#st the party

[howtobecomeadragon]

modern day au where the party goes to pride!!!

#byler #elmax #elumax #st the party #pride month #pride moodboard

[withacapitalp]

Cocaine Bear AU

BLAME THE SERVER DO NOT BLAME ME

Part Two

“Steeeeeeeve, why are you forcing us to do this?” Dustin groaned, letting his head droop down against his chest as they continued to plod through the woods. 

“Because you guys can’t just sit in my living room every day playing Dragons and Danger with all the curtains drawn,” Steve replied cheerfully, not losing the spring in his step despite the fact that all seven of the kids following him were giving him the evil eye. 

“You know what it’s called. Besides, we don't sit in your living room every day,” Mike complained. 

“Yeah, sometimes we sit by the pool!” El tacked on, adjusting the straps of her bag as she spoke. 

Steve rolled his eyes, shaking his head with a far too fond smile. He turned so he was facing his charges, putting his hands on his hips as he raised a brow. 

“We agreed that you guys would spend one afternoon a week getting fresh air as long as I agreed to babysit you this summer,” He reminded them, quickly checking to make sure they were actually just bellyaching. They looked annoyed and sweaty, but none of them were breathing too hard, and their cheeks were flushed, not pale. 

No heat exhaustion, just lazy fourteen-fifteen year olds who wanted to hide in the house all day long. 

“We only agreed to that because we figured you would forget,” Max muttered, continuing to carefully pick her way over the rocks along the trail, “Or you would be too busy,”

“Since when am I ever too busy for my favorite brats?” Steve asked rhetorically, flipping Dustin’s cap off as the teen walked past him. Dustin growled at him and waved a hand somewhere in Steve’s direction. 

Truthfully, Steve had been too busy for them the past few months. Between starting his community college courses, keeping both of his part time jobs, and continuing his training as a paramedic, he had barely had time to sleep, much less entertain a bunch of high schoolers. 

But now that all of their classes were on break, it was the perfect time to catch up and show them that he meant to keep his promises to them. It was going to be a good summer. Starting with this hike. 

He had it all planned out. They would go up to the peak of blood mountain, eat some lunch, and he would take them for ice cream in town afterward as a reward for sticking it out. It wasn’t exactly a beginner’s trek, but the kids were tougher than they looked. They could handle it. 

“How about this- the first one to get over the crest of the next hill gets to take the beemer for a spin around the parking lot of the school tonight?” Steve offered. 

Instantly all of their previous annoyance vanished. Quick as a flash Erica kicked her brother’s shin, taking out her biggest competitor, and they all began to scramble away from Steve and towards the hill. Lucas hung back rubbing the spot on his leg that she had hit. 

“Son of a-”

“Unless you wanna put a dollar in the jar when we get back you’ll stop that sentence right where it is,” Steve said in a warning tone. Lucas pouted from where he was kneeling, screwing his face into a scowl. Steve contemplated for a second before offering up a hand and a compromise.

“I’ll let you practice tomorrow after basketball practice when it’s just us,” Steve said, breaking into a smile as Lucas grinned up at him and eagerly accepted Steve’s hand. They walked up the rest of the hill together, listening to the others screaming at each other from the other side. 

Steve opened his mouth to tell them to knock it off- he was going to give them each a little bit of driving time if they wanted it- but he was cut off when a body barreled into his stomach. Steve’s arms came up to wrap around the other person automatically, catching Will in a hug as he buried his face into Steve’s chest. 

“What’s wrong?” Steve asked, his heart hammering in his chest as Will didn’t answer, just continued to hang onto Steve in a death grip. 

“What happened?!” He asked the rest as they ran over, still screaming. It was hard enough for him to pick up sounds when it was just one of them, but when they all talked over each other, it was nearly impossible to pick up words inside the wall of sound. But what he did hear made his entire body break out in chills. 

Blood. Hanging. Body. 

“Max,” Steve barked, choosing the kid who was most likely to keep calm and still talk when under this much stress. She understood immediately and shouted to get the others quiet.

“There’s a body in a tree,” She said, looking painfully terrified, “He’s hanging from a bunch of wires? And it’s like, totally bloody.” 

“Mike, El, take Will,” Steve ordered, unlatching the boy from his middle and placing him in between his twin and his best friend. 

The three of them collapsed to the ground in a huddle, muffled sobs coming from the boy in the middle as the other two began to comfort him. Steve’s heart went out to Will, but as much as he wanted to stay right where he was and take care of Will, he knew someone else needed him more right now. 

“The rest of you stay right where you are,” He snapped, hurrying away as his mind slipped into EMT mode. If the person was still alive, they needed triage as soon as possible. 

If they weren’t alive…well he didn’t want his kids to have to see that again. 

“We can help,” Dustin started to say, but Steve cut that idea right off. 

“Stay here!” He yelled over his shoulder, knowing that he only had a few minutes before they inevitably ignored his orders and came over anyway. 

The sight on the other side of the hill was gruesome, to say the least. There was a pretty clearing at the bottom, soft tall grass dotted with wildflowers, but it was marred by splatters of dark red blood all over the place, and the body swaying in the wind. 

He was hanging by a…a parachute? 

Steve’s sneakers kicked up dust as he ran the rest of the way, shoving two fingers against the guy’s neck. A pulse. Thready, and too fast, but there. 

Steve let out an unconscious sigh, looking at the man’s face. His eyes were shut, and his skin was pale, but he was still breathing, and that was a good sign. There was a nasty cut along his arm, and his shirt was ripped in multiple places, but nothing appeared broken as far as Steve could see. There was no way to know about any potential internal damage, but Steve could figure that out after he got him out of the tree. 

And the guy was kind of cute. That wasn’t as important, but his brain filed that away anyway. 

“Is he dead?” A quiet voice came from behind him. 

Steve whirled around to see all of the kids staring at him with wide eyes. 

He had a couple of choices here. He could send them back the way they had come and ask them to flag someone down to call the police. He could take them back himself and leave the guy alone, hoping that nothing happened to him, or he could do the thing that made the most sense, even though it was the most daunting. 

“Not yet,” Steve said, making a decision, “Dustin, give me your knife. Let’s get him down and back to my place.” 

#Steve harrington #Eddie munson #cocaine bear au #YES #THATS WHAT THIS IS #DONT JUDGE ME CRINGE IS DEAD #anyways #steddie #st 4 #stranger things 4 #stranger things au #dustin henderson #el hopper #will byers #mike wheeler #max mayfield #Lucas sinclair #erica sinclaur #st the party #Steve and the party #babysitter Steve harrington #st au

[imgonnaeditstuff]

an ode to our childhood best friends

#strangerthingsedit #stranger things #tvstrangerthings #dailystrangerthings #st the party #stedit

[fairyrona]

okay. the party doing money heist. the party scamming in vegas. the party. robbers. fic.

#byler #st the party #will byers #mike wheeler #eleven hopper #willel #lucas sinclair #dustin henderson #max mayfield #stranger things

[schrijverr]

I Found Myself a Cheerleader 9

Chapter 9 out of 28

Bumped to the lowest step on the social ladder after his fight with Billy, Steve gets roped in with the cheer team. What starts as a favor to help them out when one member breaks her leg in turn for protection from the brunt of the bullying, sets the universe on a different path.

In this chapter, on the dirty bathroom floor of Starcourt mall, Steve and Robin confess to each other that they’re as queer as they come, finding solidarity despite the world crumbling around them, before they have to go back into the fray. With everything that goes down, the Byers have enough on their plates and Steve is instead caught by the Buckleys.

On AO3.

