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michaelwheelerseasontwosweaters · 3 years ago

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The Older Sister is Always Right

a byler fanfiction by Nancy's point of view

my brother is an idiot, to say the least.

you might ask what im talking about but, once you meet him you would know. im not talking about his sassy remarks, his resting bitch face, or even the fact he steals my money!

im talking about how he fucked up with the person he loved most in the world.

william byers.

the son of joyce and lonnie byers and the brother of jonathan byers.

ive known will since he was five, not that i had a choice in the matter since my brother was obsessed with him and his huge smile he always wore around mike.

when i was younger i tried to ignore the obvious signs. i think my parents did too.

see, when you live in hawkins you only fall into three categories. number one: the ones that ignore it (or pretend to in some of our cases). number two: the bullies who harass the queers. and number three: the queers.

it's sort of funny, how obvious they were but no one picked up on it as fast as i did.

THE WHEELERS HOUSE ; AUGUST 1955

I walked into my front door, already done with fourth grade. everyone is evil!

"nance! nancy!" my brother screamed catching my attention. "jesus calm yourself, whats going on?" i asked him, seeing the glowing radiance of happiness flying off of him.

"i made a new friend, remember will?"

"the boy who you haven't quit bugging me about? yeah i remember." i giggled. "well his mommy finally let him come over here! cmon nancy hes in the living room! cmon!" he exclaimed as he grabbed my arm and pulled me towards the living room.

"woah mike! he's still going to be there if i walked." i rolled my eyes at my five year old brother.

"i know but will is important!"

THE WHEELER HOUSE ; JUNE 1956

I looked through my drawers, throwing clothes out as i do. "mike! do you know where my new dress is?" i yelled, hoping he would hear.

no response.

"ugh! michael you ass!" i yelled only to get a "language!" from my dad in response.

i walked over to mikes room and slammed open his door. "wheres my- what are you guys doing?"

mike was currently fighting air with a sword and will was hiding behind card board in my new dress.

"oh hey nancy! im fighting the evil dragon whos trying to get will!" he explains like its nothing.

"cool..." i say dumbfounded. "wait nancy! you could be the evil dragon!" mike yells as he got the idea.

"yeah! nancy please?" will smiled.

"ugh fine, give me a sword." i caved in and walked over by mike as be beamed with joy.

mike handed me the sword and just like at, we were hitting each other with a sword and will was a giggling mess.

THE WHEELER'S HOUSE ; JANUARY 1957

"barb! we could hang out this weekend, i think the snow storm is over." i talked to her over the phone.

"k nance, i have to ask my mom though. speaking of which i have dinner, I'll talk to you later!" barb spoke.

"okay, bye barb." i said before hanging up and grabbing my homework from my nightstand.

knock knock

"come in." i said, not looking up to see who opened my door. "hey nancy, can we talk?" mike asked.

"what do you want dingus?" i asked as i moved my homework so he can sit across from me on my bed. he obviously took the hint and sat across from me, criss cross.

"so? what was so important?" i asked noticing the small tears in his eyes.

"im worried about will." he whispered.

"why? hes fine, right?" i asked. i hope he was okay. will was like a less annoying little brother.

"he said he was sick all week but he came to school with bruises! he wouldn't tell me what happened, i thought friends tell each other everything." he finally let a tear down.

"mike, he's fine. and friends have some secrets, it's normal i think. you don't need to panic." i tried calming him down.

"i care so much about him nancy, hes my best friend! i can't let him be hurt, best friends dont do that. will is too small and adorable to have that happen." he explained.

adorable? did he use adorable to describe a boy?

THE WHEELER HOUSE ; NOVEMBER 1958

"nancy, what does it mean to get divorced?"

"woah, why are you asking?" i asked him, it was weird to hear my nine year old brother ask what does it mean to get divorced.

"mrs byers and wills dad got broken up. he seems sad. i don't get it. his dad was always mean! isn't that a good thing he's gone?" mike explains, confused.

"i think just because someone is mean doesn't mean you want them gone? i don't know mike." i answered.

"hm.. oh i also forgot what i was going to ask you can i borrow your colored pencils and pillows?" he asked.

"why."

"im inviting over will since hes sort of sad and need pillows and he likes drawing."

"you don't have enough pillows?" i asked, annoyed.

"cmon nancy!" he groaned. "fine, asshole."

"hey!" he yelled as he pushed me over.

"shithead!" i pushed him back and kicked him down.

"ill kill you nancy!"

THE BYERS HOUSE ; DECEMBER 1959

"nancy! nancy! hurry your ass up."

"well don't make me hold all your shit!"

"language!"

we were currently getting out of the car to spend christmas at the byers instead of our house and mike decided its convenient for me to hold all his shit.

I almost dropped one of the green and red wrapped presents on the ground and mike ran to catch it.

"you can't drop that! that's Will's present!" he screamed.

"geez. sorry." i apologized, not understanding why a small gift meant so much. "why does it matter anyway?" i kept walking.

"it's wills. that means its important! I'll kill you if you break it." he threatened.

"micheal! be nice to your sister."

THE WHEELERS HOUSE ; JUNE 1960

i unlocked the door to hear star wars playing in the distance. of course, mikes obsessed with that movie.

mike was currently home alone because mom and dad was taking holly to a doctor's appointment.

"hey, im home." i said, not yelling because hes right in the living room. i walked into the kitchen and grabbed some chocolate and walked into the living room, going to force him to give me the remote.

but i wasn't expecting what i saw.

mike and will laying down on top of each other, their limbs tangled up together with snacks all spilt on the floor.

aw, very couple-ly.

wait.

isn't that wrong?

they are boys. its different.

i looked at my brothers faint smile and decided it wasn't wrong. the shithead is happy.

im okay with him staying happy.

THE BYERS HOUSE ; FEBRUARY 1961

i walked past wills room, trying to get to jonathans' room. we had a big test today and i noticed he forgot his homework because he was busy talking to robin.

they aren't friends but, he seems to think shes interesting.

she sort of reminds me of will. in a way.

"hey nancy." will says, startling me.

"oh hey, whats up?" i asked.

i noticed the envelope in his hand and the nervous look on his face.

"where was mike at school today?" he asked. "oh hes sick. i guess the mushy valentine's day stuff got to him." i laughed.

"what's the note for, bowlcut?" i asked, saying the nickname i have for him.

"um, its for mike.. can you give it to him? thanks, bye!" he stuttered out before running back to his room and slamming the door.

i looked down at the envelope and noticed a small paper heart on the back.

wow. will byers gave my brother a valentine.

THE WHEELERS HOUSE ; MARCH 1962

mike barged into my room and went straight to my bra and underwear drawer.

"mike! what the hell is wrong with you?!" i yelled as he grabbed my piggy bank and spilt it all over my bed.

"ill pay you back! i promise! moms going shopping and i need one hundred dollars for this gift for will and i only have ninety. counting the money mom gave me." he explained as he stuffed quarter after quarter in his zip up jacket pocket.

"whoa, whoa what gift could you possibly get for will that's one hundred dollars? that's like rich people money!" i exclaimed.

"I don't care, its for will!" he yelled before bolting out the door.

"asshole!" i screamed after him.

THE WHEELER'S HOUSE ; NOVEMBER 1963

me, mom, dad, and holly were waiting in the living room. mike sneaked out and we didn't know where he was. we currently had the news on but my attention wasn't on that until i heard horrible words that would explain to much.

"the body of william byers has been discovered."

oh no. mike.

like on que, he slammed the door open and my mom walked over to him.

he started sobbing in her arms once she opened them for a hug. I felt my heartbreaking at the site. me and my brother don't always get along but he's still my brother.

"hes gone! hes g-gone and I'll never get to hug him again!" he yells out, hiccups breaking through.

"nothings going to be the same anymore." he muttered.

and he was right.

today the byers were moving and taking el with them.

I could already tell my brother was having a hard time accepting it. I noticed the incredible tension between Mike and will I can't help but wonder what happened, mike wouldn't tell me in years.

just a few years ago if you told me i would be crying next to my brother watching jonathan byers car and a moving truck drive out of the byers driveway i would have giggled.

but now... now its reality. after everything we went through and had to deal with this past summer (not even mentioning what happened years prior to this) is finally over.

even if it's over it doesn't stop the trauma and the memories. I can't imagine how will or mike or literally any of the kids feel.

I looked at mike and saw the hurt face on him, I decided I should just drive home because he needs more time to process this.

just like that I was pulling into our driveway and ignored calls from my mom and walk straight up to my room.

jonathan's gone. the only thing I have left is our shared trauma. I guess that makes me strong. dealing with stuff, it makes anyone strong.

ten minutes after thinking, and holding back tears I heard my brother's footsteps walking towards my room.

he opened the door and i saw the tears swelling up in his eyes.

"nancy..." he choked out.

i walked over and pulled him in a bone crushing hug.

"gone. hes gone, again." he sobbed into my shoulder.

"i know, mike. i know." i rubbed his back as an effort to calm him down.

"nance. i-i..." he couldn't bring himself to say it.

"you loved him. i know mike, i always knew."

#byler #byeler #byler is endgame #will byers #byler rights #nancy wheeler #nancy and mike siblings rights tbh #stranger things #stranger things season three #the wheelers #angsty #young!mike wheeler #young!will byers #adorable shit

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kaypeace21 · 4 years ago

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Do you think that the hellfire club is a D&D group or some sport team or what do you think it is? (BTW big fan of your theories)

I think it’s a d&d club. I talked about it in past posts.I think being about d&d makes sense since the game would foreshadow future plot points- like it did in prior seasons . And the “hellfire club” is even an X-men group relating to the dark Phoenix which was referenced in s1 by Will . And I think they’ll take inspiration from that comic book arc for future seasons too . (So it’s an eastergg) . But, also , being called “the hellfire club” is probably an inside joke with the club members- since in the 80s, adults claimed d&d was about devil worship.)

