#end with joyce adopting him

[qprstobin]

I know it would never happen at this point with only one season left and the drama already in motion but-

I wish we could've gotten a Steve and Joyce team up.

People like to use Steve's confusion to make fun of him, but honestly his self deprecating assumption that he is never the smartest person in the room lends to him being ride or die for whatever situation you might be in. Joyce was right every time before? She's probably right this time, let's go Mrs. Byers, I'll hold your flower.

Joyce goes a little bit off the rails ready to protect her sons? Steve is like alright bet, I've got my nail bat/my axe just point me wherever you need me to go. They would cause so much chaos in the span of fighting monsters/Russians/the American government. Hopper would be so fucking tired.

Like Joyce gets made fun of for being anxious and paranoid, but Steve is used to badass women who are little bit off (aka noticeably nd). Look at his best friend/soulmate/drift partner! He's honestly a little odd himself at this point, Steve doesn't care. Probably the only type of person he trusts now in situations like this.

[zerokrox-blog]

Sinclair's adopt Steve

this is a a part of the Sinclair's adopt Steve fic I am writing, I needed to write this out so I did. Enjoy this snippet. (Also if anyone has that post about Jim and Joyce not really liking Steve please send it to me so I can link it here. I can't find it anymore ;( and I know I had it saved somewhere.)

It's the awkward comment that causes Joyce and Hopper to realize they're not as discreet as they thought. The older kids aside from Steve are hanging out at the Hopper-Byers. The kids were at the Wheeler's house for a sleepover and Hop had allowed Jane to join because both parents were home and Vecna was dead, so it would be fine. Sue and Charles Sinclair, Claudia Henderson and Wayne Munson, Joyce and Jim Hopper-Byers, Jonathan Byers, Argyle, Nancy Wheeler, Eddie Munson, and Robin Buckley were sitting around the table talking, catching up.

Mid conversation Sue's phone rang loudly. She glanced down and answered her cell.

“Hey baby. Is everything-” her voice cut off. She listened intently to the person on the other end. She nodded, she turned to her husband, “one second baby ok?” Sue turned to Charles, and put the call on hold.

“Steve needs to be picked up, his car broke down, and he just got it towed. He's at Rodney's. Can you get him?”

Charles paused, thinking, “yes I should be able to get him, I'd have to get gas but I'll have my phone on, I'll be there in forty to forty-five minutes.”

Sue nodded and relayed the information to Steve before hanging up. As she hung up she glanced up and noticed the barely held expressions on Jim Hopper’s face as well as Joyce Byers. Jim looked annoyed, and Joyce looked mildly disgusted. Sue didn’t want to say anything, and she didn’t have to because Joyce’s son Jonathon did. 

“Mom,” his voice was calm but there was something else hidden in his tone, an anger Sue wasn’t expecting. “why do you and Hop look annoyed or angry everytime Steve is mentioned or brought up in a conversation or over at our house?” 

Joyce blinked in shock, “oh I was thinking about something. It’s ok dear,” 

Jim snorted and gave her a look. But Jonathon persisted, “No mom I know you and I know the faces you make. What is your problem with Steve? He’s a good guy mom.”

Charles quietly slipped out of the room, he had someone to pick up. Sue caught his eyes as he was leaving and gave him a look, he mouthed a simple, “I’ll bring him home to ours and stay with him. Call me if you need.” she gave him a nod and turned back to the conversation.  

Jim and Joyce seemed to be communicating silently and finally Joyce turned to her son and stated, “I don’t like that he made you fight. You have never been an angry kid ever and he made you fight, he got into trouble and he never really apologized for it, honey that’s all.” 

Jonathan looked at his mother in shock. And before anyone could say anything else Jim added, “besides he is a troublemaker. He got into fights and had a lot of parties. Do you know many noise complaints I had to deal with at the Harrington house? The fact that his parents didn’t instill in him any manners is not-”

Jim was cut off by Nancy’s sharp gasp. He looked at her, her face ashen, her hand covering her open mouth. 

Jonathon sucked in a deep breath, “God no wonder he doesn’t trust you. You can barely hide the disdain on your faces when he was just mentioned. But this is crazy.” he turned to his mother,  “Steve apologized to me and Nancy several times already for that fight.” 

Joyce opened her mouth to say something but Jonathon had already turned to Hopper, “Steve had parties because he was popular and wanted to fit in, that doesn’t make him a troublemaker. Besides Hop, I was at some of those parties. It’s normal teenager stuff but his neighbors in particular don’t like any noise. We drove up to his house once during the day and there was an officer there because his car made a loud noise, so they had a noise complaint. It’s unrealistic to get upset or lose respect for a teenager acting like a teenager. Steve never hurt anyone Hop, in fact he was one of the only people to make sure that girls got home safely. He made sure they all had a way home, and if they got drunk he’d offer them a ride with another one of their sober friends to make sure they all got back safely.” 

Before anyone else could add in anything Sue injected, “you know Chief, I thought you were a mandated reporter. You don’t think it was suspicious that the Harrington parents never were around to help that boy?  You don’t it’s weird that his parents are not ever reachable to and I’m paraphrasing you here: ‘instill good manners into him’? Don’t you think most parents would answer when you’ve called about their son being in hospital, or getting hurt?” She looked directly at him and Jim found himself floundering because he had thought it was weird. But what did he know about the elite and their small issues? Steve Harrington is a rich white boy with wealthy parents who probably doted on him and at most his most pressing issue was not getting the girl he wanted.

Jonathan finally looked up at his mother and stated, “the reason for the fight we had was because I took a photo of Nancy and him without either of their consent and knowledge and Steve rightfully got angry at me and fought me for violating his and his then-girlfriend’s privacy. He fought with me and he apologized for it even though I should have apologized to him and Nancy first. We have since made up, and forgiven each other. But that still doesn’t explain anything.” 

Sue interjected, “Joyce, Jim, you are in some ways a lot more aware of our kids and their little friend group and you do know more than I or my husband do when it comes to what made them such close friends, but I will say this as Steve Harrington’s mother in all but blood, Do not let Jane hear you talk like that about Steve. She adores him like he’s her older brother and she will not take kindly to that. Secondly, Steve is not Richard Harrington, they are two different people and judging Steve on who his father is, is a huge disservice to him especially since he has done his best to be someone different then his parents. And lastly, Steve Harrington-Sinclair was kicked out and disowned by his parents two years ago during his last year of high school due to him leaving the basketball team due to his brain trauma. Maybe you should try getting to know him, before making a judgment call on him based on who you think he was some years back.” 

Sue stood up and grabbed her stuff, “if you excuse me I have a son to get home too.” She walked out, head held high. 

They watched her leave and before anyone could say another word Wayne spoke up, “I may not have been that boy’s number one fan, but he’s good. He’s a good kid. He tries real hard to be a good person and role model to your kids. But you miss the person he became because you’re too busy with your preconceived notion of who he is, instead of getting to know who he actually is.” he shook his head. “C’mon Eddie let's get home. I have a night shift I gotta get ready for.” Both Munson men got up and gathered their things and left as well. 

Once it was only Jim, Joyce, Nancy, Robin, Argyle and Jonathon, Joyce looked up at her son. He seemed sad, “mom, do you know that Will came out to Steve before he came out to the party? Do you know that Steve is the first person aside from you and I that Will felt enough to come out too? Steve made it a point to remind and show Will that he is always safe with him. Do you know Hop, that when Jane got sick last week she called Steve after you because she knew he’d not only pick her up from school but he’d take her home and take care of her until either you, mom or I got back from work. If he’s so bad, why do all the kids gravitate towards him? Why does Jane call him her big brother? Would Will feel safe around him?” Jonathan shook his head at them, “I have a friend to get to, I gotta go also.” The remaining teens got up and gathered their stuff. 

Robin had stayed quiet the entire time, not daring to speak or else she’d lose her mind at them and curse them out. But right as they left, she turned towards them and looked at them both, her voice low and hurt, “he was the first and only person I came out to, and not only did he reassure me while we were being hurt, he protected me. I have met Richard Harrington and Steve is nothing like him.” 

The door slammed shut behind the older teenagers, Jim and Joyce waited for a minute, breathing calmly or at least attempting to, “maybe we should take their advice and get to know him?” both of them thought quietly. 

Joyce and Jim hoped they weren’t too late to find out what about Steve Harrington had caught their kids and their respective parents’ attention.

[space-invading-pigeon]

Everyone jokes about Steve being the babysitter or the mom friend, but no one actually appreciates everything he does until he gets sick. Steve is the epitome of a doting parent; sure, he's only twenty and the seven kids he's adopted aren't actually his in any legal way, but those kids are his pride and fucking joy. Anyone who sees Steve with those kids can tell that he loves them deeply, which is why Steve is the only person in the Party that can convince their parents to allow anything- their parents KNOW that their kids will not only be well looked after, but they'll be genuinely enjoying themselves too.

Because he's a single mom except he's actually just barely out of his teenage years with no kids, he gets a lot of shit from everyone about it; he's known almost exclusively to the Party as Mama Steve (when he isn't in earshot of course). That's all fine by Steve, he always wanted a big family and now he has it. The problems start to appear when the Party realizes that Steve Harrington flat out ignores his own needs until they're so pressing that he's physically unable to do anything.

It all starts when Robin is told by Keith, of all people, that Steve has called in sick. Robin, of course, panics and calls him, and when he doesn't answer she calls Eddie to check on him. He and Steve had gotten closer since spring break, so it wasn't unusual for a member of the party to call either Eddie or Steve to check in on the other.

Eddie checks in to find Steve Harrington, badass warrior prince incarnate, sobbing from a blanket mountain on the couch in his living room. No one has ever actually seen Steve cry before, so Eddie freaks out, but it's just the result of a high fever and watching Old Yeller by himself. After calming the sick man, Eddie managed to coax some medicine into him and call Family Video to let Robin know that, yes, Steve is alive and no, he wasn't going to die of fever, but he only manages to get Steve to sleep by reading to him (Eddie finds it disgustingly adorable, even more so later when Nancy mentions that Steve loves stories but struggles with what he calls "moving letters"). And for the next two weeks, Steve is down for the count. Joyce and Claudia Henderson take turns making sure Steve is alright (Joyce because Steve is one of Her Kids, and Claudia because Steve is the Older Son she never had) while Eddie, Nancy, Jonathan, and Robin all try to take his place.

