#Robin walks past and Steve gets a confused look like SOMETHING is off but he doesn't know what

[insertcoolnameherethanks]

My one fear is that ST5 does go back in time and no one remembers, therefore Steve is still King Steve and loses the friendships he's made with the kids and Robin

[steddielations]

Steve walks into utter chaos.

He was stopping by just to see Max, but all the increasingly concerning noise coming from the Munson’s trailer drew him over there instead. Worried that all the cursing and clattering would drown out any chance of a knock being heard, Steve lets himself in. 

Eddie doesn’t even notice him come inside, too busy scrambling around the complete wreck of a kitchen.

“Dude, are you cooking or just banging pots and pans together? I thought you were dying in here.”

Eddie squawks and jumps about a foot in the air. His hair is even more disheveled than usual, barely tied down with a bandana. He’s got flour splotches on his face and all over the frilly grandma apron he’s wearing (which Steve is definitely getting a photo of and showing Dustin later) along with a suspiciously sticky goo on his fingers.

“Stop laughing at me,” Eddie groans. 

“I’m not laughing,” Steve laughs, going to join him in the kitchen, “What are you doing, man?” 

“Well, I’m trying to bake Wayne a cake, but at this point, I might as well give him a frosting covered rock for his birthday,” Eddie sighs, frustrated hands scrubbing the flour off his apron, “I don’t know, man, usually I just get him another mug and a pack of smokes, and he’s never asked me for anything, but I’ve put him through hell this year I just wanted— I don’t know like, to do something special but I can’t even—”

“Alright, take it off.”

Steve folds his arms and waits while Eddie just gawks at him for a moment, cheeks reddening under the patches of flour.

“What?”

“You heard me. Take. It. Off.”

Eddie scoffs, starts muttering like he does when he’s nervous and Steve cracks a smile when he realizes why.

“The apron, Eddie,” he gestures, “Hand it over.” 

Another moment of confused staring and Eddie slowly gives it to him.

Steve wastes no time shaking out the flour and tying it around himself. He moves past Eddie, gets right to work clearing the mess and salvaging what ingredients he can.

“You…” Eddie peeks over Steve’s shoulder, “You know how to bake?”

“I can make a cake,” Steve shrugs, “Robin obsesses over shit sometimes, calls them her “little brain worms” or whatever. She couldn’t stop thinking about this cake she swore she had for her 5th birthday but couldn’t remember the flavor. So we made every cake recipe in her mom’s cookbook until we found the right one.”

“So Harrington’s got a secret Betty Crocker power-up, impressive.”

“Nah, just small stuff. I help Claudia with Dustin’s birthday cakes. Little shit is very particular about his red velvet.” 

Eddie snorts and Steve waves him over to start washing the dishes. He does so with a small salute that smears more flour on his forehead. The word cute comes to Steve’s mind but he just rolls his eyes. 

“So you dusted off your oven mitts for little old me, hm? I’m flattered.”

“Only because I like Wayne and I’d prefer if you didn’t give him food poisoning,” Steve teases, dumping out Eddie’s abomination of batter into the trash. Though he softens when he sees the way Eddie winces at it. “And I think it’s nice, you know, you doing this for him. I wanna help.”

Eddie clearly holds back a smile, looking down at the bubbles in the sink, and the cute word comes back to Steve’s mind.

“Okay well, take it easy on me. Not everyone has a bunch of mom friends teaching them to bake.” 

“Oh yeah, then where’d you get this grandma apron? You just had this little number in the closet with your leather and chains?”

“No, it’s Mrs. Bennet’s and she’s not my friend,” Eddie bristles and Steve senses a hell of a backstory there, “I stole it off her clothesline.” 

Steve laughs and makes Eddie tell him the whole story, all the inner workings of Forest Hills feuds. It’s nice, Steve’s been spending more time here since everything, listening to Eddie’s stories and sharing his own. It’s easy to be around Eddie, even though that pesky word won’t get out of Steve’s head.

Once the batter is finished, Steve dips a finger in to test.

“How does it taste?” Eddie asks, “Better than mine I hope.”

Steve hums around his finger, “So good, here taste,” he meant to slide Eddie the bowl, but the wires must’ve gotten crossed somewhere, because now he’s holding out a dollop of cake batter on the tip of his finger to Eddie’s mouth. 

They both look down at it, then at each other again. Steve knows he should apologize, drop his hand and say it was a mistake but there’s something about the way Eddie’s looking at him, the way he subtly licks his lips is almost like— He wants this. 

So Steve lets him have it.

Eddie leans in, keeps his hands at his sides and slowly guides himself down on Steve’s finger. His eyes fall shut as his mouth closes around it, like it’s too much, watching Steve watching him. It’s a lot for Steve too, the wet warmth of Eddie’s mouth, one swirl of his tongue almost makes Steve’s knees buckle. 

Something comes over him, he presses his finger down just slightly, feeling Eddie’s tongue curl around the tip. It elicits a soft noise from Eddie that sends heat thrumming all through Steve. Eddie’s eyes flutter open, brows turned upwards and mouth in a plush little O around Steve’s finger, looking up at him through dark lashes, a dot of flour on his nose. The sight makes Steve’s breath catch in his throat. It’s fucking cute and hot.

Steve has to swallow his own noise when Eddie pulls off. 

“Yeah,” he breathes out, a slight grin on his lips, “Really good.” 

Steve’s about to do something crazy, put his finger back in Eddie’s mouth, maybe more than one this time, or just his lips on Eddie's, maybe even slip his tongue inside instead of his fingers, lick all that sweetness away until he just tastes Eddie, something— but a sudden loud knock on the door has him dropping his hand like it’s made of cement.

It’s Max, wanting to know why Steve ditched her for Eddie. She comes inside to ‘help’ which means she leans against the counter, talks about her day, complains, teases Steve and makes fun of Eddie for being demoted to dish duty. 

Steve puts the cake in the oven and focuses on cleaning and composing himself. He can feel Eddie trying to meet his gaze, trying to see if Steve's going to freak out on him after that. Once Steve can look at him without feeling like he’s going to burst into flames, he gives Eddie a small reassuring smile, even throws him a wink when Max isn’t looking. Eddie gives him a smile back.

And later, after Wayne comes home and they sing happy birthday and eat the cake that Steve insists Eddie helped him with— Just the tasting part, Steve says and revels in how Eddie covers a blush with his hair— and after they walk Max home, Steve pulls Eddie behind the trailer and kisses him until he doesn’t taste like cake anymore.

for the prompts "You heard me. Take. It. Off." and "Stop laughing at me" for @highkingpenny and anon, thank you and I hope you enjoy this!!

[lesservillain]

inmate!eddie munson x reader

cw: SMUT, henry creel is your ex, a threat of violence, divorce talk, baby talks

July 26th, 1996

“It’s been a whole year,” you turn the radio down to better get Eddie’s attention, “we should go out or something! I know everyone was busy tonight, but let me take you to like Enzo’s. Or Benny’s even.”

Eddie leaned for the knob, turning the radio up again. “Don’t worry about it, sweetheart,” he yells over the music, banging his head around and tapping his legs along with the beat. “All I need to celebrate is you and whatever that new little number is that you’re hiding under those clothes.”

You turn to him, cheeks feeling hot as you’ve been caught. The smug look on his face annoyed you, “How do you know I’m wearing something new?”

He hums with a smirk. “I saw your bra strap when you were messing with it earlier,” he says as if it was obvious, “I know what your bras look like, didn’t recognize it.”

“You’re insane,” you laugh as you pull into Steve’s empty driveway. 

“Hey, not insane, just very observant of the things that are important to me,” he unbuckles his seatbelt, hoping out of the car and trotting over to your side to open your door for you. It was one of your favorite quirks of his, especially because the looks on peoples faces in public when a rough, six foot tall man covered in tattoos opens the driver door for his girlfriend are priceless. 

As you start walking to the front door you notice Eddie isn’t behind you, still standing next to the car with an unreadable expression on his face. Normally it wouldn’t bother you since he spaces out every once and a while, mostly when he’s nervous or upset you’ve come to find. But, he’s been acting like this for the last couple of days and it’s starting to concern you.

Your morning drives to drop him off at work have been quiet compared to the usual lively talks you two have. He’s also been staying at work later, calling you to pick him up close to sundown as the summer has gone on. One night he told you he was too tired for you to come over and was going to have Steve pick him up. When you tried to bring it up, he just brushed it off saying that he was just tired from repairing the A/Cs for half of Hawkins cars.

“Eddie?” You ask gently. 

He looks at you for a brief moment, eyes barely meeting yours before he starts walking down the driveway. “G-go ahead, I’m gonna grab the mail.”

“Okaaaay,” you say to yourself. 

When you enter the Harrington residence, you find it to be dead quiet, which is to be expected since Robin and Steve both had plans for tonight. But, what struck you as odd was that they had left several lights on…

Eddie came through the door a few moments later, his full attention on the stack of mail he’s flipping through. 

“Anything good,” you joke, unsure why he’s so laser focused on junk mail. He walks past you, setting all but one envelope on the counter. 

“Oh, uh, no-,” his voice is shakey, and you can tell his breathing is off.

“Hey are you-”

“Hey, look at this!” He waves the envelope in his hand, finally giving you his attention. “This says it’s to ‘Mrs.Munson,’ isn’t that weird?”

You reel back, head shaking at the confusion. “Eddie, I thought you said your mom passed? Why would she get mail here?”

He shook his head, “No, it can’t be for her. My mom and dad never got married, so this wouldn’t be for her anyway.”

“What the hell?” You’re totally confused now, “Open it and see what it says?”

He nods, taking particularly good care not to rip the envelope too much. You feel like you’re in an episode of the twilight zone between the letter and his odd behavior today. He pulls out the contents of the envelope, which looks like a single folded piece of notebook paper. He opens it, and you can clearly see the shaking in his hands now. You’re suddenly hit with a wave of realization. 

“Eddie, is that from your dad?” You ask, placing a hand on his arm. He won't even look at you, he just hands you the paper for you to read. 

The first thing you see is your name. 

“What the-”

“Please read it.”

You look at him, but he refuses to make eye contact, body shifting with a nervousness you’ve never seen before with him. When you look at the paper again, you recognize the sloppy handwriting.

Hi, sweetheart. You’re probably really confused right now reading this, and I know I gotta be a nervous wreck right now as I watch you. After a year of spending almost every day with me you’d probably agree that I’m not afraid to say whatever I’m thinking out loud. But, I wanted to go back to our roots for this. 

There are times where I’ve wished things were different. Where I could have the time that I lost in that jail cell back. I just wanted to do something for Wayne, but I would have rather had those years to spend with him instead. I missed out on a lot with the kids, and I was sure that the CC boys were gonna kick me out for ruining our chance to make it big. 

But if there’s one thing I can say made it worth it was you. You showed me that I can still be loved after all that I’ve been through. You didn’t know me before, but you put everything you believed in aside to give me a chance and I don’t think I could ever express how much that means to me. But I want you to give me the opportunity to try for the rest of our lives. Sweetheart, will you marry me?

As you read that last sentence, you notice your body starts to shake. Nervously, you lift your eyes from the paper, and in the time you were reading Eddie had managed to get down on one knee in front of you. 

“Oh my god,” it comes out shakey with a nervous laugh. You have to wipe the tears away as they cloud your vision to admire the ring he’s presented to you. The two of you have never talked about rings before, and yet he managed to pick the perfect one. 

Your teary eyes meet his. Those big, chocolate buttons look at your full of hope. It makes your knees weak. You shake your head, “Yes, Eddie. Holy shit, yes.” You let yourself fall into him, arms wrapping around his neck. He squeezes you tight, and you can feel the air leave his lungs as he sighs in relief. 

Time feels like it’s still in that moment. Since day one Eddie has made you feel more loved than you ever have in your life. It’s not that you never imagined a life married to Eddie, quite the contrary. You wish you had a dollar for every night that you’ve counted the freckles on his face, wishing that you’d been doing this with him instead of laying back to back with your husband for nearly 10 years. But, the two of you hadn’t talked about getting married. Not seriously that is. He would joke at home, calling you his wife, “Mrs.Munson”,“baby momma,” the latter you thought was because of how much of The Maury Show you two watched together on your days off. Now it felt like a serious conversation you would need to have, a pin to later be pulled. 

The sudden sound of the shades moving over the sliding door pulled you out of the moment, and you realize the door was slightly opened. Then, a loud voice from the backyard yells, “GUYS I’M PRETTY SURE SHE SAID YES!” Followed by a symphony of cheers and whistles. When you pull away from Eddie, he’s beaming so bright it’s blinding. And suddenly the sliding door is pushed open and your friends begin pouring in, cheering and congratulating as they enter. Eddie stands as everyone piles in, pulling you up with him. The train of embraces begins as Robin clamps you in with a bear hug. Steve joins in, wrapping the both of you in a big embrace filled with giggles.

You look over and see Eddie and Wayne hugging it out. Wayne’s patting his back, laughing about something Eddie must have said. The kids and his band boys stand around them waiting for their turn. When Robin and Steve finally let you breathe again, Max and Jane are next to congratulate you. 

Max sticks out her own hand, showing you a ring on her finger. “Lucas asked me a couple months ago,” she gushed. You grabbed her hand and admired the ring, it wasn’t over the top, very subtle to fit her personality. “I couldn’t tell you though, Eddie was too nervous that he wouldn’t be able to hold off asking if you knew.”

“Oh my god, Max, that’s amazing,” you pulled her in again, swaying her side by side excitedly. You looked over to Lucas, giving him a cheesy thumbs up that made him blush and shake his head. 

Next is Nancy and Elanor, with Jonathan standing just behind them. Nancy’s belly pushes into you as she pulls you in for a tight hug, Elanor wrapping her arms around you from the opposite side. 

Then it was Wayne’s turn for hugs next, Eddie finally letting him go after giving him a “Let me go boy, gotta congratulate the newest Munson!” When he pulls away, he leaves one arm around you in a half hug and leans in close, but still speaking loud enough for Eddie to hear. “Listen, if you change your mind let me know, I’ll distract him long enough for you to run.”

“Hey!” Eddie shouted over his friends, “Don’t give her any ideas over there, old man!”

After everyone finished making their rounds, the party migrated outside. Sitting around the fire, Eddie kept you planted in his lap, arms wrapped around you tight. While you’re talking, you realize that everyone had managed to flawlessly pull one over on you. Not a single person even gave you the slightest idea what was happening today. 

“You don’t remember us looking at jewelry at the mall?” Nancy laughed. 

“Nance, that was like, what, 5 months ago?” You shook your head in disbelief, “I barely remember saying anything about what I like!”

“You didn’t have to,” she said with her arms crossed over her bump, “I just watched what you looked at, paid attention to what you scrunched up your nose to and what made your eyes go wide. Then, I reported back to Eddie and let him do the rest.” She nodded to Eddie, who looked bashful at the admission of his friend. 

“I picked it out on my own, though,” he said defensively. “Well, Lucas was there, but that was a coincidence.”

You just shook your head, leaning in to plant a kiss on his chapped lips. The whole night your head was swirling with excitement. There was the nagging voice in the back of your head reminding you what it was going to take for the two of you to make getting married possible, but you let yourself worry about that later. Tonight was about you and Eddie, and you made sure to let him know how much you were grateful for him.

“Ooooooh god —SHIT, fuck babe that mouth is-“

Pulling off of him with a pop, you roll your hand around his head and lick from base to tip, making his whole body shudder above you. His grip on your head only gets tighter as you let him sink as far into your mouth as you can handle. Taking his hands in yours, you place them on the side of your head, and when you look up into his eyes you can see his pupils swallow up the remaining brown, leaving two black orbs looking down at you. 

Everything with Eddie was so different, but the sex was on a completely different level for you. With him, sex didn’t feel calculated or like a chore. He was so giving all of the time, which took a while for you to get used to when you had gone so long measuring your worth based on being a pleaser. Once when Eddie ate you out and came in his pants, he was embarrassed, sure, but you had almost cried because you didn’t feel like you had deserved how good he made you feel. He wasn’t having that, though, making sure to let you know at every opportunity he could that just being with you was enough for him. 

“Fuuuuuuuck baby~ God your pretty mouth feels amazing,” he pushes himself all the way to the back of your throat, holding it for a moment. Tears sting at the corners of your eyes. His hands shift, one settling under your chin and the other gripping the top of your head. He slowly eased out, letting you take no more than a second to breathe before he starts bullying your throat again.

Drool is dripping down your chin, cheeks hollowing around him as he trusts. He uses his grip to pull you forward gently, bending you at the waist. Fully nestled in your throat again, Eddie bends down to grab a handful of your ass, smacking it to watch the recoil. You moan at the feeling, and his cock twitches in response. 

“Alright, gotta get you up here now or else I’m gonna bust,” he says as he pulls out of you abruptly, lifting you up from under your arms and tossing you into the bed. You eye him giddily as he tore the rest of his clothes off with reckless abandon, squealing when he pounces on you. Hot and heavy, his hands are all over your body, your fingers tangling in his grown out hair. You know what his next move is going to be, but before he can begin his descent you hold him in place. 

“Not, tonight” - kiss - “need you.” ne of your hands snakes down gripping his length, rubbing the tip against your aching clit, your body jumping at the feeling. His head rolls back, any protest dying on his tongue. 

“Shit, okay, anything you want, baby girl.” When he takes over for you, there’s a sudden tension as he lines himself with your entrance. He looks at you, and you look at him. Something about the heat of the moment that makes you want to give in to carnal desires, but before he can make a move you lean over, opening the drawer and pulling out the foil. You don’t miss the tight lipped smile he makes as you open it, but when your hands are on him as you slide the condom on, he seems to forget his qualms.

When he finally sinks into you, he doesn’t give you much warning before he’s going at the same brutal pace he had on your throat. “I’m never gonna get used to how good you feel,” the praises fall from his lips, each one stoking the flames inside you. Adding his thumb to your clit has you gasping, orgasm washing over you and leaving you seeing stars. 

The chorus of curses coming from Eddie paired with sloppy thrusts signaled his own release. He pulls out, throwing the condom away and flopping boneless beside you, face planting into the pillow. You laugh at his goofiness, still coming down from your own high with hearts in your eyes. Hearts for your fiancé. 

You sighed dreamily, taking one if his curls between your fingers, longer now in the year you’ve spent together. His head turned slightly, one eye peeking out looking at your hand. He stared for a moment, until he suddenly snapped his mouth at you, pretending to bite at your fingers. You pulled back your hand and burst into a fit of giggles. He took the opportunity to roll into you, acting like a monster and “attacking” your face with kisses.

“Stoooop you’re tickling me,” you say as you try to push him away. You have to pry his arms off of you so you can climb out of the bed, legs wobbling as you make your way to the bathroom. He reaches out to smack your ass as you do, you flip him off in return.

When you came back to the bedroom Eddie had his pajama pants back on, and was sitting up in the bed with a look on his face that made you worry.

“What’s wrong,” you question, his head snapping up to you like you’d scared him. He shook his head innocently.

“Nothing’s wrong, Sweetheart,” he stuck his arms out in your direction, making fun of the needy way you beckon him to bed most nights. You weren’t falling for it. 

“Edward James Munson, don’t lie to me,” your hands are on your hips, standing naked in the doorway. He gulps at the use of his full name. You’re not really sure how to decipher that reaction with the way his body straightened, but that’s something you’d save in your mind for later. 

“It’s nothing,” he exhales, shoulders falling, “I just figured, ya know, with us getting married now that we, I don’t know, we would maybe stop with the, uh, condoms…” His voice trails off at the end but you still heard him loud and clear. Grabbing Eddie’s shirt he had tossed aside at the beginning of the night, you climbed into the bed next to him, resting your head on his shoulder. He returned the sentiment, kissing your temple before placing his chin on top of your head. “I’m sorry, if it's not something you’re ready for-“

“No, you’re right,” you take his hand and squeeze, “I really only wanted to use them for precaution sake. Not that I thought you were dirty or anything. And I got tested after I found out Henry was cheating, so I knew I was clean, too. It’s — I just figured it was the right thing to do? Right?”

Eddie wraps an arm around you, pulling you closer with a chuckle. “Sweetheart, I think you miss understood. I’m not offended that you want to use condoms, I promise. I was more so talking about…” he shifts a bit, “I meant like, you know, trying for a b-baby.”

A cold chill makes goosebumps rise on your skin. You knew it was coming, knew that you’d have to pull that pin, but you weren’t expecting it to be tonight, not so soon.  

Your silence makes Eddie even more nervous, “I mean, only if you want to have kids. We don’t have to if you don’t want to. I just, you know, with me turning thirty one, I thought that sooner would be better than later...” 

Eddie bringing up his age only reminded your own clock was ticking, too. But, even though your clock ticks, the hands don't move. 

It was something that you had to face by yourself for a long time, since Henry didn’t seem to feel the need to comfort you, rather ridicule you for your inability to do the “one thing you were meant to do” according to him. When you finally did get pregnant, only for it to end too soon, Henry only made you feel worse. 

After a while you convinced yourself to stop caring.

Now you feel like maybe it never happened for a reason, rationalizing that your body was just protecting you from being permanently attached to the bastard. Thinking that way helped heal some of the hurt, but deep down you knew something had to be wrong with you. 

“Eddie, why do you think Henry and I never had any kids?”

He stills for a moment, unable to see his face to gauge his emotions.  When he responds, his voice has a hint of uncertainty.

“Uh, I honestly didn’t really think about it. I try not to think about you with anyone else, like, ever if I’m being honest.” You gave him a slap on the leg, making him turn his lower half away from you playfully. “If I had to guess, it’s got something to do with him. You like kids way too much for it to have been a you problem.”

Your lip wobbles, because he’s not wrong. You became a teacher for a reason, and you’ve enjoyed the times you’ve gotten to spend with your nephews and Nancy’s daughter. It only makes the lump in your throat feel thicker when you realize you have to say the next words out loud. 

“Eddie,” his name comes out strained, “I don’t think I can have kids.”

