#mike wheeler reader insert

[multi-fandomfuckboy]

Stranger Than Fiction

Part 28: Games

Billy Hargrove x Reader (Slowburn)

Part 1,... (Masterlist)...Part 28, Part 29 (Coming Soon)...

AN: lol I'm back on my bullshit. Word Count: 3,874 Warnings: allusions to abuse

It’s a short ride. Neither of you speak, allowing the music to fill the space between you. It’s comfortable. You listen to each song as the cassette plays through the specific mix curated by its maker. Max had shown you a few of these ‘mixtapes' Billy had made the day you waited with her. You don’t fully understand how he’s able to get each song to seamlessly blend into the next despite the variation in artists and rhythms. 

Then a song comes on that grabs your attention. It’s the same loud tune, a guitar continuously strumming along with the beat of drums and bass. The thing that stands out to you are the lyrics. 

“People think I’m insane,  because I’m frowning all the time…  I need someone to show me the things in life that I can’t find I can’t see the things that make true happiness,  I must be blind.”

“Who sings this?” You ask, glancing sidelong at Billy. 

“Black Sabbath.” He tells you, keeping his eyes ahead. “It’s one of their older songs but it still holds up.” He explains pulling to a stop in front of his house. When he moves to cut the engine your hand reflexively grabs his wrist, stopping him. 

“Wait. I want to hear the rest.” You tell him, using your other hand to turn up the volume.   Billy doesn’t fight you, watching you in silence as you listen to the rest of the song. 

“Make a joke and I will sigh And you will laugh and I will cry Happiness I cannot feel And love to me is so unreal… I tell you to enjoy life I wish I could, but it’s too late”

Your heart gives an uncomfortable squeeze for a beat as the song ends. There is a tense moment before the next song begins where you notice Billy's pulse under your fingertips. You don’t know why you're squeezing Billy’s wrist so tightly. You slowly uncurl your fingers, sitting back in your seat. The lyrics bounce around in your mind as you sit there. Billy finally cuts the engine, ending the music as well. 

“You okay?” Billy finally asks, lifting a brow. You nod.

“Yea, it’s just weird. How something can sound so loud and angry but under it all it’s actually really sad.” You explain. “Like a cry for help.” Billy’s lips quirk up slightly.

“Maybe that’s what they were going for?” He says. “Music is just another way to tell a story. I’m surprised you’re not more into it.” He tells you, moving to exit the car. “If you thought that was good I’ll have to show you some Bon Jovi.” He goes on as you follow him out of the car and up the steps towards the house. “I’m assuming you have no idea who that is.” Billy says with a smirk. 

“Yea yea, save it. Max already thinks I’ve been living under a rock for the past 17 years.” You reply with an eye roll. Billy huffs a laugh. 

“That little shit wouldn’t know dick about music if it weren’t for me.” He says, pulling out his keys. His words are harsh but there is no heat to them. 

“Well this is a first.” You quip as he unlocks and opens the front door, stepping to the side to let you enter first. “A whole different experience than coming in though the window.” You joke, stepping into the house. 

“We can always go around back if you’d feel more comfortable.” He jokes back, following you in. You take a moment to really look around as Billy closes and bolts the door behind you. You’ve never been in this part of the house, only glimpsing at it through windows. It’s not a large space and it’s clear that 4 people occupy the small domicile. Bits and pieces of everyones lives are scattered around. 

“I think I’m good.” You reply. You notice that there is a clear clash in interior design through the house. The free weights contrast with the decorative rug under them. Beer cans stacked next to decorative shell decor on the mantle. Someone had tried to make this house a home, but there was something off. It felt like two personalities were struggling to mesh into a comfortable middle, it was unstable, chaotic. 

Billy moves around you to lead you deeper into the house but before you can move any further Max’s voice calls from her room. 

“Billy, I need to go to the arcade! Where did you-oh.” She stops short seeing you in the living room. For some reason it feels like you’ve been caught doing something you shouldn’t, a pit of anxiety taking root in your stomach. 

“Hey Max.” You greet, giving her a half wave. She just watches you skeptically. Her narrowed eyes dart between you and Billy. 

“What’s your malfunction?” Billy snaps after the silence lasts a moment longer than is comfortable. 

“Are you two dating?” Max asks bluntly. 

“What?!” Both you and Billy ask in unison. You share a confused glance before turning back to Max. Your face heats exponentially. 

“Mind your own business you little shit.” Billy bites at the same time you try to explain. 

“He’s tutoring me in history.” A smirk, eerily similar to Billy’s, spreads across Max’s face. 

“Is that what they call it these days?” She asks, crossing her arms and leaning against the wall, a taunting lift in her brow. 

“If you want a ride, I would shut the hell up.” Billy says sternly, narrowing his eyes at the redhead. 

“Jeez, learn how to take a joke.” Max huffs with an exaggerated roll of her eyes. She ducks back into her room, leaving you and Billy in the living room. Billy just shakes his head, clenching his jaw as he heads for his room. 

“I swear if her attitude gets any worse Neil is going to lose his shit.” He mumbles, pushing his hair back from his forehead. “Be ready in 20 minutes!” He yells after her. The only confirmation that she heard him comes in the form of a dramatic groan. 

“That’s how all kids are at that age. I was so argumentative my mom and I didn’t have a pleasant interaction for weeks at a time, and don’t get me started on Hopper. I’m pretty sure I took years off his life with my attitude.” You chuckle fondly at the memory of your painful growing years. 

“Sometimes being a kid isn’t a good enough excuse.” Billy replies calmly. Your stomach twists uncomfortably remembering how Neil had looked at his own son that night not so long ago. 

“Neil and Susan are in Indianapolis Christmas shopping, so I’m playing chauffeur for the day.” Billy explains, entering his room and heading straight for the bed, flopping down on it. 

“I don’t mind helping watch her.” You offer without much thought. You hover in the doorway, suddenly nervous about being in his room alone with him. It’s not like you had never been in his room alone before, you spent many nights sitting across from him on the bed pouring over history lessons, keeping your voices low to not wake anyone else in the house. But something about being here in the daylight, not sneaking around, it makes your stomach swirl. You glance around, his room looks the same as it always does. Bed half made, cigarette butts stamped out in the ashtray next to the cassettes on the nightstand. You do notice that there is now a small dent in the wall next to the mirror, but you can’t be sure that it wasn’t always there.

“Neil would kick my ass if he knew I pawned my responsibility off on you.” Billy explains, propping himself up on his elbow to see you. You absentmindedly skim your fingers over the outside of the doorframe.

“It’s not ‘pawning’ them off on me. We would do it together.” You reason with him. Your fingers catch on something cold and metal on the outside of the doorframe. Leaning back to glance at what you’re touching you see the latch of a lock. Glancing at the outer side of the door you see the other half of the latch. Something cold prickles down your spine.

This isn’t just a teenager wanting privacy, the way this latch is set up, it would function to lock the door from the outside. Why would anyone need that? Your mind struggles to make sense of it. 

“He wouldn’t see it that way.” He tells you flatly. 

“Then don’t tell him.” You say simply, stepping fully into the room. “I’ll help you out today and I’ll be gone by the time they get home. “ you explain, sitting gently on the edge of the bed next to his legs. “Just like when we painted the porch.” You remind him. You watch something dance behind his eyes at the memory from this summer that feels like a hundred years ago. “Consider it part of my tutoring payment. I know the food isn’t a fair trade.” You insist. When he finally nods, giving in, you have to smile. 

“Fine. But only because the idea of dealing with a prepubescent she-devil by myself makes me want to stick needles in my brain… and leaving her alone is not an option.” He tells you, sitting up next to you. His thigh presses against yours, and the proximity sends sparks over your nerves. 

Remembering the promise you made yourself before leaving home you try to scoot away to put some distance between your bodies. Billy notices the movement immediately. 

“Oh sorry, am I making you nervous?” He asks, leaning in even closer, one of his arms going behind your back. He’s not touching you, but he’s close enough that you can feel him if you lean back even slightly. You struggle to hold his gaze.

“No.” You say simply, not trusting your voice to say more without shaking. 

“You sure?” He asks, lifting a brow. You feel him lean in even closer, you swear you can feel the heat coming off of him. You force yourself to hold his gaze and remain still, fighting the urge to pull away. Like a game of personal space chicken.

“I’m fine.” You practically whisper, your voice sounding too loud with how close he is. When he chuckles you can feel the warmth of his breath against your cheek. His eyes shift between yours. You can see the flecks of green in his sky blue iris. Your breath mingles with his and you smell his last cigarette mixed with spearmint gum. You swallow thickly, gritting your teeth together in defiance. 

“You can tell me if you’re not.” Billy insists, his voice just as soft. He’s flirting but you can hear the seriousness laced in his tone. He’s making sure you know he’ll stop, if you ask. Something about that knowledge eases the panic in you. Shifting slightly you tilt your chin up, watching him the way he always looks at you.

“I’m okay.” You say more confidently. You see his adams apple bob as he swallows, his eyes seeming to darken. His gaze flickers to your parted lips so quickly you think you imagined it. Your mouth suddenly goes dry, your stomach flipping at the memory of what his lips felt like against you-

“Right, that’s what ‘not dating’ looks like.” Max’s voice calls loudly from the doorway. You feel like a bucket of ice water has just been poured over your head as you pull away from Billy. Embarrassment floods through you as Billy leaps from the bed lunging towards the door. 

“Fuck off!” He yells, slamming the door closed. 

“I still need a ride!” Max yells from outside the door, pounding on it for emphasis. Billy’s shoulders are tense as he stands with his back to you, his arms braced against the door. You see him take a deep breath, then another, bowing his head as he lowers his arms, slightly adjusting the waistband of his jeans. 

“You sure you want in on this shit show?” He asks, turning to lean back against the door. Max pounds on the door again, shaking its frame. You manage a dry laugh, trying to shove all the mortifying shame you feel into the back of your mind. 

“Oh this is nothing. Try telling Mike Wheeler a campaign needs to end early. Kid turns into a gremlin.” You tell him, pushing yourself off the bed. Billy lifts a brow. 

“I’m more surprised that you know what a gremlin is.” He admits teasingly. You roll your eyes. 

“I do have a life outside of this room you know.” You tell him. You won’t admit that the only reason you know the plot of gremlins is because Steve insisted on catching you up on all the big hits you had missed while you were in the hospital, not that you had actually seen it in theaters. 

Billy watches you approach with a healthy dose of skepticism. 

“Come on Hargrove, put on a brave face. I hear they can smell fear.” You joke, clapping a hand on his shoulder. 

“I’m going to be late!” Max yells, pounding harder. 

“Be my guest Loca, I always knew you had a death wish.” Billy says with a smirk. Your heart pounds at the memory of your first meeting. It feels like a million years ago, like you were an entirely different person, and looking at Billy’s confident smirk, the teasing glint in his eyes, you wonder if he’s a different person now too. 

Without another word, Billy whips open the door to reveal a very agitated Max.

“Finally!” She exclaims, turning on her heel striding towards the front door, her bag already slung over her shoulder. Billy shoots you a look over his shoulder before following after her. 

“Hey, Max?” You call, slipping in front of Billy to catch up to her. She only glances at you, still heading for the door. “Do you mind if I tag along to the arcade?” You ask. Your words cause her to halt, turning to face you with the full force of her scrutinizing glare. You feel Billy come to a stop behind you, her eyes dart to him before returning to you. 

“Did he ask you to babysit me?” She asks indignantly. 

“No!” You say, throwing your hands up. “I just thought you could teach me some stuff. I’m not very good and I hear you kick the boys' butts on a regular basis.” You explain, hoping it comes off as genuine. She studies you for another beat, seeming to weigh the pros and cons of allowing you to come with her. Finally, she shrugs. 

“Fine. But don’t try to talk to me while I’m playing. It throws me off.” She instructs, turning for the door. When her back is turned you quickly give Billy an enthusiastic thumbs up, earning another eye roll. 

The three of you climb into the car, Billy turning the volume up to his usual bone shaking level as he whips out of his spot, speeding down the road. It’s a short ride into town, especially with how Billy drives. When he comes to a stop outside the arcade you climb out, pulling the seat forward to allow Max out. 

“I’ll meet you in there.” you tell her. Needing no explanation, Max jogs to the doors slipping into the dimly lit building. You can see the boys' bikes already lined up outside. “You coming?” you ask Billy, leaning back into the car. 

“Hell no. I can babysit just fine from here. You couldn’t pay me to go into that dork pit.” He scoffs. You roll your eyes at his stubbornness. 

“Oh come on, tough guy. Where is your sense of adventure and whimsy.” you ask, only receiving an unimpressed look in return. 

“Whimsy?” He asks, his lip curling at the word. 

“I’ll buy you a coke.” you offer, hoping that bribery will soften his resolve. Billy’s lips press into a firm line, you can see his jaw tick as he grinds his teeth. 

“Fine.” he says after a moment. “But I have to run an errand real quick.” He tells you. Thinking this is some kind of trick to get out of coming in, you narrow your eyes. 

“You promise to come in when you get back?” you ask, extending your pinky to him. He lifts a brow, a dry laugh escaping him.

“What are you 12?” He asks. When you don’t show any signs of joking he heaves a sigh, linking his pinky with yours. “Fine, yes. I promise I’ll come back and watch you be terrible at dig dug, dork.” He promises with a teasing smirk. 

“Good.” you smile, letting his pinky go and stepping back. “And I’m not that bad.” you clarify, closing the door and allowing him to pull away from the curb. 

It turns out that you ARE that bad. 

Max allows you to take the first turn, even offering you pointers, but by the end of your third turn she takes over explaining that she can’t stand watching you throw away quarters like that. You’re a sorry excuse for a gamer, your brain having trouble communicating quickly enough with your hands on the controls. It’s alright though, you have more fun watching Max and the boys take turns trying to beat each other's scores. 

The longer you observe the group of adolescents the more you note the change in dynamic among them. Max and Lucus are openly interested in each other but don’t seem to know how to navigate this new realm of relationship. Mike appears distracted, constantly glancing at his watch. You assume he’s anxious to see El. You know that Hopper has started allowing the two to hang out at the cabin and though you’ve pushed for El to have more social time, Hopper's old habits die hard. His paranoia is persistent. You can’t say that you don’t understand where he’s coming from. 

Dustin and Will seem more irritated than anything with the new shift in priorities within the group. 

After roughly 30 minutes of watching Max wipe the floor with the boys scores, you venture to the opposite side of the arcade. You want to give the group space but also stay close enough to keep an eye on them. You scan the games, searching for one that you can play without too much instruction. Ms. Pac-Man seems to be simple enough, and it’s located in a spot that allows you to watch your group bounce from game to game. 

Inserting your first quarter you begin the game. You’re able to keep up at first, but when the ghosts start to speed up you can't seem to evade them quick enough. After your 4th quarter your pride is stinging. 

“Fuck…” you curse to yourself as once again you are cornered by the little red ghost. Before you can insert another quarter, you feel someone approaching from your left, coming too close to just be passing by, tensing your hand itches to lash out but you stop yourself when you realize who it is.

“Hey.” Keiths’ monotone voice greets you. You know him from school, and to your knowledge the two of you had never actually spoken to each other. 

“Hi Keith.” you reply politely. You aren’t sure why he’s approaching you. You know that he works here so possibly you were doing something wrong. “What’s up?” you ask. Kieth seems to swallow past something in his struggle to speak. 

“I see you around sometimes.” he tells you, unable to meet your eyes. You don’t know what to say to that.

“Yea, I babysit so I come in to keep an eye on my kids sometimes.” you tell him. 

“That’s cool.” he mumbles “You know I could help you with some of the games if you want. Are you alone today?” He asks. You know he doesn't mean for it to sound as creepy as it does but you can’t help your slight cringe. 

“No, I’m actually with-��� you move to gesture towards Max but are cut off when Billy appears next to you, casually draping an arm over your shoulders. 

“Me.” He finishes for you, keeping his eyes on Keith who looks like a deer caught in headlights. 

“O-oh, cool.” Keith manages to mumble, taking a step back. “Nevermind then” he manages to get out, obviously resisting the urge to turn and run. Understandable with the way Billy is glaring daggers at him.

“I’ll see you around.” you offer Keith a kind smile. He only nods sheepishly before retreating further into the arcade. Sighing, you swat at Billy’s side, causing him to drop his arm from your shoulder with a chuckle.

“What was that for?” he asks, doing his best to look genuinely confused. You see right through it to the self satisfaction he's really feeling. 

“Did you have to mad dog him? He was just saying ‘Hi’.” you tell him. Billy scoffs, moving to lean against the game. 

“Yea, right.” He says, sarcasm dripping from every word. “You didn’t see how he’s been eyeing you, trying to work up the courage to come ‘say hi’.” he tells you, throwing air quotes around your words. 

“And how long were you watching that?” You ask, crossing your arms over your chest. Billy shakes his head, his curls falling across his forehead.

“You’re missing the point.” He tells you, deflecting the question. 

“What point is that?” You ask, shaking your head as you dig a quarter out of your pocket and lean over to place it into the game. When you straighten up Billy has taken a step into your space. You could take a step back to give yourself some room, but you don't. You stand your ground, tilting your head up to meet his stare head on. 

“The point is that you’re playing a game you don’t know the rules of and guys like that-” he jerks his chin in the direction Keith had run off. “Will take advantage of that.” he tells you, his voice low. You know he’s too close. That you should take a step back. That the way he’s looking down at you is too personal. That either one of you could close the distance between you with a breath. 

“I’m not really good at games.” you admit, feeling the heat rushing to your face. Still you can’t seem to look away. Billy’s sharp gaze seems to soften slightly at your admission. 

“I know…” He says softly, his eyes shifting between yours. “I just watched you die 4 times and not even make it past the first level of Pac-man.” He says, his teasing smirk overtaking all the gentleness that had once been in his eyes. Finally, you pull back shocked.

“You stalker!” you accuse, Billy just chuckles turning to face the game. “And I was multitasking.” you try to defend your abysmal performance, gesturing to the group now huddled around galaga. 

“Sure, sure. Let me show you how it’s done.” he says confidently, starting the queued up game. 

“Hey! That was my quarter!” You protest. Billy only chuckles again.

“I’ll get the next one, crazy.” he tells you, keeping his eyes fixed on the screen.

AN: sorry this took so long... again!

@official-starcourt-mall@lem0ns77@bethii1 @wysteria-arts @fanficfanatic204 @theshinyrock @spacedaddydinn @raidxny @emmyawards1 @lucxxy @leia9817 @wounded-writing @taisab02 @goblinpit @howlerwolfmax @kilvru3 @blueberry-birdie @flamewriterr @im-julessssss @tsukibaby1@mikeyswifie@superblyspeedydragon @let-love-bleeds-red @m-rae23 @msrawog @speakinglikeconstellations @taintedxkisses @pineapleavocado @hawkinsavclub1983 @arael-asuka @velvet-spider @extra-3motions @uniquecookiepainterbear @crimsonsabbath @mushy-mushroom04 @jevdidv @vermillionwinter@black-kitten-imagines@sammysgirl1997@fillechatoyante @chaoticbilly @tmriddler @stanseventeen@katzenwahnsinn@wisdomcrys@twoochickens @devrill @loadivine@hermankopusortizorsumshite@0bsessedwithfictionalcharacters @primalsnack @peachyaeger@royaltysuite @sunnmoonsstuff @sobleedstherose@harmonics0537 @urmom-0987 @halbhohehalluzination@ladyapplejackdnd

@tulipsandlulis@gremlinfuck @perilous-pasta @candy12110@ccanineal @idkwhyimhere18 @ronnasey @friendlyneighborhoodgrunge-hippy

@chansmaze@sammararaven@tanyaherondale@actual-mom-steve-harrington@harringtonfan4@trenko-heart@maackiimoo@haleypearce@orangechickenpillow @bekindmydarling-blog @urmomgov

@krazy99 @clenchedfist @renaroo123 @bee-1n-space @puppybittingotherpuppy @neonbanshee @cannonize @rhumphr4 @chansbackdoor @cg94 @untoldshortsofthefandoms

@joyisalover @hibyewhy @rosey96 @spacegirl7777 @longingforasteroids @tayhar811 @lizzy6 @simpforbuckyb @laneyspaulding19 @dimskies @nyenye

@awesomesauce-abbie @blueray222

@alexa4040 @blackholegladiator @strangerthings1983fan

@curlszx88 @bdudette @eddiessweetheart86 @haleybarnesx @decadentwastelandtrash @all-for-kpop

@sophiaj650 @dystopianhellscape @punchyprincess23 @luvrsbian

@myrcellavonswartzschild @awk-sauced

@laceypdf @amberpanda99

[munsons-hellfire]

I Always Knew | Eddie Munson

SUMMARY: You fell in love with Eddie over the years. But you feared that he never felt the same way. When you finally break up with Jason and decided your ready to tell Eddie you love him. Your reality is crashed when you catch someone kissing him. Only it's not her he loves.

PAIRINGS: Eddie Munson x Reader, Jason Carver x Reader (brief mentions)

CONTENT WARNING: 18+ MDNI, NSFW, the events of season 4 don't happen (which means Hopper doesn't disappear, no one moves to Cali and reader does know about El and the Upside down), best friends to lovers, both kinda clueless about each others feelings, smut with a plot, unprotected p in v (wrap it before you tap it), oral (f receiving), angst, fluff, a happy ending.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: It was so good to get back to Stranger Things. I honestly missed writing for Eddie. I hope you enjoyed this one shot as much as I enjoyed writing it. The smut could be a little better but I don't write it as much so this is how it turned out.

WORD COUNT: 3.7K

You had been friends with Eddie Munson from the moment you moved into the trailer park in Hawkins Indiana. Eddie was the first person𑁋other than your father𑁋that you left into your life after your mother. You and your father had moved back to his hometown of Hawkins just months after your mother passed away. You felt stuck, like your feet had cemented to the ground and you couldn’t move forward anymore.

Then one night when you were out stargazing to feel closer to your mother, you met Eddie Munson. From the moment he came over to talk to you, you knew one day that you’d marry him. As the two of you grew older neither of you could be separated from each other. Wayne and Bill𑁋your father𑁋couldn’t separate you two from each other. They both knew collectively from the moment that you met that one day you and Eddie would end up together.

They were shocked that neither of you had come forward and admitted your feelings for each other. But a small rift formed between your friendship when you started dating Jason Carver. You should’ve known better, but Jason had you locked under his spell and you thought it would be a way to move on from Eddie. Here you stood, Jason standing in front of you talking about the basketball game and how positive that they were going to win tonight.

But your mind constantly found its way back to Eddie, no matter how hard you tried to avoid thinking about him, you couldn’t. You especially couldn’t stop thinking about the way he’d feel on top of you. About the way his cock would feel deep inside you. Just thinking about him that way made you wet between your legs.

“Are you listening to me, baby?” Jason questioned, his eyes trained on you. You were pulled out of your delicious thoughts, staring at your soon to be ex. This was your chance, you’d break up with him and then you’d finally go after Eddie hoping that it wasn’t too late.

“No, I’m not.” You whispered, then you sighed. “I can’t do this anymore Jason.” Your voice was steady as you spoke to him. You watched shock slowly morph into his features.

“What are you saying?” You pulled your eyes away from Jason looking around the hallway seeing a few people staring at you two. Almost like they were waiting for the announcement that you were breaking up with him.

A sigh rips from your throat, “What I’m saying is that I’m breaking up with you.”

A shocked noise left Jason’s mouth. “You can’t break up with me, we’re great together.” Jason said, throwing his hands in the air.

