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kaylawritesfics · 2 years

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Dating Steve Harrington and Being Dustin’s Sister

headcanons

summary: what it’s like to date everyone’s favorite babysitter as a henderson (lowkey enemies to friends to lovers)

WARNINGS: swearing, mentions of canon typical violence, probably some plot inconsistencies bc i don’t remember anything that happened in season two

pairing: steve harrington x fem!reader (henderson!reader)

a/n: i realized that i’ve never written for steve so i wanted to do some headcanons that actually got really out of hand and long but it’s okay !! <3 send in some st4 requests if you want :) i also just posted a few more headcanons for steve x henderson!reader here so check those out if you liked this one :))

*not proofread* *no spoilers for st4*

You met Steve during his “King Steve” phase.

The two of you went to school together, you being a year younger than Steve and much less popular, choosing to spend your time studying or hanging out with your little brother and his friends.

You were the original babysitter for the party, often getting stuck watching over them during your free time because of your closeness to Dustin, in particular.

However, you were also close with Nancy so of course Steve had been introduced to you while they were together.

Initially, you weren’t very fond of Steve. The two of you often butted heads while Nancy tried to play the peacemaker.

It didn’t help that you happened to be very close with Jonathan Byers, who Steve and his friends loved to torment relentlessly. You felt a lot of sympathy for Jonathan. Between getting bullied at school and his brother’s disappearance, he was going through a lot.

Your final straw with Steve was when he broke Jonathan’s camera. Even though Steve eventually apologized and Jonathan forgave him, you just couldn’t bring yourself to see past it.

In your mind, Steve Harrington was the biggest douchebag in Hawkins.

That is, until Billy Hargrove moved to town.

Dustin introduced you to Max, who you immediately took under your wing. Unfortunately, with Max came her older stepbrother, Billy.

You were sure that the one and only thing you and Steve Harrington would ever have in common was an utter hatred for Billy Hargrove.

However, your feelings for Steve began to change after things started to go weird again in Hawkins.

When Dustin’s new pet Demogorgon, who he affectionately named Dart, started to get out of hand, he insisted on calling his new favorite person.

Unfortunately for you, this person just so happened to be Steve Harrington.

Already upset by the death of your cat, Mews, you absolutely refused to spend any time with Steve Harrington no matter how much Dustin insisted that “he’s changed!”

Your protests didn’t matter much, however, and Dustin went behind your back, calling Steve anyway.

“What’s he doing here?” “What’s she doing here?” “I live here, doofus.”

Dustin swears he could cut the tension with a knife.

As your troubles with Dart turned into much larger problems, you had no choice but to work with Steve to make sure the party stayed safe.

You and Steve eventually grow pretty fond of each other, much to everyone else’s surprise.

“Did you two just have an ACTUAL conversation? Without insulting each other?” “Shut it, Henderson.”

Steve confides in you about his problems with Nancy. He tells you about her outbursts on Halloween, where she apparently called their relationship “bullshit.” You both agree it was pretty fucked up.

The two of you even fight Demodogs together, absolutely kicking ass much to Dustin’s enjoyment.

“That was so awesome oh my god my sister is so fucking cool you kicked their asses”

Max is the first one to become convinced that you two are in love with each other. Dustin and Lucas absolutely refuse to hear it.

“Look at how she looks at him!” “Please, last week she threw soda cans at him until he almost cried.”

Nancy is also incredibly confused when she finds the two of you seemingly getting along at the Byers house.

While everyone goes to do their respective job, you and Steve are put on babysitting duty again.

Your collective overprotectiveness and downright refusal to deal with their shit makes the kids start calling you “mom and dad”

For some reason, this makes Steve incredibly flustered.

Things take a turn when Billy shows up at the Byers house, pissed off and looking for Lucas and Max.

The rumble of a car pulling into the driveway pulled everyone away from the argument at hand. Headlights flashed through the window as the kids peered out. “Shit!” Max hissed, glancing nervously at Lucas. You briefly recognized the car from school and from Max’s reaction, you could tell it was Billy’s. “Stay here.” Steve’s eyes met yours, a stern look on his face as he looked first at you and then at each of the kids. You nodded, pulling the party away from the window with an anxious feeling in your stomach. You placed a hand on Max’s shoulder, trying your best to reassure her, “Hey, everything’s gonna be fine. Steve will make him go.” Mike and Dustin crouched down, peering nervously out the window. You couldn’t help your curiosity, crouching down beside them. As you peeled out the window, Billy’s eyes suddenly met yours. You couldn’t hear the words that came out of his mouth, however, you could see the disapproving glance from Steve. “Shit! Do you think he saw us?” You weren’t left wondering for long as heavy footsteps marched across the Byers’ front porch and the door furiously swung open.

That night, both you and Steve got your asses kicked by Billy Hargrove. You couldn’t remember much of the night, being knocked out for a good majority of it after jumping on Billy’s back to pull him away from Steve.

You woke to panicked yelling. Taking a minute to adjust to your surroundings, you felt the rough swerving of the car.

“Steve, you drive like a fucking maniac.” You slurred out, bringing your hand up to touch your head. You felt the sticky oozing of blood running down your forehead as you pulled your hands away.

“Oh, hey, sunshine. Listen, don’t panic. You and Steve got your asses royally handed to you. Let me put a bandaid on that for you. You tried! That’s all that matters! You guys will get him next time, don’t worry!”

As your vision became clearer, you recognized Dustin placing a small, pink bandage over the cut on your forehead. His voice was calm. Almost, too calm.

You felt pressure on your shoulder as you turned your head to look. Steve was sleeping on your shoulder, his face battered and bruised.

“Steve? Oh, God.” “Hey, don’t worry! He’s alright! He’s just passed out right now!” “No, no, no, no, who’s driving? Steve, wake up. Who’s driving!”

As you looked up at the drivers seat, you noticed a flash of red hair. You stomach dropped as you realized Max was driving as Lucas and Mike attempted to direct her.

“Oh my god. Steve, wake up.” You nudged him awake with your shoulder.

“Huh? What’s going on?” “Steve, Max is driving.” “OH MY GOD MAX IS DRIVING”

You eventually reached your destination relatively safely. You made a mental note to yell at the kids later and to also never, ever let Max drive.

While in the Upside Down, Steve stuck close by you. Of course, he wanted to make sure the kids were okay but you had a nasty cut on your forehead and were stumbling a bit. He had asked you to stay in the car, but you refused, insisting that you were okay. He makes a point to keep a close eye on you and stay close. He doesn’t know why he’s so worried but he tries to rationalize it as being concerned for his new friend.

After everything is said and done, Steve gives you a ride home. You’re both exhausted and injured, but he makes sure you’re okay. He even offers to spend the night watching movies with you if you’re too scared to sleep, but you refuse, sending him home.

Flash forward to the summer, you and Steve have become pretty good friends and you both find a job in the new Starcourt mall at an ice cream parlor.

When you first see Steve in his Scoops outfit, you can’t help but laugh.

“Aw, Steve, don’t be like that. You look adorable in your little sailor hat!” “Yeah, yeah, you have to wear it too, smartass.”

You convince yourself that the way his cheeks flare up at the word “adorable” is out of embarrassment and absolutely nothing else.

After everything was over, you and Steve arranged to have weekly movie nights with the party.

However, with Dustin gone to camp, Mike and El spending most of their time together, as well as Lucas and Max doing the same, it’s usually just you and Steve hanging out.

You can’t help but notice the way he sits stiffly with his leg brushing yours, almost as if he’s afraid to move any closer.

You and Steve also become pretty close to your coworker, Robin. With the kids busy, Robin becomes a new member for movie nights.

skipping forward because this is getting ridiculously long

Working with Robin, Steve, Dustin, and Lucas’ little sister, Erica, the five of you infiltrate a secret Russian lab below Starcourt mall.

You, Robin, and Steve somehow find yourselves kidnapped and drugged by evil Russians.

After escaping, the three of you are still pretty out of it. You somehow end up in the movie theater, watching Back To The Future.

After the movie, you and Steve find yourselves sitting on the bathroom floor, laughing about something you can’t quite recall.

“Wait, wait, wait. Listen, I have something so important to tell you.” “What?” You’re both giggling, barely able to make it through a sentence without busting out in laughter.

“I am so in love with you.” “What?”

Everything becomes much less funny. Steve is looking at you with the most intense look you’ve ever seen in his eyes.

It’s deathly quiet for a moment as you two look at each other.

Suddenly, you both break out into more laughter, clutching your stomachs and heaving over.

“God, you’re such an idiot.” You manage to get out between gasps for air.

“No, no, I’m being so serious.” Steve is laughing so hard his face is bright red and you genuinely think he’s going to pass out.

