#because 80% of the time I pick steve lol

[biteofcherry]

Okay, so picture this:

You’re out on the town with your friends, it’s a late night of bar hopping in a city you’ve never been before. Tonight is your last one there, so they insist on making the most of it well into the early hours of the morning. You find yourselves in an old historic part of town and are drawn by the energy of a storefront, somehow still open at this late hour. Your friends are caught up in themselves, sharing jokes with tipsy laughter as you enter the door alone, greeted by an old woman. In your drunken unfilteredness, you spill everything to her: why you’re on this trip, why you sometimes feel unlucky in love, how you’ve been pining after this man, but for some reason he doesn’t seem to notice. She offers you some tea, it would be rude to turn down her hospitality, but she’s got a twinkle in her eye. She’s actually a witch doctor who can make potions to grant your wish of not being alone anymore. She can make the man you want, want you back, or at least give them that extra push (bc they def already have feelings, just don’t show it and try to shove them down). When you return home, having forgotten about your drunken encounters, you’re confused as to why this man is all over you. Is it:

work rival Steve, childhood friend Ransom, or neighbor Andy ?

okay okay okay 👀 let's think

Why would we pin after a work rival? I mean, I get that it's Steve and it's reason enough. Valid point. Are we like serious rivals? Enemies about to become lovers? Is there heat and threats and unresolved sexual tension?

Ransom can be a childhood friend, but is he worthy of pinning? He's handsome, but also a spoiled asshole who treats his staff poorly. I suppose he's good to us and maybe even spoils us a bit. He's definitely cozy to snuggle up with on autumn evenings, watching movies.

Is the gloomy neighbor Andy a just widowed/divorced hermit, who gives charming smiles, but keeps to himself? Does that intrigue us? Do we want to make him smile more often and imagine ourselves as fixing his broken heart?

🤔🤔🤔

I don't see myself pining after Ransom 😜 I would find him hot and want to fuck him, but for me he's not a type to be crushing on. At least not for the adult me. My teenage self could probably fall for the smart but cunt appeal.

So I'm left with neighbor Andy and rival coworker Steve...

Who am I kidding, we all know who I'm going to choose! BUT let me tell you, it wasn't just because he's Steve. It was the fact he was given the enemies to lovers sort of trope and lots of tension that just begs to be resolved. And yes, I can see myself having some fixation on a man that is hot, but also challenges me on an intellectual level and understands the value of our work, is possibly admirable in his field, too.

[justmeinadaze]

Take It Out On Me (Steddie X Plus Size Reader)

A/N: *melts into goo* I swear the vibes I get from this story and where I can go with it are a mix of Ariana Grande's "Dangerous Woman" and "I Didn't Change My Number" but Billie Eilish lol That lost song is actually where I got the title because I saw a TikTok where some did the Steddie AI followed by the lyrics "Take it out on you...and your best friend to."

So this is set in the 80s and I chose to make the reader plus size because I haven't done it before with these two and because we plus sized babes are sexy bitches ;). (All you souls, no matter your size are beautiful. Never forget that <3)

Warnings: Dominate Steddie and Sub Reader, she's not a virgin but she's definitely new to this. Everything in this story is consensual! Even though they are rough with her they do come up with a safe word and tell her she can stop if she wants (and they would! I would never write a version of these boys who wouldn't.)

There is degrading (mostly about how the reader wants to be used), spanking, choking... rough smut for sure but followed with aftercare.

Word Count: 3953

This wasn’t normal for you. You never got in trouble at school but today was just one of those days. Carol was picking on you again because of your appearance. Every day it was something different. Your hair looked flat, your clothes were hideous, or something you were reading at the lunch table made you “a dork”. 

Today, it was how fat your ass looked in your jeans. You slammed your locker shut as you turned to face her. “At least I have an ass, you ugly bitch!”

“Y/N Y/L/N!”, Ms. O’Donnell scolded. You hadn’t even noticed she was there. She sent you to the principal’s office where he gave you a week’s worth of detention after school. 

You were surprised when you entered the designated classroom to find it empty except for the teacher in charge. 

“Ah Miss Y/N, I presume. In for offensive language and bullying a fellow student. Come in and have a seat. I’m waiting on two more.” 

You flash him a soft smile as you slide into the desk in the front corner. The door opens again and fear dances through your eyes as Steve Harrington saunters in and throws himself down in a desk in the middle of the room. 

“Our very own basketball and swim star himself, Steven Harrington. Currently in detention today fooooor…”, the teacher looks at the papers in front of him. “Being caught in the girl’s bathroom. Huh. Did you get lost?”

Before he could respond, the final student entered loudly swinging the door open as he flew in. “Hey! Mr. C! How are we this fine afternoon?”

“Mr. Eddie Munson. Always a pleasure, sir. What are we in for today?”

“I may or may not have caused a disruption in the lunchroom today.”

“Mhmm. Well, since everyone is here, we can start. Detention begins at 5pm sharp and if you aren’t here on time, I do get to tell the principal who will do with you as he will.”

“Sounds sexy.”, the metalhead grins as he sits on top of a desk and crosses his legs. 

“Mr. Munson, I know you’ve heard this many, MANY times but for the new prisoners can you please…shut up.” The boy salutes him as the teacher continues. “The majority of the time, you guys will be here, SILENTLY, doing homework or reading, I really don’t care. Just be quiet. Depending on what is going on that day this week we may help out with things. The theater kids have a play on Friday and need help with the sets. As I’m sure Mr. Harrington knows, there’s also a game so the pep squad may need stuff set up.”

“Other than that, let’s just shut up and get through the week, okay?”

The first twenty minutes go by extremely slow as you try to focus on the homework in front of you. After a while, you felt someone watching, turning your head to see Steve staring at you. Something in those admittedly gorgeous brown irises sent a tingle through your body. It felt like he was trying to read you with the little information he had in front of him. 

You jumped as a loud beeping echoed through the room and a small devious smile spread across his face. 

“Shit.” The teacher pulled his beeper off his belt, furrowing his eyebrows anxiously. “That’s my wife. I’m going to make a quick call but if I come back and I catch you all talking or fucking around…” He points at the metalhead accusingly as he runs out the door. 

“Jesus Christ. I thought he would never leave.” Eddie sighed as he got up and slid into the desk in front of Steve reaching out to high five him. “Harrington. What are you in for?”

“Fucking Tammie told Ms. Luhrmann I was hiding in the girl’s bathroom.”

“You pervert.”

“It’s not what you think, ok! I left Nancy a note but she never showed up.”

“I told you, man. You need to stay away from those good girls. Speaking of…” Eddie swivels around on the desk to face you. “What are you in for, sweetheart?”

You curl a bit into your body, hoping they’ll just leave you alone. You don’t belong here. This isn’t normal for you. You just wanted to get through the week and never think about this again. 

Two hands, one of them covered in rings, come into your field of view in front of you as they press against your desk. “I asked you something, princess. Don’t be rude now.”

You closed your eyes at the deep tone of his voice. He sounds so sexy…

“She can definitely speak. Talked back to Carol today. It was amazing.”

That grabbed your attention as you turned to look at him. When you yelled at Carol, he wasn’t in the immediate group but he must have been nearby. They were his friends after all. 

“What did that bitch say?” Eddie asked Steve but his eyes never left you. 

“Said she had a fat ass.” The other boy rolls his eyes. 

“And what did you say?” He asks, speaking to you again. 

Your eyes found his before they left to scan you lips, down your curvy body, and back up to your face. 

“Boo!” Eddie shouted as he slammed his palms on the wood in front of you, making you jump again. He and Steve both chuckled as he sauntered away, back to his friend. 

“She commented on the fact that Carol lacks any kind of an ass and then followed that up with the word ‘bitch’.”

“Ooooh, you bad girl. You’re not wrong. That evil little person has nothing behind her. I prefer a girl who has some extra umph you know? Plus, their pussy always tastes the sweetest.”

You exhaled shakily at his words, having only heard or read them in stories. You definitely weren’t a virgin. You had been with men and had boyfriends but none of them ever spoke like Eddie had. They were always extremely shy type guys who had no idea what they were doing on top of you.

“Mr. Munson!” The teacher came back, sighing with his hands in the air. “Really?”

“Sorry, Mr. C. I had a question for the pretty girl but she doesn’t seem to be capable of speech.”

“I don’t blame her when it comes to you.”

################

The next day, you became more aware of Eddie and Steve’s presences. You didn’t realize you actually had a couple of classes with Steve and lunch with both he and Eddie. The metalhead’s eyes watched you walk past the Hellfire club table as you tried to ignore him and the other boy constantly turned to glace at you as he ate with his friends. 

At the end of the day, you filed into the detention room, surprised to find both boys already there and seated in the front row, much closer to you than they were yesterday. 

“Ok troublemakers, collect your things, we are headed to the theater room.”

“I believe thespians refer to it as an auditorium, sir.” Eddie replied in a comical voice that made you smile but only Steve caught it.

“Yeah whatever. I don’t care. Just paint and behave. I’ll be right back there watching so no funny business.”

“Can we talk, Warden or is that still a no-no?”

“Yes, Mr. Munson. You can speak as long as you paint.”

You descend to your knees and they both follow suit. Steve reaches over for the paintbrushes but as he leans over towards you, he lifts it out of your grasp and hands it to his friend. 

“Oh, I’m sorry. Did you want something? You gotta ask for it.”, he smiled over at you as he waited. “No? Ok then.”

“Please.”

They froze as he sat back to look you over. “Please what?” He laughs as your face scrunches in disgust. “I don’t know what you want unless you ask me for it.”

“Please, Steve…can I have a brush?”

He nods as he passes it to you and you immediately duck down again to focus on the task in front of you. 

“Your voice is pretty. You should talk more.” Eddie’s eyes remained on the board as he painted. 

“It’s not that she doesn’t want to talk. She just doesn’t want to talk to us.”

You don’t know why but hearing Steve say it like that made you feel bad. It wasn’t exactly that you didn’t WANT to. You just didn’t trust or know them. King Steve was close friends with the people that tortured you daily and Eddie was the resident bad boy your parents warned you to stay away from. They both intimated you greatly not just because of their air of dominance but because you wanted them to wield it on you. 

You wanted them to use you until you or they couldn’t take it anymore and that scared the hell out of you. You were so inexperienced when it came this stuff plus…how do you explain that to someone? Shouldn’t you want to be wined and dined? Yes, you did. You absolutely did but you wanted to be fucked senseless first.

“I do want to talk to you.”

“Then why don’t you?”, Eddie asked.

“You scare me.”

“Well, shit, sweetheart. I’m not a fucking devil worshipper like these asshole people think.”

“It’s not just you and that’s not why.”

“I’ve never made fun of you, Y/N.”

“Oh, hey. She has a name! Steve, you should have told me.”

“Yeah, you never made fun of me but you never stopped them either. You laughed along with them while they picked on me and degraded me in front of the entire school. You’re just as much an asshole as they are.”

“Y/N!”, the teacher hollers from his seat. “As much as I am enjoying watching you tear the king of Hawkins high a new one, I don’t see much painting happening.”

Blinking, you shut your mouth and begin moving the brush again. 

“If you ever talk to me like that again, I don’t care where we are or who is in the room, I will throw you over my knee and punish you. Do you understand me?” You turn to look him, finding his angry eyes penetrating yours. “I said, do you understand me?”

“Steve, come on.” Eddie rolls onto his back as he stares up you. “She doesn’t play like that. Do you? Probably still a virgin.”

“I’m not a virgin.”

“I see. Ok, not a virgin but definitely not a hardcore kind of girl, right? You like the missionary, vanilla, candles by the bed, listening to slow 70s tunes. Am I right?”

“You don’t know me. Jesus, no wonder you two are friends.”

“Oh wow, Eds. Look at her. No, she doesn’t like that at all. I mean, on some nights yeah, but you prefer being told to shut the fuck up and do as your told.”

“N-n-no. I don’t.”

Your answer makes them giggle. “I would not have pictured that. You like being used?”

“Edward Munson! I swear to God. If I have yell at you guys one more time, we are going back to the classroom to sit silently.”

As detention came to a close, the teacher asked if you wouldn’t mind staying a little later to put everything away. You agreed especially since he told the guys they could leave. You needed that space away from them. 

When Steve scolded you, you felt your panties dampen but you meant what you said. He never did anything to keep the popular kids from picking on you. You saw him laugh with them multiple times. Thinking about Eddie asking if you liked being used, had your pussy clenching around nothing as you rubbed your thighs together. You didn’t know enough about him to really form an opinion. The town talked about him a lot and his club he had at school but you two never crossed paths. 

