#light elf jonathan byers

[skyfallart]

On the night of November 6th, 1983, twelve year old Jimmy Kern* heads back home from a night out with his friend. However… he never arrives. Now, Craig, Clyde, and Token must band together to find out what happened -- while getting entangled with supernatural forces... and a supernatural kid.

^Fan S1 Poster - S1 Redrawn Scenes

A/N: I don't what possessed me to write/draw this, but here it is. Since this an AU there has and will be changes. For now I just listened below the characters in the poster, and who their Stranger Things counter part is. I'm finishing up some scenes I redrawn, so hopefully I can get those up too (And introduce you to more people in the universe).

So, first up, we got the boys. We got...

° Craig Tucker - 12 - Dungeon Master/Thief - Middle Child - "Leader" of the group. Basically, I saw fan art of Creek being Mileven and I just had to try doing it on my own. Craig, just like in SP, is like the leader of his own group in this AU. I also made his D&D counterpart the same as TSoT, a thief instead of a paladin. But despite being a thief, he's still the heart of the group. Just like in Stranger Things, he's the one to find and allow Tweek to stay in his home. ° Token "Tolkien" Black || 12 || Ranger || Only Child || "Brawns over Brains" of the group. Still a bit of a rich kid in this AU, and lives with his two parents. He tends to butt heads with the others when Tweek comes into the story, feeling a bit left out and untrusting of the kid with superpowers; But eventually that all gets cleared up. In this AU, he's the one that goes to camp in S3, and has a long distance relationship with his GF, `Nicole, whom he met at camp. ° Clyde Donovan || 12 || Elf Cleric || Only Child || The "Voice of Reason" of the group. Lives with his single mother, Betsy, and their cat: Mr. Kitty (Stealing Cartman's cat here for this). I see him sharing a lot of traits with Dustin, but he's also a bit like Lucas too in this AU (He's more of the sporty one, and his GF, Bebe appears in S2 taking the place of Max). ° 011 - AKA: "Tweek" (Later: Tweek Marsh) - 12 - Mage - Superpowered Lab Rat Same kind of origin, stripped away from his mother and placed inside South Park Lab. After escaping he's found by the boys and ends up staying at Craig's house. He has the 011 tattoo on his wrist, but instead of being given the name "El", Craig gives him the name "Tweek" because of his fidgety moments (I see him being spazzy in this AU from the stress he felt from the lab, rather than the drug-induced coffee).

Then, we got the Kerns, which replaces the Byers. Seeing that Sharon has multiple last names in SP, I chose Kern 'cause it sounded better than the others.

° Jimmy Valmer Kern - 12 - Bard - Youngest Child - "Ride or Die" Comedy until he's very last breath. May or may not have punched Vecna in the face while in the upside down. I unfortunately have to make our poor boy Jimmy as Will. I promise he won't be as neglected once he returns like his ST counterpart. He's D&D character is a bard like in TSoT, and for now, I have no romance planned for him. Just good old family love.

° Sharon Kern - 40s - Single Mother - Will do anything for her children. I thought she was the perfect choice for Joyce after seeing the "Spooky Fish" episode. Sharon literally was burying bodies for her son Stan, and making sure he wouldn't end up in jail (For something he didn't do). I could definitely see this woman communicating with X-Mas lights to find her son. ° Older! Stanley Kern - 16 - Oldest Child - Excellent Photographer - Can actually talk to girls without vomiting. And yes, we're getting Blond Stan in this AU because I said so. I made him Jonathan in this AU after deciding who was going to be playing Nancy. Stan's kind of an outcast until he meets Wendy, who's trying to look for his lost friend, while he looks for his brother. Together, with their determination combined, they'll make anything work.

Other Characters. We've got...

° Older! Wendy Testaburger Tucker - 16 - Older Child - Total Badass in the second half of the 1st season. Typical sibling love-hate relationship w/Craig. After realizing her friend has gone missing under mysterious circumstances, typical "All-American" girl Wendy transforms into someone better, as she will do anything to find out what happened. She teams up with Stan... giving her boyfriend the wrong idea (Not spoiling who the BF is just yet). ° Randy Marsh - 40s - Town Sheriff - Has the hots for local single mother, Sharon (If it isn't obvious). Randy, just like Hopper, in this AU had an ex-wife and a daughter who passed (Sorry, Shelley). He lives a sad life of donuts and alcohol, until the search for Jimmy sparks something inside of him, and spirals his life into the supernatural forces caused by the lab. He eventually has to get Sharon involved to solve this crime. ° Dr. Alphonse Mephesto - 50s - Genetic Engineer/Crazed Local Scientist - "Papa" to a lot of children that ain't even his (I mean, he named his kids after numbers. Can we call CPS now?). I didn't know who else to pick, but for some reason Mephesto might actually be a good choice for Brenner. You'll learn more about him later on.

For now, that's all I got. I'll try to finish those screencaps soon! (And if anyone's interested, maybe I'll write a fanfic? Or a fan-comic?)

[fizzigigsimmer]

PLEASE I'm begging you tell us a little bit about how the photoshoot goes

“Harrington?” Billy stares at Jonathan in disbelief. He can’t have heard that right. It was disconcerting enough to find out that Steve was involved with the calendar at all - Jonathan is the only one that Billy has kept up with from high school, but he knows by adjacency that Byers still talks to others. Then again his roots were always deeper in Harrington’s world than Billy’s were, even when it made little sense. If Jonathan had swooped Billy’s ex, they certainly wouldn’t be in a position for Byers to ask him favors.

It’s been more than two decades, so on some level Billy understands why Jonathan hadn’t thought to mention that ‘hey, I’m putting together a holiday calendar for a charity campaign for three legged kittens rescued from fires. I’ve asked a few personal friends to model, but I could really use your star power’ meant that Billy was volunteering to spend an afternoon pretending to dom Steve Harrington in front of at least five of their old classmates. But considering how the non-relationship between he and Steve ended, he’d have thought to at least run the concept by himself if he were in Jonathan’s shoes, before letting that name roll off his tongue over coffee as if it were no big deal.

Then again, maybe Jonathan knows exactly what he’s doing. Because with a whole company to run Billy’s not exactly searching for things to fill his time with, and yet he cleared his schedule just for the chance to see Harrington up close and personal in what can only be described as the worlds barest attempt at a costume. Apparently a pair of skintight pleather pants and a string of Christmas lights around the neck is all that’s needed to convey the idea of a Christmas elf. Admittedly the prosthetic ears are a nice touch, but still. Jonathan babbles about a series of mini storylines involving sexy santas and their naughty submissives, each culminating in what basically translates to soft porn. Nothing you couldn’t see on a movie poster or the cover of a romance novel, but something to get the people excited.

Billy hears none of it. All he sees is Steve’s skin, bathed in LED glow illuminating the dark trail of hair down his chest. Fuck. He can’t even swallow for a moment, his mouth is so dry.

“Harrington?” He finds himself repeating later, this time softer and with far more imbued questions, to the man himself.

“Hargrove.” Steve straightens from his slouch in the chair as Billy approaches, and that doesn’t mean anything, like at all, but something inside Billy still thrills at it. Wants to walk away just to call his name again and see him rise to attention. “Hey. Small world huh?”

Steve sounds nervous, but Billy relaxes at the obvious attempt at small talk that Steve makes. This is run of the mill polite awkwardness, and not any of the other things it could have been.

“Yeah. Jonathan roped you into this too huh?”

“Jason actually. You remember him? He was the year below us.” Steve says, the golden bell on the end of his striped hat jingling as his fingers alternately tug and tuck at the long strands of hair falling out from under it. Skittish. It’s criminal how good he looks in a derpy hat with soft brown hair framing his face. Stepping up to the edge of the chair he’s sitting in Billy can see the dark eyeliner and the shadow painted on his eyes to make them pop. Whatever Jonathan is paying the makeup artist he needs to double it, because the innocence of those big bambi eyes looking up at him. Fuck me. Like Harrington needed any help in that department. Like the memory of Steve staring up at him from the gymnasium floor isn’t seared into Billy’s hindbrain already.

Steve coughs a little in the back of his throat and shifts in his seat. It’s the minutest little movement but Billy’s gaze latches onto it like a circling bird of prey. He suddenly becomes cognizant of their position. Stood toe to toe with the legs of his chair, Billy is looming over Harrington, blocking both his escape and his vision but Steve isn’t signaling his discomfort or telling him to move. He’s attempting conversation despite the obvious nerves, prolonging the interaction.

“Yeah I remember him. Played for the JV team right?”

Billy wants Steve nervous and afraid - because in this moment he kinda wants Steve’s everything - but not like that. He doesn’t want Steve afraid to talk to him, over some misconception that he’s still hung up on high school bullshit, so he gives ground and lowers himself into the empty seat beside Steve to watch the way his chest falls with the first release of relieved breath before legs, followed by the rest of him, angle themselves toward Billy and he rewards Billy’s good memory with small smile.

“Yeah. We were roommates for a while in college before he and Eddie got together. You know -”

“Yeah I know Munson. Hand me that, will you?” Billy leans against the arm of his chair and into Steve’s space to interject, because you’d be hard pressed to find a former student of Hawkins High school who didn’t remember the resident dealer, and because Steve’s shoulders are tightening with each word along with his grip on the chair arms; because he’s talking to Billy and it’s obviously uncomfortable, and Billy just wants him to stop thinking about it. Steve blinks as he stutters to a stop in surprise, before his gaze follows the direction Billy indicated with the nod of his head and finds the pitcher of water on a little tray with drinking cups that some PA has set upon the coffee table.

“Oh! Yeah sure.” Steve smiles, relaxing now that he knows what Billy wants. And it shouldn’t be possible - all Billy wanted to do was give him a reason not to think - but he’s watching Harrington’s pupils widen and the tension in shoulders unwind just that easy, like his whole body is grateful for this new purpose, as he leans forward, bending that beautiful body over the coffee table, fixing Billy a drink like that’s just the natural conclusion to the realization that he has a thirst.

“It’s crazy how hot it gets under studio lights right?” He’s talking, smiling invitingly as he turns to offer Billy the glass of water in his hand and shares some memory involving a theater and the kids he apparently teaches. And it’s not that Billy isn’t listening to every word coming out of those perfect lips. It’s just that there is no room to process them right now in the face of Steve Harrington unfurling like a butterfly out of a cocoon, finally at ease in Billy’s presence, all because Billy gave him an order to follow.

[mattiehenderson]

Elf-Witch

Synopsis: my first Stranger Things fic, don't be hard on me please. I'm so happy to see an 80s metalhead represented in a positive light for ONCE! I couldn't help but fall in love with him just like everyone else with taste. So I prefer writing male x male romances, and can I just say we need way more bottom princess male reader and dom daddy Eddie fics. This is my attempt to try and help with that. So this story focuses on my OC, Matthew "Mattie" Henderson, he's Dustin's older brother who's a senior. Heavily bullied for being so effeminate and goth. He has always had a crush on Eddie Munson since freshman year, but unfortunately Eddie is straight...or is he?

Warnings : Sexual language and imaginations. Minors do not interact, 18+.

Pairing: Eddie Munson x Henderson!OC

☆☆☆☆☆▪︎☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

Look at me, please turn around and just look at me.

I stared intensely at the boy who sat in front of me in English, wavy chestnut curtains of hair poured past shoulders too broad for a normal senior, and onto my desk.

I could smell his v05 shampoo, the aloe one, and the Irish spring that almost hid his signature Marlboro and kush cologne. Slowly, quietly, I inhaled the scent that was all things Eddie Munson, the eternal prisoner of Hawkins High School.

In my marble notebook that was graffiti'd with cutouts of my favorite bands and scented stickers, I sketched an imprisoned Eddie in a medieval, hooded cloak behind bars, and coming to rescue him was a soft looking male witch. It went along with the story I was secretly writing for my own pleasure, the poor dungeon master who has been trapped in the dungeons of Hawkeye Castle for 400 years, under an evil queen's spell. Perhaps I named her Queen Cristiana of Hawkeye, after a certain stupid cheerleader that I always see hanging around a certain metal head after hours.

I don't know why I do this to myself, in what universe do I have a chance? Maybe in my own universe in my own land of make believe, but nymphs and orcs and furies also exist there so there's that.

In the real world, Chrissy Cunningham is the most beautiful girl in Hawkins, she's the head cheerleader and smells like Anais Anaïs, she has perfect hair and she's a she.

I, Mattie Henderson, am a boy. Not only am I a boy, but I'm a boy who wears more makeup than any girl in school. I wear my bleached curls too long and listen to darkwave. Eddie Munson would never!

I gently huffed before I finished sketching the scene where Matthias the Enchanter, in his red violet cloak and gossamer garments, shared a kiss with Sir Edward the Banished. 

It was hilarious really. I have known him since I was a freshman, secretly pining, and knowing we have many interests in common, especially D&D, but I've always been too shy to approach him. Too shy to approach anyone, only having one friend my whole time living in Hawkins, Robin Buckley. I'm not as good with people as my little brother, growing up in the Midwest with being what I am and how I am, I figured it's smarter to keep away. Robin always understood me, since we met in seventh grade and I moved here from Connecticut.

After everything last summer with Starcourt, and finding out about what my brother and his friends have been apart of, I shockingly acquired new friends, the very unexpected Steve Harrington, Nancy Wheeler, and my art class acquaintances Jonathan Byers.

It's been a lot, it's been a fucking lot, and with it being my senior year the stress has been added. Mom keeps asking about my college options, telling me Indiana University has a pretty good art program. But I don't have the grades, I do enough to get by, school makes me miserable, I could care less about mundane things like classes and grades and teachers, and artificial societies. And sure I like art, but I love doing hair and makeup and nails too, something my mother definitely reaps the benefits of. And I don't exactly love Hawkins the Cursed Lands, but after everything and not sure about this place ever being safe again, I'd never leave my brother here without me. And as pathetic as it sounds, the thought of leaving the man who doesn't know I exist makes my stomach hurt.

I felt guilty for my thoughts, for my fantasies about him, for wishing the reason why I put my black velvet choker on this morning was to cover a bruise from his huge, ring wrapped fingers. Oh how I would cut off all twenty inches of my hair to just have his towering 5'11 frame over my 5'5 one, staring down into my black lined Hazel eyes, with his dark, teddy bear gaze.

The teacher must have sent paper down, because with the melodic swish of his chocolate butter ringlets, I was looking up at him and slamming my marble notebook shut faster than you can say Kissimmee. Dark, button eyes glanced at me before doing a double take. Now fixated on me feeling like a goldfish, with his plush, pillowy, bubblegum pink lips parted.

How the hell could anyone ostracize and hate such a gorgeous human being? Then the angel spoke and I felt like he was oozing the gospel.

Here we go again.

All because of one damn class I'm sitting in Johnson's English for the third fucking time.

I was the last one to plop my ass down, toward the back, the desk with the D&D scribbles and the classic "Ozzy rules" that violated government property. I got a snide remark from Johnson, and snickers and insults from Carver and his ball buddies.

This was exactly why I preferred to escape to my own world, where there are dragons and halflings, or when I close my eyes and finger my sweetheart. Just close my eyes and listen to The Number of the Beast, forgetting that reality is being the town's leper in a town where they decide Jason Carver is a good person because he knows his way around a ball.

Johnson was droning on about fucking writing prompts where he cares more about where a comma goes than if the story is good or not. 

And then, as I'm passing back the picture prompt for the first day of hell, I did a double take at a new face. A face prettier than even the likes of Chrissy Cunningham. Looking up shyly at me, drawing out a protective feeling I didn't know I possessed, are bedroom, dreamy lidded eyes painted a lavender gray,with thick broom-like sweeping lashes that flutter before bright Hazel eyes, that reminded me of summer turning into fall, green fading into browning leaves and golden maples. Kohl-rimmed, making them more pronounced and more awe-inspiring.

Her nose is cute and broad with a puggish finish that rests prettily between roundish cheeks painted a deep blush. My eyes traveled down to a pair of the ideal cock sucking lips, I'm so sorry but I don't really know what else to call them. They're so full and big, so cushiony and I'm a pretty imaginary guy, so what I'm thinking of doing to that mouth…fucking that gorgeous face, making those Hazel eyes water and her gothic makeup run down those pretty chipmunk cheeks, making a big mess of her blood red lipstick smudging it on my cock. 

I shifted in my seat feeling my dick stir, and this was not the time. Cascading around her face was voluminous white blonde curls, so wild and untamable like an elf-witch, very surreal and otherworldly and contrasts beautifully with her dark eyebrows.

And as if my she-elf couldn't have been more perfect, not only did she have herself collared by a black velvet choker, but a cut off Shout at the Devil Mötley Crüe  shirt encased her. My mouth watered and when she lifted a fishnet, arm fingerless glove adorned wrist to take the prompt from me, I inhaled the sweet smell of apricots and roses and sweet, expensive perfume. I couldn't get enough of it.

