#and nancy took on vecna to save him

[jancy-central]

Their last scenes in s3:

The next time they see each other in s4:

Yet some people doubt their love?

THEY SHOULDN’T.

[steddieas-shegoes]

Mama Munson made Eddie’s Halloween costumes from scratch every year. She said it was because it looked cooler, but as he got older, he realized it was because she used scraps and cheap fabrics to make them and that’s all they could afford.

But his costumes were always great. Every year was better than the last.

When he got too old for trick or treating, she used Halloween night to teach him how to sew.

“For that jacket you wanna wear so bad, baby.”

It took a lot of effort, and a little bit of help for the thicker patches, but he managed to finish it in a few weeks.

That year for Christmas, he made her and Wayne battle jackets with their favorite bands and singers.

It became the thing he gave to important people.

Shortly after Vecna, when he was stuck in bed for nearly a month healing, he had his mom run to the store in Indy and start grabbing patches. Wayne found denim jackets from the donation store, surprised anything was left at all with how much people needed right now.

Eddie made all the kids jackets, even Max, who would probably think it was stupid in the same way she thought Lucas holding her hand was stupid (not at all).

He made Robin one, with a hidden rainbow flag patch on the inside pocket.

Nancy got one, even Argyle and Jonathan got one.

Steve didn’t.

Eddie didn’t know how to make it a friendly gesture, how to not make it look like he was screaming from the rooftops that he’d fallen hard for the guy who almost single-handedly saved his life. He was certain that giving him the jacket he made would be the end of the daily visits, the joking around, the fun.

“Baby, you think he don’t know?”

Eddie’s mama was trying not to laugh when he unloaded on her while he stitched the last patch to the front.

“He visits you every day, sometimes for hours, sometimes has to be dragged out by nurses, and ya think he don’t know?”

As usual, she had a point.

So Eddie was brave, gave Steve the jacket the next day when he stopped by.

Steve was silent as he took in every patch and pin, even the section of glitter glue Erica had insisted he add. Eddie played with his bare fingers, wishing now more than ever that he had his rings back.

Finally, Steve looked up, watery smile pointed right at Eddie.

“I love it. And you.”

Mama Munson slapped the back of his head gently later while Steve slept in the chair by his bed.

“I told ya so!” Her whisper was enough to make Steve shift around, his grip on Eddie’s hand tightening momentarily. “May have lost a nipple, but got yourself a boyfriend. That’s the Munson way.”

“What the hell do you mean?”

“Oh, Wayne never told you about losing his nipple in ‘Nam? Flirted with the medic and blamed it on blood loss, but wouldn’t ya know? The medic was a little light in his loafers, too!”

Eddie rolled his eyes.

“Wayne didn’t lose a nipple. You’re makin’ shit up again.”

“I ain’t never lied to ya! You ask Wayne tomorrow. There’s a reason he don’t ever go shirtless at the lake.”

And sure enough, the next day, Wayne lifted his shirt and showed Eddie where he had nothing but a scar where his nipple should be.

“So what about the medic?”

“Oh! Grant.” Wayne smiled. “We still write to each other sometimes. He’s married, got a few kids.”

“Oh. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. We wouldn’t have worked anyway. He lives in Maine. Can’t imagine dealin’ with moose.”

Mama Munson just raised her brows from her chair and smirked.

When Steve came by after his shift, he was wearing his jacket and the biggest smile Eddie’s ever seen.

“Anything new?”

“Nothin’ really. Just found out I’ve got a lot more in common with Wayne than I thought.”

[ahsokaismyqueen]

Watergate Pairing - Steve Harrington x HendersonSister!Reader Summary - Dustin has a theory that there's a new gate, and Nancy has a suspicion of where it might be. The best swimmer needs to go to the bottom of Lover's Lake and check it out. Unfortunately, much to Steve's displeasure, that happens to be you. Word Count - 3.2k Warnings - Language and violence Steve Harrington x HendersonSister!Reader Masterlist

You could feel Dustin glaring at you from the shore as Steve settled in beside you at the last moment. “You said four!” He called after you. 

Steve let out a quiet, “Sorry,” while you just waved at him with a grin. 

“If he thought I was letting him that close to a possible gate, he’s out of his damn mind.” You said, glancing at the compass that he had tossed you. 

“Bedtime at nine kiddos!” Robin yelled to them. “Miss you already!” 

Dustin flipped you all off. 

While you had been one of the first ones on the boat, you couldn’t deny the way your heart was beating hammering in your chest. What the hell were you guys going to do if you actually found a gate? Would you have to go into it to destroy Vecna? You glanced over at Eddie who was rowing at the front with Robin, and then back at the shore where Dustin, Lucas and Max were now barely visible. You knew you would do it. Whatever it took to save both of them, you would do it, but it didn’t make you any less scared. 

“Hey, the compass.” Steve’s voice interrupted your thoughts as he shone his flashlight down at the instrument in your hands. 

Eddie and Robin stopped rowing, and you all bent your heads towards it, watching as it spun around wildly. All of the sudden you heard Dustin’s voice coming through the walkie. “Guys, what’s going on? Come on, talk to me.” 

Robin grabbed the walkie and replied, “Uh, Dustin, your compass has gone from wonky to wonky with a capital waahhh.” 

Steve reached out and started taking his shoes and socks off. “Steve . . . what do you think you’re doing?” You asked him. 

He didn’t meet your gaze. “Somebody’s gotta go down and check this thing out. Unless one of you can top -” He looked up at you then, realizing his mistake. 

“.3 seconds, Harrington.” You reminded him. 

“Woah, wait, you can’t go down there.” Eddie said, being the first to catch on. 

Steve looked like he wanted to agree with him. “Remember what happens when we separate?” He replied, and you did. The memories at Starcourt flashed in your mind as well as the ones from last night, watching that body snap while you had been in the lake completely helpless  with Eddie, thinking how that’s what would happen to Max . . . 

“We’re not separating.” You said as you started to pull off your own socks and shoes. “I will be a few feet below you. That’s it.” You stood up and took off your sweatshirt, handing it to Steve. “I’ll be right back.” 

“Are you sure that you want to do this?” Nancy asked you. 

You nodded, “Eddie hand me that flashlight. I won’t be able to see shit down there.” 

“Are you fucking shitting me right now? You’re going to let her go down there?” Eddie asked Steve. 

“Oh, let’s not pretend she needs Steve’s or any other man’s permission.” Robin told him, rolling her eyes. 

You knew that Steve would never stop you. He’d do his damn best to convince you, then protect you if necessary, but there must have been something in your eyes that told him it’d be futile. “I don’t like this.” He said, while Eddie cursed in the background, taking the flashlight  and wrapping it in a plastic bag. 

“Well that makes two of us.” You said, glancing at the water again. You took a step closer, getting ready to dive, but stopped when you felt Steve grab your hand. 

“Be careful.” He said, his eyes pleading, worried, and you wished you could reassure him. 

But you wouldn’t lie. You nodded, not trusting yourself to speak, and turned back to the water. Thinking about Max, thinking about Eddie, and saving both of them, you shoved your anxiety deep in your gut, and dove. 

The calmness and easing of your muscles that you normally felt when swimming never came. Lover’s Lake wasn’t super deep, but the blackness that surrounded you still made you feel uneasy. You used the flashlight to glance across the bottom, looking for anything out of the ordinary when something white caught your eye. You swam over, and found the skeletons of several fish which only served to confuse you. If the fish had died . . . Wouldn’t their bodies still remain? Or had they been down there that long? 

That was when the red light caught your eye. You tried to force yourself to remain calm, and swam over, stopping above it. You had seen a gate once, back deep in those Russian tunnels last summer, but it was a sight you'd never forget. This was much smaller, maybe three feet wide, but unmistakable. Nancy and your brother had been right. As you leaned down to get a closer look, a vine smacked against the other side of the gate. 

Your heart took off and so did your body, swimming away as fast as you could until you breached the surface. 

“Oh Christ!” You heard Eddie say as they all jumped at your sudden appearance. 

“It’s there.” You said, grabbing a hold of the edge of the boat. “It’s a gate.” You looked at Steve and Robin. “It looks like the one we saw in the tunnels, just smaller.” 

“Great, now you can get out.” Steve said, grabbing a hold of your arm to help pull you back in the boat, anxiety lacing his tone while Robin told Dustin the news over the walkie. 

That was when you felt the first tug. It dragged you under for the briefest moment before you kicked it off, and you didn’t even have another second to react. All you did was share a glance with Steve, who looked increasingly panicked, and then you were dragged under again. You felt Steve above the water still holding onto you, trying his best to pull you out, but your hand was wet, and slid right out of his grasp. 

It was like two years ago. You felt the vine wrapping around your ankle, dragging you down faster than you could ever hope to swim, and a scream left your throat as you tried to find anything to grab a hold of, but no matter how hard you tried the gate keep getting closer and closer until it spat you out on the other side, still dragging you along as you screamed and your fingers tried to find purchase on something, anything to stop you. 

A big huff of air left you as your back slammed into something and the vine had to let go. You kept your eyes closed, trying to catch your breath for a moment, when your brain caught up with the sounds surrounding you. 

You had never been to the Upside Down. The closest you had ever gotten was senior year when you, Steve and the rest of the kids had set fire to that hub. Without opening your eyes, you knew this was worse. The sounds, the smells, all of it was so . . . wrong, and when you did open your eyes . . . The world was too. It was dark . . . desolate . . . You could almost feel the hopelessness that hung in the air. You stood up on shaky legs, thunder crackling and the sky flickering with clouds of red lightning. A screech of a creature behind you had you turning around, terrified of what you might find there, and you saw what looked to be some sort of bird or bat flying towards you. 

Then you heard the sound again, and again. Everywhere you turned those creatures were headed in your direction and all you could think was run. 

You didn’t get very far before a tail wrapped around your neck. You screamed again, clawing at it violently as the force of it tugged you to the ground. No matter how hard you tried, the creature's grip only became tighter and you began to choke, your eyes widening as you caught sight of more of the creatures surrounding your body. You yanked harder at the tail around your neck when pain exploded through your stomach. 

Looking down in horror you saw the bat-like creature stabbing into your skin and attempted to slap it away to have another one do the same to your opposite side. You kicked and thrashed every way possible trying to dislodge the creatures, but it was no use. As soon as you knocked one off, another would attack from the opposite side. You screamed, tears of pain streaming down your face as you tried to fight them off.

You couldn't die like this. You had to help save Max and Eddie . . . You had to lounge around your room with Robin and laugh at everything even when it wasn’t that funny . . . You had to play Dungeons and Dragons with Dustin again . . . You had to tell Steve you loved him every day for the rest of your life . . . 

Another choked scream of pain and terror left your throat as you looked down at the creatures eating your flesh, when suddenly, one was knocked away. 

You looked up to see all of them. Steve, Eddie, Robin and Nancy. They had all dived in after you. 

And the fighting began. 

Steve was vicious. You’d never seen him that violent before as he yelled at Robin to stand on the tail of the one that was holding you while he stabbed it over and over again with an oar. Nancy and Eddie tried to keep the bats from the three of you, but when one of them got Nancy in the back, Robin had to help. 

Tossing the oar he had been using to Nancy, Steve landed beside you, tugging at the tail again, and finally the two of you were able to make it release you. Taking deep gasps of breath you watched as he held the tail tight in his hands and used all his strength to throw the bat against the ground over and over, and the bastard still wasn’t dying. With shaky hands, you grabbed the broken top half of Eddie’s oar, and the next time Steve threw the bat down you stabbed it with all the strength you had, holding it in place while Steve literally ripped it in half. 

There was a beat of dead silence for a moment, and then you were wrapped up in his arms. You clung onto him with everything you had, sobs racking your tired throat as Steve held you, his hand cradling the back of your head while your face hid in his shoulder. God you had almost lost him. You’d almost lost everyone. “I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you.” You cried, needing to get the words out. You weren’t sure if you’d told him today, or if he could even understand you with the way you were hysterically crying, but you vowed never to let there be a day when he didn’t hear those words again. 

His arms gripped you so close you could barely breathe, rocking you back and forth as he held you. “I know, I know. I love you too. So damn much.” 

You pulled back for the briefest moment so you could kiss him, desperate to feel his lips on yours and reassure yourself that you were still alive. He was here, you were here, and you were both breathing. Judging by the way he kissed you back, his need was as extreme as yours, his fingers digging into you so hard it was painful, but you didn’t dare want him to stop. 

The sound of the creatures made you flinch, pulling away from his lips and clinging to Steve’s chest as he helped you to your feet. There were more. At least six or seven, and they landed around the gate, blocking all of you from going back out. 

“All right. There’s not that many. We can take them.” Steve said, his arm wrapped protectively around you. 

Then you all caught sight of the swarm. “You were saying?” Robin said. 

Your shaking hand gripped the arm Steve had around you. “We’ve gotta get out of here.” You said, your eyes locked on the bats, panic rising in your throat once again. 

“The woods!” Nancy said, and you all turned around to see what she was referring to. “Come on!” She took off running.

Steve glanced at you, a question in his eyes, and you nodded. You could make it. The two of you took off running after her, Steve holding your hand in his grip as Eddie and Robin trailed behind you. 

You didn’t start to feel weird until the five of you were hiding under the Upside Down’s version of skull rock. The adrenaline had started to wear off on your body, and you could feel any ounce of energy that you had fading away as the swarm of bats flew overhead, all heading to the gate. Dizziness started to make the ground in front of you fuzzy, and you squeezed Steve’s hand, trying to focus on something else. 

“Okay, that was close.” 

“Yeah, too close.” 

It was Robin and Eddie talking, you could tell that much, but it sounded like they were underwater. Taking a deep breath, you let Steve pull you out from under the rock, and immediately the world went out of focus. You felt yourself start to stumble, but Steve grabbed you moments before you hit the ground. “Woah, I got you.” He said, and you grabbed a hold of his biceps, using them to steady yourself. 

“I’m losing too much blood,” You admitted, after you felt steady enough to look up at him. “I need to stop the bleeding or - or you guys are going to have to carry me around on your backs everywhere.” You said, able to muster the smallest grin as you slid down to the ground. 

“We’d do it for you, sweetheart.” Eddie said, giving you a grin as well, but you could see the worry in his eyes as he glanced down at all the blood on your shirt. 

Steve sat down on his knees in front of you, his hands gentle as they tugged on the bottom of your tank top. “I need to see -”

“How bad it is?” You interrupted with a hoarse chuckle. “I thought I was the future doctor here, Harrington?” 

“You really do have the worst timing for jokes, you know that?” He said, shaking his head at you as he started to ease your shirt away from your skin. 

Eddie turned away, attempting to give you some privacy, and your humor faded at the pain as the shirt tugged at your shredded skin. You let out a breath that sounded more like a hiss that made him stop, but you gestured for him to keep going. You needed to know how bad it was too. 

And it was bad. “Shit,” Steve said once he had gotten the bloody tank top over your head and onto the ground. 

You were going to need stitches. Several stitches actually, and while every building that existed in your Hawkins also existed in the Upside Down, there was no chance you were going to use any sort of medical equipment from here to try and heal you. 

Steve’s hands hovered over your wounds, and it was then that you noticed they were shaking. “What-what can I do?” He asked, looking at you. 

“I need to stop the bleeding.” You said, glancing around. “Do we have anything we can -”

“Here.” Nancy was already tearing at part of her shirt, and you spared her a smile. 

