#he went to Lucas's basketball game because that's what good brothers do

[dwobbitfromtheshire]

Charles and Sue Sinclair, after they find out that Steve took a plate to the head saving Lucas from Bully Hargrove: We're giving Lucas and Erica a brother.

Steve: Congratu-

Sue: *slams adoption papers in front of Steve* It's you. You're our son now. Sign here.

[spaceofentropy]

I've rewatched season 4 of Stranger Things not that long ago and it still drives me up a wall how the Duffers and their writers' room managed to write Eddie as (almost) the perfect prototype of a shitty, toxic DM. I've been roleplaying and occasionally GameMastering for the past 22 years (give or take). I've played with good GMs, mediocre GMs, terrible GMs, stellar GMs. And Eddie Munson, for how he's written in the show, is a shitty GM, holy fuck, folks!

1 He scares his younger players into doing what he wants. The first time I saw season 4, my brain went "Feels like they're setting him up as the new human baddie of the season, feels like they're gonna pull a Billy-with-switched-plates on us..." because Eddie is introduced as seen through Dustin and Mike's eyes, and those are scared eyes. Not scared as in "he's gonna hurt me", but scared as in "he's volatile, unpredictable, and he's gonna make my life literal hell". Like a bully. Like he's not a hero or a good presence for those two kids. And then...

2 Eddie refuses to move that fucking D&D session. Which... WTF, man, what the fuck! You don't want to know the number of times my groups and I had to postpone a session because too many people couldn't be there because life! The way we played with one or two players less, knowing that M. would use his brother's character for combat, that while E. was away his character would conveniently get bonked in the head and pass out for the duration of that session! But it's an important day, I hear you say. It's the end of the campagin, you say. Then... dude! Since you've built to that session for months, it's the culmination of your whole campaign, you want YOUR PLAYERS to be there! It's a big day for the whole group, not just for the DM! What's the fun in having one of the main characters in the story being absent?! Which leads us to the fact...

3 Eddie demands that Dustin and Mike find him a replacement player. On your big fucking day when your campaign ends you DON'T want a random player to sit at the table and risk to have to decide the fate of the whole story (which, coincidentally, is exactly what ends up happening, how fun...)! You want YOUR players to be there for the grand finale! How can a rando appreciate the way you bring all the storylines to their conclusion? How can a rando know why that tiny detail that ties back to the second or third session is important? A rando can't! Bringing in a rando is just bringing in an arm to swing dice, at this point in a campaign. You've built to this session for months, then it won't kill you to wait for a week or two longer to play it! (And this ever-important session happens just before spring break, there are weeks and weeks left before school ends. They can fucking wait for Mike to come back from California and Lucas to not have basketball games! Which, oh, look at that...)

4 Eddie knows he's forcing two of his younger players to ditch their friend's big game, and he doesn't give a single fuck. D&D is clearly the best, superior past time ever, in Eddie's eyes, and fuck anyone who thinks differently. Fuck anyone who dares put anything above D&D. Sadly, Dustin and Mike are not old enough or emotionally strong enough to ditch a bad GM, not when he has painted himself in their eyes as their saviour from being high school loners and pariahs, so fuck their great friend Lucas, I guess?

5 Eddie's an elitist piece of crap to Erica. Saying "Oh, you play D&D? What level is your character?" is not only inherently stupid in D&D terms (you can create a 17th level character from scratch, tailored to the sole purpose of playing with a high level group, it's... it's a ttrpg, not a fucking videogame where you have to grind all the levels! Ghaaaaaaaaa!), but also the equivalent of going "You're wearing a Metallica t-shirt? List 5 of their songs!" on her. The kind of thing where you look at the tool in front of you, flip him the bird, and leave with a "Go get fucked by balrog, dickwad!"

In all of that, the problem is the shitty writing. I know that thematically and symbolically it's so juicy to have Lucas, who's been torn between the jocks and the nerd, stay with the jocks while he his nerd friends LITERALLY replace him with his sister. Oh, it's so tasty to have the Sinclair siblings throw the deciding ball/die in their respective games and win everything for their teams. I can almost hear the Duffers orgasm (sorry for the horrid image!) at the idea of it all, typing it down and then going to their editor asking for the alternating cuts, the parallels, and then, oh, the stark difference between Lucas' face falling because none of his friends is present on his big day and Erica being cheered on by these older guys she just met! And that shot when the basketball team leaves the gym and Lucas sees Erica so seamlessly incorporated in his other group of friends, so angsty, right? Right? You get it, audience, right? He's sad! So sad! *nudge nudge wink wink*

It's such lazy writing. It feels like paint by number and also unfaithful to the characters, and to Erica in particular. She may not love her brother to pieces, may not have been enthusiastic at the idea of watching a boring basketball game, but I can't see her having a single reason to go play one D&D session to close a campagin she knows nothing about with a group of older strangers (who treat her like crap), when up until this point she's been a closeted nerd.

And we all know that the D&D session must be there because we can build up Lucas' dilemma and introduce an audience who knows nothing about D&D to the concept of Vecna. (As one of my friends said when Vecna came up in the show, "Vecna? Again!? Haven't we already killed that squirrelly third-rate spellcaster at least once a decade for the past 40 years?!")

And you know what? It's double shitty writing. Because if it weren't for Joseph Quinn good performance, I probably would have ended hating Eddie all the way to the end of the series and not given much of a fuck about his death! Because, as I said, I actually disliked him for a good chunk of episode one. My first gut reaction to Eddie Munson was "Nope! Stay away! Bad guy! Shoo, shoo!"

You've written this guy as an asshole who can't be arsed to postpone a fucking D&D session; who thinks he's better than everyone else; who walks on the tables where other people are eating (EWWW!); who scares his youngest minions and forces them to do his biddings; who doesn't give a fuck if he's forcing said minions into ditching their friend; who treats a middle schooler like pure crap... And no, I don't think it's a matter of "oh, the guy has so many nuances", just... Fuck that guy! The guy the Duffers wrote is a shitty GM that I wouldn't want to play a single session with. I don't give a single fuck about the fate of the guy who leads the Hellfire Club. He's selfish and crappy to everyone. The guy who interacted with Chrissy, on the other hand? Yeah, I give many fucks about him. Just... keep him away from young, impressionable players that might learn from him how to become toxic GMs in the future! 😬

[shinydixon]

"As for the “she ruined his life,” please. His life was already ruined. Motherfucker was a grown ass man living in a dirty 1 bedroom trailer with his uncle (because he has no parents), making speeches about how much high school sucks but he can’t get his grown ass out of there. He plays games with 14 year olds instead of getting a job. Statistically, he was gonna go to jail at some point for carrying a lunch box full of drugs around a high school and selling drugs to minors."

so, you resort to classism? who says his life was ruined? sure it seems he hasnt had the best childhood, but that doesnt mean his life is ruined. theres nothing wrong with being "grown" and living with a relative(s), especially when you have money struggles. and saying that he and the trailer is dirty is pushing gross stereotypes about poor people/people who live in trailers (bc not all of them are poor).

eddie being stuck in high school can be a multitude of reasons, maybe he has a hard time focusing/understanding subjects. maybe he missed a lot of school picking up jobs to help wayne out, and hes just a bad student! who knows! its not like he purposefully held himself back. (sometimes there are teachers who fail you on purpose, happened to my brother.)

and whats wrong with him playing a GAME with younger kids for a CLUB? if thats the case, you should be angry with the 18 yr old basketball players playing with lucas, whos 14/15.

and yes, indirectly, chrissy killed him. bc if it wasnt for her wanting something stronger, eddie wouldnt have went to his trailer to find and sell it to her. if she had taken the weed from the first deal, eddie wouldve most likely still been alive.

AND, we dont know how steve felt about eddies death, with dont know how any of them besides dustin felt bc of the stupid "2 days later". but if i were to say "chrissy doesnt care about eddie" (pre + post deal" and "eddie never cared about chrissy", I would be the bad guy.

also, you guys say every. single. time. "dont generalize all hc!! we arent ALL bad" yet its ok for you say "You Eddie munson / steddie fans all have worms for brains" ? if you get to say that all the time, then we should get to generalize too, its only fair.

stop being hypocrites

That person is doing what people in hawkins were doing ; judging Eddie without knowing him.

There are so many reasons why people fail schools and it's not because they are stupid, it's because school is not for them(mind you that Eddie is a DM, which means that he must have been good at math and also, since he creates the campaigns, he has a good imagination and an excellent ability in writing and narrating).

It's like that example "if you have a monkey and a fish and you ask them to climb a tree, obviously the fish can't do that, but he definitely can swim better than a monkey" (I don't know if that makes sense).

Also, I get so mad when people judge adults that lives with relatives.

I'm 27, I have a job and yet I still live with my parents, do you wanna know why?

Because HAVING A PLACE NOW IS FUCKING EXPENSIVE, I CAN'T AFFORD TO LIVE ALONE.

However I've bought a car and once I finish paying for that I'll be able to look for a place on my own, hoping that there's something I can afford.

About Steve, we don't know how he reacted to Eddie's death so, what point are you trying to make?

Do you know that Eddie wasn't crying because it was chrissy that died but because he was traumatized by seeing someone dying like that? As I said he did the same with Patrick and I assure you that he wasn't his friend at all.

Finally, about what you say, why should I be like them? If you want to generalize every hellcheer, then be my guest, I won't be like that(even though this person is clearly a chrissy Stan, not an hellcheer considering how they talk about Eddie).

[eufezco]

THE FAMILY YOU CHOOSE – S.H. x FEM!READER

"Stevie?"

Today was one of the few days of the year his parents were home. His mom was in the living room, lying on the couch and watching a movie. A cup of wine on her hand when her son surprised her. "Hey, mom." Steve closed the door behind him, she stopped the movie. "How was your day, sweetie?"

"It was— It was fine." Steve nodded. "And how was work?"

"Great." Mrs. Harrington never really cared about Steve not going to college. Mr. Harrington knew Steve was working, but he never asked about it. He was more than disappointed that his son was spending his days in a mediocre video store when he could be building a solid future. Steve was disappointed with himself too. Mrs. Harrington looked at the time on the watch on her wrist. "Why are you so late?"

"I drove Dustin and his friends to the Arcade, and they wanted to eat something before going home." Mrs. Harrington nodded and took a sip from her glass. After three years of friendship with him, Mrs. Harrington and Dustin never met. Not only once. They only knew each other thanks to what Steve told them. His mom was too busy to get to know the boy and him and Steve were most of the time at Dustin's. Steve preferred to be at his friend's house because his house was smaller and warmer. Oh, and Mrs. Henderson adored Steve. She was always telling him how handsome he was and how he was like a brother to Dustin. Steve was the happiest version of himself around Dustin. "That's really nice of you. Did you have fun with them?"

"Yeah, they're— they're good kids." He loved them. Steve sometimes felt ridiculous thinking of them as his safe place but they were Steve's safe place. Max was like his little sister, she was the only one with whom he could have a proper conversation about music and movies, and Steve helped her so much after Billy's death. Him being her personal driver and taking her everywhere, making sure she was eating and sleeping enough, and acting like the brother she wished Billy had been. With Lucas he had a completely different friendship. He loved going to his basketball games, cheering for him, and giving him good advice since Steve noticed that Lucas was hanging out pretty often with the jocks. Mike was the toughest of them all. His relationship with him when he dated Nancy wasn't the best but it grow better with time.

"Did that girl go with you guys too?"

"Oh, yeah, Robin was there too—" His soulmate. Steve knew that no one would ever compare to Robin.

"No, not that girl."

Mrs. Harrington was asking about you. About the girl that kept the line of the house busy because she and Steve talked on the phone every time they were not together. About the girl that drove every day after high school to Family Video to have lunch with Steve during his work break. About the girl Steve's legs went weak for. About the girl that always fixed his hair and loved to walk arm-in-arm with him. About the girl that looked after him while he looked after the kids.

"Y/n?"

"Y/n." She repeated your name. "Is she your girlfriend?"

Steve hummed. "Something like that."

"Something like that?"

Steve looked down and played with his keys. His cheeks heating up. "I haven't asked her yet."

There was a long pause. Mrs. Harrington did it on purpose so her son could think about why he hadn't asked you out yet. The woman took one last sip. "Bring her home when you do it, we would love to meet her. Bring your other friends too. We can have a barbecue, I'll tell your dad to fix the pool."

His friends. The family he chose. If three years ago someone would have told him that he would have people around to call friends. True friends. Steve wouldn't have believed it. "That sounds great." He was holding back his tears. His mom kissed his son's cheek before leaving to the bedroom where Mr. Harrington was already sleeping. In that moment the phone rang, Steve smiled to himself, not even needing to pick it up to know who it was.

"Did you miss me that much already?"

"And what if I did, huh?"

He laughed. "Do you have any plans for tomorrow?" Steve bit the inside of his cheeks, nervously. Maybe it was too soon to ask. "Mmm, I don't, why?"

"Maybe we could go out."

"Sure! I'll call the kids tomorrow and–"

"No. I mean, us. Like, you and me. Alone."

"Like on a date?"

Silence.

"Like on a date, yeah."

[willbyersboy]

Lucas Sinclair, Mike Wheeler, and Will Byers with a male!reader who is Dustins older brother

(Each of them are 15 in this fic btw)

Lucas Sinclair

You met Lucas when you were dropping Dustin off at the movie theater to see a movie with Lucas

Lucas asked about who you were because Dustin had NEVER mentioned you before

Dustin just explained you were his older brother, just a year older than the group.

He had seen you around school, but never around Dustin.

Lucas was kinda pissed that Dustin had never brought up the fact he had a brother, but that was a conversation for later.

You smiled at Lucas before you drove away, and Lucas couldn’t stop thinking about you for the entire movie

If you go to any of his basketball games/play basketball he will always try to impress you.

You guys go on a lot of dates to gas stations and malls (mostly because Dustin asks you to get stuff for him and you wanna spend time with Lucas)

Once you brought Dustin with you on a date with Lucas and they just talked the whole time so. Never again did you bring him

Lucas thinks you’re super cool because you can drive a car, but he will never admit that.

If you play dnd with him he will be so happy bro

He hasn’t gotten to play it in a while and having his boyfriend play it with him?? He would be so excited

Most times when you guys wanna sleepover you guys stay at your house because Lucas does NOT want his boyfriend to be around Erica

He also wants to see Dustin too but won’t tell you that either

His favorite thing to do is go to your house

Lucas loves being able to hang out with his bestfriend AND his boyfriend without it being weird so

Mike Wheeler

You and Mike first met when the group were younger.

It was in Mike’s basement and the group was all playing dnd when you came in to bring Dustin home because it was his turn to feed the cat.

Mike first thought you were just an annoying older sibling like Nancy.

He was totally wrong when he found out Dustin had told you about Eleven and you started asking Mike if there was anyway you could help.

And when you started playing dnd with the group thats when he fell in love

You asked him for help sometimes and he loved it

When you guys were older, you joined the hellfire group with Dustin and Mike.

You and Mike spent so much time together after that

A lot of times after hellfire you would comfort mike about Will and El being in california

But you were a little jealous because you assumed Mike just wanted to see El again.

All Mike really wanted was to be your boyfriend.

When you guys started dating it was when Mike went to California and you came along.

One night Mike was bored, so you guys decided to take a drive in your car.

There was no specific place where you were going, you guys just wanted to enjoy the sunset and the city in your car.

It was perfect, music was playing softly in the background, it wasn’t too cold or too hot outside, and you and Mike were just laughing and cheering.

When you parked the car, you both sat in the grass in some random spot and just stared at the sky.

You had put your hand in Mike’s hair, and his head was on your shoulder.

Eventually Mike just leaned up and kissed you, whispering that he loved you.

You stared at him in shock before telling him you loved him too, and fell asleep with him in your arms.

Will Byers

You and Will first met when he moved to California.

You were in his science class and was his lab partner (idc if this is corny)

He thought you looked familiar but never knew why.

Until you guys were just talking about your lives and brought up siblings and that you had a younger brother named Dustin.

Will thought it was kinda weird that he thought one of his best friends brother was hot but he just ignored it.

After the project you guys became good friends.

You guys hung out outside of school and just talked and did whatever

He asked you out the day Angela made fun of Eleven when she tried to use her powers on Angela and it didn’t work.

You just yelled at Angela for being such a bitch and told her what she needed to hear

You also defended Will whenever people said shit to him

He was so in love with you at that point and you felt the same

He would never ask you out though, you had to ask him.

You did that by literally just saying “Hey umm, wanna be my boyfriend…?”

Will said yes and just jumped into your arms happily

When he meets up with Dustin again Dustin is so shocked that you are dating Will

But as long as his best friend and brother are happy, Dustin’s happy.

Sorry Will’s was kinda rushed 😜

Request

Tags: @roxyrose9051 @whore4fictionalmen2004

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[corvidfoxx]

an alternate ending for eddie, because the one they gave him was such shit writing that i guarantee i can write a better one:

when dustin finds eddie, he’s badly beaten up, but it’s not a death sentence — the bats dropped before they could slice him up too badly, and he was wearing enough layers to protect the most important parts. dustin remembers from the wound steve had that they’re not too bad if you can get the bleeding under control, so he starts ripping strips off of both their clothes to bandage the areas that are bleeding the most. eddie tries to protest, but he doesn’t have it in him to really fight it, being as beat up as he is. he asks dustin, “i didn’t run away that time, right?” and dustin tells him he’s right, he didn’t run away, he fought, and now he has to keep fighting because the others still need him. eventually, he gives in and they make their way back through to the other side, dustin inevitably making a pointed comment that it sure would be easier to get across if someone hadn’t cut their rope.

when they first get back, eddie hides out in hopper’s cabin with el. if it’s secure enough to keep el hidden from the government agents out to get her, it’s sure as hell secure enough to keep him safe from some small town police and angry parents. hopper likes the arrangement because it means el isn’t just alone in the house when he has to leave, and eddie pretty quickly takes on an older brother role with her, spending their free time alone in the cabin showing her all sorts of music and teaching her how to play d&d (she likes to mess with him by using her powers to make all her rolls 20s and all of his 1s).

soon enough, hopper goes back to the police and is able to start smoothing things over for eddie. hopper was the police chief, the whole town sees him as a hero now so they want to believe what he says, and the other officers are just grateful for an authoritative voice to put an end to the hysteria so they don’t particularly want to question him. whatever hopper can’t smooth over with the law, owens’ people (who easily made the charges against el disappear) take care of.

ultimately, they end up pinning the murders on jason, which is surprisingly easy — they say chrissy’s death was a classic abusive boyfriend situation, that she had gone to eddie because she was afraid jason was going to do something to her and that eddie went into hiding after she died because he was afraid that jason was going to come after him next; they say fred was next because he found something incriminating while at the scene of the crime, and patrick after that because he was trying to stop jason from swimming after eddie. lucas vouches for him, since max was clearly a victim of the same killer and he was there when she was attacked — he says that jason was attacking her because she was helping eddie but was killed by the earthquake before he could finish the job, that eddie wasn’t even there when max was attacked so he must be innocent. lucas is a good witness; the town loved him for being the hero of the basketball game, so they want to believe him. dustin vouches for him too, saying he hurt his leg in the earthquake and eddie carried him to safety — that if anything, eddie is a hero, not a killer. they explain jason’s crusade against eddie as an attempt to throw suspicion off of himself and onto eddie because he was angry that eddie got away.

ultimately, the people of hawkins still don’t like eddie — he’s weird and they’ve never liked his family and old habits die hard — but now they have a satisfying answer to the question of who the murderer really was and the earthquake provided enough of a distraction from the murders that without jason there to fuel the fire, no one particularly cares about eddie or his club that was supposedly a cult anymore.

once his name is cleared, he’s able to see his uncle again and start hanging out with the rest of the gang more. he helps out at the earthquake shelter with everyone else as a show of good faith to the community, and a lot of them still side-eye him but with others it seems to help. he and will hit it off instantly when they meet, bonding over their love for d&d but quickly realizing they have more than just that in common (will thinks he’s good at hiding, but eddie instantly recognizes the way he looks at mike). there isn’t much time to relax before things inevitably start getting weird again, but it’s enough for him to realize that this life is much better than dying as a hero would’ve been, and that despite all the things people have said about him his entire life, these people believed in him enough to go through all that trouble just to make sure he would have a life to go back to in hawkins.

so there you have it folks — one of literally so many possible endings for eddie that would’ve been better than the bullshit shock value death they gave him

[sluttzrus]

Hellfire's own cheerleader - Eddie Munson

Summary: Head cheerleader, Y/n Y/l/n, overhears Mike and Dustin trying to ask Eddie if he can postpone the campaign. Knowing how long the boys have prepared, she decides to stand in for Lucas.

