#“we could hide you in the basement like El”

[jonathanbyersphd]

At least once while high Jonathan told Argyle that he wanted to shrink down so Nancy could carry him around everywhere

[smoshyourheadin]

Hi! Saw that your requests were open and wondered if you’d do something with Steve Harrington and reader where it’s based on season 4 and reader is catching the looks Steve and Nancy give each other so she confronts him and he reassures her there’s nothing going on?

only you

pairing: steve harrington x f! reader

a/n: I LOVE STEVE!! this was rlly fun to write :33 this request is so cute i love him eek!! also this is kind of inspired by the song ‘only you’ by yazoo bc i love that song heheh

it had been a rough few days. the kind of rough that made steve wish he could crawl under his bedcovers and stay there until the world decided to stop falling apart. but hiding wasn't an option when the upside down was causing havoc in hawkins again, and certainly not when nancy was back in his life, running headfirst into danger just like old times.

you had been a solid presence throughout the ordeal, offering reason when everyone else seemed ready to unravel. steve always appreciated you more than he could ever put into words. you were his rock, his anchor in the storm, and he knew he was the luckiest guy in the world to have you by his side.

tonight, the group had gathered in the wheeler basement, trying to piece together the story of the latest victim that vecna had left for them. nancy was flipping through her notebook, scribbling notes furiously, while steve tried to keep up with the conversation. he glanced over at her a few times, mostly out of habit. they had been through so much together that it was hard not to look back on those memories with a tinge of nostalgia.

but he didn’t realize how it must have looked to you.

you were sitting on the other side of the room, comforting el, whilst trying to focus on max’s recount of her latest vision, but your eyes kept drifting to steve and nancy. every stolen glance, every shared look between them, sent a pang of insecurity through your heart. you knew they had history - everyone did. but seeing them together again, working so closely, it made you wonder if maybe that history wasn't as buried as you hoped.

later, after the meeting had dispersed and everyone was heading home, you and steve walked to his car in silence. the quiet stretched uncomfortably between you, filled with words unsaid.

"hey," steve finally broke the silence as he unlocked the car. "y’okay?"

you nodded, but your expression betrayed you. steve could see the worry etched across your face. he gently touched your arm, stopping you before you could climb into the passenger seat.

"what's wrong?" he asked, his voice soft and full of concern.

you took a deep breath, looking up at him with eyes that threatened to spill over with tears. "i saw the way you were looking at nancy tonight," you admitted, your voice barely above a whisper. "and... and the way she was looking at you."

steve's eyes widened in surprise, and then softened with understanding. he stepped closer, cupping your face in his hands. "hey, no," he said gently. "there’s nothing going on between me and nancy. we’re just trying to figure all this out, just like everyone else."

"but you have a history with her," you whispered, looking away. "and i can't help but feel like, like maybe you still have feelings for her."

steve's heart ached at the sight of your distress. he tilted your chin up so you would look at him, his gaze steady and sincere. "listen to me," he said firmly. "nancy and i... we had our time, but it’s over. i care about her as a friend, and that's it. you’re the one i’m with now. you’re the one i want to be with."

he pressed his forehead against yours, closing his eyes. "you’re my present and my future," he whispered. "i love you. only you."

you closed your eyes too, feeling the warmth of his words seep into your heart. "promise?" you asked, your voice small and vulnerable.

steve pulled back just enough to look into your eyes, his expression full of love and determination. "i promise," he said. "i’m all in, with you. and I’m not going anywhere."

you let out a shaky breath, a smile breaking through the lingering doubt. "okay," you whispered.

steve leaned in and kissed you, slow and sweet, pouring all his reassurance and love into that kiss. when he pulled back, he rested his forehead against yours again, a small smile playing on his lips. "no more doubts, okay?"

you nodded, feeling the weight of your worries lift. "okay."

with a final kiss on your forehead, steve opened the car door for you. as you both settled into your seats and drove away, the tension from earlier dissolved, replaced by a comforting sense of certainty. no matter what anything or anyone threw at you, you knew you had steve by your side. and that was enough.

[fairyysoup]

to hell and back

matters of taste part III (repost)

pairing(s): steve harrington x fem!reader x eddie munson

summary: Having learned of the upside-down and the creatures therein, you, Eddie, and Steve have to cover up the damage to the bakery before the boss finds out.

chapter warnings: smut, threesome - M/M/F, unprotected sex, oral (f receiving), handjobs, ball play, cum play, spit kink, daddy kink, praise, overstimulation, mentions of a creepy manager being creepy, mentions of violence toward said creepy manager, like one tiny vine reference if you squint, not edited (we die like the demobat)

ALL MY WORKS ARE 18+ MDNI

You should probably have figured that between Steve and Eddie, they had some weird shit going on. 

To be fair, you wouldn’t have figured that the weird shit involved extradimensional faceless monsters that eat people, but alas. 

The air in the bakery feels… strange. You could cut the tension with a knife, and it’s too quiet even with Benny Goodman playing on the PA. You’re staring at the crispy carcass of the- what had Steve called it? Demobat- but your heart rate has long since slowed down again, because Steve is cradling you in his lap on the floor. 

He’d insisted on holding you, actually, as he told you (in quite a meandering way that you had to pick apart in places) everything about… well, everything. And as much as you have trouble believing in an alternate hellscape dimension that looks exactly like Hawkins and lives under the floor, or something, you have trouble refuting it now. You’re staring at it, right in front of you. 

Steve squeezes your hand in his and holds it tightly to his chest so that you can feel his heartbeat. Maybe that’s what helped you to calm down so quickly- your head lays on his shoulder, and each time you breathe the scent of his cologne fills your lungs. Cinnamon, clove, patchouli and rose; it’s lulling you without you even realizing it. He rocks you side to side, his arm around your back holding you to him like an anchor. 

You might be a little bit in love with him now. It’s okay.

“So that’s, like-” Steve doesn’t let you release his hand, so you just sort of flex your fingers toward the pulsing mass that’s grown on the wall of the pastry case- “that’s a portal to hell?”

“Um.” Steve tilts his head toward you. “Yeah, I guess… if you wanna look at it that way.”

“Okay.”

It’s quiet for a moment. You can feel Steve frowning, but he doesn’t elaborate on it anymore. He doesn’t need to, his crash course on it had taken him twenty minutes beginning to end.

There’s another reason for Steve’s silence, though. He’s always fallen really easily for people, which is why he made a science out of hiding his feelings. With Eddie, it was really simple. Not painless- there was a lot of pain, actually. He almost didn’t believe it when Eddie showed up at his place, after waking up alone in the upside down and finding his way out. Steve didn’t get attacked nearly as bad as he did. He remembers, clear as day, opening the door and coming face to face with a blood-soaked Eddie, pale as hell and nearly collapsing into his arms. Steve had no idea how Eddie had known his address, but he hasn’t questioned it much. Gift horses and mouths and such.

And his parents, well. They’re never home, so they wouldn’t notice if he had Eddie Munson shacking up in his bedroom while he recovered from getting almost eaten alive by demonic bats. He imagines that he felt a little bit like how Mike Wheeler must have felt when he was hiding El in his basement. 

He was no stranger to the idea of liking guys; after becoming closer friends with Robin, he’d been thinking about it enough that he’d come to a sort of tentative conclusion on his sexuality. He had always thought Eddie was kind of a pretty guy, too, with his long hair and big eyes and full lips. (Hours he could spend thinking about Eddie’s lips, but that doesn’t really matter.) And then Eddie had to go and pull Steve close to him while he slept, and Steve can pinpoint the exact moment that he determined that he liked Eddie- really really liked him. Because Eddie kissed his shoulder in his sleep. 

See, Steve knows his own emotions. He knows when something is just a whim and when something is here to stay. He’s having a bit of a silent crisis over your shoulder now, since thinks what he’s feeling for you is here to stay. Because it feels a lot like that kiss Eddie laid on his shoulder. 

And he’s scared as hell, because the same thing that happened to Eddie could have just happened to you, if he hadn’t been there. 

“You’re taking this really well,” he murmurs into your hair after a moment, sounding a lot calmer than he really is on the inside. You feel him kiss the top of your head. “S’weird.”

“Well I can’t even say that you guys, like, hid it from me,” you tell him, chewing on your lip. “It’s not Dungeons and Dragons, but… I mean, you could have told me straight that the KGB agents and the bats were real and that you weren’t joking, and I still probably wouldn’t have believed you.”

“I didn’t expect you to believe it,” he mumbles. “I just… you don’t seem freaked out. Very much.”

“I blew all my energy fucking you and then screaming at the bat,” you say drily. 

He chuckles, nuzzling the top of your head. “It was a really good scream. You totally threw him off, I could tell.”

“Wh- shut up.” You bury your face in his neck, feeling his chest shake with laughter. “You were pretty sexy waving that rolling pin around, stud.”

“It’s all in the wrists.” To emphasize his point, he lifts his wrist and rolls his hand back and forth before he checks the time on his watch. “Eddie should be here soon.”

You hum quietly. He’d called Eddie just seconds after your fight with the bat. You didn’t hear what all was said, just that the call was over in a matter of seconds and Steve was quick to get back to holding you. 

“I can’t imagine,” you murmur, your eyes still focused on the black mass of the bat’s remains on the ground, “how… how Eddie did it. I saw his scars, Steve, they’re massive. And I thought, y’know, he’d probably just had an accident he didn’t want to talk about. But they’re fucking real, and god, look at the teeth on that thing-”

“They don’t feel good, I can tell you that.”

You pull your head away from Steve’s shoulder and blink at him. He looks rather unphased, but he reaches down to lift the edge of his shirt up high enough for you to see his stomach. For you to see the scars on his stomach. They look exactly like Eddie’s, and your breath catches in your throat. 

“Steve,” you breathe, laying a hand on the scar on his abdomen. You bite your lip before he can see it tremble, but your face screws up because tears painfully prick your eyes. 

“Oh, honey, don’t cry,” he says soothingly, pulling your hand up to his face to kiss your palm. He kisses your wrist, and your elbow, and your shoulder, until he reaches your mouth. 

Steve barely gets a peck in before you hear the screeching of tires outside; rock music blasts loud enough to rattle the windows for half a second before you see Eddie’s van thwack into the trash cans out front, and then the engine cuts off. 

“What an entrance,” Steve murmurs as you watch Eddie barrel out of the car and run into the shop.

Eddie’s eyes sweep the bakery lobby frantically before they land on you and Steve, your backs pressed up against the front counter. He sighs as he crouches down, reaching forward to take your face. You’ve never seen him so earnest- it’s attractive on him, naturally, but he looks a bit like he might snap if anyone were to breathe wrong in either you or Steve’s direction. You feel hot under his scrutiny, examining your face and body before he looks directly into your eyes. “Did it hurt you?”

“No, Eddie.”

He gives the same treatment to Steve, hand on his face and turning his head either way to get a good look at him. “Harrington?”

“Not a scrape, man.”

Eddie looks visibly relieved. He strokes the apple of Steve’s cheek, leans forward to softly kiss his lips, more tender than you’re used to seeing from Eddie. And then he turns, and he’s doing the same thing to you, a whisper of a kiss over your lips with more emotion and gentility than you expect. 

“I was so worried,” he whispers, so quietly that you’re not sure he really meant to say it out loud. Eddie opens his eyes and looks at Steve. “Where is it?”

“It’s a bunch of char on the floor now,” Steve grumbles, gesturing vaguely at the steaming carcass on the ground. 

Eddie looks at it blankly before he sighs again, and straightens up to walk toward it. He nudges it roughly with the toe of his shoe. “Piece of shit- my bundts!”

You pick your head up and try not to laugh as Eddie stoops to right a toppled over basket of bundt cakes that he frosted the day before. Half of them lay smushed and crumbled on the ground, completely unsalvageable.

“I’m so mad. They make me so mad. All that and for what? Did it get it, did it get the cake? Did it have a nice meal?” Eddie kicks the charred corpse again. “NO!”

“Eddie,” Steve says softly, making him turn to look back at the two of you. “Don’t kick it while it’s down.”

Eddie sniffs angrily, wiping his hands on his jeans as he steps back. “Fine. Fine. Shit, is that…?” Eddie points at the disgusting sight inside the pastry case; a pulsating orifice that looks suggestively like female genitalia, but if either of them notice it they don’t say anything. 

“Yeah, it came out of there.”

“Damn.” Eddie only then notices the wood shards on the floor in front of the case, the shattered remains of the once intact shelves to it. “Mimi’s gonna fucking kill us.”

You grunt, “Or Warren.”

Both of the boys look at each other, and Eddie bares his teeth. Warren, the assistant manager of the bakery, is a major asshole in the minds of all fellow employees. Except Mimi, of course, the only person that matters. 

While Warren is just plain mean to the men who work the bakery, he’s often overly friendly with the women. Especially you. It… creeps you out from time to time, if you’re honest. Warren’s pushing 50, balding, and goes out of his way to gain your affections. It’s the little things, like greeting you rather than anyone else, seeking you out on break, or behaving like you turning a blind eye to his habit of stealing donuts is an inside joke. 

(You don’t know that Eddie almost clocked Warren in the face once a couple weeks back, for saying you had ‘the finest ass in town’ as you were leaving the store. Steve had to catch him by his belt to stop him, actually. Eddie hasn’t forgotten.)

“Fuck Warren,” Eddie spits. “It’s not like he’s been eaten alive by demobats. He doesn’t know how to close the gate.”

“But we do?” Steve asks him incredulously. 

Eddie pauses, tilting his head to the side as he thinks. He looks a little bit like a puppy dog when he does that, with his eyes drifting off to the side unblinkingly. “We know someone who does.”

“No,” Steve says simply. “Absolutely not.”

“I’m calling it in,” Eddie returns without leaving any room for argument, and steps over your legs to stride through the kitchen toward the back room. 

Jim Hopper sort of shook Hawkins to its core when he came back from the dead and then immediately proceeded to absolve Eddie Munson of any so-called crimes he may or may not have committed in the eyes of the town. The man holds more sway in the court of public opinion than even the mayor. 

That said, you don’t expect the chief of police to show up at the bakery at midnight, at the behest of Eddie, with a carload of… children?

“Tell ‘em what you told me,” Hopper grumbles, thrusting Dustin Henderson toward Steve and Eddie by the shoulder. Behind him, Lucas Sinclair and Mike Wheeler linger with sheepish expressions, their body language reading extremely uncomfortable.

“Uh…” Dustin looks sort of rumpled and sleepy, his eyes still bleary like he’s just been pulled out of bed and dragged here. “So, we know about the gate?”

“Oh, you do?” Steve snaps, donning a paternal tone of voice. He places his hands on his hips, appearing more and more like a disapproving dad every second. “And you didn’t care to mention it?”

Mike speaks next. “Well it’s not like we expected it to show up in your donut case-”

“Pastry case,” you correct.

“-pastry case. There’s one we found in a tree in the woods and one we found in the ceiling of Will’s old house. We think it has something to do with the Demogorgon.”

You squint at Mike, and then Dustin, and then Steve. All this funky jargon is starting to make your head ache. “The demo- what?”

“Demogorgon.” Dustin blinks up at Steve. “Have you checked your pool lately?”

Eddie frowns. “Why would he check his pool?”

“Remember that girl Barb who died-?”

“All right, enough.” Hopper looks irritable, maybe running on too few hours of sleep. “Cut to the chase, kid, quickly.”

“We think all the places where the Demogorgon first showed up have reopened as gates.” It’s Lucas who speaks up, peeking around Hopper’s left shoulder and looking bored. “The Demogorgon probably came through here at some point and left its signature on the wall. El’s on it, don’t worry.”

Steve does a double-take. “What do you mean, ‘El’s on it?’” 

Lucas shrugs. “It means she’s on it, dude, how should we know? She just points at stuff and it does what she wants.”

“Who’s El?” you ask, more out of your element each second. 

“My girlfriend,” Mike says.

“Our friend with super powers,” Dustin speaks over him, giving you whiplash.

“Great. We’re just relying on Eleven to close this gate before the morning?” Steve looks about ready to tear his hair out, and you feel even closer. “We were supposed to be out of here by ten. The morning team comes in at four, so that gives her… four hours?? To get this shit handled?”

“Don’t look at me like that,” Dustin argues. “I would have told you this shit was going on, but you and Eddie don’t want me to come in here because you have some girl-”

“Shuddup!” Eddie’s voice is high pitched as he pinches the bridge of his nose. “How are we supposed to explain a rift in the space-time continuum to our boss, hm? What are we supposed to do about the broken case? I can’t lose this job, man, I’m clinging to it with my fucking nails as it is.”

“You were robbed.” Hopper’s voice is level and calm, his eyes flicking briefly to the case.

“What?”

Hopper breathes loudly through his nose, obviously losing his patience with your inability to keep up with their rapid-fire crisis control. “Did you clock out when you were supposed to?”

“Uh… yeah?” You kick the toe of your shoe against the floor, feeling sort of stupid as you say it. “Mimi… Mimi doesn’t like to pay overtime?”

Hopper nods. “Okay. You clocked out at ten, you went home. Someone broke into the bakery, smashed up the case when they were grabbing the pastries, and stole a bunch of merchandise along with the money from the register. You weren’t here. A concerned bystander called in a tip.”

“But that’s-” You frown. “But we still have everything, unless you want to count the shit the demo- demofucker knocked over.”

Hopper blinks slowly. Dustin, Lucas, and Mike exchange excited glances. They look back at you, at the mounds of baked goods, and you know what they mean. 

It’s always the bakery, isn’t it?

“For fuck’s sake- yeah, alright.” You sigh, and gesture vaguely toward the displays. “Where do you wanna start, the muffins?”

“Donuts, I call donuts!” Dustin shouts, whirling around to head for the case. 

“I’ve always wanted to try the cream puffs, my mom says they’re too rich,” Mike mutters as he and Lucas crowd toward the refrigerated section and start grabbing armloads of pie slices. Even Hopper, tired as he looks, makes a B-line for the gourmet cookies and starts hauling out boxes two at a time with a childish gleam in his eye. 

Perfect. Taking a page out of Warren’s book. Let them eat cake.

Out of the corner of your eye, you see Steve reaching for the cupcakes and glare at him with a mix of horror and betrayal. “You too?”

“What, are the cupcakes off limits to robbers? Hm?” Steve cracks open the container and passes one to Eddie, who takes it gingerly and starts licking the caramel flavored frosting off of it immediately. “Get off my dick!”

You glance down. The button on his pants is still undone. 

“Aw, lighten up, princess.” The ember at the end of Eddie’s cigarette glows in the darkness, the only other thing helping you to see his relaxed expression being the light of the half moon in the sky. He pulls his arm back, and throws a box of muffins in a perfect arc, until it crashes down with a splash into Lover’s Lake. “Nobody comes out here anymore. And if they did, all they would find is waterlogged baked goods. It’s no big deal, really.”