“I can and I am. I’m not meant to be with you, I’m meant to be with someone else.”

With those words you turned away from the basketball player and walked away from him as he called out your name. He didn’t however make a move to stop you. As you started on your journey to find Eddie you were stopped by Dustin, Mike, Lucas, and Will; all of whom were in Hellfire with Eddie. It was nice of Eddie to take the boys under his wing this year, you loved him a little more seeing the way he treated them. They had needed a good role model other than Steve after everything that had happened over the last few years.

But you could all live a normal life thanks to El defeating the Mind Flayer. You wondered where Max and El were considering that they were all inseparable. You were certain they probably weren’t far, or would be joining them soon enough.

“Is there something I can help you with?” You asked, with a raised brow.

“We heard that you finally broke up with Carver.” Dustin said, his smile taking over his face.

“Wow, that happened not even 5 minutes ago and it spread around quickly.” You pause, keeping your eyes trained on the teens. “I did. Why?” A curious expression appeared on your face as you waited for one of them to answer the question.

“Does this mean that you and Eddie are finally going to get together?” Mike asked. All four of them plus everyone else in your friend group including Steve made it very clear to you and Eddie that you both were perfect for each other. You and Eddie were two pieces to the puzzle that fit perfectly together. Never when you were together though, only if you weren’t around each other.

“You four are something, that’s for sure.” You paused, but allowed a smile to break through and plaster your face. “That being said, I was on my way to find him and talk to him. Any of you happen to know where I might find Eddie? I know I should know but I’ve been distracted as of late.”

Even though you’d asked the question, you knew exactly where Eddie would be. But you wanted to make sure just in case you were wrong. He was in the drama room most likely setting up for tonight’s session for Hellfire.

“Drama room!” They all answered excitedly.

“Great! Thank you!”

With a smile still on your lips you turned again and walked in the direction of the drama room. You were more than ready to admit your feelings to Eddie even if it meant you’d possibly ruin your friendship. You opened the door when you reached the drama room, Eddie was already setting up for tonight’s session which you were excited to see. Eddie looked up from what he was doing and smiled at you. His smile sent a warm feeling through your body.

“Hey, I thought you’d be getting ready for the basketball game.” Eddie said, as he looked back down at what he was setting up.

“Uh, actually, I thought I’d skip out tonight and watch your campaign if that’s okay.” Your voice came out soft as you talked to Eddie. But in reality you just wanted to tell him how much you loved him. How you didn’t want to be apart from him anymore. But nothing would come out, your words were lodged in your throat, they wouldn’t move forward.

“Of course, you know you’re always welcome here.”

You walked over to Eddie and sat down in one of the chairs. One by one the boys started to file into the drama room. El and Max were now with them too. Eventually the campaign started and you kept your eyes on Eddie for the most part. You were memorized by how he explained the storyline and the whole premise of the campaign. Things took a turn for the worst when someone else entered the drama room.

All eyes including yours fell onto her, she was so beautiful. You were nothing compared to her, suddenly you felt so self-conscious. You started to fidget with your fingers as you watched the blond walk up to Eddie, interrupting the session.

“Uh, don’t mind me.” She said softly, then proceeded to give Eddie a kiss to his lips, a quick peck.

But that was enough for you to feel your entire world shatter. She sat down next to him and the campaign continued. Eddie took notice of the way your posture and mood suddenly changed. He thought it was odd but shook it off. As the campaign came to a close and everyone started to pack up, you quickly said your goodbyes to everyone except Eddie and the girl that had missed him. With your back to everyone you let the tears roll down your cheeks.

You weren’t upset that you had broken up with Jason. It was better for you, but you had pushed it off too long and now because of that you were too late to get Eddie, the one you always knew you wanted. Climbing in your car you turned it on and drove out of the school parking lot as fast as you could before Eddie had a chance to catch up to you. When you made it home you climbed out of your car and headed towards your trailer. Your dad was outside, a soft warm smile on his face.

“Hi, darling. How was the basketball game?” He asked, curiously.

“I didn’t go. I broke up with Jason because I realized that I’m in love with Eddie. But now I can’t have him because he’s dating someone else.”

You walked up the steps as you answered your father. The door closed behind you as you stepped into the trailer and headed straight for your room. Bill could hear the sadness in your voice. It broke his heart to see you like this. Once you were inside your room you locked the door, collapsed on your bed and let the rest of the tears out.

☾

Days had passed since you broke up with Jason, you’d also managed to avoid Eddie as well. It even included not going to school for those few days. Each day Eddie stopped by your home after school to talk to you, but you weren’t in the right space to talk to him. Your father would send him away saying that you hadn’t been feeling well. But your dad wasn’t home right now and Eddie needed to see you.

He needed to understand why you wouldn’t talk to him. You were curled into your side, your blanket was wrapped around your entire body and you had a horror movie on. You’d normally watch them with Eddie, but you had it on more so for background noise. The sound was up just enough for you to not hear Eddie enter your trailer.

Your eyes were closed and your cheeks were wet with tears. No matter how hard you had tried to stop crying you just couldn’t stop. It hurt too much. Eddie came up to your cracked door and knocked on it softly.

“It’s me, princess.” Eddie called out, voice soft and sweet as you remembered.

“Go away.”

Your voice was hoarse and low. You gripped your blanket tighter. Eddie ignored you, opening the bedroom door and walking in. He closed it behind him, then Eddie pulled his shoes off and climbed into your bed. You felt the dip of your bed and tried to move away. Eddie wrapped his arms around your waist and pulled you into his chest.

You were desperate to get away from him. The position that you were currently in wasn’t working for either of you. So Eddie lifted you up and turned your body so your back was on your bed. The metalhead pushed himself in between your legs, and you felt yourself stop breathing for a brief moment. Eddie held your hands above your head, suddenly everything was different.

“Why are you ignoring me?” Eddie questioned, a stern look on his face. You looked up at him finally, his brown eyes staring back at you. But there was something different, his eyes were covered in lust.

“I’m not ignoring you. Let go of me Eddie.” You mumbled looking away from him. Eddie removed a hand from your hands, he reached out and grabbed a hold of your jaw turning it back so he could see your eyes.

“Yes. You. Are.” He paused, eyes skimming down your body before moving back up and resting on your eyes. “I want to know why.”

“Because.” You spoke, your bottom lip trembling as you fought back to hold the tears in. You didn’t need to cry in front of him, not like this.

“Because why?” Eddie pressed.

“I broke up with Jason, because I…” You paused, it was now or never.

“You what?” Eddie let go of your hands and pulled away from your body, he leaned down on his knees but continued to stare at you. You suddenly missed his warmth.

“I broke up with him, I couldn’t bear the thought of being with someone who I didn’t love. Not when the person I love is you. And I wanted to tell you, I did, really. But the words got stuck in my throat and then she came in and kissed you and I knew… I knew that I had missed my time.” You pulled yourself up and moved back towards your headboard, then proceeded to wrap your arms around your legs when you pulled them to your chest.

“That’s why you’ve been ignoring me?” Eddie asked as he paused, running a hand down his face. “Look, she was nothing. I told her she could come watch the campaign session, but I swear I hadn’t planned for her to kiss me, okay. That was the last thing I wanted to happen.” Eddie adjusted himself, coming up next to you and wrapping an arm around you. “I always knew, you know. I always knew that I loved you, and deep down I think I always knew that you loved me too. But I didn’t want to ruin what we had over my feelings. I didn’t want to lose my best friend.”

“Oh, Ed.” You stared up at him, his brown eyes glazing over you. Before you could stop yourself you had your lips on Eddie’s and were kissing him with all the passion you had inside you. When you finally pull back from the heated kiss, you just stare at him. “You could never lose me.”

Eddie closed the space between you, his lips found purchase on yours again. His ringed fingers tangled into your hair, palms resting gently against your cheeks as he continued to kiss you. Eddie helped lower you down on the bed, until he was back between your legs. Your hands tangled into his long brown curly locks as he removed his lips from yours and placed them on your neck. He smirked when a soft moan escaped your lips.

The moan encouraged him to suck your skin in between his lips while his hand wandered down your chest. Finally his hand rested on your breasts, squeezing one before moving to the other. He could feel your nipples grow taut after he touched them. Eddie let off of your skin, pulling back from your body slightly. He looked down at your net to see a bruise forming where he had pulled at the skin. His smirk grew bigger as he stared down at your already blissed out face.

“Is this real?” You asked softly.

“It’s real, baby. Lean up.” Eddie said. You listened to his order and leaned yourself up from the bed slightly. “Good girl.” The words were smooth when they left his mouth, you felt yourself clenching your thighs together as Eddie leaned closer and reached for the bottom of your shirt. He grasped the shirt and started to lift it up your body.

Once the shirt was removed from your body you were left in only your bra, and shorts. Your hair fell back down landing on your chest. He threw your shirt onto the floor then reached forward again. His hands rested on your waist and slid up your back. His fingers unclasped your bra and pulled it off your shoulders. Finally he threw it to the floor and gently pushed you back down towards the mattress.

Eddie leaned down and placed kisses on your chest, slowly moving down. You gasped quietly when Eddie took a nipple into his mouth and started to flick his tongue around it. You closed your eyes, happy with just feeling him on you. Eddie pulled his lips from your nipple and moved to the other repeating the same thing. With his free hand he pinched your other nipple between his index finger and thumb.

Another moan slipped past your lips. He smirked at you, pulling away from your breasts and moving down your body. Eddie left a trail of kisses down your stomach until he reached your pussy. Eddie placed his lips on each thigh, avoiding the one spot you needed him most right now.

“Eddie.” You moaned out, lust filled eyes on him. He looked amazingly handsome between your thighs and you couldn’t help the smile that managed to cover your face. “Please.” You added, your voice barely above a whisper.

“So needy, princess.” Eddie whispered, his hot breath hitting your pussy.

He stuck his tongue out in front of your already wet cunt, then you felt his tongue on you. He licked a strip, moving from the bottom all the way to your clit. He sucked your clit into his mouth liking side to side. Gently he lifted a finger to your entrance and pushed a finger in. You tightened around his finger, a groan left Eddie’s lips causing a shutter to run through your body.

The slurping sound from his tongue ran through your ears, another moan left your lips when Eddie added another finger and curled them inside you hitting that sweet spot. You felt your orgasm inching closer with each lick of his tongue on your clit. You threw your head back, hitting your pillows. Your eyes were squeezed shut, mouth gaped open, your orgasm was so close.

“Eddie, please.” You moaned.

Eddie tugs at your clit, and curls his fingers inside again. When Eddie did that you felt yourself tighten around his fingers. Then he started to pick his pace up, pulling his fingers out only to shove them back inside of you.

“That’s it princess, cum on my fingers.” He whispered.

He stuck his tongue out again softly licking your clit. You shuttered, as you came on his fingers. Your moans echoed around the room as the remnants of your orgasm hit you. Eddie rested his head on your thigh, pulling his fingers from your entrance. You watched with blissed out eyes as he sucked your juices off his digits.

“You taste so divine, princess.” A smile fell onto your lips. Eddie pulls himself away from you, he climbs off the bed and proceeds to remove his clothes one by one. Eddie tugs his boxers off, his cock springs free hitting his stomach, pre-cum drips from the tip. He climbs back onto the bed and hoovers over top of you.

You pull your hand to your mouth and spit on it. Then you reach out and grab a hold of his cock and begin to stroke it. A moan leaves his lips at the feeling of your hand on him. He rests his head against yours. He pushes your hand off his cock and grips it, then you feel him tapping his cock against your clit. A strangled moan leaves your swollen lips.

Eddie smirks, he pulls back, placing his cock at your entrance. You watch as he pushes his cock inside of you. Eddie moans as you grip him tightly. Another moan leaves you, Eddie pushes all the way inside and settles there allowing you to adjust to his size.

“Fuck, I’ve waited so long to feel this close to you.” Eddie whispered.

“Please move.” You stared up at Eddie’s brown eyes. You’d waited long enough too and you needed him to move. He could see the pleading look that covered your face. Eddie pulled back just until the tip of his cock was the only thing that remained inside you. Then he pushed forward slamming back into you. Both of you moaned out in pleasure.

You could feel yourself tighten around Eddie’s cock as he continued the pace he was going. The sound of skin slapping skin echoed through the bedroom. Another moan fell from your lips, Eddie leaned forward and kissed them swallowing your moan. Eddie moves his fingers down to your clit and starts circling the bud. He pulls another moan from your lips, it echoes in the room when he pulls away to kiss your neck.

Your orgasm was getting closer. Eddie’s hips slammed into yours. Continuous moans left both your mouths as both of you inched closer towards your impending orgasm. Eddie could feel you getting closer. A smile brightened on his face. You placed a hand down on your bed and gripped the sheets tightly, arching your back.

“Fuck, Eddie.” You moaned.

“Are you close?” He whispered breathlessly.

“So close.” You mumbled. Eddie kept his finger on your clit rubbing in fast tight circles. His cock hitting that sweet spot inside of you.

“You gonna cum all over my cock, princess?” You could only nod your head, words weren’t forming on your tongue. “I want to feel you cum.”

“Eddie.” Another whimpered moan left your lips after breathing his name. He felt his orgasm getting closer, but he wanted to feel you cum around his cock first.

“Cum on my cock.”

 You obeyed Eddie, a moan falling from your lips. Eddie felt you squeezing him, he went to pull out, however you gripped onto his arms.

“No. Inside.” The words left your mouth and you watched through dazed eyes as Eddie complied and kept himself inside you. He slammed his hips into you a final time cum releasing inside you. Eddie slowed his rhythm down more until his hips stilled. He stared down at you with bright brown eyes. Lust filled eyes, but still bright.

Slowly Eddie removed himself from you, pulling back and climbing off the bed. You stared up at the ceiling, no thoughts in your mind just the blissful aftermath of your post orgasm. When Eddie returned you gasped feeling something could touch your cunt.

“Just cleaning you up, princess.” Eddie threw the cloth in your close basket. He climbed back into the bed and pulled you onto his chest.

“So, what does this mean now?” You asked, finally breaking the silence after the two of you had settled down into the bed.

“It means your mine.” Eddie whispered, placing a soft kiss on your head.

You tilted your head towards him with a smile so bright Eddie always wanted to see it. “I think I can live with that.” You leaned up to him and kissed his lips passionately.

“Good.” You laid your head down on his chest and fell asleep, at some point he had pulled his boxers on and his shirt. And you had your shirt and underwear back on. Finally he fell asleep holding you. An hour later your dad came in calling for you, when he opened the door he stared at you resting in Eddie’s arms. They were wrapped around your waist tightly.

“It’s about damn time.” He whispered, closing the door and walking back down the hallway.

[eddiemunson-reader-shame]

Eddie Munson x Fem!Reader: Space Oddity, Part 2

“Fuck the rest of them. Fuck ‘em all. Fuck ‘em all, but us.”

Word Count: 4,509 words (gahdamn)

Tag List (please lmk if you want to be added!): @melodymunson , @ali-r3n , @amandahobblepot , @twihard28 , @hiimjulie

[Chapter One]

Author’s Note: Fuck me Freddy, at last I have completed fanfic. This chapter was so much fun to write, especially after watching Dinner in America and feeling so seen and validated about the weird, off putting girl and the badass boyfriend relationship.

Interesting fact about this chapter, I actually did have two friends who decided one day to randomly exclude me from their friend group. They wrote me two actual, dumb ass letters I pretended to read about how they thought I was weird and they didn’t want to be my friend. The first one they put in my locker and I pretended I didn’t get it. The second one they handed to me in PE where I proceeded to laugh at them, rip it up, then throw the pieces in the trash. People think that only happens in bad 80’s movies, but some high school girls can actually be that stupid and comic book villain mean.

*****

“Mike! Jesus Christ, don’t just throw her!”

You and Eddie were fumbling with the spilled contents of your trapper keeper, trying to collect each sheet of xerox and graph paper. Every so often, Eddie would accidentally bump your shoulder or accidentally knock into you, and when you both went in to pick up a caricature you’d done of Angus Young, his head hit your nose.

Hard.

“Augh! Sorry, buttercup!” He said, quickly reaching out with his hands, “You okay?”

“My nose hurts…” you mumbled.

“Come here, lemme see.”

His hands were on your cheeks, you were in too much pain to realize Eddie Munson was actually touching you.

“Owie… Yup, I can see where I bonked you.” He winced in sympathetic pain as his thumb brushed your injury, “But you’ll be alright, it’s not broken. Come on. Upsy daisy.”

Mike and Dustin were at each other’s throats. Dustin was reprimanding Mike for turning you into a human football, while Mike was defending his actions for making sure you “stopped acting like a tool”.

“Knock it off, assholes!” Eddie snapped.

Mike and Dustin immediately ceased their caterwauling, and looked like scolded chihuahuas, ducking away from Eddie who looked like he was going to throw a chair.

“God dammit, you’re giving me a headache.” He hissed, then turned to you.

All you could do was stand there, awkwardly digging the tip of your shoe into the carpet. Avoiding any and all eye contact.

“You look real familiar…” Eddie said, pointing a ringed finger at you, “I know you… Where do I know you from?”

“… I sit behind you in Mrs. O’Donnell’s Economics class.” You whispered.

Pure, unapologetic joy made his face bloom pink, a dimpled smile gracing his features as his dark brown eyes sparkled with stars. Eddie clapped his hands, jabbing a finger in your general direction and then pacing side to side with his arms crossed.

“I knew it! I do remember you! You’re the funny chick who drew Figment the Dragon on the chalkboard, and then did the T. Rex thing with your hands when The ’Donnell tried to erase it!”

Eddie tucked his arms to his chest and made a terrific mimic of your high pitched screech, causing his friends to laugh hard and their eyes to light up in recognition. Your eyes widened, and you wanted to immediately die. Naively you didn’t think anyone had remembered your stand against O’Donnell and her dislike for Disney related media. She told you this wasn’t Mr. Miller’s art class. Of course, you let her have it, and it almost cost you a detention — and permanent placement in Hawkins High School’s joke of a Special Education program — until your mother came down to the school with her attorney from Indianapolis and raised hell, both of them threatening Principal Higgins, Mrs. O’Donnell, and the school Superintendent with a discrimination lawsuit. Since then you’d done even more outrageous shit to make everyone forget and keep away the bullying, surely this one time would have been buried in the numerous instances of other out of pocket things you did?!

Nope. Evidently the Figment Incident was the talk of Hellfire Club, and your crush could replicate your noises to a T.

“Oh shit! You’re the Dragon Lady!” said a guy in a Black Sabbath raglan with blue sleeves.

“The Badass herself in the flesh!” interjected one with curly hair.

“You’re a goddamn legend, dude!” laughed one guy that was eating Doritos by the handful, “We even made you into a character in one of our campaigns! She’s a wizard with a purple dragon — of course we named it Figment — and they communicate in Draconic Tongue to one another!”

“Like this!”

Eddie screeched again, and the guys burst into laughter.

You couldn’t help but cover your face with your trapper keeper. If there was a God, you wanted him to burst out of the sky in a puff of smoke and smite you and everyone else in the room with lightning bolts.

“After that time, you didn’t ever get out of your desk chair again.” Eddie said, crossing his arms after he stopped laughing, “Always sitting in back, keeping to yourself. I don’t think I’ve even heard you say more than three words to anyone all semester.”

Stepping lightly, Eddie began to circle you. Looking you up and down, cocking his head to the side and doing a little bit of an arrogant head waggle.

“Didn’t peg you for a D&D nerd, buttercup.” He said, his voice gaining a sudden confidence as he stepped to you, “By the look of this dandelion yellow sweater, I would have guessed you’d be more the Seventeen Magazine and like, naked slumber party pillow fights with fellow screamers kind of girl.”

You shook your head. You stopped buying Seventeen Magazine when your attempts to apply their makeup lessons to your everyday routine made you look like a KISS reject. And you’d never even had enough friends for a slumber party.

“You like to draw, huh?” He asked.

He was fishing for a reaction. Trying to make you talk.

You nodded.

“What else?”

“… I like to read…”

His head tilted to the side.

“Yeah? What do you like to read? You ever read anything by Rose Estes or Fritz Leiber?”

“Are you two gonna stand there flirting all night, or are we gonna roll some dice?” Cried out one of the boys, the one with the curly hair.

“Yeah man, does the lady even have a character?”

“Oh she’s got a goddamn character!” Mike interjected confidently while Dustin nodded.

“The best character, a tanky character, real hardcore shit.” Dustin said.

Eddie chuckled darkly, looking at you with a menacing grin as he got in your face.

“What’s your character, buttercup? Level one human fighter?” He teased.

“A cleric…” you whispered.

Eyebrows raised. He looked up, thought for a moment, pursed his lips and shrugged.

“Okay. Yeah… yeah I can see that.” He nodded, looking you over, “A little tough tootsie badass, but you’ve got a soft spot as a healer for a holy order. I can dig it.”

Rapid fire, he then began tossing a million questions your way, so fast and in a run on you had to stop to listen to keep up.

“You didn’t tell me your race though. What is it? Hengeyokai? Gnome? Half-orc? What domain did you choose? Life? Arcana? How about your weapon, did you pick a claymore?” With each question, his sneer grew.

Mike and Dustin looked on fearfully, worried that you could not answer him. They knew Eddie was sizing you up, setting a trap with his trick questions. The claymore was a clever way for him to catch you on your bullshit, to see if you were even paying attention.

Suddenly, as if possessed by a cambion, you began to unload on him in a trance-like monotone. Pulling out a character study where you’d spent all last period drawing the same Siouxsie Sioux-esque vamp beauty of a character that made up your D&D creation, you waved the character sheet in his face while you began monologuing.

“Um no… so, Shadowmoon is a level ten half-elf cleric of Shar — I picked Trickery domain for her — and she’s like cursed by the Lady of Sorrows so her morals are like, super flexible and kinda fucked up. And she’s got like, a Sharran morningstar because I know that clerics in Advanced Dungeons and Dragons can’t have any other weapons besides a morningstar and it’s really useful for her, and I wanted to make her a healer for the party because Dustin said everyone else mainly tanks but no one wants to play support, and I think a cleric could be useful because then maybe she could help be the face of the group — do you already have a group face? Shadowmoon would make a good face because she’s gothic and really pretty. And then like, Shadowmoon would be good at lying because she could like… cast Guidance to help with her high charisma modifier-…”

“How did you end up choosing Trickery?” Eddie interrupted, snatching your character sheet from your hands.

You paused, thought it over carefully, then tried again.

“Uh… Shadowmoon was already part of my story I’m writing, so, I thought Trickery fit her personality best because she’s like, pretending to be this honest healer to everyone when really she’s on a mission to deliver an artifact to her temple on a mission from her dark goddess. She’s um… she’s a Chaotic Neutral so like, she could get along with everyone and either murderhobo her way through encounters or maybe she can change into good halfway...”

You trailed off when you noticed that Eddie hadn’t really reacted at all to your lore dump. He wasn’t really paying much attention to you at all. Nose pressed to the paper, he was engrossed in your character sheet.

Immediately you panicked, thinking Dustin and Mike had been bullshitting and lying to you about Eddie liking girls who knew what they were talking about when it came to Dungeons & Dragons. He almost had that look on his face: the one you dreaded where the eyes would glass over, and you could tell someone wasn’t paying attention to what you were saying. As if they were bored of your rambling. Bored of you. It was the look that made you want to scream and cry, and lash out.

But to your surprise, Eddie handed you back your character sheet, and smiled.

“Not only do you have your backstory mapped out, but you’re making connections to your own story setting… You’re a full on closet nerd, aren’t you, buttercup?” He said.

