#buckley siblings supremacy

[hbyrde36]

Life is a Game (and True Love is a Trophy)

Chapter 11

Ch 1 Ch 2 Ch 3 Ch 4 Ch 5 Ch 6 Ch 7 Ch 8 Ch 9 Ch 10 ao3 link

*Eddie*

Eddie had never had a morning after.

How could he, when he’d never experienced a night before? 

Until now, anyway. 

And while they hadn’t gone all the way, so to speak, it was still the most sex Eddie had ever had, because it was the only sex he’d ever had. So he figured it counted.

It might have been his first, but he didn’t think anything would ever top this morning after. Whether last night was a one time thing or the start of something more, he’d always remember the day he woke up in Steve Harrington’s arms.

They must have shifted positions in the night. Eddie now found himself playing the little spoon with Steve’s strong arms wrapped around his waist. Though his body itched to move, to yawn, to stretch, he held himself still, basking in the heat of Steve's chest pressed up against his back, not ready to give up the moment quite yet. 

With the press of a soft kiss to his bare shoulder Eddie discovered that Steve was awake too and that perhaps he hadn’t been doing as well a job pretending to be asleep as he thought. He smiled to himself as Steve’s lips continued to make trail upwards. He tilted his head back, exposing his neck in invitation which Steve gladly accepted. 

“Good Morning.” Steve whispered in his ear.

Eddie turned in the other boy’s hold. Suddenly he couldn’t go another minute without seeing Steve's face. He looked ethereal in the soft morning light that filtered in through the thin curtains that covered Eddie's window. His hair was sleep tousled and his face still had the impression of sheet lines in it but Eddie was absolutely sure he’d never seen someone so beautiful in his life. 

He settled back down on his pillow, happy now to be facing Steve. “Did you sleep okay?”

“Okay?” Steve said incredulously. He leaned in to capture Eddie’s lips once with his own, before moving on to pepper what felt like every square inch of his face with dozens of little tickling kisses. “I think that might have been the best night’s sleep I've ever had.”

Eddie giggled, high and unguarded before promptly hiding his face in the other boy's neck. Steve was being entirely too cute and his heart was full in a way he’d never felt before. 

Steve’s arms tightened around him, pulling the front of their bodies dangerously close together. They were both growing hard, there was no hiding it since neither of them had bothered to get dressed again after making a mess of themselves last night. Eddie groaned, unable to stop from bucking his hips forward, pressing himself into Steve's thigh chasing a bit of friction. Steve moved against him as well, a soft moan falling from his own lips. Just then, a door slammed loudly somewhere else in the house reminding both boys that they were not alone in the trailer. And not only was it morning, but uncle Wayne and the girls were definitely awake and only a room away.

Eddie groaned again but for a very different reason this time. Steve chuckled and they reluctantly moved away from each other in unison. 

Steve sat up on the edge of the bed, most of his lower half mercifully still concealed beneath the covers. “We should probably get dressed before anyone comes bursting in here huh?” He said, looking back at Eddie over his shoulder. 

“Unfortunately.” Eddie agreed through a deep sigh. He waited until Steve was busy rooting through the bag they’d brought back from his old house before getting up to cross the room. He quickly pulled a clean pair of boxers on and then the first jeans he could find. It didn’t matter that they’d laid together naked all night, somehow the idea of walking around in the daylight exposed made him a little self conscious. 

He felt better being at least mostly covered up, and went to the closet to pick out a shirt. He glanced at Steve and found that he was still rooting through the bag even though he was fully dressed now in his own jeans and a soft looking worn yellow sweater. 

“We can always go back. If there’s something you wanted that I missed or anything.” Eddie remarked, trying to sound casual about it as he shoved an old black sabbath t-shirt over his head. 

“No, it’s fine. It’s stupid.”

“It’s not stupid to want your own things, Steve. What were you looking for?”

Steve sighed, rubbing the back of his neck anxiously. “My letterman jacket.”

Eddie bit his lip and quickly turned back to the closet, as much to hide his face as to retrieve what he was hiding in there under a box of junk.  

“See? I know it’s silly and I don't even...” Steve trailed off as Eddie stepped back from the closet and held the green and white jacket out to him.

He looked at the floor as he spoke, too embarrassed to meet Steve’s gaze. “I don’t even know why I took it, honestly. It was hanging there on the back of a chair in your room and I just, I don’t know. I couldn’t leave it there.”

Steve didn’t take the jacket, instead he tucked a finger under Eddie's chin, tilting his head up until their eyes met. 

“Hey, I’m glad you took it.” 

Eddie swallowed hard, nodding a little as Steve did finally take the jacket out of his hand. He instantly went searching in the pockets. It wasn’t until then that Eddie realized what he was looking for. Steve didn’t really care about the jacket, he just wanted what was in it. 

“Oh.” Eddie breathed, reaching for his wallet on the nightstand .He quickly retrieved the polaroid that he’d been carrying around with him and handed it over. “Is that what you’re looking for?”

“Yeah.” Steve said, smiling broadly. “Thank you. It’s… it’s the only picture I have of us together. It means a lot to me” He looked at the image for a long moment then handed it right back. “Actually, could you hold onto it for a little longer? Keep it safe for me?”

Eddie nodded again, a little dumbfounded and at a loss for words as he tucked it back into his wallet. 

Steve cleared his throat. “I, um, I’d like you to keep this too. If you want to.” He said, nervously offering the jacket back to him as well.

Eddie stilled, and couldn’t bring himself to look at the clothing item in question. His throat was suddenly dry, palms sweaty. It couldn’t mean…

“Are you asking me to go steady, Harrington?” Eddie joked, or tried to at least. He expected Steve to joke back or something but instead he looked Eddie right in the eyes, expression serious. 

“Yes.”

“Oh.” Eddie said, voice barely audible at first. “Are you sure you want that? I mean… knowing what you do about me?”

“What? That you're brave, and sweet, and kind, and thoughtful, and… ”

“Steve.” Eddie grumbled. 

Steve knew damn well what he meant. Eddie was a mystery to everyone, including himself. He didn’t know where he came from or who his parents were. He had powers that he didn't understand, he might even be dangerous. He was kind of a mess. 

“I think I can overlook all that and see past it to your good qualities.”

Eddie couldn’t help but break out into a smile. “Such as?”

“Well, you’re pretty okay to look at.”

“Just okay?”

“Mhmm” Steve hummed, setting the jacket down on the bed before taking Eddie into his arms. They kissed, one, two, three times before Steve pulled back, suddenly looking nervous again.

“So, what do you think?”

Eddie marveled at how Steve could possibly think he would say anything other than a resounding yes. “I think you’ve made a big mistake here because you’re never getting rid of me now.”

“Sounds perfect.” Steve smiled and his whole face lit up with it like he’d just been given the greatest gift, as if he were the lucky one.

Eddie knew better. 

He huffed a laugh and shook his head at himself. “First boyfriend and I manage to bag Steve Harrington. Maybe there is something to all those Satan worshiping rumors.”

“Eddie.” 

“How else do you explain it?” Eddie teased.

Steve rolled his eyes, then paused, face screwed up in thought.

“Am I really the first person you’ve dated?”

Eddie shuffled his feet and fought to retain eye contact. “You're sorta my first… everything, Steve.” He knew he could have just not said anything and he probably would have gotten away with it, but he didn’t want to start their relationship with any sort of lies between them, even if it was a little embarrassing to admit.

He squirmed, watching as realization dawned on Steve’s face. “So yesterday, the kissing, and then last night… that was?”

“Yup.”

Steve slid his hands up and down Eddie’s arms eventually taking both of his hands and twining their fingers together. “Eds, why didn’t you say anything? I would have…”

The blush Eddie had been fighting off up till now rose up his face and neck. He rested his head on Steve's shoulder trying to hide it. “It's not really something you want to just blurt out in the moment. Besides, I wanted it. I wanted to take care of you.”

“Alright,” Steve murmured, kissing his hair.  “But next time–”

He was interrupted by the not nearly distant enough sound of a cabinet slamming and cups and plates being set out in the kitchen.

“If we ever get another moment alone–” Steve tried to continue, but as if the universe was intent on reminding them that their time for now was up, there came a rough knock on the bedroom door.

“Breakfast, boys.” Wayne called out.

-

“I think these are my favorite waffles so far.” El said around a mouthful of Eggo, butter, and syrup.

“So far?” Wayne asked, amused.

“She’s a bit of an aficionado.” Steve answered, grinning. “All that effort making them from scratch and I could have been buying frozen?”

Eleven giggled, nodding enthusiastically before turning her attention back to Max. The girls seemed to have become best friends overnight. It warmed Eddie’s heart to see, Steve must have noticed it too if the fond smiles he was sending their way were any indication. 

“So, what’s a guy gotta do to earn the homemade waffles, Harrington?” Eddie asked softly, lightly bumping his shoulder against the other boy’s.

Steve took his hand under the table and squeezed it. “I think we could work something out.” He said equally quiet.

Clearly the comment was meant for only his ears, and while the two girls were suitably distracted with each other (Max was explaining the basics of skateboarding to an enraptured Eleven), Wayne was peeking at them out of the corner of his eye.

Eddie wanted to kiss Steve right then and there at the table but he held back. Wayne might already be on to them and unless they cooled it Max and El wouldn’t be far behind. He squeezed back with the hand Steve was holding and reluctantly let it drop. 

When everyone was finished Wayne gathered their plates and set about washing them, refusing Steve’s offer of help. Eddie didn’t know who the old man was trying to impress, knowing full well that if it was just the two of them they’d have let the sticky plates sit in that sink all day. 

The phone rang, loud and shrill. Eddie jumped up automatically to answer it so his uncle wouldn't have to trail soapy water all over the place.

“Hello?”

“Hey, kid.”

It was Hopper, and he sounded absolutely exhausted. Memories of last night came barreling to the forefront of Eddie’s mind. In his happy haze he’d almost forgotten about the lab and the fire, but before he could say anything the chief was talking again.

“Listen, tell Wayne I'm sorry but I won't be able to make our fishing trip this weekend.”

What the fuck? 

“What do you mean, what about the– “

Hopper cut him off, loudly interrupting before he could ask any questions. “Just tell your Uncle exactly what I said, okay? I gotta go.” He hung up without another word.

Eddie stared down at the receiver still sitting in his hand and had a terrible feeling he was missing something. 

“That the school calling to tell me you didn’t show up again today?” Wayne asked from across the room.

“No, it was Hopper.” He replied. “Since when do you fish?”

“Ah, shit.” Wayne cursed, dropping the dish he was holding rather forcefully into the soapy water and quickly drying his hands. “Ed, what did he say exactly?”

Eddie repeated what Hopper had said word for word. Wayne visibly paled. 

“Okay kids. You got 5 minutes. Pack what you can.”

“What?” Eddie squawked.

“Have you ever seen me go fishing? It's a code that me and Jim worked out a long time ago.” Wayne said.

Ok, well that made more sense Eddie supposed. “What does it mean?”

The older man sighed, raking a hand over his face. “In a nutshell it means we need to get the hell out of here as soon as possible… and we might not be coming back.”

“Fuck.”

It hit Eddie all over again, everything the man standing in front of him had done and continued to do to keep him safe. Wayne had known since day one that something like this might happen, and he’d been prepared to cut and run at a moment's notice with no questions asked and no concern for the fact that he’d be ruining his own future.

Steve tugged Eddie’s arm, spurring him into action. Right, no time to dwell on it now, he could be sappy later. 

They rushed to his room. 

“I got the girls covered, '' Wayne called to their backs. “Meet out front, quick as you can!”

Steve's bag was still packed and sitting open on the floor. He zipped it up and threw it over his shoulder then began to help Eddie with his own. He had an old army surplus bag stuffed under his bed. He pulled it out and they began to fill it with clothes until it seemed like enough. 

Eddie scanned around the room wondering what was worth it to take. He wasn’t even remotely prepared for this scenario. He spotted Steve’s letterman jacket still sitting on the bed and added it to the bag, along with his battered old copy of The Hobbit. He snatched photos right off the walls, a few of him and Wayne, Claudia and Dustin, the boys.

Lastly, he looked up to where his sweetheart hung on the wall in front of the mirror. He hated to leave his beloved electric guitar behind, but it seemed silly to take it when he had no idea where they were going or exactly what kind of trouble they were running from.

Steve watched him, sad eyes full of sympathy as he rested a hand on Eddie’s back. “What about that one?” He suggested, tilting his head towards the old acoustic guitar that sat collecting dust in the corner of the room. “It’s light and you can play it without an amp.”

He had a point but Eddie still felt like it wasn’t important enough. Wayne was already shouting at them to hurry. He hesitated, and Steve made the decision for him, slinging the guitar over his own back with the shoulder strap and linking their free hands together. 

Eddie took one last look around the room as they walked out, years of memories etched into the walls. He hoped that somehow Wayne was wrong and they would be able to come back here eventually, but he wouldn’t hold his breath. 

The trailer park was calm and quiet as they loaded what little everyone had collected into Wayne’s truck and Eddie’s van. Neither of the young girls had any belongings and Wayne himself only had a few small boxes and bags.

“Max, Ellie, you want to ride with me or with the boys?”

El turned to her brother before answering. “Is it okay if I go with Mr. Wayne?”

“Of course, sweetie. You two keep him company, I've got this one.” Steve said, winking at her and hooking a thumb in Eddie’s direction. 

El grinned and she and Max climbed into the passenger side of the truck. 

Wayne walked over as he threw the last bag in the bed of his truck. 

“Now, you boys follow me closely. Where we’re going ain't all that far but it’s in the middle of nowhere.”

-

They rode in silence. 

Both too scared of what this all meant to manage any kind of conversation but they kept each other’s hands in a desperate grip over the center console. It only got worse when Wayne pulled off the paved road and onto a dirt one, barely distinguishable from the unbeaten path around it. The way was bumpy and they had to go slow until eventually the trees grew too thick and they had to stop altogether. 

There was a small cabin sitting in a clearing not far off, Eddie figured they’d just walk the last few feet.

“Hopper’s cabin?” Eddie guessed out loud once they had all gotten out of the vehicles, though he already knew he was right.

His uncle didn’t question it, just nodded in agreement. “It’s been in his family for years. When you came along, Jim was the first to realize we needed an escape plan if there was ever a risk you’d been discovered. He wiped all record of this place from city hall and what-not as best as he could, and we stocked it up with supplies. I hoped it’d never be needed but I'm sure glad we have it now.”

The cabin was neat, clean, and a lot nicer than the one Eddie had imagined, though it wasn’t any bigger unfortunately. It would be a bit of a tight squeeze for the 5 of them, but not much worse than home had been really so he knew they would make it work.

Predictably, Wayne insisted that the rest of them should take the only two bedrooms.

Max and El set off right away to explore their new and hopefully temporary home.

Eddie knew it was pointless to argue with the older man but he felt like he’d cost his uncle so much already. It didn’t seem right letting him give up one of the only beds too. 

“Wayne, I think… “ He looked at Steve before continuing, hoping the other boy would be okay with what he was about to offer. He must have understood and nodded encouragingly. “You should take the other room. At your age you should really be sleeping in a bed and me and Steve will be alright out here.”

“I know you didn’t just say at my age.” His uncle said, arms crossing over his chest.

Eddie rolled his eyes. “You know what I mean, you should have a bed!”