"Munson, are you drooling? Is that drool, freak?" Carver happily and loudly like a fucking foghorn called me out in front of everyone. Nothing new, usually I'm very unphased by embarrassment, I mean I'm a 20 year old senior. But, for once that jockstrap got to me, knowing this enchantress witnessed it witnessed him calling me out for something she caused. I snapped my head away fast and wiped my mouth with the sleeve of my jacket before inspecting the porosity. Damn, I was fuckin drooling.

Saved by the Johnson, the droning authority started a roll call. Imagine my surprise when Johnson called out Matthew Henderson and it happened to be my little elf-witch…or elf-warlock should I say.

[fandoms-in-law]

Nancy had mentioned it once, and Jonathan had actually sought Steve out to ask if he could help. Apparently the Byers hadn’t been able to find a good winter hat Will liked and were getting concerned he’d get unwell if he didn’t have one. The temperature had already been falling and Steve got the need to keep all the kids wrapped up warm; Of course when asked he was going to make sure all the kids had warm woolly hats to wear.

Plus given he’d gotten them only just in time for the eve of Christmas eve, Steve had an excuse to give everyone silly hats too, cheap Santa hats or reindeer headbands and the like, if they’d fit into the tin, otherwise he’d sit them next to it and claim the tin was empty until one of the brats insisted on opening it. He was certain one of them would.

What was even better was that he and Robin had managed to convince Keith to shut Family Video for 3 days, badgering him with Weather Reports and wishes that they could all spend the Christmas time with their friends and family. Robin had struck gold with the factoids that Boxing day actually was when workers were meant to visit their homes and families in olden times and who would be wanting videos on Christmas Eve, anyway?

Steve was very much relaxing through his final shift before that break when all seven of his kids filed in. “Okay, girls get light hearted Christmas films, Mike and Lucas, get action or horror films you think he’ll let us have, Will and I will get today’s treats sorted out.” Dustin instructed, ignoring that Erica followed him and Will instead of listening to the instructions.

“Treats are there, couldn’t get them to fit without breaking today.” Steve called out, gesturing to the Christmassy gift bag he’d used instead.

“Really? You manage for every other day but now you give up?” Dustin judged him, reaching into the bag anyway and pulling a face at the hat one of Santa elves might wear being pulled out.

Steve raised his hands to imply his innocence. “Dude, if you want to wear broken headbands, or see your friends who get them have cut ears from snapped plastic, that’s your choice. They didn’t fit and I wasn’t gonna break them to fit.”

“Head bands?” El asked, placing a couple of videos down and coming to look through the bag, “I can be Rudolph! Dad was telling me that story last night.”

“Yep, you can.” Steve grinned as she quickly put the headband on.

Will looked through the bag curiously for a moment before pulling out a Santa hat. “Still a bit thin but this’ll keep my ears warmer than they have been. It’s a bit itchy though.”

“Mini Byers,” Steve begins immediately, but pauses, not wanting to put the focus on him too much. He turns to Dustin instead, “How long have you been a shithead and let Will go without a hat? I know you have a couple at least.”

“He didn’t ask to borrow one.” Dustin protested but looked guilty as he realised that shouldn’t have stopped the offer being made.

Steve huffed, even as Will had a small smile at the reaction.

“If you’re going to strop over whatever reaction Dustin had to your gifts can you at least sort our rentals on these out?” Mike demanded where he was waiting with more videos piled beside the ones El and Max had fetched.

He didn’t need the glance to know too many of their choices wouldn’t be suitable for a bunch of traumatised kids to watch , “No I can’t. Show me and I’ll say which you get.”

“Are you sure the tin is empty?” Lucas asked while Steve did that. He had pulled another elf hat out of the bag but was looking from Dustin and Will to the music tin before reaching for it. “Steve’s done a lot I wouldn’t expect with this so I’m gonna check.”

Steve grinned, focusing on going through the videos still but enjoying the indignant noises Dustin let out getting louder when the actual winter hats fell out. “Something for Christmas and something practical.” He quipped, handing over the videos to Mike, who was looking over, clearly wanting to claim his treats now.

“Thanks Steve, I’m clearly the leader of the group,” Erica called out, reindeer antlers on her head and a purple hat in her hands, while everyone debated over which was best, seeming set on ensuring Will got it now.

“Gotta keep you nerds warm, don’t I?” He nodded, watching them contently.

The Advent Music Box

Author's note: Doing this on a whim and the fact work gave me the music box inspiring this

Summary: Steve is sent a care package from his parents at the start of December

/\

It started with a music box.

Steve’s parents had sent him a care package that arrived on the first of December and in it was some snacks, a few items clearly intended as Christmas presents and the music box.

There was a sticker on it saying there were cookies inside it too but he took most of the morning to figure out that instead of taking a lid off like most tins needed, he had to remove the bottom of the music box.

That was what gave him the idea to fill it and challenge the kids to get the treats from inside. Since they didn’t actually go to his house very often he took it into Family Video, sure at least one of the kids would turn up sooner or later.

Perhaps he could even swing seeing them every day if he said he’d fill it with at least something small for them each day.

[space-invading-pigeon]

Monsters AU, anyone????

If you haven't already guessed it, Steve Harrington is my comfort character and almost everything I write lately has to do with him. But I love myths and monsters, so I mashed them up.

Steve is a werewolf; not always, but an incident when he was four changed him. His mother blames herself for his accident and tends to stay away from him, too overcome with guilt to even look at her son. Unfortunately, of all things, he was changed into a pack animal, and the loss of his mother's comfort has a negative effect. He's withdrawn, aggressive, unable to get comfortable in his own skin, all before even starting kindergarten- his only relief is when his mother hires an old friend to watch him. Her friend is from the supernatural world: the oldest son of a family of vampires that have lived in the United States since they stowed away on the Mayflower.

Steve and his new babysitter are instantly bonded: Steve goes back to being a sweet, albeit clingy, little angel, and his sitter is always more than happy to indulge him and shower him in love. Life is really looking up for Steve, to the point that he secretly refers to himself as "Stevie Munson," and dreams up a world where Wayne is his pa, instead of his actual father. But life is rarely kind to Steve, and soon his beloved Wayne has to leave town for an undetermined amount of time because of a "family emergency." Steve is heartbroken that he isn't allowed to go with him.

As if losing his sitter isn't enough, Steve's mother dies in a robbery-gone-wrong on Steve's ninth birthday, five years to the day after the attack that changed him. Richard Harrington can't be assed to take care of his son in her stead, and hires another sitter. Claudia Henderson (human, through and through) decides on her first day that Steve is as much her son as Dustin, and that only solidifies when she discovers that the poor baby her late husband attacked years ago was actually Steve. Dustin (a born werewolf as opposed to Steve, a changed werewolf) decides that Steve is his brother immediately, and it's like two puppies have found each other. Steve is protective, loving, and maybe a little bit possessive of his new brother, but Dustin has love to spare. As he grows from toddler to kid to preteen, he acquires more and more friends: first, Will Byers, from a family of light elves, who is shy and artistic and never cuts off one of Dustin's excited rants, even though they're both seven and Dustin's grasp of engineering is on par with a college undergrad. With Will comes Mike Wheeler and his older sister, Nancy, both of whom are descendants of the great Valkyrie. Nancy is a little more.... ethereal than Mike, because their Valkyrie blood is more prominent in women, but they're both stubborn and snarky and have a weird obsession with the Byers boys, but Dustin swears that they're both very nice. Lucas Sinclair comes around soon after, and he's really the only friend of Dustin's that Steve has actually met. He's a soft-spoken kid until he's comfortable, and then he's quick witted and so loyal that Steve actually thinks that maybe he's a werewolf, instead of a chimera.

Steve refuses to meet anyone else in Dustin's friend group; he says it's because he's too big to be around Dustin's friends, but it's actually because he doesn't think that he can be around them without lashing out for taking his baby brother away from him.

When Dustin is eleven and Steve is seventeen, Chief Hopper- the only Berserker in Hawkins- adopts a little witch named Jane, although she answers more to El than she does Jane. Soon after, Max Mayfield moves to town, and Dustin's little group of friends adds the banshee to their ranks.

Finally, Steve agrees to meet his friends, lovingly dubbed "the Party" by every member of it. They're wary of Steve at first- Richard Harrington is the most outspoken anti-supernatural in town, and they didn't know that Dustin's Big Brother Steve the Werewolf was actually Steve Harrington, so almost all of them are sure that they'll be harassed in their safe space. Steve is quiet for a while, yes, but Will and El take to him immediately, and Steve is weak for people who look at him like he's worth something (it's why he's such a pushover for Dustin and Claudia; they love him unconditionally and he will do anything to make himself feel worthy of that) so he adopts Will and El into his little family almost immediately.

Will and El adore Steve: El insists that he's a big, fluffy puppy, and her descriptions have never been wrong, so it makes the entire Party warm up to him. Will is painfully shy, and the speed with which he warms up to Steve is unheard of; but Will quite literally glows when Steve shows up, and even once he's calmed down the air around him glitters with his excitement. Steve takes to them both; at first, Dustin is over the moon at this.

Next to warm up to Steve is Lucas, a few weeks after Steve joins the Party. He's frosty toward Steve at first, but at a group movie night he watches Steve jump out of a dead sleep to jump out of a window and slam into a tree, face first (apparently, he'd been having a dream about a cheese monster trying to eat his toes). Then, Jonathan and Nancy, who both watch Steve with the kids and decide that, yes, they do have a crush on the sweet, dumb dog that's joined their ranks. Nancy asks him out first, though, and Steve is flustered enough that he agrees (and is almost instantly smitten with her). Mike refuses to warm up to Steve; the guy can't even breathe right, as far as Mike is concerned.

The longer that Steve and Nancy date, the angrier Dustin gets. He feels like he's being left behind. Steve spends more and more time with Nancy, at her behest. Neither of them realize how unhealthy their relationship is growing to be, just how the relationship between Nancy's parents are. Nancy demands that everything be held to a certain standard, and Steve does everything he possibly can to meet that standard. It isn't until Nancy dumps him- a very nasty affair that has Steve avoiding everyone except Dustin- that they actually grow as people and become something healthier to each other. (Just like in the show, they get into a fight at a party, and when they revisit it while sober, they fight again; Steve is hurt and wants to know if she really thinks he's bullshit, and Nancy won't give him a straight answer. He's upset and he can feel himself losing control of himself, so he walks away. Nancy leaves town on an overnight trip to get some info with Jonathan, and when she comes back, she spits vitriol at a panicked, concussed Steve. She does a lot of growing up after that, but she never actually apologizes for hurting Steve, although he frequently tries to "make up" for his own mistakes.

Max joins the group soon after that, and gets along with Steve almost immediately. She's a young banshee, and a part of her lore explains that she screams; she can't control when, how long, or even how loudly she screams, and as a result her step-brother (a human named Billy) is incredibly abusive. He belittles her for her Screams, and isn't afraid to shove her around (never where their parents can see: if Susan caught wind of it, his father Neil would hear, and Neil was not a man to cross). When Max meets Steve, and watches how he picks on the Party using their own species(he calls Lucas "little lion man," Will is Sunshine, Mike is Paladin Shithead, and Dustin has always been pup) while still encouraging them (Steve encourages the kids as they grow and develop these new abilities, never belittling them for their struggles, but showing them that it's okay to mess up. She doesn't know that it's because Steve had no one to do that for him until his mother died and the Hendersons were brought into his life). She's afraid to open up to the guy, right up until, in the middle of a crisis situation where Max is forced to use her powers on purpose for the first time, Steve throws himself in the line of fire to protect the Lucas- and by extension, the whole Party- more than once.

Steve protects her from Billy when he tries to "pick her up" (read: drag her home by the hair without regard for her safety), allows Billy to beat his ass because the alternative at the time was to chase him away until no one was around to protect Lucas, and then, with a whole concussion, does a full shift and defends the children from these strange alternate hellbeasts that were summoned by some crazies at the Hawkins Laboratory for Scientific Witchcraft. The guy even praised her for Screaming on purpose, calling her a hero. Max is soon just as attached to Steve as any other.

In the summer after breaking up with Nancy, Steve gets a job at the mall. He meets Robin, who seems for all intents and purposes a simple human being. She's quirky and goofy and she smells like the ocean after a storm; Steve loves her very quickly, but something in him keeps him from actually developing a crush. Robin is his beloved other half, his soulmate, the yin to his yang, whatever else means that she completes him. She calls him Dingus exclusively, and Steve knows that if he ever heard it while he was shifted fully, he would be rolling around like a delighted puppy. He learns later, after they've fought for their lives and suffered and survived, that Robin was born a normal human, but after the most traumatic experience of her life, she was transformed into a siren.

After the mall, Robin is inducted into the group. She keeps an eye on the kids while they're at school, partially for her own sanity, but also for Steve, who is beside himself at the prospect of his babies being out of sight for so long (he gets like this after every Upside-Down interaction, he loves those kids and he can't stand the idea of losing the family he's built for himself). By the end of the first month, Steve is desperate to meet this guy his kids keep ranting about, Eddie Munson, and it's just because he's worried about them, not because he's afraid of losing his spot as their Big Brother or because the name Munson struck a chord in the back of his mind(for whatever reason).

Without the kids knowing- except Max, because she saw him going up to the Munson trailer. She would never bring it up to the Party unless Steve did first- Steve goes to meet this Eddie Munson and maybe scope out the competition a little. Instead, he meets a pasty boy with unfairly attractive hands and full lips and the warmest chocolate eyes and-

His mooning over this pretty boy is cut short when a man with a painfully familiar face peers in from the kitchen, meeting Steve's eyes with a surprised, "Stevie?" The greeting is enough to make Steve tear up, and he starts freaking out because why is he so happy that this guy knows him, and he's ushered into their little home and onto an old, well-loved couch. Eddie is gushing about finally meeting the Stevie Harrington, he's been told all about him from Wayne through the years. Eddie asks him why he's never seen him at school, and Steve mumbles about being home-schooled ("I won't let people see my mistakes so easily," Richard Harrington drilled into his head from the moment Steve was old enough to go to school). Wayne is flustered and standoffish for all of three minutes before Steve is smothered in more paternal affection than he's received since he was seven; it clicks in his brain when Wayne calls him Stevie again, that he used to wish and beg the stars to change him into Stevie Munson, not Harrington, and that Wayne was his best friend for three years.

Eddie is smitten with this strong, pretty, downright fluffy boy that showed up on his doorstep, even more so when Wayne Munson (easily most comfortable when left alone in quiet) spends almost an hour fussing over and showering him in praise. Steve becomes a regular fixture in the Munson household, after that. Wayne spends weeks explaining the different types of supernatural creatures that have made their homes in Hawkins and the surrounding area, explaining Munson family history, and Steve finally has someone to walk him through everything about werewolves (Claudia tried, but she was really only parroting things she'd picked up as she raised Dustin, not any formal education. Steve never knew that it was a special thing to achieve a full shift; that particular afternoon had Eddie calling him a sweet little pup for a month).

********

I'm too lazy to spend another two days puzzling out how I want the rest of the show's plot to align with this au. I have it in my wips folder but this is already suuuuper long. My bad, pals

[skrittle-mix]

The Bingham House

I've only seen a little bit of talk about the Bingham house, so I wanted to add my observations to see how it represents season four and Mike’s character.

Starting off, we have a moment before the group even enter the house. Jonathan says how the group need to be on “their best behaviour”. We are expected to take this as meaning Argyle, who chimes in asking why Jonathan looked at him when he says this line, but it’s Mike who adds that the Binghams are very religious. Also, to note, Mike is the only one to make a change within the house - correcting himself from saying holy shit to holy heck in the father’s study.

Next, we see the door opening and Mike gets stuck with a yellow arrow by Cornelius. I’m not going to go in-depth into the yellow/blue byler colour coding, but basically, Will is yellow and Mike is blue. So Mike gets hit with a yellow arrow from someone that shares the name with a saint that unites an artist with his lover is a neon light. (he was also the patron saint of lovers in Rhineland)  Not to mention, the artist was commissioned to do his piece of work, which Mike currently believes to be true with Will’s painting.

Upon entering the home, we are shown two children sword fighting on the kitchen table. They are quoting Shakespeare, Henry IV Part 1, Act II, Scene IV;  “you starveling, you elf-skin, you driedneat's tongue”. They also quote Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part 2, Act II, Scene IV when Suzie’s father runs downstairs; “away, you mouldy rogue, away”. We’ve been made aware of Shakespeare in the past when Dustin refers to Suzie and himself as ‘star-crossed lovers’. In the script for 3x01, it refers to Mike and El as star-crossed lovers aswell. In this season, we’ve had Mike being called Romeo by Argyle and the oven behind him while giving his monologue is branded as ‘Montague’, Romeo’s family name.

We then have the death scene being directed, which later gets paralleled to Mike’s monologue, and shows that the monologue is in Will’s POV. The director says to the father, who would be in Mike’s situation, “your terror, it looked genuine”. 

