#but anyway i don't like mike and dustin at times for obvious reasons

[rangurs]

lucas deserved more interactions with the older group...

[givehimthemedicine]

El traded herself for Max in the void: a timeline switch crack concept

I'm not saying "theory" because I'm not 100% serious but hear me out anyway because there is something here, I'm just not sure what. if nothing else I get to inflict an angsty scenario on you

so you know how Two Days Later El's behavior irt Max is just so weird?

after everything that happened, you'd expect El to already be screaming "IS MAX OKAY?" as the van door is sliding open. instead, she doesn't ask about her at all.

even when Dustin says Lucas is at the hospital, El goes "is he hurt?" as if Max isn't crossing her mind at all as a reason for him to be at the hospital.

Will's casual inquiry of "where's Lucas" is weird in of itself. Will was there when El hatched the whole "Protect Max" plot and literally spoke to El while she was in Max's memories/the void. he knew Max being in danger was the whole thing. he definitely would've asked about Max before he asked about Lucas.

then Lucas says how it was a miracle that Max's heart started beating again, and Mike and Will give El this look. the obvious interpretation being that they assume El is somehow responsible but didn't say a word about it. (classic El behavior)

call me crazy, but doesn't it kinda fit to say that Two Days Later El does not have Void El's memories?

the El who arrives in Hawkins is NOT acting AT ALL like someone who watched her best friend die, brought her back, and ended the interaction with her in a dubiously-alive-critically-injured state.

this El is behaving like one who succeeded in rescuing Max and therefore isn't especially worried about her current status. maybe even a version where Lucas never got beaten up, the tape never got broken, the plan worked. who never told the boys she revived Max, because she didn't.

there's just something about El being all dirty and bloody during Max's death scene and then visiting Max two days later still wearing the same outfit except a still-clean version of it. like none of that happened to this El.

there's just something about Dustin's "oh God, you don't know." maybe this El doesn't! she looks lost af.

there's just something about Mike's "we came as soon as we heard." El was there and saw it all, but you just now heard it from Dustin? I know El is tight lipped but you're really saying she got out of the pizza freezer and into a TWO DAY LONG van ride and the conversation never got around to, like... how the mission went?

yet as of the cabin end scene, suddenly Mike and Will both know stuff that only El could've told them. so.. she did talk in the van? but didn't mention the Max stuff? that's even weirder.

let's talk about Vecna's 4th gate

so gates open on the exact spot of Vecna's victims' bodies, right?

here's where the Max gate starts to open in the UD attic, corresponding to exactly where Max is lying dead in the RU attic.

except that absolutely cannot be.

because they showed us what instantly happens if even a small part of the gate crack passes beneath a person. it looks like this:

so if that gate originated exactly under Max's body, Lucas would not have any warning. the only way he would've found out about it is by seeing at least a section of Max's corpse suddenly get vaporized Jason-style. (if not also his own body!)

instead, Lucas has time to see it starting to form and pull Max to safety. which means it couldn't have started forming exactly under Max.

the forming gate that Lucas is looking at as he drags Max away is actually sorta between Max and the spider shrine.

now look where El was sitting.

what if the 4th sacrifice was El, not Max?

we never actually saw the results of whatever El did when she put her hand over Max's heart. the easiest assumption is she just did magic cpr and started Max's heart again. but what if she was doing something to trade places with Max?

"but wtf are you talking about, because El continues being alive for the rest of the episode?"

for this concept I'm borrowing an idea from @heroesbyler that's had me clawing the walls of my cell lately - in case you missed her recent big brain posts, she pointed out some weird discrepancies in actual vs void versions of scenes throughout the show, suggesting that when El visits the void, she could actually be looking into different timelines. I'd definitely submit the Creel attic as another example.

so when I say what if El traded herself for Max, I'm talking Void El and Void Max.

I'm talking something about Max's death, or revival, or the opening of the gates, throwing some kind of trolley dilemma train tracks switch between timelines. idk there are too many details to iron out before I pitch this in seriousness but idk I just. I swear to you Two Days Later El and Void El aren't lining up.

some discrepancies in the real vs void Creel attic (not all. this could be a whole post itself)

void vs UD:

according to the UD shot, the origin point of the death gate is perfectly centered relative to the rug, and, say, a foot away. here's my hasty approximation of where I'd expect it:

this is why I'm not taking the L about how honestly El's location doesn't perfectly align with the UD origin point - because neither does Max's.

void vs RU:

IRL, Lucas is cradling Max across his lap. his legs are more or less parallel to the spider shrine while Max is angled at, very roughly, 45 degrees to it. the bug lamp is centered on it.

in the void version, the bug light is far towards one end of the table. while Lucas and Max's positions feel fairly consistent, their placement relative to the SS is not.

if you follow the lines of the floorboards in the IRL shot, his butt is aligned nearly with the far right edge of the SS. but here, don't they all seem decidedly further towards the left of it?:

as soon as Max dies, things get differenter. now they're further right again, only Lucas and Max's positions are more spoony, pointed the same direction. she's nearly parallel with the SS now. her feet also seem jacked up at more severe angles.

overhead shot also makes that bug light's off-centeredness very clear.

also you notice how we don't see El hearing Max in the void? I mean, she must have, otherwise she wouldn't reply "No, you're not going", but it's just odd how WE don't see that.

I've talked before about how Max says both "I don't want to die" and "I don't want to go," which are two different concepts in ST universe, and that Lucas and El each get to respond to one of them. so why not show us El hearing the one that's hers?

IRL Max is begging for her life, but when we switch to the void, she's abruptly silent and much more still. El only hears Lucas. back to IRL, Max is still more actively struggling and vocalizing a little before she dies. the energy doesn't match super well.

other bits

on the subject of El's "No. You're not going." if you really wanted to, you could interpret that in a "- because I'm going instead" way. I know, she didn't especially say it with that inflection. but it does have me thinking about how incredibly in character it is for El to be willing to trade herself like that.

it made me think of this moment:

yeah we've all demanded to know what was the reason for having Owens assume Max was a boy. but has anyone talked about how El, in her reply to that very line ("no, do not send your men. send me.") does the same thing? Owens just said "people". El assumes they are men.

there's just something about El saying "do not send your men[?], send me" immediately after Owens referring to Max as a him[?]. it gives kind of a "don't take Max, take me" flavor.

there's also something about how Max wasn't supposed to be the 4th sacrifice anyway.

and by this point El has heard the monologue about how all this time, it's all been about getting to her. so she's definitely feeling that Max is dead in the crossfire because of her. you don't think that if she only could, she would take Max's place and face Vecna directly, whatever that entails? whether it's death or some ambiguous awful fate?

can you tell me this kid

wouldn't trade herself for Max?

also just curious that the very first time they played Running Up That Hill, it actually began on a shot of a distraught El walking down her school hallway before it transitioned to Max walking the opposite way down her school hallway. with the song edited to skip straight from the opening to the chorus about swapping places.

don't worry I'm sure there's no way that means anything 👍

finally, El is distraught not to be able to find Max in the void when she goes looking for her. but it's weird because El has located corpses, flayed people, and inanimate objects in the void before. there's no reason she shouldn't be able to locate Max due to her being in a coma/"trapped".

what if it's not Max who's offline? what if El can't see into that timeline anymore because she's dead in it?

[qprstobin]

I keep trying to have the Party have their "safe older friend" crush on people other than Steve but the whole Party having a Steve crush is just.... too funny. Like:

Will is obvious, Steve is cute and nice to him and he has a gay best friend he is super cool with and he's got big arms. No brainer that Will doesn't have at least a mild crush on him. The hilarious part is Will's anger and devastation when he finds out that Jonathan was Steve's gay awakening. Like wtf that's not fair! Does Jonathan even know what he had?? What he threw away??????

Max's canon crush is funny enough on it's own, just the way it's portrayed with her shamelessly thirsting is great no need to expand.

Lucas definitely has a whole crisis over Steve, because he definitely has the whole "I don't know if I want to be him, or be with him" crush on Steve. He has been hit with many basketballs while practicing with Steve because the older teen took his shirt off. Max makes so much fun of him when he unconsciously starts doing the soccer mom pose. Lucas can't go to the gym with Steve because it makes him too insane, not only because Steve is hot but also because he gets too competitive especially as he gets older.

El having a crush on Steve is mostly funny just for how much it would piss of Mike. First his sister, then Will, now El? This is insane, everyone is insane, Steve is obviously some evil temptress and Mike is ready to start singing Hellfire even though Hunchback of Notre Dome doesn't come out for another decade.

Mike having a crush on Steve is arguably the funniest. Steve used to date his sister, Steve has stupid hair, all of his friends are in love with Steve, Steve is a massive dumbass. And yet, Mike gets butterflies anyway. I've been joking to @spacebarrette for ages that the reason for Mike's anger has always been because he has a crush he can't deal with towards Steve. Steve is the least cool person he knows but also Steve has nearly died for him multiple times and he wants to bang his head against a wall.

Dustin is not someone I headcanon as having a crush on Steve ever, I think it's easily funny for him to be put out because all of his friends are crushing on Steve, and really? Steve???? Gross.

HOWEVER, if Dustin did have a crush on Steve at some point, probably pretty early in their friendship before it settled into something more brotherly, he would be SO DRAMATIC. He would curl up under his bed, thinking he world is ending because when the fuck did his standards get so low. He can't have a crush on someone who has never even seen Star Wars!!! He would be rocking back and forth telling himself "crushes can be irrational crushes can be irrational crushes can be irrational". Dustin catches frogs and bugs to try and show to Steve and impress him, and Steve is so fucking confused. He is so fucking relieved when the crush goes away.

