#don't mess with Erica

[redheadedbrunette]

Cool so I reread the series and I noticed a lot more than I did the first two times I read it which is fun. The relationship between Ben and Erica is more explored than I remembered which is good and I can definitely see her character arc a lot clearer.

X is still my least favorite book and there’s absolutely a corner that Gibbs wrote himself into on that one unless he’s entirely giving up on the idea of having Ben and co. be secret agents.

Ben’s a lot more of a competent spy than I remember too, which is refreshing.

I also completely forgot that all 10 of these books happen in the span of like a year and a half which is hilarious.

Oh and the age gap seems like something that would be a lot more of an issue if there weren’t only like 300 people in the world they could have contact with. Even Erica and Josh had a bit of a gap since she had to have been 14/15 or so while he was 17/18. A gap of 2.5 years would be problematic for normal kids but I think different rules would apply.

I'm so glad it was clearer on a second go around! Honestly, I didn't even really see it all that clearly until I reread the series a couple years ago (SSAS came out my first week of college) and had a lot more experience with how stories work on a fundamental idea. Erica's development is very much in the background, but when you're looking for it (excluding SSPX, but that's a different rant) it's so clear and interesting and I love it.

SSPX bothers me for SO MANY REASONS the biggest of which is that Mr. Gibbs puts the message before the overarching plot of everything, and then! It's not even a relevant message! Like, what twelve year old is hardcore believing QAnon (it's pretty obviously meant to be that or something similar). I feel like something could have been achieved and a message about privacy, like Murray makes getting a video of Ben part of some TikTok knockoff challenge, because that seems like a much more likely thing kids would do, but gotta make fun of people who remember what the news said two years ago and comparing it to what they say now! Can't have people with good memories! But yeah, it does shoot the series in the foot kind of, and I understand the reasoning behind why things were done the way they were! I just don't agree with it most of the time.

It's even funnier when you realize that it's not a year and a half evenly spread out, it's one mission his first year with five months before summer, one that summer, and seven his second year. Eight if you want to count SSGS and SSBI as different missions (I go back and forth as to whether or not I do). It's so funny. Please give poor Ben a break.

And yes! Ben is actually so much more competent than people seem to give him credit for sometimes. It's just that his skill set tends to be less flashy and useful in battle scenes, but he's very much the chess master of the group. He's the one planning and strategizing, and all the karate moves in the world aren't going to do you any good if you can't actually foil the plans.

My reasoning for why I'm okay with the age gap is because the narrative treats them as equals who are more or less in the same place in life. Like, yes she's two classes ahead of him, but for all intents and purposes, they're teamed up together constantly with others in Ben's class and I think Erica is the only one we really know about in her class (can't remember Chip's age, but he might be? idk, doesn't really matter). It's never dwelt on, and it bothers me when people try to make a deal about it! Like, they're not going to be in the same place in their lives forever. It's high school. Almost no one marries the person they dated in high school. I've long held that they'd break up sometimes after Erica graduates and starts her adult life while Ben is still in school (or something similar depending on how Mr. Gibbs decides to do things moving forward).

[thepossummoldypasta]

Okay okay, the people have been heard, part 2 of the accidental baby acquisition thing (part 1)

Sometimes Steve wonders how his life turned out this way. Most of the time the omega jokingly says it’s all Dustin’s fault. This time it’s definitely Dustin’s fault.

Steve kicked the kid out after he cracked wise about Eddie being in a coma for 9 months—He did it nicely under the pretense of the pup being sent to find a nurse, but he’s forced out of the room all the same—now he’s desperately attempting to get Eddie calm.

The heart monitor is complaining loudly at Steve and the alphas breathing isn’t giving him any comfort, and it’s all around not an ideal situation. Steve shifts the baby (still asleep thank god) so he has an arm free to offer Eddie to scent. The movement catches the other man’s eye, and when the alpha he turns his head Steve can see Eddie’s crying.

“Oh Eddie.” Steve croaked “No, don’t cry. Dustin was just being a dick—you’ve only been under for six days—everything’s alright.” Eddie finally accepts Steve’s arm but instead of scenting he cradles it with shaking hands and doubles over awkwardly against Steve’s shoulder.

“Stevie,” the alpha sobs “Stevie.” He lets Eddie cry it out for a minute or so.

“Do you want me to walk you through what happened?” Steve offers.

Eddie nods against his neck; yes.

“How much?”

Eddie leans in even further, lungs drawing as much air as they can hold; everything.

“Nancy blew Vecna’s head off, but uh, we could tell something was up.” Steve grimaces “so, so I got worried and went to grab you and Dustin.”

Eddie stiffens as Steve talks, but doesn’t give any other indication that he’s heard enough, so Steve keeps going.

“ I found you just outside the trailer park—I don’t know if you remember it but the bats kinda beat your ass—I got to you before Dustin did thank god ‘cus it was gnarly. They, the bats, they nicked an artery so there was a lot of blood. We managed to drag all of us out through this new gate that spat us out at the Creel house on the right side, I don't know how that happened by the way���uh what else…there was an ambulance there because Carver’s gang broke Erica’s arm. The EMT guys were so freaked out when they saw us they shoved all of us in the back of the ambulance and hauled ass here—“

“Wait,” Eddie buts into Steve’s rambling explanation, “Erica got hurt? Who else got hurt? Is—“ now it’s Steve’s turn to interrupt.

“Everyone’s gonna be okay Eddie” Steve promises “The pups have a few minor breaks between all of ‘em but nothing serious. You and me got the worst of it.” Apparently not the best thing to say because Eddie jerks back with a whine, frantically checking over Steve’s injuries.

“You, I, WHAT?” Eddie, well, he screeches, unfortunately waking up the baby with his noise (the omega can’t stop himself from shooting him a dirty look for it).

“We’re both out of the woods now that you’re awake.” The omega reassures while soothing the tiny puppy’s cries. “There’s the bites, obviously, but none of them on you or me were particularly life threatening apparently. Although you lost enough blood to go into cardiac arrest—” Steve thinks he could put it nicer but there’s no point sugar coating it “the doctors did put you in a coma so you could recover but you were out less than a week, nowhere near nine months” Steve rolled his eyes at Dustin’s shithead antics.

“As for me, apparently the bats had some kind of venom that was rattling around long enough to cause some nerve damage and speed up this weird genetic thing I apparently have that messes with connective tissue. Now I’ve got this sweet new ride to help on the bad days but that’s about the worst of the damage ” Steve pats the armrests of his new chair, the one Jack helped him adjust to be his and not the one on loan from the hospital, and smiles in a way he hopes makes Eddie believe “bad days” will only happen some days instead of most days.

He expects Eddie to laugh at the attempted joke, or maybe crack a watery smile, But the alpha starts crying with renewed vigor.

“Is that why? Stevie is the puppy okay? How could Nancy let this happen?” Eddie gasps, reaching out to hold Steve’s face. The omega leans softly into the hold, but he’s soooo confused.

Before he can ask what the hell Nancy has to do with any of this,Jack waltzes through the doorway with a sheepish Dustin in tow. If that brat thinks that going out of his way to find Steve’s favorite nurse will get him out of trouble, he’s got another thing coming.

“Well now, sleeping beauty is awake.” Jack grins politely “I’m Jack, nice to officially meet you mister Munson.”

“Uhh, yeah, back atcha” Eddie nods

Jack ruffles Steve’s hair as she passes him on her way to Eddie’s IV line. Over the past few days She, Steve, and the others have grown close. The baby had imprinted on her as part of his pack, and the baby is part of Steve’s pack, so on and so forth until they all shared a bond. It’s nice.

She checks the levels of Eddie’s saline drip, and the numbers on the monitor that Steve can’t remember the meanings of no matter how many times it’s explained to him. Whatever they say must be good because Jack looks relaxed when she turns back to Dustin who’s haunting the entrance to the room leaning on his crutches (Steve resolutely tries not too give him pity points for the broken ankle).

“Alright kid, clear out.” she chimes,“I got to give your friend the full checkup and it’s feeding time.”

Jack clearly tacked on the last bit to get the stubborn pup to leave, and once upon a time it would have embarrassed the hell out of Steve, but it serves its purpose as Dustin turns heel and calls out that he’s going to visit Max.

Jack checks Eddie’s reflexes, then she has him push against her arms, follow a pen with his eyes, and tap her palm as she moves it around. All that good stuff to make sure Eddie’s brain still works right. Everything seems to be fine, the only exception being Eddie’s heart rate seemingly picking up when Steve takes his shirt off to feed the baby. Jack laughs under her breath when it happens though, so it must’ve been fine whatever it was.

“Alright Mr. Munson, you’re looking good. Your whole merry band still is being kept under observation otherwise I’d say you’re free to go. Do you have any questions for me?” Jack asks as she slips off the gloves she donned before she ran her tests. Eddie nods.

“When did Steve have the baby?” What?

“WHAT?” Steve crows, Jack’s absolutely no help as she’s too busy cackling to set the record straight. “I didn’t have a baby, Eddie!”

“But—you—You’re literally holding a baby right now big boy! And you smell like a mom!” Eddie retaliates, but he’s keeping his voice low so he doesn’t disturb said baby. That’s sweet actually.

“That’s my fault I’m afraid” Jack chuckles “he was supposed to be looking after baby nameless for me temporarily, but the little guy had other plans and decided Steve here was his new Ma. What you’re smelling and seeing right now is the result of that baby doing a very good job of convincing Steve’s body they’re his puppy”

Eddie’s mouth is hanging open on a broken hinge, Steve watches him collapse back into his bed. He would think the alpha brain dead if he wasn’t just given a clean bill of health.

“So you weren’t pregnant when we were in… you know?” Eddie prods weakly

“No, I was not knocked up when we were in the Upsidedown!” Steve shuts that line of thought down as quickly as he can, Jack might be “in the know” thanks to her job but Steve does not need his new, basically older sister, to know he did the hanky-panky with Eddie in an alternate dimension.

“Oh thank Jesus” Eddie sighs and he’s so lucky that Steve’s beginning to think he’s in love with the idiot (and that he’s a little too distracted burping the baby to smack him). “What’s the baby nameless thing about?”

Steve goes quiet for a second. Not bad quiet, just shy quiet. It’s kind of an embarrassing question to answer. Jack lets him know she’ll be right outside if he needs her, but he’s been shyly waiting for this moment and just waves her off with an appreciative look.

“He technically doesn’t have a name, before he imprinted I was only really allowed to nickname him” Steve starts “but now he’s my baby so I can name him whatever I want. I’ve had a name picked out for a while but I wanted to talk to you first. Jack’s been trying to guess the name for days now and she’s been calling him that to try to annoy me into spilling the beans” he says with a snort.

“Why did you want to talk to me first?”

“I want to name him Theodore, after you?” Steve admits but when he looks to where Eddie is propped up against his pillow the alpha sucks in a breath between his teeth. “What? What’s with the face?”

“Eddie isn’t actually short for anything, so uh it wouldn’t really be naming him after me” Eddie says hesitantly “But! But I think Theodore is a great name!” And he smiles so brightly at Steve, the omega has to kiss it off Eddie’s stupid little face.

A week later the whole group is lounging in the ward’s common room just waiting for time to pass.

The roads are back open and the town is slowly knitting itself back together. Owen’s says that his team is waiting on one more thing before they all finally can go home. The older teens haven’t said anything to the pup’s yet, they don’t want to jinx anything, but it’s looking like home might be one of the recently vacated houses for packs instead of where they lived before. Steve thinks he’ll sleep easier having everyone safe under one roof, that at least some good will come out of so much of his family being left displaced by the “quakes”.

Steve’s cozy on a squishy couch with Robin tucked against his one side, Mike and Will are tangled together on his other, he’s even got Theo napping on his chest. God it’s a far cry from the nervous buzz that thrummed under Steve’s skin at the beginning of their stint in the hospital. He basks in the calm that comes with the rest of the pups piled on top of Eddie taking a nap instead of being obnoxious. Nancy has even huddled together with Jonathan and Argyle.

It’s really nice except for one thing nagging at the back of Steve’s mind, he hasn’t seen Jack or El for a while.

“Hey Steve?” Oh, speak of the devil and all that, Steve thinks as Jack pops her head into the room. “Your adoptive dad is here looking for you.”

Steve looks at Robin then to Nancy and Jon. It’s very clear that none of them know what she’s talking about.

“I don’t have an adoptive dad?” Steve replies.

“Okay rephrase. A man, who is not Harrington Senior, and who matches your emergency contact information is at the visitor’s desk asking for his kid, who he says is you.” Jack doesn’t even get to finish her sentence before El slips into the room her dragging with her—

“Hop” Steve cries weakly, the name catching in his chest. No matter how much he blinks Hopper is still there. Will bursts from Steve’s side and launches himself at Joyce Byers, who Steve hadn’t even noticed was there, Hopper is here.

Steve somehow manages to get on his feet. Theo, the sweet angel that he is, doesn’t even fuss at the abrupt movement, instead he coos at the newcomers as if he’s confused why they haven’t started fawning over him yet.

Steve is pulled into a side hug the literal second Hopper’s close enough. Steve missed him so much. He hadn’t told anyone about how in the early days of his parents leaving him home alone he would sneak over to the police chief’s trailer because he was afraid being by himself. Or about how many nights the man spent driving him to or picking him up from the hospital after Steve’s dad got too drunk. Nobody knew how confused Steve was after Starcourt, when he didn’t know how much he was allowed to grieve. But now Hop’s back, and Steve missed him.

“Please tell me I’m hallucinating the baby” Hopper laughs into Steve’s hair. He laughs like he doesn’t know how else to react, which is fair, but he also laughs like it’s the first time he’s laughed in a while so Steve doesn’t really mind.

Very helpfully, Mike pipes up with “Thats Theo.” At the same time Dustin says “That’s Steve and Eddie’s puppy.”

Steve barely has enough time to playfully warn Eddie to run before it’s too late.

——————————————————————————————————

Sorry for the wait, I wasn’t really planing on continuing this so it to a while to figure out what I wanted to do.This is going up on my Ao3 as a one shot at some point by the way, so maybe look out for that I guess. I hope you enjoyed!

[thisapplepielife]

Written for the @corrodedcoffinfest May Mayhem Bingo event.

a charity case

Prompt: Hate at First Sight | Word Count: 3450 | Rating: T | CW: Language, Underage Drinking, Canon Injuries | POV: Steve | Relationship(s): Steve & Everyone, Pre-Steddie | Tags: Set at the End of S3, Post Mall Fire, But Before the 3 Month Time Jump, Everybody's Coddling Steve, Except for Known Menace Eddie Munson

It starts out normal enough. As most things involving the little shitheads do, but it predictably only spirals from there. Dustin lures him home with the promise of Claudia's lasagna, and Steve's not one to ever turn down Claudia's home cooking. He's no fool. Even if his face hurts. Even if his head is pounding. Even if it hurts to turn his neck. Maybe he has whiplash from that car wreck.

It doesn't matter. He still goes, and they sit and eat in the living room, watching TV. Claudia worrying over the state of his face. Steve reassures her over and over that he's okay. That it looks worse than it feels. Honest.

Steve's not sure that's true, but it's just a little white lie. There's no reason for her to know what kind of danger Dustin had been so close to in the depths of hell in that cursed mall. That he did something stupid, reckless and really brave to save Steve and Robin. He's fine. They're all fine.

He shakes some aspirin out of the bottle in his glove box when he gets in the car, the same bottle from after that fight with Jonathan. The one that threw him into this whole mess in the first place. If he hadn't provoked Jonathan, if he hadn't been such an asshole, he'd probably never know anything about the Upside Down. He thinks about that a lot. 

But he'd also probably not know Henderson. He probably wouldn't have a new friend in Robin.

That's not a trade off he'd make. He wouldn't change anything. He wouldn't. But he does think about the what-ifs more than he'd ever admit to anyone else.

Steve tosses the pills in his mouth, and swallows them. He never paid Tommy back for them. He thinks that makes them work better, the spite somehow adding some extra strength to them. He'll be good for a few more hours, the ache in his skull hopefully waning long enough for him to fall asleep.

The next night Nancy calls and tells him to be ready, that Jonathan's gonna pick him up in twenty minutes. That they're going out for burgers. No kids allowed. They swing by and get Robin, and it's kind of fun. Just the four of them. Sure, his face still hurts from the Russian torture, but it's nice to get back to a bit of normal. They don't even talk about the Upside Down or the Russians or that godforsaken mall.

Under the bright lights of the diner, he can see the scrape on Robin's knee, the bruise surrounding it that's worse than it was that night. He touches the skin near it gently.

She bats his hand away, but smiles at him, "I'm fine, dingus."

If she's fine, he's fine, too.

On Sunday, Robin says he has to come to family dinner and meet her parents. They're demanding it, apparently, and won't take no for an answer. They want to know who saved their daughter from the fire. He didn't save her from anything, she saved herself. But he does great with meeting the folks, they usually love him, so he doesn't mind going. He puts on his best polo and makes sure his hair is combed a little neater than usual.

Turns out, her mom is a pretty damn good cook, and they're really kind. Warm. If a little overprotective. But it's nice. Robin's really lucky.

He thinks they assume he's her first boyfriend, and he doesn't make any corrections. Just stretches his arm across the back of her chair, and plays the part. This is familiar, well-trodden ground. Steve Harrington: Boyfriend. That's normal. He can do normal. So, for this moment, he's the old Steve Harrington again. The one before monsters fucked up his whole world. 

Charming, delightful and beloved. 

It's not until Monday that they all tip their hands. Steve figured it out when Erica was on the phone, inviting him to dinner at their house. He's never set foot in the Sinclair house. And he quickly realized he was being passed around like a hot potato. A charity case.

Poor Steve Harrington, with no parents at home to make sure he's okay.

He's fine on his own. He's been fine on his own for a long time.

But he still can't tell the kid no, not after everything they went through together. Scoops Troop Forever, and all that. And she's just doing her part. He's not sure who put her up to this, probably Henderson. So, he shows up and sits through the most awkward meal ever, with Mr. and Mrs. Sinclair not quite understanding why this older teen, especially one with a gnarly black eye, is friends with their children. 

He's Dustin's babysitter, Erica explains, and Steve pretends he doesn't hear Mrs. Sinclair calling Claudia on the phone to verify this story she's being fed. Claudia must vouch for him, and of course she would, because Claudia loves him.

After the dishes are washed, Steve walks down the driveway, and gets in his car, rolling the windows down. It's too warm, even after dark. But the summer breeze feels good against his still sore face, and he cruises through neighborhood after neighborhood. Smelling the lingering charcoal cookouts, and hearing a smattering of fireworks still being set off. He's not sure he'll ever be able to look at the Fourth of July the same again. Not with the kind of fireworks he experienced in that mall.

When he pulls up to a stop sign, he hears a band playing live music. It's a little rough, but he pauses in front of the house when catches sight of the open garage door, and sees four or five guys rocking out. A blur of motion and jumping around.

They're definitely entertaining themselves.

He doesn't recognize the song they're playing, but he's not sure if that's because they're bad or if he just doesn't know the song. He thinks it's the latter. 

Easing along the curb, he brakes so he can listen a little longer. In no hurry to get home. He squints, but he's not sure who they are. His vision has been kinda fucked since the other day, and he's getting concerned that it might not ever go back to normal.

Oh well. He'll deal with it, as is. His hearing is a bit iffy in his left ear, and he's figured out how to compensate for that. He can do the same with his eyes, if need be.

When they shift into AC/DC he's positive he just didn't know the last song. They really aren't half bad. 

It's not until there's a streak of black running across the lawn, that he realizes it's Eddie Munson's band he's been listening to play. Shit. 

Steve doesn't flee, he just waits for his tongue lashing for daring to do whatever Eddie's gonna excuse him of, just for being on the same street. Eddie has hated him from first sight, ranting about jocks and popularity and for some reason, his hair. Steve's never made any move to change his mind. It's useless. Eddie Munson has no give, no bend, it's his way or no way at all.

Best to avoid him whenever possible.

Eddie leans down into the passenger window, "Well, well, well, if it isn't Steve Harrington rapping on my chamber door."

Steve doesn't think he was rapping on anything, but okay. It's a free country. He's on a public street.

"I didn't realize this was your place," Steve says, because he didn't. He actually had no idea where Eddie lives. You don't seek out Eddie Munson. You cross the street to not deal with his big mouth bullshit whenever possible. Everybody knows that.

Eddie laughs, "This is Gareth's house. I live out at Forest Hills. You know. The trailer park. For the trailer trash."

Steve didn't say that. Steve didn't even think that. But there'll be no convincing Eddie Munson of anything. He thinks what he thinks, and says what he says. The rest of them just have to let it happen. So, Steve doesn't take the bait.

"You guys are pretty good," Steve says instead. A peace offering that'll never be accepted. But it's the truth, and you should tell the truth. Russian truth serum coursing through your veins or not. 

"So you decided to spy on us. Like a little pervert," Eddie accuses, then tugs on the door handle, plopping right into the passenger seat. He immediately starts going through the glove box. Steve doesn't have the energy to stop him, and really? What's he hiding in there? Aspirin? Nothing. Not a goddamn thing. Let him look.

Eddie seems a little disappointed that he's not riling Steve up more, but Steve can't help that. He's too tired to argue about petty shit with Eddie Munson.

"Take me out to Fair Mart, will ya," he says, but it's not a question. More like a demand. "We need a six-pack."

Steve doesn't argue, just pulls away from the curb, and heads out towards the highway, Eddie Munson in tow.

And there he just thought eating an uncomfortable dinner with the Sinclairs was going to be the weirdest part of his night.

When he wheels up in front of the store, Eddie holds out his hand, "Got any money I can borrow?"

Steve sighs. He knows he won't get a damn dime back from Eddie Munson if he hands anything over, but he still fishes out the bills.

"How 'bout a fake ID? They won't sell to me. You go in."

"Fine," Steve says.

Eddie leans his head out the window, "Get two!"

Steve sighs. Leaving Eddie Munson alone in his car is a recipe for disaster, but he does it anyway. He comes back with two six-packs under his arms, and hands them to Eddie. Eddie immediately cracks one open in the car, putting his feet on Steve's dash. 

The old Steve would have protested. The new Steve's not sure he's got the energy for it. His head already hurts, and listening to Eddie Munson rant and rave about the injustice of being asked to not be rude and destructive isn't worth it. So he just backs out, pulling out onto the highway.

