#filed under: hawkins the upside

[morganbritton132]

Pleaseeee I need the live stream audience’s (and their fbi agent) reaction to Steve pulling the nail bat out to defend Ozzy’s honour. The series is so amazing thank you for giving it to us!

Considering the fact that Eddie got Steve to sit down on the bed, kissed his forehead, and then left Steve, Ozzy, and the live-stream to go ‘talk’ to Dan, the unanimous reaction among the chat was, what the actual fuck.

Steve, mindless to the live-stream, flops back on the bed with a loud sigh and doesn’t even complain when Ozzy, still wet from what little time he had in his pool, jumps up on the bed next to him. Steve ruffles Ozzy’s wet fur and tells him, “You deserve nice things, buddy. If an asshole breaks your things, you have every right to break their face. That’s justice, right?”

Ozzy puts his paw on Steve’s chest and Steve nods, “You get me.”

Meanwhile, the chat is blowing up with people being like ‘adorable’ and ‘cute’ and ‘I wish he’d pet me like that’ while other people who aren’t incurably horny are just like, ‘are we going to talk about the bat? Why the fuck does that thing exist? Why does it look used? Why is it being wielded by a middle school teacher with fucking ease???’

“He’s a jock,” Eddie answers. “Of course, he has a bat. All jocks have bats.”

‘NOT WITH NAILS IN IT’ The chat explodes.

“Home security?” Eddie tries with a shrug. “I’ve been trying to get him to GET RID OF IT for decades now.”

Steve doesn’t even lift his head when he says, “I got rid of my axe.”

“You had your axe taken away from you,” Eddie replies because that was true. After the gates were officially closed, the government confiscated everything that so much as breathed in the direction of the Upside Down. Both Steve’s axe and Eddie’s sweetheart were taken.

The only reason the nail bat survived was because the government didn’t know it existed.

A couple days later when half his live-stream chats are still filled with people being like ‘why was he so comfortable holding it?’ and ‘this is a prop from a music video, right?’ and ‘please answer or I’m going to actually die,’ Eddie does provide an answer. He says, “Try googling Hawkins, Indiana. I think that’ll answer all of your questions.”

It does not.

It actually asks a lot more questions.

The introduction of the somewhat-alluded-to-before nail bat to the Steddie Conspiracy Forums causes absolute chaos. No one can agree on anything. It validates so many theories and creates dozens more especially when Steve lets it slip in the background of another live-stream that Jonathan actually made the bat and Steve just never gave it back.

Meanwhile, the only benefit to Steve’s particular brand of shitty parents is that he learned how to girlboss gaslight gatekeep from absolute pros. Anytime one of his students asks him about the nail bat, Steve acts like he has no idea what they’re talking about. He has literally never heard of such a thing, “Like the animal? Their fingernails?”

As for their agent.

Their reaction was heard across all the office cubicles in the basement of the building. Just a loud, disbelieving, “ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?”

[rosewaterandivy]

stop making plans / start making sense

Summary: eddie finds himself smack dab in the middle of an ap english iv class, all because some do-gooders at Hawkins High happen to “believe in him” or whatever. the catch? it just so happens to be your ap english class.

A continuation of this blurb and the result of an ongoing eddie munson hc convo with @powderblueblood 💚

Warnings: eddie’s senior year 2.0, no Upside Down, scary smart debate team captain reader, NHS president and tutor nancy wheeler, ap music theory nerd and general nuisance robin buckley, pretentiousness alert - you have been warned!

W.C.: 1771

It’s his second time around as a senior, not even the first week of school under his belt when Mrs. Meloy calls him into her office. The counseling center, which he is unfortunately far too familiar with, is busy as it usually is at the beginning of the year— schedule changes, registration, students complaining about not getting late arrival or early dismissal. Before he can settle in one of the worn chairs by the door, a woman pops her outside of an office door. She glances around, blue eyes searching for someone or something, before landing on Eddie.

“Think the wall can hold itself up just fine Edward,” She calls as she opens the door to her office and waves him in.

He grouses at the use of his full name and rolls his eyes, languidly strolling into the smaller room that smells overwhelmingly of cinnamon.

“Go ahead and make yourself comfortable.”

She’s turned around, fingers flicking through thick manilla files in the cabinet in front of her. A cup of coffee sits on her cluttered desk, cold, from the looks of it. Mrs. Meloy mutters under her breath before turning from the filing cabinet in annoyance.

“It’s only the first week of school,” Eddie points out, “I haven’t done anything.”

The yet between them goes unspoken.

The older woman merely raises a knowing brow and takes her seat opposite him. She sorts through a few loose papers on her desk before letting out a surprised huff, “Gotcha!” Flipping through the file, his file, Eddie supposes, her eyes scan over what is undoubtedly his lack of academic achievement.

Satisfied with her perusal, she sets the papers down on her desk and addresses him.

“Round two.” Mrs. Meloy begins, resignedly. “Hopefully the NHS tutoring placement will be to your benefit Mr. Munson. Miss Wheeler is an exemplary student and I have high hopes for you under her tutelage.”

She then runs through his current schedule, emphasizing the classes he needs to perform well in (mostly all of them, save for English and a few others).

“Which brings me to the reason for our meeting today,” she says with a smile. “It has not escaped my notice, nor that of Mrs. Seguin, that you are quite adept in English class. At least,” she qualifies with a pull of her lips, “When properly motivated.”

And yeah, okay, he was decidedly not trying all that hard in Mrs. S.’s senior English class last year and he breezed through with a respectable A minus.

Wayne even got a little choked up when he read that particular report card.

“I guess so,” he says with a cross of his arms.

“Rather than having you repeat the same content and curriculum this year, Mrs. Seguin and I have petitioned the principal for permission to move you into a more challenging and appropriate English class.”

Well, that perks him right up.

“Principal Higgins has agreed to the change, with a few stipulations.”

Of fucking course.

The gist of it is, Eddie’s admittance to the AP English IV class will be probationary for the first quarter, given his past exploits and record. If he can keep his grades at a respectable B across the board, Eddie will be permanently placed in Mrs. Seguin’s advanced class. If he can’t, it’s back to regular Senior English with that crone, Mrs. Cotter.

Easy peasy.

And he’s almost out the door when Meloy stops him with a furitive, “Eddie,” and pauses to look him in the eye. “We believe in you and we went to the mat with Higgins on this.” She says emphatically, standing up to escort him through the office, “You can do this, Eddie, we know you can.”

She smiles and sends him off with his newly revised schedule, the summer reading assignment, and information for Wayne to peruse about Advanced Placement courses.

The rest of that day unfolded as expected despite his new schedule. Slight differences were made, such as: Eddie sitting in the middle of the class instead of the back, hopefully next to Buckley or Wheeler if he could swing it.

With Nancy’s help, he was able to narrow the summer reading options down to books that would hold his interest. The librarian, Ms. Berkowitz, was more than happy to oblige him with checking out a copy of Notes from the Underground by some Russian dude whose name Eddie couldn’t possibly pronounce.

The bell for the final class of the day rang just as he slipped through Mrs. Seguin’s door.

“Timely as ever,” she teased and kicked the door stop into the classroom.

Her room was the same as last year, but the mood within was markedly different— more relaxed and at ease. Students sat where they pleased and chatted amongst themselves while Mrs. S. checked off the roll and fielded a few questions from the group.

Eddie settled in the only open seat right in between Nancy and yourself. He tried not to be offended that you didn’t even glance up from your furious scribbling on the page, seemingly writing a mile a minute, as if you couldn’t get the words out fast enough.

Ink smeared on the college ruled paper underneath your hand.

Eddie found it endearing.

“Okay, okay, let’s get this show on the road.” Mrs. S. set her clipboard on the desk and leaned against it with a casual grace.

She was one of the newer teachers to Hawkins High, from some big name school out west with not one, but two degrees framed on the wall behind her desk. She was young and quick to laugh; the older teachers were a bit weary of her and those “new agey” teaching philosophies, but the results produced were proof enough for her to granted the AP English III and IV courses for this year. According to Nancy, she’d only had AP juniors and regular seniors last year.

Eddie, being one of those regular students, would know.

“Alright, hopefully we’ve brought in our summer reading novels today. The goal is to break you all into thematic groups based on your selected text. From there, you will collaborate with your peers to create a presentation on your findings.”

With this, she steps away from her desk and begins writing on the chalkboard.

“Consider such things as character archetype, thematic resonance, literary merit, of course. But more importantly,” she says, turning to the class with a smile, “How did the story affect you? What new perspective or insights were gained? What concepts were reinforced? Did you despise the protagonist, or did you identify too closely with them?”

The class has fallen to a hush, you’ve stopped writing and are rapt with attention. Eddie, used to overworked teachers and coaches who could care less, is shocked.

“I remind you, as always, that there are no right or wrong answers in here. As long as you can support your interpretation—” She begins.

“With evidence from the text,” The class choruses in reply.

“Good, exactly.”

At that, students break away into smaller groups and begin talking in hushed tones about the project.

“Whatcha got there?”

This, from Robin, who unceremoniously plucks Eddie’s book from his grasp. She flips through it, eyes lighting in interest, just as Mrs. Seguin makes her way over.

“Eddie, always good to see you.”

“Right back at ya, Mrs. S.”

She smirks, eyeing Robin scanning through Dostoevsky. “Had a feeling you’d gravitate toward the nihilists. Got a chance to start reading yet?”

He swipes the book back from Robin and ignores her petulant pout.

“Uh, kinda. Started it during lunch today.”

She nods knowingly, “Well, I’m sure you’ll be caught up in no time.” Surveying the classroom she nods to herself, “And now that I think of it,” She turns back to Eddie, “Looks like you’re in the right group over here.”

He almost says there is no group over here, but then he notices Nancy and Robin chatting with you. Feeling his stare, you turn back from where you’ve set up shop on Robin’s desk and jerk your head, an invitation by any other name.

“C’mon Munson, we don’t have all day.” You say this softly, chidingly, with no real heat behind it. Your eyes narrow as a group gets particularly loud across the way, “Because I’m certainly not about to let Phillips show us up.”

“Oh, bite me!” Phillips crows from his desk.

“You wish, you cretin!”

Eddie does his best to hide the curl of his lips and stifle a laugh while Phillips sulks at his desk.

Robin thumbs through a worn copy of Nausea while Nancy talks Eddie through the plan thus far. She’s read The Death of Ivan Ilyich and come to the conclusion that the novels in the group are both deeply depressing and deal with themes of existentialism, and in some cases, nihilism.

“I dunno. Philosophy is all well and good, but,” you pipe up, “Mine had elements of magical realism and a satirical critique of Soviet Russia.”

Eddie attempts to process what you and Wheeler have just said. Sensing a lull in the conversation, you slyly pass your novel over to Eddie and start to take notes over whatever it is Nancy is rambling on about.

The Master and Margartia.

Huh, weird title.

He reads the blurb on the back cover and kind of regrets not choosing this one to read. Maybe you’ll let him borrow it after the project is over. Setting it back on your desk, Eddie peruses the syllabus Mrs. S. must’ve slipped him.

“So, will that work for you Eddie?”

Lost in a daze of genres and titles, he looks up. “Sorry, what was that?”

Nancy sighs, “We’re going to meet at my house on Thursday for a study group. I know you and Mike have that thing on Fridays, so.”

“Oh, yeah. Thanks Wheeler; that’ll work.”

With a smile, she goes back to chatting with Robin.

“Psst.”

A neatly folded paper lands on his desk. Eddie glances at you, curious, taking in your arched brow and smirk.

Scary smart, he reminds himself as he unfurls the page.

I know Nance is your NHS tutor, but if you feel like you need to catch-up for this class, give me a call.

Your deft hand and neatly printed letters dance across the page, an errant smear of ink where the heel of your hand drug across the paper. The digits of your phone number underneath your missive make his heart race.

Annotating your copy of Dune without permission was one thing. And at that you didn’t even bat an eye, but this…

Well, this had potential.

He tries not to let the possibility of what if turn to ash in his mouth.

[darklcy]

𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧, 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧, 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧.

─── ･.☽ . .───

‣ the upside down is frightening. your journey back to the real world knocks you behind a step, but eddie's there to notice.

‣ eddie munson x reader | stranger things masterlist | 843 words | comfort, fluff, kind of established relationship, kind of not, takes place in season 4

‣ i wrote this based on a dream i had where i kept hugging someone when i was scared; i know the scene with steve isn't entirely accurate to the canon story but for fanfic's sake please bear with me-

Breathing wasn’t easy. 

Like re-experiencing childhood again, learning how to take the first steps, forgetting the rhythm of inhale, hold, exhale. Fingertips quivering, eyes blown wide, greasy, slicked hair slacked against your moist forehead and neck. A rumble and tremor with each step you take. This world was terrifying. And it lived beneath you all this time.

This forest was a mirror of the real world, Hawkins’s corpse surrounding the sky with claps of thunder and venomous beasts waiting to attack. 

At least Steve wasn’t bleeding anymore. From back here, he appeared to walk normally, his grip on the flashlight strong and steady. A twig snapped under your shoe with a tumble. The two boys pause to glance back.

“You okay?”

Steve, always the caring figure. You feel yourself nod.

“..Yeah.”

The trudge through the trees continues, but not before Eddie reaches out. Steve's already turned his back, but a gentle hand caresses your arm.

“Walk up here.”

He urges you in front of him, closing any space behind you with himself. The two boys reawaken their conversation without another word. 

The surprises in this world continue to pile on, as a human sized portal above you showed the real Hawkins on the other side, the carpeted floor of the Munson trailer along with Dustin Henderson. He heaves a blanket through the ceiling to fall in front of you with a soft thud. 

“This is trippy…”

Robin’s comment fades in. You let her take the reins first. Once contact to the real world was made, you all watch as she flies straight down to the mattress in a sideways flip, a nervous bundle of laughter escaping her. 

Her smile was contagious, and awoke some courage as you too grabbed hold of the fabric.

“Steady..”

Eddie murmurs behind you. You keep your glance upwards, hesitantly climbing up and up until a swoop-

…and your spine roughly hits the mattress.

“Woahh..”

You gasp out a chuckle, watching Eddie’s eyes meet yours in a kind squint. Robin and Dustin help you back  to your feet, and the rest of the group file in. 

