#dustin saying they'd go to hell and back for will

[andiwriteordie]

OKAY OKAY I HAVE AN IDEA

Remember that framed picture of the party pre season 1 of them with their science fair (?) trophy? So they are working on that project but mike and lucas bicker over will and while he stands there embarrassed for his life dustin keeps giving mike and lucas the side-eye and whispering snide comments into will's ear because he just wants to get the project done correctly with no distractions😭

I feel like this captures their dynamic perfectly especially because i LIVE for Lucas and Mike both having a tiny crush on Will before season 1. that happened, it is not a made up headcanon. Obviously. Totally.

Anyways, congrats on the followers, i really enjoy your work :))

oh my god this was an adorable idea, and listen i love the og party. i love the party in general but the og party is just SO GOOD. also i WHOLEHEARTEDLY AGREE. BYLER AND BYCLAIR RIGHTS THANK YOU SO MUCH.

anyways! i hope you enjoy!

—

honey, life is just a classroom

It’s that time of the year again.

It’s time for the annual Hawkins Regional Science Fair, and oh boy, Will already feels like he’s going to lose his mind. 

Listen… Will loves his best friends. He really, really does. The Party is made up of the coolest people Will knows, and sure, none of them have any friends besides each other… but who cares? Will doesn’t really need any other friends besides Mike, Lucas, and Dustin. The Party is perfect the way that it is, and Will loves his best friends.

… 

Most of the time.

He loves his best friends, but the glaring exception to this statement happens every year when it comes time for the science fair. Because every year, Mike and Lucas bicker for God knows how long for the stupidest things, and somehow, Will always ends up stuck in the middle of the two of them. 

He doesn’t get it. They don’t seem to care what Dustin has to say or whose side of the argument Dustin is on. But for some reason, Will’s opinion on the argument is worth like… a hundred first place ribbons to Mike and Lucas. 

Will usually doesn’t even have an opinion on these arguments, so um, yeah… that’s fun. That’s a lot of fun, especially when Lucas and Mike end up derailing their entire first project planning session by arguing over what project they should even do.

“Everyone does a stupid volcano, Mike!” Lucas argues, for the umpteenth time this hour. He throws his hands up in the air and gives Mike an exasperated look. “Cody Morris and his group did one last year, and so did Olivia Baker’s group, and Dylan Tapscott’s group! Volcanos are overrated, and if we do that, we’re going to lose again!”

“Not if we make the best volcano and show everybody up, Lucas!” Mike argues back, and when he gets up into Lucas’s face, Will can’t help but wince. That’s never a good sign. It usually means the fight is escalating, which means Will’s gonna have to step in and stop them again. 

Ugh.

“Look, we’re the smartest people in our grade,” Mike reminds. “Dustin’s like a freaking genius. If anyone can make a shitty old volcano cool, it’s us. And then nobody will ever want to make a volcano for the science fair again. It’s genius.”

“It’s stupid,” Lucas deadpans. “How the hell are we going to make a volcano cool? There’s only so many ways to make a baking soda and vinegar explosion look cool. Woohoo. We put food coloring in it. Please, give us first place.”

Mike narrows his eyes even further at Lucas, and as he continues their argument, Will just sighs, falling back onto the floor of the Wheelers’ basement and closing his eyes. This is never going to end. It’s never going to end, and Will thinks he’d probably just be better off disappearing off into some faraway land, simply so he can escape the stupidity of his best friends.

“How did you put up with this for three years before I came along?” Dustin asks curiously, and Will opens his eyes, turning to look at his best friend. 

“I have no idea,” Will admits. “I don’t think they were this bad when we were little. Do you remember them being this bad?”

Dustin purses his lips, glancing towards the other two Party members; then, he nods. “Yeah, they were always pretty bad,” he remarks. “They’re being so stupid. It’s like… neither of them actually care about what we’re doing! They just want to be right! And they want you to agree with them! I just wanna make shit explode and tell people why it did that!”

“Me too,” Will says glumly, and he, too, looks over at their best friends. “I don’t know why they’re getting so upset about this. They didn’t seem to care that much yesterday when we were throwing ideas around at lunch.”

“Eh.” Dustin sits up, and he shrugs slightly. “You know how they get sometimes. Maybe that’s what we should do our project on. The human brain and all its intricacies. Why do our friends make stupid decisions and fight with each other? Do you have a hypothesis, Will the Wise?”

Will snickers, sitting up and looking at his arguing best friends in amusement. “I think… Nancy probably did something to piss Mike off this morning,” he remarks. “And Lucas’s little sister probably stole his action figures again. So both of them were already upset and wanted to be right about something.”

“Hmm,” Dustin hums, and he mimics stroking a fake beard. “Interesting hypothesis indeed, but I do have one thing to add here.”

Will raises an eyebrow. “Go on…”

A smirk forms on Dustin’s face. “I think they fight with each other because they both want to be your favorite Party member,” he declares, and Will just sputters, feeling his face go warm.

“What?” he exclaims. “I don’t… I don’t have favorites. That doesn’t even make sense!”

“Maybe not, but it’s the hypothesis I’m sticking with,” Dustin says smugly. “And the science backing it is indisputable.”

“And what science is that?”

“Well, you’re clearly Mike’s favorite Party member,” Dustin points out. “You two have been best friends since kindergarten. And you’re Lucas’s favorite Party member too, because you were the first one to befriend him too. So, if you’re both their favorites, and they already like bickering with each other… I think they want to be your favorite Party member.”

Will feels his face get even warmer, and he glares weakly at his best friend. “I’m not… their favorite,” he mumbles, embarrassed. “And just ‘cause I’ve been friends with them the longest doesn’t mean anything.”

“Okay, well even if you stop factoring in how long you’ve been friends with all of us, I think it’s safe to say you’re still everyone’s favorite,” Dustin says with a shrug. “I mean, you’re my favorite Party member, and I’m not afraid to tell the others that. Just look at them, Will. They’re bickering like idiots and wasting precious time we could be using to beat the shit out of everyone and win this science fair. Meanwhile, you are being entirely unproblematic, as usual. Plus, you’re just always nice and always willing to help all of us out, like a good friend. Ergo, you’re my favorite. And for similar reasons, I believe that you’d be Lucas and Mike’s favorite as well.”

For a moment, Will just stares at his best friend, and he blinks, trying to take in Dustin’s words. “That’s… really nice,” he admits, smiling shyly. “Thanks, Dustin. That means a lot to me.”

A bright smile forms on Dustin’s face. “No problem,” he says cheerfully. “Anyways, while that was fun, I really don’t want to go through the rest of the scientific method to figure out why Mike and Lucas are idiots. Do you want to go ahead and end their argument?”

Will raises an eyebrow. “You think I could end their argument?”

“Will.” Dustin gives him a look. “What did we just talk about? You’re everyone’s favorite. Just… pick a side, then the other one will go with it. Simple as that.”

“Okay, I’m beginning to think you are really overestimating how much sway I have in the Party.”

“Please,” Dustin scoffs, falling back onto the floor. “Will, I hope you know that all of us would go to hell and back for you. I mean… I think we’d do that for anyone in the Party, but I dunno, it’d take a little more convincing for the others.”

Will just laughs, and he nudges his best friend lightly. “You’re the worst,” he says, shaking his head. “Okay… fine. Let’s test your hypothesis, then.”

“Be my guest,” Dustin says, gesturing to Mike and Lucas. “Pick a side, and watch how fast they stop arguing.”

Will just rolls his eyes, but he stands up, willing to humor Dustin’s silly hypothesis. It probably won’t work, but if anything, maybe he can convince Lucas and Mike to compromise or something.

“Hey, guys,” Will says gently, walking up to the others. 

At first, Mike and Lucas don’t hear him, and Will glances over his shoulder, giving Dustin a look that says, I told you so. Dustin rolls his eyes, and he gestures for Will to keep going. 

“Guys,” Will says, a bit louder now, and he waves his hands in front of Lucas and Mike’s faces. “Hey!”

Both of them stop, and in perfect unison, they turn to Will, their expressions softening.

“Oh, hey, Will,” Lucas says with a smile. “What’s up?”

“Did you need something?” Mike asks, tilting his head and offering a smile as well. “Everything okay?”

Literally, they look like two entirely different people from the boys arguing just a moment ago, and Will blinks, momentarily stunned.

…

Maybe Dustin’s hypothesis isn’t that far off.

“Well… I was just thinking we should probably decide what to do for our project,” Will suggests, and he glances over his shoulder at Dustin again. He hopes Dustin understands the silent question: What project do we do?

Dustin raises a brow, and he considers this for a moment, before nodding to his left. Go with Mike, the gesture says, and his expression also seems to say, We’ll figure it out later.

Will nods back; then, he turns around and smiles at his best friends. “Dustin and I thought it could be cool to do the volcano too,” he says. “Then, maybe next year we could do something entirely different that nobody else has done before, like Lucas suggested. … What do you guys think?”

Time for the moment of truth. 

Will holds his breath, looking back and forth between Lucas and Mike. Mike looks a bit smug, but Lucas is a little harder to read, which makes sense. After all, Will is going against his opinion here.

But then finally, Lucas shrugs, and he offers Will a smile. “Yeah, that’s fine,” he says. “I don’t really care as long as we actually win this year. I swear, last year was so rigged.”

“There’s no way Tanner and his stupid friends should’ve won!” Mike agrees, and he throws an arm around Will’s shoulder, leading Will back to where Dustin is sitting. Lucas follows after them, and Mike adds, “I’m with Lucas. I just want to make sure we win this year, so we can take that trophy and tell everyone else to shove it.”

Lucas snickers, and he reaches over Will to high five Mike. “Hell yeah,” he says with a smirk. “Mr. Clarke’s rooting for us too, so I’m sure he’ll be willing to give us advice again this year. We’re gonna make the best damn volcano anyone has ever seen.”

As the two of them continue to go back and forth, sharing ideas with each other, Will just… sits there, his mouth open in complete shock.

That… actually worked.

That actually worked.

… 

Has he always been able to do that? 

No… there’s no way, right? Will would’ve noticed that. He’s been friends with both of them for years now. This has to be something new.

But then, Dustin catches his eye, and he grins at Will. “Told you so,” he mouths. “You’re our favorite.”

Will’s cheeks turn warm again, and he can’t help but roll his eyes, glancing at Mike and Lucas once more. The two of them seem much more relaxed now, which is nice. This is exactly how it should be.

Maybe this year’s science fair won’t be so bad after all.

[vampireimiko]

i loved your most recent steve work! i was wondering if i could request an eddie work similar to that where the hellfire club just doesn’t believe that he could have a gf

Full of Surprises

warnings, none! note, this was fun to write !! also i didn't include the whole hellfire club i didn't feel like writing the extras in💔

"Eddie, you expecting a call or something? You keep staring at the phone like a maniac." Mike pointed out.

"You noticed too?! I didn't wanna say anything but holy shit, every few seconds he stares at it." Dustin agrees.

Eddie rolled his eyes, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. "Yeah I'm uh, just waiting on my girlfriend to call." he muttered, his tone nonchalant, but the room instantly fell into a stunned silence.

Mike’s eyes widened. “Girlfriend?”

Dustin snorted, crossing his arms. “Sure, Eddie. And I’m dating Madonna.”

Eddie shot them both an annoyed glance. “I’m serious.”

The skepticism in the air was palpable. Lucas raised an eyebrow from across the room, tossing a pencil onto the table. “Eddie Munson... with a girlfriend? That’s rich.”

"What's that supposed to mean?" Eddie asked, defensively, leaning forward.

Dustin shrugged, an innocent grin on his face. "C'mon, man. If you had a girlfriend, we would’ve heard about it by now."

"And met her," Lucas added.

Eddie groaned, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms. "Not everything revolves around you guys, y’know. Some relationships are private."

Dustin, Lucas, and Mike exchanged skeptical glances before bursting into laughter. "Yeah, right! What, does she go to another school or something?" Mike teased.

"Yeah there's no way in hell Eddie Munson gets bitches." Dustin laughed.

"Well news flash, Dusty boy! I do infact gets bitches. Not that my girlfriends a bitch or anything." He said adding that last part very quickly. Even though you weren't there, he'd never disrespect you like that or in any way for that matter.

Dustin raised his hands in mock surrender, still grinning. "Okay, okay, so you get bitches. Prove it."

"Yeah, let’s see some evidence," Lucas added with a smirk. "I mean, it’s kinda hard to believe when we’ve never even seen her. Is she invisible or something?"

Eddie huffed, tapping his fingers on the table, clearly annoyed but trying to keep his cool. "She’s not some trophy I need to parade around, alright? She’s busy. She’s got... a job! School stuff too."

"Uh-huh, and I’m guessing she also lives in Canada and only writes letters?" Mike quipped, earning a round of chuckles from the others.

Eddie sighed dramatically, throwing his hands in the air. "Fine! You wanna meet her so bad? She’ll come by Hellfire next week."

Dustin raised an eyebrow, his grin widening. "Oh, really? Can’t wait."

"Yeah yeah, I'll believe it when I see it. Now enough about his imaginary girlfriend, I'm hungry." Mike interrupted.

The next week couldn’t have come fast enough for the Hellfire boys. The anticipation was thick in the air as they sat around the table, pretending to focus on the campaign, but their eyes constantly darted to the door. Even Eddie, who usually basked in his Dungeon Master role with enthusiasm, seemed a little distracted, checking his watch more than usual.

Dustin nudged Lucas under the table. “You think he’s actually gonna pull through? Or are we about to witness the most embarrassing bluff in Hellfire history?”

Lucas smirked. “I dunno, man. He’s been pretty confident. It’s either the truth, or he’s about to go down in flames.”

The whole week leading up to this very moment, Eddie talked about you to the guys. They obviously did not believe him one bit. Eddie had told them about some of your hobbies, favorite movies, he was even close to telling them where you worked but quickly decided against that.

They always asked him to just give out your name, but then they'd know who you were obviously. Eddie wanted to keep a little bit of mystery surrounding your identity. News flash, you were a quite known person at Hawkins High.

"Can't wait to see him squirm either way," Mike added with a grin.

Eddie, sensing their whispers, glared across the table. “You know, you guys are real supportive friends.”

“We’re just preparing for disappointment, Eddie,” Dustin shot back, hands raised. “Don’t take it personally.”

Eddie opened his mouth to respond, but before he could, there was a knock on the door. The room fell silent, and all eyes shot toward the entrance. Eddie’s cocky grin returned as he stood up, walking over to the door with a confidence that even had Dustin second-guessing his skepticism.

He swung the door open, and there she was—you. Dressed casually, you gave Eddie a warm smile before stepping into the room, completely unaware of the stunned expressions plastered across the faces of his friends.

“Hey, babe,” Eddie greeted you, pressing a quick kiss to your cheek. “Told you I wasn’t making her up.”

The room was deathly quiet, the boys blinking in disbelief as you walked further into the room.

Mike was the first to break the silence. “Holy shit. Y/N Y/LN?

You laughed softly, glancing at Eddie before turning back to the group. “I take it he’s been bragging about me?”

“More like we didn’t believe you existed,” Lucas admitted, still wide-eyed. "Much less did we expect the girlfriend to be you?!"

Dustin was still frozen, mouth hanging open in shock. “Eddie... how?”

Eddie grinned smugly, draping an arm around your shoulders. “Told you, Dustin. I get bitches. Not that I'm calling you a bitch." He quickly clarified, knowing you didn't tolerate any type of getting called out of your name.

You playfully elbowed him in the side. “I know you'd never do anything like that."

Eddie chuckled, raising his hands in mock surrender. “Noted.”

"Anyway, nice to meet you guys! I've seen you around and Eddie talks about you guys all the time." You exclaimed cheerfully, extending a hand to the nearest person to you, which happened to be Mike.

Mike, still in shock, shook your hand cautiously, like he couldn’t quite believe you were real. “Uh, nice to meet you too…”

Lucas stood up, still blinking. “Okay, I have to ask—how the hell did Eddie Munson land a girlfriend like you?”

You laughed, glancing over at Eddie with a playful smile. “What can I say? He’s full of surprises.”

Eddie grinned proudly, leaning against you. “See? Told you guys. I’m not just some lonely metalhead.”

Dustin finally regained his composure, shaking his head. “This has to be some kind of cosmic glitch. I mean, Y/N Y/LN... and Eddie Munson? Something isn't right."

Lucas nodded in agreement, still processing. “Seriously, I gotta know—what did he say to win you over?”

You smirked, crossing your arms. “Well, he didn’t try too hard, if that’s what you’re thinking. Eddie’s actually... kind of sweet once you get past all the theatrics.”

Eddie gave a mock bow. “Thank you, thank you. Theatrics are part of the charm.”

You giggled and gave him a loving look.

Mike snorted. “Yeah, we’re still trying to figure out what charm you’re talking about.”

Eddie shot Mike a look, then turned back to you, clearly soaking in the validation. “See what I deal with?”

You shook your head, laughing. “They’re not so bad, Eddie. Just a little... doubtful.” You glanced at the group, your expression softening.

Dustin nodded. “You’re like, Hawkins royalty compared to... well, Eddie.”

You raised an eyebrow, giving Eddie a curious look. “Royalty, huh?”

Eddie rolled his eyes, but you could tell he secretly liked the sound of it. “They exaggerate. A lot.”

You smiled warmly at him. “Well, royalty or not, he’s good to me. And that’s what matters.”

Mike finally cracked a grin. “Alright, alright. Maybe you’re not completely full of shit, Eddie.”

Dustin laughed, pointing a finger. “Still can’t believe it though. You lucked out, Munson.”

Eddie smirked, wrapping his arm around your waist. “Told you, man. I’m full of surprises.”

additional note ! my requests are open if you wanna have me write something<3

𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐦𝐲 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧

[rogueddie]

Change / Gloom

It's not hard to figure out that Eddie is gay- or bisexual? Steve isn't sure. All he knows, undoubtedly, is that Eddie Munson likes men.

The rumors from high school definitely do a lot of the heavy lifting in regards to Steves revelation. But he knows what it looks like when people are attracted to him. He knows exactly what it looks like when people try to hide that they're attracted to him.

His first test was simple; stretch. The bottom of his polo always rides up and, as expected, Eddies eyes lingered on the slither of skin on display.

A simple test. An easy one.

The second test is not so easy- it requires Robins help and she's not the most subtle. Luckily, she's as keen as he is on getting him a boyfriend (specifically, an Eddie-shaped boyfriend), so she puts in as much effort as she can at being convincing.

Eddie admitted to her that, yeah, Steve is attractive. That he also finds Steve attractive. And not in a straight way!

("What the hell does that even mean?" Robin had asked, when Steve insisted that she needs to clarify that. "If he's attracted to you, it can't be straight!"

"It totally can," Steve tutted. "Tommy was attracted to loads of guys in a straight way."

"I'm going to ignore that because we don't have time to unpack any of that-")

He hadn't expected Robin to be so convincing, or for Eddie to be so open yet. It ruins his very thought out plan in the best way- he only needs to confirm if it's more than just physical attraction now, and that's the easy part.

"You're late," Steve greets. He leans his hip against the doorway, crossing his arms.