[brionysea]

I love the manifestation theory cus god Mike really is that Bitch huh

Like Mike in s4 is going thru a bad depressive episode, and he’s /still/ vibed out as the leader of Hellfire even by people who don’t know shit about it

wait you're SO right. he ends up being a leader on accident, when he's not even TRYING (because if he was trying he would've said "fuck what eddie thinks" and told dustin they're going to lucas' game anyway, instead of playing by someone else's calls of the situation which he RARELY does)

that's a really interesting thing for them to show us at the same time as they're telling us that eddie's the leader, but mike just has so much more of an effortless leadership quality to him. in the scene where they approach eddie, dustin looks to mike for guidance. in the campaign, dustin looks to mike for guidance (immediately after blowing off eddie's attempt at doing the exact same thing). none of the other hellfire members say a thing against mike's strategising even though they don't show anywhere near as much restraint with anyone else. the closest thing i can think of is the reaction when mike just said that they wanted to postpone the campaign instead of dancing around it the way dustin was, but even that's not the same as the way they call dustin and erica's plan (the same one mike was backing up) stupid and make fun of eddie. those incidents were personal, but no one got personal with mike after his suggestion. and it kind of is mike acting in a leadership role in that cafeteria scene, because he's trying to find a way for the campaign to work for everyone in the group (which is what leaders should do) while eddie's just like "lol screw lucas then i guess." it kind of reminds me of when mike was the one person advocating for el's safety against the majority of the main cast, right down to no one listening and the thing he was arguing against happening anyway

amd to get at your actual point, looking at jason's interactions with eddie, and looking at the one time we saw mike glaring a hole through his head... i mean, they have very different energies. i like eddie, i think he's fun, but climbing on top of tables and harassing random students for no reason and frantically paddling away in a dead boat doesn't really scream "fearless, heroic, masterminded leader" the way mike's obvious desire to make your head explode for making a friend's death (hopper), along with every other death that's happened over the course of the show, about something as trivial as a high school basketball game does (which is very ironic if it all actually has been about a game the whole time). and now i've drawn another connection to that scene where mike started a fight over troy talking shit about a presumed dead will. jason's lucky mike wasn't in hawkins, honestly, because the more i think about it the more i'm convinced that mike loathes him with his entire being

within the framework of manifestation theory, mike has always been the heart, he's always been making things happen, and it was completely accidental because he doesn't even know he's doing it. and the fact that they showed us this exact behaviour in the same season as mike's self esteem is at rock bottom, that they showed us how easily he slips into obstinate leader mode when a new authority figure appears for him to immediately get into an individual standoff with, that they showed us how effortlessly he gains people's respect even if they've just met him, that they gave us that pep talk through will to remind mike and the audience of who mike fundamentally is... idk, there are just a lot of Choices being made here

[eightfifteen]

Omg i'm so angry right now. I was on youtube and a short called "the old Mike cared so much about his friends" was recommended to me abd it was about Mike jumping to save Dustin and all the comments were about what a shitty friend he is now, how he doesn't care anymore ... EXCUSE ME DID ANY OF THEM CARED TO ASK HIM HOW IS HE DOING? sorry, but i did read Lucas on the line and Lucas at a point even comments on how he prefered the shitty mopy Mike better than the real Mike. Eleven cut him short and just invalidated his feelings and experiences, Dustin sees Mike's sadness as whining. Do they know what is happening to him? No, and they don't seem to even care. The only people to ever aknowledge that something might be up with Mike

Karen - but most of the time it feels like she is doing it because she is supposed to

Hopper - because he understood the damaged he let Mike go throw with for a year

Will - and this one is the worst, because Will told him everything Mike needed, and he has been there for Mike to open up and try to share what is actually going on with him (at least a part of it) and then he said those feelings were from the person who invalidated him.

You know what? I'm starting a crusade against everyone who is against/hates Mike Wheeler. Now it is personal.

This made me go on a rant about Karen for like 500 words but dw i put it in a different post. Anyway, you're so right and I'm with you 100%. Mike wasn't even with his friends for most of season 4 - don't tell me he doesn't care about them or i'll literally break your legs.

The audience reaction is so sad, specifically because the reason they miss Mike's feelings and dismiss his struggle, is because he's always in the scene with someone struggling more obviously than him. The reason people think he is doing fine, is because in any given scene he's helping someone who's struggling more than him, pushing his own inner struggles aside. He's either with El or with Will, both characters having gone through some of the worst shit in the show and both in love with him and "suffering by his hand".

So, his feelings get dismissed even when the scene is about him - like that one scene in the junk yard when they talk about what Mike should have said and Will says that line about "sometimes it's scare to open up."

That scene was supposed to be a window into Mike's character and issues, but the GA still focus on Will because he's dealing with something more obvious/more complicated/more painful(?). People who take it at face value as him literally just talking about El, think Mike isn't suffering as much as Will is so they think it's a scene to set up Will's feelings and don't bother looking at Mike who's screaming for help.

Which is why I think those "Mike and Lucas getting into a fight in s5" ideas have such a huge appeal - because Mike, as usual, is going to be in the scene with someone struggling more obviously than him, and they're going to dismiss Mike's feelings and pretend like he's been fine this whole time even though he's literally been feelings exactly what Lucas is feeling for FOUR SEASONS STRAIGHT. But this time Mike isn't going to stay silent and the audience can finally go oh.

[repentarium]

the truth is I've been dreaming of this tired, tranquil place tag 7/?

ao3

They don't get to hang out in a big group as much anymore, between working more hours and the kids having more school work and even part time jobs, which make Steve and Eddie feel more stressed and also older than they'd like to admit because 'those are children, actually, and they're… working the grill at a fast food place? Uncanny.' Eddie felt especially freaked about it and spent a nice long rant about it during dinner one night after Mike had handed him their takeout with what Eddie was calling his ‘asshole face’ on his face.

If Steve didn’t have Eddie around so much, the lack of Robin and now the kids too would hurt a lot worse, he thinks. It’s harder to sink into the loneliness when Eddie is loud and present enough most days to make up for it, playing around on his acoustic guitar or muttering under his breath as he writes dragon notes into his little books or arguing passionately about the music Steve has rolled his eyes out. It’s enough that when he does get hold of Robin she makes jealous (and loving) little comments about being replaced. 

He assures her that there is no replacing Robin, and there absolutely isn’t, but between Family Video and Eddie he doesn’t have to dwell on missing her so much is all. He’s sure that part of it is just that compared to how alone he was in his parents house all the time having Eddie there every night, a sure thing, feels so safe. 

The Party does manage movie nights all together though, sometimes, overcrowded into the apartment's small living room. 

They're rewatching the Star Wars movies, again, because they couldn't decide on anything and really it's just background noise for catching up most of the time anyway, to Dustin's mild chagrin. 

Steve, Eddie, Dustin, and Will are all crammed onto the couch, and the rest of the Party is sprawled out on the floor, only space left for the coffee table full of pizza and glasses. 

'This is just such a cool fight scene because - I mean look at it!!' Dustin is yelling as he's shoveling chips into his mouth. 

'It's so impractical though, man, it'd never work in real life, like-' Steve gestures at the screen. 

'No but it's cool, Steve!' 

'The physics are stupid. You can see the wires and it totally takes you out of it-'

'Oh are you gonna talk to me about physics, Steve?' 

He doesn't mean anything by it, but he doesn't have his big obvious I'm teasing you voice on and for some reason it makes Steve feel like shit. He'd had a long day at work, had to rush home to leave again and pick up the kids and the pizza, and he hadn't slept properly last night, that probably had a lot to do with it, but he feels himself shrink a little into the corner of the couch anyway, gritting his teeth a little and refocusing on the tv and planning to just ignore Dustin until he gets over it which in the past has had a less-than-stellar success rate if he’s honest.

'Stop being a jerk, kid.' Steve can feel Eddie elbow Dustin beside him, even though he’s still looking at the tv too when he checks.

'I'm not being a jerk, Steve's being a moron.' 

'You can make jokes about people if they're funny but you're not being funny, you're being mean.' 

Steve feels his face get warm, and he stares wide-eyed at the screen. He can feel Eddie looking at him, the way he nudges him a little, and when he does it again to get him to look at him he mouths 'You good?' and Steve swallows and nods. 

He thinks it's over and they've moved on, but when he asks a question about the timeline in the movie, trying to patch it up, it makes Dustin mutter 'see, a moron’ quietly enough that Steve can barely hear it.

Eddie shoves him, whole-body but not roughly, off of the couch, and when Dustin starts complaining he interrupts him with a snipped and decisive 'shut up'.

'I don't know what your deal is today, man, if you wanna talk about it we can, but you don't need to be an asshole to your friends.' Then he turns his head to Steve, ignoring Dustin's muttering as he gets up and goes to the restroom and the rest of the party watching awkwardly, and explains his answer to Steve's question quietly to him. 

Steve's looking at Eddie as he speaks, in the glow of the tv screen, and it's like the actual words he's saying fade out for a minute and all he can really think about is the way the whites of his eyes and the shine of his teeth look in the blue of the television.

Then he's saying 'Does that make sense?' and his face is a little scrunched up, so Steve nods back at him. Eddie claps his hand on Steve's knee and stands up, gestures to the hallway and the bathroom, whispers 'I'm gonna go check on him'. 

Steve tries to pay attention to the screen, or even just to Lucas and Max's bickering from the floor, but he can't stop thinking about the way Eddie basically stood up for him. He's had people fighting at his side and saving his life, but for some reason Eddie's ability to see that he was upset about something and fix it before it even spiraled into a real problem (like maybe one that would have him hiding in his room for a while day and forgetting to eat or drink water or talk to anyone) felt… monumental. Like he shined a bright light into the weird little cracks and alleys inside of him and just said 'oh, we can patch this up actually' and then he just did it, easy as you please. 

Will leaves the couch, and when he does he takes his and Steve's empty glass in; when he picks his way back through the crowd he has two full glasses of water, and he sits one in front of Steve. He doesn't say anything but he does a little 'cheers' gesture with his own glass and waits for Steve to pick it up before he matches him taking a drink. 

Steve thinks 'this is the way a family could be, actually' as he takes a long drink and sets the glass down, says 'thanks' to Will. Like maybe for all his fussing and taking care of people, they also want to fuss over him and take care of him sometimes actually, not just Robin and certainly not his parents. Like they were all leaning on each other, maybe, like it's not weak to ask for a little help. 

When Dustin comes back in, Eddie's arm around his shoulder, his eyes are a little red and puffy. The two of them squeeze back into their positions on the couch, and Eddie's arm is flush against his as they watch the rest of the movie. It feels grounding. 

After the last movie, the kids (teenagers, nearly adults, god, but never not kids) start cleaning up and putting things where they belong so Eddie can get them all home like he volunteered to. While they’re bustling around, Dustin asks if he can talk to Steve alone and pulls him into his own bedroom. Eddie catches his eye on the way and gives him a questioning thumbs up, so he shrugs and nods and closes the door behind him. 

Almost immediately Dustin’s eyes are watering and he’s pulling Steve into a tight hug and saying ‘I am so sorry Steve I was being a dick and I don’t even know why, you’re not a moron at all you’re smarter than any of us a lot of the time actually and-’

‘Whoa, hey, Dustin, it’s okay.’ Steve pushes him away to hang onto his arms and look him in the eye. 

‘It’s not okay, man, I didn’t want to hurt you, I wasn’t even thinking.’

‘It’s really alright, okay? I’m kind of a moron, it’s fine.’

‘No you’re not, Steve, and you even saying that is messed up.’

‘I was… joking.’

‘You were half-joking.’

‘Well-’

‘You’re not an idiot, Steve. And I know we joke about it sometimes but it’s not cool, especially because your poor brain is mostly mush anymore from all the fights and the monsters and stuff.’

‘Gee, thanks…’

‘I mean it. If you forget what happened in Star Wars it’s probably because of the head injuries and stuff and anyways it’s not really without plot holes, you know, and it’s just a movie.’

That is maybe the kindest thing that Dustin has ever said to him, denouncing Star Wars, even if it was surrounded by honestly offensive insights.

Steve pulls him back into another hug, kind of just to keep him from accidentally insulting him anymore. When he wiggles his way out of the hug again, he says ‘I really am sorry. You’re the best babysitter, and I mean that. I’m really glad you keep us all around, even if we don’t say it much we all love you.’

And that, coming from dork of a teenager who he loves back with everything he is, is enough to bring tears prickling to his eyes. 

‘I know, man. I love you too.’

‘Don’t be a baby, okay?’ Dustin claps his hand on his shoulder like he’s the parental figure.

Steve rolls his eyes and knocks the hat off of Dustin’s head on his way out of the room again, and things feel light again, back to normal or maybe better. 

