#barbara stranger things

[incorrectbatfamquotes]

Bruce Wayne: I know she doesn’t look it, but this is one of the most dangerous beings in existence!

Barbara Gordon: [smiles and sips her coffee]

[hellfire--cult]

excuse me?

Duffer brothers?

what does this mean?

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

[henry-fox-biggest-stan]

You are 16 and your brother’s best friend goes missing. You don’t really take it seriously at first cause a kid going missing is something that happens on tv or on other towns, not on Hawkins. He probably just skipped class or got lost on the way home or smth. You disobey your mother who wants you to stay home out of fear for you going missing too (you don’t take her seriously, he’s probably fine) and lie to her to go with your best friend to your boyfriend’s house. Except, the moment you leave your best friend alone to go with your boyfriend is the last moment you see her. She disappears. And you might not have known your brother’s friend very well, so you could just think he skipped class, but you do know your best friend. And you do know she wouldn’t just ditch you and disappear. You start taking the disappearances seriously. A body is found. Your brother’s friend is dead. You feel guilty about not really caring when he went missing, but your mind is still focused on your friend. Are you going to her funeral next? All the police does is ignore you, saying she probably ran away, and not helping. You feel crazy, you know something is wrong, why don’t they listen to you? You wonder if this is how your brother felt, but policemen were looking for his friend. You get involved in some weird supernatural stuff and turns out, your brother’s friend is not dead, but stuck in some other dimension. Your friend is probably there too. Still no news of her. You work with your brother’s best friend’s family and your brother’s other friends and a weird girl to rescue him. The girl manages to talk to him somehow. You hold hope. She tells you your best friend is dead. Your brother’s best friend comes back. Why him and not her? But you feel guilty just to think that, he’s just 12, it wasn’t his fault. You feel guilty about your friend. It was your fault, your mind whispers, you killed her. If you were with her at that moment, if you hadn’t left her behind. You left her behind, for what? To have sex with your boyfriend? Boyfriend you eventually break up with. Boyfriend who also doesn’t take your friend’s disappearance seriously. It takes a year for her to get a proper funeral. You don’t have her body, you’ll never do, you go grieve at an empty grave. You look at the casket at the funeral and know she’s not there. It seems you’re the only one who cares, you and her parents, who have no idea what happened. You hear your brother and his friends playing in the basement. You hear your brother’s friend laugh. You’ll never hear her laugh again.

You are Nancy Wheeler.

[queenimmadolla]

the most Iconic Stranger Things death—and the character that deserved to live the most—is 100% Barb.

she’s practically forgotten in fan lore now (which makes me very sad because she represented a beautiful body type i rarely get to see on media and she was so pretty with her short red hair and pretty brown eyes), but without her and shannon—we probably wouldn’t have had a renewal of Stranger Things in the first place. her death put the show on the map with how much attention she drew to it.

they tried to make new shocking death scenes with other characters, but they will never re-create the success and world wide empathy that barb gained.

[steddieme]

this is the steve harrington is seven au i was talking about in this post (warning: it's not finished)

seven has a form of foresight, he gets random flashes of visions and if he really concentrates on it he can even look for specific events. the future is a fickle thing, it's very malleable. he learns very early on that what he says, what he does can shape the world around him. he's very close to eight, he loves her power and she finds his random predictions cool. eleven eventually imprints on them like a little duckling and they dote on her as much as they can. they love her.

but seven sees flashes of brenner ordering the keepers to kill him. says he drops too many references to the outside world, he must escape at one point in the future, and that could jeopardize the entire experiment. he panics and tells eight, and they devise a plan to escape along with eleven. seven's visions are too hazy, he's too scared to really focus. things go wrong and they all get separated during their escape attempt.

for a while seven is convinced both eight and eleven died. he does see flashes of them at one point in the future, after he becomes steve, but he doesn't know how to find them. he becomes steve harrington by breaking into the harrington family's house, scared, cold and starving. mr. harrington is a cold man who wants him gone at first, but mrs. harrington immediately takes to him. they were never able to have kids and mrs. harrington is convinced seven was meant to end up with them.

when he shows them his tattoo and tells them he's called seven, mrs. harrington immediately names him steven instead. they're too scared to ask about why the fuck this random child is numbered, so they never learn the truth about him. they get him papers by paying the right people and steve harrington is born.