“That was fun..Shit.”

Eddie’s remark curves your lips upwards slightly, and he doesn’t miss it. The second it’s there, it’s gone. He’s grateful he got to see it.

Reentering the human world outside the trailer, the fresh air makes your knees tremble, the brutal force of all you went through hitting at once. The group depart their separate ways, ready to reconvene in the morning, when you turn to him.

Eddie finds your eyes immediately. You’d lingered behind again, opting to remain in the back, unnoticed and undetected. You don’t waste a beat to run to him, arms tight around his middle and cheek resting on the Hellfire demon, his red face embracing yours. 

Safe. You feel safe.

He stumbles a bit, taken by surprise, but his arms move on their own accord to embrace you back. You feel his palm keeping you to him, gently rubbing up and down your hair and back. In his arms, it's just you and him to worry about. No monsters, no earthquakes, no Vecna. Just him. Eddie.

He knows you’re frightened. He’d kept an eye on you throughout the whole Upside Down excursion, and he felt guilty in the sense he couldn’t protect you from your own fear. But under his hands he felt you calm down, your breaths slowing into a steady beat. 

If this is what he can do to help you, he’ll be damned to let you go. 

Steve’s house was home for the night. The drive there was quiet, bumpy and dark, but no longer than fifteen minutes. Eddie wasn’t comfortable letting you go home alone tonight. Neither were you.

The heated water poured out of the shower head and washed away the grime. Any residue of Lover’s Lake and bats swept down, down, the drain, replacing the cold with warmth. There was no energy to really delve into proper shower regime. You just wanted this stuff off. 

Wrapping yourself up in a robe, damp hair dripping to the floor, you open the door to find him waiting.

“Hey.”

You shyly meet his eye. “..Hi.”

He doesn’t approach you immediately, allowing you to be the one to initiate any contact. He’s always careful with you.

You miss him and he’s standing right in front of you. Your arms raise as you step forward, your cheek nuzzling against the red demon once more. Eddie hums with his eyes closed, his chin resting atop your wet hair and arms tight around the soft robe. He leans you both side to side gently, as if rocking you to a gentle sleep.

Neither one of you talk. You just take a deep breath and sigh into his shirt. You could stay here forever, and you know he’d let you.

His lips press themselves onto your forehead when you part. When you meet his eyes again, beautiful pools of brown, his hidden message warms your mouth into a grin. 

I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere. 

--

[carolperkinsexgirlfriend]

WIP Wednesday Ask Game:

Tagged by @eriquin! 💖💖💖

The Rules:

In a reblog of this post (so people can find you in the notes) or new thread (w/ rules attached) if you want to play on your own, post up to five (5) filenames of your WIPs; not titles, file names.

Post a snippet from one of them. Snippet must be words you wrote in the last 7 days. We’re posting progress here. If you haven’t made any, go make some and come back to play!

After you’ve posted, people can send you an ask with one of your file names. You must then write 3 sentences in that file. If the filename is one you can't share from (for example, an event or gift fic), write 3 sentences on it anyway, and then 3 more on another to share.

The Files:

Steddie Upside-down AU 

Stancy Aro4Aro Break-Up AU

Platonic Stobin Mind-Reading AU

There There

The Crash Bang Incident 

Snippet under the cut:

From the Steddie Upside-Down AU

Some of Eddie’s hair rips out as Steve pulls his hand free. Eddie groans, closing his eyes as they water involuntarily with the pain. “Fuck, Steve, ow,” he whines, rubbing the sore spot on his head.

“Steve?” Jonathan calls. It’s the tone that gets Eddie’s attention. He sounds bewildered, even in his hazed-out state.

Eddie opens his eyes, sits up straight just in time to see Steve disappearing from the yard, blending in with the trees of the forest that seems to haunt every resident of Hawkin’s backyard.

Eddie’s up and stumbling off the porch in seconds. His breathing is already ragged with panic, and his feet feel like lead. What a fucking time to be blazed to all hell. “Steve!” he yells, voice cracking with the volume.

He’s stumbling after him doggedly heading for the trees until something wraps around his bicep, squeezing hard. He’s already snarling before he turns around and sees Jonathan’s bleached face and red eyes.

“He’s gone, man.”

Tagging: @finntheehumaneater @devondespresso @strangersteddierthings @steddierthings no pressure though! 💖💖💖

[sailing-through-hawkins]

hi hi hi for the WIP Wednesday ask game: Eddie Gets Isekai'd! :D Purely because I love that file name lmao

YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH I LOVE THIS AU OKAY CONTEXT instead of dying in the upside down, eddie runs from the bats and through another portal but instead of landing in hawkins, he's in a whole other reality! one straight out of dnd, a classic western fantasy setting with magic and elves and their own versions of vecna and demo-monsters! when eddie lands in this reality, he finds Stefan Harrington and Ed Mundrason - stefan is fascinated by eddie and agrees to help him home, even if ed is reluctant and glares at him the whole way

Ignore the sting, keep walking. He wanted to take a stroll anyways.

It's not actually a lie, Stefan inhales as he slows his pace.

Walking under the moonlight was never a luxury, not the way Jane believed it to be, not for Stefan. It is more of a comfort than anything.

To listen for wildlife, smell the oak and dirt that surrounds him, to shiver at the touch of the breeze dancing past him.

He is no wordsmith, not like Nancy or Ed, but if he could, he would write something about the peace that comes with a quiet night. Something about the way it makes him feel healed, differently to how the sun makes him feel alive, breathing and living after years of fighting the dark.

Fighting with Ed is usually so easy, so light. They fight over food, over Dustin, over who gets to ride the single horse left in the stables. But this is -

"Fuck, fuck, fuck -"

Stefan whirls towards the yelling, reaching out for his mace that - that he left at the inn, damn it!

"Please don't follow me, god, fuck, oh my god -"

Snapping the branch off a tree is going to have to be his move, he needs something weighty enough to hit hard. The sound echoes and Stefan startles when the voice starts getting louder, as if in response.

"I said don't follow me, fucking hell, god why did it have to be bats!" The voice is near and Stefan quietly tightens the straps of his gauntlet. Leather is more effective against bane bites than people expect. He waits behind the tree, listening to the high-pitched screeches of wingbanes that follow after the voice. That's one, two, three wingbanes. "Why couldn't it be demo-worms or something!"

A figure rushes past and Stefan registers a head of curls and black leather before he hears the screeches one more time and spins around the tree, catching one wingbane by the throat and slamming it into the ground.

The screeches rise in pitch and he knows the other two are just behind him, so he plunges the branch into the body of the monster and twists until the cries die out, raising his arm to slam against an incoming wingbane that tries chewing through his gauntlet. He grits his teeth and pulls the branch out of the black blood, swinging it into the other wingbane that tries to reach his legs.

With a roar, Stefan throws the monster on his arm to the ground, slamming his foot on its squishy body and stabbing the branch through its mouth, black ooze bubbling from the wound.

"Holy shit."

Stefan turns but has to dodge the final wingbane that wraps its tail around his arm.

Poor thing.

With a grin, Stefan pulls the monster in by the tail and slams it into the ground right next to its brethren, shoving the blackened branch into its body with a sickening crack. The cries of the beasts die out as the clouds that obscured the moon pass by. He tilts his head, still panting heavily, as he notices the blue tinge to their skin, the absurdly shorter body and longer tail-span.

These are a different breed of wingbanes.

That does not bode well.

"S-Steve? Is that you, man?"

Stefan blinks. Right, of course, they were chasing after somebody. He turns around and inhales sharply when the moonlight casts over a man, sitting on the ground and leaning against a tree with hunched shoulders. His curly hair is covered by a piece of cloth and his clothing is strange, unusually bulky, tight and shiny, but those eyes. Round and dark, even in the sunlight, even in the heat of battle.

"Ed?"

[roanofarcc]

PROJECT SUNSHINE CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO → DUSTIN’S NEW PET

summary: steve harrington x oc

when another product of Hawkins National Laboratory escaped a long-survived nightmare alongside her sister, she crashed into one unsuspecting teenage boy and dragged him deeper into the dark mysteries that made up their hometown.

word count. 4.7k || masterlist

warnings: cannon typical violence, child abuse, horror, gore, and depictions of mental illness. parts of this story were written pre-season 4 release. cannon divergence.

previous chapter ← → next chapter

Sunshine had not stepped foot inside Hawkins Middle School since their experiment with El and the bathtub almost a year earlier. The building made her skin crawl as she was forced to recall that dreadful night. 

Keeping her head low, Sunshine tried to focus only on the reason she was there, which Dustin had not explained well to her. All she knew was that she needed to find any of the boys before someone asked her what she was doing roaming around a middle school.  

A few students lingered in the hall, but none of them seemed to care that she was there. 

It didn’t take long for her to spot one of the boys. A pair of kids came rushing down the hall, one with his instantly recognizable bull cut and the other with a messy head of black hair.  

“Will! Mike!” Sunshine called out and waved them down. The boys stopped in their pursuit and stumbled to a quick stop in front of her with a shared surprised expression. “I’m looking for Dustin. He told me to meet you guys here after school because he had something to show me.” 

Will’s eyes widened just slightly, and Mike blew air from his cheeks. 

“We’ve gotta find, now.” That was all Mike said before he took off down the hall, giving Will and Sunshine no choice but to follow. 

“What’s wrong? Are you guys okay?” she asked Will, who walked beside her. 

He shrugged, “I don’t know.” His face was more pale than usual and there were dark circles that hung under his brown eyes. 

Mike stopped in front of a classroom. Inside the room were Lucas, Dustin, another kid she didn’t recognize, and their teacher. They were looking at some sort of box that rested on the desk, but before they could examine it, Mike yelled, “Stop!” He snatched the box and held it close to his chest, earning odd looks from everyone. “Sorry, Mr. Clarke. It was just a stupid prank.” 

“What are you doing?” Lucas asked. 

“We need to, right now. Right now!” Again, Mike took off out of the classroom and back down the hall. The confused kids and Sunshine exchanged a look before following after Mike in hopes of figuring out what in the world was going on inside Hawkins Middle on that sunny afternoon.  

Their footsteps echoed down the nearly empty halls until they reached another room one hallway over. The boys filed into the room and Will grabbed a hold of Sunshine’s wrist, pulling her inside too. The other kid that was with them faltered at the doorway as Mike stepped in front of it, blocking the kid’s way inside.  

“Party members only,” he said. 

The younger girl scoffed and shot a look at Sunshine. “Who’s she?” 

“An honorary party member,” Dustin said. “Sorry.” 

Mike slammed the door harshly in the girl’s face before he set down the box on the table and everyone else gathered around it. 

With a huff, Sunshine placed her hands on her hips and asked, “What is going on?” She didn’t even know what she was doing there, let alone what could be inside the little box on the table that had them all bent out of shape. 

Mike began to explain. “Dustin found a weird creature last night in his trash and he kept it-” 

“Dart,” Dustin quickly interjected. “His name is Dart.” 

With a roll of his eyes, Mike continued. “He thought it was some new species he discovered, but Will said he saw something that looked just like Dart when he was in the Upside Down.”  

The mention of the Upside Down sent a shiver down Sunshine’s spine. The memories of her and Nancy's quick trip to the rotting world were forever burned in her brain and she couldn’t imagine what it was like for Will, who spent days trapped there.  

Will shuttered too and glanced down at his hands resting on the table. “Kind of,” he muttered. “But the thing I saw had no tail.”  

“But he heard it yesterday during one of his episodes. He heard the exact same sound that Dart made in the Upside Down.” 

Furrowing her brows, Sunshine asked, “Episodes?” 

“Will’s been having these…these memories of the Upside Down. Or we thought they were memories at first,” Mike explained, catching Sunshine up on what she’s missed. 

“It feels like I’m back there,” Will started. “I’m no longer in Hawkins, but back in the Upside Down.” The kid’s appearance started to resemble how he looked the night he was rescued from the Upside Down, sickly and tired.  

Sunshine was no stranger to nightmares. It made her heart ache to think that the party was suffering from them too. They were just kids who had been through something deeply traumatic and terrible, especially Will. She wished there was something she could do to ease their minds, but that was not within her ability’s wheelhouse. The best she could do was be there for them and fight off the monsters.  

“Why didn’t you tell us before?” Lucas asked Will, looking over his friend with concern. 

Will sighed, keeping his eyes down. “I wasn’t sure at first.” 

Defiance flared up on Dustin’s face and he crossed his arms over his chest. “It’s a coincidence.” 

“Or not,” Mike said. “What if when Will was stuck in the Upside Down, he somehow acquired True Sight?” 

“True sight?” Sunshine repeated, not understanding what they were talking about. 

“It gives you the power to see into the ethereal plane.” 

Both Sunshine and Lucas exchanged looks before the latter said, “Elaborate.” 

“Maybe these episodes that Will keeps having aren’t flashbacks at all. Maybe they are real and maybe he can somehow see into the Upside Down in real time,” explained Mike, causing a tense silence to roll across the room. 

Goosebumps rose on Sunshine’s arms, and she swallowed thickly. “So, they’re not nightmares?” 

Will looked up from where he’d glued his gaze to the floor, and she noticed something unreadable flicker behind his eyes before he shook his head. All of their attention fell onto the box on the table that began to rattle as the creature, Dart, inside tried to escape. 

“Dart’s from the Upside Down. He has to be,” Mike concluded. 

“Then we have to take him to Hopper,” said Lucas, and almost everyone in the room agreed, except Dustin.  

“No way!” he protested loudly. “If we take him to Hopper Dart’s as good as dead.” 

“Maybe he should be!” Mike countered. 

The true nature of the Upside Down was a mystery to all of them. The only person who had spent time there was Will, and by the look on his face alone it was clear that Dustin’s new pet was nothing but had news. The last thing any of them needed, especially Will, was to be thrown back into the hellish nightmare they all thought they left behind last year. An adult needed to handle it, not them. They’d pass Dart off to Hopper and he would take care of it, then they’d be off the hook for anything that happened with it after the fact.  

“How can you say that?” Dustin cried. 

Mike’s face flushed red, and he frustratingly gestured to the shaking box. “How can you not? He’s from the Upside Down!” 

