#except for the wheelers for obvious reasons

[carmenilla]

so many characters in stranger things are shown to be interested in the opposite gender aside from their significant others (excluding will and robin for obvious reasons), yet the writers and set designers consistently avoid showing specifically mike to be interested in girls

now i'm not like some of y'all where i have gifs and screenshots tucked into my backpocket, but let's all try to remember these scenes

max has a crush on ralph macchio. she says that he's hot and that she bets he's a good kisser.

in the arcade, lucas and dustin are trying to win princess daphne in an arcade game (the name i forgot). when dustin fails the game, lucas says something along the lines of "princess daphne is still mine!"

dustin refers to his girlfriend as "hotter than phoebe cates", which is him indirectly calling phoebe cates very hot (making his girlfriend seem ungodly levels of attractive)

steve and jonathan both have suggestive posters of women in their room. jonathan's is pointed out by lonnie - lonnie tells him to "take that down, it's inappropriate". steve's can be seen before the st*ncy sex scene

nancy has a tom cruise poster in her room, pointed out by robin

but when it comes to mike, there's absolutely nothing that even mildly implies him being attracted to girls. the closest thing i can find is him asking dustin, "is she cute?" while dustin is talking about suzie, and when dustin compares her hotness to phoebe cates, mike is making a weirdass face that definitely does not imply any heterosexuality from him.

sure, he has a girlfriend. but we all know how that's going for him. (see: mike not kissing her back or even closing his eyes in the s3 finale, mike taking her hands off of him while they're making out, mike being unable to express his love for her while she's truly present, him never once explaining a single thing about el he loves/finds attractive except for "you can fly, you can move mountains" and "you're my superhero" and "you wore an oversized benny's burgers t-shirt one time", etc.)

bottom line - mike wheeler i know what you are

[dwobbitfromtheshire]

Steve had been talking about wanting Eddie to meet his parents for a while now, and Eddie was finally ready. When he pulled up to his house, there were a bunch of cars in the driveway. Eddie frowned. Why did this suddenly feel like a trap? He smoothed down his blazer and tucked his hair behind his ears before ringing the doorbell. It was hard not to grin when Steve answered the door, especially when he was beaming like that. He kissed Eddie and pulled him inside.

John and Maggie Harrington were waiting for them in the dining room, but they weren't alone. Joyce and Hopper were there as well. Sitting next to them were Sue and Charles Sinclair. On the other side of Charles was a grinning Claudia and. . . Wayne? His arm was wrapped lovingly around Claudia.

"Wayne?!"

Wait, how did he not notice his truck outside?

"What are your intentions with our boy?" Wayne asked with a pause and then he snickered.

"You did not prepare me for this," Eddie hissed at his boyfriend.

"I love you!" Steve exclaimed in a sing-song voice and then booped his nose.

[bippot]

Talkative

Story Summary -> Mike Wheeler had no idea why Y/N was allowed to be in Hellfire. She just took up all the time he could've been using to talk about, you know, what he wanted to. Maybe she was let in because of Eddie's very obvious soft spot for her? Or maybe it's because the other members genuinely like her? Who knows, but one thing is for sure: her not talking to him drives Eddie insane.

Tags -> Friends to Lovers, Misunderstandings, Mike Wheeler is a little bitch sometimes

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Yeah, yeah, yeah, Mike had heard it before. So many times, in fact. Literally so many. Y/N had been yapping away about how excited she was for the next Hellfire session for ages - well, since the last one. He had lost count of how many times he'd had to block her out. It was just over and over again. Word after word. Nothing but endless monologues of how cool she thought the direction Eddie was taking the campaign in was.

Or she'd talk about whatever movie she'd just seen. Or something interesting she'd read in an article. It seemed as if she'd just talk about whatever was on her mind, and if the other person showed enthusiasm or interest, they'd make it a full-blown conversation. (You know how two-way interactions tend to go.) And he had been left wondering why the hell Eddie even bothered to let her into the party. She was insufferable.

Nobody else seemed to mind it. It's just that Mike seemed to be under the impression that Y/N was talking up valuable speaking time. Speaking time that he could've been using to talk about El or Will or how weird it was that Lucas couldn't hang out after school today because he had basketball practice. Or...you get the gist. Anyone else could and should be speaking about what he wanted to hear, not whatever fucking dribble Y/N was spouting.

The current 'dribble' was Y/N excitedly gushing to Dustin about the upcoming Billy Joel album that was supposed to come out sometime in July. Mike sat quietly, resting his elbows on the lunch table, flicking between half listening to Y/N and dramatically eye-rolling at Gareth, who was paying the younger boy very little attention.

Billy Joel wasn't something that the members of Corroded Coffin were interested in, but Y/N and Dustin liked him so they'd be courteous. Plus, seeing the two geek out about music was nice. Yet, as most know, Mike isn't overly courteous. For some reason, he felt the need to keep interrupting it. That need only grew with every interruption.

"Jesus, Y/N, do you ever pause for breath?" Mike asked, half laughing and half irritated. "I don't think you've taken a break in the past twenty minutes."

Y/N let out a nervous laugh and immediately apologised in a quiet voice, "Sorry, guys. How were your weekends?" as she deflected the conversation onto them now and swallowed the new sense of shame that Mike had stirred up. Immediately, Mike jumped at the chance to talk about what El had told him in one of her letters. Now this was a topic he liked. This was a worthwhile topic.

That little snide comment never would've made it out of Wheeler's mouth if Eddie had been there. He was currently preoccupied with a drug deal, so anything was free game. Munson had a tendency to let Y/N drone on and on because of that tiny (actually huge and obvious) crush he had on her. All members of Hellfire knew of their leader's infatuation with little Miss Chatterbox, well, except Y/N. It was so plain for everyone else to see. He'd listen so intently, always resting his head on his hand as he gazed at her with longing. He'd ask her endless questions about whatever, even if he had no idea what she was on about.

Any chance to get her to speak more, he took. So when he arrived midway through lunch and greeted, "Hey, Lady Folksworth," and she didn't immediately respond with 'Just Alais is fine,' he knew something was up. It was something she always said. In and out of game. Lady Folksworth, her highborn ranger, hated being called Lady Folksworth. Y/N just gave him a small wave and continued with her food, listening and encouragingly nodding every now and again, but not another sound from her was heard.

Weird. That was weird.

From that moment on, Eddie noticed how little Y/N had said for the rest of the day. Maybe she was on an off day. Tomorrow would be fine. She'd be back to normal tomorrow.

Tomorrow was a smidge louder. Y/N seemed to engage in the conversation at lunch. Then Mike rolled his eyes at something she said.

Apologetically, she asked, "Sorry, did I speak over you, Wheeler?"

"Not the first time. Don't worry, Y/N. We're used to it."

Somehow he managed to play it off as if it were a friendly jab, but they both knew he meant it. Y/N laughed it off originally. She soon decided to shut up once more.

Mike managed to do that every day that week. He'd make some offhanded comment about how talkative she was, essentially shaming her into silence and switching so he could be the one who was talking. And she let him. Why not? He was just a kid. A kid who clearly needs attention. Just give it to him, and he'll start being nice to her. Right?

Wrong. The next session was when Y/N gave up trying to reel back her natural mouthy-ness by becoming a borderline mute at lunch.

Eddie had let the party into the Hellfire room early so they could come up with a battle strategy. Y/N had been a little late and heard from the other side of the door as Mike exclaimed to the other members, "...and honestly, sometimes I wish I could cast an eternal silence on Y/N so she'd just let someone else get a word in for once and..."

She stood in the doorway, just listening in for a moment. It was technically eavesdropping, but still, she was supposed to already be in the room, and she wasn't. If anything, it was Mike's fault for talking about someone he knew was going to arrive soon. From the little window, she saw as the other boys unpacked their bags and sat down, mostly paying Mike's little ramble no attention, which was comforting.

Yet he continued, "She's probably talking the ears off some unlucky guy that has to hear her drone on and on about... about whatever it is she talks about. I don't even listen anymore. Cause, it's like, is it interesting? No. Do we care? No. Not at all. Would this party be better without her?" He paused. "Who's to say?"

Better off without her? The boys wanted the session to just be that, the boys. That's fine. She'd let them do that. It's not as if Hellfire was the best part of her week or anything. Y/N turned and walked away, making a beeline towards the car park. She didn't want to listen to any more, which also meant that she didn't hear as the other boys disagreed with what Mike said.

Dustin actually smacked Mike around the back of his head and reminded his buddy, "You're doing the exact same thing with Y/N as you did to Max. Just because El isn't here doesn't mean another girl can't be cool and interesting."

"Yeah, Y/N's cool. She bought my lunch today since Daniel Oliver stole my money," Gareth admitted, giving Mike a disapproving look.

"Oh, she did that for me last week," Jeff added. "Then she almost got her ass kicked when she tried to steal it back off Danny-boy."

Since her feet were carrying her faster than her brain could comprehend, Y/N managed to bump into someone as she hurried to her car. Eddie held his arms out to steady her, but she was in no mood to be soothed. 

"Hellfire is the other way, Lady Folksworth."

She huffed out, "I know where Hellfire is; thank you very much. I'll-"

"Hey, hey, what's up?" She didn't want to talk. She wanted to go home. She wanted to be quiet, so she didn't answer him for a moment. The silence was broken as she heard him say, "Y/N, what's wrong?" with genuine concern laced in his voice.

"My grandpa just died," she blurted out, not even knowing why she said it. The words were simply leaving her mouth as she felt her lie fall flat.

He knew her better than that. "Which one? The one that's already dead or the other one that's already dead?" He countered, crossing his arms, not believing her lie in the slightest.

Shit. He'd caught her. There were two options in her mind. Go further or change course. "Well, he was like an old guy who was a family friend... you know, he was a non-grandpa," she furthered, walking away from him towards her car. "And I have a headache."

"I'm pretty sure I have an aspirin. Not my usual supply, but I'm bound to have one."

"No...no. I'm fine. Not fine enough to stay. Not that fine, but... I should go."

But there was no way in hell that was going to happen: she wasn't going to get away with these awful fibs. Without having to try too hard, he took a few long strides, making it in front of her in no time and placing his hands on her shoulders to gently push her in the opposite direction.

"Y/N."

"Eddie?"

"Tell me the truth."

Okay. It was time to change course. She used an ancient female tactic that has a tendency to get you out of doing things. Gym. Sex. Chores. All types of shit.

"I'm on my period."

It wasn't exactly a lie either. Maybe that's why Mike's words got to her so much this week? Huh, crazy.

"Ohh," he replied sympathetically, "The offer of painkillers still stands," and just like that, he was being so nice about it. "Name anything, and I'll get it for you. I'll go to the store down the street and be back in no time."

Her heart fluttered. It wasn't every day a boy was so understanding. He didn't even act grossed out by it like they usually did. He actually didn't make a big deal out of it. So, she couldn't help herself and wrapped her arms around his shoulders to give him the biggest, warmest hug she could manage. He hugged her back, closing his eyes to savour the moment.

"You're a good egg," she whispered, squeezing him a smidge. His face was bright red, but that's fine. She wouldn't be able to see it if he buried his face in her hair. "Ed, you can let go now if you want to."

"I don't want to," he chuckled, pulling her tighter to him and refusing to budge. He even started to shift his weight from left to right so they'd begin swaying slowly side to side, making her giggle, which entirely was his intention.

There was something about her giggle that just filled him with an immense sense of joy. It always turned his day around: he felt lighter, happier, and more energetic. It didn't even matter what he was doing. He couldn't understand it. One moment he was feeling listless and miserable. The next, she would start laughing, and then he'd be good and giddy. It was like magic.

Unknowingly, she had been playing with the strand of hair at the nape of his neck, and the moment she realised, she stopped and reminded him, "Hellfire is waiting for their handsome and charismatic Dungeon Master to arrive."

Oh shit. He'd forgotten about that. He'd been so focused on her, he'd forgotten to do his job. It was a serious breach of protocol. But, in this moment, he didn't care. Leaning back so he could see in her face if she lied, he shyly enquired, "You think I'm handsome?"

"Yeah, Ed, I do," she answered seriously, without even the smallest hint of a smirk. It was like she really meant it, and, boy, was he relieved. She really did think he was handsome.

Well shit, his fucking face was heating up again. How the hell did she have this kind of effect on him? And he'd never have guessed that it would've gotten worse as he complimented her back, "Oh, cool. Yeah, that's nice. You're, uh, you're handsome too - I mean pretty. Girls are pretty. I know you're not supposed to call a girl handsome. You're really pretty, Y/N."

Really. Not only was she both handsome and pretty, but she was also 'really pretty'. That last part made him wince a little as he admitted it, but it was worth it for the look on her face. It was the happiest he'd seen her in a while, which made his own face even brighter. It almost made her forget about what Mike had said.

Almost.

She looked away, her lips upturned in a coy grin, but didn't internalise what he'd said. That could wait till later. That could wait until she was in the privacy of her car so she could let out a really unflattering squeal. The urge to do so was increasing every second that she was still in his grasp, so she slowly backed up, innocently letting her hands trail down his shoulders and chest as she moved away.

Bashfully, she tucked some hair behind her ear as she let out, "You can call me handsome if you want to. I don't mind it. Honestly, I was going to say that your hair looked pretty when I saw you this morning, but I didn't want to, I don't know, freak you out or anything."

"You were worried about freaking out the freak?"