Eddie rolls his eyes. "So sorry, princess. You gonna let me in?"

"Say please."

"Please." He shifts, trying to look annoyed, putting his hands on his hips. The hall light illuminates his face too well for Steve to miss the slight blush.

Steve steps back, beckoning him as dramatically as he can manage without feeling like an idiot.

"Eddie!" Dustin calls, waving him over to the couch.

Robin already helped Steve make it so there's only two spots left open... Eddie, like they'd hoped, choses the corner so he can lean over to talk to the kids.

Once he's checked the door is definitely locked, peeking into the kitchen to make sure the back door is also shut, he plops down on the sofa. He shifts, stretching his legs out so his thigh is pressed up against Eddies.

It's not until the movie starts that Eddie leans over and whispers; "what are you doing?"

Steve quietly hums, raising an eyebrow.

Eddie gently kicks his ankle. "That. And at the door."

"I can't be friendly?" Steve whispers, with a teasing little smirk- it always used to have girls stuttering.

"Not like this," Eddie hisses. "Back off."

"What? I was just-"

"I know. I'm telling you to stop."

Steve slowly pulls back so they aren't touching as much- where they're sat doesn't leave much space.

He feels unmoored. He's never felt so wrong about his chances- even at Scoops Ahoy, despite his attempts, he knew he was probably going to get rejected. He's not sure he has ever been so off.

"I'm getting some popcorn," Eddie says quietly, towards the mid-point of the movie.

"I'll help," Steve quickly offers, jumping to his feet before Eddie can turn his offer down.

"Hey," Robin pipes up, grabbing his arm and giving him a light squeeze- reassurance, comfort. "Make me that ice cream shake I like."

"Understood," Steve nods, giving her a lazy salute.

It takes a good few minutes to make, giving the two of them more time alone in the kitchen.

She's giving him the green light.

"Sorry about that," Steve says quietly, once they're in the kitchen. "Didn't mean to come on too strong. Or, like, if it's too public. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

He doesn't say anything for a long moment. He keeps his back turned to him, waiting in front of the microwave, shoulders hunched to his ears.

Steve isn't sure whether he should say anything else. He looks uncomfortable. Steve isn't sure if speaking up would make it worse or-

"Who told you?" He eventually asks. He finally turns around, expressions dangerously blank. "Was it Gareth?"

"What?"

"He probably meant well," he ponders. His smile doesn't reach his eyes- it makes something uncomfortable squirm in Steves stomach. "He never did have the displeasure of meeting King Steve."

"Eddie-"

"It's ok though, right? You didn't mean to make me uncomfortable."

"What the fuck are you talking about, man? Are you mad that I, like... know? Is that it?"

"Is that it?" Eddie repeats, mockingly. "No, Harrington. I don't care that you know- most people guessed it, what's one more? No, I care that you're making fun of me."

"I'm not making fun of you."

"Really? Could've fooled me."

He turns back to the microwave- it dings, but Eddie stays there, pretending to be busy.

Waiting for Steve to leave.

"I'm not making fun of you," Steve tries again, hating how wobbly his voice sounds. "I was- I mean, I thought maybe, you, um... but if not, that- that's ok, I can, like... fuck."

Eddie slowly turns, frowning, looking slightly more concerned- but the suspicion still lingers. "Spit it out."

"I thought you might like me but I don't know if it's just physical so I thought I'd try and flirt as a way of testing the waters before actually trying to ask you out," Steve rushes out in one breath.

"You were... actually flirting?" Eddie blinks at him, slowly. "Seriously? Not a joke? But... what? I thought you were straight?"

"So did I," Steve shrugs, scratching the back of his neck. "Never really, um... thought about romancing a guy before."

"Before..?"

"Before you."

"Holy shit." Eddie goes to pinch himself- stopping at the last second with a shake of his head. "If I'm dreaming, don't wake me up."

"This is your idea of a good dream?"

"You know damn well it is, you little brat." Eddie laughs, shaking his head again, in disbelief. "I've fucked this up a bit, huh? Can we start again?"

"Oh. yeah, sure, of course, uh-"

"Wait, no, I don't have the patience for that," he quickly darts around the kitchen table, grabbing Steves waist and pulling him close. "This alright? Not gonna say psych?"

"If you don't kiss me right now, I just might."

"Say please."

[steveshairychest]

5 years he's been in hiding.

5 miserable years he's had to go by a different name, wear different clothes and tell a different story to everyone he meets. He's been James, Frank, he thinks he even went by Dustin at one point. He's had long hair, short hair, he's been bald. He had a beard for a while and taught music in a small music store, but he shaved it off after a week because all he saw in the mirror was Wayne, his uncle, his family, the man he abandoned.

For 5 years, he's been everyone but Eddie Munson.

The government told him he couldn't be Eddie anymore.

"Eddie Munson is dead." They told him; they even had the death certificate to prove it. "Don't come back to Hawkins. Keep moving. There are still people looking for you." Was the last thing they said to him before dropping him off with a wad of cash in some town he's never been to before.

He'd asked for the date at the front desk of a motel, and they'd told him April 20th. Eddie had crumbled down to his knees and cried, he'd cried so hard the motel clerk asked if she should call someone, asked if he was alright.

"I'm fine." Was his broken reply. He'd taken the key for his room, curled up on the uncomfortable bed, and didn’t move for days. He wasn't alright. He'd been in a government hospital for what he thought was a few days but was actually over a month and then released into the world like some rehabilitated animal. He didn't get to say goodbye to anyone. Fuck, he didn't even know if they all made it out of the upside down. All he knew was that he was alone. And that he couldn't go home. Ever.

He'd eventually gotten over himself and made some kind of life for himself.

It took him a few tries to find something that stuck, something that felt sort of like himself. Every few months, an ungodly amount of money appears in his bank account. The formal bank statement says it's from an estranged relative. Eddie knows it's not. He knows it's the government's way of buying his silence. His expensive rent and struggle to find a job is the only reason he doesn't send it all back to them.

He's lived in his current place for a year now, which is a new record for him, but he's got no friends. Well, he has acquaintances, people he can laugh with every now and then and go out for drinks with, but no one who knows him. No one who knows why he wakes every night screaming, no one who understands why he flinches when the lights in the bar flicker, why he hates the sound of people cracking their knuckles and why his hands shake whenever anyone mentions the scar on his face.

It's late at night when he's covered in sweat and his throat is raw from screaming awake from a nightmare, that he really misses his friends, his family, the people that he went through hell with. He's not allowed to call them, not allowed to send them letters or visit. He's not even allowed to know how Wayne is doing. It hurts. It hurts so much. He can't even look at himself in the mirror anymore because he's aged, and he's slowly starting to look more and more like his uncle.

But his friends are a little harder to escape, it's like parts of them have found him and are trying to haunt him, trying to remind him that he can't be a part of their lives.

Just last week, he walked by a book store and saw a brand new fantasy graphic novel on display in the window, 'written by Mike Wheeler & illustrated by Will Byers' was displayed on the bottom of the cover in gold letters. He's never bought a book so fast in his life. He's read it front to back 3 times already.

He can't even watch the news in peace because they were doing a news story about a small town basketball player who's made it to the big leagues and is winning everyone's hearts with his skills and bright personality. Eddie had cried and wished he'd been there to congratulate Lucas, wished he could have been there to tell him how proud he was.

Even Nancy is haunting him. Her news articles get delivered to his front door every day in the paper and most of the time the articles aren't even sad, but he cries at his small dining table alone, his breakfast cold and his coffee filled with his tears.

He misses his friends. He misses them so much and it's eating him alive. It feels like he's lying on the ground of the upside down all over again, tiny little mouths ripping away at his flesh except this time it's happening from the inside. Each time he's reminded how far away he is from his friends, a small piece of him is eaten away.

He doesn't know how much more he can take.

And then something odd happens. He gets a postcard and it's addressed to him, the real him; Eddie Munson.

The handwriting is hard to read and some words have been crossed out but the name signed at the bottom of the card pulls a sob from Eddie's throat and has him almost crumbling on his doorstep.

I'm sorry I took so long. I'll see you soon.

From Steve Harrington.

[ladykailitha]

Crossroads

So I started writing this last night thinking it would be a short little drabble. At over 2k words, it is NOT a drabble. It is a full on fic at this point.

Enjoy!

*

Steve was at a crossroads.

To his right was his mother, calling him sweetly to come back inside so they can talk. Work something out. To stay with her and his father.

On his left was Eddie. Dear sweet Eddie calling out from him to run away with him. To get in his van and chase the sun for as long as they could and maybe find a new place to rest their heads. For a moment or to throw roots.

He could see the two paths before him as easily as he could see them standing before him.

If he went with his mom, they would convince him to give up his friends, Eddie. Well, they'd let him keep the Wheeler siblings and Dustin. But everyone else would have to go. Byers, Max, and Eddie because they were poor. The Sinclairs because they were black. He doubted they would keep him from El, considering who her adopted father was, but it would be a near thing. Robin would have to go. She would be a little too queer for their liking.

He would be forced to work for his dad where the employees would hate him and the managers would resent him. He would marry some dull woman picked out by them and have as many kids as possible.

Pretty much the life he thought he would have with Nancy their junior year of high school. He would be comfortable, well taken care of and absolutely fucking miserable. For the rest of his life.

If he went with Eddie...there would no certainty at all. It would very likely be hard. They wouldn't have a lot of money (the government hush money could only take them so far after all). It would a life on the road as Eddie and his band traveled the country looking for fame and fortune. It would be rough. Five boys in cramped quarters.

It's possible the band wouldn't even survive two days let alone two years.

But Eddie would love him. He would be loved. Not just by Eddie, but Robin and the kids. Nancy and Jonathan and even funky little Argyle. As their friends spread out over the country, Steve and Eddie would visit them all. And maybe someday they'd find their place. Throw down roots maybe even grow a family of their own.

Steve took a deep breath and started walking.

*

Eddie wanted to call out to Steve, beg him to stay. To give him a chance to be something. Together.

He watched in horror and disappointment as Steve took one step and then another toward his mother. He couldn’t look away as Steve reached her.

Steve’s name caught in his throat. Would she at least let them say their goodbyes or would the last memory Eddie had of the love of his life would be his back as he walked back into the house with his mother?

Steve kissed his mother’s forehead and then suddenly he was running.

Eddie barely had time to open his arms before Steve had filled them.

Eddie opened his mouth to ask, but Steve kissed him fiercely. “Come on Eds, let’s go.”

He pulled back and looked Steve in the eye. “You coming with me, darlin’?”

Steve nodded. He looked back at his mother and then at Eddie. “It’s for the best, I think.”

Eddie knew he was right. Knew it was the best thing for everyone. But he still couldn’t believe it.

“All right, baby,” he finally said after a moment of taking it all in. “Let’s go find that horizon, shall we?”

Steve grinned. “Hell yeah!” He swung into the passenger side of Eddie’s van and Eddie hopped into the driver’s side.

They had sold the BMW for extra cash as the van would be better suited for traveling cross-country in. It had been put in his name a long time ago and it was the last connection to his parents.

Steve kissed Eddie on the cheek.

Eddie laughed. “What was that for, sweetheart?”

“For luck!”

“You my princess, baby?”

Steve laughed too. “The van is in much better shape then Millennium Falcon, sunshine.”

Eddie cackled as he pulled out of the driveway. He was going to start a life with the boy of his dreams. Life really couldn’t be sweeter.

*

When Maureen Harrington saw her Steven start walking towards her, she knew.

She had lost him. Maybe she never had him. He was determined in a way she had never seen before. He was resolved.

“I have to go,” he whispered as though the answer was pulled from him.

She nodded, tears forming on her lashes. “I understand.”

He dug in his pocket and pulled out a ring. She looked at it and her heart sank.

“No, Steven,” she murmured. “Your grandfather gave that to you.”

He pressed it into her hand. “I know, but think of it as my promise to come back. To see you. That I’m not giving up on you, I’m just choosing my own path instead of the one you and Dad wanted for me.”

Maureen clasped it tight her perfectly manicured hands to her chest. “I love you.”

He nodded and kissed her forehead goodbye.

She watched misty-eyed as he ran to his boyfriend, tears streaming down her face. She stood in that driveway until they were both out of sight.

She wiped her eyes and went back inside.

“Where’s that wastrel son of yours?” Clint growled.

“Saying goodbye,” she lied.

“Good.”

He turned on his heel and then said over his shoulder. “I want him in office the second he comes in, you hear me.”

She nodded knowing that he would be angry with her later. But she also knew that he would blame Edward Munson and not her for Steven not staying.

Maureen paused. She did feel a little guilty about that, but it was unavoidable. She slipped into the kitchen. The one room Clint would never enter willingly and sat down next to the phone.

She had work to do.

*

Wayne had just settled in for the night when his phone rang. He heaved a sigh and got wearily to his feet. The government had paid a hefty sum for the witch hunt of his nephew and an even tidier sum for keeping quiet about the monsters, which meant he wouldn’t have to work another day in his life.

But he still got a nice little job down at the local plant nursery watering the plants a couple times a week for something to do. He had just gotten home from that when the phone rang.

“Hello?” he greeted.

“Hello,” greeted the warm female voice. “I’m looking for an Edward Munson, is he there?”

Wayne sighed again. “May I ask what this is regarding?”

“Of course,” she said brightly. “He applied with us a couple weeks ago and I was just getting back with him.”

“Ya just missed him,” he said. “He went on a vacation and won’t be back for a few days.” Weeks, really. But he didn’t want to scare her off in case she actually had a job for him.

“That is unfortunate,” she said softly. “I will hold on to his application of course, but I can’t guarantee the job will be there when he returns.”

Wayne sighed a third time. He knew it had been too much to ask, but it had been worth a shot.

“I appreciate you thinking of him,” he said.

“Of course, you have a good day.”

He cursed his nephew’s luck again. Just as things were starting to look up for him, he missed getting a job by mere hours.

That was the last he thought about that conversation for a few days until a large manila envelope came for Eddie and Steve care of him. The damn thing even read: Steven Harrington and Edward Munson, C/O Wayne Munson.

The boys had gave him permission to open anything that might come from the government or the kids in case it was urgent, but he wasn’t sure about this.

Thankfully he was save from something like indecision when his phone rang.

“Uncle Wayne!” Eddie cried cheerfully. “You’ll never guess where we are!”

“Disneyland?” Wayne guessed with a huff of laughter.

“Aww...you guessed,” Eddie pouted.

“A letter came for you and Steve,” he said. “You two want me to open it?”

He heard whispering and then Eddie came back. “Steve says go ahead.”

Wayne opened the envelope and as he read the contents, he put his hand over his mouth as tears streamed down his face. It took a couple of tries, clearing his throat before he said, “It’s from your mom, Steve.”

“Oh.”

“It’s a bunch of paperwork transferring your joint bank account with your parents to one with Eddie,” Wayne explained. “As well as your information about your trust fund.”

“Oh.” Steve’s voice is breathless. “God. I assumed that they nixed that when I failed to get into college. That’s what it was supposed to be for after all.”

“Not according to the documents your mom sent over,” Wayne explained. “It was supposed to be given to you under one of three circumstances. Getting into college–”

Steve scoffed. “There went that one.”

“Getting married,” Wayne said.

Again Steve scoffed. “Would explain why they weren’t a big hurry for me to get hitched.”

Eddie and Wayne both chuckled in stereo causing Steve to laugh at how similar they were.

“Or when you turned twenty-one,” Wayne finished. “Which means next year the money is yours.”

“How much money could there be?” Eddie asked with a snort.

“By the time Steve gets it, at current interest rates?” Wayne said. “A little over a million dollars.”

“What?” Steve asked, his heart in his throat.

“Yup,” Wayne said. “And according to the bank statements of the new account she set up for the two of you, it has about three hundred thousand in it.”

“How?” Steve stammered.

“Well, according the statements of your previous account that she also sent along,” Wayne said ruffling through the pages, “there were deposits of five hundred dollars a month since you were born. As well as your checks from your jobs; the community center, the mall and of course Family Video.”

“Okay,” Steve muttered darkly, “but that only makes up for about a third of what you said was in there.”

“Apparently your first payment for stopping the apocalypse was put into this account when you were under the age of eighteen.”

Eddie swore. “And they didn’t fucking tell you?”

Wayne hummed. “Looks like there were some large withdrawals at first, but they were put back in only a couple months later.”

Steve scoffed. “Probably my dad and my mom making him put it back.”

“I agree,” Wayne said. “That makes the most sense. So if we add what you got from the government for your subsequent apocalypses, you boys will never have to work a day in your lives unless you wanted to.”

“Holy shit, baby,” Eddie cooed. “Did you hear that?”

“Yeah,” Steve said. “It’s all unbelievable.”

Wayne nodded even though they couldn’t see him. “She also lists a couple of good financial advisors. I’ll give them a call and find one that fits, but you boys are free to do whatever the hell you want now.”

“Thank you, Wayne,” Steve murmured.

“Thank your mom, Stevie,” he mumbled. “She’s the one that did everything.”

Steve let out a shuddering breath. “I will. I promise.”

*

Steve slid down in the cramped little phone booth in shock. They had only meant to tell Wayne that they had made it California and that they were having a good time. He sure as hell wasn’t expect to have his life completely upended.

It was a good kind of unending. There was no doubt about that. But when he made the choice to be with Eddie, he made in spite of money not for money.

Eddie held out his hand. “Come on, baby. Let’s go make some noise in the happiest place on earth.”

Steve laughed. “Yeah. I can’t wait!”

As they walked through park slurping on sodas and laughing, Steve knew he had made the right choice.

Because really, falling in love with Eddie was the easiest thing he’d ever done.

*

Tag List: @spectrum-spectre @estrellami-1 @zerokrox-blog @artiststarme @swimmingbirdrunningrock @gregre369 @pyrohonk ​@a-little-unsteddie @chaosgremlinmunson @redfreckledwolf @goodolefashionedloverboi @messrs-weasley @chaoticlovingdreamer @maya-custodios-dionach @val-from-lawrence @i-must-potato @danili666 @carlyv @rozzieroos @wonderland-girl143-blog @justforthedead89 @emly03 @bookworm0690 @bookbinderbitch @littlewildflowerkitten @itsall-taken @scheodingers-muppet @mira-jadeamethyst @vecnuthy

[thisapplepielife]

Written for a @astrangersummer.

Of All the Gin Joints

Week #17 Prompt: "I can't believe you!" | Word Count: 1938 | Rating: T | POV: Nancy | Characters: Nancy, Robin, Steve, Eddie | Relationships: Ronance, Steddie, Past Mentions of Stancy, Fruity Four | CW: Language, Alcohol Consumption | Tags: Future Fic, Bisexual Nancy Wheeler, Old Friends, And Maybe New Love, Getting Together, First Kiss

Nancy lets her eyes adjust to the darkness and flashing lights of the club. It's not exactly her comfort zone. But she watches as the men, and the women, move to the beat of the music that's bouncing the speakers, thumping so hard she can feel it in her chest. 

She's never been anywhere like this, not really. It's not exactly her scene, never has been. 