And then the dam breaks. Sobs wrack your body, both with tears of sorrow and a sense of catharsis as you can finally come to terms with what you’ve been harboring inside for so long. But the tears aren’t all for you, but for Eddie, too. Tears of guilt, knowing that you were broken, hoping that maybe he didn’t want kids and it would be a non-issue. But that’s not fair. You should have brought it up sooner. Would he even want to be with you if you couldn’t have his kids? Would he just look for someone else, too?

Eddie is immediately in comfort mode, pulling you into him more as he lets you cling to him, chest wetting with the tears falling from your eyes. He doesn’t push you to stop, just rocks with you as you let out your grief. 

When you finally start to calm down, he’s pulling you away so he can look at you, thumbs wiping away the tears that still sit on your cheeks. He tells you to take some deep breaths, feeling better once you do. 

“I hope those tears aren't from you thinking I’d be upset or something,” he said, eyes flickering back and forth between yours. “Because I’m not, and I hope I didn’t come off that way-“

“No! God, no Eddie,” you say shaking your head, rubbing your eyes with the heels of your palms, “no, I just, I mean— I want to be able to give you kids, if you want them. Really bad, actually. But it’s not a matter of wanting, it’s a literal “I don’t think I can” thing. I only ever got pregnant one time our entire marriage and I ended up miscarrying…“

“Oh my god, that’s terrible,” his big eyes are filled with sympathy for you. “Nance and Jonathan had one a couple months before she got pregnant with Ellie. Nancy was a wreck, and I should have been there for her. But it happened the same week as Wayne’s heart attack, and I couldn’t leave him. It was a cluster fuck of a week.”

You were shocked to hear about Nancy. You’d become pretty close in the last year but she’d never brought it up before. Not that you’d ever mentioned yours to her, either, but you’d never have guessed. Her daughter, Elanor, had become your little buddy at the Harrington get togethers when everyone was drunk, finding a 4 year old to be more entertaining than a slew of belligerent adults.

“But, uh, you did say you got pregnant, right?” He asked with a smile. You nod. “See, that’s a good sign then. It can still happen. Maybe you're only compatible with Munson DNA.” 

His optimism wraps around you like a blanket, and for the moment you let yourself believe he might be right. Even if it’s going to hurt in the future. 

“So, you’re not going to leave if I can’t have a baby…” You don’t make eye contact with him as you say it. He grabs your chin, lifting your head to make you look at him in the eyes. 

“Hey, I’d be happy to get a pet rock with you if that’s what you want. We could try and raise some house plants together, but I’m telling you now that when I tried to grow my own weed it didn’t work out well.”

You slide down the bed with a groan, unable to hide the way Eddie’s words have affected you. It felt like a weight had been lifted off of your chest. To finally get it out there, and feeling confident enough to believe Eddie’s words that he wants to stay with you anyway is an indescribable relief. 

He leans over to smother you with kisses again before sliding down himself, pulling you into him once more. 

September 14th, 1996

Of all days, it would rain today. 

Almost a month ago you had Henry served with divorce papers. You’d taken care of everything, making sure all he had to do was sign. You foolishly assumed that it would be something he’d be on top of, considering it’s been over two years since you’ve been separated. Meaning it's been two years since him and the girl he cheated on you with became official. He married you pretty quickly, and you’d figured he would want to do the same to her before she could get wise and leave.

But, here you are. Knocking on your old front door in the rain to confront your husband on why he insists on making things more difficult for you. 

“Coming!” You hear a chipper voice call from inside. You roll your eyes, because of course she has to be here, too. The door swings open, and her face lights up with excitement when she sees you. 

“Oh my gosh, hi!” She squeals, stepping aside to let you in. 

“Hello, Missy.” You were trying to avoid looking at her, the sound of her voice was enough to grate at your eardrums. But when she stepped to the side, your eyes were immediately drawn to the large bump under her sweater. You just stared at her, unmoving, unsure how to process what you’re feeling in the moment. 

“Who’s at the door, dear?” 

You hear his voice call from another part of the house. It snaps you out of your trance, the anger you were trying to keep at bay boiling up again. You walk inside, heading into the kitchen, leaving Missy to follow behind you. 

“Henry,” you cross your arms as you stand in the entryway of the kitchen. Henry’s head snaps up from the book he’s reading, eyes wide when he sees you, wearing the same face as the day you confronted him about his infidelity. 

“Ah, what a surprise,” he tries to recover, putting on the mask of arrogance he always wears. “How nice of you to stop by.”

You roll your eyes at his faux pleasantries, maintaining your stance in the doorway. “I’m sure you know why I’m here,” you cut to the chase, not wanting to draw this out any more than necessary. 

“Are you here for lunch? I just got breakfast put away so you may have to wait a little while, but I’m making chicken salad!” Missy walks past you, grabbing Henry’s mug and refilling it with coffee. It makes your skin crawl as you watch. She brings the cup back to him, something that you’ve done many times over, now the thought only makes you cringe. 

“Darling, why don’t you go rest your feet? I’m sure your stories should be on soon,” Henry kisses her hand. Missy nods excitedly, leaving the room with a wave to you as she does. As soon as she’s gone, the air in the room is sucked away with her. The facade has fallen, Henry’s face morphing into an all too familiar scowl. 

“I’m assuming you’re here because of the paperwork you so graciously had served to me,” he stands from his seat at the table, moving around to walk towards you slowly. 

“Your assumption would be correct.” 

He peered down at you, blue eyes darkening from the shadow of the bridge of his brow. The intensity of his stare almost made you falter, but you’d been practicing for this, in case he tried to size you up like he’d done for years. You doubled down, remaining still as stone even when he’s only mere inches away. You weren’t afraid of his disappointment anymore.

His lips curled into a smile when he noticed you weren’t folding, nodding his head with a small “hmph.” 

“You never returned my call, you know.” Your eyes rolled at his dismissiveness. Huffing out a sigh, you decided to at least entertain him a little bit. He was only going to keep on with this if you didn’t.

“Didn’t have anything to say,” you shrug. 

He takes a step back with a slight bow, looking towards the ground, “I see. Was there perhaps a reason why?” He straightens up again, the corners of his lips pulling into a tight grin, “Too busy with another man’s dick down your throat to try and work it out with your husband, perhaps?”

You reel back, completely put off guard by his words. 

“And a felon’s at that? Honey,” his tone is condescending, and you feel your fortitude slipping, “you know if you were that desperate you should have just come home.” 

Your blood runs hot with every word he speaks. “But I guess you felt the need to prove something to me, or yourself. Doesn’t really matter. What does matter is that I’m not going to be signing those papers.”

Your hands shook, balled at fists by your side. You wanted to swing one, punch him right in his pathetic face and give him a taste of his own medicine. But you couldn’t, you knew that’s exactly what he wanted. And you couldn’t risk the cops showing up with Eddie outside waiting in your car. Henry would absolutely try and pin it on him to get him back in jail. All just to spite you.

Taking a deep breath in, you straighten up, giving him a smug look as you lean against the door frame. “That’s fine, you don’t have to sign them. But, and you may want to listen very carefully to me when I say this. I’m going to make your life a living hell if you don’t.”

The devilish smile on his face drops in an instant, morphing into a sneer. 

“If you actually read the paper in full, which you clearly haven’t,” you see his eyes dart to the side to an envelope on the counter, likely the one he was served with, “I stated in my filing that the divorce was mutual. That I wanted nothing from you, and if there was no issue with you signing, then we could both walk away from each other with our dignity. But,” you raise your brows, lips tugging into a forced frown, “if you want to play this game, then let's play. The divorce is going to go through anyway, and I’m sure you know that. You also probably know that adultery doesn’t have much leverage in the state of Indiana. But…”

“But?” 

You wonder if it’s the tone that you’re speaking to him in, or if it’s the fact that you’re standing up to him for the first time in your entire marriage that’s making him fume to the point he’s speaking only through gritted teeth.

“But, it doesn’t look very good when you’re using our combined finances to pay for the two of you to go to,” you use your fingers to count as you talk, “Hawaii, Italy, Mexico, which I heard really nice things about the resort the two of you went to. Um, where else, Cancun I think? You also shouldn’t have used the bank account to buy her nice new car that’s parked out in the driveway, which you put in her name for some stupid reason. Didn’t think about that because you paid in full for it, did you? You also probably didn’t know that I still have the ability to ask for the statements for that account even though you closed it. That’s okay, I didn’t know either, but my lawyer is really good and gave me that little tip.”

If it were humanly possible, you know steam would be rolling out of his ears. You’ve never seen rage on him like this, and a couple years ago it would have scared the shit out of you. But you had the upper hand for once in this exhausting marriage, and you weren’t going to let up.

“That’s an awful lot of money that went towards your adultery, isn’t it? And you’d have to pay all of that back to me, on top of at least fifty percent of your liquid assets. Maybe more if I felt like telling them you kicked me to the curb to live in an apartment in the middle of the year when I wasn’t working. So, go head, don’t sign the papers. The person that the dick that you’re so concerned about me having down my throat is attached to and I are going to start looking for houses soon, and it would be amazing to pay cash for one. Hopefully you’d still have enough money to pay all your bills and raise a new baby, but that’s not really my problem.”

In an instant he’s backing you into the wall next to the entryway. It happened so fast you didn’t have time to react, only watching as his fist began to rear back. A million scenarios run through your head in the seconds you brace yourself for impact. Funny enough, you’re more worried about Eddie. Because if you walk out of here with a black eye, you know there’s a possibility he’s going to jail for murder. Fully admitting to it, too.

It’s like slow motion as you watch his hand begin its descent towards you. Remembering what you read in a self defense book, you put your tongue at the roof of your mouth and clenched your teeth. Holding your breath, you wait.

But the blow doesn’t come.

“Henry!” you hear Missy’s sing song voice shout from your-- their bedroom. When you open your eyes, you see Henry frozen in place, crazed look in his eyes as his fist hovers next to his head. Your body tells you to move, in case he changes his mind. Run. Run. Run. 

But you’re more afraid of what he might do to her if you do. 

“Henry?” Her voice is closer now, and Henry jumps back. His eyes are on the hallway entrance as Missy waddles back into the kitchen.

“Oh, good you’re still here! I wanted to give you this,” she makes her way over to you, handing you a small envelope with your name on it in her handwriting.

“It’s an invitation!” she exclaims, waiting for you to take it. You stand there for a second, looking at Henry, whose face is unreadable at the moment, and then looking back to Missy. After a beat, you slowly take the envelope out of her hand. She claps excitedly when you do.

“Darling,” Henry’s tone is cautious as he addresses Missy. It reminds you of a zoo keeper approaching a lion in its cage. “That might not be a good idea.”

Her head tilts when she looks at him. “Why? You told me to invite whoever I wanted to the shower, Henry. I want her to come!”

What?

You open the little envelope, because there’s no way, right? This bitch didn’t just hand you an invitation to the baby shower for the baby of the man you’re still legally married to. Like you know she’s not the brightest, but this…

You bust out laughing as you read the card.

“This is a joke right? You’re just fucking with me to get a rise out of me, right,” you look at her incredulously.

“Huh? What do you mean,” she looks genuinely confused. It only makes you feel worse because she’s dead serious, and your hatred starts to morph into concern. Henry takes slow strides towards her, placing a hand gently on her shoulder. The delicacy in his movements is something foreign for him, at least to your eyes. 

“Missy, dear, it’s not… not in good taste to invite her.” The way he speaks to her is not what you imagined. You were expecting him to talk to her like a child, slow and condescending like he tried to do with you. But he didn’t.

“In good taste? Henry, you told me I should try and make more friends. So I’m trying to make friends. I know she’s a lot older than me, but you and me get along even though you’re almost my dad’s age.”

Every word out of her mouth gave you whiplash, like being on a rollercoaster. You didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at this point, so you decided it would be best to just leave.

“Um, I will…let you know if I can go…later,” you start to back out of the kitchen, “I should probably go now, though. So, um, Henry,” He looks over to you out of the corner of his eye. You were expecting disgust as he looked at you, but instead he seemed…dejected? 

“I’m assuming that we’ve come to an understanding?”

He’s still for a moment, his eyes drifting back to Missy, “I’ll have everything taken care of tomorrow.”

Relief washed over you, your body easing up after all that had transpired. You gave him a curt nod, then turned on your heels and booked it towards the door. 

Just as you were turning the handle, you hear Missy call your name. She hobbles her way to you, and you try not to cringe as she opens her arms to you.

“Thank you for coming by today!” She wraps her arms around you. You let her get it out of her system. “Feel free to come over any time. Henry told me I don’t have to work anymore, so I have a lot of free time if you ever wanna hang out. Oh, would you wanna go with me to look at baby clothes? There’s a store at the mall I’ve been wanting to go to but haven’t had the chance to go yet.”

Every fiber in your being wants to tell her to fuck off, but you just feel sympathy for her instead. At least you have friends. You know Nancy, Robin, Max-- shit, even Steve would be begging you to take him shopping for baby stuff if you and Eddie ever have a baby. 

This whole situation feels like a sick joke to test you. Is this what you had to deal with just to have the happy life you wanted?

“I--Missy, mmm,” you’re battling yourself as you speak, brain exhausted from the last hour, “Missy, you don’t have any family that can go with you? Friends?”

“I have family, yeah, but all my siblings are younger. My mom died a couple years ago, so I basically had to raise my siblings myself while my dad worked all the time,” she said the last part came out with mere annoyance. As if being forced to raise your siblings wasn’t something that could be extremely traumatizing for a person. “And my friends are all way smarter than me, so they went to college in other states. I miss them a lot, but most of them don’t call me anymore. Actually, none of them call me…”

Fuck.

“Okay, you know what, fine. I’ll do it,” you spit out, feeling disappointed in yourself for caving in to her sob story, “I’ll go with you. I have some friends, one of them who has a kid on the way, too, who could probably help you. I’ll, um, talk to them and give you a call.”

She’s quiet for a moment, until she suddenly bursts into tears. You panic, not sure what you said wrong, until she trusts herself onto you again, hard belly pressing into yours as she hugs you. Her tears wet the corner of your shirt, and you pat her on the back. Looking up, you see Henry watching the interaction from down the hall. He shakes his head before going back into the kitchen.

“Oh, thank god,” Eddie yells from the car, pacing on the grass next to the sidewalk with a cigarette in his mouth, “I was about to call Hopper if you didn’t come out in the next ten minutes.”

You didn’t say anything, still trying to process everything that just transpired. You get a sick feeling in your stomach when you think about it too hard, so you just let yourself fall into Eddie, burying your face in his chest. Tossing his cigarette since he knows you don’t like the smell of the smoke, he wraps you up tight, kissing the top of your head. 

“Do we need to stop at the store for some treats on the way home? I’ll get your favorites,” his words wash over you like a waterfall of comfort, “And we can stop and get a couple movies. Maybe bother Robin and El for a little bit while they work?”

You smile against Eddie’s chest, remembering that everything you’re doing was because of him. When you look up at him, he wastes no time smooching you all over your face. He lets you vent to him in the car, not interrupting as you give him the play by play. You leave out the near miss with Henry, not wanting to stress Eddie out more. He already hated Henry enough as it is.

“Are you actually gonna take her to the mall,” Eddie looks at you with an open mouth smile, the whole situation with Missy just tickling him as you go on.

“Ugh, I feel like I should. I don’t know,” you groan, “What do you think?”

“Well, I want to say that you’re being too nice to the girl who was the downfall to your marriage. But,” he crosses his arms with a shrug, “I’m on her team because she’s technically the reason we’re together. Don’t do anything that would make you uncomfortable, but if you think it’s something that you can handle, go for it.”

Tears soak the front of your shirt as it covers your face, your body shaking silently as you lay curled into a ball on the couch. Eddie had fallen asleep hours ago, but you couldn’t. You were in your head, dissecting everything about your interaction with Henry. It all started when you started to feel guilt for leaving Missy there, knowing that Henry could be violent if he wanted to. But then you started thinking about how he acted around her. The softness in his touch, his gentle voice. He wasn’t even that sweet with you in the beginning of your relationship. 

The fact that he told her to make friends after convincing you to push all your friends away really got to you. Because he knew that if you told your friends the things he did to you that they would tell you to leave him. But he was encouraging her to make friends. Was he not abusing her like he did you? It didn’t seem like it. Missy might not be the brightest, but she also doesn’t seem like the type to not let it slip if Henry were to do something to her. 

But then you have to ask why is it different with her? Why did you never get his soft touch, his gentle voice? Was it just because she was pregnant? Did he even love you? 

“Sweetheart?”

Eddie’s voice startled you. The click of the lamp had you rushing to wipe away any evidence of your crying, but the sting of the fabric against your swollen eyes only confirmed that you were a mess. Eddie drops to his knees in front of the couch, face level with yours so you can see the way his eyebrows are pinched with concern.

“Hey, hey, what’s wrong, princess?” His hand caresses your cheek, thumb wiping away any straggling tears. You take a deep breath in, trying to regain your composure, but when you think about speaking your thoughts out loud your throat goes dry. The sadness bubbles up again, you can feel the damn ready to break the longer he looks at you with those big, brown sympathetic eyes. 

Without a word you watch through clouded vision as Eddie stands and walks back down the hall.

Oh, no. This is it. 

He’s finally realized that you have too much baggage. That he’s made a mistake and he’s gone to pack his bags to leave. He’ll tell you he’s going to Steve’s to let you cool off, and then he’ll call the next day and say that things aren’t going to work out after all.

And you wouldn’t blame him. You knew that there was no way someone as broken and unlovable as you would ever deserve someone like him. You should have told him no when he asked you to marry him. It’s for the best-

“Are you able to get up?” 

You blink away tears. You hadn’t even noticed that Eddie had walked back into the room. When you don’t respond after a moment, you feel his arms slip under your knees and shoulders, hoisting you up and pulling you into him. The sound of water running gets louder as he takes you down the hall, and when he pushes the bathroom door open with his foot, you realize that he’s filling up the bathtub, the only light coming from two candles sitting on the inner edge of the tub. He lowers you down, sitting you on the edge of the tub so he can test the temperature of the water with his hand.

“Is it okay if I undress you?” He asks as he wipes his hand off on the towel he’s set aside for you. You nod, still in a bit of shock at the tenderness he’s giving you. In the back of your mind you know that you shouldn’t be, that this is absolutely something he would do for you. But you’re still in the headspace that you’d learn to escape to when you were with Henry. You can’t comprehend being deserving of his kindness.

Every touch and manipulation of your body as he undresses you feels like he’s taking another layer from your body. Layers of guilt, shame, self hatred. Peeling away the last bit of shed that stuck to you from the bad conditions of the habitat you lived in for almost 10 years. He takes his hand in yours, admiring your ring, your new ring, that he gave you as a promise to love you for the rest of his life. A promise that you’ve heard before, but you wanted nothing more for it to be real this time. 

“Will you get in with me?” You don’t look at him, eyes on his hand that holds yours. But you hear him grin, a hum of satisfaction as he stands. 

“God, I thought you’d never ask,” he says as he pulls off his clothes with haste. You can’t help but giggle as he struggles getting his foot out of the leg of his sweatpants. His face lights up at the sounds of your laughter. He bends down to give you a kiss, soft and sweet, taking that last bit of sadness with him when he parts. 

November 10th, 1996

“Dustin’s house is in this neighborhood,” Eddie says as you drive slowly down the street, the both of you keeping an eye out for a “For Sale” sign. The realtor you’d been working with called you at six in the morning that day to tell you that this house had just gone on sale and it was yours and Eddie’s dream house. She had said the same thing about the 3 other houses she’d shown you, but to her defense you were being extremely picky. After being the only one to clean the house for as long as you did, you knew what was easy to maintain and what you absolutely weren’t willing to deal with. Eddie thankfully was on the same page after making it his responsibility to keep the 4 bedroom, 6 bathroom Harrington house in ship shape for the entire year he had lived there. So a single level home with at least 3 bedrooms was enough for the both of you.

“Awe, it would be nice to live close by for when he comes home to visit,” you’re taking in the other houses in the neighborhood as Eddie drives, trying to gather ideas for how you might decorate the front of your future home. 

“Being closer to Claudia would be nice, too,” he says as you slow to a stop at an intersection, “It would be easier to just walk to her house to mow the lawn instead of running across town.”

Driving a few more blocks down, the sale sign finally comes into view, your realtor’s minivan that you’ve come to recognize over the last month parked in the driveway. You pull in next to it, and immediately you’re happy to see a two car garage. The house looks promising from the outside, too. Dark brick, a small covered porch that could fit two chairs, a decent front yard with some space where you can plant some flowers; you could feel yourself getting excited and you hadn’t even left the car yet. Eddie opened your door, giving you a look as he holds his hand out for you to take it.

“What,” you match your smile to his, “why are you looking at me like that?”

“I’m not looking at you like anything,” he keeps your hand in his as you close the car door.

“Whatever, Munson,” you tease, the two of you walking to the doorway of the house.

The door opens before you can even knock, Chrissy standing on the other side of the exterior glass door. You can tell by the look on her face that she’s very excited to show you the house, hands on her belly bump as she shuffles back and forth giddily. 

“Come in, come in,” she squeals as she pushes the door open, stepping to the side for Eddie and you to enter. “I watched you from the window and I can already tell this is the one. As soon as I saw the porch I knew you’d love it. But once I got to look around in here, I’m willing to bet you’re going to want to put an offer in.”

From what you can see from the doorway you were already impressed. The open concept living room and dining room was just big enough that you wouldn’t feel cramped, but not too big that you would hate to clean it. The large window brought in lots of light, making you think back to Eddie’s comment about house plants. Maybe it wasn’t out of the realm of possibilities.

As she showed you around the house more, you were checking off things on your list of needs at every turn. Three spacious bedrooms, master bathroom and a walk in closet, kitchen with an island. The backyard was even fenced in, and you were already mentally mapping how you would set up a garden. Everything was perfect for you, and the look on Eddie’s face makes you think it’s perfect for him, too.

“So,” Chrissy places elbows on the counter, looking at the both of you with big, blue eyes, “Are we putting the offer in today or what?”

