy. They were the real leaders of this fight.

“So uh, we got a call that Jason and his buddies were staying at the Carver’s lake house, and when we got there we discovered Patrick all tied up and something that looked like Jason but wasn’t Jason was guarding him…” Callahan explains.

“And theres bats in the trailer park,” Powell adds, scared and shaking, “they’re coming up out of the ground where some portal has opened up? There’s about 6 of them out there right now, they’ve killed all the cats and squirrels out there so far and dented the fuck out of our cars.”

“Brenner said that would happen,” Hop sighs. “Fuck, okay, so we’re going to have to deal with the bats before we can use the gate.”

“Use it?” Powell repeats, louder than before. “Are you fucking insane? Those bats out there aren’t just normal, they’re fucking huge and they can eat you in one bite!”

“We’ll figure it out,” Hop raises his voice right back. “We always do. They hate fire, Will can torch shit with his mind now, we’re fine.”

“Can I hear more about this Jason problem?” Steve wonders for the group, “what do you mean he wasn’t Jason? What was he acting like?”

“He was shirtless it looked like his skin was peeling, he was trying the kid to a chair on a boat and talking to someone that wasn’t there. We watched from the window of his boat house, he didn’t see us, but it was horrific,” Callahan explains. “Have you seen that before?”

“Yeah, unfortunately,” Nancy sighs, turning back towards the table of kids staring at her as they listened.

They knew what was happening.

Everyone that knows about Billy and Will’s possessions starts to stand and make their way over for a group planning session. “We need to lure Jason away from Patrick and then burn the mindflayer out of him before he finds us here and ruins our plans,” Lucas speaks for the group, scared for Max as much as Eileen is.

Eddie and Eileen get up together, heading over to join the conversation, worried for their own safety with Jason being the chosen one to be possessed.

“It’s a hive mind right?” Eileen remembers from Nancy’s timeline.

Nancy nods, “yeah, so the mindflayer, the upside down, the bats, everything feels the same pain, when we’re burning the shit out of Jason, the bats will be at their weakest point.”

Wayne walks over then, too, “did you say you have to burn some kid?”

They all nod along but it’s Steve who steps in to explain, “the mindflayer doesn’t like heat, we learned that when he possessed Will and used it to try and get it out of billy… well, the kids did, but they used a sauna and it didn’t work, they couldn't keep him in it long enough.”

“When it was in Will,” Nancy adds, “he just wanted to keep Will’s powers at bay but mostly the mind flayer and Henry use the host as a spy, so we can’t let him see anything we’re doing. We need to get it out of him.”

“Seriously?” Will asks, it all started making more sense to him. “They knew I could beat Henry so they tried to take me out first?” Will repeats it in his own words, amazed that everything had a purpose and it wasn’t because he was weak that he was taken. Quite the opposite actually.

“And he has his powers now,” Eddie pats Will's back, rubbing it gently before his friends light up with excitement and pull him in for cheerful hugs. “So we can use him to—

“You just can’t light Jason on fire,” Wayne raises his hands and shakes his head. “But I can probably electrocute it out of him…”

“Seriously?” Hopper asks, “how?”

“At the plant, I have the keys and the security info— I’m the floor manager,” Wayne explains. “We just need a way to get Jason to the plant and secure him in a cage so he can’t escape.”

“He followed eleven around last time like he could sense her presence,” Mike remembers, “when the mindflayer was in Billy, it wouldn’t let her get too far, he always found her.”

“So we get eleven to the plant and Jason will follow,” Hopper agrees. “We have the bodies ready to go, we need to get them into the upside down at the same moment the bats are gone…”

“Or,” Steve steps in, “and hear me out… we bring Will to the gate, and he burns the bats to give you an advantage with Jason? We burned the tunnels 2 years ago when you were getting it out of Will, and it distracted the dogs while you closed the gate… it will be easier to hold Jason down with the bats being attacked.”

“Yeah,” Will likes that idea. “Hop can go with el, and mom can stay with me, we’re both able to use our powers for this one.”

“You’re getting tattooed before you go,” Joyce puts her foot down as if that’s not the coolest compromise for a 14-year-old kid. “You’re not going out there unprotected. Any of you. Not after what happened with Max outside.”

“How many kids are left to get tattooed?” Eddie asks, looking around at the handful of people already sporting his protection sigils. He started with the adults earlier that morning, and with the help from Eden this afternoon, he was mostly through them all.