By the end of the first day, Nancy calls it quits: Mike is a bullheaded terror who only ever seems to like Will, El, or Eddie, and even then he doesn't always listen to them, so the Wheeler siblings fight even more ferociously than usual. She can't get El or Erica to listen, either; Erica is a force to be reckoned with, and El will only nod passively before doing what she wants anyway. By the end of day three, Jonathan is out. He won't say what happened, but he told Max to be nicer to the Party one time and, ten minutes later, he was tearfully saying that the kids were little monsters.

Robin lasts longer, almost an entire week, by chattering at the kids until they give up and listen to her. She meets her match when Dustin and Erica try to commandeer the Family Video computer again: Dusting sneaks past and almost breaks the computer just trying to get to it while Erica does Erica and argues until Robin the Rambler runs out of words. The morning of day seven is very dark for her.

Eddie, through what he believes to be the universe's acknowledgement of the depth of his affection for Steve and also sheer force of will, lasts the whole two weeks, but just barely. Mike argues over everything, no matter what; Will is skittish at the best of times and disappears constantly (thankfully, not like his Upside Down episodes - the boy just can't stop getting distracted and wandering away from the group), only to reappear directly behind Eddie and scaring him into an early grave; Lucas gets frustrated easily and can never seem to find the right words to communicate his thoughts and feelings, so he snarks and lashes out before awkwardly trying to mend the situation; Erica is so completely herself that it can be dizzying when the full force of that hurricane is directed towards Eddie; Dustin practically follows Eddie around like a little duckling, demanding updates on Steve or ranting about one of his many interests; El spends most of her time with the Party learning about how girls her age act through Max or practicing her braiding on Eddie. The worst of them all, though, is Max. Despite having healed up, she's still in physical therapy to rebuild her muscle strength and dexterity, and her eyesight is bad enough now that there's talk of her getting a service animal. It isn't that she needs a little extra attention that makes her the worst, though: it's that somehow, she still chases the most mischief. Eddie has only narrowly managed to keep her from assaulting no less that nine people in the two weeks that Steve is sick, and he knows she's definitely tried to commit arson at least twice that often.

Finally, after two weeks, Steve feels better enough to return to his usual activity, and Eddie begs him to never get sick again.

[strawberryspence]

Steve is 19 when Eddie first says it. It's the night Eddie comes home from the hospital, body all bandaged up to help him heal. Steve picks him up, drops him off the brand new trailer and has to say his goodbyes. He's the one who's been staying with Max at the hospital since Lucas started going to school again. Eddie watches, seated on the door, shoulders leaning against the frame.

Eddie waves at him, hand still wrapped protectively on his middle. There's a tired smile on his face, "See you tomorrow, Steve." It's the first time Eddie ever calls him by his first name.

Steve is 20 and Eddie Munson has been saying, "See you tomorrow!" as his goodbye to him since that night. Robin thinks it's for him and for him only. Steve watches Eddie, something he does a lot these days. He watches as he says his goodbye to the kids, says goodbye to Nancy, Robin, Jonathan, Argyle. Eddie never once says the words, "See you tomorrow!"

Steve waits for everyone to be gone, hitching rides from the other older kids. Eddie turns to him when everyone has finally left, "Are you staying, Stevie?"

"No. I am leaving too."

Eddie smiles at him, cheeky and dimpled, brown eyes shimmering like a fucking gem against the cheap yellow fluorescent light, "Well then, see you tomorrow, sweetheart."

It clicks. It's not a goodbye, It's a promise. Eddie will see Steve tomorrow, come hell or high water. A promise made for him, and him only.

Steve pulls Eddie by the lapels of his ridiculously shiny jacket and kisses him straight in the mouth.

Steve is 23 when Eddie and him move in to their first apartment together. It's dingy, kind of old, but hey, it's freaking cheap. They unpack boxes of things that was given by Joyce, Karen, Hop, Mrs. Henderson and Mrs. Sinclair. It's not much but it makes their bare home more livable.

They sleep on the floor with Steve's old mattress laid in the middle of the room, unopened boxes and furniture scattered surrounding them.

It's the first night they sleep together in their first home.

"See you tomorrow, sunshine." Eddie kisses his forehead, his nose and then his lips.

Eddie never says goodnight, just see you tomorrow.

Steve is 25 and it's the first time Eddie won't see him tomorrow. Eddie has to go to New York because Corroded Coffin just got discovered by an agent who wants to sign them.

It's okay. Eddie still calls every night, thank God the time differences of Chicago and New York isn't that big. Steve makes sure Robin isn't using the phone, so Eddie could call and tell him about his day with producers and songwriters and music and Steve can tell him about school essays and presentations for his Education class.

And always, always, just like every night since he was 19, Eddie ends the call with, "See you tomorrow." With whatever name he feels like that day. Sometimes it's sunshine, sometimes it's Stevie, sometimes it's love or baby or sweetheart. It doesn't really matter because it's all Steve.

Sometimes it's not true. Steve doesn't see Eddie the next day. Sometimes it goes on weeks and months on ends before the greeting finally means they get to see each other again.

That's okay. Steve's okay with it because if not tomorrow, he knows he'll still see Eddie again.

Steve is 34 when he hears Eddie say the greeting to someone else for the first time. Adoption is exhausting and repetitive and long and grueling but in the end— with a tiny little baby, cradled right against your arm— it's perfect.

Kids are always a mess. Steve knows because he has seven of them already, all grown up, all spread out in the country, all doing things on their own. And it's exhausting and takes out so much energy from you and your partner.

But with Eddie, all the weariness in his bones dissipate at the image of him, rocking their child on a rocking chair, humming a soft song as he finally tells them, "See you tomorrow, peanut."

Steve is 47 when Eddie and him finally get married. Joyce and Robin plan the wedding and as ridiculous as it sounds, they separate the two of them the night before. Steve rolls his eyes, kisses his groom on the cheek and waits for Eddie to say the four magic words.

"See you tomorrow, fiancé." Eddie whispers against his lips.

They get married the next day, under the bright beaming sun, spring flowers surrounding them as their daughter reluctantly spreads flowers for them.

Steve thinks he's heard so many variations of the greeting, but, "See you tomorrow, husband." might be his favorite from all of them.

Steve is 54 and it's the first time Eddie doesn't say it to him before going to bed. They both silently slip into the bed together, hands intertwined together like the other will float away if they let go.

Apparently being tortured and experimented with half of your childhood has some bad outcomes. It's the day they find out that El has a brain tumor.

Steve is 56 and the Party sleeps beside him and Eddie, tucked into each other like they're 15 again. The last time the Party had a sleepover was in 2000. They still all have sleepovers, don't get him wrong. What Steve means is the sleepover where they're all squished together on the floor, clinging onto each other as they sleep soundly, knowing they're safe and sound with their friends.

They have a sleep over just like that one last time.

"See you tomorrow. I love you." Eddie whispers, just as he falls asleep.

The expired eggos in their fridge gets thrown out six months later.

Steve is 65 when he gets to meet their first grandchild. Eddie is adamant that he is not crying, but his glasses make his tears more visible, making them look like actual diamonds coming out of his eyes.

Their daughter laughs, and lets them hold him for the first time. Steve is a blabbering mess of tears, holding the baby close to his chest. They stay the whole night, to help take care of the baby and their daughter.

And there's nothing more beautiful than the moment the nurse has to take their grandchild away from their daughter and she whispers, as gentle as a feather, "See you tomorrow, Ellie."

Steve is 73 when Eddie first forgets to say goodnight. It's Alzheimer's, it's—

It's not okay. It's never going to be okay. But Steve has to be okay, has to carry on for the love of his life. He takes care of Eddie, because he vowed to do so the day they got married, because he loves this man and he will do anything for him.

Steve tucks Eddie at night, after fits of confusion as to where he is, as to who he is, and kisses his forehead, soft and gentle, and says, "See you tomorrow, Eds."

Steve is 82 when he hears it for the last time.

Eddie's health has been declining. Nine years after his first prognosis, Steve takes it as a win, nine years and his love still battles it everyday.

They've been living in a nursing home, Steve is also getting too old to take care of Eddie. His bones are weary in ways that never goes away, his sight and hearing has always been bad but time has made it worst.

There's something called terminal lucidity. The doctors explain to Steve, in the most gentle way he's ever heard, "You're husband will probably, theoretically, have a moment of clarity where he remembers everything and it will seem like you have him back, but for us it is the sign of his health declining further. I am sorry, Mr. Munson."

Eddie gets it a few days later, and they talk nonstop. They talk about the kids, their grandchildren, about their friends, about how they've lived their lives. They open up photo albums, and point and laugh and smile and cry. Steve excuses himself to go to the bathroom, but only so he can call the others, so they could say their goodbyes. The kids fly in, from all around the country, to say goodbye.

Eddie goes a few hours later, warm and comfortable in his bed, cuddled next to Steve with a big dopey smile on his face, "See you tomorrow, Steve."

Steve smiles back, as Eddie closes his eyes. He stops fighting the ache in his bones, the never-ending beat in his scars.

"See you tomorrow, Eddie."

Steve doesn't see Eddie the next day, not the next, not the next, not the nex—

Until, he finally sees Eddie again.

[livwritesstuff]

It’s late in the day when Sam Owens first approaches Eddie.

Eddie is sitting in a lawn chair on the edge of Joyce and Hopper’s backyard in Hawkins, Indiana, and sort of trapped there ever since his and Steve's daughter Moe had dozed off in his lap a little while ago.

For the record, Eddie and Steve don’t live in Hawkins. They’d have to be insane to stick around after everything this hole of a town put them through, never mind willingly choose to raise a child there. No, Hopper had bullied them into making the trek home to celebrate Moe's first birthday (Jesus H. Christ, she's one) and by the looks of how crowded the yard is, he'd done the same to practically the entire rest of the Party too.

