#Dustin was complaining about an experiment that keeps going wrong and Steve told him to explain it to him

[morganbritton132]

Eddie, still on this live-stream: Stevie, your phone is blowing up!

Steve: Yeah, that’s Dustin. He got my message. He’s freaking out.

Eddie: …You gonna answer it?

Steve: Yeah.

Steve: Tomorrow.

Eddie:

Eddie, genuinely concerned: What did he say to you?? Please tell me so I can make sure I never say it.

[thepokyone]

Finding Eleven Pt. 9

Pairing: Billy Hargrove x Reader

Content/Warnings: angst; violence; language

Words: 2564

A/N: So Billy is in this chapter. Finally. Things are happening, and I dropped canon like it’s hot, so there’s that. Anyway, enjoy!

Series Masterlist

Part 9: Benched

“It’s not like it was before,” Hopper said, all of you gathered around as he had discussed what he had seen at the gate. “It’s grown. A lot. And I mean, that’s considering we can even get in there. That place is crawling with those dogs.”

“Demodogs,” Dustin interrupted.

Hopper raised his eyebrows. “I’m sorry, what?”

“It’s demogorgon and dog mashed together,” You said, before Dustin could rehash the whole thing again. “Moving on.”

“Uh, right,” Hopper said, shaking his head. “As I was saying-”

“I can do it,” El said quietly.

“You’re not hearing me,” Hopper said. And as much as you agreed with him, you knew she was right. It was the only way.

The resolve was clear in her voice. “I’m hearing you. I can do it.”

Though her eyes still slid to you, seeking your approval. You gave her a tiny nod, feeling warmth curl in your stomach at the realization that it was your permission, not Hopper’s, that she wanted, even after all this time.

“Even if El can, there’s still another problem.” Mike’s voice cut through your silent conversation. “If the brain dies, the body dies.”

“I thought that was the whole point,” Max said.

“Will is part of the body,” You said.

Mike nodded. “And if we’re right, and El closing the gate kills the Mind Flayer’s army…”

“Will dies too,” Lucas finished.

You leaned back, running a hand through your hair. “There has to be a way to separate Will from the Mind Flayer.”

“You’ve done it,” Joyce said, staring at you. “How did you do it?”

“Force of will, mostly. But Will could never do it. Even with my gifts, it was like he was pressing shards of ice into my brain,” You said, frowning. “It’s too risky for me to try and free Will, I couldn’t do it. I barely held the Mind Flayer off the first time. There has to be another way.”

“I want to see him,” El said, breaking the troubled silence that followed.

“Okay, sweetheart. Sure, you can see him,” Joyce said, she and Jonathan leading the way to his room. It was frigid, a chill crawling it’s way up your spine. After your experience with the Mind Flayer, you never wanted to feel cold again.

“He likes it cold.” Joyce’s voice was soft, but it was enough to break you out of your thoughts.

“What?” Hopper asked. He clearly wasn’t following.

“It’s what Will kept saying to me. He likes it cold. We keep giving it what it wants!” Joyce exclaimed. “When you tried to bring Will back, Y/N, you said it tried to take over your mind instead. Like shards of ice?”

“And hot water was what helped me beat it back,” You said slowly, comprehension dawning on your face.

Nancy, too, had caught on. “If this is a virus, and Will is the host, then…”

“We need to make the host uninhabitable,” Jonathan finished.

“So if he likes it cold…” Nancy continued.

Once again, she was cut off - this time by Joyce. “Then we need to burn it out of him.”

“We have to do it somewhere he doesn’t know this time,” Mike said.

Dustin agreed. “Yeah, somewhere far away.”

Hopper spoke. “I know a place.”

The following few minutes were spent in a flurry of activity, Hopper carrying Will out to Joyce’s car as he gave directions to his cabin. While they were busy, you joined Steve and Nancy to search for heaters or anything else that may help Will, though you drifted away to give them privacy. They had history, and it wasn’t your place to interfere. Regardless, you offered Nancy what you hoped was a comforting smile before following after Steve, back towards the house.

“Mike is just saying goodbye to El,” Dustin told you. “They’re out front. I’d give them a minute.”

“Thanks,” You said with a nod, moving the curtain to glance out the window. You thought for a moment they were going to kiss, but Hopper called, and you knew you had only moments to say goodbye to her. You hurried outside before they could leave.