Most of them raise their hands, actually all of them except eleven, “okay, Will and Max first, let’s go get them done.” He kisses Eileen before he leaves, stealing an extra piece of pizza first before they’re all off.

8:30 pm

The plan wasn’t as simple as they wished it would be.

First, they needed to get Wayne to the plant and set up a cage in which they could trap Jason.

Once he was ready, Eleven was to get Jason's attention at the lake and with her father's help, they’d drive to the plant with Flayer Jason in tow.

With him out of the way, they would get Patrick back to the lab so another portal wouldn’t be opened as Team 2 heads to the trailer park.

At the trailer park, they had the 2 recent dead bodies and a coffin belonging to the one and only, Billy Hargrove, already waiting for them. They just had to be placed in the upside down. However, depending on the bat situation, Will might need to go in there and handle all of the reincarnations sooner rather than later… like tonight, soon.

With the mindflayer leaving Jason’s body, it would be at his weakest and vulnerable to the undead army’s attacks. It was their best choice, but also the scariest.

It wasn’t just Billy he had to bring back, it was Chrissy, Fred, Barb and the other hikers whose bodies were trapped down there in the upside down library. They never made it out with Will 4 years ago.

7 people— well, not people, 7 bodies against the mindflayer. It would be the only way they could win, if they don’t have minds, there’s nothing for the mindflayer to consume, they’re just meat suits with a vengeance.

Eileen still didn’t fully understand how they’d do it, it was still a bit of a mystery how this was all so similar to D&D and how the heck Eddie was always right and knew exactly what to do?

Team 1 had two sides to it: The diversion and the cleanup team.

The diversion for team 1 are Hop and Eleven, taking Jasons attention off Patrick and leading him to Wayne at the Power Plant.

Their cleanup consisted of: Callahan, Eddie, Dustin and Lucas. The 4 of them were to bring Patrick back to the lab— and heaven forbid they get there too late for him, plan b is to bring his body to the trailer park.

Team 2, at the trailer park, is Joyce, Will, Powell, Steve, Jonathan, Nancy and Robin.

Will had to destroy the bats, obviously, but also keep the coast clear. Nancy, Mike and Steve volunteered to go into the upside down first to gather the bodies of their dead peers as they were dropped onto the other side.

Jonathan, Joyce and Will would join them right after, their family has been through so much there was no way they weren’t sticking together through this one.

Then there was the rescue team.

Charles Sinclair, Susan Mayfield and Claudia Henderson, all with very different medical backgrounds, all willing to help keep everyone safe during all of this.

9:15 pm

She paces the room, her whole body on fire with anxiety, she’s pale as a ghost and barely even there, mentally. Her mom tries to talk to her, asks her questions that fall on deaf ears. She’s too focused on Eddie and Billy and the fact they could meet again today with Eddie knowing the truth— because she knows that if he’s given the chance to be her hero he is going to take it. He’s going to be the man he’s always wanted to be and protect those kids and the people he loves and ultimately her. She knows how he thinks, she knows he’ll want to kill Vecna himself to save Max and ensure that his wife stays happy even if it means she has to raise their child alone.

She wanted to run after him, she wanted to join him and keep him safe from his hero complex but she was too pregnant to do anything.

She was at the stage where she was far along enough that she could go into labour and the baby would be born in very critical condition. It was more than just a miscarriage risk at this point, she was stressed enough to give birth and say goodbye to her baby if she made the wrong choices.

She was terrified for herself, for Eddie, for Max, for her mom… her mom. Oh, her poor mom.

Susan was scared for Wayne, her own little crush has bubbled over the months of getting to know each other, they’d be grandma and grandpa and they might as well bond… they bonded a bit too well, actually. She didn’t want to lose Wayne, she didn’t want Wayne to lose Eddie. Or Eileen to lose him, either. She didn’t want to lose a grandbaby or her own daughter. She couldn’t even think about the fact that Max was cursed, she was under a spell that has only ended in tragedy this far and it didn’t look good for her.

Susan was dying inside just at the thought of it all.

But she was also on duty. As the most medically qualified person on their team (outside Owens and Brenner who nobody trusted at this point) she was on call for emergencies.

She fiddled with the ambulance keys in her hands, knees shaking as she waits for a call to eventually come through.

“Hey, don’t pick at that,” Eileen glances at Max fiddling with her new tattoo on her upper arm. “If it gets itchy pat around it, don’t scratch or it won’t heal. Do you want more lotion?”

