#me in a steddie fic: but what if robin and steve get married

[carolperkinsexgirlfriend]

can you see the stars in your dreams (and do they have a lot to say about me) - Part 20

Or: a secret Admirer AU

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

Chrissy is willing to admit that when Steve doesn’t call her after his date, she panics. If her mom wasn’t such a light sleeper, she would’ve snuck out to check up on him. But instead, she wallows, dozing on the couch, not even able to call Jeff to bitch because what if Steve chooses that moment to call?

So, she can admit, when he finally calls a few minutes after seven in the morning, she’s a little short with him.

“Finally, Steven,” she hisses into the phone, keeping her voice quiet so as not to alert her mother to their conversation. “I thought you were dead in a ditch somewhere!”

“Sorry, sorry!” he rushes out, sounding contrite. “We sort of fell asleep.”

Chrissy gasps, a smile slowly spreading on her face as the implications set in. “You guys slept together?” she demands gleefully.

“We didn’t have sex!” he shouts, and she’s glad, for the first time, that his parents are so absent from his everyday life. “We just fell asleep!”

She’s still smiling, twirling the phone cord round and round her fingers. “Does that mean it went well?” she wheedles.

She doesn’t think that Eddie would suddenly realize he’s straight and renege on the date, not really, but Steve had, and she can’t get the terrified tone of his voice out of her head.

“Well—” he drawls, leaving her on tenterhooks for a few seconds more. “He took me to see some shitty horror movie.”

“Oh my god,” she whispers, full-on grinning now. “What a stereotypical move.”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” he replies so wryly that she can almost see the way his eyes must be rolling. “Except he barely talked to me the whole time and didn’t even try to hold my hand.”

“No!”

“And then he took me into the woods like some sort of serial killer, and then tried to kiss me so abruptly that my lip split a little.”

“No!” she shrieks with laughter before catching herself and slapping a palm over her own mouth as Steve’s own amused chuckle filters through the phone line. “And you still spent the night?”

“He was nervous!” Steve defended. “And besides, the second kiss was much better.”

“Your boy’s a fast learner, huh?”

Steve hums, and she wishes he was here with her, so she could see the dopey grin that must be on his face as he says, “yeah,” with a dreamy sigh. “He took me stargazing.”

Chrissy coos, can’t help it, not when this whole thing’s been building for so long now. Not when there’s been an edge of fear to everything Steve’s said for months. He deserves something nice for once.

“And you’re going out again?”

“Oh, definitely,” he replies, and a knot of fear she’s had tucked beneath her sternum loosens.

He sounds excited, happy, hopeful. If Eddie does anything to jeopardize this, Chrissy will be digging a very deep hole and tossing him into it. She’s got a shovel, and the muscle strength built up from years of cheer—she’ll manage just fine.

So, when Eddie walks up to her in the cafeteria in some sort of fucked up parallel to that first time and bends at the waist in a showy bow, hand outstretched as he asks, “a word, madam?” she’s ready to kill him.

But, when she glances at Steve at her side, his ears are red, and he’s smiling up at Eddie from beneath his lashes. And when she looks back toward Eddie she catches the tail-end of a wink that has Steve sputtering.

Even Jason doesn’t protest from the other side of the table where he’s quietly seething.

So, she takes his hand and follows him out of the cafeteria.

Eddie doesn’t seem to know where he’s going, as he walks through the halls, peering into nooks and crannies until he finds a corner he deems suitably vacant enough. He flops down, legs outstretched in front of him, uncaring of the dirt caking the floor.

He pats the spot next to him, smiling up at her, so she slides down the wall and crouches beside him, unwilling to let her bare legs touch the floor.

Eddie leans away from the wall and wrestles his jacket off before placing it on the floor in front of Chrissy. Gratefully, she sits atop it, crossing her legs to keep them safe. She turns her body so she’s facing Eddie dead on, and he follows her lead.

When he doesn’t say anything, she breaks the silence with a quiet, “I hope you know that if you hurt my friend, I’ll kill you.”

“I have no doubt, Lady Cunningham,” Eddie replies, drawing an X across his heart with his finger. “But, I’m not here to talk about Steve.”

“Then—what?”

He’s grimacing now, no longer meeting her eyes as he fiddles with his rings, one of his fingers bizarrely missing its usual adornment. “We’re friends, right?” he asks hesitantly, like he’s choosing each word with deliberate care.

“Of course,” she replies, eyes trained on the little furrow between his brows. He’s picking at a hole in the knee of his jeans, further fraying the edges. “Why would you ask that?”

He sighs, slumping into himself in a way that makes him look small. “I’m glad I’m here, okay?” he asks, not waiting for her to answer before he continues. “Steve’s great, and I wouldn’t trade that for anything. But, you still lied to me—"

"We never lied to you," she cuts in, and he waves his hand in assent.

"Yeah, yeah, but you all like, conspired behind my back, and that feels…”

“Shitty,” she continues for him when he seems to lose his words.

“Yeah! Shitty, it feels shitty that you were all talking about me behind my back all so you could keep this from me."

Chrissy sighs. She’d known they’d have to talk about it eventually–clear all this stale air so they could move on–but it doesn’t make it any less uncomfortable. But, he’s right; no matter their intentions, they’d all made a mess of things. She’d known that even as she’d been in the thick of it.

So, she starts where these things should always start, and looks him dead in the eye as she says, “I’m sorry.”

He finally looks up, seeming almost surprised. “Just like that?”

“Yes, Eddie, just like that,” she replies, maintaining eye contact even as her gut squirms. “We were just trying to protect each other, but that doesn’t mean it was the right choice.”

His eyes are wide, still shocked, and she wonders, something uncomfortably close to pity bubbling up within her, if he’s not used to receiving apologies at all.

“Both of you?” he asks.

Chrissy averts her gaze, mouth twisting up. “You know how Steve said Jason has been kind of stalkery?” she asks, watching Eddie nod out of the corner of her eye before she continues. “Well, it was worse before. He kept coming to my house and cornering me at school, and I just wanted to move on.”

It was more than that, though. She still remembers the way fear crept down her spine as cold sweat when she’d opened her door to Jason smiling at her like they’d never broken up, the way her throat had closed up when he’d scooted far too close to her side at the lunch table.

The way he kept cornering her in the hallway when no one was around to witness it. 

“So, when I found Steve trying to write that first letter, I struck a deal,” she continues. She feels bad about that, even now, even still. “He’d be my boyfriend, and I’d help him with the letters.”

She finally turns back to Eddie, braced for, what? Condemnation? But he’s squinting at her like she’s a puzzle he’s trying to crack as he says, “you totally would have helped him anyway,” with so much conviction that it warms her. 

“Oh, definitely.”

He’s still looking at her, but he’s smiling at her, eyes warmer than she’s ever seen them. 

“Alright, I forgive you,” Eddie says, like it’s easy.

It’s too easy. 

“Just because we had reasons doesn’t mean it was fair to you,” she replies, steel in her voice as she squares her shoulders and looks at him dead on. “It doesn’t mean you weren’t hurt,” she finishes, reaching out to pat his knee.

He doesn’t jerk away, just looks at her hand on his knee with a peculiar smile on his face. “You know there was a time when you touching me like that would’ve sent me into a tizzy,” he says, still looking down at her hand.

“And now?”

“Nothing,” he replies, shrugging. “It was never you, Chrissy Cunnigham.”

“You either, Eddie Munson,” she replies, matching his smile as she smacks his hand once before withdrawing. “Now is that it, or was there something else you needed?”

He looks away, cheeks darkening to a blotchy red, she’s almost worried he’ll faint. “I, uh, well, the jacket?”

She thinks of Eddie’s jacket beneath her first, but that’s not where he’s looking. His eyes are planted firmly on the sleeve of Steve’s letterman with a sort of longing that’s almost funny in its intensity.

She doesn’t ask any follow up questions—if he wants the jacket, he can have the jacket. After all, it’s Steve’s no matter how attached to it she’s become, and Steve had looked up at him with the sappiest look she’s ever seen on his face.

She’d do more than give up his letterman to keep him happy.

Still, it feels strange when she pulls it off her back. A shiver runs through her–she feels almost naked without its familiar weight. 

Since that first day in the library, it’s been her shield against Jason’s pushy advances, and her reminder that, no matter what happens, she’d still have Steve. 

But, Jason’s backed off, and everywhere she turns, she sees her people: Steve, yes, but Jeff, and Eddie, and the Hellfire boys–even Robin. Her life’s full to bursting in a way that it’s never been before. 

Chrissy will miss it, but she doesn’t need it anymore. Besides, she knows where Steve keeps his spare key, and she’s not above stealing something else from his closet. 

“Jeff’s going to be sad,” she says, patting the bundled fabric in her arms like it’s a favored family pet, feeling strangely choked up. “He really liked it.”

Eddie grimaces down at it and asks, “do I need to get this thing dry cleaned?”

Chrissy throws her head back and laughs. “No, but if you would’ve waited a few more days, you might have.”

He makes a gagging noise, but when she holds it out for him, he readily takes it, even if he doesn’t put it on. She wonders if it’s fear of homophobes or the thought of her and Jeff’s bodily fluids that stops him. She’s polite enough not to ask, even as Eddie says, “Wait, is it you wearing it or him that Jeff likes?”

She opens her mouth to reply, ready to offer up a vague “both,” but Eddie holds up his hand and cuts her off, talking quickly like he’s afraid of what she might say. “Wait, don’t tell me. I really, really don’t need to know.”

Chrissy springs to her feet and picks Eddie’s own leather jacket up off the floor and sliding it on. It’s even baggier than Steve’s was on her, clearly designed for layering. “I’m borrowing this,” she says, turning her back on him and making her way toward her next class just as the warning bell rings. “It’s cold today.”

“Don’t do any weird sex things with it!” Eddie calls.

She laughs again, making a point to neither confirm nor deny her intentions no matter what he yells after her retreating back.

When Jeff slides into her passenger seat after school, he quirks a brow at her new look, and asks, “that Eddie’s?” as he buckles his seatbelt.

“He wanted Steve’s,” she says, reaching out to pat his knee consolingly.

“I’m going to miss that jacket,” Jeff sighs, looking genuinely forlorn for a second before he gets a particular gleam in his eye that Chrissy’s becoming increasingly familiar with. “You know—”

“Eddie requested that we don’t ‘do any weird sex things’ with his jacket,” she cuts in, putting her car in reverse and slowly backing out of the spot.

Jeff groans like he’d been shot, and throws his head back into the headrest. She reaches out to dig her fingernails into his knee, just this side of too-hard so his groan shifts into a hiss.

“I know, baby,” she says, smiling sweetly at him as they pull away from the school. “But, I’ll get your mind off it in no time.”

Jeff gulps, and doesn’t utter another complaint for the rest of the night.

***

Robin watches Chrissy follow Eddie out of the cafeteria. Even after the door closes behind them, she keeps staring, wanting desperately to know what they’re talking about. This might have all started because of her crush on Chrissy, but Robin’s nosy at heart, so even as the flames of her crush burn down to embers, she wants to know.

Steve had called her on Saturday, spilling all the details of what sounded like a truly horrible date as if it was some sort of fairy tale while Robin cackled in his ear. But he’d sounded buoyant with exhilaration, and all Robin had been able to think about was that he’s like her and he’s happy.

Maybe there’s hope for her, too.

Robin’s broken out of her reverie by a shoulder bumping into hers. “Should we help him?” Vickie whispers, and it takes Robin a minute to snap her eyes away from her vibrant green eyes to follow her gaze over to Steve.

All the losers he’s still pretending to be friends are jeering at him, Tommy H. going so far as to slip into Chrissy’s vacant seat so he can jostle Steve around with a decidedly unfriendly look on his face while Steve picks halfheartedly at his lunch.

Robin’s out of her seat before she can even think about it, palms slapping noisily on the table as she calls. “Harrington!” Steve perks up, metaphorical tail wagging as he meets her eyes from across the room. “Come help me win a bet!”

He’s up and out of his seat in a matter of seconds, leaving the remains of his lunch abandoned on his table as he trots over, slipping into the empty seat across from her while all the other band kids look at him like he’s got the plague.

“What’s the bet?” he asks, looking far more relaxed already than he had while surrounded by his supposed friends.

Robin kicks him under the table as she replies, “the bet was whether you’d come when you’re called.”

“Oh, hardy har har,” he mocks, kicking her right back until she links both her feet around his ankle and yanks him so he damn near falls off his seat.

“Poor little puppy,” she coos, reaching across the table to pat his head while he bats her hand away.

Vickie’s laughing from beside her; it rings through Robin’s ears like church bells. She gets stuck, staring at the pink of her cheeks, the red of her hair, the mirth in her emerald green eyes, hand still outstretched toward Steve’s hair.

He kicks her again, and she snatches her hand back, grateful for the intervention until she catches sight of the knowing look Steve’s shooting her. In retaliation, she grabs one of her carrot sticks and tries to shove it down his throat.

“Not a word, Harrington, or we’re through,” she hisses, finally succeeding in shoving the carrot into his mouth.

“You guys are so funny,” Vickie says, still laughing.

Steve smiles, carrot sticking out of his mouth like it’s a cigar until he bites into it with a snap, seeming oddly satisfied.

Chrissy and Eddie don’t come back, and by the time lunch is over, the rest of the band kids have finally stopped sitting there like scared lemmings, waiting for King Steve Harrington to attack. She’s sure they’ll soon learn what Robin already knows: the king is dead, long live the king.

She loves him so much, it’s almost stupid.

“So, Steve Harrington, huh?” Vickie asks, inexplicably walking out of the cafeteria with her even though Robin knows for a fact her class is on the opposite side of the school.

“I mean, yeah?” Robin replies, feeling her face heat from the inside out. “He’s just like, not what I was thinking at all, and maybe the best friend I’ve ever had, which is crazy—it’s crazy, because it’s Steve Harrington, right?” Her hands, she realizes with horror, are miming an explosion above her head while her mouth makes a weird, crackling explosion sound. “Who would’ve guessed?”

When she finally gets her mouth flapping under control, Vickie’s smiling at her, walking close enough that the sleeve of her sweater brushes against Robin’s bare arm.

“I don’t know, I always thought he seemed nice.”

Robin’s nodding along like one of those bobble head hula girls that boys are always putting in their cars, even though Steve Harrington isn’t nice. He’s an unmitigated bitch with a sacrificial streak a mile wide, but he’s not nice.

“He’s like a stray that I let into my house one time, and then my mom fed him, so now he keeps following me home,” her mouth says.

Vickie’s mouth laughs in return, so maybe it’s not all that bad.

Robin’s mind replays the angelic sound as she walks into her class, waving goodbye to Vickie as the other girl rushes away in a mad dash to make it on time to her next class.

God, Steve’s going to be such a bitch about this.

 ***

After Eddie’s talk with Chrissy, things shift.

Steve doesn’t sit with the jocks at all anymore. He and Chrissy, still joined at the hip like they really are dating, shift back and forth between the band geeks and the hellfire tables at lunch on Tuesday, prompting hushed whispers to filter through the entire cafeteria.

For his part, all Gareth says is, “does this mean you two’s weird feud over Chrissy is finally over?”

Jeff snorts chocolate milk out of his nose while Eddie laughs so hard he nearly falls off the bench entirely, only staying upright because Steve props him up.

“What?” Gareth demands, tearing into his chicken strips with a viciousness that betrays his ire.

“They’ll tell you when you’re older,” Doug replies despite having no idea himself.

Eddie loves his friends so fucking much.

By Wednesday, a clearly fed up Robin frog-marches the pair of them to the Hellfire table and plops down beside them.

“Munson, I can’t do this split custody thing anymore,” she says, making the red-head that’d followed her over giggle. “They’re too much of a handful.”

“Or maybe even two handfuls,” Steve replies, across the table at her like he’s not playing the most overt game of footsie right below it.

“Don’t be gross, dingus,” she scoffs, and Eddie’s mind goes galloping off with thoughts he shouldn’t be having in a room full of teenagers just waiting to push someone a few more rungs down the ladder.

“Are you guys coming back to Hellfire?” Gareth asks, clearly unable to stand not knowing what’s going on a second longer.

Steve looks at Eddie, brown eyes devastating beneath his lashes. “I’d like to.”

Eddie opens his mouth, ready to grovel at Steve’s feet to get him to come, to get him to keep looking at him like that, but then Robin cuts in with a sly, “you know this means you’ll have to come to Steve’s basketball games,” and he slams his mouth shut.

Steve grins, all seduction dropping off his face as he reaches across the table to give Robin a high five like they’re already on the fucking court. She slaps his palm hard enough that the sound of skin on skin damn-near shatters the sound barrier.

“We can sit together,” Jeff says, but he’s not even looking at Eddie, eyes trained on Chrissy’s blushing face. “It’ll be fun.”

Eddie groans and lets gravity overtake him, dropping his head to the table so suddenly that it would have hurt if Steve hadn’t put his palm over the spot just in time. Eddie turns his face so he can glare up at the other boy, but Steve looks so hopeful and excited that he has to look away again, burying his face into Steve’s palm.

“Fine, I’ll go,” he drawls, lips brushing against Steve’s hand with each word.

“What the hell is happening?” Gareth demands.

Much to his dismay, no one replies.

Things slide back to normal after that—Chrissy and Steve showing up to band practice and hellfire and lunch like nothing had ever come between them. But, it’s better now because Steve knocks their feet together beneath tables, and lets his hands settle on knees and stares just a little too long at Eddie’s lips.

It’s driving him crazy; he wants to reach out and touch, reach out and take.

But that’s not something that’s allowed. Boys are born in their own, invisible bubbles to keep them from touching other boys. Eddie doesn’t know how he never noticed it before, but he wants to shatter it like glass, let it cut up his feet if it means he can brush his lips against Steve’s.