“You’ll be fine,” You said softly, pulling her into a hug. “You’re so strong, stronger than I ever was - and I don’t just mean your powers. You’ve been through so much, you could have ran away at any moment, but you didn’t. Not like I did. And I need you to know that leaving you behind was the worst decision I ever made. I’ve always regretted it, so when you get back, I’ll make it up to you. I promise.”

“You don’t have to,” She whispered, eyes glistening with tears.

You pressed a kiss to her forehead, clinging on for a moment longer, knowing that where she was going you wouldn’t be able to protect her. Finally, you dropped your arms, meeting Hopper’s gaze. “I’ll keep her safe, Y/N. I promise.”

You nodded, wiping away the tears from your eyes as El climbed into the passenger seat. You watched until the tail lights on Hopper’s car disappeared from view, reaching out to squeeze Mike’s shoulder. He glanced over at you, and you could see his eyes glistening in the darkness.

“It’ll be okay,” You said softly. He nodded slowly.

“Let’s get inside,” Steve said, after several more minutes had passed. “It’s not safe out here.”

“Doubting my ability to keep you safe, Harrington?” You teased, shooting him a weak smile.

He smiled back. “Not a chance. But let’s not stick around to attract unnecessary trouble.”

“Couldn’t you levitate this or something?” Steve complained, staring down in disgust at the demodog he was being forced to carry as Dustin made space in the fridge.

“Need to save my strength,” You said with a smirk, though it didn’t reach your eyes. “We’re not out of the woods yet. I still wish I could have gone with El.”

“But you said it was too dangerous,” Lucas said as Steve was working on wrangling the dead demodog into the fridge.

“It is. It doesn’t mean I don’t wish I could have gone. I can’t protect her from here,” You said with a sigh.

“She seems to do alright without you.” Mike hadn’t meant for the words to hurt, but they stung anyway.

“Yeah. I know,” You muttered. Unlike Mike, who was pacing a whole in the floor, you had taken up residence on the couch, eyes half-lidded shut. Being a glorified babysitter wasn’t exactly how you had planned this playing out. You ignored them as they bickered, though something caught your attention.

“There’s nothing we can do,” Steve had been saying.

“That’s not entirely true,” Dustin said slowly. “I mean, these demodogs have a hive mind. When they ran away from the bus, they were called away.”

“So if we can get their attention-” Lucas started.

Max finished his thought. “Maybe we can draw them away from the lab.”

“Clear a path to the gate,” Mike said thoughtfully.

“I’m in,” You said.

“What?!” Steve asked. “That’s a suicide mission! You’re supposed to be on my side!”

“I got it!” Mike said excitedly, moving off towards the kitchen. “This is where the chief dug his hole. This is our way in to the tunnel. So here, right here -” at this he ran off to a different part of the room, “- This is like a hub. So you got all the tunnels feeding into here. Maybe if we set this on fire-”

“Yeah, that’s a no,” Steve said, looking less than pleased.

The kids, however, were ignoring him. Dustin spoke. “The Mind Flayer would call away his army.”

“They’d all come to stop us,” Lucas said, sounding as if that was the best thing he had heard all day.

“And Y/N could hold them off!” Dustin finished, looking at you.

You raised your eyebrows. “Wait, I don’t know about that. I mean, five or ten? Sure. But over a hundred? Not a chance.”

“It’s not like we’d wait around for them!” Mike said impatiently. “We could circle back to the exit, and by the time they realize we’re gone-”

“El would be at the gate,” Max said.

“Hey, hey, hey!” Steve yelled over the noise, glaring at all of you. “This is not happening.”

He met protests from the kids, but you were starting to realize that he could be right. Even with your help, there were too many things that could go wrong. But at the same time, if you stayed put knowing you could have helped and something happened…

“No buts! I promised I’d keep you shitheads safe, and that’s exactly what I’d plan on doing. We’re staying here. On the bench. And we’re waiting for the starting team to do their job. Does everybody understand that?”

You blinked. “Uh… no. I never played sports? I mean, that is what you’re talking about, right?”

Steve let out a sigh. “It’s not happening.”

“This isn’t some stupid sports game!” Mike said angrily.

“I said does everybody understand that?” Steve asked, pointing a dish towel at them. You had to cough to hid your snickers, but you weren’t entirely successful if the glare he sent your way was anything to go on. “I need a yes.”