Wayne looked at them in turn and sighed. “Boys, look, there's two of you and only one of me, and I don’t want to assume anything…” He trailed off, raking a hand over his suddenly red face.  “I know you’ll tell me when you’re ready, but I think it’d be best for everyone if you had a little privacy. I’d just like to point out that the walls here don’t look much thicker than the trailer’s, so, keep that in mind.”

Eddie felt all the blood drain from his face. “Oh my god.”

“I'm not sayin’ I heard anything! But–” Wayne tried to continue, throwing his hands up in surrender, but Eddie interrupted him mid sentence.

“Oh my god Wayne, please stop talking. We’ll take the room and whatever else you want if you just please, please stop talking.”

Eddie chanced a sideways look at Steve. He’d been purposely avoiding the other boy’s gaze for the entire exchange, but they hadn’t yet talked about how open they wanted to be about their new relationship, and he was desperate to see how Steve was taking all this. 

To Eddie’s shock he was watching the whole thing with barely concealed amusement. Clearly he was fine, at least with Wayne knowing about them. The whole thing was still completely mortifying, but he was relieved that Steve was taking it all in stride. Eddie was pretty sure he hadn’t come out to anyone yet really and he knew from personal experience how nerve wracking it could be to be seen, really seen, for the first time. 

Wayne huffed a laugh and wandered off in the direction of the kitchen. Eddie snatched up his own bag as well as Steve’s and began to haul them both towards the bedroom they’d be sharing. He expected Steve to follow him, thought he had actually, until he overheard hushed voices on the other side of the cabin. 

“Thank you for all this, for taking me and El in before and bringing us along now. I uh, I know how protective you are of Eddie and um, I just want you to know that this isn’t… I really care about him.”

“I can see that, son. Neither of you is very subtle, just uh, so you’re aware.” Wayne gave another breathy laugh. “I’m happy for the two of you and I want you to know I’ve got no problem with it. I've known about Eddie for a while and I love him just the same as I ever have. I support him. You too, Steve. He's got a good heart, and I'm glad he found someone who can see that and appreciate it.”

“Thank you.” Steve’s voice cracked on the short phrase and Eddie had to sneak a glance out the doorway to make sure he was okay. 

Wayne had his arms wrapped around Steve, whose shoulders were shaking slightly. The older man was rubbing his back and murmuring to him quietly. 

Eddie retreated back into the room and slowly began to unpack. He was so thankful for his uncle at that moment, for the sort of man he was, and the kindness he was showing Steve. He knew now what kind of people the Harrington's were. He wondered when Steve had last been hugged by a parental figure. It’d probably been a long time, well before he had disappeared and gotten locked up in that awful place. He had El, of course, and now he had Eddie too, but there was something different about having a trustworthy grownup in your corner. Someone who’d lived a bit. Who knew what life could throw at you and tried their best to keep you safe from it.

Eventually Steve came to find him and Eddie pretended not to notice the slight ring of red around his eyes. Steve smiled as he helped to put the last of their clothes into drawers. He seemed remarkably lighter, as if some long carried weight had been taken off his shoulders. 

-

After all the drama of going on the run, their afternoon at the cabin was remarkably boring. There was nothing much to do except worry about the others and wait for some kind of word from Hopper. Wayne seemed sure the man would show up at any time. There was a phone on the wall, Eddie had noticed, but when he checked the line he found only dead air. 

The girls had found a stack of old board games in a cupboard and were spending their time playing round after round of checkers.

Wayne busied himself in the kitchen, going over their supplies and throwing some kind of concoction together for dinner. 

Eddie and Steve sat together on the couch trying to enjoy each other's company while stuck in the hell of waiting for the next thing to go wrong. 

They all heard it when a car pulled up nearby, brakes squealing a little as it came to a stop. It occurred to Eddie as they all rushed outside that it might have been smarter to stay hidden until they knew if their visitor was friend or foe. But Wayne had been right in what he said earlier, they were out in the middle of fucking nowhere, the odds of someone just happening upon them there were slim to none.

Eddie never thought he’d see Hopper’s police SUV and feel such immense relief. He knew he probably owed the man an apology, several in fact. He’d always given the chief a hard time, he couldn’t help it. Hopper was ‘the man’, part of the system that Eddie had spent so much time and energy railing against, but he was coming to realize that under all his rough exterior the chief was actually a good guy, and way less concerned about the law than he could have been. 

The driver's side door of the SUV opened and slammed closed, the sound echoing twice after as the rear passenger doors opened and closed. He wasn’t alone. 

Chrissy and Robin raced through the trees, making it to the cabin before Hopper had made his way around the other side of his car. 

Steve and Eddie turned to each other. Matching looks of surprise on their faces. 

“Are you guys okay?” Robin asked when they got close enough to not have to shout.

Eddie went down the steps to meet the two girls, Steve following close behind.

“Yeah we’re all fine, what are you doing here?”

Chrissy threw herself at him abruptly, hugging him tight. “I’m so sorry it’s all my fault.”

Eddie tried to look at Robin over her shoulder, searching for any clue as to what the girl in his arms meant, but she was already busy talking a mile a minute to Steve. 

He pulled back so he could see Chrissy's face. “What do you mean, Chris?”

“This, you having to run away from home and hide here. I should have known better than to come to your house last night. I should have known he’d follow me.”

“Wait, I thought, the fire- “ Eddie began, looking up to lock eyes with Hopper as he finally caught up to the group. “I thought this had something to do with the lab?”

“We’ll get to that in a bit but that's not why I gave you the signal to run. Jason Carver has been running around town all morning telling anyone who will listen that he saw Steve Harrington with you last night. That you’re the one who kidnapped him and have been holding him captive ever since. He also said you brainwashed his girlfriend and took Billy Hargrove prisoner. He thinks the D&D club at school is a front for your devil worshiping cult, and unfortunately there's a lot of small minded people in this town that want to believe him.”

“Fuck.”

Chapter 12

Thanks forever to @penny00dreadful for being the best friend, cheerleader, and beta in the whole fucking world💜

Taglist: @newtstabber @goodolefashionedloverboi @adaed5 @buckleybarnes @soaringornithopter @eddie-munsons-lunchbox @bestwifehaver @5ammi90 @sofadofax @ellietheasexylibrarian @manda-panda-monium @hardboiledleggs @mentallyundone @epiclazershark @herebedragons404 @estrellami-1 @paintsplatteredandimperfect @the-s-is-silent @brbsoulnomming @goinsteddie @steddie-there @yeahhhh-suga

#steddie fanfic #steve harrington #eddie munson #stranger things #steddie #steve harrington/eddie munson #steve and el sibling supremacy #good uncle wayne #chrissy cunningham #max mayfield #robin buckley #canon is just a crazy game of d&d #sort of #ao3 #steddie fic #steve x eddie

[katlandry]

Whatever you do don’t think about the fact not a single person knew Nancy’s favourite song, and the only hope they had in saving her from Vecna was bc of Robin snooping through her room & seeing her tapes

#nancy wheeler #stranger things #stranger things 4 #ronance #nancy stranger things #natalia dyer #robin buckley #st4 #robin stranger things #maya hawke #it hurts to think about #like no one knew her favourite song #if vecna hadn’t let her go she would’ve died #thank god for robin #i fully blame steve on this one #when in doubt blame steve #jonathan would’ve known #and i believe in wheeler sibling supremacy #so mike would’ve known too

[certifiedl0serloll]

I WANNA SEE A -

Robin Buckley and Jonathan Byers pair.

why?: I’m not sure, they just seem like they’d get along you know? Kinda a rare pair but it would be cool to see

Mike Wheeler and Robin Buckley pair.

why?: I WANNA SEE THEM BE ATTACHED AF THE HIP BECAUSE POOR MIKE DOESN’TINTERACT WITH HIS ACUTAL SIBLING AND I JUST WANNA SEE THIS DUO

Steve Harrington and Jonathan Byers pair.

why?: AS A STONATHAN MULTISHIPPER I NEED THIS DUO WHETHER THIS IS PLATONIC OR ROMANTIC AND I WANNA KNOW WHY CHARLIE A JOE MADE OUT IN THAT ONE ELAVATOR THING.

Wheeler siblings pair.

why?: they like- never interact that it’s sad.

Dustin Henderson and mike wheeler:

why?: THEY’RE SO UNDERRATED

Wondertwins

why?: why not?

Lucas Sinclair and Will Byers pair.

why?: just because.

#mike wheeler #robin buckley #jonathan byers #steve harrington #nancy wheeler #wonder twins #will byers #dustin henderson #mike and robin #duo #stranger things #wheeler siblings #stonathan #? #lol #el hopper #jane hopper #lucas sinclair supremacy #mike wheeler supremacy #Mike wheeler and Robin Buckley need to be besties you honour #kicking and screaming #idk man #byler #<target audience lol

[mellaithwen]

Fanworks creators self rec! When you get this, reply with your favourite five fanworks you’ve made, then pass on to at least five other creators.

adsjksdk thank you for the tag Meg! 🌷 but also oh nooooo 'cause I'm awful at things like this haha.

Alrightey let's go;

Are we destined to burn or will we last the night? (911 fic) ahhh I worked on this 4x14 fic all summer and I'm really proud of it - I didn't expect to enjoy writing Bobby's POV so much but I'm really happy with it and it's my longest 911 fic <33 (until I get my ass in gear and finish the 5x06 AU that is - since that's already at 19k and unfinished....)

Wish we could cut all ties with the morning light (911 fic) soft soft soft care-taking hurt/comfort my beloved :)

Strays don't sleep (911 art) Cat!dad Eddie supremacy <33 I'm still so happy with how Eddie's likeness came out in this piece. Usually I can't look at my art afterwards because I just find the mistakes and obsess over them, but I don't get that here. And I finished it fairly quickly too!

Every bit of me hurting for you (911 fic) mostly because this is easily the fastest I've written a fic and I love the buckley siblings and I'm happy with how the manip came out too because it actually looks like Maddie's holding Buck's haaaand

Our souls (they were meant to last) (MCU fic) quick detour from 911 because I still have so many steve/bucky WIPs lying around that I tell myself I'll finish one day, but I'm still hella impressed with myself that I created a 50k Just Like Heaven!AU for the stucky big bang - and that when I sometimes look over it I don't hate it :D

#self recs #about me #ask #Meg🎨 #911 fic #writing #mellaithwen edit #mellaithwen fanfic

[if-music-be-the-food-of-love]

Buckley sibling supremacy. Awww Buck. That was exactly what she needed to hear.

#911 spoilers #911 fox #buckley siblings

[singinprincess]

BUCKLEY SIBLINGS SUPREMACY

#911 #maddie buckley #evan buckley #911 5.18 #911 spoilers #spoilers #this has been an spl post

[nymika-arts]

he knows!! where she is!!!! man if it's gonna be somewhere that they went together a lot as kids and that's why he recognizes the sound and that's why she chose to go there because it's a comfort and a way she can be close to a part of her family even when she isn't with them i'm actually just gonna start eating rocks

#buckley siblings supremacy #no im literally so emotional HE KNOWS WHERE SHE ISSSS #evan buckley #maddie buckley #911 fox #911 spoilers

[loserdiaz]

buckley siblings hc when they were kids???

any thoughts???

so i think that maddie and buck were pretty lonely kids. lile buck was always being reckless and trying to get his parents' attention doing dumb stuff that always got him hurt so the other kids didn't really hang out with him ( maybe their parents didn't like buck's 'bad influence'or maybe buck would get too excited when someone wanted to be his friend so he'd start talking about everything and anything and kids can be cruel so they would just walk away from him bc he was "too much") and I'm sure maddie was lonely too, especially bc she was the one who had to grow up fast and she didn't really act like a kid, she didn't have that luxury bc she had to take care of buck bc their parents certainly wouldn't. so she'd talk to the girls at school and they were friendly enough but they weren't friends, y'know? they didn't understand that maddie couldn't go to sleepovers bc her brother would be alone and scared bc he didn't feel comfortable with just his parents in the house and what if he got hurt and they didn't notice? maddie had to be there in case he needed her.

and i hc that when buck was little and maddie had a bad day, he would notice and so he would spend time with her in her room, listening to soft low music so their parents wouldn't hear and be annoyed. buck learnt to braid maddie's hair from watching her do it herself, she would sit in the floor and he would sit on the bed and braid her hair ( his hands were small and he wasn't coordinated enough, he was clumsy and he'd pull too hard sometimes and the result definitely wasn't perfect but everytime maddie would beam at him once he'd finished and tell him how pretty she looks thanks to him )

i also like to think that buck would let maddie paint his nails as kids until he grew out of it bc the kids at school made fun of him but then when maddie got sad he would paint her nails instead ( it was always messy but at least he tried his best and maddie treasured every moment of it because it was his little brother and she just adored him so much )

🥺🥺🥺🥺

#i'm soft for the buckley siblings #maddie buckley #evan buck buckley #evan buckley #buckley siblings #buckley siblings supremacy #the buckley siblings #fuck the buckley parents #911onabc #911 on fox #911 buck #buck and maddie #maddie buckley is amazing and we all need to respect her #911 headcanons #anon #the mail's here darling💌

[bisexualbuckleyy]

i really feel like buck is bisexual and the only person who knows is maddie and i will explain my reasoning

so i would argue that maddie is the person that knows buck the best. she grew up with him, she knows all of the stuff that he went through as a kid and on his journey to find himself, and she’s been there for him the past few years when he’s a firefighter. maddie has known him his entire life and practically raised him. so she definitely knows him better than anyone else in his life.

so let’s look at some of maddie and buck’s interactions that make me think that she knows he’s bisexual, either because he told her or she just figured it out.

“does this boy crush on eddie mean you’re finally ready to move on from abby?” this is a very important line because yes, it is a little bit of playful sibling teasing, but more importantly, it’s maddie saying that buck showing an interest in a man would be an indication of him being ready to move on from his (ex) girlfriend. also important is buck’s reaction to this. he doesn’t tease her back or deny that he has a crush on eddie, all he says is “that’s cute” which is definitely not a no.

“he is so cute.” “yeah, he gets that a lot. you should meet his kid though.” “wait, chimney has a kid?” “no, i thought you meant—” maddie does not react with any surprise whatsoever to buck basically saying he agrees that eddie is cute and has noticed when multiple other people have remarked on it. if you thought that your brother was straight and then he pretty much says that a guy is cute you’d be at least a little bit surprised, right?

EDIT (thanks to @buddiewho for reminding me of this scene): the poker scene with maddie, chimney, josh, and buck. josh says “if i didn’t know better, i’d say you were trying to set us up.” this is obviously a joke but you do wonder if josh is picking up some vibes. more importantly, though, is maddie’s response to this. she says “oh no, i like you way too much to set you up with my brother” which sounds like it is a definite possibility that maddie would set buck up with a guy, just not with josh. it’s also definitely just a way to get some playful sibling teasing in, but what is buck’s response to this? he says “uh, hey now” like he’s offended that maddie wouldn’t try to set him up with one of her guy friends. and if buck is straight, why wouldn’t maddie make that joke and then say something like “besides, buck is straight” or “buck doesn’t swing that way” but she doesn’t which heavily implies that he’s not straight and she knows.

there’s definitely more but i just felt like these were the most compelling ones. so yeah i feel like buck came out to maddie when they were younger and he just doesn’t really feel comfortable telling people or he doesn’t want to tell the 118 cause he feels like they have this concept of him in their minds and he doesn’t want to ruin that. feel free to add on any of your thoughts!

