#Veronica Harrington

[psychotic-nonsense]

Found this on Instagram and am seriously debating making this the way Steve and Eddie meet Veronica /hj

In October of 1967, Steve Harrington is born in Hawkins, Indiana.

He's raised there, forced to live under the strict expectations of his parents, Richard and Samantha. Barely escapes their clutches, freedom fueled by the kids and adults that take the role of guardian and family when the time is right. Keeps himself in check with the always impending apocalypses that arise beneath his feet.

In June of 1985 - when Steve Harrington is 18, while Richard and Samantha Harrington are visiting New York for an extended work trip - Veronica Harrington is born.

She was carried and raised in secret from their hometown. They take care of her between their business hours, dropping her in the hands of nannies and babysitters galore. They don't even think of Indiana during Veronica's early childhood, too focused on work and making sure their daughter starts up right.

In October of 1986 - when Steve Harrington is 19, aged further by ending the Vecna War, yet tamed by his newfound love in Eddie Munson - Richard and Samantha Harrington return to Hawkins.

They don't ask about what happened to their son. They don't ask about the town. They don't ask questions, just give responses to them. Sneering at Steve's friends, complaining about the state of the house, commenting at the disfunctional chaos their home has become.

In November of 1986, Richard and Samantha Harrington disown Steve.

They just let him go. They at least give him a folder of his legal documents, but otherwise just tell him to get out of their house and never use their name again. Claiming Steve doesn't need anything from the room because the Harrington's own everything in it. They don't call him son, they don't say goodbye, they don't acknowledge who's actually taken care of the house, they don't admit most of Steve's former room has changed with money Steve earned himself, they don't dare to give him any money or care where he goes. They just say they're sick of dealing with an unworthy mistake of a child, and force him out of their house.

In November of 1986, the Party's adults adopt Steve.

He runs to them first after everything happens. Held himself together at the start, but broke down the second the words were out. While everyone was trying to comfort Steve, Wayne Munson and Jim Hopper were the first to succeed. They know firsthand that this family would never be the same as blood, no matter how much that blood has boiled and burned before, but the love will be stronger and it will be here. When everyone seconds it, Steve finally accepts it. He becomes a child of the Party - he's everyone's son and everyone's brother, taking whatever surname he sees fit.

In November of 1986, Steve Henderson and Eddie Munson leave Hawkins.

Despite all this good, Steve can't bear to stay in this damned town a second longer, where everyone knows who he is and will soon know everything he isn't. And it's not like Eddie was looking forward to sticking around Hawkins either, especially without his Steve. The kids are the first to agree, surprisingly, and the adults promise to find a way for the boys to get out. Later that week, when Richard and Samantha leave the house to prepare for Veronica, Steve and Eddie break in to take everything that's rightfully theirs. While they're there, not sure what prompts him, Steve makes a bag of his clothes with shoes and his wallet tucked within it, shoving it into his closet. Dustin's mom uses an old favor to get the boys an apartment in Chicago, the Party has one last farewell, and the two boys are gone.

From 1986 onward, Veronica Harrington is raised in Hawkins, Indiana.

Richard and Samantha are adamant in their daughter coming out exactly how she should. They steadily convince the town to forget the Harringtons ever had a son and lock the room on the second floor next to the stairs without ever touching the inside. They raise her with formality and pride at the top of their expectations, wanting at least one child to come out right.

But Veronica is the spitting image of Steve's honesty and care. She puts on a facade when needed, but even at a young age, she wants nothing more than to be someone's light in the darkness. She plays with every lonely kid at school, and tries to make people laugh at the business parties she's dragged to. It's not received well by her parents, but Veronica is much too strong willed and stubborn to let it phase her.

In April of 1991 - when she's 6 and they're so much stronger around their hearts - Veronica Harrington meets Steve and Eddie Munson for the first time.

It's the year Erica is set to graduate high school. Steve and Eddie have been making the drive for every holiday this year, ordered determined to give her the best senior year she could have. It's Easter Sunday, and Wayne somehow managed to drag his boys away to church - a Munson custom, as even Eddie insisted they go.

While at the snack table post sermon, a little girl comes up to Steve, mistaking him for her father. He and Eddie gently comfort the girl, introducing themselves and offering to help the girl find her parents. That's when Veronica introduces herself, striking Steve deep in his heart. Still, he keeps quiet, even gifting her a little origami crane made from napkins at the table. He calls her "chickpea" for the color of her dress, tells her to keep the crane secret and safe, "If ever you need to find your way back home, you hold that close, and it'll tell you."

Meanwhile, Wayne has come across Richard and Samantha in the crowd opposite the kids. Exchanging formalities, Wayne mentions his son and nephew are in town, news the Harrington's are surprised at, as Wayne didn't seem like the father type. However, trying to keep face, they remain civil and insist on introducing their daughter.

Cue Veronica running to her parents with Steve and Eddie in tow. Cue Steve calling Wayne dad right to Richard's face. Cue the Harrington's immediate leave from the church, Veronica waving behind her with a crane placed carefully in her pocket.

From then on, Veronica Harrington's life changes indefinitely.

Her parents' expectations grow tenfold. She finds out she's horribly allergic to chickpeas. All of her friends must be approved by her parents, and any that don't fit their image are ordered to leave her.

Veronica takes these changes in stride - is her class's top student, captain of the softball and volleyball teams in junior high, keeps the friends she wants in secret from her parents - but she can't help but keep the crane in a little box in her room. Gets a necklace with a little origami crane pendant, holds it whenever she needs to make a hard choice. Can't help but expand herself in secret, learn things her parents would never approve of - lock picking, other languages, sleight of hand, a clothing style that's nothing like the dark blues of her family, all warmth and light. She explores every room in her house, yet is unable to find her way into that room upstairs next to the steps.

In May of 1998, Veronica Harrington discovers the truth about her brother.

She's about to be a freshman. Her class was touring the high school in preparation, and while passing the athletics hall, her eyes hit the swimming trophies. Each row stuffed with trophies, and each one with a name that stabbed her right in the stomach: Steve Harrington.

After that, she couldn't bear all the secrecy anymore. Late that same night, she finally uses her lock picking skills to break into that room. And though it's devoid of life, it is a bedroom, so evidently lived in. It's frozen in time, twisted sheets covered in dust, old papers crinkled from being stepped on but not picked up, old clean clothes still sitting in the hamper. It's a boy's room, clearly, and Veronica is careful walking around this place of memories.

She does still explore, quietly clicking on lights around the room, too cautious to touch the overhead lights. She looks under the bed, finding a bat and a trash can lid, both embedded with rusty nails. A shirt that still smells like fresh laundry yet has a back stained permanently with long red lines down the shoulders. Dozens of stapled documents labeled NON-DISCLOSURE AGREEMENT, detailing horrific events that each have that same name signed at the bottom.

With shaking hands she checks the closet, and finds it mostly empty. All except for a deep green graduation robe and cap, a cream Hawkins High letterman, and a duffel bag hidden in the back corner. The cap has a 1985 tassel, and the letterman has Harrington branded on the back with basketball and swimming patches galore. And the bag, when she checks it, looks like a survivalist pack someone would make in an apocalypse. At the top sits a wallet, and inside is an ID for a Steve Harrington, who has the same face as the one in her origami memories.

And Veronica is done. She wakes up the next morning and throws Steve's jacket on the kitchen table, startling both her parents mid sip of coffee. She finds herself in a screaming match with her father, demanding them to quit lying to her, begging to know who her brother is.

In a fit of rage, Richard tells her. Tells her everything Richard and Samantha never saw in Steve, about Veronica's secret birth, the disownment, Steve's disappearance from the Harrington house and Hawkins. She's reminded of that one Easter Sunday, and is told how Richard and Samantha faked Veronica's allergy to keep her mind from being tainted by whatever curse befell their bloodline before. Orders her to never say that name again.

In a fit of rage, Veronica bites back. Calls her parents cruel and overly expectant. Comes clean about her secret freedom. Says she'd rather be nothing than ever carry the burden of the Harrington name ever again.

She hides away in her room after the fight. Cries in her closet with her origami box cradled tightly to her chest, begging it to take her home because this place isn't anymore, maybe never was. Cries for the brother she never even got to meet, who went through so many horrible things yet still got put through this same punishment. Cries for the future she won't get to have, losing her hope for a new beginning that will now never be.

At the start of June, 1998, Veronica runs away.

She makes it through the rest of May in near silence. She writes notes for all of her friends at the end of the school year, and one for her parents to inevitably find. Finds 75 dollars in Steve's old wallet, stuffs the duffel bag the rest of the way with her belongings, and says goodbye to Hawkins.

She takes the first bus she can find out of town. Doesn't care that it's going to Chicago, doesn't really care where she's going now. She befriends an old homeless man riding the bus as well, becomes another interesting name in his "Book of Wanders (Pronounced as Wonders)." As Veronica's telling the story about unknowingly meeting her brother, she remembers the crane in her bag. She reaches in to retrieve the little box, then the crane, nearly crying seeing how disheveled and unfolded it is. Broken and doomed, just like her. But looking at it now after so long, she thinks she sees something written inside it. Despite it shattering her heart pieces, she carefully unfolds the little crane.

At its center, in old, bleeding blue text, reads, "Find the Swooping Bat if you've lost your way."

The old man laughs then, taking Veronica's hand and placing it onto her chest, over her heart. "It's fate," he whispers in the dark bus. "There's a place called that in Chicago."

Veronica uses her money to rent them both a hotel for the night, giving the old man a warm bath for the first time in weeks. She gifts him the clothes as well, saying it's, "an honorary thanks from my brother, for helping me get here." They bid each other farewell in the morning, the old man telling her to keep hold of fate.

She finds her way to the Swooping Bat easily, hand on her necklace guiding her way. It's a quaint little diner, popular enough to be comfortably warm when she walks in. A young lady in a wheelchair - Max, says her nametag, with pins saying things like, "Summer work blows" and "USC grad or bust!" resting on her collar - guides her to a booth next to the sunrise.

"Anything I can get you today?" Max asks when Veronica's seated.

Veronica's fully ready to order everything on the menu, what with how delicious this place smells, but then she remembers her funds. 5 bucks, if she's lucky. "Just a chocolate milk, for now. Biggest one you have, please." She somehow plays off Max's skeptical look, her eyes sweeping over Veronica's no doubt disheveled and no-food-in-36-hours appearance.

It somehow works out, and Max is wheeling away. Veronica allows herself a moment to collapse, stomach growling in pain and eyes burning with the realization she has no idea what she's going to do now. She just has this last bit of hope to hold onto, and without it, she'll be nothing but a husk.

She's not sure how long she sits there, staring at the sunrise and letting sound and AC whisk her mind away, but there's suddenly a little knock on her table. Her head snaps up, and there's Max again, setting down a giant glass of chocolate milk... alongside a loaded breakfast plate.

"It's on the house," Max rushes to explain, all fondness when Veronica scrambles to get her wallet. "Courtesy of the owner. And between you and me," she whispers with a wink, "just take the damn food, kid."

Veronica stumbles over herself for a moment, rendered near speechless, before she finally comes back. She begs Max to thank the owner profusely, before rushing to dig into the pancakes before her. She's halfway done dousing the stack in syrup by the time Max wheels away, when there's suddenly someone laughing.

"Of course," says a choked-up voice behind her. "Can't have any chickpeas starving in my booths."

Veronica nearly drops her fork. She turns so sharply she gets dizzy. Seven years can't change a person that much, surely, because though he's bigger in the torso and he has glasses on the bridge of his nose and his hair is cut so close, he still has the same softness in his voice and the same slouch in his stance and the same moles around his eyes and his smile is so bright despite the tears in his eyes, and though Veronica can barely see through tears herself, it's not like she needs them anyway to know it's-

"Steve!" she cries, scrambling out of the booth to meet her brother halfway. The relief of it all working out has the rest of her restraint collapsing, forcing harsh sobs out of her and into Steve's shoulder. The siblings hold each other in the middle of a restaurant, a voice in the background asking everyone to leave them be. Steve doesn't stop whispering, even as his chest heaves with broken gasps between tears, "You're save, Veronica, I got you, I got you, it's gonna be okay, you're safe here, it's okay, sis, it's okay..."

"That you, lil' chickpea?" whispers a different voice once they've calmed down. Veronica reluctantly pulls away and finds a man kneeling beside them, a hand on Steve's shoulder and similar tears in his eyes. His hair and tattoos remind her of the tamed wild from seven years ago, covered in black in the middle of church yet glowing brighter than the stained glass, the one that Steve looks at in past and present with a glowing love Veronica never saw between her parents.

"Yeah," she whispers, wiping her tears away before placing a hand atop her necklace. It catches Eddie and Steve's eyes and make them beam with pride and relief. "Yeah, it's... it's me...."

[estrellami-1]

Steddie Week 2024

July 5th Prompt: Reunion

Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 6 | Day 7

@steddie-week

“Babe,” Eddie calls from the kitchen. Steve’s in the bathroom, brushing his teeth, so he garbles out an unintelligible one minute! before quickly finishing.

He walks into the kitchen, tugging at the collar of his shirt. “What’s up?”

Eddie’s eyes are dancing with mirth as he helps Steve fix his collar. “You’ll never guess what just came in the mail.”

Steve raises a brow. “You’re acting like my parents are groveling at the door right now.”

Eddie barks out a laugh. “Oh, sweetheart, no. I’d very much be laughing in their faces if that’s what was happening.” He grabs Steve’s glasses from the counter he’d forgotten them on last night, unfolds them, and carefully slides them on Steve’s face. “No migraines,” he murmurs, and Steve’s hit with a rush of love so big he just has to tell Eddie.

“I love you.”

Eddie smiles softly; a small, disbelieving, hopeful thing that’s never changed from the first time Steve said it. “And I, my love,” he murmurs back. “But no, it’s not your parents.” His grin grows into a giggle. “It’s fuckin’ Hawkins High.”

Steve makes a face. “It’s still standing?”

Eddie snorts. “Apparently-fucking-ly.” He grabs two letters; one with Steve’s name, one with Eddie’s. “One letter for each of us. I already opened mine. It’s a reunion.”

Steve furrows his brows, rips into the envelope, pulls the paper out. “Hawkins High School… forty-year reunion… de-” he frowns up at Eddie. “Decennial?”

Eddie hums, nods. “Every ten years. God knows where our other ones went.”

Steve hums. “Guess we can throw these in the trash, huh?”

Eddie shifts. “You don’t want to go?”