You kept thinking about them as you collected your things and headed down the hallway to leave for the day. Suddenly, a hand covered your mouth as arms lifted you by your waist into a nearby open classroom. 

“Hey, sweetheart. Steve and I wanted us to finish our conversation. Now that that asshole isn’t here, we can!” Your eyes widen as you listen to Eddie speak. His tone light but there’s a strength behind it that frightens (and excites) you. “Now, where did we leave off? Ah, yes. You were just about to tell us if you liked being used.”

Steve lifted his palm from your lips, resting it gently against your throat.  “Please.”

“Nope. We already had that discussion. You have to say what you want to get it.” Eddie sighs as you push back against the man behind you and he quickly tightens his grip on your neck. “Sweetheart, give me a word. Any word you feel like you’ll remember in any…overwhelming situation.” His eyes seductively raked along your body. 

“Vanilla.” You aren’t sure why that’s the first word that came to mind but it was the only thing you could think of as Steve loosened his grip and your head fell back against him. 

“If there’s one thing you are not, baby, it’s vanilla but… that’s fine. If at ANY point during our little talk here you feel unsafe or you want to stop just say that word. Do you understand me?”

“Yes, I understand.”

He steps forward, running his thumb along your bottom lip. “Good girl.”  His fingers trailed down to your shirt, grinning before he roughly ripped it open exposing your bra covered breasts. “Now…I’m only going to ask one more time. Do you…like…being used?”

“I-I-I don’t know. I want t-t-to be.”

His eyes widened in genuine surprise. 

“You said you’re not a virgin, right?”, Steve asked and you shook your head. 

“Aw, Harrington. What she’s telling us is she’s never been fucked properly. Is that right?”

“Yes.”

“Yes what?”

“Yes, Eddie, that’s right.”

The metalhead rolls his eyes in frustration and takes a few steps back. Steve flips you around and slams your upper body down against the desk, reaching around to unbutton your pants as he pulls them below your ass. You hear the sound of a lighter being closed before the echo of his palm slapping your skin reverberates through the room. 

As a handcuff belt buckle places itself in front of you, the smell of smoke fills the air. 

“Sweetheart, this would go a lot smoother if you just listened and did as you were told.” He bent down on his heels so his face was level with your own. “Yes. What?”

“Yes, Eddie, I’ve never been fucked properly.”

“That’s better.”

Steve’s hand moves to hold your face flat to the wood and your arms reach to claw in front of you. You whine as he spanks you again. “Stop moving!”

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m…” Your apology trails off as the tears start to fall down your cheeks. 

Eddie balances the cigarette between his fingers as he runs his thumb under your eye. The gesture was sweet in contrast and he noticed you begin to settle. His eyes flicked above you and a few moments pass before Steve slides his hand off your head to between your shoulder blades. 

“You said you were afraid of us. Why?”

When you don’t immediately answer he sighs and the other boy delivers two hard slaps to your bottom. Instead of pushing back or fighting underneath the weight of his palm holding you down, you laid still, accepting it. The only movements you made were with your face as you winced at the feeling.

“Why?”, he repeats. 

“Be-be-because of… how you m-m-make me feel.”, you whisper. 

“Did you hear that, Stevie?”, Eddie smirked up at him.

“Just barely but yeah. Y/N, I was there when you shouted at Carol, remember? I know you can speak louder than that.”

Your face scrunched at his words and the metalhead held his chest as he laughed.  “It kills you doesn’t it, princess? To both hate someone AND want them at the same time.”

Suddenly, you felt yourself being lifted as Steve tugged on your shirt and adjusted you so you were facing him again. “You hate me, Y/N?”

When you took too long, his fingers pinched your cheeks roughly as he tilted forward till his nose was touching yours. “I asked you a question. You fucking answer! Do you hate me?!”

“Yes! You fucking asshole! I hate you!” You defiantly glared at him as you screamed at him. 

“His friends kind of suck. They don’t even know about me. Do they, Harrington?” Eddie snuffed out his cigarette, tossing the butt in the garbage. “I mean it’s fine. I don’t care. What I do find fascinating through is this electricity between you two even though you both hate each other.”

“I don’t hate her.” Your eyelids fluttered at his admission. Why did you torture you with his friends if it wasn’t because he didn’t like you? “If I hated her, I wouldn’t want to make her cum right now.”

Eddie pressed himself to your side as his lips hovered over your ear. “Has anyone ever made you cum before?”

You couldn’t tear your eyes from Steves and you didn’t even both trying. “No. No one has ever made cum.”

“Good girl. See? She’s learning. I knew you were smart.” Eddie’s palm slid along your shoulder, bringing your bra strap down your arm. His fingers, almost delicately, freed one of your breasts from its confine and you panted out a silent moan as the pad of his thumb grazed your nipple. 

“Do you want Steve here to make you cum?”

You couldn’t help it. Your hand wrapped around the back of the other boy’s neck as you brought his lips to yours. The first thing you noticed was how delicious he tasted. You felt like you could orgasm just from this alone. His hands remained still against your hips except for the little twitch of his fingers when your mouths connected. 

Your bliss was short lived as a hand abruptly clung to your neck and violently shoved your back flat to the desk. 

“Did I ask you if you wanted to fucking kiss him?!” You trembled as Eddie angrily shouted in your face. His gripped tightened against your neck for a brief moment before he let go and you turned to the side as you gasped for air. 

“Munson.” The metalhead glanced at Steve realizing quickly the man was gone. His eyes were black with lust and need, practically hyperventilating as his hands dug into your meaty hips. “Jesus fucking Christ. Fine. She said she wanted to be used. I guess we’re doing it this way since someone can’t fucking listen.”

Steve hastily unbuckled his belt, pushing down his pants just enough to free his cock before spitting in his hand and stroking it along his length. You gasped as he breached your entrance, giving you no time to adjust to the size of him as he stretched you open. He was much bigger than anyone you had every been with and you cried out as you reached out into the air, grazing your hand along Eddie’s shirt as you grabbed the fabric. 

“How does she feel, Harrington?”

The man’s grunts filled the room as he slammed his hips into yours. “So, fucking tight. My god.” He slowed his pace as he craned his neck to watch between your legs as his dick disappeared inside of you. 

As you continued to moan, you focused on Eddie as he unzipped his pants and pulled out his own cock, pumping it with his fist. “Open your mouth, princess.” You did as you were told as his fingers tangled in your hair, pushing you lips to length. “Good girl. Fuck me…” His teeth bit into his bottom lip as he slowly thrust hips. 

The feeling of you moaning around him causes him to wipe his head towards Steve, watching as the boy pressed rapid circles into your clit. With both of them inside of you, you were quickly hurtling toward that ledge. 

“Yes, pretty girl. Take it. Fuck…your mouth feels amazing.” 

Both boys thrust into at a fast pace, Steve slamming his hips into yours so hard the desk underneath you began to shake. You started to gag and gurgle around Eddie’s cock. 

“Wh-what, baby? You gonna cum? That’s right. Just let go and feel it.”

He pulled himself out from between your lips, continuing to pump himself as he watched you. Your body shook as your back arched and you came.

Steve murmured obscenities under his breath as your pussy clenched around him. 

“God damn. That was so fucking sexy.” The metalhead shoved his cock back into your mouth as they both chased their highs.  

Steve came first, pulling out of you just as he released ropes of his seed on to your stomach. Eddie soon followed, holding your head in his firm grip as he came down your throat.

You laid flat against the desk, staring up at the ceiling as you tried to catch your breath. As you heard them pull up their pants, you half expected them to leave you there having got what they wanted but were startled when you felt a napkin being run along your stomach. 

“Geez. Always so jumpy.” Eddie gripped your arm as he helped you sit up so he could adjust your bra and shirt. “Shit.” You followed his eyes realizing what he did; that when he tore open your shirt a lot of the buttons flew off with it. On impulse you covered your chest with your arms as you tried thinking of excuses to give your mom when you got home. 

While his face furrowed in thought, Steve lifted you off the desk and guided your pants up your legs before buttoning them back up. 

“I got it.”, the metalhead snapped his fingers as he tugged his shirt over his head. Gently, he removed your blouse, handing it the other boy before throwing his own over your head. He smiled in triumph at himself as he walked around you both towards the student desks and put on his leather jacket. 

“Do you drive here or…?”, Steve asked. 

“Yeah, my car is out front.”

“Good. Come on. We’ll walk with you.”

As they started to head for the door, you reached for Eddie’s arm, turning him around, and yanked him to your body as you leaned up to kiss him. It startled him at first but after moment he keened into it as his hands cupped your cheeks. He definitely tasted different than Steve but you still wanted more. You could kiss him all night if he let you. 

After pulling away, you pushed past them and headed for the parking lot, feeling their eyes watch you as they followed. When you guys got to the parking lot, you were thankful for the slight breeze as it cooled your still somewhat sweaty skin. 

There were only three cars remaining; yours, the BMW you assumed was Steve’s, and Eddie’s van. Steve reached across you, cutting you off as he opened the vehicle door for you. You paused for a moment before turning to look at them. You weren’t sure what you were expecting but the soft eyes that looked back at you were completely different than what you had experienced these last two days. 

You wanted to say something but weren’t sure what. Thankfully, they understood as Eddie stepped forward, placing his hand on your shoulder as he guided you into your car. 

“See you tomorrow, sweetheart.”

#################

@sidthedollface2 @luna-munson83 @devilinthepalemoonlite @corrodedcorpses

[latelyanobsession]

Gossip Swap

summary rumors can be nasty. especially when straight out of your boyfriend’s mouth. kind words however, can make a world of difference when offered up by a kind soul.

warnings cursing, rumors/gossiping, emotional hurt/comfort, angst, fluff, smut, TW: use of fat-shaming slurs

word count 2,737

note based on a request by @harringtonfan4: "eddie x steve x plus size female reader…reader has been dating Steve he told reader he was sick he goes to party instead someone gets him on video all over Nancy and telling her and the others how unhappy he has been with reader because of how she looks and what he’s used too whole school sees it …eddie steps in to pick up the pieces (smut preferred) maybe eddie has a squirting kink or breeding kink (regular smut is fine if you don’t do those) and Steve decides he made a mistake..reader chooses eddie ….sorry my asks are long winded I have specific ideas I’m just not good at writing them lol. If it’s too much let me know I’ll tone down my explanations"

i've changed your request a bit by having the reader and steve's break up be based on the spread of a rumor through the school rather than a video. using a video would've taken a lot of effort back then, (ie. filming and then copying multiple VHS tapes or having to pass a single tape around to multiple people would've taken a lot of time). so using word of mouth to spread a nasty rumor would make better sense to spread something like that from a weekend party faster in the 80s.

also a couple lil tweaks to the smut and setting just to make it flow. a full disclosure as well that i've never read any existing smut for eddie so this is just my interpretation of how i think he would align in sexual interactions based on my interpretation of his character.

As always any feedback is much appreciated. Thanks for reading!

You pursed your lips, eyes zeroed in on the dial as you twirled the tumbler on your locker.

35 - 11 - 27

Hooking your finger in the latch, you opened the door. It's hinges squeaking.

"That her?" a voice asked, walking past.

"Yeah, I feel so bad for her..." another answered.

You peered past your locker door, eyebrows creased in curiosity.

The pair of upperclassmen quickly turning their heads away as they wandered further down the hallway.

You shrugged it off. They must've been talking about somebody else. There was nothing going on with you.

Sinking into your seat in first period, the low rumble of whispers slithered its way through the room, snaking its way up your spine and settling beneath your skin.

"I can't believe he said that...!"

"Well... I would want someone more... y'know..."

"Can you blame him?"

Clenching your fists, you tried to ignore their words as they coiled around you. Constricting you with each breath. Your chest pulling tight.

"What the hell are you talking about?!" you burst out loud, throwing your pen gruffly against your notebook, bouncing it to the floor.

Your classmates paused, quieting. Their faces mixed with looks of pity and guilt.

But none of them answered you.

The remainder of the period passed in relative silence, with you leaving the room in frustration.

It felt like the whole school's eyes were on you.

And you didn't know why.

The next period was no better. Nor the one after that.

The day was unraveling into an uncontrolled nightmare. And you wanted to get away from it as soon as possible.

Taking a deep breath, you latched the sliding bolt on the bathroom stall and sat down.

You didn't even need to pee. You just wanted a quiet moment alone.

You took another deep breath, closing your eyes.

