#Nancy Needless

[emily-mooon]

Nancy Wheeler the shoujo manga protagonist you are what with your love triangle and everything about you my pookie <3

[light-lanterne]

hmm, i just saw the loveliest gifset of nancy being protective of max and once again got reminded of the fact that she's never shown that amount of concern for mike.

for three seasons straight, she'd even leave him to his own devices when it wasn't the safest. ditching the kids at the gym in s1 regardless of the fact that they were being hunted,,, leaving them with steve in s2 when there were demodogs still at large (and knowing the kids have a proclivity towards getting themselves in danger),,, straight up driving away from starcourt, leaving them with no escape method, as well as russians and a flayed biIly in the premises (even when seeing first hand what happened to the last two flayed men they "killed").

in all three instances, mike's the only constant (which doesn't seem unintentional in the slightest) and it's not just about that. she's worried about will in s2 and s3,,, el in s3,,, max in s4,,, even on lower stake circumstances, she comforts dustin in s2, when he was sad at the snowball (even though mike was also moping at right around that same time).

and yet, for mike, she only showed concern in s1, a little in s3 (but it was mostly about will, seeing as he'd been targetted by the mf before), and a little in s4 after vecna shows her his plan.

idk,,, it just makes me sad to see her being so protective of everyone, pushing herself to be brave even when she's still just a teen girl who shouldn't be dealing with any of this, but always leaving her own brother to the end. almost like an afterthought; the last thing in her mind, only worrying about him when the big bad straight up shows her his death.

and even then, when he returns from cali after days of suspicious lack of contact, she doesn't give him a hug. doesn't ask how he's doing,,, doesn't even talk to him, from what we were shown.

because, after all, there are larger problems at hand than mike.

[littlesunshine1223]

Eddie Munson Smut Alphabet

A = Aftercare (how good is he at cleaning you up after)

🦇- he will give you the full princess treatment and we’re talking the whole shebang too

🎸- pillows, blankets, snacks, drinks, cuddles, kisses, praises, and everything else that you want he’ll happily do it

B = Body Part (his favorite body part on himself and you)

🦇- on himself: he loves his hands because of all the places he can use them to make you feet good

🎸- on you: he loves your voice and thighs because of how you sound when he’s going to town on you and your thighs because he loves trying to suffocate himself between them every single chance he gets

C = Cum (anything to do with it)

🦇- he loves to ram balls deep before stuffing you completely full, he’ll be moaning and rubbing your stomach the whole time

🎸- he also loves to paint your face when you’re giving him a blowjob

D = Dominance (how dominant is he)

🦇- he’s willing to be in charge if you want him to be but he’s also willing to be submissive

🎸- he wants to make you happy and feel good no matter what

E = Experience (does he know what he’s doing)

🦇- he’s seen enough movies and porn to know what he’s doing and how to make you see stars

🎸- he will happily teach you everything he knows first hand

F = Favorite Position (self-explanatory)

🦇- any position that give both of you the most pleasure or ones where he can see your face

🎸- he wants to see and hear how good he’s making you feel

G = Goofy (is he more goofy or serious during the moment)

🦇- usually there’s a joke about something in the session but he’d never make fun of you for anything

🎸- but if he’s in a bad mood then he’s just getting straight to the point of wanting you

H = Hair Pulling (does he like having his hair pulled)

🦇- if you pull his hair he’ll let out the most whorish noise you’ve ever heard but god it’s so damn hot when his eyes roll back and he arches his back when his hair’s pulled

🎸- he adores when you pull his hair as long as you aren’t trying to rip it out of his head

I = Intimacy (how romantic is he during the moment)

🦇- he can be as romantic as you want him to be and he’ll do anything you want him to

🎸- you want flower petals leading to the bedroom? He’ll do it

J = Jealousy (does he get jealous easily)

🦇- it all depends on who it is because if it’s some random jock then he’ll just walk up and kiss you in front of the person

🎸- if it’s one of the people he knows though like Steve, Nancy, Robin, or one of his friends from D&D nights then he gets jealous

K = Kinks (a couple of his kinks)

🦇- role-playing (we all know why)

🎸- he loves when you praise him and tell him he looks pretty, he’ll tear up since he’s not used to being loved and cared for

L = Location (his favorite spots to do it)

🦇- the bedroom

🎸- anywhere he can get before a DND match

M = Motivation (what gets him going)

🦇- if you need out about something you really enjoy then his mind will wander to say the least (blah blah blah proper name place name backstory stuff)

🎸- if you’re sitting on his lap during one of his campaign nights but you can’t seem to quite get comfy so you keep rolling and moving your hips, he has to fight back moans and whines

N = NO (something he’ll never do)

🦇- he’d never do anything your uncomfortable with no matter what

🎸- he’ll never hurt you no matter what, he always establishes a safeword incase you want to stop at any point

O = Oral (how good is he at oral)

🦇- he prefers to give more than receive

🎸- he knows exactly what he’s doing and will happily drown between your thighs if you let him and fair warning he will get drunk off your taste if you let him

P = Pace (is he rough and fast or is he gentle and slow)

🦇- depends on his mood. If he’s in a good mood then he’s needless to say it’s gonna be passionate but if he’s in a bad mood then you ain’t walking the next day

🎸- he adores making love to you either way though so the second he’s inside you he’s already moaning

Q = Quickie (his thoughts on quickies)

🦇- he mostly prefers to take his time with you but if he’s really pent up then he’ll drag you off somewhere

🎸- during the campaign he’ll claim that you’re his Queen and that you needed a throne so he’ll sit you on his lap

R = Risks (is he willing to get caught with you)

🦇- he’s more than willing to take risks as long as you’re comfortable with it

🎸- if you’re not comfortable then the most the two of you will have to worry about is getting caught by his uncle whenever one of you is screaming the others name as the bed slams against the wall and the mattress is squeaking with each movement

S = Secret Fantasy (something he wants to do but never admits it)

🦇- he really wants to dress you up like one of the characters from D&D or just one of the characters he finds hot

🎸- he wants you to cockwarm him while he plans his d&d session and whenever he gets frustrated with it then he’ll bounce your hips

T = Top, Switch, or Bottom (self-explanatory)

🦇- prefers to be in control no matter what position the two of you are in but if he’s had a rough day he’ll beg for you to take care of him

🎸- he’s a switch

U = Umm…Idk what to put here (random headcanon)

🦇- he’s really sensitive around his collarbones and if you find just the right spot to leave a mean hickey on then he’ll be rock hard instantly if he doesn’t cream his pants first

🎸- when he’s really pent up you’ll have to restrain his hands or else he won’t stop trying to touch himself

V = Volume (how loud is he in the moment)

🦇- it all depends on the pace, if the pace is rough then you already know he’ll be screaming and moaning about how good you feel and if the pace is gentle then he’ll be whining and moaning not as loud

🎸- if you really want him to be loud then tug his hair or praise him (he’s not used to people saying nice stuff about him or giving him compliments and affection)

W = Wildcard (random headcanons)

🦇- most of the time when he has a wet dream about you he wakes up in the middle of the night and doesn’t want to upset you by waking you up so he tries his best to deal with it himself

🎸- he’s really whiny if you edge him and he’ll start to act like a brat if you do it for too long but if you overstimulate him to the point his pain hardly works then all he can do is beg for more and scream your name

X = X-Ray (what’s he packing in those pants)

🦇- we all already know he’s got a slutty set of hips (it had to be said) and damn does he know how to sway them just right then let’s also not forget his nice ass (just because he’s not as caked up as Billy and Steve doesn’t mean his ass isn’t good)

🎸- around 8 1/2 inches when he’s all worked up and hard

Y = Yearning (how high is his sex drive)

🦇- he tries to keep his sex drive down whenever the two of you are in public but if you’re teasing him or if he’s just really pent up then he can’t help but drag you back to his bedroom

🎸- he has the sex drive of a rabbit once you agree to date him, he’s always trying to hump and grind on you whenever you’re getting ready to go to sleep at night

Z = ZZZ (how quickly he falls asleep after)

🦇- he’ll always try to wait for you to fall asleep first but after a rough day he’ll snuggle into your arms and thank you for not being like the 99% of Hawkins and seeing him as a freak

🎸- he loves to have you cuddled up at his side or on top of him when you two get ready for bed just so he can protect you

[artiststarme]

A Grudge Be Held

Based on an enabling comment from @estrellami-1. Hope you guys like it and please leave me your opinions in the comments!

~*~*~*~

There are a few well known facts in the universe; the earth revolves around the sun, George Michael is gay, Tim Curry has sexy legs, and Eddie Munson holds grudges.

It wasn’t because he was a bad person or because he thought people were inherently bad, he’d just been through too much to waste his time on people that had already wronged him. He didn’t give more than one chance and if they fucked that up, well, they didn’t deserve another one.

He was usually lenient on what constituted a grudge to be held. Unless someone did something directly to him or someone he cared about, it didn’t really bother him and they certainly didn’t make his list. His parents were on there (because why wouldn’t they be?), Mrs. O’Donnell was on there because he was positive at least one of his failed senior years was due to her having a bone to pick with him, and Principal Higgins was on there too because fuck that guy.

Tommy Hagan was on the list because of a rumor started that made life hard for Eddie for awhile (it was true but needless to share), Jason Carver was on there now for starting a mob trying to kill him, and Billy Hargrove earned a spot for being an asshole to anything that moved.

A person that many people were surprised wasn’t on the list was Steve Harrington. The DnD party was shocked when they heard King Steve wasn’t an object of resentment in Eddie. But he’d never done anything out of malice to Eddie specifically. Where others saw confidence and pride, Eddie looked at a lonely and broken teen that was willing to do anything to fit in. He couldn’t hate him for that. And the time where Steve stood up for Eddie against Billy Hargrove at a drug deal gone wrong forever cemented him as a good guy in Eddie’s eyes.

After his experience with the Upside Down, psychic murders, and overall shitshow that was his Spring Break, Eddie and Steve got closer. Steve coerced everyone of authority to clear Eddie’s name with help from Robin, Nancy, and the passed Chief Hopper that apparently wasn’t actually dead. He housed Eddie and Wayne until they could find a new trailer that they could afford. Then he spent every waking moment making sure Eddie was alright and included as part of the group. In laymen’s terms, Steve saved his life.

So in true Eddie fashion, he made the internal dramatic decision that he would hold grudges on Steve’s behalf. He would be a guard dog of sorts, protecting and defending the love of his life his friend. What he didn’t consider was how difficult the task would be.

Through a new lens, Eddie saw that everyone walked all over Steve. The cashiers at the grocery store blatantly charged him extra, the customers at Family Video talked over him nearly every sentence in response to questions they asked, and teens on the street laughed at the scars in their view. Worse of all though, the Party didn’t respect him. Dustin and Mike told him several times a day how stupid he was, Nancy looked at him in pity and shut down all of his opinions, Lucas talked about not having sports in common with anyone right in front of him, and Robin kept blowing off their plans to hang with Vickie.

Through it all, Steve appeared fine. He smiled and nodded in all the right places but as soon as he thought the eyes moved on, his smile would slip to reveal something sadder. And so Eddie’s vengeance began.

He “accidentally” knocked over sales racks near the registers in the grocery store when they charged an extra $2 for milk. He keyed the cars of the teenagers that laughed at the evidence of Steve’s pain. When he saw Officer Callahan yacking at Steve for speeding, he picked up a dozen eggs and pelted the man’s house in revenge.

Dealing with the kids in the Party was trickier. His glares and barbed comebacks were clear enough for Nancy and Robin to change their ways. The kids though just weren’t observant enough to pick up on the clues Eddie tried to drop. One session of a campaign though, the perfect opportunity presented itself.

“I didn’t know there were dragons in the game. If you losers had told me there were dragons, I might’ve considered playing ages ago!” Steve exclaimed from his seat on the couch, intrigued eyes meeting Eddie’s.

Eddie smirked at him. “Oh yeah, Big Boy. You should know by now that I’m full of surprises.”

Steve blushed a little bit but as he went to respond, Mike interrupted. “Steve, you’re not even playing. You shouldn’t even be here much less interrupting the game!”

Steve’s flush turned pale and he shrunk into himself. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt. I can just uh, I can go. I’ll see you guys later.”

As he moved to get up though, Eddie stood and towered over the table.

“Wait Steve, you’re gonna want to see this part.” He glowered at Mike and rasped his voice to transition back to DM’ing. “A comet flies from the dragon’s cavern and lands on Sir Madeon. Roll for damage.”

“What the hell! No, you can’t do that!” Mike stammered with a dropped jaw.

“I just did, pipsqueak. Roll for damage or die trying.”

“14,” Mike muttered. He glared at Eddie then Steve before pouting in his seat.