Back in front of their practice garage, Eddie bails out, without so much as a thank you. Leaving his empty beer bottle on the floorboard, slamming the car door as he goes. 

"You're welcome," Steve mutters under his breath, and pulls away from the curb.

Turns out, Eddie Munson is like a tick. Once he's attached, good luck getting him off cleanly without leaving the head behind. A constant, irritating itch, just beneath the skin.

Everywhere Steve goes, there he is, popping out from behind a bush. Wanting something. Needing something. 

He gets it. Find an easy mark, and bleed him dry. Steve's not sure he can actually be a mark if he knows what's happening. Just a sucker for letting Eddie repeatedly try to push his buttons.

"Harrington. We need a favor," Eddie says, standing on Steve's front step, and Steve crosses his arms, but is listening. 

"What?" he asks as he sees the three other members of Eddie's band stomping down the driveway. Swim trunks on, towels slung over their shoulders.

"We are under the impression that you have a pool," Eddie says, smiling like a goddamn wolf.

"The city has a pool. It's like a dollar to get in," Steve says.

"And you have a pool we could use for zero dollars," Eddie argues, and Steve sighs, but opens the door, letting them all inside. He doesn't even know their names. Well, one of them is Gareth. Which one is anybody's guess.

It doesn't matter. He's not using the pool, hasn't for a long time, not really. Not since Barb. 

But if they want to, more power to them, he supposes.

"Might need to skim it," Steve says, "the pool house is over there."

"Oh, sure, make the poor kid be your free labor, Harrington," Eddie bellyaches, but does fetch the pool skimmer. Only, he decides to thrash it against the water, beating it against the surface, splashing, being a general nuisance until one of the other guys grabs it from him and actually starts removing leaves.  

Steve sits in one of the lounge chairs, and is basically ignored as if he's not even there. That's fine. He didn't really expect anything else. It's not like they're his friends.

He watches as they shotgun beers, pilfered from the garage icebox, and smoke cigarettes poolside. Steve feels like he's been thrown back in time. He isn't this guy. Not anymore.

There are monsters in the world. 

He's been tortured. It's hard to take a deep breath, because his chest feels bruised, down deep. His head hurts all the time. His neck is stiff. His eyesight is a little blurry. There's still an annoying ringing in his ear.

Splashing around in the pool that Barb disappeared from isn't at all appealing.

But he learns their names by listening to them talk. Jeff. Goodie. And he figures out which one is Gareth. 

He stands, intending to head back towards the house, when Eddie comes out of nowhere, grabbing him around the waist, yanking him down into the pool with him. 

The old Steve would have loved this, would have enjoyed the roughhousing. Would have been the one to think of it first.

The new Steve shakes out his wet hair and thinks about his now soaked wallet.

He climbs out, and after changing his clothes, Mike shows up on his bike. Steve is ninety-four percent positive Mike's there to drag him off to whatever house has surely been forced into hosting him for dinner tonight.

No more. He's good. He appreciates it. But the babysitter doesn't need babysitting.

"Is that Eddie Munson in your pool?!" Mike screeches.

And Steve nods, at least Eddie Munson is good for something, "Yep. I have company. I can't come to dinner tonight. Sorry."

He's not sorry at all.

Eddie Munson is a nuisance, most definitely, but he just came in handy for an excuse to get out of having to suffer through a dinner with Ted staring at him all night long, looking at him like he knows the ways Steve's touched his daughter. He's not wrong.

Parents love him. Ted Wheeler does not.

"He runs Hellfire Club," Mike says, and Steve doesn't know what that is, "Introduce me. Introduce me. Do it, Steve. Do it. Maybe he'll let us join next year."

So, Steve does. What does he care? Mike can do whatever the fuck he wants as long as it's not a danger to himself or others.

Over the next few days, Steve evades, and the dinner invites eventually peter out. Steve's grateful. He gets what they were doing. He does. But it's not needed. He can take care of himself. Even if he has a headache today. The worst one he's ever had, maybe. Maybe even worse than the one after Billy tried to crack open his skull with that plate. 

He feels nauseous. And that's not being helped by someone ringing the doorbell incessantly. 

Billy's funeral is today. He should go, for Max. The guy tried to kill him, even before he was possessed or whatever. He was an asshole. But he also died fighting on the same side as them. He stood up, and helped them fight back.

That's not nothing. Helping when you can, Steve gets that. He's just lucky he didn't end up getting himself killed in the Byers' house when he took that first stand, picking up that bat, not at all knowing what the fuck he was getting himself into.

Steve can't get out of bed, though. 

The doorbell stops. Then starts up again. 

Henderson, probably.

Steve can't navigate the stairs. He can't. Not right now.

Instead, he yanks open the upstairs window, and the sunlight is too bright. He squeezes his eyes shut, squinting them open a crack.

"Hey! Cut it out."

It sounds weak, but that's the best he can manage right now.

Eddie steps back far enough from the house that Steve can see him, screaming, "What's up, Harrington? I need a favor!"

Of course he does.

"Not so loud. And not today, man," Steve calls back down, squeezing his eyes shut. He can't look at him while they talk. "My head's killing me."

Eddie's quiet. Too quiet, and Steve cracks open an eye. He expects a fight, but Eddie just holds up his hands, saying, "Okay. My bad."

That was far easier than he expected, but Steve closes the window, and yanks the curtains closed again, crawling back into bed.

Steve must have dozed off, because he jerks awake when he hears tapping on his window. He looks over. Through the small sliver the curtains aren't covering, Eddie Munson is holding a sack, waving him over.

Jesus Christ. He must have climbed up the side of the house.

As loath as he is to get up, he does it anyway, pushing up the window and shuffling back to the bed. Eddie will have to take care of the rest.

Eddie does, climbing over the now open window sill. He immediately starts removing stuff from his sack, and the smell of food hits Steve.

"You brought me food?" Steve asks, arm slung over his eyes.

"Don't read too much into it, Harrington," Eddie says, and Steve chuckles. 

"I'm not really hungry," Steve admits.

"I know. Eat it anyway," Eddie says, "Sit up."

Steve does.

Eddie hands him a bowl, and a spoon. Steve hurts too much to argue. He eats.

"Are you poisoning me?" Steve asks as he takes another bite. It's really good, but he's a little suspicious. This is too nice for Eddie Munson.

"Uncle Wayne would never," Eddie says.

"But you might?"

"I'm a loose cannon. Promises can't be made," Eddie says, lounging in Steve's chair, feet up on the desk. "Just eat it." 

Steve does. But he can't help but be curious.

"Why'd you bring me food?" Steve asks. It's very out of character for Eddie. Steve gives, Eddie takes. That's the standard.

This is an anomaly.

Eddie just shrugs, but finally says, "My mom had migraines."

Steve doesn't have a migraine. He has a headache. 

"I don't have a migraine," Steve says.

Eddie laughs, "Okay. Sure."

As soon as he's finished eating, Eddie takes the bowl, and then presses a knee into the mattress, leaning close to Steve's face. Steve swallows, eyes trained on him, waiting to see what he's gonna do next.

He has orange ear plugs pinched between his fingers, and he presses one into Steve's left ear, then one into his right. Steve has to adjust them, has to press them deeper, but Eddie gives him a thumbs up.

Then Eddie slides a black satin sleep mask over Steve's head, resting it over Steve's forehead. It feels like something his mother would wear, and Steve kind of laughs.

"Shut up, it's all they had at Melvald's," Eddie says, and then retreats right back out the window. 

Steve rolls over, pulls the mask down over his eyes and sleeps better than he has in weeks. 

Maybe Eddie Munson isn't all bad.

A few days later, Steve is the one that seeks Eddie out. He finds them in Gareth's garage, where they spend most days. He puts in his earplugs, taking a bit of the edge off, as he sits down to listen to Eddie and his band play. Eddie kicks open a cooler, an offer, and they don't really pay much attention to him after that.

They play. Steve listens, the sound slightly dampened by the earplugs. 

Corroded Coffin, the banner in the garage declares. 

When they wind down, sweaty and tired, Eddie comes over and plops down on the closed cooler lid.

"We play at The Hideout on Tuesday. Wanna come?"

Yeah, Steve thinks he does, actually. He nods, and the smile Eddie shoots him gives Steve unexpected butterflies in his stomach. 

"I'll be there," Steve agrees.

"Good, we need a roadie. It doesn't pay," Eddie says, and Steve rolls his eyes as Eddie cackles, slapping him on the knee. He's kidding. 

Steve knows he's kidding, now. He kind of wonders how much of Eddie Munson has always been misunderstood. Yes, he's abrasive. And kind of rude. But maybe some of it has just been for his own entertainment.

And if an Eddie that hates you is hard to shake, Steve's pretty sure an Eddie that likes you might be even worse.

To his shock, he's kind of interested in finding out.

And if you want to write your own, or see more entries in this pop-up, check out @corrodedcoffinfest to see other entries for the May Mayhem Bingo Event!

Notes: I know we all (myself included!) often tend to run with the idea that nobody worries about Steve, because Steve's not the squeaky wheel, begging for grease. But I thought, what happens if they ALL worry about him after the mall. 🥺

Fun fact: I originally wrote in after the fourth fireworks being illegal (not true in Indiana) and the illegal open container (also not true at the time in Indiana) before thinking to google those details. It was the wild west over in Hawkins. 🤣

[steviewashere]

Not gonna make this into a full fic, I don't think, but here's a little something I was thinking of <3 Mild hurt, mostly comfort, and a lot of Eddie getting ready to jump some bones

Steve's upset—and he believes rightfully so. Today was the day for a little bit of a trim and clean up on his hair. He booked his appointment a couple weeks before, for early in the morning right before lunch, with the same stylist he's had since his junior year of high school; the same stylist his mom sees because they're connected at the hip over the meticulous care of their heads of hair. He isn't called 'The Hair' for nothing.

Except, when he walked right up to the front counter, said his name with a shiny, charming smile, and a twinkle in his eyes—

"I'm sorry, Cherry's not in today. Flu's running rampant through her household. Tellin' ya, honey, kids are germ magnets." And the receptionist had popped her gum, whipped her hair over her shoulder, bat her eyes. "But I could hand you over to Gina? She's well trusted around her, real close with Cherry and her clients."

Of course, panicked to the soles of his shoes, Steve had blindly accepted the pass over. He thought it wouldn't be too much of a change. He thought that he could trust another pair of scissors. Well...no dice, apparently.

It's supposed to be the same thing he gets every single time. A clipping of Patrick Swayze from one of those tweeny girl magazines—he had stolen it from Erica, thank you very much—and maybe it's not supposed to be an exact replica to his gorgeous head of hair, but at least something similar. Maybe a little longer in the back, more of a swoop in the front.

Except, when he catches wind of himself in the mirror at the end of his appointment—Christ, I look like fucking Kurt Russell. He didn't even think his hair had grown out that long. Especially not Escape From New York long.

He smiles, words bit behind his teeth, and tips his normal amount. Pays for it in full without a single damn complaint. Even though he nearly bursts into tears when he gets to his car. And then, even worse, when he realizes he has to walk back through the front door of the apartment he shares with Eddie and look his boyfriend dead in the eyes. But he does so begrudgingly, every step as if it's his last.

When he opens the door, Eddie's already standing there, big grin on his face, eyes alight. "Did you get exactly what you"—

"They fucked up my hair, Eds! My hair!"

Eddie tilts his head and purses his lips, assessing the damage. "It doesn't look bad, sweetheart. Maybe a little more...more free and flowing than you prefer, but not fucked up levels of messed up."

He steps inside with a ginger door shut behind him. Doesn't want to be caught in full throttle tears on his doormat. His eyes get a little watery the longer Eddie stares at him. "But I look like fuckin' Kurt Russell, not Patrick Swayze," Steve pouts.

"Yeah, that didn't give you what you wanted exactly. But, baby, my sunshine—you really think you look awful? You know how handsome Kurt is? This whole look isn't a step down at all! It suits you pretty well!" Eddie steps towards Steve, shoving forward to paw through the waves and bends of his hair, scrunching it and viewing. "Put a little bit of mousse in it...maybe a tad of your hairspray? We could get this look elevated in a matter of seconds, make you look like a movie star down to the messy forehead strand on a red carpet."

Steve sniffs. Eyes big on Eddie's face—Eddie who isn't laughing or trying to bite back a giggle or open to make fun of it all. Just...just Eddie admiring. "You think I look handsome like this?"

"I think you're a beautiful babe with a strong mane of hair and you wear fine things well." Eddie shakes his fingers through the hair, messing with it until it falls mussed. "Like a big shot action star. Swear on it. And—hey! You know what?"

"What, Eds?"

"If you end up truly, miserably hating it after we find out how to style it, then I'll help you shape it up just as you like it. I'm sure I've got a few good photos around here that weren't sacrificed to the sun. Well, as long as you trust me with my hair scissors."

"You know how to cut hair?" Steve asks quietly.

"I've been cutting my own hair since I was in middle school. If I wasn't so set in stone on becoming a musician, I'd probably settle into being the next Frenchy, go the whole beauty school route."

He chuckles. "She drops out of beauty school, babe. Don't think that's what you want."

"Eh...maybe I'll go to learn enough about dye and trim jobs and then gallop away into the sunset on my noble steed, you, my princess, wrapped around me." For the first time since the appointment, Steve finds himself smiling—something small, but smiling—and Eddie returns it tenfold. "So...you gonna be my action movie star? Show me how big and strong you are?"

"You gonna keep combing your fingers through my hair?"

Something mischievous sparkles in Eddie's gaze. "Oh, I've got plans for all sorts of things, Stevie baby. Question is, are you gonna let me love you and your handsome do? If not, then we should get this shaped up now."

Steve sighs, dips his head in thought. He could let Eddie get his creativity out on more than just a set of lined notebook pages. But...well...Kurt Russell has been one of the first celebrities to really make Steve stop and think.

And Eddie...

Eddie seems like he'll burst at the seams if he doesn't get to live out whatever number of fantasies are swirling through his head.

"Okay," Steve agrees, purring, "show me how much you love my new look, sweetheart."

[theotherrookie]

Being a shadow wielding elf was exciting and fun, but it often came with the issue of having to wait for those less fortunate who couldn't simply store whatever they may need in the void. With nothing to do and forced to save her energies, Erica was by all means very bored.

She let out a huff, before jumping from the ceiling where she'd been hanging up until a moment ago back to the wall to look over what Rook was doing. "How many more times do we have to do this? We've already got all our stuff ready!"

"We don't and one last check is in order." Rook replied, retrieving a box from the pocket dimension, "We don't get to come back another time if we mess this up. So start with grabbing some freshly baked nuts."

"Yay!"

"Is this really the time, Rook?" Lucien asked, retrieving a couple of Deku nuts for himself.

"Wearing that hoodie made you really cranky, you know? Grab some and pass the rest around."

Lucien shot her an annoyed look, but did as asked. He balanced the box on his arm as he leaned over so Willow could reach into it. She has yet to look up for a moment from her beloved drone, but he knew better than to test her patience.

"We're ready for takeoff." the cyborg announced after storing a couple of bombs in the drone.

The Twins kept to themselves in the corner. They knew they'd receive their orders at the right time.

Erica huffed once again as she made sure her baseball bat was in her backpack like the past three times she had checked. "Is everyone ready?"

@pushspacetocontinue

[brbsoulnomming]

Heart On Your Sleeve Part 8

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7

written for steddiebigbang2024 and belatedly posting here!

-----

The kids leave the next day, after Steve's heart has mostly reformed itself. It's still a little beat up and mangled, but it's clearly a heart again, and it barely hurts anymore.

He doesn't know how he'll ever be able to thank them.

Eddie doesn't call.

—

His house stops being empty.

Robin's over almost constantly, their hearts in each other's chests more often than not. He can tell Robin's worried about him, and he likes feeling her emotions - it tells him when she's upset, or sad, and he can respond without her having to say anything.

The rest of the kids are over almost as constantly, as though his house has just become the de facto hang out.

He minds it a lot less than he pretends to.

Erica sulks at him, and he can't figure out why until Lucas makes a comment about their heart sharing and she rolls her eyes so hard he's afraid they're going to pop out.

Steve frowns at her, hanging back after the others have gone on into the kitchen.

“That's an extra level of snide, even for you,” he says.

She gives him a look. “You want it directed at you?”

He holds up his hands. “What'd I do?”

Her look only becomes more unimpressed. “You had my brother over for your little healing pow-wow? He wasn't even part of Scoops Troop.”

Oh.

That's.

Oh.

Never in a hundred years did he think Erica Sinclair would be throwing a fit because she didn't get to be a part of their group heart sharing, but here it is.

“You want to swap?” Steve asks.

Erica scoffs at him. “I don't need your pity heart exchange.”

“It's not pity,” he protests.

This time the look practically burns through him.

“Robin and I do it all the time,” he insists. “It's easier. It means we can understand the way the other one feels without having to figure out how to say it.”

Her eyebrows raise. “And you want to know how I feel?”

Steve holds out his hand in response.

She stares at him for a long moment, then sighs in a far too long suffering manner before she takes her heart out and gives it to him. He exchanges his for hers, and -

“Is it messed up again?” Dustin demands. “Why didn't you tell me?”

He honestly isn't sure if the surge of somewhat affectionate irritation he feels is his or Erica's, and he exchanges what he suspects is a near identical look with her.

Dustin narrows his eyes at them. “What's this look you're doing, I really don't like it on both of you.”

“That's because it's bad news for you,” Erica retorts.

“We're just swapping,” Steve says.

“It's what you do when someone is a little too hard headed and out of touch with their feelings to realize how insensitive they're being.”

That is absolutely not what Steve had been going for, but Erica says it with such superiority and Dustin is looking so contemplative at it that he just sighs and goes with it.

Erica shoots him a smug little look - she knows exactly what she's doing and how he feels about it.

“Mike!” Dustin shouts. “Come here, we're swapping, so you can know that I'm right!”

Steve groans, but there's no stopping it now.

Swaps are called to settle arguments, to prove that this movie really is scary guys come on, for a dozen other reasons until Steve honestly can't be sure who has whose heart at any given moment.

He'd worry about the effects of so much heart swapping, but - the kids seem happy. Sometimes he even catches them just sitting with each other and swapping, and after everything they've lost - who is he to say what's healthy and what isn't?

Steve can't complain.

Well. He can, and he does, but he also knows this is probably the happiest he's ever been in this house, so he doesn't complain too much.

—

Eddie still doesn't call.

He doesn't answer, either, when Steve calls him. Any of the times Steve calls him.

Steve drives out there, once, stupidly. He's pretty sure he can hear Eddie's music, but the trailer’s dark, and no one answers.

Steve takes the hint after that.

He doesn't let anyone but Robin swap with him for a while, as long as he can get away with. He doesn't really have a name for what he's feeling - he doesn't want to put a name to what he's feeling - and she doesn't make him.

—

The Hopper-Byers are moving.

None of the party take it well, but it seems to hit Max the hardest.

Or at least, he assumes it does, because she's suddenly not over for a week straight, and Steve knows avoidance when he sees it.

He finds her sitting at the skate park, all alone, but she doesn't protest when he sits down next to her.

“Swap?” Steve asks softly.

Max rolls her eyes. “I'm fine.”

He gives her the most unimpressed look he can muster.

She scoffs, then gives him one right back. “Okay, so, what, you want to feel angry and miserable too?”

Steve weighs his options for a moment, considering how to respond, then decides just to go for honesty. “Yeah,” he says simply. “I'm not here just for the good stuff, Mayfield, I'm here for all of it.”

She looks at him for a long moment, her expression hard. Then she wrenches her chest open.

He pops his open, too, taking his heart out and offering it to her. Steve expects her to take it and put her own in his hand, but instead she shoves her own heart into his chest before he can so much as blink, snatching his out of his hand. He blinks at her, but - yeah, okay, fine, that works.

She is angry, and miserable. She hated Billy, and she's still sad, and El is the only one who really gets her, and she knows that's not true, and everyone leaves, and he hasn't left, and she loves and she hates and she's so tired.

Steve can't really put any of it into words, but he doesn't have to.

He just has to be there.

—

School starts, and it gets quieter. He and Dustin still have their weekly movie nights, and he plays ball with Lucas, cooks dinner with Max, but Robin's the only one over as much as she used to be.

It's - actually fine, this time. He gets a job at Family Video, and he hangs out with Robin and spends time with the kids and goes on dates, and he's still happy.

Well, except the going on dates bit. Something's missing, something obvious, but he tells himself that's fine, too.

—

Dustin starts talking about Eddie, a few months into school.

Well, he talks about Hellfire, which Steve doesn't really put together at first, but he's happy Dustin's having fun with his club.

When he mentions Eddie, Steve probes a little, asks how he joined up. Dustin lights up, talking about how Eddie looked out for them starting from day one, even if he's definitely a little scary at times, and Steve -

“Swap?” Robin asks the second she gets to his house later, like she took one look at him and knew he needed it.

They both need it, actually.

She has feelings about Vickie, and he has feelings about Eddie, and they're both complicated and messy and neither of them know what to do about it.

“Ask her out,” Steve tells her.

“She doesn't even like girls!”

“How do you know?”

“How do you know?”

And that's - point, okay, Steve has nothing to counter that. Yet. He just has to start collecting proof.

Robin feels his intentions and gives a dramatic huff, but she doesn't try to stop him.

She won't admit it, but she's grateful.

“Do you regret asking Eddie out?” she asks.

He makes a face. “I mean, I didn't ask him out so much as take him out a bunch of times, realize like halfway through it that's what I was doing, and then he ran the second I made it obvious, so… I guess I regret not actually asking him.”

She considers that. “Do you think it would have changed anything?”

“I don't know,” he admits. “Maybe I could have made it so he didn't feel like he had to run, maybe we could have still been friends? I wish I'd known what I was doing and I'd done it different, but… I think I'd regret it more if I didn't try at all.”

She drops her shoulder against his. “Of course you would. You always go for what you want, it's like you have no fear.”

He has plenty of fear - she's felt it - but not about shooting his shot. She's right; he's a man of action, and he's not sure he knows how to be anything else.

“Ugh, let's stop talking about it. I'm glad he's still a good guy and is watching out for the little shits, end of story.”

It's not the end of the story, but for now, they both let it be.

—

Dustin calls him to beg him to play in Hellfire with him, and Steve groans audibly.

