#now I can start on my 31 other steddie ideas

[djosephqueery]

“But how—” No more holding back. He was going to say exactly what he wanted to say to Eddie. Not doing so was what had led them here. Never again. “How do I know you’re not gonna take it all back?” Steve whispered. “Change your mind again.”

Somehow Eddie managed to make his already wide, doe eyes even more earnest. His expression was almost cartoonish.

“The only thing I’m ever taking back is all the bullshit I said to you,” Eddie said. “Those cruel, fucked up things. The lies.”

Money, Power, Glory, Chapter 23, by @strangerthings1975

[steddieunderdogfics]

This week’s writer spotlight feature is:  judasofsuburbia! @judasofsuburbia has 31 fics in the Stranger Things fandom and 24 of them are in the Steddie tag!

@cheatghost recommends the following works by @judasofsuburbia:

shake this world off my shoulders

the seventh heaven (when i kissed the teacher)

wanna be the only one for miles and miles (except for maybe you)

you make my life worthwhile (it's all about you)

get up and shake the glitter off your clothes

If you were to ask Emily what they think about their work, she'd probably say something along the lines of, "haha, it's just silly smut!" And even if that may very well be the case with some fics (and I'm so, so grateful for it), the one true constant in all of Emily's writing is the heart. They are truly an expert at weaving genuine emotion and care into their work, infusing every moment, every scene, every fic with so much passion. -- @cheatghost

Below the cut, @judasofsuburbia answered some questions about their writing process and some of their recommended work!

Why do you write Steddie?

I’ve been a fan of Stranger Things since it came out in 2016 and of course, I fell in love with Steve’s character right away. But never in the show did I think they gave him a good love interest. His relationship with Nancy is obviously a catalyst for a lot of plot devices and it was important to the growth of both of their characters but it naturally had to end. Then…in walks Eddie Munson. I remember watching the forest scene for the first time and little alarm bells went off in my head. They have a great jumping off point of being the big brother figure of these dweeby teenagers, both being older and stuck in Hawkins, both being endearingly lame in their own unique ways but still having that opposites attract energy. Their dynamic was so fun to me, even in the limited scenes that we got, and I finally thought “Yeah. This guy. That’s Steve’s love interest.”

What’s your favorite trope to READ?

I’ll read just about anything if it’s recommended to me or a beloved friend writes it but I have a particular soft spot for future fics. Getting to see these characters grow and heal from what happened to them while also being in love or falling in love really hits home for me.

What’s your favorite trope to WRITE?

I write a lot of AUs for this couple. It seems I love putting my boys into situations lmao BUT I think I adore writing love confessions the most. Like no matter what universe they’re in, they’re going to have this realization of love and it’s going to just pour out of them.

What’s your favorite Steddie fic?

My 252 bookmarks are shaking in their boots at this question so I’m going to shout out just a few! Bright Things series by @cheatghost, took you for a working boy by pukner, Catch Me (I’m Falling) by @fragilecapric0rnn, driving in your car by @kkpwnall, and carve your name into my chest by @hexiewrites.

Is there a trope you’re excited to explore in a future work but haven’t yet?

I would love to explore a Monster AU. I’ve technically written Kas!Eddie but I’d love to explore something more like demon/creature/werewolf SOMETHING because I always find those stories so interesting.

What is your writing process like?

It usually starts with like one line or one idea that I hurriedly jot down in my notes app or in a new document. Then, I find songs that relate to that premise or scenes from other media that help inspire me. Usually, I plan it out bullet point style in a physical notebook and then start writing bit by bit!

Do you have any writing quirks?

Somehow making everything cultivate into something sexual lmao. It;s now a joke amongst me and my friends that I can always make something horny. But really, I love what can be discovered, what can be said, what can be revealed, and what can change a character throughout a sexual scene. Not every fic I write has smut in it but a vast majority do and it’s because I love getting to use smut as a tool for something else.

Do you prefer posting when you’ve finished writing or on a schedule?