“Maybe, but even if he is, that doesn’t automatically mean he’s bad.” Dustin turned to Sunshine for support, but she couldn’t help his defense. “Right?”  

She sighed and kept her voice level in hopes of not attracting any unwanted attention from any passerby in the hall, something the boys didn’t seem to care about. “Mike’s right. If it is from the Upside Down, we shouldn’t risk it.”  

“Exactly! That’s like saying just because someone’s from the Death Star doesn’t make them bad.” 

“We have a bond,” said Dustin. 

“A bond? Just because he likes nougat?” 

A small headache began to drum in Sunshine’s temples from Dustin and Mike’s bickering. 

“No,” Dustin muttered. “We have a bond because he trusts me.” 

Lucas joined in with a roll of his eyes and said, “He trusts you?” 

“Yes! I promised I would take care of him and-” Dustin was cut off by a loud screech from inside the box. The whole contraction shook until it fell over on its side. The creature inside continued to yell. 

On the other side of the door, the girl from the classroom banged her fist against the door. “Guys, what is going on in there? Come on!” 

None of them answered her; they were too focused on the box and the creature. Mike grabbed the closest thing to him that could be used as a weapon, which was a handheld microphone, and Sunshine readied her hands. With her fingers flexed and palms facing outward, she moved closer to the table, putting herself between Will and the table.  

The box slid as it moved and before any of them could come up with some kind of game plan to trap the creature and put it in another container to hold it, the creature flung itself and the box right off the table and the door broke on impact with the floor. 

Sunshine caught a quick glimpse of the creature as it scurried across the floor. It was a slimy, slung-like creature, dark in color with little feet that carried it quickly between their feet.  

With a war-like yell, Mike brought his makeshift weapon down against the floor in hopes of squashing Dart under it, but it was too fast and avoided Mike.  

“Shit!” he yelled. 

Dustin dove against the floor and tried to catch his pet with his hands, but his movements were too clumsy for the confined space and all he got was a hand full of dust and his chin scrapped against the floor. 

When both of those attempts failed, Sunshine went to illuminate her hands and stop the creature for good, but before she could get a flicker to erupt in her palms, the door to the room was swung open. Dart made a beeline for the exit and the kids chased after him. 

All four of them tried to get out of the room at once, which only slowed them down. 

Dustin toppled over the redheaded girl who opened the door, and they both landed on the ground in a series of groans. Lucas barreled after them and tripped over their sprawled-out limbs, landing beside the two of them. Will rushed out behind Mike, who managed to stop before he tripped, but the force of Will sent him falling anyway.  

Out of all of them, Sunshine was the only one who managed to stay upright. Her eyes searched up and down the hall in search of Dart, but it had disappeared in the commotion. 

“Where’d he go?” Lucas rushed out, quickly standing to his feet and brushing off his jeans. 

“What was that?” the redhead asked, shoving Dustin’s shoulder off of her arm with a small huff. 

Will replied, “Dart!” 

With a pointed glare at the redhead, Mike shouted, “You let him escape!” 

Once Dustin was standing, he threw his hands up. “Why did you attack him?” 

Before another fight broke out, Lucas grabbed a hold of Dustin's coat sleeve and started to drag him down the hall. “We’ll look for him by the art room,” Lucas said. “Split up and radio if you find him.”  

Dustin added, “Don’t hurt him!” before they turned the corner. 

Rolling his eyes at Dustin, Mike grabbed Will and they split off in the opposite direction, leaving behind Sunshine and the redhead in a slight daze around everything that had just happened. 

If Will was right and Dart was a creature from the Upside, he could be dangerous. The only thing any of them had encountered from the other universe was the Demogorgon, and that monster was anything but friendly; it was bloodthirsty and had no issue hunting down people to satisfy its appetite.  

Granted, Dart was much smaller than a Demogorgon, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t become that dangerous. It was loose in Hawkins Middle and if they didn’t find it soon, the creature could flee to anywhere in town. 

Sunshine glanced at the clueless young girl standing beside her, with arms crossed over her chest and a pinched expression on her pale face. 

“Do you want to help me look in the next hall over?” Sunshine asked her. 

She did not want to drag another person, let alone a kid, into the mess that was the Upside Down, but she had a feeling the redhead wasn’t going to forever about the whole thing and go home. If she offered to look with the new girl, at least she could prevent anything bad from happening or from the kid discovering something she wasn’t supposed to.  

“How do you know them?” the redhead asked. “Are you their babysitter or something?” 

“Sort of,” Sunshine replied. Her relationship with the party was a little more complicated than that, but she supposed from the outside she did look like their babysitter. She did make a promise to look after them, but mostly in the wake of monsters or bad men. 

The redhead said, “Cool,” before she started walking down the hall with Sunshine beside her. “I’m Max, by the way.” 

Max looked like a typical middle schooler, with a glint of curiosity in her bright blue eyes and a tenseness in her shoulders. 

“I’m Danielle, but everyone calls me Sunshine.” 

“Sunshine?” Max repeated with a slight quirk of her lips upwards. “Cool nickname.” 

As they continued down the hall on their search, looking closely at the floor and peeking into the few classrooms that had their doors cracked, Dart was nowhere to be found.  

Eventually, Sunshine’s walkie crackled in her hand and the boys’ voices filled the quiet, after-school air.  

“East is clear. No sigh of Dart,” reported Dustin.  

“West is clear too,” Mike sighed. “Will?” 

“South is clear. Lucas, anything?” 

“Nothing here, man. What about you Sunshine?” 

Pressed her lips into a thin line, and worry started to take hold at the disappearance of the possible mini-Upside Down monster. “Nothing yet,” she answered.  

The two girls stood at the end of the hall for a moment. Sunshine tried to think of where a little slug-like monster would hide. She wasn’t familiar with the school, but Max knew the lay of the land a little bit better. 

“What about the locker rooms?” she suggested. 

“Good idea.”

They reached the locker rooms that were split on either side of the gym. “We can split up. I’ll take the boys and you take the girls,” said Max. 

Sunshine hesitated. She didn’t like the idea of sending Max off on her own to look for Dart. However, the monster was little, and Sunshine liked to believe it was harmless for the time being. Besides, there was no guarantee that Max would even find it in the boys’ locker room.  

“Here.” Sunshine handed off her walkie-talkie to Max just in case. “If you find Dart, radio the boys.” 

Max kept her hands in her pockets and flickered her gaze between the walkie and Sunshine. “But that’s yours. I don’t want to break it or something.” 

“It’s okay,” Sunshine reassured her, yet Max still looked unsure. 

“But what if you find Dart?” 

Shooting the younger girl a small smile, Sunshine said, “I can handle a little slug, don’t worry about me.” She all but shoved her walkie into Max’s hand before she took off toward the girls’ locker room. 

Luckily, it was free of middle schoolers. All that was inside the locker room were uniforms shoved in lockers and the smell of B.O. mixed with overpowering perfume. 

Sunshine looked up and down each row, under each bench, in each bathroom stall, and in the showers. There was no sign of Dart anywhere.  

With a sigh, she held out her hands out in front of her and thought of another way to catch him. If Sunshine couldn’t chase the creature, maybe she could lure it to her. 

When they hunted the Demogorgon, blood attracted it. If Dart was from the Upside Down, there was a chance blood would draw it to her in a similar fashion.  

She closed her eyes, tucked back in the far corner of the locker room in case someone entered, and allowed light to flicker to life in her palms. Not long after she illuminated her hands, blood started to drip from her nose. She didn’t wipe the crimson liquid away like she normally did. Instead, she wandered around the locker room a little while longer in hopes that Dart would appear, but it didn’t.  

The sound of footsteps outside the locker room caught her attention and she quickly extinguished her hands before she stepped back out into the hall. A figure slipped around the corner just as she spotted them, but they vanished before she could call out to them. Sunshine assumed it was one of the kids.  

“Max?” She rose her voice and began to walk in the same direction the figure had run, but a crash from inside the gym pulled her attention away.  

Pushing open the gym doors, Sunshine was met with Max on the ground, a skateboard rolling across the floor, and Mike offered his hand to the redhead to help her up.  

“What happened?” Sunshine asked, crossing the expanse of the gym. She tried to ignore the memories that crept up her spine. Being back in the gym made her think of Eleven. It clouded her thoughts and her focus slipped away from Dart and the rest of the kids for just a moment until Max was back on her feet and rubbed her elbow.  

“I don’t know,” she said. “It was like a magnet, or something pulled my board.”  

Mike’s head snapped to the gym doors, and before Sunshine would utter a word to him, he bolted out of the gym, leaving the two girls, once again, alone together and confused. 

Max pointed a finger at Sunshine and said, “Your nose is bleeding.” 

“Oh.” Sunshine reached up and wiped the blood away with the sleeve of her sweater, still focused on the door and Mike. Something tugged at her chest, an uncomfortable feeling that squeezed her heart enough to tell her they should leave and find where all of the boys were. The hair on her arms stood on end and she didn’t know if it was simply the memories of last year that the gym conjured up or if something was wrong. 

Suddenly, Will’s voice came through on the walkie-talkie Max had sat on the ground beside her backpack. “Guys,” he whispered. “I found him.” 

“Where?” Lucas asked. 

“In the bathroom by Mr. Salerno’s.” 

The whole group met back up at the spot Will was supposed to be with Dart. Sunshine and Max arrived last, but when they arrived and entered the restroom, ready to catch Dart and put an end to their chase, they were only met with Dustin searching the stalls frantically.  

“Where’s Dart?” Mike asked, slightly out of breath from running. 

Dustin adjusted his cap on top of his head and stepped out of the farthest stall with a shrug. “He’s not here.”  

“He said by Salerno’s, right?” asked Max. 

“Yeah,” Lucas nodded, scratching his head. “Maybe Will has him?”

Scanning the bathroom, the pit in Sunshine’s stomach worsened. Anxiety pricked her skin and caused her heart to beat faster. Only three boys were with her and Max in the bathroom. They were missing one. 

“Where is Will?” Sunshine asked, keeping her voice level. 

“Shit,” Mike muttered under his breath. “We've gotta find him. Now!” 

He must have felt it too, the shift in the air into something wrong. 

They were running, again, and searching through the hallways of Hawkins Middle School. Inside every opened classroom they called out Will’s name, but he wasn’t there.  

Sunshine hadn’t known about Will’s episodes, and that news only added her to franticness in finding the boy. 

“Dustin!” A new voice echoed down the hall, stopping the group that had split off together in their tracks. Sunshine, Max, and Dustin skidded to a stop in front of Joyce Byers, who had arrived at the school to pick up her son. 

“What’s going on?” Joyce asked, looking at the group that lacked Will. “Where’s Will?” 

Mike and Lucas had split up to search for Will, and they came barreling through the back doors of the school just down the hall from where the rest of the group stood, unsure of what to say to Joyce. 

“The field! Will’s in the field!” Mike shouted, urging them to follow him and Lucas outside.  

Will stood frozen in the middle of a grassy field behind the building. His eyelids were closed but under them, his eyes moved around frantically like he was dreaming.  

His mother reached him first and grabbed his shoulders as she tried to shake him out of his daze. Will didn’t budge though; his body was still but Sunshine imagined, if the boys were right about his episodes, his mind was racing. 

“We just found him like his,” Mike cried. “I think he’s having another episode.” 

“Will! Sweetie, wake up,” pleaded Joyce. Pain drenched her voice. “It’s mom. Please wake up, Will!” 

Sunshine held her breath as the scene unfolded. It was almost familiar to her. The eerie stillness and shifting eyes reminded her of Nine when he would have episodes of his own. On the outside, it looked like he was sleeping standing upright, but inside the little boy’s head was a blur of futures that bled together in a raging storm. The only thing they could do when Nine fell into an episode was wait it out, no matter how painful it was to do nothing.  

They did the same for Will and waited as Joyce continued to shake his shoulders and wake him up. It took a couple of agonizing minutes but simply standing by, but Will eventually pulled himself out of it. His eyes opened and a strangled gasp tumbled off his lips. He looked around blankly for a moment before he was swept away by his mother who quickly ushered him into the front seat of her car, leaving the rest of the party on the grassy field in varying levels of distress over their friend. 

“Okay,” Max said, breaking the tense silence. “That totally freaked me out. Did that not freak you guys out?” 

The boys ignored her question. 

“Two episodes in two days,” Lucas sighed and shook his head. He stared off in the direction Joyce and Will had walked away with his lips downturned.  

“It’s getting worse,” said Mike. 

Dustin adjusted his cap once more as he asked, “Do you think it’s True Sight?” 

“What’s True Sight?” Max tried to wriggle herself into their conversation, but she had no real understanding of what was going on and Sunshine wanted to keep it that way.  

A familiar feeling of dread wrapped around Sunshine like an uncomfortable embrace. They were coming up on a year since the events of last year, and that alone seemed to put everyone on edge. There was a chance that it was all simply just the anniversary effect and that nothing was happening, but the memories of what happened almost a year ago took on a life of their own inside their minds and made them think something bad was happening when in reality nothing was going on.  

However, Will’s episodes looked like a lot more than the mind messing with him, and there was an unshakeable feeling that clawed at her bones and filled her with dread. It wasn’t easy for her to hide that feeling either; it was written in her pinched expression.  

Beside her, Lucas bumped her arm and knocked her out of her thoughts. “What is it, Sunshine?” 

She sighed and crossed her arms tightly over her chest. “I don’t know,” she answered, truthfully.

With a face permanently flushed with confusion, Max huffed, probably annoyed at the cryptic group. “What is going on?” 

“Uh,” Lucas cleared his throat. “M-Max. You should come with us. We’re gonna…We’ll try to explain it.” 

Sunshine’s eyes widened and she was about to shut down that idea but as Lucas and Dustin began to leave with Max, Lucas glanced over his shoulder and met Sunshine’s gaze, assuring her he wasn’t going to completely violate their signed contracts. 

She could only hope they could lie well enough to throw Max off their trail and make sure she stayed far away from whatever was happening, for her own sake and safety. 

It was only Mike and Sunshine left in the field, and the younger boy let his tension-filled shoulders slump. “He’s going to be okay, right?” he asked in a quiet voice. His brash tone and pre-teen attitude had melted away the moment his friends were gone. The anger he clenched tightly in his fists and kept in his shoulders changed into something sadder and more childlike.  