“No, I’m just uncomfortable,” Max whines. “And I’m bored. What if I listen to this tape so much I end up hating it and then it does nothing for me anymore?”

“You need to just keep thinking about good memories,” Eileen reminds her. “You must have more we don’t know about, things that you’ve gone through here with your best friends that will go down as the best days of your life.”

She smiles, “I do have some of those. I have more though since you got here.”

Eileen finds it in herself to smile back, taking a seat between Max and her mom. “I’m really glad I moved here.”

Her mom places a hand on her stomach and rubs gently. Max places her hand on her too, it’s a weird group hug full of 3 generations of redheads, “we’re going to all make it out okay, I know it.”

“Yeah,” she agrees without really thinking the same thing.

“Phase one complete, I repeat, phase one complete,” they hear Dustin’s voice over the radio. “Flayer is on the move, however, plan 2 is a go.”

Patrick died.

Max picked up the walkie again with a sigh, she holds down the button and speaks softly. “copy. Be safe. Over.”

“We will, over,” Lucas answered that time, making max smile a bit.

“Team two is in position,” Steve adds over the radio.

“Cage is ready to go,” Wayne adds. “Any idea on Jason's ETA?”

“He’s running after hops car, so I’d say 10 minutes? Over,” Eddie adds.

Eileen sighs at the sound of his voice, “thank god.”

“See?” Her mom manages to smile. “It’s all working out.”

So far, at least.

—

They carefully load Patrick's body into the back of Eddie’s van, he’s all contorted and broken and it’s truly horrific… but they do it. Dustin, Lucas and Eddie followed Callahan in his cop car, directly to the trailer park portal.

Steve, Nancy and Robin wait in Nancy’s car, Will, his mom, brother and mike are in Powell's car, and the rest of the cop cars surround them in the tree lines of the trailer park's entrance.

If the bats can’t see or smell them, they won’t attack. So they stay back, they wait with their doors unlocked and the plan beaten into their memory from overthinking.

Eddie rolls up behind Nancy’s car, waving through the window, and they wave back. Eddie picks up the walkie, a little anxious from how long it felt like it was taking, “everybody okay?”

“Keep the channel free,” Dustin scolds him but Eddie doesn’t care.

“We’re good,” Max answers from the ambulance bay.

“Great over here,” Susie answers from the lab with the parents.

“Still waiting,” Wayne confirms.

“Still running from this freak!” Hop screams down the line, “eta 2 minutes! Be ready!!”

“Moving into the first position,” Powell says over the radio, driving his cop car into the trailer park and alerting the collection of bats around the portal.

They start to fly and swarm around the car but they don’t attack, they just circle it, over and over, like the protection spell is keeping them at a distance. Nancy drives in next, followed by the car containing Will, and finally, Eddie’s van comes in.

Will gets out alone, cautiously, and the bats swoop down to get him but they can't. Almost as if they’re hitting a forcefield that no one else can see.

They can’t fly within 3 feet of him… So he stands there, feet planted firmly and his eyes closed, swarmed by bats as thunder cracks and lightning turns the sky a terrifying purple.

He turns back to the cars, watching and waiting for the signal, and then it comes through.

“Jason’s in the cage, I repeat, Jason is in the cage,” Hops voice comes through the radio, scattered and out of breath. “Go phase 2.”

“WILL!” Joyce yells from the car, window rolled down mere millimetres. “NOW!”

With his hands balled into fists, he recalls something painful, something sad… being kidnapped and having his childhood stolen from him is enough to light the air on fire and take the bats into his blaze of glory bright enough to make the park look like midday. Their wings disintegrate in the flames, and their bodies melt into goop and drop to the dirt like acid rain. By the time he opens his eyes again, the ground is covered in hot black tar, it stinks like burnt hair, but the sky is clear and dark again.

Part of Eddie wishes he could see what’s happening at the plant, most of him wants to be there with Wayne to protect him, unfortunately, he’s here with all the dead bodies of people he used to know, waiting for the all-clear to put them in the ground… only not just 6 feet under.

They were going completely upside down.

Everyone rushes from their cars as the bats hit the ground, the cops gather the bodies, and they start up the excavator all while Wayne and Hopper are silent on the radio.

Eddie watches from the sidelines, Steve and Nancy head down into the other dimension and each body is wrapped and prepped to be lowered down to them. Joyce has her arms wrapped around Will, reminding him how proud she is of him while Mike rambles about it being the coolest thing he’s ever seen. Completely unfazed by how much it sounds like love.