So, she finds a spot to stand in the corner, leaving a buffer, so she can take it all in. She always needs to study first, she never just dives face-first into anything. Unless it's an emergency. And this? Not an emergency.

This is just an unknown, an exploration of her sexuality that might be coming later than most. She thinks she should have done this sooner. Maybe not the club part, but the acting on her interest in women. But she didn't. Not the women, and definitely not the club, so now she'd like to know more before deciding to be all in on being a club-going person, especially at her age. 

Watching, it's clear that everyone seems to be having a really fucking good time, and aren't paying any attention to her clinging to the shadows, like a wallflower.

She's about to maybe make a move more towards the center of the action, when she catches a glimpse of a familiar smile, and she steps to the side to see better, to clear her sightline, to really make sure. And, yes, it is Robin, bouncing, laughing, dancing with a guy, seemingly having a hell of a good time. 

It's not Steve, this guy is far too short, and it isn't until he turns that she realizes it's Gareth. He's just chopped off all his curls, which she thinks is kind of a shame.

But, beyond that, she knows if Gareth's here, that means Eddie's here, and if Eddie's here, well...there he is. Steve Harrington, bouncing, hair flying, looking twenty instead of over forty. 

Looking free.

And happy. Really, really happy.

She hasn't seen any of them in person in years, only recently watching from afar on the new Facebook thing that she was bullied into joining by Dustin. She's not too mad about it, since it means she gets to see pictures of all her old friends, and gets to know that they're doing okay out in the world, living their lives. At least when she remembers to login and check.

Nancy hasn't decided if she's going to approach them or not. This is new to her, and while she knows they'd be supportive and fun and totally in her corner, she was really only looking to dip her toes in, not plunge headfirst.

But she doesn't get to decide, because Robin's caught sight of her and is waving frantically, with an enthusiasm only Robin can muster. She's missed her, she realizes. Missed all of them.

She sees Robin turn and yell in the other direction, hands flailing, nearly hitting those around her.

She hasn't changed a bit. 

So, Nancy waves back, and heads her way. She's kind of glad the decision was made for her. It's easier that way, and she gets to see Robin.

When Nancy approaches, Steve is suddenly there, picking her up and swinging her around so hard, she feels her back pop. She's not sixteen, not anymore, but he doesn't seem to have gotten that message as he squeezes her against him, before finally putting her back on her feet but still doesn't let go.

"I can't believe you! You're here!" Steve says, smiling wide and so fucking happy. 

He's glowing. 

There's a ring through his eyebrow, and tattoos crawling up his arm, and yet, he looks exactly the same, somehow. Just really, really happy and all grown up.

It's a good look on him. Honestly.

He giggles, squeezing both of her arms, "Nancy Wheeler."

She almost corrects him, but it is Wheeler again. Her divorce was finalized and she took her own name back, and she doesn't expect she'll ever give it up again. It's who she is, and she kind of hates that she ever forgot that. 

"Where's Eddie?" Nancy asks, leaning towards Steve's ear, trying to be heard over the music.

"The bar!" Steve screams back, and she looks that way, expecting to see him in line for drinks, but he's behind the bar. Putting on a show, as always.

It's a little mesmerizing. But Eddie Munson always was, for better or worse. He had an unique skill for capturing an audience and refusing to let them go.

Steve wraps his arms around her neck from behind, forcing her to walk in front of him, leading her right towards Eddie.

"Look who I found!" Steve shouts and Eddie grins, leaning up on and over the bar to cup her cheek, kissing the other one.

"Hey, Wheeler. What can I get you?" Eddie asks, waving his arm down the bar in a sweeping fashion.

She isn't sure, so she lets him pick, and he gets to work, sliding and twirling, dragging the bottle upwards as he pours, and she grins. He was made for this, she's pretty sure. Putting a show, holding an audience.

She hadn't realized he was a bartender, but she crawls up on an open bar stool, to watch him work. She expects that Steve will sit down next to her, but instead he walks around behind the bar, and kisses Eddie before he makes himself a drink. It's not as impressive as watching Eddie do it, but it's definitely not Steve's first time behind a bottle either, that's for sure. 

"Do you own this bar?" she yells, and they both nod.

Of all the gin joints in all the world, she happened to stumble into theirs.

It really is a small world after all. 

She hadn't heard they'd bought a bar. She must be more behind on that Facebook thing than she thought. Or they've owned longer than Facebook has been a thing, and it was old news she'd just missed out on hearing. She'll have to ask Dustin, or Mike. Get filled in on what they know.

"It's great!" she screams back, and it is. It's a little loud, a little overwhelming, but it seems like a really fun atmosphere. 

They both smile, and Steve is holding his own drink, and Eddie leans over putting the finishing touches on it. Then Steve's back across the bar, sitting next to her.

"You're here by accident?" Steve shouts to be heard, and she nods. She heard about the queer friendly bar, that wasn't really a club exclusively for young people, and it looked like something she might want to check out, now that she's open to exploring that side of herself.

She should have known she'd be drawn right to Steve, the only other bisexual person she really knows. That's just how these things work with them. There are no accidents. They've all been tied together for a long, long time, even as they've drifted and lived their own, separate lives.

They try to talk over the music, but it's impossible, and Steve takes her by the hand and leads her behind the bar, and into an office. He closes the door, and the sound is suddenly gone. Silenced. 

"Soundproofed?" she asks, sitting down on the couch.

Steve nods, "I still get headaches sometimes. It gives me a place to go to get away from the noise if I need to, without having to go all the way home."

"Smart. That's smart," she says, looking around. There are pictures lining the walls, filled with tons of familiar faces.

"It was Eddie's idea," Steve says, grinning, "he just wants me to be comfortable."

Then he smiles a different smile, a softer one, "And nearby."

Nancy smiles back at him, happy he's happy.

"He looks good, by the way," Nancy says, "really good. You both do. Robin, too."

Steve just smiles, because he knows that's true. Time has been kind to them, all of them, it seems.

"Gareth should have kept those curls, though," she teases.

"Don't tell him that, it's a sore spot," Steve says with a grin.

"Mum's the word," she promises.

Then the door opens and closes, Robin sliding inside. She bounces up and down, clapping her hands, "Nance! I can't believe you're here!"

Nancy stands up, and hugs her. Robin isn't as awkward as she was at eighteen. But she's still got that funky style that Nancy's always been a little jealous of, if she's totally honest. That innate ability to just be herself.

Steve is standing there smiling, and then says, "I'll let Robin show you around and catch you up. Eddie'll cry around if I skip out on helping him."

Nancy knows that's not true. Eddie Munson worships the ground Steve Harrington walks on, and has since 1986. At first it felt like Nancy was losing something that she might want again someday, and wanted to bristle up at Eddie. Claim her territory. 

But she quickly saw how Steve looked back at Eddie. She knew that look, and well, and she was happy for him, even if it was kind of hard to let that door close for good.

By the time they all went their separate ways, it was pretty obvious Steve and Eddie were in it for the long haul, and probably would always be. 

And here they are, still together, and they still look fucking happy.

She's not surprised one bit.

And good for them. She isn't sure what it would be like to pick right the first time. She's picked wrong twice now, and she's not excited to do it again.

Women. She might try women for a while. Forget all about men for a stretch and see how that feels, how it goes.

Robin is sitting next to her, and as soon as the door closes behind Steve, leaving them in quiet again, Robin's asking a million questions.

Always curious, Robin.

Nancy answers them. Mike's good. Three kids that act just like he did, which he definitely had coming. 

Robin catches her up on everybody she's still close with that Nancy hasn't seen in a while, and it's nice. Comfortable, like no time has passed.

"You want another drink? Dance? Some food? Anything?" Robin offers.

"Yes," Nancy says, and hell, she thinks she might want it all.

Another couple drinks in, they are bouncing around the dance floor as much as their middle-aged knees will allow, when Nancy reaches forward to brace herself against Robin's hip.

She didn't mean anything by it, but the sudden shift on Robin's face is telling another story. 

Oh shit.

Okay, yeah. That. 

She steps forward, and Robin meets her halfway. Lips pressing against hers in a way that she only barely let herself think about, in a time gone by. The curiosity was there, down deep, back when they were just getting close. But Nancy didn't know how to define it, how to understand it within herself.

She does now.

Robin's hand slides up her back, pressing between her shoulder blades, as she kisses her in a way Nancy's never been kissed. Not by anyone, maybe. 

She should have known. She should have realized that this is what she was looking for, missing, late to understanding.

When Robin pulls back, she smiles, and Nancy smiles back, her heart beating hard against her chest. 

She wants to do it again. 

So she does, leaning up, pressing her lips to Robin's one more time, eager to see where this can go from here.

Hopeful, and excited.

Ready.

If you want to write your own, or see more entries for this challenge, pop on over to @astrangersummer and follow along with the fun!

[strangersteddierthings]

Bad News First, Eddie

Part One 🦇 Part Two🦇Part Three🦇FInal Part

This was getting longer than both Steve and Wayne's parts combined, so I'm gonna break it into 2 parts. Posting part 1 now, and part 2 should be up within a day. Thank you everyone for the wonderful replies/reblogs. I screenshot them cause they keep me going haha.

Trigger Warning: Child abuse referenced, as well as one scene of a child being slapped. Use of slurs in a derogatory manner.

-

Bad news first, Eddie thinks to himself as he swings the trash can lid turned shield, this is a fuckton of bats. Good news, Dustin is safe.

The bats are overwhelming but he's holding his own. He can do this. He can buy them more time. He's done running away from the things that scare him.

-

Bad news, Eddie thinks, watching Dustin sob above him, I'm gonna die here.

-

Eddie dies. He knows this because all the hurt stops. The world has faded into itself, dimming to a blackness deeper than Eddie's ever known.

The afterlife is a bit disappointing if he's honest. He's not sure what he was expecting, but it wasn't nothing. Endless, unfathomable nothing.

He kinda hoped he'd see his mom or something, but that's delusional. If the afterlife was heaven or hell, he wouldn't end up in the one his mom went to, that's for sure. Too many sins under his belt for that.

Death is pretty boring though.

-

Time is impossible to track. He's tried a few times, counting seconds to make minutes but that's so boring he loses his train of thought. Ends up humming some tune or another before repeating the process.

The day he finds himself humming a Wham! song has Eddie a little panicked. He doesn't listen to Top 40 stations. He spent a good deal of time avoiding learning any Wham! songs, actually, so now that he's somehow gotten one such in his head...

This has got to be capital H Hell.

Well. Everyone in town thought he was on the road straight to it. Laugh it up, Hawkins. You were right. The Freak went straight down.

-

Eddie misses Wayne. He can't remember the last thing he'd said to him. When did he last tell his uncle he loved him? Wayne knew it though. He had to know it. They didn't say it out loud but they didn't need to. Right?

-

In the distance, Eddie sees something. A light? He's not sure what it is but it's something new. Something different.

The light leads him back into the Upside Down. The bats are swarming and he just crashed the bike- fuck fuck fuck, run. Run, Eddie, get the fuck out of here!

He's screaming at himself to run but instead his body stops. Turns. Pulls the shield and spear from his back and screams at the bats.

Eddie rips himself back, away. Crumples to the ground, folding into himself. Not that. Anything but that again.

-

A soft humming sound. Gentle, warm.

Loving.

Eddie unfolds himself to see what it is.

His mom smiles down at him, reaches out to ruffle his hair as she hums. Eddie knows the danger has passed and he is safe now because Mamma only hums that when it's safe.

"There's my handsome boy," she moves the hand from his hair to boop the tip of his nose. "How about we play a little game, hmm? The floor is lava!"

She scoops him up and plops him on the kitchen table. There is a crunching sound beneath her feet as she moves. Lava sounds an awful lot like Dad's broken beer bottles but if Mamma wants to play pretend then Eddie can do that for her.

-

His mother is beautiful. The most beautiful woman in the world. He takes after her in a lot of ways. Matching curly locks, the same face scrunch when they're angry, their noses, big brown doe eyes. Eddie even shares her voice, just a different pitch. The point is, Eddie's mom is beautiful and he's got enough ego left at four years old to think of himself as beautiful, too.

The problem, then, is that Eddie makes the mistake of saying it in front of his Dad. 'As pretty as Mamma,' he'd said. They'd, he and Mamma that is, were sitting crosslegged on the floor in the living room. Dad had been in the kitchen, Eddie could hear him puttering about. Mamma had booped his nose and called him the best looking kid in all of America.

Eddie nodded fiercly, "yeah! As pretty at Mamma."

It used to be a fuzzy memory, what happens next. A flurry of movement and shouting. Now he's witnessing it with terrible clarity. His dad's hand curling around his upper arm and yanking him into the air, crushing hard enough to bruise. His dad's shouting at him. He remembers not remembering the words but now they hit him like the slap his dad delivered to his face. "No son of mine is going to be a fuckin' fag, thinkin' he's some pretty little girl. Is that what you want, you little shit? To be a little girl?"

"Stop it! Stop it! Let him go, he didn't mean anything like that!" he hears his Mamma plead but his Dad won't stop shaking him and screaming. He bursts into tears because it hurts and he's confused and his Dad's never hit him before- "Hit me! Hit me! If you're gonna hit someone, hit me!"

Eddie gets tossed aside. He lands on back and sees as his Dad does exactly as his Mamma demanded. Eddie's never been so scared in his life, he can't watch. He scampers down the hall as fast as he can and crawls under his bed to hide.

-

If Eddie had to guess, that's the memory that ingrained his need to run.

-

He's reliving his memories. He's a little embarrassed how long it takes him to figure that out. They say your life flashes before your eyes when you die. They don't tell you that the quote flash unquote takes a really fuckin' long time. Like, you know, your whole life long time.

It's so strange to witness, too. Like he's both watching the memories as an outsider, but also through his own eyes. He has both the knowledge that he had when he died, and also no experience beyond what he's seeing in the memory.

-

He watches his Dad beat his Mamma, beat him, but also watches his Dad push him on the swings and slow dance around the kitchen with his Mamma. And that's the worst part, he thinks. That his Dad could have been an awesome one. If he'd stayed sober like he kept promising. He didn't though, couldn't. Hell, maybe it's even a wouldn't. He watchs Wyatt fucking Munson pick beer and drugs over him and his Mamma time and time again.

Couldn't even put them down long enough to be there when Mamma got sick.

-

Eddie is seven. He's just had his head shaved, bald as his Mamma now. He regrets doing it as soon as he sees his Mamma's smile falter when Uncle Wayne drops him off at the hospital.

"We match, Mamma," Eddie says shyly, eyes downcast. "I wanted to match..."

"Oh, baby, come here," and she's scooping him into a hug, genuinly smiling again, "I love that we match. So long as it was your decision to cut your hair."

Eddie realizes now why her smile had faltered. She thought Dad had shaved his head against his will, probably because long hair was for woman, as he liked to say. Eddie in the memory didn't know that, though, so he just cuddles closer and says, "Yeah. Uncle Wayne did it for me, so it would be nice and even, he said. Wanna hear what we did in school today?"

-

There is something looming at the edges of his vision. Eddie can't seem to make whatever it is come into focus. It's not a memory because those always focus. It's something else. Something new.

-

His dad teaches him to hot wire a car. Makes him learn how to pick the lock on car doors and handcuffs. When he sees how easily Eddie took to lockpicking, he makes him learn other locks, too.

Eddie misses out on school because his dad can't be bother to enroll him and Eddie doesn't know how to do it himself. He's too scared to, anyway. Afraid his dad will start swinging and won't stop until he's dead.

-

When Eddie is eleven, a lot happens. It was a pivitol age for him. He got his first crush (a boy named Jimmy) and a first kiss (a boy named Jeramiah). Eddie also ends up in the hospital because his Dad caught him kissing Jeramiah.

It's not his Dad that picks him up from the hospital, though.

Eleven is the age he is the day his Uncle Wayne moves him to Hawkins, Indiana.

He's also eleven the first time he hears Black Sabbath.

Eddie is also eleven years old when he decides that he wants good news delivered last. To end with something good.

-

He relives becoming himself.

Catching up in school because he's not stupid, but falling behind because he is kinda dumb (schoolwork never seemed as imporant as hanging out with friends, or starting a band, or playing dungeons and dragon, or any other number of things).

The relief he feels the first time he meets another person like him, learns there's another word besides faggot for what he is. Gay. The immense pleasure of feeling truly seen the first time he says that out loud to someone (it's his best friend, Jeff) "Bad news, Jeff. You might hate me for this. Good news, I'm gay."

Good, good news. Jeff doesn't hate him!

There's a fear that Wayne might be like his Dad regarding all this, so he can't tell him; won't tell him.

But then Wayne comes home unexpectedly when Eddie is a freshman and catches him with another boy's tongue in his mouth. Eddie has a panic attack that winds up with him in the hospital.

He remembers the paralizing fear when Wayne came to pick him up upon his release. Eddie had walked to the pickup numb and afraid. He climbed in, buckled the seatbelt, and waited for the worst.

Wayne climbed in and started the pickup but didn't put it in gear. Instead, he spoke, "Life is gonna be rough for you, boy. Rougher than it should be."

Eddie cannot make words form to reply. Can't do anything but shake.

"Eddie," Wayne says and he feels the seat move as Wayne shifts to turn towards him, "the bad news is, life is gonna be rough, but the good news? Living under my roof isn't. Won't be. Eddie, my boy, I love you. And nothing, absolutely nothing, will change that."

Eddie breaks, like a puppet with its strings cut, sags in the seat and sobs. Never, never had Eddie ever bothered to entertain the idea that this might be Wayne's response.

-

Eddie is a sophomore the first time he notices Steve Harrington. It's fucking awful. It's also amazing.

Because noticing Steve Harrington means noticing Steve Harrington. He's immidiately popular because he's good looking and good at sports.

Eddie's not gonna claim to know Steve, he doesn't. There's just these little clues that King Steve isn't a default jerk. For one, Steve doesn't partake in bullying. He stays silent. Lets it happen.

But Eddie's also been witness to two times when Stever did step in; both times when it was escalating to be a phycical altercation.

"Hey, Tommy, don't," Steve had said, not quite stepping between Tommy and the other kid, but enough to be within Tommy's line of sight. "The game is tomorrow. You throw that punch and your hand is gonna hurt like a bitch through the whole game. And I swear to God if we lose this game because you can't handle it-" Steve didn't finish the sentence, didn't have to. Tommy lowered his arm and scoffed. Walked away mutter about how the kid wasn't worth it anyway.

The other time, it had been Jeff he'd defended. Jeff hadn't even been doing anything. Just stumbled into some asshole from the basketball team and knocked him over. Eddie had been the one who'd shoved Jeff (because Jeff was teasing him) and he was ready to place himself in the way when Steve had beat him to it.

"Fucking relax, it was an accident," Steve stood face to face with Roger. Eddie and Jeff just stared at the back of Steve's head. "It's not Jeff's fault that barely tapping you knocked you down like a house of cards. Right, Jeff?"

Eddie and Jeff blinked at each other in a sort of stunned silence because since when does King Steve know either of their names? Steve turned to look over his shoulder, one eyebrow raised. Jeff stammered out, "R-right. It was an accident. Sorry, man."

"See, he's even sorry."