In Bts photos- one of the members has a ‘Wasp’ pin which is a heavy metal band formed in 1982 -so the club is not so shockingly confirmed to be into rock.Along with d&d (if the leaks are legit) . Makes sense since both things are part of counter culture that was demonized by the “satanic panic” in the 80s. In the 80s. D&d (similar to rock music) was believed to be satanic - so the club name (for the club members)is a joke making fun of these people who think that’s true . But also (as a show is) another dark Phoenix ref . One of the s4 movies ‘paradise lost’ (was about a real life case) of small town teens who were into punk music, horror movies, stephen king, wore black, into wicca, and accused of being gay. They were unfairly blamed for ‘ satanic child m**ders (in the woods & near a river). They weren’t guilty . But, because ‘satanic panic’ was still alive and well ...the town’s people used their hobbies/ punk look/ and perceived sexualities as ‘proof” they were guilty. The case was later described as a ‘witch hunt’. Meanwhile the other (more likely suspect) at the time was John “Mark” Byers- who was a hunter, had a thing for hunting knives, religious, admitted to hitting his kids, and was accused of s**ually abusing his son, shot pumpkins (s2 ref), and sang a song about creating a portal to another world without light , that you could enter via a tree (s1 ref). Years later-after the doc- it’s implied he wasn’t guilty either. But, one of the other victims’ fathers - Terry was assumed to be guilty - he was also was accused of m***esting his son and daughter (by his own family members). Admitted to hitting his wife and kids. And had a police report filed on him - describing breaking into a women’s house , while she was in a tub and trying to attack her. He was also formerly charged for m*rdering one of his wife’s family members- but got away with it claiming self defense). Heck if the names John byers/Terry being in the film/st wasn’t crazy enough- the victims were named Steve, Michael, and Chris byers (luckily ours don’t have that same horrible fate/back stories).

I kind of assume - the d&d club will be looked at suspiciously as teens go missing/ kidnapped/ or maybe found k*lled in the woods/quarry. And the cops/others think they’re “satanic k*llings” and rumors about the d&d club insue. And maybe our teens suspect it’s the demogorgan again. But as a subversion- it isn’t and it’s a human . A human that by ab*sing Will- caused Will to unconsciously create many things including the demogorgan (which in d&d is called the “deep father”) . Also, in s3 they called Will “the devil’s baby” (Aka lonnie is the real “devil” ).And such incidents in the woods/ near the quarry would connect back to s1 demogorgan & Will being found in the quarry. And if paying attention you already noticed s1 demogorgan paralleled Lonnie a lot! So s4 would start bringing things to the surface- in regards to how evil Lonnie really is.Not to mention more hints (I previously posted) that hinted they’ll go with this “ch*ld serial ki##er plot line...

But then again I think it may not be literally Lonnie. My guess: Brenner (who I think was created/based on lonnie) is possibly doing failed experiments of teens to open portals (in the basement of pethurst -like in hellraiser 2) . And dumping failed experiments in the woods/water. A few movies had the d*ad victims have numbers carved in them. And then El/kali team up and maybe sneak into the facility (like in ace Ventura people posing as siblings investigate a m*rder and one fakes being ‘crazy’ to sneak in and find a murderer) . In ‘peanut butter solution’ 2 kids - 1 of them is goth/not american teams up with a girl to find a man named ‘senior ‘who is kidnapping kids. 1 of them also sneaks in and is captured on purpose to investigate. Kali already busted Dottie out of a psych hospital and lucas referenced El being there in s1. Alexi (like el-another alter of Will) watches roadrunner- in that papa bear throws him in a psych facility. And assasains creed/dream warriors - the psychiatric facility was similar to the lab with sensory deprivation tanks, cameras, solitary confinement in dark rooms. We already know 1 new character is against the mistreatment of people at the facility. Also the real pethurst (in Pennsylvania) -known for human rights a*use issues- wasn’t a psych facility (but a place for people with intellectual disabilities). So El being at the psych hospital version in Indianna (and maybe having id herself like I mentioned before -would be a nice ref). And in assasains creed- when the character starts sneaking around investigating - the dr reveals how the character is actual the reincarnation of their ancestor ( brenner tells el she’s an alter of Will’s ). And before that the dr was making that person relive the traumatic past of their past life/other person -which they couldn’t change (sort of like el seeing Billy’s past in s3). Also kali said her and El should team up to face their father- which I think they’ll do. And I’m excited about it!

I still think brenner was created by Will and based on Lonnie so he could be responsible and connected to Will/Jon’s backstory with Lonnie/the Woods. In an abstract way. Like how brenner/Lonnie forced their kids to k*ll animals. Brenner threw El in a dark room/ Lonnie threw Will in a trunk. Brenner’s name being associated with the woods and Lonnie being a hunter , etc.

Also we know s4 involves this dark-storyline involving c**ld m*rders cause of foreshadowing

* Also, mentioned here how in s4 rolling a 11 isn’t actually a good thing and that it’s a callback to Will rolling a 7- in s1. Before things go array.In “paradise lost” when blaming the innocent goth boys someone asks the chief “on a scale 1 to 10 how confident are you? You have the right men?” And he laughs and says “11.”

*And , just for historical context of how ‘metal ‘ and ‘scary ‘ d&d was to nonplayers (in the 80s).

“In 1985, 60 Minutes dedicated a full hour to the supposed connection between D&D, Satanic rites, murders and su*cides . 2 years earlier, Patricia Pulling formed Bothered About Dungeons and Dragons (BADD) . She described D&D as ‘a fantasy role-playing game which leads to demonology, witchcraft, voodoo, murder, r*pe, blasphemy, suicide, assassination, insanity, sex perversion, homosexuality, pr*stitution, satanic type rituals, gambling, barbarism, cannibalism, sadism, desecration, demon summoning, necromantics, divination and other teachings.’ In 1987, Peter Leithart and George Grant published The Catechism of the New Age, a pamphlet where they introduced the idea that D&D was immoral because roleplaying allowed too much freedom for critical thinking, which might lead to heretical ideas. That same year, Chris Pritchard and two friends conspired to murder Pritchard’s stepfather in his sleep, the media ignored the obvious financial motivation and instead focused on the men being in the same D&D group.”

( I think quite a few of those themes will come up in s4/5 - although d&d isn’t the actual cause). It’ll just be a subversion.

#stranger things #el hopper #kali prasad #will byers #stranger things theory #s4 theory #d&d #st s4 #s4 bts #DID theory

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troop-scoop · 4 years ago

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Youth II

Chapter Two - Common Interest

Word count: 2.9k

Series Summary: On a family trip to your dad’s home town of Hawkins, Indiana, you make a series of decisions that result in you ending up in the year 1983 with more questions than there are answers presently available.

Pairing: Steve Harrington x Female Reader ( slow burn )

Chapter Summary: With the disappearance of Will Byers, you lend a helping hand to try an find the missing 12 year old boy.

A/n: forgive me for posting a second chapter on the same day as the first. I just need to get this one out before I lose my mind.

⟛⟛

You’d spent plenty of time staring off into space with your thoughts racing, you’d done it plenty at school, but this wasn’t right, it didn’t feel right and you hated it. Sure, you had plenty of odd experiences growing up, things you used to think were normal for other people, but apparently, they weren’t. And when you’d realized that, you kept them to yourself. But this wasn’t just something you were seeing, this was real, and you knew it, and everything else paled in comparison to this level of oddness.

Why was it always small towns? When you hear about missing people or cold cases that seem to throw police and detectives for a loop it always took place in small towns, quiet ones that people described as great to raise your kids in, places people settled down in to get away from the big cities.

When you’d been getting things together to leave for the day, you’d briefly heard about a missing kid, but hadn’t heard the name before you were slamming the motel door behind you to get to school, hopping down the walkway to the stairs trying to get your shoes on.

It wasn’t right, you would have known about this. Wouldn’t you? Sure, your dad never really talked much about his home town unless it was fond memories with his childhood friends, your uncles, but this was huge, something that should have at least been mentioned.

You had zoned out of the conversation happening next to you, ignoring every detail about the party Steve was throwing that night. You’d already declined on going to, much to both Steve and Carol’s disappointment. Carol mentioned how she was desperate to have another girl in their friend group, while Steve didn’t have much to say, just saying to come with him to find Nancy Wheeler.

“Oh, God, that’s depressing.”

Steve’s tone wasn’t what you would consider empathetic, it was rather that of someone who didn’t want to see what was happening.

Tommy, Barbara, Nancy, Steve, and Carol all looked to the subject of your staring, their eyes all landing on Jonathan Byers using a thumbtack to put a missing person flyer on the bulletin board near the front office.

“Should we say something?” Nancy questioned.

“I don’t think he speaks.”

“How much you want to bet he killed him?” At that, you turned your head and glared at Tommy, as Steve hit his chest a friendly yet serious “Shut up.” being said before you turned back to look at Jonathan.

Nancy walked towards him, leaving the rest of you to stand and wait. The only real thing you could think about was how when you were 11, you had been with your parents, uncle, aunt and cousins, helping your uncle and aunt pack things to move to a new house, and when you’d been left alone, you’d found a box full of old things and you’d dug through it, curiosity getting the best of you. You’d gotten to an old yearbook, labeled ‘1984-1985.’ and before you could ever flip through half of it, your uncle had snatched it away from you, and without saying a word, he’d grabbed the box and left the room.

“You alright?” Barabara asked you, reaching out to hold your shoulder, it brought the other three’s attention to you as well. You didn’t really know Barbara, but you knew she had good grades, and sometimes tutored students in the library after school.

“Yeah, peachy.” was your response, turning your attention back to the conversation Nancy was having with Jonathan, everything being said completely unknown to all of you with the distance.

The bell rang, and students began to frantically move, like cockroaches when you turned a light on. Scattering as quick as they could, but Barabara kept a hand on your shoulder, and in your peripheral vision you could make out her concerned look. Watching as Nancy came back over to the group of students Barbara took her hand off of your shoulder, everyone turning to walk down the hall once Nancy was there. But you were stalling, taking slow uneasy steps, barely keeping your eyes off of Jonathan, but when you knew that the group of students wouldn’t notice you weren’t with them, you turned back around, to see Jonathan heading for the doors.

“Jonathan!” You called out, jogging after him, seeing him stop just as he reached the metal and glass door. Catching up you placed your hands on your hips, trying to think of what to say. “Where we going?”

“What?” Jonathan questioned, brows furrowed as he looked at you, both his hands on the push bar of the door.