Steve sidles up behind him with a box of donut holes, and tosses it in a similar fashion. “Says the guy who desecrated a demobat corpse an hour ago for fucking up his bundt cakes.” 

“Hey. That was personal, okay? I slaved over those things.” He blows out a puff of smoke and chucks another box into the water. “Besides, I saw Sinclair going after them. I’m sure he’ll treat ‘em right.”

The back of Eddie’s van is slowly emptying, leaving space for you to squeeze in and lean against the front seat, your ass just barely kept comfortable by a wadded up hoodie. You think it belongs to Steve, since you know Eddie wouldn’t be caught dead wearing bright sunshine yellow. 

You cradle a box of sugar cookies to your chest like it’s a teddy bear. You can’t honestly say why it bothers you so much; your story will be corroborated by Hopper, who most people in town don’t question anymore. The kids each have taken home whatever they wanted to keep and agreed to toss the rest where it can’t be found. Even Hopper insisted that you should just go home and get some rest after getting rid of the evidence you’d all stashed in the back of Eddie’s van. 

You don’t know why you’re so uncomfortable with it all. Maybe it’s just the fact that everything the boys are throwing into the lake represents hours of your hard work, and it just kinda sucks to see it all go to waste. 

“Sweetheart? You’re off in space.” You didn’t realize Eddie had returned to grab more boxes from the van, but you blink up to find his imposing frame blocking out the light of the moon, his palms flat against the bed of the van as he leans slightly inward to look at you. Steve appears from behind him, curiously peering at you over Eddie’s shoulder. 

You’ll never really get used to how attractive they are together. Sure, you’ve admired them both separately, choosing to focus on one or the other just to save yourself the struggle of having to choose between them. You hadn’t considered the fact that you could have them both until they’d given you the option. But together… together, they’re nothing short of perfect. Dark and light, scary and soft, the moon and the sun. Balancing each other out, complementing each other.

Your cookie box crinkles as you shift, looking up at Eddie unsurely. “I’m fine.”

Eddie’s head perks up. “Yeah, fuck that. No one says ‘I’m fine’ like that unless they really aren’t fine. Harrington, babe, help me-”

Eddie shoves an entire stack of boxes out of the van in one fell swoop, letting them all topple into the dirt. His hand claps down into Steve’s palm before Steve helps him jump up into the back, squeezing past more boxes to get to you. His hand pats your hip gently. “Gotta get behind you baby, c’mon, up-” 

You squeak and sort of confusedly shift forward, your skirt riding up uncomfortably and your bare ass meeting cold metal as you try to create enough space for Eddie to worm his way behind you. He slots himself between your back and the front seat, plopping down loudly, toppling more boxes and then pulling you between his legs to his chest. He sighs. “There. Cozy.”

The sharp corner of a plastic cupcake tray digs into your thigh. You kick a bunch more boxes off the bed of the van and into Steve’s outstretched hands, trying to get comfortable. “Uh-huh.”

His fingers latch onto your cookie box. “Gonna eat these?”

“… No?”

“Okay. You wanna give ‘em to me?” Eddie’s forefinger and thumb pinch the box, wiggling it in your hands. You hesitantly let go, and watch him pass it to Steve. You expect Steve to immediately turn around and chuck them into the water, but he holds onto them instead. “What’s bothering you, sweetheart?”

“You mean besides the bloodthirsty monsters and the rifts in space-time and our jobs being on the line?” You blink at Steve and then turn your head to look at Eddie over your shoulder. “I dunno. I’ve never stolen anything before in my life, so.”

Eddie tuts, smoothing your hair away from your face gently. “I know. Look at it this way; you got special permission from the police chief to throw all that shit away. So, who’s gonna be mad at you, hm?”

“I just feel bad,” you huff, leaning back into his embrace. “Or… or maybe I just feel a little like Warr-” 

“Warren?” Steve’s voice is calm, but he’s obviously miffed at the mention of the manager. “What’s Warren gonna do?”

You hesitate. You can practically see the guy wiggling his eyebrows, a little smirk on his gaunt face as he goes, “Well, lookee here. Don’t tell me you’re eating all that by yourself. You know store policy, darlin’…” 

“He creeps me out,” you admit quietly. “He acts like… like I’m his sweetheart, or something. I don’t trust him worth a shit. If he found out I had something to do with this, I dunno. Maybe he’d use it against me…?”

“You’re not his sweetheart,” Eddie says sharply, his hold tightening on your waist. You can’t see the look on his face, but Steve can. All the possessiveness and rage, the nearly wild look in his eye that reminds him of when Eddie was ready to start swinging fists in the middle of the bakery. “You’re ours. And we’re here to keep you safe, baby. From everything. Demon bats and demon managers. Right, Steve?”

Steve nods. “Absolutely. To hell and back, honey.” 

“And if he tries anything,” Eddie adds, speaking quietly into your ear- and even though you know Steve can hear him, you feel like he’s speaking to you alone- “anything at all. You tell either of us, and we’ll take care of it. You have my word.” 

A grin breaks across Steve’s face. “Eddie’ll go all Rocky Balboa on his ass. Believe me.”

“Really?” you breathe, turning your head to nuzzle Eddie’s nose with your own. 

“Mhm,” Steve confirms. “I have it on the best authority.”

Eddie’s hand comes up to capture your jaw, pulling you toward him so that he can press a gentle kiss to your lips. Nothing too overwhelming or passionate, but just a reminder to himself that he can.

“Anyone ever tell you that you’re hot when you get all protective, Munson?” Steve says mildly, grabbing up a couple more boxes to throw into the water. 

“So’re you,” you mumble, then nudge Eddie’s stomach with your elbow. “You should’ve seen him taking on that bat.”

Eddie’s arm tightens around your waist. “Oh, I know it, sweetheart. I’ve seen him rip one of those fuckers in half with his bare hands.” 

“Is that true, Steve?” You look up at him through your lashes, hoping that you don’t look as turned on by that as you are. “You ripped one in half?”

Steve chuckles, looking sheepishly down at his feet. If there were more light out, you would be able to see the blush on his cheeks. “Yeah… I mean, it’s not really that impressive. It nearly choked me to death.”

You can’t help the little hum that leaves you, the indelicate shift of your hips as a sudden rush of arousal sinks between your thighs, debilitating in its strength. You thought you had gotten over that need to have them fuck your brains out today, but it seems like your body has other plans. 

Eddie, the cheeky motherfucker, notices immediately. His voice low, a dangerous purr in the back of his throat, he murmurs, “Uh oh, Harrington. Little baby’s getting turned on.”

“Really?” Steve muses, a mischievous glint in his eye as he wanders a bit closer to the back of the van. “You need something, sweet pea?”

“I’m- It’s, uh-” You swallow thickly, trying not to shift against Eddie again as he drags his forefinger slowly along your arm. “It’s… we already…”

“Oh, you already,” Eddie reiterates, shooting Steve a wolfish grin over your shoulder. “Should’a known you’d jump on it as soon as you got her alone, big boy.”

Steve scoffs, turning away with a tongue-in-cheek smirk and throwing a box into the water with a loud splash. “Yeah? What were you doing all morning?” 

“I was teaching her about proper finger placement,” Eddie says without missing a beat. “Y’know. For guitar.”

Steve grunts as if he’s not convinced. Your face- your whole body, really- is burning, both from embarrassment and desire. You’re starting to wish that Eddie would just cut the crap and move his hand from your arm down between your legs again, if anything just to satiate this ridiculous need that’s kicked up out of nowhere. You can only imagine his chastising voice if he were to find the sticky mess of your slick mixed with Steve’s cum already trickling from your cunt.

Steve takes the lead on it before you can come up with a way to vocalize what you want. You watch the way he leisurely rolls his head back on his shoulders, his neck popping into alignment. He reaches forward to pull the last few boxes out of the back of the van, climbing into the back to crawl toward you. “What can we do to help, honey?”

You nearly choke on your breath. “Anything. You can do anything you want to me. Both of you.”

“Jesus Christ,” Eddie hisses, his hand immediately coming up to undo the front of your uniform dress for the second time tonight. “Perfect little baby- let’s get you out of this, alright?”

You squeeze your lips tightly together, nodding as you wiggle forward and let him pull the itchy dress over your head, discarding it somewhere near the front seat. Your hot skin hits the cool air, and you have to fight not to give an audible sigh of relief. Eddie’s hands are immediately on you, sweeping up your stomach to soothingly squeeze at your breasts, his mouth latching onto the side of your neck. 

Steve parts your legs with gentle hands. Eddie, a bit more aggressive than Steve, hooks his calves around yours and pulls your legs wide open to give Steve an unobstructed view of your swollen pussy. 

Steve groans at the sight of it. “Still got my cum in there, baby?”

You squirm, wanting to press your thighs together to stave off the violent throb in your core at his words. Eddie pushes back against your legs, an immovable object in the way of your struggle. You whine at the feeling of his tongue on your neck, and give Steve a shaky, “Yes?”

“Mm. Wanna taste it.” 

You’re in deep. He doesn’t give you any other warning before he sinks between you and Eddie’s spread legs, and his mouth latches onto your cunt. A garbled, desperate noise comes out of your mouth; you’re not sure if it’s supposed to be a moan or a shout or both, but Eddie’s arm tightens around your waist and his long hair tickles your shoulder as he murmurs into your ear, “I know, baby. Stevie’s really good with his tongue, isn’t he?”

“Y-yeah,” you whine. You try to rock your hips against Steve’s face, but it’s no use- Eddie’s holding you too steady, his arms and legs keeping you motionless and party to Steve’s every whim.

“How’s she taste, Steve?” Eddie asks calmly, a hand coming up to tuck a strand of hair behind your ear.

Steve lifts his head with a long swipe of his tongue that sends sparks skyrocketing through your limbs. “Fucking delicious.”

Eddie purrs, his lips skimming your bare shoulder as he reaches forward and grabs onto Steve’s head. Steve blinks up at the both of you, eyes dark and heavy with lust, and lets Eddie guide him back down to your pussy.

“Fuck, daddy.” The words leave your mouth before you can stop them, hands clawing at Eddie’s thigh and Steve’s shoulder in succession. You feel Eddie’s puff of breath against your neck, and then his amused noise of recognition.

“Daddy?” he echoes, turning his head to skirt his nose up the side of your throat. “He told you about that, hm? Steve, you dirty bastard…” 

Steve makes a muffled grunt against your cunt, the vibration of it cutting straight through your clit and into your core, making you jolt. “She just sounds so fucking pretty when she says it.”

A deep hum resounds in Eddie’s chest, and he skims his fingers up your stomach toward your breasts. “What do you think, sweetheart? You like it when daddy eats your pussy like this?” 

Your mouth drops open, but not to form words; you can’t form words, because Eddie’s fingers trace gentle circles around your nipple at the same time as Steve’s tongue does your clit, and you melt. A deep, loud moan leaves you with a gust of air from your lungs, and your thighs tense up as you feel your orgasm building up to reach its breaking point.

Steve takes the opportunity to turn his attention downwards, dipping his tongue into your channel. Just the slightest bit of friction to stimulate that ring of muscle, and you can barely contain yourself, your hand reaching back to grab onto Eddie’s hair for support. “Shit- shit, I’m gonna come.”

Your head drops back against Eddie’s shoulder, and you can feel him smile against your bare skin. “Shh, I know, baby. It’s okay, you can come on daddy’s mouth, I’m sure he’ll love it.” 

It’s that gentle permission Eddie gives you that tips you over, pulling you apart at the seams and making you come undone against Steve’s tongue. The sound of his mouth on you has you delirious, limbs jerking against Eddie’s hold, the only thing keeping you still against Steve’s caresses. 

“Oh, look at you, baby,” Steve breathes as he finally lets up, his tongue still dancing through your folds a few times as you come down. “Fuck, I’ll never get tired of that.”

“C’mere, pretty boy,” Eddie says, tugging on Steve’s hair. “Wanna taste.”

You lay limply back against Eddie’s shoulder, bleary and tired, but still decently aware of Steve advancing up your body and leaning over you. You watch as he cups Eddie by the jaw and spits into his mouth, letting him taste you on his saliva.

“Mm, fuck,” Eddie groans, turning his head toward yours. “So damn good. You need more, sweetheart?”

The proposition immediately has you lifting your head, blinking your eyes open at Eddie and nodding. Of course you want more. You’ll take as much as they want to give you. 

Eddie snickers at the hopeful look on your face, exchanging a glance with Steve. “Needy little thing, isn’t she? Help me with her.” 

Steve gathers you into his arms and lifts you like it’s nothing while Eddie undoes his belt. You’re so preoccupied with the way that Steve kisses you, his tongue licking into your mouth so deeply, that Eddie takes you by surprise when he grabs your hips and pulls you down onto his cock.

“There you go, baby,” Eddie whispers into your ear, holding you tight as you whine loudly from him stretching you out so suddenly. “Such a good girl, taking it all. This what you wanted?”

“Please, Eddie, please-” you pant, hanging your head as you try to come up with something to say other than just miserable begging. “Feels so good. S’all I want, I just- fuck, move.”  

Eddie takes that to heart, rutting his hips up into you sharply. You have to clutch onto Steve for dear life, because you’re too lost in the bliss of it. Steve’s hands are on your hips, pushing you to grind further down onto Eddie’s cock; and the noises that are coming out of your mouth are nearly deafening, even to you. 

Steve leans forward and captures your mouth, managing to muffle them a bit, but making no effort to stop them from happening. 

“Oh, sweetheart,” Eddie breathes into your ear, his hands roaming over your chest and squeezing your waist as he drills his cock into you. “You’re just drowning me- getting my balls all wet, too.”

You feel more than see it; Steve lets go of your hip with one hand, dragging his fingers across your thigh as he reaches down beneath you. Eddie chokes on a groan, shoving his face almost bashfully into your shoulder as Steve squeezes his balls, stroking them with a slick noise that can be heard over your cries and Eddie’s deep moans.

“Oh shit, my god, Steve,” Eddie whispers brokenly against your skin, and his hand shoots blindly forward, scratching for Steve’s fly with clumsy desperation. You salvage a little bit of your remaining mental capacity to reach forward and help him; fingers shaky but more accurate as you undo the button and zipper, a little more precise when you reach into his boxers and pull Steve’s cock out.

“Jesus,” Steve gasps, his forehead falling to rest against yours as you and Eddie both stroke him with fumbling hands. He hisses through his teeth, repeating, “Jesus- fuck me.”

“S’what we’re doing,” you grunt, and Eddie manages a shaky laugh. Eddie’s rings are cold when your fingers skim them, but you think Steve likes that little variation in the texture of your hands. His hips buck into your hands; below you, he tries to keep his touch gentle and give Eddie only what he knows he can take. 

It’s Eddie who comes first. He gives Steve’s cock a quick squeeze at the base, a poor attempt at a wordless warning. And then Eddie shouts, his hips jolting and warm cum filling you, making you moan at the feeling. Steve lets him go slowly, lifting you off of him gingerly as the sensitivity creeps in.

“Mind if I take it from here?” Steve asks him, as if he isn’t already gathering you into his lap and lining himself up with your leaking cunt. 

“Wouldn’t want to leave you hanging,” Eddie answers, sounding out of breath and fucked out. You feel Eddie’s hand fall on top of Steve’s on your hip, squeezing a bit as Steve pulls you down onto his cock.

Your agonized whine cuts through the air, head falling forward onto Steve’s shoulder. Steve shushes you, a hand coming up to hold the back of your head and his cheek pressing against the side of your head. Over your shoulder, Steve’s eyes flutter open to find Eddie absolutely taken by the sight- Steve cradling you close, his lips parted and lust clouded eyes trained on him. 

It takes very little for Steve to get you to your second orgasm. Heaven knows Eddie had brought you halfway there, and with two sets of hands on you, one of which slides down to find your clit, you naturally don’t last much longer.

You make little effort to keep it quiet, baring your teeth, whining through it with sharp, pained noises. Steve finds it cute, cradling your neck as your head tilts backward.

“Good girl, just let it out,” he murmurs, slowly lowering you back to rest in Eddie’s lap. Eddie’s arms circle you, holding you steady as Steve grabs your hips, setting a pace to chase his own high.

Your face screws up, your hand reaching up to snatch onto Eddie’s tattooed forearm. “I- god, it’s so much, Eddie…”

Eddie looks down at you, giving you something of a mocking smile as he strokes your hair away from your face. “I know, baby. But you want Steve to finish, don’tcha?” 

You can feel tears gathering in your eyes, the pleasure so quickly bleeding into overstimulation, but you still nod feebly in Eddie’s hands. “Want him to come… inside, I want it…”

“Hear that?” Eddie picks his eyes up to lock onto Steve’s. He grins devilishly. “She wants both our loads inside that sweet little cunt.”

“Fuck. Dirty girl.” Steve’s hands tighten on your hips, and he clenches his teeth. “M’gonna give it to her. Anything she wants.”

Steve’s hips slam into yours, jolting you further into Eddie’s arms. His fingers dig into your skin, head hung low on his shoulders as a stream of garbled curses leaves his mouth. His warmth fills you, seeping from around where he grinds his cock lazily into you one last time.

Stillness. That’s all you can register after Steve slips from you, and it’s just you and him and Eddie panting heavily in the darkness. The early autumn air from outside whisks away the humidity in the back of the van, leaving your sweaty skin cool and with a layer of goosebumps across it. 

“You’re fucking amazing,” Steve says after a moment, stirring you from your daze. He’s sitting up now, looking a bit exhausted but not nearly as much as you feel. “The both of you.”

Eddie grabs him by the collar of his shirt, yanking him sideways to plant a sticky kiss onto his cheek. Steve laughs and collapses like a house of cards, falling onto the floor of the van next to you. Another couple beats of silence, and then; “Hey, is that my sweatshirt?”

Eddie jumps, turning at the waist to muscle the yellow sweater out from under his legs. “Oh, yeah. Remember that day we parked out by the old mill?”

“Oh, yeah.” Steve laughs, but refuses it when Eddie hands it to him. “We need to get her dressed.”

“Right.” Eddie prods you to sit up, despite your tired noises of disapproval. “I know, I know; I promise you can lay back down in a minute, but you can’t be naked all night, we have places to be.” 

“Like where?”  

“Like getting you home.” Eddie gets the sweater over your head, and the soft fabric almost swallows you whole. “Steve, pass me that bag in the corner?” 

“What is- what?” Steve snatches up the plastic bag and peeks inside it, pulling out your sweatpants and cami from the morning. “There’s no underwear in here for her.” 

“Yeah,” Eddie snickers, taking the pants from him. “I know.”