“The comet is too large to escape from. Sir Madeon tries to run but he’s not fast enough to avoid the flying stone. It lands on his back in a fiery crumble. The intense heat eats through his flesh, bones, and organs at once leaving only his head and limbs intact, scattered amongst the rest of the Party. He dies a horrendous death and his friends are left alone with only the smell of charred remains to remember him by.” Eddie ends his tirade with a quirked eyebrow. That’ll show these little assholes what happens when they mess with him. A quick glance at Steve shows him excitement and surprise, he absolutely was not expecting that.

“What the fuck. This is supposed to be PG,” Dustin stares at Eddie in horror. “You really just killed a character in the middle of a campaign for Steve?”

“Roll stealth and damage.” Eddie tells him deadpan.

“God-fucking-dammit! Eddie, no, please…”

“Roll or face the consequences!”

“3 stealth, Nat-20 damage,” Dustin whispered with his face in his hands. The other kids watch Eddie in a mixture of confusion and aghastment. But Steve is beaming, teeth shining from ear to ear.

“The dragon hears your cries of grief and turns its burly head towards you. Its glimmering eyes reach the you and the rest of the Party and you see its scaled lips open in a human like smile. With a speed you could never have anticipated, it slithers toward you before standing on muscled hind legs and flapping its leathery wings. Its lips curl around a blue flame. The last thing you feel is a flash of ice before you see no more.

Your friends see you disappear into a pile of ash, the heat of the flame too powerful to escape. The dragon whips its tail towards the party while they stare at where you used to stand. Will the Wise can’t even list his magical staff before the weight of the tail crushes him to the ground in a pile of shattered bones and bloody sinnew.

Luther is impaled by one of the dragon’s back spikes and killed immediately. The light in his eyes fades and all he sees is a figure with a crown waving at him in the distance. Prince Stephen and his pet dragon prosper in the face of their trespassing adversaries once again but the only witnesses to the horror are erased from the Earth.”

The boys stare at him in shock while he arranges his papers and stands. “The end. Steve and I are going to the movies. You bitchasses aren’t invited and if you’re even a little bit nasty to Steve again, I’ll pulverize you in real life just like I killed you in the campaign. Think on that.”

With that, Eddie grabs the hand of a stunned Steve and drags him from the Wheeler’s basement. After that debacle, he’s sure that the kids have gotten their point. And now he’s got a movie to see with his main man.

(The kids absolutely get his point and moving forward are a lot nicer to Steve. And a little scared of how Eddie’s mind works.

Eddie holds a grudge against the kids for months and will still reference their comments when he sees fit for the rest of their lives or at least the rest of his.

And Steve? He starts dating his DM in shining armor a mere two hours later.)

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[strange-anni]

Yes! Just look at her! It's her spring break too and Nancy is already wearing an Emerson T-Shirt. I bet she can barely wait until she can finally go to college.

Considering everything it should be Nancy who's more anxious and afraid of getting married and have kids instead of Jonathan. She is a woman, she will face misogyny (already has) and people will pressure her way more than Jonathan to just marry and have kids. Society was always more okay with letting young men be bachelors for a long time.

Yet she doesn't even think about any of this. There is no concern on her side whatsoever. Why? Because marrying and having kids is not part of her future plans. She doesn't want this at all. It's such a stark contrast to Jonathan. He is afraid of his family ending in divorce while she doesn't even want to start one.

It's a major part of why they are so incompatible.

She is not happy about any of this at all. It's the reason why I said that while rejecting Steve she is also rejecting Jonathan because Jonathan wants the same things Steve wants. A family with kids. If she doesn't want it with Steve, she'll not want this with Jonathan either.

It's also why these ships have become so similar to me. There is not much of a difference between them anymore. They'd just make each other very unhappy. Nancy and Steve/Jonathan need to go their separate ways. The sooner the better. So they can at least stay friends.

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

(STONATHAN RECEIPTS)

Part 3 : The curious case of Steve and his gasoline obsession.

The scent of gasoline brings back memories of Jonathan

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

⛽

In s1, the gasoline hose is fresh, pristine, untouched wrapped in plastic, sealed, (Jonathan's) ------------

By s2, gasoline hose is roughened by use, worn in, touched, manhandled. It’s literally lying next to the meat and aimed straight at Steve!!!

You get the point.

Steve with the grip, pouring the 'fuel' (just like in s4 before heading to the Upside Down). Either way, something’s about to catch fire.

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

Says *Nancy* but sees *Jonathan* (gasoline can:phallic imagery)

Keep *straight* for half a mile+ rainbow bandage

Bonus: Both are trying to stay on a 'straight' path but end up somewhere entirely different (Dustin's compass analogy)

failed *romance*

*romantic* music playing (steve is checking out gasoline)

Steve the Parent

Steve: five or six cans = Five or six kids 🍼

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

Steve envisions a future with Jonathan, raising six children together. 👼🏻🍼🎀

Huggies (kept upside-down behind Steve)

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

Gloves-✅

Glasses-✅

and much like parents, Steve & Jonathan are usually two people put in charge (of the children)

(Best Steve video)

Even Netflix frames Steve as the “mom” of the group, and honestly… it’s kind of wild how he’s the only character openly dreaming about having kids. Not just once, but repeatedly in s4. None of the other teens, even the ladies, talk about it the way he does. It’s exclusively Steve.

Why is the guy with ex-jock rep the only one who gets the parental arc (well, apart from Jonathan ofc) Why him, of all people, with the nurturing instincts, the quiet longing for a family? It’s more than just about babysitting. for sure.

@strange-anni honestly described it so perfectly, so I’ll leave that side of the story to the expert. I couldn’t do it justice even if I tried. For now, I’ll stick this 💅

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Well... if they both make it out alive, Steve’s dream of being a dad might actually come true. He and Jonathan could actually have that picture-perfect gay parenthood arc. Fingers crossed! so far, the stars are aligning!

Waiting for the spark to catch, for the fire to combust, and the flames to finally consume us. It’s a slow burn... even slower than byler! And that’s saying something!! But when it ignites...it’s going to scorch!!!️‍🔥

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tagging: @greenfiend @cypherheartnokey @threemanoperation

[anthonys237thfreckle]

Love in Oklahoma - Javier ‘Javi’ x F! reader

prompt: javi and his girl bought a small farm in Oklahoma, reworked it and adopted little nancy!

TW: mentions of injury, implications of smut

i saw @tempesttamers make a post about seeing anthony ramos with nancy and they needed a javi fic who has a miniature cow named nancy lol. it was such a cute idea, so thanks for that!

Whenever it wasn’t tornado season down in Oklahoma, the excitement was buzzing for the next one. Everyone round the bonfire of another cheap motel, all the storm chasers would gather and share stories of chasing a twister or two, the failures, close calls, successes… reminiscing the adrenaline high everyone felt in their own way.

But you and Javi had no place to stay apart from those motels. Your homes were far away from the southwest, and though storm season was over, Javi still needed to do a lot of research and analytics for storm patterns, their paths, conditions, humidity levels and even sometimes forecasts. Storm Par was busy all year.

Since he dragged you from your own job in the city down to Tornado Alley, you felt like you belonged down there, among the wheat fields, cheap food, thick humid air and wide skies; you and Javi would stargaze at times, and they seemed brighter down there for two reasons. One, there was no pollution for them to shy away behind and two, Javi was there - the man who seemed to make everything brighter.

So rather than stay basically homeless, Javi saved up some money and bought a little house with a farm. Barely half the size of a football field, it was selling for pretty cheap, so you Javi bought it for the two of you.

It wasn’t grand, but you two loved it very much. A small, simple, two story farmhouse with a porch, wide and welcoming, its wooden steps leading up to the red-brick house. Inside, it was definitely in need of some handiwork, but it was inviting nonetheless. After all, blank walls are nothing but a canvas to store potential. Dark stained wooden floorboards run throughout, giving it a rustic elegance. Though scuffed by generations of footsteps, they were very well polished. The kitchen, an open wide space, the heart of the home, had a traditional water pump basin and sink. You grinned when you saw it, turning to Javi who raised his eyebrows in shock and chuckled quietly, shaking his head in amusement. The sink sat beneath a window with a picturesque view of the backyard. White wooden cabinets adorned the walls, giving the kitchen its own light. Though the house was partially furnished, providing you with a large, rectangular dining table, some vintage pantry cabinets, and some sturdy chairs the previous owners left behind.

The second floor was led by some creaking wooden steps, and after climbing the short flight, you were met with a master bedroom with a large window overlooking the front yard, connected to a bathroom with checkered floor tiles, one of your new favourite things. They had a normal tap unlike the kitchen basin downstairs, and large mirror with some storage units and a shower. The other room, another bedroom, was smaller in comparison, but still had a window and a large bookshelf covering one whole wall. The other bathroom, almost as large as a room itself, was spacious, with two sinks, a rainshower, and bathtub.

Needless to say, you two fell in love with the house.

Once you two moved in, you both started to rework the place a little. Javi invited some close friends from Storm par and you invited Kate and the Tornado Wranglers to held paint the walls. Once that was done, everyone went out for dinner at a local diner, letting the stench of fresh paint air out. 2 weeks of relentless reworking went by, the crew made everything a lot faster; the house was homely, cozy, inviting. A bit of a contrast to the two city people you two were, but all the hard work made it all the more impressive. All your old stuff was shifted in, the crew helping you move all the heavy furniture, then left you two to do your own thing. Once everything was furnished, you both fell asleep on your shared bed upstairs, holding each other close.

After a day of rest, you both spent from sunrise to sunset out on the farm. Javi drove you to the farmer’s market, finding people who sold nearly mature crops with the purpose of repotting. You both bought 3 tomato plants - one in each colour: purple, red and yellow - 2 cucumbers, some Napa cabbage, romaine lettuce, arugula, some raspberry and blueberry shrubs. Once back the sun was high, you both slathered some sunscreen on and spent hours outside, repotting everything into the fertile southwestern soil.

The Tornado Wranglers came over for housewarming, bearing gifts; Kate bought you a pot of flowers, with her own recipe for a fertilizer which wasn’t damaging. Tyler brought a handmade sign saying ‘Not our first farmhouse!’ with the ‘Not’ crossed out in red paint. You accepted it with a laugh, and Javi just rolled his eyes playfully. Boone bought you both a vintage polaroid camera, and you had the idea of taking a photo of everyone who visited this house, and sticking it on the wall near the entrance, as a cute little housewarming idea. Lily brought some food, her famous enchiladas. Dani bought you two a weighted blanket and a toolbox, knowing how handy that can get. Dexter bought you two some encyclopedias and books you two would definitely enjoy. Everyone shared laughs and jokes and memories over dinner, and you both realized how this farmhouse really changed your lives.

You both started living a new life together, which contrasted everything before.

You always had a knack for baking and cooking, but only did so occasionally, because you could always buy bread from the supermarket, and you were busy. Now that you had joined Storm Par (once you cornered Javi and Scott into finding ethical investors) you both worked from home, giving you a lot of time for each other, and equally important, yourselves. Now, not a weekend went by when you went on a baking spree, pulling in Javi to help you out leading to flour fights, stolen chaste kisses where he’d lift you onto the counter, and everything in between. You baked sourdough, focaccia, dinner rolls, peanut butter cookies, muffins with fresh blueberries from the yard.

Javi rarely ate breakfast, mostly because he was too lazy or never had the will to eat anything shitty anyways, so every morning he’d be blessed with a platter of fresh herbed butter on sourdough toast, free range eggs from some chickens you both bought, and crispy organic bacon. Now, he claims breakfast is his second favourite meal, and when you ask what comes first, he just gives you a knowing look, which ends up with him getting flicked on the forehead.

All in all, your lives had changed for the better, but it was only about to get even better.

As you both drove back from the farmer’s market one evening, you saw a little curled up black and white creature on the side of the road

“Hey, baby, look..” you pointed over, and his eyes followed yours.

“Is that-” he slammed the breaks, rushing out of the car, you following behind.

It was a baby cow, or a miniature one, and its leg had a horrible gash on it.

“Its owners probably ditched her, pool gal…” He said softly, stroking the calf’s head when he found no ear tag on her.

You and Javi shared a look, and a silent communication went between you two. You needed to help her out.

You rushed over to your trunk, pouring out some milk and giving her some sustenance in the hopes of earning her trust. After carefully lifting her, making sure she didn’t thrash around, Javi put her in the backseat after you put a blanket down. You sat with her, the animals’ head resting in your lap. You drove a little way out of town for a vet, and after a quick checkup, you were given some ointment, and since the calf was abandoned, you both decided to keep it.

“Come on, Nancy” Javi said soothingly, carrying calf back into the car.

“Nancy?” you chuckled “We’re naming her already?”

“Yeah” Javi said with a chuckle “I like Nancy” he smiled, petting the calf’s head

“So do I” You said after a moment of thought. “Let’s get going”

Once everyone was back home, you brought out a wheelbarrow, and Javi put Nancy in there, the both of you gently bringing her to the barn. Once she was settled on a pile of hay, Javi gently tied her neck to a pole, making sure it wasn’t cutting anything off. You brought a bottle of milk with you, feeding her as her big black eyes got drowsier.