eventually, mrs. harrington's love for steve wilts, all the joy sucked out of her by her husband forcing her to go with him on his work trips. she has to leave steve behind, while her husband very clearly cheats on her right under her nose. she becomes too depressed to say no, to leave, she has no one to fall back on. once steve is old enough to understand, he comes to hate his "dad," but his heart breaks for his mom. it's still better than the lab.

as much as he hates it he takes up the role of king steve at school. he figures the more visible he is, the safer he is. everyone knows king steve, everyone would notice if he suddenly went missing. he wears his persona like an armor, tries to act as "normal" as possible. no one would think king steve was anything but a spoiled rich kid. there's nothing strange about him, he's a painfully normal asshole jock.

the hair is just for him, though. his mom teaches him how to take care of it, even shows him what waterproof makeup to use for his tattoo when he can't wear his watch. she's a bit obsessed with beauty, her teachings tip into toxic, he learns to associate beauty with self-worth for a while. but his hair becomes a reminder he's free. every time he looks in the mirror, every time he touches his hair is a reassurance that he's steve and not seven. he smiles when he first hears the moniker steve "the hair" harrington. king steve is for the public, but steve "the hair" harrington is just for him.

at some point he starts having random visions of people in the school. a girl holding a gun. a girl doing her makeup in his car while they laugh together. a boy with wild hair and big gestures. a kid going missing. seven different kids. and one of them is eleven! when he first sees eleven in a vision he cries for an entire day.

he sees monsters and death and pain. he sets out to find each of them and change as much of the future he's seen as possible. he already feels guilty he's recruiting all of them from the start, but how else is he supposed to protect them from something he knows nothing about? his decision to find them all has already distorted his visions. nothing is certain about the future, but there's power in numbers, he knows that much.

he first finds nancy and with her comes her best friend barb. he sets out to become their friend, and while barb doesn't approve of him at first they end up getting along well. he crushes on nancy hard, but then one day he sees visions of her and a guy named jonathan, who will apparently also be involved, and she seems to fit with him so well, he cannot bring himself to ask her out after that.

he finds out the other two people are robin buckley and eddie munson. he knows he cannot get close to them as king steve so he changes. he sheds his persona and sets out to friend the hell out of both of them. he starts with robin, because eddie is a bit too intimidating and he figures he'd take a bit more convincing with the way he seems to hate conformity. steve built his entire persona around the safety of conformity after all.

robin is very confused when he first approaches her. she's standoffish and rude and seems to hate him. but then she sees him tell someone from the basketball team off for bullying another kid. and she decides to give him a chance. and they seem to click instantly after that? he finds his soulmate and he's never been happier. he actually decides to tell her everything after a while.

when he shows her he can levitate stuff, she understandably freaks the fuck out. but after she gets it out of her system she's fully on board, they start planning how to stop the end of the world. steve is not alone anymore and robin cries with him when he starts sobbing at the realization.

they decide to befriend jonathan, since eddie will be much harder to convince. it goes surprisingly well, the guy is lonely and once you ask about his photography hobby he warms up to you. the five of them start eating lunch together, which then turns into hangouts after school as well and steve is grateful to finally have real friends.

he catches eddie staring at him one day. and then it keeps happening. turns out eddie stares at him a lot lately. he doesn't know if that's a good thing or not, but he does know it makes him flustered. his eyes are so big and intense. he talks to robin about it and she says she's like 65% sure it's a good thing and he's just curious about steve's change of heart. but when he mentions feeling flustered, she freezes. he's worried he said something wrong, before robin asks him if he's into eddie.

and. well. he does think he's a hot dude, to be honest. his hair looks so soft, he wishes he could teach him how to take care of it. and he finds his tattoos cool, he wonders how it would feel to touch them. and his eyes just suck him in and - oh my god he's into eddie munson. he stares at robin in shock who wears the same dumbfounded look on her face. then she tackles him and tells him she's a lesbian and she's so happy she finally found someone who gets it and they're truly soulmates.

while steve is honestly just confused. he hugs her back and listens to her patiently, thanks her for telling him, gives her shit for liking tammy thompson. and then tells her he's not gay. he liked nancy. robin rolls her eyes and says he can like both. which - okay, he didn't know you could do that. robin ends up making fun of him for weeks, because his type is just curly haired nerds with big eyes apparently.