Eddie reached out, wrapped his hand around Jeff's wrist, and tugged him away. He could not stay here and witness anymore of Hero Steve or he was going to embarrass himself infront of the entire cafeteria in the worst way possible.

-

That was the tipping point for Eddie. When he finally had to admit he wasn't just noticing Steve Harrington. He had a full blown crush on the dude.

Fuck.

-

Watching his memories play, Eddie realizes he spent far too much time in high school trying to get Steve's attention. Bumping into him on purpose, being antagonistic to his friends just get a response, or trying his best to use Jedi mind powers to make teachers pair them together for projects in the rare few classes they shared (this never worked; teachers liked Steve too much and hated Eddie).

Steve changes between junior and senior year and still doesn't notice Eddie. Eddie's kinda bitter about it.

Then Steve graduates, but doesn't leave. He's always hanging around, bothering the freshman Eddie's taken under his wing. He's not jealous that Dustin Henderson thinks Steve hung the moon. He's not. (he is).

Anyway, the bad news. Steve graduates but doesn't leave and Eddie can't get over his stupid crush. Good news, he and Steve share a mutual friend in one obnoxiously lovable freshman, so that's like one step closer to Eddie being Steve's friend, right?

-

The thing that's looming finally comes into view when his most recent memories come up. Or, more accurately, it -she- makes herself seen.

He's holding a broken bottle to Steve's neck demanding to know what he's doing here and then the scene pulls away from him until he's watching himself threaten Steve. The memory moves in slow motion.

"Eddie?"

He screams because Jesus H Christ nothing else in the afterlife has ever spoken to him.

"I am sorry. I did not mean to scare you," she says. Eddie can see her now. She doesn't look like either an angel or a demon. She just looks like a regular person, a girl with shoulder length brown hair, wearing jeans and a yellow shirt that looks too big for her.

"Uh, it's fine?" Eddie says, because what else is he going to say? "Who're.. who are- what are you?"

"I am Eleven. It has been difficult to reach you, Eddie. Had to try, though."

"What?"

Eleven nods, like someone has said something he can't hear. There is a long pause before she speaks again. "Do you want to wake up, Eddie?"

"What do you mean wake up?" Eddie feels like he might start having a panic attack.

"I am not good with words. Not delicate, Mike would say," Eleven says, "so I will be frank. You are alive. Can be alive. Doctor Owens says you retreated into yourself. To protect yourself. But it's safe now. It is all safe. The Upside Down cannot hurt you again."

Eddie feels the panic set in almost instantly at those words. The memory explodes into black and the girl vanishes.

-

The more Eleven shows up, the more aware of other things Eddie becomes. Occasionally the sound of conversation drifts in but it's far away, muffled. He can taste food on his tongue that he had not eaten. Feel a brush get stuck in his hair.

They don't really talk, he and Eleven. She takes her queues from him and since he's got no idea what's happening he doesn't know what queues to give.

"So, you're not here to like... send me on, or something?" He asks. They're sitting cross-legged in front of each other. Eddie in the outfit he died in and Eleven in shorts, a crop top, and an oversized jacket.

"Where would I send you?"

"Y'know. Like... Hell or wherever."

Eleven is silent a long time before she says, "I don't want to send you anywhere. I want to bring you back."

Back. He can go back? That doesn't seem right. That doesn't seem like it should be an option. "You mean like, back to Hawkins?"

"Eventually."

Eddie's not sure what to make of that. Is he gonna be a ghost? Because if it's Hell or being a ghost, the latter sounds infinity more fun. Plus, as a ghost he could probably check in on Wayne.

"Alright. You win, Eleven. Take me back."

Eleven stands up immediately, offering a hand to help Eddie up. "You have to want it."

"Want to be a ghost?"

"No. You have to want to be alive."

That makes sense, Eddie supposes. Wanting to be alive is probably what makes ghosts be able to like, be ghosts. "OK. OK. I can do this." He does a full body shake, dancing from one foot to another to pump himself up. "Alive. Alive. I want that. I want to live. I want to see my uncle again. Want to give Hawkins a big fuck you for thinking I'd end up in Hell. I want to see Jeff and Gareth! I want to haunt the fuck out of Dustin Henderson for trying to follow me! I want to know if Robin, Steve, and Nancy won! I want to know if they made Vecna pay!"

He is yelling by the end of it, and Eleven is beaming at him like she's proud of him.

"Yes! Yes! Now, wake up!"

-

Eddie does wake up. Sort of. He's already awake, sitting in what appears to be someone's living room. He blinks several times before exhaustion washes over him and he sags back into the chair he's sitting in. "Wh-" he tried to speak but his vocal chords don't seem to want to work.

"Holy shit." A voice says off to his side. It's vaguely familiar. Like a distant memory. "Call Owens! Call Owens right fucking now!"

-

Bad news is this. He's been stuck in his own head for several years. His fucking body has been moving around without him yet the amount of physical therapy he has to do is torture. Fucking Owens won't let him contact anyone until he gets the all clear from his new therapist. Oh, and his uncle believes he's dead.

Good news is this. He's alive.

[blushweddinggowns]

Would love to see your take on 23 or 28 good potential for fluff or angst or maybe both?

I am such a fluffy bitch! I can't help myself. If I get another one of these I will do angst because I need to work on that. But for now fluffy bullshit is my safe place <3

But I will say this tickled my uh not sfw brain, so watch out for a possible ao3 E addition the other prompt. Maybe! (Probably. the potenial of "Come and get your fix" is insane) But this is "Was it worth it?"

~

Honestly? You'd think Steve would be used to this by now. He was just not the guy that anyone wanted to be with. First there was Nancy, the worst heartbreak he ever had. Then there was Robin, which was better but still kind of sucked. Until Steve realized that oh, wow, this girl is literally my long lost sister. So with that, he had to admit that he was pretty grateful that she was gay as hell. The alternative would have been an absolute disaster. But even before all of that, girls just didn't like being with him. Or at least staying with him.

He was too much of a hopeless romantic, too clingy, too weird. He always fell beneath expectations. People expected him to be cool, suave, to actually match the whole "King Steve" label and be the high school dream boat that he should be. But...Steve just wasn't like that. He wanted too much too fast, always opening up and sharing shit that made people uncomfortable. That made them pull away and find someone less annoying. So he'd retreat back into the popular boy thing, be charming and a little dickish, find a new girlfriend, and start the process all over again.

People just... didn't like going there with him. Not when there were better options. It felt like the only one who could really handle him was Robin. And lately... Eddie Munson.

Eddie Munson who was currently in the middle of crushing all of his feelings into the dust.

He thought...Steve wasn't sure what he thought. But it felt like over the past year they had been moving somewhere, to something more. They were friends by circumstance, from all the Upside Down shit and then with Steve being Dustin's chauffer to the hospital for visits. It had all been so simple at first. They would all talk as a group, it would be fun, and then they'd be on there way until Dustin called him up next. Until one day Steve just went by himself. He wasn't quite sure why he did, but the bright smile that lit up Eddie's face when he saw him made sure that he'd keep doing it.

And they would talk for a long time. For a stupid amount of time honestly, all the way until the nurses kicked him out for getting Eddie too rowdy and excited. But it didn't stop when he got out of the hospital. Steve just started going to house, helping him and his uncle out as they got to know each other more. It's not like he had anything else going on. He just never expected Eddie Munson of all people to slowly become the center of his life.

They just... clicked. In a way that no one had expected, least of all them. They were so different, but they also weren't. Not in the ways that mattered. Besides, Steve liked all the play fights and debates they would have over music and movies. He liked ribbing each other over their taste in clothes and their mutual inability to get girls. He loved it even more when Eddie came out to him in the silliest possible way.

"I can't get girls because I'm gay as fuck and they can sense it. You can't get girls because every straight woman that lives here is apparently stupid. Can being too hot ruin your dating life?"

At the time it had made Steve laugh. It also stirred... something in his chest. Something warm and nice that he didn't have time to examine, not when he was too busy reassuring Eddie that yes, he's okay with it. But no, girls couldn't smell it on him. Not that Eddie cared but Steve actually had 0 clue on why no one was interested in him. Just because he was gay didn't mean the girls of Hawkins high knew that. Why weren't they fawning over him? He was so freaking pretty, and creative and fun and...and that's how Steve realized he wasn't as straight as he thought he was.

And because Steve was Steve that meant that he had to make things weird. He started doing stupid shit, like staring at Eddie's perfect mouth all the time, wearing his clothes with permission, just to smell him throughout the day. They started giving each other little nick names, stupid shit that was so close to being romantic. Like sunshine and angel. They started sleeping in the same bed together, spending more nights with each other than apart. Steve would wake up with Eddie wrapped around him, clinging to him like...like they were something more.

And it felt good. Comfortable and safe. And Steve really thought that this had been different. That whatever was going on with him had to be going on with Eddie too.

But now here he was, standing shell-shocked in his kitchen while his very good friend was trying to talk to him about his crush. His crush that had nothing to do with Steve. It wasn't exactly shocking that Steve had made all of that flirtation up in his head. It wouldn't be the first time, he was just delusional like that.

But that didn't stop his heart from breaking when Eddie said, "So...there's this guy whose like, insanely hot? And I think he might be into me. But... I don't really know what to do about it."

Steve really did not want to hear about this. He didn't like it, the horrifying thought of Eddie getting a boyfriend. Because what partner would be cool with them cuddling up together in bed? Who would be down to have their boyfriend's creepy buddy hanging around them all the time? Calling them stupid shit like sunshine? It wasn't going to happen. And acknowledging that hurt...so much more than Steve had expected.

But Steve was a good friend. That was probably the only thing he had going for him. He'd get past it. He always did. He was just going to have to completely restructure the life he had built around Eddie. That's all.

He shoved his feelings back, smiling despite the fact that he felt like he was dying a little inside, "Oh yeah? Tell me about him."

Steve wasn't sure why he asked that. And the dreamy smiled on Eddie's face when he started talking wasn't helping, "He is just awesome dude. Total catch, an absolute sweetheart. And he just fits with me y'know? And, um, I think he feels the same way. But I'm not sure. I'm too much of a bitch to even ask if he's into dudes. I don't know if telling him is worth the risk."

Part of Steve wanted to be a real piece of shit with that. To tell him that yeah, it's not a good idea. He's probably straight and definitely wouldn't be good for him. They wouldn't love him like Steve could. But that didn't exactly count as being a good friend, did it?

Steve kept it all back, his smile tight when he said, "I think that sometimes the risk can be worth it. Do you think he's worth it?"

Eddie laughed, like Steve said something funny instead of trying to be sincere. But he was smiling, staring down at the counter as he fiddled with his rings, "If it worked out, it would probably be the best thing that ever happened to me."

Steve really really did not need to hear that. He could feel his eyes getting wet. He needed to wrap this shit up and send Eddie on his way to mystery man's house before he started crying, "If that's how you feel then go for it man. He'd be lucky to have you."

Steve's voice broke on the last word, something he tried to hide behind a cough. He just wanted this to be over already.

"I think I'd be lucky to have him," Eddie said with a shrug, "But... do you really think I should? Just go for it?"

"Yeah dude, why not tonight even? If he's not doing anything else you can just hop right over," Steve was willing to sign up for anything that got him out of here faster.

Eddie laughed again, completely out of place. He was circling the counter, coming to a stop in front of Steve with a nervous little smile, "You really think so?"

Why did he have to look at him like that? With this big doe eyes, filled with hope. It was silly, what Steve thought didn't even matter, this had nothing to do with him. But that little fact wasn't helping to clear the lump in his throat.

Steve nodded, not trusting himself with words. He expected Eddie to grin, thank him, and head out into the night to profess his love for some other dude. But that's not what happened.

Instead Eddie settled his hands on Steve's shoulders, giving them a firm squeeze. He looked nervous, but excited, his eyes boring right into Steve's. He took a deep breath before blurting, "I'm in love with you. Like full-blown. A-And it's probably way to early to be saying that but it's true Steve. It's been driving me fucking insane, because I like want you man. In very non-friendship ways."

Steve stared at him, his mouth hanging open like an idiot. He didn't-wait-huh? What? That can't be right. Eddie couldn't have been talking about him because he didn't-he wasn't-but... now that Steve thought about it, who the fuck else would he be talking about? How would he even have a chance to meet someone else when they were attached at the hip?

He felt so stupid. And so relived. He didn't even know what to do with himself, besides stare at Eddie like a moron. And his silence wasn't helping anything.

"I-um, thought that you might feel the same way since, y'know. Everything. And I know you're not gay-"

It was true, Steve wasn't gay. Not entirely but, "I can be gay for you. I'm so gay for you. I might as well be an Eddie-sexual at this point-"

Steve didn't have time to finish his cringy spiel, not when Eddie was pulling him closer and smashing their mouths together. Steve would thank him later for it, but for now he was too busy melting into his arms.

He felt weirdly good when they finally pulled away, almost like he was high. Just from one little kiss.

Eddie was grinning at him, looking at Steve like he was the best thing that ever happened to him. And what an insane thought that was huh? But Steve would take it.

Steve smiled up at him, taking the time to wrap his arms around Eddie's neck, "So...was it worth it? The risk?"

Eddie rolled his eyes, his hands wandering downward to rest on Steve's hips. And then Eddie was actually lifting him into the air and onto the counter, settling between his legs like the gesture didn't just send Steve into a tailspin. Why was that so hot? When did his nerdy friend (boyfriend?) become so smooth?

Eddie chuckled before leaning back in. He pressed a light kiss to the side of Steve's lips, sweet enough for him to know it would be burned into his memory until the end of time, "Like you have to ask."

[little-annie]

Just another @strangerthingswritersguild prompt

T (mentions of death/dying) | WC 532 | Steddie

No one said it'd be easy, learning to live again.

Especially with knowing all that he does now.

But certain things make it easier. Certain people.

Like Robin. Like Nancy. Like Dustin and Lucas and Mike and Will. El, Max. Joyce Byers and by some strange turn of events Jim Hopper.

Everyone. 

Those mentioned and more.

But most of all, Steve.

If it wasn't for the dashing young Paladin Eddie would probably be dead, or at the very least homeless. Steve had carried Eddie's limp, bleeding body from the bellies of hell and stayed by his side. Or so the kids say, and Wayne and Robin tease. According to them, the only time Steve left was to prepare his home for Eddie. And Wayne. Because that's who he is apparently, to Eddie's utter bafflement.

As the fissures in the earth sealed themselves and the wounds within their skin closed all the same, Steve and Eddie found themselves as roommates and fast friends. 

Turns out on those rare days he left the hospital, Steve prepared a room for Eddie and a separate one for Wayne. Ensuring that they'd be their most comfortable. 

Though it's not like Eddie stayed in his room for long.

The night terrors made their very unwelcome arrival the first night Eddie spent in the Harrington's home. He tried to power through them for about a week. Waking to his own screams in a cold sweat and clinging to what vestiges of reality he could grasp.

Soon enough though his screams woke Steve and every night that followed Eddie found himself settling into the navy blue cloud that was Steve Harrington's bed. 

The recovery of his mental health seemed to rapidly stitch itself back together from that moment on. Like just laying beside Steve Harrington eases the nerves that scratch and itch at Eddie's bones. 

It might have to do with the way when Eddie starts to fuss in his sleep, Steve simply wraps around him and pulls him into his chest. But Eddie refuses to think too hard on that.

With his days and nights by Steve's side, everything gets easier.

Waking up in the mornings, cleaning his dressings and settling into his newest version of reality.

For that first week Eddie struggled with changing his own bandages and brushing his own hair, but now with Steve persistently involved he doesn't have to do those tasks alone.

Now instead of gasping, wincing and shedding a few tears, Eddie simply raises his arms and allows Steve to unwarp the soiled bandages from around his torso. Cleaning the moulted skin with alcohol and gently applying the prescribed antibiotic cream.

Afterwards, he brushes Eddie's hair. Wetting it, putting in something he calls *leave in conditioner* and running his large fingers through it until it's silky and manageable.

Then if Steve's not going into work or volunteering where he's needed in the community, they eat breakfast and settle in on the couch for a round of Golden Girls reruns. 

It's there in Steve Harrington's arms, that gathering up all the pieces of himself feels easier. That with this newfound care being forced upon him, Eddie thinks, maybe recovery won't be so hard. 

[brbsoulnomming]

Tell Me Sweet Little Lies Part 14

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 | AO3

-----

Everyone does end up having to go home. Except him, obviously, and Steve, whose house Eddie has learned he's apparently going to be squatting in until they can figure out a way to clear his name.

Is it squatting if he's invited? Eh, whatever.

Nancy and Robin swing by to drop off the prescriptions they'd picked up for Eddie. Both of them linger, long enough that Eddie thinks they might just stay - kind of wants them to stay, torn between wanting to be alone with Steve and not wanting to be alone with Steve.

Robin hugs Steve really tight, and he folds her up in his arms and holds her close, just staying like that for a long, long few minutes, talking so quietly they can't be heard. Nancy takes both their hands and squeezes when they're done, and surprises Eddie by giving his hand a squeeze as well. Robin looks like she kind of wants to launch herself at Eddie and hug him, too, but she settles for ruffling his hair, and then grimacing when her hand comes away grimy.

He laughs at her, and they promise to check in tonight, then they both leave.

Mrs. Sinclair comes to pick up Lucas and Erica and Max, and Eddie stays out of sight with his heart hammering in his throat, but they don't venture beyond the front hallway. Eddie can't quite make out what she says as she picks them up, but her tone is low and worried, and there's an underlying note of a familiarity, a gratitude, as she speaks briefly to Steve.

Eddie wonders, again, how long they've all been doing this. How many times their parents have worried about them, how many times Steve has apparently brought them home safely, looking beat to hell.

Mrs. Henderson is much louder when she comes to collect Dustin, though she doesn't go into the living room either. He can hear her fussing over the bandages around Steve's neck, asking how bad it is, sounding only mildly reassured when he tells her that it wasn't as bad as Starcourt. She asks him to come stay with her and Dustin, and Eddie thinks he can hear something like longing in Steve's voice when he declines, promising to come to dinner next week instead.

Then it's just him and Steve.

Steve collapses on the recliner, tipping his head back. Eddie's eyes are drawn to the long line of his throat, the stretch of tendons and muscle broken up by white gauze.

His mouth goes dry.

"I've got a guest room ready for you upstairs," Steve says.

His throat works as he speaks, and it takes Eddie a moment to process it.

"Fuck," Eddie mumbles. "Stairs, really?"

Steve laughs softly, tipping his head back up. "Yeah. It's got an ensuite and the bed's decent, we can set you up a lot better in there."

Eddie swallows. He wants to ask why Steve's doing this for him, but he's a little bit afraid of the answer, so he just makes an exaggerated whine of complaint.

It works to make Steve chuckle again, at least, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, you'll be glad once you're in an actual bed. Look, I'll get you some food and your next dose of meds first, just hang tight for a bit."

Eddie grumbles unintelligibly, but honestly, Steve's probably right. He must doze off a little, because the next thing he knows, Steve is gently shaking him awake, helping him sit up, and giving him something.

"What's this?" he asks, blinking blearily down at the bowl Steve handed him. It kind of looks like chunky baby food, though it smells pretty good.

