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little-blackbird-atmidnight · 2 years

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Being a musician: Stranger Things

Fandom, stranger things

Pairing: Eddie x r, Steve x r, Billy x r,

Warnings+Others: we ignore canon here. Mc is a pianist, I’m projecting. Also can play other instruments. I'll be doing a separate post for the party and Others I forgot about. Fluff. Mentions of back, wrist and hand pain.

Billy Hargrove:

let’s be honest, he’s always staring at your hands.

Piano? Yep, he’s right next to you watching your hands.

He loves hearing you play when he comes over for dinner or just whenever

Your parents have grown accustomed to seeing Billy around the house at random times

Anyways, he’s forcing you to take breaks in between because he’s seen you in pain from constantly playing

When he sleeps over, you randomly get up and play when you have an idea

And then you decided it wasn’t enough to play it on an upright, but on the grand piano downstairs.

Billy only noticed that you weren’t in the room when he heard you playing A Man Without Love in the common room

So he did what any responsible, concerned boyfriend would do

He got up, went where you were, and picked you up.

Your father had also come to tell you to go to sleep but saw Billy carry you back into your room

And so, you love Max

And you’re also teaching her how to play

You treat her like a little sister,

Forcing Billy to be nicer to Max and her friends

But anyways, he loves hearing you play.

Will kiss your hands and palms

-------

Steve Harrington:

oh wowie

He won’t stop bragging to anyone who would listen

“My boyfriend can play piano-“ “Steve get back to work.”

When meeting the others, you had to shut Steve up bc you being a pianist was all he talked about

Robin enjoys being around you definitely

She asked you if you could teach her a song to impress Vickie

You taught her one

Now your responsible for their relationship

Steve is always making you take breaks

He does his best to comfort you when your hands and wrist start to hurt

He won’t let you pick anything up or just do anything in general

You love him a lot

So do your parents

They saw him freaking out because your wrist was hurting and decided that a himbo was what you needed

Once he learns that you play other instruments, he is both ever more proud, loving and concerned

Definitely makes you take more breaks

“Baby, can you come cuddle with me?” If you refuse, he will come and pick you up.

he’s your number one supporter, you love him dearly

The kids always hear about you, they never got why he was so obsessed until you ended up making a small soundtrack for their dnd games

It could be an extremely important part of the game where they’re stressing and you’re just in the background with a violin causing them to be even more stressed and nervous

Also when you’re annoyed with Steve you just play over his talking

But, Steve loves and worries for you.

Who knows, maybe you’ll be playing in your new home with him soon.

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Eddie Munson

definitely has asked what other instruments you play

Tried to recruit you into Corroded Coffin

Watches you play any instrument with curiosity and sense of pride bc you know how to play all these instruments

Definitely plays his guitar along with you with some really random instruments

The most successful one has been his guitar with a cello

As with the others, he forces you to take breaks constantly

Biggest supporter

Sometimes he drags you to his dnd campaigns to keep you from practicing too often

You always sit in his lap unless you’re restless and pacing around the room or sitting in a corner

Sometimes in school, you end up sleeping on his shoulder or just on him during lunch

No one says anything

Because first of all you aren’t really asleep, just waiting for someone to talk bad before you go feral

Although Eddie is already death staring anyone who may wake you

He once saw you in pain from your back and wrists because you were too still and too tense.

Sometimes you two end up not sleeping at all and just play his guitar

You watch him and laugh as he tries to get a certain part of a song right

He has definitely made a song for you

“This is for you, babe.” And everyone is expecting this soft song but it’s the heaviest thing they’ve ever heard

You love this idiot and he loves you <333

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All in General:

has definitely made a song for them

one is too low

…

Okay fine there’s eight so far.

————-

Midnight here, ran out of ideas

#stranger things #stranger things x male reader #x male reader #stranger things x reader #steve harrington x male reader #eddie munson x male reader #billy hargrove x male reader #billy hargrove #eddie munson #steve harrington #headcanons #stranger things headcanons #my stranger things coping mechanism

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j2h5b5 · 1 year

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There was only one thing that could have dragged Steve out of bed at two in the morning when he was nursing a booze-induced headache and an Eddie Munson-induced heartache.

