#gareth in the back is an absolute vibe

[binch-i-might-be]

sometimes I do miss being a teenager but then I'm like girl .. The Horrors

[loguine-linguine]

Ok hear me out!!!

Steve is a musician who sings pop music and posts on TikTok. He’s kind of a C-ish list celebrity (definitely a bit of a nepo baby) and his music is poppy and catchy. It’s the kinda stuff that you can immediately tell is coming from someone who is actively holding things back/ isn’t writing from any truth. Mall music at its purest form. Then one day with no announcement Steve drops a double sided album that is like GOOD GOOD pop music. It’s also noted very quickly that the pronouns in all the songs have definitely switched to he/him. People freak out and he starts charting for the first time in his career. Kinda Chappell Roan-esque situation where he skyrockets to being a queer pop icon very very quickly.

He starts doing interviews. He shows up to these interviews in outfits aren’t dramatically changed from what he usually wore (polos, jeans, bomber jackets, 80s jock vibes) but it’s all just much more camp. The cropped shirts are shorter, the jeans are tighter, and the colors are all suddenly pastel. He has also started wearing makeup (not heavy makeup but it’s definitely a lipgloss, eyeliner, mascara, highlight/blush on the tip of his nose type situation). He shares that he dropped his old producer (who he had been set up with by his father) and that he’s now working with his best friend Robin. He comes out as gay, talks about his struggle with comp-het, and proudly shares that he is super excited to contribute to the growing movement of music that is being written by queer people, for queer people. His TikTok also blows up.

This is when Tommy Hagan first starts showing up. Tommy is an actor who is pretty well known for doing teen drama TV shows (like Riverdale type deals). He introduces himself to Steve at some sort of industry event right after Steve gets big and pretty quickly starts showing up in his TikTok videos. It comes out that the two are dating pretty quickly after that. They date off and on for about a year and a half. Tommy is a shitty enough boyfriend that even Steve’s fans don’t like him. He stands him up for dates, embarrasses him at events, says rude and dismissive things about his music, etc. Robin (who is also kinda famous by proxy/writes her own music now similar to Billie Eilish and Finneas) absolutely hates his guts. Publicly. They finally break up officially after Tommy cheats on Steve with an actress named Carol who is on a show with him. It gets exposed by the tabloids and Steve finds out by seeing a photo of them making out on one of those celebrity drama TikTok accounts.

Eddie is also getting famous around this same time. He’s the lead for Corroded Coffin and also starts acting occasionally in horror films. He doesn’t really pay much attention to other celebrities or the drama that goes on. He was never into that kind of thing before the band took off so he doesn’t see why he should now. Eddie and the rest of the band are at an awards show of some sort and the others make fun of him the whole time. He can’t stop staring at this absolutely beautiful man sitting at a table near them. “The guy is wearing a slutty little lace shirt, the tightest pants in existence, and has skin that looks like honey and caramel had a child Gareth you really can’t blame me honestly.” Steve and Eddie don’t officially meet until the after party where they immediately hit it off.

A few months later Steve announces a new album and releases a single. It’s just Please Please Please by Sabrina Carpenter but gay and clearly about Tommy.

The music video comes out and people loose their minds. It’s the same sort of video as what Sabrina Carpenter just released for Please Please Please with the stunning outfits and the whole bad boy thing. Steve spends the whole video in dresses and skirts. There’s even a corset at one point. The bigger freak out is the fact that the Barry Keoghan equivalent is Eddie and its a hard launch of their relationship that fans had absolutely zero clue was even a possibility because why would horror/metal man Eddie Munson even know Steve Harrington???? Robin and the Corroded Coffin guys think the whole thing is hilarious. Eddie and Steve are so so happy :)

[riality-check]

DILF!Steve concert saga, featuring Eddie POV for this part! part 1, part 2

"I have to open it."

"Nope."

"Gareth. I need to open it."

"The vault is sacred," Archie says.

At the same time, Jeff chimes in, "The vault was your idea, Eddie."

Eddie thunks his head against the wall. "I know. But I need-"

"They're on the last song," Archie says, putting a hand on Eddie's shoulder. It's probably meant to be comforting, but it feels patronizing as shit.

Eddie is a good friend, though. He doesn't shrug him off.

"Once they're through, I'll unlock it," Jeff says, dangling the key slung around his neck.

"But you could do it now," Eddie protests.

Gareth sits protectively on top of the black lock box. "Absolutely not."

Eddie sighs and waits for the guitar solo onstage to end, nodding his head along to the beat.

It's what he usually does when they're backstage, but this time, it brings a smile to his face. Miss Anna was a natural yesterday for her first time headbanging, and her dad is the reason Eddie wants to break the sacred vault tradition.

He wants, no, needs to know if he got the note. If he decided to write something. If he wants to go a little further than PG flirting.

Eddie for sure wants to go further than that. God. Steve's handsome face and his big hands and his thick thighs (deliciously exposed by his shorts in the summer heat) are all wonderful incentives to skip a few steps and go straight to ramming him into a mattress.

Or, with how that shirt clung to Steve's biceps and how his shorts clung to his ass, let him ram Eddie into the mattress. He isn't picky.

(He isn't desperate, either, thank you very much, Gareth. And no, he won't admit how long it's been since he got laid.)

From the house, the audience roars, and Eddie jumps off the arm of the couch he was laying on.

Gareth sighs and gets off the lock box.

"Jeff, open it," Eddie says, staring at the vault and subconsciously making grabby hands toward it.

"Is that how we ask?"

"I could always yank the key off you."

Archie sighs and, ever the peacemaker, takes the key from Jeff and unlocks the vault. The second it's open, Eddie snatches his phone and turns it on.

Please please please let the DILF text back, he thinks to himself as he waits for this stupid metal brick to turn on and give him a resolution to this whole ridiculous situation.

Because, first, Eddie doesn't really jive with kids. Sure, they flock to him in the same way they flock to every other vaguely cool-looking person, but aside from asking if he has to draw his tattoos on every day or if his mommy is okay with him having his hair that long, they generally leave him alone.

And that's okay. Eddie easily made his peace with not having kids about ten years ago. Between his strong preference for men and the way that significantly decreases those odds and the choice to not pass on his truly abysmal family history of mental illness and addiction, it seemed obvious and a lot more selfless.

But Anna was cool as hell. Smart as hell, too, in a way that made Eddie feel like he was looking back at a time before school punished him for being bright and verbose and energetic.

Anna didn't make him want kids. Again, the whole family history thing is a real vibe killer. But she did give him enough fuel, for just an instant, to think that dating someone with a kid might not be a deal breaker anymore.

Or maybe Steve was just that hot.

He whined a lot yesterday, in the hotel, about how hot Steve was.

His phone turns on, and, front and center, is a text from an unknown number:

I guess I don’t have to ask you what you do for a living. Just so we’re even on that front, I’m a teacher, and Anna’s full time job is preschool.

Eddie grins so hard he feels like his face will split in two.

"Is it him?" Jeff asks, trying to look over Eddie's shoulder.

"Of course it is," Gareth scoffs. "Look at his face."

"What did he say?" Archie asks.

Eddie takes the easier way out and lets him have the phone.

Gareth and Jeff crowd over Archie's shoulders, and Eddie watches their faces change as they read the message.

"Oh, he's bitchy," Gareth says.

"That means he's perfect," Jeff says, with a pointed look at Eddie.

Eddie shoots Archie a clear "back me up" look and gets a shrug in return because all his friends are assholes who know his type way too fucking well.

"What do I say?" he asks.

Archie tosses him the phone. "I don't know. Flirt back."

"I don't know how!"

"You ground against a guitar-"

"And kissed me onstage," Jeff continues. "But you don't know how to flirt?"

Eddie puts his head in his hands. "I didn't have enough sex in high school to know how to do this!"

"That's not an excuse when none of us did!" Gareth says.

Jeff barks out a laugh.

"Just ask if he's free tomorrow," Archie says, like the rational, wonderful friend he is. "This was the last stop of tour. It's not like you have to get anywhere else at a specific time."

"Okay. Okay, yeah, I can do that," Eddie says, hyping himself up. Before he can second guess himself, he writes back.

Since it's summer, I'm assuming you both have off. Can you fit it in your busy schedule to have dinner with a humble musician tomorrow night?

"Oh, shit, did you send it?" Gareth asks, snatching his phone.

"Wait," Archie says, like the rational, horrible friend he is. "Do we know if he's single?"

"Oh, shit," Jeff whispers.

Eddie takes his phone back and refuses to look at it. He wants to shut it down. He wants to drop it. He wants to drive to nearest river and throw it there.

"Am I a homewrecker?" he asks absently.

"Only if you succeed," Jeff says.

"He might have a wife," Archie muses. "He might be straight."

"Okay, dude, enough," Gareth says. "This was supposed to be exciting! Eddie was supposed to get ass!"

"He might be ace."

"Archie, shut the fuck up."

He holds his hands up in surrender, and Jeff pats his shoulder, a little comfortingly, a lot condescendingly.

Eddie sits down on the couch. Puts his head in his hands. Breathes.

He's flirting with a married man. He's absolutely flirting with a married man. This is a new low. This is worse than the time he licked the floor of a restaurant, drunk, for five bucks. This is worse than when he greened out in the parking lot of a Chuck E. Cheese. This is worse than when he accidentally told the gas station cashier that he loved them and immediately walked into the glass door behind him.

This is. So bad.

And then his phone rings, so it'll get worse. It has to. That's how these things go.

Eddie has always been self-destructive, so, of course, he looks at the screen.

I can't swing dinner, but how's lunch? Fair warning: it might be a playground picnic if my babysitter bails.

"Holy shit, I'm not a homewrecker," Eddie says.

"I didn't think you had it in you," Jeff says.

"He's single!" Gareth cheers.

"Can I talk now?" Archie teases.

"I'm not a homewrecker!" Eddie says, and he launches off the couch to hug the nearest person, who happens to be Jeff.

They have to get out of the venue. He has to figure out the logistics of the date and how to be normal by the time he gets there and what to wear and everything else.

But, right now, Eddie is over the fucking moon that Steve is even giving him a shot. And he hopes, giddy as all hell and hanging off of Jeff's shoulders, that Steve feels even a little bit like this.

He writes back, once he's calmed down:

Lunch might just become my new favorite meal.

[ladykailitha]

The Caged Bird Still Sings Part 2

I'm so glad that people enjoyed the first part of this so much. I hope you like sexy times and long chapters, because this has both.

I should point out that this is mid to late 80s and Eddie's cell phone is an actual fucking brick. Rich rockstar and all.

In this part we get Eddie sliding into home, finding out Steve's real age and how he got into the bar past a bouncer known for spotting fakes.

Part 1

Mature 18+ only!

~

Eddie was doing what he did best and that was absolutely shred on stage. He was back up vocals because Jeff truly had the pipes. Something they didn’t actually learn until they were half way through their first record.

He had no delusions that if he had remained lead singer, that they would have gotten absolutely fucking nowhere.

He was also keeping an eye on his little canary. Bright yellow in a sea of leather and chains. He just wanted to bite those cheeks. Face or ass, didn’t matter which. Though he would be very happy indeed to sink his teeth into that amazing ass.

Too soon and not soon enough they were saying goodbye. As they walked off stage, Eddie saw Chrissy come back up to Steve. Most likely telling him to stay a little longer.

Eddie was 97% sure that little Canary gave off queer vibes, but that little teeny-tiny doubt was all it took from going over there and bending him over the bar and fucking him wildly.

In the dressing room as they were putting away their guitars, Chrissy came bouncing into the room, bright smile on her face.

“You fucking owe me big time, lover boy,” she told Eddie. “His name is Steve, he’s twenty-two and he’s a local.”

Eddie leaned back against the sofa cushion and draped one arm over the back. “That’s all very interesting Chris, but that doesn’t help me get laid.”

She held up her hand. “I’m getting to it, babe. Pretty boy’s drinking his sorrows because Daddy kicked him out for being caught with his boyfriend.”

Suddenly Eddie was on the edge of his seat, elbows on his knees.

“Who told you that?” Gareth asked, twirling a stick between his fingers.

“Monty, the bouncer,” Chrissy replied, looking smug. “Steve is a regular and Monty knows him.”

Jeff raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Well enough that he would know the dude is queer in small town Bumfuck, Indiana?”

“That’s what he said.”

Brian rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “The worst thing that would happen is that he blows you off and you blow town. Everyone knows you’re gay anyway, it won’t hurt shit if he says anything.”

Jeff and Gareth exchanged concerned glances.

“I’m with Brian,” Eddie said, “and not just because I find the dude hot. He’s not going to start shit surrounded by all my fans and if he’s just out for drinks there’s nothing wrong with me having a couple with the guy.”

Gareth and Jeff sighed.

“You were going to do whatever you wanted to do anyway,” Gareth said. “And even I could tell he had a hard time keeping his eyes off you and I’m in the fucking back!”

Eddie cackled. “Damn right.”

~

Steve was enjoying his second Tequila Sunrise, when the lead guitarist slid into the stool next to him.

Steve turned in his seat to look at him. “Wow, as I live and breathe, Eddie Munson in the flesh. You know you’re better looking in person then you are in pictures.”

Eddie cackled and ordered a beer. He turned to face Steve as the bartender pulled his beer and set it down in front him.

“Cocktails are an interesting choice,” he murmured after taking a sip of his beer. “I would have pegged you for the bottle beer type.”

