#and that’s the start of the headache Hopper is going to have for the next ten years | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

bingbongsupremacy · 1 year ago

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Camp Hawkins AU Pt. 2

pairing: Steve Harrington x plus sized reader

Warnings: Use of Y/N.

The story doesn't mention a lot about being plus sized but it is there.

Summary Overall: It's your third year being a camp counselor at Camp Hawkins and your 7th year knowing Steve. Every year your crush seems to grow stronger and stronger.

Pt. 2 Summary: You've been avoiding Steve ever since you caught him and and Nancy making out at the Lake. Unfortunately, you can't avoid him forever. While helping him clean up after a messy s'more night, he approaches you.

*Not Proof Read*

ABC List Part 1 Stranger Things Masterlist

*****

It's been two weeks.

I've done my best to avoid Steve and Nancy as much as possible, which is proving to be a very hard thing to do.

Morning meetings are the worst. Every morning at 5 am, the counselors are expected to meet at the dining hall for a brief run down of the day. Usually everyone is still in their PJ's, hoping the meeting will be short enough for everyone to catch a few more minutes of sleep before the kids get up.

The mornings are usually pretty cold. Almost everyone shows up in some sort of jacket or sweat shirt. Not Steve. Every morning he comes dressed in a nice fitting T, perfectly showing off his arms.

Stop staring at Steve.

Stupid crush. Stupid fucking crush.

I force myself to look away from Steve. Instead of his usual spot by Nancy, he's decided to take a seat next to Robin and Vickie, one of the other camp cooks.

" If I didn't know any better, I'd say you have a crush on Harrington. " Eddie's voice is teasing but quiet.

I snap my head towards him. " Do not. " I state sternly, fear running through my veins. He can't find out.

Eddie chuckles. " You sure do stare a lot for someone without a crush. " Eddie's elbows rest comfortably against the table. His legs are sprawled out, not bothering how much room they take up. His hair is tossed up into a sleepy bun, a rare sight for the man who always has his hair down. " Don't worry, I won't tell. " He raises a finger to his lips, indicating my secret is safe with him. He winks, sending a flurry of embarrassment running through me.

I've never liked Eddie like that, but he sure does know how to fluster someone.

" I don't like him. " I insist. " So you don't have anything to keep secret. "

Eddie nods mockingly. " That's not what Henderson told me...but if you insist..." He holds his hands up in surrender.

I let out a small groan. Of course Dustin blabbed to Eddie. Dustin tells Eddie everything. Nothing even happened, I don't understand why Dustin spinned it to sound like we made out.

" Is everything alright over there? " Hopper asks, looking over at me and Eddie. " Are you feeling alright? "

" Yeah, perfectly fine. Just a little headache. " I lie.

" Well, if you're alright, we'll get back to today's agenda..."

My eyes scan across the table. Across the way, Steve's eyes meet mine. On his face is a small look of...confusion?

This is going to be a tough morning.

-------

The loud chatter of happy campers slowly fades away as the large oak dining hall doors close. Soon, Steve and I are left alone in the echoing room.

I begin picking up various chocolate wrappers on the floor the tables. They'd somehow managed to completely trash the dining hall in a single hour.

" So..." Steve begins, cutting through the silence. " are you and Eddie...a thing? " He asks calmly, glancing over at me from the table he's wiping down.

I let out a small laugh. " Me and Eddie? No. No way. He's...not my type. " The constant smell of weed is headache inducing. Frankly, it's confusing how Hopper hasn't fired him for drugs. He doesn't sell to kids but that definitely doesn't mean he doesn't sell to other of age counselors.

Plus he's not really into relationships. He's more of a hit it and quit it type.

" What is your type? " Steve asks. I feel his gaze on me as I start scrubbing one of the tables with a wet rag.

" Not Eddie, that's for sure. " I scrub a little harder at a hardened drop of melted marshmallow. " I like guys who...I don't know, like the same things as me. Why do you ask? " I don't understand why he gives a shit about my love life.

Steve shrugs, his gaze finally moving away. " I saw you and him this morning and I thought maybe you were dating or something. It's stupid, it doesn't matter. "

" Still single. " I mumble.

A thick silence settles in the room. Once again, Steve is the one to break it.

" Are you mad at me? " His voice is soft, like he's worried or something.

I look over at the brunette. " No. " I reply honestly. " Why would you think that? "

We both pause where we are, instead occupying ourselves by looking at each other. We're both trying to read each other.

Steve shrugs, folding his arms over his chest. " You just seem...distant. I don't know, ever since you caught Nance and I at the lake we don't talk anymore. Did I do something? "

I shake my head. " You...you didn't do anything. "

" Then why are you avoiding me? "

If I tell him he'll probably get weirded out. I mean, how awkward is it to be around someone who has a massive crush on you when you don't reciprocate the feeling?

But it might help me get over him if he stops actively trying to talk to me.

I'm going to do it. I need to. Fuck, but what about Nancy?

Fuck Nancy. I need to get over this man. This handsome, kind man.

" I have a crush on you, okay? " I blurt out. " It's stupid, I know. You're with Nancy, I understand that. "

His eyes widen in surprise. " What? "

" I don't want to make things awkward. I'm trying to get over you, that's why I'm avoiding you. Fuck, can you please just stop asking questions now? You got your answer. "

I feel a blush creep onto my cheeks. I did it. I told him.

" I like you to. " Steve pushes himself away from the table he's leaned against. He walks towards me.

My eyes go wide. " What? "

He's joking. Right? He has to be joking.

No this has to be a dream, some weird fucking dream. In no universe would Steve Fucking Harrington like me back.

" I like you too. " Steve finally makes it to me. He stands a close, leaving only a few inches of space between us. His eyes stare into mine, a small smile resting on his lips. " I have liked you for the past couple of years. "

I shake my head, stepping back to put some distance between us. " You're with Nancy. You can't like me. That's fucked up. I don't want to be a homewrecker-I can't be. You-you and Nancy are good together. "

Steve shakes his head. " We're not together, Y/N. I broke up with her. For good this time. " He sighs, running a hand through his hair. " Just because we're good together doesn't mean we're meant to be together. "

I'm the reason they broke up. Robin was right. I'm the fucking worst. Who ruins a relationship? I mean, I didn't know I was ruining it, but Steve's crush on me ruined everything for them. Nancy probably hates me.

" Nancy has known about my crush for a while. " Steve admits nervously. " That's why we've broken up so much. I-no matter what I do I can't get you out of my fucking head. " He lets out a frustrated sigh. " Your smile, your eyes, fuck it's all I see at night. I sound insane, I know, but I don't know what to do. I can't just be in a relationship with someone else when all I think about is you. "

I continue to create space between us. " So I'm the reason you guys broke up? " Guilt begins to build up in my stomach.

" No! " Steve shakes his head. " You-you didn't do anything. There were plenty of other problems involved with our break up. This wasn't your fault. Honestly, this has been building up for years. Even if I didn't have a crush on you, Nancy and I probably would've split for good anyways. "

I still feel horrible. Like I contributed to their break up.

" Please, Y/N. You have to believe me. This wasn't your fault. "

I search Steve's eyes for any sign of lying. His expression is desperate, like he's scared I'm going to leave.

I stop.

Relief floods Steve's face.

" You really like me? " I ask quietly, scared he's going to laugh and make fun of me for believing him. He did have a mean streak in high school. I thought he grew out of it though.

" I swear on my life, I like you. " Steve's expression is sincere. " I like you so much sometimes I feel like my heart is going to explode. "

I smile at the man. I never would have imagined this would happen. " I like you too. "

Steve begins to walk towards me again. This time, I don't run away. Once he's a few inches from me, he gently takes my hand. " Will you go on date with me, Y/N. "

" I would love to, Steve. "

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withacapitalp · 2 years ago

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How to Rehabilitate a Jock Pt 5

Part One Part Four Ao3 link Part 6

Reminder I'm not accepting anyone new on my tag list! Sorry if you want updates follow me here or subscribe on ao3! Also some warnings for Steve having PTSD and dyslexia in this fic. These two are going to start coming up more often but they begin here. Storytime!!

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Typically, a character starts at 1st level and advances in level in the adventuring world, although he or she might have been a soldier or a pirate and done dangerous things before.

Steve blew all of his breath out in an irritated sigh, balancing his forehead against his left palm and leaning impossibly closer to the book in front of him, willing the words to make sense. He put his right index finger underneath the line he was trying to read, using the trick his Seventh Grade English teacher had shown him.

Tyqically, a character stars at 1st level and advantages in level by abvemturing and morbid, although he or she might have been a sober or a gyrate and done dangerous thinps before.

He squeezed his eyes shut, resisting the urge to just grab the book and throw it against the wall. The sentences were starting to float around the page like driftwood, the letters choosing to make whatever damn words they pleased, and Steve was left drowning in the ocean without a tether as per usual.

Why did it matter if the characters were sober or gyrating? Did every character swear to be virtuous or some shit? That seemed like the kind of thing a stupid nerd game would come up with.

No, he probably just had it wrong. Steve just needed to read it again, but the thought of looking at the same paragraph he had been struggling with for the last fifteen minutes made him want to throw up.

When Eddie had given him the book last week, Steve had just thanked him and put it in his bag with no intention of reading it. But, Hellfire was at the end of the week, and he had said he would have a character to show them. He was determined to do just that, show them that he was taking this all seriously, but he couldn’t make a character until he understood what the game was.

And, apparently, he had to read to do that. Eddie had said he wouldn’t just hand everything to Steve on a silver platter.

You have to earn it. That was what Eddie had said as he gave Steve the book. He was going to have to earn this. So he had tried. He had been trying for five days now, and he was only on page eight.

Eight. Eight of like three hundred.

Steve was starting to think that maybe Hellfire wasn’t worth all the headaches he was getting trying to read this stupid book.

“Hey, Steve!”

Steve slammed the book shut as soon as he heard Nancy’s voice from behind him, scrambling to hide it under his other textbooks and act nonchalant as she and Jonathan came around the corner of the table and stood opposite him.

“How’s uh- how’s it going?” Jonathan asked, looking everywhere but directly at him.

Jonathan’s hands were fidgeting at his sides, his fingers twitching like he kept wanting to take Nancy’s hand, but kept stopping himself just before he could. Nancy was staring directly at him with the firm sort of determination she always had, her shoulders back, her head high. Steve resisted the urge to sigh.

“I’m fine,” He said, keeping his voice low and casual, “How’re you guys?”

“Good,” Nancy said, answering for both of them. She took the seat opposite of Steve without asking, pulling out the chair next to her so Jonathan could sit as well. She was still looking right at Steve with fire burning in her eyes, daring him to say something.

Let it be known, Nancy Wheeler was never going to back down from a challenge. She was strong as a lioness, as stubborn as a mule, and probably the most amazing woman Steve had ever met. Joyce Byers, Max Mayfield, and El Hopper were all extremely close seconds.

But he couldn’t really picture any of them doing what Nancy was so set on doing.

Somewhere during that last god awful night, Nancy had decided that the three of them were going to be friends. There had been a Steve and Nancy, a Nancy and Jonathan, but never a Steve and Nancy and Jonathan, and she was hell bent on seeing it happen.

And to make it happen, she continued to insert both of them into Steve’s life whenever she could.

Walking to shared classes, forcing him to come upstairs to say hi and chat for awhile when he came to get the kids from her house, and, of course, random library meetups like this one. After so many of these little check-ins, so many stilted conversations with the former love of his life and the guy she had left him for, it really shouldn’t be too awkward anymore.

It was still awkward.

“You’re spending a lot of time with the kids,” Nancy finally said after she couldn’t stand another second of uncomfortable silence.

The kids were an easy topic. They were something all three of them had in common. Steve could talk about them.

“They’re spending a lot of time with me,” He amended, trying to give her a smile. He could try for Nancy. It was the least he could do, “They just show up at my house whenever they want to and hang around my car until I agree to drive them places.”

“Sounds like them,” Jonathan murmured, and Steve huffed out a soft chuckle. He didn’t talk much, but when he did, Jonathan could be pretty funny.

“If they’re getting annoying I can tell Mike to back off,” Nancy offered, missing the point.

“No! No it’s fine,” Steve said quickly, trying to ignore the way his heart was suddenly racing.

His mind flooded with a thousand and one things that could happen if he wasn’t around, all the possibilities, all the ways that his kids could get themselves into trouble. He knew that they were smart, and capable, and resourceful, but they were also twelve. Twelve year olds who had fought against hell. Twelve year olds that needed deserved to have someone to protect them for once.

And Steve needed the kids too if he could be painfully honest with himself.

“It’s nice, actually. Fills up the time, and better than them just being left alone to get into trouble,” Steve said with a nervous little laugh, forcing his face to stay easy and even. If he acted too weird about this, then Nancy would poke and prod until she found everything out, and Steve couldn’t deal with that right now.

It was hard enough to breathe as it was.

Nancy was giving him a searching look, pinning him down onto a corkboard and examining what she found there. He had already lost her, if he had ever had anything to actually lose, and now the thought of losing the kids because of her was making his stomach twist up in knots.

It wasn’t a fair thought, probably wasn’t even an accurate one, but Steve couldn’t make it go away.

“They are little trouble magnets,” Jonathan tacked on, clearly not understanding what was happening between the two of them, “But you seem to have them well handled.”

Something about what Jonathan said made Stvee’s breath come a little easier, and he forced his shoulders to relax. No one was taking the kids away from him. No one was doing anything.

Steve was just overreacting like he always seemed to do these days.

“Yeah,” Steve responded, just so the ball was out of his court again. He couldn’t stand needing to be the one to say the next thing to cut through the silence.

Unexpectedly, it wasn’t Nancy or Jonathan that took that next step.

It was Eddie.

“Yo, Harrington!”

Every head in the library shot up, except Steve’s. He cringed, ducking his head low and trying to avoid the stares that were starting to come towards him. Eddie, who never really seemed to care who was looking and who wasn’t, continued to wave at him with big over the top gestures, trying to coax Steve over to his table.

“Is that Eddie Munson?” Nancy asked, perplexed.

Steve very quickly saw the out that had been offered and grabbed it with both hands. He stood up and began to stuff his papers and books into his backpack.

“Yeah, that’s Eddie. I better go see what he wants, but I’ll see you guys around, yeah?” He said, sliding around the table and giving them a wave, rushing away before Nancy could ask any of the other questions starting to form.

Eddie settled down when he saw Steve coming his way. He was alone at his table, completely surrounded by scraps of paper and open books. He loomed over them all, trying valiantly to make a tiny space for Steve to put his bag as he took the only free seat.

“What’s up?” Steve asked, not exactly sure why Eddie wanted his company.

“Nothing,” Eddie immediately replied, waiting a second and clearly enjoying the look of confusion Steve gave him before continuing, “Just thought I’d save you from that,”

He looked past Steve, and when Steve turned around, Nancy and Jonathan were openly staring at the two of them. Well, half of the library was openly staring, but whatever. Steve couldn’t care anymore.

“My hero,” He said sarcastically, turning back in his seat and resting his chin on top of his backpack.

“Why were they bothering you?” Eddie asked, futzing with his papers.

“They weren’t, just sitting,” Steve said, not quite on the defensive yet, but still feeling that urge to protect starting to hum in the back of his mind.

He had heard some of the things people were saying about the whole situation, and he hated the thought of Nancy or Jonathan catching heat. They hadn’t done anything wrong, at least, nothing that bad. They shouldn't have to deal with defending themselves right at the start of their relationship. It wasn’t really their fault that it just happened to come at the death of Steve’s.

“That’s weird,” Eddie stated, unintentionally treading right into dangerous territory, “I mean, it’s not like you guys are friends,”

“We are,” Steve protested automatically. Eddie raised a brow, and he faltered, trying to find the right words, “Well- I mean…”

Were they?

They didn’t really have all that much in common, and every single time they spoke it was clear all three of them weren’t really ready to be close, but Steve still considered them friends.

At the very least, Nancy and Jonathan were incredibly important people in his life, even if they weren't necessarily his friends. There were a few things that permanently bonded people, and killing an actual real life demon was one of those things.

But he couldn’t tell Eddie any of that.

“It’s complicated,” Steve settled on, hating how cliche that sounded. Eddie’s brow furrowed and he rubbed his thumb across his lower lip as he thought about what he wanted to say next.

It was honestly kind of cute.

“Nancy cheated on you,” Eddie stated bluntly.

Less cute now.

Steve flinched back, unable to help his first reaction. Cheating was such a harsh word, burning and bloody. It evoked images of The Hawk, and spray paint staining his fingers for months on end. He had promised himself he would never accuse anyone of it ever again unless he absolutely 100% knew for sure that it had happened.

Except, in this case, he did. Jonathan had told him, clearly scared out of his mind, but he had still manned up and told him. They had slept together when they were at that dude’s house, the one who helped Nancy get justice for Barb. Steve had listened, put the information in a little box in his mind, and put the box on a shelf.

Because that’s what Steve did. He just pretended he was okay no matter what, because he didn’t know any other way to be. He pretended like the sight of his pool didn’t make him nauseous, and he pretended like they hadn’t all almost died, and he pretended like he didn’t wake up gasping for air at least twice a week.

Steve pretended, because he didn’t know how to live with everything that had happened. But Nancy did, and Jonathan did, and the issue here was obviously Steve, not them. He had pretended Nancy right into Jonathan’s arms, and he had no one to blame for that except himself.

So, was it really cheating when it was Steve’s fault that it happened?

Nancy was right. He was really just…bullshit.

And yet, all of that also fell into the category of ‘Things Steve Wasn’t Legally Allowed to Tell Eddie’. He just had to go for the bullshit pretending answer.

“Yeah. She cheated on me.”

“That doesn’t sound too complicated,” Eddie said with a shrug and Steve leaned back in his chair, staring down at his hands which were fisted up in his khakis.

“Well it is,” Steve replied moodily, “It’s really fucking complicated, and I really don’t want to talk about it,”

“But she hurt you,” Eddie said, still using that stupid statement voice.

“Yeah, she hurt me, but I love her so-” Steve cut himself off, biting his tongue harshly. Yeah, he still loved her, but admitting that was fucking pathetic.

And yet, Steve was pretty sure a part of him was going to love Nancy Wheeler for the rest of his life.

“So that makes it okay?” Eddie asked, and Steve sighed, exhausted with the conversation.

“It means I can forgive her,” He said softly, trying to will his heart to stop aching, “It means I still want her in my life. Jonathan too. We’ve gone through stuff together. It’d be weird if we didn’t become friends after everything that’s happened,”

That was still probably too much to say, but Steve almost felt like he owed Eddie that much. The guy had done nothing but try to help, try to be supportive; he wanted to give him some kind of explanation for why he was continuing to torture himself with the sight of his ex and Jonathan.

Eddie still seemed pretty confused, and Steve doubted he even half understood, but his eyes had softened up, looking at Steve in a way that made his stomach feel funny. Not in the same way it had before with Nancy, just…funny.

“You’re a strange creature, Steve Harrington,” Eddie finally said, giving Steve a slow sweet smile. Steve shook his head, shooting Eddie a wry grin.

“And you, Eddie Munson, are a nosy jackass,” He snarked. Eddie laughed, too loud for the quiet library. Everything about Eddie was too much, always. He stood out from the crowd- no he didn’t just stand out, he forced himself out. Everyone had to notice him, everyone had to see. Steve, who had always done everything he could to blend in, to become one of the popular crowd, it was thrilling.

“Too true my liege,” Eddie said, inclining his head ever so slightly, “How’s your character coming?”

Steve rolled his eyes, digging around in his bag to grab the offending enemy, waving it around his head.

“Well, if I could stop wanting to hurl this book into the Quarry, I think I would be making progress,”

“What did the player handbook ever do to you?” Eddie gasped in mock horror, reaching up to pluck the book from Steve’s grasp and hold it protectively against his chest. Steve, already used to Eddie’s theatrics from their few interactions, just scowled and crossed his arms.

“It’s long, overly complicated, and the letters keep jumping around,” He griped.

Eddie slid out of the persona he had created as quickly as he had come into it, cocking his head to the side and making those bambi eyes somehow even bigger.

“Jumping around?” Eddie questioned.

“Yeah, but that one is really kind of an every book situation. I’m not big on reading. School’s just not my thing. Give me a ball or a kid to wrangle, that’s where I shine,” Steve said in a joking tone, trying to steer the conversation to other places. If he could get Eddie on a rant about basketball, or teasing him for babysitting, then they wouldn’t have to talk about his difficulties with reading.

And Steve really did not want to talk about his difficulties with reading.

It wasn’t exactly like he was ashamed of not really being able to read, except he really fucking was. What kind of person got to their senior year of high school and still couldn’t manage to read more than a page without wanting to give up? What kind of person still couldn’t manage to spell a single full sentence correctly at almost eighteen?

An idiot. That’s who.

But, if Eddie hadn’t already realized how much of a numbskull Steve was, then he wasn’t all that anxious to show his new friend. Everyone in Eddie’s circle was just like his kids, wicked smart and unafraid to flaunt it. If Eddie figured out just how much Steve really didn’t belong with them, he might change his mind about having Steve around.