“We’ll figure it out.” That was the only sure thing she could offer him. She knew the same or possibly less than he did about what was going on with Will. “Whatever is happing, we’ll figure it out. I promise.”  

A beat passed between them, and Mike tried to discreetly wipe his nose and cheeks with the sleeve of his jacket. “Back in the gym, I thought I…I saw something…” 

“Dart?” 

Mike shook his head and met her gaze. He sighed and said, “Nothing. Never mind. It’s stupid.” 

As much as he tried to Mike his feelings behind a roll of his eyes or a snarky attitude, Mike Wheeler was easy to read. He was a pre-teen boy trapped in a situation beyond his control that he believed he could lead his friends through without a scratch on any of them. Or that was the Mike Sunshine had met a year ago. He wasn’t afforded the luxury of hanging onto that belief for very long, not after Eleven died. It was the harrowing experience of growing up and realizing you nor your friends were invincible. 

“You miss her,” Sunshine said, knowing what his answer was. 

Mike had taken El’s death the hardest, but all of the sadness he felt had turned into anger over the whole situation that none of them should have been placed in in the first place. It reminded Sunshine of the rage Ivy felt once the reality that Three was not coming back to them hit her. At first, Ivy refused to believe it, but once she let it sink in, she became so full of anger that she never resolved. She died angry. Three died terrified. And Eleven died fighting a monster to save her friends.  

They had to deal with the aftermath; it was up to them to pick up the pieces without uttering a word to anyone who wasn’t involved.  

“Yeah,” Mike managed to say. “And now with Will…” he trailed off, all of his feelings spiraling in real time under Sunshine’s watchful eye. 

A sad glint reflected the sun that poked out from behind the cloud cover as she softly said his name. 

“This is so stupid!” Mike yelled suddenly, startling Sunshine. “It’s supposed to be over! El killed that stupid monster and that’s it.” He held back his tears and clenched his jaw before he continued, “And Will, he came back but now he-he’s different! Something i-is wrong, and Dart is missing, and…and I can’t-” Mike cut himself off with a frustrated groan as a couple of tears slipped down his cheeks and his face flushed.  

Taking one step at a time, she closed the distance between Mike and herself. Placing one hand carefully on his shoulder, she tried to think of something to say to him that would ease some of his worries, but before she could say anything, Mike threw his lanky arms around her torso and hid his crying face in the fabric of Sunshine’s coat.  

The fight and anger left him completely and he was just a kid that was scared of what was going to happen next. 

Resting her chin on top of Mike’s head, Sunshine sighed as the sun moved back behind the clouds and casted Hawkins in a gray glow once more, only adding to the somber mood. 

“It’s going to be okay,” she said, not only trying to convince Mike but herself as well. “We’ll be okay.”

Tag list. @leptitlu @sattlersquarry @lovefrom-theother-side

[the-case-book-of-fanfiction]

my rewatch of broadchurch has reminded me of how much i love the idea of hopper taking on steve as an intern and showing him the ropes of policework. so, uh, here's a little thing i might make into an actual fic one of these days:

it's not steve's first choice of job. but it was offered to both him and robin, it pays well, it gets his dad off his back. or maybe worse. ("finally getting your life together, are you? finally got yourself an actual career.")

at first, it's simple, easy. reports, paperwork, sometimes some leg work. hopper oversees steve and robin's training personally. he says it's because they show potential; while that may be true, steve also suspects that hop's been told to keep an eye on the two of them by the shady government agents who have been lingering around hawkins—most of them pretending to be regular people, but the townspeople know better. everyone knows everyone in a small town like hawkins, and after the hellscape the town became, people have their own theories about what happened. most of them are pretty close, almost all of them including a government conspiracy.

for the few months, that's all they do. chase after the people who get too close to the truth, hush them up before the papers can snap up the story. they can't stop them all, but for the most part, people outside of hawkins write it off as lunacy. steve and hopper are thankful for that.

two years. two years of pure silence from any related to the upside down; no demodogs, no labs, no doctors, no psychic children. just eleven—jane, now—with the hopper-byers, and she hasn't used her powers for anything other than making max's life easier. the party's gone back to playing d&d together regularly, even though their parents tease them they're too old to be playing it in mike's basement.

and then, a couple months after the anniversary of will's disappearance, the world starts to crack again.

not really, not literally, not like it did when vecna split hawkins into four chunks of hell. but it's close, because steve can feel the world shift and begin to fall, just like it did then. it's worse this time, though, because he didn't really notice last time. he was too wrapped up in himself, in high school, in tommy and carol, in nancy. but this time? this time steve is fully aware of just how disastrous the world is.

it's a body. it's a young boy. all of hawkins stills because it's a little too similar.

when he's found, nobody knows who it is. the body's in the quarry, found by a group of young kids playing a little too close to the edge. (the town starts to get uneasy.)

the police retrieve the body. the family's contacted privately. the mother screams and wails that she was right, that she knew, that if they had just listened to her—

they realize, too late, that a missing persons report was filed about the boy two days ago. hopper hates how much the woman reminds him of joyce.

the autopsy is performed, and it confirms that the boy is really this woman's son. hopper insists on being present for the autopsy, just a little too worried it would be another fake.

for a while, steve is convinced it has to be related to what happened in the early 80s. hopper is, too, until that autopsy. after that, he tells steve it's a perfectly normal murder case.

it takes a while before steve believes him. only after that does he start to think that a regular murder case is even worse.

"i hate these small town murders," hopper says to him one day. "too many secrets about too many people get uncovered. things we never should know."

"but we're the police, shouldn't we know these things? if people are threatening and blackmailing and committing petty crimes, shouldn't we know?" steve asks, confused as to why hopper seems to be okay with these things—small compared to a murder, but big to a small town—happening all the time under their noses.

because that's what has been happening. backs are turning quickly. the town is becoming violent, accusing anyone and everyone who is slightly suspicious as the boy's killer.

"in a regular small town, it wouldn't be as big of a deal," hopper says. "even then, some things are just better left unsaid. but here? there's too many secrets we need to keep. secrets unrelated to this case. secrets that could get the soviets interested again."

and the idea of that makes steve shudder, his body remembering pain he had never really gotten rid of, always feeling it when it's too cold or raining.

robin shares similar ideas to hopper. "all these accusations," she says one night, when it's just them in the office because hop sent everybody else home and he's in the next room making coffee, "doesn't it scare you? like imagine if somebody turns on...i don't know, jonathan or...or nancy? i mean nancy owns guns and people know about it—"

"the boy wasn't shot, robs."

"—and jonathan, i mean, everybody who went to school with us heard about you breaking the camera and why you did it. they might..."

steve shakes his head. "i wish i hadn't, robs. especially now."

"i know that, that's not what i'm saying. my point is, we've all got dirt, every single one of us. eddie's been accused of murder before, who's to say they won't do it again? even if it doesn't make sense, neither do the people they target now. anyone who's done any wrong is in the risk of it being made public. and if that happened to us? if people find out about el, about vecna, about will? what happens then?"

she's worked herself up into a panic, steve can tell. but this time, he doesn't really know what to say. he doesn't know what will happen. the government agents who watched them for months before they disappeared all at once never made verbal threats, but the threat of their presence was enough to silence everyone.

the only thing he can think to say is "eddie's on tour with the guys right now, he's safe from all of this."

"until they get back, then everyone will become the next jason carver," robin says, and steve begs her not to bring him back up.

secrets get dug up as the case drags on, only getting further and further away from closure. affairs, bullying, threats, drugs, alcohol, robbery. whatever small, dirty secret the town could possibly have, it does have, and it gets dug up and aired out like dirty laundry.

steve watches the town pretend to be shocked at every new revelation. it doesn't hurt very much until he watches the entire town pretend that they—and he—didn't know his dad was cheating on his mom and has been for years; that still doesn't hurt as much as the pitying looks they give him when he shows up to ask questions or to take their statements; and that still doesn't compare to the looks everyone gives his mom.

he watches his mom lose her love of life. it was fine, or they could pretend it was fine, before everybody knew (officially) about his dad's infidelity. they could pretend it wasn't happening. they pretended it was some big business meeting or a dinner with a client or whatever it was, except what it actually was.

that's what hurts steve most about policework. watching people go under for things that have nothing to do with him. watching people lose family and livelihoods over mistakes made years ago. watching the life drain from a community, replaced by suspicion and anger and hatred.

because if he stops and thinks about it, steve doesn't really mind it otherwise. he likes the thrill, the facts fitting together, the possibility that they might actually be right.

and when they are right, even after countless wrong leads, steve feels the relief deep in his bones. he feels it in the town, too, feels people start to breathe again and start to go back to normal and live their lives again.

he knows it's not normal again, not really. how can it be? but he watches the case go to trial, he watches it go right, he watches the killer go to jail. he watches the family finally breathe again, hears the mother thank him and robin and hopper, sees them try to go back to their lives and do they best they can.

it's not normal, but it's better. it's better than it was, because the accusations are gone now, what's been dug up has either been forgotten or left alone or maybe it has changed lives, but people are moving on. sweeping it under the rug like it never even happened.

there are some divorces in the following weeks—the couples whose infidelity was discovered. the police chase a few domestic abuse reports. steve handles a few of them, because he's learned to handle the punches now. there'a crackdown on illicit substances. steve and robin are glad eddie's quit all of that now, that he had given it up years ago.

the world stops ending. steve knows it'll end again someday, more often if he ever ends up in a big city. but for now, it's over and he can go back to his boring old police routine.

steve likes "boring" these days. boring is a safety net, something to fall back into when things get exciting.

the other thing steve likes about policework—it is exciting. sometimes. sometimes, it makes him feel alive again.

[patchworkgargoyle]

WIP Weekend!

Tagged by the owner of one of the best usernames on this webbed site, @steves-strapcollection, thanks for the writing nudge!!

RULES

Post up to five (5) filenames of your WIPs; not titles, file names.

Post a snippet from one of them. Snippet must be words you wrote in the last 7 days. We’re posting progress here. If you haven’t made any, go make some and come back to post.

After you’ve posted, people can send you an ask with one of your file names. You must then write 3 sentences in that file.

That’s it! You can invite others to join in or just post.

*Optional: Respond to the ask with the lines you wrote.

WIPS

Some might be recognizable, because I haven't worked on them since last time WHOOPS-

mouth of the wolf, eyes of the lamb (~new~)

i recognise you're a hideous thing inside

Nail Polish

Plagued by Piercings

Shark Bite Meet Cute

SNIPPET

From mouth of the wolf, eyes of the lamb, a ~new~ fic inspired by this post and this snippet, aided and encouraged and brainstormed with @steves-strapcollection and @scarcrossdlvrs!

It’s been a month.

Or more like six weeks and two days.

Six weeks, two days since they’d gone into the Upside Down, guns and molotovs blazing, the screeching of demobats and a lone guitar echoing in the distance before the Creel house swallowed them up and spat Vecna out, only for him to crawl off to god knows where to lick his wounds.

Since Steve, Robin, and Nancy raced back to the trailer, and ran faster when they heard Dustin’s agonised screaming. Pulled him back to their side of Hawkins while he thrashed, sobs like jagged shards of glass echoing louder than the eerie thunder, fighting them every step until they saw the gates were widening, not closing.

Since Max fell into a coma, her broken form so small in the hospital bed.

Since Eddie died.

Steve’s known failure, when it comes to the Upside Down. He can’t untangle it from the tragedy of Barb, the fallout of him and Nancy, his fall from the Hawkins High social ladder. Yeah, he’d wanted to shove it all under the rug that first year, but sue him, he didn’t know there was more to come, and when it did, again and again, and he’d think back to how he felt in ‘84–and those two years felt like two decades away, some days–he couldn’t blame himself for it. He just wanted to feel normal. Now that normal wouldn’t ever exist again, if Steve could talk to his past self he wouldn’t tell him to do anything different.

This failure, though, felt so much worse. More final. Barb was the beginning, and Eddie was the beginning of the end. He couldn’t stop wondering if there’d been some way to do it better, one more play that would turn the tide and win the day instead of… this. Maybe now he finally understood how Nancy felt.

And the non-obligatory tags! @ghost--enthusiast and @spicysix!

[morganbritton132]

You probably get this all the time, and I don't know why I only thought about this now, but I'm suddenly fascinated by the idea of a government employee who knows about the Upside Down that has been tasked with keeping an eye on Eddie's TikTok page and just constantly being so frustrated

I never get this but I have thought about it at length!!! Lol.

I just picture one overworked and underpaid agent being tasked with the whole *hand waving* Hawkins Situation.

There used to a time when the Hawkins Project was a coveted position given to the best agents with the highest clearance, but now… Now all the gates to the other world have been closed. There’s been no activity in three decades. Brenner’s dead. The Russians defuncted their projects. The girl – Eleven or Jane, or whatever – hasn’t blown anything up since the nineties.

The Hawkins job is a babysitting job with CIA-level clearance, and it’s just… it was supposed to be a cakewalk but. There’s just… there are so many of them.

And for a while, they were spread all over the country.

One of them is a US Senator now and she called the head of the FBI ‘a bitch’ and ‘a coward’ on a hot mic last week, and maybe.

Maybe for the sake of national security and their own sanity, maybe this agent pulled a few strings and dotted a few more I’s than they’re authorized to just to get Lucas Sinclair, Maxine Mayfield-Sinclair, Dustin Henderson, Nancy Wheeler, and Robin Buckley back in Chicago.

Maybe they did that. There’s no paper trail, but maybe they did.

It’s easier to keep track of a ‘party’ of people if most of them are in the same state.

This Party – as they fondly call themselves – barely qualified as a threat anymore. They are barely a concern at this point. Only a few of them are considered dangerous enough to require anything more than the occasional check-in. Those people being Jane Hopper, James ‘Jim’ Hopper, Nancy Wheeler, Murray Bauman, and – much to this agent’s annoyance – Edward Munson.

Eddie wouldn’t be a cause for concern if he wasn’t so goddamn loud. He is in no way a threat to national security but the CIA doesn’t love when people allude to a defuncted Cold War project that resulted in an inter-dimensional serial killer murdering a bunch of small town high school students.

This agent does not believe that Eddie Munson knows what an NDA is or that he signed one.