Steve raised an eyebrow over the top of his glass. “Beer’s great unless you want to get drunk fast then it’s shit. Especially in this hick town.” He took a sip. “Plus it tastes better.”

Eddie threw back his head and laughed. “Fair point. I stick to beer so that I don’t get drunk off my ass, falling off stage is never fun regardless of the height involved.”

“Sounds like you’ve had experience,” Steve said with a huff of laughter.

Eddie hummed around the lip of his bottle and took a sip. “Yep! In the early days of the band, took a header off a stage at some festival, right into the crowd. I’m not sure who got hurt worst, me or the poor people I landed on.”

Steve winced. “That’s rough. At least you were able to come back from that, don’t think most people could.”

“Thank you,” Eddie said with a smile.

They continued to talk. Steve knew the signs. The way Eddie was leaning close, the way he would let his hands gaze his skin, the flirty language. There was no doubt Steve was going home with this one. Well hotel, anyway. So he slowed up on his alcohol intake.

And if the bartender’s smirk was any indication, Eddie was doing the same. It seemed that neither one was interested in drunk sex.

~

Eddie was going to kill Monty and Jeff was never going to let him live it down. Because there was no way this guy was twenty-two. Sure, he knew how to hold his liquor and when to slow down, he had to give him that, so clearly he’d been drinking awhile. But he talked like a high school student.

He just hoped his little Canary was only naive and not actually fucking under age.

“Shit,” Eddie said after draining the rest of his third beer in two hours, “I could kill for a smoke.”

“I wouldn’t mind one,” Steve said, leaning close, “if you’ve got one to share.”

Eddie eyed him up and down. “What no room in those pants for a pack of smokes?”

“I mean I could,” Steve said cocking his head to the side, “But it would leave much room for anything else and I kinda need my wallet more than I need a pack of smokes on me at all times, so...”

Eddie laughed and shook his head. “Yeah, darlin’, I can see why that might be a problem.”

He hopped off the stool and Steve dutifully followed him out the back. He pulled out a couple of smokes and lit them both before handing one to Steve.

“So how did you get your fake ID past the door gargoyle?” Eddie asked after taking a drag and blowing straight up into the air.

Steve threw back his head and laughed. “What gave me away?”

Yup. Jeff was never going to let him live this down. God damn it.

“For all your big talk,” he huffed, annoyed, “you don’t sound like someone who’s been around long enough to be the age on your ID.”

Steve shrugged. “I’ve had the same ID since I was sixteen. Both of them. I have a cousin Scott who was nineteen at the time and altered it for me.” He pulled out the fake ID and handed it to him.

Eddie squinted in the dark and realized that if he hadn’t been told it was a fake he wouldn’t have noticed a damn thing. But there slight smudges where there shouldn’t be that just tipped it over the edge into fake territory.

“Okay,” he groused, “that is a pretty good fake. But Monty is known for his eagle eye in spotting a fake, so what gives?”

Steve grinned as he took back the ID. “Scott is my cousin on my dad’s side and Monty’s my cousin on my mom’s side. He knows my parents are shit so he pays the owner under the table when I go out to drink here. Which I keep to a minimum for his sake, mainly I use it to buy beer in out of town gas stations.” He pulled out his real ID and handed it Eddie. “I’m young, but I’m not stupid.”

Eddie blinked at Steve for a moment in shock. He looked down at the real age and god, the sigh of relief he bit back was immense. Nineteen. His little Canary was nineteen.

“Sorry for doubting you,” Eddie murmured, handing the ID back.

Steve shrugged again. “I get it. I’ve been told I have kind of a weird face when it comes to age, I could look anywhere from sixteen to thirty depending on the lighting and what I’m wearing.” He took his first drag of his cigarette and blew out of the side of his mouth, flicking the ashes on the ground.

Eddie stared at him owlishly for a moment before he dropped his cigarette on the pavement and ground it with the heel of his boot. Then he surged forward and grabbed Steve’s face to mash their lips together.

Steve’s fingers slackened and the cigarette fell from his fingers and rolled away. He brought his hands up to get his hands on those curls like he’d been dreaming about all night. Eddie moaned as blunt nails scratched his scalp. He wrapped his arms around Steve and pulled him in close.

This time it was Steve’s turn to moan. They pressed together from chest to knees and he could feel everything through the thin layer of his clothes.

Eddie’s hands roamed down his back and straight to those delicious looking ass cheeks. He wanted to taste them as surely as he could taste the ash on his lips.

All the buildup, all the tension all night was culminated in this first kiss. Eddie was heady with it. The alcohol in his system burning away in the face of his desire for this man. Because young as he was his little Canary was a man, no doubt.

A man who clearly wanted to take this elsewhere and Eddie wanted to let him.

“Just, just,” he panted when he pulled away. “Just let me tell someone we’re going back to the hotel, okay baby?”

Steve nodded a little kiss drunk and a lot breathless. “Should I just wait here for you then?”

Eddie nodded and then dashed back into the bar. He was barely gone two minutes before he was back out and dragging Steve to his car.

When they got to the car, Eddie pushed him up against it to kiss him again.

“Someone’s eager,” Steve teased, his hands skirting the stripe of skin between Eddie’s pants and shirt.

“Baby, you have no idea,” he growled, diving in to kiss him senseless.

Steve moaned as every nerve in his body lit up with every lick of Eddie’s tongue, every kiss of his lips, every touch of his hands. He felt like he was on fire.

Eddie pulled away long enough to unlock the car. He opened the door and practically shoved Steve into it, before he ran around to the other side of the car and got into the driver’s seat.

“Hold on, baby,” Eddie purred as the engine roared to life, “you’re in for a ride.”

“God I hope so!” Steve said breathlessly, pressing back against the leather of the seat.

Eddie cackled, pulling into traffic. “Oh honey, you have no idea.”

~

Hands were everywhere by the time they finally got into the hotel room.

Steve had stayed in some pretty swanky places growing up, traveling with his parents but fuck it was nothing this decadent.

All the fittings were brass and the tops were marble. In the middle of this was a large king size bed with black bedding and white throw pillows. If he wasn’t trying to get the two of them naked as fast as possible, he would have belly flopped on the mattress and buried his face in the pillows.

But all thoughts of that went out the window when Eddie’s mouth starting kissing down his throat as the only thing going off in his head became: YES! YES! YES!

Steve’s shirt was the first thing to come off as Eddie kept trying to get at more of Steve’s skin. Then Steve’s pants and shoes were next, leaving him naked in the face of the very dressed rock star.

Eddie picked him up and threw him on the bed. He tossed off his jacket and then tore of his shirt. He hopped on the bed and crawled up Steve’s body like a predator on the prowl. Steve moaned as Eddie kissed him deeply.

“God,” Steve groaned. “I need you to fuck me, so badly.”

Eddie grinned, his hands moving down Steve’s chest and sides to land on his hips. “Is that right, little Canary? You need to be fucked?”

Steve nodded, his capacity for speech having flown away with his ability to think of anything but getting to be fucked by a rock star.

Eddie scrambled off the bed and took off his boots and pants. Then he dug around in the nightstand before he pulled out what he was looking for. A small tube of lube and a pack of condoms.

Steve’s body shuddered with the thought of being absolutely wrecked by this beast of a man. Eddie looked good in his clothes, but so much better out of them. He was still as lean and tight as whipcord, but his body was toned with well-formed muscle. And then he pulled his hair back and suddenly Steve wanted to leave hickies all over that column of his throat. Because God! It was just as sinful as the rest of him.

“Shit,” he hissed. “You’re the reason people think gays are going to hell. You’re as gorgeous as sin. Fuck!”

Eddie blinked at him for a moment and threw back his had in laughed. “Baby, that was quite the line.” But before Steve could even think about frowning at being laughed at, he dived back in to kiss his mouth. “If I’m sin, little Canary, then you must be heaven sent.”

Steve wanted to protest that Eddie’s line was worst, but again all thoughts went out of his head when Eddie put the first condom on Steve. His hips bucked with the touch even if it wasn’t a sexual one.

“Now who’s the eager one, baby?” Eddie purred.

Steve moaned the loss of his hands as he watched Eddie sheath his dick in the second condom. He tossed the foil packets away and then popped open the cap of lube. He coated his finger with the liquid and circled Steve’s hole.

Steve let out a little whine at being touched but not enough. It wasn’t enough. Then Eddie breached the ring of muscle and holy fuck, it felt so good.

“You like that, little Canary?” Eddie teased, working his finger in and out of him.

“So good,” Steve breathed, trying not fuck himself on the digit.

“And you’re going to continue feel good, aren’t you?” Eddie murmured into Steve stomach. “Because you’re going to be a good boy and tell me if anything is uncomfortable or hurts, right?”

Steve nodded.

“Use your words, little Canary,” Eddie said, pulling his finger out of him.

“Yes!” Steve cried, though he would have said anything just so that Eddie would come back with his finger.

“Good boy.”

But when he brought his finger back, he added another and Steve nearly careened off the bed. Eddie held him down with his other hand.

“Look at you,” he purred. “I’ve never been with anyone so responsive before, baby.”

“So good for you,” Steve babbled. “Want to be so good.”

“And you are,” Eddie assured him. “You are so good for me.”

Shortly after the second finger, a third was added and Steve was muttering pleas and inanities as Eddie continued to work him open.

“Please, Eddie!” he cried. “I need you!”

Eddie removed his fingers and lined himself up. He grabbed Steve’s hips and slipped right into him.

Soon it was an uncoordinated mess of Eddie fucking Steve and Steve working himself to get off.

“So close...” Steve whispered.

Eddie grabbed Steve’s hand and together they finished him off. His body arched off the bed as he released into the condom. He fell boneless, to the bed as Eddie chased his own completion.

Soon after he was releasing ribbon after ribbon into the condom. His hips shuttered and then stilled as the last of his orgasm floated through his system.

He pulled off Steve’s condom first and then his own, making sure to tie each off before throwing them away.

He cleaned them both up with a wet hand towel from the en suite bathroom and then tucked a sleepy Steve into the bed.

He crawled in behind him and pulled him in close. He kissed Steve’s shoulder and the man muttered back sleepily something that sounded a little too close to, “Love you, too,” for Eddie’s liking.

Not because he didn’t want Steve in love with him, but because he was half way there himself.

This boy was going to be trouble.

~

Steve absolutely doesn't remember saying those three little words the next day.

Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11

Tag List: CLOSED

1- @rozzieroos @itsall-taken @redfreckledwolf @zerokrox-blog @beelze-the-bubkiss

2- @gregre369 ​@a-little-unsteddie @chaosgremlinmunson @messrs-weasley @cryptid-system

3- @maya-custodios-dionach @goodolefashionedloverboi @val-from-lawrence @carlyv @wonderland-girl143-blog

4- @justforthedead89 @irregular-child @bookbinderbitch @bookworm0690 @forgottenkanji

5- @anne-bennett-cosplayer @yikes-a-bee @awkwardgravity1 @littlewildflowerkitten @genderless-spoon

6- @dragonmama76 @ellietheasexylibrarian @thedragonsaunt @useless-nb-bisexual @disrespectedgoatman

7- @counting-dollars-counting-stars @tinyplanet95 @ravenfrog @swimmingbirdrunningrock @lingeringmirth

8- @gutterflower77 @a-lovely-craziness @just-a-tiny-void @w1ll0wtr33 @sticknpokelightningbolt

9- @scoops-aboy86 @kurofuckingshi16 @watermelonmite @eyehartart

[qprstobin]

Maybe it's just the jock in me, but I think about Steddie going to the gym soooo much. For a lot of different reasons lmao. Part of it is that I think it's a great place for Eddie to thirst and be confused at how homoerotic so many of the rituals around the gym are, but also because there's a lot of humor in Eddie going to the gym.

He has a lot of energy, and we know he has some muscle, likely just from day to day activity, mechanics, band equipment, etc. He seems like he would enjoy being outdoors, and hiking or exploring. Something that is a work out but doesn't feel like one if you do it right. Despite all that, he absolutely has the vibe of someone who hated gym class (which, same), and probably would claim to hate working out/doing physical activity.

I just know that when Steve finally convinces him to go to the gym with him, Eddie would be SO MAD at how much he loves it and how great it makes him feel. He is absolutely that post that is like "you mean regular exercise is good for you and makes you feel good???? is good for your mental health??"

He feels lied to, he feels cheated. Maybe he should've expected this, now that he's dating a jock, but he thought that his jock was an exception. He hates jocks. What is happening to him.

Of course part of it is just that it's not gym class, which is not good at catering to any demographic other than "generally athletic and doing a school sport". Another part is that Steve is very big on making sure he doesn't hurt himself, and making sure that why he lifts and shit are at the level he is actually at. Steve would not allow him to overwork himself. He likes that he looks after him and likes that they are able to do something together that aligns with Steve's interests and not the nerd herd's.

It becomes a great way for them to spend time together in public, and it's extra fun when Robin comes along, or when they manage convince one of the others to join them.

The funniest part would be how much his friends would heckle him for it though. It's all affectionate, but Gareth every practice makes a joke about how he knows how Luke Skywalker feels, now that his "father" has betrayed him. Lucas is smug every time he shows up for a session with Steve, and Eddie is there too. it takes a lot for Eddie to remind himself he can't fight a toddler.

(He refuses to admit that he knows Lucas would win.)

The worst though, as @starsvs brought up, is that Steve would look at Eddie, who loves the outdoors, is good at staying hydrated for dnd/the band, and is now working out regularly? And go "babe I think you're a jock now" and Eddie would lose. his. shit.