but with this new knowledge in mind it's robin that has to do most of the heavy lifting in bringing eddie into their little friend group. because turns out steve wears his heart on his sleeves and doesn't know how to be normal when he has a crush. she finds it hilarious honestly. the only reason he kept his cool around nancy was because they were friends first. or at least he hopes he kept his cool around her. he's not so sure anymore.

eddie is very reluctant at first. he acts like a feral animal that has to be coaxed into trusting you. robin manages to convince him to let them join hellfire. the first session her and steve show up to is tense and awkward, but they do have fun. the two of them play one character, because robin is bad at talking but good at keeping track of stats and all that, and steve is good at talking and improvising. and together they're great at strategizing. the guys look at them strangely at first, but they learn to accept their oddities.

the weirder they are the more delighted eddie looks, actually. especially after they correct jeff that they're not dating. their strange twin-like behavior is what ends up drawing eddie in. they invite him to a movie night with barb, nancy and jonathan, and boom. eddie is finally in the group.

aaaand i lost motivation to continue this. i'm sorry for the cliffhanger ajvhdbkdshs

[you-aint-gotta-pray-for-me]

Hell on Earth: Chapter 1

words: 2.7k

pairing: Steve Harrington x ex-friend!Henderson!reader (eventually romantic- could be called a slow burn I guess, but they're not together right now, there's some bad blood, just read it man I suck at summarizing T_T)

summary: Things do not seem normal in simple, down-to-earth town Hawkins, Indiana. With Will Byers missing, tensions rise while the mystery claims another victim.

timeline: set in season one right after Will goes missing

warnings: language, bending of canon, fic from reader's pov (3rd person will be there as well, will warn before a pov change if there is one)

a/n: hey guys! so, I see you have found the first part of Hell on Earth :) This is a Steve x reader, yes, I promise we will get there and it'll be awesome when we do, but as much as it is a reader insert Steve slash fic, this is also an actual Stranger Things spin-off story that I'm writing, meaning there will be a lot of focus on the actual plot along with steve and reader's relationship. Also yes, reader is Dustin's older sister.

Reader POV

Will Byers was the kind of kid you wouldn't know was missing until you looked for him. He didn't bother anybody, just kept to himself and his little group doing whatever it is kids these days do, you know? He was a simple, soft-spoken kid, the last person you would wish danger upon. So when I heard that he'd gone missing, I was as confused as I was worried.

"And he was with you when you cycled back home?"

"Yes, Jesus Christ (Y/n), for the millionth time. Yes."

"Don't get annoyed you little shit, I'm trying to help you here."

"Oh, excuse me for getting worried because my best friend is freaking missing."

"Dustin! Don't talk to your sister like that!" I heard Mom scream at us from the living room, oblivious to any context. I mean, he was right to get annoyed with me. His exasperated look at Mom's comment told me he thought the same thing. I just shook my head in understanding. What more can I do?

"Listen, I know you want to go looking for him, I would too, but you can't go on your own. I need you to promise me you won't go on your own, okay? Wait after school, and we'll go together."

"You get off school like two hours after I do, what am I supposed to do, sit and scream his name from my room and hope he shows up? Come on, man. That's bullsh-"

"Dustin."

"What?"

I stared at him, hoping my disapproving-but-concerned-older-sister look told him what he needed to hear. It did.

"Fine. 2 hours. A minute late and I'm going off on my own."

"Deal," I said, knowing full well that I'd have to ditch Algebra II. I wasn't complaining, though. Staring at a newly painted wall and waiting for it to dry would be more interesting than Algebra II.

Later that day

I had exactly 5 minutes to bolt before Algebra II started. I went to my locker and hurriedly rammed all my shit inside when I noticed my locker neighbor Barbara coming towards hers. We'd make conversation when we're at our lockers and smile and wave when we saw each other in the hallway. Outside of that, I didn't really know her all too well.

"Algebra II?"

"Nah, I'm ditching. I promised my brother I'd help him with some stuff."

"Lucky," she sighed. "I can't believe I need to sit through Mr Treeger's bullshit for 2 hours."

"You are welcome to join me if you'd like," I offered with a grin. "Algebra II can be soul-sucking."