As Eddie packs you into the sweatpants, something electronic crackles loudly from the front seat. Steve shuffles over and pulls out a giant, clunky walkie-talkie, snapping the antenna upwards. “Dustin? That you?”

“Yeah, it’s- get rid of- closed the gate.” The staticky message cuts in and out, and Eddie and Steve exchange a knowing look.

Steve presses the mic button. “The gate’s closed?”

“Yes, didn’t- hear me?”

Steve rolls his eyes. “Got it. Over and out.” He snaps the antenna back down, tossing the walkie back into its place on the front seat. “Kid’s gotta get that attitude in check, I swear.”

“You guys have a walkie talkie to communicate with those kids?” you ask blearily, half asleep and confused as hell.

“Yeah…” Eddie draws out the word, pursing his lips and looking at Steve for help. “This has been going on longer than you think.”

You grumble, not wanting to argue. You’ll worry about it later.

“Steve,” Eddie mutters, and shuffles you gently into his arms. You settle back against Steve’s chest, taking a deep, cleansing breath, and sinking into his warmth.

Eddie’s ringed hand pats yours, and then Steve’s, and then you hear Eddie clambering out of the back of the van. A few more moments of silence, hearing only Steve’s slow breathing, allowing yourself to slowly drift off to sleep and wondering where Eddie’s gone. And then, you hear a quiet splash.

The bakery is a mess.

Cops are everywhere. You didn’t know that there were this many cops in Hawkins, unless they hired out. Mimi looks less stressed and more pissed, hands on her hips and barking orders at everyone who’s running around to clean up the damage. Over her shoulder, Jim Hopper makes eye contact with you and nods curtly. Anyone watching would think he was just being polite. You know better.

There’s a garbage bag that’s been cut open and rolled out to create a tarp to cover the pastry case; it sways in the breeze from the open front doors, through which cops and employees alike pass as they try to make sense of the ruckus.

Steve tilts his head beside you, looking at the writing scrawled on it. “Don’t Broken, Open Inside?”

“Don’t Open, Broken Inside,” you correct, pointing at the vertical writing on either side of the partition that cuts the case in half.

“Oh shit, the pastry case is broken?” Eddie says with a cheeky grin as he walks into the store, immediately going to pull the tarp aside. 

“Eddie!” You yell, jumping to snatch his hand, but he’s already managed to open the case part-way. You get just a glimpse inside; just enough to see that the disgusting extra-dimensional gate is gone, only leaving broken shelves in its place. It even looks as though you and Steve had been able to clean the case like Mimi wanted before you clocked out.

“What happened here?” you hear Steve ask with a facade of innocence, and turn to see Warren stalking through the bakery lobby with a sour expression.

“We were robbed last night, haven’t you noticed?” Warren spits. “Someone called the cops around midnight. Who the hell robs a bakery?”  

You press your tongue hard against the roof of your mouth.

“Yogi Bear?“ Eddie offers. “It’s bear season.”

Warren blinks at him, turning a bit red in the face as he seethes at the sight of Eddie looking so entertained by all the chaos. Warren snatches a stray bag of bread that had been left behind off the display beside him, thrusting it into Steve’s arms and nodding at it wordlessly.

Steve looks down at the bread unsurely. “Uh…?”

“Dust the bread shelf.” Warren walks into the kitchen without another word.

Steve nods, looking like he ought to have expected that. “Okay.”

[arizariia]

Controversial hot take, but The Phantom (aka Erik) was never the better choice for Christine. He abused her. I get that some people love "dark romance," but the reality is that she never saw him as a potential lover, and he never saw her more than something he could control and use. Also, he killed a man, and that immediately made her not like him. In the main song for the musical, he literally sings, "My power over you grows stronger yet." Power. Not love or devotion. Power. He saw Christine as a tool for him to use so someone could sing the music he wrote. To the Phantom, Christine is his possession.

Music Of The Night is just the Phantom projecting his hatred for the world and light on Christine, trying to get into her head that she should be in the darkness with him. It's possessive. That's all it is. Note that Christine doesn't have any singing roles at all in the song either. We don't get to hear what she has to say. She's entranced simply due to the fact that she's finally face to face with the man who helped her with her singing voice, and she is being shown new things.

Of course, this all falls apart when she takes off his mask and scares her. Literally chasing her. He calls her a "demon" and a "viper." It's only after he sees Christine's tearful and fearful expression that he starts doing the, "fear can turn to love," thing. She's still afraid of him, though.

Then the El Muto incident happens with Bouquet, and Christine is scared as shit. Raoul thinks that Christine is believing in fairytales, but that's because Christine was also the type to believe in things such as fairies. It makes sense that he wouldn't believe her at first. But of course, people who hate Raoul stop there and go, "That's why Raoul sucks!" But the reality is that he realizes that there's clearly more going on, and that's why All I Ask Of You happens. It's literally the opposite of Music of the Night. Most of all, Christine actually gets to voice her feelings, so we understand her better.

Raoul offers Christine freedom and protection. Christine sings,

All I want is freedom

A world with no more night

And you always beside me

To hold me and to hide me

Now, are we ready gonna sit here and say that she would have chosen the Phantom if it wasn't for Raoul? Christine finally gets a moment to use her words, and this is what she says. She never wanted to be with the Phantom in the first place. It was his singing voice that entranced her, but everything else scared the shit out of her. And when Raoul offers to be her "light," why wouldn't she take that opportunity?

When the Phantom claims that Christine "denied" and "betrayed" him, not only is he projecting hard, but Christine was never obligated to return his affections in the first place. You can't scare a woman to tears and then murder a man and get mad when the woman doesn't want to fuck you. Even the lines, "He was bound to love you when he heard you sing," is just a way for him to somewhat cope with what happened. The reality is that while the Phantom wants to believe that Raoul manipulated Christine into picking him, the two already harbored feelings for one another back during their childhood, and that puppy love they shared never truly left. She wasn't manipulated by Raoul, but the Phantom wanted to manipulate her.

Also, I love how people act like the Phantom truly loved Christine. Even though the moment she picks Raoul, he immediately says she will pay for not doing what he wanted. Then he drops the chandelier. That's textbook abusive behavior. "You don't do what I want? I'll hurt people and say it was your fault."

Christine is also now highly aware that the Phantom would kill Raoul if he knew she was close to him. She says that before All I Ask Of You and during Masquerade. She loves Raoul and can't wait to marry him, but she doesn't want the creepy man who lives in the basement knowing. And again, when the Phantom appears, he says to Christine, "Your chains are still mine– you belong to me," once again seeing Christine as some kind of possession.

And most of all, in Notes/Twisted In Every Way, Christine gets to sing this:

Raoul, it scares me–

Don't put me through this

Ordeal by fire...

He'll take me, I know...

We'll be parted forever...

He won't let me go...

What I once used to dream

I now dread...

If he finds me, it won't

Ever end...

And he'll always be there

Singing songs in my head...

He'll always be there

Singing songs in my head...

[And a little later she also sings]

Do I become his prey?

Do I have any choice?

He kills without a thought

He murders all that's good...

I know I can't refuse

And yet, I wish I could...

Again, there are people who think she should have stayed with the Phantom? Like, are you serious? Did we watch the same musical?

The story of the Phantom of the Opera is literally about a young woman discovering that someone who should have been her friend and guardian was actually a predatory abusive man and how she escaped him. But I get it. A lot of people didn't read the original book where the Phantom is ten times worse, and yeah, the men on stage are kinda hot. I do get that. But we can't forget that he was so abusive and controlling. Erik is the textbook example of how abused people can end up hurting more people. Yes, his backstory was sad, but that's no excuse for what he did. You can't force a woman to love you.

Yeah, I know. This is a rant. I'm just kinda sick of people who just seemed to miss the point of the narrative of Phantom and are acting like the literal abuser was the correct choice for Christine even though she made it clear the in story that she wanted to get away from all that. It was never about her singing career for her. That was never a be all end all. Love Never Dies isn't canon. I don't want to see people using that as some sorta gotcha.

Tl;dr

The Phantom is a little piss baby, and he wasn't the better choice. Stop pairing a victim with their abuser. It's weird.

[flieslikeamoron]

@onirislanding gave me a teen comedy AU prompt and I wrote a Breakfast Club AU but I’ve been thinking there should be an Adventures in Babysitting steddie AU for years so I tried writing a little of that too. We all agree Chris had more chemistry with the car thief than the college boy, right? 

-*-

This entire thing is Robin’s fault. If it weren’t for her desperately begging Steve for a ride after getting stranded at the bus station, he would be watching TV at the Wheelers’ right now. The kids would be having semi-supervised fun in the basement. He would be bored, but in almost no danger of being shot by car thieves while falling from the ceiling. And he would have snacks. 

Steve pauses at the end of a very careful step. He looks down to make sure none of the scary guys, who are probably currently discussing how to get rid of their bodies, have realized he and the kids have been making their escape via metal ceiling beam for the last five minutes. It feels like it’s been an hour. Fuck. Looking down sucks. He’s never really had a thing about heights, but he’s realizing now that’s probably because he’s never been so close to falling to his death before. No one seems to have noticed anything. The kids are all slow walking in front him, Max in the lead, arms outstretched for balance as they head toward an open window. Dustin’s foot slips with a slight scrape, a bit of dirt drifting down onto the meeting going on below. The kids freeze. Steve holds his breath, forcing himself to look down again. Still okay. 

Max pauses when she reaches the window. If there’s not a way down, they’re going to be so screwed. She leans halfway out, giving Steve another minor heart attack. And then turns to flash them all a thumbs up before climbing through. Steve breathes a little easier as he watches the rest of the kids disappear out the window. Lucas, then Mike, then Dustin. Steve looks down one more time as he climbs onto the ladder. They may actually get away clean.

Steve glances around when he gets down to the ground, trying to orient himself. The kids all cluster around him like he has any idea where the fuck he is or how to get home. Great. First step. Get the hell away from here. The kids are starting to point, half of them south and the other half north. He can see them on the verge of talking, and makes a shushing gesture. He picks up a loose pipe he sees lying on the ground, just in case. Then freezes as the other reason they’re in this mess steps out of the shadows.

Eddie. The guy they accidentally interrupted in the middle of boosting a car. The guy who told them he’d get them to the shop where Steve’s Beemer is hopefully being repaired. The guy who said trust me.

Steve scream whispers “Run” at the kids, cocking the pipe like a bat.

“Wait,” Eddie whisper yells back. Yeah right. 

Just then a commotion spills out of the warehouse. Sounds like someone noticed they’re not locked in the office anymore. Steve takes off running after the kids with Eddie close behind. 

“I’m trying to help you,” Eddie says, not bothering to whisper. He keeps pace with Steve for a moment, before Steve surges ahead to overtake the kids and lead them down a turn. He has no idea where he’s running, what he’s leading the kids toward. Just hoping for the best, just hoping to get out of sight as they take another turn. He can’t see the rest of the guys chasing him, so if they can just lose Eddie. Find a place to hide maybe. They’ll figure out where they are once they give him the slip.

The kids turn to look at Steve as they all run up against a dead end. If it were chain link maybe they could climb it, but it’s brick. They could really use some super powers right about now, but El’s in California with the Byers family. And she lost her powers anyway. They’re going to have to double back, right into the yelling voices and pounding feet getting closer by the second.

“Come with me,” Eddie says, heading back up the alley. “I know a place.”

Steve doesn’t really see how he has much choice. If Eddie’s trying to help those guys catch them all he needs to do is yell, “Over here!” Steve grimaces and motions for the kids to follow. Maybe if it is a trap, he can at least stall them with the pipe long enough for the kids to find a payphone or somebody to give them a ride… 

Eddie pulls open a door they ran right past before, holding it open for the kids. He motions for Steve to come in, half bowing with a dramatic flourish of his hand. He slams the door shut behind them when Steve steps inside and holds a finger to his lips. They listen to the pounding feet pass the door and run up against the dead end. There’s some confused shouting, and then it sounds like they’re running the other way.

“They use this entrance to load in equipment,” Eddie says. “They always forget to lock it.” He motions with his hand again, leading them all down a hallway covered in graffitti and posters. Steve can hear the roar of metal music through the walls.

“If this is a club, they’ll kick the kids out.”

“Only if we get caught,” Eddie says with a grin. He opens another door, and they all troop into what looks like some kind of junk room. A bunch of stacked chairs, some broken amps, piles of outdated merch. “Grab a seat,” Eddie says. “We’ll just wait here for a second to make sure they’re not still looking for us.”

“How do you know this place?” Dustin asks.

“Played here a few times,” Eddie says, like it’s no big deal.

“You’re in a band?” Max says.

Steve can see some stars starting to form in the kids’ eyes.

“He’s a car thief,” Steve reminds them. Unfortunately they think that’s pretty cool too. Dustin asked Eddie to teach him to hot wire while they were getting abducted mid-grand theft auto.

“I have many talents, babysitter,” Eddie says, leaning in closer to Steve than Steve is strictly comfortable with. Steve’s heart starts to pound, his stomach doing a weird little flip, as Eddie flashes him a wide smile. 

[femboyhorror]

sometimes things can seem like an eternity

【 my humblest of offerings to this year's stanuary. decided to do week three: supernatural with the ghosts prompt and manage to finish this just as we get into the last week of stanuary!

content warnings ahead for allusions to abuse, (both parental and relationship wise) brief suicidal ideation, minor and brief body horror of the nightmarish horror type and in general tackling stan's self worth issues. stay safe everyone! cross-posted to ao3! 】

.｡❅⋆⍋∞｡∞⍋⋆❅｡.

AFTER YEARS of surviving alone on the streets, Stanley thought things truly couldn't get worse for him. It all began with the moment his own twin shut the curtains on him and only spiralled from there. He was yelled at, stabbed, shot at, burned with cigarettes, shoved into a hot car trunk and left to die and even worse things he didn't even want to recall.

Point was, he thought he'd gone through it all.

How naive he still was.

He can still remember that scream. A scream so raw, so gutteral he barely could believe it came out of his throat. He can still feel the pain radiating from his back where the white hot metal had seared straight through his trusty old jacket and into his skin below, branding him like some common cattle.

All because he thought his brother wanted him in his life after all these years. What a joke!

But the cherry on top of it all was what Ford said to him. '𝘐'𝘮 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦.' Of course Stanford didn't want him in his life. He was a complete idiot to ever thing otherwise.

And so he fell back on what he did best: He ran.

He ignored his twin panicked apologies - too little, too late - as he turned tail back to the elevator that lead him down to this horror movie set of a basement. Ford's pleas for him to come back fell on deaf ears as the elevator door shut. Next thing he knows he's running out the door and into the snow covered woods, too lost in anger and pain to care about where his feet were taking him.

It wasn't long until his steps became slower and clumsier, and before long the pain of his new burn and his overall exhaustion had him leaning against a nearby tree for support, pulling his old coat against him to protect from the cold.

He could see his car - his beloved reliable El Diablo - in the distance. He knows he could just get into it right now and put this whole damned town in his rearview mirror. Yet even as he considers doing so, all he can see is his brother. The look of terror in his eyes and the desperation in his voice. But even as he can't bring himself to leave his twin, neither can he bring himself to go back inside.

He had just been trying to come up with some sort of plan when a familiar voice makes his stomach drop in fear.

"Ol' 8-ball, didn't expect to see you here…"

He knows that voice all too well. Once upon a time, hearing that voice would make him swoon and sigh like he was a schoolgirl. Now it's like he's been doused with ice water.

"Jimmy…" He doesn't want to look up but he has to. Jimmy never liked it when it seemed like he was being ignored. And even when he knows who was waiting for him, he has to surpress a flinch when he sees his old flame.

"I'm flattered, Andy. Guess ya remember me, after all…" The biker's reply was light and conversational, but Stanley saw the tells that showed how pissed the man truly was. Jimmy always had a way of hiding his anger behind a charming smile, luring you closer before striking. And Stan as ashamed to say that he had let Jimmy take his bad moods out on him for too long until he finally wised up. Waiting until the biker was old cold after one too many drinks to pack his bags up and disappeared into the night.

He hoped that he had finally escaped Jimmy's wrath, but it seemed he couldn't even manage running away correctly.

"And to think that after everything I've done for ya…" Jimmy continues, circling around him like a blood-thirsty predator circling his prey. "I took you in. Kept you safe, fed you… and you end up leaving me without even saying goodbye."

Stan knows what's going to happen. He knows what happens to people that leave their abusive exes. But despite the fear that wraps itself around his throat like an angry cobra, Stanley manages to find his voice.

"You fucking threatened to shank me! And that was when ya weren't too busy slapping me around cos' some other guy was lookin' at me!" Almost as soon as those words left his mouth, he's being grabbed and pushed against the tree by his ex. A situation that's all too familiar.

"I treated ya better than anyone else would, kitten." Jimmy spits out the nickname with venom. "Ya think anyone else was going to care about some street tramp like you?"

"Fuck you…" But as much as he tries, he can't deny that what Jimmy's words weren't true. His fight with Ford mere minutes ago and the subsequent burn he gotten from it was proof of that. If not even his own brother wanted him around, who would?

But then he blinks and in an instant the face of his ex boyfriend is replaced by the same unimpressed look of the man he's tried so hard to prove himself to his whole life. And though he should be questioning how and why his old man is out in the middle of the icy cold winter of Oregon wearing just his usual mustard-yellow suit, all Stan can focus on is the words that come out of his mouth.

"You're nothing but a low life screw up. Everyone knows it."

And just like that, Stanley feels as if he were 12 years old again. Pinned down by the disappointed gaze of the father he so desperately wanted the approval of. The approval that had always been given so freely to Ford.

"'M sorry… I've been trying to make those millions, though! I really have! I just… I just need more time…" He begs despite knowing full well his pleas will mean nothing to Filbrick.

All he gets for his trouble is a hard backhand that sends him onto the snow covered dirt.

"I've given you more than 'nough time. All you've shown me was that you are and always will be worthless." His father barks at him. And between the stinging of his cheek to the pain his father's words bring, all Stan can do is curl up like a wounded animal.

"M'sorry… I tried… m'sorry, m'sorry…"

"You're sorry? Is that all you have to say for yourself?"

Stanley immediately recognizes the angry voice as belonging to his brother, but the sight that greets him when he struggles to look up is so horrible and utterly wrong that he nearly loses his lunch into the snow.

It was indeed his twin standing across from him, replacing where his father was moments earlier. But what makes Stanley's blood turn to ice is the wound he saw on his brother's neck. A deep slash dried with blood dried so dark it nearly looked black against his twin's deathly pale skin. Adding to it were various other stab wounds across his chest that were all the same dark, dark red in color.

He looked like a walking corpse.

