#season 4 but steve has powers

[berenwrites]

Stranger Things Fanfiction

So I thought I'd do a master post of all my steddie fanfic so far. It's listed in my pinned post too, but I am shameless 😜.

Chaptered:

Whole New Us: Trauma Bonded & Beyond - Steddie (COMPLETE) - ~57K wds (26 ch) - Teen (with mature options) - (also on AO3) Steve has been ignoring his own problems, he’s been busy. They’ve all been busy, preoccupied with fixing everything that was broken. Vecna has been defeated, but the Upside Down is still there, and the gates are not completely closed even though Hawkins has almost returned to normal. It’s been a couple of months and the aftereffects of Steve’s encounter with the demobats is about to come back to bite him. However, it also brings some unexpected hope.

Beyond the Battle: Action & Consequence - Steddie (COMPLETE) - PG13 - ~108K wds (46 ch) (Also on AO3) Steve hits things with a bat or gets hit depending on who you ask. He definitely does not have anything to do with the psychic stuff. That is El’s domain. However, as Vecna is defeated, the rules change.

Dreams in the Night: But Vampires Aren't an Upside Down Thing - Steddie (COMPLETE) ~18.5K wds (9 ch) - Explicit - (also on AO3) Steve has been having nightmares, seeing through the eyes of a vampire like creature in Hawkins as it hunts. He puts the dreams down to past trauma and too many horror movies at Family video. He’s checked and no one’s been hurt, so even Robin agrees. However, his world is about to be turned upside down yet again as the nightmares become far too real.

Sight: Now I See You - Steddie (COMPLETE) ~26K wds (13 ch) - PG13 The final battle with Vecna was victorious, but not everyone came out unscathed. Steve wakes up in the hospital high as a kite with something wrong with his eyes. Robin’s right there to assure him it’s nothing permanent, but something weird is going on, and he needs answers. That there appear to be two government factions in town, one of which is hunting El even though she saved the world, does not help. Neither does the feeling there’s someone watching him. It’s all a mess and Steve can’t sit back and let the others fix it by themselves.

Wolf in the Light - Steddie (COMPLETE) ~45K wds (23 CH) explicit - only on AO3 Steve has been keeping a big secret: he’s a werewolf from a long line of werewolves. Only problem is, he’s a complete failure at it. He can’t even shift, but it does make him a bit harder to kill, so he thought he’d found his perfect niche keeping the kids and his secret safe after ‘83. With their plan to end Vecna only half successful and Eddie bleeding out, he has no choice but to reveal the truth and try and convince his friends that werewolves are real. That would be enough of a task for anyone, but to his shock, his heritage has an even bigger surprise in store, and of course, there’s Max to worry about too.

Oneshots:

Secret Lover: A Vampire Eddie Short - Steddie - ~1Kwds - Mature - (on AO3 too) Vecna is dead and gone thanks to El and the party. Not all his creations are. Eddie is one of those creations. Everyone thinks he’s dead, but Steve knows better.

In His Kiss: The Trouble With Vampire Tendencies - Steddie - ~2.5K wds - PG13 - (on AO3 too) Steve could feel Eddie’s eyes on him. It was like he could tell, even without looking that Eddie was staring at him. Every time he glanced over, Eddie looked away, but half a second too late. It was beginning to drive Steve crazy.

So Sweet: Hard to Begrudge Love - Steddie - ~400 wds - G - (on AO3 too) Tooth rotting Steddie fluff from Robin’s point of view.

Connections: Voice from the Other World - Steddie - ~2K wds - PG - (on AO3 too) Steve hears Eddie voice in his head. At first he thinks it’s guilt, but that soon changes. Now all he needs to figure out is if it’s one of Vecna’s games or something else.

So Sorry: Through No Fault of His Own - Steddie - ~1.8K wds - PG - (on AO3 too) Bad things have happened to Steve, but Eddie is there to help – only it’s not that simple.

Freaks: What the World Sees - Steddie - ~1K wds - PG - (on AO3 too) The world knows a lot about famous guitarist and singer Eddie Munson, including things about his husband, but there is so much they don’t see as well.

Summertime Love - Steddie - PG - 311wds Written for steddiemicrofic prompt: CAKE | 311 words | rated: PG | cw: none

For Love - Steddie - PG - 548wds Written for steddiemicrofic prompt: CHARM | 548 words | rated: PG | cw: none

Guardian at the Gate - Steddie - PG - 387wds (on AO3 too) SteddieMicroFic November '23 - prompt: REST | 387 words | rated: PG Wayne rushes to the hospital when he gets news of Eddie. He does not expect what he finds.

Magnificent - Steddie - G - 508wds (on AO3 too) Written for prompt: PINE | wc: 508 | G | cw: none Steve has never ever wanted to see Eddie in a coffin, but this one looks absolutely perfect...

Reborn: Facing the Unexpected - Steddie - PG - 404wds (on AO3 too) Written for steddiemicrofic January prompt: HOLE | wc: 404 The final confrontation with Vecna has come and gone, they won, but Steve can only focus on one thing...

Wake-up Call: An End or a Beginning? - Steddie - PG - 404wds (on AO3 too) Written for January 2024 prompt: HOLE | wc: 404 When you're dead, you're not supposed to wake up.

Strange Relationship: Of Sex and Revelations - Steddie - Explicit - 404wds (on AO3 too) Written for January 2024 prompt: HOLE | wc: 404 Steve is good at sex, but there are some things he hasn't been considering. Eddie is very happy to open his eyes.

Caring: Now It's Your Turn - Steddie - G - 593wds (also on AO3) Written for @steddielovemonth 2024 day 1 Steve has been looking after everyone, now it's his turn.

Still Oneshots - New list because Tumblr complained ;)

Revelation: A Heart-Stopping Reality - Steddie - G - 1396wds (also on AO3) Written for steddielovemonth day 3 Steve is just sitting by the pool watching his friends have fun when he comes to a stunning conclusion.

A Small Thing: The Truth Hurts - Steddie - T - 956wds (also on AO3) Written for steddielovemonth day 4. Eddie wants to know everything about Steve, and Steve has a confession to make.

Falling: Who Will Catch Me? - Steddie - PG - 509wds (also on AO3) Written for Feb prompt: EDGE | wc: 509 | PG | cw: PTSD, mentions of torture It's all over and Steve has nothing left to keep the horror at bay.

See Me: In the Silence - Steddie - G - 309wds (also on AO3) Written for steddielovemonth day 5 Steve always see what Eddie needs.

Quiet: But Far From Idle - Steddie - G - 627wds (also on AO3) Written for steddielovemonth day 6. Eddie loves when both he and Steve are in the zone.

Arms of Love: Whatever You Need - Steddie - G - 678wds (also on AO3) Written for @steddielovemonth day 8. It's July, Steve is having trouble sleeping, Eddie helps.

Closure: Rifts & Reactions - Steddie - G - 836wds - (also on AO3) Written for steddielovemonth day 12 The final battle is over, it's time to look forward.

Late Again?: Love Is Too Compelling! - Steddie - PG - 980wds - (also on AO3 soon) Written for steddielovemonth day 14. Eddie doesn't want Steve to go to work, so is trying to convince him to quit.

Always and Forever: Love Finds a Way - Steddie - G - 1237wds - (also on AO3) Written for steddielovemonth day 29. After their usual phone call while Eddie is on tour with Corroded Coffin, Steve is worried.

Best Present Ever - Steddie - G - 290wds Vecna was dead. Hawkins was no longer split open. It was time to celebrate.

Still Oneshots - New list because Tumblr complained again ;)

Half a Dream - Steddie - G - 510 wds (also on AO3) It took Eddie until he reached the top to realise he’d been chasing only half a dream the entire time.

The Giveaway - Steddie - G - 483 wds (also on AO3) It's not anything they would have guessed that give Steve and Eddie away to their friends and family.

With Both Hands - Steddie - PG - 838 wds (also on AO3) Eddie is having trouble figuring out how he got here and believing it's real.

A Simple Question - Steddie - PG-13 - 1155 wds (also on AO3) Eddie is a little tipsy, and he has a question for Nancy.

Through Your Eyes - Steddie - PG-13 - 943 wds (also on AO3) Steve wakes up and something is definitely not right.

Suddenly There Came a Tapping - Steddie - PG - 350wds (also on AO3) Eddie has a visitor with a message.

Like Magic - Steddie - PG - 350wds (also on AO3) Something weird is going on with Steve.

Vocation - Steddie - G 532wds (Also on AO3) Eddie is Steve's vocation in life.

[little-forest-goblin]

Steve blackman i will never not have time to drag you you fucking bitch. You not only ruined a good show with your shitty choices for the fourth season and cut back 6 to 4 but you also blatantly ignored david castenada who tried telling you in the nicest way possible that that fuck ass choice of making a love triangle was uncomfortable and weird. I can't look at any of the interviewings for season 4 because I can feel this thick tension that is awkward between all of them. But lets not just talk about that lets talk about your fucking controversy that has just appeared of you allegedly making a toxic bullying work environment for your staffers. 12 anonymous people gave complaints to HR about your fucking behavior. You pitted staff against each other making an angry and untrustworthy working environment. Oh lets not also talk about the fact there were complaints of your ass making lewd remarks that people said were sexist, homophobic and transphobic. Elliot page praised you for your fucking handling of his characters transition but other sources say you also would praise your team and staff in public and than go behind there back and bully them in private you fucking two faced scumbag. You also would ice out your own fucking staff if they didnt fall in line with what you wanted or would blatantly get rid of them. How fucking power hungry do you have to be to do that shit. Lets not also forget that you were a bastard to a poor pregnant woman who didnt tell you she was pregant when she was hired and had to go on maternity leave so you failed to extend her contract because she didnt make it your business she was pregant you fucking creep. You gossiped and talked shit about your own staff but really you should praise them since they're there to help make this show run. Their there to make this whole operation not fucking crumple and you’d think you’d give them some sort of respect but you wanna act like a little bitch and whine and cry when you dont get your way and get called out when they dont wanna do something that is uncomfortable for not just them but everyone else. Let's also not talk about how you did not give proper credit to those who made scenes and stories for the show and took all that credit for yourself. Your a fucking piece of shit that couldnt come up with your own ideas so you stole everyone else’s because your unoriginal and had nothing good to input within the conversation. On top of all that, I think people should check your computer because you had no problem making a creepy relationship between two vastly differently aged actors. Aidan Gallagher is freshly of age to depict mature romantic relationships within tv shows and you instead of finding someone who is more closely to his age you pick the actress that he GREW UP AROUND. HE WAS A CHILD WHEN THEY FIRST MET. But also fuck Aidans parens too for not maybe coming out and saying that this is fucking creepy. Maybe they where silenced and paid off to stay quiet but looking at Rob gallaghers creepy and controversial fucking behavior anyway, i dont think it took much for them to be silent. The fact that you deny any and all allegations of any of those claims and your representatives tried to save your ass steve and than there was a investigation which surprise sur-fucking-prise was less than comprehensive. You probably paid those investigators off to get off your ass and have your representatives scrambling so you don’t get cancelled and you keep lining your pockets with money that you probably stole from your staff too since you wanna steal their work. so might as well double it and give it back to yourself, right? . Fuck you and everything you stand for steve blackman you toxic, manipulative, predatory, creepy fucking bastard. Fuck you. 

