#OR JUST LITERALLY ANY NOT STRAIGHT STEVE SHIP

[rain-bowxx]

ao3 has taken over my life i think about things in TAGS like S4E09 of stranger things - eddie and max's walkman for me its Hurt No Comfort, Heavy Angst etc etc it HURTS duffer brothers why did u make s4 so sad i cant do it like that

[super-who-locked-me-in-here]

Pieces of media my mom has seen and the popular MLM ships in them that she doesn't think are gay:

MCU - Stucky (note that she does get a kick out of Stony stuff and she believes wholeheartedly that those two hate fucked in a not-filmed scene of Avengers 2012 so this is not about her thinking "oh Captain America is so straight-laced because he's the ideal American man" or anything)

MCU - Poolverine (she's fully aware and accepting of the fact that both Logan and Wade are canonically queer characters but she thinks all the flirting Wade did with Logan in the newest movie didn't necessarily mean anything because "he talks like that to everyone". Side note though: while she believes Wade should be with Vanessa, she does think that Logan can and should shoot his shot with Wade after Vanessa inevitably dies since he and Wade are both immortal. It's just that she thinks Wade should get his happy ending with Vanessa first.)

MCU - Lokius ("Mama have you ever seen a man fix another man's tie like that" "No but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen! I wouldn't know though; it's been like 15 years since I worked a corporate job.")

Sonyverse/Marvel - Symbrock ("They literally have a symbiotic relationship. That doesn't make them gay." So I showed her the comics where Eddie calls Venom "love" and gives birth to Venom's babies and she said "Fine you win but please never show me alien man birth ever again."

Supernatural - Destiel ("They're like Steve and Bucky! They're brothers in arms! They've been through hell and back together!" Note that she only watched through season 5 but she does know about a lot of their later interactions because I told her about them)

House M.D. - Hilson ("Dot I watched that whole show and they were never anything more than good friends" "What about when House admitted to thinking about Wilson during sex? What about that whole episode where they pretended to be gay for each other to prove a point to a neighbor and Wilson proposed? What about that whole episode where Wilson had to furnish the apartment and House told him not to let a woman tell him what to do but Wilson let House tell him what to do? What about the whole ending?" "Why can't two men just be close enough friends to joke about that stuff with each other?"

Real life - Me and my best friend of the same gender orientation who I've kissed multiple times and have had a requited crush on for years that neither of us have ever persued for logistical reasons (I literally used me and this friend to try and prove my mom wrong about Stucky and Destiel. I asked her if she thought me and this friend were like brothers and she said yes with a straight face)

Sherlock - Johnlock (to be fair this is the BBC ship name, but she doesn't think any iteration of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson are the slightest bit gay. "They're business partners and roommates.")

Our Flag Means Death - BlackHands (Should go ahead and say that I'm not really a BlackHands shipper myself; we both really enjoyed Stede and Ed's romance in the show. BUT it takes so much away from Izzy's character and his development if you don't acknowledge that he was jealous of Stede and in love with Ed, at least a little. My mom thought Izzy was just an extremely loyal first mate.)

Also, for the record, I'm not trying to call my mom out as homophobic. I'm queer and so are two of my siblings and she's very supportive of us. There are gay romcoms she enjoys like Our Flag Means Death and Red, White, and Royal Blue. The reason I'm making this list is because I think it's really funny how she doesn't understand the concept of queerbaiting (not that all of the above listed ships are queerbaiting). She thinks things are either explicitly straight or explicitly queer (whether it's gay, lesbian, bisexual, etc) and cannot comprehend the idea that some character relationships are deliberately pushing the boundaries of straight friendships into queer relationships to get more minority viewers and I think her explanations are funny.

[choking-on-ice]

Ok, so I've seen the latest episode. Not willing to spoiler it if you haven't seen it yet, but I do want to know your thoughts if you did see it. Currently working on ideas with it. Mostly involving Lex.

Spoilers for S2E9 of MAwS

- I was so happy to see Lex outside for the first time in the show, good for him

- I've been secretly praying for more Steve + Jimmy content and I absolutely SCREAMED

- Steve implying that his wolf mural represents him and Jimmy made my day

- Steve giving Kara such a solid casual af pep talk was perfect to me

- I feel like this ep is a great potential to have Lex's "turning point" in a fic or something. Like seeing everything go wrong and Lex helping spring Jimmy bc he realizes he fucked up, or just straight up jumping ship on Wallace when Jimmy gets arrested

- I'm hoping Jimmy's phone still live streaming Wallace wasn't just a throw-away plot device, bc so many people would have seen that and I'd like to see her pulled into the spotlight

- Jimmy attempted to use kryptonite against Brainiac-Clark in the previous ep, I could picture a lil team-up scene as he explains to Lex why it won't work

- Jimmy yet again displaying the emotional availability and communication skills that like 90% of the cast woefully lack (no shade, love them stubborn shits)

- Super Lois was dope, and the world would absolutely not be safe if she got to keep all that power lmao

- something about this episode activated my lil gremlin brain that wants to see my faves all angsty and sad:

- Lex thinking Jimmy's gonna die and it will be all his fault and how he'll never be able to face Kara.

- Jimmy thinking his failed plans led Kara and his friends to their doom and believing one of his biggest failures was never reaching Lex and pulling him out of Wallace's clutches.

- Kara finally has something to fight for only to fail at the hands of both her Father and Lex's robots, all while her fragile Jimmy is left to watch her defeat from the sidelines

- the Daily Planet showing up to save them made me so happy, these goofy journalists are more helpful than literally any cop or government official

[steddieunderdogfics]

This week’s writer spotlight feature is:  @stevestark ! With fourteen Stranger Things fics and twelve in the Steve/Eddie tag, their charming works make waves in the fandom!