When Steve thinks about it later, after Eddie has whisked everyone off in the van, he realizes that Dustin is right. Maybe the multitude of concussions did more than wiggle his eyes around and give him migraines, like the fogginess and the way he forgets words and lyrics sometimes isn’t because he’s not thinking or whatever. A brain wasn’t supposed to be jostled around so much, by shitty dads or racist older brothers or Russians or what amount to literal demons.

It’s not Dustin’s fault for teasing him. If Steve himself didn’t connect the dots there’s no reason for the kids to. 

He hadn’t really given it a lot of thought beyond the immediacy of the migraines and his suddenly shitty vision, but he makes a note to ask Robin what her thoughts are about the whole brain injury thing the next time they talk, maybe to schedule something with another government neurologist or whatever in addition to the eye doctor. 

Eddie had though. Eddie had given it enough thought and realized it and told Dustin he was being an asshole and explained it to him, why it would hurt Steve’s feelings to say things like that, why he should maybe cool it. He knows that’s what they were talking about in the restroom, doesn’t even have to ask.

He’s washing the glasses in the sink and thinking about how good Eddie is, to him and to the kids and in general, when he comes back (‘honey, I’m home’). He comes in and sits on the counter next to the sink, watches quietly as Steve finishes up. 

‘How are you doing?’

‘Good. Good.’

‘Dustin said he apologized, but I wanted to tell you from him again he’s sorry, just in case he fucked it up somehow. I don’t think he realized what a shit he was being, you know, teenagers. He was still kind of shook up on the ride home.’

Steve nods, dries his hands and puts the towel back on the oven handle. He leans against the stove next to Eddie, who pushes his knee against his side. 

‘I know. It shouldn’t have even bothered me, it’s not like he was wrong, I’m not smart enough to be arguing about physics with the nerds, but-’

‘Shut up, man, you’re a million times smarter than me. Do you think I’m stupid?’

‘Well no.’ Steve means it honestly. He knows that tests at school don’t measure all the kinds of smart you can be. ‘I don’t think I’m smarter than you.’

‘We can agree to disagree. Maybe both of us are kind of smart.’

‘You are smart. You’re like the smartest guy I know, when it comes to people especially. I don’t know how you can always tell something’s wrong with someone, or that I’m getting a migraine, or when I don’t want to cook or whatever.’

‘It’s the trauma I think. Or maybe magic.’

But he can tell Eddie’s laughing it off, pushing the compliment aside. ‘I mean it.’ He looks at Eddie, tries to make him understand how sincere he’s being by sheer force of will. It must at least kind of work, because Eddie smiles and blushes a little, drops his head and bumps his knee against Steve again. 

‘Dustin said something though, kind of got me thinking, about how all the concussions probably fucked with the way my brain works sometimes, like maybe it’s not that there’s something, you know, wrong with me, but it’s like an injury.’

‘Concussions plural?’

‘Don’t get me started. A lot of them. And I didn’t even connect it, you know? I just thought between everyone else saying so, even Nancy and the kids and everything, I just wasn’t so smart.’

‘Stevie, pal, even if you weren’t as smart as the super-geniuses you wouldn’t be wrong. You’re still an amazing friend and babysitter and you know way more about sports and cars than I can ever learn, even with the less-than-legal history.’

Steve is just looking down at his crossed arms, Eddie’s leg still pressed against his elbow. 

‘I think I’m gonna take the government bozos up on that check up, see if they can poke my brain at all. Get the eye doctor penciled in too.’

‘Good. You gotta take care of that big old head you have.’

Steve looks up at Eddie, finally, again, sees the way his eyes are faking sincerity but so clearly goofing around, sparking in the streetlights filtering in through the windows and the light that stays on over the stove (light enough to soothe the shadows but dim enough not to trigger a migraine), and he thinks maybe he’s not replacing Robin but he’s carving his own little space out. He elbows him in the shin, and Eddie jumps off of the counter, laughing loudly as he goes to get ready for bed.

[cosmorom]

who i think can/can't die in st5 and why (long post):

eleven: it's pretty plausible she could die like a hero with a sacrifice, when she'll fight against henry again, but i simply don't believe it because it dosen't make sense? for all her narrative we see how she dosen't want being compared to a hero, she doesn't want to be a hero. el wants to be loved for who she is, not because she's cool with powers and she saved the world like 3(?) times. she wants to be loved like el, not 011. if in s5 they don't finish her story arc and put her at peace with herself, duh her death will just be heartbreaking and unfair. i would like to see that in some way, at the end of everything, she'll lose her powers (like in s3) and she just be in peace with her family and friends. however, this doesn't mean that the probability of her death is low.

will: well he just can't die because 1) the previous seasons will be like useless? the whole story starts because will is alive and has to survive (talking abt s1). 2) will is literally the only one who never had his happy ending at every end of the seasons. and he suffered enough. just give his happy ending with the boy he is in love with and with the love of his family. obviously, knowing him, if his intervention (even risky) is needed to kill vecna, he would not think twice and would immediately offer to die for the others, as he has already demonstrated. i just can't think about the fact that he will suffer more in the next season until the end (bc he will). give him a BREAK.

max: well the situation is actually complicated. she can die as she can't. i think if they wanted to kill max they killed her in s4. so i'm not totally sure about her. i mean clinically she was (or is she?) dead...her mind is lost (in vecna's?). i don't know. i have doubts. i hope she won't leave us for good.

lucas: i don't think he'll die duh, he won't

dustin: recently, after, some declarations by the actors... i have a lot of doubts about dustin. pratically there's a lot question and theories that he could die with steve ("if you die, i die"), and this totally makes sense. yet dustin is devasted about eddie's (and max's) deaths, and we will see this much more clearly in the next season. i don't know if he will tolerate even steve's (we'll talk about him later). i don't know, i'm scared about him. i'll explain better later.

mike: so, i think they'll do something with mike like vecna'd but he won't die. just sayin': what would be the happy ending for will if mike died? yeah, this is a pretty selfish example, but it's the truth. and mike just can't die, he deserves some happines in this somewhat dark period for him. i swear i will punch someone (a lot of dudes) if he dies.

erica: nah she's a girlboss she just can't die

suzie: no

nancy: she's a girlboss too but i'm not sure she's totally safe rn, it's not sure that she won't die, that's it.

robin: there's not any reason for killing her, facts.

argyle: duh???

jonathan: doubts. many doubts. too many doubts. he could. duh i don't want this.

steve: 99,9% he's fucked. listen. it's too obvious. in the next season he will (finally) understands and accepts that he dosen't need romantic love in his life to be happy (reminds me of someone or am i wrong? right, el?) and he will probably die like a hero or something. he's the only one with (almost) full character development, when jonathan still has many things to solve. and the fans love steve. he'll die. and if dustin will die with him i'd- anyway...talking again about dustin. i'm scared about the fact that when (not if) steve dies, he will die in dustin arms (like someone else, his name starts with e and finish with ddie munson.) my boy dustin will be so fucking tired.

eddie: "he seems pretty fucking dead to me" lmfao i'm sorry

vickie: nah

joyce: she can't right????

hopper: he already cosplayed Jesus, that's enough

murray: probably.

enzo: also probably.

lonnie: yes because he deserves it.

vecna-001-henry: yes.

[ackermental]

The rich kids are also writers' favourites, you can tell that almost right of the bat in Season 2, when all pretenses of taking responsibility get dropped, and yet...

Because of that the poor kids get more personality in one finger, than all of the upper class children for four seasons.

Their flaws, family problems and fuck-ups make them so much more relatable, funny and pleasant to watch.

The most obvious parallel: look at Steve and Billy. Billy was basically Steve rewritten, because the showrunners for some reason have decided that King Steve had to become show's golden boy and they didn't want to make him too problematic for the audience. So all of his flaws were transferred to Billy, then multiplied by a hundred.

And the next thing you know, people started to adore Billy as a character, because he had a screen presence unachievable to Steve.

Max stole the stage from Nancy as a 'cool' female character years ago as well, and no amount of badly handled shotguns is gonna help.

Beyers are much more interesting than Wheelers can ever hope to be.

And don't even let me get started on what the writers did to break down Jonathan, yet he's still one of the most complex characters out there, including his stalking and talking back at Nancy. No, scratch that, he's interesting because of those things, not despite them.

And, not gonna lie, it would be nice to see some rich kid finally die instead of another expendable peasant (who 99% of the time also happens to be audience favourite). And I don't mean basically non-characters-we-created-to-kill like Jason, I mean the Party. Because it's somehow always El, Will and Max taking the biggest hits.

That's how we actually get stuck with Stranger Things going back from being great to boring af. Because once in a while we will get an interesting new character with an entire season worth of storytelling, only to see them get killed the next second.

There wasn't anything interesting to say about Mike or Lucas after Season 1. Nancy and Steve are going in circles ever since Season 2. Dustin isn't even a character at this point, he's just a meme that sometimes gets used to soften King Steve for the audience.

This show was dying a horrible death until Max saved it with her 'Dear Billy' arc. Which makes me think that the writers know what we need to see on our screens to give a fuck. Yet still they treat Wheelers as a central family unit, even tho Eddie put all of them to shame during one season.

And for fucks sake, this take????

Even imagining the flipside of that, where he does survive that final battle, there’s not a great life waiting for Eddie in the right side up either, so he was really designed from the get go as a doomed character.

Is all I have to know about what Duffers think about people from the wrong side of the tracks. Well, their lifes suck anyway, so why not just kill them? 🙃

All of the people thinking that Eddie would graduate and live a happy life? Duffers are here to tell you that there was no way, that Eddie could make it. They say it was all a broken fantasy. He was fucked. He couldnt possibly become a better person.

Billy who suffered years of abuse and was traumatized by his own father? Who died for his sister's friend? Who cared and loved Max, but was incapable of showing it in a healthy way because of his father? Lost couse. No sense in waisting any time on actually writing his arc, just give us some flashbacks and kill him.

And make Max suffer just for the sake of suffering, she lives in a trailer-park, so breaking all of her bones is so much better than her every-day life, I guess.

Also fuck Karen.

anyone notice that this fandom has a serious classism problem?

the rich ones get babyfied and put on pedestals when they do horrible things (the wheelers, steve, jason, vecna)

but when the poor kids do thing that arent anywhere near as bad they get demonised (the byers, el, eddie, billy and max)

[gremlin-armand]

I've been thinking this for a while now, but haven't heard anyone mention it before, so here we go.

I don't think it was because of Joyce that Mike couldn't get through on the phone.

It's been said and referenced so many times that it's basically canon. Dustin himself, in the show, says it's the reason and that "Mike wont stop whining about it". But it actually doesn't make sense.

Why? Well, because of El's letter. The one that is read in the first episode, the one that Mike is reading right before school on the day before he leaves to California. It's her most recent letter as she says herself it's day 185. It presumably sent only a few days before and arrives just before Mike's trip. She mentions "some exciting news" that Joyce got "an amazing new job". Her telemarketing job. Okay, problem solved, right? That's why he couldn't get through on the phone. But wait, something is off. It's the latter end of SIX MONTHS that Mike has been trying to call, and with the stack of letters he must have from her (as she has her own stack) she is just now mentioning this "new job"?