#buckley siblings supremacy #also maddie buckley is bisexual i do not accept criticism #heterosexuals? in my favorite characters? never #buddie #evan buckley #maddie buckley #buckley siblings

[lucydonato]

this has almost definitely been said a million times before by people smarter than me but I also think it's interesting how maddie and chimney are foils of each other where their families are concerned in that they each had a close-in-age brother that they ultimately lost and a younger brother with a not insignificant age gap but while the buckleys' mistreatment pushed maddie closer to buck and made her protect him (even at her own expense) mr han's mistreatment only drove chimney and albert even further apart by making them envious and resentful of the other's life (or at least what they imagined the other's life to be) and it's in talking to maddie about HER experiences that chim is able to overcome his father's influence and not only form a loving relationship with albert but also help him to escape that toxic environment much like maddie had done for buck years earlier and we see both of them working to fix the things that their parents broke even before they learned they would be parents themselves

#in conclusion: buckley han family supremacy as always #i started spitting this out in the tags of that other post and was like damb this is too much op doesn't need all this in their activity #anyway alexa play the tolstoy happy families quote #madney actively choosing to do better than their parents for themselves and their siblings and jee yun is something that can be so personal #it's about the healing it's about the breaking of generational curses!!!!! #it's about the (dare I say it) LOVE!!!!!

[hbyrde36]

Life is a Game (and True Love is a Trophy)

Chapter 10

Ch 1 Ch 2 Ch 3 Ch 4 Ch 5 Ch 6 Ch 7 Ch 8 Ch 9 ao3 link

CW: Smut/NSFW

*Steve*

Sometimes in life there are people you just click with. Within hours of meeting them you know you’ll be friends for life, and it feels like you’ve known them forever.

Steve had a feeling that was exactly what happened between him and Robin during their insane car ride back to the trailer park.

She wasn’t the type of person he normally gravitated towards, not that normality held any sort of meaning in his life these days. Robin was blunt, with no filter to speak of, all the while being just a little bit awkward.  She didn’t care that Steve had been missing, apart from the fact that she wanted all the gory details, for curiosity’s sake of course. Not in a cruel way, by the end it was clear that she had sympathy for all that he and the others had been through, but she was the first person to hear his story and not look at him with some level of pity. Even Eddie, who had been so great to Steve even as his own world began to come apart at the seams, had given him the look once or twice. 

It was a little harder to concentrate on The Talk while he was driving, especially when he was so woefully out of practice after not having been behind the wheel of a car for so long. At least with Chrissy he’d been to give her his full attention, but Robin didn’t seem to mind the rambling way he explained things, and seemed to follow his off-the-track train of thought just fine. She poked fun at him whenever it was appropriate, and even once or twice when it wasn’t (though somehow Steve knew she meant no harm), and it made him feel wonderfully human again, and a little less broken. 

“Jesus. You’re nothing like you used to be are you?” Robin said at one point.

“How so?” Steve asked, a little amused. 

“If someone had tried to tell me that Steve Harrington, the same douchebag who asked dumb questions and dropped bagel crumbs on the floor in Click’s class every single fucking morning, would give a shit about some girl he found in the woods, I would have told them they were crazy.”

Oh. 

He didn’t remember sharing any classes with Robin, but obviously they had. Maybe he was a douchebag. 

Steve shrugged. “I guess…people change.”

“Clearly.” Robin said, huffing a laugh.

She paused for a moment and he glanced at her, noting the way she narrowed her eyes at him before continuing on. “But I'm not sure that’s it. I think maybe you’ve always been a good guy, it's just that no one ever expected you to be so they didn’t think to notice, and maybe, neither did you.”

Steve didn’t know what to say after that. 

It wasn’t long before they were nearing the entrance to the trailer park, the car quiet for the moment save for the dulcet tones of top 40 radio coming from it’s speaker system. 

“So, Eddie just happened to be the one to find you, huh?” Robin said softly, almost conspiratorial as he made the final turn into Forest Hills.

She nudged his shoulder with a knowing look in her eye. Steve wasn’t all that surprised that she had picked up on the energy between him and Eddie. She'd seen up close the way he had rushed to Eddie's side, maybe even clocked the way their touch had lingered as they stood there in the yard talking to her. 

He’d certainly noticed the very not-straight way in which Robin had perked up when she spotted Chrissy Cunningham in their midst, and then immediately agreed to go with them. 

Something else they had in common then.

Steve felt his face grow a little warm and glanced in the rear view mirror to see if any of his other passengers were listening in. They seemed to be otherwise occupied. Max was tucked into Chrissy’s side, listening to Lucas talking softly as he held her hand. Chrissy herself was staring out the window seemingly lost in thought, and Billy was unlikely to hear anything from where he was, locked in the trunk. 

The urge to spill his guts to Robin about his feelings for Eddie was strong. It was miles ahead of where they should be as acquaintances go, and if that level of trust felt a little unearned, well, Steve would just roll with it anyway. Eddie had, in his way, predicted this budding friendship and Steve couldn’t help but trust in that. He had been right about far too many things thus-far not to. They had all accepted the bad premonitions without blinking so why not accept something good too?

Unfortunately, opening up to Robin would also mean outing Eddie without his permission, and Steve would never want to hurt him or anyone else like that. He and Eddie needed to talk anyway- about what they were to each other now, if anything, and how comfortable each of them was with others knowing. Steve decided that if Eddie gave him the greenlight he would tell Robin everything, but for now he would keep it to himself, mostly.

“I like to think we found each other.” He replied, unable to keep from smiling like an idiot at the memory. 

In more ways than one.

She didn’t seem offended that he hadn’t confirmed or denied her subtle implication, and, as though she perfectly understood why he hadn’t, she didn’t push. He loved her a little bit for that, this girl he had only just met. It wasn’t often that people understood him like that, took the time to see past the packaging and really look. 

“I don’t know what me and El would have done if he hadn’t been out there in the woods. We probably would have been caught and dragged back to the lab by now.”

She stared at the side of his face for a long time. It wasn’t until he parked in front of the Munson trailer and the others started to climb out that she spoke again, placing a hand on his arm to stop him from moving just yet.

“Why did you risk it tonight- being seen?”

Steve blinked at her, confused because, wasn’t it obvious? “We knew Max could be in trouble…it…we had to do something.”

Robin shook her head. “Even from what little I've seen and heard I know the others could have handled it without you. You could have stayed behind, safely hidden at Castle Munson with your magical little sister. Why did YOU risk it?”

He shrugged, not quite knowing how to answer, not that she waited for him to give one.

“I’ll tell you what I think. I think you’ve got a self sacrificial streak a mile wide.”

“I don’t…” He started to protest.

“Listen, Steve. It's shocked me to my core, but I like you. I really like you. I don't know how much I truly understand about what’s happening here, or what the future is going to bring if this Vecna creep really exists, but…try not to get yourself killed, okay? I think we could be really good friends, if you can manage to stick around long enough.”

-

They left Billy in the trunk.

Sure it was dark enough out to obscure their faces, but Steve knew that if anyone in the park did happen to look out their window it wouldn't be hard to make out the shape of two guys dragging a body out of a trunk. Also, with Hopper having arrived while they were gone and the addition of Max, Chrissy, and Robin to the party, they were honestly running out of standing room inside the trailer.

So, Billy could stay where he was for now, and at least this way they could feel Hopper out before making him aware of their latest crime.

Steve walked over to the van just as Eddie was getting out of it. He smiled broadly and it warmed Steve down to his toes. He wanted to kiss him, to brush lips over each of his dimples in turn before focusing his attention on that mouth.

Nancy and Jonathan came spilling down the front steps of the trailer, just in time to bring Steve back to his senses.

The couple’s eyes settled on Max, taking in her pale face and the way she clung to Lucas and Chrissy.

“Was it?” Nancy gasped, looking to him for answers as she wrung her hands. 

“Henry, yes. We- we got there just in time.” Steve said.

She nodded, looking a little like she was in shock until Jonathan took hold of one of her hands and the two of them began to try and wrangle their brothers and the other kids. 

“Hey guys, I'm sorry but we have to get you all home.” Jonathan called out.

Mike, Will, and Dustin all erupted into a cacophony of whining and complaints. Lucas was too focused on Max and she was watching the entire scene unfold with wide eyes. 

“C’mon Will, you know how mom gets when you’re gone for too long.” Jonathan said, which quieted Will and Dustin pretty quickly. They all knew his mom had never quite been the same since ‘83. 

“You too Mike.” Nancy added. “Do you even know what time it is? It’s a school night. Mom will freak out if we don’t get you home soon.”

“Oh please.” Mike spat. “Who cares about shit like school right now?!” 

“Mike!” Nancy shouted

“What? It's bullshit Nancy! We’re just supposed to go on like everything is normal? When-” 

Mike glanced around and lowered his voice, at least having the wherewithal to be quiet as he continued to argue with his sister. 

“- when Eddie has fucking powers now and Steve is- I don’t know what the hell, and Eleven is real, and in danger, and there’s some evil wizard out there trying to kill our friends?!”

“That's exactly what you’re going to do. For now.” The booming voice of Jim Hopper came from behind them and the whole group turned as a unit, only just noticing that the man had stepped out onto the front porch and had been listening in. 

Shit. 

They were definitely not being careful enough.

Hopper shook his head at all of them as he tapped his hat on his leg. 

“Anyone who’s staying, get inside. The rest of you- go home, and for the love of god keep your mouths shut about all of this!” He turned, grumbling, “There’s too many of you involved already,” to himself as he went back into the trailer.

“Who put him in charge?” Mike sneered.

“He’s a cop, I think they’re just wired that way.” Dustin said. 

“He’s actually not a bad guy once you get to know him.” Max cut in, speaking for the first time since they’d left her house. 

Everyone stared at her in surprise and she crossed her arms over her chest, a little of the attitude Steve had heard the boys talking about beginning to break through as she spoke again.

“Between Billy and Neil you don’t think we have the cops coming to our door every other weekend? Please...” She rolled her eyes. “Hopper might sound grumpy but he’s really just a teddy bear.”

“I heard that Mayfield!” Hopped bellowed from inside the house.

Max giggled as the rest of the group continued to look at her in amazement.

“What?! He takes me to the diner sometimes for milkshakes when things get bad.” She said with a shrug.

Everyone said their goodbyes and the remaining members of the party paraded inside.

Eddie went right to his uncle, whispering something in the man’s ear that made him drop his head into his hands and give the most long-suffering sigh that Steve had ever heard. Wayne walked off towards the hall closet a moment later mumbling something under his breath about a tarp. 

Hopper was oddly subdued as Steve, Eddie, Chrissy, Robin and Max piled into the living room. Although, upon closer inspection Steve realized the man was trembling with anger. He was just on that level of angry where he was very fucking quietly seething and even Max was eyeing the man warily.

Wayne quickly found what he was looking for, which appeared to be a medium sized blue tarp and headed straight back out the front door. Steve and Eddie shared a look, rushing to follow behind the older man. 

Steve popped the trunk to reveal Billy, staring up at them, eyes shining with rage and struggling against his restraints.

“Oh. He’s alive.” Wayne said, and began unfolding the sheet of plastic.

Eddie bent down so he could get his face as close to Billy's as possible and whispered threateningly in his ear. “You can keep struggling while we carry you inside if you want, but don’t be surprised when we drop your ass and you get hurt.” 

Billy continued to glare but seemed to see the wisdom in Eddie’s words and stopped flailing, at least for the time being. They laid the tarp over him, tucking it under loosely to make sure he could still breathe and then together they awkwardly carried the bundle inside. 

Hopper stared as the three of them reentered the living room and dumped the lumpy blue package unceremoniously on the couch, quickly unwrapping it. 

“Jesus Christ! ...What? ...Why?” Hopper shouted as he began pacing around the small space. ‘You know what, no. I don't even want to know.”

He stopped in his tracks suddenly and growled in frustration. “No… no. Fuck. God damnit. I need to know. Spill.” Hopper stood in front of Eddie and Steve with his hands in his pockets and waited for them to explain.

As they did, with Eddie doing most of the heavy lifting, El appeared holding a stack of comic books she must have borrowed from Eddie's room. She took hold of Steve’s hand and smiled up at him. He could see the relief on her face that he’d returned safely and he felt a new surge of guilt for leaving her. He squeezed her hand to say he was sorry, to say he loved her, and she squeezed back.

When it was all done Eddie plopped down on the couch as far from Billy as he could manage. Everyone present ignored him as they continued to discuss things.

Hopper sighed. “I can’t say I'm happy about this, and I'm sure there were better ways to go about dealing with Hargrove here, but I'm glad you were there to help Max.” He admitted.  

“Exactly Jim, that’s what matters here.” Wayne agreed, earning himself a little side eye from the Chief. 

“Alright, so it sounds like she’s safe enough for now, assuming this music business keeps working but what’s the plan? Do we wait for this guy to attack again or are we going to try and take him on his own turf?” Hopper asked.

“We tried that already, in the game. Some of the party went into the Upside-Down while others tried to distract him. It, uh, didn’t work.”

“It didn’t work AND you died.” Steve corrected, taking the seat right next to Eddie. He wanted to take the other boy’s hand but settled for sitting closer than what might be considered strictly friendly. 

“But if our only other option is to wait until he starts picking us off, then…” Eddie began to argue, but was interrupted by a frantic woman’s voice calling out over Hopper’s police radio from where it sat on the kitchen counter.

The chief lunged for it and quickly responded. “This is Hop.. Slow down and tell me what’s going on, Flo.”

“Hop?! Thank god. It’s the lab! There’s a huge fire over at Hawkins lab and they need all hands on deck over there.”

“Shit.” Hopper cursed, casting his eyes to the ceiling before clicking the button to respond. “Who’s been called?”

Flo’s voice came cracking over the radio again. “Hawkins Fire is on site now and they put a call in to Cartersville for back up. I sent Powell and Callahan over too but they need you on site to manage everyone.”

“Tell them I'm on my way.” Hopper said, signing off and slamming the radio back down.

Eddie must have sensed the tension growing in Steve as they listened to the call, he tried to hold on to him but Steve was out of his seat like a shot. “You gotta let me come with you.” He said to Hopper.

“Steve!” Eddie yelled at the same time Robin and Chrissy both shouted “No!”

“No, Christ, especially not you! You're in hiding, Steve! You have to stay here!”

“But what if it’s him, Hop?”

“I know, but..”

“It can’t be a coincidence!”

“I know!”

“You might need my help. Even if it’s not Henry, you don’t know what they’ve done, the things they have in that lab!”

“I KNOW!” Hopper shouted, loud enough that Steve flinched and El put her hands over her ears. 

Hoper took Steve by the shoulders, the look on his face was still intense but his touch was gentle. “I know. Okay, kid? I get it, but I won't risk you going back there. I won’t risk any of you. I promise I'll come back as soon as I can and I'll tell you all about it.”

Steve nodded, a little dumbfounded that the man seemed to care so much. Then he remembered someone else who cared, if only a little and he stopped Hopper just before he had made his way out the door.

“There’s someone who works at the lab,” Steve began. “A Dr. Owens. He’s…he helped us. He saw me and El escaping and he let us go. I think he might be a good guy.”

“Owens. Okay, I’ll keep that in mind.” He gave Steve an awkward but well meant pat on the shoulder, and then he was gone. 

Steve stood by the door staring, mind reeling wondering how the hell this could have happened and what could it mean? He wanted to be thrilled at the prospect of that hellish place burning to the ground, it was a thing he’d dreamed about doing himself dozens of times since he and Eleven had met. Now though, he couldn’t shake the feeling that this couldn’t be good news. 