Eddie isn't actually trapped either. It's true that he doesn't really want to tempt fate by waking Moe up from a nap that he and Steve had sort of resigned themselves to skipping that day, but he could get up if he wanted to. He's a whole sap in his big age of thirty-six though, and extremely aware of how quickly Moe’s first year of life had flown by. He'd be a damn fool to not relish in these moments, when Moe is a baby still, when she's little enough to fall asleep in his lap like this.

So he's sitting and he's letting his mind wander down whatever rabbit-holes it ventures upon because he's not just a sap these days, he's getting retrospective too.

Twenty years after all the shit that went down in his Hawkins, Eddie considers himself a secondary character in it all (even though it hadn’t felt like it at the time – that’s for fucking sure). 

Honestly, he'd really only been involved in about five days out of several years of that shit – not in the know yet for the first part, and unconscious for the end of it – secondary character stuff, in Eddie’s opinion (and as a two-time published novelist, he’d be the one to know).

It's probably for the best, to be honest. He barely survived even the secondary stuff — with a mostly-full picture of everything that happened over those three years he feels pretty positive that if he’d gone through anything more he wouldn’t have been so lucky. 

And these days, in July of 2002, he’s feeling pretty lucky too. 

“Doc,” Eddie nods as Owens takes the empty chair beside his own.

Owens is another one of these secondary characters in everything. Owens is…Eddie isn’t sure who Owens is, to be honest. A doctor in some capacity, he's fairly certain, and also a scientist too in some capacity given how he’s still in Hawkins doing research on all that shit — and he roped Dustin into it too (though as far as Eddie can tell, Dustin is a more-than willing victim in it and goddamn thrilled to be taking over his work someday too).

Someday soon, Eddie would wager, because Owens is well and truly reaching retirement age – he probably should have retired already, honestly, but Eddie can also sort of see why it might be difficult to step away from the kind of work he’s spent his life doing.

“Mr. Munson,” Owens greets him in return. Eddie watches his eyes flick down to Moe for a moment, “Or is it Pops these days?”

“That’s Steve, actually,” he replies, tipping his head in the direction of Steve, who’s standing at the grill with Hop (they’re listening to Dustin ramble about something and wearing matching beleaguered expressions).

Owens seems to understand the implication, because his only response is another one of those wry smiles and an exhaled laugh.

“Well, congratulations either way. I was very happy for you when I heard the news about the adoption.”

“Still keeping tabs on us after all these years?” Eddie asks, mostly joking because he knows the answer is yes. He knows they’ll have eyes on them for the rest of their lives for one reason or another (which he’s nearly made his peace with by now).

“Well, old habits die hard,” Owens replies somewhat tiredly, “Or something to that effect.”

Eddie doesn't really have anything to say in response, so he opts to say nothing, instead running a hand over Moe's hair — it's getting long these days, not quite long enough to style yet but long enough that she shakes her head to get it out of her eyes and knocks herself off-balance which is so so cute.

“I’ll admit," Owens continues after a while, "When I first met you, this isn’t where I thought you’d end up.”

“Yeah, you and me both, Doc," he laughs, because it's true.

“What I mean to say," he pauses, "It suits you.”

Moe chose that moment to finally stir, snuffling a bit as she lifts her head and looks at him with those beautiful brown eyes of hers.

"Good nap, bug?" he asks quietly.

She responds with a bleary, "Dada" (which she had only just started saying a few weeks ago and it goddamn kills Eddie every single time) as she nuzzled her cheek against his shoulder.

He hears Owens let out a soft chuckle.

“You’re really milking this, bug," Eddie says as presses a kiss onto the top of her head, "I think he gets it.”

[steddieas-shegoes]

Request: Hop & Joyce don't really like or trust Steve & he knows it. He can tell by their behavior towards him. Post spring break from Hell, Steve tears into them both after they insinuate that it's his fault for the kids being hurt. Steve YELLING at them in front of the party bc he is injured more grievously than the kids & he once again protected them, to the detriment of himself.

Joyce & Hop are forced to acknowledge that their behavior was cruel. And they have to apologize but Steve doesn't accept their apology straight away.

I am usually such a sucker for Hopper adopting Steve and treating him as his own that this was really difficult. Like, maybe top 5 most difficult things I have ever written. It's kind of short, but I wanted more of the focus to be on people standing up for Steve and Steve standing up for himself than the actual angsty part. My darling, I hope it lives up to expectations! -Mickala ❤️

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“I guess I just don’t understand how Max ended up like this if Steve was supposed to be protecting them all.”

Joyce’s words echoed in Steve’s head.

She was whispering to Hopper in the waiting room, but it was surprisingly quiet, and easy to hear just about anything.

The kids were asleep on the couches, waiting for any news on Max or Eddie, but the nurses told them it could be hours. Hours were a long time to wait when someone was bleeding out and the other someone had multiple broken bones and was unconscious.

Steve felt untethered, his connection to the earth cut the moment he saw what happened to Eddie, pushed into a dangerous orbit when he saw what happened to Max.

“He’s never really let me down like this. Did you hear Dustin say he thinks he was distracted by Eddie?” Hopper asked quietly.

“What did he mean by that?” Joyce paused. “Oh. Do you think so?” Steve couldn’t see their faces, couldn’t see the way they were having a silent conversation within a conversation. “It wouldn’t be the first time Steve let his romantic feelings get in the way of their safety.”

And that really wasn’t fair.

It wasn’t fair because he always put these kids who weren’t even his first whenever he could. It wasn’t fair because it wasn’t his job to be perfect. It wasn’t fair because they were the adults who should have been here to help and they weren’t.

He could feel tears building up, his vision getting just blurry enough that he knew he needed to walk away or he would start actually crying, and he couldn’t let anyone see that.

Especially not Joyce and Hopper.

Apparently, they already thought so little of him, he couldn’t possibly show them that he was struggling now.

“I think we’ll have to have a talk with the kids about trusted adults. They seem to rely on him for a lot and maybe if we just explain to them that Steve can’t handle it-”

“Excuse me, Mr. Hopper?” A nurse, thankfully, interrupted them.

Steve turned to see a young nurse, probably barely older than him, standing in the entranceway to the waiting room.

Hopper walked over to her, actually whispering this time, as if what was being said right now was a secret, but not the way he felt about Steve.

He glanced over at Steve, then nodded to the nurse. He called Joyce over to them, whispered something, then they both looked at Steve.

He hated what was happening. He was used to being a disappointment to adults, but in a silent way. His parents weren’t really ever around long enough to show their disappointment for long. Seeing it now, on the faces of people he respected and wanted to impress, hurt.

Hopper started walking over to him, his face serious.

“They have Max stable. She may not wake up from the coma, but they’re hoping she makes a turn for the better soon. Eddie woke up a few minutes ago while they were trying to stitch him up and he kept yelling for you. He isn’t quite stable yet. He passed back out as they were trying to put him on oxygen.”

“But they’re both alive?”

“For now.”

“Can I see Max?”

“I don’t think that’s a great idea right now. They’re trying to reach her mom, but the phone lines keep going down. I’m standing in as the adult responsible until she can be contacted.”

“So now you want to be the adult responsible? Not any other time when we needed you?” Erica said from behind them.

She’d been asleep with Lucas and El only a minute ago.

“Erica, it’s fine. I’ll just wait with you guys.”

“No, Steve, it’s not fine.” Erica put her hands on her hips, scowled up at Hopper and Joyce, who had just joined them. “Steve looks out for us every day. Even when the world isn’t trying to end. He drives us to school or from school or to the arcade, he pays for our food at the diner all the time, probably spends all his paychecks on us. And where are the parents? They don’t even know where we are most of the time.”

“But-” Joyce started to interrupt until Erica held up her hand.

“You left your kids to fly to Russia when you knew something weird was going on. You could have died, and then what? You know who would have stepped in? Steve. Because that’s what he does for us. Do you know one of his worst concussions was because he was protecting Lucas and Max from Billy? You know he drove Max everywhere she needed to go all year because she didn’t wanna be around anyone else? How about the fact that without him, we wouldn’t have even been able to get Eddie back here? But sure, blame him for this. It totally makes sense to point the finger at the one person who has protected us over and over again.”

Steve was crying.

The other kids were starting to wake up from her voice getting louder as she spoke, and it didn’t take long for them to realize what was happening.

El and Dustin surrounded Steve, cuddling into his sides to comfort him. He needed it, and he was always willing to accept love from the kids. They so rarely gave it, not because they didn’t love him, but because they were at that age where they didn’t want to.

These kids were his in almost every way that mattered, and he was just grateful that they weren’t hesitating when he needed them most.

“You kids could have died. Steve should have never allowed most of this to happen. He’s the adult, and he let you all go into this without even considering you could die.”

“You think we were just gonna sit around and wait for the adults to handle it? When have we ever done that?” Dustin asked incredulously.

“It’s what you should have done. Steve knows that.”

“Mr. Harrington?” A different nurse was standing in the doorway now, older, definitely less nervous.

“Yes?” Steve responded, wiping his tears away quickly.

“Mr. Munson is in a recovery room. He’s woken up a few times for a minute and each time he’s asked for you. Are you family?”

He was pretty certain hospital policy meant only family could go back, especially during natural disasters, so he lied.

“Yes, he’s my cousin. I can’t reach anyone else yet.”

The nurse smiled, though she probably didn’t quite believe him.

“Right this way, then.”

Dustin tugged on his arm.

“Can I come with you?”

“Sorry,” Steve shook his head. “Not yet. Let me check on him, and I’ll come right back out for you.”

“See? This is what I meant about letting his feelings get in the way! What if we weren’t here? Would you just leave the kids to sit out here alone?”

This time, El spoke up.

“Steve is always putting us first. He can put himself first sometimes. That is allowed.”

Steve wanted to hug her again, but the nurse looked like she was going to walk away, and if he didn’t follow her, he wouldn’t see Eddie.

“Go see him, we’ll be here,” Lucas said from next to Erica.

He nodded at them all, giving them a smile before he followed the nurse without looking back at Hopper or Joyce.

Eddie was asleep when they entered the room, so the nurse whispered to him at the door.

“He’s on a lot of morphine, and he’s still receiving a blood transfusion. He may wake up off and on, but he probably won’t make much sense until they lower the dose. Just be here for him,” she smiled before leaving the room.

Steve turned to Eddie and couldn’t hold back more tears.