Ships: eventual steddie & buckingham

Warnings: after affects of drugs, period typical homophobia mention, f-slur, fighting, minor character death, injury

~~~~~~~

Chapter 9: The Bathroom

Steve cannot tell you exactly how he ended up on the bathroom floor with Robin. The whole route there is blurry and embarrassing. Nothing says a good end, like throwing up. Though, the urge to vomit is gone now.

He sits back against the wall with a groan and blinks a few times, then comments: “The ceiling stopped spinning for me. Is it still spinning for you?”

It’s quiet from the other stall for a second, then he hears an awed: “Holy shit. No.”

“You think we puked it all up?” Steve asks, not sure if it works like that when they injected it into their bloodstream.

“Maybe? Ask me something,” Robin says, putting on a Russian accent as she adds: “Interrogate me.”

“Okay,” Steve huffs, because laughing at the Russian accent makes it less scary and he needs it to not be scary right now. “Interrogate you. Sure. Uhm…” He thinks for a little. “When was the last time you, uh, peed your pants?”

“Today,” comes the immediate answer.

“What?” he laughs, slightly disbelieving.

“When the Russian doctor took out the bone saw,” she explains as Steve giggles more. “It was just a little bit, though,” she defends.

They burst into laughter again. There is enough in their system to make them giggly and a tad too honest, but uncaring about it.

Excitedly, Robin demands: “All right, my turn.”

And Steve gives in easily: “Okay. Hit me.”

“Have you…” Robin starts, thinking for a second, before hitting Steve with a hard one, “ever been in love?”

“Yep,” bubbles out of his throat before he can stop it and he quickly modifies it to fit what he told other people. “Nancy Wheeler. First semester, senior year.”

“Oh my god,” Robin exclaims in that same tone she uses when Steve tells her some drama he heard while she was on break. “She is such a priss.”

“Turns out, not really,” Steve says, because even if he never loved her like he wanted to, he cares deeply about her and he’s seen to much of her to let her be Ice Princess Wheeler in the minds of people, when she’s so much more.

“Are you still in love with Nancy?” Robin asks quietly after a second.

“No,” Steve says, despite not wanting to. Telling Robin he loves Nancy would be easier, it might discourage her from making a move on him, but he doesn’t want that. He wants to be honest with Robin. After all they’ve seen, he doesn’t want to lie to her.

“Why not?”

Because I’m gay, is what Steve wants to say, but the words haven’t come easy. Never have. Even that time with Eddie, the other guessed and then he agreed. He has never really said them like that, never.

Eddie.

Beautiful, charismatic Eddie.

If there is one person, he wants to kiss, it is him. He wants to know if those rings will get caught in his hair, if Eddie’s tongue will be as wicked as it looked around that sample, if he’ll feel his scruff, how those narrow hips will feel under his hands. Without thinking about it, he starts to try and tell Robin that.

“I think it’s because I found someone who’s a little bit better for me.” He chuckles. “It’s crazy. Ever since Dustin got home, he’s been saying: ‘You know, you gotta find your Suzie. You gotta find your Suzie.’”

“Wait, who’s Suzie?” Robin interrupts him and Steve is glad she’s trying to understand him, trying to get what he’s saying, willing to listen to what he’s having a difficult time communicating.

“It's some girl from camp, I guess his girlfriend,” he explains. “To be honest with you, I'm not 100% sure she's even real. But that’s not- that’s not really the point. That doesn’t matter. The point is this b- person, you know, the one I like?”

God, he nearly fucked up there, nearly said boy. It is what he wants to say, but not like that. Robin needs to know more than that. Needs to know how he’s tired of fitting in, tired of playing this perfect person. She can’t leave before that, he can’t make her hate him yet.

So, he goes on a little more carefully: “It’s somebody that I didn’t even talk to in school. Not really. And I don’t even know why. I mean, at the end, I was already one of the freaks. What would it have mattered if Tommy H. would’ve made for of me or I wouldn’t be prom king? It’s stupid. I mean, Dustin’s right, it’s all just a bunch of bullshit anyways.”

He’s breathing a little more heavily now, chest heavy with regret of how he shut Eddie out after their talk. And how despite that Eddie stood up for him, Eddie was there for him with kind words and understanding when he was kicked out.

“I should’ve been hanging out with this person the whole time,” he says ruefully. “First of all, they’re a little weird, but that makes them so much better to be around. We’ve been through similar things, like we get each other, there’s a connection there. And they’re smart, way smarter than me, can put together things easily. Also a little clumsy, but I love how they move anyway. They’re honestly unlike anyone I’ve ever met before.”

Steve sighs after his little speech. He still hasn’t said what he wanted, instead getting stuck on wistful thinking about Eddie. It’s easier to go on about him as a concept than to say that he’s in love with another man.

He’s pretty sure Robin will be cool, even if he’s ruining any chance she thought she had. Robin, whom he now realizes, is very quiet. Too quiet. Immediately he pictures her having died from drug poisoning or some shit without him noticing and he asks: “Robin?”

Fear only grows when he gets no response, so he taps on the stall and asks: “Robin, did you just OD in there?” trying not to let the panic show as any thought about Eddie disappears under worry for Robin.

“No,” Robin sighs in a way that doesn’t sit right with Steve. Her whole voice doesn’t sit right with him and alarm bells are ringing as she says: “I am still alive.”

Needing to make sure she actually is alright, Steve slides under the stall, uncaring about how gross that is. Relief flooding his veins when she is okay, only looking a little downtrodden as she leans against the other side of the stall.

“The floor is disgusting,” she tells him.

“Yeah, well, I already got a bunch of blood and puke on my shirt, so…” Steve shrugs with a small smile. Robin doesn’t reply to that beyond a tired smile and Steve’s heart is beating in his chest, wondering if she has put it together yet. Softly he asks: “What do you think?”

“About?” Robin shoots back as if she hasn’t yet.

“This person,” Steve clarifies, hating how hard this is, how easy he wants it to be, because this is Robin and they’ve just been tortured in a secret Russian base together, so him being gay can’t really top that. Yet still, he can’t say it, needs her to put it together like Eddie had, so he can agree, instead of deny like he’ll usually do.

“She sounds awesome,” Robin tells him.

Steve wants to pull his hair out, because she isn’t getting him. So he shakes his head and tries to be more explicit about it: “The guy.”

“Look,” Robin starts, looking like she’s not at all having the same conversation he’s having, “he doesn’t even know this girl. And if he did know her, like- like really know her. I don’t think he’d even want to be her friend.”

Now Steve is sure that she isn’t having the same conversation and he realizes that she thinks he won’t want to be friends after today. That takes priority over his bullshit and he frowns: “No, that’s not true. No way that is true.”

“Listen to me, Steve,” Robin says, looking him in the eye like she’s trying to make something clear and she doesn’t know what he’ll say to it. “It’s shocked me to my core, but I like you. I really like you. But I’m not like your other friends. I’m not a cheerleader. And I’m not like Nancy Wheeler.”

It suddenly dawns on Steve that she thinks he is confessing his love to her. He runs through what he says and cringes when he realizes how easily that could be misconstrued. He says: “Robin, that’s not what I-”

“Stop,” Robin cuts him off. “Do you remember what I said about Click’s class? About me being jealous and, like, obsessed?”

“Yeah?” Steve says with a frown, wondering what she’s getting it and a little sure she’ll get mad if he tries to interrupt again. Though he’s mentally trying to figure out how to clear up the misunderstanding before she tries to kiss him or something, though that seems less likely now.

“It wasn’t because I had a crush on you. It’s because she wouldn’t stop staring at you,” Robin says, her tone wistful and it clicks for Steve what she is really saying, how they had the same misunderstanding, but in different directions.

“Who?” he asks, soft smile on his face, though Robin isn’t looking his way. His heart is swelling at the knowledge that she is like him, that she gets him, like he got her on that cold, Russian bunker floor earlier.

“Tammy Thompson,” she hesitantly answers after a second. “I wanted her to look at me, but she couldn’t pull her eyes away from you and your stupid hair. And I didn’t understand, because you would get bagel crumbs all over the floor. And you asked dumb questions. And you were a douchebag. And- and you didn’t even like her and I- I would go home and just scream into my pillow.”

The words hurt a little. Steve knows who he used to be and only the fact that he isn’t anymore eases the sting. His heart mostly aches for Robin. How that must have been. He remembers looking at Eddie, how he strutted over the tables, the only attention directed at Steve a sneer. How he longed to touch, but knew it was safer not to.

“I know how you feel,” he sighs, sounding more tired and longing than he’d meant to.

Robin’s head snaps up, brows furrowed in confusion. She’s probably wondering why he isn’t commenting on her lesbianism as she asks: “You do?”

“Yeah,” he gives her a crooked grin. Robin is queer. Robin is safe. He can just tell her. “You’re right, I didn’t like Tammy, hell, I didn’t even notice her looking. I’ve- I’ve never noticed. I was always too busy staring at Eddie. He shouldn’t even have been in that class either. Guess neither of us passed it. But he’d sit in the front row and make all these drawings and I’d just be stuck watching how he blew a strand of hair out of his face continuously and all I wanted to do, was tuck it behind his ear.”

He looks at Robin and her eyes are bulging out of her head and Steve gets it. He has worked very hard to be perceived as straight, especially since working with her. It has been a conscious effort.

“Surprise,” he says, a theme in his coming outs, it seems. “I lied when I said I joined the cheer squad to get in their pants, because I am actually a fag.”

Robin gapes a bit and Steve feels a little proud of rendering her speechless. When she finds her voice she screeches: “You’re- What the fuck, Harrington!”

“I’m sorry?” he says, not sure what to do with her reaction.

“Don’t say sorry, you dingus,” she tells him, grabbing his hand and shaking it excitedly. “Holy fuck, you’re also like me. We could’ve been gay gossiping for weeks now. Why didn’t you say! What was all the macho hetero bullshit for?”

“You know it’s not that easy,” Steve protests, not letting go of her hand. “You’re actually the first person I’ve told.”

“I am?” Robin sounds honored and surprised.

“Yeah,” Steve says. “I mean, someone else also knows, but promised not to tell. They guessed it though.” His voice turns a little bitter as he adds: “Not that it’s hard though.”

Robin squeezes his hand, looking a little tentative as she asks: “Is this related to the fight with your dad Chrissy mentioned?”

Steve honestly doesn’t know why she remembered that, but he finds himself nodding. It feels nice to tell someone now that it’s more settled, feels like less than on that first night with Eddie, yet bigger.

“Uhm, yeah, he- he got real mad. Kicked me out,” he says. “I’ve been living on the Byers couch the whole summer. Trying to save up for my own place.”

“He kicked you out?” Robin repeats with big eyes.

“It’s not that bad,” Steve lies, wanting to assure her that she’s going to be fine, that they both are going to be fine. “Nice to be rid of him. Don’t worry.”

“Alright,” Robin says, not looking like she believes him. They know each other too well for that now. Still, she is content to drop it now that he doesn’t want to talk about it and he’s grateful to her for that.

They sit in silence for a moment, before Robin grins and says: “So, Eddie Munson.”

Steve feels himself blush and he replies: “Shut up.”

“No, come on,” Robin whines. “I deserve to know about your big fat gay crush on Eddie Munson. It is, like, the best thing I’ve heard all summer. It’s Romeo and Juliet, two lovers on opposite sides of the school social sphere.”