A warm hand landed on Steve's lower back. The touch was firm and grounding. He knew by the scent of leather and denim and just a hint of cigarette smoke that it was Eddie.

“You okay?” He said softly, and for Steve’s ears alone.

“For now. I should check on El though.” 

“I think she’s doing just fine.”

At that Steve finally turned around and saw that El had walked up to Max. It sounded like she was introducing herself. She took the redhead’s hand, urging her to follow her into the kitchen. Max looked back at Chrissy as though she were asking if it was okay. Chrissy smiled and gave an encouraging nod.

As the two girls walked off to the kitchen, they could hear El saying. “Come on, Mr. Wayne makes the best hot chocolate.” 

Steve wasn’t fooled into thinking she didn’t care about what was happening at the lab, but the girl had a remarkable way of carrying on through the bad shit. Helping Max feel better would make her feel better too, and it seemed like both girls could use a friend so Steve didn't want to interfere. 

He and Eddie made their way back to the couch and the girls, Eddie’s hand remained a steady presence on his back. He wasn’t sure if Chrissy noticed but Robin clearly did, and sent him a smirk to prove it.  

“Looks like Red imprinted on you like a baby duck, Chris.” Eddie joked, though Steve knew he meant it.

“Yeah, I think she sees you as the person who saved her.” He added. 

Chrissy frowned. “But, I didn't do anything. You…”

“You caught her.” Eddie interrupted. “You held her hand and told her it would be alright. She feels safe with you.”

“Oh, I don't know if I…” Chrissy trailed off.

“Listen, Chrissy, you don’t have to stay involved with this if you don’t want to. You’re a target, there's no changing that but we’ll do our best to shield you even if you want no part of this.” Steve bit at his lip, he couldn’t help offering her an out. They’d told everyone the truth to keep them safe but he knew how overwhelming it all must be. “I know what it is to get pulled into this stuff, to find yourself feeling responsible for someone you didn’t expect. It’s a lot.”

“No, I want to help. For the two of you, for Max and for myself.” Chrissy said, sitting up a little straighter in her seat. “You can’t get rid of me that easily. I do have to go home soon though, or my mom will worry and she can be a lot.”

“Same!” Robin said abruptly and a little too loud. “I mean, uh me too. About the staying involved thing. Also the home thing because gotta tell you- my dad? Craaaazy conspiracy theorist. He’s the one you can thank for me believing you about all this crap by the way. Unfortunately that also means I can’t just disappear or he’ll panic.”

As her ramble came to an end Robin’s cheeks reddened. Eddie was staring at her, in his defense he hadn’t yet been exposed to Robin's particular style of speaking yet since they’d ridden in separate cars before, but Steve didn’t think his attention was the reason for Robin’s sudden flush. Chrissy was smiling at her widely and leaning into her a little, amused by her speech and Robin was panicking. 

She was saved by a knock on the door. Three sharp raps from god knew who. It was far too soon to be Hopper coming back, and they certainly weren’t expecting anyone. Eddie moved to answer and Steve followed, hiding behind the door so as not to be seen. 

Eddie tried to open the door just a crack but the person on the other side forced it wide and suddenly Jason Carver stumbled inside screaming for Chrissy.

“Where’s Chrissy? I know you’ve got her here, Munson. Chrissy!” Jason shouted, any remaining words dying on his lips as he took in the odd gathering he’d just crashed. His eyes fell on his girlfriend first, well, ex-girlfriend now from what Chrissy had told Steve. He moved towards her but stopped, eyes growing wide as he spotted Billy all tied up, who’d started struggling again with renewed enthusiasm now that there was someone new in their midst. 

He backed up, unfortunately bumping into Eddie in the process and he jumped, screaming again. Steve watched him take it all in, Robin, Wayne and the girls in the kitchen, and then finally Steve himself. 

“Harrington?” He mumbled stumbling to the side. He took one last look at Chrissy and then he bolted. He was out the door and in his car before any of them could react. Steve still had Billy’s keys and so he ran out after him, but Jason’s car was tearing down the road before he’d gotten halfway to the Camaro.

“Don’t worry about it, son.” Wayne said as they regrouped.

“He’s gonna be a problem.” Eddie insisted.

“Not much he’ll be able to do in one night. Hopper will handle it. Go on and get those girls home so we can all get some sleep. We’ll figure it out in the morning.”

-

Steve had offered to stay behind and help Wayne keep an eye on Billy, as well as Max and El while Eddie drove the older girls home, but Wayne insisted they stick together. 

Robin was dropped off first, they watched her stumble into the house half dazed after Chrissy had given her a hug goodbye. Steve caught Eddie’s eye and they shared a look, knowing they had both seen the same thing. 

Chrissy was next, and In the back of Steve’s mind he knew they would have to pass right by his old house to take her home. They were neighbors. He just hadn’t thought about what it would be like to see the place again or how the sight of a for sale sign in the front yard would make him feel more abandoned than ever. 

He didn’t say any of that out loud of course but he should have known that Eddie would sense something was up anyway. 

Once Chrissy was safely inside, Eddie pulled away, turning in the opposite direction from the trailer park. Before Steve could form the words to ask what he was doing, Eddie was parking the van along the side yard of a house where the bushes were thick enough to hide the vehicle's presence from anyone who might be home. 

Eddie turned in his seat, facing Steve. “It’s totally up to you, but do you want to go back to your old house? Just to see the place or maybe to get some of your old stuff?”

“Won’t someone see us?”

Eddie pointed out a path he couldn’t quite see and explained. “Through those trees and two backyards is the back of your place. I snuck in before, I can do it again.”

“Didn’t you get caught last time, sort of?”

“Technically, but I think Hopper is a little busy right now so we should be fine. We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to. We can just go back, as long as you don’t mind borrowing my old sweatpants, ripped jeans, and worn out band tees.”

Steve ran his fingers absently over the faded Iron Maiden logo that was plastered across his chest. He was still wearing the clothes Eddie loaned him the night before.

“I think they look better on you, but kinda like wearing your clothes. I like that they smell like you.”

Eddie squeezed his eyes shut and curled his fingers tightly around the steering wheel. “Steve, you can’t just say shit like that.” He groaned. “And you're wrong. You have no idea how good you look, what it does to me to see you in my clothes. I would have thought that was obvious with the way I embarrassed myself when you stepped out of the bathroom last night.”  

“I thought you were looking at me like that because of how much of a mess I am.” Steve admitted, running a hand through his hair self-consciously.

Eddie took Steve's other hand and laced their fingers together, eyes full of sincerity as he said, “Sweetheart, I was looking at you like that because I had to physically stop myself from jumping over the counter to eat you.” 

Sweetheart.

“Oh.” Steve breathed.

“Yeah.”

“I would have let you.”

Eddie grinned. “I think I’m starting to get that.”

Steve leaned in and Eddie met him in the middle, rubbing his thumb over the back of Steve's hand as their lips met. Steve melted into the kiss, he had been wanting to do this for hours but the two of them hadn’t really been alone since Eddie had left to pick the kids up from school. It was an effort to keep himself from climbing over the center console and straddling the other boy’s lap. He could have stayed there with their lips locked together for hours but as hidden as they might be it still wasn't a good idea for them to linger for too long. 

Steve pulled back from the kiss reluctantly and let his forehead rest against Eddie's while he considered what he wanted to do.

“I think I want to go in.” He said, finally.

“Okay.” Eddie said, pressing a kiss to the back of Steve’s hand before letting it go.

As they snuck through trees and backyard shadows Eddie whispered to Steve all about how he had snuck into the abandoned Harrington house the first time by crawling through the laundry room window, shedding layers to fit through the small opening which was how Hopper had found him out. 

When they finally made it to Steve’s backyard, Eddie headed right for the window again, not noticing that Steve had broken away and was no longer following him. 

As much as Steve would get a kick out of watching Eddie pull himself up through the small opening, he recalled that when he was younger his mother used to keep a spare key to the back door hidden in a flower pot so that he could let himself in after school. Sure enough, the second pot he checked had a small rusty key sitting under it. 

Steve smiled to himself and jogged over to where Eddie was. He’d already removed the screen and was starting to push at the glass. He stopped as Steve dangled the key in front of his face. “I thought maybe you’d prefer using a door this time so you don’t risk losing your vest again.”

“Where did you? …How?” Eddie sputtered.

“Did you even try to look for a hide-a-key the last time, Eds?” Steve said, laughing a little at the incredulous look on Eddie’s face.

-

It was downright eerie inside the house. Steve had been home alone a lot growing up and It had always been a little creepy and quiet. He was used to it. Sometimes he’d even play a little game with himself, a challenge where he’d see how long he could stand the silence before giving in and turning on the television or radio for company. What he wasn’t used to was the way his and Eddie’s footsteps echoed now in the empty space.

There was something about the lack of stuff, or maybe the sheets covering the few remaining pieces of furniture that made Steve want to crawl out of his skin. 

“Is it all like this?” Steve asked.

Eddie hesitated for a beat but answered. “Pretty much, yeah. Except for your room. I…I don’t know why, but they left it all the way it was.”

“If they thought I was dead they probably just didn't care. Would have let whoever bought the place chuck it all out, or keep what they wanted.”

Eddie was quiet, likely not knowing what to say but began rubbing soothing circles into his back.

“It’s okay. I’m… I know I should be numb to it by now.”

“Hey, Stevie no. You’re allowed to feel however you want to feel.”

“Could you…” Steve trailed off, biting nervously on the inside of his cheek.

“What is it, what do you need?”

“I don’t want to see anymore, do you think you could just grab some of my clothes for me? There should be an old gym bag in my closet.”

“Of course.” Eddie said quickly, leaning in to kiss Steve on the cheek. “I'll be right back.”

Eddie was fast. He was back within 5 minutes carrying a small duffel bag that looked full to bursting. He took Steve’s hand and squeezed. Steve squeezed back as Eddie pulled him out the door.

“Come on.” Eddie said. “Let’s go home.”

-

When they got back Uncle Wayne was sitting on the couch, newspaper held up to his face reading, while a sullen looking and still tied up Billy was sitting on the other end looking half asleep. 

“I tucked the girls into my bed for the night. They wanted to wait up for you two, but little Red was pretty tired so it wasn’t too hard to talk them into it. I’ll be alright out here, I assume you boys don’t mind sharing Ed’s room?” Wayne said with a pointed look.

“Yeah, that’s…  we’re fine.” Eddie muttered, blushing. “What about him?” He asked, gesturing to their captive.

“We can’t keep him like this, and we don’t know how long Hopper is going to be or if he could even come up with an excuse to hold him.” Steve said.

“We already tried to reason with him once.” Eddie argued.

Steve hadn’t even realized that Wayne had left until suddenly the man returned, marching back into the room with a shotgun held loosely in his hands. The older man walked straight past them and over to Billy, shoving the barrel of the weapon right in his face. 

“Okay boy, I hope you're listening because I'm only going to say this once. If you do or say anything that might remotely expose or endanger either of my boys or their friends, I will personally see you dead, do you hear me?” 

Wayne paused, waiting for some signal from Billy that he was listening. He gave a small almost imperceptible nod. Wayne lowered the shotgun and harshly ripped the tape from Billy’s mouth. He winced but didn’t cry out although it had to have hurt. 

“I ain't afraid of your piece a shit father either so don’t even think about getting him involved in this.”

Billy grit his teeth but nodded again, looking off in the direction of Wayne’s bedroom where they could all hear Max and Eleven still awake and giggling together. 

“The girl stays.” Wayne said, interrupting before Billy could even ask. “In fact, consider that part of our agreement letting you leave here with your balls intact. You cover for that girl with your parents, make up whatever story you have to but she’s staying with us until this mess is over with. My boys are the only ones who can keep her safe now.”

Billy agreed to their terms and with no better options they cut off his bindings and let him go, though it pained Steve to return the keys to such a beautiful car. 

-

It wasn’t as awkward as it probably should have been, climbing into bed with Eddie for the first time, each of them wearing nothing but boxers. It probably had something to do with how exhausted he was, the need for sleep overpowering any anxiety Steve would have felt in the situation under normal circumstances. 

He still wanted to talk with Eddie about what they were doing. He was trying not to get too hung up on labels, and he knew in reality it had only been one day of them kissing, one day of them knowing that they liked each other, and there were so many bigger things to be worried about. But life was unpredictable, you could never truly know what was coming next or how much time you had. Wasn’t that the whole reason Steve had thrown himself at Eddie that morning in the first place? But now just didn’t seem to be the time. He didn’t want to risk popping their delicate bubble just yet. 

They both layed down on their sides, the bed too small to allow for much else. With Steve facing Eddie's back and no more than a few inches separating them. Steve tried to just go to sleep but it felt wrong to be that close to Eddie and not be touching him. He slowly eased his arm around Eddie's waist and scooted closer letting his chest press up against the warmth of Eddie's back. 

“Is this okay?” Steve whispered.

In response Eddie took hold of Steve's arm and pulled, wrapping it even tighter around himself as he leaned back into his hold. Suddenly Steve’s cock was pressed firmly against Eddie's ass and he began to grow hard almost immediately. He buried his face in the back of Eddie’s neck, embarrassed, and took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down but it only made things worse. It was all he could do to keep from grinding against him.

“Sorry.” Steve whispered again and tried to back away. 

Eddie chased right after him, turning so they could face each other and pulled Steve back into a tight embrace. With their fronts pressed so firmly together there was no hiding that he was hard too. Steve groaned and captured Eddie’s mouth with his own, their tongues finding each other quickly as the kiss became messy and desperate. Steve found himself whining into Eddie's mouth as the other boy slotted his thigh between his legs, providing pressure and friction in the place he was most desperate for it. 

For a moment his entire world narrowed down to nothing but Eddie. The feel of his lips, the way his arms fell around Steve's body, the way they shared breath, It all felt so good. 

Too good, actually.

Steve froze, afraid of ruining their good time before it had even begun. 

Eddie stilled too, breaking their kiss. He brought a hand up to caress the side of Steve's face, pushing a few stray hairs out of the way as he looked deep into his eyes.  

“Do you want to stop?”.

“No.” Steve admitted, softly. “It’s just that I’m… a little out of practice.”

“It’s okay. I mean, I…” Eddie trailed off.

Steve nuzzled into Eddie's touch and closed his eyes. He couldn’t believe he was about to admit this out loud, but he had to say it. “No, I…Eddie, I haven't even touched myself in two years.”

“What?”

“The lab…there were cameras everywhere, even in my room. I mean, the shower was private I think but…”

“You didn’t feel comfortable.”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, so how about this. Why don’t you just lay back and let me take care of you.” Eddie’s hand disappeared from his face and began to slide down his chest leaving behind a trail of tingling skin.

Steve made a noise low in his throat “Eddie, I…”

“I promise I'll be gentle.” Eddie teased.

“That’s not what I'm worried about.” Steve gasped as Eddie’s hand moved lower, thumb pressing into the dip of his hip. 

“And what are you worried about?” 

“That I'm gonna cum the second you touch me.”

“I think that would be pretty fucking hot.”

Steve whined again and Eddie leaned in, kissing a wet line up Steve’s neck and taking his earlobe between his teeth.

“Can I touch you?” Eddie asked, his hot breath in Steve’s ear making his whole body break out into goosebumps.

“Yes.” Steve breathed. 

Eddie pulled his leg out from between Steve’s and gently urged him onto his back. He ran teasing fingers up and down each of Steve’s thighs, getting closer and closer to his groin with each pass. 