Eddie genuinely takes a moment to consider if this is what is going to cause him to dump his boyfriend, because he better take that slander back right the fuck now. Eddie? A jock? The very antithesis of everything he stands for? The sheer dramatics that statement causes is enough to keep Steve laughing for weeks. Eddie would grumble and bitch for days, laying on the floor complaining about him!! being called a jock!!! Wayne is just calmly sipping his coffee and watching his boy go on and on, because its certainly more entertaining than anything on day time tv.

[steddieas-shegoes]

a steddie request eddie invites a few people to an open mic night and makes sure steve sings something, and they are both really into each other singing ty

Sorry that I have become obsessed with the idea of Steve singing Cherry Bomb at the top of his lungs like his life depends on it (maybe in my head this is his Vecna song what of it). I think it would absolutely send Eddie into a whole spiral because that is NOT what Steve usually listens to and that is NOT the vibe he expected for the evening here. This was a fun little break between two very serious requests and I hope you all enjoy something fun and cute! - Mickala ❤️

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Steve hated karaoke. He hated watching it, he hated performing, he hated that he was usually in a loud bar when it happened.

But Robin insisted he come, insisted that Eddie wanted him there, and it would be “fun.”

And maybe if he’d been drinking, it would have at least been entertaining. It wasn’t.

Drunk girl after drunk girl took the stage, all of them butchering Joan Jett and Cyndi Lauper and ABBA.

Steve was extra mad about the ABBA.

But he was trying to let it go, trying to relax. Robin was having a blast, Eddie was having a blast, even Nancy had put her name on the list to sing.

Eddie wanted everyone to sing something, but Steve had avoided putting his name on the list so far.

Or he thought he did.

“Steve Harrington!”

The announcer said in the mic.

Nope. No. Not happening. Whoever did this was going to die.

He shook his head and glared at Robin.

“I’m not getting up there.”

“Come on! Eddie wants you to!”

“Why should he want me to? Why isn’t he going?”

“I am going. Right after you,” Eddie said from behind him, an annoying and attractive smirk in place.

“You should take my turn.”

“No, you should have a little fun.”

“This isn’t fun for me.”

Eddie shrugged.

“Okay.”

But the way he walked over to his seat, not quite pouting, but close to it, had Steve already reconsidering.

His stupid cute face and his stupid excitement and stupid sad puppy eyes when his hopes and dreams got dashed.

Ugh.

Steve stood up.

“Fine!” He threw his arms up and started walking towards the stage area.

He heard everyone talking behind him, and when he looked back, Eddie’s smile was huge.

That alone was worth it, he supposed.

He approached the announcer, hands in his pockets.

“What song did he sign me up for?”

“Cherry Bomb.”

“Of course.”

Steve couldn’t even be that mad.

It was a good choice, underrated for karaoke, and one of Steve’s favorites.

Eddie knew that, but no one else did.

“You know the words or do you need the sheet?”

“I know the words, thanks.”

Steve could probably sing this song backwards.

He stepped on the stage, walked to the mic, and waved to the group he came with. He would get this over with, finish his drink, and head home. Simple as that.

Eddie was beaming back at him, and when the music started, Steve felt nerves hit him.

Everyone in the bar cheered when the music started, including Robin.

Something in Steve shifted when he started singing. He felt like he needed to commit completely, put on the best performance he possibly could. Make Eddie proud.

So he started getting into it, growling into the mic and throwing his head back, letting his hips move in ways he usually reserved for the bedroom.

It was very ridiculous, but it was worth it to see Eddie’s reaction.

His jaw was wide open, eyes barely blinking. He couldn’t take his eyes off of Steve, even when his friend Gareth tried to nudge him.

Steve didn’t think about it, didn’t want to let himself hope that somehow Eddie might actually have feelings for him.

As soon as he finished the song, his adrenaline levels crashed.

His hands shook as he left the stage, and his vision blurred around the edges. He walked straight to the bathroom, barely registering the announcer calling for Nancy.

He needed a moment.

But he didn’t get one.

The bathroom door crashed open just as he was leaning over the sink to splash some cold water on his face.

Robin was standing there, hands on her hips, scowl on her face.

“You broke Eddie!”

“What?”

“He can’t even get up. He’s broken.”

“How is that my fault?”

“You were like…sexy or something.”

Steve snorted.

“Don’t hurt yourself.”

“I don’t know! He hasn’t moved and hasn’t spoken. He’s broken.”

Steve splashed his face carefully, didn’t want to spend the rest of the night soaked. The cold water helped him calm down and regain some feeling in his extremities.

“He’s the one who signed me. He’s the one who picked the song.”

“I don’t think he would’ve if he knew you’d go full Freddie Mercury up there.”

Steve rolled his eyes.

“I did not.”

“You did! For someone who didn’t even wanna come, you sure gave 120%.”

“I just sang the song. I got it over with. I might head out actually.”

“Before Eddie sings?”

“You just said he was broken.”

Robin huffed, crossing her arms against her chest.

“Can you just come out there and watch?”

Steve knew he had to. He couldn’t just leave, not after that, not after Eddie reacted that way.

“Okay.”

His shoulders fell, and he settled himself in for a long night.

They both made their way back out to the table where everyone was watching Nancy completely butcher Blondie. It was fine when she did it, she was having fun and she deserved to have fun. They all did.

Robin sat in the end seat, forcing him to sit next to a suspiciously still Eddie.

They didn’t look at each other, but their thighs were so close, Steve could feel the heat coming from his body.

He was going to die.

He hadn’t even told Robin he liked Eddie yet, had barely come to terms with it himself. Not only did he have an entire crisis about liking a man, but that man was Eddie.

That crisis was actually worse.

Steve watched Eddie’s fingers drum on the table in front of them, not going to the beat of the song wrapping up.

“Alright everyone! Got a real treat for you next! Eddie Munson’s gonna play and sing for us tonight!”

There were some cheers, most of which came from their own table, as Eddie stood up and hustled over to the accouncer, who was handing him an acoustic guitar.

Eddie didn’t usually play acoustic, did he?

What was happening?

Everyone at the table was staring at Steve.

What was happening?

“Hi everyone. Thanks for letting me break the rules a bit for karaoke,” Eddie said softly into the mic, nothing like his usual big personality coming through.

He was usually comfortable on stage, not scared to be even more over the top. This wasn’t like him at all.

Steve felt like he might puke and he didn’t even know why.

Eddie strummed a few times, wincing when he realized it was a bit out of tune.

“Sorry, just give me a second to tune it.”

Everyone seemed patient, mostly curious as to what he could possibly be doing.

And then Eddie started playing for real. It took everyone in the bar a minute to really know what he was playing, but when he started singing, Steve melted.

Eddie Munson was playing an acoustic version of Time After Time in a packed bar. And he was looking at Steve while he sang.

Steve couldn’t even find it in himself to be embarrassed over the attention, he was too busy being completely in love.

Eddie was a metalhead through and through, made fun of all of Steve’s music frequently, and never seemed to like anything that didn’t have wild guitar solos.

But if he was performing this song on his own up there, that meant he’d not only been listening to it a lot, but also teaching himself the guitar for it and the words.

Steve knew it was for him. It was obvious it was for him.

Everyone in this bar would probably figure out it was for him if they followed Eddie’s gaze.

That was a risk, but Steve honestly didn’t care right now.

Robin squeezed his knee, smiling over at him like she knew.

“Oh my God.”

“What?” She asked innocently.

“You knew. That’s why you dragged me here. That’s why you made me come back out of the bathroom.”

Robin shrugged.

Did everyone in their group know?

He looked around at them, everyone’s smirking faces pointed right at him.

These motherfuckers knew.

“You guys are…okay? With it?”

He couldn’t help but ask, his eyes focused back on Eddie so he didn’t have to see any type of disgust or disappointment on their faces.

“Dude, Eddie has had the hots for you for so long, I kinda forgot you weren’t��into men for a while. It just felt like you two were dancing around each other, ya know?” Gareth replied from the end of the table.

No, he didn’t. He didn’t think he’d ever been obvious, often putting extra space between himself and Eddie when he felt like he would do something stupid like kiss him.

“You are into him though, right? He’s not doing this for no reason?” Jonathan added, suddenly concerned that Eddie was making a fool of himself for nothing.

“No, I’m into him. Unfortunately,” Steve replied, eyes focusing back on the way Eddie managed to hit the high notes.

As he finished, the crowd gave a standing ovation, probably just glad he hadn’t gotten up there to sing Black Sabbath or something like he usually did.

Steve watched as he handed the guitar back to the announcer and slowly turned to look back at the table.

The announcer was saying someone’s name, but Steve didn’t hear it.

The way Eddie was looking at him.

He stood up and started walking towards the bathroom again, hoped Eddie would be smart enough to follow him.

He was.

The moment the bathroom door closed behind Eddie, Steve was on him, his lips meeting Eddie’s like they were magnets.

Eddie groaned into it, his hands grasping at Steve’s hips and pulling him impossibly closer, pushing their hips together until all they could feel was each other.

When they finally came apart, just enough to rest their foreheads together, Eddie huffed out a laugh.

“What’s so funny?”

“If I knew singing Cyndi Lauper would get you, I would have done this a year ago.”

Steve rolled his eyes and leaned in for another kiss.

They started to get carried away again, Steve’s hands running up Eddie’s chest and settling over his heart.

“You always make fun of my music.”

“Because it’s terrible music.”

“But you just sang it in front of about 100 people.”

“I sang it in front of you. Other people were just there.”

“You’re an idiot.”

“But I’m your idiot. Right?”

He suddenly looked nervous, like he spoke too soon or assumed too much.

“Of course you are. I’m so stupidly in love with you, I can’t let you be anyone else’s idiot,” Steve said, leaning in for another kiss.

“You love me? Seriously?”

“Yeah, seriously.”

“Holy shit.”

Steve smacked his chest gently.

“Do you love me back or am I just here to confess my stupid feelings in a bar bathroom alone?”

“I just sang Cyndi Lauper in front of 100 people for you. I think it’s clear I love you.”

Steve smirked.

“Good.”

[xenon-demon]

I fucking love pretty much every version of the “celebrity x Just Some Guy™” trope that there is for Steddie, but in honor of having a totally reasonable amount of wine I’m going to tell you about the version I’m currently thinking about all the time, one of my dumbest yet also funniest AU concepts: modern!AU with streamers Steve & Robin and Hardcore Fan™ Eddie who writes reader-insert fic about Steve.

Steve and Robin, aka EvenStevens and BirdBox_ on Twitch (“My name is spelled with a P-H, Robin, that’s such a stupid name.” “No, it’s actually even better this way! You don’t want to just use your real government name for something like this, and you would just make your username ‘SteveHarrington01′ or something equally uninspired-”) frequently stream together and have a shared YouTube channel. They got popular doing reaction videos that quickly devolve into the pair of them bickering on camera, and since the internet just loves the ‘snarky woman and her emotional support himbo’ dynamic, they got very big, very quick. Plus, it certainly doesn’t hurt that they had the combined might of Dustin and Erica to help them bend the algorithm to their whims.

While most people recognize their platonic-with-a-capital-P soulmatism, there are still some that are convinced they’re secretly dating - they can’t decide if it’s hilarious or absolutely maddening that every time they try to disprove the rumors, they somehow get stronger. Robin doesn’t feel comfortable coming out to the internet yet, and without that trump card some people just can’t understand why they’re not dating.

...there are other sections of their fandom, however, that absolutely do believe they’re not dating. Mainly because they’d rather be dating Steve or Robin (or both!) themselves, and write all the reader-insert fanfiction you could ever possibly need about it. Robin is largely ambivalent to the concept of fanfiction being written about herself as long as they’re not writing smut, since at least that way they’re not insisting she’s dating Steve.

Steve on the other hand finds it absolutely hilarious how despite how much he’s changed, he’s back to being the heartthrob he used to be in high school - and, he’ll be honest, he thrives on the attention. He’s given everyone the green light to write whatever they want - dared them to make it raunchier, even - to the point where it’s a running joke that Steve will read your reader-insert fanfiction about him unless you tag it with some form of ‘Steve don’t look’. He even used the prevalence of fic about himself to come out on stream.

(Steve’s in the middle of re-organizing his flower field in Animal Crossing when he’s interrupted by a donation. “Hey Steve, really sorry to tell you this but people are writing porn about you... and they’re making it gay. Like writing about you getting fucked by a dude. Just wanted you to know so you can say something about it.”

Steve stops dead, his screen freezing on his open inventory. “Hey, uh, why the fuck would I have a problem about a fictional version of me bottoming? Or- wait, do I seriously give off homophobic vibes? I’m literally bisexual. Hey Dustin, can you ban that guy please? Christ, the nerve of some people. If that’s how you feel about people being gay, or about people writing things that I’ve already said I have no problem with, you can leave this stream right now because I don’t want you here.“)

Many people lost their minds after that stream, one of them being popular tumblr blog whorefireclub.

Eddie didn’t plan on starting a tumblr blog for self-insert fanfiction about a twitch streamer. Really he didn’t, and every time he thinks about it in terms that plain he kind of dies a little on the inside. It’s really all Gareth’s fault, for getting fed up with Eddie’s dumb parasocial crush on a streamer and daring him to just “get it out of his system already”. So, using a bare-bones anonymous tumblr and many, many beers as his cover story, Eddie posted some of the most quickly written and unedited pieces of writing he’s ever produced in his life.