“Can I sleep here with her?” Javi asked you with concern.

“In the barn?” you laughed “Seriously?”

“I’m dead serious, (name)” Javi said, a look of determination you couldn’t fight.

“Alright, let me get the limoncello candle” you said in fake annoyance. Javi smiled, and called out.

“Love you, baby!”

—

Once you came back with the lit limoncello candle to ward off any bugs, setting it in the corner, you brought some sleeping bags and a bottle of water and milk, for you two and Nancy.

“I’m sleeping here with you” You said, handing him a sleeping bag.

“You don’t have to..” Javi said softly, never taking his eyes off Nancy as he stoked her head, tracing the blotches of black on her cream fur.

“I want to” you reassured, settling into the sleeping bag. “G’night, Javi” you murmured after giving him a sweet peck on the lips.

“Love you” he said, watching you over his shoulder as you settled in for the night.

“Love you too” you yawned “You know, if you changed your mind-”

“No” He interrupted you stubbornly “I’m staying here with Nancy” He reinforced.

“Whatever you say, baby” you chuckled, closing your own droopy eyes. “Make sure to actually catch some sleep”

“Yeah, I will. I promise” He nodded. “Goodnight, (name), I love you”

“Love you too, Jalapeño” you chuckled “Goodnight”

Javi chuckled at the nickname you loved using, and watched as you fell asleep. He looked over at a now asleep Nancy and smiled. He was so happy he bought this little home with you. He looked over at you again, then crawled over, unzipping the sleeping bag.

“Javier….” you whined “I was falling asleep!”

“Hold on just a second, baby..” He unzipped the sleeping bag, detached the zippers on his own one, and attached the two bags together and crawled inside, zipping it back up.

“Now we can cuddle!” he grinned, and you shook your head with a chuckle, burying your head in his chest and wrapping your arms around his torso.

“Okay, now really goodnight.” you murmured with mock annoyance.

“Yeah, really” He chuckled, nodding. “Goodnight, love”.

And with that, you both fell asleep in the barn, in each other’s arms, alongside your new companion. Javi dreamt of your lives progressing in this little farmhouse, filling it up with kids, maybe a German Shepherd… ironically, the house did have a white picket fence too, which made everything all the more cliche. But he didn’t care how much of a sap he was around you - since you seemed to love it anyway. Your lives had gotten so much.. lovelier.

If anything, you both found more love here, in Oklahoma.

[lovebillyhargrove]

Part 2 of this

👑⚔️ king Steven x knight William ⚔️👑

***

The mysterious knight does not provide any further information about his background. William only says that he himself remains hoping that one day memory will serve him better and he will be able to shed more light on where he comes from and why he was found dying on king Steven's land.

The king finds it odd, but everything is odd about the knight clad in dark armour,

Who is bathed in sunshine, whenever he loses the iron of his warlike suit.

And Steven finds the strangeness even more beguiling.

The most uncanny thing is the king's fervent desire which consumes his whole being when Steven finds himself close to the knight, or when he finds himself far from him —

The distance does not really matter. If they happen to be apart for several hours, Steven gets lost in sweetest elation — he dreams of the moment when he will see the knight again — his gaze turning hazy and thoughts unfocused. The dire necessity to always be near William, not lose a single grain of time that can be spent together, baffles the king for he has never felt anything alike.

The constant craving makes his body ache for the knight's closeness and attention, salivate in anticipation of possible pleasures.

At first, it is unclear where William stands regarding the king's intentions, for one second Steven catches the knight looking at him, desperate to hide the deep-lying longing in his abysmal eyes — and failing to do so,

The king's gaze mirrors the yearning, the two tides violently clash

However, seconds pass, and the handsome barbarian puts distance between them, as though forcing himself to do it, forcing himself to fall back to chivalrous conduct.

The king keeps the knight always by his side, they get carried away by lengthy conversations, take long walks on the sea shore and in the woods, they feast and indulge themselves in intellectual pleasures, listening to musicians and reading poetry to one another. As soon as William's wounds have healed, the two young men compete in archery and swordplay, and the virtuous king often seeks advice from knight William regarding kingdom affairs.

Eventually, neither of them — they are destined to be lovers — can escape the current. A chaste kiss brings them to heaven, and is followed by a rough and at the same time inexplicably tender embrace which turns them both to molten steel, soft and pliant,

Yet unbreakable and oh so hot to the touch.

They share the bed, and Steven ascends to wuthering heights every time he lays his hands on the knight's silk like skin. Once the dam has been broken, there is nothing chaste in the way they touch each other.

The king is blinded by passion, and so is the knight, who whispers

Tracing his fingertips over Steve's face, following the pattern of his scars

"My king, your beauty is utterly entrancing. You have spellbound me, put me to my knees."

The king cannot spend a single night without his knight, and after they satisfy their mutual hunger, he nestles his head against William's strong shoulder and slides into blissful sleep.

Needless to say, king Steven's previous engagement to princess Nancy from the neighbouring kingdom is scandalously broken off.

***

One day the king finds William in the garden looking troubled

"I must leave you for an uncertain amount of time since I have urgent business. I need to free my sister. There is a place in the mountains — a passage to the underworld where she is being held against her will by terrifying creatures."

"Your sister? .. Have you remembered your past?"

"Not all of it." The evasiveness of the knight's answer eludes king Steven. "I have been having dreams. She is calling for me."

"Then I shall accompany you in your difficult quest."

The knight wants to protest

"If I may, your majesty, this is too dangerous .."

But the king doesn't give him a chance to finish the sentence pressing his lips to William's.

Steven knows the place he is talking about — years ago he fought a creature there, the demogorgon, as people have called it.

However, the crack is now closed and there is no way to get to the underworld.

"Do not fall into despair. I know who might help us." Says Steven.

They go to the woods to pay a visit to a young witch who does not talk and leads a solitary life.

"My people wanted to banish her from the kingdom, but I insisted that she stay. However, she lives alone in the woods, only occasionally coming to Sunday market in town square."

The witch helps the two men to open the gate to the underworld.

They stand back to back, fighting with a bloodthirsty horde of strange creatures that look like dogs, and although the king is an experienced fighter, he does not fail to notice how on several occasions William bravely rushes to protect him with his shield, or sword, or his own body.

It takes a massacre to free a young woman with noble features and hair fiery like dancing flames. Her name sounds outlandish

Maxine, her brother calls her.

Steven offers her rooms in his castle, the sister and brother spend time together, and Maxine also starts to frequent the witch who lives in the woods.

One day she addresses king Steven

"There is no measure for my brother's and my own gratitude for saving first him, then me. Your heart is good and pure and .. my brother's heart is good as well. However, I feel it is my obligation to warn you. Not necessarily wishing to bring it upon your head, he still might do you harm for .. for he is haunted, haunted by .."

She wants to say more but the sound of the opening door stops words from leaving her mouth.

"I have been looking for you, king. The weather is gorgeous. The horses are ready. Should you agree, we could go for a ride in the blooming meadow." The knight suggests.

..

They make love laying amidst the tall grass and flowers which sough gently in the warm breeze sweeping over the honey meadow, and Steven forgets all that William's sister has told him.

..

In the morning when the king wakes up, he sees William sitting beside him, head down, hair cascading around his slouched shoulders.

A dark shadow runs over his impeccably handsome face as he lifts his head up, avoiding direct eye contact

"Forgive me, my lover, for my intentions, unlike my passion for you, have indeed not been entirely pure." The knight looks as if he is in physical pain, and his voice falters

With one swift motion, William puts the heavy shakles around the king's wrists.

At the same time Steven hears voices coming from the outside, the frightened cries of women and the unusual commotion.

King Steven's eyes are full of disbelief, searching William's distraught face.

Soldiers wearing black have invaded the streets of his town.

Someone must have opened the gates at night.

Betrayal.

"Why .. my love, why would you ..?"

***

Part 3

The witch in the woods is Eleven.

[carlos-in-glasses]

Thank you for the tag @ironheartwriter @tellmegoodbye @annoyingcloudearthquake

@strandnreyes @heartstringsduet @lemonlyman-dotcom @whatsintheboxmh @paperstorm

@henrygrass @emsprovisions @everlastingday @nisbanisba @carlossreaders

From BF fic, I too have something to offer on the theme of them getting absolutely railed:

In the months since adopting Jonah, they've had a crash-course in how to have quiet sex. Something neither thought was possible, and became a gnawing concern right before they flew out to Switzerland to bring him home. It had been on Carlos’ mind, but TK actually spoke it, and when he spoke it, the floodgates opened. They sat cross legged on their bed and had a long, late-night conversation about their sex-life. Which wound them up so much, TK found himself deep-fuck-spread-eagle and screaming, but that's neither here nor there.

“I’m worried that if I’m quiet, you won’t know how much I’m enjoying it,” TK said, “I love telling you. I love shouting it.”

The worry was needless. Of course it was. It seems so obvious now. In quietness, what happens is they can hear each other’s breath shake. Within every whine and plead there is a hurricane. They kiss more to shut each other up. They whisper close to each other’s ears the filthiest words to describe how they feel and what they want. In quietness, they cry more – orgasms are gasps in their throats, tears falling. The intensity is different. It’s more. Tomorrow, TK will find himself walking with a slight limp like he always does, the day after Carlos has had him twice. Carlos will saunter into the office with a confident smile, suit jacket slung over his shoulder.

"Well...good mornin', partner," Sam Campbell will say, shaking his head and taking a ‘that’s none of my business’ sip of his coffee.

Open tag and tags below:

@lightningboltreader @goodways @bonheur-cafe @reyesstrand

@alrightbuckaroo @cold-blooded-jelly-doughnut @liminalmemories21 @welcometololaland

@ladytessa74 @orchidscript @mikibwrites @freneticfloetry @rmd-writes

@chicgeekgirl89 @pimento-playing-hopscotch @eclectic-sassycoweyes

@herefortarlos @sapphic--kiwi @literateowl @butchreyes

@futures-tense @anactualcaseofthetruth @the-126-family

@theghostofashton @butch-buckley @rangersoup

@nancys-braids @laelipoo @captain-gillian @thisbuildinghasfeelings

@kiwichaeng @carlos-tk @no-goodbyes-no-regrets - If you want to share/haven't already! No pressure ever! ❤️🩷🧡💛💚💙🩵💜

[munsonsmixtapes]

Would it be possible to request (in the extent to which you are inclined to write it, if at all ❤️) a house party (maybe at Steve’s because he’s a little shit) where the mutually pining Eddie and the reader are SABOTAGED into a rigged game of 7 minutes in heaven which, needless to say, changes the nature of their friendship 👀

Thank you so much for the request, lovely! I love this idea!

Eddie x gender neutral!bestie!reader

You couldn’t believe you had let Eddie drag you to yet another one of Steve’s parties. They were always just another excuse for people to get drunk and you never cared for the company either. You didn’t understand why Eddie liked them so much, but you could never say no when looking into those big brown eyes. They always got you into trouble.

You stood by Robin and Nancy the entire night since Eddie took the opportunity to make some deals and you didn’t want to ruin them. But maybe you should have stuck with him since all the girls did was tease you about your little (huge) crush on the metalhead.

They had been trying to set the two of you up for years to no avail and were getting tired of sitting by and watch the two of you pine when it was obvious that you had feelings to each other.

That night, they were finally going to set you up with a little game of seven minutes in heaven. But knowing how stubborn the two of you were, they weren’t sure how it would work, but were still eager to try.

“We should all play a game,” Nancy suggested, maybe a little too enthusiastically. You weren’t into the usual party games and knew that whatever she was going to suggest was definitely something you were going to sit out on.

“Uh, no thanks.” You tried to back up, but Robin just grabbed hold of your arm, pulling you into the living room where everyone was already gathered.

“No, you have to. I promise it’ll be fun.” Her words didn’t sound promising, but you gave in, not wanting to disappoint her nor Nancy.

“What’s the game?” You asked and they both just smirked at you. That couldn’t have been good.

“Seven minutes in heaven,” they replied in unison and you just rolled your eyes in response. No fucking way were you playing that stupid game. The only person you wanted to play with was nowhere to be found and you didn’t want to be locked in a closet with anyone else but him.

“No way,” you shook your head. You couldn’t do it. You felt like it was a betrayal to Eddie even though you were sure that he didn’t feel the same way. You were always just going to be his best friend.

Nancy made you sit down on the couch next to Eddie who just shrugged at you when your eyes made contact. So apparently he had no idea what was going on either. That made you feel a bit better.

“Everyone ready to play?” Robin asked.

“No,” you and Eddie replied with a grumble and the girl just smiled in your direction.