Steve stares at him incredulously. “You do? You, Eddie Munson, want to go back to the place where—and these are your words, here—apart from our group of friends, only the- the backwoods of inbreeding resides?”

Eddie cackles. “Oh yeah, I did say that, didn’t I?” He’s delighted. Steve’s finding it hard not to smile in the face of that joy.

“So you want to go back?”

Eddie shrugs. “Think about it,” he requests. “I don’t want to go to see how anyone else is doing. Frankly, I don’t have the time to give two shits about them. But you know I’ll always jump at the chance to show you off.”

Steve raises both eyebrows this time. “You want to show me off? In fucking Hawkins?”

Eddie deflates. “You don’t want to go.”

Steve shakes his head. “No, babe, that’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying that even though it’s legal, even though we’re officially married now, if there’s one place that isn’t gonna be accepting…” he trails off, lets Eddie finish the thought for himself.

“What if I convince Nancy to come?”

“Well, she’ll have to come if we go, won’t she? Cause you know she’ll go anywhere Robin does, and Robin’s gonna follow me, so…”

Eddie snickers. “Okay, yeah, fair enough. But babe, we’ll have Nancy and Robin on our side. The three of you took on Vecna, I think you can take on some overweight, washed-up, balding fifty-something-year-old.” He squeezes at Steve’s biceps, and Steve tries not to preen.

He’s proud of the care he’s shown his body, he’s proud of the way he looks, he’s proud that Eddie likes the way he looks. He can feel his resolve waning, is about to tell Eddie fuck it, let’s go, when his phone rings.

He pats his pockets, looks around for it. “Room,” Eddie supplies, and Steve gratefully peck his cheek before jogging to their room, where it’s laying on his nightstand. Eddie walks in as he answers it, having followed at a more sedate pace. “Hello?”

“Are you going to the reunion?”

“Hey, Robbie,” Steve chuckles, meets Eddie’s eyes. “Yeah, we are.”

“Yes!” She cheers. “You’re the best, we’re getting joint hotel rooms, right?”

He laughs and sits on the edge of the bed. “It’s Hawkins, Robs, I don’t think it has anything quite that fancy.”

Robin groans, loud and long enough that both Steve and Eddie have to stifle their giggles. “But I haven’t seen you in forever!”

“It’s been barely a week, Robbie.”

“That’s what I said!”

He relents. “I know. I miss you too. We’ll see you there?”

“Yeah,” she agrees, and hangs up.

Steve looks at Eddie, amused. “I guess we’d better pack. And you should tell the guys, don’t you have something going on that day?”

“Oh, shit,” Eddie says, and runs to the living room for his phone.

Steve surveys their room and sighs. He calls out to Eddie, “bring me a notepad on your way back, please!”

Eddie does, so he sets to work making a list for everything they need to pack while Eddie types away, postponing his plans.

While they might not get joint hotel rooms, Steve, Eddie, Robin, and Nancy are carpooling back to Hawkins in Robin’s van. She’s driving, Nancy’s in the passenger seat, Steve’s right behind Robin and Eddie’s right behind Nancy. Their luggage is piled precariously in the back, meaning every time Robin turns, the luggage slides from one side of the van to the other. Steve, with his mostly-undiagnosed OCD, flinches every time. And every time, Eddie pats his hand.

Besides the shifting suitcases, it’s a nice ride, even if Steve does grab Eddie’s hand and squeeze, just a hair tightly, whenever they pass the Welcome to Hawkins! sign.

Everyone gets a little quiet, after that. Robin fumbles with the radio, and Eddie perks up. “This song,” he says, practically bouncing in his seat.

Steve snorts. “Iron Maiden,” he tells her.

“The fact that you know that-”

“It gets worse,” he tells her, grinning. “The song is called Wasted Years. I know all the words.”

Robin grins, turns the volume up.

The joke’s really on her, though, because she’s always been good at music, patterns, and she’s singing the chorus with him and Eddie by the time they get to the end of the song, Nancy laughing at them. “So understand,” they sing, Robin glancing in the rearview mirror, Steve looking from her to Eddie and back again. “Don’t waste your time always searching for those wasted years. Face up, make this stand. And realize you’re living in the golden years!”

Steve and Eddie are practically screaming it at each other by the last line. Robin’s given up to join Nancy in laughing at them. Steve joins in as Eddie plays air guitar to the end of the song, collapsing in a laugh when it’s finally over.

“Okay,” Eddie says, grinning. “I think I could take on anything now.”

“Yeah?” Nancy asks, pointing ahead. “You’re ready for the reunion?”

They’d decided, since the last time they took a proper road trip had been too many years ago, they could do it the same day as the reunion.

They’d forgotten how getting old, coupled with the problems every one of them still has from the Upside Down, means they’re all very much sore from sitting in a car for upwards of five hours.

The plan was drive the five-something hours, go to the reunion, crash in the hotel, and drive back home the next day.

Steve hates the plan now and wants to go to the hotel to rest like the old man he’s letting himself be.

However unfortunate it may be, the reunion is today, which means Steve gets to suck it up, say hi to people he probably doesn’t even remember anymore, and then leave.

He hops out of the car and stretches a little, laughing when Eddie attempts the same hop out of the car and almost eats asphalt. “Dumbass,” he mutters. Eddie shoots him a Cheshire grin.

Before long they’re ready to walk inside. Steve takes a breath as he passes through the doors. The hallways are the same, but the lockers are new. It still smells like teenagers and feet, he notices, wrinkling his nose. The things you’ll get nose-blind to, he supposes.

The letters they’d gotten said the reunion was to be held in the gym, so that’s where they head.

Steve didn’t know what he expected, but it wasn’t a few snack tables along the edge of the room and a single Reunion of ‘85 banner. “Goddamn,” Eddie says from beside him, “depressing much?”

Steve snorts in agreement and walks over to the drink table. If he’s going to talk to people, he’s at least going to have questionable-looking punch while he does.

When he turns after getting punch, he nearly runs into someone. He quickly steps back. “Oh, sorry!” He looks up into the shocked face of Tommy Hagan. He blinks. “Tommy?”

“Steve.”

Steve smiles. “How’ve you been?”

Tommy blinks, like he can’t believe Steve’s being nice to him right now, and that’s when Steve remembers they’d parted on not-so-nice terms. Oh well, he would’ve feigned politeness even if he’d remembered. “I’m good, yeah, uh, how- how’re you?”

“I’m good,” Steve agrees. “Really good. Last I remember you and Carol were dancing around each other, yeah? What happened there?”

“We got married,” Tommy nods.

“Congratulations!”

“And then divorced two years later,” Tommy adds, smirking. Steve winces. “How about you? Last I knew, it was you and Wheeler, ‘cept she cheated on you with Byers, yeah?”

“God,” Steve laughs, “that was so long ago. Yeah, that happened. We talked it through and Nance and I are really good friends now. She’s married to someone else, as am I, but we both keep in touch with Jon, thought he’s out in California now.”

Tommy’s brow raises. “Married? Who’s the lucky girl?”

A presence beside him makes Steve turn to see Eddie grinning at him. “My ears are burning.”

“They should be,” he laughs. “Tommy, you remember Eddie?”

“Munson,” Tommy nods, then does a double take. “Wait, you’re married?”

“As of three years ago now,” Eddie says proudly. “But together for…”

“Thirty-seven years,” Steve provides, smiling at his husband before turning back to Tommy. “Did you ever get remarried after Carol?” Tommy shakes his head.

Eddie whispers in Steve’s ear, “You know he totally had the hots for you, right?”

Steve winces at the blast of static from his hearing aid and quickly shuts it off. “Ow,” he mutters, grinning crookedly at Eddie, who looks apologetic. He quickly signs what he’d whispered, and Steve laughs. “Don’t you remember my initial panic?”

Eddie thinks, back to when Steve had asked him what’s gay versus friendly, becoming increasingly confused when most of the things Eddie ticked off in the gay category were things Steve and Tommy had done that Steve had thought firmly resided in the friendly category. “Oh, yeah.”

Steve snorts, shakes his head, pushes him away. “Go talk to someone else. Rescue Robin, she looks like she needs it.”

“Nah,” Eddie says, “she can hold her own,” but goes anyways after a quick peck to Steve’s cheek. Steve turns the hearing aid back on.

“Man,” Tommy says wonderingly, “what happened to you?”

“Concussions,” Steve answers flatly. “Three of ‘em. Then I grew up.” He sighs, looks down at his cup, then up at Tommy. “Listen, man, about what we used to do-”

Tommy winces. “I know. I had that revelation a while ago, actually, but it was definitely shitty of me.”

Steve smiles, shrugs. “You had a crush on me. It’s not an excuse, but it does make a certain kind of sense you’d react that way, especially considering the kind of home life you had.” He smiles self-deprecatingly. “Feel free to stop listening if the therapist side of me comes out. I swear I’m not trying to, like, diagnose you with anything.”

Tommy’s brows raise. “You’re a therapist?”

Steve hums affirmatively. “Started as a school counselor, if you can believe that.”

Tommy fixes him with a wondering grin. “Y’know? I think I can see it.”

“Do my eyes deceive me,” someone says from their side, draping their arms across Steve and Tommy’s shoulders, pulling them into a hug.

Steve comes face-to-face with Carol. He grins. “Hey, Carol.”

“Hey, you,” she says, raking her eyes over him. “Time’s been good to you.”

“You’re one to talk,” Steve says happily, but its true; she doesn’t look a day over forty, instead of the fifty-odd she is now. “How are you?”

“Can’t complain,” she agrees.

They go through the same song-and-dance, but this time when she asks who he’s married to, he sees Eddie juggling water bottles, talking to a couple of people. “Oh, for-” he mutters, then louder, “Eddie, what in the everloving fuck are you doing?”

Eddie drops a bottle, puts the other two on the table behind him, and jogs over to throw his weight onto Steve. “Making friends.”

Steve snorts, elbows him off. “Say hi to Carol, babe.”

Carol clocks it immediately, based on the twitch of her eyebrow, but only says, “I didn’t peg you two as a couple.”

“Well, yeah,” Eddie snorts, “it was Bumfuck, Indiana in the 80’s.”

Carol tilts her head in agreement, then turns to Tommy and says coolly, “Tommy.”

“Carol,” he replies, tips of his ears red.

Eddie looks between them, then turns a raised eyebrow on Steve, who quickly signs, “Married for two years a while ago. I don’t know any details.”

“He clearly is still into her.”

“I refuse to be a part of whatever you’re planning.”

Eddie pouts. “You’re no fun.”

Carol clears her throat. “Sign language?”

Steve snorts. “Turns out brains aren’t supposed to get banged around. You’ve got a real good chance of messing something up that way.”

Eddie pokes his cheek. “‘S not your fault.”

“Never said it was,” Steve placates.

Carol shakes her head. “How many concussions do you have?”

Steve hums. “Three? Four?”

“Three,” Eddie corrects. “Not that we need to get into it right now.” He gives Carol a tight smile, and Steve hip-checks him.

“Down, boy,” he murmurs with a smile. “I’m alright.” He turns to Carol with a wider smile. “Long story short, the concussions caused irreparable hearing loss. I’m almost completely deaf in my left ear, but I get by.”

“Damn,” Carol says lightly, “life, huh?”

Steve snorts. “You can say that again.” He tilts his head. “How are you?” He asks. “Really?”

She gives him a crooked smile. “Let’s walk and talk.” Steve offers her his arm, which she takes with a laugh.

“How am I,” she muses. “Well I thought I found love, but we imploded two years later. Thank god for prenups, I guess, but at the same time, that made it feel like we were doomed from the start.”

Steve hums. “Eddie and I have been legally married for three years,” he tells her. “Together for thirty-seven. We’ve got prenups. Not because we think we won’t work, but because we want the people we care about to not have to worry about any of that.” He’s silent for a few steps. “I used to think love is out of our control. That we don’t get to decide who we fall for. And maybe, to a certain extent, that’s true. But love is also a choice you make every day. Eddie and I are still in love because we choose to be.”

“You look at each other like you’re on your honeymoon.”

Steve giggles. “And to think we didn’t even have a honeymoon!”

Carol laughs, too, then sobers. “You always were more fortunate in love,” she says. “What do you think? Do we have a chance?”

Steve hums. “I think it’s obvious, just by looking at him, that he’s still into you.”

“No shit.”

“So what’s important is how you feel. Marriage is work, I’m not gonna lie and say it’s not. So are you ready, and I mean really ready, to work for it?”

She works her lower lip. “I think so,” she admits. “But I- I’m also not completely sure I’m straight.”

“Okay,” Steve shrugs. “Do you know what he and I used to get up to?” He shrugs at her look. “I’m just saying, neither is he.”

“I mean, I definitely still like guys.”

“Well duh, you’ve taken more dick than I have and I’m married to a man.”

She snorts. “But women…”

“I know,” Steve says sympathetically. “It’s hard, isn’t it.” He pats her hand. “If you’re ready to try, though, you need to talk to him.” He turns her around, gestures toward Tommy, who quickly looks away, cheeks burning. They both laugh softly.

Carol leans up to kiss his cheek. “Thank you, Steve. Let’s keep in touch.”

“Let’s actually keep in touch,” he agrees, handing her his phone. “Where do you live?”

“Columbus for now, but he’s in Dayton.”

Steve hums. “We’re in Detroit.”

“We’ll do phone calls,” Carol decides, laughing.

Steve chuckles, saves her number. “Plan to meet up-”

“Never actually do-”

“Oh, Carol, it’s been so long-”

They both break off into giggles. “You’re fun,” she decides. “I wish we’d kept in touch.”

“To be fair, we competed for title of bitchiest.”

“To be fair, I don’t think we ever grew out of that,” Carol retorted, and Steve snorts, gently shoving her.

“Alright, go get your man, and send mine over here.”

She gently steps on his shoe as she leaves, impish smile in place, and Steve turns only to run into Nancy and Robin. “Hey, guys,” he smiles.

Nancy gives him a look. “Making nice with Carol?”

Steve shrugs, grins at her. “Turns out we were just kids. Who knew, right?”

Just then, Eddie comes up behind him, wrapping his arms around Steve’s waist and resting his chin on Steve’s shoulder. “What’re we talking about?”

Nancy smiles at him, wraps an arm around Robin’s waist. “Being kids.”

“That so?” He presses a kiss to Steve’s cheek, pushes back to look at him. “You look lighter.”

Steve hums. “‘S cause I love you.”

“Charmer,” Eddie mutters, turning bright red. “C’mon, seriously.”