Argyle and Eden’s scene is showing love at first sight, and exploring the comedic and non-realistic element to it. And we have a season three parallel to a certain pair that ditch their friends to.. um.. hang out.. just like Argyle and Eden do in the Surfer Boy Pizza van. 

slightly delusional points:

Something that sticks out to me is that in Suzie’s bedroom, Mike is the only one who does not sit down, which makes me think he felt uncomfortable in the house. Why would he not be comfortable, unless he had recently discovered somethings about himself in the months the Byers had been gone from Hawkins. Mike actively avoids any eye contacts with Suzie's father on the stairs when the group leave the study and pushes himself away from her father, almost hurling himself over the banister, when the rest of the group look him in the face and don't feel the need to physically be miles away.

While the group are hovering over the computer, Jonathan makes the comment of “maybe it’s hidden in the code somehow”. Codes have been used in the past such as the “when blue and yellow meet in the West”, this reads as a sign to look further into everything, just as we’ve been doing.

Some non-byler parallels that I think are interesting:

The kids cooking are adding salt into a pot of water - the sensory deprivation tank El uses 

The group needing to get into a room in an attic - Vecna being in the Creel’s attic and the Hawkins group getting into the attic 

The father needing to be distracted so the group can get into the attic - Dustin, Eddie and Max distracting Vecna so the Hawkins group can get into the attic

The fire in the kitchen - the fire in the Creel’s attic

apologies if any of this is incoherent, its very late and im very tired, but thanks for reading if you got this far! 

[panandinpain0]

eddie x male reader who's the middle child of the byers family? (like a year younger than jonathan or something. he can be the oldest too if the ages don't work). maybe an au where eddie survives so they meet when they get back from california (or just an au where they didn't move to Cali and he goes to hawkins high). will joins the hellfire club and they need a sub for a campaign so will begs his brother to go and flirting with eddie munson ensues. he's an artist which is what he mostly bonds over with will and eddie asks him to draw something for their next campaign perhaps? (reader might also have a crush on eddie and some pictures he drew of him in his sketchbook). sorry if this is too much random stuff

Old D&D Buddies

No, no, no, it's not too much random stuff! I love all of these ideas and am SO EXCITED to write them! Tysm for requesting!

Requested by: Anon

Eddie Munson x Male!Byers!Reader

The reader will be the oldest Byers brother because (after a quick google search) I've learned that Jonathan is 18 and Eddie Munson is around 21. So if the reader was a year younger than Jonathan he'd be 17 and that's just going into illegal territory. (But I loved the idea, being a middle child myself.) So the reader is 20.

This doesn't really follow s4 at all, but the Byers just moved back from Cali and Will joined Hellfire!

Warnings: Swearing

I hope you like it!!!

(Reading this back over I realize that it really isn't inclusive for the reader to be biologically related to the Byers (poc and many other situations). I realize this and I'm sorry, but I'm so tired and I don't have the energy to re-write this. If anyone specifically wants a more inclusive version of this I could definitely try writing it another day. Again, I'm sorry.)

Enjoy!

--

Will opened the door to the Byers' residence, shutting it behind him and letting his backpack drop to the floor. Taking off his jacket he hung it by the door, walking into the kitchen where his brother's were hanging out.

Jonathan was going through a pile of photos he had taken at the table, holding some over to (Y/N) for him to see. (Y/N), on the other hand, was going through some work papers. He'd started a job as a mechanic when they had moved back to Hawkins. Back in California he'd gotten the job to help support their family, but he'd grown to love the work. (Especially the amount of time off all the employee's got.) He found a place in Hawkins and started working there.

"Hey kiddo, how was school?" (Y/N) asked as Will walked in, patting his back as he walked past the table.

"It was good! We have a D&D meeting tomorrow, too!" Will informed as he opened the fridge, looking for a snack.

"That's cool. Are you excited?" Jonathan asked quietly as he pulled out his camera, adjusting the settings a bit.

"Yeah. Lucas might not be able to make it and Eddie is making us scour around to find a replacement." Will laughed a bit as he sat down with a bowl of cereal.

"Oh, have you found anyone?" Jonathan asked as he held the camera up to his eyes, checking the settings.

"...(Y/N), you used to help me with D&D, didn't you?" Will asked, spoon hovering above the bowl and dripping with milk.

"Smile" Jonathan cut in before (Y/N) could respond.

Both brothers looked over at the camera and instantly put on smiles. Jonathan did this a lot, so they'd gotten used to it. It was sweet, seeing his walls lined with random family pictures.

"Yeah, I did," (Y/N) responded, flipping through some papers in his pile.

"Would you be willing to be the sub player?" Will asked eagerly, eyes lighting up as he leaned forward a bit.

"Me?" (Y/N) laughed a bit. "I haven't played in years."

"But you have a character, don't you?" Will continued to pester. He shoved the bite of cereal in his mouth, realizing the pieces would get soggy if he left them floating in the milk for too long.

"Yes, I do. He's really old, though, I haven't played with him in years."

"The... the elf one, right?" Jonathan asked, raising his eyebrow in question.

"Yeah, Huelen," (Y/N) responded, nodding. "How did you remember?" He looked up at Jonathan, hands stilling with the paper's in them.

"You used to draw him a lot in your old sketchbook. That's where you drew Will the Wise for Will, too," he explained, shrugging while rifling through his bag.

"It's what first got me drawing," Will remembered, eating more of his food.

Joyce entered the kitchen, holding some plates in her hands as she smiled at her sons.

"Hey, boys!" she greeted, putting the plates in the sink.

"Hey Mom," the boys all said in unison, smiling at their mom.

"Jonathan, please stop leaving dirty plates in your room, you'll attract pests," Joyce requested, coming over and rubbing (Y/N)'s shoulder as she skimmed the paper's in his hand.

"Sorry, Mom. I'll clean them up next time."

"So, will you, (Y/N)?" Will reminded them all of the topic at hand.

"Tomorrow?"

"Mhm!"

"...What time?"

Will smiled, knowing he had hooked (Y/N).

"After school. Can you make it?"

"Yeah, I have an early shift tomorrow. It'll be fun!" (Y/N) wiggled his eyebrows as he stood up, taking his papers and putting it in his work bag.

"Oh, are you going with Will to the D&D club tomorrow?" Joyce asked, sitting down next to Jonathan and looking through his pictures.

"Hellfire, Mom," Will reminded, slurping up his cereal.

"Yeah, Hellfire," Joyce redeemed.

"Apparently. The little punk roped me into it," (Y/N) teased, ruffling Will's hair as he sat back down.

"You should bring your old sketchbook! You have a lot of characters in there, I'm sure the other boys would love it. Would they, Will?" Joyce suggested, looking at Will to see if they would.

"Oh yeah, Dustin used to gush over them all the time. You should bring 'em." Will nodded.

"Alright, it's a plan. I've got to go run these back to the garage, I'll be back by dinner!" (Y/N) announced as he picked up his bag, kissing his mom on the cheek and waving to his brothers.

"It's lasagna!"

(Y/N) hummed in satisfaction at his mother's reply.

...

Eddie was setting up the table, putting the pieces where they had been arranged at their last session, mind turning with ideas for plot twists he could add.

He was just relieved that Will found someone to take Sinclair's place, or else they would all be screwed. And because he was so relieved he neglected to ask who it was, not that it mattered. If they could play and had a character, he could work with it.

The boys all arrived in a large group, backpacks slung over their shoulders. A taller man followed behind Will, laughing at a joke one of the boys had made.

"Welcome to Hellfire!" Eddie dramatically exclaimed, gesturing widely to the table.

They laughed and took their usual seats, but the guest stayed standing. When Eddie made eye contact his eyes widened in shock.

"...Munson?" (Y/N) asked after a moment, surprise covering his own features.

"Wait, you two already know each other?" Will asked, glancing between his brother and Dungeon Master.

"Yeah, we used to go to school here together," (Y/N) responded, breaking eye contact to look at Will. "When you said 'Eddie', I didn't think you meant Eddie Munson."

"Well, I didn't know you knew him!" Will defended, shrugging.

"We do know each other, we used to play together back when we were beginners," Eddie finally spoke, walking forward and holding out a hand to (Y/N). "How's it going, Byers?"

(Y/N) took his hand, shaking it strongly, "Just fine. Still in highschool, I see," he teased.

"Ha-ha," Eddie deadpanned, quickly letting go and turning around theatrically. "Take your seat, peasant. I do hope you brought Huelen with you, he's the most important thing."

Rolling his eyes (Y/N) sat next to Will, "I'm surprised you remember his name."

"Well, who could forget a name like that?" Eddie asked rhetorically. He sat in his chair and made eye contact with (Y/N) over his DM's screen, his eyes sparkling with amusement. In this moment Eddie cherished his hair for hiding the tips of his ears, which were turning red. "Let's get started, shall we?"

The table broke out into a roar of excitement, making (Y/N) snicker and pull out his old folder.

...

(Y/N) was laughing so hard tears rolled down his cheeks, his hand shaking as he tried to reach out for the dice on the table.

Dustin, who was cackling across from him doubled over more as he failed to pick up the dice yet again.

Everyone was having loads of fun, something (Y/N) hadn't really had in a while.

(Y/N) finally took the dice and made his roll.

"Unfortunately, Elf Huelen, that roll wasn't high enough. The effects of it, I'm afraid, I won't be able to share until next session," Eddie announced, standing up as everyone groaned, outraged.

"But I won't be here next session," (Y/N) reminded, looking up at Eddie with a questioning look.

"Says who?" Eddie smugly shot back, starting to clean up his things.

(Y/N) scoffed and shook his head, looking to the other players who were all looking at him expectantly. "Wait- you want me back?"

"Yes!" they all shouted as if it was the dumbest question anyone had ever asked.

"It's not like we can't add another playing space," Eddie said. He and (Y/N) shared a look, knowing he wasn't the first one to speak that sentence.

About three years ago, during (Y/N)'s Junior year at Hawkins High, he sat in a room with some classmates. The D&D board was set up around them and he eagerly listened as the more experienced members explained the game to him. A knock came from the door, and Eddie (who was in his first round of Senior year) looked into the room.

"Hey, this is where the D&D club is, right?" he asked confidently, though (Y/N) noticed his hands were shaking.

"Yeah," one of the other's responded.

"Can I join?"

"There are too many players-"

"It's not like we can't add another playing space," (Y/N) had responded to them. He had learned enough that session to know that "more the merrier" was very true in this game.

Eddie had given him a thankful smile and taken a seat next to him.

"Is it the same time every week?" (Y/N) asked, knowing it was a day he had off annualy.

At the nods of conformation he shrugged.

"Fuck it, I'm in."

They cheered and stood up, collecting their players and helping Eddie put away the pieces.

"Hey, you brought your old sketchbook, didn't you?" Will reminded, catching everyone's attention.

"Oh, yeah. I have some old character drawings in here from when I used to play," (Y/N) explained as he pulled out the clearly loved book. He flipped to a good page and showed the younger kids.

"I remember you showing us these!" Dustin exclaimed, even Mike getting pumped over the drawings.

Eddie leaned over their shoulders, looking at the drawings.

"Those are fantastic, Byers. Why haven't I seen these before?" Eddie asked, looking up at (Y/N) for an explanation.

"Hey, we got to go, see you guys next time!" Gareth said as he waved and the boys left.

"I'll meet you in the car," Will said, jogging off with his friends. He knew (Y/N) wanted some time to catch up with Eddie.

"Well, you never asked," (Y/N) shrugged after nodding to Will.

Eddie sat down in his throne as (Y/N) leaned back against the table next to him.

"These are great!"

Eddie was so immersed in the drawings that he forgot to ask before flipping through the pages.

"Wait-!" (Y/N) exclaimed, but he was too late. The next few pages were filled with Eddie's face. The way his hair fell, the look on his face when he was concentrating on the current battle. His eyes were sharp in every one of them, and Eddie sucked in a breath. He'd never been depicted this way, and he loved it.

"Is this..."

"I'm sorry- I didn't-" (Y/N) started fumbling, ripping the book from his hands and stuffing it in his bag, not looking at Eddie.

"Don't be- it's... I felt it too," he mumbled back. That simple phrase communicated to (Y/N) that he wasn't the only one who looked at his favorite D&D buddy like he was his whole world.

(Y/N)'s face heated as his mouth parted slightly, eyes wide as he sucked in a breath.

Gulping down his nerves, (Y/N) smiled awkwardly. "Will's waiting for me. I should get going."

Eddie nodded and stood up, looking at (Y/N) like he wanted to say something.

"I... would you draw some of the characters from today? The party really needs more visual aid."

They both knew that wasn't really what he wanted to say, but (Y/N) nodded nonetheless.

"Yeah! Of course. Will and I can both work on it, he draws almost better than I do," he laughed a little too hard. (Y/N)'s heart was beating so fast he could barely concentrate on breathing.

"See you next session."

"See you."

(Y/N) sped out of the room, shaking his head and scolding himself. He couldn't believe that Eddie had seen the sketches of him. And his response? Ugh. (Y/N) dismissed the thoughts aggressively in his head and walked to his car, opening the door and climbing in.

"Woah, are you okay? Your face is really red," Will immediately asked, alarmed at his brother's shading.

"Yeah, I'm fine," (Y/N) quickly responded, shaking his head and starting his car. He pulled back and maneuvered out of the parking lot.

Will stared at him for a second longer before smirking. "So you know Eddie?"

(Y/N) bit his lip for a moment.

"He asked us to draw some of the characters for the campaign. You in?" he glanced over at Will before returning his eyes to the road.

"Uh, duh. But you didn't answer my question." He wasn't going to let (Y/N) off the hook, and they both knew it.

"We... uhm- used to play D&D together, with the old group. My last two years of highschool, actually," (Y/N) explained hesitantly. "I-" he cleared his throat- "had a huge crush on him. I drew him a lot and he just found the sketches."

"Had?" Will repeated.

"That's enough from you," (Y/N) scolded, glaring teasingly at Will.

End

--

Am I baiting you for a part 2? Honestly, I'm not really sure myself.

Am I too tired to continue this? That's just a fact.

Idk if I'll write a part 2, do you guys want one?

Lemme know

-Author Max <3

[storybookwolf]

Here's my contribution to @jancyweek2022 day 2 - childhood

The Elder Tree Campaign

September 1979

‘On behalf of her people, the Elven Princess thanks the Party for saving the Elder Tree’s forest from the rampaging Dracolich. In recognition of their courage, she bestows gifts on all of them and pledges her unending loyalty … she also vows to do all their chores for the next week, and to quit hogging the bathroom all the time.’

‘MIKE!’ Nancy glared at her little brother. ‘Shouldn’t “the Party” be thanking the Elven Princess for helping them with their campaign?’

He rolled his eyes and sighed theatrically. ‘Fine,’ he huffed. ‘The Party refused the Princess’s gifts, saying that seeing her people safe and happy is all the reward they need, and thanked her for her loyalty and assistance.’

‘…Then the Princess replied, “You’re very welcome,” and returned to her tower,’ Nancy said. She skipped up the stairs two at a time, eager to change out of her costume, which had started to itch about two hours into the campaign. It had been fun, though, dressing up and playing with the little kids. She’d be mortified if anyone from school found out, since being in 6th grade apparently meant you couldn’t do anything remotely babyish, and were just supposed to talk about pop music and clothes and which boys you liked. Those things were fun, but so was pretending to rescue elf villagers from a zombie dragon. (Nancy could just imagine the way Carol Perkins, who actually wore makeup to school, would sneer at that.)

Just as she was thinking how glad she was no one from school could see her now, in last year’s ballet recital dress and a homemade flower crown, with little cones of paper on the top of each ear to make them pointy, the door at the top of the stairs opened and she nearly crashed into someone from her class. Not just any someone. A boy.

Jonathan Byers.

Nancy felt her face get hot, and just knew she was blushing like crazy. Then she saw that Jonathan’s face was also red. Oh god, did she look like such an idiot that he was embarrassed for her? Even though he wasn’t the cutest or most popular boy in her class, he was pretty nice, and she definitely didn’t want him to think she was a baby.

‘Sorry! I didn’t mean to walk right into you. I’m just here to pick up Will.’ Jonathan looked down at his feet, then back up at her, taking in her costume. ‘Are you … an elf?’

The burning in her cheeks intensified, and a knot formed in her stomach. ‘Yeah … I was helping the kids with their Dungeons and Dragons game.’

Jonathan smiled. ‘That’s so cool! Will’s always talking about how great your brother’s campaigns are. It sounds really fun. Maybe … maybe I could play too, sometime? With Mike and Will and you.’

The knot loosened as she took in how genuine his smile was. It started to feel more like butterflies. ‘That’d be really nice,’ she said, suddenly shy.

‘Cool,’ said Jonathan. He was still blushing, which made her butterflies flutter more intensly.

‘Cool.’

‘I should—’ Jonathan pointed past her, down the stairs, and she let him pass, noticing how the light glinted off his hair. Maybe he wasn’t the cutest boy in her class, but he was still kind of nice to look at. And he definitely wasn’t going to make fun of her for playing D and D with their little brothers.

She floated up to her room, imagining what type of campaign they might go on, and what monsters they might battle together.

