#mellow hopper

[pan-fried-autism]

are you saying that jack and grem's kids will have swapped kids? (grem's kids are jack's kids and vice versa)

Kinda? I have some ideas.

In this AU, Jack and Leo (@bowlerhatwearer) get M0u5e and Cr1ck3t, but they also have Beans, who’s already their kid anyway.

Meanwhile, Grem and Bunny get Mellow, this universe’s equivalent of Easton. Mellow gets to be Nikolais stepson.

[rebelcharmings]

eah as random tweets i found on my timeline recently

[withacapitalp]

Actually sobbing because I saw your ‘I want to talk a wips’ post two days late but like if you have any thoughts for the age swap au…… literally anything even if it’s as small as ‘Dustin stashes nilla wafers in his car so Steve can have a snack after swim practice’ I will gobble that up

Okay so me and @riality-check talked about this AU for HOURS last night and it's still fresh in my mind so here take some Age Swap HCs of the Party and Steve

After everything goes down, Steve's parents don't trust him to stay home alone anymore (not that he wants to) so they decide he needs a babysitter. They're doing it to punish him and don't realize that having his friends getting money for something they were already going to do is an awesome upgrade

Dustin does keep Nilla wafers in his car, but he also keeps a first aid kit bc Steve is the most accident prone kid he has ever met. How is such an athletic kid always tripping over his own feet????

Max drives a motorcycle (an upgrade from her skateboard as a kid) and Steve get his own helmet for his birthday. He used to just always take Max's.

Will and Steve aren't super close same with him and Mike but they're both grateful that he protected their siblings and chose to risk his own life to try and help them. They don't mind the kid, and he doesn't mind them, and he even will come to them for specific things he might need help with

Lucas and Steve get very close because of basketball. As Ria put in her part, Lucas is on the team. Steve, who has dreamed on playing on the team since he was 6 or 7 and started playing basketball, thinks that is the coolest thing ever. He doesn't even care that Lucas usually just benchwarms, he's always asking Lucas to play a pickup game with him or show him some new moves

Erica and Dustin are the ones with Scoops jobs in S3 and Steve hangs out in the shop after school every other day waiting for Dustin to get off of work. Erica doesn't know about the Upside Down stuff yet, she's just saving up during her senior year and over the summer for college, but she does kind of love the weird little child that likes to tail her brother and his friends. She always puts an extra scoop on Steve's ice cream

And El and Steve? Well I'm not going to spoil, but she her role goes way farther than just his babysitter

[cleradinthealps]

joyce and el should bond over billy joel together i think

[ladykailitha]

Steve is powered AU.

It's after Vecna and the Upside Down collapsing on itself before anyone finds out.

When Steve was seven, his mother had a psychotic break, saying that Steve was a changeling and tried to drown him the large bath tub in his parents' bathroom.

It was during this time she was admitted to Pennhurst.

They're cleaning up the Harrington Estate when his mother comes home and just starts screaming about the mess. Steve finally gets her calm down and tells Eddie that she didn't always used to be that way, she used to be a sweet and loving mother.

That's when Stella Harrington comes screaming back in that she didn't change. He did. He was the imposter. She knows her son and this creature before her isn't him.

But she won't explain how she knows.

Then a couple days later Nancy was talking to Robin about how someone should go back to Pennhurst to tell Victor Creel, that his son survived and is the cause of the all the destruction.

Robin is against it, because his mind was already shattered and that might destroy it. Nancy thinks he would want to know that he wasn't crazy.

When the name finally pinged in Steve's head. When they were trying to figure out who Vecna was, the name kept ringing a bell in his head. And just then it hit him.

His mother had been admitted there when he was younger.

But he keeps it to himself, because the last person he wants to know his mother was/is crazy is Nancy.

So he calls up the Hospital and requests her file and finds out that someone else recently accessed her file. Her doctor, Martin Brenner, had called just two weeks before the events that would lead to his death.

The receptionist asks if the address in Reno, Nevada is still good.

Steve's blood turns to ice in his veins.

Holy shit.

He corrects the address to Hawkins, Indiana and she brightens. Tells him that it's nice she's home again.

Steve needs to talk to El and he needs to do it away from Hopper. Because Hopper can't know about this. No one can.

Only Eddie starts noticing how withdrawn and twitchy Steve has become lately and manages to show up at the house when Steve gets his mother's medical files.

They learn that only reason Stella survived the Nina Project massacre was because she was on her to another facility for testing.

When Steve was seven his powers manifested so strongly, that his mother who was an empath, tried to suppress it so that Dr. Brenner wouldn't get his hands on Steve and it broke her mind. But Dr. Brenner didn't want Steve. Incorrectly assuming that she had succeeded, he wanted to harness her ability to break other's powers. Because if she could break Steve's, maybe she could break Henry's.

It was that research that led the device that controlled Henry's powers.

But Dr. Brenner realized that Stella didn't suppress Steve's powers. Steve did.

But his exposure to the Upside Down had eroded the block and that's why Steve was able to sense what was wrong with Nancy, knew that Max was in trouble.

He could sense it.

Dr. Owens tries to be respectful when asking Steve if they could run tests on him.

Everyone shouts NO at the same time.

But now everyone knows that Steve is powered, too, and El helps him learn to control it and take the break off completely. The first time they tried Steve got so overwhelmed with Eddie's love and affection for him that he passed out.

They were both pretty embarrassed that that was the way they got together. But Eddie liked to joke that his charm literally knocked Steve over.

Over the years it gets more fine-tuned. He knows Eddie is going propose before he does.

Knows when Max is pregnant with her first. Lucas couldn't keep his emotions down for shit.

Knows when Mike and El finally break up and realize they're better as friends. Their emotions are very angry for awhile before they mellow out.

Knows about Will and Mike's first kiss. Will is practically bursting with it.

[fastcardotmp3]

Good Grief

In which Nancy has spent the past 20 years running the Wheeler Funeral Home in Hawkins and in which the death of Jim Hopper brings home just the right ghosts to remind her that her life isn’t over yet. 

ronance // 19k words // rated M

read on ao3 // excerpt under the cut:

“You didn’t tell a story at the service,” Robin says into the unbroken quiet. 

The refrigerator door sinks shut and she leans her weight back against it to face Nancy. 

“Neither did you,” she points out. 

“But I haven’t had one playing out on my face all day,” Robin looks her over and Nancy feels every inch of distance between them to the point where she has to move closer just to ease the pull. 

Closer and closer, Nancy breathes, she breathes, she is breathing. 

“I keep thinking about their wedding,” she says like a sigh as she gets close enough to take Robin’s hand, thumb tracing across her knuckles and fingers curling loosely enough that she could retreat if she chooses. “We danced.” 

“We did,” Robin agrees, shifts her weight off the fridge and onto her feet, into Nancy’s space. “Like this, right?” she lifts their joined hands, into the right posture, places her free one so deftly and surely to drag across Nancy’s shoulder, curling over her back and landing at the base of her neck to tangle in her curls. 

“Like this,” Nancy wraps her free arm around Robin’s waist. 

There is no music playing. 

They sway. 

“You were amazing today,” Robin says, finding a hold on Nancy that has them front-to-front with little to no space between the warmth of their bodies. 

Nancy laughs, but it’s a breathy thing, almost tucked against Robin’s shoulder with their proximity. 

“I took my grief and turned it into a career,” she says, but her derisiveness is watered down, mellowed out, held at a distance by an orbiting gravity. 

“Yeah,” Robin nuzzles her face in towards Nancy’s temple where her gaze is averted. “And you’re amazing.” 

