#freaky friday steddie's version

[hairstevington]

Freaky Friday (Steddie's Version) - chapter 3!

Eddie Munson x Steve Harrington

Summary: Steve goes to Hawkins High as Eddie, and Eddie goes to Family Video as Steve. Neither really goes as planned. Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Link to Ao3

Word Count: 3.8K, more chapters to come

Warnings: Enemies to lovers, slow burn, canon universe (more or less) set before season 4, me adding in lore than the show didn't touch on such as Eddie/Steve interactions pre-season 4, body swap, they are idiots, ANGST, revenge (attempted), POV switching

A/N: This is becoming one of my fav fics to write! Thanks to all who are following along and supporting me on Ao3! If any of you were on the Tumblr taglist then moved to Ao3, feel free to let me know. This goes for anybody who ever wants to be removed from the taglist lol, no hard feelings!

Steve woke up to the sound of an alarm at 6am on Friday morning. He couldn’t remember why at first, and reached over to hit the snooze button. When it went off again at 6:15, he groaned and rolled over to unplug the damn thing. 

The previous night came back to him in a flash when he reached out a hand that didn’t belong to him. Oh. Right.

For a moment as he desperately clung to consciousness, he thought that the worst part of all of this might be having to wake up so early. Well, that and the crippling fear of what Eddie was going to do. 

He got out of bed and looked at himself in the mirror. Yup. I’m still Munson. He fixed Eddie’s frizzy hair to the best of his ability, and wondered how it would look if he actually used the right products on it. He put on an outfit that mildly resembled Eddie’s usual style. Steve hoped that if he followed the rules and didn’t stir up trouble, Eddie would do the same. 

He didn’t have a backpack or books or anything, but it didn’t really matter. Eddie never seemed to bring anything around school except his stupid black lunchbox. 

He laughed to himself at the thought of that big, clunky thing Eddie carried around. Steve had seen the inside contents firsthand, and he was always shocked at how cavalier Eddie was about carrying drugs around with him all day. Like, the dude just took a whole lot of weed everywhere he went, sold it right outside of school property, and nobody really questioned it.

Most of the time, anyway. As Steve walked downstairs and grabbed a protein bar on his way out the door, he thought about the one time he’d been involved in Eddie’s dealing. Steve’s Junior year, not too long before he started seeing Nancy. Eddie’s Senior year - the first one, anyway.

“Where’s Tommy?” Eddie had asked when they met up at the picnic table. “He’s usually the one that meets me here.”

“Tommy’s out sick,” Steve responded. “You’re stuck with me today.” Eddie sighed as he sat down, putting the infamous giant metal lunchbox on the table and opening it to reveal quite literally the most marijuana Steve had ever seen in one place. His eyes went wide. “Jesus Christ, man. That’s, like -”

“Whaddya want, Harrington?” Eddie asked, his smile pained but pleasant. “Pick your poison.”

“Just give me whatever Tommy usually gets,” Steve answered. Eddie nodded and dug through his contraband as Steve took out a few bills and threw them on the table. Eddie caught a glimpse of the money and smirked. Steve had expected Eddie to give him change, but it was pretty evident that would not be happening the moment they’d started this interaction. “You’re being careful, right?”

“What the hell are you on about?” Eddie asked as he handed Steve the bag. 

“I just mean, like. With selling. Couldn’t you go to jail or something?”

“Why the hell do you care?” he replied, growing agitated. “People don’t tell on me because if they did, they wouldn’t have anywhere else to buy this shit. So unless you’re going to run to the police, I think I’ll be okay.”

“Jesus, man. I’m just looking out for you,” Steve responded as he stood up. 

“Since fucking when?” Eddie retorted. “You’ve never cared before.”

“I never bought from you before,” Steve replied. Eddie’s harsh words and combative nature hardly fazed Steve. It wasn’t too far off from how Tommy talked to him, and he’d gotten used to that years ago. 

“I know what I’m doing,” Eddie insisted. “Rick and my dad have taught me well regarding the life of crime.” Steve responded without thinking - a habit that he was still trying to break. 

“Isn’t your dad, like, in prison, though?” He regretted it as soon as he’d said it. He wished he could chase the words in the air and crush them, but they were already out and into the ether. 

“We’re done here,” Eddie responded. He sounded tired and disappointed as opposed to angry. That was far worse.

So, Steve got what he needed and he left. Usually, that’s the full extent of what happens during a drug deal, but unfortunately Steve wasn’t so lucky that time. 

He was taken out of his memory when the fresh air hit his face and went into his lungs. He really, really wanted a cigarette. He climbed into his car and for a moment wished it were Eddie’s, because there certainly would have been something to smoke in there. Steve’s car, however, was kept neat and drug-free. It was part of the agreement he had with his father about paying his car insurance. If Mr. Harrington caught so much as a hint of smoke in the car he’d so nicely provided his son, Steve lost all car privileges. And if Steve didn’t have a car, he pretty much didn’t have a life. 

He had many reasons to quit smoking, and he’d finally gotten over the horrible cravings, and now here he was, fighting them yet again. 

Fuck you, Munson.

He didn’t realize how weird it would feel to pull into the Hawkins High parking lot. Only a year prior was he in this parking lot with Nancy, thinking about college essays and graduation. 

Seemed like forever ago. Steve hardly felt like the same person he was then. 

Although, at the current moment, he was literally a different person, but that’s another story. 

He sighed and headed into the school. It was still pretty early, but kids roamed the halls anyway. Steve stopped one of them - he didn’t recognize her, but she looked kind enough. 

“Hey, so uh -” Her eyes widened at him in confusion with a hint of fear. At first he assumed it must have been the height difference. “If I needed another copy of my schedule, where would I go?”

“You don’t know your schedule yet?” she asked, still hesitant. “Did your brain finally melt from all the drugs?” Steve raised his eyebrows, shocked at the way she had casually insulted him. 

“No, I just -” Steve paused. He had no other explanation for why he’d need a new schedule, so he let it go. “Do you know where I should go, or not?”

“Main office, bonehead.” She spun around and walked away, leaving Steve stunned. 

Okay, so she wasn’t so kind after all. Steve was kind of shit at reading people.

He managed to get a copy of Eddie’s schedule (the woman at the front desk seemed equally as judgmental and suspicious, so Steve lied and said it was to give to his girlfriend. She didn’t seem to believe that either), and then headed to his first class before the bell rang. So far so good, he figured. 

But then class started, and Steve remembered how much he hated school. He sat and pretended to listen to the teacher until the forty minutes were up. 

There was a quiz in math next period, but thankfully Steve actually knew what he was doing. Math was something he understood relatively well. It was easier for him than the other subjects, at least. Plus, since he’d started hanging out with Dustin, he’d gotten a lot more booksmart just through, like, osmosis or something. For example, he knew the word osmosis.

Nobody really talked to him in class, but maybe that was for the best. Steve wasn’t really much of an actor, and he didn’t know Eddie well enough to accurately impersonate him. Plus, when people did interact with him, they were usually just calling him a freak or whatever, even though Steve wasn’t doing anything. People shit on Eddie just for existing.

The day went by swiftly and with relatively little issue - that was, until lunch. 

At least Steve knew Eddie enough to remember where he sat - the Hellfire table, with the other freaks. Eddie was walking on tables and making a scene like twice a week, talking about the same shit over and over to his little sheep who always listened intently to his ramblings. 

Steve always wondered why the people at the table seemed to encourage his behavior. Mostly they ignored it, but there were always a few who seemed impressed. The young kids. 

Steve couldn’t believe Dustin had become one of the sheep. 

He loved Dustin, obviously. He’d do anything for Dustin, and yet - Dustin was in a new phase of his life. High school. Damn. Those were prime identity years for Steve. He wasn’t sure how much Dustin would change, or which clique he’d be adopted into. When he heard that Hellfire had adopted him after Day 1, Steve was kind of disappointed, just because he never saw the appeal of that club or the people in it. Especially Eddie. 

And now, Eddie was leaving his own mark on Dustin, and Steve couldn’t do anything about it but watch from afar. 

Until now, he guessed. 

Steve went to the Hellfire table and sat down at the head of it - that’s where Eddie always sat. Various people were gathered around already, most of whom he didn’t recognize. Mike was there, but they didn’t really look at each other. He still didn’t like Steve that much, but he was a kid - Steve didn’t take it too personally. Dustin joined them a few minutes later, actively avoiding eye contact as well. That was far more personal, and Steve wasn’t gonna stand by and let it happen. 

“Dustin, you doing alright, man?” he asked. Dustin looked over at Steve (Eddie) and nodded.

“Yeah,” he responded. He seemed…embarrassed? “I’m sorry for yelling at you guys yesterday.”

Oh. So Dustin wasn’t angry at him anymore, he was angry at himself. Does he know Eddie and I went back to the plant yet??

“It’s all good, I get it. I’m sorry, too.”

“For what?” Dustin asked, confused. 

“For, uh - overstepping, I guess,” Steve answered. 

“Munson, did you just apologize for something?” another person at the table asked. Steve turned to see someone he thought he knew, but couldn't place his name. “This is a first.”

Shit. Wait, does Eddie really never apologize? Figures -

“He’s always had a soft spot for Henderson,” another student added. 

“You weren’t overstepping, Eddie,” Dustin continued, ignoring the comments from the others. “I just wanted -”

“We don’t have to harp on it,” Steve interrupted. Hey, at least I’m crushing the thing Eddie does where he never lets people finish a thought. “Let’s just forget it.”

“Thanks,” Dustin said. “And it seems like you survived the night despite having to be civil with Steve for ten minutes.” Yeah, ten minutes. If only.

“I wasn’t sure for a minute there, but yeah. We made it through.”

Steve kept to himself the rest of lunch, occasionally chatting with Dustin or Gareth - that was the one dude’s name. Apparently, there was band practice on Saturday. Steve had no idea Corroded Coffin was still together. 

He thought he was doing alright, all things considered. He almost believed he’d make it through the whole day undetected. 

How foolish of him. 

___________________________________

Dustin was first clued in that something was wrong when he heard that Eddie had showed up in a car other than his infamous van. Since Dustin was always one to ride the curiosity voyage, he’d gone out to the parking lot between periods to see for himself. 

Eddie’s van wasn’t there. A totally different, unrecognizable car was parked in his place. That was weird in itself - Eddie always took that spot, and he didn’t have access to any other cars. Dustin shrugged and started walking back to the school, and that’s when he noticed something even weirder. 

Steve’s car. 

Dustin rationalized it as best as he could. Maybe Steve lent Robin the car, even though she didn’t have her license yet. Seemed improbable, but possible. Eddie could have stolen Steve’s car for the day. That one was more likely, but then why wasn't it in the right parking spot?

Lunch gave him even more information. 

Eddie was nice to Dustin, sure. But he wasn’t that nice. He still teased Dustin in a way that made him feel praised, somehow. Like - way to go, buddy. You’re a weirdo like me. And Gareth was right, Eddie never apologized. 

But Dustin knew someone who did. 

At lunch, Eddie didn’t seem to know anything about Dungeons and Dragons, and he was quiet. Like, way too quiet. Mike talked about Lucas joining the basketball team, and Eddie didn’t give his usual tirade about how sports teams are poisoning the school. Instead, he was supportive. He also didn’t remember that band practice was the next day, and Corroded Coffin had band practice every Saturday without fail. 

Dustin thought at first that maybe, Eddie had just been crazy high off something. Something that Dustin hadn’t seen him on before. In any case, there was definitely something he was keeping secret about the night prior with Steve. Dustin just had no idea what. 

The mystery continued to unfold right after the final bell of the day, when the stupid bullies approached Dustin yet again. He rolled his eyes at their arrival. 

“What now, you imbeciles?” Dustin asked, passively. He’d tried several ways to fight back in the past, and nothing really worked, but he knew that the best way to get a bully to lose interest is to pretend he didn’t care. 

“Look who’s all tough,” Chad grinned devilishly. “Are you waiting on your guardians to show up and save you again?” 

“What?” Dustin didn’t know how they knew about that. 

“Harrington and the Freak,” Chad answered. “They tried to give us a good scare last night.”

“They did?” Dustin asked, his heart sinking. 

“What, like you didn’t ask them to?”

“Actually, I specifically asked them not to,” Dustin sighed. Those idiots. Chad and his buddies circled around Dustin, trapping him against the wall with no escape in sight. One of them looked in the distance and rolled his eyes. 

“Speak of the devil,” he said. The group all turned towards his gaze to see Eddie strolling straight towards them, a somehow casual fury in his eyes. Eddie’s anger was usually a lot more intense and frazzled. This was more like a guy who’d had enough. A guy who’d seen some shit far worse than bullying and was now unfazed by high school drama.

Eddie approached the circle and wiggled his way in until he was face to face with Chad.

“What do you want, Munson?” he asked. 

“I told you. Leave the kid alone, or else,” he replied.

“Or else, what? Are you gonna curse me or something?” The group laughed. Everyone thought they were so smart, making the same jokes about Eddie. Angry, unhinged Eddie who Dustin had seen carefully and quietly work on campaigns on multiple occasions. He only acted crazy when he had an audience. 

“If that’s what it takes,” Eddie shrugged. “Or I could, you know, tell everyone about the time you threw up all over Stacy Williams at the New Years party.” Chad’s eyes widened. 

“How do you even know about that?” Eddie smirked, then continued. 

“Right place, right time I guess. I mean, I was at least in a better place than Stacy Williams that night -”

“Okay fine, I’ll leave him alone,” Chad said. Eddie let go of the guy and took a step back, triumphant. Chad recovered, then delivered one final, unoriginal blow. “Freak.” Spit flew out of his mouth as he said the word. Chad was the worst, and nobody liked him anyway. He walked off with his minions, pathetically defeated. 

“Sorry, Dustin. I know you didn’t want me to -”

“It’s okay. Thanks,” Dustin replied. “I think he might actually lay off now.”

“Cool,” his friend said with a smile. He turned to leave, but Dustin only let him get a step or two before calling out to him. 

Dustin had heard the story about Chad and Stacy before, and he knew who had told it to him. 

“Steve?”

“Yeah?” His friend turned back to Dustin nonchalantly, before his eyes widened. “Oh, shit.”

“I knew it. Tell me everything.”

______________________________________

Eddie slept in until noon, a luxury he usually didn’t have on Fridays. Well, he used to sleep in until noon on Fridays a lot, but then he didn’t graduate. 

This time, however, he could sleep guilt-free, knowing that Steve’s shift wasn’t until 12:30. With a full night’s rest under his belt, he felt a bit more at peace about the whole situation, somehow. 

Maybe it was because, out of the two of them, Eddie had a much better deal than Steve. 

He wondered how school was going, and if Steve had gotten a taste of his own medicine. Maybe having to experience constant bullying would make him understand how much of an asshole he’d been. One could only hope. 

Eddie climbed out of bed, chose the least offensive outfit he owned (plain black t-shirt and black jeans), put the green vest on (he far preferred his Dio one), and headed out the door. He hadn’t even looked in the mirror or anything. He avoided it on purpose. But, alas, he caught his reflection in the rearview mirror of his van as he backed out of Forest Hills, and that’s when he realized he’d left Steve’s hair a fucking mess. 

Seriously, not once had Steve’s hair ever looked like this. Eddie didn’t even know it could look like this. It was…really bad??? How much time did Steve invest in making this shit look good every day? What the hell??

Eddie started to realize why Steve had been so upset the night before about the conditioner thing. 

Even though it wasn’t his hair, technically, and any embarrassment Eddie faced today would have zero consequences, he took a minute to make it look somewhat decent. He wanted to screw Harrington over, of course, but he also wanted to see what a normal day was like for someone like Steve. 

He’d cause chaos in other ways, he promised himself. 

He pulled into Family Video, feeling relatively confident as he walked in. How hard could it be, right? It was just movies. Eddie watched a lot of movies. He’d make sure Steve kept his job - that was the deal. He didn’t want to keep up his end of the bargain, but he was scared of what Steve would do in retaliation. 

School and job must stay intact. Non-negotiable. But everything else was fair game. 