"Oh, uh, frozen shepherd's pie," Steve says. "Not a lot to work with right now, we'll have to see about a grocery run soon. But I figure it's probably at least better than snacks and hospital food."

Eddie shrugs. "Not exactly a picky eater over here," he says as he digs in.

It's warm, and tastes a hell of a lot better than it looks. Like meatloaf and mashed potatoes all mixed up together, all hearty and comforting.

"S'good," he mumbles around a full mouth, prompting Steve to make a face at him.

"Don't talk with your mouth full, gross," Steve bitches.

Eddie feels compelled to stick his tongue out at him, still with some mashed potato remnants stuck to it, and Steve rolls his eyes.

"You make this?" Eddie asks, once he's swallowed the rest of the potato.

"Yeah." Steve scratches the back of his neck, just above the bandage. "Sometimes I'll freeze up smaller portions if I make something big, so I have stuff to grab when I'm in a hurry. Or when I've got recuperating metal-heads in my living room."

Eddie huffs a little laugh. "That a common occurrence? And here I thought I was special," he teases.

"You're something," Steve returns, though the grin he gives him is wide and fond as he reaches for the prescription bag Robin'd dropped off, pulling out the pair of bottles within and reading them over. "You're not due for your antibiotics yet, but you can have the pain meds."

He opens the bottle up, then pauses, frowning down into it. "Did they give you the wrong prescription?"

Ah.

"No," Eddie says, feeling exhausted.

"But we have the same meds, and mine is like. Four times this amount, even though your injuries are way worse, infection aside," Steve says, looking back up at him with his brow furrowed.

"They said it's because I left against medical advice."

Steve snorts. "That's a load of crap."

Eddie sighs. "What do you want me to tell you, Steve? You know what my side job is. The whole town does. Every time I go to the ER for something, to them, I'm just drug seeking."

Steve looks stricken, and god, Eddie's not sure he can take any well meaning pity right now. He kind of wants the couch to just swallow him up.

There's just silence, though, and then Steve's jaw sets in determination. He gets up, leaving Eddie floundering a little and staring after him as he walks into the kitchen, returning with a bottle that looks almost identical to the one Eddie was given.

He sits back down, popping them both open, and promptly tips his bottle to start dumping his own pills into Eddie's.

"Whoa, hey, what the fuck!" Eddie struggles to get up without hurting himself or dropping his bowl, gives up, and tries his best to glare at Steve from his position on the couch under the blankets.

"You need them more," Steve says stubbornly. "It's not like I'm going to take them, anyway."

Fuck, that's worse than pity, and Eddie feels his blood boil.

"No, of course not." Eddie sneers. "Is His Majesty above such petty things like pain? Would he rather muscle through on sheer meathead determination than turn to drugs like the lower class?"

Steve goes very still. "Do you really think that?" he asks quietly.

Eddie opens his mouth to snap that he doesn't have to think it, that Steve just showed him it, but - he looks at the expression on Steve's face instead, how it's gone closed off but it isn't hard, isn't angry. It's just blank. Abruptly, Eddie feels wrong-footed, like he'd fallen back on old habits and responded as the guy everyone thinks he is, to the guy he used to think Steve was.

"No," he says, just as quietly. "I don't really think that."

Steve's frozen exterior melts a little, and he shakes a pair of pills out into his hand, holds them out for Eddie to take. Eddie does, swallows them dry, and shovels another spoon of shepherd's pie into his mouth to keep it occupied. Steve looks like he's thinking about something, and Eddie doesn't want to risk saying something to throw him off.

"It's not that I'm trying to muscle through," Steve says, apparently coming to a decision. "I was drugged last time we dealt with Upside Down shit, it was a whole thing." He waves his hand. "I was high as hell for some of what was going down, and it was. Not a great time."

Eddie tries to imagine fighting off the demobats while drugged out of his mind, and goes a little pale. "Fuck."

"Yeah," Steve says. "I can't really do anything stronger than alcohol or the occasional joint now."

"Fuck," Eddie says, softer and with more feeling. "Jesus Christ, I'm such an ass, why do you even like me?"

Steve opens his mouth, and Eddie flails, slapping his hand over Steve's mouth before he can say anything.

"Nope, nuh-uh, this is an apology, not a ploy to get you to say nice things about me," Eddie insists. "Okay?"

Steve's laughing at him, he can tell just by his eyes, but he waits until Steve nods before he pulls his hand away.

"That's not what I think of you," Eddie says again. "I got defensive and lashed out, and it wasn't fair. I'm sorry."

The laughter in Steve's eyes fades, and he looks - caught out, all surprised and vulnerable, and he's staring at Eddie with something like wonder.

It makes Eddie squirm, feeling both like he doesn't know what he did to get that look and like he never wants it to stop.

"Thank you. Apology accepted." Steve's quiet for a moment before adding, "I'm sorry, too. I could tell you were upset but you didn't want sympathy, so I just."

He shrugs, and Eddie's going to press him more about what he just, but first - "You could tell?"

"Yeah. Your face does this thing - you're usually so expressive, but you just kind of shut down, like you're resigned."

Oh. Fuck. He hadn't realized Steve noticed him like that, and he focuses really hard on the other thing he wanted to push about to avoid thinking about it too much. "So you just?"

Steve gives him a crooked little smile. "Jumped to fixing it. Robin says I have this thing, where if someone I care about is upset and I don't know what else to do, I try to fix it. But sometimes how I try to fix it and what they want are different things."

Eddie's mouth opens, and before he knows it he's said, "I'm okay with that."

Steve blinks at him. "Really?"

Eddie'd shrug, but he's not sure his shoulder - or his entire torso - is up for the motion right now, so he just tries to look as casual as possible while half huddled on the couch, in hospital scrubs. "Yeah. People don't try to fix things for me, not unless it's my uncle. Might be kind of nice."

"Oh." Steve's got this look on his face like he doesn't know what to do with that - maybe he hasn't gotten many people who let him try to fix things for them.

Which, fair enough. Under any other circumstances, Eddie'd probably be one of those, just - he doesn't think he's lying, even not touching the fact that Steve hadn't reacted to what he said. "I'm probably going to be a dick about it when I'm not recovering from being half dead, though," he adds, just to be safe.

Steve snorts. "You've met just about all of my friends, man, that's nothing new. Usually I do a decent job at figuring out when they're just being dicks and when I'm actually going too far, but they're good about telling me when I don't get it right. They do it when I'm being too much of a dick, too."

"I can do that," Eddie decides. "Tell you if you're going too far."

He probably shouldn't make decisions right after leaving the hospital against medical advice, but screw it, he's doing it anyway.

"Okay," Steve says after another moment of consideration, then narrows his eyes at him. "I'm still taking a rain check on telling you all the things I like about you. It's getting to be kind of a long list."

Eddie gapes at him. Fuck, he can feel his cheeks burning, and he really hopes he can blame it on the bite wounds or the pain meds.

Hopes Steve won't ask, because he knows that would be a lie.

"Go away," he says, curling over his bowl so he doesn't have to look at Steve. "Let me eat my luxury baby food in peace before I have to drag my ass up all those stairs."

Steve laughs at him again, but it isn't mean, and he does leave, heading upstairs to - Eddie doesn't really know what Steve Harrington does with his free time when he's not ripping apart demobats or complaining about babysitting, actually.

Huh.

He thinks he might like to find out.

He shovels the rest of his shepherd's pie down methodically, then sets the bowl down on the coffee table and eyes the stairs. Despite his earlier words, he's pretty sure there's no way he's going to make it up them on his own. He pulls in a breath and lets it out, then calls, "Hey, Steve?"

Steve emerges almost immediately, a couple of towels tossed over one shoulder and an armful of plastic bottles. "You done?" he asks, tromping down the stairs.

Eddie eyes him. "What's all that?"

"The hospital did a pretty good job at getting most of the Upside Down grime off of us, but I thought you might want to wash it out of your hair," Steve says.

And fuck, yeah, Eddie really, really wants to - it's not just Upside Down grime, honestly, what with the whole being on the run for a week thing, and it just feels gross. Still, Eddie grimaces.

"Not, uh. Not really sure I can stand up long enough," he admits. "Plus I'm not supposed to lift my arms that high yet."

Steve's ears turn just a little bit pink, and Eddie struggles to keep his expression neutral, not to let his eyebrows raise up or to lean in too hungrily.

"I can wash it for you," he offers. "The laundry room's got a pretty deep sink, and I can pull up a chair and have you lean back a little."

He looks so fucking earnest that it makes Eddie flounder a little, once again having to restrain himself from asking why. Why is Steve doing any of this? Is it just because this seems to be what he does, because he thinks of Eddie as part of their Upside Down fighting group now and is focused on taking care of a party member? Were the handful of stolen moments during all of the fuckery and in the hospital real, or is Eddie just fooling himself that this is something he could actually have?

"Yeah," he says before he even realizes he's agreeing, while his thoughts are still a tangled up mess. "Appreciate it, man."

Steve shoots a smile at him. "Gimme a sec, I'll be right back."

He disappears down the hall for a few minutes, then comes back to help Eddie up. It's slow going, with Steve taking most of Eddie's weight, but he knows it's not going to be near as rough as the stairs will be, so he tells himself it's a practice run.

There's a low backed chair pulled up in front of the sink when they get to the laundry room, a folded up towel already pillowed on the edge of it. Steve guides him to sit down and tilt his head back, neck cushioned by the towel and hair spilling into the sink.

And then -

Fuck, Steve is close.

He's been close before, obviously, he let Eddie get all up in his personal space when they were walking through the Upside Down and he leaned over Eddie's shoulder a few times to watch what he was doing, and Eddie's literally been leaning on him to walk since he got here, but - with all of that, there was something else going on, some kind of other purpose or at least a buttload of pain he was trying to ignore.

Sitting like this, Steve leaning over him as he fiddles with the knobs to get the water to a good temperature, he's just close. Eddie can feel the body heat coming off of him, and he can count every freckle and mole on Steve's forearms, where he'd pushed up the sleeves of his sweatshirt. He's not trying to look, but he can still see the scrawl of writing that disappears under the sleeve of his left arm, can just make out I don't think. He can hear the heavy beat of his own heart and the way his breath quickens, and he forces himself to breathe slow and even, trying not to draw attention to it.

Then Steve's fingers are in his hair, gently sweeping it all together as he starts rinsing it out.

"Shit, man, this might take awhile," he says apologetically. "The water's coming out as black as it did for mine, and I've got less hair."

Eddie hums noncommittally, afraid if he says anything he'll end up telling Steve that's fine by him, they can stay like this all night if he wants to. There's the sound of a shampoo bottle opening, and on his next breath in he's hit with the scent of something, he has no idea what, like a honeyed summer day, all sunshine and sweet and clean.

And then Steve's hands are on him again, fingertips rubbing small circles over his scalp, blunt nails scratching in just the right way to send shivering goosebumps down his spine.

He's not proud of the way it makes him fucking whimper, but mostly because the sound prompts Steve to freeze.

"That hurt?" Steve asks softly.

"No," Eddie manages to get out. "It, uh. Feels nice."

Nice is an understatement, but not a lie, so it's the best he's got right now. It makes Steve continue, at least, so Eddie's taking the fucking win.

His eyes slide shut, and he thinks he might drift off to sleep right there if it weren't for the fact that he really wants to cling to how fucking good this feels. God, he can't remember the last time he felt a physical sensation that wasn't pain or discomfort, and he tells himself that's the reason that this is making him react so strongly.

No one's ever done anything like this for him before. No one's ever wanted to, even before the murder accusations, and between the exhaustion settling over him and the pain meds kicking in and the euphoria of feeling good - Eddie's dangerously close to begging, here. To saying please, just, please can he keep having this, please can this mean something, can this be because Steve wants to and not because he feels obligated.

"You okay?" Steve asks quietly as he rinses Eddie's hair out, and starts lathering up for a second wash.

Eddie hopes it's just a general are you okay, in light of the whole everything, and not a specific hey you look like you're going through something right now. Doesn't actually matter, he guesses, because he still has to say something, and he doesn't know what to say that isn't a lie or isn't something that's too much.

"Haven't, uh. Haven't had anyone do this before," he admits, because that seems like the safest thing to acknowledge.

He thinks what he means by this was pretty obvious, but apparently not, because Steve gives a thoughtful little hum.

"Take care of you?" he asks, cradling Eddie's skull in his hands so delicately it makes him want to weep.

Or shove him off and run until he can't anymore, but that's not any better.

"Fuck, Steve, not holding back any punches here, huh?" he asks, his voice a little raspy.

"I mean. We almost got eaten by demobats together, and we're in kind of a bathroom. That's prime bonding time, for me."

Eddie'd shake his head, but he doesn't want to do anything to dislodge Steve's hands, so he settles for heaving a pointed sigh. "No, Steve, people haven't been lining up to take care of the freak. It's not like I need it, anyway."

Steve makes this little sound - Eddie's not sure he's even aware that he does it, really, but it's like the verbal equivalent to rolling his eyes. "Everyone needs it, sometimes. It's okay to want that, especially after all of this. This isn't the first time some of us have stayed together in the aftermath."

"Yeah? Who looks after you, then?" Eddie asks.

"Robin, usually, sometimes Dustin. Why, you volunteering?"

He can't see Steve's face, but he thinks that was probably meant to come out as teasing. It doesn't quite land there, though, a little too soft, a little too genuine, and it makes Eddie swallow.

"Maybe," he says, feeling his heart beat in his throat.

"Oh," Steve breathes out, his hands stilling for a moment.

Eddie fights not to open his eyes.

"Yeah, okay," Steve says, a little too carelessly, fingertips scratching back over his scalp again. "I look after you, you look after me."

That's not quite what Eddie meant, but he doesn't know how to say what he meant, so he just says, "You don't have to. Take care of me, I mean. Just because you think it's okay to want to be taken care of, you know, it doesn't have to be you."

He waits for Steve to point out that Eddie'd just said that no one else was lining up for the job, maybe make a joke about how it's him or nothing.

Instead, Steve says, "I know. I want to."

Fuck.

If this is the way Steve always is, Eddie can see why so many girls were into him in high school.

When he's reasonably sure his voice isn't going to shake, he says, "Thanks, man. For - all of this."

He's kind of worried Steve is going to tell him that he's doing it because he wants to again, but fortunately that seems to be enough talking about not quite emotions for both of them, because Steve just hums as he starts rinsing Eddie's hair again.

Eddie lets himself relax, sinking into the soft, floaty feeling that wants to pull him down, and just enjoying the feel of Steve's fingers in his hair, the edge of pain blurred and fuzzy from the meds, and finally, finally feeling like maybe he's safe.

It takes another round of lather and rinse for Steve to be satisfied with how clean his hair is, but Eddie sure as hell isn't protesting. Time kind of slips and wobbles, anyway, as he doesn't doze so much as just fucking melt into the chair and under Steve's hands, like all the tension from the last week plus is oozing out of him. He thinks Steve murmurs something about conditioner, but he honestly doesn't care, as long as he can keep sitting here like this.

Eventually, the water's shut off, and Steve's tilting his head up, draping his hair over a towel and gently scrunching it before wrapping it up.

"You awake?" Steve asks, voice a little sing-song like he's teasing.

"Depends on how you're measuring awake," Eddie mumbles back, not entirely sure he managed to get all those syllables out in the correct order.

Whatever he says, it makes Steve laugh softly. "Come on, Munson, up you go. Let's get you to bed."

Eddie's hindbrain immediately takes over, and the next thing he knows he's saying, "Fuck, yes please, finally."

Fortunately, Steve seems to take his eagerness as an eagerness to be in bed in general, and not in Steve's bed specifically, because he just says, "You gotta stand up for that."

Eddie whines, and Steve's hand on his elbow where he'd been tugging him to get up slips, and Eddie looks up at him, eyes wide.

Steve's staring back at him, and holy shit, Eddie might be high on pain meds and a boneless mess from what was basically a head massage, but he knows what desire looks like, knows Steve's eyes are probably a mirror of his own right now.

Then Steve's eyes are closing, and he visibly shakes himself like a fucking dog, before his hand finds its spot on Eddie's elbow again, nice and firm.

"Steve," Eddie murmurs, even though he knows he's missed his moment to speak, because Steve is already guiding him up and wrapping his arm around him to help him walk.

"Not too far, Eds, I promise," Steve says. "We'll be there before you know it."

"Steve," Eddie says again, and this time Steve pauses, swallowing once before he looks at him.

Steve's arm is still around him, and he's so close they're practically breathing the same air - so close he can see the flecks of hazel in Steve's eyes, see the way his lashes brush against his cheek, and Eddie -

He doesn't want to do it like this. Eddie knows he's pretty far gone right now, a little floaty and a little loopy, and he's honestly not sure what words he can even get out of his mouth, let alone if he's going to remember this tomorrow.

"This is gonna have to be mostly you," he says, not letting himself think about how it could mean more than one thing. "I'm barely standing after that, let alone navigating stairs."

Steve laughs softly, steering him out of the laundry room and towards the stairs. "Long as you keep your feet on one side of the steps, you'll at least have one up on Henderson last time I had to help him up the stairs."

"No promises," Eddie replies, but that does make him look down at his own feet, trying to be careful and deliberate about how he places them as they slowly make their way upstairs.

With the meds, it doesn't hurt as much as it probably should. It mostly just takes so much goddamn effort, feels like walking through jello, and Eddie's not ashamed to admit he's breathing heavily by the time they make it to what must be the Harringtons' guest room.

It's… well. It's boring, honestly, minimally decorated, but the bed looks huge and insanely welcoming at the moment, all the blankets turned down and the pillows carefully arranged to resemble the way he'd found was the most comfortable at the hospital. The lamp on the nightstand is glowing softly, and there's a glass of water and Eddie's bottles of pills next to it.

Clean clothes are laid out on the bed - a pair of black boxers, black track pants with a white stripe down the leg, and a dark blue Henley.

Another lump forms in his throat, and he swallows past it as Steve points out the door to the bathroom.

"I'm just down the hall," Steve tells him.

Eddie manages to mumble out a thanks, and only stares at him a little as he walks out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

Honestly, Eddie's too fucking exhausted to sort out anything about anything right now, so he just shuffles his way over to the bed. He strips out of the hospital scrubs, leaves them in a pile right where they fall, and struggles into the clothes Steve's loaned him.

Like the stairs, it doesn't hurt, but he knows that doesn't mean he can risk overdoing it. He's careful, moving gingerly to pull the shirt on and sitting on the bed to step into the boxers and pants. Then he collapses back, tugging the covers over him. His head lolls to the side for a moment as he stares at the lamp.

If he's honest, his decision to leave it on is part that it feels like too much effort to turn it off, and part that he's not sure he wants to be alone in the dark right now.

Maybe in a bit, he thinks, but he's asleep before he can think anything else.

