#old man steve

[irondadfics]

Hi! I'm looking for a fic where Peter and Old-Man-Steve are held hostage along with the rest of Peter's class, as Tony trys desperately to make faux Infinity Stones in order to get Peter back and etcetc. I remember reading some of it but I forgot to save the link to finish it

sorry for the wait! This is for you

Not Just a Blip by FreckledAvenger11

Post Endgame. Peter Parker is adjusting after being brought back five years into the future. He is haunted by the Infinity War battles, and he is avoiding his role as Spider-Man. However, he can no longer avoid the memories of battle when his teacher announces a trip that will take him right back down memory lane. Mr. Stark insists that he go on the field trip, believing that it will be the best thing for him. Unfortunately for Tony, it turns out to be the worst thing that could happen to a teenager who is already struggling with too much trauma. Peter already has bad luck with field trips, and this trip may just prove to be fatal.

[captainrogers-thepatriot]

The funeral of Peggy Carter 

Summary: Steve is called up on to play a part in Peggy's funeral. He gets the chance to meet and get to know her family. He also learns more about the life she lived. Steve gets to interact with Peggy's husband for the first time. As he talks to her family, Steve learns some information about his future.

When the day came, Steve got into his best black suit and somberly went to the church. 

Sharon had told Steve that Peggy specified in her Will that she wanted Steve to be one of the pallbearers at her funeral. She said that Peggy had always had a special place in her heart for him and that he had always meant alot to her. Steve saw this as honor and accepted.

He wanted to be strong at this wedding and keep a brave face, that was his goal. Yet losing Peggy felt like a hurt he had never known before. He loved her and invisioned a life that could have been with her. Through the years just having her to talk to, made him so happy. It made him feel like home, like in those few moments he was back in his own time. Now she was gone for good. He hoped he could keep it together.

As he entered the church, he looked for someone to give him direction on what to do and where to be. He was told that Peggy's husband, Grant would help him.

As he waited he spotted an elderly man comforting a teenage boy. Steve recognized the two from one of the photos on Peggy's night stand in the hospital. The boy was her youngest son (he was adopted) and the elderly man was her husband. 

The teen had blonde hair and brown eyes. He was dressed in a black suit. The old man was dressed in similar suit. He had white hair that seemed thinning and blue eyes. He had wrinkles across his face.

The old man and the boy sat in a pew. The father hugged the boy as he cried.

“I will never get to see her again.” The teen cried out. “What am I going to do without her? Me and her did everything together and now…she was always there when I needed her. Now she's going to miss everything.” 

“She will still be with us and watch over you. She will watch everything from above. she will see your accomplishments. She will-” 

“I want her here!” The boy yelled. 

Steve watched the interaction. He felt bad for the boy. He knew how he felt. He was about his age when he lost his mother. He knew how defeating it felt, how hopeless. 

Steve walked over to the two. The boy looked at him with surprise and stared. Steve figured that not many people he would be attending and he figured it was surprising to see an Avenger in person. Sometimes people got tongue tied or starstruck when people saw him and others out in public. They were public figures ever since the Battle of New York.

“Hey I over heard the conversation. Your Peggy's son.” 

The teen nodded.

“I knew Peggy really well. She was one of closest friends back in the war.” Steve told him.  “If I had to guess she would want you to focus so much on her death. Focus on how she lived and the time you got to spend with her.”

“He is completely right.” The old man, Grant, said. “She lived an extraordinary life and she was so happy with how it turned out. She lived her life and she wouldn't want you to stop living your life to it's fullest.” 

The boy nodded and hugged his father.

“I know you guys are right.” He sniffled.

Suddenly Steve felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up and saw Tony Stark.

“Im not here to fight or arguing about the accords. Im here to pay my respects.” Tony spoke.

“Why?” Steve asked, looking at Tony confused. “You knew her?”

“Of course I knew her.” Tony answered. “Her and my dad worked together to create shield. Honestly, aside from our butler, she was his only real friend. Peggy was like a second mother to me growing up.”

“How come you never told me?” Steve asked.

Tony shrugged.

“I guess it never came up.” Tony told him.

Tony looked off to the picture that was placed by the stage, one from her military days.

“Aunt Peggy was an amazing person." Tony began to tell Steve. "When I was a teen I got myself into a lot trouble drink. My parents had no idea what to do. Aunt Peggy come over and she just sat with me and let me out everything I was feeling. All the hate and anger I had toward my dad at the time, all the pressure I felt. Then she told me: ‘Don't let his mistakes, create yours. Don't give him the power to define who you are. You get to choose who want to be in this world, so do it.’ I never forgot that.”