The door to the bathroom swung open, the back slamming loudly against the tile wall as girls entered.

"I still can't believe Steve said that!" one girl hummed excitedly.

"Well you should, I was there. I heard the whole thing!" replied the other.

"He was seriously with Nancy?" asked a third.

"Of course!" answered the second, as if this were obvious. "They were all over each other... Steve was practically sobbing about wanting her back."

They giggled amongst themselves.

"But... what about the part... about... Y/N?" asked the first.

"Oh..." the second clucked, "Yeah, he wouldn't stop whining about how sick he is being stuck with a cow like her..."

They shrieked with laughter, the shrill sound clattering off the walls.

"He really called her a cow?" the third snorted ungraciously.

"...Like a pillow that's already too stuffed to stuff... if you get it..." the second mused.

They laughed again.

You swallowed thickly, trying to remain as collected as possible. You didn't want them to know you were there.

Your eyes were brimming over with tears as you clapped a hand over your mouth to stifle a shaky exhale.

"I mean why'd he ever trade Nancy for that whale anyhow?" the second complained.

"It's a complete downgrade..." agreed the third.

"There's no way a fatso like her could ever satisfy him... she's too busy stuffing her face." the first stated.

They all made varying sounds of agreement, washing their hands. The door slamming back open, and coming to with a soft thud.

You threw the stall door open, letting out a long-held sob. How could any of this be true?

But it had to be... "I was there. I heard the whole thing!"

Steve had bailed on you over the weekend. He called, coughing and whining pathetically through the phoneline of how ill he felt. And you bought it like an absolute sucker.

How stupid you truly were. Planning on bringing him homemade soup after school this afternoon, when he was already wrapping himself up soundly ... in Nancy Wheeler's lap.

Fleeing the bathroom, you quit the school building entirely. Not wanting to deal with another single pair of eyes on you.

You cut out across the football field and into the woods, just looking for a quiet place to walk. To seeth. To hide.

A few yards in you found a clearing with a weathered picnic table, empty beer cans scattered across its top.

This place didn't seem familiar to you, but it was close yet far enough away from school grounds that it seemed like a good place to settle.

Dropping onto the bench, tears began trickling out in steady rivulets down your heated cheeks. Your shoulders shaking with heavy sobs as the conversation you overheard began to replay in your mind.

Steve wouldn't have gone back to Nancy if I wasn't fat.

The voice in your head began...

Steve wouldn't have lied to me and gone to that party on his own if he wasn't embarrassed to be seen with me.

The voice pressed.

Steve doesn't love me. I'm too fat to be with Steve.

Too fat...

You crumbled.

Your hands coming up and hiding your face. Tears quickly turning bitter as your chest felt fit to shatter.

Every sweet thing he had ever told you must have been a lie. Why else would he be able to pivot so quickly? Turn back to Nancy so smoothly?

So thoroughly enveloped in your sorrow, you didn't notice someone enter the glade.

"Uhhhh?" the voice hemmed, cutting through a bout of your sobs, startling you.

"You doin' ok? I mean you're obviously not... but... Are you?"

You peered up through your fingers, snuffling horribly, your nose stuffed with snot.

A lanky boy with ratty hair and torn jeans was standing at the edge of the clearing.

He stood there awkwardly scratching his cheek, a black lunchbox in his other hand.

"I- I'm sorry... -'ll leave..." you sniveled getting up, not realizing you were intruding on someone's coveted lunch spot.

He tossed up his hands lightly, "don't worry about it... it's cool. Y/N right?"

You nodded slowly, he seemed familiar but you couldn't really place him.

"Do I know you?" you sniffed, wiping a sleeve at your eyes.

He shrugged, lips puckered thoughtfully as he clasped his hands behind his back.

"Well, you should... You and your boytoy bought weed from me a few times..." he stated dryly.

"He's not my -!" you clipped spitefully, snapping your jaw shut in realization.

"Oh?" he said, sitting down next to you. "My mistake... thought you were a thing."

"Not anymore..." you whispered.

You looked over at him, "I'm sorry..." you apologized again, "you don't need to hear about my shit."

Kicking his feet to and fro childishly, his heels tossed up leaves all around you. His eyes focused on the trees.

"Well sounds like someone should hear it... It's Eddie by the way..." he smiled at you gently, nudging your shoulder with his own to go on.

You smiled coyly, eyes dodging to your toes.

"It's just..." you sputtered, fingers wrapping around the bench tensely, "he said I'm too fat for him."

Tears were threatening to fall yet again.

He let off an obnoxious laugh, you wanted to punch him.

"I'm sorry..." his brows knitting together, as if in deep thought before they shot high, "Is he mental!?" Eddie shouted, hopping to his feet.

You blinked at him, dumbfounded, "What?"

"Boytoy. Is he completely certifiable?" Eddie pointed at his head, index finger swirling counterclockwise.

Your eyebrows furrowed, "I don't... think... no?"

He tossed his hands dramatically skyward, "Y/N!"

You jumped.

"He has to be!" he reasoned, arms still thrust high.

"You're just so .... kind. And so genuine. And smart. And beautiful and so –" he spoke rapidly, listing your qualities off each finger. Pacing himself into a small tight circle.

"You think I'm beautiful?" you interrupted him.

He stopped, looking up from his fingers, bringing his hand bashfully to his lips.

His eyes darting around the grove, before answering.

"Yeah. But you're so much more than that," he added.

Coming back to the table he straddled the bench, a leg on each side, looking you square in the eyes.

"He's a dumbass for cheating on you." Eddie declared. "I mean he couldn't be more of an idiot! Total dick move!" He waved his arms in an axing motion.

You laughed, "Thanks."

"Yeah, no problem! If you were my -" his words fell short as your lips collided with his.

"Eddie?" you hummed, pulling away, your foreheads resting together.

"Yah?" he breathed.

"Please shut up." you giggled.

"Yes ma'am," he replied enthusiastically.

Yoking a hand around his shoulders, you pulled him back in. Lips ghosting over his, your tongue playfully laving at his bottom lip.

He groaned loudly, lips parting in invitation. His hands swiftly seizing you and pulling you in.

His grasp was greedy. Desperate. Wanton. Tugging your sweater out of place, his chilled fingers pricking up goosebumps in their wake along every inch of newly discovered skin.

Small gasps tumbling from your tongue to his as those long fingers crawled lower, twiddling with the button of your jeans.

"You sure you want this?" he asked breaking from you, his eyes shimmering with sincerity.

"Wouldn't want Boytoy to miss you or anything..." he chuffed with a somber smile.

You placed your palm on his cheek. "Eddie, he's already missed me..." you leaned in kissing him chastely, "by a long shot."

A brilliant smile lit up his features, warm brown eyes shining.

"Really?" he was shocked.

"Yes," you replied, crawling into his lap. "I want you. I need... this." You emphasized with a searing kiss, grinding your weight against him.

His hands gripped your sides, digging in and holding you close as he whimpered at the feeling. Even through layers of denim, you could feel a thick bulge burgeoning against your inner thigh.

Sitting up momentarily you wrapped your hand around his belt, yanking him forward, manhandling him. Pressing him back gruffly against the picnic table, he planted both feet back in front of the bench, letting off a slight wince of surprise.

"What you got planned sweety?" he asked cutely.

Propping a knee on the bench you towered over him, hands undoing his belt buckle. Fingers nimbly unfastening his fly.

"You'll see." you teased, a finger tracing up the length of his clothed erection, his neck straining.

"Oh .... ooooh, that's not fair," he whined, a foot kicking in protest. Your hand slyly enveloping his length and pulling him out into the open.

You kissed him, lingering to pull at his tongue. "You're gonna get yours don't worry about it." you hummed, hand pumping smoothly up his length as you admired his pained expression.

Backing off, you unclasped your jeans shimmying them down just below the swell of your ass. A sharp inhale reaching your ear, "fuck."

Peering over your shoulder, you regarded him with heavily lidded eyes. "Like?"

He swallowed thickly, nodding as his gaze washed over you. "Y-yah."

You smirked your cheeks heating.

"You'll like this better..." you challenged as you reversed, placing yourself between his legs.

You lowered yourself onto his lap, grinding your bare cunt against his cock. The evidence of your arousal coating him from base to tip.

"Shit babe," he whined hands clamped onto your hips more so for his own sanity than for yours.

Reaching back you gave him a couple short strokes before lining him against your entrance, the bulging head already pressed between your pussy lips in anticipation.

Sinking down onto his length, you cried out. The stretch making your knees weak, your hands gripping his thighs to ground yourself.

"God Eddie!" you exhaled, eyes blinking widely.

"Babe you gotta move..." Eddie complained, voice straining. "I'm not gonna make it!" His grip was becoming harsh, almost biting. His hips trying to thrust, heels pressing against the ground for purchase.

"Eddie please..." you warned pathetically, "don't do that." He was already so deep. Your walls wrapped snuggly around him. Each small movement lighting up nerve endings you didn't even know you had.

Roping his arms around your middle, he hauled you back, knocking you off balance. Gaining leverage and driving himself deeper.

"Eddie!" you whimpered, pressed flush against him. "Eddie I can't...I'll –"

His pace was gaining, thrusting deeper. The sounds of your pussy beginning to fill the air. The sopping wet clap between your bodies with each stroke.

"Eddie please!" you begged nearly sobbing. You could feel it. That tingle. It was growing with every thrust of his hips.

"Babe I promise. I'm so close." he warbled, his pace growing erratic and hurried.

You were trying so hard to hold back, trying to focus. Trying to clamp down on your muscles. Pulling your legs together snugly. But everything you were doing made the feeling more intense and made him respond more aggressively.

"Fuuuuuuck babe. That's amazing. Just like that!" he encouraged with your last attempt, curling himself up and pistoning his cock into you even harder.

Tears were at the corners of your eyes, you couldn't hold it back. The pleasure was unbearable. Your walls starting to spasm, shaking the pitiful attempt at self-control that you had.

"Eddie... I'm gonna cum!" you wailed brokenly.

"Cum babe...!" he panted, slamming against your cunt. "Cum on my cock!"

"No Eddie ... I'll –" you cut off keening as he connected. Your head tilted back and your legs shook as it struck, warm fluid gushing out.

You thought for certain he'd come to a screeching halt. Toss you off for that. But he kept going, hips stuttering as his lips found your ear.

"Babe can I... can I cum insi –..." his breath faltering, as you dropped your hips back, grinding into him.

"Yes..." you exhaled shakily, continuing to ride him through his high.

The forest became quiet again as you both panted. Eddie beneath you.

You pulled off, trying to gather yourself up. The embarrassment was already suffocating you.

"Eddie I'm so so sorry." you looked at him miserably.

Sitting up, he looked at you casually, "Sorry? Sweets that was so fucking hot!" Tucking himself in, he stood up coming over to you.

Pulling a black bandana from his back pocket he offered it to you.

"Y'know..." he started, as you gratefully took the cloth, cleaning yourself off as best you could. "I'd love to do that with you again sometime..."

You blushed, handing him the bandana.

Looking up at him you nodded. "Yeah... but maybe not outside..."

He smiled coyly, laughing. "Yeah."

You looked at his pants, your face falling into a frown. "God... I'm–."

He laughed tossing up his hands, "Don't worry about it. Was gonna skip after this anyhow."

"You sure?" you looked at him guiltily.

"–'m sure." he soothed.

The warning bell echoed through the trees. How many periods had you missed?

You checked your watch.

"Shit," you cursed, "I gotta motor, but find me tomorrow?"

You grabbed your things and scooted from the grove.

Sliding in late to your last period of the day, the eyes and murmurings from your classmates was no longer as bothersome.

When the day ended you actually had a smile on your face as you headed toward the parking lot. That was until you saw your boyfriend.

"Hey Y/N!" Steve waved you over from his beamer.

You walked wide, heading off to the opposite sidewalk.

"Y/N?" Confusion was settling into Steve's features as he jogged after you. "Hey what gives I'm here to take you home. Y'know..." He reached for your hand flirtatiously.

You jerked yourself away.

"What gives?!" your eyebrows shot high. "Why don't you go ask Nancy!"

You turned on your heels to walk away, as he wrapped a hand around your wrist.

"Guess you found out huh?" he said sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck with his other hand.

"Yeah I guess so..." you spat venomously trying to wriggle free.

Stepping into your space Steve stroked a thumb over your cheek.

"Ya know I didn't mean it right? I was drunk." he gave you a lopsided grin. "You're my girl. Always will be."