A sound comes out of Nancy, almost a whine if the thought of it alone wasn’t humiliating, radiating from so deep within her that it stuns her silent even as Robin pulls back enough, pulls Nancy back enough by a gentle hold on the roots of her hair, to be able to see each other’s faces. 

“God, what you do? It’s that good grief, Nancy Wheeler,” Robin’s smile lines are deep and her eyes shine like teenage mischief. “You give people a chance to say goodbye, I mean— I mean, that’s just about the most important thing in the world, don’t you think? They come here,” a slight nod of a gesture to the room, “into your home, and you give them space to honor what they’ve lost. You give them the catharsis of holding someone’s hand one last time and you give them the peace of knowing they were there in the end, they got to be there in the end, do you see that?” 

[tabbywaslost]

dream/dust hcs….

Alrighty!!

1.

Dream is a very light sleeper and wakes up at almost anything, so whenever they're sleeping on the same bed and Dream wakes up to the sounds of Dust sounding like he has a nightmare, Dream intentionally gets rid of Dust's nightmare and turns it into a dream without saying a word because he doesn't want to wake Dust up.

2.

They both drop everything if the other needs comfort. For example, Dream could be making a plan with the other good guys and if Dust calls him needing comfort, Dream will legit drop everything, go find Dust and bring him to a calm AU and comfort him. Same thing with Dust, but since Dust isn't a dimension hopper, he tries comforting Dream on the phone and sometimes tells Dream to teleport to whatever AU Dust was thrown into by Nightmare for a mission or something else.

3.

They gift each other small gifts from time to time as an act of love. They hide the gifts somewhere where they know the other will find and they always do find it.

4.

Blueberry is overprotective of Dream and Nightmare is overprotective of Dust. They at first didn't approve of it but then slowly mellowed out and now they're fine with it. Blueberry and Nightmare are the only ones who know

5.

They go on very long walks in calmer AUs like OuterTale or UnderSpell or anything calming. They usually don't talk a lot during these walks, there's a silence which feels nice rather than awkward.

6.

Dust is somewhat clingy as in he always wants to see Dream, so he's usually on call with Dream.

7.

Sometimes when they are together, Dream pretends to sleep and Dust starts talking about how much he appreciates him in Korean. He doesn't know that Dream both speaks Korean and is awake and listening.

8.

They learned to sew and they sometimes sew clothes for each other as gifts. Ink wonders where Dream is getting all these hand-sewn clothes from and the villain sanses are wondering the same thing but with Dust.

9.

They always share funny stories from their childhoods with each other and try to figure out ways they could've significantly altered the funny events to make them even funnier

10.

Dream is very, VERY light to the post where basically anyone can carry him. And at times where he actually fell asleep while they were hanging out in a garden in some AU at night or taking a long walk at night or having a picnic at night, Dust scoops him up and carries him while looking at how pretty he is and after he's done being happy and appreciative, he calls Nightmare to ask him to bring Dream to the AU where The Star Sanses base is, then when Nightmare gets there, he calls the only other person who knows which is Blueberry and Blueberry carries Dream into their base. Then Nightmare goes back to whatever AU Dust and Dream were in and takes Dust back to the castle. Dust has also given Dream piggyback rides in the day.

This was really fun to do but I am very sorry about the delay, I wasn't feeling too well.

[munson-blurbs]

Chapter 4: Every Time You Smile, You Laugh, You Glow

Collaboration with my ultimate soulmate, @corroded-hellfire 💚

Series Summary: Based on the Jonas Brothers song of the same name. You and Eddie share a hospital room in the wake of Hawkins' turmoil, striking up an unlikely friendship that could lead to much more.

Chapter Summary: Eddie's determined to help Sunshine wake up, but when she does, will the truth break them apart or bring them closer together?

Warnings: eventual smut (18+ only, minors DNI!), Eddie survives the Upside Down, hospital, mentions of surgery, angst, hurt/comfort

WC: 6.3k

Divider credit to @firefly-graphics

It seems like years pass before the doctors come out and report that they’ve been able to stabilize you, but that you need your rest and can’t have any more visitors today. 

“Her body has been under immense stress, physically and mentally,” Dr. Sanoj explains patiently. “You can come back during tomorrow’s visiting hours and see her if she’s strong enough.”

If she’s strong enough. The words grate at Eddie, chipping away at his resolve to remain calm. Of course you’ll be strong enough; you’re the strongest person he knows. 

He and your mom wordlessly make their way out of the hospital. Maybe it’s his eyes, red-rimmed from crying and lack of sleep, but it brings out a sympathetic side of your mom. 

“You should get some rest, too,” she says gently. She manages a small smile. “No sense in going in there tomorrow all sleep-deprived.”

Eddie nods, mutters a, “you, too,” and hurries to his van. The last thing she needs is to have to comfort him while her own daughter’s life hangs in limbo. 

To his credit, Eddie does try to take a nap. He tosses and turns for forty-five minutes before giving up, swinging his gangly legs over the side of Gareth’s couch and walking over to where Sweetheart is regally perched on her stand. He strums a few unenthused chords, attempting to muster up some semblance of ambition. Nothing he plays seems right anymore, like every note is out of tune. If he’s honest, it’s how his life feels without you in it. 

He thinks back to the day you formally met Dustin, Robin, and Steve. The way they insisted that there was something between you two. Jeez, Harrington went as far as to call it a spark, like a budding relationship could explode at any moment. And Robin had made that joke about how sad he got when the nurses “took his Sunshine away.” Like that song Wayne always sang around the house. 

Eddie hums the tune now, trying to match the pitch and find the right chords to play. He slowly picks them up, but there’s something still…off about the way the sweet, mellow song sounds on the electric guitar. 

“Hey there, Ed.” Wayne comes through the front door, wiping his boots on the welcome mat. “Got some good news for ya.”

“Mm,” Eddie murmurs, still entrenched in his music. 

Wayne holds up a manila envelope. “You’re officially cleared of all charges related to the Cunningham girl,” he announces, a big grin spreading across his typically stoic face. “Chief Hopper was able to pin it all on the Russians; easy enough, considering what happened at Starcourt last summer.” Wayne shakes his head at the memory. “‘M tellin’ you, boy: you’re real lucky the Chief of Police is also involved in this monster hunting thing.”

With the help of his friends, Eddie explained the truth about what happened to his uncle as soon as he got home from the hospital. And while Wayne was certainly skeptical—who wouldn’t be, with a story about an evil supervillain from another dimension?—he’d believed every word. 

“That’s good,” Eddie says now, no trace of enthusiasm in his voice. 

Wayne frowns. “What’s up your ass today? You’ve been cleared of murder charges, and you don’t so much as crack a smile?”

Eddie sighs, finally looking up at his uncle. “Even if they don’t charge me for the crime, people are still gonna think I did it. That I’m some kinda Satan-worshiping cult leader, or whatever.”

Wayne sits down on the couch next to Eddie. “Let me get this straight,” he says, raising his eyebrows in disbelief. “I’m supposed to believe that the same kid who would fight to the death over a traffic ticket doesn’t care that he’s no longer wanted for murder?” 

“I fucked up, Wayne,” Eddie chokes out, brushing the tears from his eyes. “I fucked things up with Sunshine, and now there’s something really wrong with her, a-and she might not wake up, and I can’t get this stupid song to sound right with this stupid guitar!” He pulls Sweetheart over his head angrily and places her back in her stand. 