Taglist (let me know if you'd like to be added!): @vampireinthesun @koibug @estrellami-1 @mentalcyborg @allbimyself26 @questionablequeeries @the-s-is-silent @whimsicalwitchm @a-gae-af-racoon @tinyplanet95 @n0-1-important @velocitytimes2 @swimmingbirdrunningrock @newtstabber @jcmadgirl @roblingoblin285 @lexyvey @paperbackribs @goodolefashionedloverboi @evix-syne666 @raisedbylibrarians @stxrcrossed186 @nightmareglitter @greekgeek24 @starman-jpg @crazyhatlady86 @imfinereallyy @manda-panda-monium @deleataecount @prideandsensibility @chaoticvictorianspirit @maydillydally @disrespectedgoatman @scarlet-malfoy @i-less-than-three-you @hbyrde36 @hallucinatedjosten @dragonsandgayships @arepaconchocolate @g4ys0n @novelnovella @bisexualdisastersworld @ghostofyourvampiregf @scarletyeager @pettrichore @nerd-and-nervous @hiimlevi @queenie-ofthe-void @cinnamon-mushroomabomination

-----

Part 15

[steddiebang2024]

how to wake a dead boy. | M |  33.7k

Author: @punkslovepoints

Artist: @bleedingoptimism

Beta Reader: 100_Thrown_Out_Speeches (AO3)

[Link to fic] | [Link to art]

Pairings: Stever Harrington/Eddie Munson

Characters: Eddie Munson, Steve Harrington, Dustin Henderson, Robin Buckley, Nancy Wheeler

Tags: Childhood Sweethearts, Childhood Friends, Time Jump, Angst with a Happy Ending, Mutual Pining, Food as a Metaphor for Love, Apocalypse, Steve Harrington Has Powers, Alternate Universe - Pushing Daisies Fusion, Inspired by Pushing Daisies, Necromancy  

Trigger Warnings: Parental Death, Child abuse, Neglect, Some horror elements, Blood, Mild Gore, Some lingering Stancy

↳ Keep reading below for a summary!

They pull up outside the funeral home. An austere building masquerading as homely, it reminds Steve of his own house. Dustin looks nervous as Steve turns off the engine, sits with his hands on the wheel, just waiting.

Dustin has removed his hat and is tracing his fingers along the words, muttering to himself as he does.

“You don't have to go in, you know.”

Dustin snorts in response.

“I mean it.” Steve leans towards him, forces Dustin to look at him. “I know it may feel like giving up to not go in now, but it's not. We can do something else, throw a party in his memory or something. You don't have to punish yourself.”

Dustin continues to trace the outline on his hat. “No. I want to.” He looks up then, makes eye contact. “If you're given a chance to say goodbye, a real goodbye, you've got to take it right?”

Steve stares at him in shock, Dustin’s words forming an idea in his mind. A very, very stupid idea. Dustin continues to talk, explaining that this'll be his last chance to see Eddie. That he needs to do it, for closure.

“Wait here.”

“What?”

“Just,” Steve opens the car door, steps out and leans in, “I need to let them know we're here, there'll probably be paperwork. I'll come back and get you when they're ready.”

He closes the door before Dustin has a chance to respond. Walks the short distance from the sidewalk to the driveway as if his heart hasn’t started to pound and his legs don't feel like jelly.

He hasn't used his power in years. After working out the rules, he’d gotten good at hiding it, thinking of it as more than a curse than a power. And on the odd occasion he’d been forced to touch something dead, he'd perfected the old double tap method. Even Dustin hadn't noticed the split second of alive-again-dead-again back when they'd stuffed the demodog into Joyce Byers fridge.

By the time he reaches the entrance, he's made up his mind. He’s going to wake Eddie.

One minute.

A chance to say goodbye.

Properly this time.

The funeral director gives Steve a look of annoyance when he steps through the door, refuses to shake his hand, and just grunts a curt, “This way,” as he leads him through the building. Steve has gotten used to it over the past week, those who believed the stories, who see Eddie as nothing more than the murderer the press make him out to be. Steve tries not to care, just lets the guy lead him through to the back, thanks him as he waves a dismissive hand towards the door and returns to the desk mumbling that he doesn’t understand why they didn’t let Eddie rot in the hell he created.

Steve watches him go, steps into the room, closing the door behind him. It’s quiet. Steve doesn’t know why he expects anything else, just knows it feels strange to be in a room with Eddie and it be silent, not when Eddie himself was so loud. 

The room isn’t large, just a table with a vase on it that should contain flowers but doesn’t. The casket is sitting closed on a raised platform. Steve steps closer, his heart hammering in his chest, he’s muttering to himself how this is a bad idea, a bad idea, a bad idea.

Still, he opens the lid of the casket and there he is.

Eddie.

He’s paler than he’s ever looked before, make-up smeared across the worst of his facial wounds, but done without care or precision. He’s glad that Dustin isn't seeing him like this, he looks barely better than the day he died, although at least the shirt he’s wearing isn’t covered in blood.

He gives himself a moment. Steadies his breathing before reaching out and with a delicate touch, places a finger on Eddie’s cheek.

[moonstruckme]

Steve x Wednesday!reader and the gang really didn’t expect Steve to end up w someone so different from all his exs but also low-key think she’s way out of his league??? Found your fics and your writing is sick 😋😋😋😋

Thanks for your request sweetheart! I haven't written wednesday!reader before so idk if this was too much? Or too little? Anyway, I hope you like it, mwah <3

Steve Harrington x Wednesday!reader ♡ 698 words

You hadn't been at all nervous to meet Steve's friends. Really, they probably should have been more nervous about meeting you.

You could be a bit off-putting at first, with your impassive stare and clipped, to-the-point manner of speaking. The few other girlfriends Steve had introduced to his friends had greeted them with smiles and nervous laughter, and Steve had caught Dustin and Mike whispering about just that when you'd gone to the bathroom.

Overall, though, Steve thinks this is going pretty well. Nancy had liked your giant combat boots, Eddie loved that you had the same taste in music, and when the kids found out how much you knew about mages and battle strategy, they'd grilled you for a solid twenty minutes before Steve had called them off, complaining that he was going to dream about their nerd jargon that night if they didn't shut up.

Now, Eddie and the boys are discussing the edition of their nerd game they'll be playing next week (how it even changes from week to week, Steve can never figure out), and you seem to be listening with mild interest when you turn towards him suddenly.

"I have to go home," you say, in your matter-of-fact way. "I left a potion on the stove, and its six hours are almost up."

Steve blinks at you. He should be used to this by now, but sometimes your hobbies still take him by surprise. "Alright," he says after a moment. "What's the potion for?"

Impossibly, your expression darkens. "Something ate my venus fly traps, and I intend to find out what."

Steve declines to ask what you plan to do when you do find them, or how whatever you're brewing will accomplish that. "Okay," he stands, looking for where he left his keys. "I'll drive."

"No, you can stay," you say, as if it makes no difference to you. "I want to cut through the woods to find some belladonna on my way."

He's not going to ask what you want with the poisonous berries, either. "You sure, honey?" You nod, and Steve sits back down. He knows better than to bother arguing with you once you've made up your mind. "Okay, be safe, alright? Text me when you're home."

He tilts his chin up, and you lean down to peck him on the lips, a brief, chaste thing compared to what you prefer behind closed doors.

"Bye, Y/N!" Eddie calls, and a chorus of goodbyes follow you out. As soon as the door closes behind you, every eye in the room turns on Steve.

"Steve, what the hell? She's so cool." Dustin says, sounding almost shocked.

"Yeah," Eddie chimes in. "Where the hell have you been hiding her, Harrington?"

Steve grins proudly. He known they liked you, but it doesn't hurt to hear it out loud. "Yeah?"

"Um, yeah," Max says. "She's hilarious."

Robin nods enthusiastically. "She is! She's so funny, and smart, too. Honestly, Steve, it's a good thing you're nice, because she's, like, way out of your league."

Steve blinks. Okay, ouch. This compliment session seems to be taking an unexpected turn. Up until today, no one was out of Steve Harrington's league. "You really think so?"

"Duh." Robin looks around for support, but only Dustin is nodding, everyone else having fallen unusually silent. "Oh, you guys are cowards. She's gorgeous."

"I know that," Steve says defensively.

"She does have better hair than you," Nancy says, somewhat apologetically, "and that's kind of your thing, so."

Steve blows out an exasperated breath, slouching back in his seat. He thinks you have better hair than him, but he didn't know everyone else would think that. And of course you're far too good for him, but aren't these supposed to be his friends? Any modicum of loyalty they'd had between them seems to have vanished.

"Whatever," Steve says. "You guys are just jealous."

Eddie sighs, his eyes sparkling with exaggerated infatuation. "I know I am. Don't let her get away from you, Harrington, or I might take her for myself."

Steve rolls his eyes. As if he'd be dumb enough to let that happen. He's happy to be your charity case forever.

[stiles-o-dylan24]

King of My Heart Chapter 28 - Dear Billy

Author: @stiles-o-dylan24​  Pairing: Steve x Summer Byers  Word Count: 7.4k Warnings: canon violence and themes, language, mentions of death, dying, murder, mentions of cemeteries SERIES SPOTIFY PLAYLIST

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Max gasps awake loudly, jerking back in the chair she’s sitting in and looking between Dustin, Steve and I with her wide eyes. 

Setting my hand on her shoulder, I raise my brows and ask her “Hey, what the hell was that? Are you okay?”

Max moves her mouth to respond, however, no words come to her as she looks around and gets up from the chair. She looks absolutely terrified and my worry for her and whatever she just saw grows even more.

“Max?” Dustin asks and she walks towards the door to the office, explaining to us “I, uh, I heard a voice and I saw something–”

“What did you see?” I ask and she looks over her shoulder at us, nervously looking around while she answers “A grandfather clock in the wall.”

“In the wall?” Steve repeats and she just nods and walks through the doorway.

Steve looks over at me and the three of us move to follow behind her out of the office and into the hallway. 

Robin and Nancy turn down the corner at the far end of the hallway and start running towards us, both of them out of breath when they stop in front of us and say “What’s going on?”

Without saying anything other than "I need to check something," Max looks between all of us and shines her flashlight along the wall, slowly heading around a corner.

"What happened?" Nancy asks and I shake my head softly, nodding my head in the direction Max is walking "Come on, we'll explain in a second."

I shine my flashlight down the hallway and we all follow her, Steve walking beside me and setting his hand on my back. 

Max stops her steps and looks down a side inlet little hallway to her right. She tilts her head to the side and breathes out shakily while she tells us “It was here– it was right here.”

Dustin, Steve and I move our flashlights around at the wall and notice how it's completely intact. I clear my throat and look at her standing just in front of us “A grandfather clock?” I repeat from earlier and Max nods, her flashlight moving over the wall while she tells us “It was so real– and then, when I got closer, suddenly I just…”

She pauses, taking a second before she says “I woke up.”

“It was like she was in a trance or something” Dustin says and I look over at Robin and Nancy, nodding and elaborating further “It was exactly like what Eddie said happened to Chrissy– we couldn’t get through to her at all and then all of a sudden she woke up.”

Max turns around and looks at us all, hesitantly telling us with a small shake of her head “That's not even the bad part...” 

We all look expectantly at her, however, all she says is “Follow me” and she walks past us, heading back down the hallway that we just came from. 

Steve worriedly follows her with his eyes, looking back at me and trying to offer a reassuring smile at the same time he's holding his arm out for me to walk in front of him. I set my hand on Robin's arm as I walk past her and we all follow Max.

We all walk back into Ms. Kelley’s office and we gather around the front of the desk while Max moves to stand behind it. She turns on the desk light while Robin sits down in the chair and I sit on the arm of the chair. I turn slightly to face Max while Steve stands beside me, bumping my knees with his legs while he drapes his arm over my shoulder.

Nancy and Dustin stand on Robin's other side of the chair and Max sets her hands on the papers of the files we were previously looking at. She takes a second before she explains “Fred and Chrissy, they both came to Miss Kelley for help,” she slides a piece of paper over for Robin and Nancy to look at, continuing “Uh, they both were having headaches... bad headaches that wouldn't go away. And then… then the nightmares, trouble sleeping, they'd wake up in a cold sweat. Then they started seeing things– bad things, from their pasts. And these visions, they just… they kept on getting worse and worse, until eventually… everything ended.”

“Vecna's curse” Robin says and looks up at her, Max nodding ever so slightly before she continues “Chrissy's headache started a week ago. Fred's, six days ago… I've been having them for five days.”

Steve reaches up and covers his mouth with his hand while I stand up from my lean against the chair Robin is sitting in, my face completely scrunched up in my worry for her. Max looks between us, shrugging her shoulder as she stammers out “I don't know how long I have. All I know is that, for Fred and Chrissy, they both died less than twenty four hours after their first vision– and I just saw that goddamn clock, so…” she throws her arm out to indicate the hallway we just came from and she breathes out matter of factly “Looks like I'm gonna die tomorrow.”

Before we’re able to fully process everything she just said we hear a loud shrill clang noise from down the hallway and we all stand on alert, looking towards the door. 

Steve looks around at all of us, his hand grabbing my arm gently while he orders everyone in the room “Stay here,” and makes his way towards the office door.

Just before he walks out of the room he looks to his right and he grabs a lamp, pulling it towards him sharply so the cord unplugs from the outlet.

He walks out of the office and into the hallway and I give him exactly a three second head start before I ignore his previous command. I make a noise and turn my flashlight back on, quickly walking out of the office and into the hallway behind him. I hear everyone else follow my lead and Dustin walks beside me, shining his light around the hallway.

Behind Steve we all slowly make our way down the hallway in the direction of the previous noise and I shine my flashlight along the wall in front of him. 

We hear another loud thud in the distance of one of the hallways in front of us and I jerk back from the noise, Dustin coming to a stop on one side of me while Max stops on the other. 

Echoing footsteps sound next and when they sound like they’re rapidly approaching where we’re at that's the cue for my heartbeat to increase exponentially. We hesitantly continue to walk forward still until someone comes running around the corner and we all scream, my arms reaching out for Max and Dustin as we jump backwards. 

Steve yells even louder than the rest of us, lifting the lamp up defensively, however, Lucas’ face being blinded by Dustin’s flashlight and his voice yelling “It’s me” succeed in stopping Steve from actually hitting him with the chosen weapon.

I stop screaming and breathe out a relieved breath the approaching footsteps belong to our friend, sharing a look with Max who shakes her head and tries to slow her breathing as well.

“Lucas?” Nancy says and takes a step closer, Lucas lifting his arms up and yelling out once more “It’s me”

“Jesus, what is wrong with you Sinclair!” Steve yells out, Lucas breathing heavily as he tries to catch his breath “I’m sorry” he says and Steve huffs out in frustration, shaking the lamp around while he continues to yell “I could have taken you out with this lamp!”

Steve sets the lamp down and makes a face, breathing out harshly before he sets his hands on his hips and looks over his shoulder at me. I shake my head in disbelief, finally feeling like my heart is no longer in danger of expelling itself from my chest "Jesus Christ."

“Sorry guys–” Lucas pants, looking around at all of us while he tries to catch his breath. “Sorry, I was” he breathes out deeply and sets his hands on his hips, “I was biking for eight miles–” he lifts one hand up to point along with his words “Give me a second, shit”

Steve looks over at me and I lick my lips quickly, trying to calm my erratic breathing down from having the shit scared out of me. We look back over at Lucas who still hasn’t caught his breath from his eight mile bike sprint, however, he doesn’t waste any more time to tell us “We’ve got a code red” 

Steve lifts one of his hands up as he asks “What?” and Lucas makes a noise, trying to keep his breathing even while he looks around at all of us.

Lucas walks towards Dustin, stopping in front of him while he elaborates further, “Dustin, I’ve been with Jason, Patrick, and Andy all day and they've gone totally off the rails. They're trying to capture Eddie, and they think you know where he is. You're in terrible danger.”

“All right,” Dustin nods, breathing out a deep breath “Yeah, that definitely sucks, but we've got bigger problems than Jason right now.”

“What do you mean?” Lucas asks and we all look over at Max, who looks away, hesitantly looking over at Lucas whose face completely falls "What's going on?" 

"We need to stay together but we should probably get out of here" I interject, looking around at the group and Nancy nods, making a noise before she offers “Yeah, we don't want to get caught here so let’s go back to our house and we can catch everyone up and then we can get some sleep.”

⋇・.・゜゜・.・゜゜・.・゜゜・.・゜゜・.・⋇

Early the next morning Nancy takes Robin with her to go to the school newspaper and enlist the resources there for the next part of her plan. However before they go, Nancy hands Steve, Dustin, Lucas and I copies of an article they found yesterday at the library from The Weekly Watcher with the title of ‘Victor Creel Claims: Ancient Demon Killed Family'. The article goes on to explain how Creel didn’t murder his wife and kids, like everyone has believed for the last thirty years, because he claims it was an exorcism gone wrong and it was actually a demon. A demon that made him see things while it was actually what killed his wife and kids.

Dustin and Lucas are sitting on the couch, I'm sitting next to them in a recliner chair and Steve stands beside me while we all read over this thing. I make a noise with the similarities of the trance and the seeing things and scratch the side of my head while I finish the article.

I lean forward and set down the paper onto the coffee table in the front of me, looking up at Steve who is pacing beside me. Lucas still has the paper close to his face while he reads and Dustin leans forward to set his paper next to mine on the coffee table, shrugging at me once he's done reading.

Steve makes a noise, gaining our attention while he says “Okay, be honest–" he sighs, walking back towards where we're sitting "Uh, you guys understand any of this?” 

“No” Lucas answers at the same time I say “Yeah” and Dustin answers “Pretty straightforward.”

Steve scoffs and looks from me and over at Dustin, repeating “Oh, straightforward, really?”

“Well what’s confusing to you?” Dustin asks, lifting his arm up to point at the paper on the coffee table in front of him, not giving Steve a chance to answer before he explains “So far, everyone Vecna has cursed has died, except for this old Victor Creel dude Nancy found– he's the only known survivor. If anyone knows how to beat this curse, it's him.”

“That's assuming he was cursed, Henderson, which we don't even know” Steve counters, reaching up to scratch the side of his head as he looks back down at the paper in his hands, mumbling to himself “How can Vecna have existed in the fifties? It doesn't make sense.”

"This happened in 1959 so it's not even been thirty years" I say, shrugging a little as I lean back in the chair "If Vecna is some kind of inter dimensional spell casting wizard I doubt time affects him the same."

Steve makes a face like I've got a point and Dustin leans forward to rest is arms on his knees “As far as we know, Eleven didn't create the Upside Down– she just opened a gate to it” Dustin explains, looking between us and continuing “The Upside Down has probably been around for thousands of years– millions. I wouldn't be surprised if it predated the dinosaurs.”

“Di– dinosaurs? What are we…” Steve starts to say, however, Lucas interrupts “Okay– but if a gate didn't exist in the fifties, how did Vecna get through?” 

“Oh and how's he getting through now?” Steve asks and I nod, asking further "And why is he doing this all now?” 

“And why then?" Steve snaps his fingers, pointing over towards me and elaborating "Just pops out in the fifties, kills one family, and he's like, ‘eh I'm good’. And poof, he just disappears. Just… gone?" he moves his hand around, continuing "Only to return thirty years later and start killing some random teens? No, I don't buy it,” Steve looks back down to the paper in his hands and makes a noise, walking over to the chair on the other side of the coffee table from the couch “Straightforward, my ass,” he stops walking and points over at Dustin “You know what– honestly, Henderson, a little humility every now and then, it wouldn't hurt you.”