There are all these rules left unwritten, but flung at their feet like slurs: don’t stand too close, don’t look too long, don’t dare to touch.

He wants to, though, thinks maybe in the confines of Gareth’s garage and behind the closed doors of the drama room he could, and it would be safe.

But they live in Hawkins, Indiana, and he’d like to live long enough to get the hell out of here.

So he lets their feet tangle beneath tables and doesn’t lean across them to have a taste, no matter how often Steve licks his lips.

Friday can’t come soon enough.

***

Robin’s been twitchy for days by the time she pulls Steve into their bathroom stall. He follows her dutifully, only laughing a little as she pulls a towel out of her backpack and lays it down before sitting on the floor.

“You plan this, Birdie?” he asks, settling across from her, the towel beneath them insulating him from the cold that’s seeping up from the floor.

Robin’s face turns a blotchy red like a blood vessel burst and dispersed beneath her skin. “Boobies,” she blurts, staring at him with beseeching eyes before she slaps her hand over her mouth, eyes wide.

Steve nods, his attempt at sage wisdom undercut by the way he has to bite his lip to stop from laughing at her. “Boobies, yes,” he chokes out. “I’ve, uh, heard of them.”

That’s all it takes for Robin to kick out at him. When her foot gets dangerously close to his crotch, Steve grabs her ankle and cradles her foot in his lap, rubbing the bone.

“Don’t make fun of me!” she whines, still trying to kick him.

“Okay, okay!” he cries out, chuckling as he holds onto her leg for dear life. “Sorry, just—what’s this about boobies?”

“Stop saying boobies!”

Steve uses his free hand to lock up his mouth and toss the invisible key into the toilet, smiling as the blush on Robin’s cheeks creeps up her nose and onto her forehead until she resembles an especially square tomato.

“Vickie—”

And Steve can’t help it, he really, really can’t. “Has nice boobies?” he cuts in, already grabbing at both her legs to stop her jackrabbiting feet from finally landing a blow to his balls.

“I hate you!” Robin shrieks, but even she’s laughing now as she writhes atop the towel, scrunching it as she earth-worm-inches closer to him so she can slap at his ribs while he’s defenseless. “Steve Harrington, you’re the worst thing that ever happened to me!”

She tries to say it with conviction, but Steve’s hands have crept beneath her crew socks, and his fingers are tickling against the inside arch of her foot, so her words come out more as shaky exhalations of laughter. He wiggles his fingers as she squirms away, kicking out with such reckless abandon that one of her feet breaks free and kicks him far too high on his inner thigh for comfort.

“Get your boy cooties off me!” she demands, and he does, pulling his hands out of her socks as she backs away until she’s leaning against the opposite side of the wall again, pouting at him. “You’re the worst.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he replies, feeling lighter than air. “Now tell me about Vickie’s girl cooties.”

Robin smiles bashfully, pulling her knees up to her chest and hugging them. “Vickie doesn’t have cooties,” Robin replies, gaze distant. She looks wistful, enamored, hopeful. “She walked me to class the other day, even though I know it made her late.”

“Yeah?” Steve prompts, helpless to do anything but to smile back.

“Yeah,” she replies. “And maybe it’ll be like Chrissy again, you know? But you and Eddie…” Robin kicks out at him again, nudging her foot into his and then leaving it there, their soles pressed together. “Maybe there’s more of us out there than I thought.”

“Yeah,” Steve breathes, absolutely in love with brave, hopeful, honest Robin, here in this stall, in this moment. “Maybe there are.”

They smile at each other, two queer kids in the bathroom together, seeing themselves in each other, again, and again, and again. Steve hopes they’ll always be like this, here, on the bathroom floor, finding hope in each other’s smiles. He has Chrissy, and Jeff, and Eddie now, too. But, Robin will always be the first person who looked at him and made him feel seen.

“We should get married,” he says, not thinking about it before it comes out of his mouth and hangs in the air between them, making Robin’s eyes bug out of her skull. “Just think about it! Eddie and I can’t get married, and neither can you and Vickie—”

“You’ve literally gone out with the guy once, and we don’t even know if Vickie likes girls yet—”

“—but we could totally just marry each other instead!”

The silence of the bathroom rings once Steve’s declaration is out there. Robin swallows, throat bobbing, eyes wide enough that Steve can see the little red veins near the back. Suddenly, Steve wonders if he’s stepped over some line he didn’t even know was there.

Before he can spiral too far, Robin launches herself across the space between them, knees bracketing Steve’s hips as she leans over and bites his shoulder, hard.

“Ow, Robin!”

“You’re insane, Dingus, you know that?” she asks, moving away from his shoulder to plant a kind of wet kiss against his forehead. “I’m sixteen, and you’re proposing in the boy’s bathroom.”

She rubs her hand against his head, likely fucking his hair up beyond repair, but he doesn’t even care because she kisses him again, this time on the top of his head.

“I meant like, later?” Steve says shyly.

He’s always fallen hard and fast, knows that about himself. It’s a fundamental law of the universe: gravity makes things fall down, the earth’s always spinning on an axis, and Steve Harrington puts his whole heart into people who don’t always give it back.

But Robin’s on his lap, kissing his head, and leaking what’s either snot or tears into his hair. “Alright,” she warbles, sounding embarrassingly soggy. “When I get a girlfriend, we can just be permanent beards for each other.”

Steve puts his arms around her and hugs her tight, mashing his face awkwardly into her neck as she laughs. “Grow old in separate bedrooms,” he replies.

“Gotta keep our cooties separate,” she says, like she’s not currently dripping on him on the floor of the boy’s grimy bathroom.

He just squeezes her tighter and gives her a little shake, like a dog with its favorite toy. “Tell me about Vickie,” he demands, but it sounds a whole lot like I love you when it comes from his mouth.

“Okay,” she replies, and it sounds a lot like I love you, too.

PART 21

[formosusiniquis]

a smile for the in-laws at the holidays

written for @thefreakandthehair's spicy six-ber challenge - It’s just dinner. It can’t be that bad

WC: 5414 | T | No Archive Warnings Apply | platonic Stobin & pre-steddie | AO3

It starts with the red light on the Harrington answering machine. Blinky and out of place, he's shouting, “Who would leave you a message?” Before he even stops to wonder if anyone can hear him. Steve had followed Robin straight to the bathroom when they'd gotten back to his place, he's given up on trying to figure out just what had them joined at the brain, hip, and bladder preferring instead to just wait and see which of the hundred and fifty bathrooms in the McMansion they would re-emerge from.

“I talk to more than just you.” Steve’s voice echoes off the walls of the hall bathroom barely audible over the sound of running water and Robin’s half of the conversation the two of them were still actively having. 

Echolocated, he moves to the door they're hidden behind to continue to conversation at a volume that hurts his fucked up throat less.

“Jury's still out on that. But it's not like Wheeler is gonna leave a message.”

He can feel Robin’s spiritual hum of agreement, his conversation with Steve now interesting enough that she's paused hers.

“I keep telling you that Nancy and me are friends.”

His personal jury is playing a game of 12 Angry Men on that subject. Seven months post apocalypse and what started as one especially delusional voice insisting that there was “lip looking” and “chemistry between himself and the prettiest boy Hawkins has ever seen” has now become a beautifully hung 6 versus 6; with the part of him that was hoping he would get to learn if Steve Harrington was as beautifully hung as the rumors said gaining traction.

“If Nancy Wheeler needed you, she isn't leaving a message,” Robin picks up the track Eddie's wishful thinking abandoned, “she’s going to get your machine, hang up, and call me and then Eddie and then the Hendersons and then Family Video, the arcade, the-”

“Assuming it's life or death.”

“It's always life or death.”

Through the bathroom door, Steve's eyeroll is practically audible. “It is not.”

“I don't think Nancy Wheeler has ever once shot the shit, the breeze, or anything that wasn't an active threat on her life, so again not leaving a message.” Eddie calls out.

He's rewarded for his status as shit-head as the door swings open and he gets to see Steve's fondly annoyed face. Bitchy eyebrows raised and lip curled into something pretending it isn't a smile. He wipes his hands down Eddie's shirt in a failed attempt at returning the annoyance. First the backs then the front running down his chest from collarbone to chest.

Maybe it's his imagination but he could swear it lingers. The tips of his fingers taking their time on their pass down his chest to his sides. The jury will be accepting it as evidence.

“Dustin then,” Steve says.

“This is the Professor to the Hair, come in Hair.” Robin comes out of the bathroom mimicking the familiar sound of the walkie.

“Claudia then.”

“If it's Claudia, that means dinner.”

And that's the best thing about Robin, he thinks, her attention to the important details. Then there's her follow through, as she leads the charge back to the end table where the answering machine sits, all before Steve's hands have fully left his sides.

Her rewinding is unmatched, she takes the tape back to the final seconds of the outgoing message.

When it plays his first thought is honestly that Steve should probably replace the tape soon. The “Sorry I missed you,” has the warped and wobbling sound of an overplayed ribbon. But the woman speaking is not any more familiar as the tape levels out. “The lawyer recommended some time separated, I would have preferred actual separation. What's the point of this no-fault thing after all, but I suppose threatening to castrate a man at a public dinner doesn't make for a very good case for favorable asset division.

“Listen to me blabber on. I've got some things to see to here, but then I'll be on the first thing that gets me home. I’ll see you for Thanksgiving! I love you, Shadow, see you soon.”

There's enough detail there to pick out the obvious: he's now heard what Steve's mom sounds like. Which rattles his world the same kind of way learning that Freak lived with his grandma and her ‘best friend’ did.

And well maybe he has spent the last seven months, and a good five years before that, convinced that Steve doesn’t actually have parents. That he sprung into a fully formed, perfectly manicured existence like the Athena of Midwestern gay bait. Which is to say he’s too busy realigning his entire world view to notice how Steve is reacting to the sudden introduction of his mother until the door is already slamming shut behind him.

“Shit.”

The first time he sees Steve after that he’s alone.

It’s unnerving enough that he touches his back pocket to make sure his walkman is there. Steve might be smiling but it doesn’t meet his eyes, his hair flops at the awkward angle it does when he’s been tugging at it. It’s the Right Side Up Family Video, so he tries his best to approach the object of his possibly reciprocated affections like he’s a normal person and not like he's afraid that a secret pod person is behind the desk.

“Stevie, hey,” the probably Pod-Steve finches at the practically inside voice level way that Eddie has greeted him. He assumes that all further communication should be done in the same style he uses to talk to Tom Bombadil, the tray tabby he is going to coax into the trailer.

With both hands raised in a subtle non-threatening gesture, he tries for levity when he says “ I know it's Thanksgiving, but it’s just dinner. It can’t be that bad.”

“This is the first time she'll meet Robin.”

He says it in the easy way Eddie has learned is habitual for Steve. He tosses out facts like putting them out in the world like they aren’t a big deal will make it so. But unlike admitting he knows a teenager with psychic powers or that he helps reset Hawkins expiration date on a yearly basis, this time he can’t hide the quiet desperation in his eyes.

“Oh.” His rings tap on the clamshell box in his hands, the dull sounds of each contact annoying even him. “I’m sure it’ll be fine. It’s Robin.”

Normally he likes when Steve’s eyes linger on him. It makes his stomach flutter and his heart race, and it's the closest thing anyone will let him get to high now that he's technically died, twice. The vacant way Steve's eyes hold on his doesn't feel like that.

The thing is Eddie isn't sure if the jokes Dustin keeps making about Steve and Robin having their own little hive mind are actually jokes. It's sort of a reverse Clark Kent situation, he's never not seen the two of them in the same place at the same time, and now that he has Superman is looking pretty vincible.

“Exactly,” Steve says, after pausing for too long. “It's Robin.”

His improvisation fails him. It feels like his brain is moving a thousand miles an hour and not coming up with anything. His foot is on the gas but the road is wet, and his tires are spinning without catching on anything. He thinks maybe, maybe, he could bullshit something about good parents and families you make being just as important as the blood ones. When the bell above the door chimes saving him from fucking it up.

Steve straightens up like someone in the sky just yanked on his strings, smiling like he doesn't have a care in the world; and like Mrs. Johnson isn't glaring at Eddie like she has the Ronald Reagan given power to kill him with her eyes.

Eddie escapes before she can move to trying to bludgeon him with a copy of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly that she's returning.

He's safely in the van.When he realizes he's still holding the movie Wayne asked him to return.

He'll try again later.

Robin is behind the counter when he comes back. Alone. She looks adrift. Staring out over the counter at the wide expanse of shelves and tapes, she doesn't seem to be taking any of them in. Just staring, empty.

There's a movie playing, Back to the Future, but it's noise. Just noise. Because Robin is in Family Video right now the same way that Steve is.

Video in hand once again, Eddie approaches the wide-eyed thing at the counter cautiously. Robin's shirt collar is popped on one side and he doesn't think it's a fashion choice. Her face is bare and it doesn't move when he reaches the counter. Not when he sets the tape down. Not even when he says, hey.

“Did you rewind that?” She asks. Her eyebrows don't furrow, her mouth only moves enough to get the words out.

“It's Wayne's.”

Robin grabs it from the counter, scans it, and adds it to a stack that only looks taller than it did this afternoon.

“Look, Robin,” he tries more gently than he spoke to Steve this morning, still smarting from the way he had responded. “It's just dinner. It can't be that bad.”

She blinks once. Twice. Three, four quick times before she finally seems to be looking at him. A lemon pucker frown twisted across her face. 

“She knows we're married.”

Robin turned 18 three days after the end of the world didn't happen. She spent the day in the hospital, in a chair that sat in the space between his bed and the bed they ended up putting Steve in. He hears one doctor call it, “Miraculous, really,” that he had been standing at all this long after his injuries and with the infection that had set in.

He collapsed in the middle of the Hawkins High gym with someone's donated sweater tossed over his shoulder.

And they won't let Robin in the ambulance. Tears streaking down her face, voice hoarse, and the EMT who survived doing his job in a place like Hawkins has the balls of steel to look her in her red faced, dripping nose glory, and tell her only family can travel in the back of the bus.

Wayne Munson, who was only in the gym to put up more posters of Eddie when he was caught by a limping Dustin Henderson, is the softest touch on this side of the Ohio River. Wayne Munson found himself playing taxi, making a quick stop at the Buckley house before taking all of the loved ones that the ambulance left behind to Hawkins General.

Inside the backpack she forced Wayne to let her grab, is a change of clothes for both of them. A strange amalgamation of pieces from both of their closets and, more importantly, a blank marriage certificate waiting to be signed.

You can, it turns out, get just about anything with the right forms mimeographed from the library or a bright enough smile when you ask for them.

And what Robin got with the correct forms was getting to request a marriage license without anyone at the county clerk's office looking at her twice. And with the smile she gets the hospital notary ready to officiate their marriage once Wayne and a sour faced nurse agreed to be witnesses. Eddie only gets to watch, too shaky still to sign his name on the license, he chose privately to think of himself as the flower girl with some extra special buds he could give the happy couple once he could get out of here.

It wasn’t storybook, but Robin and Steve were smiling so wide that it made the stitches on the side of his own face hurt. He could tell from the set of Wayne’s shoulders that he was trying not to cry and if they had him on a little less morphine he might be on the same boat. He called for the first cheers to the happy couple and it didn’t feel weird at all that neither the Harringtons nor Buckleys were there to watch their two children get hitched.

Eddie is the only witness left when later that night the cot comes out and Robin and Steve Harrington-Buckley bed down separately for their hospital honeymoon. It's not like he wants to overhear their marital pillowtalk, but even though he knows he's supposed to be asleep it won't come.

It’s Robin’s voice he notices first, a rough whisper that soothes something in him. The words wash over him for a second before his brain catches up. “In two years,” she pauses, but even Eddie who barely knows them can tell that Steve is and always is riveted to whatever she is saying. “When we get out of this shithole, I'm gonna have an affair with the most beautiful woman you've ever seen.”

"Is that the feminism Glory Steinway is teaching people, women doing men's jobs?” Steve’s little giggle makes his heart monitor jump, Eddie squeezes his eyes shut and hopes they think he’s just dreaming. “That would explain why my dad doesn't like her.”

“A Steinway is a piano. It's Gloria Steinem.”

“And you can try, but I've seen your taste,” Steve continues his part of the conversation like she hasn’t even spoken.

But Robin continues hers too. “And anyway, I don't know if that second part even applies anymore anyway, asshole. Not after that stuff we've been talking about.”

He’s not a good person, he knows that, that’s the only explanation for the way he was straining to hear like he could make his ear stretch across the floor toward them to hear better.

Steve blows a raspberry, surprising enough that Eddie flinches back in his bed. “I can't think about that if I can't sleep on my back.”

“That's not how it works,” Robin says with the confidence of someone who isn’t sure what she’s saying and lets Eddie be sure that he’s not going to learn anything else about whatever stuff they had been talking about.

“It is how it works. I've got to have my arm all funny to get comfortable enough to sleep.”

“Make sure I'm in here when Nurse Ratched comes to check on you and learns you dislocate your shoulder to sleep on your side.”

“I don't think that's Becky's last name, I think it's Collins.”

“Who cares. Now scoot over, one of us should get some sleep tonight and this cot is worse than Eddie's floor.”

He understood the bone deep instinct for protection Steve had now. The same drive that had Steve, still high on painkillers and a lack of sleep, stumbling out of the bed beside Eddie’s in the hospital. “They always say it’s gone, and then it comes back,” he’d whispered while clutching Eddie’s hand tight. 