[calxeria]

"Steve has always had ridiculously good luck. All he has to do is follow his gut."

This is my piece for the @steddiebang2024! I had the honor of drawing for @strangersteddierthings's wonderful fic, Gut Instinct! It's a Season 4 rewrite where Steve has powers that change the course of events, and I've been eating up every part of it! Please go check it out here!

[will80sbyers]

STRANGER THINGS 5 PRODUCTION MASTERPOST

All that we know about season 5 of Stranger Things:

At some point things will be happening during November 21 in 1987 (?)

The government/military ppl will be in Hawkins and they build things around town

Schools are open

Hawkins is probably having problems with electricity

There is a project (from the Department of energy) for the students in High School to build something that can help with solar and wind power for the town

Dustin, Nancy and Jonathan have some scenes together in the farm of Eugene McCorkle and the upside down farm too in ep. 4

Jonathan and Steve have a scene together trying to open or start something that looks like a machine (a light turns from red to green) in ep. 1

There is a scene with Will, El, Robin, Nancy and Joyce

One of the first scenes will be a kid singing a song in the Upside Down ( probably Will singing Should I stay or should I go )

"The crawl" is the title of episode 1 of season 5

There's a lake involved? More pictures from the set

The lake is Browns lake in Georgia near where they will be filming (not confirmed that they will be filming at the lake)

More set pictures

First picture of the Wheeler's home while they are preparing the sets | more pictures | more

The actors are going on set and things are getting ready to start shooting stranger things 5

Max will be back in some way in the first episode

I'm gonna just do this for all the RANDOM pictures from the filming on set : 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Season 5 will have 8 episodes / first table read during the first week of December, production is starting in January

They confirmed that the finale will not be of the "it was all a dream" kind of finale, it's not a d&d game the kids are playing

Production of s5 officially started on the 5th of January 2024

First official tweet of the production on the 8

Bts from the first day on set!! Stobin ❤️

First bts of Dustin on set / 1 /

Argyle may not be appearing in s5 (I hope it's a lie)

First look at Mike on set (paparazzi)

Other pictures of Dustin and what I think happens in this scene

At some point they go to the supermarket again

They use the radio station for something

Pictures from the set by Ross (Mike and bts)

Pictures from the radio station: El and Mike talk on the roof, Hopper and Joyce are around: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5

Video of Mike & El having a heart to heart

Lip reading made by me (it could be wrong!!!!)

They filmed something at the hospital and something at the Mall of season 3

Extra from the scene of Mike and El on the roof of the radio station

I think they are filming the ep. in order: what we know so far

Filming at Stone Mountain in Georgia

More background pictures in the school: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5

Pictures from the filming at the hospital

New pics at the hospital

Filming at lover's lake? More

Sets that we know have the upside down vines

Random news about the extras / more

Filming some scenes near the metro and train tracks?

Radio station at night / more radio station pics

More random pictures from the set / more

A good picture of the WSQK blue van

Who was on set / very blurry pics on set / more

WEEK 3 From Ross Duffer ( El!!)

Leaks from the radio station set (video + Murray has the outfit of the supermarket)

First look at Nancy and Jonathan / more /and again

Pictures from the McCorkle farm / more

FIRST LOOK AT WILL BYERS IN SEASON 5

First look at Nancy and other pictures from Ross! (week 5 and 6 of filming)

to be continued...

NEW PRODUCTION MASTERPOST (with the date)

[dwobbitfromtheshire]

The Truth of the Matter

A/N: Warning dirty talk and misunderstandings of a certain word.

Summary: One day, Eddie, Dustin, Lucas, and Mike decide to summon a fairy. . .it's Steve Harrington. Chaos ensues. Pre-season 4, pre-Steddie.

Eddie pouted as he sat down on his throne. He was really looking forward to playing tonight, but Gareth, Jeff, and Frankie were all out sick. They had all gotten mono, which is what they get for practicing kissing. Gareth immediately yelled at him for that comment. Apparently, that's not what happened. Eddie was cackling to himself when the door opened. Dustin, Mike, and Lucas all filtered in talking excitedly.

"Hey, buttheads, did you not get the memo? Hellfire has been canceled," Eddie said.

"We thought you were joking," Dustin said.

"You never cancel Hellfire for anything," Lucas frowned.

"Well, Jeff, Gareth, and Frankie are all out sick with the kissing disease," Eddie said.

"Oh, that's right, they weren't at lunch," Mike said.

"Well, now what?" Lucas asked.

"You boys want to perform a spell?" Eddie said. "I found this cool little book at a Flea Market. Want to try it?"

Mike, Lucas, and Dustin all shared weary looks.

"Uh. . . "

"What? Don't be a bunch of chicken shits. Nothing is going to happen. It's just for fun," Eddie said. "What could possibly go wrong?"

"Of course, nothing is going to happen," Dustin said laughing. "That would he crazy."

"You're laughing a little hard there, Henderson," Eddie said. "It's not like I'm going to accidentally open a portal to hell."

Now, it was Lucas, Dustin, and Mike all laughing rather loudly. Eddie gave them all strange looks.

"Robes!" Eddie exclaimed, clapping his hands.

"We have those?" Lucas asked, and Eddie just cackled.

Several moments later, they lowered the lights and slipped on robes that covered their faces. Lit candles were scattered around them as Eddie opened a leather bound book in front of them.

"Why in the fuck did I get stuck with the pink robe?" Mike asked. "Why are all the others black and this one is pink?"

"You were too slow, Mike. Now, hush," Dustin said.

"What are we summoning?" Lucas asked.

"A fairy," Eddie replied.

"Why a fairy?" He asked.

"Well, according to this book, fairies have extraordinary healing abilities, bring you good luck, and have the ability to shield you from harm," Eddie said. "Sounds cool although, sometimes they have shitty luck themselves, so I don't know how that works."

"It also says they're loneliest creatures on the planet because they're wildly misunderstood," Dustin read over his shoulder. "Rather than harming children like some think, these creatures do everything in their power to protect them from harm. Most of the time, it is because they themselves were stolen in the night as children to be used by human greed. Aw, why didn't you say you just wanted to summon a lonely fairy who protects children?"

"Shut it, Henderson," Eddie said.

"And you're sure they won't be able to see our faces?" Dustin asked, and Eddie gave him a look. "Right. Shutting up."

Eddie began speaking and used his deep dungeon master voice as he said the spell. After the entire spell was done, they waited. . . and waited. . . Finally, a huge gust of wind swirled around them, the flames grew large, and the lights flickered behind them. Suddenly, a figure was falling in the middle of their circle with a loud thud.

"I was on a fucking ladder! What the fuck!" Steve’s voice yelled. "Oh, there's the light bulb. Huh, it didn't break."

Steve flopped onto his back and screamed at the sight of hooded figures surrounding him. Surprised voices whispered excitedly as they looked down on him. Steve furrowed his eyebrows in confusion at the sight of the bright pink one.

"Do not be afraid, Steve Harrington," a deep voice spoke. "We mean you no harm."

"What the fuck do you want from me?" Steve asked. "How did you even bring me here?"

"Magic. . .tell us your deepest, darkest secrets," the voice said.

"Fuck. Fuck! Okay! Okay! I, uh, like blue and yellow, but what everyone doesn't know, besides Robin, is that I like the color pink," Steve said.

"Interesting, but not what we're looking for," the voice said.

"I always wanted a little brother, but it wasn't until the kids I babysit came into my life that I finally got the siblings I always wanted, and I think if anyone of them died, I would die," Steve said.

"Aw," a familiar voice said softly and sniffled.

"That's . . . Really fucking sweet but no, not what I'm looking for," the voice said.

"Okay, okay. . .Robin's like my best friend in the world, my platonic soulmate, but I lied to her. She asked me if I was still in love with Nancy Wheeler, and I lied, I think I always will be. I just didn't want to seem so pathetic because I know it's over," Steve said. "Is that it?"

"Uh. . .warmer. . ."

"I once had a sex dream where I was with Jonathan and Nancy, but I never told anyone because I thought it would be weird."

"What the fu - "

"Quiet," the deep voice said. "That isn't what I'm looking for, but, uh, close."

"Okay, I once got my dick sucked at a party by a guy, and it led me to a lot of realizations. . ." Steve trailed off.

"OKAY. . .mi'lord, I do not think this man knows that he is a fairy," one of the figures said.

"HEY! That is a really offensive term. I'm bisexual," Steve replied. "Sacrifice me all you want but respect my sexuality please. Although I once used a rude term, I didn't know about myself at the time. Do you want to talk before you kill me?"

"You're, uh, surprisingly calm now," the deep voice said. "For someone who thinks we're going to kill them."

"Well, it's happened too many times now," Steve shrugged. "Is that what you wanted to know?"

". . .no."

"Well, I wish I was a woman sometimes. . .mostly because I wish I could go through the birthing process. . . I don't think my parents are my real parents. . . I once let Robin touch my dick because she wanted to know what it felt like. . . It was weird for both of us. . .sometimes I think about getting on my knees for Eddie Munson and - "

"OOKAY! STEVE, STOP SPILLING YOUR DEEP DARK SECRETS! I ACCEPT YOU FOR ALL OF IT BUT SOME THINGS SHOULD REMAIN A MYSTERY!"

"Let him speak!" The deep voice said.

"Stop with the sexual ones, at least!"

"Okay. . .um, it makes me really happy to know that I have a hobby to share with one of my kids. I mean, at least one of them, you know, understands why I like basketball so much. I love all of my kids, and I really wish I could play D&D, but I'm not great at math. I don't want to look more stupid in front of them. More importantly, I could be doing anything with them, and I still feel less alone knowing they want me to be around them. . . Even if they're being shitheads. I love it though, when they bitch at me. They're my family, and I've never really felt like I had that until they came along," Steve said. "Robin, too. She's my family too."

Suddenly, all Steve could hear was the sound of them sniffling, and they dropped to their knees around him. They dropped their hoods, revealing Mike, Dustin, and Lucas. They all hugged him tightly.

"What the fuck?" Steve asked.

"We'll explain it all later," Dustin sniffled. "Just know that we love you too."

"Oh, you're also adopted," Mike muttered.

"He wasn't adopted! He was kidnapped!" Lucas exclaimed.

"Oh, right."

The other person dropped their hood, revealing Eddie Munson.

"So, what was that thing you wanted to do with Eddie?" He asked with a smirk.

Suddenly, the doors burst open and Robin came running in, breathing heavily.

"Guys! Steve was changing the light bulb in Family Video, and he just disappeared - oh, hey, Steve! Steve! What the fuck's going on?!" Robin asked.

"Robin, guess what?!" Mike asked. "Steve’s a fucking fairy!"