[circethesinner]

the puppeteer ✿ it's here - chapter 11 ✿

pairing: steve harrington x original female character (can be read as x reader)

warning(s): strong language, descriptions of violence, mature themes 

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previous chapter ━ ✿ ━ next chapter

masterlist

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As soon as they'd pulled up to the station, Bambi had spotted the cop she'd elbowed earlier that day through the window. Fortunately, he appeared to be alone.

"Give me a sec," She told the other two in the car with her.

Leaving Eleven behind with the kids at the school had been tough, but she'd given her another huge hug and a kiss on the head and promised she'd only be gone for a little while, and she'd be back for her as soon as possible.

Bambi reached out and made a connection with the cop whose name Bambi remembered to be Callahan. His mind was incredibly easy to get into. Some people had tougher minds, they took a lot of strength and effort to break into and control, but with people like Callahan, it was almost pathetic how easy it was.

With no time to waste, she stood up and walked directly to Hopper's office, where she collected the box of gear they'd purchased. On her way out, she paused and grabbed the fire extinguisher as well. Being in the body of a grown man, it was significantly easier to carry both things at once than it would have been in her body.

She walked straight to Jonathan's car, where she opened the back door and placed the box and fire extinguisher in the back seat next to her vacated body.

"Anything else?" She asked Nancy and Jonathan as she leant down. They exchanged wary looks and shook their heads. With a final nod, Bambi walked back to the station and sat down in the seat she'd found Callahan in and left his mind, dragging the past three minutes back with her. He'd remember nothing.

Back in her own body, Bambi pulled the tissue Jonathan had given her earlier that day out and wiped the blood from her nose.

"He was so easy to get into. Usually, there's a little bit of a pushback from people as their thoughts kind of push me out, but it was like cutting through butter with that man," Bambi chuckled as she stuffed the tissue back into her pocket. "Seriously, it's like he's never had a single thought a day in his life. Usually, I can only control someone for about five minutes, but I could have gone a whole hour in that head of his, I swear."

"And he won't remember anything?" Nancy asked, looking back at her.

"Not a thing," Bambi nodded. "Honestly, I'm surprised he even remembers his own name, and that's without me interfering with anything."

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The trio made quick work of screwing the bulbs back into the fairy lights and setting up the bear trap for the monster the kids had referred to as the 'Demogorgon', a term Bambi recognised from the few sessions of Dungeons & Dragons she'd gotten a chance to participate in with a group of people back at school. Bambi fought away the yearning to be back there, playing as her Cleric Elf character, where her biggest concern was trying to convince the other players that she was totally not in a cult while simultaneously trying the entire campaign to get them to join the thing that was totally not a cult. Life had been easier back at home.

But now, instead of fighting little monster figurines where you could leave your fate in your dice, she was fighting an actual horrifying monster who was very hungry for blood.

The plan was to lure the Demogorgon there and trap it in the bear trap, then set it on fire. There were flaws in their plan, but it was the best they could come up with, given their resources and time limit. If push came to shove, Bambi would try and control the monster's mind. She hoped push wouldn't come to shove since she already felt a little weak after using her powers twice that day following her long stretch of barely using them at all, but she was prepared in case it did come to that.

Bambi had a croquet mallet that the Byers had lying around in their shed, and Jonathan had done the honours of hammering nails into the head of it so it would pack a harder punch. It wasn't an ideal weapon, but she'd reiterated how shit of a shot she was with a gun, and they only had one baseball bat, so it would do. Bambi was just reinforcing the stick with as much duct tape as she could wrap around it, worried that the force she'd have to swing it at would just snap it if she weren't careful.

The smell of gasoline stuck in Bambi's throat. If the anxiety wasn't making her stomach churn, then that certainly was. But she had no time to dwell on that. It was time to execute their plan.

"Remember-" Jonathan started.

"Straight into Will's room, and-" Nancy continued.

"Don't step on the trap." Bambi finished.

"Wait for the yo-yo to move," Nancy added.

"Then..." Jonathan flicked his lighter. "All right. You both ready?" Bambi and Nancy both nodded in confirmation. They all drew their knives to their palms, having decided earlier that it was easier for them to all go ahead and draw blood. The more blood, the better the chances it would lure the monster to them. "On three... One... two... You two don't have to do this-"

"Jonathan, stop talking," Nancy interrupted.

"We're all in this together," Bambi sighed. She wanted to get this over with.

"I'm just saying, you guys don't have to-" Jonathan protested again.

"Three!" Nancy interrupted again, and together they sliced their hands and let the blood drip onto the floor. That would be a nasty stain to clean up later, but then again, the fire damage would probably be a hell of a lot worse. She'd have to offer to help Joyce fix up the house again if she made it out alive.

They sat down and bandaged their hands up as they waited. Bambi was in charge of that. She'd once taken the memory of a first-aid course one of the scientists back at the lab had taken in college. Fortunately, it had gone unnoticed, and it had been quite humorous to see the scientist fumble over trying to wrap a bandage around another scientist's arm a few months later. Bambi had a feeling the skill would be required once she was out, and now she was thankful that she had taken it.

Outside, the wind caused something to creak softly. Every sound put them on edge, Nancy in particular. Bambi couldn't blame her. She'd just found out the monster had killed her best friend. It was only natural for her to be more on edge.

"Did you hear that?" Nancy asked, looking around.

"I'm pretty sure it was just the wind," Bambi mumbled, though she still felt uneasy.

"Don't worry." Jonathan's voice was shaky, a contradiction to the words he'd just said. "My mom, she said the lights speak when it comes."

"Speak?" Nancy asked. Bambi felt a little better as she imagined the lights all chiming out 'the monster is here!' in tiny little voices.

"Blink." Jonathan corrected. "Think of them as alarms." Bambi finished wrapping up Jonathan's hand and pretended again not to notice when Nancy had picked it up afterwards. She understood why Steve thought the two may have been in a relationship behind his back. There was definitely some sort of chemistry there that made Bambi feel incredibly awkward as the third wheel.

As if her thoughts had summoned him, Steve's voice suddenly called out from the door as he banged on it, causing quite the fright amongst the three teens.

"Jonathan? Are you there, man? It's- it's Steve!" The trio cast concerned looks at one another. Steve had to get the hell out of there and do it fast. "Listen, I just want to talk!" Nancy got up to answer the door.

"Steve, listen to me." She told him. He tried to protest, but she stopped him from getting too far. "You need to leave."

"I'm not trying to start anything, okay?" Steve denied.

"I don't care about that," Nancy told him firmly. "You need to leave."

"No, no, no! Listen, I messed up, okay? I messed- I messed up. Okay? Really. Please. I just want to make things right. Okay? Please. Please-" Steve begged. Bambi almost felt sorry for him... Almost. "Hey, what happened to your hand? Is that blood?"

"Nothing!" Nancy tried to brush it off. "It was an accident."

"Shit. Here we go...." Bambi whispered, quiet enough for only Jonathan to hear. She stood up to stand behind Nancy at the door. She hadn't opened it enough for Steve to see her.

"What's going on?" Steve asked as Nancy tried to tell him that nothing was going on. "Wait a sec. Did he do this to you? Nancy, let me in!"

"No! No, Steve!" Nancy tried to push him away, but Steve barged past and came tumbling through the door, directly into Bambi, who stumbled back and rubbed her head which she'd hit on his jaw.

"Motherfucker!" Bambi cursed, glaring at him. He looked apologetic for a second before he looked around the house at the shitshow they'd set up.

"What is- What the-" Steve stammered. Bambi pushed on his chest to try and get him to walk backwards and leave.

"Okay, pretty boy, time to get out," She rolled her eyes, but he pushed her hand away.

"What is all-" Steve started to ask again. Jonathan took over, trying to get him to leave. He was a lot more forceful than Bambi had been.

"You need to get out of here." Jonathan tried to push him away, but Steve fought him off. "Listen to me. I'm not asking you. I'm telling you, get out of here!"

"What is that smell?" Steve asked, taking a few more steps into the room. "Is that- is that gasoline?" Bambi turned her head as she heard a gun cock.

"Steve, get out!" Nancy was holding a gun to Steve. Bambi felt a swirl of emotions. She was impressed Nancy had the guts to do that, but she was also fucking terrified that something would go wrong, and then they'd end up with a dead teen boy on their hands as well as a monster.

"Wait! What?" Steve shouted. He looked terrified. No doubt his life was flashing before his eyes. Based on the fact that Bambi could somehow smell his hairspray over the smell of gasoline, she assumed it was at least 50% made up of him styling his hair. "What is going on?"

"You have five seconds to get out of here," Nancy demanded.

"Okay, is this a joke? Stop!" Steve held his hands out in self-defence, not that they'd stop a bullet. "Put the gun down."

"I'm doing this for you." As Nancy spoke, the lights started flashing.

"Right on fucking time!" Bambi groaned as Jonathan tried to get Nancy's attention, but she was lost in her own world as she counted down the time Steve had left to get out.

"Nancy! The lights." Jonathan managed to catch her attention, and she brought the gun down, looking around to confirm. "It's here." Jonathan lunged to grab his bat as Bambi jumped over the coffee table to get her mallet, she knocked a glass over, but that was the least of her worries. Nancy and Jonathan circled around, back to back, as they looked for any sign of the monster. Bambi did her best to get in front of Steve, but she had no idea where the monster would be coming from, so she had no idea what direction she needed to protect him from.

"Hello? Will someone, please explain to me what the hell is going-" Steve was interrupted as the monster emerged from the corner of the room. Bambi grabbed Steve's arm while Nancy tried to shoot at it, though it seemed to be unbothered by the bullets as it dropped down from the ceiling.

"Go! Go! Run! Go!" Jonathan shouted as he led the way. Bambi didn't need to be told twice as she dragged Steve along behind them, shouting at him to jump over the bear trap.

He may have been an ass, but there was no way she was about to let him die... Hopefully.

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enemies to lovers but it's just bambi deciding steve is her enemy and he has no idea because him little head empty no thoughts sweet baby :)

likes are very much appreciated and I will give each and every one of you little kisses on the forehead for each comment you write :)

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taglist (let me know if you want to be added!)

@missyviolet123

[self-proclaimed-chaotic-good]

Welcome to the Forgotten Realms | Hawkins Crew

Prompt: Going Inside a Book/Story

Words: 3166

Fandom: Stranger Things

A/N: Writer’s Month is over, but I’m still going to try and finish this, just three more prompts to go. I’m drawing from my limited knowledge of DnD 5th edition and light research on 1st edition, so if some of it isn’t accurate, how many people would actually know the difference between 5th and 1st? Also, while trying to wrap up the ending, it gave ‘Welcome to Jumanji’ vibes and I pictured a Nigel character popping up, but still looks like Rhys Darby. Lol look at me creating lore for a world that I might not visit again. Or won’t I?

Summary: The older group decides to play DnD, much to Eddie’s delight. A sudden storm cut off the electricity in the middle of a session, but when they looked around to find that they weren’t in Hawkins anymore.

-

Eddie rubbed his hands together gleefully like an evil mastermind as his new friends finished their character sheets. He had minis that he had painted in his spare time that were close enough to what they wanted their characters to look like, each of them standing right in front of each player. 

Nancy was more familiar with the mechanics since the kids usually played in the basement, having picked it up quickly and helping the others when they needed it. Jonathan had admitted that Will spoke about their campaigns but never really broke down the mechanics unless he asked him. Robin was catching on, piecing her character together in no time. That left Steve who was frowning at his sheet before sliding it over to Eddie. Dustin had actually helped him build his character beforehand, but he wasn’t sure how to play him.

“Does this look… right?” Steve asked after filling out his character’s backstory.

Eddie leaned over, eagerly scanning through his character sheet and smiled. “Steve, Stevie, Steve-O. I feel like you’ve thought this character through before.”

“Ah, well,” Steve muttered sheepishly, scratching the back of his head with his pencil. “Henderson’s always wanted me to play with them, so… the roleplaying part is kind of… I don’t know.”

“Embarrassing?”

Steve nodded. “This is why I didn’t take drama, man.”

“Well, you should have, or else you wouldn’t be having this problem,” Robin said, giving him a pointed look. “And maybe you would have been less of a douche in high school.”

“Thank you so much, Robin, I appreciated your needed input,” Steve replied sarcastically.

“Hey, everyone’s gotta start somewhere,” Eddie said, patting Steve’s shoulder. “This is everyone’s first game, so we’re gonna take it easy and learn how the game works together. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. DMs love questions, unless they’re dumb.”

“I guess Steve can’t ask anything then.”

“You know what, Buckley, I’m not going to be driving you around anymore.”

“Nice try, dingus. This whole time you still drove me to school and work when you thought I had a license. There’s no way you’re going to suddenly stop giving me rides.”

“Anyways,” Eddie interrupted, “Superior Wheeler. Big Byers. How are your characters coming along?”

“We’re just about finished,” Nancy said.

Jonathan nodded. “Yeah, we figured that it’ll be easier if our characters know each other so we’d have someone to bounce off on.”

“It’s a very common method to do and helps with backstories,” Eddie said, nodding in approval. “What race and class are you?”

“Nance is a high elf ranger and I’m thinking of being a drow rogue.”

“Interesting. Very interesting.” Eddie folded his fingers together and rested his chin on them. “Drows are usually lawful evil aligned, but for my campaigns, I’m not too strict on those things as long as it creates a good story. To have a high elf and a drow know each other, that’s really interesting. Buckley.”

Robin held up her character sheet and shook it. “I think I’ve made it more complicated than it had to be. I made a Forest Gnome Wizard. It’s complicated for me because I just realized how many spells I have to manage. But we’re just level one, right? So, it shouldn’t be that bad for now, but, like, I’ve done this whole backstory that is too similar to Batman.”

Eddie nodded sagely. “Many players, no matter how seasoned they are, have done this. It’s an easy trope to fall on, but if you add your own twist to it, it could work.”

“What if when she talks to animals, instead of the high pitch tone people use, it’s gruffy like a heavy smoker?”

Jonathan snorted. “Is your voice going to be okay after that?”

“See, I made it harder on myself than it should be.”

“What if you made your character’s normal voice high pitched and when you speak to animals it's at a normal pitch?” Steve said, holding back a smile.

Robin scrunched her face. “That’s even worse.”

“I am not going to sit through a two hour session with that voice,” Nancy said firmly.

“Thank you, Nance.”

“Oh! Why didn’t I think of this?” Steve said, facepalming. “The kermit voice!”

“No! I told you to drop that already!” Robin shouted. “What’s your character anyways, dingus? I bet it’s boring.”

Steve glared at her from across the table. “Human Paladin,” he muttered.

“See. Boring.”

“Hey, now. We haven’t started playing yet,” Eddie tried to mediate. “If everyone’s ready, we can begin.” He held his hands out, eyeing them all. When they all nodded, he clapped his hands. “Alright, let me set the scene for you, adventurers.”

-

“Uh, guys, I don’t know if we should be going in a super scary tower without a plan,” Robin pointed out.

“Haunted, too,” Steve added.

“Yeah. Super scary haunted tower.”

“The guy at the tavern said that something strange is happening here. There’s people going missing and no one has ever used this tower in years until now,” Jonathan said.

Nancy nodded her head. “Exactly. Seeing light in the tower around the same time the first disappearance happened? There’s got to be a connection. We have to at least try.”

“Okay, so what do we know about this tower?” Robin looked down at her character sheet, then at Eddie. “With my wizardry background, would I know anything about this place?”

“Roll me a history check with advantage. You’re quite studious and one of the top of your class,” Eddie said, pointing at the D20 in front of her.

Robin nodded, shaking her hand and tossing the dice carefully. She grimaced, then rolled again, the corner of her lips turning up. “That’s an unnatural 20 for history.”

“Good. Yes, you have heard a considerable amount about this ancient wizard’s tower during your studies. He was a promising wizard that grew his power at an exponential rate. The academy was once proud to call him their own, but now they use him as a cautionary tale.”

Everyone leaned forward as Eddie unraveled the lore of the tower’s creator, Nancy furiously taking notes and Jonathan jotting down what stood out to him. Steve sat, memorized, as Eddie’s soothing voice wrapped around him, painting the picture in his mind. Robin nodded along with his words, pausing when she saw Steve staring at Eddie intensely, marking that down in her mental notes for later.

“He realized that the academy was limiting him. The prospect of harnessing dark magic grew more and more tempting by the day, haunting his dreams at night. It became too much when the academy was attacked. Their mistake was thinking that if they shielded their students from the darkness, they would never be harmed from it. As it were, you cannot protect yourself from something you have no knowledge of. The students fell one by one, overcome by power that they could not understand.”

He paused for effect, a thunderstorm with bad timing rumbled outside, causing the lights above to flicker. They all stiffened, looking up until the lights steadied. The younger kids were at Sinclairs, so they weren’t worried about them galavanting. After their stunt last time with the whole Vecna thing and running from the police, the parents of the Party made it a point to take turns having movie or game night at their houses. This also encouraged the older kids to spend more time together.

