inside-the-upside-down - Tumblr blog

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inspired by this art

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Steve often steps in as Robin's “boyfriend” when random dudes won't leave her alone.

Eddie and the Party are long used to this--Steve regularly does the Big Brother act for the kids themselves when someone is being obnoxious towards them. 

(The guy moms people better than most moms do, and somehow still manages to pull off “cool guy” vibes while doing it, because life absolutely has its favorites.) 

Thing is, Eddie wasn't expecting all that to extend to HIM--and he absolutely in his wildest dreams did not expect Steve to go the boyfriend route. 

Particularly not at the very first gay bar he, Robin and Steve have ever gone to together, where Eddie happens to run chest first into his first and last regular hookup--an older guy who isn’t taking no for an answer. 

That Steve picked up on Eddie being uncomfortable is one thing, but to have him pop his polo collar, stride over and drop a possessive arm over Eddie’s shoulder’s, a hint of King Steve coming through as he casually dismisses the guy like he’s nothing is insane, and if Eddie didn’t have a raging crush before, he absolutely has one now.

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"I don't see how anyone can like stranger things after (insert thing from show)" baby I am in love with a version of stranger things that is so gay, so horny, and so far detached from canon that you wouldn't even be able to comprehend it.

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no thoughts... head empty.

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bro u knocked over his drink

read this fic that goes with this art!!

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They're being chased by a monster and yet their first instinct at hearing Dustin singing on the radio is to judge him. I love them so much.

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truth, dare, spin bottles you know how to ball, i know aristotle

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sometimes you have a shower thought so dumb you just gotta draw it

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Pippin’s favourites (2000)

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I love when Robin and Steve can communicate just with their faces, no words spoken between them.

But what about Robin and Steve who think they've just gotten really good at reading each other but their minds are actually just connected.

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I can see Eddie getting really into one of those dinner murder mystery parties for Hellfire and not expecting Steve and Robin to be into it, only to find out that they both *committed.*

Like they've got outfits and fake accents and everything, and Eddie's delighted, but also they're outshining him.

Bonus: halfway through the night they swap characters, outfits and all, so Steve's in a swanky dress with pearls and Robin's in a tux.

They do not acknowledge that they swapped and absolutely refuse to break character, and it is 300% not a plot to hit on their respective crushes no matter what Dustin says.

(Max repeatedly calls out that they brought two outfits bc theres no way Robin fit into Steve's tux.

She is ignored , on grounds that Steve's dress is showing a heck of a lot of thigh and it being Robin's dress is 100% his excuse for it)

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It's the third day in a row that Wayne Munson has seen the girl in the diner.

Usually, he doesn't pay attention to new faces. He's been frequenting the diner for some years now and there's often ones he doesn't recognise: people passing through Hawkins, visiting family, etc.

The girl has caught his attention, though. She's sitting tucked into the far corner of the diner, a glass of water in front of her and nothing else. She's wearing the same t-shirt and flannel shirt she'd been wearing yesterday, and the day before, he's pretty sure. She didn't order any food yesterday; she hasn't ordered any food today.

Bev likes to joke he has a sense for kids who need help. Says there's an alarm in his head that makes him worry himself sick whenever there's a waif in need.

She's sitting next to him now, one eyebrow raised. He sighs. Waif in need alarm, indeed.

"What's the deal with the kid?" he murmurs, nodding subtly in the girl's direction.

Bev shrugs. "Beats me. That's Robert's girl, that's all I know."

He frowns. "Robert?"

"Nurse. Took good care of me when my knee went bad." She takes a swig of coffee, her eyes going sad. "Died, oh, maybe eight months back."

Wayne looks back at the girl. She's staring down at her half-empty glass of water. Tucked under the table there's a bulky-looking backpack.

"She got family?"

"Just her mother, far as I know. Met her a couple of times, too. 'Nother nurse. Seems nice enough."

"Hmph." Wayne turns back to his coffee. Ain't his business, he tells himself firmly. He should focus on his lunch.

When he gets up to pay, he glances once more in the girl's direction. He'll give it a couple of days, he decides. If she's still here then, still in the same clothes, he'll see if she's alright.

—

Wayne doesn't even last the day.

He's on his way home from work when he sees movement in a phonebox on the side of the road. The road's empty aside from him, and it's raining, and the sky's getting dark, so it immediately strikes him as odd. When he sees it's the teenage girl from earlier, he nearly crashes his truck with how hard he hits the brakes.