He’d let him down. He’d let all of them down.

He was supposed to be the hero, despite the jokes about it all, they all knew he was.

But not this time.

Eddie almost died. Max almost died.

He could feel the bat bite on his stomach burning and itching, like it was already getting infected, but he ignored it.

He could wait.

He sat down on the side of the bed, slowly so he wouldn’t wake Eddie up.

But Eddie’s eyes fluttered open once, then twice, then a third time before they managed to stay open enough to see Steve.

“Stevie?” His voice rasped out, a small smile hidden under his oxygen mask. “You’re here.”

“I’m here, Eds.”

He had to be strong, but his brain was so focused on everything he’d done wrong and if he’d just been faster or got out of the vines quicker, Eddie probably wouldn’t be here and Max would be awake and-

“Stop.”

“Hm? Stop what?”

“Bein’ mean.”

Steve’s brows furrowed. He hadn’t even said anything else, had he? Was he so exhausted that he was actually talking without realizing it now?

“I’m not even saying anything.”

Maybe it was Eddie hearing things. He knew morphine was pretty intense.

“To yourself.”

“What?”

“Bein’ mean to yourself. In your head.”

“I-”

“‘S okay. Me too sometimes. Just gotta stop.”

Steve couldn’t help but smile at the way Eddie’s eyes kept drooping closed as he spoke. He would probably fall back asleep any second.

“I’ll be nice. You get some sleep.”

“You rest?”

“Not yet. Maybe later.”

Steve couldn’t really rest until he knew everyone was home, safe, and sleeping off some of the worst of their injuries.

“Yes yet.”

Steve snorted. Eddie was so high. He knew it was better than whatever pain he would feel when they eased him off of everything, but hopefully he wouldn’t remember all this.

“Sleep,” Eddie said, his hand managing to find Steve’s and tugging weakly on it.

“I can’t sleep here, Eds. This is your bed.”

“Our bed.”

Steve’s cheeks were hot, he knew if he touched them, they’d feel like fire. Eddie just had that way of completely rendering Steve speechless. He’d done it so many times over the last couple of days, Steve lost count.

“I’ll stay right here until your uncle gets here, okay?”

“And after?”

It probably wasn’t smart. It would look weird for him to stay in general, but he also had to get the kids home, try to patch himself up at home, maybe shower before he did some rounds and made sure everyone was taken care of.

“I have to take care of the kids.”

“But they have parents.”

“Yeah, well.”

They were interrupted by a knock on the door.

Hopper walked in, face as serious as Steve had ever seen it.

“I was able to contact your uncle, Eddie. You can go now, Steve.”

But Eddie gripped his hand harder, frowning at Hopper. He seemed more awake all of a sudden, but with the way his eyes kept trying to close, Steve could see it was a challenge.

“I want him here.”

“Eds, it’s fine. He’s not too happy with me right now, so-”

“What? Why? You helped save the world.”

Eddie was looking between Steve and Hopper like an answer would suddenly make itself known, but Hopper was just staring at Eddie, and Steve was just staring at his feet.

He didn’t want to get Eddie involved in this. He just wanted to pretend it never happened, maybe try to look Hopper in the eye again someday, and apologize to Joyce for not keeping the kids as safe as he could have.

But Eddie apparently took the “no running” thing very seriously now.

“Steve? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Just. I kinda let them down, didn’t keep everyone safe.”

Steve shrugged it off, but he knew he wasn’t very convincing, or really even shrugging it off. He still felt the ache of disappointing people in his chest.

“Hold the fuck up. You’re serious?”

Eddie sounded as outraged as someone high on morphine could. His voice was barely distorted by the oxygen mask on his face, and his eyes were nearly at their normal size.

Steve couldn’t look at either of them.

“Steve is trusted by all these parents to keep their kids out of danger, and he brought them headfirst into it. It just made Joyce and I wonder how often they were doing stupid things,” Hopper explained, though he didn’t even sound convinced he believed his own words.

Joyce was walking in just as Eddie was about to speak.

“Steve, I think you should bring Dustin home. Claudia is going to get worried.”

He didn’t need to look up to know that Eddie was glaring at Joyce and Hopper.

“Let me get this straight. Steve provides free rides, and babysitting services, and meals, and fun for your kids damn near every day. He protects them during this shit every time it happens, literally puts his body on the line to keep them alive. Tried to somehow keep them as safe as possible when it seemed like the world was ending this time, did keep them alive, and you’re still finding reasons to blame him?”

They both had the decency to at least look like they regretted it.

But they still didn’t say anything.

“Fuck this. I’m not gonna pretend to know everything about your little Upside Down Club, but I’m in it now. None of us wanna be here, but we are. Steve’s been doing his best for years, since he was a kid, and all you can do is complain that your sweet angels aren’t completely unscathed? This is a team effort, you know that. They volunteered. Steve would have had to lock them in a prison cell for them not to help.”

Steve looked up at Eddie, watched as he started to lose the fire that had overtaken him temporarily, his eyes dulling as the morphine dripped into his veins and flushed through his system.

“Best damn babysitter…” Eddie mumbled as his eyes fell closed.

Steve watched him for a moment, waiting to see if he suddenly woke up again. When he didn’t, he stood up slowly, didn’t want to risk him feeling the bed move, and made his way to the door.

But something hurt in his chest, something he knew wouldn’t go away unless he said something.

He turned to see Hopper and Joyce staring at each other, having a silent conversation.

“I’m used to disappointing people. I’ve been disappointing my parents my whole life. Disappointed friends, Nancy, bosses. But I have never let those kids down. I do my best with them. I try to be there for them the way I wish someone had been there for me. I make sure they’re kids because life handed them a shitty card or whatever and they deserve to still be kids. You can be mad at me if you want, but I know I did my best. They know I did my best.”

He didn’t wait for a response, didn’t want to hear them say anything else about how wrong his decisions were.

But Joyce stopped him from leaving the room, hand on his arm.

“Steve, wait. Honey, I’m sorry. I think…I think we got caught up in the moment and just needed someone to blame.”

“You do the best you can. We know you do a lot for them.”

It was nice to hear, but he couldn’t get over the uncomfortable itch in the back of his head that he deserved more than that.

“Thanks, but I don’t think I can accept the apology right now.” And then the anger really set in. It came over him so fast, he could feel his hands shaking. “A lot of things are out of our control. We all wanna blame someone for this stuff, but it just boils down to the same people over and over. Max is in a coma because of Henry Creel, not me. Eddie is in the hospital because of demon bats, not me. Eleven and Will are connected to the Upside Down because of the government, not me. I’m just trying to be whatever they need, and that’s better than I can say for either of you at this point.” Steve left this time, Joyce dropping her hand from his arm halfway through his loud speech.

Okay, he was yelling.

But Eddie slept through it, and it felt good to get all of that out.

He made his way to the waiting room, hoping everyone would still be there so he could check in.

Everything felt too fresh, too much like Vecna could show back up and take any of them at any moment.

But the waiting room was empty, not even Dustin remained.

Steve did his best not to panic. Their parents had all been contacted, so they most likely had just been picked up and brought home.

“They’ve all been picked up, sugar,” an older nurse said from the front desk.

“Oh. Thanks.”

“They left you a note, though.”

He recognized her as the woman who had been here the whole night, handling phone calls and people walking in like she’d been doing this for decades. Maybe she had been.

He walked over and grabbed it from her, giving her a small smile in thanks.

He walked outside before he opened it, not sure why he was suddenly nervous.

But as he read, he felt tears in his eyes for what felt like the hundredth time that night.

Steve- Go home and sleep. We’ll be okay for a day while you rest. You don’t ever do that. We don’t agree with Joyce and Hopper, and we hope you know you’re the best damn babysitter ever. Love, Dustin, Lucas, Erica, El, Will, Mike, and Max (if she could)

He folded up the note, put it in his pocket, and walked to his car.

He ignored the blood in the backseat, rolled his windows down to ignore the stench of iron.

Knew he would be spending most of his day tomorrow trying to clean the stains out, but figured it would be a good mindless task.

He thought about Eddie, about how quick he was to defend him. About how he’d gripped his hand like it was a lifeline.

It felt that way to Steve.

He hadn’t let Eddie down. He’d saved Eddie.

If he didn’t do anything else right, he’d done that, and nothing Joyce or Hopper said could take that away.

[lexirosewrites]

Thinking steddie thoughts as usual 🤔

I'm thinking abt a regency AU maybe some inspiration directly from Austen

O!Steve, his twin sister O!Robin, & their younger twin siblings A!Max & B!Dustin lose almost everything overnight when their widowed mother Scott Harrington nee Clarke (idk what I'm doing don't look at me) dies from a drawn out illness leaving them without a will tht will protect them, their older brother from their dead sires (Richard Harrington) previous marriage A!Tommy & his wife B!Carol kick them out of the only home they've ever known with barely anything set up for a monthly sum to cover their expenses

It was pure foresight on their mothers part tht he sent letters to his cousin A!Hopper to seek housing for his 4 children in a cottage on his property. Hopper of course took them in, even sending means for them to travel. The 4 arrive to a rather small abode with 3 bedrooms on the second floor to accommodate them; Steve & Robin get separate rooms bc they're older & also as omegas the social expectation is tht they'll need more privacy. A!Max & B!Dustin grumble but don't throw any tantrums abt having to share a room. They all know their existence hangs in a precarious balance dependent on the good will of a cousin none of them had ever met.

Hopper is gruff but sympathetic & kind. His mate A!Joyce is all motherly instincts & empathetic to them as she lost her previous mate, leaving her w her two sons B!Jonathan & O!Will & a barely thought out will tht had been written before the man had married her. They're invited to luncheon with the couple at their main house on the estate & there they meet Hopper's charge/adopted daughter O!Jane (Eleven) as well as Joyce's sons. Jonathan is quiet but very kind to Steve, showing notable interest in him, asking questions, & paying attention to Steve's answers. Jonathan is a fairly successful lawyer whos holds great interest in botany, making a very decent living with a townhouse in the city he stays at when he is not visiting his mother & younger siblings.

The two alphas expect Jonathan & Steve will begin courting inevitably. Steve supposes it wouldn't be a terrible match, Jonathan can keep him & his siblings in relative comfort, he has shown himself to b kind, & has seemingly endless patience for Max's moods & Dustin’s curiosity.