“We need you,” she said.

He didn’t even bother putting on a jacket.

***

Dustin was sloppy, red-eyed and so unsteady that when Steve thunked a strong hand down on his shoulder, he almost lost his balance turning away from the group of asshats he’d taken up with to see who had grabbed him. Some of the drink in his hand sloshed over the sides of the cup and dribbled down the front of his shirt and onto the already filthy kitchen floor.

“Hey, what the—” he began, and then he dragged his gaze up to land on Steve.

There was a time, not so very long ago, when those same eyes would’ve lit up at the sight of his babysitter slash idol slash best friend. He would wrap him in a hug if it had been a day or two since he’d seen him, or sling a companionable arm around him, or punch him good-naturedly in the arm in hopes of initiating a play scuffle, which inevitably ended with him in a headlock getting his mop of curls aggressively tousled because he was just never going to have any kind of athletic edge on Steve.

But now.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” the younger boy asked in a tone so sharp and cold and so very NOT-Dustin that it made Steve’s heart squeeze painfully in his chest.

“Hey, man,” Steve said, aiming for casual if only to keep Dustin from embarrassing himself in front of his new asshat friends. “Can I talk to you? Step outside with me for a sec, okay?”

“Um, no,” Dustin bit out. “This’s my party, i'ss my house. It would be rude to leave my guests.”

“Yeah, since you brought that up … who are these people?” Steve swept his gaze over the Henderson kitchen, which was almost unrecognizable with all of the clutter, displaced furniture, and wasted teenagers. “And Dustin … where’s your mom?”

“Not here.”

“Well yeah, I kind of gathered that. Listen, Dust…”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Are the others here?”

“Oh, you mean the traitors who called and ratted me out to YOU? Who the fuck cares?” His voice lowered to what he seemed to think was a conspiratorial level but was really just an extremely loud stage whisper. “Maybe they tripped and fell and landed their buzzkill asses back in the Upside Down.”

“Okay, that’s it.”

Before Dustin could protest, the cup was plucked from his hand and tossed expertly across the room, over the heads of several unwary drunken youths and into the crusty-dish-crowded sink and he was being towed along behind Steve through the kitchen, the living room, out the front door.

“What the fuck, Harrington? Let go of me! Let go!” Dustin struggled against the vise grip on his bicep but only succeeded in ensuring he’d probably have finger-shaped bruises there tomorrow.

Steve paid him no mind until he had deposited the boy into the passenger seat of his car, slammed the door, and locked it. Then he walked around to the driver’s side, unlocked it only long enough to get in, relocked it, and turned to Dustin.

“First of all,” he began loudly, drowning out Dustin’s sputtering attempts to find the words he wanted to hurl at Steve in his outrage at being manhandled out of his own party. “First of all. Joking about the Upside Down in a room full of strangers? NOT OKAY.”

“They don’t even know what—”

“Not. Fucking. Okay. SECOND, if you ever imply again that one of ours should BE in the Upside Down, you will find yourself with my foot so far up your ass you’ll choke on my shoe, and if you think I’m joking about that, Dustin, try me.”

This time there was only an eye-roll from Dustin, because he kind of didn’t want to try Steve on that point and because he kind of felt bad about saying it.

“Third, your friends are not traitors. They care about you and they’re worried about you; they called me for help because you’re treating them like shit and shut down every attempt they make to help you. Listen, I know I’m not your favorite person right now, Dustin, but you have to let someone help you. You’re not okay, buddy. This isn’t you. And all this shit you’re doing, the drinking and the partying and the pretending not to give a damn? It isn’t going to fix anything. It … it won’t bring him back.”

“Shut up!” Dustin shouted, flinching so hard at the words that he smacked the back of his head against the side window. Steve winced at the sound of skull meeting glass and resisted the urge to reach out and check for blood, or a bump. Dustin seemed not to have noticed that he’d nearly brained himself, infusing his next words with all the venom he could muster. “You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about, Steve. Even if you were right, it’s none of your business what I do! I am none of your business.”