Eddie looks at you with wide eyes and a toothy grin, his hand gives yours a squeeze. Your heart flutters at his eagerness. The three of you talk about putting in an offer. Of course there had to be a catch, which was the asking price being ten thousand more than your budget, but Chrissy said that the owners were out of state and just trying to get rid of the property so they didn’t have to keep maintaining it. After deciding on a price, you and Eddie go out to Benny’s afterwards to celebrate.

“Eddie, the house isn’t even ours yet,” you say as you listen to him go on about turning the garage into his music area for him and the boys to play.

“Yet,” he emphasizes, “I bet we’ll be in there before Christmas. Shit, maybe before Thanksgiving if they’ll let us. Not like they need to get anything out of there.”

“We’d still need to get furniture,” you’re trying to play devil’s advocate, mostly to keep from getting your hopes up.

“We can get furniture. And it’s not like you don’t have the essentials at the apartment. We don’t have to make everything perfect on day one.”

“Ugh, I hate when you’re right,” you lean back in your seat, failing at keeping your excitement at bay. “It’s a good thing we ran into Chrissy and James at the mall.”

“Jason,” he corrects as he shovels fries in his mouth, “and me, too. Didn’t think I’d ever be happy to run into Jason Carver again, but I guess fatherhood can change a man.”

“Or, maybe you were both just stupid teenagers back then, and now you’re in your thirties and more mature.”

“You callin’ me old, Mrs. Munson?” The two of you have only been engaged for four months but that didn’t stop him from thinking you were already his wife.

“So old,” you say sarcastically, “That’s why I’m only marrying you for your money.”

“I knew it,” he dropped his fork on the table, over exaggerating his reaction as he feigned outrage.

“Well, that’s not entirely true,” you grin, “There is another thing I’m marrying you for.” You look at him through your lashes, biting your bottom lip. He drops his act when he understands what you’re getting at, leaning in close to you over the table.

“Just so you know, I thought about how I was going to fuck you in every room of that house.”

You felt heat rush immediately to your cheeks, shifting in your seat slightly. 

“I’m having a hard time imagining it, maybe you need to show me what exactly you’d do to me.”

And show you he did.

November 27th, 1996

Eddie thrusts into you from behind, his weight against your back as he presses you into the mattress beneath him. You were still coming down from your own orgasm just moments before when his movements began to falter. His moans in your ear are accompanied with the feeling of his cum filling you up inside for the third time tonight.

Thank god you have the next five days off for Thanksgiving break. There were still piles of boxes to unpack in your new home, but Eddie was determined to christen every room in the house and you were sure you’d need a few days to recover at the rate he was going, jumping you as soon as Steve and Robin left. 

He pulls out of you with a hiss. Hands still on your ass, he watches his cum begin to dribble out of you. “Can’t have that,” he chuckles, and you feel his thumb push the spend back into you, making you shutter. 

“Eddie,” you say with warning before he got any ideas. His thumb leaves you, but he gives your ass a smack before jumping off the bed. You’re envious of the stamina he has. 

He returns from the kitchen with a drink for you, laughing at the position you’ve put yourself in.

“Hey, Chrissy said it works,” you say with your pillow propped under your ass and your feet crossed pointing towards the ceiling, “and they’re about to have their fifth kid so I don’t wanna hear it.”

“Sorry, sorry,” he sets the glass on your bedside table next to a half unpacked box that he had distracted you in the middle of unpacking,“I’m not gonna argue with that. You want me to hold your legs for you, Mrs. Munson?”

“No, thank you,” you pat his side of the bed, “Just want you to lay with me, please.”

He trots to his side of the bed, plopping next to you on the mattress. He gives you a quick peck on the cheek before he mirrors you, crossing his legs and pointing them towards the ceiling.

“Alright, how long do we have to do this for?”

You roll your eyes at him, “At least 20 minutes.”

“Jesus Christ, 20 minutes? I’m already feeling the burn over here,” he puts his hands behind his thighs, determined to wait it out with you.

The two of you finally get settled under the covers, Eddie’s arms wrapped around you, his hands rubbing circles into your back. You bury your head in his chest to block the moonlight bleeding between the blinds, regretting not putting up the blinds before Eddie got to you. The up and down of his chest as he breathes is making your eyes feel heavy, sleep begins to take over you. 

“I love you.” 

His voice was low, quiet. Just for you to hear. 

You knew he meant it. Because he’s shown you his soft voice. His gentle touch. He’s shown you what love is supposed to feel like, not what you’ve been conditioned to believe it is. Every kiss on your face when you’re anxious and every sweet caress of your body when you’re writhing under him. Every fight that has had the both of you steaming where he puts your hand in his because he doesn’t want to go to bed mad. The way he talks about your future, where the both of you have grey in your hair and his mind wanders, only remembering your face

“I love you, too.”

[georgeweasleyslostearhq]

MOVIES, KISSES, AND BIRTHDAY CAKE

Pairings: Eddie Munson x fem! Summary: a few days into being the new 'freak' in school, you come to find out the truth. Though, Eddie doesn't seem to like that truth. Warnings: none. A/N: IN HONOUR FOR THE WONDERFUL JOSEPH'S BIRTHDAY! AHH.

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The bell chimed above you as you walked through the glass door of family video.

Your eyes scanned the store, looking for Robin, perhaps, you weren't entirely sure, because you knew where the movie you were here for was.

You wouldn't expect many people on a Wednesday afternoon at 5pm.

So, for you to be the only person in the store is probably why there were no workers at the front.

You walked to the left to the romance section, looking at the sea of bright colours of all the lined-up VHS tapes.

You picked up Sixteen Candles and looked around again when you walked up to the counter.

The doorbell rang behind you and you turned, seeing a teen around your age look at you and frown before going to the Horror section.

You had gotten used to these looks over the past week, the party being almost 2 weeks ago.

The first day or two you had sat by yourself, finding yourself with no friends before you decided to embrace being the new freak in school.

So, you took Eddie up on his offer, finding a seat on the Hellfire table.

The rest of the club were skeptical about you at first, Though Eddie made sure they made you feel welcome after the next lunch break.

It was awkward at first, being friends with a bunch of guys, one being someone that you found yourself thinking about way too often.

After Monday, 2 days after the party where you had a go at Eddie for the spread rumour, you hadn't brought it up again, afraid that it would cause more damage than good, and seen as though you found yourself in his friend group, and that he took you in, you figured you should keep him happy so at least you'd have friends for the next few weeks before you graduate.

Steve had entered the store from the back, smiling as he saw you.

"Well, if it isn't miss party rocker" He smiled, typing onto the computer

You frowned, tilting your head, looking behind you to make sure he's talking to you. When you realise, he is you look back at him, still confused

"I'm sorry?" you raised your eyebrows, leaning on the counter

"Lewenski's party? you were going pretty hard that night" he chuckles, scanning your VHS tape.

Your face visibly relaxed when you realised, he might have heard that rumour...or-

"You were there?" you questioned, leaning closer

He nodded his head, placing the tape down with a smile

"Yeah, mostly in the backyard smoking, but yeah"

You opened your mouth, wanting to say so many things, but he cut you off

"You were pretty drunk, so I don't expect you to remember bumping into me, literally, but y'know. didn't take you as the one to get high with the town freak" Steve tapped the desk, shrugging

you looked around, not seeing the boy that came in a minute ago, he's probably going to the 18 plus section, behind the curtain, which is why you leaned away, shifting on your feet.

"You didn't happen to see me with Eddie that night, did you?" you asked, really hoping that Steve had the answers you needed to hear

He nodded again "yeah, you were with him for a while outside, who did you think you got high with?"

You raised your eyebrows again, trying to hide your smile.

He went to say something when you cut him off, hurriedly talking

"-didyouseemeandeddiemakingout?" you huffed

He tilted his head, his eyes widened, and he let out a chuckle "what was that?"

You sighed "did you see me and Eddie making out at any point of the night?"

he shook his head, his lips in a thin line as he thought about your question "no"

Steve was so confused, now that he was out of high school, the only way he got gossip about that stuff was through the kids- mostly Dustin.

Which is mostly why Steve went to the party, to feel like he once did in school, to get himself in the inside scoop of what was Hawkins high.

He had no memory of you two kissing or making out, and he would never peg you as the type to go after Eddie Munson

"I wasn't exactly watching you or anything- but actually" he swallowed, his fingers pausing the tapping as he looked at you weirdly.

This was it, the answers to your questions, the truth behind why you were a freak.

"I did see you go in to kiss him, though, but he stopped you- probably because he wasn't drunk" he nodded "but you seemed pretty upset about it, actually, stormed away, if I remember correctly"

You felt a weight on your shoulder lift, and you closed your eyes in relief, this was such good news, you never made out with Eddie.

You weren't a freak.

But deep down, you knew it was too late, nothing you could do or say would make any difference, you were a freak.

It was just nice to know the truth, even if no one else would care for it.

But as much as you were happy, you were embarrassed that even drunk you wanted to kiss Eddie stupid.

At this point you thought you were sick, a little under the weather because why would you want to kiss Eddie Munson so much you want to when you're drunk?

You'd have enough of it.

You quickly paid for the tape and rushed out of the store, going over to Eddie's trailer.

You'd never been there before, and you don't think he knew you knew which trailer he lived in.

You had only known about it when visiting Max one night, seeing him pull up with deafening loud music blasting.

So, you drove to Eddie's, planning to tell him the truth, thinking he'd be happy knowing it just as much as you are.

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You walked up the creaky steps to Eddie's trailer, unsure of what to expect, but you were determined to share the good news. You were almost giddy with the thought that you hadn’t actually made out with Eddie at the party. It was a small victory, but it was something you needed to share with him.

You knocked on the door, nervously shifting on your feet. It was then that the door swung open, revealing Eddie, looking somewhat surprised to see you standing there.

"Oh...hey" He smiled brightly

"Hi" you beamed

"Out of all the club, I would've expected Dustin to show up for my Birthday, not you" He shook his head, looking behind you

You frowned, trying to rack your brain

"Come in, I just ordered a pizza, so I hope you like pepperoni, if you want cake you'll have to wait until 11... That's when Wayne gets back from the plant so...Though... I uh- I don't expect you to stay that long..."

You stepped through the door when he moved out of the way.

You were so confused, until you remembered a few days ago it was briefly mentioned when you were too busy staring at his lips.

It's weird how you got so defensive and upset about the thought of you two making out, when all you want to do a lot of the day when you're with him is kiss him.

"Oh" you chuckled dryly, looking around the trailer that was his home "yeah, happy birthday!" you smiled

He grinned "thanks, sweetheart"

You blushed, feeling nervous and a little guilty as he guided you to sit on the couch

"Want some of the good stuff?" he said, walking down the hall

"Sure, I uh- I have a movie in the car if you want me to get it?" you nodded, getting up when he laughed

"Is it some cheesy romance?" he asked, peeking his head out of his room, a wide smile on his face, dimples on show as his hair hangs.

You shake your head, trying to suppress your smile, knowing you're lying.

He rolls his eyes, groaning "fine-UH" he said, dragging out the syllable

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

"Sorry! No, no way," Eddie shook his head quickly, waving a dismissive hand and grabbing the remote to pause the screen just as Sam and Jake leaned in to kiss.

The frozen frame captured the couple mid-embrace, the soft glow of the TV light flickering against Eddie's disapproving expression. a greasy pizza box on the floor crimpling as he moved his foot to kick it away.

"They’re just kissing," you scoffed, furrowing your eyebrows as you leaned back against the couch. The worn fabric pressed into your shoulder blades, and you crossed your arms, giving him a pointed look.

"Yeah," he huffed, almost indignantly, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. "I don’t want to see it."

"Oh, you’re just salty that you’re twenty and still a virgin to everything," you teased, throwing an exaggerated grin his way as you sank further into the cushions. “And besides, you’re lucky this is the ending scene.”

Eddie’s eyes narrowed, his lips twisting into a scowl. “Excuse me? No! And to what I’ve heard, we’ve made out, so I’m not a virgin to that, am I?”

He leaned back into the couch, crossing his arms in defiance as his gaze flickered to the TV, clearly trying to act unaffected.

You couldn’t help but smile, finding his irritation oddly endearing. “Oh yeah! No- I totally forgot- which is weird because it’s literally what I came here to tell you. We didn’t make out!”

Eddie’s frown deepened, and he leaned away from you, his brows knitting together.

He licked his lips, his gaze drifting to the side as he processed your words. “Did we think we did?”

You tilted your head, watching his confusion with a small shake of your head. “Well... for a second, I thought maybe we did... but I found out from Steve-”

That set him off. Eddie snapped his head back to you, his dark eyes glaring. He shot up from the couch in one fluid motion, pacing a few steps before spinning on his heel to face you.

“Oh, Steve? How does he know anything?” His voice was sharp, almost accusing, as he ran a hand through his perpetually messy hair, his rings catching the dim light of the room.

“W-well, I went by Family Video,” you stammered, sitting up straighter. “And he was working, and he was at the party, so I asked him, and he said we didn’t, so- that’s- that’s why I came here... to tell you!”

You didn’t understand why Eddie seemed upset. His shoulders were tense, his jaw set, but the news felt like a relief to you. So why didn’t he feel the same way? You kept the smile on your face, trying to hold on to that positivity.

Eddie turned to you, his expression unreadable as he glared at you, his voice suddenly quieter but no less biting. “I thought you came here for my birthday?”

The words hit you like a weight to the chest. You blinked, your mouth opening as if to explain, but the guilt tangled your tongue.

“You didn’t even remember, did you?” he mumbled, his face dropping as he shook his head, almost laughing in disbelief.

“Eddie, no-I-I did! I just-” You sighed, searching for the words. “I thought this was good news.”

Eddie’s laugh was humorless, and he threw his hands in the air as he walked dramatically across the room. His steps were heavy, the floor creaking under his boots. “Good news? That what, turns out you aren’t a freak so you can throw my name under the bus and get your friends back?!”

“What?!” you shot back, standing up now, your voice rising with frustration. “What are you talking about, Eddie?”

He closed the distance between you in three quick strides, leaning down so his face was inches from yours, his finger pointing accusingly.

“I bet you’re happy, though, huh? That you didn’t kiss a freak, right?”

His words stung, and for a moment, you froze, your thoughts spinning back to what Steve told you at the video store. You remembered him saying you’d leaned in to kiss Eddie, and Eddie had stopped you. Eddie wasn’t drunk that night, so...

“How do you not remember that night?” you murmured, the words spilling out before you could stop them.

Eddie’s glare didn’t falter, but his confusion was evident in the furrow of his brow. “Huh?”

“Steve told me he saw me lean in to kiss you, b-but you pushed me away because you weren’t drunk... if you weren’t drunk, how do you not remember that night?” you asked, your voice softer now as you shifted uncomfortably under his gaze.

His expression faltered for a split second, a flicker of guilt crossing his face before he frowned again. He closed his eyes, running a hand down his face. “I-I don’t know what to tell you... I don’t remember... I must have gotten drunk afterward,” he said, his voice quieter, almost unsure.

You licked your lips, your throat suddenly dry as you looked away. “Why aren’t you happy? That we didn’t kiss? I thought...” You shrugged, your voice trailing off. “I just thought maybe it would be nice to know.”

Eddie laughed then, a low, bitter sound that didn’t reach his eyes. He looked down at the ground, his dimples deepening with the ghost of a smile that felt forced and hollow.

Eddie’s laughter faded, and the room fell uncomfortably silent. He rubbed the back of his neck, his head tilted down as if he couldn’t bear to look at you. When he finally spoke, his voice came out sharper than he intended.

“Why would it be nice to know?” he snapped, his dark eyes meeting yours, his tone biting with frustration. “Why would it be so great to find out that the girl I like didn’t end up kissing me?”

The words hung in the air like a firework that had exploded too close, the weight of his confession pressing down on both of you. Eddie froze, his mouth still slightly open as if he couldn’t believe what had just come out. His chest rose and fell as he stared at you, wide-eyed, his anger dissolving into sheer panic.

Your jaw dropped, your confusion only deepening as you tried to process what he’d just said. “What?” you managed to whisper, your voice barely audible.

“I-” Eddie started, but his voice cracked. He looked away, pacing a few steps toward the window, one hand tugging at his hair. He muttered something under his breath that you couldn’t catch, but the tips of his ears were red, and he looked like he wanted to melt into the floor.

“I didn’t mean to say that” he blurted, turning back to you. His hands gestured wildly as if trying to claw the words back out of the air. “I didn’t mean- it just slipped out, okay? Forget I said anything.”

But you couldn’t forget. Not when his words were echoing in your head on a loop: the girl I like.

“You...” You blinked, your heart racing as you took a hesitant step toward him. “You like me?”

Eddie let out a short, humourless laugh, shaking his head. “No- wait, yes, but not- Jesus, this is so stupid.” He groaned, covering his face with his hands. “Forget I said anything, alright? Let’s just pretend this didn’t happen.”

But you weren’t about to let it go. “Eddie,” you said softly, stepping closer to him. “You like me?”

He let his hands drop, and the look on his face was almost painful. His shoulders sagged, and for a moment, he looked like he might actually admit it. But then he shook his head again, his voice barely above a whisper.

“It doesn’t matter,” he muttered, avoiding your gaze.

You didn’t let him finish.

“It does matter,” you said quietly, stepping even closer. The distance between you closed to just a few inches, and your voice softened as your heart pounded louder in your ears. “You just said it, Eddie. You like me.”

Eddie’s breath hitched, and his eyes darted to yours, his guarded expression crumbling. He opened his mouth to respond, but the words never came. The tension between you thickened, magnetic, drawing you closer to him.

You weren’t even sure who leaned in first, but suddenly the space between you wasn’t enough. You could feel the heat radiating off him, see the flicker of hesitation in his dark eyes as they flicked down to your lips.

“Eddie…” you whispered, the sound barely audible, trembling in the charged air between you.

For the first time, he didn’t pull away. His hands twitched at his sides, his body leaning closer, as if every fiber of his being was fighting the instinct to back off.

The world seemed to still, and the only thing that existed was him, so close you could feel the ghost of his breath against your skin.

This was it... you were going to kiss him, after almost 2 months of staring at his lips and wanting to know what they felt like on yours, you were actually going to know.

Eddie didn't know what to think, his eyes were focused on your lips, but his mind was focused on that confession he just told you.

He doesn't like you, so why would he say it?

He wasn't thinking, it just slipped out, right? he totally wasn't thinking about how he liked you before he said it.

Truth is he doesn't know how he feels, you're pretty. beautiful, hot, funny...the way you laugh at his jokes, the way your eyes light up when something excites you, the way you blush when you get nervous, the way you fiddle with your fingers when you grow flustered and save a seat next to you in class- even though no one sits next to you anymore- shit.

He does like you.. but He wishes he could take it back so you wouldn't know... but that secret was out before he even realised what he said.

But he was going for it, he was about to kiss you

"Ed? I'm home" the door opened as a raspy groan echoed through the room, Eddie's uncle stepping through the door as you and Eddie jumped apart, your lips never meeting.

Your faces flaming as you stumbled backward and Eddie’s hand shot to his hair, tugging at it as he turned toward the door, his expression a mix of panic and frustration.

Wayne stood in the doorway, his lunchbox in one hand and a cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth. He stopped short, his eyes narrowing as he took in the scene.

"Oh," Wayne said, blinking. "didn't tell me we were goin have company tonight"

Eddie groaned, his hands slapping over his face. "Wayne, what are you doing you're supposed to be here at 11?"

Wayne raised a hand in mock surrender, the corner of his mouth twitching like he was fighting a smirk. “oh yeah? why was I interuptin' somethin'?”

Eddie groaned and you looked away as Wayne's eyes met yours.

"No-" Eddie started before his uncle stopped him

"-plant shut off, gotta come home early" Wayne huffed as he walked to the bathroom, the tap running with water as Eddie turned to you, smiling tightly as he motioned to the bathroom, raising his eyebrows, his look saying 'well, that's my uncle'

You laughed softly as Wayne stepped out of the bathroom, shaking his hands from the water.

He moved to the kitchen with deliberate slowness, his eyes flicking between the two of you like he was watching the most entertaining drama he’d seen in weeks.

As Wayne grabbed a knife from the drawer, he glanced back at you with a raised eyebrow. "You stayin' for cake, Eddie's friend?" he said with a cheeky grin, winking as he went to the fridge

You Looked at Eddie as he introduced you to Wayne before turning back to you

"Do you want cake?" he mumbled, looking down as he played with his sleeve

You nodded with a shrug "sure.. if you want me to stay"

Eddie sat down by the two-seater table attached to the trailer wall and Wayne motioned for you to sit down on the other as he brought over a cake, it was a bit messy, but it looked perfect

He lit the candles, and as the lights were turned off, the warm glow bathed Eddie’s face, catching the curve of his cheekbones and the soft smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

For a moment, everything else faded- the near-kiss, the awkwardness, the unspoken feelings. All that mattered was the quiet hum of the moment, the flickering candles, and the way Eddie looked at you, like maybe, just maybe, this was the start of something neither of you could deny.

The glow of the candles danced in Eddie’s eyes; his usual bravado dimmed into something quieter, softer. You sat across from him, hands folded awkwardly on the edge of the table, not entirely sure where to look. Wayne stood behind him as he motioned you to start singing 'happy birthday' with him.

It was out of sync and very rough, but Eddie kept his embarrassed smile on his face, and once you finished the song, Wayne continued, humming off-tune as he waved his cigarette like a conductor's baton.

Eddie rolled his eyes but couldn’t suppress the small smile tugging at his lips. “Alright, Wayne, you can stop now,” he muttered as Wayne’s humming grew louder and more dramatic.

Wayne smirked, leaning against the counter. “Hey, it’s not every day my nephew turns- what is it? Twenty-three? Twenty-four?”

“Twenty,” Eddie grumbled, though there was no real bite in his tone.

“Right, Twenty,” Wayne said, feigning a look of realization. “A big year for big moments, huh?” His eyes flicked meaningfully between the two of you, his smirk widening.