Until one day nearly a month after they'd settled in the cottage Joyce invites them all to picnic to celebrate the return of their friends the Munsons. Wayne is a former officer of the military as well as a member of the peerage, & his nephew is an eccentric but well meaning heir. The two have been on a trip to some far off place.

Blah blah blah idk what happens but this was all very much inspired by sense & sensibility

oops i guess i have to watch sense & sensibility because i love Jane Austen, but i don’t know that one🤭 i’m assuming it ends with Steve and Eddie together?😉

[steviestits]

In The Family Way - Part 1.1

Written for an anon prompt, which can be read in its entirety on this fic's masterpost.

Pairing: Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson, Background Argyle/Jonathan Rating: T (E in later chapters) Summary: The Munson family has never had the typical values that most modern Americans have as they find thrill in all that's mysterious and spooky. Steve Harrington, a black widow omega, hadn't known this when he mated with the family's eldest alpha, Eddie, and thought that he'd be another easy mark that he could kill to inherit the millions that Eddie owned. However, not only do all his murder attempts fail, but Eddie actually enjoys them! And to make matters worse, the alpha wants to try for a pup! Steve has to find a way to off Eddie for good, before he gets pregnant and maybe actually falls for the death-crazed alpha. (Addams Family Values au set in the Omegaverse after the events of the movie with Steve as Debbie and Eddie as Fester) Trigger Warning: Attempted Murder as a love language

The day Eddie met Steve Harrington was honestly the most horrendous day of Eddie’s life, and to be honest, Eddie couldn’t be happier. They met through Eddie’s adoptive brother, Argyle, of all people, after his omega, Jonathan, had a baby. The omega ran a photo studio out of their home, taking morbid pictures of newlyweds and family photos. He thought he would have to close the photo studio as he also had two younger siblings, El and Will, so Grandmama Joyce had her hands full with them and couldn’t help watch over the baby, too. However, Argyle insisted that Jonathan continue his dream and suggested they get a nanny instead to help out during his working hours. Jonathan had been hesitant at first, but since his studio was at home, if the baby needed him then he’d be only a few rooms away.

Finding a nanny proved to be a problem since most of the ones the agency sent over were quite disturbed. They ran away at the first sight of a bloody knife or a severed hand, leaving the baby unattended in the process. Eddie helped Argyle complain to the agency several times about their carelessness and demanded that the nannies be reprimanded for the neglect they showed in their duties. Instead of seeing the flaws in their hiring process, they proceeded to ban them from using the agency's services. At least, that’s what they had thought until another nanny showed up out of the blue. That beautiful vision was Steve, a very kind and sweet omega.

Steve took to the children well, and quickly became their confidant. Though El and Will denied it, Steve insisted that the kids desired to go to summer camp. And from what Eddie heard, the kids had a truly dreadful time. They made some new friends, led a rebel uprising, scalped some puritans, and set fire to a stage. Honestly, if Eddie had known summer camp was so much fun, he would’ve insisted that his uncle send him when he was a lad.

The departure of the children did make Steve lonely, however, but Eddie was there to comfort him and over the course of their interactions, the two of them fell in love. They eloped nearly the same day then took a flight directly to Hawaii for their honeymoon. Eddie hadn’t thought he’d like Hawaii because of all the sun, but Steve went the extra mile to make sure Eddie had a good time. He started by electrocuting him in the bathtub then introduced him to sex directly afterwards. And there was the impromptu shark tank swim that Steve sent him on, and the tour of the local volcanoes. One of which Steve, the seductress, tried to shove him into when the guide brought them to an active site.

Eddie had been worried that the magic would end once they returned home, but Steve continued to be affectionate and thoughtful. Their first day back, in their beautiful new home, his darling omega made him an explosive home-cooked meal after he placed a bomb in the tuna casserole. He then shoved Eddie off a two-story balcony onto a bed of spikes and dropped a grand piano on Eddie once after he returned home from visiting his brother.

Argyle had been worried about Eddie given Steve’s love of pastels, but Steve proceeded to set their minds at ease by staging a family execution. It was then that they were all convinced that even if he dressed differently from them, Steve was still a Munson through and through. The rest of the family welcomed Steve with open arms, happy that Steve would be able to make Eddie absolutely miserable for the rest of their lives.

Even now, several months later, Steve was still looking after Eddie. He could feel his mate’s love as he drank the whiskey the omega prepared for him. His mate was feeling feisty today as Eddie could tell that he had dumped a full bottle of arsenic into the alcoholic drink then added two spoonfuls of rat poisoning for some zest. He honestly didn’t know how he’d gotten so lucky as to find an omega who took care of his needs as well as Steve did.

“How’s your drink, dear?” Steve asked through gritted teeth.

Whenever Steve fixed Eddie a drink, he’d always hover around him, waiting for confirmation that the drink he made was especially murderous. Such as today, Eddie had been reading in his study when Steve brought over the drink he had mixed for him. He then proceeded to hover around the room, pretending to be interested in various items all while keeping watch through the corner of his eye for Eddie’s reaction.

“It’s positively poisonous as always, my pet. Your best work yet.”

Steve’s knuckles clenched until they turned white as he said, “I’m glad you enjoyed it.” He then stormed out of the room, stomping his feet as he grumbled about adding more cyanide next time. It was flattering that Steve dedicated so much of his time to thinking of ways to please him, but a little worrying as Eddie thought the omega needed activities outside his devotion to his alpha, otherwise the spark the two had might fizzle out from overindulgence.

That’s why Eddie had decided to visit Argyle today, to get some advice as to how he kept his relationship with Jonathan from becoming stale. Eddie finished his drink then went to the attic door, where Steve sweetly spent most of his time plotting Eddie’s demise, and told him that he was leaving. Steve replied by shouting that he hoped the alpha’s van didn’t crash, which made Eddie swoon as his omega had clearly gone through the trouble of cutting his breaks.

Masterpost ~ Part 1.2

[otto-apocalypse]

Basically, Otto is the main antagonist of HI3. I said antagonist, because while a villain actively wants ill for the main characters, he doesn't want that. He was born in the XV century in Austria, and was the most frail and sickly kid, fifth born of House Apocalypse. He then mets Kallen Kaslana, who instead compliments him and believes in him, and from then on he idolizes her. When they were teenagers, they witness Kallen'a father die to save them, and since the oath of the Kaslana family states to protect the weaks, Otto is then terrified that Kallen will also die the same way. It's then that he unlocks Void Archives, trying to sacrifice his live to resurrect Kallen's father, but she stops him.

Ten years pass and Otto is willing to do anything, even less… ehtic things, to protect her. He also SINGLEHANDEDLY CURER THE PLAGUE. In the XV century. Then she finds out he's doing questionable things and that th Church of Schicksal, founded by the three noble familie Apocalypse, Schariach and Kaslana, is also very sus, nd she flees. In the East she meets Yae Sakura, and they fall in love. But Sakura become sort of a Herrscher (powerful emissaries of Honkai, the main threat of the world) and Kallen has to kill her. She then returns, and sends a letter of excuses to Otto (who never received it) stating that she was wrong to criticize him for what he did for her, when she did the same for Yae. Once back, Schicksal sends her to death, Otto tries everything to stop it, asking her in marriage as last resort (he's always been in love with her, but never confessed because he knew she didn't feel the same, and only wanted her happy). But she refuses, saying that she doesn't want to live if it means being someone else's puppet. So Otto, as the very last resort, asks for help his older sister Risa, who with their newphew was aiming at gaining power over Shicksal. She help, by releasing Honkai beasts during Kallen's death sentence. She tries to protect the people, and ends up dying.

Otto kinda loses it for a while, goes around opening orphanages and taking care of kids, helps the rebellion take Schicksal back from Risa (who was doing even worse experiments), and ends up travelling to the East, to seach for that Immortal who defeated even Kallen, the strongest valkyrie, hoping to find a way to revive Kallen. He mets Sushang, stuff happens, this is the untranslated, unfinished Seven Swords visual novel (where he gets called Raksha and has an outfit similar to HSR) Thanks to VA, he's pretty much immortal himself, but can't revive the dead

For 500 years he protects the world from Honkai. Valkyries exist thanks to him. If humanity managed to fight off Honkai it's thanks to him. All the technologies that allows Valkyries to fight are thanks to him. In the fifties he tries to clone Kallen, and has the clones fight each other, and one refuses to kill another. This clone is Theresa Apocalypse, which he adopts as his grandaughter, and the other is Amber (his secretary). At the same time, the First Eruption happens, and Welt Joyce is the Herrscher of Reason. This is the plot of the Anti-Entropy visual novel. In summary Welt Joyce (welt is literally the german word for "world") is on the side of humanity, but Void Archives does some tricks, and Otto ends up killing Joachim Nokianvirtanen's father, who inherits the core of the Herrscher of Reason from the dying Welt Joyce, thus becoming Welt Yang (Yang is from his mother). Yes, our Welt Yang.

Fast forward in the '90s, the Second Eruption happens, with the Herrscher of the Void, Sirin. They fight, yadda yadda, stuff happens, Welt dies but then resurrects, and not without difficulty humanity manages to kill Sirin. Otto keeps the cores of the Herrchers, because he tries to find a way to make Herrshcers on the side of humanity. At this point, his plan is still to be able to capture the power of the future Herrscher of Death and use it to resurrect Kallen. But an encounter with the Will of Honkai, suggest that this is not the way.

Meanwhile a few years earlier, a descendant of the House Kaslana, Siegfried, has met Cecilia Schariac, they end up together and have a kid, Kiana. Cecilia ends up sacrificing herself to save all Siberia from Herrshcer of the Void, and while she was conscious of this, it was literally her choice, Otto made Theresa, her great friend, think that he killed her with a nuke. Otto tries to find a way to control HoV powers with clones of Kiana, and one of these clones succedes. Little Kiana, of roughly 10 years, decides this clone in a tube must be saved, so her and her father sneak into Schicksal to steal it. Things go horribly wrong, and Kiana gets left behind, almost dead. Otto saves her, and since she doesn't remember anything, gives her the name Bianka Ataegina, aka Durandal. Meanwhile Siegfriend is with Kiana clone, and he gives her the name Kiana, grows her for a while and then leaves to avoid her Sirin personality to emerge. She then goes to school to become a Valkyrie and meets Mei and Bronya. When Sirin ends up awakaning, Otto kidnaps her to Schicksal flying HQ (had she awoken at the school, it would've been a massacre).