"No! Robin, don't punch Mike! That's not what he meant!"

Mike screamed.

Part Two

[longwuzhere]

Some cool Easter eggs I caught watching My Adventures with Superman that I want to show to people so they can be in on it with comic book readers pt2

Episode 1 of My Adventures with Superman Easter Eggs and references is here

Episode 3 of My Adventures with Superman Easter Eggs and references is here

Episode 4 of My Adventures with Superman Easter Eggs and references is here

Episode 5 of My Adventures with Superman Easter Eggs and references is here

Episode 6 of My Adventures with Superman Easter Eggs and references is here

Episode 7 of My Adventures with Superman Easter Eggs and references is here and here

Episode 8 of My Adventures with Superman Easter Eggs and references is here

Episode 9 of My Adventure with Superman Easter Eggs and references is here

Episode 10 of My Adventures with Superman Easter Eggs and references is here

My Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman comic issue 1 post is here

My Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman comic issue 2 post is here

My Easter eggs and references for My Adventures with Superman comic issue 3 post is here

(SPOILERS obviously):

An obvious one, but a classic, the "up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Superman!" line reference. This one never gets old.

Jimmy next name drops Flamebird. in the comics Nightwing and Flamebird were Kryptonian superheroes adopting their names from a species of Kryptonian birds. This is where Dick Grayson gets his Nightwing identity from. The page here is from Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #17 (1986) drawn by Curt Swan and Karl Kesel.

At the climatic battle of part 2 of Adventures of a Normal Man, we see Leslie Willis become blue and look more like her traditional Livewire look. Her first appearance was in Superman the Animated Series, season 2 episode 5 "Livewire" where she was voiced by Lori Petty, a.k.a. Tank Girl. In the show Leslie was a shock jock radio DJ slinging hot takes live on air knocking down Superman a peg or two

Obviously MAwS took Leslie in a whole different direction, design choice, and occupation change, but I am excited to see what happens next for her.

Before we see Clark battle Leslie we see this guy. White hair, wears orange and black, its Slade Wilson a.k.a. Deathstroke. This fool here in like 20 to 25 years will have his life spiral out of control and get his ass kicked by a bunch of colorfully dressed teenagers.

Deathstroke makes his first appearance in New Teen Titans #2 (1980) (W: Marv Wolfman and George Perez, P: George Perez, I: Romeo Tanghal, C: Adrienne Roy, L: Ben Oda) where he is hired by H.I.V.E. to kill the Teen Titans. In the comics he's a major piece of shit, but a damn good assassin.

After the fight we see Supes clean up and he picks up a billboard that reads Amazotech.

This is a good reference to Professor Anthony Ivo, a mad scientist of the DC Universe who built the Amazo robot who could adapt and replicate any power that the Justice League has and weaknesses. Both Ivo and the Amazo robot make their first appearances here in Brave and the Bold #30 (1960) with the cover art done by Mike Sekowsky and Murphy Anderson.

At the end of the episode Slade name drops Task Force X better known as the Suicide Squad. The name "Suicide Squad" is from the Brave and the Bold #25 where it was the name of Rick Flag's unit in the military. The Suicide Squad pop culture knows first debuted in Legends #3 (1987) as seen below (W: John Ostrander and Len Wein, P: John Byrne, I: Karl Kesel, C: Tom Ziuko, L: Steve Haynie).

The team at this time was composed of Rick Flag, Bronze Tiger, Captain Boomerang, Deadshot, Enchantress, and Blockbuster. The team members have changed out with each new Task Force X/Suicide Squad iteration.

Behind Slade, here is Amanda Waller, the most fearsome woman in the DC universe. She's ruthless, politically powerful, and will not hesitate to blow up anyone in the Suicide Squad if they screw up. She makes her first appearance in Legends #1 (1987) same comic series in the previous picture. Very excited to see where My Adventures with Superman goes with this cuz you don't see Superman interact with Deathstroke or Suicide Squad all the often.

Link to Episode 1 of My Adventures of Superman Easter Eggs and references is here

Link to Episode 3 of My Adventures with Superman Easter Eggs and references is here

Link to Episode 4 of My Adventures with Superman Easter Eggs and references is here

Link to Episode 5 of My Adventures with Superman Easter Eggs and references is here

Link to Episode 6 of My Adventures with Superman Easter Eggs and references is here

Link to Episode 7 of My Adventures with Superman Easter Eggs and references is here and here

Link to Episode 8 of My Adventures with Superman Easter Eggs and references is here

Link to Episode 9 of My Adventures with Superman Easter Eggs and references is here

Link to Episode 10 of My Adventures with Superman Easter Eggs and references is here

My Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman comic issue 1 post is here

My Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman comic issue 2 post is here

My Easter eggs and references for My Adventures with Superman comic issue 3 post is here

[jaegerisim]

Vent post y'all are gonna hate me for.

I viscerally hate how the Duffers treat most of their non white or queer characters and I hate even more viscerally, how y'all big byler blogs in your circle jerk of other 5 big byler blogs casually like to ignore many red flags the show has.

Y'all like to say: "tHe DufFeRs ArE gReAt WrIteRs" and it's like girl, who are you lying to??? They aren't top shit writers at all. The Duffers are pretty mid imo. Yeah, they run a good show that's fun to watch and theorize abt , but that doesn't mean they're good writers cuz they're not.

1. they completely side lined Will during s3 for the sake of their straight romances: lumax, jancy, mlvn, duzie and partly stobin (even if stobin wasn't endgame, thankfully, Steve's intentions were clearly wanting to date Robin and they gave it a lot of screen time). Will was sidelined bc he didn't fit the straight romance plotline bc they planned to make him gay or whatever. Now in s4 Will and his feelings have been used as mlvn toilet paper. Yes, we like to say this is build up for byler but canonically, Will's feelings have been used to clean the shit mlvn leaves behind.

2. Billy was sympathized a lot during the last 2 seasons. They gave him the sad backstoryTM in order for ppl to feel sorry for him. Billy's backstory is literally Jonathan's but whatever.

3. El's anger issues are constantly girlboss-ified. They down play her bullying situation and literally just use it for El to be a ''girlboss" without realizing how triggering that is. As someone who has lived bullying, seeing it be ignored by canon and fanon is super sad. The whole Rink-O' Mania experience must have been so traumatizing for her yet, everyone absolutely forgets abt it 🤷🏻‍♀️

4. Robin, Erica and Argyle are stereotypical characters. Robin is the quirky lesbian with social anxiety, Erica is the badass black woman and Argyle is the Latino stoner that sells weed to white kids and works as a pizza delivery guy.

5. Altho Argyle and Eddie both do drugs, (Eddie actually sells K-12 to a minor and nobody batted an eye. He has a huge fan base). Eddie is held in a pedestal bc "poor thing 🥺 he lives in a trailer with his uncle 🥺". Tell me a single fact you know abt Argyle that isn't "he smokes weed", "he is Jonathan's only friend", "drives a van" and "he works at a pizzeria". Exactly, Eddie is given a useless backstory and Argyle isn't.

6. Dustin stopped being important to the plot sometime around s2 and s3. He is only there to curse and be mildly funny. My guy needs to hangout with ppl his age cuz he only hangs out with seniors.

7. El needs to stop having so much "I'M THAT BITCH" screentime like I need in s5 for El's arc to not just be her becoming more powerful and falling in love with Mike. I need the Duffers to explore her trauma and problems.

8. Angela should have been run over by the van.

9. Patrick should have been given a backstory that isn't the basic "strict black parents that hit their kids cuz they are a disgrace". Patrick's backstory is actually racist af, fight w the wall.

10. As Lex already said, they didn't trigger tag the ep where Jason and his friends assault Lucas and Erica. Like wtf? Why was that necessary? Why did I have to see a black boy being held at gunpoint by some white guy?? Was it relevant to the plot?? I don't think so. And then I've got to see ppl online be like "Jason wasn't that bad. He was just mourning" like bitch you can stfu. This is what happens when you make the racist assholes conventionally attractive.

Also the fact that Lucas's arc is fulfilled by him fist-fighting Jason and "embracing his weirdness" aka accepting he is black. His arc was not fulfilled at all cuz that ending spoke so loud to me. It showed how little empathy ppl have towards the struggles poc ppl living in the Midwest have. Y'all circle jerks can only see racism when it's super obvious.

Furthermore, parents complained when ST showed "an excessive amount of smoking" yet nobody batted an eye when Billy tried to run over Lucas, when Erica (an 11 y.o ffs) was chased by white kids or when Lucas was held at gunpoint by Jason.

All of this happened while they focused on Max's guilt and mourning that, yeah, are important but certainly not less important than racism!!!

11. In s3, they gave us that whole Nancy vs The Bigots arc that was honestly just triggering and useless. It didn't help Nancy's character at all, quite the opposite it put unnecessary angst.

12. Lonnie being presented as an abuser just for him to never be spoken of again. Can we please get to explore the trauma he left the Byers's with?

13. The fact that both queer relationships are considered "sloppy seconds" is extremely sad. Both Vickie and Mike are rebounding from their failed relationship with Robin and Will. These 2 ships have caused more commotion than Jancy and Jopper together! (These last ships are technically sloppy seconds too but everybody forgets that. Shocker!!)

14. Last but not least, ppl blame Argyle for being the one to get Jonathan into smoking weed as if Jonathan probably wasn't the one looking for it. Let me tell you, that you only find weed if you look for it.

[ladykailitha]

Never Hold Back Your Step... Part 12

Welcome back to another addition of Dustin being absolutely chaotic as fuck and Robin inserts herself into a dangerous situation because she has to out sass an eighth grader.

This story really is nearing in the end of season 3, and I don't think this story will go for much longer than that. So it will probably be the next story I finish.

What this means is that soon I'll be starting up "The Hellfire Erotic Club" as I am already two chapters into sugar baby!Steve and sugar daddy!Eddie so that one is next on the docket. And as it sounds, it absolutely will be mature. It might even be my first explicit story I've written. So let me know if you want to be kept off the list for that one.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11

~

Things mellowed out with Robin at work. She still had the YOU RULE/YOU SUCK board, but at least wasn’t throwing out snide comments and sneering glances every two seconds so Steve absolutely counted that as a win.

And he continued to flirt badly. The worst was when Eddie and Jeff had stopped by after touring the music store.

“It’s the hat,” Steve said with moue. “It’s ruining my best feature.”

Robin snorted. “Your best feature? You don’t have one.”

Steve rolled his eyes and took off the hat. “My hair is my best feature, of course. I was the Hair in school, after all.” He threw it off the side and did a mocking shimmy with his shoulders before heading to register to greet a group of giggling girls.

“Hello, ladies,” he said smoothly. “My name is Steve and I’ll be your captain on this journey on the ocean of flavor. What can I get you today?” And then to really sell it. He winked.

The girls as he expected were completely turned off and hurried to get away as soon as possible. But hey at least Jeff got the number of one of the girls. So yay, gay wingman for the win! Or whatever.

