#Anytime Eddie tries to doubt Steve he just raises an eyebrow at him like “really we're doing this again? How did this go the first time?”

[artiststarme]

Bye Bi Steve Part 2

The long awaited second part to the "Bye Bi Steve" fic. I hope you enjoy it and please leave your thoughts in the comments!

~*~*~*~

Steve was gutted. He never even considered a world where Robin and Eddie didn’t immediately accept them. He imagined that Robin would pat his shoulder and launch into a gross display of critiquing his ‘type’, just as he’d done with hers. Eddie would say something flirty to make him blush, call him Big Boy or something equally lewd to get Steve to laugh before giving him a hug and whispering his acceptance in his ear. But that’s all they were; delusional imaginations. 

Of course they wouldn’t accept him, why would they? Maybe they were right. Perhaps Steve was just confused. Maybe he only liked Eddie at that moment because he looked like a girl with his hair up in a bun, although Steve had a feeling that Eddie would take offense to that too. But any time he tried to rationalize it, force the idea of being straight, he got a nauseous feeling in his chest. He finally felt comfortable with who he was and now he had to change it? It didn’t feel right. 

Understandably, Steve started pulling away from the Party after that disaster of a coming out. He felt a little bad for pulling away from the kids without explanation but how would they accept him when his best friends didn’t? It was better just to create some distance before they could trample on the shards of his heart even further.

For the next two weeks, he avoided all contact with the Party. He switched his scheduled shifts with Keith so he didn’t have to work with Robin. He left his phone off the hook so the kids couldn’t reach him. He even told Hopper that his parents were in town so he had an excuse to skip the family dinners at the Hopper-Byers’. It’s not like they’d want him around their family if they knew Steve’s sexuality anyway.

The only person Steve can’t shake is Nancy. She’d been a crutch for him the entire time; offering her shoulder up when the tears got too much, supplying him with ice creams a plenty from multiple grocery store runs, and even holding his hair back when he puked up all the alcohol he chugged in an effort to forget the betrayal. Steve didn’t know what he would’ve done without her. 

She too was avoiding the Party but whenever Steve asked her why, she would just give him a blasé, “if I see them, I’m going to shoot them. It’s better for me to be here.” And well, Steve wasn’t going to argue with her on that. It felt nice having a friend he could count on when everyone else had abandoned him. He just hoped he didn’t mess it up like he did everything else. 

~*~*~*~

Nancy was going to murder Eddie and Robin. They were off gallivanting around town together like nothing was wrong, like they hadn’t imploded Steve’s entire worldview in one fell swoop. Anytime she saw them, she felt her trigger finger twitch. She was livid, after everything she’d been through in her life, she’d never been so angry. But she was hurt too. Just like Steve, Nancy thought that Robin and Eddie would be the ones to understand them the best. They knew what it was like to be queer in a small hick town in the middle of nowhere. She thought that they would be compassionate and helpful. But clearly she was wrong. 

As soon as she got the call from Steve and heard his tears distorted over the phone line, all of her attraction to Robin shriveled up and died. She could never be attracted to anyone that made her goofy teddy bear of an ex-boyfriend, her friend that had always tried to be there for her, cry. It left a part of her feeling empty though too. She’d liked Robin since she saw her running weirdly from the orderlies at the asylum. To have that affection die so suddenly and over such a pivotal detail left Nancy feeling unbalanced.

However, as angry as she was, Steve was still hurt. He was closer to both of them than she would ever be, ever wanted to be now. She had her family, she had the newspaper club, and plans for college. What did Steve have? He depended on Eddie and Robin to be there for him and they weren’t. Even still though, his hurt superseded any anger. He was still hopeful that his friends would come around, desperate for their acceptance and approval. 

So, while Nancy was still quietly plotting their gruesome and painful murders, she was also looking into ways of forcing them to accept Steve. She was willing to do anything to get the real Steve back, the one that smiled all the time and bitched about the kids. The more she thought about it, the more determined she became. Operation Get Steve Happy Again was a go. 

Nancy took out all the stops. She made color-coded flashcards on sexualities and gender identity. She drove all the way to Indy to buy queer zines from an LGBT+ bookstore in the city. She was going to make them understand even if it was the last thing she did. Eddie and Robin weren’t going to know what hit them.