So, think of it this way, Mike HAS been whining for the majority of the six months the Byers are in California. He doesn't know why he can't get through, but he is clearly upset about it. Then El's letter comes in and he hears about the telemarketing job and suddenly there's a reason for the madness, he even vents to Dustin about it when he gets to school. So, they just assume that must be the case, right? But, I honestly don't believe it is.

There are two theories I find most probable:

1) Owens and Brenner found a way to block the calls. Because, let's face it, El is in hiding. They could care less about her romantic relationships when it could put her actual life in danger. We already know that listening to phone calls is something the government likes to do. We also know that they are actively searching for El and want to kill her. This theory makes the most sense to me, logically.

2) Vecna is somehow blocking the calls. Honestly, I don't believe this to be the case, but I'm adding it anyways because it's an interesting theory. It goes hand in hand with the "silver cat feeds when blue meets yellow in the west" theory. Vecna can see the future, or at least parts of it. Being able the see the future has often been depicted as unclear, as being able to see certain, unchangeable points in time but never the whole picture. Judging by the way things Vecna has said have come true, I definitely believe he can see certain aspects of what will happen. That being said, I definitely think he knows that Mike and Will together are the only thing that can stop him. So, even though he can't change certain things (ie. Mike going to California) he can try to form a wedge between the two boys in an effort to stop them from reaching their true potential with each other. It would explain why WIll always gets the short stick in the series. Why he was kidnapped in season 1 (although there may have been other reasons as well), why he got possessed in season 2, why he sensed the Mind Flayer in the beginning of season 3 when he was at the movies with Mike, again when watching Mike leave with El, and again when destroying Castle Byers (all moments linked to Mike). Vecna could very well be trying to keep the two from getting close, targeting Will instead of Mike for obvious reasons (Will being paralleled to Henry, sensitive, quiet, and misunderstood, being different and ostracized, having secrets that eat at him) . Again, this is stretch, but does feel oddly satisfying from a Byler POV.

So tl;dr I don't think it was Joyce clogging the line, as we are led to believe, it was most likely Owen, Brenner, and the team or possibly Vecna (Less likely)

[liightsnow]

Working it Out by EnbyVarian

It just seemed normal to Steve, to have days where he felt more feminine versus masculine. To have days where he honestly just didn't care. To have weeks where for some reason, everything he wore felt completely wrong.

Read on AO3

1.

Steve knew he was going to regret taking the gaggle of children to the arcade. The migraine that followed them was already settling in his head as he parked outside of the building. The group all ran into the door, leaving Steve to lock the car and follow after them, already so done with all of these children.

He sees Max eyeing a dance machine. It's only for a split second but it catches her interest. The boys all walk past it. Max, despite obviously wanting to play it. Follows them.

The kids play for a good hour, jumping around to different games after they get bored of one. Steve can still see Max eyeing the Dancing game… Well, he’s never been one to disappoint. 

He walks up to the group and clears his throat to get their attention. “Who wants to beat my ass on the dance floor?”

Despite the groans of Dustin and Lucas, Max nods her head not wanting to make her excitement too obvious.

Max was surprisingly good at the game. Steve, though he struggled at first, managed to get a hang of the game pretty easily. Soon enough, the boys became interested, and Steve was more than happy to just watch the kids have fun.

The rest of the day goes by smoothly, Steve being dragged around occasionally by Max to play the games the other boys refused to play with her. He'll admit it, they had more fun than he thought he would.

The night comes to a close and everyone gets into the car, Max forces her way into the passenger seat, much to Dustin's annoyance. 

"Why don't you pick a cassette, Red?" He says, knowing full well that he only has three in there. Despite that, Max has a genuine smile on her face as she chooses something and puts it on.

"Honestly, With Steve around it just doesn't feel like I'm surrounded by only guys." Max jokes as they start to drive off. The boys in the group all laugh but Steve really doesn't seem to care too much about it.

Truthfully, He's never really cared for being a guy. Growing up he was made to do stereotypical guy stuff, sports, etc. And he liked some of it... but he also did some traditionally feminine things, he cared a lot for his hair. Cooking was genuinely relaxing to him, despite the multiple times he accidentally cut himself... 

But none of that really... mattered right? He's a guy! And anyone can have any interest... 

But he also knows that he likes it when someone calls him pretty, and how sometimes being mistaken as a girl from behind just felt normal. 

Why does it matter anyway...? He's sure that most people feel this way, it's probably just one of those things you don't talk about.. it's fine. He's just.. Steve Harrington. 

He pushes the thought out of his mind as he takes the brats home.

2.

Working at Scoops was not as much of a pain in the ass as Steve thought it would be at first. 

It was surprising how many times the group of kids would stumble into the store, not buy anything and instead either talk Steve's ear off or get him to sneak them into movies.

Which was always accompanied by a sea of:

"Thanks, Mom!" (Plus Mike, who didn't thank him at all, the little shit.)

A month in, Robin finally got curious and decided to ask.

"Why don't you get the kids to call you dad instead of mom all the time?" 

He looks at her confused, he really didn't see why it mattered so much.. Obviously, he knew the gender difference in the names, it just struck him as odd that anyone even cared about it.

"I mean, it doesn't really matter right?" He shrugged before finishing his reply. "I don't really see how it would be any different." 

Robin just nodded, he can see that there were gears going on in her head. He doesn't want to ask, and if he had wanted to, a group of customers came in. Working doesn't stop his thoughts though. How was there any difference between being a 'Mom' or a 'Dad' other than the names! Shouldn’t they do the same things?

He grimaced at the thought that he really didn't know what a mom or dad acted like. He sighed, not going unnoticed by Robin. Steve bites his cheek and shakes the thought away.

Plus, he would make a good mom. Probably, maybe. 

***

Robin doesn't bring it back up until later in their shift, they're both closing that night. She sneaks up behind him after he locks up the shop.

"Hey, Dingus! Can you give me a ride home?" 

It wasn't surprising, Robin's been asking that a lot more during her late shifts recently. And he always agrees. Even on the nights where he had to pick up some of the other kids... like now. 

Tonight he's just picking up Max. 

He'd zoned out for most of the drive, drumming the wheel with his fingers at the beat of the music on the radio. He's brought back into the conversation, confused on the topic.. 

"I mean- I guess he's parental or whatever." Max snorts, he really doesn't get why it's important.. 

Robin snickers. "Okay sure but a mom? Really?"

"Hey! I think I'm a great mom. The shitheads are alive right?" He notices that he's at Max's house and stops the car. 

Max just rolls her eyes and gets out of the car. 

"Whatever, see ya!" She laughs as she goes inside, shooting a middle finger at Steve as she leaves.

"Do you really just, not care about it?" Robin asks, climbing into the passenger seat only seconds after they start driving. 

"Should I? I just don't see what's the big difference between them." He shrugs. "Seatbelt." He reminds her.

"I've heard Dustin call me his brother, it's really no different." Well, he obviously knew how the terms themselves were different.

Robin nods, clearly thinking about something again, looking at her face is proof enough. Though, Steve knows that he needs to keep his eyes on the road. 

There are only a few moments of silence before she talks again, which is how it normally is with Robin. 

"I mean- I know that most guys I know wouldn't really.. like being called those? And- I don't think I'd like to be called like... dad or something." 

Before he can respond she adds 

"Movie night?" 

He can't help but say yes, and they both end up forgetting about the talk after their first round of throwing popcorn at each other. 

Once she left Steve thought about it again... 

He'd be a good sister, brother, whatever any kids needed really. 

Being a single child, he's just happy he's able to actually figure out the whole 'sibling' thing 

3.

Getting closer to Robin is both a curse and a blessing for Steve.

Having a friend his age is amazing, especially when that friend is Robin. For the few shifts at scoops, it was incredibly awkward. He knew he’d seen her in classes before, but other than that he had no idea who she was..

Being Steve though, she knew him quite well. 

‘King Steve’ was a title he hated more and more by the day. He hadn’t even really been popular when it came to the end of high school. Dating Nancy, leaving Tommy and Carol. Billy was the major downfall, so the fact that the title still floated around him everywhere stung. 

It was easy enough to get her to actively enjoy her shifts with him, and now he even considered her a close friend. He just hated how he knew this would be far from the last time he’d need to convince someone he’s a different person than from high school. 

Realistically, he knew he had changed. There wasn’t any argument about it, Steve before the upside down would never be caught dead letting children hitch rides to the arcade in his car. Despite that, he feared that maybe he really didn’t change at all.

Does it even count as changing if he’s just doing so people see him as a better person? So he can feel like a better person? 

He doesn’t know, and his thumbnail hurts, where he’d been absent-mindedly biting down the nail while he spiraled into his own thoughts. 

“Hey Dingus, you should try nail polish,” Robin says, it’s a joke but Steve doesn’t take it as one. He looks at his thumb with a frown pulling on his face.

“Do you have any?”

Robin was obviously confused at the quick agreeance, but she didn’t say no to painting his nails in the back during their break.

Steve hadn’t thought about the paint on his nails the rest of the day. After it dried, he got back to work and black paint moved out of his mind. 

At the end of his shift, he looked at his nails. It really had stopped the biting, well there wasn’t anything wrong with wearing it he decided. So, the next day Steve went out to the closest store and bought a few separate colors, even though he does like the black nail polish, a little varieties good.

***

Babysitting Will Byers. It wasn’t what Steve had planned for his Saturday night, but it did beat being alone in his house. 

Joyce had called him early in the morning, something about both her and Jonathon being out for the night. Steve didn’t blame her for not wanting the kid to be alone. He knew if he was the kid's age, he wouldn’t want to be alone. He doesn’t even like that now..

Steve anxiously looks at the clock as he leaves the house, the fear of somehow being too late or early ate at him even as he left at the perfect time. Arriving at the Byers house was easy, almost autopilot. He walked to the door and knocked, it opened immediately to show Joyce.

“Thank you so much for this Steve!” She exclaims kindly, not hesitating to pull him into a hug. 

He’s caught off guard by it, he never seems to get along quite to well with adults. He hugs he back hesitently and follows her into the house. Wills sitting on the sofa, doing homework as some sort of kids shows in the background.

Joyce leaves after saying bye to Will, giving Steve one last glance before she fully went out of the door and to her date with Hopper.

Will wasn't a kid he was particularly close too, and he could see him uncomfortable about the whole situation. So Steve simply joined him on the couch.

He could see that Will wasn't working on homework, it seemed to be some sort of sheet? Steve assumed it was for DND, so he decided to ask. 

"So, how's your campaign going on, little dude?"

The way his eyes brightened would make Steve feel good about himself for weeks to come and he knew it. Soon enough, Will was on a tangent. First he started by complaining about how it seems no one else is interested in the game anymore.

Steve frowned at that, he didn't want to learn about the game, but if the other little shits won't play with Will, it looks like it's up to the babysitter. 

Steve listened intently to what Will was talking about, while most of it flew over his head, some of it stuck. He decided to pipe in every so often.

"So.. a bard is basically like a musician right? So how do they do the magic stuff?" He asks, it's not greatly worded but Will never seems to mind. In fact, it looked like he enjoyed the questions.