She fights, and Himeko's sacrifice awakens Kiana's humanity. She hides away for a while and other stuff happens to other characters. Meanwhile Otto has discovered, also thanks to Su from Previous Era and Durandal, what he has to do to resurrect Kallen. You see, he witnessed many, many parallel universes, and Kallen ALWAYS dies (this is a nod to GGZ).

But to enact his plan he needs HoV powers, and Kiana won't help him willingly. So he devises a plan: in Kolosten, the old Schicksal HQ, he calls everyone. He sends a threat: he's going to reverse time, everyone who's currently in Kolosten will be safe, but everyone else outside will simply cease to exist as time gets reverted back to when kallen was alive. He taunts them all to come and stop him. This is actually a bait, and also his plan B. If the girls couldn't stop him, they'd have no hope against Honkai and future dangers, so 500 more years would be needed. His main plan is to trick Durandal and Kiana to kill him using theyr powers, so he could trascend existence itself.

All the "traps" he devised were actually personalized to each girl and her power, a sort of training. They fight, he gets killed, and manages to reach the Imaginary Tree. There, at the cost of his existence, CREATES new braches of possiiliy to let Kallen live.

His morally grey character has the best writing I've ever seen. His love for Kallen is something so… wonderful, it doesn't fit into romantic nor sexual, he doesn't want her for himself, heck, he doesn't even get to meet her once she finally has a new chance at life. He just wants her happy and safe.

[estrellami-1]

If I Should Stay

Part 1 | . . . | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26

They watch her go, and Hopper remarks, “She seems like a good kid.”

Steve chuckles. “She’s great. Part of it is due to you.”

Hopper looks at him incredulously. “Me?”

“Sure,” Steve shrugs, shoving his hands in his pockets. “I don’t know how much I’m supposed to share, or not supposed to share, about the details of the future, but you end up basically adopting her. Joyce helps a lot, and for a while she moves to California with them.” He tilts his head. “It’s a weird custody thing that somehow works. I don’t really know the details.”

Hopper sighs. “Kid, you’re gonna drive me to drinking more.”

Steve smirks, fully giving in to the temptation to fuck with Hopper. “Eh, the Russians pretty much fix that for you.”

Hopper drags a hand down his face with another sigh. “I don’t want to know.”

“Probably for the best,” Steve agrees. “Especially since we plan on that not happening this time around. Hopefully with me not fighting anyone.”

Hopper squints at him. “How many people rocked your shit?”

Steve tilts his head. “I don’t know if Jonathan gave me my first concussion, but he definitely beat me to hell. Then the Russians, and there was definitely a concussion with that. Then Billy, he broke a plate over my head, so that’s another concussion.” He shrugs. “So like… two and a half, probably?”

Robin taps his shoulder as she passes by. “You’re forgetting the demobat,” she says, then pauses. “And did the vines get you?”

Steve sighs. “Dammit. I knew I was forgetting something. Can we just call that an even three?”

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Hopper grits out. “Were you dropped on your head as a child?”

“That implies I was picked up in the first place,” Steve fires back without thinking, then blinks. “Um. Sorry.”

Hopper squints at him. “I feel like you need a hug, but I’m the worst person in the world for that.”

From across the room, Alli calls, “Steve, stop fucking with the chief.”

He turns to her, jaw dropped. “I am not!”

“Bubba,” she says, giving him an extremely judgy look.

He squints at her, then pointedly turns away, only to come face-to-face with Eddie, who’s looking between the two of them with an amused look on his face.

Steve goes scarlet. “Oh,” he says. “Hi.”

Eddie looks like he’s considering something. “Hi.” He shuffles a little, looks down at his feet then back up at Steve. “Um. I wanted to thank you. I heard what you said to the chief, about me.”

Steve smiles. “I know it probably doesn’t seem like it, but I swear the guy’s actually a teddy bear.”

Eddie shrugs. “Well, still. Thanks.”

Steve smiled shyly at him. “You’re welcome,” he says quietly. “And thank you. For the gun stuff.”

Eddie grins. “Gun stuff?”

Steve flushed scarlet again. “Shuddup,” he murmurs. “But seriously. I- it was selfish, wanting you here this time, y’know? You would’ve been fine if I hadn’t dragged you into it. Shit- shit, you would’ve been okay, nothing goes after you yet…”

“Steve,” Eddie says, and his attention snaps to a soft smile. “It’s okay. I’m involved now, I’m here, and I’m not leaving.”

Steve takes a breath. It only stutters a little. “Okay,” he whispers, then takes another breath. “Um. Sorry.”

Eddie offers him a kind smile. “I think you’re kinda due for a breakdown, dude, after hearing what you’ve been through? I think you’ve more than earned it.” He looks around, leans closer to Steve, lowers his voice. “Tell you what. Tonight, or whenever it’s just us, I’ll bring out the lunchbox.”

Steve huffs out a laugh. Does his best to ignore the just us. “Sounds great, honestly. Thank you.”

Eddie leans back with a grin, then winks at him before he walks away.

Steve turns and catches Robin’s eye. He widens his, and she raises an eyebrow, nodding in the direction of the bathroom.

Steve considers it, then shakes his head, jerks it in the direction of the kitchen, walking that way without waiting for her.

He’s got his head stuck in the fridge by the time she gets into the kitchen. “I’m thinking a casserole,” he says, “I don’t know what else is gonna feed everyone-”

“Steve,” Robin says gently. “We don’t have time for you to deflect.”

He shuts the door with a sigh and leans his forehead against the cool metal. “He’s being so nice,” he all but whines.

“And you don’t know how to handle it,” Robin nods, patting his shoulder. “I know.”

“I fucked this up,” he murmurs.

“You didn’t. He likes you, Steve. It’s just shitty timing.”

He takes a breath, lets it whoosh out. “I can’t ask him to wait for me.”

“Maybe you won’t have to,” she says. “Maybe he’ll realize you’re worth the wait.”

He manages a grin. “I think that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

She rolls her eyes, but smiles. “Yeah, well, when you look this pathetic…”

He squawks and launches himself at her, and she yelps and runs out towards the living room.

He grins and turns around, back to the fridge. It really is time for dinner, and a casserole does sound good.

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[campbyler]

ACSWY OFFICIAL LIVE TIMELINE

as one direction once said, "you and me got a whole lot of history (whoa)," so we thought that this timeline might be a useful reference for you (and us!) to keep track of mike, will & co.'s very loaded history within the acswy universe! this will be updated as more information is revealed -- that said, feel free to holler at us if you feel we've missed anything!

only significant months and/or dates will be highlighted. if a month is skipped, nothing significant happened and/or significance has not been revealed yet. if there is a timeframe, it means no set date has been determined, but the event happened within that ballpark.

timeline begins below the cut:

MAY

mike, will, lucas, and dustin's first year as campers; jonathan's first year as a jr. counselor; joyce's first year as camp nurse

JULY

steve (yellow cabin counselor) and jonathan get into a physical fight and end up in the isolation cabin together (referred to as the Isolation Cabin Incident of 2017)

AUGUST

mike and will share their first kiss with each other

SEPTEMBER-DECEMBER

will comes out to joyce and jonathan

jonathan and steve start dating

will and max become close friends at hawkins middle

JANUARY-APRIL

will comes out to max

hopper fosters el

chester, the byers family dog, passes away 💔

MAY-AUGUST

el and max's first year as campers; jonathan's first year as a counselor (blue cabin)

mike and will rivalry begins

canoe incident of 2018

mike and el begin dating

MAY-AUGUST

slime incident of 2019

mike and el break up

hopper and joyce start dating

steve and jonathan's last year at camp whiteman

SEPTEMBER-DECEMBER

hopper officially adopts el

MARCH-MAY

hopper and joyce brady bunch the shit out of el, will, and jonathan (home from nyu bc of the pandemic)

discord era

pasta sauce incident

JUNE-JULY

condensed version of camp (two weeks, monday-friday, daytime only)

mike, will, lucas, dustin, max, and el's first year as junior counselors

DECEMBER

18th: will starts dating derek, who is a year older than him

between christmas and new year's: mike comes out to will, lucas, dustin, max, and el as bisexual

MAY-JULY

will and derek break up

mike is there for will during his break up

will pushes mike off the dock (but in a #fun and #chill way)

MAY

follow the sparks (i'll drive)

out of focus, eye to eye

mike, will, lucas, dustin, max, and el's first year as counselors

MAY-

events of a cruel summer with you begin

offscreen, during ch08: events of you know that i caught it

[groovinrightalong]

Alright, as promised, here are some ✨married Byler/Byler dads headcanons✨

A little preface that this is specifically for my transmasc Mike headcanons, so it’s not necessarily canon compliant, it’s pretty much just MY older byler AU so if it’s not your cup of tea you can just scroll along. Brief mentions of being a seahorse dad and a heads up right now that transphobia will get you an IMMEDIATE block:)

Now that that’s over with!

-Mike and Will get married at some point in the early 90s. Mike doesn’t get his birth certificate changed until some point in the 2000s, so legally he’s considered female, and you better believe they take advantage of it. He’s like at least three or four years on hormones by the time they get married but they’re just like :D yes we’re a straight couple I love my wife :D

-Bonus points if Will wears a dress for the wedding

-They get a dog pretty much as soon as they move in together. Will loves dogs (Mike’s more of a cat person but he adores the way Will’s face lights up when he sees them) and she’s probably a birthday present from Mike to Will. They like to joke that she’s their child, they bring her along to family picnics and events. Joyce and Jonathan are obsessed with her, she reminds them of Chester.

-Mike grows up to be an author! He makes a decent living between selling his books and a gig working at the local library, and Will does some graphic design. He doesn’t particularly like how regimented it is, he prefers doing art for the love of it, and he gets his chance when they’re early to mid 40s because Mike’s books start to get really popular and they can live off that income. Will then pretty much just does the art for the covers and works as a freelance artist. Gloats about being a trophy husband.