“Don’t say shit like that, Dustin. Of course you’re my business.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah! What are you saying?”

Dustin barked out a humorless laugh. “As much as I’d like to sit here with you and have a heart to heart right now, I have to get back to my guests.”

“No,” Steve snapped, reaching over Dustin to slap down the peg lock when the teen yanked it up. “We’re not done here. Now I can go inside and clear out your house and we can talk there, or you can drop the bullshit and talk to me right now.”

“You’re not shutting down my party.”

“Then we talk here.”

“I have nothing to say to you.”

“Right, sure you don’t. Maybe I can give you some words, then. How about this, Dustin? How about: ‘Hey, Steve, you useless idiot loser, you promised to keep us safe and then you fucked it all up like you always do. The plan didn’t work and Max got hurt and Eddie fucking died, and you couldn’t stop it. I hate you for that, for lying and making us feel safe and telling us it was going to be okay. I can’t even look at you anymore and I hate my friends because they don’t hate you for some reason, but we know, don’t we? We know whose fault it is that we came back a man short. It’s yours, Steve. Yours.’” Steve’s voice was cracked and painful, like he’d been eating gravel and chasing it with cheap whisky and cigarettes. It hurt, that voice. “How’s that, Dust?” he finished, staring unflinching into Dustin’s shocked eyes. “Am I in the ballpark?”

Before Steve could react, Dustin unlocked his door and flung himself out of the car. He was drunk and it was dark, though, and he only made it a few yards before tripping and landing hard on the grass. Steve was on him almost instantly, hauling him up by the arms and scanning him for injuries.

He didn’t see the punch coming, wouldn’t have believed Dustin Henderson capable of such an effective hit, right in the mouth, knocking him back a couple of feet. “Jesus, Dustin!” he shouted, touching his lip and staring dumbfounded when his fingers came away wet with blood. “What the fuck, man?”

“Hit me back.”

“What? No! Dustin, what’s—”

“HIT ME BACK, STEVE! You have to!” Dustin’s voice cracked, the sudden violent burst of emotion threatening to unleash something big and scary and unforgivable. A tidal wave that had a name.

Steve grappled wildly with the boy, trying to grab his flailing arms so he could pin him, but Dustin was surprisingly swift in his current state, and he launched another punch, this one landing heavy in Steve’s gut and socking the breath right out of him.

“HIT ME, STEVE! I KNOW YOU WANT TO, JUST DO IT!”

Fueled by a burst of frustration and a sharper burst of fear (what is this?), Steve recovered enough to trap Dustin’s arms against his body, using his own weight to twist the boy around until he was trapped with his back against Steve, the hold immobilizing him so all he could do was squirm and shout out his fury. “LET ME GO FUCK YOU STEVE WHY WON’T YOU JUST FIGHT BACK YOU ASSHOLE?!”

“Dustin, stop. Stop it. Breathe, Dustin. Take a breath. No, hey, stop. You’re not going anywhere until you calm down for me. Breathe. Shhh, buddy. Breathe,” Steve’s hold was unbudging, his tone stern but soothing. Dustin’s violent struggles gradually slowed, and it took a couple of minutes for Steve to realize that the boy was shaking with silent sobs. And then the sobs became words, almost indecipherable in the wrecked, wretched voice that was rough and strained from screaming.

Every sentence Steve parsed from the stream of horrible self-accusations added another crack to his heart, which couldn’t have been more than a mess of spiderwebbing at this point.

It’s my fault.

He’s dead because of me.

I couldn’t save him.

You loved him, I know you did.

Why don’t you hate me?

Finally, finally, the words stopped and Dustin sagged, exhausted, in Steve’s arms. Only then did Steve ease up on his hold, but only long enough to turn the boy around and hug him properly. He bent down to bury his face in the unruly curls, his own tears falling unchecked and inconsequential.

“Dustin,” he whispered into the mop of hair. “Oh, Dustin, never.”