“Does Eddie know you're asking me?” he asks.

Dustin scoffs. “Of course not, but I have to show up with someone on Friday.”

Steve frowns. “On Friday? That's the championship game. Lucas is playing.”

Dustin groans, and Steve makes a little bit of a face at himself when he realizes the kid sounds almost exactly like him.

“Don't remind me,” Dustin grumbles. “He's the reason we have to find someone in the first place.”

“Lucas asked you to find someone to sub in for him?”

Steve doesn't even need Dustin's heart to be able to tell the silence that follows is guilty as hell.

“Dustin,” Steve says.

“Ugh, fine! Lucas asked us to come to the stupid game. He asked us to get Eddie to move Hellfire so he wouldn't miss the last session.”

“And did you?” Steve prompts.

“Of course!” Dustin says, indignant. “Eddie was pissed. Called Lucas a traitor, said now it was our responsibility to find someone to fill in for Lucas since he ditched us.”

That - isn’t what Steve was expecting at all.

“And instead of standing up for Lucas, you're doing what Eddie says?”

“He ditched us!” Dustin insists.

Steve pinches the bridge of his nose. “Go swap with Lucas.”

Dustin makes an almost incomprehensible noise of protest.

“Swap with Lucas, and tell him what Eddie said. If you guys come to an agreement and you still need a sub, I'll think about it.”

He'd rather watch Lucas play, and that's sure as hell what he's going to do if Dustin doesn't follow through, but if both Lucas and Dustin agree, then he'll sub in.

Not just to give Eddie a piece of his mind about this whole thing.

“You're no help!” Dustin retorts, hanging the phone up.

Robin leans against him. “Are we talking about it now?”

He considers that, then wordlessly takes his heart out and offers it to her. They swap, sitting in silence for a moment as they adjust to each other's feelings.

She's upset. He is, too, though not about exactly the same thing.

“I'm still not mad at him for how things went between him and me,” he says.

“I am,” she replies, sharp and firm. “He made your heart hurt, I still think I should get to kick his ass.”

It's not Eddie's fault, though, not as far as Steve's concerned. Steve was the one that fumbled around without knowing what he was doing, that came on too strong. He didn't get it then, but now that he knows Robin and Will and how difficult things are for them - he understands it better.

But one of the things that made Steve fall for Eddie in the first place was the way he watched out for people. It wasn't the same way Steve did it, but - they were both protective, both willing to take the hits so other people wouldn't have to. It's disappointing to see how he's pitting the kids against each other like this.

He wishes they were still friends, wishes he could call him and ask what was going on.

“If he hurts one of the kids’ hearts, then you can kick his ass,” he says finally, once he's worked through his feelings and felt Robin's support.

—

It comes back, because it always does.

It comes back, and Eddie comes back, and Steve wasn't expecting that.

—

There's tension in the boathouse even after everything's been explained, and Steve knows everyone can feel it.

Knows because it's only a few moments before Dustin's announcing, “Hearts out! We'll show you we mean it, right, guys?”

Steve sneaks a look over at Max. He still hasn't gotten a really good look at her heart since after the 4th, but maybe - no, she clearly hasn't shown anyone else here, because she's gone pale, and she looks a combination of pissed and afraid.

“Dustin,” Steve snaps, trying to keep the irritation out of his voice and failing a little. “Did you forget that some of us have hearts that aren't all that reassuring to see?”

Dustin's expression scrunches for a moment, and Steve feels most of his irritation fade away as he realizes that, yeah, Dustin did forget that.

“Oh,” Dustin says quietly. “It's okay, Steve, you don't-”

“No,” he cuts him off, still a little annoyed. “Look, we all know that I'm the one causing doubt here, right? I'll show my heart so Munson knows I mean it and we can get this over with.”

He doesn't want to, but he wants even less for this to put a spotlight on Max.

So he takes his heart out, gets back in close enough for Eddie to see it, says, “We're not lying, man, I promise.”

His heart beats true, true, true in his hands, but Eddie's eyes are going wide and wet as he stares at Steve's heart, and he isn't any less pale.

“Jesus fucking Christ,” he whispers. “What the hell happened?”

“Nothing you have to worry about,” he replies, putting his heart back in his chest as soon as he can. “It's not going to happen to you.”

It comes out a little more protective than he'd intended, and it makes Eddie's eyes dart up to his, trying to search for something in there. Steve can't tell what, and he doesn't have Eddie's heart in his chest to help him out.

Strange, how quickly he's come to rely on having that familiarity with those he cares about.

Less strange that Eddie is still someone he cares about.

“Do you want to see mine?” Eddie asks, soft enough that Steve's pretty sure he's the only one who can hear it.

Steve does, is the thing. He really does.

But not like this.

“Do you want me to?” he asks, just as soft.

Eddie looks away, silent enough that Steve knows what the answer is without him saying anything.

“People try to make me show it all the time,” Eddie says, a little bitter. “I'm not trustworthy, you know. I'm not honest. I'm just going to screw them over.”

Steve's quiet for a moment, unsure what to say. He doesn't know how to tell him that Steve's never seen him that way, that all those other people are stupid.

Finally, he settles on, “I still haven't asked.”

Eddie turns to look at him again, his eyes gone molten. “No,” he says softly. “You haven't.”

Steve gives a half shrug. “There you go then.”

This is already written, and my plan is to post one part a day until it's all up here!

-----

Part 9

Taglist (always happy to add more to this if anyone wants): @fairytalesreality @lostonceandneverfound @wheneverfeasible @awkwardgravity1 @theintrovertedintrovert @thewickedkat @ravenfrog @scarlet-malfoy @missmagillicuddy @xxfiction-is-my-realityxx @ollyxar @cringe-culture-is-dead-99 @thedragonsaunt @makewavesandwar @cryptid-system @ajeff855 @mae-liz @the-fantastical-asexual @jettestar @warlordess @persnicketysquares @samsoble @my-love-of-books @mydysfunctionallife @dreamercec @holyangelstudentuniverse @breealtair @shunna @xtraordinarally @thatdamnfan @justalittledrainbamage @strangerfolks @disrespectedgoatman @amber-ambience @anxietyfulloption @thepossummoldypasta @irregular-child @th30ra3k3n

[sculien]

please help me save my dogs life.

my dog is suffering right now and i need to get him to the vet asap. his head has started wobbling, he has no balance and his eyes are...messed up. (he's also having a hard time opening his eyes) i know for a fact he has a severe flea allergy, and the house i'm staying at right now had no fleas until the neighbors moved in and we now have a literal infestation. (you can't walk thru this house or outside without having at least 10 fat fleas trying to body slam you) he was on meds for his allergies and was doing fine, but then i became homeless and was moving around too much to be able to work and keep him on it. so i'm pretty sure his immune system is overloaded with allergy attacks.

so i'm looking to raise at least $400, to cover the tests the vet would need to do + his medication. (the medication he absolutely needs is literally $100)

i'm also aware with him being 10 years old, the damage could be done and i might have to get him put down, which is about $200+ for his size.

i've attached a picture of him below under a read more with more info bc he looks a little scary and i don't wanna upset or freak anyone out.

i'm not doing a gofundme or anything similar bc i've heard horror stories of people not getting their money, and this is quite literally a life or death situation and with him being my soul dog, i can't take any chances.

any amount helps us out right now, and if you can't donate, please, please reblog. 💞 please feel free to send me a message if you have any questions about anything!

p.ypal: @/airikah v.nmo: itserij c.shapp: $itserij *my real name and online name are the same, just spelled differently. airi/eri and airikah/erica are all me!

he's had a similar issue with his eyes like this before bc i didn't know he was allergic to fish, and i gave him salmon flavored food and the vet gave me some stuff and he was okay. (i literally had to pry open his eyes for this picture, he's having a hard time opening them)

he also has ptsd (yes, for real) about getting his nails cut so he will NOT let me touch them and i cant risk him hurting himself trying to get away from me right now (or biting me), and its $33 to get it done at his vet and they absolutely need to be cut asap bc i'm also sure thats throwing off his balance.

like i said before the flea stuff i have isnt strong enough to help him, so he's losing more hair and scratching himself bloody even tho i'm giving him a bath every other day. (he also has a skin condition that makes this all 100x more painful for him - the meds that he needs help with that skin condition as well. it also clears his chronic ear infections which is another reason i think he's wobblily and off balance)

[dwobbitfromtheshire]

Part Two to this.

Eddie was about halfway down to Chrissy's house when he came to a stop.

"I don't even know if she's home or if Steve is home and they're not even in the same place, so I can't ask them out at the same time," Eddie said. "I did NOT think this through. . .okay, get them to the same place. . . Get to the same place."

He pulled up in front of Chrissy's house and knocked on the door, hoping she'd answer. He breathed a sigh of relief when she did and not her mother.

"Eddie!" She beamed, showing all of her very cute teeth.

"Steve," he blurted out.

"Steve?" She asked in confusion. "You do know that I'm Chrissy, right?"

"That's not - I mean - Chrissy!" He exclaimed.

"Oh!" Chrissy exclaimed. "Are we finally doing this? Hell yeah! I know the perfect spot!"

She grabbed her jacket and closed the door. Eddie looked at her in surprise and then confusion.

"How do you know? Did the Coin Gods tell you?" Eddie asked.

"What? No. Coin Gods?" Chrissy said. "Are we talking about the same thing?"

"What are you talking about?" Eddie asked.

"The last time we were at Steve's house, and we got high," Chrissy said, and he continued to look at her in confusion. "We talked about killing Andy for attacking Erica."

"What? No!" Eddie exclaimed, shaking his head. "We're not killing Andy."

"Aw," Chrissy said in disappointment.

"But we are going over to Steve’s house. There's something I want to ask you two," Eddie said.

"Okay, I'm always up for spending time with you and Steve," Chrissy grinned.

Eddie giggled, hiding his face behind his hair for a moment. He opened the car door for her, and she hopped in. He let her mess with the radio, smiling as she began dancing in her seat to the music, and drove off. He hadn't even come to a complete stop before Chrissy hopped out and hurried to his door, opening it for him.

"It's only fair," she said, sticking her tongue out at him.

He laughed and hopped out. They walked to Steve’s door and knocked together. Steve opened it and smiled excitedly.

"Oh! Yes, we're definitely going to do this!" Steve exclaimed. "Let me change, I do not want to get anything on these clothes. They're new."

"Don't bother, Steve, we're not killing anyone today," Chrissy said.

"Well, damn," Steve said, and then he smiled again. "Oh, well, I get to see you two. It's still a win."

"There's something that I wanted to ask you both," Eddie said and then paused. "WAIT!"

He ran back to the van and pulled out the flowers. Holding them in both hands, he ran back and held the flowers out to them.

"Ooh, we get flowers," Steve grinned.

"Oh, I love them," Chrissy said as she took hers.

"Me too, no one's ever given me flowers before," Steve blushed and sniffed his.

Eddie stared at them. They looked so beautiful in the sunlight shining through through the trees surrounding Steve’s house. Chrissy, with her strawberry blonde hair shining as bright as her smile. She had cut it short for the summer, so it was framing her face perfectly with the hairs tickling her chin. Her eyes squinted, practically disappearing the more she smiled. Steve’s caramel colored hair was streaked with blonde highlights, contrasting nicely with his tan skin. He and Chrissy had watched him sunbathe over the summer to get the tan just right. What did he come here for again? Oh, right.

"Well?" Eddie asked hopefully.

"You haven't asked us anything yet, Eddie," Chrissy giggled.

"Oh, right! Doyouwanttogooutwithme me?" Eddie asked in a rush.

Steve and Chrissy's smile widened. They shared a look with each before turning to look back at him.

"Yeah," Steve said with a crooked smile.

"We'd love to," Chrissy said.

They moved forward at the same time and kissed his cheeks before pulling back.

"We thought you'd never ask," Steve said.

"I had a hard time deciding between the two of you, and I would still be deciding if it hadn't been for this baby letting me know that it was okay to choose both," Eddie said, pulling out a quarter and told them what happened. "Watch."

He flipped the coin, and they all watched as it fell flat on the ground. Heads up. Eddie scratched his head.

"Didn't El and Erica spend the night at Max's?" Chrissy giggled.

"Oh, Goddamnit! All this over a fucking cookie!" Eddie groaned and then he laughed. "I still win!"

"Hm, I guess technically, you have Max and El to thank for this," Steve said.

"Ugh! Steve!"

The next time that Eddie interacted with Max, he tossed her a coin and thanked her. She didn't get the full story for another two months. It was only fair.

[kymera219]

I've officially posted 30 Teen Wolf fics on A03! Granted this number is probably small potatoes in general, but for being in a Fandom for a little over six months and trying to write around two rambunctious womb nuggets, I feel very accomplished 🤣

Here's a master list of all my Teen Wolf fics in case someone wants to check them out and revel in my joy lol

~STETER~

New Year's Resolution Solution 383 Words

Stiles tries to make a list of New Year's resolutions, but Peter has his own goal in mind

A Familal Present 500 words

Malia gives Peter something unexpected for Christmas (and Stiles surprises them both)

My Furry Little Friend 2,126 words

Stiles gets a new dog....sort of

I'll Always Choose You 615 words

"You....actually chose me?"

The 'no one ever chooses me' went unsaid, but Stiles heard it, and he suddenly had a deep, visceral hatred for anyone that had ever made the older man feel that way.

The Bone Collector 711 words

Peter becomes privy to one of Stiles's more...unusual hobbies

Blood and Bone (You're Everything I Own) 844 words

Stiles and Peter encounter a problem in the preserve which leads to violence...among other things

Curly Fry Conundrum 590 words

Dinnertime with the Stilinski-Hales is never a dull affair

Sleeping with the Fishes 311 Words

Body disposals and grammar lessons...

I'm Fine Until I'm Not 486 words

Stiles is tired of pretending and wishes someone could see he was hurting.

One person does.

Shovel Talk 399 words

Peter gets a late night phone call that changes everything

The Murder Husband Club 275 words

Mason's friends have strange tastes in partners

Seasonal Romance 134 words

Stiles learns something new about Peter

Some Things Are Better Left Unsaid 361 words

Scott gets some news he did not expect to hear...ever.

A Bit of a Mess 175 words

A Steter drabble based on the prompt "In my defense, you left me unsupervised"

Wish We Were Together (Now I Don't Know When I’ll See You) 847 words

Stiles feels like he's finally ready to move on, but he needs a sign from the one person he cares about most before he can

~Sterek~

The Best Part for Me (Is Laying Next to You) 767 words

Stiles is tactile with everyone in the pack but Derek, and the Alpha wants to know why

Hungover and Hung Out 159 words

Stiles drinks a little too much the night before...much to poor Derek's exasperation

Summertime Sadness 370 words

Derek's missing his family traditions so Stiles determines to think of some new ones

Date Night Disaster 268 words

Derek and Stiles finally get some alone time, but what they do with it isn't what anyone expected

Worm Woes 411 words

Stiles is upset, Derek is confused, and Peter is endlessly entertained by the both of them

Don't Touch My Things (That Includes Him) 660 words

Hunters decide to kidnap Derek..

Stiles shows them why that's a bad idea

Sourwolf Karaoke 1,724 words

The pack throws a surprise birthday party for Stiles, and Cora convinces her brother that it's the perfect opportunity to finally reveal his feelings

Eyes on Fire 683 words

Eyes on fire

Your spine is ablaze

Felling any foe with my gaze

~Poly Ships~

Canines and Confectioneries 478 words (Derek/Peter/Stiles)

A slight misunderstanding about werewolf anatomy leads to Stiles having a panic attack about his boyfriends eating habits

Contact Chaos 632 words

(Peter/Deucalion/Stiles)

Hunter's make the mistake of thinking they have the Demon Wolf's son that they can use as leverage.

What they actually have is a lot worse....for them

Christmas Clause-tastrophy 632 words

(Derek/Peter/Stiles)

A drunk Stiles is not always a fun Stiles....at least not for Peter

Spooks, Kooks, and Werewolves Oh My 1,864 words

(Peter/Stiles/Chris)

While on their honeymoon, Stiles thinks it's a good idea to prove to Chris and Peter that ghosts are real

They get more than they bargained for

Scents & Sensuality 970 words

(Peter/Stiles/Erica)

Peter finds something unexpected after he comes back from the dead

Crack in the Glass 660 words

(Derek/Peter/Stiles)

Scott's lack of faith in Stiles leads to him getting kidnapped...but luckily there are still two people that are on his side

~Other TW Ships~

Just a Shirt 207 words

(Stiles/Allison)

Scott notices Allison wearing a familiar piece of clothing

[teencopandthesourwolf]

FUCK IT FRIDAY

i was tagged by the lovely @demonicfaerie (thanks, fae!) to share a current WIP so here's some of a mild blood kink slash beta shift derek slash frotting in the forest PWP kind of fic. it has the terribly imaginative working title of 'BLOODY MONSTER FUCKER STILES FULL MOON FIC' lmao.

this excerpt is SFW.

.

It's a balmy Tuesday evening in April when Derek realises he wants to taste Stiles's blood.

The notion comes to him not as some strange intrusive thought, or a guilty dream, or Anne Rice-induced moment of madness, but at the first scent and sight of it trickling down pale wrist bone and two large knuckles, to then drip from the tips of the boy's spider leg fingers.

Having neutralised the threat of what they thought might be a Vigilantes Oscuros but actually turned out to be a rogue Nagual, and once Derek satisfies himself by checking over and scenting the rest of the pack who are thankfully all mostly unscathed, he stalks over to where Stiles is standing, his chest heaving with the aftermath of their victory.

“Hey, big guy, d'you wanna—”

He trails off when Derek takes the bleeding arm in both of his hands. He lifts Stiles's shirt sleeve and—sighing with relief at the injury being merely a flesh wound—begins to syphon off most of Stiles's pain.

Stiles answers by sighing his own breath of relief.

Derek hesitates, for one thrilling moment, before he's opening his mouth—only to quickly close it again as he clamps it around the sticky mess of Stiles's skin, Alpha-gaze never leaving big, brown Bambi eyes shining with the godly reflection of a full moon.

Stiles's mouth forms an ‘O’ shape and, surprisingly, the only other thing he has to offer Derek is an uncharacteristically quiet and breathy “Oh.” Derek boldly takes it as permission to start sucking at Stiles's skin with wild abandon, delighting at the gooey texture and unique flavour of the blood overwhelming his tongue and taste buds and feelings.

It's all at once that he hears Isaac’s wolf-whistle and Scott's, “Ew!” and Allison's, “Um?” and Lydia's, “Told you,” that she aims at Jackson, who just scoffs, and Derek doesn't need to be looking at Boyd to know that Boyd is looking at Erica to try and convince her not to say, “You owe me twenty dollars, babe,” smug as all fuck, which she obviously says anyway.

Derek growls, loud enough to feel Stiles's trembling in his teeth and for the rest of the gossipy pack to shuffle off through the trees before Derek can threaten to make them shuffle off this mortal coil if they don't.

Stiles's ever-sharp eyes—which had been darting faster than the dragonflies buzzing down by the lake, his gaze landing on one wolf, and then the next, as Derek's irritating pack let their irritating thoughts on the situation be irritatingly known—now find their way back to Derek's.

Derek is watching Stiles carefully. He's transfixed, actually, has been for the entirety of the exchange. Honestly, he doesn't think he could look away if he tried.

Bronze eyes blown wide, Stiles now licks at unbearably pink lips, slowly, his cheeks doing their best to match the hue.

Taking the action for what he hopes it is, Derek starts to suckle at the boy's skin some more, sampling his prize. After a moment he pauses, to swallow down the pool of tangy red gathered underneath his tongue.

Then he knows, deliciously knows, that Stiles's treacly blood tastes of sodium and iron, yes, but also like fresh earth and morning dew drops and mine.

Noticing that the kid's heart has picked up the pace to a speed even more Springbok than usual, Derek releases the vacuum of his claret-tinged lips with a resonating pop. The sound echoes defiantly around the small glade in the northern part of the preserve they're standing in, and Derek's wants to prance and preen.

The moon sings to him as he waits, impatiently, preparing to be challenged on what the human likely thinks of as shockingly beastly behaviour.

Only Stiles doesn't challenge it.

He doesn't say anything at all, weirdly, opting instead to brutally gnaw some more on that unbearably plump bottom lip, shiny eyes misting over as his chemo-signals spike and morph into something smoky-sweet, something that reminds Derek of incense and trailing mandevilla and sex.

Derek's vision shudders for a beat as his synapses fire ten to the dozen, causing his eyes to flash impossibly redder than red, the glare from them illuminating Stiles's elfin features in the gloom.

He looks, and feels, like magick.

With mouth watering and gums tingling, Derek perceives Stiles's inaction to mean he's maybe allowed to do the thing he really fucking wants to. Thinking fuck it, he decides to try his luck.

He hesitantly starts to lick, cleaning up the scarlet streaks staining Stiles's milky skin.

The boy's mouth falls open for a breathy sound to punch its way out of what Derek is now considering an incredibly biteable throat, and he smells only of pure desire.

Emboldened by these things, Derek starts lapping away in earnest at the trails of spilt blood, in long and deliberate strokes, flattened tongue running up and down, up and down, washing clean lean muscle and dark hair and those pretty peppered moles, and warming the cold pebbles of Stiles's gooseflesh as he goes.

Stiles keeps trying to swallow down the saliva Derek can hear flooding his mouth, his breath hitching and hiccuping with each lick.

Derek's mouth doesn't form an ‘O’ shape. Instead, his mind flickers with alluring and morish images as his animal instinct wills him to flop bonelessly into the scrub and roll around in the dirt and howl, howl, howl, all wild and feral and fierce. His nature is urging him for more; pleading with him to try; begging him to cry out his wants and desires to lead Stiles into the deep, dark indigo of the creeping night where Derek is most at home.

He's really not sure why, but for once in his woefully shitty life Derek just allows himself to agree with the voice saying fuck it in his head, and do exactly that.

So he howls, howls as he breaks the bones of dusk and selfishly and gleefully drags the sheriff's son down onto the damp, ash-laden ground of his dead family's land.

And Stiles—for all of his usual brashness and caustic pride—lets him.

.

(tags beneath the cut, play or nay. anybody else who wants to do the thing, pls just consider yourself tagged and have at it!)