“Where we going? Wanna hear it French? Ou Allons nous?”

“We are not going anywhere. You have to go to. . .” Jonathan looked at the small notebook you held between two fingers, reading the angry red scribble on the front that said ‘Math’ “Mr. Swann’s?”

You breathed out through your nose, dropping your notebook. “Not anymore. Where are we going? This is about your brother, right? I wanna help.”

Jonathan sighed a bit, looking down at the linoleum floor before back up at you. “Why?”

“Common interest.” You told him.

“Our English project doesn’t have anything to do with-”

“This isn’t about Romeo and Juliet, moron. This is about your brother. Listen I just. . . everything about this, makes my stomach churn, I need to see him come back home alive. See? Common interest.”

Jonathan gave an absent-minded nod, the look on his face telling you he knew that feeling. “Indianapolis.” He told you, opening the door and barely stepping out, with you hot on his heels. But he stopped suddenly, turning back to you, holding a finger up. “But you stay out of it, Lonnie isn’t too friendly, and I've seen him angry. If I tell you to go back to the car, you go, understand?”

“You’re not my dad, if I see things start going south, I’m getting both of us out of there.” You told him. “Teamwork makes the dream work, now go before I stomp on your shoes, and there’s no guarantee that I won’t give you a flat tire on the way to the car.”

⟛⟛

Sitting in the passenger seat, you looked to the radio, eyes on the station number as the familiar intro to a song began on the radio. The first time you remembered hearing the song, you were four and had woken up from a nap to the smell of macaroni and cheese, and the sound of your newborn baby brother sneezing in his sleep in the crib on the other side of the room. The music was being played from the living room stereo, loudly. But one thing about being raised by your dads was that you had to adapt to loud music being played. Even Daniel had adapted to it at a few weeks old. You’d gotten out of bed and gotten to the living room, where the stereo was on, and your dad in the kitchen, putting some of the macaroni in one of your bowls and one of his own.

The last time you remembered listening to that song was when your cousins had convinced you to go with them into town, Torrey being the one with the idea, and with her speaker, playing a random playlist. You remembered that she skipped the song halfway through.

Torrey never had a good track record, that was for sure, she was always in trouble, much to your uncle Mike’s dismay. But you and James were always the more reasonable ones out of all of you. But Torrey was the oldest, and as a result, like the older sister, and everyone wanted to be like their cool older sister. So whatever she suggested the lot of you do, you did it.

That always resulted in trouble. The only one who could ever reason with all of you was Uncle Dustin, of course, it had to be the uncle who didn’t have kids. It annoyed Mike, Lucas, and your dad to no end that when with Torrey, they couldn’t get through to any of you.

But, Torrey wasn’t technically your oldest cousin. No, that was Rob. Your uncle’s oldest son. But he was a bit over a decade older than you, so you didn’t really know him all too well. Torrey was almost a decade older, just short two years.

“This the place?” you asked, looking past Jonathan trying to see through the foggy window, rain pouring down onto the pavement outside, and tapping gently on the windows and roof of the car. The fogged-up window told you it was cold out there, and warmer inside.

“Yeah. . .”

“Lonnie’s. . . Who is Lonnie, exactly?” You questioned, unbuckling the seatbelt as Jonathan did the same.

“Our dad,” Jonathan answered, opening his car door and getting out. You reached into the backseat, grabbing your coat as a sudden and startling cool gust of wind hit you, sending goosebumps up your neck and arms. Jumping a bit you looked to the door, seeing that Jonathan had gotten it for you. “Come on.” he rushed you.

You didn’t know if you wanted to go up to the house that the teenage boy was eyeing, you knew that if you’d never heard about Lonnie before, it was for a reason. Likely a good one.

Stepping out of the car, you pulled your jacket on just as Jonathan closed the passenger door for you, heading to the run-down home across the street. You followed shortly after, feeling your ankles begin to get wet as drops of rain-soaked through the canvas material of your shoes.

Standing under the overhang of the front porch you watched as Jonathan looked through the glass of the front door, music from either a television or stereo being hear from outside, over the rain. Jonathan knocked on the door. “Hello?” He shouted.

“Maybe he’s not home?”

Jonathan gave a bitter scoff as he continued to bang on the door insistently before you heard a woman’s voice yell out something indistinct. And before you could process it, the front door was opened.

“Can I help you?” She demanded.

“Yeah, is Lonnie around?” Jonathan asked, his body language giving off just as much attitude as her but his voice remaining calm.

“Yeah, he’s out back. What do you want?”

“To look around.” and with that, Jonathan stepped past her into the house, with you following right behind.

The living area had warm lighting from the lamps, with the absence of an overhead light. And the tv that was small by your standards had M.TV on. It was a mess, with things seemingly tossed around, it felt like the beginning of a hoarder’s home before it got worse and it was filmed for a stupid television show.

“Hey, what do you think you’re doing? Hey!” The woman yelled after the two of you. You were hot on Jonathan’s heels, keeping in mind what he said about his father. You’d rather stick close.

“We’ll be fast, promise!” you told her.

“Hey, Will?” Jonathan questioned, going down the hallway, looking into doorways, calling out his younger brother’s name in a more urgent tone while you gave a longer look into each room.

Jonathan turned around from the last room, shaking his head and looking at you, going to walk back out of the hall. But just as he came to the end, a man slammed Jonathan against the wall, holding the collar of his sherpa jean jacket. You jumped back, just before Jonathan shoved who you were now assuming was Lonnie. “Get off!”

“Damn, you’ve gotten stronger.” The older man gave a shove to Jonathan’s shoulder, looking past the two males you saw the woman from the front door.

“Will someone please explain what the hell is going on?”

Lonnie looked at her, then back at Jonathan and then to you, before doing the opposite. “Jonathan, Cynthia. Cynthia this is Jonathan. My oldest. I don’t know who this little lady is.”

Lonnie shoved Jonathan’s shoulder again before pulling him into a hug. “Get off me, man.” Jonathan pushed him off.

The look on Lonnie’s face was that of pure cluelessness as if he didn’t understand why Jonathan would shove him away like that. But with how Jonathan had briefly spoken about him and how he had just acted, you knew the relationship wasn’t what you’d expect of a father and son.

Lonnie turned his gaze to you, “Who’s she?” He asked, looking to Jonathan again.

“A friend,” you responded. Sure, you and Jonathan weren’t all that close, but in this situation, you were sure he needed one, and even if you weren’t technically ‘friends’ he would know he had someone in his corner. “We’re looking for Will.”

“I already talked to the cops. He’s not here and he never has been.”

“Right, well, I think everyone gets a little nervous when they see and talk to cops, if Will’s here I doubt he would have come out when police were here.”

Lonnie looked as though he was trying to process what you had said. “If it makes you two feel better you can look around.”

“Hm, gladly,” you responded.

Jonathan and you spent a few moments in the rundown house, and once the rain had let up, Jonathan went outside, with you and Lonnie both trailing behind.

“Take a look at this beaut. Should’ve seen it when I got it. Took me a year, but it’s almost done.” Lonnie spoke about the car Jonathan was headed toward, opening the trunk once he reached the back. “Really? Do you want to check up my ass, too? I told you the same thing I told those cops, he’s not here and he never has been.”

“Then why didn’t you call Mom back?”

“I don’t know, I just. . . I assumed she forgot where he was. You know, he was lost or something. That boy was never very good at taking care of himself.”

“This isn’t some joke, all right? There are search parties, reporters. . .”

The way Lonnie was treating the situation made you uncomfortable. He didn’t care. It was clear he didn’t with the new information that Jonathan’s mother had called him, and he never answered or called back, how he lived a two-hour drive away and seemed to be talking about anything else but Will.

“Hopper’s not still chief, is he? Tell your mother she’s gotta get you out of that hellhole. Come out here to the city. People are more real here, you know? And then I could see you more.”

“If you wanted to see them more you wouldn’t have made the choice to live so far away.” You interrupted. You knew full well that had your parents ever split in an ugly way like it seemed Lonnie and Joyce had, neither of your fathers would move so far away that it felt like two different worlds. They’d stay close together so both you and your brother still had both of them. “Sounds like shitty parenting on your part, not her’s.”

Lonnie looked at you and tilted his head. “What? You think I don’t want to see my boys?”

“It’s kinda obvious that you don’t.” You responded, crossing your arms over your chest.

“Has Jonathan let you be around his mother? Because you sound just like her. Speaking of her, does she even know you’re here?” Lonnie turned back to Jonathan. You didn’t even know the answer to that, but Jonathan’s silence was an answer. “Great. So one kid goes missing, the other one runs wild? Some real fine parenting right there. Look, all I’m saying is, maybe I’m not the asshole, all right?”

Though Lonie couldn’t see it, you were glaring at him, but Jonathan could, and he gave you a look before reaching into his shoulder bag, pulling out a poster. A copy of the one he’d put up at school. “In case you forgot what he looks like,” Jonathan grumbled, shoving the poster into Lonnie’s chest as he walked away. Gesturing for you to follow.

The two of you walked around the house instead of through it, with small water droplets coming down once again as you crossed the street to the car.

“He’s a prick.” You mumbled as you passed Jonathan to get to the passenger side. Jonathan stared at you for a second.

“Y/n.”

You had grabbed onto the handle of the car door when he said your name, catching your attention. “Yeah?”

“Why do you care? You’re new in Hawkins, you’ve only been there for a few months, and you care about this more than people who have known me and Will since were kids. You’ve never even seen Will.”

You looked down at the pavement beneath you. The smell of rain invading your nose, calming you down just a bit. “Common interest.” You repeated what you had said before.

He didn’t look convinced with how his face seemed to harden and become far more serious. “Look,” You started, letting go of the handle resting your hands on the roof of the car. “Will’s alive, he has to be. I know he is. If I told you how I know, you’d call me crazy. I care about you, your brother and your mom. Lonnie? Not so much. . . Just. . . trust me, okay?”

Jonathan didn’t say anything or even do anything else in response. He opened the driver’s door and got in his seat, tossing his bag into the back as you did the same, buckling yourself in and looking out the window.