Her eyes lit up and you felt your heart hammer in your chest as you realized what was happening. It was all a set up! You didn’t know why you hadn’t seen it sooner. It was all just another one of Robin and Nancy’s weird ways to set you and Eddie up.

Eddie on the other hand, was just plain clueless to the scheme and was honestly up for anything at that point. Anything to get over you. He had been pining for too long and instead of doing something about it, he decided that the best way to get over you was by getting under someone else.

What a stupid plan that was. All he could ever see was your face and it was driving him crazy. Maybe if you were the one he was under, he’d be able to get over it. Maybe that would have solved everything once and for all.

“I nominate y/n and Eddie to go into the closet,” Nancy smiled at the two of you. Both of your eyes widened at her words and once she realized that you weren’t standing, he pulled the two of you to your feet and pushed you both towards the closet.

You hesitantly went inside and Eddie followed, closing the door behind him. You quickly turned on the light and it illuminated the room, showcasing the beautiful man before you. His hair was pulled back and he had finally let his beard grow out like you had been begging him for once. Maybe if you had gotten the guts, you would have made a move and kissed him so you could feel his scruff against your face.

Eddie looked at you and couldn’t believe that you still weren’t his after all of the years he had spent pining for you. Why couldn’t he just stop being a baby and admit how he felt for you? Sure, being rejected would hurt like a fucking bitch, but at least you would have knowing the truth.

“We don’t have to do anything,” you assured him, playing with one of the loose threads on the end of your shirt sleeve.

“I know,” he nodded. “But…I’d like to…you know, if you wanted to.” He said the words so shyly that it was cute. He had never behaved that way in front of you before. He was always so confident, so sure of himself. It was weird seeing him like that.

“You would?” You didn’t think he had any interest in doing anything with you that the game entailed.

“I would,” he nodded enthusiastically and your heart melted.

“Oh.”

“Can I kiss you?” You swore your knees were going to go weak at hearing those words. You never ever thought he’d ask you that and weren’t even sure if you were awake. With your luck, you’d wake up to find that it was all just a surreal dream.

“Yes.” As soon as the words left your mouth, Eddie took your face in his hands and pressed his lips to yours, his scruff scraping your skin just like you had imagined.

Your arms wrapping tightly around his waist as you took what you wanted from each other, the kiss rough and heated. His hands moved to your hair, pressing into your scalp as he licked into your mouth, your tongues swirling together.

As soon as a moan fell from your lips, he pulled away, not wanting it to get too heated. He pressed his forehead to yours and a huge smile breaking out on his face that you mimicked.

“God, I’ve been wanting to do that since I can remember,” he breathed and you grabbed on tighter to his waist so you wouldn’t collapse to the floor.

“Me too,” you replied, feeling like he deserved honestly since he was being so open with you.

“I love you.” Your mouth fell open at his admission and you peppered his face in kisses in response while he let out the most adorable giggles.

“I love you too,” you told him and he just smiled before capturing your lips in another kiss. Needless to say that the two of you definitely spent more than seven minutes in the closet. You had a lot of lost time to make up for.

[beachlifelez]

Nancy was still a bit nervous about contacting the escort service while on her latest business trip. The scheduler asked what her “type” was and Nancy hemmed and hawed embarrassingly.

“Ok, I see, you’re obviously needing a little direction. Gwen is the girl for you.”

“Wh-why Gwen?”

“Honey, just do as Gwen tells you. If you know what’s good for you.”

Nancy felt an amazing buzz run through her when the scheduler closed the conversation with those words.

When the knock came on her hotel room door, Nancy took a deep breath, bit her lip a bit and answered it. The statuesque and amazingly beautiful Gwen looked a Nancy, entered the room and walked toward the bathroom.

“You, on the bed. Be naked when I come out.”

Needless to say, Nancy was a bit taken aback. But not so much that she didn’t obey Gwen. As she sat on the bed, Gwen emerged from the bathroom, totally confident and totally naked herself. And she looked better naked than dressed, to be sure.

”On your hands and knees. Ass in the air facing me. I’m going to give your body a full workout. You’ll do as I say and enjoy it, understand? Now, let’s see what you’ve got.”

As Nancy assumed her directed position, she felt the sting of Gwen’s hand smacking her left cheek, then her right. She hadn’t been spanked since she was a child. And this was certainly unlike any of those spankings. She felt her face go flush and she let out a moan of pleasure at the pain.

”I thought so. You’re going to be fun. Ask for more.”

”Please spank me again.”

”Good girl.”

SMACK!! SMACK!!

”Yes. Lots of fun. Get ready for a night unlike any you’ve had before.”

The scheduler had been right, Nancy thought. Gwen was definitely the girl for her. And she knew she would have no problem doing everything Gwen told her to do.

[sidekickjoey]

In the summer of '86, fresh off of saving the world, Steve Harrington and Nancy Wheeler get blonde highlights.

Be it a coping mechanism after handling the hell that was spring or simply a mutual need for change, the decision is made without nervousness from either party. They enter the salon together, swear up and down to their assigned hairstylists that, yes, this is what they want and no, they do not care that their hair already looks perfect as is, thanks, and leave donning notably different looks.

Steve's signature chestnut ends up woven between streaks of gold, giving him a sort of distracting glimmering effect when he walks out into the sun. Nancy's waves, though still shoulder length and crimped to perfection, sway almost completely and utterly blonde in any light.

Needless to say, their new looks quickly make them, the former it-couple of Hawkins, the talk of the town once more - including that of their two closest friends, Eddie and Robin.

They, unlike the general public of Hawkins, have spent the past few months slowly building massive crushes on Steve and Nancy, entranced by their might after surviving the horrors of the Upside Down. While to most a change in hair color for Steve and Nancy is merely an oddity, to them? It's like someone hit the panic button and left them to scatter in a secluded room.

Robin has only been over her gaga-for-Vickie phase for a few weeks now. The wound is still fresh, and she knows she should not be looking once again into a possible unrequited love situation until she is better healed emotionally. She also knows he has a weakness for blondes that goes beyond all reason, i.e. Tammy Thompson and her muppet singing voice. She shouldn't act and possibly jeopardize one of her most sincere female friendships over a silly little weakness like that.

However, Nancy looks like a vision in blonde.

Robin thinks it's her big doe eyes that do it. They pop when the blonde meshes with Nancy's fair skin, and it makes her heart swoon in the most debilitating of ways. Not to mention, the softer cut she got along with the lighter coloring frames her face so well. Robin swoons over it. If not for her fear of rejection, she probably would have already taken the leap and done something stupid, like confess how Nancy's scrambled her brain.

Eddie's not doing much better himself with Steve.

He had been there in the early days, when Scoops Ahoy's newest worker showed up in his first edition of golden highlights. Like any good Hawkins resident, he had handled it with poise, class, and lots of extra trips to Scoops Ahoy whenever he happened to be at the Starcourt Mall, along with frequent whisperings of 'what the hell' expressed in the confines of his room where no one could hear him freak out. T'was standard™.

This look, though...it blows Scoops Ahoy Steve away by miles.

It's bright. It's golden. It's like he slipped and fell into some kind of radiant daydream, only to emerge like a ray of sunlight to distract Eddie Munson and Eddie Munson alone, and Eddie can't shut up about it.

Seriously, Wayne has heard enough.

The issue is, he has next to no idea what to do about these feelings. His mind is screaming to make a move on the guy, because you only live once and, well, he's already on his second try. However, his little worried heart loves Steve's newfound companionship and whatever odd-couple friendship they have going on right now. He doesn't want to lose that because of some dye job and a trim. It's too important, too good.

So, like Robin, he finds himself refraining.

They both refrain, and over the next week or so, the decision to do so eats at them like mad. They stumble over their words when speaking to Steve and Nancy. They actually stumble physically, in Robin's case, when Nancy walks by one morning. They tell anyone and everyone they can about it aside from Steve and Nancy, and by the end of that week, it all hits a breaking point. Word slips for the sake of everyone's sanity to Steve and Nancy.

It should mark the beginning of havoc and betrayal.

Instead, it breeds two plans.

Because, here's the thing: Steve and Nancy are not dumb, contrary to what some might think. They are wildly observant people. They know what their friends are up to, and Robin and Eddie are high on that friend list after spring. They've seen their behavior and, though Nancy had to spell a little bit of it out for Steve, both have come to the conclusion that something is definitely up in the crush department. If they want to capitalize on it, they know there is no better time than now while their haircuts are still new and their own crushes are seeking an opportunity to spill their feelings.

Nancy's plan to handle Robin, to the untrained eye, is simple. She's known for carefully thought out strikes when people least expect them, and the last thing she's going to do is stop using that tactic to her advantage now.

So, she invites the other girl on a trip to the mall for new bracelets. She claims it's on account of Holly taking hers hostage (not a total lie) and needing time out with someone her age (also not a total lie), and Robin buys it in seconds. A day later, they meet up at a boutique mall just outside of Hawkins and roam for a few hours together. It's simple. Casual. Subtle enough to be innocent from afar yet just intimate enough for Nancy to make her move when the time is right.

The time becomes right when they're sitting at a booth in the food court, chatting about Holly's other jewelry-related crimes. Nancy accidentally knocks the fork for her salad off the table, catching the attention of them both. Robin is quick to say she's got it, but Nancy is faster. Ready. She reaches down, picks up the fork, and in a fit of bravery, makes damn sure she holds eye contact with Robin the entire way back up. Robin swallows and looks away, clearly flustered and trying to behave over such a small thing as eye contact. But, Nancy doesn't want her to ignore it this time. So, she pulls a cheesy line from Steve's old book (that she totally did not rehearse with Steve, not at all) and misbehaves, just to get the ball rolling.

Batting her eyes, she asks in her most casual drawl, "Sheesh Robin, do blondes always make you this nervous?"

Robin chokes on her milkshake. 'Accidentally' knocks over her own fork. Goes down beneath the table to - not subtly - whisper-scream about what the hell that just was, because what the hell was that? Hello?

Nancy finds it incredibly endearing. She kind of wants to tell her about it.

She joins Robin on the floor to do so and giggles, freakin giggles, at Robin's shock and awe over her being there. Robin, panicked, reaches for the fork she dropped and holds it up to Nancy for her to see like it's some kind of explanation for her huddling under the table a full minute after it fell. She then stutters out a small 'got it,' despite Nancy being a goddamn journalist who notices things for her job and is fully capable of using her own two eyes to see, what the heck Robin??

Nancy still finds it all so endearing, though she doesn't think saying it out loud would be the best course of action anymore. Her last words sort of sent the poor girl into a spiral, and as fun as it is sharing this cramped space with her, she kind of wants to get off the gross tile if at all possible. So, instead, she does the next best thing and expresses her fondness physically.

With a kiss.

On the mouth.

Hidden by the table but all-too-real and seen to Robin, who forgets how to breathe because oh my gosh. Oh my GOSH.