Eddie groaned, slumping in his chair. “Wayne, for the love of God-”

“Alright, alright, I’ll leave you two kids alone. After cake.” Wayne winked at you again, pulling a chair over and sitting down like he had all the time in the world.

You tried to stifle your laughter, stealing a glance at Eddie. He looked equal parts mortified and amused, his fingers drumming nervously against the table.

“Make a wish, Ed,” Wayne said, gesturing toward the candles.

Eddie leaned forward, pausing for a moment as if debating what to wish for. His eyes flickered to you briefly, so quick you almost missed it, before he blew out the candles in one swift breath.

Slicing the cake with the knife he’d grabbed earlier, he smiled, putting the pieces onto napkins “Alright, here we go. One slice for the birthday boy, one for the lovely guest, and—” He plopped a third slice onto his own plate. “One for me, Since I made the bloody thing.”

Wayne’s antics had you laughing now, the tension from earlier easing like a weight lifting off your shoulders. Eddie, despite his initial embarrassment, seemed to relax as well, his knee brushing against yours under the table.

“So,” Wayne began, taking a bite of cake. “How’d you two meet?”

Eddie nearly choked on his first bite, coughing violently as he waved his hand dismissively. “Wayne-”

"Oh, for the love of God, boy, stop being so dramatic" The older man rolled his eyes grumpily.

You hesitated, glancing at Eddie for guidance, but he was too busy glaring at his uncle to notice. Finally, you decided to take the reins. “Uh, school,” you said, your voice a little unsure.

“Yeah,” Eddie interjected quickly, recovering from his coughing fit. “School”

Wayne raised an eyebrow, his grin widening. “School, huh? Didn’t know they taught awkward staring contests in class.”

You and Eddie exchanged a look, both of you visibly mortified.

“Alright, alright,” Wayne said with a chuckle, raising his hands in surrender. “I’ll stop meddlin’. For now.” He stood, grabbing his napkin and wiping his face, heading to the kitchen to fetch a beer

Eddie let out a long-suffering sigh, shaking his head. “I swear, he lives to torture me.”

“Seems like it,” you said, unable to keep the smile off your face.

For a while, the conversation drifted into safer territory. Wayne eventually retreated to his room, leaving the two of you alone once again. The clock ticked softly in the background, and the leftover candles sat forgotten in the corner of the table.

You frowned, looking back at Wayne's door after a while of silence"did you get a present?"

He raised an eyebrow as he wiped his mouth, nodding "yeah.. got it before school"

You smiled "what'did you get?" you bounced your leg, eating the last bite of cake on your napkin

"uh-" he scratched his arm, right over his bat tattoo "new dice set..n'some figurines"

"Mm" you hummed, nodding your head "cool"

Eddie glanced at you, his fingers tapping nervously against the table, silence filling the air for a brief moment. “Thanks for staying,” he said, his voice softer now.

“Of course,” you replied, meeting his gaze. “it's not everyday you turn Twenty.” you teased,

His lips twitched into a shy smile, the earlier awkwardness creeping back in. “Yeah, well...”

For a moment, neither of you spoke, the air between you heavy with unspoken words.

“Eddie…” you began, your voice trailing off. You wanted to ask about earlier, about what he said- about you. But the words wouldn’t come, tangled in the knot in your chest.

He looked at you like he was waiting for something, his expression open and vulnerable in a way you’d rarely seen. “Yeah?”

“I…” You faltered, shaking your head with a small laugh. “I’m really glad I came tonight.”

Eddie nodded, his smile softening. “Me too.”

And though nothing else was said, the quiet understanding between you spoke volumes.

Maybe you'll get to kiss him another time.

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

Taglist:

@exploding-bonbon @xlostitx @pupwrites @carolineesnell @foreveranexpatsposts @itsmadamehydra @thedoubleexposurephotography @g3n3zshack @dontputyourfckingdrinkonmytable @emxxblog @nubedeoctubreval @bimboshaggy @sheneedsrocknroll92 @callmytherapistplease-blog @ifeelbadbutimhot @littlemissholy @sammybrrr @alastorssimp

ahhh, can't believe Joe's 31, currently crying

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

[h4rring1on]

I have a request, can I have one where Eddie and the reader is Eddie best friend, later on Eddie starts dating Chrissy but he doesn’t know that the reader likes him. The reader being sad and distant towards him though out the time.. Eddie being confused and mad at reader and thinking she is jealous, later on gets into argument with her doesn’t talk to the reader for a few weeks, very angst, for the end you make your own if you want fluff or angst. Thank you, I love your writing ❤️❤️❤️

a/n: i’m so excited for this i hope i did well though. 💔💔 did i lose my touch be honest 🙏🏻

you and eddie have been friends for god knows how long, ever since that day at recess, you’d been playing with this random toy you’d seen and he was quick to confront you, it was his!

after you ran off crying, he came to you and handed you the same toy.

‘jus quit crying! jeez you can have it!!’

ever since then, you’d been inseparable. you were around a year or two younger than him. so when he was held back in school, you were catching up to him which made you even closer than you already were

soon enough, you’d developed a crush on him. at first, it was harmless. maybe a little giggle here and there, a tiny thought in the back of your mind maybe once a week

i’d date him

but it was never anything to act upon, since you weren’t all that interested in him. until it just got worse and worse, and robin had quite the earful about it practically every day!

steve also heard about it a few times here and there since he was usually in the background stacking the shelves or so, but not the full story

you couldn’t help it though. he was so kind to you, he’d get you snacks n everything! you had a tradition, every friday night you buy a ton of snacks and watch a cheesy movie!

it was your thing.

he was so caring and loving to you that people generally thought you were dating until they got the unfortunate news

you were content with being only friends though, at least he still did quite a lot for you. up until that one day

that horrible day. where everything got ruined

you’d been walking with eddie around the school halls, talking, until he bumped into chrissy.

“oh my gosh i’m so sor…” she trails off as she looks at him

he smiles and grabs the things from the floor

“it’s all good pretty” he says and she’d suddenly opened a conversation, it was too awkward for you so you just went on to class, since you were obviously not gonna sit and watch them talk. which took like a year to finish, he didn’t even come to class!

what could’ve been so interesting he missed class to talk about.

it kept going on like this, he stopped sitting with you during break time, he’d walk her home, he’d miss classes for her, and you had held it all in up until he did it.

he did it.

you had been waiting for the past three hours at the supermarket so he could come, it was friday night, which meant it was time for your tradition.

he didn’t come, and you broke when, on your way home, you saw him and chrissy going into the movie theater, smiling as wide as possible.

he’d broken the 5 year long tradition…for her?

you went home sobbing, if anyone knew why, they’d think it would be a stupid reason, but it wasn’t. it truly hurt. he practically chose her over you.

you stopped trying to think positively after that, to just say, it’s fine! it’s just today! or—he didn’t mean to, maybe he forgot!

both steve and robin noticed it after you stopped talking about him so much, or even talking to him for that matter.

everytime he’d approach you, you’d mumble out some short response and leave. and he definitely noticed, even in the times where he does sit with you, you’d get up and leave.

it kept going on like this up until on your walk home, he grips your wrist and turns you, not harshly but firm enough to stop you.

you furrow your eyebrows as you look at him, expecting something

“well?” he says and you look around, confused

“what?”

“wh—what?? you’re asking what?? you’re not gonna explain why the hell you’ve been acting so weird?” he spits out, it was clear he’s had enough

you shrug, “weird how?” you question

“don’t bullshit me. you know exactly what i’m talking about! what the hell is going on with you!”

you laugh, as if he really had the right to ask that after how he’s been acting

“what’s going on with me? how about what’s going on with you, munson!” you spit out, and he furrows his eyebrows, you’d never use his last name..

“you stop sitting with me at lunch, you miss classes just to see her, you barely ever see me! and—on top of all that—you miss our night. our night! the one we do every single week for the past five years and for what? chrissy? little princess of hawkins chrissy?”

he scoffs, “jesus christ—chrissy? that’s what this is about?!” he says and shakes his head

“yes it’s about chrissy! you barely even know her!”

“oh my god, i don’t think that’s any of your business! if youre so jealous because of how amazing she is just say that!”

“jealous? are you kidding me? that’s what you think this is? grow up, eddie!” you spit out

“it’s obviously jealousy! look at you! you see one girl that’s ten times better than you look my way and you go crazy!” he says and you pause, your heart clenched, how could he say that?

“what’s wrong with you? how could you even say that? i’ve been your best friend for—“

“don’t give me that bullshit! don’t play the victim! what is it, huh? because she’s popular? because she’s pretty? just admit you’re fucking obsessed! i don’t know how i ever even became friends with a freak like you”

your vision blurs, you don’t even say anything, you just turn and walk away, silently crying. who was this person?

eddie didn’t even bother to stay, he was quick to leave too. you walked into family video, robin wasn’t there, but steve was. and he was quick to notice your puffy red eyes, he rushed to you

“hey—hey hey peach.” he says softly and hugs you, and you breakdown in his arms, “woah woah—it’s okay…it’s okay” he rubs your back, trying to soothe you, “you wanna tell me what’s going on?”

you didn’t go to school for a couple of days, but when you did, you didn’t even bat an eye at eddie. who, in the meantime, was getting swallowed into a hole of utter guilt and shame.

he wasn’t even fully there when he was with chrissy, and in class, he’d stare at you the whole time. it went on like this for weeks, and eddie couldn’t take any more.

he didn’t even care about chrissy, and he’d realized your words were right and that she wasn’t really all that. how could be so blinded by her popularity and looks?

those weeks were hell, he’d truly realized how much he liked you, and how agonizingly painful it was to not be able to see you or talk to you at all.

so he dumped chrissy, and didn’t really feel anything. he picked up some flowers on the way and knocked on your door, this was it

you opened the door, surprised to see him, eddie noticed how pretty you look…and how he looked dead compared to you, he’s been suffering without you, you were too…right?

he calls your name and sighs, “i just…i wanted to explain myself—that day—i didn’t mean anything i said i swear to you. and—for chrissy—you were right. you were right about everything and it broke me when i stopped talking to y…” he trails off, his heart shattering at the sight of steve, in some boxers and no shirt, showing up from behind the door

you look away, and eddie didn’t speak, he just stays there, the anger building up.

“i’ll see you in a second baby okay?” you say and kiss steve before walking out and closing the door, and the look on eddie’s face got worse when you kissed steve

“wh—you’re dating him? you’re dating the king of hawkins?! that dipshit?!” he yells, how could you do this?!

wasn’t this ironic?

“what! jesus christ, this is about steve? really?” you mimic him, “if you’re so jealous about how amazing he is just say that” she says and smiles, walking away.

eddie mentally curses himself, she’d repeated the same words he said to her.

it was over. he’d lost his chance with the most amazing girl he’s ever met without realizing it.

that’s what he gets though

[steveshairychest]

Time travel au where Steve is the last one to go through the gate in Eddie's trailer, except when he comes out, he's not in his Hawkins anymore. Instead of being greeted by the sight of his friends safe and sound and Wayne's mug collection, he's standing in some random guys trailer.

He gets shoved out the front door and into the strange new world that is undoubtedly Hawkins, but not the Hawkins he remembers.

Everything feels wrong. The people look strange in their weird clothes and a lady across the park screams into a flat rectangle in her hand. The trailers look the same but there's something about them that's definitely wrong. Some guy blows smoke in his face while walking past and instead of the gross smell of cigarette he was expecting, it smells sweet, almost like strawberries. He's so fucking confused. He knows he's causing a scene by walking around gaping at everything, but what else is he supposed to do? Steal a car and drive off? He's never seen cars like this in his entire life!! Do they even work the same way?!

Maybe he has a concussion. Maybe this is his version of a vecna hallucination.

And then things only get more confusing when a little girl runs over to him and beams up at Steve like they've been best friends forever. "Hi, Mr Harrington! Why are you here?" She can't be older than 9.

Why does this little girl know him? He stares at her and his confusion must show because she tilts her head and frowns. "Are you okay, Mr Harrington?"

She keeps calling him Mr Harrington, is he a teacher here? Oh god, does that mean there's another version of himself running around here?! Wherever here is.

"I'm... fine. I'm just a little lost." He walks away before he scares the poor girl with his rising hysterics. Steve knows these roads like the back of his hand, he's driven them his entire life, but he takes a million wrong turns because there's suddenly so many new streets he's never even heard of. Where there should be a huge clearing, there is now a building so high Steve swears it touches the sky and the tree him and Robin used to have picnics under is now gone and replaced with a parking lot filled with more weird cars.

"What the fuck? What the fuck?!" Steve finally makes it to where his house should be and there's... nothing. It's just a block of land for sale. It tips him over the edge. He can't remember the last time he cried but right now he is balling and hiccuping as he stumbled down the street he grew up on. But it's wrong. It's all so wrong. People drive past and give him weird looks, a lady even stops jogging and takes out the tiny earplugs that play music so loud Steve can hear it, and asks if he's OK. "No, I'm not. This isn't real. This isn't real!"

It has to be vecna. He's got him. That's why he's stuck in this nightmare. "You have to play music! Give me your plug things! Make them play anything! Get me out of here." The woman refuses and does nothing but stand there in shock as Steve sinks down to the sidewalk and starts singing Everybody Wants to Rule The World as loud as he can.

"I'm calling 911. You need help." Steve doesn't hear her. He's singing so loud people are starting to come out of their houses to see what's going on but that doesn't matter to him. This isn't real. Vecna has him and he needs to get out.

When the ambulance pulls up, Steve's run out of tears. He's cried himself dry and he's resigned to the fact that any minute now, Vecna is going to snap his arms and legs. "I'm ready." He says quietly to no one but himself. He'd rather it be him than any of his friends. He knows they are probably watching him and trying to bring him back but it's too late. He can't hear the music they're playing.

"Steve?" A familiar voice drags him out of his own head, but it can't be real. He heard that voice take its final breath just mere minutes ago, he can still feel his drying blood under his fingernails. Steve lifts his head and there he is, it's Eddie, no doubt about it. His long hair is tied up in a bun and his eyes are sparkling with worry as he crouches down in front of Steve. It's then that Steve realises Eddie is in full paramedic gear and he's pulling all sorts of things out of a bag to check on Steve.

"Eddie, you're alive." He whispers in disbelief as Eddie checks him for any head injuries. "Where are we? How do we leave?"

Eddie pulls back and there's panic behind his eyes as he slowly helps Steve to his feet and gestures to his partner to grab the stretcher. "Steve, love, I need you to tell me what happened. Why aren't you at work?"

At work? What is Eddie going on about? And did he just call Steve love?!!

"Eddie, this isn't real. I need to leave. I can't stay here with you." He says it slowly so that Eddie understands. He may be some figment of Steve's weird dream imagination and he doesn't want to freak the poor guy out by telling him he's actually dead.

Eddie breathes in and out, his hands a little shaky as he helps Steve onto the ambulance stretcher. His partner helps get Steve set up in the back of the ambulance before they're driving off. Eddie reaches out and holds Steve's hand gently, the gesture surprising but not unwelcome. "Steve, baby, this is very much real life. You're in Hawkins. It's March 21st, 2023. Your name is Steve Harrington, remember?"

"Wait, what?!" Steve tries to sit up but Eddie gently pushes him back down. They hit a bump in the road and Eddie swears softly under his breath about his partner's driving. "It's not 1986?!" He's panicking. He can feel his heart rate spike and his breathing starts to quicken. Eddie tells him to stay calm and just breathe in and out but Steve can't hear him.

Maybe this really isn't Vecna. He'd be dead by now if Vecna had him and Eddie's touch feels too real to be a dream.

Before he knows it, his vision is going spotty and then he's out; the panic and absolute absurdity of it all finally getting to him.

"You'll be okay, Stevie."

Except this isn't the Steve Eddie knows and loves. His Steve, his darling husband, is currently having a dilemma of his own back in 1986.

[riality-check]

more daisy jones-adjacent things. this time, they're finally starting to hate each other a little less.

parts 1, 2, and 3, for your reading pleasure. less drugs this time around, but way more talk about steve's ptsd. part 5. part 6. part 7.

ao3

Steve has never co-written anything before. All of his songs are his, from start to finish. Every note, every chord, every syllable is his invention, and he takes them all very seriously.

That's not to say that he doesn't accept help. He wouldn't be himself if he wasn't constantly bouncing ideas off of Robin and Dustin and Lucas, and he always has other people look it over and offer suggestions.

But the initial creation? That's all him. Steve likes that kind of control.

Writing with a band is very different. Eddie declares it, the song Steve pissed him off enough into writing, done after they've got lyrics and a lead guitar part.

"They'll write the rest," he says, like it's that simple.

Steve can't imagine letting go that much. In all honesty, he's scared shitless. He's never been good at being nice. Charming, yes. Nice, no. And he doesn't know how he'll be nice if the drum, bass, and rhythm guitar parts suck.

It's his song. Well, his and Eddie's, which is weird to think about, but still.

Steve has never co-written anything before.

And, to make matters worse, he fell asleep last night.

He knew it was coming. He's never made it past seventy-two hours, no matter how hard he tries or how high he gets. He knew it was coming, and he prepped as best as he could.

That didn't stop him from sleeping in three hour bursts, at max. Torn between the nightmares and the exhaustion and the crash, he freaked out, passed out, and repeated the cycle until he had to get up and go to the studio.

At least this time, last night, he was back in the Byers house. Scary as shit, with the initial confusion never fading, but it's the best of the nightmares he gets. Between the dogs and the torture, Steve's brain has plenty of worse things to torment him with.

Maybe he should be grateful, but he's never been good at dealing with what he's given.

This morning, he doesn't need to take anything. He's tired, but not that tired, and he's trying to give himself breaks when he can.

He doesn't want to die. He just wants to stay awake.

He has a coffee, though. That's mostly for the taste. His tolerance is shot to hell, so it's not like caffeine makes a real difference.

Steve walks into the studio, coffee in hand, and sees the band setting up and tuning their instruments. Jeff gives him a little wave, Gareth nods absently as he tightens his snare, and Archie positively beams.

"Steve, you're a saint," he says, a little mischief in his eyes. "Different chords, finally. I could kiss you."

Steve laughs and promptly cuts himself off when he sees Eddie staring at him.

"Do I have something on my face?" he asks once the silence has stretched on for too long.

"Why are you here?" Eddie asks bluntly.

Steve, notably, doesn't flinch back. He doesn't snap. He doesn't do anything that he would regret later.

He just says, steadily, "I can go if you don't want me."

He stands there, and he swallows back his hurt. He thought Eddie was finally warming up to him. He took Eddie's fighting words as an improvement from being ignored. And, as usual, Steve thought wrong.

"Hang on a sec," Jeff says. He sets his guitar down and stands between Steve and Eddie. "I said I wanted Steve on backing vocals for this."

"Is Steve not on backing vocals?" Gareth asks from the other side of the room.

"Far as I know, he is," Archie says with a pointed look at Eddie.

Eddie turns to look at Jeff instead. Steve watches their intense staring match and thinks about just walking out.

Before he can take the first step, Eddie says, "Fine."

"Fine what?" Steve can't help but ask.

"Stay."

Steve nods, but he turns to Jeff. "Are you sure? It's fine if-"

"I'm sure," Jeff says. "I think you wrote this song more for your register than mine."

"Oh, shit, I'm sorry-"

"Don't be," Jeff says. "I changed everything I can't hit, but I just want a little more support, you know?"

Steve looks around the little studio space, around at all the cables and amps and mics and instruments, and he counts. Then counts again.

"There's only four mics," he says.

Jeff picks his guitar back up and gives it a little strum. "Share with Eddie."

"What?" Eddie says, looking like he would rather walk out than do that.

"Nothing against you, Steve," Jeff explains, ignoring Eddie. "I'm just a big personal space guy. Can't focus otherwise."

Steve looks over at Eddie, still sitting, still scowling.

"Fine," he says, because he'll be professional, even if Eddie won't.

"You guys are fucking killing me," Chrissy says, and Argyle, the audio engineer next to her, nods in agreement. "Can we get this show on the road?"

Gareth gives them a little salute, one that Chrissy rolls her eyes at. "We all ready?"

"As we'll ever be," the rest of the band choruses.

Steve shrugs. "Yeah."

"You warm up?" Eddie asks, walking toward his mic.

Steve follows. "Never do."

Eddie rolls his eyes, but then Chrissy gives them the all-clear, Gareth counts them off, and they start.

And something switches.

Steve knew this would be higher energy. Different genre, different sound, whatever. But there's something fucking electric about playing with a band instead of being by himself in an iso booth, drilling vocals until he has a take he's happy with.

Recording with a band brings a different sort of energy. It creates a feedback loop, getting them higher, playing faster, sounding better.

Steve tells himself to back off. He's not the star of this show. He's been invited, and a quarter of the people in this room don't want him here.

But filling in the gaps has always come easy to him, and he gives the backing vocals his all.

And somewhere between the guitar solo and the end of the song, Eddie smiles at him for the first time.

It's quick, but it's blinding. Steve didn't think Eddie could smile until he does. It's quick as a flash and wide and feral and a little mean, but it's there, and it's directed at him.

But just like that, the first take is over. It was messy and imperfect, and as soon as it ends, Eddie is back to scowling at him.

But it's not as harsh. And that's how Steve knows that he wasn't imagining that little bit of something.

"Holy shit," Archie says, as soon as they're done. "This is gonna be a good song."

"It's gonna be a great song," Jeff says.

"I want more from Steve," Gareth adds, and the rest of the guys agree.

Even Eddie, however begrudgingly.

"Alright, boys," Chrissy says. "You've got the fun out of your systems. Let's focus and make some music."

Steve looks over at Eddie, who nods, however slightly. And he thinks, because he has never been able to kill hope a day in his life, that they could make a good team if Eddie could stop hating his guts.