Stanley has to rub his eyes and blink, trying desperately to blink away the horrific sight that couldn't possibly be real when he had just seen his brother minutes ago and he was very much alive, if exhausted and terrified out of his mind. Then the corpse speaks, voice filled with pain and anger.

"I needed your help, Lee… I needed you to take that journal and you just ran away…!" When Ford speaks again, his words hit Stanley like a knife to the heart.

"You left me to die, Lee…"

Then, in the blink of an eye, Ford is right in front of him. Holding him up by his neck, close enough that the smell of rotting flesh nearly makes him gag.

"Dad was right. You're worthless. A waste of oxygen. All you've ever done is hold me back."

Stan tries to fight back, wriggle himself free, but with his zombie brother's hands at his throat he can feel his fight draining out of him like sand falling from between his fingers. As the air is pulled from his lungs, he can see the angry cadaver of his twin warp in front of his eyes. Eyes darkening until they were pure black, limbs lengthening, grin widening…

As dark spots start to fill his vision, he wonders if this is how he dies. Stanley Romanoff Pines, having managed to survive to the ripe old age of 27 only to die to some fucked up manifestation of his worst nightmares.

'𝘔𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵? 𝘞𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 '𝘵𝘢 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦…'

Then, with the sound of an arrow firing, he falls gracelessly into the snow and gasps for air.

.｡❅⋆⍋∞｡∞⍋⋆❅｡.

Stanford was pissed.

Despite what he was up against, the despite the very fate of the multiverse being in jeapardy and - most frustrating of all - despite the fact that he trusted him enough to ask him for help his brother refused. And then to have the gall to call 𝘍𝘰𝘳𝘥 selfish?

Even after all these years Stanley knew how to push his buttons.

It was that anger that makes him argue with Stan. Shouting words that he knows he'll come to regret later but is too tired and frustrated to care about now.

And it was that anger that fuels him into fighting Stan when the latter holds his lighter dangerously close to his journal. Threatening to engulf his years of work studying the strange and wonderful anomalies of Gravity Falls and reduce it all to ash.

He hits Stan and Stan hits him back and the two go on this way until a shove of his is followed by a pain filled scream from his twin and suddenly all the anger he felt vanishes, leaving in it's wake the sudden realization that his brother is well and truly hurt.

"Stanley! Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, are you-" But his hasty apologies are cut off by a shove that pushes him onto the floor. By the time he looks up his twin has already turned and is running to the elevator. The fresh brand on his back - 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘍𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘮 - still smoking.

"Stanley, wait! Let me help you!" '𝘓𝘦𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘹 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴!'

If his twin heard his plea, he doesn't listen. And before Ford can make it to the elevator doors they shut with a resounding thunk.

Ford lets out a string of curses under his breath, running a hand through his already ragged and messy hair. Damn it, why didn't he think to install some sort of emergency stop button for the thing? As he's thinking this, he notices the light of the portal from the corner of his eyes. The portal that should have been off.

With some more curses muttered, he rushes over to shut off the portal, feeling no sense of relief as the portal deactivated because all he could think was that Stanley was 𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘵. Stanley was hurt 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘪𝘮 and he needed to find him and help him.

As soon as he's out of the dank darkness of his lab he's grabbing his trusty crossbow - he considered leaving it behind but the idea of leaving his house without it made him feel exposed - and stepping into the snow with the goal of finding his brother.

'𝘏𝘦'𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘣𝘺 𝘯𝘰𝘸, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘭.'

The stray thought makes Ford halt for a moment with a feeling of sadness that he can't explain. That was, after all, the plan. For his brother to take that cursed journal, get on a boat and leave to hide it. And yet now that he was alone it truly dawned on him what his brother leaving him would mean.

Before the scientist can ponder on what he was feeling he catches sight of the red hunk of metal that was Stanley's beloved Stanleymobile.

The sight tells him that his brother was still here. A fact that would have comforted him if it didn't come with another, more worrying idea that something else might have gotten to his brother first.

The thought pushes Ford to move faster, trying very hard not to picture Stanley bloodied, mangled, 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘴𝘰𝘰𝘯 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩.

His thoughts grind to a half when he hears it. A sound so soft he almost misses it above the howling of the wind but he recognizes it immedately. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳'𝘴 𝘤𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨.

With a flare of protective anger at whoever - or whatever - had dared to hurt his baby brother, Ford starts running. And he doesn't have to run too far before he sees Stanley, gasping for air and beind held up by some twisted parody of himself.

'𝘈 𝘸𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘩.' He thinks to himself. He's heard the stories of them. Some sub species of ghosts. They rarely showed up and when they did it was almost always at night and attracted by intense negative emotions.

Any other day he's be estatic to see one at all - let alone in daylight - but right now all he wants to do is tear it apart for hurting Stan.

His chest twists as he hears the words the monster was saying to his brother.

"Dad was right. You're worthless. A waste of oxygen. All you've ever done is hold me back."

'𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴.'

Stanley didn't really believe that, did he…?

'𝘐'𝘮 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦!'

His twin knew he didn't mean it, right?

( '𝘈 𝘸𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘸𝘴 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘮'𝘴 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴, 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘮 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮.' )

No. He wouldn't let that happen. Any ghost that wanted his brother for a meal would have to get through him first.

Taking a deep breath, Ford forced his frustratingly shaky hands to still as best he could. Taking cover behind some bushes, he lined up his crossbow, said a prayer to a god he didn't believe in and pulled the trigger.

As the arrow flew and hit it's target, Ford let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. With a scream the monster disappeared in a puff of dark smoke, dropping his twin as it vanished and in a second Ford was at his brother's side.

"Stanley, are you alright?" He asked, mentally kicking himself for asking such a stupid question when it was so obvious his brother wasn't alright. He was barely conscious, shaking from the cold with a bruised cheek and a burn that desperately needed tending to. But when Ford reaches out to help him up he's met with a violent flinch.

"…M'sorry, it's all my fault…" The sound of his brother - his strong and self-assured brother - whimpering out apologies is so very wrong.

"Stanley, you don't have anything to apologize for…" Ford's voice shakes, trying so very hard not to break down himself, but his brother only shrinks in on himself.

"Pops was right… m'worthless… should've just blew my own brains out back in Nevada…"

"No!" Ford choked out, resisting the urge to reach out and shake his brother as if he could physically shake away the terrible things he was saying about himself. "Don't say that - don't ever say that! You're not worthless, no matter what any of those idiots at home said."

Stanley finally looks up at him and it's with a look of disbelief.

"Ya said it yerself. The chance to do the first worthwhile thing in my life." Ford can't help but flinch back at the reminder of his own cruel words.

"I didn't- I didn't mean it…" But Stanley continued speaking.

"No, you were right. All I've ever done was follow you. And once pops threw me to the curb I did whatever I could to survive… I- I did things 'm not proud of, Sixer. I thought maybe I could prove to pops I was worth somethin'… but I couldn't…"

"Stanley, no…!"

"I don't blame you for hatin' me, Sixer… I'll take that journal and leave, just like you wanted me to…"

"I can't lose you again, Lee!"

Ford's declaration surprises both brothers into silence. Ford takes the chance and continues speaking.

"For years I forced myself to be angry at you. Repeated the same bullshit lies our father said about you. I told myself that you deserved what happened. That, out of jealously, you intentionally sabotaged my machine. That I was better off without you. I told myself so many lies that I started to believe them myself…"

He thought back to the numbness he felt after his brother was gone. Moving through life like a ghost, only half aware of everything around him from his parents arguing vehemontly to the bullies at school. And after the numbness came the anger. How he focused on how unfair it was that he lost out on the scholarship to West Coast because being mad was easier than thinking about the all-consuming sense of loss that lingered inside him. In the missing laughter and jokes to the empty spot in the bunk bed beneath his own.

But as much as it hurt him to confront all those feelings. To finally set free the pain he kept bottled up all those years, he knew that if he let himself stop then he just might lose his twin for good.

"…I did it because it was easier than knowing that my brother - the person that had protected me all those years. Who would laugh with me and tell me that one day we'll sail the ocean together. - was just gone." The tears he tried to hold back were now streaming down his face and he can see Stanley tearing up himself.

"…Sixer…" He murmurs, but there's more Ford needs to say.

"I was wrong. And so was our father. You're strong and smart and worthwhile and I should have stood up for you that night." Stan frowns.

"Pops probably would've just thrown us both out." He says.

"Still. Maybe if I had managed to calm him down…"

"He already had my bags packed. Just needed an excuse." The knowledge hits Ford like a ton of bricks. Knowing that Filbrick had been planning on throwing out his brother the whole time made a protective sort of anger rise in him.

"I'm going to punch our dad." He says.

"He's on the other side of the country, Sixer."

"I'll take a plane, then. Or maybe a train. Go up to him and punch those stupid sunglasses off." Stanley is looking at him like he's lost his mind - and maybe he has - before letting out a snicker.

"Yer gonna take a train to New Jersey fueled by coffee and looking like yer gonna drop any second to punch our dad in the face? Sounds like a good plan, but in the meantime can we go inside? Freezing my ass off out here."

Ford wants to argue that it was a great plan and he didn't appreciate the sarcasm but he has to concede that his brother had a point. Not to mention…

"Stanley, your back…"

"Eh, I've been hurt worse." But as he stands up, Ford can see him wince and runs to help him.

"Yeesh, can stand on my own." Stan grumbles, but rather than teasing back Ford just looks guilty.

"I'm so sorry, Stan." Stan opens his mouth to respond. "Don't, Stan… just… please don't try and tell me it's alright." Stan sighs.

"Yer right, things kinda went to shit. And that was before I ran into whatever that thing was -"

"A wraith." Ford adds in.

"- that thing, yeah. Look, how about we get something to eat and call it even. You got any food in that creepy cabin of yours?" Ford thought about it and realized he wasn't sure. There was some moldy bread, some ketchup packets from the diner…

"I think I have some cans of soup." He finally replied.

"Wow, canned soup. Eating fine tonight." Stanley teases, and to Ford's surprise he finds himself laughing.

Maybe things just might be alright?

.｡❅⋆⍋∞｡∞⍋⋆❅｡.

[henrysglock]

You Speak Basic, Doc?

So. As a follow up to this post about the 2.08/2.09 HNL lights, I want to talk about something Wilbur just brought up in the server:

Very good fucking question. Why did he leave? And how did he end up in the stairwell that leads down to the basement?

Specifically, it's the same stairwell Bob just went down to reset the breakers and take the lab off lockdown:

(Which also, coincidentally, seems to be the same one El runs down in NINA to get to Henry and the tunnel out of the lab)

So...okay, cool. He was on his way to or from the basement after having left his little safe space in the upstairs security room.

That, however, brings me to another question: What is there for Owens to do in the basement?

Bob, as I said, went down there to reset the breakers and unlock the doors, because when the power cuts in HNL, the doors all lock. It's a lockdown.

So really...what else is there to do in the basement, besides no-scope demodogs and go "ooh" at the weird, pulsing mega-pussy gate? Owens doesn't have a gun, and he's been staring that weird, pulsing mega-pussy gate in the face for like a year now. Which means...it's probably not that.

So...could he have been trying to reinstate the lockdown by flipping the breakers Bob had fixed?

Well. Let's think about the "why"s of that.

First off, Owens knows firsthand that a lockdown isn't going to do shit against the demodogs.

A) The tunnels already allow them to circumvent the lab exits. Owens is aware of said tunnels.

B) The demodogs can smash through polycarbonate. Owens literally sees one do so.

So they could easily just tear right through any doors in their path. A lockdown makes no sense...for creatures.

No. Lockdowns are primarily for humans.

In fact...If I had to bet, the lockdown protocol in HNL has to do with the whole "keeping people from escaping the child torture basement" thing we see in ST4.

But...the prison-basement ended with El in 1983, right? So the question remains: What would Owens be locking down in the basement, and why hide his reasons for going downstairs?

Unless, of course, the prison-basement didn't end in 1983. And, of course, unless there's something worth securing down there that we're not yet privy to.

And along those lines: Why are so many demodogs staying in HNL? Why concentrate in the lab, when the tunnels will take them anywhere under Hawkins in pursuit of Will? There were more than enough to spread out and search. If it was about guarding the gate against El, they'd just leave some at the entrances, or swarm wherever she happened to be (which is where Will is, coincidentally). I thought Vecna could read minds even without an open gate. If he's supposedly involved in this...then why not just swarm the Byers house? Why still concentrate in the lab after they find out where Will is?

That is to say...what are they looking for, specifically in HNL, after they've found out that Will's left the building?

TL;DR: Owens...there wasn't someone down there that you needed to lock down, right? Someone to be retrieved later? Someone the democreatures might have a vested interest in finding?

[courtingchaos]

Tryouts

Bully Masterlist

Summary: Lucas and Max have a conversation without having one; end of summer signups begin.

Word Count: 1.7K

Warnings: None

A/N: I was gonna be corny here and talk about the long lead up but like, no one else has been anticipating me posting this the way I have. I’ve been on the edge of my own seat waiting and the muse finally came back from the corner store, surprisingly with the cigarettes she promised. This is a prelude of sorts, a small snippet of life outside of the main story. Expect more of these as it progresses, everyone is up to something.

No Explicit Content but 18+ No Minors

“Wait so you’re gonna actually try out for soccer?” Lucas stops walking out of shock while Max just keeps across the parking lot towards the arcade.

“It isn’t so much a ‘try out’ as it is ‘show up and be interested’.” She stops to wait for a car and shoots her boyfriend a look over her shoulder. “So don’t get too excited, they’ll take literally anyone.”

“Hey! I’ll be excited anyways!” He catches up to her at the door, shooting his arm around her to cut her off from grabbing it for herself. Lucas sees the eye roll and chooses to ignore it. “We can be like, an athlete couple.”

“Oh my god.”

“We could trade Lettermans.”

She tries to hide it but he can see her grin that she pulls off to the side of her face. “Sick. You’re sick Sinclair.”

“Oh come on, you know you want to.”

Max stops at the token machine to dig out her wad of dollar bills. “I don’t even know if I want to play! I’m just…looking for something to get me out of the house.”

Lucas leans on the top of the machine to singsong at her. “There’s always a seat at the table.” He wiggles his eyebrows and she hates that she laughs.

“In Wheeler’s fart infested basement? I don’t think so.” She scoops the tokens out to hand them to Lucas, her own personal coin purse while she keeps her high score for the afternoon. “He doesn’t make El do it so why should I be forced to play?”

“He doesn’t force her and plus, they aren’t talking right now.”

“What?” She whips her head to look at him. “She didn’t tell me anything!”

Lucas gives her a side eye before walking away towards the Dig Dug machine and Max follows him close, hands pulling at his shoulders to get him to stop moving, and when he doesn’t, fingers dig into his side to try and tickle it out of him.

“Tell me! What happened!” If this was anyone else she might consider this bullying with the way she pulls at the hem of his shirt and shakes his whole body when all he gives her for an answer is a laugh at her pretend annoyance. It isn’t until she manages to get a leg up off the stool and onto his back that he threatens to drop her tokens.

“If I get off you, you’ll tell me?” She asks him directly in his ear so he winces away with a chuckle.

“If you get off me I won’t drop your coins.”

Lucas hands her two tokens when she puts both feet on the ground and nods his head at the arcade. A silent standoff for a moment before Max gives up with a heavy sigh, sitting down when the tune jingles behind the screen.

“Okay, this morning Mike called to hang out and I told him we were gonna be busy but he could tag along if he wanted to.”

“Why do you do that?”

Lucas ignores her. “But he said he didn’t want to be around you because you were probably gonna make fun of him all day and if he wanted that, he’d just go over to El’s.”

“So they had another fight?”

“I guess? It sounds like she was teasing him about being in the basement all summer with his Nintendo and he blew up.”

Max frowns at the screen. “Did he say that? I don’t think I’ve ever heard him own up to a damn thing.”

“Surprisingly, yeah. He said that Hopper came in and told him to get the hell out if he was gonna yell like that.”

“He got yelled at by dad? No thank you.” She shakes her head a little to stop the memory of last night from resurfacing and of course Lucas catches it. Try as she might to keep her family stuff firmly behind the front door of their home, it’s been sneaking out lately and waving at anyone who pays attention, Lucas in particular.

“You okay?”

Her eyebrows knit before she can stop it but she’s focused on the game, fingers tapping on the thick buttons. If she doesn’t respond then maybe Lucas will shrug it off and keep telling her about Mike having a tantrum. Maybe he’ll tell her about the Fighter he built for her and try for the hundredth time this summer to get her to play the dumb dice game. Or maybe he’ll double down and bring up her brother’s black eye.

“I saw Billy peeling out earlier.”

There it is, she thinks to herself and holds back the eye roll. “So did half the neighbors. He likes the attention.”

“He stopped long enough to flip me the bird.” He laughs like it’s normal.

“Yeah?” The game means nothing now. Her fingers slap at the cabinet and Lucas just keeps looking at her with pity. “Well don’t feel bad for him, he should know when to shut up.” She acknowledges it but won’t name it, especially when she was there for its christening. Voices that raised over her headphones, the splintering of a mistreated door being kicked in for the twentieth time and a loud smack of knuckles before it’d gone silent. “He pushes Neil for fun.”

Lucas stares at her like everyone else has that’s ever seen her stepdad go off on his kid.

Max feels the lump crawling fast up her throat so she swallows to keep it tucked below her ribs where it can settle until later. “Lucas…” His name comes out soft on the end of a heavy sigh. She doesn’t really have anything to say, nothing she wants to admit to him right now, at least not while the sun is shining.

To his credit he looks uncomfortable in the face of her minor slip but it’s gone as soon as she notices it. “You’d tell me, wouldn’t you?”

Talking without talking. It’s like their special ability, their mutant powers, not quite mind reading but close. He asks her the obvious question without using the words so she isn’t embarrassed. So others don’t overhear.

She really thinks about it. Tries to remember a time that Neil had ever directed that temper at her and comes up with a blank. It’s always anger by association, always behind Billy when the blame rolls in no matter how loud she’d get about her part in the issue. That had only happened once and her mother had swiftly pulled her out of the room and into the car and they’d gone to the mall for most of the day. Max thinks about all the times she’s come home to a new bruise on Billy or another broken dish in the trash. She thinks about how Lucas has never seen the inside of her house but she’s been all over his, every nook and even through the attic, even through Mrs. Sinclair’s garden.

“Yeah.”

The game jingles at her in a mocking defeat but the wasted tokens don’t matter. She stares at Lucas who does his best to wait for her, his hands shoved far into his shorts pockets until she makes the slightest move for him and he wraps her in a hug, tight and lighting quick. Thankfully it’s lunch time and thankfully the attendant today has wandered off and thankfully it’s just them in the arcade with all its trills and beeps. Cabinet screens flash around them and all that matters is the hug and the quietly whispered “I’m sorry” that Lucas presses into the top of her head.