⟛⟛

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writingjoycebyers · 4 years ago

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Twice in her life — or: the last days he saw her smile

(Joyce Byers x Jim Hopper - observations of a friendship — a one shot)

warnings: a bit angsty, mentions sex (not explicit)

Reblogs, comments and feedback make me really happy. Let me know if you like it or what else you'd like to read. No one asked for this. My brain just came up with it. ✨❤️👀 There's a little bonus at the end and I gotta say it's a little off canon maybe. Have fun✨❤️

Enjoy the read...

Joyce Byers had been left twice in her life.

One might think it's a story about Lonnie. But no, it's most definetely not. Lonnie doesn't count. Lonnie is a side character. She left Lonnie, kicked him out all by herself after all those years that would have been wasted if they hadn't been for her boys. Her boys were her gift, and the only thing she'd ever thank Lonnie for, to some degree. He helped create them, but she had been the one to form them. She was the one she should thank for, really.

No, Joyce Byers had been left twice in her life, and it had been much more subtle events than her large fights with Lonnie, making her the main topic of the gossip all those midaged ladies were spreading at the grocery store, the doctor's office, the elementary school. You heard it? someone called the police to Joyce Byers house.

Joyce Byers had been left twice in her life, and nobody had really noticed, but her.

The first time, she had just turned nineteen. It was a rather warm day in September, and life in Hawkins couldn't be easier. High-school was done, the heat of the summer was still lingering in the air, and her dark hair was still damp from swimming in the lake as she rode around Hawkins with her best friend, Jim Hopper. Or... Was he her best friend still? She sometimes couldn't tell, couldn't put a label on it, when he was kissing her senseless in the back of his dad's old truck, parked in the dark at Lover's Lake, parked in the shade of a large oak tree — so that although it was the middle of the night, and no one would come there anyways, they'd have a bit of privacy, a roof of leaves covering their clumsy attempt on passing first base. Friends didn't do that, right?

They rode along the streets of Hawkins, and Joyce had her legs propped up on the dashboard of his car, puffing away on one of Hop‘s cigarettes. They tasted awful, but she did not mind as long as it were his. She felt connected to him through that cig. Tonight was the night. Tonight, she‘d tell him - tell him that she wanted to be more than friends, more than friends who make out occasionally. She wanted to finally look into his eyes and work up the courage to say Jim, I like you a little more than expected.

She looked at him from the side, his hands holding the steering wheel, his gaze fixed on the road as day turned into night with a wonderfully orange sky. Tonight was the night she‘d say it. Jim, you make my fucking heart race.

Jim looked beautiful to her, peaceful and innocent, like he didn‘t know that outside Hawkins there was a whole world — both good and bad — that was waiting for them and looming like a dark shadow at the same time. For him, this dark shadow could mean draft cards, his ticket off to fight a war he himself hadn‘t started, a conflict neither him nor Joyce would ever support or understand. She knew it could be his duty to leave one day, but she could still breathe every day his number didn‘t come up. As long as Hopper didn‘t have to take the trip, she wouldn‘t have to take hers either: Her trip down the road of loneliness, facing the fact that she couldn‘t afford college, being left behind with the mess she had to call her parents. She knew he wasn‘t all that innocent though, stealing booze from his dad‘s wine cellar, sharing the bottle with her shamelessly on a friday night. She knew he wasn‘t all that innocent when he pressed his body into hers, parked under that old oak tree, and she could feel his need and want press against her while he silently accepted her wish to explore second base, but not enter the third one just yet. He kissed her, and told her that it didn‘t matter how far he had gone with other girls - that all that mattered was her needs. That specific night under the oak tree though, Joyce had realised that the tingling feeling in her belly was growing more and more, and that she wouldn‘t be able to hold back for much longer. I‘ve never done it, Jim. Her whispers had been low and husky, and he had caressed her cheek as she had thought of the moment she had once caught him and Chrissy Carpenter in the back of the blonde cheerleader's car. I know, Joycie, don‘t worry about that, one day we‘ll take it slow, just give me a sign. Tonight would be the night she‘d give him said sign, she thought, as he took a turn into the road she lived on.

He pulled up into her driveway, slowing down to park in front of her house. Tonight was the night.Tonight he‘d tell her - tell her that she meant the world to him, but that he‘d have to go, and that he‘d understand if she didn‘t wait. Tell her that he‘d try to write, no matter what. Joyce, I should have told you sooner. He had kept it to himself for weeks, had just not found the words to break the news to her. The letter had been in his mailbox one rainy Monday afternoon, telling him to fight a war he neither could nor wanted to understand. A war that would send him to hell and leave Joyce in the small little bubble of a heaven that was Hawkins, Indiana. He was a coward, he couldn‘t tell her, not when they were riding in his car, or munching on a burger at the diner, not whilst smoking on her windowsill and especially not whilst kissing her in the dark, parked in the shadow of the old oak tree. He just couldn‘t, but tonight was the night. Joycie, I gotta go to Vietnam. My train leaves tomorrow.

Jim pulled the keys, and she looked at him. It was a ritual already: They’d spend their day at the lake, he‘d drive her home long after dark and as her parents were barely ever home anyways, he‘d follow her up to her room under the roof and they‘d sit by the window, smoking and kissing and exchanging little secrets. Jim loved Joyce, and Joyce loved Jim. They both knew it, they just never said a word.

The two friends, him, tall and blonde and her, small and brunette, took their usual spot by her large window. He was just about to light the last smoke from his pack, when Joyce reached for the cigarette, her hand grazing his as she took it, putting it aside. She kissed Jim with such force than that he nearly lost track of time and place. Was this still Hawkins, Indiana?

They kissed, and kissed ... and kissed some more, before she finally pulled away, taking his large hand into her small one. Their fingers were intertwined, her thumb drawing small circles to the side of his hand. Dark doe eyes met blue ones, and she breathed in once more before saying it: “Jim, I think... you‘re my best friend. But I also think... I‘m in love with you.“

Her words came out all in one breath, more a sighed whisper than a real sentence, but she had said them. Her pulse was pounding as she waited for him to respond. She had practiced the worst case already: That‘s okay, Jim, you do not have to love me back. I just hope we can stay friends?

But then his hand found her cheek and he pulled her closer, whispering an I love you, Joycie, right onto her lips as he found hers, grazing them softly. It felt like a gentle hello to Joyce, like this was the start of something new, although she had kissed him a hundred times before. She couldn‘t know it was a goodbye. Quickly, their kisses became more passionate, hungry and loving. Does he love me, she wants to know, how can she know if he loves her so?

That night, Jim Hopper made love to Joyce Horowitz — sweet, gentle and slow love. He touched her in a way he had never touched anyone before, softer, more tender - out of love and out guilt, his conscience forcing him to treat her even better, to worship her body to balance out the fact that he couldn‘t be true to her. His feelings for her were so strong that they held him back from breaking her heart - although it would in the end have to be broken, if he wanted that or not.

They shared that last cigarette afterwards, the one that had been waiting on the window sill. They‘d not share another one until almost twenty years later.

That night, Joyce Horowitz made love to Jim Hopper — sweet, gentle and slow love. She touched him in a way she had never touched anyone before, soft, tender and a bit shy as she explored his body and her own, further discovering the hot, tingling feeling in her lower belly as their clothes sprawled out on the floor and their bodies intertwined under her comforter. It‘s in his kiss.

Joyce fell asleep in Jim‘s arms, breathing softly as she felt safe and secure of the fact that he loved her too, that they were more than friends and that this was just the start.

Jim watched Joyce fall asleep in his arms, pulling her as close as he could once more. He wanted to remember this moment forever, capture every little detail for the nights to come in which he‘d sleep somewhere in the jungle of the war, with so many miles separating him from the girl he loved. He studied her face in the dim light of her room before falling asleep for a few hours himself.

When Joyce woke up the next morning, she already began to smile with her eyes still closed. It was a rainy Monday morning, she could hear the raindrops fall against her window in a steady rythm - It was soothing and she was ready to cuddle up again. She turned around, reaching for Jim, only to find the bed empty. She sat up, confused and still half asleep, stumbling across a note.

- Joy, I should have told you sooner. I won‘t forget our summer. My train leaves today, I‘m gone into training for Nam. Please don‘t come looking for me at the station. I’ll be gone already. I‘ll write. Jim. -

Joyce Horowitz had been left for the first time in her life, broken and flustered, unable to move or cry for hours and hours. She sat in bed, the note in her hands, and she cursed Jim, the world, the war and love - and even herself for falling for him. She didn‘t believe there was a feeling on earth that could be more horrible. Joyce Horowitz had been left for the first time in her life, and she had no clue there would be a second one.

......... 20 years later.........

Joyce looked at Jim one more time as he stood next to the machine, tears in their eyes, both his and hers.

I love you.

Leaning to the side, she reached for the keys once more. She stopped breathing as she turned them, held her breath as lights blended her vision, time stopping around her and then... he was gone.

Joyce Byers had been left twice in her life.

_____________________________________

Thanks for reading everyone. I appreciate every kind of constructive feedback. Feel free to send asks or messages if you wanna talk about this little piece here, or if you have any other Joyce asks or prompts!

Bonus: a little mood board I made

Sources: there's a reference to the shoop shoop song. Pics are all from pinterest if anyone Needs the sources. I don't own anything related to ST or Winona Ryder. Credit goes to the respective owners and creates, I just wrote this little fic for fun.

