#and deciding chrissy CAN'T POSSIBLY date Eddie

[jonathanbyersphd]

I need all 3 of u that are invested to know I've spent the rest of the day thinking about that Jancy Emma AU and how I would formulate it

[sidekick-hero]

Here it is, the next chapter of my entry for the @steddiesummerexchange. This is a gift for my dear friend @starryeyedjanai 💜💜💜 Her prompt was 'Steve can't get his inheritance until he marries someone'. Shout out to @acasualcrossfade for being the best beta reader there is!

Pairings: Steve/Eddie, Robin/Chrissy Characters: Steve, Eddie, Robin, Chrissy, Max, Dustin, Wayne Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fake Marriage, Platonic Stobin, Platonic Hellcheer, idiot4idiot, Friends to Husbands to Lovers, Humor and Fluff and a smudge Angst

Summary:

When Steve's grandmother dies, he finds out that he can only get his inheritance - half a million dollars - if he marries someone. It's her way of forcing Steve to live a heterosexual life. Sucks for her that gay marriage has been legalized since she wrote her will. Sucks for Steve that he doesn't have a man or woman in his life to marry. Cue Eddie Munson, roommate and best friend of Robin's girlfriend Chrissy and the guy Steve has had a crush on for years. What could possibly go wrong?

Read on AO3 - the fic is finished and has 4 chapters, the last one will drop June 24

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4

Chapter 2 (4.5k) under the cut

They all went out for dinner and drinks afterwards, and it turned out to be a great night. Robin and Chrissy both went into full planning mode, while Steve and Eddie decided to let them have their fun. Steve figured that if anyone besides himself knew what he wanted for his own wedding, it was Robin, and Eddie seemed to feel the same way about Chrissy.

It’s only after they'd all said their goodbyes that Steve takes a moment to let it all sink in.

As he lies in bed, the pleasant buzz of the fruity drinks he's had to celebrate slowly fading, he begins to realize what it will mean to marry Eddie. To have a real wedding.

Because a wedding ceremony means he has to tell people. It will be official. And while he's not exactly hiding that he's bi, he's not exactly out at work either. It just never really mattered, because in the two years he's been working at the station, he hasn't seen anyone outside of hookups and a few failed dates. Most of those were with women anyway. So he hasn't exactly lied, just not told the whole truth.

That would have to change now, he guessed. Because even if he didn't invite his team to the wedding - which he will, because they're his family, too - Captain Hopper would know because of the paperwork. Steve knows that if he asked Jim, he wouldn't tell the others. But he would also look at Steve with disappointment and hurt because he would feel that Steve doesn't trust them, and the thought of letting down the man who has become the closest thing to a father figure he has in his life aside from Robin's dad is unfathomable to him.

Which means he's going to have to tell his team, and sooner rather than later.

Just as he somehow accepts this and decides to go talk to Jim before his next shift, another thought hits him.

Max.

He's going to have to tell his little sister. Worst of all, he doesn't even know what to tell her, because either he'd make her an accomplice to his scam, or he'd lie to her and pretend that he and Eddie had been together for a while. Which would make her think that he has been lying to her for months and hiding his relationship from her.

Then he remembers that the same goes for Dustin, the kid he used to babysit and who has become as much his little brother as Max is his little sister. The family he chose. He's either going to have to lie to him, too, or drag him into this whole mess.

Fuck.

After tossing and turning for what feels like hours, his mind racing, Steve finally gives up trying to fall asleep and rolls out of bed again. Wrapping his blanket around his shoulders, he shuffles over to Robin's room. Selfishly, he's glad that Chrissy went home with Eddie tonight, so he can just walk into Robin's room and crawl into bed with her.

"Dingus?" her sleepy voice greets him, already scooting over to make room for him.

"Yeah, it's me. Couldn't sleep."

She turns on her side and forces her eyes open with what looks like great effort. "Wanna talk about it?"

"Not really," he answers, only it sounds more like a question. The truth is, he doesn't know what to say.

Robin just hums, and after a long moment of silence, he speaks again.

"It's just. Chrissy said nothing has to change, but that's not true. Things will change. I have to tell Hop and the others at the station. They don't even know I'm bi, it's like high school all over again."

Robin makes a sound in the back of her throat and takes his hand in hers. "No, it's not. You were outed against your will in high school. What that asshole Hagan did was a complete dick move. These people are your friends, your family. Even if you tell them that about yourself, I'm sure they won't feel any different about you, Steve."

Deep down he thinks he knows that. Or at least he hopes it's true. But it's still nice to hear Robin say it.

"Maybe. But they're going to hate that I lied. They'll probably think I don't trust them."

"Well," Robin begins, choosing her words carefully, "can you blame them? There must be a reason why you haven't told them yet."

"It just never came up," he justifies.

"Steve," she says, her tone clearly saying 'come on now'. "I've been to the last two Christmas parties at the station, and I met your team at your birthday. You talk about your dating lives and your hookups and even your childhoods. They know about Max and your bad relationship with your parents. Don't you think you could have said, 'Yeah, I don't talk to my parents because they're total scumbags who kicked me out the minute they found out I liked men too'?".

He sighs deeply, defeated.

"You're right. I was afraid they would look at me differently. That they'd think less of me, like -"

"Like your parents did. I know. But Steve, not everybody is like your parents. They don't know what an amazing person you are. A wonderful and loyal friend, a selfless and brave man who risks his own life every day to save others, and a loving and caring older brother who is more of a role model than they've ever been."

Steve feels his eyes burning and his throat tightening with emotion.

"And yet you wouldn't marry me," he deflects, and Robin punches him in the shoulder.

"Way to ruin the moment, Dingus."

"What can I say, it's a talent," he says with a wink before sobering up. "But seriously, thanks, Robs. You're the best friend I could ever ask for. I would totally crash and burn without you."

"I know. For the record, you're not so bad yourself. And as for things changing. You know change doesn't have to be a bad thing, right?"

They've talked a few times about his aversion to change. It scares him because he's always afraid it means he's going to lose something. Or someone. He's working on it.

"Yeah. I know." Theoretically, he adds quietly in his head.

"And you know you won't lose me or Max or Dustin just because things change, right?"

“I-” he starts, almost hating the way Robin knows him so well. “I guess?”

"But I might have to lie to them, Robs. I can’t drag them into this mess. What if they end up hating me when they find out I faked a marriage and lied about it? Or what if they’re mad because I never even mentioned this ‘relationship’ with Eddie before?”

"They won't hate you, Steve. They might be angry or hurt at first, but they would get over it. They love you, okay? Just like I do. No matter what happens. Even when we’re not living together anymore, it doesn’t mean we won’t see each other all the time or that we won’t be as close. You’re my best friend, my platonic soulmate. Nothing’s going to change that.”

Her words soothe something deep inside him, where his heart has never quite stopped aching since the day his mother silently closed the front door in his face, leaving him standing there with his hastily packed bag after they told him to leave and never come back. As all of her words fully register, he involuntarily squeezes her hand.

"What do you mean, 'when' we're not living together anymore?"

The longer it takes for Robin to answer, the faster his heart starts beating, until he thinks he might have a heart attack.

Just as he's about to ask again, Robin answers. "I mean, now that you and Eddie are getting married, Chrissy and I thought that, well, Eddie would probably move in with you, and that I, um..."

"That you'd move in with Chrissy," he says flatly. It's not a question.

"Yes," she whispers, as if afraid he'll break if she speaks too loudly. He very well might.

They lie quietly in Robin's bed, the darkness around them like a living, breathing thing.

He has never felt so lost. It's not that he doesn't get it—he does. Robin and Chrissy have been together for four years now, and having separate apartments has worked for them so far. But Steve understands that they'd want to share a life and an apartment at some point. He just didn't think that time would be now. But it makes sense, because he and Eddie are supposed to move in together when they get married.

It's just that, in his mind, that didn't equate to Robin moving out.

"Steve," Robin tries again, clearly worried but determined to fix this. "I don't have to move out right away. It was just an idea. It doesn't mean it has to happen right away."

"No. No, you're right. It makes sense. It's just," he hesitates before pressing on, "whenever I thought about one of us getting married, or at least moving in with a partner, I still thought we'd be living together. It's silly, I know," he adds hastily, because he does know that, "and way too co-dependent."

"It's not silly, Dingus. I won't deny that it sounds pretty co-dependent, but it's not like that's, I don't know, new for us?"

That makes him laugh, if only half-heartedly.

"And who says we won't? Maybe we can, y'know, try the whole living apart thing, and if we don't like it, we'll work something out. It's not like there aren't options. We could get a house for the four of us. It doesn't have to be all or nothing."

Drawing Robin into his arms, Steve makes a thoughtful sound. "I'm pretty sure you're right, because you usually are. Just give me a little time to get used to the idea, will you?"

It's a testament to how well she knows him that Robin—guessing he's feeling raw right now and needs the physical reassurance—settles into his embrace without a fuss.

"Of course. It'll be fine. With your team and Max and Dustin. And with us, too. I hate that your parents made it so hard for you to trust people's love for you, you know?"

He kisses her forehead gently, putting all the love and gratitude he feels into the gesture, and murmurs into her hair, "Me too."

The next day, after a hearty hangover breakfast, Steve decides to bite the bullet and face his little sister's wrath. After his talk with Robin, he came to the conclusion that he’d rather risk Max and Dustin being angry at him for seemingly lying to them about his love life than involve them in his own mess and make them accomplices to his wedding scam to get his inheritance.

Even though part of him would prefer to do this over the phone and not look Max in the eye when he tells her, a larger part of him knows that this is something that needs to be done in person. So he makes the trip to her campus and finds her in her room, nose deep in her studies, when her roommate opens the door for him.