“We’re gonna need an ambulance at the plant,” Hopper calls over the radio. “it’s out of Jason but he’s not doing too hot.”

Eddie laughs, that was the worst word choice to make. He was probably chard to a crisp…

“On it,” Susan answers, “Charles meet me down here at the bay, stat, I’m going to need help.”

“He’s on his way,” Karen answers for the group, “good luck out there.”

Eddie sighs, hoping to god Wayne was okay.

“It’s all working out,” Dustin reminds him. “We just have one last phase to complete.”

“I want to go down there,” Eddie announces to their group. “I want to be there with Will when he brings Billy back. I don’t trust Billy, especially without his brain.”

“I can’t let you all go down there,” Powell tries to stop them.

“You can’t control any of us, the upside down doesn’t fall under your jurisdiction,” Joyce fights back, taking Eddie’s side. “Me and Eddie are going with Will. So are Steve and Nancy.”

“And me!” Robin and Jonathan say at the same time, unable to sit this one out when the people they loved most were already down there.

Nancy suddenly tugs on the emergency string, the rope moves from the middle and then she’s popping up through the portal just enough to scream, “HELP! THEY GOT STEVE! HE CUT HIS ARM AND HIS PROTECTION IS GONE!”

They all rush the portal, dropping Will in first and then the rest of them jump down too. By the time Eddie’s down there, Will’s killed the few bats that had wrapped themself around Steve’s neck, strangling him slightly.

He sits there on the ground, gasping for breath with his shirt covered in blood. Eddie runs to his trailer… well, the upside-down version of it at least, he pries open his old dresser drawer and finds a few shirts and a towel before running back to him.

“Here,” he hands them to Nancy who rips the shirt up and wraps it tightly around Steve’s wounds.

“It’s okay,” Dustin shushes him, “you’re okay.”

Will watches the sky in the background, noticing there are more flying, “we need to go… Like 5 minutes ago!”

“Help him up,” Nancy asks for help, Dustin and Robin lift Steve and carry him back towards Eddie’s trailer. Everyone follows, leaving the bodies out there in the open.

“I need to bring them back,” Will worries. “I should do them first and then they can escort us to the library. The bats won’t go after any of us with them.”

—

When Jason arrives at the lab, he’s still unconscious and burned up and barely alive. They strip him of his remaining clothes and treat all his electrical burns with water and bandages, and they hook him up to an IV to stay hydrated.

Eileen watches carefully as her mom works on him, “how do you know what to do?”

“I’m treating it like he was struck by lightning,” she announces, “with that strong of a current, it’s the most likely outcome of injuries.”

“What can I do?”

“Stay out of here,” her mom orders. “He’s going to wake up soon and god knows what he’s going to react like when he sees you, I don’t want you here when he does.”

“Right,” she remembers just how much Jason hates her and how unhinged people can get when coming back to life after being shocked. She didn’t want to be in his wake.

—

Eddie’s never been so on edge in his entire life as they build the pire.

A giant pile of wood was stacked up in the middle of the trailer park, the bodies wrapped in whatever blankets they could find in other homes on site, then they salted them and stacked them onto the wood. Returning back to Eddie’s upside down trailer once they were done, Will started to freak out about what was to come.

It was his biggest, hardest part now.

“I really hope the rules of reincarnation aren’t exactly the same,” Will worries, “cause then Billy won’t come back… you only have 10 days to bring a soul back to its body or else the energy becomes too unstable and the soul gets lost in the ether.”

“There’s nothing like Eleven in D&D, she’s a superhero and so are you now, I think the Phoenix power you possess is going to be able to bring anyone back, no matter what,” Eddie tries to assure him that it’ll be okay even though a part of him hoped that Billy didn’t ever come back.

He’s worried if he sees him there he’s going to swing at him. He wants to swing at him. He wants to kill him again himself.

“Phoenix powers?” Will laughs, “I thought I just had pyrokinesis?”

“It’s the start of your abilities,” he explains. “Like how eleven’s telekinesis has now become the ability to create forcefields of protection… you have a much more potent gift which only manifests as pyrokinesis at first.”

Will just stares at him.

He knew this was something he’d have to do, he never questioned the specifics and now here he was learning more about himself than he ever imagined.