Our anonymous nominator recommends the following works by @stevestark:

they told me all of my cages were mental (so I got wasted like all my potential)

i think your house is haunted (your dad is always mad)

i was hitting my marks ('cause i can do it with a broken heart)

Eddie and Robin's Very Real Heterosexual Adventure

it’s hard to be at a party when I feel like an open wound (it’s hard to be anywhere these days when all I want is you)

Whether their fics are under 5k or over 10k, their world-building is so good! they have a way of making our boys feel so natural and the progression of the relationship always feels realistic. they were one of my favorites back in 2022 when s4 dropped, and they've made a sudden return to the fandom this year with new stories that are just as good if not better than what they had written back then! I'm always so excited to see they've posted something new, no matter if it's a new chapter or a whole new story. -- anonymous

Below the cut,  @stevestark answered some questions about their writing process and some of their recommended work!

Why do you write Steddie?

After watching ST4 Vol. 1 I was obsessed. Steve Harrington was one of literally two characters I loved from the very first time I “met” them (the other being Jim Hopper, which is why he tends to feature heavily in my works as the resident Dad) but I had never really been into any ships for him up to that point. The immediate chemistry he had with Eddie Munson though? Woof. I knew I had to write them, and it honestly was like I blinked and had suddenly churned out multiple fics. I stopped writing in general around the end of 2022, but when I got fired from my job in April, I got bored and reread my own works, which drew me right back in, especially because I had already written about 10,000 words of they told me all of my cages were mental (so I got wasted like all my potential) but had yet to finish it. I wanted to read the ending so badly myself that I simply picked it back up, and then next thing I knew I was writing more and more.

What’s your favorite trope to READ?

There’s so many. I’m always a sucker for some good old fashioned Hurt/Comfort or Angst With a Happy Ending, but I think my all time favorite has to be Enemies to Friends to Lovers.

What’s your favorite trope to WRITE?

Definitely Angst With a Happy Ending. I don’t think I really know how to write anything that’s just straight fluff or even straight smut. There has to be some angst in there, and I’m not really one for an unhappy ending. I’ll maybe do ambiguous, but I was raised on Nora Ephron and Nancy Meyers ⸺ we’re happy ending girlies.

What’s your favorite Steddie fic?

The One In Which A Time Loop Is Fucking Exhasuting. by badpancake on AO3. I think about that shit daily. Every part of it is absolute perfection, and I'm in love with it.

Is there a trope you’re excited to explore in a future work but haven’t yet?

Fittingly with the last question, time travel! I have a title for a time travel fix-it already, I just need to let it ferment a little in my mind so I can figure out how to do it in a way that feels at least somewhat unique.

What is your writing process like?

Step 1: Put Taylor Swift’s folklore on repeat. Step 2: Open GDoc. Step 3: Stare at GDoc. Step 4: Start writing the first thing that pops into my head and hope it comes out coherent in the end. Step 5: Publish and then immediately reread my work after it’s already live, and pray I only find minor mistakes that I can quickly fix before anyone else reads the fic and spots them.

Do you have any writing quirks?

I always have the title before I even know what the fic will be! 99% of my fic titles are Taylor Swift lyrics, and it’s usually a process of me hearing a specific phrase and thinking “This is so Steddie coded.” After that, I begin the above process, and hope I do the lyrics justice, because I tend to choose the ones that are the most poetic to me personally.

Do you prefer posting when you’ve finished writing or on a schedule?

Definitely when I finish writing. I’ve tried holding myself to a schedule before with multichaptered fic in other fandoms, and it just never works out the way I want it to. I actually have an ongoing Steddie WIP that I haven’t touched since April, because I’m waiting for the next chapter to come to me fully before I start writing it, and I do kind of regret posting it as a WIP in the first place. I feel much more accomplished when I can just push the whole work out at once, i.e. my season 2 rewrite where Eleven is found and taken in by Eddie and Wayne, which I had debated posting as a multichaptered fic as I wrote chunks of it at a time. I talked myself out of it though, and despite the fact that it took me weeks to finish, once I got there it was so satisfying to hit that publish button.

Which fic are you most proud of?

Definitely i was hitting my marks ('cause i can do it with a broken heart). There’s a whole entire 58 track playlist to go along with it that I carefully researched and curated before writing even a single word of the story, broken down into specifically themed mixtapes in a GDoc; it's linked at the end of the fic, with a breakdown of which mixtape each set of songs belongs to, and it is my absolute pride and joy.

How did you get the idea for they told me all of my cages were mental (so I got wasted like all my potential)?

I had a passing thought one day about the fact that Steve seemed to just tangentially know who Eddie was by the time we met him in canon, and wondered what it would be like if he had actually sort of known him, and what that would look like. Then I thought about the legend of King Steve, and the fact that he probably did know Eddie, if only as a dealer, and the whole thing sort of wrote itself after that.

When writing they told me all of my cages were mental (so I got wasted like all my potential), what was something you didn’t expect?

Definitely how long it ended up being! The plot was truly just a passing thought, and I honestly believed I would write little vignettes of the two of them getting to know each other at parties over the years, but what actually transpired was some deep character work and a true slow-build to anything substantial between Steve and Eddie.

What inspired i think your house is haunted (your dad is always mad)?

Honestly the title itself! Sometimes, when I pick a Taylor Swift lyric and decide it would be a pretty fic title, that’s where the inspiration ends. With this one, I thought about the fanon (and somewhat canon) belief that Steve’s parents are assholes who don’t really love their son, and even though I’ve known the lyrics to folklore backwards and forwards since the album dropped in 2020, for some reason that line hit extra hard in April of this year, and all I could think about was how badly Steve Harrington wants to be loved and wanted, and I just started writing and didn’t stop until I was satisfied.

What was your favorite part to write from Eddie and Robin's Very Real Heterosexual Adventure?

The entire thing. I’m not just saying that, either. Sometimes, such a good idea falls into my lap that I actually do a proper outline, and with this one, I fully had little sketches going on and everything. I meticulously planned every date they would go on, and I knew exactly how it would end. Though, if I had to isolate any single part that was the most fun to write, it would be the last few lines. Just pure chaos. It makes me laugh every time.

How do/did you feel writing i was hitting my marks ('cause i can do it with a broken heart)?