“So the good news is I’m pretty sure wooziness is not a symptom of rabies.” Robin spoke up, and she bent down beside Steve. “But if you start having hallucinations or muscle spasms, or you start feeling aggressive, like you wanna punch me, let me know.” 

You had to admit, the thought of rabies hadn’t occurred to you, but that was a worry you didn’t have time for right now. “Robin, if I had rabies, symptoms wouldn’t be setting in this quickly.” You told her. 

“What if I kinda want to punch you?” Steve said, clearly irritated  that she had brought up another thing for him to worry about. 

“I’ll chalk it up to stress.” She replied, but then turned her focus back to you. “You know - it’s - It’s not so bad when you look closer?” She said, giving you a lopsided smile that wasn’t even remotely convincing. 

You shook your head at her. “You’re a terrible liar.” 

By this time Nancy had finished tearing off the fabric and handed it to Steve. She gave Robin a look, and the two of them left to give you and Steve some privacy. 

“You’ve got to tie it around me tight, okay? It’s the only way to stop the bleeding.” You told him, placing your hands on his shoulders in anticipation of the pain this was going to cause. 

He frowned, but nodded, stretching the fabric out in his hands. “You ready?” 

“As I’ll ever be.” You replied, sitting up on your knees and biting your lip as he wrapped the fabric around you. It hurt like hell, but you allowed yourself a tiny whimper as he secured the fabric. 

Of course he noticed as soon as you did and stopped, leaning back to look at your face. “Is it too tight?” 

You shook your head. “The tighter the better.” 

At your words, he went back to work, tying off the fabric and leaning back to look at you once more. Once he seemed satisfied, he looked down next to you and your ripped shirt, and didn’t hesitate for a second to pull off his sweater, gently putting it over your head and tugging it down your body before you could even protest. The scent of him blocked out everything else and you let out a sigh as he pulled you close once again, pressing a gentle, lingering kiss to your forehead that sent tension melting from your body. “I thought I was scared shitless this morning when I got to Reefer Rick’s and all the cop cars were there.” Steve said, his voice as gentle as his kiss. “That was nothing compared to just then.” He took a deep breath as you wrapped your arms around him, and his nose bumped against yours. “I thought I lost you.” 

“I thought I lost you.” You whispered back. “I thought I lost everyone.” God, you had never been more terrified in your life. “I fucking hate this place Steve.” You told him, tears filling up your eyes as you looked at him, thinking about how close you had come to never being able to look into his eyes again and see that deep love that he had for you there. 

Steve brushed away the tears that had started to fall down your face. “We’re going to get out of here baby.” He said with conviction, kissing you on the forehead once more. “If I have to take on every one of those damn bats by myself, I’m getting us home.” 

You held him tighter, hoping to God he was right.

[lexirosewrites]

It has taken me forever to write this so sorry if it’s still garbage lol. I absolutely love slick Sundays to hopefully you like this one. 💖

When it was all said and done, none of them had really predicted this outcome. Max and Eddie went in both with a thinly veiled death wish. Yet they had come out with little more than some cuts and bruises, Max’s one broken leg, and surprisingly happy to be alive. No it was the bigger shock that when radioing in to check on the others, group bait and distraction, were the only ones to reply. Eddie and Dustin were confused especially with Max confirming El had done it, that Vecna was gone for good now. So where were they?

Steve, Robin, and Nancy had all went into the creel house. But only Robin and Nancy had actually physically stepped out of it. And as they frantically looked on the ground, they saw the two lumps laying there from where they had both went through the window. Henry’s tentacle like vines latching onto Steve dragging him through as he went down.

Robin began frantically trying to find a pulse pulling him away from the creature he had fallen with. Nancy stood frozen unsure of what to do her shock saturating her brain; Robins screams for her to do something finally snapped her out of it. Getting Steve out was the main priority. Based on height they each took an end and hauled him up. There was some publication about not moving someone who could have a neck or back injury until authorities got there, but time was ticking and the rise and fall of Steve chest only seemed to be getting shallower. Both girls already weak had only made it about half way when Nancy’s leg gave out almost toppling them all over.

They had turned their walkie off to be as quiet as possible but now, now Nancy was rushing to find it in their pack and turn it on, to scream for help. The static exploded from it as soon as she got onto the right channel, frantic questions of what was happening, where were they and to please come in. Cutting to the chase Nancy’s voice bellowed over, “Eddie you need to make it a little past lovers lake, we need your help carrying Steve, please get here as fast as you can.” She told them. Her voice was wet and wobbly gleaming with desperation as she sat there in the leaves.

Eddie left a very pissed off Dustin, explaining that one of them needed to go help while the other needed to figure out a way to safely get Steve back over the other side. As soon as he saw them he knew it wasn’t good. Steve lay looking lifeless head cradled in Robins lap as she looked down at him. Quite frankly Eddie wasn’t so sure Steve would make it out of this one. It was in that second that Eddie got an idea that was either his most brilliant, or his most incredibly stupid one to date. Eddie was going to bite Steve.

A mating bite in life saving circumstances was reported to have a 50/50 chance of helping. And fuck it, it didn’t hurt so why not try. Moving closer and kneeling down he finally made eye contact with Robin. “I’m gonna do something and it might not work, but it also might. And I need you to just trust me.” Her face visibly shuttered, but all she could say was “Anything”, voice hollowed out from crying. Not willing to wait any longer he leaned in inhaling Steve’s beautiful scent, and bit down.

Things after that were a blur. All he vaguely remembers was Nancy angrily pulling him off, only for him to snarl at her, followed by grabbing Steve bridal style and running. Next time he comes back to himself he’s confronted with the bright lights and sterile scent of Hawkins Memorial. Looking over relief floods his body, Steve lays there in a bed adjacent to his, hooked up to an IV and oxygen, but a steady beat rings out on his heart monitor. It worked. Holy shit it actually worked. Eddie promptly passes out again.

The next time eddie wakes up Wayne is beside him reading one of his old westerns. Remembering Steve is to his left Eddie looks over once again and is greeted by Steve’s hazy eyes staring back at him. Steves face quickly morphs into a dopy smile, the oxygen mask now replaced with tubes better fitted onto his face. “Hey there big guy, how ya feeling?” Eddie asked. “I’m soo good, sooo great. I’m alive and I have an alpha now, and I like him so so much. I’m so excited to have his babies and get married and move in together and kiss.”, Steve slurred back smile never leaving his face. Eddie couldn’t help the shocked look on his face, which quickly turned to the most manic grin. “Oh you can guarantee that your alpha is gonna do all that for you and more baby cakes, just you wait till I can get out of this bed sweet thing, I’ll be waiting on you hand and foot.” Not being able to look away from his omega Eddie could hear Wayne choke on his laugh trying to prevent the cackle he usually let out when Eddie was this unfiltered.

And when both of them had recovered, Steve no longer drugged and still completely in love with being mated to Eddie, Eddie made sure that Steve’s list was fully completed. With the government payouts they got a beautiful 5 bedroom house on the out skirts of town. It had enough room to grow into and an amazing back yard that Steve had already started plans for a garden, and a list of what flowers he wanted to plant. After Eddie’s immediate proposal upon their discharge they had a date set for a lovely fall wedding. However the list couldn’t be completed without the pupping of Steve. And maybe they blew that one out of the park by getting twins on the first try, neither of them aware that they had any duplicates in their families. Steve would be around 7 months at his wedding but to him that only makes it more perfect. As for the kiss. Well let’s just say Eddie can barely go 5 minutes without giving Steve a smooch, either it be on the lips or just about anywhere he can get his mouth on and they wouldn’t have it any other way.

marriage (or mating) of convenience is such an underutilized trope and we need more of it!! especially combined with omegaverse where those bonds create further fondness and love between partners. Steve not only got saved, but he gets to be loved and cherished by his alpha now😭💕

[hairmetal666]

Read Part One here

cw: implied child abuse

Eddie's coming over for coffee. Not Eddie with Nancy and Robin or Eddie with the kids. Just Eddie.

They haven't been alone in 9 years and now Eddie is coming over for coffee.

They're friends, of course. After Vecna they didn't have much of a choice, but they've never talked about it--that they used to be something.

After Steve kissed Eddie goodbye for what turned out to be the last time, they didn't see each other again for months and months, except for a devastatingly fleeting moment in the Family Video parking lot. And the next time after that, Eddie's pinning him to the wall of a rickety boathouse, a broken bottle to his throat.

What's going through his mind, his body, at that moment is relief. For days, weeks, months, he ached for Eddie's touch again, and even though he was in danger, he relished in the push of their bodies together. Thought, if this is how he dies, he won't mind going.

But they don't talk about it, about them, because Eddie is on the run and Max is going to die, and they have to save the world, so there's no time. In the aftermath, it's the least of their worries, and now it's been almost a decade and Eddie is coming over for coffee.

The thing is, it's not like Steve has been pining away for a love long lost in the intervening years, and neither has Eddie. They've both had longterm, serious relationships; Steve almost got married. But for Steve...Eddie is the one that's lingered, the one that knocks around his ribcage on late sleepless nights, the one that makes him dream of what might have been. Because Steve truly loved his other partners, but Eddie--nobody will ever compare.

Someone is knocking a rhythm at his front door, and he can't stifle his smile even as his heart runs riot in his chest.

"Hey, man," he says, remarkably nonchalant as he takes Eddie in. Still beautiful, still brimming with energy; his smile wide and dimpled, bouncing on his toes.

"Harrington!" Eddie grabs him into a quick side hug, slapping his back. "Since when do you wear glasses?"

Steve chuckles, touching the horn-rimmed frames. "Oh, god, Robin forced me to get them back in '87? Too many concussions." He touches his forehead. "I usually just wear contacts."

"It's a good look," Eddie says. He's very much not looking at Steve, eyes roaming around the Chicago apartment he's been to many times before.

He watches as Eddie spots the display of his own books, index finger slowly slipping across the spines in a way that makes Steve remember when those same fingers would slide down his spine. He stifles a shiver, turns towards the kitchen.

"So, how's New York? How's the book coming?"

"Livin' the dream." It's not flippant, not like how most people mean it. Eddie leaks genuineness, always has. "The book though...it's a little rough."

Steve sets the coffee maker going, brings fresh pastries and a couple plates over to the table. "I can imagine. It doesn't--it doesn't have to be the same, you know?"

"Yeah, if only I hadn't written three other books leading up to the evil mind wizard," Eddie chuckles. He grabs a croissant and tears it in half. "It'll be alright, Harrington. I'll figure it out. I lived through it the first time, after all."

Steve doesn't remind him that he almost didn't, that they almost didn't. Instead, he pours coffee, listens as Eddie talks about how to fictionalize the worst month of their collective lives.

He splashes milk into Eddie's coffee, taps in three scoops of sugar. He carries it to where Eddie waits, still talking about the logistics of Vecna-slash-Henry-slash-One in his novel, but his words abruptly stop as his hands wrap around the porcelain.

"Steve?"

It's only then that Steve realizes what he's done--made Eddie's coffee like he took it back then, made it without thinking, totally on muscle memory, when the best of his mornings were spent in Eddie's arms.

His cheeks glow crimson and he grips at the back of his neck. "S-sorry." He says. "It--is this still how you take it?"

"Yeah." Eddie's eyes fall from Steve's face, his own cheeks pink. "It's--yeah. Still the same."

"I'm sorry--"

"--Steve, I--"

They don't laugh. They both stop speaking and look at each other, faces still red. Steve thinks there's nothing for it but to get it all out now.

"I'm sorry, Eddie." He takes a deep breath. "I'm sorry I never came back. I'm sorry I didn't explain why. I'm just--really, really sorry."

Eddie's eyes are hooked on the table top, fingers twisting and twisting his coffee mug. "Can I--why? I waited and you--why?"

Steve swallows, but it gets stuck in his throat, and now he's the one who can't look up from his hands.

"My parents got home early," he manages. "My dad, he was waiting for me. I guess one of the neighbors thought it best to tell them who I'd been spending my time with."

Silence falls over the table, and he chances a look up at the man across from him, the one whose knuckles bite into his lips, whose eyes shine with unshed tears.

"You should've called me. You should've--you could've stayed with us. We would've kept you safe."

"Eddie, I couldn't. I physically couldn't," the admission costs him so much.

"Steve," Eddie chokes on his name, voice nothing but anguish. "Did anyone--You could've--you were all alone."

He shakes his head. "Robin knew. She snuck through my window to take care of me, but my parents--I couldn't--" This time the words really won't come. "We made a plan. We started that job at Family Video, and we saved up our money."

Now, Eddie's face is creased with grief. "Sweetheart, I'm so sorry."

Steve shakes his head, smiles despite the wreckage around his heart. "You have nothing to be sorry for, baby. I left you with no explanation. I broke your heart. And--and--" He thinks, what does it hurt to say it at this point. "I love you. I love you so much. I convinced myself you were better off without me, that we could have a clean break and you could get over me."

Eddie's hands cover his face, muffle the sob that slips out. "Get over you?" He whispers. "There's never been one like you, sweetheart."

He slides around the table to kneel at Eddie's side. "Hey." Deep brown eyes stare back at him, Eddie's face wet with tears. "It's always you, Ed. Always. I didn't want to say anything, if you had moved on, but--"

There's not really any transition from them talking to them kissing; Steve slips into it like he did all those years ago, when he first asked for Eddie's kiss. Their mouths slot together, their bodies fit like they always used to, perfect puzzle pieces. Steve's knees give out at the first brush of Eddie's tongue, and they collapse into a heap on the kitchen floor. Even then, they don't part.

Eventually, Steve does break the embrace, face flushed and hair a disaster, glasses hanging off one ear. "Okay, trying to be responsible here. Should we take a pause, go on a date first? Slow down?"

"Nine years isn't slow enough?" Eddie's pupils are blown, hair frizzed around his head.

"When you put it that way," Steve can't help but laugh. "I just want to do right by you, Eddie. Make up for--everything."

Eddie grins down at him, that sunshine beam smile where his dimples pop. "Tell you what, how bout you take me to bed now, and I'll let you take me on a date tomorrow?"

"Oh, you'll let me?" Steve rakes a hand through Eddie's mane of hair. "I don't think you'll have any choice."

"You sure about that, Stevie?" Their lips are so close, the brush with every word.

"Uh-huh," Steve's having trouble keeping his eyes focused, overwhelmed by the sheer force of Eddie Munson. "Never letting you go again, Ed."

Surprise! Part 2! I genuinely had no intention on doing a follow-up, but so many of you asked so nicely that it gave me this idea. Sorry if I miss anyone in the tag list and thank you for reading! @everywherenothere @tiny-enthusiast @emma-elsa-0000 @fuzzyduxk @moonythepluviophile @anaibis @rhapsodyinalto @bunk12bear @tillystealeaves @velocitytimes2 @s-trawberryv-eins @marklee-blackmore @ignoremyworld @its-a-me-a-morgan @goodolefashionedloverboi @starman-jpg @djohawke @adaydreamaway08

[sweetyyhippyy]

Through the Radio. Eddie Munson x Fem!Reader. *ANGST*

Summary: Eddie's girlfriend is still grieving the loss of him after almost a whole year. Little does she know, he's still alive.

Word Count: 2k

TW: Death. Grieving. Mentions of sex (no details).

Note: I know that talking through the radio isn't how it worked on the show, but this is my story and I wanted it to work this way 🤣🤣

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This would have been the first time she had went to Lover‘s Lake without Eddie in tow.