-They spend the first decade of their marriage just being the cool uncles for Jancy’s kid, always stopping in for surprise visits because they all moved to a bigger city within a decent distance from each other. Mike likes to buy the kid gifts he knows will piss off his sister, like water guns and play dough that’ll get stuck everywhere. He’ll sneak them candy, pick them up from daycare to take them out for the day. He’s a nuisance.

-Will aids in the schemes, but obviously he’s Jonathan’s baby brother so he’s the good one and Mike is the bad influence😇 And then the kid learns their first curse word from him when he accidentally slips up in front of them and he never hears the end of it.

-He’s really soft and happy with them though, and Mike obviously notices. Mike’s sort of iffy on if he wants any kids but he can tell Will does even if he won’t say anything.

-They adopt their son in like early 2002/2003. His bio mom was really young. They keep in contact with her, send her pictures and updates. His name’s Sam! (Short for Samwise. Because they’re fucking nerds.)

-They end up with two kids. Their daughter’s only six or seven months younger than Sam because hey y’all testosterone is NOT birth control. She pretty much looks like a mini Joyce, her name’s Gwen. (Gwenevere. Like I said, NERDS.)

-Their kids kind of have a similar dynamic to Will and El because they’re so close in age, they’re always in the same grades, etc. People jokingly call them the twins.

-Nancy takes her revenge by doing pretty much the same thing Mike did with her kid with the twins. She’ll sneak them treats, get them sugared up when they’re at her house then send them home. Sam thinks she’s the coolest person EVER (much to Mike’s horror)

-Gwen’s nonverbal. As a toddler, Sam talked for her pretty much all the time. She never said her first word, was really quiet and reserved, and it worried them obviously. But then they were like, oh wait, let’s try sign language (Mike has times where he’s pretty much totally nonverbal too so they already know a decent amount) and as soon as she figures it out she’s talking to them all the time. She’s super high energy and between her and her brother, they get into a LOT of trouble (Mike’s first gray hair comes in when he’s like 34😭)

-She also has a bit of a sixth sense! It’s mostly to do with the supernatural (which isn’t really an issue since the gates are all closed now… right?) but sometimes she’d react to something right before it happened and it would freak her parents out. Will has it too, but he’s so used to it now that he doesn’t really notice it? And Mike’s just like oh well that’s just how he is it’s not weird. It’s a… lot freakier when it’s a toddler.

-(Bonus!! Jonathan, Nancy, Mike, Will, and the kids all have the last name Hopper. Hop adopted Jonathan and Will and they changed their names to match him and their mom and El because FUCK Lonnie.)

I have lots more thoughts but this is going on really long and just🫠 Yeah. Byler dads.

[catlady5001]

end of year fic recs

somehow it's almost 2024. where did the year go. where.

here // part two

i want to share some fics i really enjoyed this year, organized by fandom! each fic will have a short summary, the word count, and a + symbol if it's a work in progress!

fandoms:

Fear Street

Stranger Things

Percy Jackson

under a read more for people who just want to keep scrolling :)

Fear Street

break the chain by cassiopeia721 (@cassiopeia721). when Sam is forced to move to Sunnyvale due to her parent’s divorce, she’s shocked by how weird it is there. 5k, crack and angst

Stranger Things

always surprised by what i do for love by birthdaycandles (@steveharrington). dustin, lucas and mike are at a halloween party when they find someone dressed up as an injured steve harrington, and take it upon themselves to defend his honor. 6k, oneshot, hurt/comfort

the end is here (and we do it a hundred times over) by placebythering. set during season 4, steve keeps reliving the day of the apocalypse. 126k, angst with a happy ending

strange (but not a stranger) by heartofwinterfell (@nancywheeeler). mike wheeler character study - he struggles with feeling replaced by eddie. 10k, slice of life

this must be the place by palmviolet (@palmviolet). set after starcourt, robin stays at the byer's for one night - one night that quickly turns into two, then three, then many many more. 25k+, slice of life with fluff and angst

view from a bridge by palmviolet (@palmviolet). a retelling of season four that imagines a completely different type of monster - a cosmic horror. this is one of my favorite stranger things fics of all time. 173k, horror

In A Strange Land by MrsEvadneCake (@mrs-evadne-cake). set after season 2, it focuses on the eldritch monster that has invaded hawkins. another incredible fic. 180k, horror

you are young and life is long (and there is time to kill today) by heartofwinterfell (@nancywheeeler). series with two fics, one from eddie's perspective and one from steve's, about the timeloop they went through. eddie remembers. steve doesn't. 70k, angst with a happy ending

I've seen your face before, my friend, but I don't know if you know who I am by HMSLusitania (@hmslusitania). after S4, the stranger things gang has to time travel back to 1983 to fix everything. they get the chance to lead normal lives from that point onward, but everything has changed - making things very weird for eddie munson, who has no idea what's happened that makes Steve Harrington of all people try to befriend him. 27k, fix-it (this fic is ao3 locked)

a boy, a tender age by Kostas. in the aftermath of season 4, joyce byers adopts steve harrington. 11k, hurt/comfort

good for my boy by MacksDramaticShenanigans (@stevethehairington). the first time wayne munson met steve harrington (completely by accident). 7k, domestic fluff

HEARING DAMAGE by yes_bella_no. steve learns to live with his hearing damage, post S4. 35k, hurt/comfort

light my way by lesbianrobin (@lesbianrobin). in which Wayne doesn't meet Steve until quite a while after he and Eddie start dating. 10k, domestic fluff

Love and Honor but Not Obey by crow_of_crimes (Theyna_Shipper). a story about steve and robin's marriage of convenience and their (failed) attempt to keep it a secret. 11k, angst and fluff

the lathe by palmviolet (@palmviolet). my favorite steve timeloop fic. set during the season four apocalypse.

sub-culture by palmviolet (@palmviolet). steve is pretty convinced eddie now hates him. turns out eddie has the opposite problem. 61k, hurt/comfort

eating in the underworld by greatunironic (@greatunironic). 8-fic series in an au where steve goes with hopper, joyce and murray to the underground russian base and doesn't return. 103k, angst with a happy ending

an eye for an by pukner (@pukner). six times that the boy who calls himself Steve Harrington feels real, and one time he realizes that he isn't. 18k, angst with an unhappy ending. tw violence

i can give you a heartbeat by soupbitchin. ghost eddie tries to get someone to notice him. 114k, fix-it

STEVE’S FIRST BRUISE by cairparavels. spider-man steve au. 47k, hurt/comfort

hellfire (save my soul) by philomendron (tetrapteryx). steve asks eddie for help planning robin a birthday party set in the Cabaret of Hell . everything spirals from there. 49k+, slice of life / hurt/comfort

always burning, world keeps turning by pukner (@pukner). eddie survives season four, and is around to deal with the massive post-apocalyptic fallout. between all of the 'post-earthquake' mess, he and steve figure out what they mean to each other. 2-fic series, 61k+, hurt/comfort

i'll kiss your mouth, and you'll be better for it by cpressmn. somehow, steve and eddie are the last ones to realize they are dating. 8k, minor hurt/comfort

The Very Best People by scioscribe. something is very wrong in a seemingly normal suburb. steve and robin go undercover to investigate. 18k, mystery

this demo will save your life by oh_simone (@aiyahsimone). The summer after Vecna, Steve ends up managing Eddie’s band. 13k, fluff

I Like to See You in the Morning Light by BonitaBreezy (@bonitabreezy). eddie survived the apocalypse. now everyone has to deal with the fallout. 27k, hurt/comfort

you're beautiful (every little piece, love) by strawberryspence (@strawberryspence). for eleven, steve shaves his hair. 7k, hurt/comfort

Of Kings and Cult-Leaders by ladyofthenorthernlights. dustin convinces steve to host eddie's latest d&d campaign. 12k, hurt/comfort

It's Not a Big Deal by AidaRonan (@aidaronan). after S4, eddie survives, but his entire life is locked away in the Upside Down forever (his books, his DnD stuff, his guitar.). steve takes it upon himself to replace them. 12k, hurt/comfort

Percy Jackson

here comes the sun by seaweedbraens (@seaweedbraens). au where percy and annabeth are soulmates, and percy is a roman. 23k, hurt/comfort

if i were to pluck on your heartstrings and if i were to pluck on your heartstrings.by seaweedbraens (@seaweedbraens). a percabeth soulmate au told from two perspectives. annabeth knows who her soulmate is before percy knows his, and misunderstandings ensue. 45k, hurt/comfort

kiss me once 'cause you know i had a long night by herecomesthepun. no powers au where the PJO gang work together. "Annabeth is married, Percy is new and Jason is really trying to be a good friend here." 12k, comedy

Everything, And Then Some by palestinianpercy (@sar-soor). no powers au. percy is a wildlife photographer who ends up coming on his best friend's band tour to help them out while he looks for a new job and gets his life back on track. 127k, hurt/comfort

ends and beginnings series by palestinianpercy (@sar-soor). no powers au where percy and annabeth meet by chance, and while they know that what they have can't last forever, they can't resist each other. 146k, hurt/comfort

we made a lot of music dancing (you and i) by vll8586 (@percyheartsannabeth). au where percy and annabeth are dancers in a ballet company, and grow closer after being cast to perform a pas de deux together. 11k, fluff and romance

Not By Design by inkncoffee. Paul's journey from that guy dating Sally to being Percy's father. 11k, hurt/comfort

constellations by liketolaugh (@liketolaugh-writes). a series fic detailing the immense therapy percy goes through post PJO and post HoO. it's incredibly therapeutic to read. 310k+, hurt/comfort

Laying Waste To Halloween by pinspec (@pinspec). follows percy and annabeth through their childhood and teenage years. 127k, hurt/comfort

Not So Shore by bananannabeth (@bananannabeth). mortals meet percabeth au. 10k, slice of life

bring me home by pjoseries (divineauthor). percy jackson is twenty-six when hera takes his memories. alternate HoO AU. 4k, canon-divergent

is this the way to exit my youth? by afromaniiac (@afromaniiac). Percy gets a bottle of vodka for his birthday. He isn’t a fan. He and Annabeth talk about it. 1k, hurt/comfort

[strawberryspence]

inspired by the recent events (think of a singer and football player) and ofc, inspired by the brilliant, @henderdads, who has graciously allowed me to make this into a whole thing. 👀

check out the original post!