“Seriously,” Steve agrees. “I was talking with Carol about her and Tommy, and I told her that why we work is because we work at it.”

“Very true.”

From behind them, someone cautiously asks, “Eddie Munson?”

They both turn, and suddenly Eddie’s scooping her up in a hug. “Ronnie! What the hell are you doin’ here, huh?”

She laughs and hugs him back just as hard. “Did you ever know a Jackson Starnes?”

Eddie’s brow furrows for a second, then smooths out. “Oh, Jackie! Yeah, he was cool.”

“Mhm. He’s my husband.”

“No shit? I’m happy for you.”

“Thanks,” she laughs, then nods at everyone else. “Who’s the hunk you were hangin’ off of?”

Eddie chuckles. “Ronnie, meet my husband, Steve.”

She turns an eyebrow on him. “You got married?”

“He proposed,” Steve corrects her, grinning.

“To the preppiest of jocks,” Robin adds.

Eddie laughs. “What can I say? It’s love.” He swoons, placing a hand over his chest, almost pulling Ronnie over with the arm still over her shoulder.

She laughs and dumps him off of her. Steve swoops in before he can fall, hoisting him up with a quick kiss.

“I’m Nancy,” she says, extending her hand to Ronnie. “And this is my wife Robin.”

“Oh!” Eddie says, literally jumping back into the conversation. “Robin and Steve are like how we were.”

“Platonic soulmates,” Steve agrees.

“With a capital P,” Robin emphasizes.

“It’s nice to meet you all,” Ronnie says.

“How’s Wayne?” She asks Eddie.

“Dead.” He snickers at her face. “‘S alright, Ronnie. It’s been years.”

“Still. I can be sorry.”

“You can,” he agrees. “It won’t help anything, but you can.” He digs his phone out of his pockets, opens his contacts app. “Here, lemme get your number, yeah?”

“Fuck yeah,” Ronnie says, “let’s hang out, just lemme know when so I can get a sitter.”

Eddie chokes on nothing. “You have a kid?”

Ronnie grins, a shit-eating thing as she hands his phone back. “Three.”

“Goddamn,” he says, “you got pictures?”

Ronnie rolls her eyes, grabs her phone. “What kind of mom would I be if I didn’t? Here, this is Cassie, Alex, and… that’s Elijah.”

“Oh, man, Alex looks just like Jackie, doesn’t he?”

“I carry him for nine months,” Ronnie bitches good-naturedly. “‘Nough about me, though, how’re you? Corroded Coffin ever take off?”

Eddie snorts. “You hear about the psychopath in ‘86?”

“I remember something about it.”

“Yeah. I got caught in the crossfires, wrongfully blamed, and spent…” he looks at Steve. “A year?”

“Almost.”

He turns back to Ronnie. “Almost a year hiding out. Corroded Coffin was officially disbanded after I was allowed out of hiding.”

“Fuck,” Ronnie says, “there goes my entire foot in my mouth, I guess. What’re you doing now, then?”

He chuckles. “A little bit of everything, honestly. A little music, a little writing, a little D&D. Nothing that’s made me a household name, but enough that I’m kept busy and we’re comfortable.”

Ronnie nods. “And how about you?” She asks Steve.

“Oh, nothing as fun as that,” Steve chuckles. “I’m a therapist.”

Ronnie tilts her head. “Any specialties?”

“C-PTSD, mainly.”

“Damn, I know about eight people who could use someone like you.”

Steve snorts. “That’s usually the way it goes, yeah.”

“Well it was great seeing you, Eddie,” Ronnie says. “And meeting all the rest of you. But I’ve got to find my husband and get back home, so we’ll have to continue this later.”

“Of course,” Steve says. “See you later?”

“Absolutely,” Ronnie nods, then turns and walks off.

They decide to leave not too much later. They’re all tired, so the drive to the hotel is filled with only the sound of the radio, turned almost all the way down.

“Y’know,” Eddie murmurs, tracing the ring on Steve’s finger, “she was my first kiss.”

Steve snorts, an explosive thing that he definitely learned from Robin. “She what?”

“Yup,” Eddie nods. “I knew I liked girls, but she’s the only one I got close enough to to actually know. We got stupid one night and decided to kiss and it basically went how it would if you and Robin were to kiss.”

“Ew,” Steve says on reflex. Eddie snorts.

Robin slaps at him from her seat, then yells when he slaps back, “Don’t distract the driver!”

“Bitch,” he tells her, “you slapped first!”

“You said ew about kissing me!”

“Do you want to kiss me?”

“Hell no!”

“That’s why I said it!”

Eddie leans up to murmur to Nancy, “should we break it up?”

“Eh, give it a minute. Once they resort to cursing their lineages we can break it up.”

He chuckles. “Always the wise one, Wheeler.”

“You’d best believe it,” she nods smugly.

“Nancy!” Robin says. “Baby! Defend me!”

“About kissing Steve? Who I’ve kissed before?”

“Oh, no,” Robin says, horrified. “I’m stuck in the car with the two people who are experts on Steve kissing.”

“Why’d you make it sound like a bad thing?” Steve demands.

And… yeah. Eddie’s glad they got separate hotel rooms.

Based on the look Nancy throws his way when they part, she’s glad, too.

[juuuulez]

bearblr promptober + kinktober 2024

this october i’ll be doing half of each! on alternating days, i’ll be posting the corresponding bearblr prompt (created by the almighty @carmenberzattosgf), and then a kinktober drabble of my own choosing.

here’s the lineup, fics will be updated and linked next month! kinktober is (obviously) smut, and prompts marked with 🍂 indicate non-smut/fluff.

🍂 bearblr #1: scary movie -> sydney adamu

💌 completed

kinktober #2: nipple play -> carmen berzatto

💌 completed

🍂 bearblr #3: apple picking -> carmen berzatto

💌 completed

kinktober #4: throat fucking -> steve harrington

💌 completed

bearblr #5: vampire -> richie jerimovich

💌 completed

kinktober #6: cockwarming + under the desk -> keys mckey

💌 completed

bearblr #7: orgasm control -> carmen berzatto

💌 completed

kinktober #8: hate fuck + semi-public sex -> steve harrington

💌 completed

kinktober #9: body worship + on film -> veronica fisher

💌 completed

🍂 bearblr #10: rain soaked -> richie jerimovich

💌 completed

kinktober #11: spanking -> lip gallagher

💌 completed

kinktober #12: subspace -> steve harrington

💌 completed

🍂 bearblr #13: hot cocoa + baking -> carmen berzatto

💌 completed

bearblr #14: somnophilia -> richie jerimovich

💌 incomplete

kinktober #15: edging -> keys mckey

💌 incomplete

🍂 bearblr #16: bonfire -> richie jerimovich

💌 incomplete

bearblr #17: dumbification -> richie jerimovich

💌 incomplete

🍂 bearblr #18: candlelight -> michael berzatto

💌 incomplete

kinktober #19: possessed -> steve harrington

💌 incomplete

🍂 bearblr #20: slow morning -> carmen berzatto

💌 incomplete

kinktober #21: orgasm denial -> steve harrington

💌 incomplete

kinktober #22: squirting + competitive -> lip + carmy

💌 incomplete

bearblr #23: dacryphillia -> carmen berzatto

💌 incomplete

🍂 bearblr #24: haunted house -> richie jerimovich

💌 incomplete

bearblr #25: size kink -> carmen berzatto

💌 incomplete

kinktober #26: breeding + overstim -> lip gallagher

💌 incomplete

kinktober #27: wet dream -> carmen berzatto (solo)

💌 incomplete

🍂 bearblr #28: sick day -> michael berzatto

💌 incomplete

kinktober #29: dry humping + high sex -> steve harrington

💌 incomplete

🍂 bearblr #30: sweaters (sharing clothes) -> carmen berzatto

💌 incomplete

🍂 bearblr #31: trick or treat -> richie jerimovich

💌 incomplete

[packedtotheaussies]

Veronica Palmer (Better Off Ted 1x06) || Portia de Rossi

Veronica: The process is just going to be long and extraordinarily humiliating. Ted: You know, I'd like to believe, after everything I've done for this company over the years, they'd show me a little more loyalty than this. Veronica: I know it's hard to accept that giant companies don't care about people. I know how hard it was for me when I first realized it -- when I was eight.

[tartarusknight]

Eddie Munson was pissed off. He was annoyed by the little sheep he brought into his group. It was just that after spring break... well, they didn't see him as an authority figure anymore. Which, fine, whatever. But they never listened to him, and suddenly, he was getting shit from them. Not mean shit or anything. It just wasn't... it wasn't what he was used to. They gave him shit and became basically family.

However, he didn't sign up for kids to just pop up all the time without warning and give him shit about what he does in his spare time. He used to be cool and mysterious. Now he gets shit that his van is a mess, and he likes to sleep in after staying up late painting mini figures. THEY'RE NERDS!!!! Yet he's the uncool older guy.

Sure, they don't make fun of him repeating school or his appearance. Nothing that hurts, but it's annoying. However, it's less annoying after he realizes that they started doing the same to Steve after they got to know him. And well, he knows they think Steve is cool. They just don't say it to his face. So he holds onto that. They probably won't ever say he's cool to his face anymore but he's not, not to them.

It's like he went from the cool older teen to older brother figure in one week. One near death experience. And well... he understands in some way. Doesn't mean he likes that they don't respect him anymore. He knows that it gets on Steve's nerves too. The kids would be over for movie night of just decided to have a sleep over at Steve's and Steve would just have to go with it.

So, Eddie did what could be considered stupid. He fought back. Sure, he liked being around them and hanging out with them. But some boundaries needed to be returned. He'd like warnings or heads up. So he started small. He started to invite an old friend of his around. Veronica. She and him have been friends for years, but when she came out to her parents as trans, she moved away. Well, she ran away.

Her parents moved not long after, the "shame" of having a daughter now instead of the son they so desperately tried to hold onto. The son that never truly was alive until he wasn't a he anymore.

So, Veronica did stop in Hawkins every once in a while since her parents left. After all, her and Eddie, they had been close. She was his first friend in Hawkins, and he was the first person she came out to. It didn't help that they both had crushes on each other. But Eddie and Veronica grew past the old crushes, and sometimes, when they met up, they'd hook up, but only when they wanted a sweet release. Nothing romantic. All that was gone.

So, Eddie asked Veronica for a favor as she was passing through, stopping to visit everyone. He always invited her to stay at the trailer for the few days, and this time, he did have an alterior motive. And well... Veronica thought it was pathetic of him but also hilarious, so she was in. Because Eddie decided that if the kids were going to be assholes he was going to scar them for life. In the way that was ~sex~

The first night she's there, they spend catching up as usual. But Eddie's not really up for anything more than that. His big gay heart stolen by the goddamn babysitter. So when they head to bed, curled up on Eddie's full sized mattress, they just sleep.

However, that doesn't mean when his trailer door is swung open that next morning with Dustin, Mike, and Max all barging in, that that's all they see. No, the minute the kids open his door, Dustin shrieks, and Mike yells an incredibly loud and disgusted "ew."

Veronica pops her head up, and her eyes narrow. "Teddy, your kids are here," She groands before flopping back down. However, she pauses and looks back at them. "Wait, aren't you Harrington's kids?" She questioned, and Eddie tossed the blanket over her head.

He can feel his cheeks warming and grunts, "for your modesty." It makes Veronica laugh, and he knows that she's going to quickly figure out his big fat crush.

But before he can dwell on it the boys are running out and Max is just standing there with her arms crossed. He raises an eyebrow at her and she huffs. "I can't believe you. Honestly," she spits and actually sounds mad. Like fully pissed off.

"Max?" He questioned but she's fleeing too. The kids gone, like he had hoped but Max... that felt wrong. Like he actually did something wrong. Which... what even could it be. He's not doing anythign wrong.

However, then Veronica's teasing him and he snaps out of it. He's got her for two more days and he'll take them. After she's gone, he'll figure out what went wrong. So, they get dressed before they drive over to Gareth's too meet up with everyone. Maybe it's there in the back of his head the whole time. But he tries not to think too hard about it.

It's just that, the next day happens and when Eddie goes out for a smoke in the morning Max stomps up to him. Rightous fiery and looking ready to actually kill him. "She's still here." She snaps and Eddie raises an eyebrow.

He slowly blows out the smoke, "yeah, Red. She is. Who pissed in your cheerios?" He asked and she had the gull to roll her eyes at him. Like he was a moron for not understanding.

She shoved her finger into his chest. "I wasn't bothering you and him about okay. I was staying out of the way but- but Eddie what you're doing is wrong. He- he's already been cheated on. It shouldn't happen again." She snapped before marching off. Leaving Eddie shocked. He only snaps out of it when his finger burns from his cigarette.

He heads back inside, and Veronica's chilling on his couch and painting her nails. "We should get a good movie to watch. I need some of Teddy Munson's comentary." She says, and he gives her a grin that's not all happy. But she's not focused on him at the moment. Her eyes elsewhere.

Instead, he shakes the words from his shoulders and gets out a small laugh. "You haven't heard commentary until you've watched a movie with Robin Buckley." He assures her. And then the plan is set into action.

He messed around until she finished painting her nails, and then they were off to Family Video. Max's words got louder and louder as they got to the building. But it didn't make sense. He wasn't cheating on anyone. Even if Max thought otherwise.

"Eddie!" Steve grinned, and Robin poked her head around a shelf. They both had big smiles on their faces. Although they dimmed slightly at the sight of Veronica.

Eddie sauntered up to the desk where Steve had been previously flicking through a magazine. "Busy at work, Stevie?" He questioned and Steve rolled his eyes. Before his eyes once again strayed to Veronic.

Eddie straightened, "Oh, this is Veronica. She and I have been friends since ever." He waved his hand, and Veronica moved over. She was slightly taller than him in her tall boots, and she grinned at Steve.

Steve nodded slowly, "I did - uh- nice to meet you. I'm Steve," he held out his hand, and Veronica took it slowly. She gave him a once over, probably seeing the matching scars over their throats.

She shrugged, "I know who you are." Is all she says before she looks at Eddie. Her face reads we have to talk about that, with a look to his throat. And well... she saw most of the other scars already. After all, he didn't care if she looked at him when he changed. She knocked on the counter, "Any who. I'm going to go find a movie, Teds. Oh, you guys should join us. Teddy said you had the best comentary, Robin." She grinned before slipping back into the shelves.

