#bc eddie finds out but only after steve says something about how hes impressed eddie and rob can play without sheet music

[findafight]

ty for pointing out that steve graduated on time despite a severe concussion and likely limited or non-existent support (esp considering how his dad reacted to the college thing). it's also worth noting that steve had no issues passing his classes throughout high school while playing and captaining at least 2 sports (3 if you count baseball [on top of other clubs and extracurriculars] from that yearbook thing they released post s1 i think). that's not easy to do. it also irritates me sm when they harp on steve confusing the names of things as proof that he's incredibly dumb or illiterate. esp the gumby thing when it's a fucking children's cartoon. even the german vs nazi thing makes sense in the context of him having a grandfather that fought in ww2, told him stories, and probably called the nazis germans. also v hypocritical when it's not commonly pointed out that the soviets are near exclusively called the russians. yet they always conveniently forget that steve is the only reason they figured out the russian code was coming from the mall (and, going by dialogue in the scene, was specifically the person that put together that the message was coming from the mall on top of recognizing the music and being the only person to pay attention to it - i always see the realization that the message is from hawkins misattributed to dustin) and the only reason they got out of the elevator in the same season where's he supposedly illiterate and incredibly stupid bc he confused the names of things. i stg ppl that do this so they can hype eddie up make eddie feel like my enemy.

Do I think Steve was getting A's? No. Do I think for the back half of his senior year he was working his ass off to scratch C's? Yes. VERY frustrating and honestly kind of hurtful when people keep calling him stupid about it! I interpret a lot of Steve's spacier moments to post concussive syndrome, and it's actually so impressive he's doing as well as he is especially in S3, just over seven months since billy, and is finished hs. Buddy bounced back! People love giving Steve migraines as a lasting symptom of his head trauma but don't acknowledge that focus and what I call "thinking speed" are also affected. Like yeah it'll take him a minute to process what is happening and formulate a response/plan, his brain was goop a few months ago! And S4 happens less than six months after S3 so like yeah. Clearly he's not at 100% we should all be so proud of him.

S1 sort of indicates he cruises through school when helping Nancy study. He's not a model student, and while one could argue teachers were more lenient because he was on sports teams and they wanted to win, that wouldn't have applied after billy beat him because he'd have had to take a leave from the teams, and it's the eighties so some teachers would potentially have thought "serves him right for fighting".

Steve is consistently making connections to things that others aren't! With the "realizing Russians in the mall" thing he is definitely leading Dustin to the conclusion. He goes "Indiana flyer? No way" or something to indicate that it's unlikely the message was from elsewhere, and he has already realized that the transmission is from Starcourt, and wants Dustin and Robin to as well. Just because Dustin said it doesn't mean he figured it out.

(I find people also attribute a lot of what Robin does and figures out to Nancy? Robin gets the newspaper that talks about Victor Creel being possessed by demons, Robin gets them into the hospital, Robin makes the connection to music as key to saving a victim. Stobin contributions so underappreciated smh)

Steve's quick on his feet and makes sure they're able to get out of the elevator with an Indiana Jones move! Without getting caught! I once saw someone saying it's Steve's fault they were trapped at all because he was older and should have put a stop to it, but. Did they think Dustin would drop it? And not explore by himself?? Also Steve's 18. Notorious dumbass decision age. (They also don't know the Soviets are in the mall, and then don't know it's an elevator) yeah it's a bad call, but where is this attitude for Nancy and Jon trying to expose the lab in s2 that absolutely would have known who snuck in and recorded Owens (why weren't they searched?) And then disappeared them. Like if you want to do that with Steve do it with everyone who has made a decision that potentially put people in danger. Hell, Hopper's the reason the lab agents go to the school in S1! He sells El out!

The German/Nazi thing is weird like. Everybody knew who he meant. What OTHER Germans would be a connection there. Yeah it's not "correct" but also. It's not wrong either. Especially when you're right! Russian/Soviet is used pretty interchangeably in the series I think even though many other countries were considered Soviets. Gumby/gumbo is such...a dumb thing to use as proof Steve is illiterate or whatever. Only one is a real word, and it's not Gumby!! Mixing up and confusing words is a normal thing, and these are one letter off and sound similar. Shit happens.

Him connecting Henry Creel to being a clockmaker? Logical conclusion to make given the emphasis the clock had gotten. He's also the one to find the pet siders and it doesn't mean anything even those were Henry's schtick. Literally they included that to make Steve look stupid for making a connection and then getting scared by spiders in his hair and I was just sitting there nodding along like wow same king you're so smart.

Idk I don't like comparing him and Eddie this way because it's not a competition? Frustrating when people try to make it seem that way. You don't need to drag Steve to make Eddie look good? Eddie wants to graduate, and I think it's probably a combo of him skipping and also not being good at/liking formal schooling and possibly some teacher bigotry that prevents him from getting a bit of slack that keeps him in hs. Eddie's good at what he likes and cares about (he's a brilliant guitar player!) And likely doesn't focus on things that don't interest him. That's fine!! But just because he's a rabble rouser and a weird guy and poor, doesn't mean teachers, for three rounds of grade twelve, held him back for no reason.