Definitely once I’ve finished something. When I was first starting out, I posted chapters for long fics as soon as they were done and that led to me abandoning fics because I simply ran out of spoons to write them. Now, I’m much more conscious of what I’m putting out there and making sure it’s completed before I start posting. I might make personal schedules for myself but I very rarely stick to them lmao.

Which fic are you most proud of?

Definitely my zombie apocalypse series “the darkest hour is just before dawn”. Those fics came together in a matter of a few weeks and I just loved being able to dive into each of those couples (the spicy six) and figure out how they would react differently to their circumstance. It started with me picturing Eddie with a southern accent but only when he’s stressed, angry, or drunk. What’s more stressful than a zombie apocalypse?

How did you get the idea for get up and shake the glitter off your clothes?

The song “Waking Up in Vegas” by Katy Perry came up on shuffle and my brain said “Oh, there’s something here.” It started as just a blurb of Steve waking up extremely hungover, noticing Eddie’s in bed with him, and then seeing Eddie’s mood ring on his left ring finger in a hotel mirror. I posted that blurb just to Tumblr and my brain just kept thinking about it and now it’s a whole fic!

When writing you make my life worthwhile (it's all about you), what was something you didn’t expect?

That it is so, so hard to write breakup fics. Because you never want one of them to be “the bad guy” or to be toxic in a way that leads to heartbreak. I struggled with shaping the narrative in a way that you could understand the hurt from both sides but I’m really happy with how it turned out (them making up of course!!)

What inspired you make my life worthwhile (it's all about you)?

It was 100% my days being in the 5 Seconds of Summer fandom when I was a teenager. I remember having to defend that band to people, saying “It’s not a boy band! They all play instruments! They’re just a band!” but now I can see how their marketing was catered to teenage girls and how that led so many people to believing they were similar to One Direction. The first thing that came to mind was Eddie having to fight for his music to be taken seriously and that spawned this idea of him, Steve, Argyle, and Jonathan being in a similar band and Eddie wanting out.

What was your favorite part to write from wanna be the only one for miles and miles (except for maybe you)?

I’m a sucker for wound care so writing Steve sitting a grumpy Eddie down to tend to his wounds with kisses and jokes was a lot of fun!! I’m also a cowboy enthusiast so that AU was a hoot and a half for me all around.

How do/did you feel writing the seventh heaven (when i kissed the teacher)?

MUSHY. Mushy as all get out. I love, love, love writing Steddie with kids. I just think there is so much domesticity and softness to kid fics, especially if a character is a single parent. I was seriously a pile of mush writing that fic and making them all lovey dovey.

What was the most difficult part of writing shake this world off my shoulders?

Candidly, it was figuring out how they were supposed to be alone so they could have sex. They’re always traveling as one big group, sleeping in unconventional places, and taking turns being on watch. Finding a realistic setting and a realistic circumstance was very difficult!

Do you have a favorite scene and/or line from any of your fics?

It’s hard to choose just one but I do think about this passage a lot from hey now, don’t dream it’s over: “Because even if Steve didn’t think he’d get this far. Even if he thought he wouldn’t see 21 let alone 30. Wouldn’t keep in touch and love with all his heart a gang of misfits from Hawkins. Wouldn’t fall in love with a wonderfully crazy man and adopt two beautiful girls with him. Wouldn’t be held when he cried or celebrated when he smiled. Wouldn’t wake up each morning and wipe sticky faces, talk high school seniors through college doubts and fears, wave his hand through the wind out his car window listening to pop radio in Chicago traffic, scoop mac and cheese onto Disney-themed plates, get kisses from his partner that make his kids groan, hear about their days, all their imaginations, their creativity, and everything they love and hate about the world, bath time every night, putting their hair in soapy mohawks, hearing their bright giggles, and tucking them into bed. Ending up in bed with the one person he loves more than anything just to wake up and do it all over again. He never, ever thought he would actually get this. But he did and he loves it. He doesn’t want to feel guilty for loving it anymore. He pulls away from Eddie’s neck and just beams at him. Eddie, who is more or less confused by the range of emotions he’s sporting, smiles right back at him. Steve kisses him deeply and feels Eddie wipe away his tears throughout their kiss. Steve Harrington is thirty years old and is enamored with the very thought of it.”

