#so far Erica Dustin and of course Steve’s hair are about it

[criminally-obsessed]

This is my first time writing for Steddie, so sorry if it's shit! Based on this post.

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No one had ever seen Steve cry, and at this point they weren’t sure it was even something he was capable of. So, as he stood over Eddie’s open casket with the only dry eyes in the room, no one really batted an eye.

It had been 3 weeks since Steve had carried the metalhead’s body out of the Upside Down, with Dustin leaning heavily into a misty eyed Robin and Nancy as he limped alongside them, tears still streaming from his eyes. Steve hadn’t shed a tear then, and he didn’t shed one now. It wasn’t because he didn’t care for Eddie, in fact he probably cared for him far more than he’d admit to even himself, but something just didn’t feel right. It was hard to grieve for someone when it didn’t truly feel like they were gone.

Eddie’s uncle had arranged the funeral to be a quiet affair, hoping to minimize the chances of any angry hicks’ gate crashing. So it was held in a small room at the morgue, with only close friends and family in attendance.

After a short speech from Wayne, everyone filtered through to say their own goodbyes. Mike and Lucas both stood by the casket momentarily, gripping the sides and saying their own quiet goodbyes. Erica didn’t say much, just placed a small black dice beside one of his hands before nodding down at him. Nancy went up with Johnathan and whispered a quiet thank you, letting her hands brush a stray lock of hair from his face. Dustin stood there in silence just staring down at Eddie’s still form before choking out a promise to look after Eddie’s ‘little sheep’. And then it was just Steve and Robin left in the room. Robin tugged on his sleeve, looking up at him with big pleading eyes until he nodded and walked up with her, he stood beside her as she whispered a soft goodbye, eyes then looking to him to do the same.

“Could I… I just need a moment with him, if that’s okay?” he said quietly, smiling gratefully as Robin just squeezed his hand and nodded before also exiting the room.

Eyes doing a quick check around the room to make sure there was nobody left to witness what he was about to say, Steve let his hands rest against the wood of the casket and leant down towards the long-haired man.

“Okay, you listen here you little shit, I know you’re not dead.” Steve whispered; eyes firmly trained now on Eddie’s face. His grip against the wood only getting tighter as the silence stretched on.

“Fuck.” he breathed, hanging his head at the lack of response, before turning to start walking away.

“Yeah, no shit Harrington.” Came the gravelly response from behind him, stopping him in his tracks.

As he slowly turned on his heel, he watched as Eddie pushed himself up into a sitting position, an almost familiar grin on his face had it not been for what looks like two fangs pushing down over his lower lip.

“What the hell, man?” Steve exclaimed, almost storming back over to the casket and taking Eddie’s face in his hands and tilting him from left to right to get a better look.

“Nice to see you too, Stevie.” Eddie murmured; cheeks being squished slightly by Steve’s grip on him.

“How long have you been, well not dead?” Steve huffed; brows furrowed as he let his gaze roam over the other man’s body.

“Honestly man, I have no clue. I woke up a couple of times, but this has been the first time I was actually able to move. Fuck, it really hurts dying y’know.” Eddie groaned, stretching all his limbs out and rolling his shoulders as he let his hands pick at the tight material of the black jacket he was dressed in, “Of course Wayne would take this opportunity to get me in a suit, I love the old man, but shit.”

“Really? I don’t think our biggest problem right now is your style choices, you’ve literally come back from the dead man.” Steve grumbled with a hand nervously running through his hair.

“Ooo, now that’s where you’re wrong Stevie boy, it’s always about the style choices.” Eddie grinned, loosening the tie that was around his neck with a grimace, "Anyway, what's the plan for breaking me out of here? Cus I don't know about you man, but I don't exactly love the thought of being buried alive."

“Look, you’re not meant to be being buried until tomorrow, can you just hang tight for a few hours? I can come by later tonight and sneak you out when there's nobody around” Steve said, hands landing like a disappointed parent on his hips.

“Harrington. You cannot be asking me to, what? Play dead?” Eddie scoffed, the realization slowly showing on his face as he realised that Steve was deadly serious. “Nah man, come on, there’s gotta be a better way than that?”

“Well, unfortunately for you, I don't think there is. You’ll get recognized the second you step out those doors, and I don’t know about you man, but I’m not exactly in the mood for a lynch mob right about now.” Steve said, raising an eyebrow as Eddie visibly deflated.

“Fine. Fine, but you better come back for me Harrington!” Eddie sighed, pointing an accusatory finger at the other man as he lay back down with a huff.

“Always, Munson.” Steve replied, knocking his knuckles against the side of the casket with a soft smile, missing the slight pink that rose in Eddie’s cheeks as he slipped out the room.

#stranger things #steddie #steddie fic #steve x eddie #steve harrington #eddie munson

[shares-a-vest]

We talk a lot about Steve making everyone food. Out of love, of course, and so no one goes without. He bakes treats for the kids, takes food to the Henderson's when he stays over, and makes Max's lunch when her mum is having problems. He cooks roasts for Eddie and Wayne so they have leftovers for Wayne's nightshifts. He caters to Robin's super-specific food habits and brings snacks to every gathering.

But it's Eddie who makes sure Steve doesn't go without when providing for everyone else.

He first notices Steve prioritising the others one night after he stays over (wink wonk) and Dustin, Max and Lucas practically bang the Harrington's door down far too early in the morning. It turns out Claudia had to go to work earlier than usual so Dustin hasn't had breakfast (how hard is it for the little shit to have cereal for once, Eddie thinks when he hears the lame excuse). Meanwhile, Lucas wanted to get away from Erica bugging him and Max is being evasive about what's going on with her mom.

Steve trudges into the kitchen, grumbling all the way (Eddie's sure he heard him mumble something about wanting to stay in bed and cuddle his boyfriend). But Eddie shoos him away, ordering him to go get ready for work as he ignores suspicious glares from the kids - the trio silently questioning his cooking prowess and wondering why he is wearing Steve's old gym shorts. He makes pancakes, the easiest thing to make in a vat-sized quantity. And he might also give them a lecture about their growing habit of demanding food.

He sits Steve (freshly showered and smelling oh so good) down at the kitchen island, forcing a plate and a cup of coffee upon him while the others chow down the rest. He might also wave around a spatula, flicking batter on the counter, as he tells Lucas to knock it off with the jokes about Steve's morning hair routine (yes, it does take up most of Steve's time getting ready but Eddie thinks you shouldn't rush perfection).

Following this, Eddie begins to set aside Steve's favourite crisps during DND. He always makes him breakfast any time they sleepover at each other's houses. He will quickly shove any chocolates or candies into the Beemer's glovebox before the kids hop in. He makes a habit of asking Steve what he is having for lunch and if he is vague about it, Eddie might conveniently drop in precisely during his lunch break with at least a sandwich. He pushes his leftovers onto Steve's plate during family dinners, knowing Steve served himself last and is too late to get seconds. And he certainly doesn't care that Nancy and Robin find the pair completely insufferable during double dinner dates as they share food and order too much.

#on autopilot as i made dinner thinking about this #steddie #steve harrington #eddie munson #steddie hcs #steddie headcanon #steddie headcanons #lilys hcs

[hbyrde36]

Times Like These (The Anniversary Edition)

CH 1 CH 2 Ch 3 Ch 4 Ch5

Chapter 6: Four Chimes

WC: 7910 | AO3 link

It was nearing midnight by the time Nancy and Mike got back to Steve’s house, where everyone was still anxiously waiting up for their return.

They would have been back sooner but, as Nancy explained, they had stopped home first on the off chance that Jonathan had tried to reach her there and left a message or anything like that. 

He hadn’t.

After that unfortunately unsurprising discovery, the siblings snuck out again to make their way back to the others, only to be passed on the road by an ambulance, fire truck, and a police car, all with sirens blaring and lights flashing.

They tracked the procession to Benny’s, watching from a safe distance as the long abandoned burger place was cordoned off with caution tape. Not long after the Hawkins P.D. and Co arrived, a blackout SUV pulled up to the scene and a woman Nancy thought she recognized from her time being detained at Hawkins lab stepped out of it. 

After watching a body bag get rolled out on a stretcher, she and Mike figured it was time to get out of there before someone noticed them, and raced all the way back to Loch Nora.

“It's gotta be Patrick,” Dustin said when Nancy was finished. “He’s the only other previous victim unaccounted for.” 

“And Benny’s is the team’s usual hangout spot.” Lucas added.

“What do you think that woman was doing there?” Robin asked.

Erica sneered. “Trying to cover it up.” 

“Should we…” Eddie trailed off, biting at his bottom lip. “I dunno, this is their fault isn’t it? Should we maybe be going to them for help or something?”

“Absolutely not.” Several of them said in unison, including Steve, and Eddie quickly raised his hands in surrender to the experts. 

“When’s the last time you tried to call California?” Nancy asked.

Dustin scoffed. “Don’t you think if they went back home from the airport they would have called us by now?” 

Eddie tilted his head in agreement, while Steve threw the kid a grateful look. 

“I did actually try to call a few times when you and Mike didn’t come back on time, but it was always the same, a busy signal.” Steve admitted.

Robin wrinkled her nose. “That sounds… ominous.”

“So that means either they left the phone off the hook, or…” Mike began, but neither he or anyone else bothered to follow that thread. It didn’t seem likely to lead anywhere good. 

“What are we going to do now? We can’t just keep waiting around for an answer to magically present itself. Not with three of our party in danger.” Dustin said, gesturing generally in the directions of Max, Steve, and Chrissy. “What if the music stops working?” 

“We’ll figure something out Dusty-bun, we always do.” Robin said, reaching out to roughly ruffle his hair.

He shrugged her off, undeterred. “And what about Will, El, and Jonathan? What if it’s him, what if Vecna got them somehow?”

“Look, Dustin, we’re all worried, alright?” Steve paused, dragging one hand down his face. He looked tired and drawn. “It’s late, everyone is exhausted and we’re no good for anything like this. Let's just try and get some sleep and see what we can come up with in the morning, ok?”

The sound of protest from the kids was deafening. Even Max who so rarely took part in any of the group discussions seemed appalled at the idea of sleeping at a time like this. 

But surprisingly, Nancy agreed with Steve.

“No guys, he’s right. We-” She paused, her bottom lip wobbling almost imperceptibly. “There's nothing we can do about any of it right now.”

Suddenly Eddie felt a little bit like an asshole, because until that exact moment he’d briefly forgotten that Nancy and Jonathan were together. It had to add another level to whatever else she was feeling right now.

It usually would have been enough to get the others in line, the two older and most seasoned members of the group—the new adults essentially with Joyce so far away now—agreeing on a course of action, but still they argued. 

Nancy looked on the verge of tears, a startling thing to witness from someone who was usually so stoic in these situations, and Steve was clearly at his wits end, already rubbing his temples as if warding off an oncoming headache.

Eddie surveyed the scene and figured maybe it was time to step in and put some of his DM skills to use.

“Shut up!” He shouted as he hopped up onto the coffee table, praying it would hold his weight. Though, him crashing through the furniture might provide the same level of distraction. 

The kids immediately fell silent—Mike, Dustin, Lucas, and Erica, out of habit, and Max because she was usually quiet anyway.

“Okay kiddies, you heard your mother—and Nancy. Bed, now. We’re all in need of a long rest to properly replenish. No arguments! Or you can say goodbye to any magical items your characters collected over the last campaign. Better yet, maybe I'll make you all create brand new characters. Who wants to relive the glory days of being a level one rogue, or a level two mage?”

Max cracked a smile, as did Steve—his eyes sparkling with amusement as he watched Eddie’s antics. Chrissy and Robin hid their snorts of laughter behind their hands and there was a collective groan from the rest of the peanut gallery followed by blessed silence.

Eddie hopped down off his makeshift soapbox with a flourish. “That’s what I thought.”

As everyone made their way to where they’d be sleeping for the next few hours, he and Steve lagged behind, making sure that all the doors and windows were closed and locked, for whatever good it would do them. 

When they did finally head up the stairs themselves and into the hall, Steve stopped short, catching Eddie’s eye as the sound of stifled giggles trickled out of the room Chrissy and Robin were sharing. 

“Sounds like they’re getting along well.” Eddie said softly.

Steve grinned. “You know it’s funny, Robin is usually so nervous around… uh, people. It’s nice to see her making a friend.”

Eddie pretended not to notice the hesitation. He could appreciate Steve not wanting to out Robin without her permission, even when it was someone he knew was safe.

“I think it’s nice for Chrissy too.”

-

After so many nights in a row, getting ready for bed with Steve was becoming surprisingly comfortable and routine. Each of them taking a turn in the bathroom to shower, change, or do whatever else they needed to before going to sleep. 

Except that tonight, for the first time, Steve left the door wide open while he washed his face and began to brush his teeth. Eddie wasn't sure what to make of it. It felt like a test of some kind… or maybe an invitation? 

Did Steve want to share the small space with him? 

He could, it was just sharing a sink. Friends could do that, right? 

It wasn’t a big deal, though something about it felt like a level of closeness that Eddie'd never had with someone else before, and as dumb, and as simple a thing as it was, if that was something that was allowed—he wanted it. 

Eddie took a chance and ventured in, not looking at Steve as he took up his own toothbrush out of the holder. The tube of toothpaste was on the far side of the vanity and without Eddie even having to ask Steve passed it to him, catching his eye in the mirror, and smiling a little around his own toothbrush. 

Steve finished before he did, their shoulders brushing lightly as he bent down to rinse and spit. After drying his face Steve looked at him one last time through the mirror before slipping past to go out into the bedroom, sliding a hand along Eddie's back on the way as if he'd needed to steady himself. Eddie shivered, his skin breaking out in goosebumps at the intimate, almost familiar touch. 

As they settled into bed, Eddie had the dangerous thought that he could get used to all this—this cute domestic shit, and falling asleep next to Steve night after night. If they made it out of this thing alive it would be hard to go back to normal. Though it would be nice to see Uncle Wayne again, and the rest of his friends.

A muffled cry startled him out of his thoughts and his half-asleep state. 

He opened his eyes, not really remembering when he’d closed them, and found Steve with his face pressed into his pillow, body trembling with the effort to hold his sobs inside. 

“Hey,” Eddie crooned, sliding his arms around the other boy and pulling him in against his side. Steve went willingly, resting his head on Eddie’s chest, one arm thrown over his waist.  

“What’s going on in that pretty little head of yours, Stevie?” Eddie gently stroked a hand through Steve’s hair and waited patiently for him to decide if he wanted to talk.

“I’m sorry. I swear I’m not usually like this," Steve said eventually, groaning into Eddie’s shirt.

Eddie believed it. He had a feeling Steve didn’t let himself break down very often, even in private—even when he had more than earned the right to do so. He felt honored to be someone Steve felt safe letting go in front of, and it was a privilege to be allowed to offer him comfort.

“No apologies needed, sweetheart.”

"It's just… I feel so useless this time. Usually there’s something to hit, some physical threat I can protect everyone from with my bat or my body, but—this thing? I don’t know what to do, I don’t know where I fit. I can’t protect anyone from this, and I’m fucking terrified. I’ve seen what Vecna does, and I don’t want any of you to have to go through that.” 

Steve finally looked up, wet eyes glistening in the dim light. “I’m so glad you knew to get Max started on the music before she had to–”

Eddie squeezed, tightening the hold he had on Steve with one hand while still raking fingernails lightly over his scalp with the other. 

Steve settled more heavily on top of him. 

“And I can’t stop thinking about the Byers, and El. Not that Jonathan and I are the best of friends or anything, but none of that matters now. What if Dustin is right and Vecna got them? It has to be related, doesn't it? They were right there at the airport. I’ve been driving myself crazy trying to think—I mean, what could have kept them from getting on that plane?” 

It was the million dollar question, and Eddie didn’t have any more answers than anyone else, but there was one thing he had to make absolutely sure Steve knew. 

“It's not your job to protect everyone y’know, or at least, not your job alone. Not anymore.”

-

Only a few short hours later Eddie found himself awake again, a warm weight resting on his chest, his own fingers still tangled in Steve’s soft hair.

Cracking one eye open he realized Steve was awake too, and watching him intently from the same spot he’d been before they fell asleep. 

“You get any rest?” Eddie mumbled.

Steve jolted a little in surprise. “Some,” he said. Then, perhaps realizing that he’d been staring, stuttered out another unnecessary apology.

“Sorry, you just… I mean, you look… peaceful, when you sleep. It’s, uh, cute.” A dark red blush began to spread from the base of Steve’s neck all the way to the top of his ears.  

Eddie huffed a laugh. That was… hmm. This couldn't be what it looked like, could it? There had to be some sort of heterosexual explanation for it.

“You—are clearly delirious. I think maybe you should try and get some more shut-eye.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right." Steve said through a yawn, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. “But the kids will be up soon and I really don’t want them getting impatient and trying to sneak off to do something stupid without us.”

Of course, Steve was right. 

It was barely 7am, they’d all had less than 6 hours of sleep, and every child in the house was awake, and they were loud. Technically everyone in the house was awake, it was just that the younger teen’s raised voices at the early hour were particularly grating. Eddie thought teenagers were supposed to sleep in. Apparently not true for this bunch. 

The TV in the living room was tuned to the local news, and everyone was watching over the top of their cereal bowls as the anchor spoke of another murder victim having been found. The police were not naming names, still waiting to notify the victim’s family, not that it mattered. Maybe it was wrong to not want to know the name of the person who had essentially taken Chrissy’s place, but to Eddie—to all of them, it just meant that Vecna now had 3 out of 4 kills under his belt, and their time to act was rapidly running out. 

As she so often did, Nancy took charge.

“I thought about it a lot last night, and I think our only choice is to follow through with the original plan without the others. A version of it anyway.”