As the laughter dies out, the two of you sit silently on the floor. Occasional giggles are passed between you before the your mind suddenly becomes clearer and the weight of his words hit you.

“Steve, you’re literally on drugs, you don’t mean that.” You try to brush it off but somehow that only makes him laugh harder. He grabs your hand, looking at you while attempting to be serious.

“I have to tell you, now, or I’ll never be able to tell you.” He explains, referring to his drugged up state.

“Steve…” He leans in, gently brushing his lips against yours as if he’s testing you. When you don’t pull away, he presses his lips more firmly against yours, smiling through the kiss.

At the end of the night, after everything is over, the Mind Flayer is gone, and both Hopper and Billy are dead, Steve meets you in the back of an ambulance.

Having already been checked and cleared by the EMTs himself, he cautiously takes a seat next to you as you’re getting your wounds cleaned. He grabs your hand, interlocking your fingers almost nervously. When you look at him, he’s already looking over at you, a small smile on his face. You gently squeeze his hand, smiling back at him.

That night, Steve takes you home and, like he did the previous year, offers to spend the night with you. This time, you accept his offer, leading him inside.

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inklessletter · 1 year

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I don’t know if this makes any sense to you, but I’ve been having thoughts about Steve and Eddie, as characters, (I mean who am I kidding, they live rent free in my mind now) and I’ve noticed a conceptual parallel between both of them that I can’t unsee now.

I’ve read several analyses and opinions about how Eddie was created and inserted in the story as some sort of substitute for Steve because they needed his death for Dustin’s arch, but they didn’t really want to kill Steve because he’s one of the series’ icons now. This has been used in the show several times now, with Barb’s death, and Bob’s, and Billy’s, so I buy it (if I think that it’s a lazy resource to make your characters evolve or if it’s lacking originality when you do it four times now, is something I won’t approach here, ahem). It fucked me up because I rewatched the last season a couple times now and I see it. I can’t not see it anymore. I can see the conceptual similarities (the age, the fact that he’s some sort of outsider to the group, the reputation, Dustin’s undeniable affection and respect…) but there is a particular feature that I noticed recently that has broken me, because it’s so fucking meta.

Speaking in general terms of course, most people I know that have watched the show like Steve, but they didn’t like him in S1, which, understandable; the writing in S1 didn’t make it easy for the audience to stand by him. Steve’s got several characters against him (Barb is the sweet victim, Mike is a clear protagonist, Jonathan is the direct rival as a love interest for Nancy), and if those characters, that are written and shown to be reliable, you instantly believe them, that he’s King Steve, that he’s a jerk. He goes with Carol and Tommy that are straight up bullies, he makes questionable decisions about how to face certain situations (such as breaking Jonathan’s camera [that I know it’s controversial, but personally, I totally, totally get why he did it], the slut thing in the cinema board, the fist fight…) so yeah, it’s easy that you go along with the thinking that he’s sort of not worth it. But here’s the thing, Steve spends the whole season trying to make up for his mistakes, trying to fix what he broke. He buys Jonathan a brand new camera, he confronts and ditches his so-called friends and actually goes to apologize to Jonathan, and then to Nancy. So what we have here is what it is said about Steve vs. what Steve really does. Even at last, when he had the chance to run for his life, he came back to the house to do the right thing. Steve is a great guy, but he’s written for the audience not to think so.

They changed their minds in S2, apparently, when the writers made him more layered, more likable, and the audience lost their minds. He was absolutely loved now, a favorite. A sweetheart. A romantic tragedy. And they kept all those features in S3, but giving him tons of lines and screen time, and an iconic outfit, and making him the biggest ally in the whole show, and now you’re trapped because you love him.

But you see, loving him was a journey. The audience went from finding him kind of annoying, or straight not liking him to fall head over heels for Steve.

And the writers, bless their souls/fuck all of them, mimicked that affection journey in S4 with Eddie Munson, using Steve Harrington as a catalyst.

You see, Eddie has this very same dichotomy of what people think of him vs what he really does, the only difference here, the major one, is that the people who speak ill of him are not protected by the writing. So you, as a member of an audience, embrace the fact that what the whole town says about him is not true, and that he’s a good guy. They fast forward the whole process by setting Mike and Dustin by their side, that the whole Eddie tragedy is a simple wrong time, wrong place. I mean, there’s no way you can go wrong about judging Eddie’s character.

And here’s where it gets interesting.

Steve rejects the blind trust.

Steve doesn’t like him.

Steve listens to the rumors.

Steve calls him the freak.

But the season goes on and bless his soul he starts paying attention to what Eddie does, to who Eddie is, and ends up pretty easily rejecting what the whole town feels towards him. Because he sees him now.

Because he’s been there.

It is such a wholesome phenomenon when you realize that Steve, who at first was reluctant to find him, gets protective of him, out of mere empathy. He never gets angry at him, or mistreats him in any way; if so, he brings him beer and cigarettes, he worries about him leaving Skull Rock since all Hawkins is after his ass now.

He cares.

And god, he even thanks him at the Upside Down woods. He doesn’t thank Nancy, or Robin. He thanks Eddie, because he knew that back in the boat, Eddie didn’t have to jump into the water for him, the same way he didn’t have to go back to the Byers’ house once he saw the Christmas lights violently flickering, because in any way that was his business.

So he thanks Eddie, probably because Steve thinks that it would have been nice that someone actually thanked him to save Nancy and Jonathan’s asses instead of getting a relationship out of pity that ended up with him dumped a year later and a bunch of issues.

The season goes on and they talk it out, they both admit having believed what people said of them, but now that they know each other, they can actually see how wrong they were. They make a fresh start, and the story seems to get to the right point, the way it should have been between them if it weren’t for the absurd jealousy pretext.

Now they both align with how the audience is feeling.

So, you see the parallelism here. Steve’s behavior towards Eddie was a straight up reflection of the emotional journey the audience had towards Steve.

And this probably wasn’t intentional, since the writers didn’t know for sure how much love and admiration Eddie was gonna get before s4 was released, but the fun part here is that it is quite difficult to find someone who loves Eddie Munson that hasn’t loved Steve Harrington before. The process of falling for those two is exactly the same, and most fans probably are not aware that they have gone through the same emotional journey twice. And it makes sense, because it is familiar. But whether or not you are aware of this, after they enter the Upside Down, Eddie and Steve are linked together, and that you know, even if you really don’t know why. They are impossible to untangle.

So yeah, absolutely, beyond the screen time together and the undeniably flirty behaviors, their chemistry, their journey and their young history, steddie makes sense.

So, when they make Steve a vulnerable mess, expressing that his only wish as a character is to love and be loved in return, and have a future, they go and kill Eddie. And it’s heartbreaking, because he’s a character with orphan needs and desires, and he didn’t even get the chance to fight for himself, and no, I don’t mean the demobats.

And in a deep part of our brains we fear for Steve, because they’re in an unfinished war, and Eddie’s fate could easily be Steve’s in s5.

But you see, what is absolutely mindblowing about this fandom is the fact that here is where they picked up and made something incredible. For months we have been rewriting, consuming and creating thousands of universes in which Eddie gets what he deserves, that is, a happy ending, not only that he lives, but that he ends up being happy.

If this is too much of a projection about the fear of Steve getting killed in s5, that I don’t know; what I know is that I’m not at all worried.

I know we can make it better.

#stranger things #steddie #steve harrington #eddie munson #headcanon #st headcanons #steve harrington headcanon #steve x eddie #eddie x steve #the writing is great and bad and i don't know how i feel #headcanons #i'm sorry #steve harrinton analysis #eddie munson analysis

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bellaramseystan · 9 months

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Billy Hargrove is a bad person.

I’m sick and tired of listening to people defend him because of his bad home life. I see people mischaracterize billy constantly, they make him out to be this poor abuse victim who only wanted to protect his sister, when that absolute bull shit. Billy stans/defenders blatantly ignore everything that he’s done and sum it up to billy not having support. You wanna know characters that have been abused and never had support? Look at fucking Jonathan! He always took care of his family and never lashed out at them.

he referred to women as cows and bitches, he verbally, emotionally, and sometimes physically abused max (who grew up in the same environment as billy and didn’t turn out to be a piece of shit.) He’s racist, and before someone decides to reblog this and say that he was concerned for Max’s safety, he didn’t give two shits when max went missing for multiple hours nor did he care when he tried to run over literal children.

he literally grabbed Lucas and slammed him into a wall, ignoring Steve and the other kids and targeted him specifically, this is a perfect example of racial motivation. He only cared about Steve being there when he protected Lucas from him. Billy literally tried to kill Steve and almost beat him to death. He wouldn’t stop even after Steve was unconscious. Billy would’ve killed Steve, had max not drug him.

people bring up the fact that he sacrificed himself for el and saved the party when the mind flayer attacked. This, and I cannot stress this enough, is not a redemption. He did one thing, one good thing in this entire show, and he’s suddenly the best character. “He apologized to max” for what? He never apologized after years of abuse and control, nor did he apologize to Lucas for attacking him, he didn’t apologize to Steve for almost killing him. People say that Billy’s abuse “wasn’t even that bad” but in S4 we hear exactly from max that his treatment was so horrible that she wanted him dead.

billy defenders will bring up, his backstory flashback, but in that same scene we see him beating a kid up and calling him a pussy. I’m not saying that Billy deserved to be abused, I’m saying that he had no right to hurt others the way he did. I’m also not “comparing abuse victims” When I bring up Jonathan, I’m giving an example that billy chose to be a piece of shit. Most people defend him because of pretty privilege, as long as someone’s hot and has a sad past, every horrible thing they’ve ever done is suddenly erased and/or excused.

billy has no excuse. billy is a bad person.