He probably would have gotten them to agree, if an engine revving hadn’t broken the silence. Max ran towards the window, horror on her face as she peered out.

“Who the hell is that?” You asked.

“Don’t ask me,” Steve said with a shrug.

“It’s my brother,” Max said.

“Oh, that asshat you had to sneak away from earlier?” You filled in. She nodded. “Great. Just great. Because this day couldn’t possibly get any better.”

“He can’t know I’m here, he’ll kill me. He’ll kill us,” She said, sounding scared.

“Do you guys keep forgetting I have powers, or…?” You trailed off, raising your eyebrows. Max glanced at you, and though she still looked worried, she was a little calmer than before.

“I’ll handle this,” Steve said lowly, stepping towards the door. “Step in only as a last resort, Y/N.”

“Alright, alright. Fine,” You said, shrugging. “Though I’ll decide when that is.”

“Deal.”

Billy’s voice was loud enough that it carried through the walls of the house. “Am I dreaming or is that you, Harrington?”

Steve’s retort was quick. “Yeah it’s me, don’t cream your pants.” You let out a light snort.

“What are you doing here, amigo?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” Steve said. “Amigo.”

“Looking for my stepsister. Little birdie told me she was here.”

“Huh, that’s weird. I don’t know her.”

“Small, redhead, bit of a bitch,” Billy provided.

You clenched your jaw at the insult, but Steve, to his credit, sounded unphased. “Doesn’t ring a bell. Sorry, buddy.”

“You know, I don’t know, this… this whole situation, Harrington, I don’t know. It’s giving me the heebie-jeebies.” To be fair, it was odd that Steve was at the Byers’ house.

“Oh yeah? Why’s that?”

“My thirteen-year-old sister goes missing all day. And then I find her with you in a stranger’s house. And you lie to me about it.”

Steve scoffed. “Man, were you dropped too much as a child, or what? I don’t know what you don’t understand about what I just said. She’s not here.”

You realized, a little too late, that all four of the kids had their faces pressed to the window, while you were listening in on the conversation with your ear pressed to the door.

“Guys, get down!” You hissed. But it was too late.

Billy’s next words were barely audible. “Then who is that?”

“Shit!” Dustin exclaimed, the four of them ducking down. “Did he see us?”

“Yes!” You said, irritated. “Thank you, idiots. Get behind me, all of you.”

They scrambled to obey as the door whipped open, Billy striding inside. Steve was nowhere in sight. His eyes narrowed. “Well, well, well.” He slammed the door behind him, advancing. The kids scuttled backwards, but you refused to back down. “Look at what we have here. Lucas Sinclair, what a surprise. And who the hell are you?”

“Does this count as last resort?” Dustin asked, as Billy stopped mere feet away from you.

“Yeah, I’d say it does,” You said casually, simply tilting your head.

“I’m here for Max. Get out of my way,” Billy said lowly.

“I’ve heard all about you,” You said, crossing your arms. “And you’re not getting anywhere near those kids. So I suggest you turn around and walk away before I make you.”

He scoffed. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me.”

“I’ll give you one more chance. Move. Out. Of. My. Way.” Billy meant the words to be intimidating. To anyone else, they would have been.

“No.” He had barely moved before you spoke, your power, halting him in his tracks. “Stop.”

Billy was frozen in place, unable to move despite his best efforts. He was struggling against your hold, you could feel it, but it was fruitless. No one had been able to break free of your orders. “What the hell did you do to me?”

“I’m keeping you from hurting anyone else,” You said calmly.

Steve burst into the door, looking winded but otherwise unharmed. “Sorry, I-”

“No worries,” You said with a shrug. “I’m handling it.”

“Max, what the hell have you gotten yourself into?” Billy demanded, though the question was much less impressive considering he couldn’t actually do anything.

“It’s none of your business, Billy,” She said softly. “Just leave me alone.”

“I can make him, Max. Just say the word,” You offered. Billy was still struggling against your power, and the concentration you needed to keep him in check made blood begin to drip out of your nose. No one ever fought against your control this much - it was actually quite impressive. “Stop fighting it, it won’t do any good.”

“What kind of freak-”

He didn’t get to finish the sentence. Your temper snapped, dropping your use of mind control to instead grab him via telekinesis, striding towards him even as he was shoved back against the wall. “I’d choose your next words very, very carefully if I were you.”