It's not often that he comes to visit. Not because he doesn't want to, but because she insists that she doesn't want her older brother hanging around and embarrassing her in front of her friends. He would be more offended were it not for the fact that Max regularly comes to their place for game nights like the secret dork that she is. Besides, he's pretty sure that Max just wants more of a reason to hang out with Robin, not just him. She never had many girl friends, just Jane, her best friend, and Steve thinks that Max looks up to Robin. Which is cool, because in Steve's eyes, Robin’s the best person ever and Max could have much worse role models.

Things were a little tense when Robin first started dating Chrissy, probably because Max felt threatened by the new woman in Robin's life. But she got over it surprisingly quickly, and now Chrissy joins their game nights more often than not. That's how Max knows Eddie in the first place, because he makes a habit of showing up mid-game to join them, claiming he was bored all alone at home, abandoned like a badly behaved dog. Steve doesn’t really believe him, because he knows well enough that Eddie has friends and gets out quite a bit, but it's not like he minds Eddie hanging around. He just wonders sometimes why he would lie about it.

"Hey, little sis! Studying on a Saturday morning? Sure we're related?”

Max looks up from her textbooks, a mixture of surprise and suspicion flickering across her face at the sight of her older brother dropping by unannounced. "Hey, Steve. What's up?"

On the way here, Steve had thought about how to open the conversation, but hadn't been able to make up his mind before entering the dorm. Should he just say it, get it over with, or should he ease her in? Start with some small talk? Max isn't really the small talk type, but it feels wrong to just say, 'Good to see you. Guess what, I'm marrying Eddie, the guy who hangs around the apartment sometimes and you had no idea I was even dating. Surprise, I guess.'

Yeah, no. Small talk it is.

"Can't I just go visit my little sister and see what she's up to?" Steve deflects, flinching at Max's raised eyebrow.

She looks thoroughly unimpressed as she replies, "Steve, we saw each other three days ago. It may come as a shock to you, but college isn't exactly like those stupid movies. So, spill it. What's so important that you had to drop by unannounced?"

Well, he should have known this wasn't going to work on Max. She's always been way too smart for her own good, and her bullshit detector is unparalleled.

Steve takes a deep breath, mentally preparing himself for the bombshell he's about to drop. "So, remember Eddie? The guy who's been crashing our game nights with Robin and Chrissy for the past four years? The guy who eats all of the good snacks and leaves the rest of us with the salty popcorn?”

Max nods slowly, her brow furrowing in confusion. "Yeah, what about him?"

"Well, funny story... He and I, uh, we're getting married."

Max's jaw drops and she almost chokes on the coffee she just took a sip of. "Wait, what? You’re getting married? To Eddie?"

Steve winces, realizing he might have botched the delivery. In his defense, he’s not sure there is a better way to deliver this kind of news. "Yeah, I know it's a bit out of left field. But hear me out..."

He starts explaining his thing with Eddie, weaving in a story that's only partly made-up. Steve talks about how he's kinda had a crush on Eddie for a while but never really thought Eddie felt the same. Max doesn’t look surprised at that part, just nods like she’s saying “Duh,” and Steve wonders how transparent his feelings for Eddie really had been.

Before he can get lost worrying about that, he goes on, making up some romantic-sounding story about how one night, they were just watching a movie, and boom! Next thing he knows, their hands are both going for the chips, and suddenly their fingers are all tangled up, swiftly followed by their lips. Max rolls her eyes so hard that Steve’s afraid she’s hurting something, but he also sees the corner of her mouth ticking upward. Robin once told him that she and Max had watched a few rom-coms together when he wasn’t home, so he thinks she secretly likes these kinds of stories almost as much as he does.

He finishes his story by shrugging his shoulders and admitting that he’d been the one to ask Eddie to put a ring on it, eager to lock down the guy he's been into for ages. It’s exactly the kind of self-deprecating joke he needs to lighten the mood, unable to endure the building tension in the room.

"And I know what you're thinking. 'Steve, you never even mentioned you were dating!' But trust me, it's not because I didn't want to. I just... didn't know how to break it to you."

Max's eyes narrow, her hurt evident. "So, what, you don’t trust me?"

Steve's heart sinks at the hurt in Max's voice. God, he never wanted to hear her sound like that again. It dredges up memories of all they've been through with their family, the wounds still raw. “No, Max, that's not... Damn it!” Steve curses, frustration and guilt knotting in his stomach. “I'm screwing this up. That's why I didn't tell you in the first place. I just... I didn't know when to tell you. You've always been there for me, especially after Mom and Dad...” His voice trails off, heavy with the weight of it all. “It's my fault you lost them. I didn't want you to lose anyone else because of me, so it felt like a big risk to bring someone new into our lives.”

Max's expression softens, understanding dawning in her eyes. "Oh, Steve. You’re an idiot." She sighs, rolling her eyes for effect. "It’s not your fault I stopped talking to them. I chose you over them because you're my brother, and they are bigoted assholes who hurt you."

Max's words feel like balm on his frayed nerves, but at the same time he is consumed with guilt for using their shared history and pain to make her believe his lie. He knows why he's doing it, but suddenly the phrase "the road to hell is paved with good intentions" makes a lot more sense to him.

It seems that some of this has registered with his sister as well, because Max isn't finished yet.

"But I also call bull. This isn't about me. You're scared. Scared of getting hurt again, of letting someone in and having them leave. You didn't tell anyone before because that would have made it real."

Steve swallows hard, the weight of Max's words hitting him like a ton of bricks. His relationship with Eddie isn't even real, but her words still hit him. They've been through too much together for him to deny that she's right. He owes her that if he can't tell her the whole truth.

"Yeah, you’re right. It’s just that… I’m scared of messing things up, I guess. With you, or with Robin..."

"Or with Eddie?" Max adds, a sad smile on her face.

"Or with Eddie," Steve agrees, realizing it's true. He doesn't want to screw this up, even if it's just a scam. Eddie is still important to him, and he doesn't want to lose him because of some scheme to get his inheritance.

Max reaches across the table to grasp Steve's hand, her touch as comforting as when she first stood in his door, declaring she told their parents to screw themselves before hugging him, clinging to him for dear life. "You won't lose me, Steve. I'm here for you, no matter what. And Eddie seems like a good guy. He would be even dumber than I thought he is if he didn’t want to spend the rest of his life with you. So, if he makes you happy, then I'm happy for you. And if you tell anyone I said that, I'll shave your head in your sleep."

Even as he laughs at Max’s threat, Steve's eyes mist over with tears, overwhelmed by Max's unwavering support. "Thanks, Max. You have no idea how much that means to me. Threats and all."

Max squeezes his hand gently, a small smile playing on her lips. "Anytime, big brother. Just promise me one thing."

"Anything."

"Please don't let this turn into one of those rom-com clichés where everything goes horribly wrong because no one just talked to each other."

Steve chuckles through his tears, feeling a weight lift off his shoulders. "I'll do my best, Max. I promise."

As much as he’d dreaded this talk, he’s glad he came over to tell Max. He feels lighter now.

Some days, he hates how often Robin is right about the important things in life, considering that she also believes that Bigfoot is real.

He's already out the door a few minutes later, after Max basically kicked him out so she could learn, when she gets up and walks over to him. “Oh, one more thing. I’ll be bringing someone to your wedding and I want you to remember that you owe me and not ask a single question. I’ll tell you when I tell you, just like you.”

“What? Who're you -” Steve starts, totally flabbergasted.

“Not a single question, Steve. See you soon, take care, say hi to Robin, and tell Eddie that I’ll break his hand if he breaks your heart.” With that, she closes the door in his face.

He probably deserved that.

Talking to Dustin the next day goes something similar.

Steve can't visit him on campus because the little genius just started his master's degree in bioengineering at MIT, a year ahead of his peers, because of course he is. So he has to resort to a phone call.

He skips any attempt at small talk, though, mostly because Dustin is doing the talking for both of them, telling him all about something that is way over his head, but makes him smile for all the passion he hears in Dustin's voice.

"That sounds... very cool, man. I have no idea what it all means, but I'm pretty sure you're going to be cooler than Batman pretty soon." Before Dustin can interrupt him to explain whatever he just said about DNA replication, Steve continues, "I also have something to tell you.”

That, at least, piques Dustin's interest.

Steve tells him the same version of his and Eddie's origin story that he told Max, and just like Max, Dustin doesn't seem to find it particularly hard to believe that Steve had a big ol' crush on Eddie and proposed to him over it. What he finds much harder to believe is that neither Steve nor Eddie told him about it.

"I can't believe Eddie didn't tell me either; we tell each other everything!"

Steve seriously doubts that, even though he knows that Dustin and Eddie have become quite close over the last four years. They hit it off right away, bonding over their weird little fantasy game that Dustin's been playing with his friends for as long as Steve's known him. Eddie apparently ran a club for the same game in high school, and before Steve knew it, Dustin and Eddie had become best buds. Dustin's passionate stories about how great Eddie was should have made Steve jealous, and they did, a little. But they also fueled his crush on the other man, because nothing in his life could ever be simple.

That's probably why Steve finds himself defending Eddie by throwing himself under the bus.

"I asked him not to tell you guys. I'm sorry, man. It's just..."

Dustin's silence on the other end is unnerving. Steve can almost hear the gears turning in his brain. He can picture Dustin sitting in his cluttered dorm room, probably surrounded by textbooks and lab equipment, frowning in concentration.

"It's just what, Steve?" Dustin finally asks, his voice a mixture of confusion and hurt.