“The Phoenix dies in flames but is also reborn in them, the phoenix rises from the ashes and that’s precisely what is going to happen here. Like in D&D, the spirit of the passed individual heads to Limbo after death to wait 10 days before being transferred to their forever resting spot, unless they’re coaxed back into their bodies. With your powers, by burning them and having them be reborn in the ash, you’re ripping them straight from Limbo and shoving them into their bodies no questions asked. This also means we get to skip the 2-week waiting period for their bodies to even reappear, they should come back almost instantaneously.”

“Holy shit,” Will can’t believe his ears. “So… will they have brains or not?”

“Technically not, blood stopped flowing, they’re zombies,” Eddie confirms. “All you need to do is say a little spell, a chant that holds true to your intention here, and it should rhyme too…” Eddie adds for good measure.

“Okay, okay yeah, I can do that,” Will tries to hype himself up a bit more. “What do I say?”

“You have a few minutes, go sit in my room and think,” Eddie finishes his little pep talk with a pat on the back.

“You’re going to be a good dad,” Joyce can’t help but smile at him.

He smiles right back, it was the weirdest place in the world to feel this happy but he was proud of his little family and the fact that people trusted him. It was so new to be so trusted. He could really get used to it.

Will takes about 20 minutes in the bedroom and returns with a piece of paper that held his spell. “I’m ready.”

“Let’s do this,” Eddie nodded, opening the trailer door and letting him out first, followed by everyone with a weapon of choice.

They really had no idea how everyone was going to wake up from the dead.

Will stands in front of the pire and reads his words back to himself while taking a few deep breaths. He folds the paper up and puts it in his front pocket, running his hands over his jeans to get the sweat off, he was so anxious but this was his job. His purpose.

He raises his hands, palms facing out. He starts his chant.

“Power of fire from within

put blaze upon their cold, damp skin,

cleanse each body, renew each soul,

till nothing left but ash and coal.

I call upon the phoenix power

to help us in this mortal hour.

Accept the vessel upon this hearth.

Complete the cycle of rebirth.”

In the flame they see a phoenix, landing on the pire as the bodies burn to nothing. The flame turns a deep, deep red and then there’s a flash. It’s so bright everyone shields their eyes and looks away, only to return to the sight of their 4 peers standing in the dwindling ash.

They all react similar, touching their chest as life is breathed back into their lungs… but they don’t look the same. They’re pale grey from being dead, without blood in their veins, brainless. Yet they remember everything?

“Harrington,” Billy notices first. “wheeler… Munson? When did you join the party.”

He can’t help himself. He see’s red as soon as he speaks and then Steve’s holding him back. Jonathan and Mike too, but he’s stronger than all three of them as he shoves them to the ground and speed walks over to Billy. He punches him so hard he goes flying backward.

Chrissy and Patrick hold him back, a lot stronger, but he puts up a good fights, “I swear to god I’m going to fucking kill you again once this is over you sick fuck! If we didn’t need you’re help you’d still be rotting in the fucking ground.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” He laughs as he stands up and dusts himself off. Dressed in a nice suit as thats what he was buried in.

“You molested my wife.”

“Who?”

“Eileen,” Chrissy realizes what’s up and stops holding him back, letting Eddie go and Patrick does the same. But Eddie doesn’t lunge at him again.

He just stares. “I know everything. You’re scum it's no wonder it picked you last year.”

“Yeah,” billy agrees. “You know what, yeah I am evil but if it wasn’t for me her sister would be dead so.”

“Doesn’t redeem you,” he spits back. “Once we’re done here you’re going right back to hell. I hope you like the heat.”

“Harrington,” he calls past Eddie, “care to tell me what the fuck the freak wants me to do before he kills me again.”

Eddie wraps his arm around Chrissy and takes a few steps back, they form a circle in the middle of the park to discuss everything, with Nancy taking the lead, not Steve. He’s still a bit woozy from his attack.

“How are we going to kill it?” Billy wonders once he’s been filled in. “That thing is insanely powerful and huge… have you seen the real thing?”

“Isn’t it the same as it was in the mall?” Joyce asks, scared to know the answer.

He shakes his head. “No… here it’s, it’s huge.”

“It’s more like a shadow,” Will agrees. “You saw it in my drawings, it’s that black dust that left my body after my possession. But like, the size of the Brooklyn bridge.”

“Oh fuck…” Nancy rubs her hand over her face, terrified on the inside. “Okay. Well, we need to get the rest of the dead back and then we’ll get back to that question.”

“Others?” Chrissy asks.

“Barb,” Nancy solemnly answers. “And a few hikers, their bodies are in the library down here.”