“… I like fantasy and sci-fi.” You muttered.

Pause, and then he laughed.

“The cyberman fighting the chimera you drew in the corner near the Special Abilities area kind of tipped me off to that.” He smiled, pointing to the drawing on your sheet.

Quickly you snatched Shadowmoon’s sheet back. Tucking it into your body, you shrunk in on yourself and avoided looking at Eddie.

“So you wanna join Hellfire, yeah?” He asked, once again crossing his arms and pacing around you.

“You think you can handle sitting with the freaks at lunch? Take a couple hits to your social life? Maybe even take a few blows…?”

You nodded eagerly. Of course you wanted to join! Your heart was pounding, and your mouth started to salivate. He’d even offered to let you sit at the lunch table with him and his friends!

“You certainly seem like you’re okay with it, but let me ask this…”

Eddie got right into your face. So close, you could smell the lingering notes of Old Spice deodorant and Sea Breeze. Hell, you could even see the areas of his chin that were lightly spotted with acne and the blue of his incoming beard. His breath was warm on your face. Steaming even. A waft of sweet tobacco hit your nostrils.

“What makes you think a mousy little buttercup like you would even fit in with a group of degenerates like us?” He asked, voice so low you had to lean in to hear him better.

“We’re not the chess club, and we’re not the Doctor Who club. This is nothing like you’ve ever experienced before. We’re the freaks, the underdogs of Hawkins High. The losers with too much time and imagination on our hands to do shit else.”

You gulped. He was pressing almost nose to nose with you. Staring you down and following your gaze when you looked at the floor.

“We are the weirdos your momma warned you about, little miss. You think you can handle us?” He murmured.

“… ‘malreadyweird…” you mumbled.

Immediately he pulled back, blinking.

“Huh?”

“I said: I’m already a weirdo.”

The rest was automatic. Shoulders up, arms and trapper keeper tucked further to your chest as you turned away from Eddie, insecurity creeping up into your heart as you grimaced.

“I’m the weirdo bitch who doesn’t have any friends, and who according to Shelley Warab in first period is ‘a fucking lunatic who is always drawing attention to herself’.” You said.

Eddie had looked confused, until the weight of your words sunk in.

“Drawing attention to yourse—… oh, hell no…”

“Drawing” attention to yourself, that was Shelley Warab’s attempt at a double entendre. But it was the furthest thing from the truth. If anything, you hid your drawings after the Figment Incident, and only drew during lecture on your own paper, when no one would talk to or look at you.

“And because Shelley Warab thinks you’re “drawing” attention to yourself, the other girls pick on you too, don’t they?” Eddie asked softly.

Your silence was all the confirmation he needed.

A large hand engulfed your shoulder. Shaking, with righteous fury. You looked up at him.

Eddie looked ready to burn down the school.

“They’re jealous. You know that right? Those jealous bitches are lost souls.” He hissed, “All they know how to do is steal daddy’s money to pay for acid, because they can’t come up with one goddamn original thought while sober. You can conjure up these elaborate, creative pieces like magic, and they hate it. Your talent makes them feel inadequate, so they try to drag you through the horseshit to make you stop. Don’t listen to them.”

You didn’t know what to say. You looked down shamefully, the Bitch of Hawkins High had her walls ripped down at last.

“Come on Eddie… look at her.” Dustin said softly, “You told us to look for the little lost sheep who didn’t fit in.”

All of your classmates said you were worse than the freaks. To them you were a mean girl. A bitch. The weird asshole who screamed at people and didn’t let boys like Tommy Hagan or Billy Hargrove come within five feet of your person before you started throwing sharp things at them.

“You’re damn right, Henderson.” Eddie responded, his voice just as soft as the fluff on a kitten.

“She’s exactly what we’ve been looking for: a shivering, lost little lamb… with no flock of her own to follow.”

His grip loosened, and he began to gently massage your shoulder.

“What say you, buttercup?” He asked, voice sweet and smooth as mulled honey wine, “You wanna be my little sheep?”

…

It had taken four years.

Four long, arduous, horrible years… Four years of screaming meltdowns. Uncontrollable rage bubbling up in your throat at the frustration of being excluded. At the lack of understanding. Nobody ever invited you to anything. No parties. No sleepovers. Not even to go to the bathroom together in solidarity.

Four lonely, long, miserable years… and someone had finally invited you to their group, saying you could belong…

The tears spilled out of your eyes in microseconds.

“Hey, hey! Sweetheart, don’t cry…”

Calloused ringed fingers were immediately wiping tears from your soft cheeks, patting you softly to calm you down. Eddie’s expressive, dark cognac colored eyes looked almost watery — like he was going to cry too — his brows furrowing into a frown as his facade of an intimidating freak immediately dropped.

“No…! None of that, sugarplum. You’re alright. There’s no crying in Hellfire Club, okay? You belong here, don’t cry…”

“R… really?”

His dimpled smile was so genuine, it made you ache.

“Really. You’re one of the black sheep now, buttercup. Welcome to Hellfire.”

The leather of his Schott jacket squeaked as his arm wrapped around your shoulders, free hand rubbing your deltoid as you instinctively pressed closer to him. You would have never guessed, but Eddie was particularly touchy. It was as if he wanted to be close to you at all times. Even if you pulled away a little bit to readjust, his hand came right back to the same position.

“Come on, let’s introduce you to the rest of the weirdos.” He said, leading you towards the others.

You rode the high of the night. You made new friends in Jeff, Frank, and Gareth, as they were chomping at the bit to get to know the infamous “Dragon Lady” who had doodled a near perfect copy of an obscure Disney character. Frank was in the middle of asking you to design a tattoo for him of Maleficent in her draconic form when Eddie called the session to order.

“So we’re going right into our main campaign for tonight, and I’ll give everyone an opportunity to introduce themselves to our new party cleric…” he looked at you and held out a hand from behind his DM screen.

“Shadowmoon.” You corrected him.

“Ah yes, the ever so cunning and duplicitous Shadowmoon; our very own half-elf Cleric of Shar, the shadowy seductress that is Our Lady of Loss.” His voice took on a low, deadly tone, as if evoking the name of Shadowmoon’s goddess would provoke divine wrath, “Hope you and Shadowmoon can handle a few good curveballs tonight, might be overwhelming… but any girl who can pick Lady Shar as a patron can handle my brand of freak.”

“I’ll work hard.” You nodded.

“Good girl.”

The campaign’s overall atmosphere was a success. You asked genuine questions, feeling comfortable when you noticed Dustin was right. No one had all the answers. The boys still looked at their character sheets and flipped through the handbook if they needed to look up an effect (even Eddie did it a few times when a player question gave him pause).

You got to name the party. Gareth had drawn a rather regal coat of arms for your ragtag group, and because he’d added the silhouette of a game bird that Frank argued looked like a chicken, you began to giggle.

“What’s so funny?” Eddie asked, his serious facade slipping when he saw you smile and show teeth.

“We… it… with that chicken on our coat of arms… We’re the Band of the Cock!” You shrieked.

Immediately there was a cacophony of screams, chaos, laughter, and a few d4’s launched at your spinning, grinning head as you laughed into your hands. Playing with the boys, belonging to a group… it was all so fun!

Eddie laughed at your jokes, even when they fell a little flat. With the group’s combined social awkwardness and typical behaviors, your own tics didn’t even phase them. If you popped your mouth in a certain way, it would set off the person next to you until everyone was doing it. The guys helped you with math if you fucked up adding modifiers, but they did it in a way that didn’t make you feel stupid. Even Eddie helped you look up spell effects if you didn’t know offhand.

Hellfire Club was fucking fun.

And you were having a blast showing off and earning the affection of Eddie the Freak.

You were sorry when the two hours were up, and everyone was packing their things up and heading home for the night.

“Do you need help cleaning up…?” You asked.

Eddie looked up from rolling up his butcher paper map.

“Hmm? Nah, I got it.” He said, shaking his head as he continued, “You did good tonight, you know. Your timing was perfect, you did well managing your spell slots for Healing Word, and you even took Cornell Notes for our party. None of my little misfits even writes down their damn inventory, let alone takes Cornell Notes for the party.”

You shrugged, chewing on a hangnail.

“I just wanted to be of help… to really try.” You said.

“You didn’t just try, you killed it out there! Now I know I can rely on you to mother hen this gang of muppets that makes up our party.”

There was comfortable silence between the two of you. Even though it was late, you were willing to walk home in the dark if it meant you could just be around Eddie for a little while longer.

But something had been nagging the back of your mind… Ever since you had found out that Eddie Munson was DMing this campaign, the memories of the inception of your middle school crush on him had come back in full force.

“Um… Eddie?” You ventured.

“What’s up, buttercup?” He looked up.

“Um… do you… in middle school… do you remember finding a note in your locker…?” You asked softly.

“… I do, yeah.” He said cautiously, “Why do you ask…?”

“Do you… do you remember the poem in it?”

He stopped what he was doing, looked up at you with wide, dark eyes.

“It um… it was about light and stuff, and uh… it didn’t have a name signed on it, but there was a picture on the bottom of a fairy holding a lantern…”

“How the hell do you know about that!?” He asked.

He began to approach you, his chest heaving.

“I never even told anyone about that poem-… Did… did you write that note? Is that how you know about it?” He demanded.

“… yes…” you whispered.

“Why didn’t you sign it?!” He asked.

His face was contorted. A desperate look. As if he was going to cry.

“… because I was scared…” you said.

“Scared of what? Of me?!”

“No…”

Never. You could never be scared of Eddie. He was amazing. He was the definition of cool. You desired him biblically.

“No… I was scared that… that you wouldn’t like me…” you said softly, “I loved your performance at the talent show so much… and I wanted to talk to you after, but then you got sent to Mr. Coleman’s office for playing Exciter. So I wrote the poem for you, and… I didn’t ever find out if you liked it because I was too shy to ask if you’d read it. Then you went on to high school, and I didn’t see you anymore.”

There was silence. Backing away from you, he wiped his mouth, exhaling a deep sigh.

“I can’t believe it…” he said, shaking his head and running his fingers through his shaggy hair, “I thought about that poem for years… First I thought it was someone playing a prank, but it wasn’t mean. It was so… it was earnest, and heartfelt… and you didn’t even sign it.”

He looked back at you.

“How could you think I wouldn’t like you after you wrote something like that for me?” Eddie asked.

“You always stared at every other girl but me.” You said, “And then I heard a rumor you almost left for California with this punk rocker chick during senior year, and I thought… Well, I knew I didn’t stand a chance because I’m not stylish. And when I heard you got held back, and that you’d be in my year, I wanted to talk to you. But… freshman year I tried making friends, and because I fucked that up, all the rumors started and everyone called me a creepy, angry bitch...”

It all in the end came back to Shelley Warab. She had been the first person you’d tried to make friends with. Moderate popularity, middle class, dirty blonde hair, she should have dominated in the halls as the queen bee. But the cheerleaders hated her because she always tried to hang off the arm of the nearest quarterback or point guard, and the cheerleaders happened to already be dating said sportsmen when Shelley tried to get in their pants. Her locker was often decorated with the word “WHORE” written in red Maybelline lipstick.

So Shelley decided to form her own clique if no others would accept her. That included you: a bright eyed freshman from the middle school that everyone overlooked because you never talked to anyone, along with several other girls of varying degrees of loneliness. She ruled over all of you with an iron fist. Trying to mold you all into her own idea of a clique that would make mean girls like Carol Perkins (the main culprit of the Maybelline insults) kowtow to her self-made band of bitches.

One day at lunch forever changed your fate. Shelley decided to go through each girl’s knapsack and dump out the contents on the lunch table, judging her subjects on the personal effects they kept within. A particularly timid friend was being dressed down for balled up gym socks, and you stood up and asked how Shelley would like it if you took her Avon tote bag over to the garbage, tipped it upside down, and dumped every single bit of its contents into the slop created from a mixture of coleslaw and uneaten sloppy joes.

Justice was swift. Carol Perkins overheard your threat and laughed at Shelley for “getting gutted by a freak”. Shelley told you to leave, and the next day at lunch had the audacity to present an honest to god manifesto written in purple pen about how no one at the table wanted you to sit with them anymore, complete with signatures. Carol had of course laughed at you next for this rejection, so you lunged at her and screeched like a pteranodon in her face, ripping up the letter like confetti and dumping it all over Carol and Shelley’s watery cafeteria spaghetti, before turning over their trays in their laps.

It was a chain reaction of outbursts afterwards. Then the Figment Incident happened, making you untouchable, because the students knew your mother wielded her attorney like a sword. Even bullies like Billy Hargrove who didn’t care about any authority figure or law enforcement officer avoided you like the plague because you weren’t afraid to threaten to use your pencil to blind them.

Your rage kept everyone away. The one armor you possessed.

“You think I give a shit about rumors?!”

Eddie once again had you by the shoulders, his grip tight as he almost shook you with rage. His eyes burned with hurt, betrayal…

And… desire?

“Those rumors… that’s all just fucking bullshit!” He snapped, “You’re not a creepy bitch. You’re funny, you’re exciting, and you make all these adorable noises-…”

“… I am angry and bitchy all the time though…”

“Okay maybe a little, but I am too.” Eddie conceded, “But that’s because everything and everyone in this town sucks. But you don’t suck. You’re smart, and sweet, and kind… and… damn it… you’re beautiful.”

He was so close… So indignant, his righteous fury lighting a spark in his eyes that made you lean into him.

“All of that hellfire in you, that anger… god, it makes you a bonafide badass.” Eddie said, pulling you in close to his chest and rocking you side to side.

When you felt his fervent kisses pepper your scalp, you began to cry again. He pulled you in tighter, his kisses trailing down to your forehead, thence to cheeks, thence to capture your lips in a fiery, passionate make out session where he bit your lower lip to slip the tongue. You both pulled away breathless, and he kissed you one more time before pointing a finger right in your face.

“You’re the most metal fucking girl in all of Hawkins High. And anyone who says differently is a goddamn moron.”

[robinbuckleyluvr]

⊹˚˖⁺ whispers - robin buckley

masterlist | requests

Summary: short and sweet, who doesn’t love to gossip

Warnings: none

Notes: are robin buckley posts still popular in this day and age or did i miss my window after being so busy?

Word count: 201

⸻⊱༺ 

Robin Buckley would be absolutely lying if she said she did not enjoy these moments, moments of closeness and a side of giggles.

Yet again, Scoops stood relatively empty, Y/N and Robin behind the counter gossiping to each other occasionally exploding in fits of laughter.

Robin loved seeing Y/N laugh and smile at her words, though she would never admit it.

Steve could hear them from the back, in fact, he began to get sick of it. What could they be talking about that required so much whispering and giggling?

Robin leaned into Y/N’s ear, a smile so big you wouldn’t miss it miles away, yet whispering only loud enough for her co-worker to hear.

Y/N’s eyes widened as she listened closely to what her co-worker had to say on the matter the two spoke of, before she could reply, Steve barged out wearing an exasperated look on his face.

“What could you two be possibly talking about that requires so much giggling? Seriously?” Steve exclaimed, annoyance and despair filling his words as his eyes darted between the pair.

It only took once glance between Robin Buckley and Y/N for them to explode in quiet laughter.

[theapangea]

Missed You Too

Missed You Too

Steve Harrington x reader

Summary: You finally kiss Steve.

A/N: Ok this is one that I posted on AO3 after the end of the last season. Obviously I had to write something good for Steve because they do my boy so dirty!! HE IS NOT SOMEONES SECOND CHOICE!! Hope you enjoy my loves <3!!

The past week was a blur. You didn’t expect your first college spring break to end with you racing back to Hawkins to see the aftermath of what Venca…? One…? Henry…caused. You didn’t want to entirely believe that the Upside Down still existed, that the gate was still open after you all fought so hard to close it time and time again. That’s why you chose to leave Hawkins in the first place, moving across the country to get away from the horrors of that small town. 

But when Jonathan, Will, and Mike show up at your door, pleading for your help to find Eleven, you couldn’t just turn your back on them, not then, not ever.  

You didn’t even know that Joyce, Eleven, and the boys moved to California shortly after you did. No one bothering to stay in touch, mostly you didn’t bother to stay in touch. Almost like you intentionally separated yourself from the people you were closest to. You would never admit it, blaming the lack of communication on school. 

The truth was, you didn’t want to be part of Hawkins anymore. You didn’t want to fear for your life. The scar that Hawkins left on your soul made you paranoid, made it hard for you to live a normal life. Always looking over your shoulder, always ready for a fight. 

The drive back was like riding a bike, you could drive it blind folded if you had to. Everyone thought it would be best if you drove the last bit as Jonathan was barely able to stay awake at this point. The tall, full trees lined the only road in and out of Hawkins. Car after car rushing to escape the town as disaster stuck only nights before. 

Passing shelters, destroyed homes, police and media, all lining the streets trying to make sense of the situation. If only they knew the truth. 

The car swings around the curb, braking suddenly outside of the Wheeler house. You never thought you would be here again, at least not in this lifetime. Pausing, white knuckling the steering wheel as you hear the van door slide open. Mike, Eleven, Will, Argyle and Jonathan exiting the vehicle to be reunited with loved ones again. You take your time getting out of the pizza van, not sure if you wanted to see them, not sure if they wanted to see you .

Finding yourself staying by the van with Argyle. He was new, didn’t know about Hawkins and was thrown into this mess similar to how you all were. How could he continue to want to be part of this? Your gaze drifts down, your chest heaving rapidly. Your feet glued to the ground, unable to move from your spot. 

Closing your eyes, trying to regain a sense of self. It shouldn’t matter that you left then, it should only matter that you are here now . Some relief washing over as you repeat that you are here now, you are here now, you are here now. The held breath releasing as you scan the scene in front of you, the warm breeze picking up making you draw the wild strands of hair behind your ears. 

You watch as Mike hugs his mom, her eyes tender and soft, thanking the gods for him to be returned safely, stating how he is never allowed to leave home again. Her hands never leave his body, afraid that if she lets go then he will disappear without a trace again.

Jonathan approaches Nancy, both unsure of their relationship, both yearning for a solution - but still they hug, the sweet embrace almost made up for the long, angry phone calls and the absence spring break trip. 

Jonathan told you all about his Nancy problems, hoping you would be able to help. He didn’t like your answer of honesty and communication, joking how you were never honest with your true feelings for a certain Hawkins boy. Quietly commenting that you should have made a move a long time ago to get him to move on from Nancy. 

After all this time, you couldn’t believe he was still hung up on her. But maybe he was supposed to move on. Move on to someone who he spent all his time with, to the person he’d drop by at their house unannounced, to the girl who was so tired of the neverending nightmares that she did everything she could to move as far away as possible. Even if it meant breaking the heart of the person she was supposed to end up with.

And there he was…

Boy, was he a sight for sore eyes. The green-blue sweater with the rolled up sleeves to the washed out blue jeans hugging his hips in all the right places. The way his hair was so delicately placed, too messy to be considered neat, too neat to be considered messy. His eyes heartbroken, full of pain and anger. Full of every ounce of love that he is willing to give away in a heartbeat. Your soul aching for him. 

His hand placed on the back of his neck, clearly hurt from the unfolding scene between Nancy and Jonathan. Robin’s hand pressing gently on his back, guiding him away. 

You weren’t surprised that he still had feelings for her. A little annoyed, yes, but not surprised in any way. He would always talk about her, the way she laughed and talked and smiled. And it made you so angry back then. Realizing that the anger never left. 

He hasn’t noticed you yet, his eyes fixated on the ground. Probably hoping to finally disappear. You feel the same. You were two passing ships in the night too afraid to let the other one know you were there, constantly turning off your lights, constantly dropping your sails.

The situation between you both was left pretty rocky. You could never decipher the tension between you both, was it love or indifference? Steve was always there for you and even supported your decision to leave Hawkins, even if that meant never seeing you ever again.

You promised to call each other once a week, which did happen until once a week turned into once a month and once a month turned into dozens of missed calls on both ends. Leaving you both hopeless and alone. Both trying to figure out adulthood without the comfort of a childhood friend.

Before pushing your body away from the car, you look over at Argyle for some sort of friendly relief. After hearing Jonathan complain about you never making a move on Steve, Argyle has been constantly encouraging you since. To not wait for any guy to make the first move, to create your own future. You were surprised at his wisdom.

His kind smile helps ease your nerves as your feet move one in front of the other, your heart beating so loud you can hear it in your ears. The drowning noise of your blood rushing through your body almost makes you want to turn around. Run away like the first time - but you were tired of running. Tired of the ‘what if situation’ that danced between you and Steve. This was your moment and there was no way you were going to turn back. Not this time.

Walking down the driveway, Mrs.Wheeler silently thanks you for helping bring Mike back home safely. Her hand lightly squeezes yours as you pass. Your lips curl, barely a smile forming as your mind is elsewhere.

Nancy watches as you walk by, her body still wrapped in Jonathan’s arms. Her mouth barely parted, maybe she wanted to say something but immediately regretted his decision to make any comment. The strong bond between you both broke when she started to date Steve…then Jonathan. You were civil with one another but you’ve barely spoken a sentence in the past three years. Neither of you wanting to resolve your years-long battle.

Robin’s and Steve’s gaze are on you. Stopping right in front of the pair, realizing you didn’t have a plan once you got to this point. Robin instantly beaming that bright smile that you missed so much. Her hug was intentional, like she was trying to squeeze all the events of this past week out of you. Cleansing you of all the horrors. Your arms wrap around his waist, pulling her deeper, knowing you needed her in that moment. Her comfort washing over you, giving you the strength you so desperately needed. She releases you, arm's length away, her smile inviting and safe. 

Your eyes shifting to Steve. Swearing in that moment that he was smiling but immediately covering it with a cough and a snatch on the nose. 

She squeezes your shoulders before walking away, giving you and Steve a little alone time. Even if that alone time was in front of half your friends.  

“Hey.” You exhale, the tension growing between the two of you. The air suddenly still as his eyes studying your face, his fingers twitching every so slightly. 

In one swift movement, grabbing your wrist, pulling you in for a hug. The instant smell of his cologne filling your head, making you dizzy with the smell of home. No words needed to be spoken between the two of you. He was just glad you were safe, finally in his arms.

You missed him. 

Not just this past week, but for the past 8 months. He pulls you in closer, his body finally relaxing against yours. The breath of fresh air was everything you both needed, everything you have ever wanted, and everything you will ever need. 

In this moment, you were his and he was yours. Everything was right with the world. All the trouble of this past week washes away, your minds clearing, seeing a future with only the two of you. 

You both pull back, speaking in a silent conversation. Neither of you know how to respond in this situation. Both of you felt the buzz, the electricity, the love. 

After all this time, it felt like you never left. The feelings for Steve came crumbling back down. You thought this was your chance, your only chance . Your body makes the decision for you, as your hand wraps around the back of his neck, pulling him down to meet your lips.

Your breath instantly intertwines with his, every inhale pulling him closer and closer. Your other hand balling up into the soft fabric of his sweater as he deepens into you. His hand catching your cheek, his lips soft and warm, gentle yet demanding. The craving of his touch on your skin sends heat waves throughout your body. 

He takes his time, wanting to remember this moment. All the uncertain feelings, all the unfinished conversations, crashing down all around you both. Kissing him was the only way you could tell him everything you had kept in for all these years. 