“The plan that’s failed three times now? The plan that’s gotten Eddie killed and who fucking knows what else?!” Dustin shouted.

“I know! Alright? I know, but with some minor adjustments, I really think it could work.” Nancy said.

Eddie looked to Steve across the room and found the other boy’s eyes were already on him, a question swirling in their depths. 

He wanted to know what Eddie thought, if he was in.  With nothing but a meaningful stare Steve communicated loud and clear that he would take Eddie’s lead. If he didn’t want to do this, then Steve would back him up. 

He didn’t, for the record. The last thing he wanted to do was the same fucking thing they’d been doing—the literal definition of insanity—but he didn’t have any better ideas, and the clock was ticking. 

He gave Steve a sad smile and a shallow nod before turning to Nancy. 

“What minor adjustments did you have in mind, Wheeler?”

-

Eddie regretted agreeing almost the second they started hammering out the details.

The crux of the plan would remain the same. Someone would play bait for Vecna, keep him busy in their mind while the others set about attacking his physical form in the Upside Down. 

“I’ll do it.” Steve volunteered immediately.  

Eddie sucked in a sharp breath. He wanted to scream—no! Absolutely fucking not! No way was he letting Steve put himself through that again, but he held his tongue. 

What was he supposed to say? What other choice did they have? Max, who was an actual under-18-years-old minor child, or Chrissy, who wasn’t much older and had no experience with this stuff. Who would he throw into the fire in Steve’s place?

No one. 

If it was up to him no one would have to play this role. But it wasn’t up to him. They needed the distraction. Without it they had no chance at all of defeating Vecna.

“Maybe it should be me.” Chrissy said. “I mean, won’t they need you to go after his body? I don’t know how to fight, I'd be useless there.”

“No, Chrissy I-” Steve began, but Nancy cut him off. 

“Eddie can come with me and Robin in Steve's place.” 

“What about the bats?” Eddie asked.

Nancy eyed up the Harrington's fancy stereo system. “If we got you a long enough extension cord could you set this up in the Upside Down?”

“Nancy, you’re a genius.” Dustin exclaimed, and Eddie couldn’t help but agree. Why hadn’t he ever thought of that?

The next and perhaps the most important detail they needed to work out was where they would enter the other dimension from. Eddie’s trailer was out, obviously, since there was no gate there this time around. Fred’s gate was inaccessible, being in his own backyard in the middle of a residential street. Too many people would see them and wonder what they were up to, most of all Fred’s poor parents. Not knowing where the most recent murder had even occurred, that only left them with one viable option.

Benny’s.  

“We need to go over there and see if the cops are still around, if it’s clear we could go in tonight.” Nancy said. 

“If we’re lucky they’ll be too busy with the other murder.” Dustin said. 

Max shook her head. “Dude.”

He winced. “Sorry.”

“Me and Eddie could take a ride over there.” Steve suggested.

“It might be safer to keep Eddie out of sight for now,” Dustin pointed out. “Jason might not have a whole lynch mob after him this time but he’s still got it out for him.”

Chrissy cleared her throat, “Nancy and I could go check it out. We made a pretty good team looking for Fred the other day, even if we didn’t manage to find him.” 

Eddie half expected Robin to want to go too, since she and Chrissy had become attached at the hip, but she’d only bumped their shoulders together looking proud and continued whispering to Steve. He’d noticed them doing a lot of that this morning actually.

Once the two girls were gone on their fact finding mission, Steve grabbed Robin and pulled her into the kitchen to start working on dinner. 

Naturally, Eddie followed, letting his curiosity get the better of him, under the guise of offering an extra set of hands to make the food.

“Want some help?” Eddie asked as he stepped into the room.

Steve looked up in surprise, his cheeks turning pink as he opened his mouth to reply. He hesitated and Robin shot Eddie a sympathetic smile behind Steve’s back

Eddie raised an eyebrow. “Ah, I see. You two want some time alone then.”

“Not like that.” Steve sighed, rolling his eyes.

Eddie laughed. “I know, I know. I get it, you need some best friend time. That’s okay, I'll just go keep the rug rats out of your hair.”

It was surprisingly easy to keep the kids distracted for a while, a testament to how much they’d been through that they were able to compartmentalize like that. He told them a little, very little, about his plans for the next campaign for Hellfire, the last game he planned on running before he graduated. 

If he managed to graduate, Eddie mused, but he kept that thought to himself.

Which of course led to a discussion of who would be taking the reins when Eddie went off to bigger and better things. Dustin seemed to think he’d earned the right to inherit the kingdom, but Eddie was quick to knock him off that pedestal. 

“Do you really think Gareth would let me hand the club over to a bunch of freshmen when he’s been waiting for his moment for two years?” 

“We’ll be sophomores next year!”

Eddie waved him off. “Semantics.” He muttered “And Gare will be a senior. I expect all of you to support him, you hear me? He’s a good DM and an even better friend.”

The room fell silent when the phone suddenly rang, a sound that could mean only very good things or very bad things. It could also be a telemarketer, Eddie reminded himself, though it was a little early in day for it, they always seemed to call right as you were sitting down to eat. 

When it hadn’t been answered by the third ring Eddie jumped up and ran into the kitchen to see what was wrong. 

Something on the stove was burning and Robin was running her hands under cold water while Steve fussed over her. 

“Do you want me to..?” Eddie asked, indicating the phone when Steve looked up. He nodded gratefully.

“Uh, Harrington residence.” Eddie answered, just in case it was, god forbid, a relative or one of Steve’s father’s business partners or something like that. 

“Oh.” A young female voice came over the line. “Is this, Eddie?”

Eddie's heart rate picked up speed as he realized who it must be. “Supergirl?” 

She laughed softly. “Yes, this is El.”

“Jesus Christ kid, we’ve been so worried! What happened, are you guys okay?” Eddie said in a rush, and Steve was at his side in less than a second, pressing their heads together so he could hear her voice too.

“El?” Steve said.

“Steve!” She sounded so happy and so relieved to hear his voice, it made Eddie’s chest tight. 

“I am sorry we worried you. We are…. okay. Men in uniforms came and took us away from the Airport. I thought they were police but really they were with Doctor Owens. He knew about Henry. He knew Hawkins was in trouble and said he could help me get my powers back, so we went with him. We were in a car for a long time and then–” She hesitated, swallowing hard enough that Eddie could hear it over the phone. “I- I could not call until now, I’m sorry.” 

“It’s okay. We’re just glad you’re safe.” Steve said into his side of the receiver.

“I know you were planning to go after him tonight. I…spied on you earlier, and I think I can help. I just need a little more time to get strong. Do you think you could get the others to wait until tomorrow?”

“Yeah, I think we can do that.” Steve said.

“But how are you gonna help from… wherever it is you are?” Eddie asked.

“I think we are in a place called Nevada, and I can piggyback. I’ve done it before, sort of.”

Eddie mouthed the word piggyback to himself silently, sending Steve a sideways look.

He shrugged. 

“Once Henry has Steve in his trance, I will enter Steve’s mind, find him, and help fight Henry from there. Piggyback.”

“Oh. That actually makes sense.” Eddie murmured.

“Can Steve still hear me?” She asked.

“I'm here.”

“After Henry takes you, remember to think happy thoughts. Hide in the good memories, it is harder for him to find you there. Hide for as long as you can. I will find you.”

She hung up with promises to call again the next day to work out a time for the attack. In order for this to work they had to be perfectly coordinated.

Hearing from El changed everything. Even Eddie felt a much needed boost of optimism from it, like they might finally have a real shot at beating this thing. 

They were all still worried something might happen in the meantime by delaying their plans. There wasn’t much stopping Henry from taking another random victim in the night, but they all agreed it was worth the risk to go into this fight with the full force of the party now that they had their superhero back.

Privately Eddie had a suspicion that Vecna didn’t want just anyone for his final kill anyway. He had a vendetta against them now, no doubt, and would take nothing less than someone Eleven knew and cared about. He was almost sure of it. 

Nancy and Chrissy returned with good news as well. After they were filled in about the surprise phone call, Chrissy told them that Benny’s was completely abandoned. They even found the gate, a wide crack in the wall with a pulsing red membrane in the back of the building out by the dumpster.

-

For all their talk of staying awake all night to watch over each other, by 1 o'clock in the morning, after eating way too much pizza—half in celebration, half because Robin had burned dinner—and watching several cheesy movies, almost everyone had passed out where they sat. 

Robin was slumped over on the small couch with her head draped over the armrest, while Chrissy was draped over her, and Nancy and Erica were snoring from their place on the floor in front of them.

Mike, Dustin and Lucas had all fallen asleep sitting up in a line on the longer couch, with only Max looking comfortable where she was reclined against the arm, and had her legs sprawled out over the three boys’ laps. 

Eddie was wide awake, feeling too unsettled to sleep. 

He was on the floor with his knees tucked to his chest and his back resting against the recliner that Steve was currently occupying. He understood why the kids had wanted them all to stay in one room tonight. They were worried, unsure of what the future would bring tomorrow, as was he, but if it was their last night on earth—so to speak—he would rather be spending it with Steve in the now familiar cocoon of his warmth, in the bed they’d been sharing for almost a week now. 

He finally turned, looking up, expecting to find Steve as conked-out as the rest of them but found him awake too—already gazing down at him with a look that, if aimed at another, he might call longing.

They stared at each other for a long beat before Eddie tilted his head in the direction of the stairs in silent request. Steve smiled warmly, nodded, and the two snuck off as silently as they could.

-

The air between them felt heavy, charged in a way it hadn’t quite been before, and Eddie was almost sure he wasn't the only one feeling it. 

Neither of them spoke as they climbed into bed together, as if they both knew anything they said would either be too much or not enough.

There was so much Eddie yearned to say. 

That he was scared. That he wished Steve would stay behind where it was safe, even if he knew it wasn’t practical and that the other boy would never ever sit out this fight. 

Unfathomably, he considered telling Steve how he felt about him. If his world was, maybe, about to end for the 4th time, what did he have to lose? He could tell Steve exactly how much he cared about him, how much their short time together has meant, and how he’ll never be the same after this. How he thought he might be falling in love with him. 

But Eddie was a coward, so he didn’t say any of that. He held Steve’s gaze from a foot away and wished desperately for an excuse to get close. 

As it turned out, he didn’t need one. 

Steve closed the distance between them, winding his arms around Eddie and pulling him into his chest. Their arms and legs entwined with an almost practiced ease, and when Eddie pressed his face into the crook of Steve’s neck, for the first time it didn’t feel scary or awkward, it felt like he was made to fit there.

He breathed Steve in deeply, lips brushing lightly across the other boy’s collarbone by accident, but he didn’t care. He needed to memorize this moment, sear it into his brain forever—Steve’s smell, the heat of him, the softness of his skin, because one way or another it could all be gone tomorrow. 

He tried to hold on but in the end it was too easy to fall asleep in the circle of Steve’s arms, and as he drifted off he could have sworn he felt a light kiss being pressed to the top of his head.

But maybe that part was just a dream.  

-

The shrill ringing of a phone way too close to his head jolted Eddie from his sleep. Somehow he hadn’t even realized Steve had one in his room. Must be a rich people thing. 

Eddie was closer so he snatched the handset off the base that sat on the nightstand and held it out to Steve, already sitting up and reaching for it. 

“Hello?” Steve answered roughly, sounding exactly like a person who’d just been woken up after too many days of too few hours of sleep, but after a quick reply from the caller he was instantly more alert. 

“Woah! Jonathan, slow down. What happened?”

Eddie sat up, scooching over and pressing himself into Steve’s side so he could listen in through the earpiece. 

“Some army guys showed up, tried to get El. They killed Brenner and took Owens.”

“Brenner?” Steve asked.

“Papa.” 

“Wait, that fucker has been alive this whole time? Dustin told me a demogorgon got him back when all this shit started! And he’s been there with her?!”

Steve clenched his jaw, audibly grinding his teeth. Eddie was still a little confused on the details, but he knew enough to put the pieces together. They were talking about the man who raised Eleven like she was a goddamn lab rat instead of a human being. The balls to do that to a child and have them call you Papa. It was disgusting. 

“I know, man, I know. But it was her choice. He- he was a piece of shit but he got us out of there. He got shot as soon as we made it out the door. They had a gunman in a helicopter aiming for her.”

“Jesus H. Christ, she’s just a kid.” Eddie mumbled.

“Who? Wait, is that… Eddie?!”

Eddie's face felt hot, like he’d been caught with his hand in the cookie jar or something. He cleared his throat and tried to sound normal. “Hey Byers.”

“Is she okay? And Will?” Steve pressed on.

“They’re fine. We got away. El… she’s amazing. She stopped the helicopter, knocked it right out of the sky. She saved us. Brenner gave me his keys before he passed out, and we took off. I drove for a couple of hours till it felt safe enough to stop and grab a motel room. Hang on, she wants to talk to you-”

“Hi, Steve.” El said.

“You alright?”

“I’m tired, but I’m okay. I still want to go through with the plan.”

“Are you sure?”

“I can do it, I have to do it.”

Steve took in a breath and held it, fumbling around with his free hand until it closed around Eddie’s, squeezing. “Okay, if that’s what you want.”

“I’ll find you, Steve. Do not worry.”

Steve pulled his mouth away from the receiver and made a sound halfway between a laugh and a cry. Eddie was blown away too, Everything this girl had endured and here she was trying to make Steve feel better.

“I know.” Steve said eventually. “I’ll see you soon kiddo.”

A moment later there was a shuffling over the line as she presumably passed the phone back to Jonathan. 

“I need some time to get salt and stuff for her set-up. At least the room we got has a bathtub.”

“The gate is behind Benny’s so we need to wait until dark anyway.” Steve explained. “It’ll give her some time to rest too. 7 o’clock our time should do it. We’ll have everyone in position, and I’ll start baiting Vecna.”

“Good luck.”

“You too, man.”

“And Steve, um, can you tell Nancy…” Jonathan trailed off.

They could both hear the words getting caught in the other boy’s throat. Whether it was because of the emotion of the day or because Jonathan realized who he was talking to, Eddie didn’t know, but Steve understood what he needed and as he’d said before, none of the shit from the past mattered now. 

“Yeah, man. I’ll tell her.”

-

It was a somber day. Far from the party-like atmosphere of the night before, everyone was quiet, down to the youngest member of the party, all lost in their own thoughts as they made their preparations for battle. 

The sound system from Steve’s living room was carefully broken down and loaded into the back of Eddie’s van, along with several extension cords and a gas powered generator they’d found hiding under a tarp in the garage.

Weapons were made and split between Nancy’s station wagon and Steve’s car. Between the sheer number of people and the supplies they carried, all three of their vehicles would be needed for transport.

When there was nothing left to do and the sun was beginning to set, the group got into the cars and made their way to Benny’s. 

-

Eddie pulled around to the rear of the building and backed his van up as close to the thrumming gate as he dared, quickly busying himself with getting the generator going while the others parked on the side and walked over. 

After a short argument Nancy entered the Upside Down first, wielding her brand new sawed-off shotgun. She would provide cover, if needed, while Steve and Eddie carried the sound equipment through to the Upside Down. 

Eddie carefully didn’t look Steve’s way much as they worked. 

He hadn't meant to do it, at least in the front part of his brain, but he’d spent a majority of the day avoiding Steve as much as possible. It was just… he didn’t know how he was going to say goodbye to him.

In no time they were set up and ready to go.

It was the moment Eddie had been dreading the most since this loop had begun. His time was officially up. There was nothing left to be done, for any of it—no more preparations to make, or warnings to give. He’d changed so much and yet he had no idea if they were about to succeed or fail. 

When the farewells began, he tried to hang back, but he was pulled into the fold by Dustin—one of the few people in this world that he could never really say no to. He made his way around the group, still studiously avoiding Steve until finally the other boy caught his eye, and then it was all over. 

It was like gravity, a magnetic pull that left Eddie powerless but to walk up and meet Steve where he was.

“Remember what El said,” Eddie started, trying so hard to hold it together. “Hide in your good memories and she’ll find you there. And whatever that prick tries to show you just…”

They stood only a foot apart as the others filtered away towards the cars, but it might as well have been a mile-wide chasm for how badly the space made Eddie’s heart ache. But they weren’t alone, and Eddie didn’t dare close the distance between them. 

Steve nodded, offering him a sad smile. 

“I’ve got a few in mind, and Dustin is on Walkman duty, if anything we have to worry about him trying to pull me out too soon. It’ll be okay.”

“Come on, Steve. It’s time!” Dustin shouted through the open passenger window of the BMW. Max and Lucas were in the back seat, all of them going to the real-world Creel house with Steve.

Steve bowed his head, shaking it before looking back up to study Eddie’s face.

“Good luck, Steve.” Eddie said. 

“...You too.”

Eddie spun on his heel and forced himself to walk back towards his van. He needed to get his shit together. If they were going to defeat Vecna, he had to– 

“Eddie, wait.” Steve called out seconds before his hand landed on Eddie's elbow, just as it had that first night in his bedroom when Eddie had tried to make a break for it.

He turned and found himself enveloped in arms that had begun to feel like home, and he eagerly returned the embrace. Steve pulled back, a soft look of determination in his eyes as he cupped Eddie’s cheek, his other hand falling to rest on his hip.

Eddie’s breath hitched as the hands holding him trembled, and again with those fucking eyes of his Steve asked a silent question. He couldn't quite believe what he was seeing but he was almost sure he knew what Steve was asking permission for. 

The answer was easy. 

Eddie dipped his chin, a single shallow nod, and without hesitation or a care for who was watching Steve crashed their lips together in a desperate kiss. Eddie melted into it, winding his hand into Steve's hair and pulling him impossibly closer. 