#Joyce #joyce x hopper #jopper #joyce byers #young jopper #headcanon #jim hopper #hopper x joyce #winona ryder #chief jim hopper #chief hopper #Jim Hopper #Jopper fic #Stranger things #David Harbour

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thesaunatest · 4 years ago

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MY HUGE THEORY ON EL’S PLOTLINE IN S4

before you guys even start, YES I know that 99.9% of what I say is going to be wrong but this is literally just for fun.

its march 1986, middle of the school year and el HATES school

when we left her she was barely literate and had just started getting accostomed to speaking full sentences, NOWHERE NEAR a 9th grade level, so shes struggling in her classes to say the least

on top of that, she barely knows how to socialize with other people, so shes evidently getting picked on

with joyce and jonathan both working to keep the family afloat, will and el get left alone alot

but outside of the party, they socially have nothing in common

in fact, will is adapting to the new town a whole lot better than el. he fit right in with all the creative kids he met in class, but el didnt mesh with that crowd

anyway, our girl is sturggling

the only time she really has fun is when she visits hawkins, or when someone from the party visits them

which leads us to spring break

mike obviously comes to visit, and el doesnt want them to waste a single second so she begs mike and will to come explore the town with her

at this point joyce is already in her detective mode, hatching a rescue plan for hopper so she doesnt notice theyre gone

and jonathan is battling the heartbreak of nancy ghosting him when she was supposed to come visit

so the trio goes off on an adventure without anyone noticing.......... or so they think

because brenner is back, and he knows el is with the byers, but he cant go and snatch her because he doesnt have the resources all the way in california

in fact, he doesnt have the resources at all. his numbers experiment is seen as a catastrophic failure that lead to the deaths of hundreds of lab employees

the only way for him to redeem himself in the community, and gain his funding back is to present his peers with proof that the project can work, so he needs to get one of his numbers back

el is the only one he can track down, but he doesnt think he can do it himself. if she saw him, she could just kill him with her powers, he assumes because he doesnt know she lost them

so who does he employ to get el back to hawkins? lonnie byers

its almost too easy. it doesnt take much to bribe lonnie, and hey, its not like its his kid. so lonnie accepts the bribe, and goes all the way out to california to find el

he shows up at the byers house..... only to find it completely deserted. so he waits

and the trio finds him there after their day out (why are you here? what do you want? where are mom and jonathan?)

and lonnie, being as crafty as he is, comes up with a good excuse on the fly (hes craftier than i am because i genuinely have no idea what he would say)

anyway, he gets them in his car and on their way back to hawkins

jonathan shows up after theyve already left, and is too stoned tired to think anything of the empty house

and joyce is already halfway to russia

will knows his father. he knows that his father doesnt give a shit about him, the family, or anything about hawkins. he knows that his father wouldnt get involved in anything unless he had something to gain. so hes wraking his brain

maybe.... lonnie pulls over to take a suspicious phone call? maybe will figures out an inconsistency in his story? either way, the gang is onto lonnie and figures that they gotta get away from him and get back to joyce and jonathan

they tuck and roll out of the car. idk. all that matters is that they get out of there

as theyre rolling out of the car, el bonks her head a little and has a quick flashback to her time in the lab

since her intuition is always spot on, she takes this as a cue the breener is back and lonnie is working for him

she tells the boys it isnt safe to go back to california or hawkins, so they come up w an alternative plan, somewhere neither brenner nor lonnie would think to look for them

and while theyre on the road, they stop at a diner to eat (dont ask me where they got the money) and we get will leaving an emotional voicemail home, probably sobbing to jonathan about how much he means to will, which gives el an idea

because who has the resources to help her, as well as a desire for vengeance on brenner? kali

el uses her superb hitchiking skills to get them to chicago

maybe she just has some hints of her powers left, but it isnt too hard for el to find kali

she explains everything thats happened, and lets kali know that if she want revenge, the opportunity is hers

unfortunately, lonnie was hot on their trail, and called for reinforcements

theyre ambushed by the few employees brenner has working for him. initially, everyone is hiding, assisted by kali’s powers

but el knows they arent leaving empty handed, and would rather get taken away then have kali’s freedom taken from her

so el reveals herself, followed by mike because he wont leave her, followed by will because he wont leave mike

all three get taken away, back to hawkins lab, but now kali is even more motivated to bring down the lab once and for all

so kali and her gang get to hawkins, almost simultaniously with jonathan, who has been looking for his family in a frenzy since the morning he woke up to find eveyone gone, without even a note or a phone call, as well as argyle, who came along for the ride

the video store is being used as home base this season, so thats the first place they go, where they find steve, shortstaffed and not knowing whats going on because the whole team ditched him

they catch him up to speed on how EVERYONES GONE and steve catches them up to speed on how EVERYONE IS GETTING MURDERED

meanwhile, brenner has three predicaments

1) no matter what he does to el, what kind of torture he inflicts, she isnt using her powers because she doesnt have them. she tells him this several times. he refuses to believe it

2) lonnie byers is demanding his payment, which he didnt recieve because the deal was that he bring el to them, and he couldnt even do that

3) he has to find a way to dispose of mike and will, who he had no intention of bringing into the lab but theyre here and they know everything

and this is the moment where mike screws up by letting them know that people know theyre in the lab and people know about all the experiments and any second now, someones gonna come banging that door down to save us. nancy, jonathan, steve, robin max, lucas, dustin, kali-

and the second mike says her name he knows he screwed up

brenner decides in that moment that all he can do is round up everyone involved and get rid of them. conveniently, the string of murders occurring will serve as a good cover for what happened to them

and this is the part where joyce, murray, and hopper get back to hawkins

this is also the part where nancy and robin and the gang get back to hawkins

so nancy and robin immediately go to the video store armed with all the new information they learned from victor creel

..... and are met with jonathan, argyle, kali, and steve in pandemonium

they close the store for the day, and get ready to storm the lab

they realize that they need something from the school, so they head there to pick it up

and soon after arriving, theyre met with the all to familiar hawkins lab vans

they make a hasty escape, taking out some of the goons but they need to find a way to get the rest off their trail

they head for the woods, hoping to hide out in the cabin

meanwhile, the russia crew has taken the mostly demolished cabin as their haven to recover from whatever injuries they sustained

theyre all running through the woods, but they realize the people from the lab are closing in on them

and then nancy and jonathan pass a very familiar tree

they use whatever weapon they have on them to break through the bark, and head into the upside down

the lab people keep going into the woods, eventually finding hopper’s cabin

epic showdown between the russia crew and the lab people, joyce, murray and hopper win, they realize the lab is back, immediately head there realizing theyre gonna have to rescue someone

nancy and robin use the info they learned from victor creel to keep the gang alive in the upside down, max, argyle and eddie are freaking out because omg we’re in another dimention, we get some big reveal about the truth about the upside down and the gang makes their way out and head to the lab

and while this is all happening,we get some super emotional monologue between brenner and el (ala-the last 10 minutes of the truman show) and brenner realizes that el isnt going to be the naieve superweapn she used to be, and decides the best thing he can do with el is give her the standard punishment, time in the closet

and being in the closet triggers all sorts of flashbacks and emotions (mbb’s opportunity to show off her acting chops for an emmy)

joyce and hopper bust into the lab like they did in season 1, but this time they dont get caught

they decide to split up to cover more ground, and hopper finds el in the closet

and around the same time joyce finds mike and will and gets them out of there

here comes the REAL emotional performance

hopper sees her, we get a teary eyed “el!” “dad!”, and then hopper gets pulled away from el by lab workers

exactly the same way terry did

we’re watching this happen from el’s perspective, with a heart-wrenching “noooooooooo” from el, accompanied by cuts to every time el has had to be separated from someone she cares about (terry, the s1 ending, billy dying, her leaving kali in s2, saying goodbye to everyone on moving day, her being separated from mike and will when they got to the lab) accompanied by some terribly sad 80s song, then back to the present moment, she reaches her hand out and boom, the guards go flying. her powers are back

except she doesnt have control of them the way she did before, and now shes bringing the whole building down

her and hopper race to the the first floor, and meet joyce and the boys, they get out of the building at the very last second, and the whole thing collapses.

eventually they find the other group, the whole team is now together, they go and take down the big bad from the upside down, joyce almost KILLS lonnie

nancy and robin drop a huge bombshell that has to do with hawkins/the upside down, specifically pertaining to el, which they pieced together after talking to victor creel

we get a massive cliffhanger, season 5 starts like 10 minutes after the ending of season 4

#stranger things #yes i know half the stuff i said is going to be wrong #it would be really cool if it was tho #stranger things theory

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bananannabeth · 7 years ago

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Alone

Karen left Joyce alone when she so obviously needed support, and now she's trying to make amends. Casserole and coffee seems as good a place as any to start.

Read on Ao3

Read the whole series

Sometimes, when things got really hard, Karen felt like a single mother. When the teenagers were being bratty and Holly was still so dependant and Ted was just never there, or never there in the ways she needed him to be, Karen felt completely and utterly alone.

But then Joyce would ring, checking up on Will or letting him know Jonathan was on his way to collect him, and suddenly everything would be thrown into sharp relief.

Ted wasn’t there, but he was at work, earning a wage that was decent enough for them to afford their nice house and their nice food, enough that she never had to worry about buying the kids new clothes or new toys. So maybe he wasn’t there in all the ways that she needed him to be, but at least he was there in some ways, in the end.

No one was there for Joyce.

Karen had known this for a long time, of course. She’d known it from the moment Lonnie had deserted his family, when Mike had crawled into the car after a play date with Will, confused, and asked her what a divorce was.

But it seemed more apparent, now. Now that Karen knew everything that the Byers had been through.

She thought back to that lunch with Joyce, back to when Will was still missing, to the Christmas lights strung up all over the house and the panic in Joyce’s eyes as she’d asked Holly if she’d seen something in the wall.

Karen should have seen it, then. She should have pushed Joyce to talk, should have stuck around instead of leaving her on her own when she clearly needed support. But she’d had Holly to worry about, and at the time getting her home safe had been her number one concern.

Holly wasn’t here, this time. She was at preschool, and Mike and Nancy were at school, and so Karen was alone as she approached the Byers’ house, a huge casserole dish balanced carefully in her arms.

Joyce clearly hadn’t been expecting her. Her eyes went wide as she took in the casserole and she stumbled over her greeting, but she swung the door open and invited Karen inside anyway.

The house was clean, with no out of season Christmas lights and no drawings of tunnels covering the walls. Karen looked around, trying to picture the house as Mike and Nancy had described it; covered from floor to ceiling in a labyrinthine map, all hand drawn by Will and meticulously fit together by the others.

She couldn’t imagine it. Everything just looked so… normal.

Joyce offered to put the casserole in the oven, and Karen was snapped out of her thoughts.

“Oh, no, you don’t have to put it on now!” she said as she handed the dish over. “It’s for you and the boys.”

“Oh! Oh, well. Thank you, Karen.” Joyce gingerly placed it in the fridge, and Karen glimpsed a stack of Eggos covered in whipped cream tucked on the top shelf. “That’s very kind of you.”