#anti billy hargrove #fuck billy hargrove #long rant #max Mayfield #lucas sinclair #jonathan byers

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prettybillycore · 2 years

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You’re Gorgeous, Doll || Billy Hargrove x Reader

Pairing(s): Billy Hargrove x Plus Size!Wheeler!Reader; Minor Jonathan Byers x Nancy Wheeler

Universe: Stranger Things

Summary: Billy didn’t understand why you wouldn’t come to visit him at the pool so eventually, you agreed to go after some convincing from Nancy. The problem came from someone who you didn’t expect to be there; your mother. Billy sees her making you feel guilty about your weight, so he does the absolute most to shut down her fat shaming.

Rating: Teen

Word Count: 6.0k

Warnings: Fat Shaming, Body Confidence Issues, Possessive!Billy, Major Karen Wheeler Slander, Headcanon that Mrs. Wheeler has disordered eating. Minor Jonathan Slander if you squint.

A/N: the reader is gender neutral (neutral nicknames, outfits, pronouns, etc), the only thing that is not gender neutral is the style of bathing suit they wear later in the story. Mrs. Wheeler also treats the reader similarly to Nancy. I did my best to keep it gender-neutral tho!

Read it on A03 or here on Tumblr below the cut

Billy Hargrove was still learning how to be a good boyfriend. You appreciated all of his efforts to become a better person in general, but he definitely still had a ways to go. He loved you dearly, but he couldn’t always understand your insecurities. He wanted so badly to understand, but he would often become frustrated and not know what to say when you let your insecurities get the best of you. He saw you as one of the most beautiful people in the world and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t understand why you saw yourself as anything less. He would make a ‘tsk’ sound with his tongue and sigh when you would bring up anything about your weight insecurity. It’s not that he didn’t care, it’s that he could not, for the life of him, figure out why you were so sensitive about your weight. You knew the reason though, but you were afraid to tell him.

You were Y/n Wheeler. You were born a year after your older sister Nancy, which also made you one year younger than Billy. Your sister had a few classes with Billy before you all got out for the summer and she did her best to treat him with kindness. She didn’t understand what you saw in him, but she respected your choices. Billy also did his best to be nice to her and (much more reluctantly) Steve and Jonathan. You loved your sister with your whole heart. You two had always been close. You taught Mike how to be a Dungeon Master and you were like the older sister of the whole party at this point. You were not super popular in school, but you had a good group of friends + Billy to keep you company. The only person in your life who you felt like was against you was your mother, Karen Wheeler.

You knew that she was the reason, deep down, for your insecurities about your appearance. Of course, over the years at school people had made comments about your weight, but between Nancy, Steve, and Billy, people your age had pretty much stopped bullying you entirely. None of them, of course, could stop your mother. Billy and Steve had no idea what your mother had been saying to you. Nancy knew, you two had grown up together, but she didn’t know how to stop your mother. She tried to step in, but your mother was never receptive to what she had to say. You appreciated the effort, but your mother’s words were getting to the point that you were starting to really question if you were good enough for Billy.

You would bring up the ladder to your boyfriend and he would just roll his eyes. “If you weren’t good enough for me, Sweetheart, I wouldn’t be dating you, simple. I think you’re the most perfect person in the world, so we’re dating. Don’t overthink it, just run away with me when we graduate, yeah? We’ll get married at a courthouse and buy a little place in California, somewhere on the water. We can bring whoever else wants to come, if it’ll make you happy.”

You would toss him a small smile and do your best to hide the tears that were welling up in your eyes. You would softly plunge your face into his chest when you realized you weren’t going to be able to stop yourself from crying. He would let out a deep sigh and close his eyes in frustration. Even so, he would still hug you back tightly and let you cry it out. His head would be resting on top of yours and his arms would keep you locked in place until he could feel your heart rate calm down. He knew that he had to be missing something. This insecurity ran deep. You had helped in through so many of the insecurities that Neil had caused him. He wondered why you weren’t comfortable enough to tell him who was causing you all this distress. He knew it was still happening, so he suspected someone in your family, but he couldn’t place who. The bullies of your past, Tommy and Jason, left you completely alone now, hell, they wouldn’t even look in your direction. He doubted your sister or little brother were causing you this much anguish, but he couldn’t decipher which of your parents would be saying hurtful things about your appearance to you.

He eventually would pull away from the hug and rest one of his hands on your cheek. “If someone is being mean to you, you’d tell me right?”

You nodded. Your face was flushed and your eyes just looked so heavy. He could feel the defeat in your body and it absolutely broke his heart. “Yeah.”

He stepped back again and sat down on your bed. He would gesture for you to sit on his lap and you would always hesitate. He would gesture again, “You’re not gonna break me, Doll.”

You would give in and straddle his waist, balancing yourself by wrapping your arms around his shoulders and putting your knees firmly on the bed. “I just get nervous that I’m gonna crush you.”

He chuckled. He knows that you’re serious, but he does his best to lighten the weight in your heart. “Sweetheart, I love every part of you. From your lips, to your stomach, to your hands, to your gorgeous, gorgeous thighs.” The palms of his hands were flat against your bear skin. Your shorts rode up when you sat down, leaving your thighs defenseless to his touch. He ran his hands up and down your skin. You leaned your forehead against his to keep yourself steady.

“Billy…” You mumbled. It basically just fell out of your mouth.

You were so close, that you could see the mix of lust, love, and adoration in his eyes. One of his hands stayed on your thigh, the other cupped your face. Your breath hitched. He sucked in a breath and you could basically see his eyes rolling into the back of his head. “You are literally a god(dess). My god(dess).”

He pulled your lips to his and your thoughts started to fuzzy. Your hands started to pull at the hair at the base of his neck. “I love you, Billy.” It was a whisper between kisses.

He smiled into your kiss, though you could tell he was doing his best to hold back a groan. “I love you too, Y/n. You are my home.”

| < ♥️ > |

Billy did everything he could to give you the world and raise your confidence, but something your mom did/said would always ruin it. She would bring you back from the high that Billy gave you and make you feel like you were a little kid again. A little kid who had no say in anything again. She counted her calories the best she could for every meal, and she taught Nancy and you to do the same thing. She never tried to teach Mike; he was a boy and got to eat almost anything he wanted to ‘grow big and strong.’ You and Nancy were forced to follow your mother’s ways in your pre-teen and early teen years. Nancy was doing her best to get away from it, as were. You just had a different genetic makeup, and different medications, and your body just had a different shape than your sister and mother. Nancy never made you feel bad about that. She would offer to do your makeup and would go clothes shopping with you if you needed moral support. She had even gotten Steve and/or Jonathan to join in on it a few times. The first time she started to see good in Billy is when you dragged him shopping with you two. He treated you like royalty the entire time and Nancy was happy that you had a partner who lifted you up; since you still had a mom that carried you down.

Since you started dating Billy, you were getting more confident. It was the little things– wearing one of his shirts to school as a tight crop top with a jacket over it, wearing colors of eye shadow your mother said brought out the roundness of your face, and letting yourself enjoy lunch periods again. Billy had his hand pressed against the small of your back, skin completely exposed by his shirt and his eyes, again full of love and lust at how beautiful he thought you looked. However, not even he could get you to wear a swimsuit. You two hadn’t seen each other stripped that far down yet because you weren’t there yet, and he respected that entirely. He had one problem though; you refused to come to visit him at the pool for longer than a few minutes. Your family was at the Hawkins pool all the time this summer. He saw your little brother and your mother all the time there. Your sister even was there with some of your other friends sometimes. Billy asked Nancy why you didn’t come, in a joking manner, of course. He thought you were just coming in your own car or something. Nancy’s response made him more annoyed and confused though. “They’re not coming. They don’t do pools.”