Eddie came loping up to the counter, Jeff close on his heels. “That has got to be the most depressing thing I have ever had the misfortune to witness.”

“Seriously dude,” Jeff said with a wince. “Your mojo must have got up and went. Holy shit.”

Steve just pursed his lips and waved vaguely in Eddie’s direction. Eddie and Jeff giggled, but Robin frowned in confusion.

“Why does Munson being here affect your flirting?” she asked. “Because from what I’ve seen it doesn’t matter if he’s here or not, your flirting is always bad.”

He just shrugged. “Maybe the PTA is right and Eddie can cast evil spells and cursed me.”

Eddie wiggled his fingers at her, but she just rolled her eyes. “Oh, please. If he could cast spells Mrs. O’Donnell would be dead by now.”

The three boys cackled.

“Or maybe,” Jeff said seriously, “the girls remember Stevie here hanging out with us freaks and geeks last year and think he’s suddenly beneath him. You know, now that he’s not King Steve anymore?”

Robin’s mouth open and closed like a fish before she snapped it shut with an audible click. She blushed a dark red and was grateful that a mother with her two young sons came in just then so she could avoid the awkwardness that followed.

“I’m off in five minutes,” Steve said, “if you two want to wait around?”

Eddie and Jeff shared a glance and then Eddie nodded. “Sure, we could hang out for a bit.”

“Yeah,” Jeff said with a half shrug. “I don’t have anything to do today.”

Steve moved off to the side to start scooping the lady’s order. He gave each of the kids a cone and the sundae to the mom. Then he tossed the scooper into the warm water they kept nearby to keep the scooper clean. He walked to the back and returned within seconds.

Just then the power went out. Steve sighed and went over to the light switch. He flipped it up and down.

“That didn’t work two days ago,” Robin hissed. “And it’s not going to work now.”

Eddie peered at Steve through the dark. “This happened a couple of days ago, too?”

“It’s because of how hot it is outside,” Steve said. “Which makes the AC run overtime and it blows the breaker.” He sounded like he was repeating something someone else said as he continued to flip the switch and then the lights came back on. Just as Steve was about to leave again, Dustin came running up to Steve, skidding to a stop when he saw Robin, Eddie, and Jeff standing there.

“Hey, guys,” he said with a strained smile on his face. “Can I talk to Steve for a moment? I won’t take up much of his time. I promise.”

That got Steve’s hackles up. He turned to Eddie and begged him with his eyes to understand what this meant. Eddie tilted his head to the side for a moment, before his mouth formed an ‘O’.

“Jeff and I will be at Suncoast Video,” he said, “we’ll be there when you’re done.”

Jeff blinked at him for a moment trying to decide if it was the worth the fight. Then he shrugged and followed Eddie away from the strange tableau behind them.

Robin eyed them suspiciously as the two boys went to go sit down.

“What’s up, bud?” Steve asked, a nervous chill sliding down his spine. Please don’t be the Upside Down. Please don’t be the Upside Down. Please don’t be the Upside Down.

“So because my ma doesn’t want me racking up her phone bill calling Suzie,” he said, “I put up, with a little help from Lucas, Will, and Mike, a communications tower so we could talk.”

Because of course they did. They were geniuses when it came to building that kind of shit, but not so much in why they shouldn’t.

“And there was this weird Russian transmission,” Dustin explained hurriedly. “I don’t want to show you the recording yet, not with so many people around. But I can I meet up at your place later tonight?”

Steve was about to turn the kid down. After all, he had tried the hero racket and it blew. All he got for his troubles was ringing in his ears and the biggest break up of his life.

“Just think, if we solve this then we can be celebrated for exposing a Communist plot!” he exclaimed. “We could be American heroes, Steve!”

Oh. That did sound nice. There was no chance of him putting his body on the line for a recording in Russia after all. “Sure thing, bud.”

~

There was no keeping the stupid little transmission from Eddie or Robin. The first one wasn’t a surprise, really. Eddie was attached to Steve’s hip like he’d always been right there. Robin was more of a shock, to be honest. She just inserted herself where she didn’t belong on sheer sass alone.

Because Dustin had all the tact of a bull in a china shop, he had been whining about not being able to translate the message. When suddenly the window to the back slid open with a slam.

“You do know you’re in public, right?” she huffed. “If you’re trying to being sneaky about it, you’re failing miserably.”

Dustin rolled his eyes. “Like you’re so smart.”

Robin raised an unimpressed eyebrow. “And how many languages do you speak, dork?”

Eddie and Steve shared a glance, then tried to stifle a laugh, Steve by biting his lip and Eddie by shoving his hair in front of his face.

“Two!” Dustin huffed, puffing out his chest. “Binary and English.”

“Binary doesn’t count,” Robin said, rolling her eyes. “You can’t ‘speak’ it. I speak French, Spanish, and Italian. That’s four.”

Dustin crossed his arms. “Does to and besides I didn’t hear Russian on that list.”

She tilted her head and smirked. “And how do you even know it’s Russian?”

Dustin’s jaw dropped to the floor and his eyes bulged out of his head.

“Just because it sounds ‘Russian’,” Robin said, using air quotes around the word Russian, “doesn’t mean it’s not some other Slavic language.”

Dustin’s bottom lip quivered. “And how many Slavic languages are there?”

Her grin turned feral and she leaned on the counter, looking him dead in the eye. “Eighteen if you don’t count the different dialects for each region, then you’re looking at something closer to twenty-five.”

“There’s no way there’s that many!” Dustin cried.

Steve bumped his shoulder into his. “Why don’t you let her hear it? What’s the worst thing that could happen? That she doesn’t recognize the language? It’d be no different from where we are now.”

“Come on, Dusty,” Eddie implored. “Or do I have to tell Suzie that you think girls aren’t as smart as boys?”

Dustin turned to glare at the older teen. “That’s a low blow, man.”

He looked over at Robin who was eyeing him expectantly and sighed. “Fine, here.” He handed her the portable tape deck and sat back to watch.

The message came through the small device and Robin listened to the whole thing, before rewinding it and playing it again.

“So what do you think?” Dustin asked after her third listen through. “Is it Russian?”

“Oh yeah,” she said with a smirk. “And probably in code.”

But before Dustin could answer, Eddie leaned on the front counter. He had been watching Steve the whole time Robin had been listening to the recording. When she got to the end, Steve would frown. Even with half of a banana stuffed in his cheeks like a chipmunk.

“What’s on your mind, Stevie?” he asked, tilting his head to the side.

“There’s something about the music,” he muttered, tapping his fingers and humming the tune.

Dustin huffed. “Can you please pay attention to the important part, Steve? The apparently secret coded message in Russian?”

Steve shoved the rest of the banana in his mouth and chewed silently. He swallowed roughly and asked Robin to play the music again.

“Steve!” Dustin snapped. “What did I just say?”

Eddie glared at him. “Shut it, kid.” And Eddie began to listen to the music, too. Then Steve and Eddie made eye contact as they both got it at the same time.

Steve grabbed Dustin’s wrist and dragged him out of the ice cream shop, Eddie fast on their heels. They reached the Merry-Go-Round and Steve tried to pull out a couple of quarters but they fell to the ground. He bent to pick them up, but Eddie shoved a couple of quarters from his pocket into Steve’s hands.

Steve put the quarters into the Merry-Go-Round, while Eddie and Dustin stood by. Eddie smiled, smug and Dustin stood there, glowering at Steve, arms crossed.

The carousel roared to life. And then music started.

Dustin’s jaw dropped. “Wait, what?”

Steve and Eddie shared a grin.

“That’s the music from the recording!” he continued. “How did you recognize it?”

Eddie laughed.

“Because I hear it at least two or three times a shift,” Steve said, putting his hands on his hips. “It’s hard to miss because it’s so loud and so close to Scoops Ahoy.”

Dustin frowned and pouted because he had thought that Steve was just being his usual spacy self. But he actually figured it out.

As the three of them walked back to the ice cream shop, he said, “All that tells us is that Russians like carousels.”

Steve and Eddie shared a glance over his head.

“That’s an Indiana Flyer carousel,” Steve said slowly. “As in they only make them in Indiana.”

Dustin stopped short and his eyes widened in fear. “Does that mean they’re here in the state?”

Eddie shook his head. “Worse than that, Dusty. I’m pretty sure they’re here in the mall.”

Steve’s heart sank. He had been hoping that they would be able to solve this without getting directly involved, but that had just flown away like a startled butterfly.

Now all he had to do was convince himself that the Russians weren’t in Hawkins for the gateways to the Upside Down.

It was going to be a tough sell and he knew deep down it was never going to stick.

There were Russians in Hawkins and they were most likely here for Hell.

~

Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16

Tag List: FIVE SLOTS REMAINING!

1- @mira-jadeamethyst @rozzieroos @itsall-taken @redfreckledwolf @zerokrox-blog

2- @gregre369 ​@a-little-unsteddie @chaosgremlinmunson @messrs-weasley @kultiras

3- @maya-custodios-dionach @goodolefashionedloverboi @val-from-lawrence @carlyv @wonderland-girl143-blog

4- @justforthedead89 @irregular-child @bookbinderbitch @bookworm0690 @blondie1006

5- @anne-bennett-cosplayer @yikes-a-bee @awkwardgravity1 @littlewildflowerkitten @genderless-spoon

6- @dragonmama76 @ellietheasexylibrarian @thedragonsaunt @useless-nb-bisexual @angels-of-hades

7- @mugloversonly @y4r3luv @greeniebean911 @birbsauce @acingthecounts

8- @cryptid-system @counting-dollars-counting-stars @ravenfrog @dreamercec @sadisticaltarts

9- @clockworkballerina @bluelightsinthevoid @blcksh33p1987 @i-go-pink-in-the-night @mamafaithful

[love-byers]

Hi! Not gonna lie I was a bit disappointed that you believe the birthday gate stuff... The Duffers wouldn't have admitted to have made a mistake if that were the case. And most of all, it would've come up in volume 2! Now if something happens in S5 it would just feel like they came up with it during the 3 years between S4 and S5. They can say it was planned all they want, people would call bullshit, and rightfully so. I'm sorry I can not believe how anyone can think birthday gate could be a real thing. Not to mention it doesn't even make any sense. Please bylers let's just accept the Duffers made a mistake!!

i disagree with everything you said

1. "the duffers wouldn't have admitted to have made a mistake if that were the case"

they lied.

the duffers are sneaky snakes who want us to analyze and always be looking for little details. they have literally said there are no coincidences in the show.

so yes, i completely believe that they would go out of their way to lie in order to save the surprise for s5. i mean actually think about it, if it really was just a mistake, why would they not just fix it?? they have the full power to just do a little voiceover edit and boom, problem solved. they explained exactly how they'd do it. but they didn't. 2 years have passed and they still haven't changed it when that little tweak would literally solve all their problems if it really was a mistake.

they lied. they're liars.

