#scoops troop carried the s3 one

[willbyersabyss]

I know everyone always talks about this but I feel like hating on the Russian plot line right now so. People mostly just hate on the s4 Russia plot, but the s3 one was bad as well. Aside from it being boring as hell, it felt so out of place compared to the first two seasons. It would’ve been a million times better if they just replaced the Russians with the lab and then had Brenner kidnap Hopper for the s4 plot. Put a lab station in Alaska or something! The lab is not fond of Hopper for many many reasons so it would’ve made more sense anyways. Brenner kidnaps Hopper so he can have El. Joyce should’ve been right about the lab in s3.

I also have no idea how they’re going to tie the whole Russia thing into s5 if the characters are staying in Hawkins. You can’t just show the Russian prison with a bunch of demo creatures and never mention it again. I’m guessing they’ll have the US govt people investigating it with Owens? I don’t see another way it can be brought up without basically replicating the s3 Russians in Hawkins thing.

[lexirosewrites]

Long time Listener, First time caller here when it comes to Slick Sunday, Here's an AU I've been playing with. Basically the thought process for this one was "Wow, S3 Steve is a bit of a bimbo --> I wonder why he's like that --> the Russians must have put something in the mall water" and then making that "something" ABO bitching juice (STAY WITH ME I PROMISE IT MAKES SENSE). So, here's how it goes:

Alpha!Steve gets the job at Scoops Ahoy, normal setup all that, and while he's there he's making ample use of the sink in the back of the shop to hydrate throughout his shifts, even though there's a sign that clearly says "hey man don't drink this". Robin thinks he's being an idiot but Steve says that it'll be fine, its not like its contaminated with anything. Over the course of the summer though, Steve gradually notices something is up. His scent is all fucky, he's tired, and omegas aren't responding to him the way they used to. But he brushes it off and thinks "ok its just because I'm tired" and carries on. This comes to a head when the Scoops Troop gets caught in the Russian base. During the interrogation one of them notices Steve's predicament and laughs about it before dumping him in the room with Robin. Steve doesn't catch much other than the word "omega" and "сука" (Which is Russian for Bitch). He sort of puts together what they mean, but it doesn't click until after the fight with the Mind Flayer (One notable mention about that, Billy survives with major injuries, this is a surprise tool that will help us later). Steve goes home, and basically the moment he feels even a tiny bit safe, his body launches itself into a presentation heat. Which obviously scares the fuck out of him because what the fuck, it's impossible for bitching to happen without another alpha, but here he is, with a brand spanking new cunt and a whole new set of problems to deal with. He and Robin work out that the forbidden sink water was probably laced with something meant to keep the people in the mall from noticing the weird shit that was happening, and by drinking it Steve may have ingested enough to make his dynamic shift. And not just shift, but shift HARD. See, Steve is now something of a super omega, he has stronger, more frequent heats, he's basically always in pre-heat, and according to the doctor who takes a look at him, they're not going to get any better. Oh and suppressants now do less than jack shit for him. So Steve is stuck like this, with no solution except the exceedingly notable exception of having a baby. The doctor says that if he's pupped, he may be able to control future heats better, and potentially return to normal baseline omega levels (returning to being an alpha isn't possible but Steve is not worried about that). After much deliberation, he decides that having a whole ass baby is better than the constant nightmare that is his heats, and so he hits up someone he thinks will be willing to hit it and quit it.

Eddie Munson does not want to hit it and quit it but the very pretty boy is basically begging him to help so he does, with the knowledge that Steve explicitly is not looking to be mated and will basically want nothing to do with him after, which is heartbreaking a little bit because Eddie wants to be a father SO BAD MAN. And if Steve had ASKED he would KNOW that but they're both idiots. So Steve is pupped, he's probably gonna get kicked out if he's unmated and he thinks Eddie wants nothing to do with him. He's not sure what to do about that until he's approached by Billy (Who in this au, despite being an asshole, is a morally okay guy who doesn't want to see Steve in trouble) Billy essentially offers to pose as the pups father, so Steve can have his damn baby in peace and get on with his life. Of course, he doesn't mean to catch feelings but we all know how this goes. Cut to a few months after Steve delivers twin pups, and who arrives at his door but Eddie, begging to see the pups and be present in their lives. What happens next is up to you, personally I am partial to Harringroveson (Metalsandwich) raising the pups together but there are opportunities for angst galore if you're down with that.