It ended far too soon, though to be fair they could have stood around making out all night and it would never have felt like enough. Steve broke the kiss, resting his forehead against Eddie’s as they panted into each other's mouths. 

“Please, please be careful.” Steve begged, pressing one last soft kiss to the corner of his mouth before letting him go, jogging over to his car, and peeling out of the parking lot to make it to his mark on time. 

Eddie stood frozen, a little stunned as he watched the BMW drive out of sight. When he finally shook it off and turned back to his waiting crew he found them all watching him, dumbfounded. 

Except for Robin, who was trying and failing to stifle the world’s largest shit-eating grin.  

“Well what are you all just standing around for?” Eddie mumbled, picking up his axe and backpack full of prepared molotov cocktails and headed straight towards the gate.

-

Chrissy, Mike, and Erica were tasked with staying in the Right Side Up, armed with spears as they kept an eye on this side of the gate for any demopests trying to make their way out—though their main job was to wait for the signal and press play on one of Eddie’s many metal mixtapes to draw the bats away from the other Creel house, and clear the way for Nancy, Robin, and Eddie who were venturing into the Upside Down.

They were roughly half way there, having made the entire journey so far in silence when Nancy decided to go scouting up ahead, leaving Eddie and Robin alone.

“I see the way you look at him, so I’m not going to give you the shovel talk or whatever.” She said, falling into step beside him. “Just… be good to him, okay? Steve deserves that.”

Eddie’s knee jerk reaction was to scoff, and roll his eyes. “It was one kiss Buckley who knows if it even meant anything. Maybe to him it was just a, we’re probably all about to die, thing.”

In reality he didn’t know what to think. It had certainly felt real, but the circumstances were indisputably dire. Who was to say if Steve would have ever kissed him had they not found themselves in a life or death situation.

With no warning Robin cocked her arm back and punched him in the side, hard.

“Hey!”

“You listen to me, Edward Eleanor Munson–”

“Not my middle name!” He grumbled, rubbing at the spot. Robin was tougher than she looked.

“Whatever. I did not help Steve speed run through his bisexual crisis, in the middle of the fucking apocalypse, just for you to be dumb about this.”

“Can we maybe talk about this after we survive?”

“Fine, but i’m warning you, Munson, if you mess this up I’ll–”

He was saved from whatever threat Robin was about to dish out by Nancy’s return. 

“It’s just up ahead. I can see the light marking Lucas at the playground. Are you guys ready?”

“As I'll ever be.” Eddie said.

Robin nodded. “Let's do this.”

When they reached the playground Nancy gave the signal, pushing her hand through the particles three times to initiate the next phase.

Soon after, the faint sound of music started in the distance and they were forced to duck down under the play equipment as swarms of bats began to pass overhead.

That meant Steve was in, Vecna had him, and now it was their turn to finish this. 

Eddie let out a shaking breath, closing his eyes tightly against the rising panic. 

Robin laid a tentative hand on his shoulder. “He’ll be alright. Steve always makes it out, you’ll see.”

-

They failed. 

They fucking failed. 

The ugly asshole was on fire, and Nancy shot him so many times.

They had him, he was down and they thought he was dead but then they heard it.

Chimes.

Four chimes and then the ground beneath their feet started to shake. Deep down Eddie knew what that meant, but he couldn’t allow himself to think it. Not yet. 

He ran full out back to the gate, so fast that he somehow managed to lose the girls along the way. He felt bad about it in a distant way but he had to get there, he had to know. Was Steve really gone?

Eddie tumbled out of the gate, taking only a second to notice that Chrissy and Erica were huddled together by the van crying, while Mike sat a few feet away with his head between his knees.

He snatched one of the spare walkies up off the ground, pressing the button down with shaking hands. “Dustin? Lucas? Max?.. Steve?” His voice didn’t sound like his own, thick with an emotion he wasn’t ready to name as it cracked on his words. “What happened?”

“Steve, he was…” Dustin was barely audible over the glorified toy’s small speaker, but it was still evident that he’d been crying—was crying

“He- he got Vecna to take him and w- we were standing by in case things went too far b- but… Jason and Andy showed up. They held me and Max at gunpoint. They saw Steve’s car here, and they’d seen your van at his house before and… Eddie, we almost had them. They didn’t see Lucas sneaking up from behind. He tried, but the Walkman got broken in the struggle and then Steve was floating. Jason freaked out and took off, but it was too late. He’s gone.”

Eddie felt as if all the oxygen had been sucked out of the world. He let out a painful gasping cry and let the radio fall from his hand, winding his arms around himself as his body began to shake. It felt like a black hole had formed inside his chest, an endless void, and every good thing he’d ever felt was being pulled into its vacuum of hopelessness.

“Well, well, well. If it isn’t the cult leader himself, and the rest of his flock.” A familiar and very unwelcome voice called out as two figures appeared around the side of the building. 

Jason and Andy came walking up, trying to look casual save for the way Jason was still limping on his bad knee, but as they got closer Eddie could see the haunted look in their eyes. They were afraid of him. 

While keeping his gaze on Eddie, Jason pushed his second in command in Chrissy’s direction. 

“Grab her, we’re getting her out of here right now.”

Eddie was torn, he wanted to help Chrissy fight Andy off but Jason already had his gun out, loosely pointed in his direction and he was afraid if he moved someone else would get hurt. 

“You've brainwashed all these people into following you, and I don’t know how you’re doing it, but I know you’re responsible for these murders somehow.” Jason said, leveling his weapon at Eddie’s chest. “I saw what your friends did to Steve Harrington.”

“You don’t fucking say his name!” Eddie growled. “And you have no idea what you’re talking about.”

He lunged at Jason but he was too slow and the other boy side-stepped out of his reach easily, swinging the gun back around to aim it again. 

Just then Nancy and Robin came stumbling out of the gate. 

Jason turned, eyes widening as he saw the two girls magically appearing through a concrete wall. “What the fuck is that?!” He shouted.

Eddie didn’t look at them, he was singularly focused on Jason and taking him the fuck down. He tackled him to the ground, hoping the force of the fall would loosen his hold on his gun, instead the impact only caused Jason to squeeze the trigger with the barrel pressed right into him.

Eddie reared back, balancing on his knees as blood quickly blossomed across his chest, the bright red of it stark against the white of his Hellfire club shirt, and it occurred to him that maybe it had been bad luck to wear this particular shirt on this particular day. 

He’d just wanted to feel like himself.

Eddie collapsed backwards into the dirt and in moments he could feel it turning to mud, as a puddle slowly spread beneath him. It was hard to breathe, hard to concentrate but he could hear the sounds of a struggle and Nancy threatening to shoot Andy if he didn’t let Chrissy go. 

She must have succeeded in convincing him she meant business because suddenly Chrissy was there, falling to her knees beside him and putting pressure on his wound. Robin joined her a second later.

The pain, which he’d mostly been able to ignore, intensified as they pressed on his chest but he welcomed it—let it run through him and drown out the despair and heartbreak. 

Another gunshot rang out, and Eddie flinched, casting his eyes around wildly. All he could see was Mike consoling Erica as she cradled her arm.

“Damnit!” Nancy shouted from a short distance, and then she too came into his line of sight. “I missed. Clipped the side of the building and they got away.”

She looked down at him, and as if suddenly remembering that he was hurt started to tear at the bottom of her shirt. Eddie knew what she meant to do, but it was pointless. Even if he could be saved, which he highly doubted, he didn’t want to be. 

“No, stop.” Eddie said, struggling to talk through ragged breaths. "You gotta let me go. It’s the only way to fix this.”

“But what if this is it? What if you don’t get another try?” Nancy said. She had a strip of fabric now and seemed to be considering the best way to get it around him. 

“Doesn’t matter,” Eddie grunted. “Have to try.”

“Eddie, he wouldn’t want–” Robin began, but Eddie refused to hear it. Couldn’t accept it.

“I have to. We- we still have to kill Vecna. And Steve-” He sobbed, choking on the name. “It can’t end like this, it just can’t.”

Reluctantly Robin and Chrissy took their hands off of him and Nancy sat back on her heels looking lost and unsure. 

Eddie sputtered, a rush of coppery liquid filling his mouth, overflowing and spilling out the sides. It was hard not to struggle, his body still trying to breathe even as he was ready to let go.

Chrissy leaned over him, holding his face gently between her bloodstained hands as she pressed a soft kiss to his forehead, her hot tears splashing down onto his cool skin.

He fought to give her a weak smile as she looked down at him. 

“I’m sorry, Eddie. I’m so sorry that you’re going to have to do this all over again—but you can do it, okay? I know you can. You are so brave, and loyal, and kind and I might not remember all this, but I’ll be right there with you in the next one. I promise.”

“See you soon, Chris,” was all he managed to say before releasing his final breath, and for the fourth time in his life, Eddie died.

Chapter 7

Special thanks to @penny00dreadful for being the best beta, friend and cheerleader.

Reblogs are always appreciated and if you want to be tagged, just let me know! I'd be more than happy to do so 💜

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[ladykailitha]

If I Rescue You, Will You Rescue Me, Too? Part 18

Everyone wave bye-bye to Allison. She’s off to start her life anew in Indy. And Lucas has some thoughts on the matter.

Edited to Add: Shit, shit, shit! I thought I changed that. Max is still in the hospital and doesn’t meet Allison here. Shit! Updated to reflect that.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15  Part 16  Part 17

***

Steve decided after that they would need to throw a party to introduce his mother to the rest of the Party because Dustin bursting in like that did not make for a happy Steve.

His anxiety had shot up the second Dustin pushed Eddie. Of course Allison smoothed it over like she always does, but Steve didn’t want a repeat. And they both had a good reason to celebrate.

Steve had bought the house that she had pointed out and Allison Harrington was now Allison Kincaid once again. Harold didn’t have a leg to stand on, so much so that he had gone through three separate lawyers before he gave up and let her have whatever she wanted.

She got the house and immediately turned around and turned into a safe house for battered women seeking her help to divorce their horrible husbands.

Allison had then bought a nice penthouse suite in Indy. Steve had tried to convince her to stay in Hawkins but it wasn’t her home anymore. It was Steve’s though and he deserved to have that life without her shadow looming over him.

But she promised she’d call and visit often. So this was a housewarming, divorce, good-bye party all rolled into one.

Before the party started Steve corralled everyone in the front room, before letting them enjoy the first really warm day of the year by splashing around in his brand new pool.

Wayne, Robin, Eddie, and Dustin stood on the outskirts of the room while Steve stood in the middle of the room.

“Why can’t we just go into the pool?” Erica whined.

Steve’s lip curled. “Because there is someone else here that I want you guys to meet but I need to explain some things first before you do. Because it could be very disastrous otherwise.”

Mike looked at Eddie and then back to Steve. “Is this about the lady I saw you with at the store the other day?”

Steve blushed. “Yeah, it is.”

“You seemed really friendly with her...” Mike said suspiciously.

He laughed. “God I hope so! She’s my mom.”

The room erupted in a roar of disbelief and anger. Steve whistled long and loud and suddenly the room was so quiet it was almost as deafening as their roar.

“And this is why I wanted to talk to you all first,” he said. “She thought I was fine because my dad lied to her. She had been building up a divorce case for the past four years and didn’t know about all the shit that was going on.”

“And you believed her?” Mike asked with an eye roll.

Steve raised an eyebrow. “You’ve clearly never met my mother. When she saw the wound on my neck, I thought she was going to murder my dad right there in the front hall.”

“Are you sure, Steve?” Nancy asked, timidly. “She should have been here for the first concussion at the very least.”

There were some murmurs of agreement that skittered across the room.

Steve nodded. “Dad kept that all from her. He thought I wasn’t as bad they said because clearly I was just doing it for attention.”

Will’s eyes went wide. “Just how much did he hate you?”

“Far too much,” a calm voice said from the doorway.

All the heads in the room turned to see the most striking woman they had ever seen. Her long dark brown hair was artfully arranged on her head. Her makeup was flawless, but designed to highlight her age and not hide it.

She wore a simple black one-piece swimsuit with a billowing white robe.

The boys’ jaws were on the floor, as El and Erica looked at Steve in shock.

Steve ducked to hide the fond smile that came to his lips when he saw his mom these days.

Allison made her way to stand next to Steve and kissed his cheek. “I know it’s hard to believe, but everything he told you is true.” She whispered, “I hope you don’t mind me taking the floor?”

Steve shook his head. He knew that he probably would have started doubting her if she hadn’t come to his rescue.

“And it’s Allison Kincaid now,” she said warmly. “I went back to my maiden name after the divorce.”

Joyce shook her head. “I told you not to marry that knucklehead, Ally.”

Allison giggled. “And you married Lonnie, darling. Pot meet kettle.”

Joyce laughed. “Fair!”

“I see you’ve made a significant upgrade, Joyce dear,” Allison teased, nodding to Hopper who blushed a deep red.

“I think we all made decisions in our youth that were bad,” Hopper said. “But they made us who we are and we wouldn’t have our kids without those mistakes.”

As all the adults looked fondly at their children.

Steve cleared his throat. “But you aren’t here for that sentimental bullshit, you’re here for a brand new pool, good food, and fun.”

Allison smacked his shoulder and then kissed his cheek again. She walked out with Mike, Lucas, and Dustin following her movements with their heads.

El just rolled her eyes.

“Go on, you menaces,” Steve said, shooing them toward the pool. Everyone stood up and rushed toward the back where Allison had gone, leaving behind Eddie and Steve.

“That could have gone better,” Steve sneered.

Eddie pulled him close. “They’re just looking out for you, sweetheart. I know it’s hard to see that right now when you’re still riding the high of getting her back after all this time. For you it’s a god damn miracle. For them it’s suspicious that she came back after you moved a rather large sum from the account your parents setup to one of your own.”

Steve snorted. “Oh that’s why Dad came home, no question.”

Eddie smiled and kissed the top of Steve’s head. “Good to see you’re not totally blinded by this whole thing.”

“If they had given me time to explain,” Steve murmured into Eddie’s chest, “that she was taking the money she got from Dad in the divorce and moving to Indy, maybe they wouldn’t have been so skeptical.”

Eddie held him tighter. That right there was the only reason that Wayne and he didn’t close ranks when she showed up on their doorstep. That she had deliberately stayed elsewhere, talked about the divorce in very specific terms, didn’t fawn herself over Steve. She approached Steve like she would a spooked deer and that’s why Eddie was team Allison.

“Let’s go party!” Eddie said with a grin.

Steve laughed and followed his boyfriend out to the pool.

*

If anyone still had doubts about Allison’s sincerity it vanished with how Joyce treated her.

Apparently they had run in the same circles in high school and easily fell back into the old grooves of their prior relationship.

Even Nancy and Mike were charmed by her by the time they left to go home.

Allison had pulled Nancy aside and talked her about being a mom and having a career and that it didn’t have to be an either or. That she could have roots and wings if she wanted. Allison admitted that she hadn’t done right by Steve the last few years but she had seen the good a right balance to bring to both mother and her children.

Allison loved talking with the Byers boys, really getting to know Joyce’s kids. El was a little shier with Allison, until the older woman had complimented her style and then El just opened up like a flower.

“It’s good for El to see other kinds of femininity,” Joyce said to Hopper later that evening. “That she doesn’t have to be one way or the other. She can like pretty clothes and still kick ass.”

Hopper chuckled. “She’ll definitely get that from Ally,” he agreed.

Dustin managed to get Allison away from El long enough to do his own talking her ear off. Steve smiled when she laughed brightly at something he told her.

Robin had settled into an easy relationship with her since they had gone house hunting together. Robin had come out to her and Allison was able to help her overcome some of her nerves of talking to pretty girls.

Erica got into a heated debate with her over the better fantasy series Lord of the Rings or The Chronicles of Narnia, one that Eddie was drawn into almost against his will.

Erica was for Narnia and Allison and Eddie were for the Shire and Middle Earth.

It really looked like Erica might win when Allison pulled out her best argument: the trouble with Susan. And Erica folded like a house of cards.

Steve laughed when Erica came to him pouting.

“What did you think was going to happen?” Steve asked her. “You went up against one of the best courtroom lawyers of her age.”

Erica made a face. “Then I’m going to become a lawyer and come back and win next time.”

“You be sure and tell her that,” Steve said, knowing his mother would be proud that she had inspired Erica in such a way.

Erica grinned up at him and ran off to just that.

The only one that seem to hang back was Lucas. So Steve went to go check on him.

“Hey, you okay?”

Lucas let out a huff. “How can you forgive her, man? Like I get she didn’t know, but she also wasn’t home. She could have spent time home with you, actually getting to know you instead of running around the world chasing your dad.”

“Ah.”

That was a fair question and Lucas deserved an honest answer. He pressed his lips together and then licked them. “It’s not easy. There is a big part of me that is so sure that once she’s in Indy she’ll forget I exist. Because you’re right. She didn’t have to rely on my dad for information, but she did anyway. So I guess it comes down to faith I guess.”

“That’s lame,” Lucas bit out. “You shouldn’t have to have faith that someone will love you.” He ran his hands over his face and sighed. “I don’t know, man. A big part of it is knowing that she’s paid to be charming and put people at ease. She wouldn’t be a good lawyer otherwise.”

Steve nodded. “I know. And it’s okay if you don’t like her. It’s okay if you don’t trust her. I’m not going to make you. But you won’t know for sure unless you get to know her.”

Lucas sighed again. “I wouldn’t even know where to start.”

Steve chuckled and said, standing up, “She’s a Bulls fan. You can start there.” He winked at Lucas’s open-mouthed stare and walked back to the group.

The sun had gone down so people had gotten dressed and were now dancing underneath the stars to Eddie playing his guitar.

Turns out Eddie was pretty good at slow songs, too.