You gave him a rough shove sending him shuffling back.

"No, I'm not!" you shouted. "You chose her! And I'm dumping you!"

He was stunned, his arms hanging limply at his side.

"You what?" he spoke each word as if carefully chewed, his mouth running dry.

"I'm...dumping...you" you enunciated each word. "Don't call me."

Readjusting your backpack you walked away, leaving him standing there.

The next day, you were back at your new lunch spot.

[queenie-ofthe-void]

Wiggly-Worm Wednesday Thursday

Tagged by one of my faves @devondespresso

My worms this week are one thing I'm just tossing around and one fic I'm pouring my soul into.

The Brain Worm

For almost a year I've been tossing around a Moulin Rogue Steddie AU. I've had trouble feeling satisfied about casting, which is the main reason I've put it off. But earlier this week I was listening to my Steddie playlist at work, and picked out a bunch of songs to replace the originals, which got me all worked up again. So this is what I've got so far.

Steve is Satine and Eddie is Christian. Dustin is Tolouse and the boys are the rest of that group, with Lucas as the Argentinian (I want him and Max for the Roxanne dance -- but won't be violent in my fic, just strained). Billy is The Duke and Jason is his Bodyguard. Thought about making it Tommy, but The Bodyguard hunts Christian almost the whole time, hence Jason. I mostly just can't decide who's going to be Harold.

My main goal with the playlist is to still keep it 80s Steddie themed, with pop songs for Steve and metal songs for Eddie.

Eddie's intro to Dustin and The Party (The Sound of Music part) will Be Stairway to Heaven

Steve/Satine's intro will be an ABBA medley including: Dancing Queen, Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!, and Money, Money, Money

The dance sequence that follows will include a lot of Queen including Don't Stop Me Now and Good Ol Fashioned Loverboy

Steve's Solo ontop of the Elephant will be Dancing in the Dark

I'm still putting together the Elephant Medley because that's my absolute favorite, but it will be a back and forth between metal and pop songs

But most importantly, I'm switching out Roxanne for Tainted Love. I honestly considered just keeping it, but Tainted Love is one of my favorite songs so I'm doing it lol

My WIP what I've been working on

A Litany for Survival by @theheartofthekoko aka @carolperkinsexgirlfriend

Been pouring my whole soul into beta editing this past week for Koko's A Litany for Survival. I've been helping out since December and they've wrapped everything up and uploaded to Ao3 WHICH IS SO FUCKING EXCITING ahhhh!!!! Goddamn babes you did it, birthed a whole 180k AU and it's so fucking good. Honestly so proud you though fr.

Now that that's finished, I'll be helping with a few spin-off one-shots in the same universe.

As for my own stuff, I'm going to work up another fic for the July microfic prompt One, but I'll do the 1,111 option since I've done Moles for 111. I really want to get back to my A Desperate Fool series, and I'm going back to The Babysitter Chronicles. I swear I'll finish it one day.

[rigginsstreet]

What do you think about a deaf billy AU?

where Neil moved his family to the middle of nowhere Indiana because he knows 80s bumfuck nowhere doesn’t have a lot of support for disabled ppl and hates his son (as we all know)

At first billy tries to hide it, he had gotten used to learning how to read lips and make inferences on what people were saying, if he happened to miss something? He’d just brush it off, saying he wasn’t paying attention.

Billy might have a slight deaf voice, Neil probably came along with his “no son of mine” spiel so Billy had to learn how to speak as Neil thought was “normal”.

Steve begins to notice something different about Billy; slowed reaction time, really focusing on people’s faces, etc, and brings it up to Joyce.

Joyce, concerned, waits until the next time Billy is in her store to ask if everything is okay. Billy panics, he thought he was doing perfect, if he doesn’t his dads gonna kill him, so he very quickly excuses himself out of the store.

Maybe some further concerned Steve and Joyce? Teaming up to help out Billy? 🥹

i am into all of this. i wanna say way back in the early days of the fandom there was a deaf!billy fic i read.... or it was steve. or it was neither of them and im thinking of another fandom entirely lmfao anyway!

this would put their little staredown at tinas in a whole new context...honestly it puts a lot of billy scenes in new context that boy loves to look and watch and observe.

i would also like to bring in cali bros argilly and say that argyle and billy learned to sign together back home bc neil surely wasnt going to put billy in classes and surely not learn himself, maybe billy had teachers at school who helped? but argyle wanted to learn too since they were besties and he was really the only person billy could talk to after that. so when the hargroves move to indiana billys on his own again and since he doesnt want to out himself as being deaf and ask if anyone knows how to sign, he just pretends to be aloof and like he doesnt give a shit about what anyone says to him (which isnt like... untrue lol)

if he and max still have a bad relationship in this au maybe she hasnt bothered to learn how to sign either cuz like... why is she gonna need it to talk to billy? they dont talk period

steve calling billys name when hes not looking trying to get his attention and it never working so a lightbulb goes off in his head and he starts writing notes to see if that works and sure enough...

joyce picking up books from the library and learning very basic signs for the next time billy comes into the store. she's just trying to be polite but it still makes billy panicky that someone knows. ooooh if neil and billy come into the store one day and she overhears neil giving billy shit about not listening to him and how he needs to get his shit together etc etc and she immediately decides this man needs to be put down like she is not having it but she also knows theres not a whole lot she can do right now besides make her presence known and get him to back down.

steve helping billy out in the classes they share together and even in the classes they dont he finds a way to get notes from other people without letting them know its for billy, and billys constantly wondering how steve keeps pulling this off but steve wont reveal his secrets. them developing this silent language on the basketball court that makes them unbeatable... many thoughts many thoughts

idk how joyce and steve end up joining forces in all of this but i know they do!

[nyhti]

What are you currently reading? Any suggestions for someone who is trying to indulge in some older batman runs?

Thank you for the ask!

I recently read Under the Hood for the first time! Then that inspired me to read A Death in the Family again. I wrote a little tag essay about these stories actually, but then didn't post it lol. And then I randomly read Detective Comics #388 ”Public Luna-Tic Number One” (1969) again, which I did post about. Oh, and before that I was reading random Alan Grant issues from the 80s/90s. And also I'm still trying to get through every single Pre-Crisis Lex Luthor issue in chronological order lol xDDD I'm currently in the year 1983. I've also been meaning to read Steve Englehart's run again, because my Hugo fic heavily references it and I wanted to make sure I wasn't forgetting anything about it.

Alright! Now, I don't know exactly what does ”old” mean to you. I mean, some people could consider comics from the 90s old, but to me those are very modern. I'm just gonna talk about Pre-Crisis (1938-1986), because that's what I'm most familiar with. I don't really know nor care about Post-Crisis that much. Aaaaaaaaaaand. I have actually made a list before for Pre-Crisis issues that I'd consider essential right here. It's not a definitive list, I've left out a lot of big issues and put in quite a few personal indulgences, but over all I still think it's an ok list. But you asked about runs so...

Actual runs, at least how we've come to know them, didn't really start until the 70s, I think. Continuity did start somewhere in the 60s though and from then on we do have longer stories like the Outsider saga and Dick leaving. Steve Englehart's run (Detective Comics #469-476 (1977-1978) is the first story that I see people calling a ”run”. It's on my previous list and I'm definitely going to recommend it again lol xDDD It's classic for a reason. And after that the only ones that that I'm personally familiar with are Gerry Conway's and Doug Moench's runs. Gerry Conway's run I'd 100% recommend! I'm not entirely sure what issue could you consider the run starting from, but to me Detective Comics #503 "Six Days of Scarecrow" (1981) is the first issue and Detective Comics #526 "All My Enemies Against Me!" (1983) is the last. It's all collected in Tales of the Batman: Gerry Conway. I loved it personally. It's my favorite Batman run there is <3 And a lot of it is illustrated by Don Newton, who's my favorite Batman artist! And Dough Moench's run? Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh. I'll admit, I didn't finish it. It was just so boring DDDx I wouldn't say it was bad, but Moench is not one of my favorite writers lol. I'm going to try and finish it at some point though, because I do want to see how Hamilton Hill's story ends. The run picks up right after Conway's run in Batman #360 ”When Slays The Savage Skull...” (1983) and ends in Batman #400 "Resurrection Night!" (1986). It's the last Pre-Crisis Batman run. It doesn't seem to be collected anywhere, though.

Anyhow, I felt like adding some fun individual Pre-Crisis stories that I really enjoy that I couldn't really put on that older list of mine :333 These are not in anyway big or important stories, just stories that had that special something in my opinion :3

Detective Comics #76 (1943) "Slay 'em with Flowers" Joker being Poison Ivy before Poison Ivy was created <3 This is something that I really like about early Batman. They had so few villains they had to give them themed capers that would've later been given to villains with that actual theme. Kinda like how Hugo was being Scarecrow before Scarecrow was created (Detective Comics #46 (1940)). Also I just really love the art in this <3 It's so lively and flowy. You can see raw scans of the inks of this story in a book called Jerry and the Joker: Adventures and Comic Art. I wouldn't say the colors ruin the inks, but I do think they look nicer without the colors.

Detective Comics #180 (1952) "The Joker's Millions" From since around the 70s every time a writer decides to write a Joker story, they seem to think it has to be BIG. He has to do something HUGE and EPIC. ”The Joker's Millions” continues to be one of the best Joker stories of all time, because all he tries to do in this issue is just pay his damn taxes.

Batman #74 (1952) "The Crazy Crime Clown!" Interesting Joker issue, because this is the first time he's ever in a mental hospital. Golden Age Joker was perfectly sane and it wasn't until the 70s when they made him officially mentally ill, but it's interesting to already see them toying with the idea this early on.

Batman #179/2 "The Riddle-Less Robberies of the Riddler" (1966) First time Eddie's riddle obsession is looked at as anything other than just a silly quirk.

Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane #70-71 (1966-1967) Selina turns Superman into a fukcing kittyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. Penguin is here too, I guess.

Batman #200 ”The Man Who Radiated Fear” (1968) Super cute Scarecrow story that includes a couple other villains as well <333 Nothing much more to say. Just a good time!!!!

Detective Comics #377 (1968) ”The Riddler's Prison-Puzzle Problem” A very classic Riddler story <333 I also base my Riddler's psychical appearance on this issue. If they still did stories like this at DC today, I might actually start reading current issues again. Like truly when was the last time we got an actually classic Riddler story? Just a one issue long story where he sends Batman a riddle he's going to rob a bank and then Batman stops him? I miss it when stories were allowed to be small and the characters were just allowed to be themselves, instead of some grimdarktwistedthis'llknockyoursocksoff re-imagining. I love how Eddie gets thrown around in this one <333 His ass looks amazing in this issue <3 Also his hair looks very cute when it's messy <33

Wolrd's Finest Comics #177 (1968) "The Duel of the Crime-Kings!" One of my favorite Joker stories <333 I really think Joker peaked in the late 60s. Really, I think most characters peaked around then. You can probably tell by how many late 60s stories I put on this list.

Batman #210 "The Case of the Purr-Loined Pearl" (1969) I am obsessed with this girl group. All of them iconic. All of them stars. They exist in my verse, too.

Detective Comics #388 (1969) ”Public Luna-Tic Number One” Another one of my favorite Joker stories. They are toying with the mental illness one in this as well with Batman's ”the problem will be whether to put you in prison -- or in an asylum!” quote. Also my Joker's psychical appearance is based on this issue.

Batman #258 "Threat of the Two-Headed Coin" (1974) Fist appearance of Arkham Asylum - or Arkham Hospital as it was called then. I don't know why I didn't put this on my previous list. It should definitely be on there. A Two-Face story.

Batman #291-294 ”Where were you on the night Batman was Killed?” (1977) Here's a slightly longer story. All of my boys and girls are so cute in this <3333 I love it when they are able to get along and also when no-one is above anyone. Yes, some are more popular than other's but they still all feel equal.

Batman #326-327 "This Way Lies Madness", "Asylum Sinister" (1980) Professor Milo story!!!! Yippeeeeeeee!!! I love that you can see day to day life at Arkham!!! Also this is the issue where Milo becomes an Arkham patient.

Detective Comics #503 ”Six Days of the Scarecrow” (1981) A good Scarecrow story. Also the first time he's admitted to Arkham and it's not because of mental illness, but because he suffered an overdose. The overdose saga continues in Detective Comics #526 (1982) where he is still very ill and Jervis takes advantage of his vulnerable state. And then in Batman #373 "The Frequency of Fear" (1984) and Detective Comics #540 "Something Scary" (1984) he's finally recovered. I don't think it's mentioned in these issues whether he was taken back to prison or Arkham once he was captured, so it seems unclear whether or not Pre-Crisis Scarecrow ever became a permanent Arkham patient.

