#monster hunter steve

[soggyskinflaps]

Yes, i am aware of the fact i'm hilarious

Now which wonderful, talented and beautiful artist do i have to sell my soul to to get Steve dancing like the Minecraft birds?

[transmunsons]

Eddie doing a deal with Steve at that picnic table after school. Eddie’s on his second senior year and pissed off about it. He’s trying to be cordial to Harrington, but he keeps remembering how the basketball team messes with his Hellfire kids.

So he up charges him, gets a little petty revenge; he’s sure Harrington can afford it anyway. The extra money can go toward Eddie’s T payments.

Something rustles in the woods and Harrington freezes, listening. Some kind of wet, furless animal jumps out of the trees in a blur.

Before Eddie can react, Harrington grabs his hand and pulls him up, heading to the closest sanctuary, the high school. Eddie’s freaking out. They run into the building, and Harrington pulls them into the janitors closet. He lunges to the back, reaching for a mop, but Eddie hears a wet skittering in the hallway and slams the door shut. Harrington whips around at the noise and the sudden darkness. Eddie holds his breath until the creature passes.

“What the fuck is out there?” He hisses at Harrington. The closet is cramped and the floor is littered with cleaning supplies. They're right up on top of one another in the small space. “This is crazy, this is so fucking crazy—”

“Calm down!” Harrington hisses back, closer than he expects, breath brushing against Eddie's cheek.

“Calm? Why are you calm, what's wrong with you?” Eddie's heart is pounding so hard he thinks it might burst out of his chest. He can't breathe. “We just almost got attacked by some fuckin' thing!” He flutters his hands to emphasize 'thing' though Steve probably can't see it in the dark. He smacks a shelf.

“I've seen something like it before, it's some kind of demogorgon.” Harrington says. Eddie splutters. The king of Hawkins High just made a DnD reference.

“How do you—that is not a demogorgon, Harrington! Demogorgons don't exist and even if they did, they don't look like that!”

“Hey, you asked and I answered. And my name is Steve.” He reaches around Eddie and tries the door handle. He's practically hugging him.

Steve swears and flicks on the light switch, illuminating the closet. “It's stuck.”

Eddie can see Steve's face properly now in all its glory. The overhead bulb gleams off Steve's stupidly long eyelashes. He almost wants to turn the light back off. His breathing is still restricted.

“Guess we're trapped in here until somebody comes by.” Steve says.

Eddie balks at the thought of being stuck with Steve in close quarters for so long. “No we're not, just gimme a second.”

Eddie shoves a hand up under his Dio shirt so he can pull his bindings a little away from his chest.

“What are you doing?” Steve sounds alarmed. His eyes are wide.

“Don't get excited,” Eddie winks because apparently he has a death wish, “just need to breathe. Get me a flathead screwdriver. The door opens inward.”

Steve snaps his fingers and points at him, “Right, the hinges!” He turns around to rustle through the shelves, which Eddie, uh, doesn’t mind. Goddamn.

He faces Eddie again with a flathead in his hands and a triumphant look. Eddie grabs it with a ‘thanks’ and goes to work prying pins out of the hinges. He can feel Steve watching him. Eddie gets the door loose and shoves it open, catching it so it doesn’t make noise.

Steve stalks past him wielding a mop like a weapon.

“Where are you going?” Eddie stage whispers.

Steve looks over his shoulder at Eddie, hair artfully falling out of place. “I’ve gotta find that thing, I’m not gonna let it roam the school.”

Eddie looks at Steve, looks back at the exit, looks down at the tile floor.

“Shit.”

He follows.

[morganbritton132]

After Eddie’s Tiktok circulates and everybody see Nancy’s text about Steve staying at her house, people start (jokingly, mostly) calling her a harlot for trying to steal his husband.

Nancy responds by tweeting a picture of her, Steve, and (surprise!) Jonathan since Jon’s in town for work. They’re all in her bed and in their pajamas. There are snacks and they’re getting ready to watch a movie. All three of them are doing peace signs because they are bisexuals.

She captions the picture with “Ms Steal-yo-man” and tags Corroded Coffin and Argyle.

Eddie responds with a tweet from the Official Corroded Coffin twitter account like, “This is exactly what everybody thought was going on in high school.”