He pulls back, resting his forehead on yours, pure eyes as he whispers, “I missed you too.” 

~~~

I hope you enjoyed!! thank you for reading and supporting me

[leighbaylee]

— PUPPY PRINCE

written by mina leigh 𝜗᭪ , mike wheeler 𝔁 m! reader | wc 1446

summary. so called biology project being an excuse to see mike, desperately wanting to see him after asking him out. being mike wheeler’s first boyfriend. celebrating the honeymoon phase with lots of kisses!

labels. no definite description of reader, amab reader (anyone masculine presenting/labeling), he/him pronouns used. proud hellfire member mike + basketball player boyfriend. ♡

‧���˚ ୨୧ mina speaks. hi everyone, i haven’t written a male reader fic in a minute so decided it was time to bring it back. school is starting august 21st for me so id really appreciate it if anyone requests for a drabble before i go mia. lots of love!

y/n pedaled through the streets of hawkins, the wind cool against his face as the familiar houses blurred by. he had one destination in mind: the wheeler household. he hadn’t told mike he was coming—why would he? surprises were always more fun.

as he reached the suburban neighborhood, y/n slowed his bike and hopped off, the tires crunching against the gravel driveway. he parked it by the side of the house and made his way to the front door, a small smirk playing on his lips as he thought about the expression mike might have when he saw him. with a quick knock, y/n waited, his heart racing a little in anticipation.

the door swung open to reveal karen wheeler, a welcoming smile on her face. ❝ hello, can I help you? ❞

putting on his most polite expression, offering a charming smile. ❝ hi, mrs. wheeler. uh i’m y/n, one of mike’s … close friends from school. ❞ a sour tone coming out from lying to his soon to be mother in law.

karen’s smile widened at the introduction. ❝ oh, hello, y/n! i’ve heard mike mention you a few times. what brings you here today? ❞

y/n glanced down, faking a moment of shyness before looking back up. ❝ we’ve got a biology project we need to work on. i figured we could get a head start, if that’s okay of course! ❞

❝ of course, of course honey, ❞ karen said, her voice warm. she turned slightly and called up the stairs, ❝ mike! y/n is here for your .. biology project! ❞

a few moments passed before the sound of footsteps echoed from above, and then mike appeared at the top of the stairs. he was in casual loungewear, clearly not expecting company, and a look of mild annoyance crossed his face. but that all melted away the moment he saw y/n standing there. His eyes widened, and he froze in place, caught between surprise and disbelief. ❝ y-y/n? what are you—❞

before mike could finish, y/n shot him a knowing smile, and mike’s irritation shifted into something more like panic. he forced a smile and quickly descended the stairs, grabbing y/n’s arm and pulling him towards the stairs.

❝ uh, thanks, mom! ❞ mike called over his shoulder as he practically dragged y/n up to his room. as soon as they reached the sanctuary of his bedroom, mike shut the door with a soft click and locked it, turning to y/n with an incredulous look on his face.

❝ what are you doing here? ❞ mike asked, his voice still tinged with disbelief, though there was a hint of something else—something softer.

y/n leaned casually against the door, crossing his arms with a playful grin. ❝ like i said, a biology project, ❞ he teased, winking at mike as he ruffled his hair and pressed a quick kiss to his forehead.

mike huffed in response, cheeks flushing slightly as he snatched y/n’s backpack and tossed it into a corner of the room. ❝ you’re crazy, ❞ he muttered, but there was no heat in his words. he gave y/n a light shove, guiding him toward the bed.

y/n allowed himself to be pushed, settling back on the bed with a content sigh. mike followed, slipping under the covers and resting his head on y/n’s chest. for a moment, they were quiet, simply enjoying the warmth of each other’s presence.

❝ you could have warned me you were coming over, you know, ❞ mike mumbled into y/n’s shirt, his voice soft and a little pleading.

y/n chuckled, running his fingers through mike’s dark hair. ❝ where’s the fun in that? but fine, i’ll give you a heads up next time—just because you’re my boyfriend ❞

mike made a noise of protest, but the faint smile on his lips betrayed him. he snuggled closer, letting out a small sigh of contentment. ❝ so, how’ve you been? ❞ y/n asked, his voice a little more serious. ❝ it’s been a week since we started dating … how’s it going for you? ❞

mike tilted his head slightly, thinking back to the whirlwind of emotions that had come crashing down on him the moment it all began. ❝ honestly … it still feels a little unreal. i remember how it all happened so … clearly. ❞

y/n nodded, encouraging him to continue. mike took a deep breath and let his mind wander back to that day.

mike had been frustrated, to say the least. lucas had been missing so many hellfire meetings lately, and eddie was getting increasingly annoyed. mike couldn’t understand why basketball had become such a big deal to lucas—it wasn’t like it was anything special. it was just basketball, after all. but lucas had made a deal with mike, a deal that mike couldn’t resist.

lucas had noticed the way mike’s gaze lingered on a certain someone—a certain someone who happened to be lucas’s teammate. and lucas, being the observant friend that he was, had concocted a plan. if mike covered for him with eddie, then lucas would help set mike up with y/n. it seemed like a win-win, and mike, desperate to keep hellfire together, had agreed.

but the situation had spiraled out of control. eddie had caught on to their little scheme, and so had dustin. mike found himself cornered in the hallway, frustration bubbling over as he lashed out at lucas. It was then that y/n appeared, his hand tapping lucas on the shoulder, signaling him to leave and head for practice.

y/n had stayed behind, his expression sincere as he apologized for lucas’s behavior, explaining that basketball was something lucas truly enjoyed. mike had been taken aback by the apology, his mind scrambling to process the words. but before he could respond, y/n had taken a step closer, his voice dropping to a more intimate tone.

❝ you know, mike … you’re not the only one who’s been hiding a crush. ❞

mike had felt his heart skip a beat, his breath catching in his throat. was y/n … was he saying what mike thought he was saying? he hesitated, unsure, but when y/n looked him straight in the eye, the answer was clear. mike didn’t even think—he just reacted, throwing his arms around y/n and blurting out a breathless, ❝ yes! ❞

it had been so out of character for him, so spontaneous and unlike the usual mike wheeler. but he couldn’t help it—he had been so overwhelmed with relief and happiness. y/n had laughed, a warm, genuine laugh, and hugged him back tightly. from that moment on, everything had changed.

❝ i will never regret not holding back, i'm so glad about it. ❞ mike says, his head looking up at y/n

y/n smiled down at him, his heart swelling with affection. ❝ i’m glad you didn’t hold back either. i’m lucky to have you, mike, ❞ he said, his voice full of warmth. he leaned down and began placing soft kisses on mike’s face, starting with his forehead, then his cheeks, and finally, the tip of his nose.

mike felt his face heat up under the onslaught of affection, but he didn’t pull away. instead, he flicked y/n’s forehead playfully. ❝ you’re such a nerd, ❞ he teased, though there was no denying the fondness in his tone.

y/n yelped in mock indignation, rubbing his forehead before leaning in closer. mike’s hands cupped y/n’s face, and he pulled him into a slow, gentle kiss, pouring all the affection he felt into that one moment. y/n’s arms wrapped around mike’s waist, pulling him closer until y/n shifted, rolling on top of mike. he grinned down at his boyfriend, his hands resting on either side of mike’s head.

mike giggled, the sound soft and carefree, as y/n began trailing kisses along his jawline, then down to his neck, his chest, and finally his stomach. each touch sent a shiver of warmth through mike, making him feel both safe and cherished.

but y/n wasn’t done yet. he suddenly reached over to where he had tossed his backpack and pulled out a textbook, a mischievous glint in his eyes. ❝ so … there’s no biology project, ❞ y/n confessed with a smirk, holding up the textbook. ❝ but we do have a final coming up, and i figured we could use this time to study. take advantage of the situation, you know? ❞

mike rolled his eyes, but he couldn’t help the smile that tugged at his lips. ❝ you’re unbelievable, ❞ he muttered, though he didn’t resist when y/n flipped open the book and settled back down next to him.

❝ unbelievable in the best way, right?❞ y/n teased, pressing one last kiss to mike’s forehead before they both turned their attention to the pages in front of them.

mike snuggled closer, the warmth of y/n’s presence making the idea of studying almost bearable. as they began to read, mike couldn’t help but feel that maybe, just maybe, he was the lucky one after all.

© MINA LEIGH 2023 - 2024

[dwobbitfromtheshire]

Imagine you get up to go to the bathroom and open the door. Instead of walking into your bathroom, you walk into the Hawkins High drama room in the middle of a session. You're wearing tiny purple sleep shorts and your faded Hellfire shirt. You're also braless as fuck (or if you're deciding to transition or non-binary or genderfluid, binderless or whatever you use). Either way, your tits are embarrassingly on display in the white shirt. The tattoo of a demogorgon on your thigh is showing, drawing the attention of Lucas, Mike, and Dustin.

"I just want to take a piss. Bathroom?" You say sleepily.

Eddie, with his mouth open, points in the direction of the bathroom. Your feet slap against the floor as you leave the room to look for the bathroom.

"I guess I'm taking a piss in 1986 Hawkins High," you yawn. "Lovely."

You're completely unaware of the rest of Hellfire following you. When you come out of the bathroom, fully awake, with Hellfire waiting for you, you realize you might not be dreaming.

"Holy shit," you mutter.

What's your next move?

[inkeddownc0ffee]

One sided love or is the other side just blinded?… Part 2

——— Part 1 ——— Part 2 ——— Part 3 ———

Pairing: Best Friend!Eddie Munson x Fem!Best Friend!Reader

Summary: Eddie Munson is the readers best friend, but Eddie is finding himself catching feelings for his girl best friend, and can’t help himself but feel jealous when he sees his crush falling for Steve “the hair” Harrington

Warnings: Cursing, Slight angst, Mentions of drug dealing, Heart break

Robin practically threw herself out of Steve’s car and began to ramble out a thank you before rushing into the school doors, making you sorta confused, you always see Robin anxious but this time, what could she be anxious about?

But right when you realize that she was holding her trumpet case you left your loving glance to the fancy car and began to panic.

“WE HAVE EARLY BAND TODAY, I CAN’T BE LATE, MR. MORGAN WILL KICK ME OUT IF I’M LATE” You yelled in a panic, making Eddie chuckle a little before waving your instrument case in front of you, out of your reach.

“Don’t worry princess, your butler made sure he returned your golden sing song spit filled thing back to you after you forgot it at his house” Eddie teased making you glare and get on your tippy toes and snatch it from his grasp and run to the school.

Eddie sighed as he watched you disappear into the school, putting a hand on his head. His eyes went back up as the fancy car of Harringtons left the schools property.

Were you just into rich guys or something? Eddie began to pull at his hair a bit and kick the tire of his van. “Stupid ass van.”

You never really told your best friend Eddie exactly about your little crush on Harrington, but in Eddie’s eyes

It was obvious

Ever sense you started to work at Family Video after school, every time you would see Steve anywhere you would stop and just stare at him, Eddie couldn’t even imagine how u acted around him at work.

It hurt Eddie’s heart every time he saw your eyes go on Steve, he just wished you would look at him like that.

Eddie began to hear the group begin to walk up, making him stable himself, trying to look casual.

“woahhh, when did u get a cool ass new van” Gareth said as he stared at the van, making Ed smile a little.

“Well, my last baby gave out on me, my uncle helped me pay for this beauty” Eddie leaned onto the van.

“You have to let us take a look inside” Dustin protested, going to go open one of the back doors, having Eddie look down at his watch than back up.

“Sorry Henderson, it’s already 7:15, I’ll let y’all have a small tour after Hellfire? That sound good?” The whole group nodded fast, them all rushing into the school.

The day went by painfully slow, well for Eddie at least. You and Eddie had begged and promised the principal that if y’all shared all the same class periods y’all would finally put effort into graduating, and he actually agreed.

And after your early band class, y’all were together all day, and Eddie watched you day dream about Harrington almost every class, and how he knew your thoughts were of Mr. Good Hair is because every time he regained your attention your face would flush.

He knew it wasn’t out of embarrassment, he knew you way too well, he was the only one who could read the lines of your actions like a book.

You were now at your locker, grabbing your backpack and your uniform for work that u kept handing up in there. Your fingers than touched the soft plush you had in your locker making your heart begin to flutter as you took out the little chocolate brown teddy bear you got for Steve, today was gonna be the day you finally asked him out. Than suddenly.

THUD

You squeaked, looking over to see Eddie leaning onto the locker next to yours, a sinister smirk plastered to his face.

“Did I scare ya princess?” You punched his arm softly making him laugh.

“Stop doing that asshole!” You glared at him. He chuckled a bit until he looked down at the little bear you held in your hands, smile fading a bit as he read the “to Steve” tag.

“Uh you can change in my van, I know u hate changing in those gross bathrooms.” Eddie said, changing his tone a bit. You scoffed a bit.

“If you promise not to look” you said with a smirk making him laugh nervously, hiding the blush in his face as his smile came back.

“Now I know I’m the freak of Hawkins but not like that” he exclaimed with his hands slightly in the air making you laugh. Once you stopped he smiled and motioned with his head to leave.

“Don’t want you to be late” You smiled and began to walk to the van.

Eddie always drove you to work and to school. Yes you had a car but why use it when you have your best friend to drive you.

Once you got right outside the van you looked over at the Hellfire club that was sitting outside.

“Wait don’t you have Hellfire today?” You asked, looking over at Eddie.

“Yeah, but Family Video ain’t that far from here, so I told them to wait, don’t worry you ain’t ruining anything.” He explained as he opened the back door for you.

“You can cover the window with the blanket, just honk when you’re done” he pointed over at the black and white flannel blanket laying on the floor. You nodded and covered the back window with the blanket, and began to strip out of your school clothes, laying your panties behind the drivers seat and change into your work uniform.

Afterwards you climbed over the seat and honked the car. You saw a couple people look over at the van and scoff, mostly the basketball kids. Eddie quickly opened the drivers door and hopped in.

“alright, buckle yourself in princess, this may not be a easy ride” Eddie smirked while putting in his song disk and turning the volume up almost to the point your ear drums wanted to commit suicide.

Family video was bout 5-8 minutes away from Hawkins high, so your eardrums weren’t busted yet as Eddie pulled into a disabled parking spot and turned down the music.

“You know going in a disabled parking spot is illegal without actually being disabled right?” You looked over at Eddie with a questioning smile, Eddie began to chuckle.

“Well if u don’t remember I already sell illegal shit, and plus I’m gonna only be here for a second so the princesses legs don’t hurt from walking at a far spot.” Eddie smirked, earning a eye roll and a giggle from you.

“Yeah yeah, don’t worry about picking me up today, Steve said he would take me home after work.” Eddie’s heart dropped and slowly gave you a silent nod. You smiled then closed the door and ran inside the store.

Eddie sighed as he looked up at the review mirror and then noticed something pink beside his seat. Eddie raised an eyebrow and looked in the back, slowly putting his hand on the odd object. His eyes began to grow wide as he slowly pulled up the fabric of your pink panties you wore earlier.

You stumbled into the store, placing the little teddy bear in your pack, Robin and Steve looking up from the counter.

“How are you always arriving somewhere last minute” Robin asked sarcastically, leaning over the counter with her head in her hand.

“Don’t blame me that Eddie always runs into red lights” you laughed as you walked over.

“You still are hanging out with the freak?” Steve asked. Your eyes furrowed a bit.

“Eddie really ain’t a freak, it’s just the popular kids don’t like him and trying to get everyone else to not like him” Steve shrugged.

“he’s still a weirdo tho” he mumbled. You slowly looked away from him, you hated the way everyone saw Eddie, no one now days gives people a chance to show they aren’t that bad to be around, it always depends on what you like and how you look. If you liked basketball and had a jock body, everyone loved you. If you liked metal, games, band, science or anything like that you were seen as a freak or nerd.

After a few hours you were putting up some returned tapes in their designated areas when you began to overhear Steve and Robin.

“Steve, you know she’s with Johnathan, you can’t keep trying to get with her” Robin said as she looked at Steve who was leaning on the counter.

“You don’t understand, she stares at me with those precious eyes, and plus she barely ever sees Johnathan, he’s all the way up in California” he groaned as he put his hands in his hair.

“Steve-“

“No Robin. You don’t understand, you have barley been in a relationship, I love Nancy.” He cut Robin off making her sigh.

Your heart went into your stomach, looking at your pack on the counter with the bear in it but slowly went back to work, even with your heart almost shattered.

Eventually the Family Video’s store hours finally came to a closing, Robin flipping the sign on the door to closed and turning off the LED signs.

“God you never realize how boring listening to someone try to explain a movie plot for you to find until you look at clock and not even a second has passed by” Robin said dramatically.

“Yeah, but it sucks more when your the first person they go to” you mumbled making her smirk.

“Hah, loser”

Steve than walked out from the back, his car keys in hand, letting them dangle off his fingers.

“You ready y/n?” Steve said looking at you. You tightened your grip onto your backpack strap and nodded.

“Yep” y’all both walked to his fancy car, getting in and Steve starting it up. You placed your backpack into the floor and began to look around the inside of the car, who knew you would be so lucky to be in Steve Harringtons car.

“It’s a nice car isn’t it” Steve said making you leave your trance and blush a bit.

“Yeah, you have a cool car” you admitted, looking away to try to hide your face, Steve smiled and began to drive.

Your heart began to race as your eyes went to your pack, slowly unzipping it and staring at the teddy bear that stared back up at you with its button eyes. Steve glanced over.

“What you got in there?” Steve asked as he put his eyes back on the road. You gulped as your hands wrapped around the little bear and took it out of it’s hiding spot.

“Well…. This, I wanted to give it to you” you shakily handed it to him. He looked down at the stuffed bear for a second than you.

“What’s this for?” He questioned, looking slightly confused. You took a deep breath before letting it all out.

“Steve, I really really like, like really like you, ever since I started working with you I just noticed how funny and handsome you are, and you aren’t the Jack ass everyone said you were, I just love who you are and I would really really like to be with you” you stammered out.

Steve’s eyes went on the road, before slowly stopping at a stop light.

“Um Y/n, how do I say this, I uh don’t like you in that way, I’m sorry, but my eyes are on Nancy” he said, not looking at you.

Now that broke your heart completely, leaving you there silent for a moment.

“Oh.. that’s fine” you muttered, looking down at your lap.

The rest of the ride was just completely silent, Steve pulling into your driveway after what felt like centuries. You grabbed your backpack and opened the car door and went to leave.

“Here, um take this back” Steve handed you back the bear. You silently looked at the plushie.

“Give it to someone else, someone who likes you like you like them.” Steve’s added. You gave him a silent nod and shut the car door, quickly going inside your house, watching from the window as his car pulled out your driveway and back onto the road.

Than in a instant, all the tears began to pour, making you put your hands over your mouth as you went to your room and slid down against your door , holding your head as you sobbed.

Your reaction wasn’t Steve’s fault, if he didn’t like you that was ok, right?

Of course it was ok because it’s his life, just because you like him doesn’t mean he has to be with you, but it still hit you hard like a brick.

Your rubbed your shoulders, what were you supposed to do, no one was here to tell you that there’s always other fish in the sea, you lived alone unlike Eddie.

Your head immediately went up, looking at your car keys that sat on your dresser.

Eddie always knew how to comfort you.

You quickly grabbed the pair of keys off the wood and rushed out to your car with your mascara running down your cheeks.

A/N: Yess I finally finished part 2!!!! I promise that part 3, the final part to this little series will be out soon! If you want to be tagged please comment that you would like to be tagged!! I’m thankful for all the support y’all have given me! Have a nice morning/afternoon/night!

Tag List: @amira0303 , @grotesquelysilent , @br66klynbaby

[aloneinthehellfire]

Chapter 15: This Is Just The Beginning

Season One | Season Two | Season Three

[Raining Hellfire Season Three]

Word Count: 3548 words

Warnings: swearing, mentions of death, voices, confessions/ love triangle? idk, sad goodbyes

[A/N: I was going to make this so angsty but I chose sweetness instead. This is the last chapter for RH3 and I'm emotional omg, this has been a rollercoaster]

This Is Just The Beginning

The pain didn’t go away in three months.

Day in and day out, you had to hear the gossip of the ‘mall fire’ from people who had no idea what really happened. Everyone that died had suddenly become victims of an ‘accident’ instead of the deadly creature you all fought. Instead of the Russians you had stumbled across working to bring about an Armageddon.

It was national news that the Starcourt Mall had burned down. Hopper was decorated as a hero, at least, something he most definitely deserved. It even made El feel a little better to hear that.

Jack was never mentioned.

And you had to spend every day in a house that no longer felt like home.

“Hey, where do you want this to go?”

You turn your head away from the box you were packing, glancing at the Walkman in Nancy’s hands. You give a small smile.

“In the box labelled ‘Madmax’.” You gesture to the cardboard that held all your tapes, plus some money you had saved up 3 years ago.

Nancy flashes a smile as she nods, delicately placing it amongst the other items before walking over to you, sitting cross-legged on the carpet beside you.

“Are you sure you really wanna do this?” She asks, searching your eyes.

You sigh, placing a photo frame of you and Jack into the box in front of you.

“I need to.” You respond quietly and she slowly nods her head, smiling down at the picture of you, her and Barb.

After graduation, you had received an important letter from a college you never thought you’d get into. You had ignored it at first, knowing that Hawkins was your home. Everyone you loved was here. You didn’t want to just move.

But now that was exactly what you were doing. The reasons you had to stay had suddenly become the reasons for you to go.

“You will be their end”

Leaving Hawkins was the only play you had left to ensure your friends were safe.

“So, when are the others giving their grand goodbyes?” Nancy chuckles, sealing up a box and adding it to the pile by the front door.

You clear your throat, never meeting her eyes. “Uh… you know. Later.”

When she doesn’t respond, you whip your head up to see her wide-eyed stare, movements paused as she looks to you with an exasperated expression.

“You didn’t tell them.” Nancy concludes, shaking her head wildly when you tighten your lips. “Y/n! This is important, you need to-”

“No.” You set down another box, wiping down your jeans. “No, I can’t. Goodbyes only make things harder.”

Nancy opens her mouth before closing it again, sighing. “They’re not gonna be happy when they find you gone.”

She was right. Leaving without saying goodbye was going to cause an outrage. Nancy was the only one that found out you were moving away. She had come to check on you and found you sorting clothes. You didn’t have the heart to lie to her.

“Don’t worry, just pretend you weren’t helping me with all this and I think you’ll be safe from their wrath.” You laugh sadly, sealing up the very last box and standing back with a sigh.

“That’s not what I’m worried about.” Nancy moves to hug you tight, taking you by surprise. “You really don’t have to do this. We can figure it out. Maybe, maybe you can move in with us and-”

“Nance.” You say softly, hugging her back, and she slumps into you with defeat.

When you finally pull away, you look to eachother with matching tears, laughing.

“You’re gonna come back, right?” Nancy asks, nudging your shoulder. “We have so much to catch up on.”

“I’ll call you every week.” You promise. You didn’t want to answer her question. Not when you didn’t have an answer to it.

“You better.” She smiles, giving you another quick hug before running to grab her bag. “I need to help the Byers move- oh my god.”

Nancy suddenly stops, slumping her shoulders. You raise a worried eyebrow and she sighs.

“Why is everyone moving?” She complains. “And why not me?”

You laugh at her comment, walking her to the front door. “Just another year, Nance.”

“Yeah, yeah, don’t remind me.” She bites her bottom lip, stopping just as she reaches for the door knob. “Could I get one last piece of advice?”

“Yeah, of course.” You blink.

“Jonathan… we’ve talked it through. With him moving out to California, we-” She takes a breath, straightening herself. “We decided to break up.”

“Nance-” You try but she shakes her head.

“No, it’s okay. It’s for the best.” Nancy slowly nods and you raise an eyebrow.

“Is it?”

She sighs relief, “That’s what I’ve been thinking! What if- what if we just tried long distance or... I don’t know. I guess that’s what I need your advice on.”