Do you have any upcoming projects or fics you’d like to share/promote?

Nothing huge in the works right now! Mostly just waiting for inspiration to strike again.

Outside of these questions, Is there anything YOU would like to add?

Just that this fandom has changed my life in immeasurable ways. I am so happy that this community exists and the various types of showstopping art I get to engage with because of this show. I have made some of my very best friends in this fandom and I wouldn’t change that for the world. Thank you for all the love and laughter, thank you for nominating me (seriously that is so incredibly sweet), and thank you for loving these boys as much as I do.

Thank you to our author, @judasofsuburbia, and our nominator, @cheatghost! See more of judasofsuburbia's works featured on our page throughout the day!

Writer’s Spotlight is every Wednesday! Want to nominate an author? You can nominate them here!

[mojowitchcraft]

Writer Tag Game

Tagged by @midsummer-semantics 💘 This is wayyyyy late but I totally missed it!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

31

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

380,575

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Stranger Things. I never thought I was good enough to write fic before Steddie rotted my brain and I took a stab at it.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

- You’re The Ultimate (Steddie Bodyswap) - No One Rides For Free (S2-3 Getting together AU aka Part 1 of the Night Drives Series) The other 3 top fics by kudos are parts 2-4 of Night Drives so my other 3 top fics not in the series are: - Late Bloomers (Modern AU Confident Bi Steve & CompHet clueless Bi Eddie - cowritten with @arimakes ) - Hazy Shade (S2 What If based on art by @toktopus-art) - Perfect Synchronicity (Post S4 Roommates, a smutty gift for @transmascsteveharrington)

5. Do you respond to comments?

Yes, I try to respond to all of them! Before I was super involved in online fandom and interacting with the community I always used to love when authors replied to my comments and started a dialogue.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I don't think any of them? I don't really write angst in general 🙈

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

All of them have happy endings (or are unfinished 😬) I don't think I can pick!!

8. Do you get hate on fics?

No I haven't really! I've been lucky that way

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yes, lots hahahah Uhhh what kind? I say I tend toward smut where its light and fun and there's dirty talk? I don't tend to get very kinky for the most part. I just write stuff that I think is hot 🤷

10. Do you write crossovers?

No, I'm more into an AU where Steddie is existing in another universe or the story line is inspired by another fandom universe vs having them interact with characters from another show / universe

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

nope!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope! I'm open to it though!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes!! Late Bloomers with Ari, linked above!

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

It's gonna be Steddie, they're with me for life now.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you will?

oh god, I don't wanna say that I doubt because I do truly want to finish them all (there's 3 at the moment and it's maddening)

16. What are your writing strengths?

oh god who knows... I think I'm funny?

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Definitely not outlining or plotting enough or figuring out the end to things (see aforementioned 3 unfinished WIPs)

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

oh god I would never attempt it unless I was bilingual. If we're talking reading fic then it's really dependent on how it's handled. I've read some that I liked and some that I didn't

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Harry Potter, I was deep in the trenches with Harry Potter fic for a long time. I never thought I was good enough to write anything and I only wrote a very short little one shot.

20. Favorite fic you've written?

How am I to choose my babies?! At this point I honestly have no idea. I'm proud of a lot of the things that I've written, i don't know if I could pick a favourite... i don't really do favourites in general hahah

If you've made it this far consider this your tag!!

[augustjustice]

I posted 6,499 times in 2022

That's 2,393 more posts than 2021!

76 posts created (1%)

6,423 posts reblogged (99%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@the-stray-liger

@wibbly-wobbly-who-has-the-time

@werewolfpeterparker

@benkaaoi

@iswearitsjustme

I tagged 4,492 of my posts in 2022

Only 31% of my posts had no tags

#stranger things - 2,061 posts

#steve harrington - 1,676 posts

#eddie munson - 1,602 posts

#steddie - 1,383 posts

#succession - 632 posts

#tom wambsgans - 437 posts

#tomgreg - 427 posts

#greg hirsch - 403 posts

#robin buckley - 361 posts

#our flag means death - 210 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#but also give me greg showing tom certain pieces of viral content--memes tik toks etc--and tom being like 'gregory i have no idea what this

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

When Steve’s parents finally come back to Hawkins several months after the end of the end, they cut Steve off fairly quickly. 