“You’re late, Harrington,” Keith said as Eddie walked in. He looked at his watch - it was 12:31.

“Barely,” he responded before regretting it. Fuck. I’m bad at this.

“Watch it,” Keith warned. Eddie quickly backed off and headed behind the counter. He wasn’t sure what else there was to do other than handle customers. He figured if Keith wanted him to do something else, he’d say something. 

Nobody came in for the first half hour. Eddie was bored. He thought about asking Keith if he could watch one of the movies, then shut that thought down before it left his lips. He wished he’d brought a book. How the hell did Harrington survive this job when it was so dull?? He wondered if having Robin around made it more bearable. She was due to show up after school around 3pm.

He felt a major reprieve when Keith asked him to put the returns back to their rightful spots on the shelves. It gave him something to do, and he was so excited to be doing something that he got it done in record-breaking time, apparently. 

“All set,” Eddie had said once he’d put the last tape on the shelf. Keith eyed him suspiciously. 

“Really?” he asked. Eddie nodded. “That was fast. Did you just put them all in random spots again?” Jesus Christ. I’m surprised Harrington hasn’t lost this job all by himself. 

“No, they’re all in the right place. You can check if you want.” Eddie knew they were all correct, because he’d been in this store so many damn times. He probably knew it better than Steve. No, he definitely knew it better than Steve. 

Keith double checked a few rows before he believed Eddie’s words. He nodded, clearly impressed. 

Then, a customer came in - someone he knew. Rick. 

“Hey, man!” Eddie greeted him without thinking about it. 

Rick, or “Reefer Rick,” was the guy that got Eddie into the whole dealing thing. He was Eddie’s supplier, and he was a good friend. Well, he was a friend anyway. 

“Hey…” Rick responded, confused at “Steve’s” enthusiasm. 

“Cheech and Chong, right?” Eddie asked, knowing that was Rick’s usual. “We just got it back so it’s actually right here.” Rick looked impressed that an employee remembered him, but Eddie knew for a fact he was a regular here, and his appearance was kind of hard to forget. 

He rang him out. He probably did it wrong on the computer, but whatever. 

“Have a good day, man,” Rick said as he left. 

A woman came in after that, looking for something to watch with her boyfriend. Eddie rambled on about a few titles, asking her about the boyfriend and what he liked, then what she liked, before providing multiple recommendations and his reasoning behind them. She chose one, rented it, and left the store. 

Damn. I’m actually really good at this shit. Eddie wondered if he’d found his calling. He deserved this job way more than Harrington. 

“Steve,” Keith called from the back room, where he’d been doing paperwork and rewinding tapes. “What’s gotten into you today?”

“What do you mean?” Eddie asked. 

“I mean,” Keith continued. “You’re staying busy instead of slacking off. You’re remembering customers, and you didn’t hit on that girl at all like you usually would. You even gave her a really good recommendation. I thought you didn’t know anything about Star Wars?” 

Seriously, how the hell has Harrington not been fired yet? Eddie also took note of Steve not knowing about Star Wars, which may have been his worst offense yet, in Eddie’s eyes. 

“Yeah, well. I’m really trying,” Eddie responded. He wasn’t, really. This job was stupid easy. But also, he was doing it, because that was the deal. 

“Keep up the good work,” Keith said. “If you do, I’ll start letting you pick your shifts.”

Eddie’s eyes widened. He loved praise. He loved being told he was doing well, it just didn’t happen much outside of Hellfire. 

“Noted. Thanks,” he replied. 

And then it hit him - Eddie had set out to ruin Steve’s life, and instead he got him a promotion. Fuck. I’m really bad at this whole revenge thing.

(next chapter)

______________________________________

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[hairstevington]

LMAO BESTIE IM DECEASED 😂 Poor Dustin just wants his friends to like each other hahaha

[steddie-fanfic-recs]

Freaky Friday (Steddie's Version)

by hairstevington

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationship: Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson, Steve Harrington & Dustin Henderson, Robin Buckley & Steve Harrington, Eddie Munson & Dustin Henderson Character: Steve Harrington, Eddie Munson, Dustin Henderson, Robin Buckley, The Party (Stranger Things), Hellfire Club (Stranger Things), Steve Harrington's Parents, Wayne Munson, Mike Wheeler, Lucas Sinclair Additional Tags: Robin Buckley & Steve Harrington Are Best Friends, Inspired by Freaky Friday (2003), Enemies to Lovers, Slow Burn, Revenge, Gay Panic, Feelings Realization, Sexual Tension, Protective Eddie Munson, Steve Harrington & Dustin Henderson Friendship, Bisexual Steve Harrington, Protective Steve Harrington, Dustin Henderson & Eddie Munson Friendship, Steve Harrington & Eddie Munson Acting as Dustin Henderson's Parental Figures, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Angst and Humor, Bickering, Hate to Love, Canon Related, Canon Compliant, During Canon, Alternate Canon, it's basically canon except they're gay, also no body swapping in the show haha, POV Alternating, POV Third Person Limited, Bodyswap, Forced Bonding, Backstory Words: 36,767 Chapters: 10/10

Summary

Dustin is fed up when his two friends, Eddie and Steve, hate each other for stupid reasons. The universe decides to bring them together by having them switch bodies and quite literally live in each other's shoes. Will their hatred for each other inspire revenge? Or will it ultimately give them a chance to see the other in a new light, and make them realize that maybe they're not so different after all? (Hint: The answer is yes to both)

[ao3feed-steve-eddie]

by hairstevington

Dustin is fed up when his two friends, Eddie and Steve, hate each other for stupid reasons. The universe decides to bring them together by having them switch bodies and quite literally live in each other's shoes. Will their hatred for each other inspire revenge? Or will it ultimately give them a chance to see the other in a new light, and make them realize that maybe they're not so different after all? (Hint: The answer is yes to both)

Words: 6937, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Series: Part 7 of Steddie

Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: Steve Harrington, Eddie Munson, Dustin Henderson, Robin Buckley, The Party (Stranger Things), Hellfire Club (Stranger Things), Steve Harrington's Parents, Wayne Munson, Mike Wheeler, Lucas Sinclair

Relationships: Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson, Steve Harrington & Dustin Henderson, Robin Buckley & Steve Harrington, Dustin Henderson/Eddie Munson, Robin Buckley/Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson, Steve Harrington/Dustin Henderson/Eddie Munson

Additional Tags: Robin Buckley & Steve Harrington Are Best Friends, Inspired by Freaky Friday (2003), Enemies to Lovers, Slow Burn, Revenge, Gay Panic, Feelings Realization, Sexual Tension, Protective Eddie Munson, Steve Harrington & Dustin Henderson Friendship, Bisexual Steve Harrington, Protective Steve Harrington, Dustin Henderson & Eddie Munson Friendship, Steve Harrington & Eddie Munson Acting as Dustin Henderson's Parental Figures, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Angst and Humor, Bickering, Hate to Love, Canon Related, Canon Compliant, During Canon, Alternate Canon, it's basically canon except they're gay, also no body swapping in the show haha, POV Alternating, POV Third Person Limited

[cpressmn]

i couldn't find a general list of writing prompts i was interested in, so i decided to make my own list of steddie prompts i'd actually want to write.

request away, dears ✨

prompts below the cut because i don't want a huge ass post taking up space as my pinned

eddie gets to actually kiss steve instead of saying "make him pay" - ✘

wayne pov of their relationship (or any outsider pov really)

fake dating. i will find a way to make it original idc idc

secret relationship (where no one knows, where everybody already knows, in high school, accidentally secret because they thought everyone could tell, etc etc etc any version is just great!!!)

steve losing his mind seeing eddie dressed up at jopper's wedding

exes (i already have a few ideas for this trope but feel free to request something specific)

dancing together

their relationship unfolding through a series of voicemails, notes/letters, or texts

drunk steve shenanigans that torture eddie

steve has to cancel their first date because of a migraine. eddie comes over to take care of him anyway

comparing hand sizes

either of them admitting they had a crush on the other in high school

steve getting jealous over how close eddie and robin are getting

eddie’s never been kissed before/is a virgin and steve offers to help. misunderstandings ensue

dustin as the middleman to steddie's pining

steddie + buckingham double date

steve blurting out "i love you" on accident (could be pre-relationship or established)

wearing each other's clothes

sitting on each other's laps - ✘

road trip!!!

body swap au (either a la freaky friday or one of them switches with a version of themselves from another universe. bonus if they're together in only one of those universes)

el teaches eddie how to make friendship bracelets so he makes one for steve

eddie gifting steve with random trinkets (that he stole)

steve buying eddie a gift, or gifts plural

[steddieficfind]

Anonymous asked:

For 1070, I can think of two bodyswap fics off the top of my head, but it's been a while so I'm not sure if either is exactly the one they're searching for, hopefully one is.

You're the Ultimate by weird_witchcraft

On Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/42955929

and Freaky Friday (Steddie Version) by hairstevington

On Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/45521902/chapters/114542098

Send us an ask if these don't sound right & Remember to comment, bookmark, and leave kudos!

Hihi! I'm looking for this fic that's been haunting me a while but I haven't been able to find, Eddie and Steve switch bodies, everyone finally realises how messed up Steve is post all the upside down stuff, hearing, sight, his scars pulling on his back, I think Eddie also realises he has dyslexia? And some sort of chronic pain I can't remember if it was joint pain but it was something like that? And migraines.

Request 1070! Send us an ask if you recognize this fic!

[hairstevington]

Freaky Friday (Steddie's Version) - chapter 4!!

Eddie Munson x Steve Harrington

Summary: Eddie has a conversation with Robin that makes him realize there's a lot more to Steve's life than he originally thought. Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Link to Ao3

Word Count: 3.2K, more chapters to come

Warnings: Enemies to lovers, slow burn, canon universe (more or less) set before season 4, body swap, they are idiots, ANGST, revenge (attempted, see: they are idiots), POV switching

A/N: Omg not updating has been agonizing for me but it's midterm season and I just spent the weekend in NYC where I saw MAYA HAWKE IN CONCERT (!!!) She is amazing we love her, this one's for you Maya <3

“Uhhhh…” Steve didn’t even know where to start with his explanation. He looked around at the students bustling through the halls. “Maybe we should -”

“Drama club room, let’s go.”

Dustin led Steve through the hallways of Hawkins High to the drama club room. Once inside, Steve noticed the way the Hellfire table was arranged, including Eddie’s throne at the end of it. Steve chuckled to himself, thinking it was absurd. He really loves this power trip, doesn’t he?

Curiosity tugged at him, though, and a few moments later he was sitting in said throne to test it out. You know, to see if it was as lush as it looked.

(It was)

“Damn, this thing is cozy,” Steve said, admiring the soft velvet on the arms. 

“Watch it - if Eddie finds out you sat in his chair he’ll totally -”

“Technically I’m not sitting in the chair, he is,” Steve argued. “And he’s allowed to sit here whenever he wants, right? My actual ass is nowhere near this thing. It could be anywhere, actually. Maybe he got me arrested already or something -”

“Jesus, Steve - shut up about the chair and your ass and just tell me what happened already!” Dustin exclaimed, exasperated. “After I left. Then what?”

Steve recounted the story to the best of his ability. The bullies, the power plant, the lightning, the swap. He intentionally left out the shower thing, due to him and Eddie’s agreement. Thankfully, Steve had gotten pretty good at keeping secrets and pretending things never happened. 

“So, yeah. I went to school and he’s been at work now for uhhh -” Steve looked at his watch to double check the time. “Two and a half hours, just about. If he even went to work, I mean. I don’t trust the guy.”

“So you’ve said. Multiple times,” Dustin deadpanned. Steve winced at how much his dislike for Eddie annoyed Dustin, but it’s just the way it was. Eddie was kind of an asshole to Steve. 

“Sorry, I’m trying, man, but he just -”

“I know, it’s fine,” Dustin interrupted him. “Okay, so you swapped bodies. How do we get you to switch back?”

“If we knew that, we would have done it,” Steve said with a roll of his eyes.

“Okay, smartass,” Dustin replied. “So we look into when the next big storm is, and we get you guys back to the plant -”

“Woaaah, woah, woah,” Steve interjected. “You want us to get struck by lightning again? Dude, it like - it really sucked the first time.”

“So you just want to stay like this forever, then?”

“I’m just saying there’s gotta be other options,” Steve pleaded, desperate for Dustin to give him the real answer. The kid was smart. He’d figure something out. Preferably something immediate and painless.

“It’s just a theory,” Dustin replied. “Our first theory. It’s a start , Steve.”

“Fine,” he agreed. “So, we go track down a weatherman and ask him when we'll get lightning again or something?” Dustin sighed, squeezing his eyes tightly closed, then relaxed them.

“No, we don’t track down a weatherman. The weather is on the TV or in the paper, idiot.” Steve’s look of realization - raised eyebrows, mouth in an o-shape, slight nod - was one Dustin had seen several times on Steve’s face. It looked much different on Eddie’s. Foreign. Incorrect. 

Weird. 

“Oh, yeah that makes sense,” he replied.

“We’ll look up the weather later,” Dustin proposed. “But first, we’re going to the video store.”

-

Robin arrived at Family Video at 2:58pm - two minutes ahead of her shift. Eddie had been waiting patiently, adjusting to the boredom of it all, and finding joy in little things to pass the time. Keith had left around 2:30, but nobody had come in since then. He could have left too, but he didn’t. He considered it, but there was a nagging voice in the back of his head telling him to do the right thing. He hated that stupid voice. Eddie always felt like it didn’t matter whether he did the right or wrong thing, he’d always just get the short end of the stick either way. But, as much as he wanted to be the tough-as-nails asshole he presented himself as, and as much as he wanted to ruin Steve’s life, he knew deep down he wasn’t going to do anything. Eddie had ruined his own life. He knew what that felt like already, and he didn’t care to feel that downfall a second time.

So, a new tactic. He was going to be a good person. He was going to try to be a good person, anyway. ‘Kill them with kindness,’ right? He’d already proved that Steve sucked at his job, and that Eddie could do it better. What other ways could Eddie show Steve that he could be some preppy pretty-faced rich kid too, given the right resources? What if Eddie just…stole Steve’s life a little bit? Would that be so terrible? 

“Hey,” Eddie said as Robin entered the store. 

“Hey, Dingus.” She hardly looked at him as she sped past him to the back room. “You owe me for last night. That old guy we hate came in here and made me describe the plot of like ten different movies before settling on one again.” He followed her voice into the back room, where she dropped her backpack. 

“Yikes,” he responded, even though Eddie would have probably been happy doing that, depending on the movies. Robin joined Eddie behind the counter a moment later. 

“Okay, so - wait woah, ” she said once she looked at him for the first time. “Steve, your hair. What happened to it?”

“What do you mean?” Eddie knew exactly what she meant. It was frizzy and huge, with bits and pieces sticking up every which way. He looked like a mad scientist.

“You look like Doc Brown,” she said, echoing Eddie’s thoughts. He smirked. “And you’re smiling about it? Who are you and what have you done with Harrington?” 

For a moment, Eddie thought the jig was up already regarding his identity. He’d barely said anything and she knew by the hair alone. Figures, he thought to himself. 

He assumed she’d keep pestering him about it, but she dropped it immediately, to Eddie’s surprise. She started sorting the return bin, chattering away about her day at school. 

“Oh, yeah. I heard Mrs. Lipton is a total hardass,” Eddie replied after she’d finished complaining about a class policy.

“Steve, you literally had her last year,” Robin countered. “Did you stay out all night again or something?”

“Yeah, something like that,” Eddie said. “Right, yeah. I remember now - Mrs. Lipton’s class. That was torture.”

“It’s probably worse than when we actually got tortured,” Robin remarked, so casually that Eddie thought it must have been a joke. He thought about how Steve and Robin had worked together at the mall, and guessed that was what she was referring to.

“Definitely.” He hoped a generic, non-committal response would suffice. Robin was cool, but sometimes he didn’t know how to talk to her because she was just as sarcastic as Eddie, with far less energy in the delivery. He had no idea when she was serious.