“That really great. I'm glad she helped you.” Steve answered. 

“Me too. I don't know where I would have gone with my life if she didn't help me get back on track.” 

“Did you know her family? Her kids? Her husband?” Steve asked.

“Yeah. Her family and mine used go on vacations together. Her daughters were like sisters to me. Didn't really know the youngest too well. Anyways, I tried to date her oldest daughter back in when we were teens. She wouldn't give me the time of day.”

Steve chuckled.

“I'm not surprised by that.” Steve replied.

“She told me I was a narcissist ass whole."

"...She wasn't wrong.” Steve said with a chuckle.

Tony was surprised by this response but smirked. Then then laughed. 

"Wow you know when Captain American calls you an ass, your doing something

"I didn't mean it like that, I just joking. I have always thought of you as a good man, Tony. I was wrong about you when we first meet. You are the type of man to lay down your life for others and make the hard call. That's what your trying to do with the accords. I respect that and that your trying to do what you think is right."

"but you still think your way is best?"

Steve nodded.

"What was her husband, Grant, like?" Steve asked.

"He was a great guy. She seemed really happy with him. He was a stay at home dad, before it was a thing. He was a painter and Aunt Peggy was the director of shield. She worked a lot and traveled, but it made her happy. She always wanted to keep saving the world. She seemed relieved to know the kids had him when she was traveling. She felt she could travel for missions and presue her career because she knew he would support her through it all and be there waiting."

"Thats really wonderful for her." Steve spoke. "I'm glad she has such a supportive man. That's what she needed. Someone who wouldn't stand in her way, but instead support her."

****

Later, Steve saw the same elderly man, peggy's husband again. He was crying silently in a pew away from everyone else. Steve approached him, then sat next to the man. Steve watched as the old man held a small picture of Peggy to his heart. His eyes were closed and he bowed his head before the cross on the stage. He prayed as tears streamed down his face. 

When he was done he opened his eyes and noticed Steve sitting next to him. He was silent for a moment, he almost seemed embarrassed to be caught in such an act.

“You must be Grant, Peggy's husband.” Steve began.

“Yes I am, and your Steve Rogers. It's an honor to meet you.” the elderly man spoke putting out his hand.

Steve shook the old man's hand.

“I'm sorry for your loss. She was an amazing woman.” Steve spoke.

“She really was.”Grant answered. “She wasnt like anyone else. She was a truly special woman. I know you saw it in her too.” 

Steve nodded.

“The first day of training camp,” Steve began. “she knocked out a grown man who was twice her size in one punch.”

He chuckled.

“I believe it.” Grant remarked.

“Everyone quickly learned to stay in there place and not to mess with her.” Steve continued. “She was smart and strong. The one thing I will never forget is that she believed in me when no one else did. When the army just wanted to make me a dancing monkey for their USO shows, she encouraged me to take matters into my own hands and take a risk to save my friend.”

“I'm glad she was able to do that for you. Sounds like she was a good friend to you.”

Steve nodded.

“Peggy never stopped helping people.” Grant spoke. “She created shield to protect our world. She went on countless missions and even trained some top agents. Even in her older years she was working with shield. She didn't stop until they literally forced her to retire at 80.” 

“What was your life with her like?” 

He had to ask. Part of him felt like it would be rude not to. Also part of him felt by asking he could feel comfort in knowing she had a good life. That him being in the future at least worked out for her.

The old man smiled.

“It was beautiful.” Grant answered. “The love between us never died or lessened. I loved her so much and she loved me just as much. Anytime she would look at me with love and adoring. She worked a lot. She wanted to do as much as she could with the time she had. When we would get to spend time together it was great. We went on trip around the world and we had parties with our friends. We had three beautiful kids. One works for shield, oh she is just like her mother in so many ways. Headstrong, kind, beautiful and a fighter. The other is a school teacher. She is so kind and loving. She is the most generous and patient person I have ever met. then there is Jay. He's the youngest. He's such a a sweet boy. Idolizes Peggy like crazy. He used to sit and listen to all peggy’s war stories with such excitement. The two of them loved to watch spy movies together. They got so happy anytime a new Janes Bond movie came out. I feel so bad for him, he's only 16 and already losing his mother.”

Steve felt both happy and saddened. Happy that Peggy had such a wonderful life, but saddened that it was him she had this life with. 

“That really does sound like a beautiful life.” Steve answered. 

“She talked about you a lot. She admired you so much and the time you two spent together in the war. You were her hero.” Grant told him.

“And she was mine.” Steve answered. “I wish I would have had more time with her.”