[istormortis]

Everyone's favorite Steve!

Decided that the bristled version would be better than him standard, but boy trying to find good references was a pain :' )

[corrodedcoughin]

Mr Clarke coming back in s5 to help and ends up spending his time with one Mr Wayne Munson in an effort to find Eddie because if there’s no body Wayne isn’t giving up.

Hard cut to Eddie being carried back through a portal by Steve and seeing Mr Clarke together, and he whispers to Steve ‘I think Mr Clarke fucked my uncle’ and passes out

[dragonflylady77]

Introducing HellGrove Security Consultants

A little teaser for the fic I wrote for @bigbangharringrove (gonna start posting soon). It's called 'Mr Steve and the Monster Hunter' and I can't wait to share it with you.

It will also feature art by @adelacreations and I am very excited about that.

business cards by me

[steddilly]

When Wayne moved to Hawkins fifteen years ago to case the town, he hadn’t expected to end up staying. What kind of hunter purposefully cocked up an assignment? A bad one apparently, but he was fine with that. He’d been sent to the small town in rural Indiana after a strange rise in creature sightings, that sort of thing didn’t take much time getting back to the kind of hunters led by his younger brother, Al.

He quickly found out that Hawkins was acting as some sort of beacon to supernatural beings, attracting them to seek out and settle down in the town surrounded by thick wooded areas. Weres of every kind. Vamps of every kind. Witches, shapeshifters, banshees, and just about every other kind of creature you could think of.

What started out as a task to infiltrate the town to get a better idea of the severity of the infestation quickly turned into something more, because then he got to know the residents as more than just what they were and began seeing them as neighbours and friends. They trusted him and welcomed him into their communities, even the supernaturals grew to trust him and he even watched some of them grow up. He couldn’t hurt these people, they weren’t doing anything wrong.

Wayne never heard much from his younger brother or the other hunters, he occasionally sent Al letters downplaying what was actually going on in Hawkins, it was a low level threat that almost wasn’t worth dealing with. He should have known better, almost two decades of peace sounded like long overdue trouble for a semi-retired hunter, and word travelled fast to him that there were two men asking about him. He knew his brother would eventually show up to track him down, but he never expected his nephew to be dragged out with him.

Albert Munson was a ruthless hunter, more of a shoot first and ask questions later kind of guy. Eddie though... The boy he’d left behind was more sort hearted than his old man, he wouldn’t want to hurt innocent people. Wayne would learn that Eddie didn’t agree with the majority of what his father believed, and refused to be brainwashed with his ideologies towards supernatural beings.

The real trouble begins when Al (unbeknownst to Wayne) set up a few traps in the woods and actually ends up catching a Werecub, who lets out the most heartbreaking cries Wayne has ever heard - but he knew what kind of cry that was, it was a cry for help and not just of fear.

“You’ve been slacking, Wayne. Barely a few hours here and we’ve already caught us a baby monster.” Al was so pleased with himself, standing proudly below the strung up cub with his arms crossed. It made Wayne sick to think that he had once been exactly the same as his brother, conflicted at the time or not, he had participated in the same things.

“Dad, there’s no us. I don't want anything to do with this. You’re hurting him, he’s probably just a kid.” Eddie denied, keeping himself well back from the situation, wanting no part in it.

It wasn’t long before the trio heard an answering howl to the cries, high and haunting and designed to travel - it sounded like a very pissed off mama, and suddenly they felt very unprepared for this expedition. They were expecting a Werewolf (the most common type of Were) or a Werebear (because of the cub), but what came crashing through the undergrowth was a monstrous coyote-looking creature, and she was livid. Her fur was shiny and well maintained, dark rusty shades of brown mottled with grey and blonde streaks. She chased the three of them through the woods until they were far enough away for the Werecoyote to double back and rescue her pup.

“Wooah boy, that was a close one!” Al chuckled after they stopped running to catch their breaths, as if they’d just been out for a jog in the woods and not chased by something that could have easily caught up with them.

The worst part was that Wayne definitely thought he recognised the Werecoyote, and if he recognised the Were then he definitely recognised him. Steve Harrington, resident Were and local babysitter to some of the younger supernatural beings in Hawkins, which meant the cub was most likely one of the kids he took care of and considered his pack. He absolutely knew who Wayne was, and now he knew what Wayne was.