That was one of my favorites to write, and it flowed out so easily; I had just finished rewatching all of ST, start to finish, for the first time since right before ST4 Vol. 1 dropped. And the only thing I could think about after finishing was that even though it made sense for Max to be cursed, it would have made infinitely more sense for it to be Steve. All we ever see in canon of Steve Harrington is his insecurity and feeling that he’s never enough for anyone; season 1, he thinks Nancy is cheating on him with Jonathan, and they try to keep him out of the Upside Down stuff. Season 2, Nancy actually leaves him for Jonathan, and tells him that he ⸺ and his love, and loving him ⸺ is bullshit. Season 3 is literally the story of how King Steve became a nobody who never wins a fight and falls in love with people who will never love him back. Even season 4 ⸺ when Dustin comes rushing into Family Video to try to track down Eddie somehow? Steve’s immediate reaction is “Oh, your new best friend Eddie who you think is cooler than me because he plays your nerdy game.” He’s never not a mess of insecurity and self-loathing, and nobody around him ever really does anything to rectify that feeling for him, so he’d be perfect Vecna bait. And the whole thing started with the playlist, really, because I had this idea that Steve is a vibes guy for music, rather than a style or genre guy, and then it was just a matter of writing around the mixtapes I’d mapped out. Which, naturally, led to breaking my own goddamn heart writing what I think it feels like inside his head, because I was  ⸺ and still very much am ⸺ that person in the friend group. Never the first pick, always an afterthought, the one people always think is fine but never bother to actually check if they are. So, I guess, it felt cathartic to get it all out somehow, but it was also just so deeply sad, because that feeling never really goes away completely, and I hated doing that to Steve.

What was the most difficult part of writing it’s hard to be at a party when I feel like an open wound (it’s hard to be anywhere these days when all I want is you)?

Probably just the physical aspect of shotgunning, honestly, and also trying to accurately describe the high. Weed doesn’t do anything for me mentally, and I don’t like what it does for me physically ⸺ to the point that I actually wonder if I have a mild allergy to it ⸺ so it’s not really something I can pull from personal experience in regards to describing it, which made it more difficult than I was prepared for.

Do you have a favorite scene and/or line from any of your fics?

Definitely the opening bit of there’s something about you in the moonlight (but your eyes go so well with the day). Both the Eddie intro and the Steve intro. It was just so fun to tap into that feeling of being a kid and getting hit with the lightning bolt of why people have crushes, but I especially have a lot of love and fondness for the way I described Steve’s desire to find his perfect match, and how it’s not rooted in sex like people thought of King Steve, but in his desire to find someone he’d have fun with forever.

Do you have any upcoming projects or fics you’d like to share/promote?

I’m currently working on a multichaptered fic where Eddie lives, but leaves Hawkins the very night he’s released from the hospital without telling anyone; he does stay in contact though, and he and Steve end up falling in love through letters and phone calls, until, eventually, Eddie realizes that he ran away from the one thing that made him feel the most alive. At last edit, which was yesterday, it’s at 15 chapters and 18,000 words, and I’ve only just gotten to the point where Eddie and Steve are playing phone-tag. Also, if anyone is interested in a non-Steddie but still relatively Eddie-centric fic, I rewrote the entire season 2 canon in are we out of the woods? (are we in the clear yet?) and I am currently working on a season 3 rewrite, which will be followed by a season 4 rewrite, wherein Steddie will become canon. It’s definitely for the long-haulers, but I think it’ll be worth it. Actually, despite being non-shippy so far, it’s probably my favorite thing I’ve ever written. There’s just something about Wayne Munson as the world’s best dad that does it for me, and, as we’ve seen in canon, Eddie is surprisingly really good with kids. I like to think that he’d have been an excellent brother, and I got to explore that with him and Wayne deciding Eleven was theirs.

Thank you to our author, @stevestark, and our nominator! See more of @stevestark works featured on our page throughout the day!

Writer’s Spotlight is every Wednesday! Want to nominate an author? You can nominate them here!

[londondziban]

No one asked but I'm bored so here are my ratings of popular Stranger Things ships! (kind of a long post).

Disclaimer: Ship who you wanna ship. This is just for fun :)

Byler: 100/10, I love my boys. No notes.

Lumax: Also a 100/10. They're just so!!!

Elmax: 9/10. I love them with my whole heart but I'm a Lumax shipper first and foremost.

Elumax: 100000/10. Literal perfection. Elmax AND Lumax (and Hopclair, depending on how you view the ship dynamic)? Literally what more could you want?

Duzie: 7/10. They're cute and I really like Suzie. I wish we could've seen more of them, maybe Suzie will come back with a bigger role next season.

Henderhop: 6/10. Typically I HC El as a lesbian but I actually like this pairing. Definitely not a ship I'd die on but I enjoy interacting with the fan content.

Henderclair: 6/10. Listen, I love their dynamic. If I didn't HC Dustin as the token straight, I'd probably rate them higher. Platonically? Literally everything to me. Romantically? I'm not opposed.

Byclair: 8/10. I also like them a lot but I'm a die-hard Byler shipper. I do enjoy interacting with the fan content though!

Wheelclair: 7/10. They're silly and I love them but this is a particular dynamic I prefer platonic. I do HC that Mike had a crush on Lucas when they were younger though.

Mileven: 1/10. I'm just not a fan. I'm giving them a one solely cuz I enjoyed them in season 1 when I first watched the show in middle school, but I'm definitely not a fan of this ship at all. Platonically though?? Amazing.

Jancy: 10/10. I love them. I'm praying every day that the Duffers didn't completely fuck them up and that they'll be endgame.

Ronance: 9/10. I like them, they're cute. I interact with a lot of their fan content. Let's go lesbians.

Rovickie/Rockie: 7/10. I just don't know enough about Vickie yet to know if them as endgame is what I'm rooting for, but from what we've seen they're cute.

Stonathan: 10/10. I love them and I'm so excited for their interactions in season 5! They're the enemies to lovers.

Jargyle: 9/10. Love me some stoner boyfriends. They've definitely kissed before at least once.

Stancy: -10000/10. BOOOOOOO 🍅🍅🍅. They are not right for each other. Steve deserves someone who loves him and Nancy deserves someone she loves.