Eddie watched her for a moment before sighing and looking back at Steve. Steve who looked like someone just was told that their dog was hit by a car. "Whoa, Steve, what's wrong? Hey, are you alright?" He questions and Steve seems to shift and refocus instantly.

He nods, a fake smile covering the emotions swirling. Max's words ring in his head. "All good, man. Just sad I can't today. Busy," he says, and Eddie's sure it's a lie.

Eddie looks over at Veronica who's asking Robin for recommendations. Likely trying to give Eddie some one-on-one time with Steve. "You know, Max said the weirdest thing to me this morning. She and the other gremlins barged in and saw me and Veronica sleeping together- in the same bed. We were passed out in the same bed. Not actually- well we were just literally sleeping together. But not like, you know. Sleeping together. Fucking. Making love. Snoodiling. Whatever you want to call it."

And suddenly Eddie couldn't stop talking. "She came up to me and started telling me how unfair it was of me. That cheating was wrong and all that shit. But I couldn't figure it out. Because I haven't dated anyone in ages. Like- a really fucking long time. But she told me how he had already been cheated on and it wasn't fair of me. But once again I was confused. Until Veronica mentioned coming here. And right now. Right now you look like I just killed your dog in front of you. All by bringing my friend in with me."

Steve was blinking at him, looking shocked. And Eddie gave him a tight smile. "I've slept with Veronica before. On and off for a few years now. She was my first crush, and I know that it might be weird, but honestly, it's nice to have someone to just let out steam with every once in a while. But when she stopped by, I told her I couldn't. Sometimes, that happens. The last time she was in town, she was head over heals for some girl in her history lecture. This time, I was totally gone for this guy I've been hanging out with recently."

And now Eddie can't even look at him. "I thought it was impossible. Like obviously you couldn't like me back. Even when you told me your bisexual. That didn't mean shit. Just because you like guys doesn't mean you like me. But with Max and now just seeing your face. I couldn't- I mean I just had to say-"

Steve looks around the store before pulling him into a kiss. Eddie's stunned for a moment before he grabs Steve's face, and it's awkward over the counter, but he doesn't care. He's kissing Steve and it's perfect.

He hears whooping and breaks away to see Veronica leaning on the top of the shelves with Robin leaning back on the same one. Both of them with proud smiles on their faces.

And yeah, maybe this was for the kids and their annoying habit of just breaking into his trailer. But getting Steve was also good. And well... if the kids get annoyed, he can just really gross them out by making out with their babysitter in front of them. Yeah, that will work, too.

[the-end-beautiful-friend]

new steddie fic

this one goes out to the steddie freaks (affectionate)

how do we feel about a steddie heathers au where a fallen-from-grace Steve Harrington decides to get some revenge on the assholes of Hawkins High and also perhaps acquire a boyfriend in the process?

i don't think it will completely follow the plot of heathers but will be heavily inspired by it

i'll be taking some liberties with the timelines, but i'm thinking this would be post-season three, but I'm pretending that Steve still is a senior at Hawkins High

i love slasher steddie (esp ghostface steddie) and thought perchance I could write some of my own

thoughts? interest?

[fartzsack]

Jancy Heathers AU ?

• Veronica — nancy

• JD — Jonathan

• Heather C — Steve (specially s1 Steve.. but I could also see Billy in this role with Steve being Heather Mac)

• Heather D & Heather M — Tommy and Carol

• Martha — Barb

• Kurt / ram — Billy and Tommy ??????

this is very rushed the idea simply popped into my head…

[dwobbitfromtheshire]

"I thought our story was epic, you know, you and me. Spanning years and continents. Lives ruined, bloodshed. Epic."

"Is it weird to say you want to marry someone because you respect her? Because you want to be like her? Because you want children who will inherit her qualities? . . . she’s the toughest human being I’ve ever met. Blows that would destroy most people; she always picks herself back up."

"If I'm permitted to see a silver lining in all of this end of the world doom and gloom, it would be the rekindling of some old flames, that frankly never should have been snuffed out."

"It’s all true. Every last word. But I left one part out. It’s the most important part. You’re there. You’ve always been there."

[steddielicious-quaerhye]

So next up for peak bi experience is Joyce Byers.

Joyce Byers, who is still Joyce Maldonado in 1956. She’s the daughter of a doctor in Hawkins, living a comfortable upper middle class life that she hates. So at fourteen, she starts dating twenty-year-old Lonnie Byers, who her father loathes. Daddy Dearest threatens to kick her out if she doesn’t break up with him after a pregnancy scare; she focuses on her friends and school. She forms a clique of girls who idolize her and are fascinated with her tragic forced break-up and salacious stories. Her friends would never dare to approach boys and be labeled as hussies, but they all want to know how to kiss them at upcoming Semiformal and Winter Formal and Homecoming and Prom. Joyce is thrilled at the power she holds in teaching her gal pals to kiss. She gets to pull breathy whimpers out of the other girls and she can’t even get pregnant from it. 

By the time she’s a junior, Joyce and Jim Hopper are scandalously best friends. She’s queen bee and he’s a notorious ladies man, but they don’t ever date. People gossip about how it’s not right for boys and girls to act the way they do with each other and they don’t care. They skip class to smoke and compare their exploits. Jim just laughs when Joyce says Alice Gilbert let her feel her tits when she wouldn’t even let Jim kiss her. 

After they graduate, Jim goes to Vietnam and Joyce to NYU where she has grand plans to be a realtor after a degree in psychology or something. She hasn’t changed much from high school and finds herself around the same type of girls, this time as part of Kappa Kappa Delta. She gets close to a girl named Rachel and spends all of her undergrad at her side. That is, until December 1963, senior year. Sigma Chi is hosting a luau, so Joyce and Rachel go all out. They’ve got grass skirts and coconut bras, even managing to rustle up leis made of real flowers. Sangria flows all night, and by 3 am, Joyce has Rachel in her bed, plying her with endless kisses. It feels so, so right, but in the morning, Rachel says that she thinks they shouldn’t be friends anymore. It’s just not what girls are supposed to do with each other. 

This lights a fire under Joyce. She is enraged by constantly being told what she is supposed to do, who she is supposed to be. So she drops out. She returns to Hawkins for Christmas and does the exact opposite of what a sorority girl is supposed to do. She heads straight into Lonnie Byers’ bed and they’ve eloped by June. This is the final straw for her parents, who take her younger siblings and move to Boston. They don’t provide any contact information. Joyce lives off of her rage and her broken heart, though she doesn’t quite realize how it got there. Rachel’s face still flits through her mind when her husband is drunkenly fucking her. She tries to drown out the sounds of masculine grunts with her memories of coconuts knocking together. Lonnie is furious once she’s cut off from her family funds, so she takes a job at Melvald’s to help make ends meet and stick it to the system that told her she had to graduate from university and marry a finance major right after. 

It’s not until 1967 that her fury subsides. She and Lonnie have somehow created the most beautiful baby boy, Jonathan, who is the center of her universe. She becomes a stay-at-home mom to him and their next son, William, until money runs out; she has to return to Melvald’s when Will is only two. Being a parent to her boys and keeping Lonnie off of all of their backs is exhausting; Joyce mellows. She is no longer the temperamental young woman telling the world to fuck off. She just wants Lonnie out. Jim Hopper moves back to town, dealing with his own heartbreak at his daughter’s death and his subsequent divorce. He and Joyce don’t reconnect much beyond surface level chats when they run into each other around town, but that’s fine for now. Their time will come. 

Divorce papers are served to Lonnie on Joyce’s fortieth birthday and it turns into an explosive fight, as all their disagreements do. And Joyce knows this isn’t healthy for their sons, but she needs to show them that she will always stand up for them and herself. Because she’s Joyce Fucking Byers. 

And once it’s just the three of them, she keeps the Byers name. She associates it more with her boys than Lonnie anyways. Joyce doesn’t even think about dating, especially once Will goes missing a year later and their world is turned upside down. Jim Hopper reintegrates himself into her life and this crazy mindfuckery. 

But then that’s done and Bob Newby is just such an extreme opposite from Lonnie that it’s easy to slip into a relationship with him. And then the Upside Down is back and Bob is brutally killed. Time passes and Jim asks her to dinner, which she forgets, because of the magnets, and then he has the audacity to die just as the potential for something starts to appear; now Joyce has the sweetest daughter as well. And she has to protect her kids and leave this toxic, cursed town, so it’s time to head for California. There isn’t any time to date anyone and Joyce is well-practiced at ignoring her urges to ruin the careful hair and makeup of the polished women that Lenora Hills is full of. (She hates them all so much and doesn’t connect these feelings to the thrills of her youth at making pretty girls gasp and pant against her.)

Then Hopper is alive and Joyce thinks that for the first time ever, she’s actually in love. (She thinks she came close with Bob, but alas.) She still notices beautiful women, but so does everyone. It’s normal to appreciate when a woman has a gorgeous smile or can hold herself well in heels, right?

Christmas 1986 brings the usual shuffling of Steve Harrington between the various Party households for each meal. The Hopper-Byers home has the honour of hosting him for Christmas dinner, for which he provides two homemade pies and a topic of conversation that seems suspiciously well-rehearsed with Jonathan. 

Very, very casually, the two oldest boys bring up David Bowie, and a little thing called bisexuality. Will and El share several looks, but are overall attentive. Joyce can see the surprise on Steve’s face as Hop asks more questions than either of the younger kids. She stays silent, but Hop gently takes her trembling hand under the table, giving her a soft look. 

After dessert, Joyce escapes to the back porch for a well-needed smoke and reflection. Lovely, kind Steve wants to check in on her and, she can tell, gauge if she has any disgust at the dinner’s main conversation. 

And maybe it’s strange that the first person she says these words are to Steve Harrington, not Hop or any of her kids, but she sends a silent prayer up to Bob that she’s not making a massive mistake. 

“I think,” she pauses to take a shaky drag of her cigarette, “No, I am bisexual.”

See more in the series at #peak bi experience

Crossposted to AO3 here

[psychotic-nonsense]

"I'm sorry."

It's the first thing Steve says after everything.

After getting Vecna Cursed. After nearly dying. After a hallucination of Eddie saved him. After running through a looped forest. After finding sanctuary in Steve's memory of that Starcourt bathroom. After Eddie reveals himself as Eddie.

It's the only thing he can think of. It's not big enough to fit everything, but it's the only thing that fits in his mouth.

"Don't be."

Maybe that's the only thing Eddie can think of too. The only thing Eddie can bear to say.

Because don't be can't stop Steve's eyes from watering when he sees the vest in his closet. Don't be can't stop Steve's feet from dragging him to the cemetery every evening to clean Eddie's graffiti-covered tombstone. Don't be can't stop Steve from sitting beside Wayne and listening to him talk about the Eddie he remembers. Don't be can't stop Eddie's body from showing up in Steve's dreams, nor Eddie's corpse from his nightmares. Don't be couldn't keep the pain away enough, didn't stop Vecna from latching onto it while Steve was walking alone in the woods.

Don't be isn't enough for what Steve wants to hear. But even stuck here waiting, hoping, for someone to get Steve out, there just isn't enough time.

"I miss you."

"...Why?"

Eddie says it back so quickly, so quietly, like it's just unfathomable to him. Maybe it is, considering their last memories. But their eyes meet and he looks just as sad, just as longing, as Steve.

"You were my friend."

Steve can't help but say it like that. Like they were friends for years instead of days. Like Eddie was that important to him in their final moments. Like his heart really aches for Eddie every second of the apocalypse.

Can't help but say it like he means it.

"I wish we could've had more time..."

Steve's voice cracks a little there as he turns away, hiding. It's all he wants. It's all Vecna used to entice him with. It's all that's keeping him going, to finally fulfill the last request Eddie made. It's all he has left to feel close to Eddie.

The Eddie that's sitting right next to him, silent, his sight weighing on Steve's skin. Conscious and aware and the real Eddie. Trapped in Vecna's head as a backup power source, yet who still risked everything to come save Steve. Who Steve will never see again because killing Vecna means killing Eddie for good, and his heart doesn't want it, is begging for another solution...

But for once, his broken head overpowers his shattered heart.

"Maybe we did."

Eddie takes Steve's hand. Meets Steve's surprised look with his own small smile of hope. They're both suddenly tearing up, eyes glistening with life in this gray stall.

"Maybe in another world, we got a second first chance. A first second chance. Maybe even a third, or fourth. Maybe in a different life, we had everything we wanted. Because you, Steve Harrington, are too good for me to be doomed to meet just once."

And for a moment, Steve sees it. Feels it. Versions of them connected through the universe.

Little kids playing in the lake. One with bruised skin and shaved hair, loud but unfathomably lonely. One with a bruised heart and soft eyes, timid but stubbornly hopeful.

A rockstar with glittering chains, center stage in the spotlight. A set of eyes in the crowd or behind the curtain, watching only him.

A werewolf and a vampire, two cryptids of horror, meeting in the dead of a full moon night to feel safe with the only other one who understands.

A future where they won, where the only death was the one that mattered. A process of healing and learning, coming home to a family every single day.

A world without pain, without their hell, where two high schoolers found freedom from their shackles and company in each other. Hiding away together in the dark corners of the town.

Steve even sees other versions of them. Versions that he knows were originally never supposed to meet, yet forces so much greater than them pulled them together.

A metalhead drug dealer, constantly getting into trouble with one nail-bat-weilding cop.

A criminal's fugitive nature leading him to a rugged trailer park, and the dangerous owner within one such home.

An eccentric king in an old coliseum, always choosing one particular warrior as his champion.

A young programmer being pulled away from his work by sobs above his apartment, running upstairs to check on the law student that recently moved in.

Two actors, finding an easy friendship in the months of filming one season of a show that would change their lives.

In that moment, Steve's overwhelmed by the closeness he suddenly feels with the soul beside him. Falling into tears, he pulls Eddie into a tight hug, holding him so so close to convey everything he can't say. Feeling Eddie hold him back, hearing everything Eddie can't say in return.

Familiar music comes on outside the stall. Robin's voice calls out to him, telling him to come home.

And when he does leave, Steve hopes that someone out there will understand that he never can. Because here in Eddie's arms is the only place that will ever truly feel like home.

"Thank you... for everything, Eddie."

Thank you, Steve. For everything and more..."