"It's just that I was scared," Steve admits, the words coming out in a rush. "Scared of messing things up. I mean, this thing with Eddie... it feels huge. I never felt that way about anyone before. And I know it sounds stupid, but... it scares the shit outta me, man. And I know how much you like Eddie, too, so, yeah. I didn't want to risk putting you in a position where you felt like you had to choose sides or something if it didn't work out, I guess?”

The line goes quiet for a moment, and Steve wonders if he's said too much. Especially because he has no idea where this is all coming from. He also finds it harder and harder to remind himself that it’s just a story and that he and Eddie aren’t really together. But then Dustin sighs, and it sounds like the weight of the world is in that sigh. "Steve, you idiot. You know I love you, right? You and Eddie both. I’d never take sides, I’m way too mature for that. You should have trusted me."

"I know, I know," Steve says, running a hand through his hair in frustration. "I just... didn’t think this through, I guess."

"Yeah, well, that’s why you have me. You don't have to handle it on your own," Dustin says firmly. "We're a team, remember? And that means relying on each other and not keeping secrets."

“You’re right, okay? I’m sorry, Dustin.”

Apparently, that’s exactly what Dustin wanted to hear, because Steve can hear the smug grin in his voice. “I know. And it’s okay. I forgive you.”

Steve feels too much relief to be annoyed at Dustin’s ego. To know that he has Dustin's loyalty and support like that mean the world to him. It’s like balm to the wounds his parents and grandma left on him, to learn that not everybody leaves just because he hasn’t been perfect. "Thanks, Dusty. I don't deserve you."

"You're right, you don't," Dustin retorts, but Steve can hear the smile in his voice. "But you're stuck with me anyway. So, when's the wedding? And don't even think about getting married without me there."

Steve laughs, the tension finally easing. "Don't worry, you'll be there. I wouldn't dream of having it without my groomsman."

"Groomsman, huh? Damn right I am," Dustin says, and Steve can practically see his chest puffing out with pride. "But wait, who's the best man? If you say it's Eddie's old dungeon master, I'm gonna lose it."

"Robin," Steve clarifies, chuckling. "She’s my best man, or best woman, whatever you call it. And before you ask, I’m pretty sure Eddie’s best man is Chrissy."

"Ah, makes sense," Dustin says with a satisfied nod in his voice. "I can accept that, I guess. But you better tell Eddie that if he hurts you, I'll kick his ass. And you tell him I mean it, too."

"I will," Steve promises, a smile tugging at his lips. "Thanks, Dustin. Really."

"Anytime, Steve. Now go tell Eddie that I’m still angry at him for not telling me and he better make it up during our next campaign."

Steve hangs up the phone feeling lighter than he has in days. At least until he remembers that he just told Max and Dustin a story about him and Eddie getting together that he hasn’t discussed with Eddie yet. So what if Eddie also told people but used a totally different story?

Well, fuck.

Grabbing his keys from the side table by the door and putting on his shoes, he texts Eddie that they need to talk and that he’ll be over in twenty minutes.

[artiststarme]

My Angsty Works

Here is my ever-growing list of angsty fics. Grab some tissues and settle in! Please leave your thoughts in the comments!

-Eddie Doesn't Know They're Dating

A short fic based on this post by @anzelsilver. Steve is thrilled because he and Eddie have been dating for months. Eddie is confused because Steve has been overly affectionate for months! Then one day, everything comes to a head.

-What if Vecna cursed Steve instead of Max?

Have tissues ready! This is an angsty fic about what would've happened if Steve had been cursed instead of Max. It caused some tears and I'm not sorry about it. Now with a happy ending.

-Steve is Afraid of Hospitals

After Starcourt, Steve develops a fear of doctors, needles, and drugs (Nosocomephobia). It all comes to a head after the events of Spring Break when Eddie needs treatment for the bat bites and so does Steve.

-Cherophobia

Eddie doesn't have a lot of fears but the one he does affects everything. Why can't he feel happy without dreading what will happen afterwards?

-Dying? Let's Ignore It

Steve hates getting sick and will ignore his symptoms until they go away. What happens when that doesn't happen and he gets worse?

-The Up and Downs in the Life of Eddie Munson

Eddie's life has been a steady decline since the moment he was born. Really, it was just a matter of time until it got worse to the point of no return.

-The Party Forgets Steve's Birthday

No one has ever cared enough to celebrate Steve's birthday. He expected that to change now that he has the Party but he's sorely disappointed.

-Part 2: Eddie Saves Steve's Birthday!

-Part 3: The Kids Grovel for Steve's Forgiveness

-The cake sayings

-Just A Minor Crisis…

Steve is having a rough time so Eddie and Robin go over to his place to check on him.

-Staying Alive, Staying Alive

Steve drags Eddie from the Upside Down and saves his life several times over. Then Eddie teaches him a new trick while bleeding out (he lives, don't worry).

-Steve's Parents Are Dead

Steve never talks about his parents, he doesn't have any reason to. Meanwhile, the Party have their own speculations until they learn the truth.

-False Alarm

The Party thinks Steve has disappeared under mysterious circumstances and starts panicking. Turns out, Steve just took a routine vacation without notifying anyone.

-Just Another Miscommunication

When the Party decides to give Steve all of the shovel talks between him and Eddie in their relationship, it causes problems between them. Can they fix it before it's too late?

-Addition written by @hyperfixationgoddess

-Bye Bi Steve

Steve knew that Robin and Eddie would support him when he came out as bisexual. But he doesn't know how to handle it when they don't.

-Part 2: Nancy gets them to apologize and Steve gets his apologies.

-Another One Bites The Dust

What would happen if Steve got trapped in the Upside Down when the gates closed? And how would the Party handle it?

-Don't Call Me Stupid

Steve is used to being the 'dumb' one in the group but that doesn't mean that it doesn't hurt when the people he loves calls him stupid.

-Part 2: Steve takes some time to himself to work through his hurt feelings.

-Steve's Vecna Vision

Vecna/Henry/One gets Steve and makes him see the worst possible thing; Dustin dying.

-Pain's An Old Friend

Steve has a bad habit of hiding his own injuries. He doesn't think it's a big deal until Hopper and his friends find out and make their displeasure known.

-Sneaky, Like a Ninja: a Part 2 of sorts that explores Steve sneaking out of the Hopper-Byers house when they're just trying to help him recover.

-What if Hopper knew he was sneaking out?: a short Part 3 that explores Hopper's thoughts on Steve sneaking out.

-Don't Dream It's Over

Steve has thought a lot about his death through the years. He doesn't focus on his life until he's losing it.

-What if Steve died instead of Chrissy?

MAJOR ANGST: What would have changed if Steve had died in Eddie Munson's trailer that night instead of Chrissy?

-Steve’s No Good, Very Bad Day

Steve protects the kids from a threat and gets hurt in the process. But Hopper misunderstands and takes it out on him instead.

-Midlife Crisis

After everything he's gone through over the past few years, Steve is long overdue for a crisis.

-Exes and Oh’s

Steve just can't support Robin dating Nancy. It's not because he still likes Nancy like the kids or Robin think though, he just doesn't want to see his best friend get hurt like he did.

-Where's The "Talk"?

The Party doesn't think Eddie and Steve are serious enough about each other to need shovel talks. They'll show them.

-Love Me For Me

The kids say something that makes Steve think they only like him for what he can offer. He just wants someone to like him for him, not what he can give them materially.

-Love Me, Love Me Not

Steve overhears a comment made by Eddie and comes to the conclusion that he must hate him. He doesn't.

-Burning Down the House

Someone sets the trailer on fire after murder accusations and spring break. But Steve is there to help.

-Trust Issues and Resolutions

Eddie comes to too quick of conclusions but Steve fixes it.

-Win Some, Lose Some

Steve fights with some friends but gains some more in an unlikely fashion. (Part of the Phil Callahan is Steve's Brother Universe).

-Heartbreak in the Sea

MerMay AU where Pirate!Steve is lured into the call of the ocean by Merman!Eddie.

-Save Me From My Self (Esteem)

Eddie has really bad self esteem but he has Wayne, Steve, and Dustin to push him back on track.

-Life Is So Shit

Steve tries to end it all but Eddie Munson talks him off the ledge (literally).

-Losing a Part of Me

Steve loses Robin then loses himself because he can't function without his better half.

-An Unexpected Surprise

Eddie's attempt at a prank becomes so much more to Steve "The Hair" Harrington when they're in high school.

-Another Bad Day

Steve's parents come home and berates him, the Party picks on him, and Phil has to talk him through a panic attack, all the good stuff. (Part of the Phil Callahan is Steve's Brother Universe).

-A Tragedy, Indeed

Chrissy and Steve are cousins. Vecna takes two of the Harrington family in one fell swoop.

-Lonely Once Again

Steve always feels alone despite being part of the Party. How can Eddie fix it?

-The world is full of hate and homophobes... and Mike Wheeler

Mike is disgusted when he finds out that Eddie and Steve are dating. But is he disgusted because he's homophobic or because he has a crush on one of them?

-Ignorance is Bliss

Steve likes to ignore that the Upside Down ever happened. But that only hurts himself and everyone else in the long run.

-Let's Get Out Of Here

Eddie can't stay in Hawkins anymore without suffocating. So Steve goes with him and Robin goes with them both.

-What If Steve Had Run Instead?

What might have happened if Steve had left when Nancy and Jonathan had told him to.

-Can Anybody Hear Me?

Nobody ever listens to Steve. Robin and Eddie take things into their own hands when they find out.

-A Grudge Be Held

Eddie starts holding grudges on Steve's behalf after Spring Break and chaos erupts in the Party.