“Well,” Wayne says, dropping a comforting hand on Eddie’s shoulder. “I may have only met her a few brief times, but even I could tell that she’s a fighter, that one. And just because someone’s not awake, doesn’t mean they can’t hear ya. Remember we’d sit by your mom’s side in the hospital and you’d tell her about your day? She’d wake up a few hours later and, like magic, she knew what you said to her. Pretty sure Sunshine’s got that same magic. When you go back there and visit her, tell her what’s on your heart. She’ll hear ya.” Wayne pauses and takes a deep breath. “Now about this song business…I dunno how to help you with that one. You and I both know my musical ability ends at putting records on. What song are tryin’ to learn?” 

“You Are My Sunshine,” Eddie grumbles, not taking his eyes off of his feet. Wayne can’t help but smile at that. He always knew his nephew was a softy deep down, but there weren’t too many times that he’d let anyone on the outside world see that. 

“S’a good song,” Wayne says. “And I ain’t known you to never get a song just right before. Keep fiddlin’ with it.”

Wayne pushes himself off the couch, but before he can leave the room, Eddie calls out to him. “Wayne? What, um, what should I say when I go visit her?”

His uncle shrugs and crosses his arms over his chest. “Just speak from the heart, boy. Keep it real honest and tell her how ya feel and what’s been on your mind.”

“Thanks,” Eddie says. Wayne gives him a nod and heads into the kitchen. After staring at Sweetheart for a few moments, Eddie picks her back up and starts to strum. He sit and practices for hours, occasionally massaging the back of his neck when it starts to stiffen up from staying in the same position for so long. He’s so enraptured in perfecting the song that he doesn’t even hear Wayne come back into the house.

“Ed? You still at it?”

“Unfortunately,” Eddie mutters, standing up and stretching his back with a groan. “You can come in if you want. I need a distraction before I fling myself out of the window.”

Wayne peeks his head in, a mischievous grin on his face. “Good thing we’re on the first floor then, huh?” He laughs at his nephew’s inevitable eyeroll. “C’mon out; I’ve got somethin’ to show ya.”

Curiosity getting the best of him, Eddie follows his uncle to his rusty old sedan. Laying in the backseat is an acoustic guitar. It looks a little beat up, but definitely playable.

“Where–how did you–” he starts, unable to speak because he’s so stunned by Wayne’s kind gesture.

“Ya can’t play a sweet old song like that on the electric guitar. Need one of these,” Wayne says proudly, pointing towards the instrument. “Guy at the pawnshop said she just needs a bit of a tune and she should be good to go.”

Tears spring to Eddie’s eyes, and he envelops his uncle in a tight hug. “You’re the best,” he says, voice muffled by his cheek being pressed against Wayne’s shoulder. “I’m sorry I haven’t been the easiest to deal–”

Wayne dismisses his concern with a wave. “Enough of that. I’m just glad to have you back here, alive. Now,” he says, the joyful glint returning to his eyes, “go learn that song so you can get the girl and leave the damn house once in a while.”

Eddie’s unable to suppress the smile that grows on his face. He’d never thought of himself as someone who would “get the girl,” but then again, he’s never felt about anyone the way he feels about you. 

Re-energized by his gift, Eddie brings the acoustic guitar inside and starts to practice again. Right away, he can tell the difference. 

“Much better,” Eddie says to himself. Wayne was right, as usual—not that he’d ever admit that to his uncle. Before, Eddie felt every second drip by as he tried and failed to make the song sound right. Now, the hours were flying by faster than Eddie even realized. Footsteps march into the living room and Eddie reluctantly looks up to see Gareth standing in the doorway.

“Yeah?” Eddie asks.

“Do you know what time it is?” Gareth asks, raising his eyebrows. Eddie shakes his head and goes back to strumming. “It’s after three in the morning. Dude, if you don’t get any sleep, she’s going to think you look like shit tomorrow.”

Gareth managed to find the one thing he could say to make Eddie put the guitar down. He didn’t have an official place to put this one, since Sweetheart was already resting in the stand. Standing up, Eddie grabs his guitar case from behind the couch. Gareth shuffles back down the hallway towards his room as Eddie flips open the latches of the case. He sets the acoustic down inside and smiles as he looks down at it. His first precious guitar has a name, and now he has the perfect idea for the next.

“Goodnight, Sunshine the Second.”

When Eddie arrives at Hawkins General Hospital the next morning, he’s not surprised to see your mom already by your bedside. He winces when he notices the tubes in your nose, another painful reminder of your weakened state.

“Any changes?” he asks softly, a pang of disappointment settling in his chest when she shakes her head no. 

“No better, but no worse,” your mother reports, running her thumb over your hand, carefully avoiding the needle in your vein. “How’re you holding up?”

“All right,” Eddie shrugs, peeling the guitar case off of his back and setting it down. “Wish she would wake up, though.”

Your mom laughs kindly. “You and me both, kid.” She takes notice of Sunshine the Second and smiles. “Did you just come from band practice?”

“Nah,” Eddie shakes his head bashfully, letting his messy curls brush his cheeks. “I, um, wanted to play her a song. If th-that’s okay.” He’s never been good with parents; they’ve always written him off as some punk or, worse, trailer trash. He anticipates disapproval, so he’s pleasantly surprised when your mom’s face brightens and she encourages him to play. 

“I’ll be right outside if you need me,” she excuses herself, giving his shoulder a maternal squeeze. 

Eddie clears his throat. “Hi, Sunshine,” he starts, pausing briefly to give you a chance to reply, but the silence dashes his hopes. “I’m so fucking glad you’re alive. I kept thinking about you, and this song, and I—I wanna play it for you.” He unzips the case and slings the guitar strap around his body. Tuning it quickly, he starts to sing:

You are my sunshine My only sunshine You make me happy When skies are gray You’ll never know dear How much I love you Please don’t take my sunshine away

He’s not sure what he was expecting; it’s not like his warbling voice would heal you. But he can’t help the disappointment that sinks into his chest like a bag of rocks in a river when you remain perfectly still. 

He strums absentmindedly, playing whatever songs he can remember off of the top of his head. His usual repertoire of Metallica and Black Sabbath don’t sound right on an acoustic, so he thinks about some of the folk-y music that Wayne listens to. 

So kiss me and smile for me Tell me that you’ll wait for me Hold me like you’ll never let me go ‘Cause I’m leavin’ On a jet plane I don’t know when I’ll be back again Oh babe, I hate to go

The mention of an airplane reminds him of the argument you two had had before he was discharged. “I know you weren’t sure about if you wanted to fly with me to California and try to make it as a dancer,” he murmurs, “but whether or not your plans include me, I really think you should.”

He sighs, continuing to play random chords as he speaks. “Feel kinda bad right now. I mean, if you were awake, you might tell me to fuck off. And I wouldn’t blame you, honestly. But you can’t tell me that, so I’m just pouring my heart out whether you care to listen or not.” He laughs softly. 

Eddie’s fingers are moving of their own accord against the strings, his mind drifting off in a thousand different directions. It isn’t until his ear catches on the familiar notes that he realizes he’s playing a new song, one he heard a lot growing up, thanks to Wayne. 

Woah, my love, my darling I've hungered for your touch A long, lonely time And time goes by so slowly And time can do so much Are you still mine? I need your love I need your love God speed your love to me

His voice catches on the last few lyrics, his throat constricting and his eyes become heavy with unshed tears. Taking a deep breath, Eddie keeps strumming the guitar because he needs something to do with his hands. He slips his eyes closed, trying to compose himself, but it doesn’t do much. When he opens them again, a few stray tears escape down his cheeks.