“Sometimes life is funny.” Grant spoke. “Sometimes things happen the way they were meant to.”

As the old man got up to leave, a compass fell out of his pocket. Steve picked it up to return it to him. Yet as he looked at it, it seemed very familiar. It was black and the metal on it was slightly rusted. When he opened it, his heart nearly stopped. the compass had a picture of Peggy inside the lid. The same picture he had in his compass, the one that was always with him. 

“Holy shit…” Steve uttered.

What did this mean? Why did he have this? He had to know.

“Grant!” Steve called out as he approached the man. 

The old man looked to him as he turned around. 

“Why do you have this? This is mine… but it fell out of your pocket.” Steve spoke holding out the compass.

Grant was visably nervous and snatched the compass out of Steve's hand.

“Oh no this is mine. I guess similar minds think alike.” Grant said with a chuckle. 

“It's the exact model compass, and it's rusted in the same places as mine.” Steve pointed out. “plus it's the same picture I have. You cant seriously be trying to tell me it's a coincidence?” 

Grant was silent. He was trying think of something to say that make sense of all this.

“Maybe it's not. You wouldn't believe the truth, if I told you.” 

“Trust me, I have seen a lot of weird things in my time. I faught aliens, a robot and a red faced Nazi. I'm pretty sure what ever is going on here can't be that stranger.”

“Trust me, it can.” Grant remarked.

Grant thought for a moment and thought of his past and how it intertwined with Peggys. He thought about Steve's life so far and what it could become.

“Steve your going to have a great life ahead of you, I can guarantee you that.”Grant told him. “There are somethings your not meant to know right now.” 

“What are you talking about? What's going on!? What's the big secret!?” Steve shouted in frustration, forgetting where he was for a moment.

He was meet with many stares. Then whispers among the crowd. One of Grant’s daughters, Amy,rushed over to him. She hugged him and asked if he was okay.

“I'm sorry.” Steve said, looking to the old man with compassion and guilt. “I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to yell. I just…I should go. i'm sorry.” 

As Steve began to leave, he heard the daughter speak.

“He's you.” Amy said. 

Grant grasped his daughters hand tight and shook his head. 

“This is stupid, he deserves to know.” Amy argued. 

“I told you not to say anything.” Grant told his daughter. “Who knows how this can effect his future? Knowing too much might change things. We talked about this before the funeral.”

“What do you mean he's me?” Steve asked.

“Years from now the ability to time travel with be invented.” Amy explained. “You go back in time to 1953 and you reconnect with my mom. You decided to stay with her, in her time. That's when you and her decided that nobody, in that time, could know who you really were. If they did it would effect the time stream and the flow of future events. Captain America wasn't meant to show up again until he was found in the ice decades later. So you became Grant Rogers.” 

“No, thats impossible.” Steve remarked. “Time travel isn't real. It's something you see in movies, but it's not possible. …being with Peggy. It's too good to be true.”

“It’s true, Steve.”Grant spoke up. “It's all true. You get to be happy. After all the wars and all the pain, you get the life you always wanted. You find peace with the woman of your dreams.” 

Amy went into her purse and pulled out a small photo album. Amy handed it to Steve.  

The first picture was of Steve in hospital room holding a baby in his arms. The look on Steve gave was a mix of joy and disbelief. He looked at the kid with wonderment and awe. 

The next photo was the four of them: Steve, Peggy, Sarah and Amy. All in a living room. Peggy was holding Amy on her lap and Steve had a toddler with short brown hair in his arms. Amy was older in the photo she was at least 10 years old. She made a silly face in the photo and Steve looked like he was trying so hard to not laugh. The child in his arms was hugging his neck, as she stood on his lap. 

He couldn't believe his eyes. How was this real? 

“You changed your look a bit over the years, so you weren't recognizable.” Amy explained. “As you can see you had black hair and glasses when I was really little. When the 60s came around it was medium blonde hair and a beard. You really fit in to the hippie look.”

He pointed to a picture with the two girls at Steve's side, standing in front of the Disney castle. Howard Stark stood next to him, with his wife Maria. Peggy was taking the photo, Steve presumed. He pointed to Howard in the picture.

“Did he know who I really was?” Steve asked Amy.

“Yes he did.” Grant answered. “He was one of Peggy’s closest friends and she didn't want to lie to him. The only ones who knew you were Steve Rogers were Howard Stark and Peggy’s best friend Jarvis. They were the two people she trusted more than anyone. Peggy and I tried to keep the secret from the kids. That didn't last very long. Amy started develop powers at young age, so we had to tell her the truth about who I was. Tony and Sharon didn't know Grant was you either, by the way.” 