Happy Slick Sunday! Hope this is enjoyable lol :>

woohoo! accidentally bitching steve!🥳🥳🥳

[findafight]

i agree w all of your r*nance thoughts. i also think a big issue for them would be nancy never being robin's Person bc of steve; i do not think that's something nancy could stomach. tho at this point, even if i had liked it originally, i would despise it bc of how often ppl have robin or nancy or both do absolutely sick and twisted things to steve. like the amount of fics where robin doesn't tell steve/actively lies to him about it for extended periods of time then he just has to be okay w it or they have robin just start putting nancy above steve in every aspect of life is ridiculous. then there's the really bad ones, like the fic i saw where the entire premise is r*nance fucking in steve's bed w/o his knowledge (and robin specifically doesn't feel bad at all which ???? like they have nancy feel bad but not robin? i will never understand) or the ficlet i saw where robin asks steve for sex advice then either 1) tells him it's nancy and he makes the advice specific (wtf) or 2) doesn't tell him but he figures it out later bc nancy thanks him since she realized the advice came from him (demonic). like what the actual fuck. sorry i had to complain about the things i've been forced to see against my will by tumblr.

so many things to complain about having seen on the hellsite. carry on fellow soldier 🫡

dsakjhfaksdhkf ya like. the concept of either of them starting to date someone they like and not immediately busting the other's door down like candace_momholyFUCK dot jpeg is just absurd to me. Robin would kiss a girl for the first time and as soon as she gets home she's dialing Steve up and twirling the phone cord around her fingers and kicking her legs, giggling. They were having boobie talk in the car at 7am. they def share if they actually get a date with someone they have a crush on!! (the exception being if that person didn't want to come out, like I could see Steve telling Robin he kissed a guy or had a boyfriend but not saying who because the bf wasn't ready for other people/people he didn't know well to know? but robin would still know he had a bf and details about what they do, just not personal details.)

I find it actually laughable that people would consider Robin would put some romantic interest above her most specialest boy in the whole wide world. Like. She was obsessed with him when she held her tammy and bagel crumb grudge and hated him! Now she loves him? Do people thing she isn't obsessed with him now?? Absolutely not she's worse and she steals his shirts to prove it.

Which I agree with you. Nancy obviously wants to be her romantic partner's priority and number 1. Jonathan's priority is his family and we saw in both s3 and s4 that this causes strain in their relationship! To the point they kinda break up in s3 about it! Robin and Steve both can no longer give that to their partners, because they have each other, scoops troop, and, by extension, the Party. Which is wild because s2 Nancy was Steve's priority.

idk whyyy people have Robin be mean to Steve :( stopppp that's her special little guy. her sweet cheese. her rotten soldier. She might say or do something that hurts him but she would try to apologize as soon as she realizes!! Just like he would for her! I think it might come from people still prioritizing romo ships over platonic ones and trying to have those be the most important and special and deep relationship the characters have.

lldkfjlakdflkajlfdj anon those are WILD fics wow. I think some are trying to acknowledge past st4ncy, but neglect all the hurt that happened at the end of that relationship, and that for the characters, in s4, Steve and Nancy broke up less than a year and a half ago! very messily and hurtfully! (once again, regardless of whether or not steve knows Nancy cheated) that is so short between the end of the relationship to be hooking up with your best friend's ex! that he has expressed romantic feelings for recently! or trying to emphasize robin and steve's weird little qpr comfortable in one another's space and oversharing relationship but missing the mark. like. it's one thing to sleep in a friend's bed with a different friend. it another to have sex in a friend's guest bedroom. it's another level to have sex in your friends bed? that's bonkers.wild.

I do think it'd be funny for Steve and Robin to exchange sex tips/stories but the first time i think Robin asks and Steve just blanks and goes "cut your nails. watch your teeth." which like. yeah. Robin figured. They're weirdos who live inside each other's pockets and brains but they probably do have some levels of comfort to work up to (they've been friends for less than a year! even if it feels like they've known each other forever)

(also. there is a weird thing sometimes where Nancy is closer to Steve/cares more openly about him than she would. I think it might be a bit of a backlash to people pointing out that she cheated on him in s2 and then seemed to not talk to him at all between then and s3 and again between s3 and s4? hmm...)