Underneath the warning, he’d heard the want. The desire to take Robin and Eddie and the kids and everyone he cared about, to shove them all in the back of a car and drive as far away from Hawkins as he could. To stop them all from doing something stupid that shouldn’t be their responsibility anyway, to drive until Hawkins was a stain on a map that couldn’t be seen in the rearview mirror.

That’s how he feels right now.

It’s been three days and he hasn’t seen Steve and Robin in the same place at the same time. It feels like a sign he should have been looking for that this thing is coming back.

So he tries to think of his next steps as self-preservation. He has a certain reputation to uphold and going to the mall isn’t very counterculture. But Sam Goody is Sam Goody and getting his nearest and dearest their favorite tracks on cassette feels like the same kind of practical as the thick wool socks Wayne gave him last year. If he brought Steve and Robin then their presents wouldn’t be a surprise, is his reasoning And maybe that’s self-preservation too, it’s a long drive to Bloomington and it’s hard to imagine mirror-Steve and Robin being very fun to road trip with.

He’s talked himself around on it by the time he’s window shopping the Gap. Nancy is trying to organize a Christmas party from Boston with the single minded determination he would expect of a general arranging a siege. She had them pick names for Secret Santa while she was home for fall break and he’d drawn the short straw and ended up with the general herself. Which puts him outside The Gap, all he really knows about Nancy is her penchant for guns and a good sweater and he’d hate to get her a 9mm she’s already got.

The pastel colors are probably some kind of danger signal, but he’s already stepped inside and has his hands on a sweater he hopes says ‘I’m a badass and there’s a gun in my handbag don’t fuck with me’ in prep when he spots the danger.

The danger being Steve, alone still, with a dark plaid skirt pinched between his fingers.

He drops the sweater and slips back out the store, hoping he hasn’t been caught. He’ll find Wheeler a fancy pen or a nice notebook somewhere in Indy.

It's two days before Thanksgiving and when Eddie walks into Steve's place the first thing he hears is shouting.

Hand on the door knob, he pauses, listening as Robin's voice carries throughout the house. “I'm not wearing it.”

“Robin-”

“No, listen to me! I am not wearing that. I’m not gonna meet your mom looking like some, some-”

“Nancy.”

“You said that, not me.”

“Robin. Robin!” Footsteps, Eddie hears footsteps. Robin’s angry heels slamming down hard on the floors beneath her enough that he can track her movement through Steve’s house even though she’s only wearing her socks. He takes a step back toward the door. Puts his hand back on the door handle, ready to pretend that he had just walked in. Ready to pretend that he hadn’t heard the two most in-sync people in his life arguing like the Wheelers.

“Let me storm out! Let me leave. I can’t just stay here and argue with you until we both say something-” The knob twists in his hand to the sound of the desperation in Robin’s voice. Eddie’s feet don’t move, frozen in place by courage or cowardice or the seven years of high school engrained need to hear every last bit of gossip possible.

Steve has always been good at making good gossip. “Robin!”

“I’m not wearing that fucking thing just because you want to and can’t!”

He knows the sound of an argument ending when he hears it. The holidays always leave him a little more tuned in for the sounds of smashing glasses and raised voices.

The silence that comes after a landing hit. 

The door knob gives in his hand, pulling it just wide enough that he can feel the chill of the late November air, Eddie is a little surprised at what side of the door he finds himself on when he slams it shut again.

Footsteps moving faster toward him, heavy heel first steps. He starts putting on the production of arriving: shaking his shoulders like he’s shaking off the frosty chill of the early winter hitting Hawkins like the latest plague. He’s got a toe at the heel of one boot, ready to kick it off when Robin comes barreling toward him. Barrelling into him, he stumbles over his tangled up feet to keep them both from falling to the floor.

She’s got a hand pressed into his chest, fingers digging into the fabric of his shirt, using it to drag him impossibly closer. He can smell the coffee on her breath when she hisses, “As one of the people responsible for saving your life, I need you to put me in that death trap you call a van and repay your debt.”

“I-?” Closer than he thinks he’s ever been to Robin, the fight he just overheard playing through his head once again, he tries to parse through the pissed off urgency in her voice that’s now being directed at him.

Her eyes are wild and she only looks more insistent as Steve’s voice carries from the kitchen. “Is that Eddie? Eddie, come in here and taste this.”

“If you have never trusted me before, trust me now, if you value your life you'll leave.”

There’s a part of his brain that believes her. There really is.

But then Steve whines, “Seriously, Eddie, I need you.” It’s a tone of voice Eddie has only heard in his wildest fantasies, and sometimes not even then.

“Oh that's a cheap trick,” Robin snaps.

“Please?” He drags the word out into a moan. Something sultry that Eddie wouldn’t dare dream of, so it has to be real.

“Cheap trick,” he pats Robin on the shoulder as he walks toward the vision he can only just begin to imagine in the kitchen. “Yeah sure, put them on.”

“This is for your own good.” For a band geek, she’s strong. Maybe it’s the world saving. 

Eddie has only managed a step toward what has to be everything he’s ever dreamed of when her hand closes tight around his arm and pulls him back toward the door. The jury in his head has just reached the unanimous decision that he does actually have a shot with Steve Harrington as he’s being lifted kicking, but not yet screaming, by a scrawny band nerd and now they’re calling for her head.

“Eddie?”

“I’m taking him with me. Maybe between the two of us we can get the right onions.”

“Who would use a sweet onion for a green bean casserole?”

He’s stunned, still enough that Robin can finish pushing him back out the door he just walked through. Not because Steve was being a bitch, Steve’s always kind of an ass, but that Robin wouldn’t respond. The ‘god you never listen to me and I’m actually mad about something else but this is the thing that’s broken me’ tone is one he associates with the bitterly married Mr. and Mrs. O’Leary from the trailer two down, the frowning couples in the grocery, not Steve and Robin.

Steve and Robin had full conversations in their brains with nothing but facial expressions and laughter, they didn’t storm out of the house angry and resentful. 

It feels like something is broken, waiting to be fixed. Broken things have always preoccupied him, and they’re halfway down the road before he realizes they aren’t headed toward town.

And that he isn’t the one driving.

“Um, Buckley? Did you get your license when I wasn’t looking?”

“I have my permit. We have the beamer, it's not like we’re going that far.” He grabs the oh shit bar as she rounds a corner without breaking.

“All due respect to the royal carriage- Shit, brake. Brake! Arwen doesn’t exactly handle the same.” He recognizes where they’re headed now, if only because the edge of the quarry is quickly approaching. Maybe he hasn't given enough weight to the amount of stress she’s under.

“It’s ridiculous. The whole thing is ridiculous.”The edge of the quarry is looming and her foot is too light on the brake. Even as the dust flies out behind the van, he’s torn between listening to her and watching the windshield. The brakes squeal as her foot finally presses down hard enough to actually stop the van all the while chanting. “It’s a dinner. A dinner. All this for a dinner.”

They stop. The car rocks back, Eddie lunges for the column to make sure it’s in park while Robin launches herself out of the cab.

He can see her pacing beside the van in the side view mirror, her mouth moving in a rant he can’t hear over the sound of his own panting breath. “Okay, this is okay,” the words leave his mouth but they might as well be coming from some third tag along in the van. “Robin is freaking out, so you can’t freak out.”

He scrambles into the back, knees smarting as he crawls across the blankets that aren’t doing enough to cushion the floor. Robin almost gets hit, when he tosses open the doors to usher her in.

“Climb in, we’ll partake in the time honored tradition of escaping from family, getting high, and bitching.” 

She doesn’t look convinced, hands shaking when he grabs ahold to help her get into the back. Eddie makes it a point not to look at her as she settles. She fusses, fidgeting with pillows and smoothing out the afghan that Steve picked out from the thrift store, and he holds any comment about how Steve had done the same thing the last time they hit the drive in mostly because he knows she was there for it. His time is better spent carefully rolling up a fresh joint, lighting it, and taking a big hit.

He still doesn’t know everything that happened to them before he got involved with the Upside Down. But he knows that the Harrington-Buckleys don’t handle being high well these days. But with the doors open, the ambiance, and the faint second hand smoke it isn't long before Robin is speaking.

“It was funny when he was showing me the best way to climb into a girl's window or scale a trellis.” She isn't looking at him while she speaks. Her eyes are locked on the toes of the new Chuck Taylors that she and Steve had lucked into at a thrift store in Seymour of all places. One blue and one red, they'd split the pair after decorating them. The two of them so in sync they even share a shoe size.

Still the words keep tumbling out, slow but gaining speed like a snowball rolling down a hill. “It was fun learning the best way to shotgun a beer and the flirty hand thing. And I liked, like, having someone who will gossip with me and we can paint our nails.” 

She stops, breath shuddering and it's worse, now that he's got the smell of weed around him but none of the haze, when she looks at him with red, watery eyes. “But now I'm gonna be the girl who isn't girl enough who ruined her perfect son and made him not boy enough and ruins their relationship forever. He loves his mom.”

“And he loves you, Rob.” There's no right amount of emphasis to put on the words. It feels like he’s repeating facts to a conspiracy theorist. DnD isn't devil worship. The Earth is round. Steve Harrington loves Robin Buckley, no matter what.

And just like spouting facts, he isn't met with a good reaction.

“I know,” she croaks, voice breaking as she holds back a sob. “I know and he knows better than anyone that loving someone isn’t enough to keep you from resenting them.”

It's miserable. He feels miserable. Robin looks miserable. And if there’s anything he hates more than injustice it’s misery.

“What can I do?”

 She sits up further, grabs the wrist that’s holding the forgotten joint, a look on her face that makes him think of the urgency of a quest. “I can’t be someone he ends up resenting in a year, in five.”

“What can I do, Robin?”

“Say you’ll come Thursday?”

That sounds like the worst idea in the world, Eddie Munson, former murder suspect, joining in at the Rockwellian dinner table. But he isn’t good at denying his friends much of anything these days. “Will it help? Me being there?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know. But you’ll be there for me, for him, for us.”

“Then I’ll be there.”

Thanksgiving comes and Eddie’s hands are sweating around the wheel of the van as he sits in the Harrington driveway.

He hasn’t celebrated the holiday in earnest like this since he was little. When his own mom was still alive and they would load up in the pick up to drive to his Mammaw’s house where it would smell like roasted turkey and fresh baked bread. Now he and Wayne need the money too badly to skip out on the holiday pay. They would have turkey sandwiches for lunch before he would leave and Eddie would float around town selling to the teens who had slipped out their front doors for a “walk” before dinner so they could stand to be around their overbearing relatives.

Which leaves him in the position of trying to figure out his role here.

Is he the dirtbag that Steve has somehow managed to befriend, there to take the heat off of Robin and make her better by default? 

Is he the reformed killer that the two of them have fixed through the power of their goodness, there to make them both look like the power couple that they are? 

Is he there as their friend Eddie, there to be moral support in a stressful situation?

He isn’t sure and each different version of himself that he can imagine looks different. Each a different performance that requires different costuming.

It’s left him arriving late, wearing a hodgepodge of pieces that speak to each version. Stitched up jeans and a thrifted band shirt, overtop that one of Wayne’s cowboy shirts and he’ll kick off his trusty Reeboks at the door if he can get himself to go inside. He isn’t sure what anyone is going to think if he manages to make it in the door, but he can imagine what the neighbors are thinking right now.

Trudging up to the door, nerves prick at his fingertips but he doesn’t regret coming. Not even as he tries to anticipate the stuffy, frigid silence he’s about to walk into.

At least the food will be good, the stuff Steve made anyway.

Through the door he hears laughter.

When he knocks, it doesn’t stop.

And then he’s looking at Steve wearing that skirt from the Gap with his hair pinned back. “Eddie!” His eyes are wide, sparkling with a bright joy that Eddie hasn’t seen in days.

From down the hall voices, Robin’s he knows too well not to identify and the other’s can only be Mrs. Harrington, chorus, “Oh Eddie!” Before he hears the sounds of giggling laughter once again. Steve’s face flushes a beautiful, distracting pink.

“I should have brought something,” Eddie finds himself saying. Empty hands clenching even as his eyes are locked on those two moles on Steve’s cheek and how they stand out on that blush.

“You never have to bring anything, Ed.”

“Stevie! Quit hogging Eddie, we want to see him,” Robin’s voice has the slip sliding quality Eddie has come to associate with drinking.

“There’s still time to run, if you want to avoid everything,” Steve teases.

“You know I’m not a runner anymore, and anyway your missus invited me.”

“And nobody has ever accused Eddie Munson of being rude.”

“Got that right, baby.” Eddie can feel the smile on his face broaden as Steve rolls their eyes, a smile tugging at their lips, and that sweet pink kissing his face again. 

But when Steve’s hand runs down his wrist, a tentative touch reaching to tangle their fingers, the situation he’s in fully cements itself in his mind. Fingertips brush past one another as Steve keeps walking and Eddie stays put. He can hear Robin’s familiar cackle and a pleasant laugh that shares the same cadence as Steve’s coming from the kitchen. Warm brown eyes look him up and down, he tries to ignore that as he listens for whatever conversation is accompanying that laugh.

“She wants to meet you, y’know.” Steve says finally. “Hasn’t shut up about how my tastes have gotten better now that I’m back to my old self.”

“And she means me?”

“She means Robin,” he laughs, “but she’ll like you because I do. Because you haven’t said anything about this,” he flicks his hand down to his skirt. “Because you won’t say anything when you see she’s wearing the same outfit.’”

“Mama’s boy?”

“Something like that. C’mon, I need someone on my side in there.”

“Yeah, alright,” Eddie agrees, reaching out to grab Steve’s hand for real, “It’s just dinner. It can’t be that bad, right?”

[just-my-latest-hyperfixation]

oh hello, I am here for my first beloved hype fic: someone who cares! prompt: "do you remember when we first met?"

I'll leave the rest to you and your gigantic, perfect brain <333

Lex!! 😍 Thank you so much for all your support and for giving this little universe so much love. These two were the starting point of my Steddie obsession AND of my fanfic journey, and they'll always hold a special place in my heart. Hope you'll enjoy their wedding day!

Perfect, somehow

Rated: G

Words: 986

Tags: No UD AU; Modern AU, Steve is Dustin’s dad; Established relationship; Wedding day; Eddie Munson is a sweetheart; Steve Harrington needs a hug

Notes: Set in the same universe as Someone who cares

Steve is staring out at the rain and the soggy decorations dangling sadly from the branches of the apple tree when he hears the bedroom door open.

“Hey Robs,” he sighs, fiddling with the flimsy zipper of the dry cleaner bag. “Do you think it’s too late to reschedule the whole thing? I know Eddie will be disappointed, but-” 

“Disappointed?” says a voice behind him. A very familiar, very male voice that is distinctly not Robin’s. “I think the word you’re looking for is fucking livid, honey.” 

“What the fuck?” Steve yelps, whirling around so suddenly he nearly topples. “I told Dustin to get Robin!” 

Eddie shrugs - or at least Steve thinks he does. It’s a bit hard to say with only his head poking into the room, the rest of him still hidden behind the half-open door. “She’s downstairs talking to the caterer. Can I come in or what? Dustin said, and I quote, Dad looks like he’s about to puke on his ugly-ass shoes.” 

Steve’s gaze flicks down to his tan leather slippers. He bought them especially for today, to have something to go with his cream suit. 

“It’s bad luck to see each other before the ceremony,” he mutters. 

“Yeah right,” Eddie snorts and steps into the room. The mumble of voices from downstairs dims as he shuts the door behind him. “Except from what you just said, you’d rather not have a ceremony at all.” 

“That’s not true,” Steve blurts. “Of course I wanna- … oh shit, you look amazing.” 

Eddie smiles - the boyish and dimpled one that was one of the first things Steve fell in love with - playing with the lapels of his suit jacket. Black, just like his shirt and tie and pants. His hair has been tamed into a braid, the first stubborn strands already escaping and curling around his face. 

“Thanks,” he says, black leather shoes nervously scuffing on the bedroom floor. “You only get married once, huh? If you still wanna. Marry me, that is.” 

Steve groans. The dry cleaner bag, still clutched in his clammy hands, crinkles as he flops down on the bed. 

“Of course I wanna marry you. I wanna marry you so fucking badly, you have no idea!” 

Eddie’s brow wrinkles. “Then what’s the problem?” 

“What’s the problem?” Steve blurts, gesturing frantically at the curtain of rain behind the windowpane. “I wanted this to be perfect, and now? Weather forecast says it won’t stop raining until tomorrow, and even if it did, the yard’s a fucking mud field. And as if that wasn’t enough, the fucking dry cleaner ruined my suit jacket.” 

He unzips the bag, shaking the mess inside at Eddie’s face. Those pretty brown eyes grow large. 

“Whoa,” Eddie mutters. “Please tell me you demanded your money back.” 

Steve doesn't reply, just continues to stare at him with the same glum expression. Eddie’s eyes go soft and he huffs a laugh. 

“Hey,” he says, plucking the bag from Steve’s hands and tossing it over a chair. Then, he plops down on the mattress beside him, knee to knee, and links their fingers. “Do you remember when we first met?” 

“Huh?” Steve blinks. “Yes, of course, why do you-” 

“I was one failed rent payment away from sleeping on the curb,” Eddie interrupts him, smile wide and happy. “The power company had cut me off weeks ago, and besides, I had pawned my laptop, so I hand wrote my application for that job you'd posted. Not that I thought I'd get it, but I was sort of grasping at straws, y’know?” 

His smile is warm and fond when he looks at Steve.

“That apartment building of yours was so fucking fancy. And then you barged out of that stupid, pompous penthouse and I thought shit, not only is he filthy rich, he's also disgustingly hot on top? Gimme a break, that's just unfair.” 

Steve scoffs, heat prickling at the base of his neck. “C'mon now, I was a mess. My father was breathing down my back at work, I felt like I was failing as a dad. The bags under my eyes were probably reaching my knees.” 