“Although, I just remembered the bonesaw,” she said as she continued to shuffle through tapes. “Actual torture was worse. But only by a little.” She smirked, so Eddie did the same, but holy fucking shit? What?

There wasn’t a single way Eddie could make sense of that, unless it was some weird long-running inside joke. It had to be that. Right?

Right?!

A customer came in, successfully distracting Eddie from his internal monologue for the time being. 

“Hellooo, how can I help you?” he quickly asked, surprising himself at how well he’d adapted to the job. He finished handling the customer, intentionally asking Robin to ring them up so he could peer over her shoulder and double check how she used the system. 

Yeah, he’d been doing it wrong. Ah well. 

The customer left, and Robin sighed, searching for a new topic of conversation. She settled on -

“So, how’s Joanna?” She was leaning back on the counter, without a hint of jealousy on her face. Eddie wondered if she and Steve really were just friends, but he doubted it, for some reason. They seemed close, and kind of perfect for each other. They’d worked two jobs together, had weird inside jokes about torture, were brutally honest with each other…

It didn’t add up. 

“She’s good. Really good,” Eddie answered, having no idea who Joanna was. 

“Better than Maggie?” she asked. Eddie’s eyes widened. He knew Steve got around in high school, but he thought that after graduation he’d cooled things down. Especially after that Scoops Ahoy getup - Eddie hoped that Steve had lost his touch. He’d relished in the thought that Steve had peaked. But nope. 

“I dunno,” Eddie answered, lost in thought. He kept looking at Robin’s reactions. She wasn’t fazed in the slightest talking about Steve’s sexcapades. 

Robin was pretty. She was smart. Funny. Why wasn’t Steve going for her? Eddie couldn’t figure it out. At first he assumed Steve was leading her on, and that she had an unrequited crush on him that he held over her. But it didn’t seem that way, now that he was talking to her. Maybe they’d already had a history? Maybe they’d dated in the past and realized they were better as friends? But WHY -

“Steve, you’re so lucky,” Robin said with a sigh. “You’ve got all these beautiful girls at your fingertips, meanwhile I can’t even muster up the courage to look at Vicki for more than 5 seconds at a time or I feel like I’m gonna faint.” Eddie took in her words slowly, watching her as she hopped onto the counter and played around with the rings on her fingers. Eddie missed his own rings. He would have been fidgeting with them himself if he wasn’t occupying Steve’s ringless hands. “What?” she asked, after noticing him staring at her. Whoops.

“Uh, nothing,” Eddie replied. I wasn’t supposed to hear that. I’m not supposed to know this. He felt immediately guilty knowing Robin had come out to him basically without her consent. The ethics of it all were weird and complicated, but it still felt wrong. As she continued to talk about being put next to Vicki in the marching band and how excited she was for it, Eddie stared into the distance and tried not to let guilt eat away at him until he was hollow inside. 

“You’re acting…weird. Is everything okay?” Her question snapped him out of his own thoughts once again, and he nodded, meekly. “Steve, I know something is wrong. Spill it.”

Eddie wasn’t sure why he directed the conversation where he did. He just figured that, if he was headed to hell anyway, he might as well commit to it. Time for some answers.

“Can we talk about the time we got…uh…tortured?” Robin’s face was curious at first, before it shifted into sincerity. She nodded. 

“Yeah, we can. I just know we usually don’t mention it. Is that what’s going on today? Did you have another nightmare or something?”

God, their friendship was so precious it hurt. A half hour ago, Eddie would have been delighted to learn that Steve Harrington had run to his best friend about nightmares, but now it felt different. 

“Mhm, yeah,” Eddie answered. “The, uh. The bonesaw.” 

“Shit, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought it up,” Robin replied with guilt on her face. Oh, no. Now I’ve made her feel guilty when I’m the one at fault here. Shit. Balls. Abort!

“Not your fault,” Eddie said quickly. “I promise. Just. That’s a really crazy thing we went through, you know?”

“Yeah, absolutely,” she agreed. “I mean, we’ve been through a lot, you and me. Secret spy messages, evil Russians, giant monsters, girls with superpowers, -” Oh, she’s got to be kidding me. No. That’s not real. No way. “- Dustin calling his girlfriend ‘Suzypoo’,” she finished with a smile. He’d heard about ‘Suzypoo,’ and the name made him cringe every time. Eddie would have laughed, had his entire mind not just been blown. 

Out of everyone at the school, Robin was one of the few who didn’t look down on Eddie. They didn’t talk much - only in passing, really - but she treated him like any other human being. And here, at Family Video, she was being incredibly kind to Steve. Eddie wasn’t sure if she would have treated Eddie the same, and now he desperately wanted to know. 

Here’s the thing about Eddie - once he had a thought, it ached in him until he acted on it. It got him into plenty of trouble, but otherwise he just felt…itchy. 

“Nah, you’re good,” he responded. I have to know. “Hey, so you know Eddie Munson?”

“Uhhh, yeah.” She was keeping up with his rapid switching of conversation topics with ease. “Why do you ask?”

“Just, uh. Just curious. Dustin talks about him all the time, you know.” She nodded in agreement. Eddie continued - he couldn’t seem to stop. “What do you think of the guy?” Robin was still unfazed by this line of questioning, somehow. Eddie felt a desperate urge to keep pressing until he felt resistance. The ache was insatiable.

“I think he’s - I guess I don’t really have an opinion?” 

This shocked Eddie more than anything she’d said so far, including the torture thing somehow. 

“You don’t have an opinion on him?” 

“Yeah,” she confirmed with a shrug. “Like, he’s just a guy. We go to school together. I don’t really know him.” 

Just a guy?! Eddie was offended for some reason. He’d never been referred to as just a guy before. 

“You’re not, like, scared of him or - you don’t think he’s stupid, or a freak, or a druggie, or, like, a future serial killer? You don’t think he’s insane or brainwashing the youth into some kind of satanist cult? None of that?” Those were the kind of descriptors he’d heard his whole six years (and counting!) at Hawkins High. Just a guy? Fuck no. 

“I never really bought into that,” Robin replied. “But it certainly sounds like you did.” She rolled her eyes. Oh my god, this is the coolest chick I’ve ever met. “Come on, Steve. I thought I knocked that bitchy judgmental shit out of you.” Please be my friend and not Harrington’s, I beg you.

“Old habits die hard,” Eddie responded. She still wasn’t fazed. One more question. “Okay, so like - hypothetically…” Robin huffed out a short laugh and turned to Eddie, waiting. “If we had never become friends, and we were all still in high school, who would you rather have been friends with? Me or Eddie?”

“This is about Dustin, isn’t it? Steve, for the last time, you don’t have to feel jealous or threatened by Eddie.” Wait, wait, wait. Hold the goddamn phone. Harrington is jealous of me??? He grinned, which probably made him look crazy, but he didn’t care. Steve, for whatever reason, was jealous of Eddie, and now he could die happy. “Dustin loves you, okay? You’ve saved his life - like, many times. Just because he has another older-brother figure at school doesn’t mean he forgot about you. I promise. ”

Well, that was a lot of information. He’d deal with it later, making a mental note to confront Steve about the torture and the monsters and the girl with superpowers and saving Dustin’s life the next time they saw each other. First, he had to get back to his initial point.

“Answer the question, Robin. Me or Eddie?” He could feel himself pushing his luck, going from annoying and quirky into rightfully suspicious territory. She groaned and rolled her eyes so hard she looked possessed. 

“You are such a dumbass, Steve. A few years ago? Yeah, it probably would have been Eddie just because you were such a douchebag in Click’s class. But then you and I were brought together by the great powers of the universe, - or, Scoops Ahoy and the Russians, I guess - and I found out you’re actually my platonic soulmate, and I’m here with you, dingus. Not Eddie. Can we move on?”

Before Eddie could even process the irony of her comments (and how giddy her answer made him), the front door opened. The pair turned towards it, ready to handle whatever customers were coming in. 

Eddie’s jaw dropped. He knew the people in front of him, and he had to say - he preferred the strangers. He was just getting a taste of this life, and he didn’t want it to end, yet.

“I honestly didn’t expect you actually to still be here,” Eddie watched himself say in the doorway. 

“Okay, what is going on?” Robin asked. “Why wouldn’t Steve still be here? Am I being pranked or something? Steve, you know I hate -”

“That’s not Steve,” Dustin said, pointing at the man beside Robin. Her face contorted into confusion. 

“What?!”

“You know?” Eddie asked Dustin, who nodded. 

“He figured it out,” Steve added. 

“Smart kid,” Eddie acknowledged. 

“I mean, yeah,” Dustin replied. “But Steve is also a really bad actor.”

“Shocking,” Eddie said. Robin pressed her fingers to her temples. 

“If someone doesn’t tell me what’s going on in the next ten seconds I swear to god I will -”

“Eddie and Steve swapped bodies,” Dustin explained, pointing at the two men. 

There was a solid beat of heavy silence. Nobody knew what to say. Eddie finally settled on -

“Uh, yeah. That is in fact what happened.”

He looked at Robin’s astonished face. She didn’t even bother going through the denial phase of all this - if what she’d been saying was true, she probably had just learned to accept all batshit insanity. Then, Eddie realized that must have been why Steve had been so passive about the whole thing the night before. The bodyswap thing was weird and awful, but it wasn’t, you know, torture by Russians.  

“So that’s why you were asking all those questions,” Robin deduced after a minute. “Wow. Wow, okay. But, like - oh my god.” Her expression twisted into pure fear. “Wait, but I told you -”

“I know,” Eddie said, his hands up in surrender. “I know, I’m sorry. I’m not gonna say anything, I promise.”

“What did she tell you?” Dustin asked, curiously. Eddie looked at Steve, who was also frozen. Eddie had to think fast. 

“About, um. The monsters,” he said while flashing reassuring eyes at Robin. She relaxed ever so slightly. 

“Yeah, sorry,” she said once she started breathing again. “I was telling Steve - I mean, I was telling him about - well, about what we went through over the summer, and I just -”

“That’s okay,” Dustin excused immediately. “Eddie isn’t going to tell anyone, right?”

“Cross my heart,” Eddie said, genuinely. Who the hell was he gonna tell, anyway? He briefly caught eyes with Robin once again, who stared at him tentatively. She was back to fidgeting with her rings, eyes darting from Eddie to Dustin to Steve and back again. “Promise.”

Her eyes found Eddie and stayed fixed on him long enough to accept his words as truth. Then, she nodded.

(next chapter)

___________________________

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[hairstevington]

Freaky Friday (Steddie's Version) - chapter 2!

Eddie Munson x Steve Harrington

Summary: Eddie and Steve have swapped bodies. They have to shower and it's weird. Time to set some ground rules, I guess. Chapter 1, Link to Ao3

Word Count: 3K, more chapters to come

Warnings: Enemies to lovers, slow(ish??) burn, canon universe (more or less) set before season 4, me adding in lore than the show didn't touch on such as how Eddie and Steve met etc, body swap, ANGST, revenge, POV switching, honestly just tons of fun lmao

A/N: WOW this got so much attention and that makes me happy because I love writing it. I will definitely keep this one going, I have soooo many ideas. Stay tuned for next chapter, because it's going to be a wild one!

“I gotta get out of these clothes, dude,” Eddie said, itching at the stiff material of the vest and Steve’s jeans. “I’m gonna shower, I promise I won’t ogle your naked body or anything, I just wanna get clean.”

“Yeah, me too,” Steve agreed. “Why do you wear these chains? They’re weighing me down, I keep having to pull these goddamn pants back up.” He said this as he demonstrated what he meant. Eddie had never really thought about it much. Staring at himself was making him feel weird. 

“Okay, well you have a shower at home, don’t you?” Eddie asked as he took the vest off and threw it to the floor. “Probably something voice activated with a robot butler who hands you a fresh towel.”

“Jesus, Munson, you’re so dramatic,” Steve groaned. “My bathroom is normal.”

“Whatever you say,” Eddie dismissed. Steve’s shirt came off next, joining the vest on the floor. Eddie walked back down the hall to the bathroom. He felt like he wouldn’t be able to think until he was dirt-free and in his own clothes. 

“I can’t go home like this!” Steve shouted from the living room. Eddie smirked, then turned around. 

“Why not?” he hissed. “Is Daddy Harrington gonna beat you up for looking like that? No, sorry. Would he beat me up for having the audacity to enter his perfect home?” Steve’s jaw clenched, and there was a look in his eyes that made Eddie immediately feel like he’d gone too far, and not in a fun way. 

“Watch it,” he warned. “My dad’s out of town, but my mom would probably call the cops, yeah.”

“Charming,” Eddie replied as he turned back around and continued his journey to the bathroom. He unfastened the jeans and shimmied himself out of them, leaving him only in Steve’s boxers. 

Steve’s body was far more toned and muscular than Eddie’s was. It was clear he worked hard to keep himself looking good, even post-graduation. It was the kind of body that probably hadn’t so much as seen a carb in the last ten years. 

Eddie didn’t really care about any of that, of course. But also, almost everybody wanted to look like this, deep down. 

As he stood there in boxers alone, he began to feel the trepidation that Steve referred to about seeing each other naked. It definitely felt like a weird, nonconsensual line to cross, but what other option did they have?

Eddie heard his own rough hand clamor against the doorframe, the rings making a distinct noise against the wood.

“Hey, asshole, I'm serious,” Steve said. “I’m trying to be a good guy here, and you just -”

“I see what you mean,” Eddie interrupted. He also in that moment realized that Steve was right in pointing out the amount of times Eddie cut him off. Oops. “About the showering thing. It’s weird. Let’s talk about it.”

Steve was clearly stunned by Eddie’s rapid turnaround into compliance. 

“Y-yeah, okay,” Steve stuttered.

“You have, like, a lot of chest hair,” Eddie said, looking at the newly exposed parts of him in the mirror. 

“Is that what you want to talk about? Seriously?” Steve balked. Eddie smirked. 

“No, just an observation. I don’t have much chest hair. I mean, you’ll see.”

“Okay, I think talking about it is making it worse,” Steve said, leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed. 

“Well soooorryyyy, I’ve never done this before!” Eddie exclaimed, throwing his hands up in exasperation. Steve chuckled. “What? Is my misery fun to you?”

“I mean, yeah,” he replied. “I’m laughing because this whole thing is, like - I mean, you know. It’s funny.” Eddie would never have chosen that particular word to describe their situation, but whatever. “Okay, so when I take this shirt off am I gonna see a third nipple or something?”

He wasn’t expecting Steve to make a joke like that. It caught him off guard so much he genuinely laughed. 

“I don’t have a third nipple, but are you afraid of spiders?” Steve raised one eyebrow, confused, then shook his head. “Good. I have a big one tattooed riiiight around here.” Eddie took a step forward and pushed his index finger into Steve’s chest - his own chest, really - at the approximate location of the tattoo. It was a bit of a mindfuck to make physical contact with his own self and not be able to feel one side of it. 

“Why a spider?” Steve asked with genuine interest.

“Because it looks badass,” Eddie responded. There was a far more meaningful reason, but Steve Harrington didn’t deserve to know it. He may have had Eddie’s body, but Eddie still had his mind, and thank god for that. It was dark in there sometimes. “Okay, so I’m gonna go in there -” Eddie pointed at the shower, “- and I’m gonna shut my eyes and just not think about it. Then you’re going to do the same thing, and then we’re gonna bury the whole experience deep into the depths of our souls and never talk about it ever again. Poof! Error message. Memory does not exist. Deal?”

“Works for me,” Steve agreed with a shrug. Eddie sighed deeply, then motioned for Steve to leave so he could shower in peace. 

Okay, maybe not in peace, but at least he was alone. Just him. Eddie. 

In someone else’s body. In Steve Harrington’s fucking body. 

What a nightmare.

-

Steve waited on Eddie’s couch and stared into space, the sounds of running water through the wall. He tried to wrap his head around the entire sequence of events that had led him here. If I had just let Eddie rescue Dustin, and stayed at my goddamn job, none of this would have happened.

His father really would have been so disappointed in him.