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

- List of AUs, in order, after, "Versions of them connected through the universe": Childhood Friends / Rockstar!Eddie / Werewolf!Steve & Vampire!Eddie / Eddie Survives / No Upside Down & High School

- List of Multiverse Steddie AUs, in order, after, "...yet forces so much greater than them pulled them together": Eddie x Gator / Baron x Michael / Geta x Sean / Keys x Eric / Quinn and Keery

[jax-writes5]

I had a brain worm while listening to Heathers the Musical yesterday and couldn’t get Steve as Veronica out of my head so

[hellfirenacht]

Wing Man Part 6

Fic Summary: Steve 'the Hair' Harrington is your best friend, and is constantly striking out. Sick of this, you two make a deal; you'll wing man for each other. Hooking Steve up with dates is easy, but he finds himself struggling to find you a date. At least, until Dustin starts talking about his new cool friend Eddie. (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9)

Chapter Summary: What DID he mean by five? The second meeting.

5.1k words

A/N: How are we feeling in a post-"Flight of Icarus" world, y'all? I knew from the beginning that I'd want to add some of the lore in and let me tell you, I LOVE Ronnie Ecker. For those of you who did not read the book, or haven't had a chance to, Ronnie is Eddie's best friend who ended up with a full scholarship to NYU. They're siblings, your honor.

Also if anyone can show me on this map where the plot is going, I'd really appreciate it.

This late at night, the only sounds in the trailer park came from the occasional dog barking and the echoes of Eddie’s tapes blasting as he pulled up to Wayne’s trailer. His uncle was working tonight as usual, which would normally allow Eddie time to hog the tv before passing out for a few precious hours before he had to get up for school. 

Tonight however, his mind was buzzing with what had just happened less than an hour ago. He liked you, he wasn’t sure how much yet but he did. You were sharp and knew your stuff about metal. It helped that you were cute. Really cute. 

He liked seeing you in the passenger seat of his car, matching wits with his friends and ranting about Ozzy. He liked seeing you laughing and the way you watched him play. He really liked the way you had fiddled with the pick he’d thrown at you at the end of the set. 

Eddie had never done that before. He’d wanted to, but never had anyone’s attention like that before- no. That wasn’t true. There had been one other person who’d listened to him play like that, two years ago. 

Was he always gonna fold to the site of a pretty girl actually paying attention to his music? 

“Of course you are.” Ronnie’s voice echoed on the phone. “And I’m gonna laugh every time you do.” 

Eddie groaned, holding the receiver to his ear as his forehead pressed against the front of the fridge. He hadn’t planned on running to her with this, but he was nowhere near able to wind down. He hadn’t even expected Ronnie to pick up the phone this late at night with the time zone difference and the fact that it was a school night. He’d have to push his stash a bit harder to pay Wayne back for the long distance call. 

The past two years had been a slow crawl of building back trust up with Veronica Ecker. The two had gone almost a whole summer without talking before Eddie had basically groveled for forgiveness outside of Granny Ecker’s trailer before Ronnie left for New York. She had forgiven him enough to let him give her a ride to the airport. 

“Last time?” He’d asked. 

“Last time.” She’d repeated. 

“So why didn’t you shack up with her tonight?” Ronnie asked. “You got her into your van, and you dropped her off like a gentleman.” 

“I don’t know, I panicked.” Eddie sighed, bonking his head against the fridge a few times. “She was right there, and she was leaning in and all I saw was Paige leaning in-”

“You know not every girl who shares your taste in music is Paige, right?” Eddie could practically see Ronnie rolling her eyes on the other end of the line. 

“Any girl that shares my taste in music ends up fucking off to the opposite end of the country.” 

This made Ronnie laugh. “You’re an idiot. Paige fucked off back to her job and I fucked off to college.”

“Fucking off is fucking off.”

“Maybe you need to fuck off.”

“I tried, remember?” 

She remembered. Both of them remembered. 

“Look, stop being a dipshit.” Ronnie said after a moment of awkward silence. “You’re graduating this year, right?”

“Uhhh...”

“Eddie.”

“Yeah, yeah I’m working on it. I just need those last stupid two classes and then I’m home free.” Eddie confirmed. 

“You can’t stay in high school forever.” Ronnie said. “And you’re gonna realize that there’s life outside of Hawkins. Have you even talked to Paige since then?”

He hadn’t, and they both knew it. Eddie gave up two months after she’d bailed him out of jail. Two months of dead air silence. He got the hint. 

“No.”

“Then stop worrying about one girl from over two years ago!” Eddie could feel the phantom pain of Ronnie punching him in the arm like she always used to. “Get laid and graduate, Munson. You earned it.”

Eddie snorted, sliding down the fridge to sit on the cool floor. “Is that the only advice you got for me, Ecker?”

“It’s the only advice you need. Did you pass that test last week?” Ronnie asked. 

“By the skin of my teeth.” Eddie sighed, leaning his head back against the fridge. 

“Your new girl graduated, maybe she can help you study.”

“She’s not my girl. She’s a girl that I’ve met a handful of times-”

“That’s turning your brain to mush.” 

“She doesn’t even know who I am, Ronnie.” He fiddled with the chord in his hand, watching the spiral wind and unwind around his fingers. It was already stretched out pretty bad, with a few spirals already tangled beyond repair like his old slinky from when he was a kid. 

“Isn’t that a good thing?” Ronnie asked. “She doesn’t know you, that means she doesn’t feed into the bullshit of the rumor mill.” 

Ronnie had a point and he hated it, but that’s why he called her to begin with. Ronnie was the only person who could cut through his Munson bullshit and give it to him straight. He missed it. As much as he enjoyed the power he had to protect his little lost sheepies, they were all too intimidated to actually stand up to him and call him out the way that Ronnie would.

“Yeah, you’re right. As usual.” Eddie could hear her snort and he couldn’t stop himself from grinning. “So why the hell are you even awake right now? Up til 2 am on a school night, Ecker?”

“It’s barely past midnight, the time zone isn’t that off. I was studying for a test, but hearing you complain about your love life is a far more productive use of my time.” 

“You’re using me to slack off, aren’t you?” 

“If I have to look at my flashcards one more time tonight my eyes are gonna go square. How’s Granny doing?”

“She’s an empty nester and is determined to turn me into her replacement grandson until you visit again.” Eddie shook his head. “She threatened to give me a haircut the last time she dropped off a plate for Wayne.”

Ronnie had come back to visit a grand total of five times since she’d left, returning for holidays and summers to visit Granny Ecker and by extension Eddie. Each time she’d come back with stories of law school and how different New York is. 

It seemed impossible, everything that Ronnie had told him about going to college and about life outside their small town. She was playing Dungeons and Dragons still, having found a group that would play with her. According to her, being a rules lawyer for the game at a law school hit way different than it had their small Hellfire group in high school. No one even cared that they played outside of a few students who had better things to do than enact violence against a few nerds. 

Then again, in law school everyone was some sort of nerd. Eddie wondered if even a freak would be accepted there. Well, socially at least. He wasn’t delusional enough to think he’d be able to be accepted into law school with his grades. Ronnie had invited him up to visit a few times, but there was never time or money to do it. 

The two continued talking for another hour, catching up until Ronnie was scolding him for staying up so late on a school night. 

“Yeah? And what’s your excuse?” Eddie said. “It’s almost 4:20 am there.” 

“Ha. Ha. Again, ha.” Ronnie said. “Still not how timezones work. And my first class doesn’t start until noon.”

Right. In college you didn’t have to wake up at the ass crack of dawn every day. 

“Night, Ecker.”

“Night, Munson. Graduate and get laid.” 

“Does it matter the order?”

“Good night, Eddie.”

Talking to Ronnie had eased his nerves, but there was still something inside that wouldn’t let him lay down and go to sleep. It was late now, way later than he intended to stay up tonight. The night he played at the Hideout always had him up late, and his teacher already considered him more useless than usual on Wednesdays. It’s not like anyone would care if he slept in class, unless they were in a particularly foul mood. 

He made his way to a stack of books in his room rummaging through a pile or two until he found what he was looking for. Eddie’s copy of Lord of the RIngs was well loved at best, and completely trashed at worst. The cover of the paperback was nearly torn off, taped back together haphazardly over the years. Pages were dogeared, the spine was cracked, notes were scribbled in the margins, and his name was scribbled in messy cursive on the front page declaring that this book belonged to Eddie Munson and that he was in third grade.

Eddie stripped out of most of his clothes, tossing his jewelry on his nightstand, and hopped into bed. He turned on a small lamp and opened the book. He could probably recite the first chapter from memory if he tried, the words on the page a comfortable lullabye for his wound up mind. But tonight he flipped to a page near the end where his bookmark was. The flower made out of blue construction paper wasn’t nearly as old as the book, and only in better shape because it never left the safe pages of Tolkein’s writing. 

His eyes glanced at his arm again, your phone number a temporary tattoo on his skin until it washed off. Shit, it was going to wash off eventually. Eddie grabbed a pen from under his bed and added another scribble to the inside of the book before copying your number carefully onto the paper flower. At least this way he’d always know where it was. 

With that aside, Eddie didn’t make it through three pages of his book before he passed out with the light still on. 

Fall Semester, 1984

The PrinciPAL’s office was just as interesting and inviting as it always was, which is to say not at all. Eddie was slumped back on a chair, watching as Janice sorted through paperwork, pretending to look busy so that she could avoid any small talk with ‘that Munson boy’. He had been waiting for Higgin’s to show up for almost fifteen minutes now, because why shouldn’t he waste Eddie’s time at this point? The worst that was going to happen today is that they’d do their little song and dance, Eddie would plead his case that the flyers were absolutely serious and that Chris Morrison had every intent to run for student council, and that it was all of the club that had made the posters, Higgins would shake his head and not believe Eddie for a second (which to be fair, this would be the first time that Eddie would admit privately that it was his fault), they’d go back and forth until Eddie got some form of detention or Saturday school. 

Honestly, the worst part would be rescheduling Hellfire if he wound up in detention. 

Eddie had counted out 13 paper clips that Janice had used in her papershifting before the door to the front office opened up again. He looked up, expecting to see Higgins walk in, ignore him for another five minutes, before Janice would let Eddie go in. 

He didn’t expect to see you, pale and shaken, clutching a teacher’s note in your hand. Eddie watched as you handed the note over to Janice who read it, shook her head, and pointed at the chair next to himself. Your eyes never left the floor as you sat next to him, staring at the cheap carpet as if you could somehow burn a hole in it and disappear. 

Trouble was no stranger to Eddie, and Eddie was no stranger to trouble. In Hawkins the name ‘Munson’ might as well be in the thesaurus next to the word. This wasn’t his first rodeo, and it would be far from his last as long as Higgins stayed the princiPAL. He’d walk away with a lecture and a sigh and then it would be business as normal. 

The look on your face though, that was far from the mild annoyance he felt. You look downright traumatized at the idea of having been sent here. Eddie glanced up at Janice who deigned to make eye contact with him now. Her eyes flicked between the two of you, a disapproving look behind her purple frames as if this was somehow Eddie’s fault that you had ended up here as well. But then, as far as any of the faculty from the office was concerned, even him being enrolled at this school was a death sentence to the rest of the poor student body. Eddie was a disease that they would try to contain until they had the cure to remove him. 

The shaking of your knee made your chair (and his chair by proxy) rattle slightly. The quiet of the office and the mundane shuffling of Janice’s papers only added to the tension that was radiating off you. 

“Janice, is Higgin’s gonna be long?” Eddie finally asked, and your bouncing knee stopped for just a moment before going back to its nervous movement. 

“He’s in a very important meeting.” Came the reply over a stack of papers, still not looking at Eddie. 

He sighed again and looked over at you, trying to place where he knew your face. Your eyes were a bit red, and you looked like you were on the verge of crying. Shit, he needed to do something before he had to ask Janice for the tissue box. 

“First time?” Eddie asked, and when you didn’t respond he nudged your knee with his. 

You jumped slightly, head snapping up. It was a wonder you didn’t give yourself whiplash and it would have been almost funny to Eddie had you not looked like a deer in the headlights looking at him. 

“I... Huh?” your voice cracked slightly. 

“What are ya in for?” Eddie did his best to give you a smile which he was sure made him look more like a serial killer than a comfort. It was rare he wished that he had his dad’s smile, but in cases like this he’d make an exception. 

You looked at the paper in your hand and swallowed. “Uh... skipped.” 

“Skipped school or just class?” Eddie prompted, trying to get you to talk more. If you were talking, then you weren’t crying. That’s what he hoped at least. 

“Class.” He didn’t think you’d say anymore but you surprised him. “US History.” Eddie caught the way your eyes darted to Janice again as if to make sure she wasn’t listening in, but Janice had better things to do than to eavesdrop on two delinquents. “I wasn’t... I had a bad day. I'm having a bad day. I felt like I was going to explode and I went to the library.” 

Eddie nodded, wondering what had happened today that made you need to duck out. It wasn’t his business, and frankly Higgin’s was going to grill you enough as it was. 

“Rookie mistake.” He said instead. 

“Rookie...?” 

Eddie kept his voice low and leaned in closer to you as if telling you a secret. “If you’re gonna skip, you can’t go to the library. You might as well have walked into the teacher’s lounge and announced that you were cutting class.”

You let out a sharp breath that he swore counted for a laugh. “Thanks for the heads up, can you tell me that a few hours ago?”

There was color returning to your face now and Eddie kept going. His brown eyes scanned your face, trying to place where he knew you from. Hawkins was a small town, and there was nothing about you that screamed ‘I’m new!’. 

He liked your sarcasm though, and his ‘comforting’ grin shifted into a genuine smile. “If you’re gonna ditch, you need to go to the bathroom or go outside.” He said. “Especially for last period. Go hide outside in the woods and you can slip into the parking lot seamlessly without anyone noticing. By the end of the day the teachers are barely taking attendance anyway.”

“Have you been in the girls rooms here?” you asked, shaking your head. “I think I’d rather take my chances here than stay in there longer than I’d have to.” Eddie wasn’t sure if you were trying to make a joke or if you were serious.

“Would you rather hide in the boys room?” he asked. “I swear it only smells like piss almost all of the time and you’d end up in the splash zone even if you were in a stall.”

That got a laugh out of you, a genuine one. Your shoulders were relaxing and you looked down at the paper again and took a deep breath that you exhaled with a sigh. 

“I’ve never been in trouble before.” you said, your hands starting to bend and fold the paper on your lap absently. “I’m not good at being in trouble.”

“Well, lucky for you I’m here.” Eddie nudged your knee again with his. “Being in trouble is kind of my job here at Hawkin’s High. I’m a professional, you know. If I wasn’t here taking up all of Principal Higgin’s time he might have to actually do his job.” 

That last part was louder, as he directed it to Janice who refused to take the bait and only reached for her lilac stapler instead. 