It's perfect. It's effortless. It's everything. It's hands-down worth the hours of waiting Nancy had to do under a hairdryer in foils to get her here, and even more worth Robin's adorably rushed confession after the fact that she's always liked blondes, just a little bit.

~~~~~~

Steve's plan is a lot different than Nancy's.

He is a tried-and-true passionate romantic after all, and Eddie is about as dramatic as Shakespeare. A casual outing or demure kiss under a table is just not going to cut it in terms of a confession for either of them. Steve knows this. He tells it to Nancy. Repeatedly.

After hours of back and forth over the phone, he eventually finds himself at a music store, equipped with a wad of cash and his eyes set on an, admittedly, badass looking guitar. It has blue flames along its black exterior that rise to its very top and are lined with a reflective silver, making it glimmer even in the dim light of the shop. Eddie's been moaning about losing his sweetheart to the Upside Down for weeks -- no, months at this point. Steve thinks this blue beauty would be a perfect replacement for her. He also thinks it might just be what they need to stop dancing around each other's feelings too, if he's lucky.

He purchases it and stows it away in his bedroom before calling Eddie over the following day. The boy is all nerves when he finally arrives. Steve doesn't help ease them by running his hand through his hair more than once, but what can he say? It's a tough habit to break, and he's been doing it ever since he's hand anything more than a buzz cut. Sue him.

After pleasantries about their day are discussed and Eddie appears to be more calmed down, Steve invites him upstairs for a 'surprise' that just about undoes all the poor boy's progress at once.

Because Steve didn't just place the new guitar in its case and put a bow on it to surprise Eddie. No, he propped that sucker on its stand, bought a small light to illuminate the silver and blue, and placed a little card on the case that said, 'To Eddie, from your sweetheart.'

Steve watches as Eddie physically has to reboot upon seeing it all. He then rushes to cover his ears as Eddie returns to consciousness with a full-blown yell, running over to his gift with repeated 'no way's that get higher and higher in volume with each utterance. All noise ceases when he finally reads the card, though. That's when Steve feels safe enough to drop his hands to his side and make his approach, a shy grin on his lips.

"Like it?"

"Y-You're my sweetheart?"

With a shrug, Steve once again cards a hand through his hair. "If you want me to be. I-I mean, I assumed you would want me to be with all the looks you've been giving me, a-and everything with the Upside Down. But if I've got that wrong, if...shit, maybe I should just-"

Their first kiss is messy, wet, and way too enthusiastic.

Eddie's all teeth from how wide he's smiling into the kiss, and Steve nearly falls over from the sheer force of the guy barreling into him. He grows a bit dizzy, too, from how firm Eddie's grip on his hair has him, and that does little for his already frazzled balance. But, it's perfect. It's so stupidly them and perfect and wild like Steve had hoped it to be, like Eddie hoped it to be.

Later, when Steve leaves Eddie to enjoy his guitar in peace and breathe because, yeah, he finds himself making a mental note to call Nancy when he's home. If this is what one round of highlights gets him, he'll be damned if they don't plan another round for touch ups soon.

Stepping inside, Steve catches sight of a blinking light on his answering machine that tells him Nancy'd be damned, too.

He smiles.

[unclewaynemunson]

More often than not, it doesn't work out.

Robin first learned that lesson with Vickie, when she thought she found the love of her life but ended up breaking things off because the way in which Vickie mirrored her anxiety back to her enhanced it tenfold and it turned out to be completely exhausting to keep up with that after the first wave of butterflies had died down.

After Vickie, there was Laura. Laura, with whom it seemed to work out until she told Robin that she couldn't bear keeping up with her weird, unsettling and way too vivid nightmares about Russian spies and monsters from fantasy stories every other night.

After Laura, there was Julia. Julia, who was amazing for four whole months until she told Robin with tears in her eyes that she couldn't tolerate the cheating anymore. It didn't matter how often Robin told her that sleeping with someone didn't necessarily mean sleeping with someone, that Steve was like a brother to her – and that the whole thing was utterly ridiculous in the first place because Robin was very much a lesbian. Needless to say, it didn't work out.

Then, there was Amy. Amy, who, like a cruel twist of fate, actually cheated on Robin. It was only a one-time thing, a drunken kiss during some stupid party, but it was enough to damage Robin's trust in her irreparably. So it didn't work out.

Up until then, she had chalked it up to a string of bad luck or maybe bad taste. But after Louise (who brought up the nightmares again), Valerie (who wanted some adventure in the bedroom and had to guide Robin through a panic attack filled with inexplicable flashbacks when she tried tying her to the bedframe), and Mathilde (who made a problem of Robin's regular 3am calls with Steve when neither of them could sleep), she starts to wonder if it wouldn't be more probable that it is herself who is the problem instead of this whole list of girls.

“Don't you dare say that about yourself,” says Nancy with fire in her voice when Robin finally dares to voice that thought out loud.

They're both lying down on Nancy's brand new couch, a pair of legs dangling over each side and their heads right next to each other in the middle. Except for that couch, the living room is still empty. Boxes are piled up everywhere, still waiting to be unpacked, but they can wait a little longer.

Robin is happy to have Nancy at her side again. It's been a while: college and differing career paths kept them separated through the majority of their friendship. But now Nancy has found her way back to Indiana, only half an hour away from where Robin has been living with Steve and Eddie ever since Mathilde broke up with her a few months ago.

She hasn't really been dating anyone since, and now that Nancy is also living in Indianapolis, she wonders if she'll ever feel the need to. No girl would ever be able to compare to Nancy Wheeler, after all; Robin knew that much as soon as she saw Nancy stepping out of the U-Haul wearing pastel-pink dungarees, with all grown-out curls cascading over her back and a thick layer of eyeliner around her beautiful doe eyes.

“Well, it could be true,” Robin presses on.

“No it can't!” Nancy says it in such an indignant tone that it makes Robin snort skeptically.

“I'm serious, Rob.” It sounds stern. “I know you and I know it's not true. It's not your fault.”

“You're seriously telling me I've been dating seven girls over the past seven years, and none of it worked out, and it's all because of them? All those relationships were wildly different; I'm the one consistent factor in all of them, Nance.”

“Yeah, but that doesn't mean you're the problem.” Nancy says it like it's obvious. “Maybe the problem is that you've been picking girls who all have one single thing in common, and that is that they never wanted to make the effort to really listen to you.”

"Huh." Robin closes her eyes for a second, taking her time to let those words sink in. She never thought about it that way. “You think so?”

“Yeah. Mathilde was a bitch anyway,” Nancy says matter-of-factly. “I mean, did she ever ask you to explain why you've been feeling the need to call Steve in the middle of the night lately?”

Robin shrugs. “That's a bit difficult to explain, isn't it?” she points out.

“That's what I'm saying,” says Nancy. “It's exactly why you keep picking out those kind of girls. Because if you're with someone who will actually listen to your story, you're gonna have a problem. Right?”

And, well, shit. It's not like Robin asked for a free therapy session here, but... Nancy is right. Of course she is. She always is.

Robin turns her head to the side, exchanging her view on the white ceiling for a much better one: Nancy's face, so close to her own that she can take in every little detail. The elegant slope of her nose, the wing of her eyeliner, the freckles on her cheeks, her perfect lips... Her face in this en-profile position is mesmerizing. It's not the first time that the thought comes to Robin's mind that Nancy looks like someone who should be in old paintings.

“Do you think you'll ever try to find someone who listens to you?” Nancy asks.

Robin tries to imagine that scenario; it's difficult. Not just because she doesn't really know how that would work in the first place, but mostly because she doesn't actually want to.

“Nah,” she says, trying to make it sound casual instead of really fucking sad.

“Why not?”

Because nobody can ever compare to you anyway, she thinks. But she bites her tongue and shrugs, turning her head back to the ceiling.

“That would be way too complicated, wouldn't it?”

Nancy shuffles and sighs; Robin feels her breath tickle against her cheek.

“I guess,” she mumbles.

“How did you do it?” Robin asks.

Nancy's dating history is not as tumultuous as Robin's. After things ended between her and Jonathan, she had been solo for a while. Then, there had been Ben, and then Kurt, and then it had again been just Nancy for a long time.

“Did what?”

“Did you ever find a way to tell Kurt about all the shit?”

“Nope.” It doesn't exactly sound like she tried very hard.

“Why not?”

“Because I did the same thing you did,” Nancy says. “Chose the wrong people to do that with. So I didn't have to think about it.”

That doesn't feel completely fair to Robin; Nancy had been with her boyfriends longer than Robin had been able to keep even one of her girlfriends around.

“I liked Kurt, he was nice,” she remarks in an attempt to point out the difference without being too blunt about it.

Nancy sighs. “Yeah, he was nice, but he wasn't... Right. I knew that from the beginning. Same with Ben. Even with Jonathan, in a way. Or Steve, even though I was too young to realize it.”

“What do you mean, not right?”

“Boys.”

“Wha-” Robin turns her head sideways so fast that she's lucky she doesn't pull a muscle.

She sees how Nancy's eyes drop from the ceiling and slowly find their way to Robin's face.

“Took me a while to figure that one out,” she says quietly. “But yeah.”

Robin wishes they were lying in a different position; one that would have made it possible for her to take Nancy's hand and squeeze it gently, or to wrap an arm around her, or to pull her in for a hug.

“Thank you for telling me.”

A soft smile is tugging at Nancy's lips. She looks at Robin like she wants to say something, then looks back up to the ceiling again, and Robin copies her movement, biting her own tongue again in order to give Nancy the time and space she clearly needs right now.

Usually, Robin struggles with silences; she'll feel words pile up inside of her until her need to fill the empty space will take over and she'll inevitably start rambling. But this one actually feels comfortable. She wishes that they could keep lying side-by-side on this couch for the rest of the day.

Unfortunately, they can't, though. There's still way too much work to be done. So Nancy hauls her to her feet and soon, the couch gets company of a coffee table, a couple of cozy armchairs, a bookcase, a TV... There are boxes filled with books, kitchen appliances, picture frames, video tapes, clothes; there are closets that need to get assembled and a heavy bedframe that they can barely get to where they need it.

It feels like it will never end, but after two long days of hauling furniture around, the apartment starts to look like a home. A home for which Robin gets a spare key. It rests cold and shiny against the palm of her hand, where Nancy has dropped it, and it makes her realize how real it is that Nancy is finally living close to her again.

Nancy's couch becomes just as much of a home for Robin as her own living room. It's where the two of them share stories, tell secrets, laugh loudly, cry ugly... It's where they watch movies until deep in the night, snuggled up to each other under a soft blanket. It's where they read books side-by-side on lazy Sunday afternoons. It's where they listen to music together and where they listen to what the other has to tell about their day or about anything that's on their minds. It's where Robin finally gets the courage to tell Nancy that nobody has ever listened to her the way Nancy does. It's where Nancy scoots closer towards her to press a kiss against her cheek, right before she finds Robin's lips and they share their first kiss, warm and homely and perfect.

More often than not, it doesn't work out. But once in a lifetime, it does. And once is exactly enough.

[fandoms-in-law]

Happy Gay

Summary: Steve's come out as bisexual and the entire town is very excited to hear it. Excited enough they're throwing a party for him and thanking Eddie. His parents aren't so happy.

Author's note: I have not studied Plato. I read a book that had 2 paragraphs from 'Plato's Symposium' and got inspired, then leant the book to my Dad so needless to say, I do not know anything, but fanfic is a game and I'm winning. What I noted down about the passages is "Zeus cut people in 2 leaving a belly button as a scar, Straight people cheat, lesbians are fine, gay men get exalted"

~

There isn't a philosophy for it; that's the frustration Steve has. Platoon might be the great teacher who's philosophy shaped society even now, but he didn't mention bisexuality at all and since coming out that's been Steve's problem. 

Most people viewed it as child abuse recovery for him,even if others weren't always so lucky. All of Hawkins knew the Harrington's, their wealth and protests against the stereotypes that heterosexuals flirted and cheated constantly even while proving them. They judge them for it all and that meant Steve must also have been abused beyond getting taught heterosexuality. 

The only reason he'd ruled the school before was the fact he'd celebrated all his teammates and the cheerleaders relationships alongside having the wealth and house for parties. The school board were happy as long as he had yearly checks with the counsellor to try and catch whatever was suspected of happening when his parents were home. 

The counsellor was useful after the monsters and Billy, limited as he was in what he could say. He'd even scandalised her after Will spoke about the mind flayer by saying he wouldn't want to merge with his Zeus separated other half. 

~

"Munson?" Tommy yelled, storming over to Steve when he was shopping. 

"No Tommy, I'm Steve." he pointed out with a roll of his eyes.

Tommy glowered, "Munson broke those assholes brainwashing? I tried for years and Munson did it?"

"Always said you're not my type." Steve shrugged. It had been a useful rejection, being straight.

"Munson?" Tommy repeated.

Steve gave up on the conversation turning away with a wave. "Riveting chat. Learn more words than Eddie's name for next time." 

~

Steve's house was taken over by cards and gifts, opened and still wrapped or in envelopes when Eddie arrived. "I was going to ask why half the town is thanking me for helping you but this? You need to tell me something, Big Boy?" He called, seeing 'happy gay' cards on the wall. 

From the couch he heard Steve groan, “Told Robs I’m bisexual and into you while at work. One of the party’s parents heard and this madness began.”