"Something like that." She looked down at her shoes for a moment. "Anyway, I better go. See you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, uh... yeah, see you, Y/N."

He watched as she started to walk away, only to turn around and hurry back, claiming, "Oh, I forgot to do this," and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you for being so sweet."

Blushing, he nervously beamed, "Yeah, oh, yeah, you're welcome. Totally welcome," and couldn't help but distract himself from the fact that his cheek felt like it was burning and his head was spinning over the mere contact of her lips on his skin by focusing on her figure as she made it out of his field of vision and towards the parking lot.

Okay. Okay, he needed to calm down before he arrived in Hellfire. The boys would surely tease him if he turned up looking like a freshly picked tomato. It's always a good idea to make an entrance, and that definitely would throw them off long enough that he could return his focus to his second true love, D&D. Opening the door wide and announcing, "My dear boys, we may be one maiden down, and while Alais's absence will render the dynamic a little askew, she will be sorely missed until the next session, but we must press on. So, boys, it's time." 

Eddie immediately sauntered to his chair and waited for his disciples to prepare themselves. He always tried to make his entrances as elaborate as possible. The more attention to where he wanted it to be directed, the better.

Dustin piped up to ask, "Wait, Y/N's not here? I swear she said she was coming earlier."

"She felt ill."

Maybe it was just his imagination, but Eddie swore he heard Mike whisper to himself, "Thank God."

"Anyway, we must press on, gentlemen, without interruption," Eddie said, putting a finger to his lips to still Mike's rising protests.

Despite being one member down, the boys got on with it. Although they could all tell that the party was a little disjointed without their beloved Lady Folksworth. It wasn't that she was the most experienced member, though she might have been the most enthusiastic, but she was the one who kept them on their toes. It wasn't everyday that the Archduke Zariel of Avernus visited the mortal realm. There wasn't a whole lot to prepare for, but somehow, when Y/N was around, it felt like there were a million things to do.

Ultimately, it was a difficult battle (that may have been a slight bit easier if had seven PC's like Eddie had planned), but the boys (Dustin) managed to come up with an ingenious plan to kill the fallen angel and prevent her from returning for now.

The next day, when Gareth and Jeff had walked up to Eddie while he was at his locker, the older boy remarked, "Hellfire last night was quieter, don't you think? It wasn't as high energy as usual."

"That's because Alais was missing," Gareth pointed out, knowing full well that Eddie had been missing Y/N's presence. Even in the session, he seemed a bit preoccupied, a bit concerned if she was okay.

He'd even planned to buy a bunch of stuff she liked and show up unannounced at her house to be like, "Hey! I know I'm a gross, stinky boy and I don't get this period thing, but I hope this helps," but what if her dad were there and just assumed Eddie was making moves on his daughter? Which wouldn't have been completely incorrect. Yet, this was a move out of worry, not lust.

Plus, as soon as the other boys heard, he'd never get away from the teasing. Showing up to Y/N's house with a period care package? That would prove he was totally whipped. Totally. They weren't even dating, and he was completely and utterly wrapped around her finger.

Jeff decided to tease, "I'm sure Eddie was fully aware that Y/N wasn't there to play footsie under the table with him."

"I don't know what you're implying, Jeffrey," Eddie responded dryly. He one hundred percent knew what was being implied. That girl was his favourite thing in the world, and he would have done anything to be with her.

"Well, I'm sure we won't catch you gazing so lovingly at her at lunch again," Gareth said, resting his head on his fist and staring wistfully into the distance as he did his best impression of Eddie.

"Why, fair Y/N, why won't you accept my love? Is it the hair? Should I change it?" Jeff said in an exaggerated, disappointed voice.

Eddie was used to this at this point. He just usually just went along with it, but today he had an update. "I highly doubt it's the hair; she told me she thinks it looks pretty."

"Oooh, did you hear that, Jeff? She said his hair looks pretty."

"I wonder how long we'll be hearing about that one for."

"Remember when she said she liked the shirt he was wearing and he didn't take it off for almost a week?"

Gareth and Jeff burst out laughing. Eddie shrugged it off and turned the conversation back onto Hellfire. What he didn't realise was that Y/N was just about to walk up to him as he declared, "Even though she has a charisma mod of minus two, Alais is a complete chatterbox. That's probably why we could hear ourselves think last night," but she walked away, not wanting to hear if he pulled a Mike.

Mike getting annoyed at her voice was fine. It hurt a little, but she'd get over it. Eddie, on the other hand, that stung. He usually was nice and kind and pretty and sweet and chivalrous and totally cool and out of her league and was great at guitar and had the cutest eyes she'd ever seen, so the thought that she could be annoying him caused her to double down on the quietness thing.

Frankly, if Eddie had said anything actually mean, she would probably start crying and never stop. He was the sweetest guy she knew, and sometimes she felt that there was something going on between them when he would look at her for a second too long, or the amount of times he would force her into hugging him, and they would stay like that for what felt like an eternity, just as he'd done the night before.

Or, if she'd ask for advantage when they were playing, she'd say, "Eddie, if you wanted to be a good, no, a great Dungeon Master, you'd give me advantage right now," in the softest voice she could, and he'd give her that look of 'you know this isn't one of your characters abilities' but would say yes anyway.

As a result, Y/N kept mostly to herself that day. In any of the classes she had with her friends, she said hello and then made it seem like she was intensely interested in whatever the teacher was saying, which wasn't true. Eddie couldn't help but notice how she didn't even say anything other than "Hey" to him the entire day.

Tomorrow came and it was the same. And the day after that. And after that. And then the whole week. He had no idea how long periods lasted, but this was hell. Two weeks went by, and she barely said a word to him.

Actually, he was kind of offended.

It's not like he was planning on asking her to the movies, which they'd done so many times before, but he was going to make it obvious that there was going to be nothing platonic about this invitation. Well, that's what he thought last time they went, yet he didn't manage to follow through.

The moment they had before Hellfire had given him enough of an idea that she could like him. It was a possibility. She'd fucking kissed him, after all. Although it was on the cheek and she could've just been overly friendly and emotional because of, you know, the monthly blood monster. But maybe she liked him? That was a definite possibility.

Now she was ignoring him. You don't ignore somebody you're into. Or do you? Was she playing the hard-to-get move? No. Y/N wouldn't pull that. Would she?

Maybe she knew he liked her and didn't want to upset him when he found out she was going after someone else. That was his exact thought when he 'bumped' into her on the weekend at Family Video and saw her joyfully talking to Steve like she used to with him. She'd looked so happy then, so carefree, as she gestured wildly as she spoke about the movie Clue.

Apparently, Harrington hadn't seen it, so Y/N was giving him a rundown about the Tim Curry flick, telling him all about how Eddie had taken her to go and see it in the cinema the year before. Her laugh was music to his ears, even if it wasn't caused by him.

Very animatedly, she waved the VHS around as she explained, "Yeah, we went back three times because they're were different endings depending on what screening you went to. It was really cool. Each ending had a different killer or killers, I guess because there tended to be multiple, which is kind of genius." Then she put the video down as she almost threw it, which would've been funny, but she'd have to pay for it if it broke.

"Wait, so it's based on the board game?" Steve enquired, resting his hand under his chin as he gazed up at her. "The whole Miss Scarlet in the dining room with the rusty spoon or whatever game?"

Rusty spoon. That definitely should be one of the weapons.

Y/N giggled, confirming, "Yeah, that's the one. In the movie, Miss Scarlet is, well, she's basically a pimp."

"Now I have to see this movie." He leant forward and tried to flirt, "Do you want to..."

No way. Was Harrington flirting with Y/N? That was not happening. Not on Eddie's watch. Sliding in next to her, Eddie wrapped his arm around Y/N's shoulders and squeezed lightly, cheerfully interrupting Steve and greeting, "Funny seeing you here, Lady Folksworth."

Steve immediately stood up straighter, thinking he'd accidentally tried it on with a 'taken' girl. That wasn't his intention. Still....?

"Munson, how are you? How's high school treating you still?"

"It's going swell, Harrington," Eddie retorted, biting back the tone that he wanted to use.

"Think you're going to graduate this year?"

"They do say the third time's a charm."

Staring between the two, Y/N didn't really know what to do or say. She was lost, unsure of how to react to this situation. It was so awkward. She waited for a break in their exchange before lying, "My dad is probably waiting for me in the car. I'll see you two later," and unhooking herself from Eddie's arm. As soon as she was free, she gave them both a wave and began to leave.

Eddie called after her, "You forgot something."

Oh. Was he referring to what she'd forgotten before? He must've, so she made her way back to him and kissed his cheek, expecting that that was the thing he was talking about. Nope. In his hand was the VHS of Clue that she'd left on the counter. He handed it to her with a smug grin.

"Hey, do I get one of those?" Steve joked, earning a swift punch in the arm from Eddie.

"Bye, Steve. Bye, Eddie."

And she was off.

"Why did you get a kiss and I didn't?"

"Why did she say goodbye to you first?"

Actually, what the fuck had he done? He could've sworn he saw her car and not her dad's in the parking lot as he entered. Then again, he hadn't looked hard enough to be sure. Eddie was pretty sure he hadn't done anything to upset her. What if he had? Oh shit, that would suck. That would actually be the worst. The worst of the worst would be if he'd actually upset her and she didn't want to talk to him anymore. If that happened, he would be so royally screwed. 

But, no. Nothing out of the ordinary had happened between them.

Steve still asked, "Have you guys fallen out?"

"Me and Y/N? No. I don't think so."

"Are you sure? She left in a hurry as soon as you showed up."

Oh, he thought that too. Fuck, Eddie wished that Steve hadn't pointed it out because now it was out in the open. The words had been said out loud. What the hell was he supposed to do now?

Steve raised his eyebrows. "Are you two... together?"

They weren't, but, "Why do you want to know that?" It was obvious why Steve wanted to know. Eddie's reaction made it clear enough what his true feelings were since he stared at Steve blankly for a few moments before awkwardly shrugging and nervously scratching the back of his neck. The moment he put it together, he whined, "Dude, no."

"What? I haven't even done anything."

"Yet. You haven't done anything yet. Literally any other girl, ask any other girl. Please. I'm begging you. Don't."

God, he felt like such a fucking pussy. He was literally begging Steve Harrington not to ask out the girl he likes. That was how low he was willing to stoop for Y/N.

"But..."

"Just don't."

Harrington hesitated and then said, "Fine." After a moment of silence passed between them, Steve asked, "What are you doing here anyway?"

Robin butted in with "Y/N always comes in at lunch time on a Saturday, and he knows that," and bumped Steve out of the way so she could serve a customer that had been waiting, having been completely ignored by the two boys. "Harrington, are you even going to attempt to do some work?"

With that, Eddie tapped the counter in thought for a moment, his mind swimming with all the possibilities of why Y/N was acting in such a way. She'd claimed it was because of period pain, and not that he knew much about that, but he had a sneaking suspicion that it was something else. She'd been almost mute for two weeks now. Did periods last that long?

Then he said something that he'd never ever expected to come out of his mouth. "Right. I'm off to the library." That wasn't it. He went to the library often because books are fucking expensive. The surprise came when he followed that up with "I've got some biology homework to do."

So that's what he did. He went past the fantasy section, his heart panging as he did so, and straight to the non-fiction area, finding one that was named 'The Female Species' in no time. When he opened it, his eyes immediately went to the illustrations. Yep. That was a pussy. Fucking hell, the things he'd do for Y/N. She better appreciate his research.

At the end of their shift, Eddie re-entered Family Video and went straight up to Robin. "I read in a book that periods usually last five days; is it normal for the girl to be really reserved at that time? The book was very factual about organs and tubes and shit, but didn't have anything about behaviour."

Steve heard and beelined for the back office. Robin blinked at him, her eyes wide, and obviously she was just confused why she was being bombarded with girl talk. So, Eddie continued, "Y/N hasn't been herself lately, you know. I think something's up."

"Just ask her."

"She's avoiding me like that time that I didn't shower for a week and she didn't want to be rude." Robin looked absolutely disgusted, as she should. "Don't look at me like that. Our plumbing broke."

"Alright, alright." She placed all of the cashing-up stuff down on the counter and called for Steve to do it. He wasn't as quick as her (she's got some mad quick addition skills, I know it), but it would have to do for today. "I will ask on Monday."

"What about tomorrow?"

Standing her ground, Robin repeated, "No. I will ask on Monday."

Eddie continued to whine for five minutes straight, hoping that if he threw a tantrum, Robin would give in and, maybe, even immediately go to Y/N's house and find out as soon as she possibly could. But no, Robin was tired and had barely sat down her entire shift. Plus, she had to work tomorrow too, so Monday was the best and only option that she was willing to do.

Monday couldn't come soon enough.

At lunch that day, Robin decided to ask Y/N to sit with her instead of with the Hellfire lot, which was a little weird at first, but she quickly grew comfortable with it. Y/N seemed as talkative as ever as she interacted with Robin and the other members of the marching band. What the hell was Eddie talking about?

From his position at his lunch table, Eddie watched with eagle eyes at the band table to see if there was any possibility of Y/N changing her mind and going back to the Hellfire camp. He caught Robin's gaze, and she just shrugged as if to say, 'You're overreacting.' Was he? Was he just reading into it too deeply? Nope. No way. He knew her better than that. He knew her better than Robin did. He was sure of it.