“Y/N, stop!” Steve ordered, grabbing your arm. “Stop. Don’t sink to his level.”

You grit your teeth, staring up at Billy’s terrified face. Steve was right. You dropped your hold, and he slid to the floor with a thud. Your glare, however, didn’t falter. “Don’t try anything.”

Billy was staring at you, a mixture of fear and intrigue on his face before he dropped his head, avoiding your eyes. “I won’t.”

“What are we supposed to do with him?” Steve asked, staring down at Billy.

You were thoughtful for a moment before speaking. “We take him with us.”

“Take him with us? We’re not going anywhere, remember? We’re on the bench,” Steve told you, looking annoyed.

You shook your head, a steely glint in your eye. “I’m not going to hide here anymore. Hopper and El need that distraction to get inside. So we’re going to go start a fire, and you can come willingly… or unwillingly.”

“Alright, alright. Fine.” Steve threw his hands up in defeat, recognizing by your tone of voice that you would do anything to protect Eleven, even if it meant forcing him to agree. “Let’s go help Hopper and El.”

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[mysticalreadingnerd]

My Heart Started Hoping Again (Steve Harrington x Reader Imagine)

Words: 2200

Summary: Mom Steve and Dad Y/N are one step away from becoming Dustin’s official parents. The night of the Snow Ball is a night of introspection for them as they try figuring out their feelings. 

Disclaimer: I don’t own Stranger Things or any of its characters. I’m just a depressed writer procrastinating from her actual work by writing Harrington fluff. GIF credits to the owner.

Warnings: swearing, angst

A/N: While this is a sequel to my other story ‘Machetes and Near Death Experiences’, this part is stand alone. You can read the first part if you wish to,here. Comments & feedback are appreciated and devoured like Eggos.

“Son of a bitch! Son of a bitch!” You rolled your eyes at the exclaimations, watching Dustin turn the room upside down like a wild hurricane on its path of destruction. “Where did you last see it?” Mrs Henderson asked. “It was right here!” he fretted and you watched amusedly as the boy finally lay his hands on a brown paper bag. “Got it!“ 

“Your mom is right you know. You already look amazing!” you said as you followed him to his room. “And as I’ve said before, both of you have a unhealthy bias in this matter. Understandably so, but bias nonetheless.” He flashed his ‘pearls’ in your direction. You rolled your eyes yet again. “I would have taken your word for it if it came to demo-dog hunting. You are a expert level paladin in that, yes. But when it comes to attracting the ladies? I’ll pass.” The nerve! “First of all, rude! Secondly, you are fretting wayy too much over a dance. I had generously offered to take you there…” “In your about to fall apart pickup truck. Yeah right”, he interrupted you. You scoffed mockingly, “Do you even hear yourself lil’ dipshit? You weren’t complaining like this when I hauled your sorry ass everywhere before your bromance with Harrington started!”

“At least its better than your sad romance with him, if you can even call it that.” He smirked at your gobsmacked face before unceremoniously kicking you out of the room. Muttering profanities and threats about how you should have left him in the Upside Down tunnel, you went back to where Mrs Henderson was sitting and gave her a smile as she cooed over the new kitten they had adopted. A car approached the driveway, the tires crunching on the gravel. Your ears perked up when you heard it. “Dusty! Your ride’s here!” you gave a shout before opening the door and walking towards the waiting car. 

“Did I just hear you calling him ‘Dusty’?” Steve Harrington in all his coiffed glory gave you a smirk. “Don’t judge me, mom Steve” you sassed back, opening the door and getting in the back seat. He turned a pretty pink before muttering something about being a sitter and not a mom. “Aww look at King Stevey, he’s going gaga over his baby attending the Snow Ball. They really grow up fast, don’t they?” You placed your hand over your heart, wiping away fake tears and sniffling. You had teased him mercilessly the past month, enjoying the way he would sputter at accusations of being the Mother™ of the Party. You knew that he secretly loved it, the teasing as well as the kids and couldn’t help the smile that graced your lips.

“Seriously? Just get together, you two! How long are you going to make me wait?” Dustin voiced his irritation as he took his place in the car. Steve sputtered a vague denial and you couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped you when you saw what he had done with his hair. Young Henderson had finally found a male whom he could idolize and you loved every second of it. The rest of the ride to Hawkins Middle was filled with similar banter, a rhythm that you three fell back comfortably into. 