Detective Comics #510 ”Head-Hunt by Mad Hatter” (1982) Technically the second appearance of Jervis, because this is the issue where imposter Mad Hatter and the Jervis we know and love today were split into two characters. Also my favorite Jervis story :333 I base my version's physical appearance on this story :333

The Brave and the Bold #183 ”Let's play... The Death of Batman” (1982) Riddebat shipper's dream comic lol. Just an all around good story!! Love how Eddie is written!! It's so fun. The art is not very good though. The artist had no clue how he wanted to draw Riddler so in some panels he's literally Bruce's identical twin and then in other panels he'll have a completely new face.

Batman #356 ”Double life of Hugo Strange” (1983) My favorite Hugo story <3333 ((((Actually I admit Engelhart's run has kinda started to rival this tbh)))))))) But this one is illustrated by Don Newton so there's that. First time ever we see him without the beard btw! And more importantly this is the issue where he starts wanting to be Batman.

[nburkhardt]

Street Fair Dates.

Welcome to my first attempt at writing Buckingham! @i-less-than-three-you picked a prompt from a prompt list I reblogged a while ago (“Did I just say that out loud?!”) and had her give me the set up too. Went with buckingham, still set in the 80s, post-Vecna Chrissy lives with just barely established steddie as a bonus. It got outta hand and it’s mostly due to Robin rambling lol. ENJOY!

She’s being a third wheel, she realizes pretty quickly. It was completely by accident, but it was an invitation! Just, not technically an actual one, it was a “hey, you’re here too!” kinda invite. She won’t blame Eddie for it, not his fault she doesn’t think the same as other people.

She will however, totally blame him for them ditching her.

They’re at the street fair, she didn’t realize it’s supposed to be Steve and Eddie’s third date. Didn’t know until Steve stepped away to use the bathroom and Eddie finally admitted that she misunderstood when he asked Steve out last weekend. That he didn’t actually mean for her to join them.

“I was going to clarify it for you. But then Stevie told me you’ve been having a hard time since the worst spring break ever.”

Groaning, she shakes her head and places both hands on his shoulders to shake him. “Why didn’t you tell me?! I would’ve said no!”

“I just did!”

She shook him again before dropping her head against his chest, “you idiot! Does Steve know this?”

“Does Steve know what?” Speak of the Dingus and he’ll appear, “what are you guys doing?”

She knows they look weird, so she drops her arms to pull Steve close and loop their arms together, completely ignoring his questions and dragging him along to another booth. They stay like this for another few booths before she lets go to buy this cute little homemade frog plushie, when she goes to show them, they’re gone.

“Oh you jerks! Leaving a girl all by herself just to be cheesy dinguses!” She yells out and pouts.

She walks around by herself with her new plushie on her shoulder for a bit before settling on a bench with food and a drink, thinking “wish I could find someone who’ll go on a cute fair date with me”

There’s a giggle that brings her attention back to her surroundings and finds Chrissy standing in front of her, a basket of fruit with a duck plushie. She looks gorgeous and adorable, her outfit is perfect for the fair. A pale green sundress with sunflowers all over it, her shoes just simple sandals to match. Her hair is in a loose braid resting on her shoulder.

“God you’re so pretty”

The blush on Chrissy’s face makes her eyes go wide, slapping both hands over her mouth, “Did I just say that out loud?!”

Chrissy nods, “you did, you also talked about a cute fair date. Isn’t- I thought I saw you with Eddie earlier.”

Even the vague idea of being on a date with Eddie makes her scrunch her face up. Because gross, a date with a boy? Just, no.

She shakes her head before focusing back on Chrissy.

“Oh gross, no. I was with him earlier, but not as a date. Just as a friend, he and I are just friends! Plus he’s too much of a nerd for me, too dramatic too! Like could you imagine living with that guy? No thank you. Eddie and I are just friends.” She’s rambling, she knows this and can’t stop. Chrissy is just so damn pretty and her blush is a lovely shade of pink now, she’s smiling and god, Robin is gone. She’s so gone on her.

“Gone? What does that mean?”

Robin wants to die, she definitely needs to shut up. “I’m, I’m gonna go now. I think, oh! I see Steve and Eddie, I’m just-“

Not even waiting for a response back, she takes off and nearly runs to hide behind the two that ditched her. She doesn’t even care about that anymore, too focused on getting away from Chrissy so she doesn’t say anything else out loud.

Steve’s ready to catch her immediately. Eddie on the other hand looks bewildered because she didn’t say a word, Steve wasn’t even looking at her. They were even facing the other direction, but her platonic soulmate just knew to catch her. Her arms automatically going around him and her head hiding between his shoulders and neck.

“What the fuck, do you have like a radar built in on if Robin’s coming or are you really telepathic like Henderson keeps saying?” She can’t see Eddie’s face but she can imagine the confusion and impressed. If she wasn’t freaking out, she’d be laughing at him.

Steve has a tight grip on her, swaying slightly with a hum. Knowing that she’s freaking out without even asking, “I don’t understand what happened but whatever it is, I’m here Robs.”

After listening to the boys talk quietly, her adrenaline from the freak out dies down and she loosens her grip on Steve before getting down. Only to latch onto his hand to keep the connection, “So, I’m not sorry for again crashing your date. I mean, at this point I get to do this since you ditched me earlier and! And I completely rambled in front of Chrissy, made a complete fool of myself!”

Eddie snorts and Steve doesn’t but there’s a knowing smile playing on his lips, she can already tell where his head is going. Maybe they really are telepathic. She’ll try that out later, for now-

“Don’t even sta-!”

“You got a crush on Chrissy, Robs?”

Groaning she drops his hand like it’s burning her and crosses her arms across her chest. A blush working it’s way up her face, that doesn’t help. Eddie’s laughing again and Steve has a goddamn twinkle in his eyes. She doesn’t like that.

“Even if I did! Which- I don’t” she lies through her teeth, not wanting to give them the satisfaction of being right. “I already fucked up my chances with her. AND! We don’t even know if she likes girls. No matter how sweet she is, or how much she cares for any of us- I won’t ask her anything!”

The boys share a look, which is more mischievous than concerned now. It’s a little odd seeing that look on her platonic soulmate’s face aimed at someone else. After a silent conversation between them, which is also weird. This is their third date, how are they already on silent conversations part of the relationship?

Steve clears his throat before placing his hands on her cheeks, she hates this part. He squeezes her face, making her make the stupid fish look. Then he places a kiss on her forehead, loosens his grip before resting his forehead against hers. Both of them going near cross eyed, she moves her own hands up to match him.

This is one of their things. It’s a routine for when either of them wants to be completely serious and focus. It looks weird, feels weird and makes everyone uncomfortable. This is also why Dustin believes they are telepathic.

“Robin Buckley, you are an amazing person. A beautiful and wonderful woman, but you’re also the dumbest person I know right now.” Steve starts off in a whisper, “we don’t know if she is or isn’t, but! You didn’t ruin any chance with her, she would be an idiot not to give you a chance. Okay?”

She can’t nod but she hums back, “Stevie, i love you but this isn’t like with Vickie where you can figure out if she likes girls or not from a movie”



“No. But, I can see when someone has a crush on you.”

There is no fucking way Chrissy Cunningham, ex-cheer captain and absolutely the most gorgeous woman there is, has a goddamn crush on her, Robin Buckley. A band geek with a rambling problem.

“I see that doubt, Buckley. I am correct, just you watch!”

They separate after that one, she rolls her eyes and pushes him towards Eddie. “Are you two lovebirds done here? I’d like to go home”

——————

She lost her frog plushie.

It didn’t hit her until she was sitting at home staring at her desk where her notebook sat with her drawing of a little frog.

Groaning she falls back onto her bed, “it was so cute too!”

“Robin! Door for you!”

Shooting up to sit, confused. Her mom usually just sends Steve up when he comes over and the kids don’t show up to her house. Nancy and her aren’t close enough to show up randomly yet. And Eddie would just climb through her window, being the weirdo he is.

So, with all the other options out of the way she makes her way to the door and finds her mom still there. “Mom, if you’re trying to get Steve and i to date I’m telling you-“

Her mom waves a hand at her, “of course honey, it’s not Steve. You know I’d just send him up, that boy whether you date or not is family”

She smiles at that but it nearly falls when her mom finally moves and there stood Chrissy.

Not only is Chrissy standing there in yet another cute dress, but she has her frog plushie. What?!

“Sorry for not calling first. But you weren’t at work I checked there and Steve sent me here.” Chrissy explained with a smile, “I wanted to bring this back, you dropped him!”

The him in question,sitting in Chrissy’s hand is of course the little frog plushie she dropped at her fair.

“How-“

Chrissy shrugged a little with a smile, “he fell off your shoulder when you ran away from me.”

She can already feel her cheeks heating up in embarrassment. “Sorry about that, really. I didn’t mean to run away like that. I swear! Just. I kept rambling and I said things out loud that were meant to stay in my head, didn’t really want you to hear them. Sometimes I just can’t shut up, it’s like my brain to mouth filter doesn’t work right so I just had to like get away before I said something really stupid. Like-” She slapped her mouth shut, her eyes going wide.

There goes ever showing her face again to Chrissy and just when she didn’t think it could get any worse. That is until she realizes Chrissy is giggling, looking way too adorable with her own blush.

“I’m really so-“

“Don’t be! I think it’s cute, rambling and all.” Chrissy admits quietly, not meeting her eyes.

Robin doesn’t find it cute, rambling is what landed her in many awkward situations and always caused someone to be annoyed with her. It’s an annoyance more than anything, really.

“Chrissy you really don’t have to say that, rambling it’s- it’s annoying”

Chrissy shook her head, a pout on her face. “Can, can I come in?”

It finally registered that they’re still standing in her doorway. Her blush comes back full force and she quickly moves out of the way to let Chrissy in before closing the door and leading her back to her bedroom.

It’s a good mix of comfy with her normal grunge-ish, androgynous style. The walls are painted a dark forest green, there’s posters from bands and singers she likes covering it. A few movie posters she stole from work, polaroids of her and Steve and then some of her with her band friends and the Party. But most are her and Steve. In the corner of the room opposite of her messy bed, is a beanbag with a tiny little shelf with her own personal library. It’s full of books from musical theory to queer literature. Signs pointing to her sexuality is clear, a pink triangle painted above the shelf.

Hopefully it doesn’t scare Chrissy away.

Chrissy is looking around before squealing and dropping onto the beanbag, “I’ve always wanted one!”

It’s making her blush seeing Chrissy in her space like this, she doesn’t know what to do besides drop down on her bed. “They are really a better alternative to chairs. I wanted comfort, a space where I could curl up with a book and a blanket but not my bed. Ya know? Then one day I was out with my mom and she pointed out that beanbag saying it would match my walls. So, it ended up being a birthday present and well now it’s here!” She’s rambling again and looking everywhere but at Chrissy’s face, “I’d really recommend you get one for yourself, it’s worth it”

Chrissy’s giggling and well, Robin’s weak, she finally lands her gaze back on the blonde only to see her sitting up as best as one can on a beanbag. Her cheeks a pretty red and a smile on her lips, overall she’s just so pretty.

“Until I get my own, can I just use yours?” Chrissy asks and if this was anyone else, Robin would normally immediately say no. It’s her beanbag, the only other person who sits there usually besides her is Steve and that normally leads to both of them sitting on it with a tangle of limbs.

She doesn’t any of that, instead just nods because if she open her mouth it’d all fall out and she’s already rambled enough.

Chrissy beams at her and it melts her heart.

They fall into a comfortable silence, it’s so nice and quiet she swore Chrissy was asleep. Until she looked over and found her leaning back again but this time with a book. She can see her eyes follow the words, she flips the page and she looks so at peace right now.

It makes her heart beat a little faster and her blush rise back to her cheeks again. There’s a tiny voice in the back of her head to stop being a chicken. It’s annoying that it sounds like her Dingus. She’s not a chicken, she’s just…scared. Afraid that if she does make a move, Chrissy will be disgusted by her and never talk to her again.

This is nothing like what happened with Steve, he got lucky that the guy he liked was stupidly open with having the black bandanna in his pocket. Chrissy has no tells. She’s never said anything that would even remotely suggest she likes girls. It’s only ever been boys for Chrissy and Robin is very much not a boy.