“Sunshine, wake up,” Eddie pleads. “I don’t like this. Sunshine, wake up.”

He switches gears, going back to the original plan for the acoustic guitar. What he practiced for hours so it would be just right for you. 

You are my sunshine My only sunshine You make me happy When skies are gray You’ll never know dear How much I—

Eddie is cut off by the gentle fluttering of your eyelids. His heart stalls in his chest, his breath freezes in his lungs as he stares at you. In reality, it’s about four seconds of you blinking before your eyes are fully open. To Eddie, it was an agonizingly long wait. His hands are still on the guitar, too shocked to move. You’re looking up at the white ceiling above you before blinking a few more times. Slowly, your head turns towards Eddie and when your eyes lock with his, all of the emotions that have been swirling around and building up for days now hit their breaking point. The tears surge and Eddie sets the guitar down to wipe them from his eyes. He’ll be damned if anything keeps him from looking at you, alive, awake, wonderful you, even if it’s his own damn tears. 

“Sunshine,” Eddie breathes out, a rush of breath and a sigh of relief all wrapped up in the nickname. You look slightly groggy still from all the medications, but Eddie can tell you’re looking into his eyes, which is all he needs. Gently, taking care of the needles and wires hooked into you, Eddie takes your hand. “Sunshine, can you hear me?”

Your mouth opens and you go to speak, when a look of pain flashes across your face. 

“Shh, no, no. Don’t speak. Just squeeze my hand if you can hear me,” Eddie says. 

The soft pressure of your delicate hand tightening around his is enough to bring another round of tears. These, he scrubs off with his sleeve before they can make it too far down his face. Once his vision is clear again, he looks down to see you smiling at him. He’s not sure if you’re genuinely glad to see him, or you’re still so hopped up on drugs that you would’ve been happy to see Pennywise standing over your bed. 

“M-Mom?” you whisper, and your head is filled with sandbags as it lolls to one side. 

“No, Sunshine, it’s me. It’s Eddie.”

To his horror, you start to cry. He doesn’t know how to interpret it, so he quickly stands up. “I can go get her, okay? You don’t have to be scared.” Running over to the doorway, he pokes his head out towards the waiting room, catching your mom’s eye as he waves her over. 

“She’s awake,” he tells her, watching her body visibly decompress with relief, “and she’s asking for you.”

Your mom rushes into your room, heaving sobs wracking her body as she takes in your open eyes and small, chapped smile. “Hey, baby,” she murmurs. “I’m here now.”

Eddie awkwardly shifts from one foot to the other, not wanting to intrude on such a sensitive moment but not wanting to leave. “I can come back later,” he offers, but your mom shakes her head and pats the seat next to her. The two of them sit in silence as you go in and out of sleep, waking to ask for some water before dozing off again. 

After an hour, you finally claw your way out of a groggy stupor, focusing on the two people by your bedside. “Wh-What happened?” you manage.

“Honey, you had trouble waking up from your surgery,” your mom reluctantly tells you, sharing an uneasy glance with Eddie. “Your, um, your heart stopped; they had to revive you. We didn’t know if you were going to make it.”

“We should’ve known,” Eddie chimes in, offering as much of a smile as he can. “I mean, you’re a total badass. If anyone can cheat death, it’s you.”

It takes you a moment to piece together what’s going on. The last time you saw Eddie, anger and disappointment marred his normally cheerful disposition. There was no trace of the young man who theorized about future soap opera plotlines or who fell asleep with his cheek nestled against your shoulder; there was only hurt.

The Eddie sitting before you now is different altogether. He looks like he’s about to burst into tears at the sight of you, like he wants to hold on to you and never let go.

There’s so much still left unsaid, and your head swims at the mere thought of such an intense discussion. Instead, you opt for a more obvious question: “Is that a guitar?”

“Eddie was playing some songs for you,” your mom explains, looking between the two of you. Eddie hasn’t taken his eyes off of you since he’s sat down, and it doesn’t seem like he’s going to stop any time soon. “I’m gonna grab something for him and I to eat; maybe he can play them again?”

“You don’t have to–” Eddie starts, but your mom waves him off with the promise of whatever sandwich looks the least unappetizing.

“You always sing for your mortal enemies?” you ask wryly, a hint of teasingness in your tone that you hope carries over.

“Just your run-of-the-mill sacrifice chants,” he jokes back, and you audibly sigh at the easy slide to your usual back-and-forth banter. He lowers his voice and takes your hand in his, weaving your fingers together as he says, “and you’re not my mortal enemy.”

“I’m really sorry that I lied to you,” you tell him, a misty film covering your eyes. “I just didn’t wanna disappoint you. And if you saw me sad, then you’d get sad...”

Eddie lightly presses his palm to your cheek. “Sunshine,” he says mournfully, “I never wanted you to hide your feelings from me. You’re my Sunshine because you’re you, not because I thought you were happy all the time.” He uses his free hand to rub behind his neck. “But I could’ve asked. I guess I was just so in my own head, thinking about myself, that I took you for granted. Poured my heart out to you, but never gave you the same chance,” he chides himself.

“Or I could’ve spoken up,” you point out truthfully. “I could’ve said, ‘Hey, I need a bunch of surgery and I may never dance again, and I’m really fuckin’ sad about it.”

Eddie’s eyebrows shoot up. You may never dance again. And there he was, blowing up on you because he thought you didn’t want to run away and pursue your dream; the whole time, your dream may have been yanked from your grasp.

“Can you play me one of the songs?” you interrupt his thoughts, and he just nods wordlessly as he positions the guitar on his lap.

“It’s kinda lame–”

“Just play it. Or do I have to almost die again?”

“Sheesh, all right,” he chuckles, latching his gaze to yours as he sings:

You are my sunshine My only sunshine You make me happy When skies are gray You’ll never know dear How much I love you Please don’t take my sunshine away

You’re giggling and crying at the same time, a sight that must seem completely absurd. You don’t want to think too long about what Eddie’s making of the way you look right now. His voice is rough and gravelly from years of metal covers at the Hideout, but it’s soothing nonetheless. But it’s the way he sings one particular part that replays in your brain over and over.

You’ll never know dear How much I love you

Maybe it’s just a song lyric. Maybe it doesn’t mean anything. He just sings it, not even remotely flustered, as though his love for you is common knowledge.

“So,” he says sheepishly, “what’d you think?” When he realizes that you’re cry-laughing too hard to respond, he grins. “Oh, Sunshine. What did I do to your heart–fix it, or break it?”

“I’m not sure,” you half-joke, because if you get your hopes up that he does love you the way you want him to love you, and then he doesn’t, it might shatter into a million pieces. “That was the sweetest thing anyone’s ever done for me.”

Eddie pauses, biting his lip nervously before he speaks again. “Can I try something?” When you nod, he cups your jaw and lets his thumb graze over your lower lip. You cringe at how dry they must feel, but he doesn’t seem to care as his mouth presses to yours. It’s a quick kiss, over too soon for your liking, but it still leaves you breathless.

He leans his forehead on yours, smiling as he caresses your cheek. “I’ve never felt this way about anyone before,” he confesses, “and it kinda scares the shit outta me.”

“Only kinda?” you tease, nudging your nose to his.

Eddie leans back in his chair, letting out a shaky chuckle and rubbing his palms on his worn-out jeans. “I want us to be honest with each other. I don’t want any more secrets. From either of us,” he clarifies, so you know he’s not only talking about you. “Starting with what really happened the night of the earthquake.”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you trust that I’ll tell you the truth?” he asks, and you nod. “Okay. So, um, shit, where do I even start? I guess…well, the earthquake…it wasn’t really an earthquake.”