Stoncy: 3/10. If it's in the way that Steve and Jonathan are dating and Jonathan and Nancy are dating with Nancy and Steve being platonic, then sure. But if it's all three dating, nah. Steve and Nancy just don't work imo.

Buckingham (Chrissy x Robin): 8/10. I think this is considered a rare pair but I think they're adorable and I love the fan content around them.

Hellcheer: 5/10. Not my favorite but I have no issues with this ship. I see the vision of them as best friends mainly.

Steddie: 5/10. They're not bad and I interact with some of their fan content (some of their tiktok edits go hard), but they're just kind of okay, you know?

Jopper: 10/10. I love them. Been a Jopper fan since day one. They're so endgame.

If there's any other ships you want to know my opinion on, let me know!

(All fun and games here, y'all. Ship whatever you want)

[cringengl]

When bylers say that byler makes more sense in terms of the narrative, although there's lots of little proofs throughout all the seasons, it's mainly due to byler's correlation with the themes of the show.

Stranger Things is all about outsiders, freaks, losers and nerds. From s1, the main characters have been the ones that are bullied and are called names and the show wants us to root for them, sympathise with them etc. This is why Nancy chooses Jonathan over Steve, why the Starcourt Mall is destroyed at the end of s3 and why Eddie is constantly affirmed as a good guy.

M*leven endgame wouldn't make sense in terms of the storyline because the relationship between Mike and El is seen as the 'normal' thing to do.

In Mike's eyes, he's supposed to be growing up and not playing DnD in the basement with his friends for the rest of his life. In order to grow up, he needs a girlfriend, which is why he is dating her instead of just being friends. Finn Wolfhard literally says that Mike wants to be "normal".

On the other hand, El clearly wants a normal life, shown not only by her letters to Mike and the dream world she creates within them (as it could be argued that she was just doing that to ease Mike's anxieties) but also by the effort she puts into waving to people at school even when they don't wave back, as well as imitating the movies she watches in Hopper's cabin in s2. This is also why she wants to be in a relationship with Mike instead of just friends, she feels like she needs to have a boyfriend to be normal and doesn't see any issue with dating Mike.

However, as Eddie says, "conformity is killing the kids". El is clearly having a miserable time with school in California, despite doing her best to fit in and Mike is just a "shitty knock off"- the stark contrast to his Hellfire outfit and airport outfit is insane in both colour and style.

The Wheeler family as a whole is learning that conforming to the nuclear family stereotype is not good for any of them, meaning that El will find more peace and power in being single (as well as being able to learn more about the world) and Mike will be able to defy heteronormativity by being with Will, meaning that it's not only Nancy who breaks that Wheeler family cycle (the one that Jonathan goes off about in his rant to Nancy in s1).

Therefore, byler endgame makes much more sense as the show is about the outsiders, and going against the mainstream.

(Which byler would be as it's a gay ship in a show set in the 80s that hasn't been spoon fed to the audience from the start to make it more palatable as well as the fact that making byler canon would also be breaking up a straight ship).

[ateakettle]

ship list! (might edit over time)

i'm a gay guy so that kinda reflects in my ships + i'm only doing actual FANDOMS i'm in not just things i'm a fan of (w/ a little ys sprinkled in)

can't imagine them with anyone else (otp):

• Ron x Hermione (harry potter)

• Mike x Will (stranger things)

• Max x Lucas (stranger things)

• Katniss x Peeta (hunger games)

• Dean x Seamus (harry potter)

• Finnick x Annie (hunger games)

love:

• Stiles x Lydia (teen wolf)

• Draco x Harry (harry potter)

- even without shipping him with anyone, draco is so gay to me lke i literally cannot see draco as straight whatsoever

• Draco x George (harry potter)

- honestly i only ship draco with harry & george so they'd be a "can't imagine w/ anyone else" if there wasn't 2 ships

- ps i don't like the idea of all three of them together

• Ginny x Luna (harry potter)

• Newt x Thomas (maze runner)

• Minho x Brenda (maze runner)

• Georgie x Connor (young sheldon)

- specifically ys connor, not g&mfm connor

- saw one fic and was hooked

• Fred x Angelina (harry potter)

- i actually don't like george x angelina bc it feels so wrong to me

- like fred and angie forever putting her with his TWIN?? ts hurt

• Joyce x Hopper (stranger things)

• Lily x James (harry potter)

• Sirius x Remus (harry potter)

like (i don't read about them or anything but i ship them):

• Neville x Hannah

- it was so random for jk rowling (ew) to put them together but i loved it? i completely developed Hannah's character in my head from what we knew in canon and dude

- i made them such a good couple

- i actually love how random it was

• Nancy x Jonathan (stranger things)

• Nancy x Steve (strsnger things)

- so i actually ship jancy & stancy equally which people hate but idk

• Fay Dunbar x Leanne Moon (harry potter)

- idk i basically oc'd these two but they both exist in canon so

• Mandy x Georgie (young sheldon/georgie & mandy's first marriage)

• Frypan x Brenda (maze runner)

• Neville x Luna x Ginny (harry potter)

• Robin x Vickie (stranger things)

HATE:

• Draco x Hermione (harry potter)

- if you actively post dramione dni

- everyone can ship who they want but i hate seeing it so much so please keep it away from me

• Derek x Stiles (teen wolf)

- i'm a firm believer in bi stiles actually so this surprises people

- BUT THEY'RE 22 & 16 IN THE FIRST SEASON????

- i don't mind seeing it though! if you ship it i have no problems lol

• Daphne x anyone (harry potter)

- idk in my imagination she's my aroace icon so seeing her shipped always catches me off guard

anything i didn't put i probably don't mind at all, just don't feel very passionately about one way or another. i might just have not thought about it though

i don't like any ships that break up my otp's but i also don't mind if other people do obviously

UNLESS it's dramione i HATE dramione oh my god get it away. genuinely nothing against anyone who ships it but i won't follow you if it's actively on your account because it honestly makes me tweak out😭

also favorite characters in each of my fandoms because i can:

• Maxine "Max" Mayfield (stranger things)

• Ronald "Ron" Weasley (harry potter)

• Minho (maze runner)

• Mieczyslaw "Stiles" Stilinski (teen wolf)

• Haymitch Abernathy (hunger games)

@egcalledgari @newtandmalfoy @ermdotorg

[thestobingirlie]

"I want Nancy to be single and independent and not be defined by a romantic relationship, or with Robin." and "I want Steve to be single and independent and not be defined by a romantic relationship, or with Eddie." are actually such weird statements and goes to show how a lot of the fandom actually views same-gender relationships. (and I say this as a lesbian)

Do ronance or steddie not count the same as hetero relationships, or something...? What about Steve x Nancy would be more codependent and "defining their characters by their romantic relationships" than if Nancy was with Robin or Steve was with Eddie (who is super dead anyways)???