Steve thought about his first time interacting with Eddie, way back in middle school. Steve was a seventh grader, but he still hung around with the popular kids and had a decent reputation. He was funny and didn’t take things too seriously. At the school talent show, he and some buddies did a choreographed dance to the song I Will Survive, and everybody loved it. A real crowd pleaser. 

Steve sat in the audience and let the next act go, still high off his own performance, and saw a 13 year old Eddie Munson walk up on stage with his band, Corroded Coffin. His hair was buzzed, and he was a lot smaller than he was now. 

They played alright, considering they were a bunch of kids. That didn’t stop Steve’s friends from making fun of them, though. 

“Freaks,” Tommy coughed loudly into his hand. The rest of Steve’s group laughed, making other similar comments. Steve laughed with them, because that was the thing to do. Something uncomfortable stirred inside of him, but he chose to ignore it, as he continued to do throughout the rest of middle and high school. 

That was his first brush with Eddie, but it wasn’t the last. 

Yeah, he’d been a douchebag. Robin had reminded him of this enough for him to come to terms with it. He did and said a lot of shitty things, and watched in silence as his so-called friends said and did even shittier things. 

He hadn’t even noticed that the water had stopped running until Eddie poked his head back out into the living room. Steve’s jaw dropped as he watched Eddie absolutely manhandle Steve’s well-kempt locks. 

“Dude,” he announced, offended. “Fuck, I - I didn’t even think about-”

“What?” Eddie asked, concern flashing across his face. 

“My hair,” Steve explained. “What did you even use on it?” Eddie stared at him in disbelief as he stood up from the couch and reached out to feel the damage. “Jesus Christ, man, have you ever heard of conditioner?” His fingers grasped a few strands and rubbed them together, before Eddie swatted his hand away. 

“Don’t touch me.” Eddie warned, his face gravely serious.

“Technically, I’m touching myself,” Steve replied, before immediately regretting it. Eddie opened his mouth to say something, but Steve wouldn’t let him. “Stop. Whatever you’re about to say, don’t do it. I’m gonna shower now.”

So, he did. He went into the bathroom and stripped off Eddie’s shirt, seeing the spider and skull tattoo underneath for the first time. It did kinda look badass, he realized. Steve had no tattoos - although he’d thought about it a few times. He just couldn’t commit to anything he’d really want on his body forever. He continued removing clothing, placing the rings on the counter and pants on the floor. Here goes nothing, I guess. 

He tried to do what Eddie had proposed - he kept his eyes closed as often as he could and did his best not to think about it, but it was damn near impossible. He was washing a body that was foreign to him, and running his hands through hair with different length, texture, and style. The skin he was in felt completely different. Softer, in some places, like on the stomach. Rougher in others, like on the fingertips. The stubble on his chin was courser than what he’d been used to.

Same parts, different sizes and shapes.

There was basically just a bar of soap and some cheap drug store shampoo in there. Steve shuddered at the thought of his own hair being a victim of that shit - he wondered how many times his hair would have to be washed to really mess up what he’d carefully crafted over the years. 

With any luck, Steve wouldn’t have to find out. He hoped and prayed this was the first and last shower he would ever have to take in Eddie’s body. 

He dried himself off and opened the bathroom door once he was done. 

“Eddie?” he asked, unsure whether he should just walk out in the towel. It’s what Eddie had done before, but he still wanted to tread lightly. 

“In my room.” Steve followed the voice towards the sound. “I didn’t say you could come in here.” 

Apparently, Eddie had heard Steve’s approaching footsteps.

“Okay,” Steve said, backing up again. “Should I…put your clothes back on?”

“Nah,” Eddie said. Steve noted how his voice sounded from outside of himself. It was higher than he thought it would be. Eddie was speaking in a much less angry tone than he had before, which made Steve even more uneasy. “You’re in luck. Everything in here is in your size.” Steve heard shuffling of drawers before Eddie resurfaced in his doorway with jeans and a t-shirt bundled in his hands. 

The light from the bedroom shone behind him, casting shadows on his face. Steve’s face. He was only wearing pajama bottoms, which hung low on his hips. Steve’s eyes locked in on the lit cigarette resting in Eddie’s mouth. 

“I quit years ago,” he noted. 

“Yeah, well I didn’t,” Eddie responded. Steve frowned, thinking of all the times Robin had rambled on and on about the dangers of smoking and the health complications it leads to. He had promised her he wouldn’t smoke again. 

“Just -” Steve hesitated, knowing he sounded whipped. “Don’t smoke in front of Robin, okay?”

“What’s your deal with her anyway?” Eddie asked, the snark in his voice returning. 

“Friends,” Steve said with a shrug. 

“Sure. Friends.” Eddie repeated the word sarcastically, then handed the clean clothes to Steve, who didn’t have the energy to argue. “I don’t plan on seeing her, but sure. I’ll refrain from smoking in her presence, your honor.” 

“You’re gonna see her,” Steve countered, “because we work together tomorrow.” Eddie scoffed. 

“Are you seriously suggesting we just pretend to be each other? Cuz I gotta say, Harrington, that idea is pretty stupid.” 

“You got a better one, super senior?” Steve snapped. He’d been cold stepping out of the shower before, but the anger within him was keeping him warm, now. Eddie chuckled darkly. 

“Jesus Christ,” he muttered. He threw his head back and groaned. “I can’t believe this is happening with you of all people.” 

“Look, man,” Steve began, trying to express what he’d been thinking about earlier. “I know I was an asshole in high school, but a lot has changed since then.”

“Oh, I’m sure,” Eddie replied with a roll of his eyes.

“I’m serious!” Steve insisted. “And there were so many other people who treated you worse than I did.”

“You mean your friends?” Eddie countered, his words like venom. 

“They’re not my friends anymore.”

“That’s great for you, Harrington. Juuuust great. Really makes up for all the times you hung around and brushed off the shit they did.” The conversation was getting heated again, and Steve started to feel his heart pounding in his chest. “Get the fuck out of my trailer.”

Steve could have hit him. He still had pent up anger from the assholes that had hurt Dustin, and then there was the ever-growing frustration that his body and life was entrusted to someone he despised. He didn’t want to hate him - no, Steve was trying to be nice now, but since when had Eddie shown him the same effort?

“Fine.” Steve spun around and headed back to the bathroom so he could quickly slip the clothes on. They were, of course, a perfect fit. The pants were well worn and shaped to his body, the shirt soft and loose. The two men were about the same size, Steve noticed. 

“Fuck!” Eddie exclaimed from his room. Steve peeked out from the bathroom only to see Eddie trudging back out to meet him again. “I can’t miss school or I won’t graduate. And I have to graduate okay? I have to. So fine, Harrington. You win. I’ll work at Family Video tomorrow so you can keep your stupid job, and you’ll go back to high school for me. Sound good?”

Shit. Steve had no interest in going back to school. He wasn’t that good at it the first time around. 

“None of this is good, Munson.” Steve sighed, suddenly feeling very tired. Irritable. He felt a craving for cigarettes. God dammit, I have his fucking nicotine addiction. The residual smell of smoke in the trailer didn’t help. “Okay, yeah. You’ll work, I’ll go to school. We both have shit at stake.”

“Seems that way,” Eddie admitted. “Not that you’ll be any better in school than me. Maybe I should have body swapped with Nancy Wheeler or something -”

“I’m leaving.” Steve turned around and headed down the hall, picking up his car keys on the way to the front door. He paused, then turned back around. “People are gonna notice if I show up to work in your red van.”

“Yeah, like I wanna be seen showing up to school in your prissy car, Harrington,” Eddie called from out of sight. “I don’t care if people notice. Don’t let the door hit me in the ass on your way out.” 

Steve chuckled dryly at the humor and shook his head in disbelief. This was ridiculous. This was going to end in disaster. But what other choice did he have?

He got in his (nice, perfectly normal car) and drove back to his house. The light in his parent’s bedroom was on, which meant his mom had turned in for the night and would be sleeping soon. This was good, because he could sneak in without being noticed - which would surely have caused commotion. Steve wasn’t that close with his mom, but he was closer with her than he was his dad. She was just kind of distant. She didn’t really know Steve at all. If he tried to convince her of the body swap, he wouldn’t even know what he would say to prove his identity. 

Robin and Dustin on the other hand? Easy. Steve figured he could convince any of the Upside Down gang, if he had to. It was something to keep in mind when this whole thing inevitably got worse. 

He had to wake up early and go to goddamn high school in the morning. Jesus. At least he’d be leaving before his mom woke up. That crisis was averted, for now, but if this lasted through the next day he wouldn’t be so lucky.

He hoped as he crawled into bed that night that he would wake up in his own body. He wondered if this whole thing was payback for all the stupid shit he’d done years before. 

He thought that maybe, this is what he deserved.

-

Eddie hated Steve, and he hated being in Steve’s perfect, chiseled body. He hated that he had to wash the stupid green vest and put it back on in the morning, then act semi-normal at Family Video. He had to, because he did have something to lose after all. 

Wayne Munson had taken Eddie in a few years prior, and he’d been more than kind despite the amount of trouble Eddie frequently got into. Wayne didn’t ask questions about Eddie dealing drugs, or coming home after school with swollen knuckles and a chip on his shoulder. He supported Eddie through his failing senior year, then failing it again. 

But Wayne had made it abundantly clear that this year was Eddie’s last chance. If he didn’t graduate, he was cut off. 

It made sense, of course. Eddie didn’t blame Wayne for that decision. Eddie had grown complacent in high school, running Hellfire and avoiding all the future responsibilities he desperately wanted to avoid. He didn’t have much of a future anyway, so why hurdle himself towards it?

He wasn’t even bullied so much in school as much as he was avoided and hated. People thought low of him, but it was manageable. They feared him too, at least. 

He wanted to stay in his weird bubble, but if he did he’d end up on the streets, and probably be found dead somewhere. 

He wondered how he’d be treated in the world now that he looked like Steve. He imagined the difference would be vast. Of course it would be. Society was a prison for which there was no escape and no bail. 

Eddie hated Steve, and rightfully so. Steve had always been popular, charming, and adored. It was silly to think that years ago, Eddie had hoped that maybe Steve would be different. He hoped that Steve would be better than the others who looked down on anyone who didn’t come from money or who maybe looked a little different. 

The first few times Eddie had been the victim of harsh stares and rude comments, he’d looked for Steve’s face in the crowd and hoped he would speak up. Eddie gave him a few chances, and then he realized that Steve wasn’t better than those other assholes. If anything, he was worse. 

Eddie wanted to burn his whole world down.

(next chapter)

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[hairstevington]

Freaky Friday (Steddie's Version) - chapter 5!

Eddie Munson x Steve Harrington

Summary: Steve and Eddie can't keep their shit together, so Robin and Dustin take matters into their own hands. Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4- Link to Ao3

Word Count: 3.6K

Warnings: Forced proximity baybeeee, talk about implied consent/setting ground rules, Girlboss!Robin, enemies to lovers, slow burn, canon universe (more or less) set before season 4, body swap, they are idiots, ANGST, POV switching

A/N: This will be the last chapter I put on Tumblr, but I will continue the fic on Ao3 for those that would like to follow along! Please see warnings above - there is an implication in this chapter about consent and body swapping that I wanted to get out of the way so that everybody knows that's not where I'm going with this story. Respectful Kings only in this fic!!

“Okay, seriously,” Steve said, putting his hands on his hips. It was a pose that Eddie hadn’t ever done in his whole life - until now, anyway. “How could you have messed me up that badly.” 

Eddie wasn’t sure what he was referring to, until Steve walked towards him and started running his fingers through hair that used to belong to him, smoothing it out and styling as best he could without gel. 

“I told you -” Eddie said, attempting to swat Steve’s hands away to no avail. “- not to touch me.”

“Believe me, I don’t want to touch you either, Munson, but you’re making me look like a crazy person.”

“It’s just hair, Steve.” Before Steve could oppose, Eddie felt strands snag against familiar metal. “Ah! Ah, ah! Rings! Ringsringsrings!”

“Quit being a baby,” Steve mocked, releasing Eddie from his grasp and taking a step back to admire his work. “Okay, much better.”

“You do realize I could just as easily mess it up again, right?” Eddie held his hands up and mimicked circular motions above him, demonstrating just how he would do so. 

“Do it and I’ll shave your head,” Steve threatened. 

“Then I’ll shave yours,” Eddie shot back, taking a step towards Steve. 

“God dammit, can you just not be a dick for one second?”

“Nope,” Eddie responded, flashing a devilish, closed-mouthed smile. 

“Guys!” Dustin interrupted, effectively shutting them both up. “Are you actually five years old? What’s wrong with you both?”

“Uh, how much time do you have?” Eddie asked. 

“This is too weird,” Robin said from behind them. She’d been silent through this whole interaction, pondering all she’d just revealed to Eddie without knowing it. The panic of her secret being out to more than just one person was making her feel sick - Eddie could sense it. “And Dustin’s right, you’re being ridiculous.”

“He started it!” Eddie began, gesturing to Steve. “Look, I - I’m sorry.” He turned to Robin, his voice becoming surprisingly sincere. He really did save the most bitterness for Steve and Steve alone. “He just drives me crazy.”

“Yeah, we know,” Dustin groaned. “And neither of you seem to have a specific reason, either.”

“I have reasons,” Eddie insisted. “Plural.” 

“Care to share them with the class?” Robin asked, her words much more pointed than they’d been a few minutes prior. 

Eddie opened his mouth to respond, but thought better of it. The truth was far too personal to confess with Steve right there. He attempted to repress the memory, but he felt it swimming closer to the surface of his mind. A football field - No. Stop. 

Instead, he honed in on a different memory - the one where, hours after he’d sold weed to Steve Harrington, King of Hawkins High, Eddie’s friend Rick came knocking at the door. 

“Dude, what the fuck?” Rick said as he burst in. “I got busted. Some idiot in a polo ratted me out. What the hell did you do?”

“Busted?” Eddie questioned. “Again?” 

The first time Rick had gotten in trouble, he stayed in a jail cell overnight before some distant cousin bailed him out. It had happened a few times, actually, but usually due to Rick’s own stupidity, not Eddie’s.

“Yeah. Busted. Cops showed up today and I just barely was able to talk my way out of it.”

“How did you talk your way out of it?” Eddie asked. He figured that, surely, the cops had Rick’s excuses damn near memorized by that point. His prints had been in the system since he was like eleven years old. 

“I told them the guy must have been mistaken, because I’d stopped dealing ages ago. And that the new guy, the one who ratted me out, was the real guy they were looking for.”

“What?!” Eddie exclaimed. He knew Harrington was an asshole, but he didn’t deserve to be framed for drug dealing. “And they bought it?”

“Relax.” Rick waved his hands dismissively. “You know that guy’s father is some bigshot lawyer, right? He’ll be fine. Charges will disappear, no skin off anyone’s back. Especially mine.” 

He was right. That was the worst part. Eddie had always felt guilty about it, but the truth was - Steve was still at school the next day. He hadn’t even had to spend a night in jail. And he’d ratted Rick out for some reason. Some superiority complex disguised as being a good Samaritan, Eddie always figured. Stupid double fucking standard.

Eddie realized it had been far too long since he’d responded to Robin’s question, and took a deep breath.

“It doesn’t matter, I guess,” he finally said, his voice sincere. “All of this just sucks.”

“Yeah, it does,” Robin agreed, “but that doesn’t give you an excuse to be an asshole.”

“Woah,” Steve said, surprised at Robin’s language. “Did he say something to you?”

“Robin, I -”

“You manipulated me into giving you a whole bunch of information you don’t deserve to know just so you could feel better about yourself.”

“He what?” Steve asked, growing more agitated. 

“Can I just -”

“No, stop,” Robin said, backing away. “Both of you. I don’t want to talk to you -” she said, pointing at Eddie, “- and I don't want to talk to the guy who looks like you. Just let me go in the back room for a bit, and hold the fort out here, okay? Eddie’s like, weirdly good at this job anyway.”

“He is?” Steve asked. 

“Don’t be so surprised,” Eddie replied. “A goldfish could do this job better than you.” Robin groaned. 

“You know what, Munson?” she said. “You got what you wanted - I now have an opinion on you.”