Your eyes widen as he plunges into a story that sounds like it could be one of his D&D campaigns. 

“It was the first time I’d ever seen anything like it,” he tells you, explaining how some monster nicknamed “Vecna” had snapped Chrissy Cunningham’s bones like twigs. How he’d hidden in his drug supplier’s boathouse—a detail you’ll have to unpack later—until Dustin Henderson tracked him down. How the whole town was convinced that he was some kind of heinous murderer, when he’d never hurt a fly. 

All of that pales in comparison to the World War III-esque scene that awaited him in the Upside Down, an alternate dimension controlled by Vecna. “Every moving part was connected to him. Like a hive mind,” he says now. An arachnid-shaped force called the Mind Flayer that could possess anyone with a painful jab of its long pedipalps. Thick vines, far more dangerous than the poison ivy that showed up in your backyard each spring. “Nancy, Steve, and Robin—they almost died from them,” Eddie says somberly, and you sit up as much as you can and rub his back. 

“Is that how you…?” 

Eddie cuts you off with a quick shake of his head. “Henderson and I were supposed to lure the demobats from Vecna’s lair. That’s all we had to do. And we did it,” he flashes a sad smile. “But all I could think about was being a hero. Saving my friends. Finally facing danger instead of running from it.”

They’d just made it back to safety before the storm of bats surrounded the trailer, busting through vents and shaking the foundation. “Henderson went back first, an’ he was calling my name. Everything in me was screaming to climb the rope, get myself back to the real Hawkins.” He’s sobbing, and you have to lean in closer just to understand what he’s trying to say. “But I cut the rope and I went back.”

“To the Upside Down?” you interrupt, blinking back tears of your own. 

Eddie nods. “Those little bat fuckers got me good. I thought I was gonna die, right there in that weird, fake Hawkins. But my friends dragged me out, got me to a hospital…and here I am,” he finishes, trying to muster up a smile. 

“Here you are.”

“Scariest shit of my life,” Eddie says with a sigh. “But it landed me in the same hospital room as this really beautiful girl, so I guess something good came from it after all.”

His compliment brings a shy smile to your face, and your mind starts to remember all the laughs and conversations the two of you had in that room. A room, you assume, Max is still in. 

“So, uh, is this all how Max went blind?” you ask. 

“Yeah,” Eddie says, his eyes dropping down to your hand in his. He rubs his thumb along the back of your hand, taking care to avoid your IV line. “When Vecna targeted Max, she started levitating like Chrissy did. Her bones started to snap and her eyes started to bleed. When Vecna was torched, she was released. But the damage had been done. Lucas—her boyfriend, swears she died while they were waiting for an ambulance. And she was in a coma here for a little while.”

“She seems like a good friend. Loyal,” you say.

At that, a small smile curls on one side of Eddie’s face. “Yeah, Red’s a good kid.” 

“When they brought you in,” you say, lacing your fingers with his. “What did they tell the doctors was wrong with you? It’s not like they could’ve come right out and said you were attacked by multidimensional bats.”

“Steve and Henderson were arguing the whole way here about what their story should be. In the end, it didn’t matter though. The hospital was so overwhelmed by patients that they just wanted to know what my injuries were and didn’t even ask how I got them.” 

“This is all so insane,” you say with a shake of your head. Eddie’s brow pinches up and you’re quick to reassure him that you believe his story. “Eddie, what you had to go through was insane. The fact that there’s this whole other dimension existing alongside ours. Why is this shit happening in Hawkins of all places? Land of the boring doesn’t seem like the type of place that evil creatures would want to strike. At least, not according to most of the monster or disaster movies I’ve seen—and there have been a lot.”

“Before Vecna became…well, Vecna. He was just some kid who lived in Hawkins. With weird as shit powers he used to kill part of his family,” Eddie says. 

“That’s almost more morbid than the killer vines,” you say. “So, he chose to create a new dimension?”

“Not exactly. He was…banished there, more or less. By this badass little superpowered girl that all my friends know. I haven’t gotten to meet her yet, though. But she sent Creel there and he corrupted it to his liking, apparently.”

“Wait, did you say Creel?” you ask. “As in, The Creel House? Victor Creel?”

“His son, actually. Henry Creel. Henry is Vecna,” Eddie explains. 

“Jesus,” you say, leaning back against your pillows. “I know this whole thing is all pretty unbelievable…but do you know what part is bothering me the most?” 

“The fact that there are worse creatures around here than regular old spiders?” Eddie teases, getting a giggle out of you. 

“No,” you say. “Though that doesn’t thrill me either. It’s that the stupid people in this town would actually believe you’re capable of murder. And why? Because you like metal music? Because you play D&D? That’s such bullshit.”

Eddie can’t help but smile at your words. How could he ever have thought that you were like all those other assholes in this town? Well, he knows the answer to that, unfortunately. It was bound to happen over the years of bullying and abuse he endured, that now he’s just become paranoid that people are always fucking with him. Trusting people becomes a harder process, but falling for you is oh so easy. 

There’s a gentle knock on the door and your mom sticks her head in. “Am I interrupting?”

“Not at all,” Eddie says, his politeness towards your mother ever more endearing now that he’s kissed you. 

“I wasn’t sure what you liked,” your mom says as she sits down in the chair next to Eddie. She has a plastic container holding a sandwich in each hand. “I’ve got ham or turkey. Take your pick.”

“I’ll go with turkey,” Eddie says. Your mom hands him the sandwich and the two of them tuck into their food. You let your eyes roam around the room, which is smaller than the one you shared with Eddie—and then Max. Hopefully, you’ll get to move back into that room once you get a little strength back. But this room isn’t bad. It’s private, quiet, and you have a nice view out the window to your left. Dragging your eyes back across the room, they land on Eddie’s guitar laying next to his chair. 

“So, you play guitar,” you say, staring at the instrument. “Electric and acoustic, I take it?”

Eddie nods as he finishes the bite of food in his mouth. “Mostly electric. Just got this bad boy yesterday, actually. But it’s pretty much the same. You can play one, you can play the other.”

“Do you play any other instruments?” you ask. 

“Nah,” Eddie says. “I tried piano when I was younger, but the white keys…the black keys…too many to keep track of. What about you?”

“I was in band in middle school. Played the flute, but that was about it,” you say and your mom lets out a guffaw of laughter.

“I don’t know if I’d consider what you did ‘playing’ the flute, hun.” She leans in towards Eddie. “Those concerts were brutal.”

Eddie laughs and you feel your face warm up. “Thanks, Mom.”

The conversation lasts for another forty-five minutes before your Mom decides to head back home. She thanks Eddie for being there, enveloping him in a warm hug. It’s loving and maternal, and not frantic like when they were both anxiously awaiting your prognosis.

“So,” you say, peering at Eddie through your eyelashes, “is it my turn to tell you what happened to me?

He shakes his head. “Another time,” he murmurs, pressing a kiss to your forehead. His lips are soft and kind, and you never want him to break contact. “I had something more fun in mind for the rest of our afternoon.”

Your cheeks flame, and you press your lips together shyly. “Um, I don’t think I can do that for a little while,” you whisper.

Eddie’s eyes widen. “No, shit, that’s not what I meant. I mean, eventually, hell yeah, but not right after you rose from the dead.” He crosses his arms over his chest and gives a dramatic pout. “D’you really think I’d try to get in your pants now?”