"Thank you, really, but I can't leave Nancy hanging. Besides, we've got this thing later as well and, yeah, it's a whole thing, don't bother," she explained.

"Suit yourself, Barb." I shut my locker and almost left before I heard her voice again.

"I mean, if you need notes or anything, I could- uh- I could take them for you? If you want?" she said, almost like she wasn't sure I would take her up on her offer.

"I would love that, actually. Where do you live?"

"Uh, I think I’ll be at Steve’s party later. At the Harrington's. You know the place?" She shifted her books like they suddenly weighed too much. Her expression said she wasn't entirely looking forward to this.

Hearing Steve's name threw me slightly on edge. When you grow up with somebody and you fall out with them, you don't exactly forget things about them. I practically spent half my life at his house. I practically spent half my life with him. So, yes. I definitely knew the place.

"Y-yeah. I do"

"Great, I'll have it ready, then."

"Barb, you are literally an angel." I hurriedly gave her an impromptu hug and rushed outside to get to my car, where I saw Jonathan Byers handing out missing posters. His shoulders sagged under the weight of the stack in his hands and he looked like he hadn't slept in days. I can only imagine what he and Mrs Byers were going through.

I hesitated for a second before walking up to him. I knew Jonathan from Dustin hanging out with Will. We weren't close friends or anything, but someone had to say something. His hands trembled slightly as he stapled one of the posters onto the community board near the lot, his eyes darting nervously like he was waiting for Will to suddenly appear and tell him it was all a joke.

"Hey, Jonathan."

He flinched at my voice, turning to me with an exhausted half-smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.

"Hey," he mumbled.

I nodded at the posters in his hands. "Any updates? Are the cops, like… actually doing anything?"

"They found his cycle a few minutes from Mirkwood. So that's... yeah. That's it, I guess?"

"What are they thinking?"

He hesitated, glancing down at the posters like he thought they might hold some kind of answer. "They think he might’ve run away, but that’s not Will. He wouldn’t just… leave."

I nodded slowly. "Yeah, I don’t buy that either. Will’s not the type to just take off. He’s… dependable, you know?"

Jonathan looked at me for a moment, his expression softening just a little. "Thanks."

I shrugged, kicking at a loose rock on the ground. "For what? Telling the truth?"

"For… caring, I guess," he said, turning back to his work.

I watched him for a second longer, the weight of the whole situation sinking in deeper. "Let me know if you need help. With the posters or anything else."

Jonathan nodded, his focus back on the board. "Thanks," he said again, so quiet I almost missed it.

I didn’t know what else to say, so I just turned and walked back to my car, leaving him to keep stapling the same plea for help over and over.

I drove back home and Dustin was practically at the edge of his seat, looking like he was at the verge of explosion.

"What the hell took you so long?"

"Jesus Christ, I'm right on time. Give me a break."

He continued to yell at me about how time is of the essence. I held up a hand to calm him down. "Relax, I’m here now, aren’t I? Anyway, listen. They found some stuff near Mirkwood."

That got his attention. His eyes widened, his mouth snapping shut mid-rant. "What kind of stuff?"

I sat down across from him, leaning forward so Mom couldn’t overhear from the kitchen. "They found his bike. Just abandoned on the side of the road. No tracks, no clues, nothing else. It’s like he just… vanished."

Dustin’s face fell, his usual confident bravado cracking under the weight of what I’d just told him. "His bike?" he echoed, voice smaller now.

"Yeah. Cops are calling it ‘strange circumstances.’ I’m calling it suspicious as hell."

He nodded, jaw tightening as his brain started working overtime. "Okay. Okay, so that means he didn’t run away. Someone- or something- took him."

I flinched a little at how easily he jumped to "something." This was Hawkins. Strange wasn’t on the table.

"Dustin, don’t get carried away. Let’s stick to facts. We know where his bike was, and that’s it. But you promised me you wouldn’t do anything stupid, remember?"

He rolled his eyes but didn’t argue. "Fine. But we need to check it out. Together."

I sighed, knowing there was no talking him out of it. "Together. No sneaking off without me, got it?"

"Got it," he said, though I could tell from his tone he was already planning something.

A couple hours later

"So that was fucking useless."

"Dustin, come on. Don't be like that."