*i don’t know ANYTHING about the NFL, so sorry for the obvious mistakes*

”What do you mean?” Steve looks up from tying his shoelaces, and stares at his agent.

“Harrington, how many times do I have to say this?” Robin smirks at him, “He’s here. He’s sitting with Mama Joyce.”

Steve’s 100% sure a wire short circuits in his brain. He blinks rapidly at her before asking once again.

“Eddie Munson?”

Robin hums, “Ahuh.”

“Like the 12 time Grammy winner, Eddie Munson, from Corroded Coffin?”

Robin slaps a hand on her forehead, “Yes, Steve! Eddie Munson is in the stadium right now. You’re the one who asked me to arrange his seats.”

Steve jumps from the wooden benches, “I didn’t think he would come!”

Robin crosses her arms, “First of all, you were the one who made that bracelet with your number on it—“

“I WAS DRUNK!”

Robin puts up a finger, “You weren’t drunk when you brought it to his concert and asked Lucas Sinclair to hand it to him. You also weren’t drunk when you announced it on a podcast, when it could’ve been a secret for all of us to keep. Second of all, you whined and annoyed me until I finally caved in, called his publicist to finally arrange the whole thing and the thanks I get is more whining?!”

Oh no. Steve stares at her, as all of the things she said finally sinks in. Oh no. Eddie Munson is in the crowd. He came. Steve asked and Eddie came. He’s gonna watch Steve Harrington play. Weirdly, he wonders if this is what Eddie feels when he’s about to play sold out arenas. Steve’s never felt nervous to play, the field is— well— his comfort place and not once has he had this sense of dread to play. Not even when he had to play the Super Bowl.

"I didn't think he'd come!" Steve panics.

“Uh-oh. No time for panic attacks. The game starts in about 15 minutes.”

“Oh my god.” Steve groans as she pushes him out of the locker rooms to the halls. There’s TVs in every corner, and one TV catches his attention.

There he is.

Eddie Munson’s sitting beside his adoptive mother and his siblings. Dear God. In what world is this real?

The commentator squeals in delight as he broadcasts, “Here’s one for the books, one that’s surely going to break the internet tonight. In the crowd tonight, we have the lead singer of best selling metal group, Eddie Munson. The rumors are apparently true! Harrington and Munson are definitely friends, maybe even more?”

Steve groans as Sinclair moves pass him, bumping shoulders. A huge smirk on his face, “I didn’t think you could do it, but I have to say, I am very proud of you.”

”Leave me alone.” He sulks as Lucas walks down the hall laughing his head off.

When Steve started talking to Eddie, he never really thought he’d end up here. Did he want something serious with Eddie? Well, yes. He’s been crushing on the man since he realized he was bisexual and Eddie was already the cover of the Seventeen magazine for nth time. But Eddie was a superstar singer who’s still on a world tour that has already sold billions, so no, Steve didn’t expect him to be here. He also knows that Eddie just got out of a pretty public break-up, so he didn’t expect anything but friendship. He just— shoot his shot and prayed to the Gods.

Steve thinks back to the conversation they had a few nights ago. A conversation only possible through the help of prayer and two shots of vodka.

“You wanna go out this Sunday?” Steve asks, trying his best to keep the nerves under the wraps.

“Isn’t that the day of the game?” Eddie speaks over the phone and Steve still can’t fathom the fact that he’s talking to Eddie Munson on a regular Wednesday night.

“Yeah, I mean. We can go out after the game.” Steve gulps, and he feels the need to take another shot.

”Huh.” Eddie hums, “Would that be a date, Harrington?”

“Yes.” Steve lightly bangs his head on the wall, “I mean, if you want it to be.” Steve covers his mouth to muffle the embarrassing sounds that comes out from him. What a wuss.

“Here, let’s play a fun little game. Let’s wait till Sunday.” Steve can hear the smirk in his voice, and god, Steve will have to look up the damn “Eddie Munson smirks for 10 minutes” compilation on Youtube again.

”What do you mean?”

“I’ll think about it. On Sunday, if I’m in the crowd then maybe we can get some dinner. If I’m not, then maybe next time.” There’s a playfulness in his voice that makes Steve want to tear his hair out.

Steve gnaws at his lips, that sounds easy enough, “Okay. That sounds… easy.”

Eddie laughs. It’s music to Steve’s ears and he feels pathetic, “Not so easy, big boy. If I’m there, you have to get a touchdown and then it’s a date. If not, then we hang out with your siblings. They’re pretty cool.”

Steve stares at the wall in his room, there’s maybe 50% chance he’ll get a touchdown. He could talk to Sinclair and McKinney to get him the ball. He could do it. It’s just another touchdown. He’s done—what?— like 50 touchdowns in his life.

”Okay.” Steve gulps, “Let’s do it.”

“HARRINGTON!” Steve blinks back to the present, lifting his eyes away from the picture of Eddie Munson wearing the red windbreaker representing his team.

Hopper’s calling him over, a smirk clear on his face. Why is everyone fucking smirking at him? “I see you’re distracted. I hope this doesn’t cripple your ability to play.”

”Hop!” Steve groans, only for his coach to laugh and pat him in the back.

“Go on! Line up!” Hop smiles, winking at him, “Good luck out there.”

Steve puts on his helmet, before taking a few deep breathes.

He just needs a touchdown. One touchdown.

Steve smiles.

He’d do anything for Eddie Munson.

A touchdown is nothing.

[livwritesstuff]

what’s the girls relationship like with uncle (grandpa?) wayne?

yesss we love Grandpa Wayne 🥹

Wayne was actually the first person to know about Moe (and the only person, for a little while, because privacy is a big deal w/foster kids and the Party is notably god-awful at keeping things on the DL so Steve and Eddie didn’t loop everyone in until the adoption was complete).

Wayne was the first one to meet Moe, the first to hold her. Wayne proudly wrote the reference letter they’d needed as part of their home study to adopt her.

Wayne came up to Massachusetts from Indiana to take care of Moe while Steve and Eddie were in the NICU with Robbie.

Wayne was Eddie’s first call when Hazel was born.

When the girls are very little (toddlers/early elementary school) he’s still living in Indiana (he's in a silent feud with Hopper over who can stand to stay in Hawkins the longest). The feud only comes to an end because, when Steve’s dad passes in 2009, Eddie gets freaked out and basically insists that Wayne move closer to them.

Wayne isn’t even all that bummed about losing to Hop because it means he gets to spend more time with the grandkids. He absolutely rubs this in at any opportunity, and Hopper and Joyce make the move up north only a year or two later (Hop claims it was unrelated).

The girls adore him. He’s steady and reliable and always down for a good card game (he teaches them how to play poker just a little bit too young) and he shows up to every play and recital and all the important sports games, and he can roast their dad like nobody's business.

He has a particularly special bond with Hazel, who, like him, loves nature and being outside. They go birdwatching and fishing together (catch and release, obviously, because Hazel wouldn’t stand for anything else) and take day trips to nearby national parks and botanical gardens.

Hazel goes to Florida for college, pursuing a degree in zoology at one of the best programs in the country, and they joke that Wayne should be awarded an honorary BS with how much of her coursework Hazel relays to him (she calls him after practically every lecture). Eddie has to fight tooth and nail to keep him from moving back down to Florida to join her there.

[steddieas-shegoes]

Headcanon: Wayne, Claudia, Joyce & Hopper meeting Steve's parents who are neglectful & pretty cruel to their son & realize that Steve is sooo good without having parents to help raise him (maybe he gets adopted by one of them)

Okay picture this:

Steve is 14, his parents haven’t been home in a month.

Hopper finds it weird that he’s constantly catching rides with friends or walking places when his parents are loaded and could easily have someone drive him.

He drives by his house late one night and sees one light on upstairs, assumes it’s Steve’s bedroom, and decides to stop and check in when he sees an empty driveway.

Steve comes to the door, clearly home alone, and Hop asks how long he’s been alone.

Steve’s scared to tell him the truth but he’s at the age where he’s just scared enough of cops to not wanna lie to him.

Hop is pissed. Tells him to pack a bag for a few days because he’s staying with someone he trusts. An adult.

That adult is Claudia Henderson, who doesn’t even need to know everything to know that Steve needs love.

That’s how he actually meets Dustin, ends up sharing a room with him for a couple nights until his parents get back in town.

Hopper unleashes pure fury on them, says if they didn’t want the responsibility of a kid, they shouldn’t have had one. They argue back that he’s old enough to take care of himself now and he doesn’t have any right to “kidnap” him and bring him to a person’s home they don’t know.

Claudia is there for all of it, so is Steve.

Hopper tells them they’re lucky he didn’t get CPS involved and that he still might if they don’t figure out how to be parents.

Steve is cowering in the chair in the corner, watching his parents fight for their reputation, but not for him.

He finally speaks up, finally gains the courage he needs to say that he liked staying with Claudia and Dustin, that he knows his parents don’t want him.

After hours of going back and forth, his parents agree to send money to Claudia for groceries and care of him and he gets to have a family.

When Joyce finds out, she starts having Steve over for dinners a couple times a week too, and he becomes good friends with Jonathan instead of Tommy.

He becomes another older brother to Will, and they actually come out to each other at the same time.

Will is how he meets Eddie. Will looks up to Eddie as a DM and Steve doesn’t understand most of the game, but he knows that seeing Eddie’s passion turn Will’s passion into more.

Eddie and Steve start hanging out, usually alone, usually when Wayne is at work. It’s slow, the way they fall in love.

They’re two teenagers who never really saw romantic love, not the healthy kind, so they don’t even realize they’re in it until Wayne asks how long they’ve been dating one night when they’re all having dinner.

Wayne didn’t know much of Steve’s story, not until he shared it one evening shortly after graduation.

He hugged Steve to him tight.

“You’ve got a family, a family who loves ya, but I’m here too. You’re my boy, too.”

Steve grew up feeling like a burden, feeling unwanted and unloved. But ironically, when he lost the only family he had, he gained more than he could have ever expected.