Her words were nothing but polite, but Karen had known Joyce long enough now to recognise the question beneath them; What the hell are you doing here?

“I’m sorry for just dropping in like this, without warning,” she began.

Joyce blinked at her and sat down at the small table in the kitchen. “It’s okay.”

Karen gingerly sat down opposite her. “Joyce, I want to apologise. I shouldn’t have waited so long to come around. I’m sorry that I’ve been so terrible at keeping in contact -”

“We talk twice a week,” Joyce replied, voice stilted. She looked a little stunned.

“Yes, about the boys. Or about Jonathan and Nancy. It’s always about the kids - What they’re doing, where they’re going, who they’re with. We never talk just to talk to each other.”

Joyce exhaled. Her hand shook where it was resting on the top of the table. She laughed hoarsely. “There’s not much to talk about.”

Karen looked at her flatly.

“I mean…” Joyce waved a hand up by her head, gesturing vaguely. “There is, I just don’t know how to talk about it.”

One of Will’s drawings was in pride of place on the fridge door; Bob Newby, Superhero.

Karen worried her bottom lip between her teeth, feeling woefully unprepared.

She’d felt the same when Will was missing, and even more so when his body had been discovered at the quarry. But at least there’d been some context for that, a vague thread of connection. Karen had felt worried for her son before, and she’d felt grief (although she couldn’t even begin to imagine the pain of losing a child).

But this… she had no idea how to even begin when everything Joyce had been through was so far beyond her realm of experience.

“I’m sorry,” she said again, because that seemed as good a place to start as any.

Joyce clasped her hands together and looked down at her knuckles. “Do you want some coffee? I’ll put on some coffee.”

Before Karen could even respond she was out of her chair, moving around the kitchen and making two cups of instant.

While her back was turned, Karen took the opportunity to look around at some of Will’s other drawings that were on display. She recognised almost all of the faces in them; there was one of Mike, Lucas, Dustin and Will, dressed up as their characters from that game they liked to play, Dungeons and Dragons; there was another one of the group, but with two extra characters, whom she guessed from their hair were El and Max; and there was one that she found herself lingering on. Jonathan, Will and Joyce, all smiling, and beside them stood El, wearing a pink dress and beaming, and behind her, next to Joyce, was a figure in uniform.

Karen laughed, and Joyce spun around, sloshing some coffee over the brim of a cup. She quickly placed both cups on the table, swearing and wiping her hand on her pants. “What is it?”

“Sorry.” Karen handed her a tissue from the stash she kept in her pocket; one of the many joys of having a young child. “I just don’t think I’ve ever seen Hopper smile like that before.”

Joyce followed her gaze to the drawing, and her lips quirked up in a smile of her own. “It’s pretty good, isn’t it?”

“Will’s very talented.”

Joyce’s smile grew fonder, softer, and she slowly sat down. There was a pause before she said, “Hop used to smile a lot more, you know. Back in high school, he used to tell the dirtiest jokes…”

“No!” Karen gasped. “He always seemed so stoic.”

Joyce laughed at that. “He was just trying to be cool. You know, he had to look tough.”

“It always looked so effortless, though. You and him, you were always so cool.” Karen’s voice had taken on that low, nostalgic tone she often got after a few too many glasses of wine.

Joyce snorted. “Effortless? God, nothing about high school was effortless. And like you can talk, you were always so popular -”

It was Karen’s turn to laugh, now. “Not in the way you were! God, you have no idea how much I wished I could get away with the stuff you did.”

“What?” Joyce’s eyes were huge over the rim of her cup. “I wished that I was half as smart as you. You always aced everything, every test… I used to get so frustrated, half the time I’d give up and go smoke behind the gym instead of going to class…”

Karen’s smile dropped. “Do you think our kids do that?”

Joyce paused, obviously taken by surprise at the sudden change in the tone of the conversation.

“I mean, I’m not…” Karen started, then stopped, then started again. “I know they’re not like us, not really -”

“Nancy’s a lot like you,” Joyce countered, raising her eyebrows. “So much like I remember you. So serious, so studious, so sweet.”

Karen actually felt herself blushing a little. “You think?”

Joyce nodded and took a long sip of her coffee. “Yeah, I do. Sometimes I overhear her and Jonathan talking and it’s… it’s like I’m listening to you and… Oh, what was his name…?”

“Ken Jacobi,” Karen muttered, suddenly very interested in a crack in the table top.

“Ken Jacobi!” Joyce exclaimed, clicking her fingers. “Oh, my god, I haven’t thought about him in a long time.”

“Either have I.” Karen frowned as she thought back to her high school boyfriend. “God, I wonder what he’s doing these days. I heard he moved to Maine.”

Joyce winced, and when Karen looked up, her eyes were trained on the drawing of Bob on the fridge. She stared at it until her eyes grew wet, and then shook her head, clearing her throat and swiping her sleeve over her face. Her voice cracked as she asked, “Why’d you two break up, again?”

Karen laughed lowly. “I wanted something more serious than late night make out sessions and pissing off our parents.”

Joyce smiled crookedly. “Good choice.”

“Mhmm.” Karen thought of Ted, and how mature she’d felt when she’d been seventeen and an older guy had been interested in her. She took a swig of her coffee and ignored the bitterness. “But do you think our kids get to do all that normal teenage stuff we did?”

Joyce leant back in her chair, draping one arm over the back. “I think they do. The best bits, anyway… The school dances, the science fairs, the weekends with friends…”

Karen sat up straighter, wrapping both hands around her cup and sighing. “The dates.”

“Oh, we’re in trouble with that one.” Joyce smirked.

“I know, Nancy’s pretty smitten -”

“I wasn’t talking about Nancy and Jonathan,” Joyce said. “As cute as they are, they’re fine. They’re old enough and smart enough to know what they’re doing together.”

Karen regarded her closely. “You mean Mike and El?”

She nodded. “Now those two are trouble.”

Karen couldn’t help but scowl a little. “So you’ve seen it too, huh?”

“Oh, I think everyone who’s ever been in the same room as the two of them at the same time has seen it. They can’t keep their eyes off each other.”

“Or their hands! I swear, every time I look at them they’re holding hands or she’s got her head on his shoulder or he’s hugging her, it’s - ” Karen stopped mid-rant, because Joyce was laughing again. “It’s not funny!”

“I’m sorry,” Joyce tried, but she was speaking through her laughter. “It’s a little funny.”

Karen cracked, lips breaking into an exasperated smile. “I never expected that I’d have to worry about Mike getting in trouble with a girl at fourteen…”

“Try twelve,” Joyce corrected.

Karen blanched. “Excuse me?”

“According to the boys, he’s been mad about El ever since they found her. Caused a bit of tension between him and Lucas, apparently.”

She thought back to the fort in the basement, and felt a little queasy all of a sudden. “Of course they left that bit out of the story.”

“You can’t really blame them, though,” Joyce said, softer now. “After being apart for so long.”

Karen nodded, closing her eyes. “That whole year, I had no idea what was going on… He just kept lashing out, and I didn’t know what to do, and it was because he was heartbroken, grieving…”

“Mike’s a tough kid,” Joyce said. She put her hand on top of the table, close to Karen’s but not quite touching. “And he’s okay, now. They’re all okay, now.”

Karen took Joyce’s hand in her own and squeezed, ignoring the tears she could feel falling down her cheeks.

They only let go of each other when the door banged open and two small figures came running inside, chased by Hopper bellowing, “What have we said about knocking, kid? You’ve gotta let people know you’re coming!”

“Joyce, we’re coming to visit!” El called, spinning in a circle until she was facing the kitchen. Her eyes fell on Karen and her expression shifted, but not to something unpleasant. She just looked surprised.

“Hi, El,” Karen said warmly. “Hello, Will.”

Will stood beside El, both hands clasped around the straps of his backpack, and looked between the two women at the table.

Hopper nodded to her as he stepped inside, gently closing the door behind him. “Karen.”

“Hopper,” she returned the nod.

Joyce got up and wrapped her arms around the two children, dropping a kiss on top of each of their heads. When she pulled back, El immediately re-focused on Karen, who was standing, hovering, at the edge of the room. “Mike?”

Will immediately translated. “Is Mike here?”

Joyce flashed Karen a knowing look, and it took all of her willpower not to smirk. “No, he’s on his way home from school, I suppose.”

El’s and Will’s faces fell. “Oh.”

“But,” Joyce said, wringing her hands together. “Maybe, if Karen’s okay with it, you could call him on your SuperCom…”

Both kids lit up at the prospect, and how could she say no to those eyes.

“Tell him to come straight here, and then I’ll take him home with me when I have to pick up Holly.”

“Yes!” Will exclaimed, slinging his backpack off his shoulders as El simultaneously began unzipping it, reaching in for his walkie talkie.

Out of the corner of her eye, Karen spotted Hopper rest his hand on Joyce’s back, leaning down to murmur in her ear. Joyce murmured something back, smiling and - was she blushing?

Mike’s voice crackled through the speaker of the walkie talkie, responding to Will’s invitation. “Are you serious? This isn’t a prank? Over.”

“Not a prank,” El said in her serious manner.

“Come on, dude, if you hurry we might have enough time to finish the next campaign! Over!” Will exclaimed.

“I’m on my way! Over!”

Will stuffed the SuperCom back into his bag, picking it up and running into his room. “Come on El, let’s get the notes ready -”

El flashed a grin at the adults before racing after him.

Karen turned back around to look at Hopper and Joyce, and felt, strangely, like she was sixteen again, standing nervously beneath the school bleachers and looking at the kids who were so much cooler and knew so much more than her.

But then Joyce smiled and waved her back towards the table, where their coffee was going cold. “Hop, Karen made us a casserole.”

Hopper raised his eyebrows. “You mean I don’t have to eat your mashed potatoes tonight?”

Joyce lightly hit him on the chest. “Shut up, you! It’s better than those microwave dinners.”

Karen smiled, because it was very clear that Joyce Byers was far from alone. And when Joyce gave her an exasperated smile and Hopper smirked over her head, Karen thought maybe she wasn’t alone, either.