There have been rumors, you see, from the few of their friends still left in Hawkins. About the company Steve keeps, galivanting all over town with that Satan-worshipping murderer Munson. And when they finally arrive back at their large, cold house and Munson’s the one who answers the door, dressed in nothing but a pair of boxers and one of Steve’s old basketball t-shirts? Well, what their son has really been up to becomes all too clear to them, and, careful not to make a scene that the neighbors will hear, they find Steve and tell him that he’s out in no uncertain terms. 

Not wanting either of them to get caught in the cross-fires of his dad’s anger, Steve grabs as many of his belongings as he can and goes without much of a fight, at Eddie’s insistence following his van in the Beemer all the way back to the Munson trailer. 

Steve moves in with Eddie and Wayne. It isn’t even really a conversation; Eddie just takes it as a given fact, and Steve feels compelled to argue, but every time he starts Eddie cuts him off with a reminder that they’ve practically been living together anyway, shuffling back and forth between the trailer and Steve’s big empty house.  “What, big boy, you gonna rebuff my advances now?” Eddie asks, teasing but laying on just a subtle enough guilt trip he knows Steve won’t be able to say no. He’s a pushover that way, always caves to the people he cares about. Eddie can’t help but love that about him. 

They don’t leave Hawkins. It’s hell, sometimes, what with Eddie’s reputation, and the whisperings now that Steve no longer lives in the big Harrington house. But they saved this town from hell itself, and that makes them both develop a certain stubbornness about it. Plus, the kids are still in school, and there’s an unspoken certainty that Steve won’t leave until they do, even with the threat over and the Upside Down gone.

But the general atmosphere makes finding gainful employment hard. Eddie still has a few connections at the shop in town, Thacher Tire, with the folks who weren’t susceptible to the things other people said about Eddie to start with. They recommend him to the guys at a garage a few towns over about thirty minutes away. Not completely outside the scope of rural Indiana gossip, but distant enough most people don’t recognize Eddie right away, don’t put the pieces together between his name and the boy who was plastered all over the six o’clock news. 

Steve, without making any mention of it, had quietly applied to Indiana Tech, certain he wouldn’t get in. 

By some miracle, he’s almost certain, he does, enrolled with a declared major in elementary education. Steve hasn’t quite settled on what path he wants to take, mulling over teaching as well as guidance counseling, but it’s a start. It’s something. He transfers his home campus to the same one where Eddie’s new shop is and quits his job at Family Video, working there agonizing with Robin off at college.  

Eddie picks him up off the ground and spins him around when he tells him, despite Steve’s laughing protests.

“I knew you could do it!” Eddie crows, triumphant.

“You did not, you didn’t even know I applied,” Steve argues, still laughing. 

“Oh, didn’t I tell you, Stevie? I’m secretly a telepath,” Eddie taps the side of his head, grin wide and mischievous. “Can’t keep secrets out of this steel trap, I know everything.”

It’s Steve’s turn to tackle him in a playful hug, wrestling a minute before he pulls out his “winning move”: tugging Eddie by his belt loops into a kiss. 

“It’s not even like it’s that big a deal,” Steve says once they’ve parted, shrugging. “Since it’s only part-time for now.”  

He leaves the reasons why unsaid, but Eddie hears them loud and clear, anyway.

“Me and Wayne will chip in,” Eddie assures him. 

“You don’t--that’s not--” Steve starts to argue, cut off when Eddie presses a finger against his lips. 

“Can’t get rid of us now, Stevie boy. You’re family, now. Which means we’re in this together, right? Isn’t that what you always tell me?”

Steve huffs, crossing his arms over his chest. “I really hate it when you use my own arguments against me, Eds.” 

Eddie grins, all-teeth. “I know.” 

Steve opens his mouth again, and Eddie can sense the lingering guilt and shame in the line of his shoulders, the way he hunches in on himself as he no doubt to mounts another argument, trying to discourage Eddie further. That won’t do.