No, on the whole, it was just better to derail the conversation. But Eddie didn’t seem to want to be derailed.

“What page are you on?” He asked Steve, his face frustratingly neutral.

Steve bit the tip of his tongue, contemplating just how far he might get in a lie. Would fifty pages be too obvious? Maybe he could say twenty five, and try to get Eddie on a rambling tangent before he began quizzing Steve on statistics. But as Steve went to open his mouth to try and spin a story that might work, Eddie held up a hand, cutting him off.

“Hey, I don’t judge. I just failed an essay because apparently Star Wars isn’t ‘an appropriate choice for analyzing the Hero’s Journey’,” Eddie said in a mocking false voice, handing the essay over as evidence.

A big fat ‘F’ sat at the top of the paper, circled in red. Steve’s brow furrowed, and he put it down, grabbing his own essay out of his bag. He and Eddie weren’t in the same class, but they did have the same teacher.

She had given Steve a ‘C’, and Steve’s essay was only two pages to Eddie’s five.

“Wait, do you mean the big wheel thing?” Steve asked. Eddie nodded, his mouth screwed up into a frustrated pout. Steve picked up his notebook and flipped to a clean page, drawing out a circle.

“But it works perfectly, why would she tell you it didn’t?” Steve made a mark at the top of the circle, “Leia’s hologram is Luke’s call to action, the force is his supernatural thing, his inciting incident is his aunt and uncle being killed, Obi Wan is the mentor, the robots are the helpers, and then Han is too. And Chewie! Obi Wan dying is the abyss, and then Luke transforms at the death star, becomes a jedi, and saves the galaxy.”

Steve continued to make little doodles along the edges of the wheel, muttering to himself. It was a really good example actually, and he was kind of jealous. He had just used The Odyssey like their teacher had suggested, but Star Wars was a way cooler option.

Why had she failed Eddie? At the very least he should have gotten a ‘C’ like Steve did. Even if she didn’t like what he had written, he had put in way more effort than Steve had.

Then, he noticed how quiet the table had gotten. He looked up briefly, and Eddie was looking at him, his jaw dropped, eyes wide in a whole different way.

“What?” He asked, unsure of why exactly Eddie was just staring at him.

“Steve, how is it possible that you just perfectly outlined the hero’s journey, but school ‘isn’t’ your thing?”

He squirmed in his seat, instantly uncomfortable. His parents liked to say things like that- he was smart, but he was just lazy. If he tried, then he would get better grades.

Steve would be at a dinner or some other stupid social function that he was dragged to and say something that was apparently impressively insightful, which should have been the right thing to do.

It never was.

Instead of praising him, his parents would always shake their heads, look at their friends, and sigh that if Steve just applied himself, he would do better. That they had done their best, and clearly he had the ability, he just lacked work ethic.

It didn’t matter how many times Steve attempted to explain that he was trying, that he stayed up all night sometimes, just trying and trying and trying. They didn’t care.

Eddie didn’t seem to mean it the same way as they usually did, but it was close enough to make Steve want to curl up in a ball and disappear.

“This is a picture. Pictures don’t move,” Steve said, mentally praying for the bell to ring, but knowing it wasn’t going to. They still had at least a half hour left in the period. Plenty of time for Eddie to ‘try and help’ which would probably just end with Steve being even more humiliated than he already was.

“What if I read it out loud to you?” Eddie offered.

It was a genuine offer, Steve could tell that it was. It was sweet, and it was kind, and Steve could never accept it.

“You don’t have to,” Steve protested, ignoring the part of his mind that thought it might be nice to get to listen to Eddie talk. He was a gifted storyteller, and Steve was always greedy for stories, even though they were so inaccessible to him.

Still, he wasn’t some toddler sitting on his mother’s lap, and Eddie wasn’t holding a picture book.

“I just want to get what I need to make a character, that’s all,” Steve said. He just wanted to be able to do enough that he would get by fairly okay during the next Hellfire meeting. He just wanted to be able to prove that he did want to join them.

“Then, I’ll read the parts you need for that, and I’ll help you fill in whatever gaps,” Eddie amended, reaching out yet again. He even physically reached this time, leaning over the table and squeezing Steve’s wrist once before settling back.

Steve opened his mouth to agree, to just say yes, but his voice was failing him. The words were stuck in his throat, and no matter how hard he tried to force them out, they just wouldn’t budge.

“Sweetheart, I’m a super senior,” He pointed out with a little self-deprecating laugh, “I’m in no position to judge. And, even if I was, I wouldn’t.”

There it was again.

Sweetheart.

Eddie had called him that after Hellfire, and Steve had brushed it off, considering it a fluke or a slip of the tongue. Given the deer in headlights look he had given Steve the second he said it, that wasn’t a bad call.

This clearly was not the same. Eddie had meant to call him ‘Sweetheart’ this time, knowing that Steve wasn’t necessarily going to mind it. He chewed on his lip, worrying it between his teeth as he tried to figure out why exactly he didn’t mind Eddie calling him a pet name.

It was the kind of thing Steve usually used for girls he was trying to woo, the kind of thing a guy would say to a girl. He had never heard a guy call another guy ‘Sweetheart’ before, but no matter how hard he searched, Steve couldn’t find a single part of himself that minded. Sure, he was confused by it, but it wasn’t upsetting or anything.

Just weird.

Not even weird in a bad way, and wasn’t that a head trip?

Fuck it. He already had enough on his plate as it was. Steve didn’t have the time or the energy to try and figure that one out.

He got up from his chair and came around to the other side, sitting on Eddie’s left the way he had during the Hellfire meeting the week before. Eddie beamed, settling down and putting the book on the table between them both. Steve didn’t need to say yes, Eddie just knew, and for that he was grateful. He was already struggling enough as it was.

“What page?” Eddie asked again, dipping his voice low and letting it melt the icy walls that Steve always kept around him.

“Eight,” He said, pausing to gauge Eddie’s reaction.

There was none. No snort of derision, no sigh, no head shake. Eddie just nodded, flipping to the right page. Steve let out a soft breath, forcing his body to relax.

It was Eddie. He wouldn’t judge.

“I was on the part talking about levels,” Steve added, taking the risk to lean in and let their arms brush up against each other. Eddie stilled for all of two seconds before going back to totally nonchalant.

“Perfect. I could use a refresher anyway.” Eddie said, rolling his neck and shoulders to stretch quickly before clearing his throat in an over dramatic fashion, just to make Steve laugh.

There it was again. The weird feeling in his stomach.

Steve ignored it. He ignored their arms, ignored ‘Sweetheart’, ignored his ex and everything that came with her, and even ignored the very world around them. None of it mattered, not right now. He pushed all thoughts away, letting himself get lost in Eddie’s voice and the universe he created with it.

“Typically, a character starts at 1st level and advances in level by adventuring and gaining experience points (XP). A 1st-level character is inexperienced in the adventuring world, although he or she might have been a soldier or a pirate and done dangerous things before….”

Tag List: @paopaupaus @zerokrox-blog @surferboyzaza @whatever-is-a-good-name @minjintea @addelyin @5ammi90 @hagbaby420 @shinekocreator @bornonthesavage @starxlark @electrick-marionnett @resident-gay-bitch @ash-a-confused-enby @classicdinosaurdeathpose @valon-whomsttf @rotten-lil-goblin @thereindeerlady @love-ya-kash @kerlypride @sparkle-fiend @thefreakandthehair @flowercrowngods @milf-harrington @sadcanadianwinter @gothbat99 @hotcocoaharrington @henderdads @lightwoodbanethings @colorful565 @h0n3y-dw @craterbbox @sourw0lfs @lesliiieeeee @bidisastersworld @tinynebula @ravnlinn @bonescaro @mexmatch @cottagecoredreams @joruni @hellykelly @maegan1116 @farewell-wanderlvst @desertfern @due-to-the-fact-that-im-a-slut @anythingforourmoonyedits @eerielake @fandemonium-takes-its-toll @sidekick-hero

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roanofarcc · 8 months ago

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PROJECT SUNSHINE CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT → THE FUTURE IN COLOR

summary: steve harrington x oc | on ao3

when another product of Hawkins National Laboratory escaped a long-survived nightmare alongside her sister, she crashed into one unsuspecting teenage boy and dragged him deeper into the dark mysteries that made up their hometown.

word count. 5.6k || masterlist

warnings: cannon typical violence, child abuse, horror, gore, and depictions of mental illness. parts of this story were written pre-season 4 release. cannon divergence.

a/n: we’re officially in season 3!! this season is the most fun to write and I cannot wait to continue sunshine’s story. this season things get fun, flirty, and a little more traumatizing! buckle up :)

previous chapter ← → next chapter

It was Hopper’s fault. He was the one who decided to buy the three kids, cooped up inside the cabin, an unholy number of craft supplies to keep them from flinging books off the shelves or causing town-wide power outages; that happened only once when Mike Wheeler decided to scare the daylights out of Leia after they had just finished some slasher film. With the craft supplies came tubes of glitter, and how was Sunshine supposed to know glitter was so messy?

“Oh, my God!” she cried, scrubbing her hands feverishly in the kitchen sink as Leia laughed manically on the floor, clutching her stomach with hands stained with pink and white glitter. The light above the dining room table flickered in the rhythm with Leia’s giggles, only enhancing the headache that bloomed inside Sunshine’s skull; it wasn’t a power-induced headache, but rather a babysitting-induced one.

Glitter clung to her hands, it itched her cheek, and out of the corner of her eyes, she spotted it tangled in her hair. “This stuff won’t come off! I’m supposed to go to the mall after I leave here.” She didn’t want to waltz into Starcourt, the newest attraction in Hawkins, looking like a rouge art project. Since the summer started, the mall had been swarmed with masses of teenagers and she felt like, no matter how she presented herself, their eyes lingered on her judgmentally. She was an outsider; it was like they could smell it on her. All Sunshine wanted to do was blend in with the teenagers with pretty teased hair and clunky jewelry. The glitter would not help keep eyes off of her. It was hard enough with her hand-me-down clothes she didn’t know exactly how to style and her struggle to understand people her age.

Leia eventually ended her fit of laughter and sat upright. “Who cares? It’s not like Steve’s going to refuse to serve you ice cream just because you look like a disco ball.” That only made Sunshine groan louder in frustration. Leia picked herself off the ground and began to clean off the counter of their glittery mess, but she paused and let out a huff of air. “The door’s closed again.”

If Sunshine’s abilities had been anything like Leia or El’s, triggered by their emotions- she probably would have illuminated the cabin with a solar flare. Luckily, they weren’t, and instead of causing any damage, she turned off the sink and hastily grabbed a dish towel to dry them as she marched toward El and Leia’s shared bedroom. She gave El and Mike three knocks before she swung the door open.

A twin set of wide brown eyes and flushed cheeks stared back at her. Tossing the dishrag over her shoulder and placing her hands on her hips, Sunshine looked between the couple with pure exasperation clearly written on her lightly tanned face. “The door stays open! How many times do I have to tell you guys that?”

Mike rolled his eyes and leaned lazily against El’s side. “Come on, Sunshine. That’s Hopper’s rule and he’s not here.” El nodded her head along with Mike’s words and smiled sweetly at her sister like she thought she could persuade her like easily.

“I don’t care. It’s still Hopper’s house and he only has, like, three rules you guys have to follow. So please, just keep the door open, okay?”

Rule one: Eggos are not a proper meal (unless it is breakfast). Two: No using your abilities on your siblings or others unless it’s a life-or-death situation. Three: Boyfriends can only be in the bedroom if the door stays open.

Hopper’s list of rules, which he left written and stuck to the fridge with a magnet, was small and simple. He also heavily hinted that it was more than okay for Sunshine to drag Mike out of the house by his ear if she wanted.

“Why are you being such a stick in the mud?” he asked. Between the glitter stuck to her, the fact that Luke hadn’t left his room all day, and the smirk on Mike’s face, Sunshine was close to losing it. Babysitting used to be fun, and she still enjoyed the kids more than she cared to admit to them, but boy did they know how to push every single one of her buttons.

She refrained from dragging Mike out of the cabin, though. Instead, she turned to her sister and said, “Keep the door open. Got it?”

El sighed but agreed, and Sunshine left the two of them alone to continue kissing and giggling like they were the only two people left on planet Earth.

Back in the kitchen, Leia was cleaning the glitter from the floor and quietly humming to the tune of one of Hopper’s old records. She looked up at Sunshine’s footsteps, her eyes falling onto the skirt of the dress she wore.

“You’re spreading this shit like it’s a disease,” Leia snorted. “It’s on your dress now.” Sunshine looked at where her hands rested on her hips and saw little sparkly flecks left behind. She threw her hands up in defeat and fell into one of the dining room chairs. Her fingers went to her hair, and she started pulling at the knots, untangling them from the wind on her bike ride over and, hopefully, pulling some of the glitter out before she left for the mall.

Her dark curls had grown out to about the middle of her chest, and she could easily pull it back and out of her face, which she hadn’t been able to do since she was a little kid. Her mom enjoyed braiding Sunshine’s hair and teasing it up into all kinds of different styles. It was a simple thing, but it allowed both women to get back some of the mother-daughter time that was stolen from them.

It was funny, in a sad kind of way, how something as simple as hair had become so important to Sunshine. In the Lab, their hair had been forcibly shaven, but she hadn’t thought much of it at the time. Since her time before the Lab was so blurry, she hadn’t remembered what it was like to have hair long enough to run her finger through. Her shaved head was all she knew. When her operations were over, her hair grew out just slightly. She would trace her fingers along the pretty figures inside picture books they had inside the Rainbow Room with long hair and wish long to mirror them. Then, she and El escaped, and her hair became the last of her concerns. But when the threat of monsters was gone and she was no longer riddled with the guilt and sorrow of her sister’s death, Sunshine had time to think about mundane things such as hairstyles and how she looked. Her hair was the one thing she felt she had full control of. There was still an internal struggle with her mind and her body; she felt tainted, like both her mind and body didn’t completely belong to her. But her hair was hers and only hers.

She pulled the soft curls back and off of her neck and tied it up with a blue scrunchie she borrowed from Leia.

“I don’t know what El sees in him,” Leia said, loud enough that the couple probably heard. “I mean, why do she and Max want to spend all of their time with stupid boys?”

Sunshine shrugged her shoulders. “They really like their stupid boys. One day, you might also find a stupid boy you like.”

Leia scrunched up her face in disgust. She shook her head as if that was the most insane thing anyone had ever said to her. “No way! Not happening. If I wanted to waste my time kissing something full of Cheeto dust and no common sense, I’d kiss one of the chairs at the arcade.”

“Gross.”

“It’s not more gross than kissing Mike or Lucas. Or Dustin, Will, any of ‘em.” Leia sounded sure of herself, so Sunshine didn’t push it any further. It wasn’t like she was in any place to dish out relationship advice. Her thirteen-year-old sister knew more about relationships than she did. All of Sunshine’s knowledge came from the cheesy romantic movies she wanted, or what little she’s heard about them from Nancy, Steve, and Jonathan. It was another aspect of life that she felt behind on, but she was a bit too scared to explore the ideas of boys, both because she figured it’d be impossible for her to have a normal dating life considering her circumstances and because she didn’t take much interest in the boys she saw around Hawkins.

Sure, Sunshine recognized a cute boy when she spotted them, or when Nancy pointed them out and tried to get Sunshine to talk to them, but the idea of dating some random boy she met at the mall made her feel odd. She liked to think it was because she was still trying to find her footing in the world, but she wasn’t entirely sure that was it.

“You don’t think it’s gross, the whole kissing thing?” Leia asked curiously, sitting at the table across from Sunshine.

“I don’t know,” she shrugged. “I haven’t gotten the chance to kiss a stupid boy, yet.” And she definitely hadn’t thought about it…at all.

“Really? You haven’t kissed anyone yet?” Leia looked at her oddly with narrowed eyes before she leaned back in her chair and said, “Huh, weird.”

A light scoff came from Sunshine; she was a little offended. “It’s not weird! I just…I have other things to worry about.” And even if she did take an interest in the boys in the mall or around town, she doubted they wanted to kiss the weird girl who came back to life after ten years.

“No, that’s not what I mean. I just figured…” Leia trailed off, biting her tongue and shaking her head. “Never mind.”

“What? You figured what?”

Leia sighed. “I figured you would have kissed your stupid sailor man by now! I mean, you and Steve are practically dating at this point.” The casualness in Leia’s voice caught Sunshine so off guard. Heat instantly rose to her cheeks and her eyes widened almost comically, she was sure.

“What? No!” she choked out. Leia cocked her head to the side as if to say ‘really?’ but Sunshine held firm to her answer, which was the truth. “We are not dating! And we definitely kissed! Steve is my friend. We’re friends!”

Holding up her hands in defense, Leia tried and failed to hide the smirk that tugged on the corners of her lips. “Okay, geez! No need to get so defensive. I’m just saying, if you wanted to kiss a stupid boy, I’m sure he’d volunteer.”

Sunshine pushed herself up from the table and retreated to finish cleaning the kitchen. She didn’t quite understand why her face felt so hot or why the mere thought of kissing Steve made her feel…weird, which was ridiculous. Feelings were a messy thing that she was coming to realize. And they were very confusing to one girl who still had a lot to learn about the world.

She didn’t want to think about it anymore. “I’m going to check on Luke,” she said before she climbed the ladder that led into a small loft in the cabin that Hopper had converted into a room for Luke. He hadn’t been out of his room since Sunshine had arrived that morning. Hopper had told her Luke had been awake most of the night from another nightmare. He had tried to coax Luke out to talk about it, but the nightmares he had were not of monsters or the Lab, they were about the future of others.

Standing at the top of the ladder, Sunshine knocked against the railing. It took a moment, but his voice floated from the far end of the loft, telling her to come in. She crawled inside and saw him sitting in front of a painting easel with dark circles under his glassy, blue eyes.

The loft was covered in drawings, but they were the glittery ones Leia and El decorated their room with. Instead, Luke only drew what he saw in his visions. That’s what he said, anyway, but to Sunshine they all looked like thick, messy strokes of pain that were impossible to make sense of. He pinned them to his walls, left them in stacks on his nightstand, and scattered across his floor.

“Are you ready to talk about it?” Sunshine asked, carefully watching as her brother hung his head and let his pain brushes rest on the floor beside him. He pulled up his legs to his chest and hugged them. “Hopper said you were up most of the night. You know, you can talk to him too, right?”

It was more of an adjustment for Luke than Leia to be taken in by Hopper. Leia was warmer and more welcoming to the idea of a home and someone to take care of her. Luke, on the other hand, had taken up the responsibility of looking out for his sister. In many ways, he acted like the older siblings, even though they were twins, and no one knew who was technically born first. Without the distraction of taking care of Leia, Luke was left to get lost inside his head more, and sometimes he fell so deep into his mind that it was impossible to pull him out. But Sunshine tried every time.

“I know,” Luke sighed. “But he won’t get it. No one does.” Sunshine sat beside him, as close as she could without touching him. She grabbed one of his shirts left discarded on the floor and wrapped it around her hand before she reached out and grabbed a hold of Luke’s hand. He squeezed her hand through the fabric but kept his gaze on his newest painting hung on the easel.

“Just because he won’t understand exactly what you’re feeling, doesn’t mean he won’t listen. He cares about you, Luke.” He buried his head in his knees and said nothing for a long moment. Sunshine was patient. She stayed at his side, rubbing her thumb across the back of his hand through the fabric. She wanted to wrap him up in her arms and pull every awful nightmare-vision from his delicate head. Maybe if she had been given abilities like Ivy, she could have helped. But there was nothing more she could have done than hold his hand and listen to him.

After a couple of minutes of silence, he looked at her with an unreadable expression. “I’m just trying to figure things out before it’s too late. I can’t be too late.”

“Too late with what?”

He didn’t answer. He looked at his easel and pointed with his unoccupied hand to the two pieces of paper that hung side by side on it. “Do these look like they match up? Do they look like, maybe they could be from the same event?” he asked.

The painting on the right was a little easier to make out. A white silhouette stood at the bottom of the page with one arm raised in the air. The figure was surrounded by thick strokes of white and yellow that encased most of the page. Black paint bordered the page like it was being pushed back by the white and yellow. The painting on the left was similar but opposite. A slightly larger, black silhouette was at the bottom of the page, surrounded by a mix of black, gray, and dark red that was only broken by white and yellow paint along the corners of the page.

“Maybe,” Sunshine answered, not sure what she was looking at exactly. “They look sort of similar. Was this what was in your nightmare last night?”

He looked conflicted for a moment but decided against hiding his worries from her. “Sort of.” The words came out strained from his lips as if they were hard for him to get out. Sunshine gave his hand a reassuring squeeze and waited for him to continue. “It wasn’t like the dreams of my visions that I’ve had before. I felt like my brain was trying to…to pair up visions, maybe? They played out together, the visions like it was one singular vision and not from two different people. I think it was trying to show me something I needed to know.”

“And that’s never happened before?”

Luke shook his head. “I don’t know how to explain it, exactly. They’re usually cut up and when they do come together, which is rare, I can easily tell the difference between them and who they belong to. But this time, I knew they were from two different people, but I couldn’t tell where one ended and the other began because…because they were happening at the same time.”