[resident-gay-bitch]

you can now find eddies pov here :))

this wasn’t going to be easy, and that was a fact.

dustin was already distraught, a blabbering fucking mess for the entire walk from the town centre to the creel house in this slimy godforsaken underworld.

they were already at their wits end, with barely a string of hope left when eddie stepped in. eddie, who was now a bad guy apparently. steve had to tackle dustin to the ground when eddie first swooped in and tried to slice nancys throat open with his claw because dustin just wanted to hug him.

that was hard enough. everything was hard enough. but now steve had to face - and probably be the one to kill because he was the brawn if nancy couldn’t - the very man who had been haunting his dreams for months and led him to ask robin the question of how she knew.

he was… rabid. clothes ripped and clinging to his body in unnatural ways, his hair a fucking wild mess, his eyes glowing red, his skin paler than usual, the tips of his fingers now black and sharp like talons, extra teeth that were far sharper than teeth should ever be, a snake like tongue, wings!, and not to mention he was soaked in blood. he had it dripping from his chin for fucks sake.

whatever that thing was, it wasn’t eddie.

but it was.

so they’d spent the past hour trying to hide and calm dustin and devise a new plan, whilst trying to survive in this hell.

yeah this was going to be the hardest thing steve’s ever done.

he was probably going to die today.

well, if he died at the hands- claws of eddie, then at least he’d be dying with something beautiful. monster or not.

they stepped back out into the road, steve leading the pack and nancy covering the back.

something swooped overhead, casting a wide shadow, and by the break in dustin’s voice, steve knew it was the eddie thing.

he looked up to see the beast pearched atop a stobie poll, crouched with his hands between his feet like an animal, his wings hanging down behind him.

he looked right at steve, and steve felt his heart stop.

covered in blood and fucking terrifying, steve still loved him.

more than ever, actually.

eddie cocked his head to the side, just looking at steve.

steve adjusted the grip of his nail bat over his shoulder, ready in position to swing. he heard nancy cock her gun, he heard mike and dustin grab onto eachother, and noticed el stepping up beside him at the ready.

eddie just sat there. he moved his head slowly forward, like he was trying to get a better look. he was assessing them, probably, figuring out the quickest way to kill them all without getting hurt.

it made steve sweat.

if eddie wasn’t so high right now, steve would just charge and take a swing. get this over with. give the kids the best advantage.

eddie quickly straightened his head out and made a sound. it was a weird sound. sort of like a creepy roll of his tongue and then a click. it sounded far too much like a demo dog for steve’s comfort.

everyone froze at eddie’s sudden moment and then started looking around after he’d made the sound.

had he called for help?

steve clenched his jaw and gripped the bat tighter, eyes fixed on eddie.

eddie raised his wings up high, spread out wide and they were big. like fucking massive. steve was sure one wing alone was longer than he was.

everyone braced for impact.

eddie made the sound again and stood, standing tall atop the electricity pole, and then he made another sound that was more like a birds chirp (if the bird was dying).

and then he moved, and everyone made sudden noise and yielded his weapons but then stopped not a second later.

eddie was falling.

he was just freefalling backwards off the stobie poll with his hands clutched at his heart.

right before he hit the ground, his wings kicked up into action and carried him back up into the air. and once he was high enough, really fucking high, he dropped again.

steve was confused.

eddie dropped and then… oh shit, he wrapped his wings around himself and was fucking spiraling through the air like an arrow, heading straight for steve.

he heard will shout to run, and everyone jumped back but-

steve was on the ground, groaning and trying to fight eddie off who was on top of him, pinning him down. steve didn’t know where his bat went.

eddie was looking at him with wide eyes.

steve’s jumped out of his skin, screaming when he heard nancys gunshot.

silence.

eddie made a small sound, a shrill one, like he was hurt.

oh he was hurt.

eddie turned his head and spread out his wing and steve could see a perfect circle cut through it. eddie looked at it, then moved his wing out of the way to scowl at nancy.

this couldn’t be good.

eddie snarled at her, his snake like tongue darting out to his before he was grabbing steve and lifting them up into the air.

steve screamed, he’d never been this high before.

nancy had aimed her gun to shoot again but dustin stopped her, there was a very good chance she’d hit steve if she did.

steve didn’t know where his bat was.

eddie started flying, steve clutched tight in his arms and he had no clue where they were going because he had his eyes squeezed shut.

he was so gonna die like this.

and then they stopped, and steve was being layed down on something… soft?

he opened his eyes to find eddie crouched over him again, his hands between his feet like before, his wings draped down behind him, his head cocked as red eyes blinked at steve curiously.

steve rubbed his head and looked around to find that he was… in the highschool theatre dressing room? he only recognised it because it was a classic in school make out spot.

he was laying on a pile of pillows and ratty old blankets that were piled on top of a few mattresses. pillows, big and small, were piled up even higher around the mattresses and it looked… it looked like a nest.

eddie made the clicky sound again and then chirped happily and crawled away.

steve was beyond confused.

he sat up and looked around.

beside him was an old mangled bear, there was just a pile of flannel shirts in one corner of the nest, eddie’s guitar was leaning up against the edge of the nest wall, there were those weirdly shaped dice dustin always carried scattered around, and… oh.

steve moved a pillow to the side a little to find his old varsity jacket stuffed there. it was dirty and a little wear for tear, but everything was in the upside down.

he wondered why eddie had it.

he moved the pillow some more to find one of his shirts there too. and then he lifted a blanket to find a whole collection of his clothes! a few shirts, a red jumper, three odd socks and one matching pair, a pair of purple boxers, his old basketball shorts, a singular sneaker that matched the one on his foot now, and a yellow sweater that steve recognised as the one he threw at eddie on the boat.

steve pet his own chest to feel the familiar bumps of the pins and patches of eddie’s battle vest laid there.

oh.

oh they- they were the same.

they missed eachother.

they barely knew eachother, but they missed not being able to learn.

steve spun around when he felt eddie’s presence again, and eddie was sitting in his same weird stance, but this time right beside steve, his face abnormally close.

steve kinda freaked out.

eddie cocked his head again, blinked those wide eyes that steve couldn’t find scary, even under the red.

steve held up the varsity jacket in one hand and gave it a waggle. eddie looked at it and then looked back at steve, then back at the jacket, then back at steve, and then he purred.

steve didn’t know why it gave him butterflies.

eddie nodded his head forward until his head bumped steve’s shoulder, and then he looked back up with those wide eyes again.

“it’s yours.” steve said simply, tugging at the sleeve of eddie’s vest on himself, “i know, i’m sorry. i hope you don’t mind. it helped ground me on the bad days.”

eddie cocked his head.

“can you understand me?” steve asked.

eddie nodded.

steve was very glad to hear that, “can you talk like me?”

eddie just looked at him.

steve sighed, “i’ll take that as a no.” he hummed, “you have a lot of my things.”

eddie dropped something else on his lap.

their old year book from eighty two. steve opened it up to the page that was indented, obviously eddie looked at it a lot.

on the page was a picture of the swim team, steve posing in one picture with one other guy - the co captains - however, the other guys face had been covered by a cutout of eddie’s face. above it in red sharpie wrote “by the time you graduate, this will be real, and he will be nice and want you back”.

steve couldn’t help his laugh.

eddie crushed on him in highschool?

steve stopped his laughing when eddie made a sharp sound of protest, and steve looked up to see his already wide eyes even wider and… a pout?

oh god, he was making a puppy dog face at steve right now.

god, steve had heard so much about his puppy dog face from wayne, he’d dreamed about being on the receiving end of one himself. and here he was, only it was different now. he had pale skin and dark eyes and blood on his chin.

steve closed his mouth and looked at the pleading expression on eddie's still pretty face, and kinda melted.

"you technically still haven't graduated, you know?" steve found himself saying, and he didn't know why. eddie was technically a demon or something. steve should be running for the hills, but...

eddie made a chipy clicky sound again and then suddenly something wet was touching his cheek and- okay, eddie was licking him.

eddie was liking him a lot, like a dog.

steve laughed and pulled away and smiled at eddie, "licking? really?"

eddie smiled and nodded, shuffled steve back into the steve pile under the blankets and made him rest there. steve did lay, and rest, leant up against the pile of pillows and old clothes. he'd forgoten all about the high stakes of everything, because all he could think about was eddie. eddie here, alive- not really there, but here no less.

eddie shoved steve into the shape he wanted and then grabbed the old mangled teddy with his teeth and crawled over to steve. he dropped himself down heavily into steves lap - causing him to jolt forward and gasp from the sudden weight and pain - and curled up. his wings wrapped around steve, caving him in. eddie nussled his head against steves chest, under the opening of the vest, the mangled teddy clutched tight in his arms, and then he purred again, a big long one.

it was so warm like this.

steve didn't care if eddie wasn't really eddie anymore, because deep down inside, he was still every bit eddie that he could be. it was this world that had turned him into something else.

plus, who was he to judge? steve was a much uglier monster at one point in his life too, bulying and kicking people to the ground during highschool, but he was still good at heart these days. eddie could be too.

he was.

there was no doubt about it.

steve ran his hand over - not through because he physically couldn't - eddie's hair and held him close, and they rested there together for a while, in eddie's home.

saving the world could wait a little while.

[blushweddinggowns]

Chrissy woke up in Robin’s arms a few hours later, rested but disoriented. There was an odd sound she couldn’t place, a jingle that her morning-sleepiness wouldn’t let her focus on. 

The music was still playing in the background, a constant loop. She looked around, relieved that everyone was still there. Nancy was curled onto her side with Max laid out at the very end of the bed. Steve and Eddie were laying on top of each other on the couch, while Dustin snored in the chair. 

She wasn’t sure what woke her up, not until she realized that tinkling was the sound of keys in the door, followed by it slamming open.

“I hate that damn door,” She heard a gruff voice say under his breath. 

Chrissy popped her head up, her eyes widening when Eddie’s uncle stepped inside. He stopped, a loud sigh escaping as he looked around the room. His eyes zeroed right onto Eddie and Steve on the couch, Eddie still peacefully asleep on Steve’s chest. 

He didn’t even look surprised. Just vaguely annoyed. 

Chrissy watched as he walked over, nudging them both until they started grumbling. Steve came to first, rubbing his eyes before looking up at Wayne with a very guilty look on his face. 

He shook Eddie with him, waking him just in time to hear it when Wayne sighed, “Boys, why are all of these people in our house?”

They looked at each other, another silent conversation raging on until Steve nodded. 

Eddie rolled off of him, landing on his feet as he looked at Wayne, “We have something to tell you. And… you’re probably going to want to sit down for it.”

The rest of the group was starting to wake now, everyone coming to consciousness from the noise. But Wayne listened. He sat on the couch, obviously confused as Steve shook Nancy awake. He whispered a few words into her ear, her eyes going from sleepy to focused in record time. 

She nodded, “You’re right. He deserves to know.”

“Will someone please explain what the hell you’re talking about?” Wayne finally snapped, “I’m getting off a ten-hour shift here.”

“I know, I know,” Eddie sighed as he sat next to him, “But you’re gonna want to hear this. Nancy, go.”

And go she went, explaining the same tale that Chrissy got, but with none of the circumstances to force her to believe it. 

By the end of it, Wayne had his head in his hands, groaning as everyone chimed in about their corroborating stories. 

He was struggling to believe it, they could all tell. Chrissy couldn’t blame him. She was still struggling, despite the fact that her life was on the line.

He finally looked up, his eyes zeroing in on Steve and Eddie. 

“So you’re saying, that day you two came home beaten and bloodied wasn’t a fight? You almost died fighting monsters. That’s what you’re telling me?”

“I-It technically was a fight-” Steve tried.

“Have you or have you not, been risking your lives for the past four years dealing with supernatural shit? Yes or no, Steven?” Wayne interrupted. 

It was enough to snap Steve’s mouth shut. Chrissy was pretty sure she’d never seen him look chastised before, but here he was. Steve nodded, nearly hiding behind Eddie as Wayne groaned. 

“W-We had to sign NDAs!” Eddie tried, “We would have told you but we didn’t think-”

“What? You thought it would be better for me to find out my kids died through some shady government agency? Do you even know how insane all of the shit you just said was! I- how do you expect me to react?!”

It worked just as well with Eddie as it did with Steve. He snapped his mouth back closed, thoroughly reprimanded.

“We’re sorry,” Steve mumbled out, oddly child-like. Almost as though he was getting scolded by his father instead of his friend’s uncle.

“Steve, I don’t want to hear it,” Wayne said, “Because neither of you are going to stop, are you? Not when that girl’s life is on the line.”

They both shook their heads and it was enough to have Wayne groaning again. 

 “I don’t want to believe you,” Wayne finally said, “I haven’t heard anything like this since I was a kid. Boys, this is just too damn much!”

“Wait, what?” Nancy asked, her soft voice ignored as Eddie jumped in. 

“But it’s true! I swear it is! Think of all the weird shit that happens here, Wayne. A kid came back from the dead. You know this town is messed up!”

Steve was still going for a more meek approach, “Are you really that mad?”

“You’re damn right I’m mad!” Wayne snapped again, “The two of you have been risking your lives for - I don’t even know! Why would you-”

“No, wait,” Nancy interrupted, firm enough to get all eyes back on her, “What did you say before? The thing about when you were a kid?”

“Nothing, nothing,” Wayne said with a wave of the hand, “Just old ghost stories.”

“But what ghost stories?” 

Wayne shrugged, “Just… something crazy. It doesn’t matter.”

“But what if it does?” Nancy pressed, “What happened to Will is probably known as a ghost story around here now, and it was at the center of everything. We have no reason to think whatever this is started with him. What if it started before?”

“She’s right,” Dustin chimed in, “What happened when you were a kid?”

Wayne sighed, rubbing a hand over his face as he spoke, “There was a man who lived on the other side of town, in that abandoned house with the stained glass. Killed his whole family. Snapped all their limbs apart like some kind of monster. They never even explained how he managed it, let alone what he did to his son. They never found his body. But he was insane not magic. He sewed his own eyes shut after, never admitting to what he did. Victor Creel doesn’t have anything to do with my kids being stupid-”

“That was his name?” Nancy interrupted, “Victor Creel? What happened to him?”

“I think he’s still at the asylum,” Wayne said, “He got a plea deal, because he was off his damn rocker. Haven’t heard anything about him since.”

 Nancy turned to Chrissy, her brow raised, “Does the stained glass ring any bells?”

Chrissy blinked at her, “I-maybe?”

from the next chapter of this fic

[libraryofgage]

CW: there is some Major Character Death here, but it's time loop, so they don't really die

Anyway! Here's a little sneak peek at one of the extras for my Modern Steve in 80s Hawkins AU

This part specifically is from the Upside Down's POV about all the previous loops ^_^

The following are just a few of the loops written about in this extra! There's a lot more than Steve and Eddie predicted in the fic lol

It decided to just pick someone. It stretched the web as far as it could, weaving itself into the other dimension so time in that place could be flexible enough for the Upside Down to peek through. People and places and times rushed over it, billions of lives and billions of experiences.  Many were bad, more were good, and even more just were; they were just simple moments of mundanity that the Upside Down treasured for their unfamiliarity. People didn’t seem to like those moments, though. It watched as they expressed disdain for something boring, dreamt of something exciting. The Upside Down decided to choose someone with a life that overflowed with those simple moments. It wanted someone who yearned for a new experience. It needed someone good (a person who felt a fundamental urge to do good things), someone who could be dropped in the middle of chaos incarnate, look around, and decide to fix it. The Upside Down chose Steve Harrington. --------- The Upside Down decided to give Steve a guide for the third try. It dropped Steve in the woods, right after the tunnel digging had started, and sent a healthy demogorgon to help him.  He didn’t immediately run away, but Steve took off when the demogorgon opened its petals to greet him. He didn’t pay attention to unfamiliar woods, tripped down a slope, and bashed his head against a sharp rock. That was, perhaps, a more embarrassing death. Even the Upside Down felt embarrassed watching it happen.  It generously repaired the web, deciding to not count this attempt. --------- The Upside Down pulled Steve to Hawkins before sending him back in time. It gently guided him to the town through his parents, making them dream of a small town and idyllic nature walks and fresh air. It watched as he followed his parents into a new home, eagerly connected its web to the door so he would travel to a week before Vecna made his move, and held its breath. Steve didn’t die this time, but he only lasted three days. He was confused by the door at first, of course. That was expected. He was easily excited once he realized he’d time traveled, and he reacted as the Upside Down had expected: Steve accepted the fact and decided to explore. He didn’t get involved with Nancy or the kids, though. In fact, he never saw them. He ran into another boy first, someone named Eddie, according to Nancy’s memories. The Upside Down didn’t see a problem at first; if Steve was around Eddie, then he’d be there when that first girl died, and his goodness would take over. Steve was there when the girl died. He saw her float to the ceiling, saw her arms and legs break, heard Eddie’s panicked worries about being blamed for everything. And his goodness did take over. It just took over in the wrong direction. He took Eddie (and Wayne, a man that was part of Eddie’s family web) and brought him home, walked him right through time so he wouldn’t get caught for a murder he couldn’t disprove. The Upside Down had been stumped by that one. It didn’t know how things could go wrong quite like that. Shouldn’t Steve have wanted to fix the root of the issue? Why had he just removed himself and two people from the situation?

The Upside Down spared Steve and Eddie one more glance, and then it repaired the web. ------ A few failed attempts later, Steve met Robin for the first time. It was in the past, before he met Eddie, at the video store. They seemed to recognize something in each other and immediately hit it off, trading jokes and friendly barbs that evolved into getting pizza together later. In that attempt, Steve didn’t get the chance to meet Eddie before taking Robin to the future the moment Vecna started killing people.  It was so unexpected that the Upside Down didn’t repair the web right away. It watched Steve and Robin live their lives, laugh and cry and struggle together, and eventually end up in the same senior center. They never changed; they only grew closer and leaned on each other when that feeling of something missing rose up their throats and made their eyes sting. The Upside Down couldn’t watch them die, though, and so it finally repaired the web to try again.

[apomaro-mellow]

Got inspired by this

Steve regretted laughing. Which is something he never thought he'd feel. But as he cackled at something Robin said, he saw the look on Dustin's face and wished he could take the laugh back. Robin went to go and show a customer something and Dustin slid over to him.

"Remind me again how she isn't 'the one'?"

"She's a one. One of a kind. The kind I don't wanna lose by asking her out."

"Whatever happened to the Harrington charm?", Dustin asked.

"Doesn't work on girls like Robin." Steve ignored him by trying to escape to the backroom. Of course Dustin followed, employees only be damned.

"I don't even think you've tried. Which confuses me. But what's got me even more confused is how you've seemed to stop trying altogether."

"Why are you so invested in my love life, huh?"

"Ew, gross", Dustin winced. "I'm not invested. I'm just tired of hearing you whine about never finding love-"

"I don't whine!"

"SO just ask her out already. Even if she says no, you can still be friends. Like Jonathan and Nancy."

Steve rolled his eyes. Then saw a lightbulb go off in Dustin's head.

"Well since Nancy's single again-"

"I'm gay!"

For the first time ever Dustin shut his trap. Steve thought he should get a trophy for this. Except he realized what he just said. Dustin, with all the grace of someone who had just been blindsided, hugged Steve tight.

"I'm...I'm here for you, man."

It was so sweet that it made Steve feel like shit. But only a little. Because now Dustin couldn't keep trying to matchmake him and Robin. Or Nancy.

Turns out the love boat only stopped for a couple days.

Steve was hanging out in his room when he heard footsteps approach. Dustin came in without a single knock.

"Um, hello? How did you get in?"

"Some lady let me in."

Steve raised a brow. "You mean my mom?"

Dustin shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. Anyway, what about Gary?"

"....Who? For what?"

"Gary? He works at the art supply store. He's gay, why not him?"

Steve shot up and shut his door like a zombie was coming. "What the fuck are you talking about Henderson?!", he hissed quietly.

"Gay people deserve love too, Steve. So how about it?"

Steve rubbed his face. Forget about how Dustin knew about some random dude's sexuality, apparently he wasn't one to be deterred.

"You can't just set me up with any guy. Or any gay guy."

"You've slept around with just any girl? Why are guys different? Seems pretty discriminatory Steve."

He wanted to strangle this kid. More than that though, he wanted to go back and slap his past self. He could have said anything. Said he was into old ladies-no, then Dustin would be sending him on blind dates to the senior center.

It felt like the only thing to get Dustin off his case would be if he was in a serious relationship with someone.

Then a second person came into his room without knocking and Steve wondered if he should be walking around naked more.

It was Jonathan.

And Steve got another bright idea.

"I can't just go out with anyone. Because I'm already dating Jonathan."

"What?!", two voices shouted out and Dustin gave Jon a look.

"Why do you sound surprised?"

Jonathan looked to Steve for help and Steve tried to convey the best he could with his eyes.

"I...we never....put a label on it....?"

Steve could kiss him if he was at all interested in men. To sell it a little better, he put an arm around his shoulders. Dustin was left speechless for the second time in a week and Steve was definitely putting it in his journal for posterity.

This time he gave them both pats on the back and walked out silently.

"Don't tell anyone!", Steve shouted behind him, then closed his bedroom door.

"Hey, um, the hell?", Jonathan asked.

"Thank you for being so cool with that."

"I'm learning to be more chill. But still, explain?"

Steve told him the whole story as they sat on his bed and through it all, Jonathan looked nothing but understanding.

"So, how long do we need to pretend to be boyfriends?"

"Who says we need to pretend?", Steve raised a brow.

"You just told Dustin."

"It's a secret we're keeping", Steve said, getting up to pace about his room. "Which means we just act normal. Later we can tell Dustin we broke up."

"How much later?"

Steve pondered. "....Once I'm engaged?"

"Steve!"

"Jonathan, please?"

He looked conflicted. This just seemed like a lot of stupid work just to convince Dustin. "You get 2 months? Got it? Put it on your calendar."

"Thank you! I'll do it right now!" Steve grabbed a pen and went over to the calendar that hung on the wall. He went to February 3rd and put a broken heart on the date.

"Subtle."

"No one else looks at this thing. Alright. If our break up is bad enough maybe Dustin will stop butting his head in."

"What if the others find out?", Jonathan asked.

"No one else is gonna know."