“Relax, Wayne, it was just a ‘yote.” Al clapped him on the shoulder, something he bet his brother thought would be assuring and friendly, but it absolutely wasn’t. “Could’ve been worse. Would’a been a whole other story if we’d attracted a wolf.” - Wayne didn’t think so, but he was the one who was going to be suffering the consequences. - “C’mon, take your brother and nephew home for some grub, all that running’s worked up an appetite.”

[steddieunderdogfics]

For the monsterfucker weekend theme: "a devil at your side (an angel on her way)" by walkingsaladshooter (same @ on tumblr). A canonverse fic in which Steve becomes a professional monster hunter, and Eddie, who died in the Upside Down ten years ago, comes back from the dead as something not quite human anymore...

devil at your side (an angel on her way) by walkingsaladshooter

@walkingsaladshooter

Rating: Mature

33,113 words, 9/9 chapters

Archive Warning: Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Tags: Alternate Universe - Monster Hunters, Monster Hunter Steve Harrington, Monster Eddie Munson, Post-Canon, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Gore, Blood and Violence, Monsterfucking, (But like emo monsterfucking), Hospitals, Happy Ending, Suicidal Thoughts, (Sort of? Kind of? There's a note in ch 4 clarifying), Sexual Content, Whump

Summary

Eddie Munson is someone, something, firmly of the past. A hot bright spot of pain in the long slog of Hawkins’s decay, a particularly jagged scar in the trauma that town dragged all of them through. Eddie is a memory that hurts like pressing on a bruise, is an echo of failure in Steve’s chest, is the harsh line in Dustin’s life that killed something in him and, in turn, killed something in Steve, too. Or: What happens when the dead don't stay dead.

Thanks for the rec!

This rec is a part of Theme Weekend. The theme this weekend is Monster Fucking.

Know a fic that deserves extra love? Submit through our asks or the submission box!

[sunchasedkiss]

Monster Hunting Boyfriends 1/5 A Post Season 2 AU

[midnightboshi]

What monster do you ABSOLUTELY Need to see in Monster Hunter Wilds? For me, it's Lagiacrus Of course. He's an easy pick, so I really want to see seregios. I want to see how he looks in the New World, and I pray we can even get a subspecies of poor little Steven.

[asexual-fandom-queen]

the thing about Poly Monster Hunters (aka whatever nonspecefied version of the eddie/steve/jonathan/nancy/robin polycule you’re down for) is that they are all technically switches but they’re also all so desperate for their turn as the sub to get lazy susaned back around to them and that’s so sexy

[trashpocket]

hi!! are you the author of my grave is mine to dig on ao3? i just saw your url is the same as on that fic and i was just wondering haha! i love that fic sm!

YESSSS, sorry for the late reply, that's me, that's me!!! sorry if im late to update it, chapter three is being a bitch and i might be splitting it into two big parts since it's where the subplot line begins closing in with the reveal of the main plotline, but AHHHH!!! hope ur patient enough for it 😭😭😭 here's a snippet from chapter three, if this helps!

There was something in people sharing sentiments with inanimate objects. How Steve’s affection extended to the unreal, to the immobile, and to the lifeless. Like he could love even beyond what normal loving did and there was something about that. With children loving anything and everything. 

As if they could both love like kids could; like how they used to. Unfettered, limitless, real. (Like they had the power to do this: keep on loving again.)

“Come on. Ma’s this way,” Eddie’s voice was hoarse and quiet, and Steve must’ve been learning a lot about him too because he didn’t make a comment. Just let himself be pulled away. 

“You think she’ll like me?” Steve asked quietly. 

“I don’t know,” Eddie teased, “what do you think?” 

“Eddieeee,” Steve dragged him to a stop, earning a chuckle out of him.

Eddie turned around and met Steve’s eyes. Found the churchyard, trapped in dawn, the sun breaking through the clouds at a time where Eddie and Steve would usually be sat at breakfast—after Steve came back from whatever run he did in the morning. They’d be sharing a plate by then, with food that Steve cooked up, listening to Eddie’s old records on the turntable Eddie had dug out from Wayne’s old stuff. Steve would have bandaids over his fingers. Eddie would ask about them—and Steve would hum until Eddie forgot ever asking. Take his hand and dance him around. Pretended the world didn’t exist for a moment—that they weren’t hurt everyday.