“I can’t tell you what to do.” You shrug, tilting your head. “But if I’ve learnt anything… don’t give up on something if you truly feel like it should last forever.”

She chuckles, smiling at you. “I’ll miss you.”

“I’ll miss you too.”

One last hug and she opens the door, stepping outside. You give her a final wave before shutting the door and staring down at the boxes, breathing out.

You look down at the ridiculous bobble-head poking out of an unsealed box of trinkets and you laugh to yourself. A last minute graduation present from Steve when you were driving to the drive-in cinema. He had ran into a convenience store and picked out the most ridiculous thing he could find.

Your smile turns to a sad frown. Steve was going to hate you when he found out you had left without a warning.

Suddenly, rapid loud knocks echoed from the front door, startling you. You frown at the noise, walking over. Did Nancy leave something?

You slowly open the door, leaving enough space for you to poke your head out and you paused when your eyes met his chocolate brown eyes.

“Eddie?” You stare and he just stops, eyebrows furrowing as he tried to think of something to say.

“Hi.” He finally decided, a frown never leaving his face.

“Hey... What- what are you doing here?” You shake your head, widening the door a little more so you could stand just in the gap, blocking the view behind you.

“I know you’re leaving.” He blurts and you froze.

“No. No, I’m-” You shake your head. But it wasn’t fooling him. He must have ran into Nancy on her way out. Lord knows she has been the biggest Y/n-Eddie shipper since you ran into him in the hallway.

He placed a hand on the door and pushed gently. You allowed him to swing the door further open, revealing the cardboard boxes stacked up behind you.

“Okay. I can see how that might make you think I was leaving.” You nod, pursing your lips.

“Why?”

It was a simple question, one you could easily answer if it wasn’t for the fact that you couldn’t him the truth.

“I…” You started, taking a breath and stepping to the side to allow Eddie to walk inside. “I don’t wanna be here anymore.”

Eddie looks at you sadly, nodding. “I, uh… I heard. About your uncle. Wayne told me a while ago and I was gonna come see you but-”

He leans against the wall, resting his head against it as he stared at the ceiling. “I guess I just didn’t know if you’d want me to.”

“I’ll always want you to be here.” You admit quietly and he turns his head to meet you, a small smile lingering on his lips.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” You smile back before glancing back at the boxes by your feet. “But I need to do this, Eds.”

He suddenly springs from the wall, eyes creasing with worry as he scooped your hands into his.

“Don’t.” He pleads. “I know- I know how everything ended last year but I- I hate the idea of you not being here. With me. Just… just stay.”

“It ended for a reason.” You say softly, squeezing his hands before dropping them, picking up a box and walking it out of the door and to your car.

Eddie follows you the whole way, muttering under his breath as you open the trunk and dump the box in.

“Okay, yeah. Yeah, I know.” He runs to block your path back into the house, holding his hands up in surrender. “I know we ended it and I have to be completely honest with you. That was the worst decision I’ve ever made.”

Your heart drops at the same time as it flutters. “Eddie-”

“I was dealing drugs.”

Your eyes widen. He stares at you, tightening his lips.

“Um.” You shake your head, frowning. “That… I did not see that coming.”

Eddie slowly nods, clicking his tongue. “That girl, the one in my trailer that night? She was just buying from me. We weren’t- nothing ever happened. She bought what she wanted and then she left. I didn’t tell you because-”

“It’s not a girl’s biggest dream to hear their boyfriend is a drug dealer.” You finished with a sad laugh and he nodded his head.

“I should have told you.” He lowers his head, fiddling with the blue ring on his hand. “I shouldn’t have ran away.”

“I-” You squeeze your eyes shut, shaking your head. “I still can’t tell you the truth.”

Eddie brings his eyes up to meet yours, frowning. “I didn’t ask you to.”

You smile before taking a step around him. “And I can’t stay here.”

“Why-”

“You know why!” A small sob leaves your lips and you notice the strange look from a neighbour. You walk back inside the house and try to lift another box. Eddie quietly takes it out of your arms and lifts it for you, despite the fact he was trying to convince you to stay.

“I can’t stay in a house that’s empty.” A tear leaves your eye and trickles down your cheek as you shake your head. “And I can’t stay in a town that only holds memories of all the people I’ve hurt.”

Eddie shifts the box in his arms, “You’re really set on leaving, aren’t you?”

You nod. “I made up my mind.”

“You were always so stubborn.” He chuckles. He stares down at the boxes, closing his eyes. “Well, it wouldn’t be very gentlemanly of me if I made you pack all these up by yourself.”

You laugh through your tears, picking up another box and heading outside with him. Several trips were made from the house to the car until the vehicle was filled to the brim. With a heavy heart, you realised you were all set.

“You did it.” Eddie smiles at you and you send him a confused look. “You’re finally making it out of Hawkins.”

“Yeah…” You frown at your car. Even with every detail planned out since the Starcourt battle, it still felt too sudden. You shake away the nerves, smiling up at him. “What about you? What are you doing with new-found freedom?”

It was meant to be a light-hearted question until you saw the shift in his eyes, the way his body tensed.

“I, uh…” He puffed out a breath, wincing. “I’m stuck here for a while longer.”

You’re about to ask why when realisation struck your mind. He didn’t graduate.

“Ed-”

“No, no. It’s cool.” He laughs oddly, brushing imaginary dirt off the hood of your car, “It gives me another year with the Hellfire Club, you know? And another year to make my own so, it’s not all bad.”

“You are the best Dungeon Master I know.” You declare and he genuinely grins at your statement.

“You don’t know any other ones.”

“Why bother when you’ve given me impossible standards?”

You both laugh, instinctively stepping closer to eachother. When you look up at him, your heart yearns for more. Eddie Munson. Your first love. The one that got away. The one you were about to leave behind.

“Hawkins is losing its hero.” Eddie says, offering half a smile as he reaches up and tucks a stray strand of hair behind your ear.

“It’ll be just fine without me.” You reply, leaning up and softly kissing his cheek. “You’ll be more than fine without me.”

He doesn’t reply. Instead, he catches your lips with his and your heart reacted before your brain, pulling him closer. His hands slid up to cup your cheeks as you clung to his jacket. Memories flooded your thoughts with every happy moment you had spent with him, every piece of joy that made staying in Hawkins worth it.

Eddie reluctantly pulls away and you both just breathe for a moment before a shaky laugh leaves your lips.

“That was one hell of a goodbye, Munson.” You comment and he chuckles, smiling dimples at you.

“I’m hoping it was a ‘see you later’.” He steps away, straightening his jacket. “I… I should let you get going.”

“Yeah.” You nod, biting your lip, still a little flushed from the kiss. “I think I’m gonna make a stop first.”

As if he read your mind, he nods with a knowing smile, turning away. You watch as he walks down the driveway until you suddenly remember something.

“Eddie, wait!” You call out. He stops, turning back around as you lean into your car through the open window, rifling through your glove box to find what you needed.

When your fingers brush over the paper, you grab it and run to him, holding it out.

“What-” He starts with a confused laugh.

“It’s a gift.” You blurt, shaking your head when he just stares, “It- I bought it ages ago. Well, kind of. I made it cause I couldn’t find exactly what I wanted but it’s been sitting in my glove box for months and I’d regret it if I didn’t give it to you when I had the chance.”

Eddie slowly nods, a smile creeping onto his lips after your ramble as he peels away the paper. He laces the chain in his fingers, pulling it up to reveal a red guitar pick. His eyes widen.

“It’s not the same one you gave me.” You quickly say, reaching into your jumper and pulling out the necklace to prove yourself. “I just- You gave me your best guitar pick and I felt bad that you were having to use that old one that you always claimed was ‘just fine’ but I know you really wanted one to match your baby so I found one and made you a necklace. Like mine.”

His smile grew brighter and he pulls you into a hug, lifting you as you giggle.

“Thank you.” He finally puts you down, closing his hand around the pick tightly, like it would suddenly vanish if he wasn’t too careful.

“I should go now.” You reluctantly nod and he smiles.

“I’ll see you around, Queen of the Demogorgons.”

You laugh. “Later, King of the Freaks.”

Eddie’s laugh never left your mind as he disappeared down the street, the creases in his smile still replaying across your eyes.

You glance at your car with a sigh. One last stop before you left Hawkins forever.

“Y/n!” Dustin yells as you walk into the Byers old home, amused at the sight before you.

Lucas and Max were sat in the corner and singing ‘A Never Ending Story’, mocking Dustin and Suzie’s previous impromptu performance months before.

“Hey, guys. That’s not cool.” You say as the duo laugh with eachother.

“Thank you!” Dustin exclaims, sighing.

“Dustin, can I ask you something?” You look innocent, crossing your arms as Max raises her eyebrows behind you, a grin lifting onto her face.

“Yeah, sure.” The boy replies, looking confused when a giggle escapes your mouth.

“Where can I find... the answer to a never-ending story?” You finally blurt and his face drops to a scowl.

“WRITTEN ON THE PAGES IS THE ANSWER TO A NEVER-ENDING STORY!” Lucas and Max practically scream the lyrics and Dustin’s lips curve into a smile before laughs starts to erupt from his mouth.

“I hate you all.” He chuckles as he grabs the box in front of him and walks out of the house to the moving van out front.

“Hey, Y/n.” Lucas stands with Max, shifting the box’s weight in his arms. “We’re all going to annoy Steve and Robin at their new job after this, you wanna come?”

You smile at his request, “Uh, I kind of have something to do but tell them ‘hi’ from me?”

“Roger that.” He says, moving past you.

Max starts to follow him out until you hold an arm out to her. She frowns, letting Lucas leave before looking back at you.

“What’s up?” She asks, tilting her head.

You take a deep breath. This wasn’t going to be easy.

“I dropped a box off to Susan before I came here.” You start and she shakes her head, smiling.

“Okay? What’s that got to do with anything?”

You swallow your guilt. “It’s a box of things I want you to have.”

Max’s smile falters when she recognises that look on your face, eyes already misting over.

“You’re leaving again, aren’t you?”

“I got into college.” You nod, fiddling with the piece of paper in your hands. “I wasn’t going to go but… Jack and…”

“And Billy.” She says, understanding as she looks up at you with blue eyes. “I get it.”

“I don’t wanna leave you here.” You say, tears falling. “I just got you back and I hate knowing that I’m just leaving you alone after everything that happened.”

“I’ll be okay.” She sniffles, finally pulling you into a hug. “We’ll be okay.”

When you pull apart, you hand her the paper, watching as she unfolds it to reveal a number and an address.

“It’s the number for my new place. And an address. I figured if calling was going to be tricky, we could always write eachother letters.” You admit and she smiles, nodding.

“I’d love that.” She sobs, “I love you.”

“I love you too, Madmax.” You laugh, wiping away the tears, “I need to get going if I want to make it in time but… tell everyone I love them?”

Max nods, pocketing the paper. “I will.”

You both walk to your car, hugging eachother for the last time before you slid into your car, starting the engine.

“Don’t give up.” She suddenly says before you can drive away. You look confused and she laughs. “I don’t know. It’s what you told me in California and I figured you needed to hear it.”

You smile to yourself before looking back up at her. “As long as you give them hell.”

She grins as you finally pull away, moving back onto the road and watching as your sister waved you goodbye.

You passed the crowd of your friends as they said goodbye to the Byers and El. You had managed to sneak in a goodbye the previous day, saying you had an urgent matter to attend to. It broke your heart to lie to them all. But goodbyes would only make your decision so much harder. You knew that if they all begged you to stay, you would.

As you drove along the road in silence, your grip on the wheel tightened, breathing heavy. You were leaving.

Goosebumps marked your skin and you took a breath. You figured as much would happen when it in finally figured out your plan.

“We’re not finished yet, Y/n”

The deep voice echoed in your mind as you pressed your foot further into the pedal, accelerating faster as you spotted the Hawkins sign in the distance.

Suddenly, your head started to pound and you try and shake it off, gritting your teeth.

‘Leaving Hawkins, come again soon.’ The sign read as you drove toward it, practically seconds away from leaving the town.

“THIS IS ONLY THE BEGINNING”

The voice yelled and you slammed your foot down, speeding towards the sign now, eyes dead set on the imaginary finish line. As you got closer, the voices swarming your head began to get both quieter and more persistent, like it was their last attempt at breaching your mind.

“You’ve already-”

You pass the sign and the voices are suddenly cut off. You release the pedal slightly, slowing down to a smoother pace as you breathed relief. That proves that theory.

You switch on the radio as the wave of realisation hits you. Hawkins was behind you and you were heading to your new future. One where you wouldn’t hurt the people you loved.

Someday, love with find you

Break those chains that bind you

The words blared out at you as struggled to keep the tears at bay, guilt bubbling inside of you. You had left them all behind without even telling them the truth. You needed to do this if you wanted them safe. You prayed that leaving would stop whatever force was trying to get rid of you, using those closest to you to do its dirty work. You begged that it would save them, let them live their lives without fear.

You hoped that this truly was the end.

You feel something wet on your top lip and you remove one hand from the steering wheel, using your sleeve to wipe at it. When you glance back down at your hand, you see that your soft yellow jumper was now stained red.

Another side effect of the monsters in your mind.

Raining Hellfire: Season Four ->

Raining Hellfire: Season Four, coming soon...

{ATTENTION!}

sorry just had to make sure everyone read this haha. i am so so grateful that so many of you love and support this story, especially since i wasn't sure i'd make it this far. since your input means the world to me, i really want to know how you guys think RH4 should go.

basically, we all know what happens to eddie in season four. it's sad and rips my heart out every time. my intentions with this fic were to make it as true to the original storyline as possible but, if people want it, i can make a few changes to the ST4 ending.

should eddie survive? would we want that change to be made? pls drop your answer in my asks so i can make that decision :)

i hope everyone has a wonderful new year!

-

taglist: @gnnnne / @beepisbeep / @paintballkid711/ @eddiesbirdie/ @livasaurasrex/ @darktimelegends / @jackierose902109 / @mvrylee / @chervbs/ @eternallyvenus / @nervouscatsuit / @f1nn-wolfhard / @hereiamhereigo / @ladybug0095 / @fangirling-4-ever / @astrolockley / @mothmanatemycat

[l0vem00nlight]

CHRISTMAS SCENARIOS: DAY 1 ~ MIKE WHEELER

♥︎ 𝘔𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘳 𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯 𝘚/𝘖 𝘞𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘍𝘢𝘷𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘏𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘐𝘴 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘮𝘢𝘴 ♥︎

A/N ~ Sorry for being gone for awhile! I just wanted to surprise you guys with a Christmas Scenarios! You can request as well!

Mike was already aware that your favorite holiday is indeed Christmas.

Over the course of years of being with the party he has seen you go into a christmas frenzy as soon as it hit December. Your house every year was always decorated from head to toe with Christmas lights, blow-up characters that represented the holidays, everything was too the top. Even the inside was decorated!

Mike knew what to expect when December came around and he was here for it. He also helped you decorate your house over the course of days. He had to be honest with you but it was a lot. It was fun yet so tiring. But of course he would never tell you that to your face. you looked so happy!

Mike also knew that you wouldn’t be active as much due to the fact that your buying presents for everybody. That was one of the biggest things he always looked forward to every year during Christmas. The fact that you are the absolute best at getting gifts for the party. It’s never something that they already have either.

Baking with you is also another one of his favorites. He sometimes will steal a cookie or two, being sneaky about it. It’s not long before you catch him sneaking in and you kick him out of the kitchen. He finds it so funny, hilarious even.

Christmas with you made it his favorite holidays You brought the light to the christmas and made it such a comforting yet wonderful experience. The party enjoyed the fact that you loved christmas but Mike knew it all. Mike knew you more. Mike knew that christmas is one of your most favorited holidays of the year and he wants to also join in on that excitement. He plays with you in the snow no matter how old you two are, he decorated the tree at both vid and your house with the most beautiful ornaments, he also feels up the stockings and helps you wrap gifts that aren’t his. It’s all amazing to experience with you. To be around someone as cheerful as you is like a blessing to him. Just seeing your bright smile brings him to life with happiness and joy as well as love. Your christmas spirit never fails to bring joy to not only him but others around you.

The most relaxing moments are drinking hot coco with you, sitting in either his basement or your home it’s all so warm and comforting. Christmas songs shall play in the background quietly as you two sit and watch christmas movies in peace and silence. You are tucked up together like two birds of a feather would be. It’s always so grand holding your hand as you walk through bundles and bundles of white snow.

And on Christmas Day, with a big smile on your face when you arrive at his house in the morning, holding a handful of gifts that all belonging to him and spoke…

“Merry Christmas!”

[powderblueblood]

crazy how I went from a mike wheeler hater to his court appointed lawyer because of one vague fic related headcanon I had

[yurtletheturtlehenderson]

COSMIC - S2:E6; Chapter Six, The Spy - [Pt. 1]

A Will Byers x Male!Reader Series

will's connection to a shadowy evil grows stronger, but no one's quite sure how to stop it. elsewhere, steve and dustin forge an unlikely bond.

||𝟑𝐑𝐃 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐏𝐎𝐕||

"Get him out. Go! Go!"

"God! Hold on, sweetie!"

Will screams in anguish as he is wheeled throughout the lab. He clutches his arm tightly, wishing he could tear the very skin off of his flesh, he feels as if he is being cooked from the inside out. Joyce stays close behind him, her tears clouding her vision, Bob and Mike right on her tail.

When she had left the tunnels, she was faced with the horrendous sight of her youngest writhing in the grass, near unconsciousness.

"I'm right here, honey. Just hold on." She cries, her hand outstretched for him.

They reach a room faster than she anticipates and she feels herself being ripped away from her baby when he is placed onto a bed. Bob is gently pulling her back, but to her, the distance is too great. She needs to be there, show him he's there. But for now, she's stuck, watching helplessly as her son is dying.

"Vitals?"

"Heart rate 220. Temperature's 106."

Several hands are prodding and poking, adjusting and readjusting but one nurse, in particular, leans forward. Her gloved hands gently grab the sides of his face so as to grab his attention - this whole while, his eyes have been closed as he screams.

"Will," she says urgently. "where does it hurt?"

His face is pale and his eyes sunken and dark, but he manages to open them for a brief moment to speak before falling into a fit of groans.

"All over."

"She says he feels like he's burning." Dr. Owen's interjects. "Check for burns."

Will's shirt is quickly cut open allowing them to work but there is no sign of burns to be found.

"I don't see anything!"

Once again, she grabs a gentle hold of Will leaning down to get his attention as the other nurses begin to apply wires.

"Where does it hurt the most, Will?"

"Everywhere!" He screams, launching his head up. "EVERYWHERE!"

His head is thrown back into the pillow in anguish, the doctors swarm his bedside doing all in their abilities. Joyce collapses in Bob's arms, her trembling hand over her mouth and Bob finds himself unable to bear the sight.

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

"Here we stand or here we fall

History won't care at all"

The newly formed, unlikely duo of Dustin Henderson and Steve Harrington stew in thick silence, nothing but the lilting voice of Freddie Mercury's carrying through the car's otherwise silent atmosphere as Hammer To Fall plays from the radio. Night has fallen and the two ride in silence, the maroon BMW barreling down the streets of Hawkins, clouds of leaves in its path. Dustin had shared his previous encounters with his newest ally which has caused the aforementioned silence. Finally, Steve finds his voice.

"Wait a sec. How big?"

Dustin stretches out his forefinger from his thumb roughly an inch, indicating to Steve.

"First it was like that," he then stretches both hands out wider than his shoulders. "Now he's like this."

Steve rolls his eyes, returning them to the road as he scoffs.

"I swear to God, man, it's just some little lizard, okay?"

"It's not a lizard."

"How do you know?"

Dustin turned to Steve with an incredulous look, mocking his confidence and the two begin to speak over one another.

"How do I know if it's not?"

"How you know it's not just a lizard?" Steve said, his voice rising.

"Because his face opened up and he ate my cat." Dustin snapped.

Steve's eyes widened, though his face quickly contorts into an awkward expression. Willingly admitting defeat, he shrugged as he pulls into the Henderson driveway.

The two exit the car and meet at the trunk, as promised Steve opens his trunk to reveal the infamous spike bat from the previous year.

Having ditched his toxic friends, Steve had come to the Byers's house to make peace with Jonathan after their fight. Only to find Nancy there with Jonathan as they set a trap for the Demogorgon the night of Eleven's disappearance. Consequently, Steve had been thrown into the chaos in their battle with the Upside Down where he upheld the infamous bat. The less than pleasant memories came flooding back to him as he glanced down at the makeshift weapon, and he sighs.

Tossing his keys to Dustin, he grabs his bat, twirling it in his grasp and he can't help but notice the spark of adrenaline that comes with it. The feeling of the weight in his hands, knowing he needs to be prepared at any moment. And he is.

Slamming the truck, Steve follows Dustin's lead into the backyard. He finds himself standing in front of a chained up cellar and Steve waits in hushed silence for any signs of movement. The flashlight beam dances across the steel as he waits, but the pair is only met with more silence.

"I don't hear shit."

"He's in there." Dustin shrugs.

Cautiously, Steve leans forward, his bat outstretched and he gently taps the wooden end of the bat against the steel. Again, no other sounds can be heard. Testing his luck, he steps forward again and whacks the doors with the bat creating a larger sound. Still no reply.

Steve turns hotly on his heel and shines the flashlight directly in Dustin's eyes with a less than impressed look on his face.

"All right, listen, kid. I swear, if this is some sort of Halloween prank, you're dead."

"It's not," Dustin argues, wincing from the harsh light.

"All right?" Steve pressed.

"It's not a prank." He urges. "Get it out of my face."

Steve reluctantly replies, lowering the flashlight and he gestures to the cellar.

"You got a key for this thing?"

The cellar doors are ripped open with an ear-splitting squeak and Steve peers deep into the darkness, his bat at the ready. Dustin stands behind him, flashlight in his shaky hand and Steve gladly takes it. He shines it further into the cellar, the milky white beam reached the bottom of the steps and dances across the cold, grey concrete.

"He must be farther down there," Dustin says uncertainly. "I'll stay up here in case he tries to escape,"

Steve looks up at the boy with a deadpan expression before back into the dark abyss with a supposed cat-eating monster. He shakes his head, unable to believe the dramatic, unforeseen turn his day has taken.

He sighs once more, not bothering to hide his unease as he looks from the boy to cellar once more.

"You have a brother, don't you? Why isn't he helping out?"

Dustin shifts uneasily.

"Yeah, about that," Dustin says, causing Steve to sigh. "He's with Byers. Also, he has no idea I found Dart after we lost him at school, or that our cat's dead so I'd rather not lead with that..."

"Jesus, I- Fine. Whatever, let's just get this over with."

Both bated breath, Steve descends into the darkness, his bat gripped tightly in hand, flashlight in the other. His body is tense and he is ready for any sign of movement. He reaches the last step, and his flashlight quickly scans the area though it finds nothing but a metal chain hanging from the ceiling in the center of the room. Deeming it safe, his guard lowers ever so and he steps forward turning on the light, the chain dangles around his head and for one blissful moment, he finds nothing but a regular cellar.

That is until his eyes land on the peculiar sickly pale green shape on the floor before him. In the dark, his vision had mistaken it as an old plastic grocery bag. But now, with the light illuminating the surface, it had a bright pale sheen and he could see it certainly wasn't anything normal. Extending the ends of the bat, the nails hooked into the strange wet substance and held it up to examine it.

The beam of the flashlight shone through the substance. After moments of contemplation as he watches it drip with mucus-like slime and is met with a horrid stench, he realizes it had once been skin.

His gaze wandered to a spot on the wall just beyond where he had found the shredded skin and he looked on in shock, his stomach plummeted as if he had dropped ten stories.