Warnings: veryyyy short, not checked

(yes i did use Erica's lines because shes an icon)

“We need to postpone the campaign..” 

“What!”

“No! Keep trying, we can-"

The commotion coming from the table of ‘Freaks’ could be heard from across the cantine. Dustin and Mike were told to find a replacement while Lucas went to play his ‘Ball into a laundry basket game’ as Eddie enjoyed calling it. I was aware that they needed another player to continue the campaign, overhearing the conversations that had been happening over the past few weeks leading up to Hellfire’s Dungeon Master’s great campaign. My mind tossed and turned, sure I was part of the cheer leading squad but playing one game wouldn’t hurt right?

“Hey guys,” I got the attention of the others sitting at the table, including the ex D&D player. “I’ll be right back” Jumping up from the table, grabbing my large jacket. Scurrying over to Eddie’s table, pulling the soft cloth over my arms, wrapping it around my waist, trying to conceal the small Green, White and Yellow uniform. I felt a large wave of nausea as I was getting closer to the table. ‘The dark side’ as the basketball players would call it. However, I think I'd quite like the dark side, I think I'd like it a lot.

“Uh.. Excuse me. Eddie?” I tapped his shoulder, my nerves suddenly squeezing my insides as he turned to look at me, his undeniably gorgeous eyes staring into mine.

“Wow. Y/n Y/l/n, what a surprise. What can Hellfire do for you today?” A bright, charming smirk taking over his face, making my heart swell in a way it does whenever I look across the crowded room only looking for him.

“I-I heard about you postponing the campaign, but you don’t have to… I may not look like I can, but I grew up with brothers. I know how to play the game quite well if I do say so myself” I smile at the boys who were all looking at me, jaws almost on their trays consisting of mushed up slop.

“Now now Y/l/n, you should know the ga-”

“My name is Lady Applejack, I am a chaotic, good half-elf rogue, level fourteen” I smirk, I noticed Eddie about to say something else, the boys trying to contain their laughter.

“Don’t be sharp Munson, I will sneak behind any monster you throw my way and stab them in the back with my poison-soaked kukri. And, I will smile as I watch them die a slow, agonising death. M’ I in?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest, cocking up my eyebrows, looking over the table at the D&D players. Eddie smiled gently and reached out a hand, wanting to shake mine. I placed mine in his, shaking hands. Once we sealed the deal he lifted my hand closer to his face.

“Welcome to Hellfire sweetheart” Placing a light kiss onto the backside of my hand.

I guess Hellfire have their own cheerleader..

[doodleybugg]

"fight to survive or white guy in 1985", a game me and my sister decided to play with the st characters lolz (let's just invalidate everyone's trauma rq) (not to slam any characters i love everyone)

st4 spoilers and also me just being a dick to each and every character so please just take this as a joke

mike: white guy in 1985 (like yeah will was attacked and possessed by the mind player but this guy's biggest issue was that he was uncomfy saying ily to eleven)

eleven: fought to survive (i mean really)

max: fought to survive (everything with billy, her mom, her dad and stepdad, just a lot of struggles and ofc vecna curses her to top it all off)

chrissy: fought to survive (me and my sister fought about this but she had an ed right?? she wasn't just 'sick'?? am i crazy or am i correct? because there was the puking, the food obsession, the using drugs to cope with memories of her mom calling her a fat pig and her dad pretty much being forced into submission, much like she was)

will: fought to survive (do i have to explain the entirety of seasons 1-3 to you?)

eddie: fought to survive (mans witnessed a childhoods friend die, spent the next couple weeks - a month hiding from the cops, scared to death, half starved, and died in the upśide down due to some weird ads bats)

steve: fought to be a white guy in 1985 (season 1 steve, total douchebag, but i have to give him points as a single mom of 6 for the entirety of the show)

dustin: white guy in 1985 (oh no, his cat died ://)

lucas: white guy in 1985 (oh no, basketball playing straight boy)

erica: white guy in 1985 (oh no, related to basketball playing straight boy)

nancy: fought to be a white guy in 1985 (she lost her best friend in season 1, but really what else went on? some doomed love with steve, a bit of drama with johnathan?)

robin: fought to survive (lesbian, neurodivergent, and mentally ill (i think) in the 1980's)

johnathan: fought to survive (his brother went missing, then his brother almost died, then they needed to move away from everything to esca- oh wait that all basically happened to will too, if not more intensely)

joyce: fought to survive (did you see her in season 1? and 2? and 3? and 4? like jesus give my girl a break okay)

hopper: white guy in 1985 (yeah his daughter died traumatically but like-- is that really an excuse for him and his actions and his drinking issues? maybe a lil bit but i don't think so, i just liked his speech in s4 so i'm giving him pity points)

billy: fought to be a white guy in 1985 (yeah, he was abused, but he only continued a cycle of abuse by passing it onto max. he only really respected her after she drugged him and almost crushed his balls, and even then that wasn't long before he tried to take over the world with his flesh demon army, oh and good job for NOT sacrificing eleven i guess you get an unnecessarily sad death now?)

[superw3nch]

weak and weary | Billy Hargrove

The one where Billy realizes these cold nights in Hawkins aren’t so bad now that he isn’t alone. 

Billy’s been going over to Sinclair's house every Sunday for the past month now and for the first time in a long time, Billy has been happy. Like really fucking happy.

He didn’t prance in a prairie happy but he was playing his music a little louder on the way to school happy. Not complain as much when Max asked for a ride somewhere happy, but still, complain a bit because that’s just what he does. He did not give Harrington so much shit at basketball practice happy.

Because for the past month he had something to look forward to every day. And that was Sundays at the Sinclair’s in Charles’ garage fixing up that piece of shit car, even though it was getting better now.

It also meant Charlie.

Seeing her more dinners have become less awkward now and she wasn’t glaring at him the entire time, so he thinks things are going good. Erica was still Erica and gave him shit every time she saw him come through the door. He didn’t really mind, she was a good kid. When she felt like being one.

Lucas was almost as hard to crack as Charlie. He wouldn’t really speak to him at first and Billy was too scared to initiate a conversation, yes scared. He, Billy Hargrove, was scared of the scrawny little 12-year-old boy. Per se.

More like he was scared of the fact that if he did say something and it’ll be the wrong thing then Charlie and her parents would hate him all over again. He couldn’t do that, couldn’t go back to that. Not to Neil and his closed fists, that cold home where his only company was his record player and sometimes Max.

He needed those Sunday nights in that garage to make him feel sane. So one day after school he caught Charlie just as she was about to make her way to Steve’s car. Because she was always with Steve now since Jonathon was always with Nancy. She briefly mentioned that at dinner once and it’s the only reason he even knows it.

“Hey, Charlie.”

She turned towards him and for a second Billy forgot how to breathe. Because now Charlie doesn’t look at him like he’s the devil, but she looks at him like he’s Billy. And sometimes.

“Hey California,” She smiled and Billy really thought he was going to die. Like how does she just do that? How does she just smile at him like that and look at him with those eyes and just give him nicknames like they’ve known each other forever? “Wassup.”

Billy blinked. “I actually need your help with something.” His hands went into the pockets of his pants. “Or like advice really.”

She raised a brow but didn’t say anything which kind of made him nervous, but Charlie always makes him nervous, so. “It’s about Lucas as you know I’m not really the best at talking things out.” She laughed and normally Billy would've been irritated, annoyed even but it’s Charlie. “I just-- how do I get Lucas to not hate me?”

Charlie stared at him for a moment, and he got scared because shit did he say the wrong thing? Did a month's worth or work just go down the drain in a fucking second because he didn’t know how to talk to a goddamn girl?

“I don’t think he hates you,” She finally answered, adjusting the backpack on her shoulders and Billy sent her a spectacle look, she caught it. “Honestly I don't. I just think it’s more of a grudge at this point.”

“A grudge?”

“Yeah you know like when someone beats your score on your favorite game.”

“I have no idea what that means.”

She sighed deeply through her nose. “Walk with me, California.” and he did walk with her from the school to the parking lot. Walked so close their arms brushed and he couldn’t concentrate on anything but that.

“Lucas is a lot like me.” She Continued some of her hair catching in the wind exposing more of her face. “He may forgive but he doesn’t forget and honestly I never thought you would make it this far so that’s saying a lot.” She turned to him and smiled at the last part and he tried not to stare. “Just keep doing what you’re doing I’m sure he’ll come around.”

“It worked on me though,” Charlie pointed out just a hint of a smile playing on her lips as she looked over at him. “That’s gotta count for something.”

“Counts for a lot, Sinclair.”

Charlie smiled like he said the right thing, and he pauses for just a second. Cause no one ever looks at Billy that way. No one ever has a smile, a genuine fucking smile, just for him. It’s always those looks, or sneers, and even snickers. But no one ever fucking smiles at him. But Charlie. And it’s a lot.

They were at his car now and it made Billy frown because that meant Charlie would be leaving. This conversation would be over and he wouldn’t have an excuse to talk to her again until Sunday dinners. And he didn’t know if he could make it all the way till Sunday dinner.

Because those small smiles in the hall weren’t enough anymore. Holding her stupid hand during that prayer wasn’t enough anymore. He needed more. More of her smiles. More of her looks. Just more of her. So.

“Hey what are you doing right now?”

“I-I was going to hang out with Steve,” At the mention of Harrington he had to stop himself from rolling his eyes. Because yes of course she would be with fucking Steve. “But I don’t have any plans Friday. If you’re free.”

He was supposed to hang out with Tiffany or Tina, he honestly couldn’t tell them apart. But. “Yeah no, I’m free.” And Billy had to take a chance to process that information, cause really this was a lot. Charlie Sinclair, who rightfully hated him a month ago, had just agreed to hang out with him.

And he wanted to play it off and be the cool guy, like always. But. Billy thinks maybe she would’ve never agreed but for some reason she did. And it meant a lot. A smile was beginning to grow on his face as he looked at the brown girl.

But as quickly as it came it was gone because one loud, alarming honking horn echoed across the parking lot. And Charlie jumped surprised, they both turned to find the source and. Yeah of course it was King Steve sitting in the driver's seat of his car.

“Let’s go, Charlie!” He hollered from his car. “The kids are waiting!”

And Charlie she, gave him this annoyed look. But like the thing is Billy he’s seen that look before. At least he thinks he has maybe once or twice directed at him. Which it shouldn’t even bother him really, but it does. A lot.

“I have to go before he blows a fuse,” Steve honked again, this time longer. Which now was beginning to annoy Billy. For more than one reason. “But can we discuss the finer details later?”

Billy sent a glare at Steve, which he gladly returned. Cause yeah even though Charlie was kinda nice to him now the same feelings didn’t resonate between the boys. Which makes sense cause it’s not like Billy didn’t break a plate over his head.

“Yeah but I don’t have your--”

“I know your number,” Billy gave her a look. “My brother is literally dating your sister.”

And what ?

Yeah, Billy knew that Max was close with that little ragtag team of prepubescent dorks, but dating one of them? It had never come up at any dinners, or maybe it has and he’s just been that checked out at the dinner table. But he feels like that is something he should be at least vaguely aware of.

“Oh god, you didn’t know?” Charlie was laughing now and Billy could not find out what was funny. And Steve wouldn’t stop honking that fucking horn so he couldn’t even think. “Look I will call you tonight, California.”

And that wasn’t fair. She had called him that stupid nickname that makes it hard to breathe and was walking away before he could even get anything out. But Steve was still giving him this smug look. And he was still pissed off about the honking and the look . So.

“I’ll be waiting on your call, Sinclair.” He shouted across the parking lot making sure everyone, mostly Steve, could hear it. And based on the look King Steve was giving him he heard him loud and clear.

Billy smiled. Steve glared. Charlie rolled her eyes.

Billy realizes now that Charlie never told him when she would call him. Just that she would. So because of that Billy has been sitting next to the phone for the past 2 hours waiting on a call from the Sinclair household.

And it's just. How did he fucking get here? How did he turn into the guy who waits by the phone? He was never that guy. But now he’s waiting by the stupid fucking phone, for the stupid girl to call him. To call him. Which is so fucking stupid now that he thinks about it.

And he would’ve just gone into his room and blasted his music like always. But it’s Charlie. So he sat in the living room watching, but not really, tv until he heard the stupid thing ring. And since he's been home it’s only rung twice.

Once for had been a telemarketer which he told to fuck off. And the other had been a friend of Susan’s who had called for the recipe of her broccoli casserole. Which he doesn’t know fucking why compared to anything Mrs. Sincalir cooked she didn’t hold a candle. But Whatever.

Billy sat on the end of the couch, the one closest to the phone, almost asleep really. This was one of the rare few days where Neil wouldn’t be home till around dinner time so the house didn’t feel as oppressive as normal. Meaning Billy didn’t actually have to hide in his room till dinner. He could roam the house without being terrified he’d upset him.

It was nice and Susan wasn’t the worst company. Coming in every once in a while asking him if he wanted any snacks. He’d say no of course but it was a nice gesture he could acknowledge that.

Just then Max came through the front door kicking off her shoes and greeting her mother. The red-haired girl stopped as she saw the sight of Billy on the couch, probably surprised. And Normally Billy wouldn’t even say anything to her, but then he remembered what Charlie had said to him in the parking lot. So when the girl had sat on the other end of the couch. He kinda just blurted it out.

“So you're dating Lucas Sinclair?”

And Billy had to stop himself from laughing, cause Max looked like she was about to burst a blood vessel from how red she was turning. “Who told you?” She hissed sending a look at her Mom who was preparing dinner.

Billy shouldn’t be enjoying this, but he can’t remember that last time he’s seen Max so worked up. “So it’s true then?” He laughed resulting in her throwing a seat cushion at him, he caught it with ease.

“I can’t believe you,” She huffed, arms crossed tight. “How did you even find out?”

Billy shrugged, not really seeing a point in lying. “Charlie told me.”

Max blinked, confused. “Why the hell would Charlie tell you anything?” There was no real malice in her voice, just genuine confusion. He wasn’t offended.

“Don’t worry about it,” Billy Chided. “So you and Lucas. How long have you two been, uh, a thing?”

Now Max was looking at him like he had grown a second head, and Billy couldn’t blame her. He was never the best brother, honestly, he was probably the worst. But he felt like he didn't know, they didn’t have to be total strangers while he was here. He wasn’t expecting Max to answer him; she had no reason to really, but she did.

“Since the Snow Ball,” The small girl confesses never turning to meet Billy’s eyes. “We’ve been dating since then.”

That’s been what a month, little less than that maybe. Billy doesn’t really know. He can’t even remember the last time him and Max had even sat down and talked. It probably was way before that night. Long before they even moved to Hawkins. Billy has never been an active factor in Max’s life, just her chauffeur and not by choice.

They didn’t act the way the Sinclair kids did with one another. They probably never would if he was being honest, but he didn’t like it. He didn’t like feeling like a stranger in his own home.

“Lucas, told me you’ve been coming over for Sunday dinners,” Max spoke after a beat of silence. “He said his Dad really likes you too.”

Billy couldn’t help but smile at that because it was nice to know that everyone could see it too. See how well he and Charles got along and thankfully it all just wasn’t in his head.

“I’m helping him fix up this old car,” Billy shrugged. “Nothing really.”

“Yeah, but why did you go?” Billy turns to look at the girl to find her staring right back at him. And he forgot just how intense this kid could be sometimes. “I mean after what happened with Steve.”

And that was the million-dollar question wasn’t it? Why had Billy Hargrove done the right thing for once in his life? He doesn’t regret it not at all because he loves working on that piece of shit car in the garage. Love those Sunday dinners. Loves not being treated like a burden.

But why?

He could argue that it was the drugs they gave him. Messed him up so bad it made him right. Or he could argue it was being hit in the head with a shotgun so maybe it knocked something back into place because Neil knocked it out of. But the truth. The truth was it was Charlie Sinclair.

The girl had managed to crawl under his skin and press every button he had, and ones he didn’t even know about. In the following weeks of that night, she would look at him. That old look that he has almost forgotten about, but it broke something in him. He doesn’t know what couldn’t even put it into words. But it drove him to her porch that night.

It made him apologize. It made him work.

Now he couldn’t tell Max that because they weren’t there. He wasn’t the best with his words and opening up to his 12-year-old step sister? No, not today. So.

“I was a piece of shit,” Billy explained. “So I apologized.”

That wasn’t enough for the redhead though. But Billy really didn’t feel like having a heart to heart right now so when that phone finally did ring he jumped from the couch. Managing to beat Susan there which she sent him a look cause like, why would he run to the phone? And he didn’t need to look behind him to know what Max was thinking. But the phone was ringing.

Billy ran a hand through his hair and picked it up on the third ring.

“Hargrove residence.”