“Which we’ve gotta get to before Vecna hears we’re down here,” Joyce reminds them. “It’s a 5-mile walk from here, let’s go.”

—

March 23rd, 1986

Powell came back alone around midnight saying everyone went down and sent him back with the message that they were on the way to the library and would be back later. The resurrection went well, Eddie got 1 punch in but it's relatively civil now which makes her shake her head in disbelief.

Boys were so weird like that. One punch and they’re fine.

They get their first transmission at 2 in the morning. “Team two is right-side up, making our way home. Everyone accounted for.”

Everyone that was still awake makes their way down to the lobby of the lab, excited to hear how it went but more so needing to plan what happens next.

The reunion is sweet… Eddie picks her up and twirls her around even though she feels so sick. She holds him tight and kisses his cheek. “You’re okay?”

“Harringtons the only one who got hurt,” he points, causing Susan to get her med kit and rush to him.

They disinfect him right there as the team goes over everything thats transpired in the last few hours. “So everyone is back?” Hop asks.

Joyce nods, “yeah, they’re all on board and just waiting to learn how they can kill the mindflayer…”

“I know how we can kill Henry… but not that,” Eleven adds. “The mindflayer is from the upside down, it’s not human… what if we just killed Henry and closed the gates and left it alone? It can’t do any damage without help.”

“Are you sure about that?” Eileen wonders.

“Pretty positive.”

“As long as no one ever opens another gate and falls under its control, we should be fine, right?” Eddie asks, “and even then, we can take them down again.”

“And with the undead in the upside down, they can rule over the mindflayer… they can become the main predator down there.”

“Billy will take that role,” Eddie volunteers his new enemy. “What’s the difference between sexual and apex predator?”

Eileen shoves him, “hey, you got a punch in, drop it.”

“How can you kill Henry?” Nancy moves the conversation back to eleven.

“Well,” Max and Eleven turn to each other like they’ve been talking it over. “I need to get into his mind when he’s at his weakest… and we think that’s when he’s got his hooks in someone.”

“No,” Eileen, Steve and Joyce all point at her at the same time, their mom mode on blast.

“It’s the only way!” They cry, “he needs to be vulnerable while I’m in his mind and then you guys need to get into the upside down again and find his lair and burn him.”

“And the pieces of his phylactery, remember?” Eddie brings up. “We already agreed it’s the clock from the visions which is at the creel house, it’s probably also where he is when he attacks. It’s the perfect place to build a lair.”

“Tomorrow we’ll go there and we’ll get the clock,” Hopper assures them. “What’s the other piece?”

“I think it’s the chess board,” Eleven adds. “It’s what he’d play with all of us in the rainbow room and that’s where he killed them all.”

“We need to burn them too or he’ll come back.”

General Taglist

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#eddie munson #eddie munson stranger things #eddie munson smut #stranger things #eddie munson imagines #eddie munson imagine #stranger things imagine #stranger things season 4

16 notes · View notes

tirednerd2012 · 2 years

Note

If Jonathan got Vecna’d before Joyce got back, the pain she’d have :(

Rolling up to the cabin expecting to see both her boys. But only El and Will come out to hug her. She’s looking around, maybe he’s with Nancy or Argyle. But her heart sinks when she sees Nancy and Argyle alone. Argyle isn’t smiling, he looks like he’s been crying actually. They all do. Something isn’t right. Will and El both tearfully saying they tried so hard, but they couldn’t save him. She hugs them again, hugs Hopper too and demands to go to the hospital room hes in.

Seeing him in that room, hooked up and with a grim diagnosis from the doctor, she cries. She gently rubs his hair from his face as she cries about not being there to protect him. Hopper isn’t any better. This headstrong boy, one who never backed down from a fight and never asked for help is a broken shell. He’s had a soft spot for Jonathan since he met the boy when he was very young, just as stubborn sticking to his mothers side during one of Lonnie’s incidents.

Both adults having separate heart to hearts with him, in a way. Joyce telling him stories about how he was when he was little, turning into cries about how she should have been there. She isn’t giving up on him, no matter what the doctors say. But if he wants to go, she won’t be mad. It’s a hard thing, but even harder to live with the idea of Jonathan being in pain for the rest of his life.

Hopper cries alone for Jonathan while talking to him. Thanks him for taking such good care of El while he was away. For being an amazing brother, extending his care for Will to El. But also thanking Jonathan for letting him into his heart. Jonathan has trust issues, but imagine he admitted to Hop it was nice to have a father around that he knew he could trust.