Finally, finally, Eddie dipped his hand into the waistband of Steve's borrowed underwear and wrapped his hand around his leaking cock. The simple touch drove Steve wild, his entire body growing impossibly hot with desire. Eddie stroked him slowly, it was dry save for the small amount of precum he was dripping, and a little bit clumsy, as though Eddie was as nervous and unsure as he was, but none of that made it any less earth shattering.

Tears streamed out of Steve's eyes as he bucked his hips, thrusting up into Eddie’s grip. He was overwhelmed and so close already.  

“It’s okay baby, just let go. I've got you.” Eddie soothed as he kissed the tears away and continued to pump Steve's length. 

He came with a soft cry and stars bursting along the edges of his vision. He surged up to crash his lips into Eddie’s, wanting to taste his mouth again as he worked him through his release. 

Steve barely gave himself a moment to recover before attempting to return the favor. If he was honest he couldn’t wait to get his hands on Eddie for the first time. He hadn’t been with another guy before, not having discovered himself until he was locked away, but he knew what he liked and he thought it wouldn't be too hard to translate that to touching someone else. 

He tried to reach for Eddie and found the other boy scooting away. 

“You don’t have to…” Eddie started.

Steve was confused for a moment, almost hurt, until Eddie sighed and explained. 

“I, um, came when you did.” 

He sounded embarrassed, which was crazy to Steve. “That’s..”

“Sad?” Eddie said.

Steve couldn’t help it, he rolled himself half on top of Eddie, uncaring that they were both a bit wet and sticky and all but jammed his tongue down Eddie's throat.  

He eventually broke the kiss, both of them panting. “That’s so hot, just like you said. That’s really fucking hot, Eds.”

“Oh.”

Eddie shimmied himself out of his boxers and helped Steve out of his own, both wanting to get them off before the mess could dry further. They didn’t bother putting anything else on, what was the point when it felt so good to be skin to skin. They continued to make out as they settled back under the covers, but It wasn’t long before long their kisses turned lazy, the day catching up with them as well as the afterglow.

Steve was almost asleep when the worry started to creep back into the back of his mind, and he couldn’t help thinking out loud. “Do you think the kids and everyone will be okay?”

Eddie, who had his arms wrapped around Steve, tightened his grip and dropped a kiss to Steve's temple as he replied. 

“Yeah, they know what we’re up against. Red’s got El with her, and her headphones. Chrissy promised us she’d get hers on too as soon as got inside. The boys will take care of eachother, and they have Nancy and Jonathan too. Lucas lives right next to the Wheelers so he can sneak over there if he’s afraid to be alone. They’ll be alright.”

There was still plenty that could go wrong, Steve knew, but for tonight he let himself believe that everything would be okay. 

Chapter 11

Thank you @penny00dreadful 💜

Taglist: @newtstabber @goodolefashionedloverboi @adaed5 @buckleybarnes @soaringornithopter @eddie-munsons-lunchbox @bestwifehaver @5ammi90 @sofadofax @ellietheasexylibrarian @manda-panda-monium @hardboiledleggs @mentallyundone @epiclazershark @herebedragons404 @estrellami-1 @paintsplatteredandimperfect @the-s-is-silent @brbsoulnomming @goinsteddie @steddie-there @yeahhhh-suga

#steddie fanfic #steve harrington #eddie munson #stranger things #steddie #steve harrington/eddie munson #steve and el sibling supremacy #good uncle wayne #chrissy cunningham #max mayfield #robin buckley #canon is just a crazy game of d&d #sort of #ao3 #steddie fic #steve x eddie #fanfic

[steveroggers]

i believe in buckley siblings supremacy 

#this was their episode!!! #buck begins

[drcasmeadows]

❛ she wasn’t looking for a knight, she was looking for a sword. ❜

cis woman / she/her. ┊ if you’re looking for DORCAS MEADOWES, you’ll probably find HER in the SLYTHERIN dorm with the rest of the SEVENTH years. they’re the TWENTY year old PUREBLOOD who looks kind of like TATI GABRIELLE. they seem CLEVER, DETERMINED & ENTERPRISING to me, but apparently they’re also ARROGANT, SCRUTINISING & OBSTINATE. maybe that’s why they remind me of rolling eyes beneath pitch black sunglasses, half drunk glasses of red wine stained with red lipstick, a roaring lion now strangled with a quick slithering snake, stacks upon stacks of perfectly completed assignments, rolling through an empty and hollow mansion on dusty, old roller-skates, a permanent smirk on the large and important portrait that takes up half the wall.

links: stats, pinterest character parallels: robin buckley (stranger things), britta perry (community), donna paulsen (suits), cassandra pressman (the society), jessica huang (fresh off the boat), piper chapman (orange is the new black) triggers: nsfw

BACKGROUND

miss dorcas meadowes: one of a kind. not your classmate's younger sister’s tutor. not your friend’s cousin’s twin. not the girl who gave your friend head in a cupboard on the fourth floor. she’s dorcas - and she demands your attention.

dorcas has always been rather exceptional. from a young age she has shown herself to be far more advanced than anyone is ever expected to be - a prodigy, if you wish to put a label on it. she was walking and talking before her twin brother had even got a handle on crawling and she’s been muttering incantations from the age of five. she’s exceptionally talented at everything she attempts, perfecting complicated spells and maneuvers and twenty-letter words far before anyone expects her to. or at least, when she was younger it was a surprise. now she’ll be damned if you don’t know what she can do. but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

mr and mrs meadowes were rather sweet parents. they were kind and softly spoken and damn good with a wand. they were so kind, in fact, that they pandered to dorcas’s rather big ego and always made sure she knew she was special, an extraordinary little girl. she was paraded at pureblood events as the best her generation had to offer, and even some of pureblood society’s greatest elitists had respect for the meadowes’ simply because of how exceptional their eldest daughter was. dorcas was proud, for a while - she loved her mother and father, and she loved her twin and their little sibling and it delighted her to know she could make this family known.

as she grew up, of course, her mother and father’s backbone started to show. though they wouldn’t announce it at parties or the like, they made sure their children knew that blood elitism was beneath them. they were accepting of anyone who deserved their respect, no matter what their blood lineage said about them. mr and mrs meadowes might not have been loud about that to the public, but dorcas certainly was - by the time she was ten, all the respect she had earnt from her fellow purebloods vanished as she made it widely known that she didn’t give a damn if you were muggleborn - she would love you just the same.

when dorcas started at hogwarts, no one was particularly surprised that she didn’t follow in her mother and brother’s footsteps of joining hufflepuff - though perhaps there was a certain expectation that she was a gryffindor, like her father. exactly fifty-two seconds after the hat was placed on her head, dorcas was inducted into the house of the snakes, and a part of her was disappointed. although she knew deep down that this was where she belonged (she’d always been ambitious, cunning, intelligent beyond compare), she had no particular wish to join the nasty children who had shunned her from pureblood society. she wouldn’t let them know of her disappointment, of course, in fact she would push to be the best witch that damned house had ever seen, but late at night sometimes, behind the curtains of her four-poster, she would wish she was with her brother, or even her knew friends - slytherin felt isolating.

it didn’t take long for dorcas to cement her in hogwarts’ popularity scale - right at the top. she was one of the brightest witches the school had seen in a long time, but she was also fun and loving and the life of hogwarts’ party scene. she might’ve had a head two sizes too big, but many believed she had deserved it. she topped every class she partook in, she was keeper for the slytherin quidditch team by her third year, and she’d even taken to tutoring students in the years above her. she was dorcas meadowes: exceptionally exceptional. 

PERSONALITY & MISCELLANEOUS 

if you couldn’t already tell, dorcas is incredibly arrogant. she’s talented at pretty much everything and she knows it. and she’ll tell you. some people resent her for it, whereas others just see it as a confidence they aspire towards. my hot take is she’s a dumbass.

she is of the undeniable belief that her word is gold and if you try and challenge that, you’re wrong. sometimes these beliefs are good, sometimes they’re questionable, but good luck trying to tell her that. she’s stubborn and obstinate and, yet again, super arrogant.

she’s incredibly ambitious, but don’t try and ask her what she wants to do once she graduates - she doesn’t know. of course the clearest path for her would be straight to the ministry, but there is not a bone in dorcas’s body that trusts politics. she believes the ministry of magic is as corrupt as they come and believes her talents would be wasted at such a place, but it’s difficult for her to conceive where else she’d be useful. she’s mcstruggling.

she adores her family a lot. try and mess with her twin and she’ll cut you. try and mess with their younger sibling and you’re dead. a family gal first and foremost!

she’s obviously talented at everything she does, but she has a particular gift for duelling - and she has every intention of using that to her advantage in the upcoming war. she hates pureblood supremacy and will fight tooth and nail to ensure that muggleborn’s can keep the rights they earned. 

her empathy for muggleborn’s likely comes from the racism she experienced as a child. as a young black girl, even though the older pureblood’s were respectful of her and would shower her in compliments, it was almost always followed with ‘especially for a black girl’. not only that, but she had been isolated for the colour of her skin when she was a child, away from the other young kids, as they would often say they were ‘scared’ of her. this discrimination she feels can be likened to what muggleborn’s experience, and for that reason, she is particularly loud about her stance - something about it just hits a little too close to home for her. 

pansexual but tired of men. 

a bit of a serial dater, she finds it hard to settle down. it’s not that she doesn’t believe in monogamy, she’s just so hard to keep up with and she knows that and there’s so few people who can calm her down, but it’s what she needs. 

#| ❛ a little devil in her angel eyes. ❜ ( character study. ) #fallacyintro

[marlcenemck]

rolling eyes beneath pitch black sunglasses. half drunk glasses of red wine stained with red lipstick. a roaring lion now strangled with a quick slithering snake. stacks upon stacks of perfectly completed assignments. rolling through an empty and hollow mansion on dusty, old roller-skates. a permanent smirk on the large and important portrait that takes up half the wall.

if you’re looking for MARLENE MCKINNON, you’ll probably find HER in the SLYTHERIN dorm with the rest of the SEVENTH years. they’re the TWENTY-ONE year old PUREBLOOD who looks kind of like MAYA HAWKE. they seem CLEVER, DETERMINED & ENTERPRISING to me, but apparently they’re also ARROGANT, SCRUTINISING & OBSTINATE. maybe that’s why their patronus is A CROW.

links: stats character inspo: robin buckley (stranger things), britta perry (community), donna paulsen (suits), cassandra pressman (the society), jessica huang (fresh off the boat), piper chapman (orange is the new black) triggers: nsfw

                                                                                                                     BACKGROUND

Miss Marlene McKinnon : one of a kind. Not your classmates younger sister’s tutor. Not your friend’s cousin’s twin. Not the girl who gave your friend head in a cupboard on the fourth floor. She’s Marlene - and she demands your attention.

Marlene has always been rather exceptional. From a young age she has shown herself to be far more advanced then anyone is ever expected to be - a prodigy, if you wish to put a label on it. She was walking and talking before her twin brother had even got a handle on crawling and she’s been muttering incantations from the age of five. She’s exceptionally talented at everything she attempts, perfecting complicated spells and manevours and twenty-letter words far before anyone expects her to. Or at least, when she was younger it was a surprise. Now she’ll be damned if you don’t know what she can do. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Mr and Mrs McKinnon were rather kind parents. They were kind and softly spoken and damn good with a wand. They were so kind, in fact, that they pandered to Marlene’s rather big ego and always made sure she knew she was special, an extraordinary little girl. She was paraded at Pureblood events as the best her generation had to offer, and even some of Pureblood society’s greatest elitists had respect for the McKinnon’s simply because of how exceptional their eldest daughter was. Marlene was proud, for a while - she loved her mother and father, and she loved her twin and their little sibling and it delighted her to know she could make this family known.

As she grew up, of course, her mother and father’s backbone started to show. Though they wouldn’t announce it at parties or the like, they made sure their children knew that blood elitism was beneath them. They were accepting of anyone who deserved their respect, no matter what their blood lineage said about them. Mr and Mrs McKinnon might not have been loud about that to the public, but Marlene certainly did - by the time she was ten, all the respect she had earned from her fellow Purebloods vanished as she made it widely known that she didn’t give a damn if you were Muggleborn - she would love you just the same.

When Marlene started at Hogwarts, no one was particularly surprised that she didn’t follow in her mother and brother’s footsteps of joining Hufflepuff - though perhaps there was a certain expectation that she was a Gryffindor, like her father. Exactly fifty-two seconds after the hat was placed on her head, Marlene was inducted into the house of the snakes, and a part of her was disappointed. Although she knew deep down that this was where she belonged (she’d always been ambitious, cunning, intelligent beyond compare), she had no particular wish to join the nasty children who had shunned her from Pureblood society. She wouldn’t let them know of her disappointment, of course, in fact she would push to be the best witch that damned house had ever seen, but late at night sometimes, behind the curtains of her four-poster, she would wish she was with her brother, or even her knew friends - Slytherin felt isolating.

It didn’t take long for Marlene to cement her in Hogwarts’ popularity scale - right at the top. She was one of the brightest witches the school had seen in a long time, but she was also fun and loving and the life of Hogwarts’ party scene. She might’ve had a head two sizes too big, but many believed she had deserved it. She topped every class she partoke in, she was Keeper for the Slytherin Quidditch team by her third year, and she’d even taken to tutoring students in the years above her. She was Marlene McKinnon : exceptionally exceptional. 

                                                                         PERSONALITY & MISCELLANEOUS 

If you couldn’t already tell, Marlene is incredibly arrogant. She’s talented at pretty much everything and she knows it. And she’ll tell you. Some people resent her for it, whereas others just see it as a confidence they aspire towards. My hot take is she’s a dumbass.

She is of the undeniable belief that her word is gold and if you try and challenge that, you’re wrong. Sometimes these beliefs are good, sometimes they’re questionable, but good luck trying to tell her that. She’s stubborn and obstinate and, yet again, super arrogant.

She’s incredibly ambitious, but don’t try and ask her what she wants to do once she graduates - she doesn’t know. Of course the clearest path for her would be straight to the Ministry, but there is not a bone in Marlene’s body that trusts politics. She believes the Ministry of Magic is as corrupt as they come and believes her talents would be wasted at such a place, but it’s difficult for her to conceive where else she’d be useful. She’s McStruggling.

She adores her family a lot. Try and mess with Marc (her twin) and she’ll Cut You. Try and mess with their younger sibling and you’re dead. A family gal first and foremost!

She’s obviously talented at everything she does, but she has a particular gift for duelling - and she has every intention of using that to her advantage in the upcoming war. She hates Pureblood supremacy and will fight tooth and nail to ensure that Muggleborn’s can keep the rights they earned. 

Pansexual but tired of men. 

A bit of a serial dater, she finds it hard to settle down. It’s not that she doesn’t believe in monogamy, she’s just so hard to keep up with and she knows that and there’s so few people who can calm her down, but it’s what she needs. 

#epoch.intro #| ❛ a little devil in her angel eyes. ❜ ( character study. ) #this is Bad dshjafklw #and rushed

[hbyrde36]

Life is a Game (and True Love is a Trophy)

Chapter 14

Ch 1 Ch 2 Ch 3 Ch 4 Ch 5 Ch 6 Ch 7

Ch 8 Ch 9 Ch 10 Ch 11 Ch 12 Ch 13 ao3 link

*Eddie*

It was eerie walking through the burnt out remains of Hawkins lab. It would have been a surreal thing either way, but it was worse now that he was remembering. 

Ever since he’d worked with El earlier that day, more and more had been coming back to him in bits and pieces—flashes of growing up trapped inside white walls, his early childhood wasted in the cold unfeeling hands of Dr. Brenner and his colleagues.  