Except he wrote it with an AMAB reader character - and for those of you unfamiliar with the reader-insert sphere, that’s like fucking hen’s teeth. People are pretty good at making things gender neutral at least in their descriptions, and sometimes the anatomy is vague enough that it’s ambiguous, but the majority is written with AFAB genitalia for the reader character.

Eddie’s little drunken post blows up, and at first, he’s never regretted a life choice more.

After thinking about it, and seeing just how many people left comments with their reblogs or came into his askbox directly to thank him for giving them the representation they wanted, he starts to feel a bit better about the whole thing. In fact, it kind of tickles his “protector of the outcasts” instincts; there are people who can’t enjoy the content they want to because it doesn’t gel with their anatomy or gender identity. Eddie could, hypothetically, if he wanted to be absolutely insane about this one hot streamer guy, help fix that problem somewhat.

A couple of months later and he’s become “the guy who writes inclusive reader-insert fic”. While a fair amount of his work is gender-ambiguous, both in anatomy and in avoiding gendered language, more than half is written for anyone who finds themselves underrepresented in the usual reader-insert scene; anyone AMAB, AFAB people who can’t do female language, he’s even written a few oneshots with intersex reader characters. He did research for it and everything. It’s certainly not how he planned for this to work out, but it’s actually kind of... nice. He’d written a lot of fanfiction in his youth, mainly about Lord of the Rings and Star Trek, and while this isn’t how he’d imagined returning to the hobby it’s actually really fun. (It’s making his celebrity crush on Steve a million times worse, of course, but he’s in denial about that so it’s totally fine.)

He’s a little shit, so his blog header has - underneath his personal details - a PSA that reads “Steve, don’t look at this unless you have the balls to shout me out on stream ;)”. Eddie thinks he’s absolutely hilarious.

Right up until he wakes up to find his following has exploded overnight, and upon checking his DMs from his mutuals realizes that - oh shit - that bastard actually did it and talked about his blog on stream.

And Steve said he liked it. Steve likes the porn that Eddie wrote about him. Jesus H. Christ, Eddie is so unfathomably fucked.

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if this were to exist as a fic it would be told through social media posts/DMs. one of those fics that uses unconventional (i.e. non-prose) formatting, you know the ones. the concept actually came from the fact I fucking LOVE fics like that, I’m a slut for any of that House of Leaves-type shit. one time I read a fic that consisted of 8 short stories and each one had a HTML puzzle you had to solve to be able to read it, e.g. one you had to highlight because the text was in white, another you needed to hover your mouse over to make it scroll through the text - I can’t remember the rest but it was SO COOL.

(or, to put this another way, I read homestuck at a formative age and it forever changed how I feel about formatting stories.)

[the-case-book-of-fanfiction]

corroded coffin setlist

also known as songs that give me 'corroded coffin wrote this for you' vibes

Mentions of: sex, smoking

Rebel Yell (Billy Idol) Eddie wrote this one for you literally the night after you had sex for the very first time, you know exactly what it's about when you hear him play it for the first time. Coincidentally, the first time he plays it is on stage at The Hideout, so you literally choke on your drink in front of the whole group, and now the kids now exactly what you and Eddie get up to in the wee hours of night. (His suggestive dance moves make that even worse.)

Sex on Fire (Kings of Leon) Another one Eddie wrote for you, he actually got up and started writing it somewhere between five seconds to five minutes after the two of you were done horsing around in bed one night, one that he will forever call the greatest night of his life. This time, he asked your permission to bring the song to the rest of the band and play it live, but everyone who knows you still knows it's about you. It's one of the band's greatest hits, even years after its release.

Killer Queen (Queen) The entire band co-wrote this one for your birthday once, then surprised you with it by playing it on your birthday in a "private show" as Eddie called it, which was really just them practicing in Gareth's garage with you listening with your eyes closed, which made it that much easier to surprise you. Since then, every time they're touring on your birthday, they make it a point to play the song for you, both to honor you and apologize for stealing Eddie away from you on your birthday, if you haven't joined them for that particular show/tour.

(You Make Me) Rock Hard (KISS) Like Rebel Yell, this one is so on the nose it hurts. Eddie wrote this one after a particular night where you'd been teasing him at a publicity event for Corroded Coffin, then put it on the next album they released. It's one of those songs he does not want to explain to his children and grandchildren. (And he doesn't, because the lyrics are obvious, so he's just gonna not talk about it instead, as if that will make it go away.)

You Give Love A Bad Name (Bon Jovi) This was released on the first ever Corroded Coffin album, written secretly about you before you and Eddie started dating. You were still dating Steve at the time, but Eddie was absolutely obsessed with you. He wrote this song as a result, an ode to his jealousy and his obsession. You have your suspicions about its meaning, but Eddie's always very vague when you ask him about it, years later.

When You Were Young (The Killers) Gareth wrote this one and kept it secret for a long ass time. He started to write it back when he had a crush on you on high school, shortly after you met all the guys in the band. It became more of a jealous song when you started dating Eddie and Gareth had gotten a it petulant, absolutely convinced he wasn't the right guy for you. He only finished it after he grew out of his crush on you, but he refused to tell Eddie what it was about. He's the lead vocalist on this one.

Smokin' in the Boys Room (Mötley Crüe) This one came out of a running joke from high school, when you would always tease him for taking too long in the bathroom—noticeably—because he was going for a smoke with the rest of the band. While that wasn't always true (he always teased you that he had other 'man's business' to attend to), it was 90% of the time. So he wrote you a teasing song about it that accidentally became a fan favorite.

Any Way You Want It (Journey) You actually helped Gareth, Jeff, and Grant write this one for Eddie. It describes a little bit of your relationship with Eddie. He likes to surprise the fans with it, because he only ever sings it with you, so you make a guest appearance with the band. In the recorded song itself, it's you playing Eddie's guitar, because he taught you for this specific song. You'll also sing it to Eddie when it's just the two of you to cheer him up.

Mr. Brightside (The Killers) Another pre-relationship song! Eddie wrote this one after supplying a party with weed, and you and Steve were there. He saw the two of you dancing and kissing and having fun, the resentment started to build, and by the time he left, Steve was sneaking you into a bedroom. He caught a glimpse of what was happening through the curtains as he left, so he went home, had a breakdown, and called Gareth. They co-wrote this one pretty quickly. You know exactly what it's about, and so does Steve, and embarrasses the hell out of both of you, so this gets played very rarely. It literally takes upwards of ten minutes of the fans screaming for it to Eddie to agree to play it. (He's still very proud of it, just overly sensitive to your emotions.)

Use Somebody (Kings of Leon) Eddie wrote this when the two of you were going through a really rough patch. You were both feeling a little unsteady in your relationship, and Eddie was terrified of losing you, so he sat down and wrote everything down. Everything he was feeling, everything he was thinking, the best moments of his life with you, the worst moments. He put it in a letter originally, and then took some of his lines from that letter (which he thinks, to this day, saved your relationship) to write this song. He didn't release it for a very long time, not until you were both out of that rough patch and solid in yourselves and each other.

Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (AC/DC) The band wrote this one as a group in Gareth's garage about their high school experience. For years afterward, you poke fun at them and how they took pride in causing mischief, no matter how much trouble it causes them. Every time it comes on, Hopper will tell you another embarrassing story about them (especially Eddie) getting caught doing something totally illegal. He's never told you the same story once.

Bijou (Queen) This one is mostly a guitar solo. Eddie could hear the guitar in his head but never think of words to go along with the whole thing, so it remained 90% guitar and 10% lyrics that he came up with and actually liked. It took him years to figure out that he'd rather keep it as it was than try to perfect it with lyrics, so you heard it almost nightly for a very long time, usually post-sex before you could convince Eddie to actually sleep, before he finally released it.

I WANNA BE YOUR SLAVE (Måneskin) When the "Satanic cult" accusations first started getting thrown around, the boys were pretty young, and the songs they wrote were a mix of anger and rebellion over those accusations. Add in the fact that Eddie and Gareth were both crushing on you, and the result was songs like this, which were a mix of everything the media was claiming, their own acceptance of themselves, and raging teenage horniness. You like to quote some of these lines back at Eddie all the time, and the fans loving catching Eddie's reaction to it.

Hysteria (Def Leppard) More pre-relationship pining! Gareth and Eddie co-wrote this one as well, Gareth claimed it was to help Eddie get a feel for the song, but this is when Eddie suspected he liked you as well. However, this one was written shortly after it became common knowledge that you and Steve broke up, but nobody knew why. If they wouldn't have gotten murdered by your parents and everyone in your neighborhood, they would have played this one outside your window. You found that hilarious when Eddie first told you, but the idea grew on you the longer the two of you were together.

Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 1 (Pink Floyd) This one Eddie wrote by himself, mostly as a form of therapy, when he was new to playing the guitar. He wrote it on acoustic and Jeff helped him add the electric guitar years later, after he'd finally gotten comfortable enough to open up and show it to the band. He doesn't play it often, as it's based on a part of his childhood that still feels like an open wound, and you know when you hear him playing the chords of the guitar solo he's stuck in his head and needs some affection. Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 2 (Pink Floyd) The band wrote this one together about their high school experience. They got in trouble for playing it at the talent show, but they didn't care, because the extended guitar solo got a lot of praise from people who they never would have expected it from (including you and Steve). The crowd goes wild whenever this one is played, and the band are incredibly proud of it. You always say that your initial reaction to it was just a sign of what was to come for the boys. Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 3 (Pink Floyd) Yet another therapy-ish one, except this one is more about how Eddie retook control of his life. It's short, so Eddie usually adds more of a guitar solo during live performances, and the crowd is always excited when he does, because he never does the same thing twice. He has pages and pages of sheet music for what he could do for this song, and sometimes he just makes it up as he goes. On the album he initially recorded this song for, the song is dedicated to the band, to you, and to Dustin.

Bad Reputation (Joan Jett & the Blackhearts) This one went through multiple rewrites. It started out as a song for the band to sing, but it ended up being one that you took the lead on. They rewrote it a couple times to fit your voice as the lead vocalist and to have the boys be your backup. You have a lot of fun with this one, both just in singing it and playing around with Eddie on stage, because the two of you are always goofing off together when you're up there with him. You kiss him on stage, make him sing with you, dance around with him—and he does it all, because he's obsessed with you, and the fans go absolutely wild for your interactions on stage. (They even started petitioning for Corroded Coffin to include you in more music. Eddie has no problem with this.)

The Final Countdown (Europe) This started as a joke, when they were goofing off and singing 'it's the final countdown' in a weird tune before their first tour performance after being signed with a record label. After the show, just about to pass out on the tour bus, Grant sang it again and said, "Guys, I think we can make a song out of that," so, naturally, they did. Grant wrote the guitar solo on this one first, then Gareth added the drums, and Eddie started coming up with lyrics. Some of it was nonsense, some of it wasn't, and the end result was a smash hit they brought to you for a second ear before they gave it to the record. You helped them polish it a little and were very proud when they released it as a single.

here they all are in a {spotify playlist} ☞ runtime: 1 hr 9 min

This list will be updated regularly!

Some of these might get full fics about them, let me know if you're interested in specific ones!

Taglist: {comment and let me know if you'd like to be added to the E.M. taglist!} @ohatropa @lilylilyyyyyy@spencestyles@r-royce@theshiresposts@kaitebugg03@the-chocoholic-writer@noiralei@kennedyraye@yourdailymemedelivery@squidscottjeans@cannonize@sebastianstvn@corrodedcoffn

[helenofjupiter]

assigning taylor swift songs to bridgerton couples (part 2)

with explanations that no one asked for (proceed with caution)

part 1 for a, b, c and d

eloise & phillip - i hadn’t even read the book and i knew paris was their song. i feel it captures their essence. “no, i didn't see the news 'cause we were somewhere else” while benophie are just as deep in the countryside, i think philoise truly don’t care about anything that goes on in the ton. “i want to brainwash you into loving me forever” i’m not sure why this line in particular stands out to me in context of their relationship. maybe because going into it they both had their agenda. also phillip constantly thinking he has to find a way to make eloise stay forever. “confess my truth in swooping, sloping, cursive letters” i think this one is self explanatory. secondly electric touch, i was hesitant about this one cause i’m just not a fan of this song sonically but the lyrics were too on point. “just breathe, just relax, it'll be okay // just the first time ever hanging out with you” - eloise sitting in her carriage on the way to meet a man who basically proposed to her without meeting once. from phillip’s “i've gotten used to no one callin' my phone” when eloise shows up and the servant’s “hey, we got a caller” and phillip going “wtf no one comes here, you sure about that”. also “i've grown accustomed to sleeping' alone” yeah eight years will do that. “i was thinking, just one time maybe the stars align, just one time and maybe I call you mine” 

francesca & michael - so i have a story regarding this one. as i got to the second half of the book and the spice started flooding in, i felt like the need for some equally sexy music in the background and i remembered (honestly don’t know how i ever forgot) the altarpiece of taylor’s music  false god. truly all the stars aligned, while i read the words “she felt cherished. worshipped. loved” miss taylor swift sang “we'd still worship this love”. other than that it does fall into the vibes category. tho if one day we are blessed enough to actually get their season i am expecting every social media feed to be drowning in edits of  franchel to this song. but also alternatively to don’t blame me. again, sexy. well the spice in this book was just on another level and i also couldn’t figure out if taylor has a song about being in love with your cousins spouse for six years. i think this is more from michael’s perspective. i mean “i've been breaking' hearts a long time” he even broke mine by being fictional. “if you walk away i'd beg you on my knees to stay” michael stirling would absolutely do this and frankly i can’t stop picturing it. if we do get to them in the show some glorious day, this is my official plea to include this song in the soundtrack. 

gregory & lucy - speak now is the somewhat lazy choice but have you read the prologue timed to this song. “i hear the preacher say, "speak now or forever hold your peace"” the church went silent “there's the silence, there's my last chance. i stand up with shaky hands, all eyes on me” the priest stopped his drone, and every spine in every pew twisted until every face was turned to the back. to him. “horrified looks from everyone in the room but i'm only looking at you” she said nothing, but he saw her. // she looked so beautiful. i rest my case. it was really hard to pick a song for them because there’s so many twists and turns in the book so my honourable mentions are haunted (when gregory convinced everything is solved and then lucy goes and marries another man) and daylight. finally i settled with ivy. “my pain fits in the palm of your freezing hand, taking mine but it's been promised to another” i mean lucy has been promised to another man from the start of the book. it just fits them, okay (can you tell i’ve been writing this for four hours at this point).

hyacinth & gareth - dear god, hyacinth is my favourite character in the whole books series. i adore her but for the love of god i could not figure out what songs to choose for hyareth. it was truly a headache and if anyone has any suggestions, please do not hesitate to tell me. because they are such a chaotic and energetic duo, i wanted something that would fit them musically but ended up picking cowboy like me and peace. both are truly in the vibes category, i don’t have much of an explanation. in cowboy like me “and the skeletons in both our closets plotted hard to fuck this up” felt kinda reminiscent of the whole polt line with gareth and his father who wasn’t really his father. peace has a little more substance to it. in my head this is more from hyacinth, she is wild and you will never get bored with her but she can also be a lot and tiring. “you know that i'd swing with you for the fences, sit with you in the trenches. give you my wild, give you a child” this is who hyacinth is, she is a ride or die, and i truly believe she would sit in the trenches with gareth.