-Picking Sides

When Steve and Eddie break up, the kids turn on Eddie. It leads to irreconcilable damage.

-Dead or Alive

Phil finds out that Eddie Munson is alive and Steve is harboring him in their parents' house. Cue chaos, stress, and brotherly love. (Part of the Phil Callahan is Steve's Brother Universe).

-See You Later, Big Brother

Steve finds out that Phil died in the earthquakes and a little piece of him dies too. (Part of the Phil Callahan is Steve's Brother Universe).

-It's No Secret... Anymore

Phil finds out about the Upside Down and Eddie Munson. Just imagine the yelling and worried mustache fiddling lol! (Part of the Phil Callahan is Steve's Brother Universe).

-Sometimes Sorry Isn't Enough

Things get too hard one day and Steve tries to ki** himself. Robin and Eddie see the attempt and the Party suffers. Does he make it?

[ghostlynimbus]

Supernatural AU Poll

Sorry this is long, I suck at being concise.

I am planning this thing to be a series of interconnected fics (of varying lengths), the different fics in the series will focus on different characters and different parts of the overall story.

I have not been working on these fics in chronological order, and that is unlikely to change.

So with regards to posting these fics would y'all prefer I post them as I work on them (knowing that reading some of the chronologically later fics may spoil things about the chronologically earlier fics) or would y'all prefer I post them in chronological order to the best of my ability (i can't guarantee that i wont at a later date decide to add more prequels)?

So for example,

If going in a more chronological order we'd start with a Billy-centric Harringrove fic that starts when Billy and Max move to Hawkins. After we're well into that (and possibly others), we'd eventually get to a Hellcheer fic focusing more on Eddie and Chrissy. However I already have part of that eddissy fic written, so if we're okay with going out of order and getting a bit of spoilers for earlier stuff the first chapter of that could be posted as soon as it's finished (possibly before the first chapter of the billy centric one, definitely before the timeline lines up)

I might not follow the results of this poll but I am curious to know how others feel about it.

[beholdthemem]

Chrissy insists on buying him a pastry while they talk shop. Eddie doesn't particularly want a pastry, but Chrissy seems to have an easier time talking if she has something else to focus on while she does.

"I haven't been back in a while," she confesses as they wait in line. "So I don't know if everything I tell you is still up to date. It's just, y'know-"

"Something to work from," Eddie supplies. Chrissy nods, and the line moves up.

"My parents' names are Phillip and Laura. Dad's a copyright lawyer, and Mom used to teach Sunday school- I don't know if she still does. Technically she was just there until they could find somebody else, but all the families really like her."

There's a touch of ruefulness to her voice. The line moves up again.

"They're kind of, um. Traditional? Old fashioned, maybe. Basically it shouldn't take much to shock them. They won't say anything about it to your face, but they're really going to be upset about your hair."

"Them and everybody else over the age of forty. How do they feel about tattoos?"

"Deeply judgmental."

"Perfect."

In front of them, a small elderly man examines the menu board with grave seriousness. The teenager manning the register drums her fingers on the counter with increasing impatience.

"They've got, ah... opinions... on how people are supposed to present themselves. What it means to be a responsible, worthwhile member of society, how you're supposed to do that as a guy, how you're supposed to do that as a girl..."

"Traditional," Eddie recalls.

"Right. Kind of, um. 1950s ideals of womanly and manly. They wouldn't put it that way, but that's sort of what it amounts to? They liked when things were... simpler."

There's a lot of subtext in that 'simpler'. Eddie pulls a face. "So, for dinner conversation I can just talk about how the country's gone to shit, and as soon as they get excited I follow it up with 'And anybody stupid enough to have voted for that maggot infested sack of clown cum demanding to buy Greenland over twitter-"

"They didn't- they didn't actually vote for him," Chrissy looks like she wants to laugh, but is restraining herself from doing so. "They felt like he was too extreme, but they couldn't stand the idea of voting for a Democrat, either, so they just. Didn't vote."

"Ohhh, I gotcha- cowards."

That actually does startle a laugh out of her. She looks both surprised and delighted, like the sound is unfamiliar.

The old man ahead of them trundles off without buying anything, putting them at the front of the line. The teenage employee, who Eddie knows had to have overheard the phrase 'maggot infested clown cum' by virtue of proximity, looks at both of them with an expression that suggests people who value their lives will not make her wait by deciding what to order.

"Oh-" Chrissy turns to Eddie a little sheepishly, either missing or somehow managing to ignore the counter girl's growing bloodlust. "Sorry, I should've asked earlier- which do you want?"

"Uh..." Eddie scans the board, and then selects the cheapest thing possible. She's already bought him coffee, after all. Chrissy may be generous, but he feels like there's gotta be a limit to how much you ask for.

The counter girl rings them up, and looks like she's trying to melt somebody's head with her mind the entire time she does.

"My ex still comes to visit them a lot," Chrissy continues conversationally as they return to their table. "And he's definitely gonna be there, so um. Just sort of warning you now."

"I- your what?" Eddie comes to a halt, squinting at her and trying to replay what he's pretty sure he just heard her casually toss out like it was nothing worth remarking on. That CAN'T be right. "Ex WHAT?"

"Boyfriend?" Chrissy gives him an uncomfortable smile. Eddie resists the urge to shake his head like a wet dog until his brain rattles into whatever position it's apparently been knocked out of to make him the only person here who finds that statement completely fucking bizarre. Boyfriend? Her ex boyfriend is coming to Thanksgiving dinner?

"...'kay?" he says slowly, purely for something to fill the sudden conversational void while he tries to work out how the fuck he's meant to respond to that.

"His name's Jason," Chrissy makes a show of brushing off her seat before she sits back down- possibly for something to do that'll let her avoid eye contact. Her words have sped up, like she's embarrassed and trying to power through it as swiftly as possible. "We, um. We dated for a while back in high school, but broke up before leaving for college. He is, ah..." She sighs. "Look, full disclosure- he's a big part of why I wanted to hire you."

"Sure, I get it," he's not entirely sure he does, but he's got a few ideas, and doesn't like any of them. He remembers the fear on her face earlier, when she thought she was going back home solo, and likes them even less.

"Are you..." He hazards, trying to feel this out as Chrissy takes a delicate sip of coffee. "Are you worried he's gonna try something?"

'Are you asking for a bodyguard,' is what he wants to know, because that is an entirely different set of duties than Fake Boyfriend. It's not a role he's ever played before. He can fight, if it comes down to it- but most of his experiences with that have come from dealing with drunks at work and irritating people until they respond with violence. He's learned how to take and throw a punch because if he's going to go through life being obnoxious (And he is, that's non-negotiable) being able to handle the consequences is a necessity. But it's only ever been HIS neck on the line. If he loses, he loses- he gets the shit kicked out of him, bitches about it to the guys until he heals up, and then moves on. He's never had anybody relying on him to win before.

But the girl across the table is small enough to make even Eddie seem tall, nice enough to leave behind a tip in the nearly empty jar on the counter when the cranky high schooler hadn't been looking, desperate enough for help to arrange a meeting with some weirdo online and not run away screaming when the weirdo in question turned out to be HIM.

She needs back up.

And if the only person available is him, well, then, he'll fucking figure it out.

"Try some...?" Chrissy repeats, frowning a little to herself before the penny drops. Her eyes go huge.

"No!" She squeaks, looking horrified. "Oh, God no, it's not like- he isn't- no. No, no, he wouldn't- he'd never- no, I didn't mean- no. No, that's not what- um- I'm so sorry. No, I wasn't, I wasn't asking- I don't need you to... to... no-"

Well, that's definitely a relief. It does however seem to indicate some motivations that Eddie dislikes for entirely different reasons.

"Okay," he raises a finger to stop Chrissy mid-torrent. "If this is a plot to win your ex back-"

"NO!" Chrissy yelps again, somehow managing to look even more horrified. "Oh, God, no, I want him to give up!"

"And your plan for that is showing up with the world's worst new boyfriend?" Eddie questions, going from exasperated to incredulous. Being used as a tool of jealousy is a hard no- one hospital visit was more than enough. Doing this is...

Well.

Once again- Chrissy's nice.

And loathe as he is to admit it, he'll do a lot of things for nice.

But that does not change the fact that what she's asking him to do makes no fucking sense at all.

"Like- not to criticize or anything, but I feel like showing the guy his replacement sucks shit is just gonna encourage him to try and win you back." It would certainly encourage HIM. Rekindled relationship aside, if Eddie were in this guy's shoes and had to watch an ex he held in even faint goodwill be openly mistreated, he'd go apeshit.

"I don't- I don't need you to be horrible," Chrissy twists the cardboard sleeve on her coffee cup around and around and around. "I just need you to be... different."

"Different like...?"

"Jason thinks he wants us to get back together. What he actually wants is the version of us that first started dating to get back together, and those people don't exist anymore. Sure, when we were 16, we had the same wants, and needs, and things we expected out of a relationship, but people don't always- just because 2 people start out really similar doesn't always mean they're going to stay that way, you know?"

"Sure," Eddie shrugs. In his experience, most people don't. Whether or not that ends up being a deal breaker is a whole other ball of wax.

"I'm not who I was in 10th grade. I can't give him the answers 10th grade Chrissy would've given 10th grade Jason, and... honestly, looking back, even if she HAD answered the way he's hoping for, it would've only been because she thought she didn't have other choices. Who I used to be was a stop on the way to moving on, and I'm okay with that, but he didn't... WANT to change."

And THERE'S where it ends up being a deal breaker.