I feel like El and Nancy would be at the cabin, just because they need to get it ready anyway, but Will and Argyle would refuse to leave. Argyle would want to help with the cabin because Jonathan isn't able to, but Will can't be left alone in the mental state he would be in. And he knows Will, El and Nancy are Jonathan's main priorities and he would try to honor his best friend's wishes. El and Nancy are together, because Nancy would stay at the hospital when she could, but she knows there are things that need to be done and she'd promise Jonathan she'd be back before kissing him on the forehead and whispering that she loves him and for El, it hurts so much seeing her brother like that (especially if she couldn't save Max either) and she just needs to do something to distract herself. But the moment she sees Joyce and Hopper coming to the cabin, she cries and explains everything and they all rush over. Jonathan is still clinging to life, Will is beside him, talking to him and Argyle is on the other side, just watching. It's the first time Joyce had seen Argyle cry and Will looks up and sees her and Hopper and there's disbelief that Hopper is alive but at the same time, relief because his parents are here and they can fix it, right? But Joyce breaks down at the sight of her oldest connected to machines and in casts because everything is broken. And Hopper is confused about who Argyle is but doesn't question it because he notices the way the boy stood when they came in and stepped in front of Jonathan and Will, and he somehow knows that this is a friend of Jonathan's (how much did he miss?) and tears up at the sight of Jonathan but he'll be strong for the sake of his family. And they stay. Joyce and Hopper take turns to go to the cabin (try to sleep, handle the Vecna situation) but Will refuses to leave for at least the first 2 days because that's his big brother, who was always strong, and Vecna did that to Jonathan because he was trying to get to Will. But then on day 2, Will realizes Jonathan won't wake up until they kill Vecna and he just says (maybe to Argyle) "I'm finishing this myself if I have to" and squeezes Jonathan's hand one more time before saying "next time I come back, you'll be awake. I promise."

#stranger things #jonathan byers #will byers #joyce byers #eleven hopper #el hopper #jim hopper #byers hopper family

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that-thing-that-feeling · 2 years

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I've seen a lot of sentiment that's like hopper's in the picture now so Jonathan can stop being a parent and just be a normal brother finally and this is his happy ending and I get where that's coming from but I also don't think it works like that? You can't really undo parentification. Maybe with some practical things like cooking meals, contributing financially etc, Hopper could take over, take some pressure off, but when you've raised someone for most of their life, even if you didn't ask to, even if it's unfair that you had to do that, you can't just suddenly flip that off and say ok someone else is taking over now. And Will can't just transfer what he has with Jonathan over to Hopper. Even if he develops a good step-parent relationship with Hop, if Jonathan moved away and focused on himself and interacted with Will the way a typical older brother in college did (calling maybe once a week), that would be pretty traumatic for both of them. As much as it might sound nice to just undo the parentification and 'set Jonathan free' you can't unparentify a relationship like that and I don't think Jonathan would want to either. It would also be a pretty big leap from 'I don't want you to forget that I'm here and I'm always going to be here' to then have him leave for another state. I dunno, just some thoughts.

Hmm you raise some great points—especially that it isn’t just some easy, fast transfer. Jonathan and Will would both have to build a relationship with Hopper that has trust (we saw in s1 Jonathan seemed to have some trust of Hopper). And Jonathan won’t just magically get rid of what being parentified has done to him—it made him grow up very early, have a lot of pressure put on him, and has caused anxiety. He’s also never dealt with Lonnie’s abuse.

However, I think that Hopper becoming a step- father to them would take important pressures off Jonathan. He’s always going to remain incredibly close to his family and be loyal and loving and present with them. I think he would feel comfortable going to a college out of state (altho the financial issues might still be a barrier). I don’t think his worry for them will ever really go away. And he’d majorly have to work on his trauma. Also his role as someone who helped raise Will from a young age needs to be acknowledged—it’s one of the reasons you really need Joyce and Jonathan to talk, and Jonathan and Hopper, Will and Joyce, Jonathan and Will. But Will could still feel that Jonathan is there for him even if he went away; Jonathan would make sure they remain close. Altho he could also always feel like he should be there more. I think he’d always try to be there more for Will and Joyce more than other people who haven’t experienced what they have would.

But I agree with you that the feeling doesn’t just magically go away, and it’s a process, and leaves lingering affects. What bothers me is that the show has a teen that they seem to have forgotten has been parentified, so you feel like they’ve just lost how complex that really is and what that does and they just won’t address it. And if they don’t, where does that really leave Jonathan? It just seems to leave him stuck with all his issues still there.