[youmakemyhearthowl]

Punk Princess

Ao3| Part 1| Part 2| Part 3| Part 4| Part 5 | Part 6| Part 7| Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10| Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 (Next Part)

Also please go check out THIS fan art done by @heavenlycrashes

Steve was about ready to vibrate out of his skin. He was absolutely over the moon when he woke up Friday, pulling on the Hellfire shirt Eddie had given him, and El had taken a bunch of fabric paint to, adding pastel hearts and flowers to it, mixed in with deep red and black ones. The pants he wore on the El and Max shopping trip slipped on easily, with the new patchwork pastel pink he’s sewn into a few places.  He’s got his fishnets under it, so they peek out through the massive hole on the left thigh that Dustin had said he should add and not patch for the vibes of it all.  He slips his jacket on with his vest over it and sighs.

Today, he was gonna ask Eddie out.

He was only mildly worried Eddie might say no. 

And like Steve wasn’t an idiot, alright. He knew that Eddie liked him too, knew that Eddie would say yes. But while he wasn’t stupid, Steve had learned he was a bad boyfriend. Even though he’d tried, like really tried with Nancy, to make her happy, and make sure she wasn’t alone with the guilt about Barb.

It was all just bullshit though. 

And he’s not really sure why that had hurt so bad, when Nancy and him had only dated a few months, before she went and slept with Jonathan at the end of the school year, and told Steve that everything about him was bullshit. Maybe it was because she was the first person he’d been really truly himself with, opened up to her in a way he never had, and to her the real him, was bullshit. 

He should have just let her go the first time he thought she cheated on him.

But he really had loved her.

And he’d gone off the fucking deep end after that, the bender, the bar fights, all of it, just pushed on by the fact that the first time he’d started to let his guard down he still wasn’t enough.

All this to say, he was terrified to ask Eddie out.

But he was going to do it. Today.

“You look like you’re going to throw up.” Robin chirped, slamming the car door as she climbed in. “

“I think I am probably going to throw up. Jesus Christ.” Steve leans his face on the steering wheel, “I’m gonna ask him, Buck. Today.” The fucking pitch of the squeal she lets out, turning towards him and grabbing his shoulders in each hand.

“Steve! Yes, oh thank god, I was so tired of telling people ‘no they’re just friends.’ Gareth owes me 20 bucks!” She's positively beaming at him, shaking him slightly as she babbles. “Steve, this is so big! Okay, okay how are you going to do it?” The unfiltered love, and excitement she has written all over her face makes his chest squeeze, God he loved her.

“I was gonna just…. Ask?” She pulls her hands off his arms, throwing them up in the air to emphasize her groan, scream, whatever the fuck that noise is she’s making. Steve makes a distraught noise at her in return shoving her back over towards her side of the car so he could put it in gear and start making their way towards the school.

“Steve, Steve , you have to do something like, weird and out there to ask him! It’s Eddie! I mean, you could write it in mud and he’d definitely say yes, but come on, this is months, months  in the making, Dingus!” Her hands are flying all over the place as she speaks, bouncing in her seat. “This is so good, I can not wait to rub it in Gareth’s face that you asked first!” That startles a laugh out of Steve as he pulls into the parking lot, looking over at his best friend while he puts the car in park.

“You’re gonna ruin it either way if you don’t chill out about it.” He can feel his face stretch into a smile, his anxiety pushed down in favor of the giddiness Robin is emitting around her. He reaches out and squishes her cheeks between his hands, her lips puckering slightly under the pressure, and she tries to glare at him, but the effect is, simply, not there.

“I’ve got a plan babe. He’ll lose his mind.” He smirks, placing a kiss on her forehead before releasing her face and climbing out of the car. Robin's excited energy always has a way of rubbing off on him and bringing any mood he was in, out of the gutter. He was bound and determined to hold onto that excitement and not dwell on the failed relationship of the past, when a hand lands on his shoulder just after Robin kisses his cheek goodbye before she bounds over to where Chrissy is waiting for her at her locker. 

“Steve.” 

It’s like thinking about her had somehow summoned Nancy Wheeler out of wherever she’d been the entire school year. 

His stomach clenches. 

They hadn’t spoken since the break up the day before summer break. Hadn’t even been in the same room as each other, even when picking up Mike. Mike always met him at the end of his driveway so Steve wouldn’t have to interact with her, but somehow the same day he’s finally ready to push forward and move on, her Wheeler senses tingled and there she was in all her Nancy glory.  He turns to face her, indifferent mask carefully sliding into place on his own face as their eyes meet. 

“Nancy.” He nods, tilting his head to tell her he’s not about to actively participate in this conversation unless she’s the one initiating everything. 

“I’m really worried about you Steve.” 

Steve’s muscles lock up suddenly, not really knowing what to expect from her, but definitely not her pinched smile or the judgment in her eyes. 

“And why, pray tell, is that?” God he’s been hanging out with Eddie too much, if he’s starting to talk like him too. He can feel his expression hardening from indifference to aggravation as she begins speaking again. 

“This isn’t you Steve. This whole look, and attitude you have going on. I don’t know what happened to you over the summer, and I was willing to let it slide for a while, figuring you were working through some things, but Steve what the hell is going on with you?”

Steve feels white hot anger inching into every crevice of his body, boiling around and seeping into the ache Nancy usually leaves in his chest. 

“You were willing to let me do this? What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” He’s vaguely aware of Robin and Chrissy making their way closer to him at his raised tone. And he’s distinctly aware he wished Eddie was here too, because Eddie calms that anger that flickers in him sometimes. Eddie, although not a calm person, always brings calm and warmth with him. 

“Steve, you look like a-”

“A what? A freak? Yeah come on Nancy you can say it. Although I didn’t hear you complaining about freaks when you cheated on me with one.” He snaps, his hands balling into fists. He doesn't really feel bad calling Jonathan that, but it still brings an uncomfortable feeling to his gut. It feels like a flash of who he used to be, but he and Jonathan have long since buried the hatchet between them, Jon explaining that Nancy had told him she was already broken up with Steve when they had slept together. He’d felt just as betrayed as Steve but was happily committed to his long distance boyfriend Argyle now, and Jon and Steve actually would meet up once a week for a smoke sesh these days.

Nancy’s looking at him like she used to when they were together and he’d messed up something he wasn’t even aware could be messed up, and Steve felt like he was going to vibrate out of his skin with anger. Nancy had no right to him, or any part of him and here she was pretending like it was okay for her to speak her mind about his new everything. She takes a slight step back, like he’d slapped her but keeps her expression level. Ever the journalist. 

“Steve, what has gotten into you. It’s like I don’t even know who you are anymore.” 

“You don’t. And frankly I’m starting to realize maybe you never really did. Save your fake worry over who I’m becoming and keep your opinions on it to yourself.” Robin is at his side then, sliding under his arm into her spot there at his side, Chrissy surprisingly on his other side, uncoiling his hand and holding it in her delicate one. 

“I happen to really like who I’m becoming and I won’t let people, won’t let you try to tell me who I am anymore. It’s all bullshit anyways isn’t it?” He finishes, the anger gone at the contact of his friends, just a cool bored tone seeping back into his voice. 

And that’s the thing isn’t it? Nancy never really did know him. Sure, he’d been softer and kinder with her, hopelessly romantic and in love, but she was only ever wrapped up in her own desire to act out, which is why she’d dated resident party boy King Steve to begin with. She wanted to rebel and show people she wasn’t who they thought she was, so she only saw Steve as exactly who everyone else did, no amount of anything he had done was going to change that. And when Barb died, Nancy was so understandably wrapped up in the pain of that loss, she stopped giving a shit about anyone else’s feelings or anyone else really at all.

“Actually,” he starts as Nancy goes to turn around and walk away, “Thanks for doing this today. It helped settle some things in me that I needed to realize so I could move forward.” He tossed the last part over his shoulder as he wrapped his free arm around Chrissy’s shoulders and tucked her into his other side, making their way towards where the Hellfire club usually bumbled along in the mornings. 

“Steve, I’m so proud of you.” Robin smiles, pressing a kiss to his cheek. “I know how hard that must have been” 

“You know what Robs, I’m really proud of me too. I realized a lot of things from all that. And honestly can I just reiterate to you how thankful I am for your friendship over the last year.” He places a kiss on her temple before turning to Chrissy. “And that totally wasn’t your battle, but thank you for the support and comfort you offered. It helped a ton.” He hesitates for a second before he just decides fuck it and places a kiss to her temple as well. Chrissy giggles at the soft affection.

“Us ex.preps gotta stick together Steve.” Her face takes on a serious look, nodding to herself before continuing, “Speaking of, let’s meet up sometime this weekend, Hellfire and us, I wanna pick your brain about some things.” Robin beams at the other girl and Steve chuckles softly. He’s way better off now then he ever was before. 

And Yeah, sure, he was still terrified he was going to fuck everything up with Eddie. But the fact of the matter was he liked Eddie, and he wanted to be happy, and with his two girls under each arm he felt like for once, maybe he deserved that.

—

Originally, Steve was going to ask Eddie out first thing that morning, but Robin was right, Eddie deserved something more than a simple ask and he was bound and determined to make this perfect. It had been hard to not just blurt it out when Eddie had wrapped around his back like an octopus at the lockers, but he’d held his tongue because this needed to be perfect. He was so excited, he’d skipped his first few classes of the day, sneaking over to the middle school to hopefully corral his gremlins to offer him some help on his quest. 

Oh man he was calling it a quest now, he’d really been falling into the nerd herd with the rest of his favorite people. Not that he was complaining really, DnD although hard for him to really follow still sometimes, was one of his favorite things of the week, whether it was watching Eddie walk the kids through their campaign, or playing in the one on Fridays at Hellfire. 

And DnD was important to the people he loved, and it was an integral part of Eddie, so he knew a general idea of what he wanted to do with this ask, but he also knew he’d need the kids' help to really nail it down. 

He hoisted himself over the fence at the back of the middle school, over to where he knew the kids usually hung out when they were ditching class or if they had a free period. Usually, the little dorks didn’t skip classes often, unless it was gym or history, and lucky for Steve that was the first two classes of Dustin’s day today, so he was perched casually on the swing set over here, a DnD manual open on his lap, while he hurriedly wrote notes down into his notebook.  Steve smirked to himself, sneaking up behind him silently, and sucking in a deep breath ready to yell in the younger boy's ear, when Dustin let out a dramatic sigh.

“Steve, those boots are like a negative 12 to your stealth.” Steve blows out the breath he’d taken in, loudly groaning as he throws himself onto the swing next to his sudo little brother.

“I’m great at being sneaky, these boots make like no noise.”

“Well then maybe it's all the metal on your clothing I heard.” Dustin beams over at him, shoving his notebook into the DnD manual to hold his place in the text. “Or the metal in your face, Jesus, when did you get a nose ring Steve?” Steve’s hand instinctively goes up to his nose, touching the hoop gingerly. 

“I’ve had it for a while now, I got it the same time as the rest, I’d just lost my hoop for it and have been wearing the one that makes it look like a freckle. Not my fault, no one noticed it.” Dustins rolls his eyes as Steve speaks, twisting the swing he’s on back and forth. “Also you really shouldn’t be skipping class right now.”

“You’re one to talk!” Steve snorts, ruffling the hat on top of the younger boy's head.

“Yea okay that’s fair, and really I shouldn’t complain too much, cause if you weren’t here I wouldn't be able to ask for your help.” Steve turns in the swing, planting his feet to hold it in place facing Dustin, and Dustin mimics his exact movement. Steve braces himself for whatever reaction his next sentence it’s going to get outta the younger boy. 