***

Part 19  Part 20

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#My writing #stranger things #steddie #season 4 fix it #ladykailtiha writes

[tartarusknight]

For the beginning of Pride Month, I wrote this small little guy. I hope all of you have a great pride month and stay safe out there!!!!

Bisexual wasn't a word in Steve Harrington's dictionary.

Steve Harrington didn't really understand the anger and hatred pointed towards the queer community. Because sure, you didn't think everyone was attractive, but God, there were so many attractive people out there.

Steve thought girls with soft curly hair and big innocent eyes were adorable, and he wanted them to step on him. But then there were guys who were lanky and so... well, Steve knew he had a type. People who were smaller than him, either in height or muscle mass. Curly hair, big eyes, nerdy, and well, someone who could basically, well, put him in his place.

Still, he noticed how no one talked about same sex crushes, so neither did he. But behind closed doors, he shared his first kiss with Tommy H and thought that the guy in the year above him who stood on table tops with his curly hair just below his chin was hot.

Freshman year, he lost his virginity to a senior girl named Lisa. But the first two years of his high school experience was spent at party, having meaningless encounters with girls while he spent his free time with Tommy and Carol. Honestly, he spent most of his time in bed with the two of them.

Well, until junior year when he got his first girlfriend, Nancy Wheeler. She was his type to a t. She needed some time to really get comfortable around him, but he saw her for who she truly was. As he fell in love with her, he lost Tommy and Carol. But he knew that it was better this way.

He felt more free to do things, and he didn't feel like they were breathing down his next 24/7. However, in senior year, when Nancy broke up with him at a party, he kind of missed them.

Still, he did what he could and got a job at an ice cream shop at the mall. He messed around with Robin there and got a free look at the curly haired guy who worked at the record shop not too far down. All in all, it wasn't terrible.

Well, until there were Russians under the mall. Then, it was frantic and terrifying. But still, he had a moment to sit down on the bathroom floor, as Robin told him about Tammy Thompson. He didn't understand it. Not really. Sure, she had a crush on a girl, but were there no guys she found attractive? Still, he knew when a girl didn't like him back.

Of course, after everything happened, he spent all his time with Robin. If he could, he'd live in her head, but he couldn't.

It was until the spring break that Steve was forced to examine his feelings. Curly haired metalhead now had a role other than distant crush that Steve did have the name of but refused to call him it. Not when he wanted to give all the pet names to him. Well, he finally said the name Eddie Munson, and it was like all hell broke loose. Call it superstition, but... if Dustin hadn't called about dnd and tried to combine his two older brothers' worlds, Steve would've been fine.

Instead, now Eddie was in the hospital with Max, and he was sleeping in a bed with Robin, Dustin, and Erica. They had taken over his king-sized bed, and the scoops troop staying together, holding onto each other closely.

It was then that Robin came out to the group. One Dustin comment made her explode. "Because I'm a lesbian! I only like girls!" She shouted, and the four of them went silent.

"Oh," Dustin said and Steve's brow furrowed.

"What you only like girls?" He asked and she looked at him like he lost it. "No guys, at all? What about the guys that fit in your type?"

She wrinkled her nose, "Anything with a penis isn't my type."

Steve blinked and looked at Dustin and Erica. "What about you two? Do you guys only like gender?" He asked, and everyone was staring at him. "Okay, if you like a certain type and there was someone that fit in that type, you would like them, right?"

"Steve have you ever had a crush on a guy?" Robin's voice was startlingly soft.

He huffed, "Duh. I've had sex with one." They all choked, and Steve didn't understand. "I thought everyone liked everyone. Is that - is that not right?"

"Who?" Robin asked and Steve crossed his arms.

"No way, you'll judge me."

Dustin who seemed to finally get his voice. "Your type. Oh my god, your type! You like Eddie!"

Steve's face went red, "okay this- stop. Nope, not doing this. You don't get to start with me and Eddie!"

He waved his hands around, and Erica started to laugh. And while they knew that Eddie was going to be fine. With Max still in a coma and Vecna on the horizon, it felt nice to laugh about this.

Steve would take their judgment for now. "Please just tell me it wasn't Tommy or Billy," Robin begged and Steve crossed his arms.

"I wouldn't sleep with Billy! Are you kidding me!"

Erica's brow raised, "You're not denying about Tommy though."

Steve pointed at her, "Watch it, Sinclair."

"Ewww," Robin complained and Steve threw his hands up in the air.

"It was only once- wait that's a lie. Once just me and him."

"Lalalala," Robin started shouting, her fingers in her ears.

Steve grinned and tackled Robin into the couch. "But I did sleep with him and Carol plenty of-" and he was shoved off the couch.

#stranger things #bisexual steve harrington #bisexual #lesbian Robin Buckley #lesbian #happy pride 🌈 #pre steddie #tommy hagan #carol perkins #steve is poly? #boy is everywhere #knightly talks

[calicheer-cove]

Select Clientele - Billy Hargrove x Chrissy Cunningham

Summary: Chrissy has her eyes on Billy. Billy has his eyes on Chrissy. He decides to have a little talk with her. What will be her decision?

Author’s Note: The pool flirting scene, but make it Calicheer. Also let me know if you want a part two.

Summertime in the small town of Hawkins meant something different for everyone. For El and Max, this meant sleepovers and playing around with her powers to spy on the boys. For Dustin this meant computer camp to learn and build with the latest in tech ware. For Will, he was hoping for D&D, while Lucas and Mike wondered if their girlfriends were mad at them. As for the older ones, summer internships and jobs to save up for future endeavors. Billy was more than happy to work as a lifeguard if it meant being out of the house. Chrissy, against her mother’s narrow mindedness, worked at the GAP.

Training alongside her friends was a nice change of pace instead of attending bible camp, again. Utilizing her people skills, practicing money management, and keeping the place in tip top shape made the time roll by. Even on days when only a small handful of customers came over, she was happy to be there. Aside from store discounts, she also had the benefit of stopping by Scoops Ahoy! to meet up with Steve and Robin during her lunch breaks. Harrington went on about his failed love life, while Buckley and her rightfully poked fun at him. Dustin was surprised to see Cunningham, feeling apprehensive at first. In time he was able to see that she was actually a nice person. Chrissy thought of him like a second little brother.

Aside from the mall, the community pool was also another big hot spot. The place to be for fun in the sun, much to the boredom of the juniors and seniors working as lifeguards. They did their training and work of course, their faces indicated that they would rather be anywhere than here. Billy was no different, still at least he was able to earn a little extra money and work on his tan. Billy was not ashamed of how he looked, he took pride in his appearance. A number of the mothers clearly took interest. He offered them a charming smile as he passed by, his face dropping immediately once he turned his back on them. He loved the attention of course, but there was only one set of eyes that Billy wanted on him. Eyes as blue as the ocean beneath the Santa Monica pier in July.

Nancy took in the warmth of the bright sun on her skin. Robin preferred to stay under the umbrella with Vickie, worried that the 50 spf wouldn’t be enough for her; despite her reassurances. Dustin was engaged in a battle of chicken, keeping himself steady on Steve’s shoulders. Making his best attempt to push Will off of Jonathan’s shoulders. Lucas and Mike were showing off in front of Max and El, the two girls focusing on each other rather than their idiot boyfriends. Erica and her friends were more than prepared to make fun of the older Sinclair sibling and his friend.

Chrissy’s nose was firmly in a copy of some trashy romance novel that Heather loaned her. A pretty predictable story, but one that she enjoyed nonetheless. In a small, shanty sea town, a faithful woman of god (who so happens to be a widow) crosses paths with a sexy pirate. He steals her, they go sailing, have sex, and that’s it. The words were enticing, the same could be said for the cover art as well. Muscular man with a tan, long flowing locks of golden, curly hair, eyes as blue as the sea, and he’s wearing a shirt that showed off more cleavage than the lady.

“So how are you liking it so far?” Heather asked, passing over a can of Tab to her.

“It’s good. Captain James is wooing Prudence in his quarters,” Chrissy answered back, eyes going back to the page.

“Ooh, you’re gonna love the next chapter. It’s so hot,” Heather purred, sliding a stick of gum into her mouth.

Chrissy wasn’t exactly a connoisseur of romantic smut, but her curiosity was definitely piqued in freshman year. During a slumber party, Heather shared her mother’s private reading collection and the girls all had a good laugh. Chrissy wasn’t sure what the flowery language meant, but she giggled as well. In sophomore year, she would find a private corner at the public library to read those stories; that is until Heather would offer one to get, in exchange for a little tutoring. As they studied for an upcoming science test, Heather noticed how distracted Chrissy appeared during a session. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to know that Cunningham was crushing on Hargrove as he walked by. Heather, in good fun and genuine curiosity, had questions. Chrissy was easy to read: Cheeks glowing, heart thumping, and scowl that wouldn’t scare a rabbit. Heather swore to tell no one and she kept that promise.

Chrissy peaked over her heart shaped sunglasses at the tanned Adonis. She had an inkling that he was looking at her, despite wearing his aviators. She figured that maybe she wouldn’t register on his love radar, boy was she wrong. Billy wasn’t a stranger to certain members on the cheer team, little flings in between after school practice were commonplace. To his surprise, all she did was offer him a friendly greeting and nothing more. He sat behind her in geometry, staring at the gentle slope of her neck. The curled loop of her ponytail looked so pretty, often accessorized with a scrunchie or a bow. Her perfume smelled expensive, costing more than a six pack, a box of Camels, and gas combined. In the cafeteria their eyes met briefly before she went off with her friends. One of Hargrove’s fellow goons made the fatal mistake of jokingly stating that Billy had a crush on Chrissy. A threat and swift punch to the shoulder was enough to shut him up. Wounded pride aside, it was true; Billy did find her fascinating.

Getting paired up in class for a history project led to conversations, allowing for them to talk; even if it was surface level. They began to converse in the hallway and after school as well. People began to talk, Billy didn’t give a shit, but Chrissy did. He wasn’t sure why, but a part of his mind ordered him to keep her safe. If someone made an inappropriate remark at her, Billy was the first to know. If he noticed that she wasn’t in class, he would ask around. Max kept her distance between her step brother and the cheerleader. She figured it was going to be nothing more than another quick relationship that she would end up having to hear from her bedroom, again. Yet he seemed different around her. The last thing Max could do was bring it up. Still, she found it a little amusing that El didn’t understand what Mayfield meant by “happy screams” and why Chrissy wasn’t making any.

“Chrissy? Hello, earth to Chrissy?” Heather stated as she waved her hand in front of her friend’s face.

“Huh? What?”

She chuckled, “You were totally staring at Billy.”

“I was not,” Chrissy hissed back, her blush betraying her.

“Aww, look at you, you’re blushing.”

She crossed her arms, “No! I- I- I’m sunburned.”

Heather leaned back in her chair, expensive sunglasses perfectly perched upon her nose, “Uh-huh sure, whatever you say. I mean, it’s not like he’s been staring at you since you came in or anything.”

Was he? Chrissy wanted to check, but she didn’t want to be so obvious. She placed her own glasses back up, eyes lingering back to the beautiful man. Solar spectacles on, face on the residents having their fun. No one would ever know about the ocean eyes gazing at the strawberry blonde.

Chrissy inhaled slowly and made her way over to the pool. Fake it til you make it as the old saying goes. For Chrissy, her confidence always shined through whenever she cheered. Her feet and legs gracefully strolled over to the water. His eyes kept his sight on her, his mind taking in each and every step that she took. She dawned a two colored one piece swimsuit, purple and white adorned the fabric. She wondered if it was too revealing due to the revealing neckline and how the suit hugged her rear. Heather and Nancy insisted that she looked amazing, Vickie loved the colors, and Robin was speechless before giving her a compliment (well more of a ramble, but Chrissy still thanked her).

The water felt so welcoming along her skin, allowing her to feel so comfortable and so free. She always loved the water, be it rain, lakes, and whenever she took a bath. As a child, she used to pretend that she was a mermaid swimming far, far away into the endless depths. No more responsibilities, no more worries, and no more stress. She could be her own person with a strong, shining tail and locks as long as a kelp forest. If only this mermaid knew just how much the lonely sailor watched her. Billy slowly removed his sunglasses, admiring the incredible form and movement. Chrissy took to the water like a bird to the air, with ease and strength. Her vibrant eye makeup never washed away, strawberry blonde locks darkened to a warm amber hue. She was radiant, lively, and enchanting.

His job was to focus on everybody at the community pool, yet he simply could not look away. He could hear music playing loudly in his eardrums. The booming of drums, the slick plucking of a bass, the melodic riffing of a guitar, and the amorous lyrics from the vocalist all came together. In his eyes, Chrissy moved in slow motion to the tune of Foreigner’s “Hot Blooded.” As much as he loved Phoebe Cates in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, her presence was no longer lingering in his mind. Chrissy was the one to break the surface of the pool’s water, strutting towards him in a red hot bikini. Manicured fingers carefully unclipping her top from the front to reveal her small and pretty breasts. His whistle seductively brushed along his upper lip and tongue, blowing out a loud tweet. The loudness of reality returned, but he kept his eyes on her. Chrissy used the ladder and was pleased to see him walking over.

“Looking good out there, Chrissy,” Billy stated, unable to keep back his smile.

She couldn’t resist smiling as well, “Thank you.”

He offered her a towel, their hands touched for a moment, “Perfect form.”

She felt the pleasant spark, eyes drifting along his sculpted body before she met his eyes, “Well… your form is amazing.”

Oh god, did she really say that to him? She really said that to him. His smile grew, letting out a mischievous chuckle.

She felt the little twinge of embarrassment, “I’m sorry. I’ve seen you… teaching lessons. Swimming lessons.”

Chrissy looked away briefly, asking for the concrete below her to melt beneath her feet. Maybe getting buried in a rock solid hole would be less painful than this. Yet he was still here, more than ready to engage. She hoped that perhaps he could smooth out the wince inducing matter.

Billy’s toothy grin dropped from humorous to a heart palpitating smirk, “You know, I could uh… I could teach you, if you like.”

Did she hear that right? Or did she imagine those words? He fluttered his long, lovely eyelashes when he spoke. Chrissy stood there with her mouth slightly agape.

“Oh?”

He continued, grin still evident, “I know all the styles. Freestyle.” He took a step closer, his expression neutral; enjoying the way she obediently nodded her head and clutched her towel. “Butterfly.”

Chrissy could hear her heart racing many miles a second. Her brain begged her not to say something stupid again. She could feel her body heat rising. She swore that she could also sense the warm sensation of his body as well, despite the short distance between them. Chrissy was so lost in his eyes that she didn’t notice the fresh stick of gum that he unwrapped and fished from his pocket. Gazing at the thick fingers gently holding the treat beneath his lips.

There it was, that smile, that gorgeously handsome smile, “Breaststroke.”

Chrissy did not blink, fingers loosening up as the air from her lungs momentarily vanished. The sound of her towel plummeting to the hard surface brought her back. She bent down to grab it, finding herself looking at Billy’s face when he helped her; his hand brushing hers once again.

“You okay?” He asked, sounding a little concerned and a bit smug.

She wrapped the towel around her waist, trying to hide her shyness with a friendly disposition, “I didn’t think you- I didn’t think you taught other age groups.”

Billy smacked his lips while he chewed, his breath minty fresh, “Well I offer more uh… advanced lessons to select clientele.”

He looked her directly in her gleaming eyes, he could see her demeanor change. Any time they spoke, even if it was just for a few minutes, Chrissy noticed how she felt a little light headed. Being in such close proximity made her lower half pulsate, a feeling that would continue to plague her long after they spoke.

His voice became as soft as the wind, Pacific blue eyes drilling into her soul, “Come to think of it, there is a good pool out at a Motel 6 on Cornwallis. It’s very quiet. You know, very private. Shall we say tonight? Eight o’clock?”

Chrissy’s brain reminded her to breathe, her ears focusing on the sound of his deep, gentle tone amidst the noise of summer fun. She could feel her head nodding, having to stop herself when she gave him a sympathetic smile, “I’m sorry. I can’t.”

He sounded heartbroken, it was all an act of course, one that made her laugh, “Can’t what? Have fun? Chrissy Cunningham.”

She felt so weird in this unusual predicament, yet she couldn’t help but enjoy this extra attention that he was giving her. It wasn’t out of the ordinary for Billy to flirt with others, but she couldn’t imagine herself being with him romantically; and yet her mind did wander to that possibility.

Chrissy ran her nails through her soaked locks, doing her best to calm down her racing heart beat, letting out another chuckle, “No. I… I… I just, uh… I don't think I need any lessons.”

How strange. Her voice sounded different. Breathy and just a little seductive. Billy liked that, he really liked it.

He was closer to her, truly towering over Chrissy, “Oh, you see, I think you do. I just don’t think that you’ve had the right teacher.”

She gulped, this was really happening, “I, uh-”

The smug bastard showed off his best smirk, his voice was like caramel, rich and smooth, “It will be the workout of your life.”

Chrissy wondered if it was possible for a human heart to thrust back and forth through one’s chest the way a cartoon character’s heart does. His wolfish demeanor should have disgusted her, but she couldn’t lie to herself, she was enjoying this. Yet she could sense the judgemental eyes of everyone around her. As if she were bare before all of Hawkins, a sensation that haunted her in life and in her dreams.

Chrissy gasped when she felt Heather’s grasp on her arm, “Hey Billy, don’t you have some cougars to flirt with?”

He rolled his eyes, “Speaking of cougars, how’s your mom doing?”

Heather scowled at him, “You’re such a prick.”

“Well, I’d like to stay and chat, but I have a job to do. See you later, Chrissy,” Billy stated before heading back to his station.

Chrissy covered herself with the towel, “Thanks Heather.”

“Are you okay?”

She nodded, “Yes, I’m fine. Just um… I don’t know… kinda weird right now.”