“Shut up, no it isn’t,” Steve giggles. “We’re pretty close on the social ladder these days, Robs.”

“Just indulge me, Stevie,” Robin complains, shaking his hand in a demanding manner.

“He’s just pretty,” Steve tells her. “He has these brown eyes you can drown in and his fingers – fuck, musicians hands, you know?”

“Iew, don’t tell me about that,” Robin squeals with delight.

“Oh come on, you wanted to know,” Steve protests, also grinning.

“I wanted to know about how you managed to get a crush on an absolute weirdo, who walks on tables and holds dramatic speeches like he’s the main character in a book,” Robin exclaims. “Not you being lustful for his hands!”

“Lustful?” Steve repeats, nearly choking on a laugh.

“You heard me, lustful. I see right through you, dingus. You and your lewd thoughts,” Robin says, trying to look serious, but already starting to crack.

“Shut up,” Steve laughs. “It’s not my fault I have a crush on someone interesting and cute instead of a total dud.”

“Tammy isn’t a dud,” Robin protests.

“Yes, she is. She wants to be like a singer. She wants to move to like Nashville and shit,” Steve informs her with a teasing grin.

“She has dreams,” Robin pouts.

“She can’t even hold a tune,” Steve exclaims, Robin also starting to smile as he makes a total fool out of himself. “She’s practically tone deaf. Have you heard her? All the time.” He starts to sing Total Eclipse of the Heart in his best Tammy impression.

“Shut up!” Robin is obviously trying to stop from laughing. “She does not sound like that.”

“She sounds exactly like that. That’s a great impersonation of her.” Okay, so Steve can be a bit mean, let him. Tammy is a bad singer and they both know it.

Still, Robin takes it up for her, blinded by rose colored glasses. “She does not. You sound like a Muppet!”

Gleefully, Steve points out: “She sounds like a Muppet. She sounds like a Muppet giving birth,” the statement enough to get Robin to laugh too.

She starts to sing too, sounding like Kermit. Both of them giggling like idiots, not just at their own singing and stupid joke, but at the relief of having told someone and it being okay. Not only that, but having that other person be like them. To have a friend, who knows you wholly, who understands and still loves you.

Steve can practically feel that Robin is going to be his best friend for life.

They get interrupted by Dustin and Erica and their giggly mood is too big to not crack up at his offended: “What the hell!”

After that, the mood goes down pretty quickly. They’re still stuck in the mall with the Russians and not only that, but there has been more going on than just the base beneath Starcourt, which has the entire party coming together from all over town, each through different trail.

And something is wrong with El. She has been injured and Steve feels sick, watching her remove something from her leg with her powers. Fuck, she’s already been through too much for her age, she should be done with this shit and be a kid by now.

The only positive in the whole situation is that Hopper and Joyce also seem caught up in it, which is bad, because Joyce definitely deserves a break, but Steve is glad he isn’t the oldest. That he doesn’t have to be the adult. Happy to defer to them in this situation. Them and their weird friend. Honestly, Steve is over asking questions.

He just sits back and watches as the ping ponging of stories and arguments slowly morphs into a strategy against whatever they’re up against now. It probably can’t get worse than a demogorgon or a horde of Russians, Steve reasons, and he already survived that.

Steve is send with Dustin, Erica and Robin to the radio tower thingy Dustin built. Hopper puts him in charge handing him keys to a stolen car. As he does, he frowns at the state of Steve’s face and asks: “You good to drive, kid?”

“Yes, sir,” Steve says, sending Hopper a smile that hurts his bruised face. His vision is still a little blurry and he has never had a worse headache, not even after Billy, but there is a tentacle flesh monster out there. He’s not letting Dustin and Erica out of his sight after what happened, nor Robin after being separated in the base.

Hopper scrutinizes him a second longer, obviously not fully believing Steve. “Alright,” he does give in in the end. They can’t afford not to. “But after this, I’m dragging you to a hospital, kid. You look like you got run over.”

“Sounds good to me,” Steve agrees and it isn’t even a lie. A doctor would be smart after all the abuse he’s been through today. He can’t afford more brain damage.

So, Steve gets the keys to a car that is honestly a beauty and orders to keep three smart dumbasses alive through the night.

Steve can do that.

He lets Dustin direct him to Weathertop, which is probably another nerd reference he isn’t getting, but that’s okay. Directions are directions and Steve can follow those.

Todfather, the car, the sweet sweet car, can’t make it fully up the hill, so they walk the last bit. The tower looks complicated and Steve is impressed by the smarts of his little buddy. Fuck, that kid is going to make it far.

They listen as Dustin and Erica coach the weird friend through the Russian bunker, sounding incomprehensible as they discuss where he needs to go next. And it is not until the guy goes radio silent for a bit that they check with the others at the mall: “Griswold Family, this is Scoops Troops. Do you copy? Over.”

Silence.

“Griswold Family, I repeats, this is Scoops Troop. Do you-” Dustin’s frantic talking gets interrupted by a monstrous shriek from the radio. All of their hearts stopping. Again Dustin starts up: “Griswold Family, do you copy? Do you copy?”

Instead of an answer, there is more roaring and all of them start to fear the worst. Steve can already envision Joyce coming out of that base to find her children dead, Steve having been safely tucked away at the radio as monsters tore her little Will and brave Jonathan apart.

Dustin holds fast, continuing to radio. “Griswold Family, this is Scoops Troop. Please, confirm your safety. Griswold Family, this is Scoops Troop. Please confirm your safety. Are you en route to Bald Eagle's nest?”

Still no answer and Dustin’s voice is starting to waver as he begs: “Please confirm your safety. Someone, please just answer. Is anyone there? Anyone, please!”

Something in Steve snaps, he can’t listen to Dustin trying and failing to make contact with the others. Something is wrong. Very wrong. Nancy would've said something if they were okay. They are in trouble and Steve is going to help.

He gets up and starts walking to his car with determination. Dustin demands to know where he’s going and Steve snaps: “To get them the hell out of there!”

Robin jumps up and follows, grabbing his hands as they get into the car, radio with them just in case.

Steve has never broken this many speed limits in his life, now glad for his days as King Steve when he and Tommy would race each other over back roads when drunk. Utterly stupid thing to do, he knows that, but it gives him the ability to drift corners even with his vision half blurred and his head spinning.

When they get to the mall, the whole thing is chaos. The rest of the party is standing around a car, but it obviously isn’t starting. Not a moment later, Robin gasps and points at the car that is ready to slam into them, her eyes better equipped to see right now.

Without thinking, Steve revs the engine too as he speeds more. Robin’s hand is on his, clutching it like a lifeline while screaming bloody murder about car safety.

Together they barrel towards Billy’s car. Steve lets go of Robin’s hand to brace both hands on the wheel, while Robin clicks her seat belt on. Steve might not be the one translating the secret message, but he can see the trajectory of Billy’s car and figure out where to aim, so they’ll collide in a magnificent crash.

He nearly hits his head on the wheel and his neck strains on impact. His already spinning head only spins more and he blinks a few times, his brain not yet caught up with the fact that he just crashed the car.

The yelling gets him moving as the others finally get the other car working and they drive away, the Mind Flayer hot on their tail.

Then Steve goes through what might be the strangest minutes of his life as Suzie is confirmed to be real in the weirdest way possible. Part of him thinks it’s the concussion, until he sees Robin’s bemused expression.

However, the hilarity of Dustin and his girlfriend singing cannot erase the horror of the Mind Flayer. How it chases them. How they have to fight it. How El has to fight it. How Billy dies because of it. How Max screams when it happens.

Steve doesn’t think he’ll ever be able to forget those screams. He stands there uselessly, watching, feet frozen.

Robin’s hand finds his again and he takes great comfort in her smaller, yet warm palm in his own as they stand in the ruined hall of Starcourt mall, the place that has held them hostage for so many hours this summer.

The warmth helps him stay grounded. He squeezes her hand once, then starts to walk, letting his grip stay loose in case she wants to let go, but she doesn’t. She follows his lead like she had back in the bunker when she stayed by his side, even though she could have left. It’s nice to be wanted in such a way.

Nancy is checking over Mike, Jonathan has caught Will. Lucas has informed Dustin and Erica about how it went, before going to hold Max together with El.

It still hasn’t fully landed that Billy just died, even as he makes his way to the body. El has gotten Max away from the corpse, but it’s still there, Billy’s unseeing eyes staring up to the sky. His chest is ripped open, white cloth stained red.

Steve has never liked Billy. Ever since the man came into town, he has made Steve’s life as miserable as he could. Steve isn’t going to miss the fear hanging over him with Billy and his harsh words and dangerous fists. How he terrorized Max and Lucas. All the slurs he slung around.

But even if Steve hates Billy’s guts, he won’t forget watching him die and he can be thankful to him for shielding El, even if it was an egomaniac move only done to stick it to the Mind Flayer, not out of any care for El or Max at all.

With mixed feelings, Steve kneels down next to Billy and closes his eyes. He doesn’t have anything to cover the gruesome wound, but he looks less dead like that.

Steve nods to himself, then gets up, walking to Max, Robin hot on his trail. Max doesn’t look to be in a state to move or talk, so Steve asks Lucas: “You guys okay?” wanting to help, but unsure how he can be useful.

“We got her,” Lucas assures him with a tight smile that looks closer to a grimace.

Seems like Steve isn’t really useful. And without purpose, he starts to feel his injuries, starts to shut down. He isn’t sure how he’s still standing right now.

Right as he’s about to start swaying, the mall gets flooded with soldiers in full combat gear. They’re shouting, barking orders, in a way that is too close to the Russians for comfort right now. Steve’s muscles automatically tense and he feels how Robin starts to tremble besides him.

He pulls her a little closer. She’s his person now and the others are all cared for, but Robin is new to this and she is scared now. Steve can be there for her.

So, he holds her as closely as he can, letting her cling to him. His lip wants to wobble, but he bites on it to stop it. He’s been through this before, he knows how to deal with the aftermath and right now Robin needs him to be strong.

There is no Hopper, no Joyce that can take over and be the adult. Steve is the oldest and he has to make it seem like it’s all going to be okay. Like this is normal. Like you can get used to this and move on someday. That they all lived. That they’re fine now. They just need to wait until the government lets them go. He just needs to hold on until Joyce and Hopper get back up from the bunker and then they can be the adults.

His knees start to get unsteady, but he locks them up tight, bites his lip again and lets the zing of pain it sends through him make him aware.

Pain is his hold on.

Instead of letting it drag him down, he clings to it. Focuses on the way his beat in face throbs and his bruised ribs ache, how his ears ring and his vision blurs a bit on the left. It’s easier to focus on that, than the yelling that scares him and the need to be held that overtakes him.

He needs to keep his head in the game. It’s just like in basketball or cheer. Just focus on getting through it, block out the jeering and cheering and just focus on catching and throwing, how his body feels as he moves and where he needs to go.