“I need to find a nerd way to ask Eddie out.” He watches as the words sink in, Dustin’s eyes growing wider until he’s throwing himself off the swing and bouncing up and down on his feet.

“Fuck yes! I knew it! Although Lucas and Max were pretty sure you’ve been dating for months now. Oh this is so good. Yes!” Dustin’s practically sprinting around in circles in his excitement, pulling a loud happy laugh from Steve as he watches.

“So you guys are okay with it?”

“Okay with it? Steve! Me, Will, El and Max have been basically planning your wedding to Eddie since like January.” Dustin’s smile is toothless and happy, and so, so young, it sort of hits Steve again that these kids are like 14. Fuck, it’s so nice to see Dustin act his age. Steve lets out another bark of laughter, motioning for Dustin to come and sit back down.

“Alright, alright, well if you ever want it to get that far, I need your help on how to ask him out.”

“Oh I have the perfect idea!” Dustin lisps out, throwing himself back into the swing. “It’s a great way for you to not have to make all the choices, cause I know you kinda hate that, but that's sorta the whole point of asking someone on a date you planned right?” He spins the swing around and around as he’s talking, all excited energy. “But, The Party we have a great way to plan our hang outs! And it involves rolling a D20, so Eddie’s gonna looove that.” Steve’s just listening, a large smile over taking his face at the fact that not only do the kids seem to support this, but that Dustin is so ready to help, it makes Steve’s heart feel warm in his chest. These kids mean everything to him, and to know he means that much back its a little overwhelming, but in the best fucking way possible. 

“So basically, what I think you can do is, write a list of places to eat, places to hang after or before, and outfits to wear! Then have Eddie roll the D20 and whatever number it lands on is what you’ll do! That way, Eddie is still a part of the picking places process, but it’s still your date to plan!” Dustin lets the swing unravel from where he’d twisted it all up, spinning quickly round and round in circles. Steve watches with amusement, as Dustin tries to get his bearings again after spinning so much before he continues talking.

“Steve, seriously, this is the best news. Eddie is a super cool dude, and he seems to make you really happy. I’m like, ecstatic that this is happening.” Like a fawn trying to walk, Dustin stands on wobbly legs before throwing himself into Steve’s arms. 

“I still have dibs on being your best friend though.”

“That’s Robin.” Dustin groans at his response.

“Then I’m your brother, which means you’re stuck with me for life . And I get to be the best man at the wedding.” Steve’s pretty sure the entire middle school could hear his responding laughter.

[pillowfriends]

my thoughts on the WoT characters after book 5

before I start posting Lord of Chaos thoughts, I wanted to sum up what I think of the characters after The Fires of Heaven (and New Spring) so I can look back on it later. I’m sure I’m missing some, just listing everyone I have thoughts on.

Alanna: I have my eye on her after those sus forced bonding comments… time will tell but I don’t trust her at all. I like her though, she’s fun.

Asmodean: he was funny as hell, what a pathetic guy, and had objectively the most hilarious death in the series so far.

Aviendha: this is probably the character I have the least complicated feelings about. I just like her. she’s funny, she’s badass, her relationship with Rand is great.

Birgitte: a hot bicon. every word that comes out of her mouth is gold. she’s such a bro.

Egeanin: standout side character to me I love her so much. yes girl unlearn your cultural biases! and be unhinged and horny on main!! she better come back!!

Egwene: girl I want to like you but you're making it so hard 😭 as a character she's great. as a person I'm struggling with her dumbassery and her superiority complex and the way she's treating Nynaeve.

Elaida: she’s cringe and bad at her job but I kind of stan. she’s doing her best and it is absolutely not good enough and she’s being puppeted by the Black Ajah and only succeeded at deposing Siuan because a bunch of teenage boys stabbed people for her. I can’t even be angry at her tbh.

Elayne: book 5 was so great for Elayne. she's maturing a lot and she really shot up the list for me. her interpersonal relationships are so funny and I love how excited she is about making ter'angreal.

Faile: maybe absence makes the heart grow fonder but I miss her and want her back. she was so silly but also loved Perrin so much and I’m such a hopeless romantic that I loved the sappy parts.

Gareth Bryne: this man is a CREEP!! Siuan get AWAY from him! ugh ugh ugh. and I know it’s only going to get worse.

Galad: unfortunately this man is one of my favorite character archetypes. I didn’t vibe with him at first but now I really do.

Gawyn: I want to put him in a paper shredder. I am so angry at this man even after a full book to cool down post-coup. please let me deck him. I do think my feelings will change but right now I’m still angry as shit.

Graendal: problematic queen. do I think RJ will do anything interesting with her, probably not, but am I intrigued, yes.

Lan: THIS MAN BREAKS MY HEART DAILY. ohhhhh my god. not normal about him.

Lanfear: hmmm complicated feelings about book Lanfear. I found her introduction painful and annoying - it’s way too obvious - but she improved and I do love how crazy she is. it didn’t really sink in for me until her conversation with Rand in Tear that she’s delusional and obsessed with LTT to the point of being completely out of touch with reality, and therefore v scary. TLDR I love her now. RIP gone too soon.

Leane: I have no idea what’s cooking with her, I just have to RAFO. I’m either going to think she’s an icon or get angry at RJ for being sexist and I don’t know which.

Liandrin: the balls on this woman are actually insane, trying to Compel Moggy. she’s way too cartoonishly evil to be really interesting though. but she makes so many sexually charged dog references which I love tbh.

Logain: he’s fine I guess. hard to tell where his story is heading and he kind of hasn’t done anything.

Loial: he has never done anything wrong in his entire life, he's perfect and I love him.

Mat: I've come around and I like him now. his memory stuff is really interesting and so is the way he interacts with fate/the Pattern.

Melaine: best Wise One I love her so much.

Min: she’s never clicked with me as a character and I think her motivation is kind of dumb and repetitive. I also really dislike how salty and disrespectful she is towards Siuan but that has to do with my personal issues about the Siuan plotline so I can’t totally blame her for that.

Moghedien: I NEED to put her in a petri dish and poke her with a stick. girl you are not subtle about your petplay kink. somehow she’s scary and pathetic at the same time and I just love her a lot.

Moiraine: I can’t even put it into words. she’s my everything.

Morgase: I feel so fucking bad for her, her POVs were horrific, what a survivor. I'm excited for when she gets a bigger plotline.

Nynaeve: my favorite character who’s on page at present. first of all she has a Forsaken collared. second of all she’s so angry and I love angry women. also she has no self awareness which makes her POVs very amusing, but also sometimes devastating — I love her struggling with fear and her perceived cowardice in TFOH.

Perrin: I constantly forget he exists. not in a bad way but not really in a good way either - he’s just bland to me.

Rand: he is my idiot baby boy. go insane faster please it’s interesting.

Rahvin: good riddance you creepy fuck. not even awful in a compelling way to me, just awful. good as a character, well-written, but AAAA.

Siuan: her arc after being stilled is distressing to me and I don’t like reading it - her loss of power and influence, the way the other Aes Sedai all treat her, the sexual harassment… so I have a hard time separating that out from Siuan herself. I’m… torn. I love some of her scenes and some feel very out of left field. we’ll RAFO again.

Suroth: GIVE ME MORE. her POV was fascinating and she’s so awful.

Thom: against my best wishes, I actually like him now. he’s so dad coded and protective of Nynaeve and Elayne, and a badass, and has a good sense of humor.

Verin: what an icon!! favorite Aes Sedai bar none now that Moiraine is gone.

[inevitably there will be a part 2 when I realize I forgot some really obvious people]

[alitgblog]

was gonna do a march madness bracket for litg characters but I feel like we know which fan favorites are gonna win so instead, with my extra time, I did a hunger games simulator (logical next step lol).

Tried to pick a guy and girl from every season (plus an extra duo from seasons 2,4, and 6 just because I like those seasons lol). With a few exceptions and wild cards, but you'll see.

ANyway the highlights (didn't include every death so if you're wondering what's happening to some characters, you can ask me lol).

I guess first off, Vicki does die very quickly (killed by her someone in own district, Estelle). (FYI I only picked those two because I was like well they're the prettiest ones from S7 lol). Also Theo and Claudia being in character and helping each other out is cool and in character (spoilers: won't stay that way). Jakub is also having a comedy of errors going on, which I fully expect from him. And there's some Gramish interactions in there which is fun. I forgot to screenshot it but they do form a short lived alliance.

Ozzy and Marshall are both messes most of the time: absolutely what I expect out of the two of them. They kind of took over S6 (with Amelia but I didn't put her in this) and fittingly, I am invested in their storyline for this simulator even though at first I just wanted to see who was gonna be the stronger twin lmao. (That's also why S7 has two girls to balance out these two being on the same team.)

Pretty early on, Bruno also kills his own teammate, Angie, and I immediately regret putting in my favorites in the simulator. S4 does get their moment in the spotlight though, because Kelly somehow ends up hunting Suresh. Like I just know if she got more time in litg she'd have my back 😤😤 (even though Suresh is in a different season). This does not go well a few days later, however, when Kelly drinks the poison she meant to give Suresh. And then he steals the idea and then poisons Dana from his own district, wowwww.

Moving on, if you want some insight on my S3 picks, I thought they were all too nice to have to deal with this and after some careful deliberation (I sat around for two minutes trying to think of what would be the funniest option). Anyway so here's an update on how Kerry's doing. She's kind of made an alliance with Lottie, which makes sense Lottie not wanting to work with her fellow district tribute, Jakub.

Anyway next group of killings: goodbye more of my faves (also wtf Theo). Speaking of Theo, he does make an alliance with my district 12 wild card picks which are of course, fan favorites Gareth and Lola. (For the record, Theo does kill Lola later on and Gareth dies of hypothermia. I don't have any other screenshots of the birds I just felt like keeping y'all updated.)

Anyway, it's been a few days, you may be wondering how Ozzy and Marshall are doing: (this happens twice fyi, wow the twins are BONDING)

This might hurt some people: the funny short kings are fighting. This isn't how Bobby dies though, unfortunately the S2 fan favorite humans are killed off by the other two

It seems after this, Lottie's really going through something, now kind of forcing murder on her ally, Kerry. However, she kills Suresh who has like three kills at this point? So, ehh. It goes badly very soon after though, as Lottie BETRAYS Kerry?? Plot twist, damn.

Eventually, Marshall, Estelle, and Theo all team up to hunt others (keep in mind at this point, I believe Estelle and Theo have the most kills). This does not bode well for Marshall and Ozzy finally bonding though. Again, Lottie is going through some mental turmoil probably after all those kills, and asks Ozzy to kill her but he already is trying not to kill anyone.

Anyway that alliance does not last. Estelle walks over a landmine, and Marshall betrays Theo. This is high drama as far as I'm concerned, and of course main character Marshall.

Jakub is still going through a comedy of errors.

Meanwhile, Allegra has just been vibing most of the time. She talked to Tim like once. And she's been getting stuff from sponsors. But somehow has allied with Lottie and I assume that helps Lottie regain her confidence. Because together they kill Ozzy. And Marshall doesn't even know.

We eventually do land on final two Lottie and Marshall. Lottie, who's losing her mind, and Marshall, also not in the best headspace but doubly so now seeking revenge for his brother. It's very much going back and forth who's hunting who.

Anticlimactic, but do we have a winner shortly after because Lottie dies of starvation, and I think Marshall finds the body and it's a weird bittersweet ending because he made it and didn't have to kill her but also didn't get vengeance and has to live with all that.

So so fun.

Anyway feel free to make your own lol

[stardroptasteslikesocialism]

Rockstar!Eddie and Alt-pop!reader weren’t looking for a rebound.

Manhattan, NY | December 1989.

“Look, Gareth, I’m not in the mood.”

Gareth sighed as he watched his friend sit alone on the beaten tour bus sofa, strumming his beloved BC Rich mindlessly.

“I’m saying this as your friend, Ed:  you need to get out of here. We can’t deal with watching you mope around over Jess anymore.”

Eddie huffed at his friend, “What makes you think this is about Jess?”

“Oh, nothing,” Gareth sighed, “Just the fact that you’ve played her mixtape nonstop since Thanksgiving. Or the fact that your ass doesn’t leave this couch unless we’re playing. Or maybe, maybe it’s the fact that you booted her song - that got us on the Billboard I might add - off our set list.”

The mindless strums quieted as Eddie rested his head against the tour bus wall behind him and sighed.

‘Look, I know you loved her, dude,” Gareth slumped into the empty spot next to his friend, “But sometimes, y’know, chicks just can’t do the long distance thing. She kind of had a point, you know.”

Eddie raised an eyebrow, waiting on Gareth’s point.

“We’re not kids anymore, Ed,” Gareth shrugged, “If she wants to settle down in Hawkins like everyone else our age, she has a right to. It’s not fair to drag out what’s not meant to be if you both are miserable. Face it, even when you were together you still moped because you missed her. Tell me I’m wrong. I dare you.”

Eddie sat silent. Gareth wasn’t wrong; about any of it.

“Look, Jeff’s buddy invited us out to this hole-in-the-wall club in Hell’s Kitchen. Some kind of artsy, hippie shit. Thought it’d be cool.”

A quick snort of air left Eddie’s nostrils as he mulled it over. Artsy, hippie shit sounded like code for mushrooms and weed, which he could’ve honestly used more of in that moment. 