The pair talked for a good two hours about the game, back and forth with questions and answers until Steve was confident he knew at least the basics. Something he never thought he'd be proud of.

"I didn't know guys could paint their nails." Will speaks softly, looking at Steve's fingers that are painted an ash black color. 

"Kid, do whatever makes you happy." He shrugged and looked back at him.

"Want me to paint yours?"

3.

Dustin, despite being a thorn in Steve's side daily, the kid was also very... very observant. Weirdly so at times.. It didn't help that the little shit rarely had a filter on good days. 

So the little shit notices how Steve smiles a bit wider at being called 'Stevie' and it's used as a bargaining tool for a good while, Steve doesn't actually care about the apparent "Blackmail" Dustin always joked about having on him. It was fun watching the kid act like he knew Steve's dirtiest secrets though.

"It just seems... I don't know, girly?" Dustin argues one day. "Like.. I think I've only met women named that. So it's funny I guess?

All Steve did was sigh and shake his head. 

"Dustin, it's just a nickname." Steve didn't want to think about how, honestly it just felt right.. and more comfortable at some times, because Steve felt right and comfortable too. It really is just a dumb nickname. 

"Why does it even matter that it's a girl nickname? And funny? You need a better sense of humor Henderson." He takes a moment, before continuing, interrupting Dustin before he could reply. 

"Shut it. Being called 'Stevie' isn't going to suddenly make me a girl or whatever! Being named Steve isn't what makes me a guy right?" The car comes to a stop outside of Dustin's house. "I just don't get why I should care that it's a girl's name? I like it, dude." 

It's quiet for a moment, Steve really hadn't thought he'd get this worked up about it, but hearing the same things from people was really starting to get exhausting. He didn't know how many times he had to say he didn't care.

"So.. Do you like being called Stevie more than Steve?" Dustin finally asks after the silence went on for too long. His eyes stared at the polish covering Steve's nails.

"Sometimes." He confesses, before shrugging. Dustin simply nodded and Steve could see that he was going to start asking even more questions. Steve decided to stop that before it even started.

"Now get out of the car before your mom thinks I kidnapped you or something." He snorts. Dustin leaves the car without another word. 

4. 

Billy dying was the last thing Steve wanted, really. No matter how much he wanted Max to be safe, none of it could fix the look on her face as he died. 

The shock was the main thing. Though it was quickly accompanied by anger, confusion and relief. Eyes staring down the corpse that was once her stepbrother. 

He'd been seeing her less and less recently, and when he did see her, she was always just listening to her Walkman. Steve really wished he could do anything to help her.

***

Steve's not sure when he started doing small things for Max. He'd take her to school some days, no matter how much he tried she continued to close herself off, listening to her music.

She called him at 9 on a random Thursday. When Steve answered he could almost feel her anger through the phone. Obviously upset at herself for waking late and for her mom not being home. She sounded like she was about to fall asleep again. Steve agreed to take her to school without a second thought. Not even taking the time to fix his hair before walking out the door.

Ever since Billy died, Max and her mom lived in the trailer park. The drive there was quiet; He didn't really feel like bothering with picking any music to play for the ride there. He pulled next to the trailer.

Before Max came out, Steve was caught off guard by the sound of a door slamming open on the opposite side of him. He turned and saw, who he believed to be Eddie Munson.

He honestly never knew the man. They'd often trade insults back and forth in classes they had together, but it honestly never felt… hostile?

And Steve hated it, almost as much as he hates the fact that Eddie spotted Steve and made eye contact with him. That fact that Eddie fucking Munson was walking towards his car with a smirk and a glint in his eye that made Steve weary.

He almost rolled up his cat window but decided that he'd just deal with whatever shit was about to come out of his man's mouth.

"Well if it isn't 'King Steve!'" Eddie finally makes it over, crouching to face Steve in the window. Steve doesn't know why he suddenly feels self-conscious about his hair.

Steve rolls his eyes at the nickname, he suppressed the urge to bang his head on the wheel. He's dealt with enough concussions for a lifetime at this point.

"Munson." He looks back at him with a brow raised. "What are you doing on my car?" He decides to just try and make the interaction as quickly as possible.

"I was just checking what the great king was doing along with my peasants, my lord." He bowed theatrically, the smirk he wore made Steve's stomach jump. "Seems a bit early to take anyone to the arcade."

Fuck Henderson, Steve completely forgot about that dumb club the two were both in.

Sometimes, no-no. All the time, Steve hated Dustin and his non-stop talking about him to others.

"Aren't you late to school Super Senior?" He shot back. This was more familiar territory.

"Sorry, what college do you go to Harrington?"

It goes on like that for a bit, Steve's tapping his fingers on the wheel, glancing at the door between insults.

"Don't you have like, some dungeons and dragons thing or something to get ready for, man?" Steve asks after a while. He's a bit worried about Max at this point.

It's like a fire is lit in Eddie's eyes as he starts going on about what he has planned for the next session of his campaign…

He's an animated person, Steve knew that. It was something he considered distracting all throughout high school. Eddie now though,  the way he looked so genuinely into what he was talking about…

'Wait what is he talking about?'

Steve does his best to focus on what Eddie's saying, but his eyes keep trailing down to the metal head's hands, which move with intensity as he speaks. He looks at the rings, they looked.. nice. He looks back up.

Eddie's staring at him, expecting a reply. The man still had the damn smirk on his face. It dawned on Steve that he hadn't even heard a single word, or even knew how long Eddie had been waiting for a reply. Luckily, he was saved from embarrassment as Max walked out of her trailer.

She looked exhausted, her hair was frizzy and she was obviously still blinking the sleep out of her tired eyes. 

Now, Steve had gone to school late a lot. Whether he was nursing a hangover from a party, or exhausted after coming back from sneaking out to smoke pot. He also missed his fair share of days, and freshman year couldn't be too important overall. 

A plan entered his mind before he even realized he was thinking of one. 

His car door closed roughly, Max looked apologetic at the force, so Steve decided to not mention it. Ignoring Max and Eddie's silent nods of greetings.

Alright, plan time. 

"Have you eaten?" He already knows the answer, but it's better to ask rather than just tell her that he's taking her to breakfast. 

"No, I fell back asleep." 

"Then breakfast? My treat." 

She didn't burst into some grand smile- he didn't expect her to -but the small smile as she nodded was enough to make Steve already feel lighter about the day. 

Steve turned to Eddie, surprised to come face to face with the man who was now leaning closer. He leaned back in surprise. His heartbeat quickened.. 

"Uh… Bye, Munson." He says after an uncomfortable amount of silence settled over them.

Eddie looks him up and down, before letting out a 'hm' sound as he leans back.

"See ya around, Princess Harrington. I love nail polish."

The name catches him off guard for a moment, he blinks and mouths it to himself. 

Catchy.

Steve rolls the window up, turning to Max.

"Now. Seat belt on and you can pick the music, cassettes are in the glovebox." He informs her as he starts to pull out of the trailer park. He got more cassettes a bit recently. 

She makes fun of his music taste like everyone does whenever they're in his car. It’s an endless cycle. 

"Wham!, A-ha... and a Cyndi Lauper Single?" She genuinely laughs at that. 

"Girls Just Want To Have Fun, is a great song, Max. Just because you don't have taste doesn't mean it's not good." He defends, No one disrespects Cyndi Lauper in his car. Not even Max. 

She just rolls her eyes and looks through a few more of the tapes before stopping. 

"The Runaways..." She pulls out the tape and looks at it. "Wow, you have.. 4 tapes for them?" She asks with authentic curiosity. He doesn't have time to be embarrassed before she puts in one of the tapes. 

They just listened to the music as he drove them to a diner. It wasn't too close to the school, but Steve doubted that Max would care. He turns the music down as he parks. 

He can see Max fussing over her hair in the mirror. 

"Want me to fix your hair up?" He reaches into the glove box and pulls out the hairspray and brush he keeps in there. 

You never know when you need to fix your hair. 

Max doesn't look sold on the idea. 

"I'll let you do mine after." He bargains, not knowing for sure if it would even work.

Max gives him a look that he can't decipher before turning to face away from him. At first he feels dread settle in his stomach. Then, 

"Can you braid it?" She asks once she's sitting comfortably, running fingers through her hair with a soft sigh.

He really doesn't have knowledge of braiding hair, but he does want to make Max happy. 

"I can try, can't promise it won't be shit though." 

In the end, it's a decent enough braid. He only had to restart.. 4 times. Though, he'd restart a million times over if it meant that he could keep Max's smile growing. 

Now his hair didn't go as well, he doesn't want to say that Max intentionally messed it up but…she knows his hair is never styled back like this. 

Breakfast happened in comfortable silence. The two of them ordered and ate without a word being said. Max started talking as she finished off her food.

"Every time I go to sleep I see him." 

She doesn't need to say anything else, he knows full well what she's talking about. He can feel his stomach sink, he couldn't fuck this conversation up. 

"And- I don't know why- or how..? But I feel... guilty." It's the quietest he's ever heard her speak. "Like I should've.. done something."

"Billy made my life Hell. An absolute Hell.. it was like I couldn't do a single thing right by him." She starts to breathe a bit quicker. 

"And.. I want to think that, maybe he could have been a good guy? But.." She started playing with the strings of her sweatshirt. While she took a moment to continue, Steve reached over and placed his hand on her arm softly. 

Max met his eyes again and he could see the tears that threatened to spill. 

"There wasn't a single moment where he even seemed nice." She grimaces. "He had to deal with... all of his dad's shit. I thought.." She let out a chuckle. "Maybe he just *pretended* to be an asshole." 

"There were so many nights, where I would just wish - pray - that something would happen. That.. he would just be gone one day." She finishes off her Orange Juice staring straight into the table, avoiding Steve's gaze again. 

The waitress comes before Steve can respond. Max stands and makes a quick rush to the car, Steve pays as quickly as he can. Not caring about the outrageously large tip he left as he went over and got in the car. 

He looks at her and can see her shaking shoulders as she tries to silence her crying. Steve took a breath. 

"Max, I don't think it's wrong that you wished all those things." That's what he starts with, he doesn't know if it's the right thing to say. 

"He.. he hurt you kid. And- I don't know how far that hurt goes, but that doesn't change the fact that he hurt you." He taps his fingers on the wheel before continuing. "He may have been your brother but that doesn't mean he ever acted like one."

"You wanted to be safe Max. And if safe was without Billy around then that isn't your fault." Steve looked at her, making sure to meet her eyes. "You're not the one who strained your relationship with him, alright Max?"

"He wasted out on an amazing sister, He had time, and maybe if he had more, maybe he could've been better." He gives her shoulder a little shake. "But he wasted the time he had with you by terrorizing you. He wasn't a good guy, and he wasn't good to you." 

She's quiet now, she takes a deep breath before starting to wipe the remaining wet from her eyes. 

"If you tell anyone I cried i'll make sure everyone sees your cassettes." She threatens. Steve can tell it's half-hearted, as long as she feels a little bit better. 

There's a beat of silence. 

"Want me to fix your hair again?"

*** 

He picks her up a few more times in the ongoing month. Though he never had another run-in with Munson.