Eddie exhaled slowly, seeing the others doing the same as they tried to get back to the game. “Until, finally, our wizard fled into the restricted section of the library and poured through its knowledge. He casted a spell so great that it destroyed all of his surroundings, killing every enemy and every friend. There he stood, in the middle of the rubble, without a scratch on him. Though, he felt his blood boiling, his veins turning black, nails extending into claws, and his eyes bleeding. For a moment, his heart stopped. Within that moment, the power of the darkness took over and flooded his body with unsurmountable power.”

“Who is he?” Robin asked quietly, not wanting to break the atmosphere.

Eddie’s brown eyes scanned over the players as he smirked. Just as he opened his mouth, the power went down. There was a collective gasp around the table and shuffling as they reached over to each other to ground themselves.

“The backup generator isn’t kicking in,” Nancy said.

“You guys have a backup generator?” Robin asked incredulously, feeling Nancy stand up next to her. “Where are you going?”

“My dad was so paranoid about Russians stealing electricity all over the country that he bought this expensive generator thing,” Nancy explained, “He’s kind of late on that, though. There should be extra flashlights and candles somewhere over here if the kids hadn’t gotten to them yet.”

“Here,” Jonathan said, flicking on his lighter. 

He found Nancy and helped her look through the cabinets for the emergency supplies. Their eyes adjusted to the dim light, not finding anything familiar in their surroundings. Nancy frowned, reaching out to touch one of the side tables. Her fingers touched something and she tugged on Jonathan’s sleeve to come closer. She had found a candle and he quickly dislodged it from the table and lit it up.

“What the hell,” he muttered, touching the wall that was no longer covered in wallpaper, but cold stone bricks. “Guys?”

He turned and saw that Nancy had done quick work in finding the other candles, handing each of their friends one. Steve scanned the area, scanning the dark corners of the room before announcing that it was clear. Robin ran her hands along the walls until she found a wooden torch hanging from a metal sconce. Eddie, being tall enough to pull it out, brought it over to her to light up.

Now, with a brighter light source, the party could see what had become of the room. Eddie stumbled back with wide eyes, convinced for a moment that he had fallen asleep on the couch of the Wheelers basement and would wake up at any minute. Steve stepped towards the table that they were playing at, frowning as he lifted the object that was now on his chair. A sword. A frickin’ sword.

“We’re not in Hawkins anymore,” Eddie mused, looking at Robin.

“No shit,” she muttered, “What is this? This isn’t the Upside Down. No creepy vines or particles in the air.”

“It’s like we were taken into a dungeon,” Jonathan said, joining Steve at the table where he found a traveler’s pack and knives at his seat.

Nancy looked at the new items on the table, their character sheets and minis gone and replaced with their character items and clothing. She gingerly picked up her new crossbow, testing its weight and how to hold it. She turned to Robin who was flipping through a book filled with runes that she couldn’t understand. Robin’s blue eyes widened, her jaw dropping as she scanned through it.

“I understand what this is,” Robin said in disbelief, “I can read this.”

“Holy shit,” Eddie muttered, “Are we in the game? Not the type of level of immersion I was imagining. I was thinking more like LARP or something, but…”

His eyes caught the sight of a thick leather book, replacing his DM notes and Monster Manual. He ran his fingers along the embossing of the cover, a shiver running down his spine as a whisper tickled the back of his mind. So, the others were their characters, he presumed. Steve was a paladin, Robin a wizard, Nancy a ranger, and Jonathan a rogue. He usually played a bard, but this? This screamed warlock. So, who was his patron?

 A noise from above jolted everyone from their state of shock, Steve taking position in front of the group with his great sword held at the ready. Nancy grabbed the nearest bolt and took a minute to figure out how to load the crossbow.

Footsteps neared the top of the stone stairs ahead of them, a warm glow leaking underneath the wooden door. Steve gripped the hilt and planted his feet in anticipation before the footsteps moved away. He exchanged a look with Nancy and Jonathan before moving towards the stairs. Robin jerked forward.

“Be careful, dingus,” she hissed.

Steve grimaced and gave her a nod, making his steps light as possible as he ascended. As he drew closer to the door, he began to hear bustling and chatter outside, like a bar or something. He turned to look at the group with a frown, lowering his sword to peek through the crack of the door. It was a bar. Well, some medieval bar. Tavern, as Eddie would describe it.

He made his way back down and described what he saw. They agreed to go up together, changing their outfits and packing their things before moving. With all the weird shit that they had dealt with throughout the years, they knew it was best to just roll with it and find out what’s going on to stop it. Steve was at the front again with Eddie, Robin, and Nancy in the middle, and Jonathan at the back. They pulled over the hoods of their cloaks and walked out, the sound of the tavern hitting them full force.

“Ah, adventurers!” A man with a full blonde mustache exclaimed, getting up from his table with arms spread open. “I’ve been awaiting your arrival. I am Sir Arthur Calthorn.”

“Have you?” Eddie asked, stepping forward.

“Oh, yes, indeed, Edmund the Banished. I’ve sent a letter to your guild for aid. Have you read it?”

“Guys?” Nancy held out a piece of parchment that appeared in her hand towards them.

“No fucking way,” Eddie muttered as Robin took it from her. “This is the exact letter I wrote out for you guys at the start of the game.”

“So, what? We gotta deal with this evil wizard again?” Jonathan asked.

“Precisely, Pentaxl, known by many circles as Ghostwalker for his quiet deposition and silent and quick movements. Nance Swifttaker, the deadliest and most precise shot of all the realms, a pleasure to see you as always. Magenta Silvertongue, genius polyglot and one of the most powerful spellcasters to ever grace the academy.” The man, Calthorn, nodded over to Nancy and Robin before clapping a hand on Steve’s shoulder. “And the brave Steven Oathkeeper, slayer of beasts and protector of man.”

“Why do you guys have cool introductions?” Eddie whined under his breath. Nancy smacked him in the shoulder, shaking her head.

“You must help us with the darkness that threatens to spread throughout the Forgotten Realms. If the darkness spreads, then all of humanity is lost.”

“Cool. This isn’t crazy at all,” Steve muttered, sharing a freaked out look with Robin.

“And what realm are we in exactly?” Robin asked.

“Abeir-Toril,” Eddie answered before Calthorn could say anything. “One of many planets that exists in the Torilian System or the Realmspace.”

“Sharp as always, Edmund the Banished,” Calthorn said, snapping his fingers.

Eddie grimaced. “Don’t call me Edmund.”

“We need to get back home,” Nancy said, bringing back the situation at hand. “We’re not from here.”

“Of course, Miss Swifttaker, but in order to return to your homeworld, you must complete this mission,” Calthorn said, nodding to the letter. “And a key will be granted to you to take you back. Now…”

He clapped his hands and the group was teleported outside of the tavern where horses and a carriage awaited them. They looked around at the bustling and seemingly thriving city that they found themselves in, a steady traffic of carriages through the main road, market stalls lining the other side of the street, layers upon layers of districts passed that, leading up to a grand building in the middle.

“Now, come along,” Calthorn urged, climbing into the carriage. “We will be needing to meet with the counsel before you five set off.”

“Uh, normally I wouldn’t get in the car with strangers, so what’s the call here?” Robin whispered.

“He said that we will be given a key once we stop the darkness or something,” Nancy said, “And it’ll take us home. Unless we find some other way to get back without having to deal with all of this… whether it’s some kind of dream or whatever, we just have to keep moving and stick together. That’s all we can do for now. If we gain more information about this place, we’ll know where to go next.”

“See, this is why Wheeler, sorry, Swifttaker, is the leader,” Eddie said with a grin. 

Jonathan nodded sagely. “So, who’s going in the carriage with the guy?”

“I’ll take one of the horses,” Steve offered, “I’m assuming that carriage can only fit four people, so…”

“I’ve got the crossbow, so I’ll take the other horse,” Nancy said.

“Okay, cool, but do you guys really think that we’ll be attacked in the middle of the city?” Robin asked, looking around. “Do you guys even know how to ride a horse?”

“I learned when I was little,” Steve said with a shrug.

Nancy nodded. “Me, too. It was during a rare Wheeler family vacation.”

“Ugh, rich people,” Eddie teased with a roll of his eyes. “I guess us peasants will take the fancy carriage, then. After you, m’lady.” 

He held a hand out to help Robin in and did the same for Jonathan, much to his amusement, after Jonathan squeezed Nancy’s hand and kissed her on the forehead. Eddie turned to Steve and smiled.

“Guard the carriage for us, won’t you, big boy?” he said with a wink.

“I don’t know, am I getting a kiss on the forehead, too?” Steve played along.

Eddie’s grin widened. He leaned forward and planted an obnoxiously wet kiss on his forehead before patting him on his reddening cheek. Nancy raised an eyebrow at Steve who looked dazed until she nudged his shoulder. Once everyone was in the carriage and the other two on the horses, the group set off for what Calthorn called the Guild Quarters.

“God, I feel like I’m going to wake up any minute, having fallen asleep because of how boring the campaign was,” Robin said, her eyes darting around out the window.

“Hey, you guys were totally enjoying it!” Eddie protested.

Jonathan sighed. “Just when I thought I’d seen everything.”

The carriage merged into the traffic, being carried away towards the center of the city. Nothing looked familiar to anyone except Eddie, who’s eyes kept getting impossibly bigger the deeper into the city they traveled, seeing the map he made come to life right before him.

“Well, whatever is happening, hopefully this is a cool send off for you three before you leave for college, huh?”

Eddie turned away, feeling something pinch in his mind. A low growl echoed through his brain, a cold feeling like tentacles wrapping around him made him flinch.

“Eddie,” a familiar voice purred.

[frodo-baggins]

🎬📺share ten different favorite characters from ten different pieces of media in particular order🎮🃏 Then send this to 10 (anon or not, your choice)

ooh this sounds fun arya, thank you!!! 💖

frodo baggins. iorhael. ringbearer. elf-friend. maura labingi. mr underhill. light and love of my life

sansa stark my absolute darling girl (asoiaf)

fox mulder bestie blorbo beloved (the x files)

anakin skywalker!!!! (sw)

jonathan byers baby boy (stranger things)

sam winchester best boy (spn)

harry james potter (hp) (the terf who must not be named can prise him from my cold dead hands)

natasha romanoff (marvel)

jack shephard (lost)

peeta mellark (the hunger games)

[carnationcreation]

Can you do a Jonathan Byers one-shot where the female reader is a Hawkins Lab experiment who has super speed and was known as Seven and escaped the lab with Eleven and they were adopted by Hopper and she started dating Jonathan and during the fight with the mind flayer she tires herself out and faints and he goes into cute concerned boyfriend mode?

TITLE: New Life (Jonathan Byers x Hopper!reader)

✌🏻Masterlist 

💕 Request an imagine here!

🥰 Join my tag list here!

Request: yes!

Prompt/summary: Reader is an escaped experiment from Hawkins lab, after being adopted by Hopper with her sister El they struggle to adjust to the outside world. 

Word Count: 1,155

Warnings:  none

Authors note: I was listening to Dumb by KOPPS and Branded by NateWantsToBattle, really sets the vibe of most of the scenes

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(Y/h/c) = Your hair color

(Y/f/b)= your favorite band

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 She knew the blood dripping off her feet would attract the hounds.

At this point it didn’t matter if she wanted to give up, she’d be dead either way. The hounds would tear her apart. If they were going to catch her they’ll have to keep up.

Her powers only worked if she had enough energy. After a full night of running, both super sonically and regularly, she was exhausted. The clothes she had escaped with were torn and she had bruises on her body from the times she fell over branches and rocks sticking out of the ground. She knew she would have to find food soon, but she didn’t have any idea of how to get it.

The growl in her stomach went away for just a little bit, then it came back with a painful vengeance. Her days at the lab consisted of being locked in her room or being put into the tank. What little she could remember about her life before was stripped away in a matter of months and the more she thought about it the more her head hurt and she came up empty. 

Her vision was going in and out. Her feet felt like lead and she knew she wouldn’t be able to run much longer.

Maybe, she thought, if I just lay down here. I’ll be dead before they find me.

It was an optimistic thought. What she didn’t expect was to feel someone gently picking her up. Her body sunk into him. She couldn’t have been more than 13 years old but she had a number lower than 11...

Hopper turned her wrist over and saw the tattoo on the girls small wrist. A tiny 07 was drawn there, surely she had to have been there before El.

By the time he had gotten back to the cabin El knew he had her and was bringing her home. 

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

The next few months were terrifying for the girl. She couldn’t speak much, just like El when she was first found. After days of trying to feed her and get her to talk it wasn’t until El presented her own tattoo that the girl seemed to relax. The only time she would eat was when El was in the room, the only time she would sleep was when they were both in bed.

Her powers were a struggle. She had to learn she couldn’t use them around other people. And people. The girl had spent her entire life locked away, only seeing other humans if she was useful enough. So being introduced to knew people was terrifying. They soon found out she was probably around 16-17 when they took her in for a check up with a private doctor. Hopper pulled some strings so it was no questions asked, and an adoption paper was formed a few days later.

She found some comfort in Nancy, who took the girl under her wing buying her clothes and teaching her how to keep her hair in order. The (y/c/h) was finally starting to grow out from the horrible buzz cut she had when she was found. 

Then she met Jonathan.

At first he thought she hated him, because whenever he was around she would cling to the people she deemed safe. Nancy assured him she would warm up to him eventually, but there was still a voice in his head that said she wouldn’t. 

She grew close to Will after he gave her a drawing he had made for her. He carefully explained that it was her in the game that they play. He drew her as an Elf, one with the power of speed, he drew her with long wavy hair that was styled half up half down and a glorious crown on top of her head. She kept the drawing in her bedroom and looked at it before going to bed. Jonathan wouldn’t lie, he was jealous his brother bonded with her before he did. And besides, Will was a few years younger. But still he waited patiently to see how you would react to him.

Slowly you started warming up to him. After a while you started to look curiously at the camera he always carried with him.

”It’s a camera,” he said handing it to her, “Look, place your finger right there, and press it.”

the girl jumped as the flash went off. Jonathan grabbed the picture that popped out of the top of it and shook it a few times. The girl watched in wonder as the picture of Jonathan slowly appeared on the film. She pointed excitedly to it.

”Yes you did a good job!” he smiled. She couldn’t help but smile back.

As time went on Joyce invited the two girls over to their house more often. (Y/n), as Hopper had named her on the fake birth certificate, would wander in to Jonathan’s room to look at the pictures that were scattered on the walls. 

”Have you ever listened to music?” Jonathan asked her one day.

She shook her head and looked at the small cassette he had in his hands. He popped it into the radio and she stared with furrowed eyebrows at the machine. 

“Not much into rock huh? I guess we can find something you’ll like.”

Slowly, the two grew a friendship. Jonathan made it his personal mission to find out what kind of music (Y/n) would like best and also adjusting to her new life. They eventually landed on (y/f/b), and whenever he knew (Y/n) was coming over he’d have a tape ready for her to listen to. Will would join in occasionally on their music sessions.

They both soon learned how starved (Y/n) was of physical touch. Growing up as an experiment didn’t leave much room for hugs or gentle touches. She’d let Will lay in her lap whenever he wanted and hugs were always exchanged when they saw each other. The first time Jonathan tried to brush her hair out of her face with his hand he saw he flinch, his heart fell and thoughts of what might’ve happened to her to cause that raced through his mind. Soon enough he could reach for her hand without her pulling away. Soon enough she started reaching for his too.

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

Jonathan did his best to keep the girl away from Star Court. (Y/n) had stayed home most of that summer. With all the fireworks going off and all the people milling around she didn’t feel safe enough to go out. It wasn’t until the rest of the kids came to the cabin to give El the chance to find the Mind Flayer that she learned about what all the experiments at the lab where truly for.

Billy had found them.

They were trapped inside the mall after everyone split up to complete the mission. Mike frantically spoke into the walkie-talkie trying to get in contact with the Scoops Troop. Eleven moved the car as the mind flayer made its way into the mall, everyone ran to hide. They could hear Dustin finally talking over the walkie-talkie.

The mind flayer stalked around the food court. From her place behind the car (Y/n) could hear it making its way over. El and (Y/n) made eye contact, they both nodded and El’s group ran for cover in the Gap store. The mind flayer heard movement and went to turn and (Y/n) ran and threw a knife, hitting it in the leg to distract it, but by the time it turned around she was gone. (Y/n) ran over to the group and picked El up, they ran to a back hallway trying to get the injured El to safety.

 Billy stalked his way down the hall to the four.

“Billy please, your name is Billy Hargrove you live at-” Max cried before hitting her and knocking her against the wall. Mike stood between him and the girls but it was no use. Before they could even properly react he knocked both Mike and (Y/n) out and took El with him.

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

Jonathan found them back there, he woke them up finally and they raced back out to the food court to execute Plan B. 

(Y/n) ran back and forth at the first floor, sing rope to tie up the Mind Flayers legs as the others threw fireworks in it’s face to distract it. Soon enough they fan out. With Dustin yelling frantically to close the gate. We all ran for cover and watched in shock as Billy stood up. He faced the Mind Flayer, and when it shot it’s nasty tongue out Billy blocked it from hitting El. Arm after arm reached out and impaled the boy. Max screamed. (Y/n) saw her chance and used the last of her strength to run down and grab El, Mike, and Max to bring them to safety. Finally a big explosion went off from below and everything went dark. 