And when he realized he didn’t have the right words, he just stopped. He just picked Dustin up and carried him to his car, buckled him into the passenger seat, and told him he would be right back. He had a party to break up, some kids to chase away, and a boy—his boy—to mend.

“You loved him, I know you did.”

With a soul-cleansing breath that sounded more like a sob, Steve made his way back up to the Hendersons’ house.

#stranger things #found family #protective steve harrington #mama steve #dustin henderson #fanfiction #steddie #mom steve harrington #steve harrington #steve and his children #grieving over Eddie #survivor guilt #poor dustin #poor steve #unhealthy coping mechanisms #arm wrestling for the blame #angst #oh the angst #in my heart Eddie survived but this scene wouldn’t leave me alone

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estrellami-1 · 8 months

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This is purely because @i-less-than-three-you broke my heart with this and I needed some way to release all my emotions. I suffer, you suffer, babe.

“Ever gotten your heart broken?” Eddie asks, apropos of nothing.

They’re sitting in the cemetery, their new hangout spot. Steve with his back against a headstone, fingers itching for a joint. Eddie next to him, leaning forward and plucking blades of grass.

Steve looks sidelong at him. “Yeah. Twice.”

He sees Eddie frown. “Oh, right, Wheeler. My bad. Who was the other girl? Someone pre-high school, maybe? A middle school love? An elementary school sweetheart?” He suddenly makes a face. “Please, for her sake and yours, don’t tell me it was Robin.”

Steve chuckles. “No, it wasn’t Robin.” He sighs, leans forward. Doesn’t look at Eddie. Wishes he could. “Wasn’t even someone I was with.”

Eddie frowns. “How’d you manage that?”

Steve tucks one knee up, rests his chin on it. “I fell in love with him,” he whispers, “and then he died.”

“Oh,” Eddie whispers, soft as the wind.

Steve tilts his head, looks Eddie’s direction. Sees nothing, realizes the sound really was just the wind. “Yeah,” he whispers back.

He kneels forward, traces his fingers into the now-familiar divots of the headstone in front of him.

Eddie Munson. 1965-1986. Rest in Peace.

#stranger things #steve harrington #eddie munson #steddie #except… not #sorry not sorry #Steve doesn’t have healthy coping mechanisms #or any coping mechanisms #he just. adopts middle schoolers #it’s 2am my alarm is set for 6 someone make me go to sleep #also someone help me with tags please #should I tag mcd?#or past mcd? is that a tag?#starambles

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goddamnbyler2 · 2 years

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it’s not even funny anymore it’s only suffering

#memes are my coping mechanism #byler #jancy #mileven #st4 volume 2 #stranger things

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infinite-orangepeel · 1 year

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my therapist had the audacity to tell me that making my entire personality “steddie” is a sign of mental illness

like okay laurel ! talk to me once you’ve watched the “big boy” scene and we’ll see how normally you function after that

#disclaimer: laurel didn’t say this #she told me that it’s escapism #and we have to balance it with other coping mechanisms #sorry for putting u on blast laurel #it was to make the people laugh #steddie #steve harrington #eddie munson #steddie brainrot #steve x eddie #eddie x steve #steddie hyperfixation #steddie stranger things #for my steddie heart #steddie my beloved #fruity four #gay stranger things

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chirpsythismorning · 1 year

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Mike being closed off, annoyed, defensive, and borderline irate a majority of the time throughout the series, is a defense mechanism.

It's because, if no one knows who Mike truly is at his core, then they cant judge or hurt who he truly is. It's a mask. They can hate him, but it's not even really him so... Jokes on them, right?

But Will. Will makes Mike feel like he's better for being different...

Mike evidently see's Will as someone that knows Mike at his core and still wants to be around him in part for those very qualities. This is the only person Mike has been able to consistently show a more vulnerable side of himself to, and it's because Will himself embodies those qualities that Mike is scared to reveal, out of fear that he will be judged for who he truly is.

All Mike's most vulnerable scenes? I can guarantee you will was present for almost all of them (definitely all of the major ones).