Like, people can not like Stancy and ship Ronance and/or Steddie all they want, that's fine. However, the implications whenever they make the above statements rub me the wrong way the same as those tiktoks of people wishing they were lesbians so they wouldn't have to deal with men (because they don't view wlw relationships as complex and relationships that take work as much as any other relationships).

Sorry for the Bible length ask but! It just bugs me a bit!

they don’t actually care about nancy or steve being independent and not defined by a relationship. they literally just hate stancy!! that’s it!!! those are the excuses they use lmao

and it’s just… just admit you don’t ship stancy. it’s okay!

a lot of people seem to view gay relationships as like… exempt from issues that straight relationships have. they can list off every reason they believe steve shouldn’t be in a romantic relationship… unless that relationship is with eddie. and suddenly “he needs to figure out who he is outside of romance” doesn’t apply anymore lmao.

[badpancakelol]

“Have a nice day!”

Eddie doesn’t hope he has a nice day. The guy was a dick and tried to short him on credits, despite being so obviously well off. Like, c’mon, man. Not even trying to hide the Nabooian silk robes? Or the Coruscanti accent? Offhandedly mentioning that his girlfriend was a senator? Just because he works in the middle of a shit ship-port on Tatooine doesn’t mean he’s thick. He wipes the grease off his hands onto the already-dirty rag, but there’s no use in using precious water on a midday clean. Instead, Eddie dabs the sweat from his brow, and contemplates buzzing his hair short again.

Nabooian. Silk. Thousand threaded, cool-to-the-touch, Eddie’s-favourite-colour, Nabooian silk. The guy had to be taunting him. Had to be. In this heat? In Eddie’s port? With his favourite colour?

(Does it matter that it wasn’t his favourite colour until a certain someone had shown him in-colour holos of the fields? No. No it does not).

And then he had some wannabe bounty hunter from his block try and threaten him to fix his ship, which? Hello? Does Mr Blonde Mullet really think that threatening Eddie is gonna make him want to fix his shit faster? I’ll break your hand if you so much as put a scratch on her. It’s not like he can even do anything to hurt Eddie. A broken hand slows down the work, as does a fractured leg, or a black eye, or a concussion, or a blaster burn, or a vibro-wound, or a—

Ah. You get the point. All bark and no bite, and, dank farrik did he have a stupid amount of bark. Enough bark to fill the entire four hours it took to fix his hunk of junk. 

So, really, you can’t blame him for the mood that he’s been in all day (or, you could try, but if your engine takes a little bit longer to retune, or your fuel is a little more expensive than normal, well. Have fun trying to trek your way into the shitshow of the other side of town), when he turns to find the stupidly shiny Naboo royal starship spluttering its way in. Because, seriously? What the hell has he done to the people of Naboo to deserve this?

Eddie thumps his head against the makeshift table, shouts before the ramp has even extended to let whoever-the-fuck out of the rich ship, “We’re closed!”

The sharp click of heeled boots grate on Eddie’s brain, and is only dulled when he watches the way they sink slightly into the ground through his curtain of hair. 

“I don’t need any work done.” Rich Naboo Man says, and— 

He knows that voice.

“I just need a place to park for a little while — I’m visiting a friend around here, actually.”

Eddie lifts his head, peeks up at the person in front of him. The person who is very much Naboo royalty, who is wearing those stupid bright red robes, and the stupid headpiece that he said was too heavy and impractical, with makeup that he said highlighted his broken nose too much, is shuffling out of the starship. His head is held high, and there’s a crease in his brow that’s been the same since they were stupid foundlings with Eddie reading out the aurebesh on the flimsi that their teachers handed them.

No. Fucking. Way. 

“Steve?” 

“Eddie?” His head moves so fast that the jewels dangling from the headpiece almost whip him in the face. And then Steve is shuffling forwards, back straight and face smoothed to a soothing smile, before he’s already apologising. “I’m sorry that I didn’t make it on time. There were duties that I had to attend to, and they ran longer than—”

He bolts from his seat, taking long strides in his ratty grey jumpsuit before he’s caught Steve around the middle twirling them around, because he’s waiting fifty-seven rotations for this. Fifty-seven. If Steve says one more damned apology Eddie is quite literally going to explode. The laugh that Steve lets out is so hearty and so full — warmer than both of Tattoooine’s suns — and, Force, if Eddie has to go another almost-two-months without seeing him, he is quite literally going to overthrow Naboo.

“Hey! It’s okay, Hop. You can put the blaster down.” Steve places his hands onto Eddie’s shoulders and— did he hear that right?

“King Harrington—”

“—Please, Hop, not while I’m off-duty—”

“Steve, the guy ran at you and hauled you up.”

Steve turns around, and Eddie feels like, then. His royal robes create a silhouette of patience and strength, and tower over Eddie, if you count in the headpiece. There is a part of Eddie that whispers how he should very much be letting go of Steve, because his guard still has his blaster aimed at the only bits of him that stick out from behind Steve’s ornate dress. But it’s been so long, and there’s a larger part of his soul that says that he never wants to let go.

“Hopper,” Steve says, and Eddie can just feel the commanding tone of voice bleed through his usual casualness. “This is who I was meeting.”

Eddie lifts his head over Steve’s shoulder, and ignores the small huff he gets in return for the grease he undoubtedly just smeared across Steve’s very expensive, thousand thread Nabooian silk robes. Maybe it’ll finally give him a reason to change out of them. Hopper lowers his blaster, shoves it into the holster with too much and too little force without-a-capital-F all at once. If Eddie was a lesser man he would have snorted. Or, if Eddie was a lesser man he would have let the guard hear his snort.