With that, she closed the door behind her and left the boys to fend for themselves. 

-

“Jeez,” Dustin said. “I’ve never seen her angry like that before.” 

Steve hadn’t either. Generally, Robin was a pleasant person who saw the best in people. She knew how to dish out plenty of sarcasm, but she also knew where the line was between snark and genuinely being mean. If she thought Eddie was an asshole, then he was. Steve felt a spark of validation in his own opinion, but it was quickly overcome by anger. 

In an instant, Steve was in Eddie’s face again, grabbing two fistfuls of his shirt and pushing him against the counter.

“What did you do, Munson?” Steve questioned, rage bubbling within him. Steve noticed Eddie’s body was far stronger than he’d anticipated, and a few inches taller. He was able to hold Eddie (in Steve’s body) with ease, so much so that Eddie (once again, in Steve’s body) had to be on his tiptoes. Or, Steve’s tiptoes. Goddammit, this whole thing was a mindfuck. 

“I - I didn’t - nothing, I swear!” Eddie answered. His bravado had melted away into something entirely different. Complete and total remorse. He was almost pathetic in the way he’d succumbed to Steve’s intimidation immediately. He knew he deserved it. “I mean, I - I may have asked her some things out of curiosity -”

“What kind of things?” Steve pressed, his grip tightening. 

“Not what you’re thinking,” Eddie insisted. “You would have done the same thing if your coworker casually started talking about being tortured.” 

Steve’s eyes widened in understanding, and as quickly as he had grabbed Eddie, he’d let him go. 

“She told you about that, huh?” His voice was low and serious. 

“Among other things,” Eddie admitted. He turned to Dustin. “Did this guy really save your life?”

“Yeah, a few times,” Dustin answered. “Well, there were the demodogs at the junkyard, and then the demodogs under the field, oh - and when he totally stood up to Billy for us, although I guess Max was kinda the one that saved us, there. And then I saved him from the Russians. We’ve all kind of saved each other's lives pretty consistently, I think,” he concluded. 

“I - you - what?” Eddie stuttered, mentally unable to comprehend any of the things that he’d heard today. 

“Yeah, I don’t think he needed that many details,” Steve replied. 

“There’s a lot of shit in this town that most people don’t know about,” Dustin said with a shrug. 

“Okay, but why do you know about it?” Eddie wondered. 

“My friend Will,” Dustin answered. “You probably remember that whole thing. When he disappeared?”

“Oh, yeah,” Eddie nodded. “The kid got lost in the woods or something.”

“Yeah,” Dustin replied. “Except he wasn’t actually lost in the woods.” Eddie’s brow furrowed, and Steve grew irritated by how much information they were disclosing.

“Okay,” Eddie acknowledged. “So that explains you. What does Harrington have to do with it?”

“Wrong place, wrong time I guess,” Steve muttered. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, I personally love fighting hell monsters and getting the shit kicked out of me every so often, but -”

“Sorry to have missed that,” Eddie teased. “I would have loved it, too.”

“Stay in my body long enough and you’ll probably get to experience it yourself,” Steve joked. It was a moment in which the two of them once again laughed at the other, and not in a mean way. The moments were few and far between, but they were there. Steve wondered why they couldn’t just be civil. 

“Okay, so,” Eddie said with a sigh. “What now?”

“We were trying to come up with a way for us to switch back,” Steve answered. 

“Oh, is that all?” Eddie mocked. “I suggest we start with finding a witch.”

“That’s somehow worse than Steve’s weatherman idea,” Dustin replied. “Obviously, we’ll figure out a way to switch you guys back, but I think there’s something a lot more important that we need to do first.”

“What are you talking about?” Steve wondered. He couldn’t think of a single thing more important than getting out of this nightmare.

“Ground rules,” Dustin responded, as if it were obvious. “You’re in each other’s bodies. You are living each other’s lives. If you’re not careful, people could seriously get hurt.”

“Like Robin,” Steve reminded them all, nodding towards the still-closed door. 

“Like Robin,” Dustin agreed. “But also with the two of you. Did you guys talk about any of this before you committed identity fraud?”

“Is it identity fraud if -”

“Yes,” Dustin answered Eddie’s question before he could finish asking it. 

“We talked about some of it,” Steve responded. “That’s why I went to school and he came here.”

“Yeah, we set a rule already,” Eddie added. “He keeps me from flunking out again, and I keep his job. Seems like we both succeeded.”

“Okay, then why did Steve totally blow his cover immediately at school?”

“I didn’t immediately -”

“Yes you did,” Dustin insisted. “Everyone thinks Eddie showed up today on a new drug because he didn’t remember a damn thing about his own life.”

“That’s because it’s not my life,” Steve replied. “How was I supposed to know?”

“Because you were supposed to talk to each other!” Dustin shouted. “Jesus Christ, you both are impossible. You’re making this so much more difficult -”

“He’s right,” Eddie sighed. “It’s my fault, I think.”

“You think?” Steve repeated. Eddie scoffed. 

“Come on, dude, I’m trying to be decent here.” Eddie seemed genuine enough, but sometimes it really felt like one step forward and two steps back with the guy. Like, he had brief moments of authenticity followed by an hour of bullshit. “I kicked you out last night, and I shouldn’t have.”

“You’re just lucky my mom didn’t see me like this,” Steve mumbled, wondering when Eddie was going to turn back this time. 

“Yeah I - I know,” Eddie continued. “So, we talk about it. Henderson, how do we do this?”

“Well, I’m not an expert,” Dustin said. He started pacing the room, thinking so hard Steve could almost hear the gears turning. 

“I’ll start,” Steve said. “Stay away from Robin.”

“Like, entirely?” Eddie questioned. “I can’t do that if I’m working here. I know, I fucked up earlier, but lesson learned. Robin’s cool. She doesn’t deserve my bullshit. It won’t happen again.”

Okay, so he was being genuine for longer than a moment this time. Any moment now it would crash. Steve braced himself for it. As his anxiety grew, his need for a cigarette did, too. 

“Fine,” he agreed. “Here’s another one - no smoking, no exceptions.”

“Aw, come on,” Eddie whined. 

“Should be easier for you than me,” Steve continued. “Considering I’m now addicted again. Thanks for that, by the way.”

“Next time I’ll make sure I quit before I swap bodies with you, Harrington.”

“It’s a good point,” Dustin interjected. “About drugs. If you’re gonna do anything that could affect the body you’re in, you should get permission first.”

Steve did the thing he wasn’t supposed to do - he thought about the shower thing. They’d at least had a discussion about that. Steve quickly glanced at Eddie, and had a sneaking suspicion his mind went to the same place. 

They were interrupted by the door to the back room opening, and Robin re-emerging into the store. 

“I have a rule to add,” she announced. 

“You’ve been listening in?” Steve asked.

“Well, yeah,” Robin admitted. “The walls are thin, and you guys are loud. Plus, I’m with Dustin on having to talk about this stuff, and I have a rule to add.”

“What is it?” Eddie wondered. 

“No dating as each other,” she declared, staring directly at Eddie. "No kissing, no hook-ups."

“Woah, why are you looking at me?” he asked, defensively. “I’m not the one screwing around.”

“Hey,” Steve said. “She’s got a point.” 

“Right, because I won’t be able to help myself around all the girls that line up at the Harrington house,” Eddie said, rolling his eyes. 

There he was - the Eddie that Steve wanted to slap across the damn face. 

“I’m serious -”

“I know!” Eddie replied. “I’m serious, too. That would be fucked up for either of us to do. It’s a good rule, let’s move on.”

….Okay. Now Eddie was being reasonable again. Steve was truly at a loss with this man. 

“You don’t spend each other’s money,” Dustin said, moving on as Eddie had suggested. 

“No tattoos or other big changes in appearance,” Robin added. 

“Nothing illegal, either,” Steve warned - the suggestion pointedly at Eddie. 

“Okay, you can fuck right off,” Eddie responded. “You don’t even know why I got into selling drugs in the first place.”

“Money, right?” Steve asked. He didn’t mean it in a derogatory way, he truly thought that was it. 

“Yeah, money,” Eddie confirmed. “Because my uncle and I don’t have it, and it costs money to live. Something you’ve probably never had to think about.” 

“Yeah, you’re right,” Steve snarked. “That’s why I’m working this shit job.”

“It’s not a shit job!” Eddie yelled. “You have it so goddamn easy -”

“Then why didn’t you apply here?” Steve wondered. “You could, just as easily as I did.”

“They wouldn’t hire me,” Eddie remarked. There was a sadness to his voice that Steve didn’t expect, and suddenly he was thinking about all the offhand comments he’d experienced throughout his day as Eddie Munson. All the staring, the judgment, the way he felt like everybody was always talking about him, and the way his feelings likely weren't too far off. 

“Maybe if you hadn’t tried selling drugs, first,” Steve retorted, regretting it immediately. Eddie groaned. 

“Jesus H. Christ! Do you guys see?” He gestured at Dustin and Robin, who looked extremely awkward. “I’m not even trying to start shit, here.”

“Honestly, you’re both pissing me off,” Dustin said. 

“Yeah, me too,” Robin agreed. Her and Dustin’s eyes flickered to the back room at the same time, and Steve could practically see the same lightbulb illuminate over both their heads. 

“Hey Steve - I think I left a tape in the back last week, could you go get it for me?” Dustin asked. Steve was confused at first, then shrugged. 

“I guess. Which one?”

“I can’t remember the title. It’s dark blue.” Steve headed towards the back room, but was stopped by Robin. 

“Uh-uh, you actually can’t go in there,” she said, pointing at the sign on the door that said employees only. 

“What the hell are you two doing?” Steve asked, fully annoyed with their plotting. 

“Just trying to follow the rules, Harrington. Come on, Eddie, go on in.” Eddie also seemed suspicious, but did as told. 

“Uhh, okay. Dark blue tape?” He headed into the back room, and then Robin pushed Steve in behind him. She closed the door and locked it, then turned to a grinning Dustin. 

“That’s what you were going for too, right?”

“Robin, you’re way too good for Steve.”

“I know,” she smiled. 

“Hey, what the fuck?” They heard Steve’s voice through the door. 

“Why does this room lock from the outside?” Eddie’s voice echoed. Dustin joined Robin at the door and shouted back. 

“We’re sick of you guys, so you’re staying in there until you either stop fighting or kill each other.”

“Whichever comes first,” Robin snickered. 

“I hate you both so much,” Eddie’s voice said.

“We know!” Robin and Dustin replied in unison. 

-

“Well, this sucks,” Eddie said as he sat down in front of the TV. “I can’t believe we both fell for that.”

“Yeah, me neither,” Steve agreed. Eddie absentmindedly started to pick up tapes and put them in the VHS so he could rewind them. “Are you actually doing work right now?”

“Steve, I would rather do literally anything than talk to you right now,” he replied. 

“Fine,” Steve scoffed. “Robin wasn’t kidding when she said you were better at this job than I am.”

“Yeah, well…” Eddie’s voice trailed off as he started watching one of the movies in reverse. He’d seen it before, but not this way. This job was actually really cool. Steve had it good, here. 

Eddie started to like Steve’s life. He liked his job and his best friend and he was suddenly sad that at some point most likely this would all come to an end. Eddie would just be Eddie again. 

He felt the urge return- the self-sabotaging ache that brought him trouble over and over again. Once, he heard that the definition of insanity was doing the same thing over and over again but expecting a different result. Eddie would have gladly taken the label of being insane, except he didn’t expect a different result every time he did something he knew he shouldn’t. So what the hell did that make him?

He wanted to ask Steve about Robin - specifically what she had told him without realizing it - but he knew that was over the line. He wasn’t even curious for the reasons most people would have. Eddie didn’t care about Robin’s sexuality in the slightest. He cared that Steve knew, and he didn’t say anything to anyone. Most of the other jocks at school that Eddie lumped Steve in with would have jumped at the chance immediately to spread that information like wildfire, but Steve didn’t. 

It was the first time Eddie admitted to himself that there was a strong chance Steve really had changed. 

“I don’t think we’re going to switch back today,” Steve said after a while. 

“Yeah, me neither,” Eddie agreed. 

“So, we should talk,” Steve continued.

“I thought we did already,” Eddie replied. “No sex, drugs, or felonies, right?” Steve sighed. 

“I shouldn’t have - shit. I shouldn’t have said that before. Sorry, man.” 

Eddie stayed focused on the TV. He wasn’t sure if he could trust Steve, and if he could, it would just make him feel like shit for not trusting him sooner. Lose-lose. Once again. 

“Nothing I haven’t heard before,” Eddie responded. 

They’d gone a whole three minutes without raising their voices at each other, so far. Progress.

“I meant, like, we should talk about tomorrow,” Steve continued.

“What’s tomorrow?”

“Uh, you have band practice, right?”

Eddie dropped the tape he was holding and looked up. 

“Shit,” he muttered. “Any chance you kill monsters and secretly play guitar?”

“Not unless air guitar counts,” Steve admitted. “Although, I do play a pretty mean air guitar -”

“Steve, shut up, this is serious.” He took Corroded Coffin very seriously. Hellfire was his baby, sure, but his band was like - well, it was his one chance to be someone else for a change. He could be whoever he wanted on stage, separate from the person people knew at school. 

Performing at The Hideout used to be the one time he pretended to be someone he wasn’t. How times had changed. 

“Okay, sorry,” Steve responded, his hands up in surrender. “Could you cancel? Say you’re sick or something?”

“No, we’ve got this gig on Tuesday and if we miss it we might lose our spot,” Eddie replied. Their weekly performance at the dive bar across town was all that they had, other than practices in Gareth’s garage. They’d worked their asses off to perform in front of five drunks once a week, and Eddie would be damned before he’d let Steve Harrington take that away from him. 

“Okay, so -” Steve seemed to really contemplate different ways to get around this, which was admirable. He was…complying. “- you could wear, like, a full body suit and mask or something and just go up there in my body and play.”

Eddie stared at him blankly for a moment, wondering if the absolutely bonkers idea actually could work. 

“That would be…weird,” Eddie responded. 

“But it would work,” Steve said with a shrug. 

“Let’s call it plan B,” Eddie decided. 

“So, what’s plan A?”

Eddie nervously ground his teeth back and forth for a moment, looking at himself up and down and wondering just how effective muscle memory was. 

“Plan A is that I give you a bit of a crash course, Harrington.”

(Read the rest on Ao3!)

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[hairstevington]

Freaky Friday (Steddie's Version)

Eddie Munson x Steve Harrington

Summary: Dustin is fed up when his two friends, Eddie and Steve, hate each other for stupid reasons. The universe decides to bring them together by having them switch bodies until they get over themselves. Link to Ao3

Chapter 2 ~ Chapter 3 ~ Chapter 4 ~ Chapter 5

Word Count: 7K, more chapters to come

Warnings: Enemies to lovers, slow(ish??) burn, canon universe (more or less) set before season 4, Dustin gets bullied at the beginning which is a bit sad but it's brief, body swap, angst, revenge, POV switching, Steddie both love Dustin so much, honestly just tons of fun lmao

A/N: A while back I made this post where I had a Steddie AU idea I never really got out of my head and then I started writing it and now I can't stop lmao. FYI this starts in third person Dustin POV but switches to Steve/Eddie midway! Please enjoy, I'll have it up on Ao3 soon probably like I do with everything else :)

Dustin had enough of this shit. 

He had been bummed that Steve graduated from Hawkins high the year before Dustin entered the ninth grade. Having Steve there would have been a buffer for Dustin, who - although he rarely admitted it - actually didn’t like being unpopular. As much as he hated being the victim of bullying, he hated the thought of changing himself even more - which is why he refused to. 

He showed up to his first day of high school in his Weird Al shirt, because he would be damned to give an inaccurate impression of himself. He knew that after graduation, he’d turn out better than all the other assholes at the school anyway. He was smarter than them, he was better than them. He could get through four years of their bullshit until he proved that. 

Although…Having Steve around would have made it a lot easier. 