“Hi I’m calling looking for Billy,” Charlie chorused and Billy could almost picture her smile. “He’s about yeah high. Mullet. Rarely ever in a shirt unless it's about freezing.”

“Very funny, asshole.” She was laughing now and he had to stop himself from smiling cause Max was now openly staring at him from the couch now.

“I know you laughed.” He didn’t but he wanted to. “Also did Max make it home ok?”

Billy turned to look at the said red-headed child, who turned a second too late back to the tv. “Yeah, Max is ok.” He smiled at the back of her head before turning his back. “Why?”

“Nothing just checking,” She hummed. “So Friday what were you thinking?”

And yeah Billy had been thinking but it was nothing he wished to divulge over this phone call. Truthfully he had no idea what to do with a girl like Charlie. He knew what to do with Tina's and Carol’s because everyone just wanted the same thing. He had no idea how to be alone with a girl and just be alone with her.

“Why don’t you pick.”

“And they say chivalry is dead.” She mused and something in her tone made him worry. “How do you feel about the outside?”

“It’s cold and I hate it.” He answered honestly cause yeah not only did the people in Hawkins suck but so did the fucking weather. Yes, he is aware that it’s January, almost February, but did it really have to be so fucking cold?

“Sounds perfect.” She chorused. “Bring a jacket, a heavy one and you’ll be fine.”

“I didn’t say yes.”

“Well, you’re not saying no either.”

And yeah he was definitely worried now.

“I’ll take your silence as a yes then,” She continued. “Come pick me up at 6 from work ok?”

“I don’t even know where you work.” Billy started and he could feel a headache coming. “And do I get to know where we are going since I’m driving?”

“No,” She sang and if it was anybody else he would’ve been annoyed. “It’s a surprise, California. And I work at the arcade. You know the one you constantly take your sister to?”

“I’ve never seen you there before.”

“That’s because the second Max closes the door you speed off like a bat out of hell, Hargrove.”

Which yeah ok that was true.

“Yeah ok I can do that then.”

“Great,”

And Billy knew the conversation would be coming to an end soon. But he just wasn’t quite ready for that yet. He just wanted to stay on the phone with her for a little bit longer. So.

“Uh, how was your evening?”

What was he fucking Dracula all of the sudden? How’s your evening come the fuck on really. He wanted to punch himself in his stupid face.

“Uh, fine it was fine. Just watched a movie with Steve and the kids.”

He didn’t like the way she said that. Steve and the kids. Like they were an old married couple. He didn’t like it and he was mad at himself because he shouldn’t care.

“What movie?” Why can’t he just hang up the damn phone?

“Night of the living dead.” She answered. “So if Max has a nightmare feel free to yell at me.”

Billy doubted that would ever happen. He probably gets them more than her. He’s never even seen her cry let alone be scared of anything.

“Will do.” And he needed to hang up this phone before he said something stupid. But he really just couldn’t. But then.

“Lucas, what are you--”

“You’ve been on the phone for 30 minutes!” There was a struggle and had it been that long already? “Tell Steve you will call him back later!”

“This isn’t Steve you little asswhipe.”

“Who cares I need to call Max!”

“You literally just saw her for fucks sake!”

“Steve, Charlie will call you back later ok?” It was Lucas yelling into the phone now and Billy wanted to laugh cause yeah this was funny. “I just really need to talk to my girlfriend before she breaks up with me again ok?”

“This isn’t Steve,” Billy finally spoke turning over his shoulder to sneak a glance at Max. “It’s Billy.”

“Billy?”

“Yeah.”

“You were on the phone with Charlie?”

“Yeah,” Billy chided. “Can you give the phone back for a quick sec then I’ll put Max on?”

“Uh, yeah sure.” Lucas stuttered.

“Hello?” Charlie’s voice came through.

“I think we better get off the phone,” Billy mused. “Seems like we’re getting in between something.”

She laughed. “Yeah, I guess so. See you at school tomorrow.”

“Bye, Charlie.”

“Bye, Billy.”

He pulled the phone away from his ear motioning it to Max. And again she gave him a confused look, “It's for you, Maxine.” And begrudgingly she got up to get the phone but Billy was already retreating back into his room to hide for the rest of the night.

Neil had gotten to him that Thursday night.

It had been a stupid fight really and at this point, Billy doesn’t even know why he tried to fight back. Neil always wins.

He’s lucky now he supposes because Hawkins is such a small town and people talk Neils learned not to go for the face. But now his body was a map of black and blue. And like it shouldn’t bother him anymore he should be used to this. Friday was around the corner and so was Sunday he had something to look forward to.

But that night.

That Thursday night before he would see Charlie he couldn’t sleep. He stayed up all night crying in his rooms wishing he was dead.

He didn’t say anything in the car on the way to school with Max. He never did after nights like this. She knew why no doubt she heard why.

And Max would send him these looks from the passenger seat, that he pretended not to notice. She looked like she wanted to say something, anything but maybe she was too scared to. Maybe she was like Billy where he always thought he would say the wrong thing.

But when they got to the school parking lot she gave him a soft ‘ Thank you ’ but her eyes said ‘ I’m sorry .’ ‘ I hate him too .’ and ‘ not even you deserve this. ’

And yeah at that point Billy could barely keep it together. He couldn’t go into the school and pretend for 8 hours that everything was ok. He didn’t want Charlie to see him like this. Even though it’s Friday and he should be happy.

So after he watched Max go into the front doors of school he left.

It was hard to find something to do all day in Hawkins because this town really didn’t have shit.

Small corner stores, even smaller, shops, a shitty diner that could at least make a good burger. But he wasn’t particularly hungry today, honestly, the thought of eating was too much. So he went to the only spot he knew in this fucking town that made him somewhat happy.

He went to the border.

Stared at the sign that said ‘ Now Leaving Hawkins ' for hours. Cause yeah maybe hopefully one day he would be gone. Back home in California where it was never cold. Where the sun was always out and beaches were always open. Where there was no Neil.

And yeah it sucked cause he was stuck here till graduation. So Billy sat in his car. Staring at the sign. And he cried.

He did go back to pick up Max from school.

He didn’t want Neil on his case again about her finding her own way home and like Max shouldn’t have to find her own way home if he was there anyway. And he felt better now, maybe. He got as much of it out as he could and he felt fine. Ok. Normal. His normal.

So as he sat out there in the parking lot waiting for Max to come through the school doors he wasn’t really paying attention to anything else. His music was blasting and he was smoking those cigarettes he liked so much.

So when someone knocked on his window, he almost jumped. It pissed him off and he was just on edge enough as is so he turned to tell whoever this was to fuck off. But when he turned he saw those stupid brown eyes he's been thinking about all day.

“Hey, Hargrove.”

And Billy he wanted to pretend that seeing Charlie wasn’t a breath of fresh fucking air. But Charlie was everything he needed right now and more. Just what the doctor ordered.

So he turned his music off his music and rolled his window down, cause he wanted to hear everything she had to say. “Missed ya at school today,” She quipped brown eyes scanning over him trying to see what was wrong, but she wouldn’t be able to. “Everything ok?”

No. It was not fucking ok. But.

“Yeah just had to deal with some shit,” He shrugged. Some shit he’s been dealing with his whole life but like, that’s not important.

Charlie leaned forward forearms pressed against the side of his car. Invading his space and it just wasn’t fucking fair. “We don’t have to hang out tonight,” She offered. “If you're not feeling ok.”

And Billy he just kind of froze. Cause she was so close. He could smell whatever perfume she had on and it was making his head swim. “No, I’m fine.” He reassured her, but the look on her face told him Charlie wasn’t buying it. “I’m better. Looking forward to tonight even if you're dragging my ass out in the cold.”

Charlie smiled then so bright like the California sun and Billy had to remember how to breathe.

“Ok then. I’ll see you after work.”

“You will.”

“6 Oclock sharp.”

“Not a minute late.”

Billy had shown up early.

15 minutes early to be exact. He had run Max around in between, got some spare parts that he and Charles might use to stretch out the time. Picked up another pack of cigarettes cause he blew through half of them today. Got a few beers and he kinda wished he knew what was Charlie’s favorite brand. But whatever.

So now he’s sitting outside this stupid arcade, in the parking lot going on his second cigarette because yes he was nervous. He doesn’t know why. He just is and it pisses him off. And like he’s sitting out here waiting for her to come out counting in this head the 1,001 ways he could fuck this up.

He’s made it this far albeit not entirely unscathed. But he’s fucking made it.

Charlie wouldn’t have even agreed to hang out with him unless she wanted to. She doesn’t do anything unless she wants to, he remembers. And she’s willing to spend her Friday night with him. Billy Hargrove. Not King Steve, or weird little Byers, not even that Priss Nancy. But him. So yeah. That has to mean something.

He let his cigarette dangle between his lips as he looked in his side mirror yet again, brushing back curls that he felt were too unruly. Making sure he didn’t look as bad as he felt. And even though it is barely 6 o'clock it's already dark out.

Charlie came out at exactly 6:02.

He managed to give himself one last look in his rearview mirror, ‘ Don’t fuck this up ’ before she got into the car. Charlie turned to him, brown eyes twinkling and a smile still just as bright.

“Are you ready for the best night of your life?”

Billy took one last huff of his cigarette before flicking it out the window. “Lead the way, Sinclair.”

Somehow her smile grew and his stomach churned. He started the engine and peeled out the parking lot like hell on wheels.

“When you said the best night of my life I imagined something completely different.”

“Oh come on this isn’t that bad,” Charlie hummed from the hood of his car beer in hand. “This is literally one of the best spots in Hawkins.”

Billy stared out ahead of him looking at the murky depth of the quarry, unphased. He took a swig of his beer.

“Then how come I never heard of it?” He quipped digging his free hand deeper in his pocket because the cold was nipping at his skin now. And yes he did wear a thick jacket as requested.

Charlie laughed and it sounded like bells. “Cause you hang out with uneducated trolls like Tommy.”

She wasn’t wrong about that. The only thing they did together was drink till they couldn’t remember the night and make stupid decisions. And that was just a Tuesday for them. Fridays were even worse because usually, Billy was conscious of the stupid decision he was making.

“What, is this your spot?” He remarked, tone light. “Is this where you bring all the guys or am I just that special?”

Charlie smiled, taking another sip of her beer. “I don’t think I ever brought anyone here besides, Jonathan.” She admitted honestly followed by a light shrug.

“Wait, you and Byers?” Billy wasn’t prying honestly; he was just genuinely curious about her. Because outside of family dinners they don’t speak. He doesn’t know much about her besides the fact that Tommy and Coral can’t stand her.

She raised an eyebrow. “ What ?”

“You and Byers,” He reiterated. “Were you two--”

“Oh my god , no.”

“Never?”

“Never,” She repeated sternly, hands going to her face. “We are quite literally Best Friends.”

Billy made a face. “But you two were always together,” He added, and literally everyone just assumed they were something cause he followed her around like a lost puppy. Never could find one without the other. Attached like glue.

“Yes, because we are best friends,” She continued. “And Jonathon was never good with talking with people. And I never liked talking to people so. We just clicked.”

He mulled over what she said, looking forward. Took another sip of beer before he spoke again. “Did you ever think about it?”

Charlie turned to look at him. Hand rubbing the back of her neck and the other swirling her beer.

“Once. I thought about it once.” She answered honestly, taking him by surprise. “Think he did too at one point, but we never did anything about it.”

“How come?”

“I don’t know, scared?” She offered. “Afraid it’ll go wrong probably. We’ve known each other since grade school so if we did it and it went wrong,” She exhaled deeply, her breath becoming a cloud in the cold. “It could ruin everything.”

Billy concluded that Jonathon Byers was a fucking moron and took a large gulp of his beer.

“It worked out for the best anyway,” She said. “He’s happy. I’m happy. What more could I ask for?”

He didn’t say anything after that looking at the quarry waters that were just as black as night. Seems to reflect the stars in the sky like a mirror. It was nice he’d give her that.

“My turn, California.”

Billy’s stomach churned but he put on a brave face. “I’m an open book, Sinclair.”

“You’re many things, Billy, but open is not one of them.” He laughed at that, something small but it was enough to draw her attention. “So what’s California like?”

“Fucking warm for starters,” He sniffed trying his best to hide from the cold in his jacket. Charlie smiled at him. “The sun seems like it’s always out. You can smell the salt from the sea in the air. I don’t know, it just seems like anything is possible there.”

“You miss it.”

It wasn’t a question. Billy finished off the last of his beer before grabbing another one from where the case sat in between them.

“Yeah, more than I care to admit.” He divulged opening a new can. “I miss the ocean. Could stay on the beach for hours just looking at it.”

“What’s it like?”

“Uh, ya know it’s a shit ton of water.” He wished he was better with words. “It can be scary. Currents could take you under if you’re not careful. But it's beautiful.”

He remembers the days his mom used to take him out surfing. He'd always convince her to let him stay out there a few extra minutes. He rolled his eyes at the memory taking a sip of his can.

“Why do Tommy and Coral hate to see you coming?” He asks, suddenly catching her off guard he didn’t mean to. Just didn’t want to think about her.

“I’m not surprised he didn’t tell you,” She laughed. “It’s because I used to kick his ass every day when we were kids.”

And Billy blinked. Cause there’s just no way. Charlie caught his look and laughed even harder. “No seriously when we were younger he loved picking on Jonathon, so I--” She snorted. “I would beat his ass.”

“You’re kidding.”

“No, no ask anyone.” She takes the last sip of her beer. Not going for a new one quite yet. “I remember distinctly putting his little ass in a headlock on the playground cause he fucked up Jonathon’s art project and tried to pretend it was an accident.” She was laughing again, this time hard. “The teacher had to pry me off him.”

Billy was joining her in laughing too now. Cause just the image of a small Charlie giving Tommy absolute hell was enough for him. But Charlie had this type of laugh that made you want to join in too.

“Ah, fuck,” He chuckled as Charlie wiped the corner of her eyes. “Ok, so Carol what’s the story there?”

“Do not judge me,” She reached in between them for another beer. They were down to three now. “Coral hates me because Tommy was my first kiss.”

Billy choked mid-sip at that. “No fucking way.”

“It was a moment of weakness.”

“You just said you used to beat the shit out of him,” Billy chuckled, wiping droplets of beer off his chin. “How did it even happen?”

“Uh, 7th-grade spring dance,” She offered brown eyes shining even in this dark night. “It was behind the bleachers. Carol, of course, had a crush on him so she was livid.” Charlie shrugged. “Hated me ever since.”

“She makes it seem like you tried to kill her puppy.”

“Yeah, well that's cause she’s a bitch.”

Billy laughed, taking another sip of his beer.

“Who was your first kiss?”

Billy raised his eyebrows. “If you repeat a word of this to anyone I’ll kill you,” She crossed an X over her chest and Billy’s eyes lingered at the action. “Stacy Holloway. I was 12, dumb, and in love.”

“ The Billy Hargrove was smitten?” She teased and he couldn’t help but chuckle before murmuring a shut up, continuing with his story.

“This is so stupid but I asked her to  go for a walk with me on the pier one day, for whatever reason she agreed.” Billy fiddled with the ring on his finger. “I held her hand on the walk there and,” He sighed harshly through his nose. “I can’t believe I’m telling you this, fuck it. I timed it so we would get to the end of the pier at sunset and that’s when I kissed her.”

“That is the cutest shit I ever heard.”

“Charlie, I swear to--”

“No, honestly!” She laughed. “Who knew you could be such a sweetheart?”

Billy scratched at his temple. Stomach churning but he ignored it and took a long swing of his beer, knowing it was half gone at this point.

“You’re next.”

“How do you expect me to follow that?”

“Charlie.”

“You just gave romance authors a run for their money,” She insisted between sips. “I got nothing to beat that. The closest thing you get to romance in Hawkins is guys trying to put their hands down your pants at the movies.”

“Ok fine,” Billy laughed. “No romance. What’s your favorite band?”

“Blondie.” She admitted without missing a beat. “Jonathon is actually the one that introduced me to them. May his taste in music never waver.”

Charlie took a large gulp of her beer at that. Billy smiled as he watched her do it.

“So I’m gonna say something while I have the liquor running through me as an excuse,” She admitted turning to him. He could only make out half her face, it was so dark out. “I don’t know what made you apologize that night but I’m glad you did.”

Billy’s stomach churned again but this time he couldn’t ignore it.

“I can admit in the beginning I gave you a hard time but you kept coming back.” Those stupid brown eyes were holding him in place and he couldn’t turn away if he wanted to. “My parents love you, Erica tolerates you,” Billy had laughed at that. “And Lucas I think is finally warming up to you.”

“What qualifies as warming up?” He asked with a raised brow because the kid still won’t say a word to him.

“When you’re brought up in conversations he actually engages now instead of pretending you don’t exist.” She admitted smiling like this was a grand improvement.

“You bring me up in conversations?”

“That’s not the point I was trying to make, California.” Turning her face away so he can’t see it. He won’t push it but he’ll be saving that one for later. Hopefully another time.

He took a small sip. “So what is the point then?”

She stared out into the quarry this time.

“I like having you around.” She admitted so quietly he almost didn’t catch it.

It was a small admission. But it was enough to make his world stop spinning. Charlie Sinclair liked having him around. Liked having him around as much as he liked being around. It made the bruises on his body not ache so much. Made his ears ring. Because maybe, just maybe. It could be more.

Suddenly it wasn’t so cold in Hawkins anymore.

He cleared his throat and his mouth was dry. “I like uh, coming around.” He grimaced at the sound of his voice and decided to just finish his beer cause maybe that’ll help.

“Good, hoping you’ll stick around for a while.” She tucking a strand of hair behind her ear now. “My Dad would be really sad if you didn’t.”

Maybe it was the cheap beer that was making him a little braver than usual. It made him not second guess himself so much. So he kinda just.

“Just your Dad?”

She paused for a beat. Looking up at him through her lashes. Billy wasn’t even aware he was leaning forward slightly, maybe to get a better look. Maybe to inch his hand closer to hers on the hood of his car. Maybe.

Her lips parted to answer him and he couldn’t pry his eyes away from them.

But then there was a flash of blue and red. A Police siren and they jumped away from one another.

“Shit,” He cursed, quickly throwing his beer can into the woods. He grabbed Charlie’s and the girl let him take it. For a brief moment their hands touched but Billy didn't even have a chance to process it because a cop was making his way towards them.

“Wait, Billy, I think--”

The sheriff got out of his car shining that obnoxious flashlight in hand and Billy had to cover his eyes. “What are you kids-- Charlie?”

Charlie grimaced. “H-hey, Hopper. How’s your night going?”

Hopper looked between Billy and Charlie then to the beers scattered on the ground before he answered. “You know, same ol same old. And you?”