“Sorry” Dustin mutters and Steve sits down in a chair, crossing a leg over the other and looking at Dustin pointedly.

I chuckle quietly to myself and move over to sit on the arm of the chair Steve is sitting in. He breathes out a frustrated breath and sets his hand on my back while I set my arm behind his shoulders and move my hand through the hair at the nape of his neck. He drops his head back a little to look at me, smiling softly when he connects his eyes with mine.

Dustin leans over towards Lucas so he can look past the stairs in the gap next to me. He looks over at Max who is sitting down at a desk behind Steve and I, writing away like she has for the past few hours.

“Any idea what she's writing?” Dustin asks and we turn around to also look over at her, hearing him ask further “Did she sleep?”

“I mean, would you?” Lucas asks instead of giving an answer and Steve and I turn back around to face them.

We hear the door at the top of the stairs open loudly followed by two sets of feet quickly descending the stairs.

Nancy smiles when she reaches the bottom of the stairs, Robin stopping beside her while Nancy says “Okay, so… we have a plan.”

They hand Steve and I one folder and hand the other over to Dustin while Robin fills in “Thanks to Nancy's newspaper minions, we are now rock-star psychology students at the University of Notre Dame.”

Steve opens the folder up and I look over his shoulder at the letter of recommendation from some professor at Notre Dame, along with a page summarizing the thesis outline and another page with transcripts.

“I'm now Ruth” Nancy explains and Robin continues with a bright smile “And I'm Rose.”

“Rose and Ruth?” Steve repeats and Nancy shrugs as an answer while Dustin admires the folder in front of him, stating “Nice GPA.”

Nancy smiles over at him and nods her head once “Thanks” she says and continues to explain to us the plan “So we called Pennhurst Asylum, told them we'd like to speak with Victor Creel for a thesis we're co-writing on paranoid schizophrenics…” Nancy pauses and Robin interjects “To which they said no” before Nancy continues “But we landed a three o'clock with the director.”

“Now all we have to do is charm him and convince him to let us talk to Victor” Robin explains and Nancy looks over at the desk where Max is still sitting, thoughtfully adding on “Then maybe we can rid Max of this curse.”

“Yeah, uh, about that, we've been doing our Victor Creel homework, and, uh…” Steve sighs and hands the other folder over to Lucas before he finishes with “We’ve got some questions.”

“Lots of questions” Lucas says and Nancy nods “So do we and hopefully, Victor has the answers.”

I look around at the folders and notice how there's only two, so I clear my throat and indicate Steve and I "So just you two are going? What's the plan for us?"

“Wait, wait, wait a second" Steve scoffs, looking around at the folders as well "We're not going with you?”

Nancy makes a noise and nods her head to the stairs, pointedly saying "I'll explain the rest while we're getting ready."

Steve and I follow Nancy and Robin up the stairs and we make our way through the house and up the next set of stairs towards Nancy's room. She opens her door and walks in first, Steve following and being quick to argue “Nancy, you're outta your mind if you think we’re babysitting again.”

"They're not really babies anymore" I offer gently and he sighs, spinning around to lean back against her smaller dresser while Nancy nods "Exactly and besides Max is in real danger and she needs people around her," she says and opens her closet doors to look through the clothes.

"I know she is but why does it always have to be us? It’s like–” Steve starts, however he stops when I look at him and he shakes his head softly "What?"

I shrug and cross my arms over my chest, apologetically looking up at him “We’ve made a good team with the kids before, besides I'm kind of fine with not going because I want to stay with Max.”

Steve sighs, nodding his head in understanding towards me while Robin runs into the room with us “Oh my God, you have a Tom Cruise poster–” Robin exclaims, stopping and turning around to look at Nancy while she repeats in a more teasing tone “You have a Tom Cruise poster.”

She laughs and kneels down in front of the side table while Nancy defends “That's old– it’s just–” she stops looking through the closet and faces Robin again “Can you please not touch anything?”

Robin looks over at her for a second before she goes back to flipping through the cassettes. I laugh quietly and turn away from her, facing Steve again. He holds out his arms for me and I smile softly at him, slowly making my way towards him. I walk into his arms and he sets them on my waist, moving me gently while he asks"You sure you don't want to go? They might need our charm to woo this guy?"

Nancy snorts and looks at one shirt before putting it back and telling him "That's not really the kind of charm we need.”

“Ouch” Steve grumbles and I chuckle wrapping my arms around his shoulders and hugging him to me. His arms wrap around my waist and we look at Nancy when she sighs and backtracks “No, I just… I did a little digging last night, and it turns out this Dr. Hatch is a distinguished fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and a Harvard visiting scholar, okay? This is a lifelong student of the world and if we're gonna win him over, we're gonna have to convince him we are too," she goes back to flipping through the hangers in her closet "That, like him… we are true academic scholars.”

“Holy shit– there's a little ballerina in here” Robin whispers behind us. We turn around to face her at the same time she turns around and shows us Nancy’s jewelry box with said ballerina in it and Steve rolls his eyes, pointing over at Robin while he directs his words to Nancy “Academic scholar? She's giving you an academic scholar vibe? Yeah.”

Nancy sighs and pulls out two hangers from her closet, lifting up a pink blouse while she says “No, but… she will.”

“Oh, please, tell me that you're joking” Robin grimaces and Nancy shakes her head “I’m not”

“Then Summer is your Rose” Robin states and I quickly shake my head, grimacing over at her while I counter “I’m like fully okay with babysitting the non babies and being nowhere near Pennhurst actually.”

Robin playfully glares at me and I smile brightly at her, stepping back from Steve as I reach out for the shirt from Nance and tell Robin “Now, lets give you that full academic scholar makeover.”

Steve hits his hand on his thighs and announces "That's my cue" he steps over and kisses my temple, heading back towards the door "I'll go check on them."

Once Robin and Nancy are dressed to impress they leave and I head back down the stairs to the kitchen to try calling mom again. I dial the number and immediately sigh when I just get the busy tone again. We've been trying to call them since last night and every time it's just a busy signal and I'm really trying not to add being worried about them to my list of things we've got going on right now.

Sundays are my day to call them and in the entire time they've been in California I have always gotten through, even with mom's new job selling encyclopedias over the phone. That is until yesterday when the phone was busy every time I tried calling.

I hang up the phone, the ball of dread starting to form in my gut as I walk towards the basement door. I walk down the stairs and notice that Max is still writing whatever she’s writing so I walk over to sit down in the chair next to the couch where the guys are sitting. Steve's sitting in between them and he's got a baseball that he's gently tossing up above him, "They leave already?"

I nod and look between them, "Yup, Robin looks great and incredibly uncomfortable."

Steve snorts and tosses the ball again while I look over at Max's back. The three on the couch look over at her as well and like she can sense us she barely looks over her shoulder, announcing “I know you guys are staring at me”

We jerk back with being caught “What, sorry?” Steve mutters, Dustin continuing “You said you needed something?”

“Just hanging out” Steve mutters and looks up at the ceiling while he again throws the baseball up in the air. I laugh under my breath at just how desperately they're trying to make it seem like they're not looking at her while Lucas and Dustin grab magazines to read.

Max sighs “How you think your eyes boring into the back of my head is protecting me from Vecna,” she chides gently, tapping the envelopes in her hands on the desk to organize them in a stack while she continues “I don't know,” she stands up and walks over towards us.

Lucas and Dustin remain super focused on what they’re pretending to read and Steve's got his head all the way back in his effort of trying not to look at her while he throws and catches the ball above him.

I slowly look over at Max from the chair I’m sitting in and she rolls her eyes, sharing a look with me before she's telling the three on the couch “You can look at me now.”

“Thank you” Dustin mutters, all three of them saying “Sorry” at the same time while they put down the things they were trying to be distracted from looking at her with.

Max sighs and looks at all of us while she steps forward “For you” she reaches over and hands Dustin an envelope, shaking it a little when he doesn’t take it right away.

I then realize she's been writing letters this whole time and it's like a little stab in the heart as I wonder why she felt like she needed to do that. Dustin looks at her and hesitantly grabs the envelope from her and once he does she turns more to her right so she can hand an envelope over towards me, saying a quiet mutter of “Summie.” 

I look up at her and smile softly, taking the envelope from her gently before she hands one over towards Steve “For you” she says before she grabs another and looks at Lucas “And, um, you.”

“Oh, and, um,” she quickly looks over at me and flips through the envelopes still in her hands. She grabs a few and lifts them over to me, explaining “Give these to Mike, El, and Will. If you can ever get a hold of them again.”

I grab the three other envelopes from her and lift them up, acknowledging that I will do just that. I set them on the seat beside me and the four of us move to open the envelopes she gave to us, however, she makes a noise and stops us “Hey, whoa– what are you doing?” we stop our movements and she explains further “No, don't. That's not for now– don't open it now.”

“Don't… okay,” Dustin mutters and I lower my envelope back onto the pile with the others. 

Dustin looks around and lifts his back up while he asks her “I'm sorry, what is this?”

“It's, um…” she looks down, scrunching her nose up a little before she looks between us and answers “It's a fail safe… for after. If things– if, you know– if they don't work out”

I make a face and Steve looks over at me, Lucas finding his voice first “Wait, whoa, Max, things are gonna work out–”

“No!” she interrupts him, shaking her head once “No, I don't need you to reassure me right now and tell me that it's all gonna work out because people have been telling me that my entire life and it's almost never true,” she pauses and I soften my face towards her while she continues “It's never true. I mean, of course this asshole curses me. Should've seen that one coming.”

We’re quiet with her words, not really knowing what to say and she breathes in deeply. She makes a noise and walks over to the square table where the guys used to play D&D. She picks up the walkie and with her back still towards us she asks “If we go to East Hawkins, will this still reach Pennhurst?”

“Of course– yeah” Dustin answers and Steve makes a noise, looking over at her “Wait, why are we talking about East Hawkins?”

Max looks over her shoulder at him and he raises his brows as he slowly starts to realize it’s because she wants to leave “No– no,” he looks between Dustin and Lucas and back over towards Max, stating a little louder “No”

Dustin’s answer seems like all Max needed to finalize her decision so she walks over and shoves the other envelopes of letters into her backpack. She zips it up and throws the strap over her shoulder and nods towards us before she heads up the stairs "We'll be quick, Steve– let's go."

Dustin and Lucas follow behind her and Steve stands up, looking at me and trying to argue, "No, we are not leaving.”

“Well they are so we probably need to as well” I point towards the stairs and Steve groans . He grabs his jacket and mackes sure he has his keys before we quickly head up the stairs to follow behind them. They’re already heading out the front door by the time we walk out of the kitchen and Steve rushes after them, yelling at her “Max, Max. Seriously– seriously, I'm not joking, okay? I'm not driving you anywhere.”

We quickly keep our feet in pace with her deliberate ones and she rolls her eyes telling him over her shoulder “Steve, if you think that I'm going to spend what is likely the last day of my life in the armpit that is Mike Wheeler's basement, then you're out of your mind,” she looks right at him, never once stopping her steps, as we make it out onto the sidewalk. She walks over towards where Steve’s car is parked and she keeps going “So either take me where I need to go or tie me down, which is technically kidnapping of a minor. And if I live to see another day, Steve, I swear to God, I will prosecute” she finally stops her steps beside his car, reaching out to try the handle on the backseat door. When she finds it locked she lets go and faces Steve, promptly ordering “Open the door.”

Steve stops in front of her and scoffs, looking over the top of the car towards Dustin, Lucas and I as he answers her incredulously “Uh, no.”

“I know a good lawyer” Max states simply and Steve just continues to look at her. He takes in her not backing down stare and he scoffs, shaking his head a little. He digs the keys out of his jacket pocket and looks over at Dustin, pointing at him “Henderson, that super walkie of yours better reach Pennhurst.”

He unlocks the doors and we all climb into the car, Steve starting up the engine and looking over his shoulder at her "Where are you so desperate to go right now?"

"I need to go to my place" she answers and Steve sighs, sharing a look with me before he grabs the wheel and puts the car in drive, heading towards the trailer park.

After a few minutes of complete silence in the car, Steve pulls into the driveway of the trailer park. He follows the gravel road, taking directions from Max on where to park while my eyes land on the picnic table we sat at yesterday when he drives past it.

He parks the car and pulls up on the emergency brake, sighing and telling Max “Alright, this better be fast, Mayfield.”

“Twenty seconds” she states and quickly climbs out of the car, shutting the door and walking up the steps to the trailer she shares with her mom after Billy's dad left them high and dry. 

Steve looks in the rearview mirror and turns to look in the backseat at Dustin, asking him “That thing's got batteries in it, right?”

“I'm not even answering that question” Dustin shakes his head and Steve frowns, looking at me and I try not to laugh before we hear Dustin actually answer “Yes, it has batteries.”

“Yeah, I got it” Steve answers back without missing a beat, shaking his head and facing forward again.

After about a minute Steve sighs and with his hand on the steering wheel he turns his wrist towards him and looks at his watch “Well this is definitely more than twenty seconds.”

"Give her a minute" I say, however, I can't help but worriedly look over at the trailer. I slowly grab the handle of my door and open it, pushing the door out with my foot. I stand up out of the car, hearing the other doors open as the guys follow my lead and we all get out, however, we stay by the car.

“Do we go in there?” Dustin asks and Lucas makes a noise, repeating what I said earlier “Let’s give her another minute.”

“What if she’s in trouble?” I ask, looking back at them and over at Steve, asking further “What if she’s in another terrifying trance thing?”

"Mom" we hear Max's echoing of a voice coming from behind the trailer and I quickly look back over at it. I don't see her mom's car anywhere around, however, I guess that's not really an indication if she's home or not... though I really can't shake the worry feeling that comes over me after hearing Max's voice.

It's only a minute or two later when Max walks out from the side of the trailer, clearly upset and looking like she was crying. She quickly walks towards the car and Steve helpfully points out to her “Hey, that was way longer than twenty seconds.”

She doesn’t respond and just walks past the front of the car, Steve finally catching on to how upset she looks and he softens his voice “Hey, whoa, whoa, whoa– are you all right?”

“I'm fine– just drive” she answers while she opens the door and climbs into the backseat, the rest of us quickly following her lead.

“Did something happen?” Lucas asks her when we’re all back in the car and she looks out the window, answering with her voice cracking a little bit “Can we please just go?”

Steve looks at her in the rearview, his worried face looking at me before he starts the car and reverses out of the driveway. 

He sets his hand on my leg and set my hand on his, moving my nails over the back of his hand in absentminded patterns. Steve follows the road out of the trailer park and turns back onto the main road, only driving for a few miles before Max says to him “Turn here.”

“Here?” Dustin asks and I look over my shoulder towards her, seeing her nod at him and look back out the window.

Steve looks over at me when I notice the sign for the Roane Hill Cemetery and he turns left onto the side road. He drives along the cemetery, Max giving him directions to apparently where Billy is buried.

Steve stops the car and Max unzips her backpack, grabbing another one of the envelopes before she opens the door and climbs out. She shuts the door and Lucas doesn’t waste a second before he’s opening it again and following her out, calling to her “Max?”

“Lucas, please, just wait in the car” Max tells him and keeps walking away from the car, Lucas increasing his speed as he runs over to her and says something to her that we’re now too far away to hear.

They talk for a little bit longer before she shakes her head and walks away from him, heading further up the hill towards the gravesite.

Lucas’s shoulders sag before he slowly turns back towards the car and walks back, hopping up onto the front of the car.

We roll down the windows and begin our waiting game for Max to come back, watching as she sits down on the grass in front of the gravestone for Billy.

Dustin gets out and walks over to stand by Lucas while Steve looks over at me and lifts his hand up to move his thumb along my cheek. I smile and gently grab his wrist, kissing his palm before I rest my cheek in his palm. The corners of his lips turns up, his eyes smiling as he looks at me and whispers "How are you holding up?"

I shake my head, not finding any words to accurately convey how I'm feeling right now. I flick my eyes past him to look out the window at Max, clear my throat around the emotion building up as I look back at him "We have to figure out how to save her."

"We will" Steve says with so much conviction I have no choice but to believe him. "Okay" I whisper and he smiles sadly, leaning over the center console to kiss me. He rests his forehead on mine, keeping his eyes closed as he breathes in deeply and just stays in this little moment with me.

After about five minutes, Steve turns his wrist and looks at his watch again, “All right, it’s been long enough” he says and opens his car door, climbing out and quickly shutting it behind him.

“Steve, just give her some time” Lucas tells him and he turns around, walking backwards while he argues “I have, all right, Sinclair? I’m calling it– if she wants to get a lawyer, she can.”

Steve turns back around and makes his way up the hill, walking closer to where Max is sitting down. Lucas makes a noise and looks over at Dustin and I while I also get out of the car and rest my arms on the top of the door and the hood of the car.

He sighs while I look back up the hill and watch as Steve kneels down beside Max, moving closer and setting his hand on her shoulder.

I slowly stand up a little straighter when I am just barely able to hear his echo of a voice as he’s yelling at her “Hey, hey, hey, Max, wake up! Max! Wake up!”

“Oh something’s wrong” Lucas mutters and I nod at the same time Steve looks down the hill at us and shouts “Guys!”

That’s all it takes before the three of us take off running up the hill and towards them.

“Come on, wake up!” Steve continues to yell as I run past the last gravestone at the top of the hill and I jump up onto the grave platform where Max and Steve are.

I kneel down beside Steve on the grass in front of her, Lucas and Dustin landing on either side of Steve and I while we notice how she’s sitting cross legged on the grass. This trance is different than last night's because her eyes are red and they have this glossed over look. I shake my head at a complete loss for what to do, however, the four of us waste no time in trying to wake her up.

“Max, you gotta get outta there!” Lucas shouts while I lean towards her and set my hands on her shoulder “Max, come on– can you hear me?”

“Max!” Steve and I yell, Lucas grabbing her arm and yelling “Max! You gotta get outta there!”

Steve reaches behind me and grabs the shoulder of Dustin’s sweatshirt, frantically ordering him “Call Nancy and Robin! Go get ‘em! Call Nancy and Robin and see if they found anything out! Go!”

“Please Max” Lucas says while Dustin rolls off the side of the raised grave platform we're on and he sprints back down the hill towards the car where his walkie is.

We keep trying to wake Max up, shaking her shoulders and screaming at her, however, her eyes stay the same glossed over red color and she makes no indication that she can even hear us at all

“Holy shit this isn’t happening– Max!” I yell, my voice cracking from how scared I am of watching her die in front of us.

I feel like there’s a vise grip around my throat, the terror mixing with the adrenaline while tears rush in my eyes and I feel like I can’t breathe. We cannot lose her– there’s no fucking way.

“You gotta get outta there” Lucas keeps shouting at her while Steve asks if she can hear us.

“Guys!” Dustin yells and runs back over, dropping down beside us and throwing Max’s walkman and cassettes down on the grass around us “Wh– what is this?” I quickly ask and Dustin doesn’t answer, instead asking just as frantically “Her song– what’s her favorite song?”