It is one thing to write songs about demon bats and hell spilling into small town Americana or to make your album cover resemble the charred remains of Henry Creel’s disfigured body (‘yeah’ the agent thinks, ‘you’re not that slick, Munson’) but it is something else to announce to your millions of TikTok followers that you got rabies in a hell dimension.

This agent does not have enough pull to persuade Congress to outright ban TikTok and actually thinks that a TikTok ban would be an overreach of government control, but damn if it would not have made their life easier. Though they fear that Munson would just go to YouTube and the idea of longer content makes them shiver.

And by the way, this agent expected better from Steven Harrington!

This agent liked Steve! He was one of their favorites!!

Steve didn’t make waves. He lived a quiet life, paid his taxes, and barely had a social media presence. He was an absolute dream to be monitoring until Eddie downloaded that cursed clock app.

Steve was never viewed on the same threat level as Jane Hopper or Murray Bauman, but he was a closely monitored subject due to his long-term injuries and his time spent in the alternate dimension and the Russian bunker under Starcourt Mall. Despite close monitoring, there is no note in his file of any digression until Eddie started shoving Tiktok in his face.

This agent sits in their office at the CIA’s Chicago location.

In the basement, at the end of a long dusty corridor, beneath a buzzing fluorescent light, they get a notification on their computer. It’s from Tiktok, and this agent breathes in slowly. They rub at the forming headache between their brows and names it Eddie Munson.

They click the notification, waits a second for the shitty wifi to bring them to the app, and watches as Steve Harrington says, “Technically we’re time travelers.”

And they sigh.

[willel]

I am confused here because I think the lab being involved in the Byers family situation pretty much explains things better than all of the stuff happening as a consequence. With the 'lab was involved, too' scenario you just have to explain things and expand on them. Because the other scenario too depending on several consequences; Vecna finding out Will's existence on that very same night and ending up lucky that he somehow found (luckily) a person who was similar to him with potential unlocked powers, El somehow recognizing Will as a consequence because that's ''what was expected from her powers'', Brenner onlu faking Will's death and not bothering with the other victim's deaths because the other victims did not matter so it was a consequence. Will somehow manipulating things in the UD because... consequence and random things, it just happened that way plotwise. Like, isn't that worse as a plot explanation?

(rambling incoming)

But you'd need to explain the Byers being completely and totally unaware of anything about the lab at all. That is key here. That is a LOT that they just "oopsie forgot to mention".

It's pretty clear the Byers had no idea about the lab or anything strange in season 1. It's clear Joyce didn't know Brenner or the lab in general while she was there. Lonnie is a deadbeat scumbag living in Indianapolis, too absentee to even sell off his kids.

How do you connect the dots of the Byers being totally oblivious to all this stuff in season 1? I can't wrap my head around this.

Hopper had a whole box of Hawkins lab files under his cabin about all the tests and experiments going on there with Terry and the kids, but he neglected to ever mention Joyce, Lonnie, Will, or Jonathan being wrapped up in all this stuff?

When I read those theories, it just reads as

Joyce/Lonnie got Will involved with the lab

Henry/El meet Will

???

Memory loss arc because none of the Byers have ever acknowledged any connections with the lab. Henry yes. The lab, no.

It might just be a difference in preference, but I find it much more believable that:

Vecna/the Demogorgon was chasing El that night

Either on purpose or accident, switched targets to Will and dragged him into the Upside Down

Upon his capture, discovers Will is a perfect kind of host/sympathizer and spends at least 1 season so far trying to keep Will chained down and will probably do so again

As for El's role in all this, I detailed it in my other post. I concluded the most likely scenario being El saw Will getting kidnapped either in person or through her mind's eye. All we can say for sure is that she recognized him. They can't have known each other or met more than once because we can't ignore the fact that Will did not know her prior and continues not to know her for another whole season.

This mixture of coincidence/accident turned into purposeful action on Henry's part makes a lot more sense to me.

Imagine this scenario.

It's in the middle of covid. You're confined to your house but you REALLY want this cool fancy cup you found online. You order the cup. They deliver the wrong cup. You're annoyed but you decide to use the cup anyway. Come to find out, this wrong cup is actually super awesome. Maybe it's not as expensive and cool as the cup you wanted, but it suits you just fine. Every now and then, the delivery driver tries to break into your house and take your cup back and eventually they succeed. It pisses you off because you actually liked that wrong cup and want it back. You still don't have the actual cup you originally ordered so you just sit in your house pissed off, trying to find ways to get back at the delivery driver for taking your wrong cup. Something like that.

That is how I think this situation happened.

Henry wanted El. He sent his delivery driver (the demogorgon) to get her. The Demogorgon delivered the wrong kid. Henry accepted it and just went with it and came to found out, this kid is also pretty good for what he wanted to do. He smacked a "MY PROPERTY" stamp on Will's forehead and got pissed when they took him back. Cue the rest of the series.

I think people who believe absolutely EVERYTHING that happened to Will was an accident are wrong. I also don't think the Byers have been involved in all this from the very start, it's too much missing information to fill in.

I don't remember the exact wording, but in the scripts it said something like, "Not siblings by blood, but by circumstances". That one line explains the entirety of WillEl and Will's involvement in this stuff.

You know how El is the fish out of water when it comes to normal every life? Well Will is the opposite. He's the fish out of water when it comes to the Upside Down mess and lab stuff. Living a normal life with friends and family was not El's reality. But it's her reality now. The lab/Henry was not Will's story, but it's becoming his story whether he likes it or not.

I know ST has plotholes and stuff they fill in after the fact, but it's usually to the benefit of a story they're trying to tell. They added onto El's backstory to explain the man behind the Mind Flayer. The backstory of the lab and them being trapped there together and him pushing her to her limits and getting banished to the Upside Down... that's crucial stuff that NEEDED the lab to be involved. (I'm of the firm belief subject 0 or 1 was always planned, though they could've executed it better)

Will being tied to the lab isn't necessary in comparison. You'd not only have to explain why he'd be there in the first place, but also his parents. To our knowledge, Hawkins publicly accepted adults for MKUltra.

I think in the books, it specifically states adults without dependents/children are eligible so Joyce would've been rejected and so would Lonnie (books are only half canon so eh). MKUltra was performed on adults. The child program was secret. Those kids weren't recruited off the street, they were taken under extraordinary circumstances and even reported missing.

You'd have to introduce an entirely new subplot like "So, actually when Will was younger they gave parents money to bring their kids in for some tests. And Joyce/Lonnie did this once. He met El and Henry. And then nothing happened and everyone forgot about the lab and the weird test they went to take."

Or "Joyce was a part of MKUltra or almost was but then returned to a normal life after" when we know good and well Brenner is not above kidnapping newborn infants from his previous test subjects. Will 100% would've been taken just like El.

Instead, just saying "Will quite literally got wrapped up in all of this due to mistaken identity -a common occurrence between him and El btw- and has never known peace since because the mistaken identity situation actually lead to actual similarities between the two." makes the most sense, connects all the dots, and doesn't need the writers to write a contrived reason why Will was already involved with the lab before.

It'd be like you met someone on the street and they look just like you. You joke around like "What if we were long lost siblings lol" and then it turns out you actually are. Not saying Will and El are blood related, just that concept of something so surface level ending up being deeper.

How I see it, Will and El's stories are almost exactly the same but in reverse. El's life started in the lab/supernatural and it's slowly becoming more normal. Will's life was completely normal and now it's been slowly seeping into the supernatural.

El was kidnapped by the lab/Brenner. Will was kidnapped by the Upside Down/Henry.

El's story has been about her building it up piece by piece, gaining everything in life she lacked. Will's life, while not great, was once whole and has been falling apart piece by piece in comparison.

When El was with the group, Will was missing. When Will was in the group, El was missing.

To me, if Will's backstory is tied into the lab, the very foundations that make Will and El mirror images of each other weakens.

[thefourchimes]

wip weekend because might as well kick my butt into gear

thanks @hellsfireclub​ and @lovefrom-theother-side​ for the tag on wip weekend—and for kat in particular, wip wednesday and yes this is very late but here it is LMAO

rules

Post up to five (5) filenames of your WIPs; not titles, file names.

Post a snippet from one of them. Snippet must be words you wrote in the last 7 days. We’re posting progress here. If you haven’t made any, go make some and come back to post.

After you’ve posted, people can send you an ask with one of your file names. You must then write 3 sentences in that file.

That’s it! You can invite others to join in or just post.

wips:

four chimes (four horsemen of the apocalypse au)

stranger weirder (stranger things and gravity falls fusion au)

even stranger down under (stranger things and undertale fusion au)

telepathic party (wow i have not touched this au in a while)

also here’s a list of the sub aus of four chimes because @lumaxramblings, @laurienotteddy, and i are insane

snippet (from four chimes au):

“In the Bible, there’s a concept known as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. There’s a lot of different interpretations and takes on it, but give or take some meanings, it usually boils down to four names.” He turned towards them all with a grimace. “Pestilence, War, Famine, and Death.”

Mike’s breath hitched, exchanging an alarmed glance with Will. “The names they had used to call themselves.”

Dustin nodded grimly. “Exactly.”

“And here I thought Vecna only had a creepy obsession with spiders, not horses,” Hopper grunted dryly, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“But why use this horsemen concept?” Steve rubbed his face wearily. “It’s kind of out of nowhere, plus I didn’t really take Vecna to be a religious guy.” 

“I don’t think it has anything to do with religion or the horses themselves…” Nancy pursed her lips, wincing slightly. 

Dustin had a feeling her thoughts had drifted back to what Vecna had…shown her while she was cursed for a short time. He honestly couldn’t — didn’t want to — imagine it, but… 

He glanced at the window and beyond it. 

Seeing the gray ashes falling outside, maybe he didn’t have to. 

The apocalypse was already looming over them, after all.

…wait.

Dustin’s eyes widened.

Oh. 

Oh shit.

Nancy suddenly took a sharp intake of breath. “What’s Vecna’s main goal?”

Robin frowned worriedly, but answered nonetheless, “He basically wants to kill everyone and everything by making the Upside Down swallow up our…world…” She trailed off, the same, sudden realization in her eyes.

“The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.” Dustin felt his mouth drying up at the last word as he ran a hand through his hair. “Vecna’s plan involved four chimes. Four victims. Using them to open up four gates for the Upside Down to invade Hawkins.” He looked at everyone’s faces, seeing their quiet, horrified understanding of what this exactly meant. “Essentially the end of the world as we know it.”

Silence descended in the room.

“Judgement Day is here…” Lucas broke the silence, murmuring almost emptily as his eyes seemed to flash back to something. “...and the Horsemen are leading the charge.”

was very close to sending a ciquest snippet because that verse (and the two in general) has very much been in my brain for the past few days and i could not find stuff that was written recently besides that (and another sub verse of fc) lmao

uhhhh lets tag @willelfanpage​ @sunflowersand-bees​ @thornywords and if anyone else wants to go for it, go for it <33 no pressure tho! <333

[h-i-raeth]

Files For This Week:

The Sum Of Our Parts (AFTG, Andriel, Unwind AU, Ch 1 - 8 on AO3 here)

Time And Hearts Will Wear Us Thin (hanahaki deconstrucion fic) (Stranger things, queerplatonic Stobin with several side ships, Ch 1-5 6 on AO3 here)

The Shadow Of Dust(Disconnected Scenes) (Stranger Things, His Dark Materials AU, unpublished + looking destined to be Long. ) 

For There’s No Guarantee That We’ll Ever Come Home (Stranger Things, Barb survives the demogorgon but is stuck in the upside down until Steve, Eddie, and Robin find themselves trapped there at the end of season 4)

No Easy Peacetime Girl Here To Be Found (Stranger things, Ch 1 on AO3 here, Barb is assumed dead until El rejoins the Hawkins Crew in S2, heavy canon divergence spiraling from pre-S3)

Snippet (From Time and Hearts)

And Dustin goes, and he’s gone too long, and Max is dying, is going to die, and Steve can’t stand in front of the danger this time, and then Dustin’s back, spilling tapes onto the ground in front of them and demanding to know her favorite song, and Steve doesn’t--he doesn’t know. He knows the tapes she used to gravitate towards, the ones she’d push for when it was just them in the car, but ever since he got her the walkman, she hasn’t bothered to fight for control of the stereo. He knows what her favorite song might be, but can he take a chance when her life is on the line?

He doesn’t have to. Lucas knows, is certain of it, and the tape is in the walkman, the headphones are over her ears, and she’s lifting into the air anyway, it’s not going to work, she’s still going to die---

And then she falls. All at once, too fast for him to get under her and catch her, but she’s alive. She’s awake, she’s aware, she’s breathing.

It worked.

WIP Wednesday Game

It’s WIP Wednesday, time for a little accountability, sharing your work, and getting a kick in the pants.

Here’s how it works:

In a reblog of this post (so people can find you in the notes) or new thread (w/ rules attached) if you want to play on your own, post up to five (5) filenames of your WIPs; not titles, file names.

Post a snippet from one of them. Snippet must be words you wrote in the last 7 days. We’re posting progress here. If you haven’t made any, go make some and come back to play!

After you’ve posted, people can send you an ask with one of your file names. You must then write 3 sentences in that file. If the filename is one you can't share from (for example, an event or gift fic), write 3 sentences on it anyway, and then 3 more on another to share.

That’s it! You can invite others to join in, or just post. I’ll be searching the reblogs to find people to send asks to!

If you’re reading this, you’re invited!

If you see someone posting a WIP Wednesday Game snippet, send them an ask! Make them write.

Requested/Friend event mentions under the cut! If you'd like to be pinged next week, let me know!

Friends @fiore-della-valle @redbirdblogs @greenbergsays @idkfandomwhatever @luckyspike

@obaewankenope @mad-madam-m @anonymousdandelion @geometricfractal @prettybirdy979

@eriquin | Requests @aparticularbandit @madnessfromthemountains @makeroftherunes @MauveLilyWilliams

@1attheedge @whimsicalmeerkat @kidsomeday @lizhly-writes @skyderman

@adhdavinci @owlbearwrites @anachronismstellar @anyctibius @rilannon

@lazinesswrites @zyrafowe-sny @dreaminghour

[allonsysilvertongue]

Vice

Hawkins; The Upside - Vice

This is the tragic story of Joyce Horowitz and James Hopper.