#calicheer #chrissy cunningham #heather holloway #billy hargrove #billy x chrissy #chrissy x billy #calicheer fic #calicheer fanfiction #calicheer fanfic

[roanniom]

Happy Halloween my Valentine! 🎃🖤

Please, if you would share some thots about convincing the boys to join you (and the rest of the gang) in a group costume.

My valentine and the love of my life <3 Anything for you forever and always.

🎃🍂🍁🎃

Pumpkins and a Nerd Posse

Eddie Munson x Steve Harrington x Fem!Reader

Warnings: nothing except a little bit of romantic competition and a blissfully unaware you...so far

You just know that Steve's going to be the wet blanket about it. Eddie, however, is down from the moment that you say the word "costume." He's got ten different ideas by the time you finish the question to begin with. After a little bit of push and pull you two have put your heads together and come up with the perfect group costume - a mix of characters from the Lord of the Rings (of course).

You and Eddie spend an entire weekend making the costume from an assortment of blankets and clothes you find down at the local thrift store. Robin is super down and helps with cobbling the pieces together since she (apparently?!) is good at sewing. You conscript Dustin to help make props, and he, in turn, pesters Max, Lucas, Erica, Mike, Will, and El into helping (which they do with plenty of grumbling, but one stern look from you, the backup babysitter, and they are zipping their lips and getting to work).

When you finally tell Steve, dropping by with Eddie during a Friday night shift at Family Video, Steve is predictably uptight about it.

"No. If I have to dress up, it's gonna be something cool and on my own. You're not roping me into your little nerd posse."

You go to argue with him but Eddie steps in with a hand on your shoulder.

"Why don't you go pick out some movies with Robin for the horror movie marathon. I'll handle Harrington."

You skip off immediately, more than happy to leave Eddie to deal with Steve Stick-in-the-Mud Harrington. You don't hear this next part, where Eddie leans forward, forearms on the counter, but that's just as well. You have absolutely no idea that for the last year, Eddie and Steve have been separately - and conspiratorially - pining over you from a distance. It's a twisted little situation, caught somewhere between support and competition, but either way, their individual obsessions with you is something they have bonded over.

"Harrington, you're gonna want to get in on this group costume thing."

"I've already told you guys -"

"Dude, she's dressing up as a sexy elf," Eddie stage whispers, his eyes darting across the room to your oblivious form and back. Steve's eyes widen and he, too, looks over at you quickly.

"She's...how sexy are we talking here?"

"Oh fuck off, man. Let's just say she won't be winning any authenticity prizes with J.R.R. Tolkien if you know what I'm saying."

"What the fuck is a 'J.R.R. Token'?" Steve asks, confusion contorting his face. Eddie closes his eyes to keep from overreacting.

"You're such a - ugh. Look, it doesn't matter. All I can say is, I've seen the costume and...it's not much costume. Catch my drift?"

Steve's eyes practically roll back in his head.

"God damn it, you got to see it already you lucky bastard?"

"Easy now, don't get a bat out anything. I haven't seen her actually in the costume yet, I just saw it laid out with the other costumes. But let me tell you, it is not something to miss."

Steve scrubs a hand over his face in agony. He looks back at you across the room through his fingers.

"Ok but can't I just dress up in a normal costume and enjoy her looking sexy? Why do I have to join the loser brigade?"

"First - ouch, man. You spend enough time with us that you're pretty much brigadier general at this point, so fuck you," Eddie points out, reaching over and flicking Steve's nametag off his vest, just for effect. Steve flails accordingly. "And second - you really think she'll get over you saying no to her group plans? You and I both know she'd be pissed and wouldn't speak to you the entire party."

"Ugh, you're right," Steve says, defeated, running a hand through his hair. Eddie runs a hand through his own hair, as if somehow influenced by Steve's anxious motions.

"Although on second thought I'm not sure why I'm working so hard to convince you to join. If she's mad at you, gives me more of a chance to make my move..." Eddie adds, seemingly coming to the realization slowly while he speaks. Steve stands up straighter and bellows across the room to where you and Robin stand debating over Return of the Living Dead and Night of the Creeps.

"Alright! I'll be part of your little band of Halloween weirdos!"

You and Robin cheer and jump up and down, missing the next part of the boys' interaction entirely. Steve turns back to Eddie, folds his arms across his chest, and gives him a smug smile.

"May the best man win," Steve quips. Eddie suddenly smiles back, so confident it makes Steve's smile falter.

"He will. You're forgetting that the Lord of the Rings isn't just her favorite book, it's mine as well."

The color drains from Steve's face at the implication of his inadequacy. Meanwhile Eddie ushers you back over, rental picked and now in hand. You give Steve a little wave and promise to send him information on the upcoming Halloween party. You step out into the parking lot completely unaware of the tension behind you. Before following, Eddie salutes Steve one last time.

"Tally ho, general. You might want to catch up on some reading."

Steve throws up two middle fingers and Eddie sails out of Family Video in a fit of laughter.

🎃🍂🍁🎃

I...I think I'm doing a part 2...stay tuned.

#trick or treat with issa #steve harrington x fem!reader #eddie munson x fem!reader #eddie munson x steve harrington x reader #eddie munson x reader #steve harrington x reader

[mixsethaddams]

So... *rubs my grubby little hands together*

Who's been Vecna's spy in Hawkins all along?

No, it's not Will. We know what happens to him when Vecna is actively using him and it's too hard to ignore.

We also know from seeing Billy being flayed that Vecna is very clever to not go too far off the beaten track when it comes to how his hosts will act. Billy's hair got a bit neater, his clothes got a bit tidier, but otherwise he was just the same dude.

It's safe to assume that any change in the OG party members would have been spotted almost immediately by El. So Lucas and Dustin are, in my mind, out of the running. Lucas went looking for Will by himself in s1 after he fought with the others and was obviously invested in getting his friend back. Dustin, by his own observation, would have set off all the magnets and compasses that he carries around. Erica is out too, because of her willingness to get hands on is s3 & s4 to foil plans. Max isn't an option either because aside from the obvious reason of Vecna trying to kill her, she was too close to Billy. This is another way we can discount most of the main party; she would notice just as soon as El would.

I also personally believe the main grown ups of Hopper, Joyce, and Murray to be out of the running here too. Joyce very much fucked with Vecna's plans in s1 by refusing to believe any of the lies she was fed about Will and Hopper has had no real character changes through the seasons to warrant suspicion. Murray is just that little bit far enough outside of the main Hawkins orbit for Vecna to think of him as an option, and doesn't have enough allies in the town early on for him to be considered useful enough. Nancy and Jonathon I'm also discounting because of Jon's proximity to Will, and Nancy's willingness to shoot at anything larger than a golden retriever.

So now. Let's get down to brass tacks. Who is the spy?

Mike is an obvious option for a couple of reasons. When Will was still possessed, Mike was the one that broke him out of it and it was Will's encouragement that helped Mike talk El through her fight with Vecna. Is seeing and hearing each other so loudly through the fog more of a psychic bond than a spiritual one? As much as I am a Byler truther at heart, something tells me that Blue Meets Yellow In The West might be a Mike Vs Will showdown, and not a joining of forces. Mike has also had some significant changes happen. El noticed straight away when he started signing things 'From Mike' instead of 'Love Mike'. He stopped calling Will when they moved to California. He didn't rush to El's side when the other girl's were bullying her, he just looked around, bemused. Not only is this wildly removed from the person we got to know in s1 and s2, but it's so different to someone that his best friend describes as 'The Heart' of them all. Will felt something off about Mike too, when he got to California. Was that sense of Vecna being around just his presence in the Upside Down, or his psychic link to Mike?

Second up, we have Robin. Robin appeared with very little backstory and even Rebel Robin leaves a lot of guesswork and blank spaces. She just happens to speak Russian? As well as how many other languages? Interesting. Did Vecna think that his spy should be able to communicate with the people who were aware of his monsters? Robin also sustained very little damage in the Russian tunnels. She was held captive just like Steve but came out basically untouched. Was this the enemy recognising an ally? Or was it Vecna protecting his asset?

And Robin, of course, leads us to Steve. Oh Steve, beautiful Steve. Let's talk about Steve. Let's talk about Steve, who we know nothing about, who's family we have never met, who went through the biggest arc of all by inserting himself right in with the main group and earning their trust. Let's talk about the jock who can't win a fight until he's up against a literal soldier because maybe he knows how this solider was trained. Let's talk about all-of-a-sudden-has-blonde-highlights-wears-cherry-lipgloss-forgot-how-to-get-a-girlfriend-but-knows-how-to-connect-with-smaller-kids Steve. Let's talk about Steve who throws parties in his big house and invites everyone so he can see them all at the same time and make sure everyone knows who he is.

And isn't it just wild that our boy Steve got tortured so bad by those Russians but it was all superficial damage? No broken bones, no broken nose, hell, he doesn't even have a scar. What a coincidence that they mixed up the truth serum too, huh?

Do his parents really not come home of their own accord? Or do they just get this feeling that maybe they should extend their trip? Steve saw Billy up close and didn't even try to hold on to his King crown. Vecna saw Billy up close and felt bolder, so he let himself slip more into Steve's aesthetic. He added the hair, the lipgloss, lost the swagger, because he'd found Billy and he thought he was so close to winning. He got lazy.

Steve watches everyone closely. Steve knows everyone will tell him their secrets. Steve knows how to rip a demobat apart despite never seeing one before and knowing nothing about their weakspots, or that their blood isn't poisonous if it gets into his mouth.

Steve has been Vecna's spy all along. And in s5, Steve will sacrifice himself for his friends. Eddie was never Kas. It's always been Steve.

#steve stranger things #kas theory #stranger things #steve harrington #vecna #vecna's curse #robin buckey #mike wheeler #eleven #will byers #long post #stranger things theory #seth writes

[hopefulfuturenovelauthor]

Cheerleader’s Friend The Freak

… so this can be read platonically for characters, but it can also be viewed as an Eddie Munson x reader short fic

If people like this I was thinking I would more just do prequel one-shots/mini series about how they become friends or like how they get into a relationship sort of thing. Just comment if you’d like that and request if you have any ideas.

Also, I just wanted to write one more thing before characters die and Eddie possibly goes too. 😭. But do enjoy while I contemplate how I will survive Volume 2.

Warnings: none I can think of, if you have one let me know so I can add it

also please do not copy my writing, thanks!

—————

“Steve, why are you calling me and freaking out? I will not help you get rid of another demo-whatever’s body. That was a one time thing and it only happened because we put it in the Byers’ fridge.”

“No, no, Y/n, you got to listen to me. I just need you to call the police and report myself, Robin, Dustin, and Max missing if I do not call you before sundown. Okay? That’s all, seriously, nothing more. Just dial 9-1-1, and report your emergency.”

“So, are you assuming that you going radio silent is an emergency in my mind. Do you really think I’m going to call and be like ‘oh no, Steve The Hair Harrington isn’t returning my calls, I’m a helpless piece of hot ass that needs a man at all times because without one I have no purpose’.”

“Haha, very funny. Will you please just do it?”

“Yeah, dude, of course I will, I just- is everything okay? Because I can help more if you need anything ya know. You can keep me in the loop and shit.”

“Look, it’s just, Henderson and Mayfield think that Munson didn’t actually kill Chrissy, they think it’s some upside downy thing. I can’t explain it. I just wanted to make sure that if we went missing someone would know.”

“Chrissy’s dead?”

“Shit, right, Y/n, I’m so sorry. I know you were friends and I know that hasn’t been released to the public yet. I never meant for you to find out this way.”

“It’s- it’s fine. But um, Eddie, they think that Eddie did this?”

“Yeah, it’s real messed up. The guy’s always been a freak though.”

“Steve, shut up! Where is he? Steve, god damn it, you didn’t just tell me all of this to not tell me where the hell you are going did you?”

“I- no, yes, Y/n I don’t know. Look we are checking out Rick Lipton’s place, we think Eddie might be there, just please don’t do anything stupid.”

“I won’t do anything stupid, I promise.”

“Okay, good, I’m holding you to that.”

You did something stupid. You grabbed your car keys and drove straight to Lipton’s. As the second most popular cheerleader you knew Chrissy well. You knew how Jason was going to take the news of Chrissy’s death too. He would be far more driven than you to find the person that did this. In fact, as much as violence was on your mind, you knew with Jason it was much worse.

You made it to Lipton’s quickly, but Steve, Robin, Dustin, and Max were already there. The door to the shed was even cracked enough that you could tell that they were in there. Hesitantly and slowly you made your way to the door, opening it with caution. Entering the room you were faced with Eddie and Steve. Robin, Max, and Dustin still had their backs to you.

“Y/n,” Eddie said, with slight surprise. His eyes lit up at your sudden appearance.

“Y/n?” Steve questioned.

“Eddie,” you pushed past those in front of you to make your way to the long haired metal head in front of you. Your arms easily found their way wrapped around him. He returned the gesture holding on to you with just as much assurance.

“You two know each other?” Dustin asked as the two of you pulled away.

“Yeah, um, Eddie and I are actually friends,” you offered up to the group.

“Yeah, Y/n’s the coolest girl I know,” Eddie added in, looking your way before playfully wrapping an arm around your shoulder.

“Actually, Erica is the coolest for we know,” you said turning your head towards Eddie, “but yeah I think you get the gist,”

“Erica?” Robin was confused.

“Yeah, I babysit her from time to time when the Sinclair’s need me to,” you responded with a shrug of your shoulders.

“Yeah, why do you think I let her play with us?” Eddie said, looking at Dustin specifically.

“What?” Dustin asked, absolutely uncertain of what was happening.

“Dnd, I mean she didn’t learn by herself. We both made characters and everything, it was really fun. Eventually I read one of the campaigns and Dmed for her,” you explained with a large smile on your face that made Eddie smile too. Steve continued to looked back and forth between the two of you, not knowing what to say.

“You are a dungeon master?” Dustin’s face grew a grin. You loved the nerdy kid like he was your own brother that you actually got along with. 

“Um, can a chest be a mimic?” You responded, laughing at the confrontation.

“Oh my god, she’s a nerd,” Robin commented.

“I have never denied that,” your face shifts into a more contemplative expression.

“She’s a nerd, Eddie, the cheerleader is a nerd,” Dustin looks like he’s about to bounce up and down out of excitement.

“I know Dustin, we are friends,” Eddie said slowly while nodding his head.

You nodded as well “yeah, I like rock music too, just to put it out there, huge book geek as well, especially fantasy and science fiction.”

“Um, anything else?” Dustin asked eagerly.

“I like ghostbusters, the breakfast club, Star Wars, and back to the future. Also, uncommon opinion, but I think the Jedi and the Sith both have lifestyles and methods and ideologies I don’t agree with. Also, the dark side is kind of cool, I’d definitely pick a red lightsaber, I’d love to be an emperor or a lord or darth something that sounds so cool,” eventually you just started to rant.

“Wouldn’t it be empress or lady?” Steve’s brow furrowed as he questioned you.

“Why the hell would I want to be a lady when I could be a lord, also emperor sounds like it has more power and is more intimidating. Plus, I don’t quite care for gendered titles since the male ones are always better or more respected,” you stated with attitude as you crossed your arms. Eddie and you have always shared similar opinions on social norms and societies ways of conformity.

“You are definitely Eddie’s kind of person,” Dustin commented.

“Why is it not that he’s my kind of person?” You questioned the child that seemed to be taken aback.

“I think we can both say that we are both each other’s type,” Eddie grabbed your shoulders trying to reel you back in.

“Type?” Steve’s voice came out high pitched compared to normal.

Ignoring the poor and confused man you faced Eddie, “Are you flirting with me now, Munson?” You said jokingly in front of your friends and acquaintances.

“Maybe, that bother you?” Eddie wiggled his eyebrows and moved a little closer to your face before you both ended up bursting with laughter. Suddenly the two of you were red in thhe face from the humor you had provided yourselves. Eddie was wheezing while you were hitting your knee from laughter.

“Oh, that was good, that was funny,” you pointed at Eddie while you wiped a tear from your eye.

“What the hell?” Robin asked.

“I don’t understand what I’m seeing,” Steve said like he was detached from his body. You could tell by his face that he seemed to be scarred for life. He obviously did not understand yours and Eddie’s interactions.

“Are you two…” Dustin trailed off.

“What!?! No!” You protested while Eddie simultaneously responded.

“Ughm, never,” Eddie said quickly after clearing his throat.

“Looks like Dustin has a new other older friend to replace you with, Steve,” Robin teased your mutual friend.

“Shut up Robin,” Steve rebuked the girl's claim.

“Could you all shut up!” Max raised her voice at all of you. In all honesty, you had forgotten she was there. Max looked at each person standing in the room before speaking again, “we have bigger problems, the first one being what actually happened to Chrissy.”

Eddie tensed, and the air in the room went stale. You all looked at each other, knowing this would be one hell of a villain to beat. But the campaign had already started and hopefully your characters would survive.

—————

once more if people want prequel’s let me know, comment or request, thanks!

Eddie Munson tag list: @emilyquinn112, @moshpot24x, @dragon-ash13, @quiet-pls, @moonlighy, 

#stranger things #eddie munson #eddie munson x reader #stranger things x reader #stranger things season 4 #stranger things imagine #steve harrington #robin buckley #dustin henderson #we swear on dustin’s mother #max mayfield #max hargrove

[wildestflowrs]

⏰Ronancetober Day 11: Time Travel💕

Back to the Future

The bat lets out a final shriek as Nancy swings at it with the stock of her shotgun, dropping to the floor with a quiet thud. Nancy steps on the creature’s head, satisfied that it’s dead by the crunch. She wipes sweat off of her brow, looking over at the others.