A small smack on his arm drew his attention back to you, you were smiling at him looking astonished. “You’re gonna get us in trouble!” you whispered at him. 

“We’re already in trouble.” Eddie reminded you, his smile never fading. “Look, you’ve never been in trouble before, right? You’re gonna be fine. Just give him a good sob story about being overwhelmed with school, or about a sick pet. If you can squeeze out some tears that’s even better. The worst that he’s gonna do is give you a slap on the wrist and maybe detention if he’s in a shit mood”

You take in his words, listening to him carefully and taking in every word he was saying as if this was life or death. Eddie admittedly, had purposefully slipped into his Dungeon Master voice. It was a skill that normally only worked on his little sheepies in his club, and that was after semesters of training his players to listen and pay attention to his words or else it would be life or death for their characters. 

Having someone else listen to him like that? It felt really good. 

Your mouth started to open to say something but then the office door opened again and Higgin’s stepped in, nodding to Janice and then looking at the two of you. There was an accusatory look in his eyes as he made eye contact with Eddie again, and it was clear what that look said. Leave her alone, don’t make things worse for her than they already are. 

“Munson.” Higgins said and it took everything in him to stay still and not flinch at his last name. He was used to the weight that came with his name, but he hadn’t wanted you to know who he was. Not after he just remembered where he knew you from, glancing down at the note that you had folded into a flower in a fit of nerves. 

“I heard you missed me, Sir.” Eddie forced his eyes to meet Higgin’s. “You really should just start saying hi in the hallways instead of inviting me to these little chats every week. You’re taking away valuable learning time from me, you know.” 

If the two of them had been alone, Higgins would have snapped back at Eddie about being a smartass. But you were there, and the color had drained from your face again, and there was a shine to your eyes that was threatening to spill over your waterline. Higgins looked at you and motioned for you to follow him into his office. 

Eddie wished that you would turn and look at him before disappearing into the PrincePAL’s office. He could imagine you turning to look at him for comfort, he’d give you a smile that would put you at ease and a thumbs up. You’d give him another smile and walk in feeling brave. 

Instead it was like you forgot he was there as your figure disappeared behind the heavy wood door that shut with a heavy click. 

Of course Higgins had you come in first, even though Eddie had already been sitting here since the beginning of the period when he’d been called in. 

He was tempted to go over to the door and press his ear up against it to listen in on what he was saying to you but even Janice would scold him for that. So there Eddie sat for another ten minutes as he waited for you to step out again. 

Higgin’s was the one to open the door and let you out of the office, as if he were some gentleman instead of Eddie’s own personal warden five days a week. You walked out and to Eddie’s surprise you gave him a nod and mouthed thank you as you slipped back out the door and into the hallway. 

Eddie’s eyes followed you until he couldn’t see you anymore and it took Higgin’s standing in front of him with folded arms and saying his full government name for Eddie to snap back to reality. 

“Munson. A word about your little flyers?”

“Well, I’d say a picture is worth a thousand words-”

“In my office.”

Eddie didn’t remember much else about that talk, only remembering the white paper flower that had been carelessly tossed into the trash next to Higgin’s desk. 

“He still hasn’t called you?” Steve asked as you, him, and Robin continued your closing routine. The day had been busy, with almost everyone in Hawkins coming to rent a movie for the weekend. Robin was stocking the candy while you wiped down the sticky counter where children had been touching all day. Who’s idea was it to leave out free suckers on the counter anyway?

Oh right, that was your idea because you loved Halloween. 

“Nope.” you said, your voice a little tense. It had been almost two weeks since that night at the Hideout. You hadn’t returned to the dive bar, hoping that Eddie would call you and make the next move. Each passing day you had stayed as close to the phone as possible when you were home and you’d checked your voicemail every day when you got home for any sign that he’d attempted to reach out. 

Nothing. 

You shouldn’t feel this rejected but you did. It was far too early to tell if you had any feelings beyond initial attraction to the guy, but... you’d felt something. An enjoyment of bantering with him and an ease that came as naturally as your friendship with Robin and Steve. 

Plus, you had to admit it, he was really fucking hot. Seeing him play guitar two weeks ago had haunted your dreams and slipped into a few of your fantasies when you were alone. 

You kept that part to yourself though, that was the last thing that Steve or Robin needed to hear. Besides, that was Steve’s job to go far too into detail about his sex life. Steve had tried ribbing you about going home with Eddie but you’d told him that you were a complete gentleman with him. 

That night had left you feeling electrified, almost high as you danced around your room as you got ready for bed. Even as his odd parting rattled around your brain, you couldn’t help but to feel excited at the idea of seeing him again. 

Then a few days went by. Then a week. And now two weeks later you hadn’t heard from him. The kids hadn’t stopped by either so you couldn’t hassle them about Eddie either. Even if they had, you weren’t sure if you could ask about him, you didn’t want to come across as desperate. 

“Did you ever figure out what he meant by ‘five times?’” Robin asked, opening up a squished package of Reese's Cups. “Like, didn’t you say you didn’t know him?”

You threw your hands up before tossing the paper towels you were using to clean in the trash can. 

“I have no idea.” you said. “Either I’m bad at math, he’s bad at math, or maybe we’re both stupid.”

“He did get held back a few times.” Steve muttered to himself. 

“There’s a chance that you two have met before though.” said Robin, “I mean think about it, you’re both weirdos who went to the same school. Shouldn’t you both have bumped into each other before?” 

“You’d think so, but my group kind of kept to ourselves.” you said with a sigh. “We were private weirdos. When I DID try and make other friends-”

“Yeah, yeah, Chris Morrison shot you down.” Steve said, waving his hand. 

“Oh, you heard that story?” you laughed. “I didn’t think I mentioned it to you before.”

Steve gave you a blank stare that only made you laugh more. “I swear you keep talking about that guy more than Eddie. Maybe I should track him down and set you up on a blind date with him instead.” 

“Don’t you dare!” 

“Hey, that could be fun!” Robin added. “We’ll dress you up super hot, set you up with Chris, and then you can turn him down instead!” 

“Excuse you, Robin. I am always super hot.” you declared, straightening out your unflattering Family Video vest. “Who wouldn’t want a piece of this?”

You hadn’t done laundry in a week, and your hair had seen better days. The green polyester vest was wrinkled and if Keith saw you looking sloppy he’d probably have words about it. Not big words or even intimidating words, but words nonetheless. It was night and day compared to how you’d looked at the Hideout and the arcade earlier in the month. But it wasn’t like you had anyone to impress while you were at work anyway. 

“Hey, nerdy chicks can be hot.” Steve said. “I mean, Nancy’s an academic nerd and I was crazy about her.” 

You hummed thoughtfully and turned to Robin. “How about we get married instead?” you asked. “You, me, a fuck ton of cats, and a tax break. What do you say?”

Robin laughed and shook her head. “You aren’t my type.” Her eyes darted nervously to Steve for a split second and you sighed dramatically. 

“Guess it’s just me and the cats I’ll eventually adopt.” you said. “Not even a tax break.” 

“You know, Keith thinks you’re cute-”

“I am going to pretend that you did not just say that, Harrington.” you said firmly. “Nope, not happening. Uh-uh. Absolutely not.” 

“He’s not... that bad?” Robin said, but you could hear the pain in her voice through the laughter. “Methinks the lady doth protest too much.” 

“The lady is trying not to think actually.” you laugh. “We’re closed, I’m actually done thinking. I just wanna finish cleaning up and go home. What’s left?”

“Rewinding the returns,-”

“Ugh.”

“Cleaning up the kids movies,-”

“Ugh.”

“And cleaning the bathroom.”

“UGHHHHHH.” 

“Would you rather clean up the porn room?” asked Robin. 

“Yes actually, I would.” You said. “Whatever they think about doing in that room is what they do end up doing in the bathroom.”

“Gross.”

Steve sighed “Okay, I’ll be the hero and save you ladies from cleaning the bathroom. Robin, you fix the kids section, and you can rewind the tapes.”

“I thought I was in charge here.” You crossed your arms. 

“Okay, did you have a better way to divide and conquer?”

“...No.”

“Then let’s hurry up and-”

Ding!

“Who didn’t lock the door?!” you asked. 

“It was Steve’s job to-” Robin started. 

“Oh, shit. Hi.” Steve was staring at the person who had just walked in. You turned around and your heart jumped in your chest and your stomach dropped. 

“Cursing in front of customers, Harrington?” Eddie said. “Now that’s not very professional of you.”

Robin’s eyes were darting so fast between you and Eddie that you were surprised she wasn’t giving herself vertigo. You tried to give her a pointed glare but your friend either didn’t get the hint or refused to. 

“Well, we’re closed. You can’t be a customer if you can’t pay.” Steve said, putting his hands on his hips. 

Eddie looked away from Steve and made eye contact with you. It had been two weeks since you’d seen him, and you glazed at his arm for a second, trying to see if the faded remains of your phone number were still stamped on his arm. Unfortunately for you he was wearing a heavy leather jacket and you had not yet developed x ray vision. Perhaps in another genre. 

“Do you want to get out of here?” Eddie asked and you, ignoring Steve who looked mildly offended. 

You stood there in shock for a second before Robin nudged you in the rib. 

“I- uh. I have to finish closing.” you said, snapping out of it. 

“Steve and I can handle the rest of closing!” Robin grabbed Steve and shook his shoulder. 

“Guys, I’m literally in charge of you both. I can’t leave before you.” You said, already reaching for your bag under the counter. 

“We can handle it!” Steve said. 

“And I can handle Steve!” Robin added. “We close without you and Keith all the time, remember?”

You could trust Robin, and as long as Steve didn’t knock down any displays then it wouldn’t take them more than another ten minutes to finish up. You were so tempted to turn them down, make Eddie wait as you had waited for him for the past two weeks. 

But you were already stepping behind the counter towards Eddie and tossing the keys to lock up to Robin. Keith would murder you and write you up (in that order) if he knew what you were doing but looking up at the roundest pair of brown eyes you’d ever seen had you in the mood to make questionable choices. 

You shrugged off your vest and tossed it at Steve, in an attempt to make yourself look like you hadn’t spent the whole day dealing with unruly customers and screaming kids. Part of you almost wished that you had agreed to bathroom duty, if only to give you an excuse to look in a mirror and straighten yourself out. 

“Thanks, guys.” you gave them a quick nod, catching sight of Robin’s knowing smirk and Steve shaking his head before walking out the door that Eddie was holding open for you. 

The last thing you heard was the scrambling of the entrance to Family Video being locked. 

Part 7

Dividers by @strangergraphics

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[packedtotheaussies]

Veronica Palmer (Better Off Ted 2x05) || Portia de Rossi

That's the sound of me deflecting your whiny bitching with my happiness shield.

[bloodibambiidoll]

American Idiot: King!Steve Harrington x Goth!reader.

Summary: Enemies (kinda?)to lovers, opposites attract, early 00s college AU. Steve Harrington had it all. Money, popularity, the perfect girlfriend. He had his whole life planned and laid out for him, and he accepted that. Working for his dad and marrying his collage sweetheart wouldn’t be so bad, right? That’s what he thought at least, until he got paired to do a project with you and you turned his world upside down. WK: 6.1k 18+ MINORS DNI

Warnings: angst with a happy ending, steve is still “king Steve” in the beginning, reader kissing someone other than Steve, oral(M&F receiving) unprotected sex(reader is on birth control), lil bit of daddy kink, Steve and reader kiss before he dumps his gf but he does it like right after though, reader smokes a lil weed. I think that’s it? Lmk if I missed any!! My masterlist

A/N: this was born from something I was tagged in where you saved the last character and song you listened to and I got Steve and American idiot and the fact that I have seen so many Eddie opposites attract fics and not enough about Steve with an alt GF. The reader is very much self indulgent for me but I left her description as vague as possible. I think the only thing I mentioned is the shirt she’s wearing and the fact that she’s wearing a skirt. Also I added “Dylan” because I really wanted to make him Eddie but I knew I’d end up involving him too much if he was in it at all lmao. I hope you guys like it!! I’d love feedback so much!✨

You aren’t exactly sure how you let Robin talk you into coming with her to this party but you are deeply regretting it. You were standing in a corner of the packed living room with a red solo cup that you took one sip of and then gagged because whoever made the punch was probably already wasted. Robin was dancing with Vickie, which made you smile. She told you all about how she had the biggest crush on her in highschool and when they both ended up at the same college she took it as a sign and finally made a move.

You glanced around the room and rolled your eyes at what you saw. You really thought by your third year of college the whole “clique” thing would be behind you. But no, for whatever reason the people here still wanted to abide by the conformity of the highschool food chain. You weren’t popular in highschool and you aren’t now, you made friends with Robin your freshman year when you were assigned each other as roommates but you honestly don’t have many other friends.

It’s not like people straight up bullied you like in highschool but the atmosphere was very much the same with the “popular” crowd. They all thought they were better than everyone else. You let your eyes wander to the cluster of people all dressed in the black, white, and green Chicago state colors and scoffed. At the center of it all was the bane of your existence, Steve Harrington.

He thinks the world revolves around him just because everyone in this stupid school kisses his ass. The teachers, all the students, even ROBIN is friends with him. She worked with him the summer before they left for college and she INSISTS that he isn’t actually as big of an asshole as he seems.

Steve Harrington had it all. Perfect car, perfect friends, perfect grades, he was the star of the Chicago state basketball team, and he had the perfect girl. Steve and Veronica had been together since freshman year. They met when he was leaving basketball practice and she was starting cheer practice and the rest was history. Yes Steve Harrington had it all, the perfect American life for the perfect American boy but apparently that wasn’t enough. He needed you too.

It started off when you had been partnered for a project in your English class and you spent some time together working on it. It was all going way more smoothly than you anticipated, you guys were getting along surprisingly well aside from you not being able to hold in your eye rolls and passive aggressive remarks towards him when he said something meat headed. But he would just laugh it off. On the last day of the project things changed drastically. One second you were finalizing your notes and the next thing you knew Steve’s lips were crashing into yours. You were so confused at first, frozen in place.

Then after a second you pushed him off “What the fuck are you doing Steve?? Is this some kind of joke to you? I think I’ve made it pretty fucking clear that I’m only toleranting you for this grade so I don’t understand where your wires got crossed thinking you could just kiss me?” He stared at you wide eyed before catching himself and scoffing “what? Don’t act like you didn’t want it, I could see how you were looking at me.” he gave you a smug look. “This is exactly why I didn’t want it, you ever thought not every single person wants to worship the ground you walk on? Has no one ever rejected you in your life? Get over yourself Harrington, I’ll see you tomorrow for the presentation” you grabbed your notes and swiftly exited the library after that.