Eddie laughs, loud and carefree and Steve loves him. Loves him so fucking much, wants to spend the rest of his life listening to that laugh. Still can't believe he'll get to. 

“Okay, one: you looked like a fucking dream, baby. And two: I think we can agree we both weren't in the best of places, each in his own way. Right?” 

Steve scoffs. “Yeah, agreed.” 

Eddie's fingers squeeze his, the touch warm and familiar. The shape of his hand. The warm metal of his rings. Skulls and crosses, and the plain silver one Steve gave him on the day he proposed to him. “And still here we are, huh?” 

Steve takes a moment to let this sink in. Here they are. The man he loves and him, with the family they chose downstairs, ready to build a future together. 

“Yeah,” he breathes. “Here we are, I guess.” 

“So, what d’you say?” Eddie hums, lifting their entwined hands to kiss Steve’s knuckles. “You wanna get married?” 

Steve can't help it, he laughs. “Hell yeah, let's do it.” 

“Yesss,” Eddie cheers, jumping off the bed and punching at the air. “Let's fucking go!” 

Then, he starts unlacing his shoes. He's taken off his socks and is rolling up his pants before Steve finds his words again. 

“Erm, Eddie? What are you doing?” 

Eddie, just in the process of shrugging out of his suit jacket, shoots him a toothy grin. “What we do best, love. I'm making it work.”

They say their vows ankle-deep in mud, with the wind blowing rain under their umbrella and ruining their hair. It's nothing like Steve ever imagined his wedding day to be. It's all he never knew he wanted. 

And damn if that isn't its own kind of perfect. 

More celebration ficlets!

[steddiebang2024]

Getting to know you (again) |  E |  68k

Author: @medusapelagia

Artist: @boybonebird

Beta Reader: @spookysnarkyem and @dame-zoom-a-lot

[Link to fic]  |  [Link to art]

Pairings: Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson, minor Robin Buckley/Chrissy Cunningham, implied Jason Carver/Billy Hargrove

Characters: Steve Harrington, Eddie Munson, Steve’s parents, Eddie’s parents, Wayne Munson, Dustin Henderson, Claudia Henderson, Robin Buckley

Tags: Alternate Universe - No Upside Down (Stranger Things), Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Slow Burn, Amnesia, Forced Marriage, Angst with a Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Whump, POV Alternating, Misunderstandings, Eventual Smut, Eddie Munson is Taller Than Steve Harrington, might contain traces of Billy Hargrove, Digital Art, Steddie Big Bang 2024 

Trigger Warnings: Car Accidents, Hospitals

↳ Keep reading below for a summary!

The Harrington Family is rich, disgustingly rich.

The only problem is that their wealth comes from loan sharking and old connections to the mafia. But Richard Harrington is an ambitious man and he won't let the shadow of the past influence his future: all he needs is a famous name that will finally clean their, but none is willing to be associated with the Harrington family. None apart from Alan Munson, the member of a prestigious family now in disgrace, who immediately accepts the idea of marrying his son to Harrington’s son.

What they don’t know is that Steve has his own plan: marry Eddie and get a divorce by consent after a few months, so both the boys will be finally free from their families.

It looks like a perfect plan, until a car crash messes everything up.

When Steve wakes up he doesn’t remember Eddie or their plan and he truly believes that they got married for love. Didn’t they?

-

“Are you drunk, Steve? Do you need me to pick you up?”

“No, I’m home. With a warm beer that tastes like piss thinking about my vows.”

“Vows? What are you talking about?”

“It was a busy night.”

“I got it,” Robin replies, “but I’m still confused. Did you really say vows?”

[thisapplepielife]

Written for @steddie-week.

Can't Miss Us.

Day #5 - Prompt: Reunion/Exes to Lovers | Word Count: 1979 | Rating: T | CW: Language | POV: Steve | Tags: Post S4, Future Fic, Corroded Coffin Eddie, Hawkins Steve, It's Wedding Season, If They Didn't Have Their Besties, They'd Still Be Floundering Alone, Platonic Stobin, Eddie and Gareth are BFFs

He's in his pajamas. 

And they aren't even his good pajamas. They're just a ratty-ass pair of plaid sleep pants that Robin and him fight over ownership of, and a soft, but ragged, t-shirt that the logo wore off long, long ago, with holes all around the neck and under the arms. 

Steve was just running to the store for ice cream before they closed at midnight. He didn't think he'd see anyone, let alone Eddie Munson.

Shit. Shit. Shit. 

Maybe he will go unnoticed. He backs up out of the aisle, and runs his back straight into someone else's chest. He turns to say sorry, and it's Gareth.

"Steve?" Gareth questions, and he sounds just as surprised as Steve feels.

Eddie looks up at hearing Gareth speak. Steve sees the movement out of the corner of his eye, and there'll be no running from this. From them.

From him.

"Hey, I didn't know you guys were in town," Steve says, trying to play it way cooler than he'll ever feel about the situation. 

Eddie left, Steve stayed, and that was that. They don't hate each other or anything, but it has always been far easier for Steve to just keep a healthy amount of distance between them. 

"The wedding, you know," Gareth says, and Steve doesn't know. 

Is Eddie getting married? Is Gareth? 

Steve lives here. Surely he would have known if a big wedding was happening right under his nose. But he's heard nothing, from no one. Surely, Henderson would have let it slip if Eddie was coming home to get married.

"Oh, no, I didn't know," Steve says, "Congrats?" 

That shouldn't sound like a question, and he feels dumb, dumb, dumb. 

"Well don't congratulate me, I'm not getting married," Gareth says, then holds up his hand, "mainly because I already am." 

Steve nods, dumbly, not really listening to Gareth at all. But Eddie hasn't moved an inch to come closer. Apparently he's not going to. He's just standing there holding two tubs of orange sherbet. Eddie as frozen as the sherbet.

Time to get the fuck out of this awkward situation.

"Okay, well. Good to see you," Steve says, and leaves without the ice cream. 

Robin will understand. 

"He was just standing there staring at you like a creep?" 

"Well, it didn't seem creepy, as much as shocked to see that his ex-boyfriend is now apparently homeless. Look at what I'm wearing, Robin! Look!" he shouts, tugging on the collar of his shirt, and it rips a little further. 

Steve's spiraling. 

"Calm down. You look comfortable. It's midnight. Eddie's not dumb. He doesn't think this is your new style. He knows."

And Steve knows that. He does. But it's still terribly embarrassing. You don't want to go years without seeing the guy you'll probably never quite get over, and then be wearing your scrubbiest clothes.

It's tragic.

"He might be getting married," Steve says, dejected. That's the real problem here. Not his clothes. 

"In Hawkins? Get real. Eddie would never. He hates it here." 

He wouldn't. Steve knows that, too. Eddie hardly ever comes back, saying it's not his hometown, not anymore.

Steve understands. Hawkins kind of lost that right when they tried to burn him at the stake for something he didn't do. But Steve likes to think it's changed, at least a little, after the ones that did stay have worked to make changes.

Like Robin, and him. They stayed, and they aren't unhappy about it. 

"I'd say get some ice cream and calm down, but we don't have any," Robin snarks, and it's just what he needed, as he laughs and leans against her shoulder.

The next afternoon, they drive around in Robin's car, Steve slunk low in the passenger seat, checking every possible venue in town, trying to determine where this wedding might be. They check the churches. The best hotel that has a shoddy excuse for a ballroom. 

And in an act of desperation, the school.

Lover's Lake. 

But it's not in town. Can't be. There are no crowds anywhere.

However, out near the country club, they spot balloons stuck to a sign. 

Green/Goodwin Wedding

"See!" Robin crows, "It's Goodie! It's not Eddie. I told you so, dingus. Can we go home now?"

Steve nods. It does make Steve feel a little better, but Eddie still didn't tell him he was coming home. Still didn't want to see him while he was here, obviously. 

Definitely didn't expect Steve to be loitering around the Big Buy at closing time. 

And that kind of stings, just a little.

The whole "we'll still be friends" thing was a load of horseshit. They aren't anything to each other, not now.

"Home, Jeeves," Steve says.

"Ice cream first?" Robin questions.

Steve nods, "Only if you go in. I'm traumatized."

Robin looks over at him, "Well. I'll do it just this once, but don't think this gets you out of ice cream duty, dingus. I can drive. But I still don't want to."

"Deal," he says, because once Eddie's gone back to his life, things can go back to normal.

"Door!" Robin shouts from the bathroom, and Steve looks at his watch. It's after ten. He didn't even hear anyone knocking from his room. And it's a little late for anyone they know, unless Henderson is in town for this wedding, and just said nothing. 

Steve eyes the bat leaning near the hall tree, and then opens the door. 

It's Gareth.

"How'd you know where I lived?" Steve asks, skipping the hello.

"It's Hawkins. I just had to ask the first person I saw. Which was my mom," Gareth says, and Steve looks out beyond him. Checking to see if Eddie is lurking in the bushes. He doesn't seem to be.

Gareth just reaches into his pocket and pulls out a tape, "Here."

Steve takes it because he doesn't know what else to do.

"If you think it's what I think it is, we're at the club all night. We're out back. In a tent. Can't miss us."

"It's a wedding," Steve says, "one I wasn't invit-"

Gareth pulls an envelope out of his jacket pocket, "From Goodie."

Steve doesn't know what to say, but Gareth doesn't make him, because he just turns and leaves.

"What?" Robin asks, coming out, her hair up in a towel.

"It was Gareth. He gave me this," Steve says, holding up the cassette.

"Is it 1986?" Robin asks, and Steve laughs. The stereo still has a tape deck, but a CD would have been more convenient. "What do you think it is?"

Steve shrugs, but he knows. Down deep. He knows.

And he's right. It's a tape of songs that are very clearly about Steve, and by Eddie's voice, and the way it's matured as the tape went on, they've been laid down over many, many years. 

Steve doesn't know what to do with this information.

Eddie didn't give it to him, Eddie didn't come to him. 

Why does Steve have to be the one to stick his neck out?

Because, Eddie won't. Eddie will run for ten, twenty, forty more years. 

And these songs? They say that he regrets it. That he doesn't want to have ever done it in the first place. 

So. Steve pulls a suit out of the closet, and demands that Robin put on a dress, any dress, or slacks, anything she owns other than her yummy sushi pajamas.

She does. They both do. 

And Robin drives.

And Steve frets, worrying the tape case in his hands, the whole way.

Gareth wasn't lying. They couldn't miss the tent. It's a beacon in the night. Edged up to the woods, and it's a testament to what they all did, that that's a safe thing to do, here in Hawkins. Steve just hangs back, and looks. Sees the blur of people moving around, dancing, having fun. 

The music is decidedly wedding reception, and not Corroded Coffin. 

But Steve doesn't see Eddie.

"I don't see him," Steve says, not taking his eyes off the tent to look at Robin. She'll tell him if she sees him first. "Do you think-"

"I'm right here," Eddie says from behind them, and Steve turns. Slowly.

Robin pauses, for just a second, and then bolts for the tent, like a little traitor. Leaving him alone, staring Eddie down in the near dark. 

Steve fishes the tape out of his jacket pocket, and holds it out for Eddie to see. Eddie takes it, but doesn't look shocked, or betrayed, or anything really. Until he cracks a smile.

"Kid's a meddling little shit," Eddie says, meeting Steve's eyes.

"Was he wrong?" Steve asks.

"No," Eddie answers, "but he rarely is. Which is part of the problem. It's annoying."

"Well, I have Robin. So I get it," Steve says, and Eddie smiles.

"You want to go to the tent? I think it's about time for Cotton Eye Joe," Eddie teases.

"Oh, well, in that case…" Steve laughs, because seeing Eddie do that Cotton Eye Joe dance would be worth it.

"Or, we have rooms blocked off in the lodge," Eddie offers.

Steve raises an eyebrow, and Eddie keeps talking, "Meeting rooms. Sitting rooms. Not bedrooms," Eddie rambles, "I mean, we do have those. But I meant the other options."

Steve laughs, because he's still Eddie. He wasn't sure he would be, but yeah, this is Eddie. Just polished up a little, not as rough around all the edges.

Grown up. 

"Okay, Munson. Take me to one of your non-bedroom rooms," Steve teases, and Eddie lights up, offering Steve his elbow. It's goofy, and silly, but Steve slides his arms through the loop of Eddie's elbow, letting himself be led. 

Eddie stops at the open bar, gets them both a drink and a huge tray of the leftover passed appetizers. And they sit in the room that the guys clearly got dressed in. There are garment bags, and street clothes, and stuff on every surface. Eddie scoots a bunch of it down the bar, making room for the two of them.

"Sorry, it's a mess in here," Eddie says, "we weren't expecting company."

"I don't think I count as company," Steve says softly, picking up what looks like a fancy little pig-in-a-blanket and popping it in his mouth. Even cold, it's pretty damn good. 

Maybe he's just hungry.

They make small talk. Catching up, skirting the real reason they are both sitting here, together. The tape. The songs.

They eventually fall into a lull, and Steve doesn't feel like he needs to fill the silence. They can just sit together, that's okay. Eddie still feels comfortable, even after all these years, those miles, this distance.

He's still Eddie. And Steve's still Steve. 

"They are about you, you know?" Eddie asks, and Steve knows. "The songs."

"I know," Steve admits. 

"But they were private, so they didn't make any albums," Eddie says, "not because I didn't want you to hear them. I just didn't want anyone else to hear them."

Steve puts his hand on Eddie's forearm, and squeezes, "I get it."

"I have missed you, you know? Leaving you? The hardest thing I've ever done."

"Harder than fighting off demobats?" Steve teases. They can do that now. Time has passed, and enough of it, that it's in the past. Which is wild. He wasn't sure that'd ever be true.

"Way harder," Eddie says, smiling a shy smile.

"Staying was hard, too," Steve admits, softly.

Eddie nods, leaning his face down, until it rests on Steve's upper arm, Eddie rubbing against him, like a cat. Steve had almost forgotten that was a thing he'd do. 

His chest constricts, squeezing.

He wants Eddie. All of him. Everything he can get, for however long.

"So, about those bedrooms…" Steve trails off, smiling as Eddie meets his eyes, smiling right back.

If you want to write your own, or see more entries for this challenge, pop on over to @steddie-week and follow along with the fun!

[rogueddie]

Fake Dating Steddie Fic Rec

Important: READ THE TAGS! Leave a comment and kudos! If I was only allowed read fake dating fics like these, I would die happy 🤞

I Like to See You in the Morning Light

BonitaBreezy

"Wait,” Eddie said, his drug-addled brain catching up suddenly. “Wait! My alibi is that I was having sex with Steve Harrington?”

After it all, Eddie Munson is left to pick up the cracked pieces of his life. Luckily, he has new friends to fall back on.

Words : 27,362 Chapters : 1/1 Rating : Teen And Up Audiences

AO3 : x

you want it straight from the heart (why can't this be love?)

emryses

Steve let out a long sigh. “I’ll do it. I’ll be your fake boyfriend, okay?”

“You could at least sound happier about it,” Robin muttered.

Words : 12,417 Chapters : 1/1 Rating : Teen And Up Audiences

AO3 : x

i’ve got you under my skin

strawberryspence

Steve Harrington has to marry Eddie Munson (also know as the Devil Incarnate), so Eddie won’t get deported back to Canada and for Steve to finally achieve his dream to be a producer.

Or: The Proposal AU Steddie Edition

Words : 49,923 Chapters : 6/6 Rating : Teen And Up Audiences

AO3 : x

Saying I love you to your best friend, and to the friend that could perhaps be something more

songsformonkeys

Ever since he discovered that he liked girls - and that, generally, girls liked him too - Steve Harrington has not spent a single Valentine's Day alone. 1987 is shaping up to be the first and that really sucks.

Eddie, fed up with listening to Steve's complaining, agrees to be his date for the day.

Words : 5,901 Chapters : 1/1 Rating : General Audiences

AO3 : x

Invitations

nbfutureboy

Steve’s being harassed about his love life, and enlists Eddie’s help over Christmas break to get Dustin off his back. All he has to do is pretend to be Steve’s boyfriend in front of all of his loved ones!

Words : 6,902 Chapters : 1/1 Rating : Teen And Up Audiences

AO3 : x

Let's Be More Than Strangers

DrowningByDegrees

It’s meant to be a one-off favor to Robin, Eddie passing himself off as her boyfriend. Robin gets to hang onto the secret of why she never so much as bats an eyelash at the guys who come into Scoops Ahoy. Eddie gets more ice cream than he knows what to do with and the opportunity to pull one over on the former King of Hawkins High. Unfortunately, it all works just a little too well, and Eddie finds himself continuing to come back.

Words : 19,592 Chapters : 2/2 Rating : Teen And Up Audiences

AO3 : x

Can we always be friends? (We've got too much love)

sparrow_in_hawkins

Steve offers to be Robin's pretend boyfriend to get the guys at school to leave her alone. She's reluctant at first, until Steve admits that he's not interested in dating girls anymore anyway.

Meanwhile, Eddie's encounters with Steve Harrington had always been brief, but he could never help being captivated by him. Naturally, he doesn't know how to react as Steve starts popping into his life more than ever--probably should do nothing, because Steve has a girlfriend. Right?

Words : 42,525 Chapters : 6/6 Rating : Mature

AO3 : x

i know what you want from me

hyxzw

After two years of getting rejected from college, and totaling nineteen of disappointing his father, Steve Harrington decides to finally reclaim his life by spending the summer kissing Eddie Munson.

Words : 86,788 Chapters : 6/6 Rating : Mature

AO3 : x

A Coat of Paint

songbvrd

Steve agrees to help Eddie paint his trailer, but isn't prepared for the bisexual crisis it sends him spiralling into.