Since the ‘earthquake’ had opened a massive gateway to the Upside-Down all across Hawkins, Nancy had come up with the idea of regular checks of the gates to make sure nothing was going in or out of them. This had been the first time they’d encountered something from the Upside Down leaking out for a few weeks, and the largest scale of monsters too.

They’d split off into smaller groups to cover more ground; Steve, Argyle and Jonathan with Will, El and Erica - Nancy and Robin with Mike, Lucas and Dustin. Their group had been investigating the Lovers Lake gate; the lake now nonexistent and dried up, the gate cutting across its entire diameter and what used to be its shoreline.

“Is everyone okay?” Nancy calls out, getting a response of thumbs up and tired mumbling. There must have been seven or eight bats, but this time they were armed, so they had an advantage. The only one who seems to have sustained and bites is Nancy, who had been caught off guard by the bat’s initial attack. The others had their share of cuts and bruises, but nothing too severe.

They all take a minute to catch their breath, still coming down from the shock and adrenaline of the fight. Nancy pretends not to watch as Robin slicks a few strands of hair out of her face - chest still heaving -and adjusts her ponytail, showing off her slightly toned arms in her tank top. It’s getting late, but the sun is only beginning to set in the humid summer heat.

“We should radio Hopper and let him know about-,” Lucas gestures vaguely around them, “-all this,”

“We’re a little out of range here so we’ll have to go down the block,” Mike pipes up, “but someone should stay here and make sure nothing else gets out,”

“Nance and I can stay,” Robin suggests, walking over to where Nancy is standing leaning against the old dock, “I have my axe and Nancy has her shotgun so we should be able to handle anything that comes out of there,”

The other four share a knowing look, a look that says we all know there are much worse things that come out of there, but no one objects to Robin’s idea. Dustin rustles in his backpack and passes another walkie to Nancy.

“We’ll still be in range to hear you guys, so let us know if you’re in any trouble,”

Nancy takes the walkie and clips it onto her belt, “Of course, now you guys go speak to the others,”

The three boys trail off down the street, walking away and trying to speak into the walkie until they don’t just receive static.

For a few minutes, it’s quiet; the gaping crack in the ground no longer glows with a reddish tinge and there’s no sound coming from it, which is a good sign. The momentary peace allows Robin and Nancy to stand together, close enough to reach at less than an arm's length but too far away for Nancy’s comfort. She shuffles a little closer, resting her gun over her shoulder.

“It was pretty badass when you swung at that bat that was attacking me,” Nancy mumbles, grinning and blushing to herself and why was she doing that?

Robin stumbles with her words for a moment, “oh- Uhm well- I uh- it was nothing, I mean it was pretty reckless, I could have hit you and hurt you even more or-“

“Rob, you did great,” Nancy turns to the girl, slipping a hand into hers and squeezing reassuringly. Robin gives a dampened smile, though her face somewhat falters when she takes Nancy in.

“Nance…” she brings a hand up to Nancy’s jaw and neck, gently touching the torn skin where one of the demobats had gnawed and clawed at her. Nancy flinches at the touch, and Robin withdraws her hand and lets it rest on Nancy’s shoulder.

“Are you hurt anywhere else?” Robin asks quietly, but before Nancy can respond a sound almost comparable to retching comes from the gate. Thee turn instinctively, Robin raising her axe and Nancy steadying her gun. The ground beneath them rumbles slightly, and a crack begins to stem perpendicular to the larger, pre-existing crack, seemingly coming straight toward them. The pair take a few steps back, preparing for whatever may emerge from the bell scale below, but the crack stops in front of them.

The new gate glows in a golden-orange light, and Nancy steps forward to peer into the new gate. It looks vastly different from the void-like gate to the Upside Down; it is glass-like, almost looking like the surface of a lake or puddle, and seems to reflect Hawkins, but not the fucked-up version - real, Right-Side Up Hawkins.

“What the-“ Robin crouches and reaches a hand into the gate; the surface ripples like water. Robin giggles a little, “huh, it tickles,”

Nancy kneels beside her, examining it. She watches almost as if in slow-motion while a figure appears on the other side of the glassy gate, and pulls Robin by the hand. The girl falls through the gate, letting out a strangled cry as she tumbles in head first and letting out a strangled cry.

Nancy doesn’t hesitate before going in after her, gripping her gun tightly and diving into the gate.

Her stomach turns like it did when she went through the gate to the Upside Down each time before, but she’s startled to find herself in water when the world stops spinning. Her head pops up over the surface of the lake, and she tries to tread water, which is apparently more difficult when you’re carrying a shotgun. A hand reaches out in front of her from the dock, and she grabs onto it, being hoisted out of the water.

She coughs and splutters and whoever pulled her out of the water kneels beside her and pats her back, resting a hand on her knee.

“Rob?” She coughs, looking around frantically for the girl.

“Nance, it’s okay, Robin’s next to you,”

What? Nancy could have sworn that was Steve’s voice-

She looks beside her, and as she suspected, it’s Steve, but he looks different; he’s wearing glasses, hearing aids in both ears and not just the one and he has stubble despite Nancy swearing that he was clean-shaven when she saw him a few hours ago-

“Yeah, what the fuck are you guys doing at the lake, you said you were going out of town,”

A voice from behind them, one they couldn’t have expected to hear; Eddie Munson, the very same Eddie Munson whose body had been lost in the Upside Down four months prior.

“What the fuck?”

She stands up and steps back from Steve - not the same Steve from the other side of the gate, she now realizes - and Robin follows suit beside her.

“Nance, what’s going on?” Steve asks them, trying to reach out to them.

“Alright, we’re totally being Vecna’d or something, this is fucked,”

Something grasps at Nancy’s pant leg and she stumbles back further, wishing she hadn’t lost her gun in the lake.

“Rosie, honey, come here,” Steve says and a toddler, no more than 4 years old, rushes over to Steve, letting him scoop her up in his arms. The child looks between Robin and Nancy and frowns, tucking her head into Steve’s shoulder.

“Right, someone better explain what the fuck this is or I’m gonna punch someone,” Nancy says, and Robin runs a hand through her hair beside her, gasping in realization.

“What year is it?”

“Rob… it’s 1999,”

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Once Steve and Eddie had managed to coax Nancy down from thinking they were a Vecna illusion - and after she gave Eddie a split lip - they sat on the hood of Steve’s car, each explaining what they knew as the sun sets.

“We were investigating the gate at lovers lake after,”Nancy pauses, “everything, when a new crack appeared; it didn’t look like the Upside Down, so we were checking it out when Robin got pulled in,”

Steve nods, smiling apologetically, “that was me- Rose pointed at the lake and I swore I could see Robin’s face in the water and when her hand popped out- I just pulled her up without thinking,”

Nancy pinches the bridge of her nose, “So, that gate seems to have brought us over ten years into the future- the future where Eddie Munson is back from the dead and Steve Harrington has a kid now, apparently,”

Eddie and Steve share a look, Eddie turning and explaining, “Well, uh, I never actually died, it’s a uh- whole thing,” he shrugs, “and uhm- Rose isn’t our kid, she’s yours,”

Robin makes a noise and Nancy splutters, “Mine? Or Robin’s-“

“What do you mean, yours or Robin’s, both of you guys-“ Steve seems to realize something midway through his sentence and pauses, “you guys aren’t there yet, are you?”

In response to Robin and Nancy’s confused looks, Steve explains. Explains how Nancy and Robin have been together for years now, got unofficially married a few years back, had Rose, their daughter, whom Eddie and Steve were babysitting while Nancy and Robin were away in New York for a story Nancy was reporting on.

“Fuck, that’s- a lot,” Robin breaks the stale silence that had settled amongst them.

“Yeah, uh, I don’t know if we’re meant to tell you all that, like I'm pretty sure it goes against like every time travel movie ever or something-“ Eddie shoots a look at Steve, who grins guiltily.

“Oh shit, man, you’re right,” Robin snaps her fingers, “I swear, if this fucks up space and time, that’s on you, Steven of the Future,”

Nancy’s in a world of her own; watching Steve and Eddie, the way they’re so close, matching rings on their hands, the way they keep saying us or we. They never explicitly said it, but they’re together now - and it works, and they’re so confident together ImA way that makes Nancy jealous. She watches the toddler, Rose, playing with a pony toy from her little backpack, completely unaware of the situation unfolding around her, every now and then prompting Eddie or Steve to play with her. Something about this future- Nancy longs for it, spending her life with Robin something she had considered but never seriously until now-

“Nance, you okay there?”

Robin rests a hand on her thigh and breaks her out of her thoughts. She jumps at the touch and heat rises in her cheeks. There is a future where she spends a life with Robin; beautiful, witty, kind Robin, who can talk for hours on end and it would still sound like music to Nancy’s ears. Robin, who effortlessly makes her blush, who makes her feel warm in a way she handy truly felt in so long.

She decides that today was the day she would start this future with Robin Buckley.

“Yeah, Rob, I’m fine, I- can I talk to you, for a minute?”

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Nancy leads Robin into the woods skirting the lake. It’s still summer in this time too, apparently, but not the sticky, damp summer of ‘86; the water is back in the lake, that much Robin is aware of after the past hour, and there is an absence of spores and gaping ominous splits in the ground, indicating that Hawkins had recovered. Things do get better.

Nancy stops suddenly and Robin absentmindedly stumbles into her. She mumbles in apology and Nancy takes her hand.

“Rob, I… I’m a coward,”

Robin stares at her in disbelief. There’s no way that Nancy Wheeler, who jumps headfirst into danger, owns at least three guns, fights monsters regularly, and doesn’t hesitate to beat someone twice her size up is a coward. Robin goes to say something when Nancy continues.

“I’ve been pushing down how I’ve been feeling for so long because I was scared. Because it felt wrong, the way I feel about you. But now… know I realize that I want to feel this way about you. I want this- this future, Robin. I want to be with you, I want to travel with you and get fake married, maybe even have a kid even if I think they’re a little annoying. Because now I understand that I’d do anything as long as it’s with you,”

Robin doesn’t know how to respond, but finds herself wrapping her arms loosely around Nancy’s waist and leaning in ever so lightly, the smaller girl going up on the tips of her toes and they both close the space between them with a kiss.

Despite what she’s been told about first kisses, this doesn’t feel like fireworks. Instead, Robin feels like she’s melting into Nancy, warm and happy and grinning so hard that the kiss breaks off and Nancy’s smiling too, their foreheads pressed together. Robin can’t help herself and kisses Nancy again, and again and again peppering kisses all over her adorable face, cupping Nancy’s cheeks in her hands. She can feel Nancy’s laugh, hear the sweet sound as Nancy loops her arms over Robin’s shoulders and around her neck, her sharp blue eyes meeting hers.

“Soo… does this make us girlfriends? Like, officially?”

Robin chuckles and kissed her on the lips again, shorter this time, “yeah, I guess so,”

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

They walk hand in hand back to Steve’s car, saying their goodbyes to the future versions of their friends, promising Eddie they’re gonna save him quicker this time, that they’re gonna make sure Steve realizes Eddie likes him back sooner, for the sake of everyone’s sanity. Before they leave, Rose comes up to Nancy and pulls on her pant leg again, holding up a small rock she’s picked up from the lake shoreline. Nancy takes it and smiles at the little girl, who goes and hides behind Eddie, smiling shyly at Robin and Nancy.

Nancy jumps back into the lake first, and for a minute she thinks it hasn’t worked. But sure enough, she feels that familiar stomach-churning and she’s back in the dried-up version of Lover’s Lake. Robin quickly follows and then the boys are back, seemingly no time has passed since they went through the time gate.

“We just spoke to the others, they said that found something weird too; they swear they could hear music coming from their gate, Hoppers coming to get us now,” Dustin tells them, out of breath from running back to tell them.

The girls share a look. Nancy then turns to the boys, “well, come on then, let’s go check that out,”

The kids take off in front of them, and Nancy and Robin trail behind, hand in hand, letting their future start.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

99.9% of this is word vomit so 😭 oops

#ronance #ronancetober #ronancetober day 11 #this may be riddled with spelling mistakes #subtly slipping in my parents ronance agenda #nancy is the embodiment of repressed lesbian yearning #robin buckley #nancy wheeler #ronance fanfic #wildestflowrs writes

[nerd-at-sea5]

hold me, please. i'm never letting go

max is the first to realize that robin’s home life might be more similar to theirs than they originally thought, but soon robin’s secret slips and their in trouble-a lot of it, the party gains a member, and everyone cries.

aka, furthering my angsty robin/max sibling dynamic + robin’s little brother (an oc) jacob! (he’s 4 years younger than robin so 13 in this bc robins 17) (he uses she/her for robin at home bc it’s safer) (and and and the robin/max sibling comes late in the fic don’t hate me i had to traumatize robin first :) the pov switches a lot

they/them robin and max, she/they el, everyone else is canon

cw-verbal and physical abuse, slurs, blood, knives, suicidal ideation?, attempted rape/sa

ha my first rated M fic :) (fucking help me why do i do this) (there's no smut tho i promise)

they notice it the first time steve and nancy are driving them home, about two months after starcort. how robin lives just across the street-how they both have the same stance.

shoulder tensed, white knuckling their bag, robin tugs a hand through their undercut, fingering the short hair and pulling it before nancy takes their hand and pulls it away, kissing it. robin sighs softly, “c’mon red i’ll walk you to the door.”

and max let’s them, grateful for the company, weather it be the warmth of another person or the shocking way robin treats them like how they do erica and dustin-like siblings.

max doesn’t mind, steve’s been like an older brother for longer than they’d care to admit-they were never one of his kids. always a little sibling. he never replaces billy-he could never. but he was there. and now robin is.

they give a small look of thanks before tensing back up and stepping into the four walls of their own little prison.

robin watch’s max go, red hair bouncing up the stairs as they cross back to steve’s car, ruffle his hair, hug nancy and convince themself this isn’t the last time their going smell her vanilla perfume and feel her small but shockingly rough hands on their back, and head to their own house with.

it’s never easy being away from steve or nancy, their some of the only people who gets how it feels-not to mention the urge to grab max and take them far away from neil. let max hangout with jacob and cause chaos and be way to smart for everyone else. but they want to run back to nancy and kiss her, hold onto steve and call him names-but they can’t.

their not surprised to see that their younger brother is still awake. and robin gives him a tired smile as they pass, tossing him a quarter for the arcade and because they know their parents never give him cash.

“thanks, brainiac.”

“no prob, jock.”

and that’s that.

they go quietly to their room, a knot forming with each step, and eventually collapse onto their bed, already feeling much to empty and alone.

robin pulls of their jacket and tosses it into a pile with their backpack to wear again tomorrow and falls back onto bed to listen to music, drifting off to sleep.

their woken to jacob’s panicked face, shaking them way to hard for two am.

“rob! wake up wake up! the hell do you sleep so much?!”

“jake-dude. fuck off ’s like three.”

“two actually-get up!”

he shakes them again, going so far as to hit them with a pillow before groaning loudly, “robin. they know about nancy wheeler.”

robin’s up and standing instantly, “what?!”

of course jacob knows, jacob, who’s seen them reading emily dickinson and sappho’s work a thousand times, has seen robin doodling pink triangles onto their shoes, and eventually cornered them and asked, “do you like girls?” and they had to say yes.

“they found a photo from the arcade-photo booth photos. must have fallen out of your bag.”

“shit.”

because now robin can hear it, their parents hard tones and they start swearing.

“shit-fuck. damnit damnit, stupid stupid stupid! fuck.”

it’s just then that they see jacob crying.

“hey, hey no no what’s this? c’mon buddy don’t cry.”

and maybe he hasn’t seen all the horrible stuff that they have, but they’ve told him, they tell him everything. pulling him into a hug, hand in his hair. “c’mon man....’s ok.”

“they-their gonna kick you out rob…i don...wanna...don’t wanna be ‘lone.”

“it’s ok. it’ll be ok.”

and it’s not, because they start throwing all their important stuff into bags, so when the door comes flying open, and a photo of nancy wheeler’s lips against theirs is thrust in their face, jacob starts crying harder and robin’s heart breaks.

“morning.”

then the screaming starts.

“robin anne buckley how dare you do this, i can’t believe you would ever-”

“i didn’t raise a fucking dyke that’s for sure!!”

so they set their jaw and push past, fighting back tears and curses and yelling, fists balled so they don’t hit anything or anyone. anger is boiling, betrayal and hurt-these are their goddamn parents. they should love robin. “fine, don’t care.” hoping they don’t hear how their voice cracks and their on the stairs and then-

“DON’T TURN AWAY WHEN IM TALKING TO YOU, FAGGOT.”

hands on their back and robin-thankfully-instinctively tucks so they go rolling down the stairs and end up on the ground, already bruising and out of breath, jacob screaming, “STOP HURTING HER, THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!"

theirs a familiar sound of a blade being flipped from a pocket knife and robin starts to laugh, right in their dads face-while he’s holding a knife to them. they might be losing it but who fucking cares anymore? does it matter?

then they can feel their head slamming against the wall, and there’s blood coming from their legs because he cut through their pants and fuck.

they start screaming, jacob trips past her and races out the door, their mom calmly walking down the stairs and opening a book-robin can feel the blade digging into their arm and there’s blood dripping from their eyebrow and legs and, “HEY FUCKHEAD.”

there’s a flash of red and suddenly a 14 year old with a decently sized stick is on top of their father, jacob already holding duct tape and one of robin’s bags.

max mayfield stand up, blows hair out of their face and looks at robin, with a face that’s barley concealing the terror in their eyes, “i’m going to steal your dads car.”

robin nods, and then slumps against the wall, jacob’s voice ringing out, “blood loss! took a first aid class a bit ago, can you driiiiiii……….”

and the universe goes black.

max didn’t expect a random boy to run into her living room, waking a sleeping neil on the couch and yell for them, prompting them to leave before neil started swinging and when the boy introduced himself as jacob buckley, max panicked.

they really didn’t expect to be driving an unconscious and bleeding out robin to the byers house in a stolen car.

but they were. and they could hear the jacob is rustling around and swearing, choking back sobs until he flopped shirtless into the front seat, hands covered in robin’s blood.