The past month had been slow in terms of emotional recovery, the odd nightmare still making its an appearance through daily life. You knew things would never go back to the way they were, but life was slowly coming to the accepted levels of normalcy and you had these lovely boys to thank for that. Dustin had become Dusty and Harrington became Steve, though you would never admit that it had anything to do with loving said boys to death. And the rest of the Party was now used to watching this odd ball trio hang around Hawkins or fight intense D & D campaigns where you whooped Steve’s ass. The car reached its destination and a palpable nervousness filled the air.

You glanced at the front seat and felt the anxiety coming off in waves from Dustin. He exhaled slowly as Steven said, “Alright buddy, here we are. So remember, once you get in there…” He prompted, “Pretend like I don’t care.” Dustin answered. You arched an eyebrow at that.

“You don’t care.“

"I don’t care.”

“There you go. You are learning, my friend. You are learning.“

Steve let out a breath, seemingly glad with himself. You couldn’t keep the words in any longer. “And this was the pep talk for? What? Attracting the ladies?” You hadn’t meant to scoff but the glares that you received from the front seat were enough to make you raise you hands in mock surrender.

“Don’t give me the grouchy faces. All I’m saying is be courteous. And above all be yourself Dusty, that’s what really matters.” You patted his shoulder encouragingly. He nodded once before checking himself in the mirror. “Hey. Hey. Hey. You look great, okay? You look… You look great!” Steve tried to boost his esteem. “You are going to go in there. Look like a million bucks. And slay ‘em dead.” “Yeah! Like a lion”, Dustin answered confidently and purred, sounding more like his new pet kitten than a slaying lion. You had a tough time keeping a straight face at that and Steve grimaced slightly. “Yeah, don’t do that okay?” “Okay.” “Good luck, Dustin. Sweep the ladies off their feet!” You cheered as he bumped fists with Steve and got out of the car. 

You took his place in the front seat and were about to drive away when he came back. Thinking he had forgotten something, you rolled the window down only for him to smirk at you both suggestively, “Don’t do weird stuff while I’m gone. Keep it PG 13 okay, kids?” He wiggled his eyebrows and danced out of your reach when you tried smacking him in vain, cheeks blazing red. Both of you should have been used to his ribbing by now, given that he did it twice a day. 

You would have thought that something would really develop between you and Steve once things had settled down. Surviving inter-dimensional monsters had brought you two inescapably closer and there was no denying that you both felt something for the other. But as you looked at him staring off in the distance and followed his gaze, you realized exactly why you had been putting this off or rather, pretending as if it didn’t exist. Nancy. The poor boy was yet to get over the girl he had been together with for over a year, a girl he had been in love with. Who had broken up with him and begun dating Jonathan soon after. You couldn’t blame either of them for following their hearts but you had no wish to get your own feelings trampled in the aftermath.

“So, what are your plans for tonight?” Steve asked, bringing your attention to the present. “Nothing much. Just curling up with books and reading by the fire tonight.” You shrugged, it wasn’t like you had anywhere to go. “I had forgotten that beneath the machete swinging badass you were such a nerd”, he joked playfully. However, his words once again reminded you how different you both were, even though the past month had shown you a side of Steve that you couldn’t have dreamed on the old King of Hawkins High. Your fingers absentmindedly played with the hem of your plaid button up, something that you did everytime you were worried, he had noticed. 

Steve gently untangled your fingers from the hem and gazed at you with a strange emotion in his eyes. An emotion you could easily mistake for love. “You okay?” He questioned softly and you merely nodded before retracting your hand to your lap. The longer his touch lingered on you the more difficult it got for you to think rationally. You had to remind yourself that falling for him any more than you already had would be an extremely bad idea.

“Hey” he ventured again. You were trying to shut him out, something that you had been doing over the past month. Every time he tried to talk with you about your feelings you would clam up, becoming unapproachable in your brooding silences. At times like these, Steve couldn’t help but be frustrated. He wanted to help you with whatever it was that was bothering you but he couldn’t do so unless you told him exactly what was wrong. “You are worrying about something again.” He spoke up and watched your body tense up at his words. When you tried denying the statement he continued, “Don’t deny it. We both know that’s not true. Y/N, talk to me. I want to help you.”