Sunshine had never seen Luke so distraught over one of his visions, not recently. “Who’s futures are they?”

“Max’s,” he said, chewing down on his bottom lip. “And yours.” Sunshine swallowed thickly. It was her future that was keeping him up at night. She couldn’t help but feel guilty about it.

Luke scooted closer to his paintings and pointed at the white silhouette. “That’s you. It took me a while to realize it, though, the scene happened so fast that I almost forgot about it until I saw Max’s future. They came together last night. And this,” Luke pointed to the black silhouette on the other page. “Is Max’s stepbrother, Billy.”

Unease ran down Sunshine’s spine, but she tried to hide it on her face. Why could she and Billy share a piece of their future? She was sure their issues with him had ended after the fight last fall; since then, he had left all of them alone and resorted to tossing looks in her and Steve’s direction inside of fists.

Sunshine’s fingers toyed with the sun pendant around her neck out of habit and in an attempt to calm her nerves over the whole ordeal. “Are you sure that you didn’t see the fight that happened at Will’s last fall?” Even if Billy, heaven forbid, tried to do something to Max or Lucas, he was still just a teenage boy and wasn’t exactly a colossal threat to Sunshine. His temper was terrible, but she was confident she could handle him fairly easily if need be.

“Max grabbed my hand after the fight. I don’t see the past, only the future, which means, whatever this is, it hasn’t happened yet. But it didn’t look like you were fighting him, necessarily. Like I said, it happened so fast and hard to see. It was dark, then light, then smokey. Or blurry? It was a lot.” He rubbed his tired eyes and stifled a yawn. “But both visions, from you and Max, held the same feeling. It made my chest feel tight and I couldn’t breathe. It was awful.”

His frown and glassy eyes made Sunshine feel helpless. There was only so much comfort she could give him. Her thoughts drifted onto Ivy and how she, despite not having anyone to hold and comfort her, always knew how to make Sunshine feel better under the worst circumstances. She wanted to do the same for the kids, but it was difficult to ease the worry that followed Luke around like his shadow.

“Listen, whatever happens, you know there’s a whole group of people who are here to help us. Whatever you saw, we’ll deal with it, and we’ll get through it together.”

Luke hung his head once more. “You can’t promise that.”

“Yes, I can.” Sunshine had known most of their little Hawkins group for almost three years, and that was more than enough time to know they’d be at their side in an instant if something else were to go wrong. She understood the weight on Luke’s shoulders, to want to save everyone all on his own, but she wouldn’t let him or any of her siblings fight that burden alone.

Standing up, Luke crossed his bedroom and pulled down a painting from the wall. He handed it to Sunshine and hovered anxiously above her, with an expression that had shifted from worry to stone.

The painting was drenched in blood-red paint and little shadowy figures that looked vaguely human were dotted throughout the page. “What is this?” she asked, despite being a little afraid of the answer.

“If I don’t figure out what happens in our future, there might not be one.”

Sunshine’s gaze flickered between the painting in her hand and the one on the easel. Her stomach turned uncomfortably as the images filled her with a familiar dread that had been following her around since she escaped the Lab. The future was supposed to hold something sweet and light after their freedom from Dr. Brenner and the Lab, but it didn’t seem to be changing. But maybe it still could; maybe there was still time to change their future.

Standing up, Sunshine placed a careful hand on Luke’s sweatshirt-clad shoulder. “I know that you feel like all of this is on you, but it’s not. None of this is.” She gestured to his painting-filled room. “You have us. We’re always going to have us.”

Luke took the painting back from her and ran a finger across the page, deep in thought. Sunshine could tell he was still fighting a battle with himself inside his head, but he nodded and tossed the painting onto his bed, probably too tired to think about it anymore.

“Come on, I’ll make you lunch,” Sunshine said.

“Can we have Eggos, please?” She supposed breaking one of Hopper’s rules wouldn’t be the end of the world.

…

“I think taking an ice cream cone to the eye would be less painful than watching you try to flirt.”

Steve sighed deeply as three girls left his new job with ice cream cones and his dignity. He was positive that the world was out to get him, why else would he be stuck in an awful sailor uniform and manage to strike out with every single girl that entered Starcourt Mall? And, to make things even better, his two coworkers spent more time squishing any of his remaining dignity underneath their stupid, doodled-on Convers.

“Question,” Tamera Willow asked, leaning against the back counter with a smirk on her lips. “Have you ever talked to a human woman before? Or is this your first time?”

Steve groaned and replied, “I hate you guys.” He didn’t know what was wrong with him. Normally, hitting on girls was his specialty. It used to be so easy for him. Granted, most things had been easier before he discovered that monsters and other dimensions existed. Had monster hunting somehow ruined his flirting abilities? Or had Billy Hargrove knocked them right out of his brain when he smashed a dinner plate over his head?

“Lighten up, dingus. At least you get another tally.” Robin Buckley, Steve's other obnoxious coworker, uncapped a dry-erase marker and added another tally under the ‘you suck’ column on the whiteboard. They had turned his life into a humiliating game for their own amusement. He was 0-2 that afternoon, and he had a feeling his luck was not going to turn out before his shift was up.

Ignoring Tamera and Robin, Steve settled his gaze out among Starcourt’s food court. The mall had quickly become the hot place to be that summer. It was constantly flooded with people and illuminated with neon lights. Kids were left to roam free, teenagers spent their days either working at one of the many shops or spending their parent's money, and adults were either dragged around by their youngest kids or they used the mall to escape the summer heat. Normally, somewhere like Starcourt would be favored by Steve, but his dad forced him to get a job and of course, he ended up at the one with the worst uniform and coworkers.

“Do you want some real advice?” Tamera asked, to which Steve immediately replied, ‘No.’ She didn’t care, though, and gave it to him anyway. “You’re coming on too strong, Popeye. Like, I think you’re scaring customers off. Even if you want to get into someone’s pants, don’t make it obvious.”

Steve sighed and spun around to face the two girls. “I don’t want in anyone’s pants. I’m just…ugh! I don’t know what I’m trying to do.” He really didn’t, which was weird for him. Steve tried to flirt, and to be fair, he probably did come off too strong. But, at the same time, he wasn’t as into it as he should have been. It was like he was ruining his own chances, and he couldn’t figure out why.

“Oh, hey! It’s Steve’s better half,” Robin said, confusing Steve for a moment before a familiar voice rang out.

“Ahoy!” Sunshine greeted them with a smile, which Steve found himself mirroring out of habit.

She was more dressed up than usual, in a light pink dress and brown flannel- probably borrowed from Hopper- tied around her waist. She waved at them as she entered and showed off her series of strategically placed bracelets to hide the little tattoo on her wrist.

As the spring had shifted into summer, Sunshine seemed to be fitting in even more with the teenagers of Hawkins. Of course, she was very much unlike anyone in Hawkins, for a multitude of reasons. It was like watching someone become more of their person and grow more comfortable with themselves. Everyone seemed to be moving on from their runs in with monsters and other horrors of their past. Sunshine seemed to be enjoying life in Hawkins more with the return of her siblings, who had been taken in by Hopper. It was almost like they’d all been around forever.

“Hey Sunshine,” Steve said. “How was babysitting?”

Her shoulders slumped slightly as she approached the counter. “I feel like I’ve aged ten years in one morning.”

“Well, you know what they say,” Robin jumped into their conversation. “Kids suck the life right out of you.”

Sunshine laughed softly. “Yeah. Mike and El refuse to leave each other alone for five seconds. I’m worried they’re going to suffocate from all their kissing.”

“The honeymoon phase will wear off eventually,” said Steve. “Hopefully.” According to Sunshine, the new couple was either connected at the hip or talking about the other every chance they got.

“Honeymoon phase?” Sunshine furrowed her brows, and Steve caught sight of silver glitter that dotted her cheek and temple, probably from another one of Leia’s art projects. Apparently, the kid had taken up painting, like her twin brother, but she took her own creative liberties.

“Yeah, it’s like when a relationship is new and exciting and you don’t want to be away from that person for, like, even a second. And I guess you can’t blame them for that after…” Steve trailed off not wanting to violate any of their NDAs in front of Tamera or Robin.

Mike Wheeler had to watch his superpowered girlfriend nearly die defeating a monster before she showed up again nearly a year later dressed like someone from MTV only to have to close the Gate before they all died. That was a lot for anyone, especially for a kid. He couldn’t fathom being in Mike’s shoes. Well, he did believe his superpowered best friend was dead for ten years, and not a day went by where he didn’t want to spend it with Sunshine. Maybe he a Mike weren’t too different.

“I know. And I’m happy that El’s happy but Mike is a piece of work sometimes. I’m afraid that he’s one snarky comment away from Leia-” Sunshine cut herself off, probably about to mention something related to Leia’s powers. “Kicking him out of the cabin and locking the door.”

Out of Sunshine’s three siblings, Leia was the only one Steve had come to know the most. It started after he let Sunshine borrow his Walkman and Leia found it in her room. She ended up accidentally frying the thing and then broke down in tears when she was apologizing. Steve had to convince her it was okay, but he felt so bad about the whole thing that he ended up buying her own Walkman for what she and Luke deemed as their birthday. Since then, Leia and he have been swapping cassettes.

“Well, what about Luke?” Steve asked. Her brother was a lot harder to place. He never said much, at least not the few times Steve has been around him.

As soon as Steve asked, Sunshine’s whole demeanor changed. It was quick, probably not even noticed by Robin or Tamera, but Steve saw it. She brushed it off with a half-hearted laugh and said, “Oh, you know, the usual crisis.” That was all she needed to say for Steve to understand. The idea of someone being able to see the future was a tough pill to swallow, but from what Sunshine had told him, Luke was plagued with visions of it and he had a hard time dealing with whatever he’d seen. And that led to Sunshine worrying over him.

“These kids sound like a blast,” said Tamera. Sunshine replied with a nod and played with the chain of her necklace.

Changing the subject, Steve pointed his ice cream scooper toward the tubs of ice cream in the case. “You want the usual?” She didn’t even answer before Steve started making her order, which he as quickly memorized due to her frequent trips to the mall. Once he was done, he handed the cup of strawberry ice cream with whipped cream to her. The two lulled into their usual small talk as Robin and Tamera retreated to the backroom.

Tagged List. @sattlersquarry , @leptitlu , @drunkengodsofslaughter

#stranger things #steve harrington #steve harrington x oc #steve harrington x original character #st fanfic #stranger things fanfiction #el hopper #robin buckley #robin buckley x oc #stranger things 3 #project sunshine

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salamandergoo · 8 months ago

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STWG Prompt: Graduation

Jonathan wasn’t all that disappointed when he realized he wouldn’t be attending his own graduation. All things considered, he was mostly glad to be alive, to be in one piece, even if his body felt oddly mangled sometimes. He didn’t think his mom even realized they’d be missing it, he didn’t think he even crossed her mind much these days.

And that was fine. Honestly, it was. He’d always tried to be easy to deal with, anyway. He was good at making himself scarce or being where he was needed. An extra set of hands, the one making dinner, whatever he needed to be, he was.

He stood in the backyard of the house in Lenora, all of his things packed into boxes. Again. He was on his last joint, had said his goodbyes to Argyle last night, had cried the only tears he would over this move. He’d told himself he wouldn’t smoke today, would stay sober until they were back in Hawkins, but then he’d woken up to a splitting headache and a harsh throbbing in the base of his spine. So he made himself scarce as Hopper and El bickered and Will triple checked his boxes and his mom moved from one task to the next, leaving half packed boxes in her wake. He was sick of moving boxes.

Hopper would be asking him to help load the rented moving van soon. At least he didn’t need to drive this time, there were stops planned out on the map his mom had written the route on and he’d be riding in the van with Hopper, who insisted on driving despite his ankle.

Jonathan put out his joint and dropped the burnt remains into a potted plant he knew would get left behind. He sniffed his shirt to make sure he didn’t smell too much like weed before going back inside and just standing amidst the chaos for a moment.

There were bullet holes in the wall, level with his torso. One of the windows still had cardboard taped where glass had once been. There were magnets still on the fridge.

He could take care of the magnets.

He started to pack them into an envelope, taking them down one at a time. Something bitter sat on the back of his tongue as he tucked a few photos into the envelope, one of him and Nancy trembling in his grasp. He took a shaky breath and crushed it in his palm, tossing it into a trash bag that sat nearby. It felt like he was leaving so much behind. But he’d hated this house. Hated almost everything about California.

He hated Hawkins too.

Hated the idea of leaving his family, hated that he was leaving Argyle, hated… so much.

His eyes burned as he closed the envelope of magnets and tossed it into a nearby open box. He felt like he was burning with hatred and anger and fear as he sealed a box of silverware and plates.

He could hear his mom laughing about something down the hall, could hear El and Will bickering from El’s room, was pretty sure Hopper was out front. He bit down on his tongue and blew out a sigh through his nose as he gripped the roll of tape a little tighter.

Jonathan was supposed to graduate tomorrow. They were leaving by 2 pm this afternoon. His diploma, which he’d quietly requested early without a word to his family, sat in a box under a pile of shirts he never wore. They were moving back to Hawkins, and Jonathan was just as terrified of going back as he was of staying here.

He wanted to be sick. But instead he carried a box outside and passed it to Hopper without a word. He finished packing boxes and sealed them with efficiency. The faster they left, the faster he was left without a choice. Once he no longer had a choice, he would stop dwelling on the alternative.

As he laid in a motel the next night, Will and El sharing a bed across the room, he wondered what might have happened if he’d chosen to stay behind. If he’d gone to his graduation. It didn’t matter really. It didn’t make a difference to anyone else. But he stared at the ceiling and wondered anyway.

#stwgdailyprompt #stranger things #jonathan byers #I love joyce but I feel like Jonathan gets lost in the shuffle and just. accepts it

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dwobbitfromtheshire · 8 months ago

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From Hell to Home to Back Again

Summary: At the talent show, Chrissy Cunningham is so hungry that she nearly collapses. When she's found by Hopper, her parents ended up losing custody of her. She ends up being placed in the care of the Hendersons, and she finally finds the family she so desperately needed. She also ends up falling in love. What other changes are made in this alternate universe?

@emen-98 @1lostsoul0fishbowl @vulpixsworld

Prologue . . . Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chrissy woke before Nancy the next day, much earlier than she usually did. It allowed her to call Karen and then call Robin, who was still over at Steve's. Robin was relieved that her sister was okay and rambled on for quite a bit about what they could do to help. Neither one of them had any answers. She made sure to tell Robin that Argyle and Jonathan would be picking them up today instead of Steve. Robin quickly handed the phone off to Eddie.

"Hey, sweetheart," Eddie said.

"Hey, how is he?" Chrissy asked softly.

"Heartbroken," Eddie sighed. "How is she?"

"Still asleep, but she didn't throw up in her sleep, so that's good," Chrissy said. "How are you?"

"Would you think less of me if I said I was scared?" Eddie asked.

"I would think more of you, actually. I'm a little scared myself," Chrissy admitted.

"It's a little selfish, but what's this going to do to our family? I like our little family," Eddie said.

Chrissy smiled at hearing Eddie calling their friends' family.

"We'll help them get through this, and by helping them, we help ourselves," Chrissy said.

"I highly recommend you never see Steve Harrington cry. He looks like a kicked puppy," Eddie said, breathing heavily. "Well, hey, if Nancy doesn't want him, can we keep him?"

"He's not an actual puppy, Eddie!" Chrissy laughed and paused. "Besides, I definitely think Nancy still wants him."

"Are you sure?" Eddie asked.

"Yeah," Chrissy said. "I don't think she would be struggling so much if she didn't. . .but then again, what do I know?"

"I think you know a lot more than I do, Henderson," Eddie said.

"I think I hear her waking up. I have to go. I love you," Chrissy said.

"I love you, too," Eddie said.

"I love you more," Chrissy replied.

"Scientifically not possible," he laughed.

"Freak."

"Witch."

Chrissy made it back to her room to find Nancy sitting up and looking around in complete confusion. She crawled onto the bed and set next to her.

"How are you feeling?" Chrissy asked.

"Head is killing me," Nancy groaned.

Chrissy grabbed some medicine from her bedside table and handed her the glass of water.

"Drink all the water too," Chrissy said.

"Yes, Dr. Henderson," Nancy said, and Chrissy giggled. "I didn't do anything embarrassing, did I?"

The smile fell from Chrissy's face, and she bit her lip as she stared at Nancy.

"Well, um. . ." Chrissy trailed off.

"What did I do?" Nancy asked.

"Well, it's not what you did. . .it's more like what you said, really," Chrissy said.

"What did I say?" She asked as she continued to drink her water.

"Well, I'm not sure. . . Well, maybe we should wait until your headache goes away," Chrissy said.

"Chris, just tell me," Nancy said.

"Well, Eddie and I got stuck in the bathroom with you guys when you burst in. We were hiding in the tub. Steve was trying to get the punch that was spilled on you off, and then you started going on about partying and like you guys were in love, like you guys didn't kill Barb. Steve said, "Like we're in love," and then he asked, "You don't love me?" You said it was bullshit. It was all bullshit," Chrissy said and paused for a moment.

Nancy looked like she had been punched. Tears welled up in her blue eyes. Chrissy bit her lip again.

"Who brought me here?" Nancy asked.

"I had Jonathan and Argyle bring you here," Chrissy said.

"What happened to Steve?" She asked.

"Well, according to Robin. . .he ran out of the party crying, but not before he made sure you were okay," Chrissy said. "He asked Jonathan and Argyle to look after you."

"I didn't mean it," Nancy sniffled. "At least I don't think I did."

"Of course, you didn't, babe. You weren't exactly articulate, bullshit could have meant anything," Chrissy said.

"I just can't pretend like I'm okay anymore. I can't keep going to dinner with Barb's parents with Steve and knowing that we know what really happened with Barb. They still think it was a bear attack!" Nancy exclaimed. "They're moving, you know! Probably won't see them again."

"You've been having dinner with Barb's parents?" Chrissy asked.

"Uh, yeah. Steve offered to go with me, but I think he's getting tired of going," Nancy said. "And I'm tired of those bastards just sitting up there, getting away with murdering Barb!"

"Well, maybe it's finally time you sit down and talk with Steve about how you feel," Chrissy said. "Tell him what need from him."

"I don't know what that is, though," Nancy sighed as she laid back on the bed.

"Then tell him that. Tell him something. In your own way, you've both been putting this off for a very long time. I think it's because you were both afraid to hear the person you love tell you that it's your fault. You were afraid to hear those words from Steve, so you said them first, projecting your own guilt about Barb onto him. You both have been afraid that it might be true, but it's not. You need to tell each other that, and I guarantee that if you ask Steve, he'll tell you the same thing. It's not your fault what happened to me and Barb that night. You and Steve did nothing wrong. It was the asshole scientist who decided to play God, and who opened a door that he never should have," Chrissy said. "You need to be angry together, not angry at each other."

Nancy really needed to hear that because she broke down in sobs, collapsing in Chrissy's lap. Chrissy held her tightly as she cried, running her fingers through Nancy's hair. After a while, her sobs subsided, and she sat up, wiping her eyes. She hugged Chrissy tightly, clutching her as if her life depended on it.

"Are we always going to be fucked up?" Nancy whispered.

"Probably, but we can be fucked up together," Chrissy said.

"I love you," Nancy whispered.

"Love you, too, always," Chrissy said and pressed a hard kiss to her cheek.

She knew that Nancy wasn't a very affectionate person, but when the girl needed it, Chrissy was willing to give it as much as she wanted to. So, she let Nancy cling to her as long as possible before finally getting ready for school. She let Nancy borrow her clothes again and her products before making sure she ate plenty of breakfast as well as drank some more water. Dustin didn't question Nancy's presence. His mind was elsewhere, and every so often, he kept looking towards his bedroom.

"I think Dusty might have brought home another stray animal again," Chrissy whispered to Nancy.

"Again?" Nancy asked.

"I'll tell you later about the raccoon incident," Chrissy giggled.

It was Argyle and Jonathan who picked them up that morning. Robin surprised them by jumping out of the back of the van and hugging her sister tightly. Again, none of the Wheelers were very physically affectionate, but in moments like these, they held each other close. Chrissy smiled. They always found other ways to show each other they cared. Chrissy didn't miss the rock that Robin slipped into Nancy's pocket. Chrissy's smile grew.

"Thank you for being there for Steve," Nancy said.

"It wasn't a problem," Robin replied softly.

When they pulled up into the school parking lot, Eddie was parked a few feet away. Steve was leaning against his van, his arms crossed as Eddie talked softly with him. Chrissy motioned for them to stay with Argyle before walking over to Steve and Eddie.

"Hey, Steve," Chrissy said softly.

"How is she?" Steve asked.

"She's got a killer hangover," Chrissy said. "But I don't think that's what you meant. She's confused. She doesn't remember what happened last night, but I did tell her. We had a long talk this morning. I won't tell you exactly what she said, but she's getting ready to talk about Barb with you. She knows now that she needs to despite the fact she might not ever really be ready, but she can't keep it in either. Just don't give up. There's hope for you two. You should probably give each a couple of days to breathe, though. Let her get her thoughts together. Okay?"