“dude.”

“what? bastard had no towels!”

max shrugs off their jacket and passes it to him, “this is platonic, my girlfriend would kill you if otherwise.”

he nods, “gracias. you max?”

they nod as well, and they lapse into silence, tears still falling, until they get to the byers door, both jumping out of the car and max can feel their knuckled bruising as they slam on the door-god if robin dies.....max won’t let them, they couldn’t handle it.

a half asleep jonathan byers swings open the door, equally exhausted steve bracing himself on his bat and nancy wheeler holding a gun.

“max?” nancy’s the first to speak, the gun falling to her side as jacob chokes and stares at her, gaze hardening, “who’s blood is this-who is this?”

they all turn to max, who shakily points at the car, and steve bolts, “ROBIN-”

nancy’s right on his heals, and joyce walks out with the rest of the party when max stumbles inside, el catching her, “max? who’s this?”

“robin....”

mike raises an eyebrow, “no, robin’s not a guy.”

jacob slides to the floor and with a dead stare, holds out a blood soaked hand to mike, “jacob buckley.”

dustin’s jaw drops, “what the fuck-”

“that’s.....blood?!” lucas exclaims, backing away, when will quickly passes the boy a wet towel, max starts to sob into el’s arms, “they we’re just....el...”

el holds them, and max feels like their breaking, is robin ok? are they ok? please, please-

nancy wheeler wanted to cry. she wants to punch something, scream and cry and just-nothing in the world could have prepared her for seeing a much to pale robin, blood soaking through the shirt wrapped around their arms, bruises all over, unconscious.

joyce snaps out of it first, ordering jonathan and steve to carry them into the living room, tells nancy to go sit down, and that she’ll move the kids to another room.

nancy refuses, and instead sits next to steve while hopper carefully cuts off robin’s shirt, and joyce stiches the wounds on her arms.

she starts to cry again, can see max still shaking in el’s arms, that random boy huddled in the corner when steve finally goes over and asks him, “who the hell are you?”

“j-jacob buckley....”

jonathan drops the chocolate, “what the fuck?”

nancy whirls on him, “robin’s brother?!”

he looks up, and she can almost see the wall forming, his face melting into the one that nancy fell in love with-just a different face.

“no i’m their fuckin’ son. the hell d’you think, nancy wheeler?”

“how-how do you know my name?”

he shoots up, throwing out his still blood-covered arms, and yells, “’CAUSE THIS IS ALL YOUR FUCKIN’ FAULT!!”

she trips backwards, his words hitting her like a knife, slicing right through her, “what are you talking about?” steve grabs her arm, tear tracks across his face, “nancy, calm down-”

she whirls on him, “don’t tell me to fucking calm down harrington-my girlfriend is fucking dying and a kid who’s claiming to be their brother is saying it’s my fault.”

he scoffs, “it is. if you two hadn't kissed in the arcade none of this would’ve happened. they’d still be ok...”

nancy can feel the anger draining out of her, and before she knows it, she’s stepping towards the kid and pulling him into a hug, “jacob...i promise you i don’t know what’s happening-but i love robin, more than almost anyone else, so please-please tell me what happened?”

he chokes again, and buries his head into her shirt.

max is curled next to a sleeping? robin in the guest room, while nancy and jacob sit on the floor, the party around in chairs, listening to him explain.

when he’s done, steve slams his fist into the byers’ wall, will and jonathan groaning in unison, dustin buries his head in his hands, lucas rubbing his back, mike and el stare with shocked expressions, and nancy starts sobbing even more.

instantly mike is next to her, pulling her into his arms, and she can feel him shaking-she never cries in front of him, never when their parents would scream, never.

“it’s ok nancy.”

she’s trying to believe him but it’s so, so hard.

then max jumps off of the bed, “SHIT!”

el raises an eyebrow and robin slowly opens their eyes, staring at the group for a solid three seconds, “who’s funeral is it this time?”

max throws themself onto robin before jacob, steve or nancy, jacob jumping on top of max and steve and nancy are right behind him.

nancy can feel the other boys and el joining.

when they all pull away, steve is the first one to speak, “robin and mini buckley.”

“jacob.” both of them chorus, staring at him with the exact same, ‘seriously, dude?’ expression, and nancy has to stifle a laugh, because she has no idea how she never knew robin had a brother because he is so much like them.

“whatever. you’re both moving in with me, i just got an apartment. no arguments.”

robin nods, smiling, and max is next, “how long has this been happening for? did he do anything else? why was your mom just reading? why didn’t you tell me-”

“red.”

with a start, nancy sees fresh tears pouring down max’s face, “i thought i lost another sibling....”

robin gives them a sad smile, “not ah-’appening.” they wince for a second.

before anyone else can talk, joyce comes back inside, “ok everybody, we need to give rob some space, so we’ve gotta clear out till tomorrow ok? it’s like six am right now, so i’ll close the blinds and try to get some more sleep.”

they all groan and clear out, el taking max’s hand and leading them to her room, steve, jacob and nancy staying back.

joyce runs a hand through her hair, “steve, can you clean up jacob and let him sleep on jonathan’s bed, jacob are you ok with leaving robin alone?”

nancy watches him contemplate it, looking at her with a silentl question, ‘will you take care of them?’ she nods, and he nods to joyce.

steve picks him up and he giggles, sending a smile to robin’s face as jacob’s carried out and to the bathroom.

joyce turns to the two, “nancy-”

“i’m not leaving.”

she smiles, “i was going to say you can find clothes in the closet.”

then she leaves, and nancy turns to robin and feels the tears prickling at her eyes again, “c’mere wheeler.”

so she pulls off her shoes and sweater and climbs into bed with robin, putting her head on their chest, running a hand over the bandages on their arms and legs.

“i’m so sorry....”

“‘s not your fault nance...y’know that right?”

nancy shrugs, and listens to robin’s heartbeat, “i guess....why did you never tell me about jacob? he’s like a carbon copy of you.”

robin sighs, and nancy can feel their hand in her hair, it’s strongly calming and she realizes they’ve never lied like this together.

“dunno..he knows about starcort and all that, and you, i guess i thought if i told you all he’d be in trouble. i don’t wanna to risk his life.”

she nods, she wishes mike wasn't involved with all of this shit. “he’s nice, talks like you.”

robin raises their eyebrows, “...what?”

nancy props herself up on her elbows and grins, “doesn't say the ‘g’ in ‘fucking’, always says ‘’s’ and not ‘it’s’, ‘y’know’ ‘c’mere’ that kind of stuff. you both do it.”

robin is silent for almost thirty seconds, “shit...i didn’t know that.”

nancy has to laugh at how shocked they look, “i think it’s hot.”

that gets an eyebrow raise, “yeah?”

“mhm...”

robin smiles, the same smile nancy fell in love with-on the right person this time, as she leans down to kiss them.

#robin buckley #nancy wheeler #max mayfield #eleven hopper #mike wheeler #will byers #lucas sinclair #dustin henderson #steve harrington #jonathan byers #jacob buckley (oc) #elmax #ronance #stonathan #henclair #byler #robin x nancy #nancy x robin #el x max #max x el #stranger things #elliott writes

[frog4278]

Hi hello I am here to spread @dawg3i and I's Stranger Things monster AU propaganda

So far the monsters we have are:

Mike - Gargoyle

Will - Wizard (I know he's canonically 'zombie boy' but this works)

Dustin - Gorgon

Lucas - Zombie

Max - Oni

El - Anomaly

Steve - Werewolf

Robin - Werecat

Jonathan - Poltergeist

Nancy - Vampire

Billy - Straight up devil

Eddie - Vampire

Argyle - Kappa

Joyce - Witch

Hopper - Werewolf

Suzie - Possessed dummy doll (Think Slappy)

Jason - Werewolf

Chrissy - Fairy

Angela - Pixie

Dr. Brenner - Warlock

001 and the other lab kids - Anomaly

El's whole anomaly thing is that the anomaly is a hybrid of a bunch of other monsters and some nasty Upside Down stuff. So the anomaly is covered in vines that act as armor and the main body is kinda smokey like the Mind Flayer.

[El's anomaly form. 001's form is more white. The anomaly towers over werewolves and causes mass destruction wherever it goes]

The Party didn't know any of this in s1 of course. They just thought El was a weird bald fairy (She started out as a fairy when she was born prior to becoming an experiment. After she lost her abilities post s3 she had to learn how to actually be a fairy and cue the s4 bullying) Honestly Lucas and Dustin were relieved when she disappeared after going into her anomaly form to defeat the demogorgon because what the fuck

Mike, after El disappears: EL WHERE DID YOU GO

Lucas: Maybe this was for the better uhahah whatthefuckwasthat

Dustin: nonoyeahhhhaaha I think this is for the best

Other misc notes because this whole post is a mess. Dustin wears a hat because of his snake hair and he's tried to turn Ted to stone multiple times bc he keeps forgetting Ted is already stone (Ted's also a gargoyle). Gargoyle Mike. Mock. Or Rike. Dustin names all of his snakes and names one of them Dart for honor. Mike says he can totally use his wings but he's a filthy liar. He’s like totally able to fly he just can’t right now cause of reasons. Shut up. Vampires can go out into the sun and moonlight by wearing certain rings made by witches/wizards/basically any magic handler (Think Vampire Diaries). The Wheelers got theirs from the Byers and Eddie was able to get fashionable ones. Erica's the type of zombie that will crawl on walls n shit. Lucas’ bed is just. A bed of dirt and a tombstone. A tombstone with a single Micheal Jordan poster taped to the headstone. Fairy Chrissy has those cottagecore vibes.

Pre s1 Steve and s1 Steve would take any moment to shift into his wolf form. It was an ego protector and a huge thing to show off his strength and intimidate people. But then Jonathan (A fucking ghost) put his ego in place and made him tone down on the shifting. It made Steve realize that no matter what there's something bigger and worse than him that can kill him.

Anyways s2 Steve was very clear about changing every now and then for specific purposes or emergencies. Cue Dustin going "Holy shit can I PLEASE see your wolf form please please please" and Steve's like "shut the fuck up"

None of the kids had seen his wolf form so they kinda always pestered him about it. During the demodog standoff he didn't even change then, only making his arms go halfway for strength purposes. During his fight with Billy, he only changed when Billy started attacking the kids. He WOULD'VE won if Billy hadn't had silver brass knuckles. Billy almost murdered him. Steve now has burn mark esque face scars from Billy's silver brass knuckles.

Jason is like s1 Steve and transforms all the time. Jason’s wolf form is unusually smaller. People don’t know much werewolves so there’s nothing to compare to and everyone just thinks he's huge but in reality Steve’s form is like 7ft while Jason's is 6'3".

In The Party and Hellfire's DnD games humans just have extensive lore since they're so uncommon in their world. They all have overpowered humansonas.

Will is the most naturally 'human' looking out all of them except for maybe the vampires. His inhuman features are stuff like pure purple eyes, claws, pointed ears, purple scales, and that thing evil characters have where there's black stuff on their hands and feet. That but purple and not evil. He also has that on the tips of his ears.

Steve's type is just. Vampires. I can't blame him. Even when Eddie and Nancy are in their bat forms Steve and Robin go heart eyes. Their tails wag whenever Eddie or Nancy enters the room. They try to hide it but it never works. They lean up against a wall when they walk in and they don’t say anything but they have a silent understanding. The way Robin finds out about Steve’s little crush is when Eddie and him are talking at Family Video and his tail is going 90mph. Steve finds out about Robin's crush on Nancy when he starts noticing that she has a death grip on her tail only when she’s talking to her. She blames it on anxiety or just a fidget like chewing your nails but they both know she’s a terrible liar. Also stuff like her ears perking up when Nancy's talking, her pupils widening, and purring.

Will is just a little guy. A lad. He can fulfill his life long dream of casting fireball. Joyce mentors him in his magic.

[There he is!]

Vampires probably can't smoke weed so RIP Eddie I guess. Pixies have simpler wings than fairies, like a translucent color. Fairies got them patterned pretty ones. Angela lowkey has a boring look but don't tell her that or she'll kill you. Pixies and fairies also carry around magic Tinker Bell style.

Gargoyle Mike cannot win a fight despite being a literally chunk of stone. He just freezes up. He has no idea what to do other than tackle. After he tackles you he tries to put on as much dead weight as he can. Just render them down until they give up. During his fight with Billy in s3 at the pool Billy chucks him through the wall. Possessed demon beats the shit out of a living boulder.

Max, just witnessing Mike get thrown through a fucking wall: a

Every time Dustin comes across a wild snake he wants to adopt it. It is his now. It just follows him home and everyone has to deal with it.

Lucas: Dustin can you like. Not bring those in here

Dustin, wrangling like four or more snakes in his arms: Oh wow. Okay so this isn’t a safe space

The Castle Byers scene. Oh boy. You know how in ianowt Sydney got overwhelmed and she just like. Screamed into the forest and shit blew tf up around her. Will does that. He just sits there in the rain as Castle Byers turns to rubble

Aight that's all we have for now bye

Oh and here's some art by dawg3i go reblog all of their stuff right now

#stranger things #stranger things season four #stranger things s4 #st4 #stranger things au #the party #mike wheeler #will byers #max mayfield #lucas sinclair #dustin henderson #el byers #el hopper #jane hopper #eleven #nancy wheeler #steve harrington #jonathan byers #stranger things argyle #robin buckly #okay that's enough characters #byler #lumax #ronance #steddie #Frog talks

[imobcessed000]

pretty thing - eddie munson p1

What happens when Vickie Harrington gets caught in Eddie Munson's mess?

Warnings: none Word count: 1.2k

keep reading for more

I was born and raised in this shit hole they like to call Hawkings. Steve used to be the popular guy, while I was far from it. I never had many friends. I had one friend, Anna, who was eaten by the Demogorgon when this crazy shit started happening in our lives and I had a boyfriend, Billy, who gave his life to save our asses.

Steve and I had gone to pick up Robin home. They were both in the front seats talking about asking girls out while I was in the back with my headphones in, listening to David Bowie. Let's Dance, my favorite song.

"Vickie's the lucky one. She had double the choice. Double the chance. Right?" Robin looks back at me, and I look at her, confused. "You're bi."

"Yeah." I put back my headphones, and she turns to Steve with the "I just proved my point" kind of look.

After a few minutes, we arrive at Hawkings High School. I get out of the car with my stuff and walk to my first class.

At lunchtime, I sit with Max. We don't share a word. She was different since Billy died. I was too but while I lost a boyfriend; she lost a brother.  No matter how much I wanted to choke Steve every now and then I couldn't imagine my world without him to bother me.

"Pretty girl." Eddie "the freak" Munson winks at me while he's walking on top of the tables and I make him a smoke motion. "Got you covered, sweetheart."

Now and then I would buy weed from him. Today was one of those days since after school I went to meet him at one of the picnic tables in the woods.

"Harrington." He greets jumping to seat down on the beach.

"Munson." I sit in front of him.

He was pretty. The way his hands were accessorized with just the right amount of rings and the way his hair wasn't too messy like a homeless guy but not too trimmed like Steven's.

"Enjoying the view?" He teases noticing my stare.

"Loving it," I say sarcastically. "My weed." I remind him.

He grabs his little box, taking my stuff and I give him the money.

"Thank you very much." I get up, and while I'm on it, he calls my name, causing me to look back at him with my brow raised, waiting for him to proceed.

"Any chance you wanna come to Hellfire tonight?" He asks hopefully.

"What's in for me?"

"Free beer?"

"Pick me up at nine."

//

As promised, Eddie was in front of my house at nine pm straight. He was in his little car waiting for me and I couldn't help but feel my heart warm a bit when I get in and he was smiling from eye to eye.

"I promise it's not as bad as you think it is." Eddie starts driving and I give him a non-convincing look. "I promise." He laughs.

"Okay, okay. If you say so, who am I not to believe you?" I laugh with him. "So what's this D&D thing?"

You know when someone likes something so much it's pleasant to hear them talk about it? It's exactly what felt when he explains it to me. I can't help but look at him with doe eyes.

"Stop that." He points at me and I raise my arms as in a surrender form. He looks back at the road, and then at me, then at the road.

Finally, we stop in front of the school, and we both walk out of the car and inside the building. He keeps talking about random subjects while grabbing the six-pack he promised me. When we're inside the room, I can't help but look around taken back by the amount of effort put into the decoration of the room.

Eddie sits on the big chair as two of his friends stand by his side. I would lie if I said it wasn't a fine view to have. 

Mike and Dustin appear a few minutes later, with Erica. Of course, Eddie discards the possibility of her being in the club even for a night, saying it wasn't a babysitting program.

As expected, Luke's sister was far from happy with this.

"What's your class and level?" He asks her. "Level one dwarf?"

"I will sneak behindany monster you throw my way and stab them in the backwith my poison-soaked kukri. I'll smile as I watch them diea slow, agonizing death." She says unothered. "So, we gonna do this, or we gonna keep chitchattinglike this is your mommy's book club?"

Eddie spends about a second looking at her before cracking a sweet smile. "Welcome to Hellfire." He says.

As a consequence of me not knowing what I was doing there, I played with Eddie aka I drank and watched as Eddie played. When they're done, God only knows who won.

"I don't really feel like going home, you want to... I don't know... have a drink or something?" I ask Eddie.

I just really needed to put the past where it belonged. The past.