2. "it would've come up in vol 2"

since when does every single problem have to be solved in one season?? do you know what show you're watching??

there are hints and foreshadowing all over the seasons. vecna is foreshadowed in s1 ep1 when will's door was opened with telekinesis, and we had no idea he existed until 6 years and 3 seasons later.

in s1 they don't fully explain how will was communicating with joyce. but after s4 everything clicks into place.

they show us that will can clearly hear her and is finding a way to make the lights light up. then in ep 8 they show joyce and hopper making the christmas lights light up as they walk through the byers upside down house. jonathan sees this and asks if it's joyce, and joyce hears him.

that isn't addressed AT ALL in s2 or s3. it is fully explained and explored in s4, when nancy steve eddie and robin are stuck in the upside down. they fully show us how it works and acknowledge that it was how will communicated with joyce.

the creators knew exactly how the light upside down stuff worked the entire show. but it wasn't time for it to be explained just yet. it was meant to come up later on. it's a masterful way to write a story with longevity.

stranger things teaches you to never just write something off. everything is important. don't let it go just because it hasn't been fully explained. there will be payoff.

3. "now if it comes up in s5 it would just feel like they came up with it the 3 years between s4 and s5. people would call bullshit."

respectfully i think you're projecting a bit.

the average viewer who does not spend their time on forums is not going to think that whatsoever. the average viewer is going to think "wait what?!", go back and watch s4 ep 2, and think "holy shit it was planned all along that's so cool!"

like that's such a dumb way of thinking. you have to be a master level hater to see a well written plot twist and think "they just did that to cover their asses" like that's some next level hating

and i guarantee you once s5 comes out the duffers will be like "yeah of course we had to lie you guys were too close to figuring it out!"

david harbour has talked about how hard it was for him to flat out lie to people about hopper being dead. it's really not that crazy to think they lied

4. "it doesn't even make any sense"

....it does.

i don't know how you could think it doesn't make sense

rink o mania day was march 22nd. will's birthday. they have not changed his birthday. his official canonical birthday is still march 22nd.

but no one mentions it. even will doesn't seem to know it's his birthday.

s4 is all about memories and trauma and feeling isolated from others. we also literally learn there is a powerful monster man who can read minds and enter other people's memories, just like el can. so i don't see how it's so outlandish to think there's some memory fuckery going on.

of course we can't explain exactly why or how, because it hasn't been adressed yet. you have to wait for the pay off.

5. "just accept the duffers made a mistake"

i would accept that they made a mistake if they actually fixed the mistake LIKE THEY SAID THEY WOULD. they said "we are going to edit the episode and change it to say may 22nd" and then DIDNT. EVER.

and not only that, they wished him happy birthday on march 22nd 2 years in a row. noah schnapp posted a bts photo on march 22nd 2024 with the caption "Do you know what March 22nd is? It's your birthday. - Joyce Byers"

they are saying "yes it's still his birthday so get hyped for s5 where it'll be addressed" every way they can without spelling it out for you.

i really don't know what more you need

[luckybyler]

It’s PAINFULLY OBVIOUS that Stranger Things was meant to be three seasons long: season 1, 2, and a previous version of what we will now know as season 5.

I’m not saying that seasons 3 and 4 are bad, they’re great. But they very much feel like a detour from the original plan.

We know the show was meant to last more than 1 season because Noah auditioned for Will by reading the “crazy together” scene from season 2. We know it was meant to last more than two seasons because in the original script of the snowball dance they had Will looking longingly at Mike, which implies there was still stuff to be explored (we may be able to find clues in other, monster-related plots). However, they removed Will’s look towards Mike and added an unscripted Mileven kiss. This was a deliberate choice to stretch these storylines further instead of being resolved in the third, originally final season. They also came up with that horrid hidden spin-off pilot that was episode 7.

Seasons 3 and 4 feel like a forced detour from the original plan: the whole dealing with a lot of summer tween/early teenager angst, “killing” Hopper then immediately showing us that he’s not dead, retrofitting Vecna into the story, which meant giving El the soap opera-esque “stroke” as a justification for why she could barely talk when there were other kids there; “killing” Brenner then bringing him back *again* just to kill him *again*, making El lose her powers for a minute yet get them back *again*. Making the Byers move to California just to bring them back *again*, having El learning about fashion just to regress *again*, breaking up Mileven twice just to get them back together *again*. And made Byler fall out then reconnect *again*, then Will look at Mike longingly while he gave his speech to El, a heightened version of what was supposed to happen at the Snowball dance. They even rehashed Steve’s feelings for Nancy *again*.

Trim the fat from Seasons 3 and 4, and all the main characters are in a place where they would have been a couple of episodes or maybe halfway into a hypothetical 3rd and final season: Jopper are together; Jancy are together but have the college thing to talk about, Mileven are together but there’s doubt that Mike loves her, Byler are full of romantic tension but getting interrupted, Max has just been attacked and is the one in a coma this time while Lucas suffers, Dustin just experienced the loss of a big brother figure (clearly a placeholder for Steve), Hawkins is destroyed by the Upside Down, etc.

My theory is that the Duffers were working on Season 2 when Netflix addressed Stranger Things’ sudden massive popularity, sat them down, asked them to make it five season instead at least, and they said “fine”, so they tweaked the middle in order to get back to (more of less) their original idea for the ending.

[henry-fox-biggest-stan]

I have the Stranger Things: Worlds Turned Upside Down: The Official Behind-the-Scenes Companion book, I got it in 2018, so here are some fun facts from it

In the party’s dnd charts it says Will’s class is “magic-user” 👀👀 and one of his abilities is “true sight” 👀👀

The first scene written and the first scene filmed are both the dnd game at s1 ep1

Mike supposedly has rainbow blinds in his room (as a reference to E.T since Elliot also has rainbow blinds)

When El throws Lucas against a wall, that was Caleb, not a body double. Apparently he was excited to film without a double and asked for it (he was thrown against a mattress). Called said he had so much fun.

During the scene where El sends the van flying, the duffers said than when they first tried it (without filming) it all went as it was supposed to, it flew the right directions. The first time they filmed, tho, the van fell on top of one of their cameras and destroyed it.

Steve is in his last year of high school (as opposed to Nancy, who is in her second, or Jonathan who is in his first)

Steve plays basketball and baseball. He was supposed to be an asshole and die the first season, but Joe Keery came and gave a bit more depth to Steve’s character.

243 people auditioned to play El

Some of El’s powers include biokinesis, teleportation, and psychometry

Hopper fought in Vietnam 

At first the upside down wasn’t supposed to appear on screen at any moment. We would have heard what happened over walkie talkies or radios.

A demodog is just a teen demogorgon (I think this was explained at the show, but I have seen people say they are different creatures)

Jonathan does cycling, is in the school newspaper, and the photography club

Caleb is very good crying on command

Mike’s bike is the newest because his family has the most money, Dustin begun painting his bike but hasn’t finished it yet, and Lucas has a fluorescent saddle

At first they weren’t allowed to use ghostbusters costumes but they talked to Ivan Reitman and eventually got green light 

Dart was supposed to appear in the first season but they didn’t have enough time

The upside down was originally called the underworld 

Nancy and Jonathan (their relationship) are inspired by David and Jennifer from WarGames (1983). Also by Willie Scott and doctor Jones from Indiana Jones

Bob was supposed to die on ep 4 instead of ep 8

For the scene with Will and Morse code (when he’s tied to a chair) the duffers just told Noah to watch a YouTube video on Morse code the day before 

Talking about Noah, after being possessed and convulsing to the point everyone was amazed with his acting, the moment they stop filming he just gets up and asks for a cup of tea like nothing happened

For the upside down spores they actually used dandelions 

Hopper is repeatedly described as a cowboy lmao

In s1 when the boys dress El up in a wig and a dress and Mike does her makeup, they are dressing her up in their vision of what a girl is

Finn said than it was only halfway through the second episode than Mike realized than El is a real girl, a real person, and not E.T.

The duffers were inspired by the breakfast club for the making of Nancy, Jonathan, and Steve’s characters!!

Nancy played volleyball, was in the cheerleader team (?!?!?!), was in the French club, volunteered at church and did social volunteering, and did a writing workshop

Barb played softball, the clarinet, was part of the Mathematical Olympiads, volunteered at the library, and was a babysitter.

[berenwrites]

Beyond the Battle - Chapter Listing - Stranger Things - Steddie - COMPLETE

Beyond the Battle­: Action & Consequence

All other fanfic in pinned post (mostly steddie)

Summary: Steve hits things with a bat or gets hit depending on who you ask. He definitely does not have anything to do with the psychic stuff. That is El’s domain. However, as Vecna is defeated, the rules change.

Pairing: steddie (Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson)

Other Relationships: Steve & Robin, Steve & Dustin, Eddie & Dustin

Rating: Teen

A/N: Multi-chapter story, updated regularly. Honestly not sure how many chapters it will have yet because it's still a bit hand wavy in the middle, but definitely more than 12. Thank you to my beta for find my mistakes and to all those who read/like/reblog.💖 Follow #st:beyond-the-battle for updates.

Fic on AO3

Chapters on Tumblr

(will be updated as they are posted)

The Battle

The Aftermath

Regrouping

Home

Dreams

Waking World

Home Truths

What is Real?

Verdict

A Couple of Things

Conversations

Child Geniuses

Moving Forward

Reunion

Next Phase

Come Down?

From Outside

Making Plans

Details

Plans into Practice

Rise and Shine

An Ordinary Morning?

Good Day!

Momentous

Meetings

Dangerous Times

What Now?

Backs Against the Wall

Deadlines

Defences

Confrontation!

Is it Finally Over?

Resting

Stranger

Had to stop using the list at this point because it caused an error...

35. Getting Up 36. Good Talk 37. Hiccups 38. Paternal 39. Gathering 40. The Realities of Hawkins 41. Back Down to Earth 42. Very Distracting 43. Coping & Moving Forward 44. Panic Over? 45. Happy Talk 46. Epilogue

[pinkerthings]

how did will communicate through the lights in season 1?

In season one we see him make the lights flicker in the living room for Joyce, spelling out “run” and such, and we don’t really see the other side of this until, well, The Other Side comic—which I’m not 100% sure how much of this comic is supposed to be taken canonically.

Will is hiding in the cupboard, trying to communicate with his mom, when he hears her beg him to communicate with her, asking where he is. He looks up and suddenly sees the alphabet wall, saying, “Mom…you’re a genius,” and touches the letters on the wall, spelling out, R-I-G-H-T-H-E-R-E.

In the show, we just see the lightbulbs light up in the real world, but in the comic, we see Will in the Upside Down just simply touch the letters on the wall, creating this sort of blue electricity.

(I know it’s in Portuguese, just bear with me i couldn’t find the English version for u all)

season 4 shows otherwise:

In s4 we finally get a glimpse of how things work in the Upside Down. When Nancy, Steve, Robin, and Eddie are in the Wheeler’s house on the other side looking for Nancy’s guns in episode 7, they hear Dustin talking to Erica. The group tries to get his attention, but he can’t hear them. Nancy then remembers how Will found a way to speak to Joyce; through the lights. They try the light switches and lamps but nothing works, until Steve shines the flashlight on the ceiling chandelier, which begins to sparkle with magical fairy looking dust. They discover that touching this gold dust around the light produces light on the other side, and the viewers conclude that’s how Will must have communicated in season one.

but there are some things i just don’t get:

- How did the letters magically appear on the wall in the Upside Down?