----------------------------------

Lucas had been noticing that Dustin had that weird grin on his face for the past week. The 'I know something you don't know' grin. While sitting in Steve's living room, shoulder to shoulder with Max, who he nudged.

"You notice anything off with Dustin?"

"You mean more than the usual offness? Yes, actually."

"What do you think it is?", Lucas asked.

Will came to sit on Lucas' other side. "My guess is he has a secret. But what, I don't know."

"So it's pretty obvious, right?", Lucas said.

"No, I said as much to Mike and he said I was being crazy and that Dustin wouldn't keep anymore secrets after Dart."

Their eyes went over to Dustin, who was grinning at the group who was deciding on the movie they were gonna watch. Steve and Eddie were in a heated conversation while Jonathan was trying to be a mediator.

Steve was flapping around a vhs so hard it threatened to sail across the room and Jonathan grabbed his wrist to still it, scared for the innocent movie.

"Get a room, you lovebirds", Dustin called out.

All eyes turned towards him.

Part 2

[justmeinadaze]

We're A Family Part 9 (Steddie X You)

A/N: Ok, I did warn you people so don't come at me lol Good feels and bad feels abound. Idk where this came from. Probably from some person stuff Im struggling with. But alas...Enjoy!

Warnings: Smut, ALL the angst, and fluff at the beginning and end to warm your souls, Someone from Eddie's past comes into play so his trauma is mentioned (i.e Child abuse and his mom leaving), Dylan talks a bit about his feelings with Charlie. I think those are the big triggers here.

Word Count: 4127

“I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream I know you, that look in your eyes is so familiar a gleam And I know it's true that visions are seldom all they seem But if I know you, I know what you'll do You'll love me at once, the way you did once upon a dream.”

You grin from your place on the floor as you watch Eddie strum his guitar and sing as Steve holds her hands while she tries to balance on her feet. 

Aurora’s first birthday was coming up and you felt like time was just flying by. Steve had started school, choosing to utilize the night program so he could at least spend time with the kids while they were awake if he was off that day. Eddie had just recently been promoted to manager at the auto shop which he had originally accepted because it paid more but found that he actually enjoyed the work it provided. 

Dylan seemed to be getting along ok and was his usual happy self. While he still loved playing the guitar, he asked you if he could sign up for the Hawkins little league team and had steadily grown to being one of the best players on the team. When you picked him up from practice one day you noticed how his face changed as he hit the ball, like he was letting out all his frustrations with the tiny bat in his hands. 

After what happened your son barely brought up Charlie, following through with calling Steve and Eddie “dad” whenever he addressed them. You sent him texts of updates regarding Dylan but Vivian was the only one to ever reply and usually it was something simple like “Thank you.”

“What’s mama concentrating so hard on, huh?”, Eddie smiled as he looked your way.

“We’re going to have her birthday here, right?”

“Yeah, why not. Wayne said he’d be able to make it and I have the day off.”

“Me to. I made sure to ask for it like 3 months in advance.” Steve flops down on the floor, Aurora wiggling out of his grasp to crawl to the metalhead as she pats on his guitar. “My mom will be swinging by. I assume Robin and Kierra to, of course.”

“I have some friends at work that want to come and bring their kids. Dylan knows a few of them.”

“That will be fun for him. Maybe I can invite the guys. I know they’ve been wanting to see her again.” Eddie leans forward and kisses the baby’s cheek making her giggle. 

You stretch out on the floor in front of you and she promptly crawls towards you bumping her head into yours. “Ow. You have a hard head.” You reach out to mess with her curls the way they do. 

“She’s a headbanger like me. Yeah? Just like dada. Dada?” Eddie chuckles as she falls back on her butt, watching him speak before looking over at you. 

“Dada? Can you say that? Say I’m just like dada.” Both men laugh until a breathy sound escapes her tiny mouth. You grin at her encouragingly as they completely freeze. “There you go. Come on, baby. Dada.”

“Da…da.”

“Oh my god.” Eddie quickly picks her up and places her on his lap as Steve pulls out his phone. “Can you say it again? Who am I? Am I dada?”

“Da…dada.”

He hugs her to his chest as the three of you smile excitedly. “That’s right, princess. I’m your dada.” He turns her around to face Steve. “That’s your dada to.”

You scoot towards the other man and point at his chest as her wide eyes watch you intently. “Dada?” She follows your finger as you point between them repeating the phrase hoping she doesn’t get confused. Her little hand reaches towards Steve’s phone and he pulls it out of her reach as she crawls towards him, headbutting his chin before he places a kiss on her head. 

“Da…da.” She falls onto her back looking up at him as she reaches her hand out again. “Da…da…da.”

##############

“No, she can’t be talking yet.”, Wayne grins as he bounces the baby on his hip. “You need to stay a baby as long as possible. Your dad grew up too fast and I hate it.”

You grin at him as Dylan and the other kids run past you out to the backyard where some of your friends were sitting on the patio talking amongst themselves. 

“Yeah, Steve went from toddler to high schooler in the blink of an eye.”, Mrs. Harrington smiled from her place at the table. 

“Stop it, both of you!”, you giggle. “I still haven’t accepted that this year my son will be 9. I can’t even think about high school.”

The boys were both outside entertaining the older kids while you started cleaning up some of the plates from the table and putting away the left-over food. A knock on the door startled you as you looked in that direction. 

“That’s weird. No one else should be coming…” Drying your hands, you head towards the front door. A beautiful, older woman a bit younger than Wayne stood before you smelling to high heaven like cigarettes. Her long black hair cascaded down her shoulders over a Van Halen t-shirt and some obnoxiously tight blue jeans. There was something familiar about her but you couldn’t exactly pinpoint what it was. “Can I help you?”

“Hi. Uh, does Edward Munson live…here?”, she asked as she looked around behind you. 

“May I ask what you need with him?”

“Or even Wayne… I recognized the truck outside…”

You leaned back, gently calling for the man as he strode over. He froze in place when their eyes met. 

“You can’t be here.”

“Wayne, I need to talk to my son.”

“You should have done that 15 years ago, Lynn, when you left him on my doorstep.” He frustratingly sighed as his eyes met your panicked ones. “I got this, Y/N. Go ahead and get back to your guests.” Wayne stepped further out and closed the door behind him. 

Numbly, you headed back to the kitchen where Steve was talking with his mom who was holding Aurora. He noticed immediately something was off, running to your side. 

“Baby, what’s wrong?”

“We…we need to keep Eddie outside.”, you whisper. 

“Honey, why? What’s wrong with Eddie?”

The man himself comes in holding Dylan upside down in his arms as the small boy laughs. You both meet his eyes and he blinks as he flips his son back around, placing his feet on the ground.

“What’s wrong?”

“Eddie…I…”

“No, Wayne! I have every right to at least talk to him!”

“Lynn! This isn’t your house!”

Eddie’s mom rounded the corner, her eyes locking with his. “Edward.”

“Mom?”

################

You and Steve busied yourselves around the living room, cleaning up from the party. Everyone had gone home and Dylan had taken Aurora up to her room before laying on the floor to keep her company while everything unfolded. 

“Why don’t you go upstairs to, Y/N?”, Steve whispered. 

“Steve Harrington, if I didn’t leave you alone with your father what makes you think I’d even consider leaving him here with her.”

“Because Wayne and I are here to keep him safe.”

All three Munson’s sat at the dining room table silently as Eddie glared into the void with his arms crossed, his leg bouncing under the table. 

“Whose birthday is it?”, she asked, sighing when no one answered. “I’m going to guess from the pink cake I saw that woman put away it’s the baby girls?”

“’That woman’ is my wife and ‘the baby girl’ is my daughter.” Eddie’s tone dripped with venom and it killed you. Eddie rarely ever got angry and even when he did it wasn’t anywhere near the level Charlie had gotten to more than a few times. The only time you ever heard him really scream and shout was during D & D or on stage. 

“Um, can I smoke in here or—”

“No.”, everyone responded in unison.

“Jesus, fine. It’s not a big deal, you know. I used to smoke around Edward all the time.”

“Yeah, that’s why I’m so well adjusted. Either that or the abandonment.”

“Look, Lynn, just tell the boy why you’re here so you can be on your way.” Wayne seemed more in control than his nephew but his anger was just as strong as he glared at the woman across from him. 

She exhales as she straightens up in her seat. “I, uh, have you spoken to your father?”

It was Steve’s turn to sigh as he sat at the foot of the stairs, you leaning against the wall in front of him where you could still keep an eye on everything. 

“What reason would I have to do that?”

“Because he’s your father.”

“Oh, fuck you. Do you really want to play that game right now?!”

“Eddie!” Wayne extended his arm towards the boy, gesturing for him to calm down. “Get to the point, Lynette.”

“He needs help. Your father has an opportunity to get his sentence reduced but he needs character witnesses. We thought…maybe…”

You growled as you began stepping forward, Steve immediately reaching out to grip your arm and hold you in place. 

“I don’t think my testimony would help. ‘Yes, your honor, he may have taught me how to boost cars, threaten people, and beat the shit out of me but I assure you he’s a really great guy!’”

“Eddie, he wasn’t perfect but he did the best he could.”

The metalhead chuckled as he rose from his chair, clenching his fists as he paced in place. “Best he could… Wayne did the best he could. I fucking do the best I can for my kids. Dad did jack shit for me and I still haven’t gotten an apology…from either of you!” 

Your heart breaks as you watch him get slowly wound up.

“Is that seriously all you showed up for after all these years? To ask me to lie for him? You seriously are amazing. You hunt me down, show up at my daughter’s birthday party, barge into our house… you don’t even bother to try and get to know me or my family…just thought ‘hey I’ll see if he’s available to lie to a judge. He definitely has nothing to lose.’”

“How did you know where he was?” All heads turn to you as you step into the area turning to face his mother. “Who told you where to find him?” Your eyes meet as she sighs again. 

“Jesus fucking Christ, Lynn.”, Wayne groans. 

“He still has friends in town including some that work at the plant with his uncle…”

Eddie’s gaze shift between the three of you trying to figure out what you all know.

“How long have you been talking to him?”, you ask. When she doesn’t answer the anger in your body starts to boil over. “Eddie has a right to know especially since he never even got so much as a fucking postcard! Yet you can keep in touch with his asshole dad.”

“Allen is my husband—”

“And Eddie was your son! How fucking dare you—”

“Baby, come on.” Steve comes up behind you and tugs you to him. “Remember, there are kids in the house. Calm down.” He reassuringly rubs your arms as you aggressively huff in his chest.

“How long?”, Eddie asks. “Since he went in?” He laughs when she nods. “Get the fuck out of my house.”

Her jaw tightens as she stands, reaching in her pocket to place a card on the table. “I’ll be in Hawkins for the next month or so. If you change your mind, just call me here.” 

Wayne walks her out as you and Steve watch the metalhead continue to fume.

“Eddie…”

“No! No one come near me right now!”

He continues to bounce on his toes as his fingers run frustratingly through his hair before abruptly hurling his fist through the air and punching the nearby wall. 

############

“Where are we going?”

“Oh, come on, Ed. You know by now 90% of the time we all get into a car, it’s bound to be a surprise to at least one person.”, Steve grins. “And like always, Dylan is the mastermind behind this venture.”

You son smiles from his place in the back seat as the other man pulls up into a parking lot. 

“Aren’t these the batting cages he practices at?”

Dylan hops out of the car, ushering for Eddie to do the same as he takes his hand with Steve following behind. You linger back to gather Aurora and allow your son to work his magic.

He leads the metalhead towards an empty area explaining to him why the helmet is important and which type of bats he prefers while his other dad finds a bench near the cage, motioning for you to sit beside him. 

“Ok, so when the ball comes, you’re going to want to swing as hard as you can.” Eddie understood enough about sports to get that was a given but, for Dylan, continued to react like this was all new information for him. 

When the first ball shot out, he swung and missed. 

“No, dad, that’s ok. I know it can be a bit fast. You have to try and keep your eye on the ball as it comes towards you and lower your hands a bit.” 

The ball shot out again and this time Eddie hit it, sticking out his tongue towards you and Steve as you both cheered in your little area. Aurora noticed and began pressing her hands together as she smiled, pointing her tiny fingers in his direction. 

The next few balls that head his way, he hits and sends towards the net on the other end that makes your son smile with pride. 

“Now, when I play, sometimes I think about… my other dad…how angry he makes me.” Eddie’s eyes meet his as he continues. “I think about how he left and how he treats my mom. How he never wanted to spend time with me like you guys do…”

Steve reached for your hand when he noticed your body stiffen as you watched them. You couldn’t hear what your son was saying but he looked so heartbroken. 

Eddie took his stance again, images flashing through his mind of his parents and how they treated him when he was a kid.

“Jesus Allen, how am I supposed to send him to school looking like this?!” His mother gestures towards the fresh welt on Eddie’s face from where his dad had smacked him. 

“Look, the little fucker almost got us caught! He cut the wrong wire and the fucking car alarm went off.”, his dad growled. 

The crack of the bat hitting the ball made you jump as he hit it harder than he had before. Over and over again, Eddie swung as hard as he could, not thinking about form or how his hands should be. With each memory he let loose, feeling the weight of the last few days lift off him. 

The machine tossing the balls whizzed to a stop as the metalhead panted, trying to catch his breath. 

“Dada.” Aurora reached his way before clapping like she had seen you do.

Eddie’s head hung as he began to cry, wrapping his arms around Dylan’s shoulders as he came to hug him. Handing the baby to Steve, you entered the cage tugging them both into your embrace. 

############

That night Eddie crashed between both of you, you clinging to his back as his head rested on Steve’s chest. While you two slept, Steve laid awake thinking about the last few days and everything the man he cared about was feeling. He hated that he couldn’t wave a wand and fix the pain the metalhead was feeling. Even though he had a much more violent up bringing in the beginning than Steve ever did, he knew what it was like to feel that abandonment when it came to both his parents. He was so grateful that his mom was being more present while trying to be better and he so desperately wanted that for you both.

Eddie’s palm moved against the boy’s chest as a tiny grumble left his lips. 

“Steve? Why are you still awake?”

“Thinking.”

“Hm. Well stop it. You have work tomorrow, man.”

“Ed, you know I love you, right? You can talk to me about anything…”

“Geez, you’re starting to sound like Y/N. ‘Would you still love me if…’”, he changes his voice to sound like yours as he smiles. 

“I’m serious, Eddie.”

Eddie opens his eyes fully as he pushes up on his elbow to look down at Steve. “I know. I just… Honestly, I thought I had left all that in the past.”

“What triggered everything these past couple of days? Was it just seeing her again?”

“Partly. Most of it was finding out she had still been talking to my dad. Couldn’t manage to pick up a fucking phone to call me but can take the time to write letters to her abusive, criminal husband. It just made me feel like I was ten all over again being left behind.”

Eddie felt your arms tighten around him as you nuzzled into his back between his shoulder blades. 

“Are you going to talk to your dad?”

“Wayne is my dad.” Steve nods in understanding before rolling on to his side to face the other boy. “Thanks, Steve. I, uh, I know we don’t…do the whole romantic thing like we do with Y/N but I do know you love me and, of course, I love you.”

“Of course.”, the boy chuckles as he reaches for Eddie’s face pulling him in for a gentle kiss. 

The other man giggles as Steve’s kisses get bolder and more passionate. “I’m kinda limited with this seatbelt around my chest.” His grin grows when he feels you hug him tighter before kissing his shoulder.

“You like it.”, you mumble with a smile as you release him from your hold and stretch. 

Steve pushed Eddie on to his back, immediately attaching his lips to his neck as he sucked and nibbled on the metalhead’s sweet spot. He lightly moaned as he turned to meet your soft but worried eyes. 

“You okay, baby?”

Eddie nodded as his thumb reached out to glide along your bottom lip before he pulled them to his own. He needed this, needed to feel and taste you both; the two people in this world that loved him unconditionally. 

Steve placed feathery kisses down his chest, reaching down into the boy’s shorts to pull out his cock. After scooting down the bed, you grab the waistband around Eddie’s hips, removing the garment to allow for more access. 

As you run your fingers through Steve’s hair, he leans down over the man’s length and a long line spit falls over the tip. Eddie groans as he strokes it with his palm, coating him with his saliva before taking him in to his mouth.  

Tilting your head, you drag your tongue along the parts of his cock he isn’t able to reach as one of your tiny hands reached to massage his balls.

“Jesus… that feels…feels so good.” 

Steve’s mouth came off him with a pop, his own tongue tracing the veins to his shaft where it found yours. Eddie perched up on his elbows, watching as you two kissed with his cock between your lips. You took over so the other man could hastily remove his boxers.

Eddie sat up, grabbing your jaw and pulling you in for a sloppy kiss before falling back down to his pillow with you in tow. 

“Turn, princess.”

When he released you, you tore off your shirt as you rolled over so your back was flush to his chest. He roughly yanked off your underwear, mewling as he glided his tip through your folds. 

“Take whatever you need, Eddie. I’m yours.”

You both moaned as he pushed himself into your entrance, kissing your neck as his arms held you tightly to him. 

The bed moved slightly as Steve laid behind him, gripping his hips as he guided his cock slowly into him. 

“Fuck, fuck, fuck…”, Eddie panted. The sound of their heavy breathing was driving you crazy as your pussy clenched around him. “Ha-harder, Steve.”

As he honored his request, you push your hips back against his own, meeting each thrust with a moan that had Eddie’s eyes flutter closed. You clung to his hand as you craned your neck as much as you could to see their faces. 

Steve abruptly pulled out, grabbing Eddie’s waist and tugging him out of you and onto his hands and knees. The metalhead’s hair hung with his head as the other boy thrust back into him, one of his palms reaching out absently for you. 

Sliding underneath him, he lifted his arm so you could find his cock and guided it back into your dripping cunt. With this new position it gave him more leverage to utilize his hips he pumped into you and pushed back onto Steve. 

“God, you both feel so fucking good.”

You whimpered as you felt the coil winding in your belly, extending your hand between you as you rubbed your clit. 

“Eddie, yes. Please… don’t stop.”

The boy pushes up on his knees and Steve wrapped his arm around his chest to keep him steady as he pounded into you. You glance up at them with admiration as Eddie’s eyes close and Steve’s head leans against his shoulder. How did I get so lucky?

“I love you.”

Both sets of eyes look down at you as you softly smile before covering your mouth with your palm, your back lifting off the bed as came. Eddie’s face scrunches in pleasure as he grunts and cums inside of you. Steve tilts him forward slightly, gripping his shoulder as he thrusts his seed into him. 

The metalhead lifts you, bringing you back up more comfortably towards the pillows and settles beside you. You play with his hair as his head rests on your chest, his arm and leg slung over your body.

“I love you to. I’m sorry if I’ve been kind of out of it these past couple of days.”

“Eddie, baby, you don’t have to apologize for something like that. I…we just hate seeing you hurt, ya know?” His mess of curls graze your chin as he nods. “I heard you answer Steve’s question but if you change your mind, we’re here for you.” 

You giggle when a shirt hits your face. “Your daughter is babbling. Clothes, beautiful people.”

You and Eddie playfully whine as he pulls on his shorts and you throw on his shirt right as Steve bounces in with a bright eyed one year old. 

“Ma’am, it is 4am. Why are you awake?” She grins as she reaches for you. “Is it because daddy let you take a nap?”

Steve holds up his hands defensively. “Okay, okay. I get it. I messed up.”

Aurora smacks Eddie’s chest and he pretends to wince. “Ow, child. I’m fragile.”

“Dada.”

“Ok, princess. You mastered dada. What about the person that pushed you out, huh?” You laugh as you lean on his shoulder. Steve climbs beside you, tenderly reaching out to smooth her hair. “Mama? Say mama?”

She rubbed her eyes as she looked around the room babbling incoherently. 

“Yeah, that’s about right.”, he chuckles. Both men try to mimic what you had done before pointing at you and repeating the word. 

There was a small knock on your door and as soon as you granted permission, Dylan’s sleepy frame came into view. 

“Why are you up, weirdo?”

“I had to go pee—”

“Thanks for the update.”

He lazily smiles at Eddie. “AND I heard you talking to Ro.”

Steve gestures him over and helps lift the boy onto the bed. “We’re trying to get her to say ‘mama’.”

Dylan grins, poking the baby’s nose making her laugh before he does the same to you. “Mama.” Her eyes widen as he does it again, absorbing his motions. Your son repeats the action, this time saying nothing when he touches your nose. Aurora’s face scrunches just like yours when you’re annoyed. 

Her tiny finger reaches for your face and you lift her to her feet as she pokes your nose like he did. 

“Ma…ma. Ma.”

“Well shit.”, Steve chuckles.

Dylan smiles in triumph as he kisses his sister’s cheek. “Dad! You can’t talk like that. We have a baby in the house.”

############

@adequate-superstar @kalinaselennespeaks @alienthings

@notasimp4joey @manda-panda-monium

@decadentwombatmiracle @katie-tibo @marsupiooo

@local-stoner-bitch @steamystrangerfics

@lunatictardis @adaydreamaway08 @hazydespair

@actuallyspencerreid @moviefreak1205

@waylandmorgernsternherondal-blog

@kik51199 @strngrlytn @idkidknemore @damon-loves-pie

@k-k0129 @micheledawn1975 @eddie86baby

@justmeandmymeanderingthoughts

@3rriberri @sashaphantomhive @chelebelletx @big-ope-vibes

@munsonzzgf @sidthedollface2

[robinbuckleyistheloml]

"You changed my life"

Pairing: Robin Buckley X Nancy Wheeler

Summary: After avoiding Robin for longer than she should have, Nancy finally confronts her feelings.

Warnings: A sprinkle of angst at the beginning, Confessing feelings, Struggling with sexuality, Fluff fluff fluff, my shitty writing skills.