Steve has Robin, the others are also taken care of. Joyce and Hopper must be on their way back up with their friend. That just leaves Dustin and Erica. They need to be safe too.

With that in mind, he gets the attention of one of the soldiers that looks to be giving orders. He puts on his best Harrington, an attitude that always gets what it wants and informs the man of the two kids out there on a hill alone. Demands they’d be brought to safety too.

The man doesn’t look happy with the news, but Steve doesn’t back down until there are people en route to get the two nerds to safety.

All throughout, Robin stays glued to him and he’s sure it’s the only reason he manages to keep his perfect posture until his demands are met. After the man agrees, Steve stumbles a bit. He tries to stay upright, because Hopper and Joyce aren’t back yet and Steve has to be the eldest.

But Robin doesn’t let him. She loudly starts worrying about all that might be wrong with him, convinced he’s going to kneel over. She is loud enough that a medic that came with the soldiers comes to check Steve over.

Steve protests at first, but Robin doesn’t let him. She tells the man what happened to him – in as much detail as she knows – and the medic’s eyes widen in concern. The medic grills Steve, poking and prodding at him.

It feels a bit too much like an interrogation for Steve’s liking and he gladly clings to the first distraction he sees.

Joyce returns from the bunker and with her is the weird guy, the two of them flanked by American soldiers, their stolen Russian uniforms standing out. Without thinking about it, Steve starts to scan for Hopper, expecting him to see him and frowning when he doesn’t.

He isn’t the only one thinking about that, it seems, because El leaves Max in Lucas’ capable hands and wanders over to Joyce. At this point Steve is flat out ignoring the medic with a frown on his face as he follows the interaction happening a few feet away. El innocently and slightly confused asks: “Where is Hopper?”

And he watches as Joyce starts to cry at the question, the sudden realization that Hopper isn’t coming back, hitting Steve.

“Joyce?” El asks, sounding a little scared as she watches Joyce cry, the meaning of the situation hasn’t reached her yet.

“Oh god, I- I’m so sorry, honey,” Joyce says and Steve can hear her voice crack across the distance as she takes El into her arms. “He- He didn’t make it.”

Steve watches as it hits El that she has lost her first parental figure. The only dad that ever cared for her in a way that mattered. The man, who has been her whole world for nearly two years now. Who took her in and let her be a person.

If Steve thought he would never forget Max’s scream, that doesn’t hold a candle to how El wails at the news, clutching Joyce as she collapses.

The two hold each other, mourning the loss of a man they both loved.

It hits Steve at that moment.

Hopper is gone.

The chief is gone.

The man, who drove him home and made sure he didn’t drown in vomit after Billy kicked his ass, is gone. The man, who searched all night for him after his father kicked him out, is gone. The man, who stopped in the middle of a crisis to check in if Steve was alright enough to be part of the plan and made him promise to get checked out, is gone.

Hopper has always been El’s dad. His gruffness melting for this kid, who wormed her way inside his heart. However, he’s always had a soft spot for Steve too and he now starts to feel the emptiness where that cushion used to be.

This is a situation where he would defer to Hopper for. Look at him to see what has to be done now. How to make it better. But Hopper isn’t here. Hopper is dead.

Steve is the one, who has to step up now. Take charge of clean up and make sure everyone gets home alright. His body aches, both with grief and injury at the thought, but he pushes it away. He has big shoes to fill.

Mentally he goes over everyone. Mrs. Henderson will be in a worry when she hears, come for Dustin and coddle him until he’s exhausted. Mr. and Mrs. Sinclair also have been through this before, so Erica and Lucas are in good hands. Nancy has Mike and knows how to steer her parents in these situations. They’re good too. That leaves the Byers, El, Max and Robin.

The Byers have been through this before. They’re going to be fine, but Joyce lost Hopper and Joyce is the one El clings to. They might turn out to be fine, but they have a lot on their plate. Steve decides he’ll find a place of his own to stay tonight. Lighten Joyce’s load. El can go with them, get the understanding and love of someone who knows.

With that mentally settled, he moves on to Max. God, Max. Max just lost her brother. She’s going to have to go home to her step father, who just lost his son. Fuck, what does Steve do about that? Will the Sinclairs take her for the night? Will her parents come? When will they know that Billy hasn’t made it?

He focuses back on the medic, who’s been giving him a moment and asks: “What will the cover up be?”

“I don’t know, kid,” the medic tells him. “Not my department.”

“Will you let Billy be found?” Steve asks. “Give the family some closure. It’s the least you can do after Max had to see him die. Make that she can talk about it to someone.”

There must be something in his eyes, because the man gives him a sympathetic nod and says: “I’ll mention it to the higher ups,” which is all Steve can hope for. He can’t offer Max a home for the night, safety, a shoulder to lean on. But he can give her that.

“Is Steve going to be okay?” Robin asks from next to him, changing the subject. She’s still there, fierce and loyal. In another life, Steve could have been in love with her.

“I’m fine,” Steve tells her. He doesn’t feel fine, but Hopper would have been fine, if he were here, no matter what. Steve can be fine too. Move on. Be a rock.

“No you’re not, kid,” the medic says, foiling that plan. “You need to be under supervision tonight. You have a concussion and cracked ribs. You need to take it easy. Stay still. Do not strain yourself, do you understand? But you did get incredibly lucky, these injuries could have been a lot worse.”

Steve sends him a scowl, but Robin jumps in: “My mom is a nurse. He can stay with me tonight and she’ll make sure he won’t die.”

The offer sends warmth down Steve’s spine. Robin wants him by her side as much as he wants her at his. She is looking after him, even if he doesn’t need it. And she just solved one of the biggest problems of the night.

“That sounds like a good idea,” the medic smiles. “I’ll let you be for now. I’m sure someone will come by with a story and then you’ll be able to call your parents.”

Then the medic leaves and Robin heaves a deep sigh. She rests her cheek on Steve’s shoulder and he leans his head against hers. Quietly she asks: “Are we going to be okay, Stevie?”

“I don’t know, Robs, probably,” Steve answers honestly. He has always returned from these, but he hasn’t been the same since he knocked on the Byers door, now already so long ago. He thinks it’s been for the better, but he doesn’t know.

They sit there together as around them the government starts with the clean up, going through everyone and getting their story. Steve wants to go comfort them or help, but Robin keeps him chained to the bench and he’s too tired to fight her. Nor does he want to. Getting up and taking over means accepting Hopper isn’t here to do it. That he’ll never be again.

After what seems like hours – and probably is, if Steve thinks about it – they get fed a story about a fire, before Robin can call her parents as Steve tells Joyce where he’ll be, her face grateful as she cards a hand through a distressed El’s hair.

They nod along and sign what needs to be sign, just happy that they can get out of here.

Robin’s parents are two hippie looking people that Steve’s father would have a lot of unsavory opinions about. But all Steve can see if love and affection as they fuss over Robin as he keeps in the background.

Though Robin quickly drags him into the spotlight, dramatically recounting a made up story about how Steve made sure she wouldn’t get stuck under the falling rubble. How he got injured because of it and needs to be watched tonight. How he can’t go home. How he has to stay, pretty please, he’s my friend, he saved my life and he’s injured because of it.

Steve waits for the inevitable further questions, the arguing about her request. Instead, they surprise him by saying: “Of course he can come home with us. Thank you so much for saving our girl. Here come to the car, you look like you need to sit down, sweetie.”

“Oh, I’m alright, Mrs. Buckley,” Steve stammers.

“None of that nonsense. I’ll take care of you, okay?” Robin’s mom says. “And call me Daisy. None of that Mrs. Buckley stuff.”

And with that Steve is taken home. His brain isn’t fully caught up. He barely remembers the drive to a small house and he falls asleep easily, only remembering the gentle hands of Robin’s mom as he is tucked in on the couch.

~~

A/N:

Nothing will ever be more iconic than the bathroom scene, okay, it is permanently part of me, it shaped me, I will never shut up about it and it will always be the best Stranger Things scene. Period. But I did make both of them more stupid, bc they loose braincells when put together and I love that for them xp

#rr writing #stranger things #steve harrington #robin buckley #stobin #platonic stobin #steddie #buckingham #st season 3 #the party #st the party #the party stranger things #steve and robin #steve and dustin #joyce byers #parental joyce byers #eleven hopper #jim hopper #billy hargrove #max mayfield #tw: f slur #tw: period typical homophobia #tw: minor character death #tw: injury #cheerleader steve harrington au

[fleursfairies]

would it be cheesy to say that for the final battle i want the party's outfits to at least be a homage to their dnd characters

like they dont gotta go full on but i want at least little easter eggs

#stranger things #the party #st the party #the final battle #dnd #vecna stranger things #henward #will byers #mike wheeler #lucas sinclair #dustin henderson #el hopper #max mayfield #byler #nancy wheeler #steve harrington #robin buckley

[constantementeimaginando]

Mike's crush on Will people, I need to visualise some pining, and importantly some jealousy

OKAY OKAY, but in season 5, Will is back in Hawkins, right, so now in Hawkins High

It's already established that he is more in the girls' radar than the rest of the boys

He might be the guy a lot of girls in highschool have a crush on, allow me to explain:

Will Byers is artistic, he is a bit shy, he is gentle and kind, and has a bit of snark so he's fun too, he is now taller and a bit bigger, the girls are not ready! swooning left and right

But he is not intimidating, not at all, so girls would come up to him and chat with him, some would outright flirt with him

And bless his soul he is so oblivious at any girls' attempts at flirting with him, he just thinks they are being friendly! So he goes along with it, chatting and laughing with them after a couple of them go by the 'make him my friend first' move (the one that 87% of the time fails, that one) he eventually is friends with a couple of them.

Lucas would talk about it with the boys on their way to class, (Will has class with Max and El, so he is not there) how Will is so popular with girls now that he is back in Hawkins, Dustin would be laughing with him too, agreeing, and Mike is just there in silence, too aware of it and he is SO annoyed by it

Everytime Mike sees Will with girls, especially that one girl with black wavy hair that always talks to him before first period, his mood is ruined, Every. Time.

Mike just wants to talk to him before first period and go to class together, is that too much to ask?!

It goes like this for more than a few weeks, too many weeks in Mike's opinion.

One day at lunch Lucas and Dustin were talking about how a lot of girls are having a crush on Will, AGAIN and Mike is not having it, and he can't hide it, he is brooding, rolling his eyes, annoyed, he just can't help it

"Dude, what's the matter?" Lucas asks him

"What?" Mike says and it comes out harsher than he expected

Lucas just lifts his eyebrows as to prove Mike why was he asking if he's okay in the first place

"Nothing, it's nothing" calmer this time

"You're being weird, you sure it's nothing?"

"Yeah, just, can we talk about something else? It's all we've talked about these days"

He then proceeds to list all of Will's interactions with his new friends (that just happen to be girls) "We all know how Will talks with Rachel before first period, and she is always there with him after class, and how Hillary just can't stop talking about him with her friends in biology, I mean, we get it, can we move on?"