They could not have been more different. They grew up in different part of Hawkins that set apart their socioeconomic background, which influenced their social life.

Joyce lived with her father on the outskirts of town, devoid of nearby neighbours. They were almost isolated from everyone else, just the way her father liked it, and that was the same for her in school too.

Jim, as he liked to be called, lived in the middle of town, surrounded by neighbours in white picket fence with a mother who adored him and a father who when not too busy working was present enough to be there for his son.

(So far, only Joyce had dared to call him ‘Hop’ but that would be a story for later).

In high school, Jim was popular. Not that he played football or was an athlete but he carefree and hung around with the right crowd, and it helped that he had a dark, penetrating gaze that made other girls squirm in delight when he turned his eyes on them. He could be charming when he wanted to. He was sarcastic but never made fun of anyone. Not that he went out of his way to stop bullies either.

Jim also had a vice – smoking. That was probably the only thing that Joyce and Jim had in common.

Sometimes, he would join her to smoke under the bleachers. In silence – they didn’t exchange any words or have a conversation, at least not in the beginning.

It first started when Jim asked for a lighter after patting his pockets and coming up empty. She tossed it in his direction.

“Thanks,” he muttered.

Not quite a conversation but it was something.

Joyce ran out of money to get a pack one day but still, she headed to the bleachers during a free period regardless. Second hand smoking was better than not smoking, she figured.

Jim gave her a stick from his pack.

“Hey,” he started. “If you need some cash, you can do my biology homework. I’ll pay.”

She snorted. “What makes you think that I even do my own homework, Hopper?”

“Don’t know, maybe ‘cause you’re smart. You don’t get good grades skipping homework or not studying, Horowitz. You got a what? Some B+ for the last quiz or something?”

“Oh, you been observing?”

She didn’t get an answer.

She did get five dollars from him when she passed the said homework under the bleachers on the following Monday.

“You’re not stupid, you know,” Joyce made a passing comment one day as they stood next to each other, taking a drag of their cigarette. “You’re just lazy. How’d you explain passing the quiz without even studying?”

He shrugged.

“Guess I paid attention in class and retain some information up here,” he tapped his temple with a smirk. “You going for the dance?”

“Not my thing,” she answered.

Jim took a drag from his cigarette. “Okay.”

He went with a cheerleader. And had her at the back seat of his car that night which somehow became public knowledge the following school week, much to his displeasure. He was never one to kiss and tell but the girls… They tend to share everything.

That night after the dance, after he had dropped his date home, he drove past the diner to see Joyce there, sitting at the booth by the window and sipping on a vanilla milkshake by herself. He never would have pegged her for a vanilla kind of person. He thought she would have gone for the cookies & cream or the chocolate like he would have. Interesting, he thought.

“Could have gone for the dance,” he said, plopping down uninvited across from her at the booth.

“Not my thing,” she repeated. “What are you doing here?”

There were strands of hair framing her face, getting into her eyes. She could never keep her hair neat like the other girls and he wondered about it. Couldn’t she just take a comb to it?

But, he sort of liked it. The mess - it was very Joyce.

“Waffles,” he answered.

He ate in silence but he was aware of her watching him. He never felt the need to fill the space between them with words. He didn’t feel that the silence between them was ever awkward.

Could it have stemmed from the days they spent smoking quietly next to each other under the bleachers?

When she was done, she stood up and left with a simple, “good night, Hop.”

That was the first time he was ever called that and he found himself taking the nickname in his stride.

In their last term in senior year, he saw her with Lonnie Byers. Something in Jim snapped; something made him angry; something that he couldn’t explain.

Joyce wasn’t often at the bleachers anymore.

He never understood what she saw in that douchebag who wore leather jacket as if it suited him. Was it his motorcycle?

One day, during fifth period, Jim saw her sneaking through the back of the school from where he was standing at the third floor window. He knew where she was heading. He followed.

“Thought you would have lost your way trying to find this forgotten place,” he said snarkily.

She raised her head to look at him, hand poised mid-air before it resumed its trajectory and the cigarette stick found its way to her lips.

“Missed me?” she smirked.

She was infuriating. He scowled.

She married Lonnie Byers.

Jim heard that she was pregnant days before she was bound to leave for college. She cancelled college and married that douche. He hated Byers and he became angry at her.

She would have done so well in college. She could have had the world.

Then Vietnam happened. His grades were already not good enough for a decent college so he signed up. He let himself be drafted into the army. He left Hawkins.

He got married when he came back. Joined the police academy. Led a good life, he had Sara and everything felt into place.

Until he lost her.

When he returned to Hawkins, he tried looking for Joyce. She was the only connection to the old life that he knew. Some semblance of things that were good before it imploded in his face. He found her one late afternoon, hurrying to the supermarket, haggard and tired, looking ten years older than her age.

She wasn’t the Joyce he knew.

But he wasn’t the Jim that used to smoke with her under the bleachers either.

Because now he had a new vice – alcohol - and it wasn’t one that Joyce shared with him.

------

I know it says tragic story and i meant for it go all the way to the end of the latest season, but I got busy and posted this one first. Part 2 might come up later!

[chvoswxtch]

i'm not above begging. (1/?)

pairing: eddie munson x fem!reader

summary: eddie munson desperately needs to graduate this year, and you're the only tutor that hasn't turned him down.

warnings: mentions of drugs, cursing

word count: 2k

a/n: this was initially going to be one post but then I got carried away and suddenly was at 2,081 words (oops) so i'm thinking this is going to be at least 3 parts? i've been day dreaming about eddie munson since may & re-watching one tree hill and this idea popped in my head and i had to write it down. this is my first time writing in awhile, so i'm a little rusty. all feedback is welcomed/appreciated!

The tutoring center at Hawkins High was relatively quiet for a Thursday afternoon. After the winter finals wrapped up, things had slowed down quite a bit apart from the regulars that came in for their weekly sessions. But with spring break and final projects coming up in a few weeks, it was only a matter of time before students began flocking in desperately seeking help to reach a passing grade. That’s where I came in.

I had been working in the tutoring center since my sophomore year. Everyone always told me I was good at it because I was a very patient person, but I honestly really enjoyed it. Every time I could see a student starting to really get it, I could see that little light bulb go off in their brain, it made my chest swell with pride. 

I was organizing a few review tests when I felt something touch my shoulder. All the neatly stacked papers in my hands went flying, and a shrill scream ripped through my chest at the surprise intrusion. I clutched onto the open file cabinet that was beside me and whipped my head around, my wide eyes settling on the tall figure that stood in front of me.

Eddie Munson.

His large, ring-clad hands were immediately held up in surrender, a look of shock etched onto his own features. I was pretty sure his startled expression matched my own. 

“Whoa..easy there. I didn’t mean to scare ya. I uh..come in peace.”

There was a timid smile stretched at the corner of his mouth, his dark brows lightly furrowed as he studied my face. A solid minute passed before I realized I hadn’t moved. I was still in shock, and well, possibly having a heart attack. It wasn’t that I was scared of Eddie Munson, not like a lot of the student body at Hawkins High, I was just shocked to see him in the tutoring center. In the two and a half years that I’d worked here, I had never seen him. Not even once. 

I’d heard the rumors about his supposed “devil worshiping” club, and about how he was a “dangerous” known drug dealer. I never really bought into it though. Eddie and I had never really interacted before. We were in completely different classes, and social circles. He didn’t really hangout with anyone that wasn’t in his Hellfire club. But I had seen him a few times in passing, and saw the way he was when he interacted with his friends during lunch. Nothing about him screamed dangerous to me. I always thought he was just..different, and definitely had a flair for dramatics.

“Oh, no no, I’m sorry. You didn’t. I mean you did. But..only because I didn’t hear you come in.”

Once I could no longer hear my heart pounding in my ears, I tried my best to appear as casual as possible. Clearing my throat, I crossed my arms over my chest and peered up at him.

“Um what..can I help you with?”

Eddie shoved his large hands into his front pockets, cursing under his breath. He flashed me an apologetic smile and began to fish around in his back pocket before he retrieved a crumpled paper ball, raising it up into his fist victoriously with a grin. 

“Aha! Found it.” 

He unraveled the paper and did his best to smooth it out, flipping it upside down and clearing his throat dramatically.

“I am looking for…Y/L/N, Y/N.”

His head swiveled to survey the empty tutoring center before his large brown eyes met mine again with a kind smile. 

“Any chance you know where I can find them? It’s uh..kind of important.”

“Oh um well..that’s me. Hi.”

Before I could stop myself, my hand raised up to do an awkward wave. My cheeks instantly heat up with embarrassment. Hi? Seriously? That’s what you went with?

Eddie’s eyes wandered over my figure quickly, his eyes meeting mine once again with a quirk of his brow.

“Oh..well, that was easy.”

I stood there silently for a moment, lightly clenching my fists at my sides. This was the closest I had ever been to Eddie Munson before. I had never gotten to look at him properly, not up close like this. Why did I never notice how attractive he was? I didn’t feel scared in his presence. I just felt..nervous. But I wasn’t exactly sure why that was.

“Um so..why are you here? I meant..um, why are you looking for me?”

My voice came out higher than usual, and I instantly wanted to bang my head against the nearest heavy object. Eddie eyed me silently for a moment, sighing as he shoved the paper back into his pocket and pursed his lips. He twisted one of the large rings he wore around his index finger, his eyes darting around the tutor center before finally landing back on me.

“Okay, here’s the thing. You’re my last resort.”

“Oh.” 

“No no no, fuck. I didn’t-I didn’t mean it like that. It’s not that..you’re my last option or anything, you’re just my last choice. Hope! I meant hope. Fuck. This is all coming out wrong.”

Eddie closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, letting out a huff of exasperation. He quickly spun around on his heel and made a beeline for the door to the tutoring center and exited swiftly. I stood dumbfounded in place, staring at the spot he once occupied, trying to decipher what the hell had just happened. Suddenly the door to the tutoring center swung open and Eddie walked through with a playful grin on his lips, stopping directly in front of me.

“Let’s start over, shall we? You’re Y/N Y/L/N, tutor extraordinaire. I’m Eddie Munson, and I desperately need your services.” 

Placing one of his large hands on his stomach, he did a quick bow, and I couldn’t help but let a quiet giggle escape my lips. This seemed to catch his attention, as he looked up at me with a full blown grin, seemingly proud of himself for getting a laugh out of me.

“Wow, Eddie. I didn’t expect you to be so..formal?”

Eddie stood up straight and placed his hands on his hips, tilting his head to the side as his tongue darted out to wet his lips. An action that my brain has permanently burned into my memory.

“Look, I’m gonna level with you sweetheart. I need to graduate. I can’t stay in this shithole for another year. And as long as I can pull a D with Mrs. O’Donnell, I’m on track to finally get the fuck out of here. But, here’s the problem. I fucking hate her class. It’s so boring! I mean..I would literally rather watch paint dry. So technically, it’s not my fault I keep failing because if the class were, ya’know, a little more exciting, I might actually be able to pay attention. See, I'm a victim here, okay? A victim of this oppressive and soul crushing system that is Hawkins High. Now look, I have tried everyone. And I mean everyone, okay? Mrs. O’Donnell has assigned me every tutor known to humankind and they either flat out say no or just give up so I’m really banking on you here. And look, I’ll even pay you! I’ll be on my best behavior, I swear. Scouts Honor. Just please..please help me. I’m not above begging here. I will literally get on my knees right now and-”

“Eddie!”

My hands darted out to grab onto his biceps as he began to lower his body. The worn leather of his jacket felt soft under my fingertips. My eyes lingered over the various pins and additions he had added to it. The denim overtop was worn and faded, there were light tears and a few loose ends. I was quite impressed by it though, knowing that he had taken the time to put it together himself. I could tell how much work he had put into it, how much it meant to him.

“I’ll do it.”

“What? Really? Holy shit, you..you are a literal angel!”

I felt myself suddenly being lifted off the ground as a strong pair of arms wrapped around my waist. It took a second to register that Eddie Munson was hugging me. Not one of those awkward, half-hearted hugs you feel like you have to give. But a real hug. The kind of hug you give an old friend you haven’t seen in years. My hands gripped onto the shoulders of his jacket and I giggled at his excitement.

“Eddie, put me down! Please, I’m afraid of heights.”

He swiftly set me on my feet with a chuckle, taking a step back and beginning to wave his hands around dramatically.

“Sorry, sorry. I got carried away. Look uh, name your price. Whatever you want, I’ll pay it.”

“Eddie, you’re not paying me. It’s my job, I’m happy to help. I do have a few ground rules though.”

“Alright, sure. Lay ‘em on me.”

“First things first, you have to take this seriously. If we’re going to do this, I need you totally focused. No distractions during our sessions. I know you have your club, and I’ll be respectful of your time dedicated to that, but if you start falling behind and we need extra sessions, I need you to put your school work first. Second, please always be transparent with me. If you need a break, tell me. I don’t want to push you past your limit. If you’re going to be late, or there’s an emergency and you can’t make it, please let me know as soon as you can. And lastly, please don’t ask me to do your work. I’m here to help you, not do everything for you. Don’t even try to bribe me. The answer will be no. Deal?”

You’d be surprised how much I had to emphasize that last part. Over the years, so many people have tried to get me to just do the work for them. They didn’t see me as a resource. They saw me as a transaction. Surely the girl with straight A’s wouldn’t mind doing the work they can't be bothered with. The popular crowd was the worst about it. They thought their parent’s money and social status could buy them anything. Sometimes it made me angry whenever their words would replay in my head. But that anger usually subsided into hurt. Most of them couldn’t even be bothered to remember my name. I was just “tutor girl” to them.

But you’re so smart, it’ll be easy for you! I’ll make it worth your while. If you do my homework, I’ll invite you to the party this weekend. You can sit with us at lunch if you write this paper for me. I’ll put in a good word for you with one of the guys on the team. C’mon tutor girl, everyone has a price.