When (Y/n) woke everything was dark. All the lights had went out and the fire department was loading her up onto a stretcher. Jonathan ran up beside her and got onto the ambulance with her.

“Jonathan?” she said meekly.

“I’m right here (Y/n), I’m right here.”

“Where’s El?”

Jonathan paused, “She’s with my mom. She’s safe just injured.”

“Hopper?”

Jonathan didn’t respond. Tears formed in (Y/n)’s eyes as she began to sob. 

“(Y/n) I promise you we’ll keep you safe. You’re going to be fine.”

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

It was 3 months after the battle of Star Court. Joyce had adopted both El and (Y/n), who still hadn’t fully recovered from the loss of the person who has showed them so much love. (Y/n) had grown closer and closer to Jonathan. Clinging to him after she got out of the hospital. The Byers had finally decided to move. (Y/n) laughed at Max and Lucas’ terrible rendition of The Never Ending Story. She watched as El tried to use her powers once again on the stuffed Koala in the closet. 

“Don’t hurt yourself El,” (Y/n) yelled from the living room. 

Jonathan walked in from outside with Nancy and sat down beside the girl on the couch.

“Hey. How are you feeling?” he said. He kissed her temple as he wrapped his arm around her.

“Scared,” (Y/n) said.

“Scred? Of moving?”

(Y/n) stared at the floor, “Yeah...”

“We’re going to be okay, we’ll have a fresh start. No one will know where you came from other than Hawkins. They’ll just know you as (Y/n), the girl that’s really fast and has the prettiest smile.”

Their powers were gone. It was hard to adjust to at first. Both (Y/n) and El felt so empty inside, but they knew it was for the best. Maybe they could lead a normal life. (Y/n) slowly became more comfortable with the affection between her and Jonathan. And he began to introduce her to people as his girlfriend. What little (Y/n) knew about relationships all pointed to the fact that she cared about Jonathan. Not in the way that she cares for Will or El, but a different kind of care. She didn’t mind being called his girlfriend. 

She heard El’s sobs from the bedroom and left Jonathan’s embrace to make sure she was okay. After reading Hopper’s letter they both sat on the floor sobbing until Joyce told them it was time to go.

Boxes were loaded in to the U Haul and hugs were exchanged among the kids. (Y/n) looked back on the house from the front seat of the car, watching as her friends waved from their spot on their bikes. She smiled through her tears and waved until she couldn’t see them anymore. 

“Babe?” Jonathan said.

She turned to look at him.

“This is going to be our new life, away from any monsters in Hawkins. We’ll be back for Thanksgiving, I promise.”

She smiled and buckled in to her seat. She reached for Jonathan’s hand and he pulled it up to his lips to place a gentle kiss on her knuckles. Her heart swelled at the small gesture, before turning to stare at the road ahead.

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

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I Will follow Him- Part 2 Steve Harrington X Reader-Meeting the Byers

I was nervous as I always am when meeting new people , I have this weird need for people to like me which is a blessing and a curse. On one hand I’ve never had an issue with faking any sincerity to get people to trust me because I didn’t genuinely want to get to know them and have them like me back, but it also make the leaving part devastating. I hesitated a moment before I finally pressed the doorbell. In the back I heard murmurs of “ did you invite anyone over?” Finally after a minuet the door opened and Joyce was standing there a bit guarded. “ I’m so sorry did I interrupt something? I just wanted to bring over some cookies and introduce myself. My name is Quinn Rivers,” I introduced, the first of many lies id tell them in my time here. “ Oh my no you’re not interrupting,” She said suddenly ashamed for being so protective, “ It’s very nice to meet you I’m Joyce Byers , wont you come in.” “ Oh I can’t stay long it’s been a very busy day and i’m more than ready to watch some tv and eat the rest of the cookies I made before going to bed,” I chuckled, little too real tone it back she dosent need that much detail. “ Oh well let me just introduce you to my boys then,” She said with a bright smile. The two boys in question were sitting at a table eating dinner, and stood up as I walked over . “ This is Will,” She said as the highschool age boy extended his hand . I shook it and she continued, “ And my oldest Johnathan.” I shook his hand as well. Taking the entire family in I could just tell they had been through some shit all of them looked incredibly tired like they needed a good long vacation. Will looked like he was ready to jump at his own shadow, Joyce looked like she had done too much on her own for too long, and Johnathan looked like he was on the brink of tears. I felt for them and smiled, “ it’s very nice to meet you all.” She nodded and said, “ are you sure you can’t stay for dinner you can’t tell me you’re just eating cookies for dinner.” “ I mean life is short eat dessert first right,” I said with a weak laugh, “ but no I wouldn’t want to intrude.” “ You’re not intruding on anything,” She insisted. “ Yes, please do,” Johnathan said walking back over to the table. “ Well I mean okay,” I could still feel my hair dripping from the shower and I tried to squeeze it out and rub the excess on my leg to avoid it dripping on the floor. “ We’re having meatloaf,” Joyce said handing me a plate. “ Thankyou ,” I said taking a small portion. I think it’s my constant anxiety but it was hard for me to eat anything while I was on a mission. I took a bite as not to appear rude and said, “ incredible.” She smiled and Will finally asked, “ so where did you live before here?” I thought back ,” well i’m a bit of a traveler. I guess trying to find a home I am originally from California but i’ve been all over most recently Michigan.” “ Wohh cool,” He said , “ So are you more of a bard or like a lone rouge?” “ Will I don’t think,” Jonathan started but I stopped him, “ I would love to say i’m as charismatic as most bards are but I think id definitely fit the lone wold rouge better.” His eyes widen, “ YOU PLAY DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS?!” I chuckled, “ when I can find a group my half elf Piper has been very lonely recently and when that happens she tends to act out more often so I definitely need to find a new one.” “ Well if I finally get my other friends to get back into it i’ll definitely invite you,” He insisted.“ Thankyou that’s kind of you, “ I said with a light smile. “ So have you found work yet, because I heard my job may be looking for more help,” Joyce suggested. “ Oh thanks but I actually got a job at video store, Family Video.” “ NO way that’s where Steve works, me and my friends go there all the time” Will said happily. “ Is that a good thing ,” I chuckled and Jonathan shrugged, “ I mean he’s alright I guess, Robin is more of the nerd though.” “ Oh yeah you and Robin will get along good but Steve isn’t bad either ,” Will implored making Jonathan roll his eyes a bit, I senses a bit of tension between the two. “ Well i’m excited to meet them both ,” I brightened, “ I’m very glad I got to talk to you guys a bit, but i’m very tired , my first day of work is tomorrow.” “ Of course,” Joyce said, “ take the plate I don’t want you to just eat cookies.”  “ Thanks but i’m okay I just get really nervous when I get to new places, its hard for me to eat,” I said sheepishly making her look more concerned, “ well, if you need anything just come over alright.” “ Will do, and again wonderful to meet you all,” I said with a wave. “ I’ll tell my friends about you and we’ll visit at work tomorrow,” Will called. “ I can’t wait I chuckled. Joyce walked me out and said another goodbye as I walked back over to my place racked with guilt.

[troop-scoop]

Mistakes & Regrets V

Summary: When a trip to your Dad’s hometown of Hawkins goes wrong, you end up in the year 1983, and have to learn how to cope with being stuck in the past.

Pairing: Steve Harrington / Future!Reader (like, a really slow burn)

A/n: Italics are memories!

•••

You were scared, and alone.

The star and moonless sky sent chills up your spine, and the cold made you feel like it was winter. But this place didn’t have any seasons. It was just cold, and empty. And slimy.

It always felt like your feet were slipping whenever you tried to sneak around whatever those things were around you. They were terrifying, growling, and faceless.

And you made a big mistake, you’d ran away, you broke the rule of never going into the woods alone. This was on you. And you wanted nothing more for your phone to work. To be able to call your dad, either one of them. You wanted to apologize for being an idiot, for not being responsible.

You were hiding, holding your keys. They were too loud. All the keychains you had on it were jingling drawing attention. You were trying to take them off of the ring as quietly as you could, the first one to go was your Millennium Falcon keychain, quietly slipping it into your backpocket. The second was the Avatar keychain, that one being slipped into your hoodie pocket. You needed to seperate them, keep it so the jingle was no longer there. So you could get by them easier.

The last one you hesitated on. The rose quartz crystal keychain your brother had bought you from the dollar section in Target for your birthday. You didn’t really have an opinion of crystals, you thought they were pretty, so you kept it on your keyring.

You hesitated, before deciding against it, holding your pepper spray as if it would do anything, the pale pink can being gripped in your hand, fingers wrapped tightly around it, your nail polish a dark shade of purple, contrasting the pink, even in the dark.

“Could you find a way to let me down slowly.” You sang as quietly as possible, holding the keychain in your hand, trying to calm your down as much as possible. They’d seen you once. You didn’t want to risk it again. You’d lost your skateboard along the way, having dropped it the moment you saw one of those. . . things.

“A little sympathy I hope you can show me.” Tears were close to going down your cheeks as you grabbed your bag, holding it to your chest as tightly as you could. Your phone died a day before. And you’d been here a total of two. Evading the creature’s, never really getting a good look at them. Just knowing that they towered over you and looked emaciated, and their hands were huge, if you could even call them hands. They looked more like claws. And reminded you of the Windigo from that one video game whose name kept slipping your mind. And that’s what you called them, because that’s what they looked like, even if they weren’t because you knew these things had to be a different species, not a cannibal turned monster from Native American lore.

“If you wanna go then I’ll be so lonely.” Your low voice cracked a bit as your grip on the

sketchbook inside of your bag tightened. Your knees meeting your chest as you held the red material of the Jansport bag.

“If you’re leaving, baby, let me down slowly.” A loud noise came from down the street. Away from where you were hiding. Looking from the tree branches to the dark uninhabited houses you saw one of them moving. But you moved quicker. Hopping down from the tree and carrying your bag while you ran

•••

You didn’t know where you were going, you were pretty sure you were just running. Maybe there was something behind it. Some reason you were going towards the center of town, like a gut instinct telling you that you needed to go, run away from the motel you’d been living in for the past months.

The second the bowl had shattered and Linda snapped you out of it, you’d ran, going for your room again, and packing a few things you thought were necessary, and you went running down the street, it’d been 15 minutes now.

And at the end of those 15 minutes, you turned a corner, and almost ran straight into an older woman, who looked upset, and frazzled. An unreadable look on her face. But you knew it wasn’t a happy one. Maybe one of being deep in thought? Contemplation maybe.

It took everything in you not to call her what you knew her as, but you also knew that would get a strange look before she left. But as she steadied your by grabbing onto your shoulders, you grabbed her arms.

“Mrs. Byers! I was just looking for you.” Realization struck, your instincts telling you to run into town, where Joyce would be at the coroner's office, to tell her that Will couldn’t possibly be dead, because you were still there, you hadn’t disappeared like in all of those movies where something bad happens and someone was never born.

Or this could be like in Avengers, where something caused another timeline to happen. But then what would that mean for you? For the rest of your family here? For Will? Would he really be dead?

You refused to believe that. It didn’t feel right.

“I’m sorry? Do I know you?” Joyce looked more confused than she could have ever been in the entirety of her life.

“No, you don’t.” You spoke sadly, looking down to the ground, blinking away quick tears before looking back up to Joyce. “I’m new to Hawkins, just please listen, this is about your son-”

“If Jonathan told you anything-”

“There’s no way he’s dead!” You interrupted, grip on her sleeves growing tighter before she slowly pulled her hands away from your shoulders, eyeing you cautiously, almost as if you’d found out a secret.

“Wh-what?”

“You’re going to think I’m crazy, like, psych ward level crazy, like needing to be so heavily medicated that I wouldn’t be able to function normally-”

“Sweetheart, I’ve been the crazy one in town the past few days. I’ve seen it. . . What’s going on?”

You felt your heart swell a bit when she called you ‘sweetheart’ because that was what she’d always called you. Dad called you ‘baby’ and she always called you ‘sweetheart’. You blinked away more tears as you tried to muster up the courage to speak, but you couldn’t.

Carefully, and almost hesitantly, you pulled off your bag, and opened it. Taking out the large notebook and closing the backpack again, flipping to the page you were looking for, the image you and your dad had drawn together. You handed over the  sketchbook, and you saw her eyes widen a little as she looked down at the carefully drawn image.

“This is- this is Will’s Dungeons and Dragons character-”  

“Will the Wise, Right? A Cleric, a healer, he’s clever and smart, and he helps people! And that’s my character that he helped me make when I was nine, she’s a half-elf rogue, I named her after Elizabeth the first!” You explained.

Growing up, you played D&D with your Dad and uncles whenever they came to visit or you went to visit them. They weren’t actually related to you, but rather the kind of uncles that everyone else had, the uncles that were your parent’s best friends. They all helped you make your favorite character.

“When you were nine? Will’s only been playing with his friends for a year and a half? Right after he turned 11, he asked for the set for his birthday, there’s no way, and he doesn’t know you. He has three friends.”

“Check the date. Upper right hand corner.” You told her, watching as he eyes darted to the date on the paper, and you watched as her face fell before she looked back up at you.

“January 21st 2019? That’s. . . like 40 years from now-”

“36, actually.” You corrected quietly, a small shrug given when her face now turned into a scowl at how you corrected her.

“What are you saying?” She asked cautiously, flipping through the sketchbook. “I know I have no right to say someone else is crazy, I mean- I’m talking to Will through my christmas lights, you being from ‘2019’ sounds more believable.”

“There’s no way that Will’s dead, because I’m his daughter.” You admitted to her.

“Tell me something about him then. Only someone who knew him would know.” She demanded, closing the sketchbook and handing it back to you.

“He has a birthmark on his right arm, I had the exact same one, but then I burned myself on a pan, and it went away. . . Um- His favorite song, it’s ‘Should I Stay Or Should I Go’ from The Clash. Uncle Jonathan introduced him to it. Dad introduced it to me.”

Joyce’s face was once again, unreadable as she stared at you, eyes tracking over your face carefully, catching every detail, and everything that was asymmetrical. Everything that made you look like a Byers.

“Oh my God. You’re not lying.”

•••

“So, I’m your grandmother.”

You nodded as you grabbed the boombox, setting it down on the table, examining the christmas lights she’d put up around the house. It looked like something a crazy person would do. Put up this amount of christmas lights. And paint the alphabet on the wall.

“And you have two dads?”

You turned your head to her, giving her a look. You’d explained everything to her, how your dads had met, how you’d been conceived and born, how you’d grown up, and who your brother was. How close you were to your Uncle Jonthan, and that your favorite non-related uncle was Uncle Lucas, which sold her even more into the fact that you were really from the future, and were really her son’s daughter.

“Yes, I have two dads. But I’m biologically Will’s.” You explained once again.

“Okay.” She said quietly, taking the tape out of the boombox, rewinding it with a pencil. “Alright, one more question.” Joyce started again, making you sigh. “How’d you get here?”

You paused, looking down at your dirtied and almost ripped converse. You didn’t quite remember. All you could remember was running into the woods after getting away from Enzo’s, trying to take a short cut to the motel, and then you fell through the ground, into something cold, and gooey. What you imagined it would feel like to stick your hand into a dead body for an autopsy. But you didn’t remember anything after that. Just waking up, in dirty clothes laying on the ground in the woods, backpack on, skateboard gone. And you had gotten up, legs feeling weak, and wobbly, before you’d found yourself back in town, but it had all been different. You hadn’t realized that it had been a different century until you’d gone into Melvad’s and saw something with the expiration date of ‘November 28th 1983.’

“I don’t remember. But I remember I made a mistake, and I ran off. And I regret it. If I could take it back I would.” Looking back up you noticed she was looking up at you, sympathy written on her face, and you knew what she was thinking. And you knew that one day her sympathy or your situation would turn to empathy for your Dad. Who would be going through what she was now.

You reached down and pressed ‘play’ before standing up straight again, giving her a soft smile as you looked up at the lights. This was not the house you’d assume belonged to a perfectly sane woman. And yet, it did.

“Come on Will!” You yelled “Do your weird magic bullshit!” Joyce started a bit before standing up.

Banging came from the wall, and you turned your head to look over. Joyce stopped the music and went to the spot on the wall where the banging continued, with you following shortly after.

“Mom?”

Joyce gasped. “Will?”

“Holy shit.” You murmured

“Mom?” The boy asked again, banging on the walls continuously as if trying to get through. Something told you that it wasn’t as easy as Joyce thought it was by running outside while you placed a firm hand on the wall, nails digging into the wallpaper and peeling it away.

“Will?” You questioned.

“Where’s my Mom?”

“Will!” Joyce yelled, running back inside seeing that the wallpaper in her living room was ripped off and you were staring at what looked like a thin layer of skin. Maybe a membrane. You didn’t like it, and that feeling came back, of being on a roller coaster drop, but the drop never ending. It was a bit sheer, and you could see the outline of the small boy banging against the membrane.

“Mom!”