@shealynn88 @novemberhush @greyhavenisback @raisesomehale @princecharmingwinks @ohhalefire @blue-eyedbeta @angela-feelstoomuch @evanesdust @jmeelee @thebigoblin @hedwig221b @isthatbloodonhisshirt

[bitegore]

If you somehow guessed this, I'm impressed, because it's a weird orthagonal solution that this character doesn't arrive at until they're a few planets in already. Our guy the Watcher (the character who does this) is connected; we've got influences. We've got whole systems tied up with us. We know the game. But this is a new setup and a really good one... if and only if you know you can make it happen in the first place. 

You don't need to play god if you can play force-of-nature instead. Imagine asking people to live without, like, the sun. Or like, electricity. Who on earth would pass that up? 

You don't need to embed yourself that deeply, either. What is a contract but a request between two people that both of them fulfill the letter of their obligations? And what is your ability, but to make sure whatever someone asks you comes true? 

You set up shop on a sparsely-populated planet, sparsely populated enough that no one will quite remember if the laws of nature change between one day and the next. And then you make yourself into a law of nature. You let a handful of people know you're a person, but this is skirting legality enough that until you're properly entrenched it's best to play from the shadows, so you mostly let them handle interfacing between you and the broader population. And instead of demanding power by demanding power, you quietly start guaranteeing every single agreement written and signed on-planet goes to you for cursory approval, and then you just quietly start making it happen. 

Within one year, nothing has changed. WIthin ten, naturally, people realize if they sign agreements on your planet they're unbreakable. Within a hundred? Two hundred?

And if someone suggests taking you away, no one on your planet will ever stand for it. 

Let me pose a thought experiment to you.

You are a powerful reality-warper who has the ability to rearrange matter to suit your needs, change living people from one form to another, turn water into wine and wine into water, and yourself into whatever you need. You don't interact directly with the world at large, but what you do is close enough to interacting with it that you can speak to others, and they can speak to you. You can, essentially, do anything you want - with one condition. You can only do to someone what they've expressly asked you for, a limitation you haven't always had but are now powerfully bound by.

You want Ultimate Power™.

There are only a few ways to get it, because using magic to conjure your way into power is frowned upon for political expedience in the broader galaxy, and there are more than enough people hitting above your weight class that you can't just waltz in, use some illusion to make it seem like everyone has to agree with your whims, and walk out with Ultimate Power™. You'll get thrown into the Space Hague in like, five minutes, if someone doesn't outright kill you for the insolence. Not everyone can shake it off, but enough people can, when you're getting into the realms of Ultimate Power™.

Similar laws govern the legality of using your powers to rig elections and semi-legally get you involved in the political arenas that get you involved in Near-Ultimate Power (which is, natch, good enough for you). You can't do that either.

If you really want Ultimate Power™, you have to work with a coalition, which is true of basically everyone after Ultimate Power™. This isn't the end of the world. Having a coalition working for Mutual Ultimate Powers™ means that you guys can all share in the spoils, once you have them. The problem is still having them. Even working together, it's still difficult to successfully grab and hold power, isn't it?

There are very few ways to take power, and doing it legitimately is a sucker's game. The only accessible pathway to true power is through building a majority party that will acquiesce to your demands within a pre-existing intergalactic governing body of planetary and planet-system governments (we'll call it the Inter-Galactic Senate, ISG for short; this is backstage so no names are set in stone). Representatives in the ISG get their votes for each member state they represesnt. You want to gain position in the ISG by being "elected" as a representative. You can be the representative for multiple planets or planetary systems, but pretty much every member so far is already spoken for.

The obvious move is to find a non-member planet with aliens on it and convince them to elect you their ISG representative. Or, you know, "convince", and, you know, "elect". Heh heh. Whatever gets you your Ultimate Power™.

And naturally - the more the merrier. Every planet you can pull under your sway gets you a little closer to the goal.

Any overt use of your magic to force your way into power will still get you tossed into the Space Hague.

You have essentially-unlimited interpersonal resources, including strings to pull for mercenaries, aid, and organizations. You have all the time in the world.

There are only two conditions.

You cannot appear "evil" (no force-backed dictatorships beating votes in favor out of people)

These people must not only back you at exactly the right moment, but every other time they're called upon, they must always stay in support of you.

What do you do?

[chasingstardustandmoonbeams]

Once More (I)

A/N: This will be labor or love, truly. I'd like to thank Palm Springs and that one episode of Agents of Shield for helping with some of the science. Yes, I am making a playlist for the ambitious fic. No, I don't know how long it will be. Enjoy the ride.

Words: 1.7k

Warnings: None (unless you want to count me working on this as I go with only 10% of a plan and minimal proof reading).

Description: It was almost maddening. Repeating the same day over and over again. Waking, dying, waking, on and on again until you nearly spiraled. Or at least you would have if it wasn't for him. There was no one you could turn to outside of each other. You had only yourself, him, and the endless loop that trapped you both.

Gif taken from (x)

Soundtrack to the fic

Your heart was racing, adrenaline coursing through you as you ran. Not again. Not this time. It wouldn’t happen again - you wouldn’t let it. This had to end and it had to end now. 

You turned a corner and made your way to the turbolift. Spock stood tall - his eyes solely on you. 

“Together?” He said simply, his eyes taking in your face. 

“Together,” you repeated. You stood in front of him now, both your hands over the comm panel. Your fingers brushed against each other, Spock took a step closer towards you. 

Neither of you looked away as you both pushed down. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

“You can’t be serious!” 

“Oh, dead serious,” Erica smirked proudly. Her smile only grew at Uhura’s look of disbelief. 

“There is no way you won five times in a row,” Uhura slumped back in her seat. 

“I warned you not to play with her,” you added, smirking into your drink. Uhura merely huffed in response. “I lost three rounds of poker to her before I figured it out,” you laughed before Erica nudged you with her elbow.

“Learned what?” Uhura questioned, her accusing expression directed at Erica. 

“Nothing. There was nothing to learn!” Erica crossed her arms across her chest trying her best not to look guilty. 

Downing the rest of your drink, you got up from your seat. It had been a long day on the engineering deck. It had been one strange anomaly reading after the other. You weren’t sure what was causing it - every time you thought you were getting close, it disappeared. 

The enterprise was nearing uncharted territory. As far as you were concerned there had been no problems reported. But something had caused the peculiar readings. 

It wasn’t a big deal. Captain would have notified engineering if it was. Or a science officer would have reached out. Spock most likely. He never missed anything. 

“You can’t be leaving already,” Uhura stated, Erica mirroring her surprise. 

You let out a sigh, “Long day. Weird day.” You picked your data pad off of the table, holding it loosely in your left hand. 

“Weird?” Erica leaned forward in her seat. “That’s, like, almost everyday here. You gotta be more specific.”

“We had some strange readings today - I couldn’t pinpoint it,” you paused looking at both Uhura and Erica, “There wasn’t anything strange going on today on the bridge was there?”

They both shook their heads no. 

“I mean,” Erica paused thoughtfully, “There was this… storm, I guess? Nothing completely out of the ordinary. Sensors didn’t pick up anything significant.”

“I wouldn’t worry about it,” Uhura said. Leaning back in her chair. “Go rest up, take it easy,” she smiled up at you. 

You smiled warmly at them both before making your way out of the mess hall. Your mind still drifting back to the strange readings from earlier. Uhura was right, you should let it go- but you couldn’t. 

Making your way to the turbolift, you were surprised to see Spock already occupying the space. 

“Lieutenant L/N,” he stated, nodding curtly at you. 

“Lieutenant Spock,” you smiled, stepping inside. “Engineering,” you said passively, the turbolift starting up. 

There was a beat before Spock’s voice filled the turbolift. “I was not aware you changed to beta shift.” 

“I didn’t,” you glanced at him, his expression blank save the quirk of his eyebrow. “I thought I’d check on the warp core one more time. There was something odd about the readings today.” 

You shifted your weight as you chanced another glance at Spock. 

He gave you his full attention now, “I too discovered irregular readings.” He looked down at you curiously. “What did you-”

The both of you were jostled as the turbo lift immediately stopped. Spock’s hands held you steady at the waist before letting you go. 

Your hands reached out for the console when the turbolift dropped down a level. 

“What is going on?” you gritted out, your hands quickly moving over the control panel to try and figure out what was happening. It looked like the power was being diverted. You weren’t sure why. Nothing prior to this would account for the ship needing to conserve power. Maybe-

“It appears that power is being diverted to essential ship functions,” Spock stated over your shoulder. 

“I hadn’t thought of that,” you said sarcastically as you popped open the panel. 

“I am surprised that, as assistant chief engineer, you had not come to that conclusion.” 

You let out a sigh before turning to look briefly at Spock, “I had thought of it.” 

Spock titled his head to the side, “You just stated -” 

“Spock. I was being sarcastic. I just - I need to get a better look at this. I might have to get access through the roof.” 

You knew you were being a bit short with him, you couldn’t help it. The whole situation made you anxious. Something about this didn’t seem right. It was all off. The only calming presence was Spock, always logical and reassuring. 

“Lieutenant, I would not recommend attempting to exit the turbolift. If the power -” 

“I know the risks, Spock, but what else are we going to do?” You turned to look at him now. “The comms aren’t working and my data pad isn’t getting any messages out.” 

You tried your best to breathe, to calm your thoughts. Everything was going to be fine. You both were going to be fine. 

Spock gave you a long assessing look before he nodded in agreement. 

“Will you help me up?” You asked, readying yourself to be lifted. Spock wordlessly lifted you. You worked quickly to try and remove the roof paneling when the turbolift jolted once more. Despite Spock's firm on you, the quick jostling caused your bodies to be thrown. 

Your head hit the side of the turbolift with a sickening thud. Pain radiated through you - your vision getting blurry. Warmth spread down the side of your face. Unable to move your body you could only assume you were bleeding from the impact. You tried unsuccessfully to keep your eyes open, but you couldn’t. 

Spock’s hands cradled your head as your eyes closed. Faintly, you could feel him resting your head in his lap. 

“Lieutenant,” he called out to you, “L/N”, he tried once more but the pain was beginning to dull until you felt nothing at all. “Y/N, you need to stay awake. Help will come. Don’t fall asleep, you have lost too much blood.” 

If you didn’t know any better you might have heard the worried tone in his voice. 

The turbolift dropped once more, rapidly descending in a way you knew both of you wouldn’t survive. Spock leaned down, trying his best to shield your body. 

The last thing you could recall was a light so bright that it nearly blinded you despite your eyes being closed, the sickening feeling of free fall, and Spock’s warm body holding you close. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

You awoke with a gasp. Sweat covered your body as you sat up in your bed. You rubbed your hands over your face. The dream, if you could even call it that, had been the most intense thing you had ever experienced. 

Absentmindedly, you found your hand reaching for the back of your head. There was no pain - yet you could almost feel the phantom ache. Shaking yourself from your dream, you got up and got ready for the day. Your engineering shift would be starting soon. 

Straightening out your red shirt, you made your way to the turbolift. You couldn’t help but feel a sense of deja vu. 

“Engineering,” you stated, waiting as the turbolift took you to your destination. You found yourself anxious. You couldn't figure out why. The dream was just a dream - nothing more. 

The doors of the turbolift opened and you walked to your station. Commander Pelia gave you a warm smile as before she continued work on her data pad. 

You began your routine scans when you noticed the same anomaly - the one from your dream. You stood gaping at your scanners. 

“Everything alright, Lieutenant?” Commander Pelia asked you. 

Before you could answer, the anomaly disappeared as quickly as it came. “No- yes. Yes, everything is fine.” 

It was fine, wasn’t it?

The rest of your day went by in a blur. Conversations, scans, everything repeated itself from your dream. It wasn’t possible. There was no way, unless…unless…

In an almost daze you found yourself in the mess hall. Erica and Uhura were already seated playing cards. 

“You can’t be serious!” 

You stopped dead in your tracks. 

“Oh, dead serious,” Erica smirked proudly. 

“There is no way you won five times in a row,” Uhura slumped back in her seat. 

No. 

No. It couldn’t be possible. 

“Y/N? You okay?” Erica was giving you a concerned look. Uhura was already out of her chair making her way towards you. She took you by the elbow and led you to the empty chair at their table. 

“Y/N?”

You blinked roughly, your eyes snapping to Erica. “Was there…was there some type of storm today?”

“Uh, yeah actually. Couldn’t really figure out what it was. Scanners didn’t pick anything up.” 

“I have to go,” you said quickly, rushing out of the mess hall. You ignored their calls of concern. 

You bumped into La’an as you rounded the corner to the turbolift. You mumbled an apology, not waiting for a response. 

The turbolift opened. Spock stood in the entryway, his expression nearly unreadable. His eyes frantically looked over your face, his eyes lingering on where you hit your head in your dream. 

“It wasn’t a dream was it?” you whispered, slowly entering the turbolift. 

“No,” he replied. His eyes not leaving yours. “I believe we are experiencing the events of yesterday again.” 

“No one else remembers,” you paused, “Why do we-” 

The turbolift jolted. Your frantic eyes met Spock once more. 

“The anomaly. I believe that whatever is causing the abnormal readings is triggering-” 

Spock caught you as you jolted forward into his chest, the turbolift dropping a level. Not again, not again. 

You took a deep breath, “I still couldn’t pinpoint the readings. Every time I get close, it disappears. It-” 

The turbolift began its rapid descent. Spock held onto your arms tightly, your eyes only on each other. 

“Find me sooner,” you said as the white light engulfed you both. The warmth of Spock's hands on your arms the only sensation you focused on as you both plummeted into the abyss.

[stevefromupsidedown]

Façade — Pt, four : the four chimes • steve harrington x fem!reader

synopsis: it's time for.. what exactly? warnings: fem!reader with she/her pronouns, deaths, blood, gore and violence, references to mental health issues and low self esteem, very heavy on the angst, very little comfort, basically reader's the worst pessimist, very introspeetive, references to sexual themes, 18+ ONLY, (overall warnings for the series, read at your own risk, don't make it my problem) This material is @takemetothelakes-poets' property

PT, FIVE | SERIES MASTERLIST | CHAPTER PLAYLIST

“Steve, she’s not waking up!,” she screamed in panic as she shook Nancy, holding her arms in her hands, her voice trembling and her eyes widened in worry, she looked at Steve, desperate.

From Eddie’s living room in the Upside Down he stood under the gate, “We can’t leave her here, guys, hurry! We need some music quickly!” 

They heard quick movements, Erica, Eddie and Robin yelling, they exchanged places, Steve cupping Nancy cheeks in hopes to gently shake her awake, while she paced under the gate, hands almost scraping her scalp off.

“Nancy, c’mon come back to us, now!”

His hands moved from her cheeks from her shoulders, just like she had earlier, he tried to shake her, whispered her name so low only the three of them could hear.  In a minuscule moment she could see a single tear run down his cheek, his eyes met her rapidly as she paced impatiently.

“We need to think of something else, I don't think Eddie has anything she listens to.”

“Like what?” 

Steve put himself at Nancy’s level, his eyes staring at her rolled back white eyes, repeating her name in a shaky voice as his hands frantically shook her arms. She was pacing behind him, thinking, wheels spinning behind her eyes, rubbing her face in frustration. 

“Something’s wrong, it’s not like when Max was in there,” Steve whispered softly, his body retreating back a bit, a frown on his face, he was opening his mouth to continue but Nancy suddenly came back to reality in a gasp, big frightened eyes. She was out of breath, and lost balance in Steve’s arms. 

He whispered words of comfort as he laid her on the mattress delicately.  She closed her eyes and caught her breath, while she was in the back, her frightened eyes and the stiffness of her body was concerning to her. What could she possibly have seen that could be so terrible her body had a visceral reaction to fear? What happened? 

Nancy got up, she muttered something she didn’t get, and went for the rope, Steve helping her. 

When she landed on the mattress, Steve let out a shaky breath of relief, and turned to her but she cut him off, retreating back to let him go first.

He frowned, but obliged, he didn’t want to make a fuss, so he approached the rope and pulled himself up, grunting from the pain he felt from his bandaged sides. He was certain it would bleed again, but what other chance did he have?

He landed on the mattress in a swift motion, a small wince stuck in his closed mouth as Eddie helped him up.

When it was clear to go she gripped the rope in her hands, and with a loud exhale she pulled herself up, and gosh did it hurt.   

She hung onto the rope tightly, and pulled herself up, ignoring the pain, the soreness and aching of her muscles. She felt the gravity of the Upside Down pulling her down when she went through the gate. 

Hawkins’ gravity was also pulling her down but she was upside down, in the middle of it she literally felt torn between the two places’ gravity. Yeah, that shit could mess up with anyone’s head. She let go of the rope and let herself fall on the mattress.

“Shit,” she muttered as she fell on her ass in a swift motion, “that’s kinda fun.”

Eddie and Steve both got down, a smile on the metalhead’s lips as their hands enrolled under her armpits, and pulled her towards them.

Dustin hadn’t fully realised it, but once he acknowledged her in Eddie’s living room, with all of them involved in the Upside Down business, it’s like she had come from nowhere, he frowned, “Hang on a minute, what are you doing here? Coming from there?” 

“Huh, it's—complicated. I got myself stranded in the Upside Down for three days, then found them and.. well.. here I am,” she admitted as she let go of each of their hands, an unconscious thought made her hand move to her side that hurt as Dustin kept going.

“I’m sorry, what? How?”

“I went through one of the gates, on my way in Hawkins, um— where Fred was killed, and.. well, I found them when they got stranded too. It’s a really long story Dustin and I’m afraid we may not have time for that right now,” her eyes followed Nancy as she was leaning on the wall, a hand pressed around the side of her face in.. anxiety? Uneasiness? She was difficult to read.

“Nancy, are you okay?” 

“Yeah, I just—… I need a minute,” Nancy whispered, a straight line appeared quickly on her lips as an attempt to smile, but it was replaced by a sombre frown. 

Dustin silently agreed on not commenting furthermore, everyone chose not to note that they knew each other before, it wasn’t that important, but, everyone did agree on leaving Eddie’s trailer for Max’s. 

The silence was getting thick, uncomfortable, only Nance spoke, explaining what she saw in her trance per Steve’s request. To put it quickly, the destruction of Hawkins, the literal End of the World, the original gates destroying the earth to form four branches of the gate, big enough to let monsters pass through easily, everywhere in the city. Families torn apart, dead. Fire, pain, so much blood. 

It almost gave her a new wave of nausea, all this chaos was like the Upside Down but multiplied. It was such a nightmare. A terrible, dreadful nightmare. 

And while Nancy was determined to end it all and go back, Steve and Eddie were protesting, Dustin was topping Nancy’s idea, to which, Robin added some more protests. Max, Lucas and Erica were listening to the arguments thrown at everyone’s faces. 

Soon enough the living room was full of voices trying to have the last word, she silently grew more tired of it, the headache brewing stronger from everything that's happened thus far when suddenly a new thought appeared wildly in her brain: was she really part of this group?  Would her opinion be listened to? 

Sat in between Lucas and the end of the couch, she let her back fall deeper into the back, her eyes met Max’s more than once and it appeared clear to her that the teenager wanted nothing more than to say something but wouldn't dare to. 

With the realisation that she wasn't the only one not daring to speak her mind, her eyes fell on Nancy and Steve arguing on going back to the Upside Down, she heard Nancy say something about needing to go back in a matter of hours sent goosebumps of terror to her body.

With her fingers rubbing the downfall of the events from her face away, she heard her own voice speak up, “Excuse me, Nancy, but no. There’s no way. We barely made it alive. It’s suicide! We did not just survive to tempt death once again. No!”

The young woman turned to face her, as she was about to counter, but she cut her off, “Actually, I survived there for three days. I got myself strangled, bitten off, hunted down and not to do it again. I haven’t add a proper shower, meal and sleep in almost four fucking days. So, marinate your idea, think it through, but we’re not doing that today.” 

“We all need some rest, and it’s the middle of the night, let’s shower, eat, sleep and tomorrow morning we’ll be in a better mindset to think it through. Meanwhile, Max, is it?— can keep holding onto Kate Bush for one more night, what do you think?,” She said as her eyes moved slightly towards the redhead, then Nancy, awaiting her response, clearly she wasn't thrilled but she knew she was right.

“Fine, but we’re not leaving anyone alone,” the two locked eye contact, she was unsure what to read in Nancy’s eyes, and Steve interrupted.

“Okay, how are we doing that? My car is at your place and your’s is alongside the forest to the lake! And whose house are we barging in?” Steve asked.

“Mine, my parents are not home, they rarely are plus it’s closer than your house, Steve.” 

And I don't want the memory of us in that house but she refrained from saying it out loud, and kept going through a tight throat, “My car’s not far. I can drive you to Nancy’s car to get the second group,” she thought aloud, Nancy nodded, they both left with Dustin, Steve and Eddie towards her car through the woods behind the trailer park. Where Fred had gone. 

Quickly they reached the car and she realised she lost the keys in the Upside Down, that is until Eddie showed one of his hidden talents, lock-picking and jump-started the car. 

They drove to where Nancy had left her car, she quickly left to retrieve her vehicle, Dustin had called shotgun to sit in the front seat and wasn't stopped by either young men who rolled their eyes at the teenager.

Both cars started and Nancy pulled away to follow the trailer park’s road while she drove away to her house, silence filled the vehicule.

Her eyes met Steve’s a few times in the rearview mirror, but she never said much. Once she was parked in front of her house she took the spare key from a hidden stone in the garden and opened the front door.

After washing their hands —the Upside Down was such a nasty place—, she asked Eddie and Dustin to look for spare sleeping bags in the garage and for Steve to follow her to the guests’ bedroom to grab extra pillows and blankets for the sleeping bags. 

Steve awkwardly stood beside her, taking whatever she was handing him without a word, even though he really wanted to say something, anything, but where to begin? So he stayed quiet, offered a tight lipped smile and followed her directives.

Nancy, Robin, Max, Lucas and Erica arrived as Eddie and Steve had left to shower quickly, spare clothes in hands.

Eddie had taken her parents' bathroom so Steve had taken the direction of her bedroom and the place was insanely familiar, nothing had changed, except all the polaroids she had taken of them— all gone.

He was taken back to all the moments they spent in her bedroom, and the last one to date had such strong mixed feelings, he almost felt.. unsafe ? 