Mike is just not as honest in showing others how he is feeling quite like he is with Will. At the most he might lash out and hope it gets the people around him to leave him alone so that he can be honest with himself in the privacy of a moment with his own thoughts...

However, get Mike around Will and he's head in hands, literally the most vulnerable we ever see him.

Like WTF even is this???? How did we move on?

#byler #stranger things #like this isn't the mike we've seen all season...#this is mike at his lowest #and he's wearing it loudly and proudly #notably in a moment alone with will #like that first shot genuinely makes my heart hurt #i just picture mike rolling his eyes or staring in disgust #and can't help but think where is that kid rn???#and it's like? Is that even mike in his truest form?#or is it mike making due with the hand dealt to him #when his family is making demand about things and treat things he loves like his toys and dnd as this big joke #its no wonder he's dejected and annoyed at home #it's a coping mechanism folks #meaning when mike has accepted himself and he's happy and living life the way he wants in the end #he's going to be smiling and the most carefree and content we've ever seen him #not looking disgruntled and annoyed...#while that will always be apart of mike #it's not like he's never going to roll his eyes again just bc he got the boy #BUT it's not going to be his whole personality where anyone and everyone is pissing him off for some reason #he's not going to have a reason to be mad about bullshit anymore when he can finally be himself authentically #bc that was in large part what caused the mask in the first place

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boxwinebaddie · 3 months

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BLUE HAIR RAVENSTAN IM PTERODACTYL SCREECHING

*rm!clyde autism vc* erm, actually! its pterodactylus!~

but, no, fr. he is the moment, the movement!!!!

and everyone thinks it's because he's in his cool boy, cool blue, blue rad(s)berry, bad boy era, when in reality he's in his imy ky sad boi era.

like after they fought when the call girl news came out, which, tbh, i think ended with kyle about to call ravenstan 'stan' but then he stopped himself at the last second and yelled out, "no, fuck that! you don't Deserve to have his name! my stan would NEVER do this to me!

....fuck you, raven."

which...OOOOOOOOF. when stan and kyle know who each other are and don't call each other by their actual first names...its really bad. like actually, at the end of The Kyle Can't Say I Love You Fight where jersey is begging ravenstan to stay, stan gives him one last chance and is like "tell me you love me." and kyle is like "w-what?" and stan grabs kyle's hand, looks deep into his eyes, bearing his heart and is like "tell me you love me and i'll stay." n kyle tries and tries and tries

...but he Can't :(

so stan wipes his eyes, laughs a sad little laugh, drops kyle's hand, picks up his black jansport backpack and in The Voice just goes

"adios, jersey."

and SLAMS! the door behind him.

now, one of my favorite things about writing rm is a lot of stuff seems really cute and coy on the surface, but it's actually kind of insidious. or even that something as harmless/innocuous as a nickname might carry the weight of the world across a mere six letters. see, because when ravenstan called his kyle 'jersey' at the that first crimson dawn concert when he chose kyle as his victim, as we all now know, stan knew exactly who kyle was, but pretended not know, and what's more? stan gave kyle a cute little nickname...

jersey.

cute, light, bouncy. on the nose, where blush ran like red snow across that valley of freckles and melted our college student ice king into glassless puddle at the mere utterance of that word from raven's lips. not too much to think about there. seems like a simple thing, calling the boy you like a funny name, to tease him or make him feel special.

to everyone but stanley marsh in that moment, calling kyle jersey and continuing to call him jersey wasn't something he did to be cheeky, it was strategic...it was personal. because it was much easier for stanley marsh to call his precious long lost kyle broflovski jersey...