I wasn’t necessarily “popular”, but I definitely knew a lot of the popular kids. I was practically the reason some of them were able to still do extracurriculars. I spent most of the time in the tutoring center, and when I wasn’t doing that I was helping out with ‘The Weekly Streak’ school newspaper with Nancy Wheeler. Nancy and I had met towards the end of my sophomore year. I had interviewed for a spot on the paper after my guidance counselor had told me tutoring wouldn’t count as a “club activity” on my college applications. After my prolonged sulking, I decided the school paper was the lesser of all high school club evils. Nancy and I had instantly clicked, and had only gotten closer over the years. She and Robin were the only real friends that I had.

I held my hand out and looked up at Eddie with a shy smile on my lips, awaiting his answer. He cocked his head to the side slightly, eyeing me as if he was contemplating my conditions. Always a dramatic. Suddenly, a huge grin took over his mouth and his large hand captured mine. The warmth from his skin spread like wildfire all over my body and eventually settled in the pit of my stomach. My grip tightened slightly on his hand in reaction to the sensation. What the hell was that?

“Deal.”

[corgiplays]

Thinking thoughts because I've seen so much Russian Robin content but I'm putting a switch on it

So short history lesson but Poland was under Russian rule soon after WW 2 and became a communist country and was freed after an election in 1990 so

- Polish Robin who was placed in a spy program after her parents caused issues for the government (more about this later)

- She was shipped off to Russia were she spend the rest of her teen years training

- She was there when Alexie was told he had a year to fix whatever went wrong with their attempt the first time

- Robin definitely tried escaping back to Poland a few times but ended up getting caught and faced serious repercussions (omg is that Enzo?)

- She is technically Steve's age but because when she came to America her english was like nonexistent she was held back a year

- She was in the states since 1983 in Alaska but after reports of the chemical leak in Hawkins she was sent there for the rest of 1984 till season 3 starts

- Buff Robin enough said

- She tries to convince Dustin that whatever he got on the recording wasn't Russian but after a long debate she gave in to help them because she thought they'll think it's from Russia but after Steve pointed out the Indiana Flyer ride Robin knew she was in deep shit

- Robin was forced to tell the commander what's happening and got the shit beat out of her for translating their code to Americans but she promised that she'll keep them away

- During the interrogation the commander makes a comment about Robin being Polish but Steve never noticed the comment, he also makes a remark how Alexie was a traitor and that she'll wish she could meet with him instead (aka she'll wish she was dead)

- Of course that doesn't happen as Steve and Robin are saved by Dustin and Erica but the Soviet Union isn't too happy with what happened, so they send a mission file to Robin stating that she has to stay and keep an eye out for anymore Upside Down activity

- No one knows what Robin's real motives are because she doesn't want to lose her only friends

- After season 4 when Hopper gets dropped off by Enzo, Robin is there and ends up cornering him with a gun pointed to his gut and forced to tell her everything he knows

- Vecna uses Robin's trauma against her and once she's saved she slips back into her survival mindset and starts to only speak Polish or Russian while lashing out if anyone got too close

- The gang does find out about Robin's affiliation with the Soviet Union and their horrified, some broken translation from when she went into her survival mindset and an attack by a Russian spy helped put the pieces together

- Everyone distances themselves from Robin because how can we trust her after this but El keeps in touch with her because she's still Robin

- Robin tries to sacrifice herself to save the party because they will never trust her again and see lost all of her friends because of this but thanks to El for being so nice Robin doesn't die

————

- Robin is littered with scars, her least favorite is the Soviet Union brand on her torso (on the left side under her ribs) along with multiple cuts, scrapes, bullet wounds and some scars done by herself (once everything is fixed Nancy kisses all of Robin's scars so she feels better about them)

- Robin loves the snow especially when it snows at night because she has her happiest memories then

- Absolutely amazing at making Polish foods and deserts and the whole party loves it too which makes Robin happy because she gets to share her culture with her favorite people

- Has awful nightmares and her and Hooper end up trading stories of their times in a Russian Prison because they know their not alone in their fear

- Dresses baggy and more masculine because of the scars and how much she hates her body for being exactly like the Russians wanted it for a spy

- Has a surprisingly difficult workout routine because of her spy training (Steve gave up after 5 sets of one exercise, Nancy sits on Robin's back while she does push ups)

- Has a surprisingly high alcohol tolerance

- Knife tricks

————

Completely forgot Poland was once communistic which is sad because I'm Polish but wooo

Honestly this came out of the blue but I like it

[ally-holmes]

Nancy’s Wedding | Steve Harrington x Reader (ch.7)

Series Masterlist

Chapter Six.

Pairings: Steve Harrington x Fem!Reader.

Word count: 5371

WARNING: disgusting descriptions of what happened to Y/N in the Upside Down.

Nancy's Wedding | Chapter Seven.

Denny knocked on the door for the third time to make sure, again, that she was still alive. She was alive, but she wasn't great. For the last three hours, Y/N had been locked in the bathroom.

The moment she arrived home, she slept until Denny came back from work in the afternoon, then, she spent hours reading and analyzing the information Steve had given her in the file. That unlocked something strong in her mind that rushed into her soul like a waterfall. She picked up paper and pencil and she drew and drew and drew and drew although her wrist hurt, and although her muscles were cramping, she drew. Monsters, places, people… She wasn't very skilled in human anatomy, so those drawings weren't as good as the monsters or the places, but they were still familiar.

She went inside the bathroom after a whole night of drawing and remembering. Her intention was to have a shower, clean the graphite, ink, and other marks off of her hands, wash her pain away and get some rest. Unfortunately, once naked, she stared at her reflection for so much time Denny started to get worried. Her scars were paler than her skin, and she had a bunch of them. Until this moment, she hadn't been able to remember how she got hurt and her mother once told her that she went into an accident, although she never gave her details. Now she was more aware of them. Some of them seemed to have been produced by claws, deep into her thigh and stomach; others looked like some kind of animal had torn her skin in their aim to eat her. She remembered the bats. Those scars on her body were left when she was only nine, with time they became part of her body, only noticeable because of the lighter tone and their rough edges.

Looking at her hands, covered with graphite and ink, all she could see was dried blood and wet dirt. She could feel them under her nails, deep down, unable to be washed completely. The memory of a chewing sound struck her mind; she remembered the bloody and raw meat she had to chew like gum, over and over, and over and over again, to have something to eat. Monster's meat.

She threw up.

"Y/N, dude, you're freaking me out!!" Denny wrestled with the door trying to open it.

Flushing the toilet, Y/N responded, "I'm fine!! I'm fine!! I'll shower now."

"If you're not out in ten minutes I'm breaking the fucking door."

"Fine!!"

Because she only had ten minutes (she strongly believed Denny was able to break the door), she took a quick and steamy shower treating her bandaged injuries carefully. Seven minutes later, she went out of the bathroom and Denny cleaned and covered the wound at the back of her head again. She had been very careful with the bandage on her sprained wrist.

Y/N waited until Denny went to work to pick up the phone and call Dustin Henderson.

"Dustin speaking, who is this?"

"Hi, I–"

"Y/N!!! You called!! I'm so glad you called. Are you alright? Did Steve apologize already? You kno–"

"Did he tell you?"

To her question, Dustin was silent for a few moments before sighing in sympathy. "He told me after the wedding. I scold him about what he had done at the party and then he– yeah, Steve told me about your time in the Upside Down."

"Is it real, then? All of it? All my nightmares, all the monsters… everything?"

"I'm sorry. I know it's shitty, but yeah, it's all true."

"Fuck the X-Files, man, they should do a documentary in Hawkins."

The man laughed. "I totally agree. So, how are you?"

"I don't really know."

"You can count on me. If you need someone to talk to, I'm available. We're friends now, remember?"

"Yeah," she smiled despite herself, "but I'm sure my three months were more intense than your adventures."

"I'm sure of it. By the way, do you remember how you survived for so long?"

"You don't want to know."

"Oh… that disgusting?"

"More."

"Ew!!"

"Yeah… Anyway I– I just needed to– I don't really know what I needed to, but you helped. Thank you, Dustin."

"Anytime. Take care."

"You too."

*

Although Steve had fulfilled his promise of visiting her to make sure she was alright, Denny had been the only one to answer the door, allowing both, Steve and Robin, to come into the living room and talk to her, but not with Y/N. Denny had become the guardian of her friend, who was still suffering the effects of her concussion, unlocked trauma, and nightmares that were so strongly violent that her screams woke the neighbors.

It was Friday night, nearly midnight when Denny came home with a strong reek of alcohol, not from her mouth but from her clothes. She was moody and was frowning and cursing under her breath. Y/N watched the whole display from the sofa slightly entertained.

"I'm such a loser," Denny claimed, throwing herself into the other side of the sofa, once she had changed into something clean.

"What happened?"

"I went to The Silver." With her grunt, Denny messed up her very short and colorful hair. "Do you remember I had a family dinner? Well, turns out that my dear mother was trying to set me up with a dude. A dude! Look, I get it, tradition is important for them, but I came out to them when I was in high school and they kicked me out! It's been a long way to be where I am and be comfortable with who I am. When my parents wanted to resume contact last winter I was thrilled. I thought they had finally accepted me, you know? I'm such a fool."

"You shouldn't blame yourself for keeping up the hope of being with your family."

"Yeah… Whatever. The point is that all this time they've been scheming. At least my mom had. She wants me to marry Robert Chen because his family is respectable and has money. I told her that we are in America, not in China. I am American. I was born and raised in Chicago, I don't play by her rules anymore. I'm not going to just lay down and accept to marry a man just because it's what she wants."

"What did you do when you saw it was a trap?"

"I introduce myself to Robert Chen saying 'Hi. I'm Denisse Wang, but please call me Denny. I'm twenty-eight. I work in a record store and I'm a lesbian. How are you?'. My mom went berserk, obviously."

"Did it make you feel better?"

"You had no idea. So much power in a few words. Anyway, so the dinner went down from there. Everything was very awkward. Once the torture was over a headed to The Silver."

"Why The Silver?" Y/N already knew the answer.

"I was expecting to see Robin," Denny mumbled. "She was in the kitchen, of course, so I just saw Spencer and Steve. I'm going to have to give points to Steve because every time he was free, he went to where I was and talked to me. And, more points, because he didn't talk about you the whole time, which I'm sure was a real effort seeing as you are his favorite topic."

"Shut up."

"He talked about Robin and it makes me think that she might be interested in me as much as I am in her. I mean, three years of you two working together and I have to meet the woman of my dreams when you fell down the stairs. That's destiny. Serendipity!"

"I didn't know you were that romantic. Is sickening."

"Hypocrite."

"How did you end up covered in liquor?"

"Some drunk asshole dropped his Silver Sin all over me!! That top was fucking new!"

After the conversation, they went to their rooms. While Denny was having a deserved rest on her bed, Y/N was looking at the extraordinary amount of new drawings that had pilled out on her desk. She stared at them for long hours.

*

"This is our only chance. Listen to me, honey, I want you to run as fast as you can to the door open in that tree."

Her dad pointed to the tree the flower-face monster had used to go out and drag inside a dying dear. The door, as they've been calling it since God knows when, was some sort of membrane that pulsed with colors from purple to magenta. The bark used to grow faster to cover the membrane. Because the flower-face monster was bigger than the ones they had found on the journey, the bark was growing slower.

She looked at her dad again. He was dirty, skinny, and covered in dry blood. His beard had never been this long, it made him look older. He had been limping since their last encounter with one of the monsters, and it seemed like the blood kept coming out from the wound in his stomach.

They had learned fast in that world that the monsters were drawn by the smell of blood, therefore they had been covering their clothes and wounds with dirt and blood from the monster they had killed while trying to survive. Monsters they tried to feed from.

He put his hand, big, calloused, and heavy, on her head. It was a goodbye.

"Run. As fast as you can and don't look back."

The girl nodded, eyes fierce and brave. He approached the monster as quietly as he could before stabbing him in the back with his hunting knife; a very big and sharp knife he always took with him on the woods excursions with his child and that on this occasion had helped him to protect and feed his daughter. The monster, being bigger than the ones they were used to, howled in pain before turning towards him with a very pissed growl.

Y/N ran. Ran as if her life depended on it because it was. She went through the mushy door, the bark making the door smaller and smaller. The warm air of the end of June was fresh in comparison to the one she was leaving behind. The light was so bright for her eyes that it took a few efforts to finally be able to open both of her eyes again. As she turned towards the door, which kept closing, waiting for her father to cross it too, she saw how the monster had wrapped his flower-face around her dad's head; his body convulsed like a fish out of water, and then he went limp. The monster inserted his claws into the human's body and tore it apart.

She didn't scream. Unable to find her voice, the girl gasped for air, eyes wide open with terror. The bark covered the door and there was no trace of the monster, of the other world, of nothing. She waited there. Her glassy eyes soon went dry.

Where was she?

What was she doing there?

Why was she soaked in so many disgusting things?

Looking around her, she found a house. The fence was tall, but she followed it until she found a door. She needed to ask for help, obviously. She was so tired and thirsty and hungry and cold… The door was open, so she went inside. A big pool occupied most of the house's backyard. When was the last time she had seen that amount of water? As she approached the edge of the pool, a flash clouded her mind. She remembered being there, right next to the pool, but in her memories, the pool was empty and covered in thick roots that moved and pulsed and…

"Hey! What the fuck are you doing here?"

The voice of a person made her jump out of that cloudy state. A teenager was looking wary at her but didn't come out of the house. Hearing something about calling the police, the girl sat on the edge of the pool. The light was so bright and the tiles on the bottom were so light that she was unable to see her reflection in the water. As thirsty as she was, she sank her hands into the water in cup form, pulled them up, and drank as much as she was able to handle. It tasted awful, not only because of the chemicals in the water, but the dirt in her hands also played an important role in it. Still, she was thirsty and she couldn't remember when was the last time she drank water, therefore she drank more and more before the police came.

Chief Norton took a look at her and disappeared inside the house again.

She was alone for a few more minutes, but she wasn't so thirsty anymore. She still was tired and the cold was soon being changed with the warmth of the first weeks of summer. Chief Norton made her go with him in his car. He asked her questions, but she wasn't able to find her voice. She wasn't even able to find the need to make her mind be understood, she just wanted to sleep.

And sleep.

And sleep.

*

It was eleven in the morning when she rang the doorbell. Her nightmares woke her up early on Saturday morning, so she called Dewey to find out if Steve and Robin worked that night as well and, as it turned out, they had the full weekend off. She was carrying a thick folder with the drawings of the last few days, next to her, Denny bounced impatiently from one foot to another.