#mine #stranger things #stranger things fic #karen wheeler #joyce byers #why do you write like you're running out of time?

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wellntruly · 7 years ago

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STRANGER THINGS Recap: 1x02

This is a really solid second episode. It comfortably contains two flashbacks and a character driving all the way outside of Hawkins for a scene, while still feeling marvelously rooted in this particular time and place. (The flashbacks also highlight how the first episode didn’t use any, which is a common pilot crutch that’s always nice to see avoided.) And then of course this ep ends with the perfect, game-setting jump scare that gives us one of the most indelible images of the series. IT’S NICE WORK, THAT THOSE DUFFER BOYS ARE DOING.

Season 1, Chapter 2: ‘The Weirdo on Maple Street’

After finding a shellshocked, soaking wet runaway in the woods, Mike, Lucas, and Dustin bundle her right off to Mike’s basement, The Last Safe Place. Our tiny rescuers then proceed with ceaselessly chirping and flapping their hands at each other like a trio of gentle excitable robins who’ve taken in Thumbelina and don’t know how to care for her. “Did you run away?” “Are you in some kind of trouble?” “Is that blood?” “Stop it! You’re freaking her out!” My babies.

Mike, having prepared for this situation for years running their Dungeons & Dragons campaigns, ahaha rolls with these exciting new parameters in their lives, and comes up with a banger of a plan: They can’t let their parents know they snuck out to look for Will, so they’ll hide this strange quiet girl in a blanket fort ‘til morning, at which time Mike will spirit her around to the front door and she can ring the bell and pretend to just be arriving, and then the adults can take over this situation, because this is CLEARLY beyond their purview.

Also entirely outside their defined area of Things We Can Handle: the Lost Girl almost pulling her T-shirt off to change into dry clothes just right in front of them.

Meanwhile, I start to approach the event horizon of my own range of handleable things when Mike promptly Poe Damerons Eleven’s number-name by sweetly suggesting he call her El for short, like he’s Mike for short. Aannnd then I careen right past the pale with El’s quiet little “’Night Mike” as he heads upstairs. That’s it, I will fight the world for this child!!!!

Early the next morning, Jonathan is making breakfast, because that is what Jonathan Byers does, now more than ever. YOU MUST CLING TO SOMETHING IN THIS GODFORSAKEN WORLD, and he has chosen scrambled eggs.

Hopper arrives, and he and Joyce flare into that terribly realistic tension of two stressed out people who want the same thing but find themselves fighting about it. “How about a little trust here,” Hopper chides before revealing he’s been searching the woods all night, a line that turns out to be a lob Joyce can send volleying right back with “How about a little trust here” when Hopper protests that she could really know it was her son breathing on the phone, and dang these two really are game-set-matched.

They are also both people who need Something To DO when they feel assailed and upset, so Hopper rumbles off to have Lonny given a proper police check-out, and Joyce sets herself a mission of getting her phone up and running again. Jonathan rushes after Hopper to suggest he go talk to his dad instead, but Hopper puts the kibosh on this with the literal line “Cops are good at finding”—because apparently Chief Hopper has the idea that his police precinct should be modeled on the virtues of the Hufflepuff House in A Very Potter Musical, which is a wonderful notion.

Meanwhile, Mike is glad eggs are not on the menu at his place, as he furtively pockets Eggos from the counter like some thieving suburban breakfast gnome. (Though who am I kidding: both Wheeler children are elves.) (Those faces.) Mike sneaks his golden loot down to El, and explains her part of their grand charade. El says no. She doesn’t like this plan, because the last time someone tried to help her by calling in for reinforcements, he got shot. Oh honey :(

Mike decides yeah, you know what, he’s not gonna tell anyone else about the watchful girl in his old sweatshirt he’s sheltering in his basement. This is just his life now, this is fine.

A gorgeous shot of the camera panning up a hill as a line of people come over the crest shouting for Will, wow I enjoyed that. Also, roll call, anyone else hear voices calling for someone missing in the woods and get vaguely reminded of Homeward Bound?

At the high school, we have the great misfortune of meeting Steve’s cruel and horrible friends, a couple who tease and hassle Barb (right in front of Nancy! what a gross position to put her in, wtf), and make awful jokes about poor Jonathan as he literally pins up a flyer about his missing brother. Steve halfheartedly tells them to knock it off, and Nancy just wholeheartedly drops all of them and walks over to extend some human compassion. Jonathan is of course in love with her. This triangle is of course happening. As is a cool kids party at Steve’s that night while his parents are out, obviously obviously. Plot So Teen!

Over at the middle school, Mike hasn’t showed to science class, but Dustin’s Drama Club T-shirt sure has, and I LOVE IT.

Instead, Mike is skipping to show El around the main floor of his house. He highlights various features for her, like their sweet 22 inch TV set, and a photograph of his sister, after El softly calls Nancy “pretty,” breaking my heart in mysterious ways. She moves on to the recliner. “That’s..our Lazy-Boy,” Mike offers, starting to lose the thread of her canvas of their living room.

Jonathan is also skipping school, or maybe has recently graduated?? Unclear. Regardless, as he drives down the road a song comes on the radio and his jaw twitches. Sure feels like a good moment for…a flashback! As Joyce yells at Lonny on the phone about not showing up to his son’s birthday, Jonathan turns up his present to Will: a mixed tape for the 80s outsider. The Clash, David Bowie, The Smiths, Joy Division…. But his true gift is probably this beautiful older brother speech about how you don’t need to like things just because other people think you should, you can just like what you like and BE a weirdo if you want to.

Back to today, the boys’ wonderful weirdo matriarch is rocking up to the general store by cutting straight through the decorative bushes, and convincing her boss there to give her a new phone and two weeks advance. “And a pack of Camels.” \o/ JOYCE, my frazzled icon.

Unfortunately, while she and her older son are both away from home, the suits—and that’s Hazmat suits—creep through the Byers residence scanning things and making worrisome “hmm, hmm, that’s very interesting” sort of comments at each other.

Eleven is not making any such remarks at the moment, as Mike’s tour devolves into him dorkily showing her all of his toys. El is more interested in his science fair trophy, and I am more interested in Mike casually explaining why their first place streak was broken this past year with “Mr. Clark says it was totally political.” However, the real point of this moment is not hilarious middle school science department drama, but definitely when El sees Will’s beaming face in a picture and goes Very Very Still. She’s like !!!! and Mike and I are like !!!???!, and then Mike’s mom drives up the driveway, sonofabitch.

Mike feverishly cajoles El into his closet to hide, promising her it will be okay and he’ll be right back, leaving her trembling in the dark and affording us a perfect opportunity for another flaaaashbaaack! In it we discover just why being enclosed in a small space has El so distraught, as this seems to be a common punishment Dr. Brenner used on her at the lab. Worse though I think is that the name she’s crying at him as she’s dragged away is Papa. Awful patriarchal figures who make all their powerless wards call them their father is so upsetting!! OH HONEY.

But Mike, true-blue, is good to his word, and anxiously pulls the closet door open again as soon as he’s convinced his mom he needed to take a mental health day from school. Little Eleven is just overwhelmed with relief and wonder that he came back for her so quickly, and tearfully repeats the new word he’s taught her: “Promise.” Help.

Elsewhere, Hopper and his deputies scout out a very striking quarry, and the giddy swoop in my stomach is only partly over the plunging drop to the water but mostly how we are certainly here to establish this as a setting that will serve as an appropriately dramatic backdrop for later (stranger) things. Anticipation!! But right now Flo is radioing to Hopper—someone’s finally found Benny, staged as a suicide in his diner. Hopper is finding he really does not care for this thing where being a town cop instead of a city cop means he knows all the victims.

It transpires that Jonathan has ignored Hopper’s advice to stay home with his mom, because Fight The Man, and has driven off to whatever sad urban outskirty neighborhood it is that Lonny lives in now. Lonny is…distasteful. But he doesn’t have Will.

As soon as they’re out of school Dustin and Lucas fly off on their bikes straight to Mike’s, where darling Eleven is sitting crosslegged with an afghan over her knees like their own little Yoda. She is a perplexment. She recognized Will’s photo, but doesn’t seem to recognize the Gricean maxims of human speech, so it’s a bit of a toss-up for the boys on whether they should throw in with this one.

Or it’s a toss-up for Dustin I should say. Lucas has had enough of this nonsense and is just gonna tell Mrs. Wheeler himself. That is, until the doorknob pulls itself out of his hand and slams Mike’s bedroom door shut again. And once more. And locks itself for good measure. The boys slowly turn back to face the eleventh girl. A trickle of blood runs under her nose. “No,” she says softly. AHH.

Across town, Hopper is doing his due diligence and interviewing Benny’s friends, because a suicide seems…odd. The diner regulars agree. Also odd: that boy that Benny caught stealing food out of his kitchen yesterday. Curiouser and curiouser.

Just a side note, but this old guy refers to Will as “Lonny’s missing kid”, and that is such an amazing bit of work there, showing how some residents of the town still think of the Byers boys by their relationship with Lonny, who doesn’t even live there anymore, instead of Joyce, who has been the only one raising them for years. [singing] Se-x-ism!

That night, Hopper and his Volunteer Finding Department focus on the woods behind Benny’s diner. And it is our guy Mr. Clark who finds the first tangible clue in this tangled mystery: a scrap of El’s hospital gown caught in some culvert in the woods. Guys your town is weird, what is your infrastructure. Oh it turns out this random drainpipe leads to…..Hawkins Lab. Dun dun dunn!! I half expect lightning to flash, that’s the exact flavor of how I love this.

After another awkward, high-strung dinner at the Wheeler table, the boys carefully pad back down into the basement. “No adults,” Mike assures El, “just us and some meatloaf!” Adorable. “We never would have upset you if we knew you had superpowers,” Dustin adds with cheery amazement, and Mike smacks him. Eleven’s like okay, what even are you lot, what is this, and then these precious pipsqueaks teach her what Friendship is. Mostly it’s interlibrary loaning your cool stuff, never breaking your promises, and entering into a pact to lie Mike’s parents.