Every time you stopped by the pool, you were fully clothed and sat with Billy in the office while he was on his lunch breaks. He was completely respectful of the fact that you weren’t ready to have sex, but he was dying to spend more time with you this summer. He was missing you terribly now that he had this job. If you brought all the little shitheads to the pool a few times a week he would be able to spend more time with you; plus he thought you would look so cute in a swimsuit; hair slicked back while playing Marco polo with the party. He wanted to see it so badly, but every time he asked about you bringing the party to the pool for the day, you would just shake your head and change the subject.

One day, when Nancy was there with Jonathan and a few other friends, Billy approached them when it was his turn to head out onto the pool deck. Heather eyed him curiously as she made her way inside, but she didn’t say anything. “Wheeler,” he called.

Nancy quirked her eyebrow at the young lifeguard. Jonathan scooted a little closer to her on their shared beach chair, which didn’t go unnoticed by Billy. Though, he chose to ignore the older Byers brother, whatever he was thinking wasn’t of importance to Billy right now. “What can I do for you, Hargrove?”

“I think you know,” he said with a slick smile. Though it soon faded when Nancy shook her head.

“She’s not gonna come here Billy, not in a suit. Probably not even with a T-shirt over one.”

Billy grumbled and swayed a bit. “Do you know why? I thought their confidence was getting better. I want them to be able to enjoy the one summer activity this shitty town has to offer– plus I’m missing them like hell right now.”

Nancy smiled at him and Jonathan watched the interaction with a puzzled expression. “I will try to convince them to come. Are you working tomorrow?”

He nodded. “Yeah, I’m on all afternoon.”

“I can’t guarantee that they will bend, but I will try. I’m in charge of giving the party something to do tomorrow and I told them we were going to come here. They haven’t come much this summer because they’re all kinda nerdy and the indoorsy types. Us older siblings are trying to get them all to go out more,” she said, briefly turning her attention to Jonathan.

“I appreciate it Nanc, really. And like, I don’t want them to feel super pressured. I would just like if they stay for a while, even if they decide they aren’t ready to swim, just be here while I’m trapped here.”

Nancy’s smile grew wider. “I never expected you to be so good for them, Billy, but I am really glad that you are. You help them more than you realize, I think.”

Billy felt his heart soften. “I know that people in this day and age can be really shitty to each other about their looks. I see Y/n for who they are on the inside; a fucking angel really and they have the looks to match. I’ve never been able to figure out who the fuck made them feel so shit for their weight, but if I figure it out, I will kick their ass.”

Nancy could see his jaw lock. He was staring toward the ground as he spoke. She knew it was a lot for him to be genuine with someone other than you. “You really are doing so much more for them than you realize, I’ll talk to them about it tonight.”

“Thank you, Wheeler. Have a good day here at the pool.” He gave Jonathan a bit of a stare down. He didn’t know what it was, but there was something that Billy didn’t like about Jonathan. He did his best to be nice to him for your sake though. “You too, Byers.”

| < ♥️ > |

Nancy was nervous to talk to you, but she thought you might come if she expressed to you what Billy had said. She knew that you sometimes wondered, out of insecurity– not out of reason, if you were good enough for Billy. She knew that you questioned if you were worth Billy Hargrove’s time. She also knew though, that Billy was completely in love with you and she just had to figure out how to make you see that for certain. She knocked on your door after she arrived home from the pool and changed into some dry clothes. “Come in– oh hey Nanc! How was your day?”

She tossed you a smile, but you could sense her nerves as she shut the door. You shut the book you were reading and pulled off your headphones. You had been listening to a mixtape in your walkman and vibing by yourself for the evening. There were way fewer family dinners during the summertime because everyone’s schedules were so different and you both were honestly thankful for that. “I had a great day. You know everything has been so stressful and all; it was nice to just go to the pool and relax. In fact, I’m taking all the kids tomorrow for a pool day. You should join us.” You went to say something, but she put her hand up. “Wait wait wait, before you say no. I wanna tell you what Billy said today when Jonathan and I were out there.”

“Alright?”

“Have you ever told him about mom?”

“About mom?” you asked.

Nancy gave you that look. “You know what I’m talking about.” She sat at the edge of your bed. She was staring at you. It felt like she was trying to stare through your soul.

“The things she says about my body? About food? About my clothes? No, I haven’t. It’s not that I won’t tell him or anything, it’s just that I’m nervous too. He’s receptive to me being insecure about things, but I think it annoys him or makes him anxious when I talk about it too much. Like he sees me a certain way and can’t see why I don’t see myself that way. I know it’s partly because I haven’t told him about mom, but I also just think he wants the change in mindset to happen quicker than I am capable of.”

“He doesn’t want to push you, Y/n, trust me. Neither do I. You don’t have to talk to him about any of that if you aren’t ready. I just–”

“Then what is this about?” Your tone was a little snappy, but Nancy ignored it. She knew it was because you were getting anxious.

“Billy is totally head over heels in love with you, Y/n, just the way you are. I didn’t understand what you saw in him when you first introduced him to the family, but I really think I understand now. He’s still an asshole, but he’s learning and he thinks the world of you. I know your brain sometimes gets in the way of you seeing that, but trust me, as your sister I want what’s best for you, and Billy Hargrove, shockingly, seems to be just that.” You furrowed your eyebrows and she continued to speak. “You remember that bathing suit we bought you last fall when they were all on sale because they were going out of season?”

“Yeah, the teal one with the side cutouts?”

“Yeah, that one! You should come with me and the party to the pool tomorrow and wear it. Before you say no, I promised Billy I would ask you to come. He came up to me today and basically begged me to get you to come to the pool with us. He’s missing you a lot since he started his job. You know everything that happened with the mall; we almost lost the Byers family, we almost lost him, and Steve and Robin! He just wishes he could spend more time with you and I’m sure now that he’s pretty much back to healed his dad is making him work. I think he’s still feeling the effects of that near-death experience, you know? He said that he wished you could enjoy the pool as we do in the summer. He also said he didn’t care if you just decided to wear normal clothes and sat on the deck with me all day. He just wants to see you.”

You felt your heart swell. You weren’t going to cry at that moment, but you could totally see yourself crying later when it was time to head to bed and Nancy was gone. Billy was brash, stern, and easily annoyed, but the fact that he shared how he was feeling with Nancy told you that this meant a lot to him. He genuinely was missing you and wanted to spend a day at the pool so he could see you more. The thought was precious to you. You were incredibly nervous about going to the pool because you knew that there was a chance that your mom was going to show up at some point (as she and the other local moms often just appeared there in the later afternoons), but you pushed that feeling down deep. You did your best to shove it inside the deepest cavity of your chest and lock it in there. “Alright, Nancy. I’ll go with you and the party tomorrow. I’m not sure I’ll wear a suit, but I’ll go to the pool.”

She smiled brightly and threw her arms around you in a tight, lopsided hug. “I’m so glad you’re gonna come with us! Wear whatever you are gonna be most comfortable in, Y/n. I’m sure Billy will just be happy to see you there.”

| < ♥️ > |

You woke up the next more to your stomach being tied in a knot. You knew it was from your nerves, but shit, you didn’t expect it to be as bad as it was. You ended up staying in your room for the most part until the early afternoon so you could give yourself a chance to relax before going to the pool. Nancy didn’t bother you, and shockingly neither did your mother. Nancy only knocked on your door about 30 minutes before you were supposed to leave so she could make sure you knew it was time to get ready.

You pulled yourself from your cocoon of blankets and reached into the darkest part of your closet. You felt the bathing suit material squish in your hand and you almost grimaced. It was crumpled up for almost a year, but it looked perfectly fine when you pulled it out. It was the beautiful shade of teal that you remembered it to be. The cutouts on each side ran from under bust height down to the curve of your hips. They were broken up by bathing suit strings that crossed over the gaps. It was so cute, but you were absolutely terrified.

You took a deep breath before putting it on. It fit you perfectly. You looked in your bathroom mirror and you were honestly surprised by how much you liked the shape on your figure. It made you feel confident in the shape of your different body parts; much like Billy, it made your parts feel like they were meant to make up the whole you. You took another deep breath before deciding to pull an oversized men’s romantics shirt over your head. Billy always seemed to like it on you. It was one of the few shirts that you felt confident in. It was missing the top part of the collar ( you had cut it out a long time ago) so it showed a little more skin than the average T-shirt, but it also was loose around your hips. It looked super cute, in your opinion, with a pair of denim shorts pulled under it. You pulled your favorite pair of shorts on to finish off your bathing suit cover-up look and you checked yourself in the mirror one more time. Your hair was resting a little wildly today, but you decided not to worry about it too much; you were going to the pool after all. The shorts were just barely peaking out from under the bottom hem of the shirt and you felt pretty good about yourself. You weren’t sure if you would have the confidence to take off this overlayer, but you knew that would be okay. You were just excited to surprise visit your boyfriend and spend some time with the collective of younger teens that you inherited from Steve while he was working at Scoops Ahoy.