But, whatever. Steve had graduated. Dustin still called him all the time, and they hung out every so often, but Dustin knew that nineteen year olds didn’t have a lot in common with fourteen year olds, at least not enough to hang out regularly. They were like brothers, more than anything, and they were in a weird spot. 

Thankfully, through some grace of God, Dustin met Eddie. 

It was bound to happen, considering Dustin had wanted to join the Hellfire Club anyway. He’s already informed the rest of the group - Mike and Lucas - so that the three of them could still play DnD together. Lucas had seemed hesitant, but that was to be expected. Things were changing. 

He missed Will. Will would have loved Hellfire, had he not been in California. 

Dustin met Eddie Munson at lunch - his first lunch in high school. The food Hawkins High served was mildly disturbing and likely lacked any nutritional value, so Dustin was grateful that his mother had kept up the tradition of packing him a lunch special for his first day. She even included chocolate pudding, since it was his favorite. 

Mike and Lucas weren’t going to be at lunch on the first day, because Lucas wanted to check out the basketball team, and Mike wanted to see if he could call El - she wasn’t starting school until the following week. This meant that Dustin was alone in the cafeteria, and he wasn’t entirely prepared to face the brutal sting of rejection, so he didn’t want to just pick a random table and try to make friends. He already had friends, they just weren’t there. 

He stopped in his tracks and scanned the room, pondering his next move. There was no way he’d sit with the jocks or the cheerleaders, and the rest of the tables were unrecognizable in terms of what cliques they represented. This was nothing like he’d seen in movies - he didn’t even really know who the popular ones were versus the unpopular ones. 

He must have been standing there for a bit too long, because suddenly he was nudged hard in the shoulder. 

“Move it, loser,” a guy twice his size said. “You’re in everybody’s way.”

“S-sorry,” Dustin apologized. He took a few steps backward, deciding to just start walking and see what happens, but then he bumped into someone else. 

“Jesus, kid,” another voice said. “You’re like a pinball.” 

Dustin looked up to see a tall, rather intimidating man with long, curly brown hair. He was dressed in denim and leather, the Hellfire logo splayed across his chest. He looked way too old to be a high school student, but way too scary to be a faculty member. 

Not scary in a dangerous way - Dustin had experienced enough real danger that most normal things didn’t faze him - but scary in a way where Dustin felt the person standing in front of him had some kind of power in the school. A reputation, at least, whether it be good or bad. 

“Welcome back, Freak,” another random student remarked at him as they walked past. Dustin watched as the enigmatic metalhead flipped the student off with zero hesitation.

Ah, so it was for sure a bad reputation. Noted. 

“So, I’m the school freak,” he said, theatrically bowing as he introduced myself. “Eddie. Eddie Munson. And you are…”

“Dustin Henderson,” he answered without a second thought.

“I was going to say -” Eddie continued, “- you are….wearing a Weird Al shirt. Bold move for your first day, Dustin Henderson.”

“How did you know it was my first day?” Dustin asked, grateful to be having some sort of civil conversation, even if he had no idea where it was going. 

“Just a hunch,” Eddie replied with a shrug. Dustin looked back at Eddie’s shirt. 

“You're in Hellfire?” he asked. Eddie grinned, then pointed at a table where a bunch of people were wearing the same shirts. 

“Hellfire is my pride and joy. We play a game called Dungeons and Dragons, have you heard of it?” Before Dustin could confirm, Eddie kept talking. “Of course you’ve heard of it, look at you. You’re one of us, I know it.” Eddie gestured for Dustin to follow him to the Hellfire table, which he gladly did. 

“Eddie, who’s this?” a member seated at the table asked when they approached. 

“This, Gareth, is Dustin, and he’s sitting with us today.” Eddie pointed at an available seat, then looped around to his own. Dustin noticed a textbook in front of Gareth and chimed in. 

“You’re taking chemistry?” he asked. Gareth nodded. “That’s cool. I love chemistry. I went to this awesome summer camp called Camp Know Where -”

“Sorry, sorry, sorry,” Eddie interrupted. “Did you just say you love chemistry? What kind of kid actually enjoys that shit? Are you a masochist? I failed that class twice.” Eddie’s rambling was entertaining, to say the least. 

“Isn’t Camp Know Where that science program where all the geniuses go?” another person at the table asked.

“Jesus Christ,” Eddie exclaimed dramatically. “Okay, Dustin Henderson. I will protect you, since you so desperately need the protection. In return, you will join Hellfire, and occasionally help me with homework because you’re obviously smarter than half the people in this school. Deal?”

“Only half?” Dustin joked - although, it wasn’t really a joke. Dustin knew for a fact he was smarter than at least 75% of the school. “Fine, I accept these terms. Can my friends Mike and Lucas join too?” Eddie rolled his eyes and sighed.

“You’re killing me,” he said. “Yeah, yeah. Bring all the Freshies in, I guess. No one will come near you if you stick with us, but you’ll avoid being stuffed in lockers at least.” That seemed like a good enough deal to Dustin, for now. “Alright, kid. Welcome to Hellfire.”

-

Dustin recounted this entire interaction with Steve the moment he’d gotten home from school. 

“Eugh, Hellfire?” Steve said over the phone, acting disgusted. “That club’s for nerds.”

“Earth to Steve, I am a nerd,” Dustin deadpanned. “And Eddie said -”

“Oh god, not Munson,” Steve groaned. “That guy’s trouble, I swear. Seriously, you should get out of this while you can.”

“And go where?” Dustin retorted, starting to get agitated. “It’s not like I can float through school like you did by joining all the sports teams. I’m gonna be made fun of either way, and you know it.” Steve was silent on the line for a bit, knowing that Dustin was right. 

“I wish I could be there to watch over you, ya know,” he said at last. 

“Yeah, I wish you could too, but I have Eddie at least.”

Eddie. Ugh. Steve hated that guy. He was always doing something weird and dramatic to try to get a reaction from people. 

“Yeah, okay. But I’ll kick his ass if he tries anything, alright?” Dustin laughed. 

“Sure you will, Buddy.” 

-

Mike and Lucas were far more terrified of Eddie than Dustin was. He knew why - Eddie had shown a bit of kindness that first day, but he wasn’t usually like that. Eddie was the kind of guy who loved attention, and he knew the best way for him to get it was through negative attention. He consistently made an ass of himself. 

Dustin enjoyed it. Mike and Lucas didn’t not enjoy it, but they still felt like he was unhinged. Maybe he was. Dustin didn’t think about it that much. 

Him and Eddie had bonded pretty quickly, especially since Dustin would hang around after lunch or club meetings to talk about homework. Eddie had a lot of questions, and he was kind of a horrible student. This was especially evident when Dustin discovered he was a third year senior, which explained why the guy looked so goddamn old. 

“Damn,” Dustin said once he found out. “You’re even older than Steve. Wait - you might know Steve actually. He graduated last year. Steve Harrington?”

Eddie Munson did an actual spit take with his soda. Dustin had only ever seen that in movies.

“No shit,” Eddie responded. “You know that asshole?”

“He’s not an asshole,” Dustin replied immediately, quick to defend his friend. “He’s awesome.”

Dustin opened his mouth to continue, but it was hard to explain why Steve was awesome when he had to leave Upside Down stuff out of it. He totally saved us from a bunch of Demodogs, and one time he got tortured for information underground by evil Russians. Dustin considered mentioning the time Steve protected the kids from Billy - that was unrelated to the secret world the group had been privy to - but, considering Hargrove’s death, it felt in bad taste to bring up now.

“So you’re trying to tell me that you’re friends with the guy?” Eddie asked suspiciously. “Why? I mean, why would he be friends with a kid so much younger than him?”

“Why are you?” Dustin retorted. Eddie chuckled. 

“Touche. But I know why I’m friends with a bunch of kids, why is he?”

“It’s complicated,” Dustin replied with a shrug. “But Steve’s pulled through for me a lot. He’s cool. You should give him a chance.”

“Give him a chance? I don’t ever see him. Are you trying to have us all hang out for a slumber party or something?” Dustin shook his head and was about to respond, but Eddie was on a roll (as usual). “Listen, Henderson. You’re cool and all, and I’m glad you joined our little clan here. But you wouldn’t want to hang out with me outside of this hellhole we call school, and I certainly wouldn’t want to hang out with Steve goddamn Harrington.”

There was a definitive finality to his statement that let Dustin know there was no point in arguing. But it did leave him wondering what exactly had happened to cause them to dislike each other so much.

-

Dustin blew through his first few weeks of school like this. He’d visit Steve and mention Eddie, and Steve would complain about how Eddie was a bad influence and would probably get arrested before graduation, if he ever did graduate. Any time Dustin brought up Steve in Hellfire, Eddie would groan and complain about the forced conformity and bullshit societal infrastructure at the high school that separated the good from the bad and blah blah blah. Dustin probably had that speech damn near memorized. Eddie seemed to hate the jocks, and for decent enough reason - the jocks hated him. And Dustin knew that Steve was kind of a dick in high school, but he’d changed now. 

So, yeah. He’d had enough. He just thought that if maybe he could get the two of them in the same room, they’d start to understand why Dustin liked each of them so much. They were both good guys who were protective of him, and he wanted them to get along, dammit!

Steve always went to the basketball games to support Lucas and the rest of the team, which was nice. On nights where the games coincided with Hellfire, Steve would drive Dustin home after. 

On one of these nights, Dustin hatched a bit of a plan. Usually, Hellfire got out before the game was over, so Dustin would meet Steve outside of the gym. This time, Dustin intentionally stayed late to help Eddie clean up and talk his ear off about his upcoming biology report. Eddie seemed to be in decent enough spirits, fresh off another successful campaign, and Steve was in a good mood because he now had a job again with Robin. It gave him money to take women out on dates, which he did often. 

As Dustin chatted with Eddie, there was a pounding on the door. 

“Hey, Dipshit!” Steve called from the other side. “Are you in there? Did Munson kill you or something?” Dustin grimaced as he gaged Eddie’s reaction to the comment, but thankfully Eddie seemed amused more than anything. 

“Sure did,” Eddie shouted back with a grin. “Bite me, Harrington.” Dustin rolled his eyes. 

“I’m fine, Steve!” he yelled. “Come in!” 

“You’re inviting him into my sacred space?” Eddie asked with feigned offense. 

“Your sacred space?” Dustin mocked. “You mean the drama club room? Based on the shit I’ve heard, it’s the least sacred spot on school property.” Eddie was laughing as Steve opened the door and came in. 

“You guys making fun of me?” he asked, his chest puffed out in his silly Steve way. Dustin didn’t find Steve or Eddie that intimidating, because he saw right through their tough guy act. They were both goofballs. 

“Always,” Eddie replied, returning to his cleaning tasks. “So, you’re Dustin’s ride home huh? How’d you guys become friends in the first place?” Steve hesitated, facing the same issue Dustin had when he’d been asked the same thing. Thankfully, he’d had more time to prepare since then. 

“Steve used to date Mike’s sister,” Dustin stated plainly. Steve opened his mouth to object to the sharing of that information, but then Dustin added - “And then I annoyed him into being my friend.” 

“That’s not really -” Steve grimaced, then realized that was the best version of the story either of them could provide. “Yeah, okay. The kid really worms his way into your heart.”

“I know, right?” Eddie replied absentmindedly. Dustin was thrilled to see them agree on something. It was a moment where he hoped they’d realize they could actually get along. “I remember when you dated Nancy Wheeler. I’m surprised it didn’t work out, since you were so perfect for each other.”

Okay, so maybe they wouldn’t get along. The way Eddie had said the word perfect almost seemed like an insult. To Eddie, it was. Dustin noticed Steve tensing and felt the need to mediate. 

“Anyway,” he said, searching for something, anything, to redirect the conversation. He wasn’t sure when he was gonna get them in the same room again, so he couldn’t just leave. “How was the game, Steve?” Eddie rolled his eyes when Steve lit up again. 

“We lost,” he answered. Dustin noticed Eddie hiding a smirk under one of his ringed hands. “It’s a shame they keep Lucas on the bench, although he’s a Freshman so it makes sense I guess. I mean, that’s how it always has been.” 

“You mean to tell me,” Eddie interjected. Oh boy. “- that a high school sports team values a players popularity over their talent?” He scoffed. “Probably why you got so much airtime, right Harrington?”

Oh Jesus Christ this is bad. This is going badly. Steve was clearly offended by that comment, and rightfully so. 

“Eddie, can you just - be nice?” Dustin pleaded. 

“Since when am I nice?” Eddie shot back, picking the last of his papers up and stuffing them in his bag. 

“You’re nice to me,” Dustin pointed out. 

“Yeah, because I like you,” Eddie replied, “-and as I’ve said to you multiple times, I don’t like him.” Eddie gestured vaguely in Steve’s direction. 

“What did I ever even do to you, Munson?” Steve questioned, finally deciding to stand up for himself. “Seriously man, you’re being a dick.” 

“I know what you think of me,” Eddie answered plainly. “I’m just calling it like I see it.” 

“Okay, well this has been sufficiently awkward and horrible,” Dustin sighed, finally giving up. “I was wrong, you two are hopeless. Eddie, Steve’s right. You’re being a dick.” That accusation actually did seem to have an effect on Eddie, even though he tried not to let it show. “Steve, let’s go home.”

On the walk to the car, Steve had already seemed to brush the whole interaction off. 

“I told you that guy’s no good,” he said. “Thanks for defending me, by the way.” 

“I promise he’s not usually like that,” Dustin assured him. But, come to think of it, that kind of was how Eddie usually spoke to people, especially the popular kids. But Dustin was in Hellfire, he was one of them, as Eddie said, and he treated the freaks far differently and with more respect. 

His two cool older guy friends were bound to hate each other, he realized. No getting around it, no point in trying to change it.

_______________________________________

Eddie had gone to Family Video countless times over the years, because what else were people supposed to do in Hawkins, Indiana? It was cheaper and involved less people than going to the movies, and it was something to entertain him while he was home. 

Imagine his surprise when he walked into the store one day and saw none other than Steve Harrington behind the counter. 

The green vest Steve was forced to wear was a lot more masculine than the get-up he’d worn at Scoops Ahoy over the Summer. Eddie had the pleasure of seeing him a few times at the mall in his little short shorts and stupid hat, and it was an image he sorely missed. Seeing King Steve pathetically dressed and striking out with women post-graduation? Delicious. 

He’d only let himself visit once, although he may have done it again had the mall not burned down. But alas, Steve’s sailor outfit days were short-lived, and now he was back to being the same old boring jock he always had been - just now, he didn’t even play sports. 

Eddie may have been in his third go-around of senior year, but at least he wasn’t pretending he was someone he wasn’t. He embraced his freak nature, and had grown comfortable in it. Life hadn’t been kind enough to him to give him the option of the niceties people like Steve took advantage of. 

“Hey, man,” Steve greeted him as he entered the door. He was so nonchalant about it, like he didn’t even care about Eddie’s presence. Eddie didn’t care too much about Steve being there, except he did. There was a fire in Eddie's dislike for Steve that seemed one sided. Steve being almost indifferent made Eddie hate him even more. “Let me know if I can help you find anything.” Eddie ignored Steve’s surprisingly sincere customer service and went directly to the row of movies he always went to. He scanned the selection - it looked about the same as it had the last ten times he’d reviewed it - then picked one of his favorites and brought it to the counter. 

Steve didn’t say anything more than that as he went through the rental process. It was all over in less than two minutes, and Eddie was mildly disappointed in the lack of drama. If Steve wasn’t an asshole, then what? Was Eddie the asshole all along?

Yeah. Yeah, he absolutely was.

He was on his way out when he stopped, then spun on his heels to face Steve at the counter again. 

“Listen, man,” he began. Steve looked up from the pile of VHS tapes he was sorting, seemingly unbothered by any of this. “I’m sorry about, uh - about the other night.”

“Thanks,” Steve responded with a nod. Eddie could never really just leave things alone, though. 

“Dustin was right,” he continued. 

“The little shit usually is.” Steve had returned his gaze to the movies in front of him. 

“Yeah,” Eddie chuckled, a bit too forcefully in an attempt to ease the tension. “I’ll see you around, then.”