She parked her car, far away from everyone else that was there. She sat in the driver side with the car idled while a mixed tape that Eddie had made for her months before his death playing softly in the back, staring at the full moon that was right in front of her window.

Some days were better than others for her grief. Only crying 3 times on a good day before noon, rather than her usual 5 or 6 by then. Today was an even worse day.

She decided with the rough day that she had; to go to the lake, somewhere that her and Eddie would frequent to just get away from the noise of their homes. It was the one place that she felt like she was still connected to him.

For the first night in almost a week, the skies were clear from the nighttime storms that were happening. All you could see was the twinkling stars in the sky and the moon lighting up the sky.

Going out to the lake on nights similar to this was their favorite type of date. Where all you could hear were the crickets chirping in the distance, and the calming sounds of the lake.

They both loved laying in the back of Eddie’s van with the back doors opened, laying on the makeshift bed that Eddie had set up with a collection of warm blankets and a ton of pillows for them. Music would be playing softly in the back, that way they could both still hear each other talking when they didn’t have their lips pressed against each other’s.

She couldn’t help but replay the night she lost Eddie in her mind over and over again on her bad days. She couldn’t help but think about everything she could have done differently, the biggest thing: not going with Steve, Robin, and Nancy to the Creel house to take down Vecna. In her mind, she had convinced herself that if she was with Eddie and Dustin instead, that Eddie would still be alive.

Of course everyone said that there was nothing she could have done to help save Eddie, but they had to say that to keep her from completely losing her mind.

For almost a whole month after the night in the upside down, she didn’t speak to Steve, still hurt that he was the one that dragged her away from Eddie’s lifeless body, not budging while she tried to wiggle out of his arms and run back to him.

She begged Steve to at least take him back with the group, but nobody was strong enough to lift him up through the gate, especially with Dustin being injured. Steve had to snap at her, telling her that it wasn’t going to happen.

He took it while she screamed, cursed, and hit him. Steve knew that at some point she would get over it, and that she was doing it because she was sad and angry, he never took her words to heart.

She felt such guilt leaving him there, especially when she had to tell Eddie’s uncle that he was gone, and that he couldn’t even tell his nephew goodbye properly because “they couldn’t find his body” after the earthquake.

The beginning of the song “The Ocean” by Led Zeppelin snapped her out of her thoughts, making her aware of her thoughts, and just how loud they were. Her already sore eyes were filled with tears, all of them rolling down her cheeks as she finally blinked.

“Shit, Eddie… It’s real bad today. Everything I see reminds me of you. And it hurts worse to be constantly reminded that you’re really gone than it was to lose you to begin with.” She says to nobody, just venting her feelings out into space.

“You would be so mad at me, but I can’t help but wish that it was me instead.” Her whole body shook as she sobbed, covering her face with her hands. “I just wish you were here. I can’t do this anymore.”

Eddie could hear her clear as day from the other side, his own heart aching at the hurt in her voice while she called out for him. He knew it wasn’t a good idea to lie to her and pretend to be dead, but it was what was best for himself, just until his name could be cleared for Chrissy’s murder, Dustin said that he would make sure it happened.

Almost a whole year had passed, and he was still stuck in the darkness that was the upside down, still healing from almost being ripped to shreds by the demonic bats that inhabited the other world.

Dustin found a way to come visit Eddie so he wasn’t completely alone all the time, keeping him up to date on music and whatever else that he was missing in the real world. Every single time, Eddie would ask how his girl was doing, even though he already knew how she was doing.

“I just need to find a way for her to know I’m still here. You know how many times she’s changed the lightbulbs around her place because she thinks they’re going out? It’s not doing anything, man.” Eddie explained to Dustin on one of the nights he came to visit, bringing him some food, and some more clothes.

“She can’t know too much. You were the one that wanted it to be this way.”

“Yeah, I wanted it to be this way, but only because you said you could get my name cleared, Henderson. I wasn’t planning on staying in this hell hole my whole life! I need to let her know. I can’t take hearing her in pain anymore.”

Dustin sighs, thinking of a way he can still give Eddie both of the things he wants. “You’re going to have to play ghost.”

“What? I’m not actually dead, Henderson. What do you mean, play ghost?”

“It’s like when we talked to each other through the lite brite when all of you went through water gate. But instead of the light, you communicate with her through her radio at home. You have to go to her house here, and then talk to her through the stations.”

As much as he wanted to be with her through her tough thoughts, he needed to trek his way through the upside down to her house in order to “talk” to her tonight.

Even with the darkness and all the vines that were covering the “upside down” version of her room, Eddie still felt happy just standing somewhere he hadn’t been in a while. He missed the baby pink walls, the cute little stuffed animal corner she had, and that he added to when they were together, and the posters of Eddie Van Halen and Rob Lowe that were taped to her wall.

Eddie found the radio that sat on the nightstand next to her bed, brushing off the weird dust particles that covered it. He knew that as soon as she got home, she would turn it on, giving him the power to “talk” to her from where he was.

She flicks the light on to her room, tossing her jacket on her desk, taking a deep sigh as she stares at her empty bed. Sleeping alone was yet just another thing that she hated doing now, no fighting with Eddie over the blankets, pushing his face the opposite way because of his incessant snoring, or his warm cuddles in the middle of the night.

With another sigh, she turns the lights off, shedding out of her clothes, leaving them in a pile on the floor while she grabs a shirt from her closet and slipping it on, climbing into her bed.

As soon as her bare legs touch the cool sheets, she feels the tears come back.

“Fuck, stop it.” She whispers to herself. She sniffles as she reaches over, turning her radio on to listen to some music to help her go to sleep.

Of course all that was playing on her favorite station were commercials, but she just drowned them out while she hugged the pillow that was pressed against her torso, tight. She stared into the darkness of her room, only a little bit of moonlight coming in from the window across from her bed illuminated her room enough for her to makeout shadows of things.

Out of nowhere, the radio goes to static, making her jump slightly.

“Ugh, piece of shit.” She curses under her breath, sitting up to reach for the radio to turn it off.

Before she has the chance, the radio jumps into a song, one that had emotional ties to her and Eddie of course.

As cheesy as it was, her first time with Eddie was to “Home Sweet Home” by Motley Crue. It was truly one of those heat of the moment type moments for them, neither of them planning on anything happening when the night first started.

She couldn’t help but smile listening to the song, all of the memories of that night flooding back to her, and all of the nights afterward that they heard that song come on. One of them catching the other looking at the other with that hunger in their eyes before practically pouncing on the other.

Before the guitar solo, the static happens again, another song filling the room once the static stops.

She furrows her brows slightly, getting up from her bed to go turn her light on to see what was messing with her radio. As she gets up the sound happens again before settling on another station.

“What the fuck?” She gasps, turning the light on quickly.

Of course her first thought was a ghost, she had seen Poltergeist, she didn’t sleep for almost a week, but she had seen it.

“Unchained Melody” was playing in her room now, yet another song that had special meaning to her and Eddie.

Even though the song was old, it was one of her favorites, growing up listening to the song because of her parents.

It became another favorite of hers after Eddie, a little too high that night, grabbed her one night and slowed danced with her in the middle of her bedroom. It was a memory that would be engraved in her mind for the rest of her life.

Sure it was cheesy, but under his “tough metal head” persona he was a giant cheeseball.

The fucking universe had to be laughing at her playing this type of joke on her.

She walks up to the radio and goes to unplug it, but yet again, the channel changes. This time, the static doesn’t let up but a very faint voice echoes through her room.

Her body is frozen in her chair as she stares at her radio with fear in her eyes.

Even seeing all of the horror that was in the upside down wasn’t nearly as scary as what was happening in her bedroom.

“Can you hear me?” The voice calls out clearly. “Please tell me this worked.”

“What’s going on?” She mouths quietly.

“Sweetheart, please listen to me. I know this is crazy. Shit, please tell me you can hear me.”

There was no way that the voice she was hearing was Eddie’s. He was gone, she saw his lifeless body laying there as Steve dragged her away from him begging and screaming for him.

She was dreaming.

“Please say something, baby. Let me know you can hear me, please. Please.” The desperation in his voice was clear.

“Eddie?” She whispers softly at the radio, waiting for a response back as her eyes fill with tears. “Are you really there?” Her voice cracks.

“Holy shit, you can hear me. This worked!” He laughs from the other side of the speaker. “It’s me, baby.”

She sobs into her hands hearing his laugh, her heart beating out of her chest. “How? How are you talking to me? Where are you? You died, I-I-I saw you?”

“I have a lot of explaining to do and I know you’re going to be upset with me. Just please don’t turn the radio off, okay? Promise me?”

“I promise. Tell me everything, Eddie please.”

[thethingsweneversaid]

Am I crazy or did I just crack the mystery of the monologue scene????

Why did they lose against Vecna in season 4? What were they missing?

They lost the race against time. Time was obviously significant this season (The grandfather clock, Vecna's obsession with time, the UD being frozen in time). The time was simply up, they were too late. Who’s to blame? Mike Wheeler. 

Okay, let me explain, haha.

Throughout the whole series we all know Mike being late, or almost late to things is recurring. Every season in fact. S1: Mike’s campaign was too long, and he tried to get the party to stay past their curfew. S2: Mike was trying to get in contact with El on his walkie, almost making him late to the arcade. S3: Mike was almost late to the cinema because he was with El, making them almost miss the beginning of the movie. S4: Mike was reading El’s letter, almost making him and Nancy late for school... He begins every season with a race against time. Also worth noting that El was the reason for him being late in s2, s3 and s4. Also ALSO worth noting that in season 1, Mike begs his parents to let the party stay longer. The campaign took two weeks to plan! They need to finish it. He has no rush. While in all the other seasons (when he was late because of El), we get a "Shit! Shit! I'm going to be late"-version of Mike. He's stressed out and rushed. Not sure where I'm going with this last point, but I'm sure it means something and that it'll make sense in s5. The point is, Mike gets distracted by El.

Now for the monologue. This time, it's not Mike getting distracted by El. It's him distracting El.

Jason was obviously a key reason for them being too late as well. The scenes switch between Lucas fighting him and Mike’s monologue, comparing the two. Jason destroys Max’s walkman, destroying her connection to Lucas and the world outside her mind. Mike tries to get El to wake up by lifting her out of the freezer, taking off her glasses, Will shoves the radio away. They’re trying to get her out of Max’s mind and into the real world again. But El doesn't want to wake up. She is ready to fight for Max. The boys obviously tried to help because who knows what would’ve happened if they didn’t? They thought El was dying. When Mike begins his monologue, El looked away from Max and up “towards Mike’s voice”. She was listening to him now. Getting distracted. El continuously tells people throughout the series to be quiet when going into her “trance”. People talking distracts her, and she needs to concentrate. Mike also reminds the audience of the importance of the sensory deprivation tank. "It helps her calm down and focus on her powers". With Mike removing all the aids that help her concentrate (the glasses, the tank, the radio), while also talking to her, we can only assume that now, El isn’t only fighting to save Max, but also to stay in Max’s mind, further slowing her down.

At the end of the monologue, Mike reminds her she has to fight, and El’s eyes snap back to Max. That’s when she breaks loose from the vines. Whether you think El believes what Mike is saying and utilizes his loving words for strength or not, it’s still a distraction. I’ve seen a lot of people say that they felt impatient while watching this scene. Like «get on with it! Vecna is literally killing Max RIGHT NOW». And we're probably right to feel impatient! That's probably what the writers were going for! The audience was supposed to feel like that. El lost valuable time because of it. Mike is making them late this time too.

Will is also kinda to blame in this (I don't blame any of them, it's just an unfortunate set of events and they all did what they thought was best, but you get what I mean) Because in a way, Mike is distracted too. Distracted from the truth. That happened when Will lied to him in the van, disguising his own feelings for Mike, using El as a distraction for Mike to focus on instead. Will's guiding Mike towards a lie. He convinced Mike that El was feeling a certain way, which she WAS NOT. (For example: "You make her feel like she’s not a mistake at all, like she’s better for being different." cue Mike and El’s fight where she accuses him of thinking she’s a monster too, like everyone else.) (This also contrasts Will singling Mike out as the only person that doesn't treat him differently in season 2 in that scene with Will and Jonathan.) Mike doesn’t make El feel the way Will portrayed it in the van, though Mike is led to believe that she does.

Therefore, making the feelings that was the foundation for the monologue a lie. Both to Mike and El. It isn’t authentic. This doesn't apply to them. which brings me to my next point. 

 "A paladin swears to uphold justice and righteousness, to stand with the good things of the world against the encroaching darkness, and to hunt the forces of evil wherever they lurk. Different paladins focus on various aspects of the cause of righteousness (honesty=righteousness and honor for Mike), but all are bound by the oaths (promises, “friends don’t lie”) that grant them power to do their sacred work. Oaths, honor, and rigid rules define a paladin's everyday actions. Breaking these oaths (by lying) means their deity will revoke their powers."

This is why his monologue didn’t work. It was a lie (And Mike knowingly or unknowingly portrayed that lie to El). Without his honesty, Mike the paladin loses his powers. He couldn’t save them. 

Will’s selfless attempt to save their relationship sadly turned out to be counter-productive in every way, hindering all of them from seeing the truth. Will was also the one that told Mike not to stop, when in reality, maybe stopping and letting El be was exactly what he should've done. He's the heart. But he's Will's heart. That's what Will would've wanted Mike to do, seeing as Mike has saved him/snapped him out of his episodes multiple times by speaking to him: Of course Will thinks that's the right thing to do! Mike's doing what Will would've needed, not El.

It adds a new layer to El being upset with Mike in the cabin by the end of s4, because it isn't as simple as "she knows Mike is lying" or "She's just upset because they lost". She's upset because once again Mike doesn't trust that she knows her own limits (This being a huge reason for conflict in s3 between El/Mike/Max.) Mike worries because he cares of course, but it isn't what El needs ("Mike, I need you to trust me.") When Mike tries to help her, she fails. But she "redeems herself" when she's making her own decision, without outside influences other than love for her friends. She pushes her limits further than ever before, bringing Max back to life, trusting herself and her powers, without Mike knowing.

Mike is the heart, yes. The problem was - the heart was in the wrong place. They all got it wrong this time. They got confused and misunderstood each other. That’s why they lost. In the next season, I believe Mike and El are going to realize that they’ve both been focusing on the wrong things, and that is how they’re going to win. Still using love as their weapon - just a different kind of love that’s not distracting them from what they really need, not slowing them down. El coming fully into her own, reaching her full potential and using her powers the way she knows best, with the support of her loved ones making her stronger - not under the influence of Mike trying to stop her out of worry. And Mike’s heart being in the right place. With Will. 

I've seen other people talk about this next part, but I'm adding it in because it further proves the point.

Another indication that proves to me that at least SOME of the monologue is a blatant lie is the Romeo and Juliet parallel, with the word "Montague" spelled out behind Mike, and the "love at first sight"-refrence. "I knew right then and there, in that moment, that I loved you." That. is. a. lie. and there's just no going around it. Romeo and Juliet's romance wasn't actually real love, just infatuation. The Duffers also said they don't believe in love at first sight. For them to use that trope wouldn't just be wierd and cliché, but also contradicts everything we were shown in season 1. Are we just supposed to believe that Mike loved her, decpite them showing us otherwise?

More on the Romeo and Juliet thing in this post.