Nancy and the party were all excited when you came down the stairs. Dustin and Max seemed the most excited out of all of them though. Dustin had become a fan of you because of your amazing DMing skills, but as he got older, he’s just become such a sweetheart. When he started high school you were 100% going to have Billy help you look out for him. Asshats like Jason and Tommy would surely try to target him.

Max and you had a special bond. She told you once, prior to the incident at the mall, that she thought of you as an older sister. You knew her and Billy had issues; you accidentally became a mediator for the siblings pretty soon into your relationship. Things had gotten a lot more stable since Billy returned home from the hospital, between your help and the discovery of monsters, he seemed pretty keen on turning his life around. Max was grateful that you were helping him become a better person. You both knew Neil wouldn’t let him receive the therapy he needed. This was the best you could do for now.

She ran up and gave you a hug. It had been a while since you had seen her. You were both healed from your injuries at this point and you thought she looked fantastic for everything you all had been through. The whole party, even Will and El, seemed to be looking bright today. “Damn, you’re all really excited about the pool, huh?”

Some of them nodded, and some of them shrugged. “I think we’re excited to play pool games with you and Nancy like we did when we were kids.”

Dustin’s comment made you actually kind of want to get into the pool if you were honest with yourself. “Well, we can’t play games here. Everyone pick a car; Jonathan’s or mine and we’ll get going!”

| < ♥️ > |

It was a struggle trying to get everyone into two cars, but you all managed to make it work for the short ride to Hawkins Pool. You were filling up with anxiety as everyone made their way toward either the locker rooms or the pool deck. It was getting close to time. “Well if it isn’t the love of my life.”

Billy approached you from the locker room exit. His expression alerted you that he was excited to see you and also surprised. His eyes trailed up and down your figure before he placed his hands on your hips and leaned in for a kiss. “So Nancy was able to convince you, huh Doll?”

You wrapped your arms around his neck and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Well, it was actually what you told her yesterday that made me want to come. I miss you too Billy. I never thought I would say this, but fuck I miss school. I can’t wait until we are back and I’m with you for every second I can be.”

His face was plastered with a grin. He placed a deep kiss on your lips; it was so passionate it was almost bruising. His fingers were playing with the bathing suit strings of your suit through the fabric of your shirt. “Doll, I am so glad you are here. Just you being here makes this place a thousand times better. Why don’t you join Nancy, Byers, and the rugrats in the pool and I’ll get you out when I have my lunch break.”

You sighed and thought about it for a moment. You looked over Billy’s shoulder and saw your sister, her boyfriend, and all of the party playing toward the entrance to the pool. They were splashing each other and laughing. It was scary, but you would be in the water most of the time today anyway, you might as well hop in and have some fun since everyone you came with had gotten in. It was pretty blistering out just to sit on the sidelines. You eventually nodded to him and kissed his nose. He blinked in surprise, which he did every time you kissed his nose, and you giggled. You stepped out of his grasp and pulled the romantics' shirt over your head. When your eyes met Billy’s again, he’s flicking his tongue and shaking his head. “What?”

He set his hands on your hips again and pulled you even closer than he had before. “You are so so hot. You’re gorgeous, Doll. I mean it.”

You pulled back enough that you could see his face. You could see it in his expression, Nancy was right; he was completely enamored with you; stretchmarks, cellulite, rolls, and all.

You didn’t understand it. You couldn’t see past all the things your mother had picked on you for, but somehow it went right through for Billy. “When we first met, did you think the same thing?”

Billy’s face became confused. When you first met Billy, it was his first day at Hawkins High. Some of the girls in your grade were laughing at your appearance as you were walking by them in the hall. Billy heard what one of them said as he was walking in the same direction as you. You had heard them too, but you had decided to ignore them. Billy wasn’t sure why, but he was incredibly bothered by the comment. Your eyes briefly met and he could see your sadness even though you didn’t say anything. It wasn’t usually like him, at the time, to protect people he didn’t know. He kept his circle big, but everyone in his circle was at an arm’s length. “Hey!” he barked. The girls all jumped out of their skin and your head snapped to look toward him. He could feel all eyes on him. He realized, in that moment, that you were considered one of the school’s punching bags and he wanted to change that. “Leave them alone. Focus on your fuckin’ selves before you go commenting on other people’s shit.” The words were vile; they came out of his throat with the burn of venom. The girls all shrank and quickly began moving in the other direction. They were whispering about how he was a dick, but he didn’t care. He looked toward you.

Your eyes were alight with fear and wonder. He’ll never forget how you looked that day; flared blue jeans, a metallic shirt– tucked in, combat boots, and men’s flannel hung loosely around your shoulders. Your ears were pierced and you were wearing some kind of all-black necklace. He could tell you were heavier, but he thought you looked adorable nonetheless. Your weight never stopped him from thinking you were just about the cutest person he had ever seen. “Uh… thanks-”

“Billy, Billy Hargrove.”

“Thanks, Billy Hargrove.”

“No problem, Doll. I’ll walk you to class if you’d like. I don’t really give a shit if I’m late to mine.”

You smiled a bit. His heart almost melted entirely on the spot. “That would be nice.”

“Darlin’,” he said, his tone almost scolding. His hands were on your cheeks, “Never question how I feel about you. I have had my eyes on you since that day and nothing anyone says is gonna change that. When I say I think you’re gorgeous, Doll, I really do mean it with everything I’ve got.”

You folded into his chest. Your arms squeezed him tightly around his middle. His hands found their place on the back of your head and on your lower back. He gave you a tight squeeze in return. “I love you so much, Billy. You make me feel so much better about myself and if my opinion matters at all. You are the hottest man I’ve ever seen and I feel incredibly lucky to call you my boyfriend.”

It was all said in a mumble against his chest, but he heard every word. Each one vibrated his skin slightly and honestly, it was the first time he ever felt like happy crying. He pulled air through his nose harshly and smiled down at you as he backed out of the hug. “I love you too, Sweetheart. I have to get to my post before Heather comes for my ass, but we will talk about this later.”

“Sounds like a plan, I’ll see you on your lunch break.” He planted one last kiss on your lips before turning away from you.

What neither of you saw coming was what happened next. Billy only made it around the corner before he heard your mother’s stern voice. Every word made him cringe. “Y/n Wheeler! Put that shirt back on. You don’t need to just be in a bathing suit. There’s too much showing. You can swim with that shirt on; it’s old and unbecoming anyways.”

You spun around to face her, your skin was hot and you felt like you were crumbling under her gaze. Her friends were whispering to each other while she was staring at you sternly. Her hands were resting on her hips as she and all of her friends were wearing just bathing suits. Of course, they all had similar figures though. Their figures matched their fatphobic ideals. “Mom please–” Your voice came out smaller than expected. It cracked under the pressure.

“No ‘mom-ing’ me. You can’t just walk around like that. You have too much weight on your bones for that. Where did you even get that suit? It’s hideous.” she paused for a moment. You knew she wanted you to put the shirt back on so the conversation could be over with, but you were completely frozen and mortified. Some of the other patrons at the pool were starting to notice the situation.

“I–”

“Don’t argue now, I am your mother.”

That was the moment Billy snapped. He came flying back around the corner and placed his arm around your middle. He rested it on your hip and basically lodged himself into your side. He wanted you to know that he was right there and he was not going to back down from this situation. He had always been civil with your mother, even through her attempts to flirt with him. This he could not be civil about, he just knew that this is what you had been hiding. Mrs. Wheeler wanted people to like her and if she had known that Billy was in earshot, he doubted that she would have said anything at all out loud. “Suddenly, the self-loathing makes sense,” he started. He was staring down your mother. You were watching his face from beside him. You could see the pain and anger in his expression. “All the time Y/n asks for reassurance, and now I finally understand why. You say shit like that all the time, don’t you Mrs. Wheeler?”

“Billy. I didn’t see you th–”

“No, you didn’t. I was on the way back to my post when I heard you harassing my Y/n. I am not going to let you talk to other guests of the pool like that, especially your own kids. You need to take a big fucking look at yourself, Mrs. Wheeler. How could you put your child down like that? I constantly have to remind Y/n that they are worthy of love and attention, despite their looks of all things, and now I know it’s because of how you treat them. Don’t try to force your kids to look or dress a certain way; you’re not going to get your way, you’re just going to make them less confident in their appearance. I will tell them every day that they are beautiful if it means eventually they will start to believe it. Jonathan does the same sort of thing for Nancy. Fuck, I will spend the rest of my life trying to convince Y/n that they are gorgeous as I see them, but Y/n, Nancy, Jonathan, and I should not be responsible for undoing years of trauma, the trauma that is completely on you, by the way, if you couldn’t tell by the anger in my voice.”