- If the Byers’ house really is stuck on November 6th, 1983, how did Will speak to Joyce through the lights (that she bought at Melvald’s) when they weren’t even there on the day that he disappeared?

Season 4 clearly shows that you can only communicate through touching the dust around the already existing lights in the Upside Down to communicate with the other plane of existence, so how did Will manipulate the lights WITH HIS MIND in The Other Side comic?

translation:

Will: Mom! I’m here! I’m somewhere, I don’t—”

Joyce: Good, good, good. Blink once for yes…twice for no… Can you do that for me, sweetie?

Will: You…can’t hear me? What does blink mean? How will you—”

Joyce: Oh, good boy. Good boy.

Will: Is that light? Is that…her somehow?”

Joyce: Baby, I need to know. Are you alive?

Will: I…I don’t know for sure. But I think I am.

Will wanted the lights to flicker, so he MADE THEM FLICKER ! hello? I’m not a big Will-powers truther but if that’s not the case then I don’t understand how this makes sense in the comic & the show.

but how does it actually work?

Now, they kind of try to get out of this confusing plothole/mixup by showcasing this:

the idea that if something is moved on the normal plane where someone could theoretically access its ghost---or where it's supposed to be---in the Upside Down, then they could essentially still manipulate the light source.

(This is also the case when Will touches the alphabet wall. There are technically no lights on his plane, but the lights are still sensed from the regular Hawkins plane of existence.)

The group has Dustin move the Lite-Brite toy in Stranger things so they could draw IN THE AIR where the toy is in actual Hawkins, which does not add up to me because their light source (which I’m assuming the gold dust is coming from) is from the regular plane & not the Upside Down, but I guess makes sense as to how Joyce was able to move lamps & lights around their home/Will's room in season 1 and still have Will able to communicate, even though the house would not have looked the same in the Upside Down because of it being stuck on November 6th.

which brings me to the question,

how did Will know about all the lights & lamps in his bedroom and around the home (besides the alphabet wall, which he could somehow see) in season 1?

HE COULDN'T.

This is proven in The Other Side comic when Joyce tells him to "blink."

"What does blink mean?" he asks, and then my precious boy LITERALLY BLINKS (he closes his eyes) and somehow the lights flicker.

After season 4 came out, I saw so many people say things like, "Why are we just now finding out how Will communicated in the Upside Down? Why didn't Will tell everyone sooner?"

Guys... MY BOY DID NOT KNOW !😭

He wasn't touching magical fairy dust with his hands or playing with Lite-Brite's. He was literally closing his eyes and just making it happen.

HOWEVER..

The alphabet appearing on the wall in the Upside Down still makes no sense in the story, as we’re shown that everything should be the same as it was the day Will disappeared. While things in Hawkins CAN be moved around & “sensed” in the Upside Down (lights, lamps, sound, etc), the actual core can’t be physically changed because it’s stuck in time.

“But what if things that are changed in Hawkins are also changed in the Upside Down Hawkins?”

This is obviously impossible, shown in season 4 episode 7, right before the group discovers the light phenomenon, when Nancy looks for her guns and realizes they’re not there because it is stuck in time. Therefore, Will somehow seeing the alphabet wall in the Upside Down makes no sense. Him making it light up DOES makes sense, however, according to season 4 logic, but him seeing it doesn’t seem to fit with the narrative the Duffers have created surrounding light sources within the Stranger Things universe.

so, does will have powers?

I am personally not super big on the Will Byers powers theories, but honestly there aren’t many explanations as to how exactly he manipulated flickering the lights in season 1 and The Other Side comic. In the s5 teaser released yesterday, we see behind-the-scenes of young Will falling out of a tree in the Upside Down.

That, paired with the older BTS photo of young Will laying in Castle Byers,

means that we’re finally getting Will’s side of the story way back from s1, so we’ll be able to see how much of The Other Side is actually canon !

[katyawriteswhump]

power of love 19/21

steve has powers/eddie lives season 4 fix-it fic. This is nearly the end, which will def be up tomorrow, if it kills me 😝

blurb: Steve has a habit of surviving near death experiences then getting sick for no reason. And Eddie and those fatal bat bites? After an impossible feat of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation from Steve, he’s mysteriously fixed. So, Eddie’s back to being banished, this time with Steve and Robin in tow. Eddie’s healing, but Steve isn’t… and life gets even more confusing, when Eddie develops feelings for Steve, which aren’t entirely unrequited.

(or, lots of angst, fluff, idiots to lovers, eventual smut and happy ending)

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17 Part 18

Preview: “Did you tell them how we opened the gate, Eddie?” “Nooooot exactly.” Steve’s brow furrows. “Seeing as we’re on the starting team now, don’t you reckon we should practice?” “Yeah,” says Eddie, deadpan. “Yeah, I really, really do.” He slams so hard into Steve’s opened arms that the stool tips back. Steve jumps off it, anchoring a fist in Eddie’s hair. Lips brush and spark yet again, and they get ‘practicing’ real hard. Any reason for the kiss other than kissing is forgotten pronto. There’s no future, no past, only here and now—sucking face like a couple of dumb teens at a keg party. To be fair, since realising he’s in love, Eddie’s chiefly felt it through a horror-flick lens of loss. Finally, he’s enjoying the kickass side of things, and it’s a super-fun ride. They don’t have to be releasing flood tides for this to be more than a kiss. When they surface for air, Steve waggles his brows, smirking again. “You’re not gonna pass out on me?” asks Eddie, because he feels he should check. “Nope. Tho’ these jeans ride up my butt, and you’re so not helping.” Yup, Eddie is dry humping a not-insignificant bulge at Steve’s crotch. Beneath Eddie’s sweatpants, he’s nursing his own more-than-semi: “You gonna do something about it?” “Sure thing.” Eddie wrangles down Steve’s zipper.

chapter after cut

Eddie POV continued...

“What’s going on?” Nancy Wheeler’s unexpected voice breaks Eddie’s complete focus on Steve. “Oh my God! Is he..?”

“Chill.” Eddie conjures a goofy grin he doesn’t quite feel. All the same, the real Eddie Munson is back in business, totally metal, and flipping the bird in the face of goddamn death: “He’s gonna be fine, Nancy. He’s gonna be just fine.”

Steve remains out of it.

When, despite Eddie’s desperate cuddling, he falls limp and stops muttering, Eddie’s bravado falters. He joins forces with Robin to hook Steve’s arms over their shoulders, raising him up and hauling him toward Nancy’s station wagon.

Eddie’s knees are about as firm as a jelly-donut, much like every muscle in his body. He grits his teeth, supports his share of Steve’s weight somehow. With an effort, he tunes into the others’ debate about where to take Steve and how close they should remain to Lover’s Lake.

Now Steve is breathing, they decide a hospital is too risky. Getting Steve somewhere warm and dry—not too far away—is their best shot.

“How exactly did you two end up here, anyhow?” asks Dustin, who’s limping impressively fast. “We thought you were in the Soviet tunnels."

“Good job you weren’t,” interjects Nancy. “You have no idea what went down there.”

Eddie forces his goofiest smile again. “Actually, Wheeler, I got an inkling.”

In the car, they piece together the jigsaw. After realizing Steve had been taken, Robin ran straight to Dustin’s, where she learned Eddie had been nabbed. They’d summoned all the gang still around—Nancy, Jonathan, Lucas, and Erica—and split up to try and find a way into the Soviet Base. Because Starcourt was charred rubble, and the military were all over the Hess farm, they’d sought a way in along the waterways:

“Then the freaky shit hit the fan,” said Robin. “Again.”

Robin and Nancy had been bolt-cutting their way into an underground culvert, when every drop of water was sucked from the stream.

“It was totally inexplicable,” says Nancy. “The same thing happened all over Hawkins, including at Lover’s Lake. We thought at first all the water had been sucked into the Upside Down or something, but then—”

“—as I said earlier,” chips in Dustin, “the police radio chatter went apewire about the flood in the military base. Then it got stranger than even that. Every single person associated with O’Sullivan’s occupation of Hawkins has totally vanished, even the ones out on patrol. They’re literally all gone, though we were chiefly freaking out that you two were d-dr—”

“Drowned like rats?” Eddie offers helpfully.

You have no idea how close I got, buddy.

He explains how he had been very much caught in the flood.

Thanks to Steve’s superpowers, they’d washed up here.

Alive.

That results in a few seconds of absolute silence, and then, Robin starts babbling: “So, yeah, we’d been searching for hours,” says Robin. “We were literally dying of worry. Then we stumbled on you pretty much by accident.”

Eddie finishes manoeuvring Steve into the vehicle. Trying to process is making his brain ache. “So, apart from us two, nobody made it out of the tunnels?”

“Not that we know of,” says Nancy, sliding into the driving seat. “I think they were washed into the Upside Down, although we know there’s little or no water there. Maybe that’s why the water rushed back into the lakes and streams super-quick.”

No. That’s not it.

Eddie doesn’t say it out loud. Not yet.

He thinks back yet again to when Steve kissed him during the flood. The show-stopping kiss that was gonna rock Eddie’s memory till the day he died, however distant—or close—that might be. If he lives, he might use that memory to conjure a masterpiece of pure metal.

Dammit, just thinking about having Steve weightless in his arms, gyrating madly against him, brings a misty smile to his lips.

Which dies a swift hard death.

Steve is unconscious. Wedged between him and Robin in the rear-seat of Nancy’s car. But, wow, talk about superpowers! Steve flushed away all of O’Sullivan’s evil-ass henchmen, whether they were polluting the waterways or not.

And the real sucker-punch? When they kissed, Steve told him they were opening a gate to another another dimension.

Eddie plants a soft kiss on Steve’s head, rested on his shoulder, and braces himself to explain it all.

“Steve didn’t just save me,” he says, “He opened a gate. Which wasn’t to the Upside Down. He sent those army guys somewhere else.”

****

Steve POV

“I love him!” fumes Steve, to his freaky-ass fairy-water-god-spirit. They are a swirl in the mists, into which he kicks a spectral foot. “He said he loved me too, and I genuinely don’t think he was shitting me. Do you realise how long I waited for this? Christ, and have you MET Vecna? O’Sullivan and his stormtroopers were My Little Ponies compared to that cuckoo son-of-a-bitch. Eleven is gonna need us BOTH!”

He keeps on arguing, with no clue if they’re listening. Obviously, he can’t stay dead, or whatever the heck is going on with his now creepily possessive fairy-KIDNAPPER. On the other hand, when he lands fully back into his body, it’s deeply un-fun.

His lungs are clenched fists, which his shallow breaths stab like icy shards. He can sense Eddie, somehow knows he’s near, so that’s kinda reassuring.