Idk it's like. Teachers can have biases and that can influence their teaching and interactions and expectations of students, but for it to happen twice to the point that Eddie didn't pass, seems very unlikely, because most teachers do want their students, even the ones that annoy them and they don't like, to graduate. It's sort of insulting to insinuate they would get away with it for three years without any other teacher complaining? Or calling them out? There are bad teachers out there but there are so many good ones too. Saying that the only reason he didn't is because of everyone but him and then turning around calling Steve stupid when he did a near impossible task? Seems weird. Don't agree. Bad take. Acknowledge people have different intelligences and can be better/worse at formal schooling than others and move on.

[cryingbilldenbrough]

Hmmm.... how about we talk about an IT/Stranger Things crossover?

OKAY HERE’S THE CONCEPT: richie tozier and mike wheeler are twins

richie is older by like three minutes and is INSUFFERABLE about it 

literally any time mike tries to argue at the dinner table (bc mike LOVES to argue at the dinner table) richie tries to shut him down with “im your big brother, you have to listen to me” and mike gets PISSED because it doesn’t even make any sense!!

“BY THREE MINUTES!” “best three minutes of my life” “that’s enough, boys”

you think mike is a little shit when he teases nancy about steve harrington? richie literally has a full-on steve impression that includes a bad california surfer dude accent and a cheesy smile 

somehow both boys have different groups of weird friends and nancy swears to god there’s always at least thirteen fucking middle schoolers in her basement yelling about some shit

despite having a lot in common, mike and richie try very hard to keep their friend groups separate because theyve had to share LITERALLY EVERYTHING since birth and it’s nice to have something belong to themselves for a change! 

that said, you KNOW they all like sneak around on the side and hang out. bill and will byers bond over drawing, swapping colored pencils and battered notebooks. ben LOVES lucas, appreciates his pragmatic nature, and they go to the movies together like every saturday night!!

bev and max hang out and smoke cigarettes behind the school dumpsters

can u IMAGINE richie and dustin in the same room? BAD BAD BAD

anyway mike tries desperately to keep will away from richie in the fear that will is gonna like richie’s humor and charm better and want him for a best friend but then he meets eddie kaspbrak and is like “richie’s already got his own will, we good”

also richie is banned from DND night bc he kept creating bards whose only goal was to hook up with mike’s NPCs and mike got sick of his brother fake seducing him

aNYWAY so in this world, the events of It happen during the summer and then immediately that school year, stranger things season 1 happens

will byers goes missing and bill denbrough is so FUCKING scared that It is back, that it’s stolen another child and he’s like leading the fucking search party because there’s NO WAY there’s gonna be another Georgie, not on his watch

he can feel that it’s different this time. there’s no magnetic pull in his stomach, no evidence to make him believe It has stolen will, but he has to find him anyway. 

(they find will’s “body” in the lake and bill cries himself to sleep that night because he FAILED AGAIN and someone else died)

meanwhile

richie is SO NOT ABOUT this eleven shit. he wakes up in the middle of the night and mike isn’t in the bottom bunk of their bunkbeds and he hears whispering from downstairs and comes upon his brother and some fucking bald girl in their blanket fort????

mike begs his brother to keep his fucking trashmouth silent for ONCE

but of course richie immediately calls bill and blabs it all bc bill always knows what to do and also they already defeated the physical manifestation of evil and fear so like what could a bunch of stuffy scientists do to them?

and bill helps mike figure out a plan and mike realizes maybe his brother’s kind of cool after all

the two groups come together to fight the demogordon and it’s fucking ELECTRIC because the lucky seven are this fucking MACHINE of love and friendship and mike is like “WHAT DID U DO ALL SUMMER RICHIE?WHY ARE YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS AN ARMY???” and richie just grins at him, shit-eating, and says “not much. hung out in a sewer while you and ur nerd crew were playing dungeons and dragons. killed a murdering clown. normal stuff.”

mike repeats this back to will later, rolling his eyes, and will laughs

the next time he sees richie he smiles a small grin and says “killed a clown in a sewer? try living in the Upside Down for three weeks and then get back to me.”

send me headcanons/prompts!

[findafight]

Hmmm me thinks we are sleeping on cliché rich boy activity of Steve having taken piano lessons. He's not so good at memorizing (he has to work hard at it for exams) but can sight read like a CHAMP. (He's dyslexic but something clicks when he sees the notes on the page to translating it to his fingers) However he only knows classical pieces used for royal conservatory exams. Boy can sit down and flip through his book and bust out gavotte in G major but doesn't know the key any wham song is in. He's grade ten piano and the only popular music he knows is Piano Man and (later) Rainbow Connection.