These are all fine tenets, but I would also add that a key element of friendship is knowing all your buddy’s bras, as exhibited by Barb sagely noting that Nancy is wearing a new one as she changes her top in the passenger seat. Over the course of the day Nancy has worn Barb down and convinced her to go to Steve’s house with her tonight, and her attempts to convince Barb this isn’t just a hook-up party are working about as well as her attempts to convince her this bra isn’t new: they aren’t. But Barb is a true friend, and damnit she’s coming along.

Hopper is spending the night brooding on his cold porch and staring into the night, and not even the friendly brunette he’s sleeping with can pull him from this, so let’s just leave him to it.

What are our kiddos up to now? Oh, just a gorgeously visualized sequence where Eleven uses the boys’ game board to try to explain where Will is, flipping it over to its stark black underside and placing Will’s wizard token alone in the darkness. “I don’t understand,” Mike says. “Hiding,” she replies. Chills. Jonathan said he was good at hiding. Oh hide, hide my darling, hide from the other figure El has added to the under-board: the Demogorgon.

Speaking of Jonathan, he’s hoping he can be the one to find his little brother’s hiding place, or at least that the photographs he’s taking of the woods will turn up a clue. The camera-flash-to-freeze-frame effect is really spooky in this application, and that’s before the screaming starts. Jonathan races toward it, only to find it’s just Steve’s little ~gathering~. Turns out the Harrington’s have a pool, which goes a long way to explaining how Steve became popular in the first place to be honest.

Anyway it’s literally just the cruel couple, Steve and Nancy, and Barb, and the whole thing is giving me severe secondhand anxiety. THIS IS A TERRIBLE PARTY. Everything seems to be following some inexorable course of cascading peer pressure, a primrose path of shotgunning beers that of course eventually leads to Barb badly cutting her finger. She goes into the house to wrap it up, and the couples tumble into the pool, and Jonathan keeps taking pictures of them, oh my god NOO, you poor fool Jonathan!

We interrupt this teen train wreck to return to Joyce Byers, who wakes up to another unsettling, electrically creaking phone call from Will that sparks into a goddamn haunted house story. HOLY WOW, MY FRIENDS. Into it. You completely have me with the blinking and fizzing chain of glowing lightbulbs like a modern will-o’-the-wisp pulling Joyce through her house, you really do!!! And then something suddenly trying to push through Will’s bedroom wall/the fabric of reality was understandably TERRIFYING. Joyce screams, I scream, etc! But I was CHEERING when Joyce, after scrambling straight for her car to get the hell out of there, looks back at her son’s room, lights blinking, stereo playing the tape Jonathan gave him (“Should I Stay Or Should I Go”—on point), musters her courage, For Her Boy, and goes back inside. MOMMA.

The teens have also headed back inside, and only through some miracle do they all avoid outright saying anything like “let’s get you out of those wet clothes,” although narratively that is exactly the vibe and also what happens. Nancy pauses on the stairs to assure Barb she can just go home, before scampering on up after Steve. Guess what: it was a new bra. Steve thinks it is tops.

Sad and uncomfortable, Jonathan turns his lens away from Steve’s bedroom window once he sees them start kissing. He finds Barb instead, sitting despondently on the diving board dangling her feet in the pool, the water steaming in the cold November air. Now that he finally has a worthy photo subject, Jonathan naturally runs out of film, and looks down to check his camera. Which is how he misses a large drop of blood falling from Barb’s thumb into the water, and as we’re all stricken with the thought of how the scent of blood so often calls the monsters, the pool lights blink out, the water going black beneath Barb’s feat. And with a slashing rush, Barb is just fucking gone.

End note: I want to take a moment real quick here to relay a big Thank You to the sweethearts who reblogged my first Stranger Things recap with excited and complimentary tags, that was so encouraging and lovely and warmed my heart!! As well as my writing fingers, nhahaha :)

- - - - -

Love Letters to Stranger Things Chapter 1

#Love Letters to Stranger Things #Stranger Things #Stranger stuff #Tarra recaps stuff

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kaypeace21 · 5 years ago

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El & Will created the Upside Down & the Mindflayer (Theory)

After, rewatching both seasons it’s become clear that the upside down/mindflayer is not only an allegory for their (cannon) ptsd/ and trauma but also (because of their powers), it’s become a physical manifestation (with a life of it’s own), that spreads. So the only way to destroy both , will be for them to not only physically destroy the MF and close the gate, but to “confront their pain.” Before this pain “kills” them both. This is meant in both the literal sense, but also is as an allusion to suicidal thoughts. Owens even says in regards to Dr Brenner’s experiments “mistakes have been made... we can’t fix it, but we can stop it from spreading.”

The original title for Stranger things was “Montauk”- in reference to the Montauk Project. It was about experiments conducted on psychic children, where the scientists would “break” them psychologically to strengthen their powers and to program them. “The aim was to fracture the mind so they could programme you .” In one story their was a boy named Duncan who could open portals to other dimensions and periods of time. However, one day “Duncan let loose a monster from his subconscious.”

And this is where Stranger Things comes in...

The upside down/ opening of the gate/demorgorgan is described as something that grows and spreads, “like a cancer”. And something that will eventually kill her, if not confronted.

In s1 Dusting even asks, Eleven “Do you have cancer?” In a literal sense no, but the buzzcut ( which makes people assume she has cancer) represents the abuse she’s been through. And if she doesn’t confront her trauma it will slowly eat away at her until it kills her.

The name El is the name of a Canaanite God, which means “god of creation.”

And the fact that the Mindflayer shows up when Will is experiencing his “anniversary effect” relating to his ptsd, may not be a coincidence. Will even says he writes and draws stories in s2. And an interview confirmed that Will’s dog died between s1-2, and then in s2 the demorgorgans become demo-dogs. HMM? And I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if I’m right- this also implies Will was m***sted as a kid (probably by Lonnie), who always called him homophobic slurs.

The cannon spotify character playlists (which netflix and spotify worked on and published together after s2) alluded to this on both Jonathan and Will’s playlist,

Will’s playlist- Creature comfort: “Some boys hate themselves spend their lives resenting their fathers...Some boys get too much, too much love, too much touch.”

Jonathan’s Playlist- We’re happy family: “Eating refried beans (poverty). Gulpin' down Thorazines (pills for a mood disorder). We ain't got no friends. Our troubles never end. Daddy likes men. Daddy's telling lies.”

Enter sandman: “Don’t forget my son. Sleep with one eye open. Gripping your pillow tight, Exit light, Enter night. Take my hand, we’re off to never-never land. Something’s wrong, shut the light, heavy thoughts tonight. Dreams of liars and of things that will bite, yeah. Hush little baby don’t say a word, and never mind that noise you heard. It’s just the beasts under your bed, in your closet in your head.”

Also,will doesn’t initially call the Mindflayer a “he” but an “it”.And if you only take out certain pieces of dialogue between Joyce and Will, when they first talk about the mind flayer, where they only refer to it as an ‘it’ … and if you put [‘he/him’] pronouns there instead… then the rest of the discussion about the mind flayer literally sounds… questionable.

Will: “It all just went blank and then you were there”

Joyce: “Will I need you to tell me the truth.”

Will: “I am!”

Joyce: “But … But I can’t help you if I don’t know what’s going on. So you have to talk to me. Please. No more secrets, okay? Okay.”

Will: “ [*It] came for me and … and I tried… I tried to make [*it] go away … but [*it] got me mom”. (*he, * him,* he)

Joyce: What does that mean?”

Will: “I felt [*it] everywhere. everywhere. I- I still feel [*it]. I just want this to be over!” (*him, *him)

Joyce: “LOOK AT ME! I Will never let anything bad happen to you ever again!”

It hit way too close to home. The stone face look, trying to say you tried to make it stop (feeling guilty), then bursting into tears. It was way too similar to a kid admitting he was m*lested, and telling his mom about it .Like seriously rewatch the scene...

And once again, relating to the vines and the shadow monster/Mindflayer himself- they are also described as spreading, and we are told that it will kill Will.

Will is even the first to call the Mindflayer a “he”, instead of an it- even though in d&d Mindflayers are “sexless”. Will even says “ the more he spreads the more connected to him I feel.” And if I’m right about Will becoming number 12, it’s interesting to point out that 12 is a numeral symbol for “God of creation”, as well.

The other Drs/scientists are extremely callous and say they need to continue the burn (even if it kills Will). However, Dr Owens even says after this “You’re putting a bandaid on this.” Meaning they aren’t addressing the real problem- Will & El’s trauma.

Also the latest s3 trailer confirms that the shadow monster stayed in the real world, after the gate closed (and didn’t do anything for a year). But don’t you find it strange that the shadow monster only decides to come out now, in the summer (despite it not liking hot temperatures). Well, one articles said that Will , in s3, will feel “more alone than when he was when stuck in the upside down.”

Which is because his abandonment issues- caused by his father, Lonnie, begin to resurface and strengthen. Bob (his father figure) died protecting him, Dustin starts hanging out with Steve, Lucas has a girlfriend, Jonathan will probably be too busy trying to financially support the family/dating Nancy, and to top it all off he then has a fight with Mike about not being “ kids anymore”. Will even runs to Castle Byers right after this.

Will uses castle Byers as the one place he feels safe while in the upside down, or just on a daily basis. But it’s still a reminder of his deep-seeded abandonment issues. The day Will’s dad left , Jonathan and Will built Castle Byers all night in the pouring rain. Jonathan saying “we just had to finish it no matter what”. Will was the one who made-up Castle Byers in his imagination, and drew it, before Lonnie even left. He drew the sign “all friends welcome”, because with Lonnie around he never felt ‘welcome’ in his own home. So then when Will goes to Castle Byers in s3 at night in the pouring rain … he’s probably thinking that Mike (and his friends) are going to abandon him just like his dad did!

I wouldn’t be surprised if supernatural happenings occurred before this. But after this scene, things start to escalate. The upside down may have been created by El and Will. But now it’s a real world entity (with a mind of it’s own) and both the Americans and Soviets can/will try to weaponize it. However, Will and El will only defeat the Upsidedown/Mindflayer with their powers , only after they confront their trauma (in s5).

Kali even says about herself....

*gifs not mine

@nancykali , @willthecleric thought you might like this

#will byers #el hopper #Jane hopper #stranger things theory

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