Your mother was completely stunned and so were her friends. Billy Hargrove had put your mom in her place, something no one had ever done for you. You knew that she had to be pissed, but you really didn’t care. Billy just made you feel so loved at that moment that nothing else really mattered to you. “I… I had no idea that–”

“Bullshit,” Billy didn’t let her finish her thought. “All of you, out of my pool. Hawkins Pool is a safe place, and you aren’t allowed to be in it when you talk to your kids like that.”

You looked toward your mom. She looked like she wanted to fire back, but one of her friends placed a hand on her shoulder and told her to give it up. They all liked Billy, they were going to fight with him about being banned from the people. They knew if Karen kept trying she was going to get them banned for life. “I… I don’t– thank you, Billy.”

He kissed your temple though you could tell his attention was still focused on making sure your mother left the pool grounds. “Doll, if she ever says anything like that again, you tell me and we will share plenty more words that she won’t like.”

You smiled up at him. “You really are in love with me, aren’t you?”

He rolled his eyes and grabbed your chin. “Again, Doll, never doubt my feelings for you.”

End :)

Tags: @whoringrove @thatonegirlwhowrites @alexis-m-kruger @mothshabby

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findafight · 8 months

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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loveronlineee · 2 years

Text

Stranger Things Season 4 Volume 2 spoilers.

At first it was denial.

I saw the signs. I saw how he said Never change Dustin Henderson. I saw him say again and again that he’s no hero. I saw him go back to give the others more time. I watched as he lay so close to gone with Dustin holding him and I still didn’t believe it.

Then it was shock.

How the time skip happened and everyone was safely back, out of the upside down. No mention of Eddie from anyone, until Dustin.

Then it changed again, going back and forth between heart wrenching mourning and white hot anger.

I am upset. The kind of upset where your feelings overcome your body and you can’t even stand, your knees giving in beneath you. Crying on the floor. Watching the tears fall onto the ground, inches from your face.

I am upset. The kind of upset where you can’t even hold back the fury. Where nothing will calm you down and you’re shaking and tense, and you just have to feel that feeling with every fibre of your being until it turns back into tears.

I convinced myself that Eddie wasn’t going to die. I read posts saying that Eddie and Jonathan were gonna have scenes next season, they put forward the point that Why would there be so much promotion for a character that wouldn’t even be in the next season?

I couldn’t even enjoy the rest of the episode after that. I couldn’t be excited about Robin and Vickie. I didn’t feel anything when Hopper and Joyce reunited with their kids. I didn’t care that Hawkins was in trouble. Nothing else mattered after that. I felt numb.

Thank you Joe Quinn. For bringing alive a character that I love more than any other I ever have. No other is even close. And fuck you Duffer brothers for absolutely ruining him.

I’m only half serious, because I understand that when you make something and people love it, you’re terrified that one day you’ll fuck it up and all those supporters will turn on you. I know that the Duffers originally didn’t want Eddie to be that likeable, since they planned on killing him. But they didn’t change what they planned even after casting Joe.

And I think what makes me the most angry is that his death wasn’t even a good death.

No one mourned for him. There was no funeral. We don’t even know that much about what happened after. We can assume that they just left his body there, to rot in the upside down. Alone. Forever.

He never got to meet Will. He would have loved him. He would have taken him under his wing and protected him and become a second older brother. He never got to meet El and see her awesome powers in action. He never got to meet Hopper, or Joyce, or Murray or Argyle or Holly or any of the parents or anyone else.

I wanted to see him become part of the group. I wanted to see him interact with the others. What would Hopper have said after taking one look at him? It would’ve made me laugh whatever it would’ve been. I wonder what Eddie would’ve thought of Dustin’s girlfriend Suzie. Did he even know that this girl with superpowers was Mike’s girlfriend???

His name was never redeemed. Everyone still hates him. He never graduated. And no, he didn’t die a hero. His death wasn’t an epic sacrifice like Billy’s was. He died even though the exact same thing happened to Steve and he survived.

His death didn’t feel like it meant anything.

And it should’ve

It could’ve.

If Eddie died it could’ve been him protecting Steve, Nancy and Robin. He reaches the house, saves them but ultimately doesn’t make it. Maybe he makes such a ruckus that Vecna has to find him and kill him himself, giving El and Max more time to save themselves.

If they were planning on it, it could’ve been so. Much. Better.

Duffer brothers you made me fall in love with a show and continue to love it for 6 years. And you ruined it in just under 4 hours.

But even after everything, I still love this show. And I will not stop writing. Eddie Munson you stole my heart and I have no regrets about that.

And I will share this love with every person who reads my work and interacts with my blog who loves him too.

I’ll write Eddie the story he deserves.

Eddie I love you. You freak.

- Willow.

#willow’s warbles #vol 2 >:(#eddie munson #stranger things #stranger things season four #stranger things season 4 #volume 2 #stranger things 4 #stranger things season 4 volume 2 #eddie munson x reader #reader x Eddie Munson #eddie munson fanfic #eddie munson fanfiction #st eddie munson #eddie munson fluff #stranger things x reader #stranger things imagine #stranger things spoilers #st spoilers

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wuffgang-ameowdeus-moozart · 10 months

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spiritual sequel to this <3

He gulps, his adam's apple pressing against the broken bottle. For a second he is transported back to an eternity ago, when he and Nance had still been together. The weird freaky loner was suddenly imposing, a real threat that could be enacted upon at any moment. His heart is beating too fast but he knows it isn't just out of fear. First Jonathan Byers, now Eddie Munson. He clearly has a type.

And then he thinks: no. And he simply refuses.

See, Steve has learnt over the years that he is very good that. Refusing. His parents commanded him to maintain an upstanding reputation, rebellious and neglected as he was he obviously refused, and somehow they never found out about the parties he used throw in their residence. Tommy and Carol - his closest friends since kindergarden - told him again and again to drop Nancy, and he refused. Billy almost killed him because he refused to let him harm his kids. Robin told him she was a lesbian, so he refused to have romantic feelings for her and now she is the best friend he has ever had and his literal soulmate (platonic with a capital P, of course)

So he remembers how disappointed Lucas looked when he didn't see any of his friends - or even his sister - on the stands. He remembers how much fun Lucas always has playing D&D, how his eyes shone when he talked about Eddie and his awesome campaigns. He remembers how much of a jackass Jason Carver - who somehow managed to become team captain - had been back when he'd first started basketball (and from what Robin tells him, he only got worse). He hadn't even instigated this particular bout of violence by insulting Munson's little brother who had recently disappeared and been presumed dead (his insides still try to tear themselves to pieces in shame every time he thinks about that) so he doesn't need to feel guilty.

Suddenly it is much easier to focus on the ugly raw desperation in those eyes instead of their warm brown color. The strong grip on his arm is nothing but uncomfortable (and no, definitely not in that way). Eddie's self-care routine must be awful judging by the chapped state of his lips (no, the fact that Jonathan Byers did not own a single moisturizer when he'd had a crush on him does not come into play here. Neither the fact that Munson's lips are very close to his). And, most importantly, he must be an awful person because not only did he steal Steve's kids away, but he doesn't even do the bare minimum and properly take care of them. On the contrary, he had the audacity to turn Dustin and Mike against Lucas. Who had been best friends since before middle school.

(Steve doesn't even have to actively suppress any details this time. He remembers how Lucas tried to hide his disappointment when Steve and Robin had been the only ones from their little gang who came to congratulate him. The thought alone makes him angry enough that the only thing he can see is red.)

Dustin pleads for Eddie to let go and it is even easier to ignore how "weirdos who look like they haven't slept in a week and can absolutely kick his ass" seem to really do something for him while not feeling the other's warm breath against his face. They have a short discussion that ends with them leaving Eddie behind for now. Alone. Doesn't feel too good, huh?

It's not like he thinks that Eddie committed the murders. The tremor in his voice and tears in his eyes remind him of his own first few days after finding out about the upside down, and he doesn't think that Dustin and Mike would be so blinded by their adoration that they'd miss the fact that the dude they worship is a literal serial killer, nosy little shits that they are. And sure, the guy doesn't deserve to have the entire town call him a satanic serial killer and chase him like a wild dog. And sleeping in a fucking boat can't be really comfortable.

However.

Eddie is also the reason that Lucas had to celebrate his victory with a bunch of strangers he didn't feel comfortable with. Eddie is the reason that Lucas isn't here right now, where Steve can keep an eye on him. The upside down is making their move once again and Hopper is dead and Joyce is gone and at least Mike flew away into safety (please be safe) but Max is gone and Lucas is gone and he has to take care of Robin too and also fucking Eddie Munson who is the fucking reason their group isn't complete right now and he can feel his nerves fraying and he is losing his fucking mind.