Lucas agreed to meet Max at the field ten minuets after her drop off time to avoid anymore general jackassery from Billy, but when he’d folded himself out of the backseat of Steve’s car he’d had to brace himself. The Camaro sat idling on the far side of the field with its owner leaning on the hood, a brunette vying for his attention next to him, but no redhead in sight.

“You okay?” Steve asks while pointedly staring at Billy across the field.

“Yeah I’m…he won’t do anything here.”

There’s the trill of whistles and Robin is shooting out of the passenger seat, cursing and slamming her foot into a cleat. “I told you we were gonna be late!” She screeches at Steve as she barrels down the small slope with her bag swinging wildly from her shoulder. She waves both hands at the coach and yells something about traffic and that’s when Dustin gets out of the car finally, his finger pointed to the middle of the group of girls.

“There she is.”

Red hair shines bright in the early morning sun and Lucas can’t help the smile that grows wide. Beside him Dustin nudges him, says something about googly eyes and makes his horrible whip sound but Lucas tunes him out. Max is tucked into herself until Robin pushes her way over and a smile appears, a laugh too when she points up to the three of them on the hill and she grabs Max’s hand to flop it at them in a crude wave.

Dustin waves back with the folded up signup sheet and he elbows Lucas again. “See man? Nothing to worry about.”

“I know. I just—“

“Worry?”

“Shut up.” It’s good natured. Dustin laughs and asks him again if he filled out the papers, if he brought his character sheet and it isn’t until Steve whistles at them and points to the school parking lot that Dustin finally cuts it out. A van has rumbled in and before it can park, a shaggy head pops out and looks around before throwing his hands up and yelling.

“Henderson!”

Dustin takes off, calling Lucas with him over his shoulder to follow, but Lucas hangs back for a minute. He watches Max whispering with Robin, can see her easing up. The smile hasn’t left her face, just faded into the conversation as she nods her head along to something said to her. Beside him Steve sighs when the horn on the van goes off three times in quick succession and Lucas looks over to see Dustin giving him a pointed, annoyed look.

“I’d go over there before he pisses Munson off.” Steve seems to be watching Lucas struggle to leave and he taps him on the arm to assure him. “I’ll keep an eye on her, okay? I promise I won’t let anything happen.”

“Thanks man.”

[itsgirlcraft]

Ayo what we got here for Stevetember day 14: forgetful?? What's his name-

Nahhhh XD we love Memory in this household

I was gonna do a bunch of different AU variants of Memory and Galaxy, but I ended up basically just doing a ref sheet for my man ODAA!Memory Steve lol. I love how this came out! Even tho his face on the full body drawing is all wonky lol.

One Disaster After Another is one of my really, REALLY big AUs from awhile back :3 The Galaxy fam is one of my faves from there so I'm excited to have at least one of my bois drawn!! It's basically a modern AU where the Steves are humans that turned into their respective Steves, and Sabre's trying to investigate what's happening and protect those who have been changed.

Description of the drawing and his backstory are beneath the cut!

Memory has 4 eyes, spirals hidden in his fur/hair, and this big poofy squirrel-like tail. These little spirals that vanish and reappear actually can induce hypnosis and memory loss when looked at. On the back of both ears, he has false eyes that can glow just like his main eyes.

He has only a partially furred face, like a primate's, with the center having smooth skin. He's mostly covered in fur, only some of his upper body is smooth/barely furred, including his neck and, partially, his arms. It was his idea to wear the suit, in part just cause he likes being ✨️fancy.✨️

You know peacocks? Yeah, that's what his tail is like, it's big and flashy - but only because if you get distracted by it, he can "flashbang" you with a big, rotating spiral on it. Idk. A lot of it is just that his fur can draw your eyes to him, but he can control it so he can be stealthy too.

The story:

Memory here, like the other Galaxy Family kids, was changed when he was young. After Galaxy, Time, and Elemental had been transformed, they went to Void's house to make sure they were alright. But Galaxy accidentally creates a wormhole that Void falls into, and Memory witnesses it. While Galaxy jumps in to save his brother, he asks his sons to look after Memory.

Memory actually falls into a different wormhole down in the basement, the Memory Dimension ofc. As he transforms/runs away, Time and El try to chase him down without scaring him (it doesn't work). As a human, Memory has gone nonverbal when scared, and that happened here, too. Except signs would appear as he ran deeper in, showing what he wanted to say, making a trail they could follow. Eventually, he stops running and hides under a big tree, where the brothers try to calm him down.

Memory actually stays quite close with Time and Elemental behind his father's back, even though they still drift apart with Void...changing even more. Void himself transformed when he fell into the Void Dimension, and blames Galaxy for doing all of this. Ofc, he hates his brother and refuses to let Memory near him or his sons. At first, Void was still kind to Memory, and still more or less a decent person, though easily angered and fiercely protective of his son.

But as his old life fell apart, Void grew more and more comfortable with being a villain in everyone's eyes, until he started to grow cold towards his own son. Despite being witness (and an accessory) to the horrors his father is bringing forth, Memory is still trying to do some good. But his own isolation as a result of the transformation, his father, and his powers still gets to him.

[brionysea]

what is possessiongate?

several people have asked for a post explaining the possessed mike wheeler theory, so i thought it was about time i made one!

(disclaimer: i didn't originally come up with this idea, but i have thought about it a lot and i made a lot of the connections i'm going to talk about myself)

possessiongate is a theory that vecna is in mike wheeler's head and has been for a while (a year, as of season 4, which is why mike and will talk about that so much even though it doesn't match up with the timeline of will moving away from hawkins). it's not that far off from what everyone knows is going to happen anyway with mike getting vecna'd. the main difference is that this theory argues for mike's actions being directly influenced by that shared headspace, rather than just dying because of it

this is a possible explanation for why mike has been so fickle about whether he's "the original mike" or "the remake" that everyone's been complaining about for the last few seasons; because there's been a long term mind fight going on between him and vecna

foreshadowing

let's look at the first conversation mike had with will that was explicitly about will's possession

mike: you're like a spy now. a superspy. spying on the shadow monster. if you know what he's seeing and feeling... maybe that's how we can stop him. maybe all of this is happening for a reason. will: you really think so? mike: yeah. yeah, i really do. will: what if he realises we're spying on him? what if he spies back? mike: he won't. will: how do you know? mike: we won't let him.

the idea of mike being a superspy is already present here, since mike and will are almost immediately grouped together as spies. will could have talked about himself, as an individual, taking the risk of spying and being a possible liability, but he talked about both of them instead

will tapped into his connection to vecna to get them the "CLOSEGATE" message, and mike's the one who knew will could do that, because it was his idea in the first place. mike is definitively capable of seeing and using that advantage when it's available to him, proving he could fit the role laid out in this conversation

the "crazy together" scene also serves as foreshadowing

mike: sometimes i feel like i'm going crazy. will: me, too. mike: hey, well, if we're both going crazy, then we'll go crazy together, right? will: yeah. crazy together.

will felt like he was going crazy because he was at the beginning of his possession storyline. mike is essentially making a prediction that they'll both get possessed in the future, which will agrees to

mike: el? i've been meaning to tell you something. it's just, being broken up, it's been hard. and... i like that you and max are friends now. it's just, i was so jealous at first, and... and angry. and it's like i wanted you all to myself. and now i realise how unfair that is. and selfish. and, like... i'm sorry. i just, like, i've never felt like this with anyone before... and... you know, they do say it makes you crazy.

mike feeling jealous and angry and possessive about el becoming friends with max doesn't make sense if they're supposed to be his own feelings. mike isn't possessive of el. he doesn't want to hide her in his basement forever. when mike reached out to el over the radio in season 2, he wasn't begging her to come back, he just wanted to know that she was alive. he was fine with the idea of el going somewhere far away and living her life, like she almost did with kali and the ives family. mike doesn't get all prickly when other people pay attention to el or vice versa like he does with will. but if mike can feel what vecna's feeling, and vecna's mad because his plan of isolating and weakening el has started to fall apart, those emotions make more sense

we're meant to presume ("that's presumptuous of you," says max, after which dustin questions if that's a good thing) that what mike's talking about with el is love, and there's only one character who has actually said that phrase: the lady from the police station after jonathan got arrested. she assumed that he did something stupid defending nancy's honour, but that's not what happened. jonathan beat steve up because steve was talking negatively about will and joyce. if love does make you crazy, it's the familial kind, not romantic love

(this is from the same episode as el and mike's conversation — both scenes end with dustin interrupting)

even on a simple relationship level, mike and el's isn't what it appears to be. but once el starts asking what mike means, it becomes really clear that he isn't talking about love at all

el: what makes you crazy? mike: you never... you never heard that term... you know, like the phrase, like... "blank makes you crazy," like the word... el: "girlfriends"? mike: no, no, no, no, no... not girlfriends. el: "boyfriends". mike: no! no, no, not boyfriends either. it's like... it's like a feeling or... el: a feeling...

mike thinks he's going crazy again ("blank" makes you crazy... like possession? like "crazy together"?) because of a feeling ("it's like i feel what the shadow monster's feeling") and it's an independent issue from his love life. we're supposed to think it's about boyfriends or girlfriends but mike says that's not it, and despite his best efforts ("you never say it"), that blank never actually gets filled in

following the timeline of season 2, we know that will's possession wasn't successful. this was directly because of mike's actions and ideas — he didn't let the demodogs find them in the lab by suggesting they sedate will, he came up with the idea to put will in the shed and try to get through to him, and he pulled will out of a possessed state multiple times. but didn't vecna already know that nobody would let will go without a fight? didn't he learn that in the first season? isn't he supposed to be smart? what's smart about trying the same thing twice when he already knows it won't work?

vecna was spying on and trying to get something through will. i think that something was mike. who else was there to spy on? who else was constantly glued to will's side throughout season 2 (creating an association between his character and the concept of possession), always within convenient surveillance range? mike's a pain when it comes to his constant foiling of vecna's evil plans. it would be smart to keep an eye on him

and that would be all well and good, except that season 2 is the one season where our team of good guys won — supposedly — with no strings attached. sure, the bit of the mind flayer that was in will escaped, but after bob's death, there were no more casualties until the jump to the next season. it's exactly what they set out to accomplish. what was the point of spying on mike if vecna didn't even use it? even finding out their location near the end was inconsequential, because el dealt with the demodogs in seconds and they didn't attack the house again. when contrasted with the loss of el in season 1, the loss of hopper in season 3, and the loss of max in season 4 (all of which happened during the final episode and the climax of the overall story — the season 2 equivalent of which would definitely not be the escape from the lab, where bob died), i find the happy ending a bit suspicious

when did mike get possessed?

while inside hawkins lab, vecna made will point out the hub as, vaguely, "important". mike said that vecna's immediate plan was to simply kill the group in the lab and vecna insisted that he was lying. the only person vecna could identify was "my friend, mike" (not joyce, who he would have recognised if all he was drawing on was will's memories and emotions instead of his own knowledge). mike's plan then hinged on going into the tunnels and setting the hub on fire, which was, again, suspiciously successful. they had the fake out of something happening to dustin on the way there, but then nothing actually got in their way, which is very weird and untrustworthy considering how the tunnels reacted to hopper poking around (they could have done something like the vines attacking nancy, robin and steve in the creel house). mike's plan went off without a hitch until he got grabbed by a vine on the way back ("you step on a vine, you're stepping on a bat, you're stepping on vecna")

this sequence of mike getting trapped by the vine, concurrent with el trapping the mind flayer and will getting exorcised, is when i believe the possession began. or shifted, i suppose. will's could have been a trick; the obvious possession that they can feel proud of themselves for seeing through and stopping so that they don't notice the more subtle one. what kind of idiot pulls the same move twice, right?

...ahem. anyway-

the imagery of a vine wrapped around the ankle is similar to max getting grabbed by the ankle in vecna's mind lair (vecna literally being in max's head until she pulled an uno reverse card and walked into his instead), and to el getting grabbed by the ankle in the cabin shortly before losing her powers. these are both internally supernatural situations. what happened to mike in the tunnels didn't look like will getting possessed, but that doesn't necessarily mean there wasn't something else going on. mike's stuff has always been more subtle. vecna wasn't able to stop mike from making connections and urging people into action and generally getting in his way, so he needed a newer, smarter approach in removing this annoying obstacle — he needed to use mike's best qualities (his intelligence, his intuition, and his tenacity) against him

there's about a month between mike going into the tunnels and seeing el at the snow ball. like will said, vecna leaves possessed people alone until they can do something for him, and then they're activated. i believe they showed us this moment for mike

the rest of his friends have left (will suspiciously pushed into leaving by mike), he's sitting alone, and then he perks up after seeing el walk in

mike's behaviour at the snow ball doesn't really make sense. last time el tried to kiss him (before she left to close the gate), he froze up, not leaning in, until hopper called her away. there was mike's speech to will in the shed before that, where he most likely realised something about the nature of his own feelings. now he's suddenly pushing will away and obsessing over el? it's weird and inconsistent and not in line with what you'd expect from him. yes, mike's a wheeler and wheelers are prone to fits of conformity, but mike also started a public fight with troy for saying something homophobic when he was 12 and he never takes his parents' conformity advice seriously. he thinks being a weirdo is a good thing. this is strange. especially when you remember the mind flayer creepily watching over all of them while mike danced with el

i often see this stuff being interpreted as just mike dealing with growing up and figuring out his sexuality, and that would be believable enough if this was just a coming of age story, but it's not. it's a supernatural horror coming of age story. things like will's ptsd and max's depression are turned into grandiose supernatural threats, but mike dealing with his sexuality in a heavily homophobic era (which we saw as early as season 1 could lead him to suicide) isn't? that would be a colossal waste of potential, and i honestly can't see this show passing up an opportunity like that for a main character to take the more grounded route instead

how would a show like stranger things present forced conformity through a character like mike, who's too headstrong to just conform on his own? by taking away his agency in his own life

why did mike get possessed?

there's the stalker song that played at the snow ball. every move you make, every step you take, i'll be watching you, and so on. while it's been linked to vecna's obsession with will, the lyrics themselves started playing over mike while he creepily stared at el from across the room, languishing in the shadows (what if the shadow monster spies back), as he tends to do. the song playing over mike and el talking, dancing, and kissing, holds the promise of mike and the romantic relationship that's officially forming between him and el being used to keep tabs on her, just like will was used to keep tabs on mike

(if you really want to tie it back to will — because these three character arcs are obviously connected — let's play with a hypothetical for a second: say you're vecna, and you want will on your side. how do you make that happen? you failed to take him twice because his friends and family refuse to give up on him. so how do you make him give up on them? on his life? simple! by making him think that mike, the person who makes him feel like he's not a mistake and who makes him want to keep fighting, isn't an option for his future anymore)

will: and if she was gonna lose you, i... i think she'd rather just get it over with quick. like ripping off a band-aid.

(needless to say, a year-long possession streak during which he's been slowly killing mike's spirit is not "getting it over with quick". mike just getting vecna'd definitely wouldn't be enough for what he's trying to accomplish. if you die that way it's over in a second. will plainly lays out that mike is his weakness — or his strength, which is kind of the same thing — and that going after mike slowly is the best way to get to him. vecna has been in will's head. vecna knows this)

el is arguably at her worst when she's existing in relation to mike as a romantic interest. she consistently does stuff like spy on her friends, lie to mike for months, physically harm max, exclude will, slam doors in hopper's face, and ditch all of her friends in the name of her relationship with mike. el never apologises or even takes responsibility for her actions. mike has done things wrong too, but in accordance with heteronormative gender roles of the time (watched any 80s films recently? the girl sits there and looks pretty, because she's a prize to be won, while the boy chases after her and puts in all the effort), el is blameless while mike gets all the blame. it consumes her character, makes her harder to watch, and most importantly, it makes her easier to kill

the romantic relationship between mike and el clearly had a negative impact. it isolated them, it turned them into brainless little teen drama machines, and both of their individual characters and the group's shared ability to strategise and make plans together took a drastic hit because of it. that's very convenient, isn't it? one season prior to mike and el becoming official, el was a powerhouse who shut a gate right in vecna's face and mike was constantly getting in vecna's way. then they got their happy ending of finally kissing at the snow ball and almost immediately after, they became so annoying and distracting in their relationship that it derailed from anyone in the group attempting to make good plans

by the big planning point of season 3 (the argument in the cabin), not only is mike too distracted by the romantic drama of juggling his relationships with will and el at the same time to come up with an effective plan, but no one else is taking him seriously either. they brush him off and ignore him the second the instant-regret-love-confession (which was probably a result of vecna's meddling, since mike usually keeps his feelings very close to his chest instead of airing them out in front of a room full of people) derails the argument, even though he was really the one making the most sense. mike was neutralised and they moved forward with a stupid decision instead of letting him talk them out of it, which butterfly-effected into the group going on the run from the cabin and everything that happened in the battle of starcourt — hopper "dying" (which is the reason why hopper, el, will, mike, jonathan, joyce and murray weren't in hawkins for season 4), the catalyst for max's death (and therefore the catalyst for the downfall of hawkins), and el losing her powers. that is very convenient for vecna. some of his biggest obstacles are out of the way and for the first time, the good guys only kinda win. that's a huge difference from season 2, and it serves as a stepping point towards their first complete loss in season 4. for a villain who's actively being framed as this manipulative mastermind, i can't believe that was just a series of unlucky coincidences

this approach continues to work into season 4, with mike being shipped off to california to make el cry and to make will miserable while all three of them aren't allowed to directly interfere in the main plot. all the drama mike caused is very suspicious in the season where vecna essentially feeds on teen angst (i wrote a very lengthy deep dive into season 4 mike a while ago, which you can read here). mike is activated to make his first few days in california weird for everyone, to push el back into the monster/superhero mentality (which vecna uses to demoralise her when they face each other), and during mike's monologue (not to be confused with vecna's monologue from two seconds earlier... wait-), which successfully distracted el and kept her from saving max

the characters picking up on it

jumping into season 3 after the snow ball, el and mike are kissing while listening to music again. the music is explicitly mike's pick this time, and it's all about "never surrendering" and "i can't fight this feeling anymore". while this does reflect on his tenacity and inability to give up and how existing in the world when you're different is a constant fight, most songs that feature in stranger things have a deeper meaning (especially when they're diagetic like this), and the music is telling us that mike (who is immediately acting like a different person) is fighting something

hopper (the person joyce went to about will's possession, the person who realised will was "talking without words", and the person who heard the music mike was blasting in the cabin for six months) says that something's wrong with mike, that mike's relationship with el isn't normal, and casually talks about killing mike for "corrupting" el. that's an insane reaction to a teenager being mildly obnoxious, but a fairly reasonable one to the villain — a grown man with a disturbing habit of targeting teenagers and pre-pubescent children — inserting himself into hopper's teenaged daughter's relationship which solely consists of them making out