He was unable to move at first, too taken back by his mistakes, his head hung low as his eyes were stuck on the bed they had shared, he could remember the giggles, the soft touches, the kisses, the moans, he felt himself gripping tighter the clothes in his hands, until all memories were evaporated by the sound of the door opening and her frame appeared.

Hand on the doorknob, she stopped dead in her tracks and their eyes met, unable to form a coherent sentence, he cleared his throat, his Adam apple throbbing. He left to her bathroom, teary eyed.

Fingers twitching the doorknob nervously, her eyes closed in shame. Steve’s presence in her room, given the nature of their past relationship, and whatever was left, gave her such a bittersweet taste in the back of her mouth, she was so shameful. 

The sound of the water running and the clutter of teenagers navigating in her house brought her back to reality, then Eddie’s voice followed. 

She reassured him that she was alright and quietly asked him to start on making food for everyone, he nodded and offered a tiny smile as he called for Robin to follow up in the bathroom.

She heard the movements in the kitchen and walked to her parents’ room to grab the emergency medical supplies his father had stacked there, only taking what she needed for both Steve and her. 

She retreats back to her bedroom, Steve's still in the shower, she puts away what she needs to make their dressings and lazily looks for oversized clothes.

As she tries to get her shirt off, she realises the task may be harder than expected, her wounds so stiff and tight on her skin she has no choice but to stretch the wounds.. and that hurts like a bitch.

She tries her hardest to be as quiet as possible, she merely forgets Steve’s in the bathroom until she hears the bathroom door open and he’s facing her bare back, riddled with bruises, scabs, dried blood.

Some bruises have a weird shape and shade to them, which makes Steve immediately feel guilty because this is exactly what he wanted to avoid.

She turns around, only in her bra, her shirt left in her arms as she was getting rid of it, the makeshift bandage around her stomach, him shirtless that's showing every cut, abrasions and biting he endured. It feels surreal.

The tearful look he gives her immediately hurts her, she sees in his eyes the sort of pity she profoundly hates, without a word she lets her shirt fall on the ground, trying her hardest to remain calm, she misunderstands his facial reactions and he can see that. 

Her shoulders fell, her eyebrows slightly scrunched together, she was trapped in her head in waves and waves of misunderstanding and hurt; he did something that surprised him at first, but after some thought, it only felt normal. 

He closed the distance between them and immediately took her in his arms, circling her shoulders, holding her softly to not make it worse for her. What surprised him more was that she had immediately circled his waist too, palms sprayed out in the less wounded parts of his back. 

No words were spoken, it was unnecessary, only their warmth spoke for themselves. His lips ghosting her forehead, he sensed she was crying softly by the droplets falling on his chest and the rhythm of her shaking body.

He let himself succumb to his emotions, tears falling freely and joining hers’, whispering in a low voice, only for her to hear, “I’m so sorry.” 

They stayed quiet, hadn't dared to leave eachother’s arms, until they heard Robin shouting for Nancy to shower, and they were suddenly made aware of their surroundings.

With one last teary eyed look she took her clothes and headed towards the bathroom, Steve sat down, trying to sort his thoughts, surrounded by all the souvenirs of them.

She didn’t waste a minute to get undressed, she could almost feel all the dirt stuck on her skin, and now that she was facing her naked body in the mirror, she could see everything.

The dirt, the bruises, small cuts, dried blood. The worst was the wound under the makeshift bandage, the skin was so tight she wouldn't be able to remove it unless it was soaking wet.

She watched the dirt wash down the drain, the foam running clearer, she decided to get rid of the bandage when it felt heavy, soaking wet, and the scab underneath, softer. 

She untied the knot and slowly peeled it off with some of the softened scab, she winced and let out a pained moan. She threw the bandage on the cold tiles, fresh blood running on her leg to the water. 

She cut the water and stepped out, hurried to grab a gauze she had prepared to stop the bleeding, she took slow and steady breath as she put pressure on it, her eyes accidentally drifted to the mirror, and she looked at what her body now looked like. 

She felt the bruises from the aching of her muscles, the soreness of her skin, small cuts almost everywhere, and the wound on her side. She was torn between pride and disgust. 

Pride because she had survived alone without any knowledge of the place, the creatures, and she made it, but she also felt disgusted by her reflection, so much so that she put a towel on the mirror to cover it, her fingers uneasy, partially bloody.

She removed the gauze once she had put on a comfortable bralette, letting the wound out in the open as she finished drying herself off and put on her clothes except for the shirt as she needed to do her dressing. Leaving her damp hair to dry off on its own. Brushing her teeth felt like heaven, finally being able to get rid of the disgusting taste in her mouth.

She left her bathroom and was met with Steve’s face looking her way as she stepped around her room, he was patiently waiting, he had taken the medical supplies needed and had brought them to her bed.

In some silent understanding, he lied down and she started on his wounds, cleaning it with saline and soap, wrapped them up in clean dressings and bandaged it all up across his waist, all in complete silence, or with gentle apologies whenever she hurt him.  Focus written on her face, he couldn’t stop staring at her, she was so precise and attentive. 

“Where did you learn all of this?” he whispered softly, as he watched her work around his waist. 

“I did tell you I was in Indianapolis for Community College, but what I left out is I’m in a paramedical course, I… hope to be a nurse. I went through the First Aid Advanced Training.”

“That's— I can see it. The caretaker side of you.”

Their eyes briefly met, but she didn't answer, she didn't know what to feel about this. She watched him rise from the bed to put on his shirt, his movements slowing to pass his head through, she watched his eyes shut tightly, his eyebrows scrunching for a few seconds at the pain.

She expected him to leave but he stayed closer, his eyes on her wound on the right side of her stomach, uneasiness growing deeper in the pit of her stomach, “You’re all good, you—..”  

 “Let me help you,” he interrupted her, she tried to ease her breathing, anxiety eating at her senses, feeling her ribcage getting tighter by his prolonged presence, “I can do it, it’s fine.” 

“I know you can. I want to help you—” he started as their eyes locked, sincere eyes just staring at her, “—just tell me what to do.” 

She nodded slowly, a bit struck by his demand, “Okay,” she murmured as he sat back down, she aligned her body to his, hesitantly stepping further until they were closer so that he was at an arm's distance from her.

She guided him step by step, wincing silently, her eyes closed and tightly shut when in pain, ignoring the way his eyes drifted towards her face here and there, her left hand would rest on his shoulder to help her standing still.

Just like her, he was attentive to her guidance, muttering soft apologies as he cleaned the wound. Wrapped up and bandaged; his fingertips tenderly longed on the bruises above her waist and the bandage, the pads of his fingers tickling her skin.

He took the shirt she had left on the bed and handed it to her, slowly she put it on, cursing mentally at the pain driving her senses crazy.

He watched the pain shut her eyes and jaw close, her breathing stopped momentarily, instinctively his fingers approached and fell on her knee, as if touching her would distract her or show his compassion.

She exhaled as she opened her eyes, and his fingers left to rub the sweatpants he had been given, his eyes looked up to her. In the most delicate voice, he said, “I mean it.. what I said earlier.. I am sorry.” 

She inhaled deeply, bracing herself for the conversation they're about to have, “I know you are, Steve.” 

He thought that this was it, there's nothing more he can say to make things better, because he cannot offer more explanations or excuses, he looked down at his hands on her skin, his eyebrows slightly scrunched together.

“I understand where you're coming from, and I understand your intentions were not to hurt me, but it did, and I don't know.. it’s all so.. it's all so much. I don't even feel like myself anymore.. I just..— I just don't know anything anymore.” 

He nodded slowly, at a loss for words he didn't know what to say, perhaps he was the one who could understand her the best, having been through it too, “I just hope you know you can count on me, I’m not— I’m choosing not to leave you behind so if you’ll allow it, I’ll be by your side, in whatever way you need me to be.” 

His eyes were so intense it sent her body to overdrive, seating next to him, their eyes never left each other's, her hand grabbed his and messily tightened her fingers over the back of his hand, “Thank you.” 

Their eyes spoke for themselves, both on the edge of crying as Steve's lips quivered, they were interrupted quite abruptly by Eddie’s voice screaming from the kitchen that they could come down to eat.

Their moment killed by the metalhead, they rose from the bed at the same time and with a final mutual understanding through their eyes and a tiny smile on their lips, they descended down and met everyone else already munching on some mac and cheese and peanut butter sandwiches they had made. 

While they ate Dustin had asked more details about her walkabouts in the Upside Down, so she told them what happened, but was pretty elusive with it overall, she had no desire to live those events all over again, and the looks on their faces was another motivation to omit some of it.

The sorry eyes she could see on Max’s face was something she profoundly hated, and the admirative energy in Dustin’s words was something she felt unworthy of, with no energy in her being she simply shrugged and managed to shift the conversation elsewhere. 

She was quiet and pretty absent for the remaining time before she left to her bedroom to sleep, being evidently exhausted, the others did the dishes and separated to rest as well.

Engulfed in her blankets she could hear the teenagers debating on who would take which corner of the room, but it all quickly stopped when Eddie interrupted them by reminding them they weren’t on fucking holidays to enjoy themselves like this being so noisy.

It made her smile before falling asleep quite shortly as she heard more noise coming upstairs and Steve peeked in her room to make sure she was alright before walking back downstairs and taking his blanket to lie on the couch, soon enough everyone was fast asleep.

 Windows covered in mist, the room was so warm she almost felt her own body melting in the hot water. The room was softly lit by the candles burning not far from them, the light smell of them created an amorous atmosphere. 

She could almost feel at peace, like she could sleep in his arms in this hot bath. 

That is until she felt one warm hand travelling on her stomach, a lingering pair of lips gently pecking on her neck. 

Goosebumps rose on her skin as his fingertips were travelling further down her body, his other hand pressing more on her waist to hold her down against his nude body.

It was the beginning of December, it was extremely cold outside, Steve’s parents were, as usual, absent, and his house had a giant master bathroom.  With a bathtub.

Her train of thoughts was disrupted when his fingertips started drawing slow patterns on the most sensitive nubble of nerves in between her legs, his other hand moved from her waist to her thigh, keeping her legs open for him.

She had closed her eyes, her head tilted back on his shoulder, her lips halfway open to let out a breath. 

His lips had the pleasure of attacking her neck, and her shoulder.  His eyes never left her face, observing very closely her lips, the frown on her eyebrows disappearing to become one of relief.   Her hands gripped at his arms, her nails digging slowly as the pleasure was building up in a tight knot in her abdomen.

Her left leg moved, almost blocking the way, his hand held her thigh from the inside and forcefully moved it a bit, widening her legs more for him,“You’re not there yet, I know it,” his raspy voice murmured to her ear.

It sent shivers to her core, breathing in deeply, when his hand pushed her thigh apart completely over his own leg, his hand meeting the soft nubble of nerves to pump a finger in her, slowly.

“Steve…,” her breath quickened, her nails digging deeper in his arms.  She was a quiet mess, and he wanted her so badly to be more loud but he didn’t want to pressure her.

The combination of his fingers pumping in and out of her and the fingertips playing with her sent her to her own cloud nine.  His rhythm was so slow, it was excruciating, but oh so good. 

Her head completely thrown back on his shoulder, she looked at him through orgasm drunk eyes. Her lips swollen at her persistence to keep the moans quiet by biting her lip. 

When the knot seemed to grow even more tighter, she felt it so close, that suddenly it was like an explosion in her lower abdomen. Her body was in complete disharmony as she started shaking, breathless, her eyes and thighs closed shut, his hands surrounded her thigh and her waist as she rode her high, engulfed in Steve’s neck.  

Her hands were holding onto him tightly, her breath hitting his skin in an erratic pattern, he held her tighter, pecking here and there at her warm skin, until his lips met hers in a kiss, he couldn’t stop kissing her, he would never be able to stop, the touch of her lips gave him such a craving to have more of her. 

She rose from the covers in a cold sweat, panting for breath, she felt her body getting hotter as the images lingered in her mind, embarrassed that she would think like this, dream like this.

Looking around her she struggled to recognise her surroundings given the obscurity around her but all the memories of the previous days resurfaced and she fell back in her bed, her gaze lost on the wall. She doesn't know how long she stared at that wall, but she drifted off to sleep a second time.

The morning came and the unanimous idea to get a bigger vehicule imposed itself, it was a false good idea, or a false bad idea, depending on the perspective.

Eddie left the house wearing a bandana to cover his face and sunglasses, accompanied by Nancy, Steve and her —Robin stayed to watch the kids— were going to the trailer park to get to Eddie’s idea, which he wouldn’t say what it was and then they would get the kids back.

Eddie kept on insisting on not telling his idea until the quartet found themselves in a stolen trailer anxiously driven by Steve. 

“Seriously Munson, I hate you so much sometimes,” she said, her eyes shooting up daggers in the metalhead direction seated in front of her, the brightest smile on his face at her, winking.

Rolling her eyes at him but with a contagious smile she got up to take the walkie talkie and warned the kids they were close.  When everyone was reunited in the caravan, Steve started driving off to the store, avoiding the roadways. 

Everyone was pretty focused on the road, retreated in the back, talking here and there. She, on the other hand, was deep in her thoughts about the events that would soon take place.

This Vecna guy had to know something was planning itself since he couldn’t get Max, and he hadn’t cursed another teen, he wanted her and he wasn’t letting her go… Not to forget Nancy’s vision.

She had a really bad feeling about it.

Eddie, Lucas, and Dustin were the one who had to stay in the caravan given their obvious connection with the Hellfire Club, in case Jason and his psychotic friends were there, they needed their trip to the War Zone to be as smooth as possible.

They separated, Nancy was looking for two rifles and ammunition, Steve and Robin kerosene to make Molotov cocktails, Max and her were seeking out knives and nails to make spikes, and whatever clothes they could find to create some sort of protection.

She didn't expect the errand in the store to be quiet but she certainly didn't expect Max to talk about the elephant in the room, “You’re the girl Steve was seeing last year, aren't you? Like, his ‘serious seeing girl’?”

“His what?”

Max shut her eyes quickly and seemed to curse herself, annoyed like she had let out a secret, she opened her eyes and directly faced her “Steve was seeing someone last year, around Halloween, he never told us her name, only that it was serious and.. that he really loved her.. it was you, wasn’t it? I’ve seen the way he looks at you.”

“Um, yeah, we.. we weren’t official but we definitely were something.. Who chose that nickname?”

Max turned to the clothes, her hands going through the different sizes in leather jackets, “I did, Dustin doesn't like it, obviously, it’s not smart or sassy enough for him, but Steve wouldn't tell us your name so.. I.. I had to find something to stop calling you ‘her’ all the time.” 

Max was putting different types of vests in the cart, now observing the knives, she pulled one out of its sheath, staring at the blade under the light, she looked at her reflection through the blade.

“Why didn’t it work? If..—if you don’t mind me asking.”

As she thought of an answer, Max realised it grew quiet between the two, so she turned around, and realised she was deep in her thoughts before she looked back at her, “It’s complicated, and I’m not going to be that kind of person that tells you it’s a bigger person problem and dismiss it, because I don't even know how to make it sense to myself. We were something and I don't know what we are and what we could be, but I’m still attached to him. Max, is this about you and Lucas?” 

The redhead’s eyes widened, but she put a hand on her back and slowly patted in reassurance, “I’m not blind, I’ve seen the smiles and the stolen looks, I don't have any solid advice for you, but, if your situation isn't as complicated as mine, and if you have feelings for him, tell him, he deserves to know.” 

She smiled timidly, knowing her own advice could be applied to herself, but she decides on ignoring the voice that screams hypocrite! at her, and turned to the knives, “Let’s get the sharpest ones, shall we,” she murmured as she looked at the redhead, knife in hand. 

She looked around to see if the others had finished when her eyes stumbled to the front of the store where Nancy was handling a rifle, in what seemed like a tense and hostile conversation with Jason, leader of the basketball team and brat of the year.

He had grabbed the aim of the rifle Nancy held in her hands, she obviously couldn't hear but they were tense, her eyes met Steve's and they walked in sync to Nancy.

They arrived to their level as Jason was about to leave, Steve looked him up and down, the teenager opened his mouth to say something when Nancy armed her rifle and the sound it made alarmed him, ready to fire his ass out, “You guys are completely insane,” he muttered on his way out.

“We’re not the ones playing Inquisition, you ought to open a book or two, it should enlighten you,” she couldn't stop herself from biting back at him, he had momentarily stopped in his tracks, now looking like a deer caught by headlights, humiliated.

Him and his clowns left and they paid quite in a hurry to join the trailer and Steve drove them to an unoccupied field by the forest on their way to Hawkins. 

Everyone got in groups and got busy, Dustin and Eddie were making their shields spiked in nails for the bats, Erica and Lucas made the spears, Steve and Robin the Molotov cocktails, and Nancy, Max and her were arranging the rifles, sawing off the aim so they wouldn't be grabbed, its impact would be more lethal.

She had stayed quiet for the majority of the time since the ride back, not in annoyance or discomfort, just, letting herself rely on Nancy who knew what she was doing, having been through this before.

Her quiet presence next to Nancy’s had made the latter realise that she went through a lot in a much more condensed version of it, their friendship had completely exploded when Barbara disappeared and Nancy was close to a stranger to her then, dismissive and on edge at the same time.

Now that she understands what happened to Barbara, it’s like Steve, she doesn't know how to come back from it, all the insults she threw at Nancy’s face when they last talked, two years ago.

Nancy had finished sawing off the first rifle when she handed her the saw, sensing something was wrong by the look on her face, she whispered her name, catching her attention, “You’re okay?” 

She derailed from her train of thoughts and looked at Nancy, “Yeah, uh… —it’s… —I should have been there from the beginning. I knew Barb too, she was a friend, you were too, I… —I gave up on you so easily and you were fighting this off, and I…— I’m so sorry Nancy.” 

Consciously or not, her brain filled with all the reasons she could have given to Nancy on why she gave up so easily, but she wasn’t ready yet to admit she lets go first in fear of being given up.

It surprised Nancy in a good way, although she actually felt terrible for having her apologise when she was the one who lied, for good reason but still. It didn’t feel fair to Nancy to accept and offer simple excuses to a bigger problem, and it didn’t feel honest to her for not sharing the intricate reasons behind her reactions and choices.. the apologies were honest, but they were half-truths.

“I was never mad at you for it, you know, it made it easier, actually, I couldn’t bear lying to anyone who wasn’t involved.. Shutting yourself off from it..—it guaranteed your safety and it was an explanation or a lie I didn’t have to do. I preferred it that way… I still missed you though, and I am sorry too.”

She let out a shaky giggle out of nervousness, teary eyed as she stepped closer to Nancy, who continued “I’m glad you're there, I couldn’t hope for a better fighter by my side,” Nancy made the final step to embrace her old friend in her arms.

Max felt a bit out of place, until the two detangled themselves from one another, she offered a gentle smile to the redhead, and took the saw Max held her gun in place.

They talked lightly while Steve had his eyes on everyone, concerned, seeing Nancy and she had reconciled made him hope they could move forward in the future, minus all the traumatic events connected to the Upside Down, he had to have hope for them.

As individuals and eventually as more but it was capital for everyone else to have hope, the stakes felt too real for his liking. They've managed to survive through all of it, but he began to think that maybe they've used all their luck.

He was no genius but there was no way that the odds were in their favour every time, and now that the stakes felt too real and too big, it only meant to him that the consequences would be.. well, catastrophic. 

Despair and anxiety ate at him, he had felt responsible for everyone since he had been alongside Dustin, he didn’t want anyone to be hurt, or to die. He knows he can't save anyone, he’s less valuable than Dustin or Nancy who are much smarter than him, but he can't help but feel some responsibility for some of it. 

Robin could tell what was going in his head, the grim thoughts, and the deathly pessimism. The doubt written on his face, “We still have to try, don’t we?” she asked in a low voice, her hand automatically stopped pouring the kerosene in the bottles, Steve turned to face her, focused.

“Even if we have this gnawing feeling, we have to.. who’s going to anyway?” 

Their silence and demotivated eyes were speaking volumes to them, they didn't even believe in themselves but he was right, they had to.

“Even if we don’t come out alive.. so.. let’s cheer; to killing Vecna?” She asked her bottle in the air, Steve looked at her in the eyes, finding the same pessimism and despair, his can of kerosene met her bottle, “Slash One.” 

“Slash Henry.”

Their bottles clinked at the same time Max had finished sawing off the aim of the second rifle, blowing out the excess dust she turned to Max when she heard her voice, “Is that a felony?” 

She first looked at the redhead then her eyes met Nancy’s who seemed to have an answer already, “It probably is, and for the technical aspect of it we are guilty but we’re talking about the end of the world here, even if no one would believe us.. we still have to do this.” 

Everyone was equipped, dressed for the Upside Down and their task in the Creel house. The plan relied on three teams. Max, Erica and Lucas would be in the house, waiting to bait Vecna, using Max, which none of them were happy with, but they didn’t have any other choice.

Dustin and Eddie were to distract the bats to clear the house so that Nancy, Robin, her and Steve could get in without danger and do their best at killing Vecna. They all went through the phases of the plan multiple times, mostly to reassure themselves, until they drove to the house and let Max, Erica and Lucas go.

But not without a weapon.

She had given them the extra knives she had picked from the store, handed them both to Lucas and Max, “I think everyone can agree with me on this. You’re the bait Max, but you still need to be able to defend yourselves. Use it.” 

The pair looked at each other then at her, then at Steve behind her, nodding, “It’s just a precaution, but she’s right.” 

“Yeah, Jason and his friends are a threat, a very possible one, who knows, they could come around here, or not, just, don’t be afraid to defend yourselves, you’re as important as anyone else on this plan. Do you have a walkie, for when we’re done?” Nancy then added, appearing behind her. 

They didn’t have one so Nancy gave them one, made sure the frequency was the right one and that they had enough battery, “Be safe,” she said as she handed them the walkie. 

“You too,” Lucas responded as he took the walkie, he felt the weight on his shoulder and his chest heavier under the responsibility. Max and him felt the seriousness of the situation way too much, they wished they could live normal teenage lives, without the weight of saving the world on their chests every year. Each time being worse than the one before.

It’s a feeling they all experienced, and no matter what they could say, nothing would make it better because they couldn’t say anything, even the newcomers in the band, Eddie and her, could feel that shift in their lives. 

With a timid smile Max closed the door of the trailer and watched them leave. Even with Lucas and Erica by her side, she felt incredibly alone in front of the house, she felt so small, intimidated by it, like it carried an evil incarnate.