From above the surface, Dustin waited less than patiently, growing nervous for the Harrington boy.

"Steve?" He called uneasily.

The cellar light had been turned on but no other sign of life had shown itself. Fear crept into Dustin's heart and his unease festered.

"Steve, what's going on down there?" He asked a little louder.

Dustin jumped back in surprise when an unexpected beam of light hit his face so suddenly. His heart leaped into his throat and he was thankful he hadn't screamed. Behind the beam of light was Steve, looking up at him worriedly.

"Get down here." He ordered.

His voice sounded shaky, a factor in Steve that did not comfort Dustin at this moment. But reluctantly, he obeyed. Dustin descended the cellar steps to find a familiar substance dangling from the spiked bat, and his stomach twisted into knots.

"Oh, shit."

Without a word, Steve pulled the bat away and shone the flashlight towards the far corner of the cellar revealing his second discovery. A large trail of slime was strewn across the concrete leading to the far left corner of the cellar. Dozens of discarded bricks, broken remnants of splintered wood sprinkled the area as well as of mounds of dirt all flowed in from the gaping hole in the wall where Dart had escaped.

"Holy, shit!"

The duo stepped forward, bending down to examine the tunnel. The small beam of light was redirected once more and the two gapped at their microscopic view of the infinite tunnel that wound its way throughout all of Hawkins.

The currently vacant Byers living room is bathed in the pale moonlight, the only evidence of life is Will's abandoned maps that travel through the house like veins. An abandoned glass of water on the kitchen counter vibrates in only the slightest as the growing rumble of engines surrounds the house. A fleet of men flood routinely from the identical swarm of HAWKINS WATER AND ELECTRIC vans and storm the Byers porch. Within moments, the house is flooded with agents, dozens of flashlight beams dance across the floors, walls, and ceilings as they dissolve across the perimeter.

Light switches, remotes, doorknobs - apart from the front door - go untouched avoiding any trace they were ever here, only doing that which was necessary with gloved hands. They were quick and thorough, and apart from the brief but blinding flashes of cameras documenting the maps and the fleet of flashlights, the house is illuminated only by the moons soft rays. A pair of hands confiscate the videotape from Halloween night, that had previously remained tucked into the player, while another takes several photos of Will's drawing of the shadow monster that sits in his room, undisturbed.

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

Will's small and weakened frame lays unconscious on the medical bed. The color in his cheeks that gave him his usual warm and pinkish hue withered and was almost nonexistent, his skin now paled a sickly white and covered in a sheen of sweat from the long night behind him. Bob and Mike sit at his side, their eyes trained on him for any signs of disturbance as his body shakily rises and falls in a feeble attempt at stabilizing.

Meanwhile, Joyce sits at the head of the conference table among the lab's finest doctors and agents. She - much like Bob and Hopper - had traded their regular attire for scrubs during the night and she is in a heated discussion with Owens and his team.

"That thing, it..." she gestured over her shoulder. "It did something to him."

"Okay," Owens thoughtfully scratches his head, his mind scrambling to catch up and understand the situation. "And these now-memories, as you call them, how long has he been experiencing them?"

The impatience grew in Joyce at the repetitive question and fights a huff.

"I told you, since Thursday. Since I found him in the field."

"And why wasn't he brought in?" Asked an unnamed scientist to her right.

Her sharp and hostile gaze snaps to the man and she gives him a cynical glance, her palms hitting the surface of the wooden table.

"I have been bringing him in, and what have you done?" She spits coolly. "Nothing. Nothing!"

Owens nervously jumps in with an unintended stilted tone, his movements stiff, all in a pathetic and useless attempt to minimize her concerns.

"These are new symptoms, Joyce."

Joyce shook her head profusely, jabbing her finger in Owens's direction. Her promise to Will burning protectively in her heart.

"No. No, he has been telling you over and over that something wrong, and you said it was all in his head."

Owens squirms uncomfortably in his seat, his composure cracking under Joyce's fire. His mouth opens and closes, though his voice fails him.

"You said, 'Be patient.' Those were your words."

As she leans back into her seat, shifting restlessly Owens finally finds his voice. Her adrenaline and unease find a small and temporary outlet as her fingers drum against the wooden conference table.

"I understand that you're upset, okay? I get it. And I would be, too, if I were in your shoes." Owens gestured around the room. "But we are all in the same boat here, and I just need you to try--"

"What? Stay calm? Trust you?" Joyce looks around the table in disgust before shaking her head. "No, I want him transferred to a real hospital."

Dr. Owens's eyes shift to the papers in his hands, and while his voice is firm his nervous actions give away his discomfort.

"Well, you know that's not possible."

Another doctor joins in much to Joyce's bewilderment and chagrin.

"He really will get the best treatment here, Mrs. Byers."

"He really will." Another interjected.

She looked between them, utterly baffled, unable to believe the blinding negligence in themselves. She merely scoffs.

"And what are you treating him for, exactly?" She shrugs exasperated when she is met with no response and she rises to her feet. "Can anyone tell me what's wrong with him? Can a single person in this room tell me what is wrong with my boy?"

No one spoke, and she was met once more with dozens of eyes that avoided her gaze. Several men squirming uncomfortably in their seats and it only fuels the flames in her chest and her voice rises with her anger.

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH MY BOY?"

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

"Oh, He-Man, thank you for saving my life. What strong muscles you have."

Erica smirks at the dolls in her hands as she is splayed out across her bed. In one hand, her favorite Barbie doll, Christie. In the other, Lucas's He-Man action figure she had lifted from his room. She brought the two together in an embrace, their plastic faces touching as she made exaggerated kissing noises. The door was thrown open by Lucas and she looks up at him distasteful. His eyes fall to the doll in his hands and he glares at her.

"I knew it!" He scoffs, stomping in and ripping He-Man from her hands.

"Hey! They're in love!"

Lucas turns in her doorway, rolling his eyes.

"No, actually they're not. They don't even exist on the same planet."

"Aren't you too old to be playing with toys?" She quips.

Words die on Lucas's tongue and another rough sigh escaped him. He shakes his head, ridding himself of the comment.

"That... That's not the point. The point is to stay out of my room." He fires back, marching off into the hallway.

Erica calls after him, unfazed.

"Then tell your little nerdy friend to shut his mouth."

Lucas backpedals and returns to her doorway, giving his sister a quizzical look.

"What are you talking about?"

Erica merely shakes her head slightly and exaggerates Dustin's previous cries.

'''Code red, Lucas. Code red. Code red.' Bunch of nerds."

She rolls her eyes, reaching back for a nearby stuff animal, missing the horrified look on Lucas's face. He runs quickly to the end of the hall, not caring if he crashes into his door. He grips the doorframe as he scans his room, a frightened mantra slipping from his lips.

"No, no, no, no, no, no."

Sure enough, on his bed is his walkie, completely shut off. He rushes to his bed, flipping the dials and extending the antenna as quickly as he can.

"Dustin!"

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

The steel buckets hit the concrete with a decisive smack, and a container of gasoline is placed next to them. Dustin and Steve unload the trunk of monster hunting supplies they had scraped together for their plan against Dart. They had procured buckets and buckets of raw meat from the butcher shop and managed to gather the other supplies from Steve's garage. Dustin's comms come to life and immediately he recognizes Lucas's voice.

"Well, well, well, look who it is." Dustin feigns a smirk, gloved hands on his hips as Steve continues to unload the trunk behind him.

"I'm sorry, man." Lucas sighed. "My stupid sister turned it off."

"Well, when you were having sister problems, Dart grew again, he escaped, and I'm pretty sure he's a baby Demogorgan."

All Lucas could do in that short moment was blink as he processed the truckload of information.

"Wait. What?"

"I'll explain later," Dustin answered. "Just meet me and Steve at the old Junkyard."

Another wave of shock hit Lucas abruptly.

"Steve?"

"And bring your binoculars and wrist rocket."

"Steve Harrington?"

Behind Dustin, Steve had finished packing his bag and he closed the trunk. His voice barely echoed through the mic and into Lucas's ears, but it was undeniably Steve's.

"All right, let's go."

Dustin grabs the remaining bucket - the other in Steve's hand - and quickly falls in line.

"Just be there, stat," Dustin ordered into his headset. "Over and out."

[eddiemunson-reader-shame]

Eddie Munson x Fem!Reader: Venus

Good afternoon people of Hawkins I take hammer and I fix the canon so that Eddie and his love are there to save the day.

Alternatively: fuck people like Angela. Throw rocks at them.

Trigger Warnings: vomit mention, pregnancy

****

“What the hell are they doing to Mike’s girlfriend?!”

You sat up ramrod straight, looking directly at Mike Wheeler’s little flame as she’s accosted by a group of leering little bitches led by a trashy looking blonde named Angela. After being accosted one day in Bradley’s Big Buy, fate found you and your fiancé chaperoning Mike’s little trip to see his girlfriend and friend in California. Mrs. Wheeler had paid for the plane tickets and paid you and Eddie two hundred dollars, trusting you to take care of her baby boy and his little friends. Responsibility was something you took seriously. You felt protective, a far cry from your usual antisocial and avoidant demeanor.

The minute you landed in California was when you imprinted on the kiddos like a broody hen imprints on baby chicks. You took a particular liking to Mike’s little girlfriend: she was awkward and scared much like you were once upon a time. Jane Hopper was mousy and shy, and had been trying to be bubbly throughout the trip even though you kept insisting to Eddie something was wrong. You could recognize the signs of someone trying to hold it together. Eddie had insisted you were wrong. Despite his efforts to calm you down, nothing could make you feel safe.

You had been off the whole trip, and the way you were on high alert, the more it seemed like Eddie was right about the cause.

“Hey! Take it easy…” Eddie soothed, pulling at the hem of your Motörhead ringer tee, “Let’s not go berserker on them.”

“I don’t like the way they’re crowding her!” You hissed, pounding your clenched fist on the booth table.

Mike and Will Byers jumped, glancing from you to Eddie then to each other when you immediately stood up out of the booth seat. You were bouncing on the balls of your feet, crouched as though you were going to pounce on someone.

Everyone was already on edge because of you. Going to Rink-O-Mania had been an entire ordeal. Before you entered the parking lot, you were already bitching and moaning about the drive over. Then you started complaining that the rink smelled like feet, and then you complained that the grease from the hot dogs was too overpowering. Eddie had tried to be the peacekeeper. Settling your raging stomach with a thick strawberry milkshake when you started whining about wanting one, and then complaining that the chocolate and vanilla smelled rotten.

The shake helped settle your stomach, but once the nausea was gone you just got more broody and hypersensitive.

“Babe, take a second, okay?” He soothed, pulling you back down into the booth with him, “You’re gonna cause a scene.”

“I don’t like how they’re just grabbing her and lugging her around like a suitcase!” You said.

Will’s hands were shaking, and you could hear him whispering with Mike.

“What’s wrong with her…?”

“How the hell should I know?! She’s been insufferable ever since she got on the plane to California!”

Eddie glanced over at Mike, shaking his head and frowning.

“Mike, take it easy. She’s not feeling well.” He said.

“Eddie, this is stupid!” Mike said, “She complains about every little thing, whines that she doesn’t feel good, then snaps at you if you don’t answer her right away or do what she wants. I swear she’s on the rag! Now she won’t even let El hang with her friends.”

“Mike chill, you don’t understand-…”

You immediately snapped your head towards Will when you heard him make a strangled noise in his throat at the mention of Jane’s “friends”.

“What’s wrong?!” You demanded.

“Nothing!”

Will looked like he had a gun to his head. Hyperventilating. Pure panic on his face.

“Will…” you growled, moving in like a tiger.

“Sweetheart, please. Everything is fine. Don’t start up with the stress.” Eddie begged.

“Yeah, man! Stop freaking everyone out!”

Mike stared you down while Will looked left and right, as though hoping to be saved. A storm was brewing, both in your face and on the roller rink. And unfortunately he didn’t have the spoons or the know-how to quell both at once.

You glanced hatefully at both Eddie and Mike.

“Shut up.” You hissed, before turning back to Will.

He shrank in the booth, the faux leather squeaking.

“Those girls are not her friends… are they?” You whispered dangerously to Will.

He was avoiding your gaze. Fidgeting in his seat. You continued to stare him down until he finally, finally shook his head and muttered.

“No… they’re not her friends. Those are the ones that bully her at school…”

The air surrounding the booth seemed to shift; a cold front of anticipation hitting everyone. You began to quiver, while Mike and Eddie rounded on Will.

“Why didn’t you say something?!” Mike demanded.

“I promised I wouldn’t tell!” Will countered, while Eddie simultaneously tried to pacify Will and soothe Mike.

But you were done. You were so fucking done.

“Fuck this shit.”

You moved out of the booth and sat astride a nearby bench, kicking your shoes off and tying on your black skates. Your face was dark, stormy and murderous, and you looked like you were puffed up and ready to kill someone.

“No, no, no!” Eddie was scrambling out of the booth after you, trying to grab your arm, “Sweetheart, we need to stop and take a breath-…”

“Eddie’s right! What are you even doing?!” Mike demanded.

“I’m going to get my fucking kid.” You said.

“Since when is she your kid?!” Mike snapped.

“Since your mother told me to take care of all of you on this trip.” You snarled, nearly snapping the shoestrings on your skates as you tied them with a vengeance, “If anything happens to any of you, Eddie and I are the ones that are gonna catch hell.”

“You think I’m afraid of Karen Wheeler?!” Eddie interjected, trying to drag you back over to the table, “I get that we have a responsibility, but we need to take a deep breath and not go apeshit on a bunch of kids. You need to think of the situation we might be in...”

His voiced dropped to a whisper.

“I don’t want either of you getting hurt.”

“I’m just going to go get Jane.” You said.

“Dammit babe you can’t just go charging in-…”

Before Eddie could do anything, you had already secured your skates and began gliding out onto the rink. Vaguely over the sound of Bananarama, you could hear Eddie calling your name. You were skating a bit like shit. The motion was a little disorienting, and out in the middle of the rink you could smell everything mixed together with body sweat.

You whipped your head this way and that, before spotting Jane. Cornered by Angela, that bleach blonde jackass.

“Excuse me.” You called out, bumping the blonde with your hip.

The motion was so fluid it simply looked like you were just gliding on by, taking Jane by the upper arm and coasting with her for a turn around the rink. It was done swiftly, no muss no fuss, but you knew from years of experience that girls like Angela wouldn’t let you go so easily.

Jane looked a little frightened, and you caught a glimpse of yourself in the reflection of a mirror. Your teased hair was waterlogged with sweat, and your sharp winged eyeliner was dribbling down your cheeks and getting into your sleep deprived red rimmed eyes. To Jane, you must have looked like a demon.

“Are you okay, sweetie?!” You called out to Jane over the intro to ‘Venus’.

She waited until the iconic screech passed before responding.

“I’m okay…” she nodded, clinging to your arm when she realized you had come to save her, not scream at her.

“What were they doing to you?” You called out, only to see the intended plan a second later as Jane’s bully and her cronies started tailing the two of you around the turn. You locked eyes with Eddie across the room, watching him stand up from putting on his inline skates and gliding towards you two.

“Don’t panic.” You told Jane, “Just skate towards Eddie, okay?”

She nodded and went forward obediently, nearly falling into his open arms when you gave her a little push. Jane’s bullies were closing in on either side of you, and just as you made for Eddie, you felt a tug at the back of your hair. It was soft at first, then someone yanked you backward.

You landed hard on your wrist and ass, and when you looked up, you were doused in chocolate shake.

The smell was more overpowering than the laughter of Jane’s bullies. Angela stood triumphantly over you, her friends circling all of you as they laughed and pointed.

“Look who it is!” She laughed, “The loser’s fat little mother hen!”

You didn’t say anything as you got to your feet. Watching the girls circle you was giving you motion sickness, and you slapped a hand over your mouth as the sickening smell of cheap cocoa ice cream and curdling milk invaded your nostrils.

“Aww look, she’s not saying anything.” Angela sneered, getting into your face, “Is Mommy feeling queasy?”

The hot dog grease, burnt popcorn, oil, Angela’s Love’s Baby Soft perfume, and the insoles of skates that had been sweated in since the sixties, were cumulatively gathering together into one rank whiff to make your stomach turn violently. The feeling of saliva flooding your mouth meant the end was nigh. You looked up at Angela, a sly grin on your face as one of her female friends went up behind you with a fist raised.

“Oh, Mama’s feeling queasy alright,” you hissed, spit dribbling out of your mouth.

“You stuck up little bitch.”

Angela only had one moment to react before her friend hit you hard in the middle of the back. The floodgates opened. The punch to the back knocked you forward, and you immediately threw up all over the front of Angela’s blue shirt.

You finally understood the meaning of a Kodak Moment. Her face changed in the span of a second from superior, to shock, to horror and then fear as she began gagging as the smell of vomit hit her nostrils. You coughed up the remains of the shake while her friends immediately vacated the rink, the music stopping mid riff and everyone clearing off the minute “ralph” was heard echoing through the roller rink. Angela began screaming as Eddie nearly bowled into you, laughing so hard he was crying.

“Holy hell!” He cried, his face red with laughter and his smile wide as he led you out of the rink by the arm, “Did you have to do that?!”

“She shouldn’t have doused me in shake.” Was your smug response.

“YOU DIRTY BITCH!”

Angela shrieked, alone in the center of the rink, covered and stinking, “You’re fucking gross! You’re disgusting!”

“Word of advice, sweetheart,” Eddie called over his shoulder, a smug smile on his face while leading you into the waiting arms of Will, Mike and Jane.

“Next time: don’t pick a fight with a pregnant woman!”

[ryuzakemo128]

Stranger Things Prompts

Message me with a Prompt number and a character you want me to write for. I'll try doing longer ones for these Prompts.

Part One / Part Two / Part Three

Masterlist

Sass

“I’m not doing this anymore, I’m done. If they want more from me, they can wait ten years.”

“Sure, I’m Satan’s second favorite love child sent to drive you insane.” 

"Stay Grumpy Sunbeam. You might live longer."

"Here I thought I was being dumb, turns out it was just you and I was still a grade A student the whole time."

"Bite me shortcake."

Angst

“If god doesn’t listen to me, what makes you so damn sure that Satan does?” 

“I’m done, I can’t do this anymore.”

"Oh my god, what have I done?"

“No matter how much you dress it up, it’s still the same problem. Just with several layers over the top of it.”

"My suggestion is that you leave me behind. I will only get you killed anyway if you stay with me." 

"When will it be enough?"

"Will I be helpful? Will I be pretty in my misery?" (In the tune of Whatever will be, will be Que sera)

Spooky

"By all means disappear into the darkness, not that I'm scared or anything."

"For the last time, stop doing that shit. Now's not the time to try out what does or doesn't scare me."

"I think that's a dead body, but I am not totally sure and I'm not totally sure I want to find out."

"I'm busy you little shits, I'm running from someone who wants to kill me right now. Maybe even not a someone and more of a giant face eating monster."

"By all means, take your sweet time and hopefully by the time you get here. I don't get eaten alive."

Marianna (oc centric)

"It'll depend on what you're planning to do the next day."

"I have nothing left to say to you."

"You mock me, you mock my suffering and you mock my way of life. Yet in turn I haven't done a damn thing to get this kind of ire. Yet I'm getting it anyway."

"My heart was hurting, but I always put you first. I always put you first. I was bleeding on the bathroom floor, so I just wanted to check in and see how you were doing. "

“I had hoped the possibility of never was still on the table. But I don’t think it is anymore. I’m the monster you run from Steve. I’m genetically enhanced, it’s weird I know and I know I should have told you guys sooner. But each time I tried to; you’ve been more concentrated on other things. I didn’t want to bring the mood down, so I never told you anything about it. If you look in the cupboard beneath television. You’ll find out for yourself what kind of monster I am, over” 

“These visions are a curse my friend, I know that now."

[ofbluesandyellows]

Nine: Jitterbug Love - Eddie Munson/Reader

Word count: 6,434

a/n: this one is cute... enjoy :)

Previous chapter

It took you a few weeks to get back to your routine. Your roommates were barely aware you were around, they only spoke to you when it came to making food or paying taxes, but not for the fun stuff. Your mom on the other hand had almost thrown a party in your name, she was happy you came back earlier than planned, a chocolate cake awaited for you when you came back from your first week of college on a Friday afternoon.

A little note was on the side of the cake, an empty glass securing it in place.

Happy first week honey, I’m at the salon, hope you like the cake. x

“Of course I like the cake.” You said to no one as you sliced it and plated it, ready to chug it down.

A happy moan escaped you as you ate, using this as motivation to clean your room, you usually spent the weekends at your little apartment with your roommates back in the Upper West Side–you could get to college faster than back in Queens–but they were not coming back until the next day, some welcoming party they didn’t want to invite you, not even when you helped them choose their outfits, they were not mean but they definitely weren’t Robin nor Steve.

You sighed; you’ve been doing that a lot since you got back.

The cassettes the kids had given you were placed on the desk in your room, you haven’t touched your suitcase since you got back, practically two weeks ago. Someone had to wash the dirty clothes, so this was as better time as any to do so. You didn’t have much in your schedule anyway.

Unfolding jeans and separating color clothes from black and white ones, you played Max’s cassette. Pretty punk, girl power songs were the fuel to keep you going with the chore. As you pulled a shirt out of a nest of clothes, a piece of paper went out flying.

Nancy Wheeler, it read, her phone number perfectly written. At least Steve had nice handwriting.

You bit the side of your cheek… after a second of looking at the number you shrugged, taking the phone from your mom’s room you dragged it to yours. Closing the door you dialed. There were plenty of chimes, until a man answered. Mr. Wheeler had always been a grumpy man, so you went straight to the point. You heard how the man shouted for Nancy to pick up the phone, and after a minute she did.

An exasperated grunt sounded before she could talk.

“Who is this?”

“Hi, Nancy it’s y/n, I’m sorry for calling all of a sudden, Steve gave me your number and I just decided to call you, how are you?” you wanted to self palm yourself, the rambling inevitable, but that was the way; politeness first, then business.

“Uh, yeah y/n of course, Hi. I’m good, what about you?” she sounded bored to you but sure she probably had better things to do.

“It’s all good, just um… listen I know this is awkward specially because we were never close, not even friends back in school but I’m in New York now and an idea came to me, it’s different from what you’re doing at the moment with the school paper and such but maybe if you are interested in the future, would you like to work with me? I mean, I have a magazine project in mind, it’s for college, very in the works, don’t know what I’m naming it or anything but if you find it slightly interesting would you mail me? or call me? I’ll give you my number, do you have something to write with?”

Silence, you gulped closing your eyes, it was the fast Robin kind of rambling again. Shit, you always ruined these things doing so, it surprised you to hear her laugh.

“That was a lot for a first time call” you heard shuffling on the other line, “listen, I have a few things going on right now but sure… What kind of magazine are we talking about though?”

You felt the tug at the end of your lips going upwards, a light flutter in your chest “oh god, are you serious? Wow for a second I thought you had hung up on me. Wow, um ok so… it’s mostly a music magazine you know like Rolling Stone, but made with a female perspective, with interviews, maybe some movie recommendations, and I don’t know perhaps we can add a few other important things that are happening in our society respecting girls, it’s basically that.”

“Wow,” she sighed, “that actually sounds interesting… I like it, don’t take it the wrong way but this is a little ambitious for just the two of us.”

“No, yeah you’re right but it’s just the beginning. Listen, this is just like the main idea, we can work on it and polish the whole concept, I just need a few people that I can count on and build this slowly, so are you in, Nancy Wheeler?” you were twisting the phone chord so tightly around your index finger it was starting to turn a sickly kind of purple.