It was a better day for Max, Steve could still see the sadness that was trapped behind her eyes as she laughed with Lucas and Dustin, but at least she wasn't moving away. He could overhear them, apparently, Dustin had actually managed to beat Max's high score. 

The day went on, and the kids continued laughing with each other, just having fun. 

Steve sighed to himself, he desperately wished that they could just always be this happy. If they didn't have to care about the upside-down, they could just be normal kids, struggling with high school, having dates, parties- 

Or maybe that was just him. He doubts any of his kids would even like doing those. Hell, it seems like only Lucas wanted to be popular. They might call themselves 'The party' but those shitheads would be torn to pieces. 

But it could always be different, they were tough kids. He knew Max would be fine, and as long as they all stuck together, They'd all be okay. 

He's pulled from his thoughts by someone pulling on his sweater, Max. 

"Can we talk? Alone?" 

And he can't say no to her. 

They walk outside of the arcade, just off to the side where people came by less. He could see her looking tense. A change from when he saw her just minutes ago laughing. 

"This is so dumb.." Max grumbled, kicking the toe of her shoe on the ground. She let out a long sigh, Steve could tell it was more for the effect rather than anything else. 

"Dustin said I should stop...." Steve couldn't hear the second part of it, she looked away and talked into her sleeve. 

Dustin.. He loved the kid, he really did, but sometimes the boy just didn't know when he found a boundary. 

"I didn't hear the second part, but I'm sure it's fine Max." He assures her, Steve puts a hand on her shoulder and gives her a small smile. 

"Sometimes I say you're like a sister to me." She says it fast and uncertainly. "It's not in a serious way or anything." 

There was something in her voice that made it sound like she did actually mean it that way. 

"I don't even know what a big sister acts like anyways... but you aren't Billy." 

Something in his chest swelled, a sister huh? 

He hadn't really thought about it before, having a sister. He remembers growing up and seeing all of his friends with siblings, Steve knows he used to wish for a baby brother when he was younger when his parents would leave him alone with nannies, not letting him go outside because they were 'worried'. 

"Max." His voice is soft, crouching down to look at her.

He can't read anything on her face, she's definitely just waiting for a bad reaction and Steve can feel his heartbreak at that thought.

"I think you're a pretty good sister, kid." He says it completely seriously. He wants her to know, that it's completely okay.

"Let's both learn what it's like to have a sister, how about it?" He suggests, and he knows he said the right thing.

Sister.

The word brought a smile to his face as he drove home that day, as he made dinner for himself in his empty house. As he lay in bed that night, he closed his eyes and let himself think.

A dangerous thing to do if you're Steve Harrington.

He had come to terms with something after the Russians, after the conversation with Robin in his car. After every conversation really. 

He doesn't think anyone else feels the same way about their gender as he does- or at least... anyone he knows?

It just seemed normal to Steve, to have days where he felt more feminine versus masculine. To have days where he honestly just didn't care. To have weeks where for some reason, everything he wore felt completely wrong.

The thoughts feel terrifying, isolating like he's learning how to swim all over again and is still struggling to tread the water....he could easily ignore the feelings that bubbled in his chest up after being called princess after someone mentions that he could really look feminine if he tried. 

He already got weird looks because of the nail polish, the idea of even trying anything else made his heart race faster than he'd ever felt before. 

Steve groaned, tossing and turning in bed as he desperately tried to get into a comfortable position. Soon he opened his eyes and moved downstairs onto the couch.

Falling into a dreamless sleep sounded amazing right now.

As long as it means he isn't alone with these thoughts.

6.

Robin was always his saving grace when it came to his thoughts. 

Once he and Robin got jobs at the Family Video, movie nights became a lot more common between them. Normally it's in the back room of the store, during the slow hours of school nights. 

Other times, they'd go to Steve's house. Robin didn't stay the night often, not when it was just the two of them, her parents were scared about their daughter being alone with a guy. 

Sleeping after everything was almost impossible for the both of them, being together seemed to calm down the both of them better than anything else. So, Robin started lying about where she was sometimes. She had enough friends in band that she was sure would help her with excuses. 

So, almost every Monday, Wednesday and the occasional Friday, Robin would stay over at Steve's house. He'd make breakfast in the mornings, then take her to school. It was nice, to have someone else in the house. 

When it was just Steve, the house felt cold. Devoid of all life, cleaned to perfection. Really the only sign of life would be the shoes that he takes off at the door. 

The halls felt like they stretched forever at night, the floor creaked and empty, and the lifeless shell of a house felt more like hell than the upside-down.

Even just adding one person seemed to give the house more colour. The hallways seemed to stretch a little less far, despite no change in temperature, the house was warm with the two of them. 

Some nights, Robin wouldn't be able to come over. Steve would wait by the phone until 2 am when she eventually called. He couldn't count the amount of whispered conversations on the phone. 

Their talks would be endless, it was almost like no matter what, they never ran out of things to talk about. A lot of the time, it was normally Robin going off about something she learned recently. Steve would listen, and actually, ask questions. He'd say it's because it gets her mind off everything... which is true. It's also, nice to hear his best friend is happy and passionate about something. 

He'd never say that though, he's not some sap. 

It's the 15th of December. Steve looks at the clock as it changes to show 03:45, he lets out a tired sigh as he runs a shaking hand through his hair. 

He's sweating, awoken from a nightmare just moments ago. Every time he closes his eyes he can see it all again. 

If he says anything he can put Dustin in danger, he can't do that. 

He did do that. He managed to put every single one of those kids in danger.

He opens his eyes with a shaking breath, he glances towards the phone before quickly looking away. He can't bother anyone- it's way too late for that and he knows it. He closes his eyes again.

Steve takes a deep breath, in and out slowly a few times. 

He lays back, relaxing slightly before his mind begins to wander.. 

'Most guys I know wouldn't like to be called those..' 

Why? He wanted to ask that so badly. What was the problem? So what if sometimes, it's nice to be seen as feminine? Nice to be seen as pretty. 

Plus, they're just words. It's not like changing the pronouns would change the feeling. 

'Oh, Steve? She's over there!' 

'This is my girlfriend, Stevie.'

Steve never opened his eyes more quickly. He sits up and looks at the clock with a panicked expression. 

04:30 

He has a shift at 7, and going back to sleep now ensures he'll sleep in too late. Which is made worse seeing how he's Robin's ride to work too. 

He decides to suck it up and have an early morning. 

-- 

If Robin notices the softer, more feminine-looking sweater Steve's wearing when he picks her up, she doesn't mention it. 

Actually, neither of them talk during the entire ride. Which is incredibly strange with the two of them. Steve pulls stray strings from his sweater. As they stop at a light he talks. 

I'm freaking out Robin. I'm scared of the things that I'm thinking about myself. I know you won't care but I'm fucking terrified. I don't know what's happening. 

"I'm me-" that is not what he wanted to say at all. 

The light turns green and he goes forward. Whatever he could talk about it later. Actually no, what was he even thinking? This would be a horrible idea. 

He's just- he's not some freak. He's just himself. He's a boy

Could be a girl sometimes 

"STEVE- Pay attention to the road!" 

He doesn't let himself think anymore until they get to Family Video. 

Pros about the job: He and Robin get a lot of talking time getting it ready for opening. Half of the time the store is completely empty. 

Cons about the job: He and Robin get a lot of talking time. And Sundays are always empty. 

It takes about an hour before Steve can't hold it in anymore.

Not a single person has come through the door, the movie that's playing doesn't even catch Steve's attention. 

Robin wouldn't care, she's fine. Maybe she'll understand?

He chews his lip and rushes to flip the Open sign to Closed. Before Robin can even try and question anything, he's dragging her into the backroom. 

"Rob- I uh.. okay so-" He runs a hand through his hair and he takes a moment to gather his thoughts.. 

What did he even want to say? 

It felt like his... 

Her? 

Steve was confused and took a moment to think 

'This is Steve, he's fun' 

'He' just didn't feel right, not now. 

'Steve? She's working today.' 

It just felt so much better right now. 

That's one problem... slightly solved, but she was still glaring at the giant problem she had created for herself. 

What was she going to say? 

“Today I feel like a girl, But yesterday I didn't?” 

"Wait- what did you just say?" Robin had a hand on Steve's wrist, it was gentle and a bit calming, seeing as Steve has accidentally said that aloud. 

Well fuck it? 

"I feel like I'm going to throw up.." She starts, moving her hands to her face. She doesn't want to look at Robin until all of this is over with. 

"I don't understand this Robin! I- I know I'm not *supposed* to like being like... called girl? But sometimes I like it- and it just feels right?" She finally takes her hands away, only to once again fix her hair before looking anywhere but Robin's face as she continued. 

"But I'm not.. always a girl? I'm a guy, And- honestly, usually, I just don't.. mind anything?" Her voice is strained and she can't help but fear for the worst. 

"I don't even know what I'm trying to explain here!" 

Robin takes a moment, obviously still processing everything that's been said to her. She nods a few times and grabs Steve's hands. 

"I- I don't know either, but nothing would stop me from being your best friend dingus." She lightly punched the others shoulder and let out a loud sigh. 

"...You think we could get away with sneaking off?" Robin surprises her with the offer. 

That day the two of them drive a few towns over, someplace with a slightly larger selection in clothes and makeup. Robin insisted that 

"Well if you're a girl today then you should fully feel like one."

Steve thinks that Robin saying that might have made her feel even better than the copious amount of shopping they did. 

She had never been so happy that her parents were never around. As she and Robin piled clothes onto the living room couch. 

There were some things that she knew she'd never really be able to wear anywhere. At least not without a few- no, a lot. - of stares. Most of it just edged on the line of androgyny... actually now that she looked at it. 

"If I wear any of this I'll look like I went through your wardrobe." 

"And is that a bad thing, Stevie?" 

"Can you call me that?" She waits before realizing she needs to most likely give more information. "Uh- when I'm.. a girl I guess? Call me Stevie. I like it." 

***

***

Steve and Robin come up with a system of sorts. Just an easy way to convey Steve's pronouns without having to say them aloud to everyone. 

Three bracelets. Purple for she/her, blue for he/him and a mix of the two for any. Robin made them one night, she said couldn't sleep, or call so she wanted to do something productive. 

When she gave them to him, he cried, thanked her and then proceeded to get high in his living room with the joint she brought with her. She said something about a dealer from high school who lived in the trailer park. He instantly knew and thought about Eddie..

Once again, Robin Buckley is his saving grace. 

Though, she did send him into another crisis that same night. 

- 

The whole night had been normal, nothing quite out of the ordinary. The two of them sat on the couch, Robin using Steve as a human pillow. Steve was comfortable in their position, laying back with Robin basically acting like a blanket. 

"So-" Robin starts talking, mouth full of popcorn. "Are you still technically straight?" 

That makes them think, well yeah? They liked girls. 

"I think so?" A soft chuckle accompanied the response. 

"You're not like... Bi or anything?" 

They had no fucking idea what that was.