“Now you know how it felt,” Eddie cuts in gently, “when you used to offer to pay for shit all the time.”

“That was different,” Steve tries to insist. 

“Oh, yeah?” Eddie cocks an eyebrow at him in challenge. “Different how?”

Without missing a beat, Steve replies, a bit of a grin starting to curl at the corners of his mouth, “Because, technically, I was stealing that money from my dad.” 

Eddie can’t help but let out a bark of helpless laughter, any tension breaking.

So Steve accepts the “this is what we’re here for” argument, especially once Eddie makes clear Wayne won’t have it any other way, but he can’t quite convince Steve to bump up his status to full-time, not yet. Steve won’t let the Munsons pay his full way, is insistent he nail down a job, too, so they compromise with what they’ve got. 

Steve looks for a job in downtown, not far from the school and Eddie’s work. There’s a beauty salon on one corner hiring and Steve figures what the hell? He hasn’t gone to cosmetology school, but he knows hair, and he’s gotten decent at doing Robin, Max, and El’s nails at sleepovers. Plus, he’s willing to learn, and that has to count for something. 

His niche hair care product knowledge is enough to get him the job on the spot with the promise that he can apprentice a bit, learning as he goes.

Though it’s only part-time, the job turns out to be a perfect fit. Not only has he got the skills, but he’s friendly with a good personality and doesn’t mind indulging in a little small town gossip when it isn’t about him and his boyfriend. The clients quickly grow to love him, many starting to ask for him by name.

See the full post

1,589 notes - Posted November 7, 2022

#4

I see your “Eddie fell first, Steve fell harder” and raise you:

Steve Harrington falls in love fast.

It happened with Nancy. Nancy Wheeler, junior year. Make outs in dimly lit high school bathrooms and study sessions where all they had done was study and impromptu pool parties that quickly led to the revelation that this thing with Nancy was more. More than what he’d felt with the other girls before, even the ones he had really, really liked. And with his sudden, intense fall from infatuation to something more with Nancy Wheeler came the uglier parts--Steve’s jealousy and the awful choices that Steve could never really make up for. But even from the worst parts bloomed some of the better ones: Steve learning to own up to his mistakes, to apologize without expectation. 

And that’s when he had stumbled into the monster fighting, and the entire situation had delivered a healthy helping of the wallop to the head Steve needed to start to really turn his shit around. 

He had loved Nancy Wheeler, quickly, passionately, fiercely. He loved her, and she had made him want to be better. She had made him want to be more. 

It happened again with Robin. Long days slinging ice cream for minimum wage while Robin mocked Steve’s every attempt to flirt turned to top secret code cracking missions. After the luck Steve had had, he isn’t even sure why he had been surprised when their play at being heroes had led to Robin and him being kidnapped, tortured, and drugged out of their minds in a secret Russian facility underneath the Starcourt Mall, strapped together and giggling madly as they reminisced about Click’s class. 

In the span of a few hours, Steve could feel it, that tell-tale clench in his chest, like he was dropping on a roller coaster. Falling, fast and swift, like he always did, even when he was certain they were going to die. 

And he’d owned up to it, coming down from the high, huddled on that dirty mall bathroom floor. Only for Robin, overachiever that she was, to one up his confession with her one of her own, fear in her eyes as she admitted to longing stares at Tammy Thompson, upending everything Steve thought he knew and turning his world on it’s axis. Robin Buckley--his Scoops Ahoy co-worker, his brother in arms, the girl he was quickly coming to realize was his best friend--liked girls. 

Steve thinks, even now, the most shocking part about it had been how it changed everything, and nothing at all. 

He loves Robin Buckley fiercely, still, with everything that he is and wishes he could be. If platonic soulmates exist, she’s his. He would die for her without even batting an eye. 

It isn’t the love he thought he was looking for, but, in so many ways, Steve thinks it might be better.

So, when it comes around again, it isn’t as surprising as Steve guesses it should be. 