He keeps arguing with his supernatural stalker, till everything fades. When he again grows faintly aware of his physical surroundings, they’re soft and warm.

He still can’t open his eyes, though.

“Oh, c’mon!” he bitches, in case his fairy-kidnapper is still listening. “Seriously, you can’t separate us now—we got the rest of our lives to spend together. I want a family! Kids! Six of ’em!” Suddenly, he’s gotten it all figured out. “We can adopt.”

“We’re adopting now? Oh, Steve! Look, I don’t know if you can hear me. Focus on getting better. We’ll talk about the rest when—”

“Nance?” Steve startles awake, possibly because she’s squeezing his fingers bone-crushingly tight.

“Steve!” She drops his hand, looking spooked and relieved in equal measures. “Oh my God, you’re awake! You’re okay?”

His head spins with confusion. Still, he’s felt a shitload worse. “Where are we?”

“At the Byers’.” She passes him an opened bottle of water, watches him like a hawk as he sips. “This used to be Jonathan’s room. Nobody moved in, and we figured it would be a decent place to hide.”

“Peachy.” He hands back the bottle. “I’ve been here, like, three times. Each one almost died.”

She swipes a mascara-smudged cheekbone and slams him with a look he knows well. That mingling of longing and guilt that used to break his heart.

Not anymore.

Christ, does he genuinely have to explain that he no longer wants those ‘six little nuggets’ with her, and… Shit! His heart kicks off pounding. If he’s with Nancy, where’s Eddie? Or Robin, for that matter?

Nancy is saying stuff. He interrupts. “Eddie, Nance! Where is he? Where’s Robin? How the hell did I get here?”

“Steve!” Eddie bursts into the room, eclipsing Nancy from Steve’s view. He bounces onto the bed, pulls Steve into a hug: “Christ, I leave you for five seconds, and… Mmmmph!”

Steve’s mouth covers Eddie’s hungrily. It’s difficult to top their last kiss, though they do their darndest. Steve flings his arms around Eddie, veins firing as his strength rushes back. When they finally break apart, Steve takes Eddie’s face in his hands, thumbs caressing those dimples:

He’s real. This is real.

“Got your note,” says Eddie, eyes large and liquid. “Both of them, actually.”

“Oh!” It takes a beat from that little bombshell to detonate. Steve flops back onto the pillows. “I’m sorry, Eddie. Look, I wrote the one you didn’t get first, and—”

“Apology accepted.” Eddie’s turn to caress Steve dopily, brushing his knuckles down the scruff on Steve’s cheek. “I mean, I get it. You wanted to protect me. In the end, both notes mean the same thing.”

“I guess they do.” Steve flinches from Eddie’s intensity. “In a screwed-up kinda way. I’m still an idiot for writing it.”

“Doesn’t matter, Stevie. In case you missed it, while you were busy coming back from the dead… Love you too.”

That has Steve looking up sharply, sitting up, too. Eddie is saying the words Steve yearned for all his life.

Definitely not a hallucination this time.

IT’S FOR REAL. 

His arms glide back around Eddie, who mirrors him, sliding a warm hand to the small of Steve’s back: “Honestly, Eddie, I meant it with all my heart. I don’t deserve… I… um...”

Nancy coughs politely: “I can see I’ve not been keeping up with the plot?” Steve’s flash of remorse is fleeting.  “I’ll give you two some space,” she says, which sounds nice, apart from she’s not left the room for two seconds before Robin charges in.

“Oh my God, Steve! You’re awake!”

The two-way hug becomes a throttling three-way hug. Robin elbows Eddie in the nose, so she can clamp tighter around Steve’s neck. The agonised creak of Jonathan’s former bed can’t stop this being another absolutely perfect moment.

For all of twenty seconds.

Steve’s gotten no idea if Max is still at death’s door or not. Plus, are any of their enemies actually dead?

Vecna isn’t, for sure.

“Okay, getting weird now,” says Robin, extracting herself from Steve and Eddie as swiftly as she arrived. “Right, I got news. Shit, neither of you need to look that spooked! It’s not all apocalyptically terrible.”

First, she and Eddie fill Steve in on what actually happened with the flood. Then Robin gets to the new stuff—El and Hopper are back in Hawkins, and Will and Mike are on their way. Since literally everyone associated with O’Sullivan has vanished, the small contingent of government officials allied with Owens—who is, apparently, also still alive—have wrangled a coup:

“They’re taking over command of the search and clear-up operations. Eddie is officially in the clear! They’re gonna work with El to get rid of Vecna, once and for all.”

“We can help her,” says Steve. Yeah, he wants to stay snug and safe with his two best friends forever. He’s still gotta a job to do. He suspects it’s the main reason he was allowed to come back.

“You already have,” Robin says. “Eddie told us. You totally annihilated O’Sullivan. You opened a gate to another dimension. Not to the Upside Down. Another one! So proud of my Dingus.”

“He’s talking bull.” Steve feels weary for the first time since he woke.  Also, kinda guilty. He never set out to annihilate anyone other than Vecna. He was only following his instincts to protect people he loved. One thing is certain, though: “We did it. Eddie and me. And now… I got a hunch we’re gonna have to do it again.”

...

Eddie POV

WE.

We’re gonna have to do it again.

With Steve safe in his arms, chin notching on his shoulder, Eddie is totally up for it. He knows Steve’s shared his magic juju. He’s ecstatic Steve’s back, and they’re gonna duet on the next verse. And yet…

…who wouldn’t be shitting themselves?

A brief brainstorming about how exactly he and Steve might do ‘it,’ has them agreeing they’ll probably have to return to the Upside Down to flush out Vecna. And that’s before any other gate-opening ensues.

The prospect of returning to demo-bat central, doesn’t exactly fill his heart with song.

They’re summoned to a sitrep at Hopper’s cabin. An official statement of Eddie’s innocence has not yet been issued, and Steve complains he’s still shaky and got a headache. So, they get to stay behind at the Byers’, which is nearer the Lake. Dustin has found them clothes, chiefly from the charity collections, and they’re not exactly a great fit.

Steve’s jeans are particularly clingy around the ass. Eddie isn’t complaining about that at all.

“Is your headache bad?” asks Eddie, after the others have gone.

He’s in the kitchen, rummaging through the cupboard for anything other than cereal. They’re all so sick of it, Robin didn’t even touch the Count Chocular.

“Not really,” says Steve. Eddie pitches him a rock-hard blueberry muffin—a crappy toss, though Steve’s hand shoots out and catches it deftly. He’s decidedly peppy for somebody so recently dead: “Wanted to be alone with you. You know, for my stay of execution and all that?”

Eddie freezes. No. No way. Yeah, they should both be dead but they’re not. Steve’s perching on a stool, head tilting, smirking at his gallows humor:

“Did you tell them how we opened the gate, Eddie?”

“Nooooot exactly.”

 Steve’s brow furrows. “Seeing as we’re on the starting team now, don’t you reckon we should practice?”

“Yeah,” says Eddie, deadpan. “Yeah, I really, really do.”

He slams so hard into Steve’s opened arms that the stool tips back. Steve jumps off it, anchoring a fist in Eddie’s hair. Lips brush and spark yet again, and they get ‘practicing’ real hard.

Any reason for the kiss other than kissing is forgotten pronto. There’s no future, no past, only here and now—sucking face like a couple of dumb teens at a keg party. To be fair, since realising he’s in love, Eddie’s chiefly felt it through a horror-flick lens of loss. Finally, he’s enjoying the kickass side of things, and it’s a super-fun ride. They don’t have to be releasing flood tides for this to be more than a kiss.

When they surface for air, Steve waggles his brows, smirking again.

“You’re not gonna pass out on me?” asks Eddie, because he feels he should check.

“Nope. Tho’ these jeans ride up my butt, and you’re so not helping.” Yup, Eddie is dry humping a not-insignificant bulge at Steve’s crotch. Beneath Eddie’s sweatpants, he’s nursing his own more-than-semi: “You gonna do something about it?”

“Sure thing.” Eddie wrangles down Steve’s zipper.

A faint whisper in the back of his mind tells him they’re crossing a line they’ve never crossed before. Doubtless, the Byer’s ex-kitchen is not the place to do it…

…and who gives a crap?

They grasp each other and stroke, sweaty palms acting as lubricant.

As if they goddamn needed it.

“You’re so fucking hot, Eddie,” moans Steve. “Oh God… yeah… please?”

Eddie grins as Steve’s eyes grow spacy, pupils dilating, then rolling up.  Already, the juddering slide of skin against skin sends waves of pleasure rolling through Eddie. Each nerve-ending in his lower body goes livewire. Steve’s panted breaths gust against Eddie’s throat, almost enough to send him over the edge. It happens, though, when they resume the kiss. Their lips collide, they thrust into each other’s palms. Tongues tangle messily, and everything gets real hot and sticky.

They clean up together, under the trickle of a barely-working shower. Eddie’s kinda shy, because they’d never had a chance to be so intimate before. Steve, who is clearly more accustomed to ‘guy showers,’ points out cheerily, that neither of them has a single remaining bat-bite scar.

“Cool,” murmurs Eddie, and he knows he should be mega-happy about that. “Steve, nothing supernatural happened just now. I mean, when we—”

“—jerked off together,” butted in Steve. Okay, they’re already finishing each other’s sentences. Eddie can’t help snickering slightly. “I thought about that.” Which was more, to be fair, than Eddie did at the time. “I felt the start of that electric tingle then got carried away. I’ve used my powers a few times now. You have to concentrate, and I kind of know what triggers them. Truth was, there was… I dunno, not enough pressure? I was distracted by your hotness, man.”

Eddie beams for real, gaze raking Steve’s shiny wet bod. “Yeah. Ditto.”

“Robin suggested I go to Lover’s Lake for magic practice, so that should be our next move. I reckon El can help us too.”

Us.

Again.

Eddie finds himself back in the circle of Steve’s arms, wet and warm, and totally revved to kick supernatural butt. Steve remains hyper, talking at breakneck speed: “I reckon I’d like to explore other ways to make the earth move first, Eddie. I never actually slept with a guy before, you know that?”

“Wow,” says Eddie, though he’d kinda guessed.

“Tommy and I fooled around once or twice. Douchebag never let me forget it. I’m… Listen, I’m glad you’re gonna be my first. My proper first, and I’d kind of like to sleep with you before… you know, next round with Vecna.”

Oooookay. Eddie realizes one of them is gonna have to slam on the breaks. Crazily, it’s gonna be him: “Stevie, I’m flattered, I really am, but… is this really the time, let alone the place? The others could be back any minute.”

Steve’s flicker of annoyance dies fast. He sinks his dripping forehead to Eddie’s, so close their lashes brush. “Christ, Eddie. You’re right. I’m just trying to distract myself, I guess. We need practice. I mean, proper, not-fooling-around practice. It’s just… I’m so fucking scared we’re not gonna make that home run.”