He swallowed past the lump in his throat. 

“Well, Steve, I don’t know. She likes to wake up early, though. She leaves conditioner in her hair, and can't go out without her favorite bracelet. Ma, she would sing this tune from a show—I forgot the name, I don’t remember—but all I knew was that Ma loved to sing it in the kitchen.” He swept Steve’s hand up to his face, pressing a kiss into the knuckle just cause he could. “She liked cats, and those silver wind chimes you’d see hangin’ from windows. I think my favorite memory of her is—” 

He thinned his lips to meet Steve’s eyes once more; how Steve was full of wonder and adoration. A soft vacuum in a world that held his mess. Eddie couldn’t think of anything more treacherous. Beautiful. 

“Is what, Eds?” Steve whispered, in a manner so reverent, like he knew how Eddie was looking at him then. Caught in the dredges of his heart. If only he knew.

Eddie suddenly felt shy. Christ.

“Every time I called her a hero, she’d light up like a fucking Christmas tree. She knew how much I loved superheroes an’ shit back then. I was fucking ridiculous.” Eddie shook his head, laughing through his nose. “She’d take me out on Fridays, get me those jelly ice pops and sit by the curb. Good shit. We’d count the birds that flew by—name ‘em some stupid things—like Spot, or Dot or whatever.” Steve throwing his head back in a laugh didn’t make the names so stupid, so Eddie grinned softly in return. Continued, “We’d watch the sunset, and sing a few songs too. We’d wait until Pa left so we could go home. The best days were always when the bastard was gone. Ma always made shit better somehow. It’s her magic powers or something. It always blew my mind.”

Eddie took a shaky breath. Steve tightened his grip and he looked over.

He didn’t know what he saw, but he knew what Steve was seeing. He was looking at Eddie, and the jagged mire inside him; broken and scarred over. Steve’s body—just this time, reflected in Eddie’s heart. A hurt manor, full of cracked windows and creaky doors. Alcoves of people—in a life that nearly fell apart. 

Steve wasn’t scared to take a look.

“She sounds amazing,” Steve told him, “and you turned out amazing. Fucking amazing. I’m glad she was there to love you. That she was your superhero—your mom.”

As if Eddie wasn’t fucked up for always losing people. For constantly loving and being left behind. For caring so much, that he felt like he was suffocating the people he wanted to stay; squeezing them so tight in his grasp, that his grip—his care—was horrifying. A desperate thing that forced people to leave. That he was a broken boy, always forced to stay. 

But this was Steve, daunting and fearless. Loved with scars, never without them—because what the fuck kinda bastard would say shit like that right off the bat?

Eddie didn’t know what to say, except, “She was. And you know what? I think she’d love you too,” which was the truth.

Because it was kinda like that. Seeing the people you loved, reflected in the people you were loving. 

Mallory Munson would’ve probably loved Steve Harrington for how similar they were. Maybe they had the same look in their eyes. People who gave a bit too much; who worried for the future, and what it would bring. Who had people for whom they cared for a lot; for whom they gave themselves up to. People who might be facing this future—with or without them, so they gave themselves to the world—if only it meant that the world could love them a bit more easier.

Eddie looked at Steve and saw something familiar. It scared him. Made him feel tender and weak, in the face of something so fleeting. (In his grasp, squeezing, running away—dying.)

“I think I could love her too.” Steve whispered, and Eddie hoped (fucking hoped) that it was true. That he’d stay.

With that, they strode forward across the dead. 

And Eddie wondered if given the chance—he could love Steve Harrington any easier too. 

[loraliewritesthings]

Avengers crossover that I needed in my life

The avengers watched in horror as the girl struck up the deal. The monster they had been fighting, part spider part seamstress part something else shook the poor girls hand.

Natasha had been flung across the room. Tony's suit was simply not working.

They had been sent to a old house, long sense abandoned over missing people. Not just people...missing children.

The monster they found there had wiped the floor with them. And now there was a young woman who looked barely Peter's age, with her black roots sticking out against navy blue hair, shaking the monsters hand.

They would have stopped her had they not all been so out of breath.