"Yeah, okay," Steve said and paused. "I just didn't know how to help her, you know?"

"Letting her know that you feel lost too is the first step. The rest will hopefully fall into place," Chrissy said and hugged him tightly.

"How do you know so much?" Steve asked as he pulled back.

"By feeling mostly and a hell of a lot of therapy after I got removed from the Cunninghams," Chrissy said and sighed. "I'm not even sure what I'm doing or if it's even helping. . ."

"It is! Helping, that is," Steve said and paused. "Hey, do you have a clue why your boyfriend decided to measure my neck this morning?"

"Don't ask," Chrissy laughed as Eddie cackled.

"Yeah, I was afraid of that," Steve frowned as he walked ahead of them.

"You're amazing. You know that?" Eddie asked as he wrapped his arm around her waist.

"Hm, tell me more about how amazing I am," Chrissy beamed.

"There's so many things. . .where to start. . .where to start. . .I fucking love the way you snore, it's the cutest goddamn thing in the world," Eddie grinned.

"I don't snore!" Chrissy exclaimed.

"You do!"

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"Not!"

"Too!"

"Freak!"

"Witch!"

The rest of the day was pretty awkward, especially around lunchtime when the group was separated. Argyle, Jonathan, Robin, and Nancy went off to eat at another table while the others remained where they were.

"What the fuck happened at that party?" Jeff asked.

"Let's just say Nancy and Steve had a fight. Let's leave it at that, shall we?" Chrissy asked.

Gareth, Frankie, and Jeff shared a look, but when they saw the look on Steve’s face, they didn't say anything. The day seemed to drag on, and before they knew it, they were leaving school again. This time, Chrissy was driven home by Eddie. Nancy and Robin were brought home by Argyle. It was strange coming home and getting ready for work, knowing what her friends were going through, but there wasn't much else she could do for them. They had to sort this out on their own. Chrissy had just put on her uniform when she and Eddie heard a curious noise from her brother's room. Frowning, she went to investigate. Chrissy rapped her knuckles on her brother's door. He slid the door open a couple of inches.

"Hey, Chrissy, Eddie, how's it going?" Dustin asked cheerfully.

"Well, you're definitely up to something," Eddie said.

"What makes you say that?" Dustin asked.

"Because nothing about your tone of voice sounds innocent," Eddie said, narrowing his eyes at him. "I doubt your mother knows what you're keeping in your room."

"Shut up! You're not my real dad!" Dustin exclaimed.

"Okay," Eddie said and turned to Chrissy. "I love your brother, but I feel like if I want to keep loving your brother, I'm going to have to wait in the van."

Eddie sighed, kissed Chrissy, and gave Dustin a look before leaving.

"Well, he's going to be helpful when you guys have kids," Dustin quipped.

"Dustin! You better not be keeping another raccoon in there! You know Mews is afraid of them!" Chrissy exclaimed.

"Chrissy. . .I can tell you with absolute certainty that I am not keeping a raccoon in my room," Dustin said seriously.

Chrissy sighed and narrowed her eyes at him before leaving. She hopped into Eddie's van and shared a look with him.

"We're never having kids," they said in unison.

"Who knows what kind of things my spawn would hide in their room? Probably weird lizard creatures that look like they come from a different plane of existence," Eddie said, and Chrissy laughed. "We would never be able to have cats because then the weird lizard creatures would eat them. Baby, we have to have cats."

"Noted. . .that's oddly descriptive, though. What's with the lizard creatures eating cats?" Chrissy asked.

"I don't know. It just popped into my head," Eddie said, shrugged.

Usually, her time at Surfer Boy perked her up, but not today. She couldn't get Nancy and Steve out of her head. She also felt Argyle's absence. He was always there whenever she worked, but he never showed up. Maybe he decided to help Nancy. The next day was even more strange. Nancy, Argyle, and Jonathan didn't show up to school. According to Robin, Nancy had decided to sleep over at Ally's but then never came home.

"I just don't get it. Why wouldn't she invite me?" Robin asked as she leaned against Chrissy's locker.

"Doesn't Ally not like you?" Chrissy asked.

"That's not the point. Nancy is my sister," Robin said. "And where the hell are the other two?"

"Well, I did say Nancy needed to a couple of days to breathe," Chrissy said. "Maybe they decided to skip."

"And they didn't invite me?" Robin whined.

"Relax, Robin," Chrissy laughed.

"You relax!"

She held onto the hope that Nancy really decided to take a day for herself. If anyone needed it, it was Nancy. She held onto it until lunchtime. Chrissy had long since gotten her food when her boyfriend and Steve sat down in front of her and Robin.

"Thanks for helping me out in the shower, man," Steve said.

"No, problem, I'll gladly help you anytime you have trouble with that asshole," Eddie said.

Chrissy froze, her spoon halfway to her mouth. Gareth and Jeff leaned forward with interest, their conversation long forgotten. Meanwhile, images were filling Chrissy's head.

"Okay, Chrissy's eyes are glazing over, we're going to need to some context before she goes somewhere else completely," Robin said.

"Uh, what?! Oh!" Eddie exclaimed. "Tommy and Billy were teasing Steve in the showers. I scared them off. . .and Chrissy, like I said, if I were to leave you for a man, it would be Jeff."

Chrissy huffed and rolled her eyes. She was a little disappointed but she could live.

"Chrissy, babe, you're worse than a man sometimes," Robin said.

"Well, I am livid. Now that the image is in my head, it is not leaving," Jeff said.

"Tell me about it," Chrissy said, and high fived Jeff.

"Stop proving my point, Jeff," Robin said.

"But just so you know, if you and Steve ever need 'help' in the shower, you have my full permission," Chrissy said.

"And mine!" Jeff chimed in.

"I don't need yours, man!" Eddie laughed.

"Seriously?" Robin asked.

"What? We're only young once. Besides, if you can't cross the boundaries of intimacy with your friends every once in a while, who can you cross them with?" Chrissy and ran her foot up his leg.

"Chrissy! That's my leg!" Steve exclaimed.

"Are you saying that we have an open relationship?" Eddie asked.

"I'm saying there's wiggle room to negotiate, especially for Steve. Isn't that right, big boy?" Chrissy winked at him, and he coughed on his chocolate milk. "Sorry, just trying to flirt with you to cheer you up. Is it working?"

"Yeah," Steve laughed. "Assholes."

"Well, if you can't beat 'em, eat 'em," Eddie said casually.

The table burst into laughter. Steve laughed as he shoved Eddie.

"Stupidest thing I ever heard, man," Steve said. "Doesn't even make sense."

It really was the stupidest thing Eddie ever uttered, but for some reason, it made them all laugh. The tension that had been slowly hanging over the air over the last day or so slowly started to fade. Chrissy really didn't want to ruin the moment, but she was curious about what Billy and Tommy said to Steve. She mostly just wanted to shake the image of a wet naked Eddie and Steve out of her head. Bad girl, Chrissy.

"So, what were they teasing you about?" Chrissy said.

"Oh, just about how someone saw Nancy take off with Jonathan and how they left town together," Steve scowled.

"Well, I think Argyle went with them. All three of them are gone," Robin said.

"Wait, she seriously left?" Eddie asked.

"Well, Nancy needed to clear her head. Jonathan and Argyle probably went to help her," Chrissy said.

"They'll probably be back by this afternoon," Robin shrugged.

"Right," Steve sighed as he played with his food, causing Robin to kick him. "Ow! Robin!"

"Steve!"

"Why?!"

"Turn that frown upside down, popeye."

The rest of the day went by a little easier, even with Hargrove's eyes on her. Eddie took both Chrissy and Dustin home that afternoon. He was going to take Chrissy to work again before heading over to Thatcher's Tire. Dustin was out of the van before Eddie could come to a complete stop.

"Wait, until I stop, butthead!" Eddie yelled and turned to Chrissy. "He's going to make my hair go gray."

"Aw, do you want Mommy to fix Daddy a martini?" Chrissy asked. "Hard day at work, did you? The kids driving you up the wall?"

"Ha, fucking, ha, Henderson," Eddie scoffed.

Chrissy laughed as she got out of the van and followed her brother. She unlocked the door, letting the three of them into the house. Their mother wasn't home from work yet, so it was just them. Chrissy was in desperate need of a cat cuddle, though.

"Mews! Here, kitty, kitty, kitty!" Chrissy said and made kissing noises. "Where is he?"

"Mews? Here, boy!" Eddie called.

"Dusty? Did you leave a window open again?" Chrissy asked.

"Shit! Shit! Shit!" Dustin exclaimed and ran towards his room.

The two of them followed Dustin to his bedroom. He opened the door, leaving it open for the other two to follow. There was a strange chewing and growling sound coming from behind his chair. They moved closer to the chair, and Chrissy froze. A rather familiar looking creature, smaller than usual, was behind the chair and chowing down on what was left of Mews. Chrissy gasped. The creature popped its head up and turned to them, opening its face up like a flower.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!" Eddie screamed.

The baby demogorgon ran at them, and Dustin hurried to push them out of the room before slamming the door. Chrissy stared at her little brother with wide eyes. That's what he had been keeping in his room? She was about to say something to him when Eddie screamed again. Chrissy turned to him and grabbed his arms.

"Eddie, baby, I'm so sorry," Chrissy said softly.

"Sorry?" He gasped as his eyes widened in confusion.

"I haven't been entirely truthful with you. . ."

Chapter Nineteen

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atimeofyourlife · 1 year ago

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Whumptober day 16

rated: t | wc: 885 | prompt: Gurney | Flatline | “Don’t go where I can’t follow.” Steve ending up in hospital after the fight with Billy and again after Starcourt.

Steve didn't really know where he was by the time the reached the hospital. The drive over had blurred together with the rest of the night, leaving him confused about everything. Or maybe that was the concussion. Who knows? All he knew was that his head hurt and all the lights seemed a little too bright.

Hopper had to help him out of the car, but he didn't make it more than a few steps before his knees gave out and he collapsed right outside the emergency room doors. He was vaguely aware of yelling, groaning as it made the insane headache worse. He couldn't make sense of any of the words being said, or what anyone was doing, other than touching and moving him. He faded in and out of consciousness, slowly realizing he was strapped to a gurney, and being rushed through the hospital. He shut his eyes again, to block out the harsh lighting that flooded the halls, and let himself sink into the darkness.

When he woke up, he was lying in a bed, in a dimly lit hospital room. There seemed to be wires and tubes everywhere, accompanied by the whirring and beeping of the machines. He slowly turned his head from side to side, the slight movement making him feel exceptionally dizzy. Hopper was sat in a chair to his left, looking like he was half asleep. Steve opened his mouth to speak, but the dryness in his mouth and throat caused him to start coughing. Hopper jerked awake at that, immediately looking Steve over. "You good there, Harrington?"

"What happened?" Steve managed to mumble as he gained control of his breathing.

"Do you remember any of it?" Hopper asked, sounding concerned.

"Billy showed up. I tried to stop him getting the kids. Then we were in a car, and we set fire to the tunnels." Steve screwed his face up, trying to remember what else had happened, but nothing was coming to mind. Instead, it just made his face ache.

"Anything else?"

Steve just shook his head.

"You were barely conscious by the time we got back to the Byers' place. The kids were all pretty worried about you. I brought you in, you couldn't walk on your own. You collapsed outside when we got here, then you had a seizure on the gurney as you were being taken in for treatment."

"Jesus." Steve replied, lifting his hand to run it through his hair, but his movement was limited by the IV in his hand.

"I should let the nurse know you're awake," Hopper said, reaching for the call button.

A nurse came in a few minutes later, checking Steve over and asking a few questions. He didn't pay a huge amount of attention to what she was saying, other than that he was being kept in for a few days for monitoring in case he had another seizure. She administered more medication, and Steve could feel it starting to take effect, easing the pain and making him feel sleepy again.

"Get some more sleep, Harrington. I'll still be here when you wake up again." He heard Hopper say quietly.

Steve could only let out a small noise of affirmation as he drifted off again, in pain and hazy from the drugs, but felt safe with Hopper watching over him.

Steve felt lost as he was taken from the ambulance into the hospital on the gurney, and not just because of the concussion and drugs that he'd received courtesy of the Russians. He couldn't help thinking of the last time he'd been in a similar position. Eight months earlier, pretty much to the day. The last time he'd had a concussion, the last time he'd landed a stay in hospital. The seizure on the gurney that he still couldn't remember having. Waking up in the dimly lit room with Hopper in the chair next to him. Hopper always being there. Even letting Steve stay with him and El after he was discharged, until he was recovered enough to safely be home alone.

That was what was making Steve feel so lost. Knowing that this time he wouldn't have the concerned adult there to look out for him, to look after him. His parents wouldn't cut their business trip short for something as insignificant as him being hospitalized for the second time in under a year. And every other adult he knew had other things to worry about. Mrs Henderson had Dustin to worry about. Mr and Mrs Sinclair had Erica and Lucas to worry about. Joyce had everything to worry about, Will and Jonathan, El, losing Hopper. There had been so much death and destruction in just a few short days, Steve knew that his injuries were so minor in the grand scheme of things.

Because of everything that was going on, and the damage that had been caused to the hospital earlier, Steve was left on the gurney until there could be some space found for him and a doctor was free to do a full assessment of his injuries. He felt a weight at his side, and looked up to see Robin next to him. He took her hand and squeezed it gently, feeling slightly better in the knowledge that he had someone there for him.

#whumptober2023 #no.16 #gurney #stranger things #fic #steve harrington #steve harrington whump #jim hopper #robin buckley #stobin #platonic stobin #atimeofyourwrites

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thetargaryenbride · 2 years ago

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Nail To The Coffin - Chapter 8

Warnings: curse words, violence, blood, gore, extreme bullying, attempt at seggsual harassment (briefly mentioned)

Pairing: Steve Harrington x f!Byers!Reader

Word Count: 6315

A.N: So, Season 1 is oficially a WRAP! Thanks for everyone who are sticking with this story. Love you! 🖤 🥀

As always, please do make me know if I’ve written the characters OOC and if you think there is something that can be corrected within the story. Thank you. Enjoy 🖤 🥀

Masterlist || Chapter 7 || Season 2, Chapter 1

“Y/N?”

Someone was calling you.

“Y/N? Wake up. Y/N, wake up! Please!”

You felt something akin to a touch make contact with your arm. Your eyes fluttered open, vision still blurry but slowly clearing up. You tried to focus and move your head in order to get a better look. There was no one but you could feel a presence right there next to you. And the voice sounded very familiar.

“El?”

“Yes… Listen, your mom and Hopper are coming for you. If you find Will, stay with him. They are coming for you!” was the last thing you heard before her voice and touch faded away. For a moment there you thought you had simply imagined it or that it was a dream.

Then your senses began returning to you bit by bit, accompanied by a splitting headache. Suddenly, your body lurched. You were barely able to get on your knees before you threw up. What in the world was that thing and what did it spray in your face? More moldy particles or something? You coughed and sputtered as you tried getting up on your feet.

“Whoa,” you groaned as your hand flew to grasp at your head. The world was a carousel right now. “Fuck,” you cursed breathily as you tried taking a few steps forward, stumbling and colliding with the iron fence, hands grabbing the metal rods tightly as you tried to keep yourself upright. You squeezed your eyes shut and slapped your cheek a couple of times. How were you supposed to get to Will in this drowsy state? Your whole body was cold and damp and shivering by now. You had no idea where this dampness came from in this dimension but it was unsettling and uncomfortable.

You waited a couple more minutes, the spinning decreasing. The headache was persistent but that didn’t matter as long as you were able to walk in a straight line.

Your mother was coming. And Hopper was coming with her. He had made it out of the lab after all and was safe. If he and your mother teamed up, then you were sure you would make it out of here. Those two were some of the most reliable, smart and resourceful people you had the blessing to know. They just got things done. Which meant you didn’t have to stress over thinking a way to escape anymore. You didn’t have to wonder how you’d evade the monster while running away with Will. All you had to do was stay hidden until they came. They were going to storm this place guns blazing and in the meantime, you were going to go to Castle Byers and stay by Will’s side.

“We have to go back to the station,” muttered Nancy after long silence had engulfed her and Jonathan as the two sat side by side.

“What?”

“Your mom and Hopper are just walking in there like bait, just like Y/N did… That thing is still there… And we can’t just sit here and let it get them all. We can’t.”

“You still want to do our part of the plan?” he asked softly. “Lure it out and trap it.”

“Yes… I wanna finish what we started,” she said with confidence. “I want to kill it.”

Will was gone. Will was gone. Will was GONE.

You had gone to the castle immediately after your swirling vision had gotten better. But what you had found was a destroyed building and pieces of wood, books, and blankets lying around, trashed.

You almost lost it right there and then, at first thinking that the monster had devoured your brother. But then you noticed that there was no blood, no torn pieces of clothing, and no bones. So maybe the monster hadn’t eaten your brother. Maybe it had… moved him elsewhere. That, of course, didn’t mean that the beast wasn’t going to eat your brother. Oh, it definitely was going to. It was just a matter of time.

This time you really were going to get in a car and go to the lab. You didn’t know if Nancy and Jonathan would still continue with the original plan but now you knew Hopper and your mom were coming for you and the only place they could enter this dimension through was the lab. So you would meet them there and the three of you would have bigger chances at finding Will and taking down the monster.

And then you were running once again. At this point, you wondered how your body managed to hold up and not collapse in utter exhaustion. You were running on pure spite.

What you didn’t expect to hear once you reached your house was the sound of growling and screeching, indicating that the monster was nearby. You stormed inside, eyes widening when they landed on the huge gate on the ceiling. You could hear what was happening on the other side although it kind of sounded a bit muffled as if coming from underwater but after some time it began clearing up.

You could hear what sounded like Nancy, Jonathan and… Steve? They were yelling something at one another while trying to chase and trap the monster. So they had decided to go with the original plan after all and had somehow gotten Steve mixed in with this. That was good. Now you had three people in your world and soon to be three people in this dimension as well. Two good teams like that were bound to handle one monster, right?

You took the shotgun and pointed it at the portal, preparing to shoot if the monster somehow managed to escape your friends’ traps and come running back here.

Unfortunately, it did.

It slithered disgustingly through the gate not long after you had thought about it. The moment you saw it coming out of the hole, you didn’t hesitate to shoot. You shot at it again and again and again, noticing it had major open wounds caused by fire. You’ve never felt so satisfied in your life than right now when you witnessed bullet after bullet pierce and embed into its burned flesh. You supposed that it probably wasn’t enough to kill it. But damn it, you enjoyed the fact that at least it hurt it.

Your hope about the outcome of this situation was quickly squished when you got tackled on the ground.

It roared at you, in what you assumed was anger and pain, head spreading open revealing multiple small, but sharp, teeth. The stench of its breath was disgusting, so was the saliva that landed on your face. You were too terrified to let out a sound besides the low grunting that came from deep within your throat as you used all of your strength to fight off the beast.

It slashed at you, claws sinking into your left upper arm, creating large deep gashes. You screamed in pain as your body trashed and arched underneath the monster, trying to escape from the painful invasion. Suddenly, your ears began ringing and you found it hard to breathe as you were taken back to the incident that had occurred two months ago. It felt as if you were reliving the same thing again. Monsters holding you down, stabbing your arm with a knife as you struggled under them fruitlessly.

But this time you were really going to die.

You were really going to die if you didn’t do something.

Anything!

The adrenaline coursing through your body was a blessing right now. It allowed you to ignore the pain and gather enough strength in order to grab the hunter knife from its holster. With a shout, you stabbed the monster right in the open head, twice. It screeched in pain and released you, stumbling back as its head-mouth closed. Its body shuddered, hands twisting and skewering as it tried to fight off the pain before it whizzed past you, running away.

“Yeah, you better run… Bet you didn’t see that comin’,” you drawled, out of breath, and allowed a small triumphant smile to grace your lips. You and your friends had done quite a number on the alien. You had hurt it so much that it chose to run away and lick its wounds. Speaking of wounds, the one it had caused on your arm was sending stabbing shots of pain through your body and blood was sipping through it rapidly, making you feel dizzy and sluggish. You supposed you had to be grateful it hadn’t torn off your limb.

You arched your head to look at the still-open gate and tried to slowly get on your knees. In your haze, you forgot that your left arm was severely hurt and tried to use it as support in order to get up, which caused you to tumble back down on the floor. The amount of searing pain that shot through your body was indescribable. Your body spasmed as your mouth opened in a silent scream, eyes squeezing shut as you breathed heavily through your nose. When you opened them again, they widened in shock when they saw the gate closing rapidly.

“No, no, no, no,” you whimpered as you tried getting up again, this time clutching your left arm to your body and using your right one as support. But by the time you got on your knees and were ready to stand up, you were too late and the gate had shut.

Whatever little strength you had in your body was completely washed away and you fell on your butt, letting out a sigh of defeat. Tears rolled down your cheeks from all the stress, fear, frustration, and pain as you tried to bite down sobs and whimpers. You were so useless. You hadn’t been able to do one thing to help your brother and now you would be a burden to your mom and Hopper. You really couldn’t win, could you?