“See ya,” Steve responded. Eddie pouted, not satisfied with how that went, and he wasn’t sure why. But whatever. He was gonna go home, get high, and watch the movie. A good night was ahead. 

He paused at the door when the phone rang, pretending to get distracted by a cardboard cutout near the window. 

“Family Video,” Steve said on the phone. “Woah, shit. Dustin, calm down. Where are you?” This got Eddie’s attention, and he raced back to the counter. “Okay, I’ll figure something out.” 

“What’s up with Henderson?” Eddie asked, his concern growing. 

“I guess some guys are picking on him. He called from the side of the road on a pay phone near the power plant.”

“Jesus, what did they do to him? Is he okay?”

“He’s great, that’s why he called,” Steve shot back sarcastically. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “I don’t know if I can just leave my shift since I just started this job like three days ago. Shit.”

“I’ll go,” Eddie offered. “The plant is right by my place anyway. Don’t sweat it.” Steve eyed Eddie suspiciously, then nodded.

“Okay, I guess. Just - can you call here once you know he’s safe?”

“Sure thing, Harrington.” It was a brief, genuine moment between the two of them, both desperate to protect the tiny child they each adored so much. 

And with that, Eddie bolted out of Family Video, to his van, and towards the plant. 

Dustin had apparently been chased down and recaptured after he called Steve, because Eddie found him tied to a pole a bit further down the street. 

“Eddie!” he yelled once they locked eyes. “Get me out of this shit!” 

Dustin was doing his damndest to break free from the binds, but it was no use. Eddie took his pocket knife out from where he always kept them tucked in his jeans and got to work, successfully freeing the little twerp once he stopped squirming. 

“Who did this? Where are they?” Eddie felt the heat rising in his chest, up his neck, and to his cheeks. “How’d they even get a hold of you? Why are you all the way over here? What -”

“Jesus, Eddie,” Dustin interrupted him. “It doesn’t matter. I just wanna go home.”

Eddie looked Dustin up and down and noticed a bruise forming on his jaw. 

“Come on, my trailer is right there,” Eddie said, pointing in the vague direction of Forest Hills. “Let’s get you cleaned up first.” 

_______________________________________

Steve tried to wait idly by while he entrusted a guy like Eddie to go rescue Dustin. He tried to do the responsible thing for once and stay at his stupid job so he could keep said job. He tried not to think about how Eddie could have been behind this whole thing, for all he knew. Some sick twisted mind game. He tried not to think about any of that. 

He lasted two minutes before he called Robin and begged her to fill in. She accepted after a few minutes of persuasion - after all, Steve didn’t ask her for things very often, and he always drove her around, so she kinda owed him. It took her about fifteen agonizing minutes to get there, and just as she walked in the door, the phone rang. 

“Family video,” he greeted, hoping a familiar voice would be on the other end. 

“Steve, it’s me,” Dustin’s voice called through the phone. “I’m at Eddie’s. I’m okay.”

“Where does he live?” Steve asked, still hellbent on leaving. 

“At the trailer park. You don’t have to -”

Steve dropped the phone and ran out the door, not even bothering to hang it back up on the receiver. He headed to Forest Hills, and was thankfully able to locate Eddie’s trailer pretty quickly due to the beat-up red van parked in front of it. He stumbled out of his own car as soon as it stopped, nearly forgetting to take his keys from the ignition. Maybe it was silly for him to worry about Dustin so much, but after what they’d been through together, Steve had learned to treat everything as life or death. 

The door pushed open from the stress of his knock alone, so he let himself in. 

Eddie’s place was small, messy, and smelled of smoke. But, it was clear the place was a home. Steve’s house was a hundred times bigger and somehow contained less. 

“Dustin?” Steve called as he walked deeper into the living room. “Eddie?”

“Bathroom!” Steve followed the voice down the hall to where Eddie was tending to a bruise forming on Dustin’s jaw. 

“Who did this? Where are they?” Eddie chuckled, and Steve almost lashed out because of it, but then Eddie explained. 

“That’s exactly what I said when I found him, Harrington.” Steve took note of the care that Eddie was actually putting into his first aid. It was surprisingly gentle. “Good luck getting him to rat the bastards out.”

“I told you, it doesn’t matter,” Dustin groaned. 

“Whoever it was, we can take ‘em,” Steve insisted. He noticed Eddie smirk at the inclusion of them both taking the bullies down.

“You idiots!” Dustin snapped, standing up from where he was sitting on the lip of the bathtub. “Don’t you get it? I don’t want you to ‘take ‘em.’ It was embarrassing enough to have them pick on me, I don’t need you guys to go down there and humiliate me even more.”

“We’re just trying to protect you, man,” Eddie replied. 

“I don’t need protection!” Dustin shouted, causing Eddie and Steve to back up. “My bike isn’t far. I’m going home. Eddie, thanks for cutting me down. Steve, thanks for leaving work when I asked you to. You’re both really good friends, and I appreciate it. I just want to go home.” 

It broke Steve’s heart to know that Dustin was getting picked on. He just wanted to help, but he understood the whole pride thing. Steve had fought many uphill battles in the past in the name of saving face. Ironically, his face was usually what took the brunt of the consequences. 

“You sure you’re gonna be -” Eddie began to ask the question before Steve was able to, but stopped himself when Dustin shot a glare at them both. “Right, okay. Can you just call when you get home okay?”

“Me too,” Steve added. 

“Okay, mom and dad,” Dustin replied, rolling his eyes. “Or, Steve could stay here ten minutes and then I’d only have to make one call. Unless you guys will murder each other by then.”

“Jury’s out,” Eddie muttered. Steve felt like it was a joke, but also Eddie gave off psycho killer vibes, so anything was possible. “Sure, Harrington. You can stay here until he gets home.”

Steve wanted to think of a witty comeback, but his head was empty. He could stay, and then he figured he should get back to work. 

“Fine,” he agreed. “But the moment you walk through your door, got it?”

“Yes, dad,” Dustin deadpanned. 

“I thought I was dad,” Eddie cut in. 

“You think I’m mom?” 

“Ten minutes, no murders,” Dustin reminded them before heading out the door. There was a beat of silence before Steve and Eddie turned to each other once again. 

“So, we’re definitely gonna go to that plant and kick some ass, right?” Eddie asked, his tone completely devoid of its usual teasing. Steve smirked. 

“Finally, we’re on the same page,” he replied. 

Ten minutes later, Dustin called as promised. Seconds after the call disconnected, Steve and Eddie made a beeline for the front door. 

-

It was getting dark, even though it was a bit too early for the sun to set. Clouds were forming in the sky, a bleak omen of the impending storm that neither Eddie nor Steve had prepared for. 

They walked to the plant in silence, because what was there to be said? They were going to tolerate each other to defeat the common enemy. 

A group of misfits were in fact still camped out under one of the towers. They were all smoking and laughing and spouting nonsensical vitriol about the student body - kids like Dustin, as well as the women of the school. If Eddie and Steve weren’t heated already, the few comments they’d overheard sent them over the edge. 

“Hey!” Steve shouted, cutting one of the guys off. Five pairs of eyes flickered over to the pair, who’d realized once they were in the situation that they were vastly outnumbered. 

“Steve Harrington?” One of the boys questioned. “What are you doing over here?”

“And with Munson?” Another added. “I never thought I’d see the two of you together.”

“Neither did I,” Steve and Eddie said in unison. They glanced at each other, awkwardly acknowledging that they’d said the same thing at the same time, then hastily moved on. 

“Is this about the boy?” The leader of the group was probably a Junior, and shorter than both Eddie and Steve, but he had enough audacity to make up for it. 

“Found him tied to a pole,” Eddie reminded them through gritted teeth. This was news to Steve, who’s blood boiled at the thought. A few years prior, Tommy and Carol used to do shit like that. Maybe not to that extent, but it was all the same. 

“Why do you care so much about that dumbass anyway?” The leader (was his name Chad?) asked. 

“He’s totally harmless,” Steve said.

“Us on the other hand…” Eddie interjected. 

“Oh yeah,” Steve agreed. “I’ve been known to throw a punch, and Eddie over here  is actually insane, I’m pretty sure.”

“Aw, thanks man,” Eddie grinned devilishly, smacking Steve on the back. “Our point being, you stay away from Henderson and we won’t break anything, okay?”

Thunder cracked in the distance, followed by a flash of lightning. 

“Yeah, okay,” Chad mocked. “We’re not scared of you.” Eddie and Steve looked at each other, shrugged, then both trudged forward. Eddie took Chad while Steve went for the one who appeared to be second in command. They each pushed them against the metal pillars, gripping them by the collar of their shirts, and drawing their other hand back into a fist. 

“How about now?” Eddie asked with darkness in his eyes. 

“Let’s get out of here,” one of the others in the group said, and within moments the other three bullies scampered away into the night. 

“Some loyal friends you got there,” Eddie teased. Steve was getting agitated at how many stupid quips Eddie had. Was he supposed to be all quippy too? Was that the secret to winning one of these goddamn things?

Thunder rumbled again, this time much louder than before. Rain started to fall hard against their skin, distracting them enough for the two pathetic bullies to slip from their gasps and follow their friends out of sight. 

“Shit,” Steve groaned, realizing that they’d just made a fool of themselves. “Not only did we not hurt them, but they’re definitely going to tell people about it, and then -”

“Is that seriously what you’re worried about right now?” Eddie interrupted, the rage in him still burning. “Your reputation? Claaassic Steve Harrington, always thinking about himself.”

“That’s not what I was saying, asshole,” Steve responded. “Dustin’s going to find out, and then -”

“So what if he does?” Eddie asked. Steve was sick and tired of being interrupted. “If they mess with him again, then -”

“Could you let me finish a goddamn sentence? Holy shit,” Steve exclaimed, thoroughly irritated. The rain was falling steadily now, the drops heavy as they hit him. His hair was already starting to feel weighed down to his scalp. Perfect. Just perfect. “Dustin told us not to do anything, and then we did, okay? So what do you think that little shrimp’s gonna do when he finds out, huh?”

“He’ll handle it, Harrington,” Eddie shot back. “He’s a big boy.”

“Oh, come on!” Steve groaned. “Don’t give me that bullshit when ten minutes ago you dropped everything to rescue him like he was some lost puppy.”

“Because he was tied to a pole!” Eddie responded. 

“That would have been helpful to know before we headed out here, by the way.” Steve put his hands on his hips and planted his feet in the mud. It was way too late to worry about his appearance, now. 

“Oh, Jesus H. Christ,” Eddie sighed, taking a step towards Steve. “You’re just as awful as I thought you were.”

“Oh, really?” Steve said, taking another step forward to meet Eddie. “Back atcha.”

“Fuck off.”

“Fuck off.”

There was another loud crack of thunder as both of them shoved the other at the same time, causing them both to stumble backwards until they each hit one of the metal pillars extending down from the plant. 

A flash of light. A quick, searing pain. Then, they each dropped to their knees and fell into the mud. 

-

It felt like a sudden hangover, and a bad one. Eddie opened his eyes and cringed at the feeling of mud under his fingernails and up his arms. 

For a moment, he’d forgotten how he ended up on the ground. It felt like he was somewhere different, and he wasn’t sure why. He sat up, extremely disoriented, and then focused on a similar crumpled heap across from him. It took a second for Eddie to make out Steve’s features in the dark, but then his head angled upwards, their eyes met, and everything got a whole lot more complicated. 

“Steve…” Eddie began, speaking slowly. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. “Why the hell do you look like me, man?”

The man across from him had the same features Eddie had come to know in his own reflection - the same style, same hair, same everything, but no - that didn’t make any sense. 

“I was going to ask you the same thing,” the man replied. The man, who answered to Steve, but couldn’t possibly be. No, Eddie was dreaming. He’d done some hallucinogenic and forgot and now he was tripping. That had to be the case. 

They both stood up, mirroring each other, and for a moment Eddie thought that maybe that’s all this was. Some trick of the light. Maybe, there was a mirror at the power plant for some reason, and he was just staring at himself. Sure, the other guy responded to him, but he couldn’t think about that.

He waved at himself, but the guy across from him didn’t wave back. There went the mirror theory. 

It was still raining, but it had lightened up quite a bit. The two men took a few tentative steps towards each other, their eyes adjusting. 

“So, this is…I mean, we are…” Eddie fumbled over words that didn’t make sense. 

“What kind of weird cult shit did you do to me?” Steve accused, his voice rising. “Did you drug me? Sacrifice me to the devil or something?”

“Dude, are you fucking serious right now?” Eddie groaned, throwing his head back. “I didn’t do shit.”

“Then what happened?” Steve snapped. “How did we - Like, you’re seeing this too, right?”

“Yeah, I’m seeing it.” Eddie finally took a moment to look down, noticing a vastly different wardrobe than the one he remembered putting on. 

Including a green vest. 

“Holy shit,” Steve said. It was weird hearing his voice with Steve’s words. 

The idea of saying it out loud - dude, we switched bodies - seemed too batshit insane to consider. So, naturally, Eddie did what he knew best. 

“No. Nope. Not happening.” he shook his head and took off towards his trailer. 

“Hey. Hey!” Eddie’s own voice echoed behind him, followed by footsteps that got louder and louder as Eddie desperately tried to get away. He didn’t even look back until he was safely in his trailer again, the feeling of home making him feel slightly more at ease. “Dude, we gotta figure this out.” Steve followed him in, of course. 

“Why? Why do we have to? Why can’t I just shower and go to sleep and hopefully wake up from this nightmare?”

“Because I don’t think we’re gonna wake up,” Steve said with a shrug. “And because if you shower right now you’re gonna see my dick, and so I think we should, like, talk first.” Eddie barked out a bitter laugh.

“Don’t flatter yourself, Harrington. Would you feel better if I bought you dinner first?” He continued to walk down the hall to his bathroom, where first aid supplies were still strewn about, and that’s when he caught himself in the mirror.

Sure enough, Steve Harrington stared back at him. He looked a little worse for wear with his hair wet and disheveled and streaks of mud on his face, but no amount of dirt could change the pretty boy Steve was and always would be. He nearly spat at the image. Eddie’s familiar figure joined him in the bathroom, where they stood shoulder to shoulder and stared at themselves for an absurd amount of time. It was the closest they’d ever been to each other for more than a few fleeting seconds, but they were too stunned to do anything about their proximity. 

“Okay, so…” Steve said, watching Eddie’s mouth move as he said it.

“I’m you,” Eddie responded, finishing the thought. 

“And I’m you,” Steve finished. Their eyes stayed focused on their reflections for a while longer. How long exactly, it was tough to say. 

“So, what the fuck do we do now, then?” Eddie asked, finally breaking his gaze to look at Steve - er, himself, he guessed. 

What did they do now? That was certainly the question. 

____________________________

Steve had gotten used to weird shit happening to him, but this was a whole new world of weird. 

“I guess…” Steve searched for a plan, but he had no semblance of one. His head was completely empty. Probably because I’m using Eddie’s head, he thought to himself. “I should call Robin and tell her I’m not coming back to work.”

“You mean I should call Robin, since I am you now apparently.” Steve scoffed.

“You’re not me, alright? You just look like me, for some reason,” he argued. “Maybe we should call Dustin.”

“Yeah, because he’s soooo happy with us right now,” Eddie responded. “What do we say when he asks us what happened? We did the thing he told us not to do, and now we’re facing the consequences.”

“Consequences?” Steve repeated. “No, no. On any other day, in any other town, we would have done what we did and nothing would have happened. This isn’t a consequence, this is just my goddamn luck.”

“You’re acting like this is just any regular day for you,” Eddie complained. “Do you body swap with your enemies often?” Steve shot him a glare. The actual answer of, no but I’ve had a bunch of other weird shit happen, was on the tip of his tongue. If only Eddie knew what was really going on in Hawkins. Steve thought Eddie probably had his head up his own ass too much to notice, anyway. “Fine. I’ll call Robin.”

“Don’t say anything I wouldn’t, okay?” Steve warned, suddenly terrified at the power Eddie had to do some damage if he wanted to. 