“Why– why?” Lucas stammers and Dustin closes his eyes, trying to quickly explain “Robin said if– if she listens–” he stops, shaking his head and instead looks between us while he rushes out “It’s too much to explain right now– what’s her favorite song?”

“Kate Bush” I say easily, remembering the day I took Max to get the new album and Dustin looks over at me while he lays out the cassettes. I frantically look around at all of them trying to find the right picture on the cassettes, all of us yelling over each other “Shit– no, no–”

"But what song?"

"Running Up That Hill"

“Which one is it?” Dustin moves them around and I gasp in triumph, grabbing the cassette case “Oh here, here, here– it’s right here, I got it!”

“Go, go, go!” Lucas yells while I open the cassette case up and Steve reaches over “Here, give it to me, babe–” he says at the same time I hand it over and he immediately pops it into the walkman and closes the lid. 

“Okay, headphones!” we yell and Dustin places them over her ears, shouting back “Now” and Steve hits play on the deck, the notes of Running Up That Hill barely being heard from the headphones as they blare in her ears.

When she doesn't immediately snap out of it the hope in my chest threatens to fizzle a little and we keep trying to get her to wake up.

“Max!” Dustin yells, “Wake up!”

“Come on Max, we’re right here! Wake up!” I shout and Steve sets his hand on my back, also yelling at her “Come on, Max!”

“Max!” Lucas yells and in the next second Max’s body slowly starts to lift up off the ground. I widen my eyes as I lean backwards, falling into Steve’s chest as we watch in complete horror as she levitates above the ground. Her body lifts so high up in the air that we all have to strain our necks back to look at her above us.

“No” I whisper out harshly and move to stand up, the guys following me as we continue to yell up at her just floating in the air at about the height of a fucking house “Max!”

“Max, come on– break through this!” I shout and Steve sets his hands on his head, “Holy shit– what do we do?”

I cover my mouth with my hand, shaking my head as an answer as I croak “Max, come on!”

“Max!” Lucas and Dustin shout and out of nowhere her body falls back down to the ground with us.

“Holy shit, Max!” we all shout as she crumbles to the ground, fully awake now as she cries out from the landing.

“Oh my god, Max!” we kneel down with her, Lucas pulling her back into his chest as he holds onto her.

She cries out, her quick panting breaths mixing with her cries as she realizes she’s safe and no longer seeing whatever she was seeing in the trance.

“Max! It’s okay– it’s okay” Lucas tries to calm her down from her hyperventilating. She reaches up and grips onto his arms while he cradles her to his chest, leaning the side of his head on hers and telling her brokenly “I thought we lost you.”

Max continues to cry around her quick breaths and she tells Lucas shakily “I’m still– I’m still here.”

The tears that had gathered in my eyes fall while I try to breathe out a calming breath and set my chin on my shoulder as I look over at Steve. He's also trying to calm his breathing, connecting his eyes with mine and shaking his head as he licks his lips quickly and grips my shoulder reassuringly.

Lucas mutters “Holy shit” quietly while she tries to calm her breathing down and I look over at her again. She quickly looks at me and reaches one of her hands over towards me and I just as quickly grab onto her hand, nodding towards her and keeping my voice as strong as I can for her "You're okay, just breathe."

She squeezes my hand, her breathing still sounding like she’s on the verge of hyperventilating while she cries and I squeeze her hand back, crying right along with her and repeating "We got you, you're okay– you're still here."

Dustin sets his hand on her other shoulder while Steve wraps his arm behind my back and leans his forehead against mine, breathing out his own calming breath while Max nods and croaks out once more “I’m still here.”

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A/N: Thanks so much for reading! As always let me know what you thought– comments & reblogs give me life!

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Posted: 19 September 2023

[chirpsythismorning]

Will Byers Analysis - Between S3 & 4

Something I always think about, is how Will probably didn't even know Mike and El were back together at the end of season 3.

When they had last spoke, part of Will probably thought Mike was talking about something else, which is understandable bc both him and Mike were speaking in code, whether they realized it or not (I didn’t say it/You didn’t have to).

At the very least, Will thought things could go back to how they used to between them; friends (best friends).

When the Byers arrived to Cali, I imagine within the first day, or within the first few days after they settled, it was most likely Jonathan who made the move to phone the Wheelers to talk to Nancy.

Then maybe Will decided he would call Mike once the phone was free or even asked Jonathan to have Nancy just hand the phone to Mike so they could catch up too.

But once Mike got on the phone, something was off. He sounded kind of distant and awkward and it left Will feeling confused.

Maybe Will tried to chock it up as them just needing to get used to living far away from each other, since this distance thing was indeed new for them. They'd been friends for the last decade and hadn't experienced being apart for longer than a week (the week of his disappearance). So, it was bound to be a little weird, for a little while. Right?

But honestly, just thinking about their fight in s3 and the events leading up to it, I wouldn't blame Will for being slightly worried.

Before the rain fight, Will was putting almost all of the time and effort into their relationship. He was fighting for it and Mike was leaving him behind. And that really hurt Will.

And that's what's honestly so incredible about Will's arc in s4, because he's not putting himself through that again.

Yes, he's growing up and he's matured, but he's also come to accept that, based on Mike's actions as of recent (despite what he might have sensed from Mike over the years), those romantic feelings he has for him will NEVER be reciprocated. If he's lucky, Mike will still want to be his friend, and he would be relieved to stay in his life in that way if it's something Mike still wants.

(Which also makes the GA's argument about how they think Will's arc in s5 is going to be about him accepting that Mike will never love him back, fall flat??? Because, Will's already realized that, sis. S4 ending the way it did was in part to make as clear as possible to Will (the unreliable narrator) that Mike cannot love him that way... And so why the hell would s5 confirm that for a second (3) time now? Where is the shock? Where is the value? What is satisfying about that? And why do that, while also holding off on Mike finding out about Will's feelings until the very end? Like... just let that simmer for a second and think about what that actually means in terms of the story going in a satisfying direction that also manages to surprise you... there is literally nothing satisfying about proving Will 'I'm not gonna fall in love' Byers, right...)

So, after about a week since they last spoke on the phone since arriving, a bunch of letters come in the mail: one for Jonathan, four for El, and three for Will (you can probably guess who from the party didn't send a letter to Will...).

And it's as if Will's worst fears are being (re)realized.

In his casual letter exchanges between the party, he talks about DnD and a new art class he's taking with Dustin, joining the basketball team with Lucas and how everything she'd told him about California was right with Max. Super casual catching up with some of his best friends. And yet still, nothing from Mike, arguably his best friend.

And so Will is understandably devastated.

He doesn't understand. Or maybe he does, he just didn't want to believe it.

And so, how Will chose to go about his contact with Mike over the next 'year' makes sense to me (and I support him fully tbh).

I think Will's arc in s4 is beautiful because he has some of the best development of anyone on the entire show. He's not the gay kid being used as a plot device for a heterosexual couple (stay tuned for s5). If anything, we're seeing this character who tried his best to mend his friendship with his best friend (also secret first love) after Mike presumably rejected him (ITS NOT MY FAULT YOU DON'T LIKE GIRLS!), and so, Will is not going to put himself through that again.

He's not going to let himself have hope that there could ever be something more between them, even if he thought so many times before there were moments or signs that Mike could feel the same (BC MIKE DID!!). He has already accepted it's not possible.

He's not going to 'stand in the way' anymore. If Mike wants to be with El, he's going to support them, even if it hurts him and his own feelings.

It's tragic, but it feels so in character for Will and his qualities as a person.

I know a lot of bylers argue that both Mike and Will were in the wrong when it came to them both not staying in touch, and I do agree, completely actually. Especially knowing Mike tried to call Will. HE TRIED. So it's not like he didn't. The miscommunication trope is doing it's magic. We just have to accept that.

And so, fittingly, when confronted, Mike doesn't tell Will he called (a lot). He lets Will think that he barely called and deflects and pushes it back on Will. But then almost instantly, he regrets it. Because it's in this moment he's only now realizing that Will did want to talk and missed him and is quite literally confused why they're not best friends any more. And suddenly it's all clicking. He knows deep down Will has every reason to be insecure, to not reach out to Mike after what happened last summer. It's just that he also thought Will had every right to move on because why wouldn't he, what's so great about Mike? Will could have anyone? Mike was so distracted by his own insecurities that Will had inevitably moved on, while also trying to hide his feelings, that he didn't realize Will actually did miss him. They've both got it all wrong.

As of now, we don’t know for sure if Will called at all, and so me assuming he called first, is just that, an assumption. But I’m giving Will the benefit of the doubt here. (It's also likely the Byers would have called the Wheeler's first because they know their number by heart most likely, while the Wheelers would've had to wait to get their new number).

Based on the story presented though (Will's unreliable narrator POV), he had a lot more reason to doubt Mike wanted anything to do with him. Will literally spent all of s3 fighting for their friendship, even if it meant coming off as slightly clingy and annoying and ‘childish’. And look how that turned out?

What else was Will to do in this situation? Just repeat all of his behavior in s4?

Was he just supposed to call Mike first, write him letters first, even though Mike was showing repeat signs of wanting to distance himself from him again?

And so, Will waits. He waits for Mike to make the next move, just in case his insecurities are right and that Mike doesn't want them to be best friends like they used to be.

One evening, about a month since the move, the phone rings and Will answers it. It's Mike.

Will is obviously surprised and thrilled. They talk for a bit, and yeah it's awkward. But still, it gives Will hope.

Now, it's still not enough to give Will the confidence to reach out first, fearing he'll come off too strong and scare Mike away again, and so he continues to give Mike space. But that doesn't stop this gesture from giving Will the inspiration to try one more thing, one last ditch effort to save their friendship; he's going to make Mike a painting.

So, all while watching El receive a new letter in the mail every few weeks or so, with him and Mike talking once (or if he's lucky maybe twice) a month over the phone, Will spends his time working on the painting, knowing that Mike used to appreciate his drawings when their friendship was at its strongest. And so, maybe this will be the thing that finally fixes things for them once and for all?

All too soon, it's Spring break and they're at the airport waiting for Mike to land.

In the months leading up to their reunion, Will made sure no one saw the painting he was working on, least of all El. Not even because he was scared she might figure out his feelings, but because he wanted it to be a surprise. We also know Will presumably had no problem with the others seeing the painting eventually because he literally brought it to the airport for Mike to open in front of all of them? And so... to him this was clearly an attempt at platonic reconciliation, even despite Will having romantic feelings for Mike. What he wanted was their friendship back.

But suddenly, Mike is standing before him and Will is so excited he can't hold back anymore. I mean, he's been holding back for MONTHS and he just wants to hug his best friend.

But then Mike is being awkward again, almost like he doesn't want to even touch Will at all, contrasting greatly from the last time they hugged during their goodbye only just a year ago (6 months they're so dramatic, i swear).

All this does is prove to Will that, despite them apparently ending on good terms, it seems Mike is just repeating last summer all over again.

Understandably, Will jumps to this conclusion fairly quickly, as his insecurities are being proven right in real time. Mike doesn't want the friendship they used to have. He doesn't want to hug, doesn't want to write to him, barely even called despite writing El a book worth of letters. He wants to talk to and focus on his girlfriend and Will is just an afterthought now.

There's no way he's gonna want this? A painting? Not a chance in hell.

So when Mike points to it and asks him about it nervously, Will panics and brushes it off.

How could he be so naive. Mike is making it SUPER clear he doesn't care about him, not like he used to. And still he's holding onto some misguided hope that maybe there's still a chance for them to be best friends.

How could he be so stupid.

[astrid-nomically-steddie]

Just being silly 🤭😋

(If you don't like angst maybe scroll away this is gonna hurt)

Another exhausting day. Another day pretending it never happened.

He sighs and rubs his face viciously, his wire framed glasses moving to his forehead. Steve takes them off and sets them down, feeling suddenly tired of staring at a screen. He slowly blinks to try and form some sort of vision. Without his glasses or contacts it's not much help, all he can see is the blurry shapes and colors of his office.

His leg has been extra persistent in making his life hell (again) today. And his headache is worsening by the minute. He leans back in his chair and starts to spin around, looking up. The lights look and feel like nothing but white and a burning sensation in his retinas. He stops spinning. Steve feels his headache comeback full force since this morning as a way to say how stupid he is for staring at lights.

He takes a moment once he's sure he's facing the office door again. His hands are holding onto his desk for dear life while he waits for the throbbing to tone down. He takes a few breaths and puts his glasses back on. Steve just stares at his door waiting for his vision to fully come back. Once it does he listens for sounds of anything, just in case.

When he hears nothing he sighs again and checks his watch.

11:43 p.m.

Another late night at the school. Steve feels like his brain is about to explode with how much more work he still has. He hates re-emailing people. Don't get him wrong, he loves his job, loves the kids and gets along with the teachers. Except for Eddie of course. But who can blame him. He doesn't remember.

That breaks it for Steve. Tears start trailing down his cheeks and he feels his face getting hot.

He doesn't remember... none of them do...

He holds his head in his hands as he full on sobs into them. Feeling everything he's been wanting- needing to forget coming back full force. The pain, the horror, the trauma that they promised they'd never had to remember again. It started two months ago, when he woke up from a nightmare of a demogorgon chasing him. That's when he remembered.

All of it.

The demodogs (he still can't believe he's calling them that now), the tunnels, the Russians, the forth of July, Billy dying, Vecna, the four chimes, the bats, Nancy, Robin, Eddie... how he fell in love with all of them. How his love for Eddie was the only thing that kept him going. He didn't know it then but now that he's accepted himself, he realizes that he was in love with Eddie Munson. He loved him so much he went back even when Dustin himself said it was ok. That he was dead. Steve chose not to believe it. And he was right because he saved him. Because he's alive. Right now. Eddie is alive.

Because of Steve. Because he chose to go back.

But he also chose to forget.

To forget everything. The good and the bad. Mostly the bad. They all knew what they were commiting to when they signed the contract. To forget all of this ever happened. To pretend and live life like normal.

But how could he? When Eddie is still here. When he's walking the halls of his school and smiling at the kids. Caring for them like he did the party. How can Steve choose to forget Eddie's smile. His laugh. His gorgeous face. The way he loved him so deeply it almost hurt. Almost.

Because it didn't hurt. Because he didn't remember. He didn't want to. Past Steve didn't want to remember. He wanted all of it gone. Even Robin...

Poor sweet Robin. His soulmate. The one he was bound to by the cosmos. He chose to leave her. To let her live alone. By herself. How can he pretend when Robin is by herself? When she needs him? Except she doesn't...

Because she doesn't remember. She didn't want to remember. She wanted to forget. Forget Steve. Forget the upside down. Forget everything. But how can he blame her for leaving him? How can he blame anyone?

He doesn't. He doesn't blame them. Can't blame them. He wanted to forget too. But the nightmares and the scars and the hearing aids and the glasses and his fucking metal leg won't forget. His body won't forget. It won't let him.

So he's stuck. Stuck wanting to reach out. Wanting to find them. Wanting Eddie. Wanting Robin. But he just can't put them back in this mess. Not when they chose this. Not when they want to live in peace. And who is he to disturb that? Because his body wanted him to remember so everyone else has to too? No. No way is he forcing them again.

So he doesn't.

He watches. Watches Eddie. Walk past him with a polite smile. An indifferent smile. The smile you give to random people on the street. The smile that makes his heart break into a million pieces.

He doesn't remember. None of them do.

He misses Robin. Misses the way she'd hit him whenever he said a bad joke. Misses the small amused smile everytime he did. Misses the way she'd make fun of him and his lack of charm. Misses the way she used to cling to him. Misses the way she used to love him. She used to know him.

Used to.

He wishes she was here. Wishes she remembered. Wishes everything went back to normal. Wishes they never signed anything.

But she's not. And she doesn't remember. And nothing is normal. And they did sign it. Signed away their lives. Signed away memories. Signed away everything that made him happy. Signed away Dustin. Signed away Lucas. Signed away Max. Signed away El. Signed away Will. Signed away Mike. Signed away Erica. Signed away Joyce. Signed away Hopper. Signed away Johnathan . Signed away Nancy. Signed away Robin.

Signed away eddie... signed away any hope in ever being more than what they were. Signed away love. And family. And support.

He signed away everything.

He wished away his life.

And he'll never take it back. Never be able to. He'll never get Dustin back. Or the party. Or Joyce. Or Hopper. Or Robin. Or Eddie.

All he'll have is faded memories and a strangers smile. A strangers smile that breaks his heart. That tears his torn heart into even more pathetic shreds.

They won't remember.

Thank you so much for reading!!!! Just an idea I got. If you have any more ideas or things I can add that'd be great! <333

Edit: now on ao3

[leasstories]

Letter eleven

TW : Depiction of grief; after Eddie’s death

Letter 10 - Letter 12

May 5th, 1986

Dear Eds,

I just brought Dustin home, they had an Hellfire session at my place. Everyone had a good time, they all defeated Dustin's big bad. I didn't play though, I am not ready yet. It's not the same without you. Dustin is a great DM, don't get me wrong, but he is not you. He is not you Eddie. The little shrimp talked about growing his hair. To be like his hero he said. We all know he meant you. It hurts but it also warm my heart, he really loved you Eddie, so much. You are his hero, you are our hero. Wayne did grocery shopping for me, he said he used to do that for you in 1984, before your father came back, before me. We told Ronnie, she came back to Hawkins. She was so glad to met me, you should have seen her excitement. She told me that she should have come sooner, to meet me in proper circumstances. She is kinda might at herself to be honest, she said she apologies for the both of us for not coming sooner. She said it would have been cool to spend time the three of us. She's nice, I understand why she used to be your best friend. You even look like siblings honestly. I'm trying to spend time with her but she reminds me so much of you, that it is kinda hard. But i love her really she has been so nice to me. She old me all your childhood embarrassing stories. It's kinda funny how you told her you were digging a hole to go... I don't remember where and she offered to help. I can see that the bond between you and her was really strong. As strong as ours, maybe even more, but different. She told me how you tried to kiss her and it made me laugh so much. It's the first time I laughed since that deadly night. You still manage to make me laugh even now. You're still my light in the dark Eddie. no matter where you are now. I hate what you did, but do not feel guilty, you did what you thought was best. And even though I'd rather have died than you - because I think you would have handled it better - you did it to protect us, to protect your little sheep, to protect me. I know exactly what wet through your mind, and even though it hurts, it was your choice to make. I am still mad, but not at you, at myself. I should have tried harder. I cannot be mad at you, not anymore. Because I know why you did it and even though it was stupid, it was also brave. You were metal. I'm sure if James Hetfield or Ronnie James Dio heard about it, they'd be proud as hell. Your own idols would be proud of you. I brought you Dandelions today, I went with Wayne. I handpicked them all one by one, I know you always did this for me, so I told myself I'd do it for you. About the roadtrip, I'm going to go, in July, Dustin wanted to tag along so we're going to go together, with Steve. Yes things haven't changed he is still the babysitter. And I'm ashamed to say that but he is my babysitter as well. We'll talk more about it later, so much happened today that I'd rather make a proper letter talking about the roadtrip alone.

I love you my Eddie

Your love,

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