The girl was calm and above his ears ringing Tony made out what she was saying.

"If I win you let me go, and if I don't...I'll be your next meal."

"And them?" Replied the syrupy sweet monster.

"You only need one meal right now."replied the girl coolly. She continued. "Don't you want to play the game?".

The monster nodded all smug and smiley and finished shaking the young woman's hand.

Then like the wind she was gone.

Immediately the girl ran for the old cupboard and practically took the door of.

Steve gained back his breath first.

"Do you really think you can do it?"he spoke, a voice laced with worry. The girl immediately told him to shut up.

"She should have left a spy behind...so don't make this more difficult for me." She continued. Natasha froze. Steve and Tony looked at her.

It was just the three on the mission. The monster wouldn't show up for Thor, Bruce, or even Peter Parker, despite spiders being cannibalistic.

Still the young woman didn't seem to notice the apprehension of either men as she rummaged threw cabinet after cabinet.

It was then when she pulled it out. A large greasy looking rat. Without much thought she snapped its neck and threw it into the empty fireplace.

She then began to speak,"I don't like rats at the best of times, they sound the beldams allarms" then she chuckled to herself.

"It's an inside joke, you wouldn't get it."

Tony managed to catch his breath. To speak

"Kid how do you know you'll beat that thing."

The young woman looked up at him, smug and said,

"I have the best monster catching partner I could possibly have. I'm just laying out the ground works so we can get to work when he arrives., oh and that's not my name."

It was Natasha's turn to speak,

"We tried to get the doors open kid. It just wouldn't work."

That was enough to get the girls full attention.

"First of all my names coraline. C-O-R-A-L-I-N-E, second of all he doesn't need the door. He can come and go as he pleases."

Natasha looked at the young women with a shrug. Then Tony asked the question everyone besides Coraline was wondering.

"Why is she willing to eat you if your not her target demographic. Don't monsters like this eat babies or whatever."

Coraline laughed a little and said, "No, they consume souls of the willing. Children are just the easiest to trick normally."

Steve being worried decided to try to ask his question again,

"But how do you know you'll win her game?"

Coraline turned towards him half way and said nonchalantly,

"This isn't my first time against a beldam. If I can beat one at twelve years old, I can beat one now."

As they were talking and Coraline was looking for more rats the same cupboard door opened and out popped a cat.

Not Steve nor Natasha or Tony knew what to do when it opened its mouth and began to talk.

Coraline didn't even look phased instead petting it affectionately.

Tony noted that he'd definitely have to do some research on this girl say they ever got out of the beldams playground.

[avirxy]

Does Steve and Eli have a role in your monster hunter au?

They do! Neither have been introduced properly yet, but their fall into monster hunting starts out due to their suspicion of the five, (Jim, Claire, Darci, Toby and Mary, who’s not around right now)

Eli’s been picking up on things for a while but after he and Steve see..something on a particular night with a rather full moon, I can’t fully explain the rest cause it’s really spoiler-y they agree to team up and figure out what’s really going with their classmates.

[apomaro-mellow]

I read a quick synopsis on wikipedia and watched a 1 minute clip on youtube let's do this

Karen Wheeler watched as her daughter went from the sweet, obedient girl she had grown to love into the opinionated, take-no-shit woman that she had become proud of. It was why she felt ready to give her this, to reveal the secret history of their family.

"Nancy, there's something you need to know", Karen said, interrupting her daughter hard at schoolwork.

"What is it?"

"There's something I've been meaning to tell you. For a while now, but it's...it's a little hard to swallow."

Nancy's brow furrowed. "Is this about you and dad?"

Karen let out a breath of laughter. If only it were that simple. She sat down on her daughter's bed and explained. Explained that she had come from a long line of the fabled Grimm family. And that it was their duty to hunt and destroy the monsters of the world. Karen knew it was hard for her to believe. But she had her reasons for telling her now.

Nancy's powers would awaken soon, and Mike not too far behind her. She didn't want this sneaking up on her children the way it did for her. Karen was rusty, but she was able to help Nancy with the basics of weaponry, practicing in an abandoned field where no one would see.

Well, almost no one.