You painfully dragged yourself to the sofa and leaned your back on it, head lulling to your chest as your body slumped against the furniture and you began feeling your consciousness slip away for the second time today.

“Hey, kid. You working late today,” greeted Hopper as he plopped down on a seat at the bar and you gave him a tired nod.

“Yeah, I’ll be closing today. What about you, old man? Night shift?” he hummed and you busied yourself with polishing a glass before placing it on the counter and filling it with juice.

“Seriously? Juice?” he deadpanned and you snorted.

“You need something else in your stomach than just coffee, you know? And don’t try to convince me that you drink other things because every time I see you, you’re either drinking alcohol or coffee and that’s not ok. And don’t even let me get started on the food,” you huffed and he rolled his eyes but accepted the glass of juice either way.

“Can I get the usual,” he ordered the usual food he’d take for night patrol shifts, leaving money on the counter, and you nodded as you went to prepare it.

“Can I ask you something?” you pursed your lips as you placed the freshly made, neatly wrapped sandwiches on the counter and took out a bag in order to put them inside.

“Shoot.”

“I hate to ask but… My car is at the service. I don’t know what happened to it yesterday. It just crashed. So I’m without a car for now and my brother is working late today too so he won’t be able to pick me up-“

“You want me to come pick you up and bring you home?” he interrupted and you nodded.

“I don’t want to bother you, especially during work but-“

“It’s ok, kid. I’ll come.”

In moments like this, you wished that Hopper was your actual father. The things Lonnie had done for you couldn’t even compare to the things Hopper had done for you over the years, even if they weren’t a lot.

You’ve never had a father.

You’ve simply had a horrid man living under your roof rent-free.

Your mind had been preoccupied with such thoughts for the rest of your shift and before you knew it, it was time for you to close the diner.

You let out a tired sigh as you changed out of the tight uniform and into your frilly summer dress with floral patterns that your mom had gifted you. You were grateful that there wasn’t much to clean today. There were only two or three tables that you wanted to sweep the crumbs off of so you could avoid attracting roaches and then you would be out of the diner in a heartbeat, waiting for Hopper to come and take you home so you could rest your aching muscles.

Just as you were about to go behind the bar and grab a rag and cleaning product, you heard the door open and you turned to look at the intruder.

“Excuse me but we’ve closed alrea-“ the words got caught in your throat as you saw four familiar boys your age – students at Hawkins High who had bullied you and your brother a couple of years ago and who you had humiliated and put in their place a couple of times until they finally left you and Jonathan alone. Nathaniel Hale – now a bulky kid who was part of the wrestling team – was the same boy whose mother had threatened to send you to Juvie almost four years ago. The only time you’ve had any kind of contact with these boys was when you’d pass them by in the hallways at school and try to ignore their spiteful glares.

“You in a hurry?” asked one, whose name you remembered to be Chris, as he pulled down the blinds and locked the door.

You gulped as they began approaching you menacingly.

“What do you want?” you grit out and Nathaniel chuckled once he came to stand in front of you.

“Payback.”

There was stillness surrounding all of you before you bolted away, hoping to hide behind the bar and grab something that could be of use to you. Maybe you shouldn’t have turned your back on them because one grabbed you by the hair and pulled you against his chest, wrapping his arms around your torso, trying to keep you at bay. You struggled against him, lifting a leg in order to kick another who was coming towards you. He groaned in pain when you got him in the face and stumbled back.

“Bitch,” growled Nathaniel as he harshly released you from the hold he had on you, the force making you fall on the ground. He walked closer to you and you didn’t hesitate to kick him in the groin. He doubled over in pain and you took that as an advantage to get up and knee him in the stomach, making him fall against a table. Before you had the time to celebrate your victory you felt arms around your neck as someone put you in a headlock. You coughed as you felt him slowly shutting off your air supply and quickly tried to grab his head with your hands, clawing at him. He couldn’t exactly escape this if he wanted to keep you in a headlock which allowed you to dig your thumbs into his sockets. He let out a pained cry as he let go and went to rub his sore eyes. You hit him right in the throat once you got the opportunity and he began choking.

But you weren’t fast enough to evade the hit Nathaniel delivered to your head. It was so powerful it made your world spin as you toppled onto the ground. You tried shaking off the dizziness but by the time you did, he was already straddling you.

“What, you thought we’d just forget about all the times you’ve humiliated us?” he asked as he punched you over and over again.

“You were the ones who started it. I was just defending myself and my brother,” you sputtered and he let out an annoyed huff before bending and painfully grabbing your chin.

“You see, losers like you and your brother are simply bound to be treated like that. It’s a normal thing, you know? It’s how the world works. You decided to fight against that when you had no right to do it and now you’re getting punished for it. See?” he grit out mockingly and you could only glare.

“Hey, Brent, bring the knife,” commanded Chris who had joined Nathaniel on the ground, sitting by your side with bent leg and an arm propped on it as he leisurely watched the whole thing unfold. Your head moved frantically as you tried to get a better look at what was going on. You managed to see Brent’s feet come to stand next to you and saw him pass a knife to Nathaniel who got off you and knelt by your left instead.

You immediately tried getting up, wishing to somehow make your escape, but Chris’ hand was quick to grab you by the throat and shove you back on the ground harshly, causing you to hit the back of your head against the tiles. He applied enough pressure to keep you down and make it hurt without actually choking the air out of you. Meanwhile, Nathaniel’s hand had flown to your stomach as he too pressed hard against it in order to keep you down.

“Oh, no, no, no, no, where do you think you’re going?” he mocked as he flipped the knife open and pressed it against your cheek. “I’m still wondering what to do with you. Like, should I maybe cut off a finger and send it to your brother as a gift?” he tilted his head as he slowly dragged the knife, making a clean cut that wasn’t deep but it still stung like hell, especially because your face was already mauled enough by his previous punching session.

“She’s an artist, man. Her hands are her most prized thing,” piped in the guy you had hit in the throat.

“That’s right!” gasped Nathaniel in realization. “Gabriel here, coming with the smart ideas,” he chuckled before he moved away from your face and in a flash stabbed your right hand with the knife, making you scream.

“Hey, man, let me have a go. This bitch almost made me choke to death,” rasped Gabriel as he rubbed at his sore throat and his friend nodded before he sharply pulled the knife out of your hand and gave it to the other one who eagerly took it. “You know, the old hag who runs this place is very naïve and stupid. She should’ve put cameras,” barked out the boy before bringing the knife down on your upper left arm, burying it painfully in your flesh and slowly dragging it downwards, making you scream and trash from the immense pain. You could literally feel the metal reach the bone and tear at your meat.

“You know,” drawled Nathaniel. “We’re seventeen now. We’re not kids anymore. We can find other ways to give you payback.”

Your eyes widened when you felt his hand slide over your inner thigh, fingers squeezing and digging painfully, leaving trails of bruises, before the hand went under your dress and rubbed against your crotch. Gabriel let out a boisterous laugh at your stunned, fearful expression while he pulled out the knife and left it on the ground, then rushed to grasp the spaghetti strap of your dress, harshly pulling it down and proceeding to tear the fabric of the garment.

“No! Please, no! Don’t!” you screeched and as if on cue, the diner’s door burst open, causing the boys to cease everything they were doing, entering a frozen state of shock as they looked at the intruder.

“What the fuck is going on here!?” yelled Hopper as his eyes tried to take in the sight in front of him. He had heard a commotion from the inside after getting out of his car and had run to the door only to find it locked. When he heard you screaming, he didn’t hesitate to use his strength to open it. He had definitely not expected to see you pinned down by four boys, bloody and beaten with a semi-torn dress and a hand shoved underneath it, doing god knows what.

He saw red.

First, he grabbed the guy who held your throat, hauling him up on his feet before delivering a punch that sent him unconscious on the floor. The other three snapped out of their stupor and scrambled to get up and make their escape but Hopper got them one by one, sending punch after punch and knocking them out. He had saved the one with the hand under your dress for last, utterly mauling the boy before finally sending him to sleep.

He rushed to kneel by your side when he finished with them, seeing you struggle to get up.

“T-they tried to-“ you hiccupped and he quickly brought you in for a hug.

“It’s ok, baby girl. You’re ok. I got you,” he spoke softly as he held you, feeling how much you shook as you clung to him and sobbed. He tried to calm down his raggedy panicked breathing as he eyed the four barely conscious boys and his hold on you tightened protectively.

“No one’s gonna hurt you now. I’m here.”

“Kid, can you hear me? C’mon, open your eyes,” you heard a familiar voice and willed yourself to obey, eyes fluttering open.

“That’s right, sweetie! Just like that!”

“Mom? Old man?” you muttered when your vision finally focused and you saw the two of them crouched right in front of you. They let out relived exhales and smiles as they stared at you, Joyce caressing your face as she tried to keep herself from sobbing.

When she and Hopper had found you slumped against the sofa with a bloody and mauled arm, they had jumped to the worst possible conclusion. But then they felt your pulse and hope returned before they tried waking you up.

“Do you think you can stand, baby? We can’t leave you here. The monster might come back,” your mom told you with wobbly voice and you nodded as you tried pushing yourself up but Hopper told you to sit on the sofa first and you obliged. He snatched your bag and began rummaging through it, finding some bandages you had packed just in case. He sat by your side and inspected the wound, nose scrunching up at your condition. The gashes were too big and deep and had to be cleaned with water. He couldn’t pour alcohol on such an open wound so he went straight for bandaging it in order to prevent more of the toxic particles from entering it. It seemed that they have done enough damage already because the wound was starting to swell and he suspected that an infection was settling in. They had to be quick with their journey for both your and Will’s safety. You hissed and whimpered when he tied the bandages around your limb and Joyce’s eyes welled with tears as she held your hand and whispered sweet nothings in order to keep you calm and grounded. It broke her heart seeing her precious baby suffer like this but she also felt proud of how brave you were being.

Once Hopper finished patching you up as best as he could in such a situation, he and Joyce were quick to grab your torso, help haul you up and keep you upright.

“You have enough strength to hold onto me, kid?” asked Hopper and you nodded. He then picked you in his arms, adjusting his hold on the weapon so he could still be able to freely point it at a target if need be.

“Hold on tight, ok sweetie? We’ll find Will as fast as we can and bring you to the hospital,” your mother pushed your damp hair away from your face and you nodded as you let your head rest on Hopper’s shoulder.

“Let’s get this over with,” he said confidently and Joyce nodded as the three of you headed further into the town in hope of finding Will.

The whole time you were slipping in and out of consciousness.

But even subconsciously you still held onto the one person in your life who had saved your ass too many times than you could count.

The person you considered a father.

You woke up to a blinding light, a parched throat, and a dull throbbing all over your body. You shuffled as you tried to find a more comfortable position and get a look around.

“Y/N?” came a quiet voice and you looked to your left, noticing another bed next to yours, occupied by no other than your brother.

“Will,” you gasped as you tried to sit up but once again, by habit, you used both your arms to prop yourself up which shot a shattering pain through your left arm, making you cry out as your body shuddered and dropped down on the bed.

“D-don’t get up! You’re hurt!” Will instructed frantically as he also shot up in order to get a better look and make sure you were ok. As ok as a person with mauled arm could be.

“I-I’m fine. I keep f-forgetting that my arm is fucked up,” you hissed.

At that moment, the door opened and your mother entered. Her eyes widened when she saw you curled on the bed in pain and rushed to your side.

“What happened, sweetie?! Does your arm hurt too much?” she asked as her hands grabbed the sides of your face, brushing your hair away as she tried to get a good look at you. “I’ll go get a doctor, ok? Don’t move too much!” before you could respond she was already hurrying out of the room.

“Are you alright, baby? Are you hurt?” you asked Will as you turned to look at him and he shook his head. He wasn’t looking as if he was on the brink of death anymore which was a significant improvement. “Do you know if… if they managed to kill the monster?” you whispered.

“Yes… they killed it,” he revealed and you let out a sigh of relief.

“I’m sorry,” you uttered and he looked at you incredulously.

“Sorry? For what?”

“For not coming to save you earlier? For not being able to-to protect you even after I came for you. I couldn’t… I couldn’t protect you from the monster even when I was right there,” you stuttered out as guilt and disappointment washed over you.

“That’s not true!” he exclaimed. “You came! You tried distracting it! You tried saving me! That’s more than enough!”

You let out a watery chuckle as you looked into his eyes which oozed truth and confidence to back up his words.

“Still… you’re not leaving my side from now on,” you gave him a smile and he returned it. “We stick together. Our family.”

Will woke up on the same night after the whole affair while you took two days to gain consciousness because of the blood loss you’ve suffered and because you had to battle off an infection. The doctors were confused as to how infection was so quick to develop but then again they didn’t know that an alien monster had sunk its filthy, slimy claws in your flesh or that you had spent quite some time trapped in another dimension where toxic particles rained down on you and had entered your wound before your mother and Hopper had found you and had wrapped it up.

You woke up for the first time on the night of the second day.

Will was discarded the next morning but the doctors wanted to keep you for forty-eight more hours before letting you leave and continue your healing journey at home, with frequent visits to the hospital. Hopper had used bear attack as an excuse for the large claw marks that had torn your arm and you had gotten over forty stitches after undergoing hours of surgery. You had been in the high-risk factor of developing sepsis which had sent Joyce into a panic attack and Hopper had to calm her down. Steve, Nancy, and the children had been at the hospital that night. They too had almost lost it.

Now everything was fine and you were out of danger with your arm on the way to recovery.

It was officially your third day at the hospital, and the first day you’ve been awake out of all when you got a visitor.

“Hey,” greeted Steve as he entered the room and slowly approached the bed. You were sitting up comfortably, back lying on big pillows as you read the book Jonathan had picked and brought you when he had come to take Will home earlier this morning.

“Hi,” you smiled at him as you closed the book and let it rest on your lap.

“Frankenstein? Kind of fitting isn’t it?” he chuckled as he sat on the chair next to the bed and you arched an eyebrow.

“Fitting, how?”

“There’s a monster in there… and there was a monster in here that we, uh, battled,” he shrugged and you let out a laugh, making him scrunch his eyebrows in confusion as a smile spread on his face.

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing… nothing…” you waved a hand as your giggles died down. “I’m surprised you’ve read it. You’re not that much into books. Especially the classics.”

“We had a project for literature at the end of last school year, remember? We teamed up for it. You picked that book,” shook his head Steve but his smile grew nonetheless.

“Right! Sorry, my head is a bit messy.”

“Nah, that’s understandable,” he chuckled before handing you something that was neatly wrapped up. “I got this for you.”

You gladly took it with a ‘Thanks’ and tugged the bow before lifting the lid of the box, only for you to find your favorite sweets inside.

“Only Steve Harrington can decide to fancily wrap up something as simple as candy,” you chuckled and he joined you, happy to see you smile after such a long time of you being a shell of the person you used to be. “Thank you,” you reached to grasp his shoulder with your right hand, careful of your wrapped up in a sling left arm, and brought him closer. He followed your lead, allowing you to do it, and closed his eyes to savor the kiss you placed on his cheek. When you pulled away, the two of you stared at each other for a while before he cleared his throat.

“I have something to tell you. I think you’re gonna like it.”

“Really? What is it?”

“I, uh, ditched Tommy and Carol,” he confessed and your eyes widened as a large smile graced your face.

“Are you serious!?”

“Yepp.”

“You’ve no idea how happy I am to hear this!” you almost squealed and his eyebrows shot to his hairline in amusement as he chuckled. He should have done that a long time ago. It had only taken him hearing one too many insults thrown at you and your family by Tommy and him spraying “Nancy the slut Wheeler” at the cinema in order to finally reach the conclusion that he didn’t need such people in his life.

Better late than never.

Suddenly, the door was pretty much thrown open as someone stormed inside.

“You shall not pass!” yelled a familiar voice. “Is what the receptionist said yet here I am!” exclaimed the person as he dramatically posed and you chuckled while Steve lifted a brow in confusion and slight irritation.

“Eddie!”

“Fair maiden,” he quickly glided over to your side and moved a hand from behind his back, revealing a flower. “I bring you this healing flower with the hopes that you’ll make a fast recovery. It’s as strong as the Athelas that elves use to heal their wounded,” he spoke dramatically as he bowed slightly, his hair falling to cover his face, offering you the flower and you chuckled as you took it from his hand.

“It’s wonderful, Eddie. Thank you,” you gave him a bright smile and he grinned widely before straightening up and dragging a chair closer to you, plopping down on it unceremoniously.

“And you are?” asked Steve as he looked the boy up and down.

“Eddie Munson,” he offered a hand with a slightly faltered smile and Steve looked at it then back at the boy, before he grasped it.

“Steve Harrington.”

“Yeah, I know who you are.”

Your eyes darted between the two boys and you could feel tension pouring out of them in waves. You knew very well what Eddie thought of the popular people at school, being a victim to many of them. But Steve was a good person and he was changing for the better. He wasn’t a bully like Tommy and the others.

“Ok!” you exclaimed, pulling them out of their staring contest. “The more, the merrier! What shall we do to pass time?” you asked and Steve pulled something out of his bag.

“I was thinking we could play Trivial Pursuit,” he smiled as he placed it on your lap and you lifted a brow.

“I thought you weren’t a big fan of Trivial Pursuit.”

“Why? Athletes can’t be bothered to learn some common knowledge?” snorted Eddie and Steve shot him a dirty glare.

“Why not? We love learning new stuff every day. For example, I didn’t know they shaved heads in Juvie but now I do,” he snipped and Eddie frowned.

“At least I don’t pretend to be something I’m not, Harrington.”

“Yeah, that’s why you’ll end up being like your father sooner or later, Munson.”

“Steve, that was way out of line!” you snapped and he looked at you incredulously, hand pointing to the other boy who looked utterly stunned by Steve’s last comment.

“He started it!”

“Yeah, but you were extra mean! I thought you were going to stop with the jackass remarks,” you frowned and he let out a sigh, lifting his hands in surrender. “And Eddie, it’s true, you started it. It was totally uncalled for,” you turned your attention to the other boy who looked away abashedly. “Jesus, what’s wrong with boys nowadays,” you huffed as you glared at them both. “Apologize to each other and shake hands,” you commanded and they looked at you in disbelief. “Now! Or leave,” you pointed at the door and they looked at one another before Steve offered his hand.

“Sorry…I shouldn’t have said that,” he mumbled and Eddie huffed as he accepted his hand, lips twitching a bit in a smile.

“Nah, I shouldn’t have started it.”

Your angry expression quickly melted into a satisfied one as you watched the boys make even. It was funny how awkward they were being but you hoped that the three of you could still have some fun playing board games and talking about trivial things.

Who knows, maybe something good would come out of all this.

“Welcome home, sweetie!” sang out Joyce as she opened the door and entered with you following closely.

“It’s good to be back, at last,” you sighed tiredly as you looked around.

Your house was in a much better condition than you last saw it. Your mother and brother had worked a lot these past days in order to fix what was broken, replace what was irreparable, and clean up the whole mess left after a week of grieving and monster hunting. Now it almost looked just like it used to before the whole Demogorgon incident.

“Y/N!” exclaimed Will as he set foot in the living room, having bolted out of his room after hearing your voice. He ran to you and almost collided against your side in his rush to hug you. You hissed out in pain when your arm was jerked and he immediately pulled away, looking at you apologetically and in panic. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry!”

“It’s ok, honey. Don’t worry about it,” you chuckled as you brought him back into your one-arm embrace and caressed his head lovingly. “I missed you too.”

“Hey, now, don’t forget us!” cried out Joyce as she and Jonathan joined the hug, mindful not to crush you or Will. “The two of you are not leaving my sight, you hear that?” asked your mom as she planted kisses on your and Will’s head and you rolled your eyes good-naturedly.

“Moom! It’s over. Everything is going to be ok from now on.”

“Right…right. Of course, it will be!” she smiled before heading to the kitchen and beckoning Jonathan to go help her warm up the food and set the table.

Meanwhile, Will grabbed your hand and led you to sit on the sofa, silently insisting that you rest. You patted the seat next to you and he climbed on it, not needing a second invitation. He curled at your right side and you patted his head gently, placing a kiss on his temple. You could feel that he was afraid. He was trying to be tough but you knew he was afraid and traumatized. And you couldn’t blame him for it. There was a tough battle ahead of you. But you knew you’d be able to overcome it as long as you supported and loved one another.

You really hoped and prayed that things would start getting better and better and that you would find peace.

But for some reason, there was something whispering in the depths of your subconscious mind, that this wasn’t over.

You chose to ignore it.