So maybe he resents Eddie for being able to befriend the kids without having to go through multiple traumatic experiences with them. Maybe he resents how obsessed Dustin and Mike are with him even though he doesn't even care for them. Maybe he resents how Lucas' disappointment reminds him so much of when he still searched for his parents after a good game: that stubborn glimmer of hope he couldn't erase even if he knew how foolish it was. Maybe he resents how Eddie never felt the need to pretend to be someone else, how he was always loud and weird and a freak and stood to it no matter what people said. Maybe he resents Eddie for being another person he has to look after even though he is the eldest (it is his responsibility to keep everybody safe but he isn't sure he can do it and why is Eddie allowed to be scared when Steve has also seen death and blood and guts and Eddie is just as close to the kids and he's even older than him and it isn't fucking fair). Maybe he is just tired and terrified and fucking mad because they don't fucking deserve this. Eddie was the one thing that made school less unbearable for the kids, and the upside down had to come and taint that, too.

Well, it doesn't matter either way. This isn't about him. This is about Robin and Nancy and the kids and now also Eddie Munson. Maybe he doesn't like him, but that doesn't matter. Because he is the protector, and it is his job to keep everybody safe, and he has already failed way too often. Protection - the right to live and not be ripped into pieces by terrifying monsters from another dimension - isn't something that has to be earned.

The door falls shut behind them. The last thing he sees are wide terrified eyes.

He can't stop thinking about Lucas and Max.

#stranger things #steve harrington #eddie munson #steddie #robin buckley #lucas sinclair #the party stranger things #st season 4 #stranger things drabble #steddie drabble #stonathan #jonathan byers #dustin henderson #stobin #pen.#babysitter steve #stranger things fanfiction #stranger things fic

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biillyhargroves · 2 years

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just saw a gif set that made my blood boil so let’s chat real quick about how the primary reason Jonathan got the chance to be a cycle-breaker was because Joyce kicked Lonnie out. she cut the thread. she freed her sons. Jonathan was given a safe and supportive environment to process the abuse he’d been subjected to as a child, set boundaries between himself and his abuser that were fortified by Joyce, and express himself without fear of judgement or ridicule by a parent who loves him unconditionally and who was always in his corner. he was able to provide that same support to Will because it was modeled for him by Joyce.

Joyce fought for her children at every turn. Jonathan hid Will, protected him while their mother fought for them. both of those boys knew that Joyce would do anything for them, that she was breaking up her marriage for their safety, that everything she did was with them in mind. she didn’t give the cycle a change to take root. she said absolutely not and dealt with the problem for them, giving them the tools and confidence to stand up to Lonnie in the future. she did not let Lonnie be a black cloud over her children. she made sure that her boys knew that they were loved and supported and worthy of kindness. she fought Lonnie for them.

Billy’s mom, on the other hand, who isn’t even granted a name in the narrative, just…left. she saved herself. whatever safety and comfort she provided while living in the house left with her. no matter her intentions— whether she meant to come back for him or not, whether she had some other plan —she didn’t tell Billy. her actions, on the surface, communicated to him “you’re on your own, kid.” left alone with his abuser. left alone to survive. he had no one. absolutely no one fought for the little boy crying on the phone for his mother to come home. in flashbacks and in the canon timeline we do not ever see Billy with friends. his abuser has him exactly where he wants him: isolated, scared, vulnerable. Neil could do whatever he wanted to Billy without consequences. even if Billy tried to fight back, Neil knew he could threaten and/or beat him into submission. there was no one for Billy to go to, and the older he got the less likely it was that someone would help because to the outside world he just looked like a bad kid that Neil was stuck dealing with.

more than that, Billy did not have a model for behavior outside of Neil. his father was his example for how to interact with the people and the world around him. he had no one showing him that softness or kindness was an option. he wants someone— Max, for example —to do as he says? he’s got to get loud. he’s got to get aggressive. he’s got to the be the bully, because bullies get listened to. that’s what he learned. the one person who might have shown him another path left him in the dust. he had no warm fuzzies. no support.

Jonathan physically, verbally, and emotionally pushes back against Lonnie multiple times in season one because he is free to do so. he doesn’t live under the same roof. he knows that if Lonnie tries to come after him, Joyce will raise hell. he even gets the police chief in his corner by the end, knows that both Joyce and Hopper would defend himself and Will if push came to shove. he has Nancy, too, eventually. she’s tiny and scrappy and even if she never meets Lonnie face to face, she provides Jonathan with emotional support. Will, too, provides safety and comfort and support. even Argyle, with all his goofiness and quirks, clearly loves and supports Jonathan. Jonathan fights knowing that he’s not alone in that fight. for his early-series loner persona, he’s truly surrounded by people who love him and who would go to bat for him without blinking an eye.

when Billy tries to do the same thing, pushing back against Neil because he was tired, fed up, strapped with Max for a full week, thinking there was a set time that his obligation was fulfilled only to have Neil and Susan saunter in three hours late, he gets backed into a corner. manhandled, hit, talked down to. and he knows that no one is coming to save him. he doesn’t have friends he can go to — all of his relationships feel very superficial. Susan is shut down when she tries to speak up, tries to tell Neil to back off. everyone in that house is under Neil’s control. Billy has to choose: keep fighting and get hurt, or shut up and obey. he chooses self preservation. he’s got to keep his head down to survive, because no one is coming for him, there is no one to run to, there is no one to help him. he learned a long time ago that Neil will always get his way, that Billy will always be his punching bag. he doesn’t have the tools to fight back in any real sense, and that is exactly what both Neil and Lonnie likely want. the difference is that Jonathan had support, and Billy did not.

and, on top of all of that, Billy gets immediately parentified when Max comes on the scene. and yes, I do see a problem with the parentification of Jonathan as well. both Billy and Jonathan were far too young to have that much responsibility on their plates. but it is indicative of both the time period and their socioeconomic statuses. the parents had to work. the older siblings had to step up for the younger siblings. it perpetuates today even stepping back from that, Jonathan seemed to like taking care of Will. he loves his brother, and he wants to be there for him in any way he can. he loves his mother, who supports him, who loves him back, and he wants to help her. Billy is just shoved into a big brother role with a literal stranger. he didn’t know Max from a hole in the wall and all of a sudden he’s responsible for her every move, is punished when she does wrong, has to watch his father treat her better because she’s the golden child. all of this while some other woman is taking up the space his mother left behind and not doing anything to help Billy, whether she’s too afraid to speak up or she turns a blind eye.

while these two boys have similar early childhoods, their upbringing is simply not comparable. Billy and Jonathan had two different experiences, and pitting them against each other lauding one as a cycle-breaker and the other as a perpetuator completely ignores the nuances of their individual situations. abuse and trauma is not one size fits all. healing does not happen overnight. cycle-breaking can happen at any time, and Billy was robbed of the opportunity. Jonathan was in a state of healing, surrounded by people who loved and supported him. Billy was actively being abused every day, and never had the chance to discover who he could be without the dark cloud of Neil looming over him. you don’t have to like Billy to acknowledge that his situation is not the same as Jonathan’s, that these two boys were dealing with similar trauma in two very different circumstances.

#stranger things meta #billy hargrove #jonathan byers #the fact that this has to be said over and over again is sad #use your critical thinking skills people #you don’t have to like billy to acknowledge that his situation is different from jonathan’s

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stevesbipanic · 1 year

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The worst thing about me is how I absolutely can't stand Nancy, like I try but she just makes me so mad. Her choices outside of gun are infuriating. I love sarah connor so i can appreciate a boss bitch with a gun but. I don't find her sympathetic at all. But everyone else loves her. How the fuck do I make myself like her bc disliking her when she's so popular makes for a pretty miserable experience

I think Nancy gives lots of reasons to be an unlikeable character, I'm the kind of person that can read a cute ronance fic but also read a fic where her character is completely bashed.

I think the main issue that is the reason most people unlike her is that she has never acknowledged or apologised for the shitty things she's done in the past.

Take Steve for example (because y'all know I love a character study) Steve was a shitty person who did shitty things to people like Eddie and Robin, he was even not a really great boyfriend to Nancy, however, we've seen him acknowledge and talk about his past mistakes often apologising for them like his scenes with Robin in season 3 and working towards being better. For those reasons there are people like me that absolutely hated Steve in season 1 was honestly wishing him dead in the demogorgan scene but now goes to bat for him everytime.