Breathing in, she stepped towards the front door, Lucas shared a glance with his sister, uneasy, but followed her closely. He felt like they were walking on a trap and he hated it.  He hated so much that he couldn’t take her place, he could only sit and watch, he hated that he was on the bench. He felt useless, and so lost. 

He knew he couldn’t afford to think like that, not when Max was baiting Vecna, Eddie and Dustin were also baiting the bats, and the four others were risking it all to kill Vecna, nothing could appease him. 

He had to wait and see. Watch out for the right time to pull her out of Vecna’s influence.

The Upside Down team arrived not far from where Fred had been taken, not far from the trailer park, they hid the trailer in the woods, and walked in the darkness towards Eddie’s trailer. 

Steve went through the gate first, everyone passed through with the equipment, Nancy followed and she really hopes she misreads the longing looks between Nancy and Steve as he helps her up. Eddie goes next and he's the one who helps her up, Dustin sends the last bit of equipment and Robin and him make their way down.

They rushed out of the trailer, and there it was again, the thick atmosphere, the particles floating around them, the darkness with the occasional flicker of red lightning. 

As they separated and were already walking away, Eddie’s voice broke through the air, only to realise that Steve hadn't joined them, it was inaudible for them until they walked back closer.

They heard the end of their conversation, Eddie asking Steve to make Vecna pay, then his eyes fell on Nancy and her, side by side.

“Ladies, may my sassiest regards flow through your deadly bullets,” Eddie exclaimed through his theatrical voice, a smile on the corner of his lips. 

“May the most metal concert ever be the best one yet in an alternate dimension,” she responded with a smile and they separated their ways.

Dustin and Eddie began to turn the trailer into a fortress, together they carried his amplifier to the roof, his guitar resting in its original place, like she stood on a podium. 

They were prepared for the most metal concert ever. 

As for the others —or the Suicide Squad as Eddie kept saying in the trailer as they made up their plan—, they were wandering through the woods, carefully avoiding the vines, flashlights in hands in a line, Robin first, then Nancy, Steve and to close the walk, her, rifle glued to her hands.

It was all silent, only their footsteps marching on the leaves were the only nearby sounds. Robin kept looking around her anxiously while Steve and Nancy were looking in front of them, focused on their conversation. She had no other choice but to ignore everything surrounding her, consumed by anxiety and fear, she couldn’t stop it from roaming freely in her brain, eating away at her.

Getting back in the Upside Down made her hypervigilant, she held onto hope that a creature wouldn’t find them, she didn’t want to relive her misadventures with the bats. Or worse, the four legged creature she stumbled upon once. Or nightmarish even, the gargantuan shadowy creature that seemed to lurk from a distance, she did not want to be close to it.

It made her extremely paranoid, and jumpy. Everyone stopped walking when Robin’s voice broke through the group, too loudly for their liking, sharing her thoughts that they were lost and immediately it made her on edge. Robin was openly anxious, dumping her anxieties on others whereas she was the strict opposite, it only fueled hers’. 

Even if Steve and Nancy told her they couldn’t be, she went off running, completely unwary of the vines. They continued walking, and she realised the red thunderbolts were flashing in the sky a lot more than when she was there alone the first time.

She stopped walking abruptly when a red thunderbolt struck through the sky, the shadow of the enormous monster revealed in the red light.  She gasped quite loudly, her flashlight dropping to the ground as the head turned to their direction, it was all shadow, but she felt a goosebump travelling her body, paralysed on the spot.

There were such mixed feelings with that creature, she felt terrified, watched so intently like it could read her mind, look through her cracks, it wasn't moving but to watch its head move towards their direction like it knew, like it were omniscient of the place, it horrified her.

It took her a few minutes to compose herself, and leaves cracking brought her back out of her trance. She kneeled down to grab her flashlight, getting up she stumbled upon another unpleasant sight.

Steve and Nancy were standing face to face, a longing-ish set of eyes looking at Nancy, a smile on his lips. A smile she knew so much, so contagious it used to make her grin, warming her body in a cozy and dreamy sort of way. 

It got her frowning, she didn’t want to fall under any fast conclusions but it was so easy, so close to reach, so already embedded in every fiber of her brain, responsible for her deepest insecurities and jealousies. She was on edge, hyper vigilant of any threat, so afraid of reliving her nightmares and here they were, flirting?! 

Was she just doomed to repeat it all, was she meant to be a rebound everytime? Why were her insecurities always used against her, causing so much harm? Was she not enough?

It made her blood boil of jealousy, anger, and fucking goddamnit. The delicate eyes she saw in Steve’s were enough to make her hold back on anything she hoped Steve could be.

Be by her side in whatever way she would allow him to be— what about a fucking trashcan, that would suit him well. 

She held onto her flashlight and her rifle a bit more tighter, and as Robin was retreating back she walked to where she came from, now opening the walk, shoulders tensed, the knuckles of her fingers almost turning white.

No one addressed her quietness and cold exterior, as they were mentally preparing for what they were about to do. They arrived by the house and hid in the small playground in front of it, where some red particles floated around, Erica was there. They signalled their arrival, and she warned Lucas to begin Max’s bait. 

They waited for Erica's signal on Eddie and Dustin’s distraction, in the distance they could hear Eddie’s amplifier playing the first notes, and she recognized Metallica’s newest ‘Master of Puppets’. She smiled a bit, remembering she had spent some time with the metalhead as he was attempting to learn it, the image burning vividly of his fingers roaming on the strings, her anger subsided.

In reality she didn’t know if it was Eddie or the stress setting in, and the realness of the situation clouding her brain, but they head towards the house her, and she feels herself retreating to concentration and her father’s words when he had taught her to use his hunting rifle.

Steve opened the door with a gasp, the sight of the vines crawling absolutely everywhere got her out of her anxious spiral, and on to another one, they barely had any space to walk, they would have to play fucking Twister in the Upside Down.

“This is the fucking worst, are you kidding me,” she muttered quietly, her eyes widened. 

“I second that, remember when I said I have poor movement coordination skills. This definitely applies,” Robin nervously added in a whisper. 

“It’s gonna be okay, just, pay attention and don’t rush, you’re gonna do great,” Nancy murmured back as she turned to look at Robin.

Steve went first, hopping on uncovered vine spots on the ground, Robin followed, then the two remaining, the sight was maddening, they looked like acrobats on a queue. Did anyone ask for Four clowns with a death wish?

They reached the stairs, still tip-toeing in any possible corner they could set foot onto, cautious as to where they put their hands on the handrail, also covered in crawling vines.  Finally on the top stairs, Steve reached for his axe in his backpack, and as they were going to step towards the attic, the earth started to shake, the four of them tried so hard to hold onto each other to not fall and let their presence be known. 

It was a massive failure because as soon as the earthquake stopped a vine crawled around Robin’s ankle, she flew to the wall, her arms already attached so she wouldn’t move, she tried to speak but her throat was already wrapped in a vine. 

They rushed to her side and tried to rid her of the vines, but it all happened so quickly, the three of them were also gripped by vines, tied to the walls, already suffocating, their weapons on the ground. 

Their struggled breathing was the only sound surrounding them. 

She felt her heart pulse through her ribcage, she could have sworn she could feel it along her temple and in her ears, her eyes locked on her rifle, laying on the wood floor, her hands are trying to untie the vines wrapped around her throat and a new set of living ropes capture her hands and force them down.

It finally dawns at her— her fate, their fate. She knew it, she knew they wouldn’t succeed and that it was all a giant mistake. The more they tried to move their arms and legs, the more the vine tightened up around their bodies.

She didn’t realise a tear escaped her eye at their upcoming deaths, her eyes fell upon Steve’s features, and she wished so much she hadn’t taken her car that day, that she hadn’t stopped next to one of those gates, and got caught up in all of this. 

Her vision started to blur and the edges darkened. She was starting to lose some sense of reality, she felt herself leave slowly because they weren’t killing them yet. They were suffocating but they still had one ounce of air in their lungs, gasping for more.

It felt like hours went when in reality it was minutes. Suddenly, out of nowhere, they felt the vines loosening their hold on them, completely dropping them on the ground, gasping loudly, desperately trying to get more air.

They coughed, they could hear a whistle through their vocal cords but they didn’t give up, they rose on their feet, grabbing their guns and geers on the way.

Steve briefly looked at her, her red eyes, the bruise around her throat darkened, it hurt her throat to talk so she stayed quiet and charged the gun in sync with Nancy. 

“C'mon,” whispered the latter, rifle in hands, determined to make it all end once and for all.

She opened the door to the attic, and without a sound they all stepped inside.

Vecna laid there, above the ground, vines seemingly attached to his back. He seemed to be in some trance, just like Dustin had said.

The skin looked burned by fire and putrefaction. His features were undistinguishable, only the inhuman traits were left out. He looked like he was made out of a nightmare himself. It caused fear, a paralysing sort of terror, goosebumps rising along their skin. Nancy and her shared a look, raising their guns to make the bottom rest against their chest to have a comfortable aim. 

They walked silently each on a side, Nancy on Robin’s and her on Steve’s, giving them enough space to throw the Molotov cocktails but still would be able to walk towards Vecna when they would fire.

Meanwhile Robin put out her backpack on the ground, her and Steve both took a bottle, he shared a look with them, awaiting any reactions. In the anxious silence Steve lit up his bottle and threw it at him, aiming perfectly as they had to make a step back from the fire exploding on Vecna.

The vines attached to his back burned, retreated back from his body like they felt the pain. His eyes opened and the image of his face was burning in the back of her mind, his whole existence was the beginning of a lifetime horrific nightmare. 

He stepped forward, engulfed in fire, but it didn’t faze him, on the contrary it determined and enraged him to stop them. Robin threw another inflamed bottle at him, he screamed in rage, stepping forward. 

In sync, they both started their guns, firing at the same time, the bullets made him retreat, the impact hit at full force, they also felt the fire back on their chests but they continued. 

The eyes they met in front of them were full of hatred, rage, starving for vengeance and violence.

They stepped closer, and with each step they fired, completely in the moment, even forgetting the presence of each other, only Vecna mattered, he was in front of them and he didn’t have any time to do anything because they kept shooting at him. 

With the fire back of the guns he was propelled through the window, and out into the front of the house, still inflamed.  They let out a breath they didn’t know they had held back.

They looked at eachother then at Robin and Steve, they rushed to the front porch, where his body was nowhere to be found, a frown appeared on their faces as they took a step forward.  

The ground appeared to have some burning spot, as well as the shadow of his burning body on the ground, “You think he’s dead?” Robin murmured, her voice broke the silence and made the girls jump in surprise. 

“He’s gotta be, right? You two were mercilessly shooting at him, he has to be dead.” 

“But why is his body not there?” Nancy retorted at Steve, like everyone was so confused but it’s not like they could look around, their charger was empty and they only had one Molotov cocktail left, so the fight would be unfair. 

“We’re not gonna look around for him, are we? We don’t have any bullets left and that creature in the sky gives me the heebie-jeebies,” she whispered as she pointed at it, it hadn’t gone closer, but it seemed like it was observing them, watching their every move from afar.

They followed what her finger pointed at and she saw Nancy’s face turn livid, like she knew what it was, “Nancy, what is that?”

“It’s the Mind Flayer, right?” Steve murmured as he turned to Nancy, and she nodded, “Do you also have the feeling that it’s looking at us?,” he continued as he looked back at it, the four of them were completely in a trance for a couple seconds, until Nancy turned around. 

“C’mon, let’s go back to Eddie’s trailer. The quicker we leave, the better, the way he’s not moving but kind of looking at us makes me… umh.. like there’s something happening.” 

The quartet left and walked their way back through the woods, while they hoped that everything had gone to plan, they were also very conscious that it probably hadn’t, one thing was sure, Max hadn’t died, because if she did the four gates would have opened an enormous one through the town. 

They also were unsure of Vecna’s fate, if he really was dead or not, and something in the way the Mind Flayer was observing them made them thought he wasn’t dead, he had escaped, and the second round would be more difficult, harder than the first round, deadlier, scarier and they really didn’t looked forward to that. 

Lost in their thoughts, facing the morbid silence of the Upside Down they arrived quicker than they thought and immediately reality caught up with them, Dustin was on his knees on the ground, weeping, his face turned to them at the sounds of footsteps. 

Their feet moved on their own and when she realised Eddie was in Dustin’s arms, eyes opened, but not blinking, she realised he was.. dead, and she rushed towards them, “What happened?” 

“We—we were surrounded by bats and when we ran to leave, he cut the rope, he left, said he would get you some more time.., I..—I don’t know what to do, he just.. he just stopped breathing” Dustin talked in sobs, his hands shaking holding Eddie’s side, his chest moving in waves as he cried more. 

She got on the floor, and quickly asked Dustin to help her, he let go of Eddie’s side, he listened to her instructions carefully, freed his airways as she started to do CPR on him.

The heel of her hand on his sternum began a rhythm of one heartbeat per one to two seconds, counting under her breath until she reached thirty and she breathed two times in his mouth. 

Nancy got next to her, telling her she could take her place when she needed, mentally counting she asked Nancy to apply pressure on some wounds that could contribute to making him lose more blood than needed while she kept going. 

Steve and Robin were completely frozen in place as they observed the scene before their eyes, there was nothing they could do except keep their distance and remain quiet, and it seemed like hours went on when really it didn’t, she had done CPR on him for approximately five to seven minutes when Eddie took a breathe in, his eyes blinked. 

Everyone gasped in shock, “Are you okay, how are you feeling?,” she asked, his face turned to her and she tried to take away his blood on her mouth from mouth-to-mouth, smudged it all across her lips and cheeks. 

“Like somebody who played Master of Puppets for a really ungrateful crowd,” he replied, his voice breaking at the end.

She laughed a bit and smiled, he still had his sense of humour, that was a good sign, but she was also conscious that they had to move him fast, she really didn’t want to do CPR on him again. 

She rapidly explained to everyone what her idea was, and they all agreed, so they started moving. 

Dustin left with Robin and Nancy through the gate in Eddie’s trailer while Steve and she carried Eddie through the short part of the forest to get to the gate on the road. It would be easier to get him to Hawkins that way as they wouldn’t have to pull him up, the physics of it all was a blur to her but what other choice did they have?

The gate on the road was closer than they had expected, making sure no creatures were around. They carried Eddie to the ground, she made sure he stayed conscious by getting him to talk. 

Through the gate they heard the caravan rumbling, she went first, her legs dangling through the other side she crawled on the ground and lied upside down in the gate, grabbing under Eddie’s armpits to get him through, stopping mid way to actually sit on the ground and pull Eddie against her.

Steve quickly followed and with him and Robin they put him in the van on the banquette in the back, Dustin remained at his side kept him awake while he explained what happened to Max as he heard Erica yell code red when they were on their way out through Eddie’s trailer.

Nancy drove them to the Creel’s house quickly, where they found Erica almost running to the middle of the road. She looked frightened, but relieved that they were there.

Erica explained what happened, how Lucas had used the knives to make Jason leave, pretending to be in a psychotic sort of episode, using that to his advantage but it got him to miss the cues on Max’s trance. Fortunately, their attack on Vecna and Eleven’s assault in her mind slowed down so only her legs were broken. 

Final point being that they needed to get Max to the hospital. Her legs were completely broken, she was alive but in severe pain.  

They had to think quickly, there were no nearby phones and they couldn’t just abandon them and leave unsupervised for an unknown matter of time. Carrying Max was impossible because of the pain and the severely broken legs. They had to transport her differently, and that’s when she remembered. 

Her car was in Eddie’s trailer park, which was twenty-five to thirty minutes away from the Creel house on foot, the closest one with a drivers’ license was Steve so she pulled him in the side, “Near Eddie’s trailer park, find my car, come back. You can pull down the backseats for more space, you’ll take Max and Dustin to the hospital okay? And Eddie hijacked it so you don’t need the keys—I just it’s still there..” He nodded, ignored her last comment and sprinted off.

With the help of Dustin and Nancy they made a makeshift stretcher using sheets and broomsticks they hunted down. The sheet was tied tightly around the handle of the broomsticks, and boom, they had a stretcher, not hospital worthy, but still. 

Getting back in the attic they put the stretcher next to her, “Okay, Max, it’s going to be super painful, but Lucas and I will hold your legs, Robin and Nancy will support your upper body. We’ll get you to the hospital okay?”

She cried more in pain and nodded, on three they all supported her body to sit her on the stretcher, she helped using her arms.

Getting her down the stairs wasn’t as easy as she had hoped for, but they managed to get her down and into the entrance hallway, waiting for Steve.  

He arrived quickly, parked the car quite messily and he hurried to put down the seats in the back while they carried Max on her stretcher and transported her to the car. Lucas and Dustin sat next to her, and Erica was sitting on the front seat, next to Steve, he paused in front of the trailer and turned to her, “Is the walkie gonna work all the way to the hospital? I gotta tell you all about what the doctors say.” 

They turned to Dustin, who had turned the window down when he saw them talk, “I don’t know, the hospital is pretty far..”

“You still have my house number, right?”  

“Yeah, yeah I know it. I’ll call you there, I’ll let you know what’s going on, and when we’re able, we’ll go back to your house.”

The two vehicles left at the same time and parted ways quickly, arriving by her house, Nancy and her helped Eddie inside as Robin opened the doors, and thank God for the night sky because in broad daylight they would have so much lies to tell. 

She preferred walking Eddie upstairs, in her room, he could easily be hidden upstairs, Nancy was behind them supporting his back and she had her arms around him to guide his way up, he was very weak but he used his last strength to walk upstairs.

She asked Nancy and Robin to get rid of the clothes on him and keep him awake, while she ran to her parents’ room to get the box full of medical supplies, she thoroughly washed her hands in her bathroom.

Eddie was awake but felt weakier, she could see the intensity of his wounds, he was bitten on both his thighs, on each side of his abdomen, around his shoulder and around his throat. Some of his injuries were only superficial, but others were… worrying her. 

Especially his thighs and his left side, Nancy had done her best to compress the skin to stop the bleeding, but as soon as she took out the cloth, it started again. 

She used unused sponges and gauze pads to stop the bleeding on his thighs, and applied pressure on his left side. Her mind and body was working in an automatic mode, having done a few days in first aid, she knew what to do, up to a certain point of course. 

Robin’s voice broke her out of her focus, “Shouldn’t we get him to a hospital, this seems pretty serious and we’re not qualified, we need a doctor, or a nurse, I don’t know, but this–” 

“Robin, I can handle it. Look around the kitchen for bowls, fill them with water. In the main bathroom you’ll find washcloths, towels and unscented soap, please get those,” She interrupted, her hands tightly holding onto his side, feeling the thickness of the blood on her fingertips.

Robin stayed static for a couple more seconds, with Nancy’s eyes on her she rushed to the kitchen,

When Robin came back with what she needed, she asked Nancy to take her place on his side, to keep the pressure as strong as she could. She worked first around his throat, the wound was superficial, the bleeding had stopped on its own, she cleaned it up, applied a specific kind of dressing, covered it up and moved on to his abdomen.

She moved towards his right side, and as she took another bowl to clean the wound, she could see Robin pacing in the room, murmuring things that none of them could hear.

She watched her pacing up and down, her hands intertwined in her hair, it added stress to see her so agitated. With a quick glance towards her, she spoke, “Robin, can you stop, please? I understand it makes you uncomfortable and anxious, but getting him to the hospital is not possible, there’s a literal witch-hunt for him. I’ve managed to bring him back, I’m not sending him away to get killed by a bunch of maniacs who take the Second Amendment way too seriously,” She calmly told her, but continued, “Can you help us please?”

Robin was.. shocked, stunned actually, but her eyes were pleading, she radiated calmness and anticipation, like she answered well to stress around her, like nothing could phase her, which was wrong of course.

Robin stepped closer and asked what she could do, to which she responded she could change the waters in the bowl as she worked on his wounds, and instead of being silent and nourishing Robin’s anxiety, she explained everything she did, all the steps she did, what she used, under Nancy’s curious eyes.

The bleeding had stopped on Eddie’s thighs, the process was the same for them, but she finished with his side left, she took Nancy’s turn on applying pressure, talking a little bit with Eddie to maintain his consciousness.

Nancy had gone to empty a bowl and give her a new one, she slowly got rid of the bloody sponge, the bleeding had diminished, only the smaller vessels were bleeding out, which was something she could work with.

She let out a breath, a bit loudly, her hands wiped her forehead in frustration, one glance at Eddie, to see his eyes blinking, looking at his chest, she saw the very slow rise of his breaths.

She observed the bleeding slowly, thinking of what to do,  and as she took the bowl to clean the wound, she turned to Nancy in front of her, “Nancy, I’m gonna need some hemostatic gauze or dressings, can you look for those, please?”

She was already gone looking in the box, while she applied pressure with her bare hands, she had used all of the gauze with all of them. She hoped Nancy would find what she needed because she didn’t know what she would do without it.

She started to feel the adrenaline had run off, it’s like her entire body was working in autopilot in the emergency but it started fading. She sensed she reached her limit, but preferred to hide it away, behind a façade.

Nancy’s small scream of joy when she found it broke her out of her trance, she thanked her, and got to work, cleaned the wound, dried the skin around and applied quickly double the amount of hemostatic gauze as it bled through his side and covered with a larger dressing. 

She looked at Eddie, who turned his head towards her, and smiled, the wrinkles by his eyes, the shine in those whiskey brown eyes, it was more than enough to make her smile too.

“How are you feeling?” 

“Tired, so tired, I'm— I feel cold.”

Robin put the blankets over him, she told him he could rest, she would check on him periodically.

They headed downstairs, with everything they had used, threw some in the garbage and put the washcloths, towels and everything else in the washing machine. It’s only then she realised her hands, wrists and forearms were bloody, she felt stuck on her feet watching the blood, like her brain was stuck processing it.

It’s Nancy’s hand on her shoulder that surprised her, jumping and gasping as she turned around, “How do you feel?” 

She looked at Nancy first, then at her hands, her nose had picked up on the iron-y smell, the thickness of it slimming on her fingertips, “I don’t know.” 

Nancy’s hands fell on her arms, she turned her gently so she was facing her, “Sit down for a bit, I’ll tell Robin she can freshen up, I’ll make us something to eat.”