"There is someone out there who can live a very happy life with Jace as he is, and with who he wants to be, but she's not me." Despite the nickname, there's a firmness to how Chrissy says this that indicates no amount of past affection will make it up for debate. "And he's not gonna believe that until he finally understands I've changed."

"That you're different," Eddie repeats. Now the picture's starting to come into focus. "Different mindset, different lifestyle... different taste in guys."

She colors. "I'm sorry-"

"No, I don't mind," Eddie assures quickly. He really doesn't. She looks almost ashamed of herself on his behalf, though, like using him as a visual aid instead of a demonstration of how far in life she's fallen is somehow just as bad. He finds himself simultaneously amused and endeared. "Seriously, this is the first time in my life I've ever been used as a good example."

It occurs to him, as the tension melts and she breaks into giggles again, that he's really starting to like her laugh.

"So how'd we meet?" He presses, trying to get as much mileage out of her returned calm as possible. "Drag show? Satanic ritual? Torching Jim Banks' lawn?"

"Maybe I went to see your band?"

"How'd you-" Eddie's aware he's staring a little, and probably messing up the flow of the conversation he'd just gotten back on track, but also what the hell?

"That's what you said in the ad, right?" Chrissy's turned a little self-conscious again, maybe worried she's made things weird. "You play guitar?"

"That I do. That I do," it helps, Eddie considers reflectively, that he has only the loosest possible connection between his mouth and his brain. That means that in times like these, when he has been thoroughly knocked off balance, he doesn't need to provide any real input to keep the words coming out and can instead focus on the fact that she'd bothered to remember the barely related line about his band he'd tossed in for flavor.

Baffling.

Absolutely baffling.

Nice is rare. Eddie's already willing to do a lot of things for nice. Chrissy's version of nice has unknowingly just lengthened the list of shit Eddie's willing to tolerate on her behalf quite a lot.

All the same: "Would they believe that?" It's bad to judge on appearances, but she really doesn't look the type.

"My parents might. Jason wouldn't want to believe it, but he would. My brother, though," For the first time since they started talking about her family, Chrissy looks fond. "He'd have some questions."

"Oh, you've got a brother? Do I need to worry about getting my ass kicked?" He's mostly kidding, but he is a bit curious. He's an only child, thank Christ, but he's pretty sure that protective siblingly ass kickings are a requirement.

"I doubt it." Chrissy shakes her head. "He's more of a..." She scrunches her nose, thinking to herself, then makes a vague gesture in the air. "He's not really the fight-y type. Never liked confrontation much, his policy is more 'Ignore it till you can't'."

"Yeah?" Eddie raises an eyebrow as he breaks off a piece of... scone? Oatmeal bar? Whatever it was that she bought for him, all he'd paid attention to was that it was under 3 dollars. "What happens when you can't?"

A corner of Chrissy's mouth twitches. "Well, um. Once when I was 12 and he was... maybe 8? There was this girl I used to do Girl Scouts with who kept making fun of me because we were in 6th grade, but I was still riding the Disney princess bike I got when I turned 10. It was honestly kind of small for me at that point, but my mom didn't want to waste money getting a new one when there was a perfectly good bike right there- anyway, we used to host a lot of scout meetings at our house, because Mom really likes to be active in community things. And I guess Jenny must've said something to me where PJ could hear…"

She puts her face in her hands. Yet again, Eddie gets the impression that she's amused, but feels like she really, really shouldn't be.

"And for 2 weeks, every time he saw her bike somewhere in town, he'd wait until she locked it up to go inside, and then he'd pop one of her tires."

Whatever the pastry is actually called, one of the main components seems to be sawdust, because swallowing it unexpectedly has leeched all the moisture out of Eddie's mouth. It makes it halfway down his throat before disintegrating, and is only marginally improved by the immediate chaser of what he can tell by taste is 2 day old coffee.

"2 weeks?" He manages at last. "In public? How in the shit did he do that, I wrecked someone's bike ONCE as a kid, and I had to wait until midnight to make sure no one saw me. And figure out where he lived! What is he, a ninja?"

"I don't know!" Her voice is muffled, but he can hear her trying not to laugh in spite of herself. "I didn't even find out it was him until years later, he never said anything. We all just thought Jenny was really unlucky because she kept rolling over screws and thorns and glass and stuff- her dad finally lost patience and took the bike away because he thought she was being too careless with her things, so she just had to walk everywhere. She was a junior counselor at some of PJ's after school things, so he must've had a lot of opportunities-"

"Oh my God."

"But it's like- he does stuff like THAT. It's not important for you to know he's the one doing it, or to understand why it's happening to you- it's enough that you're miserable."

"That's the scariest fuckin' thing I've ever heard. That's scarier than a straight up ass kicking, he just jumps straight to covert warfare-"

"That's not what that is!"

"That's exactly what that is! Forget the shovel talk, if we show up and this kid thinks I'm not good enough for you, I'm probably getting my tires slashed!"

"No, you're not," Chrissy insists, taking her face out of her hands to try and give him a stern look. The effect is spoiled somewhat by the way she's clearly stifling a smile, which only encourages Eddie more.

"Well, I guess if you're offering to protect me," he spreads his hands with theatrical magnanimity and pretends not to notice that he's accidentally sent crumbs flying everywhere. "Maybe PJ The Stealthy will be moved to spare my life and my non-existent car insurance. But I'm counting on you for this, I want it in writing that you'll shield me from his wrath."

"I won't NEED to shield you from his wrath, because I can't imagine you causing it," Chrissy says with remarkable confidence. "He doesn't do anything unless you provoke him, and that's hard to do. Even if you annoyed him, he'd probably just ignore you."

"I've been told I make that very hard." Eddie tells her solemnly. "Your brother's specialty may be covert warfare, but you can ask any teacher I've ever had- being in my presence is psychological warfare all its own!"

Right after he says it, he can see Chrissy's walls go back up. There's a split second where her body's at the table, but her eyes are a million miles away, and whatever it is she's seeing there isn't good. And then, as if nothing's happened, she snaps right back to the same polite, pleasant fake smile she had on when they first met.

Shit.

"I'm kidding," he says instantly. "Promise. Really. I'll be on my best behavior."

"I think that kinda defeats the point of this, doesn't it?" Chrissy asks with a chuckle, and fuck, Eddie hates that well mannered, trotted-out-for-polite-company noise now that he knows what her real laugh sounds like.

Clearly, that was a step too far. He just doesn't get why that was a step too far, and that's a problem. If he doesn't know exactly what the issue is, he doesn't know how to avoid doing it- and there's no way she's actually going to admit he's upset her, much less explain how. Telling someone they've screwed up is bad manners.

God, life would be so much simpler if everybody just gave up on the concept of manners.

"You can wage as much psychological war as you want," Chrissy says, and even though she's using his same joke, he doesn't feel like he can banter with her anymore. The version of Chrissy that's been treating his nonsense like it has enough logic to argue against or build upon has been swapped out with this charming, hollow girl again. "We've had years of practice with it."

"Right." Is THAT a joke? He genuinely can't tell.

"I, um..." The performance is fraying a little at the edges, like dropping it earlier has made it tricky to sink back in. "I'll just- I'll find a minute to get PJ alone and then explain. He wouldn't blow our cover on purpose, but I'd rather not risk him asking the wrong questions at a bad time."

"Sure." Eddie agrees simply. If he can't tell what skeeved her out, best to just be straightforward. No improvisation, no messing around, no trying to be funny- nothing that might make things worse. Predictability. It sucks that they're back to this after they'd been doing so well.

"Do you wanna exchange numbers?" Chrissy asks, returning to smooth professionalism. "I can give you mine in case anything comes up before Thanksgiving."

"Sure," Eddie says again, doing his best to stick to the script. He hopes that by the next time he sees her, he'll have figured out enough to know how to fix this- or even what he broke.

He digs out his phone, silently cursing yet more crumbs that insist on falling into his pockets, and comes back up just in time to see a flash of yellow dangling from Chrissy's hand.

"...do you have a cellphone charm?" He asks in disbelief, squinting at the small yellow flower swinging from her phone case. Chrissy blinks, thrown by the unexpected change of topic, then registers what he asked and gives a small huff of embarrassed amusement, like he's caught her doing something silly.

"How the fuck do you have a cellphone charm? I thought they quit adding holes for them in like- 2010," Eddie's reaching out to grab it before he can stop himself. To his surprise, Chrissy doesn't object, handing her phone over so he can get a better look.

The charm is flat, made of slightly sturdier plastic than he'd assumed at first glance. There's a few nicks at the edges- evidence of someone who moves around a lot, and takes her phone with her when she does- but apart from that, it's remarkably well cared for. The design of the flower is detailed enough that he can tell it's based off a real specimen, but he couldn't name the variety for any money.

"Well, they... the phones don't," Chrissy rubs her knuckles against the edge of the table, not quite looking at him as she does. "But the phonecases do? Sometimes? Or they can, anyway, if you're feeling, um... motivated."

It takes more than 1 afternoon to figure a person out. Eddie might be pretty good at it, but he's not arrogant enough to think he's got any real idea of what's going on in Chrissy's head after a single extended conversation. If he were to theorize, though- to take what little things he's noticed since this meeting began, to fill in the blanks with possibilities until he can turn them into might-be-answers tied together with metaphorical red string- he would say that Chrissy is like a turtle.

She has a pretty, painted shell that people talk to, thinking it's a real person, and rather than correct them she pulls herself inside to let them do it. Not out of shyness. Not really. More like... caution. Like she knows what people expect from the face outside, but she can't say for sure how they'd react to the creature that lives beneath it.