“-bin? Hey, you okay?”

She jerks backwards, flailing a little, shocked back into reality. Her eyes widen before she sits back up again and instead of Chrissy sitting on the beanbag, they’re now face to face.

Chrissy must notice panic on her face, moving back so there’s more space between them. She’s frowning, a concern crossing onto her face. “You zoned out on me, Robin. Everything okay?”

She nodded her head, words failing her suddenly and that’s a wonder.

“Are you sure? Because I asked you a question a few minutes ago and you didn’t answer me, or um, did you ignore it because it’d be weird?” Chrissy had a blush on her face but it looked different than before somehow, like she was embarrassed and Robin couldn’t figure out why.

She shook her head to get the swirling doubt out, “I’m fine, really. I just got lost in my head. Wasn’t ignoring you I swear, it would be hard to ignore you, actually. Sometimes I’m like, hyper aware of you. It’s weird and I probably shouldn’t say that because it sounds creepy and honestly I don’t want to sound creepy but I can’t help it.” Her cheeks are burning and she can’t stop, “whatever it is you asked it’s probably not weird, nothing you ask me can be weird actually, I mean unless you asked me if I was ready to like have kids or something now that would be weird. Oh my god, I need to shut up, but I’m nervous around you all the time” She forces herself to stop talking by covering her mouth with a hand while waving at Chrissy to talk now.

Chrissy laughs before sitting next to her and Robin follows, hand still against her mouth. Chrissy smooths out her dress and fiddles with the edge, Robin’s eyes following. “Well, I was thinking maybe, if you wanted to. If you’d go with me to this street fair for art coming up. Just, um, the two of us. Maybe, if- if you wanted to go”

“Like, um, like a date?” She doesn’t know why, but it comes out as a whisper. Probably because she’s afraid that she read this wrong, girls ask their friends to hang out all the time. But with the way it was said, it didn’t sound like a friend asking their friend.

Instead of a vocal response, Robin watches with wide eyes as Chrissy nods her head before looking up and meeting her gaze.

“Am- am I dreaming? Like, are you real right now?” She blurts out, before slapping her mouth, “oh my god, Chrissy.”

“If you’re worried I’m using you as like, a test? I’m not, I swear. I really like you, and I noticed the symbols and how many queer literature you have.” Chrissy explains to her, “and um, I overheard you and Steve one day talking about who was hotter Michelle Pfeiffer or Molly Ringwald”

She’s going to both punch her best friend and then squeeze him in the tightest hug ever for convincing her to play who’s hotter in public.

Taking a moment to breathe, she closes her eyes before opening them again and placing her hand on Chrissy’s slightly shaky one, “Chrissy, I believe you and I would love to go on a date with you”

Chrissy smile is bright and she matches it. She tugs Chrissy’s hand to hold it properly, squeezing it, in a way to prove to herself that this is real. Which it is and she’s going to be on a high for the rest of the day.

They stay like that for another hour, figuring out the plans for the date. Only stopping when her mom yells up that dinner was finished. Chrissy doesn’t stay for dinner, but she does kiss her cheek before she leaves. Because of that, she doesn’t even mind that her mom bugs her about Chrissy.

Nothing can ruin Robin’s good mood, she got her frog plushie back and now she has a date with Chrissy Cunningham at a street fair coming up.

~~

Sorry I didn’t get to writing out their actual date, Robin rambled too much 😅 maybe I’ll write their date out at some point. Also if the formatting looks weird, sorry about that the tumblr app is pissing me off and not letting me fix it. I’m also not using drafts because it deletes things. ANYWAY!! I hope you enjoyed this and that it’s pretty close to being accurate to the characters, this was one of my first times writing out Robin and Chrissy.

[xenon-demon]

So I talked a little while ago about what Steve’s deal is in my Kas!Steve AU - one of the things I mentioned was he has vertical pupils now, because vampire Steve having excellent night vision makes sense, plus monstrous features….. sexy….. (Also, here is where I talk about the general AU concept, if you’re unfamiliar!)

The other day I found out (from a certified Cat Man™) that cats actually have super shitty vision in normal light because of the same eye adaptations that give them good night vision. Therefore, for your consideration: Kas!Steve needs glasses. (I’m imagining he gets them as a government-organised “hey sorry you died and came back wrong, if we fix your vision will you promise to try your best to keep your existence a secret thanks” type of deal lol.)

Please imagine this big, intimidating vampire man wearing glasses with thick as hell lenses and the classic 80s style chunky frames. He quickly perfects the judgemental over-the-glasses stare, and the kids all agree it’s the only thing about Steve that could even remotely intimidate them. (That’s still not saying much, though - he’s still their Steve, and they’re still the same loveable shitheads they’ve always been.)

Before he gets the glasses, Kas!Steve uses his sense of smell to identify people from a distance, or relies on distinctive physical features to identify people. He picks Eddie out by his hair, or Robin by the way she’s always standing kind of awkwardly and moving uncoordinatedly. Steve keeps the lights off at night and puts up thick curtains for the daytime so the house is dark enough for him to see easily.

Kas!Steve, who is struggling with the idea of what he is now and the fact he came back wrong, still needs such a common human tool and finds comfort in it. Steve feels a warmth inside of him every time he sees someone else wearing glasses, on the TV or out in public or in the news, since it turns this monstrous part of him into something that’s just another part of the human experience. Eddie tells him he loved Steve’s eyes when he was human and he loves them now, but he thinks he loves them most of all when they’re framed by those thick glasses, like the works of art Eddie knows they are.

[technically-a-writer-technically]

remember to do the biphobia/queer hangout post!!

i rlly wanna read it!!<3

Assumption Make an Ass Out of You

Prompt by @whomst-the-hell: steve always knew he was queer fic where steve keeps trying to invite himself to Queer Hangouts w eddie and robin and they keep being like “uhhhh this isnt really your scene…” until steve is finally like “listen i get it ok theres all this fucking stigma but you two are the last people i expected this from!” and eddie and robin are like “youre a very good ally and we appreciate it but the truth is you just cannot relate to some of our experiences and you need to accept that!” and then steve is like “woooaaaahhh hold on i think we’re having two different conversations. i thought you were doing that thing gay ppl do sometimes where they treat bi people like we arent really queer or whatever. did you guys genuinely think i was heterosexual? lol that’s embarrassing”

Gave it a spelling and grammar check before putting it on A03: Assumption Make an Ass Out of You - technically-a-writer-technically (RegularRainbow) - Stranger Things (TV 2016) [Archive of Our Own]

Eddie calls Robin: Birdie

Tags: Angsty, probably a bit ooc, they mean well, their tough love is tough though. Original Male Character/Steve Harrington. I tried learning 80s Slang for this, it lasted several hours and then I wrote this all-in-one sitting, so probably not 80s accurate, especially towards the end. Not beta read, we die like men.

1. Never met an Ally so Good

Tall, Olive Skin, Green Eyes, passed Steve a drink, something pink and yellow, blended ice, with a tiny umbrella and a cherry.

“I didn’t know what you were drinking, but I took my best guess” He said, smile bright as fluorescent lights. The guy was cute in a clinical type of way, clean cut, clean-shaven.

Steve smiled, took the straw from his melting ice in a cup, and gave it a taste, twisting the straw around his tounge. “Ah. Tastes Perfect,”

“Oh, you’re a real maneater aren’t you,” He slipped between Steve’s legs, resting his hands on either side of Steve, boxing him in, “Come on Pretty Boy let me take you for a spin.”

Steve smiled, red decorating the tips of his ears and nose. “Sorry, can’t stay that long gotta drive back to nowhere-ville”

“Alright, Just one dance then, and maybe your number?”

Steve bit the corner of his lip, and smiled “Maybe …” All doe eyes, looking up from under his lashes,“ … maybe you could kiss me?”

“Hey, why don’t you back off” said Eddie, stepping between the two, pushing the guy back with an extended hand.

“Really! I don’t see your name on him” The guy squawked, Steve hadn’t even gotten his name.

“That’s not,” was Eddie’s reply, he sighed “look I’m helping you, trust me, he’s just being nice.”

“Looks like a fucking Belle to me,”

Eddie tilted his head and fixed him with a look, throwing his hand up as if to shrug, and said, “He’s just too nice to tell you to go away.”

“Look there are better ways to get dudes off your guy, you don’t gotta lie,” Then he peeked behind Eddie to get a good look at Steve one more time, and with a wink, he said, “If you ever find yourself in need of French lessons you know where to find me.”

Steve giggled, twirling his straw. (Fucking Flirting.)

Then, Steve said, “You really didn’t need to do that Eddie, I was fine, he was fine.”

“No, he was not fine. He was hitting on you, Steve” Robin chimed in.

“Isn’t that, like, the point of all this. Aren’t we here to get hit on? Flirt a little,” Steve leaned in and whispered, “Wave the white flags, you know what I mean?”

“Yeah, but it’s not cool to lead people on Steve, especially not here.” Eddie said.

Steve winced a little, his smile falling slightly, before he picked it back up, “I mean, there’s no harm in flirting, I didn’t know you guys were gonna get all riled up because I didn’t want to take him home.”

“Look it’s not all about sex, this is about community.” Robin said.

Steve sucked his teeth, and took a swig of his beer, “Okay, uh, whatever, I’m gonna pay for my drinks, and uh, sit in a fucking corner I guess.”

“Grow up, King Steve” Eddie said.

“Fuck you, Eddie, King Steve thinks you should find your own ride home.”

“I mean, we should probably leave.” Robin said.

“No, Rob, if it’s gonna be like that, I’ll just wait in the car.” Steve said. He gathered his things, throwing his coat on, fluffing his hair up and out from under the collar of his a letterman style jacket.

Steve stepped out into the cool night air, face hot with fury. He sighed, trying to release the tension that had begun to build.

“Hey, Pretty Boy, I didn’t get your name before your guard dog cock-blocked.”

“It’s — He’s just a friend. And, Uh, It’s Steve, Yours?”

“My friends call me Ian,”

“Well, Ian, thanks for the drink”

“Really,” Ian said, and it was almost a laugh, “I just had the bartender throw something together, I don’t like that fruity shit, I mean not like that, I just don’t like fruit juice, from fruit,” His talking tapered out. “You’re super cute, and it kind of fries my brain. I mean those pants are too tight.” (Ian say too tight, like he doesn’t mean it, like those pants make him think of something else.)

Steve laughed and looked down at himself, before smiling back at Ian. “Still want my number?”

2. Lavender Menace

Steve dyed the bottom layer of his hair purple. The faintest shade of lavender, barely it, In fact, it was practically silver. But, still, he was sure that everyone who needed to know that it wasn’t silver, would notice. They would notice.

“Did you dye your hair, Steve?” Robin asked, leaning across the Book Store counter to get a good look at his peek-a-boo dye job.

Steve resisted the urge to shake his head and show off. It took a long time to get his hair all nice, he wasn’t gonna mess it up for five seconds of Rob’s appreciation, not after the stunt she and Eddie pulled with Ian.

“Joyce helped,” Steve said, and brushed his fingers through the thick of his hair to show off the dye, just a little bit.

“Don’t you think you should have gone with another color,” Rob said, “You don’t want people to get the wrong idea about you.”

“I —“

“The hoard has arrived,” Eddie declared, as Mike, Will, and Dustin ran in straight for the new comic book section. “Whoa, your hair.” he said.

“Yeah, my hair.” Steve felt the weight of a frown pull at the corners of his mouth.

“You sure that’s the right color?” Eddie grabbed a lock of Steve’s dyed hair, and twirled it between his fingers, “You let the toner sit too long, it’s all purple-y now.”

With a huff, Steve said, “I was going for purple-y”

“Yeah?” Robin said.

“Why?” Eddie said.

“Because I want people to know I’m down with Dorthy” Steve said.

“You shouldn’t have dyed your hair purple, though” Eddie replied.

“Yeah, I agree, I think it’s a bit much … you’ve gone a bit too far this time, and after the bar” Robin said

“W-What do you mean after the bar that was all you guys, I was just having a good time.”

Eddie sighed and looked away, throwing his head back, and disappearing down an isle. “You explain it to your pet jock, Birdie, my head hurts.”

“Look Steve, people don’t need to know you’re ‘down with Dorothy’ it’s better if your not loud about it actually, keeps everyone safer anyway.”

Steve gets hot in the face, bright white-hot red in the cheeks, breaks into a sweat, he’s so mad. Then he’s close to crying, clearing his throat some, but it’s closing in on him. He’s so furious, he’s near tears about it. Dancing around breaking into tears.