“You know what? Fine,” Eddie slapped either side of the worn leather as he hopped off the sofa, “Not like I got anything to lose anymore, right?”

Gareth grinned and clapped Eddie’s back, “Let’s get you to the Land of the Living, Munson.”

It didn’t take long for Eddie to realize this club was completely different from what he was expecting. Instead of the loud, psychedelic club scene he’d been used to this tour, the club gave a starving poet’s vibe; aside from the worn graffiti on the brick walls, this place could easily double as a coffee shop (which, Eddie found out later from the bartender, it did during the day). Eddie could’ve easily brushed this place off and sulked back to the tour bus; but a unique voice, what Eddie would classify as an airy rasp, radiated from the speakers, directing his gaze to an absolute angel sitting at an antique piano in the corner of the bar.

“What’s up, guys?” You casually asked into the mic. A couple regulars called back and gave a brief applause, “Thanks for coming out tonight. I’m back again with some new stuff I’ve been working on.”

Eddie barely took his eyes off you long enough to order an old fashioned. The melody that flowed through your fingers to the keys to the speakers left him speechless. It was light, with an air of melancholy; something Eddie could relate to all too well. He fixated on the loose curls that framed your face; your large doe eyes the stars of the show before you’d started singing. Then it was your pillowy lips, painted a deep merlot. And your voice.

Goddamn, Man Child. 

You fucked me so good that I almost said ‘I love you’.

That lyric earned a couple wolf whistles from the crowd.

You’re fun, and you’re wild. 

But you don’t know the half of the shit that you put me through.

As you continued, Gareth glanced at his friend whose gaze never left you.

Your poetry’s bad and you blame the news.

But I can’t change that and I can’t change your mood.

‘Cuz you’re just a man. It’s just what you do.

Your head in your hands

As you color me blue.

Eddie could feel the gutteral pain in your words, disguised in such a delicate tune. He stayed in his trance until the song was over and you were met with polite applause. Eddie joined, albeit a little more loudly.

“Thank you,” you waved to the crowd, “You have no idea how much your support means to me. Look, we got some other great talent here, tonight. Be sure to show them and our barkeep, Jim, some love too. Good night!”

In the mere seconds it took for him to down the whiskey in his glass, a voice from behind made him jump.

“Well, of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, Corroded Coffin walks into mine.”

Eddie turned around, struck dumb by your presence before him.

“Uh, uh - yeah. Jeff, our drummer, invited us over,” Eddie stammered as you took the barstool next to him, ordering your usual from Jim. Eddie quickly gestured at Jim to put it on his tab, “I’m Eddie; Eddie Munson.”

“Oh, believe me, I know who you are,” you replied with a crooked smile, “My ex is a big fan.”

“I take it he’s the man child you were singing about?”

You nodded, quietly thanking Jim as he placed your drink on the bar, “But I gotta say, his taste in music was the one good quality about him. That song of yours, the one that’s on the charts right now-”

“Follow You?” Eddie guessed, his eyes lighting up.

“Yes! I actually really liked it. Definitely didn’t expect it from a bunch of metalheads.”

Eddie laughed at the (hopefully) unintentional jab, “I mean, what can I say? Us metalheads have feelings, too. Imagine that?”

“Did you write that?” You asked, taking a sip of your vodka soda. Eddie nodded.

“Yeah, yeah. That was me. I wrote it for my girl at the time, but I guess once it started hitting the Billboard, shit just didn’t work out,” Eddie quickly ordered another drink, “She broke it off last time I was back home.”

“That sucks,” you empathized, “At least my breakup was kind of mutual.”

Eddie only nodded in agreement, trying to pry the conversation out of the hole that was their exes.

“So, what’s a pretty, young, insanely talented girl like you doing playing a spot like this?”

You paused a second before answering, “I’m a junior at NYU.”

“Damn,” Eddie replied, impressed, “What’re ya studying?”

“Classical piano and composure,” you answered casually, as if you were naming off your to-do list, “Not sure if it’ll go anywhere, but I like the idea of making music. That’s why I play here in my downtime. It’s nice to play something other than Beethoven and Chopin every once in a while.”

“Are you kidding me?” Eddie asked, bewildered, “You’re incredible!” You raised an eyebrow at him, “I - I mean, your music - is, is incredible. What I heard out there? I could see that charting way above Follow You instantly.”

“Oh, I’m sure you say that to every musician you talk up at a bar,” you joked.

“No, I’m serious. Look,” Eddie swiftly grabbed a pen off Jim and a bar napkin and started scribbling, “My manager, Dave, knows some higher ups. He’s more used to managing shitheads like Corroded Coffin, but he could pull some strings if you’re interested,” he slid a napkin with a phone number scrawled across it, “There’s the number to their City office, if you want to set up a demo.”

You stare at the napkin, shocked, before sliding it into your purse, “Thank you. I’ll think about it.”

Eddie stood stunned as you grabbed the pen from him and started writing on your bar napkin, “And here’s my number. Maybe we could get together next time you’re in the city.”

“How ‘bout New Years Eve?” Eddie asked, “Got any plans? The guys & I were just gonna go to Times Square. Y’know, do the tourist-y shit and watch the ball drop.”

You met his eyes with a genuine smile, “Sure, I’d like that.”

You agreed to meet at the bar for drinks before walking through Times Square. And that’s how you rang in 1990 with a kiss from Corroded Coffin’s front man. And that’s how you rang in every New Year since.

[caer-gai]

Angsty Arthurian AU Idea number ???

Reincarnation AU! Ector is raising a not-yet-remembering Arthur on his own in some off the grid small town. All alone. No Kay. Arthur had this feeling of 'something missing' his entire childhood, Ector knows who it is and has just enough of an idea what's become of Kay that it hurts a lot to think about.

They gather a bunch of local reincarnations Bedivere for sure, maybe Dinadan, Morgan, Guinevere, as Arthur is remembering and coming into his destiny. They're a small, tight knit found family scrappy low resources rebellion sort of vibe. Very fun very cool.

Now, Uther is still alive and well and running his own court/cult of personality/militant group. They and Arthur's group will come into conflict but he's also got his own agenda. Anyways one of his strongest lieutenants is Lot, who runs a powerful secret base for Uther's group, where he's "training" his sons to be Uther's perfect soldiers.

He also has Kay.

Between Lot and Uther they've made Kay into the perfect weapon against Arthur: trained since he was a baby, magic forced to it's max making him really powerful (a way to describe it i came up with comes from bedivere "The magic around him was screaming") he's supposed to be unshakably loyal. Excpt the only ones he's really loyal to are Lot's kids, to which he's become a weird sort of surrogate big brother (as much as he can). They're the only one's who treat him like a human.

Gareth absolutely hero warships Kay (though in a naive 'you're such a great knight i can't wait to serve Uther too!' kind of way that hurts Kay's soul). Anyways Kay is absolutely terrifying on the battlefield, and for a long time no one and nothing can stand in his way. Until he fights Bedivere (neither know each other's identity)

Bedivere is a solid challenge on his own, but when Kay blasts him with fire it doesn't burn Bedivere. Instead it activates some sort of magic signal bound to their souls, which protects Bedivere. Now that they know both are horror struck (for different reasons) and freeze. One of Kay's "teammates" takes a cheap shot at Bedivere, but he's warned by his team and dodges away. Making him the first to ever escape Kay.

Bedivere tells his peeps about this, which sends Ector into a dark spiral and leads Arthur to ask a lot of questions. Meanwhile, Kay is back at base and not in his armour for the first time. And he's in a cell. Gawain comes to visit, angry at Kay for freezing up, mostly because it made Lot mad. he goes on at Kay for a while before Kay finally snaps and tells him that it was Bedivere he was fighting, and on top of it the signal that save Bedi's life was one he a Kay crafted together to ensure that they couldn't hurt each other.

Which ouch. Gawain tried to apologize, but Kay's too tired for this rn and goes to sleep.

That's about as far as I've gotten linearly. Two other scenes I have in mind with Kay and Gareth-

Gareth is following Kay around while he's getting ready for a mission, mentions how he wants to be just like Kay when he grows up and Kay stops what he's doing gets down on Gareth's level and looks him in the eyes and says "Beaumains, You are going to be so much better than I ever was." (One day, in a happier world and place, where Gareth doesn't have to be anyone's soldier he remembers the first life, and he remembers this and he goes to Kay and hugs him and tells him he's still his hero)

Gareth wants very badly to go with Kay on one of his missions. So badly he teaches himself to replicate Kay's fire magic, and shows it to Kay hoping to impress him. Instead Kay freaks the fuck out and yells at him and makes him promise to never show or tell anyone about this ever again. it's the first time gareth is genuinely scared of kay. Kay hates himself for it but he can't let Lot and Uther put Gareth through the same hell that has been Kay's entire life.

idk if im feeling silly enough i might do some art for this, bc the visual of badass armoured up Kay reassuring little baby Gareth is living in my brain now

[ladykailitha]

Icarus Part 20

Damn guys, wow! Twenty chapters in. Shit. Wow. We've only got five chapters to go.

Hey, remember that breakdown that Steve feared was coming? Yeah it's in this chapter. Just not the person anyone thought it would be. Also Steve learns to lean on the people who love him.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17 Part 18 Part 19

~

Steve was nervous. He was rarely nervous on stage, but this was special. Eddie had written a duet version of one Corroded Coffin’s songs and Abbadon was going to feature. So when The Fallen left and Corroded Coffin came on, the first song would be the new duet.

Apparently Gareth had been badgering Eddie to include it in the set list since before the whole rehab stint. But that was around the time Steve and he got together and felt it was too close to the mark to sing it on stage like that.

But somehow the three other members had convinced him and Eddie in turn had managed to convince The Fallen, both bands managers, and their tech guys to let them do it in Denver.

The Fallen finished their encore and they huddled together as Corroded Coffin’s equipment was set up.

Then it was time, with all the lights off Abbadon went to stand in the middle of the stage, directly in front Gareth’s stage where his kit was. The spotlights came on, first highlighting Gareth, then Brian, Jeff, and then Eddie.

Abbadon stood in the darkness, microphone in hand, head hung between his shoulders.

This was the moment. The moment Steve had spent his whole adult life dreaming about. On stage with Corroded Coffin to sing with Eddie. His only regret that it was as Abbadon and not himself. But damn, he’d be fool to turn down the opportunity and he knew it.

Eddie started in on guitar; the sweet, slow build up of one of their greatest hits. “Run, Lover Boy, Run.”

But when the first verse started it wasn’t the gravelly growl of Eddie Munson, but the haunting tenor of Abbadon.

“When I see you there,

Standing with your friends,

I have to stop and stare,

Because, baby I know how this ends...”

Finally Abbadon was lit by a pale blue light, making the white of his costume seem ghost like and eerie. He raised his head and the lace mask made him even more beautiful. He walked toward the front of the stage slowly as he joined Eddie front and center.

To say the crowd went wild would have been an understatement. The Fallen fans were freaking out and screaming and crying. The Corroded Coffin fans roared their approval as Abbadon’s voice lent the song a melancholy vibe.

Eddie sang the second verse and then they joined in together for the chorus. Abbadon leaned in close, their spotlights blending together.

“Run, Lover Boy, Run,

Don’t you know,

You were only a little bit of fun

Run, Lover Boy, Run

You were looking for love,

Can’t you see we’re done?”

Abbadon knew he should have moved back for the next verse, but somehow he found himself draped over Eddie. Even though the song was about being used by a guy he thought he could trust but was only looking for a hookup and not something more serious. He just couldn't move away.

Eddie had a white knuckle grip on his guitar, playing his hardest and singing about heartbreak. Abbadon’s microphone was at his side as he shared Eddie’s. He had even turned it off to avoid feedback.

They were so close that any closer they would have been making out over the microphone. But the thing that really tipped things over the edge was when the final verse came, Abbadon sunk to his knees and belted it out. So from a certain perspective it looked as though he was grinding against Eddie leg.

The crowd went absolutely feral. There was screaming, crying, and apparently in two extreme cases, fainting.

He wasn’t.

Steve wanted to make that clear. He wasn’t grinding against Eddie’s leg. To both their management and the media. Because, yeah he saw the video the fans uploaded and it was very suspect, but his other fans had his back. They posted the view from the other side of the stadium where he was just a few feet away from the lead singer, on his knees, his free hand clenched in a fist.

But oh boy did fuel rumors about Abbadon and Eddie in ways that made Steve’s skin crawl. It was a good thing they had two days before they got to Vegas for Steve to hide in their trailer.

“Steve!” Robin as Robin called out, banging on the door. “Come on, Steve, you can’t hide in there forever!”

Eddie had tried. Chrissy had tried. Hell, even Vickie gave it a go. But Steve refused to budge. Shane let out a sigh after Simon and Spence were both sent away as well.

“Let me try,” he said softly.

They all cleared out to let Shane have a go. He sat down on the steps to the trailer and leaned his head against the door.

“Hey, Steve,” he muttered. “You don’t have to come out, but I’m gonna start talking and maybe you’ll decide to do that on your own.”

He was met with silence. Which was already a step up from the shouts to go away. So he started talking.

“I worry about us as friends, all of us,” he said, strained. “Simon keeps turning down women who are generally into him because he thinks they’re only into him because of what we do. But there have been some real good ones. One that wanted to get to know him, but he just shuts them down. I worry about his attachment to you. I know he’s straight. I’ve hit on him before... before you I guess. Back when we were just some idiots in a cafe who didn’t know what life was.”