Conclusion: The Duffers are geniuses I’m never getting over this show.

[sidekick-hero]

(steddie | gen | 1.2k | tags: feelings realization (not his own), Kas!Eddie (flashback), smoking weed together, boys in love | @steddielovemonth prompt: Love is what makes you brave | AO3)

Eddie never claimed to be smart. It was not for nothing that it took him three tries and a very lenient high school administration - thanks to Hawkins' very own apocalypse - to graduate from high school.

It's not that he's dumb. It's more that he has what his uncle calls a scatterbrain. It's hard for him to focus on anything outside of the things he's really passionate about, like DnD or metal or fantasy. So it's not really surprising that he realizes that Steve is in love with him weeks after he's fallen for the boy himself.

And oh boy, did he fall for Steve Harrington. Hook, line and sinker.

It's new and exciting and scary. It takes up all the space in his head, and just as he read Lord of the Rings so many times that he can recite Aragorn's battle speech at the Black Gate, Eddie now spends all his time and energy learning everything there is to know about Steve Harrington.

He begins to pay attention to what people say about Steve and even more to what's said between the lines. He learns a lot by finally listening to all the times Dustin talks about Steve, which is often, singing his praises in his own, unique Dustin way.

Eddie focuses on what he can learn about Steve from the stories the others tell about a time when Eddie wasn't part of this weird little group of misfits and heroes, and collects all the clues like he's Sherlock fucking Holmes and Steve is his Moriarty.

Like how Robin and Steve have all these jokes from their Scoops days, even though they only really became friends later, during their run-in with the Russians. Yet Steve was willing to bait them into beating him instead of Robin, sacrificing himself so she could be spared before they ever established their platonic soul mateship.

It fits with the story Jonathan told him once, when they were smoking pot with Argyle, about Steve running back into a house with an honest-to-God monster in it to help Nancy and him fight it. And that was after Steve had come to Jonathan to apologize for their fight, even though he had reason to suspect that his girlfriend was cheating on him with Jonathan.

It's like puzzle pieces clicking together in Eddie's head.

At first, they don't fit with the things Steve tells him while they're out by the pool, sharing a joint and just talking. Steve goes on about all the times he was a coward, how he never stood up to his father or the bullies at school, even when he thought they were going too far.

But the things he says start to make sense to Eddie when Steve starts talking about how he only ditched Tommy and his other asshole friends because of Nancy. Because she made him realize how shitty he had become for fear of falling out of line and losing his status and his so-called friends.

Steve would never say he was brave.

But Eddie knows the truth.

Eddie knows that Steve is brave for the people he loves.

Love makes Steve brave.

And Steve loves fast and hard.

Once those two things become a certainty in Eddie's mind, other things fall into place.

Vecna sent him back to his friends as a spy, but they saw right through him, so he attacked them. He was faster and stronger now, thanks to whatever spell he was under, and he was vicious. They weren't his friends, they were the enemy. If he didn't kill them, they would kill him.

It makes him remember something he mostly tries to forget because it still hurts. It still fills him with shame and guilt. But now he thinks back to those weeks when he was under Vecna's control, a puppet dancing to his master's will.

Vecna had saved Eddie's body from dying when Dustin and the others thought he was already dead, but it came at a price.

Steve, the self-sacrificing idiot, managed to trap himself and Eddie in a room away from the others, his trusty nail bat at the ready. They faced each other, both ready to attack, to fight until one or both were dead.

And then Steve dropped the goddamn bat.

"I'm not going to fight you, Eddie. This isn't you. This isn't the guy who gave the outcasts and the nerds and the geeks a safe haven in the middle of the hell that is high school for them. This isn't the guy who decided to fight for a town that abandoned him and hunted him because he was different."

Steve took a step closer, so close that Eddie could see the flecks of green and gold in his hazel eyes.

"This isn't the guy who gave his life to save Dustin and buy us more time."

Warm hands closed around his own, clenched into fists and ready to strike, and cradled them gently.

"You saved us, Eddie. Because you are good. Because no matter how cruel the world was to you, you never stopped being kind." Another step towards the monster with his friend's face, but Steve never faltered, never hesitated.

"Please come back to us. Dustin needs you. Mike and Lucas need you."

Steve's arms wrapped around him, pulling him into their warm embrace, holding him tight as Steve said directly into his ear, "We need you, Eddie."

It hit Eddie right then and there, lying on the grass in Steve's yard with the pungent smell of the finished joint still in the air and the warmth of Steve's body seeping into his own where they touched from head to toe.

He never thought about it before because it couldn't have been. Steve had only known him a few days before the bats got him. And besides, he had been mooning over Nancy at the time, hadn't he?

But Steve risked his own life to get Eddie back. He could have killed Eddie, probably should have. Instead, Steve bravely stood his ground and reminded Eddie of his own humanity. Of all the love in his life and in his heart.

Steve falls hard and fast.

Love makes Steve brave.

Steve had only known Eddie, really known him outside of high school gossip, for a few days, but he risked his life to save Eddie.

Clumsy with the lingering effects of the weed in his body, Eddie turns his head to look at Steve, who's still staring up at the starry night sky. He takes in his profile, the sharp jaw line, the strong nose, the full lower lip. Steve is beautiful. He's good and kind and bitchy and secretly a giant dork. And he...

"You love me."

Eddie doesn't mean to just blurt it out, a thought that only formed a few minutes ago, but he's never been known for his brain to mouth filter and holy shit, Steve Harrington loves him.

Startled, Steve tears his eyes away from the stars to look at Eddie instead, his lovely hazel eyes wide as they search and hold Eddie's.

"I know," he finally says, leaning in even closer as if they were sharing a secret. "What gave it away?"

Instead of answering right away, Eddie bridges the infinitesimal gap between them and kisses Steve.

"I make you brave." At Steve's questioning look, Eddie adds, "Don't worry, you make me brave, too."

Before Steve can ask any more questions that Eddie's weed-addled brain couldn't answer anyway, he captures Steve's lips in another kiss before bravely rolling on top of him and showing him just how much Eddie loves him, too.

[toobusybeingdelulu]

Not them wanting to pull a Billy Hargrove with fucking VECNA out of all characters, y’all I’m so done with this show, I can’t wait for it to be over

Like, how many times are they gonna pull the storyline of: “oh no he was not a bad person at all, he didn’t wanna do it, he was controlled!!” Because it’s getting really boring.

Out of all the characters who got this “he did some bad things but there were reasons behind them” it actually made sense for only one of them, and that was Billy.

Billy, who never got to live a life outside of Neil hargrove’s abuse.

Billy, who by summer 1985 was clearly starting to get better, so much apparently that max talked about him lightly, which she had never done before.

Billy, who once possessed fought so hard against the force that he managed not to kill Karen wheeler, to give Nancy and the others time to start the car back and actually sacrificing his life to save El’s.

Billy, who was really still just a boy.

Certainly NOT Brenner, who had WILLINGLY started experiments on little kids, abusing them and exploiting them all of their lives. Yet he got a whole ass death speech while billy only got the “I’m sorry.”

And certainly NOT vecna. I don’t give a fuck about his childhood trauma, honestly. We have seen that so many times by now that it’s gotten so old, like do you mean to tell me that the big bad stranger things villain who killed thousands is actually just a guy with unresolved trauma rather than a cosmic powerful entity?? Like, fuck off. It doesn’t work like that, duffers.

How the fuck do they manage to give redemptive arcs and whole ass backstories to the most undeserving villains while simultaneously spitting on the grave of an actively abused boy I will actually never know.

They really took Dacre’s “No one is just bad” and decided to apply it to all the negative characters except Billy, who did not deserve to be saved, apparently, despite being the only one who actually did.

[worth-the-chaos]

Adventures in Babysitting - Steve Harrington x female!reader - Chapter 15

Chapter Summary: Racing against the clock, you and your friends desperately attempt to connect the dots before it’s too late. Your efforts bring both progress and peril as you and your boyfriend dive headfirst into life-threatening scenarios in order to save each other.

Content Warning: swearing, trauma, angst, upside down scary shit

Word Count: 8.8k

Author’s Note: sorry this chapter took so long for me to get written. Life has been crazy, but here’s a longer one for you, so I hope you enjoy! I really enjoyed writing this one and I hope you enjoy reading it just as much!

Message me to be added to the taglist and get updated when the next chapter is posted! I highly recommend this if you want to keep up with the story since I don’t do regular updates!

ALSO, I am thinking about revamping the masterlist for this story and adding chapter summaries and word count…let me know if you think this would help!

Series Masterlist | Part 14 | Next Part

***

You all got out of your respective vehicles and looked at the dilapidated house in front of you. The lawn was overgrown with weeds, and every window was boarded up. The house’s facade itself screamed “go away,” looking like something out of a horror movie, but there you all were. You pressed yourself into Steve’s back, grabbing onto the back of his jacket to ground yourself. No one moved, everyone hesitant to approach the foreboding home, so you took one more deep breath and pushed past your boyfriend.

Steve was surprised by the confidence in your stride. He knew that you were cracking under the pressure. He knew you had to be scared out of your mind. Yet, you were facing it head on. He watched the way you tossed the hammer you were holding a bit before flipping it around and beginning to remove the nails from the board across the front door. Though he would never say it out loud, the way you looked so incredibly tough was incredibly sexy to him, and his eyes wandered your frame as he took in the sight of you.

Suddenly Steve felt an elbow in his side, jumping a bit as Robin glared at him and whispered, “dude, why don’t you stop undressing her with your eyes and help the fuck out.”

“What the hell are we supposed to be looking for in this shit hole anyway?” Steve grumbled as he made his way to the door to start removing nails on the opposite side.

“I don’t know…I-I just know it’s important,” you responded, momentarily stopping what you were doing to look at your boyfriend. You didn’t want to explain any more of what you saw and Steve didn’t press you for details as he continued removing nails.

“Maybe it has a clue as to where Vecna is,” Dustin spoke up, “you know, like why he’s back, why he killed the Creels, and how to stop him before he comes back for y/n.”

Your heart sank at the mention of your name. You weren’t sure that you’d be able to save yourself again if Vecna came back for you. The visions you were having were getting progressively longer, and your physical symptoms in the real world were getting progressively more terrifying. How long was it going to be before your bones were snapped every which way and your eyes were sucked into the back of your skull?

Steve removed the last nail and he looked at you, silently asking if you were ready. Though you weren’t, you nodded and the both of you dropped the board. It fell with a sickening thud, kicking up decades worth of dust up from the front porch. You coughed, waving away the haze before turning back to the front door. You saw the stained glass rose and suddenly your mind flashed to the sinister reds painted across the sky when Vecna had his hand around your throat.

“Hey, are you okay?” Nancy asked, gently putting a hand on your shoulder. You jumped a little, before turning slightly towards her, meeting her concerned expression.

“Yeah…yeah, I-I’m good. This is definitely it; no doubt about it,” your voice got small as you said it.

Steve tried the doorknob which didn’t turn, announcing the obvious, “it’s locked. Should I knock? See if anybody’s home?”

You rolled your eyes at Steve’s sarcasm before moving towards him. “It doesn’t matter. I have a key.” Steve looked at you quizzically, but before he could ask any questions, you shoved him to the side a bit before aggressively driving your elbow through the stained glass. It made a satisfying shattering sound as you listened to the shards hit the floor inside. You reached through the window and felt for the lock, turning it swiftly before shoving the door open.

Lucas flipped a light switch to no avail. “I guess somebody didn’t pay the electric bill,” he joked quietly as the room remained shrouded in complete darkness. The only light was the minimal sunlight peaking through the slats of the boarded up windows.

You pulled a flashlight out of your bag and handed it to Steve, knowing full and well that he didn’t bring his own, before you pulled out a second one for yourself.

“They just left everything,” Nancy breathed out, pointing her flashlight into the family room.

“Yeah, I guess a triple homicide isn’t good for resale value,” Robin responded. You barely heard her as your eyes remained fixed on the sight in front of you. You had to readjust your grip on your flashlight as you willed your hands not to shake.

“Guys, you see that too, right?” You asked quietly, the beam of your flashlight unsteadily illuminating the familiar grandfather clock in front of you.

“Yeah, we do,” Steve assured you, wrapping a hand around your shoulder and pulling you into his side. He could tell you were scared, and wanted to do everything in his power to comfort you. He couldn’t really imagine what it must be like to not be able to trust anything that you were seeing. His heart broke at the way he could see the fear in your eyes. His picture of you in his mind was always so fearless and stoic. You were always prepared to face any threat, regardless of whether or not it was supernatural.

This time was different though. This time they were racing to postpone the inevitable. It felt like a jack in the box, every attempt to investigate being another crank of the handle. He didn’t want to know what was going to happen when they pushed too far.

“Is this what you saw in your visions?” Max asked you gently. You turned to look at the girl and saw how she stared up at you with a furrowed brow, her worry painted across her face. Your expression faltered for a second before you regained your composure, readopting the stoic facade you tried to maintain; putting on a brave face for the kids.

Robin could sense your anxiety; in fact, it was radiating off of you like crazy. She was your best friend and she could read you like the back of her hand. “I mean…it’s just a clock, right?” She spoke up, trying to sound reassuring. She stepped past you and wiped the dust of the clock’s face, turning back towards you before adding, “just a normal old clock.”

“Why is this wizard obsessed with clocks? Maybe he’s like a clockmaker…or something?” Steve spoke up, and honestly it kind of broke the tension as you bit back a giggle. Steve was smart in so many ways, but in this moment, you were glad your survival was not up to your boyfriend being able to problem solve.

“I think you cracked the case, Steve,” Dustin replied sarcastically. You glared at him before elbowing him in the side. Steve was doing his best and you didn’t need the Henderson boy making him feel bad about it. Hell, you were going to take all of the help you could get…even if it was borderline idiotic.

“All I know is the answers are here…somewhere,” you added quietly, looking around the dust covered room. The longer you stayed there, the more unsettled you felt. You shook your head to clear the negativity from your mind before speaking up again. “Okay, let’s just split off.”

Robin nodded and quickly followed Nancy upstairs, and Lucas and Max darted off to the kitchen, begrudgingly followed by Henderson. The boy had wanted to stay with the two of you, but the look that Steve had shot him was clear in letting him know not to push it.

“So, I guess it’s you and me,” Steve spoke up, reaching to gently grab your hand. You jumped a bit at his touch and he immediately backed off, “sorry, I shouldn’t have—“

“No, it’s…it’s fine. It’s not you, it’s me. I-I just need to get my head on straight is all,” you quickly responded, your hand darting to grab his. You interlocked your fingers and placed a gentle kiss to the back of his hand, shooting him a weak smile. He didn’t look convinced, but he didn’t argue either.

You both entered some sort of family room, your flashlights sending light beams to scatter through the dust particles swimming through the air. You let go of his hand as you both spread out around the room to reach high and low for anything that might point you in the right direction. Though, you weren’t entirely sure what the right direction even was.

Steve was trying not to lose his mind. All he could think about was the way you had looked when you had gone into a trance at the cemetery. It was like you weren’t even there anymore. For a brief moment, he experienced what the world was like without you in it and he was sure that he couldn’t stand to live another moment like that. He looked back over his shoulder to make sure you were still there; that you were still in his sight. You were blowing a thick layer of dust off of the mantle of the fireplace, backing up and waving a hand through the air as you coughed.