Words : 56,334 Chapters : 13/13 Rating : Explicit

AO3 : x

Two Truths and a Lie About Steve Harrington

endzela

Steve is desperate to find a date for his high school reunion, and his best friend Eddie volunteers to pretend to be his boyfriend. What Eddie doesn't know, however, is that Steve has had a crush on him ever since they became friends in college, and although Steve is not planning on letting him find out about it now, spending a week together in the same room might make things difficult. Especially since Eddie keeps flirting with him at every chance he gets.

Words : 20,057 Chapters : 2/2 Rating : Mature

AO3 : x

[werepuppy-steve]

january fic rec

so i figured that instead of waiting until december to make a big long post of all the fics i read throughout the year, i'd break it down into monthly recs instead. i barely read anything at all last year, and it makes me feel awful every time i think about it, so hopefully this method keeps me on track so i can make some headway on the hoard of fics i have saved.

this also helps to boost fics that might've been missed or overlooked in the chaos and carnage brought by the passage of time.

these will include tumblr fics as well as ao3 fics!

general warning: smut will be included in these so please read at your own discretion and heed any warnings and tags!

▸ january fic rec - b sides

break the ice (i can't take anymore) - T, 2.2k, complete @matchingbatbites

tags: hockey au, established relationship, shower sex, secret relationship

“I’m surprised you’re still here,” Steve says as he leans into Eddie’s creeping touch, the little bit of contact more of a tease than anything. “Thought you’d be back at the hotel by now.” Eddie grins up at Steve and tugs him closer. “And miss the chance to congratulate you properly? To show you how proud I am of you?” Steve full on shudders at that, his mouth drops in a soft gasp and his hands push up into Eddie’s hair. “Eddie…” “I am, Stevie. So proud of you, my baby.” He leans in and presses a kiss to Steve’s jersey-covered sternum. “Tell me what you want, princess. Anything, and it’s yours.”

what's mine is yours (to leave or take) - M, 8.2k, complete @thefreakandthehair | througheden

tags: modern au, baker eddie, nurse steve, waitress-inspired, getting together

Eddie's an amateur baker who desperately needs a healthy dose of hope. He finds it in the bottom of a pie dish and the hands of Steve Harrington.

Tax Time - T, 922, complete @simplebtromance

tags: modern au, established relationship, domestic fluff, competence kink, appalachian eddie

Eddie throwing his hair back into a hair clip he stole from Chrissy, face determined as he opened up his laptop on their coffee table, that used to be his Memaw's, and got the binder of bills and receipts out to do his and Steve's taxes. (He still feels gooey and not very metal when he sees Steve Munson on any paperwork or mail, they've been married for over 3 years now and he doesn't think it's gonna stop any time soon)

group hangout - E, 3.3k, complete plutorose

tags: modern au, college au, dom/sub, first time

When Steve and Eddie start seeing each other, Robin meets Eddie's roommate for the first time.

A Little Show - E, 4.1k, complete ItCanBePalped

tags: exhibitionism, pre-threesome, dom/sub

Chrissy and Robin can't wait to get their hands on each other. Unfortunately, the room they find is already occupied. Or maybe that's "fortunately".

BABY SAID - E, 3.8k, complete dartlekey

tags: t4t steddie, transmasc eddie, transmasc steve, college au, bathtub sex, scissoring

Drenched by a sudden downpour and locked out of the youth hostel they were supposed to be staying at, university students Steve Harrington and Eddie Munson find themselves unwittingly and very much against their will trapped in night-time Rome together, and sharing a cramped hotel room. And a bathtub. Things kind of escalate from there.

Love from the other side - M, 6.2k, complete @sidekick-hero

tags: modern au, nurse steve, vampire eddie

In his mind Steve goes over the things he knows. Eddie is a vampire. A vampire who killed another vampire to save Steve’s life. To save Chrissy’s life. Eddie is dying. He may already be dead, but it looks like vampires can die again. Permanently. Eddie wants his blood.

the devil's water, it ain't so sweet - E, WIP hesjustlikemefr

tags: modern au, sugar daddy eddie, sugar baby steve, transmasc steve, slowburn, age difference

After Steve's parents cut him off financially, Robin comes up with a brilliant plan for Steve to be able to pay his bills. SweetShoppe, the most professional sugaring app on the market. Steve is skeptical, until he comes across the profile of Eddie Munson, a music producer and the hottest guy Steve has ever seen. Maybe this wasn't the worst idea after all…

like rabbits - E, WIP crybaby

tags: alpha eddie, omega steve, daddy kink, dom/sub, established relationship, pussy drunk eddie

Steve shaves his pussy and dresses up as a Playboy Bunny. Eddie handles it well.

usa hockey is do or die - E, 4k, complete @steddieas-shegoes

tags: hockey au, dom/sub, established relationship

“Everyone expects a lot from Team USA captain Steve Harrington and his first alternate, Tommy Hagan, but everyone’s a bit shocked at the choice for second alternate. What do you have to say about Eddie Munson being the pick, Jack?” Steve already felt anger bubbling under his skin, the annoyance of the last few weeks finally reaching a boiling point. “Well, we all know he’s one of the best goalies out there, but it’s rare to see a goalie with an A or C. I’ll be honest, I was surprised he was chosen over Gareth Emerson, who showed us three shutouts in the last month at Boston University. Eddie’s been proving himself in the AHL, but I don’t think he’s got what it takes to get the boys to gold. I hope I’m proven wrong, but his careless attitude makes me think he isn’t leading these boys to a victory they want.” The tv in the hotel room snapped off and Steve stood up, pacing the carpeted floors with his fists clenched at his sides and a scowl.

driver roll up the partition please - E, 4.5k, complete @steddieas-shegoes

tags: modern au, rockstar eddie, bartender steve, semi-public sex, light dom/sub

The bow tie around Steve’s neck was choking him. It had to be made for children, but when he’d asked one of the waiters before they went on the floor, he shrugged and said they all were like that. But the lack of oxygen to his brain didn’t excuse the way he nearly dropped a glass of a half-shaken, half-stirred -yes, really- martini when the hottest man he’d ever seen walked up to the bar. He was chatting with a few people, smiling at them like he was truly happy to see them even though he was dressed like someone who was crashing the party. Steve had done a few events like this before and was never disappointed with the eye candy, but this guy was something else. His curls were perfectly maintained, falling just right along his shoulders. Did they say the hair was the curtain to the soul or was he just that enamored?

steve tells eddie about his fight with billy - T, 4.6k, complete @solarmorrigan

tags: post-s2, canon racism and violence, mentions of drug use

“Motherfucker,” he hisses, shaking his hand out, because it had hurt, and then he winds up to do it again, to make it hurt more, because at least he’s in control of that much, at least it’s anything but what he’s feeling right now. “That’s a good way to break your hand, y’know,” a voice comes from the doorway, startling Steve into pivoting and aiming his fist at whoever is coming after him now.

doesn't have to be anything, but i could be everything - E, 4.1k, complete | part 2 @steddieas-shegoes

tags: camboy steve, rockstar eddie, modern au, daddy kink, dom/sub

Steve being a content creator ( cosplay, streamer, YouTuber, onlyfans, webcam boy, illustrator anything in that ballpark) that keeps on getting these messages and blocks them only to be accosted at a convention by this person and Eddie being a low key fan or what ever randomly stepping up to help out

first kiss - T, complete @mcdynamite

tags: first kiss, pet names, getting together, fluff

Kissing has never done all that much for Steve, if he’s honest. It’s just not really something he’s ever given much thought to before - the way someone kisses - despite the fact that he’s locked lips with plenty of people. For him, kissing has always been something nice, but not particularly special. It’s never been earth-shattering. Never taken his breath away, the way people talk about in movies and books. It’s just a way to be closer to someone, and it’s nice, but it’s never anything more than that. Then, Steve kisses Eddie for the first time, and suddenly he gets it.

Good Morning, Daddy - E, 906, complete unholy_forest

tags: dom/sub, morning sex, daddy kink

A short and sweet oneshot of loving, sleepy morning sex between Steve and Eddie.

girls of your dreams (you know what i mean) - E, 2/2, complete @maxineholtzmann

tags: figure skating au, hockey au, threesome, established ronance

The two of them continued, kissing quietly. Chrissy wondered how far she could let this go before they realized she was awake. She ached to touch herself, listening to the panting and low moans now coming from the other bed. Fuck it. Chrissy rolled onto her back and Robin and Nancy froze. She looked over at them, Robin on top of Nancy, pinning her hands above her head. The kissing sounds Chrissy had heard were clearly actually Robin working on Nancy’s nipples with her mouth–both of the cups of the negligee had been pulled down leaving breasts exposed. Chrissy sighed. Slowly moving her hand down her body between her legs she said, “You don’t have to stop as long as I don’t have to stop.” Chrissy started circling her clit with her fingers, arching her back. “Are you sure?” Nancy asked, still panting. “Does it look like I’m not sure?” Chrissy said, using her other hand to fling the blankets back, spreading her legs and making sure Robin and Nancy could see where her hand had traveled.

Your Love Calls Me Home - T, 1.8k, complete @simplebtromance

tags: modern au, long distance relationship, online dating

Steve and Eddie have been in a long distance relationship for three years, and they're finally meeting.

Buckingham revenge program™ - E, series, WIP thequeermoon

tags: oral sex, strap-on sex, dirty talk, semi-public sex

It was all murmurs and unsteady breaths between them, and they barely touched. Outside the door the group laughed suddenly, startling the both of them. Just then they realized how close they were. Just a little step and their bodies would've touched. "Right, okay… " Robin coughed a bit, going slightly backwards. " …do you want to-" She didn’t get to finish that sentence. Chrissy, in full panic of losing the only chance she might have, threw herself at her lips, kissing her. It lasted so little that Robin had no chance to answer it, but it felt like eons. Chrissy opened her eyes, watching at her. Her cold hands on her face, her lips red, slightly parted to show these little teeth Robin thought were so endearing.

Swift Wings and a Brave Heart - T, WIP @paperbackribs

tags: werewolf steve, bat eddie, shapeshifting, found family

The beast stops, gaze narrowing at the pulse pounding in Eddie’s neck, and he quickly slaps a hand over it, trying to limit the temptation of the tasty-blood slash fresh-meat vibe he must be giving off. Robin scowls at Eddie, stepping forward to bury her hand comfortingly into the plush of its furry neck. “Don’t listen to him, Steve. He’s just being a big baby." Eddie has never been a normal type of guy, but he's owned it: he's a gay metalhead in the heart of small-town America and nothing's going to phase him. Nothing except being told that his recent demo-bat injuries might turn him into a shapeshifter like Steve Harrington.

safe and warm - E, 958, complete @steddieas-shegoes

tags: dom/sub, cock warming, pet names, coming untouched

Steve on his knees was a sight he would never get tired of. Something about the way his eyes closed, a rare sign of relaxation spreading over him, made Eddie wish he could be like this all the time, that they could always be like this.

new year's kiss - G, complete @steddieas-shegoes

tags: new year's eve kiss, getting together, pining

He hides in the bathroom, looks at his reflection in the mirror and tries to smile. He used to be so confident, used to be able to tell himself to make a move and make it successfully. But it used to not matter, not like this does. No one has ever mattered the way Eddie does.

first choice - G, complete @steddiealltheway

tags: nye, getting together, pining

Steve runs a hand through his hair and turns back to his abandoned stack of tapes only to turn back around as soon as the bell above the door rings. He turns around with a heavy sigh as soon as he realizes who it is. "Great to see you too," Eddie says with a humorless laugh. Robin cuts in before Steve can. "Don't take it personally. He's just unsuccessful in his mission to woo a lady and get a New Year's kiss." "Really?" Eddie asks, leaning across the counter. "I think I'm coming across as desperate." "Because you are," Robin adds unhelpfully.

holes on the house - M, 404, complete @cranberrymoons

tags: modern au, meet cute, food truck owner steve

There it is: a bright pink truck with an open side, glittering under the streetlight with a loose line of people waiting to order, The Hole printed on the side in white stylized script.

alpha/omega true mates - G, complete @stevieschrodinger

tags: omegaverse, alpha eddie, omega steve, true mates, canon divergence

Eddie, fucking excited as all hell to meet his Omega finally, opens his envelope to find Steve Harrington's name starring back at him and Eddie just. He just can't. Steve's one of the biggest bitches at Hawkins high. And even if Eddie can, sort of, get past that, Steve's a snob. He lives in a fucking mansion and has a nice car and preppy clothes and yeah...Eddie is going to get rejected stone cold and that would be fair because he doesn't have a single thing to offer and Omega like Harrington. Eddie burns the envelope.

henderfam - G, complete @loveinhawkins

tags: canon divergence, eddie lives, steve and dustin behaving like brothers, pre-steddie

God, I love you, Eddie thinks. Maybe some would say that’s too big a declaration to have even in his own head for a mundane, sleep deprived afternoon in hospital. He doesn’t care.

play nice - M, 387, complete @wormdebut

tags: daddy kink, dom/sub, possessive eddie

Eddie has died and gone to Heaven. (If that Heaven is covered in leather and latex…that’s his business.) This is the only explanation, he thinks, as he stares at his boyfriend. His very hot, very muscular, very unclothed boyfriend. Decked out in only a strappy harness and the sluttiest little leather shorts Eddie has ever seen.

need - E, 404, complete @wormdebut

tags: dom/sub, anal fingering, hot boys whimpering

His eyes flick all over Steve’s perfect fucking body, stopping to admire that beautiful cock. “Christ—I’m gonna tear you apart.” His eyes snap up to look into Steve’s perfect blown out ones. He’s perfect, Eddie’s boy.

bake off - G, complete @hairmetal666

tags: gbbo au, baker steve, rockstar eddie, tv host eddie

Steve who goes on a Bake Off type show after Robin, Dustin, and Max set him up as a contestant. He doesn't want to, doesn't think baking or cooking should be stressful, but he's been wallowing since his knee surgery took him out of work and basketball, since his divorce. His first day on set, he's totally gobsmacked by the sexy host with all the tattoos and long, curly hair. Just, cannot take his eyes off the guy, blushing and stammering whenever he comes around to do interviews, obviously can't stop starring.

talk it through - G, complete @strangersteddierthings

tags: established relationship, insecurities, future fic

“I think we should break up,” is what Eddie blurts the moment Steve opens the front door to reveal him. Steve’s first reaction is anger -how dare he?- but he doesn’t do anything with that anger. Instead, he takes a deep breath through his nose, crosses his arms, and looks Eddie over. He’s breathing heavily yet his van is parked along the curb. He didn’t run here. His hair, while never tame, looks rougher. He is fidgeting but in a nervous way, not his usual too much energy way. His eyes are wide and scared. It’s the last bit there that drains Steve’s anger. Something’s happened. He drops his arms and says, “well, you’re not dumping me on my porch. Get in here.”

frat steve - G, complete @strangersatellites

tags: college au, established relationship, frat steve

when he gets there he’s met with two guys, freshman surely. letters emblazoned across their cutoff muscle tees and hats turned backwards and perched, very stupidly if eddie shares his piece, atop their heads. they stop him with a hand up and friendly smiles and mock bravado “three actives,” bro number one states. eddie barely holds back an incredulous laugh. “you cannot be serious.”

flirting - T, complete @jewishrat420

tags: pining, pet names, flirting, "first of all my name is baby so jot that down"

"Don't call me that." He chances a look over at Eddie, at the risk of appearing as vulnerable as he feels, and to his distress, he can't get a read on the man. His dark eyebrows furrow, brown eyes squinting slightly, and his lips part like he wants to speak. He licks them. Steve's eyes follow the motion unintentionally. "Call you what?" Eddie says on an exhale. "A brat?" Steve shakes his head. "Harrington. Don't like it when you call me that."

kink discovery - M, complete @eddywoww

tags: hair pulling, dom/sub, getting together

He touches him the second time. When they’re all hanging out and the lights are low and Steve does it again and Robin only halfway gives him a weird look. It doesn’t stop Steve form blinking tired eyes up at Eddie, watching the way he gulps and hovers a hand over Steve’s face. “I like when people pet my hair,” He says unhelpfully, so high he can barely concentrate. Eddie makes a soft noise and blinks down at him. “You should- you should do that.”

cherry - M, complete @eddywoww

tags: omegaverse, tattoo artist eddie, alpha eddie, omega steve, age difference

And then he gets into Eddie’s studio and like- okay, Steve has always had a type. Older men, men who wore suits, men who worked with his father. Unattainable, already mated. Steve sort of assumes this guy is mated too. He looks like it, has a bite that’s weirdly faded on his neck. But Steve can’t smell an Omega on him. Or a Beta or an Alpha. No one. So sue him if he gets a little flirty. It fuels his self esteem, knowing they can look but he won’t let them touch.

eddie lives - T, complete @bonitabreezy

tags: canon divergence, steve carries eddie out of the upside down, eddie lives (but not without consequence)

Any part of him that had leaned into the idea that it was over and that they were safe was immediately washed away at the sound. His blood started to zing with adrenaline once more and he became hyper aware of everything around them, scanning the trees for danger. “Was that--” Nancy started, her shoulders a hard line, her hands no longer shaking. “Dustin,” Steve said, and he took off running.

4+1 - G, complete @steddieas-shegoes

tags: 5+1, steve carries eddie, eddie carries steve, eddie recovering from the bites

four times eddie gets carried and one time he does the carrying

▸ more fic recs ▸ more ficlets

[ladykailitha]

Look, considering I've only gotten involved in Stranger Things after season four and therefore haven't been around the fans during other new season filming starts, but my brothers/sisters/nb in fandom what the honest fuck is going on right now?