“Ah, you know.” She laughed. “Just catching up with my buddy, Billy.” She clapped a hand on his back and Billy stumbled forward at the action. He sent her a look and she just nodded her head towards Hopper.

“Hello, Sir.”

“Hargrove,” He regarded him with an overall unimpressed look.

He turned back to the smaller girl and Billy was relieved. “Charlie, are your parents aware that you are here. Alone. With a boy. Drinking, what I’m hoping is canned sodas.”

Charlie rocked back on her feet. “Yeah, they know all about, Billy.” She elbowed him in the side. “Don’t they, Billy?”

He knew when to take a hint.

“Yeah, The Sinclairs know,” He offered his best smile to the gruff-looking cop. “They know we are here.”

“Right so here’s what we are going to do,” Hopper mumbled clicking off his flashlight. “I am going to get in my car and drive away. Then you, Hargrove, are going to take Charlie straight home. Do I make myself clear?”

“Cyrstal sir.”

“And drive the speed limit with her in the car.”

“Yessir.”

“Thank you, Hopper!” Charlie called from next to him and the old man just waved a hand over his shoulder in acknowledgment before getting in his car and leaving the clearing.

Billy turned to Charlie. “What the fuck was that?”

“What was what?”

“The sheriff,” He clarified. “He just let us go.”

Charlie shrugged, grabbing the leftover beers off the hood of his car. “Well me and Hopper are pretty cool so yeah.”

“You’re cool with the cops?”

“Cop, singular.” She corrected him as if that made a difference. “Honestly we got lucky it was him and not dumb and dumber. Those two would’ve definitely given us tickets.”

Billy patted his jacket down for his keys but did not find them. He heard a jingle and looked up just in time to catch them as Charlie tossed them his way.

“Now come on, California.” She ushered already making her way to the passenger seat. “We got about 15 minutes before Hopper is driving down my street making sure I actually made it home.”

Billy made it back to her house in 10.

Could’ve been five but he regarded Hopper’s warning about going the speed limit. He only had 3 beers and was only the slightest bit buzzed but he rather not risk it. It was about 9:40 when they pulled up to the Sinclair household didn’t even seem like they were out there that long.

But Charlie wasn’t rushing to get out of the car and he wasn’t forcing her to go.

So.

“This was fun,” She admitted with a laugh. “Before Hopper showed up I mean.”

“Yeah, it was,” Billy’s finger drummed along his steering wheel. Nervous. “We should do this again.”

Her eyes were on him again. “I’d like that.”

“Cool,” He bit the inside of his cheek. “But next time I pick the place if that’s okay.”

“I’m sure I’ll live, California.” She reached for her backpack. “Well see you Sunday?”

“Yeah, Sunday.” He hoped it didn’t sound as awkward as he felt. “Goodnight, Charlie.”

“Night, Billy,”

And she turned to leave one foot on the sidewalk but she turned back towards him at the last second. “Right ok I forgot to tell you this,” She stammered. “But I’ll be sad too.”

Billy blinked so very confused.

“Ok wow really have to spell it out for you.” Charlie bit her lip and normally he would’ve felt insulted. “When you asked if just my Dad would be sad.” She clarified. “I wanted to tell you if you ever stopped coming around I’d be sad too.”

Oh.

Fuck. His stomach was churning again cause now he didn’t have the beer to calm him down. He was just his stupid self in front of her and he’d never thought, never dreamed of what to do in a situation like this.

And Charlie was looking at him with those stupid brown eyes waiting for him to say something, anything. But he couldn’t for the life of him get his mouth to form words in this singular moment. It was like he was physically glitching.

Billy tried his best to smile and hoping this awkward pause wasn’t as long as he actually thought it was. “Thank you, Charlie.”

That must’ve been the right thing to say because now she’s smiling at him and he can’t breathe.

“Ok I’m gonna head inside then,” And just like that she was gone, making her way across the dimly lit yard to her front door. Turning around to send him one last wave before heading inside and like the dumbass, he is he waved back.

When she went inside Billy sped off.

His chest felt light, he couldn’t stop smiling, he was just so fucking happy. He had this Friday and hopefully the next. He had those Sunday’s in the garage with Charles.

Now he had Charlie.

[markftmingi]

not so first love - lee jeno

AU: badboy!au, nct!au, enemies to lovers kinda

PAIRING: badboy!jeno x fem!reader ft. popular!haechan

GENRE: fluff and angst.

WORD COUNT: 1.2K

SUMMARY: you have a crush on the school’s most popular and perfect student, lee donghyuck. you’ve had a crush on him since freshman year in high school and 6 years later, you still felt the same. he’s everything you love in a man but his step-brother, lee jeno, is everything you avoid in one... but why do you feel so drawn to him?

a/n: posting this on mobile so excuse me if the format looks bad. also can’t post a read more so🥺

•

“good morning, donghyuck!” you greeted him cheerfully as you made your way past him to get to your seat.

donghyuck smiled brightly, “morning, y/n.”

you giggled as you sat at your desk and took out your science textbook.

“all it takes is a ‘morning’ from him and you’re all giggly. disgusting.”

you rolled your eyes at jeno, “jen-jen, he’s your brother. you shouldn’t be jealous of him.”

“step-brother. we aren’t related. if his mom wasn’t married to my dad, i wouldn’t even look at him.”

“i know you’re not related. he’s the amazing and beautiful lee donghyuck and well...you’re just you.”

jeno rolled his eyes this time and put his head down. that’s how he spend most of his classes. he’d always sleep through every class and wake up and get the notes for you. you could’ve simply told jeno to go to hell since he was always so mean to you but you felt the need to look out for him. jeno was an asshole, the typical bad boy type, but he had some good in him... you could tell. once class was over, you woke jeno and sent pictures of the notes to his phone.

“thanks, babycakes. you coming to my game tonight?” jeno questioned as he followed you out the classroom.

“no, stop asking me to come to your games. i’m going to donghyuck’s swim meet.”

jeno stopped walking, “are you going to follow after him like a lovesick puppy your entire life? i’m trying to say this in the nicest way possible but hyuck doesn’t like you.”

“you don’t know that! he must like me, i’m sure of it. he’s super sweet to me. he even got me snacks last swim meet!”

“y/n, he’s nice to everyone. that’s who he is. he buys everyone snacks at the meets! i just don’t want you to get hurt.”

you stopped walking and turned to him, “what do you gain from this? i have liked him for years and you’re always putting me down! why do you hate the idea of donghyuck actually liking me?”

“gain? i don’t gain anything from this! i’m trying to help you! when you get your heartbroken, don’t come crying to me ‘cause i won’t be there for you,” he ranted before storming off.

•

“the second he steps out of the locker room, you are confessing!” your friend, doyeon, declared.

“but i can’t-,”

“yes. yes you can. you’ve liked him for like six years. if you don’t tell him, i will,” yeji threatened.

you pouted, “what if he doesn’t like me? i don’t handle rejection well.”

“did you and jeno fight over that today? you were so confident earlier. what changed?”

you didn’t get to answer since donghyuck walked out the locker room. doyeon pulled you to your feet and pushed you in his direction. you took a deep breath and walked over to him.

“hi, donghyuck!” you smiled softly.

donghyuck looked up from his phone and smiled back. his somewhat long hair that was still wet from swimming wasn’t in its usual style but he still looked flawless.

“hey, y/n. what’s up?”

“i was wondering if you had any plans after this?”

“oh yeah! i’m going out with my girlfriend and a few other people from the swim team. you’re welcome to come along if you want though!”

girlfriend? since when did he ever have a girlfriend? hundreds of thoughts and feelings hit you at once but the strongest one was hurt. of course donghyuck had a girlfriend. it just wasn’t you... jeno was right. maybe jeno knew he had a girlfriend the entire time. maybe that’s why he always warned you... but then again, jeno told you not to come to him once you got your heart broken so maybe he didn’t care. either way, you need a break from both lee step-brothers.

•

you stayed home all weekend...and monday... and maybe tuesday and wednesday too. you didn’t miss school often but you needed a few days off. your friends, eunbin, yeji, and doyeon, picked up your homework for you and delivered it to your house so you wouldn’t be behind in your classes. now that you were back, it felt awkward. you didn’t greet donghyuck like you usually did. jeno didn’t greet you like he usually did. he also didn’t sleep during class. he took his own notes for once. not that it was a bad thing, but it was that he didn’t need your help anymore. when class was over, jeno packed his bag but he didn’t leave. he waited for you.

“why are you waiting for me?” you asked softly.

“because i know what it feels like to love someone who doesn’t love you back.”

“what happened to the whole ‘you won’t be there for me when i get my heartbroken’?”

“i’m an asshole, okay? we all know this. i say a lot of things i don’t mean and i definitely didn’t mean that. i’m sorry and i’ll always be here, okay?” jeno nudged your arm, “come on, i’ll treat you to ice cream.”

“only if i get to buy you a coffee tomorrow morning.”

“sure thing, babe.”

•

you’ve know jeno for as long as you’ve known donghyuck but you never realized it until now. all those times you’ve taken notes for him, tolerating him acting like an asshole eight times out of ten, going out for ice cream in the afternoon and coffee in the morning, and now you’re at his basketball game. you’d been invited multiple times but you always chose donghyuck. instead of watching donghyuck swim laps, you were on the bleachers holding a sign that you designed with “JENO LEE #23” filled with very colorful hearts and glitter. you liked lee jeno. maybe you always have. you were just too busy pining over donghyuck to realize that you even thought about jeno in that way.

“pass it to jeno, yang!” jeno’s friend, san, yelled, interrupting your thoughts.

san was one of jeno’s only friends that didn’t play basketball. he preferred volleyball over it but that didn’t stop him from yelling like he was the coach. you watched as yangyang passed it to jeno, who made the shot perfectly. you cheered happily as the timer went off. as always, his team won. san walked onto the court to greet his friends while you stayed where you were. you wouldn’t hesitate to tell him. you just hope he felt the same. you locked eyes with jeno as he made his way over to you.

“what’s up, buttercup? you look nervous,” jeno questioned as he wiped his sweat with a towel.

“maybe i am.”

“you gonna tell me what’s wrong? is it about haechan?”

you shook your head, “no... not him. you, i like you.”

jeno let out a deep breath of air, “about time. i thought you never would.”

“i-wait, what?”

“i like you too, idiot. i was waiting for you for years...been in love with you for years. you just didn’t realize it.” jeno admitted.

“are you guys gonna kiss now or?” san asked.

you hadn’t noticed that jeno’s friends were watching you the entire time. san, yangyang, jaemin, lucas, and mingi being the ones you recognized. jeno shrugged before kissing you gently. you both smiled through the kiss. first love doesn’t always end the way you want it to but sometimes it ends the way you need it to.

[dwobbitfromtheshire]

Seen

A Stancy fanfiction

It had taken Steve a while to figure out why he didn't like that conversation with Dustin. Well, about ten minutes. It was longer than necessary. It wasn't just about him being jealous that Dustin talked so much about Eddie or that Steve didn't want to participate in Hellfire because he wasn't sure he would be good at it. Them looking for another member for their club tonight meant that Dustin and Mike weren't going to show up for Lucas, which didn't make any sense to him considering what they all went through. By the end of his shift, Steve was furious. He ended up turning Brenda down. . .gently, though, and driving off to the school.

"Do they understand how important this is to Lucas?" Steve asked with a sigh. "Basketball is just as important as D&D. . .do they get that? No! Because sports are bad because of a few assholes. Hang out with Eddie. He's so cool. . .he gets us, unlike you, Steve. You're just a dumb jock and now you're turning Lucas into a dumb jock. . .no, this isn't about me!"

He stormed into the school and was walking angrily towards the drama room when he saw Nancy coming from the opposite direction. She looked just as angry as he was. They paused for a moment, staring at each other before meeting in the middle.

"What are you doing here?" Nancy and Steve asked in unison.

"Uh, Dustin called me to ask if I wanted to join Hellfire tonight," Steve said.

"Mike asked me if I wanted to join Hellfire tonight," Nancy said.

"Man, as smart as they are, our brothers are just as dumb," Steve said, and Nancy snorted. "It took me a minute to realize that it meant they weren't going to bother showing up for Lucas tonight."

"They can postpone, Lucas can't," Nancy said.

"Exactly, so I say we team up and go in there together like a united front, really make them piss their pants," Steve said.

"You make us sound like divorced parents," Nancy said in amusement.

"Aren't we?" Steve asked, and Nancy laughed. "Nance, we're supposed to be angry."

"Right."

They both squared their shoulders, put on their game faces, and stormed through the double doors. They slammed open, banging loudly against the walls. Steve felt a moment of satisfaction when he heard them all scream. They moved to the middle of the room where everyone was sitting around the table, including Erica. Eddie Munson was sitting on a throne. Of course. Steve sent Erica a disappointed look before focusing back on the others. Mike and Dustin had the decency to look scared shitless.

"Oh my god!" Dustin screamed. "They're both together and they both look pissed. We're dead!"

"Relax, Henderson, what are Nancy Wheeler and the fallen king of Hawkins High going to do?" Eddie asked.

"He doesn't know," Dustin hissed to Mike.

"No, he's right," Mike rolled his eyes. "They're not going to hurt us."

"Is that what you think?" Nancy asked. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"We're playing Dungeon & Dragons like we do every Friday," Mike rolled his eyes.

"Lucas's game is tonight, why aren't you there supporting him?" Steve asked, his hands on his hips. "I thought your friendship meant something."

"Clearly, our friendship doesn't mean anything to him considering that Lucas went to the Dark Side," Mike said. "He's the one betraying us."

"That's really hypocritical of you, considering that you promised Will before he left for California that you guys wouldn't join another party," Nancy said. "And yet, here you are, in another party."

"You promised Will that we wouldn't join another party?!" Dustin asked. "Will asked us not to join another party?"

"Yeah, so, you promised Steve that you wouldn't leave him for someone else and you left him for Jonathan. How long was it after you ended things with Steve that you jumped into bed with Jonathan?" Mike asked.

Mike regretted it as soon as he said it. Everyone in the room gasped as guilt flooded Mike's face. Steve was hurt and furious that he had brought that up, but then he remembered that he was a traumatized teenager being cornered by his older sister and his sister's ex-boyfriend, who was also his babysitter. Steve took a breath, but Nancy was angrier than he had ever seen her. Her nostrils flared wide.

"Mike. Run. Run as fast as you can," Dustin whispered, looking afraid for Mike's life.

Mike slowly stood up and backed away. Nancy dove for him and he took off, running around the table, shrieking loudly. She was pretty fast for someone so short but even with Mike's long legs, she managed to catch up to him. She kicked him in the back of the leg, sending him to the ground, and pressed her foot into his back. She turned to Dustin and Erica.

"This is important to Lucas. He asked you all to be there and you rejected him. Liking basketball isn't a terrible thing. You are judging him just like those assholes out there are judging you for liking D&D," Nancy said furiously.

"Do you know how scared he was to tell you that he liked basketball?" Steve asked. "He was completely terrified because he didn't think that you would understand, and he turned out to be right. He might not have joined for the right reasons, but not wanting to be bullied anymore is perfectly understandable. Sometimes you just want it to stop . . . but him playing basketball isn't just about that. He knows what's going to happen when the others find out that he also likes D&D, and he wants you guys there as backup when it does happen. He was also afraid that you would replace him with someone else and look what you did. . .you replaced him with his sister!"

"How do you know all that?" Dustin asked softly.

"Because I was the one who's been with him when he wanted someone to practice with. I was the one who listened to his fears of losing his best friends in the entire world because he discovered his love of basketball. He wanted to be able to enjoy both games, but it turns out, the people who are supposed to be the most understanding turns out to be bullying jackasses just like those assholes out there!" Steve yelled at them. "It's not the end of the world if you postpone it for one fucking night!"

Steve didn't realize how much he would regret those words later on but the rest of it, he didn't regret. He would never regret fighting for Lucas Sinclair or any of those damn kids.

"I'm innocent in all of this," Erica said. "I was coerced."

"Erica!" Steve scolded. "Look, I know you don't like basketball, but it's not the enemy here, just like D&D isn't. Lucas just needs to know that you've got his back when he needs it. That's all he's asking for, and I don't think it's too much to ask. Man, all Lucas is trying to do is figure shit out. I'm not saying that you have to like basketball or anything, but just let Lucas know that you still love him. He's family, right? That's more important than popularity or deciding which game is better."

"Yeah," Dustin and Mike said.

It was in that moment that Steve realized that Nancy was staring at him. He locked eyes with her and smiled. It was the first real interaction that he's had with Nancy since the breakup. It was the first time in a long time that he's seen her look at him like that. He felt that familiar tug in his stomach and the familiar fluttering of his heart. He finally realized what those people he had gone out with were missing: they weren't Nancy Wheeler. No one would ever come close. That future he had dreamed of once upon a time that had held Nancy Wheeler was now back again and this time, it wasn't going to be driven to the back of his mind especially since he knew that Nancy cared about these kids as much as he did.

"Steve's right, it's just one night," Nancy said. "His friends and his sister should be there to cheer him on."

"Even though he's just on the bench and I'm going to California tomorrow for spring break?" Mike asked.

"Nothing's going to happen between now and then to stop you from picking it back up when you get back," Nancy said.

"Was Sinclair really afraid of us?" Eddie asked Steve.

Steve looked up at him, looking into his expressive brown eyes and sighed.

"Yeah," Steve said.

Eddie rubbed his forehead and looked down as he thought about it, clearly thinking about everything that they had said.

"This is supposed to be a place for kids like him to come to when they don't have anywhere else to go. . .when they're scared. . .I don't want them to ever be afraid of me judging them," Eddie said. "I was trying so hard not to let those assholes put me into a box that I put Lucas into a box! Jesus H Christ. . .it's just one night, right?"

"Don't want him to only conform to D&D, right?" Steve asked.

"I'm older, I'm in charge, I should be the one setting good examples for the little sheep," Eddie sighed. "I should be the one to make it easier for him to be able to enjoy both games. Because it's not the game, just the assholes in them?"

"Right," Steve said with a snort. "There's an asshole in every group."

"I'm sorry," Mike said and paused. "Can you get your foot out of my back now?"

Nancy snorted and took her foot off his back.

"It was a shitty thing that you said, Michael," Nancy said as he sat up.

"I'm sorry, okay. . .I was trying to hold onto the things that reminded me of Will and El. I just didn't want anyone to take that away from me, and I didn't just want it to disappear," Mike said. "I just miss them, and I shouldn't have brought up your past like that, especially knowing how guilty you feel."

"You're still an asshole," Nancy said with a sigh. "And I miss Jonathan, too, even though we broke up."

"You and Jonathan broke up?" Steve asked.