“Will! I’m here! I’m here!” Joyce yelled back.

“Hello? Mom?”

But when she put her hand over the membrane you froze up, standing and watching in terror, because all of a sudden, you knew how you got here, and the growling of something getting closer to Will made a shiver run through your entire body, goosebumps showing up on your skin.

“Mom, it’s coming!”

The image of what ‘it’ was was fuzzy, but you saw it, like a memory. Almost ten feet tall, and so skinny their bones protrude, and almost sickly pale, white skin stretched out over the body. And the claws. You could almost feel the scratch of one of them against the back of your neck.

Reaching a hand up to your neck you could feel a skinny and elongated bump in your skin

that had never been there. But it felt like a scab. Like a scab over a healing scar.

“Tell me where you are! How do I get to you?” Joyce cried, her hand over Will’s.

“It’s like home, but it’s so dark. . .It’s so dark and empty. And it’s cold! Mom? Mom!”

You couldn’t even attempt to hold back the tears that were burning at your eyes and making

your vision blurry as you could hear the echoes of your own voice, calling out for an older version of him, the version that knew you the entire time you’d been alone. You’d been scared, and freezing in just a t-shirt and pair of ripped jeans. Holding a broken skateboard that you’d landed on in your fall.

It came to you briefly, running into the woods after Pa had yelled at you at Enzo’s. But then the rain had gotten worse, turning into the thunder, and loud noises never really scared you, it was the lighting that was a little too close to you that had you running, searching for any way out, yelling and screaming for both of your fathers, for anyone.

And then you took one wrong step, in the wrong direction. And you fell into the ground, instantly feeling cold, and as if the temperature was going to kill you. It felt like falling through cold slime before you’d landed on your skateboard, breaking it in half.

Everything there had echoed, and it felt like the entirety of the town had been placed inside of an infinitely large and inescapable cave. You’d cried out even louder for your Dad, getting no response. You’d begged and pleaded for the nightmare to go away, but it never did. You remembered screaming out “Dad! Dad please, I’m sorry!” And then you remembered waking up in the woods, sun shining down on you, a real sky in view.

•••

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[platypanthewriter]

Finished!

Here’s part one if you need it!

The server sat down plates of pancakes, hashbrowns, and eggs, and Will grabbed the plate of hashbrowns. He tried to grab Steve’s coffee, and Billy snagged it away.

The ceramic was too hot against his palms, but Will still had his jacket, so Billy clenched his jaw and squeezed his hands around the mug. The air conditioning blew around as the door opened, and Billy shivered, and took a sip of the coffee, rather than try and pull his jacket on and elbow Steve Harrington in the face. Glancing over as he took another swig, he noticed Steve watching him.

Steve skewered a breakfast sausage on his fork, and slid it between his lips.

Billy scrambled to hold the menu up, hiding his laughter. With the temptation hidden, he could focus better on Will’s earnestly sleepy monologue, and he leaned around to check the time.

“...it’s nearly three am,” Billy told Steve, after checking twice. “You really got all night to sit here and talk to me?” He sat the coffee mug down, and Steve slipped his fingers under Billy’s and slid the mug back towards him, spinning it in quarter-turns against the table.

“Can’t think of much better to do.” He glanced up at Billy’s face, taking a big bite of hashbrowns.

Billy opened his mouth to say something, but Will suddenly crumpled up the elf metal shirt he’d been wearing on the table, and buried his face in it.

Steve tried to finish chewing the half-hashbrown he’d shoved in his mouth, frowning at Billy, and Billy nodded, reaching out to poke Will’s elbow. “You tired, kid?”

“Nooo,” Will mumbled, then raised his head, rubbing his eyes. “I just—it’s dumb.”

“You’re dumb,” Steve retorted, and Billy elbowed him, and stole the coffee back. “You—what’s wrong? You wanna go?”

“No,” Will took a deep breath, and then rolled his shoulders and lied, “It’s, uh, it’s nothing. It’s fine—”

“Out with it,” Billy growled, grabbing a straw, yanking the end off the paper, and blowing it at him. Steve snorted and choked himself, and grabbed Billy’s hand to sip at the coffee mug in it. His lips were warm.

Will shook his head, grinning down at the shirt. “No, it’s—you—you guys are fine. You—you’re just as—you’re—” He said, laughing, and took a shaky breath. “Th-thank you for helping me, I’m so—happy—”

“Yeah, you sound real happy,” Billy muttered, crossing his arms, and sticking the straw in his mouth.

“I am!” Will snorted wetly. He pulled the new Dicks shirt he had on up to rub the edge over his face.

“Thought Billy here showed you a good time,” Steve asked, clearing his throat and washing down his hashbrowns with more coffee. Billy snorted, coughing.

“He did! He did, he—” Will protested, sniffling, “—he—he threatened some people. He beat up Nazis.”

“What?!” Steve yelped, wide eyes fastened on Billy, who waved his hands, sinking down in the seat.

“No Nazis! There were no Nazis! Some dudes were just hasslin’ him, I went over and cracked my knuckles a little—”

“He saved me,” Will said, swinging his legs out of the booth onto the floor. “I’m just—I’m just gonna—I’m gonna go and—”

Steve kicked a leg up under the table, across Will’s lap. “Hold up, kid, what’s happening, he scare you, or—”

Will just shook his head, biting his lips, and Steve slid out to crouch on the floor in front of him.

“What’s going on, Byers?”

“I’m sorry,” Will whispered, and Billy squeezed the warm mug tighter.

“Don’t be sorry, just say something, you—you feel sick?” Steve asked. “I’m just gonna keep guessing. You break your leg?”

Will snickered, and Billy caught himself biting back a laugh.

“I didn’t break my leg—”

“Did you fall in love with the singer?” Steve offered, grinning up. “That happened to me once—”

“Shut up!” Will hit him with the t-shirt, laughing, and Steve dodged away to drop back in the seat next to Billy.

Billy tried not to lean into his warmth.

“You—you’re really cool,” Will told him, and Steve blinked, before running his fingers through his hair.

“You just noticed?! Billy knows I’m cool. Right?”

Billy laughed harder, leaning his head in his hand and smiling back at Steve Harrington. “Yeah, sure you are.”

“See—”

“Everybody thinks Jonathan’s cool but I don’t know if he’d—” Will’s lungs forced a sob in the middle of his sentence, and he pulled his knees up to lean his face in them.

“Nobody thinks Jonathan is cool,” Steve began, “—nobody, okay, he’s definitely lying, here, but—”

“What’s going on?” Billy asked.

“I had two tickets," Will squeaked out around his rebelling vocal chords, "—but I c—I couldn’t—”

“You didn’t ask Jonathan,” Steve hissed, pointing at Will with his fork. “Did you. You little liar. You said you asked Jonathan, and he couldn't—”

“Whoa, whoa—” Billy smacked Steve’s fork-hand, watching Will’s eyes well up, “—hold the phone, who’s Jonathan?”

Steve was sputtering. “This—this little fink—he said—he told me—”

“I said my brother was too busy to take me to the show, because I didn’t tell him, because I didn’t—I didn’t want him to know what kind of show it was,” Will whispered, swallowing, and Steve deflated.

“You think your family’ll be pissed?” Billy asked, leaning in.

“I—I—I think my mom knows,” Will said, his voice catching. “I—I don’t know what she’ll say if—if she finds out m-my dad’s right about me.”

Just when Billy thought the entire conversation had fallen on him, Steve smacked the table. “No,” he said, waving the fork again. “No, no, that—no way. Your mom—your mom knows your dad’s an asshole. She wouldn’t—she doesn’t listen to him. He’s not right about anything. Dads are assholes, okay.”

Will started to giggle, blowing his nose in a napkin, and Billy felt the same urge. His throat burned, a little, and his eyes stung.

“Jonathan would probably—he’d probably do it all wrong—or something,” Steve admitted, glancing at Billy, “—he’d—he’d get there and he’d be a fucking nerd, but he’d try, he’d—he’d fall over trying to carry you around for hours—”

“Get trampled to death,” Billy offered, snorting, and Will laughed harder, grabbing more napkins and pressing them to his face.

“She—your mom,” Steve said, to be clear, so we don’t think he means the other thousand women in the conversation, Billy thought, biting back a laugh, “—she loves you so much, she always tells people you’re different, you’re special, we have to be super nice to you or she will end us—”

Will’s head thumped back against the seat as he cackled aloud, wiping his eyes. “Great, I’m special.”

“I mean—ugh.” Steve dropped his threatenin’ fork, leaning his face in his hands.

“Might be better than telling everyone you’re normal,” Billy suggested, finishing Steve’s coffee. “She knows you aren’t normal, and she doesn’t care.”

“Oh, she cares, she was ready to strangle me with a strand of Christmas lights,” Steve groaned. “I don’t know why—”

“Probably because of his dad,” Billy said, spinning the empty mug on the table to have something to frown at. “She knows what his dad says, and she thinks being queer ain’t so bad, maybe. Maybe she’s trying to...fight what your dad says.”

“Dads are such assholes,” Steve growled, grabbing his fork, and stabbing another sausage.

Billy laughed, his stomach twisting. “Dads are assholes.”

“Yours too?” Will asked, blinking wide owl-eyes at him, and Billy flinched.

“Must be,” Steve reached over and grabbed his hand, taking the mug and smiling to catch the server’s eye. His grip was warm, and fleeting, and Billy wanted to grab his arm and pull it back over. “I mean—c'mon—Will—he’s a shitheel to Jonathan too, right?”

“But he’s right about me,” Will's voice dropped to a whisper as the server clunked over to their table to fill the coffee.

Steve slid it over to Billy. “Okay, we’re going in circles, you want me to come talk to Jonathan for you? I can bring my bat.”

Billy, his mouth half full of coffee, tried to swallow and choked, coughing, and Will started snickering again.

“No! No!” He giggled. “Don’t hurt him!”

“You could talk to him together,” Billy suggested, grabbing a napkin to dab the coffee off his face. “Or bring him to a concert, I’ll back you up.”

Steve leaned over to bump their shoulders together, grinning, and grabbed Billy’s hand, holding it out to Will. “Look at these knuckle callouses, he doesn’t even need a bat. Take both of us.”

Billy pulled his hands back, suddenly wanting to sit on them, and Steve stopped pulling, letting his hand get tugged under the table with Billy’s. He ran his thumb between Billy’s knuckles, squeezing his hand, and Billy’s shoulders relaxed a little.

“Once we’re done making the Byers’ see reason, I can call my team up and we can all head over to Billy’s house, meet his asshole dad,” Steve whispered, leaning his head against Billy's shoulder, and Billy snorted a laugh, coughing.

“Nah, it’s fine. I moved out.”

“We’ll be like the Justice League,” Steve grinned between them, and Billy could feel the pink shoulder against his relaxing. "One of us in front, one in his blind spot—"

“Don’t beat anybody up!” Will kicked Steve under the table, laughing, and Steve threw a wadded-up napkin at him.

“We’ll just make sure they see reason! I mean, they love you, but they might just...say something dumb, y’know—need some kneecapping—”

Billy snorted, staring into the coffee, but when he looked up again, Will was staring at his face. “Oh.” He cleared his throat, adding, “Yeah, if you want more backup. I—I can come.”

“Okay,” Will swallowed, nodding, and blew his nose again. He took a deep breath. “—oh—okay. I can—I think I can maybe—maybe I can do that,” he said, rubbing his forearm across his eyes. “I, um. Thanks,” he said, nodding to Steve, then looked at Billy, and lowered his eyes. “...thanks. Thank you, Billy.”

Steve changed the subject back to Jonathan’s elf shirt, and Will started explaining the lyrics, trying to half-sing, half-mumble metal songs quietly enough to be polite in a diner. The server slid the bill under another cup of coffee. Billy watched the neon OPEN sign flicker. Will's eyelids drooped as he trailed off and his head fell close enough to the table to bang hard into his water glass, spilling ice water all over himself and the table.

Steve was immediately half across the table, laughing as he checked him for bruises. “You have to drink with your mouth,” he told Will, and Will growled, rubbing his face, and dabbing sleepily at his shirt with a napkin. “You good to drive?”

Billy chewed on the straw, frowning up as he realized Steve’s voice was directed at him. “Mm?”

“You had enough coffee? You safe to drive?”

“He wasn’t drunk, Mom,” Will muttered, grabbing his armload of t-shirts, zines, and Billy’s purloined jacket.

“...that what we were waiting for?” Billy asked, abruptly wondering how much whiskey he’d sweated onto Steve Harrington’s polo shirt.

Steve held his thumb and forefinger very slightly apart, grinning at him. “Only this much. I can give you a ride, too if—”

“Nah,” Billy laughed, getting up from the booth, and grabbing Will’s haul. Will waved a hand at it, and Billy stepped back. “My jacket, sorry, half-pint.”

“He’s so sleepy he’d drop it anyway,” Steve said, and Will braced his feet, slapping his own face several times, and glowered up at them.

Steve paid for their food, and ushered Billy along with them outside. “Everybody hold hands,” said the vision in preppy pleated pants, like that was a thing adults said to each other.

Will groaned as Steve Harrington waved his hand, his attention on the walk signal.

“He coaches Little League Tee Ball too,” Will whispered. “They’re babies.”

Billy snorted, and grabbed Will’s other hand, biting back a grin as Will tried to stomp on his foot. Billy and Steve held their hands in the air as they crossed the road, Will swinging between them, laughing too hard to cuss.

“Ask—ask for—Steve,” he panted, once they sat his feet back on the ground. “Steve. Get his number.”

Billy suddenly registered—again—that he’d probably sweated out a whole six pack of beer, probably had some poured on his head, and his jeans had been kneeling on the floor of a dive bathroom while he gave some stranger a blow job. He laughed, glancing down at the smeared ‘QUEER’ across his chest in lipstick, and then bared his teeth over at Steve Harrington, in time to see his smile fall.

Steve reached up to touch his hair, shuffled his feet, and pulled the pink sweater off his shoulders to tuck under his arm. “...sure. Yeah. Sure. Once we get you in the car, maybe I’ll ask him.”

“D’you want me to have your number?” Billy asked, yanking Will back towards him, so Will jerked Steve to a stop, staring between them with wide eyes and a wider grin.

“I don’t know,” Steve said with a soft laugh, “—you gonna call it?”

Billy stepped in closer, running his tongue over his front teeth, and biting his lip. He tried to think of what you did with a number like Harrington’s. “Uh, dinner? On Friday?” he asked, watching Steve watch his mouth.

“Yeah,” Steve whispered, nodding.

“No, you can’t,” Will piped up between them, and Billy startled. “That’s D&D night. Steve. You said you’d—”

“Come play,” Steve patted his pocket, and pulled out a marker. “‘Nother kid on my team’s the M&M.” He stuck the cap in his mouth and yanked it off, then ran his thumb across Billy’s chest. “Right here okay?”

“The DM, Steve,” Will huffed.

“Right there is fine,” Billy answered, holding hands with a snickering child, and staring at Steve Harrington’s mouth around the cap of a marker.

“There’s elves and things,” Steve said, muffled by the cap. “You like elves.” He started writing big even numbers, and Billy tried not to lean into it, or twitch, or giggle. He wondered if the expression of concentration was how Steve looked writing on a chalkboard, in the locker room in front of his team.

Steve stuck the marker back in the cap in his mouth in a weirdly smooth practiced move, and then licked his lips. “There’s my car,” he jerked his head.

Billy imagined himself sober, up to his armpits in engine grease, trying to plan dates. Harrington probably expected real ones, with—with flowers, he thought wildly. Dinner reservations at places he couldn’t afford. “You, uh. No need for my number?”

“My kids know you.” Steve must have squeezed Will’s hand, because he rolled his eyes, and squeezed Billy’s. “I can send the whole baseball team to haul you out.”

“Oh my god, just kiss each other,” Will moaned, and Steve yanked his hand free, and smacked him on the back of the head.

“Hell no, you little blackmailer. Don’t trust this one,” he said, looking at Will, then Billy.

“You’re coming Friday, right?” Will asked, ignoring Steve.

“I’m calling,” Billy said. “So maybe.”

“Or Saturday,” Steve suggested.

“You don’t take a date to watch you coach Little League,” Will hissed, confirming it was a date, and Billy felt a shiver up his spine as he resisted stepping closer.

“Oh.” Steve grimaced. “Sorry. Uh, you want a ride anywhere? You’re shivering—”

“He has a motorcycle,” Will squeaked, yanking on Steve’s hand, and Steve grinned at Billy.

“You want a ride to your motorcycle?”

“...yeah,” Billy answered honestly, since he might as well, having already followed them to Steve’s car for no better reason than Steve ordering them all to hold hands.

“Oh! Shotgun!” Will yelled, then froze. “No, wait, I want to sit next to Billy.”

“I’ll let you two work that out,” Steve mumbled, flipping through his keys as he went around unlocking doors, and Billy slid in behind the driver’s seat. He leaned forward as soon as Steve sat down, whispering “Hi, Steve,” in his ear, and Steve yelped with laughter, shoving the seat back.