If they didn’t like his hair, they could have just said that.

“Whatever you say, Robin��� he said, wetly.

“Steve come on, it’s not your life, it’s ours” was Robin’s reply.

He doesn’t speak to her for the rest of their shift.

When Steve got home, he dialed Ian’s house. Ian was there in five minutes flat (He lived 15 minutes away).

“Wow,” Ian said, “Your hair”

“Yeah, I know it’s awful” Steve said, the memory of his earlier conversations brought up sour thoughts.

“No, no, you look pretty, a real bodacious babe.”

Steve smiled, for the first time since he got of shift. “Shut up,”

“Kiss me about it,” was Ian’s reply.

3. Steve’s House Doesn’t have a Purple Door.

“You could have your party at my place?” Steve said, “My parents aren’t gonna be home for another like month anyway”

Eddie smiled at Robin,

“Plus, I’m great at throwing parties, you remember my parties.”

“I don’t think we,” Eddie gestured between himself and Robin, “Were ever invited to King Steve’s famous parties.”

“Yeah, sorry about that,” Steve said, “But they were famous for a reason. Have it at my place, it makes sense. The venue is like 50% of a party.”

“I was thinking, no allies though” Eddie said, “Just queer deviancy,” Eddie brought the devil hands up to his head like ears and smiled at Robin. They fist bumped.

What they meant was no Steve it seemed.

“Hey, can you pick us up? Robin voice came through the phone loud, like she was shouting on her end of the line.

“From where?” Steve asked.

“A party,” Robin said, Steve felt her wiggle her eyebrows, and she giggled softly.

“I need the location?” Steve said.

“Oh, um, were near Byrock Ct,”

“Okay, I’ll be there in a few.”

Steve got in his car and drove to the Byrock Bar, with its purple backdoor. Ian took him there once, and they danced. Steve loved dancing, it was nice letting go.

This didn’t feel nice.

Robin and Eddie crammed into the backseat of his car, laughing, tipsy, and maybe a little high. Covered in glitter. Eddie had red lipstick on and smeared down his chin. Robin was wearing, glitter gloss and a silvery highlighter.

“You guys look like you had fun,” Steve finally said, before he pulled off.

“I thought you guys were gonna stay in tonight,”

“Steve,” Robin said, it seemed with no real purpose at all, except maybe to stop Steve from going on.

“No, I remember you guys saying that nothing fun was happening tonight so you guys weren’t going out, that’s what you told me!” Steve said, he was white-knuckling the steering wheel.

“Look, Steve, Birdie’s not gonna tell you, but sometimes we’ve got to leave poor ol’ Stevie at home.” Eddie said, kicking his feet up on the block of an armrest between the driver’s and passenger’s seat.

“Not every night is meant to include you, sometimes daddy’s got to come out and play” He said with a smile and a laugh.

Robin sputtered, “Ew, ew, I never want to hear you say something like that again.”

The drive home consisted of laughter and chatter between Eddie and Robin.

Steve pulled up to the entrance of Eddie’s trailer park, it was a short walk, maybe two trailers in was Eddie’s home. Usually, Steve drove him right up to the entrance, any closer and Eddie would fall into his home after opening the door.

“We’re here” Steve said, and put his car in park.

Eddie balked, “Really, are you being serious right now Stevie?”

“Shut up, don’t call me that.” Steve said, quickly, afraid he sounded like a petulant child, but angry enough that it didn’t matter much. “Get out of my car.” He said each word, one by one.

“Okay, King Steve, I’ll never ask for a ride with getting you your invite.”

“You’re a real fuck head, Eddie.”

“Whatever,” Eddie said, and slammed the door.

“That wasn’t fair dude,” Robin said. “How are we supposed to trust you if-”

Steve turned around, giving Robin a death stare, “Nothing, I don’t want to hear it, I, fuck Rob, I trusted you guys”

“Steve?”

“Shut. Up. Shut up.”

He dropped Rob off in front of her house, didn’t even pull into the driveway. He watched her get home safe, same way he did Eddie.

4. Steve’s Queer Agenda

Steve hasn’t been talking to them. He’s not gonna apologize first. And he’s not gonna speak to them until they apologize. Even if he felt like a bitch laying the silent treatment on thick.

Ian was rubbing his back, letting him lay all over him.

He mumbled into Ian’s lap.

“I can not understand jibberish.”

“Play with my hair, loser”

“Ooh, be nice.” Ian said, threading his finger into Steve’s hair.

There was a knock at the door, nice and sweet. Then another, practically knocking the door off its hinges.

“Okay, okay, coming” Steve shouted.

“Harrington residence, how can I help you?” Steve said.

Eddie smiled, pushing himself and Robin into the Harrington homestead.

Ian leaned up, peering over the sofa. He was looking for Steve, evident by the smile on his face, that fell quickly when he saw the culprits making Steve so, well, sad. Sad was the only way to put it. Beneath the quiet anger was hurt, and it hurt more than it made Steve angry. “Well, well, if it isn’t the terrible two-some”

“Bar guy?” Eddie said.

“Ian. My name is Ian.”

“Well, what are you two doing here because I don’t hear enough ass-kissing.” Ian said.

“Look,” Eddie said, looking from Ian to Steve “Maybe we all have the wrong idea,”

“Steve, I’m sorry we told you not to come out with us, and then had you come pick us up,” Robin said.

“Me too, I’m sorry” Eddie said.

“You’re a good ally” Eddie started.

“Are you fucking kidding me!” Steve interrupted. “Why even come if you’re just gonna fucking invalidate me to my face, what’s the point? I get it, I’m bisexual. I’m not gay. Fucking, Steve’s not queer enough to come out with us and get shitfaced. Whatever, call me whatever you want behind my back, but in my house? Really!”

“What?” Robin and Eddie said, practically in unision.

“Look, be biphobic somewhere else, okay. I don’t feel like dealing with this ever again.”

“No, no, I thought you were straight,”, “We,” Eddie gestured between himself and Robin, “thought you were straight.” Eddie practically tripped over his words, he was speaking them so fast.

“Are you fucking with me?” Steve said, “You thought I was straight.”

Eddie hesitantly nods, “We maybe thought you were straight.”

“Fucking, fuck you guys,”

“Yeah, fuck you guys” Ian said, repeated from the couch, laying down ergo he wasn’t visible anymore. “You made my boyfriend cry”

Robin looked horrified, “Steve, I didn’t know, I’m so so sorry. I never meant to make you feel like you didn’t have a community.” She quickly wiped away her tears, evidently determined not to cry right now, as she got red and sniffly. Robin walked toward Steve arms out like she was going to try to hug him. She was.

Robin said, “Can I hug you, Steve”

Steve, who had been trying to keep it all together, sniffled. He wasn’t going to cry if she wasn’t. He was supposed to be mad. He wrapped his arms around her, and buried his head in her shoulder.

Steve wanted to be angry, or he felt like he should be angry. Yet, he wasn’t, he was mad at them for making assumptions, for excluding him.

But, they were family. He’d been mad at them for as long he could, and then he’d taken to gray, blah, sadness. Not crying, but like trying to stave off a rainstorm. There was nothing he wanted to hear more than: we accept you.

It helped take the edge off. He could be mad about it later, take in all their forgiveness now.

“I’m really sorry, Steve, really, really, sorry” Robin said.

“We fucked up, Steve, I fucked up. I’m sorry too. I’m really sorry.” Eddie said.

“Now kiss,” Ian chimed in.

Steve laughed.

[prodigal-upsiders]

more fruity four band au

I cannot stop rotating band au in my head, so here’s specifically some random bits about the instruments and covers they play:

Nancy plays the drums, and I have a lot of thoughts about how that comes about. might post a snippet or two about it later.

Robin picks up the bass, because I think that is very sexy of her. (one or two of their original songs do feature some cool brass from her as well, but I don’t think she really like, loves the trumpet itself so much as she just loves making music)

Steve is the lead singer, but he also surprises them with the info that his parents used to pay for piano lessons. they stopped when he got to high school, wanted him to focus on sports and other things, but he gets a secondhand keyboard and goes to town reviving those skills. their original tracks don’t feature a lot of keyboard but it’s very fun flavor to bring out sometimes 

More Steve - he picks up the rhythm guitar parts. Steve is a highly kinesthetic learner, okay; give him something to do with his hands and he picks it up quick. also, "hey man will you teach me how to play guitar” was initially a ploy he cooked up to get Eddie to sit fucking still while he was still healing after spring break, but hey actually he really enjoys it

we all know Eddie is lead guitar. I just didn’t want to not give him a bullet point of his own okay

as far as genre goes I think their band ends up with an experimental rock n roll vibe, not all heavy metal but with influences for sure - they just don’t let Eddie write that many songs about dragons and witches, lol. but he does get to show off with fantastic guitar solos, because honestly is it even any flavor of 80s rock if there’s not a cool guitar solo in it. there’s enough shared roots between their tastes to make something really cool. I know the “steve only listens to pop” is popular, but tbh the fic “Cut and Changed and Rearranged” put Boston fan Steve in my head and he will never leave now, so. I have more specific ideas about which albums Eddie plays to coax them to the edge of the metal genre, though, because of course he does

I don’t envision they ever like, hit it really big - I think a certain level of commercial success would freak them out, honestly. it’s not a lifelong career for any of them but Eddie, who stays in the industry but transitions to mainly songwriting and/or producing in the later years. but they put out several albums, do a couple of tours, and are kind of a cult classic of the scene before they retire. they do record a reunion/celebration album when gay marriage is made legal and it’s all the songs they had to shelve back in the day because there was definitely no way to make them sounds straight lol. they drop the announcement of the album and also the fact that they’re marrying each other in the same tweet.

a couple of the songs I put on their playlist with the hcs about them:

Immigrant Song - Led Zepplin. Steve may be lead vocals but it’s Nancy and Robin who like to do the war cry part

Baba O’Riley - The Who. aka Teenage Wasteland, and Steve absolutely practices that intro for weeks in secret so that he’s got it down enough that he can wink at Eddie the first time he plays it for the band 

Bad Reputation / Call Me Lightning - a couple of the few that Robin takes lead vocals instead of Steve. listen if Nancy and Robin don’t get to cover some Joan Jett then what’s the POINT

[sketchy-scribs-n-doods]

billy and max were not californian enough in my humble socal opinion. like i’m not saying all californians have had my exact experience. but. come on.

where was the bitching about the cold weather and the lack of good mexican and chinese restaurants nearby. never have i met a californian that wasn’t ready to throw down for in n out when out of state ppl try to talk shit, even if it isn’t remotely their favorite burger place. i just know max would go crazy over the fuck all to do in town within a month or two. the largest city is probably hours away, cue billy quickly realizing the only entertainment at hand is shitty high school parties.

you’re telling me max wouldn’t throw a fit about the lack of giant skateparks? that billy wouldn’t take every opportunity to bitch and moan about having to get chains for his tires and the menace of ice and snow on the roads fucking up his car? billy refuses to button his fuckin shirt in november, he’s going to die as soon as the temperature dips below 35F. i know not every person from socal is as much of a bitch as i am about low temperatures but most of us are not built for temperatures below like 40 or 30F. actual snow is going to happen and max is going to eat shit trying to skateboard through it. i had to defrost my car for the first time during a cold snap last month and i thought i was losing my mind, billy is going to fucking hate what cold temperatures can do to your car, especially if you park it outside on the regular.

white bitches love mexican food, have you seen how they get about chipotle? one day billy and max are gonna be home alone and go ‘we should get mexican takeout tonight’ and suddenly realize they live in the fuckin heartland now, the chances of finding a good (let alone decent) taco place nearby depend entirely of the percentage of mexican immigrants settling in bumfuck indiana to actually open a place. or at least somebody from texas.

i desperately need max and billy throwing down for in n out. i don’t care about your opinion on it, your average bitch from california will not stand for actual slander against it. lucas tries taking max to the local diner and puts his foot in his mouth (”it can’t be that good, max”) after trying to insist that the burgers in hawkins are leagues better than whatever they had back in california. steve and billy nearly brawl again because billy fuckin loves the skinny crispy in n out fries and dares to put them above mcdonald’s fries and steve thinks he’s fucking crazy.

depending on where they lived in california, the lack of mountains would probably be something weird to get used to. travelling past the mountains and through flat land makes the monkey in my brain go ‘where big rocks go??? why so exposed??? too flat!!’ and i can’t help but think of max constantly doing double takes at the sheer amount forest around hawkins and the distinct lack of mountains nearby lol. california is huge and there’s loads of different biomes within it, but you’re not gonna find very many forests, especially in the areas billy and max probably lived in (i think in runaway max they lived in san diego? but that’s shaky half-canon at this point).

give me the weird slang differences between the midwest and the west coast. i had a teacher from wisconsin call water fountains ‘bubblers’ once and i swear it gave me whiplash. i love regional slang. idk if it depends on the person’s age or region or if its interchangeable in some places, but the face i’m picturing billy making after hearing somebody call it ‘pop’ instead of ‘soda’ is priceless. there’s also no fucking way billy hung out with californian surfers in the 70s - 80s and didn’t pick up some truly atrocious slang that pops up now and then. max thinks he sounds fucking dumb, but then billy makes fun of the fact that she can’t roll her ‘r’s and it starts another bitch fight. more of max and billy both saying ‘like’ way too much as a sentence filler and everyone else making fun of them.

i don’t know, i want more fun and interesting and annoying little things that people from different states do. billy and max moved across the whole damn country, i want more conflict from that than just the obvious issues.