“This is the guy you’re courting?” ���Force, you make us sound old.” Eddie sighs at the same time Steve full-heartedly responds “Yes.”

The guard — Hopper — just pinches his brow and adjusts the hat on his head. “Well, I can’t say anything for your taste in men, but at least he has a respectable job. And he gets paid.”

“Stevie’s still dealing with the Naboo’s Royal Pocket Money?”

“Don’t remind me.” Steve says, moving a swift motion so that he holds Eddie’s hand underneath one of the long red sleeves of his gown.

When Eddie turns to look at Steve, he’s already turned. There’s a mellowed out look on his face that Eddie reads as is your work finished? Let’s clean up and lie around and do nothing but be near each other. And who is Eddie to deny such a request?

“Well,” Eddie says, in all the hospitality that a man from Tatooine can muster, “We best not keep you any longer.”

Hop hums in the way that Wayne used to when he knew that Eddie was just trying to weasel his way out of things. Maybe it was just one of those sixth senses that fathers-who-aren’t-biologically-fathers gain when their children start dating. Or maybe Eddie’s just obvious.

“I can give you a rundown of your ship in the morning. I think you’ve dislodged something in your engine — I could hear it rattling before you even landed.”

Steve tugs on Eddie’s arm, lip quirked up at the corners, and crows feet showing through ornate red and white makeup. “Eds, there’s nothing wrong—”

“Stevie, I love you, but you’re terrible at lying.”

[demonsfate]

as much as i love shipping hwoarang x steve, as a jin main i can't help but feel like a loud minority of them seem to really hate jin. i remember someone on this site said like "they clearly get along better than Hwoarang ever did with Jin". like they think jin is a rude bitch who constantly trash talks hwoarang. when jin has shown throughout the series (especially tekken 3-5) he actually gives a fuck about hwoarang. unlike other "edgelord" characters like say sasuke or vergil (especially the former, who is such a jerk bastard that constantly calls naruto and sakura "annoying" and tries to kill them multiple times on his own volition), jin never intentionally hurt hwoarang's feelings or downplay his strength in any way. jin straight up apologizes to hwoarang for breaking a promise in tekken 5, and also says he's busy with family issues at the time. if jin really was a rude person, he would've called hwoarang "an annoying weak nuisance who is nothing compared to him". jin also saved hwoarang's ass in tekken 4 when he was about to get arrested by the military, jin could've easily just left hwoarang behind but he decided to help instead. in his non-canon tag 2 ending, jin clearly enjoys going on a motor bike race with hwoarang. jin also actually smiles when he is around hwoarang too, which means he is happy around him and actually appreciates his friendship with him. the only time jin "tried to kill him" was in tekken 5, when he lost control of his powers and hwoarang got hospitalized. jin is only distant towards hwoarang because of his fucked up family starting shit and his devil gene which he couldn't control at the time. he doesn't want hwoarang to get into the cross fires. it's thanks to tekken 6's existence where jin kazama was OOC as fuck in that game we get takes like this in the community.

like i said earlier i LOVE hwoarang x steve, i enjoy looking at fanart of the two being shipped together and i have so many bookmarks of them as a gay couple on ao3. i wish hwoarang and steve got to interact more often in canon outside of tekken 5 intro, tekken 8, and street fighter x tekken. i love watching hwoarang's character relationship with steve fox. but i get so angry when they hate on jin for "being a stupid kazama/mishima getting in the way" of their ship just like how so many damn SNS/SasuNaru shippers hate on literally every female character in Naruto (I hate both SNS and Sasuke with a burning passion). I enjoy reading HwoSteve fanfic, I just hate seeing my main being basically a victim of yaoi sometimes lol. (T＿T) hope you have a good day, been enjoying your blog so far.

surprisingly i don't care much for the steve x hwoarang ship. i dunno why! maybe due to their lack of interactions outside the stuff you mentioned? (not that that's ever stopped me before haha!) but i do see the potential in it. and well, jin, hwoa, & steve are my brot3.

the funny thing is, outside of tk6 and awful crossovers that were affected by tk6's virus, jin is usually nicer to hwoarang than hwoarang is to jin. usually hwoa tries to instigate jin, much to hwoa's failure. actually, it's not like jin is any "meaner" to hwoa than steve is. in all their official interactions, they tend to fight or insult each other lol.

i find it funny that there's a big belief that kazuya was influenced by the devil gene and is truly a Fine Guy, but when jin was genuinely not in control (devil nearly killing hwoa in tk5) -- everyone still blames jin and uses that as ammo as to why he's truly a Bad Guy lmao.

really and sadly, many shippers tend to hate any one that "potentially gets in the way." i know i used to argue with jinxiao shippers who would go as far as to deny jin & hwoa even being friends just because they can't stand the idea of the "hwoajin" ship getting in the way. even though i'd only say they're friends not lovers -- which is true! they are CANONICALLY friends, it's so silly to deny that.

LOL, can't say i share your hatred of sasuke tho just 'cos i've never watched / read naruto! i probs won't ever just 'cos it's too long for me to hold interest in lol. but thank you! i hope you're having a good day, too.

[will80sbyers]

about "Hosegate" in my opinion if the joke is that Will is "turning on" Mike by turning on the faucet, that is a ok joke to make in the subtext of the show, because it's only implying physical attraction a thing that they have shown on screen multiple times for other characters that were/are minors too (Max, Dustin etc etc), and something that is already present between them with the lingering looks Will gives Mike at least- which are totally normal after puberty!

as always my stance on sex in the ship stays the same, they will explore that privately when they feel they want to and if it is implied on screen by closing the door on the viewers or switching scene (like jancy) I think that's perfectly ok and it would be really sweet that they love each other to the point of feeling that comfortable and want to do that to show it to the other person and themselves... be safe and have fun!

sex does happen between consenting teens, it's something a lot of people want to do and explore and it should be depicted in fiction because of that

as an adult it's not what I want to see being lingered on too much visually on screen between two minors even if the actors are of age... you can imply it's happening and show one of the possibilities of life without having to show too much... in any relationship, straight or queer.