“Don’t worry, I know exactly what to say.” Eddie went to his phone and dialed the number to the video store. “Hi, Robin. It’s me, your coworker, Steeeeve Harrington.” 

Great start. Jesus. 

“Dude,” Steve whined, nudging Eddie’s shoulder. “I don’t sound like that.”

“Yeah, I’m still at Eddie’s,” he continued on the phone. “Dustin’s okay. Can you finish my shift?” Huh. After the playfully performative introduction, Eddie seemed to actually act normal on the phone. “Great, thanks a bunch.” Just when Steve thought they were in the clear, Eddie tagged on a final line. “See ya later, Sweetheart,” followed by a bunch of kissing noises. 

Steve wrestled the phone from ‘Steve’ and slammed it against the receiver. 

“What the hell was that?”

“That -” Eddie said with a grin, “- was fun.” Steve’s eyes narrowed as anger began coursing through his veins. Anger, mixed with fear. Fear of this guy he hated, who now had full control of his life. 

“If you mess with my life, Munson, I swear to god -”

“What?” Eddie cut him off, barely fazed. “What are you gonna do? Get me back? Harrington, I’ve got nothing to lose. I’m already the school freak, nobody gives a shit what I do.” 

He had a fair point. Steve scrambled to think of a way, any way, he could get under Eddie’s skin the way Eddie was under his. 

“You have Hellfire,” he blurted out. Steve knew from Dustin just how much Eddie loved that stupid club. Based on Eddie’s reaction, Steve had made the right call. “I could tank it,” he continued. “Give up your title as dungeon manager or whatever.”

“Dungeon Master,” Eddie corrected him through gritted teeth. “You wouldn’t.”

“Oh, I would,” Steve insisted. “If you mess with me, I’ll mess right back.”

They stared at each other, knowing that each of them were serious. 

“Fine,” Eddie agreed. “I will play nice.” He stuck his hand out in front of him for Steve to shake. Steve hesitantly did so, not sure if he believed a word out of Eddie’s mouth. 

He was right to be mistrusting. Eddie had the fingers of his other hand crossed behind his back.

_____________________________________

[hairstevington]

Letting all Tumblr followers know that this fic is now complete on Ao3! Go check it out if you’re interested 💕

Thinking about a potential Steddie enemies to lovers fic where Steve and Eddie go full Freaky Friday and swap bodies then learn what each others lives are like and end up having a soft spot for each other and then they kiss (which returns them to their normal selves)

(Ok update I did it)

[hairstevington]

Fic authors self rec!

When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love!

(tagged by @tartarusknight thank you my dear <3)

Back to the Future (Hawkins Edition) - This will always be my favorite fic I've written I think. It's so special to me and I put a LOT of time and energy into it. I know it's Steve/OC which isn't for everyone, but it's less about romance and more about found family and the multiverse and healing from trauma and fighting to save the world (and also it's a fix-it fic for season 4). It's my longest fic but I'm so proud of it, so if it sounds interesting to you, go check it out! <3

i can't tune you out - This is my current WIP and I've had a blast writing it! I'm a sucker for Steddie enemies to lovers and in this AU they're both musicians so I get to write about music in a way I don't usually get to. Plus it's got a lot of plots about identity and sexuality and platonic love and overall I'm really proud of it!

Freaky Friday (Steddie's Version) - Idk why this one just hits for me but it does. Probably the most fun I've ever had writing something!

i wanna cut to the feeling - This was my first time writing a Steddie fic that wasn't a one shot, and I've never looked back! I know a lot of people find comfort in this one and that makes me so happy <3

Stranger Therapy - this one was special because I got to write MURRAY and also because I'm currently studying to be a therapist!

This was like choosing favorite children omg 😂 No pressure tags to @steviesbicrisis @eriquin @disastardly and I can never remember who else writes but this was very fun so if you see this and want to do it, consider yourself tagged <3

[hairstevington]

Welcome to my blog!

For those who are new (hiii <3), I’m Frenchie, and I figured I'm official enough now to have an introduction post, so here's some basic info, FAQ, and a Masterlist of my content so far!

I reblog exclusively Stranger Things content here, although surprisingly I DO have other interests :o

I have an Ao3 account under this same username, if that's your thing!

I keep my writing and this blog PG-13 (with language/drug use and mild sexual content), so if you're looking for explicit stuff I am not the writer for you!

Favorite ship is Any Character x Peace and Happiness (also I love writing Steddie and Lumax has my whole heart)

Every time I get a comment, like, reblog, or feedback of any kind, my heart grows three sizes. Seriously, I'm so honored when people enjoy what I write!

Always looking for new internet friends!

~~~~~~~~~~

Masterlist:

Note: WIP's are "we can be heroes," “the hardest part is who we are,” and “every city’s got a graveyard." Ficlets won't be linked here but I will have them all tagged under "dailydrabble"

Stranger Things (follows the general canon of the show):

"Back to the Future (Hawkins Edition)" - (OC travels back in time and lives through the canon show, season 4 fix-it, 132K words) this one is my fav you guys go read it on Ao3 here

“i’m counting the days to the rapture” - (all canon characters who died on the show reunite, 40K words) found here and on Ao3

“Every city’s got a graveyard” - (Buffy x Stranger Things crossover) - still in its early stages but the first chapter can be found here!

Eddie Munson x Steve Harrington:

“songs that voices never share” - (alternate canon Steve goes deaf after season 3 and meets Eddie, who can sign, 70K words) found here and on Ao3

"we can be heroes" - (Part 2 of the Deaf Steve AU, season 4 rewrite/fix-it in Eddie's POV) found here

“I wanna cut to the feeling” (modern day AU enemies to lovers slow burn feat Rockstar!Eddie and Hairstylist!Steve, 79K words) - Chapter 1-5 found here, the rest found on Ao3!

“I can’t tune you out” - (Rockstar!Eddie/Musician!Steve fake dating enemies to lovers slow burn, 113K words) found here and on Ao3

"Freaky Friday (Steddie's Version)" - (enemies to lovers body swap shenanigans, 36K words) found here and on Ao3

"flowers and ink" - (tattoo artist x flower shop modern day au, 21K words) found here and on Ao3

"Stranger Therapy" - (first date at couples counseling with Dr. Murray, 13K words) found here and on Ao3

“the hardest part is who we are” - (group therapy fic! Enemies to friends to lovers, sorta, lots of angst and dark humor) found here

“Eddie Munson vs the World” - (very camp, in the style of Scott Pilgrim, 20k words) found here

“Call me when you get this” - (one shot, friends to lovers told through voicemails, 3K words) found here and on Ao3

“That ‘90s Fic” (post-canon cute fic for the Valentine’s Day fic exchange 2023! 5.5K words) found here and on Ao3

“Daisies” (requested one shot of Eddie giving his best friend Steve flowers for Valentine’s Day) - found here on Tumblr and here on Ao3

"mysterious ways" - (Steddie week 2023, Kas!Eddie/Steve post canon season 4, 12K words) found here and on Ao3

“The Marriage of Bigfoot and Mothman” found here and on Ao3

"Do I wanna know?" - (modern day AU fluffy one shot) found here and on Ao3

STWG April Fools Day Swap (one shot where Steddie saves a wounded bunny) found here

“Like real people do” - (one shot written for the STWG’s Hozier collection, 1K words) found here

"Well, this is new" found here. The follow-up, "A Different Kind of Nervous," is only on Ao3 (idk why lol). Part 3, “Hands,” found here. Ao3 links for part one, two, and three

Robin Buckley x Nancy Wheeler:

“No Way” (featuring one of my fav lines I've ever written) found here, Ao3 link here

“Best Friends” (another tumblr exclusive!) found here

“I wanted her to look at me” (aka Robin liked Nancy instead of Tammy Thompson) found here, Ao3 link here

The Fruity Four (Robin/Nancy/Steve/Eddie):

“Barb is alive!” (AU request) here, Ao3 link here

"Teleplatonic" (Robin can read Steve's mind, no romance just Stobin) here, Ao3 link here

“Who looks like the better kisser?” - (very short and sweet) found here, Ao3 link here

“This is gonna be fun” (aka the two couples decide to be each other's beards) found here, Ao3 link here

"Steve is NOT Straight" (feat platonic Stobin baybeee) here, Ao3 link here

Misc Content (not fic related):

Steve Harrington (Taylor’s Version) - collab with the Tumblr bestie! Found here

Chaotic Stranger Things Headcanons (part one, part two, part three)

Songs that I associate with the characters

Steeba

Steve Harrington as a cat AU (shitpost collab with my Tumblr bestie, truly a treat and v chaotic, you'll love it)

Cover art for my fic “I can’t tune you out” done by my Tumblr bestie 🥰

How the characters would react to you coming out

Random hair opinions

I still might write this essay on S4 costuming lol

Robin/Nancy parallel with Steve (lowkey sad but also go Ronance) found here

Ronance evidence - found here

My Maya Hawke concert experience!

Byler x Scott Pilgrim meme - found here

Joe Quinn moments - First late night appearance and the falling blooper

List of confirmed JQ improvised moments

Very valid question

Stancy x Taylor Swift (Midnight Rain) found here

Quick Steddie headcanon

Steve is simply A Dad (and I love him)

Theory about season 5, Eddie, and inconsistencies

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Inbox is always open for questions, concerns, feedback, hot takes, requests, or literally whatever as long as you're not weird about it.

Love youuuuuu

[hairstevington]

20 Questions for Writers!

I was tagged by @marvel-ous-m thank you so much my dear ily <3 <3 <3

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

I currently have 32 works...Yowza!

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

Hahahaha ok ok ok I'm scared to look but I will. I have 696,369 words on Ao3. That is...so many. And there are way more unpublished!

3. What fandoms do you write for?

So far, I have only written for Stranger Things, other than my one teaser chapter for a Buffy x Stranger Things crossover I really do hope to return to one day.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

songs that voices never share (aka deaf!Steve part 1)

Stranger Therapy (which has recently made a resurgance - and a sort of part 2 is on the way!)

i wanna cut to the feeling

i can't tune you out

Freaky Friday (Steddie's Version) - honestly this one is still my baby

5. Do you respond to comments?

Always always always!! Even if people just write a heart or something, I write back. When I get a notification that someone commented, it literally makes my day and I re-read them often as a pick-me-up.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Honestly I don't write angsty endings!! I much prefer the happy ones. Closest I've got to angsty I guess is I'm counting the days to the rapture, depending on whose ending you focus on lol

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Oh GOSH. Almost all of them end on a sugary sweet note, but I'll link flowers and ink because that whole thing is just fluff fluff fluffy fluff

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not really? And I'm super grateful for that because on the few times I've gotten semi rude feedback, it has totally plagued my brain hahaha. I'm thankful that so far nothing too bad. (Please nobody change that!)

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I mean, I have, but I don't have anything 18+ on this account very intentionally.

10. Do you write crossovers?

I would, but I haven't really gotten it to stick! One chapter of my Buffy crossover is out, and I have a TLOU crossover idea in my drafts, and there's of course my nearly completed WIP Eddie Munson vs the World, but that's more of an inspired by and less of a crossover. By the way, everyone read that one because it's the most ridiculous thing I've ever written.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I sure hope not! But it's possible, I suppose.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, but AHHH that would be very cool.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes!! I co-wrote a Carrie AU with another fandom friend where Eddie was Carrie and Steve/Chrissy care for him and save him after the prom fiasco. It's on my friend's account, because it's got violence and other explicit content, but it really launched me into taking more risks in my writing!

I also started collabing with my bestie @steviesbicrisis on another fic, but then both of us got super busy. Sorry about that!

Me and @withacapitalp also came up with a banger idea for a collab last night so...we shall see!

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

Oh gosh, all time???? Oh, man. Steddie makes me feral to write, obviously, but to shake things up I'll add Spuffy and Literati (Rory and Jess from Gilmore Girls) into the mix.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you will?

This is so tough because I have thing this where, if I publish a chapter, I HAVE to finish it. But!! There are many things in my WIP folder I don't think I will ever get to, including my Buffy crossover and the one where Dustin and Erica has a time-traveling daughter.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Just like my friend who tagged me, i think characterization and dialogue are my strong suits. It's what I get positive feedback on the most. I also think I'm funny though! At least, in the fics that are more silly lol.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Probablyyyy ummm descriptions? Yeah, that. I've gotten A LOT better about it, but I usually end up writing a lot of dialogue with minimal action because it's easier for me lol

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

Okay, so I've done it, and it's TOUGH. It was for deaf Steve (tagged above, it's my most popular fic). ASL was especially challenging because it can't really be written down, so I had to get creative.

In one fic, any time a character spoke Russian, I just italicized it and made a note at the beginning that mean it wasn't in English canonically. I am not fluent in Russian, so I didn't want to risk relying on Google Translate! Plus, I'd have to write the English part anyway for readers.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

I think. Technically. It was...ha ha, nope. I don't even wanna say it.

20. Favorite fic you've written?

This is so hard, they are all my babies and I put so much care into them! I'm gonna give a shoutout to Back to the Future (Hawkins Edition), as I always do. Now that it's been done over a year I can see the flaws in it and what I would have done different, but the amount of planning and thought and research I put in that thing deserves recognition lol. I think my current long project, we can be heroes (aka part 2 of deaf steve!), could take over as the biggest undertaking, though. But so far it's probably about equal lol.

The besties I have tagged above are welcome to do this. I also wanna nominate @tartarusknight and @imfinereallyybut no pressure!

[hairstevington]

✨ Fic Writing Review 2023 ✨

I was tagged by the lovely @hbyrde36 to do a little fic year in review!!! I'll do my best to track this year only but it's not gonna be perfect lol. Thank you byrdie and thank you to all who have supported me and read my work this year!

Facts and Figures:

At the beginning of 2023, I had JUST started my fic, "I wanna cut to the feeling"! (My first long Steddie fic, by the way - but nowhere near the last)

This year, I published 422,827 words on Ao3 (oh??? my goodness???) - this doesn't count the 50K I wrote for NaNoWriMo, or the SEVERAL fics I did not publish

16 fics updated or created

10 multi-chapter fics completed

3 multi-chapter fics still ongoing <3

2 collabs with other writers!

4 one shots

1 Steddie week challenge, which took place the week between Eras Tour and meeting Joseph Quinn (how I survived, I'll never know)

A handful of drabbles, most of which remain on my discord server and nowhere else lol

Top 5 Fics by Kudos:

Stranger Therapy

i wanna cut to the feeling

Freaky Friday (Steddie's Version)

I can't tune you out

Flowers and Ink

Honorary mention to "songs that voices never share," which is quickly rising the ranks faster than anything I've ever written <3

Upcoming Events and Projects for 2024

STWG Hozier Discography Project

Finishing "songs that voices never share" and probably the sequel

Working on my Buffy x Stranger Things crossover fic (which I just published the teaser for!)

A bunch of one shots probably because I have no chill

Continuing the collab with bestie @steviesbicrisis on "The Choice is Yours, Steve Harrington" <3

Hopefully I will also find time in there to finish my original novel!

Love you all, thank you thank you thank you. What a year it's been.

[hairstevington]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love 💙

Aww!!! This is so sweet!!

My top five fics I've ever written...Hmmm! Okay, these will be in no particular order -

I can't tune you out - I had so much fun with this one and i'm really proud of it. I love writing about music and I looooved the slow burn of it all. Only two chapters to go!

I'm counting the days to the rapture - This fic is now complete and it has a possibility of sequels that I really hope to get to someday. I loved being able to spend time with the fallen characters from the show and explore the concept of life, death, and the multiverse. It's much more melancholy and sad than my usual works, but I think that's what makes it extra special!

Songs that voices never share - DEAF STEVE MY BELOVED!!!!!! I am only two chapters in and already it's completely taken over my mind. I love this fic.

Back to the future (Hawkins Edition) - I will always plug this because I spent SO MUCH TIME AND ENERGY on it. Now that it's been about a year since finishing it though I sometimes wonder how it would come out if I were to write it today.

Freaky Friday (Steddie's Version) - I just love this one. It's only ten chapters and it's heaps of fun and it's set in canon universe so it's EXTRA fun.