Steve sucked in a deep breath and then turned back around, though it was hard for him to take his eyes off of him. You could go into another trance at any moment. He would never forgive himself if something happened to you. He redirected his gaze to his flashlight beam, noticing the way the light reflected off of something underneath a floor vent. He moved the vent out of the way, reaching in and pulling out a jar with the body of a dead spider in it.

Suddenly he felt movement on his jacket, looking over to see a spider crawling up his arm. Fear settled deep within his chest as he stood up, dropping the jar in the process and frantically backing away as he tried to get the damn thing off of him. He was embarrassed to admit it, but even Steve “the Hair” Harrington was afraid of spiders. He bumped into something (or more accurately, someone) barely noticing it was you until your voice rang out.

“What’s wrong? What happened? Are you okay?” You frantically asked, your heart pounding in your chest. You had heard the distinct sound of shattering glass and immediately started assuming the worst. You attempted to steady your boyfriend, your hands reaching for his arms, but he yanked them out of your grip, clearly still reeling from whatever encounter he just had. “Please, Steve; tell me what’s wrong!”

Your face was twisted with worry as your eyes scanned your boyfriend. He was still breathing heavily, but he was beginning to calm down. He brushed his hands down his arms, just to make sure, before pulling you into a bear hug as he rested his chin on the top of your head.

“There was a spider,” he breathed out, “black widow I think.”

He added the last part as he placed a kiss to the top of your head, squeezing you a little bit tighter. Your heart skipped a beat and you bit back a smile at how goofy Steve was sometimes. Even though he tried to be the tough guy, it was nice to know that he got scared of dumbass shit too.

“Poor baby,” you patronized, pulling away slightly to look up at him. Steve was going to stand up for himself but his words died in his throat as he just admired the way your eyes shined up at him. Recently, he hadn’t seen the light in your eyes. Even before these Vecna visions, you hadn’t been the same since what happened at Starcourt.

“Everything okay over here?” Robin’s voice rang out as she began to round the corner. The two of you quickly stepped away from each other, and Steve cleared his throat as you attempted to act natural.

Robin stopped in her tracks and glared at you, watching as you attempted to innocently shake out your hair, trying and failing miserably to pretend that you hadn’t just been pressed up against her best friend.

“Oh would you two just fuck already?” She rolled her eyes as she continued through the room, brushing past Steve on her way out. Your face immediately turned beet red and your mouth fell open, a small squeak escaping your lips as you tried and failed to defend yourself.

Steve’s face was equally red, but he chuckled as he tried to brush Robin’s comment off. He thought back to how the past him would have immediately corrected Robin; bragged about how he had in fact already slept with you. You would have been another notch on his belt, another conquest to tell Tommy H. about in the cafeteria. He was glad that he wasn’t that person anymore.

Besides, he felt somewhat self conscious about it. He knew that it had been your first time, which made it all the more nerve wracking…especially since you both hadn’t really talked about it since then. Sure, Nancy and him had slept together, and he had thought he had loved her, but since meeting you he wasn’t so sure that he really had. This—what he had with you? That was love, plain and simple. He’d never experienced anything quite like it.

He had to stop his mind from thinking about the way you had looked underneath him. The way your bare skin felt against his as he finally got to see all of you. He had to stop himself from thinking about the sounds you made, how reactive you were to his touch.

He cleared his throat, throwing an arm around your waist, feeling the need to be touching you in some capacity. He squeezed your hip a bit and smiled down at you, as the two of you shared a knowing look. He bent down to tell you something and you tried not to go weak at the knees at his warm breath whispered in your ear.

“I’m not sure about ‘already,’ but I could definitely go for ‘again.’” You could see his smirk in your mind’s eye as your breath hitched in your throat. Before you could even think about how to respond, Steve spoke up again. “Well, I guess we should get back to investigating.”

He let go of you and sauntered forward, confidence in his stride at how he’d so easily gotten a reaction out of you. You stood there for a second, staring at him in complete disbelief before biting back a smile and hustling to rejoin him. You only made it a few paces before you stopped dead in your tracks, your sneakers squeaking against the hardwood floor.

Steve whipped around to see you staring wide eyed at a lamp on the table next to you, sparking to life with erratic electricity. His heart jumped to his throat, and when you opened your mouth to speak, he wasn’t sure if the fact that your voice sounded so calm and collected made it more or less terrifying.

“I promise I’ll stop asking, but you see that too, right?”

“Yeah…yeah, I do,” Steve spoke up, fishing through his jacket pocket frantically before pulling out the walkman and headphones. He gingerly placed them over your head, hitting play on the device. You jumped at the contact, eyes previously still drawn to the flickering light at the lamp. You looked up at him confused as your hands went to the headphones on your ears. “Just in case,” Steve added in a whisper, struggling to speak past the lump in his throat.

He went to quickly turn away from you, not wanting you to see him cracking under the weight of the situation, but you quickly grabbed onto his jacket sleeve to catch his attention. “Hey, everything’s going to be okay, yeah?” You tried your best to reassure him, trying to believe the words yourself. You wanted nothing more than for them to be true.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Everything’s gonna be alright,” Steve agreed, but you could tell he believed it about as much as you did…which was barely at all. Normally these sort of sentiments would be followed by a pinky promise, but neither of you reached for each other’s hand as you continued to stare at the lamp humming with electricity.

Slowly but surely, you reached one of your trembling hands towards the lamp shade. As you got closer, the light intensified before flickering out altogether as soon as you made contact, plunging the room back into darkness. You could hear Steve suck in a breath and you felt his hand on the small of your back.

“Look,” Steve whispered, pointing to another lamp down the hall that had come to life with electricity. With much trepidation, you began to move towards the light source. No sooner had you started moving, did it jump to another lamp….and then another and another.

You continued to follow, but you quickly felt a force pulling you backwards as Steve’s fingers looped through the belt loops of your jeans. “Hey!” You called out, your brows stitched together in frustration as your attention was pulled away from the task at hand. “Let go of me, Steve,” you warned, your hand attempting to pry his away, but to no avail.

“Y/n, what if it’s a trap?” You could hear the fear in his voice and you saw the way it was reflected in his eyes. You two had been through hell together and lived to tell the tale. You had seen him scared all the damn time but never like this. This time your life was on the line much more directly than it had in the past. This time a miss step meant you’d be gone.

“Steve, we’re here to look for clues, so I’m looking for clues. End of discussion,” you yanked his hand away and attempted to continue down the hallway, but he caught your arm first, pulling you back again.

“Steve—“ you began again, but the rest of your sentence died in your throat as he wrapped his arms around you, his head buried in the crook of your neck as he hugged you. He held onto you as if he might never get to hold onto you again and you couldn’t help but feel tears well in your eyes as you hugged him back. He placed a tender kiss to your neck.

“I love you,” he whispered into your skin. He stayed like that for a little longer before pulling away and looking you in the eye adding, “I need you to know that y/n.”

“I know, Steve,” a tear rolled down your cheek, “I love you too. More than anything.” Your voice was a whisper, the emotion behind your words nearly rendering you speechless. You held onto each other for a few more moments before letting go and turning to follow the light.

***

Night had fallen and the seven of you stood under a cobweb chandelier, blinking haphazardly above a dining room table. You felt uneasy as you watched each bulb flicker, your hand instinctively going to grab Steve’s for comfort. He immediately reciprocated, giving your hand a tight squeeze and sending a reassuring smile your way.

“It’s like the Christmas lights,” Nancy spoke up, her eyes glued to the light fixture above you. Your mind flashed back to the Byers’ living room and the gashes now permanently etched across your arm. That was the first time you and Steve had faced threats like this together, back when you didn’t even really know each other outside of reputation.

Steve’s mind thought back to that time too, his hand letting go of yours and moving to rub up and down your upper arm. By now he had each scar perfectly memorized. He used to trace them with his fingers when you were asleep beside him as a reminder that you were still here; as a promise that he would protect you better. He felt a pang in his chest as he was painfully reminded of how he couldn’t keep that promise.

“Vecna’s here,” you spoke up, “in this house, just on the other side.

The light slowly fizzled out, nothing left but the long shadows cast by the beams of your flashlights. “I think he just left the room,” Robin spoke up, her eyes still glued to the chandelier.

“Did he hear us?” Max asked, her eyes widening with fear as she considered the possibility that Vecna may be able to discern their next move from the Upside Down.

“Can he see us?” Dustin asked further. You and Steve locked eyes before he quickly spoke up.

“Headphones!”

You abided by his instructions and quickly hit play on the walkman. “Everyone turn off your flashlights and spread out,” you added, darting away from Steve before he could protest. Everyone followed suit (though Steve did so much more begrudgingly).

You hated the way it felt being alone though. You honestly couldn’t remember the last time you were, considering the amount of time you spent sleeping over at Steve’s while his parents were traveling the world on various business trips. Your hands trembled as you waved your flashlight every which way, attempting to maybe, just maybe, pick up Vecna’s movements through the Upside Down.

All the sudden, Robin’s voice rang out through the deafening silence of the Creel house. “Got him!”

Before you could even think, your feet were taking off towards the sound of her voice. You stopped in your tracks, your breath catching in your throat as you saw the way the light hummed from her flashlight. As soon as it had started though, the light fizzled out. She made a sound of annoyance, but it didn’t last long as your flashlight suddenly sparked to life. The light jumped once more to Steve’s flashlight, and this time you were all ready.

“He’s moving! He’s moving!” Steve shouted, moving his flashlight in front of him as he followed, trying to maintain the gentle yet unsettling stream of light radiating into the empty house. You followed closely behind him, a hand loosely grabbing hold of the fabric at the bottom hem of his jacket as you tried your best to keep up with him. You ascended a staircase and once Steve reached the top, the light dissipated, leaving you all in the dark once more.

“You lost it,” you whispered, staring at the flashlight, disappointment settling into your chest as you attempted to shove it down so it wouldn’t turn into panic.

“No he didn’t,” Max spoke up, shoving past the two of you and opening a door that led to another corridor bustling with light and electricity. You all cautiously made your way up the stairs into the attic, anxiety settling in your bones. Steve instinctively wrapped his hand around your wrist for reassurance, needing a reminder that you were there.

A single light bulb thrummed with electricity, pulsing rhythmically and casting eerie shadows across the dilapidated floor. You took a cautious step towards it, and suddenly your flashlight began flickering, the beam growing stronger the closer you got. Steve’s light did the same until all of you were standing under the singular bulb, each of your flashlights synchronizing to the flicker of the attic light.

“What’s happening?” Steve whispered, eyes glued to the light above you. You had no words to answer his question, staring just as mesmerized as he was. This house likely hadn’t had electricity in the last thirty years. Thirty years! You had to remind yourself of the impossibility of it all, and you wished it was just a dream that you would wake up from, curled up in Steve’s arms.

Without warning, the light grew to a blinding intensity, and suddenly the bulbs in each of your flashlights began to burst, shattering as the light abruptly disappeared. You shrieked as you attempted to shield your eyes from the shards.

The room was plunged into a nearly pitch black darkness, the only light being the soft moonlight filtering in through the slats on the boarded up windows.

“Is everyone okay?” Nancy called out, looking over Max to check for any cuts. Robin helped her check over the other two kids while Steve turned to you.

“Hey, you’re bleeding,” his hands darted to your face, wiping blood away from a tiny cut on your cheek. His eyebrows knitted together with worry.

“Nothing a little band aid won’t fix,” you reassured him, pulling him into a hug. His hands wrapped around your waist and you felt comforted by the way they felt at the small of your back.

You thought back to the way the lights shattered as the cut on your cheek began to sting again. You felt a sinking feeling in your stomach, but you shoved it down and held onto Steve tighter.

You tried to convince yourself that this was progress. You knew something more now. What that something was, you weren’t sure. It seemed to be that you kept finding puzzle pieces but they were all impossible to connect. It was all just a big jumble.

You weren’t sure you were going to like it when the picture cleared.

***

You sat in the back of Nancy’s station wagon eating Pringles with Steve as you drove back towards Rick’s house to let Eddie know what you had found out. Robin was in the front seat rambling, clearly stressed about all that you did and didn’t know, but all chatter halted when Nancy turned the corner and noticed the crowd surrounding the lake house.

“Shit,” you whispered as you quickly yanked the trunk door open, flying out of the back seat with Steve hot on your tail as the car barely slowed to a stop. You ducked around the news van to tune into what the police officers were saying.

“….reporting a homicide here on the lake. Officer Callahan here and myself were the first on the scene. We found the victim, an 18-year-old senior from Hawkins High, Patrick McKinney, on the shore of Lover’s Lake. His limbs were…” you heard Chief Powell’s voice, but it faded out as your ears started to ring.

You stumbled backwards, needing room to breathe, shoving past all of your friends and walking down the street away from the yellow crime scene tape and the nightmares and the terror that just wouldn’t seem to stop despite how hard you tried to have a normal life.

“We’ve also identified a person of interest. Eddie Munson,” Chief Powell held up a picture of the boy to show the news camera. “We encourage anyone with information to please come forward.”

Steve immediately followed you, a sinking feeling in his chest as he ran towards you. “Y/n….y/n!” He whisper-shouted, trying to get your attention without drawing attention to you.

You didn’t react, continuing marching forward, so Steve jogged to catch up to you, grabbing onto your wrist and spinning you around to face him. His frustration over you ignoring him quickly disappeared when he noticed your tear stained cheeks and the blood trickling from your nose.

“Steve,” you breathed out, your voice dripping with sorrow, “I think I’m next.”

“Woah, woah, woah, baby, don’t say that….th-that’s not true, we don’t know that,” Steve was quick to try to comfort you, swiftly wiping at your nose with his jacket sleeve, his heart breaking as you broke out into a sob.

“We don’t know that! W-we don’t know anything! For all we know, I could go into another fucking trance right now and just like that—“ you snapped your fingers, “I’m gone.”

“Don’t fucking talk like that, y/n! I…I-I mean we found out the music thing! We’ve bought some time! You’re going to be okay, y/n, I promise, we-we just have to—“

“But how do you know that? How can you promise me that?” You cried.

“Because you have to be, okay? You just have to be,” Steve’s voice was full of fear and unshed tears and it just made yours fall faster down your face as you allowed yourself to break. The rest of the group cautiously made their way towards you as you gathered some of your composure. Suddenly, the walkie talkie sprung to life in your pocket.

“Dustin? Wheeler? Can you hear me?” Eddie’s voice crackled out of the speaker.

“Eddie! Holy shit, are you okay?” You asked, your brow furrowed with worry as you waited on bated breath for his response.

“Nah, man. Pretty….pretty goddamn far from okay.”

You could hear his exhaustion through his voice and your heart broke a little. “Where are you?” You inquired.

“Skull Rock. You know it? It’s by—”

“Yeah, I know where it is. Just hold on, okay?” Your face flushed as you thought back to the times that Steve had taken you there, but now was not the time to think about those kisses that you’d shared.

Right now it was you guys against the town, and you were damned if you were going to let them find Eddie first.

***

“Dude, you’re taking us the wrong way,” Steve complained at Dustin who was religiously following his map and compass.

“It’s north. I’m positive; I checked the map,” Dustin replied, irritation lacing his tone. You rolled your eyes at their bickering, but felt the need to speak up yourself.

“Normally I wouldn’t trust Steve’s judgment on something like this considering he bases 90% of shit like this on a hunch, but this time he’s right.”