Also CONTEXT is everything, is the show meant to be educational? it's pure drama and torture porn? context is everything and makes the difference!!

scenes in tv shows where it's filmed as if it was a scene in a porno make me highly uncomfortable honestly and it's one of the reasons why I despised Euphoria with a passion, that doesn't make me a prude or part of purity culture or whatever, it's just my personal boundary, I think it shouldn't be done if the characters are supposed to be minors and I will at least question the motives of the ADULT writers that decide to shot and write certain things in a specific way - it doesn't make you a pedophile inherently to not mind that but I think it's a dangerous territory thematically because you risk of encouraging that type of pedo culture and I am wary of that and people that make that choice for their shows

anyway, I know for sure that Stranger Things will NEVER do that because every time they have approached the issue it was filmed in a moderate way, and for Nancy and Steve it was an important part of the plot, mixed with flashes of Barb literally dying so definitely not done to arouse anyone lmao

in conclusion:

[rigginsstreet]

Lucas's treatment being shit after 4 seasons is just horrible and the way they treated Erica in this season too? And you know the show will never focus on their characters and actual struggles ever, they are literally the only poc we have on the show aside from argyle aka the token funny mexican and kali who virtually got removed from the show. Robin as you said ais written like a sidepiece to a man aka steve, vickie barely was given any screentime or personality we dont even know anything virtually personal about her, also funny af that they couldnt even bother giving vickie and argyle a surname... will's character is trashed in each season with a less amount of screentime on the show. We will likely get vickie and robin as the only queer couple on the show which will happen only in the last season meanwhile the straight ships had at least 3-4 seasons of romance stories and content and screentime dedicated to them. Stancy teasing in s4 has more screentime than the potential queer wlw couple. Like bitch exit your ao3 world where you created an artifical version of the show. The duffers are mediocre writers and your average white men but fandom likes getting obssessed over your typical white men so ofc they will eat any shit these guys will put on their table.

It is soooo funny how this fandom loves to throw around how billy fans is what happens when “straight girls stan white man” but then has literally ZERO self awareness of what the fuck they’re doing. First of all y’all latched onto Eddie for no goddamn good reason cuz that’s one of the worst characters I’ve ever seen in my life. All your other faves on this show? White as Casper. Y’all can’t even hold the white men writing absolute garbage accountable for their terrible writing so like…. Y’all can’t even hide behind stanning the female characters as being any better cuz they all suffer from white woman syndrome and I say this as a white woman.

Seasons 1 and 2 were the only noteworthy seasons and people either cling to that and ignore that trash fire the show became OR its these new fans that jumped on when the show already sucked but they were already brainwashed into thinking stranger things was MEANT to be a goofy unserious comedy hour reminiscent of fucking riverdale which has rotted an entire generations brains. This fandoms critical thinking skills is just collectively embarrassing quite frankly

[hotdadlicense]

Billy Hargrove - ❤️🩵🖤🌷🌻

❤️ how did you discover them/get into them?

okay i was bored and scrolling fic and sick of all the fic i had been reading, so i opened stranger things ao3 and sorted by kudos, and a billy/steve fic was the top one, and i was like. let's go. and then i literally LITERALLY never looked back and was like damn i should rewatch s2 cos i straight up do not remember any of these characters kljsefhksa

🩵 what's a popular headcanon for them you just can't get behind?

that he would settle for steve fucking harrington skjfhdjskahdfkj and therefore all the headcanons that branch from that

🖤 if they weren't from their source, what fandom universe do you think they would make the most sense in?

i honestly do not even know. like in my head i have him in a twd au and a 911 au and a supernatural au but like. i'm not picky. he can fit anywhere!!!! put that guy in every situation i say!!!

🌷 What are your favorite crossover ship(s) for them, if any?

i love u so much. u know this. billy x daryl hell YEAH also i've been talking about billy x mickey milkovich and technically they're just besites but bro. that line is VERY blurred and they ARE in love with each other. i'm havin a ball over here.

🌻 what song(s) do you associate with them?

the way there are so many and my mind is completely blanking? lemme look at my recently played playlist

flowers on the grave - the maine, born with horns - mgk, simmer - hayley williams, i think i'm okay - mgk, living in my head - kesha, high times for low lives - the griswolds, i wanna be here - e^st, blowjob - e^st, heaven wasn't built to hold me - four year strong, all i want - s day to remember, 24 floors - the maine

🌼 do you think they'd survive an apocalypse scenario?

u sent this ask seperately and it made me burst out laughing. AS A MATTER OF FACT. I HAVE LIKE 30K OF this. and u know what. he fuckin dies. but u know what. it's a time travel fix it au so he ends up living in round 2. LOVE that for him.

[qprstobin]

I literally hate every Steve ship in canon or fanon because there is always this imbalance to it. The other character is always more important than Steve and it's annoying to me. Steve always feels ooc so yeah I'm just not into any ship. I'm sure there are people who get it right but 90% of what I see makes me want to rip my hair out lmao.

Gods yeah I feel that. Like I still multiship a lot of Steve ships but I basically don't consume any content not written by friends anymore for Steve ships that aren't like, sto/ncy. (Sto/ncy fandom has it's own issues too but at least the beef that Steve and Jonathan have is actual, canon issues) I can't read St*ddie anymore because as much as I loved the potential of their canon dynamic, the way the fandom writes it.... Steve is soooo out of character, he's either getting walked all over, talked down to, or the writers are straight up making up bad shit for Steve to have done that he needs to repent for. Which... lol. I've made copious posts about that from both angles already.

I agree though there are some fics who get it right but there's so many now it's practically impossible to filter for the good stuff anymore. Honestly this is probably why I have latched so hard onto sto/mmy/stomarol lately. Like it's not a perfect ship (and I can't go in the tag bc it has too much B*lly in it) but so much of fandom only ever thinks about Tommy to use him as a 2-bit villain, that if a fic actually centers him (and doesn't center b*lly) they probably actually enjoyed canon Steve, in my experience at least.