#stranger things x reader #stranger things #stranger things fanfiction #will byers x reader #jonathan byers x reader #hopper x reader #hopper x daughter!reader #steve harrington #steve x reader #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington fanfic #eddie x reader #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson fanfic #eddie munson #byers!reader #reader #reader insert

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stevie-petey · 6 months ago

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OH MY GOD THE BATHROOM SCENE THAT WAS PURE PERFECTION!!! I loved how Steve and bug teased Robin about Tammy. Steve being helpless and needing bug for everything, and bug just having to be their babysitter. She's the babysitter's babysitter. More like a nanny cause it's 24/7 for this poor girl. Bug having to scold Robin and Steve, and trying to get them to behave was so real. I just know that girl has a headache. Johnathan and bug running to each other 😭❤️. God I love them so much. They were so worried about one another. ( I saw a photo of robins shoes on Tiktok, it had titties drawn on and it showed how Jonathan immediately clocked her) Dustin being such a loudmouth and telling everyone that Steve and bug kissed. I loved the reactions too, Mike being absolutely disgusted, Lucas cheering, Jonathan choking😭. That must be so weird for all of them to finally see bug moving on in a sense. Dustin is gonna be so sick of stug I can't wait.

Dustin ranting to the party: " I go to bed, he's not there, I wake up and he's in my kitchen!!! He's ruining the sanctity of my home!"

Mike: " That's just sick."

I wanna know how the betting ring turned out, who won? Did anyone? Or did Steve wait too long? Did someone bet it would take a near death experience? If so I bet it was Jonathan.

Nancy feeling guilty about their fight and not knowing how to approach bug. Did she talk to Jonathan about it? Or did she keep it to herself? I'm sure in the elevator at the hospital Jonathan would've explained himself. Which would probably add to Nancy's guilt.

I can't wait to see bug take care of el. You know if El was having trouble bug would be right there to help her and comfort her. Maybe one last scene with bug and hopper😭. But on the bright side MURRAYYY. God he's gonna get sidetracked with all the teenage drama. Like they get their plan ready and he starts talking to the kids trying to gauge the situation.

Once again, I loved the chapter!! Truly the only thing that reduced my stress today thank you🙏🙏🙏

writing bug as the overworked babysitter had me gigglin i cant lie LMAO like she was just. so over it. add the fact that both the idiots are in love with her and boom: poor bug cant catch a break

and dustin WILL eventually get sick of steve mans will become even more dependent on bug once theyre together <33333 and the party will be hearing horrendous stories about it all (as for the betting ring ,,,,, that question will be answered in the next chapter !!)

the reunion between jon n bug i was SO excited for them to be together again :((( its the longest theyve gone without having scenes together i was deprived and sad. season 4 will SUCK for my lil jon n bug heart </3

in my mind i see nancy DID talk to jon about everything in the elevator. after theyve apologized to one another she asked him why he went to bug and not her, and jon would be surprised she even knew about that. hed explain that he needed his best friend, he was scared hed lose nancy and needed advice and that bug always somehow knows how to force the words out of him. that hes not used to communicating yet and that hes working on it for nancy. when she hears this, she understands a bit more and DOES feel even worse. she immediately regretted yelling at bug in the first place, so hearing jon explain that it truly wasnt anything more than “im sad and need my bestie” ,,,, she feels like shit

bug and hopper scene 🤭🤭🤭🤭 good luck guys ! and murray will DEF be a treat lmao

#ask #anon #m speaks #nyas insight #looooove breaking down long asks its my crack #also this ask made me realize i somehow forgot wills reaction ?????????#guys i keep forgetting to add will idk whats happening to me #i love that boy i feel bad

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yoditopascal · 1 year ago

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Heat of the Moment (Part Four)

summary: ‘Adopted daughter to police chief Jim Hopper, Shea has a hard enough time fitting in at Hawkins high, throw in monsters, meddling kids, and alternate dimensions into the mix and she’s not sure how she’ll survive.’

content warning: some angst, character deaths, period-typical racism, period-typical sexism, canon-typical violence, possible smut later on??? (honestly we’ll see), cussing, mutual pining, found family, drug use, this is a reader insert but I hate using y/n so your nickname is ‘Shea’

Previous Chapter//Next Chapter

Vecna's Curse

Unfortunately for the group Steve and Robin still had to work so they collectively decided, meaning fought over with rock paper scissors, to wait till their shift was over to go to Rick’s place

“What’s the deal with you and Eddie by the way?” Dustin asked as they munched on some fries in the parking lot on the roof of Shea’s car. It was a little past 6pm and they were still waiting on Robin and Steve to get off work so they decided to grab a snack to pass the time. Max was sitting on the hood with her headphones over her ears blasting Kate Bush as they conversed.

“What do you mean?”

“ I mean I’ve barely seen you guys even interact with each other let alone hang out and now he’s all asking about you at lunch and stuff?” Dustin said as he dipped his fries into a huge glob of ketchup and shoved them in his mouth, waiting for Shea’s response

“He was asking about me?” She could feel her cheeks heat up a bit as she answered his question with a question.

“Yeah like a lot, it’s pretty gross” Dustin scoffed as he scrunched up his face at her

“We’re just friends” she retorted a little too quickly for Dustin’s liking but the teen decided to leave well enough alone and went back to his fries

Finally, off of work, it was well past 10 pm when the five of them piled up into Shea’s car and headed over to the Lipton residence on Holland road.

The street ahead was pitch black save for the few lights that shown through the trees from their headlights. Pulling into the dark driveway Dustin was the first to bounce out of the car with his flashlight and race up to the front door ringing the doorbell over and over again waiting impatiently as no one answered

“Guys I don’t think he’s here,” Steve said walking up behind Dustin, he put a hand on his shoulder and tried to steer him towards the car but was shrugged off.

“Eddie! It’s Dustin! We just wanna talk!”

Stepping outta the car with their own flashlights Max Robin and Shea walked around the seemingly empty house, peeking into the windows with their lights as they walked before coming back to the front door where Dustin continued to beat on.

“We just wanna help!” He pleaded as he kept up his tirade on the front door

“Reefer Rick!” Dustin tried one last time

“Dude! Don’t shout that!” Robin shushed him

“There’s no one here man!” Steve shouted tired of Dustin and his pounding already, he was seriously starting to get a headache now with all this Eddie business.

“Hey guys?” Max called from a little ways off from the group.

Turning their attention to her they realized she was shining her light at the boathouse off to the side of the home that had a light on for some reason.

The group slowly approached the boathouse, shining their lights into the windows as they neared, trying to get a decent look inside. When they couldn’t see past the dust and cobwebs that cover them Steve pushed the girls back behind him as he and Dustin entered into the unlocked boathouse first.

It was dark and damp inside the boathouse with nautical equipment decorating the floor and walls

“Hello? Robin called “Anyone home?”

No one answered as the group continued to look around, searching for any type of clue that Eddie might have been there.

A big thud cause everyone to jump as they all turned their flashlights towards the sound and found Steve poking at the large tarp that covered the boat in the center with an oar.

“What are you doing?” Dustin asked, scared half to death

“He might be in there,” Steve said as he continued to poke and prod at the tarp

“So why are you beating it?!” Shea whisper shouted not wanting to scare whoever could possibly be under the tarp off

“It could not be him!” Steve whisper shouted back

“Dude just take the tarp off!” Dustin whispered as he walked up to the other side Steve watching him continue to poke the tarp tiredly.

“If you’re so brave you take the tarp off!”

Just as Shea was about to make another remark the tarp went flying as Eddie jumped to his feet from underneath. Broken bottle in hand he backed Steve up into the wall with the glass at his throat.

“Wait wait wait!” Steve cried his hands in the air in surrender.

“Whoa, Eddie stop!” Dustin cried his hands up in defense from behind Shea. She had instinctively placed herself between him and Eddie before she realized who it was.

“Eddie! It’s me! It’s Dustin!” Dustin tried to reason. “This is Steve!” He said realizing that Eddie probably had no idea who Steve was.

“Steve’s not gonna hurt you, Eddie! Tell him, Steve!”

“Right, yep I’m cool man,” Steve said as he swallowed thickly

“Eddie why don’t you drop the bottle and we can talk about this ok?” Shea said finally drawing his attention away from Steve for a split second as he just realized she was there.

“W-what are you guys doing here?” He asked as his voice trembled, his grip on the bottle tightening as Steve flinched.

“We’re looking for you!” Dustin cried again stepping around Shea to get closer to his friend

“We’re here to help Eddie!” Shea said, putting her hand on Dustin's shoulder to stop him.

“These are our friends,” Dustin said pointing to Robin and Max who stood stock still behind them.

“You know Robin from band, the is my friend Max the one who never wants to play dnd”

“You know me, Eddie,” Shea said approaching him with her hands out, she gently placed a hand on his holding the broken beer bottle “Please Eddie it’s ok”

“I swear on my mother! We’re on your side! Right guys?”

“Yes we swear!”

“Y-yeah on Dustin’s mother!”

“Eddie” Shea called one last time, her grip on his hand tightened softly enough to let him know she wanted him to let go but not hard enough to hurt him. Looking into her eyes he searched for any hint that this was a trick, any hint that the minute he let Steve go she’d turn him over to the cops but the longer he looked into her eyes the more he realized she was being genuine.

With a shaky sigh, Eddie pushed himself off Steve and dropped the bottle

“Oh thank Christ you’re ok!” Shea cried as she went to pull him into a tight hug once he dropped the bottle. Eddie flinched at the contact at first, still terrified after everything he’s been through but eventually, he slowly returned the hug before he slouched down to his knees on the floor with Shea seated beside him.

“We wanna know what happened,” Dustin says as he kneels down in front of Eddie

“You won’t believe me” he sniffled

“Try us” Max said causing Eddie to look up at her before he sighed.

Rubbing his face with his hand Eddie spent the next few minutes trying his best to describe exactly what had happened at his place as Shea gently held his hand in hers, rubbing it with her thumbs trying to soothe him as he spoke.

“Her body just like lifted into the air and uh, she just hung there and her bones god her bones just started to snap!” He cried rubbing at the bridge of his nose.

“H-her eyes it’s like there was s-something in her head pulling them.” He sniffed, refusing to meet any of the party’s eyes.

“I-I didn’t know what to do so I- I ran”

“I tried to wake her but I-it was like she was in a trance or something”

“Or under a spell,” Dustin added

“A curse…” Eddie added on further completely mystified at the idea that this was all really happening

“Vecna’s curse…” Dustin said somberly as if just realizing something.

“Fuck you guys think I’m crazy.” Eddie sighed as he came to the end of his explanation shaking his head as he looked back down at the floor.

“You’re not crazy Eddie, far from it” Shea tried to reason with him but Eddie just snatched his hand from hers and shook his head again.

“Don’t bullshit me, man! I know how this sounds.” He screamed visibly shaking now. He knew how this sounded to any sane person, hell if he had heard something like this he’d personally be high tailing it outta there ready to send the guy on a one-way trip to Pennhurst.

“We’re not! We believe you!” Dustin reiterated as he tried to calm his friend. He reached out to touch his hand but Eddie flinched away, saddening the teen as he did so.

“Look what I’m about to tell you might be a little …difficult to take in.” Eddie looked at Dustin like he was crazy but slowly nodded his head anyways.

“You know how people say Hawkins is cursed?”

“Yeah?”

“They’re not..way off”

The group all takes a seat surrounding Eddie as they begin to explain to him about El and the upside down and everything that’s been going on in Hawkins since the beginning.

It was nearing 1 am when the group decided it was time they left so that their parents didn’t go out looking for any of them. Shea was skeptical about leaving Eddie behind again, offering to let him stay at her place once again, but with the cops now involved everyone thought it best to let him stay where he was.

“Don’t worry Hops I’ll be ok” he said holding her hands as the rest of the group began leaving the boathouse. Trying to reassure both her and himself.

“Are you sure? I can stay with you” she asked as her thumb rubbed over his pig ring. She looked down t the ground before looking back up at his face searching his eyes but he looked away from her putting his other hand over hers before letting her go.

“Nah you have work in the morning I’ll be fine” Shea looked back at him one last time before she walked out the door, Eddie watching her through one of the boathouse windows. He watched her as she went to open the back door but was stopped by Steve.

“Can we talk for a minute?” Steve asks pulling Shea to the side, closing the car door behind them

“What’s up, Harrington?” She sighed, she was still pretty irritated with him and didn’t really want to hear what he had to say.

“When Eddie had that bottle at my neck…for a split second my whole life flashed before my eyes and I thought I was gonna die with you still mad at me over something stupid.” He sighed

“Look Shea I’m really sorry ok? I was outta line-“

“No I uh I get it Steve,” she said pushing her hair from her face. “the whole Billy thing I get it you’re just being…well you” She sighed again, really what more could she expect from Steve Harrington?

“You’re like the brother I never knew I needed.”

“Someone’s gotta look out for you shithead” he chuckled as he grabbed her shoulder reassuringly and pulled her under his arm in a side hug

“So we’re still cool?” He asked.

“Like the other side of the pillow Harrington”

She says pulling him into a tight hug.

From the window of the boathouse Eddie could see her wrap her arms around Harrington and he could feel a sense of dread in the pit of his stomach watching them.

tag list: @imatrisk @spoonflix @elitesanjisimp @sadbitchfangirl

#heat of the moment masterlist #eddie munson #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x black reader #eddie munson x black!reader #heat of the moment

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ghxstchronicals · 3 months ago

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•☽────✧˖°˖ 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗴𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗼𝗴𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 ˖°˖✧────☾•

except I poorly explain it in my own words

⌞ harlexon ⌝

➜. they're poly, but Haru didn't come 'til later! that being said...

➜. Alex and Dilon are childhood friends, turned lovers ! but. omg. in highschool they were the worst. I'm so serious.

➜. they were borderline DATING already. they could kiss, cuddle, hold hands, and Alex would pop out with the "what are we?" and Dilon just wouldn't answer

➜. a rift was caused when Alex kissed Dilon with Derek's support (Dilon SMILED???? he enjoyed it) ... but then she started avoiding him so like. okay.

➜. he made it no better tho??? he got more and more upset and bitchy as time went on, and NO communication happened.

➜. then they had a sleepover and were forced to sleep together, and had a very awkward conversation ⤿ "... it's pretty hot right now, isn't it?" "it's below sixty degrees in here." "right... I meant-" "shut the fuck up."

➜. don't worry! they work it out, and come out the next day ACTUALLY together. they were basically insufferable for everybody, with obvious crushes on each other, but everytime someone asked, it was always "what? no, we're not together??" (or "we're not???")

➜. they are happily married tho !! have been for years now <33

➜. Haru and Dilon, as i've posted so you should know already, went from strangers, to kinda friends, to fuckbuddies

➜. they didn't exactly "get together" until Alex got back, so they had sort of a situationship going on.

➜. that said, Haru and Alex hated each other. on Haru's end, this is the girl who took the love of his life from him, and on Alex's end, this guy is really trying to compete with me for my husband. what the fuck

➜. ... long story short; they fucked and Haru casually inserted himself into their relationship (the poly was his idea)

⌞ josmora ⌝

➜. love at first sight. literally !!

➜. Shamora fell first, Josh fell harder. she saw him when passing through ballet classes to get to her boxing class (nonamericans, DONT look up if ballet/boxing classes are real in the state of California. you'll find out that Im lying)

➜. she saw a pretty girl (pre-josh transition) and went. woah.

⤿ Shamora was terribly a lesbian before Josh (post-transition)

➜. she's acting all weird now, so come lunch time, her friends piece it together that she has a crush (she used to be obvious like that)

➜. Josh didn't acknowledge Shamora's existence until one day she scared off a group of nobody-girls that were fucking with him, then she invited him over to sit with her and her friends

➜. they IMMEDIATELY hit it off, and they're the only couple here that acknowledges that they're dating before they're even dating

➜. before they get married, and after he came out, Shamora paid for his top surgery and all other needed things (no bot-surg), and he married her faster

➜. That One Couple that makes you sick. the couple with the couple goals!

⌞ dash ⌝

➜. now lookie here.

➜. they're like. worse than Dilon and Alex.

➜. except it's not even Ash's fault. Derek is just a WHORE

➜. i'd argue that they're worse than Alex and Dilon...but I digress.. On one hand, Ash had a crush on Derek for the longest... the only problem was that Derek was a HOPPER.

➜. like... first, it's his twin sister's bf, a girl at one point, some more guys... oh look at that, he married Joseph of all people.

➜. now, this is probably the first time Ash directly interfered with Derek's relationships. mostly because Joseph was...Joseph. abusive, manipulative, cunning -- not that Derek didn't hit his ass back, but still.

➜. Derek even had his baby - only to get it taken after the divorce because (via Joseph) he was too "mentally ill" to take care of the kid (Joseph didn't get the kid either so)

➜. Ash and Derek saw each other during Derek's three-year headache... and then they finally got together themselves. oh my god Ash ily (no I don't)

⌞ jerelucy ⌝

➜. mommy and daddy of the group (literally)

➜. ran(runs) a successful business, hence the wealthiness of the family, be it biological, married into or found

➜. however, we're not discussing how they got together, rather their "falling out".

➜. headcanon that Jeremy is a lightweight... a terrible holder of alcohol.

➜. because he and Lucy were happy, excruciatingly so. with three kids, and newly born twins !!

➜. until Jeremy was working late out one night. he can't remember much except for waking up with a headache, then proceeding to turn to wrap his arms around his- this was not his wife.

➜. sitting up frantically, he'd find that he wasn't even at the penthouse. he honestly doesn't think her threw up any faster than he did right then and there.

➜. of course Lucy found out about it, and of course she was rightfully pissed about it.

➜. this led to frequent arguments - their oldest son gone, and their oldest daughter out in college already, leaving their second-older son to take care of the twins while they became strangers in their own home

➜. Jeremy lost himself the moment Lucy tried to divorce him. he became an entirely different person--not the gentleman he once was-- it the good father he was before.

➜. he wasn't active in his kids' life much anymore. but he did grieve when Dilon committed suicide when he was only...nine?

➜. while still not as active, he refused to go through with the divorce. Lucy never took him to court for it either. why??

➜. she was hurt and heartbroken, but she still loved him as much as she hated him now, even if he was a stranger now

#【 💚 】 . cameron posting . . .#【 ᡣ𐭩 】 . loredumping . . .#i'd do jarchie #but TECHNICALLY #they're not even together #they're like. a secret third thing #cuz they're not NOT together #this was in the drafts

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wolfkg · 2 years ago

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Never Alone

Billy Hargrove x Eddie Munson x Fem!Reader

Part 2

A/N: This is defiently the best/favorite fanfic I have writtien. Thank you for liking it as much as I do. Not sure how many parts are going to be in this story because I’m still writing this story but I will post what I have and see where it goes. Thank you all for the support again I love you all :)

Warnings: Language, bondage, injury, blood

Immediately Billy’s tone changed when he spoke “Where are you, darling?” I whisper back as the footsteps were getting closer “my bedroom bathroom it's the first thing I thought of doing but my record player is playing and there bound to get in here soon.” I can hear him running around the shop probably getting his keys “Y/n it's going to be ok I’m on my way darling stay hidden and quiet for as long as you can.” Now I heard two different footsteps heading to my bedroom and started shaking “please Billy hurry.” The sound of my bedroom door being kicked in caused me to drop the phone, possibly hanging it up I didn’t even touch it the second I heard voices outside the door. “She isn’t here Jason” the voice I recognized immediately was Tommy Hagan the Tommy Hagan who I was told moved to California what's he doing here with Jason? What's Jasons plan for me now? “Let not give up just yet Tommy she’s here keep looking.” The sound of my record player smashing into the ground made me cover my mouth afraid I would let out a sound. The two boy's footsteps moved around my room tossing thing left and right, “I know you’re here witch, we’ve been watching the house for weeks we know you’re here, just make it easier on yourself and come out and talk to Tommy and I.” Jason speaking mad me shake with tears falling down my eyes the sound of footsteps stopping in front of the bathroom door made my breath hitch. A shadow appeared under the door then before I knew it the bathroom door was kicked in and standing before me was Jason and Tommy. “Get her to the bed Tommy.”

Billy’s Pov

Adrenaline coursed through me as I jumped into my car flooring it down the street to Y/n’s place. I immediately called Eddie hoping he would answer. “Come on Eddie pick up.” The phone rang three times before he picked up “Hey handsome on intermission” I didn’t let him finish as I spoke frantically “Eddie you must get to Y/n’s house someone broke in I don’t know who, but I have a suspicion it has something to do with Jason.” I heard Eddie arguing with his manager saying he had to go and wasn’t going to argue with him “I’m on my way Billy, I’ll meet you at her house it's going to ok.” I wasn’t sure if he was assuring me or himself, but I hung up and dialed Hoppers number. The phone rang and rang but no answer, I called again but still the same outcome “Where the hell are you Hop!?!” I then thought of him possibly being out with Joyce, so I called her next still speeding down the road. Joyce answered on the first ring making me sigh in relief “Billy?” “Joyce, is Hop with you? I need you to put him on the phone!” She must have handed him the phone saying it was me. “What’s so important to interrupt on my day off Hargrove?” I was shaking with anger and anxiety trying to calm down and not insult Hopper knowing he doesn’t know the emergency “Hop I need you to get to Y/n’s house now someone broke in she's in trouble.” Without question Hopper said he would meet me there and hung up. I was a few blocks away when I saw smoke and smelled it as well hoping and praying it wasn’t Y/n’s place. I drove around the corner only for my hoping and praying it wasn’t her place to fade away until it was staring at me right in the face. Fear, anger, anxiety all mixed into my emotions as I parked and jumped out of my car seeing with my own eyes that Y/n’s place was on fire.