A/N: Here's an old blurb I wrote for a different tumblr account that I never actually posted lol. Hope you guys enjoy

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡ Neither of them knew how they got into this position. Weeks after the final fight against Vecna, Nancy and Robin were practically strangers again. Not by choice by one of them. Robin was utterly confused on why Nancy had suddenly disappeared from her life. Robin being the anxious person she is, jumped to the worst conclusions she could come up with, which Steve tried to talk her out of which didn’t do much. “Robin, she’s probably just busy. Have you ever thought about that?” He said to her one day during their shift at Family Video. She scoffed as she placed more tapes back on their respective shelves. “Steve, every time I try to talk to her, she runs away from me. Runs, like I’m gonna kill her or something. I thought she and I were friends. But, clearly I was wrong.” Robin continued on, pacing up and down the aisle of the small store. Steve was exasperated at this point, having heard a similar tangent every day for the past three weeks. Before he could try talking her out of the panic attack that she was on the verge of, the bell above the door signaled that a customer had come in. “Hey, how can I-Nance?” Steve said, greeting a very hesitant Nancy Wheeler. “Uh, hey. Is Robin here?” Just then, Robin walked out from one aisle. She stood for a moment, frozen in front of Nancy.

She couldn’t find words to say. “H-hi.” She muttered out, her eyes wandering everywhere except the girl in front of her. “I’m just going to uh…take care of some boxes in the back.” Steve said as he walked towards the back room, leaving the two girls alone. Nancy walked towards Robin, now only a few feet in front of her. “Um, I was wondering if you wanted to hang out tonight?” Robin had a look of confusion, after the three weeks of barely anything, Nancy wanted to hang out. Alone? “Uh, I-I um, I’d love to. I mean, yeah, sure.” Robin was internally facepalming at herself. Why was she so awkward? “Okay, cool. I’ll see you later.” Nancy said, standing there a moment longer. “Uh, yeah. See you later.” Robin said awkwardly, her hand coming up to rub the back of her neck. Nancy gave the girl a small wave and smile-and what Robin thought was a slight blush- before walking out the door. Robin stared off into the parking lot as Nancy got in her car and drove off. She was pulled from her gaze at the sound of Steve clearing his throat.

“So, it looks like she isn’t ignoring you anymore?” Robin rolled her eyes, then turned around to face him. “Shut up, Dingus. Maybe she’s going to tell me all the reasons she hates me.” She walked over to the counter, jumping up to sit on it. “Stop thinking of worst-case scenarios. You’re gonna freak yourself out about something that you don’t even know for sure.” He walked over to stand opposite of her. She scoffed. “I’m being realistic Steve. I’ve been through this before. The whole getting close to someone, thinking they’re going to stay, and then getting my heart ripped out of my chest. I’m just mentally preparing myself for how badly this one is going to hurt.”

“Why is it going to hurt so much if you lose Nancy as a friend? Last summer you called her a priss, remember?” Steve had a shit-eating grin on his face, he knew exactly why it would suck for Robin. He just wanted her to actually admit it. “I-it’s going to hurt because-oh screw you.” Steve let out a laugh as Robin placed her head in her hands, letting out a grunt of frustration. “Oh, come on, Rob. DId you really think I wouldn’t catch on? You abruptly stopped talking about VIckie the second you and Nancy officially became friends. It’s not exactly rocket science.” Robin picked her head up, shooting a glare to Steve. “Yeah, well she;s your ex. Did you really expect me to just say ‘Oh, yeah, by the way, your ex is hot and I’d really like to kiss her’?” Steve tilted his head, a look that says ‘you know what I meant’. “No, but you could’ve been honest with me about having feelings for her. I’m over her, so it’s okay, seriously.” Robin let out a sigh as Steve leaned against the counter. “Thank you. But, I don’t even know if she….or what she’s even going to say to me tonight.” Steve gave Robin a small reassuring smile, opening his mouth to speak but getting interrupted by the door opening once again.

As Steve pulled to a stop in front of Nancy’s house, he turned to look at a very anxious Robin. “Breathe. It’s Nancy, she doesn’t bite.” Robin gave him a small glare, a huff leaving her mouth. “Yeah yeah, bye.” Robin said, reaching behind her seat to grab her bag. As she got out of the car, Steve yelled out after her. “You know, a thank you would be nice for being your personal chauffeur!” Robin turned around, giving a small smile. “Thank you, Stevie!” She said with a laugh. “I thought we were done with that nickname!?” He yelled, Robin gave him a small wave, turning back to walk the rest of the way to the front door. Steve drove off just as Robin rang the doorbell. What was only a few seconds, was the longest wait of Robin’s life. Before she could change her mind and just walk away, Nancy opened the door. It was obvious with the giant smile on her face the moment she saw the tall girl standing on her doorstep, she was extremely happy to see Robin. “Hey. We can go up to my room.” Nancy said, gesturing for Robin to come in. As she crossed the threshold of the doorway, smelling the familiar scent of Nancy’s perfume, she had a wave of relief wash over her.

The two girls made their way up the stairs, into the familiar bedroom that was Nancy’s. Nancy sat on the edge of her bed, Robin stood by the doorway, putting her bag down. She stood awkwardly for a moment before Nancy gestured to the spot next to her. “You know you can sit down, right?” Nancy gives a soft smile as Robin slowly walks over to sit down. The two girls sit in silence for a moment, neither one knowing what to say. Nancy finally speaks. “I know I’ve sort of been avoiding you for the past few weeks. And I’m sorry about that. I just….I needed time to think about some things.” Robin looks up at Nancy, seeing a few tears threatening to fall. “That’s fine. I get that. It just….it felt like I did something wrong. Did I do something wrong?” Robin now had tears welling in her eyes. Nancy couldn’t speak. She didn’t even know how Robin would take it. “Tell me what I did wrong, Nance. Please.” She was pleading, small tears falling down her cheeks. Nancy shook her head gently. “You didn’t do anything wrong, I promise. It was the opposite of that actually. You did something that caught me so off guard, that after everything, I needed time to process it.” Robin tilted her head in confusion. Nacy brought her hand up to wipe the tears off Robin’s cheek. The touch made Robin gasp lightly.

Nancy gave a gentle smile, her eyes softening at the girl sitting in front of her. “You trusted me when I didn’t even trust myself. That’s something that I never got, ever. But, you did it blindly, when you barely knew me. And that made me realize some things about myself. It scared me and being around you was just making me lose my mind. But, now I think I finally understand it.” Her hand was brought down to hold Robin’s, gently running her thumb over the other girl’s knuckles. Robin’s eyes were drawn to their hands, hoping this meant what she thought. “What do you mean by that exactly?” Nancy turned her body towards Robin, letting out a soft sigh. “I mean, I realized that my feelings for Jonathan didn’t exist anymore. That they were replaced by feelings for you, a million times stronger than what I ever felt for him or Steve.” Robin sat there, frozen.

Her face painted a different story for Nancy, as she then frantically tried to take back what she said. “Oh god. You hate me now, don’t you? Oh, this was so stupid. You know what, forget I said anything I can’t believe I-.” Nancy’s frantic rambles were cut off by Robin’s lips colliding into hers. After a moment of realization, Nancy kissed back, relaxing fully into it. Her hands made their way into Robin’s hair, as Robin’s arms wrapped around the girl. After a few minutes they both pulled away to catch their breath. Then it hit Robin. “Wait, what about Jon-.”

“He and I broke up two weeks ago.” Robin's head tilted, more questions circulating in her head. “Because of me?” Nancy shook her head. “No. I had….he and I grew apart. It was bound to happen. Me realizing how I felt about you just sped the process up a little.” Robin’s eyes fell to the ground, avoiding Nancy’s gaze. “Are you okay?” Nancy asked, placing a gentle hand on Robin’s leg. “Uh, yeah. Just….this is not what I was expecting to happen tonight.” She followed it with a small laugh, getting a senile look from Nancy. “You really are full of surprises, Wheeler.” Nancy gives a little shrug. “Eh, I try to keep things interesting.” She lets out a small laugh before leaning in to kiss Robin again, just a quick peck this time.

“What was that for?” Nancy shrugged again, she then scooted to the top of the bed, going under the covers. “Because I wanted to kiss you, Dingus.” She gives a smirk, followed by Robin crawling her way to lay down next to Nancy. As they snuggle into each other, the warmth of each other engulfing them, they both let out a content sigh.

Nancy places her head in Robin’s chest, moving her body closer to the tall girl. Robin’s hand inadvertently moves up to run through Nancy’s hair. Barely five minutes later, they were both asleep. This was what they have both waited for their entire lives. Robin, someone who would listen to her never ending rambles, doesn’t love her despite them, but because of them. And Nancy, someone who would believe in her even if she didn’t quite believe in herself. They had each other now, and they weren’t going to let go anytime soon.

[allyricas]

Thinking about an angsty steddie fic based on the great war...

"My knuckles were bruised like violets, sucker punching walls, cursed you as I sleep-talked. Spineless in my tomb of silence, tore your banners down, took the battle underground. And maybe it was ego swinging, maybe it was her. Flashes of the battle come back to me in a blur."

Steddie secret relationship post Star Court. It starts when Steve goes to Eddie for weed to help with his migraines. They get to know each other and Steve falls hard. Eddie is into Steve too, but refuses to give him any benefit of the doubt, still thinking of him as King Steve.

Eddie wants to open up but struggles to trust him. He's waiting for things to go bad. So he tries to not fall in love. He fails miserably at this.

"You said I have to trust more freely but diesel is desire, you were playin' with fire and maybe it's the past that's talkin' screamin' from the crypt. Tellin' me to punish you for things you never did. So I justified it..."

The upside down would fuck everything up. Eddie assumes the worst and pulls away. He takes Steve hiding things as proof he was right to be cautious. And then everything goes from bad to worse when he watches Nancy make eyes at Steve. She is patching him up and it's inevitable that he'll choose her.

Every doubt, every insecurity feels justified as he watches the boy he swore he wouldn't love run back to Nancy's arms. He knew this would end badly, he didn't think it'd involve an alternative hell dimension and being accused of murder only for the townfolk to start an actual witch hunt.

Losing Steve should be miniscule compared to everything going on, but it hurts worse than all of it combined.

"It turned into something bigger somewhere in the haze, got a sense I'd been betrayed."

The final blow is hearing his boyfriend tell Nancy about his dream to have a brood of Harringtons. To have the white picket heterosexual dream that he can never give him. So, he ices Steve out. When he later hears Steve tell Nancy that she's there, he walks away before Steve can finish.

Yeah, Nancy is there and Robin and the kids. But most importantly so is Eddie. He tells her that she's family, that he already has his family. He wants them to be close without the past hanging over them. And that he is in love with Eddie.

Eddie and Dustin are still the distraction. Steve and Eddie have their awkward little goodbye. Except in this universe, Steve turns back around and kisses Eddie. Tells him to be safe, that he loves him.

Eddie is pissed and confused but he nods. Doesn't respond which breaks Steve's heart. They all barely make it out, Eddie dies several times only surviving because of Steve and Nancy performing CPR and dragging him out of the Upside Down.

Of course, Steve won't leave his side. And when Eddie finally wakes up, Steve just bursts into tears because he almost lost him. Steve is sobbing, saying how much he loves him and Eddie is so confused.

"Looked up at me with honor and truth, broken and blue, so I called off the troops. That was the night I nearly lost you."

He finally just asks Steve about what he overheard. Steve tells him the rest of it and Eddie is now crying too.

Uncle Wayne and the not-so-dead Chief Hopper walk in on them curled up in Eddie's hospital bed. They are kissing, but carefully and they are both still crying but they're together. They made it through and things are going to only get better.

"Always remember, Uh-huh, we're burned for better. I vowed I would always be yours 'cause we survived the Great War."

[morganski-19]

I Don't Know Which Way's Home

Chapter 11: Holidays

ao3 link, Part 1, Part 10

Present Day, December 1986

“Why does your house look emptier than normal?” Robin asks, leaning on the kitchen counter.

“Probably because it’s not drowning in Christmas decorations like your house is,” Steve responds, pulling the frozen pizza out of the oven.

Robin cranes her neck to look in the doorway to the living room. Normally there would be a large tree sitting in front of the window, but this year there’s not. Steve thought about decorating, thought about doing something for the holidays. But so much has happened in the past few weeks that he just forgot. Or didn’t have time to think about it.

And when he did have time to think about it, he didn’t know what to do. He thought about asking Julie what she wanted to do but didn’t want to push. This was going to be a hard time for her, the first Christmas without her mom. Thanksgiving came and went without either of them noticing or saying something about it. Having just moved in, Julie was still adjusting, so Steve didn’t bring it up.

But now, there wasn’t really an excuse now. Steve should have asked. Should have asked what her mom used to do to make it feel like something was happening, instead of him just ignoring it. But the holidays were a sore subject for him too, and he tended to avoid it until it sprung on him. Buy gifts for his friends, expecting nothing in return, and then spend Christmas alone in his big house.

At least that’s how it went until Dustin called him on Christmas morning and practically dragged him out of the house to come spend it with him and his mom. It was nice having something to do. Something that was considered normal, a staple. And now this year he was invited to the Byers’ for Christmas Eve dinner.

Steve wanted to go, continue the little traditions he has made for himself. But then there was Julie. He didn’t know how she wanted to go about this. Or if she wanted to go to places where she barely knew the people there.

He just really needed to ask.

“Your house does look suffocating, and that’s coming from someone who’s uncle is a Catholic,” Eddie pipes in, trying to take a piece of the pizza but flinching away.

“I just pulled that out of the oven, give it a minute.”

Eddie flips him off gently, while trying again with his other hand. A knock comes from the front door, and Steve excuses himself to go answer it.

Nancy is on the other side, smiling. “Hey,” she says excitedly.

“Nance, welcome home,” Steve ushers her in and pulls her in for a hug. “I thought you were supposed to get back last week.”

“Yeah, I was, but I got held up at work. How’s it going? I haven’t been able to get a hold of you for a while.”

Steve rubs the back of his neck. “It’s been interesting. I’ll have to fill you in-.”

“Steve, who was at the,” Robin walks into the hallway. “Oh my god, Nancy, hi.” She runs up and almost tackles Nancy into a hug.

Eddie wanders into the hallway, confused. “Oh, hey Wheeler. Welcome back.”

“Thanks,” Nancy mumbles while Robin still squeezes her. When Robin pulls back, Nancy tries to lean in for a kiss, but Robin stops her.

“There’s someone else in the house,” she explains.

Nancy’s brows knit together. “Oh, are one of the kids here?”

“Something like that.” Steve fills in.

He hasn’t exactly talked to Nancy in a few months. The months where his life had news other than just general work things. Sure, he meant to call her, meant to fill her in. They became pretty close over the summer, forming a friendship after their weird past. But Nancy got busy, and so did he. So, the phone calls kind of dwindled.

Robin calls Nancy at least twice a week, but they started dating a month or so before Nancy went off to college, so it was expected. Steve just assumed that Robin would have filled her in, but he guesses not.

“Wait a second,” Eddie starts figure out.

Robin turns to Steve. “You seriously didn’t tell her?”

“It just didn’t come up, ok,” Steve loosely defends.

“Oh my god, you idiot,” Robin rolls her eyes at the same time Nancy says, “Tell me what?”

Julie opens her door and walks down the stairs, stopping halfway. Eyes immediately widening when she sees them standing in front of the door. “Oh, hi. Is something happening?”

“No, nothing,” Steve says before anyone can jump in. “There’s pizza in the kitchen if you want any.”

She nods, making her way down the rest of the stairs. “Ok,” she says super confused, giving Steve a questioning look. He makes a face of “I’ll explain it later,” and she shrugs and heads to the kitchen.

When he turns back to the group, Robin has her arms crossed, Nancy has a very confused face, and Eddie’s trying hard not to laugh. Nancy crosses her arms, mirroring Robin, and raising her eyebrows. Waiting for an explanation.

“So, you might have missed something big,” he starts to explain.

“You think,” Robin interrupts. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell her about Julie.”

Eddie’s attempts at not laughing starts to fail. Steve slaps him on the arm, looking for support, but Eddie just raises his hands in defeat.

Steve lets out a long sigh, turning back to Nancy. “That was my sister, Julie. She’s living with me right now.”

Nancy’s mouth drops as her eyebrows raise even higher. She turns to Robin, who just nods in conformation. “I’ve known you for four years, and you never told me you have a sister,” she finally says.

“In my defense, I didn’t know I had a sister until two months ago.”

“You have known for two months and didn’t tell me,” she says louder.

Eddie is full on laughing now, trying to calm himself down, pressing the heels of his hands to his eyes. Robin just rolls her eyes more, too tired of this.

“A lot of things were happening, and I haven’t talked to you in a while. I got a promotion, had to get custody of her. Went through a lot of the mental side of things and a bunch of realizations about my childhood. It was a lot.”

Nancy squints her eyes, taking everything in. “I guess I can forgive that. But you need to pick up my damn phone calls.”

“That’s fair.”

There was more that he wanted to talk to Nancy about, things that she would know. But he didn’t want Julie to overhear, not about this. He hasn’t yet told her about the decision to sue his parents, or really done anything other than say he wants to. A few days ago, he had told Eddie about it. Had a few more tears about it too. Each time he said it, it became more real.

Each time, a small weight was taken off his chest. Because someone finally knew. Knew what he went through, and believed him, wanted to stand by him during this fight. Cementing the fact that what happened to him wasn’t normal and shouldn’t be ignored.

Nancy was one of the first people who pointed out something that his parents did that was wrong. How parents don’t just forget to call on their child’s birthday, or don’t show up at all. That getting a card months later without an excuse wasn’t normal. She would be proud of him for standing up, and he wanted her to know. Just not now.

Steve finally invites Nancy in past the doorway, leading her into the kitchen and offering some food. Julie is sitting at her usual spot at the island, listening to music through her Walkman. She looks up when they walk in, pulling the headphones off, soft sounds of rock music coming through the speakers.

“Julie, this is my friend Nancy,” Steve introduces. “She’s back from school for break.”

Nancy smiles at Julie. “Nice to meet you. I see it now,” she says towards Steve. “She looks a little like you.

“Everyone says that, but I don’t see it,” Julie says. Steve just shrugs.

“I think it’s the eyes,” Eddie mumbles with a mouthful of food, finally able to eat his pizza.

Robin shrugs, “Or the hair.”

After eating, Julie heads back up to her room, leaving the rest of them to catch up. They talk for a while until Nancy has to get back home. Steve sees her out, stopping to talk to her before she leaves.

“How are you really doing, with all of this?” Nancy asks, slipping her coat back on. “I mean, finding out your dad had another kid, and then taking her in after all these years. That had to be hard.”

Steve swallows. “Yeah, it was. Not the taking her in part, that was easy. But it kind of opened my eyes a bit. Showed me how much my parents did, or didn’t do, I guess.”

Nancy softens her face, reaching out to rub Steve’s arm, comforting him. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m suing them,” Steve says, unable to keep it a secret. “For neglect. Since I’m over eighteen, it the only thing I can do to affect them now. And I want them to know, for a judge to make it real to them since it never was just coming from me.”

She gives him a sympathetic look, bringing him in for a hug. “Let me know if you need anything, I’ll happily be a witness against them. And call me, please. I love talking to Robin, but I don’t like hearing everything about you from her. You’re my friend too, you know.”

“Yeah, I know. See you later, Nance.”

. . .

Julie sits on her bed, music playing through her headphone as she writes in the journal placed on her lap. Finally writes in this journal again. Something about the past few days gave her the motivation to finish what she started. For symbolic purposes, if anything. But it was going well, and she turned the story to reflect how she was feeling now. It was helping.

She thought with the holiday coming up in a few days, she’d be a mess. Christmas was never a huge deal in her house, not for a few years. It was just a day that her mom took off work so they could spend the day together. Julie would get a few new clothes, maybe a new pair of shoes, and her mom would get a picture to go with the story that Julie had wrote for her birthday.

But instead of crying, she just sat in her bed and wrote. Poured all the feelings of the past months onto page, like old times. She hadn’t been able to write at all since October. Since the accident. How she missed the feeling of paper under pen. Of the worlds she crafted because her own was missing something.

Except this time, her worlds included someone new. Something new. Julie always brought new characters into her stories when she needed to. Always incorporated her own experiences into her characters. This time, her experiences required a new person.

There was a light tap on her bedroom door. Julie slides her headphones off her ears, resting them on her neck, and hits pause. She looks up at Steve, waiting for her to say that he can come him.

He always does that. Respecting that her room was hers, and that she might want privacy. Never entering if she didn’t want him to. It was annoying on days where she really didn’t care you came in. But on the days where seeing another person would just make everything worse, she appreciated it.

“What’s up,” she says, closing her journal with her pencil to mark her place, setting it off to the side.

Steve enters. “So, I don’t know where you’re standing with this week, with-. Y ou know.”

“You can say Christmas, Steve. I’m not going to fall apart at the word.”

He shakes his head. “Yeah, right. So, with Christmas, I don’t normally spend it here. The Byers’ have a Christmas eve party that we’ve been invited to, and for Christmas morning, I normally go over to the Henderson’s.”

Julie tries not to feel affected by the way he says it. Like it’s normal not to spend a holiday with other people’s families. There’s nothing really wrong with that. Only that he does it because his own parents don’t bother to show up to celebrate with him.

Every new thing she learns about them just makes her feel sorry for Steve. And then sorry that she feels sorry for him. He probably doesn’t want that. But she can’t help it.

“And I know you don’t know them that well, so I was going to ask if you wanted to go, or we say no.”

“But you said you go there every year?” Julie doesn’t want him to miss out just because of her. He should still be able to live his life.

Steve shrugs. “Yeah, but if you’re not comfortable to go, it’s not like I’m going to leave you alone.”

Julie takes a second to think. “I mean, I don’t know all of them sure. But I think I’ll be ok. It’s not like I don’t know them, and you hang out with them a lot. I’ll be seeing them a lot, so it’s fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’m sure. I’d be honest if I wasn’t. You’re my brother and these people are your family, so I want to get to know them.”

Steve smiles. “Ok then. If it gets too overwhelming, just let me know, ok. We can always leave.”

Julie nods, opening her journal again as he closes her door.

. . .  