You shrug. “I dunno. Maybe you have, like, a coma fetish.”

He wrinkles up his nose as he stares down at you. “Is that a thing? Never mind, I don’t want to know.” He scoots on the edge of your hospital bed and proudly announces, “I’m taking you on a date.”

“Eddie, I can’t leave the hospital,” you say, gesturing to the litany of wires you’re hooked up to. “Not sure if they’ll even let me leave my room.”

“Only one way to find out,” Eddie says. He gives you a mischievous smile as he stands from your bed and strolls out of the room. You try to situate yourself so you’re able to see out the door, hoping to catch a glimpse of whatever Eddie is up to. A few minutes later, he steps back inside, pushing a wheelchair in front of him. Raising his eyebrows, his eyes dart from you, down to the chair, to you again, as if saying impressive, huh?

“Whatcha got there, Eds? We going somewhere?” you ask. 

“On our date, m’lady. You’re cleared to go downstairs.”

“What’s downstairs?”

“You’re just full of questions today, aren’t you?” Eddie asks as he parks the wheelchair next to your bed. “Let me ask you one. Do you like coffee?”

“I’m a college student,” you say. “I need it to live.” 

“Well, Miss College, would you accompany me to the cafeteria for a coffee date?” Eddie bows at the waist, offering one of his hands to you and the other rests against his back. “I may also buy you a cookie.”

“Spoiling me, I see. I would be more than happy to go on this date with you.” You push the blanket off your legs and move to sit on the edge of the bed. Before you go to step off the bed, a frown comes to your face.

“What’s wrong?” Eddie asks, standing up straight again. 

“I feel a little weird about leaving my room in just my hospital gown,” you admit, face heating up. 

“Not a problem.” Eddie shucks his leather jacket off and holds it out in front of him. The smile that lights up your face is involuntary at his sweet gesture. 

You stand up and reach behind you to keep your gown closed. “No free show,” you tease him with a smirk. 

Eddie chuckles and lays the jacket over your shoulders. “I mean, I am paying for your coffee…” He lets out a yelp as you playfully swat at him with your free hand. He helps you get seated in the chair and once you’re comfortable, you slip your arms into the sleeves. The scent of Eddie surrounds you as you're enveloped in his jacket. It feels soft against your skin and you just want to snuggle up in it.

He unlocks the wheelchair brakes and gently begins pushing you out the door, carefully navigating the frame so he doesn’t bump you. “Never thought I’d see the day that I was a responsible driver,” he quips, and you giggle. “Now, how do we get to the cafeteria?”

You crane your neck to look up at him. “How am I supposed to know? I didn’t exactly ask for a tour when they carried me in on a stretcher.”

“Ooh, feisty,” Eddie teases, continuing down the hallway until he finds a map of the hospital. His eyes scan the figure until they land on his destination. “Aha! Looks like we have to turn right at the end of this hall, then take the elevator down to the first floor, and it’ll be on the left.”

“Onwards!” you command, and Eddie gives a little salute as he brings you to the elevator.

You reach the cafeteria, and he wheels you over to a table. “How do you take your coffee?” When you give him your order, he repeats it over and over again.

“If you forget, just call out and ask me,” you reassure him, but he shakes his head.

“Wayne told me once that you should always know how your girl takes her coffee,” he explains. “‘S like one of the Ten Commandments or something.”

A grin spreads across your face. “Your girl?”

“Y-Yeah, if you want?” he stammers, shoving his hands in his back pockets and rocking back and forth. 

You crook your finger, beckoning him down to your level, and you kiss him passionately. He relaxes into you, deepening it and parting your lips with his own. “Yeah, I want,” you say softly, twirling a strand of his hair around your forefinger.

As he walks towards the carafes of lukewarm coffee, you admire him. Your boyfriend. He claims that revealing what happened to you won’t make him like you any less, but you have a niggling feeling that it might. He only knows you as Sunshine, and the one time you showed any emotion other than optimism, he left without a word. What if he decides that it’s too much? That you’re too much?

Maybe he’s better off without you and your baggage dragging him down. As if he can sense you getting in your own head, Eddie slides your coffee in front of you and plops down in the seat next to yours.

“My girlfriend gets the cutest little crease right between her eyebrows when she’s thinking too hard,” Eddie says. 

“Sorry,” you say with a sheepish smile. You take a sip of your coffee and let out a hum of approval. “Perfect.”

“No overthinking on our first date. Wait for the third or fourth for that.”

“Sounds fair,” you acquiesce. 

Eddie looks at you before taking a sip of his own coffee. “You know you don’t have to hide anything from me, right? I don’t run away. Not anymore.” He reaches out and strokes the back of your hand with his thumb, bringing it to his lips for a kiss.

You swallow your nerves, forcing yourself to meet his gaze. “Okay,” you agree slowly. “Okay. I’ll tell you.”

--

taglist: @thebrookemunson, @mystars123, @h-ness1944, @hazydespair, @ajkamins, @aysheashea, @jasminelafleur, @brittney69, @arsonfrogger, @brassreign, @lunarzstarz, @aftermidnightwriting, @justtryingtobecreative, @micheledawn1975, @kailynn-exe @afunkyfreshblog @fangirling-4-ever @crimsonsabbath @babyexpertlampskeleton @whenshelanded @ches-86 @acmbooksfilmtelevisionandreads

[xmimiteh]

Here are the next chocobo racing news surrounding Mimiteh!

In case you are wondering, what this is about? >Here< is the first post. Actual news underneath the cut.

Chocobo race (name / catch-phrase): Seasonal Gold Saucer race Location: Thanalan / Sagolii road Weather: Sunny sky Special: nothing

Racing Results: Syndicate Racer – Ulalala Lala Running Berserker – A’nura Nahar Ul’dahn Gold – X’mimiteh Lhim Heavenly High – Warulo Rulo Cactuar Glory – Elisabeth Harrow Why so kweh? – Annabelle Greene Desert Hopper – U’donna Werun Little Winner – Lorola Lola Diving Feathers – U’linka Werun Big Chirper – Glymwynn Fjorlsn

Quick summary: The Syndicate Racer triumphed once again! Yes, that’s probably rigged. The name is not really subtle and the recent races in Thanalan show this. But nobody speaks up and everybody accepts it. What the Syndicate gains from it? Who knows! So most people do not really care about the first place as that place is burned anyway.

How it went for Mimiteh: She is back! After her last not so glorious race, the grumpy Seeker jockey was close to finishing second place. She definitely was out to rectify her previous failure. And she nearly succeeded! It was a close call, but in the end her rival for second place, another Seeker, distracted the Ul’dahn gold with a tossed Chysahl Green. Sometimes the simple tricks are the most effective.

--

Upcoming race: Seasonal Gold Saucer race Location: La Noscea

Racing Roster (only participants): Ul’dahn Gold – X’mimiteh Lhim Inspired Speed – Tehwa’ran Ora Clear Skyfall – Chester Roefield Ocean Claw – Emilia Mellow Wild Beak – Soh’rae Quor Crabs are Tasty – Roaring Sea Running Berserker – A’nura Nahar Coastal Wark – E’rhym Tia Big Chirper – Glymwynn Fjorlsn Forest Bird – Arelle Durande

[whistlingstarlight]

What are your thoughts on the new freight (fuel) trucks and their respective roles within the show?

I actually quite like them! Mostly.