He made his way quickly to the building’s basement, slipping into the Upside Down through a newly reopened crack in the wall. It looked almost exactly as he had always pictured it—a cold, barren, and slightly alien landscape. A dark mockery of the town he’d come to know as home.

He walked on, choosing his direction based on instinct alone, trusting himself that he knew the way to the Creel house even if he’d never actually been there. He just had a gut feeling and let himself follow it. If he was going to do this, if he had any hope at all of getting Steve out of this situation alive, he’d have to trust himself—all of himself. 

Chittering growls in the distance made Eddie freeze in place, trying to discern where they were coming from and make sure they weren’t headed his way. Just as suddenly, he also heard the soft footsteps of something coming up rapidly behind him, too light to be a demogorgon or even a demodog, but still concerning. 

Before he could even manage to turn and check on the something, it ran right into his back with a quiet, “oof.”

He whirled around with his hands up ready to fight, only to come face to face with a wide-eyed and startled Eleven.

“What are you doing here?!” He hissed.

“What are you doing here?” 

“El!”

“Eddie!”

The growling intensified, seeming much closer and in greater numbers than before. The sound sent shivers down Eddie’s spine.

“Okay maybe we shouldn’t be yelling.” He whispered, and took her by the hand, pulling her along at a jog in the direction he’d been going. They didn’t slow down or stop until he was sure they’d lost the unseen pack of predators.

“I should really be making you go back. Everyone’s going to be worried when they find out you’re gone.” He said when it was safe—safer.

“And they will not be worried about you?” She argued.

He shook his head, sputtering. It wasn’t the same thing at all! 

She was… 

And he… 

“I’m an adult!”

“You need me,” she said, tearing herself out of his grip and putting both hands on her hips, in startling similarity to her adoptive big brother. 

“El, you’re just a kid! Steve wouldn’t want you putting yourself in danger like this.”

She quirked a brow and raised both hands palms-out at a nearby fallen tree trunk that was at least as big around as she was tall. It lifted into the air seemingly of its own accord, though Eddie knew better, and was flung clean across the road to the other side. 

“I am strong. We can get Steve out and fight Henry, together.”

She made a hell of a point, though he still didn’t like it. If anything happened to her he’d never be able to forgive himself.

“Fine.” He said between clenched teeth and motioned to the street ahead.

“He would not like you being in danger either, Eddie.” She said softly, slipping her hand back into his as they resumed their journey.

“I know.”

-

When the Creel House finally came into view Eddie was still struggling to come up with any sort of plan, and as they approached the front door with its cracked and filthy stained glass window, resigned himself to playing it by ear.

He was almost certain they no longer had the element of surprise on their side, having realized along the way that there was very little chance Henry didn’t already know they were coming. The way there had been far too easy to traverse, almost as if he were letting them in. Eddie couldn't decide if that was a good thing or not.  

Still, they took care in avoiding the intricate web of vines that ran up and down the staircase on their way to the top floor of the house. No need to make things easier for their enemy if they actually had somehow flown in under the radar. 

Eddie pushed the attic door open as quietly as he could and tiptoed inside, El following closely behind. The first thing he saw was Steve, strung up in a corner across the room by his arms and legs with the same tendrils that had littered the stairs, that seemed to be scattered all over this hell dimension. 

His body was disturbingly limp, head lolled to one side, eyes closed, and Eddie hoped with everything he had that he was just unconscious.

Without taking so much as a second to glance around the rest of the space, Eddie rushed towards the place where Steve hung, only to find himself unable to move—his feet becoming glued to the floor about halfway there. Out of habit he looked down first, expecting to find one of those snake-like things holding him back, or or even some substance sticking him there, but there was nothing to see. 

Eddie swiveled his head around and finally he saw him. Vecna—Henry, hovering with the aid of his own set of tentacle-like vines that seemed to grow out of his back, in the middle of the space in front of a large boarded-up window. He had a single long-clawed hand held in the air aimed in Eddie’s direction.

Eleven stepped out in front of Eddie, mirroring Henry’s stance and using her own power, somehow distracting him enough to sever the connection.

As soon as he was free from his invisible bonds, Eddie ran to Steve’s side, hands flying to his neck to check for a pulse. He sagged in relief as he felt a strong steady beat against his fingers, and briefly rested his forehead against Steve's chest, feeling its shallow rise and fall with each wheezing breath.

“I’m here, sweetheart. We’re gonna get you out, don't worry.” He whispered into the fabric of Steve’s shirt and pressed a kiss through it right over his heart.

“The same way you got Eleven out when you were both small children?” Henry quipped, having somehow overheard him. His voice was deep and gravelly, more a growl, like the creatures who served him, than actual human speech. 

Eddie breathed Steve in, committing the feel and smell of him to memory one last time before turning to face the monster of a man that might in fact be his biological father, putting himself between his past and his present.

“Let him go.” Eddie demanded.

“And why would I do that, Eddie?” Henry asked, drawing his name out as if to mock the very idea of it, an expression of distaste pinching his disfigured face. 

“Because, if you let him go… I'll stay.”

“We.” Eleven said firmly, stepping up to stand next to him—adding herself to the human shield standing between her brother and Henry. “We will stay, but only if you agree to let Steve go and leave the rest of our friends alone.”

“Is that what you think I want?”

“Isn’t that what this has all been about?” Eddie blurted out. “Sure, you wanted to get back at Eleven for sending you here, at me for abandoning you, but you wanted us by your side once and now you’ve taken the one thing that guaranteed we would come to you.”

“You think I took him to draw you out?” Henry threw his head back with a deep rumbling laugh, as he was slowly lowered to the floor. “I took him to hurt you, to hurt both of you. You serving yourselves up for me like this is merely a bonus.”

With a casual flick of his wrists, Henry sent both of them skidding across the floor until their backs smacked into the wall. More of Henry’s never ending supply of sentient vines began to coil themselves around Eddie's legs, starting at his ankles and snaking upwards until he was too entangled to move. Another set had taken hold of his wrists, pinning them out at his sides. Eddie struggled in their hold, trying to get any part of him free, to try and fight back, but it was no use. His bindings only grew tighter and tighter. 

All he could do was turn his head and watch as the same happened to Eleven right beside him. She cried out, but the sound was cut off abruptly as a final slimy tendril wrapped around her throat. Her eyes went wide, tears streaming down her face as she was slowly choked into unconsciousness.

Henry must have been sandbagging before. He’d let El free Eddie from his hold, it was the only explanation. The power he’d just displayed was far beyond what he had shown when they first entered the attic.

But why? 

Just to fuck with them? Just to make them think they had a chance? What did these mind games do for him—what did it prove? 

Maybe he just enjoyed tormenting them. 

Eddie screamed El’s name as her small body went limp and soon found his own head being wrenched back. His heart beat frantically as he was pinned in place against the wall by another tentacle sliding across his forehead and a final one around his throat, constricting his airway. 

“It didn’t have to be this way.” Henry said quietly to himself, almost sounding regretful.

Eddie wanted to tell him to go fuck himself, tried to make his mouth form the words but could only open and close his lips like a fish struggling out of water. Before long, black spots began to dance over his vision, and Eddie could do nothing but glare at his would-be father as the darkness slowly overtook him, vowing to himself that if he ever woke up again he would see him dead. One way or another.

-

Miraculously, he did wake again.

Slowly, at first—small bits of sensory information flooding his consciousness. The feel of the hard floor beneath his cheek, the chill of the air that surrounded him, its stale and musty smell, the taste of ash sitting on the back of his tongue. 

His head was pounding, but he was alive. 

He took silent stock of his body, finding that, apart from the pain in his head and a bit of rawness around his neck, he was mostly unharmed. He was also no longer tied up.

Finally, he opened his eyes and sat up. Henry was still there back up in his high position, but he was in a trance, or at least he seemed to be. Though Eddie wouldn't put it past him to be putting on a show again. He looked next to him, half expecting, half hoping to find Eleven to be sprawled out similarly free, but she was gone.

He looked around in a panic, scrambling to his feet when he saw she was now hung over in the corner with Steve as if on some kind of gruesome art display made special for him. He ran to check on her. The ties that bound her were looser now, merely holding her up in place just like her brother. She was paler than ever but her pulse was strong.

She was alive. 

He didn't understand why Henry hadn’t killed them when he had the chance, unless he’d been bluffing when he said drawing them out wasn’t his goal—unless he wanted something from them. Frankly, Eddie didn't care what his motivations were, he was sick and fucking tired of all of it. Henry’s mind games, his own fear, and doubt, and guilt. He had to find some way to end this.

“Ah, you are awake, good.” Henry said, drawing Eddie’s attention back to the rest of the room.

“What do you want? Why are you doing this?” Eddie asked. Less for an answer and more to buy some time for him to think, and for El to wake up. He couldn't do this alone, he knew that now. 

“If you would only stop and think about it logically for a minute, you would see that I am not the evil villain you think I am. I’m the reason you were able to free yourself from that place, after all. Without me you would still be living under Papa’s thumb.”

It was true, in a roundabout way, but Eddie wasn’t fooled. “Then why don’t you just let us go and leave us alone if you’re not the bad guy in this story?”

“Humans are a unique type of pest, don’t you think?” Henry continued conversationally, as if they were discussing current events, or the weather. “Multiplying and poisoning our world all while enforcing a deeply unnatural structure of their own creation, as if it were some kind of improvement over the natural way of things. Some call it order, I call it a straitjacket. A cruel, oppressive world built on a foundation of made-up rules. Seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, decades. Each life a shadow, a lesser version of the one before. Wake up, eat, work, sleep, reproduce, and die. Everyone is just waiting for it all to be over. All while performing in a silly, terrible play, day after day. I didn’t want that for myself, nor did I want it for you. We can make our own rules, and restore balance to this broken world. Burn it down only so that we may save it, together.”

Together—together—together. 

The word echoed in Eddie's mind like the ringing of a bell. Evoking thoughts of Wayne, Claudia, and Dustin—the boys. His friends, his family. Even Hopper, who he’d never liked but had unflinchingly had his back since the day he’d heard about the scared little boy who’d escaped from Hawkins lab. 

A flash of white behind Eddie’s eyes, and he saw him, Hop. There were others with him too. Wayne for sure, marching along right next to him. The others were fuzzy though he thought he got a glimpse of Chrissy’s ponytail. They were all walking down an abandoned strip of road, ash falling lightly around them. He saw it all in a split second before the vision fell away. 

“Son, Five, Eddie—you are capable of more than you could possibly imagine. You can see things, yes, past, present, future; but if you wanted, like me you could reach into others minds, explore their memories. With practice and my help you could influence their very thoughts, their feelings. You must see how this ability could be used for good? To control that which comes after, in our new world. To make sure it never comes to this again.”

Eddie feared for a moment that Henry would know what he’d seen. He knew the man was able to reach inside and root around in people’s brains, but no reaction came. He wondered if his own abilities served to block his father out. He would still have learned much through Steve’s mind and others, but to his relief it seemed as though he couldn't read Eddie himself. 

He couldn't be sure exactly when the vision had found him from. In the now? In the future? He chose to believe it was in the present and if he could only stall Henry long enough, help would arrive. He hummed, crossing his arms over his chest and doing his best to look interested, if suspicious, hoping it would prompt Henry to continue.

“But first you must disabuse yourself of this idea that all human lives are precious. They are nothing but a source of power now. With each life I took back then I became stronger, more powerful. You and me? We are the only ones that matter. I had hoped for a time that Eleven could be like us, but she doesn’t have the constitution for it.”

Henry sighed, and there was that suggestion of regret again, as if he had truly cared about El at one point. Eddie didn’t buy it.

“When Papa finally realized he could not control me, he tried to recreate me. He began a program. Its subjects were powerful but none came close to having my abilities, the ones Papa was so desperate to wield. He came up with a new…experiment, and nine months later you were born.” 

“You are better than they are.” Henry said, pointing a claw at his two captives. “Superior. For the first time in your life you could be truly free. Imagine what we could do together. We could reshape the world, remake it how we see fit. End them. Cut your ties to this pretend life you’ve been leading, and join me.”

And Eddie couldn't help it. He shook his head and began to clap slowly. 

“For someone who claims not to be a villain it was one hell of a monologue, I'll give you that. I guess I can see where I get my storytelling abilities from. But, uh, I do have to ask—what the fuck is wrong with you? And where in that twisted, rotted-out brain of yours did you get the idea that I would ever, ever, go for that?”

“We are family.”

Family—family—family.

Another flash and he could see them, his real family, approaching and opening the front door of the Creel house. Inwardly, he could have cried in relief. 

Outwardly, he scoffed. 

“You’re not my family. Wayne, the only father I’ve ever known, he’s my family. Claudia and Dustin, and the boys, they are my family.”

He began to take short slow steps towards where Steve and El hung, which happened to be the furthest point from the attic door, keeping Henry’s eyes on him and away from where the others would hopefully be entering any minute. 

Eddie gestured to El as he spoke. “She may have been lost to me for a while but Eleven is my little sister. And Steve…” He trailed off, smiling sadly to himself as he pictured his boyfriends face the last time he’d seen him awake—smiling, and warm. 

“You said I was better than them, superior? But that’s where you’re wrong. There is no one better than Steve Harrington. He cares about people. He took in a girl he knew nothing about for no reason except it was the right thing to do. He loves with his whole soul, never expecting anything in return. That is greatness, that is power. And I would rather die right now than spend one day without him, or her, or anyone else I care about, in your new world order.”

Eddie stuck his hand into his pocket, trying to be casual about it, palming the small pocket knife concealed there before pulling the hand back out. For what good the small blade would do him.  

“So, no, daddy dearest. I will not be joining you. I am nothing like you, and I never will be, even if we do happen to share DNA. You are nothing more to me than a monster who needs to be put down.”

Henry snarled, thrusting his clawed hand out once more, the unseen force sending Eddie falling backwards, landing on the floor hard. It stunned him for a moment, knocking the wind out of him as well as the knife from his hand. Before he could recover he was snatched up by the ankle, dragged across the room nearly to Henry’s disgusting feet, and then hoisted up to be dangled upside down in front of him, their faces inches apart. 

Something small but heavy fell from his breast pocket to land with a metallic clink on the wood beneath him. He glanced down, barely registering the sight of his old Zippo lying there that he’d completely forgotten he had on him, before a gunshot rang out.

It was loud in the small space, or maybe that was because the bullet had whizzed right past his head to graze Henry in the shoulder. His body jerked with the blow and Eddie was dropped instantly. 

He was dazed from the fall and the fact that he’d lost all hearing in his right ear, replaced by a high-pitched ringing sound. Hands grabbed him under the armpits from behind, at the same time someone, Robin he realized distantly, appeared in front of him, first scooping up his fallen lighter and then taking hold of his legs, helping to carry him back and away from the firefight. 

More shots rang out and Eddie spun his head around just in time to see Hopper getting another shot off while Wayne reloaded, both of them brandishing matching hunting rifles. 

When they finally came to a stop, Robin started fussing over him, as did Chrissy—who was, apparently, the person who’d gripped him up from behind. But he waved them off, slapping their hands away and shouting at them that he was fine and to check on Steve and El. They looked like they wanted to argue, but one glance at the two others hanging limp in the corner was enough to convince them to go. 

“The lighter!” He yelled to Robin. “Everything down here hates fire, use the lighter to release them.”