Btw I also don’t think it’s just like he’s either free from his family or he’s weighed down by them, as some have framed it. I really don’t like it when people frame it as he either has the “burden” of his family or the “freedom” of his relationship. That’s so reductive. When you’re a small family who has been through a lot, it’s just way more complicated. And partly it’s his family that has helped make him sensitive, loyal, loving, even as it’s also put things on him he shouldn’t have had to experience. But yeah it wouldn’t be an either/or with him and there’s a lot he needs to confront to have more balanced familial relationships, relationships, friendships, feelings about himself (like his self esteem seems to have really taken a hit this season).

#jonathan byers #joyce byers #will byers #Jim hopper #byers fam <3

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fedupingay · 2 years

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Stranger Things Warrior Cat AU time! This isn’t the full AU obviously, but I just wrote down a few interesting things

(Also before someone asks, yes Byler is a thing that will end up happening in this AU, how could it not lol)

The clan is called HawkClan because Hawkins... it’s not that difficult to figure that one out lol the main party of 6 consists of Myrtlepaw(Mike), Elmpaw(Will), Dustpaw(Dustin), Leechpaw(Lucas), El/Moonpaw(El), and Dawnpaw(Max). Myrtlepaw, Elmpaw, and Dustpaw were all born in the clan, Myrtlekit and Elmkit becoming very fast friends, a few moons later meeting a kittypet kit named Lucas who moved into the clan with his parents, who were also both kittypets. Lucas was renamed to Leechkit, and he formed a bond with the other two cats after a while. Dustkit didn’t become their friend until a while later, due to his health issues landing him in the medicine den frequently, but he got along with them very well. It stayed like that for a bit until Elmpaw disappeared, the three other toms finding a she-cat named Eleven, shortly after being nicknamed El, in the forest when looking for him, and then stuff happened after that. A few moons later 4 loners joined the clan, one of them being Dawnpaw, who joined in on the groups activities shortly after joining the clan.

Other cats with names so far are Robinclaw(Robin), Burdockfur(Eddie), Wildberry(Billy), Jaggedpaw(James), Thornpaw(Troy), Lynxstrike(Lonnie), Juniperstorm(Joyce), and Grassstar(Hopper, his warrior name is Grasshopper and he mainly goes by Hopper or Hop, like in the show, also mainly because Grassstar looks horrible when written lmao), I’ll refer to everyone else by their real names for the time being

They live in a very VERY heteronormative society, that believes all she-cats who are warriors must one day become mothers, and that she-cats only major role in a clan can be medicine cats, and male medicine cats aren't a thing. Gay relationships are also seen as very strange to the majority of HawkClan, which isn’t fun for Myrtlepaw and Elmpaw, as well as Robinclaw, and kittypets are seen as very very cowardly, loners and rogues on the other hand being seen as overly aggressive. Medicine cats are confined to camp unless gathering herbs, so once Elmpaw went missing, Juniperstorm yelled at Hopper to make her be a warrior again (her being a warrior before Lynxstrike left, before changing to a medicine cat) so she could leave camp to help look for her son, which Hopper agreed to after a bit. This did cause Robinclaw to become a full medicine cat a bit earlier then she expected, which didn’t really help her.

After Wildberry dies/gets injured (don’t know what to do with him yet lol), him having been made deputy since 1. Hopper wanted HawkClan to stop seeing loners as lesser since he was trying to fix the clans issues a bit, and 2. There are monsters attacking them, and Wildberry is quite strong, it was also a decision made under a lot of stress. But yeah, after he gets hurt, Hopper makes Nancy his new deputy, further pushing for the clan to change their views. Shortly after though, Hopper “died”, throwing Nancy into being leader after only being deputy for a little while, which causes her quite a lot of stress, but she gets through it just barely, though being more easily annoyed and tired. She did always want to be leader, but it was a dream she never thought she actually would achieve, and definitely not that quickly.

If anyone has any questions about this AU, or even any questions for characters in the AU, feel free to ask in the ask box! I love talking about my ideas, and there is a bunch of stuff I didn’t even touch on because I have no time lmao

And as a little bonus, take a sketch of a page from a short little comic based off the events from the first episode, called “The Vanishing of Elmpaw” that I have planned! My Warrior Cat OC comic has taken up most my drawing time though, so I have not finished it yet!

#stranger things #stranger things warrior cats AU #warrior cats #byler

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