Jonathan had been searching for his missing brother Will when he came upon the two Wheeler women, one teaching the other how to wield a hatchet. It was suspicious to say the least and Jonathan confronted her at school about it.

"What were you and your mom doing out there?"

"Out where?"

"Out there, with the axes." Jonathan got closer, nearly crowding her into the locker. "If you know something about Will-"

"Hey, back off Byers", Steve got between them, pushing Jonathan away.

"Nancy, you know something", Jonathan pressed, not even looking at Steve.

To Nancy, it all suddenly clicked. Benny's death, Will's disappearance, it was all....she thought about how she hadn't heard from Barb all day.

From that moment on, she was a girl on a mission. If this was her family legacy, that is, if this were to be her destiny, then so be it. She ignored Steve for as long as she could, until he somehow managed to tag along with her and Jonathan. She couldn't tell her mom, not yet. She'd just be told to slow down or that she wasn't ready.

"You said you're new to all this, so how are we going to find whatever took Will?", Jonathan asked.

"I don't know but I know", Nancy said, understanding she wasn't being very helpful but didn't care right now. They were in the part of the woods where Will's bike had been found, not that far from Steve's house where Barb had last been seen.

"Have I mentioned how crazy this all is?", Steve asked.

"If you're going to be here, you need to accept that this is happening", Nancy said.

Steve closed his mouth because he wasn't leaving but if he talked he was definitely going to start bitching.

"Whatever that thing is, we can take it, right?", Jonathan asked.

Steve rolled his eyes. "What a great time to ask when we're already in the woods."

"It's three on one, we can take it", Nancy said. "We don't have a choice."

[dragonflylady77]

Mr Steve and The Monster Hunter

It's finally there, time to post my fic for @bigbangharringrove (thank you mods for all your work for this event!)

I've been working so hard on this one... I even did some doodles of a couple of scenes from it (I might post them once I've posted all 6 chapters).

Art by @adelacreations (so very excited about this!!).

I want to thank @ihni for Olivia’s name, @spaceofentropy for noticing I'd forgotten about Will (oops!) and @akioukun for Cindy’s name

Also on Ao3

Steve gets the surprise of his life when one of his students gets picked up by her father. A man who Steve thought had died on the dirty floor of Starcourt Mall fifteen years ago.  Billy Hargrove is alive... and a dad. He runs a security company called HellGrove and he hunts monsters in the Upside Down for a living.  When Billy opens a portal into the Upside Down in Robin and Heather’s backyard, Steve follows because he wants answers.

Chapter 1 - Mr Steve isn't a boy

Steve is looking forward to the weekend after a long week teaching six-year-olds. Having the school trip to the zoo the same week as the talent show is not something he’s keen to do again in a hurry and he let his principal know as much. 

He smiles as the last of the kids rush past him, waving him goodbye as they squeeze in the doorway before running down the hallway towards the exit, a spring in their step. He notices Olivia is still in the classroom and he walks over to her desk.

“Everything okay, Olivia?” he asks as she shoves the last of her drawings in her backpack. He reminds himself for the hundredth time to ask Robin where she found the Hawkins Lifeguard backpack because he didn’t know such an item existed and he was a lifeguard at Hawkins Community Pool for a few summers, both while he was in high school, and after, during summer breaks from university.

He knows he isn’t supposed to have favorites but Robin and Heather’s daughter is one of the brightest students he’d had in his ten years of teaching elementary school and she is extremely funny to boot, at a level that her classmates usually don’t get.

“Yep, Mr Steve, I’m spending the weekend with my dad so I want to show him all my work.”

“Your dad?” Steve asks, confused. As far as he knows, the little girl only has her two mums. Of course, Steve figures there has to have been a man involved in the process, he did pay some attention in biology class, but he never asked. Heather still scares him a little and he isn’t as close to Robin as they were fifteen years ago.

Nope, not thinking about it.

“Yes, he works a lot all over the country so I don’t see him very much.”

“Then I bet you’re very excited to see him!” 

“I haven’t seen him since Christmas, he’s very busy but he rings me when he can,” Olivia says matter-of-factly as she closes her bag. 

“That’s nice,” Steve says, smiling even though he thinks two months is a long time without seeing your child, not that he has any of his own.

“He lives in California, you know,” she adds as she starts walking to the door. 