Dustin looks at Lucas, questioningly, who just shrugs and mouths "I don't know"

"We haven't even talked about our next campaign" He continues "With how solicited he's been recently let's see if we are lucky enough to find Will available" Mike adds, crossing his arms

Lucas chuckles "Dude, relax, what's so wrong about Will talking to girls?"

Mike sighs, he doesn't know, he really doesn't know why he's so upset, he falters and he can't answer them

"Are you jealous or something?" Dustin asks nonchalantly as he chews on his sandwich

"What?" Mike says, startled

"Yeah man, you've been weird lately, ever since you and El broke up"

Mike has heard this before, him being weird, more quiet, and distracted after his relationship with El was over

"Since El broke up with him, you mean" Dustin adds

Lucas looks at Dustin pointedly "As I was saying, you've been kind of ... I don't know, off... and break ups can be hard, so-"

"I'm okay" Mike answers absentmindedly

"Not saying you're not, not exactly, I'm just saying that... if you wanna talk, we can talk, man"

"Yeah dude, whatever it is, we got you, like that time you ruined Nancy's project when she was at a sleepover and we had to rebuild it from scratch that night"

"Right, you were crying 'Nancy's gonna kill me!' over and over again" Lucas adds

Mike chuckles "Shut up, I wasn't crying"

"You were about to" Dustin says

Mike looks at them, fond and grateful, with a small smile on his face, the only way he knows how to thank them for getting him out of his head

Mike feels some sense of relief, for some reason unbeknownst to him, one that he can't quite point out, he feels lighter somehow; he needed to hear these words from his friends to remind him that they got him, they do.

They continue eating lunch, Mike was about to let them in on some things he was thinking for their campaign when Will finally arrives with his lunch tray to join them

"Hi, guys!" Will greets them as he sits next to Lucas

Mike looks up, a rushed "Hi!" Comes out of his mouth in a higher pitch, cracking a bit in the middle. He feels something akin to mortification, heat creeping up his cheeks.

Dustin chuckles, it's now a somewhat common occurrence among them, to have these little cracks on their voices here and there when they speak.

Will grins at Mike, his gaze shifting at Lucas now to resume their previous conversation "What were you guys talking about?" He asks them.

"Mike was about to tell us some of the things he was planning for the campaign" Dustin answers

"Cool! What were you planning on doing?" Will asks Mike.

"Right, yeah... I was saying something about -- Uh, this thing about... " Mike can't seem to find the words

"About..." Will says trying without success to make Mike remember

"Uhh..." Mike falters "I forgot what I was going to say... It'll come back later"

"For sure, it's okay, tell us later" Will tries to reassure him, offers a small smile

His cheeks feel warm and, unsure of what to do he lowers his gaze, unable to contain his smile.

Mike is so confused, why did he feel like that? How can he even describe it? Feeling dizzy? He feels kind of lightheaded

"Mike, come on, we can't be late for Mr. Jones class" Dustin says while he puts his hand on Mike's shoulder in an attempt to make him stand up, the ring bell must have gone off and he didn't realise, too much in his head

On the way to the corridor Max joins Dustin and Mike for their next class, she greets them all

"Hi!" Lucas says, enthusiastic "Have you seen El? I need to ask her something about our project"

"She was at the library, finishing an assignment" Max says and Lucas nods, "Oh, okay, I'll get going then... See you later?" Lucas asks Max to which she nods "See ya!"

Mike sees El about to go to the classroom she waves at them, smiling, all her friends wave back.

El mouths "come here" waving her arm directed at Lucas to join her, and so he is on his way to class.

"See you guys next period" Says Will, as he finds his way to see Rachel whom he shares his next class with, he greets her and she beams and greets him back getting into what looks like casual talk

Mike looks at them as they keep getting farther away, getting lost in the sea of students who are going to their next class

A pang in the chest area, a hollow sensation in his stomach, he just wants this day to be over.

Mike doesn't know what is happening, why is he feeling this way, is like he is constricted, suffocated.

And so he walks to class with Dustin and Max.

Mike, Dustin and Max get to Mr. Jones' class on time, they find their sits and Mike can't wait for this class to be over.

He just hopes he can catch up to Will after classes.

Miscommunication, pining, jealousy and obliviousness? gimme all of that, I live for that.

I know that it's gonna be the apocalypse and that it's very likely that they are not gonna be in school for the season but let me dream, I wanna see Mike pining hard,jealous, unaware and oblivious of how big of crush he has on Will

#stranger things #st #will byers #mike wheeler #byler #st the party #the core four #the party #byler headcanon #this started as short headcanon and finished like something else entirely #mike wheeler i know what you are

[poppytuft]

saw a post abt car guy mike and it made my brain crazy because car guy mike is one of if not my favorite college st hcs in which mike had such a beautiful lovely car in hawkins that he begged and pleaded for for his birthday and of course, its the wheelers, so he got it. and its like a good expensive cool car (girl idk shit abt 80s cars just run with me here) but when he went to college his parents sprung on him that he couldnt bring it with him because HOLLY needed a car and something to learn to drive in and he bitched and moaned about why couldnt NANCY give holly HER car and they said no you bitch nancy needs her car in new york. give holly the car. we payed for the damn thing and we need a second car here goddamnit. and he had a tearful delirious goodbye with the dumb thing before he moved and when he comes home he is REUNITED! AT LONG LAST! but he still needed something to drive at SCHOOL so he saved up and found a beat up piece of shit fuck ass toyota corolla or something (that im sure, again, the wheelers helped pay for because karen felt bad or whatever) and hes SO FUCKING MAD about it like absolutely fuming that he went from the HIGHEST HIGH to the LOWEST LOW and to cope he treats the thing like its his BABY and its the most disgusting horrible vehicle in the world everyone eats in the back seat and the previous owner stained the front seats with something weird and gross and sometimes you have to bang on the radio to get it to work and sometimes you have to stick your hand out the front window to flick the windshield wipers to get them to actually go. but hes SO STUCK ON TREATING IT LIKE SOMETHING PRECIOUS like "no guys seriously this is my fucking car you have to be nice to it. im not joking i PAYED FOR IT you have to be fucking clean in my fucking car shes my everything" and max mayfield is sitting in the passenger seat like "yeahhh man okay. anyway lucas just spilled his DQ blizzard in the back seat trying to prove to dustin that it would actually stay in the cup and not go everywhere if he turned it upside down so now dustin and your car are both covered in ice cream. also some got on the windows somehow" and he goes "you fucking WHAT"

#mike wheeler #stranger things #the party #headcanon #eenposting #st #max mayfield #this is also playing into my madwheeler best friends agenda but i digress #and the only person who really is nice to him about it is will #who gets really apologetic about spilling stuff in the car but its ironic because hes the only person who mike is like ohhh dont worry:) #its okay dont even worry about it its fine will ur all good :) and everyone else is like WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK #i have this half written into a fic somewhere. that i will never finish #WHICH IS SO UNFORTUNATE #st the party #the party stranger things #mike wheeler headcanon #hope you all see the vision #with luck i can make this st fanon bible. godspeed amen

[harpsthings]

Steve: If you’re saying I play favorites, you’re wrong. I love all my kids equally.

Steve, earlier that day: I don’t care for Mike.

#steve harrington #stranger things #st the party #sorry mike wait no im not #just kidding mike fans dont eat me

[anakin-vaders]

Omg what y'all think the ST party would get for tattoos? Like I remembered El had the 11, maybe she'll want a cover up and it'll be so sweet for the party and the fruity six to go get some too. Like Will and Mike obviously get some Star Wars, matching stuff. I'd say Dustin would get the plank constant or something number related. El maybe a tiny flower or a bird, something about death and rebirth of sorts. Max maybe like something skater-ish related? Or a sea themed, a wave in Billy's honor. Lucas and Erika maybe sibling stuff, although Luca's new found love for Kate Bush could do too. Erika a non ironic my little pony one. For the fruity six, Argyle something that he'd saw scribbled in a bathroom shit post style, that's a bit cursed. Jonathan I'd say like a camera or something photography related since he's all that, maybe a The Smith's depressing ass quote. Nancy would get like a super badass feminist ish quote about female rage and stuff. Robin in her ankle like a boob thing, or maybe she and Steve both get a muppet bc of Tammy (just the fun moment). And Eddie, maybe another bat to cover his chewed nipple.

#st headcanons #st the party #the party #stranger things #dustin henderson #mike wheeler #will byers #el hopper #max mayfield #lucas sinclair #erica sinclair #steve harrington #eddie munson #nancy wheeler #jonathan byers #robin buckley #argyle st #stranger things headcanons

[v-i-r-i-d-i-a-n]

I don’t have much to contribute to analysis but me and my mom were talking about the Dragon Theory (idk if there’s an official name but it’s that the next big bad is gonna be the Hydra from Will’s painting) and we came to the conclusion it’s either-

Going to be some sort of weird demogorgan dragon thing where all the heads are like demogorgan heads and the bodies gonna be like a big Demo-bat, or maybe some conglomeration of all the monsters making a flesh monster like S3

Orrr it’s gonna be Will’s manipulation of the Shadow Monster, sense we saw Henry shape it into the spider lookin thing it is now Will’s gonna shape it into a dragon

#stranger things #will byers #mike wheeler #byler #el hopper #jane hopper #dustin henderson #dustin stranger things #001 stranger things #eleven #jim hopper #jonathon byers #joyce byers #st vecna #byler tumblr #stranger thing theory #st the party #st theory

[howtobecomeadragon]

#poll #stranger things #st the party #byler #lumax #elmax #mike wheeler #will byers #el hopper #lucas sinclair #dustin henderson #max mayfield #erica sinclair #the party goes to an amusement park! 🎢

[withacapitalp]

Cocaine Bear AU Pt 2

Part One

Because I am deranged okay here we go have some more. As always....blame the discord

Eddie was having a pretty shitty day. 

First he got woken up at two in the morning because his father got a tip off about a potential DEA bust and had to high tail it to their warehouse to move a shit ton of cargo. Then, their normal runner had to call out sick because of food poisoning, so Eddie had to make the drop instead. 

Now the plane he was in was about to crash. 

So, yeah, Eddie was having a pretty shitty day. 

“Please remind me why you had to try and do a barrel roll?!” Eddie shouted over the wind as he continued to toss duffle bags full of product out over the Indiana wilds. 

“I thought it would be fun!” Rick called back, still laughing his ass off even as the plane emergency lights began to blink rapidly, “You need to learn to live a little, Eddie.” 

“I’d like to live, period!” Eddie shouted back, kicking the final bag into the dark. The duffle bags were bright red with rainbow straps, impossible to miss, but innocuous enough that most people wouldn’t touch them. 

Hopefully. 

God, his dad was going to kill him if he lost this much cocaine. 

There was another bout of shaking as the plane took a mini-nose dive, and Eddie narrowly missed smacking his head against the open doorway, almost dropping his parachute as he did. 

“This is our final stop, ladies!” Rick screamed over the beeping alarms in front of him, “Thank you for flying Air Junkie!” 

Eddie rolled his eyes, strapping on the parachute and looking out into the inky black of the world below. He wasn’t exactly comfortable with heights per say. But it was a choice between jumping and potentially dying, or staying in the plane with Rick and definitely dying. 