mike doesn't understand what's happening to him, but he knows something is. his feelings get dismissed too often to make anything of it in season 3, but he gets the chance to think a bit harder about it in season 4, after a lot of prompting from will. usually when mike's freaking out about something, he paces until someone snaps at him to cut it out, but in season 4 he spends most of his panic sessions totally frozen. it's visually different from anything he's had to personally deal with before. he spends a lot of time wondering why he didn't say a mysterious "thing" (which he never explicitly spells out) during his fight with el. that fight was setting up for mike's monologue, which distracted el and let vecna open the gates. mike didn't say what he wanted to say, whatever that was, because he couldn't. he wasn't in control, and you can tell by how confused and off-kilter he sounded while trying to explain his reaction to the roller skate incident

subconsciously, though, mike is aware of what's happening. he's dropped a lot of hints about it ("why am i the bad guy?" is my personal favourite) and when jonathan subtly questions this habit ("maybe it's hidden in the code somehow?" "what you just said makes no sense"), mike shows that he has no clue he's doing it

jonathan actually figured out what was happening to mike back in season 3, almost immediately after setting foot in the basement, because mike exclusively speaks in code and jonathan's great at hearing the things people aren't saying. this is probably the reason why they got put in the same group for season 4

jonathan seemed to think that mike's consciousness was gone or heavily suppressed for a while (which is a kind of funny but mostly sad explanation for all that glaring people have been making jokes about — he wasn't glaring at mike, he was glaring at what he thought was the thing that had either killed or was holding mike hostage while wearing his face), but when mike kicked up a fuss while trying to protect el instead of being cool with needless death and murder like the rest of the flayed (who tried to kill nancy and jonathan, like, yesterday), jonathan looked surprised and realised he was wrong

from there jonathan protected mike, physically shielding him from the flesh flayer right along with will (and actually leaving will for a second to make sure he could pull mike back) when it burst into the cabin. nancy and will were talking about the flayed turning into monsters, and jonathan saw that happen to a guy from the hawkins post, so he was probably concerned about mike (this weird anomaly who's flayed but somehow still himself and hasn't transformed into a killer blob monster, for whatever reason) getting too close to the killer blob monster that absorbs flayed people into its creepy hive mind. jonathan also didn't mention what he'd realised about mike to anyone, since el was looking for the flayed so that they could kill them ("maybe i'll just kill mike," says hopper), and nancy was totally on board with that (jonathan gave mike a very weird look when this came up). everyone ganged up on mike very quickly during the argument, so i can see why jonathan would be hesitant to share his findings with the class and risk endangering mike (there's a queer allegory in here somewhere...), whether that's through his friends or vecna doing something to him once the secret's revealed

will and his Upside Down Compass Powers had spider-sense moment after spider-sense moment while in close proximity to mike in season 3: sitting next to him at the cinema, watching him walk away with el on the hill, and while mike's running up to him outside castle byers. will said that he "didn't want to believe it was anything at first" while laying this sequence of events out as indicative of something he didn't want to be true, which is strikingly similar to max's initial denial over billy being possessed

the things will's sensing don't make sense if they have nothing to do with mike. either will's range is huge, spanning all the way to the steelworks while sitting in the cinema with mike (there was a long panning shot across hawkins to show how far away the thing will's supposedly reacting to is), or will's range is so tiny that it takes vecna personally showing up for will to realise that the mind flayer is trying to kill jonathan and nancy a few floors above him while he's in the hospital waiting room. it can't be both

will only noticed what was happening in the hospital when vecna took control of the flesh flayer. that could easily reflect on will getting spooky feelings around mike but refusing to put the pieces together because, in his own words, he would fall apart without mike. it's easier to believe mike's weird behaviour is just about a girl rather than because the man who ruined will's life is in mike's head

lucas, mike's dustin-assigned best friend, questions and doesn't understand mike's behaviour several times in season 3 (he did that a lot before too, but that's a different brand of Mike Mysteries). the rest of the party (excluding el at first, although she gets there when mike acts weird on the phone and blatantly lies to her) are disappointed, confused, and angry because of how he's acting too. lucas seemed to suspect something when he reunited with mike in max's hospital room, showing the same intuition as when he knew something was wrong with max (reminder: the thing wrong with max was that vecna was in her head)

el seems to fully pick up on and question why mike's so different once they're both in lenora and not distracted by acting fake, in a way she wasn't allowed to before ("but friends don't lie" "yeah, well, boyfriends lie"), because intentionally upsetting her and belittling her as much as mike does at that point is weird behaviour for him. he's naturally gentler with both el and will than he is with most other people, so for him to upset them that much is extremely bizarre

dustin: i told you, joyce has this new telemarketer job. she's always on the phone. mike won't stop whining about it. max: yeah, but this phone's been busy for, what, three days now? that's not joyce. no way. something's wrong. nancy: she's right. it can't be just coincidence. it can't be. whatever's happening in lenora is connected to all of this. i'm sure of it.

el has very good hearing and a habit of hearing mike whether he wants her to or not ("you do realise we can still hear everything you're saying, right?"), so she most likely heard mike and will's argument at rink-o-mania (especially since she heard angela's group perfectly seconds after the boys walked away). a few days later, after vecna told nancy to send el a message, el went into the void and heard dustin say that mike's actually been calling will an annoying amount but wasn't able to get through, which mike definitely didn't mention when will blamed mike for never calling. el knows this is weird because mike told her that he called her every night for almost a year with no shame, and the rink-o-mania fight was so ridiculously public and coupley that it wouldn't make sense for mike to suddenly be holding back. from there, prompted by max and nancy's refusal to accept the easy answer, el figured it out, just like when she knew that billy was "wrong" while max refused to see it

why didn't anyone notice sooner?

this is kind of a frustrating question for me. the real answer is that mike simply needs to be in trouble for season 5 to work (which is why characters like joyce and dustin are being kept away from mike for large stretches of time when he's acting strange — they're too intelligent and too active to not figure it out and help him too early). the answer that makes me angry is that mike wheeler is haunted by double standards. nobody would ever leave will alone to fight off possession for a year (and counting — there's probably going to be a time skip in season 5) like the characters who know about this have done with mike. it's impressive that he can hold out for as long as he has, but that doesn't mean he doesn't need outside help (although i suspect that's the point)

it seems to have something to do with the superspy angle. anything mike knows, vecna knows. if mike doesn't know about the possession then vecna won't be expecting to have to guard things from him as closely as he would from someone like will, who's consciously aware of the connection between them while mike's operating on subconscious knowledge. it can be turned into a tactical advantage, which is kind of mike's whole thing. as long as the others are careful with what they let him know, this might be the key to getting max back and/or killing vecna for good. mike did say a connection like this could be how they stop him, and it looks like he's going to keep working with will to do that, paying off the "crazy together" prediction

hopper knows something about mike that he promised to share with joyce (and the audience) during their date. joyce didn't show up and it still hasn't happened yet (although they keep reminding us of it). whatever information hopper has might explain why he didn't do anything in the six months between season 2 and season 3, if he really did figure out what was happening to mike that quickly

jonathan also promised to tell nancy everything, which probably has something to do with what he noticed about mike during their side quest. jonathan witnessed the monologue, so he has a solid understanding of how this specific style of possession works now. he also has the motivation to actually do something about it after finding out that will is in love with mike and couldn't handle losing him. jonathan told will that everything would be okay, and making things okay for will means fixing mike

for everyone else, mike's weirdness is predominantly blamed on his relationship with el (in an "annoying shallow teen romance, look no deeper, nothing to see here" way), or his feelings for will, if you're looking at it from a fandom perspective. but both mike and dustin call that bullshit. mike calls the way max frames everything about his motivations and his... whole character, really, around his romance with el, bullshit (max also deliberately does this when lucas tells her he knows something's wrong, obviously deflecting from the real issue). there's a not insignificant amount of categorically defining mike as not just a love interest, because that diminishment of his character is what the writers (and vecna) are banking on to hide what's really going on with him, but they also have to include enough clues that it doesn't come out of nowhere

mike prioritises other people over himself as a defence mechanism against his abandonment issues (because his family stopped paying attention to him around the time holly was born, making him think he needs to offer people something so they won't lose interest in him and leave him behind). the narrative can't validate that by presenting his habit of framing himself as someone who's useful and needed solely because he's the therapist friend, not because he's a person who's deeply cared for and deserving of help, like it's objectively true, so they're going to have to challenge it instead. saving him from possession, where the only thing to gain is mike's continued existence, would be a good way of accomplishing that

the timeline

mike is making things difficult by having a ridiculous amount of willpower, so it takes a bit of work to figure out when he's mike and when he's not mike. i don't have the whole thing figured out but sometimes, he just tells you!

this is from when he first entered the tunnels. nothing's messed with him yet, so he's at 100%

in early season 3, hopper says that mike has spent every single day for the past six months in the cabin with el, implicitly ignoring his friends (you know, the people he would and has jumped off a cliff for? those friends?). mike, from what the others have said about his behaviour, has spent those six months losing. "he likes it cold", and the months between december and july are mostly cold ones in this show's setting. this lends significance to season 3 taking place in the summer

hopper tells mike that something's wrong, but because he lied to get mike into the car (away from el) in the first place, mike doesn't listen to him and calls him crazy (you know, the thing joyce and will and nancy and even mike himself have been called whenever they had an out there theory? a theory that always turns out to be right?). hopper's scheme is successful in granting el and mike some space, but it's not until will gets sick of mike not acting like himself that mike actually snaps out of it. vecna was distracted by the other flayed at the time, as he'd recently put his plan of building the flesh flayer into action, as well as by what el and max showing up meant for his first direct interaction with el since she lost her memories. he was probably underestimating mike after six months of success and failing to pay him much attention, which continues into the next episode. the sauna test demonstrates mike's ability to fight back (and possibly hints towards the existence of some kind of mental shield or ability to hide, since billy had no idea what they were planning and even vecna looked surprised when mike snuck up on him with the bat), and confirms that mike and el both fighting for each other is vital to their survival

i believe mike is in control a lot more often for the rest of the season, but he still has to deal with the consequences of what vecna's already done through him. mike's definitely himself in the season 3 epilogue (i think he reclaimed something during the battle of starcourt, particularly when literally escaping from the mind flayer with max and el's help), but he cares about el's feelings and the whole situation is super confusing from his perspective ("i don't really remember... what did i say, exactly?"), so the getting back together thing kinda just... happens to him. mike's unresponsiveness during the kiss is especially disturbing in the context of this theory, where he's literally had no agency throughout their entire relationship (not that i'm blaming el; she doesn't know yet, she's still young and very sheltered so probably not that informed about consent, and she's been tricked by this whole thing too — their makeout sessions at the start of the season were difficult to watch for a reason — but like. yikes.)

mike immediately gets called "a shitty knock-off" when he gets to california, where he's at a disadvantage because of the 70/30 split with vecna ("he's been telling us his plan this whole time"). vecna having to focus on mike at first explains the inconsistent pattern of the murders in hawkins that robin couldn't decipher. vecna backed off once el left to get her powers back, and mike immediately did the most mike thing ever: got into a verbal sparring match with government agents ("so, what, we're just supposed to trust that you're the good guys? whoever you are?")

will reminds mike of who he is in the painting scene, because things have gotten so muddled in mike's head that he doesn't know anymore. this draws a parallel to mike's speech in the shed when will was possessed

mike reunites with el ("is it really you?" "it's me. i'm here" — that's literally the most loved one fighting possession dialogue i've ever heard). there's vecna's ridiculously long monologue, during which he confirms the whole mastermind angle, then he tells el to pay attention right before mike gets activated again to give the other monologue. mike was at 100% this time, plus he got a boost from actually eating something for once ("too much flavour awesomeness can't overpower your battery, can it?" — eat your damn food, michael), and will's speech convinced mike that happily accepting affection and fighting for his own existence is worth it, but they're still in a pizza freezer ("he likes it cold"), and vecna has enough power to open a mega-gate

there's a whole lot of reluctance in the performance, so mike is clearly fighting it anyway (he talks about "you have to fight" and "can you hear me?" and "i'm right here" a lot — i like the part where he says he's not scared of el, because after she realised what their relationship has actually been like for him, she must have felt guilty for being part of his choice getting taken away), but the distraction still works. mike goes back to normal (relatively) after el temporarily pushes vecna out of his and max's heads (using these two specifically to hurt el was revenge for when they worked together to protect her during the battle of starcourt), and from the two day time skip, we find out that el has stopped talking to mike. she probably realised what will did all the way back in season 2: vecna can spy through mike

[ahasiw-okitowin]

LOL OKAY I'm bed bound for the next while so I have all the time in the world to answer questions!!!

questions I think would be fun to be asked

1. what are 3 things you’d say shaped you into who you are?

   -trauma

   -disability

   -SpongeBob SquarePants

2. show us a picture of your handwriting?

Here's a look at my egg/hatchling log

3. 3 films you could watch for the rest of your life and not get bored of?

   -Jurassic Park

   -El Laberinto del Fauno

   -Event Horizon

4. what’s an inside joke you have with your family or friends?

When my eldest niece was a toddler, she would play dead when she didn't want to listen to her mum. She would close her eyes and stick her tongue out, all flopped over, it was so funny that we all started doing it. She's now 12 years old, and sometimes still when someone leaves a room we all play dead when they come back.

5. what made you start your blog?

I learned about tumblr through someone I used to do some makeup work for. He was a homestuck. I painted him grey multiple times. He was also a fucking dickhead.

Anyways, I think I originally made an account so I could follow a lolita blog... I think it was fyeahlolita or something like that. I used to wear lolita nearly every day when I was managing a Claire's, the kids loved it lol.

6. what’s the best and worst part of being online/a creator?

Best thing about the internet is the connection, I've made friends from all over the world and I will never not think that's magical!

Worst thing.... predators.

7. what scares you the most and why?

Recently the arthritis in my hands has been really bad, and my hands shake all the time. This has made it really hard to use my hands! My disease has already tanked my career and taken my mobility, if I lose the use of my hands I really don't know what I'll do. That terrifies me.

Side note, in high school musical theater class we were asked "what's your greatest fear". My autistic ass decided to answer completely honestly. Everyone was saying things like "clowns" or "needles" or "the ocean". My answer was "being kidnapped and held in a basement for decades and forced to bear the children of my captor". Yeah. Didn't go over well.

8. any reacquiring dreams?

I'm guessing this is supposed to say "recurring". I occasionally have a recurring dream, I've had it since childhood. I'm a little kid in bed, and one of those big excavator things, you know the ones with the long neck and the big shovel bucket, comes into my bedroom and is trying to GET me. I hide under the blanket, and suddenly the excavator gets big cartoon eyes and says "where'd you go? Wheeeeeeere'd you go?" When I come out of the blanket it gets all scary again and then repeats until I wake up.

9. tell a story about your childhood

I'll give you a funny one. When I was 4 or 5 I decided to run away. I packed up my backpack, my mum gave me 5 bucks and a sandwich, I hugged my baby sister goodbye and off I went into the world.

10 minutes later there's a knock at the door. It's me. My mum asks "what are you doing back so soon?" I reply, with tears in my eyes, "I missed my plane".

10. would you say you’re an emotional person?

Internally, very much so. Externally I can be very emotionally reserved, unless I'm around people I'm comfortable with.

11. what do you consider to be romance?

I don't really know how to define romance, to me it's just kind of a feeling, but I have an example of a moment that felt really romantic to me!

My crush wrote and recorded a song a little bit ago. He texted me one day and sent me the link for it. I clicked on the link and listened to the song, and realized that it had no views or subscribers, so I was the first one he showed it to! Mega romantic.

12. what’s some good advice you want to share?

-Pee after sex.

-Cotton undies are healthiest for your pussy.

-If you're a youngin' and some dude 5+ years older than you is showing interest in you, RUN.

13. what are you doing right now?

Lying in bed.

14. what’s something you’ve always wanted to do but maybe been to scared to do?

I don't think there's anything I've been too scared to do tbh. It takes a lot to scare me. I think most of the things I've wanted to do but haven't were just not financially accessible to me. I haven't done any travelling, there are places in the world I would like to go to, mostly for food purposes.

15. what do you think of when you hear the word “home”?

Recently the word home makes me think of the last house I lived in with my ex husband. I definitely still miss it sometimes.

16. if you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

I wouldn't have lupus lol

17. name 3 things that make you happy

-cooking for someone and watching them enjoy it

-getting nerdy about music stuff

-picking up my Molly cat and giving her a big squeeze even though she hates it

18. do you believe in ghosts and/or aliens?

Yes, but not in the history channel way.

19. favourite thing about the day?

Sunshine on my skin

20. favourite things about the night?

The quiet

21. are you a spiritual person?

Extremely

22. say 3 things about someone you love

I'll choose my friend Sally.

-she's extremely accommodating of my accessibility needs

-she's an EXCELLENT communicator

-she has a great smile and a super contagious laugh

23. say 3 things about someone you hate

-he's not good at dancing

-he's not good at rapping

-he is a pipsqueak

24. what’s one thing you’re proud of yourself for?

This is a dangerous question for me; there is SO MUCH I'm proud of myself for. I'm proud of myself for managing to crawl out of the depression hole I was in a few months ago. I'm proud of myself for running a successful business despite being chronically ill. I'm proud of myself for learning to be confident and find a way to love myself. I'm proud of myself for having a big fat ass and ridiculously beautiful hair.

25. fave season and why?

Summer. It's powwow season and there's no cold to bother my joints or snow to make it hard to get around.

26. fave colour and why?

Generally my answer is purple and pink and rainbow and sparkles. Gay.

27. any nicknames?

Not really, people generally just use my name. Previously I've been called Kiki and Kitty in workplaces where the white people couldn't manage "Kida"

Yeah. I know.

A cute kind of nickname my nieces call me is "Mantie". It's a combination of "man" and "auntie". My eldest niece came up with it.

28. do you collect anything?

-rocks

-plastic dinosaurs

-vintage my little ponies and grand champions horse figures. I also restore them and it's really fun.

29. what do you do when you’re sad?

Recently? ABBA and crying.

30. what’s one thing that never fails to make you happy/happier?

My nieces. They're the best damn kids in the world.

31. are you messy or organised?

Organized. I can't function in mess.

32. how many tabs do you have open right now?

37. I cycle through and close them regularly.

33. any hobbies?

Many many hobbies. Beadwork, reptiles, isopods, singing, wire wrapping, powwow dancing, trying to get back into bellydance, we will see how my hips do

34. any pet peeves?

Bad manners. Being stared at. When my sister sings commercial jingles wrong.

35. do you trust easily?