[rainbownixie]

not 100% sure if you're a multishipper or not, but do you have any thoughts on byclair? or headcanons?

regardless i hope your day goes well <3

i am indeed a multishipper!! if i'm honest i didn't ship byclair until i saw a few edits and posts about them, but i think they're really really cute!! i'm more of a dustin x will shipper (i don't even know their shipname tho) because i love their dynamic.

tbh i just think the three dumbasses are dating will because he deserves love and affection and tbh who wouldn't fall for him??? they're all head over heels for that boy istg

i don't have a lot of byclair hcs because i'm not really into the ship, but i do have some ideas!! (btw lucas and max are still dating here! this is kind of a polyam thing but i actually only talk about byclair)

lucas had a crush on will (and vice versa tbh) when they were kids. like he would always ask him to draw him or come to his house to play together just because he wanted to spend time with him alone.

lucas was always ALWAYS trying to act tough and cool when will paid attention to him and he loved the way tiny will will giggled at him. lucas obviously stared, mesmerized by him, and dustin already knew they liked each other.

ofc dustin teases lucas all. the. time. about his crush on will. but he never actually tells lucas that he knows, he just stares at him, done with all of his attempts trying to make will laugh. lucas is so damn confused because he doesn't know yet, he just likes seeing will happy.

will loves lucas' jokes. like everything he does makes will laugh and giggle and blush and kick his feet. especially when lucas tries to flirt with him and ends up being super cringey. will finds adorable how hard he tries.

when lucas starts dating max, he finds himself rambling non-stop about will. she smiles one day and jokes about lucas being in love with him, but turns out that that's how he realizes he is, indeed, in love with will. he starts panicking and saying that he still loves max! he can't understand how he can love two people at the same time! but max tells him that it's okay, and that she doesn't care "sharing" him with will. she just wants to see lucas happy. (ofc she knows will is in love with him too he's so obvious and max is too smart to not notice).

will doesn't really care that lucas and max are dating. i mean- he does care, but he loves seeing lucas happy. he didn't even consider having a chance with him, anyway.

they definitely start dating in s3 because mike is always busy with el and will spends a lot of time with lumax!! lucas finally gains the courage to ask will to hang out together alone one day, and confesses. will is worried about max and their relationship, but lucas tells him to not worry about it. they both smile so widely that day i'm gonna cry-

this is me realizing that i actually like byclair more than i thought!!! anyway, back to the hcs:

when they start dating lucas is such a gentleman. like really polite and extremely sweet and he often overacts to make him laugh.

will loves to draw will the wise and lucas the ranger together <333 boyfriends irl boyfriends in dnd too!! (madmax is there with them too sometimes as the zoomer)

when they tell the others, dustin rolls his eyes and says "finally". that causes a fight between him and lucas "what do you mean finally?????". el is really happy for them, and mike ummm i just can't imagine a world in which mike isn't hopelessly in love with will so i'm pretty sure he would be sort of angry at first (it's called jealousy, wheeler) but idk bro deal with your internalized homophobia first and then join the polyam couple

y'all can't ask me hcs i talk so much for no reason i'm deeply sorry (jk please keep sending me asks abt hcs i love them)

will often gets excited and loud and instantly tries to calm down to not bother lucas but!!! lucas loves it!!! he begs him to keep getting excited and scream around him

chaotic boyfriends because they love to prank dustin and mike

will loves lucas' voice so so much <3 while he paints, he asks for lucas to read a book or a comic out loud or just talk about anything, really (this is me saying i love caleb's voice tbh)

lucas loves to make obvious that will is his boyfriend. it's not that he's protective or anything, he's just really really proud of himself for dating will. so he often hugs him or runs his fingers through will's hair whenever they're with people because he just wants everyone to know <3 (not strangers tho because homophobia and the 80s yadda yadda yadda)

will loves wearing lucas' jacket it's practically his now tbh and lucas LOVES seeing him wearing it (will shares it with max too <3)

movie dates are their favorite because they can hold hands in the dark, but they often go to the arcade together with max!!

it's not like they have a dating schedule or anything but lucas has separate dates with max and will!! they deserve individual love too <3

joyce and jonathan LOVE lucas. he's will's best friend too ofc they like him and accept him into the family!!! joyce begs him to have dinner with them and jonathan likes talking to him about history (bc i just know they both love that)

kisses kisses so many kisses. will loves to kiss lucas unexpectedly because it drives him crazy and lucas just grabs his face and starts kissing every part of his face

will gifts him mixtapes with his favorite songs

when the byers move to cali, lucas is always trying to call but gets frustrated because the line is always busy (mike is literally insufferable with that too but lucas doesn't know it's because he's also trying to call will)

letters so many letters so many damn letters telling him about how much he misses will and loves him <33 ofc will does the same thing, and he often sends him drawings of stuff he sees in cali that remind him of lucas!! (one day he also sent him a drawing of the beach so he could give it to max and try to fix things with her)

when they find each other again at the end of s4 will hugs lucas so so so tight because he was worried sick about him. lucas does the same thing, ofc, but he's too sad about max to have enough strength and just lets will hold him

i should stop writing this much istg BUT!!!!

they cuddle in the hospital room when nobody is around while they take care of max. will often kisses lucas' forhead because he finds it comforting

idk how this happened but now i love them- crying shaking sobbing they deserve the world <3 i hope your day goes well too!!!!

[demi-god77]

OKAY so, I watched the show for the first time in 2023 and I started shipping them after watching s4 (so like, April/May 2023)

I didn't originally believe they were going to be canon and that's why it took me so long to ship them in the first place. I had heard that Will was gay (and of the ship) when I started s3, but I didn't know if it was actually canon or just a hc, so I didn't wanna get my hopes up and IGNORED EVERY PIECE OF EVIDENCE. And then when I realized "oh shit he's CANONICALLY gay" during s4, I started entertaining the idea of Byler. I was reluctant though, cause I knew I would get attached and I would be really disappointed if they didn't end up together

At first I was like "I'll just ship them CASUALLY so I don't get disappointed no matter what!" (That didn't work out). I read all 300 of the Byler slides in one night and then happened to rewatch the show with my mom. That was the point of no return. The more I saw people analyze, the more I believed they would become canon.

I don't think I shipped Mlvn at any point? I claimed I did, but I never really cared for them. At the time, I wouldn't be upset if they were endgame but I also really wouldn't care if that makes sense. During my first watch I focused more on the supernatural plot anyway, but I did actively root for Lumax/Jancy/Jopper. I hate the love at first sight trope and i found it weird that El was thrown into a relationship not even a week after escaping from a lab. I didn't see them as romantic at all during s1, I wasn't thinking about them reuniting during s2 (I'll admit the reunion was rlly cute though), they annoyed me in s3 and I actively cheered El on when she dumped his ass, I didn't care about their plotline in S4, I was more focused on how bad I felt for Will. Also after they started dating I started disliking Mike lmao (he's in my top 5 now dw). The more I analyzed, the more I realized why I never got attached to their relationship and the more problems I saw within the relationship.

Favorite textual evidence? Literally the narrative. The obvious separation between Byler's relationship and Mike and Lucas' or Mike and Dustin's (even though they're canonically all his best friends). The fact (FROM A WRITING PERSPECTIVE) there's zero reason to introduce the storyline of Will being in love with Mike if he'll never confess (and he has no plans of doing that) or if he gets rejected. The fact both he and the audience already believe his love is unrequited, so if it actually is it's not subversion of expectations, it's not a plot twist, it's boring. The way Mike and El never really solve their arguments, because they don't really talk about them (as opposed to other couples and their constant heart-to-hearts). The obvious romantic tropes, the clear love triangle and how those are usually solved if you develop the storyline how they have. The parallels between them and other couples from different shows (again, making the Love Triangle obvious) but also other couples from the show itself.

For those reasons I'm currently sitting at 100% confidence. I get doubts sometimes sure, cause ofc we'll see what happens when the season comes out. However, I truly believe it's the only conclusion that makes sense. I've analyzed character arcs, I've analyzed tropes and it is the only thing that makes sense imo.

Ok I'm bored and whenever I'm bored I do experiments lmao.

So I was wondering for all the lovely people that have started following me (I see you, are are the shiniest star in the galaxy and I hope my yapping and randomness doesn't put you off) or anyone in the tag really, please answer some questions for me. You can answer all, just one, anything really because I'm very new to this shit and I ain't gonna lie, sometimes I do experience some doubt.

How did you start shipping Byler?

How long have you been shipping it for?

What made you start even entertaining the possibility it could be endgame?

Did you originally ship Mil*even and stopped and if so, why?

When did you start entertaining the idea that could become canon?

Have you gained or lost more confidence as the story progressed?

What are your favorite textual evidences that it will be canon? (Can't involve triangles, gates or anything subtextual, just what was shown/told during any of the last seasons).

How sure are you that it'll be endgame and why?

Now, I hope y'all don't get shy and answer even if it's just one question lmao. You're welcome to reblog or reply in the reply section

[windless-hurricane]

She's the One

Chapter 2: Your Name

A Billy x Reader x Steve Fanfic

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

SUMMARY: You're One, one of the many kids experimented on in Hawkins lab. Eleven's sister. You were found and now you're here to stay.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This took a lot longer to write than I anticipated, but here it is! I'd also like to apologize to anyone who sent me an ask. I accidentally responded and now I can't find y'all. If you're still interested, just let me know in the comments. Thank you.

WARNINGS: Language, violence, and scenes involving blood and/or death.

WORD COUNT: 2.8k

TAGLIST: @cherrym4rk @torntaltos @bun-dpdbny @5sosxgrethan @acidrain707 @evelynfreakinaddams @qtmeryr @kayln97 @uwu-bucky @book--butterfly @laurmillen @art-flirt @thecornerstoreoftheuniverse

LAST CHAPTER

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

“What can you do?”

“How old are you?”

“Are you Eleven’s sister?”

“Just how strong are you?”

“Can you show us?”

The kids continued to throw question after question at you, expecting them to be answered, but leaving you with no time to answer them. You just stared at them with wide eyes until Hopper cut them off with a harsh tone.

“I’ll be asking the questions here.” And silence befell on them once again. Wow, you thought. He really had a talent for getting people to shut up.

You looked to him and he reeked of frustration and worry. However, when he spoke, there was an ounce of sympathy in his voice. “Why were you in that chamber?” You knew he was going to ask that. It was obvious enough, but it still made you cringe with discomfort. You didn’t want to talk about that chamber, because for you, that thing was a personal hell you thought you would never escape from. It was frightening and you never wanted to go back. However, answers were something that they deserved. Not only would it have helped them through this crisis, it would also give them some trust in you.

So, you cleared your throat and began to speak, slowly but carefully. “Well...since you know Eleven...you must already know...what the lab did…to her...to us.” He nodded. “I was the first one...they did it to… They always said that…they got lucky with me. That I was their best experiment and...would lay the groundwork for the others after me. That's why...all the kids who did survive the experiments, got one or two of my abilities.”

“And what exactly are your abilities,” Dustin asked with a grin, but Hopper wasn’t amused. He shot Dustin a death glare, but he didn't seem to notice it.

“I-I can move things...with my mind,” you revealed. “And make people see what I want them to see… I can read minds too and...tell what people are feeling.”

“Can you control people?”

“No. I haven't been able to that...not yet at least.” You caught a glimpse of Hopper's annoyed expression and gulped nervously. “Anyway... The reason I was in that chamber in the first place is because...I helped the other kids escape. Three, Seven, and Eight.”