[willow-lark]

2 and/or 4, please! Hope you’re doing well!

hello hello vee! 💕🫂

2. talk about a notable time a narrative or character has looked you dead in the eyes and said “fuck your plan, here’s what we’re actually doing.”

ooh okay this actually just happened to me when i was writing my last byler soulmate au. i've published two different byler au series like this (and written three, but that first one i wrote will not be seeing the light of day lol) and in the first two i had the first part will's pov, and the second part mike's. but when i was writing the sequel to iimdittgttsy (GAH why did i make such a long-ass quote the title), again supposed to be mike's pov, it was just Not Working. there was a lot i wrote from his pov (and it ended up being most of the fic), but i ended up realizing that will was simply Not Done Talking and he had Things to Say and Angst to Work Through!!! he literally would not shut up, and i had to switch off between his and mike's pov. i think it turned out pretty great tbh, but it was definitely annoying having to break up my formula. perhaps i will write a part three in which mike gets more of a say...

4. what is the plot bunny you’ve been carrying for the longest? optional bonus question: do you ever wonder why you haven’t written it yet and experience deep existential dread?

hoo boy. if there's a god of carrying around plot bunnies for years and years at a time and/or abandoning them in wips it is probably me. i try to not let it weigh on me. but here's an incomplete list of my stranger things plot bunnies that i haven't gotten around to:

will escapes the UD on his own sometime between s1 and s3 and runs away, ultimately linking up with kali and her gang, who then have to return to hawkins to help el/the squad with the UD/henry. (potentially ft. will-has-powers and/or birthdaygate)

byler reunite in college after drunkenly hooking up

art teacher who runs the gsa!will & new english teacher!mike reunite. it's awkward.

max finds out about "it's not my fault you don't like girls" and confronts mike

will joins scoops troop in s3

fic exploring max's life post-s2

other party members visiting el at the cabin post s2/separate henderhop and hopclair oneshots

the byers hide el in their house post s1

...if anyone wants to know more about any of these lmk... maybe i'll actually start writing them again 👀😅

fanfic ask game!!

[fallingthruspace]

I’ve seen a few posts about the idea of Eddie and Chrissy showing up in season 3 and decided I wanted to expand/put my own spin on it.

Obviously Eddie gets a job at the music store inside Starcourt

He works most of his shifts by himself until the owner tells him that he’s hired another employee

A couple days later Eddie is in the process of carrying something out from the backroom when the owner calls him to come meet his new coworker

Much to Eddie’s surprised it is none other than Chrissy fucking Cunningham the girl he’s been nursing a huge crush on since middle school

Chrissy spends the day learning the ins and outs of the store while she and Eddie get to know each other, and at some point they have what is basically the forest conversation from 4.01

When their shift is over Eddie insists on treating her to ice cream at Scoops Ahoy to celebrate a successful first day. Chrissy tries to politely decline but Eddie insists so she agrees but only on the condition that she can treat him when she gets her first paycheck.

I have a headcanon that Eddie is already friends with Robin in this AU because I fully believe they would be hilariously chaotic besties if given the chance. He wasn’t too fond of Steve at first, but after a few weeks of hanging out at Scoops to bug them Steve and Eddie have something that could almost be called a friendship. They mostly just rag on/snark at each other, but there’s no malice behind it. (Eddie LOOOVES making fun of Steve’s uniform)

Both Robin and Steve are naturally surprised to see Eddie Munson strolling in with Chrissy Cunningham of all people, and Robin spends a good few minutes shooting looks at Eddie because she is 100% aware of his massive crush

Scoops Ahoy becomes a regular hangout for Eddie and Chrissy and that’s where they get to know “Steve’s Kids”, as Eddie refers to them because they’re also always there

Chrissy is still dating Jason who periodically comes to visit her at work and is of course a dick about her working with “the freak”, no matter how much Chrissy tries to convince him that Eddie is completely harmless

Eventually things come to a head and Chrissy breaks up with him, partially because of other things but also because he won’t stop being an asshole towards someone who she now considers a very good friend. Maybe even her best friend. Chrissy feels a little guilty that she’s not as upset about their relationship ending as she should be

Afterword her and Eddie share an ice cream sundae to “celebrate” her dumping Jason. Robin and Steve are proud of her too because they also thought Jason was a huge dick (no one likes Jason)