They shared the same fifth period lesson, and the moment she went to hurry to the next class, he easily lifted her off the ground and made his way to the janitor's closet with her squirming in his arms. They got a few weird looks from the other students, but mostly they were too busy with their own schedules to give too much of a shit.

"Put me down! Edward Anthony Munson, fucking put me down!" She exclaimed, slapping his arm in the hopes he'd stop manhandling her. He did once they were inside. He also made sure that he stood directly in front of the door so she wouldn't be able to leave.

Well, he intended to stay posted up by the door like a German Shepherd, but he quickly noticed that the janitor had a Santana poster and moved to take a closer look with a "Sick. He's got a Shango album poster. You know, it's not my usual type of music, but my uncle loves it," so she took the opportunity to try to weave past him.

Still, she had no chance. He quickly whipped his arm out and managed to wrap his arm around her waist, pulling her up against him.

"Hey!" She protested. Looking up at him, her anger faded as she saw his face, but she still tried to be stern as she asked, "What are you doing?"

It was moments like this that Y/N became fully aware of how much taller than her he was. She was used to it, but it still kind of threw her. If he'd been any other man, she would've been intimidated, but with him, she just found herself drawn to his beauty.

"Eddie, what the hell?" She asked, her cheeks flushing a pretty shade of pink. Damn, he loved the way she looked when she was blushing. It made her eyes go all soft and dreamy. He didn't answer. He just looked at her beautiful face, and his heart melted into a puddle of mush behind his sternum. He was staring at her lips so hard that he was barely able to muster up a response.

But he did. Eventually. Eventually, he blurted out, "Do you not like hanging out with me anymore?" His voice came out quiet and unsure, almost as if it took all of his courage to get the words out - that's because it had. It somehow got even quieter as he said, "Do you not like me anymore, Y/N?"

The soft, pretty pink on her cheeks deepened and her eyes shone like diamonds. All traces of uncertainty were gone, and in its place was shock. She studied his face for a moment, looking for any kind of signs of joking or teasing in his eyes. When she couldn't find anything, she sighed and said, "Of course I like you. What made you think that... that I didn't?"

"Wha- what? Uh, the fact that you haven't said more than two sentences to me all week." He couldn't believe the words that were coming out of his mouth. He didn't know what had come over him. One minute he was fine, and then the next - boom! Out came the sass. He'd never been good at holding in his feelings, especially when he was really into someone.

Not even giving her time to explain, he proclaimed, "And don't give me that crap about being on your period because I read up about that shit and it sounds fucking awful, I will admit, but it doesn't last two fucking weeks, Y/N. You're killing me here, sweetheart."

She couldn't help it. At his words, she let out a boisterous laugh that made his heart skip a beat. He hadn't heard her laugh like that in forever, and it just felt so goddamn good. Cackling, she said, "You read up on periods?"

"I was worried about you, and I don't exactly have a mother to ask about it. Uncle Wayne would've never let me live it down if I asked him."

Lightly, she dropped her forehead to rest on his chest as she tittered. His heart was about to burst out of his chest and into the open air. She lifted her head up off of his chest and looked him dead in the eyes, smiling as she claimed, "You're very sweet, Eds."

Sweet? She called him sweet? Everything in his body felt like it had turned to jelly. It took all of his willpower to keep himself from kissing the hell out of her. She still hadn't told him the actual reason, so he continued on his path of questioning. Putting on his best 'I'm a tough negotiator' face, he declared, "I'm serious, though. What the fuck is going on with you?"

"Is that face supposed to intimidate me into telling you what's wrong?"

Whoops. She gave it away.

"So there is something wrong!" He dramatically took his hands off her and flailed them in the air. "I knew it! I fucking knew it! Robin can fucking suck it."

Like usual, she found his little tantrums humorous, and she just gazed at him with a grin on her face as he continued to wave his arms in the air, swearing his fuzzy head off. It was like he was an overgrown toddler, trying his best to get a reaction out of her, and his efforts were successful as she laughed at him. How are you supposed to not laugh at a fully grown man hysterically jumping around in a confined space, accidently knocking over a mop on his warpath? He stopped for a moment, put it back in its place, then started whining again.

"Why won't you talk to me? This is bullshit. I've only had Dustin to annoy this entire week, which is fun, but I'd prefer to annoy you. I even stooped low enough to try and fuck with Wheeler."

"No, not Mike. How did you survive?"

Slowly, he got closer to her with a smug smile on his face, his eyes narrowing as he raised his hand to accusingly point at her as he began to facetiously complain, "You're laughing at my concern! Honestly, Y/N, I don't know why I do it. I had to look the librarian in the eyes and say, 'Hi, where's the section about pussies? Yeah, my friend has one, and I want to know why its making her act all stupid and shit. Oh, and where's the erotica while we're at it? Might as well add that to my collection too. That will give me something to do while I wait for her to even breathe in my direction!' Well, actually, no, I didn't say that, but I could've. I could've done that. I would've done that."

Swallowing down all her anticipation and nerves, she teased, "Aw, you would've checked out erotica for me?"

"Shut up," he joked, then immediately backtracked, "No, don't shut up. That's the whole thing. Don't shut - you know what? Fuck it, I'm just going to -"

Instead of continuing to ramble, he didn't know what came over him, but he knew it wasn't rational. Maybe it had something to do with the way her lips looked so full and soft. His hand grabbed her by the waist and yanked her forward, pressing their lips together with a hunger he couldn't explain. He didn't remember moving, or if he had, he forgot. One moment he was speaking, and the next, well, the next, all of his senses were focused on her.

A soft sigh escaped her lips, which caused him to smile against her mouth. He couldn't help himself; he couldn't stop smiling at the perfection of it all. Her body was pressed up against his; she was pressed into his chest. All he wanted to do was kiss her for hours. Her lips felt so soft, so sweet, and he couldn't stop touching them and tasting them. Every single part of his body was in tune with hers, and it was an amazing feeling.

There was a break in the kiss as he pulled back slightly to look at her, his hands resting on her hips as he tried to apologise, "Tell me whatever I did wrong and I'll make it up to you. I'll do what -"

"I'm not paid enough to care about this shit."

The pair broke apart, and their heads whipped to look at the newcomer. It was silent for a while as they just stared at the janitor in the hopes that he might magically vanish. "Get out," the janitor said. "Get out before I make sure you two end up in detention."

Detention was not on the cards as Y/N grabbed Eddie's hand and dragged him into the corridor as he still seemed a little dazed. Addressing the janitor, he complimented, "Cool Carlos Santana poster, by the way. That's actually what we went in there to see. Crazy. We heard about it through the grapevine, you know," so she pulled him away before he could say anything else.

"I swear to God, that was so fucking awkward," Y/N laughed, trying to suppress her giggles.

The moment they made it around the first corner they saw, he scanned if any teachers were around and then began to kiss her cheek, gradually making his way down from her cheekbone to her neck, manoeuvring her so her back was against the cold wall and his front was against hers. He nuzzled his face into her neck, inhaling her scent and absorbing it through his skin. 

Teasingly, he reared back and came to a compromise: "If you tell me what's going on in that pretty head of yours, I won't leave the biggest hickey I possibly can on your neck. Just imagine how long you'll be grounded for when your parents see that."

"You're not serious."

"Watch me." He lowered his head once again, his lips finding her skin just above her collarbone, before she tugged on his hair to pull him back up. "Start talking."

Taking a breath, she finally explained, "So, I'm trying this thing where I let other people get a word in. We all know that I have a habit of talking a bit too much, and you're probably sick of my voice at thi-"

"What the fuck are you on about?"

His blunt statement made her jump.

She was just about to speak again when a junior, who obviously had a hall pass to use the bathroom, gave them a funny look and walked by without saying a word. Jokingly, she pointed out, "Why did we choose to do this in a public corridor?"

"And she begins avoiding my question once again," he taunted, moving his mouth under her jaw to plant a kiss there. He grinned, smug, and self-assured, and Y/N felt a swell of pride at his confidence. She considered her answer for a few moments, and in that time, his hand slipped from her hip to her lower back, sliding beneath her t-shirt to graze over her bare skin. She loved the way he was so comfortable in their little game.

"Stop," she laughed, but he kept his lips there, pressing against her neck and making her shiver. "Somebody mentioned that I'm a bit of a motormouth, so I decided to reel it back, okay?"

He craned his head back in surprise. "Who?"

"I'm no snitch, Munson."

"Uh, I'd like to know who fucked with my girl. I'm planning on kicking their ass."

Wrapping her arms around his shoulders, she coquetted, "Your girl? Is that what I am now?" And to be super effective, she softly brushed some of his hair behind his ear.

There was no mistaking the pleased grin that curved his lips. He gave her the goofiest, most lovestruck grin possible, declaring that, "Oh yeah, didn't you hear? You have been for a while. Did I forget to mention it?"

"You may have forgotten, yeah. Maybe you did, and I was too busy chatting to notice," she joked, and he chuckled. Her hand moved to his chest, and she felt his heart pound against her palm, his breath quicken, and his body tense. Her smile faltered for a moment as she apologised, "I'm sorry for practically ignoring you for a while."

At her words, his answer was low and sincere. "Yeah, it sucked." He tilted her chin up as she'd moved her focus away from his face, suggesting, "You could always make it up to me by hanging out with me after school and rambling to me about every single thought that pops into your head."

"Eddie, I'm sure you don't really want -"

"You don't get to tell me what I want," he said, and the serious expression returned to his face. He shook his head and kissed her again, this time briefly but with a lot of affection. It was an answer in itself. Against her lips, he mumbled, "Your voice is my favourite sound in the world; don't deprive me of it again or I'll probably go insane."

That made her do the most girlish giggle he’d ever heard.

"Just so you know," he said, "you could read anything to me and I'd be enthralled. You could read the fucking Bible to me, and I'd convert in no time."

Despite the casualness of his statement, it made her realise how truly into her he was and how much he thought she was worth listening to. She loved the way he looked at her, like she was the only girl in the world, the way he thought she was so special. He didn't see her as just another member of Hellfire; he saw her as his girl.

Putting his favourite things together, she offered, "Why don't you come over; we'll smoke, and I'll read The Hobbit to you? My parents are out, so it's up to you."

He'd never heard something so perfect for him in his life. The smile that stretched across his face was absolutely, unarguably perfect. She waited until he'd composed himself before she copied his actions from before and kissed from his cheekbone down, which caused him to shiver slightly and unconsciously put his hand on the back of her head. 

Trying to play it cool despite how his body was reacting, he retorted, "What about your cat? Is she in?"

"You'll have to come over to find out."

So he did. He was practically vibrating with anticipation as he pulled his van onto her driveway and didn't even wait for her to get her keys in the front door before he hurried up behind her, grabbing onto her waist and tugging her against him so he could kiss the back of her neck. 

The moment she opened the door and pulled him inside, he noticed her cat and beelined towards her. "Hey, stinky," he said, holding the cat in his hands. He looked at Y/N and back to the cat. The theory that all pets look like their owners seemed to be correct, as Y/N's kitten was as cute as she was.

"Don't call my baby stinky," Y/N playfully warned, stroking the cat and leaning down to bump their noses together, causing the cat to lovingly nip at the tip of her nose.

"I can't help it," Eddie replied, holding the cat by the armpits and holding her above his head, wiggling her from side to side, falsely insulting, "Liquorice is just such a gross, ugly cat."

Faking offence, Y/N grabbed the kitten from his hands and cradled it as she began walking to her bedroom, cooing, "Don't listen to the rip-off Van Halen-looking boy, baby. He failed ninth grade English too many times for his opinion to be valid."

Eddie, of course, was hot on her heels as he followed her. "I'm not a boy; I'm a man."

"Whatever you say."

When they made it up to her room, Eddie immediately made himself at home, kicking his shoes off and jumping face first onto her bed. Y/N rolled her eyes and dropped the cat onto her pillow before sitting on the bed to beam as Eddie turned on to his side and pouted, urging her to "Kiss me?"

How could she not? She obliged, leaning in and pressing her lips to his. His reaction was immediate. He eagerly responded to her kiss, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close, tongue eagerly exploring hers. Y/N was the first to pull back as she felt Liquorice pawing at her arm. 

"Oh, sorry, you jealous thing," she joked, giving the cat an equal amount of attention by scratching her belly. She instructed Eddie, "Take over while I find the book."

Liquorice had always liked Eddie, which was weird as she rarely liked anyone. Especially men. But it was as if she saw how kind he was and just went with it when he started to gently run his hands through her fur, purring as he did so.

Reading aloud, "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat..." 

Y/N had found the book and made her way back to her bed, leaning against the headboard as Eddie manoeuvred to sit between her legs, bringing Liquorice to sit in his lap. Together they both said, "It was a hobbit hole, and that means comfort." 

Of course he knew that bit off by heart.

Slithering her arms around him, she placed her chin on his shoulder, occasionally giving him a peck on the cheek between paragraphs as she continued reading. He leant back, listening intently as he lit his spliff, taking a few drags before placing it between her lips and dreamily gazing at her as she let the smoke out of her nose like a sexy dragon. A sexy Smaug.

Never had he felt so comfortable. In a relationship or just in general. No matter how many people he'd been with before, there'd never been a moment when he'd ever truly felt like this.

Almost the second before she finished the final paragraph of the first chapter, Liquorice was spooked by a sound from outside and decided that she didn't want any more attention. Y/N called after her, "Do not start a fight with the dog next door," and all the cat seemed to do was narrow her eyes and saunter out of the room.