It sucks because I like literally most Steve ships tbh, but most fics nowadays are either ooc, hate Steve, or it's a rarepair so I can only find drabbles which are cute but don't fill the void. Aside from my stomarol kick I've reverted back to reading post s2 stoncy and steve+the kids fics lol.

[skepsiss]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

I was tagged by @strangersteddierthings, I've never even thought about half of these questions, so.... we're gunna go on a journey together. I MISSED SEVERAL QUESTIONS LMAO. LEMME UPDATE.

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

18 (I only post like 1/3 of my fics on AO3)

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

66,922. I pay such little attention to this kinda stuff xD

3. What fandoms do you write for?

A lot... and a lot more than what is listed on my AO3. If we're friends I'll literally just message you a 2k+ fic in a DM for funsies.

Stranger Things (TV 2016) (8)

Overwatch (Video Game) (5)

Teen Wolf (TV) (1)

Castlevania (Cartoon 2017-2021) (1)

Critical Role (Web Series) (1)

Promare (2019) (1)

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018) (1)

DC Comics / Batman (Tim Drake / Kon-El)

Orphan Black

Marvel (Steve/Tony)

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Basket Ball Shorts

Roadrat: The Fire that Covered the World

The Comfort of Warmth (Lio/Galo)

Fifty-fifty (Roadhog / Junkrat)

Perspective (Caleb / Essek)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes. As soon as I see them I will reply with a thank you or to engage with someone's question/musings/etc.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Probably a Roadrat one. It's been a while since I've read my work, but The Things They Lost is a Roadrat fic where I explored a bunch of like... when Junkrat lost his arm and stuff like that. Brutal, tbh. Next closest is my Alucard (OT3) Castlevania fic where he is BIG SAD about Trevor and Sypha not being there. Nights Spent Alone.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

UUuhhhuhuhuh..... I mostly write sad shit LOL. Milkshakes has a happy ending. It's a 2 part modern-day Steddie fic about the boys asking each other out on a date over Instagram.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I've never seen any hate on my fics before.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Uhh, yeah. I do. PWP or With Plot. I like full stories that have smut that BELONGS there, but then we've got just straight-up PWP. That is what Basketball short is tbh.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

No, never written a crossover. I've written lots of AUs though.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

No. Dunno how I'd figure that out.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Nope. Dunno what that would look like tbh.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

Steddie; for right now. My other top 3 are Harley/Ivy, Tim/Kon-El, and Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

NO IDEA. Lol, all my unfinished WIPs are either ones I have no interest in finishing (Roadrat), or ones I can complete faith in being able to finish (Steddie)

16. What are your writing strengths?

Speed. I can compose a story very quickly and put it together.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I never promote myself/share. I'm really bad at sharing my works. Additionally, I'm bad at finishing things before I lose interest.... eep.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

Uuhh maybe. I def have some Ancient Greek and Latin in my up-coming Robin (Stobin platonic) fic.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

I'm not sure... maybe Batman (Tim/Jason or Tim/Kon). I RP'd A LOT from ages 13-18 and had like 5-8 rps going at once for a whole bunch of fandoms. (Naruto, OCs in the Star Wars universe, Tim/Kon, and more I can't remember atm).

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

Ooohhh, I dunno. I'm bad at picking favourites. Right now I'm pretty proud of my Because I Want You Steddie fic. It's Steve and Eddie as 30-year-olds with kids. They broke up in their 20s and are trying to get back together in their 30s. Eddie has a complete breakdown in it, but Steve is there to tell him that he loves him.

I don't think about this stuff at all xDDD Fic writing is just a pass time for me. This will be the first time EVER in over 18 years of writing fic that I've EVER participated in an exchange/Big Bang. I'll tag @medusapelagia @oh-stars @br0ck-eddie @kallisto-k

[astarionbae]

JKR is anti trans and is anti Semitic while we're discussing your dumb banner. I'd be more worried about that than anything else.

You're gross and dumb. Also it's been pointed out to me you whitewashed an OC because you couldn't find any content to your taste apparently.

Nancy is 15-16 when she sleeps with and dates Steve who is 17-18. I'm not sure why you are suddenly clutching your pearls about two teens dating. If it was a twenty year old dating Will, no that's straight up fucked up. I'm pretty sure you and your besties have age gaps that are more outrageous than two teens dating.

Changing sexualities is wrong. It's not one rule for the gays and one rule for the straights. It's one thing thinking something, another ramming it down a person throat like y'all tend to do

Literally why are you speaking for @endless-oc-creations anyways. They can tie their own shoelaces.

Also stop trying to stir trouble for Maddie all the time. Move on.

So you're saying I'm Anti Jewish and Anti Trans just because I like Wizarding World of Harry Potter?? Just because you like something that was made from an ass of a person doesn't mean you agree with their opinions.

It's a stupid, pathetic double standard just to make people feel shitty about themselves.

"whitewashed an oc" : Excuse me while I laugh. Also try new material sometime instead of repeating previous anons like a broken record, hunty.

It's cute you thought I shipped Stancy. I'm a Jancy shipper through and through. While we're on the subject, I also ship Jonathan x Steve. And not that I care, but Nancy was only one year younger than Steve, not four. Also if you knew anything about the Ben Hopper OC, you'd know that he watched Will grow up from a child. That's literally his little brother.

Would you date someone that you watched and helped to grow up from the age of three?? I bet you do. Probably all for that power dynamic. Must get your rocks off.

"Changing sexualities is wrong / ramming it down a person's throat" : WHOSE MAKING YOU READ A BI STEVE FIC? WHOSE MAKING YOU ACTIVELY ENGAGE IN A BI STEVE DISCOURSE? You are literally bringing this onto yourself by participating in the conversation. Just fuckin leave! You have the power of block. And you call me dumb, pft.

And yes, Mimi can tie her shoelaces, have been able to since she was five. Can you tie your shoelaces? Or do you still wear velcro?

Stop trying to stir trouble for Maddie? Ah, there it is. The real reason behind this debate. I haven't even stirred trouble, they do that themselves. When you fuck around, you find out.