I feel like Chrissy and Eddie are pretty much oblivious to everything that’s going on for about 80-90% of s3. Like everyone else is dealing with the Upside Down and Russian spies and shit, meanwhile those two are about 2/3 of their way into a slow burn 200k friends to lovers fic on ao3 😂

They probably get dragged into it right after the Scoops Troop escapes from the Russians

Maybe they have the day off or something and they go to see Back to the Future when Steve and Robin plop down next to them, both obviously high off their asses and Steve looking like he just got beat within and inch of his life

They drag the two to the nearest bathroom to get Steve cleaned up and this segways into Steve and Robin’s bathroom convo

After that a lot of shit happens really fast and before Eddie and Chrissy know what’s going on they get roped into the fight against the Upside Down and now there’s a Giant Eldrich Monstrosity in the middle of the food court and they’re helping Lucas Sinclair throw fireworks at it

In the end, Eddie and Chrissy get absorbed into the Party because fighting inter-dimensional monsters has a real way of bonding people together

Steve’s Kids also become Eddie and Chrissy’s Kids, especially Dustin(of course)

Sometime during that summer, Eddie and Chrissy eventually stop beating around the bush and finally get together (much to the relief of Dustin and Robin who have been trying to get them there since before the “mall fire”)

The two naturally cause a stir at Hawkins High when The Freak and The Cheerleader show up for their senior year arm in arm and acting like a couple of lovebirds

When season 4 rolls around Chrissy does NOT get Vecna’d because she actually has a support system now, but others are not so lucky

Jason, of course, still blames Eddie for the murders because he’s a grade A dick and now has the motivation of The Freak “stealing his girl” and the gang has to clear his name while trying to destroy Vecna

Lmao my brain really ran away with this and now I want to write a whole fic for it help

[that-thing-that-feeling]

Yeah the show looked v diff in the og pitch but ‘anthology’ is not the right word. An anthology series “spans through different genres, and presents a different story and a different set of characters in each episode, season, segment or short”. This was never the plan for ST. The Duffers were originally going to do a mid-season time jump à la Steven King’s IT, where the characters aged up and finished the story that way. But Netflix made them change it bc they knew the audience would fall in love with the kids and want to follow their story, which we did. Obvs a lot of things from Montauk carried on to ST - Will going missing, Jancy and prob Jopper being endgame, the demogorgon, the lab, Will’s sexuality (implied) - but lots of things are diff as well - Steve & El dying, Lucas’ last name, Jonathan riding a moped 😂 - so yeah we can’t treat that as the base of the show.

I agree s1 is the best season story-wise and character-wise since it was so much smaller and more intimate, we rlly got the time to bond with each of the characters and they all had an interesting and important part in the story. S2 and s3 were still great to me, but nothing will match s1, altho it looks like s4 might come close. All seasons since have had big problem of adding more characters that didn’t do much but bloat the story, and don’t fill any actual needs of the story. I love Max and Robin very much, but Max’s sole purpose has been to create conflict btwn party members and tie the new bad guy to the party. I love her, but in scale of things she’s never rlly been relevant to the plot herself, until finally now. And Robin was originally a love interest for Steve, a character who didn’t need a love interest and isn’t rlly relevant to the plot either. Thankfully they changed this and made a real effort to make her an interesting character you’re almost glad to sacrifice everyone else’s screen time for, but still scoops troop wasn’t srsly necessarily to plot (I maintain that Murray, Joyce, and Hopper could’ve found a way into lab without them). And now with s4, at least Argyle fulfills a real need in show, giving Jonathan a friend, but idk how any of the other teens will work, and at least it seems like they’ll find a way to tie Peter into plot since beginning. Anyway, I think there is definitely plenty material to fill 5 seasons, but ST’s problem is with every season they keep moving further away from what ppl loved abt the show when it first came out: the intimacy, the high stakes, the equal attention on all characters with everyone getting a satisfying individual arc, the focus on familial relationships, the captivating mysterious and unpredictable story. I rlly hope ppl are right that s4 has more of this stuff. I know bigger and better is ST’s motto, but just bc the story and in-universe continues to expand doesn’t mean everything else has to expand too.