Y/n’s Pov

A blinding headache was what I felt the second I opened my eyes, everything around me was blurry and hazy but it was all becoming clear when I felt my legs tied together and my hands. I tried to move and get up but to no avail, I tried to speak as well but something was covering my mouth making me panic. Once my eyes adjusted to my surroundings, I was laying on my bed with my hands handcuffed to the headboard and my legs taped together with my room illuminated with candles making the room look dark and red. I tried to break out of my restrains as much as possible and scream out for help but the tape on my mouth kept it all in. The sudden sound of someone walking into the room made me freeze and look to see Jason and Tommy both smiling my way. “I wouldn’t try nothing if I were you.” I started shaking with fear when Jason kneeled beside me smiling “its ok Y/n this was bound to happen sooner or later, people fear you some want you out of town and some want you dead. Turns out no one can decide what to do with you but, I’ve decided to take matters into my own hands. You turned my best friend against me, you turned the town freak into a popular rockstar.” Jason then got up and moved around the room while speaking. “The spell you have Billy under will disappear the second you’re gone, and everything will go back to normal, Billy and I will take care of the freak ourselves. Witches belong in hell, which is where you're going to go when Tommy and I are done with you. I stuck with Tommy’s threat to you back in high school burning you at the stake, but I had a better idea.”

In my panic I didn’t realize that around the room besides the candles were propane tanks and gas tanks and the smell of gasoline hit my nose so hard my eyes started watering. They were really going to kill me all because of a rumor that Jason started. “Don’t worry all the gasoline you smell is downstairs we wouldn’t want to you die quickly now would we.” Tommy spoke “will start the fire downstairs it will burn everything there then work its way up to your bedroom then blow up, not unless the smoke kills you first.” I screamed and pleaded with him through the tape to let me go but nothing was getting through, and I knew that. “Freaks hang and Witches burn, I’m sorry it had to come to this Y/n.” The boys then walked out of the room leaving me handcuffed to the bed screaming at them to come back. But I knew they wouldn’t there determined to kill me, to finally kill the Witch of Hawkins and then hang Eddie “the freak” Munson after. I pulled on the handcuffs trying desperately to escape, the sound of glass breaking downstairs warned me that the fire had started so I only had so long to break out of my situation. I immediately start scooting up to get the tape closer to the handcuffs trying to rip it off.

I ignored the sound of things breaking and burning downstairs as I finally got the tape off my mouth, breathing in the smoke that was gathering on the ceiling, the burning sensation in my throat caused me to cough and panic at the same time. The cuffs were tight and restraining me from moving as much as I wanted to, I pulled and as much as could, but the cuffs just kept sinking into my wrist causing me to scream out wanting so desperately to break free, to live, to be ok but the cuffs just wouldn’t budge. I yanked and pulled on the cuffs a few more times before the smoke was getting too much into my lungs and causing my eyes to water and become blurry. The smoke was getting darker as well, letting me know it was getting closer to my room, who knew how much the fire destroyed downstairs and how much time I had left till it got up here. The cuffs were staying and so was I, I excepted my fate now. The fate the entire town wanted, for me to burn in hell. The thought of dying this way, the thought of never seeing my boys again brought tears to my eyes as I pulled one last time as hard as I could on the cuffs hoping the headboard would break. I watched as the blood dripped from my wrist not caring and just hoping I would be free but to no avail. I let my arms fall back down onto the headboard as tears continued to fall down my face as I let out a bloodcurdling scream.

The smoke was getting to me too much now that my vision was fading in and out, as I was coughing every five seconds. The smoke in my lungs was causing me to have a headache and possible hallucinations because the next thing I knew I was looking into the eyes of Billy, my Billy. “Darling, can you hear me?” His voice was fading in and out as he was so I knew he wasn’t real he couldn’t be, I had to be already dead. I then saw Eddie fading in behind him trying to get my attention as well “Billy? Eddie?” They both tried speaking to me, but I couldn’t hear them. “Handcuffs, headboard” was what I could get out “Eddie” Eddie faded away assuming he had disappeared along with everything around me, but I then felt my arms finally fall from the headboard and someone pull me into their arms. The visions talked more but nothing was getting to me, I then felt the metal leave my wrist and someone whisper “stay with me Darling.” I think I was being carried but it also felt like floating, I couldn’t tell what was happening, what was real but the warmth I was feeling wrapped around me just brought me safety and comfort and I didn’t want to leave it. Different things happened at once warmth turned to cold the second, I was gone from whatever gave me comfort and safety. There were bright lights all around me as I felt I was swaying back and forward like in a boat. My vision was nothing but bright and smoggy not knowing what I’m looking at and where I was, with so much happening my body finally gave into it tired state and I sighed excepting my death, and never seeing my boys ever again. I hope they know how much I loved them and wished our time together lasted longer than it did. My body finally relaxed as everything faded away.

Billy’s Pov

Fire. That’s all I saw when I stepped out of my car. Y/n’s house was a blaze with people surrounding the area, mostly her neighbors. I couldn’t take my eyes off the blaze as I heard Eddie’s van tires screeching to a halt next to my car. I then saw Hopper and Joyce pull up in Hopper's car on the other side of the street. Hopper was talking to his radio, probably calling for the fire department. Eddie was now beside me looking at Y/n’s house as shocked as I was, we both looked at each other knowing what we had to do and before Hop or anyone could stop us, we were both running into the house to save our girl. The smoke and fire were all around the Livingroom destroying everything in its path, boards were falling off hinges. “Billy her room” the fire hadn't reached the stairs yet, so we had to hope she was up there okay. I ran up the stairs with Eddie right behind me. The smoke is much worse upstairs, but we keep going. Once we get to her room the first thing, we see is a bunch of propane and gasoline tanks surrounding her bed with Y/n handcuffed and legs tapped together, the anger was boiling inside me, but I put it away the second I moved to her side trying to get her attention “Darling can you hear me?” she looked at me but it looked like she wasn’t there, her face was pale and eyes red from the smoke but she spoke to me “Billy, Eddie?” I nodded and Eddie spoked “we’re here darling we’re going to get you out of here.” The next thing she said confused us “handcuffs, headboard” it was like she was here with us, and she wasn’t. Eddie moved instantly to the left side of her and started to kick the headboard in until it broke away dropping her hands onto her lap.

I scooped her into my arms and her head fell into the crook of my shoulder, as Eddie cut off the tape from her legs. I looked in Eddie’s direction as he looked at the state of our girl whoever did this will be dead where they stand, Eddie pulled his lock pick out of his pocket “I got the cuffs.” They clicked off her wrist and Eddie ripped some of his shirt wrapping the pieces around her injuries. “We need to get her out of here Ed’s” he nodded “the fire hasn’t hit the stairs yet if we make it down before it does, we should be able to get to the front door.” I nod and lift her up “I got her, lead the way, Eddie.” He walked out the door as I followed, just having her in my arms still breathing gives me hope that she’ll be ok, we just needed to get her to a hospital. The hallway was covered with smoke, but we moved fast enough to not breathe as much in. We moved fast down the steps heading for the front door when the threshold came crumbling down blocking our way out. “Shit, Billy the side window.” I saw Eddie running to the window, but I turned around to notice the fire trailing up the stairs making me follow Eddie faster. “You first Ed’s then I’ll pass her to you but quick the fire heading to her room.” He nodded and moved through the window making it to the other side and encouraged me to hand Y/n over to him which I did slowly, once Eddie had her I jumped through the window knowing her house was going to blow any minute. Eddie gave Y/n back to me as he went to get the attention of the ambulance, and I took her far from the house.

I yelled at Hopper and Joyce and everyone around to get back, so they did, halfway to the ambulance the house behind me exploded making Y/n’s house completely collapse leaving nothing but fire and wood piled into one. Eddie came back next to me with the paramedics who took her out of my arms and placed her in the gurney leading her to the ambulance. We both followed about to jump into the ambulance, but they stopped us “Sorry family only.” I looked at them angrily “sir we’re all she’s got please.” but they wouldn’t let us, so Joyce offered to go and said she would keep an eye on her, she told them she was her adopted daughter, so they let her on. Eddie and I watched the ambulance take our girl away hopefully to help her. Hopper and Steve who probably showed up when Eddie and I went to get Y/n. “What the hell were you two thinking running into a fire like that, you could have been killed.” Hopper yelled moving us away from the house to his car, he continued to tell us that it was reckless to do that while Eddie tried to defend us both, but my attention went elsewhere, my attention was to the man hiding in the shadows of the forest.

Jason, Jason fucking Carver. I knew he was the cause of all this, and I was not about to let him get away with it. Jason walked into the darkness of the forest causing me to shove passed Steve and Eddie call after me. Assuming Hopper was following me as well I picked up my pace towards Jason hoping Hopper won't stop me from killing him. The second I was close enough I grabbed the back of his collar turned him around to face me and pinned him to a tree “you mother fucker.” he then laughed “nice to see you to best friend.” I shoved him even harder to the tree “I'm not your friend, you almost killed Y/n tonight, and you don’t get to live after that.” Eddie then came running through the trees seeing I had Jason pinned to a tree he immediately turned from confusion to anger. “Oh, look whose joined the party, king of the freaks.” Jason yelled in Eddie direction making me punch him hard in the face breaking his nose “call Eddie a freak again I dare you.” Eddie walked up next to me; I moved aside giving Eddie enough room to watch him knee Jason in the stomach. “You touched our girl, you layed your hands on her, almost kill her tonight and for that, for that Carver you’re going to pay.” Eddie then kicked him in the head as I kicked him in the stomach. Eddie then took out his knife ready to use it when Hopper yelled at us to stop but we didn’t want to we couldn’t he had to pay, he had to fucking die. Hopper pushed me away from Jason, while Steve held Eddie back. “This won't fix anything. This won't change what happened boys.” Eddie spoke before me “It may not but it will make me feel so much better.” Hopper picked up Jason and had him leaning on the tree behind him “you both do this; you kill this boy you end up going to jail and what do you think will happen to Y/n? She’ll have no one she already lost her house don’t have her lose you both too.”

Eddie and I looked at each other knowing he was right, Eddie pushed Steve off him while I backed away from Jason and Hopper. Jason then started laughing which got all our attention. “Is something funny Carver.” He continued to laugh as he spoke “you all, so eager to protect the Witch when she’s poisoning you all.” Hopper's expression changed instantly the second he called Y/n a Witch “what did you say?” Jason then laughed harder as blood was trickled down his nose “the Witch may have survived today but there's always tomorrow and the next day. I won't stop until her spell is broken on this town, me and Tommy will end it.” Anger boiled in me by the mention of Tommy’s name “you got that psychopath to help you!?!” he laughed more “he wanted her to burn since he met her.” Hopper was face to face with him “are you admitting to trying to kill Y/n tonight.” He laughed again making me want to wipe the grin off his face, Eddie noticed and grabbed my hand making me calm down instantly. “Maybe I am maybe I'm not but whatever happened she dissevered, and if you arrest me my father will just bail me out and I’ll try again.” If that didn’t convince Hopper I don’t know what will. Hopper pulled out his handcuffs and yanked Jason away from the tree he was leaning on. He then led him to a smaller skinnier tree putting one handcuff on and slamming his back into the tree. Hopper put his arms behind his back handcuffing him to the tree which left Eddie and I confused. “Hey sheriff what the hell are you doing?” He ignored Jason and walked up to Eddie and I smiling. “Jason Carver will be put away for a long time I'll make sure of that but his injuries I have no idea where they came from, you do what you both have to do.” We looked at him and smiled while Jason screamed out “whoa wait you can’t do that Sheriff.” he turned back towards him “I can and I will because the girl you’re talking about is my adopted daughter and I will not have you around to harm her anymore, so boys.” he looked back at us with a serious expression, “I give you full permission to beat the holy hell out of him.” he then walked away from us saying one last thing “I’ll arrest him when you’re done.” Steve followed Hopper back to his car as Eddie and I faced Jason ready to avenge Y/n. Jason looked our way terrified “let's get things started shall me.”

By the time we were done with Jason, you could hardly recognize him, he had cuts and bruises all over his face along with a black eye and a broken nose than he already had. We agreed with Hop that we wouldn’t kill him, but it was very tempting Eddie got one last hit in before he pulled out his knife and placed it under his neck, I got nervus hoping Eddie wouldn’t do what I know he’s thinking “Ed’s?” Jason began laughing again “looks like the freaks got some balls why don’t you do it Munson end my life see where it gets you.” I slowly walked towards Eddie trying to get his attention “Eddie put the knife down don’t do it.” Eddie was shaking then still having the knife pressed into his neck “we could do it Billy we can end this right now, Y/n would be ok once he’s gone, she would be free of him.” I then was right next to Eddie seeing the fear and pain in his eyes I know he just wanted to keep her safe as much as I do, but we can't do this it would ruin the both of us and Y/n. “you’re right we could end it right here right now kill him and don’t blink an eye, but Eddie Hoppers right think about Y/n.” he interrupted me “I am thinking about her, I’m thinking about her safety he goes to jail Billy he’s only going to get out and harm her again maybe even kill her the next time and we can’t take that chance.” I placed my hand on his holding the knife “Eddie, this will only make it worse we kill him we go to jail and Y/n is alone forever she has no one and now nowhere to go we’re all she has left, please baby put the knife down and let's go see our girl.” His stayed forward never tearing his eyes away from Jason as his hand shook letting everything, I said sink in. Finally, Eddie’s hand lowered down placing the knife back in his pocket trying to keep his composure “let's go love.” We both walked away ignoring the sounds of Jason screaming at us to come back, leaving him for Hopper to deal with.

We walked back out of the forest seeing Y/n’s house finally out from the fire department, Hopper walked over to us asking if he was still alive, we told him yes and that we were heading to the hospital. Steve said he would take Eddie’s car back to his house while Hopper was going to stay and see if he could find any of Y/n’s things left in the debris and bring it to the hospital. Eddie followed me to my car, but I stopped him before we can get in “stay here.” I opened my trunk pulling out my first aid kit and telling him to sit on the hood “I’m fine Bill’s we have to get to Y/n.” I reach out my hand for him to give me his he gave me a look but did what I said, “I’m going to take care of you, so Y/n won't kill me. This might sting.” I poured peroxide on his hand as he hisses “what about your hand, it's as bad as mine.” I laugh “I’ll take care of that myself you and Y/n are my first priority.” Eddie smiled my way while saying “you’re our priority too you know.” I laugh “yea I know.” I then wrapped his hand with a bandage and then told him to get in the car as I took care of my hand. I jumped into the driver's seat, starting up my car and drove Eddie and I as fast as I could to the hospital hoping and praying that Y/n is ok.

Eddie’s Pov

So much was flashing through my head. Fear, anxiety, anger it was all hitting me so fast I had nothing on my mind but Y/n. She was in the hospital because one person saw her different saw our relationship different called her a Witch called me a freak. One rumor started it all for her and I wish I could change it. I wish I could go back and make sure none of this happened at all. But that would mean Y/n, Billy and I not being together, and I didn’t want that I never want that I love them both and I would do anything for them even if it means leaving their side to make them have a better life. Maybe if our relationship stops, she would be ok he would be ok I may be alone again but maybe it's for the best. “I know that look” I looked towards Billy and saw him looking my way as well “whatever you’re thinking about won't change anything Eddie what happened; happened and we can’t change that, if you’re thinking about leaving us, I won't let you it's not going to happen.” it's crazy how well Billy can read me and know exactly what I’m thinking “Y/n needs us Eddie and I’m not letting you walk away.” I spoke loudly “what if it’s the only way to keep you both safe, this is all happening only because you’re both with me the Witch thing didn’t start till, she was with us. What if it all ends if we let her go?” Billy sighs and glares my way “and what if it doesn’t what if we leave her go to the jobs that want us mine in California and yours who knows where and this entire town kills her anyway, it's not just Jason who thinks she’s a Witch this whole town does and we’re the only ones keeping her safe from everyone. I love you Eddie and I know your scared for her and for us but if you ever think about leaving us again, I swear I’ll kill you; you understand me?” I know he was angry with me hell I was angry with myself for even thinking about leaving either one of them. “I’m sorry Bill’s, I just want you and her to be ok.” I then felt his hand on mine squeezing it tight but still looking at the road “I’m here Eddie and so is Y/n and we’re going to be ok as long as we’re together, I promise.” I smiled his way and brought his hand to my lips kissing it softly as he drove faster to the hospital.

#eddie munson #eddie x reader #billy hargrove #billy x reader #x fem!reader #stranger things #fanfic #running up that hill #polyamourus pride #joeseph quinn #dacre montgomery #xreader

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pupkou · 2 years ago

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Gem. Gem. Bestie. Have u ever considered bath sex with Hopper after you've both had a long day and you just melt into each other and his hand goes under the water to touch you because he missed you and he loves you so much

AFAB reader (that means they’re gender neutral for those of you that are unfortunately cis) + bath sex + softness + “clit” used + hopper can be trans or cis + reader has body and pubic hair <3

yes i have (T_T) thinking of him getting it all set up for you and making sure the scents aren’t too overwhelming so you don’t get a headache / overstimulated (T_T)

thinking of him holding your hand and helping you lower yourself into the warm water and then slipping off his boxers and getting in behind you, settling gently against the porcelain and sighing in contentness at how perfect you fit between his thighs and how soft you are in his arms (T_T) he would compliment the dinner you made him and kiss your shoulder, tickling your skin with his mustache as he says that he could really taste the love in the pasta tonight (T_T) & HE MEANS IT. BECAUSE HE LOVES YOU SO MUCH

so you just rest your head against his chest and breathe in the cool air as he holds you, touching your limbs under the water and massaging them to get some of the tension out, tells you he knows you work so hard and that he’s so proud (T_T) he says that you deserve to be spoiled just like you spoil him with great food every day and asks if he can touch you and help you relax more (T_T)

he says he loves the hair that grows all over you as he’s making his way down to your bush <3 says it’s handsome on you and that it makes you even softer and nicer to touch <3 tells you how warm you are and how good you are at letting him take care of you like this as he’s rubbing two fingers into your hard clit, cooing into your ear about how he can feel how wet you are even with the bath water surrounding his hand <3 tells you that it’s so good of you to be this needy for him, that it just means that it’ll be even easier for you to take him later and that it’s so sweet of your cunt to get this wet just for him <3

tells you you’re his perfect baby and that there’s nobody else he’d want like this, that he loves you and he wants to take care of you forever <3 he laughs a little at you when your hips start to jerk against his thick fingers, but they don’t stop rubbing circles into where you’re most sensitive, unrelenting in the pleasure they give you as he continues to praise you, saying how hard you make him and how he loves touching you like this and how his favorite thing is to make you feel good <3 says how he can’t wait until the next time you let him eat you out because he’s been needing to taste you and he was thinking of it all day while he was at work <3

and as you’re about to cum and he can feel you twitching with need, he’ll make his voice real low and soft so he can say “there you go baby, go on n cum for me” as his fingers keep rubbing at your sensitive clit in gentle little circles <3 he keeps rubbing after you’ve cum, slowing his fingers as you come down, keeping you feeling good in his arms for as long as you’ll let him with the intention of loving you for just as long <3

#knight answers #house guest: aj 🎃#sobs.#c.hopper

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cambria-writes · 2 years ago

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hello! i am alive!

i know it's been a long time coming and i'm genuinely sorry that this doesn't even make the 3k word cut, but i was running out metaphorical breath. and i really wanted to give you a true sunday update!

i'm currently on sick leave which is p much the only reason i was able to muster the energy to sit down and write. im hoping to have the next chapter ready for next week; we're almost done, so i'm gonna try to sprint to the finishing line!

pairing: eddie munson x fem!reader rating: T-M warning: swearing, mentions of wounds, nausea, hopper's cabin feels like it needs a warning word count: 2,565

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𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝕾𝖎𝖝𝖙𝖊𝖊𝖓: 𝔈𝔞𝔯𝔱𝔥𝔮𝔲𝔞𝔨𝔢

It’s foggy, after that.

Dustin finally appears, apparently having had to adjust the bike chain five separate times on his way. He and Eddie help you to your feet and practically carry you over to Carver’s car. The strange feeling at the back of your neck feels like it’s spreading down to your shoulders. Whatever was flowing out of Max’s face has stopped, and the most you can think about is hope. Hope that she’s not cursed anymore and that your hazy mind and sluggish body mean that something worked.

You’re sat shotgun and, when everyone’s slammed the doors shut, Eddie hits the pedal to the floor. You think you hear Erica tell him to go back to his trailer. He’s even more reckless than usual; he swerves in and out of the lane and nearly manages to run a sign over. When you turn your head to try to focus on his face, Eddie’s brows are furrowed so low his eyes look nearly shut.

You swallow down the guilt. You had no idea how borrowing... what, energy? From people? How that worked. But if Eddie’s also tired, surely Max can’t still be cursed right?

The ground rumbles violently as you enter Forest Hills. It shocks Eddie enough for him to drive the car straight into a fencepost. The car’s barely still before Erica and Lucas are jumping out and running for Munson trailer. Next to you, Eddie sighs deeply and lets himself fall back against the driver’s seat. He takes a second longer to unclench his fingers from the steering wheel, hands falling limp in his lap.