Trusting the girls to that task, Eddie turned his attention back to the fight, watching Wayne step up to take his own shot while Hopper re-loaded. He also noticed for the first time that Nancy and Jonathan were there too, though they were stuck in the doorway, barred entrance by more of the vines. They must not have made it through before Henry realized he was being ambushed. 

Jonathan hacked at the tendrils with an ax, while Nancy went at them with a can of Aqua Net and a lighter. Improvised flamethrower, color him impressed.

Eddie took a few deep breaths, sweeping the ground with his eyes for any sign of his dropped pocket knife, the only weapon he’d brought into this place with him.

His search was interrupted by the sound of both men’s rifles clattering to the floor, one after the other. Eddie’s head shot up and he had the perfect view of Wayne and Hopper both being lifted off the ground as if by invisible strings. The men’s bodies grew stiff as their heads were forced back and blood began to seep from their eyes and ears. It was the classic Vecna attack and he had no idea how to stop it.

Henry locked eyes with Eddie through the space between the two floating men and did his best approximation of a smile with his lipless mouth. Eddie jumped to his feet on shaking legs and limped towards them. 

“Stop this!” He shouted, and it was the strangest thing—like his voice reverberated off the walls and back to him. 

Henry looked shaken for a split second, but the emotion was gone as quickly as it had come. He made a show of considering his two captives before striking out with one of his hands, and sent Hopper’s body flying across the attic. He hit a wall and slid down, landing in an unmoving heap at the bottom of it. 

Wayne began to make a gurgling noise, his eyes bulging, blood pouring out of them in increasing amounts.

“Mr. Wayne! No!” El shouted, running straight at Henry with both hands raised. Eddie didn’t know when she’d woken up but he was so fucking grateful for it. She screamed wordlessly, blood already trickling from one side of her nose from the effort.

Wayne fell instantly, released as Henry was forced to focus all of his energy on holding Eleven back.  

It was like a juggling act. Henry could only keep so many balls in the air at once for so long, and that number seemed to be dwindling as he got tired. There were so many of them, and only one of him, it should have meant they had the upper hand finally, but nothing they did ever affected him for long. 

Eddie lunged for Wayne, throwing himself down at the man's side while he sputtered and gasped for air. 

“Hey, Asshole.”

Nancy, who had taken up one of the fallen rifles, shouldered the weapon, aimed, and fired—landing a perfect shot directly in the middle of Henry’s forehead. 

El was freed from his psychic grip as Henry rocked back from the force of the bullet, but somehow he didn’t go down.

And Eddie? He’d had enough.

Why didn't he go down? Was he the fucking Terminator or something?!

Eddie was exhausted, frustrated, feeling all but hopeless as he’d watched his people get hurt again and again.

How dare Henry be stronger than all of them combined!

How was that fair?

They were outmatched. 

He felt worthless, his powers no help to them in a fight like this.

Unless…

He thought back to that small room, the day when he’d been trapped together with Brenner for hours as a little boy. How he’d tried and tried but it was never enough, and he’d gotten so angry, and overwhelmed, and frustrated, and it had built and built until finally he’d just burst with it—slammed his small fist down on that table and sent all of Papa's papers flying. 

Eddie felt similarly now, it had been building up in his blood since the moment he’d woken to find Steve gone, a rage simmering in his veins, flowing through his body like an electric current—all of it meeting at his center, coiling, getting tighter and tighter until he had no choice but to snap. 

He screamed his fury, releasing it from his body as he pounded both of his fists down into the hard wooden floor. 

Eddie was no longer a child, and though his power was wild and untried, it was fierce. He’d had enough sense to try and control the blast at the last minute, sending most of it forward rather than out in all directions. His own people staggered in place but those on their feet had managed to retain that footing. 

Henry, on the other hand, had been knocked flat on his ass and Eddie was determined to keep him there. He threw a hand out using it to help focus what power he could still feel hovering just there outside of his body, concentrating on using it to keep Henry pinned to his spot on the floor. 

Eddie stood, staggering closer to his target and felt a presence fall into step next to him. It was Eleven, adding her power to his as she held her own hand out to help lock their enemy in place. 

His hand shook, his arm ached, and blood ran in thick hot rivulets from his nose down his chin, but he would not stop. He refused to falter when they finally had Henry on the hook. 

Nancy stepped into sight on the other side of Henry’s splayed form, reloading the rifle she still held in her hands and aiming it down at her target. Jonathan joined her wielding a gas can Eddie hadn’t noticed before, something they must have carried in with them all the way from the cabin, and began splashing it all over Henry’s body, soaking him in the accelerant. 

Jonathan dropped the gas can, and pulled out the lighter Nancy had been using earlier from his pocket. He tried several times to light it but it just wouldn’t catch. 

Before anyone even asked, Robin appeared at Eddie’s elbow brandishing his own shiny silver Zippo. With one hand she flicked the lid up and struck the little wheel. The flame sparked to life instantly and she tossed it right down into the middle of Henry’s chest, setting his whole body alight in a millisecond.

Robin smiled, her face shining in the bright light of the fire. 

“Flambé.”

Chapter 15

Thanks forever to @penny00dreadful for being the best friend, cheerleader, and beta in the whole fucking world💜

Taglist: @newtstabber @goodolefashionedloverboi @adaed5 @buckleybarnes @soaringornithopter @eddie-munsons-lunchbox @bestwifehaver @5ammi90 @sofadofax @ellietheasexylibrarian @manda-panda-monium @hardboiledleggs @mentallyundone @epiclazershark @herebedragons404 @estrellami-1 @paintsplatteredandimperfect @the-s-is-silent @brbsoulnomming @goinsteddie @steddie-there @yeahhhh-suga @thestarslittleking

#steddie fanfic #steve harrington #eddie munson #stranger things #steddie #steve harrington/eddie munson #steve x eddie #steddie fic #fanfic #robin buckley #chrissy cunningham #steve and el sibling supremacy #good uncle wayne

[hbyrde36]

Life is a Game (and True Love is a Trophy)

Chapter 12

Ch 1 Ch 2 Ch 3 Ch 4 Ch 5 Ch 6 Ch 7

Ch 8 Ch 9 Ch 10 Ch 11 ao3 link

CW: Smut/NSFW

*Steve*

“What about Billy?” Steve asked once everyone took a seat on the cabin’s front porch. 

It had taken a few minutes to calm Chrissy down and convince her that they didn't blame her for the trouble Jason had caused. Eddie kept assuring her that it was all okay, and of course she wasn’t responsible for anything her douchebag of an ex said or did, but it wasn't until Robin stepped in and pulled the other girl into a hug that she stopped crying. 

Even now the two of them were sat together cross-legged on the porch floor, knees brushing, holding hands. Steve would have liked to do the same with Eddie, knowing they could both use a little comfort and reassurance too, but that sort of casual intimacy just wasn’t done between male friends, and while Wayne knew about them, no one else did yet. So he held himself back from reaching out while other eyes were on them.

He and Eddie really needed to have a conversation about that at some point.  Preferably sooner than later.

Steve resolved to bring it up the next time they were alone. He was itching to tell Eleven about them. Robin too. His friendship with her might be brand new but if their barely coded conversation in the car was any indication, he was sure that she would not only be cool about it, but happy for them. 

Hell, if he was totally honest he wanted everyone to know, would shout it from the rooftops if he could. He knew It was a crazy thing to think, but everything else that was happening aside? He had never been so happy. Eddie made him happy, and he wanted the world, or at least their little pocket of it, to know. He could only hope his new boyfriend felt the same.

“I think Carver was hoping he would press charges,” Hopper began. “But Hargrove refused to corroborate the story. I don’t know what you boys said, but you must have scared the shit out of him. He wouldn’t answer any questions, just kept repeating that he’d been home all night and didn’t know what Jason was talking about.”

Steve choked back a laugh and fought not to look at Wayne, who was sharing a pleased grin with his cup of coffee, and he was pretty sure Eddie was doing the same. They both knew it wasn’t due to their efforts that Billy had kept his mouth shut. 

“Then these two showed up raising hell at the police station ready to defend you-” The chief continued, pointing at Eddie. “-to the death and give statements that Jason was making it all up.”

“What did you expect us to do?!” Robin yelled. 

“The whole school was talking about it! We had to take action.” Chrissy added.

Hopper groaned, raking a hand over his face. Steve felt for the man, truly. He had to be exhausted. “Not that it even matters if Carver keeps up his crusade, but statements equal paper trail and I don’t think I have to remind you that this evil wizard or whatever the fuck he is isn’t the only enemy we have.”

Everyone nodded in agreement, the girls a bit sheepishly, but the chief was right. Fire or not, the lab and whatever shadowy sector of the government was in charge of it, was as looming a threat as Vecna.

“Ah shit, the whole school? Do the kids know what’s going on?” Eddie asked, shooting Steve a worried glance. 

“You’re all kids.” Hopper muttered, mostly to himself, and sighed. “Claudia knows about this place, and I called her too when I realized how bad this could get. I wouldn’t be surprised if they all- “

As if on cue, Hopper's sentence was interrupted by the sound of leaves crunching under the wheels of a car, as a station wagon pulled in to park beside his SUV.

“-Showed up here at some point.”

Dustin, Lucas, Will, and Mike all clambered out of the car the second it stopped moving. Each one with a backpack over their shoulder and a sleeping bag tucked under their arm. They rushed through the trees, pushing and shoving each other as if in a race to be first to reach the house. 

Lucas won, an unsurprising turn of events considering he was the only one of them who played a sport, and threw himself down next to Max and El who were giggling at the whole display. 

Dustin was a close second, hitting the bottom step just behind his friend. What he lacked in physical fitness he made up for in passion. He and the other two younger boys took up posts against the railing across from Eddie and Steve. 

“What’s with the sleeping bags?” Eddie asked, though the answer was obvious.

Dustin rolled his eyes. “Look I know you're on the lam now and everything, but it’s literally been less than 12 hours and you’ve already lost track of the days? It’s Friday!”

“So?”

“So, we’re sleeping over! We have the whole weekend to come up with a plan to defeat Vecna and discredit Jason Carver so you can come home.” Dustin declared.

Eddie stilled, and Steve felt his own heart drop. He didn’t know how much hope Eddie was clinging to, but based on his reaction he had at least partially come to realize what Steve had known from the second Wayne told them they had to go. 

There was no coming home. They would never be able to set foot in the Munson trailer again. 

Now that Steve knew about Jason giving him away, he was even more sure of that fact. It would take nothing for what remained of Hawins lab to connect Steve and El to Eddie and put the full picture together. They were past the point of no return now. No matter what happened with Vecna, if they survived, Steve, El, Eddie, and even Wayne would probably have to run and hide for the rest of their lives.

Steve couldn’t help reaching out then, smoothing a hand along Eddie’s back. He hoped no one noticed, or that if they did Eddie wouldn't mind. He just couldn’t not offer what little comfort he had to give in that moment. 

There was no reason to burden the kids with those harsh truths though, not yet anyway. There would be time for that later. 

“That sounds great Dustin, thanks. I'm glad you guys are here.” Steve said, saving Eddie from having to respond, and he leaned into Steve’s touch as if to say thanks.

Claudia made her way up about a minute later, hefting a grocery bag brimming with snacks that she dumped into Wayne’s lap on arrival.

“Right.” She said, a little out of breath. “They’re your problem now, Wayne. I’ll be back to help out in the morning.”

Eddie’s uncle took it in stride. He was probably used to hosting the group of teenagers, at least occasionally. 

“Where are you going? Do you think it’s a good idea for you to be home alone right now?” Hopper asked her.

“Oh, I'll be fine Jim.” She said, waving him off. “I'm certainly not spending the night here. Also there's some sort of emergency meeting at the school tonight for the parents. Considering that it’s almost certainly about our boys, I think it’s best if I attend so we can see what people are saying about all this.”

Hopper huffed. “I didn’t hear anything on the radio about a meeting.”

“Be hard to when it's not on you.” She said, nodding down to the spot where it should have been attached to him. 

“Shit.” He said, patting himself down. “I better get back before this whole thing spirals even further out of control.”

The chief jumped up out of his chair ready to take off but Steve was right there, getting up from his own spot to grab the man’s arm.

“Wait! What about the fire?” Steve asked. He couldn't let it go. He’d been patient so far because they had more pressing concerns, but he needed to know.

“Honestly, kid, it’s probably not what you want to hear but there's not much to tell. There was no one standing around outside according to the first responders on the scene. The place was mostly deserted before the fire started, apart from a few cars in the parking lot. The building’s a charred mess. They had a hard time putting the flames out, blamed it on whatever chemicals that must have been in the labs acting as accelerants. No one’s been allowed to search inside yet for potential survivors or victims. At first because the fire department deemed it unsafe, then come morning a government agency, whose name I was informed is classified, showed up and said they’d be taking it from there.” Hopper shook his head. “I’ll keep my ear to the ground for any sign of your Doctor Owens, but if he was in there… “

“He’s probably dead.” Steve finished the sentence for him. 

“I’m sorry, Steve.’ He said, and it sounded like he meant it. “I’ll go check in at the station and then come back so we can figure out our next move.”

“Have you slept, Jim?” Wayne asked.

“It’s overrated.”

“Go home. Check on Joyce, get some rest, and come back in the morning.” Wayne said, and surprisingly, Hopper agreed.

He and Claudia said their goodbyes and left. The woman offered to give Robin and Chrissy a ride home but the two girls had decided to join in on the massive sleepover. 

“The more the merrier I guess.” Wayne said gruffly, but it was clear that he didn't actually mind. 

It had grown dark and a little chilly out as they talked so everyone piled inside and the negotiations for later sleeping arrangements began. Wayne split off to the kitchen, and Eddie, who had been uncharacteristically quiet since the boys arrived, quickly joined the fray, letting the kids know in no uncertain terms that the couch was Wayne’s and both beds were spoken for. Really they were just battling over floor space at that point.

It was loud and chaotic, and Steve took the opportunity to slip away from the group and retreat to the comparative quiet of his and Eddie's room, pressing fingers to his temples to try and relieve the pressure that had been building behind his eyes all day. He should have known a certain someone would notice his absence right away. 

“You okay?” Eddie asked, opening the door just enough to stick his head inside.

“Yeah, just a headache.” He replied, sitting on the edge of the bed.

“I saw a pretty impressive first aid kit in the bathroom. I bet there’s some sort of pain killers in there. I’ll be right back.” Eddie said, ducking out only to return a minute later with a bottle of aspirin and a glass of water. He shut the door behind him and shook a few of the pills out into Steve’s waiting hand.

“Thanks” He said, downing both the medicine and the water in one go. 

“You don’t think… Eddie began hesitantly after a beat of silence, and it took Steve a moment to realize what the other boy was getting at. 

“Oh! No, definitely not.” He said, shaking his head. He pulled Eddie down by the hand to sit beside him. “This is normal, for me at least. I get headaches all the time. It’s nothing. Besides, doesn’t Vecna usually go after people that are like- ” He paused, trying to think of the right way to say it. “Sad and depressed and stuff? People with real problems.”

“Steve, you were held prisoner for two years.”

Eddie had a point. 

The past few years of his life had been mostly miserable save for a few stolen moments of happiness with his chosen sister. Even now that they had escaped, they still weren’t safe. They were being hunted by a legion of evil scientists and a man turned interdimensional monster with an axe to grind against an innocent girl who’d only done what she had to do to defend herself. 

He shrugged it off, smiling despite it all as he wrapped his arms around Eddie’s neck, suddenly realizing they were alone, and he could do that. “Yeah, and now I'm here, and I have my sister, and you.”