You looked at him as he said that and the adoring expression was back on his face. That was the final blow to your oath of silence. “Don’t give me that look!” you exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger in his face. Steve’s expression morphed from loving to a confused one. “What look?” He asked, a bit wary of your sudden outburst. “You were doing that look. That.. that look you have on your face sometimes. Where you look at me as if you are seeing me for the first time..that look which makes me think that you think I’m beautiful…that you might actually like me…" 

His expression increasingly softened as your rant continued and when he was about to say something you stopped him. “Don’t interrupt me, let me get this out. You look at me the same way you used to look at Nancy and I can’t… I can’t pretend then that I don’t like you, because I do.. I do like you Steve. I like you so much that it frightens me. But I don’t want to be a mistake.” The raw vulnerability in your eyes made his heart ache. He had never seen the unshakeable Y/N L/N look so lost and rattled, not even when they had faced near death at the hands of salivating demo-dogs. And learning that he was the cause of this made it even worse.

He sighed and turned in the seat to face you. “Y/N” he placed a gentle hand on your cheek, stroking the skin in soothing sweeps glad that you were relaxing under his touch. “Y/N, I promise you, whatever happens, you will never be a mistake. You are not Nancy and what I feel for you isn’t a rebound. I had thought that I loved Nancy and it broke my heart when she said our relationship was bullshit.” Hearing his words felt like a knife twisting slowly in your heart and you tried to lean away from his touch. Steve was having none of it. Placing his other hand on your other cheek, he cupped your face and held you in place. Effectively trapping you so that your eyes met his and couldn’t escape anymore. He stared at you as if he held the world in his hands, silently conveying his love through his gaze. “Hear me out, please” he begged and you nodded once, too stunned to say anything. 

“Y/N, I was heart broken when my relationship with Nancy ended but that doesn’t mean that what I feel for you isn’t real. Before this whole Upside Down shindig happened I was sure that I could never love anybody again. Now, when I look at you, my heart has started to believe that maybe I was wrong.” His face came nearer to yours as he spoke, whispering the words like a holy confession. 

“When I look at you, my heart starts hoping again.” His gaze wandered from your eyes to your lips and you couldn’t help but feel that somehow, this was how things were meant to be. "And I can’t promise that I’ll be the perfect boyfriend, because I’m not. Hell, I can be a douchebag sometimes” you chuckled at that, the honesty in his eyes was speaking volumes of how much he had changed from his douchebag days. “But with you, I think I can turn my imperfections into something worthwhile.” He paused mere millimeters away from you. You realised that he was giving you time to move away, to refuse to kiss him and in turn avoid heartbreak.

But you were done with running away. It was about time you chased these feelings instead of hiding from them. “Poetic much Harrington?” You smiled at him as he gave you a small one in return, still unsure if you were ready to take the plunge. “Thankfully for you, I find sappy Steve quite lovable.” All he could do was mumble a surprised ‘really?’ before you crashed your lips into his soft ones. He quickly returned the kiss like a man tasting his first breath of fresh air on a crisp December morning. It was an unhurried meeting of touches and caresses, as you both brushed your lips against each other, taking the time to discover this newfound warmth blooming in your hearts. And while being wary of heart break was human nature, could living without love be considered living at all?

~mystical reading nerd

[youremyonlyhope]

Stranger Things 3

Episodes 3 and 4

Episode 3! Also interrupted by texts but this time by my brother asking stupid questions so that’s fun.

Side note: My mom’s birthday was recently and her friend got her balloons, which we’ve just had floating in our apartment since then. They’re finally starting to deflate, so my AC is pushing them around a bit and making them scratch the ceiling. I swear it sounds like mice or rats scratching in the wall and it keeps freaking me out. I felt this was relevant because of the whole rat thing

I don’t like how violent and jealous and aggressive Hopper is this season. I don’t like it. I want the Hopper that’s a jerk but still very sweet back. Billy being able to kinda see El was freaky. Why does no one ever take Joyce seriously? She’s LITERALLY always right! Ok. Fuck every single one of the men that Nancy has to work for. They all suck. Every single one of them. My poor baby Will. Just let him be happy. For once. And I forgot to mention this for episode one, mostly because I forgot about it, but Will said he didn’t think he’d ever fall in love with anyone. And now Mike said “It’s not my fault you don’t like girls.” Now. Of course. This could just be that Mike meant Will doesn’t like girls yet. Or it could mean Will’s gay like how Joyce said people teased and assumed he was when he was younger. Or, and this would be extra interesting, he’s asexual and doesn’t like anyone, hence why he said he’d never fall in love. But also he’s a child so we don’t need to be even worrying about this, but it’s interesting. Also, LET WILL JUST BE HAPPY. Heather drowning was like nightmare fuel.