Steve has been avoiding Eddie Munson for months now, since not long after the start of fall semester, when Dustin had come whizzing into Family Video to tell Steve all about the school’s club around the kids’ nerdy little fantasy game and the amazingly cool DM--dungeon master, Dustin explains later, and, seriously, how that is not a sex thing is still beyond Steve--who runs it: none other than “the Freak” Munson himself. 

Steve remembers Munson, from school. It’s sort of hard not to, what with his flair for the dramatics, the way he was always putting himself out there and painting a target on his back. 

King Steve had been a tiny bit jealous of the fearless way Eddie was so willing to be openly, unapologetically himself. 

Babysitter Steve is a lot jealous when Dustin and the other shrimps, stars in their eyes, go on and on about how cool Eddie is now.

So, no matter how many times Dustin insists he thinks that Steve and Eddie would actually get along, if they ever got to know each other, Steve avoids him.

The Upside Down, as it so often does, seems to have other plans. 

Turns out, Henderson, little shit that he his, had been right. Again. 

A few days of helping Eddie hide from the cops and Upside Down misadventures is all it takes to realize: he and Eddie do get along. 

Eddie, who looks to Steve for explanations, big brown eyes curious and anxious, and then actually listens to Steve when he provides them. Eddie, who catches Dustin by the shoulders when he looks like he’s about to charge into Lover’s Lake himself and play wrestles with him in the grass as they prepare themselves for battle, falling into the roll of de facto big brother as easily as Steve always has. Eddie, who grins wide and teasing as he calls Steve big boy and presses his should right up against Steve’s chest as he lays down a plan of attack, always invading his space in a way that should be too close for comfort but Steve finds he doesn’t mind. Eddie, who confesses that he considers himself a coward despite all evidence to the contrary; who backs up Steve’s protests when the others are ready to charge full speed ahead into danger; who calls Steve a bad ass with a delighted twinkle in his eye after he bites into that gnarly demo-bat; who admits, open and easy, that he was jealous of Steve too. 

Eddie, who along with everyone around Steve, has somehow gotten it into his head that Steve and Nancy are on round two of their second chance romance, fated to fall back into each other’s arms here at the end of times. 

He tells Steve so, in no uncertain terms, while Steve’s eyes drift downwards, the moment feeling surreal as he watches Eddie’s mouth form the words. 

He buys into it, a little, though, he guesses. Enough to admit his cross-country dreams had included Nancy, as they trek to take care of Vecna once and for all. 

Even as he says the words out loud, they don’t quite sound right to him anymore. 

A silence falls after his admission, Nancy looking at him like she knows she needs to say something. And then Robin, his own personal guardian angel, interrupts them, and the moment passes. 

Their moment passes. For good this time. 

After they’ve done all they could to put a stop to Vecna, they head back to Eddie’s trailer, their agreed upon rendezvous point. 

As soon as he sees the two figures huddled on the ground, a cloud of demo-bats dissipating in the air above them, Steve breaks into a run.

Dustin is clutching Eddie in his arms. Steve falls to his knees beside them, reaching out to shoulder Eddie’s weight himself. 

See the full post

2,044 notes - Posted September 7, 2022

#3

No one told me Eddie roughly threw his vest at Steve's chest to disrupt him and Nancy having a ~moment~ all while looking irritated as hell.

2,177 notes - Posted May 30, 2022

#2

Yes, yes, I know height difference is king, but have you considered...

Steve noting how different (positive) it is, after all the Hawkins girls he had been with, kissing Eddie and not having to lean down?

Steve liking that Eddie and he are so close in height, because when he looks over at him, he’s almost always immediately meeting Eddie’s eyes, one of Steve’s favorite features of his?

Steve lording that barely perceivable one inch over Eddie like it’s something impressive until Eddie gets Steve in a head lock, gives him a noogie, and taunts, “Who’s taller now??? At least half your height is stored in that giant hair of yours, Harrington.”

Have you considered it?

3,179 notes - Posted August 21, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Steddie isn't "I can fix him," Steddie is "what if we got better...together?" and that, my friends, is why the brain rot is now terminal.

3,770 notes - Posted September 30, 2022

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