"Yes," Nancy said, smiling as he struggled to not look so happy.

"Sorry," Steve said.

"Are you, though?" She asked in amusement.

"No," he blushed.

Nancy and Steve locked eyes again. She smirked before turning to Mike.

"You're still grounded," Nancy said.

"Bullshit! You don't have the power to ground me! You're not my father - I mean my mother!" Mike exclaimed.

"Mom and Dad gave me the power when I turned eighteen," Nancy replied.

"I don't believe it," Mike scowled.

"You heard your father, Michael," Steve said with a smirk.

"Oh, so I guess that makes you my mommy," Mike scowled.

"Could you, I don't know, be less of a teenager?" Steve asked, and Mike rolled his eyes. "You know, if you keep doing that, eventually, your eyes are going to get stuck that way."

"Let's go," Nancy said, pointing towards the door and snapping her finger. "All of you."

Erica rolled her eyes before stomping out the door. Dustin looked extremely guilty before following after her with Mike behind him. Dustin paused on his way out the door.

"We didn't mean to hurt Lucas. We were just trying not to lose what we loved to do," Dustin said. "We didn't want to become something that we aren't, and we thought that Lucas was doing that."

"He is doing that, but a way of like getting him not to do that is to have someone like you guys to remember what's truly important," Steve said. "All of you needed to remember that."

He poked Dustin in the chest, right where his heart was located.

"And Eddie, he just - " Dustin started.

"He knows what it's like to feel different," Steve said.

"Yeah," Dustin said.

"Well, newsflash, Henderson," Steve said. "Everyone feels different even people like me. There's no such thing as normal, just people who pretend that they are. We're all freaks, and I am okay with being one myself. More than okay, actually."

Steve smiled proudly, and Dustin copied the grin. Dustin walked ahead with Mike and Erica as the maneuvered down the hallway towards the gym.

"So," Eddie's voice popped up beside him. "What makes Steve Harrington a freak?"

"Oh, you have to be a higher level to unlock that information," Steve grinned and then laughed at Eddie's surprised face. "I do know some things."

"Okay, so how high are we talking about?" Eddie asked. "And does Nancy know?"

"Oh. . .very high. Nancy doesn't know that she knows," Steve said with a shrug.

"What?" Nancy asked, and he leaned down to whisper in her ear. "Oh! That makes so much sense!"

The rest of Hellfire was trailing behind them. Steve smiled over his shoulder at Jeff, who winked at him.

"I'm sorry, do you know Jeff?" Eddie asked.

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't," Steve said.

"You know, I really wanted to hate you," Eddie said, scowling.

"I told you that he might not be that bad," Jeff said.

"Yeah, but you didn't tell me that you knew from experience," Eddie said to Jeff before turning back to Steve. "Anyway! What you did back there. . .you clearly did for those kids. . .you care about them a lot, especially Dustin. He talks about you all of the time."

"He does?" Steve asked.

"Yeah, the butthead worships you," Eddie said. "It's kind of annoying, really."

"He worships you, too, you know," Steve grinned.

"Yeah. . .not that I care what the little shrimp thinks," Eddie said, blushing. "I was super jealous as hell, by the way."

He leaned into Steve’s space, testing his boundaries. Steve laughed and pushed Eddie away.

"Yeah, I was jealous of you, too," Steve said. "Dustin's been like my brother since he kidnapped me a couple of years ago."

"He kidnapped you?" Eddie asked.

"Well, he was standing there looking at me, desperately needing my help. With those damn eyes of his. . .what was I supposed to do? Say no?" Steve scoffed. "I never had a brother before until I met Dustin and his friends. Or knew what it felt like. Always kind of wanted one. I'm glad I found one in Dustin."

"Yeah, me too, man," Eddie said softy.

"That's really very sweet," Nancy said. "But hey, if anyone wants a brother, you two can have mine."

"Oh, man, I thought you were going to kill the little shit for what he said," Eddie grinned.

"If she had her gun with her, she probably would have," Steve said.

"Nancy Wheeler has a gun?" Eddie asked in surprise.

"More than one," Nancy said proudly.

"Yeah, she almost shot me with one of them," Steve laughed.

"And you almost deserved it," Nancy said, and he grinned.

"Yeah, well," Steve said softly.

"Man, I don't know what happened between you two, but if I were you two, I wouldn't waste a single moment. . .life is hard and fucking short. Never know how much time you've got left," Eddie said. "The way you two barged in there together. . .unambiguous sign of true love, I swear."

"Is Eddie Munson a romantic?" Nancy asked teasingly.

"Maybe. . . But don't you dare tell anyone," Eddie said. "I'm also a sucker for second chances."

They were almost to the gym doors when someone popped out of the nearby bathroom. It was Chrissy Cunningham.

"Oh, hey Steve, Nancy, it's good to see you two together again," Chrissy smiled, and then her eyes landed on Eddie, causing her grin to widen. "Eddie! Are you going to the game?!"

"Looks like it," Eddie said.

"Oh, that's great! I hoped you'd come somehow," Chrissy said.

"You did?" Eddie asked, bewildered. "Are you okay? You look like you've been crying."

"Oh, well, I just broke up with Jason. Best decision that I ever made. I decided that I deserved better," Chrissy replied.

"I wasn't going to say anything, but you totally do," Eddie said.

Chrissy smiled, blushing. She reached up suddenly, cupping his cheek with her hand. Eddie sucked in a breath as she wiped her thumb under his eye. She pulled back and held out her thumb to his lips.

"You had an eyelash, make a wish," Chrissy said.

Eddie stared at her.

"Uh, I wish for - "

"No, silly, you can't say your wish outloud!" Chrissy giggled.

"Oh, right, of course," he laughed and rolled his eyes before blowing on her thumb. "There!"

"Do you think it's going to come true?" Chrissy asked.

"I certainly hope so," he said.

"I'll see you in there?" Chrissy asked.

"Yeah, definitely," Eddie said.

Chrissy smiled and bounced into the gym. Steve watched as Eddie stared after her, pulling his hair in front of his face. He grinned.

"Well, that was the cutest thing that I have ever witnessed," Steve said.

"Agreed," Nancy said.

"I have no thoughts in my brain. What's my name again?" He asked. "Where the hell am I?"

Steve laughed, clapped him on the back, and led him inside with the kids. He led him towards the bleachers and pushed him up the steps. Eddie and the rest of Hellfire sat at the top of the bleachers. Steve moved to follow them when he was suddenly yanked back by Nancy.

"Sit with me?" She asked softly and hopefully, her blue eyes wide.

"Yeah," he said.

His eyes caught Robin's in the bleachers not far from their seats. She raised her hands up, looking confused. She pointed at Hellfire and then at Nancy.

"What the hell?" She asked inside his head.

"I'll tell you later," Steve replied back.

"What were you off doing when you had me blocked?" Robin asked, narrowing her eyes at him.

They had been telepathically linked since Starcourt, not that anyone knew that, but Steve figured that since there might be something starting with Nancy, he should probably tell her that he's got another woman inside of his head.

"I swear, it almost looks like you two are communicating in your heads," Nancy snorted.

"That's because we are," Steve winced.

"What?" Nancy asked in surprise.

"Starcourt," he whispered.

"I guess we have a lot to catch up on," Nancy said.

"Yeah, we do," Steve said.

Suddenly, they were joined by Fred Benson, Nancy's friend on the paper.

"Steve Harrington. I didn't think I was ever going to meet you. You're right, Nancy, he is cute," Fred said.

"You talk to Fred about me?" Steve asked.

"Maybe," she blushed.

"Oh, she won't shut about you. How cute you are, what a great boyfriend you were back then, how she should have told you that, and so many other mistakes that she wishes she could take back, so on and so on. . .," Fred said.

"Fred!" Nancy exclaimed, and she paused. "He's right, though. There's so many things that I wish I could have done differently."

"You're here now, Nance, and that's water under the bridge," Steve said. "I forgave you a long time ago."

"She also won't stop talking about your hazel eyes and your cute butt," Fred said, rolling his eyes with a grin.

"Fred!" She scolded and then sighed. "He's right. You do have a cute butt. Oh! The game is starting."

Steve and Nancy shared a look when Lucas came out. The minute he saw his friends sitting in the bleachers, his face split in the widest grin. A moment later, Hellfire called out Lucas's name, and he laughed in delight. Yeah, Nancy and Steve did well. It was well worth the wait when they finally sent Lucas in, and he ended up scoring them the winning shot. He could hear the entire gym screaming for Lucas, but more importantly, he could hear Hellfire screaming louder. Steve had cheered proudly with Nancy, who pulled him into a tight hug as they both beamed brightly. Nancy pulled her head back, her arms still wrapped tightly around him, and smiled. She closed the gap between them and kissed him deeply. Steve smiled into the kiss, a euphoria filling him as Nancy's lips moved against his. He enjoyed the familiar feeling of her lips, the way she felt in his arms again. He had kissed her many times before, but this felt different from all the others. This one felt more final.

"Holy shit! I enjoyed that a lot more than I thought I would!" Eddie exclaimed. "Basketball is still not my thing but. . .I don't hate it."

They had all spilled out into the parking lot and were now waiting for Lucas and Robin.

"It wasn't the worst thing I've ever seen," Gareth agreed, rolling his eyes.

"Lucas was great," Jeff grinned.

"I have to admit that Sinclair has skills," Eddie said and then sighed. "All the shit I gave Uncle Wayne about liking basketball, I just know he's going to want me to watch one with him now. Although, he would have given me a swift kick if he knew what an asshole I was."

Steve smiled down at Nancy, who had her cheek pressed against his arm as she watched Lucas come out with his team. He was enveloped into his parents' arms first, and then he moved on to them.

"I had hoped you would come, but I didn't think you would," Lucas said to Dustin and Lucas.

"We're sorry for not being supportive before," Mike said. "And we're sorry for not taking you seriously."

"Yeah, you're way more important than any game," Dustin said.

"And even though you like basketball now, we still love you," Mike said.

Steve could tell that it was exactly what Lucas needed to hear. He smiled, tears in his eyes.

"Our bond goes deeper than friendship, Lucas. We're family," Dustin said. "If basketball is just as important to you as D&D then we'll be there to cheer you on."

"Just don't forget who you are. Okay?" Mike asked. "Promise?"

"Promise," Lucas said.

Mike and Dustin hugged Lucas tightly. Yeah, that's all he needed to know, was that they'd still be best friends even if their interests diverged. Mike and Dustin just needed to know that the important parts of Lucas Sinclair would still be there. It was a nice moment between the three of them, a moment that Jason Carver just had to ruin.

"Hey, Sinclair! Are these freaks bothering you?" Jason asked.

Dustin, Mike, and Lucas broke the hug. Jason and a couple of other basketball players were standing behind them.

"These freaks are my friends," Lucas scowled.

"You don't have to cover for them, man," Andy said.

"If they're bothering you, we can deal with them," Chase said.

"No," Lucas said, standing in front of them. "They are my friends, and they have been for a long time. I didn't tell you because I was afraid of how you'd react. I'm in Hellfire, too."

Nancy, Steve, and Eddie moved to stand beside the kids. Jason stared daggers at Lucas.

"You lied to us, Sinclair. You betrayed us. You're going to burn for this," Jason said. "I'll make sure that you're off the team."

"Except that's the coach's decision, Carver," Stege said. "Not yours."

"What the hell happened to you, Harrington?" Jason asked. "You used to be one of us."

"Well, I finally decided to grow a brain. It looks like you never have. You still look as dumb as the day I met you. I bet your mommy still writes your name in your underwear just so you won't forget it," Steve said. "I was never one of you."

Jason looked like he swallowed a lemon. He cheeks were also flushed in humiliation.

"I'll make your life hell on the team, Sinclair. You're going to want to quit," Jason said.

Nancy stepped forward with a tape recorder and played back everything that he said.

"People would just love to find out that the captain of the basketball team is sabotaging his own teammates," Nancy said.

"Stay out of this, Wheeler, you don't know who you're messing with," Jason said.

"No, it's you who doesn't know who you're messing with," Nancy said, staring him directly in the eyes. "Don't fuck with our kids."

"You know, I thought you were a good guy, someone else like Steve that I could look up to, but I see who you are now, what they say about you. You're nothing more than a psychopathic bully who only cares about himself," Lucas said. "You can't even admit when you're wrong. D&D is just a game, just like basketball. I happen to enjoy both, and I realize now that no matter what I do that there's always going to be someone who is going to disagree with what I do in life but I'm not going to stop living it because of narrow-minded mouth breathers like who can't accept that not everyone wants to be like you."

Just as Jason took a step closer to Lucas, Chrissy appeared.

"What's going on?" She asked.

"Chrissy, babe, you don't need to see this," Jason said. "I was just about to help Lucas out of a sticky situation."

"It looks like you were about to punch him," Chrissy said with narrowed eyes.

"You've read the situation wrong, babe," Jason said.

"Did you get amnesia?" Chrissy asked. "Did you forget that I dumped your ass?"

"We had a fight, that's all. You had a bad day. I get it," Jason said.

"A bad day? Try bad several months," Chrissy scoffed.

Jason grabbed her arm, and everyone immediately moved to stop him. It was Chrissy who saved herself. She raised her knee and slammed it into his groin. Jason let go and collapsed onto the ground. Andy and Chase glared at Chrissy. After a minute, Jason struggled to get back up. He glared at Lucas.

"One day, you're going to find yourself alone, without your friends, and you're not going to be so brave then," Jason said.

"Did you forget that I have a tape recorder, dumbass?" Nancy asked. "I'm still recording you."

Jason scowled and winced as he tried not to let it show that Chrissy had really hurt him. He turned his eyes onto Eddie, glaring furiously.

"This is all your fault. You manipulate people and you use. . . You use your powers to control them to make them do what you want. Chrissy never would have done that," Jason told Eddie.

"Maybe Chrissy just got tired of your bullshit. Man, if I can make people do what I want, then why the hell am I still a third year senior?" Eddie asked, scowling. "If I am oh, so, powerful then why the fuck am I not swimming in gold?"

Jason opened his mouth, closed it, and opened it again before closing it once more. He looked like a gaping fish. Steve couldn't help but laugh at that. Eddie had gotten on that one. Sue and Charles approached quickly.

"What's going on here?" Sue asked.

"You're lucky mommy and daddy showed up," Andy spat at Lucas. "You and your meddling friends."

Andy, Chase, and Jason walked away as the Sinclairs moved to stand beside Lucas.

"It's too bad we don't have a dumb dog," Steve snorted.

"What are you talking about, Stevie? We've got our Scooby right here," Eddie grinned, clapping his hands on Dustin's shoulders and cackled when Steve high fived him.

"I changed my mind," Dustin scowled. "I don't want you two getting along."

"Does that mean that I'm Velma or Daphne?" Nancy asked Steve.

"I'm clearly Daphne," Steve scoffed. "I pull off purple better than you do."

"You take that back, Steve Harrington," Nancy laughed.

They all fell into a deep and serious discussion about Scooby-Doo, which was something they found they all had in common. It was that moment that Robin had finally showed up. She looked around in confusion.

"What I'd miss?" Robin asked.

"Well," Steve said in her head. "You'd know if you hadn't blocked me."

"Fuck you," Robin said. "I was talking to Vickie, and I lost track of time."

Steve smiled and felt Nancy snuggle into his side, her arm wrapping around his waist. Lucas was happily replaying the game with Dustin and Mike as they questioned him about basketball. Chrissy had slid her arm through Eddie's and was chatting him up. Eddie looked at Steve in panic and Steve sent him an encouraging wink, laughing at his plight. He didn't expect it to end up like this, but he found that he was looking forward to his new friendship with Eddie. Well, he hoped they were friends now.

"I wish we could all go out and continue this because this was fun, but I have to get Mike home. It's past his bedtime," Nancy said.

"Nancy!" Mike yelled.

"Yeah, I'm letting Eddie take me back to his place," Chrissy said.

"You going to put him to bed?" Nancy asked in amusement. "Tuck him in?"

"Like she's going to want - ," Eddie started to say.

"If he lets me," Chrissy grinned and he hollered.

"Yeah, yeah!" Eddie said. "Uh, Sinclair, I'm sorry about everything. I'll muster up a better apology later, but you know, I'm suddenly feeling tired."

"Nah, man, I get it," Lucas laughed.

Eddie took off towards his van but skidded to a stop when he realized that Chrissy hadn't followed. She ran and threw herself onto his back. He shrieked in surprise, but then he hooked his arms under her legs and continued to run towards his van, making engine noises as he did so. Chrissy's giggles could be heard throughout the parking lot. Steve smiled. People weren't all that different. The only thing was that their interests diverged, but the one thing that they all had in common was that they wanted to be seen and to be accepted. As Steve kissed Nancy goodbye, he couldn't help but be excited about what tomorrow would bring for them all.

[stevesnailbat]

Hey!! Can you do a fic where (y/n) is Steve’s little sister who is friends with the Party and is rlly protective over her bc their parents are trash so he feels like he has to take the father position?? Somehow involve a family history w examples of him doing that and then leading up to something during s1 where he learns ab the demogorgan?? Like a “why didn’t u tell me” situation?

warnings: nothing really, some swearing and some of old King Steve’s attitude, but mainly just protective!Steve.

word count: 1.4K

a/n: Requests are open, please send me ideas for any ST character you want!

Being King Steve’s little sister had its perks, but some of the time it sucked more than it was good. People were always nice to Y/N in class, usually asking about Steve or talking about how good he played at the basketball games; they never really asked about her. Steve soaked up all the attention, a cocky grin growing across his face whenever she would complain about boys only talking about him to her on their way home from school. He would usually end up feeling bad for her having to put up with the annoying people at school, so he would make it up to her by taking her out for ice cream or dinner. Y/N had grown to appreciate the times her and her brother spent together alone, because when they were in public was when he would turn into a grade-A douchebag.

Even though Steve played himself off as a cocky, popular dude in school, he was still a sucker for his little sister and would do anything to make sure she was safe. He always made sure she got home safe after school, always checked up on her when she was feeling down, and to her annoyance, always made sure she went to bed before ten on school nights. Steve felt obligated to take over as a father figure for Y/N when he got into middle school and began to notice his parents not picking up the slack like they should have been. He realized that they didn’t pay attention to either him or Y/N, but it took more of a toll on her, since she was younger.

The only time their parents seemed to be around was for their so-called “family dinner” they would have twice a month. Steve saw it as their way of saying they were good parents who didn’t just order pizza or have them make microwave dinners every night, which is what they did every other night besides these two days out of the month. Their dad would grill Steve and Y/N with random, awkward questions about school, sports and clubs because he had no idea what they were actually doing outside of going to class.

“So are you still in that...video thing, Y/N?” their mom asked one time, trying to break the uncomfortable silence.