I’m really glad that this season it’s the girls figuring everything out. Joyce is literally studying electromagnets. Nancy’s tracking down the rats. Robin’s decoding Russian messages. And El and Max are off trying to figure out why Billy can see El in the... nothingness? Did we ever come up with a name for where El goes? Whatever. But what are the boys doing? Wallowing around, complaining about girls, calling us a different species, hurting their friend’s feelings even though they say girls are too emotional, watching girls through binoculars instead of sticking to the plan, and getting drunk and angry and taking it out on the women in their lives. Look, I love all the boy characters, but they’re being so useless right now.

My poor baby Will. Tearing up his pictures. Destroying Castle Byers. I’m so heartbroken. But also, I appreciate the callback to them discovering El in the rain. Oh and poor Mrs. Driscoll. Wow that sucks. Why does it need fertilizer? Can we just... not... with the Terminator Dude. I don’t like him. And I’m super duper concerned at how normal Billy and Heather can be while possessed. Now, deep down, I really want Billy to be protecting Max. I hope he is. Something else I forgot to mention last episode, but is this the beginning of a Billy redemption arc? Because, if done correctly, I’m here for it. He already kind of protected Mrs. Wheeler, maybe he’ll protect Max. But the Shadow Monster saw El so that sucks. I loved the widening pupils though, well done.

Also, is Heather’s dad one of the writers at the Post? Or can I literally not tell any of the old white guys apart?

Ok Episode 4 here we go!

I told myself I wouldn’t pause for even a moment to write anything. I wanted to just watch it all and then put down my thoughts. But I did pause just once to write one note: “Mayor perfect tie”

Because the Mayor’s tie... is perfect. During the scene where Hopper beats him up. Somehow, they tied the knot so the patterns lined up perfectly perpendicular. And I just had to take a second to applaud the costume department on that. Because lining up the patterns of a tie takes dedication and incredible attention to detail.

Anyway. I was right that the dad was the guy from the newspaper. Yay. We got more women getting things done. Of course. But Dustin, Steve, and Will are stepping up. Hopper beat up Mayor Westley. My heart kinda broke, I will admit it. I gotta stop associating actors with characters and sympathizing just because I like a different character of theirs (Burn as Karl in GOT). Oh my god the cigar slicer I just... I was screaming “NO. HOPPER NO. BABY NO.” the whole time. Jonathan annoys me a little more every season. I get where he’s coming from but still... he annoys me. Which sucks because at first I really loved him in Season 1. Erica is my queen. Everything she says or does, queen. When she opened those doors and stood there I said out loud “If this child dies right now, if this child gets sniped, I am killing the writers.” because that moment seemed too good to be true. Of course minutes later all 4 of them plunge into the depths of who knows what, but whatever. I liked the conversation between Nancy and her mom. This season is killing the Bechdel test. I love it. Because I’m pretty sure in season 1 we didn’t have any women talking to each other after Barb died. Maybe there was one scene between Joyce and El. That was it. I love that Nancy’s taking initiative, but I wish she had someone with her as back up. The whole Billy activation sequence had me gasping. And the Mind Flayer has an army. Yay. I like “Shadow Monster” more just because Flayer sounds like such an awkward word to me.

Also, something else I thought of immediately when Episode 1 started yesterday and then promptly forgot until just now. Terminator Dude... he’s ultra strong... almost supernaturally strong... and last season opened with Eight/Collie... and this season opened with Terminator Dude...

Basically, is Terminator Dude one of El’s sibling’s too? Is that why he knows about the Upside Down and the experiments? What if he ran away, and that’s why Papa (cannot remember his actual name) had El spy on the Russians back when she was being experimented on? He wanted to see if Terminator Dude had gotten anywhere. Maybe.

That’s just my theory for now. But I’m sticking to it until I’m proved wrong. But that was literally my first thought once we focused on him for the opening of the series.

And I’m gonna stop for tonight because I gotta wake up early tomorrow. Yay.