"We found nothing, (Y/n)! He's out there, probably being tortured for all we know, and we found literally nothing."

"Don't jump to conclusions. Yes, we don't know anything now. But we are not the only people looking. Okay?"

"I'm telling you. We should look for him right around when he went missing."

"No way I'm letting you go out there at 10 pm unsupervised. Mom would gut me."

"I won't be unsupervised if you're with me."

"Dustin," I sighed, slightly annoyed at how he wouldn't level with me at all. "Whatever happened to Will could be bigger than us. If it's something we can't handle, I don't want us to go all in with literally no information."

"Oh, come on! but-"

"No buts. Sit this one out. I am begging you. At least until we know something."

Even though he begrudgingly agreed, his words stuck with me. I hated the idea of him sneaking off on his own, but I also couldn’t shake the feeling that he was right. If there were answers out there, they wouldn’t come to us- we had to go to them. And if I knew Dustin at all, I knew exactly what that meant. He’d go anyway.

The only way for me to deal with this was to either find something before he did or supervise, just in case. And both those options required me to be out in the woods in the dead of the night. Perfect. I remembered that I had to stop by to see Barb so it won't all be for nothing.

The glow of streetlights flickered against the windshield as I pulled up to the Harringtons' house. The faint hum of music and muffled laughter carried through the warm night air, the telltale signs of a Steve Harrington classic. For a moment, I hesitated, fingers gripping the steering wheel. It had been a while since I’d set foot here, and it felt strange- nostalgic in a way that made my chest tight. I didn't like it.

I stepped out of the car and walked around the side of the house, avoiding the main door. I wasn’t here for the party, and I definitely wasn’t in the mood to exchange awkward hellos with people who probably didn’t even remember my name. Also, I might punch Tommy and Carol just because.

The backyard was bathed in the eerie blue glow of the pool lights. It was quieter here, the party sounds muffled by the distance. Sitting by the pool, her legs dangling lazily in the water, was Barb. She was hunched over slightly, fiddling with the strap of her watch, looking as out of place as I felt.

"Hey," I called softly, not wanting to startle her.

She looked up, her face lighting up with a small, relieved smile. "Oh, hey! You made it."

"Yeah," I said, walking over and sitting beside her on the cool concrete. "Figured I’d pick up those notes before your night gets too crazy," I said before I noticed her poorly bandaged hand bloody hand.

"Holy shit, you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, it's... nothing. I'm okay."

"Partied too hard?"

Barb scoffed, glancing over her shoulder at the house. "Yeah, not exactly my scene. Nancy’s inside with Steve. I’m just... taking a break."

I nodded, leaning back on my palms and staring at the pool. Nancy's inside with Steve. That didn't bother me at all. "Can’t say I blame you. These things get out of hand quickly," I said, slightly regretting my hand pun.

She laughed at my poorly timed joke and reached into her bag to pull out a neatly folded piece of paper. "Here you go. Sorry if it’s a little messy. Mr. Treeger was really on one today."

I took the notes with a grateful smile. "You’re the best, Barb. Seriously."

She waved it off like it was no big deal. "It’s nothing. So, what are you up to?"

I reached into my bag and pulled out a worn paperback with a cracked spine and dog-eared pages. "Actually, I thought you might need this more than I do right now," I said, handing Barb my copy of The Shining.

Her eyes lit up as she took it, carefully running her fingers over the cover. "No way. I’ve been wanting to read this forever."

"Well, now you’ve got no excuse. It’s a classic. Just don’t read it alone at night unless you want to start hearing creepy voices in your house."

Barb laughed, flipping through the pages. "Thanks, (Y/n). This is awesome. I’ll take good care of it, promise." She looked up at me, her expression softening. "This one your favorite? "

"It's my comfort book, honestly"

"The Shining is your comfort book?".

"Hey, don't knock it till you try it. Besides, no matter how bad my day is going, everyone in that book is having a much worse, more horrible day."

She laughed and looked at me with a smile extending far beyond her eyes. "But seriously, why do you always have the best recommendations? Like, do you just spend all your time reading?"

"I wouldn’t say all my time," I joked, leaning back and shrugging. "But books don’t talk back or ditch you for better plans. So they’ve got that going for them."

Barb chuckled, but her smile faltered slightly, and she hesitated before asking, "Speaking of people ditching... can I ask you something? You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to."