That was two months ago, and since then Steve couldn’t let it go. You weren’t wrong, no one had ever rejected him and you continued to over and over again every time he would try and talk to you or approach you in any way and it was doing things to him. It kind of felt amazing, you couldn’t lie. The golden boy chasing after you like a little lost puppy. Especially since you were very much his opposite. You weren’t anywhere near rich, your car was an old piece of shit, and you definitely weren’t preppy in any sense of the word. So yeah, Steve Harrington pining after the quiet goth girl was kind of giving you an ego boost.

You watched him shotgun a beer while everyone around him cheered him on, tossing the can on the ground when he was done. He must’ve felt you looking at him because his eyes locked with yours and he smirked. As you were rolling your eyes Veronica’s arms shot around his neck and she started sloppily making out with him right there in front of everyone. It was honestly pretty gross to watch, you felt like you could hear their tongues and lips smacking from across the room, it made you want to gag.

Just as you were turning to head outside for a smoke break you felt a hand on your arm. When you looked up your breath hitched, because god damn this man was beautiful. It was like he was crafted with Peter Steele from Type O Negative in mind when they made him. “Hey, I like your shirt” he smiled sweetly at you. Suddenly you couldn’t remember your own name let alone what shirt you were wearing so you looked down and saw your Deftones baby tee before you looked back up at him and smiled “oh, thank you. I like yours too!” You pointed to his Korn shirt “their self titled album will always be one of my favorites of all time” he sent you another sweet smile “hell yeah, me too. I’m Dylan.” He held his hand out for you to shake and you took his much larger hand in yours and shook it for maybe a second too long before telling him your name.

“Pretty name for a pretty girl” you suddenly felt a little shy, it’s been a while since anyone (besides Steve, unfortunately) had really given you the time of day and this beautiful goth rock god just started chatting you up so you were a little nervous “do you smoke?” He pulled a joint out from behind his ear, offering it to you. “Yeah, totally, I’m down.” You tried your best to sound nonchalant but you were screaming inside. You decided right then that if this man wanted to take you home? You were fucking going.

You guys passed the joint back and forth and chatted for a bit, he was really cool, you had a lot in common and you enjoyed talking to him. When the joint was almost gone he held it up to you and raised his eyebrows “shotgun??” You bit your lip and nodded. He took the last large pull off the joint before cupping your cheek in his hand and leaning forward to let the smoke into your mouth. You inhaled and let a giggle out on the exhale, his face was still so close to yours, he smelled really good, and the weed was giving you confidence so you grabbed him by his shirt collar and brought his lips back to yours. His hands went to your hips as he kissed back passionately, pushing you up against the wall and deepening the kiss.

You guys had just started really making out, his knee pushed in between your legs under your skirt, his hand groping your chest over the shirt and your fingers tangled in his hair, not even caring that you’re in the middle of a packed party. Then he was suddenly ripped off of you. “What the!?” You opened your eyes in confusion and were met with Steve, shoving Dylan away from you “can we talk??” You scoffed “are you fucking serious right now Steve? I’m obviously busy, so you can get lost now. Dylan? Let’s go.” You started to walk past him but he grabbed your wrist “I want to talk to you. Alone. Please?” His demor changed by the end of the sentence and you saw a softness in his eyes you’d only ever seen a few times when you worked together on your project “Dude. She literally said she was busy, why don’t you just back off?” Dylan came over and stood next to you again glaring at Steve.

“Okay?? And I said I want to talk to her so you can get fucking lost before I make you” Steve got in Dylan’s face and basically growled at him before he shoved him against the wall and grabbed your arm, dragging you through the party and into one of the empty rooms and shutting the door behind you. You ripped your arm out of his grasp “What the fuck do you want Harrington!? You are being a serious cock block!! Did you SEE him?? I could slap you right now!”

“I didn’t like it. Seeing him kissing you like that when I want to be the one kissing you like that! I honestly couldn’t fucking stand it!!” He ran his hands through his hair and dragged them down his face in frustration.

“Okay Steve, I don’t know what your sudden fucking obsession with me is. If you’re just trying to prove a point to yourself that you can have any girl or if this is some kind of bet you have going with your stupid fucking friends but it has GOT to stop!! This is TOO FAR!! You’re keeping me from getting dicked down now and for what? Just let it go, you better hope he’s still out there or I’m going to track you back down and murder you!!” you go to walk past him and leave the room but he grabs your hand, making you turn to face him.

When you look at him you see that same look you saw a few minutes ago, the normally smug look on his face replaced with something softer. “Wait, please? Please just hear me out and then I’ll never bother you again.” You ripped your hand from his grasp and rolled your eyes. “Oh my god. Okay, you have two minutes, that’s it.”

He sighed deeply “Okay. I’m sorry, I know I’ve been bugging you a little-“

“PFT!! A little?” You rolled your eyes again, you honestly think if you have to talk to him much longer they’re going to get stuck in the back of your head.

“Oh my god. Can you just let me talk without interrupting me for two seconds?”

“Okay, yeah, sorry. Continue”

“Anyways… I know I’ve been bothering you a lot since we finished our project… and it’s not just because you rejected me, yeah that didn’t help, it just made me want you more but I wanted you before that. When we were working on our project together I just.. I started to fall for you. You were just so real compared to everyone around me. You made me feel like a person, you didn’t treat me like ‘king Steve’ or just do things how you thought I’d want you to. You told me like it is, and that was so refreshing to me.” He let out the deep breath he felt had been holding since you were still working together and waited for you to respond.

But you didn’t right away, you just stared at him with wide eyes stunned at his confession. “Please… say something, anything.” He gave you that pleading puppy dog look again.

“I… Steve you don’t mean that. You have everything. You’re popular, rich, you’re the star of the basketball team, you probably have some fancy office job lined up with your dad for after you graduate, and you have Veronica. I definitely don’t fit into that equation in the slightest.” You looked at him confused, searching for any kind of explanation that would make this make sense.

“Okay? Yeah I have all those things but I don’t WANT them. Most of those things are what my parents want for me, what my DAD wants. Basketball is fine, I’m good at it so it’s cool I guess, but did I really want to spend all these years just doing that? Not necessarily. And yeah if I work for my dad’s company I’ll be financially stable for the rest of my life but is that what I want to spend my life doing? No, it’s not. And Veronica? We may seem perfect to you but we aren’t. We fight all the fucking time and she’s honestly only with me because of who I am, because I’m king Steve. She doesn’t love ME, she loves the basketball star, she loves daddy’s money, she loves the extravagant wedding, white picket fence, and 2.5 children that we don’t know how to love because no one ever showed us so we just fill that void by showering them with material things. I had that life growing up, and I hated it. But you? You’re different. You’re free. You don’t care what anyone thinks and if you do, you don’t let it change who you are. You’re true to yourself, you don’t treat me like I’m some kind of god, you treat me like a person. THAT'S why I want you.” He took a step closer to you and grabbed your hands, ducking down so you’re forced to look him in the eyes “also you’re so beautiful, like so beautiful I feel like I can’t even breathe when I look at you.”

You looked into his eyes, searching for any kind of falsehood in his words but you didn’t find any. Instead he was looking at you adoring, hopeful. “Steve, I…” you didn’t really know what to say, you had never really entertained the idea that he might actually like you. You didn’t want to even have an ounce of hope in that aspect, because of course you thought Steve was hot. You also couldn’t deny that you did sort of like the side of him you saw during your project, and you liked what you saw now. Maybe you liked HIM and you didn’t even realize it. Maybe you did see the real Steve and maybe you liked that person. Before you could truly think about it you put your arms around his neck and pulled his lips to yours.

You had never had a kiss like this one, Steve’s lips were so soft, and he brought his hands to your face and cradled it like you were something precious. You got lost in the kiss for a moment but soon pulled away from him entirely, bringing your hand to your mouth and staring at him wide eyed “we shouldn’t… we shouldn’t have done that. This is a bad idea. I have to go find Robin.” You turned to leave and once again you were stopped by his hand in yours. “I honestly think this is the only good idea I’ve ever had actually” is all he said before putting his hands around your waist and pulling you into another kiss. Rationally you knew you should pull away, but your heart and body had other ideas.

Suddenly you absolutely needed him to touch you, anywhere and everywhere. You wrapped your arms around his neck and licked into his mouth, deepening the kiss. You went on standing there making out until you were both pulling away breathless “Fuck. You are so amazing.” He pushed some of your hair that fell in your face over your shoulder and left a soft kiss on your jaw. You tried to hold in the little whimper that escaped, but you couldn’t and just hoped Steve didn’t hear it. But he did, and he looked into your eyes again and gave you a mischievous smile before ducking his head to place more little kisses along your jaw.

You let out more little breathy whines and it was the sweetest sound he had ever heard. You grabbed his face, pulling it from your neck so he would look at you “I think… since you DID totally ruin what I had going with that guy out there, you kind of owe me now” you smirked at him and bit your lip.

“Yeah? You want me to make it up to you baby? Bet I can make you feel better than he ever could.” He ran his hands down your shoulders and around your back, sliding them down until he had two handfuls of your ass, your skirt riding up. “Yeah? I bet I fuck way better than Veronica. What’s she into? Missionary and reluctant blow jobs? Girls like that never like giving head” you smirked at him, not even feeling bad for shit talking his girlfriend. She didn’t deserve him anyways, Steve was yours now, you weren’t giving him back after this.

You were more spot on then Steve liked to admit but he can’t deny hearing you say those things was doing something for him. “Yeah? You like doing it then? You wanna get on your knees for me, pretty girl? Is that what you’re saying?” That’s exactly what you were saying, so instead of responding you dropped to your knees and looked up at him through your lashes while you reached for the button on his jeans, pausing before actually unbuttoning them “I’m going to give you the best blow job and fuck of your life, but only on ONE CONDITION”

“Okay, anything, whatever you want honey, it’s yours.” The nickname sent chills down your spine, you wanted to hear him call you every pet name under the sun. “You’re gonna go out there, and you’re gonna fucking DUMP Veronica, and then when you come back to me, I’m going to blow your mind Steve Harrington.” You stood up from the ground and booped his nose “Can you do that? Or were you bluffing when you said ‘anything?”

He meant it. He would quite literally do anything for you, not only in this moment but just in general. “Okay, I’ll do it.” Was all he said before he walked out the bedroom door, closing it behind him. You stood there stunned for a moment, mouth hanging open, staring at the closed door. You couldn’t believe that actually worked, Steve Harrington was about to throw away his “picture perfect” life for YOU of all people. If he even wanted to be seen with you. If he even did it, if he even came back.. His friends would never approve... God, his PARENTS would never approve of you. Before you could start to fully spiral you heard yelling coming from the other room.

“YOU CANNOT BE FUCKING SERIOUS!!!!?? THIS IS A JOKE RIGHT!!???” Veronica. You walked closer to the door to try and get a better listen but all you could hear after that were jumbled voices. So you decided fuck it, and walked out of the room into the crowded living area. Except people weren’t partying like they were before, pretty much everyone was silent, gawking at the couple they all thought were perfect. When you pushed through some of the bodies and were able to see them your breath caught in your throat. Veronica looked fucking pissed, she had her hands balled into fists and she stomped her foot on the ground several times like a toddler throwing a tantrum.

“What the fuck are you talking about THERES SOMEONE ELSE!? Are you serious right now? Who is she? Some other bitch on the cheer team? Swim team?” She scoffs and then makes a gagging noise “oh god, is she in the DRAMA club? Or some nerdy girl you tricked into doing your homework since you can’t do it for yourself?” That last comment had you seathing, giving you insight into how she probably talks to him all the time.

“God Veronica, can you be any more shallow? Not everything is about popularity or some fucking club. We aren’t in highschool anymore, grow up.” You looked over at Steve who honestly looked like he would rather be doing anything but having this conversation right now. “That’s rich, coming from you, KING STEVE!!! Since when do you not care about all those things? I thought that was our whole thing?” She let out a dry laugh “you think anyone else really wants to deal with you? I only dealt with you because of all the perks that came with having a life with you. You think I actually loved you? You think anyone will really love you and your pathetic, whiny, daddy issues bullshit??” Steve looked stunned, he knew she felt that way but hearing it coming out of her mouth hurt a little. He never really loved her but there was a point when he did at least actually like her.

You couldn’t take it, between what she said to him and the look on his face you snapped. You walked over there without even caring about the consequences and got directly in her face. “You’re. Wrong.” You snarled at her.

“Excuse me, what? And what the fuck does it matter to you, mistress of the dark??” She looked you up and down with disgust.

“It matters a whole lot to me actually, because I DO like Steve. I don’t give a fuck about his popularity, or basketball, or how much money he has. I don’t need any of those things because he’s so much more than that!” You thought back to when you worked on the project together, at the time you hadn’t really allowed yourself to notice how different Steve was with you but he was. He told dumb jokes, he smiled sweetly at you and fumbled over his words. When you would tell him like it was, or act annoyed by him he didn’t say anything, just took it. You guys would talk sometimes for an hour or more after you had already finished working, and In that moment you realized that he let you see parts of him he probably didn’t show to anyone, you were just too dumb to see it. “He’s funny, like the stupid kind of dad funny that’s kind of embarrassing but down right endearing at its core. He’s sweet, caring, and listens to me when I talk. He’s not stupid, he’s incredibly smart. You just never took the time to see him and you’re the biggest fucking idiot for it!!” You didn’t move, stayed directly in her face, staring into her eyes daring her to do something.

Her eyes widened and then slanted into a glare “HA!!! Oh my god!!! You’re dumping me for this freak!? You’re even more of a joke than I thought Harrington! Talk about a downgrade, you really think your parents would ever approve of HER? Your dad would cut you off as soon as he saw her, your mom would-“

“THAT'S ENOUGH!!! Just SHUT. UP. For once in your fucking life Veronica stop talking! Don’t talk to her like that, you don’t know anything about her. Or me for that matter. Stay the fuck away from us.” Steve grabbed your hand and started dragging you away towards the front door “come on baby, we are leaving” you let him drag you to the door but before you walked out you turned around and flipped Veronica off “I win, you lose! Dumb bitch!” You stuck her tongue out at her and started cracking up at her stunned face on the way out.