I don't remember the last time I had fun. When I was with Billy, fun was a foreign word for him. I liked him, sure, but I would lie if I said he wasn't controlling. I never loved him though, probably that was why I felt so guilty when he died.

"Yes." He replies immediately.

We drive to his house, there was just him and me in there. We drank, only sobering up when someone knocks on the door, causing Eddie to curse, remembering he told Chrissy to pass by. Apparently, she wanted drugs. Crazy, I know.

"What are you doing here?" She asks me worried.

"Don't worry, your secret's safe with me." I tell her as I sit back down on his couch as Eddie looks around for the drugs she wanted.

"So, what are you doing here?" She tries to make the ambiance less awkward.

"Just hanging out. Drinking some beers." I tell her. "You want one?"

When I ask her, she doesn't reply, she just stands in the middle of the room not saying a word.

"Chrissy?" I ask but nothing.

When I get up and look at her, her eyes are all rolled back.

"Chrissy? Hey, wake up." I touch her shoulder but again, nothing. "Eddie!" I call. "We got a bit of an issue here."

When he gets there the lights start to flicker and she starts to fly and for a second I wonder if I smoke something I shouldn't. Me and Eddie both back up, getting closer to each other.

The girl's limbs start to break and all we do is scream. Suddenly, her eyes are pulled back into her skull.

The lights, the flying, it all sounded too familiar. Too close to home.

Not again, I think. Not again.

It was back.

#strangerthings #stranger things #fluff #eddie munson #eddie munson fluff #eddie munson smut #eddie munson angst #steve harrington #enimies to friends to lovers #friends to lovers #eddie #eddie munson stranger things #stranger things 4 #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x official character #eddie munson x oc #joseph quinn #oc x cc #stranger things fic #strangers to friends

[emo-floof-child-writes]

Day 026: Condemned.

Featuring Lucas Sinclair and Max Mayfield.

Dustin Henderson, El Hopper, and Erica Sinclair mentioned.

802 words and no thoughts, only Lumax :D

“Hey, Max, you hungry? I found these in one of the cupboards.” Lucas offers a granola bar and an apple juice box out to Max, who chuckles. “How thoughtful, Stalker.” She jokes, taking the snacks and smiling. Lucas grins, sitting down next to her. “Well, there is only so much I can do to help right now.” He says, gesturing around the RV and she opens the wrapper for the granola bar. “You are helping just by being here, Lucas.” She grabs his hand, and he swallows. “I’m not sure I would have gotten this far without you by my side.” Lucas shrugs. “Of course, Max. I wouldn't leave you for the world. Anything to make sure you’re safe.” And she knows he means that fully. “I know, which makes this so much harder.” She says, rubbing her arm. “It’s just not my first priority.” He frowns. “What isn’t?” She swallows. She avoids his gaze, looking out the window behind them. “Surely, you don’t mean surviving? You gotta survive, Max!” He says, grabbing her shoulders, and giving her a gentle shake. “Well, if the world keeps spinning because I die, I think I’m okay with dying.” Lucas scoffs, and wraps her in a hug.

“And if you are my world, Max?” He asks, and she bites her lip. “I’m not saying I want to go. But even Billy was willing to die to save the world. It would be selfish to want to live if I could save the world and all of you guys.” He rubs her back, and she rests her head on his shoulder. “After all of the things you have dealt with, I feel like you deserve some selfishness.” She looks up at him, and he smiles. “I’ll do my best to stay alive, okay?” Lucas nods, as he brushes a stray hair from her braid behind her ear. “Promise me you’ll fight and you’ll survive, okay? Can you do that?” Max sighs. She wasn’t even sure her plan to avoid Vecna would work, but she couldn’t bear to see Lucas sad. She chuckles, trying to go for confidence. “Promise. I’ll go to my happy place, and he won’t hurt me.” He pulls her into another hug. “I’m gonna hold you to that, Mad Max.” He says, as he pulls away. She gives him a salute. “Don’t worry, Stalker. You won’t lose me easily.” They both grin. She closes her eyes, laying against Lucas. He shifts his arm to balance her, and her headphones slip down.

She opens her mouth to comment about that, but Lucas is already grabbing them, and adjusting them onto her head. “I’m gonna try to get some rest.” She says, and he nods. “I’ll make sure Dustin and Erica keep their traps shut so you can sleep.” He says, as he stands. He sets her down on the seat, and drapes a blanket that was hanging over the back of the seat over her. He tucks in the sides, and opens her eyes for a moment to see Lucas walk up to Dustin and Erica, and points back to Max. She watches him wave his finger in a way that reminds her of Steve scolding them. Dustin nods, as Lucas gestures for quiet. Erica rolls her eyes, but she makes eye contact with Max, and she swallows. She turns to look out the window, and says nothing more. Lucas walks back, and sits at her feet. “They aren’t gonna make noise. Let me know if you need anything. I’ll be right here, okay?” Max gives him a thumbs up, and presses her face into the seat. If there were even two people as thoughtful as Lucas in the world, the world might not be such a sh!thole. She thinks, cracking a smile. Not that she would ever say that to his face. It might go to his moronic head. She reaches a hand down, finding the top of his head, and she runs her fingers through his hair.

She can hear him chuckle, although he says nothing. Even if she was the one to break up with him, she really wished she didn’t. It was the right call, because she needed to work on herself, but she missed him so much. When we get out of this, I’m gonna have to ask him out again. And get used to going to his basketball games, I guess. I should learn the rules so I’m not completely in the dark. She sighs, as Running Up That Hill plays faintly in her headphones. I have to survive for his sake. For El, for Dustin, for everyone. But if not for anything or anyone else, I have to make it for Lucas. After all, I made him a promise. And this party takes its promises seriously.

#Writember2022 #day 026 #September 26th #fanfic #fanfiction

[stina-is-a-punk-rocker]

my love-hate relationship with ‘stranger things 3’

’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe. Inconsolable were the Harringroves; So beware the spoilers that come thine way. - Lewis Carrol, at some point

[Picture me holding up a ‘YOU SUCK/YOU RULE’ board. Chunks of my hair are missing.]

PROS:

· So much was going on at any given moment. It was a rollercoaster on an acid trip in the middle of a South Asian wedding after 2PM.

· It feels like the writers genuinely had fun with this season; the Big Bad was (ironically, considering its origins) fresh, the storylines went every direction imaginable- and beyond- and who the fuck cares about connecting all the threads when it’s so damn entertaining?

· Steve Harrington in a dorky sailor’s costume.

· Steve Harrington never changing out of said dorky sailor’s costume for the entire season.

· Robin Buckley in a dorky sailor’s costume.

· Robin Buckley in general.

· Steve Harrington and Robin Buckley in dorky sailor’s costumes, together.

· Straightbaiting.

· Steve finally getting a friend who doesn’t make him act like a douche / doesn’t dump him for a guy who creeped on them / has hit puberty.

· Male-female friendships that don’t end up in boning.

· Steve finally winning a fight.

· Dustin making a big deal out of this.

· Erica ‘You can’t spell America without Erica’ Sinclair.

· Hopper being El’s legal father.

· El breaking up with Mike.

· Female friendships that do not involve one being eaten alive by a monster from another dimension.

· Max giving El a makeover.

· Gratuitous references to the 80s.

· Will Byers.

· Me adopting Will Byers.

· On the subject of Will Byers- I know a lot of you headcanon gay Will, but consider: ace/aro Will.

· Nancy’s new haircut.

· Karen Wheeler being a decent mother to her daughter instead of hooking up with a boy the same age as her aforementioned daughter (the bar is literally so low for this woman, the only way to go is up).

· Heather Holloway, my girl in red.

· Carnivals.

· The Fourth of July.

· Carnivals on the Fourth of July.

· Billy’s mullet.

· Billy’s blue, blue eyes.

· Billy in a wifebeater and blue, blue jeans.

· Billy reminding me of multiple Taylor Swift songs.

· Billy getting possessed.

· Billy’s moral compass making a cameo.

· Billy dying right afterwards. (me, watching Billy’s childhood trauma: We saw this with Christian Grey, we saw it with Hardin Whoeverthefuck; they’re not gonna give him a redemption arc, are they? me, watching Billy get punctured like shishkebab: GIVE HIM THE GODDAMN REDEMPTION ARC.)

· Billy would not be amused with the existence of tentacle hentai.

· This dead meme that took me far too long to make that I’m far too proud of:

Graphic designing is my passion.

· Dustin and Suzie-not-Q’s duet trumping every Disney musical in existence.

· The dog. I don’t remember seeing it, but there must’ve been at least one.

CONS:

· The sheer secondhand embarrassment I got from the first episode alone. I had to leave my room multiple times to get a breather; it was an effort to convince myself to take the stairs instead of flinging myself off the goddamn balcony.

· Exploding into smithereens like one of those rats >>>>> seeing children making out.

· El and Mike not staying broken up.

· Evil Russians.

· Not being able to take a Russian course because I’m already falling behind on my Spanish and Italian and the Duolingo owl being a bitch about it.

· The US military getting later than my dad picking me up after school.

· The realization that Dad’s still going to be late as ever because I never fucking learned to drive.

· The pandemic that got in the way of my driving lessons.

· Billy’s Camaro- second to only the locker room for the most popular hookup spot in Harringrove fics- getting banged up.

· Should I Stay or Should I Go by The Clash not making an appearance.

· All the time I spent wondering which writer has a kink for seeing Joe Keery’s face in injury makeup because Steve Harrington gets the living daylights knocked out of him every season.

· ‘Injury makeup’ being something I made up on the spot because I don’t know what else to call it.

· The Coca-Cola product placements.

· Coca-Cola and Pepsi tasting the same to me.

· “I’ve never felt this way about anyone before.” Mike, you’re, like, 12.

· Erica Sinclair going from funny to insufferable every time I blink.

· Billy getting skewered in the middle of his character arc.

· El knowing way too much for a girl who didn’t know what a friend was in the first season.

· Steve being too much of a comic relief and not enough of a person.

· Hopper being whatever the hell he was for this entire season. He was so jarringly out of character that they should’ve just given him another name and made him Hopper’s psycho twin or something.

· I heard somewhere that Maya Hawke had to ask for her character to be queer… but they’re perfectly fine with having middle-aged, married women lust over a teenager??? I reiterate, the bar is so fucking low, yet somehow the gays are below even that???

· My perseverance about making shitty memes.

#stranger things #stranger things 3 #robin buckley #steve harrington #billy hargrove #will byers #dustin henderson #harringrove #mike wheeler #eleven stranger things #lucas sinclair #max mayfield #the duffer brothers #80s #horror #scifi #what the fuck did i just watch

[sh1tbird-shantytown]

So take Erica and Billy being friends and then add Nancy to the mix. These three being friends might just fuel me

i’ll count this as a part three to the other ones i guess. mainly because it’s all i can think to open this with and nancy helping save steve is something i find wonderful. thanks <3

===

Billy sat in the passenger seat, wrapping the handle of the axe with duct tape. Robin took a turn that made Dustin and Erica perk up.

“Why are we going to the Wheeler house?” Dustin asked.

Erica folded her arms and looked judgmentally towards the house, “We better not be here for Mike. That boy gets on my nerves faster than my brother. And that’s saying something.” Dustin scooted a little closer to his door. Billy slid down in his seat a little when the door to the house opened.

Nancy stepped out though. Thin frame in jeans and a plain T-shirt. A small satchel around her shoulder that looked as though it could have belonged to Jonathan Byers. She opened Erica’s door and Erica only raised a brow before moving into the middle seat. Once Nancy was settled and Robin was driving again, they started developing some kind of plan.

“What exactly did Steve mean by tunnels?”

Dustin was the only one that seemed to be able to answer, “Last year we burned a nest. They’re tunnels the monsters used to travel around. Steve would be leading Neil down there so he can burn it up. Either way the monster should be able to be removed. Only downside,” Dustin sighed hesitantly, “Is Billy’s dad will most likely die.” Billy bit his tongue.

Nancy was blunt, “Well it’s either him or countless others. And I choose him.” She dug around in her bag, “I have a few good calibers, but the rest are just shells. Does Steve still keep that extra shotgun in the trunk.” Robin looked at Billy expectantly.

He shook himself a little, “That’s what that’s for?” he looked back a little at her in question.

She smiled to him tentatively, “We can never be too careful. Hopper gave him one just in case but,” she shrugged, “Steve’s not much of a shooter. He prefers his bat and lighter far better.”

Erica rolled her eyes, “We couldn’t tell,” she muttered sarcastically. Nancy laughed along with Billy while Robin and Dustin listened to them all uncertainly.

“We shouldn’t be playing around,” Nancy steadied herself by grasping her knees.

Billy’s smile deflated, “Yeah. Got any plans on how we help Steve without ruining his entire plan? I really don’t wanna lose the dude today. Have some beef with him.”

Nancy scoffed, “Is that really all you can think about right now?” Billy glared at her.

Erica snickered, “No, he means when Steve kissed and ran.”

Nancy stared at her, eyes wide, “Steve kissed Billy? Billy Hargrove? Right there?” she pointed to the man.

Erica nodded, lips pursed, “Got something to say about it?”

Nancy nodded and rose her eyebrows, “Yeah, I do.” Everyone listened in silently, hackles raised. “Why on Earth would he choose Billy Hargrove of all guys. I mean, he’s probably better than Tommy Hagan, but still!” Dustin cackled along with Erica just as Robin smiled slowly at the road.

Billy rose his arms, “Oh! I see! Easy for you to say, Wheeler! I’ll have you know that I’m an absolute romantic.” He nodded to her and crossed his arms.

Nancy laughed mannerly, “Of course you are. Full of surprises are you?”

Robin giggled, “He’s a man of wonders!” she mused mockingly.

“Damn right,” he agreed. She smiled in pleasant amusement along with him. But they all grew serious as Robin pulled up to the junkyard. They stepped out and lined up horizontally to take in the scene. Erica stood between Nancy and Billy and pulled their sleeves for their attention.

“Do I get a weapon?” she eyed Nancy’s bag. Billy made eye contact with the other and then looked back at Erica.

He placed an hand on her shoulder, “Just stick by us, we’ll keep you safe.” She nodded, although a little defeatedly for the lack of action allowed to her.

Nancy placed her own hand on Erica’s other shoulder, “We’re a team, just stay around us and keep an eye out for our backs. That’ll be very helpful.” She reached over to Dustin too, “You too, you and Erica are a team. Keep an eye out and stay in the safe zones.”

Erica hummed around a grin, “Okay.”

Billy looked back out while Dustin asked skeptically, “And what are the safe zones?”

Robin ruffed his hair as she scouted behind a bus in the distance with her eyes, “We don’t know.”

“There!” Nancy pointed to figures off to the right running towards them.

Billy brought his axe up to his shoulder, “Harrington really has some stamina, eh?” Nancy cocked her gun and Robin dug around in her own bag for the fireworks and lighter.

Steve came into sight, face flushed and shining with sweat, chest moving up and down fast. He was in sight one moment and then he was down and gone the next. Billy then noticed the gaping hole in the dirt. He squinted at it and then stepped forward a few paces when Neil straight up dropped down in after him. Robin’s breathing was staggered as she pulled out a mostly empty bottle of alcohol and a towel.

Nancy started walking forward, “Billy get to the hole and be ready to pull Steve back up. Robin get your stuff ready. Dustin and Erica, you take the fireworks and be ready.” Billy ran to listen to Nancy’s organized orders, auto pilot initiated. Robin was immediately at his side with the bottle in the crook of her arm and a lighter and small towel at the ready to burn. Nancy was opposite them with her gun aimed down at the hole.

There were footsteps and then Steve was there looking up at them. Billy instantly grabbed Steve’s arms and lifted him up.

Steve coughed raggedly, “What are you all doing here?” Erica lit up a firework just as Dustin did, each throwing one down as more footsteps were heard.

“Saving your ass,” she said and hurried over to him. Steve laid in the dirt, still coughing. Nancy huddled Dustin and Robin out of the way of the fireworks exploding below them. Erica pushed Steve up, “Don’t lay on your back, idiot,” she scolded quietly. She set him against Billy, side against side. She nodded at them just as Robin threw down her homemade fire starter. And then Dustin threw another. It smelt like burning meat, a BBQ of sorts. It was revolting.

Billy sighed and started standing up with Steve’s arm over his shoulders, “There goes my last parent.” Steve grunted and then started coughing again. They all started their way back to the car. Nancy rushed over to help with distributing Steve’s weight, Erica by her side. Robin took the axe and went to reload the car and start it up.

Erica worked on putting the lighter she had had back into Nancy’s bag, “Where’s your bat, Steve?”

They got a sigh and then, “I had to drop it to run faster.” He was still breathing hard. It was concerning.

Nancy helped Billy get him in the passenger seat, “You did good, Steve,” Billy praised and caressed his cheek for a moment before he ducked out. Steve was left smiling and breathing opened mouthed as he slowly closed his eyes. Nancy and Erica both had their arms folded as they watched him.

He scowled and shouldered past them as they laughed together softly, “Not a word.”

“Steve and Billy sittin’ in a tree,” Nancy sang behind him.

“K-I-S-S-I-N-G,” Erica laughed with her as they crawled and squished into the backseat with Dustin. Erica sat across Nancy and Billy’s laps with a big, happy smile on her face.

Billy sighed and rolled his eyes, “First comes love.”

Nancy smirked and her eyes brightened in pure delight, “Then comes marriage.”

Billy groaned and shook his head as Erica finished with, “Then comes a baby and a baby carriage!”

Steve moved around a little and looked back at them, “We should have three.”

Billy shook his head fondly, “Go back to sleep, Steve.”

#billy hargrove #erica sinclair #nancy wheeler #robin buckley #dustin henderson #steve harrington #harringrove #stranger things