Finishing the last bit, Y/N declared, "Bilbo went to sleep with that in his ears, and it gave him very uncomfortable dreams. It was long after the break of day when he woke up."

Now that he no longer had a cat on his lap to worry about, Eddie took the book from her hands and set it on her bedside table, turning around to face her as he flirted, "Honestly, whoever told you to shut up must not have taste because I've read that so many times and it never sounded that good before."

The compliment was not lost on her as Y/N giggled, "I swore you fell asleep halfway."

"I was resting my eyes." He leaned in, pressing his lips to hers, only to pull back, looking into her eyes. "You're seriously not going to tell me who?"

"Nope." 

Fine. That'll do. He let out a huff, but it was quickly forgotten as she placed her hand on the side of his face, gently ghosting her thumb over his skin as she pressed her lips against his. And that's how they spent most of the evening. Just smooching with the occasional playful bout of taunting.

Over time, it wasn't rare for Eddie to spend all of his free time in the warm comfort of Y/N's bedroom. He lay on his side, leaning over her slightly as she used their intertwined hands to gesture, soaking in all of his focus.

It wasn't long before Eddie pieced together who had made her feel that way. Mike had made some offhanded insult about how long she had been talking, and Y/N looked at Eddie like 'this fucking guy, amiright?', accidently giving it away.

Then Hellfire came, and Mike was very surprised when his PC died only thirty minutes into the session. 

Strangely, it seemed as if the DM was personally targeting him. 

Who knows why?

*Click here for my masterlist*

Wanna be added to a taglist? Either comment on this post or send me a message!

[anarcoqueer1994]

Eddie was going to tell them, he promised Steve he would. Its was easy to tell the apocalypse crew, kind of hard to keep things from a group of people you saved the world with. But telling Corroded Coffin about his new boyfriend was different. Not that they would care that he has a boyfriend. They've known he was queer for a while. What he was worried was who he was dating.

They had spent years in high school touting their superiority over the "conformist, arrogant sheep, and their leader King Steve." Except he had been to harsh, he had gotten to know Steve.... love Steve. And he was afraid if he told Corroded Coffin, not only would they rag on him, but they may say something horrible to Steve. But Steve said he didn't care, that he could handle it. He would "kill them with kindness." He just wanted to be open with Eddie with all their friend groups.

So Eddie promised he would tell. There was a little part of him, though, a superficial part of him, that cared a little more about what his friends think than he should. And so, even though he told Steve he would, he has been dragging his feet. Unfortunately, Steve does not know that. Eddie told a little white lie a few weeks ago that he told them, bringing the brightest, prettiest smile to his face. Eddie had planned to tell them soon after.

But he still hasn't, did not realize the mess he was about to make. Tonight they were having Hellfire at the Wheeler house. Dustin, Will, Lucas, Mike, Erica and the rest of Corroded Coffin were there.

Dustin mentions that Steve would be there soon to bring he, Lucas, Erica and Will home. That's when Garreth says "I still don't see why you guys like hanging out with that guy. He always seemed like an asshole to me." Jeff and Caleb nod their heads.

"He kind of is." Mike jokes. "But he's not a bad dude."

"Steve is cool, man." Dustin adds, obvious admiration in his face.

"Yea, Steve has always been really nice to us." Will smiles. "He is like another big brother." The rest of the party, including Erica, nod in agreement.

Erica gets a shit eating grin(not knowing Eddie has not told Corresed Coffin about he and Steve dating) "And he's cute, right Eddie?" The rest of the guys except Lucas and Will groan in response.

Eddie tries to play it off. "Yea, Harrington is hot. Anyone with eyes can see that."

"Well you must think he's extra hot since he's your...' before she can finish Eddie cuts her off. "I think we are at a good place to stop for tonight."

Everyone notices the quick way he cut her off. Everyone looks confused, even if the younger teens are for a different reason. Jeff speaks up. "What's Steve, Eddie?" He pokes.

"Steve is Steve." He shoots back avoiding the question, slight embarrassment creeping to his cheeks. He knows he should say more, tell them about his wonderful, adorable boyfriend. But maybe he ego is too big to admit he fell for the jock.

"What are you talking about?" Dustin speaks up.

"Why are you being weird?" Mike adds.

Suddenly a chorus of voices chime in, all asking questions. "What is Steve?" "Eddie, why are you being like this?" "Is something up with Steve?"

Finally over the loud voices from his old friends and new friends, he defensively says. "Steve is nothing!" His cheeks are red.

Unfortunately, over the chaos, they hadn't heard Steve come down the steps, having heard Eddie's proclamation. He had come a bit early, thinking Correded Coffin knew. He was carrying a plate of cupcakes, wanting to make a good impression during the first time seeing Correded Coffin as Eddie’s boyfriend.

But he was wrong. They didn't know, and Eddie had lied to him. It hurt. It's not like Eddie’s friends are homophobic, so Eddie was...ashamed to be dating him.

"I'm nothing?" Steve's voice causes everyone to look behind them. Steve looks devastated, like Eddie had just took his heart and stomped on it in front of everyone.

"Steve..." Eddie jumps up, trying to will time to rewind, but he can’t. He hadn't meant to say those terrible things.

But Steve is shaking his head, setting the cupcakes down, before bounding back up the steps.

All the "kids" including Mike, practically shoot daggers at Eddie as they leave, following after Steve.

Eddie is left sitting in the basement, with his three confused bandmates, feeling deflated, knowing he just fucked up the best thing in his life.

Part 2? Let me know if you want to be added to a tag list.

Tag list closed, part 2 here :)

[theoriginalbylergod]

Mike Wheeler is important and there's nothing wrong with analyzing him

Since y'all wanna be insufferable bitches about it I'm gonna explain to you why he's important, why Will loves him, why his struggles should be acknowledged, and why his character depth is pivotal to byler endgame being a satisfying conclusion for both Mike AND Will. Deal with it!

We are not seeing smoke where there isn't a flame. We are seeing smoke where there is a literal fucking forest fire.

Starting off with something a lot of people aren't ready for but I've seen more people talking about: Mike is the main character of s1 at the very least. He is the character that brings us into the world of stranger things. He is the character that the writers chose for this. Mike is the main character of s1 and it was an instant hit. The writers love Mike. Contrary to popular belief, giving a character an arc where they are struggling and their behavior changes from what is normal for the character we know and love does NOT mean the writers hate that character. It means they deliberately chose to give that character complexity and depth. Your inability to like characters that do anything wrong ever is not the fault of the writers. Your decision to act as if a character is not important is not reflective of the actual narrative because it in fact is in direct opposition to the narrative. So just to be clear, if you genuinely believe that Mike isn't important, or that the writers hate him, or don't care about him, or that his story "takes away" from any other character's - ESPECIALLY WILL'S - you are simply wrong.

In s1 and s2 Mike is established as an extremely caring person. He's loving, loyal, brave, intelligent, and trying his best. He is also established to be hot headed, someone who speaks without thinking quite often, someone who is capable of hurting his friends despite that being the last thing he wants to do. He is all of these things and more. He is a human. He is a kid. So in s3, when suddenly he is entirely different, it is completely logical to assume that there is a reason for that. He did not just wake up one day and decide he wanted to be an asshole, push Will away, make his friends feel abandoned, and echo the same sentiments their bullies held. Something is happening with him. He has so much going on in his head and it is painfully obvious. He's holding something in, he's hiding from everyone and from himself. We see glimpses of what he's trying to hide after Will calls him out on his behavior. Will gets through to him. Mike is usually unresponsive to tough love, except for when it's coming from Will. After their fight, it is obvious that he's trying to be better. But he still doesn't wanna face certain things, and he doesn't know how to navigate that. Because he's 13 years old.

There is a reason for all of that internal conflict. There is a reason it comes pouring out of him at certain times. He's crumbling. He is quite literally falling apart because he's holding on to too much. It's not a stretch to assume that, it just takes basic media literacy. Why would the writers have Mike act this way if he was just supposed to be a one dimensional character? Why would Finn be directed to portray Mike the way he does if there was nothing more going on? There are times where Mike looks like he's in physical pain because of his internal conflict. There is a reason for that. And acknowledging that DOES NOT mean people are taking away from Will. That's the most idiotic thing I have ever heard. Do y'all seriously not understand that more than one character can have emotionally complex storylines? Genuinely asking, is this a new concept for you?

Will's love for Mike

Will is head over heels in love with Mike. That is very much established. So when you're dismissing the emotional depth of Mike's individual arc because you think acknowledging it "takes away from Will" you are actually diminishing the significance of a huge aspect of Will's emotional arc. By taking away the significance of Mike, you take away from the significance of Will.

Let's do a quick recap of the very significant role Mike has played in Will's entire life:

Mike is Will's first friend.

They have grown up together and it can be assumed that they've reached important milestones together.

Mike has always been a safe person for Will. He's been a constant in Will's very chaotic and unfair life. Until the summer of '85, Mike had always been something good in Will's life. (That's not to say he is no longer something good, but it can be assumed that the summer of '85 is the first time Mike has been a causal factor in Will's unhappiness)

When Will went missing, Mike did not hesitate to search for him. It wasn't even a question of if. The moment he knew Will was missing he knew exactly what he'd be doing that night. He spearheaded the search amongst the party. He was the leader.

When Will came back, Mike was the only person that didn't treat him like he was gonna break. He cared for him, and he was there for him, but he didn't treat him differently; Will tells us as much. Which means we can infer that the way Mike was with Will in s2 - how gentle and loving he was - was nothing new. He had just always been like that.

When Will was possessed, Mike stayed by his side. Even when it was scary, even when it could've gotten him killed, he stayed. Because once again, for him, it wasn't even a question. That's just where he knew he needed to be. He was in the shed when they were trying to get through to Will. He was set apart from Lucas and Dustin, but he also wasn't equated to family. And his retelling of the story of the day they first met was the final push Will needed to find a way to communicate.

After a year of things being "weird" between them, Mike tells Will that he didn't deserve to be treated the way he had been. Mike tells him that he wants them to be okay again, and for the rest of the season he puts in the work.

Things get rough in s3, and at the beginning of s4, and despite all of that, Will confesses his love (albeit veiled). In a moment where Mike is feeling awful about himself, he tells him that he loves him and needs him, and he tells him why. And to him it doesn't matter that he's breaking his own heart to do it, because it's Mike. Mike, who makes him feel like he's not a mistake at all, and that he's better for being different. For Will, there was no other option. The person he loves was hurting and he knew how to help, and so he did.

Mike is the first person Will tells about Vecna still being alive. Because they're back to being a team. He knows he can trust Mike, and Mike seems to be very determined to prove him right.

SO.

These are all real and canon aspects of Mike's presence in Will's life. Will falling in love with Mike isn't something that just happened for no reason. Will fell in love with Mike because of who Mike is. When you acknowledge that, and when you acknowledge the reasons they've set out for why Will loves him - the reasons Will literally told us - you can better understand Will. But when you dismiss all of these things about Mike, you are dismissing a large portion of Will's emotional and romantic arc. You aren't being a Will Warrior. You are erasing so much of him and his feelings and his lived experience. That is not the hill you wanna die on.

Will loves a person. Not a feeling. Yes, he says that Mike makes him feel like he's not a mistake and that he's better for being different. But that's not why he loves him. He feels that way because he loves him.

Mike is a fully fleshed out character with his own feelings and struggles and fears and traumas and motivations. He's not a plot device. He's not just an accessory to Will's arc. He's not a character that was written only to be Will's love interest. He's Will's love interest because he's Mike.

If Mike didn't matter, and if Mike didn't play a significant role in byler, then they would be able to write in a love interest for Will in s5 and have it be somewhat satisfying. But they can't do that. Will's love for Mike has so much depth because Mike has so much depth. It is genuinely crazy that this has to be stated and that I have to back up this claim because it is simply a canon fact.

So yes, the rain fight affects Mike's character development and his involvement in it is important. Yes, the van scene literally could not exist without Mike and therefore his involvement in it is incredibly important. Yes, every single byler moment has an impact on Mike, and Mike has an impact on it because they are BYLER moments. Yes, Mike will have a lot of significant moments - with Will AND on his own - in s5 because his arc deserves and needs as much attention as Will's in order to execute byler endgame in a satisfying way.

No, none of these facts negate Will's importance or take away from his story. If anything, they add to it because Mike and Will's arcs are corresponding and intertwined.

Mike's struggles

To name a few

Dysfunctional family

Has been bullied his entire life

Extreme self worth issues

Inferiority complex

Hero complex

Lack of self preservation

Suicidal ideation (has been on display since SEASON ONE)

Internalized homophobia

To get this out of the way: Mike's internalized homophobia is allowed to be discussed. Discussion of it is not the dismissal of Will's internalized homophobia. Surprise surprise, two queer kids in the 80s have internalized homophobia! Who'd'a thunk it?! Their internalized homophobia presents in different ways but it is there for both of them. I personally relate to the way Mike's is portrayed way more than I relate to Will's. So why is it that we can't discuss it without being accused of erasing Will's experience? Or without people saying that we're "copy and pasting" Will's story? Because quite frankly, that feels dismissive of my - and likely many others' - real and lived experience. So please for the love of all things that are good just stop with this talking point because it will never hold up.

Moving on

I'm not gonna do a full breakdown of all of Mike's issues. Because contrary to popular belief, there are a lot. And that would be exhausting and I'd get carried away and it's not the point of this post. The point of this post is to defend the acknowledgement and mere existence of them.