Steve was speechless. he didn't know how to respond. He was going to get the life he had always dreamed of, the life he thought he lost a chance at. He was going to see Peggy again, alive and he was going to build a life with her. 

He went over to Amy and hugged her tightly. She hugged him back. 

“Thank you. You have given me something I really needed right now: hope.” Steve told her.

[ilovestony]

Imagine getting backshots from Old Steve 💀

(@/ ifyouseethisdonttellme on TikTok)

[jimothys-custom-funkos]

I got a light box today and holy crud these look amazing.

[lovedeathalice]

Oh jeez bucky you meatball😔

Ok last comic from the book wahahaha I can’t share everything it’s supposed to be a surprise.

 A remake of an old post/joke~

[lolli-says-stuff]

I am once again asking why the fuck is old man Steve hot?!

[morganbritton132]

Steve gets really into birdwatching after patrolling the woods around Hawkins for upside down creepy-crawlies and then accidentally joins the Hawkins Community Birdwatching Society, and rightfully doesn’t tell anybody about it because he still wants the party to think he’s cool.

However. Eddie brings his uncle around the party for the first time and before he can introduce him, Wayne’s like, “Hey, Steve. Diana tell ya that she saw a pileated woodpecker outside of Melvards last week?”

When Steve doesn’t respond with confusion, a record scratches inside Robin and Eddie’s brains at the same time because

“This is Wayne? Your friend Wayne??” Robin asks at the same time that Eddie exclaims, “Steve from bird club is Steve Harrington?!”

[mischievous-thunder]

Is this the official pose of fighting for superhero couples? Is this also the official pose for trying to calm your feisty partner?

Is this how they reassure each other?

Is this how they protect the love of their life? Is this common amongst enhanced superhero soulmates?

[thinkinonsense]

Masterlist❀

recommended by sel:

fantasize- old!logan howlett

past life- dofp!logan howlett x future wife!reader

seven days- x2!logan howlett

wicked- old man!logan howlett

touch- origins!logan howlett x fem!reader x black widow!natasha romanoff

call me if you're lonely- old man!logan howlett

bewitched- logan howlett bridgerton au

hozier mini-series- old man!logan howlett

positions mini-series- old man!logan howlett x housewife!reader

like a virgin mini-series- logan howlett x inexperienced fem!reader

old!logan and his obsession with the cute diner girl

old!logan x young bold fem!reader

bringing some vibrations into the bedroom with logan

logan + inspection kink

series:

magnetic- logan howlett

one-shots:

the boy is mine- logan howlett

i can see you- logan howlett

i knew you in another life- dp&w!logan howlett

blush- logan howlett

juno- logan howlett

talk, talk - logan howlett

colors- old man!logan howlett

slim pickins- lumberjack!logan howlett

desire- logan howlett

velvet elvis- lumberjack!logan howlett

on your collar- old man!logan howlett

sit still- logan howlett

rotten- dofp!logan howlett x fem!reader

blurbs:

dbf!logan who adores taking care of you

movie night with logan

first sleepover with worst!logan

dad!logan x teacher!reader

logan finds a way to help put his partner at ease.

dbf!logan breaks your heart part 2

daydreaming about logan's hands

tending to matt's wounds

[scoobit9]

[ftmsteveraglan]

i find it so funny when people say they're about the "sexualize that old man" life but then take away every old man aspect about him. in THIS house, we stand for the wrinkles, the receding hairline, the dad bod, and the joints that pop whenever he walks. if he doesn't age ten years next time you rail him, you're not doing it right. blow that old man's back out! fuck him so hard he needs a hip replacement! go big or go home!!

[mygaymindpalace]

I have to put this out there because I've been thinking it since Far From Home, and if there's a chance I'm right, I wanna have proof lol.

Cap isn't dead until I see a body. Not a tombstone, not a closed casket, a BODY. No one in Marvel is dead until I see a body (I love Marvel, but they're tricky liars sometimes), and I'm not just gonna believe Old Man Steve died off screen. No, that man is living up in the Avengers Tower (...or somewhere communal since the compound was absolutely destroyed... Maybe just a home in the city, near everybody), in RETIREMENT BECAUSE HE DESERVES IT, happily annoying the shit out of his friends and former coworkers. He's finally a Silly Old Man.

-

"Back in my day, we beat Thanos without even knowing it was him!"

"Yes, Steve. In 2012. We all saw. It was on national TV. Thor and Clint were even there. You know we know"

"Ha, yeah. Just like fuckin with ya"

"...language?"