I glanced at her, curious. "Shoot."

"What happened with you and Steve? I mean, if you don’t mind me asking. You two seemed really close back then"

I froze for a moment, caught off guard by the question. It wasn’t exactly something I loved to think about, let alone talk about. Barb’s expression wasn’t nosy or judgmental- just genuinely curious. I hesitated for a moment, debating whether to say anything. But Barb was easy to talk to, and I felt like I could trust her.

"It’s... complicated," I said, exhaling sharply. "Before his, you know, 'coronation', King Steve and I were best friends. We practically grew up together. You stick with someone throughout middle school and still want to hang out? That's true friendship, right there."

She nodded like she related to what I was saying. "High School came and he changed. He wanted to hang out less, which was fine with me, you know? People change and everything," I paused for a second.

"It got bad only after Tommy and Carol started hanging out with him. He became this mean jerk, this person I could barely recognize. And I never got along with Tommy or Carol from the beginning, he knew that from the million times I have told him that I hate their guts. Hell, I've directly said it to Tommy and Carol. I just... I guess you could say we both grew up and became distant or whatever, but the fact is, he's just a colossal asshole now.

Barb frowned, clutching the book tighter. "That sucks. I’m sorry."

I shrugged, trying to play it off. "It’s whatever. We’re not kids anymore, and I guess we just outgrew each other. Besides, I’m not exactly missing out on this." I gestured toward the house, where someone let out an ear-piercing whoop, followed by the unmistakable sound of something breaking.

Barb laughed, shaking her head. "Yeah, I don’t think either of us belong here."

"Hey, misery loves company, right?" I teased, bumping her shoulder lightly.

She smiled, a little more at ease now, and held up the book. "Thanks for this. I mean it."

"Don’t mention it," I said, standing up and brushing off my jeans. "Enjoy the book- and maybe steer clear of the creepy twins in the hallway."

Barb laughed again as I started to head back to my car.

"You sure you don't need a lift? Your house isn't too far, I don't mind."

"Really, it's ok, (Y/n). I'll just go whenever Nancy leaves."

"It's almost midnight, Barb, you sure?"

"I am. I really am."

[shinpikurage]

When Nancy falls into the Vecna trance and sees Barbara's dead body, and starts to have flashbacks, it shows me EXACTLY why she can't be with Steve

Steve will always remind her of the death of her best and (before Robin and Fred) only friend

She loved Barbara, much more than she "loved" (if she did) Steve, their relationship is just a reminder of a piece of her she lost, in many ways

[snowangeldotmp3]

mini web weave about guilt. nancy wheeler & lady macbeth.

grief || ghosts

[sapphicstevents]

2024 Master List

Bambi (One Really Great Summer)

Chrissy Cunningham x Carol Perkins 5k words Written by @azrielgreen Art by @hawkinsleather (twitter)

Mary Jane's Last Dance

Eden Bingham x Chrissy Cunningham 12k words Written by Dee Podfic by @deepestbluesky

Out of Place; In a World I Don't Belong

Robin Buckley x Chrissy Cunningham 16k words Written by ainsalaco Art by @donttellunclesam (twitter)

The Universe Must Have Divined This

Chrissy Cunningham x Carol Perkins 15k words Written by Jordan Art by @i-watch-the-beees (twitter)

but at least I got you in my head

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Trigger Happy

Robin Buckley x Nancy Wheeler 5k words Written by @karadanverss Art by @femmeetart

Because the night belongs to...

Robin Buckley x Carol Perkins 30k words Written by @biffbang Art By @raven-cl (twitter) & @itcanbepalped (twitter)

Set your heart free

Chrissy Cunningham x Heather Holloway 15k words Written by @medusapelagia (twitter) Art by @silliestguys (twitter)

Answers on the Back of a Postcard

Robin Buckley x Barbara Holland 5k words Written by @kaizenkhaos Art by @itcanbepalped

i want an icee and a nice girl to date

Robin Buckley x Nancy Wheeler 5k words Written by @roomwithanopenfire Art by @ddoonnccnn

Wonderful You Came By

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You Crawled Inside My Head and Lit a Fire There, Instead

Chrissy Cunningham x Nancy Wheeler 8k words Written by @pterawaters Art by @williamprattz