She came out of that shell today because she felt like she didn't have any other choice. Now that she's back inside, Eddie thinks that maybe, just maybe, if he can show her that it's safe, let her see that herself instead of trying to convince her...

...maybe this time she'll come out on her own.

"Swear to God, I haven't seen one of these since middle school," he continues, tucking that thought away for later, and he doesn't have to fake the grin on his face as he says it. The unexpected nostalgia and surprise at its source has him feeling genuinely charmed, and he's never unironically used that word in his life. "Serious blast from the past today- have you had this since then?"

"No," Eddie can see a face peeking out from within that turtle shell as Chrissy realizes that she's being invited to reminiscence rather than mocked. "It's... honestly, I think it was supposed to be for a keychain, but I kinda. Missed these? I know people joke about how tacky cell phone charms were, but, well."

"Tacky- now there's a fancy way of saying 'I'm allergic to fun'."

The smile Chrissy gives at this assessment crinkles her nose just a bit, like she can't quite help it.

"Did you have one too?"

"Me? Nah. I didn't get my first phone till almost 9th grade. What I DID have was a side business with my friend where we'd buy a shitload of keychains out of a catalog for really cheap, and then resell em at school as phone charms for way more."

"An entrepreneur," Chrissy says, followed by the same scrunch-nosed smile, and hot damn, he thinks he might've just heard her make her first honest-to-God joke today.

"That is NOT what the administration called us when we finally got caught."

"Wow, mean."

"Right? No respect for local businessmen. Children. Businesschildren-"

"Businesschildren?"

"Y'know what, we're sticking with entrepreneurs. Honestly, I think we could've kept it going for at least another semester if we hadn't gotten cocky and tried to expand into Disney characters. That's really what fucked us over; before then everything we were selling was juuuust crappy enough that we could believably say we made em as gifts for people. But when we suddenly started showing up with a grab bag of American Dragon and Kim Possible shit-"

"I had one of those!" Chrissy exclaims. "The- God, what was it- the Disney Channel Originals promotion-"

"That's the one! We flew too close to the sun there, but for one, glorious hour, we were making SO much money."

"I 100% would have fallen for that," Chrissy takes another drink of coffee, expression far off and fond. "My friend Heather bought me one for my 12th birthday. I guess it was sort of like an inside joke- my mother wouldn't let me watch Kim Possible at home, so I used to watch it at Heather's while she read magazines. I was way more into it than she was."

"That's cute," the word slips out before Eddie has time to figure out if he's taking too far a liberty with someone he's just met. It IS cute, and it's something he wouldn't hesitate to tease a friend for or mock an enemy with, but Chrissy's neither of those things yet- and if he's not careful, maybe ever. In a world of People-Whose-Boundaries-I-Understand and People-Whose-Boundaries-I-Don't-Give-A-Shit-About, Eddie has today met a candidate for that strange, seldom occupied third category: People-Whose-Boundaries-I-WANT-To-Understand.

It's not one he has much practice with, and that's making him… well, he wouldn't call it NERVOUS, per say, but… something somewhere on the edge of that.

Yeah.

Maybe.

He's not great at distinguishing intuition from impulse at the best of times, but today, just this once, it looks like it might not matter. Chrissy has a split second of bewilderment before her expression morphs into disbelief and delight, like no one's ever dared to tease her before. "It was NOT."

"It sounds pretty cute."

"It really wasn't! From the very beginning I liked it a lot more than she did, and by the time we were 10, half of our Saturdays started with her going 'Okay, are we actually going to do anything today, or are you just here for cartoons?"

"What ELSE are you gonna do at age 10? You can't drive, you can't drink, nobody'll sell you anything flammable no matter how much allowance you scrape together- the whole purpose of showing cartoons on a Saturday is to keep kids occupied because they have nothing else going on!"

"At 10, girls are supposed to switch to magazine quizzes, and it was very hard for Heather to do that for 2 people at the same time,” Chrissy glances down at her americano like she'd forgotten it was there, and takes a sip again. “Which she made sure to remind me of every time I visited. But even though she thought it was stupid… you know, I can’t remember her looking at the screen even once past 4th grade. She would rather have been doing literally anything else. And yet somehow, even though she couldn’t’ve cared less, she still paid enough attention to know who my favorite character was and get me a little Shego charm.”

“Shego…” Eddie internally scans through the two decades’ worth of passively accumulated cartoon lore clumped haphazardly in the section of his brain he thinks other people probably reserve for algebra. “She was… the…”

“Green one,” Chrissy fills in. "She was Dr. Drak- um- the main bad guy's sidekick. They had this running thing about how she was really a lot better at it than he was, she just didn't feel like putting in the effort to take his job. She was really snarky, and sarcastic, and-"

"The bisexual awakening of every kid born before 2001," The face is coming to him now, the chick with the black lipstick and fireballs. He hadn’t watched the show as a kid, but that particular character had been… memorable. "Right, the- JESUS!"

He skids backwards with an unpleasant screech of chair on linoleum as Chrissy coughs like she's trying to spit out a lung, the mouthful of terrible black coffee she'd been drinking now coating the table in front of her. Eddie spares a brief glare for the nosy fucks at the table nearest who have paused their discussion to gawk, then scoots forward again, gingerly attempting to mop up the mess with his remaining napkins.

"Shit," he half jokes, doing his best to make this less embarrassing for her. "You're spoiling me here, Chrissy- I know I'm funny, but you're the first audience I've ever had to properly appreciate it."

She doesn't respond.

"Seriously, a whole Thanksgiving of this and you're gonna ruin me for anybody else. I'll be texting you my lame ass jokes 24/7, not even gonna bother running em by my friends anymore. Who needs those fuckers when I've got a comedy connoisseur?"

Nothing.

"I've got a ton more where that came from," he's just running his mouth now, not even thinking about what he's saying as he tries to fill the silence and hopes he's not making it worse. She's giving him nothing to work with here, he's got no clue what direction to take this in, and he's wiping at the same spot on the table with a wad of napkins that have definitely absorbed all the coffee they can take so she can have a moment to collect herself before they make eye contact again.

There's no indication of whether that moment has begun, much less passed. Eddie finally bites the bullet and looks up, anyway.

Whatever remark he was planning to make dies on his tongue.

Chrissy has frozen into sharp, rigid lines, shoulders halfway to her ears and her face a horrible, chalky white that makes him think of cracked ice. She's got one hand clamped over her mouth, fingers clenched hard enough to bruise, and she's staring at him in a way that makes the back of his neck prickle- full of this awful, nameless thing behind her eyes that feels too primal to call fear. Something that echoes from her through him, just through that eye contact, and rattles sleeping instincts buried deep within his DNA. Some kind of ancestral memory from when fear was contagious, because the most important information to be passed through the troop was not what are we running from, just run.

She's looking at him like a cornered animal.

It's like everything she was afraid might happen if she left the shell has happened all at once.

"Chrissy?" His mouth has gone dry, and despite every effort to stop himself, he already knows the next words out of his dumb fucking mouth are gonna be- "You okay?"

The answer to that is a very obvious no, and he doesn't blame her for not dignifying it with a response. He's not even sure if she heard him, honestly, she hasn't blinked in way too long and if this turns out to be a medical thing- some sort of fugue state brought on by terror that he can't parse out- Eddie is so not qualified to help her.

"Chrissy?" He tries again, straining to keep himself sounding calm and trying to decide if he should touch her or if that's going to make whatever this is worse. She makes a small muffled noise through her hand, and he's torn between relief that she's responding and worry that this is the only response she's giving. She lowers her hand ever so slightly, movements mechanical, hunching down in her seat.

"I never…" it comes out in a thin little voice, just this side of a whisper. "I never- said it. To anyone."

Said what, Eddie wants to know, because he is well and truly at sea and still just on this side of panic, but he doesn't trust himself enough to ask what the fuck is going on with the delicacy he thinks would be needed to keep things… steady.

"I never told anybody," Chrissy continues, still barely audible, now bordering on despair. "Not even Heather."

The name sets something into motion in the back of Eddie's brain, like his subconscious already understands why that's significant but has to send internal machinery whirring into motion before it can translate it into something he can actually interpret. Things Chrissy mentioned earlier come tumbling back with no apparent rhyme or reason, flashing by at breakneck speed like images in a flip book.

Childhood friend. Childhood secret. Something she can't know. Something nobody can know. Already hiding stuff from parents, from a world of traditional, of old fashioned, of Sunday school1950swomanlymanlyRepublicanSIMPLER-

"Oh," Eddie says, clarity hitting him like a bolt of lightning. "Oh."

It feels so, so strange to be looking at the results of experiences he somehow lucked out enough to have only heard of rather than lived through. In all the ways that his life has been difficult, that particular one hasn't been a factor. Marianne might've had her problems- many, many, problems- but never once had Eddie felt like he'd needed to be afraid of her.

It hadn't necessarily been easy- while Eddie doesn't go out of his way to hide, he's not an idiot. The list of people he's actually trusted with the word 'bisexual' rather than left to draw their own conclusions is slim, and it's stayed that way for a reason. But one of the advantages to growing up as a gallery kid was that he'd known, from a very young age, that he'd had options.

He'd had examples. He'd had names. He'd had PROOF, living, breathing, talking, painting proof that people could be like him, could be different, and still live to grow old without changing jack shit about who they were.

What did it do to you, he wonders, as a still pale Chrissy shrinks into herself and looks like she's trying to decide whether or not to bolt, to grow up in a world with no evidence that that could ever happen?

"Well," Eddie finds his voice at last, a little more softly than he'd intended. "I guess I get to be the first to welcome you to the club."

He can see her eyes widen before she slowly looks up at him.