No.

36. are you an open book or do you have walls up?

Bit of both. I'm generally very open about talking about trauma, disability, gender and sexuality etc. But showing the emotion behind those stories? Almost never. Only with very few trusted people. I don't like appearing vulnerable.

37. share a secret

Hmmmm..... dang I genuinely can't think of one. If I remember a secret I'll add it.

OH I've got one. When I was a kid we moved a lot. During a couple of our moves I left a letter behind to the new tenants with my new address, thinking it would be interesting to know who was living in our old house. No one ever wrote me :(

38. fave song at the moment?

Right now I'm really connecting with "Misunderstood" by Dream Theater. It's like 9 minutes long so be ready lol.

39. youtuber you’ve been obsessed with and why?

I really love Maangchi. Her videos are so peaceful and pleasant, and her recipes are genuinely delicious. I get her newsletter every month and it's DELIGHTFUL

40. any bad habits?

I chew the insides of my cheeks pretty bad. Sometimes I drink too much root beer and get a tummy ache.

HOO boy that's a lot of questions! I feel like after reading this people will know me pretty well. Thanks for asking @nimashkawizii

[nowmemoriees]

STRANGER THINGS PUZZLE TALES

Game Observations Part 2/4- Mike's internal struggle

Well, as you know, when I have free time, I play the Stranger Things official games from Netflix to get some external clues from them. Today it's ST Puzzle Tales turn. (Anyway I'm gonna use some screenshots from the walkthroughs of the pre-s4 version of the game)

This analysis is gonna be soooo long since this game has a lot of interesting stuff, so I'm gonna split this in parts. I'm probably gonna be posting about this game specifically for a few days :)

- View Part 1: ST Puzzle Tales Characters Analysis.

So, this post is about Mike's internal struggle and how this is shown in the game's story mode.

We see how he's forced to "Grow Up", so that idea gets so deep into his mind and it's thanks to Ted.

We also see that Mike tries to fake a new personality when he meets El and Will in California in s4, which makes this part really curious...

"Lack of personality for so long" when did we all say that Mike's character was being ruined? Since s3.

And this reminds me to that part in "Lucas On The Line" book, where he said that Mike spent a lot of time alone, isolated playing in his basement after the Byers moved to California.

Boy, how can you say it's gross? You literally have a girlfriend.

Unless... you're not used to treat her like that because love is not what you feel. Admiration, could be? Coolness?

I mean, even his sister thinks it's weird that he got an amazing girl as his girlfriend😭

and then we have this VERY direct parallel to M1leven with the "you're my superhero" line, and this is what Jonathan says. Mike, what are you hiding behind that monologue?

Part 3: ST Puzzle Tales Foreshadowing and s5 clues

Part 4: ST Puzzle Tales Byler Hints

[thestrangestthing89]

We have a lot of lies this season...

El lies to Mike about her life in Lenora. El lies to Will about how great her relationship with Mike is.

Will lies to El by omission - he doesn't tell her his feelings for Mike or who the painting is for. Will lies to Mike by hiding his feelings behind El's and claiming the painting is from her.

Mike lies to El when he's forced to tell her he loves her. Mike lies to Will by omission - he doesn't tell Will what him and El are really fighting about. He also possibly omitted telling him how many times he tries to contact him.

The only lie that was dealt with is the one about El's life in Lenora. Because the others are so closely linked together that unraveling one part unravels the whole thing. One little tug on this thread and the secrets are out.

Either: - Mike or El (or Jonathan or Argyle) will mention the painting and reveal Will's secret - Will will ask Mike about what happened with the fight between him and El (he knows it was because Mike didn't say "I love you" now). - El is going to confront Mike about the lies in his monologue - Mike will confront El about the lies in his monologue - Will will ask El what was really going on with her relationship with Mike - El will ask Will what's going on with the painting and how he's been acting - Mike will confront Will about what he told him in the van (not just about the painting but about the nice things he said about him and why he was crying) - If Mike has been trying to contact Will (Dustin hints at this), Mike could bring this up either by choice or because someone mentions it (Dustin again, or possibly Nancy) - There are hints that Mike has been depressed (his room isn't clean and Will notices this is weird, hasn't been hanging out with his friends much, the basement is a mess). Someone says something prompting Will and Mike to have another heart-to-heart. It's likely a combination of these things. There are so many possibilities here for these lies to be exposed. And in my opinion, it makes absolutely no sense for any of it to be put off until after a time jump. That is a lot of build up for things to suddenly get stagnant. Everyone was expecting these things to be revealed at the end of season 4.People were ready for Byler to happen then because the story made sense for it then. It's part of the reason why the ending feels off. There was no resolution. These are big plot points that haven't gotten wrapped up yet. We are in the middle of the story. It feels unsatisfying because it's left so open ended. But these problems are still very much in focus for these characters and they'll pick right up where they left off.

[gayregina]

A false dream

Stranger things canon post-season 4 one shot and byler(will’s pov) by me. That’s all I really have to say. Enjoy:)

Nights were always terrifying for him, especially after the one that changed his life. So when he couldn’t escape his thoughts and his memories, he opened his eyes and watched the moonlight creeping from the window, even behind the curtains. A light so bright it had guided thousands through the nightfall, looming over them in an attempt to keep them safe from the darkness and the monsters within.

And yet it wasn’t enough to protect them from what was standing at the end of the road. He could feel him, how close he was. He hadn’t made his presence known yet but Will knew it would come sooner rather than later. The thought of facing him again made him freeze in his place and left him feeling absolutely helpless like he had before. A move that almost cost him his life twice. But he wasn’t worried about himself anymore. He cared more about his family and friends. And Mike, a traitorous voice echoed in his head. And Mike, he responded defeated.

The boy currently sleeping beside him in his own handmade sleeping bag was his best friend. Or so he liked to believe. It had been long since the days it used to be just the two of them. He missed those days, he realized. He missed his childhood. He missed Mike. Nothing could have prepared him for what came next but the only thing he believed would remain unchanged was Mike. But that was stupid thinking. They grew up after all. But Will still felt as if he was twelve, sitting in Mike’s basement and playing d&d. So he never understood the boys’ need to get out in the world and change. He would like for things to stay the same forever.

Did you really think we could sit in my basement all day and play games for the rest of our lives?

I guess I did. I really did.

He shook the thoughts from his head. It didn’t matter anymore. He heard shuffling in the sheets next to him and he stopped breathing in hopes to avoid him. As soon as he heard his voice he knew it was inevitable.

“Are you awake?” Mike whispered and Will squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block out the familiar feeling that ached and teased his heart. He sighed, letting out the breath he was holding because he knew it was no use. He couldn’t hide from himself anymore.

“Yes”

“Can’t sleep?”

“Yes” he still wasn’t facing him and he preferred not to.

“Yeah, me neither” he could feel his awkwardness and it was obvious he wanted to say something.

“You don’t need to worry about him you know?” His voice was soft and reassuring but Will couldn’t help the feeling that something was wrong. Mike never confronted him. At least not anymore.

“I know he’s getting ready for something big. It won’t be like before” he shivered at the thought.

“Whatever it is, we will face him together” said Mike. He almost convinced him. Together, he thought bitterly. He was full of empty promises and he didn’t need any more. Mike would be too concerned for Eleven to notice him anyway.

Stop it, she’s your friend.

“El told me” Will almost didn’t hear him saying the words, so quiet and scared he sounded, and he wished he hadn’t. A series of thoughts filled his brain so fast it overwhelmed him. Did El know? Could she have told him? Did Mike hate him? His breathing picked up and he could feel his heart pounding in his chest.

“She told me about the painting. How she never even knew about it” Will forced himself to calm down. This wasn’t so bad. It was just a painting to Mike. It didn’t mean anything.

Will finally turned to look at the other boy. His pale face was slightly lit by the moon and his black curls were a tangled mess sitting at the top of his head. He couldn’t see his freckles though. He missed the days he’d sit so close to him that he could count the little dots on his skin one by one. But they weren’t kids anymore. He had to remind himself over and over again.

“I am sorry. I just-“

“You don’t have anything to be sorry for” he reassured him but Will could see his demeanour shift. He wasn’t comfortable talking about it.

“I know” Mike said and looked straight at him for the first time that night. Even through the darkness, Will could feel the intensity of his gaze and the way it cut through him, making him vulnerable. He looked almost apologetic.

“Know what?” Will’s voice came out strained, like there was rope tightening around his throat. He was scared of this moment even though he had been imagining it for most of his life.

Every time the outcome was different. Sometimes Mike would yell at him and tell him to get out and never see him again. Other times Mike would just back away disgusted by who Will had become, not ever occurring to him that this had been who he really was all along. In the late hours of the night, when no one was near to hear his thoughts, he could even fantasise a future where Mike would hold him in his arms and kiss him. But he was no fool.

“I know” Mike repeated and Will watched him look away quickly as if he was caught doing something bad. Will didn’t know what he expected but not reacting wasn’t Mike wheeler’s way of doing things. Mike was loud about his hyperfixations and would face anyone upright if they had messed with his friends, a trait Will always admired. Most importantly, Mike’s face was a mirror of his feelings and thoughts. For that very reason he was never the one the party send to lie to a parent so they can steal a little more time together. But then again what did he really know about him? He had changed after all.

“You love her, don’t you?” It was a stupid question and Will knew it but there was nothing left to ask. Of course he loved her. He had said it himself.

I feel like my life started that day we found you in the woods.

Will was the one that encouraged him to make that confession because he couldn’t watch anyone else he cared about die right before his eyes. But he still was surprised by the sting it left in him. Mike had always been a people pleaser but he would never lie about something like this. But maybe he had done it before when he tried to save Will.

I asked you if you wanted to be my friend. And you said yes. It was the best thing I’ve ever done.

It had been enough to reach him and pull him out of his trance. But he couldn’t be sure how far Mike would go to save a life anymore. Maybe he wasn’t so honest.

They were both sitting up at this point and Will was constantly on edge like he was waiting for an attack. He watched the other boy quiver, saw his lip trembling and his eyes filling up with tears. The emotions caught up with him at once and he almost broke down crying. But Mike Wheeler would never allow himself to show that kind of vulnerability to others. So he kept it in because as his father always reminded him: “boys don’t cry”. His stubbornness to look at the hardwood floor like it deserved more attention than Will was driving him insane. So much that he didn’t see the next words coming.

“I just wish you were a girl” Mike’s voice echoed broken in Will’s ears and reached his heart, shuttering it into pieces in a matter of seconds. Will finally saw through all his lies and delusions. Eleven was never the problem.

He was.

Now Will was the one that turned away, unable to face the sight of their relationship crumbling before his eyes. It was impossible for him to look into the eyes of the person he loved and watch him reject Will in the most cruel way. No fantasies could have prepared him for this. He felt his heart, now numb, give away and retreat into a dark place, one he had sworn he would never go back to. But he couldn’t help it, not when the tears were streaming down his face and not when he tried to storm out of the room so he didn’t have to watch Mike’s helpless look. He was so lost that he didn’t notice the familiar cold grip at the back of his neck.

“Do you see now, William?” The chilling voice made him stop dead in his tracks before he could reach the door. He heard him get up and take a few steps towards him but that wasn’t Mike anymore. It never was.

“You can’t be together in this world. They won’t allow it” He didn’t turn around because he found little comfort in the fact that none of this was real. But he could feel him getting closer and his neck was burning up, urging him to move. Will knew he couldn’t get out unless Vecna wanted him to.

“But we can make a new one” he went on “A world where you won’t feel ashamed to be who you are. One where everything is possible” Will started to slowly turn around. His voice coming out of Mike’s mouth was extremely disturbing. As if he’d heard his thoughts, Vecna’s form started to fade in and out of view and as more time passed, Mike’s figure became more and more frightening, with blood coming out of his eyes and his skin almost hanging off his bones.

“Join me and we will prevail” Will shook his head. He refused to do this again.

“No” he started backing away towards the door.

“No” Will repeated panicked as he grabbed the doorknob and opened the door.

He ran but the minute he stepped out of the room he was suddenly in a field and a familiar one. He looked around searching for someone, anyone, but no one was in sight. But he recognised the grass and the building ahead of him. Hawkins middle school. Will took in a deep breath. He knew exactly what Vecna was doing. And so the memories of his possession flashed in his head and he could still feel the pain that rushed through his veins. Even more so he remembered everything he had suffered in order to get it out. He wouldn’t endure that again.

“You can run but you can’t hide William. We’ve been here before. You know the ending just as much as I do” His voice was right in his ear and Will almost jumped. He felt Vecna’s breath on his skin and he stood frozen on the spot, even though every voice inside his head was screaming at him. But Vecna was right. Will had been here before. He just didn’t know how far he would go to ensure it wouldn’t end the same way.

“No” He stepped away hurriedly from the monster behind him and he fell to the ground.

He kept repeating no as if it meant anything to him.

“What makes you think you have a choice?” Vecna asked and Will started desperately backing away on his elbows as Vecna came closer. But then a thought occurred to him, as if a hand guided him through his fear. He wouldn’t run again.

“Go away” he whispered and he closed his eyes so he didn’t have to watch Vecna tower over him. That was when he brought everything back. Every good memory of him playing with the party, every smile Mike had ever give him, every hug he had shared with his mom and Jonathan. They filled him with a strange kind of sensation. Like a power, he realized. He felt the grass underneath his fingertips and held on for dear life. He couldn’t even feel his own tears as they passed through his eyelashes.

“Go away!” he screamed without ever letting the memory of his family drift from his mind.

He was squeezing his eyes closed so hard that he didn’t notice when Vecna was thrown into the other end of the field. He just shouted at the top of his lungs until his voice gave out under the pressure. He curled into himself, hugging his knees, and allowed himself to let everything out in hopes to leave it all broken on the dirt.

He didn’t remember how long he stayed lying at the top of the grass and weeping for every bad thing that had ever happened to him and had yet to happen. The only thing that pulled him out of his trance was the gentle touch of hands over his arms.

He jumped from his bed with a horrible gasp. His throat hurt like he hadn’t spoken for years and the whole room was spinning. A blurry person was shaking him lightly but he couldn’t focus his vision in order to see them properly. Although he could recognise his warm skin anywhere.

“Will, are you okay? What happened?” His worried voice reached his ears and Will let out a breath he didn’t knew he was holding. His vision finally cleared and it was a relief to see his beautiful face, even if it looked concerned. Concerned for you, a voice reminded him. But why?

Will flinched away from Mike as everything came rushing back. His encounter with Vecna was still fresh in his brain, still raw. How could he know this wasn’t just another one of his tricks to fool him? How could he be sure that the one kneeling before him was really Mike?

“Are-“ Will struggled getting words out but he tried anyway. “Are you real?” The boy looked hurt at his question but he watched him slowly reach out to him again, the way people approached wounded animals.

“Of course I am” Will must have looked as unconvinced as he felt because Mike tried again. “It’s me, Will. I would never hurt you. You’re safe” Will didn’t know what it was but something about the way Mike always put him at ease with his words, made him realise the absence of that exact quality just a few minutes ago. It really was him.

Before Mike could back away, Will moved forward and crushed into him, in an attempt for a hug. They were both nearly thrown back on the floor but it didn’t matter because as soon as his face found its place at the curve of Mike’s neck, Will knew he was home. He could tell Mike was surprised but he didn’t push him away. Instead, he wrapped his arms tightly around Will’s lower back and murmured soothing words into his hair. Will was lost in his smell and his touch and he wished they could stay like that forever. But then he saw from the corner of his eye other people gathering around the room and whispering to each other. Will slowly detached himself from Mike as he recognised the figures and looked at them. Mike followed his line of sight and Will watched as a familiar look of shame covered his face. He was definitely home.

“What happened?” Asked Eleven stepping out of the shadows and into the dim moonlight. Will looked at her in her pyjamas and saw her eyes swollen from sleep and for the first time in a long time he didn’t view her as a warrior but as a kid who had suffered way too much in her small lifetime. Sometimes it was easy to fall for the fake images you’d make up in your mind, he realized. And it just made what he had to say a tone harder.

So instead he turned and watched Mike’s expectant face with his features on edge and ready to react. He had seen this look before, not too long ago outside a burning sauna, and he found himself saying the very words he wished he never had to say again.

“He’s activated”

[serendipitouswasteland]

I Kissed A Boy and I Like It

Note: This was transcribed from my AO3.

ship: byler pov: third person written: July 27, 2022 first published: August 1, 2022 word count: 3,901 - summary: Growing up as a kid and a teenager in the '80s isn't totally awful for one Mike Wheeler. He has a Supercom walkie talkie, two different bikes, the basement of his home all to himself (most of the time), a family that loves him, and five really amazing friends. But, there is one thing that makes life absolute Hell: the constant urge to kiss his best friend.

or

Mike Wheeler and El Hopper broke up because they both need something else in their lives, namely for Mike, kissing boys.

Mike walks down the school hallway with El by his side. When they were dating, their hallway conversations were few and far between, Mike's eyes traveling elsewhere as his mind would consistently snap back to one Will Byers, his best friend who was always an earshot away.

Now, though, with Mike and El no longer being together, Mike can't help but feel like a weight has been lifted off his shoulders. During their breakup conversation, Mike had told El the truth, and El had shared her own, and they agreed that they'd be better off as friends. That much has held true with the two being undeniably closer than ever.

"What about him?" El asks, pointing to a random guy as they're about to enter their classroom.

"No," Mike says with a snort, El laughing along.

The two make their way to their seats, setting their bags down next to each other and giving one another a smile, their silent moment interrupted by Will taking his place in front of Mike and Max taking hers in front of El, Dustin and Lucas following close behind, clearly exhausted and out of breath.

"Hey!" Will says, the biggest smile on his face as he breathes heavily.

Mike looks at Will intently, staring into his eyes, watching as they sparkle and how his skin is practically growing, his smile one of the biggest Mike has seen in a while (though he knows it could be bigger, after everything that's happened, he wasn't going to complain). Mike smiles back, and watches as Will's fades just a slight bit, watching as their facial expressions becomes one that they share. They stare at each other for a quick moment, Mike being the one to look away once he starts to feel his face heat up.

"So, uh, why are the four of you all out of breath?"

"Max decided we should race," Lucas huffs out as he falls into his chair in front of Max.

"I gave you a heads up this morning!"

"Yeah, but...you didn't say when."

"I would just like to make it clear that I beat Lucas," Dustin says, Will rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, but Will is the one who won the whole thing. I didn't think you had it in you, Byers."

"Eh. It's not that surprising. I mean, he almost outran a demogorgon," Mike says with a shrug, Will's smile faltering a bit more. "Sorry, I didn't— I mean, I know you're not— just..."

"No, Mike. You're fine, it's just me. You don't have to apologize."