Before Eddie could react, Robin burst in, “Steve! Town Hall wants to throw a party for you! Eddie as a guest of honour! Are you two dating yet?” She looked between them expectantly once realising he was there too.

Eddie beamed, tugging Steve up to wrap an arm around him, “We are! Best way to ask me out! Of course we��ll be at the party!”

~

The event was more formal than Steve would have preferred but he’d expected that when Town Hall were the organisers. He could cope with people making speeches about how he’d been saving the Harrington name and this showed there was still good in them.

He was not prepared to cope with the doors slamming open or his father bellowing, “STEVEN!”

“Mum? Dad? Didn’t know you were coming home?”

“Clearly not, but we taught you better than this.” His father gestured around the room. “We came home hoping to relax only to find the house a mess and you flaunting throwing away all our hard work.”

“Now see here, this party was the council’s decision to celebrate heroes who helped save the town and keep spirits up while we’re rebuilding.” The Mayor strode forwards, “And I don’t care how rich you are, you don’t get to ruin it.”

Steve’s mother narrowed her eyes, before striding over to Jonathan and Nancy, “Then herald this lovely couple as heroes too. The reports I’ve heard say they did just as much and yet it’s only Steven’s name on the banners.”

Murray scoffed from where he’d been dragged in by Joyce, “If you trying to say something about making straight relationships look better then you always destroy any work you do while doing it. We’re celebrating Steve, free of your expectations and manipulations.”

With his words, everyone decided they could have a go at the Harrington’s now, not just for interrupting the party but everything else they could think of.

Nancy was first with the facts she’d shared with Steve when they dated; that before the Harrington’s made themselves public figures nobody really viewed any type of relationship as better or worse. The passage where Plato spoke about that wasn’t focused on until they started complaining about them, bringing Steve up with constant complaints that that’s what a philosopher everyone idolised had said. Even the Wheelers had backed that up, having seen the change in how people viewed their relationship from the first interview Mrs Harrington had given.

The Sinclair’s brought through worse evidence that day; pointing out that those interviews began while Steve’s grandfather was criticised for racist policies in the family businesses.

All these points and more were thrown at the wealthiest couple in Hawkins as Steve stayed by the wall with Robin and Eddie on either side of him.

“You going to regret telling me?” Robin asked after a while of watching the pile on.

“Nope.” He grinned, “But let’s get snacks before Hopper brings up criminal charges. I know he’s got a few that apply after everything we’ve gone through.”

If the party had done nothing else, it showed that Hawkins loved Steve, his parents not so much.

[herefortarlos]

2024 Tumblr Top 10

How it works:

Share your top 10 tumblr posts from last year! Visit this site, scroll down to "Find your Tumblr Top 10," type in your username, and select 2024. When you get the results, simply click "Share to Tumblr" and you'll get an auto-generated draft for a post with links and previews. If you want, make any adjustments you see fit. I also swapped out my statistics for descriptions instead!

Thank you for starting this and tagging me and explaining how to do it so easily, @reasonandfaithinharmony !! ❤️

1. Sep 15 2024

I knew this would be my number 1! I am not ready for this scene because Ronen said we should be able to tell exactly which Tarlos scene it is 😭

“Ronen apparently sobbed on Rafael's shoulder after they filmed their last scene together and took so long to stop 😭 And then he...”

2. May 24 2024

I was at dinner with my friends when this screenshot dropped and needless to say I was quietly freaking out!

3. Nov 19 2024

Nancy I love you and your no nonsense attitude!

“Carlos asking Nancy, "Captain, may I have a word with your paramedic?" And Nancy's responding, "I feel like that's a question...”

4. Sep 19 2024

Pretty boy with his son! Goodbye Lou 2, you will be missed 😭

5. Mar 25 2024

Still waiting for one more Tyler, another baby and whatever else we can get in these last episodes!

“Another update from Epic Con! Ronen said he thinks there will be some new tarlos terms of endearment this season 👀. He said a...”

6. Nov 12 2024

They are married and love teasing each other and I love that for them!

“Rewatching the party scene and the way Carlos says, "Unbeknownst to my HUSBAND..." and TK's answering, "No, babe. No!" While...”

7. Nov 15 2024

Me scrambling and freaking out when I saw this in Hulu!

8. Sep 23 2024

I would like to go back, please 😭

9. Mar 24 2024

It ended too soon, but we were so lucky to get it! Such a sexy scene for a married, gay couple on TV!

“Guys, a wonderful person who is at EpicCon just posted saying that Tarlos has a steamy season 5 scene that is very hot and it...”

10. Oct 31 2024

Fox, you are missing so much by not having official Lone Star or Tarlos merch. I would love a 911 Lone Star tarot card deck! Or AFD clothes!

OPEN TAG and ZERO PRESSURE tags under the cut 💖 

@heartstringsduet @tellmegoodbye @whatsintheboxmh @eclectic-sassycoweyes @paperstorm @dear-viv @carlos-in-glasses @ladytessa74 @strandnreyes @reyesstrand​ @bonheur-cafe​ @carlos-tk​ @lonestardust​@thisbuildinghasfeelings​ @henrygrass​ @carlossreaders​ @guardian-angle22​ @freneticfloetry​ @welcometololaland​ @rmd-writes​ @goodways​ @lightningboltreader​ @emsprovisions​ @ironheartwriter​ @lutavero​ @tailoredshirt @hereghostslive

[ash5monster01]

Favorite Song

Pairing: Steve Harrington x FemReader

Warnings: angst, mentions of trauma, established relationship, language, loss, S4 spoilers.

Summary: Usually when people break up they don’t have to see each other again but that’s not the case for you and Steve Harrington since the evil that lurked in Hawkins will always tie you together.

word count: 1k

a/n: a short one for my Steve girlies, this idea was too cute not to write. hope you all love it <3

Masterlist

Before you knew about the dangers that lied below your town you always found it weird that Steve and Nancy had still talked. You tried to not let it bother you and it didn’t make sense until you and Steve decided to spend the summer working together in the mall. You quickly learned exactly why they still had to talk. Not many people in this town shared the nightmares that came with the knowledge of evil here in Hawkins. Needless to say you never bothered him about it again.

Funny thing was you never expected it to happen to you. You and Steve had broken up, and you had tried desperately to stop it. Thing was, he couldn’t shake the trauma of everything that happened to him and as a result it was hurting you. Yet now, as the dangers return to your little town, you’re finding yourself in exactly Nancy’s position. Side by side with your ex, trying desperately to fight instead of focusing on the other. You hadn’t really had the chance to talk, too busy making sure Max was safe from Vecna who was actively trying to kill her.

With that knowledge you’re unable to sleep, eyes scanning over each of the kids deep in slumber, scattered across the basement floor. Apparently you are not alone in this either. You can sense Steve is awake across the room. After his scare with Max you figure he won’t sleep again until Vecna is defeated. Until then he’ll be on guard, eyes never leaving any of these kids. They meant everything to him and you knew that.

“What’s your favorite song?” the question surprises you in the silence of the basement. Especially coming from Steve’s raspy voice, the one he always had after not talking for a while.

“Hmm?” you furrow your brows, eyes falling on his form.

“Your song? Just in case” you can hear the fear in his voice. You know this is bothering him. He had probably been spending all day trying to remember each of your favorite songs so you wouldn’t end up hurt like the others. It’s your silence that keeps him rambling.

“I mean now we know Max’s and I know Dustin’s already, anything Madonna will work for Nancy, Lucas told me his already. I just want to know yours, it’ll make me feel better to know yours” your heart aches for him from across the room. You miss him and now as you sit here, trying to get rest before inevitable danger, you want him to see you again even more. Standing from your spot you carefully maneuver yourself around the room to sit beside him. Steve welcomes it as your leg brushes against his own.

“Longest Time, Billy Joel” you tell him softly, trying not to look him in the eyes because he knows that song. It was your song after all. Just like you hadn’t been able to let him go you hadn’t been able to let the song go.

“Really?” his voice is hopeful and you almost feel guilty for bringing it up. You had never wanted to leave Steve but he wasn’t ready to give you his all yet. The exact danger you’re in now proving that. All of this didn’t mean you don’t miss him. You missed him every single day.

“Yeah” you look up to him and he can see it in your eyes. That look of love and the warmth radiating from you stirs something inside of him. He had already lost you but sitting here next to him now it didn’t quite feel like it.

“It’s my favorite too, just in case” he whispers to you and you smile, a soft chuckle falling from your lips.

“Okay Stevie, just in case” you repeat back to him as you grab his hand. His heart rate picks up as you lace his fingers through your own and hold the intertwined hands on your lap.

“I didn’t think it was your favorite anymore” he says and you sigh, your heart aching with love and fear. You know it’s not the song he’s asking about, he’s asking about him.

“You’ll always be my favorite Steve, you just couldn’t love me the way you wanted to” this response tears his heart in two and it isn’t until he is frantically shaking his head you look at him.

“You’re wrong, I love you more than anything else on this earth. I was dealing with my grief but the best way for me to do that was with you” this sentence now breaks your own heart because you had left him when he needed you most. The way his eyes search your own you realize there’s no one else out there for you. It’s always been Steve and you never should’ve left him in the first place.

“I’m sorry” and then you’re kissing him. Kissing him like your whole life depends on it and in a way it does. You two could die tomorrow fighting the monsters of Hawkins but at least you’ll have each other. It’s the way it should be and you know this to be true when he removes his hand from your own to wrap his arms around your waist and pull you into his lap. He was only asking for your favorite song but now he had that and more.

“Please don’t leave me ever again” he breaths hotly against your mouth and you nod, trying to kiss him until your lungs can’t take it anymore. You had so much time to make up for. You hadn’t realized how much you missed him and his touch until now.

“I promise” you tell him and he can only smile against your lips, kissing you as quietly and passionately as he can because he finally had you back. You’d never leave each other again. Vecna or not.

[worth-the-chaos]

Adventures in Babysitting - Steve Harrington x female!reader - Chapter 2

Chapter Summary: With the events of last fall in the past, you attempt to move on, still working on your academics and babysitting Dustin. You and Steve have drifted since your encounter with the otherworldly, but he begins to make more active efforts to talk to you, making sure you have an invite to Tina’s big Halloween party.

Content Warning: swearing, stancy, reference to upside down stuff, billy being an ass, college application stress, drinking, anxiety and trauma

Word Count: 6.3k

Author’s Note: Again, I’m trying to follow a lot of the plot lines of the series for this x reader, so a lot of it is probably a bit familiar! This part follows the reader’s involvement through Halloween, when things begin to turn sour again.

Series Masterlist | Part 1 | Next Part

***

You took a deep breath as you looked at your reflection in the bathroom mirror. Half-dressed for the day, your eyes couldn’t help but focus on the scars that littered your upper arm, remembering when they used to be deep gashes.

It had been about a year since you stood in the Byers’ house fighting for your life against the horrifying entity from what the kids elected to call the Upside Down. Though your physical wounds had healed, the emotional ones still lingered. Every once in a while, fear invaded your consciousness as you thought back to the flashing lights and the low growl resonating through the small family room. Sometimes when you closed your eyes, you could still see the rows and rows of razor sharp teeth, inching closer and closer to your face.

It was paralyzing, but you shoved those thoughts and feelings aside as you threw a long sleeve shirt on, covering the physical evidence of your fight against the supernatural. Stop thinking about that, you reminded yourself, it’s all over now.

The walk to Hawkins High wasn’t terribly long, though you did still wish you were fortunate enough to afford a vehicle of your own. Once you finally reached the parking lot, a car honk drew you from your thoughts and you were met with the familiar face of the one and only Steve Harrington as he smiled and waved from the driver’s seat. Sat next to him was Nancy Wheeler. Steve’s talk with her in the hospital evidently had been successful because they’d been back together since then, coming up on their first anniversary. You found it difficult to be happy for the couple, but you pushed the jealousy down in your chest and did a small wave back, a half smile on your face. Nancy didn’t respond with the same enthusiasm as Steve, her smile not quite reaching her eyes.

The window suddenly rolled down and Steve called out, “Hey y/n! I’ll see you in study hall! I have a question for you!”

“Okay…? See you then, I guess,” you responded, a bit surprised. Since last year, Steve had rethought his life choices. He wasn’t the same douchebag he’d been when he broke Jonathan’s camera and called Nancy a slut. He dropped Tommy H and Carol, started focusing a bit more on school, and was generally a lot nicer than he used to be. However, despite the way you both risked your lives together, blindsided by the paranormal darkness lurking in Hawkins, you both kind of fell out of touch.

He had Nancy and you had…well, you had your studies. And your babysitting gig. One year strong babysitting the Henderson kid, and only one apocalyptic encounter. Needless to say, you were doing pretty damn good.

Suddenly, the sound of tires screeching on the pavement drew the focus of the three of you away from the semi-awkward encounter, watching as a car with California plates peeled into the parking lot. A boy you didn’t recognize stepped out of the car, flicking his cigarette behind him. A young girl emerged from the passenger seat, turning and making her way down the hill in the direction of Hawkins Middle.

You scoffed, being the impeccable babysitter that you were. Was this guy really too lazy to drop his kid sister off at her school that was less than a block away?

He swung his car door shut and paused, looking you up and down before sending a wink and smirk your direction and turning to make his way into the high school. Your hands gripped your backpack straps a little tighter, feeling like an object to be used or consumed under his gaze. You didn’t have a good feeling about this boy, and something told you that Hawkins High had found its replacement for the King Steve that disappeared when Harrington wisened up last year.