Robin, who apparently had just woken up, opened the door with her hair turned into a bird's nest. The moment Robin saw them she went through mix-up emotions and tried to tame her hair the best she could with her fingers while doing her best not to die from embarrassment. Yup, Robin had a crush on Denny. Robin rushed them inside rambling about drinks, offering them something to eat, and being very polite in her role as host.

"Is Steve home?" Y/N asked her.

Robin seemed to deflate with fondness, finally hearing Y/N's voice and seeing by herself that she hadn't just broken due to the trauma or the concussion.

"He's still sleeping. I'll wake him up."

"Why don't you get dressed and I treat you to a very late brunch?" Denny took her opportunity. She wanted some time alone with Robin to get to know her better and, at the same time, to give Y/N the chance to talk with Steve alone.

Robin blushed harder but understood the implications of Denny's offer. "Sure, let me… I'll be quick."

"There's no rush."

"That was smooth," Y/N smirked once Robin wasn't in the living room anymore.

It took Robin twenty minutes to get ready, the guests didn't mind the wait and Steve was still sleeping. Robin took care of hugging Y/N before leaving. She didn't approach Steve's bedroom door, she wasn't a creep; she prepared a pot of coffee and put on some mixtape on the stereo at very low volume.

Noon was over when Steve finally emerged from his room. He went to the kitchen, bewitched by the smell of coffee, still half asleep with his eyes half closed.

"Robs, pass me the sugar," he demanded with a hoarse voice.

"Robin went out with Denny," she responded handling him for what he had asked for.

Steve stood there questioning if he was still asleep or not. She looked rough. She had clearly lost weight in the last few days probably due to stress, nightmares, and a terrible eating schedule; she seemed to have slept poorly or nothing in the last few days. When she gave him a small shy smile, awkward by his silence and tension, he took the sugar from her hand, put two full spoons on his coffee, and poured some milk in, but didn't drink it.

"How are you feeling?"

"Exhausted," she responded honestly.

He gulped his coffee too fast and excused himself to the bathroom. With the door closed behind him, Steve took a look at his reflection, fixing his hair, washing his face, and brushing his teeth with fervor. The last thing he wanted was for Y/N to smell his morning breath after drinking because that was the only thing that made him sleep when he got home at seven that morning after work, some heavy drinks and he was ready to sleep like a baby without worrying about nightmares anymore. As he went out, he found Y/N placed on the sofa and the music was a bit louder now.

He sat next to her and waited. She opened her thick folder and showed him the new drawings. She explained what she had been remembering.

"I'm sorry."

"What for?"

"You wouldn't be suffering like this if I had never mentioned it."

"Don't get me wrong, these memories fucking suck, but I would really be pissed at you if you had known this and kept it to yourself. It still doesn't feel mine, you know? It's like I'm seeing a movie, not my life."

"I understand what you mean. I don't really get how eidetic memory works, but I went to the library and did some research; if you are able to remember everything with such detail as the book suggested, I guess it must feel more like a movie than anything else. I still have doubts about whether or not what I lived was true. I've– Well, I've been writing it down. Not only my experience, but I also collected memories from the kids and the others. I plan on writing a book about it."

"Do you think the government would allow you to publish it?"

"I don't write to publish, I write to have it all there and share it with them. Our story. What we did. What we became. What we lost. An homage of some sort."

"Would you tell me what happened to you and the others or should I wait until the book is finished?"

He laughed at that and started to tell her the most unbelievable story about a small kid who went missing on November 3rd, 1983, and his mother, who won't give up on the search. The friends of this boy found a girl in the woods, a girl who turned out to have powers. Then he told her about the government experiments in the Hawkins Lab, the Upside Down, and the demogorgon. He told him about Max showing up in 1984, how her stepbrother was a nightmare, how the Mind Flayer had gotten into the boy again, how Dustin found a baby demogorgon, and how they bonded in their hunt for the monster. Steve also told her about the summer of 1985 and how he met Robin at Scoops Ahoy, how they decoded a Russian secret transmission finding that the whole mall was a secret base for the Russians to open a gate. In the meantime, the Mind Flayer had gotten inside Billy, Max's stepbrother, and was using him to kill people with the only goal of forming a meaty host it could use. Finally, Steve told her about Vecna and Eddie and the demobats and the big earthquake that almost ends with all.

"Sound wild."

"Yeah… It's like a shadow for us, you know? It's something so big for us and we can't tell anybody about it. If you weren't already deep into this, would you have believed me?" She didn't hesitate in shaking her head. "When I found out that I liked you I was very conflicted because I knew there were a lot of things I must lie about and hide and pretend never happen and– It stopped me, in a way. Does that make sense? I'm glad that I don't have you lie to you anymore, but I still feel… I don't think the price you had you pay for my honesty is worthy."

"Steve, are you seriously blaming yourself for when I was attacked by a demogorgon because Henry Creel, or Vecna, or One opened the first gate in history just to have a laugh?"

Unable to respond, Steve just shrugged.

"Jesus, you're so dense."

And just like that, she cupped Steve's face with her hands, holding him in place as she dived in, closing the gap between them, kissing him with affection and care. A forgiving kiss Steve melted on.

*

"I cannot believe we're doing this."

"What?"

"Steve, you picked to go watch a kids' movie for a date!"

"Technically, it's a double date, as you and Denny had come on board with the plan. Plus, The Lion King it's been out for a week and it's the only thing people are talking about."

"Y/N wanted to watch it, didn't she?"

"Shut it."

"How the mighty had fallen. It took all the fire in Hell to make you go to see a movie with me or Dustin, and now you are going to watch The Lion King on your own free will. Outstanding!"

"Don't make it weird."

"It is weird. Can you really tell me that your sixteen-year-old you wouldn't have freaked out with this?"

"Leave that guy in the past where he belongs and let's enjoy the fucking double date, which was your idea all along."

"You know we can totally hear you, right?" Y/N spoke from behind them, a big pot of popcorn between her arm and body, holding two large sodas in her hands.

Steve and Robin felt ashamed of their conversation with the sudden appearance of their partners and blushed. Denny gave Robin the pot of popcorn and one of their sodas to have an arm free to wrap Robin's shoulders with it.

"Do you want me to wrap your shoulders too, pretty boy?"

"Shut up!" Steve pleaded, taking both of the sodas from her hands.

He had given her the tickets before she went to buy the snacks while he and Robin stayed in the queue. With her free hand, Y/N picked some popcorn and fed Steve, who took it like a show of affection louder than wrapping an arm around somebody.

The June weather in Chicago was thick and warm, and they were thankful that the theater had an air conditioner. Since their first kiss in May, Steve and Y/N had worked on their friendship and romantic relationship with steadiness. It was so much easier to have someone to talk to about your dreams, your nightmares, your flashes of guilt or trauma… Their banter and flirty mischief were still on point, although now she took more rides home than before, and there was way more kissing. There were also more longing stares and heart-shaped eyes between the two of them and they were getting into a very comfortable dynamic.

That's why she kept feeding Steve popcorn while they were waiting in the queue, and she didn't care about the gagging sounds and complaints from Robin and Denny as she pulled Steve from the collar of his shirt and kissed him, all smiles.

When the movie ended, they were as excited and obsessed as the children that had gone to see the movie with their parents. Denny was torn between how Scar was the bad guy, but at the same time, he was so relatable! Steve and Y/N were trying to sing 'Be Prepared' although they couldn't remember the lyrics properly. Robin was obsessed with how much Hamlet they had added to the plot and how Rafiki talked to Simba. And the jokes! Oh, the jokes! The four of them truly enjoyed a fucking children's movie with their hearts and souls.

As they walked, talking too loudly about the movie, on their way to grab something to eat, they crossed paths with a couple. The woman stumbled with her heels and Steve was fast as lightning to hold her and prevent her from falling face first into the floor. The woman laughed with awkwardness, thanking Steve. The man of the couple was more entertained than bothered by the interaction; he waited until Y/N looked at him to give her a smile.

"Carter!" She greeted him absolutely pleased to see him.

"It's good to see you without bleeding," he smiled, lowering his head. "Ross told me you were better."

"As good as new."

"Well, now that your boyfriend has saved my date, we'll be going now."

Before resuming their walk, Carter winked at them and shook Steve's hand. Denny and Robin were dumbfounded by the interaction, and Steve wrapped an arm around her shoulders with an insecurity strike. It wasn't jealousy; he wasn't afraid that Y/N left him for Carter, it was pure insecurity because he compared himself with Carter and the younger man was smarter than him, had more money, and had huge prospects for the future. Carter was just what Mr. Harrington expected his son to be, and Steve had strong insecurity issues. Y/N, with the great intuition that knowing one's partner provides, hugged Steve by the middle, walking just like that.

****

On October 31st, 1997, The Silver officially became a 24/7 diner. Y/N had been promoted to general manager of the day shift and did a pretty amazing job. She had been in touch with Steve's friends often and had used Owens' services as her therapist. It wasn't his job, of course, but he did it gladly; in the end, he felt some sort of pride in seeing her all grown up and sane after what Brenner wanted to do to her. Robin had been promoted from The Silver Diner to the chef, and she enjoyed her new position very much, especially since her shifts were always in the morning and she had all the afternoons and nights to be with her girlfriend, Denny. Steve, on the other hand–

"What are you doing still here? We're going to be so late!!" Robin burst into the locker room. She started changing her outfit in a rush.

With a soft smile on her face, Y/N changed her clothes too. Something classy and elegant, a cocktail white dress with the neckline off the shoulder, purely inspired by Audry Hepburn, with smart cute heels that just fitted the dress. Robin was wearing a three-piece suit with a giant flower on her lapel, no tie.

As they went out of the diner by the employees' entrance, they found Denny waiting for them in the alley. She was wearing something that fitter her usual fashion sense with tight jeans, military boots, a white crop top, and a black leather jacket, all her hair was gelled back. Whoever had seen them would say they were going to a Halloween party, of course, although four in the afternoon seemed a little too early for parties.

Denny drove them. Dustin was already waiting for them at the entrance next to Mike. Dustin threw his hands in the air while claiming "Fucking finally" in a bitchy tone.

"Wait, where's Steve?" Mike questioned them.

"Isn't he here already?" Robin freaked out.

"No. Oh my God, this is so stupid. I'm calling him on the cellphone again." Dustin walked away taking his own cell phone out. Those things were still too expensive, quite heavy and their connectivity was questionable.

"The dude who ran this shit said that if you didn't show up in the next five minutes, he was going to skip you and you would have to make another appointment," Mike explained.

A moment later a taxi stopped at the end of the stairs and Steve got out wearing a three-piece suit, still tying his tie. Robin ran downstairs and covered Steve's eyes.

"What the fuck are you doing, Robin?"

"You're late!! You can't see the bride before the wedding, it's bad luck!"

"How do you expect me to get up all those stairs with my eyes covered, smartass?"

"Let's not be ridiculous, come on!!" Y/N yelled while clapping her hands like a coach trying to focus their team. "To our places, come on!"

Dustin and Mike ran inside to tell the officiant that the groom and the bride were already there. Robin gave up on stopping Steve from looking at Y/N when Denny lift her up to her shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Y/N waited at the top of the stairs for Steve to join her. He gave her an appreciative look.

"You look stunning, as always. It's so no fucking fair."

"You, on the other hand, look like shit."

"Harsh."

"Give me that," she tied his tie for him pretending not to notice the longing stare he was giving her. "What did the editors want?"

"They want to know if I can make a sequel of Stranger Things, they were very pleased with the cliffhanger at the end."

"I told you it would be better to separate the events in different books than in a big fat book. So?"

"They signed me for the three other parts of Stranger Things, and two other books with different topics. A great amount of money too."

"Steve Harrington, the next Stephen King, as The New York Times had called you."

"I think the best part of my books is your illustrations."

"Obviously."

"Guys, I know you are all flirty and all, but you were the ones that wanted to get married on fucking Halloween and the officiant wants to go home, so…" Dustin called them from the door.

Steve offered his arm to Y/N, who took it without hesitation.

They didn't do a big wedding. The ceremony at the courthouse was short and with only four people as witnesses. After that, they rented the wedding hall of a hotel to do a small costume party with their friends. Well, they were mostly Steve's friends and his parents, but Y/N liked it anyway.

Mr. Harrington went although he had claimed that being a writer was worse than being a bartender; mostly because he found out that Steve had done in the first month since the book was published the same amount he did in a fucking year. Maggie had forced him to go to his son's wedding and behave threatening him with divorce, which made Mr. Harrington finally understand that his whole world would collapse; there would be no more status quo.

Joyce and Hopper treated Y/N like one of their kids and Will had confirmed to her that there was no way out now, she was officially part of the family. Nancy and Jonathan came from New York too, they had finally moved there after Jonathan accepted the job at Time magazine and Nancy got a job at The New York Times with time.

The party was small and didn't look like a wedding party, but it was perfect for them. She danced with every one of their guests. She had invited Spencer and Dewey too, who were enjoying themselves like teenagers; she also invited Doctor Ross, Doctor Greene, Doctor Carter, and some of the nurses from County General as she had become close to them, but Halloween meant a busy shift in the ER, therefore they came to congratulate the new couple before going to cover their shift at the hospital.

Time After Time started to sound through the speakers. Steve was suddenly next to her with a big happy and pleased smile on his face offering his arms for the dance. They chose option number four of slow dancing, just like the first time they did so with this exact song, and it was magical. Y/N pressed her forehead against Steve's shoulder, next to her hand, enjoying the proximity of their bodies in that rocking movement that they called dancing. Steve pressed a kiss on her head, right behind her ear, and started whispering the lyrics to her.

"If you're lost you can look and you will find me. Time after time. If you fall, I will catch you. I'll be waiting time after time."

The End.

Thank you so much for following the adventures of Nancy’s Wedding. Sadly, there is no more plot to work with, so this is the end. I hope you had enjoyed this little story of mine. I’ll be working in something Eddie Munson x Reader soon, plus some John Carter (ER) x Reader. 

Feel free to suggest things and fandoms and whatever you like; I’ll take it into consideration.

Again, thank you for reading, liking, and commenting on the story. I’ll keep working to improve my writing.

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