Steve: *eyeballs em* "language my ass. America's ass if we're getting technical" *smiles, remembering Tony and Nat, thinking of how they'd laugh and poke fun at him now*

[jimothys-custom-funkos]

"You wanna tell me about her?”

“No, I don't think I will.”

Endgame, Rogers the Musical Inspired Old Man Steve Rogers

[lazer-meme]

love love love steddie + supportive wanye

thinking about wayne and eddie going on an annual fishing trip (like thee Munson Men Annual Fishing Trip™️) just like a little weekend away. and the first one is coming up after eddie and steve starts dating. over breakfast eddie jokingly complains about having to go and tries to get out of it. but wayne is used to his dramatics so he just gives hmms when appropriate because eddie’s whole spiel never got him out of it before and he tells eddie that.

steve watches the whole exchange with amusement when wayne asks if he’s looking forward to it. and he’s like ??? because he assumed it was just a wayne and eddie thing. and wayne is like i just told eddie all munsons must go can’t get out of it kid.

steve gets flustered and is internally is like oh??? all munsons,,,

or like after the trip a neighbor asks wayne if they caught anything and he pulls out his wallet to show a picture they took on the trip. wayne passes it with ‘here’s a picture of my boys’ and to steve’s surprise it’s a picture of both him and eddie with their biggest catch.

and just idk wayne casually accepting steve into their family and throwing steve off guard with it.

[psychotic-nonsense]

In October of 1967, Steve Harrington is born in Hawkins, Indiana.

He's raised there, forced to live under the strict expectations of his parents, Richard and Samantha. Barely escapes their clutches, freedom fueled by the kids and adults that take the role of guardian and family when the time is right. Keeps himself in check with the always impending apocalypses that arise beneath his feet.

In June of 1985 - when Steve Harrington is 18, while Richard and Samantha Harrington are visiting New York for an extended work trip - Veronica Harrington is born.

She was carried and raised in secret from their hometown. They take care of her between their business hours, dropping her in the hands of nannies and babysitters galore. They don't even think of Indiana during Veronica's early childhood, too focused on work and making sure their daughter starts up right.

In October of 1986 - when Steve Harrington is 19, aged further by ending the Vecna War, yet tamed by his newfound love in Eddie Munson - Richard and Samantha Harrington return to Hawkins.

They don't ask about what happened to their son. They don't ask about the town. They don't ask questions, just give responses to them. Sneering at Steve's friends, complaining about the state of the house, commenting at the disfunctional chaos their home has become.

In November of 1986, Richard and Samantha Harrington disown Steve.

They just let him go. They at least give him a folder of his legal documents, but otherwise just tell him to get out of their house and never use their name again. Claiming Steve doesn't need anything from the room because the Harrington's own everything in it. They don't call him son, they don't say goodbye, they don't acknowledge who's actually taken care of the house, they don't admit most of Steve's former room has changed with money Steve earned himself, they don't dare to give him any money or care where he goes. They just say they're sick of dealing with an unworthy mistake of a child, and force him out of their house.

In November of 1986, the Party's adults adopt Steve.

He runs to them first after everything happens. Held himself together at the start, but broke down the second the words were out. While everyone was trying to comfort Steve, Wayne Munson and Jim Hopper were the first to succeed. They know firsthand that this family would never be the same as blood, no matter how much that blood has boiled and burned before, but the love will be stronger and it will be here. When everyone seconds it, Steve finally accepts it. He becomes a child of the Party - he's everyone's son and everyone's brother, taking whatever surname he sees fit.

In November of 1986, Steve Henderson and Eddie Munson leave Hawkins.

Despite all this good, Steve can't bear to stay in this damned town a second longer, where everyone knows who he is and will soon know everything he isn't. And it's not like Eddie was looking forward to sticking around Hawkins either, especially without his Steve. The kids are the first to agree, surprisingly, and the adults promise to find a way for the boys to get out. Later that week, when Richard and Samantha leave the house to prepare for Veronica, Steve and Eddie break in to take everything that's rightfully theirs. While they're there, not sure what prompts him, Steve makes a bag of his clothes with shoes and his wallet tucked within it, shoving it into his closet. Dustin's mom uses an old favor to get the boys an apartment in Chicago, the Party has one last farewell, and the two boys are gone.

From 1986 onward, Veronica Harrington is raised in Hawkins, Indiana.

Richard and Samantha are adamant in their daughter coming out exactly how she should. They steadily convince the town to forget the Harringtons ever had a son and lock the room on the second floor next to the stairs without ever touching the inside. They raise her with formality and pride at the top of their expectations, wanting at least one child to come out right.