Let's go over each of them

Porter and Lumber

Porter and Lumber are probably my favourite new characters, period (aside from perhaps Golden Eagle). They're reminiscent of their predecessors, the Rockies and Hip Hoppers, but still with their own mannerisms. The fact they're bad guys, and henchmen to a bigger bad specifically, is such a unique idea.

Porter in particular has a softer, mellower side, as he can be seen helping Dinah calm down during the final race, using breathing exercises.

Slick

Slick isn't a terrible villain, and the fact she's a partial successor to Flat-Top makes me biased to her, but I must admit it was obvious she was the bad guy. Even with the attempts to set Hydra up as a red herring. Best I like how she's set apart from her fellow villain by having henchmen, where C.B./Cabs working alone. Why exactly they work for her isn't made clear, but I imagine given how she's shown manipulating Rusty, Greaseball and Electra, that she's also manipulated the generally nice Porter and Lumber into doing her dirty work.

I have to say though, making Porter the main villain would've been a bigger twist. Much like how it was obvious Flat-Top would eventually side with Greaseball, it was kinda obvious the oil truck would end up also working with Greaseball.

Hydra

This guy seems to be the fandom favourite atm, but honestly I. Really don't care for him much. The Hydrogen mantra gets pretty fucking annoying after a while, especially when it replaces Rusty's beautiful "Earth, Water, Air Fire" pre-race chant. Tbh what I like most about him is that nobody seems to like him, even though he means well. He gets on the rest of the freight trucks' nerves and their "oh Christ it's this asshole again" attitude towards him always amuses me.

[steddielicious-quaerhye]

So next up for peak bi experience is Joyce Byers.

Joyce Byers, who is still Joyce Maldonado in 1956. She’s the daughter of a doctor in Hawkins, living a comfortable upper middle class life that she hates. So at fourteen, she starts dating twenty-year-old Lonnie Byers, who her father loathes. Daddy Dearest threatens to kick her out if she doesn’t break up with him after a pregnancy scare; she focuses on her friends and school. She forms a clique of girls who idolize her and are fascinated with her tragic forced break-up and salacious stories. Her friends would never dare to approach boys and be labeled as hussies, but they all want to know how to kiss them at upcoming Semiformal and Winter Formal and Homecoming and Prom. Joyce is thrilled at the power she holds in teaching her gal pals to kiss. She gets to pull breathy whimpers out of the other girls and she can’t even get pregnant from it. 

By the time she’s a junior, Joyce and Jim Hopper are scandalously best friends. She’s queen bee and he’s a notorious ladies man, but they don’t ever date. People gossip about how it’s not right for boys and girls to act the way they do with each other and they don’t care. They skip class to smoke and compare their exploits. Jim just laughs when Joyce says Alice Gilbert let her feel her tits when she wouldn’t even let Jim kiss her. 

After they graduate, Jim goes to Vietnam and Joyce to NYU where she has grand plans to be a realtor after a degree in psychology or something. She hasn’t changed much from high school and finds herself around the same type of girls, this time as part of Kappa Kappa Delta. She gets close to a girl named Rachel and spends all of her undergrad at her side. That is, until December 1963, senior year. Sigma Chi is hosting a luau, so Joyce and Rachel go all out. They’ve got grass skirts and coconut bras, even managing to rustle up leis made of real flowers. Sangria flows all night, and by 3 am, Joyce has Rachel in her bed, plying her with endless kisses. It feels so, so right, but in the morning, Rachel says that she thinks they shouldn’t be friends anymore. It’s just not what girls are supposed to do with each other. 

This lights a fire under Joyce. She is enraged by constantly being told what she is supposed to do, who she is supposed to be. So she drops out. She returns to Hawkins for Christmas and does the exact opposite of what a sorority girl is supposed to do. She heads straight into Lonnie Byers’ bed and they’ve eloped by June. This is the final straw for her parents, who take her younger siblings and move to Boston. They don’t provide any contact information. Joyce lives off of her rage and her broken heart, though she doesn’t quite realize how it got there. Rachel’s face still flits through her mind when her husband is drunkenly fucking her. She tries to drown out the sounds of masculine grunts with her memories of coconuts knocking together. Lonnie is furious once she’s cut off from her family funds, so she takes a job at Melvald’s to help make ends meet and stick it to the system that told her she had to graduate from university and marry a finance major right after. 

It’s not until 1967 that her fury subsides. She and Lonnie have somehow created the most beautiful baby boy, Jonathan, who is the center of her universe. She becomes a stay-at-home mom to him and their next son, William, until money runs out; she has to return to Melvald’s when Will is only two. Being a parent to her boys and keeping Lonnie off of all of their backs is exhausting; Joyce mellows. She is no longer the temperamental young woman telling the world to fuck off. She just wants Lonnie out. Jim Hopper moves back to town, dealing with his own heartbreak at his daughter’s death and his subsequent divorce. He and Joyce don’t reconnect much beyond surface level chats when they run into each other around town, but that’s fine for now. Their time will come. 

Divorce papers are served to Lonnie on Joyce’s fortieth birthday and it turns into an explosive fight, as all their disagreements do. And Joyce knows this isn’t healthy for their sons, but she needs to show them that she will always stand up for them and herself. Because she’s Joyce Fucking Byers. 

And once it’s just the three of them, she keeps the Byers name. She associates it more with her boys than Lonnie anyways. Joyce doesn’t even think about dating, especially once Will goes missing a year later and their world is turned upside down. Jim Hopper reintegrates himself into her life and this crazy mindfuckery. 

But then that’s done and Bob Newby is just such an extreme opposite from Lonnie that it’s easy to slip into a relationship with him. And then the Upside Down is back and Bob is brutally killed. Time passes and Jim asks her to dinner, which she forgets, because of the magnets, and then he has the audacity to die just as the potential for something starts to appear; now Joyce has the sweetest daughter as well. And she has to protect her kids and leave this toxic, cursed town, so it’s time to head for California. There isn’t any time to date anyone and Joyce is well-practiced at ignoring her urges to ruin the careful hair and makeup of the polished women that Lenora Hills is full of. (She hates them all so much and doesn’t connect these feelings to the thrills of her youth at making pretty girls gasp and pant against her.)

Then Hopper is alive and Joyce thinks that for the first time ever, she’s actually in love. (She thinks she came close with Bob, but alas.) She still notices beautiful women, but so does everyone. It’s normal to appreciate when a woman has a gorgeous smile or can hold herself well in heels, right?

Christmas 1986 brings the usual shuffling of Steve Harrington between the various Party households for each meal. The Hopper-Byers home has the honour of hosting him for Christmas dinner, for which he provides two homemade pies and a topic of conversation that seems suspiciously well-rehearsed with Jonathan. 

Very, very casually, the two oldest boys bring up David Bowie, and a little thing called bisexuality. Will and El share several looks, but are overall attentive. Joyce can see the surprise on Steve’s face as Hop asks more questions than either of the younger kids. She stays silent, but Hop gently takes her trembling hand under the table, giving her a soft look. 

After dessert, Joyce escapes to the back porch for a well-needed smoke and reflection. Lovely, kind Steve wants to check in on her and, she can tell, gauge if she has any disgust at the dinner’s main conversation. 

And maybe it’s strange that the first person she says these words are to Steve Harrington, not Hop or any of her kids, but she sends a silent prayer up to Bob that she’s not making a massive mistake. 

“I think,” she pauses to take a shaky drag of her cigarette, “No, I am bisexual.”