Billy squirmed, cackling, and Steve narrowed his eyes and reclined his seat, leaving Billy flailing any appendage he could, and Will laughing until he cried. When they pulled up by Billy’s bike, Will clambered out, and Steve released Billy from where he was squashed.

Billy clambered out and leaned on the passenger door, waiting for Steve Harrington to stand up from where his butt stuck out of the driver’s side while he adjusted his seat. Steve stood, realized Billy was leaning a few inches away, and bit his lip in a grin. He turned to face him, opened his mouth, blinked, and said “—whoa, nice bike, man.”

Billy blinked back, then laughed, sliding away to swing his leg over it and pat the gleaming gas tank. “1967 Triumph Bonneville. Restored it myself.” Will frowned between them, then at the motorcycle, and Billy snorted. “Ever seen The Great Escape?”

Will shook his head, and Billy narrowed his eyes at Steve, who burst out laughing.

Billy demanded, “The hell kinda substitute brother are you?!”

Steve held his hands up, still laughing. “Guess he needs a new one. Your bike named McQueen? Guess we know who little Billy was hangin’ posters of—”

“No!” Billy shook his head, smirking. “Nah. She’s named—she’s Bonnie. My, uh, my mom taught me to fix engines. Used to hang out at her garage. She named her, she’s not long on imagination—”

Steve’s grin quirked, and he opened his mouth, but Will interrupted, waving his arms.

“That was—tonight was so fun,” Will sighed, side-eying Billy, who cocked his head, before suddenly being wrapped in a tight kid-hug. “Best night ever,” Will muttered against Billy’s side, and Billy messed up his hair.

“Say goodbye, concert,” said Steve, leaning against his car, and Billy automatically nodded.

“Goodbye, concert,” he repeated, and Steve bit his lips, reddening.

Will started to giggle, pulling away from the hug. “How old are you two. I’m not saying ‘Goodbye Billy,’ right, you’re calling—”

Billy laughed, met Steve’s eyes, and slowly licked his lips, and Steve snorted.

“Gotta be sometime we can date with no children around,” he said. “Gotta show you a good time.”

“I’m pretty easy,” Billy admitted, leaning against his bike, and Steve’s brow furrowed, but Will cut in.

“Good, because he’s really bad at this,” he said, folding his arms. “Are you two gonna make out? I’m supposed to tell Nancy and El if Steve—”

“Get in the car,” Steve hissed. “In the car, right now. Little spy, Jesus Christ.” Once Will was in the passenger seat, and had obeyed Steve’s furious seatbelt mime, Steve stomped over to Billy, pink-cheeked.

“...thanks for taking care of him. He’s a good kid,” he said, and Billy nodded, watching his mouth.

“He’s, uh. He’s got good people watching out for him,” Billy said, shrugging, and watching Will peer at them, unseatbelted, his face pressed against the inside of the window. It was hard not to imagine what it’d have been like, having had someone like Steve to call, as a thirteen-year-old who stared at the mouths of other boys. Billy wondered whether he’d have ended up less himself, if he’d had anyone safe to tell. If he’d had anyone safe at all. He huffed a laugh.

“He finds good people,” Steve said, pulling the leather jacket out of Billy’s hands, and maneuvered him into it, leaning so their faces were inches apart. “There were all kinds of things you coulda been doing tonight—”

“Did some of ‘em,” Billy muttered, grimacing, and Steve grabbed his hands and squeezed them.

“You didn’t have to drop everything and make sure some random kid had a good time,” Steve whispered.

“I—I didn’t want him to—have that night,” Billy told him, shrugging, and glancing at Will. “—the night people have sometimes when nobody’s…looking out for them.” He looked at Steve’s lips, and licked his own.

Steve’s smile softened, and he leaned the inch closer to kiss off the beer and sweat of Billy’s night, humming against his mouth. He grinned, glancing over Billy’s face, and turned away—and then turned back to push Billy back against the motorcycle, kissing him again. When he pulled back again, he was licking his lips. “Call me. Billy Hargrove.”

Billy watched them drive away, and leaned his hot face against his cold hand, eying the numbers across his chest in the side mirror of his bike.

@sky2fall​

[clericbyers]

Dungeons and Dragons, Will the Wise, Paladins, Wizards, and Clerics

I’ve been sitting on this idea for an analysis for a hot moment so, let’s dig in, yeah?

D&D is a large part of the Stranger Things storyline for a good number of reasons.

The campaign echoes the plot line of the seasons (as we see in ST1 and in ST3)

D&D is how the Party bonds and it’s a marker of their unity and friendship

Will and Mike specifically use D&D to escape from the issues they face in the real world: bullying for them both, Will specifically with sexual identity issues and not being “normal,” and Mike with insecurities and well, not having a girlfriend.

Because of 3, D&D is also a marker of Will and Mike’s unique bond and intense friendship. In the concept bible, Mike is specifically addressed to be Will’s best friend and to be the one friend most particularly troubled by Will’s disappearance (which we see make it in the show).

[ screenshots from the st concept bible ]

Now, Stranger Things has both official comics and a D&D starter kit. The comics is what I want to focus on the most in this first part. (FYI, All pictures used from here on out are my own/my own screenshots.)

Stranger Things Volume One: The Other Side

These are panels from the official Stranger Things comic with Dark Horse Comics. This in particular is from issue #4 which is set in S1. The series as a whole follows Will’s time in the Upside Down that we don’t get to see in the show. He flows a lot between remembering the campaign he and the Party were in the middle of before he was captured, and his hands on experience in the Upside Down. When El greets him in Castle Byers, Will is depicted as having mentally escaped into his Will the Wise persona to protect himself. He even sees El as an elf (check out her pointy ears!)

Now I want to bring in the Stranger Things D&D starter kit for a moment. It comes with 5 character sheets: paladin, cleric, bard, ranger, and wizard.

The wizard is a half-elf.

On the official D&D site, it’s stated that, “To humans, half-elves look like elves, and to elves, they look human.” Will the Wise is depicted as human in this comic, but El switches between looking elven and human when she finds him in Castle Byers. Much like Will fades in and out of his Will the Wise persona and himself, the cleric (who, according to the D&D starter kit, is a wood elf). 

Mike called El a mage in ST2 but he’s also constantly calling Will a cleric, his true self, even though the character Will the Wise is a wizard. (You can find more about what it means that Mike calls Will a cleric in this amazing theory from kaypeace21). I want to focus on the wizard class for just a moment here since that is what Will considers himself and that’s what El is (even if Mike sees her as a mage).

The Wizard(s)

Wizards are one of the base classes in D&D and as we all know, they are magic users. Spells and knowledge is why wizards keep up their studies, always learning new spells and new ways to harness arcane power. Wizards can study magic from one of these arcane traditions: Abjuration, Conjuration, Divination, Enchantment, Evocation, Illusion, Necromancy, or Transmutation. Thinking about El’s powers, she’s part of the Transmutation tradition: telekinesis, levitation, and Blink, which I wanna talk about more.

This is the description of the Blink spell, where “you vanish from your current plane of existence and appear in the Ethereal Plane.” Sounds like something El has done before, right? “While on the Ethereal Plane, you can see and hear the plane you originated from, which is cast in shades of gray, and you can't see anything there more than 60 feet away. You can only affect and be affected by other creatures on the Ethereal Plane. Creatures that aren't there can't perceive you or interact with you, unless they have the ability to do so.”

The Ethereal Plane can be considered the Void or the Upside Down. Only the monsters from the Upside Down can attack El when she’s there. Only Will was able to see her when she was there visiting him in Castle Byers.

Will the Wise though, given the fact he was going to cast fireball during the campaign, comes from Evocation. Evocation is basically elemental spells, so things like fire, earth, air, water, lightning, acid, and also communication. Let’s focus on “Sending”, a level 3 wizard evocation spell. “You send a short message of twenty-five words or less to a creature with which you are familiar. The creature hears the message in its mind, recognizes you as the sender if it knows you, and can answer in a like manner immediately.” Nice, but what about if you’re on a different plane like Will is? “You can send the message across any distance and even to other planes of existence, but if the target is on a different plane than you, there is a 5 percent chance that the message doesn't arrive.” While in the Upside Down, Will has the ability to contact through the lights and the radio, but we also know some of his messages don’t get through to his mom. 25 words or less according to the spell rules.

So, El and Will the Wise are wizards, but Mike the Dungeon Master believes they are mage and cleric respectively. El is truly a wizard, but Mike fantasizes about her being an all powerful and knowing mage. There’s not much different between the two but wizards are generally stereotyped to be those who gain magic through study while mages are more innate with their powers. This is a fair analysis given El “studied” her magic/powers (through abuse and torture) but Mike sees it as an innate gift, which it still is even if she was abused into using them.

So, mage vs wizard aside, we still have the idea that Will the Wise is a wizard but Will is a cleric. Let’s go back to the comics. 

When El leaves, Will is captured by the demogorgon. These two pages here are a flashback (these are interspersed throughout the series) of Mike and Will in the library reading books together right after he’s captured. It’s a cute moment for Will to think about despite being snatched up by the demogorgon and possibly about to die.

I want to focus on Will’s words in the last panel.

He said, “I’m just looking out for Will the Wise.” Okay, pause. Will is captured by a monster and he thinks about Mike, and not just any memory of Mike but one connected to them hanging out and reading books, one of which Mike is using for their next D&D campaign. As mentioned earlier, their personal connection is through D&D, the ST story comes alive in a manner similar to the Party’s D&D campaign and adventurers, so it’s important to keep in mind how both characters go about it throughout the seasons and even here in these comics. Moving on to the next page, Will says, “I want him to live forever.”

Okay, another pause. What else did Will expect to last forever? Him and Mike, hanging out in the basement playing games (in particular, D&D) for the rest of their lives. Basically, Will the Wise lives forever because they wouldn’t stop playing. The thing is, Will the Wise isn’t Will according to Mike. In Mike’s mind, Will is a cleric, which is a completely different class.

Mike prides himself on knowing his loved ones deeply, especially Will and El, so we’ll side with Mike for a second on Will truly being a cleric. Clerics and paladins are similar enough, though unlike paladins who follow an oath, clerics have a god they worship and their spells’ powers come from that godly worship’s domain. In the cleric class description for the Stranger Things D&D starter kit, clerics are “intermediaries between the mortal world and the distant planes of the gods.” Will is one who can go between the mortal world and the Upside Down / Mind Flayer. El can travel there as a wizard yes, but Will draws his magic from that domain. If we look at Will’s powers from a cleric POV,  he obtains his power from the Life Domain, as the character sheet also claims. Life includes healing powers and the ability to harness light and choose between two magical effects: Turn Undead or Preserve Life.

Now, Turn Undead means undead creatures will spend a turn getting away from you if it fails a Wisdom saving throw (a saving throw is a check the DM will make for the creature to see if it is able to complete an attack or take action). Preserve Life on the other hand heals creatures nearby.

Cleric instead of Wizard

Let’s look at Will’s abilities in the Upside Down / possessed by the Mind Flayer as him being a cleric instead of a wizard. Will was able to communicate with his mom and Mike through the lights and the radio. This is a level 1 evocation cleric spell called Thaumaturgy. Here, a cleric manifests a sign of supernatural power for a minute at a time. Flickering lights, diming or changing the color of lights is included in this. Clerics can also cast the Sending spell, which again allows for contact across planes and given the Cleric is labeled to be level 3, this is another possible spell for Will to cast as a Cleric rather than as Will the Wise.

In the Upside Down, Will can hear previously dead creatures talking to him. This could be part of Revify or Speak with Dead, which are Cleric spells that both deal with talking to previously dead creatures.

Back to that harnessing light point. The Mind Flayer was banished with light/heat (fireball in ST2 with the fire in the labs / getting burned and then ST3 with the fireworks). Will banishes darkness in ST2 with happy, healing (light) memories, his love for his family and the people most devastated by his disappearance: Joyce, Jonathan, and Mike. Will is a healer; once he starts healing thanks to the love his mom, his brother, and Mike (his crush) impart on him, he starts to resist the Mind Flayer more. ST3 shows us still that the Mind Flayer is very vulnerable to happy memories and healing through them.

The Dungeon Master

Mike is usually the DM and has a large hand in what happens to Will the Wise during campaigns; this is again pointing to how Mike has kinda always had the ball in his court when it comes to the relationship between himself and Will. In ST3, Will the Wise, the wizard not the cleric, is DM and trying to get a grasp on keeping the game alive. As DM, you don’t play your character, so the wizard with his fireball and ability to go between planes of existence and the cleric with his healing abilities and harnessing light / happy memories aren’t active. Will the Wise is so obviously a characterture in this scene. There’s heavy exaggeration, Will is trying to play a part but the adventurers are not really participating (which is also showing how these three got on the issue with the Mind Flayer’s return a little later than possible, as many ‘villagers’ ended up dying).

This campaign is being played with a paladin who has lost his way (Mike) and a ranger who kinda did the same--though rangers don’t have oaths like paladins do so it’s not the same; plus Mike’s paladin losing his way would be a more egregious offense than Lucas’ ranger and Mike is the one who really offends Will the most in this situation. Mike and Lucas try to shut the campaign down, try to kill Will the Wise controlling the situation. That’s when Will loses it. He’s trying to keep Will the Wise alive all the past couple days, trying to keep him and Mike together, and Mike just shut him down and didn’t care. Will’s reaction, which is odd for someone like a healer, brings Mike back to his oath.

According to the ST D&D kit, Mike’s paladin has sworn an Oath of Devotion. This means Mike is bound to justice, virtue, and order, something like a knight. “They hold themselves to the highest standards of conduct, and some, for better or worse, hold the rest of the world to the same standards.” Breaking that Oath, as Mike has done in ST3, is damaging and requires a cleric who shares their faith to bring them back on the path.

(This is something unique to 5th edition, but a paladin who broke their oath and doesn’t seek absolution becomes an Oathbreaker. They keep their base powers, but becomes darker and more attuned to evil creatures. When Mike lied and broke his oath with El, he didn’t seek absolution and instead, became darker and ruder and even less oath driven. When he upset Will, he immediately rushed after Will to apologize and seek forgiveness. By the end of the night, Mike started fresh just in time for the battle of Starcourt, where he was far more a paladin and faithful leader of the Party.)

The Paladin

Now, let’s discuss some more of Mike’s paladin powers outside of the D&D campaigns. Paladins have a holy symbol and can speak a prayer that turns other creatures so they won’t fight. They also have a spell called Zone of Truth, where basically any creature that comes into that zone cannot lie. Friends don’t lie. We also know Mike in particular is able to touch Will and bring him back from the Upside Down throughout ST2. Mike’s paladin though according to the D&D kit, draws on divine magic through prayer just like a cleric. He is also tied to Life Domain just like Will and can be a healing presence through his touch (Lay on Hands spell) and prayer (Turn the Unholy as seen in the shed scene in ST2 where Mike’s confession could be seen as a healing prayer).

Mike the paladin and Will the cleric are extremely similar and bound to each other in interesting ways. Mike the DM and Will the Wise on the other hand...Mike creates the campaign, he builds the story, he creates the universe, and takes on a persona and Will does the same. These two D&D masks are what they both escape into as professed in the concept bible. Will in particular is more uninhibited when being Will the Wise. He’s able to be braver (as shown in the comics when he slips into his Will the Wise persona to stay alive). When they aren’t playing D&D though, Mike and Will are the paladin and cleric respectively and are so in the real adventure they ‘play’ with the Upside Down.

Saying Goodbye

Now we get to the end of ST3 where Will is donating his D&D manuals. I’ve already done a very Byler centric look at this scene, but pulling away from that ship-heavy lense, I want to point out that this is also a symbol of Will growing out of Will the Wise. Will destroying Castle Byers is also another symbol of this. Castle Byers is Will the Wise’s fort. It’s where he goes in the Upside Down to feel safe, where he meets El, where he takes on the Will the Wise persona when he thinks he’s about to die. By destroying the fort, he’s ending the Will the Wise persona as well. So, that Castle Byers scene is a combination of Will accepting growing up through 1) acknowledging his feelings for Mike, 2) trying to destroy the feelings because he knows it’s not appropriate / part of growing up according to Mike, and 3) recognizing that Will the Wise won’t live forever.

When Will donates the manuals, he’s accepting his cleric role while telling Mike that it’s not possible to want to play another party. Implied in that is the fact that Will only wants this party where Mike is DM, where Mike is the paladin to his cleric, where Mike is devoted and loyal and trustworthy to not just the Party, but to Will as well. And Mike as DM has the power to build a new campaign, a new story, for Will now as the cleric he is.

Hopefully, ST4 will gives us the next step in both how Mike and Will face their changed friendship through their D&D adventurers as paladin and cleric and in real life between each other as Mike and Will. Also, looking forward to further insight into the fact that the Mind Flayer took away El’s powers but exists in the same domain that gave Will his (hopefully permanent but as for now, temporary) powers.

[ If you made it to the end, honestly thank you a bunch for reading this! I have heavy focus on Will, El, and Mike here, but if you want details on Dustin and Lucas’ bard and ranger, let me know! I’m so down to post about those characters, too. ]