But Veronica is the spitting image of Steve's honesty and care. She puts on a facade when needed, but even at a young age, she wants nothing more than to be someone's light in the darkness. She plays with every lonely kid at school, and tries to make people laugh at the business parties she's dragged to. It's not received well by her parents, but Veronica is much too strong willed and stubborn to let it phase her.

In April of 1991 - when she's 6 and they're so much stronger around their hearts - Veronica Harrington meets Steve and Eddie Munson for the first time.

It's the year Erica is set to graduate high school. Steve and Eddie have been making the drive for every holiday this year, ordered determined to give her the best senior year she could have. It's Easter Sunday, and Wayne somehow managed to drag his boys away to church - a Munson custom, as even Eddie insisted they go.

While at the snack table post sermon, a little girl comes up to Steve, mistaking him for her father. He and Eddie gently comfort the girl, introducing themselves and offering to help the girl find her parents. That's when Veronica introduces herself, striking Steve deep in his heart. Still, he keeps quiet, even gifting her a little origami crane made from napkins at the table. He calls her "chickpea" for the color of her dress, tells her to keep the crane secret and safe, "If ever you need to find your way back home, you hold that close, and it'll tell you."

Meanwhile, Wayne has come across Richard and Samantha in the crowd opposite the kids. Exchanging formalities, Wayne mentions his son and nephew are in town, news the Harrington's are surprised at, as Wayne didn't seem like the father type. However, trying to keep face, they remain civil and insist on introducing their daughter.

Cue Veronica running to her parents with Steve and Eddie in tow. Cue Steve calling Wayne dad right to Richard's face. Cue the Harrington's immediate leave from the church, Veronica waving behind her with a crane placed carefully in her pocket.

From then on, Veronica Harrington's life changes indefinitely.

Her parents' expectations grow tenfold. She finds out she's horribly allergic to chickpeas. All of her friends must be approved by her parents, and any that don't fit their image are ordered to leave her.

Veronica takes these changes in stride - is her class's top student, captain of the softball and volleyball teams in junior high, keeps the friends she wants in secret from her parents - but she can't help but keep the crane in a little box in her room. Gets a necklace with a little origami crane pendant, holds it whenever she needs to make a hard choice. Can't help but expand herself in secret, learn things her parents would never approve of - lock picking, other languages, sleight of hand, a clothing style that's nothing like the dark blues of her family, all warmth and light. She explores every room in her house, yet is unable to find her way into that room upstairs next to the steps.

In May of 1998, Veronica Harrington discovers the truth about her brother.

She's about to be a freshman. Her class was touring the high school in preparation, and while passing the athletics hall, her eyes hit the swimming trophies. Each row stuffed with trophies, and each one with a name that stabbed her right in the stomach: Steve Harrington.

After that, she couldn't bear all the secrecy anymore. Late that same night, she finally uses her lock picking skills to break into that room. And though it's devoid of life, it is a bedroom, so evidently lived in. It's frozen in time, twisted sheets covered in dust, old papers crinkled from being stepped on but not picked up, old clean clothes still sitting in the hamper. It's a boy's room, clearly, and Veronica is careful walking around this place of memories.

She does still explore, quietly clicking on lights around the room, too cautious to touch the overhead lights. She looks under the bed, finding a bat and a trash can lid, both embedded with rusty nails. A shirt that still smells like fresh laundry yet has a back stained permanently with long red lines down the shoulders. Dozens of stapled documents labeled NON-DISCLOSURE AGREEMENT, detailing horrific events that each have that same name signed at the bottom.

With shaking hands she checks the closet, and finds it mostly empty. All except for a deep green graduation robe and cap, a cream Hawkins High letterman, and a duffel bag hidden in the back corner. The cap has a 1985 tassel, and the letterman has Harrington branded on the back with basketball and swimming patches galore. And the bag, when she checks it, looks like a survivalist pack someone would make in an apocalypse. At the top sits a wallet, and inside is an ID for a Steve Harrington, who has the same face as the one in her origami memories.

And Veronica is done. She wakes up the next morning and throws Steve's jacket on the kitchen table, startling both her parents mid sip of coffee. She finds herself in a screaming match with her father, demanding them to quit lying to her, begging to know who her brother is.

In a fit of rage, Richard tells her. Tells her everything Richard and Samantha never saw in Steve, about Veronica's secret birth, the disownment, Steve's disappearance from the Harrington house and Hawkins. She's reminded of that one Easter Sunday, and is told how Richard and Samantha faked Veronica's allergy to keep her mind from being tainted by whatever curse befell their bloodline before. Orders her to never say that name again.