When all of her preparations were complete, Nancy tucked her gun into her purse and made her way to the trailer park once again. Eddie’s van was parked crookedly in its place in front of the window and Wayne’s worn down truck was tucked neatly beside it. It seemed Wayne would get a front row seat to the show too then. Nancy didn’t even knock before barging inside which took both Eddie and Wayne in surprise. 

“What the-” Eddie said, jumping up from his seat at the table and spilling his cereal milk. 

“I have my gun and I will use it so listen. Your whole shtick is not conforming to what society dictates you have to conform to. I’ve always admired how you stayed true to yourself despite what everyone in town thought of you. But this is the most conformist you’ve ever been. If you don’t fix this with Steve and see where he’s coming from, I will make your life a living hell. So fix this and do it quickly,” Nancy threatened. Then she turned to Wayne who looked as lost as she’d ever seen him. 

“I’m sorry to barge in, Mr. Munson. Make sure to give Eddie a talk about accepting others, alright? He has a lot of quirks that we’ve learned to accept, Steve should get the same treatment. Have a nice afternoon.”

She left before either man could utter another word and made her way to Family Video. Steve had today off so she was reasonably sure that Robin would be manning the store on her own. When she got there, she pulled the station wagon right in front of the door and stalked inside. 

“Welcome to Family Video, how can I help you? Oh, hey Nance. What’s up?” Robin asked her in greeting.

Nancy shook her head at her. “I don’t understand. Steve’s your best friend and you ridiculed him. I know he accepted you when you came out to him. I know that you would talk about all of your lesbian interests with him and he wouldn’t bat an eye. Then he makes one comment about finding a guy attractive and you shut him down? Just walk me through it.”

Robin looked chastened. Her eyes were wide, her fingers fluttered, and her feet shuffled. “I don’t know why I did that, honestly! I just, I thought Steve was making fun of me and Eddie and I got so angry. I don’t care who Steve likes, I just want him to be happy. I don’t understand liking both or being bisexual. At the moment, I just saw it as losing the thing that Steve and I had in common and I didn’t go about it in the best way. And I don’t even know how to apologize because I know I monumentally screwed up. If I were Steve, I wouldn’t forgive me but I don’t know what I would do if he didn’t,” she rambled.

The crack in Nancy’s chest healed a bit at her words. She’ll never get her attraction to Robin back after all the damage that’s been done. However, she could be her friend. She wasn’t really biphobic, and Eddie probably wasn’t either, they just needed some more explanation to understand what bisexuality was and how to accept it. 

“Steve will forgive you, he hasn’t been able to get over this the entire time. He’s still just waiting for you guys to get your heads out of your asses and go apologize to him. And he’s still your best friend, him liking guys too doesn’t change that,” Nancy told her. She pulled some zines out of her purse and handed them to her. “Here, read those. They’ll tell you exactly what bisexuality is and what not to say when someone comes out to you.”

Robin took the papers with a whispered thanks and Nancy started making her way out of the store. At the last second, she turned around and called out to Robin who was already looking at her. 

“And Robin? Go talk to him sooner rather than later. He really misses you guys.”

Then she made her way home to cry about her own heartbreak. 

~*~*~*~

Steve was second-guessing himself again and wallowing on the couch for yet another afternoon when his doorbell rang. Considering the lies that he’d told everyone else to keep them away, it had to be Nancy. The only other options were Eddie or Robin and he knew it wouldn’t be them. He hadn’t rescinded his coming out yet so they had no reason to be coming over. 

Yet when he opened the door, he came face to face with a guilty looking Eddie. Steve almost closed the door in his face but Eddie jammed his boot in the way with enough force that the door wiggled. “Steve, please let me apologize to you. Just give me a few minutes and if you want me to leave, I will.”

Steve debated it for a moment before sighing and gesturing him inside. “I haven’t changed my mind so I don’t really know what you came here to say.”

“I came to tell you I’m sorry. I never should’ve said that you and I’ve felt like a piece of shit since then. I know you’re not faking it, or being a manwhore, or making fun of us for being gay, and we shouldn’t have said that you were. I know you’ll never forgive me for saying any of that but just, you have to know that I do accept you and I’m proud that you were able to come out.” Eddie had tears rolling down his face at the end of his speech and his voice was hoarse.

Everything in Steve wanted him to give Eddie a hug, to pull him into his arms and wipe his tears away but he couldn’t. “Why did you say it then? If you didn’t mean it, why’d you say it? It really hurt and I thought I was losing my best friends because of who I am.”