“Who is that guy?” You suddenly heard Steve’s voice ask, annoyance painted on his face. He wasn’t too thrilled with the way he had looked at you. Steve knew the type of guy he was; the type that wouldn’t take no for an answer, and in that moment despite the countless girls drooling over his dumbass mullet, he had zeroed in on you.

“Must be new,” you responded, forcing a smile in an attempt to demonstrate that the mystery boy’s actions hadn’t fazed you. You fought an otherworldly entity; surely you could handle some asshole jock. In a way, you already had, and look how that turned out.

“The two of you should steer clear of him. He’s bad news,” Steve warned. Nancy and you didn’t argue, nodding before you took off to enter the building so you wouldn’t be late for first period.

By the time you were on your way to third period study hall, you had already spent the morning contemplating what Steve could possibly have to ask you. It was your junior year, his senior, and while you were taking it for the extra study time, he was taking it to avoid coursework from one more class, largely using it as a time to take a school sanctioned nap. As such, normally you didn’t interact much during the one hour break from boring lectures and busy work.

“Hey,” Steve whispered as he slid into the chair next to you, a stark juxtaposition to the way he slammed his textbooks on the desk, causing you to jump.

“What? Not taking your spot in the back corner so you can sleep without Mrs. Reed giving you shit?” You asked, staring up at him innocently.

“Actually, I was thinking I could get us out of here for the hour.”

“And how do you suppose that’s going to happen?”

“I’ll put on the old Harrington charm…just watch,” he smirked as he stood up, grabbing you by the elbow to drag you to the teacher’s desk. Mrs. Reed was not the type of person to mess with. She wore her hair up in a slicked back bun that meant business, wearing a scowl like it was an accessory. You seriously doubted the “Harrington charm” was going to do shit to get you out of that classroom.

She glared at the boy through her thin wire glasses, clearly not in the mood for his shenanigans. “Is there a problem?” She droned out, her expression fixing further into annoyance, if that was even possible.

“Actually, Mrs. Reed, I’m afraid there is,” he started, “you see, y/n here was just telling me about how she has this big presentation in her fourth hour class, and she was really hoping for an opportunity to practice. Is there any possible way you’d be so gracious as to let us utilize one of the study rooms in the library? I mean, we can’t go letting Hawkins’ star pupil do anything less than ace this thing, am I right?”

He shook you by your shoulders a bit at the end, and even though the compliment was nothing more than a lie, you still flushed under the praise. It wasn’t everyday that you got complimented in front of your entire study hall class by the most popular student in the school.

“Is that so, y/n?” She turned to you.

“You know me and my nerves, Mrs. Reed; I could really use the help. And besides, Steve is probably about the most rowdy audience I could possibly have, so presenting after this will be a piece of cake,” you pasted a smile on your face. You felt bad lying to her; she’d been a pretty decent English teacher your sophomore year.

“Fine. Don’t worry about coming back before the end of the hour. I know I can trust you to keep Harrington in line,” she answered, glaring at Steve before turning back to the work on her desk, done with the bullshit of high school students; the good ones and the bad ones alike.

You both quickly thanked her before Steve grabbed both of your backpacks and you headed out the door.

“Okay, if I’m going to be completely honest, I was about 85% sure that wasn’t going to work. Mrs. Reed fucking hates me…like a lot,” Steve breathed out as he tossed you your bag, his cocky facade finally dissipating as he continued down the hall.

“This better be a good fucking question, Steve,” you grumbled, not happy about the lie he forced you into, “what am I supposed to do if she asks me about my presentation? What am I supposed to do if she talks to Mr. Hayes?”

“Woah, woah, woah, cool your jets,” he rolled his eyes, “Mrs. Reed is probably a year or two away from retirement and barely even cares about the shit she’s teaching, so I think you’re going to be fine.”

You entered the library, quickly moving to one of the study rooms. You tossed your bag on the floor, already tired from the day and not fully emotionally prepared to spend an hour one on one with Steve.

“Alright, what’s the deal?” You asked as you sat in one of the chairs, crossing your arms as your face fixed into a glare.

“Well, first of all, here,” he shoved an obnoxiously orange flyer at you. You grabbed it a bit aggressively, still not super happy with the boy in front of you. He had a dorky-ass grin on his face though, and it almost broke the cold exterior you were trying to keep up….almost.

“‘Tina’s Halloween Bash, come and get sheet faced,’ are you kidding me? This is what we’re skipping study hall for? Dude, I have an AP chem test this week that I really needed to study for,” you whined, shoving the flyer back at him.

“No, of course this isn’t the reason we’re skipping. I may be dumb, but I’m not an idiot,” he said as he shoved the flyer back at you, “It’s just…I know you never go out, a-and—and it’s Halloween! You can’t stay in on Halloween! Plus, Nancy and I are going to be there, so it’ll be fun, I swear it.”

He leaned across the table, the elbow of his right arm settling right in the middle as he reached his hand towards you. Your focus shifted to his extended pinky. You looked at him incredulously as he waggled it a few times, looking at you with his big brown puppy dog eyes. This boy was going to be the death of you, but you wrapped your small pinky around his anyway.

“I’ll consider it. That’s the best you’re getting.”

“You know what, I’ll take it. Which brings me to my next topic, and pretty much the entire reason for this in the first place, which is that Nancy thinks my application essay sucks and I really need some fucking help,” Steve leaned back while he ran his hands down his face.

You felt a pang in your heart because you knew how stressful this all probably was for the boy. You’d been smart and planned accordingly, so getting into colleges wasn’t the part that was stressing you out; it was the finances that did. Steve on the other hand had screwed around for two and a half years and now somehow needed to manage turning things around enough so that he had even a fighting chance.

“Just give it to me,” you sighed and he quickly handed over the essay he had written.

Steve watched your eyes scan the page as you read the words that he had spent the last week writing. He was a bit embarrassed, to say the least; he had taken one English class with you last semester and knew that he didn’t even write half as well as you did. Hell, Nancy didn’t even come close and her writing was really, really good.

“You…you compared winning a basketball game to your grandfather fighting in the war?” You asked incredulously.

“…yeah?”

“Steve.”

“I know, I know! It’s bad, but that’s why I need your help! I was gonna have Nancy help me but we have this thing tonight and I can’t miss it and—“

You cut him off. “Steve, stop talking. I can help you…but I think you’re going to have to rewrite this whole thing.”

Steve hung his head and buried his face in his hands. Of course I’m gonna have to rewrite the damn thing because it can never just be fucking easy. He felt your hands pull on his wrist and he looked up, finding you staring at him sweetly. A bit pitying, but it was still sweet. With that, some of his anger subsided and he took a deep breath.

“You just need to find something more meaningful to you. I mean, I can tell your heart really isn’t in this. Besides, sometimes the best essays are about the things you’ve lost, not the things you’ve won.”

Steve thought about this. He lived a pretty privileged life. He didn’t want for anything, his future was pretty much set so long as he took the job at his dad’s company, he had the girl, the car, the hair, etc. Sure, his parents kind of really, really sucked but that was small potatoes compared to all of the things he had easy. It was hard to think of something he really, truly lost.

He almost had lost you.

His thoughts flashed to the demogorgon, the way his heart stopped and instinct took over as he had swung the bat with all his might to get the damn thing away from you. He pushed the thought away and suddenly he wasn’t interested in working on this essay anymore.

“You know what? You’re right. I’m gonna need some time to brainstorm some things to write about, but in the meantime, how about we focus on that AP chem test, huh? I mean, there’s no way you don’t have color-coded flash cards and all that jazz”

“Steve, you really don’t have to. I’m sure you have a lot better things to do than to help me cram for some dumb test.”

“Hey, first of all, if it’s important to you, it’s not dumb. Secondly, I might be a shit learner, but I’m a pretty damn good quizzer, so hand ‘em over,” he motioned for you to hand him your index cards as you sheepishly pulled them out of your backpack in their color-coded glory.

“How could I have possibly known?” He feigned surprise.

“Shut up, Harrington.”

***

When all was said and done, you felt moderately better about your AP chem test. Steve wasn’t lying when he said he was a good quizzer; by now, you had every word on every one of those damn cards memorized. During your walk to the Henderson household, you pulled the bright orange flyer out of your pocket. You couldn’t help but smile thinking back to Steve inviting you. He wanted you to be there.

“Y/n!” Dustin drew you out of your thoughts as you quickly shoved the flyer back into your back pocket. The middle school and the high school let out at the same time. He wasn’t far behind you, sat atop his bike as he hopped off and walked with it next to him so he could talk to you.

“You can ride your bike home. I seriously doubt you can get into any serious sort of trouble in the five minutes it takes me to catch up,” you reminded him, though you weren’t entirely sure that was true; in fact, the boy was such a problem sometimes that you considered upping your rate to charge his mom for hazard pay.

“First off, I think you underestimate how much faster I can get home on my bike than you can on foot. Secondly, what was that you just put in your pocket?”

“It-It’s nothing,” you said maybe a little too quickly as your face heated up.

“Bullshit. Spill.”

You sighed. “It’s just some stupid flyer for a big Halloween party. Nothing that concerns you, unless you somehow age several years in the next few days and are suddenly eligible to attend,” you joked, sarcasm lacing your tone as you tried to gather your bearings and act more casual. He didn’t need to know that, to you, it was more than just some Halloween party; it was a Halloween party that Steve Harrington had invited you to.

“You don’t go to parties though,” Dustin was quick to remind you. He was right. Sure, early on in high school you’d been invited to a few, but after you continued to decline, people stopped reaching out.

“Well…there’s a first time for everything, isn’t there?” you muttered.

“Are you gonna dress up?”

“I don’t know.”

“Who invited you?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Was it a guy?”

“No!”

“So it was a guy!” Dustin exclaimed. You rolled your eyes and jogged ahead, trying to put some distance between you and the incessant questioning of the boy you had the great misfortune of babysitting.

“Your silence is incriminating!” He shouted after you, unable to run very gracefully while attempting to guide a bike around.

You shook your head and sighed. Could babysitting Henderson ever be easy?

***

You walked towards Tina’s house feeling more than just stupid. You didn’t even know Tina super well outside of her always bumming notes off of you when she missed fifth period French. After your conversation with Dustin, you began considering the many elements of a Halloween party that had slipped your mind when you pinky promised Steve you’d go. You hadn’t thought about a costume because, frankly, you hadn’t initially been planning on doing anything for Halloween; it was just going to be another Wednesday for you.

As such, you had decided not to dress up, instead opting to pick apart your closet to find clothes that would maybe scream “party,” settling on your favorite pair of jeans, a low cut black tank top, and a denim jacket. So, yeah, you weren’t in costume, but at least your tits had kind of showed up to the party, so you decided that was good enough.

The mess of bodies dancing at different levels of sobriety made it difficult to navigate the front lawn and you hoped with all your might that Steve and Nancy were already there. You got closer to the front door when you heard the headache inducing sounds of high school testosterone as a bunch of the douchebags from Hawkins High hyped up Mr. California for doing an absurdly long keg stand.

Gee. Great.

As you reached to grasp the doorknob to let yourself into the party, a hand from behind you slammed the door back shut just as soon as you had opened it. You were met eye to eye with the mullet headed, leather jacket wearing douchebag himself. Something was off about this boy (besides the fact that he was unbelievably hammered), and you thought back to Steve’s warning to stay away.

“Hey,” he slurred as he looked you up and down, his eyes pausing longer than they should’ve when they reached your chest. You felt small under his hungry gaze, but you refused to allow yourself to visibly shrink so you straightened your posture and forced your chin up as you looked him in the eye.

“Excuse you,” you muttered as you tried to pull on the door handle again. Obviously it didn’t budge, and he laughed at your attempt. You scowled as you met his eyes again. “What’s your deal, man?”

“The name’s Billy. Billy Hargrove,” he shot you a smirk that screamed trouble as he extended his hand towards you, offering up a handshake.

What a total ass. Fortunately though, he was cocky enough to think that striking up a conversation would cause you to stay, removing his hand from the door, so you took the opportunity to maneuver past him, opening the door and slipping inside.

“Frankly, I don’t give a shit,” you added before slamming the door in his face. You saw the look of shock flash across his features before he disappeared from view and you couldn’t help but feel good about it. The feeling quickly dissipated though as you attempted to weave around the living room, nearly tripping as you made your way into the kitchen where you met Nancy.

“What’s in this?” She was asking a guy in a toga. You recognized him from your second period class, but you didn’t know his name.

“Pure fuel! Pure fuel! Whoo!” He shouted back at her, and you realized you were perfectly fine not getting to know him.

“Well, with that ringing endorsement, we’d be dumb not to have a little, right?” You chuckled and Nancy spun around at the sound of your voice.

“Y/n, you made it,” she said, smile not really touching her eyes, “Steve wasn’t sure you were going to show.” Both of you dipped red solo cups into the questionable mixture, filling them up with the red mix of booze and punch.