Ugh so agree and all comes down to your bolded thing—part of it is they just went all in with plot and lost character moments and exactly emotionally intimate scenes, and deepening things like with family relationships. I hope s4 allows for some of that but it also has sooo much plot to fit in that I wonder if we’ll get a lot of character moments, and any evenly distributed ones

[itsdaniclayton]

nell or dani // jamie or theo // stranger things or b99 // young luke and nell or flora and miles

Thank you!! 💕

Nell or Dani: Dani. I love Nell and I do think she deserved the world but Dani is a gay mess and she just cares so much about everyone and I love her a lot.

Jamie or Theo: Theo. I could very easily get carried away explaining why so I'm just gonna say I love her with my entire being and she's probably one of my all time favorite characters.

Stranger Things or B99: ... I really do love the first five seasons of b99 and the first two of stranger things (s3 I just care mostly about the scoops troop). If you ask me now which new season I'm more excited about then the answer is stranger things but literally only because of Steve and Robin

Young Luke and Nell or Miles and Flora: Don't make me choose between the babies!!! I'm gonna cheat and say baby Luke and Flora because they're the absolute Cutest

[lesbianrobin]

What are you afraid of happening in season 4?

so much... some bullet points:

i'm afraid that the same characters will continue to be sidelined, particularly lucas, will, and jonathan. i'm not TOO worried about will and jonathan, as the byers being in a new location will probably force the show to focus on them, but lucas... yall pls give him something to work with! show him some love!

i'm afraid that they'll be cutting around between hawkins, the byers' new home, and a hopper plot in siberia/russia/whatever all season. i don't want them to keep hopper separated from the rest of the cast for too long. i think that if they INSIST on having a separate hopper plot, the best course of action would be to give him his own "lost sister" style episode so that we can follow his journey, start-to-finish, without the whiplash of constantly cutting around between the kids' high school drama and local mysteries and his intense story of international intrigue.

speaking of, i'm afraid that they'll treat hopper's trauma at the hands of the russians very seriously, while simultaneously ignoring the similar trauma endured by the scoops troop in s3. they're kids! if the narrative wants us to take hopper seriously, they need to take the kids seriously, too.

i'm afraid of murray. that's it i just don't want to see him on my television.

i'm afraid of the duffers shoving nancy and robin together and giving them a poorly-developed relationship for the sake of "girl power," but more specifically i am terrified of them making robin have a crush on nancy. it would only serve to hurt robin and steve while promoting the idea that nancy is some perfect person on a pedestal, which she isn't, because she is a character with flaws like any other. i know this is just a wild possibility that almost certainly won't happen, but i'm still worried about it. i just don't want robin to be in the shitty weird position of pining after her best friend's straight ex, just because nancy is the only other girl her age.

on the topic of nancy, i'm afraid that nancy's plot will be a rinse-and-repeat. she picks up on something suspicious, she's on the case, she investigates, people tell her that she's wrong or that it's too dangerous, she doesn't listen to them, it turns out she was right all along, and at the end she shoots a gun. i want to see her develop as a character, and it's hard for a character to develop when the narrative never lets her be wrong or accept responsibility for any mistakes.

i'm afraid that they'll make max spend an entire fucking season grieving billy, ignoring all of his abusive and dangerous behavior and ignoring the trauma max endured at his hands and likely now endures at the hands of neil. just... ew.

i'm afraid of everybody's trauma being brushed under the rug, but that's a pretty general concern.

i'm afraid that steve and robin will be separated or that their friendship will be disrespected or downplayed. i don't think this one is too likely, based on the incredible chemistry that maya and joe have and the fact that robin's character was created specifically to complement steve's, but i just don't want the duffers to fall into their common trap of sacrificing their excellent onscreen relationships for the sake of a cheap joke. for all that they messed around and bitched at each other at times, steve and robin were very concerned for one another's safety and emotional wellbeing all throughout s3, and i'm just nervous that their sweet, genuine concern won't be carried into s4.

i'm not necessarily afraid of them calling will more homophobic slurs but i will be pissed if they do it without further developing his emotions surrounding his sexuality.

i am afraid of mr clarke not being included. please duffers i need him in my life.

i'm fucking terrified of them introducing a bunch of new high school characters. the duffers do not comprehend how to write teenagers without making them insane stereotypes and although new high school drama COULD be fun, i don't trust them to make new characters that fall anywhere within the realm of believability.

that's about all i've got rn!! thank you so much for the ask :)