“You’re not, Steve! I swear Stevie, you’re not losing us if you still want us. I didn’t know what bisexuality was and I didn’t know that someone could like both until after I talked to Nancy. And then after she explained it to me and told us how hurt you were, I didn’t think you would want us talking to you. I’m so sorry, Steve,” Eddie cried. 

Steve was a little torn. He wanted to forgive Eddie right away, forgive him at the first word of his apology, but deep down, he knew he couldn’t. He couldn’t just brush off these past few weeks of feeling hurt and isolated from his best friends that were supposed to be there for him no matter what. 

“Thanks for your apology. I can’t forgive you right now,” Eddie made a broken sounding whimper at that but Steve continued. “But I will eventually. I just need some time to think about what I want. You guys really hurt me and I don’t know how to get over that.”

“Take all the time you need, Stevie. I know I hurt you and I will do everything in my power to fix that. I support you and I accept you and it’s about time I proved it,” Eddie promised him. 

Steve nodded. He had no doubt that Eddie would make it up to him and things would eventually get back to normal. They’d been through an alternate dimension, a mind-killing psychic wizard guy, and a bunch of murder accusations. This wouldn’t be what broke them. He pulled Eddie into a hug right before he left and his heart seemed to calm a bit at the contact. Yeah, they’d be fine. It might take a while but they’d get there. 

Later that night, long after the sun had set, Steve heard another knock at his door. He was long over guessing who it could be since he never seemed to be right anyway. When he opened the door to reveal Robin awkwardly standing on his porch, he was once again surprised. What had happened in the past twelve hours to change both hers and Eddie’s minds? 

Steve didn’t even get to say anything before Robin started rambling. “I am so sorry, Steve! I never should’ve judged you so harshly and I know you wouldn’t make fun of me being gay because you never have before so that was really stupid on my part. I should’ve accepted you right off the bat and started making fun of you liking Frank-N-Furter and Eddie like you did for me about Tammy. I know I majorly screwed up but can you ever forgive me? I promise, I will make it up to you so much!”

Steve looked at her for a moment before his mouth widened into a small grin. “You know, I’ve really missed you. I had to have a whole crisis on my own and everything.”

“I’m so sorry! I swear to you, I will never not be supportive and accepting to you ever again. I need my Platonic with a capital P soulmate back and I need you to start working shifts with me again. If Keith flirts with me one more time when we’re on a slow shift together, I might actually hurl all over him,” she babbled.

Steve just laughed and pulled her into a hug. Yeah, things would end up alright between them. It might be a little awkward for a while and there would always be some apprehension on Steve’s part but everything would be fine. 

~*~*~*~

Everything did eventually turn out fine. Robin and Eddie groveled to Steve for weeks and long after he had already forgiven them. Once the air was cleared between them, things went back to normal. He had Robin back as his supportive best friend and he had Eddie at his side as his boyfriend. He had Nancy too as the best friend that he could count on when Robin and Eddie started misbehaving with one another. 

Steve always remembered that they didn’t support him right off the bat (although neither did the rest of the Party when he announced he was dating Eddie). Whenever he made a new decision or wanted to accept a new job or something, he always felt a flash of fear of whether they would ridicule him again. 

But other than some low self-esteem and a minor lack of faith in Eddie and Robin, they lived on together in happiness. Through every up and down, they were there for each other in the way they could only wish they had been when he came out to them.

Permanent Tag List: @doubleb11 @nburkhardt @zerokrox-blog @newtstabber @i-less-than-three-you @carlyv @pyrohonk @straight4joekeery @ksherlock15 @conversesweetheart @estrellami-1 @suddenlyinlove @yikes-a-bee @swimmingbirdrunningrock @perseus-notjackson @anaibis @merricatty @maya-custodios-dionach @grtwdsmwhr @manda-panda-monium @lumoschild @goodolefashionedloverboi @mentallyundone @awkwardgravity1 @anzelsilver @jestyzesty @gregre369 @mysticcrownshipper @disasterlia @lillys-weird-world @messrs-weasley @gay-stranger-things @pnk-lemonades @coolestjoy30 @awkotaco24 @strangerthingfanfic @dangdirtydemons @bookworm0690 @hannahhook7744 @dreamlandforever @marsbars97

@sentient-trash @thehumblefigtree @bloomingconflagration @flustratedcas @romanticdestruction @thatonespacek1d @murdblurdock @beawritingbooks @ajeff855 @imjust-that-shy @yeahhhh-suga @precursorandthedragon