Eddie’s hands found his waist like they were always meant to be there. “No need to get cute, Harrington. We’re already dating.”

Steve pouted. “But I'm always cute.”

Eddie laughed quietly. “You can say that again.” He whispered, pulling Steve into a deep lingering kiss. 

-

Steve exited the bedroom about an hour later when Eddie softly knocked to say that everyone was eating dinner. The other boy had convinced him to lay down until his head was feeling better. He was glad for it now, to be able to stand in the middle of things without pain while the teens loudly talked and argued over each other. They seemed to agree that Eddie was their secret weapon, or could be if he could remember what his powers were and learn to tap into them.

“I think I could help you with your memories. If you’d want that.” El said, bringing the conversation to a crashing halt. 

Everyone was quiet, waiting for Eddie to respond, and Steve had a bad feeling.

“I, um… I don’t, uh know if I- ” Eddie stammered.

“It’s not just about the powers either, it could help in a lot of ways!” Dustin chimed in, blissfully unaware of his cousin’s discomfort. “I mean, El remembers Henry from before and you’re older than she is. Maybe you know something she doesn’t. We need some kind of leg up here, and we can’t just assume that this Vecna is exactly the same as the one from the campaign. Who knows if he has the same powers, or less, or more. We’re fumbling in the dark here, and- ow! ” 

Max elbowed him hard in the ribs, effectively cutting him off.

Eddie's head was down, eyes screwed closed and he was breathing too fast. Steve threw a look at Robin, a silent plea to keep everyone busy and away while he helped Eddie through whatever he was feeling. He slid an arm around the other boy’s shoulder, guiding him to the kitchen and sat him down in one of the chairs while he knelt in front of it. 

Steve took both of Eddie’s trembling hands in his, and whispered to him softly. “Come on baby, you gotta breathe nice and slow for me, okay? Can you do that?”

Eddie kept his eyes closed but nodded slightly and tried to control his breathing. Steve ran his thumbs across Eddie's knuckles as they took deep even breaths together. It didn’t take long, just a minute or two and Eddie’s pulse slowed, but he still wouldn’t look up. 

“Eds, you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do. If you decide you want to recover your memories one day, I fully support that, but you should do it for yourself, because you want to. I don’t want to see you forced into it when you’re not ready.”

Eddie shook his head. “I don’t know why the idea of remembering scares me so much, but what if Dustin’s right? What if I… “

Steve squeezed his hands. “It's not worth it if this is what it's going to do to you, and there's no guarantee that it would help anyway. We have a little time. The music is working so far, and he hasn’t taken any other victims yet. We’ll figure something else out.”

Eddie finally looked up to meet his eyes, and smiled softly. “Thank you.”

-

It was decided unanimously that that was the end of strategy discussion for the night, and when Eddie escaped to the bathroom to shower no one stopped him or said anything about what had just happened. 

Steve helped the girls get set up in their room, digging extra blankets out of a closet and arranging them on the floor to make it a little more comfortable. Max and El invited Robin and Chrissy to crash on their floor so they wouldn’t have to deal with the boys. Robin kept trying to catch his eye. He knew she wanted to talk, to ask if he was okay but she accepted the little shake of his head without complaint. 

He tucked El in even though Max was there, and she really was too old for it these days, though she didn’t seem to mind. It almost felt like old times.

By the time he was done Eddie was out of the shower, and he gratefully took his own turn in the bathroom getting clean. When he emerged, Wayne was sound asleep on the couch surrounded by the whispering voices of the younger boys on the floor around him, zipped into their sleeping bags. It was quite a sight, Steve wished he had a camera.

Going to bed together was awkward in a way that it hadn’t been the night before. Maybe because they weren’t as bone tired, or maybe because they had actually established themselves as a couple now and neither of them knew what to expect. 

Whatever the reason, Steve didn't like the tension in the air when he’d come in from his own shower, but he thought he knew how to fix it. 

He made sure the door was shut and locked before crossing the room to stand in front of Eddie. 

They were alone again and Steve took full advantage of it, taking Eddie’s face between his hands and kissing him deeply while he pressed their bodies as close together as their pajamas would allow. Eddie tilted his head, melting into the kiss. He opened for Steve immediately inviting his tongue to lick in and explore. 

Eddie gripped his shoulders and Steve's hands wound their way into hisdamp hair as the kiss turned desperate. Finally he was forced to pull back or risk passing out from lack of oxygen. Eddie whined and tried to follow, but Steve, remembering that there was a gaggle of teenagers in the next room, chuckled and slapped a hand over Eddie's mouth. 

Eddie’s eyes widened and Steve brought his lips close to his ear. “If we’re going to do this we’ll have to be quiet. Do you think you can be quiet for me?”

He felt as well as heard Eddie swallow hard. He was breathing heavily through his nose, eyes dark and pupils blown. He nodded, chest heaving. Steve slowly removed his hand from Eddie's mouth and kept his voice at a whisper. 

“Will you let me take care of you tonight?”

“Yes.” Eddie breathed.

Steve crashed their lips together again as he walked Eddie back towards the bed, sitting him down on the edge of it. Eddie looked up at him questioningly but sucked in a sharp breath as Steve knelt in front of him, realizing what he intended to do. 

Steve looked down at the floor, confidence faltering a bit under the weight of nerves. “I want to… I mean, can I… ” 

He must have looked even more unsure than he felt because Eddie reached down to caress his cheek and tilted his head up to look at him. “Hey, you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.”

It was exactly what he’d said to Eddie earlier in the kitchen, and it made him smile, instantly more relaxed.  

“It’s not that, trust me. I really, really want to do this. I've just never gone down on a guy before and I guess I'm afraid it won’t be good for you.” 

Eddie quirked a brow. “Virgin, remember? I’ve never gotten a blowjob job before and I gotta be honest with you, just the idea of you putting your mouth on me has me about to cum in my pants, so I don't think there's any chance that it won’t be mind blowing.” 

Steve leaned up, pressing another kiss to Eddie’s mouth as he slid his fingers into the other boy’s sweatpants and started to work them down his thighs. Eddie was right, just the idea of what he was about to do had him hard and straining in his own pants, and he had to palm himself when Eddie’s cock finally came free. It was bigger than he expected, a little red and leaking at the tip.

He started slow, darting his tongue out to lick circles around the head before taking just a few inches into his mouth. The last thing he wanted to do was gag himself and throw up by accident. No matter what Eddie said, that would be decidedly unsexy. He bobbed his head a little, using his hand to work the remaining length the way he’d had girls do on him before.

“Oh my god.” Eddie moaned, just a little too loud, and threw his own hand over his mouth to muffle the sounds that followed. 

It was all a little intoxicating, to be surrounded by Eddie’s scent, the warmth of his thighs so close to Steve’s cheeks, the weight of him on his tongue, the taste. 

He loved it.

“Close.” Eddie whispered through his fingers before clamping his mouth shut again. 

Steve already knew he wasn’t going to pull off, not a chance. He wanted the full experience, not just for Eddie but for himself. He wanted to know what it felt like to have his boyfriend spill on his tongue.

He tested out hollowing his cheeks and bobbed his head a little faster. Eddie’s breath quickened and his hips jerked, cock pulsing between Steve's lips. His mouth was flooded with warm slightly bitter fluid and he moaned around Eddie’s length as he swallowed reflexively, so incredibly turned on that one touch and he’d be coming too. 

Eddie hauled him up into his lap, kissing him thoroughly, either not caring or not minding that he could taste himself on Steve's mouth. Without breaking the kiss he slid a hand into Steve’s pants, stroked him a few times, and that was all it took to have Steve seeing stars again. 

Once they’d come back down to earth, and Eddie had cleaned him up with one of their bath towels, they snuggled down into bed together under the covers. Steve sighed contentedly, wrapped up in Eddie's arms was quickly becoming his favorite place to be. 

“Do you think we could ever… tell people about us?” He asked softly, face pressed into the crook of Eddie’s neck. 

“Is that something you want?”

Steve nodded, running his hand up Eddie’s arm. “I’d like to be able to tell El, and Robin. If you’d be alright with it.”

“Yeah I think that would be okay.” Eddie said, squeezing him a little tighter. Steve couldn’t see his face, but he could hear the smile in his voice. “I’m pretty sure Dustin already suspects, and I think I’d like Chrissy to know, if that’s okay.”

Steve sat up a little, beaming. “Yes, of course. Eddie. I… “ He stopped short, afraid he was asking for too much too soon. 

“What?”

“I don't want to push you, if you’re not comfortable, but I don’t want to have to hide. Not here with our friends and family. If you would want to, I’d be okay with everyone knowing.”

“Oh. That's, um- ” Eddie hesitated. 

Steve tried not to look disappointed. “Too much?”

“No, not at all.” Eddie said quickly. “It’s just, that’s a lot of people to come out to all at once, but I think I want that too. I don’t want to have to hide how I feel about you. I want to hold your hand, and sit too close, and have you call me baby and whatever other names you want without feeling like you have to whisper.”

“Yeah?” Steve said, happy tears threatening to spill from his eyes. 

“Yeah, fuck it. We’ll tell them all tomorrow.”

“You think everyone will be okay with us?”

“I hope so, and if someone isn’t, then at least we’ll know.”

-

Steve woke with a gasp only a few hours later. Eddie was shaking him and shouting his name with an edge of hysteria to his voice that made it clear that something was very, very wrong. 

“What’s going on?” Steve asked, taking in the other boy’s wide, panic stricken eyes.

“El’s gone. She’s not in her bed or anywhere else in the cabin.”

Steve tried to remain calm even as his heart began to race at a frantic speed. Maybe she’d just gone outside to get some air, or it could even be something as silly as her being in the bathroom, and they had somehow missed each other along the way. A fairly unlikely scenario given the size of their hideout, but he wasn’t willing to jump to worst case scenarios just yet. 

He slipped out of bed, thankful that he and Eddie had slept in pajamas tonight. It saved him the time of having to find and put on pants in a tired haze. He opened their bedroom door quietly expecting to be faced with a room full of sleeping bodies, but the living area was empty.  

“Wait, where is everyone?” Steve asked.

“They must already be out looking for her. Come on, we should hurry up and join them.” 

Eddie was ahead of him now, holding the front door of the cabin open, waiting for him. 

He felt like he’d missed a step somewhere. 

Steve shook his head, trying to clear the sleep from his mind. He needed to get it together and find his sister.

He nodded to Eddie wordlessly and made a beeline for the door of the cabin. He flew down the steps and into the trees. It was dark out there in the middle of the woods, but he could see several beams of light in the distance from what he assumed were the other’s flashlights. He should have grabbed one himself, he realized, but he wouldn’t have even known where to look for it anyway. The moon was full, so he could at least see a little and it's not as if she would have gone far. 

“Over here!”

He heard Dustin call out to his right and raced toward the sound of the younger boy's voice, trusting that Eddie would be right behind him. He ran as fast as he could but it seemed like no matter how hard he tried, the light of the younger boy’s flashlight was always just out of reach. 

He glanced back to check on Eddie, knowing that his boyfriend wasn’t exactly an athlete, and skidded to a halt when he realized wasn’t there.

Steve turned a circle twice, squinting into the dark, but Eddie was nowhere to be found.

In the process of looking he lost track of Dustin’s light, or any sense of where he was in these god-forsaken woods. He was never going to find Eleven at this rate. Even if he did, he had no idea which direction would take them back to the cabin. 

How had he gotten lost so fast, and what happened to Eddie? He was sure the other boy had been right behind him, he’d heard his footsteps. 

Hadn’t he? 

He needed to find one of the others, and fast. 

“Dustin!” Steve shouted out for the last member of the party he’d seen, or heard anyway. Figuring he’d be the closest by and most likely to hear him. 

“Dustin!” He tried again. 

“Eddie!” He was getting desperate.

“Where did they all go?” He muttered to himself, worried and frustrated. 

“Steve! This way!”

That was definitely Eddie’s voice, he’d know it anywhere. He sounded nearby too.

Steve sped in the direction the sound had come from until a figure with extremely short hair stepped out from behind one of the wide trunks and took off at a sprint.

El, it had to be El. 

He adjusted course and ran after her, screaming her name until he was out of breath. She never turned around or even looked back. Why couldn’t she hear him? She must be terrified. 

Suddenly he burst through the tree line and came face to face with a familiar stretch of chain link fence. It was the exact spot they had escaped through only days ago. He had no idea what would have made El come here of all places, but he wasn’t about to turn back now.

He pushed through the opening in the fence just as the sound of a heavy metal door creaking open reached his ears. He rushed to the exit door, assuming it was the source of the noise and luckily managed to catch it before it fell closed and locked itself. She must have used her powers to open it.

He called El’s name over and over as he searched the building, realizing far too late that something didn’t add up about all this. He’d wandered the familiar halls and even gone down into the lower levels of the lab searching for any trace of her, completely forgetting that there had been a fire here last night. 

Yet there was no damage.

No burnt walls or signs of smoke. Hopper had said the place was a mess, surely it would take weeks if not months of cleaning and repairs to get it looking this good again. Steve's blood ran cold.

It could mean one of two things. Either he had never really woken up and was still in bed dreaming, or this was all an illusion. 

At that realization, the quality of the light around him changed, taking on a sinister red hue, while the air that he was pulling into his lungs became thick and stale.

There was only one person, if you could call him that, that he knew of with the ability to create such convincing visions. The type of thing that could perhaps lure someone out of bed, trick them into leaving the safety of their friends and loved ones, and end up in the last place they’d ever want to go alone. 

Vecna.

The crisp white walls of Hawkins lab fell away, leaving Steve in a place he did not recognize but had quite recently read an awful lot about. Particles fell from the sky like volcanic ash and crimson lightning flashed in the distance. Thick vines criss-crossed over the ground around him, seeming to come from everywhere at once. He had never seen the Upside Down with his own eyes before but he knew without a doubt that somehow that was exactly where he was.

Before he could get his bearings and figure out where in the alternate Hawkins he was, several of the vines came to life at once. Two of them wrapped around his ankles, pushing him off balance and sending him sprawling to the ground. Another set gripped him at his wrists, tugging them to either side, and a final tendril snaked its way firmly around his neck, pinning him to the dirt. 

He thrashed and struggled to no avail as the hold on his throat became tighter and tighter. A shadow fell over him as his vision began to dim, and a pair of disfigured legs with the appearance of raw meat came walking into view. Steve’s gaze rose up the figure above him and he took in the disgusting sight in the distant way of someone who was about to lose consciousness. He was even uglier in person than Eddie's description painted him.

Vecna crouched, scratching over his face with a single long claw.

“Hello, Steven.”

Chapter 13

Thanks forever to @penny00dreadful for being the best friend, cheerleader, and beta in the whole fucking world💜

Taglist: @newtstabber @goodolefashionedloverboi @adaed5 @buckleybarnes @soaringornithopter @eddie-munsons-lunchbox @bestwifehaver @5ammi90 @sofadofax @ellietheasexylibrarian @manda-panda-monium @hardboiledleggs @mentallyundone @epiclazershark @herebedragons404 @estrellami-1 @paintsplatteredandimperfect @the-s-is-silent @brbsoulnomming @goinsteddie @steddie-there @yeahhhh-suga @thestarslittleking

#steddie fanfic #steve harrington #eddie munson #stranger things #steddie #steve harrington/eddie munson #steve and el sibling supremacy #good uncle wayne #chrissy cunningham #robin buckley #max mayfield #canon is just a crazy game of d&d #sort of #ao3 #steddie fic #steve x eddie