If you're a byler that for some reason thinks Mike only exists to be Will's love interest and his trophy as compensation for his trauma, let me ask you this: Have you considered how awful it would be to have a queer character's individuality and emotional depth completely ignored for the sake of focusing on the queer character that "really matters"?

If Mike's own issues, with his queer identity and otherwise, aren't thoroughly explored... What's the point of all this? If Mike really is insignificant in this storyline and his individuality has no effect on it.. where's the emotional payoff? If his perspective doesn't matter... Why have the writers gone to such great lengths to ensure we don't have that piece of the puzzle yet?

Analyzing Mike and understanding Mike is very important to understanding byler. Once again, I think it's crazy that this needs to be said.

I also think it's important to note that characters can have similar struggles. There's no rule against that. Just like real life. Characters having similar struggles is not a bad thing, and acknowledging that their struggles are similar is not dismissive of either character. We're talking about STRANGER THINGS. Jonathan and Nancy's thing is "we've got shared trauma". They have literal matching scars. Shared experiences are some of the main building blocks for this show's romances. Byler has a TON of shared experience, basically their entire lives. We already know that. So wouldn't it be so beautiful for them to learn that they've been struggling with the same thing this whole time? That the entire time they felt alone in what they were going through when really they had each other and they never even knew it? Wouldn't it be so beautiful for Mike's acceptance of Will and Will's love for him was also a step toward accepting himself? Wouldn't it be beautiful for Will to learn that his love makes Mike feel like he's not a mistake? None of that would be in the realm of possibility if Mike didn't have emotional depth and if his individuality wasn't important.

And that leads me to my concluding point...

A satisfying execution of byler endgame hinges on Mike's individual emotional arc being handled well

God I hope this isn't controversial to say. I sincerely hope most people haven't forgotten that.

Here's a hypothetical:

Imagine season five has been released. You're watching it, and you notice that Mike has been relegated to just a supporting character for Will. We don't get any of his perspective. We don't get any explanation for his s3 and early s4 behavior. His breakup with El doesn't have any real tangible effect on him, it's really just used for El's character development. We never see him pining for Will like we saw Will pining for him. And then suddenly Mike is learning about the painting and then suddenly he's confessing his love and then suddenly byler is canon and official.

Now wouldn't that just be awful? Wouldn't that be unfair to the audience, to Mike, and to Will? For us to never learn just how much Mike had to go through to even be able to say it out loud? For Mike to never get the chance to prove to himself through word and action that he is the heart? For Will to never get an explanation for why things did get so "weird" between them? It would leave us with one big, nagging question: What was the point of everything Mike has said and done throughout the entire show if his conclusion is that lackluster?

Disregarding Mike for a moment (I know that's incredibly ironic given what the entire point of this is but just bear with me) - how would that be a satisfying conclusion for Will? I mean, Will's s4 arc was basically dedicated to showcasing his struggle with his sexuality and with his love for Mike. We were shown just how deep that love is. We were shown how patient, unselfish, unwavering, and beautiful that love is. So how would it be satisfying for Mike's love for him to not be shown with just as much depth? How would it be satisfying for Mike to just be a one dimensional character whose s5 arc is essentially "break up with girlfriend, wait to find out best friend is in love with him, say he loves him back, then they live happily ever after"? I think Will deserves for his love to be returned with the same intensity at which he gives it. And I think it should be clear to the audience and to Will himself.

Back to Mike!

Mike has been through so much shit. I don't think anyone that is denying that actually believes he hasn't been through shit. Because you'd actually have to watch the show on mute and with your eyes closed to think this kid hasn't had just the worst time. It's so ignorant to act as if this stuff hasn't affected him. There's stuff we've seen but there's stuff we also haven't seen. There are issues he has that date back to his childhood pre-canon. Just like Will, Mike has been a queer kid growing up in 80s smalltown conservative america. Acknowledging the pain he 100% carries because of that is so important. His perspective has been withheld from us, not because it's unimportant, but because it's the final puzzle piece. If we had Mike's perspective in s4, byler wouldn't be a "will they won't they" (even though we all know they will). If we got his perspective in s4, byler would be a "100% certain without a doubt they will". But the thing about his perspective is that it's so much more than just loving Will. It's fear. It's pain. It's insecurity. It's doubt. It's the belief that his happiness just doesn't matter all that much. All of that has to be explored. All of that has to be laid out in the open for us in order for byler endgame to feel earned. Mike's emotional payoff will lead to byler's emotional payoff.

Mike has known he loves Will. In s5 we will see him make a deliberate and active effort to overcome the things keeping him from doing something about it. And then he will do something about it.

And so when it finally happens. When both Mike and Will finally know that their feelings are requited, and when their arcs end with us knowing that they will face whatever life has in store for them together, that will feel earned. That will feel like the logical conclusion for both of them. Not just for Mike. Not just for Will. For both.

And Mike is just as important to that conclusion as Will is.

And one last thing...

Some people are going to talk about Mike more. Some people are going to talk about Will more. Because newsflash, people have preferences. Some people just relate to Mike more, or they find his emotional arc extremely compelling, or they just like him. It isn't an attack on Will or any other character. No one is saying Mike is more important than any other character (I'm sure there are people that say that but they are a vocal minority and they are simply wrong). We are just saying that he is important. If you wanna engage in media analysis, please understand that "main character" or "central character" does not mean "only important character" and "only character that should be analyzed". If you wanna talk about Will and only Will, that's fine. But you don't get to act like people that talk about other characters are doing a disservice to your fave, because that's not how any of this works.

[nix-rose]

Better Than Revenge (Nix-Rose's Version)

1k. words

Proofread by the amazing @steph-speaks

Warnings: Breakups, Nancy Wheeler is written as the villain, bit of cursing

Summer of 1983 in Hawkins. 

Two people are on a walk downtown, who were on a ‘date’. Two people who couldn't be closer to the end of a relationship.

“And I know he's my little brother but, goodness, I wish he’d just chill out sometimes.” You stated, your boyfriend nodding along to your rant without any input. His hand had fallen from yours nearly a block ago, his attention stolen not long after that.

“Steve!” You snapped in the boy's face, “Are you even listening to me?” 

The boy in question blinked away the dumb look on his face but still didn't look you in the eye. “What? Yeah yeah, of course.” He assured you nonchalantly. 

Except it was obvious he wasn't listening. He was staring, blatantly you might add, at a couple of girls in a store across the street. 

It used to be him looking at you like that, when he only had eyes for you. All the shared moments from when you had first started dating were gone, since exactly two thirty-four last Wednesday. 

That’s when Nancy Wheeler had shown up in a pretty little two-piece and stole Steve Harrington from right under your nose. 

You hadn't thought much of it when Nancy and Barbara had shown up at the pool and sat down with you and Steve. You had been talking with Barb about school related things when you realized both Steve and Nancy were  nowhere to be found. It had struck you as an odd occurrence but nothing  more. It wasn't until five minutes later when Steve walked over from the snack bar area with Nancy in tow did you suspect something. Her red face and shy demeanor mixed with Steve's strut and over confident smirk practically wrote the story  by itself. 

“Then what did I say?” You demanded,  knowing you were losing him. It wasn’t hard to see, he started ignoring little things you said and was flaking on dates, and when he was with you there was a constant, dreamy look in his eyes as if he wasn’t.

“I- Something-” He was floundering for an answer and you both knew it. It put a chip in your heart. You were losing him and there was nothing you could do about it.

“I’d like to go home.” You mutter as you turn back, keeping as much distance between the two of you as possible. One glance behind and you would have seen a certain brunette still watching through the store’s window.

The only thing playing on the car ride home was the piercing sound of silence, unfortunately it didn't last the whole drive. You had chosen to look out of the window instead of interacting with Steve, while he'd been fidgeting the whole ride and itching to say something. He opened and closed his mouth multiple times before running a hand through his hair. Keeping the other hand on the wheel, he turned to look at you. “I don't understand why you’re so mad about me just not paying attention about-...” His voice drifted off.

“My brother! I was talking about my brother!” You snapped. You were fed up with his bullshit. He wasn't about to gaslight you into thinking you were crazy about this situation. 

“You talk about your brother all the time, excuse me if I don’t always listen.” He scoffed as he turned the corner to a different street.

“I don't care if you just hadn't heard all of it, it's not about that! But you and I both know that you would have heard if you weren't too busy checking out little miss princess Wheeler! Isn't that right?”

Steve rolled his eyes, “What? Are you jealous of Nancy? You are being so clingy, Jesus-”

Being clingy was something you struggled with and had always disliked about yourself. You had told Steve about that and it's left another chip in your heart at the fact that he would use it against you. But the fact that he had called you jealous was the straw that broke the camel's back. 

“Jealous? You think I'm jealous? I should have no reason to be jealous because you're my boyfriend and I'm your girlfriend!” Tears pricked at your eyes and using the back of your hand, you angrily wiped them away. 

“Jesus Christ, are you crying?” Steve glanced at you before he turned the last corner to your house. “You are overreacting right-”

You cut Steve off “No, you're not going to ogle at other girls and then call me jealous. This is bullshit, Steve!” You yelled. 

“If you think it's such bullshit, why the hell are you still here?” He slammed on the brakes, “Here's your house, don't come running back to me.” He hissed.

You snatched your purse from the floor and threw the car door open. 

“Don't worry, Harrington. I won't bother you and your little princess.” You spat before you slammed the passenger door. The sound of tires squealing and a revving engine getting quieter told you all you needed to know about where Steve was going. 

As you made your way to your front door, it hit you that there would be no making up from this. Steve Harrington wouldn’t crawl through your window tonight with flowers and his head hung low, asking that you forgive him. He wouldn't catch you after tripping over your own feet in the hallways when it was crowded. There would be no more dates in the evenings where you would simply be with each other and do nothing. Every memory of him from this moment on would be forever tainted by Nancy Wheeler. 

The reality of what happened finally hit as you closed the door and took off your shoes. Your purse fell from your hand while your tears fell from your cheeks, it felt as if your heart had shattered on the floor in front of you. Steve Harrington was gone. And he would never come back.

She came along, got him alone, and let's hear the applause, 

She took him faster than you can say "Sabotage”

He was a moth to the flame, 

She was holding the matches.

[tineteenieworld3]

I love Mike Wheeler. Love love him so much. I think that has a lot to do with the complexity of his character and I think people are uncomfortable with that. There is a tendency to push characters into boxes and give them somewhat surface level or boxed in characteristics, because that’s easier. It’s hard to do that with most ST character, but mostly Mike.

There’s so many aspects to him that we’ve actually seen. He’s serious, he’s a leader, he’s goofy, he works well under pressure, he talks before thinking, but sometimes he’s extremely thoughtful with his words. He’s a leader, but feels unneeded, he’s can be a dick, but is also extremely aware of the people he cares about and always wants to do what’s best. He’s selfless but sometimes finds himself being selfish but in the wrong ways.

He’s very very hard to shove into boxes, because you can always pull a ‘well, then there’s this…’ with him.

Season 4 is frustrating because we get almost zero insight into his POV, and for a character like Mike, that’s extremely frustrating.

I feel like he flys under the radar, too. There was a lot of focus on El not being in Hawkins in season 4 and even Will. Mike is more brushed aside, which is crazy because they’ve never succeeded without him. Not even once. He’s always somehow part of the biggest plot line. Except for season 4.

Season 1, he and Joyce ran that show. But Mike was the planner for his ‘team’ he was smart and quick and never gave up. They would have died without him.

Season 2, same exact thing. He was the one to get through to Will. That was him. He also was able to understand what Will was saying alot quicker than anyone else ‘you shouldn’t have upset him’ and Mike understood immediately.

Then he was with the other kids and, once again, put a plan together to go burn the UD. Season 3, made the plans, listened to Will, was very level headed.

And it’s not like with El where it’s obvious she’s saving the day and having a hero moment. Mike’s is much quieter, but all the pieces he puts together and everything he does leads them to success everytime.

Then he was gone. And I am a believer that vecna strikes when Mike left for a reason. After season 4, Mike is one of the only characters who’s never failed. And we can have that point for others as well, but I’m gonna keep the focus on Mike with this because the groups that tend to have him, usually do a lot better.

I see a lot of ‘Mike won’t leave Will’s side’ good, Will shouldn’t want to leave Mike’s side either. No one should want to leave Mike’s side, I sure as hell wouldn’t.

If I had to pick a partner in any of this, hands down I’m choosing Mike. Let that boy do his thing and you’re staying alive.

[weirdstuffinthewoods]

Bride of Chucky

A Review

Ronny Yu made the correct choice working with the one and only father of Chucky, Don Mancini. I feel like Don's seamless continuing control over the Chucky franchise paired with Ronny Yu's absolute lack of knowledge of the Chucky franchise (and his love of the monster) made for a one-of-a-kind franchise installment.

Writing- 5/5

This entire script takes the snark we know Chucky for and dials it up by giving him a dominating sparring partner in Tiffany Valentine. There are some jokes that kinda feel needless (repeating the "what a crock" joke only got an "eeh" out of me), but Voodoo for Dummies?

And lines like:

"For God's sake Chucky, drag yourself into the 90s"

"Martha Stewart can kiss my shiny plastic butt!"

When Chucky tells Tiffany to "act natural" and this is her response

The entire weird sex scene conversation that 100% does happen in a film about two sentient dolls? It was only a matter of time before we got here, let's be honest.