Eddie jumped. 

It was better than any high he had ever had. Eddie was instantly awake, his heart racing at top speed as he hurtled towards the ground. He let out a primal scream, laughing deliriously as he pulled the ripcord and his stomach shot out of his ass from the force of the chute deploying. 

Damn, that hurt. 

Eddie pinched his face in agony as his hands reached up, scrambling to find the stabilizers to course correct his landing. It wasn’t exactly ideal to have the plane crash, but things could be worse. All of the cargo was safe… well, as safe as possible. Eddie would have it back in his hands in no time, and his father wouldn’t need to know about any of it until he was safely across the border. 

Hell, maybe he could even spin this in his favor. With the plane downed and Rick dead, the feds would probably think all of the drugs burned up in the fire too. Problem solved. It was all going to work out just fine. 

His hand finally grasped the stabilizer, and it promptly tore off of the cheap ass parachute he was wearing, leaving him no way to steer. 

“Oh, fuck me,” Eddie swore, throwing it down to the earth below and holding onto the cords for dear life, closing his eyes as the wind began to whip him around. There were a few wild moments of blind panic as his body was jerked around, but by the time the first trees touched the tips of his toes, Eddie was passed out cold. 

—————————

As Eddie slowly began to drift towards consciousness, a few pressing things made themselves known. 

One- He was still alive. Somehow. 

Two- He was shirtless and every single part of his body hurt. 

Three- There was something poking his cheek. 

“Dustin, stop that,” a male voice said from above Eddie’s head, and whatever was poking him stopped. Eddie kept his eyes shut, staying limp as he listened. 

“Are you sure he’s not dead?” A younger boy, presumably ‘Dustin,’ asked. 

“He has a pulse still.” The first man replied, and Eddie felt something being wrapped around one of his forearms. “I have no idea how, but he barely seems that hurt.”

“And remind me why we didn’t just call the cops?” A girl’s voice piped up from somewhere by his feet. 

Uh oh, someone used the C word, Eddie thought deliriously, pulling away from the man touching him and faking like he was just waking up. If the police somehow miraculously hadn’t already been called, then he wanted to keep it that way. 

“Holy shit!” ‘Dustin’ squawked, and when Eddie opened one eye he caught a glimpse of a curly haired nerdy-looking kid stepping away from him. 

“Jar,” the man said as if it was a reflex. Eddie opened his other eye, staring up in shock as a veritable Adonis looked back down at him with a soft smile. 

“Good morning.” He murmured, his voice soft and sweet. The man had honey brown eyes and a strong jawline, the exact kind Eddie would love to nibble on. 

“Hey guys! The dead dude’s awake!” A boy with long hair screeched at the top of his lungs, the complete antithesis of the man’s tone. The girl, a little spitfire with box braids and a look on her face, rolled her eyes, and Dustin bounced over to her side, all three staring at Eddie like he was an exhibit in a zoo. 

How many kids did this guy have?!

“Mike, he’s not-” The man cut himself off with a sigh as all three kids bolted out of the room, completely ignoring him. He raised a hand to his temple, shaking his head. “Sorry about them. They’re harmless, but they are teenagers.”

“The horror,” Eddie answered dryly, sitting up slowly and wincing as he did, looking down at his body and taking stock. He was ripped to high hell, cuts and slashes all over his chest and a pulsing pain beating alongside his heart, but he was alive, and that was enough for right now. 

“Thanks for patching me up…”

“Steve. Steve Harrington.” ‘Steve’ said, filling the gap and holding his hand out to Eddie to shake. 

“Eddie.” He replied, purposefully sidestepping the last name reply by adding a question. “Where exactly am I?”

“My house. I would’ve taken you to the hospital, but Hawkins General just went belly up due to budget cuts, and I was worried you wouldn’t make it if I had to take you all the way to Mercy.” Steve explained, stepping back and putting his hands on his hips. “You know, you’re really lucky you aren’t more hurt. What exactly were you doing?”

“Oh you know, the usual.” Eddie said evasively, trying and failing to stretch. “What’s my prognosis then, doc? ‘Cause I have things I gotta get to.”

Namely like finding all of the product that had fallen into the woods before anyone else did. 

“I’m not a- Hey! Woah! Hold up, you can’t go anywhere.” Steve snapped, pushing Eddie down as he tried to stand, mindful of the places he was bandaged up. 

“I found you hanging from a parachute in a tree. You have two broken ribs, a definite concussion, a shit ton of lacerations, and possibly a broken ankle. There’s no way I can let you just walk off.” Steve stated, looking ready to fight Eddie if he had to. 

Goddamn good samaritans and their stubborn little bleeding hearts. 

“Pretty sure you have to, otherwise it’s kidnapping.” Eddie joked, looking around the room for his shirt and shoes. Hopefully he could sweet talk his way out of his mess like he usually did, but if not, he was going to need to be able to run. 

But before either of them could argue anymore, an explosion of children burst into the room. 

Eddie couldn’t even count the number of little people who were pushing their faces close to him, poking and prodding him where they could and all yelling over each other in an effort to be heard. 

“GUYS!” Steve roared above the melee, dragging them all out by their collars. “Out!”

“But we wanna-“ One of the kids protested from the doorway. 

“Out!” Steve insisted, shoving the door shut, making sure no little fingers got caught as he did. He let his entire body fall against the door, running a hand through his hair haggardly and groaning. 

“Look, what’s so important that you can’t wait?” Steve asked, glaring at Eddie. 

About 10 million dollars worth of cocaine stashed in three fucking duffle bags somewhere in the woods, Eddie thought, biting his tongue so he didn’t accidentally say something stupid like that. 

“Stuff.” 

“Well your ‘stuff’ has gotta wait until at least tomorrow. It’s gonna get dark soon.” Steve stated, crossing his arms. 

“No can do, doc,” Eddie replied, standing up. “See? Totally fine,”

Then he tried to take a step and his injured ankle immediately gave out. He would’ve fallen flat on his ass, but there were two extremely strong, very muscular arms holding him up, and a beautiful but unimpressed face only inches from him. 

“I’m not a doctor,” Steve deadpanned, helping Eddie to sit on the edge of the bed and kneeling down to check the splint around his ankle. “I’m an EMT- or I’m studying to be one anyway.” 

“Regardless of your qualifications, Sweetheart, I gotta be on my way.” Eddie gasped, trying to ignore the pain making his stomach twist up into knots. 

“No.”

Seriously. Seriously. Of course Eddie had to be found by the single person on Earth who would not take him to the hospital, but also not just abandon him the second he could. 

“Look, Harrington, was it?” Eddie asked rhetorically, starting to get frustrated by the good guy act. “I’m not-“

“Why don’t we just go with him?” A voice behind Steve asked. 

What?!

“Erica!” Steve snapped. “We’re not going out into the woods with a complete stranger!” 

“You have something you’re looking for in the woods right?” One of the other girls asked, pointing to Eddie. He nodded and she shrugged. “You were gonna take us on a hike anyway, Steve, so let’s just go with Dead Guy.”

“My name is Eddie.” He interjected stubbornly. He wasn’t dead yet. 

“Eddie.” The girl with the red hair amended. “You’re not dead. Steve’s happy. We get to get some fresh air. Everybody wins.”

“Complete stranger.” Steve repeated, looking completely done with the situation. “We should just call the park rangers to find your stuff…”

“No!” Eddie blurted out, grabbing Steve’s arm and holding it in a death grip. 

The last thing he needed was cops. This was already enough of a clusterfuck as it was. Steve paused, looking first at the hand on his arm, then at Eddie’s frantic eyes. 

“You’re that set on going?” Steve asked. Eddie nodded tightly, and Steve sighed, gently pulling out of Eddie’s grasp and holding out his hand. “Fine. But only for a few hours. If you can’t find what you’re looking for by sunset, we’re coming back here and calling the rangers.” 

That could work. All he had to do was give Steve and these kids the slip and he was home free. 

This could work. 

This had to work. 

“Deal,” Eddie said, doom pressing down on his shoulders. 

Tag list: @thing-a-ling @maya-custodios-dionach

#Steve harrington #Eddie munson #cocaine bear au #YES #THATS WHAT THIS IS #anyways #steddie #st 4 #stranger things 4 #stranger things au #dustin henderson #el hopper #will byers #mike wheeler #max mayfield #Lucas sinclair #st the party #Steve and the party #babysitter Steve harrington #st au #erica sinclair #reefer rick #RIP KING

[slavicviking]

let me paint you a picture

Vecna is dead. The Upside Down is gone. A thing of the past, really. Except... it's not, of course it's not. Enough time goes by for things to start settling down. But. There's always a but.

Steve disappears and no one notices. But not because no one cared. It's not the case of Steve the Rich Jock. Of Steve the Friendless. Of Steve with Big House and No Parents.

No one notices because no one remembers him ever existing.

Robin feels like a part of her is missing, like there's an itch she can't quite scratch. Her shifts at the bookstore that she owns seem dull and her eyes keep sliding over to the doors like she's waiting for someone to enter. Her flat feels cold. There's an empty room across the hall.

There's a guy Eddie's kissing in the back alley and it makes him feel nothing at all. There's an S tattoed on his hip. He doesn't remember getting it. He must've been drunk. Or high. He keeps wondering why he stayed so close to Hawkins despite all the trouble it brought him. Must've been Wayne, even though his uncle has more than once declared himself ready to move on.

Dustin mourns an older brother he never had. He stylizes his hair but can't remember where he learnt it from when Suzie asks. The Scoops Troops has always been three people; him, and Erica, and Robin, but no, that doesn't sound right. How would they get past that one guard? And those demodogs in '84? Jonathan? Nancy? They were busy with Will, weren't they?

Nancy hates pools. She can't remember why. There was a party of some sort and Barb...Barb got sucked into the Hell that lives and breathes under Hawkins. But...why would they go to a party in the first place? It makes no sense.

And so on, and so on.

Until, one day, Eddie and Robin stumble upon an abondanoed car in the middle of a forgotten road by the forrest. Keys still inside. And a bat full of nails on the driver's seat.

#steddie #stobin #steve harrington #eddie munson #robin buckley #st #i offer you tonight a half-baked idea that's been rattling around my school #it's just an excuse to write the party losing their collective mind while obsessing over a thing they don't remember but know is missing #anyway g'night

[mroddmod]

the party visits Hawkins for the holidays, circa December 1991.

i was lucky enough to get to participate in a secret santa gift exchange along with my friends, some of the most talented people in the stranger things fandom! my recipient was @halosketches, one of the coolest people i know. it was a pleasure to be able to work on this and i'm happy to able to share it now! happy holidays, boys 🫶

#byler #stranger things #mike wheeler #will byers #lumax #lucas sinclair #max mayfield #the party #st #stranger things 4 #stranger things fanart #sorry for disappearing for over a month!! #been having a bit of a weird time. weird relationship with my art. #i've also been spending a great deal of my time working on commissions and other obligations #so i've been a bit wrapped up! #but i hope to be able to post more soon once i finish everything i need to and hopefully repair my relationship with my work #happy holidays!! #i hope you're all doing well :) #mods talks shit #mods draws #mods art

[schrijverr]

Radio Home

Steve gets hurt by himself and the only way to call for help is to radio someone in the party. He doesn’t like asking for help, but radios Dustin anyway. When it turns out to be way worse than he thought, Hopper (an unlikely source) is there to catch him.

On AO3.

Ships: none

Warnings: Steve's bad parents mentioned, injury, hospital