“Yep, here I am. In the flesh,” you laughed again, trying to dispel the awkward energy. Something about her seemed off; normally she would be much more friendly. You hoped that you hadn’t done anything to upset her. “Nancy, is everything okay?” You asked quietly as you gently grabbed her wrist.

“I’m fine,” she replied as her jaw set and her tone told you not to push the question. You let go of her wrist and nodded, letting her know that you were going to let it go for now. Her body relaxed and you lifted up your cup toward her.

“Cheers?” You asked with a half smile on your face. This earned you a small smile from the girl as she brought her cup up to tap yours. You smiled and both of you brought your cups to your lips, you taking a small sip while she threw her head back and downed the whole glass.

“Hey! Woah, woah, woah, take it easy! Nance!” Steve was suddenly beside you, reaching across you to try and grab the cup out of her hand.

“We’re just being stupid teenagers for the night. Wasn’t that the deal?” She glared at him before downing more punch, wiping away the bit that spilled onto her face, and shoving her way into the crowd to dance.

Steve’s expression fell a bit as he watched her leave, but his focus shifted to you. “Sorry about that. She’s just…in a bit of a mood today,” he apologized and shook his head, “but I’m so glad you’re here! I mean, I was pretty sure you were gonna bail on me considering I know for a fact that you were invited to some of my house parties last year and you didn’t show.”

“How dare I, right?” You rolled your eyes and chuckled. It’s true. You had been invited to his parties, especially after your encounter with the demogorgon had brought the two of you together in a weird but irreversible way. You would always have that experience, but you weren’t interested in changing for him. Besides, he was never the one to personally extend the invitation, instead you heard about it from someone else every time.

“You aren’t in costume.”

“Way to point out the obvious,” you retorted, finishing your first cup of punch. Steve shot you a look, clearly not trusting that you knew your limits with alcohol. “You’re joking, right?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, it seems a bit hypocritical for the king of parties himself to be judgmental about someone else’s drinking habits.”

“Well, it’s exactly that. I don’t get the impression that you have drinking habits, and if it’s your first time drinking, you should watch yourself, you know? Can’t fault me for looking out for a friend,” he added and you bristled a bit at that last word. Friend.

“Y/n, what?” He asked, noticing your reaction. You sighed before responding, not really sure how this conversation was going to go.

“So…we’re friends now?” You asked, but it was more of a statement than a question.

Steve was taken aback, clearly confused by your confusion. “What do you mean? Of course we’re friends! Y/n, we went through so much together last year, I mean, did you really think I was just gonna drop you like all that shit didn’t matter?”

“You kind of did. It’s not like we hang out or really talk or anything remotely close to what friends would do. We’re just two people who know each other a little bit better than we did. I wouldn’t necessarily call that ‘being friends’,” you responded, putting air quotes around the final words. You hoped that your statement didn’t hurt him. It was the truth though. Your shoulders tensed as you awaited his response.

“You know what? You’re right y/n, and I’m sorry. I should’ve done more to keep in touch, and I’m not going to make any excuses. So let’s just start over, okay?” He asked, his big brown eyes staring into yours.

Your breath hitched in your throat, and you nodded, not trusting that your voice wouldn’t fail you.

“Alright, perfect,” he smiled, and suddenly he extended his hand towards you, “hey, I’m Steve. I don’t know you but you seem pretty tough, and like you might have some killer fighting instincts, so I thought we could be friends.”

You laughed. Like really laughed, and Steve was beaming. You wiped away a tear that slipped from your eye as you took a breath to regain your composure. It was all so absurd and perfect and so incredibly Steve that you couldn’t help but accept his offer. You willed your palms not to sweat as you grabbed his hand and shook it, “Well, I’m y/n, and yeah, you’re right; I do have some pretty kick-ass instincts, but I can’t promise it will keep you out of trouble.”

“That’s okay because I’ve got some pretty kick-ass moves myself, so I think we’ve got it covered,” he added, smiling at you. He let go of your hand before saying “well, Nancy’s probably halfway to being shit faced, so we should probably go party it up with her while her memory’s still intact.”

You nodded as you turned to exit the kitchen, Steve placing a hand on your back as he guided you through the mess of people dancing to get to Nancy. It was fun to let loose and dance, and you wondered why you hadn’t let yourself party like this before. It felt freeing, and you felt the slight buzz from the drinks that you’d had as you let your body move to the music that was almost too loud to hear yourself think.

Suddenly, you felt hands around your waist, and you instantly sobered up, remembering a big part of why you didn’t like parties: asshole guys who were just looking for a quick hook up.

“Hey!” You shouted as you turned around, eyes met with the same piercing blue ones from earlier.

“Woah, no need to get all angry, baby. I gotta say it’s pretty hot though,” Billy chuckled as he moved his hands to grab at your waist again. You maneuvered away from his grasp, swatting his hands away.

“Can’t you tell I’m not fucking interested,” you replied.

“Baby, come on—“

You cut him off, “I’m not your fucking baby.”

“No need to be a bitch about it, come on. Can’t have a little fun?”

“She said she’s not interested, dude. Leave her alone,” Steve spoke up, having realized the position you were in. He moved to stand between the two of you, pulling you by the wrist behind him. Nancy was pretty wasted but aware enough to act, as she took your hand and pulled you farther away, weaving through the crowd to create some distance.

“Sorry, I wasn’t aware that you had two girlfriends, Harrington. I mean, I’m shocked you even have the one to begin with,” Billy retorted, taking a step towards Steve.

Steve stood his ground, knowing it wasn’t worth it to get heated over Billy’s comments. Billy just wanted to get a rise out of him and Steve wasn’t going to let him have the satisfaction.

“I’m just looking out for a girl that needs help. If you’re not going to listen to her maybe you’ll listen to a guy, okay? So walk away.”

“Whatever, Harrington,” Billy replied as he shoved Steve in the shoulder and turned around to walk away. Tommy H was hot on his heels, a mindless dummy and fair weather fan to whoever he deemed to be top dog at any given moment.

“Y/n, are you alright?” Steve caught up with you and Nancy.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Ugh, I just hate assholes, like come on!” You exclaimed, hugging your arms around yourself in an attempt to be self-soothing.

Steve opened his mouth to apologize when he realized Nancy was going back to the punch bowl. He quickly pivoted, following her into the kitchen. “Nancy, no, you’ve had enough, okay?” He said as he tried to grab the cup out of her hand again like he had earlier.

“Screw you,” she slurred, pulling her hand out of his reach and dunking her cup in the bowl.

“No, Nancy, I’m serious! Stop…Nance, put it down,” he warned, grabbing at the cup again. Nancy continued to protest, and Steve continued to fight it until he lost his grip on the cup and its bright red contents went spilling onto Nancy’s pristine white shirt. An audible gasp rang out through the party as those in the near vicinity stopped their dancing to gawk at Hawkins’ power couple’s power struggle.

“What the hell?” Nancy whispered as she stormed out of the room, and Steve pushed past you to follow, yelling after her. And just like that, you were alone. Without Steve and Nancy’s presence to calm you down, you felt your anxiety rise in your throat. You scanned the crowd, trying to find anyone that you knew moderately well enough to crash their group, and when you found no one, you cursed yourself for being such a loner. That was until your eyes met Jonathan Byers’, dressed equally un-festively, and you sighed a huge sigh of relief.

“Jonathan!” You shouted over the music, making your way over to him. Clearly he had seen what just transpired between Nancy and Steve, eyes darting back to focus on the hallway they’d disappeared down.

“Hey, y/n. What just happened?”

“Nancy’s pretty wasted and Steve was trying to cut her off and he spilled her drink on her. They’re probably in the bathroom trying to clean it up, though I doubt it’ll do any good. That punch is definitely going to stain.”

You didn’t know Jonathan super well, but you resonated with him. Both of you were more inclined to keep to yourselves, but via absurd and inter-dimensional means, ended up intertwined in the lives of your high school’s most popular couple. You saw the way he looked at Nancy when they talked, and it wasn’t dissimilar to how you looked at Steve; wanting for something that you couldn’t have but settling for what you did.

The two of you found a quiet corner and continued to make small talk, catching up on each other’s lives since you didn’t talk much. Jonathan told you about how Will was struggling, still visiting Hawkins’ Lab for appointments in an attempt to sort out his PTSD.

“The doctor says it’s some anniversary effect, and how since we’re coming up on a year, he’s just more on edge than usual. He’s been having these episodes though.”

“Episodes?”

“Yeah, they’re kind of like these waking nightmares I guess. He’s still scared out of his mind, y/n,” Jonathan explained, and you saw the pain in his expression. Your heart ached and you felt a lump in your throat as you thought about the way the poor kid was struggling. You wished you could just make it all go away, that you could erase it ever happening in the first place.

“And you trust this guy? The doctor I mean?” You asked hesitantly.

“He seems like a good guy. Sometimes it doesn’t feel like he’s being completely transparent. I guess I’m on edge too. It just seems like everyone’s bracing for something else to happen,” Jonathan added, and you felt the tension in your shoulders as he said it.

Suddenly, Steve stormed through the family room, Nancy noticeably absent. He quickly maneuvered through the crowd, reaching the front door and slamming it shut behind him.

You looked at Jonathan. “Divide and conquer?” You asked, knowing that the two of you were going to have to pick up the pieces of whatever had happened between the two of them. Jonathan quickly nodded, as you dropped your prior conversation. “Okay, I don’t have a car and Nancy’s not in a state to walk home, so you take care of her and I’ll handle Steve,” you added as you started walking backwards to make your way towards the door.

“Are you sure? He seems pretty mad.”

“I’ve handled worse!” You shouted back as you turned and swiftly made it out the door. Your eyes scanned the front lawn, still littered with people, but they quickly found the brown mop of hair that you had become familiar with just as he was reaching his car.

“Steve!” You shouted, but he ignored you, fumbling with his keys as he tried to unlock the door. By the time he finally managed to get it unlocked and opened, you had grabbed the side of the door so he couldn’t close it and drive off.

“Y/n, just leave me alone, okay? I’m seriously not in the mood,” he warned, his head hung as he tried desperately to avoid eye contact with you. His voice wavered a bit and you could tell by his body language that he was pretty upset.

“No, I’m not going to leave you alone; you shouldn’t be alone right now.”

“Then get in the car because I’m not fucking staying here,” he sighed and you hesitated before moving around to the passenger seat.

“What happened?” You gently asked as he began to pull away from Tina’s house, the night that you had all been anticipating clearly ending in disaster.

“Oh, you know, just Nancy saying that our relationship is pretty much complete and utter bullshit which is what every guy wants to hear from the woman that he loves,” he replied. His announcement of his love for Nancy stung, but you pushed it aside; this wasn’t about your feelings.

“What do you mean? What’s going on? You guys always seem so happy together,” you were honestly pretty shocked. They were the perfect couple; the kind of people who would end up high school sweethearts and the talk of every high school reunion. It couldn’t possibly all be bullshit.

“The Hollands are selling their house to pay some private investigator to find Barb.”

Oh.

Your stomach dropped and suddenly your body seemed to remember the alcohol you had consumed.

“Steve, stop the car.”

“Woah, woah, woah, what’s going on? Are you—“

You cut him off, shouting “just stop the damn car! Now!” The car screeched to a halt as he slammed his foot on the brake pedal. You quickly opened the door, retching onto the desolate backroad that you were currently on. Steve rubbed big circles across your back as your stomach emptied its contents. When you were done, you shut the door, tears running down your face.

“I’m so sorry, Steve. Sometimes I just forget about all of it; push it all away because I’m not ready to handle it and I just think about what it was like to be face to face with th-that—that thing and I can’t imagine what Barb’s final moments were like and I just—“ your sobs cut you off, unable to speak through your horror in contemplating Barb’s death.

“Hey, hey, you’re okay y/n. I’m right here,” Steve reminded you, pulling you into a hug as you buried your face in his neck. He held onto you until you were able to calm down and you pulled away from him.

“I’m sorry. I monopolized your turn being the one in crisis,” you let out a weak laugh, wiping the remaining tears from your eyes as you sniffled.

“No, honestly that was helpful. I think I get where Nancy’s coming from a little better now. Maybe she didn’t really mean all that shit about us, you know?” He rationalized.

“Yeah, maybe,” you replied, your voice small.

“Hey, don’t disappear on me now. We’re handling this crisis together and we’re putting it behind us, okay? So what’s going on?”

“It’s just…I was almost her,” you whispered, looking in horror at Steve.

“What?”

“I was almost Barb. If you hadn’t shown up—“

“Y/n, don’t think like that. You can’t think like that. It’s going to eat away at you. You’re here. I’m here. And we’re okay,” it seemed like he was trying to convince himself just as much as he was trying to convince you. You nodded, not entirely persuaded but ready to be done with the conversation. “Alright, where to?”

“Just mine, you know,” you said quietly, embarrassed that Steve was going to see your house. It was dinky compared to the Harrington residence. You knew he wouldn’t care, but you couldn’t help but feel inferior.

“Sure thing,” he replied as he put the car in drive, as you both attempted to put the evening’s sourness behind you. You chatted and caught up on all of the normal things you’d missed as you’d drifted apart this past year and by the time he reached your house, you felt a little bit better about things.

If only the two of you knew about the danger that was still lurking right under your feet.

***

a/n: I hoped y’all liked this chapter! I’m so excited to continue this story as we unpack all of the upside down nonsense of season 2! I’m new to this whole writing fanfic thing, so if you really liked it, I would be forever grateful if you would be so kind as to reblog it! It really helps it get to other people!