Steve didn’t know whether to feel flattered or offended, but it didn’t matter, as he spoke up to defend himself. “Yeah Henderson, you do realize Skill Rock is like a super popular make-out spot?”

“Yeah, so?”

“Yeah, well, it wasn’t popular until I made it popular, alright? I practically invented it; we’re heading in the wrong direction,” Steve turned away from where Dustin was heading and you began to follow him. Dustin looked at you both in shock before shouting back at Steve.

“Yeah? Well just because you’ve stuck your tongue down y/n’s throat there doesn’t mean that your sense of direction is better than a goddamn compass.”

You gaped at the Henderson boy, and your glare must have shut him up because he quickly tried to back pedal his way out of it. “Woah, um that was my bad; I think I perhaps took it a little bit too far.”

“You think?” You rolled your eyes and continued on next to Steve.

“I mean, he’s not wrong…well, he definitely is about the damn compass, but we have had some pretty good times at Skull Rock,” Steve whispered to you with a smirk plastered across his face.

“Sure, whatever,” you rolled your eyes again. At the rate these boys were going, you were sure that they would roll out of your head before Vecna could suck them into the back of your skull. You immediately went nauseous at the thought.

“What do you mean ‘whatever?’ Come on, you’re telling me you don’t think about that time you skipped third period last semester?” Steve shot you a knowing look.

“Shut up,” you responded as your face went red.

“See! I know you too damn well, baby. Besides, I think about it all the fucking time so if you don’t that would be kind of embarrassing for me.”

“You think about it all the time?” You looked at him annoyed, not believing a word that was coming out of your perfect jock boyfriend’s mouth.

“I mean, yeah! Why wouldn’t I?”

“Why would you though?”

Steve paused for a second, contemplating how much he should say before he continued. He flushed a little and decided that there wasn’t much point in keeping secrets, especially since your time together may be more limited than he had thought.

“Well, I mean….okay, sometimes I think about the fact that you spend seven hours in that damn school everyday with guys that undoubtedly want to hook up with you, and-and I’m not there anymore to keep those assholes in line, you know?” Steve started and you stared at him in disbelief before he continued, “But!—but then I think about how fucking stupid that is of me and I don’t want to be one of those disgustingly possessive toxic boyfriends, so to keep myself in check I think about that time you skipped third period so that we could make out instead…and-and it calms me down a little…because if I keep kissing you like that then I would hope you wouldn’t be tempted by any of those dumbasses at Hawkins High.”

You began cackling and Steve turned beet red. “Hey! I’m pouring my heart and soul out to you here, you little shit! You don’t get to laugh!”

“No, you’re right; I’m sorry,” you giggled as you wrapped an arm around his and leaned into him. “It’s just…you’re you.”

“—and?”

“And—if either of us was going to be worried, it should be me,” you argued with a chuckle, “I mean, I spent so much time watching you flirt with other girls right in front of me when we worked at Scoops!”

“That was stupid of me, I don’t know why I did that,” Steve shook his head and looked down at his feet, a bit disappointed in his past behavior. “I was honestly just so in love with you at the time and it scared the shit out of me—it still scares the shit out of me, by the way—that I thought an appropriate solution would be to find someone that didn’t scare me so that I wouldn’t fuck it up and lose you, you know?”

“You’re not gonna lose me,” you nudged him in the side and smiled up at him, a silent gesture that you forgave him for his past mistakes. “I’m in it for the long haul, alright?”

Steve smiled back at you and shook his head. You were just so perfect.

“Besides,” you spoke up again before adding the rest in a whisper, “I think about that time during third period all the time too.” And with that you sauntered ahead of him, your hips swaying back and forth, in a way that had Steve thinking…well, about that third period.

You shoved forward through some overgrowth to a clearing to see the one and only Skull Rock. Steve pushed through shortly after you and you could see the self-satisfied smirk stretch across his face.

“Bada bing, bada boom. There she is, Henderson. Skull Rock. In your face, man. In your stupid, cocky little face,” Steve shouted out, and you smacked his arm with the back of your hand. You had only ever officially been Dustin’s babysitter, but sometimes it really did feel like you were babysitting Steve too.

“Cool it, Harrington,” you warned.

“But it doesn’t make sense,” Dustin stared at the boulders confused, and suddenly you got a sinking sort of feeling in your stomach.

“Yeah, yeah, even with it staring you in the face, you can’t admit it. You just can’t admit that you’re wrong, you little butthead,” Steve retorted. Suddenly, you heard something behind you, and you quickly turned on your heels as you heard the familiar voice ring out.

“I concur. You, Dustin Henderson, are a total butthead.”

“We thought you were a goner,” Dustin quickly hugged Eddie, relieved to see that he was okay given the police cars and news vans that had infiltrated his hiding spot.

“Yeah, me too…me too,” Eddie replied, patting the boy on the back before letting him go. “Teach, glad you could make it, sorry about the…you know,” Eddie gestured to his neck, apologizing for the small cut that he had left on yours.

“No apologies necessary. We’re just glad that you’re okay,” you replied, pulling Eddie in for a hug as well. You hated that he was involved in all of this shit. You hated how you always managed to bring more people into this mess; that it grew and spread like weeds in a garden.

Eddie explained what had happened with Patrick, and your heart sank at the fact that he had to experience all that trauma all over again. “…and when I got to shore, I tried to call you guys but my walkie was busted, so, uh, I did the thing that I do now apparently: I ran,” He chuckled exasperatedly.

“Do you know what time this was exactly?” Nancy inquired.

“Yeah, no, I…I know exactly what time it was. My walkie wasn’t the only thing that got soaked,” Eddie replied, taking off his watch and tossing it to Nancy.

“9:27,” she read the time out.

“Same time our flashlights when kablooey,” Robin added the proper context.

“Which means what, exactly?” Steve asked.

“That that surge of energy was Vecna attacking Patrick,” Nancy explained.

“Well, we’re one step closer. At least we know how Vecna attacks,” you tried to be optimistic, but it didn’t really feel like much of a win.

“And where he attacks from,” Lucas spoke up.

“So, now we just need to sneak into his lair in the Upside Down and drive a stake through his heart,” Max emphasized. All jokes aside, it sounded simple when she said it, though you knew that wouldn’t be the case.

“A stake? Is he like a vamp—is he a vampire?” Steve asked.

“It was a metaphor, sweetheart,” you replied. Oh how that boy was great at not catching on.

“A bullet should work on him, right?” Eddie asked.

“I say we chop his head off,” Lucas suggested.

“Hey, uh, Henderson’s not, uh, cursed…is he?” Eddie pointed and you all turned to see the boy pacing back and forth.

“Cursed? No, no, no, he’s fine. Mental? Absolutely,” Steve answered.

“Boom!” The boy suddenly shouted into the wilderness, “I was right! Skull Rock was north.”

“Seriously? Are you serious? This is Skull Rock!” Steve shouted back. That sinking feeling in your stomach returned as you took a deep breath awaiting Dustin’s explanation.

“This compass worked correctly when we left the Wheelers’. It was correct when we got in the car on Kerley. But it started to slip the further east we went. Now, it’s way off. When I was leading us here, I wasn’t wrong; the compass was. Do you remember what can affect a compass?”

“An electromagnetic field,” Lucas answered as his eyes lit up, beginning to connect the dots.

“I’m sorry, I must’ve skipped that class,” Robin spoke up, requesting an explanation.

“In the presence of a stronger electromagnetic field, the needle will deflect towards that power,” you began and Steve looked at you incredulously. You shrugged as Dustin continued.

“So, there’s either some super big magnet around here, or there’s a gate.”

“But we’re no where near the lab,” Nancy pointed out.

“But what if, somehow, there’s another gate? A gate that we don’t know about. It would have to be smaller, way less powerful,” Dustin proposed.

“A snack sized gate,” Robin contextualized.

“But how? Why?” Steve asked the hard questions.

“I don’t know. All I know is that something is causing this disturbance and the last time we saw anything like it, there was a gate. And if there is a gate that means we can get to Vecna and we have a shot at freeing y/n from this curse,” Dustin explained and then turned, his eyes glued back to the faulty compass.

“Hey, woah, woah, woah,” Steve spoke up, a hand on his hip and giving peak paternal vibes, “Eddie’s still a wanted man. We can’t just go on a hike in the woods.”

“This compass might be the key to saving Eddie and y/n. What say you, Eddie the Banished?” Dustin replied.

“I say you’re asking me to follow you into Mordor, which, if I’m totally straight with you, I think it’s a really bad idea…but uh, the Shire…the Shire is burning,” Eddie replied and Dustin began to jump up and down in excitement. You rolled your eyes and chuckled at Steve’s confused expression.

“So Mordor it is,” you added as Eddie hopped up to follow Dustin, the rest of the gang following suit.

“What is Mordor?” Steve asked quietly.

“Oh, baby,” you replied pitifully as you placed a hand on his back and led him to follow the others.

***

Night had fallen and you were still walking through the woods following the damn compass. Your feet were getting tired and if one more low branch hit you in the face you were pretty sure you were going to scream.

Robin and Steve were arguing over the plot of the movie they had watched at your last shift together and you fell into step with Eddie.

“So, I take it when I saw you all beat up in the movie theater last summer, it was related to all of this shit, right?” Eddie inquired.

“I mean yeah…well, kind of,” you replied, your face scrunching up in thought as you considered how you would have contextualized those specific injuries.

“What do you mean ‘kind of’?”

“Well, it was related to all of this supernatural bullshit, but not quite supernatural. Long story short, I got the shit beat out of me by a bunch of Russians who were secretly in Hawkins trying to reopen the gate to the Upside Down,” you explained. Eddie stared at you for a second, not really sure how to respond.

“So…you did all of that…and then just came back to school, like it was nothing? Started tutoring me in physics?”

“I mean, it was the third time some crazy ass shit had happened, so I guess afterwards all there is to do is to try and return to some form of normalcy. What else were we supposed to do?” You asked rhetorically. “Also, Steve and I started dating which made things a lot easier. You know, just having someone to rely on like that and all.”

It felt natural confiding in Eddie. He never judged you and you never judged him. He felt like the type of person that would be in your corner despite your ups and downs and you appreciated that tutoring him had given you the opportunity to see that side of him.

“Bullshit. You had to have been dating Steve last school year. Like before the mall fire. You two were all over each other after him and Nancy broke up; you were practically together all of the time!”

“It was…complicated before last summer,” you chose your words carefully. “I don’t think we knew how to tell each other how we felt, you know? I mean, we had already watched the world nearly end twice at that point, and the thought of ruining our friendship to pursue a relationship that might not work out was scary then. Looking back it was stupid of us, but we’re together now and that’s all that matters.”

“You think he’s the one?” Eddie asked and your face went bright red. You hadn’t really thought about it, but then again, you hadn’t really needed to because you already knew.

“Yeah…yeah, I think he is,” you smiled, your eyes focused on Steve’s back, watching how he laughed at something Robin had said. “Don’t fucking tell him I said that though or I’ll kill you myself,” you threatened.

“Surely he has to already know,” Eddie argued. You felt your insecurity festering in your chest. Sometimes you still couldn’t believe that he loved you. You weren’t the kind of girl he would have paid any attention to in the past and sometimes that thought ate away at you. You knew that he was it for you, but sometimes you doubted whether or not you were it for him. You hoped with all of your heart that you were.

You shrugged, “I don’t know. I mean, I’m probably going away to college next year and I don’t really know how we’ll make it through that. I don’t want him to have to wait for me, you know?”

“Oh, he’s waiting for you, honey. Don’t worry your pretty little head about that,” Eddie chuckled, speaking as if the idea was absurd. You felt a weight fall off of your shoulders as he said it. You bit back a smile as the two of you quickened your pace to rejoin the rest of the group.

“Dustin? Can you slow down? Dustin?” Steve called out as he attempted to follow the all-too-energetic boy.

“I think we’re getting close!” Dustin called out as he turned over his shoulder as you all entered a clearing, and you quickly pushed past Steve, grabbing the back of the boy’s collar just in time to keep him from stepping right into the lake.

“Woah, cool it alright?” You warned, your babysitting instincts still prepped and ready for action.

“You gotta be shitting me,” Steve breathed out. You were right back where you started. Lover’s Lake.

“There’s a gate in Lover’s Lake?” Max asked, trying to sort out the pieces of the puzzle in her head.

“Whenever the demogorgon attacked, it always left an opening. Maybe Vecna’s the same way,” Nancy suggested.

“Only one way to find out,” Steve spoke up. You all wandered the shore of Lover’s Lake until you found a boat. Steve held it steady as Robin, Nancy, Eddie, and you piled on. You had come prepared, again all thanks to the babysitting, and had the walkman and headphones safe in a ziplock bag to avoid them getting damaged from the water.

Dustin attempted to board the boat, but Eddie swiftly stopped him. “Woah, woah, woah. You trying to sink us? This thing holds four people tops, okay?”

“It’s better this way. If we all disappear, people are going to get suspicious,” Nancy argued.

“It’s my goddamn theory!”

“You heard Nance,” Robin warned.

“Who put her in charge?!” The boy asked in exasperation.

“I did,” Robin replied simply.

“Compass,” you held out your hand and Dustin begrudgingly gave it to you.

Steve pushed the boat off the shore, boarding it as it started to float away. “You said four!” Dustin shouted, angry at the way he’d been conned.

“Sorry,” Steve offered as the boat continued on. He threw an arm around you and hugged you to his side. He was nervous about the fact that you weren’t on the shore with the kids, but he knew that you would find a way out on the lake one way or another so he didn’t really feel like fighting the inevitable…even though you all were quite literally fighting the inevitable.

You thought about how this would be fun in any other context. Just you, three of your close friends, and your boyfriend, out on the lake at night. You thought about the way you would all probably crack jokes and share stories, passing the time away until it was way later than you realized. You wished that could be your reality, and you swallowed the lump in your throat as you accepted that it wasn’t.

The compass jumped to life in your hands, the needle spinning every which direction. “Woah, woah, woah! Slow down guys!” You called out, eyes glued to the small device in your hand.

“Woah,” Steve breathed out as you stopped to watch the compass needle spin. It was a mesmerizing sight, and your hands slightly shook as you watched it. Steve noticed and quickly grabbed your other hand, running his thumb over the back of it to calm you down.

“Guys what’s going on?” Dustin’s voice crackled through the walkie talkie. Robin quickly attended to it.

“Uh, Dustin, your compass has gone from wonky to wonky with a capital ‘ahhh!’” You barely paid any attention to her words, more preoccupied with the way Steve began quickly removing his shoes.

“Steve, what are you doing?” You were quick to question, though you already knew the answer. Your heart stopped in your chest and you felt like you could barely breathe anymore.

“Somebody’s gotta go down there and check this out. And unless one of you four can top being a Hawkins High swim co-captain and a certified lifeguard for three years, then…it’s gotta be me. No complaints, alright?” He made eye contact with you as he said the last part. You gaped at him, struggling to find the words to voice your very obvious complaint.

“Hey, I’m not complaining,” Eddie spoke up, “I do not want to go down there.”

Eddie wrapped his flashlight in a plastic bag and handed it to your boyfriend, and suddenly you were at a loss for words at the only other man on the boat too. Typical.

Steve took off his yellow crewneck and you flushed at the sight of his bare back. He was toned in just the right way that made you want to run your hands all over him, and you could go weak at the knees at the sight of his chest…but that was besides the point; right now, you needed to focus on the task at hand: not letting your boyfriend go kill himself trying to solve an inter-dimensional mystery.