The addition of Tiffany Valentine allows for a totally valid reason to shake things up- creative kills, high-speed freeway chases with two DOLLS holding two whole adult humans hostage, and the film's only gay character (spoiler but RIP David) getting absolutely blasted by an 18-wheeler for no reason other than Don probably just realized the cast needed to shrink real quick.

Special mention-

The honeymoon suite kill scene. Yeah, it looks a little cheesy, but you best believe before I was old enough to watch horror movies, my older cousin was telling me about this scene in vivid, terrifying detail (much scarier than reality, but what can you do?)

Soundtrack- 4.5/5

Living Dead Girl starts this movie off with a bang and a moment I haven't forgotten for one second of my spooky sapphic life. These are the moments in which horror icons are made.

The soundtrack is mostly upbeat drums and chugging guitar riffs which I loved (it especially added to the freeway chase) I just didn't go full 5 stars because I didn't notice it as much as I'd want to in a party movie like this (because yes, if I ever do host a halloween party I will be popping in this exact VHS to play on repeat).

Also shout out to my boy, Graeme Revell. Been a legend since The Crow in my eyes (but also for so much iconic 80s and 90s horror....and Sharkboy and Lavagirl) and I'll always get excited when I see that name in the credits!

Effects- 4.75/5

First let me say Chucky looks fantastic. Can he emote as well as Tiffany with those pencil-thin eyebrows? Maybe not but this is the opus version of Chucky, so.

The animatronics are still my favorite thing to watch in a Chucky film because you forget that these aren't sentient dolls almost constantly (except when Chucky's body double is crawling on all fours- that's some nightmare fuel). Their faces are so expressive (for rubber doll faces) and there's even a shot of Tiffany walking across the floor of a Winnebago (maybe?) without a wire in sight! Oh, how far we've come.

The effects in some scenes are a little cheesy (the honeymoon suite kill, the gross, fleshy title card, etc) but it's easily overlooked because Chucky and Tiffany are by far the main event of the sfx team.

Extra ratings?

Queerness-3/5

Written by an out gay man, HELLO!

Alexis Arquette!! Easily the second-hottest person in this movie, I loved seeing her camp it up (in a masc role, but goths love to play with androgyny so I'll take it) as the try-hard Damien.

This also unexpectedly features the gbff trope usually reserved for rom-coms in David, a guy whose queerness isn't painfully exaggerated like some portrayals were at the time, and who's probably the most level-headed of the bunch.

RIP, -2 because David got blasted by a big rig and not in the fun way.

Bride of Frankenstein retelling 5/5

It's pretty obvious on rewatch, but this is a whole Bride of Frankenstein retelling. It even follows the title convention (I tell my younger self who completely missed the comparison). I haven't read the dissections of the original that explain why the bride is a metaphor, but in a more literal sense, this Bride has the power unlike her predecessor. Even though she falls in with a toxic ex, she has autonomy and pushes back, eventually sort of kind of helping the two teens (who are not interesting enough to put in this review) stop Chucky. And she gives birth to a weird demon baby while mostly charred through a non-stretch plastic vagina so. That's pretty metal.

Tiffany Valentine 11/5

TIFFANY VALENTINE THE WOMAN THAT YOU ARE

THE COSTUMING

THE TRAILER SET DRESSING

But most of all the performance!!!

I may be looking through heart eyes, but I'm not wrong!

Overall, Bride of Chucky will never not be one of my favorites. The addition of Jennifer Tilly allowed the Child's Play series (and all future iterations), to have fun, but to also play with the tone of its installments. Seed of Chucky and the Chucky series tend to focus on Chucky (and friends)'s humanity and personalities, whereas Curse and Cult of Chucky take the franchise back to an exciting, sometimes scary, and eventually openly queer and complicatedly sapphic place. Ignoring the reboot (which he was thankfully not responsible for), Don Mancini's got quite a legacy going, and Ronny Yu had a key part in that.

[bugisawesomeasf]

Yo if you have the energy for stranger things, full on Nancy wheeler character analysis please?

uhh lol wasnt expecting this tbh but uhh sure !

so i think the main thing about nancy is that shes just idk sort of selfish in a way even if she doesn’t like mean to be, she just is (and thats fine! character flaws are cool.)

like i can’t remember what episode but i know it was before barbs death she was complaining about how inconvenient will going missing is or some shit. which yknow not the best way to react to your brother’s friend going missing (yikes)

i think like barbs death is an obvious example of her being kind of selfish, but when she realizes oh shit barbs gone shes literally does everything she can to save her (also note thats when she got involved in wills whole situation)

she gets to kill the demogorgan and it feels good getting revenge for barb

but its still not enough her best friends gone but will isnt will got saved.

and idk i think thats sort of the reason why shes very distant towards mike (why do you get to keep yours and i have to lose mine?) obviously she cant be mad at will so she has to be mad at mike.

in season 2 she like very obviously does wanna be with steve because barb’s basically haunting that relationship. she cant look at steve without feeling bad about barb (not to mention she literally has meals with barb’s parents with him)

and the her and jonathan find some sketchy shit the governments doing and so nance is like maybe if i like expose this i can avenge her again and i can stop feeling guilty all the time so she does that and she feels good for awhile but its not permanent and before she knows it she feels shitty again

in season 3 she’s dealing with alot not only is she dealing with the guilt of barbs death now she’s dealing with the patriarchy (cant she catch a break)

another thing to add is how she selfishly plans to investigate the rat thing (i forgor what exactly it was) and gets herself and jonathan fired. and her whole argument with him which was genuinely so awful of her.

she has a cute little girl power moment with her mom (its weird tbh because on one hand slay feminism on the other its like girl 🤨)

and she starts investigating again then the mind flayers back and i genuinely think a part of her was like maybe if i kill it i can actually avenge barb this time.

then her and jonathan reconcile which btw she doesn’t apologize about her oliver twist comment (idk who to blame her or the writers)

but along the way mike argues with max and yknow instead of defending your brother like a normal sister, shes on maxs side. and its just heartbreaking to see honestly.

they’re literally siblings but they act like they only know each other through a mutual friend (if that makes sense) and i just know in some universe her and mike stop talking. she has a positive relationship with literally everyone in the party except her brother :(

oh and in season 4 her whole plan to kill vecna she was like hey this is the real bitch who killed her let me avenge her again so she makes a plan where she can be the one to kill him so she can be the hero it doesn’t work

(also note the fact that she doesn’t hug mike when they reunite)

idk if i did her justice with this ‘analysis’. idk my thoughts are really scattered when it comes to her also i haven’t rewatched this show in so long so

also wanted to say this i feel like the fandom has a really black and white sense of morality when it comes to the characters which is weird because whats the fun that like flaws make character’s really good also theres this added element of her being a girl and how girls are literally not allowed to be given flaws or else they’re immediately categorized as a bitch by people

[alwaysthesitter]

' mistletoe '

Steve had never really been one for holiday traditions, for what he considered the obvious reasons. The last holiday he could remember, genuinely remember, had been when he was ten or eleven years old. Ever since then, holidays typically went one of two ways: he either spent it completely alone, picking up shifts that other people didn't want so that he could occupy his depressed and lonely brain, or he spent it with his parents but in the most horrendous and disingenuine way. He didn't like going out of state to be flashed around like a puppet at some rich person's banquet.

There had been rare exceptions, such as when he was dating Nancy, and the Wheelers had invited him over to their home for the holiday. He often wondered if Karen (not Ted, Ted would never have enough awareness) had noticed the absence of the Harrington parental units, and had invited Steve because she felt sorry for him. Since the break-up, he really hadn't done anything fun and festive, until now. And he had Eddie to thank for that. Or maybe, most importantly, he should be thanking Wayne.

He had been helping to decorate the trailer, feeling much more at home here than he ever did in that over-sized mansion that was abandoned more often than not. He had been sorting through a box of decorations he had brought over from his place, thinking it could help make things more fun, smirking a bit as he pulled out the tacky plastic plant with the small berries. He held it over Eddie's head, shaking it a bit teasingly, smile plastered on his face.

"Oh nooooo. The worst thing ever. This artificial plant laced with stupid holiday traditions is saying that you have to kiss me."

@devildungeondm

[professionalankitsharma]

An Analysis of the Hero XPulse 200's Exceptional Value for Money

With consumer price inflation going above 6% in Kenya, it is obvious that you are looking for assets that provide great value for money. We see a sharp dip when we focus on assets like motorcycles and analyse the market. Is it all caused by consumer inflation, or are poor-quality vehicles the reason? 

With the abundance of numerous players in the market, the Kenyan motorcycle market is flooded with below-average models, giving consumers headaches and not better ROI. This is why if you are in the market to buy a new motorcycle, trust only reputable brands like Hero Motocorp, which have been providing value-for-money motorcycles like Hero Xpulse 200 for the Kenyan public. 

Packed with a range of features that are typically found in higher-end models, the Xpulse 200 is a testament to Hero's commitment to providing exceptional value for money. Today, you will learn about the standout features of the Hero XPulse 200, exploring how each one contributes to its overall appeal.

Oil-Cooled Engine: Powering Performance and Efficiency

The oil-cooled engine is not just a technological marvel but also a practical choice that ensures optimal performance and efficiency. The oil cooling mechanism of Xpulse 2023 helps maintain the engine's temperature within an optimal range, preventing overheating during long rides and challenging terrains.

ABS: Elevating Safety Standards

The value-for-money Hero XPulse 200 price doesn't compromise safety and comes with an Anti-lock Braking System (ABS). This advanced braking technology prevents wheel lockup during sudden braking, ensuring better control and stability. 

Whether you're navigating city streets or tackling off-road trails, the ABS on the XPulse 200 adds an extra layer of safety, instilling confidence in the rider.

Turn-by-Turn Navigation: Guiding Your Journey

The integrated turn-by-turn navigation system is one of the standout features that sets the Hero XPulse 2023 apart from its peers. In an era where smartphones have become an essential part of our lives, Hero has seamlessly integrated this technology into the motorcycle's console.

Whether you're exploring new destinations or simply commuting through the city, having clear and accessible navigation on your motorcycle's dashboard is a game-changer. 

USB Charger: Staying Connected on the Go

The XPulse 2023 recognises the importance of keeping devices charged while on the move. The inclusion of a USB charger is a small yet significant detail that caters to the practical needs of riders.

Hero's attention to these details transforms the XPulse 200 into a means of transportation and a companion for the modern rider.

10-Step Adjustable Mono Shock: Personalising Your Ride

Riding preferences vary, and terrains can be unpredictable. Hero addresses this by equipping this motorcycle with a 10-step adjustable mono-shock. This feature allows riders to customise the suspension according to their preferences and the demands of the road.

Whether you're cruising on smooth highways or conquering rugged trails, the ability to adjust the mono-shock provides a level of adaptability that enhances the overall riding experience. 

For Every Rider, Every Journey: XPulse 200

The XPulse 2023 shines bright as the best value-for-money motorcycle. From the practicality of an oil-cooled engine to the sophistication of turn-by-turn navigation, each feature makes this motorcycle a standout choice for riders seeking a blend of performance, safety, and modern conveniences.

Hero's dedication to providing these features as standard highlights its commitment to understanding the evolving needs of riders. By investing in the reasonable Hero Xpulse 200 price, you will see how thoughtful design and innovation can redefine the standards in the two-wheeler industry. This bike will offer you an unparalleled experience without breaking your bank. Visit your nearest Hero showroom to experience it now!

For More Information Visit:- https://www.heromotocorp.com/en-ke/

[nodunkiing]

ㅤFollowing Billy Hargrove felt like the stupidest damn thing she could do, but Heather already knew what the stupidest thing she'd done had been - she'd been kind, and worried about someone she knew, and she'd gone to help without a thought to her own safety. That wasn't a mistake she was making here, not the same way. She saw the state he was in and she saw the direction he'd gone in, so she followed with the intent to just pass on by if he wasn't going where she thought. Considering how many times they'd both made that trip, together and apart, she knew all too well what she was expecting.

ㅤShe wasn't wrong.

ㅤFollowing him into the steelworks also felt stupid, but she moved quietly up until the moment that she wanted to be noticed. Billy was dealing with the place worse than she was, and her chest felt tight and every muscle in her body was as taut as a bowstring pulled tight and ready to loose its violence on a target. She crouched a safe distance away from him to look at him a little better, but there was a heavy metallic clang as the crowbar she now carried in her car and held firmly in her right hand impacted the cement floor. She'd followed him, but she wasn't going easy if it went south.

ㅤShe didn't answer the obvious question because of course she'd followed him, they could both see that, but her eyes were locked on him, watching carefully before giving the room at large a quick sweep again. Nothing, no sign of the monster having been there, except for the broken pieces inside both of them. "Especially not me? Would you rather your sister, all her nerd friends and that girl who throws cars with her brain? Or maybe King Steve and Nancy Wheeler, or his new band girlfriend. I don't do sidekick," she drawled, too cold and not impressed with his jab at her, specifically, when the alternatives were a bunch of kid-heroes who would probably worry a lot more about killing monsters than saving the two of them.

ㅤ"It's not fine, you're a fucking mess, Billy. There's nothing here for us, let's go," she said, tone going a little softer. She wasn't leaving him there to have a breakdown in this nightmare place, but it was damaging her calm to be there, so better that they both left now that she knew he wasn't possessed again or drawn back for some monstrous reason. That had been part of the point of the crowbar - she didn't want to abandon him, but she wasn't going through that shit again and a part of her was terrified that if it ever came back, it would have her again.