[pearlypairings]

Twenty Questions for Fic Writers

Tagged by @pipergirl17- thank you darling!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

Officially? 17! Unofficially inc my anon works, 22!

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

225,303 which is wild to me!

3. What fandoms do you write for?

I mainly write with Stranger Things (heavy on the Chrissy-centric fics with ships :P) and drop the occasional Twin Peaks one-shot.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Do or Die (first ever ST fic!)

not a sound but the wind (ST hellcheer)

Meet Me At Our Spot (ST hellcheer)

In an Envelope Marked: Harrington (ST Max & Steve friendship)

Open the Sky and Let Her Come Down (ST hellcheer)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I love chatting with readers and try to respond to comments as they come in (occasionally I fall behind depending on my work sched, but I always respond!).

6. What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

My Twin Peaks fic Twin Flames Divided is very similar to its canon source, so has to be angsty and a little out there! Definitely angstier than my usual fics!

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

So far I think Dear Donna, (my hellcheer slow burn told through letters) has the happiest, tooth-rotting fluff around. But all of my Chrissy fics have happy endings :)

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I would say no, not really! Thankfully, everyone's been super supportive in the comments and on tumblr:)

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Only once!! It's anon and was posted for Kinktober as like a little writer challenge for myself to see if I COULD do it. It was fun, but I'll leave the smut to the professionals lol.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

I wrote on that's currently on hiatus, but had SO much fun with it! IT's a TP x ST crossover where Agent Cooper is brought into the midst of season 4's crazy supernatural murders. I'd love to get back into it, but I have other brainworms I want to work on now.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Don't think so!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Also, no, but I'd be so into that!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Not yet! But I'd love to be a co-conspirator with my main squeeze @1lostsoul0fishbowl someday when our schedules and inspo lines up to try it!

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

Hellcheer has been my big one, but I'm starting to fall in love with some ST rarepairs lately...so we'll see if it stays that way.

15. What's a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

Hmm any unfinished WIPs of mine will be finished in their own time. I have a hard time admitting one might be unfinished, because my core perfectionism won't allow anything to be left undone!

16. What are your writing strengths?

I think my dialogue is a decent guiding factor in my writing! It's at least my favorite portion to write!

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

In general, allowing more creativity to flow while I'm writing. I went to college with an emphasis on more direct, scientific writing....But now I'm trying to unlearn all the drills of no flowery language or complex sentences to write with better immersion and storytelling.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I'm not confident enough to do that, unless I'm very knowledgeable in that language. But it's rare for me to inject that into the fics I write.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Twin Peaks technically!

20. Favorite fic you've written?

That's like picking a favorite child! But back against the wall, today my favorite is there is a light that never goes out , my wip for jonathan x chrissy. It's moody, it's 80s cheesy, and it's cute :)

Tagging off the top of my head: @1lostsoul0fishbowl @hangon-silvergirl @erythromanc3r @a-strange-inkling and anyone who likes guac is welcome to answer and tag me as the source;)

[thus-spoke-lo]

Watching the Sandman (Neil Gaimen's Sandman) and *spins*

tw for con noncon, somnophilia

Sanji with the ability to enter people's dreams and twist their mental landscape. He only does it with their permission, of course, but I could see him using this for horny reasons.

Just. Sanji bringing his beloved Reader the SWEETEST dreams, full of pleasure and love (and of course, good food). Anything they desire is theirs- all they have to do is ask. Extra fun if he can mess with their senses, like sight or taste or sound. Or pleasure... Just flood their mind with waves of ecstasy, until they're practically drowning in it, clinging to him so they don't get entirely washed away.

Maybe pair this with some actual somnophilia, if Sanji can talk to you in your dreams, letting you feel and get pleasure from all the things he's doing to your body in the real world. Just because the idea of him fucking you, using you/your body for his own pleasure, all while making you feel good in your dreams at the same time and describing what he's doing to you in the real world... It just does something for me, Idk.

-🍓

Oo, okay, I can totally see this with Sanji.

If you'll indulge me, i'm gonna take this in a little bit of a different direction--Sanji using your dreams to try to influence you into reciprocating his feelings.

He could just ask you if you feel the same way for him that he does for you, but with that comes the possibility of rejection and he simply cannot have that. So instead, he waits and slips into your dreams (how? idk, effect from a devil fruit user? some au? we'll work out the specifics some other time lol), and tries to make himself into the perfect boyfriend, even more than he does during your waking hours.

There, in the safe confines of your dreams, he romances you like he wishes he could during the day: just the two of you, going on picnics and long walks, picking out fresh vegetables at farmers markets and cooking dinner together, sometimes forgetting to check the risotto as you get lost in each other. You watch the sun set together over the horizon, and he kisses you softly for the first time again and again, bathed in the pinks and golds of the dying light.

Every night he makes you fall in love with him, and every morning he wakes before the sun to prepare breakfast for the crew, his pulse racing as he awaits the moment you walk into the galley.

And he'll smile softly as you sit down at the table, always the first to arrive, and ask, "So, how'd you sleep, angel? Any pleasant dreams?"

(This is sounding like it should be the premise for an 80's romcom movie I'm realizing lol. Like Steve Guttenberg and Molly Ringwald star in it or something.)

[thestobingirlie]

Omg yes, I've been part of lot of fandoms and most ending were like: a) the show got cancelled and the characters never got justice or ending for that matter, or unexpected cancellation so they had to tied up loose end to the season that in pre-prodution so most of the plotlines were never explained or they games of thrones type of ending, and if i am honest st started loosing sense once they decided to go the 'bigger is better - quantity over quality- which is visible in season 4, and then there you have bunch of people that will claim that everything was planned ahead even tho, stranger things was supposed to be anthology series meaning each story will be only season long and then move on to another plotline or story with different characters but Netflix/people feel in love with these characters so they kept writing for the characters that we know/love but sometimes the characters act ooc it's like those arcs were planned for different characters and they just kept the names of the characters from S1, or something like that and tbh the crew/cast seemed so enthusiastic to make this project that is homage for 80's but now it's like everyone lost passion/drive.. and you're famous on Twitter because of anon that kept going about Nancy and the kids but I'd like to add that Nancy knows those kids pre-pilot she played d&d with them but stopped playing because she grew up and high school might stressing for some and she wanted to date and stuff and there's nothing wrong with that, and she spent some part of 3 with them but considering people might forget because the show has huge gaps..

And what's your opinion on the Eddie Munson book?

yeah, i think from season 3 it became really obvious that certain plot lines and character arcs were being written to draw a bigger audience in, rather than for the benefit of the story. i don’t know if stranger things will burn down quite as badly as game of thrones, but i do agree that i think people see the duffers as… smarter than they really are? like, i’m not calling the duffers stupid or anything, but people are paying attention to tiny details that i don’t really think matter in the grand scheme of things. and though the duffers can come up with an incredible story and dynamic characters, they do have weak points. so yeah, i don’t know, i guess my attitude towards season 5 is basically just try not to get too excited, and there’s always fanfiction.

honestly, that’s kinda a boring reason. i don’t know, i feel like i’ve said more unpopular opinions before, but that’s what got people riled up? huh. anyway, thanks for telling me lol! and yeah, nancy has known the kids a long time, but it’s clear in s1 she isn’t close to them, and she doesn’t spend time with them. and people seem to think when i point that out i’m dragging nancy, which i’m not! like most of the st crew, they hang out when the world is ending, and clearly care about each other. but they don’t go out of their way to spend time together otherwise.

it’s actually kinda funny though, because steve antis have gone from calling steve pathetic for only have 14 year olds for friends, to desperately trying to prove that they are nancy’s friends. like i thought that was pathetic? pick a lane.

and i did speak about the eddie book when we first heard about it! but basically i don’t care much for it. i think it’s a money grab, and i can’t imagine the story being that entertaining because… it’s about eddie trying to get out of hawkins, and we know he doesn’t. he dies. what a pointless book. (oh and i know a lot of steddie’s are annoyed about him maybe having a female love interest, and i do not care about that at all, lmao. the book’s not even canon! and even if it was, i didn’t care about the duffers canon before, i’m not gonna start now.)

[toburnup]

So I'm not sure if you've ever answered this before or not so forgive me if you're seeing this question again.

The mixtape that Steve made for Eddie, what songs are on it? I would KILL for a Spotify playlist of the actual songs that he added (for some reason I picture the smiths?? Particularly please, please, please let me get what I want) and also what song from it is Eddie learning to play?? If it's a surprise then obvi ignore me lmao

I can see how sometimes citing specific songs in fic can maybe distract from the story somehow so I get why it's not included in this case. If theres a particular reason for you not including id love to hear your thoughts on it, just to pick your brilliant brain lol.

Can't wait for the next update I'm obsessed with you and your writing GOD

i'm worried that my answer will be disappointing — for the most part, i have no specific tracks in mind for the songs included in iylo 😭

it's true that i wouldn't include the titles themselves in the fic even if i did, but that's just because my music taste isn't for everyone and i don't want to like. wreck someone's enjoyment of those scenes because they're hearing a song they hate in their head, lol.

the other big reason is that i hate doing research, and idk when songs were released, so any suggestions i have probably wouldn't be accurate to the time. also late 80s/early 90s music...... i can't say that those are my favourite musical years.

i love it when people send me songs they think fit my descriptions, though!! that's always fun for me <3

[astorytotellyourfriends]

F, G, & N? 😊😊

G: Do you write your story from start to finish, or do you write the scenes out of order?

i'd say 9 times out of 10, i'll write in order from start to finish. occasionally, i'll write a scene or some bits of dialogue if it's really just eating away at my brain and i have specific things i want to make sure i don't forget, or if i'm having some major trouble with a transition. in those cases, it's usually easier to get from point a to point b if i know where point b is already.

N: Is there a fic you wish someone else would write (or finish) for you?

oh, god. all of them. sometimes, anyway. in reality i'm very protective of my stories and i honestly can't imagine anyone else finishing them for me because then they wouldn't be mine anymore.

(i'm putting F under a cut because the scene i picked is long)

F: Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

"Try as he might," Eddie says as he bends down a little, putting his hand over his eyes like he's shielding them from the sun and trying to get a better look at the situation, "he can't seem to close the deal with the prettiest female in the land, not even after three years!" Eddie straightens up again with a cackle as he jabs his thumb in Jason's direction. "Certainly not the prime specimen he claims to be, am I right?"

"You wanna go, freak?" Jason snaps as he gets up from his chair, kicking it backwards and letting it scrape across the floor.

Eddie gasps dramatically, clutching his chest. "What's this, ladies and gentlemen?"

His Steve Irwin impression is fading fast; it's hard to keep up with it when it's not his best accent and he can't stop fucking grinning.

"Is the alpha male challenging the lowly freak? Is he threatened?" Eddie twists his face in mock horror and puts his hands on his face a lá Macaulay Caulkin in Home Alone, earning more laughter from his loyal subjects.

"Come down off that table and I'll show you," Jason says as he rolls his shoulders.

"Ooh," Eddie shivers mockingly. "Don't hurt yourself with all that excess testosterone. Think of the children!" he adds, pitching his voice to a higher register as he gestures to Dustin and the other freshmen sitting below him. "Won't somebody please think of the children!" he shouts hysterically, pulling another face as he wails.

this is way too long but i couldn't cut any of it out lol i'm honestly so proud of this entire scene in my cyrano au because it all flowed so easily and i feel like it stays true to the characters despite it being set in roughly present day rather than the 80s.