I have been a part of other fandoms when new seasons started filming and the worst I'd seen was BBC Sherlock. And you lot are behaving worst then they did.

And Jesus fuck, that's a fucking low ass bar.

(Again I am ship and let ship, kinktomato, and headcanon free for all)

But this is just what I've seen in my small deliberately secluded corner of the internet so forgive me if I get some things wrong.

Ronance fans have turned on Steddie fans.

Steddie fans are trying to eat each other over who tops and who bottoms between two horny, barely out of their teens, men.

Eddie is confirmed dead.

Dustin is trying to become Eddie.

People want Will dead because Noah Schnapps said some stupid shit regarding genocide.

And Argyle isn't coming back.

I'm going to give you my feelings on these so buckle up lets go:

1- Steddie and Ronance fans have turned on each other. And I know this because I doom scroll through steddie tag. That Ronance fans think Steddie fans are delusional and that they're going down after season five airs and there will be more Ronance fans because they're perfect for each other.

Where to even begin on this? First, never tell a shipper that their ship is never going to be canon because they don't care. Just ask all the Destiel, johnlock, and merarthur fans. Steddie fans are just going to ignore all but the most salient parts of season 5 if Eddie doesn't come back and write AUs for the rest of their lives. You know, like they have since the last scene on the Piggyback faded to black?

Secondly, I don't think I've seen much Ronance without Steddie. Granted I only read Steddie, but it seems that the two ships are tied pretty heavily together. The fruity four comes to mind. So maybe it's that they're getting tired of being a side ship next to a massive one like Steddie. Who knows. But apparently they're bitter.

And I say that because they keep tagging their anti-Steddie posts as Steddie to make sure we see it. Honestly, I just block them and go about my day. But seriously, I've never understood people's need to be shitty like posting hate on the tag for that thing. If you don't like it, fine. Block and move on.

Thirdly. Lastly. Maybe. I don't like Ronance. I saw the charms when I first joined the fandom and it was cute. Until the more I read and I realized that most of the time they don't bring up that Jonathan is even a person let alone Nancy's current boyfriend. That most of the time Steve is written wildly out of character about not caring that they're a couple and that he just wants them to be happy. Like, one Jonathan is severely under used in the fics I've read. Like Will doesn't have an older brother anymore. It's all Steve or Eddie. Which considering how you like your flavor of queer for Eddie or Steve (gay/pan/bisexual) Will talking to them about being gay makes sense, but Jonathan showed us in the last season that he is going to protect Will no matter what. Then blip! in fanfics, he's gone.

And then the whole Steve being okay with Robin not only dating an ex-girlfriend of his, but the ex. The one he thought he was going to marry. The one he dreamed a whole fucking future on. That was still hurt by two fucking years later. You either think very lowly of Steve or you just don't care. Because if you think Robin and Steve are the same person/share the same braincell/ride or die for life, there is no way even if Nancy threw herself at Robin would she even consider it. (I can write a whole ass post just on this by the way, don't get me started.)

2- This is the most recent bullshittery due to a current event about Sub Eddie. This is the worst discourse in any fandom and the worst offenders on either side tend say the most homophobic shit imaginable.

And it's pointless. Whether you think Steve is a top or bottom, whether you think he's dom or a sub. Same with Eddie. Everyone has their own flavor they prefer and they won't always match up with yours.

Personally I write them whatever feels natural for the story. But here's the major crux of the matter. I don't believe a little nerd in Bumfuck, Indiana has any idea what flagging is. I'm sorry. Left pocket, right pocket. Doesn't matter. The likely of him even knowing what BDSM is is pretty slim. I grew up in a small town. There will be some people that know, but that's because they know adults in the scene.

Don't like, don't read. Seriously, guys. Let people enjoy what they want to.

My personal feelings on the matter is that Steve is a bottom/sub because he deserves to be taken care of and Eddie would absolutely want to be that person for Steve, in and out of the bedroom. Again, you do you, beau.

3- The tombstone. Sigh. It was hard to see that. Not just because it confirms he's dead, but because it's been defaced. Most likely like fans have said, "BURN IN HELL" the poor bastard.

Having a tombstone doesn't necessarily preclude Eddie's return. There are several ways he can still comeback Kas! theory not withstanding. But the wank here is people jumping on Steddie shippers and Eddie fans in general pointing and screaming "see!"

Like we didn't have campaigns for Barb and Bob and (Billy). If someone's favorite character has died, don't be dicks when they want them to be resurrected a la Jim Hopper. Because that right there is the main reason people will still hold out hope until the final scene fades to black, okay?

I guess this one is just be nicer to each other, okay?

4- *sob* like holy fuck. Dustin you sweetheart. The long hair, the torn Hellfire t-shirt, the rings. The horns and sticking out his tongue. That poor boy needs several hugs STAT! And of course, people can't leave well enough alone on Facebook, I couldn't tell you how many of the comments were "steddie fans are going to make this all about them, aren't they?" Even though there wasn't a single comment by a Steddie making it about Steve/Eddie. But so many eye rolls. The other half were death threats against Noah Schnapp.

Which brings me to...

5- Noah Schnapp said some really shitty things about Zionism and the attack on Gaza. There is no escaping that. He said them. He double downed on them. And while yes it sucks he said those things, let's not forget he's still young and stupid. He's barely 18/19 years old. I remember being that age and saying stupid fucked up shit, and hoo boy does this make me grateful I was well into adulthood when the internet became a thing (24ish).

There are a lot of reasons to be upset by his comments and I get that. But death threats and calls for his dismissal/boycotts just seems excessive to me.

One, because the story began with a kidnapped little boy and a runaway little girl. If you get rid of one of them especially this close to the end it would fuck up the story. Now if there was more than one season left, sure. But this is literally the end. And for all we know, Will's character may already be doomed by the narrative. So calling for it now isn't go to do anything. Especially since they already had all the scripts written and would have finished filming if it hadn't been for the strikes.

Two, one person on the cast said something stupid and hurtful and you want to boycott the entire show for it? Like, what did David Harbor, Joe Keery, Maya Hawke, Millie Bobby Brown and all the others do to deserve you boycotting their show? If the last season tanks it could seriously hurt their careers, but hey Noah Schnapp said something bad, so fuck them?

I'm going to stop there, because this is another one I can go on and on about, but yeah. Don't hurt other people in your rush to vilify an 18 year old.

6- Eduardo Franco recently said that he didn't get a call so he didn't think he would be back. He was sure that ship had sailed.

Fans are upset, naturally. Argyle was a sweetheart and deserves better than to be cut from the story like that.

But thanks to the incident with David Harbor and Jim Hopper supposedly being dead, a lot of fans are saying he's only saying that because it's a "secret" he's coming back. Which would make sense for Eddie or any of the other character died. Martin Brenner, for example, but not Argyle. There would be no need for subterfuge. Plus, he would already be out in Georgia if he was coming back.

It's sad that he was done dirty this way, but if they split up the filming like they've done before there is still a chance he might get to come back, but as far as the current filming is concerned, yeah Argyle isn't coming back.

***

Just... be kind to each other. Remember that the other people on the end of the URL is an actual person with feelings. That people can like what they like so if they aren't hurting you, don't hurt them, okay?

[penny00dreadful]

Well hi!

I'm a Steddie writer and artist, maybe with a few hints of Buckingham thrown in, that's primarily what you will find here.

I've been writing since the trenches of fanfiction.net.

My personal headcanon for these boys is they're kicking names and taking ass and they're all out of milk.

Artworks, podfics and translations welcome, just let me know cus I wanna see! 😊

1 Year Anniversary Post

Redbubble

Blood of the Covenant (AO3) - Eddie is an evil vampire for a little bit.

First Impressions (AO3) - Pride and Prejudice AU

Somebody To Love (Tumblr/AO3/Podfic) - Personal Assistant Steve/Rockstar Eddie

Return of The King (Tumblr/AO3) - Steddie Vampire AU with a twist!

Comeuppance (Tumblr/AO3) - Dustin tries to parent-trap Stancy. It does not go according to plan.

Fettuccini (smut) (Tumblr/AO3) - Steve tells Eddie he's not allowed to cum for the entire month of November.

And They Were Roommates! - (Tumblr/AO3/Fic Art) - Enemies to lovers roomates AU

Cat and Mouse (Tumblr/AO3) - Rookie Mistake prequel fic. Spy AU, enemies to lovers, getting together.

Folie à Deux - (Tumblr/AO3) - Body Swap Fic

The Mummy - (Tumblr/AO3) - The Mummy AU

Royal Pain - (Tumblr/AO3) - Royal AU

Safety (Tumblr/AO3/Podfic)- Robin is being followed and jumps into a group of metalheads to try and find safety.

Dish the Dish, Bish! (Tumblr)- Steve and Robin communicate badly about their respective crushes.

Crossroads (Tumblr/AO3)- Reincarnation AU. Beautiful cover art by @subbaculture

Like Ice (Tumblr) - Devil Wears Prada AU

To Find A Family - (Tumblr/AO3) - Anastasia AU

Before He Cheats - (Tumblr/AO3) - Eddie finds out his partner has been cheating on him when some guy named Steve calls.

The Parting Glass - (Tumblr/AO3) - Eddie is in mourning and moves back to Hawkins

Pink is My Signature Colour - (Tumblr) - Buckingham Legally Blonde AU

I'll Tell You My Sins and You Can Sharpen Your Knife - (Tumblr/AO3) - Songfic based off Take Me To Church

Love Is What Makes You Brave - (Tumblr/AO3) - Eddie found out Steve is getting married and is now idling in the church parking lot.

Rookie Mistake - (Tumblr/AO3) - Spies AU. Kidnapping. Murder husbands.

Hawkins Haunted House (AO3) - Steve gets roped into being a scare actor by Robin.

Family Commitments (AO3) - Eddie and Robin crash a family wedding Steve has to go to.

37 Years To The Day (Tumblr/AO3) - Steddie Time Travel

Passing Grade (Tumblr/AO3) - Teacher/Student Roleplay Smut

Santa Baby (Tumblr/AO3) - Santa Steve

Please Don't Tell Steve!

Steddie First Kiss Writing Game

High Bitch King Steve

Friends Roasting Friends On Live

Fat Bottomed Girls

#penny ficlet

"Hey! That's mine!"

Drunk Talk

Star

"I can explain!"

Missed Mistletoe

Waking Up

Chill/Give In

I Couldn't Lose You

Falling Star

#stwgdailyprompt

Through The Valley - (Tumblr/AO3)- Post-Apocalypse AU

#wip excerpts

The Princess Bride Art

Twilight AU Art

Times Like These Art

Valentines Day Art

Pin Up Steve

D&D AU

Selkie Steddie

Buckingham Art

Steve Harrington: Vampire Hunter

Sub Eddie Week

Je Ne Regrette Rien Fanart

I Want To Hold Your Hand Fanart

Mer-Eddie

Pride Art

Corroded Coffin Album Art (nsfw)

Jock Eddie and Punk Steve

Sex Drugs and A Haunted House Art

It's Only Forever Art

Wild Child Art

Ahoy Big Boy

Mistletoe Kiss

Steddie Holiday Drabbles

#penny art

[ilovecupcakesandtea]

Chapter one Chapter three My Master List

Title: Chapter two

Word Count: 1010

Archive Warnings: Smut in future chapters. Slight angst. Alcohol misuse.

Rating: E

Pairing(s): Eddie Munson/Steve Harrington Robin Buckley/Chrissy Cunningham

Character(s): Eddie Munson, Steve Harrington, Robin Buckley, Chrissy Cunningham, Benny, Uncle Wayne & The Party

Tags: Smut. Angst. Steddie. Buckingham. Steve Harrington. Eddie Munson. Robin Buckley. Chrissy Cunningham. Band AU. TW Alcohol use.

Summary (optional): Two different styles of music, two boys that really don't like each other. What could possibly go wrong?

Beta Reader: Thank you so much to my beautiful beta readers @slippy-slip @ladydarklord & @dontwasteyourchances

Art link and credit: Art is by the wonderfully talented @pink-luna-moth (as is the banner)

Fic link and credit: Ao3 Link

AN: First off thank you to Alex for the art and being just amazing to work alongside. Thank you to Slip for dragging me back from the edge so many times over this. I really am so excited to have this out here!!

I wrote this for the @strangerthingsreversebigbang event and had a lot of fun doing so!!

Divider links: reblog and music notes

"So you and Robin, ay?" Eddie asked as he and Chrissy sat around scribbling into notebooks one evening.

"Oh hush, it's nothing, just a handful of dates is all" Chrissy blushed.

"Yeah, sure, a handful of dates. We both know what that means for lesbians. You'll be married by the end of the week." Eddie laughed, poking her side.

"I'm bisexual you biphobic ass" Chrissy responded. "But yes, only a handful of dates."

"You clearly like her, Chris, you need to ask her out officially. Do something romantic and ask her the next time you go down on her or something" Eddie shrugged, picking up his dragon slayer and strumming out a few chords.

"Eww! Dont be so crass." Chrissy squeaked.

Eddie laughed and continued to go between playing and writing for a few more minutes.

"Chris, we need to be playing to people, we need a band" Eddie sighed.

"We do, we really do. We need a few more people. Robin can play the guitar really well and it would be a good excuse for me to pick my bass back up, I really should play it more."

"Ok, so we have 2 guitarists and a bassist, as well as 2 singers." Eddie counted on his fingers.

"I'll speak to Robs tomorrow and see what she says if you want?" Chrissy said as she continued to write lyrics in her notebook.

The following day Chrissy was sat out by Lovers Lake with Robin, something they did most days after school. They spent time talking about their days, working on homework and making out as much as they could.

"Birdie, me and Eddie were doing some songwriting last night when we discussed being in a band. We were wondering if you wanted to join us and start a band. I can play bass, you and Eddie can play guitar and Eddie can sing." Chrissy asked.

"Oh, that could be so fun! I would love to bunny" Robin answered kissing Chrissy.

"Steve can play the drums so I could ask him to join too if that's ok? It could be even more fun with him in the band too. We need a place to practice and we need to start getting gigs and then keep working our way up!" Robin rambled making Chrissy giggle.

"Sure baby, we can ask Steve to join. I'll let Eddie know when I see him next. It'll be great. We can do band practice at mine, we can use one of the garages." she smiled at the girl in front of her.

"I spoke to Robin, she's excited to join us and she's suggested Steve joins as well, I've said it's ok but that I would tell you when I next see you." Chrissy told Eddie later that week when they met up again for their weekly movie evening.

"Steve?" Eddie questions as he sets chips into a bowl.

"Harrington, yes" Chrissy replied as she picked the bowl up and curled into the corner of the couch with it.

"Absolutely not, not that top 40, granddad rock-listening jock." Eddie huffed and went to grab another bowl for more chips, knowing full well he had no chance of getting the others back from Chrissy. He was secretly happy about this though, she was eating much better recently.

"He plays the drums and is into punk you ass, can we at least try with him?" Chrissy asked, looking up at him with her big bright eyes that she knew worked.

"Fine," Eddie grumbled "but I'm not happy about it at all."

"Just see how it is at mine next week." she smiled as Eddie got comfy and they started the film. "Not to mention I remember you having a crush on him all those years ago." she winked. 

"Oh hush you, you menace of a pixie" Eddie laughed, reaching for the remote and pressing play on the film they had set up to watch. 

"So," Robin started as she slid into the dining booth opposite Steve for their weekly fries and milkshake bitchfest. "I was talking to Chrissy the other day and she and Eddie are starting a band, I'm joining them. I want you to join us too. It could be so fun."

"Munson?" was all Steve said looking at her.

"Yes, Munson." Robin sighed. "Will you at least think about it?"

"Yeah ok, anything for you and your little girlfriend," Steve said, sounding very falsely put out by this.

"She's not my girlfriend" Robin hissed at him. "Just come to hers next week and see how practice goes please."

"You know I'll be there, you'll need a lift there and back. I'm not trusting Munson in that death wagon to keep you safe." Steve replied, starting to eat the food that had been placed in front of him.

"Oh dingus, I remember you used to have a crush on him, what happened to that?" Robin cackled. 

"I never had a crush on him, don't be stupid." Steve replied unconvincingly. 

"Steve said he'll join us in the band," Robin announced to Chrissy as they sat down to eat lunch together a couple of days later.

"Is he as excited as Eddie is?" Chrissy giggled, picking at her salad.

"Oh yes, very," Robin laughed. "They'll be fine when we can get them together and playing some music"

"I can't wait to get playing and be able to spend more time with you" Chrissy blushed.

"Me neither, it's going to be so fun. I really hope we make it big. It would be so awesome to make our dreams come together." Robin smiled.

"Urg stop being so cute when I can't grab you and kiss you, got to save that for later. Want to stay over mine tonight?" Chrissy asked.

"Erm, yeah, of course" The other girl stuttered.

"Good, we can have loads of fun," Chrissy winked. 

"I'll need to head to mine for a little while after my last class, let my parents know, and grab a bag of things," Robin said, trying to hide behind her food.

[steviewashere]

Steddie Fic Recommendations Part 6!

Previous Recommendations: Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four Part Five

Tuesday is Steddic fic rec day in this Tumblr house! Get some popcorn, a glass of ice water, and read these beautiful fics, babes.

Also, any Tumblr blogs that may be tagged, feel free to reach out for me to remove the tag. I have no qualms doing so!

As always, the tags and themes vary on all of these fics. Heed all tags, ratings, and archive warnings with caution.

Hug by hotluncheddie @hotluncheddie

“All Eddie believes in, all Eddie knows, is that Steve’s house is so fucking loud.

‘The walls Stevie they’re so, so white. And your fridge! It’s just, loud and and weird.’ Eddie had said, already frustrated when Steve came to pick him up, even more so once they arrived.