...than kyle.

it's probably not as obvious as i think it is when i'm writing it in, but if you look closely in rm, you might notice that ravenstan almost exclusively calls kyle jersey, except for a couple really tender moments, or by accident. bc he's not supposed to use kyle's name/

one, it's just too hard, because saying kyle's name invokes way too much raw emotion in him, like the raven voice drops, he starts doing the stan voice, his eyes get shiny, it's half a sob, half a prayer, there's an overwhelming urge to hold him...like it's too obvious. kyle can't say ily and stan is not supposed to say kyle's name.

so he created jersey as a buffer, a fail safe. he created the jersey nickname to create distance between himself and kyle, so that he could keep his head on his shoulders and not go off book.

which is not to say that later on they don't use raven/crow and jersey/yersey when they're being funny/feeling fond, but if kyle calls stan raven in the shrewd deadpan voice or raven calls kyle jersey in the aloof, cool boy raven voice....THEY ARE FIGHTING!!! which...ya.

anyways, speaking of ravenstan's blue hair ( the closest approximate of which i think is this picsart monstrosity i edited [ which idk who drew this but all the credit in the world to them like thats my son ], i also did a blonde one ) after the fight, i just know stan was spiraling super hard, a bottle of chase azul tequila and a bottle of blue arctic fox hair in the other, washing his face w/ his tears, scream singing to abba on vinyl ( jersey loves abba, stan gave him a lot of shit for it growin up, their first dance at sadie hawkins was also an abba song )

and just boarded the plane the very next day with blue ass hands and blue ass hair...also pls note that when stan made the seating arrangements, it was well before they had that fight, so stan put himself next to kyle ( and its a small private plane so the rows only have two seats, i think ) and its a mess like...Roll Clip!

jers: "what? wouldnt'ya ratha sit next to ya girlfirend? here, i'll mov-"

raven: "kyle, you've been mentally preparing yourself to sit in this particular seat for weeks. you begged me to show you the layout of the plane so you could practice. you're not moving. plus, she has a window seat and you hate the window seat. i made sure you were sitting in the aisle seat so you could get up, so you don't feel trapped."

jersey, trying not to be rizzed: "and yet here i am...Trapped. With. You."

jersey, scoffing: "wow. blue? really?"

raven: "thought you'd be pleased, considering it's your favorite color"

jersey: "not anymore."

ravenstan, being a little shit: "oh, yeah? what's it now. whatever it is, i'll change it. i brought color oops just in case." ;)

jersey, rolling his eyes: "y'know, i actually don't like any colors at the moment. hate 'em all! guess you'll have to shave ya head." <3

raven: "no worries. gq magazine says i have the bone structure for it."

aAAAAAASASASAAAAA!!!!! they are being so cunty like boys relax oh my goddddddd...speaking of being relaxed. kyle is not that. kyle does not like planes, reads the emergency card 100 times, makes them check all the systems like 100 times and is particularly frightened by taking off the runway/turbulence so he actually...grabs stans hand by accident, breathing really and stan just squeezes his palm reassuringly and strokes the arch of jersey's knuckles with his thumb before they break away and kyle pretends like it never happened.

stan also...falls asleep on kyle's shoulder for like 70% of the flight, like kyle is just doing something dorky like the sudoku puzzle or reading hemmingway and stan's beautiful freshly blue chai-scented head plops on kyle's shoulder, sleeping soundly. and i shit you not kyle is scared to move that entire flight, a baby looks like its gonna start crying and kyle gives it The Glare and it swallows that sound back up. he's fighting demons and the demons are wanting to gaze longingly at your sleepy ex-sbf and kiss him on the forehead aaaAAAAAAA.

but ya! i love you manic blue hair stan! my hero! my zero!