Take me Down to the River

Robin Buckley x Chrissy Cunningham 8k words Written by @emchant3d Art by @inflomora-art (twitter) & @silliestguys

letters that i can never send

Chrissy Cunningham x Tina 25k words Written by @thatgirlwithasquid Podfic by @hullomoon

Give Me Your Hand

Barbara Holland x Nancy Wheeler 38k words Written by @yourfellowuselessgay (twitter) Art by @karadanverss

first to fall

Robin Buckley x Chrissy Cunningham 23k words Written by @super-cosmic-library Art by @slime-hoe

Falling in Love in an Unlikely Place

Chrissy Cunningham x Heather Holloway 14k words Written by @kallisto-k Art by @alicetallula

You're the Best of Things

Robin Buckley x Chrissy Cunningham 14k words Written by Maria Art by Jen

Making Out While the World Collapses

Robin Buckley x Vickie 17k words Written by @salamandergoo Art by @faithfulcat111

like a lamb to the

Robin Buckley x Chrissy Cunningham 7k words Written by Cyd Art by @danadaria (Twitter)

before the world ends

Robin Buckley x Vickie 11k words Written by @stregoniconiconii Art by @deepestbluesky

kintsugi

Robin Buckley x Chrissy Cunningham 8k words Written by @lingeringmirth Art by @grimweathers

scraped up off the pavement

Robin Buckley x Carol Perkins 8k words Written by @mirandaranda (Twitter) Art by @becomingfoxes (Twitter)

Plastic Flowers

Chrissy Cunningham x Carol Perkins 7k words Written by Bird Art by @glitterghast (Twitter)

Knot in Her Stomach

Chrissy Cunningham x Carol Perkins 7k words Written by @lemonhoarddragoness Art by @hawkinsleather

like flour and blue skies

Robin Buckley x Chrissy Cunningham 14k words Written by @veronica-soy Art by @femmetart

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Robin Buckley x Nancy Wheeler 8k words Written by Bellandora Art by Cas

Thank you so much to all of our talented writers and artists for a fantastic event! You've given us so much sapphic fiction to enjoy, and we hope everyone else will too. See you next year! 💖

[estrellami-1]

If I Should Stay

Part 1 | . . . | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17

That evening, the older members of the Party make their way into a rift, one Nancy had found the first time and later told Steve about. They younger members stay in Steve’s house, safe. Each of the older members have a walkie-talkie, but the younger members only have two: a main and a backup.

Each of the older members also have a weapon. Nancy has the shotgun, which she’d been practicing with all afternoon. Steve has the nail bat, Robin has Molotov cocktails—and the means to make more should the occasion arise—Jonathan has a tire iron, and Eddie has a metal bat.

They make their way into the rift, Steve going first and Jonathan bringing up the rear. “We need to stay together as much as we can,” Steve murmurs. “Depending on the state they’re in, we may have to split up. If we do, Nancy, Jonathan and Robin, you stay with Barb. Get her out of here as fast as you can and in the car. Don’t unlock the doors for anything or anyone besides us, got it?”

Nancy nods. “Got it,” Jonathan says.

Robin gives him a look, but knocks their shoulders together in acceptance. “Keys,” she murmurs, and Steve drops his car keys in her hand, squeezing her fingers for a second before releasing.

They find Barb first, nearly unconscious and shivering, tucked into some trees.

Nancy runs to her, shoving the shotgun into whoever’s closest, meaning Eddie almost falls over as he tries to grab it.

He turns to Jonathan. “Can you shoot?”

Jonathan looks dubiously at the gun. “No.”

Eddie smirks and hands him the metal bat. “Then I think this might work better.”

As soon as Nancy reaches Barb, something in the trees behind them growls. Nancy whips her head up, looking into the trees, then turns to look at everyone else, a question clear in her eyes.

“Eddie,” Steve murmurs, not taking his eyes off the trees. “You can shoot?”

Eddie pumps the slide, checks the safety isn’t on, and widens his stance. “Just tell me what to shoot.”

Steve grimaces. “You’ll know when you see it.”

With that, he advances towards the trees, taking measured steps. He reaches Nancy and Barb, helps hoist Barb up, and slowly, they make their way back towards the group.

They get about halfway before Robin gasps, and Steve immediately shoves Barb onto Nancy, spinning around with his bat up and ready.