' i won't let you all stay buried here like this. ' [heather to billy]

↪    memes / always accepting.

It's embarrassing to be caught like this. He knew that coming back to the steel mill would bring back bad memories. Billy just hadn't foreseen how bad he would feel when the memories resurfaced. Being trapped in the stupid fucking payphone, dialing god knows what number for help, and eventually dragged into the abandoned building. He didn't like dark spaces anymore—hated the thought of the cold, wet, and dark emptiness that had come with being possessed. The stupid fucking ash that floated in the air that hadn't made sense because it wasn't snow.

He should have known it was going to pause him to panic, reliving those moments he had been convinced he was doing to die, only to find out there were things worse than death. His stomach emptied in the corner of the decrepit building with his burning chest heaving hard and heavy. He wipes his mouth on the back of his hand, mind soured and bitter, acidic like the bile in his fucking throat. "Did you follow me here?" He demands 'cause she had to be out of her fucking mind. Why would she come here of all places? "Just go, alright? It's fine." It wasn't fine and he wasn't sure it would never be fine again. Fingers trembling as they clutch tighter to the flashlight and wave it in the opposite direction, "Nothings here. I don't need a sidekick. Especially not you." / @nodunkiing

[theoriginalsapphic]

i know that byler is endgame because when i was doing my video of byler paralleling other couples, 9 out of 10 times Will was paralleled to the female character (Max, Nancy), while Mike was paralleled to the male character (Lucas, Jonathan), and there is nothing more heteronormative writing from two cishet writers than assigning female and male roles to a queer relationship.

[quin-ns]

We’ll Be Okay (Steve Harrington x Reader)

Word count: 2.3K

Summary: steve is injured while half of the hawkins team is stuck in the upside down and finds comfort in you

Tags: ST4 spoilers!!, canon divergent, hurt!steve, slight angst, flirting, friends to lovers, kissing, love confessions, mutually required love, fluff and humor, robin jumpscare

A/N: I’ve been wanting to write for Steve since I first saw ST and finally decided to! He’s my current tv crush so I’ll probably be putting out more fics of him soon :)

Stranger Things masterlist + main masterlist

You’d seen a lot of scary things over the past few years, but nothing had terrified you more than witnessing Steve being mauled by the demonic bats in the upside down. It took a lot of fighting from you and the others, but you managed to kill them. There was no chance to be relieved because Steve was hurt badly and there were more coming.

When the five of you fled into the creepy, dark woods, you noticed Steve wincing in pain with every step. It gave you anxiety, so you lingered back with him while Nancy led the way to her house with Robin by her side and Eddie close behind them. You could’ve easily caught up but there was no way you were gonna part from your best friend while he was injured.

“I’m okay, Y/N,” Steve tried to assure you as if he could sense your worrying thoughts. “It’s-it’s really not that bad.” He shot you a weak smile, but it wasn’t very convincing. Especially when he shuddered and his hand fell to his wounds briefly. Nancy had wrapped them in an attempt to stop the bleeding but that obviously did nothing to ease the pain.

“You’re not a very good liar,” you replied, a frown tugging at your lips. You were shorter than Steve and not as strong, but you still moved to tuck yourself at his side under his arm and let him lean on you. He was tired and stumbling—both mentally and physically exhausted—and you didn’t doubt he’d collapse any second.

“Y/N—” Steve said in a protesting tone, but you interrupted him.

“Shut up, Harrington. Just let me help, alright?” You looked up at him and he just sighed and allowed you to help him. You could tell he felt bad but he shouldn’t have. Steve was there for you all the time, it was the least you could do.

You knew Steve in highschool and he wasn’t exactly your friend then, but you never had any issues with him. That’s why after you graduated and got a job at StarCourt Mall (before it burned down), you recognized and were friendly with him. You worked in a shoe store that was opposite to Scoops Ahoy and after going for ice cream on your breaks a few times, it became a normal thing. You’d go get ice cream and chat with Steve—and Robin—until your break was over.

You quickly became friends and that’s what led to him revealing to you the secret message in Russian that he, Robin, and his kid friend Dustin were decoding. Then you learned everything else and the rest was history.

Over time you developed a bit of a crush on Steve, but he was now also your best friend. You, him, and Robin were a trio and you didn’t want to risk messing that up by telling him how you felt.

Robin calling Nancy’s name snapped you out of your head. With your support Steve stayed on his feet as you caught up to them. Sure enough, you saw the Wheeler house.

“Come on,” Nancy announced.

The five of you made your way inside and headed up the stairs into Nancy’s room to look for her guns. Except, they weren’t there. She noticed her room was off—not including the obvious greyish color and all the vines—and with the discovery of a diary, she started to piece together why her room was all wrong.

“What is it?” Eddie asked.

“Nancy? You’re freaking me out,” Robin added.

“I think the reason that my guns are here is because they don’t exist yet,” Nancy said in a way that sounded ominous as she stared at the diary in her hands.

“They don’t… exist?” Eddie sounded sceptical, which you couldn’t blame him for.

“This diary should be full of entries. It’s not,” she explained. “The last entry is November 6, 1983. The day Will went missing. The day the gate opened. We’re in the past.”

Your attention was drawn to Steve as he looked around the room, like he could hear something. Then he frantically began shouting out Dustin’s name as he exerted himself to run downstairs.

When focusing on trying to hear the boy, all of you were able to. Eddie used the lights to signal SOS and then Dustin came up with an idea. The kid was smart—probably a genius. He used a litebrite to allow you to communicate.

You all developed a plan to go to Eddie’s trailer where Chrissy had died and hope there was a gate there. You figured there would be since the gate in the water—or watergate as Dustin called it—had formed where Venca’s most recent victim was killed.

The biggest problem with getting to Eddie’s trailer was the distance, but Robin thought of a solution to that.

Robin’s idea to find bikes renewed the energy in the group. Robin was in the hall quickly with Eddie behind, waiting for Nancy to lead the way. They were eager to get back to the normal world and so were you. Just as you were about to follow, you heard a thud.

You turned your head and found Steve on the ground. He’d tried to stand but failed.

“Hey, you okay?” You asked as you kneeled down in front of him. “Sorry, dumb question,” you apologized quickly.

“Steve, can you stand?” Nancy questioned, obviously worried as well.

“Yeah,” he grunted out. “I just need a minute,” he admitted.

You looked over your shoulder at the others. “I’ll stay with him, go ahead and find the bikes. We’ll be down in a second.”

You could tell the other three were reluctant to leave you two behind, but you planned to keep your promise of making it down to them.

When they disappeared from view, Steve dropped the act. His face contorted in pain and he practically fell over. It was only because of your quick reaction time that you were able to maneuver yourself and guide his head to rest in your lap rather than hit the ground. You managed to lean your back against the bed and your legs were straight out in front of you. Steve laid on the floor, curling his body in himself and using your thighs as a pillow.

Your hand fell to absentmindedly run your fingers through his disheveled—although still soft and luscious—hair. He seemed to relax under the touch, his breath slowing to become more steady.

“We’re gonna get out of here and as soon as we do we’ll get you to a hospital. We’ll be okay. You’ll be okay,” you reassured not only Steve but yourself as well. You needed him to be okay. You didn’t know what you’d do if he wasn’t.

“I’m gonna be fine,” he promised. There was a slight shake in his voice, so small you wouldn’t have noticed if you weren’t paying such close attention. “Sorry for making you stay with me. I’m acting like such a wimp right now,” he said with a small scoff as he mocked himself.

You let out a laugh at that without even thinking. He was being ridiculous. “Dude! You are not a wimp, you got attacked by evil bats. You’re allowed to be in pain.”

“It’s okay, I’m just using it as an excuse so you’ll play with my hair anyway,” he joked. You could hear the smile in his voice and it made you relax. You two liked to tease each other and it was refreshing to hear his voice sound light and amused.

“Well, if that’s what you wanted all you had to do was ask,” you replied, going along with it.

“You’re too good to me,” he hummed in content. There was a moment of silence before he took a deep breath. It surprised you as he hauled himself up next to sit next to you. He turned his head and you faced him. “Can I ask you something?”

The switch from teasing to sincere stunned you a tad, but you still responded with, “of course.”

“Is it selfish of me to say I’m glad you’re here?” He asked softly, voice laced with slight guilt. “I mean, I’d rather us not be here at all, but since we are it’s better having you with me,” he further explained, rambling just a bit. You didn’t say anything about his quick words and instead smiled at him.

“I know the feeling,” you smiled sweetly, reaching for his hand. You panicked for a second, realizing what you’d said and how you’d said it. “I am pretty awesome,” you added on with fake cockiness in your tone. Just in case. You often used humor to cover up your slip ups of emotion.

Steve laughed a little to himself before saying, “yeah, you are.” The mood in the room stayed the same as before. The way he looked at you was soft yet full of emotion. You’d seen that gaze before but always explained it away. Steve squeezed your hand a little and pulled you back to reality.

“You ready to head down?” you asked, changing the subject.

“Just one more thing,” Steve replied. “And you have to promise not to punch me in the face.”

You let out a confused laugh at that, furrowing your brows a little. “What?” you questioned through a chuckle.

“I’m serious, c’mon,” he urged.

“Fine, I promise.”

He cleared his throat slightly, you could tell he was nervous.

Suddenly, everything felt in slow motion as his hand raised to rest on the back of your neck with his thumb grazing your cheek. You hardly had time to react as Steve leaned in, but when his lips brushed against yours you allowed your eyes to flutter shut as you accepted the kiss.

All too soon, Steve pulled back. Not very far though, your noses were almost touching.

“Was that… okay?��� he asked nervously, searching your eyes.

Your cheeks felt warm and your heart was racing, but you managed to get words out. “More than okay.”

He smiled at that before leaning in and capturing your lips once more. The shyness in the first, gentle kiss had disappeared as your lips moved together. He pulled you impossibly close to him and allowed all the built up longing to be expressed through the connection. His lips were just as soft as you imagined and you loved every second.

If it had been up to you, you would’ve never allowed your lips to part, but the need for oxygen got in the way and the two of you reluctantly separated to catch your breath.

“I’ve been wanting to do that for a while,” you spoke first, making him blush a little.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, I have too. But I guess that’s obvious,” Steve replied with a little chuckle, loving eyes locked with yours. “I’ve been too scared all this time. About ruining our friendship, y’know? I’d hate myself forever if I drove you away.”

“That’s not gonna happen,” you promised softly. “What made you decide to risk it?” You wondered aloud. “I’m happy you did by the way, you’re a good kisser,” you commented with a cheeky grin.

Steve laughed before he shifted into a more serious tone. “I just… I needed to do that. In case anything happens,” he confessed.

Your heart sank a little with fear. “Nothings gonna happen to us, Steve.” You had to believe that.

“You’re right,” he responded, feigning as if he believed the words that even you didn’t believe. He used the hand that was still touching your face to run through your hair. His hand rested on the back of your head and he pulled you to him to press a kiss to your forehead. “When we’re back home, I’m gonna take you to dinner. Like a real date,” Steve said as he leaned back. “Only if you want,” he added.

You rolled your eyes with a smile and shoved his shoulder a little, causing him to chuckle as well. “Of course I want to, idiot. Did you not hear me before?”

“I guess it’s still hard to believe you like me back,” he shrugged, sounding a little embarrassed with himself for not being confident.

“Well, I don’t just like you,” you said, building up your own bravery before saying, “I love you, Steve,” you professed your feelings. You’d been hiding them for so long and now just felt like the moment to get everything out there, just as Steve had.

The cutest smile that you had ever seen crossed his face. “For real?”

“Well, duh,” you said mockingly, easing the tension for yourself. “That would be a mean joke to play, I’m not that cruel.”

“I didn’t mean it like that,” he said in the same ‘isn’t it obvious?’ tone you used. “I mean… I love you too. And it’s really, really awesome to hear you feel the same.”

You didn’t get to say anything else before he was pulling you into another passionate kiss.

“Oh you’ve got to be kidding me!” a familiar voice shouted, causing you and Steve to jump apart. You and Steve both looked to the doorway to find Robin standing there. “We are trying to get out of this place and you guys are up here making out!? I mean, I know Steve has been into you like forever Y/N—he made me promise not to tell you even though I really wanted to—and I’m really happy for you guys and we are definitely talking about this later, but we don’t have much time here!” Robin chattered on.

“Robin, chill,” Steve held out his hands, trying to calm her down.

You stood up first and then held out your hand to Steve. “Let’s go, Harrington,” you told him with a small smirk of amusement.

He looked up at you and grasped your hand. He returned your little smile despite the way he winced as you helped him up. “I’ll go wherever you want,” Steve teased. However, from the way he looked at you, you believed him.

You couldn't wait to get back to the real world.

[novalunosiss]

It’s almost been 24 hours since vol 2 came out and I’m still super pissed off, so here’s a list of everything wrong in volume 2.

Byler. Queerbait of the fucking century??? I would’ve been significantly less upset if they hadn’t advertised/marketed it so hard during pride month. And making the queer kid the sad gay vessel through which the straight couple thrives is nothing short of homophobic.