“Steve, just let me go, okay? I’m practically dying anyway,” you argued, trying to pry the flashlight out of his hand. He swiftly pulled his hand above his head and out of your reach.

“Okay, absolutely not. No way…in hell. Alright?”

“Steve,” you looked up at him with so much worry that he about broke right then and there. But what he was doing was to save you, so that you would still be around for him to keep looking into those beautiful eyes.

He pulled you into a tight hug, placing a kiss to the top of his head. You placed a gentle kiss to his bare chest as you tried to swallow the worry that had leapt to your throat. “I’ll be alright, okay? I promise.”

He extended his pinky towards you and you hooked yours around his, taking a deep breath and nodding. “Be careful,” you warned him, and just like that he dove into the lake, disappearing under the surface of the water.

“Holy shit,” you whispered, holding a hand to your chest as you tried to remain calm. Normally when the two of you had faced supernatural bullshit together, you faced it together. The fact that Steve was on a solo mission right now was enough to make your heart explode. Maybe that made you codependent but right now you didn’t care.

“Woah, y/n are you okay?” Robin asked, noticing the way your breath was shaky.

“Yeah, I-I’m fine, I just need….to catch my breath is all,” you responded. She rubbed circles around your back, trying to comfort you while the four of you waited for Steve to resurface. How long could he even hold his breath for? You couldn’t even fucking breathe and you had access to plenty of oxygen.

“Where we at, Wheeler?” Robin asked, starting to get worried herself.

“Closing in on a minute.”

You all stared at the undisturbed lake. The silence was deafening and you were about fifteen seconds away from jumping in yourself when the surface of the water broke and Steve emerged, causing all of you to jump.

“I found it,” Steve reported, swimming towards the side of the boat to get back in.

“You found it?” You asked, hope starting to build in your chest, relieved that your boyfriend was no longer in the depths of Lover’s Lake searching for inter-dimensional portals.

“I found it, yeah, I found it,” he reiterated with a chuckle, his eyes shining as hope began to build in his heart as well. He grabbed onto the side of the boat, and it gently rocked towards him.

“Dustin, you are a goddamn Einstein! Steve found the gate!” Robin reported back to land.

“It’s pretty wild,” Steve explained, “it’s more of a snack sized gate than the mama gate, but still, it’s pretty damn big.”

No sooner had Steve finished his sentence, did he suddenly dip below the surface of the water, his shout cut off by his head nearly going under. He gripped the side of the boat more firmly, it teetering to the side, causing the rest of you to fall off balance. Steve bobbed back up, looking you in the eye, before he was suddenly yanked under the water again, this time losing his grip on the boat and disappearing completely below the surface of the lake.

“Steve!” You shouted, beginning to hyperventilate. You felt your stomach drop as he didn’t resurface. Everyone else on the boat was yelling and shouting and everything was starting to go fuzzy. They sounded far away and all you could hear was your heart beating in your chest.

Eddie, Robin, and Nancy were shouting at each other, arguing about what they should do. Your mind finally cleared in the chaos of the moment. You didn’t think twice, standing up and ignoring their protests as you dove headfirst into the cold water of the lake.

***

a/n: shit’s gettin’ real. Anyway, again so sorry about taking forever, but I hope it was worth the wait :). Reblog if you’re feeling generous and want to make me smile! Also comment! I love hearing what you think and it helps motivate me to write more when I see people interacting with the story! Love you all <3

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[adverbally]

A Shot Right Through Into a Bolt of Blue

Written for the @steddieangstyaugust prompt “Temporary Character Death” | wc: 605 | rated: T | cw: temporary character death, vomiting | tags: AU, canon-divergent, what if Steve took Eddie’s place, pre-relationship, canon-typical violence and gore, hopeful ending | title from “Bizarre Love Triangle” by New Order

Keeping this one short and sweet so I can post it while it’s still the 11th in my time zone 😬

———

It’s not a surprise to anyone when Steve insists on staying with Dustin for their mission back to the Upside Down. The kid is like a little brother to him, and Steve’s mile-wide protective streak isn’t about to let him out of his sight. They’ll balance each other out, he argues. The brains and the brawn. It just makes sense.

So Eddie goes with the girls and tries to throw Molotov cocktails like he’s done this before. He stands there and watches Vecna burn and feels something like pride, like a promise fulfilled. This is for Chrissy.

But then Dustin comes on the radio, hysterical and incomprehensible, and any thoughts of victory are erased.

By the time they get there and find Dustin kneeling in the dirt with Steve propped up in his lap, Eddie’s stomach is in his throat and he’s shaking from running all the way here and he just knows they’re too late. It’s like reliving the horror of Chrissy being broken apart right before his eyes.

Unlike before, Eddie doesn’t run. He does something even worse.

He freezes.

He stands there uselessly as Robin tries to comfort Dustin while he wails on the ground. Her eyes are dry but there’s no light behind them, her spirit snuffed out with her platonic soulmate’s death.

He watches Nancy take stock of Steve’s injuries with her typical no-nonsense attitude, finding the spots where he’s bleeding the most, using her belt as a tourniquet, trying to figure out some way to fix this.

Eddie should offer to do CPR or apply pressure to Steve’s wounds or even just pull Dustin into a hug and make sure the kid can’t see any more of the horrors surrounding him. He just can’t make himself move.

His eyes are glued to Steve— the demobat bites covering him with blood, the way his body is limp under Nancy’s efficient hands, the lack of tension in his perpetually furrowed brow, the beloved nail bat that has rolled just out of his reach.

At least his eyes are closed. He must’ve known at the end that it was coming, shut his eyes to save Dustin the memory of his vacant stare—

Suddenly, Eddie is spinning around and lurching to his knees as he retches into the gravel.

He knew Steve, is the thing.

As horrible as everything was with Chrissy, they had only spoken for the first time that day. But Steve… He had time to get to know Steve, saw how kind and brave and real he could be, talked with him about the kids and how utterly fucked up this whole situation was. He wasn’t just Harrington anymore, complete with a derogatory snarl. He was Steve.

Maybe it was stupid to start falling for the first cute straight boy who was nice to him for a couple of days. It wouldn’t be the stupidest crush Eddie ever had. Sure, the chances of it going anywhere were practically zero, but Eddie Munson is nothing if not stubborn. He thinks he would’ve seen it through, at least became a friend to Steve and soaked up his sunshine from a distance.

But as Eddie empties his guts onto the ground, he is suddenly aware that now Steve will just be Steve forever. Not “sweetheart” or “Dad” or “Coach Harrington” or any of the things Steve might have dreamed of. Not Eddie’s friend. Definitely not something more.

Eddie’s not sure if the tears that sting his eyes are from throwing up or from grieving those possibilities.

Then suddenly Nancy is yelling, “I think I feel a pulse!” and they become tears of relief.

[atimeofyourlife]

The day before Christmas, a day to forget

written for @steddieholidaydrabbles prompt: birthday | rated: t | wc 970 | cw: reference to neglectful parenting | tags: steve harrington has bad parents, surprise party Steve never got to celebrate his birthday, on account of it being Christmas Eve. He doesn't even tell people when it is. Eddie is determined to find out his birthday and make it a good one.

Birthdays had never really meant much to Steve. It was something that everyone else had, but not him. Well, he did have a birthday, but he never got to celebrate it. Christmas Eve. His family telling him that it was too close to Christmas, that he didn't need two days of presents back-to-back. If he was lucky, he might get a card or a small gift from other relatives, his grandparents or an aunt, but nothing much.

It felt worse once he was at school, making friends. Seeing everyone getting a day to celebrate them, getting presents and cake and everyone making a fuss of them. It made him feel left out and resentful of his parents. He asked again why he never got to celebrate his birthday, again getting told that it was too close to Christmas. And getting told not to be greedy.

In high school, Tommy and Carol decided to celebrate his 'half-birthday' in June. But that was more of an excuse to throw a huge house and pool party in the middle of summer. A chance to get drunk, to do anything they could without getting in too much trouble about it. No one ever remembered that it was supposed to be about Steve's birthday.

So, by the time he was sixteen, he stopped bothering. If anyone asked, he didn't celebrate his birthday. He wouldn't even tell people when his birthday was. For his seventeenth birthday, he got to spend the day with Nancy and her family. He didn't tell her what the day was, but at least he wasn't alone for once. For his eighteenth, he was alone again. Telling the kids wasn't even on the cards. He knew that Hopper was aware of it from when he'd seen his license in the past, but he didn't bring it up.

His nineteenth birthday, he spent it working with Robin. He hadn't told her, but it was great getting to spend the day with his best friend in the world. He was even going home with her and spending the night, so they could be together the next day. Her parents knew he didn't have a great relationship with his family, so they invited him to spend Christmas with them.

Twenty was another year of not celebrating his birthday. But they barely celebrated Christmas. Too focused on trying to defeat Vecna to do anything special. They took the just long enough to have a meal together, the same as they did on anyone's birthdays. It just wasn't possible to do anything more.

Twenty-one was the year it changed. Mid-September had Eddie asking him about his birthday.

"I asked the kids, but they said you don't celebrate. Robin and Nancy said the same thing. Come on, Stevie, you can tell me." Eddie tried to bug it out of him.

"Eddie. I don't celebrate. Nothing you say is going to change that. I don't have good experiences with my birthday, so I don't like to think about it. I won't be doing anything for it, so just leave it." Steve replied.

December came around, and no one else mentioned anything about it. No one brought it up at all. Steve was thankful for that, saving him from awkward and difficult conversations. Christmas Eve, his birthday, came around and it was quiet and peaceful. There were plans for the evening, for everyone to have their Christmas get together, before them having the next day with their families.  Steve drove himself over after work, as he was the only one on shift. It was being held at Joyce and Hopper's place, and Steve was quite looking forward to it. When he got there, he noticed that most of the painstakingly hung lights on the outside of the house were off, which felt unusual, but he tried not to think too much about it. He knocked on the door and waited.

"Steve, hi. Come on in, we're all down in the basement." Joyce said as she opened the door.

"Thanks Mrs Byers." Steve replied, hanging up his coat before heading down the stairs to the basement. The lights were dimmed and there were no Christmas decorations around.

"Happy Birthday, Steve." Everyone shouted, and Steve stepped back, unsure of what to make of it. He'd never seen anything like it before, especially not for him.

"What? Why? How?" He was almost speechless, it all so overwhelming.

"We all knew you never talk about your birthday, and figured that there must be a reason why. We found out when it was, so we figured it must have been something to do with being close to Christmas." Eddie explained.

"I. I don't."

"Steve, we all love you, we want to do this for you. Eddie was the one that put us all up to this, to find out your birthday and have a reason to celebrate it. You do so much for everyone else's birthdays, you deserve the same amount of care and love." Robin added, coming over to give him a hug. "If you really hate your birthday that much, we can forget this, and go upstairs and have the Christmas party like we told you."

"It's. My parents told me that it's too close to Christmas, that I don't need two days of presents so close. That I would be greedy if I expected people to celebrate my birthday in the middle of the Christmas season." Steve said quietly.

"That's bullshit. You deserve a birthday as much as everyone else does. It's not your fault when you were born. Now, come on. We've all got presents for you, and there's cake. Mrs Henderson made your favorite black forest cake." Eddie replied.

Steve smiled, feeling the love and warmth from everyone around him. Maybe his birthday was something he could celebrate, after all.

[midsummer-semantics]

under the dancing lights

Small break while I do a million other things but here's *checks calendar* day 16 of @steddieangstyaugust.

Prompt: Halloween

Rating: Teen and Up

Tags: Underage Drinking, Cemeteries, Canon Complaint (question mark???), Ambiguous Ending

divider by @steddiecameraroll-graphics

He isn’t sure why he’s out here. It’s not like there’s anything left, anything calling him to action. The kids are old enough to trick-or-treat without supervision, Robin is with Vicky at a party he didn’t want to third-wheel to, and everyone else…

The point is, traipsing through Roane County cemetery on Halloween night seemed like a good idea when Steve is three Jack and Coke’s deep and unsure of where he fits into the regular world. He bought a dozen flowers on the way here just before the shop closed for the evening, like he couldn’t risk showing up to the cemetery empty-handed for some reason. 

Barb’s grave is overrun with flowers 365 days a year, three years running. Steve leaves several of the carnations in the bundle he carries at the tombstone, begging forgiveness as he does every few months. He hasn’t told Nancy what he does, even when he’s accompanied her a few times. He simply stays silent, lets Nancy grieve, and returns a few weeks later to replace the dead ones when no one is paying attention.

Next is Bob Newby, whom he didn’t know, but the kids did, so he drops a couple of flowers off out of perfunctory expectation.

Billy is the one of the hardest, his grave near Steve’s dad’s grandparents’ joint plot. He tends to spend a little more time here, aware of how the plot feels under his knees, remembering how Max looked as she lifted in the air under Vecna’s influence. Sometimes, Steve comes just to sit, to stare at Billy’s name and curse his existence, even if it brought him Max. Other times, Steve sits and talks, tells his rival how his step-sister is doing, how Steve learned to plant his feet, how regardless of what a piece of shit he was, no one deserved to deal with the bullshit the Upside Down had to offer. He leaves one flower out of obligation, but he doesn’t linger like he normally would.

He leaves a few at Chrissy’s grave, not just because she died, but because he knew her, even vaguely because she was a cheerleader while he was still on the basketball team. And because Eddie would want him to.

He flips off Jason’s grave as he passes it.

Three years — less than, technically— since the first death. Almost three years since Steve took Jonathan’s nail bat and made it his weapon of choice against the monsters that lurk beneath their feet. 

Over half a year since Max went into a coma that doctors — UD connected or otherwise — or Eleven haven't been able to wake her up from. 

Seven months since Eddie Munson was added to the list of people Steve couldn’t save.

The sun has dipped well past the treeline on the edges of the cemetery by the time he reaches Eddie’s grave. There’s no one else around, thankfully, but Steve knows it’s only a matter of time before some idiot high school kids make their way to the cemetery to get trashed and try to see a ghost or fuck near one of the graves. He should know, he was one of those idiot kids not too long ago.

There’s writing on Eddie’s headstone, scrawling letters spelling out MURDERER in red spray paint. One of the R’s is backward, Steve notes, rolling his eyes, a gesture that makes his vision swim a little. It’s not the worst thing that’s been blasted across the headstone since it was placed, but it’s by far the dumbest. He sets the remaining flowers down at his feet as he crouches to examine the writing closer. It’s dry, but it can’t have been there for more than a few days considering he was just here for Eddie’s birthday and had cleaned the last slur himself. He should have brought a bucket and brush instead of the stupid flowers, but he’s a little wobbly from the alcohol and the idea of going back to his car for any reason other than to go home and pass out alone sounds terrible. He’ll come back tomorrow and clean it, plus whatever gets done to it tonight probably. Maybe he should have brought his nail bat. Camped out next to Eddie’s grave and waited to see who exactly is doing it so he can make sure they know never to do it again.

Steve loses his precarious balance, falling back on his ass in the cold, damp grass with a soft “oof!” The flask in his back pocket digs into one cheek, and he shuffles around until he can extract it, then leans back on one hand while the other holds the cool metal.

“Probably stupid to drink more, but I doubt you’d give me shit about it,” Steve says to the grave, holding the flask up like he’s making a toast before closing his eyes and taking a swig. He actually hates whiskey, but it was all that was in the house since it’s his dad’s favorite, and beggars can’t be choosers.