He’s just in time. A demogorgon crashes through the trees, heading straight for them. He hears Eddie yelp, a high, panicked, “What the fuck?” but he can’t focus on that, just swings his bat when the creature gets close enough.

A second later, the shotgun goes off, and the demogorgon’s head is gone.

Steve stands for a second, looking around, listening for anything else, but that seems to be it. He helps Nancy with Barb again and together they make their way back to the group. “She’s not gonna make it all the way to Will,” Steve says. “Jon, come take her from me. Get them safe to the car, alright?”

Jonathan nods and steps forward, mouth a thin line.

Steve turns to Nancy. “Do you want the gun back? Will you be able to react in time and shoot them?”

Nancy bites her lip, thinking, then shakes her head. “The cocktails,” she says. “As long as we have those…”

Robin steps forward and nods. “I gotcha.”

Jonathan hands Nancy the metal bat and situates Barb so he’s carrying her piggyback-style, with his tire iron helping to support her weight.

Steve takes a breath. “Alright. Get back safe. Robs, you’ve got the walkie?”

She nods. “I’ll radio if we need anything, but we’ll be fine, okay? Get Will and get out.”

Steve nods and pulls out his own walkie as they separate. “Home base, Barb is secure. We’re splitting up now, Eddie and I are going to find Will. We need directions.”

The walkie crackles to life. “Where’d you find her?”

Steve looks around, desperate for a landmark. Eddie puts a hand on his arm, grabs for the walkie talkie. “We’re about two miles east of Skull Rock.” He shrugs when Steve stares at him. “I spent a lot of time in the woods growing up.”

“Got it,” the walkie-talkie says. “Lucas says head north. We’ve got El tracking you, we’ll let you know when to turn.”

They head north, keeping an eye out for anything else. “So you said last time… bats get me?”

Steve nods. “The kids call them demobats. Ugly little fuckers with long tails that they use to wrap around your throat, arms, legs… whatever they can get. Razor-sharp teeth.”

Eddie sighs. “You mean to say I get eaten by bats and don’t turn into a vampire?”

Steve laughs. “Unfortunately, no. Otherwise I don’t think we’d be here.”

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[lucassinclaer-archive]

STRANGER THINGS LADIES APPRECIATION WEEK: DAY 7 FREE THEME

Minor characters are brief flickers of light that quickly go extinguished, but shine very brightly when they’re on screen.

[unclewaynemunson]

Thinking about Nancy Wheeler going to college finally escaping the town that has held her a captive of her memories for years. Thinking about Nancy in her room, putting stuff in boxes, desperate to leave, longing to be able to breathe again. Thinking about how she'll pause and stare at the pictures on her wall, the pictures that tell a story that looks unfinished because it got the most brutal ending possible. Her and Barb, making silly faces in a photo booth. Her and Barb, with sunglasses on in the Wheeler's backyard. Her and Barb, dressed up for Halloween, their cheeks pressed together and matching bright smiles on their faces. Her and Barb, always.

She gets to go to college. She gets to leave Hawkins and grow older and live a whole life. But Barb will forever be nothing more than the girl laughing in the fading pictures on her wall, no matter how old Nancy will get.

She has never been able to take any of the pictures down. But this time, she removes all of them from her childhood bedroom wall with gentle hands. She takes them with her to Boston and carefully hangs them on the wall of her dorm room. And she'll repeat that same process every time she moves somewhere else.

[henry-fox-biggest-stan]

I can’t really explain what stranger things means to me. A show about outcasts, by outcasts, for outcasts. When you’re different, sometimes you feel like a mistake. But you make me feel like I’m not a mistake at all, like I’m better for being different.

[netflixnormalthings]

sorry for being obsessed with barbara holland but god. absence as a presence. she is spilled punch and spilled tears and spilled truth and spilled guts. a grave with no body and a funeral with no catharsis. because she is gone she will never leave nancy; because she died nancy will kill. she's always there. she isn't coming home

[cuepickle]

Be honest - y’all forgot about her

[azaenya]

Barbara picked up: A 1886 Holland & Holland Paradox Shotgun!

She grips the cold metal of the barrel, and blood rushes to her head.

BARBARA NOW HOLDS THE POWER TO TERMINATE LIFE