"What? No! I made you upset, and—"

"Oh my god, do you two ever shut up?" Max exclaims, her, El, and Lucas falling into a bit of laughter at her comment.

"Sorry," both Mike and Will whisper at the same time.

"We'll talk about this later," Mike says sternly, Will's face flushing as he turns to face the front of the class.

Mike grabs his books out of his bag and sets them on his desk, leaning over to El to get a pencil. She sighs heavily, sifting through her bag, but Mike tells her nevermind when Will knowingly tosses a pencil behind him. Mike whispers a thank-you before facing the board, easily getting distracted as the lesson goes on, namely when Will raises his hand to answer a question. Mike watches as Will's arm stretches high, slowly lowering as he gets called on.

The muscles in Will's arm relax as he rests his arm on the back of his chair, twirling his pencil between two fingers. Mike doesn't know why, but he suddenly feels hot all over, covering his mouth his hand to try and hide part of his face. Even Will's voice gets to Mike, the slight uncertainty that only he's able to pick up on.

When Will's finished answering the question, Mike lets out a small cough into his shoulder, turning away from the rest of the class. Will turns around to look at him, making sure he's okay, and Mike gives a quick nod and smile, pointing his pencil back toward the board as to say "I'm fine, let's pay attention".

Lunch, something that Mike once loved, has become a part of his day full of the utmost dread. After Lucas and Will decided not to join Hellfire, Mike felt like he had to choose between the two: his friends, or a club where he can fit in. In the end, Will had told him to join, and so he did, because he thought that was what Will wanted. Fact was, Mike had been wrong in that regard. He knows this for one reason: Will sits at the complete opposite side of the lunch room with Lucas, Max, and El, leaving Mike and Dustin to be alone with the Hellfire club.

It's not that Mike has a problem with Will not sitting with them at lunch, because he doesn't, but it's the mere distance between them. It's like Will doesn't want to be seen within twenty feet of him. Today, though, was going to be different, because Eddie (the dungeon master of Hellfire) wasn't going to be there on account of him having been suspended. Mike gets his food and quickly takes what's El's usual spot at their lunch table next to Will, smiling brightly as he puts his tray on the table.

"Hey!" Mike practically yells, immediately looking at Will.

"Hey. Not sitting with your club of losers?"

"Okay, first of all, this is the losers table, alright? Second, Eddie got suspended yesterday, so I figured why not come and sit with my best friend while I have the chance?"

"Right," Will says, taking a bite of his food.

"What?"

"Nothing, I just find it kind of funny, is all."

"Funny?"

"Yeah, I mean, that he got suspended for selling drugs to Chrissy Cunningham, of all people, out at the picnic table in the woods. And all because of Jason."

"Hey, that's my team captain you're talking about," Lucas says with a pointed look.

"Yeah, but Lucas, he's awful. He literally used Hopper's death at the pep rally before the championship game."

"Didn't he also, like, try and kill Eddie?" Max asks, finally taking off her headphones when the track she'd been listening to finishes.

"Which brings us back to him selling Chrissy drugs."

"Which she asked for," Dustin notes, El nodding along.

"Wait, how do you know all of this?" Mike asks, his eyes still locked on Will.

"Being the quiet gay kid comes in handy, sometimes," Will says, Max, Lucas, and El, all laughing a bit with him.

"Wait- what?"

"What?" Will asks, his brows furrowed as he finally meets Mike's gaze. "Oh. Oh, shit, um..."

"You're—" Mike cuts himself off, looking at Dustin to see if he knew, but he just shrugs it off like he'd expected it.

"Can we not make this a big deal? We can talk about it later when you finish apologizing over nothing."

"I just don't get why you didn't tell me. I mean, come on, Will. I'm your best friend."

"Yeah, well, you haven't really been present over the past year, have you?" Will blurts out, his face stern and his voice cold.

Mike doesn't even blink at Will's words. He knows he's right. Except it hasn't been a year. It's been more than that. It's been since the snowball back in '84, and it's now spring of '86 and despite what he's done to amend that, it's still not enough. After all, this is his first time having lunch with Will in almost two months.

"Later it is then," Mike says, not wanting to ruin the moment any further.

All throughout lunch, Mike steals glances over at Will when he's not looking. Not that he doesn't look when Will is, but, that was different. That wasn't the staring that he would do. When Will was looking, it was always rapid blinking and trying to keep his cheeks from flushes and words from slipping. But when Will wasn't looking? It made it all so much easier: the being able to admire Will while he wasn't looking, the thoughts in his mind running free without fear of a slip (to an extent), and Will not seeing and being able to tell him to stop.

The end of the school day Will always be a struggle for Mike on the days he goes straight home without stopping by a friend's or without a friend coming with him. Luckily, it's a Friday, and Will promised he would come over (hence his push to finish their conversation later on). Everyone waves goodbye to El as she gets in the car with Jonathan, the rest of them standing by the bike rack while Mike undoes his bike lock.

"Are you sure that you'll be able to fit on there?" Lucas asks with concern, Dustin examining Mike's bike intently.

"Yeah, I mean, why wouldn't I? We've done it before," Will responds, Dustin shaking his head.

"When we were, like, ten! That was five years ago, and we're teenagers now," Lucas continues, using his hands as he speaks to put emphasis on the age and time differences.

"Lucas is right," Mike huffs, looking at his bike, then Will, and lastly himself. "We're not both going to fit."

"We'll just walk it back then, right? Just like when we were kids and one of us would fall and get hurt."

"You mean when you would fall and get hurt," Dustin corrects.

"I hate when you guys talk about that stuff. You really know how to make a girl feel left out," Max chimes in, finally having kicked her skateboard up.

"Sorry," Will says, giving her a polite smile.

Mike just rolls his eyes, going back to assessing the bike situation. The thing with Mike and Max, they don't hate each other. They don't even dislike each other. In fact, they've grown to have a mutual respect for one another and agreed to get along for the sake of El. Because of that, they've even found that there's some common ground between them (that being them both being moody, hormonal teenagers, but nonetheless...). Still, though, they don't necessarily like each other.

"What was that for, Wheeler?" Max asks, only slightly snarky.

"Yeah, what the hell, man?" Lucas asks. There was that, too— Lucas and Max being boyfriend and girlfriend (thought Mike actually liked the idea of them together, because despite their few differences they do get along on a lot. They speak to each other).

"Nothing, just, don't worry about it, alright? You guys go on ahead and Will and I will figure something out. You too, Dustin. We both know that after '83 your mom will flip if you're not home by sundown."

"Watch out for cars," Dustin says as he and Lucas hop on their bikes and Mikes gets on her skateboard, the three going off together, laughter quickly filling the air among them.

Mike watches as they leave, thinking about what walking home with Will is going to be like. This wasn't something that had ever happened (mostly because last spring Will's mom finally let him start going off on his own again since he as officially a teenager). It made Mike nervous, the knowing that he was going to be alone with Will for a good while, the school not being directly in the middle of town, but still far enough to make a walk back to his house absolute hell.

Much to Mike's surprise, the walk home is fairly quiet between the two, only pointing out random road signs here and there, doing a little people watching, and laughing at some of the things they see along the way, but other than that, the two don't actually talk. Not that it's awkward or that they don't want to. That wasn't the case at all. They simply didn't need to.

They eventually get to Mike's house and they lean his bike against the wall in the garage, Mike holding open the door for Will as the two go inside, a little drizzle starting to fall with the slight overcast filling the sky. If you'd asked Mike, he'd lie and tell you he didn't like the rain all that much, but that couldn't be further from the truth. To Mike, this was the perfect weather. Since he was a kid he's dreamed of going out and dancing and jumping around in the rain with someone, anyone, but as the years have gone that person has become Will every time, and Mike hates it.

Well, not entirely. He likes the idea, actually. Spending time with Will, his favorite person in the world, in his favorite weather? That was pure heaven. But he knows what others would think, what they might assume, the things they'd start to say, and that's why he hates it. He hates it because it's romantic, and all Mike's life he's been told that two guys being romantic with each other is wrong. Mike himself knows it's not, but if that was him? It was a chilling thought that made him want to crawl in on himself every time.

Mike enters after Will, shutting the garage door behind him and messing with his hair a bit as they enter into the kitchen where they find Karen, Mike's mom. She smiles at them brightly while chopping up some vegetables, presumably for the night's dinner.

"Hey, boys. What took you so long getting here?"

"Well, Will can't ride on the back of my bike anymore, so we had to walk it home."

"Oh, you should have called! You know I would have come and picked you up."

"I know, Mom, but Will was the one who wanted to walk."

"Alright, then. Do you guys want a snack or anything before you go on upstairs or the basement— wherever it is that you two hang out nowadays?"

"Why would we go upstairs?" Will asks, genuine confusion washing over him.

"Well I thought since Mike likes y—"

"Okay, Mom! We're going downstairs now!"

"I love you!"

"I love you too!" Mike shouts as he hurriedly pulls Will down to the basement with him, slinging his bag off his shoulder and to a random spot on the floor.

Mike runs his hands over his face, feeling hot all over. He feels like he's dying. Simply knowing what his mother was about to say makes him feel insane. After all, he'd told her that in confidence. Sure, he's updated her on it every now and then, but not once has he ever mentioned anything that Will felt, which for Mike, only made things that much scarier. He has no idea how Will feels about him, and a part of him doesn't want to, because what if it's not in the way that he wants? What would happen then?

"I still can't believe you rearranged down here. I don't think I'll ever get used to it," Will says, sitting on the couch that sits against the far wall.

"Well, at least our spot hasn't changed. I was going to move it, but for some reason I couldn't bring myself to do it. I don't know. It's weird. It's like it's sacred, or something."

"Sacred?"

"Nothing. Nevermind. Uh, what do you want to do? I mean, I have my Nintendo system, and we can play Super Mario Bros., but that's about it."

"Mike, we need to talk," Will says, sitting up just a bit as Mike sits down next to him.

"No, it's fine, Will. You like guys. I don't care. You're still you. And I'm sorry for my comment about...everything. I shouldn't have said anything."

"That's not what I meant. I mean, yeah, it's all whatever at the end of the day, but sometimes you forget that you've been distant, Mike. Like, a lot."

"Hey, I tried. Remember September? And, you know, Halloween and that first week of November I was as there for you as you let me be, but you shut me out. I wanted to be there, but it got kind of hard when you didn't want me."

"Of course I want you! Wanted you there, I mean. I was just scared of you finding out that I— that I'm..."

"But why? Will, I've defended you from the things people have said about you our entire lives!"

"Yeah, but what people say about me and me actually being that thing is different, Mike. So, so different."

"That's not a bad thing. People will say things no matter what, you know? I mean, they've said some stuff about me. I think it was because we got so distant, actually."

"What do you mean?"

"Do you remember Troy?"

"I wish I didn't."

"Well, he's stopped messing with you, right?"

"Yeah..."

"That's because, you know, you and El and Max? You all hang out with Lucas, and now he's one of the cool kids, the popular kids, and I don't blame him for that. Not anymore, at least. But because of that, you're semi-cool. But me? I'm still stuck with the weird kids that nobody likes, and so he's turned all that hate and anger he had for you...onto me."

"Well, what has he been saying?"

"Oh, you know, just the usual stuff. The things that he'd call you, mostly," Mike says with a gulp, unable to meet Will's eyes. "And, you know," Mike continues, his voice softer and quieter now, "that's not an excuse or anything, but."

Will doesn't let him say anymore, pulling him into a tight hug as tears begin to fall from Mike's eyes, running down his cheeks. Mike grips onto Will tightly, lightly scratching his back as he does so. The hug feels like it lasts for an eternity, but really it only lasts for a minute or two. Still, Mike takes it all in (even if there is a small part of him that's telling him to pull away, that this is wrong and that they shouldn't be so close, because there is, but he forces himself to ignore it— for Will's sake).

"You know, I think his words might've started getting to me," Mike says with a self-depricating laugh after him and Will pull apart.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, for the past— God, I don't even know long— I've had this thought. It's this thought about kissing someone. A boy. And I don't...I don't know what it means, and I don't know if I want to know, but— but I do know that I— I want to try it, because I feel like that's the only way for me to stop feeling like this. Like I'm messed up."

"Hey, woah, you are not messed up. I mean, sure, you have your problems— we all do— but wanting to know what it's like to kiss a guy is not one of them. I mean, I'd like to know, too."

"That's right. You haven't had your first kiss yet."

"No, I haven't. I wonder why," Will says sarcastically, him and Mike both letting out a bit of laughter at the end.

Things fall silent once again, this time endless tension between them, Mike knowing full well he didn't say all that he should have, nor all that he needed to, because while it is true that he's thought of kissing boys, it's always been one boy in particular. Mike glances over at Will, only to find Will doing the same thing, and they both look away again quickly. Mike taps his pointer finger on his knee, thinking deeply. Finally, he decides to just go for it and finish what he'd been saying before.

"The guy I said I wanted to kiss? He's not just any guy. He's a really, really great guy, actually. I've known him for a really long time and he means to world to me, and I know that I'm the same for him, so I don't want to mess things up, but, Will...Will, that guy is you."

Will snaps his head to be looking at Mike, his eyes wide. Mike almost regrets saying his words, but then he watches as Will's body relaxes, sinking comfortably into his spot on the couch. He smiles slyly, sitting to be facing Mike completely and crossing his legs, Mike following suit and doing the same, only he keeps one leg on the ground, bending his toes as he pushes against the floor.

"Well," Will starts, picking at the material of the couch beneath him and looking at Mike while batting his lashes, "maybe we can kill two birds with one stone.

Mike watches as Will shrugs, stopping his fumbling with his fingers and looking at Mike fully now, his gaze strong, forcing Mike to have to look away. He needs a moment to process. Had Will really just said that?

"I, uhm..."

"You don't have to if you don't want to! It was just a random little thought..."

"No, no! I...we should."

"Oh! Okay."

The two boys stare at each other for a moment before Mike leans in, cupping Will's cheek with one hand while the other pushes into the couch cushion below him. He waits until Will shows some form of reciprocation before bringing their lips together in a soft, slow motion. Will kisses back immediately, his hands traveling into Mike's hair and kneading through the curly mess. The kiss slowly becomes more heated, Mike slipping his tongue past Will's teeth and lips and into his mouth, really kissing him, because he's not sure that he'll ever get this chance again.

Once they pull back, Mike immediately licks his lips and his eyes go wide. Cherry. He puts his thumb to Will's lips, running it along them, feeling smudged chapstick all over them. His mind is barely able to comprehend how this has happened. Mike knows that happens when you kiss, but the flavor being so prominent sends him for a whirlwind, going back in for a second kiss because he wants more.

Will is happy to reciprocate, him being the one this time to take control as Mike does nothing but hungrily lick along Will's lips, savoring that cherry flavor that he's quickly found so endearing and so Will. After a while of that, Will's mouth trails away from Mike's, kissing around his cheeks and jaw, Mike lost in the flavor of cherry that's enveloped all of his taste-buds, so much so that he's sure he's breathing it in at this point.

"Are you okay?" Will asks, pulling back as he notices that Mike isn't all there.

"You taste like cherry," Mike says in response, licking his lips once more.

"Oh. That's because of my new chapstick that my mom bought me."

"I liked it."

"The chapstick?"

"Kissing you," Mike says, his eyes glued to Will's lips.

"Yeah, that was...it was really good. I think. I don't really know."

"Well did you like it?"

"Yeah..."

"Then it was good," Mike says with a giddy smile, feeling like he's on top of the world.

"Should we play Super Mario Bros. now?"

"Sure," Mike says, pushing the thoughts of what just transpired between them to the back of his mind. He'll save that for a later date when he can finally get up the courage to tell Will how he really feels about him. That he likes him.

[bylertruther]

i hae the idea that will used his connection to vecna to manipulate the lights and all that in the ud. because it makes sense... but it borders on the 'will has to sacrifice himself bc of his connection to vecna because the characters are unable to break it off' territory, especially given the fact that they never were able to break it since s1. :DDD ?? like i dislike the idea for many reasons and bc of its implications, it's not gonna end well.

hm, that's definitely one way it could turn out!

i'm partial to the idea that the connection was never broken both for plot purposes and because vecna realized he had to change tactics to reach his end goal. he couldn't go for will directly (s1, s2) and use him to open the door (s2), so he sought el's power in season three (the bite) to then be able to do it himself in season four (four curses = four gates).

he talks a lot about wanting to rebuild the world into something new from its broken pieces, and then... we end on the big plot drop that will is still cursed and knows vecna's current status? he's the first that realized something was changing? has to be for a reason, no? especially since will himself tells us that vecna lays dormant until he needs you. he's not possessed, but that rod is still there—waiting, watching, same as he is. and same with him being vecna's perfect character foil. but that's just my interpretation and theorizing!

i had this analysis i was working on but later abandoned regarding the three day timeline before will's assumed to be dead and what could've happened to him in the UD.

at will's funeral, joyce has a flashback where will tells us that sometimes outsmarting the bad guy isn't enough and you need to fight back (fireball). at that point, will's gone from being able to hide at his house to really being on the run and being hunted for real for real without mercy. before that, we saw that the demogorgon mainly went for joyce whenever will revealed too much; but after that, they went after will, too.

given that we were shown how the kids channeled and harnessed their power with the ring light + the way that will was able to manipulate the lights in the same way in a scene that directly parallels that, i can see why people might think that his powers are an extension of vecna's, and i do think that vecna could've been teaching him, but i really don't think that they come from vecna at all.

vecna could've picked anyone when he first came through the gate, but he went for will. mike's house isn't anywhere near the lab. vecna was observing and stalking will specifically BEFORE he'd ever even left. he's in the house while they're still in the basement playing. it's when will is alone that he finally strikes and makes his presence known to him.

given vecna's motives, i don't think that he'd pick a regular human without any use to him. he chose eleven in the lab, because he saw himself in her—specifically, he saw untapped potential.

joyce first introduces us to will by saying, "look, he's not like you, hopper. he's not like me. he's not like... most." and yeah, she's talking about him being gay and gender nonconforming, but... didn't victor say the same thing about henry? and didn't henry end up manifesting his powers, because he's a sensitive kid and emotions fuel power / are the energy they draw strength from?

wouldn't it make sense then that the mind explorer had found someone just like him, just like eleven, too, and saw a new way to achieve his goals / "achieve his potential"? and doesn't that tie in with him explaining brenner's motives to eleven with the whole, "when papa finally realized he could not control me, he tried to recreate me"? and how henry is doomed to repeat the cycles he was once desperate to break? and that whole "he was just a man. an ordinary, mediocre man. that is why he sought greatness in others." which is pretty much what that entire big bad plot drop ended up being? that the big bad is actually just a power-hungry man?

but again.... those are just my thoughts! :D