Still, he coughs a bit as the straight liquor burns a path down his throat — he really should have brought some kind of chaser with him, but hindsight and all that — and then lays back on the grass as soon as it clears.

He keeps his eyes closed, breathing through the slight roil in his stomach, and imagines what it would be like if he simply sank into the ground beneath him. Not like if vines were to spring up and drag him under, but if he just slowly melted into the earth the way one feels like they’re melting on a really plush mattress.

It’s only a slight comfort that the grave he’s lying on is empty. Otherwise, his vision of being swallowed by the earth might come with the extra twist of Eddie’s hands dragging him down Evil Dead-style. 

He snorts to himself, his head lolling back and forth a bit. Eddie would have loved that reference, he knows it. He may not have known him for long before. . . before, but he’s sure of it regardless.

After a moment, he brings his hands up to rub the heels into his eyes, waiting until he sees stars before he opens them. The stars continue to blink for a few seconds as his eyes adjust to the inky black sky.

Wait.

No.

There are stars dancing. Little lights swaying to and fro in front of his face, with more popping up around him. He turns his head in awkward directions against the grass, knowing he’s getting foliage in his hair the whole time, watching as more blink to life.

He shuts his eyes again as he sits up, but when he reopens them, they’re still there. It’s too late in the year for fireflies, too cold this late at night at the end of October, and yet the lights dance regardless. 

“Whoa,” he breathes, feeling a distinct sense of deja vu to when he was blitzed out of his mind on Russian truth serum and staring at the ceiling of Starcourt.

One of the stars comes close to him, wisping against his cheek like a tickling feather before flying away. Another does it to his left arm where he’s holding himself up, another to his hip where his shirt has ridden up slightly under his windbreaker. Steve giggles uncontrollably as another brushes his forehead and he turns his head to follow them. There’s another, and another, and another, and as he reaches out to catch one—

“Having a good night, big boy?”

[crappymixtape]

🍦 steve harrington masterlist

hi, lovely. welcome to my steve harrington masterlist! everything is organized below, so please browse the shelves and find what you're looking for. if you can't find it, please don't hesitate to message me or search by tag ( i've tagged it all accordingly by content: smut, fluff, angst, etc – and length: series or not, etc ) ♥️ kate

📚 SERIALIZED & MULTI-PART FICS // MASTER LIST

( LINK ABOVE FOR MY MASTER LIST OF LONGER / SERIALIZED OR MULTI–PART FICS, NOTED IF COMPLETE OR IN–PROGRESS, STEVE x YOU // mature content marked appropriately )

💌 REQUESTS // MASTER LIST

( LINK ABOVE FOR MY MASTER LIST OF REQUESTS ACROSS EVENTS / CELEBRATIONS / INBOX ASKS / MOOD BOARDS, STEVE x YOU // mature content marked appropriately )

( LONGER FICS, USUALLY OVER 10K, BONUS CONTENT INCLUDED OCCASIONALLY, STEVE x YOU //  mature content marked appropriately )

"laugh like lovers, kiss like friends" – you’re getting married – steve’s in town for the ceremony and it dredges up old memories, ones you thought you’d forgotten, but they still burn bright and you have to decide – will you say ‘i do’ or will your heart realize what you really want has been there all along?  | (  9.1k, angst, fluff, friends to lovers, steve x you, steve x reader )

( SMALLER, ONE-SHOTS / BLURBS / REQUESTS / HEAD CANONS, STEVE x YOU // mature content marked appropriately )

"tell you when" – steve’s had a type for more than a while, all soft and cute and nancy wheeler and not you, but you’re around each other all the time lately it feels like, have been with each other before and in the heat of the moment it slips out – you ask him to be a little rough with it and it surprises steve how much he wants to please you… 18+ | ( 431 words – smut, sprinkle of fluff, friends with benefits to something more? steve x you, steve x reader )

"eyes half shut" – hawkins high alumni always run the end of year carnival to help raise funds for the school and steve is always in charge of the alumni basketball game, but this year they’re trying out a kissing booth and who better to headline than steve harrington? | ( 3.9k – a little angst, a little fluff, kinda enemies to kinda lovers, steve x you, steve x reader )

"this is how it ends" – you went with everyone to kill vecna, into the upside down, and you knew the risks, but none of you thought it would go this far – will you get to tell steve how you really feel before it’s too late? • *18+ only  | (  2.8k, angst, trauma, mentions of blood and violence, friends to lovers, steve x you, steve x reader )

"hold your breath" – you take steve to see eddie and corroded coffin at a little hole in the wall venue, just the two of you, and you find yourselves getting lost in the music…and each other • *18+ only | (  2.2k, smut, fingering in public, tiny bits of fluff, established relationship, steve x you, steve x reader )

"all i want for christmas" – steve got you what he hopes is the best christmas gift of all time, but he's nervous and afraid of being soft and vulnerable in front of everyone and what if you hate it, but you don't and it's perfect | (  1.5k, fluff, friends to lovers, steve x you, steve x reader )

"i'll hold you together" – steve goes to a party without you because tommy’s there and he wouldn’t let robin and eddie go alone, but when they get home something’s clearly wrong •  *18+ only  | (  2k, angst, trauma, mentions of blood, friends to lovers, steve x you, steve x reader )

"move like water" – it took so damn long, but finally you saved up enough to get your own place, and while it’s nothing fancy it’s yours, all yours, just like steve  •  *18+ only  | (  1.7k, smut all the smut, a sprinkle of fluff, established relationship, steve x you, steve x reader )

"where you go i go too" – everyone’s home for christmas break, so steve drags you to a party, but tommy’s there being a creep – steve has to confront an 'old friend' | ( 2.3k, fluff, angst, friends to lovers, steve x you, steve x reader )

"endless summer" – steve’s pool is always full during the indiana summers and he loves his friends, but he just wants you • *18+ only  | (  2.8k, smut, fluff, friends to lovers, steve x you, steve x reader  )

"lovesick" – during your shift at family video steve notices something’s off about you, you’re not looking too good, so he closes up a little early to take care of you | ( 1.3k, pure fluff, friends to lovers, steve x you, steve x reader )

"have yourself a merry little christmas" – christmas is hard for steve, he hates it, any memories he has are of his parents out of town and spending it with his grandma or alone after she passed when he was 16, but with you it’s different | (  1.2k, sad, fluff, angst, friends to lovers, steve x you, steve x reader )

[silent-stories]

𝐈𝐓'𝐒 𝐀 𝐃𝐀𝐓𝐄

Pairing: Eddie x F!Reader

Summary: you talk with Eddie before the final battle with Vecna.

I wrote this after more than a month of not writing anything and I don't know how to feel about it. Maybe it sucks, maybe not. Feel free to tell me.

You leaned your back against the van that Eddie had hotwired just hours before, sitting on the ground and distancing yourself from the others for a few moments.

One of your hands played with the blades of grass that covered the clearing where you had stopped to get ready for the final fight with Vecna, the other held a loaded gun.

If someone had told you a few years earlier that you would find yourself fighting monsters coming from another dimension with a group of children, that Nancy Wheeler would teach you how to shoot and that you would risk your life to protect a boy the whole city ​​believed to be a murderer, you would have laughed. You would have said it was impossible.

But now you found yourself there, watching those kids who you wished hadn't had to grow up so quickly sharpen spears and load rifles, wondering if everything would go according to plan that night.

You heard Eddie and Dustin's laughter and couldn't help but smile even though you had no idea what they were saying (you had always found Dustin's laughter extremely contagious and you loved his metalhead friend's smile, even if you wouldn't have never admitted it), your gaze then fell on Erica and Lucas, who gave a thumbs up when Eddie yelled to ask how it was going.

You knew you weren't the only one who was anxious about what would happen and what could happen, there were so many things that could have gone wrong that night and maybe, being alone with your thoughts hadn't been a good idea.

You had a bad feeling in the pit of your stomach and you couldn't make it go away or understand what exactly it was.

What if Vecna ​​manages to get Max this time? What if someone finds out Eddie is with you? What if the demo bats are too much to handle this time? What if you can't save Hawkings?

"Hey, are you okay?"

Out of fright, you almost raised your gun and shot. You were grateful you didn't.

Eddie cocked his head slightly to the side, probably studying your expression and trying to figure out if it was his presence that made you jump. "Did I scare you?"

You wondered if it was usual for him to think that he scared people, if it happened so many times that someone had a reaction like that when they saw him that he had come to think that he was the problem.

His kind brown eyes looked at you almost worriedly and you just couldn't understand how people thought he was a murderer, that he was scary.

"Well, I mean, didn't they ever tell you that you shouldn't approach armed people like this, Munson?" You asked with a smirk, leaving the gun on the ground.

He shrugged casually, secretly relieved that you didn't seem fazed by his presence, still standing in front of you as you looked up at him, “now that you mention it, maybe a cop, once.”

You chuckled, shaking your head slightly.

"Can i sit?" He asked, pointing to the space on the ground next to you.

As if you could ever say no to him.

"Sure. I'm not going to shoot you, if it makes you feel better."

He chuckled, the chain attached to his jeans jingling as he took a seat next to you and his shoulder brushed against yours.

"I had no idea you knew how to use a gun." He said.

“Can't a girl have a hobby now?”

He rolled his eyes, you glimpsed a smile that he tried hard to hide on his lips. "Jesus Christ, this girl is so rude."

You laughed at his comment, then the two of you stayed silent for a few moments, your gazes moving from your friends still talking to each other and sharpening weapons, to the sky clear thanks to the sun's rays that would soon give way to the darkness of the night.

“Do you think everything will be okay?” You asked after a while.

"Of course it'll be okay. And aren't you like... an expert at this stuff? Henderson said you've basically spent the last three years killing demogorgons."

You laughed. "I think he exaggerated just a little."

"And I think you're discrediting yourself."

You sighed. “Do you really think everything is going to be okay?”

"Yes, and then I can't die yet. I have... things to do."

The way he said it like it was something he said every day made you laugh out loud. "Things to do?"

"Yeah, it seems I haven't become a rock star yet and... I haven't asked you out yet."

"Oh. And when are you going to do that?"

"Well, you know, not many people like metal and at the moment we only play at the Hide-"

“I meant asking me out." You chuckled.

"Ohh. When we get out of this shitty situation and it's all over, 'cause my poor heart can only take one thing at a time." He raised a hand to his chest in a tragic manner.

“Your heart?”

"Exactly, what if you say no? I can't fight monsters and be disappointed in love in the same day."

You laughed again.

"Hey! I'm serious!" He lightly bumped your shoulder with his.

"I'm sorry!" You continued laughing.

Eddie snorted. “What's so funny?”

"Sometimes I wonder how your head works. I would have said yes, dumbass."

“Okay, I know I'm not the best and you definitely deserve someone much better than me but I promise- wait what?” He stopped mid-sentence, suddenly turning his head towards you, realizing what you had just said.

"I would like to go out with you." You made it clear.

He eyed you suspiciously. "You are not kidding me."

It wasn't a question, it was more like a hesitant statement, as if he had never expected such an answer from you.

"I'm not, I swear." You promised.

"Okay... okay. That's cool. That's great." He nodded as he spoke, maybe to you, maybe to himself, "the problem is, it's going to take time before... you know, we find a solution to the problem of the... murders. And I don't know when, I mean- I really don't know when all this-"

"Eddie." You stopped his rambling, "I'll wait. I'm not going anywhere."

He looked at you with that hesitant and uncertain expression for the second time.

“Stop looking at me like you don’t believe me,” you laughed, “I promise we have a date. When this is all over.”

You seemed to see him let out a small sigh of relief but you couldn't swear to it.

“So…pizza and movies after we save Hawkings?” He asked then.

“Pizza and movies after we save Hawkings sound great to me.”

He chuckled, it wasn't even the weirdest conversation he'd had in the last week.

You hadn't even realized that during your brief talk with Eddie, that weird feeling in your stomach that made you think something was going to go wrong that night was almost gone. Almost.

Maybe Eddie was right. Maybe everything would have been fine and no one would have gotten hurt.

And now you had a date after you came back from the other dimension under Hawkings.

It didn't sound crazy at all.

Steve appeared before you with the expression of a mother scolding her children on his face, hands on his hips. "Are you two done? We have a town to save."

Eddie rolled his eyes, stood up and held out his hand for you to help you do the same.

"Are you ready for the most metal concert ever?"

Tags: @jacklesbrainworms @morning-sky7 @pipsqueakkitten @navs-bhat @michaelfuckinglangdon @flawiette @needylilgal022 @bubsonnobx @yujyujj @findmeincorneliastreet @kennedy-brooke @witchwolflea

[slavicviking]

Isn't it weird? (microfic)

@steddiemicrofic October prompt: suck | wc: 548 | T (innuendo) | cw: none

“What the hell was that?”

Mike’s question hangs in the air for an inappropriate amount of time before Eddie bursts out laughing.

“What’s so funny about that?”

“Your face,” Eddie snarks back, leaning forward on his elbows and propping his jaw with one hand, the other one idly playing with sheets of paper set in front of him. Bears this love-sick aura that makes him look stupid, fingers grazing the spot where Steve just kissed him.

“Okay, seriously?” Mike looks around. “Nobody else thinks that was weird?”

It’s as though someone above clicked the ‘unpause’ button on a remote because suddenly the Wheeler’s basement fills with too many voices at the same time.

“It kind of makes sense-“

“-can’t believe it took so long-“

“Now that I think about it-“

“Actually, I find it weird,” Dustin cuts in, louder than the rest. Eddie stiffens in a blink-it-and-you-miss-it kind of way but Mike notices that still. Which doesn’t make him obsessed with Eddie, Nancy, alright? He just notices these kind of things. He’s attentive and shit. A good friend. Unlike Dustin who, living in blissful ignorance, continues on. “I find it very weird that you didn’t tell me about it first. What the hell, guys?”

“Shit, man, we wanted to, it just kind of,” Eddie blows a raspberry and gestures with his hands vaguely. Relaxes back into his chair. “slipped, yanno?”

“I can’t believe this,” Dustin mumbles to himself, still too loudly to ever pretend it wasn’t meant to be heard by all the other people in the room. “You save a world together, three times, and this is what you get.”

Gareth in particular looks perplexed by the choice of words and Mike fights the urge to kick Dustin under the table. They signed enough of NDAs to know better. The government is fucking scary. And batshit insane.

“I don’t mean it’s weird they didn’t tell us, I don’t care,” Mike trudges on because he has a point to be made.

“Seems like you do care, actually,” Max jumps in, head tilted and eyes narrowed.

“No one asked,” he bites back, not liking the way she grins.

“Funny. I was supposed to say the exact same thing.”

“Out with it, Mini Wheeler,” Eddie buts in, a nervous tremor in his voice despite the false bravado he so stubbornly puts out for others to see. Mike grimaces. He absolutely hates how ever since Vecna happened he’s been renamed to Mini-Wheeler. A Mini-Nancy. What a downgrade.

“I just – why him?” he gestures to the stairs leading out of the basement. To the kitchen where Steve, no doubt, tries to charm his mom. Ugh. Eddie just stares.

“I mean, you’re awesome. And, like, badass,” Mike continues, sensing somehow that this is not helping his case. “And Steve sucks.”

Wrong thing to say. Code Red. Abort.

Eddie grins, all teeth. “Yeah. He does.”