~~~~~~~~

Steve is in a bit of a conundrum. You see he knows he should probably radio the party for help. He can only reach the radio they gave him, so it’s quite logical, but he isn’t part of the party like that and he doesn’t want to assume.

They gave it to him because it’s easier. After a few times failing to catch him at school as well as a very awkward game of telephone through Nancy, giving him a radio to ask for rides is just logical.

So, Steve got one of his own so he could come pick them up from the Wheeler house when a campaign runs late, drive them to the arcade or the skate park, one memorable moment to Hopper’s hidden cabin.

Of course there are also the emergencies like when Dustin smacked his face when playing and had a big bleeding nose and they could only reach Steve, when Max needed to get away from the fighting between her mom and step dad and that time Lucas needed assurance after a nightmare.

It is all things Steve does with love. These kids have been through so much and contrary to his complaints, they’ve all grown on him and he cares so much about the little twerps.

However, that’s not the point right now, the point is that they gave the radio to Steve, because it’s easy. He’s an adult with a car and money and enough free time. He protected them and they feel safe with him. It’s a one way transaction. Steve comes to help them, not the other way around.

So, he shouldn’t be radioing them for help. That’s not the dynamic they have. Steve should be able to figure this out.

But Steve is also stuck under the pool furniture and pretty sure he broke his leg, so maybe this could be an exception, plus he thinks he has a migraine coming on.

He’d been getting the garden ready for the summer weather that was coming. His parents weren’t in town yet, but if he didn’t do it soon, they would be disappointed with him when they dropped by again. He didn’t want to give them another reason to be disappointed with him.

Lately all he’s doing is disappointing people. His parents aren’t anything new, but he also let Billy beat his ass, drove Nancy away, couldn’t be on the court to support his team. The only thing that has been going well is the kids.

And that’s the crux of the issue.

These kids look up to him. They think he’s cool, that he’s brave, that he knows what he’s doing.

He doesn’t want to break that illusion by calling for help, because he thought he could take three chairs off at the same time and they all toppled down on him. That’s too embarrassing.

His parents must come home soon, he reasons. They’ve been gone for three weeks now, they can’t be much longer. They must notice him not being in the house and come looking for him. They must… Right?

Steve isn’t entirely sure. Deep down he knows it could be another week and he might starve to death or his leg could get infected if he doesn’t call for help.

The radio is staring judgmentally at him from the floor next to his head. He brought it with him so he wouldn’t miss it if one of the kids needed him, he could just use it and be saved.

As if hearing him start to give in, his leg gives another pulse. It’s been hurting like a bitch, but Steve is used to pushing through the pain, however, even he can’t keep ignoring how his leg aches.

God, what is he even doing, he wonders. He must’ve hit his head on the way down, since he’s being such an idiot about this.

He’s about to reach for the radio and suffer through the humiliating conversation when the radio crackles to life and Dustin asks: “Are you there, Steve? Over.”

“I’m here,” Steve says immediately snatching the radio from the floor, ignoring how the action makes his head spin. What if Dustin is in trouble and Steve can’t get there? “Are you okay? Over.”

“Yeah, we want to get the arcade,” Dustin answers, relief flooding through Steve’s veins. “Are you okay though, you sound weird. Over.”

Of course the twerp noticed. Though that might make this easier for Steve. He presses the button again and laughs: “Not really, no. Can you call Hopper or Joyce? Someone with a car and driver’s license? Over.”

“What? What happened? Over,” Dustin shrieks.

Steve winces, this sort of reaction is exactly what he wanted to avoid. He sighs: “I’m fine, Henderson. Don’t worry. I just need a bit of a hand and I know I’m not part of the party and this is for party emergencies only, but I just need someone to come free me.”

“What do you mean not- You know what, that can wait,” Dustin yells, before calming himself to moderately nervous. “Where are you, are you captured? Over.”

“I’m in my shed,” Steve confesses, cheeks burning with embarrassment as exhaustion presses him into the ground. “Chairs fell on me.”

“Chairs? Over,” Dustin asks.

“Yeah,” Steve sighs. He’s tired. His leg hurts and he probably has a migraine coming too, which is just lovely, truly. He feels embarrassed and humiliated. He doesn’t want to deal with this. “I don’t want to hear it. Just call Hopper.”

“Okay, okay,” Dustin says, quickly. “I’ll get on it. Just tell me if you’re hurt. Over.”

“No,” Steve lies. “Just tired. Your yapping is making my head hurt,” he says and flips the radio off before he can think about it.

It’s not even to be mean, but he suddenly feels a little lightheaded and the noise makes him feel like he’s going to throw up. He aches all over and just needs it to be quiet.

His blinks become heavy and he kind of floats in this in between limbo of consciousness and sleep.

He’s startled out of it by the shed door slamming open. He groans at the movement and bleary looks up to come face to face with a very worried Hopper.

“Chief?” he asks, confused. At this point he doesn’t remember asking for the man.

“Fucking hell, Harrington,” Hopper hisses through his teeth. “What happened here? How are you feeling?”

His body screams at him, the edges of his vision still blurred. With his concentration slipping it’s harder to ignore it all. He mumbles: “Hurts. Tired.”

“Don’t go to sleep,” Hopper orders sternly and Steve can’t help but freeze up at the tone, doing everything in his might to stay awake.

Hopper winces at something, maybe his reaction, but he isn’t sure why.

Luckily, Hopper doesn’t interrogate him further, instead picking up the radio on his shoulder and saying: “This is Hopper. I’m at the Harrington residence and I need an ambulance ASAP.”

The response is garbled enough by the radio that Steve can’t catch it and he also doesn’t fully grasp why Hopper would need all that.

“I got a male, 18, buried under garden chairs,” Hopper answers the radio operator. “He isn’t fully here mentally and there is blood all around his head. I don’t know what the situation under the chairs is like.”

That sounds vaguely worrying to Steve and he hopes that whoever Hopper is talking about will be okay. He doesn’t like how worried Hopper sounds.

However, he isn’t sure how to make it better, because Hopper seemed mad a little bit ago and Steve doesn’t want to aggravate him more, plus staying awake is proving to be harder than he thought.

“Hop...” he only manages half the name, but that’s enough for Hopper to be hovering over him again.

“You okay, kid?” he asks.

Steve is scared for what he’s about to admit, but does it anyway. Maybe saying it will lessen the punishment that is sure to come. “I- I can’t stay awake. ‘M sorry.”

“Hey, hey, hey, no need for sorry,” Hopper says soothingly. A rough hand cups his cheek gently and he can’t help but lean into it, closing his eyes.

That action earns him a soft shake and Hopper saying: “Stay with me, Harrington. Come on. Eyes open.”

Steve blinks heavily, but his eyes open again.

“Oh thank god,” Hopper mutters more to himself.

They repeat this song and dance a few times more. However, it doesn’t last long and soon darkness takes over, the last thing Steve remembers is the sound of more boots coming into the shed then he’s gone.

When he blinks his eyes open again, he isn’t looking at the shed ceiling, instead a white ceiling is staring down at him.

Steve frowns in confusion for a second, before he realizes that the man Hopper was worried about was him, because he came to help Steve after he radioed with Dustin. It must have been worse than he realized if he’s in a hospital.

At least, he assumes it's a hospital, because the ceiling is white and he hears steady beeping coming from next to him.

He forces his head to move more, groaning at the action when it sends a dull ache through him. The sound causes something to his right to move and he realizes it’s Hopper, who has gotten up and is now leaning over him, brows furrowed.

“Chief?” Steve asks, because why would he still be here. Is he in trouble?