When Steve, Robin, and Julie pull up to the Byers’ house on Christmas Eve, it’s already packed. Noise hits Julie in the face when they walk through the door, the kids talking in the living room while the adults are mingling in the kitchen drinking some wine. A woman with brown hair and bangs comes over to greet them. Looking exhausted with an old apron tied around her.

“Steve, Robin honey. Good to see you.” She brings them both in for a hug, before turning to Julie. “And you must be Julie. It’s so nice to finally meet you, I’ve heard so much about you. You can call me Joyce, I’m Will and El’s mom.”

Before Julie can say anything, Joyce gives her a light hug. Julie doesn’t quite know what to, so she just gently returns it, awkwardly. It’s supposed to be welcoming, she knows. But it’s all too similar to something she knows and suddenly everything comes rushing back to the forefront of her mind.

Suddenly, she feels like crying again.

But she doesn’t because there are people here. This is a party. A happy one. It’s not meant to be ruined by a wave of unexplainable grief.

“I think El and Max are in her room, it’s a bit quieter in there,” Joyce says when she pulls away. “It’s all the way down the hall and to the left. Let me know if you need anything.”

She walks back to the kitchen, leaving Julie standing in the doorway. She shakes her head, telling herself that it’s ok. It was just a hug, that’s all it was.

“You ok?” Steve whispers, bumping into her shoulder gently.

Julie nods, promising not to ruin this for him. “Yeah. I’m just going to find Max, and Jane.”

“Ok, have fun. Remember, if it gets too bad, we can just leave, ok.”

She gives him a fake smile, nodding and heading through the crowd in the direction Joyce pointed her. She knocks gently on the last door on the left in the hallway, opening it to find Jane and Max talking. Jane jumps up when she sees Julie, running over and giving her a hug.

“Julie, I was hoping you would come.”

Max waves from where she sits on the floor. “Hi, Julie.”

“Hey,” Julie says, strained.

Jane’s smile falters slightly. “What’s wrong?” She pulls Julie into her room and shuts the door behind her, ushering Julie to sit down.

“Nothing,” Julie shakes her head. Blinking her eyes to get rid of the small line of water starting to build. “Your mom just gave me a hug, it’s nothing really.”

Jane sighs, smiling a bit. “Yeah, she does that.”

“She’s like a second mom to all of us, so it kind of always affects you.” Max adds. “You should have seen when she gave Steve a hug once, it was the first time I saw him almost cry.”

“I was just hoping that today was going to be a good day,” Julie half laughs, rubbing her sleeve on her cheek. “I’ve been having so many good days, guess I was due for a bad one.”

Jane reaches over and grabs Julie’s hand, comforting her with a small smile. She’s seen her do it with Max so many times, but she thought it was just them thing. But now that it happened, it’s comforting. Somewhere along the line, she was added into their friendship. It was nice.

“It is ok. I understand.” She pauses, thinking for a second before continuing. “Joyce is not my real mom. Or, what is that word?”

“Biological,” Max fills in.

“Right, biological. I met my biological mom once, she was frozen. Stuck in time. I could not be with her. My dad took me in, adopted me, and then Joyce took me in. I had so many good days, and bad days then. You cannot really choose when they happen, they just do. But you are safe here, with us. You do not have to pretend.”

Julie lets out a shaky breath. “I think I’m ok now. But thank you.”

There were more questions that Julie wanted to ask, but it didn’t feel right. The small story that Jane shared left blanks that were unfilled. Her past something that Julie still doesn’t know. Maybe she would sometime. But tonight was already sad enough, she wanted to move past it.

“Oh, who’s El?” Julie asks. “Joyce mentioned the name earlier.”

Max starts laughing, slowly followed by Jane. “I can’t believe we never told you.”

“It never came up,” Jane justifies.

“Jane is El. It’s a nickname.”

Julie makes a small o with her mouth. “Oh, ok. Can I ask why?”

“My middle name is Eleven, so it is short for that.”

“I’ve never heard that before,” Julie laughs. “But I guess that makes sense. Is it ok if I call you that too?”

El nods, smiling.

They three of them get back to talking, the cloud of gloom over Julie’s head slowly dissipating. It’s still there, but not as noticeable.

. . .

“You’re making that worried face again,” Eddie notices. “Calm down, she’s fine.”

Steve rolls his eyes, watching Julie as she sits and eats with the other kids. “Yeah, I know. I’m just making sure she’s not overwhelmed.”

“Anyone can be overwhelmed with those kids,” Robin adds, sitting down next to him with her food. “They are so chaotic when left to their own devices.”

“God, I know,” Steve sighs. “You think she’s ok though, after that moment when we came in.”

He noticed it, as small as it was. The small shift in her face when Joyce hugged her, the slight bit of water resting in her eyes. The same thing that happened to him the first time it he got one. Right after Star Court, when the government agents were asking everyone questions.

Steve was going around, making sure everyone was ok. The adrenaline still flowing through his veins and making his own pain go unnoticed. That and the rest of the drugs that were still in his system. He couldn’t stop moving. Not until Joyce, grieving Joyce, stopped him just to ask if he was ok. Gave him a hug that only made him aware of the fact that he’d be going to an empty house after all of this. Even if he ended up spending that night in a hospital room next to his best friend.

He knew how motherly Joyce’s hug were. Fitting for the kind person she was, and he loved getting the mother treatment from her. But with Julie, he wanted to make sure that she was ok.

“She’ll be fine. She went with El and Max afterward, if anyone can help her with that it’s them,” Robin comforts, and Steve knew it was true. He was happy that she started becoming friends with them. Growing a support system other than him.  

“What’s it like having someone else in the house now?” Nancy asks from across the table.

“It’s been an adjustment. A nice one, though. I’ve actually started to think about looking for a smaller place. Something just for the two of us, you know, that isn’t technically owned by my parents.”

Moving out has been in his mind for a while now. Obviously, he was never going to live with his parents forever. But for the past few years, it was convenient to be able to have a house he could live in rent free. Especially since he didn’t have a full-time job until a few months ago. It gave him a chance to breathe, recover from the years of terror.

But with the decision of going forward with suing his parents, getting kicked out was on the horizon. At least that’s what they would say about it. He was going to leave willingly, never looking back to that empty house. Leaving a shitty paint job in two of the bedrooms that will undoubtably thrown his mom into hysterics.

The thing that’s bothering him now, is that as soon as the paperwork is filed and his parents get word of it, they’ll come home. Do damage control, try and find a way to get the charges dropped. But he wasn’t budging. He’s not under their control anymore.

So, it’s ideal for him to find a place before getting everything started. But he needs to save up just a little bit more to get a place. Then, hopefully, with the payout of the case, he’d be able to support him and Julie for a while and try to get a better paying job. Maybe then he could get full custody of her too.

“That would be nice,” Nancy says. “There’s a bunch of availability now too, after everyone left. You might be able to find something cheap.”

“That’s what I’m hoping.”

. . .

Julie, El, and Max stayed with the rest of the group after dinner. The boys were playing some sort of game with El, while Max was making fun of them on the couch. Dustin wasn’t playing though, he was sitting next to Julie, distracted by something.

“Have you noticed something weird going on between Steve and Eddie,” he asks Julie, her taking a second to realize that he was talking to her.

She shrugs. “Not really. I mean I didn’t know them as long as you have.”

“Yeah, but you live with Steve. And him and Eddie hang out like, all the time now.” He looks back at them. “Something just seems off.”

Julie looks to where he is. Steve and Eddie talking off to the side. Huddled together, whispering. It’s not the weirdest thing she’s seen. The party is pretty loud, so they probably just want to hear each other.

“They look pretty normal to me,” she says.

“Yeah, but just wait, there. Right there when Eddie does the thing.”

The thing in question, is gently placing a hand on Steve’s side, whispering something directly into Steve’s ear. Making him stutter for a second and take a sip of his drink. It could be normal, just a thing between friends, but she’s not so sure anymore.

She wouldn’t have a problem if there was something going on in a “more than friends” way. There were worse problems in the world than care about who people loved. And it sort of made sense, from what she knew. Dustin seemed to be pressed about it, though.

“So, it could be a normal thing between them, you don’t know,” she defends. Worried that Dustin might have a problem with it.

Dustin pulls his attention away from them, facing Julie. “That’s the thing, I do. Even after spring break they weren’t like this. Well, kinda, it’s complicated. But like, a few months ago, something shifted between them and now they’re acting weird.”

“Would you have a problem with it, if there was something more happening?” Julie can feel her defenses rising, protecting. These people were Steve’s family, but he was hers too. She wasn’t going to let them say anything bad about him.

Dustin makes an offended face. “What no. I don’t really care as long as they’re happy. I just want to know.” He looks back over to them. “We’ve been through a lot together. I want them to know it’s ok to tell me about this, if it is that.”

Her defenses lower themselves again. She gently bumps her shoulder against his, getting his attention again. “If he ever tells me anything, I’ll let him know. I really don’t know more than you do.”

“Thanks, I appreciate it. I’m glad he has you, you know. I always worried about him alone in that house, with no one around. He never wanted me to, the self-sacrificing idiot. But I was. It’s nice to know he has some actual family living with him now. Not just his stuffy piece of shit parents that are never around.”

“You know you really shouldn’t talk bad about people’s fathers in front of them,” Julie fake defends, before breaking out in a smile.

It takes a second for him to register that she did, before he starts laughing. “Well, it’s true.”

“Oh, I know it is.”

. . .

Steve says his final goodbyes to the people all piling out of the Byers’ house. Pulling out of the driveway to go drop Robin off at her house, and then head home for the night.

“Did you have a good time?” Steve asks.

Julie nods. “Yeah, it was fun. I finally learned Jane’s nickname is El. I can’t believe I’ve known her for months now and no one told me.”

Steve laughs. “Yeah, I saw the face you made when Joyce said it. You were so confused.”

“Hard not to be when she says a name I’ve never heard in my life, expecting me to know who she’s talking about.”

Julie’s smiling, laughing. He was expecting her to be overwhelmed with everything, but she seems fine. He feels the need to check in on her, make sure that the small moment she had at the beginning of the night didn’t affect anything. That she’s ok. But she’s so happy right now, he’d rather not bring it up.

“So, tomorrow,” Julie starts. “You said you normally go over to the Henderson’s.”

“Yeah,” he nods. “But we don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

“It’s ok if we go, I was just going to ask if we could go somewhere after.” She pauses, fiddling with her hands. “I was wondering if we could go visit my mom.”

Steve softens, pulling into the driveway. He parks the car, turning to look at her. “Yeah, we can go visit her.”

The next morning, they go to the Henderson’s for breakfast. Claudia welcoming them in with warm hugs, freshly made cinnamon rolls ready at the table. She asks Julie pretty much every question in the book, wanting to know everything about her. Making her feel at home as much as he does.

This place always felt more of a home than his own house did sometimes. He was never one to say no to Claudia’s dinner invites, after that one time where he did refuse, and she showed up on his doorstep with a lasagna in her hands. She was the only mother figure that he really had. Immediately taking him in as soon as she heard what it was really like in his home. She even started calling him and Dustin her boys. Because she loved them. She loved Steve.

When breakfast was over, Steve thanked Claudia for having them over, and excused the two of them. Accepting her hug goodbye and giving Dustin’s hair a good ruffle, warranting him an eye roll before a reluctant hug. Julie says her own goodbyes, getting her own hug from Claudia and an awkward fist bump from Dustin. They say their final goodbyes before leaving.

In the car, Julie pulls out a journal, holding it in her lab. Steve knows better than to ask about it, he recognizes the pattern on the front. It’s her mom’s journal. The one that Julie would give her every year with a new story.

He knew why she wanted to go.

When they get to the cemetery, Julie takes the lead. Leading him to the small grave where her mother lies. Rebecca Lawson, Loving Mother engraved on the stone.

“Can you give me a minute with her,” Julie asks quietly.

Steve nods. “I’ll be over on that bench if you need me, ok.”

She nods before sitting on the cold ground. The blades of grass still gleaming with the morning frost. Steve gives her space, going over to the bench a few feet away. Sitting, and waiting.

Julie opens the journal in her lap, presumably reading it to her mom. Taking a deep breath every so often, before continuing. The pages turning until the end. At the last page, Julie turns the book outward toward the grave, showing her mom the picture at the end.

He couldn’t hear it, and he didn’t want to. Julie’s stories were sacred, for her and her mom. It wasn’t right for him to eavesdrop. This was Julie’s moment, she’ll call him when she wants to.

When she does, it’s a simple turn to Steve and a wave of her hand. He goes over to her, sitting beside her. Her eyes puffy, and her nose red.

“This is Steve,” she says quietly. “He’s my brother, I met him a little after you left. I wish you two could meet each other, I think you’d like him. He’s nothing like his dad, if you’re worried. I can tell even if I never met him. I’m living with him now. It’s not like living with you, but nothing ever will be.”

She takes a shaky breath, trying to find the strength to finish. “I miss you. Every single day. But it’s getting better. I think I’ll always be a little sad that you’re gone, though. That you’re not here with me anymore. To see me graduate, go off to college. Maybe get married one day. I’ll miss you all the time. But I know wherever you are, you’re watching over me.”

She wipes away the tear rolling down her cheek. “I love you. And miss you. I know I already said that, but it’s true. I hope you liked the story, I thought it concluded everything well. I’m sorry I didn’t get it finished by your birthday, but I thought it would be ok to give it to you today instead. It was nice talking to you again. I’ll come visit you more often. And you don’t need to worry about me, I’m doing ok.”

After a moment, Julie leans her head on Steve’s shoulder, quietly asking for a hug. Steve wraps his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close.

“You ok?”

“Yeah,” she whispers. “I’m ok.”

For the next few minutes, they sit there. Steve giving her the time all the time she needs.

“Thank you for being here with me.”

Steve rubs her shoulder comfortingly. “You’re welcome.”

“I meant what I said, I think you two would really like each other. She would be happy that I’m here with you. And I know she would thank you for taking care of me.”

Tears start forming in his eyes without permission. After another minute, Julie pulls away, ready to leave. Steve pulls out his keys and hands them to her. “Go ahead, my legs fell asleep. I’ll catch up with you in a minute.”

She snorts. “I’ve been sitting here longer, but ok.” She takes the keys, starting to walk along the path to the parking lot.

Steve turns to face the grave again, taking a deep breath. “You raised a great kid, I wish my dad was less of a dick head so I could have met her sooner. Sorry for cursing at your grave, but he deserves it.” He turns to look at Julie walking down the path. “I got her now, you don’t have to worry. Or do, I know how moms like you always will. But she’ll be ok. I’m not leaving her anytime soon.”

He slowly stands, heading down the path Julie’s on. Catching up to her as she gets to the parking lot. She smiles at him when they get into the car, probably knowing that his excuse was made up. Silently thanking him for taking the time to talk to her mom. It was important to her, and it was important to him.

When they get home, Steve heads to the living room and puts on the tv. Christmas movies filling the channels. Julie joins him, sitting on the other end of the couch with a blanket.

It’s the first Christmas where he didn’t feel alone. And the first where he knew that he would never truly be alone again.

Tag list(let me know if you want to be added or removed): @homoerotictangerine, @mugloversonly, @thesuninyaface, @imyelenasexual, @anaibis, @ilovecupcakesandtea, @brainsteddielyrotted, @jackiemonroe5512, @eddie-munsons-missing-nipple, @goodolefashionedloverboi, @cinnamon-mushroomabomination, @lolawonsstuff, @writingandmushroomdragons, @stevesbipanic, @sierra-violet, @steddie-as-they-go, @dauntlessdiva, @mousedetective, @the-daydreamer-in-the-corner, @zombiethingy, @connected-dots-st-reblogger, @that-agender-from-pluto, @allyricas, @cheddartreets, @devondespresso, @crypticcorvidinacottage, @queenie-ofthe-void @chronicpainstevetruther, @cheddartreets, @theupsidedownrealestateagent, @acidbubblegummie, @sirsnacksalot, @l0st-strawberry, @helpimstuckposting, @strawberry-starss, @freddykicksasses, @italianwhore1, @i-threw-my-name-out-the-window, @rageagainsttheapathy, @nuggies4life, @ape31, @whimsicalwitchm, @chrissycunninghamfanblog, @michellegilligan, @hippielittlemetalhead, @bridget-malfoy-stilinski-hale, @jaytriesstuff, @confused-stripes, @faeb1tch42069, @marklee-blackmore, @hel-spawn, @genderless-spoon, @mamafaithful, @estrellami-1, @starryeyedpoet17 @i-amthepizzaman, @lilpomelito @melonmochi

[harringrieve]

I FUCKING POSTED THIS ON MY MAIN FIRST💀💀💀

Anyway, after a bout of ennui, I grabbed this from my notes drafts bc it started glitching and I’m nervous it’ll delete smth by accident

Somewhere btwn s3/4 I THINK, in a govt hospital wing

“Whaddayou doin here, Harring-har-“

The word seems to get stuck malfunctioning somewhere between his brain and his mouth, as he blinks tiredly, still trying to figure out where the fuck he actually is.

“Oh you know”, gestures around with the folded magazine in his hand, “just uh, makin sure the scientists don’t, like, cart you off to, a- a different secret lab or somethin”

Lab? His tongue is dry and sticking to the roof of his mouth. Scientists? Billy’s brain fuzzily processes what Harrington’s insinuating, the alarm creeping up slowly.

“…..That’s a concern?”

“Oh yeah, big time. Also you’re lucky you woke up when you did, Nancy was supposed to take over next watch shift, and she’s not NEARLY as uh…..chipper as I am.”

“That so.”

“Yeah, no, I think Click-clack is givin her guff for some thing she submitted? I don’t know, she’s tetchy.”

“Have no idea what that means, also quick question-”

“Yeah”

“What the fuck is goin on?”

Harrington’s eyebrows raise as he puffs his cheeks and blows out a big breath,

“Oh jeez man, I don’t think I have enough- fuckin like, brain power to get into the whole thing right now-“

“Ugh, figures”, Billy shuts his eyes again and rests his head back, suddenly over being awake.

“Wh-hey, fuck you, I could be at home right now, instead of this creepy ass lair, but no, we gotta make sure Billy Hargrove doesn’t get vanished by the government.”

Lair? where are they? Harrington doesn’t seem that married to the petulant shit he’s saying anyway, it feels like it’s more just to have something to do. In any other situation Billy would feed the fuck into this, enjoy every button he’s pushing, but FUCK is he tired. His whole body feels like fuzzy static. Fuzzy achy static.

“She’s helping Murray set something up for you”

“What?” His face kinda hurts when his brows twist, giving up his half-assed attempt at sleep.

“Nancy,” he clarifies, “we had a whole exit strategy to get you outta here when you woke up. Get you like, back on your feet and fuck off into the sunset or whatever Max thinks you where gunna do”

Max.

“…….Why are you doin all this?” It’s barely a question really, more like a blank murmur, devoid of any inflection that could give Harrington the slightest hope of gauging Billy’s emotional state.

Steve heaves another slow measured breath, and looks slightly away from Billy, as if to try to remember why himself.

He blinks a few times, makes a vague shrugging gesture with like, the upper half of his body, then shakes his head a little, “Cause fuck these guys.”

Billy almost choked a little, deigning to open his eyes again and glance over.

“Yeah?” He asks with an audibly and visually confused smile, like he’s trying not to laugh at the ridiculous nature of Steve’s statement.

“Yeah, everything’s been their fault for like three years now. I’ve fought shit I wouldn’t put my worst enemies against. Fuckin vile.” He slumps back a bit, “You’re a dick, but like,…” he doesn’t seem to really have much of an answer past that, “Fuck em.”

[later]

“Maaan, Pick a story asshole, either I’m a slut who can’t be friends with girls, or I’m a freak loser, make up your mind”

[Robin walks in]

“What are we talking about?” She sounds like a mix of horrified, delighted, and grossly intrigued.

“He thinks we’re like,” gesturing between himself and Robin, “-secretly in love, or dating, or something”

Robins face scrunches up, “Ew.”

Steve makes a wide sweeping gesture at her, “THATS WHAT I SAID!”, and looks pointedly back at Billy, as if to say, ‘There, see?’

“Jesus, alright, you’re both undateable losers.”

“Oh, he has no problem getting dates-“ completely disregarding and breezing past Billy’s direct insult to her dateability

“The fuck, Rob-“

“Oh yeah?” He smiles, encouraging whatever sly shit she’s onto.

“I don’t know what you guys where sayin earlier about him bein a slut, but it’s not factually incorrect.”

Billy’s well-known cackle bursts outta him for the first time in months.

Steve just seems to deflate with the power of his sigh, arms momentarily thrown up in the air in defeat before landing down against his jeans with a pointed SLAP as he sinks further down into the uncomfortable chair he’s been lounging in this entire time.

“Rob, what are you even doin here-“ he starts off, obviously trying to divert the topic of conversation, god he’s so whiney sometimes, Billy’s kinda obsessed with it, “wait-HOW are you even here?” His tone switches to confused disbeleif, eyeing her with confusion.

“I own a bike, dingus, and I have functioning legs.”

His eyebrows screw together, “You live like, ten minutes by car from here- whaddoyoumean you ‘rode your bike’, it’s like 90 degrees out-“ he flings an arm out towards the windowless wall.

“Jeez, okay mom, I-“

“Have you had anything to drink? Are you even wearing sunscreen?”

“I’m fine! It’s nice out-“

“It’s the middle of august !”

“It’s the beginning of august, first of all-“

“Heat strokes not a joke Bobbin, you can get-“

“Yes I know, Stevert, I’m in band, I’m outside wearing synthetic hell clothes for practice all summer-“

“Yeah, standing, not biking who knows how many miles uphill in the sun.”

Billy finally interjects, “Jesus I take it back, you’re obviously divorced.”

He gets twin looks of scandal.

“How dare you, first of all-“

“I would never-“

Billy just snorts and settles back into his sheets, “Sure, whatever.”

After a moment of silence

“Actually, Nancy dropped me off on the way to Forrest hills.”

“Oh, you bitch.” Steve breathes out right before Robin breaks out laughing.

Robin and Steve continue sniping back and forth, this time in Italian, Steve rapid-fire, Robin more careful and deliberate.