In a fit of rage, Veronica bites back. Calls her parents cruel and overly expectant. Comes clean about her secret freedom. Says she'd rather be nothing than ever carry the burden of the Harrington name ever again.

She hides away in her room after the fight. Cries in her closet with her origami box cradled tightly to her chest, begging it to take her home because this place isn't anymore, maybe never was. Cries for the brother she never even got to meet, who went through so many horrible things yet still got put through this same punishment. Cries for the future she won't get to have, losing her hope for a new beginning that will now never be.

At the start of June, 1998, Veronica runs away.

She makes it through the rest of May in near silence. She writes notes for all of her friends at the end of the school year, and one for her parents to inevitably find. Finds 75 dollars in Steve's old wallet, stuffs the duffel bag the rest of the way with her belongings, and says goodbye to Hawkins.

She takes the first bus she can find out of town. Doesn't care that it's going to Chicago, doesn't really care where she's going now. She befriends an old homeless man riding the bus as well, becomes another interesting name in his "Book of Wanders (Pronounced as Wonders)." As Veronica's telling the story about unknowingly meeting her brother, she remembers the crane in her bag. She reaches in to retrieve the little box, then the crane, nearly crying seeing how disheveled and unfolded it is. Broken and doomed, just like her. But looking at it now after so long, she thinks she sees something written inside it. Despite it shattering her heart pieces, she carefully unfolds the little crane.

At its center, in old, bleeding blue text, reads, "Find the Swooping Bat if you've lost your way."

The old man laughs then, taking Veronica's hand and placing it onto her chest, over her heart. "It's fate," he whispers in the dark bus. "There's a place called that in Chicago."

Veronica uses her money to rent them both a hotel for the night, giving the old man a warm bath for the first time in weeks. She gifts him the clothes as well, saying it's, "an honorary thanks from my brother, for helping me get here." They bid each other farewell in the morning, the old man telling her to keep hold of fate.

She finds her way to the Swooping Bat easily, hand on her necklace guiding her way. It's a quaint little diner, popular enough to be comfortably warm when she walks in. A young lady in a wheelchair - Max, says her nametag, with pins saying things like, "Summer work blows" and "USC grad or bust!" resting on her collar - guides her to a booth next to the sunrise.

"Anything I can get you today?" Max asks when Veronica's seated.

Veronica's fully ready to order everything on the menu, what with how delicious this place smells, but then she remembers her funds. 5 bucks, if she's lucky. "Just a chocolate milk, for now. Biggest one you have, please." She somehow plays off Max's skeptical look, her eyes sweeping over Veronica's no doubt disheveled and no-food-in-36-hours appearance.

It somehow works out, and Max is wheeling away. Veronica allows herself a moment to collapse, stomach growling in pain and eyes burning with the realization she has no idea what she's going to do now. She just has this last bit of hope to hold onto, and without it, she'll be nothing but a husk.

She's not sure how long she sits there, staring at the sunrise and letting sound and AC whisk her mind away, but there's suddenly a little knock on her table. Her head snaps up, and there's Max again, setting down a giant glass of chocolate milk... alongside a loaded breakfast plate.

"It's on the house," Max rushes to explain, all fondness when Veronica scrambles to get her wallet. "Courtesy of the owner. And between you and me," she whispers with a wink, "just take the damn food, kid."

Veronica stumbles over herself for a moment, rendered near speechless, before she finally comes back. She begs Max to thank the owner profusely, before rushing to dig into the pancakes before her. She's halfway done dousing the stack in syrup by the time Max wheels away, when there's suddenly someone laughing.

"Of course," says a choked-up voice behind her. "Can't have any chickpeas starving in my booths."

Veronica nearly drops her fork. She turns so sharply she gets dizzy. Seven years can't change a person that much, surely, because though he's bigger in the torso and he has glasses on the bridge of his nose and his hair is cut so close, he still has the same softness in his voice and the same slouch in his stance and the same moles around his eyes and his smile is so bright despite the tears in his eyes, and though Veronica can barely see through tears herself, it's not like she needs them anyway to know it's-

"Steve!" she cries, scrambling out of the booth to meet her brother halfway. The relief of it all working out has the rest of her restraint collapsing, forcing harsh sobs out of her and into Steve's shoulder. The siblings hold each other in the middle of a restaurant, a voice in the background asking everyone to leave them be. Steve doesn't stop whispering, even as his chest heaves with broken gasps between tears, "You're save, Veronica, I got you, I got you, it's gonna be okay, you're safe here, it's okay, sis, it's okay..."