Steve follows a few steps behind, in a daze, her words unleashing the memories of loud metal, leather and cigarettes, and a blue Camaro.

Nope, not thinking about him.

He watches Olivia step out of the classroom and turns towards the mess he still has to clean before he can go home when the voice coming from the adjoining hallway stops him in his tracks.

“Hey, princess!”

It can’t be. But that voice… He’s heard it before, and those words…

Shaking like a leaf, Steve turns towards the open doorway and takes the three steps that separate him from the owner of the voice.

It isn’t possible. Billy Hargrove is dead, Steve reminds himself. He died at Starcourt Mall fifteen years ago, in what remains the scariest night of Steve’s life. This is just his brain playing tricks on him. 

He steps into the hallway and freezes. The shock of seeing Billy Hargrove, alive and in the flesh, dims Olivia’s gleeful screams.

He looks… Steve feels all the air leave his lungs. Billy looks fucking good for a dead guy. His hair is cut short, some golden curls on the top still, he looks broader in the shoulders, his muscles more defined than they were in high school, not that Steve is looking, but the guy is wearing a t-shirt that looks painted on, okay?

He is also sporting a scar across his left cheek that looks not too recent but doesn’t make him look any less handsome, as well as some gnarly looking, but silver, older, scars on his arms and Steve knows there would be matching ones on his sides and in the middle of his chest, where the Mind Flayer had hit him with its tentacles.

“Pretty boy?” The shock is evident in Billy’s voice. He clearly didn’t expect to see Steve either.

“Daddy, you’re silly. Mr Steve isn’t a boy, he’s my teacher!”

Billy clears his throat and looks down at his daughter. “I can see that, princess.”

Billy Hargrove has a daughter!! What. The. Fuck? 

“Billy. Long time no see.” 

“Mr Steve, you know my daddy?” Olivia is looking between the two of them, trying to work out the connection.

Billy crouches so he is level with Olivia. “Mr Steve went to school with me and your moms, Livi.” He looks around and picks up her cardigan from her hook. “Is that all your stuff?”

“Yes, Daddy. I gotted all the stuff in my bag to show you.”

“That’s great, princess. Can you wait here a minute while I have a super quick chat with Mr Steve?”

She nods. “Can I play the word game on your phone?”

“Sure thing.” 

Once Billy sorts Olivia with her game, he looks at Steve who is still hovering in the doorway and gestures towards the classroom. Steve nods and heads back inside, Billy a few steps behind him.

Steve stops when he reaches his desk, trying to compose himself. He hears Billy behind him and turns around.

“Robin never said—”

“You probably hav—”

They both stop at the same time and Steve knows he’s being awkward but he is not prepared for this. It’s not like he was friends with the guy back in high school, but Billy sacrificed his life to save them that day in1985 so for him to just show up like that is just… Steve doesn’t even know at this stage. He needs time to process. 

“Listen, I have to run, haven’t seen Livi in way too long and I want to make the best of it but if you want to talk, or like, I dunno, have questions for me, here’s my card. Call me.”

Billy pulls out his wallet and hands Steve a business card with a tentative smile. Steve takes it, trying to wrap his head around what just happened. He nods as Billy puts his wallet away.

“See you around, pretty boy.” Billy doesn’t wait for a reply and he heads out. 

Steve hears Olivia’s voice then the chatter moves further away as they walk towards the exit. 

He finally looks down at the card in his hand. It’s dark gray, almost black, with the letters HG in white in the middle. He flips it to find the same monogram on the left then his eyes read over the words, taking them in.

HellGrove Security Consultants

William H. Hargrove

CEO & Head of Security

Followed by a phone number and an email address.

What. 

The. 

Fuck?

***

It’s after midnight and Steve is lying on his bed, flipping Billy’s card over and over, the dim light of his bedside lamp catching on something in the corner of the card. It’s embossed in the same color so he didn’t really notice until now. He brings the card closer so he can have a proper look and…

It’s a demogorgon flower head. 

Motherfucker. 

He grabs his phone to call Robin but then remembers that they’re not really best friends anymore, besides it’s late and she’s a parent now. Olivia did say she was spending the weekend with her dad but Steve isn’t sure what the arrangement is. 

Billy Hargrove is alive and he’s a dad. 