"Like I said in the ad, I can do a little acting, no problem," he smiles at her, trying to keep himself as open a book as possible, as transparent as he's ever been, to tell her in every way beyond words that she's okay here, and give her reason to believe it. "But most of what I'm offering comes from experience."

"Y-" her voice comes out cracked and a little bit raspy, staring at him like he's speaking in a language she's not quite sure she understands. "You…"

"Openly hit on other guests while you pretend you don't notice," Eddie quotes with the kind of word perfect recall that somehow never featured in his schoolwork. "I'll do any and all genders you choose, but I need advance warning if someone's likely to swing at me'-"

"Yes," Chrissy cuts him off sharply, leaning across the table towards him in her urgency. "Or- I don't know. I'm not sure what would happen if you- just- don't try. Please."

"Okay," he promises. Chrissy slowly eases back into her chair, visibly relieved.

She's less tense now. Still not totally relaxed- a little worn out, maybe, like the amount and variety of emotion she's just gone through in such a short span of time has left her tired physically, too- but she's not afraid anymore. She's looking down at her hands again, but every couple of seconds he catches her watching him wonderingly, whenever she thinks he's not paying attention. Eddie finishes off the last of his drink to provide her an opportunity.

"Was she yours?"

"Huh?" He wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. "...was who what?"

"You said…" Shyness is at war with curiosity. "We were talking about Shego, and you said she was everybody's… was she yours, too?"

Eddie can feel his ears heating up ever so slightly, and clears his throat, trying to pull off something appropriately dismissive and uninteresting. "Me? Nah. Wasn't really a Disney channel kid. You had good taste though, I'll give ya that-"

"Was it, um," he feels like he can see the years' worth of questions all jumbled together and fighting for the chance to get asked first pulsing away beneath Chrissy's temples, but she restricts herself to a single line of questioning. He kind of wishes she'd get a little more eclectic, because it would be so much easier to nudge her into a different, less embarrassing topic without her noticing if she did. "Was it a person, or another cartoon character?"

The deer-in-the-headlights thing he can feel himself doing must really be something, because Chrissy's lip is twitching while she tries to politely hide her amusement. HOW in the SHIT-

"Teen Titans?"

"I'm not a weeb," Eddie denies, drawing his dignity up and around him like an overpriced fur coat as he hydroplanes through this.

"That wouldn't make you a weeb, that's not anime."

"It was like anime training wheels. Everybody who grew up with a thing for a Teen Titans character went on to have a multi-year anime phase. There have been papers written on the subject, and I've only written most of them-"

"Batman?"

"It's such a tragically underfunded subject- you mean the PERSON, or the tv show? And which one? There are like, 5 different shows that've been called Batman, and they've all been the same thing with a little paint slapped on-"

"Avatar?" Eddie is not an easy person to read, so why does that determined glint in Chrissy's eye make him feel like it's only a matter of time before she figures out this and all his other secrets?

"I had a thing for Zuko like anyone else with eyes, sure."

"But he wasn't the first," Chrissy says that with a certainty that she definitely shouldn't have, despite- bafflingly- being right on the money. "So, then-"

"Y'know, we really don't have to do this-"

"Yes, we do," and she's got that same little not-so-secretly-amused lip twitch like she's teasing HIM now, which makes him feel as if he's been clotheslined.

"We do NOT,"

"We do."

"I don't even remember, it was years ago, and-"

"Danny Phantom?" Chrissy interrupts, one eyebrow raised.

"Goddammit," Eddie lets his head fall to the table in defeat.

Chrissy laughs, full and bright and the loudest he's heard her since they've met, and he decides he doesn't mind.

“I think I might be a terrible person,” Chrissy confesses to the lazily spinning ceiling fan.

“I think you might have heat exhaustion,” the stranger beside her says, not unkindly. 

“Mm,” Chrissy closes her eyes, still leaning back against the wall for support, and prays for the room to stop spinning. She’s going to regret sitting on the carpet of the student store later, when her head quits pounding and she can concentrate on responsibilities like laundry again, but right this second she doesn’t have enough focus to care. 

“Hey,” the stranger nudges her gently. “You drinking that water, man?“ 

"Uh…” Chrissy forces herself to process what he just said, and glances down at the half empty water bottle she’s holding in both hands. She’d forgotten about that, which is amazing considering how frantically she’d been chugging it a few minutes earlier.

(Was it only minutes?)

(She can’t tell how much time has passed.)

(God, her head hurts.)

Keep reading

[bylerschmyler]

Mike - Vecna's 4th victim

I know that many people believe that Mike was a tool for Vecna to get Will and El back or that he waited for Mike to be gone to California. I have a pretty different perspective on this and I want to share my thoughts about this. I just gonna warn you that this post will be quite long but I would appreciate it if you take your time to read it.

For the tool-theory and waiting to be gone-theory I have two simple reasons why I don't think that they are correct.

When Vecna kills Chrissy Mike is still in Hawkins. He doesn't wait for Mike to be gone/sitting in the car/plane and traveling to California. Vecna kills her mere hours before Mike had no possibility to interfere with him. It's not only that Vecna kills Chrissy, no he kills her in close proximity to Max who could have been more suspicious about Eddie, Chrissy and the lights and could have called a CODE RED, which would have led to Mike not going to California. So if he wanted Mike to go to California (either for him to be gone or to get El/Will back) why would he jeopardize this mission by being too impatient?

If Vecna wanted Mike out of the way why didn't he just kill him? I mean we can all agree that pre S4 Mike already has a massive amount of trauma. So if he needs Mike out of the way he could have just cursed him too, couldn't he? There was nobody to stop him from doing it. El? Out of the picture. No powers and too far away. Mike? Wouldn't be able to help himself during a trance. The Party? If they don't know what is coming, how would they prevent it?

So I think Mike wasn't a tool for Vecna. He was a perfect fit for a far more important role.

He was the Chosen one, the fourth, the final sacrifice.

But before we are going to discuss Mike's role in Vecna's plan in detail, let's take a step back and take a look in the things that actually happened in S4.

Specifically everything that has to do with Patrick and his curse. Because there are so many things wrong with Patricks curse.

First of all Patrick doesn't fit the other victims. Timing wise as well as in his trauma and our connection to him and his connection to other characters on the show.

Timing

Patrick is the only victim that we see getting cursed. This happens on the March 23rd (sunday) at some point during the day (morning or noon I guess). (here the scene where he gets cursed)

This is in direct contrast to the timeline which is presented by Max. For further explanation this is also March 23rd but late in the evening.

So let me get this straight.

Chrissy's curse started a week ago (approximately week = seven days. I made this post where I found a specific date when Chrissy's symptoms started and they are not adding up. But I think it's because it's meant to be not the curse itself that's coursing these symptoms but something else which I will talk about in another post)

Fred's started six days ago

Max's five days ago

And Patrick just that morning (basically one day ago)?

In no way this is supposed to happen. What was the reason? Did Vecna forget to curse Patrick four days ago? Or couldn't he decide who to curse 4 days prior?

Well the most logical reason (imo) is that his actual target can't be targeted. And we do know one character who was in Hawkins and left during the season. And that's Mike. But this is not the only reason Patricks timing is off.

With Patrick being cursed there is a change in the way the curse works for Max and him in comparison to Fred and Chrissy. I won't go too much in to the details but here are some observations.

Chrissy and Fred both have 3 visions that are heavily paralleling each other.

Their 1. vision is related to the people around them. Chrissy thinks that Max is still in the room when the pounding on the bathroom stall starts. Then she hears her mothers voice and Vecna's feed come into vision. Her mothers voice get distorted soon after and Vecna's voice fades in.

Freds first vision is also directly connected to a conversations he is having with Officer Daniels. Daniels also fades in to Vecna. His face and his voice.

The second vision is the grandfather clock. But a very creepy version.

With Chrissy it's spiders with Fred it's people turning into Vecna calling him murderer.

The third vision is there death and relieving their nightmare.

Both die on the end of their 5th day of being cursed. Their visions start during the day and the day ends with their death.

In contrast to this Max curse is put off this timing. Max visions start on the end of her 5th day of being cursed and she has 3 visions with different themes than Fred and Chrissy.

Max's 1. vision is the grandfather clock. But it's only the creepy grandfather clock. No spiders and no link to Max's trauma.

Her 2nd vision is like Fred’s and Chrissy’s 1st vision a person who fades into Vecna.

her 3rd vision is supposed to be her death which she can escape from.

She has a 4th vision where she actually dies.

Patrick only has one vision we see and one that is implied but we don’t see at all. His first vision is the clock during Chrissy’s funeral.

the other would have been when he dies but we don’t see the vision.

Timing wise this implicates the scenario that Patricks’s cursing throws the timeline off schedule because we see a clear pattern before he was cursed which is thrown off the second Vecna targets him. So likely the original schedule would have targeted Max on the 23rd and the 4th victim on the 24th.

Lack of imagery and missing build up

His trauma, connection to other characters and the connection we build to him is also off. While most of it is due to the lack of imagery regarding him but also to the fact that we have a build up in this topics that Patrick is reversing.

I don’t really want to order the trauma of Vecna’s victims in terms of severity because I firmly believe that any trauma should be addressed and recognised and you shouldn’t compare trauma (unless you’re a therapist) because this kind of invalidates the people with “less severe” trauma. But when we talk about Patrick’s trauma we only have two clues about what it is because we don’t see visions that are related to his trauma. The first one is when he gets cursed (here). A man, likely his father, calls him a disgrace. Lucas also tells us that Patrick came to practice with a black eye once.

This implicates that Patrick is also a victim of domestic abuse (like Chrissy) What I find interesting is that this creates a circle of trauma themes.