And once he was inside, it was like everything doubled, tripled. Steve’s house was unbearable tonight.

But Steve had just laughed and Eddie knew he would, knew from the way he’d said it, all loud and over the top - added inflections, a good DM. But, the thing is, he mentioned it because he meant it, for real. It’s too fucking loud, thrumming under his skin.”

Chapters: 1/1, WC: 3,483, Rating: No Rating no Archive Warnings Apply Autistic Eddie Munson

————— 2. I Am Not The Sun by beetlesandstars @beetlesandstarss

“He gets back just in time for the pizza he ordered to arrive, and enters the apartment feeling kind of like he’s bringing Robin a peace offering.

Hey, Robin! Here’s a pizza. Also, I’m a man now.

(Or, Steve comes to terms with his gender with the help of his friends. He may or may not fall in love along the way.)”

Chapters: 1/1, WC: 5,899, Rating: Teen and Up no Archive Warnings apply College AU Trans Steve Harrington

————— 3. in the orbit of the sun by Inallthingsgoodorbad

“Steve knows before he opens his eyes that he will see no light once he does.

There is something you learn once you’ve been trapped underground—darkness is unforgiving and immovable, and Steve has learned the way it presses into you, the way it makes itself known.

Darkness surrounds him. He opens his eyes. Blinks. Finds no light.

—

After an earthquake, Steve and Eddie get trapped under a collapsed building. Steve isn’t doing so well.”

Chapters: 1/1, WC: 3,348, Rating: Teen and Up no Archive Warnings apply

————— 4. You’ve Begun To Feel Like Home by nobetterlove

“Eddie is 6 years old when he first meets Steve; the boy is beautiful and covered in dripping chocolate ice cream. They’re instant friends, spending the entirety of that summer together. When the end of their time together starts to draw near, Eddie comes up with a plan — to marry his best friend. It becomes a trend that Eddie and Steve dance around for more than 20 years of ups, downs, and tragedies. Read to find out what happens when a ring pop and a handful of fake marriages changes both of their lives.

Or — 5 times Eddie & Steve were fake married and the one time they finally get hitched (for real)!!”

Chapters: 1/1, WC: 14,542, Rating: Explicit no Archive Warnings apply Canon Divergence AU Different First Meeting AU Childhood Friends AU 5 + 1 Things

[steddieficrec]

what are your top 10 favorite Steddie fics?!?!?

Oof. You have the hard questions.

(pleased to be) on the line with you by Kedreeva

(1/1 I 3,820 I Explicit)

Eddie pulls the phone away from his ear and looks at it as if it can tell him what the fuck is going on right now, why Steve Harrington is at the mechanic shop, sweet talking him like a stranger at 8:03 on a Friday morning.

----

Or, the one where Eddie dials a wrong number and accidentally discovers Steve works as a phone sex operator.

don't do drunk (what you wouldn’t do sober) by starsdontsleep

(1/1 I 4,070 I Teen)

Getting drunk alone with Steve has always been a bit of a risk for Eddie. He sits closer, looks longer and flirts harder. He also makes a stupid mistake and wakes up in the morning to the harsh reality of what his drunken self had suggested to Steve.

Rebuild by rainbow_nerds

(1/1 I 7,864 I Explicit)

In 1976, when Steve Harrington was ten years old, he was cast as the lead character in Ruins of Relfonth. The film went on to become a classic of the intersection of sci-fi and fantasy genres, and Steve hated just about every second of it.

At twenty three, with no clue what he wanted from life, he decided to give acting one last shot – on a music video for a band he'd never even listened to.

get up and shake the glitter off your clothes by judasofsuburbia

(1/1 I 11,021 I Explicit)

He looks positively debauched in the mirror. There is glitter smeared all over his face. Hair standing at all angles and hickies littering his neck and chest. His hands instantly go to them, pressing into them to make sure he’s not making them up when he notices a ring on his left finger.

Eddie’s mood ring.

No fucking way.

or: the spicy six go to vegas. steve and eddie get married but they don't remember a thing. steve's convinced himself that eddie's feelings were all a drunken mistake. but were they?

the most remarkable thing about you standing in the doorway is that it’s you by greatunironic

(5/5 I 34,987 I Explicit)

Sixteen years after the world didn't end for the last time, Max Mayfield showed up on Steve’s doorstep and said, “You gonna walk me down the aisle in May or what?” Or, it’s 2002 and Steve Harrington attends a wedding, a funeral, and a birth.

Are You Flagging? by soidade

(17/17 I 40,991 I Explicit)

“Look, I’m just asking, okay? Not– I don't mean anything by it. But, uh.” His eyes darted back and forth, then he leaned in close to Steve. Steve had gotten used to that, kind of. The guy had no concept of personal space. “Are you flagging?” Eddie finally finished.

Steve shook his head slowly, eyes narrowed. He had no idea what that meant. He had no answer. “What?”

Eddie leaned away from Steve, facing forward again and nodding. “Okay, got it. That answers my question. Carry on.”

-------------------------------------------------

A (mostly) innocent question leads Steve Harrington on a journey of self-discovery, friendship, sex, and romance.

Not So Bad by outofmygourd

(9/9 I 43,409 I Mature)

Vecna is dead. It's the summer after the party's freshman year. Steve Harrington spends it in the Family Video Store, and Eddie Munson is spending post-graduate life bothering him. And maybe Steve isn't as bothered as he used to be.

sub-culture by palmviolet

(13/13 I 60,702 I Teen)

“Is he whining about Eddie being mean to him again?” Robin is leaning in the doorway, eating a leftover slice that’s probably cold by now. “You talk about him more than you talk about girls, Steve, it’s getting concerning. Anyone would think you had a crush.”

or, steve is pretty convinced eddie now hates him. turns out eddie has the opposite problem.

flight risk by Ayes, itskleo

(16/16 I 81,326 I Explicit)

Eddie Munson is famous for giving his bodyguards the slip. Enter Steve Harrington. Has this bratty rock star finally met a babysitter that can keep up with him?

Suspended Bridges by foresthearts

(35/35 I 243,515 I Mature)

“Steve really needed to get his stupid thing he had with Munson under control. He struggled to find a word for it. It was like an anti-crush or something. The same awareness and panic that a crush brought, but not because he had feelings for the guy. Because of the opposite. Because any time he saw Munson, his heart kicked up in fear, his breathing got shallow, his whole body started to warm. Munson made him want to turn heel and run.”

In which Steve has the opposite of the suspended bridge effect.

(Featuring omega!Steve pretending to be an alpha and alpha!Eddie silently losing his mind.)

[blankinsidecards]

Steddie fic rec list part 2:

Fluff Edition

Part 1

These are the only the ooeyiest of gooeyiest of comfort fics. As little angst as you can get with these two.

a cinematic vision ensued (like the holiest daydream) by @fivecenturiesofverse

• Rating: T • Complete

Eddie and Steve have been spending a lot of time together since Vecna. They're co-parenting kids, getting high every night, and sleeping in the same bed. They basically share a wardrobe too.

He thinks this is dangerous, its like they’re married, the casual sharing of intimacy, this space between them which feels like something and nothing all at the same time. He thinks it’s dangerous for him to pretend Steve sees it the same way, that one day Steve’s droopy, kind eyes are going to see right through him and he’ll lose this. This being a side of Steve’s bed that is his, a nightstand where his rings always pile, a draw of shirts in Steve’s bedroom that only Steve uses. He can’t lose it, so he shuts his mouth, turns out the light, and watches the slow breathing of sleep fill Steve’s chest.

This one is so sweet; all sharing of clothes and beds and weed. It’s really short but god is it soft. The weighted blanket of fluff fics. Really adore all of Eddie’s internal arguments when he’s looking at Steve being the softest motherfucker on the planet and forcefully reminding himself that Steve is dangerous. I think about Eddie walking his knuckles down the knobs of Steve’s spine almost daily.

Linger by @yournowheregirl

• Rating: T • Complete • Modern!AU

Eddie hates the library, he hates how quiet it is and how he’s always getting shushed by that librarian hag Muriel. But he hates his idiot roommate and his tendency to hog their dorm room to have loud sex with his girlfriend all night long, even more. And now he has to spend all night in the library cramming for an exam, which would be fine, if not for the fact that some polo-clad douchebag shows up and declares that Eddie’s study spot is actually his.

Or: Steve and Eddie fight over a study spot and accidentally fall in love over coffee, Vivaldi and the horror that is finals week.

So fucking cute. I forgot how much I love college AU’s. Features: Wonderwall by Oasis (much to Eddie’s chagrin), a librarian from hell, a SickFic Chapter, and an Eddie that has ADHD. Also, this one’s for the emo-kid Eddie truthers out there. Teeny bit of angst and some miscommunication but for me it was worth it. Frickin adorable.

Date me instead by @zhuletta

• Rating: E • Complete

Every date Steve has gone to lately has been horrible. It’s impossible that there’s something wrong with the entire female population of Hawkins, so surely there must be something wrong with him.

“Why don’t you take me on a date then?”

“Wh— what?”

“Take me on a date, pretend, of course, and then I’ll tell you if there’s something wrong with you or not.”

Or: Eddie proposes a crazy idea to see if there's something wrong with him, Steve finds the fact that it works is even crazier.

So so fluffy. You will get a toothache from this one. It’s the cheesiest plot you could think of. For those of you who love a good loverboy!steve this for you. They’re just wooing eachother all the way through. Delightful.

Saving All My Love For You (and it’s sequel Endless Love) by @subtlehysteria

• Rating: M • Complete

It was decided then and there in the Buckley residence’s lounge, on their weird Persian carpet while staring up at the off-white ceiling and Robin giggling at his side. He was going to rock Steve Harrington’s platonic world, man. And nothing was going to get in his way.

Or: Eddie notices Steve struggles with touch and in trying to help his new friend, develops feelings along the way.

Really sweet. Classic touch-starved Steve and tactile affection Eddie. Bedsharing, pinkie promises, and platonic hand-holding. Eddie gives Will a makeover and some advice. A bit of subtle body worship, love that. Sequel fic is also really cute but it has a bit of a rough scene with The Harrington Parents so be aware of that.

Do Nothing With You by @red-0ak-tree

• Rating: M • Complete

Steve and Robin get a two bedroom in Hawkins. It's perfect, except for all the ways it isn't. Drafty windows, clogged drains, shitty landlord. But it's got a couch. A couch that's often occupied by Eddie Munson. Home isn't really the kind of thing Eddie has much of anymore, ever since his trailer became the primary source for all his nightmares. Luckily, he knows of a semi-comfortable couch where he's always welcome.

Despite all it's problem, the house has perks. Primarily, it's somewhere Steve can actually call home. Secondarily, it's somewhere he can share with the people he loves.

AKA: The fruity four live in a convoluted roommate situation, and romance happens along the way.

We all love a good co-habitation fic. Robin and Steve get an apartment together, it’s falling apart, and Eddie knows how to fix things. Slowly, Steve and Eddie start to help fix eachother. This probably has the most angst out of all of these, but it’s also one of my absolute favorites and the sweetness overpowers the lows.

PTA Shouldn’t Stand for Pretty Tight Ass by @samthefrank and @humanityinahandbag

• Rating: M • Incomplete • Future fic/Modern!AU

Steve Harrington - ex local legend and fearsome bully, now single father of two - returns to Hawkins after the world spit him out. With a messy life to sort through, all he wanted was settle down and get his kids through seventh grade without any surprises.

Cue Mr. Eddie Munson, ex victim of one Steve Harrington, now Hawkins Middle School's favorite music teacher.

Or: What happens when your former high school bully raises two absolute nerds, joins the PTA, helps run the bake sale, makes the best cupcakes in Indiana, and may or may not be having a bisexual crisis.

This was the very first Steddie fic I ever subscribed to and let me tell you I get so HYPED every time I get the notification they update. Steve is a single dad to twins Dustin & Max, a damn good baker, and custodian at his dad’s auto dealership. Eddie is a music teacher in the style of Jack Black in School of Rock, who’s best friends with his fellow teachers Miss Buckley and Miss Cunningham. This fic has Robin and Eddie perform Body Talks by The Struts & Ke$ha at an open-mic karaoke and it’s so fucking electric that that song earned a place on my steddie playlist. It’s a real slow burn but I’m so excited to see where they take this story.

it’s such a magical mysteria by @phantom-of-the-wapera

• Rating: M • Complete

Eddie's staring at the ceiling, eyes half closed and still giggling faintly. He looks pretty. He looks like he belongs here, in Steve’s bed, and Steve gets hit with how much he wants Eddie to stay, to crawl in bed beside Steve every night and wake up there every sunrise.

And, shit, it’s a lot. Steve's gone, completely, fully, fucking free-falling his way into everything that was, is, and will be Eddie Munson. Head over heels, ass over tits, heart-took-a-nosedive off his sleeve and into the lap of the boy beside him, gazing half-lidded at the ceiling, the glimmer of dreamy stars in the sliver of his eyes Steve can see.

or, the one where Steve's trying to figure out his future, his feelings, and one Eddie Munson.

So fluffy, so sweet. They’re all nerds and they love Star Wars. This is a tiny detail but Steve goes to college and he likes it and I love that for him. Completely SMOTHERED in hope for a bright future.

nice to meet you, where you been? by @flowercrowngods

• Rating: T • Edit: Complete • Modern!AU

When Eddie enters the tattoo parlour that Chrissy recommended to him, he doesn't know what'll hit him. Never in a million years would he have expected the pastel or the minimalistic decor or how really fucking polished everything about this place is. It's like an antithesis to Eddie's entire existence has been created with the makings of this shop.

The absolute cherry on top is the man that walks into the room to greet him, though, and Eddie can't contain the look of absolute bafflement. Because there is no way that Steve Harrington, whom Eddie has has the maddest crush on in high school, owns a tattoo shop. No way. Nuh-uh. Not dressed in pastel like he is.

Eddie wants to punch a wall. What he doesn't know yet is that he'll have the best time reconnecting with Steve. And if he gets a tattoo out of it, well, then that's just another win for the community in his book.

LOVE a Tattoo Shop!AU and this is no exception. This one is pretty new, but so far it’s the fluffiest shit I’ve read in ages. Features trans man Eddie, Chrissy Cunningham as his scheming best friend, and a lot of Taylor Swift. I literally found this one moments ago and immediately needed to put it on this list. It’s too fucking cute, I can’t wait to see where it goes.

[bittlebarnes]

when we were young (Chapter 2)

Stranger Things | E | Steddie | 8,733 | 2/3 |

Snippet:

Robin reacted about the way he expected her to. She stared down at the little black velvet box for about five uninterrupted minutes, her expression frozen in shock, before she exploded. “Are you out of your mind? Steve, I like girls. We’ve talked about this,” she hissed as she shoved the box back at him, her hands flapping against his arms. “I can’t believe you would do this!” “I know that, Robin! I know! I just…just hear me out, okay.” She looked like she decidedly did not want to hear him out, but she was quiet all the same, and she hadn’t chucked the ring box, so…Steve thought it might be worth the shot. “Okay,” he said, and he took a deep breath. “You don’t want to live with your parents anymore, and you don’t want them to cause a big mess, right? Because I know your mom, and, you’re right, she will raise hell. They won’t do anything to you if you’re leaving their place because you got married. Then you can move in with me and have your own room with an actual door and some peace, and no one in this stupid little town will ask any real questions. You finish up your senior year with a little peace of mind.” Steve inhaled again. “Then we get a lawyer. Put it all in writing because you will never owe me anything, Rob. We get your parents off your back, get out of this shitty town, and then we go somewhere else where you can meet someone you can love and be happy. And then, if you want, we get divorced quietly, and your parents are none the wiser.” He recognized the look on Robin’s face—the one people often made at him when he was saying something apparently idiotic. “And what about you, dingus?” She demanded, tears springing from the corners of her eyes. “What about if you find love?”

It was a sprint at the end, but I'm proud to say I've finished my entry to the @steddiebang of 2023! Super excited to share with all of you. Special shout-outs to the amazing people who helped get this project done. My amazing betas  sarasmiling and house_of_chant for making this fic readable! All the love in the world to my artist artist adreannaness whose work is available on both twitter and her ao3.

[talesfromthesnogbox]

I Was Wonderful

Summary: Steve thought maybe he'd be a basketball dad, he never thought he'd be a dance mom.

Rating: General

Word Count: 3,245

Notes: Hiya! This is a more fleshed out version of a thing I posted a few months back that ended up getting some traction. I haven't actually ever written for Steddie, sorry if the characterization is all over the place, I'm rusty!

Yes, this one did come to me midway through a Dance Moms rewatch. In all fairness, I grew up dancing so this fic was kind of inevitable. Hope you enjoy!