“I don’t know how you’re planning on putting this into a real magazine but yeah, count me in! Why not?!” she giggled and you let out a big puff of air out of your lungs.

“Hell yes! That’s amazing Nance, can I call you Nance? Oh god, okay um… do you think Jonathan would be interested in helping?”

Nancy snorted, “I think I can convince him, don’t worry about it.” A big grin spread on your face, this was the first good thing that came out of your trip to Hawkins, well that and your friendship with Steve… and Eddie, but that was another topic.

“Fantastic, ok well, I can give you my number and we can discuss this with more detail. I still need to talk to my teacher about it and see if I can use it for a dissertation project or something but yeah, cool… I’m rambling now, just tell Jonathan and let me know, do you have paper and pen?”

“Yes,” you gave her both your number and the one of your apartment “got it!”

“Ok cool,”

“Um, thanks for considering me, this can be a good thing, for lots of people.” Nancy said, your heart felt full in that moment.

“Don’t mention it, it was like a collective idea, I’m glad you’re giving me and this crazy idea a chance. Well, I'm gonna leave you alone for now, thanks Nance.”

“Thanks for calling y/n, talk soon.”

The line died and you plopped on your bed, the bubbly feeling starting to rise from your belly, this was good.

☼

Halloween arrived in the blink of an eye, it had been two weeks since you talked to Robin and Steve, they had way too much work for you to interrupt them. So it was set as an obligation for you and them to have a phone call the night of Halloween. Ten at night and you dialed Steve’s phone number, the line chimed more times than you cared to count, but you waited, they were the only lucky ones you waited for to pick up.

“Harrington with H of Hello.”

“Ugh, that was awful Steve, please just stick up with Hi,”

“Oh look who it is, miss grumpy pants. Nice to hear from you, miss-I’m-too-busy-for-my-friends.” You heard him munching something.

“Me? You were the ones that didn’t call, I waited for hours and last time I did call, you were all ‘oh no I have so much work and my date is in one hour’ whiney dork.”

“Hah, so funny guys, first of all that was an outrageous imitation of me.”

Robin’s laugh floated to your ear, “He is a whiney dork, and I had to do all the stuff he didn’t just so Keith wouldn’t fire him.”

“This is exactly what I don’t like about our group calls, you always attack me.”

“See? He whines too much.”

“Shut up Robin. Are we going to watch the movie or what?” Steve interrupted the banter.

“Fine, do you have snacks and all?” you asked, opening a can of soda, placing it on your bedside table, right beside a half eaten chocolate bar.

After forty minutes and a break for the bathroom, your room’s door opened.

“Can I use the phone?” Katia opened the door of your room, you had popcorn all over your shirt, a melting square of chocolate on your fingers. She grimaced when she glanced at you.

“Uh… no? I’m using it, weren’t you supposed to be at that party of lawyers you were bragging about the whole week?” you cocked an eyebrow.

Katia grunted. “I just wanted to call Justin so he could pick me up.”

“Well, it’s a shame you won’t be able to.” The chocolate got placed in your mouth, warm and tasty.

“Are you talking to Robin?”

“Yes, wanna say hi?”

“Hello Katia,” Robin shouted from the other line, speakerphone now on.

“Hi Robin, I expect a better Christmas gift this year, last year’s was trash.”

“It’s what you deserve after what you gave me.”

“Oh fuck you then.”

“Always nice talking to you.”

“Whatever,” Katia rolled her eyes but smiled. “See you later y/n, don’t eat all the ice cream or I’ll kick your ugly ass.”

You flipped your finger at her, she walked away chuckling.

“She’s such a doll.” Steve’s sarcasm made you grin.

“She’s okay, the only thing is that she thinks she’s better than the rest of us.”

“Dudes the best part is about to happen, shut up.” Robin said and yes the slayer movie started to get bloody.

The whole mechanics of synchronizing your TV VHS player with theirs took a while, but you managed to play it at the same time after several tries.

To you Fredy Krueger wasn’t that scary but you thought that maybe if it wasn’t Halloween you would totally freak out if you saw him on a regular Wednesday in your dreams.

“Jesus, that looks way worse than my period.” You mumbled to no one.

“Please don’t start.” Steve quickly said before you three grunted, made gagging noises and hissing sounds when someone died. “Yep, that was a lot of blood.”

“I don’t think I'll be drinking the rest of my wine anymore,” you said, gulping, giving a glance at the cup by your side, the soda far gone now.

“Wine? You're drinking wine!”

“Hell yeah Robs, you know I can’t stand horror shit so I need to be tipsy to handle the stress.”

“Who’s whiny now.”

“Zip it Steve.” You and Robin said. Your soft laugh made Robin do the same.

“Also it’s the cheap kind, so don’t expect much from it, Harrington. Carton wine isn’t as fancy as your dad’s damn bar.”

“You got a point there… So now we watch the new addition to Family Video horror collection?” Steve said far away from the phone.

“Child’s Play it is.” Robin sighed, pretty satisfied with her pick.

“Shit, guys you really don’t want me to sleep tonight.”

“Who said anything about sleeping, we are partyiiiiing.” Steve shouted in a weird voice, making you laugh.

After taking out the tape you put the new one on, good thing that they had a copy available at your local video rental. You curled up with a blanket and your snacks, you spilled a few drops of soda every now and then whenever Chucky did something funny, like running, or when it was all burnt but the thing didn’t feel like dying anytime soon. Steve and Robin made the experience more like a comedy than a horror one, which you appreciated and made you miss them way more than before.

✤

The first bash of snow rested on the streets of New York, it was a week before Christmas, which meant buying your friends gifts that were not shitty and were definitely overpriced but still the whole ritual was kinda therapeutic to you.

For Jonathan and Nancy were easy to pick, you bought a bunch of film rolls for the Byers guy, different IOS exposure and a mix of b&w and color ones, plus a camera lens filter for cold tone photos. Nancy, you were in between buying her a nice fluffy sweater in pastel tones, the poem collection of Sylvia Plath and a new diary. You opted for the latter, you weren’t sure if that was her style, she was very into fashion and you were not so it was better to give her something she could use plus a nice set of colorful pens.

Katia and Sharon weren’t your friends in the very sense of the word but they were cool and did things for you like sometimes paying rent when you were a little late with the payments, so they got scented candles and a box of chocolates each.

For the teens in Hawkins was a hard thing specially because you weren’t sure what they liked, well except for Dustin the kid was very specific on comics so you bought a bunch of Marvel stuff for him, all from the X-Men to Spider-Man. Lucas was all into sports and music so He's the DJ, I'm the Rapper album was a no brainer when you saw it with a Christmas discount, it was still a rip off but the kid deserved it. Will, you cared so much for him you had to be very careful where to buy artsy things that were the quality he needed, so a box of pastels, a special block for them and a watercolor set got nicely wrapped in a shiny christmas-y paper.

Max got a new set of wheels for her skateboard along with a cassette you found from a french punk band. You knew she was going to like it especially when she felt angry, at that age you were always angry and ready for a fight. You found Max to be a lot like you, which made you want to protect her and be always there for her.

Things got a little harder when the Steve and Robin gifts had to be chosen. It could either go excellent or down the hill to ‘the worst gift given in history’ like that one year Robin gifted you some socks she found “cute”, they had blue frogs who wore cowboy hats. That was not the worst part, it was that the socks were too little for you to wear so they ended at the bottom of your drawer. The never used pair of socks.

It’d be a lie to pretend you knew what Steve needed other than therapy and a hug. You guessed a comb would be as good as any other gift but it was cheap and you were not ready to ruin your friendship with him thanks to a comb. The sight of a blue sweater screamed Steve to you, a button down sweater was good, he looked good in blue so why not. That and a compact mirror with the symbols of the Rebel alliance in Star Wars, after that Obi-Wan reference that seemed very appropriate.

And Robin, you had found a set of pins since early February, those were destined for her the moment you saw them, they were all David Bowie, that was the symbol of your friendship, if it wasn’t for him you wouldn’t be friends with her so you took them without questioning the price, it was right, and now you needed something else to form the perfect Christmas present. It didn’t show itself to you until the moment you were about to give up and go home.

A mug with an orange-y bird standing on a branch, it was perfect, handmade, hand-painted, just the ideal mug for Robin, a Robin mug, literally. If someone would appreciate that would be her, you were certain about it, you two had the same sense of fucked up humor, so it got secured in a box filled in with newspaper and that got into a bigger box with the address of Robin’s parent’s.

It was a cold morning, when your mom had sent you to buy a few things in preparation for Christmas. Brooklyn was one of your favorite places to walk around, it was a bit less crowded than downtown and there were always Christmas markets in random streets. You ended up buying a new pair of pink jeans with yellow flowers on them, and a few books, poetry and magazines you could use for inspiration for your new project, but it was the sparkle of silver chains that caught your attention.

Belt chain formed with little skulls, it was all Eddie, it’d be mistake not to buy it, so you didn’t think much about it, maybe it was a sign for you to try and stay friends with him, at the end of the day he was part of the Hawkins gang and you didn’t want him and the teens or your two musketeers to be vexed with each other.

It got inside a blue silver-like wrap, it lied on your bed for a few hours once you got home, you weren’t sure if sending it was a good idea but at the end of the day you placed it at the bottom of the box, where you couldn’t see it, as if that was enough for you not to think about it. You checked your list and yes, you had gifts for everyone, even Mike and El, you didn’t know them well so a scarf got folded for Mike and a set of shimmery makeup for El also got a spot inside the box. The shipping wasn’t cheap but it was worth it.

So worth it you got a call from Robin the moment it got delivered at her door.

It was the morning of Christmas Eve when she called, you just got your own package as well sitting at the foot of your bed, it was a big box filled with gifts, she put an extra bag of candy for your mom and one box of chocolates for your roommates; who were not impressed but at least it wasn’t just a Christmas card.

“Did I just see a gift for Eddie here?” Robin wondered but you caught her wry tone.

“Oh my god Robin! Don’t open it!”

“Jesus, okay sorry I just saw the package. I mean, I’m in charge of delivering all these, I’m practically Santa, therefore I need to know the list of names of the well behaved kids, am I right?”

“Ugh okay yes, it’s for Eddie, the thing is how did you know it was for him, it has no tag on it?”

She giggled “well… I took a peek and the skulls are pretty much his thing so… yeah sorry.”

“Knew it… you are too nosy, but I forgive you because you got me a new corduroy tote bag, and these cool markers… but tell me, what do you think?”

“Uh, about what?”

“Dude…” you slammed your palm on your forehead, “about Eddie’s gift, of course!”

“Well, it’s nice, very nice I’d say, but don’t worry I won’t tell Steve because he’s gonna be jealous about you giving Eddie jewelry when he got a sweater.” She scoffed

“But it’s a nice sweater.”

“It is, maybe I’d tell him you got him nothing so I get to keep the sweater… hah just kidding the material feels itchy on my skin, but he’ll love it.”

You grinned, “Open your present now, I wanna hear the reaction.”

“Hmmm okay, must be a nice one.” The line went silent for a moment then you heard your best friend screaming loudly as she picked the phone again, her voice sounded very high pitched and raspy, “This is the absolute best, are you fucking joking! The pins are going straight to my working vest, so I can see them all the time… and this mug, oh!”

If she could only see you, you had the biggest grin, your cheeks were starting to hurt, dammit! You wish you could be there to see her reaction in real time.

“You know you are the best right? Like yes it sounds biased when I just got the most perfect gifts ever but you truly are the best friend I could have ever asked for, and no gifts, no money, no long distances would change how thankful I am to have you in my life. Honestly, it sounds so cheesy but it’s true. I love you dude, just wait until you see the rest of the gifts, especially those mixtapes.”

She squealed and you started to open yours, it was a tradition now, you had always opened the gifts the day they arrived at either your house or hers, this year was extra special with extra gifts for you at least.

Yes, there were two mixtapes, one with the name of ‘the last-first party of the year’ and the second one had nothing on it, which was odd but you didn’t ask questions, you were sure Robin was not going to answer any of them.

“I know my present is the best one but what did Steve give you? That dingus didn’t want to tell me.”

It was a pink wrapped present, when you ripped it open the box came onto view, it was not a common box it was a jewelry box made of wood, your heart squeezed when you opened it, depicting a picture, one you weren’t sure when was taken but it was Robin, Steve and you at Family Video watching a movie, you were almost sure it had been taken by Dustin, because it was simple, like very in the moment. You were looking at the tv, you three midway to a laugh, cheeks rosy and you seemed happy.

“Did he give you the photo too? And the book?” Robin asked when you gasped.

“Uh yes,” you couldn’t help but hug the small book against your chest, it was the three musketeers book, “which one did he get you?”

“It’s the second novel,”

“I got the third one,”

“He must have the first one, he is sentimental like that isn’t he?” Robin said giggling.

“Yes, but it’s cute.”

You felt full of love, noticing how Steve cared for simple yet meaningful things, next year you had to give him something handmade, that was your mission, make him feel important and special.

“Max gave me a tie dye shirt.” Robin took you out of your train of thought.

“Same here, I think she is more into practical stuff than us, it is cool though.”

“Totally. We can wear matching outfits when we see each other.” Robin said with clear excitement.

“I like that, what did Dustin get you and why is a handmade D&D guide for dummies?”

“He got me that plus a coupon for a free lesson, that kid needs to learn a few things.”

“I’m regretting spending my money on him.” You grunted.

“Lucas really put some effort in this, he made us all the New Year's mixtape, he said we could play it along together when the clock strikes eleven thirty, so it plays for exactly thirty minutes and we can listen to the last song of the year all at the same time, then the other side on the first half hour of the new year…”

“That is cheesy—if I was to say something—but I appreciate it, he better put some good tunes there.”

“He has cool music taste so I trust the boy.”

“No way Will did this cartoony portrait for us, mine is so funny, wow if I were to say that any in the gang was destined for success I’d put Will on the first spot because he has some skills.”

You were in total awe at the image you had in your hand, it was you scrunching your nose with glitter on your eyelids and a very punk vibe, you weren’t sure you gave away that aura of coolness.

“He showed me his progress and I think he captured you pretty well, like strong but also nice? I don’t know, it gives off both kind of opposite perceptions of you.”

“Hmmm… am I that intimidating, I look angry.”

“No, it’s just that you know what you want, and that you are very… um listen you are like Steve in the sense that you give off intimidating energy but in the best way possible.”

“That sounds so horrible, Robin, we better change the topic.”

“Yes, that’s what we should do… uh Jonathan and Nancy sent you like the biggest shit ever, why on earth would they pay for a typewriter? Is Nancy now your new best friend? After all we’ve been through?” she squealed, but your laugh was the hint she needed to understand it wasn’t about that.

“It’s for work, I’m working on this magazine project. If you are interested in sharing some of your film opinions and recommendations I have a spot open.” You bit the inside of your cheek.

Robin started laughing, but you kept silent, hence she stopped the mocking, “wait you are serious, oh my god yes! Absolutely, shit dude why didn’t you tell me oh my god, wait—that’s why they’ve been traveling so much, right? Mike was showing off how Nancy had bought him merch from some weird nerd store he likes from Chicago. Shit! Why didn’t you tell me?!”

It was true, Jonathan and Nancy had bought a typewriter for you, you had only agreed to it because it wasn’t new and you paid half of the price, they decided to pay the rest as their Christmas present to you. Still it was a very dope gift, you had received it only two days earlier than the gang’s own box of presents.

“Yes, to all of it, and I didn’t tell you before because it’s still pretty much in the works, we are working on names right now so if you have any ideas I’m very happy to hear them.”

“I mean, not at the moment but surely I’ll come up with something. Y/n this is great, I can send you reviews of some of my favorite films and you can decide what to post. This is so cool, Steve is gonna love it.”

Mike and El got you a bunch of stickers and a handmade pen holder made out of a can of something that still smelled sweet, it had more stickers on and lots of ribbons. It was nice. Definitely better than nothing.

Still there was the cassette at the bottom of the box.

“Uh Robs, you guys put an empty cassette here or does it actually have some music?” you had to ask because it had no name, and no indication that it had been recorded.

“It has music, you should listen to it but I recommend you to do it when you are alone, with headphones on and just with an open mind…”

You snorted, “okay… is this some kind of joke? Because I do not appreciate jokes on holidays.”

“It’s not a joke, geez you should trust me I’m your best friend.”

Facts. Still there was something sketchy about it.

“Right,”

And you did what Robin advised, it was Christmas, two in the morning and you were ready to call it a night, your mom and aunt were a little tipsy taking over the karaoke so there was no point in trying to mingle.

The door on your room closed, the mixtape rested on your bedside table. Feeling deep inside you that you should listen to it, maybe it was the Christmas spirit or just your brain trying to find a way to muffle your aunt’s horrible howls when she sang Astral Weeks .

The cassette got placed inside your walkman, headphones on. White noise, being the only thing you heard, for a second you thought Robin had played you a prank, but the voice you heard next made your chest clench.

“Henderson, are you sure this shit is being recorded because I swear to christ if you’re just-“

“It is recording Eddie please you're talking about me, when have I let you down?”

“Uh yeah I'd rather not answer that… shit ok… hi, um y/n I hope you're listening to this… I don't know when but-“

“Go to the point dude,” you clocked Steve’s voice in the background.

Steve the traitor Harrington!

“Right, um so I just want to apologize for what I did. I was confused and stupid, I still am pretty stupid so we are not debating that,” he lightly laughed, “I never said this to you, not because I didn’t feel it but because it wasn’t fair for you at the moment, so… I really appreciate you, no—um it’s not appreciation I feel, ok yeah I do appreciate you but it’s stronger than that.”

He made the largest pause, he was being more dramatic than necessary, but it was worth it.

“I like you… a lot actually…”

Your breath hitched, heart skipping a beat, accelerating into a dangerous pace.

“Aww” the sweet chime of girly voices backgrounded the recording.

“Hey guys you are very supportive and all but can you fuck off for a minute!” Eddie yelled to them. It made you laugh only imagining the whole thing. “Yes exactly, finally some privacy. Alright where was I?”

After a second of no sound a big sigh coming from the tape made your tummy drop.

“Y/n” Eddie mumbled, “I fucked it up. I should’ve known you were going to ruin me the moment Buckley introduced us, you with your sweaty hair and sparkly eyes like... SHIT!”

You closed your eyes, headphones in place as you sat on your bed. If you concentrated enough you could almost see him with his hands over his eyes, trying to put his shit together.

“That’s why I called Robin and Steve and went to see you that night, you know? I guess you don’t know, but I wanted to see you again and be just there, to forget about the rest of the world. Never felt like this about anyone, yeah I’ve been attracted to girls but with you is like a collision between lust and care and love and I wanted to make you laugh all the time, and hold your hand and—Jesus, I sound like Harrington.”

You smiled, laying on the mattress, your hand went to your chest trying to have some control over the flutter inside you. Failing of course, you wanted to squeal and roll on the floor.

“You kinda always have been there; buzzed hair and school guitar rehearsals. Yep I saw you a couple of times walking through the empty halls on your way out of school. It always intrigued me why you were always there so late. And that night when you told me it was for me, for the guitar… I guess I knew that since I was a kid, because it changed something within me, unconsciously of course because until now I was in the dark of how it had shifted things for me. Although I finally acknowledged it; I wanted to be the best guitar player and wanted to impress people, not just you but everyone around, that’s when the band formed and I became unapologetically myself, I wanted to do it my way.” He chuckled, a sad one you could hear it.

“Anyway, I hope we can at least stay friends… or stay in touch. Umm, there’s something else I want to tell you, no one knows this but we got a deal, not a record deal but it’s getting close to one…this thing is big. Corroded Coffin got its first tour… we aren’t the main act but we are opening for a small band from California and they wanted us to play for them for their northern area slot… so yeah I guess it’s pretty cool huh? If things get better, I hope that sweet deal about an interview in your magazine is still on the table. That’d be fucking great,” he cleared his throat.

“Just wanted to share that with you because you’re important to me. And I don’t know, that’s all I’m gonna say before I get too mushy so… the rest of the cassette is just a mix I made, remember that bet we made? About you playing guitar and going to my shows and me listening to your mellow shit? Well,—I did it, I listened to all kinds of things you mentioned and some other recommendations from Steve and Robin, so yeah” Eddie’s chuckle rumbled all across your body, it was causing a reaction in your system. “Lots of great tunes here, because as you already know I have a fantastic music taste anyway, so enjoy it. And have a very Merry Christmas or New Year or… whatever it’s happening the day you listen to this.”

“Don’t feel forced to give any kind of reply, it’s all cool….You don’t even have to forgive me, because—hell I wouldn’t forgive me either to be fair… anyway. Uh, should I sign this with my name or something? Well, shit I don’t know… With love, Eddie Munson. That sucked, ok um bye.”

A low thud sound followed by “Hey Dustin how do I finish the recording.” Another thud and shuffling sounds, mumbles and swears, followed by white noise finally filling your ears completely.

It took a few seconds there for the Echo & The Bunnymen to abruptly start. Your whole body came back to life, Lips Like Sugar made your insides squirm.

Eddie had declared his love for you, well he just said he liked you but that was enough. You laid in bed listening to the selection of songs that practically were a love letter for you, everything he could feel or express got translated into songs you liked and that he related to you.

Was this the ultimate token of love?

Absolutely, you’d be stupid not to see it.

The fact that this was sent even before you had sent your own gifts was a clear signal that you and Eddie have been thinking of each other for a few weeks or months now. You sent him a gift without expecting anything back, instead you got a mixtape one that had songs that made you want to jump and dance and cry and take a bus to Hawkins to go kiss the boy but oh well you had stuff to do, and no money left to spend.

Uptown Girl made you laugh hard because it made sense for him to add it to the mix, not because you were rich or anything but looking at the situation you were in, he was becoming someone just to get out of Hawkins and hell, Corroded Coffin was finally getting places, you were happy, too happy to know what to do now, if you called it would be weird, and what if he wasn’t home. Of what if he picked up and you didn’t know what to say to him, that would be embarrassing, but Eddie deserved all the success, he was pure talent along with the boys, Jeff and Gareth and their other band member and you just hoped you could manage to at least see him again, without resentments, without expectations just good vibes and kindness.

That mixtape got replayed over and over again to the point of your roommates having to hide it inside the oven no one used just for you to give them a break. At some point you decided to call Eddie, or at least you’ve tried a couple of times but it always ended with you hanging up before someone would pick up.

A whiney coward that’s what you were. This was all you wanted from the boy and now you were afraid of how strongly you had fallen for him, not wanting to get hurt again.

The hiding spot was weak, you found the tape within the span of hours after you realized what they tried to do. The list of songs had T Rex on it which was no surprise to you, what surprised you was Honey, Honey by ABBA , which unlocked the memory of Eddie telling you about liking them and now you were certain Eddie Munson was low-key an ABBA fan, it always made you beam whenever you listened to it, the butterflies having their own party in your stomach.

Unconsciously Eddie was making you smile, bringing happiness into your life. Damn you loved him.