“Yes mom, I’m still in AV club.” Y/N replied in a shy voice, knowing what was coming next.

“You’re still hanging around all those boys every day after school then? The weird, nerdy ones who ride their bikes around all the time?” their dad would chime in, disappointment prevalent in his tone.

She only nodded, not really knowing how to defend herself against her judgmental parents.

“She like the kids, so why does it matter if you think they’re weird? It’s not like they’re hurting her or anything.” Steve replies in a protective, yet casual way.

Both of their parents become flustered yet annoyed, deciding to drop the conversation with a quiet ‘guess it doesn’t matter’ from their dad. Conversations like this seemed too common at the dinner table; they would make some snide remark about what the kids were doing and either Y/N or Steve would stick up for the other, trying to make them feel better. It got old after a while, but it just seemed to be something to get used to.

Y/N was the only girl in her friend group, the party, but she didn’t mind; Steve minded, though. Steve noticed one of them, Dustin, always making eyes at Y/N and would tell him to back off every once in a while. When he would come pick her up from the Wheeler’s and Dustin would walk with her to the door, Steve would give him warning looks which would cause him to call Steve an asshole under his breath every time. Y/N would try to give Steve a taste of his own medicine when he started hanging around Nancy, giving her dirty looks when she would see them together. It didn’t work, though. Y/N grew to like Nancy because she thought she made Steve better, into more of a normal boy and into less of a douchebag-ish King Steve.

Everything took a turn for the worst when November hit. Will went missing and things got rocky between Nancy and Steve. Steve reverted to his old, douchebag self to save the family’s reputation from being tarnished and left his sister in the dust. Not that she even realized it, though. She was busy looking for Will every night. When they met Eleven, Y/N would stay at Mike’s house trying to comfort her or get some information out of her. The two grew closer as time went on, Y/N seemed to be the only person besides Mike that Eleven would even speak to. Lucas and Dustin would play some games or nap in the basement while Y/N and Mike would talk El’s ear off, trying to make her feel comfortable, for hours until Steve would come pounding down the door looking for her.

“Why are you going over there so much anyways? You aren’t playing any campaigns right now obviously.” Steve snapped when they got back to Loch Nora from the Wheeler’s as Y/N sat in the passenger seat with tears in her eyes.

“I miss my friend okay? Me and the party actually want to find him or find out what happened to him! You don’t care that one of my best friends just disappeared into thin air and you don't even care that Barb disappeared from our house that night. All you care about is mom and dad finding out about the beers and cigarettes you had, you jerk. I thought you would be a helpful and understanding older brother in situations like this, but obviously not.” Y/N says before stomping out of the car as Steve parked in the garage.

He doesn’t follow her, doesn’t try to apologize, doesn’t leave the car. He had no idea what to say, but he begins to realize what an asshole he really is. But that didn’t stop him from avoiding Y/N the next morning or from getting the living shit beat out of him by Jonathan Byers the next day during their argument.

Things grew clearer to Steve when he tried to apologize to his girlfriend and ended up having to fight some crazy ass, other world monster in the Byer’s house with a nail bat. He had come full-circle in a week and realized how shitty he really had been, to Y/N especially.

Being reunited with Y/N in the Hawkins hospital was emotional for both of them. Steve rushed to there as soon as the god awful monster was taken care of, hoping and praying that Y/N was okay. When he got there, he saw her along side the party, huddled against each other. When she makes eye contact with Steve, she runs to him with tears brimming her eyes. Y/N sobbed in his arms, her body weak from exhaustion as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Steve held her close and kept repeating ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry’ to her over and over again as he rubber her shoulder soothingly. After a few minutes of hushed crying and whispers, Steve pulls them apart and holds her cheeks in his hands, wiping some of her tears away.

“You got the shit beat out of you.” she says, touching the bruised pink and purple skin near his eye, making him flinch lightly.

“Yeah because my little sister decided not to tell me that there was a monster on the loose in Hawkins.” he jokes in return, ruffling her hair lightly.

“I don’t think those are from a monster, I think you actually got beat up and just don’t want to admit it.” she remarks, eyes narrowing as she speaks.

“That...isn’t important right now. Why didn’t you tell me about what was actually going on?” he says as a slight tinge of red graces his cheeks from embarrassment.

“Because I knew you would freak, like you always do.” Y/N jokes.

Steve rolls his eyes and pulls her into another hug without saying another word, taking in the moment one last time. He was glad that he realized how much of an ass he really had been, but more importantly, he was glad that Y/N was safe. He could go back to being her protective, overbearing older brother who only wanted what was best for her, even if she couldn’t see that.

[crossiantgay]

Ch 1 of the Logince Princess and the Frog au!!!

This is my biggest fanfic by f a r . Hope you enjoy!

Warnings: voodoo, frogs, brief mention of food

Words: 5049

“Now here I’d like to tell you a story. A story that takes place right where we are, in the Big Easy. Down here in Louisiana, there’s a city you may have heard of, way down by the River. Does New Oreleans ring a bell? The place where jazz is always playin’ and you’re always guaranteed a good time. The lifestyle we live is as slow as the Mississippi. But you’ll have a treat down here in New Orleans. Oh, you haven’t lived if you haven't had a good bowl of gumbo with some grits. Or hear that smooth jazz that just sweeps you off your feet, mm, that’s the good stuff. If you want to truly live, come down to New Orleans to do it. We’ve got magic, sure do. Good and bad in New Orleans. Give ya what ya want but take what ya have. My dream since I was a youngin’ was to see New Orleans. You know, everybody got dreams. Rich people, poor people we all got dreams. This story I’m about to tell you focuses on one boy’s dream and the unusual way it comes true. Oh, this is a story of magic and love, plain and simple. The weird ways fate ties us together. Alright, I’ll stop stalling. You ready?”

“Please, I’m going to get the funds, I swear-” Logan begged to the bankers. 

“I’m sorry, where do you expect to get all this money? We can’t offer you a loan until we believe you can get the money to pay us back” They said, not budging a bit. 

“But-”

“We have made our decision.” An attendant escorted him to the door.  He gruffed and walked out. 

He had been saving up for so long for this library and a building finally opened up that he could buy, only for some big wigs to come in and make an offer higher than he could bid. This was his mother’s legacy, his dream. He just had to get this library, he didn't know what he’d do if he didn’t. He sighed, walking to his work at the school. He picked up a paper on his way to teach science at the Middle School in the area. It didn’t pay much, but it was the best job he could get. The paper’s headline was 

“Prince Roman of the Carnacty family coming to New Oreleans!” Logan sighed. Always ex-celebs who run out of luck coming to all the big cities to get their name in the headlines. He walked in the front door, greeting the attendant lady. His kids were already in the classroom, patiently waiting. Their mouths were going a mile a minute, he was trying to just get a snippet of the conversation. One kid said kind of loudly,

“I can’t believe he’s coming to New Oreleans! A real prince!!!” 

“Well he’s gonna marry me, I can already tell” One of the girls scoffed. He tried his best to stifle a laugh. It was well known the prince wasn't exactly into the princesses. Well, neither was he for that matter. Women were just so… dramatic. They all stopped talking as the bell rang, piercing through the room. Announcements crackled over the intercom, telling the kids that Math Club had been postponed and the basketball game tonight. He stood up from his desk, highly caffeinated and began teaching the kids. Amelia and Lucas raised their hands several times to ask questions during the lecture as expected. He let out a sigh of relief as the bell rang once again, signaling the end of school. He filed out quickly after the kids. He was supposed to meet with his dad today, one wednesday a month they got together to talk. God bless his father, when Logan was a child, he tried so hard to support Logan financially he rarely got a chance to spend with his son. But now that Logan was off on his own he and his father had some more time to spend together.  

He met his father on the block they’d agree they’d meet. He wanted to show his father the building he had his eye on for awhile. Technically they weren’t supposed to be there but oh well. He walked up the dusty stairs and pushed open two heavy dark oak doors to reveal an empty building with a staircase leading up to a second story. There were big french-style windows on the walls, illuminating the dusty room with a beautiful golden-white light. The building itself was made of bricks that were painted over a creamy tan color. Logan’s mind flooded with images of neat rows of bookshelves, with fluffy pillows and seating arrangements scattered around. The floors, polished to a shine and half of the upper floor dedicated to an information area and classes, taught by anyone who wanted to volunteer. But best of all, there would be a plaque on the back wall, visible right when you entered, saying “Dedicated to Mary L. Berry”. He would make his mother proud, do something right for once. He snapped out of his thoughts as his father said, 

“Sure is a fixer-upper” His dad chuckled a bit. 

“Well of course. I would rather add my own furnishings and make it my library than buy a dollhouse. There is so much room for improvement!” He walked towards the center of the building, getting bathed in light. 

“Isn’t it just astounding?” There were stars in his eyes. 

“Well, sure is… something.” HIs father tentatively walked towards Logan. The light died in his eyes. 

“...what? Is it not adequate?” The light died in his eyes as he turned towards his father. “If there’s anything you don’t like about, we can fix it” Logan’s father sighed and put a hand on his son’s shoulder. 

“Bub-” Oh no. His father only called him bub when something was wrong. “You don’t get money like this from teaching- or for waitering for that matter, either. Maybe something a bit smaller?” 

“It’s for mom though- it’s what she would have wanted” 

“First of all, she only wanted you to be healthy and safe. Second of all, you should be doing this for you, not to rekindle the embers of your mother’s dying dream.” Logan sighed. 

“I want to be a librarian though- It’s my dream, too” His father looked at him worriedly.

“If your heart’s in the right place, bub… either way, how are you going to get the money? People like us can’t afford such a lovely place.” 

“You like it?” Logan said excitedly. HIs father shot him a pointed look. 

“I’ve been saving up. I have enough to meet the market price” His father knew he wasn’t telling him something but he let it go. “I have been waiting so long for this, and it’s finally in my grasp. I just have to work a few more overtimes and I’ll-” His father cut him off. 

“Woah woah woah. I asked you before if you had the money. Do you or not?” Logan looked to the side. 

“There’s a higher bidder” 

“Oh…” 

Logan sighed and walked over to the door and opened it, rising up a cloud of dust. 

“We should go, we’re not supposed to be here anyway…” Logan’s dad gave a curt nod and tipped his hat. His father hailed a cab and hopped in. 

“See you soon!” He hollered as the driver took off. Logan nodded and waved as his father disappeared down the street. He sighed and let the tears that he was holding back roll down his cheeks as he looked to the building. 

“I was almost there…”   

(------)

One of his coworkers taunted him. “C’mon, the Mardi Gras party held by Charlotte every year is tonight. You guys grew up together, you should go!” He rolled his eyes and straightened his tie. 

“Mardi Gras parties are frivolous events where people get dressed up like little kids and get drunk on mimosas. Does that sound like something I would enjoy?” 

“Aww, you’re no fun.” His coworker whined.

“I am plenty of fun!” He huffed and put his hands on his hips. 

“Well if you were really fun you’d join us.” 

“Fine… I’ll go to your little party or whatever.” His coworker smiled.

“I knew I could convince you! It's a costume party, so dress up!” His coworker hollered from down the hall. He sighed. What had he gotten himself into? 

(~~~~) 

“C’mon Remus! We’re finally here! There are places to go, people to meet! Hurry up!” Roman hollered from up the street. Remus huffed as he adjusted to the bags he was holding. Roman’s bags. While his brother was what, talking to one of the locals? His brother never helped with anything. It was always up to Remus. 

“If you could maybe help I wouldn’t be so far behind” 

“ALL I HEAR IS EXCUSES, BROTHER! LET’S GO!” He didn’t know why Roman insisted on calling him ‘brother’. The way he treated Remus was as if he was a servant, not a royal. But of course, because Roman was first in line for the throne, nobody really cared about Remus. Was his name in the papers? Nope. It was just Roman’s. Everything was Roman, Roman, Roman. Remus grudgingly quickened his pace as he followed his brother. 

“Isn’t this a lovely city?” Roman stretched out his arms. 

“Yeah…” Remus mumbled. 

“...is there a problem, brother?” Remus rolled his eyes. 

“No, everything’s a-ok” Roman sighed. 

“What is it, and let’s not let your terrible mood leave a stain on this vacation” Remus did his best not to punch his brother in the face. He sighed. 

“Nothing…” Roman smiled. 

“Then let’s go, see the sights, eat the food!” He sped ahead and Remus sighed. He watched his brother talk to another shop owner. He looked up and Roman was being escorted into the man’s shop. 

“WAIT-” Remus rushed in behind him. He turned a corner into the entranceway for the shop his brother went into. He looked up as he left the bags outside. The sign on the top of the door read 

“Dr.Janus’s Fortune Tellings and Palm Readings” This was insane. Stick it to his brother to get his fortune read. You stay rich and Mom and Dad make you marry. You inherit the crown and you live happily ever after. It didn’t take a genius to know that was what would happen. Well, he had the money to spend. He sighed and walked into the building. The ‘shop’ had a high ceiling and dust coated the floors. The place was very poorly-lit, the only light in the building coming from a few lamps hung from the walls. Speaking of the walls, they were a dark mauve. They were ordained with intricate-looking masks, of every color and shape. 

“SSSit down, gentlemen.” The lean man ushered them to a dusty and old looking circular brown table. As the man turned to them, he saw half of the man’s face appeared to be covered with scales. 

“Welcome, you’re in my world now, not your world. I’ve got friendss on the other sside.” The man’s voice was slippery and he was drawing out his s’s. Roman faked a smile and nodded. He didn’t want to be rude but this was creeping him out. 

“Sit down at my table, Put your minds at ease, if you relax it will enable me to do anything I please.” The man’s long tailcoat swished behind him as he turned and smirked. 

“I can read your future, I can change it ‘round some, too” Roman’s disgust soon turned to awe.

“Really?”

“Really, yes.” He smirked and grabbed a black top hat from one of the hooks on the wall. 

“I'll look deep into your heart and soul,” he looked to Remus and nudged him. “You do have a soul, don’t you, Remus?” Remus sat back in his chair and raised an eyebrow. 

“How do you know my name?” 

The man, who he assumed to be Dr.Janus, turned over his shoulder. His light brown eye almost seemed to glow yellow as sunlight caught it. 

“I have my wayss…” He glanced over at his brother and his brother was wiggling in his seat, Roman looked as if he was about to watch a magic show. Dr.Janus pulled a deck of cards out of his sleeve and placed them on the table. He pulled out some other things, a ragdoll and a pendant.

“I’ve got voodoo, I’ve got hoodoo, I’ve got things I ain’t even tried,” He ran a gloved finger over the designs that were etched into the wood pendant. 

“And I’ve got friends on the other side.” Roman looked worried. 

“Hey, Remus, maybe we should go, we have that um, royal thing we have to attend. Remus caught his arm and pulled him down back into the chair. 

“C’mon, brother, right when things get interesting you wanna scatter?” This act had piqued Remus’ interest. “You always tell me to be brave, why not take some of your own medicine?” Roman looked to his brother and sighed. Dr.Janus swallowed and began shuffling the cards. 

“The cards, the cards, the cards will tell, the past, the present and the future as well.” He laid down three cards to demonstrate. 

“Thesse are Tarot cards, cards that have a deep connection with the other side” Remus thought he was seeing things as a red light flickered in the ‘eyes’ of one of the large masks on the back wall. “The cards, the cards, just take three. Take a look into your future with me” He fanned out the cards face-down and displayed them in front of them. Remus eagerly grabbed three cards and Roman tentatively followed suit after. Dr.Janus motioned for the boys to flip the cards over, grinning.  Roman flipped the first one over, first. It read ‘the sun’ and had a very detailed gold inking of the sun in the center. 

“You, young man, are from across the sea,” Dr.Janus began. “You come from two longs lines of royalty.” Roman flipped the other card over. It read ‘the hermit’; with another gold design on its ‘face’. “Your lifestyle’s high,” Dr.Janus turned the card upside down. “But your funds are low. You’ve got to marry a little sonny who’s daddy’s got dough” Roman raised an eyebrow and Remus laughed.

“Really? Ol’ Mommsies and Popsicle cut you off?” Remus laughed and clutched his stomach. Roman elbowed his brother. 

“I understand. You just wanna enjoy life, be free. Hop from place to place. But freedom takes green.” Dr.Janus rubbed his fingers. “It’s the green, it’s the green, it’s the green you need.” Dr.Janus flipped over the next card. “And in your future it’s the green that I see” The card read ‘ten of pentacles’ on the top of it and a gleam flashed in Roman’s eye as he grinned. Dr.Janus turned to Remus. 

“On you, young man, I don’t want to waste much time, you’ve been pushed around all your life,” Remus scowled and Dr.Janus flipped over the first card. The card read ‘justice’ on the top and was upside down. “You’ve been pushed around by your mother and your father and your brother,” Remus knitted his brows. “And even if you were the best you can be, you’d still be pushed around” Dr.Janus turned over the next card and it read ‘the fool’, also upside down. Remus glared at Dr.Janus and Roman held Remus back from lunging at Dr.Janus. Dr.Janus, however, was unmoved. 

“But in your future, the you I see,” He turned over the final card. “Is the man you’ve always wanted to be” This card read ‘chariot’ and was upright. 

Dr.Janus took off his gold gloves to reveal scaly hands. He extended a hand out to each of them. 

“Shake my hand, c’mon boys, won’t you shake a poor sinner’s hand?” 

Remus eagerly shook his hand quickly and Roman hesitated before giving a strong shake of Dr.Janus’s hand. 

“Yessss,” The man hissed and his right eye glowed yellow. Smoke filled the room. 

“Are you ready? Are you ready?” There was a strong beating noise, almost sounding like footsteps or a heartbeat. Roman felt his forearms tighten and he looked down as two golden pythons twisted themselves around his arms, pinning him to the chair. Weird shadows danced across the walls and Remus thought he could almost hear other voices. 

“Transformation central,” Dr.Janus hissed as he held up the wooden pendant.”Transformation central,” He walked over to Roman, unfazed by what was occurring around them. His scales on his face and hands glowed yellow in the shift of lighting and the smoke.

“Transformafication central, can you feel it?” Roman yelped as something pricked his finger. Smoke filled the room up to their heads and the boys’ vision was obscured. 

“You’re changing, you’re changing, you’re changing, all right,” The man’s yellow eye and scales were the only things visible to the thick fog encompassing them. The beating grew steadily louder as Remus felt a pendant slip around his neck.

“I hope you’re satisfied. But if you ain’t, don’t blame me,” His eye and scales glowed bright yellow, almost blinding them.  “you can blame my friends on the other side” And as Dr.Janus uttered that last word, the beating stopped and everything became encompassed in darkness. They could still see the aftershine of the man’s eye and scales long after it faded out. 