He let out a watery chuckle. “But I’ve also seen girls flirt with him as a roadie and he still thinks it’s because of what he does rather than wanting him for he who is. He’s a good guy. He’s one of the best. But he doesn’t seem to want to be better.”

Shane looked up at the clear blue sky and let out a shuddering breath. He hung his head.

“Spence doesn’t want to go out anymore,” he continued, his voice quaking with the feeling of loss. “All he wants to do is spend all his time talking to Nadia. The only time he goes out is as someone else and that can’t be healthy either.”

He ran his fingers through his tight red curls, gripping them at the base and pulling. His hands shook with the effort and the emotions.

“I just came out as gay and I’m frightened by it all,” Shane said. “My parents are supportive. Because of course they are. But I can tell the difference in people from the way they used to look at me and how they look at me now. I was going to teach middle school, Steve. I was going to teach world history to teenagers. But this changed everything.”

There was a soft thud behind him and he figured it was Steve sitting on the floor in front of the door.

“But of all us,” he whispered through his tears, “I worry about you the most. You think you have to be strong for everyone else. You came out with me and I’m getting more support than you are. Yeah, you have a good support system. I wouldn’t have allowed you to come out otherwise, twin. But this moment that blew up in your face, shouldn’t have.”

He lifted his head up and let the tears continue to stream down his face. “It should have been a moment of pure joy and it turned into an embarrassment. You’ll forever look back at the first time you sang with shame. And you shouldn’t. You didn’t do anything wrong. You were incandescent. You lit up that stage and it was beautiful.”

The door to the trailer opened a crack and instantly Shane was on his feet. He opened the door all the way and slipped inside, closing it tightly behind him. Sitting in the dark on the floor not far from the door was a very disheveled Steve. It looked like he hadn’t slept in awhile. They all traveled together, but Steve had taken to locking people out until it was time to get on the road again.

“Hey, twin,” Shane muttered as he moved to sit next to him on the floor.

Steve snorted. They looked nothing alike but by some twist of fate they had been born on the same day, year and all. Steve was older by like seven hours. So Shane had taken to calling him twin when no one else was around.

“Hey,” he whispered. “I hate making people worry about me.”

Shane bumped their shoulders together. “Well that’s too damn bad, Steve. Because you don’t get to make that choice for other people.”

Steve out a shuddering breath. “It’s not even the fallout of people thinking I was grinding against him that bothers me the most.”

“Yeah?” Shane asked with a huff. “What is?”

“That I wanted to.” Steve buried his head in his hands. “I wanted to touch him, kiss him, hell even fuck him on that stage. But I knew that if I wavered for even a fucking second the backlash would be, oh so much worse.”

Shane looked at him for a moment. “No it wouldn’t.” Steve’s head whipped around to face him. “Steve...you hang off me and Simon all the time. You flirt with the audience. All the photo shoots of you are in sexy poses. Shit, man. You wouldn’t be doing anything different than a half a dozen heterosexual bands have done on stage.”

Steve thought about it for a moment. And Shane was right. A famous rockstar humped a massive blown up dick on stage and no one thought twice about that. At least none that weren’t going to be pearl clutching about it in the first place.

“Oh,” he whispered. “Fuck.”

“I think you should play up into more if I’m honest,” Shane huffed. “You’re out as bisexual. Play into the stereotype of being a slut. The people who know you, know you’re with Eddie and monogamous, but those people,” he pointed out of the trailer, “the ones that don’t matter? Soak up all that attention and feed on it.”

Steve’s eyes lit up and a slow smile spread out over his face. Pictures started forming in his head. He thought about how his persona was already the opposite of him in real life. He thought about the thrill he got when he saw the photos of him online from the angle that made it look risque. He thought about how he wanted to play up into flirting with Eddie on stage.

“Can you get the rest of the band in here with Robin and Eddie and Vickie if you can get her too?”

Shane’s answering grin was all he needed to know. Shane got to his feet and within minutes everyone was huddled together in the trailer and Steve explained his idea.

Vickie smiled wickedly. “I think it’s a brilliant idea and if Eddie’s on board with it I’d be happy to lean into that.”

Eddie sat back and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “I think what might make it easier so people don’t focus on me is if I get the rest of the Corroded Coffin boys in on it too. That way if Steve as Abbadon is seen flirting with the whole band it’ll come off as being a flirt and not that there’s something specific between Abbadon and I.”

“I like that,” Simon agreed. “Abbadon is already all over Astraeus and Asmodeus so flirting with Jeff and Brian as well as Eddie that would play up into the slut allegations.”

Steve laughed and then shared a knowing smile with Robin. Yep. Simon might be shy about most things but when it came to Steve... that was a whole other kettle of fish.

“We’ll do another duet tonight,” Eddie said, nodding. “Have Abbadon start Gareth’s lap or something.”

“I’m glad you’re doing better,” Spence said, “but don’t lock us out next time. You’re there for us. It’s time you let us be there for you. Okay?”

Steve let out a low shuddering breath. “Yeah, okay.”

They all came up and gave Steve huge hugs before they piled out of the trailer again, leaving behind Shane and Eddie.

“Thanks for getting him to come out of his shell,” Eddie said to Shane. “I didn’t know what to say because it’s always been apart of my contract that I was out and loud.” He stood up and gave Steve a sweet kiss on the mouth before he, too, went back outside.

“You going to be okay, Steve?” Shane asked, moving to sit next to him on the sofa. Well futon technically, but semantics.

Steve looked up at his friend. “I worry about you, too.” Shane let out a an aborted laugh. “I know you’re frightened of being out, but I know you’ve been coming back from partying all hours of the night and sometimes day. Spence and Simon sleep like fucking logs and snore just like sawing them. But I hear you.”

Shane buried his head in his hands for a moment before running his fingers down his face. “I’ll tell you what, twin. I’ll cut back on the partying, if accept our help. And not just some of the time. Come to us for help and I’ll keep the partying to a minimum.”

Steve barked out a laugh. “Just take Spence out with you and we’ll call it a deal.”

He reached out his hand and shook it. “Deal.”

~

Tag List: CLOSED

Part 21 Part 22 Part 23 Part 24 Part 25

1- @mira-jadeamethyst @rozzieroos @itsall-taken @redfreckledwolf @zerokrox-blog

2- @gregre369 ​@a-little-unsteddie @chaosgremlinmunson @messrs-weasley @val-from-lawrence

3- @goodolefashionedloverboi @carlyv @wonderland-girl143-blog @irregular-child @blondie1006

4- @yikes-a-bee @bookworm0690 @anne-bennett-cosplayer @awkwardgravity1 @littlewildflowerkitten

5- @genderless-spoon @y4r3luv @dragonmama76 @ellietheasexylibrarian @thedragonsaunt

6- @disrespectedgoatman @eyehartart @dawners @thespaceantwhowrites @tinyplanet95

7- @iamthehybrid @croatoan-like-its-hot @papergrenade @cryptid-system @counting-dollars-counting-stars

8- @ravenfrog @w1ll0wtr33 @child-of-cthulhu @kultiras @dreamercec

9- @machete-inventory-manager @useless-nb-bisexual @stripey82 @dotdot-wierdlife @kal-ology

10- @sadisticaltarts @urkadop @chameleonhair @clockworkballerina @garden-of-gay

[patchworkgargoyle]

oc fic: freaks to the front

For @strangerthingsocweek!! This isn't the first idea I had, and I wrote it in a rush, but hopefully it's fun.

You all might get sick of me and Dominik by the end of this week tbh, but too bad.

Pairing: transmasc OMC x Unnamed Freak || Rating: T for language || Words: 1,192 || Tags/Side Characters: Canon setting, post-season 4, Kali Prasad and her crew, Dustin Henderson, Jeff, and Gareth. Title from Freaks to the Front - Amyl and the Sniffers, mostly for the Freak reference and also for the vibes.

When Kali had told him they had to go help her sister, Dominik hadn’t imagined this.

Spending a couple days on the road to drive through Indiana to get to a shitty little town? Easy. Dodging past a military blockade? Fucking concerning, but not that different from evading police. Seeing ash fall from unsettlingly dark clouds that flashed with red lightning? Well past concerning and right into what the fuck is happening?

Kali sat in the front passenger seat of the van, staring intensely out the windshield as she told Funshine where to go, apparently getting directions from her telepathic sister named Eleven, of all things. Dom had seen a lot in his short time with Kali, he knew all about her strange powers, but he hadn’t heard the whole, basic rundown of her story until now.

Figures that the government would be running shitty experiments on little kids. That the experiments worked was still wigging him the fuck out.

“Turn left,” Kali said, and the van veered around a corner, jolting and rocking over some rubble, knocking Dom off-kilter and into the wall with a metallic thud. Axel whooped, loud in the crowded space, Dottie cackling from the floor, and Dom just glared at them. He looked to Mick, who was watching the tiny town speed by with a serious frown.

“What’s going on out there?” he asked, and Mick shook her head.

“Hard to tell. Kali, where are we going?”

“El said some of her friends are in trouble, asked us to pick them up on our way,” she said calmly, before giving another direction. Funshine sped up.

“I hope they aren’t more brats like she was,” Axel grumbled, and Mick shot him a look.

Dom craned around to look out the tiny window by his head and saw a crumbling building whiz by. “This place looks like a fucking warzone,” he said under his breath, hearing Mick hum in agreement.

 Kali glanced into the back. “We’re close. Dottie, get ready to open the door, El says to watch out, and that guns won’t hurt it, only push it back.”

“It? What do you mean, ‘it?’” Dom asked, sounding more shrill than he’d admit, but the van barreled over more debris and interrupted anyone who might’ve poked fun. His heart raced in his throat when Kali told Funshine to speed up, and for the first time since he’d been kicked out of his home, Dom regretted throwing himself in with these maniacs.

“Get ready,” Kali commanded, and Dom’s hand clenched around the handle of his machete. Dottie clung to the door handle next to him, ready to whip it open, and Axel and Mick braced, guns at the ready anyway.

Tires screeched, Dom tensed, and the door whipped open. He launched himself out of the van, brandishing his machete, shouting at the five people he spotted immediately. “Get in!”

All five looked at him. Or, four of them did. It was only when he had a chance to pause that he saw the fifth was way too tall and didn’t have a fucking face. It was a maw of teeth and flesh surrounded by… petals, or something, and his skin crawled just looking at this—this monster. In real fucking life.

Then it roared, or screamed, sounding like a chainsaw on crack, and absolute disbelief was the only thing that kept him from fleeing from the thing in terror as the sound of it pierced his eardrums and made his hair stand on end.

“The fuck is that!?” Axel screeched.

“Demogorgon!” one of the actual humans said, and Dom was shaken from his fear when he realized he was a child.

“Like fucking Dungeons and Dragons!?” Dom yelled, and the kid gave him a surprised look before shouting at the other guys as he raced to the van.

The monster roared again and tried to follow, but Mick and Axel started shooting, bullets not even piercing its sickly grey, leathery skin. But the impacts distracted it, knocked it back, and Dom motioned for the kid to haul ass and praying to a god he didn’t believe in that that thing wouldn’t recover too quickly.

The kid barreled past with a slight limp, shouting at the other guys as they scrambled into action. When he reached the van, Dottie hauled the kid inside, getting out of the way for the others. Two clambered in, but not before the monster got its bearings, straightening up as he heard the telltale click of a pistol out of ammo. Shit.

The shortest, a floppy-haired guy, spat fuck fuck fuck fuck as he ran. Shaking its awful, disgusting head, the thing walked, and then picked up speed. Dom backed up to the van and said, “Kali, do something!”

“I’m trying,” she hissed.

Of course, right then, the guy tripped. Dom darted forward on instinct and snagged his hand, yanking at him as he flailed for balance.

But the monster was on them.

Shouting, “Go, go, fucking go,” Dom hauled them both backwards into the van. His legs hit the floor, he toppled back, and strong hands grabbed his arms and pulled him and the floppy-haired guy clung to each other in a blind panic.

The monster lashed out, one massive clawed hand raking down the guy’s leg before grabbing his ankle. He screamed, and Dom acted without thinking. He kicked, teeth bared in a furious grimace, steel-toed boot colliding wetly with the meaty, tooth-filled hole that passed for a mouth. Someone yanked the machete out of his hand and started chopping at the thing’s arm as he kept brutally kicking out.

Tires squealed and spun until they caught on the pavement and the van lurched into motion just as the monster let go with a wounded, wailing gurgle. The person behind him pulled Dom and the guy further in and Dottie slammed the door closed, leaving that horror in the dust.

The van was quiet except for the road of the engine and everyone’s panicked breathing. Dom blinked, realizing that Axel and Mick were still by the door. Who the hell had gotten them in the van?

Dom looked back and came face to face with the biggest of the four guys. His pretty blue eyes were still wide with fear, but he was looking back at Dom, darting over his face, inevitably glancing at all his piercings before pausing at the ones in his lips just a touch too long. When Dom’s jaw dropped in surprise, the guy blushed and looked away.

His usual recklessness reared up, fueled by the adrenaline pumping through his veins. “Thanks for the save, darling,” he purred, smirking, and the guy’s face flushed an even deeper red.

“Dominik, can you not be a slut for one minute?” Axel sneered, and Dom just flipped him off, still watching the cute guy’s face as he tried to look at anyone but Dom. Oh, he was cute, and Dom thought he might have fun in this shithole called Hawkins after all. Aside from the fucking monsters.

The floppy-haired guy put an end the awkward pause. "Could someone please do something about my leg?"