“I’m not hungry, I'm—I’ll take a shower, we’ll eat after. Go freshen up first.” 

She frowned, but her eyes never faltered from her, “Are you sure?”

She nodded slowly, didn’t wait for Nancy’s approval to leave towards the front door to take the walkie from the trailer. She waited, hearing the two shower heads to activate it and call for Steve, in the darkness and coldness of the living room, “Steve?” 

Nothing but the night surrounding her, the quietness, the dark, anxious thoughts. 

“Steve?” her voice broke in the talkie, hoping so much she would hear him, she awaited his voice, its raspiness, but she only received the buzzing of the device. Maybe it didn’t reach the hospital.

She exhaled, grabbed the walkie and walked upstairs. She sat down on a chair near the end of her bed, watching Eddie sleep, she could see the small movements of his breathing rhythm.

She could only hear the droplets of water falling in the bathrooms, absorbed by the darkness of the night, she was lost in her thoughts, the events of the night playing in the back of her mind, thinking of what ifs. 

She didn’t realise how much time she spent lost in her thoughts, Nancy’s hand on her shoulder broke the chain of thoughts, jumping in surprise. Thanking the brunette when she told she could shower, too. 

She looked for comfortable and warm clothes, and before she vanished in the main bathroom, voluntarily choosing not to shower in her bathroom, directly linked to her bedroom, she turned to Nancy and told her to make herself at home. 

With the door locked she turned the water, undressed herself, her eyes avoiding the mirror as she undid the dressing around her side. 

She looked at the wound, then at its reflection, at the curves around her hips, she felt the soreness of her muscles and her skin, the dark and red tones of the bruises almost covered her body. 

She ignored her naked body, her eyes deviating around her features, but she couldn’t ignore her hands, arms, and her face. Dried blood on her forehead, cheeks, lips, chin, her hands, wrists and forearms covered in Eddie’s dry blood.

What she felt made it so complicated for her to comprehend what went through her head, the violence of the previous days was crawling its way in the back of her mind and she didn’t know who she was anymore, she felt uncomfortable in her skin and in her head. 

Hatred, towards herself, that she let herself be involved in this by stepping by that gate, that they couldn’t kill Vecna, that she let herself be so vulnerable in the Upside Down, the breakdowns, she felt shame. Nothing mattered anymore, everything prior to the events down there, it didn’t matter, the jealousy, sleeping around pretending to feel no insecurity and in control. 

She stopped looking at her reflection, instead she took a midsize towel and put it around the mirror, stuck by clothespins. 

In the shower she scrubbed ardently for the blood to be washed away down the drain, she stayed a few extra minutes under the water, letting the droplets of water run down her body. 

She let herself slide down the shower door, the water hitting her body as she rested in complete silence, numb, like the water would help her forget the previous night, like it would magically make her forget.

She hadn’t realised she had started crying, her tears felt colder than the water. Silently she let herself drown in her sorrow, her mind replaying everything that’s happened in the last couple of days, arms and knees pulled inwards, making herself as small as possible in the shower.

The tears stopped, she felt calmer, she turned the water down, and dried herself off, dressing in warm, comfortable clothes, she walked towards her room, put the dirty clothes in the laundry basket.  From what she could see, Eddie was asleep, deep breaths levelled up his abdomen. 

Silently she looked for a dressing and a bandage in the box of medical supplies, she went to her bathroom, turned on the light, she was met with her reflection, as the one who used her bathroom had removed the towel on her mirror.

She could see red, tired eyes. She avoided her eyes' reflection but she couldn’t  bare herself so she retrieved the towel and put it back, she only pulled one side up to show her her abdomen. Using the small available space she covered her wound with a dressing and bandaged it all up. All under Eddie’s discrete eyes, he wasn’t that deep asleep after all.

She exhaled and let the towel fall on the mirror’s length, Eddie closed his eyes and heard her turn the lights off, walking back to the room and off downstairs, where she met Nancy and Robin. They had prepared things to eat for everyone when the rest of the group would get back from the hospital. With a tired thank you she took two plates along with two water bottles and left towards the stairs, she stopped and turned to the girls.

“Sleep where you want, yeah? I’ll stay with Eddie, you can take my parents’ room or use the mattresses from last night, wake me up when Steve gets back or calls..” she smiled at them, an exhausted smile but she lowered her head, and walked in silence her way upstairs.

She put the plates on her bedside table, found some Tylenol for Eddie, and proceeded to kneel next to him on her bed. With a slow caress on his arm she woke him up, his eyes opened slowly, immediately falling on her, he smiled a little bit at her. 

“How’re you feeling?” 

“Exhausted, I feel like sleeping for six months.”

She giggled softly, kept her eyes at his level, “I have food, water and painkillers, are you feeling up to eating a little bit?” 

He nodded, she helped him sit down against the headset, by placing her arms under his armpits, and held him up, he winced in pain, she kept muttering apologies in the process. She sat by his side, legs crossed on the duvet, he took the painkillers, and quietly they ate together, slowly. 

When they were done he glided down on his own further into the bed, the painkillers had yet to start working, but lying down next to him, he looked up to her as she brought the pillow closest to him.

He intertwined their fingers together, their eyes stuck on one another’s, “You saved me. You saved my life, and I..—I don’t know how to thank you,” his raspy voice broke into his whisper. 

She offered him a timid smile, tightened their fingers for a second, “You don’t have to. You’re my best friend, it’s..—I had to help you, do everything that I could..—it’s..—You know when I saw you there, lying on the ground in Dustin’s arms, lifeless, my brain just entered automatic mode and I had one thing in mind: save you.” 

She paused, took a breath, her eyes derived for a second from him, his fingertips gently stroked her hand, “I had to try and get you back.  I mean, how could I not? If there was a single chance, ever, of course I would take it, and I would do it again, anytime. I can’t lose you,” her voice failed her as the emotion took over. 

The fear of losing him had started appearing then, her brain was so fogged on the technical aspect of the situation that she hadn’t had any time to process anything yet, it was hitting her in the face at full force that she could have lost him, she already imagined his funeral, wearing all black, seeing the coffin falling six feet under. 

She saw again all the blood, the way his body had stopped breathing, his eyes were just so.. glossy. 

“You were dead. You weren’t breathing, your heart had stopped. I couldn’t allow for it to happen and not try, I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself,” she whispered, afraid her voice would betray her, but a couple of seconds after she broke into sobs.

The tears were of fear, exhaustion, she needed to let go, couldn’t let it weigh down on her shoulders. 

Through red eyes she saw Eddie’s hand had left her fingers to wipe away the pearly tears on her cheek, himself tearful, one second away from crying,  “If you cry, I’ll cry—and that won’t be fun for anyone,” 

“After the night we’ve spent, I think we’re allowed to let the tears go,” her voice broke through the sobs, she scooted closer to Eddie, her head on the pillow closest to him, her forehead made contact with his own, and with closed eyes they breathed to calm down. 

When she opened her eyes she retreated her head a bit, taking in his face, his eyes felt like it burned her skin, like only his eyes were enough to set her on fire.

He looked at her but it’s like he saw right through her, and what she was going to do, he leaned his face a little on the side, his nose a little closer to her’s. 

Looking down at his lips, so inviting, so tempting, their rosy plumpness, her eyes looked up to his’, and in a one swift move she put her hand on his cheek and leaned closer to him, until her lips met with his.

She discovered how it finally felt like to kiss him, so much time spent together, so many nights spent entangled in bed and she hadn’t kissed him, not once, because of a boundary she had set to protect her heart.

She realises now how stupid this boundary was, at least with him, because it’s Eddie, who gives the appearance of taking nothing seriously, and he does, but not as much as everyone thinks.

He’s taken for granted, always seen as a monster who preaches Satan, when in fact, he was a dork, a geek who played guitar in an amateur music band, and played a game of fantasy. He smoked because like everyone else he wasn’t perfect and he was fine with that. She was too.

She realised how silly she’s been with him as his lips pushed on her delicately. Her fingers travelled to the nape of his neck, she pulled lightly, earning a shy moan from him.

They both knew it would never get further than this again, he didn’t want to cross her boundaries and force a choice out of her out of pity or whatever. He got to kiss her, though, felt like a win in life. Their lips detached, they felt in their bones that it would be their last intimate moment, but that’s exactly why she kissed him. 

She had no idea where she stood with Steve, she didn’t want to even think about that now, so in that moment, she let all her guards down, and gave herself what she had wanted in those three months but was so afraid to take : a kiss from Eddie Munson.

His head fell back on the pillow, face still tilted toward her, a smile ghosting his lips, “Best friends?” he whispered as his fingers made their way back to hers’, he tightened their intertwined fingers.

Her eyes travelled from his lips to his eyes, diving into those soft, brown pupils, she couldn’t help but smile, “Of course, you’re not getting rid of me so easily, Munson.” 

Her head hit the pillow next to his shoulder, her body leaned towards him, the room fell in a quiet atmosphere, Eddie had fallen asleep rapidly, his soft breath was the only thing she could hear and slowly she let herself fall asleep to a calm sleep. 

Deep asleep, she didn’t realise right away the front door had been opened, the voices speaking downstairs, nor the steps of the stairs creaking by the weight of people walking up. 

She woke up violently when she realised there was some movement in the house, immediately thinking of Steve, and the teenagers. 

She slowly got up so she wouldn’t wake Eddie, and walked downstairs quietly, as she got down she heard muffled voices, whispers, and Steve in Nancy’s arms, she paused, trying to not let it go to her head.

They were friends. They’re friends and friends embrace each other, kiss each other, apparently, it would be petty and stupid to let this get under her skin and not appropriate because it’s not a priority. 

She closed her eyes, and breathed in slowly, then walked down the rest of the stairs.

The two detached as they heard movement, and she joined them in the living room, “What happened? What time is it?” 

“It’s a little past seven, Max has been hospitalised, for now they’re only sure about external injuries, severely broken legs, they need to do more tests on her, but her mother’s insurance won’t cover it and I have no idea what to do. Dustin has been looked over, he has a sprained ankle, he has a splint and brace. Their parents were called, the police were there, they wanted to question us and for the older ones in the group they wanted to summon us in,” he had talked so fast, rambling on that she could barely catch any of it, but she did. 

Instinctively she walked closer to him and put both her hands on his shoulders, “Breathe, Steve, breathe. We’ll.. find something, right? We’ll find something to say. We’ll hide Eddie in my house, it’s gonna be fine,” she really wanted to be reassured but she had trouble even convincing herself. 

His eyes were watery, his brow furrowed, he was short of breath, hands on his hips, she recognized he was in distress, just by the way he looked at her, it pulled at her heartstrings to see him like that, instinctively she brought him towards her, her arms circled his waist, her chin on his shoulder.

His hands shyly circled around her shoulders, he held her tightly, his fingertips shaking a little bit, “We’re going to find something, we’re not abandoning anyone okay, we need to stick together, close ranks.” 

Nancy behind her nodded, until her eyes fell on someone coming down the front door, they detached, but she took his hand and held it tightly, they saw Dustin walking with his brace, he looked so exhausted.

Her other hand instinctively went up on his back, he gave her a tired smile. 

She let Steve and Lucas freshen up in the main bathroom, Erica had been brought back to her and her brother’s house, Lucas didn’t want to be alone and leave Dustin.

Nancy went back to sleep with Robin in her parents’ room while she remade the beds on the floor, while Lucas, and Dustin were eating in the kitchen, she saw Steve coming down.

She handed the final plate to Steve as she leaned on the counter, he whispered a small thank you, and ate in silence as Dustin and Lucas seemed far in their thoughts, “You guys should sleep a little, we’ll think everything through after some rest, alright?” 

Absentmindedly, Lucas nodded, his head turned to Steve and her, “You really think we’ll find a way to help Max and Eddie without getting into some more problems? The stakes are.. so absurd right now.. it didn’t seem like an ‘end of the world’ type of threat when all of this began. We just wanted to find Will.” 

Even if she wasn’t around when all of this began, she could understand what he meant, and she had to admit he was right, the way everything happened every year seemed like it always got so worse.

“I know I’m new to this, we don’t know each other, but trust me on this, Lucas, we will do everything we can to sort this out. We’ll help Max, if we have to rob a bank we will, but we will find something. And as for Eddie.. We’ll hide him until everything feels safer, and we’ll talk to the police. We’ll handle this.” 

“What if we don’t?” 

“We’ll try our hardest, everything we can.” 

He nodded, but he wasn’t convinced. She couldn’t blame him, they had gone through hell multiple times, they found their way back before, but maybe this time was the point of no return. 

Lucas and Dustin went to the living room to lie down, Steve and her stood shoulder to shoulder doing the dishes, she cleaned and rinsed it as Steve dried it quietly. 

With a slight pull on his hand they left to sleep. The house was quiet as everyone was asleep. 

A couple hours later, everyone was up, and while they ate they all worked on their statements for the police, keeping the same version of the story, making sure nothing was left out. The teenagers all preferred to be with them in the police station, even if only the older ones were summoned. 

Eddie was staying in her house for now, he could barely get up, he was exhausted, but Nancy thought of getting him a walkie so they could stay in contact while he was alone in the house, leaving water and meds by his side. The four of them had made sure to hide the bruises around their throats with makeup, that one would be extremely difficult to explain without justifying it with some weird kinda games. They didn’t want to go there.

The day at the police station was excruciating, they went one by one, and delivered the same deposition, almost word for word, explaining that the murders weren’t Eddie’s doing, that he was known around for playing Dungeons and Dragons, a fantasy game. 

Paranoids had taken him for an escape goat because he fit perfectly, on the outside only.

Max’s condition in the hospital resulted from an attack from Jason and she had been forced down the two levels of stairs from the attic, where they had planned to play D&D in Creel’s house, at night, that Eddie wasn’t there and she didn’t have any news from him since March twentieth.

The four versions were the same, only adapted to their occupations the night Chrissy died., and the sheriff let them go.  It was close to six in the afternoon, they drove back to the forest to get Nancy’s car, the two cars followed each other as they parked in front of her house.

They all agreed to share that same version to their parents, then Nancy left with everyone except her to her house where she knew Lucas’s parents and Dustin’s mom would be.  Steve retrieved his car and took Robin home, then drove back to his house. 

He felt uncomfortable in the quietness and emptiness of it, he felt dread, completely impulsively he took a Duffel bag and stuffed some clothes and toiletries in there. Enough for a week at least.

Nancy was calmly explaining the events of the previous days to their parents, staying true to what they had said at the police station. 

Even if their parents felt like they were irresponsible, they were glad everyone was safe, that’s when Lucas broke through and talked about Max. 

She wasn’t okay, the cost of her stay in the hospital would be crushing her mother who was struggling a lot. It wasn’t right, it wasn’t fair, but they stayed quiet. 

She had checked on Eddie, who was fast asleep in her room, until he would get up she decided on cleaning up her house.

It was like a storm had gone through it, and she terribly needed the distraction.

Sorting out the camping mattresses and sleeping bags in her garage, she kept thinking of Max and how they could help her, of how she would be able to keep taking care of Eddie’s injuries, hers’ and God she forgot Steve’s, with little to no material.

Everything she used was on prescription, it’s not something she could buy like gauze and the rest of it. The ringing of the front door echoed in her house and made her jump in surprise, “Oh God, what is it now.”

She was stunned to find Steve on her front door, a Duffel bag in hand, for the first time she couldn’t decipher his face, she couldn’t tell what emotion rode his face, tension started to build up as he didn’t say anything. His eyes started to wander on the ground, and there she could see it: embarrassment. 

“Steve, are you okay?” 

His eyes closed for a second, and opened to look at her, as his mouth opened to say something they felt the earth move beneath their feet, it started off small but in a matter of seconds gained more force, it was even more violent than the earthquake in the Upside Down. 

They tried to maintain balance but they failed, stumbling forward, her face was going to hit the pavement but Steve prevented that by grabbing her sides while falling on his side on the grass and tightly holding onto one another’s as they felt the world tear itself violently under their bodies.

The sun had set only minutes ago, it began to be darker so all that could be seen was the reddish orange light reflecting the teared paths on the grounds, and the roads.  The path was clear, one look from the sky and anyone could see it took inspiration from the cardinal points, each path in one way.

It went from the outside of the Hawkins to its centre, with a final explosion when the paths met, and the earth calmed down. 

Four paths, four murders. It had to be Vecna. 

To Nancy it was crystal clear, as she tightly held Dustin and her mother’s arm, in her living room, where minutes ago she was still explaining to their parents what had happened in the last couple of days, and it was so limpid. 

“Are you okay?” Steve murmured once he felt stable, it had stopped, his hands detached on her arms, but his fingers lingered on her skin. 

She nodded, her arms moved and she sat up between Steve’s spread out legs, her hands flat next to his thighs for stability, her head turned to look at him, “Are you? Did you hit something?” 

“I’m fine,” he whispered as he sat back up too, her back against his chest.

They both thought the same thing, their memories of the day prior resurfaced, Vecna’s plan. 

They were right, he wasn’t dead, and when she turned back around with wide eyes, Steve grew the same worry; Max. Had he managed to get her? 

“We have to get to Nancy, we should head to the hospital.. Uh, okay, put your things inside, I’ll check on Eddie and we‘ll head to Nancy’s house, c’mon.” 

They got back on their feet and rushed inside the house, she warned Eddie about what was going on, he asked them to be careful and to stay in touch, she met Steve by her front door and together they walked towards Nancy’s house, a few houses from her’s. 

Nancy was outside, along with Dustin and Lucas walking to her car, they understood each other immediately, and they hopped in the car, driving to the hospital.

They observed the consequences through the windows, the road was split in half, with an entrance to the Upside Down right in the centre of it, along the road. They didn’t know yet how the city looked, downtown, that the public library had been destroyed because of the major explosion, where the paths had met.

They could see the vines in between the two parts of the road, it reflected some reddish pink light, they were right, Vecna’s plan had worked, the rift between the Upside Down and Hawkins is now open. 

When they got to the hospital the roads weren’t blocked by traffic yet, it was pretty smooth except for driving on the side of the road to avoid the gigantic rift. The hospital was a bit farther in town and wasn’t destroyed by the earthquake, that was a good sign. 

It also gave them the information that Max wasn’t the one murdered by Vecna, or the hospital would have been destroyed. Who was it, then? And where?

With two visitors only, Lucas and Dustin went to see her as Steve, Nancy and her waited in the waiting area on the floor, they were quiet, sat soundlessly, Steve’s leg started bouncing.

She had closed her eyes, her hands covering her eyes in frustration and anticipation, until she felt the vibrations of Steve’s leg, her eyes glared at his leg, then at him. She put her hand on his thigh, it made him stop his movements, his face turned to her and their eyes connected. He intertwined their fingers together, patiently waiting for Lucas and Dustin’s return.

Nancy talked to a doctor about Max’s condition, and even though they tried their hardest to listen, her and Steve couldn’t seem to focus on it.  There was a lot surrounding them, and the most dangerous of it all: Vecna wasn’t dead, he had survived, it seemed like their efforts were for nothing. Max’s sacrifice was for nothing, Eddie’s too.

Max’s mother arrived shortly after Lucas and Dustin left to get Nancy, Steve and her, not caring about the visitors’ rule, the lady at the desk wasn’t even there to worry about it, perhaps the aftermath of the gates breaking through was coming to the hospital.

As they walked towards her room, she felt uneasy, out of place, in front of the door, ajar, she pulled on Steve’s hand.

“Wait, it’s..—I’ll wait for you in the waiting area. I shouldn’t be here, I’m intruding, I don’t know her like you guys do, it doesn’t make sense for me to be there,” her uneasiness spoke for her, distress on her face.

“You deserve your place as much as we do. She will appreciate your presence,” he murmured to her as he made a few steps closer to her, she could feel his breath on her face.

She searched in his eyes, and all she found was assurance.  He pulled on her hand and together they entered her room.

Max’s legs were in casts, she had IVs running down, she was also attached to a monitor beeping along her heartbeat. 

She smiled faintly, tired, Lucas stood beside her alongside her mother. Dustin had sat down, his brace next to him.

She watched Max and her mom interact, and saw she cared for her daughter. The woman was exhausted by the two jobs she had but by the smile she offered her daughter she could see she was so relieved.

She hadn’t realised she had zoned out for a few minutes, lost in her thoughts, Max’s mother reminded her that she hadn’t seen her parents in a long time, and that she wished her parents would be more like her. 

Steve repeated her name, and with a pull on her hand, she was back with them, “Sorry, what?”

Steve’s head turned towards the adult, who was looking her way, “Max said you’re all to thank for saving her,, I don’t know how to tha—”

“Oh no no, please, of course, how could we not help her when we were able to?”

“That witch hunt on that Munson boy proves us otherwise. I want to thank you all, she wouldn’t be here without you,” Mrs Mayfield smiled, watery eyes, she couldn’t help but walk towards her and embrace her, her hands shaking on her shoulders. She was taken aback, at first but gently put her hand on her back. She kept murmuring thank yous as she embraced Lucas too.

They talked rapidly to Max, and gave her some time with her mother. While they left, Nancy suggested that they try to find the fourth path, they drove downtown and they saw how everything was destroyed, rampants were slowly crawling their way up to the buildings, around the gate on the road.

They followed one path, but got directed towards the trailer park, they reversed back downtown, they found a route that didn’t seem familiar to them, it led to Benny’s Burger old place, now squatted by the basketball team.

Lucas knew who it was, because it could only be one person, who had gone completely off the rails and was the perfect prey for Vecna: Jason. 

They didn’t need to exit the vehicle, the place was completely destroyed, Lucas explained what he believed. They felt partly relieved that he wouldn’t be after them again, but the dangerousness of the situation quickly surpassed the relief.

The real End of the World was coming. 

Eddie was asleep in her room, Steve was in her living room, lying on the couch, he couldn’t sleep.

The light of the moon shone through the patio door, he was lost in his thoughts, hand tucked under his head on the pillow.

He had quit thinking of Vecna and what they would do, he was clueless, he felt like he was always late at catching up, always so late to pick up on anything, always the last to understand anything. 

Like his father had always told him. He wasn’t there very often but when he was he always made sure to let his son know he was a failure. Without fail.

He turned on his side, grabbing the blanket to cover his neck, now facing the coffee table, the TV. His eyes travelled to the staircase, and his thoughts shifted to her; the three of them had eaten in her room quietly, Eddie managed to sit down on his own, they had explained in small sentences what had happened, but the two sounded and looked completely defeated.