See more in the series at #peak bi experience

Crossposted to AO3 here

[thestrangestthing89]

Season 1. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Season 2. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

Mike Character Analysis- Season 2 Part 5:

The season ends with the Snow Ball. As promised last season, El gets to go. But it's kind of unclear if Mike was expecting her. He seems surprised to see her. If this is true it implies the two weren't really talking often. But before she gets there there are some important things to note. One is that Will dances with a girl and he does so at Mikes encouragement. He clearly is uncomfortable and doesn't know what to do and looks to Mike. Forced conformity is killing the kids. It's a main theme of the series. He's at a dance so he's supposed to dance with a girl. (Will will later force some conformity on Mike in season 4).

The second thing is that Mike is paralleled to Dustin when they are dancing. Dustin looks longingly at Max and Lucas dancing. He is disappointed she picked him. And Mike is right behind him watching Will with the same look on his face. He realizes he's gay at this point but also knows he couldn't dance with Will (he doesn't know Will's feelings and it's the 80s) so he stares. Dustin leaves and Mike sits down and he stares at Will some more. He is disappointed and probably a little confused. El shows up and Mike demonstrates his own forced conformity. He follows the correct social script - he tells her she looks beautiful (they are at a formal dance and dressed up, it's what you say) and then he asks her dance. She says she doesn't know how. While they are dancing they are directly paralleled to Nancy and Dustin dancing - Dustin and El even have the same hair and presumably El is wearing Nancy's hand-me-down dress (it's also possible Hopper or Joyce got it for her). Nancy is showing Dustin how to dance and Mike is showing El. It is not romantic - Nancy and Dustin aren't and they are doing the same thing, mostly. They are learning to conform. All of them. Will learns he needs to dance with a girl whether he wants to or not, Mike learns this too and that he needs to be doing this with El. He can't dance with who he wants to. El kisses him here and we don't see his face or reaction. It's hidden from us. But what we do see is that Mike's mood during this whole dance is (and I'm not sure how to describe this) - he's mellow? Bored? Brooding? Of course he still is dealing with depression and large crowds and happy events like this can be hard with that. He doesn't seem like he wants to be here. Even after El shows up he almost seems like he's sleepwalking through the motions he knows he's supposed to go through. He certainly isn't excited and happy to be there. The only time he looks vaguely happy is when they are teasing Dustin about his hair. Every other moment he just looks kind of unsure. This is how the season ends. At this point I think Mike knows fully about his feelings for Will and that he's gay. And he's going to spend some time next season trying to avoid this and overcompensating. There was a lot in this season to dissect because seeing Mike and Will interact for the first time reveals a lot about their dynamic. It's a very byler heavy season. Next season brings even more behavior changes for Mike.

Season 3 Part 1

[stevie-petey]

What season will hopper become a father figure to bug? I feel like having El he's kinda mellowed out and isn't as passive aggressive anymore ( I mean he still is but more passive than aggressive ya know). We had a moment in season two and their dynamic kinda reminds me of Joel and Ellie from the last of us ( especially the game play) bug is sarcastic, so is hopper and it creates such great banter between the two. I'm really excited to see what you do next! I hope your laptop gets fixed too! My old one was a family computer my dad gave me when I started school and it lasted almost five years, it was taped together and still going strong till the screen gave out. Chromebooks are just 🤌🤌

unfortunately i cant explore them too much in the main series due to Plot BUT !! blurbs are always welcome and we will def have at least one scene in season 3 with the two of them <3

i really wish i could explore more of their dynamic because they are exactly like joel and ellie ugh i love them bug keeps hopper in check !!

OH AND THANK U ABOUT THE LAPTOP LMAO STILL GRIEVING THAT

[ronanceautistic]

One more thing to add Wheelers in Byers household in s1 Joyce instinctually ruffles Will’s hair where he would be seating in the kitchen. She then accidentally does to Nancy cuz she is short as Will was around that age as she ran out without really looking around and Nancy initially was weirded out but then started to enjoy feeling included so she intentionally starts to sit at the spot.

Hopper also would probably mellow out at Mike’s presence after s4 but he enjoys tormenting him a bit cuz he is dating his daughter so he intentionally lets Nancy get away with stuff while berating him around the cabin.

that's so silly I love it.

also sidenote I like the idea of the wheeler parents maybe going away for a few days and asking Joyce to "look after Holly" but it turns out that none of the Wheelers can be trusted on their own, not just the six year old.

[a-little-unsteddie]

WIP Weekend

i was tagged by @i-less-than-three-you <3 thank you!

RULES:

In a reblog (or new post w/ rules attached), post up to five (5) filenames of your WIPs; not titles, file names.

Post a snippet from one of them. Snippet must be words you wrote in the last 7 days. We’re posting progress here. If you haven’t made any, go make some and come back to post!

After you’ve posted, people can send you an ask with one of your file names. You must then write 3 sentences in that file. If the filename is one you can’t share from (for example, an event fic), write 3 sentences on it anyway, and then 3 more on another to share.

That’s it! You can invite others to join in, or just post. If you tag me in your post, I will send you an ask request!

WIP File Names:

exhale (big bang)

sleeping with a ghoul

11:00 (dragon age au)

stonathan timeloop

a lonely heart

Snippet(s) from ‘a lonely heart’

“Welcome to the midwest, where the winters are frigid and the summers are sweltering. Where we don’t hear whistling at night. And if you do, stay inside. Welcome to Hawkins, where nothing ever happens.”

…….

After clearing his throat, he continued, “Now, you may remember our dear friend,” the word is spoken with malice, “Jason Carver. You know, the extremist that lurks outside of Benny’s, spouting hatred and lies. Today, he was claiming that the Mind Flayer isn’t real! That it’s all in our heads! To that I say, poppycock!” Eddie scoffed, shaking his head. “Bullshit, if you rather. We have seen it with our very own eyes. He says that we’re insane, citizens of Hawkins, can you believe the nerve of that guy? First it was the shadow people, now the Mind Flayer? Is nothing sacred, Jason Carver? Next, he’ll be saying that Jane Hopper isn’t Chief Hoppers’ child! You know Jane Hopper, the girl that lives with the Chief of the Secret Police. Her nose bleeds and sometimes, if you’re lucky, you can see things floating around her! We all know them!” He really couldn’t believe the audacity of Jason. Eddie’s thoughts suddenly were brought back to Benny’s.

No Pressure Tags: @sailing-through-hawkins @hammity-hammer @cuips-not-cute @apomaro-mellow :)

[devondespresso]

oh my god stranger things season 1 was so good. im just skipping around and even little snippets of scenes out of their context are so captivating and moving. im screaming crying throwing up every blur of joyce that enters frame. i forgot how amazing hoppers character is. and the dialogue, i forgot how perfect the kids dialogue writing is both for their setting and personal characters. they're such a good example of 'your lines should only be able to cone from that character' like so many lines could theoretically be said by any of 'mikes friends' but the phrasing or perspective they reveal could only come from Lucas or only come from Dustin. how lucas uses 'shit' and dustin 'son of a bitch' while mike says 'knucklehead' and 'mouthbreather'. how lucas is confident and almost brash, dustin is more chill but still has that childish boldness, how mikes super mellow and their defacto leader. how characters will pick one thing to stick to in conversations like dustin stuck on being freaked out that el was gonna change in front of them, how lucas is insisting shes probably from penthurts, how mike sticks to keeping parents out if the loop both with them sneaking out and then with keeping el a secret. like this script is so smart and concise but it never feels too fast or like important thing are being skipped as a kind of effeciency for effeciency sake. everything gets proper time to develop and god its so well done i can't believe i forgot it was this strong of a story.