More questions than answers and it’s making Steve want to scream. So he sends Robin a message, figuring that she can choose to reply if she’s awake. 

He hopes she does.

Steve: So I met Olivia’s dad at pick up today. 

Immediately the reply box shows three littles dots. Steve holds his breath for a bit but has to give up after a minute. Either Robin is typing a novel-length explanation or she is not sure what to say.

Robin: Surprise? <cringe emoji>

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Steve yells in the empty room, his frustration at boiling point. His phone dings again and he looks to see what else Robin had to say.

Robin: Come over for lunch tomorrow. We’ll talk.

Steve sends a brief text saying he’ll be there then puts his phone down and switches to his laptop, giving into the temptation to visit HellGrove.com.

The website mentions the usual stuff: the various services offered (most of which mean little to Steve), reviews from clients as well a page about the company and its staff. Steve keeps looking on the main page for the freaky flower and finally finds it, hidden on the Reviews page when his cursor hovers in the bottom left corner and HOLY FUCK!

There’s no photos of the Upside Down but the hand drawn illustration in the banner is enough for Steve to suppress a shudder at the memories. There are a handful of anonymous written accounts by survivors who were rescued by HellGrove and reports about unsuccessful rescue missions. The wording is vague but, to someone who’s experienced it first hand, it’s clear they’re talking about the Upside Down.

Steve goes back to the home page and clicks on Staff. His eyes immediately focus on the black and white photo of Billy. It must have been taken some time ago because the scar on his face is missing. 

The short bio tells Steve that William H. Hargrove joined the Marines at eighteen and left after six years to start his own security company. Steve scrolls down and he is surprised and a bit shocked to find out that Max, Lucas, Will and El also work for Billy. And some guy named Argyle, who apparently has no last name.

He vaguely remembers Dustin mentioning that Lucas got a job in California after college and he knew El and the Byers already lived over there. He feels bad when he realizes he hasn’t thought about Max in years. He ponders reaching out to Dustin but that would open a can of worms and even more questions.

He closes his laptop and dumps it on the other side of the bed and settles on his side to go to sleep.

The feeling of an arm around his waist pulls Steve from his slumber. He gasps when he realizes there’s a (warm!) body behind him, the owner of which is dragging him closer and dropping a string of kisses on his shoulder.

Steve can’t remember the last time he shared a bed with someone, especially while being naked, though he is sure he was wearing pajamas earlier. The kisses morph into a bite and a needy moan escapes his lips when he feels teeth nibbling on his skin. The embrace around his middle tightens and Steve’s hand drifts to the one holding him, fingers locking with the ones of the man behind him. Because it is a man, of that Steve has no doubt.

He looks down, noticing the silver scars in the soft glow of his bedside lamp. “Billy?”

“Sorry I woke you up, pretty boy,” comes the hushed whisper from behind him.

“No, it’s okay. What are yo—” The words die in his throat when Billy moves their linked hands south. Steve can feel Billy harden against his ass as their hands start stroking his dick and he shivers.

Billy gives a light squeeze and Steve rolls his hips, arching his back and groaning when Billy bites down on the crook of his neck.

“Oh god… Billy…”

Steve lets go of Billy’s hand to bury his fingers in golden curls instead. It’s been so long since the hand touching him wasn’t his that the pleasure of it is blinding in its intensity.

He moans loudly, earning himself another bite from Billy.

“Shhhh, pretty boy, not so loud, you’ll wake the baby.”

Steve sinks his teeth in his bottom lip in an effort to be quiet, so he doesn’t wake this baby he doesn’t remember having. His entire focus is on not making noise while Billy does unspeakable things to his body. He shudders; he’s so close already…

Billy notices, because of course he does, he always did notice things, and his hand starts moving faster, his closed fist squeezing the head of Steve’s cock on the upstroke. It’s slick, it’s heady, and too soon, Steve can feel his orgasm rushing at him.

He comes with a shout he can’t silence, but when he opens his eyes again, he’s alone in his bed. It’s his hand around his cock, his mess in his pajama pants. 

Chest still heaving, he quickly cleans up using his pants and gets back into bed wearing a clean pair, reeling from the shocked realization that he wants Billy Hargrove. And a baby.

What the fuck?

Chapter 2