With what little strength you can muster, you reach over to pat his knee.

“Never going shotgun with you ever again,” you breathe out. Eddie snorts and turns his head to look over at you.

“It’s fine, it’s Carver’s car. I treat what’s mine with the respect it deserves.”

The low and sure tone of his voice catches you off guard, and you just... stare at him. Eddie’s face seems to crumple a little after a second before he clears his throat and sits up straight, facing forward.

“Wait, Ed—”

“Right, sorry,” he cuts you off, giving the steering wheel one more squeeze before he’s opening the door to step out. “I’ll go see if they need help.”

You try to move to reach over the console to grab at his sleeves, but you nearly jump out of your skin when you hear the trailer door slam open. Lucas appears first, running right up to Eddie to ask if the car can still run. While Eddie confirms, uncertainly, that Carver’s shiny toy car can probably handle another run, it definitely can’t accommodate three more people.

The ground rumbles again, and you hear shouting from the trailer even several yards away. You’ve made your mind to try to get up when the ground rumbles again, worse this time. You can see a fault appear under the trailer just as the door slams open. Dustin and Erica come bolting out first.

You barely hear Eddie when he tells you that he’s going to go hotwire another car. The ringing in your ears is almost too loud to hear through, and your vision’s starting to swim. Your skin feels too tight, suddenly, and the air around you feels too hot.

There’s shouting, you think, closing your eyes against the blooming headache. It feels like the flu hit you out of nowhere all at once. The car’s moving, swerving out of Forest Hills. You feel another earthquake, but this one feels different.

The ringing in your ears in so loud.

There’s a hand grabbing roughly at your shoulder, one feeling your forehead. You do your best to shrug them away. You’re trying so hard to focus on anything than the cacophony in your ears. Your ankles still sting and itch from the heat of the exploding can.

And then you exhale, and everything is quiet. The throbbing behind your eyes is gone, the breeze from the open windows feels soothing, and you feel like you can breathe.

You also, somehow, can feel that something is missing. You’re about to speak up when the ground shakes again. Erica, Max and Robin shout in the back to go faster, and when you get yourself to look up in the rearview, you nearly choke. You twist yourself around as much as you can to stare out of the rear windshield, and you almost wish you hadn’t.

The ground is splitting open down the road, like it’s doing its best to swallow you all whole.

“Holy shit—”

“Oh god are you okay—”

“We thought you were dying—”

You throw yourself back in your seat and stare ahead.

“Steve, what the fuck is that?”

“Fucked if I know!”

“It’s the gate at Eddie’s trailer,” Max says, rushed, leaning forward between the front seats to talk to you. “It started growing—”

You gently shove her back to look at Steve.

“You didn’t kill him?!”

“We did!” Steve shouts, slamming the steering wheel. He doesn’t warn anyone when he jerks the car off the road to the right, down a winding dirt pathway. “He literally turned into like, ash in front of us! We don’t know what’s going on!”

“Where are we going?”

There’s beat of silence.

“Ch-Chief Hopper’s cabin,” Max says, shooting Steve a glance before looking back at you. “If El’s on her way, that’s where she’d go first.” You nod and swallow thickly.

Now that you’re practically navigating through the woods, the rumbling and cracking ground can’t be seen, but it still makes everything shake.

It stops with a loud, cavernous groan that sounds like it’s coming from everywhere. If you really force it, you think you can hear a few car alarms and sirens. You don’t try to see through the trees if there’s smoke.

Eddie’s already leaning up against the other car you assume he hotwired, the others hard at work behind him trying to pry off the wooden broads. Nancy’s the first one who manages to free and open the door. Everyone is quiet and seems tense—you can’t blame them.

You remember what happened here, too.

Eddie rushes over to you when you shove the passenger door open. When your legs give in under you as soon as you try to put any weight on them, Steve hurries out and over to help prop you up and take you inside.

The dust is horrendous, everything is in disarray, but... at least the kids seem like they’re having some modicum of fun trying to unfuck everything. Better for it; you’re not sure either you, Steve, Nancy or Robin are good for anything too terribly physical. The latter three all look like they’re a soft breeze away from toppling over.

When you’re installed on the dusty couch—after a very concerning plume of dust rushed out to greet you—Steve and Eddie join you. You almost laugh at how coordinated their sigh is when they sink into the old cushions.

“You guys good if I take a nap..?” You ask hesitantly, but almost immediately Eddie’s arm comes around your shoulder and pulls you into his side, before his hand gently guides your head down on his shoulder.

“Nap sounds nice” Steve says quietly, and when you crane your neck to see him around Eddie, he seems like he’s already halfway asleep.

“He needs to get actual bandages,” you mutter, but Eddie tightens his grip on you. You get the message.

You fall asleep to the sound of Max and Lucas arguing about the best way to patch the gaping holes in the roof.

You’re alone on the couch when you wake up, and it’s significantly less breezy. It doesn’t feel like too much time has passed, but looking around, there’s the distinct glow of almost-morning. The holes in the roof definitely aren’t patched up yet, but there are various fabrics covering windows, the boards that were pried off from the outside had haphazardly been used to cover faults on the inside.

Given that only one of you is legally allowed to drink—you think?—and that none of you have probably gotten a decent meal in literally days, it’s not bad work.

Well, it’s shit work, honestly. Any other time but now you’d sigh and redo it yourself.

You scooch yourself forward on the couch and find that standing up, though unpleasant, is finally possible on your own. Which is just as well; everyone else seems to have huddled together in a giant mass on what you assume is the living room floor. In font of you. You grit your teeth and do your best to navigate through everyone without falling or stepping on someone.

You’re pretty sure part of your shoe gets caught in Nancy’s hair, but she doesn’t seem to notice.

Once you’ve reached what’s left of the front door, you find Eddie sitting at the top of the stairs. A plume of smoke drifts away. Then another, before you decide to drop down next to him and hold your hand out.

“Sleep alright?” Eddie asks quietly, casting a sidelong glance at you.

You shrug, take a drag of the cigarette before returning it to Eddie. You hold the smoke for a second to feel the burn in your throat before slowly exhaling.

“How long was I out?” You ask instead.

Eddie makes a show of pulling his arm in front of him and squinting at the watch before looking at you with a deadpan expression.

“Right,” you snort, grabbing the smoke back from him after he’s taken a drag. “Waterlogged, my bad.”

“Two hours probably,” Eddie answers anyway, pulling a leg up on the porch. “Steve told me you had an episode in the car.”

“In my defense,” you start, as hurriedly as your sleepy brain can manage. “I didn’t do anything. It’s like I experienced a week of a really bad flu in the span of a few minutes.”

Eddie hums to let you know he’s heard, and perhaps cursorily believes you, but otherwise stays silent. You don’t interrupt him, either; he’s got that face on like he’s trying to connect two dots but isn’t sure how. You vaguely gesture for another cigarette; his is almost down to the butt and honestly, you could use the distraction.

“What if,” Eddie starts, handing you a pack of matches he must’ve found and pilfered from the cabin. “What if your whole... cleric thing.” He huffs and shakes a hand through his hair. “No, wait.”

You frown for a second before you think you catch on. “Ah—like, you think it’s some weird kind of like, hive mind virus?”

“Something like that, but,” Eddie continues, twisting around to look at you. “Like something leaked out of the Upside Down and Got to you.”

You shake your head. “I never got close to any of the gates before.”

You’re about to tell Eddie to nevermind, that you’re pretty sure you still have some funky powers left over, but both of you clamber to your feet when you hear the distinct rumbling of a car engine. You stumble back towards the door and drag Eddie with you with a hand grabbing at his shoulder.

“Go, go wake everyone up,” you whisper harshly, running in after him. There are disgruntled groans that slowly turn into concern and panic while you tear through the cabin trying to find something—

Nancy calls out for you, and before you’re quite ready, tosses a rifle at you.

It’s you, Nancy and Steve on the front porch when you see... what is possibly the most confusing looking van you have ever seen in your life.

“Is that... a pizza delivery van?” Steve asks quietly, and though he and Nancy still have their respective weapons up and ready, you get the overwhelming sense that you’re fine.

When the van finally stops, you toss the gun behind you, much to Steve’s very loud displeasure. You carefully go down the steps one by one, pass by the driver, round back, and pull open the doors.

A very stunned Mike greets you, clearly having been a second away from opening the doors himself.

“Uh. Hey?”

You don’t reply, just scoff and step out of the way. First out is Mike, but when Will hops out, you barely recognize him. Wasn’t he supposed to be like, a foot shorter?

When El hops out, she looks about as worse for wear as you are. You can’t help but reach a hand out to her head.“

“Shame,” you whisper. El gives you a tentative smile and shrugs.

“It grows back,” she says lightly, before you pull her into a hug.

Someone clears their throat, still in the van, and you hurriedly step away from El and let her rush up to the cabin. Jonathan Byers climbs out last, and you already know from the glassy look in his eyes that he’s... a little blazed.

“Hey, you—you’re the one—” Jonathan starts, but you cut him off.

“From econ a few years ago, yeah.”

“No—I mean, yeah, but, no,” Jonathan tries to correct, shaking his head. “When Will was in the hospital, when we found him again, weren’t you in the cafeteria?”

You frown and open your mouth to try and find an answer, but a booming voice comes from beyond the cabin.

“What is up my dudes! This place looks like it got bombed.”

“That, he’s Argyle, uh,” Jonathan starts, and you step away to let him go introduce his loud and apparently equally blitzed friend to everyone else.

You give yourself a moment of alone time and sit on the edge of the van. You can hear everyone chatting excitedly, mostly on the front porch. Something about a helicopter makes it to you, and something about using a deep freezer as a bathtub?

Eleven reappears, but this time, though she does genuinely seem happy to see her friends right now, there’s something solemn about the way she holds herself. She hops up to sit on the edge of the van with you, hands in her lap.

“All good?” You ask, bumping your shoulder to hers.

“Mm, all good,” she replies, looking over at you. “He’s gone. Henry. Did you feel it?”

You shrug. “I mean there were earthquakes, but—”

“No,” El shakes her head, and gestures vaguely at... all of you? “Did you feel it?”

“I...” you start, clearing your throat and looking away. “I mean... I didn’t feel anything when the other where still in the Upside Down, but I did—when Steve was driving us here, I felt really sick, like...”

“Like something was leaving?” El hazards, and you nod slowly.

“Yeah, I guess. Like something was finally making its way out.”

It’s her turn to nod sagely. You’re about to ask if she happens to know what that means for you now, but something suddenly registers for you.

Will, Mike, El, Jonathan and Argyle all showed up in a pizza delivery van—of all things—and there’s been no trace or mention of Joyce at all. It’s been a while, so there’s clearly not another car coming, and you somehow doubt that Joyce would’ve willingly and knowingly let her kids be ferried around by someone who’s about as stoned as you are clinically depressed.

“Hey, uh, El, where’s Joyce?”

“Work trip in Alaska,” she says easily, and a little too solidly.

“...Alasaka, huh.”

𝓣𝓪𝓰𝓵𝓲𝓼𝓽

@bramblequill @alovesongshewrote @averagestudent03 @doratheignora @storiesbyrhi

please let me know if you want to be tagged for the next update!

#ravenloft #eddie munson #eddie munson x reader #stranger things #fanfiction #stranger things fanfic #eddie munsonfanfiction #the calm before the final baby storm #fix it fic #fuck vecna though

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thatonesongyouretryingtoremember · 2 years ago

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PARTY SLEEPOVER

They start by watching a movie, so everyone is sitting (this is a sleeping arrangement post btw)

The sofa can fit three teens comfortably, so naturally, there are four to five of them on it at any given time.(Whether basement obviously)

The armchair can fit one teen comfortably, but wike and mill have been sharing that shot since the first grade and goddammit they aren't quitting now.

Will and Mike are both insomniacs, but Will can get to sleep faster when he's with everyone. If Mike doesn't remember to use the bathroom BEFORE the movie, he's FUCKED because Will is asleep while it's playing so Mike can't move until breakfast.

Out of El, Lucas, and Dustin, Max and Erica take their pick of who to cuddle up to that day. At some point this devolves into a spine-bending pile that my scoliosis-ass can only imagine.

The remaining person acts all high and mighty the next morning as if they didn't wake up disoriented and with a headache on the floor somehow.

ALSO sometimes El and Max will take the floor and Lucas and Erica share the couch and Dustin is on the floor closet to the couch on a sleeping bag.

Second scenario: Cabin.

El, Max, and Erica share El's bed, Mike and Will stop take the armchair because everyone else takes their usual insistence as an excuse to give them the small space.

Lucas and Dustin are then left on the couch unless one of them manages to pass out early somewhere else.

Waking up in the Wheeler house

In the morning, Ted avoids the kitchen and dining room like the plague while Nancy tries to get out of the house, but Karen makes breakfast with help from whoever gets up first.

The second person up sets the table and wakes everyone else up

Max sits next to Holly and Holly shows Max her pictures she drew.

Lucas and Dustin usually end up talking to Karen for a while because they're just Those Friends who get along with adults super well.

Waking up in the cabin:

The girls always wake up first. They can talk for a while before Hopper wakes up.

They hang out in the kitchen as the boys wake up one by one.

Whoever ended up on the floor is the second boy up and always has at least one sore shoulder.

Cereal all around, they can get through two whole boxes as a group before Hopper wakes up and gets his coffee.

Once they're old enough, Dustin or Erica drives everyone to where they're going since this is probably a weekend, but before that it is Hopper's responsibility and he pretend to hate it.

#the party #stranger things #stranger things headcanon #truly erica sinclair #erica sinclair #mike wheeler #will byers #dustin henderson #max mayfield #el hopper #lucas sinclair

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once-upon-an-imagine · 2 years ago

Text

so, since this has worked in the past, I thought I’d ask again…

send me the name of a WIP and I’ll share a piece of the story 😁

you can take a look at the Masterlists to see what they are and if you’d like to let me know which one you’d want to read I’d love that 😊 (I’m also putting the WIPs below the [Keep Reading] tag if you don’t want to go masterlist through masterlist)

Masterlists:

Stranger Things

Marauders Era

Golden Trio Era

Stranger Things

Steve Harrington

How Will I Know [CHAPTER 3]

You have walked the halls of Hawkins High unseen. If it wasn’t because Eddie Munson and his Hellfire Club had found you, you probably wouldn’t even have any friends. You knew someone like your all-time crush Steve ‘The Hair’ Harrington wouldn’t notice you in a million years. Until you get paired up for a project and he finally learns your name.

With Or Without You

You dive into the Lover’s Lake before anyone can stop you and come back to tell everyone about the Watergate. But then, something pulls you back to the Upside Down and all you can see are bats around you so you feel like this is the end. Until you suddenly see Steve Harrington coming back for you and saving you. (mixing three similar requests)

You Keep Me Hanging On

When you go to the Upside Down, you start noticing how Steve is acting towards his ex-girlfriend. He doesn’t seem to think that anything is wrong until he notices a certain metalhead paying you more attention than he is. (kind of mixing some similar requests)

Never Tear Us Apart

It has been a long time since Billy died. It has been even a longer time since he and you had broken up. You are moving on with Steve and you have never been happier. So why are you getting headaches, nightmares, and seeing things that aren’t there?

How Sweet It Is

Your favorite part about working at Scoops Ahoy is working with your crush; Steve Harrington. Everything was going normally one day until you see the next customer in line is your ex-boyfriend with his new girlfriend and Steve noticed.

Crazy Little Thing Called Love

You knew Steve Harrington was a lot of things. Handsome, brave, smart, funny, caring, etc. You could have listed a million things to describe him, but there is one word you never thought would fit him: clingy.

Eddie Munson

There Are Worse Things I Could Do [CHAPTER 3]

[Harrington!Reader] Your senior year was supposed to be the best one in your life. But when Jason broke up with you, and turned the entire school against you by spreading rumors about you, you can count with your hand the people that talk to you. Dustin, Mike, Lucas, Max, Nancy, and Robin. But there might be a new one you can add to the list. One you never thought possible. Eddie Munson.

Don’t You Forget About Me

You have never been in detention. You feel as if this is the worst of your life, until you meet someone there that might make detention just bearable. (mixing two requests)

I Wanna Dance With Somebody

Eddie has always known that one of the main reasons why he fell in love with you is because you are the most opposite to him he can think of. So why is that now one of the things that is making him feel insecure about his relationship with you?

Argyle

(500 Miles) [CHAPTER 3]

[Hopper!Reader] After moving to California with your sister and you new family, you think maybe you’ll finally get some peace. But, of course, you are now driving across the country in your boyfriend’s pizza van, on your way back to Hawkins.

Take A Chance On Me

You have been in love with your best friend since you can remember, but you’ve never had the courage to tell him, fearing he might not feel the same. However, when you confide in Jonathan, he convinces you to finally take the leap.

A Kind Of Magic

Bullies are something you’ve had to deal with your whole life. You try to ignore it and not let it bother you. But the moment your boyfriend sees how people made fun of you, he immediately intervenes and stands up for you. (Warning: reader gets bullied for having a learning disability)

Perfecta

When you go over to your best friend’s house after breaking up with your boyfriend, you get more than you were expecting.

Buttercup

Sequel to Build Me Up, Buttercup

Robin Buckley

I Think We’re Alone Now

Every time you come into Family Video, you go and talk to Steve. Robin feels heartbroken, thinking you’re just another girl that has a big crush on him. Little does she know, it’s his very cute co-worker you have your eye on.

Steddie (Steve Harrington & Eddie Munson)

Edge Of Seventeen

Against your boyfriends’ wishes you decide it’s what’s best for everyone if you are the bait for Vecna. You you stay back in the attic with Max and Lucas. Steve and Eddie try to make it back as quickly as they can but it might be too late. (Warning: reader is cursed by Vecna and gets hurt)

Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now

Everyone in your group could feel the sexual tension between you, Steve and Eddie. Which is probably why they all ganged up and planned to have the three of you share a bed to see if you would finally admit your feelings.

Love Stinks

When you get stood up by your date Steve and Eddie come to pick you up at a bar after a few drinks. They think that you are upset because of the date but the main reason is not what they were expecting at all.

**********************************************

Harry Potter [Marauders Era]

Sirius Black

Just Give Me A Reason [CHAPTER 5]

[Snape!Reader] Coming back for another year in Hogwarts meant you and your brother were away from your worst tormentor. But when your school tormentor finds out about it, things are about to change and you are not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. (Warning: mentions of abuse)

Dog Days Are Over

Ever since you can remember, dogs have always hated you. They bite you, they make you fall down, they hurt you, and you became terrified of them. So why is this big black dog making you feel incredibly safe and happy, proving to be the exception of y our bad luck.

Lover

[Potter!Reader] Being in a secret relationship with your brother’s best friend was not something you exactly planned. But now, that it’s been months and your brother is starting to get suspicious, you have no idea how to tell him without him wanting to kill Sirius. (Might be related to Style)

Can’t Buy Me Love

Sirius has always notice that you never buy anything when you go to Hogsmeade. He also noticed how much you stare at a specific dress in Gladrags Wizardwear so he decides to get it for you.

Remus Lupin

Too Good At Goodbyes [CHAPTER 6]

Twelve years ago, Lily and James Potter were brutally murdered. Twelve years ago, Sirius Black was sent to Azkaban for a crime he did not commit. Twelve years ago Remus Lupin left you to take care of a one-year-old Harry on your own. Twelve years ago Severus Snape was the only person who was there for you. And now, Remus is back to teach at Hogwarts with you, as Harry courses his third year, and Sirius Black escaped Azkaban.

**********************************************

Harry Potter [Golden Trio Era]

Fred Weasley

Bad Liar [CHAPTER 5]

Coming back to Hogwarts for your sixth year didn’t start as you expected when you have to witness your ex-boyfriend parade around as one of the champions with his new girlfriend. While you’re in a party that your house threw, you’re fed up with listening to him talking about his new relationship and to have a guy you have no interest in pining over you. So, you do the first thing you could think of. You kiss Fred Weasley.

Right To Be Wrong Series: Lego House

[Malfoy!Reader] A series of related one-shots in different times looking at the relationship between a Weasley and a Malfoy.

Charlie Weasley

She Is Love

Charlie loves to make you blush and nervous because he knows you have a crush on him and he has a crush on you, but he doesn’t like it when someone else makes you blush or nervous.

I’m Yours

Even if you’ve been friends with the twins forever, your boyfriend Charlie still feels a little bit jealous of how close you are with his two younger brothers.

Bill Weasley

The Closest Thing

Bill falls in love with his little brothers’ best friend but he is certain that she would not feel the same after seeing him with his werewolf scars.

Theodore Nott

Smile [CHAPTER 3]

You have always found Theodore Nott to be a very interesting person. And when he asks you to tutor him in Herbology, you realize he is also a very sweet person. There is only one thing that you’re missing and that you’re dying to see. You want to see him smile.

**********************************************

Criminal Minds

Spencer Reid

Absolutely

You know today is a very special day for Spencer, and you try to do everything you can to show him how much you care about him. However, your plan backfires when Spencer feels overwhelmed and takes his anger out on you.

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