You whole body hummed at that though, you love Eddie Munson, it was scary but it was way scarier to try and imagine your life without him in it.

✣

When February hit, you had the heads up form your teachers, the magazine was happening, the name you weren’t entirely sure yet, but it started to shape into something good. Jonathan had sent you a few photos he had taken of an art exhibition he and Nancy had gone to in Chicago during the holidays, Robin had more than six reviews on films, and you were working twice as hard to bring this into reality.

Nancy was such a fantastic writer you were actually thinking of paying her just because she was giving you some of the best pieces you’ve read in your whole life; inspiring and eccentric, always speaking from the truth.

When March hit you had the base of the magazine, after much debate between Nancy, Robin and yourself the magazine got named Sonic Fret which was powerful–as Robin pointed out–it was catchy, the articles got placed and edited a couple of times by you, Nancy always attentive to how it looked, she had experience with the school paper so it was easy for her to see how things would look better and attract more attention. It took time, and sleepless nights to try and find the perfect look for it, especially when you had to send each other photos through mail.

But it all came out nicely, you had the first draft in hand one night, still there was something missing, the spot was there, ready to be filled. All you needed now was one last interview to have the perfect first print.

Next chapter

[multi-fandomfuckboy]

Stranger Than Fiction

Part 25: Merry Christmas

Billy Hargrove x Reader (Slowburn)

Part 1,... (Masterlist)...Part 25, Part 26 (Coming Soon)...

AN: I'm alive. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I hope you guys like it! Word Count: 4,362 Warnings: alcohol, vomit

It takes you more than 5 minutes to collect yourself enough to leave the bathroom. When you do finally leave, it feels like you're still in a fog of dream, nothing really feels real. It isn't until you’re seated in the library with Nancy, reading the same line in your textbook for the 10th time, that her question finally snaps you out of it. 

“What is that?” She asks, her eyes narrowed on the skin peaking out around the collar of your neck. She extends a hand, moving to pull the collar of your shirt away from your neck. 

“What?” you ask, instinctively pulling away, your hand moving to cover the sensitive bit of skin you know Billy had in his mouth earlier. Nancy’s eyes stay on you, her investigative brain working through something.

“Did you bump into something or…” Her eyes widen in realization. “Oh my god is that a-” Your eyes bulge in panic.

“Hush! Lower your voice!” you hiss, pressing your palm harder to your neck as if that will make the blemish disappear. You glance around the library that is mostly empty except for one or two students minding their own business. 

“Is that really a…” Nancy glances around as well, leaning in closely and mouthing the word. “Hickey?” You don’t know what to say. Is it? You didn’t think to look at yourself in the mirror before exiting the bathroom. It’s not like you’ve ever been in this situation before. You don’t think they make a handbook for this type of thing that would give you tips like ‘always check for hickeys’. Nancy must take your silence as confirmation, her surprised expression shifting into a wide grin.

“Oh my god! You have to tell me everything! I didn’t even know you were talking to anyone!” She gushes, closing the book in front of her and leaning in. You wish you could just disappear. “Who is it? It must have happened recently. Is that why your face was all red when you got here?” Your heart skips a beat, why did she have to be so observant? 

“I- uh-” you stammer, struggling to think of anything to say that isn’t the truth. You can’t tell her what happened, or who it happened with. “I can’t say.” you blurt out, lowering your eyes from her bright smile. 

“Come on!” she pleads. “I promise I won’t tell anyone, I’m just surprised you are actually talking to someone.” She explains. You feel a stab of indignation at that. Why is it so surprising? Are you so undesirable that it seems impossible someone would want to press you against a bathroom stall and-

“It’s really nothing Nance, just drop it.” You bite back, some of your frustration leaking into your voice. You keep your eyes on your textbook, buttoning your shirt up to ensure the skin is covered. She seems to take the hint, sighing but leaning back in her chair.

“Okay, you don’t have to tell me.” You’re relieved that she’s stopped pushing. “But at least let me cover it up for you. Your mom will have a cow if she sees that on your neck.” She tells you, reaching into her purse to pull out her compact.

You let her cover the mark. When she’s done she offers you her mirror to admire her handiwork. You can barely see the purple mark under the light sheen of makeup, to anyone else it would just look like a shadow. 

“Thank you Nancy.” You tell her genuinely, handing back the mirror. You try to ignore the pang of guilt you feel having to keep things from her. But it really is for the best. 

“It’s no problem.” She smiles, packing away her things. “I got a lot of practice when I was with St-” She catches herself, her smile falters and she keeps her head down. You clear your throat, not wanting her to dwell on the memory.

“Are you going to Tina’s tonight?” you ask, moving to pack up your own things. Her eyes dart to you, once again surprised.

“Yea. Are YOU going to Tina’s tonight?” she asks, her brows drawing together. You shrug, trying to look nonchalant. 

“I was thinking about it.” you tell her, slinging your bag over your shoulder.

“Alright, who are you and what have you done with my friend?” she asks, grabbing you by the shoulder and giving you a playful shake. You can’t help but chuckle. “I thought I was going to have to kidnap you to get you to go. I basically had to bribe Jonathan to get him to agree.” she explains, linking her arm with yours as you both head towards the exit. “Do you need a ride? I can get Jonathan to-”

“No, I have a ride.” you tell her, purposely leaving out the fact that it’s Steve. You don't want to make things more awkward. She glances at you out of the corner of her eye. 

“Would your ride happen to be the mystery man who was sucking on your neck earlier?” She asks, causing you to let out an embarrassing sound while shoving her away.

“Oh my god, Nancy!” you exclaim, the heat returning to your face. “It’s not like that.” you insist, giving her a glare. Nancy only smiles to herself, continuing down the hall. 

“I’m just a naturally inquisitive person, you should know this by now.” She chides you, a slight skip in her step. You have to roll your eyes. She truly was too nosy for her own good. 

“I swear that curiosity is going to get you in trouble one day.” you tell her, pulling your jacket closer around you as she opens the doors, a gust of winter air bursting in. 

“But today is not that day.” She says with a smile, offering you a wave as she rushes to Jonathan’s waiting car. “I’ll see you tonight!” She calls, climbing into the car. You wave to both of them as they pull away from the school. 

You hesitate for a moment, but it's long enough for thoughts of Billy to fill your mind. You shiver at the memory as well as the chill in the air. 

“Fuck.” you grumble, slinging your bag from your shoulder to pull out a slip of paper. You quickly scribble a note for Steve explaining that you are going to walk home and that you would see him at 8 to head to Mather’s, wedging it in the door on the driver side. 

You walk home in record time. Your stride hurried, moving quickly, your sneakers eating up the pavement. It’s still not enough to chase the thoughts of Billy from your mind. 

When you get home you busy yourself with cooking and starting on the laundry, anything to keep yourself busy. You tell your mom that you’ll be going out to a party with Steve tonight, earning a raised eyebrow and a knowing look. You don’t have the energy to scold her for her obvious thoughts about you and Steve. It’s really only gotten worse since Nancy and Jonathan officially started dating. Your mom is convinced that the two of you are just waiting a respectable amount of time before making it official. You really can't blame her for thinking that, he’s quickly become one of your closest friends and most of your time is spent together. To anyone else, it makes perfect sense. 

8 o’clock rolls around and you’ve come to the conclusion that hiding a pistol under your christmas sweater won’t work. You settle on strapping a knife to your ankle, the little voice in your head not allowing you to leave unarmed… just in case. 

Steve is in high spirits when he pulls into your driveway. He leaps out of the car to show you his obnoxiously decorated Christmas sweater. You pretend to shield your eyes from the gratuitous amounts of glittering tinsel adorning him, the light from his headlights reflecting off the multiple ornaments dangling from him. He chatters the whole way to the party. You’re thankful for the distraction, it’s harder to worry with Steve explaining how he made his sweater with the old Christmas decorations he found. 

But, it’s impossible for you not to think about the last party Steve dragged you to. It’s crazy to think that was only a few weeks ago. Your chest tightens at the memory of Nancy drunkenly accusing you of killing Barb. The pain and guilt stab at the wound in your heart, reminding you of its permanence. 

“We don’t have to go, you know?” Steve's voice jolts you from your memories. The car is parked on the street across from the already bustling party. Steve watches you, his eyes filled with concern and understanding. He offers you a small smile. “We can always rent Rudolf or something and-” 

“I’m good Steve.” You cut him off, placing your hand over his and giving it a light squeeze. He immediately turns his palm into yours, interlocking your fingers. “And I desperately need a drink.” You smile, only half joking about that. Steve returns your smile, bringing your hand to his mouth placing a quick kiss on your knuckles. Your heart leaps.

“Now that’s the Christmas spirit!” He lets go of your hand before your blush can spread. He’s always doing things like this. You know it’s just how he is, always touching, playful, flirty. You sometimes can’t help your immediate reaction though. 

The two of you climb out of the car, crossing the street. The house is filled with what seems to be the majority of the upperclassmen, upbeat Christmas music pouring from every window. Steve slings an arm across your shoulders as soon as you step inside, keeping you close to his side as he navigates to the kitchen. 

“Merry Christmas!” He yells over the noise, pressing a cold beer into your hand. He taps his can against yours before popping the top and chugging. He finishes his drink before you’ve even taken a sip immediately reaching for another. 

The two of you talk and drink, Steve finishing his drinks far faster than you. It’s impressive, he finishes three in the time it takes you to work through one. By the time he tosses away his 7th empty can it’s stopped being impressive and started being concerning. He’s still smiling and laughing, giving a lively (but tone deaf) rendition of ‘Jingle Bells’. 

Then Nancy and Jonathan arrive. Steve pretends not to notice but between drinks you notice his eyes flickering to them. His drinks start coming faster, his laughter louder, his eyes glazed with a distant look. At one point he stops completely, he’s hazy eyes drifting over the crowd until they find what they are looking for. Nancy and Jonathan stand against the far wall, tucked away from the jostling crowd, whispering to each other like they are the only two in the room. 

All the joy leeches from Steve’s face, his eyes falling to the half finished drink in his hands. You see the muscle in his jaw tick before he brings the drink to his lips, draining the remainder. 

“Hey, do you want some water or something?” You ask, setting down your own drink. His gaze turns to you, struggling to focus. 

“I’m fine.” He slurs, tossing away another empty can. He sways slightly with the motion, you quickly grasp his shoulders to steady him. 

“You don’t look fine, Steve. I think you should take a break.” You tell him firmly, keeping your hands on his shoulders. He drunkenly smiles down at you. 

“You’re so nice. Such a good friend.” he coos, swaying closer to you. “You’re the best.” he wraps his arms around your waist, pulling you into a tight hug, lifting you off the floor. 

“Whoa!” You exclaim, your fists gripping his shirt tightly. He beams up at you, still smiling stupidly. 

“You should come to Colorado with me. We can both go! My parents won’t even care, they never do.” He says excitedly. You know he’s talking about his family’s annual ski trip. He told you that they go every year for ‘Family time’, joking that it only lasts about a day. He’s been dreading it for the past week.

“Steve come on, you’re drunk.” you say, pushing on his shoulders slightly to see if he will set you down. His arms stay firmly locked around you. Glancing around you notice a few pairs of eyes on the two of you, causing your cheeks to burn.

“I can teach you how to ski! We can build snowmen and drink hot chocolate!” He continues, spinning you around a few times causing your heart to leap in your chest. 

“Steve! Put me down!” you can’t help the laugh that bubbles out of you as he spins you again. He loosens his arms slightly, allowing you to slide down him until your face is level with his. You can smell the alcohol on his breath, his nose only an inch from yours. 

“I-” Steve opens his mouth again but quickly closes it, a shudder running through him violently enough you feel it. He finally lowers you all the way back to the floor, his complexion suddenly looking pale. “I think I’m gunna-” he’s cut off by a heave, his body doubling over. You jump away, grabbing his arm and hauling him to the bathroom. You get him to the toilet just in time for him to empty the contents of his stomach into the bowl.

Kneeling next to him you place a comforting hand on his back, rubbing soothing circles up and down his spine. When it feels like he’s gotten it all up, his body sags one arm on the toilet seat, his head pressed into the bend of his elbow. 

“I’m going to get you some water and then I’m going to take you home, okay?” you tell him. You only receive a grumble in response. Slipping out the door, you close it behind you. The party continues outside, chattering, dancing, drinking. 

You move through the crowd, retrieving a red plastic cup from the kitchen and filling it at the sink. You pause for a moment, you're not sure why, but when you glance around the room of gyrating teenagers that's when you see him. Billy. 

He’s across the room, his normal crowd of acolytes surrounding him. You’re not sure why you thought he wouldn’t be here, a small part of you is stung that he didn’t say something earlier. He smiles, flashing his perfect teeth as he talks to Tommy and Carol. You see the people around him laughing at whatever he’s saying. 

Like he can feel your eyes on him, he glances up. His eyes meet yours, sending a jolt through you. What happened this afternoon in the bathroom flashes through your mind with vivid clarity. You can almost feel it, his body pressed against you, his hands in your hair, his mouth… Your hand drifts to the spot on your neck where you know his mark still resides, hidden under the high neck of your sweater. His eyes track your movement, something like hunger flickering across his face. 

A girl standing next to Billy slings her arms around his neck, pressing her chest against his as she grins up at him. Billy’s gaze breaks from you, his focus turning to the girl hanging on him. He smiles at her, his hand going to her waist.

Right.

You hate the sting you feel at the sight, immediately turning back to the bathroom. You silently curse yourself for even entertaining the idea that you and Billy… You stop that thought before it can even form. 

“Is he okay?” Nancy’s voice startles you. You hadn’t noticed her standing next to Jonathan in the hallway until she had spoken. Glancing towards the closed bathroom door you know she’s worried. Jonathan places a comforting hand on her shoulder. For some reason it irritates you. 

Steve is sick, drinking himself into numbness because of them. He manages to hide it so well normally but you know it hurts him. Is hurting him. 

“He’s fine.” you say with your best approximation of a smile. “I’m just going to take him home.” you tell them. 

Nancy nods, glancing to the bathroom again then up at Jonathan.

“We could help you get him home.” she offers, Jonathan nods to confirm. 

“No, no, that’s okay.” You say. “I haven’t really been drinking so I’ll drive him in his car.” you explain. You don’t think Steve is ready to accept help from the two of them, yet. You smile sadly at Nancy. You know she wishes things were different, you do too. Maybe one day it will be, when Steve’s heart has time to heal. 

“I’ll see you around Nance.” You say, offering her a reassuring smile. She nods in understanding. “Enjoy the party. Merry Christmas guys.” You tell them, Nancy pulls you into a quick hug that you carefully return trying not to spill the water. The two of them return to the party as you break away. 

When you get back into the bathroom Steve has slumped back to sit against the wall, his head hanging between his knees. He’s pulled off his Christmas sweater and thrown it into the bathtub, leaving him in a plain white t-shirt. 

“Hey champ, you feeling alright?” You ask, walking to stand over him.

“I feel like shit.” He grumbles, leaning his head back against the wall, his eyes pinched closed. “I got vomit on my sweater.” He tells you. You can't help but chuckle at his childish tone. 

“I got you some water.” You tell him, offering him the cup. His eyes squint up at you as he takes the water, closing them again as he drinks. 

“Thanks babysitter.” He mumbles, setting the empty cup down next to him. 

“You’re welcome. Now come on, I’m taking you home.” you tell him. He doesn't protest as you grab his arm, helping him to his feet. He tells you to leave the handmade sweater despite your attempts to pick it up. Eventually you agree to abandon the monstrosity because it would be too hard to clean vomit from the tinsel. He sways, leaning heavily on you as you lead him out of the bathroom. You manage to get him to the car, helping him into the passenger seat. You swipe his keys from his pocket before buckling the seatbelt across his lap.

“At least buy me dinner first.” He manages to slur, a crooked smirk on his lips. You roll your eyes at his drunken attempt at flirtation. 

“Alright lover boy, settle down.” You tell him, earning what you assume was supposed to be a wink but looks like a facial spasm. You laugh lightly, closing the door. 

Looking back to the house you notice a lone figure standing in the shadows along the side of the house. You can see the glow of a cigarette burning in the darkness. You know it’s Billy. It’s alway him. It's like your gut has a 6th sense when it comes to knowing when he's around. Gripping the keys tightly you turn on your heel walking around the car to climb into the driver seat. Ignoring the feeling of his eyes following you.

The drive to Steves’ is uneventful. Christmas music playing softly on the radio, Steve humming drunkenly along with them. It gives you time to think. Unfortunately, you immediately think of Billy. You grit your teeth, your hands tighten around the wheel causing the leather to creek. You force yourself to take deep steadying breaths. For some reason the hole in your heart feels especially big. 

Pulling into Steves’ driveway you put the car in park, hopping out and heading to the passenger side to help Steve. He groans when you open the door, letting the cold air in. 

“Come on buddy.” you say, unbuckling him and trying to pull him from the car. Stve pulls back, resisting.

“I don wanna.” he slurs, curling away from the frozen air. You pull him harder, finally getting his legs out of the car.

“Steve, if you get out of the car, I’ll make hot chocolate.” you try to bribe him. He perks up slightly at that.

“With marshmallows?” he asks, looking up at you with the most heartbreaking puppy dog eyes you have ever seen. You note to yourself that alcohol makes his big brown eyes even more pitiful. 

“Of course with marshmallows.” you promise him. He smiles happily, finally allowing you to pull him from his seat, slinging one of his arms over your shoulders to guide him to the house. You practically drag him up the front steps, unlocking the door with his keys. There is no way you are getting him up the stairs to his room like this, You settle for the living room, helping him settle on the couch as gently as you can. His head flops to one side, mumbling something under his breath.

You head for the kitchen, filling the kettle on the stove with water and turning on the heat. You gather your hot chocolate materials and grab two mugs from the cabinet scooping nesquik powder into both. You stand at the counter, bracing your hands in front of you as you wait for the water to boil. 

You hear Steve’s shuffled footsteps coming from the living room, into the kitchen,

“I’m just working on the hot chocolate.” you say, keeping your back to him grabbing the bag of marshmallows. 

You jump slightly when you feel him at your back. His chest is nearly touching you, his arms braced on either side of your hips. Most likely to keep him from falling over but effectively trapping you against the counter. His breath tickles the back of your neck as he lowers his head to rest on your shoulder. You wonder briefly if he can see your scars sticking out from the neck of your sweater. 

Your heart leaps into your throat and you swallow past it, focusing on the bag of marshmallows clutched in your hands. You wait, unsure of how to move with him this close. If you push back even an inch your back will be pressed flush against his chest. Finally he speaks, barely a whisper.

“What did I do wrong?” His voice is thick, heavy with emotion. You see his hands shaking as they clutch at the counter. Your heart constricts. “I loved her so much. What’s wrong with me?” He asks, his voice cracking. He presses his forehead harder against your shoulder, you feel his tears soaking through your sweater, his shoulders beginning to shake.

“Oh Steve.” You say quietly, finally turning to face him. Your hip brushes against his, your lower back pressing against the counter as you look up at him, taking his face in your hands. He keeps his head bowed, his chin quivering as fresh tears well up in his eyes. You lean forward, holding his gaze, wiping away the tears racing down his cheeks. “Hey, listen to me. There is nothing wrong with you Steve.” you tell him firmly, willing him to believe you. He leans into your touch, his breathing shallow as it ghosts along the inside of your wrist. He sniffles gently, both of his hands moving to your hips gripping you tightly like you might slip away if he doesn't keep hold of you. 

“I think you’re my best friend.” He mumbles, turning his face slightly into your hand pressing a light kiss to your palm. Your heart breaks for him. You once thought Steve Harrington had a million friends and you couldn’t possibly be one of them. But here you both are, broken, damaged, scared, and together. 

“You're my best friend too.” You reply quietly, gently brushing his hair from his forehead. He holds your gaze, his brown eyes warm and kind as they watch you. You hate seeing him like this. He hides it so well but you know that this part of him is always there, in the back of his mind, whispering, doubting, telling him there is something wrong with him. Never good enough. 

One of his hands comes up to take yours, pulling it from his face down to his chest. He holds your hand there, flat against his chest where you can feel his heart beating. He watches you, like if he holds your hand there you will be able to feel the cracks in his heart. The beat is strong and steady, despite how broken it is. He leans in slightly, lowering his head to press his forehead against yours. You both stand there for a moment, in the silent kitchen, just holding each other.  

The sound of the kettle whistling breaks the two of you apart. You quickly pour the water into the mugs, mixing them, before adding the marshmallows. You ignore the slight shake in your hands. Steve doesn't seem to notice when you hand him his mug, slowly shuffling back to the living room. The two of you settle onto the couch, Steve pulls your legs over his lap, slouching down into the cushions as he blows on his coco. The two of you sit in comfortable silence sipping on the warm drinks. After a few minutes, Steve sets his drink down and lays down horizontally on the couch, his head resting on your lap. 

Without thinking you gently brush your fingers through his hair. He sighs, leaning into your touch. His breathing evens out and he’s soon asleep. You are the furthest thing from sleep. When you finish your hot chocolate, and Steve is quietly snoring into the couch cushions, you stand from the couch and put on your shoes. 

As quietly as you can, you fill a glass of water and leave it on the coffee table next to some tylenol for Steve. Then, borrowing one of Steve's large winter jackets, you bundle yourself up and step outside, making sure the door is locked using the spare key hidden under the mat. 

Taking a deep breath of the cold night air, you exhale into the darkness before heading towards the street.

AN: Hope you guys enjoyed that! Another party ending in tears, these idiots just don't know how to have a good time.

@official-starcourt-mall@lem0ns77@bethii1 @wysteria-arts @fanficfanatic204 @theshinyrock @spacedaddydinn @raidxny @emmyawards1 @lucxxy @leia9817 @wounded-writing @taisab02 @goblinpit @howlerwolfmax @kilvru3 @blueberry-birdie @flamewriterr @im-julessssss @tsukibaby1@mikeyswifie@superblyspeedydragon @let-love-bleeds-red @m-rae23 @msrawog @speakinglikeconstellations @taintedxkisses @pineapleavocado @hawkinsavclub1983 @arael-asuka @velvet-spider @extra-3motions @uniquecookiepainterbear @crimsonsabbath @mushy-mushroom04 @jevdidv @vermillionwinter@black-kitten-imagines@sammysgirl1997@fillechatoyante @chaoticbilly @tmriddler @stanseventeen@katzenwahnsinn@wisdomcrys@twoochickens @devrill @loadivine@hermankopusortizorsumshite@0bsessedwithfictionalcharacters @primalsnack @peachyaeger@royaltysuite @sunnmoonsstuff @sobleedstherose@harmonics0537 @urmom-0987 @halbhohehalluzination@ladyapplejackdnd

@tulipsandlulis@gremlinfuck @perilous-pasta @candy12110@ccanineal @idkwhyimhere18 @ronnasey @friendlyneighborhoodgrunge-hippy

@chansmaze@sammararaven@tanyaherondale@actual-mom-steve-harrington@harringtonfan4@trenko-heart@maackiimoo@haleypearce@orangechickenpillow @bekindmydarling-blog @urmomgov

@krazy99 @clenchedfist @renaroo123 @bee-1n-space @puppybittingotherpuppy @neonbanshee @cannonize @rhumphr4 @chansbackdoor @cg94 @untoldshortsofthefandoms

@joyisalover @hibyewhy @rosey96 @spacegirl7777 @longingforasteroids @tayhar811 @lizzy6 @simpforbuckyb @laneyspaulding19 @dimskies @nyenye

@awesomesauce-abbie @blueray222

@alexa4040 @blackholegladiator @strangerthings1983fan

@curlszx88 @bdudette @eddiessweetheart86 @haleybarnesx @decadentwastelandtrash @all-for-kpop

@sophiaj650 @dystopianhellscape @punchyprincess23 @luvrsbian

@myrcellavonswartzschild @awk-sauced

@laceypdf