"That you, lil' chickpea?" whispers a different voice once they've calmed down. Veronica reluctantly pulls away and finds a man kneeling beside them, a hand on Steve's shoulder and similar tears in his eyes. His hair and tattoos remind her of the tamed wild from seven years ago, covered in black in the middle of church yet glowing brighter than the stained glass, the one that Steve looks at in past and present with a glowing love Veronica never saw between her parents.

"Yeah," she whispers, wiping her tears away before placing a hand atop her necklace. It catches Eddie and Steve's eyes and make them beam with pride and relief. "Yeah, it's... it's me...."

[steddiehyperfixation]

still into you (steddie ficlet)

Eddie wakes to the mouthwatering smell of bacon and eggs and fresh-made pancakes. He stretches lazily and heads to the kitchen to find Steve at the stove making breakfast, moving expertly between flipping pancakes and scrambling eggs and checking the bacon. A stupid kiss the cook apron is tied at the waist over his bare torso and sinful pajama shorts, and he looks just as delicious as the food he's cooking. The whole scene makes something warm and fluttery bloom bright in Eddie's chest. 

He sits at the counter and sighs dreamily, resting his chin in his hand as he watches him. “God, I have such a crush on you.” 

Steve looks over his shoulder with an amused expression that crinkles the smile lines at the corners of his eyes. “We're literally married.” 

“I know,” Eddie gushes, so in awe of this fact you'd think it was a new development even though it very much isn't. He marvels at his husband of 34 years, admires every inch of Steve's middle-aged body, every place where his time-worn skin is creased with signs of age and a life well lived and well loved. The beauty of him still knocks the wind out of Eddie, a breathless giggle bubbling up his throat. “But that doesn't mean I don't still have a massive fucking crush on you.” 

Steve huffs out a chuckle before turning his attention back to the stove, a quick duck of his head as if to hide a blush. 

Emboldened, Eddie stands and comes up to wrap his arms around him from behind. He nuzzles into Steve's neck, breathes in his salt and pepper hair and smiles into the curve of his shoulder. “I’m serious. Even after all this time, you still give me butterflies,” Eddie says, resting his hands over Steve's stomach and pressing gently to demonstrate his words, “right here, like I’m a teenager again. My aged heart still does very youthful backflips just at the sight of you, and I feel that rush of falling in love all over again, again and again, like it's the very first time.”

Eddie remembers a conversation he'd had with his uncle once, when he was much much younger and Wayne was about the age Eddie is now.  When you get older, you don't feel that type a’ love the same way anymore, Wayne had told him. It ain't the same heart-pounding, all-encompassing, get drunk off of it sort a’ giddy head-rush you get in your teens and twenties. It loses that kind a’ thrill, gets quieter. 

Eddie had found that thoroughly depressing, despite his uncle’s insistences that this was not a bad thing. Don't mean that love and attraction ain't there or that you can't feel it anymore, Wayne reassured him, it's just different is all. He'd shrugged then, his face like leather, worn and fond and bemused by his nephew’s wild youth. Old hearts get tired, Ed, he'd said. You'll get it when you get to be my age. 

Well, Eddie has gotten to be his age and he still doesn't get it. He does feel that quieter love, the kind that comes from shared routines and easy conversation and even easier silences, made up of trust and familiarity, the kind that settles into his bones like it was always meant to be there. But the thrill is still there too, as strong as ever. Steve still makes his heart race and his head spin. Eddie's stomach still flutters at his smile; his touch still sets off fireworks beneath his skin. Even now, Eddie feels a little dizzy just holding him, heartbeat faster. 

“We may get old,” Eddie continues his declaration, “but the way I feel about you never will.” He holds Steve tighter, hooking his chin over his husband's shoulder after pressing a kiss to it. “I will never get over the thrill of you, and my heart will never get tired of it.” 

“You are a dramatic old sap,” Steve says through a suppressed smile, rolling his eyes as he plates the food and turns off the stove, but then he's turning around in Eddie's arms and pulling him into a spirited kiss.

Eddie's blood feels like it's made of champagne, bubbly and fizzy and utterly intoxicated as Steve fills his senses. They kiss with the same clumsy passion they'd had at 21, too eager clashes of teeth and bruising lips. It's messy, inelegant, perfect, broken within seconds when their smiles become uncontainable. They pull apart, pink-cheeked and laughing. 

Steve grins. His eyes shine with all the same giddiness of infatuation and warmth of love as he holds Eddie's face in his hands and tells him, “I have a massive fucking crush on you too.”