She's huddled down in the phonebox, clasping the backpack he'd noticed. She looks sodden. It had been raining heavier earlier; from the looks of it, she'd been caught in it. Her hair's plastered to her face and she's shivering.

He's winding down his window before his brain's even caught up to the movement. He's actually not sure how to go about it, very conscious of the fact that it's just the two of them out here and she's a teenage girl while he's an old man.

Feeling very much like he's approaching a wild animal, he clears his throat. "You okay, miss?"

The girl jumps, her head jerking up. She looks at him with wild eyes, wide and afraid. She reminds him of Eddie the day he showed up on his doorstep, timid and small.

"I'm f—fine." Her teeth chatter as she speaks. Where is this girl's mother? Where are her guardians?

"You need to call someone? I got a couple o'quarters, I think."

She shakes her head. Wayne frowns. Something ain't sitting right with him.

"You waiting on your ma?"

To his horror, her face crumples, and she buries her face in her arms. He's out of the truck like a shot, rushing over to find her shoulders heaving.

"Now, now—" He's panicking, admittedly. She can't be much younger than Eddie is.

"She—She—" the girl sobs. "She kicked me out and I—I don't have anywhere to go and it's so cold and wet and—and—"

A bout of rage washes over him. He pushes it down, tugging his jacket off and draping it over her shoulders. It doesn't have a hood, but it's dry. Christ, she must be soaked to the bone.

"Listen," Wayne starts, hesitating almost immediately. It's an insane suggestion from a strange man; he doesn't want to scare her off, but he doesn't want her spending the night in this phonebox, either. "I got a kid about your age. My Eddie. You come to mine and we can get you sorted out, okay? Or—Or I can find you a motel room, or something."

Sniffling, the girl looks up at him, wrapping herself up in his jacket. "Is that... is that okay?"

His heart breaks. "Yeah. Yeah, 'course."

She stands, wobbly, still clutching her backpack. She's soaked through like he'd thought, and she shivers once she's in the front seat. He's quick to turn the heating up, starting the truck again, and for a moment he's furious: her immediate agreement, the lack of hesitation about getting into a vehicle with a strange man, makes him boil with hatred towards this girl's mother.

The journey's quiet and, thankfully, not too long. Wayne ushers her into the trailer, already preparing to make a steaming mug of hot chocolate. Eddie's out at Jeff's for band practice, so he says, but Wayne knows him well enough to know he'll come home stinking of weed.

The girl stands awkwardly in the living room, still shivering. It occurs to him, suddenly, that he doesn't even know her name.

Still. An issue for later. He focuses on the hot chocolate. Once it's ready, he hands it over to her, and doesn't miss how eagerly she accepts it.

Only then does he broach the subject. "What's your name, miss?"

She's quiet a moment, cradling the mug in her hands. "It's Robin. Uh, Robin, sir."

"None of that 'sir' business," he says gruffly. "Name's Wayne. Eddie'll be home later but you can have his bed if you need a place to stay for the night."

This might be the most he's spoken in years, trying desperately to come across as reassuring. It breaks his heart how trusting she's being, though.

"Thank you." Robin goes quiet, her fingers curling around the handle of the mug. "I, um, I can pay you back for the ride—"

He waves a hand, frowning. "None of that. I'd like to think if it were my Ed in your shoes, someone would be there for him like this."

She manages a small smile. She's still in her soaking clothes. He hustles over to Eddie's room, raiding the drawers for whatever looks most comfortable. Eddie won't complain, he knows.

Robin gratefully accepts the clothes. He goes back into Eddie's room to give her privacy, unsure exactly how long to wait. There's that stereotype that women take forever to change, right? It must hold some truth.

He gives it an hour, just to be safe. When he emerges, he finds that she's curled up on the couch, out like a light. His jacket's pulled up to her chin like a blanket.

Waif in need alarm. He sighs. Bev's right after all. He won't be surprised if this situation resolves with him having another kid in his care.

Well, Eddie always wanted a sister, anyway.

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his hair was a nightmare to draw but it’s finally done 🥹

also if we could just ignore the smudges i forgot to erase at the bottom that would be awesome thank you 😅

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just a nosey mf

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Pray for my mothers they're really going through it

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Pant.Night

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these pieces have a companion fic!! go read it its AMAZING