AO3 Link

~~~

Steve Harrington never saw himself as a girl dad. 

After the dust settled with Vecna, and his crop of (now teenage) nuggets was safe, Steve went through a period of self discovery, or what Robin loves to call his “big gay awakening”. See, Steve Harrington was always a ladies man, no matter how much he struck out. So when he fell for one Eddie Munson, that was a shock to all, especially Steve. 

But big gay awakening aside, Steve and Eddie were madly and completely in love, and Steve didn’t care who knew it. Nothing had ever felt more natural in his life than being with Eddie, they just made sense together. Even years after Steve’s heartfelt confession, the two were still in their honeymoon phase, so nobody was surprised when one sunny Fourth of July, they announced they were going to start the adoption process.

Neither of them knew what to expect. They went to Wayne for advice, having adopted Eddie legally after he was dropped off on his doorstep all those years ago, but this was different. Not too many agencies were too ecstatic about the idea of two “unmarried” men taking on a child together in the year 1993. The process was long and frustrating, and frankly, Eddie was ready to give up.

“It’s been two years, maybe it’s just not meant to be Stevie.” 

Steve shook his head. “So then we push on through year three. It’ll happen Eddie, I know it.” He took Eddie’s hand, lacing their fingers together and squeezing lightly.

“I just… Steve, I love you, and I wish I could give you the life you always wanted—”

“No, none of that Munson.” Steve cut him off. “Things change, I changed when I got to know you. I don’t need six little nuggets and a Winnebago to be happy. I need you and the life we have, and maybe a little bit of hope that one day we’ll find someone to take a chance on us.”

And suddenly, one day almost at the end of year three, someone finally took a chance on them. 

Steve played with his ring nervously as he sat and waited in the office at the adoption agency (they couldn’t legally get married, but that wasn’t to say they couldn’t wear rings and call each other husband to show their commitment to each other). Eddie listened intently to the social worker, explaining that their application had been approved, that the little one didn’t have anywhere else to go and they thought their home would be a good fit. Steve’s heart pounded in his ears, only catching half the conversation.

“Her name is Rosie—”

“Sorry, her?” Steve cut him off.

“Yes, eleven month old Rosemary Evelyn, born August 13th, 1995. She was born premature, and her mother had some complications during birth and passed away shortly after. Her father surrendered her, and she’s been in our care for just under a week.” The social worker could see Steve’s face contort in confusion. “Is that a problem, Steve?”

He shook his head. “No I just… I never… how could… can we meet her?” 

Steve Harrington never saw himself as a girl dad, until he met Rosemary Evelyn. 

Tears sprung to Eddie’s eyes as they were ushered into the play room, a small babbling little girl with dark curly hair, big blue eyes, and chubby rosy cheeks stared up at them. She smiled when she met their eyes, and instantly, they were gone for her.

Within a week, the Harrington house was fully baby-proofed, and Rosie Harrington was moving in. Steve felt a sense of fulfillment wash over him seeing Eddie hold her. It had only been a few days, but he already knew Eddie was the best dad on the planet. A year passed, and then two, and Steve was absolutely positive that no other dad was as good, or kind, or loving as Eddie Munson. 

But that frustrated the hell out of Steve.

One night, Steve collapsed on the couch next to Eddie, and exasperated sigh leaving his lips. “I don’t get it. She loves Metallica, she’s obsessed with Lord of the Rings, but she doesn’t even want to try basketball.”

Eddie laughed. “Stevie, she’s only just turned four, are you really sad you aren’t raising a jock?”

“No! I just want to be able to share something with her like you are.” Eddie saw right through his worry and tugged Steve down, laying his head across his lap. 

“Baby, you’re nothing like your dad. You’re trying, you’re spending time with her, and she can see that, I promise you. Rosie loves you, and you’ll find something.” Eddie stroked Steve’s hair, seeing the worry dissipate. “Hey, Wayne is itching to see her before she starts preschool, why don’t we send her off to grandpa’s for the day, maybe he can get her to play ball or something.” 

Steve smiled. “Yeah, yeah I think she’d like that.”

When Eddie and Steve picked up Rosie from Wayne’s the next day, she wasn’t playing ball with him on the front lawn. Instead, their little girl ran to them in a droopy pink tutu and leotard with little ballet slippers. “Daddy! Daddy! Look what Grandpa Wayne gave me.” She was all smiles as she spun in place, nearly toppling over from lack of balance and excitement when Steve caught her.

“Wow princess, look at you!”

Wayne picked up a rogue sequin and grumbled. “Claudia was over earlier, they were showing something about Swan Lake on cable and the kiddo’s eyes lit up. We went for a walk downtown and looks like there’s a dance school that just opened up.”

Steve’s brows shot up. “Really? What do you think Rosie, should we go down there and see if they have any classes for you?”

That’s how Steve found himself a Saturday morning regular at Sparkle Steps Dance Centre. They had a routine down: the boys would wake her up, Steve would slick back Rosie’s hair into a delicate little ballet bun while she ate breakfast, they’d help her into her tights and leotard, tie her skirt, and pack her little shoes in her backpack and walk on over to the studio. Rosie would say hi to Ashley the receptionist, and hug Steve before her hour long 9am ballet class with Miss Abby in studio A. 

“Good morning Melissa, Kelly, Jill.” Steve sat in his regular spot in the viewing room with the other moms.

“Morning Steve!”

Steve Harrington had become an enigma to the moms at the studio. They loved to gossip about where Rosie’s mother was, who she was, and why she was never seen with Steve at the studio. But Rosie always came in early, perfectly dressed, and well mannered despite her sass at home. Steve pretended he didn’t hear what the moms at the studio were saying about him; he was 33 with the same great hair he’d had in high school, and charm to go along with it. He wore a wedding ring, but never spoke of a significant other, it was always just Steve and Rosie. 

Of course Eddie had wanted to join them, but wanted to give Steve space, have something that was his with their daughter, and he was perfectly happy to have a day to sleep in.

One of those quiet Saturday mornings, Rosie had insisted they stay after her ballet class to watch her new friend Rachel. “Daddy her feet make noise! Can I do that?”

Steve tilted his head as he watched the girls in the class stomp their feet and tap their toes. He knew Eddie would approve of the rhythmic sounds the tap shoes made, but worried it would be too much all at once. He looked to Melissa, “Rachel likes it?”

Melissa smiled and nodded enthusiastically. “She loves it, it keeps her busy and tires her out so she actually naps in the afternoon.” 

Steve nodded in approval. “Let me think about it, okay Princess?”

As soon as they’d arrived home, Steve grabbed Eddie and dialled Dustin. “We need to talk, Rosie wants to start tap.”

“Tap, like the noisy shoes tap?” Eddie’s eyes lit up. “That’s metal as fuck, Gareth will probably want to teach her how to drum next once she’s got the rhythm.”

“Steve, you can’t take her out of ballet, it’s the foundation of all dance, she needs that foundation.” Dustin rebutted through the phone. The kid was way too invested in his niece’s interests, and that’s probably why he was her favourite uncle. 

“No, no, she’d do both. Ballet and tap. But you don’t think that’ll overwhelm her will it? She’s only four.”

Eddie shook his head, and Dustin laughed. “Steve, she’s like the smartest kid I know aside from my own. She’ll do fine.”

“Dustin, your kid is like five months old.” Eddie chided him. “Stevie, Rosie is gonna be fine, let her do tap!” 

Just like that, Steve’s one hour at the dance studio Saturday mornings became two. “She’s so excited for the next class.” He chatted happily with Melissa. “But I’m confused, the taps didn’t come screwed on.”

Melissa giggled. “No sweetie, you’ve gotta screw them on yourself. Do you have a toolkit in your car?” 

Steve sighed. “Shit, no we walked here. Hold on, let me call someone.” He ran down to reception, Ashley granting him the phone, and prayed Eddie was out of bed. “Hey babe, I need a screwdriver…”

Twenty minutes later Eddie came barrelling up the stairs to the viewing room, Ashley hot on his tail. “Sir, that room is for parents only—”

“It’s okay Ashley! He’s with me.” Steve assured her, handing Eddie the shoe and the tap. “Thanks for coming so quickly.”

“No sweat, couldn’t let our little girl miss out on her first day of tap.” He kissed Steve’s cheek, not realizing three pairs of eyes on him.

Steve’s cheeks blazed red as Melissa, Kelly, and Jill eyed the matching ring on Eddie’s left hand, putting the pieces together. He cleared his throat and gestured to Eddie. “Um, ladies this is Eddie, my husband.”

“Oh, husband!” Jill sidled up beside them. “Very nice to meet you Eddie, Steve has told us nothing about you.”

Eddie chuckled. “No glowing review big boy?”

Steve hung his head. “Not everyone in Hawkins is so open minded…”

Eddie and Steve spent the rest of the hour telling the moms about how they got together, their small wedding ceremony in the Byers’ backyard, and how they’d adopted Rosie. By the time the ballet class had ended, the moms had adopted Eddie as one of their own just as they had Steve. Before long, Eddie was joining Steve and Rosie on Saturday mornings at the studio.

Autumn flew quickly, Christmas came and went, and once the new year hit, recital talk began. Rosie really took to her lessons, she raised her hand when she didn’t understand something, and Steve took to practicing her routines with her at home, even if he didn’t fully understand what he was doing.

“Remember what miss Abby told you, shoulders down, chin up, soft hands, stretch your feet, okay?”

Rosie nodded, kissing Steve’s cheek and disappearing through the doorway of studio A. 

“Moms? Can you join me in the studio please?” Miss Abby beckoned to the adults. They all followed dutifully, taking off their shoes and lining up at the barre. “As you all know, recital season is quickly approaching. We’ll be putting in orders for the tutus and their tap costumes, but they’ll need to be modified. Proper buns for the recital and light stage makeup, clean pink tights for ballet, and nude tights for tap. Got it?”

The moms and Steve nodded as they were dismissed, making a mental note of what he needed. “Melissa, when she says modified…?”

“Oh you know, glitter, rhinestones, the usual.”

“Right, the usual, cool.”

Steve’s head was in the clouds until he returned home; Eddie, always the observant one, could see the panic on his face.

“Babe I think we’re in over our heads with this dance thing. I need to modify costumes now?”

Eddie frowned. “Modify how?” Steve relayed what Melissa had said, panic stricken. “Steven, that’s nothing. Did you forget I used to make whole costumes for the party for DnD? I got this.” 

The day the costumes arrived, Eddie finally felt totally in his element with the moms. He’d brought along his whole costume kit, much to the surprise of the moms, showing them how well his fabric glue held, and teaching them the best stitches to ensure no elastics snapped off their daughters’ ballet slippers. For once, he was the star parent, and a huge wave of pride rolled off Steve as miss Abby complimented Eddie’s tailoring work on Rosie’s costumes.

Eddie tagging along to the studio meant Steve had backup learning Rosie’s routines. His memory was sharper than Steve’s was, and he was surprisingly more competitive. They worked together to support their little dancer, Steve would wake up early with her and stretch before their day began, Eddie would help her run through her routines before bed each night. One day after work at the body shop, Eddie brought home a large slab of wood, sanded and stained and perfect for practicing with tap shoes on, and a pair of the noisy shoes for himself, knowing he could help his girl better if he could do the steps with her. Steve stood behind them watching Eddie coach Rosie through the steps, counting them out for her as she danced. 

“ONE and TWO and THREE-EE and a FOUR. Don’t forget that brush in there, stay on your toes don’t drop your heels, yes that’s it!” 

Steve chuckled and decided it was time to intervene, hitting pause on the tape. “Alright twinkletoes, bath and then bed.”

Eddie picked her up, depositing her on the couch and helping her take off her shoes. “Daddy did you see, I did the whole dance without forgetting the next step!”

“I saw princess, you’re doing wonderful! And what do you say to dad for helping you run through your routines?”

Rosie kissed Eddie on the cheek and threw her little arms around his neck. “Thank you Dad, I love you.”

“I love you too kiddo, I’m so proud of you.” He peppered her face with kisses, tossing her noisy shoes onto the tap board. “Now go take a bath, you stink.”

She giggled, running to her room to grab her bathrobe. 

“You’re incredible.” Steve hugged Eddie from behind.

“I dunno man, her technique is better than mine will ever be—”

Steve squeezed him harder and whispered lowly in Eddie’s ear. “Shut up, you know I’m not talking about the dancing. You. Are. An amazing. Father. And I love you, so fucking much.” 

Eddie turned in his arms and caught Steve in a searing kiss. “She’s an amazing kid, she’s our amazing kid. And I love you too.” He pulled his husband in as close as he could, reconnecting their lips in another toe curling kiss.

“Ew! That’s so gross!”

Eddie chuckled, pulling away. “Guess this will have to wait until after bath time.” 

“Holding you to that Munson. Now come on, time to bathe the gremlin.”

The early June recital weekend came faster than anyone was prepared for, and the boys were panicking. 

“Stevie, are you sure we’re supposed to put makeup on her? She’s just a kid.”

“Eddie relax. Abby said light stage makeup. It’s probably just so the lights don’t wash her out. Gotta see that beautiful face from the back of the theatre.” Steve kissed Rosie’s cheek and swiped on some more blush. “But just for dance, you got that? No makeup until you’re older. Your beautiful skin doesn’t need all that gunk on it.”

Rosie nodded dutifully and closed her eyes as Steve applied a thick layer of eyeliner. 

“There, what do you think?”

Eddie turned his head sideways and frowned. “Baby I think you went a little too heavy on the cheeks.”

“God you’re right, we’re hopeless.”

“It’s okay Daddy, Auntie Nancy can fix it when she brings me to the stage door.” 

He patted the top of her head, careful not to disrupt her perfectly slicked back hair. “Auntie Nancy will make you look perfect. Come on, let’s wipe this off before she gets here.”

Nancy and Robin took Rosie to the stage door while Eddie, Steve, Wayne, and Claudia found their seats. As soon as 7:00 hit, the house lights went down, and the show was starting. Rosie’s ballet routine was right after the opening number, and Steve hadn’t been so nervous in a long time. As the music faded out and the lights changed, he took Eddie’s hand and squeezed, feeling his husband squeeze back.

After what felt like hours, Rosie’s ballet music started. A chorus of “Awww” spread out amongst the audience as the four little girls scurried out in their rhinestoned tutus, big smiles on their faces. Steve barely saw the routine he knew so well; his eyes glistened with tears seeing Rosie on stage, confidently dancing just like they’d practiced. Chin up, shoulders down, soft hands, feet stretched. Eddie on the other hand had his lips pursed, watching her intently as she made it through a particularly difficult stretch of the routine. “Yes!” He whispered when she landed her pirouette, perfectly spotting the back wall just as Steve had reminded her to. The number was over too soon, and Steve was whispering “I love you” towards the stage as applause broke out and their daughter exited stage right. 

Steve wiped his tears, subtly kissing the back of Eddie’s hand. They could relax until intermission, Rosie’s tap number wasn’t until the second half of the show.

The tap number turned out to be a hit. Steve didn’t expect to still be emotional watching his girl on stage, but the tears came nonetheless. Eddie was more tense for this one, listening to all her sounds, counting out the music as they danced. “That’s my girl!” He shouted as Melissa and Jill whooped on the other side of him as Rosie landed her pickups. Wayne quietly handed Steve a tissue, sporting one of his own in his shirt sleeve as the girls finished their routine and flapped off the stage. 

Just like that, the show was over, and it was time to collect their little dancer.

“Daddies! Grandpa Wayne!” Rosie came running towards them, hugging Wayne around the leg. 

“Did you see Auntie Claudia, Nancy, and Robin came too?”

She nodded enthusiastically, passing hugs around to all of them. Her eyes lit up as Wayne handed her a bouquet of roses, and Robin a little teddy bear in a tutu, congratulating her on a great show. She’d had a big day, and Steve could tell she was exhausted.

“Here princess, let me take those for you.” He took the bouquet as Eddie picked her up, her little head falling to his shoulder. Glitter rained down Eddie’s right side, sticking itself to the ends of his hair and his worn leather jacket. Steve chuckled sympathetically, brushing what he could from his back as they took her out to the car.

“Hey Daddy guess what?”

“What’s up, princess?” Steve opened the lobby door, letting Eddie and their sleepy dancer through first.

“I was wonderful.”

The boys chuckled, Eddie kissing the top of her head. “You were baby, you were.”

[cranberrymoons]

🧟‍♂️ franken-wips 😎

Rules: post 3-6 sentences of your most recent WIP's, with titles, and people can send you asks for more 3-6 sentence snippets! tag as many people as you want or just use this as a reason to add a few new sentences to your projects!

I was tagged by @hbyrde36 and THANK YOU because I have been absent for a few weeks while i tried wrap my head around my own writing (do you ever do that? have a weeks-long existential crisis about your own writing and disappear as a result? anyway..........)

{untitled steddie cowboys fic} (this is due in a few days and i STILL do not have a title for it)

After a few minutes of walking, they find themselves at the door to a saloon, a sign overhead advertising Clean Rooms: $3. “They’d better be, for that much money,” Robin says as they lean against the wall of a building across the street, eyeing the place up. Their shoulders bump together, and she bites down on the end of one of the pins she’s kept tucked up in her hair since they left Louisiana three days ago. “What d’you think?” Steve makes a soft, doubtful noise. It looks pretty dim, and there aren’t many people around. He’d feel better back on the main street where the crowd is easier to disappear into, where they can make a quick getaway if they need to. He’s about to say as much when the door to the saloon pushes open, revealing a man with a guitar slung over his back, a cigarette hanging loose from his lips.

{untitled 911/buddie fic} (lmao i had never even WATCHED this show until a couple weeks ago and then i wrote 10k about them in a single weekend rip 🤦‍♀️ genuinely do not worry about it)

“What, you don’t want to marry me? The moms at school already think we are.” Their hips knock together, and Buck flexes his hand in Eddie’s grasp as the other comes to settle at his waist in the mirror of a dancing pose. “I know they do,” Buck says quietly. He raises his eyebrows. “And I didn’t say I don’t. Seems like you just never asked.”

{untitled steddie summer exchange fic}

i'm not allowed to share snippets from this but it's in the works 😇

the seas be ours (steddie pirates au that I DESPERATELY need to update once i get the rest of my miscellaneous projects under control)

“Found her tied up in the hull,” Eddie’s saying. He nudges his foot against hers, drawing her attention away from Steve. “Hey, you got a name?” She blinks up at him then narrows her eyes. “Yeah.” She tilts her chin. “You got any food?” “Yeah,” Eddie says. “We do.”

tagging @medusapelagia @thefreakandthehair @urmomsonfire @penny00dreadful @wynnyfryd @steddieas-shegoes @shares-a-vest @starryeyedjanai