-uncle nina, dyed hair idiot boy stan agenda

#jersey lore #but like actual jersey lore about the jersey nickname #like it is cute its supposed to be cute #but it really is just stans coping mechanism #tfw u have to make up a flirty tarty whorey lil nickname for ur childhood best friend bc u cant say his actual name #bc u literally say it in the gayest voice possible like hes a spring and you havent had water in 100 years #and like you need him and want him and would do anything for him with ur voice and character breaking desperate for him #SO YEAH THATS WHY STAN CALLS KYLE JERSEY #BC CALLING KYLE BY HIS NAME IS TOO HARD FOR STAN #HE GETS REALLY EMOTIONAL BC ITS HIS FAVORITE WORD INT THE WORLD AND HE WANTS TO SAY IT ALL THE TIME #but its hard to say it when u are calling ur kyle Kyle and he is calling you raven like ur a stranger and AAAAAA #but also yeah their airplane interactions are so cunty but also cute bc they held hands and stan napped on him #me when the boys are being cute and perfect and in love: yawn #me when they boys are fighting and being cunty to each other & like 3 secs away from going at it on the next available surface: SLAY #i love tension and drama like I LOVE THE OO YOU WANT ME SO BAD its my favorite thing omg #ok done jazz hands idk what this is #one thing abt me is im gonna make the boys fight and then makeout really aggressively with eachother sorry abt it #IK THE CALL GIRL THING IS CONFUSING RN JUST HOLD YOUR HORSES OKAY ILL EXPLAIN IT SOON

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stobinesque · 9 months

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🔀 with Rockie!

oh...Evan Rachel Wood & co.'s cover of The Beatles' "Because" from Across the Universe. Which is just so perfectly, hauntingly yearning for Rockie that I'm gonna cry.

So I'm thinking like...second chance romance vibes? Right after Vecna Robin and Vickie try to give it a go, and it's good, for a while. They genuinely really love each other, and when things are good, they're great. But when they're bad...when Robin has a week where she can't make it through the night without sneaking out to curl up in bed with Steve. When they're in an elevator and all of a sudden Robin's having a panic attack, curled up in the corner, and can't explain why. When Robin's been on edge all day, and when Vickie says just the wrong thing and lashes out... It's not that Vickie needs to know all of the dark corners of Robin's mind. It's not that Vickie doesn't want to be there for her. But they're eighteen! It's Robin's first relationship, and only Vickie's second and neither of them know how to navigate the landscape of trauma together. So they talk about and they decide...right person, wrong time. There's lots of crying, but they go their separate ways, and for the rest of their life they carry that first love in their heart.

Vickie goes to college. She falls in love with a nice boy. And it's fine. It's good. But it's nothing like the way Robin lit her heart on fire and made all the colors of the world more vibrant. They get married. Have kids. And if at night Vickie sometimes finds herself staring out the window over her kitchen sink, staring at the moon and thinking about the girl she wasn't quite ready to love the way she needed? Well no one needs to know about that do they?

Robin and Steve get an apartment together in the city. Robin goes to school, and works part time with Steve at some retail establishment or another. It becomes clear pretty quickly that the responsibilities of school are just too much for her right now. She drops out after a year. Steve and Robin together have a kind of sluttily-self-destructive era where they go out clubbing most nights and each take home a different conquest each night (yes, both to their shared apartment, no, most of their respective partners are not Huge Fans of this). Eventually Nancy or someone stages an intervention and the two of them find some better coping mechanisms (they still sleep around a lot, but less in a "I'm trying to bury my feelings in sex" kind of way). Steve and Robin get married, and neither of them is really looking for anyone else outside the occasional casual fling, because all they really need is each other.

Until one day, decades later...Robin sees Vickie again. Maybe it's at a coffee shop, a glimpse of fiery red hair in the corner of her eye. Maybe it's on a park bench. Maybe it's even a Hawkins High reunion that Nancy somehow dragged her too. But Robin sees her, and it's like gravity has been restored to earth. It's not until that moment that it dawns on her that this is the thing she's both been running from and towards her whole life. Robin goes up to her, heart in her throat, taps her on the shoulder.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be better for you." The fear is gripping her chest tight.

Vickie spins around, freckled face flushed a bright red. There's a tan line on her ring finger, where it's been sitting empty for only a few days. She has to blink against the sun standing right in front of her, bearing into her eyes. "I'm sorry I didn't know how to love you," she says. "I never stopped, though."

send me a 🔀 and a pairing and I’ll shuffle my music and make an au based on the song that comes up

#i maybe drove myself a little insane writing this #unhealthy-coping-mechanism-slut-era stobin is my favorite underutilized trope #rockie #robin buckley #vickie stranger things #vickie #read writes #dani 💜

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