“You mean there's other kids out there right now,” he asked.

“Well, not ‘here’ here, but...around. That day...I wasn't able to get Eleven out, but luckily...she was able to get out on her own.”

“While I was in there though, I could hear things - voices. At first, I-I didn't know who they belonged to, but I slowly started to realize what was going on. The first voice I heard was from that woman, Joyce...and she was talking...about him.” You pointed to Will who was asleep on the couch with a blanket over him. “He went missing and you found him, but now...something's wrong with him.”

“You know what's wrong?”

You nodded, while never breaking eye contact with him. “I know everything...because...I heard everything. I know all of you too. I recognize you from your voices.”

At that, everyone glanced between each other in astonishment. You, you were someone that they just met, someone who had just entered the picture without warning. Yet, you seemed to know more about what was going on than they did. Hell, you even knew all of them without a proper introduction. So if that didn’t show a fraction of what you were capable of, then they didn’t know what could. You were someone worth the bargain. Even so, Hopper felt compelled to ask one last thing.

“How long were you in there?”

You shrugged, “5 years, give or take.”

“Shit,” one of the kids breathed out and you could make it out as Lucas. Hopper sighed deeply and you could tell it was from a mixture of sympathy and desperation.

“I'm sorry to ask this of you, but...we need your help.”

“And I'll give it,” you blurted out without hesitation. “I was going to give it regardless.” You said more quietly as you looked over to Will. “There’s a darkness in Hawkins that we need to stop...and it starts with him.”

__________________________________________

“Okay, so if this thing is like a brain that’s controlling everything, then if we kill it...we kill everything that it controls.” You nodded as you continued to stare at the page from Dustin’s D&D manual. Mike’s deduction made sense, but the same question still stood. How do you-

“How do you kill this thing? Shoot it with fireballs or something?”

You jumped in surprise as Hopper snatched the manual away, trying to find the answer for himself. Dustin eventually spoke up, but it was less than confident.

“Well, uh, you summon an undead army, um, because-because zombies, you know, they don’t have brains.” He began to stumble over his own words. “And the mind flayer, it-it… It likes brains. It’s just a game. It’s a game,” he finally confessed.

“What the hell are we doing here,” Hopper groaned. Things weren’t looking good and that became more evident as Hopper and Dustin started to argue.

“I thought we were waiting for your military backup.”

“We are!”

“How are they gonna stop this? You can't just shoot this with guns.”

“You don't know that! We don't know anything!”

“We know it's already killed everybody in that lab. We know the monsters are gonna molt again. We know that it's only a matter of time before those tunnels reach this town.”

“They’re right,” a voice interrupted. Joyce. “We have to kill it.”

Your face softened as you turned to face her. She was being overwhelmed by grief, sadness, and anger, but who could blame her obviously. She lost someone she loved.

“I want to kill it,” she declared.

“Me too, Joyce. Me too.” Hopper was doing his best to calm her; but deep down, he couldn’t even do that for himself. “But how do we do that?” And it hit you.

“Will knows.” Everyone stopped and turned to you. “Will knows how to kill it, because he’s connected to it. He already knows everything about it and that includes its weaknesses.”

“I thought we couldn’t trust him anymore - that he’s a spy for the mind flayer now,” Max reminded, causing Mike to shake his head.

“Yeah, but he can't spy if he doesn't know where he is.”

“Exactly,” you confirmed. “This will work.”

__________________________________________

You all decided that the shed in the backyard would be the best place for Will’s interrogation. It was small, making it perfect to disguise in a short amount of time. So, you all went outside to find materials that could help in your endeavor.

You were encouraged to not use your powers until the real threat came and while that wasn't a terrible idea, you also hadn’t used your powers in five years. You were rusty and needed as much practice as you could get. So, whenever the kids came upon an object that was either too heavy to carry or too high on a shelf to reach, you helped them. It was enough for now.

You let out a small sigh as you wiped the blood dripping from your nose. “You okay,” you heard someone ask and you turned to find Hopper. You nodded.

“Ye-yeah, I’m okay. Thank you.” You moved to go back into the house since most of the preparations were finished already, but stopped once he spoke again.

“I’m sorry again that all of this was so sudden and that...we weren’t able to save you under more normal circumstances.”

“Oh… That-that’s okay,” you told him. “I’m just glad that...that you got me out...and honestly, this couldn’t have been a more perfect time. You need my help to stop this thing. So… I guess what I’m really trying to say is...thank you. Thank you for saving me.” You managed a small smile as you looked up at him and he simply nodded in response. However, the tiniest of smiles reached his lips as well.

“I know you said you already know me, but I think...you at least deserve something more proper than this,” he reached his hand out. “Jim Hopper.”

You gazed down at his hand for a bit before taking it like you thought you were supposed to. You tried to match his grip as you smiled wider, “One.”

__________________________________________

You sat in the kitchen, hugging your knees to your chest. It was the first time you were left alone since being freed and now, you couldn’t ignore all the emotions floating around you. Anger, fear, regret, guilt, sadness, pain. To make it worse, you could hear every sad thing being said in the shed. It didn’t matter if you weren’t there. You could still hear everything like you always did.

Do you know what March 22nd is? It's your birthday. Your birthday.

Do you remember the day Dad left? We stayed up all night building Castle Byers… just the way you drew it.

I just felt so alone and scared, but… I saw you alone on the swings and you were alone too.

Tears ran down your cheeks and you couldn’t tell if they were for them, yourself and the life you could’ve had, or both. It was all becoming too much to bear and you couldn’t help the tears that kept falling and the sniffles that started to leave you. It wasn’t until you heard someone walk in that you tried to contain yourself. You tried to get rid of the tears with the sleeves of your shirt, but it seems like you didn’t try hard enough.

“Hey… Hey, are you crying?” And you froze. No one had ever spoken to you like that before. No one had ever used a voice that was so genuine and calming that it was enough to make your tears stop. That voice provided instant relief and you didn’t know why. You looked up to the owner of that voice and it was none other than Steve with a face of worry plastered on him.

You gazed into his eyes for a bit before answering. They were brown, just like most of the world’s, yet they still managed to be different. They still managed to be incredibly warm and beautiful. It was quite soothing. You gulped softly before averting your gaze.

“No,” you uttered, but of course he wasn’t convinced.

“Then, what’s all this,” he asked, gesturing toward your glossy eyes and red nose.

“Um, I- It just comes with the power.” You smiled softly in an attempt to make him believe you.

“Oh, so a bad case of allergies comes with your powers?” You looked at him in astonishment before bursting out in laughter, something you didn’t even know you were capable of.

“What? No.”

“Well, that’s what you said,” he began to laugh as well as he grinned a smile that could’ve made your heart stop.

“That’s not what I meant,” you tried to explain. “It’s just that...with my power...I can feel the emotions of everyone around me, but it’s not something I can really turn off. So sometimes... it can be very overwhelming...like right now.”

“Yeah, it really isn’t the best time, huh?” You shook your head, causing him to hum in response. “What if you just focused on one person?” Your eyes widened.

“Huh?”

“What do you feel when you feel me?” His eyes widened too. “Wait, that sounds weird.” You let out a small chuckle as he started to panic. “I mean, what do you feel when...um-what do you feel when you see me?”

You tilted your head to the side as you felt him. Not physically, but just through the way you gazed at him.

“Worry and...nervousness,” you confirmed. “You’re a lot more tame than everyone else here.”

“Well, that’s a good thing, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, it is,” you chuckled, and you didn’t notice the way his eyes scanned over your features or the way he smirked after.

“So, your name’s One, huh? Like the number?” You furrowed your eyebrows.

“Yes.”

“But it’s not your actual name.” You shook your head, only confirming his thoughts.

“No. I don’t remember what my actual name was. One was just the name they gave me. We were never...people to them. We were just numbers...experiments.”

“That’s really messed up. I’m sorry.” You shook your head again.

“It-it’s okay.” However, he could still tell from you expression that it wasn’t.

“How about...we give you a new name? A real name?”

For some reason, your heart flutter at his suggestion and a warmth flushed your cheeks.

“Um, I think-I think I’d like that,” you told him and his eyes gleamed.

“Ok, names names. What do you look like?” He brought his hand to his chin and pondered for a bit. “How about… Stacy?” You grimaced without meaning to and he took that as a no. “Alright... Oh! Heather.” You shook your head. “Really?”

“Really,” you responded.

“Ok, ok. How about… Let me think. (Y/N). That’s a nice name.”

(Y/N). It was simple and different all at once, and the way it rolled it off his tongue made you like it even more.

“I think that’s it,” you smirked and he mimicked you right away.

“Well, (Y/N). I’m Steve Harrington.” He stuck his hand out and you took it gently. His hand was a lot bigger than yours in comparison, but a lot softer. It was warm and careful, like he was afraid he would crush your hand if he squeezed a bit too tightly. It was sweet.

“Well, Steve Harrington. I’m…(Y/N).”

“Nice to meet you.” You both giggled softly until you were cut off by Mike yelling ‘We got something!’

“Duty calls,” Steve sighed and you nodded, letting go of his hand reluctantly.

Although the moment was short, you appreciated Steve going out of his way to make you feel better. He comforted you and even made you laugh. It was like for a moment, you weren’t in this situation. For a moment, it felt like it was just the two of you - living and living happily.

_________________________________ 

While you and Steve were talking, the group in the shed was able to bring Will back. Not fully, but partly. It turned out that the recollection of his memories was helping him gain some control within his body. It wasn’t much, but it was enough. He tapped his fingers until he spelt ‘Here’ and with every memory someone spouted, a new letter came after. Eventually, you all got the answer that you had been hoping for.

“Close the gate,” you all read aloud in unison. Before you could even process that however, the phone started ringing and a nauseating pain was sent to the pit of your stomach.

The feeling only worsened when Nancy yanked the phone out of the wall. You already knew it was too late.

“They know where we are,” you stated and the monsters screeching in the distance only proved that.

“That’s not good,” Hopper muttered. “Come on. We gotta go.” He motioned for everyone to follow him, but there was nowhere to go. It was too dangerous to leave. It was too dangerous to even think about leaving. You could already feel those things nearby. 

You shook your furiously, “No, no. Get away from the windows!” Everyone was stunned by the volume of your voice, but seeing as you were the only strong enough to handle these things, no one complained. They easily compiled and started huddling up in the living room, preparing themselves for attack. You subconsciously put your arm in front of Steve and the other out in front of you. The growling steadily grew closer and closer and the closer it got, the more you tensed up. You weren't strong enough yet and you knew it, but that wasn't an excuse. You still had to protect them. You would protect them. 

So you waited, waited for something to come crashing through the door... But it never came. Instead, the growling was replaced by thrashing and you instantly knew who it was. 

Something came crashing through the window and everyone pointed their weapons at it. You glanced over and it was one of the monsters, freshly dead. Everyone else was alarmed but you. 

“It's okay,” you whispered, but they were more confused than reassured. The lock to the door slowly started to turn and everyone aimed their weapons at it.

With a small click, the door unlocked and creaked open. Once they set foot into the house, you smiled softly. 

“Eleven.”