(~~~~)

Logan hovered by the snack table, not wanting to get dragged onto the dance floor and be made a fool of. Patton hurried over to him, in a baby blue dress. 

“Isn’t this just amazing? And rumor is Prince Roman’s supposed to get here soon! Imagine us! Meeting a real prince!” Patton’s golden curly hair flew up as he jumped in excitement. Logan smiled and toasted a glass. “By the way I love your prince costume You see, Larry and his wife are a horse over there, lovely costume. And your coworker, Daisy is dressed as a- I’m not quite sure. Anyway, I’m going to go see if the prince is here yet!”

“Knock yourself out, Pat” Logan forced a smile and watched as Patton hurried out to the dance floor. 

(~~~~) 

Remus awoke groggily. He sat up slowly and looked down. 

“Wha-” He sat up and looked at his hands. They didn’t look like his. These weren’t his clothes, either. No- he couldn’t- He rolled up his sleeve and his suspicions were confirmed. His brother had a scar on his bicep, from when they got in a swordfight as kids. 

“Who did this?” He yelled. 

“I see you’re up,” Dr.Janus hissed from another room. 

“What did you do to me?” He shakily stood up and gripped the side of the chair. He felt like he was walking in too-big shoes. Dr.Janus walked out of his office and stood beside Remus.

“Now, what you’re going to do is you’re going to go to the party tonight. There’s a boy, Patton Hudson. His father is the richest person in New Orleans. If you’re able to woo him, you’ll be rolling in the dough. You’ll be more famous than even your brother. Doesn’t sound spectacular?” Remus nodded and Dr.Janus placed two firm hands on Remus’ shoulders.

“I can do that,” Remus nodded, now sure of what he had to do. 

“Good boy. One thing, however.” Dr.Janus placed his hands on the necklace and lifted it up. Remus shuddered as he looked down at his hands again. Callused and worn, unlike his brother’s smooth ones. 

“Don’t take this necklace off or the illusion will fail. Alright?” He slipped the necklace back around Remus’ neck and he nodded. He smirked and ran a hand through his brother’s soft, brown hair. 

“Let’s do this.” 

(~~~~) 

Logan sighed as he rested his hands on the balcony railing. He watched as a glowing prince made his way down the stairs to the partygoers. Of course, once he did, Patton was the first to greet him. Logan sighed. He didn’t get the obsession people had with this prince. 

“I know. I look absolutely hideous in that outfit.” Logan jumped back as he looked to his left where the voice came from. 

“Who said that??” he looked around worriedly. All he saw was a frog sitting on the balcony railing. 

“Over here, monsieur.” Logan looked at the frog. 

“I need to sit down. I think there was something in that drink. There is NO WAY a frog is talking to me” Logan gripped the railing as he appeared to turn a bit pale. 

“Well think again. It is I, Prince Roman” The frog hopped closer to Logan. 

“No- the great Prince Roman is out there dancing with Patton Hudson.” 

“Pfft! That is not I! That must be someone else.” Logan scoffed. 

“Well then who is it?” 

“I’m not sure. I should have never talked to that man. Now I am a slimy frog while someone is using my body. And they say fairy tales aren’t real-” Logan turned to Roman. 

“Wait what man?” He raised an eyebrow. 

“It was Dr.- something. He had a black hat and yellow gloves-” Logan’s eyes widened. 

“Don’t tell me you’ve been messing with Dr.Janus. Nobody messes with the snake man- everyone knows that.” Dr.Janus had dark magic. You didn’t mess with him. Of course Logan had heard the rumors of strange and unworldly things happening to people that talked to him. 

“Well I just got here 2 days ago and I guess I must have missed that on the brochure.” Roman snapped and  Logan sighed. 

“I feel bad for you, but what can I do about that?” Roman looked down and Logan raised an eyebrow. 

“... you could kiss me. I know it sounds insane, but if this is anything like that children’s story, I need to be kissed to be turned human.” Logan jumped back. 

“You mean that fairytale, the Princess and the Frog? Those are fiction books for children!” 

“Well then do you have a book detailing what to do if you get miraculously turned into a frog by any chance?” Logan sighed. 

“Either way, I’m not kissing a frog. No way Even if you weren’t a frog I wouldn’t kiss you. I just met you.” Roman let out a scoff. 

“I am not that ugly!” 

“I never said you were ugly.” Logan said flaty. 

“So you think I’m cute?” Roman wiggled his eyebrows and Logan felt a heat rise to his cheeks. 

“No-NO- I never said you were cute either-” 

“But you think it,” Roman smirked. 

“You are really arrogant, you know that?” Roman blinked. “And stupid, too. It means self-centered.” Roman mouthed an ‘oh’. 

“I am not arrogant! I am gorgeous!”

“Well if not that then you sure are stupid. I’m not the one that got myself turned into a frog.”

“Speaking of that-” Roman cleared his throat. 

“No, for the last time I am not kissing you.” 

@subtlereferencetomyinterests

[shedoesthings]

I Need To Know - Part Six

Billy Hargrove x Reader

Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four Part Five

(Imagine the car window not being smashed for this part!)

Billy’s words seem to grate on me for the rest of the day. He was so incredibly cocky, acting as if he knew anything and everything about me. He knew nothing. He met me yesterday! How could he have a clue about anything?

‘Driving miss daisy?’

What was that? He didn’t have a clue how I felt about my life, he didn’t know what I wanted, what I needed, my plans for the future. Not to mention his demeanor, his constant winking, the attitude of a self-assured asshole with his head too far up his own ass to consider anyone else around him. And that damn smirk, that stupid damn smirk…

“Y/N…” Harrington sings as he practically skips down the hall towards me. I turn and laugh as others stare and laugh along.

“What can I help you with Harrington?” I laugh, closing my locker and leaning against it as he stops in front of me.

“Oh, I know you can help me because I have a pocket full of quarters and some intense feeling inside me which says I neeeeeed to play dig dug” he laughs. Steve had a strange obsession with dig dug whenever we went to the arcade. He was never any good, in fact he was crap. He could never get close to being on the leader board, but damn he did try.

“Well I think your craving can be quenched. Say six?”

“Perfect! Couldn’t think of anything better!” he smiles, picking up my bag from my feet and swinging it round his shoulder along with his own. He was still in grovelling mode, he knew there was no need, after a trip to the arcade we were always back to normal, but he decided to carry on anyway, and I did nothing to stop him. We walk towards the doors, still laughing together. He opens the door for me, holding it as I get through.

“Steve!” a voice shouts as it closes behind us. I turn to see Nancy stood in the hallway watching us walk away.

“Hey, Nancy’s calling you” I say, grabbing Steve’s arm lightly to make him stop.

“I know. I heard her”

“Have you not spoken to her yet?”

“No, I have” he says, looking at the ground around his feet. “She pulled me out of gym right when your new boyfriend ripped the ball out of my hands”

“New boy…” I begin to question before I realize who he’s talking about. “He is not my boyfriend” I say, shoving Steve’s arm as he laughs and begins to walk away from the school, probably to make sure Nancy doesn’t reach us.

“Whatever you say Y/N” he jokes.

“Stop changing the subject anyway!”

“I basically reminded her of everything she said last night, since she was apparently too drunk to remember” he says as we reach his car. He unlocks it, swinging both our bags in the back before we both climb in.

We talk the whole way home about what happened. How Nancy forgot the whole thing and pulled Steve out of basketball to ask why he hadn’t picked her up this morning. Steve told me how he asked her if she truly loved him, and she said yes, but she couldn’t actually say the words. And I could see the heartbreak behind Steve’s eyes, and the smile of him trying to be strong. He tried to brush it off, as he always did in these situations, but I knew him, and I knew how he was really feeling.

“Are you sure your okay?” I ask as he pulls up outside my house. “We don’t have to go to the arcade tonight, we can do a movie and ice cream night?” I suggest, since that was what he did for me when I was heartbroken that Grayson hadn’t asked me to the winter formal in middle school, since then it also became one of our regular solutions to suffering.

“Nah” he laughs. “I think the arcades a good solution for this one. Plus, I gotta get rid of these quarters somehow” he says with a smile. I smile back at him, I only wanted what was best for him, so if that was what he wanted, that would be it. “Six?”

“Six” I smile, closing the car door and waving as he drives off.

---

Six o’clock soon came around and I was running late. I had tried to call Steve’s house, hoping to catch him before he left, tell him I would be about ten minutes late since I had lost track of time doing some homework. But his mom picked up, telling me he had already left but was sure he wouldn’t be mad.

When I finally got to the arcade, I was twenty minutes late, I practically ran since I didn’t live too far away. When I got there, I was ready to do some grovelling of my own, tell him I had tried to ring, tell him about the homework and wait for the onslaught of jokes to come of me being a nerd. But I was wrong. His car wasn’t in the car park. He couldn’t have left already?

I rush into the arcade, hoping he was there somehow. That’s when I spot Mike, Nancy’s little brother with all of his friends. They look up from the game their playing, some roll playing one about slaughtering a dragon, before waving. Dustin was the one currently playing, but he still looks up and waves, clearly making him loose the game.

“Shit!” he shouts, kicking the machine. “Piece of shit!” I laugh and roll my eyes at them. I had never expected to know this group of kinds, but like I said before, when I became friends with Jonathan last year, things took a strange turn of events, now I shared more secrets with these kids then most of my high school friends.

Its Dustin who I need to talk to. Ever since last year the pair have become friends, but not in a weird way, move like a sibling relationship, I know Steve see’s him as a little brother now, so by default, I kind of took an older sister roll, to all of them really.

“Henderson” I smile as I walk towards the party.

“Y/N!” he cheers, the others cheering with him “Long time no see girl” he says, attempting a smirk before showing his teeth and doing some awkward growl thing. I give him a funny look before I burst out laughing.

“Nice teeth man, but please never do that again” I laugh.

“Told you it wouldn’t work” Lucas laughs, shoving Dustin’s arm lightly.

“I’m telling you, the ladies can’t resist these peals” he says before doing the growl again.

“What’s up Y/N?” Lucas asks after a second of glaring at Dustin.

“Any of you guys seen Steve? Has he been in here at all?”

“Haven’t seen him since the other day” Dustin replies.

“Not see his car outside? Nothing?”

“Nope. Sorry Y/N” Lucas replies. I see Mike pull more quarters out of his pocket and look around to see what games are free, suggesting my time here is short lived.

“No worries, cheers for the help guys. Enjoy!” I smile.

“Wait, wait!” Dustin splutters. “Are you sure you don’t want to hang with us for a while?”

“Dustin” Mike says quietly, clearly impatient.

“No, don’t worry about it guys. I’m sure I’ll catch you later. Stay safe!” I smile again as I turn on my heels and walk towards the door.

---

I’m check my watch again. Ten past seven. Where the hell is he? He didn’t call before I left, there’s been no sign of him here, no sign of him before I got here. Nothing. Where the hell is he.

I can feel my impatience grow. I didn’t feel annoyed, I could just feel some slight irritation since I had been waiting here so long.

I pull out the pack of cigarettes from my jacket pocket and light one up. At least if I was smoking, I wouldn’t look so weird for standing outside the arcade for so long. Then, the rev of an engine as it pulls into the car park.

Of course. Of all the places in Hawkins, of all the places in the world, of course it had to be him, at this time as well.

“Be back out here in an hour or…”

“I know, I know. Or I’m skating home” says a girls voice. I see a red headed girl climb out of the blue Camaro.

“Hey! Watch the attitude!” his voice shouts as she slams the door and rushes past me into the arcade. I hope for a second he hasn’t seen me, that he just drives away. My irritation was already high, I didn’t want to have it raised anymore by him. But my hope disintegrates as the engine turns off and a car door opens. He gets out and walks closer, leaning against the passenger side door so he is facing me.

“Can I help you Hargrove?” I say blankly as I blow smoke out of my nose.

“It’s funny. For someone who was so sure that we’d only speak once we sure seem to be running into each other a lot.”

“You do have a bad habit of appearing right when you’re not wanted”

“See, I think I seem to appear when you need me most” he smirks, which makes me scoff.

“When have I ever ‘needed you’”

“Well, you needed my cigarettes last night. You needed my car this morning for a ride. I’m guessing they’re my cigarettes your smoking now.” He laughs. “And I’m also guessing your needing something to do now, or do you just plan of standing outside the arcade for the rest of the night like a weirdo.” Maybe he had a point… No. I didn’t need him, he just happened to be convenient recently.

“I’m waiting for Steve”

“Again?” he laughs, but there’s a hint of pity in this laugh. And the pity had a point. This had happened a lot these past few days, me waiting around miserably for someone who wasn’t turning up. “Come on” he says, patting the passenger car door before walking round to the driver’s side.

“Come on where?” I didn’t want to be curious, but I couldn’t deny a part of me was. What else was I going to do with my night? Wait around here for Steve who probably won’t show, just to go home and spend the weekend alone, waiting to see him on Monday for whatever apology he would surely give? Or maybe… be a little impulsive? No. I didn’t know him. I met him yesterday, how could I go off somewhere again with him, especially at night…

“Just on a ride?”

“Where?”

“I thought I was the one who asks too many questions” he laughs, smirking again. “I’m not gonna force you Y/N, the choice is yours. If you want to wait around here all night in the cold that’s up to you, or you can come for a drive, and maybe, actually have a bit of fun for once” he says with a smile, but his voice doesn’t sound dirty like it usually does, there’s an actual hint of friendliness about it.

“You’re not gonna murder me?” I ask, partly to be funny, partly out of worry.

“No” he smirks. “The second you want to go home, we’ll turn around and I’ll drop you off. Deal?” he says with a wink, licking his lips. I take a second to look at him. His leather jacket and red shirt underneath unbuttoned just enough to show a little muscle. His eyes staring up as me, the streetlight adding a little glint in them. A rush of cold air blows and pushes me into making a decision as I step towards the car.

“Deal”

Requested Tags x 

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[solecize]

.  .  .  𝑩𝑨𝑳𝑨𝑵𝑪𝑬 𝑶𝑭 𝑼𝑺  (PT20&FINAL) |  

— — jung jaehyun is the beloved captain of your university’s basketball team. you’re a freshman in the school ballet company and somehow get roped into giving him dance lessons. the issue is that your brother is lee taeyong aka jaehyun’s on-court rival, who broke his little sister’s heart. that’s where you, revenge, and a little bet come into play.

MAY 29TH. 2:29 PM KST.

the university’s contemporary ballet company was, in fact, loaded. with an inception dating back to the school’s own founding, they were fated for greatness from the start. they received a surprising amount of funding for an arts-related venture, mostly attributed to the fact that the dancers within the company simply deserved it for their work. their achievements ranged from international competition, two yearly productions, and more. therefore, even after a small presentation like the spring showcase, the company was more than willing to spend money on an expensive celebration party in the form of lunch at a high end restaurant. 

that’s why it was nothing but hilarious when the plan when up in flames—literally.

sooyoung was technically the first person who thought something was starting to smell like it was burning, but no one paid too much attention to it, as the team was being seated into their reserved table. however, coach jung didn’t take it seriously until her favourite male dancer on the team, bambam, pointed it out just a minute or two after. it didn’t take long for the fire alarm to be set off, forcing everyone in the fancy eatery to evacuate the area.

some of your fellow dancers were far too obnoxious when exiting the building, going to slow or literally dashing out the door. you were taken aback by the situation, unsure of what was exactly happening. thankfully, the may weather treated you all nicely, allowing evacuation to be under sunlight.

“but, we didn’t even get to order!” someone cried out, despite the fact that the entire company was left standing outside with the other patrons, as the firetrucks started to swarm in. if you could, you would’ve shoved a complimentary breadstick into her mouth.

you watched people began to enter the restaurant, arms linked with an aggravated sooyoung. it was curious that there didn’t seem to be any visible fire, at least nothing too big. you figured it was probably a small fire in the kitchen. coach jung sighed and clapped her hands three times, the same thing she used every time she wanted to get dancers’ attention.

“well, today’s celebration party has been ruined.” the older woman pursed her lips, clearly irritated by the outcome, as was everyone else. “this shall be postponed. everyone is free to go.”

the round of disappointing reactions surfaced, but she tsked them away. the others began to group amongst themselves, probably discussing alternate plans to their ruined lunch out. you sighed and took a look around, uncertain of what to do next.

beside you, sooyoung was busy typing away at her phone. “well, i was going to leave in like ten minutes for the game, anyway.” she shrugged. “y/n, i’m heading to there now. um, are you coming?”

she asked the last part tentatively and you knew why. however, you had to deal with your parents first, as you texted them about the sudden evacuation. why? no fucking clue because you were definitely regretting it now, seeing their texts flooding in about how you should come and see the game.

“my parents are bugging me about it,” you grumbled. “they’re talking about how i should come and support my brother.” the imitation of your mother’s voice was poor, but sooyoung still laughed. it wasn’t like you didn’t want to support taeyong, but you’d seen him play basketball a million times and he even told you that he doesn’t expect you there, at least not with jaehyun around. 

“why don’t you?” she cocked an eyebrow.

you couldn’t believe that sooyoung just asked you that. “what?”

sooyoung blinked innocently, as if not seeing any sort of issue with such a proposal. she was good at that, you’d have to admit, and would sometimes wonder why she went into dance instead of acting. 

“i’m serious! he’s your brother, you need to watch him play during his last national competition before he graduates,” she said, giving you a pointed look.

you didn’t really consider the fact that this was taeyong’s last year as apart of his basketball team. it was sad in a way, since you’d spent almost all your life watching your big brother shoot some orange balls into a net. while the two of you did not get along whatsoever for most of your lives, it’s been in recent years that you’ve grown close and you slowly started to become his number one supporter. even if you had some issues with his opponent, you wanted to be there for him.

sooyoung essentially saw right through your thought process and smiled. “well, that’s settled. let’s go—” as she started to pull you away, you realized that she did her signature sooyoung persuasion thing, “—and if it really bothers you that much, you can leave during the last quarter.”

there was always a different feeling during the finals. the air was heavier, as if weighing down on everyone’s shoulders. before each game, there would always be a few guys goofing around in the locker room or blasting music. today, there was none of that. there was only anxiety running through veins and the sweet taste of victory just so close, yet so far.

“it’s been harsh since the playoffs started, but we still ran with it and made it this far.”

all members of the basketball team sat in front of jaehyun, who was concluding his usual speech and standing beside their coach. they’d never seen their captain so tired and hungry for victory, fueled by his own personal conflicts. the fire had been there for the past few games and while most of the members weren’t sure why, a select three did. 

doyoung, lucas, and sicheng sat on the front bench, along with their new starting small forward, kim jungwoo. they were the most worried out of everyone on the team, since all eyes were on them after johnny’s unfortunate injury. the usual centre was missing for whatever reason, despite the fact that anyone injured would normally make an appearance regardless to show their support, especially for a game like this.