Shortly after she changed the dressings on Eddie’s wounds, then Steve’s, and hers’, with the medical supplies Nancy and Steve had helped her steal in a half destroyed pharmacy after they had driven Lucas and Dustin home.

She had worked on their wounds in complete silence, deep in her thoughts, under Steve’s careful and curious eyes when she did Eddie’s, the two young men had shared a couple questioning eye contacts. Puzzled by her silence. And when she did Steve, he was as silent as her in the main bathroom, just looking at her, until she was finished and he hadn’t realised she was done. 

They had gone to sleep without a sound, Eddie was tired from sitting up on his own, he drifted off to sleep quickly. She stood next to him, couldn’t sleep either, staring into the night through the window. 

She heard Eddie’s slow breathing, but somehow couldn’t sleep. She turned on her back, facing the ceiling, she exhaled loudly.

She sat up, and quietly walked down the stairs, she tried to not make any sound, so as to not wake Steve.  She prepared a cup with honey, the tea bag as she waited for the water to boil in the kettle.

Steve had seen her walk down to the kitchen silently, he had an internal debate whether or not to join her. 

She poured the boiling water in her cup, her spoon stirred mindlessly the honey, Steve had an impression she was so deep in her thoughts she hadn’t realised he was there. His hand slowly approached her shoulder, and when his fingertips softly brushed over her skin her head turned to him.

He could see her tired eyes, like himself she was overthinking and couldn’t stop the train of thoughts in her head. He understood the feelings she had, because he felt the same, unsure, confused, numb of everything, not even trusting her own mind. 

She couldn’t tell what she felt, because she didn’t know anything. It wasn’t the first time she felt like she didn’t know or understood anything she felt, or knew, but this intense, she hadn’t experienced that before, like an amnesiac trying to remember.

Steve’s hands wrapped around her shoulders, her side against his, she turned herself in front of him, her forehead falling on his shoulder, his hands drifting to her waist, he intertwined his fingers on the low of her back as she softly pulled him towards her by his waist.

She knotted his shirt in her fists, in a desperate manoeuvre to never let him go. 

“I’m so tired.. so.. drained. I feel like I don’t know myself anymore, it’s been.. the last couple of days have completely changed me and I don’t know. I just.. I don’t know,” she started, turning the side of her face so her nose could hide in his neck.

“The reason I left you that night was.. because I anxiously grew worried to have you involved in all of this, not because I thought you wouldn’t be.. capable of handling this or anything like that, but because I know the weight the secrets of the Upside Down holds on you. It’s heavy on your conscience and the more you go through with this the more it damages everything. I didn’t want you to suffer like we are, like I am, but.. here you are,” He exhaled loudly, defeat evident in his voice.

She held onto him tighter, her fists almost pulling at the material in his back, “I understand. I know that what you’re saying are not lies, because I feel it too. I feel that in pending doom over our heads. It eats your brain slowly with anxiety, and now, when I remember the look on your face from then you..—Everything that triggered me then —still triggers me now— was partly because of the Upside Down and I’m— sorry.”

She paused, mainly to try and breath, shaky breaths left her lips as she tried to let out what she felt for him, it overwhelmed her, having so much to say, to apologise for, to admit. 

“You were a constant thing in my life and.. I need something similar back. I can’t believe I would be so sure that you’re still the same asshole from highschool. I’ve spent months sleeping around, believing it would stop the insecurities, fill whatever emptiness I feel, all because of something that’s from a Sci-fi movie. I’ve wasted so much unnecessary energy being jealous of Nancy, having sex with my best friend–” she kept rambling but Steve stopped listening.

One of his hands detached itself from her back to cup her chin, he leaned his head down and in one swift move, he shut her overwhelming talk with the plumpness of his lips. Not that he didn’t care, but he didn’t want them to run in circles about their mistakes and what they could’ve done differently, he wanted to be present in their present, their moment. The past and their lies and mistakes belonged there, not here, now.

She didn’t respond at first, letting her brain process the information that he was kissing her, until she realised he was kissing her!  She leaned closer, and pressed harder on his lips, one of her hands moving to his cheek softly, they quickly separated, foreheads touching.

“Promise me you’ll still be here when I wake up tomorrow,” she whispered before she put her lips back for a soft kiss.

“I’ll be here with you every day of my life, in the morning, the afternoon, the night.. As long as you allow me to be close to you,” he muttered through his breath as he tried to catch his breath.

“Just what I needed to hear,” she murmured against his lips, her hands were on both his cheeks as their lips attached, they had no desire for it to go further than kisses, but it was more than enough.

Her hands traveled to the nape of his neck and together they helped her up the kitchen corner, his body slotting perfectly between her thighs, his hands roaming around her sweatshirt to find its way under the material to feel her skin.

There was some kind of fire with Steve, a blooming fire, burning up so high it burned for the both of them, warming them. It felt ethereal what they felt for one another, to feel such lightness. 

His lips drew kisses along her cheeks, down to her jaw, earning some giggles from her as he neared her ticklish spot in her neck. He put a final kiss on her chin, their foreheads touching, eyes closed, with only their mingled breath reasoning in the kitchen.

He helped her down from the kitchen countertop and headed towards the living room and the pulled-out sofa, “C’mon, we should get some rest.”

Bodies tangled up under the covers, his warmth was burning but she felt so good in his embrace, like a cocoon.

If it wasn’t for the sword of Damocles on their heads.

If it wasn’t for Vecna and his army, the life ending threat, it would be perfect.

It would be so perfect, not heartbreaking at all that they couldn't be together.

[silentstyx]

hiii, i luv your ficss, could you do an ethan x reader where they are at a party and they play 7 minutes in heaven together? and they catch feelings for eachother and kiss 🫡🫡 thank u anywayss

"but i reached over and i closed my eyes"

mm another song to add to the playlist (s)

reader is a girl!

tw: alcohol mentioned, party, readers mentioned to be a vamp but not explicitly said, nun rly thats bad - ethans jus a silly lil guy!

you all walked to the door, your whole friend group: Sarah, Erica, Rory, Benny, and Ethan (and yourself obv). this isn't the first party all the vamps have been to, including you. but however it is the first party Benny and Ethan were actually invited to! they wouldn't have to sneak in over a gate and pretend to belong. it's because of all the girls, you three are pretty and popular and everyone likes you. no one really understands why you guys hang with the biggest nerds at the school but its whatever.

you opened the door for everyone before Benny grabbed the door from you claiming to be a 'gentleman' whatever. you walked in and Erica and Sarah came in before the rest of the boys.

30 minutes in the whole group had a red plastic cup in their hands and Erica already was walking upstairs with her and the guy she was with having red lipstick smeared all over and around their lips. you couldn't help but laugh at the scene. Sarah on the other hand was chatting it up with some guy in her grade, giggling and laughing with each other.

you couldn't help but scoff at the behavior of everyone. you then see rory getting constantly rejected by every girl he goes up to talk to and you couldn't help but feel bad, knowing you've done that to every guy that's come up to you tonight. you see benny and ethan sitting together on the couch, acting like they love the taste of the spiked punch. you walk over to them and benny sits up.

"what are you dorks doing?" you ask with a smile.

"psh, us!?" benny asks incredulously, they both act shocked and appalled.

"we are just enjoying the finest cherry kool-aid mixed with the... best rum i have ever had! its so good and... bitter!" ethan agrees.

"mhm, first of all its vodka. second of all i have both seen you complain that your chocolate milk wasn't sweet enough. no way you enjoy this. go throw it out... or give it me." you rebuttal. they both immediately gave you their cups that weren't even a quarter of the way full, and it was obvious they hadn't drinken a lot. you roll your eyes and walk away.

another 30 minutes go by and they started yelling that they're doing 7 minutes in heaven.

"god, what are we 12?" sarah says while snickering and walking over, crossing her arms. her new 'friend' next to her.

you chuckle and sit in the circle, writing your name and putting it in the bowl as everyone yells at everyone to put their name in the bowl.

the first round was some people you didn't know. then the second round was more people you don't know. the third was- rory and some hot chick? a score i guess. fourth round: hm! lemme guess! some people you don't-

"[insert readers name] and Ethan Morgan? who the fuck is ethan morgan?" the guy called out.

you're eyes widened and your jaw dropped. no no no. Ethan Morgan. the boy you've known since 6th grade. the one you've had a crush on since 8th grade?! no! this is horrible! it's gonna ruin everything! you look over at him and he has the same expression.

you fix your face and stand up, watching him. Benny slaps him on the back, laughing, he was hyping him up. you both went to the closet,, turned the light on, and closed the door. they locked you guys in and set a timer for 7 minutes.

you both stood there awkwardly.

"i haven't had my first kiss. i don't know why i wanted to play this." Ethan blurted out unexpectedly.

you snicker, "it's fine E, we don't have to do anything. we can just mess up our clothes and hair and ill smudge my lipstick and wipe some on you. it's okay."

he groans, "no! [insert readers name] i want to kiss you! i just don't wanna mess this up! i like you- yourrrrr... lipstick color and want some of it! that was a bad save. fine, i like you. i have since we met."

you stare at him the whole time he talks, not fully understanding anything he just said. but he likes you too. he likes you too.

before you realize what you're doing you gently place your hand on the back of his jaw, close your eyes, and kiss him. gently and full of carefulness. you didn't want his first kiss to suck, right? he kisses back, as good as we could. it took him a second to reciprocate and understand what was happening. he hesitated but he eventually and softly put his hands on the small of your back. both of your eyes closed, he gently pulls you closer. you move your hands to around his neck.

then the door opens. amazing. thanks. great. you break the kiss as gently as you started it, laughing softly as you see the nude lipstick on his lips. you walk out, holding hands.

now what are you?

©️ silentstyx please do not copy, repost, or translate any of my work with out my permission. thank you!

[ladykailitha]

Never Hold Back Your Step... Part 14

Hey, guys just a couple chapters left. The story is done. I kind skip over the Mind Flayer bit and get back to the heart of the story, Eddie and Steve.

It will be some time before I start the last one. The lack of interest for this one made it hard to finish and as you're aware I don't really like having to rely on canon so much. And the last one will have to feature it in someway. But we'll see.

In this we get Eddie calling in the cavalry, Steve and Robin are captured and Steve plays hero.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13

~

To say Eddie was worried would be an understatement. He had gone to the mall to pick Steve up from work and he wasn’t there.

But he knew about the Russian message and he knew that there was one thing Steve couldn’t stand and that’s was letting a literal child rush headlong into danger, not if he could help it.

So he started looking around. There were bound to be clues. And sure enough, the ladder had been moved and vent wasn’t properly screwed on anymore. But there was no way that any of the three Musketeers would fit through that space and he shuddered to think what or who they would have gotten to go down that tunnel.

He put his hand on his hip and scratched his chin. Then he snapped his fingers. There was nothing for it. He was going to have to call in the cavalry and by cavalry he meant Uncle Wayne.

Eddie went to a payphone and pulled out a quarter. He dialed home.

“‘Ello,” Wayne greeted gruffly. “Wayne speaking.”

“Uncle Wayne!” he cried. “I’m at the mall and I can’t find Steve. His car is still here, but I can’t find him. Which his car being here is weird as I was supposed to pick him up.”

There was a pause on the other end of the line before Wayne said, nice and low, “This is about those comics, ain’t it?”

Eddie straightened his spine. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t be playing games with me, boy,” Wayne growled. “If your boy is trouble I need to know everything.”

“Meet me on the north side of the mall and I’ll tell you what I know,” Eddie whispered, looking over his shoulder. “I don’t want to say much over the phone.”

Again there was a beat then, “I’m on my way.”

~

The arguing was starting to mess with Steve’s head. In that he meant it was going to give him a migraine and then he was going to murder them. Particularly since he didn’t have his medication with him.

Because they were trapped in a fucking elevator underneath the mall and no way out or back up.

“Shut up!” he huffed. “I don’t care about Tina or Uncle Jack’s party, mmk?” He cocked his head forward for emphasis. “Look if we don’t find a way out of here, there wouldn’t be any parties or shit, because we’d all be dead. No one is looking for us, because they don’t know where we are.”

Erica popped her hip and placed her hand on it. “Maybe no one is looking for you. But my parents are absolutely looking for me.”

Steve covered his face with his hands. “Not what I meant! I mean no one is going to look for a secret Russian base under the mall because that’s fucking insane!”

Time went on and it was looking less and less likely they’d find a way out even with Dustin constantly trying to use his little communicator to reach out to anyone who could help when Robin heard someone coming.

They all ducked behind the crates when Steve got a bright idea. Taking Erica’s vial of green glowing liquid, he leapt into action.

As the elevator door closed, he stuck the vial between the floor and the door, effectively stopping its descent. He signaled to Dustin and Erica to get out first and then Robin. He rolled under the door just the vial’s strength gave out.

It shattered, its contents spewing all over the floor. Then to their horror it began to eat away at the floor and the door.

“Shit!” Dustin swore and Steve agreed. He barely missed rolling into the stuff and really didn’t want to know what it did to flesh if it did that to fucking metal.

They looked around but the only way to go was further into the base.

“Out of the frying pan,” Robin said with her hands on her hips, “and into the fire.”

Steve sighed and walked toward the long hallway, the other three following close behind.

~

Eddie paced in front of the movie theater. He was really worried about Steve now. He had asked a couple of the other people in the food court if they had seen anything, but the only thing they mentioned was that they closed early.

He wished not for the first time that Steve had thought to call him. But he knew why he didn’t. There were several reason that came to his head. That Dustin was super pushy about it and Steve wasn’t allowed the time to call. That Steve didn’t want him involved in whatever the hell this mess was. Which fair, but a head’s up would have been nice.

A beat up pickup pulled to a stop in front of him and he nearly sagged with relief. Uncle Wayne would know what to do.

Wayne was out of his truck and gathering Eddie up in his arms before his lip could even wobble.

Eddie told him everything Steve had said about weird shit in Hawkins and how everything was tied to that lab. He had been slowly prying it out of Steve over the last month whenever they were alone.

“We’ll find him,” Wayne said fiercely. “So he’s car’s here, which means it’s probably been left here overnight. Whatever happened, didn’t happen today. Which isn’t good. Who might he have gone to?”

Eddie frowned. “I’m pretty sure Dustin is already with him, and probably his co-worker, Robin Buckley.” He thought about the comic with the dire wolves. “Lucas Sinclair and Max Mayfield.”

“Ed,” Wayne said slowly, “those are children you just named.”

“Uh...” Eddie said, wrinkling his brow in concentration. “I know there are a couple of actual adults involved, but I don’t know who. I mean, I’d guess Mrs. Byers because her son is in the middle of all this shit, but...” he just shrugged.

Wayne rubbed his eyebrow in frustration. These were children, Steve included. He didn’t care if the boy just turned eighteen, Steve was only sixteen when all this shit started. None of them should have been anywhere near this shit.

“Hopper!” Eddie cried, snapping his fingers. “Steve said the police chef knew about the goings on here in Hawkins.”

“I’m going to kill him,” Wayne muttered darkly.

Secretly Eddie agreed. He was usually all about down with the man and conspiracies and all that shit, but the chief of police knowing that things are fucked up and not doing more to protect this town from whatever the hell this all was? Yeah, fuck that guy in particular.

“Here’s what we’re going to do,” Wayne said firmly. “I’m going to go the police station and hunt Hopper down, see if he knows about anything under the mall. You are going to stay here, keep an eye out for him at the mall. Since his car is still here, he’s got to be somewhere on the property.”

Eddie nodded, pursing his lips together and rocking back on his heels.

“Good,” Wayne groused. “I’ve got a pair of walkies in the cab of my truck, we’ll keep in contact that way, okay?”

Eddie heaved a sigh of relief. That made it easy to know where each other was at all times. He took the walkie talkie from Wayne and headed back into the mall.

He knew that Steve wouldn’t be in the food court, wherever he had gone, was away from the ice cream shop.

So he setup his vigil on one of the benches half way between the food court and the theater so that he could keep an eye on the two busiest locations.

He pulled out his little notebook to make it look like he was drawing or whatever to not arouse suspicion and settled in for a long wait.

~

Steve was fucking terrified. He wanted to run back to Forest Hills and crawl into Eddie’s bed and never come out of it ever again. They were only supposed to find out what the Russians were up to so that they could report it to their ‘friends’ at the DOE and be lauded as heroes instead of heaps of NDAs and admonishments to keep their mouths shut.

But now they were walking into something they didn’t even fucking know how to get out of. No one knew where they were. Or even where to start looking. Dustin had almost used up all the battery on his little communicator trying to get into contact with their friends and no one had answered.

And then he saw it.

It was a good thing he hadn’t eaten in who knows how long because he absolutely would have lost it.

“What the hell is that?” Erica said, reeling back in disgust.

“Dustin,” Steve implored. “Please tell me that isn’t what it looks like.”

Dustin grabbed his hand. “Uh...nope. It’s exactly what it looks like.”

They had reached a room where there were a lot of scientists running around, calling out in Russian and making notes on clipboards. In the center of the room was a red pulsating mass.

They ducked behind some boxes and Steve bit back a whimper.

“Is it open?” Steve asked Dustin.

Dustin peeked over the boxes and then ducked back down. “No. Not yet. But I bet that’s what the green goo is for.”

“Shit,” Steve hissed. “Of course they’re trying to open a Gate. What else would Russians want with Hawkins?”

Dustin looked devastated, because Steve was right. There was only one thing a foreign government would want in their fucked up little town. The Upside Down.

They managed to sneak around the scientists and found themselves in a control room. A mostly empty control with a single guard.

Steve plan was stupid. But it was all they had.

And it ended better than he thought it would if he was honest with himself. Robin and he had been captured while Erica and Dustin had gotten away.

They kept asking him over and over who they were and who they worked for. Steve did everything he could to keep the attention on him. Robin didn’t know anything. She didn’t know anything about Gates and monsters, and alternative dimensions. He kept repeating the truth over and over again.

“Steve Harrington, I work at Scoops Ahoy!” he chanted, his voice slurring after the fifth strike to the side of his face.

Again and again they didn’t believe him.

Then they took him away and the beating intensified. He was crying now and he didn’t care. He just wanted to have a barbecue with his boyfriend and his uncle. His parents had called him again to say that they wouldn’t be home. He hoped and feared that Eddie and Wayne were looking for him.

Then his world went black.

~

I'm not going to show Steve being tortured. This story isn't about that. It's not even really about season 3. It's about Steve and Eddie.

Part 15 Part 16

Tag List: FIVE SLOTS REMAINING

1- @mira-jadeamethyst @rozzieroos @itsall-taken @redfreckledwolf @zerokrox-blog

2- @gregre369 ​@a-little-unsteddie @chaosgremlinmunson @messrs-weasley @kultiras

3- @maya-custodios-dionach @goodolefashionedloverboi @val-from-lawrence @carlyv @wonderland-girl143-blog

4- @justforthedead89 @irregular-child @bookbinderbitch @bookworm0690 @blondie1006

5- @anne-bennett-cosplayer @yikes-a-bee @awkwardgravity1 @littlewildflowerkitten @genderless-spoon

6- @dragonmama76 @ellietheasexylibrarian @thedragonsaunt @useless-nb-bisexual @angels-of-hades

7- @mugloversonly @y4r3luv @greeniebean911 @birbsauce @acingthecounts

8- @cryptid-system @counting-dollars-counting-stars @ravenfrog @dreamercec @sadisticaltarts

9- @clockworkballerina @bluelightsinthevoid @blcksh33p1987 @i-go-pink-in-the-night @mamafaithful

[queenofshenanigans]

I'm still working through some asks from the past couple weeks (lots of Sapphic Mini Bang, Stranger Mom, Aerobics & A Knight's Tale to come), but we're getting there! Making good progress on some things as well! And trying really hard not to add MORE things to the queue until at least a couple are in posting form. So! Make me write!

I was tagged by @turinspeachjam, @madaboutmunson, @cloudsurfing42, @hbyrde36, @tinytalkingtina, @maxfandoms, @vthx <3

⚾ Second Chance at First Love (and Third Base) - Steddie Big Bang! No longer a secret!! Making some progress!

🛼 - Sapphic Mini Bang (90s Bubblescoops, Stommy) I'll share 👩‍👩‍👦 or 🤸‍♂️- if you have a preference, drop an emoji - the first check-in is coming soon so trying to make more progress by then!

👩‍👩‍👦 - the Stranger Moms fic - S5 AU ft. the Stranger Moms

🐉 - Steve finds a dragon in his closet - Dustigan, developing Steddie, magical canon AU, post S4

🏰 - Shenanigans in Steve's attic - Steve has good parents actually, Steddie, Scoops Troop, post S4 Honey I Shrunk The Kids inspired AU

⚔️ - A Knight's Tale (with magic) - Ronance, Steddie, lots of Wheeler siblings, platonic Stobin, platonic Edancy

🤸‍♂️- The Yeet Aerobics Fic - S3 AU Stedissy, platonic Stobin, matchmaker Wayne, Buckingway, Carol & Tommy are lurking around...S3 bout to get *interesting*

More Attic Shenanigans and tags beneath the Read More

Eddie bowed mockingly, then continued. "Dustin tripped over part of a vacuum cleaner, knocked Erica into the ray—"

"Actually, it's probably a laser, specifically, because of the way it—"

"Nerd Jr, would you stop interrupting and let Nerd Sr finish telling Steve what happened?" Erica sounded pissy again, the way she got whenever Dustin and the others went into scientific rambles. "Laser, ray, it. Doesn't. Matter. We're tiny, and we don't know how to fix it."

Dustin grumbled, and pulled his hat down lower over his eyes. He moved so he was on the other side of Steve, away from Erica. Steve put an arm around his shoulder; yeah Dustin had messed up, but he was still a kid and Steve knew despite the attitude that he was scared. Erica was too, so he held out his other arm to her. She hesitated, glared at Dustin, but then burrowed under as they all waited for Eddie to finish the story.

No Pressure Tagging: @strangerthingswritersguild, @bellandora, @dreamwatch, @yesdangerpls, @pearynice, @helpimstuckposting, @sevenmerrymagpies, @eriquin, @shares-a-vest, @sourw0lfs, @little-annie, @sidekick-hero, @hitlikehammers, @penny00dreadful, @onirislanding and anyone else who would like to!