Nancy hasn't done these things. Never acknowledges how she hurt Steve, even jokes about parts of it like pointing guns at him and how he almost deserved getting shot. Doesn't talk about how the morality of her moving from Steve to Jonathan is a grey area of whether it was cheating or not (In my eyes it is cheating, they'd had a fight they weren't broken up) Even her shitty attitude to Robin at the beginning. She doesn't apologise for these things because she thinks she's right, she's used to being right and the smartest in the room so it's hard for her to see when she's wrong which is why it's very valid to hate her character and be annoyed to see her be so popular just like how people hate Billy apologisists.

In short, hate on Nancy all you want in appropriate circles, a lot of the time I'll write about Nancy acknowledging her mistakes because I know she's capable of doing it if the Duffers could write better, and it makes me like her more.

Also yes I hate how the only time Nancy makes a good decision it's to shoot something, she's smart as fuck think of a better plan babes and work on your issues outside of gun related activities.

#b asks #bit of a rant lol #nancy wheeler #bit of Nancy bashing #stranger things #steve harrington #stranger things s4 #b rants

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ellewritesandrants · 2 years

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Youtuber Steve and Tiktoker Billy AU

Their relationship starts out even before Billy becomes famous and it’s worse because Billy’s a fan of Steve’s. They meet through a Halloween party where Billy gets Steve’s attention by beating his keg record and they start dating from there.

All of Steve’s friends are suspicious of Billy because Billy doesn’t push to be in Steve’s videos but he’s still a fan. Steve’s a part of a youtuber group with the rest of the keg gang and while a few of them like him like Heather and Chrissy, Carol and Tommy don’t like how he’s steals Steve away from them, so they make a plan to ruin the relationship by making it so that Steve doesn’t have any time for Billy.

They manage to break Billy down to eventually confront Steve and when Steve decides not to do anything about his friends obviously blocking Billy out of his life, Billy just calls it quits and breaks up with Steve. He still remains good friends with a few of the gang though, namely Barb, Jonathan, Heather and Chrissy.

A year later, Tiktok becomes famous and while Billy initially has no plans of being a Tiktoker, Max kickstarts his Tiktok career by recording his rant about Romeo and Juliet while he was working out in their living room. The break up left him a lot more cynical about love in general and Max found it absolutely hilarious which is why she recorded it.

People want more of Billy so Max happily takes the opportunity to record Billy ranting about anything and everything while he was doing all sorts of things. The next video of Billy to go viral is of him ranting about how his little sister didn’t need to be dating since men are shit anyway while he’s kneading some dough to make bread. Max gets a few more of Billy ranting while driving, cooking dinner and fixing his car which all do very well before she’s busted by Billy.

Some people start recognizing him and he doesn’t get what’s going on until he asks Max what she did. When Max reveals she’s been recording his rants and how popular he’s become from a few videos, Billy initially doesn’t want anything to do with it until Max tells him how some of the bigger Tiktokers are getting sponsorships and deals and stuff and how a few brands have started reaching out to her. Billy’s had Max living with him ever since he finished his degree and Susan fully succumbed to her drinking problem.

Billy worked really hard to put food on their table and while he was able to make ends meet, a little bit of extra cash from recording a few videos wouldn’t hurt, especially when it wasn’t anything too crazy like R-rated stuff.

So, under Max’s guidance, Billy takes over her Tiktok account, first explaining that he had no idea what his sister was doing and asking what content they wanted to see from him next. A few start asking him for workout routines, a few for recipes, and a few for his opinions about everything.

Billy follows the suggestions, finding that his favorite ones are the rants and the workout videos. Some of his audience realize quickly that he has a lot of literary opinions which gets a lot of the bookworms and nerds to follow him while a lot of the others just thirst over him in general. Since he’s also a mechanic who loves classic car and fitness, he attracts a lot of the conventional male audience and it helps that he’s also conventionally attractive to boost his audience.

Max is usually his go-to camera person when he needs help to shoot and after a few months, sponsorships and deals start coming in. He hits a million subscribers within the first three months and five million within a year.

Billy starts collaborations with other Tiktokers and Youtubers, usually fitness people and he starts getting asked to model for certain brands. When Max does a face reveal at a million subscribers, she starts her own account and she gets scouted to be a model through a skateboarding video.

Both of the siblings become exceedingly popular and everyone loves their dynamics. Max usually drags Billy into whatever the hell she wants and a lot of people love that Billy is so willing to sacrifice his masculinity and do her nails or her makeup. He’s touted as one of the best big brothers on Tiktok which he clears up since he’s making up a lot of his assholery to his sister and now, he genuinely loves her.

He’s very candid about his experience with child abuse and his experience with attempts at grooming and that endears him to his audience even more. He doesn’t hide that he has bad days sometimes and he even shares tips and tricks on how he deals with anxiety and PTSD from dealing with Neil. He’s honest and a lot of people value his honesty.

At this point, everyone in the keg gang has started to migrate to Tiktok too and since they already have an existing fanbase from Youtube, they quickly make it big. Since Heather and Chrissy didn’t do anything wrong to Billy and they were also pretty close before everything happened, Billy, Heather and Chrissy reconnect with at an event while also becoming really good friends with Max. Billy even gets Chrissy together with his new friend, Eddie whom he met through his best friend, Argyle.

Billy starts collaborating with the girls, dancing along to whatever trendy dance they want to do and skyrocketing his popularity. Speculations about dating start but he clears them up pretty quick. When asked about how they met, when Billy reveals they met through his ex, everyone starts wondering who the hell it is because Billy has never formally revealed his sexuality.

Everyone knows that the keg gang is exceedingly tight so it must be one of them, right? It becomes this huge thing that Billy and the friendly members of the keg gang play up with Billy getting Chrissy to sit on his lap before being replaced by Heather and Barb and Billy reviewing books, movies and other nerdy stuff on a podcast every week. Patrick and Jason also shoot hoops with Billy while Vicki and Tina cheer them on.

Eventually, everyone realizes that the only people Billy doesn’t interact with are Carol, Tommy and Steve and since Carol and Tommy are a couple, people are mostly betting on Steve and not Carol and Tommy. It gets so popular that almost every video Steve posts is flooded by comments about Billy and vice versa.

Everyone loves good drama and eventually, Steve is forced to interact with Billy at an event with Heather goading them. She knows that Steve still misses Billy and the Billy is still not over Steve because he was Billy’s first real love but that doesn’t change the fact that their interactions would be really awkward. Steve religiously binge watches any and every Tiktok that Billy posts and Billy still watches every update on Steve’s Youtube Channel and Tiktok.

With a bit of prompting, Billy decides to try and be the bigger man and he talks to Steve about becoming friends and revealing the truth on Tiktok so they can finally get it all over with. Steve agrees to everything and they film both Tiktoks and a Youtube video about everything, revealing a lot of the details while not explicitly stating Carol and Tommy’s names so they wouldn’t be bashed.

The entire thing ruined Steve’s friendship with Tommy and Carol but he still didn’t want them to have to deal with huge following that both Steve and Billy had amassed. They upload the videos but even then, the drama doesn’t end.

Everyone wants to see them interact and to feed the fans, they keep going to events together and doing Tiktoks whenever possible. It’s eased by Max’s friendship with the teens that Steve’s been mentoring but that doesn’t stop the rumors and the shippers from realizing that there may still be something there.

Tons of compilations about their interactions and how you can visibly see the longing in their eyes are posted. Many people try to determine whether or not they’ve actually gotten back together or if they were just friends. Even the rest of the keg gang made bets as to when they would get back together again and got in on the joke.

Eventually, the friend groups all merge because they spend so much time together and it gets harder for Steve to deny his feelings for Billy. He also gets visibly jealous any time an attractive girl or guy comes up to Billy to flirt and it takes a few pep talks before he asks Billy to come over so they can have a talk.

They talk things out and reveal they do still have feelings for each other but Billy isn’t sure if he’s ready to risk his heart again on Steve who may or may not have a more strategic reason for wanting to get into a relationship with him since they’re both becoming popular with the whole are they or are they not together drama.

Steve convinces him to allow Billy to give him another chance and that they can take it slow this time around. Steve doesn’t waste a single opportunity to prove to Billy that he made the right decision, officially cutting out Carol and Tommy from his life and spoiling Billy at every possible interval.

Most of his fans realize the immediate difference in the heart eyes he give Billy but it isn’t until a whole year has passed, officially lasting past their old relationship that they make it internet official. Max knew immediately as soon as Billy got home and the rest of the keg gang found out over the course of the next month. The internet imploded at the news that their favorite gay couple was actually together now and it was largely because the internet shipped them.

#billy hargrove #billy deserved better #billy hargrove deserved better #harringrove #billy hargrove au #steve harrington #ellewritesandrants #billy hargrove redemption #stranger things rewrite #billy x steve #billy and max #modern au #youtuber au #keg gang

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