•

Steve took you back to his apartment, your immediate reaction was to feel uncomfortable because of course even his apartment was way nicer than yours. But before you could even really get a look around he was on you. Kissing you in a way that made you feel like you were going to melt into a puddle on his carpet. You pulled away from him and smirked at him before dropping down on your knees in front of him and he felt himself starting to get hard instantly. “I believe I promised you the best blow job of your life, did I not?”

He reached down and caressed your cheek “Yeah you did pretty girl, but honestly you don’t have to, we can just watch a movie or cuddle or something. I wanna do this right with you. I don’t want you to think that’s all I want, ya know?”

“Hey Steve?” You smiled up at him sweetly “yeah sweetie?” You reached for the button on his jeans and popped it open before pulling his zipper down, placing a gentle kiss on the small sliver of skin exposed where his shirt rode up “Stop talking. I want to, I like doing it. If I’m being honest I wanna suck your cock so so bad Stevie” he groaned at that “fuck, yeah, okay baby. Whatever you want.” You smiled at him triumphantly before grabbing his pants and boxers and pulling them down in one swift motion.

His cock sprang out and you forgot how to talk for a moment because holy shit it was the biggest and most beautiful cock you’ve ever seen. “Wow…” was all you could manage, spitting on your hand and wrapping your hand around his girth, giving him a few strokes before leaning up to kitten lick the salty precum from his tip. “Oh shiiit that feels so good” you gave him a few more licks before abruptly taking as much of him as you could at once. He involuntarily jerked forward sending his cock further down your throat, causing you to gag before he pulled back “oh shit, I’m so sorry”

“Don’t be, I like it” you said before you took him back down your throat as far as you could, causing yourself to gag again before pulling back and repeating the action causing spit to drip down your chin and all over Steve’s cock. Steve was a mess, he was making whining sounds he’s never heard from himself and he seriously needed you to stop soon or he was going to bust before he even got to fuck you.

You pulled off and looked up at him “I want you to fuck my face, daddy” that was it, he was obsessed with you. “Oh god, I want that too baby girl but I will seriously cum if I do that right now and I really really want to fuck you.” He pulled his pants up before pulling you up on your feet grabbing your hand and walking towards the bedroom. He closed the door behind him and turned to place a gentle kiss on your lips when he pulled back you pulled your shirt over your head and his eyes nearly popped out when he saw you weren’t wearing a bra “holy shit honey… these are the best fucking tits I’ve ever seen” he grabbed them in his large hands, squeezing them before he leaned down to take an already hardened nipple in his mouth. “Mmm daddy, your mouth feels so good.” He groaned at the sound of you calling him daddy again. He’s always wanted a girl to call him that, it’s just no one he’s been with has been into it and you calling him that in your own accord was making him crazy.

“I know where it’ll feel even better.” He said before pushing you back until you were laying on his mattress with your legs hanging off. You propped yourself up on your hands so you could look at him. “God, you are so fucking gorgeous I’m not sure how you’re real. Sitting all pretty on my bed with those beautiful tits out. I can’t wait to see the rest of you” He pulled his shirt over his head and you didn’t even have time to properly ogle him before he got down on his knees in front of the bed and ran his hands up your legs until he was at the bottom of your skirt. He looked to you for permission, and you nodded excitedly. That was all he needed before he was pushing the front of your skirt up to reveal your red lace thong that had a very obvious wet patch.

“Look at these pretty little panties… too bad they have to go.” He looped his fingers in the band and ripped them off, throwing them over his shoulder. “This pussys is waaaay prettier than those panties anyways, god damn.” He started kissing your calves and the inside of your knees, leaving soft kisses and little bites as he made his way up to your thighs. He bit into the meat of your thigh before soothing it with his tongue and repeating the action on the other side. He left little kisses and licks down your inner thighs until he reached the spot you wanted him most. He kissed the top of your mound and then held his mouth over your clit for a minute letting his breath hit you while he looked you in the eyes “I’m going to fucking devour you”

He licked a stripe all the way up your entrance and to your clit, circling it a few times before sucking on it. Your hands reached down and tangled in his hair and your back arched immediately. “Jesus Christ Steve, your mouth feels so fucking good.” You whined.

He unlatched from your clit to look up at you “Steve? There’s no Steve here right now, only daddy.” You outright moaned at that and he smirked, circling a finger around your entrance before pushing it inside you. “Fuuuck daddy, that feels so fucking good. Put your mouth back on me, please?” You looked down at him with big round eyes and he felt like he was actually going to cum in his pants this time. His tongue started circling and sucking on your sensitive clit, he slid a second finger inside you and that was it for you.

You came so hard, probably the hardest you’ve ever cum in your life. Your grip on his hair tightened and you rocked your hips against his face “oh f-fuckkkk fuck, holy shit.” You pushed his face away “s-sensitive, come here” you reached your arms out for him and he put his arms on either side of your head, looking down at you adoringly. You wrapped your arms around his neck, pulling him into a heated kiss, groaning when you tasted yourself on his tongue. “Please please fuck me now, I want you so bad” you couldn’t even believe you thought you hated him just a few hours ago and now you were laying under him begging for his cock. He stood up and took his still unbuttoned pants off, now standing completely naked before you.

“God damn.. you are so fucking HOT holy shiiiiit, get over here and fuck me right now.” You pulled your skirt off and scooted up to the head of his bed and spread your legs wide open “how do you want me, daddy?” You giggled a little, feeling high on him. “Fuck, baby, will you ride me?” He walked over to the side of the bed and looked at your naked form, biting his lip. You grabbed his wrists pulling him down on the bed, pushing him on his back and climbing on top of him. You ground down on his dick, sliding your pussy easily up and down his length with your wetness. “Condom?” He asked, raising an eyebrow at you. “I’m on the pill, I wanna feel you, I want you to fill me up.” His eyes rolled in the back of his head “oh goddd, fuck. Yeah? You want me to fuck you full of my cum?” You didn’t even answer, just raised yourself up so you could line his cock up with your entrance and began to sink down on it.

“Holy fuuuck baby, that feels so good.” You were still holding his cock, sliding the head in and out of you slowly adding more of him inside you with each thrust until he was fully inside you and you could feel his hair at the base rubbing against your clit. You just sat there for a second, adjusting to his size. “Oh shit, you are so fucking tight oh my god.” You move back and forth, just the slightest rock of your hips. “Fuck daddy, you’re so big. I feel so full.” You whimpered. You raised up until you reached the head of his cock and then slammed back down out of nowhere and he let out a moan that you wanted to record and use as your fucking alarm clock. That egged you on, you started riding him hard and fast after that, sitting up fully with your hands on his chest to stabilize you. His hands were on your hips, head thrown back, he felt like all he could do was moan. He was pretty sure you were sucking his soul out of his dick and he had never felt this good in his entire life.

“Jesus Christ, you are such a good girl. You look so fucking beautiful riding my cock.” He moved his hands to your ass and slammed up into you, quite literally fucking the shit out of you. He moved his thumb up to your lips “Suck.” You took it in your mouth and swirled your tongue around it a few times before he pulled it out with a ‘pop!’ And brought it to your clit. Rubbing tight slow circles on the bud. “F-fuck, I’m g-gonna I’m gonna cum” he started fucking you faster, the circles on your clit got quicker “cum for me, cum on my cock like a good girl” your orgasm hit you hard, falling forward on Steve’s chest, letting out loud moans and pulling on his hair. That combined with the feeling of you clenching around him had Steve cumming right after you, filling you up just as promised. “Holy shit, holy fuck, I’m fucking cumming! God baby you feel so fucking good!”

You both just laid there for a moment, catching your breath and coming back into your bodies. You placed a soft kiss on his chest and sat up to look at him. “Wow Stevie. That was amazing, seriously.” He gave you a huge smile “Yeah it was. Holy shit. I’m obsessed with you.” You sent him a shy smile and tried to hide your face on your shoulder but he put his hand on your chin and made you look at him “Hey” he said your name softly “I mean it, I really fucking like you. I really do think you’re beautiful, you literally ruined me for any other woman ever. I’ve never met anyone like you. I’d really like to take you on a real date, like you deserve. If you’ll let me.” He gave you the most bashful adorable smile ever but you couldn’t help the little laugh that escaped you “Steve. You’re literally still inside me right now and you think I don’t want to go on a date with you?” He shrugged and chuckled, “I just wanted to make sure, I didn’t want to assume anything, ya know?”

You rolled off of him to lay next to him, resting your chin on his chest. “Of course I want to go on a date with you silly. It took me a minute to realize it, but I think I’m kind of obsessed with you too, Steve Harrington.” You tilted your head up to kiss him, soft and sweet, different from all the other kisses. “I just hope I didn’t ruin everything for you. I feel like you threw everything away for me.” You sighed and looked down at his chest, running your fingers through the hair there. He said your name more sternly than you were expecting “Look at me.” You looked up into his eyes and suddenly felt extremely shy under his intense gaze. “You didn’t ruin anything, you made everything better, you saved me from a life I was miserable in. I’ve never been more happy than I am at this moment. I don’t give a fuck what my so called “friends” or my parents think anymore. I did it for you, of course, but also for the first time in my life I did something for myself too. I’m not sure what exactly my life is going to look like now, but I know if you’re in it, it’s going to be beautiful.”

You felt tears welling up in your eyes at that, no one had ever said anything like the things Steve had said to you tonight. He kept talking so much about how you see him that you didn’t even realize how much he saw you too. “I think so too Stevie.” He saw you and you saw him, and the rest you would figure out together.

[sijssjsbssjsnsnnskbskwns]

Poly!Fruity Five X Reader (Steve Harrington X Eddie Munson X Robin Buckley X Nancy Wheeler X Jonathan Byers) idea’s for you!

STEVE HARRINGTON X EDDIE MUNSON X ROBIN BUCKLEY X NANCY WHEELER X JONATHAN BYERS X READER

Fruity Five X Captain Marvel!Reader

Fruity Five X Wednesday!Reader (inspired by the Jenna Ortega version)

Fruity Five X Catwomen!Reader (inspired by the Hallie berry version)

Fruity Five X Harley Quinn!Reader

Fruity Five X Daki!Reader

Fruity Five X Ghostface!Reader

Fruity Five X Ahmanet!Reader

Fruity Five X Enchantress!Reader

Fruity Five X Maleficent!Reader

Fruity Five X Scarlet Witch!Reader

Fruity Five X Egyptian Goddess!Reader

Fruity Five X Angel!Goddess!Reader

Fruity Five X Ashnikko!Reader

Fruity Five X Female!Ghostrider!Reader (instead of normal fire it’s dark blue instead)

Fruity Five X Yandere!Reader

Fruity Five X Pyrokinesis!Reader (you can make manipulate and control purple fire)

Fruity Five X Hydrokinesis!Reader (inspired by Aang from the last Airbender)

Fruity Five X Chororkinesis!Reader

Fruity Five X Electrokinesis!Reader

Fruity Five X Cryokinesis!Reader

Fruity Five X Vampire!Reader (inspired by Abigail from Abigail 2024)

Fruity Five X Werewolf!Reader

Fruity Five X Siren!Reader

Fruity Five X Mermaid!Reader

Fruity Five X Demon!Reader

Fruity Five X Succubus!Reader

Fruity Five X Zombie!Reader

Fruity Five X Escape Lab!Reader (Scarlet witch powers but dark blue not red)

Fruity Five X Amethyst Witch!Reader (scarlet witch powers but purple)

Fruity Five X Jennifer Check!Reader

Fruity Five X Emerald Witch!Reader (scarlet witch powers but green)

Fruity Five X Golden Witch!Reader (scarlet witch powers but golden)

Fruity Five X Rose Witch!Reader (Scarlet witch powers but maroon pink)

Fruity Five X Echinda!Reader (your half-human half-snake)

Fruity Five X Blind!Reader (inspired by Toph beifong from avatar: the last Airbender)

Fruity Five X Mute!Reader

Fruity Five X Tourette’s!Reader

Fruity Five X Russian!Reader (you don’t speak English but you understand it, you only speak Russian)

Fruity Five X British!Reader

Fruity Five X Nezuko!Reader

Fruity Five X Dragon!Reader (inspired by Siveth from DragonHeart: vengeance)

Fruity Five X Female!Alastor!Reader (your Alastor from hazbin hotel but female, you have a human disguise to blend in.)

Fruity Five X Female!Transformer!Reader

Fruity Five X Female!Ink Bendy!Reader

Fruity Five X Veronica Mayday!Reader

Fruity Five X Ravenna!Reader (your ‘Revenna from the huntsman: winters war’)

Fruity Five X Enternal!Reader (your one of the eternals from the marvel movie called ‘eternals’)

Fruity Five X Twisted Alice!Reader (your twisted Alice from bendy and the dark revival)

Fruity Five X Deadite!Reader

(A/N: Hello! Hope you loved this post if you did make sure to go see my other posts it’s recommended!, Hope this was inspiring for you and if you want more inspiration go see my other posts YOUR WELCOME!! :)

(A/N: Hi also made versions of y/n you can use with these ideas that’s why I said: “.make sure to go see to go see my other posts it’s recommended!.” I made y/n au’s profiles so you can get inspiration for what y/n might look like in the X readers YOUR WELCOME! :)

[steddiebbang]

so what if right now everything’s wrong? | Rating E | 35220

Author: @sapphicsteddie

Artist: @werew0rm

Beta Reader: @veronica-soy

Pairings: Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson 

Characters: Steve Harrington, Eddie Munson, Robin Buckley, Nancy Wheeler, Jonathan Byers, Max Mayfield, Mike Wheeler, Lucas Sinclair, Will Byers, Wayne Munson

Tags: Rockstar AU, Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Mutual Pining, Post Season 4, 1990s, Midlife Crisis Steve

Trigger Warnings: No Warnings Apply

[Link to fic]  |  [Link to art]

↳ Keep reading below for a sneak peek!

It’s 1996.

Ten years have passed and everything has changed.

And for everyone Steve loves, it’s been for the better: Robin is elatedly working her ass off in the city, Dustin is across the country working a computer job that Steve only pretends to understand, Max and Lucas are a picture of domestic bliss off in Michigan, and Eddie is a bona fide fucking rock star.

Everyone has everything they’ve always wanted.

But Steve? Well, Steve’s working an office job that he hates, all of his friends are woefully out of reach, his marriage has reached its breaking point—and he hasn’t got the damnedest clue who he is anymore.

Just before he can truly capitulate to all he’ll never be, a call from Robin forces a reunion with his on-top-of-the-world former friend, Eddie Munson. And during one fateful week that follows, Steve is finally able to answer every question he’s ever had about himself.

For better and for worse.