The deaths. They advertised this season as being particularly dangerous/full of death, which was a straight up lie. The only people who died were either antagonists or minor background characters, with the exception of Eddie (though it was extremely obvious from the start that he was canon fodder, much like Bob- despite how much I liked Eddie’s character, there was never a doubt in my mind that he wasn’t going to die.)

Max’s “death”. So I know I just did a section on the deaths but this one pissed me off so much I had to give it it’s own seperate section. Max’s “death” was a total copout. Don’t get me wrong, I love her character. But I wish she did die. Having someone die and be brought back to life is such a terrible, cliche, overused trope. It’s too safe of a choice. Where is the danger? I want to actually be scared that the characters I love might not make it out alive. And since when could El bring people back to life? That’s never been explored in the show before, making it completely out of place and confusing when watching the scene. Having Max die would’ve been impactful, and shown to the audience that any of the characters can die, not just new ones, or unimportant background ones. It would’ve raised the stakes! The scene where she “died” was heartbreaking and powerful, but then they negated that by bringing her back to life, rendering the scene pointless. They either should’ve actually genuinely killed her, or not have her “die” at all. Having that “in-between” sort of situation where she technically died, but came back to life (albeit in a coma) was super flaky, and imo, bad writing.

Speaking of bad writing, the time skip! This is genuinely one of the worst things I’ve seen implemented in the show. I generally don’t like time skips anyway, but at least the one at the end of s3 made sense. The main drama of that season was resolved, and they needed to show the Byers moving away. The time skip this season, however, made 0 fucking sense. The drama hadn’t been resolved, it just skipped like half of the climax and the entirety of the falling action, and went straight to the resolution (which wasn’t even a resolution at all). 2 days is a pretty big time skip to implement after skipping half the climax. What happened during those two days??? It was confusing as fuck, and none of the characters actions/behaviour during the “resolution” phase of the story made sense, maybe with the exception of Dustin and Lucas, who were shown to be grieving unlike almost everyone else. You’re telling me that Nancy, Robin and Steve just fought fucking Vecna, almost died, and some of their friends did die (if you count Max) and two days later they’re happily packing up a bunch of old belongings to donate, without a care in the world? And during that scene, there seemed to be little to no concern about Mike’s whereabouts from the entire Wheeler family until he actually showed up. They mentioned they’d been trying to contact them for days, but nothing about their demeanour beforehand implied concern.

The monologue. Need I even say more? It was cheesy, cringey, and made no narrative sense. The reasoning Mike gave for being unable to tell El he loved her was one of the stupidest reasons I’ve seen in media, ever. Where was the “amazing monologue” we were promised by the Duffers? That sure as hell isn’t what I’d call amazing. Finn is a great actor, and he’s done amazing monologues before (*cough cough*, the shed scene) so that isn’t on him, it’s on the shitty script. “I feel like my life first started when I met you in the woods”? Bullshit, and such a cruel thing to say in front of Will, who’s life was literally turned upside down on the exact same day. “I loved you since the moment I saw you”? Love at first sight is a cringey trope. Mike was 12 when he first met Eleven. He probably didn’t even know the meaning of love, especially when you take a look at how dysfunctional his parents marriage is/Nancy, his older sisters relationship at the time was. Also, how can he say he loved her the moment he saw her when he spent most of s1 trying to get rid of her (saying he was going to send her back to pennhurst) and calling her a “weapon”? El could’ve found strength to beat Vecna in something far more significant than a teenage boy telling her he loves her, but noooo.

Will’s painting. I really feel like I don’t have to elaborate on this one. It just fucking sucked. They built it up like it was going to be some really important declaration of love from Will to Mike, only to have it be used to help further Mileven. Also the actual painting was ass, and all the fan theories about it were way better and more meaningful. (Like the idea we all had of the swingset where Mike and Will first met, or even just a painting of the two of them as their D&D characters, but SEPERATE from the rest of the group so it was actually obvious what the painting meant.)

The upside down thing with Henry?? I don’t even know what’s going on there. It was super confusing. Is the mind flayer actually Henry? Did El create the upside down or was it there before? Why did it look like that when Henry first got sent there, but looks like Hawkins now? I know they’ll likely answer these questions next season, but there’s just too many questions and knowing now how shit the duffers are at writing, I doubt they’ll all be answered satisfactorily.

The terrible character development. By that, I mean that there was none. Literally no characters had any development. They were all exactly the same as they were at the start of the season. El is still dependent on Mike/isn’t her own person. Mike is still a fucking asshole who treats his friends like shit. Will is still in the closet and hiding his true feelings from everyone around him. Nancy and Jonathan are still lying to each other. Steve is still pining after Nancy. Robin is still pining after Vickie. I could go on and on.

The Duffers hate minorities + poor people. Will and Robin, the two queer characters, don’t get well rounded love interests like all of the straight characters, and Will in particular is made to suffer constantly. Lucas and Erica, the two black characters, are both physically assaulted. Max and Eddie, the two poorest characters, who are living in a trailer park, fucking die. (from @hellfireds) Oh, also? The Duffers filmed parts of s4 in a fucking Nazi prison, where Jewish people were held against their wills and killed. (from @artmuseumsandoldbooks)

I’m going to keep updating this list as I think of more things that are wrong with vol 2. There’s already so many things I could add if I decided to include the shit wrong with vol 1 as well, but vol 2 was significantly worse so I’m just gonna stick to that. Feel free to suggest anything else I should add to the list

In conclusion, FUCK THE DUFFERS

[callme-dickmaster]

Sweetheart - (eddie munson x reader)

**UNDER HEAVY CONSTRUCTION**

Ch. One - The Wot?

summary: when the split mayfield/hargrove family move to hawkins the oldest mayfield finds out that hawkins might be the weird change she needed.

pairing: eddie x fem!goth!mayfield! reader

warnings: 18+ (minors dni) this is obnoxiously long, unfortunate use of y/n, language, mentions of abuse, billy hargrove -i think that's all-

author's note: i'm nervous but also excited for this. the first few chapters are purely exposition and are honestly pretty boring except for some funny stuff but it picks up pretty fast. let me know if you like it and want to see the rest. love you <3

Series Masterlist

Y/n Mayfield stretched her arms above her head as she stepped out of her stepbrother's Camaro outside Hawkins High School on her first day, discreetly tossing her nearly finished joint on the ground. "Uh, hello?" her sister Max called from the backseat. "Oh, my bad," Y/n snorted. She moved the seat forward so Max could step out. Her stepbrother Billy was already long gone and on the way to the school but neither of the sisters noticed or cared.

Max punched Y/n's shoulder when she stood fully with a smile. Y/n gasped and dramatically held her shoulder with a look of fake anguish on her face. Max giggled and told her to shut up. Y/n snickered and ruffled Max's hair.

"See ya, rat," Y/n said. "Bye Simmons," Max replied, skating towards the middle school. "Still hate KISS!" Y/n yelled, earning a middle finger from her little sister.

The older girl noticed two other teenagers gawking at them from their own car across the lot. She smirked and tossed a peace sign above her head as she walked backwards towards the high school before turning and walking normally.

Y/n kinda liked it in Hawkins. California was too warm, and it was always ridiculously bright there. Being a person who liked to wear dark clothes didn't really mix well with that. That and all the people there were obnoxious and annoying. But it was California.

Not much else to expect.

Y/n smiled charmingly at the receptionist in the office as she walked in. "Hey, uh, I'm new? Should be under Mayfield?" she asked.

The receptionist shuffled through the papers on her desk and pulled out two papers. One was her schedule, and one was a little map of the school. Y/n tried not to laugh out loud at the map but thanked her anyways. "Ah! Let me call up a student to show you to class. Hold on one second, hon," the lady said, calling someone on the phone and telling Y/n to wait there for a minute. She nodded and leaned against the wall until the girl who was staring at her earlier came in.

"Hi, Nancy. Would you mind showing her to her first class? You have it together," the receptionist lady asked. Nancy stuttered before nodding with a 'sure!' and motioning for Y/n to follow her. Y/n did, saluting the secretary as she left.

Nancy walked beside her, humming quietly at the faint smell of weed, hair dye, and fabric softener from Y/n. Nancy thought it was odd but comforting for some reason. "Sorry. I-I'm Nancy. Wheeler," Nancy spoke up, introducing herself. Y/n snorted at her awkwardness and shook the girl's outstretched hand, "All good. I'm Y/n," she said.

Nancy nodded with a smile, "Nice. It suits you," she replied. Y/n smiled and thanked her.

They did get a good conversation going after that, having finally broken the ice and Nancy took her schedule from her to see what classes they had together. The shorter of the pair also showed Y/n where her locker was so she didn't have to carry all of her stuff and helped her get it open. Y/n, still partially high, tried her best to listen to what Nancy had to say. Nancy seemed pretty smart, and it was obvious she had lived in Hawkins her whole life, so good thing to have a friend who knows their shit.

Nancy glared at people who were staring at Y/n, who was completely oblivious to it as she carried her books and dropped the other school stuff she didn't put in her locker into the bag her mom made her carry. Y/n towered over Nancy, so she stuck out like a sore thumb. Not because Y/n was inherently tall, but because she had a pair of six-inch-tall black platform boots to add to her normal height.

Nancy noticed and thought it was brave of her. People were very judgmental in Hawkins, so to walk around without caring and with a look like that took guts. Nancy appreciated it. She had never really hung out or met anyone like Y/n, but she'd always wondered what it would be like to have a friend like her.

Y/n was currently standing at an even six feet tall and wore black head to toe including her hair, which was dyed jet black and ruffled into a shaggy cut.

Nancy smiled in satisfaction with herself when they walked into class and people gaped at them walking in together. Miss perfect Nancy Wheeler walking around with someone who looks like something straight out of a heavy metal magazine.

Robin Buckley's eyes widened from her spot in the back corner seat, and she listened to Y/n talk when the teacher made her introduce herself. Everyone was staring at her, seeming completely interested in what she had to say.

"Uh, hey! I'm Y/n," she said, "I'm from California. Now I live here. I'm just trying to graduate, so, if you're chill, we can hang!" Y/n mumbled thanks to the teacher before taking a seat in the back directly behind Nancy. Nancy turned around and gave her a thumbs-up, inviting her to sit with her at lunch. Y/n snickered and shrugged, which was her way of saying yes.

The whole class kept staring at her off and on, trying to focus on schoolwork but also hung up on the new girl. Hawkins almost never got new kids, but when they got one like this?

Everyone is shell-shocked.

Y/n blinked slowly and listened to the teacher ramble on about math. She grabbed a tin of Altoids that obviously didn't have Altoids in it anymore and popped one in her mouth. The bell rang shortly after and Y/n and Nancy were on their way to their lockers and next class.

Y/n took off her jacket, shoving it in her locker, and even that simple action earned some whispers. Nancy also looked a little shocked when she walked up, hugging a new pile of books to her chest. A guy who was about half an inch shorter than Y/n with huge hair trailed after her, eyes widening at Nancy's new friend. "What?" Y/n asked obliviously, eyes bouncing from one to the other. The couple was quiet, trying to come up with an answer, and failing.

"It's the tattoos, innit?" Y/n whispered. Nancy nodded a small smile on her lips.

"I can, like, put my jacket back on if it makes y'all uncomfortable..." Y/n offered.

"Nah, man, they're cool! I just think people weren't expecting them," the guy replied swiftly. "Oh. Okay," Y/n shrugged, and they were walking to class.

Y/n sucked her teeth and picked up the pace to toss herself into the lockers next to a blond boy dressed in all denim, a smarmy look on his face.

"What?" he said sharply.

Y/n laughed at him, "Oh, you wound me with your hatred!" Billy looked very unthreatening having to look up to speak to her eye to eye. He rolled his eyes and repeated himself. "Just wondering how your day is going. Are people staring at you too, or is it just me?" Y/n asked.

Billy scoffed and looked around, noticing a few people quickly avoiding his gaze before they got caught staring.

"Nah, it's not just you," Billy said lowly, slamming his locker and stomping away.

Y/n found her way to second period and sat down next to Nancy after having to introduce herself again.

"Hey!"

Y/n turned at the sharp whisper and raised an eyebrow at a brunette sitting next to her. Y/n looked around before pointing at herself, "Me?" she whispered back. The brunette nodded. Y/n waved hesitantly, glancing at the teacher to make sure they wouldn't get in trouble. The brunette held up a finger, turning to her notebook and writing something in it before ripping it out and passing it to Y/n.

"hi"

Y/n smirked and wrote back "hi :)" the brown-haired girl smiled and wrote on the paper under that.

"I'm Robin"

"Y/n" Y/n wrote back.

"I know. We have first together too."

"Oh, word? Nice."

"I know! Anyways, I think we should be friends! I like your style."

"Hell yeah we should! You seem nice and thank you." "Awesome!! I was so worried that wasn't going to work."

"Ahahaha don't worry you're cool."

"Yay I'm cool!! But I won't make you pass notes for an eternity. You probably have a lot to catch up on, so I'll see you later, k?"

"Ok!"

And with that, Y/n made a new friend.

taglist: @sisgotdemons @tlclick73 @deafeningmoontragedy @marjoriea13 @playfuloutcast @twosluttychains @leetaeilsnecktattoo @lil-quinnie @razzles-bottom-lip @originalstar1

@yessargeantbarnes happy birthday babes <3

tiny author's note: hii!! i'm glad y'all were excited about this! this starts slow but it gets to the point pretty quick so don't worry there will be eddie content very very soon. Let me know if you wanna be on the taglist! love you! :)