“everyone, we are facing the panthers in the finals for the fifth year in a row. what is the answer to their traditionally rough style?” there was silence, only the coach’s eyes surveying his boys with expectation.  

when no one answered, doyoung slowly raised his hand. “no mercy?”

“play rougher?”

“play dirty?”

coach brought a palm to his forehead. “no, you buffoons!” he felt out a growl of annoyance. “the answer is simplicity. no matter how complicated their tactics become or how vicious their players get, our victory is going to be effortless. that means our basketball is going to be effortless.”

jaehyun looked at his father with confusion, trying to process what he was getting at. the panthers were known for playing ruthlessly, while the serpents adapted to whatever team they were playing, despite having a distinctly strong defense. the last time the boys played the panthers, the game was on a different level of run and gun, bloodthirsty plays. jaehyun realized where they went wrong.

“and you, jaehyun,” coach suddenly turned towards him. “i don’t know what’s gotten into you, but this post season has been murderous on your end.” this made many of the members of the team laugh, including jaehyun himself, but the coach didn’t budge. “i mean it, you’ve been in foul trouble almost every game!”

it was true, he’d essentially set a new record for foul counts. jaehyun became extra aggressive on the court, even mouthing off to the referees. it was like something came over him.

“it’s going to be especially hard for you to play straightforward on the court,” coach said, “but i believe it’s possible for you. there just needs to be a balance. it’s between playing as it is and playing the way you want. stick to the basics, go back to the beginning, but don’t lose your drive.”

the words hit jaehyun harder than they were meant to.

the only reason why you were glad that you came was because there was no one else who would have held your father back when he saw that someone accidentally elbowed taeyong, causing his nose to bleed. the man was about to stomp down the bleachers and cuss out everyone in sight. alright, perhaps it wasn’t the only reason.

taeyong played like his life depended on it. the fervor in his eyes ablaze was one that you rarely saw in him. he was a naturally gifted player and had been since he started playing, so more often, you saw pride and ease in the way he moved. today, he was challenged.

meanwhile, lucas played with a smile on his face. that was just him, the guy who set his foot on the court simply because he loved the sport. you remembered just how overjoyed he was when he was the only sophomore to be put on the starting lineup, albeit at the expense of an injured taeil, who was the original holder of the position. the fervor found in his eyes was because basketball was apart of him.

“are you kidding me?” jaehyun’s voice boomed, as he received yet another foul. 

you’d never seen jaehyun play before. sure, you’ve been to basketball games before for lucas during the season, but you’d never truly paid attention to jaehyun and focused on him. it was surprising because as you watched him now, you wondered how you could’ve possibly done so when he was so hard to miss. his style of play begged for attention. it was a cross of complexity and true fundamentals that made his opponents go, “wow, i can’t believe i fell for something like that.”

the score was tensely close. with eight minutes left on the clock during this last quarter, the score stood at a troubling 104-106. the panthers  were barely in the lead, which seemed to surprise a lot people because of the sidelined center, johnny. the devil himself appeared midway through the halftime performance by the cheerleading teams, resorting to supporting his teammates on the bench.

“let’s go, taeyong!” your mother’s shrill voice couldn’t overcome the other viewers around her.

you chose to not cheer for anyone—you knew better than to cheer for the panthers in the serpents’ home stadium and better than to cheer for anyone other than your brother in front of your parents. in fact, you’d been seated throughout the whole game. almost everyone around you was on their feet. sometimes you would politely clap after a particularly good play or when sooyoung was out during halftime with the cheerleaders. 

yet, jaehyun’s eyes still managed to find yours among the hundreds in the crowd. 

he was bent over, trying to catch his breath. he looked up at the bright lights that brightened the court, then across the crowd who’d been cheering for him for what seemed like years on end. his eyes scanned quickly. wait. he thought he saw something. jaehyun’s looked back at the last section, squinting closer.

your heart stopped. there was no doubt about it, as you glanced around you just in case. jaehyun was looking straight at you. the whistle blew and the ball was suddenly back in someone’s hands, causing him to have no choice but to tear his eyes away from you and bring his attention back to the game he was playing.

the sudden connection was unsettling. your breath became uneven. you didn’t even notice it, but you unconsciously brought yourself to your feet and started sliding your way out of your row. something that sounded like your parents’ objections attempted to bring you back to reality, but you ignored them. you needed to get out of there.

sooyoung stopped in the middle of her routine when she saw your figure turn to go up and leave the stands. johnny almost tried getting up. their plan was going to fail.

they weren’t the only ones that noticed your attempted escape because when jaehyun turned to look at you in the crowd again, you were completely gone. he felt a rush on panic in his bones and saw that you were trying to make your way out of there. the ball was in his hands; he was supposed to throw it in.

“FIND THE BALANCE, JAEHYUN!” bellowed the coach from the sidelines. 

he was going to do exactly that.

jaehyun dropped the ball and made a beeline for the bleachers. everyone around him barked questions and exclamations of confusion. the crowd murmured, watching the seprents’ star player suddenly abandon the game. was it nerves? was it because they were going to lose? the coach especially cursed and yelled questions, before calling a time out. 

he watched his son stride right past him. “jaehyun, we are about to win this game, WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU’RE GOING? THIS IS YOUR GAME!” 

that was right, it was his game. you turned around, at the exit at this point, because you wondered what the sudden commotion was. jaehyun was running up the steps, sprinting to catch up and make his way right towards you. your entire body was frozen and you weren’t sure what was happening.

behind all of you, the whistle was blown into again and it seemed like the game begun again. jaehyun slowed down, stopping in front of you. eyes were on the two of you, standing still at the top of the bleachers.

“what are you doing? you must be crazy, you have a game a play out there—” you began, but he cut you off.

“let’s go back to the beginning.”

words could barely leave your lips with all the emotions running in your head. “w-what?”

“can we try this again? the right way?” jaehyun gently grabbed your hand. he was sweaty, panting, and bordering on desperate to win you back. you could see it in his eyes and the energy between the two of your palms. “i know you feel betrayed. like, everything must seem like a lie to you after the bet, right? i want you to meet the real me this time.”

“just like that? like a reset button?” you asked.

“i wanted to do this after the game, but when i was watching you leave,” jaehyun lowered his head, “i knew i needed to do this now.”

the final buzzer went off and roars emerged from every corner of the room. the floor was practically shaking, as the crowd leapt to their feet. people were running down to meet the winning team, as music went off over the speakers. you and jaehyun looked over—the panthers won their first national championship in three years. taeyong was lifted to sit on top of the crowd’s shoulders, holding the trophy high and with pure bliss. the score was seperated by three points.  with johnny and jaehyun off the court, the serpents did the best they could.

“so, what now?” he asked, turning back to you. there didn’t seem to be a hint of regret in his eyes when all he was looking at was you.

you brought your lips to his.

“okay. this time will be different. i don’t know how this is going to end, but i’m glad we’re going to begin this the right way.” you told him and you meant it. it was like jumping into nothing but a bright light that blinded everything before you. however, something told you that it was going to be worth it.

FIN.

tag list: @i-hate-these-people​ @glitterystanz​ @jkuwus​ @jenojae  @csillagosegnelkul​ @imtaehyungry​ @theloouiisee​ @ikonictaelien​ @knisterlicht​ @seungkwanismyaesthetic​ @jaemingold​ @xysabella​ @sua246​ @ireallyjustneedcoffee​ @p-platonica​ @just-a-dream-40​0 @fuckthatfeeling​   @sehunights​ 

EXTRA.

if it was possible, the crowd cheered just as loud when jaehyun and y/n kissed on top of the bleachers. all attention was on them and a round of applause erupted. sicheng, doyoung, lucas, johnny, and sooyoung were especially delighted at the sight. on the other side of the court, taeyong watched the happy pair and shook his head, smiling. 

“aw, i guess our balloons and flowers in the back are going to waste,” sicheng pouted. the five of them, along with jaehyun, spent at least an hour decorating because they thought jaehyun was going surprise and talk it out with y/n there.

sooyoung grinned. “at least we got her to come to the game.

lucas folded his arms across his chest, looking at his friends. “wait, yeah. hey, how did we get y/n to leave her party with the ballet people?”

everyone looked at johnny.

the center sighed and began to relay the story of how exactly he earned sooyoung and lucas’ forgiveness. “so, what, i set a little something on fire? not a big deal.” after johhnny explained how he was the one that got the restaurant to be evacuated, everyone looked at him in complete shocked. 

“did you get in trouble for it?” doyoung’s eyes were wide.

johnny snorted. “no. my family owns that restaurant.” he looked back up to jaehyun and y/n, smiling softly. “the damages were only worth two thousand dollars, anyway.” it was a number that cursed them all.

[hunnywrites]

Arcade Dreams: Chapter One

Summary: There’s a new girl working at the Palace Arcade and Hawkins’ Family Video. Billy can’t stand her, and the feeling is mutual. No matter what everyone else seems to think.

Pairing: Billy Hargrove/OFC

A/N: When being introduced to the Midnight overlaps with the third season of Stranger Things being released, you write a Billy Hargrove fic. He’s trying his best to become a soft boy, but instead you all get this mess of a slow burn fic. 

Christmas break was surprisingly more lively in Hawkins than Teddi had anticipated. The Hawkins Family Video store and the Palace Arcade were always pretty popular during weekends, sure, but in the few days since school had let out she had found herself bouncing back and forth between the two shops because she and Keith were seriously understaffed. She didn’t mind it. Everyone in town was surprisingly nice, and a lot of the kids that stopped into the arcade were pretty entertaining. There was one group she had taken a liking to. Max Mayfield and her gang always managed to make a shift more exciting, and she loved helping them give Keith grief. 

She had popped into the arcade about twenty minutes ago and found them spread out among the games. Max seemed to be missing, but there was a new girl that had tagged along the last few nights. Apparently Chief Hopper had a daughter she hadn’t known about. Not that that surprised her. As of that week she had only been in Hawkins for two months. Her family had moved there from upstate New York after her dad had been laid off. Now they lived in a really crappy place that seemed like it was in the middle of nowhere even for Indiana. It was why she had taken the video store/arcade job to begin with. There was no way her parents would be able to pay for college now. So now she was desperate for as many shifts as she could get from Keith on top of looking for a second job. 

Since the arcade seemed to be relatively peaceful for a Friday night, she was focused on the video store now. Keith was forcing her to play that god awful animated Rudolph movie on repeat to get customers into the Christmas spirit. If she had to listen to that elf talk about how he wanted to be a dentist one more time, she might actually lose it. She was bouncing back and forth between the register, restocking and organizing shelves and rewinding tapes people had returned. She was so busy that she had managed to drown out those awful claymation characters and the sound of a roaring engine outside. She threw a “Welcome to Hawkins’ Video!” over her shoulder when she heard the bell on the door jingle as it opened. 

She was tidying up the holiday display when someone’s shadow loomed over her. “You work here?” a gruff voice asked. Teddi looked up, eyebrows together in confusion as she tried to imagine what this guy could possibly be so huffy about. 

“Sure do,” she said as she stood. She was immediately met with the smell of cologne, cigarette smoke and spearmint. “What can I help you with?” 

Teddi vaguely recognized him after a few moments. They went to the same school. She didn’t entirely remember his name, but she knew he was kind of a dick. Very, very cute, but kind of a dick. “I’m stuck watching my lame ass step-sister while she’s grounded. Her mom told me to rent some videos to keep her occupied over the weekend.” he said rolling his eyes. 

“Oh! Well, that’s actually pretty sweet of you. I mean I’m an only child so my mom always just threw me in front of a TV while I was growing up…” she trailed off. It was obvious he didn’t care. Teddi cleared her throat. “Sorry. Um, so what’s she into?”

He raised an eyebrow, looking at Teddi like she had grown a second head. “How the fuck should I know?” 

“Isn’t she your sister?”

“Step sister.” he corrected shortly.

“Right…” Teddi pursed her lips while she thought of a suggestion. Cute but dickly blonde boy shifted impatiently. “Chick flick?” she asked. He made a face. 

“Jesus, no. She’s not into all that girly shit.” he paused for a moment. “I don’t know, she was Michael Myers for Halloween. You got anything like that?”

Teddi perked up. “Oh, totally! Here, follow me,” she waved at him and took off towards the horror section. She glanced over her shoulder quickly at him. “...You go to Hawkin’s High, right? You’re on the basketball team? I’m Teddi. I just moved here so you’ve probably haven’t seen me or anything…” she was rambling again. She always did that when things were quiet. She hated quiet. 

“You’re the weird girl that argued with the science teacher for like half an hour over crystals.” he said bluntly. Teddi let out a nervous laugh. She had to admit, it was a little embarrassing to remembered by cute but dickly for arguing that crystals did in fact have healing abilities, and no it did not have anything to do with the movie The Dark Crystal. 

“Yep...yep. That was me…” she was fairly certain she heard him let out a faint chuckle. “So uh, keeping in tone with the whole holiday horror she might like this one,” she plucked a copy of Black Christmas off the shelf and handed it to him. He gave it a quick look over and gave an approving nod. “And these are just some really good ones. You can’t pass them up.” she handed him Sleepaway Camp, Alien and Carrie. She hoped it would be broad enough range to keep his sister occupied and happy. 

He scanned each VHS quickly. “Right...thanks. Hopefully this’ll keep the little shit happy.” he muttered. 

“It’s no problem. If she likes them there’s plenty more where those came from.” she said leading him back to the front counter. While she was checking each of the movies out she was completely oblivious to the fact that cute but dickly was now aware that his focus was no longer on renting movies and that Teddi was a girl. A cute, but weird, girl that he had yet to put the moves on. 

“...I’m Billy, by the way. I forgot to introduce myself earlier.” he grinned, leaning against the counter and turning on a sudden charm he definitely hadn’t had when he first walked in. Teddi had bleached blonde hair that was cut into a bob that just barely reached her shoulders. Her lashes were so long and thick that he couldn’t tell whether they were real or fake. Freckles speckled her nose and she had a metal hoop in her right nostril. She was also wearing glittery lip gloss that managed to sparkle even under the fluorescent lighting of the video store. He barely got to get a good look of her “Hawkins’ Family Video” shirt that was about two sizes too small and black cut off shorts before he was caught. 

“Oh, it’s fine we were bus-...what are you doing?” she raised an eyebrow at him. 

Billy stood up straight, his grin fading. “...What do you mean?”

“You were just looking at me like I’m like a cheeseburger or something,” she snorted. Billy looked at her like she had grown another head yet again. “Does that actually work?” she asked, her nose scrunching just a little. 

Billy clenched his jaw, resting both of his hands on the counter. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?” he spat. It only made him more annoyed when Teddi let out a giggle. If it was one thing he hated, it was being laughed at. 

“Nothing. Forget it,” she slid the tapes towards him. “Ten bucks. They’re due back Monday.” she said with an amused smile. Billy only muttered, reaching into his back pocket and digging his wallet out. He tossed a ten down on the counter and snatched up the tapes. “Enjoy the movies!” she said sweetly. 

Billy rolled his eyes and nearly stomped back out to his car. He hated Hawkins. He hated how cold it was. He hated how festive everyone got around Christmas. He hated that he was stuck at home with Max all weekend, and he hated that Teddi had embarrassed him. Fuck Hawkins, he thought as he slid into his Camaro. 

“Took you long enough,” Max muttered, crossing her arms. Billy ignored her and tossed the tapes into her lap before throwing the car into reverse. Max silently studied each of the movies. “These look pretty good...you picked these out?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.

Billy fished his cigarettes from his jacket pocket and placed one between his lips. “The girl that worked there picked them out,” he mumbled before lighting it. “I told her you liked Halloween.” for some reason that excited Max. 

“Teddi?” she asked, turning to face her step-brother. 

Billy cast a sideways glance at her. “Yeah...you know her?”

“She works at the arcade too. She’s really cool.” Billy scoffed. What did Max know about cool? He supposed to a geek like Max and her friends that maybe Teddi seemed cool. He sure didn’t see it. 

“She’s weird.” he argued curtly. 

Max gave him a knowing look and smiled. “You asked her out didn’t you? She said no didn’t she?” she asked excitedly. Billy gripped the steering wheel tightly. 

He bit back his initial response. “She’s not my type.” he said simply. 

It was Max’s turn to scoff. “You don’t have a type. Girl is your type. She’s too smart for you anyways-”

“Max, do you ever shut the fuck up? It’s bad enough I have to spend the weekend with you. Do you really think I give a shit about what you have to say about some freak that works at the video store?” Max only rolled her eyes. Ever since the night Billy had come to find her at the Byers’ house things with Billy had been slightly better, but not great. Her step-brother was stubborn. And while she was sure she had put the fear of God in him that night, Max was sure there was nothing that would be able to match his attitude. 

Billy leaned forward and flipped the radio on to signal he was done with the conversation. He drummed his fingers against the wheel in sync with the beat and pretended Max was no longer there. But still, the fact that he had actually tried to find movies she’d like instead of grabbing whatever was closest let her know he didn’t completely hate her. If anything he was crabby because his ego was bruised from whatever happened between him and Teddi.

Max was positive Billy had tried to ask her out. Lucas and the guys all had a crush on her. She was into all the same stuff they were, and she was nicer than Steve. Max had found herself wishing a few times that Teddi could be her step-sister rather than having to stick around Billy. Or at the very least she wished that Billy wasn’t such a jerk and that Teddi would want to date him. Maybe make him chill out some. 

Max’s mom and Neil weren’t home when they pulled into the driveway. Usually on the weekends they went out and she and Billy wouldn’t see them much if they were home. Which wasn’t often. Both Billy and Max liked to avoid being home as often as possible. Max followed Billy inside and kicked off her snow-covered boots, hanging up her coat and rushing over to the TV. Billy tossed his leather jacket onto the back of the couch and headed for the kitchen. Max heard the pop of a beer can being opened. 

She decided to watch Black Christmas first. She popped the tape in, settling own on the floor to watch. She barely even noticed Billy standing awkwardly in the doorway. “...You want popcorn or something?” he finally asked. Max tried to mask her surprise, instead smiling and nodding. He disappeared into the kitchen once more, making sure to slam cabinet doors and the microwave as if he were being forced to cook up popcorn. 

Billy returned a few moments later, plopping down on the couch and setting the bowl on the table in front of him. Max moved from her place on the floor to the couch as he kicked off his boots and leaned back into the couch. He rolled his eyes as she gave him a happy smile, grabbing the popcorn bowl and settling into the couch herself. While he still wished he was out with some girl he could pick up at work, Billy supposed this wasn’t the worst way to spend the weekend.