“It’s me, kid,” Hopper shushes him, carding a hand through his hair in a soothing manner. Okay, so maybe not in trouble, but that still doesn’t explain much.

Then Hopper is calling for a nurse and Steve is forced to answer all sort of questions that remind him of his stay here after Billy beat him up. Not a good sign. However, he feels more clearheaded now than in the shed, which is a comfort.

“What's the verdict, doc?” he asks when the doctor is done, trying to sound less scared than he is and probably unsuccessful.

“Good news, your concussion is minor,” the doctor says. “However, the head wound bled a lot. You passed out due blood loss, but we got your blood pressure back up with a transfusion. Your left leg has a minor fracture, but beyond that, you’re going to be just fine, Mr. Harrington.”

That’s quite a relief, but also way worse than Steve thought. He hadn’t even realized he hit his head that hard when he went down. He gets migraines after Billy and just assumed that was a cherry on top of this shitty cake.

“When will I be out of here?” Steve asks, instead of reacting.

“We want to keep an eye on you for a few days,” the doctor tells him. “Then we can release you into the care of someone. We’re trying to reach your parents so they can take you home.”

At that tidbit, Steve’s heart sinks. His parents aren’t here, maybe they’re even unreachable. That happens sometimes. God, it’s so embarrassing that Hopper now knows his parents are disappointed enough in him not to want to associate with him.

He tries not to let any of that show on his face, however, as he smiles: “Alright, thank you, doctor.”

The doctor nods, then leaves the room so it’s just him and Hopper again. Steve now also remembers not being able to listen to Hopper’s instructions, so he shrinks down on the bed and tries not to look Hopper in the eye as he waits for the dressing down he is sure to get.

It never comes.

Instead Hopper sits back down next to him and sighs: “I’m glad you’re okay, kid. Nearly gave me a heart attack when I found you like that.”

“Sorry,” Steve mumbles, feeling guilty that he got so many people involved in him being stupid. “I was trying to make the pool ready for summer. Thought I could carry more chairs than I could. It’s stupid, my dad will rip me a new one when he hears.”

Hopper’s hands tighten on the railing of the bed and Steve realizes that might be the wrong thing to say.

“He probably won’t be too mad,” he tries to backtrack. “I should’ve done it last month, it’s my own fault anyway. I knew I was late, so I was rushing before they came back.”

“Please, shut up,” Hopper grits and Steve clicks his mouth shut.

Hopper sighs and rubs the bridge of his nose while he takes a few deep breaths. “Your parents shouldn’t be mad about you being in the hospital, Steve. They should be here right now, worrying about you. You were out for five hours.”

Steve’s heart stops at the words. He isn’t sure if it’s about the concern Hopper is showing that his own parents never have, the fact that this is the first time Hopper has ever called him Steve or because he had been out for so long.

“Oh,” is all he manages to reply.

“I’m not mad at you for being here and it’s not your fault,” Hopper says. “It was an accident. I’m glad you managed to reach out to Dustin before you passed out. You could’ve died there.”

Steve flushes, remembering how long he debated about radioing Dustin. God, the other must be mad at him for turning his radio off like that.

“Is he okay?” he asks, suddenly feeling worried. “Dustin, I mean. Is he okay?”

Hopper gives him a fond smile that Steve isn’t used to and says: “Dustin is fine. He was worried out of his mind when you dropped off the line and has been sitting outside being worried for the last five hours, but other than that, totally fine.”

“He waited here?” Steve asks, shocked and needing to be sure. That is one of the nicest things someone has ever done for him.

“Yeah, he has,” Hopper answers. “Want me to let him in?”

“Please,” Steve requests

“Alright, kid, I’ll give you two a moment,” Hopper promises, before opening the door and leaving to get Dustin.

Dustin comes rushing into the room not even a second later, screaming: “Steve! You're awake.”

“I am, man,” Steve says, plastering on a grin the best he can, while Dustin climbs on his bed to hug him, all the jostling hurting more than he’ll ever tell the kid.

When Dustin pulls back there are tears in his eyes. “Don’t ever do that to me again, you idiot! You told me you were fine and then you disappeared from the radio and then Hopper calls my mom to tell us you’re in the hospital! The hospital, Steve. That’s the opposite from fine.”

“I’m sorry,” Steve says. “I didn’t even realize I hit my head, thought I had a migraine coming, nothing more. Thanks for calling Hopper.”

“Of course, I called Hopper,” Dustin replies, sounding affronted at the idea he wouldn’t. “You stopped saying over and were slurring your words.”

Steve doesn’t know how Dustin caught details like that. Unable to voice his gratitude, he pulls Dustin in for another hug. He whispers: “Thank you, you saved my life.”

“You’re welcome,” Dustin whispers back. “I’ll always come help. We’re brothers and you are part of the party. I thought you knew that. We have each other’s back.”

A lump of emotions forms in Steve’s throat as he hugs Dustin. He knows how protective they all are about the party title, to be included in that is an honor. “I won’t forget,” he promises.

“You better not,” Dustin mutters into his chest.

They sit like that for a long time as Steve mentally works through the day in his mind. Finally getting a chance process.

Apparently he had nearly died. He hit his head – again – and nearly died – again. Now he’s in the hospital and unless his parents can be contacted – which is unlikely – he’s stuck here. Hopper knows he might be here.

Beyond that, he’s going to be fine, just another concussion under his belt. Plus a broken leg, he can kiss basketball goodbye for the rest of the year.

College is also looking less and less likely.

However, Steve can’t bring himself to mind that much, because he’s part of the party, he’s Dustin’s brother. No one is mad at him and they came to help when he called, a novelty.

After a little bit, Dustin has to go home. Hopper takes him there and Steve expects to spend the night alone. He doesn’t like hospitals much, but he’ll have to deal. However, Hopper comes back and plants himself next to Steve’s bed in a manner that dares Steve to make a comment. Steve knows better than that.

They spend the next few days like that. Hopper has to work during the day, but at night he’ll sit next to Steve and make him feel less alone. He even brings El with him two times.

She’s an adorable girl. He hasn’t been around her much, since she often isn’t allowed outside, but he grows fond of her within minutes.

During the day, he isn’t lonely either with a parade of kids coming to check in with him, bring him shitty gifts and silly stories. They’re there from the second school gets out until visitation hours end and never complain about the uncomfortable chairs.

Mike brings with him school work he still needs to finish. Nancy had heard about what happened and collected his work. Steve honestly doesn’t care, though he does want to graduate, so he’ll have to.

Joyce also comes to bring him flowers once, which he never saw coming. She fusses over him and tells him to be careful, before she kisses the top of his head in a gentle manner that has him burrowing down to avoid her seeing his wet eyes.

And so the days creep by towards when he’s set to be released and there is no sign yet of his parents.

Steve has called their secretary about it, who informed him that his parents have extended their business trip to Europe into a vacation, since the weather in France is already so nice. They’re not taking any messages, but she’ll see what she can do.

He doesn’t put much stock in her words. He doesn’t really blame her either. His father is intimidating and he pays well and probably takes her to bed. It makes Steve sick, but he can do about as much as she can.

But his helplessness with his parents doesn’t stop his release date coming any closer and soon his doctor is signing his paperwork.

If he’s honest, Steve doesn’t really know what’s going on. He might not be a minor anymore, but they said he wasn’t getting out without someone being available to care for him. As far as he’s aware, his parents aren’t here. However, he doesn’t want to be here any longer than he has to, so he keeps his mouth shut.

Leaving the room on his crutches, he comes face to face with Hopper, who has his stuff in a bag over his shoulder. Steve doesn’t know if he’s surprised.

One the one hand, Hopper has been there with him the whole time, but that is probably because he felt shaken up after finding Steve bleeding on the ground. Taking him home and caring for him is a whole other ballpark, which is such a big ask that he could never expect that from Hopper.

He isn’t sure what Hopper sees on his face, because he sighs before he gruffly says: “Don’t make that face, Steve. I’m not letting you rot here.”

“You- you don’t have to,” Steve tells him tentatively, because yeah, he wants to get the hell away from here, but he doesn’t want Hopper to do something he doesn’t want to.

“I know, kid,” Hopper says, more gentle this time. Then, because neither of them feel like having this conversation, he claps his hands and turns to walk away. “Now let’s go, I promised El I’d be home for lunch and bringing your home. I don’t want to see her disappointed face if I don’t.”

Steve doesn’t want that either. For being isolated in her youth, El sure managed to nail the puppy eyes without trying. So, he hobbles after Hopper as fast as he can.

They drive to the cabin in silence. Steve has been told to stay of his feet as much as he can and it appears that El and Hop have taken this very seriously. When he gets to the cabin, there is a nest/soft throne made for him that El ushers him to.

“I will be your nurse,” she tells him very seriously, leaving before he can protest to grab their lunch from Hopper, who snorts softly at them.

Hopper explains to Steve that he will have to work, but that El will be here all day and to ask her if he needed anything. If there was trouble, they could radio him. He could stay there for as long as he wanted and he wasn’t a bother.

Steve kind of feels like a bother, but El makes it very difficult to keep that mindset. She sits next to him on the couch, obviously excited not to be alone all day and she doesn’t even have to get up if he needs anything.

By the time Hopper gets back from work, he has relaxed into the couch and is laughing along with the tellanovellas El seems to adore, explaining stuff to her she doesn’t get.

Over the eight weeks it takes him to recover, Steve feels better than he has ever done in his own home. He goes back to school, Hopper dropping him off each day without complaint. He also drives Steve back home, often accompanied by one or more of the other rugrats and them along with El, will hang out at the cabin.

Hopper is of little help when it comes to homework, but he doesn’t mind it when Steve gets frustrated or doesn’t get it, telling him to take it easy on his brain after rattling it again. It’s nice, someone caring like that.

The summer is coming closer, as is his graduation. Rejection letters are starting to pile up on a welcome mat he barely crosses anymore. He knows at some point he’ll have to face his parents and they won’t be happy with him, but for now he lets himself enjoy having a family.

#rr writing #stranger things #steve harrington #steve and dustin #dustin henderson #parental jim hopper #jim hopper #eleven hopper #the party stranger things #st the party #the party #hurt steve harrington #tw: injury #tw: hospital #tw: child neglect