(I want to emphasize that between Fred and Max there is a build up because Fred has survivors guilt and Max has survivors guilt but also wanted the person that died to die before he died. This is obviously meant for us to notice because it’s an addition to the same theme)

Ignoring the potential build up in the trauma and going into Patrick’s relationships we see that he doesn’t make sense as 4th victim narratively speaking. We have a clear build up in the victims relationships with other characters:

Chrissy has no known relationship to our main characters 

Fred is Nancy’s colleague and apprentice (Fred asking Nancy how she did this with Jonathan). They are close enough (Nancy trusts him enough) to take him to the Trailer Park. 

Max is a main character of the show. She has many close relationships to other main characters

And then Patrick comes around and he is just Lucas’ team mate who he can’t even trust because they are hunting for his friends. 

The connections to other characters get closer and closer until Max only to go rapidly down with Patrick. Narratively this doesn’t make sense because Patrick is supposed to be the 4th victim. He should have close ties to our favorite characters and they should care deeply about him because of the needed rise in tension. They get around it with Max escaping the death vision and being the actual 4th victim but for the original plan this would have been very weird.

This also ties to the connection we as an audience have to the victims.

Chrissy is a new character. We only see her in one episode and we barely know anything about her. Most of what we know is that she is a cheerleader and she has trauma. Although many people sympathize with her we can’t really get connected to her.

Fred is basically the same. But we get more information about him. We know he is a journalist. We also know that he does know about Jonathan and Nancy and their struggles in their relationship (which he kind of wants to take a chance in because he flirts with Nancy). We have two episodes with him.

We have known Max since season 2. We had a lot of time to get to know her and create a bond with her.

And yet again Patrick doesn’t make sense. Why do we get a new character which we don’t like because he is part of the antagonists, after a (beloved) main character? There was a subtle build up and then we flunk down in the negatives with our perspective on the character.

I wanna add that in an recent reblog of a post i discussed Mike's parallels to the other victims. You can find the post here.

But how does Mike fit in?

Most people on here are well aware of all the hints that connect Mike with Vecna. Therefore many people believe he is a target in S5. I believe so too. I still don’t think that so much has changed during S4 that made him more targetable than he already was. Yes his trauma increased through the shootout, the death of unknown hero agent man, lying to El and losing Eddie and Max, but his trauma was there before. And it was severe enough to make him struggle. It’s pointed out in the canon extending book “Lucas on the line” and it is also shown in his behavior in S4 (getting up too late, used clothes, dirty room/basement, he doesn’t eat on camera, and more). So Mike would be a perfect target for Vecna only considering his trauma. But there is way more stuff that make Mike a perfect last puzzle piece in this situation. First of all he is one of the few characters that are in Hawkins when the curses begin and have more/deeper connections than Max. Yes Max has a lot of deep connections (the Party and El specifically) but Mike has those connections too and he has deeper connections to the teens (Nancy and Jonathan especially), Will, Joyce and Hopper. So in a certain way he is more connected to the rest of the cast and would be perfect to be the final step of the build up we see with character relationships. He has also been part of the show since S1 and was one of THE main characters in S1 and S2. He has a very important role in figuring out important plot points and so for us he is obviously a very important character. And so while I don’t play favorites he is slightly more important for the audience (subjectively speaking). Timing wise (as I said before) he is the only character we know to travel out of Hawkins during the cursing. Him being cursed on March 20th (thursday) wouldn’t compromise the given timeline. It would also explain this scene where Mike clearly looks like he has a awful headache.

And this scene where Max has a nosebleed and the camera’s focus shifts to him

(some people believe that’s the moment he cursed Max. I doubt that. When Max explains the symptoms she said nosebleedS, plural [Insert Eddie’s comment on Nancy’s guns here].I believe that’s thursday morning and Mike was just cursed and had a nosebleed like Patrick and he looked like he looked because he found it suspicious that he had a nosebleed and now Max has a nosebleed.) Clearly two times where he was visibly shown in the context of the curses symptoms. Also his bedroom scene, when he reads Els' letter could connect to the symptoms (this is more of a reach than the other two).

Sleeping in underwear => He woke up an a cold sweat

The binder with Will’s drawings is in his room => having nightmares and needing comfort

(re-)reading the letter => having nightmares and needing reassurance that everything is okay

he is later than he usually is => trouble sleeping

Also I think @aemiron-main pointed that out: Mikes Reaction to Karen telling him that he need to be home by nine because it's an early flight suggests that he barely sleeps because he seems to not care of the early flight.

And last but not least the line Vecna uses for Max (You’ll be the chosen one, the fourth the final sacrifice) fits way better to Mike. Why? Well the main reason I only got on the Mike getting vecnaed’ train was while I was rewatching the show I saw this scene where El screams for Mike while she has a vision:

This scene reminded me of this scene where Will does the same:

And it made me think about how Vecna knows that both of his former targets heavily depend on Mike. He is the first they think about when needing help. He’s the first they find comfort in when upset. So Mike is obviously on Vecna’s radar. There is more…. These two scenes where Max and Mike help El and try to protect her and Billy sees it.

They stand out because it would make so much sense for Mike to be targeted too. Max does become a target because of her trauma but also because of her connection to El. So Mike would be a perfect target too. Him being the final sacrifice would be the peak of devastation for both Will and El and would make perfect sense for Vecna to do so. Also it would contrast Mike’s arc because he is usually the one interfering with Vecna’s plans in overtaking the real world. Mike being the last kill to open the gates to the UD would be very “poetic” from Vecna’s POV. Furthermore the line “You would be the chosen one” would be far more fitting for Mike. Mike is a fan of fantasy stories. The Chosen One Trope is a typical fantasy trope that has been used for ages. Mike can relate far more to this trope than Max (Max is a comic fan where this trope is used too, but Mike is pictured way more with classic fantasy where this trope is used very often).

But why did Vecna wait for Mike to go on vacation?

This is the only thing that really makes me struggle. Because I don’t have a good answer to this. The only possible explanation I see (without doubting the rest of this theory) is that Vecna didn’t look for his plans, his supposedly happy memories/thoughts and only took in the bad ones. Max tells us that she thinks Vecna only looks for the bad memories.

So if Max is right then Vecna didn’t look for the light in Mike’s mind and only for the darkness. (Therefore didn't see his hope of reconnecting to Will in Califronia) I also want to point out that Mike is not the only target Vecna needed. He needed four victims. So this is not solely about him. And you need to know that Vecna feeds off his victims fears, anxiety and guilt. So it makes sense for him to unleash his curse when all his victims are especially tense/anxious

Chrissy’s mother forced a beauty idea on her daughter that resulted in her being connected to bulimic tropes (Throwing up, rotten food). She is also a cheerleader in the 80s and she “needed to be pretty” because the championship games were coming up. So Chrissy would be more anxious than usually

Fred is less obvious than Chrissy. The only clues I got why he would be more anxious than usual are that Officer Daniels (Vecna Vision) tells us that the accident happened last year and he knows about Jonathan and Nancy’s relationship problems. The first could mean that the car crash happened somewhere in 1985 or it could actually mean that the anniversary is coming up which (knowing from S2) would affect Fred through the anniversary effect. The latter could make him anxious because he might see a chance with his crush (we see him multiple times openly flirting with Nancy)

Max would be more anxious because Billy’s birthday is coming up (March 29 - also anniversary effect)

Mike would be more anxious because he is traveling to California and he doesn’t know how Will feels about him and maybe he is a little jealous because of El’s letter and Will painting something for a girl

Additionaly the week before spring break could be full of tests which could make all victims more anxious.

Another good question regards the timing. Vecna did look for a replacement for Mike on March 23rd but Mike left early on March 22nd. So why did he wait an additional day for Mike? This is obviously a question I asked myself a lot. Why did Vecna wait for Mike to be gone for a whole day before looking for a replacement (Patrick)? Well this one is very hard to answer. But there is one scene in particular that makes me believe that Vecna starts his rampage usually early in the morning. You can take a look here in this post. I included the scenes right before and right after the scene on purpose because it gives us a better perspective on the timeline. So right before Vecna gets hooked up to the vines, El went to her bedroom crying. We know that this happened on the night of March 22nd. Then it cuts to the UD where Vecna gets hooked up but nothing happens afterwards. Instead we see how the sun rises/travels in the sky. Then it cuts to Lucas and the beginning of the hunt for Eddie. So what is the purpose of this whole scene? Vecna wanted to start the final stage of his curse (visions) for Max early on the 23rd. This is probably what he was doing with Chrissy and Fred the days before. He recognized that he couldn’t find Mike anywhere and then started to search for a replacement until he found Patrick. Very important for this theory, Vecna finds Patrick way later. There are almost 20 Minutes between this scene and the scene where Patrick gets cursed. Even more important: We see every group on screen before we get back to Vecna. There is literally a cut to every small group. First Lucas and the Jocks, then Max, Dustin, Robin and Steve with Eddie, then Nancy, the Cali Gang, Joyce and Murray, Hopper back to the Hawkins gang at the Trailer Park. I think Vecna didn’t recognize Mike’s absence because he was solely focused on Fred on the 22nd and started with Fred visions early in the morning before Mike got to the airport. So when he wanted to get started with Max the next day he realized that he couldn’t reach Mike anymore and decided to go for a replacement. That’s when the timings of the victims don’t add up anymore.

Besides everything I showed you here there is another theory that is connected to this. #possessiongate from @dinitride-art

This shows how my theory is supported visually in the show. It also explains why Mike isn't shown as cursed after the breakfast on the 23rd because his curse was shifted to Patrick.