“Hey.” Eddie squeezes Steve. Specifically, his ass, as Eddie’s hands keep gravitating there. “We’ll make it. I got a good feeling about this.”

“Man, you can be so damn corny.” Steve kisses him again anyway.

They’re still drying themselves, towels hitched around waists, when Dustin’s tinny voice breaks the loaded silence.

“CODE RED. I REPEAT THIS IS A CODE RED. VECNA IS BACK. YOU GOTTA GET UP TO HOP’S CABIN NOW. DO YOU COPY?”

Steve picks up the walkie-talkie and his voice wobbles as he answers. “Yeah, yeah, got it, Henderson. Keep your pants on.” Eddie watches Steve’s Adam’s apple bob, as he swallows hard. “I guess this is it.”

****

next chapter: epilogue part 1 on AO3 epilogue part 1 on tumblr

no pressure tags (not least because it's been months): @kal-ology @estrellami-1

[will80sbyers]

What makes you believe that byler is real? I ship Mileven personally, but I'm trying to understand byler shippers' logic, because a lot of the time it feels like it makes no sense.

I personally think there are some scenes in the show and there are some choices that the writers made that are telling us that the plot of the show is going towards Will getting a "pay off", in terms of writing, at the end of the show and Mike and El finding out they are better as friends instead and Mike discovering he has romantic feelings for Will!

The writers have emphasized Will's sadness in relation to Mike and El as a couple both thematically and visually, in the writing & filming of the show there are too many scenes like this especially in season 3 and 4 they have made it clear that he will never be happy if Mike and El are the endgame relationship, even during Mike's love monologue after he supposedly decided that he was ok with El having his own feelings for Mike by saying that the painting was a thoughtful gift from El when it wasn't... They put a shot of Will's sad face in the middle of the monologue, and also he was framed behind Mike when he said "I love you" which in film is a EXTREMELY weird choice unless it means something more is going on that should make us not want El and Mike's relationship to work - the writers have been sabotaging the emotional connection of the fans with mileven by doing this and I don't think that professional filmmakers don't know that, I think it's on purpose!

The writers have shown Mike and Will as having a deeper relationship than all the other relationships Mike has, putting him in the same category of El as one of his possible love interests in the plot, they have multiple scenes bonding in a tender way than Mike has with any other of his friends, they happen in private usually or in emotionally charged moments that they film to make you as a viewer feel like they are in private and show how they have this connection that's more than just friendship

The writers have wrote in the show since season 1 MANY parallels between Mike and Will and other official couples (Mileven too!!!) that are, in my opinion, hinting at them ending up together at the end of the show

You can find the parallels here

The writers have continously shown El and Mike to have some kind of problem in their relationship and made El decide to leave Mike behind multiple times even if to save his life because she loves him, the writers have been showing us how Mike is not her PLOT priority and instead they have put having a romantic relationship with Mike as Will's deepest desire since season 3

The writers are building up El's character to have a coming of age that has recurrent themes of her finding herself without the influence of others around her, her becoming completely free from any kind of influence, and Mike has been represented as having too many internal fears to overcome at the moment about their relationship, especially with the love monologue at the end of season 4, he has beliefs about himself as a person that clash with El's character arc about not having to feel influenced in any way, the end of the show for El should be her having complete freedom in all aspects of her life because of the circumstances of her upbringing... Not saying that Mike is influencing her in a bad way necessarily, I think they both love each other a lot but having a relationship with someone that is that much insecure about his role in your life because you have powers will always be a type of influence

The writers have shown Mike and El as not being a team at the same level by separating them constantly after s1, instead they have shown the other couples that work as working together in the supernatural plot (Jancy, Jopper, Lumax, Byler)

The writers have paralleled Mike and El's relationship to all the ships that are not working for some reasons/are not endgame and have more infatuation than a real "true love" kind of relationship (Steve x Nancy, Karen X Ted, Bob x Joyce)

The writers have wrote in multiple scenes of Mike acting awkward with Will (Mike!!! Not Will) or them having coded conversations about how much they care for each other that have no sense to exist unless there is a pay off at the end

The writers have presented El, Mike and Will as being in a love triangle and have been framing them in a love triangle composition in the framing of multiple scenes, with Mike at the centre

When during season 4 the writers talked about all the movies that have inspired season 4 and 5 they have put multiple movies with love triangles that are almost identical to the situation between Mike, El and Will

Will and Mike have multiple fight scenes that are scenes you give to two possible love interests usually, the way the fight happen is written as two lovers having emotional fights instead of as how you would write two friends fighting

The writers wrote in the show a precise parallel in all the scenes of Vickie and Robin... between them and Will and Mike, paralleling Mike to Vickie specifically... who is a canon bisexual character and even paralleling Steve and Jonathan in that context as observers of the couples!

The directors filmed their scenes how you would film romantic scenes in stuff like Bridgerton or a romcom lol

The whole painting scene was Will making Mike feel so loved that he felt comfortable being vulnerable with El, but this means he was still not comfortable on his own relationship with her, he didn't feel safe enough to open up on his own and needed that talk and needed to believe all of those ideas about him being the heart came from Eleven so that he made the jump and told her how he felt instead of being selfishly silent on it because he was too afraid of her possibly leaving him one day... When you are really deeply in love with someone in the context of movies the characters don't let those type of fears influence them and if what gives him courage is the feelings of another character in the love triangle it means he's the right person for the character

( idk if you saw gossip girl but the was a love triangle situation between Blair, Dan and another character where Dan made Blair believe the other character felt some type of way towards her, she understood that she loved Dan because of this act because she wanted those words to be from him and not from the other guy... The whole painting lie is that same trope)

The writers are obsessed with IT from Stephen King and there are clear parallels with it in the show, the whole plot of s4 about the painting is a reprise of the plot between the romantic relationship of Bev and Ben in IT (with the postcard and the poem) Beverly is supposed to be Mike, Ben is Will and Bill is El.... Mike and El share a kiss at the end of season 3 that is supposed to parallel a kiss between Bill and Bev (they did love each other and liked each other but are not endgame)

Both Will and Mike are queercoded multiple times during the seasons

There are WAYYYY more reasons but this post is becoming too long so I'll leave it as this lol

You should rewatch the show and imagine if Will was a girl, I think many people would be seeing what I'm talking about way more and take it as a sign that Mike is going to choose "Willow" and see how Will is the better love interest for him...

Maybe it's all just queerbaiting, who knows, but at the moment I believe this is way too much for it to be queerbait!

I personally think Mike is bisexual

Masterpost about it here

and has feelings for both of them, but his feelings for El have always been a "puppy love" type that is growing to become more platonic than romantic with time, and I think he's a best match with Will, I think Will is able to make him be the best he can be, he's capable of making Mike feel worthy in a very natural way unlike the relationship with El does at the moment!

In my fixed post in the blog you can find all these things in more detail if you're interested!!

Thank you if you read all of this, regardless of what I believe I think everybody should be free to ship what ship they like best!! 😊

[romancomicsblog]

Movie Redo: Fixing Marvel's Thunderbolts*

Marvel's Thunderbolts* recently came out with a stellar trailer, watching some of our favorite MCU anti-heroes going through the motions while uncovering a mystery and becoming a team.

While many have praised the trailer for its style, action and tone, I have had some problems with the movie from the beginning. For one, the group Thunderbolts* tends to be villains pretending to be heroes as opposed to morally gray characters.

The movie tackles the spirit of this by having several characters fill in classic roles of the MCU Avengers: Yelena as Black Widow, U.S. Agent as Captain America, etc. But this stops at about half the team.

For example, we have three different variations of Captain America. Each are not Steve Rogers, morally gray super soldiers. The main difference is their range of comedic quips.

We also have two different variations of (basically) Black Widow.

This makes the lineup a bit stale power wise, and makes most of the lineup side Black Widow and Captain America characters.

While it makes entering the film easier, this doesn't give us the same feeling of "assembling" characters from the MCU like the Avengers did. The characters should come from many different projects as opposed to 2.

Finally, the team is made up of 7/8 white people. So in so many ways, this movie is suffering from a lack of diversity.

My goal is to liven up the team with characters across the MCU, villains and antiheroes alike. I'd like this team to:

Fill roles of the classic Avengers

Have a wide range of abilities

Reward long time MCU fans for watching along

Lets get started with an obvious question:

Who Stays & Who Goes?

While this group is full of some great MCU characters, too many unfortunately are redundant.

We will be saving 4 Characters, starting with:

1. Yelena Belova - White Widow (Black Widow / Hawkeye)

One of the smartest moves made by this movie is having Yelena be the lead. I love Florence Pugh, and one thing that can differentiate this team from The Avengers is having White Widow be the leader.

She is the clear and funnest Black Widow stand-in, so I will be choosing her over Taskmaster.

2. John Walker - U.S. Agent (Falcon & The Winter Soldier)

Of the Captain America knock offs, U.S. Agent is by far the most interesting.

No hate to Red Guardian's jokes or Winter Soldier's angst, but having a sad, broken not as good Captain America who is not a good man but a perfect soldier, there's so many ways you can go with it. He can be a traitor to the group, the eventual villain or just the guy who thinks he's the leader.

He is also the character we've seen least of the 3, and deserves his time on the big screen.

3. Ava Starr - Ghost (Ant-Man & The Wasp)

One of the most underrated characters in the MCU, Ghost was a highlight for me in the Ant-Man trilogy. With a tragic backstory, skills to match the Winter Soldier and an actual interesting power, I'm really excited to see where they go with this character.

Plus I love her new suit.

4. Bob - The Sentry (Thunderbolts*)

Lewis Pullman is playing "Bob" who is most likely Robert Reynolds AKA The Sentry, a Superman like superhero who struggles with memory loss, and has the power of "a million suns".

Due to the S in the trailer and his general confusion, Sentry will likely join the team, and his archenemy The Void will may even be the main antagonist.

As a powerful longhaired hero, he fills the role of a Thor for our Avengers, which is a definite need.

The mystery behind Bob as well as the inclusion of a new Superman like character is very fun. I do think a need for every MCU movie is an addition of a new interesting character, so Bob must stay.

Now that we have our 4 stays, let's make some fun additions.

5. Agent Dex Poindexter - Bullseye (Daredevil Season 3)

Agent Poindexter fills a couple of significant roles from the Avengers and from the Thunderbolts* who we took off the list.

Like Taskmaster, Bullseye is an assassin, who worked for a puppet master who is still very much alive and around in the MCU. But unlike many of the other killers on this list, he enjoys killing. As the teams resident sociopath, he can be the devil on their shoulder, egging the team on to go further than they have before.

He also nicely fills the teams role as their Hawkeye. The both have perfect aim, have taken on new identities to commit atrocities, and started off as law men.

It also gives all viewers great homework, because everyone should watch Daredevil.

6. Aaron Davis - The Prowler (Spider-Man Homecoming / Across the Spider-Verse)

The Spider side of the MCU has very much stayed in its place due to Sony. One character who has appeared in both Sony and Marvel, portrayed by the same actor I might add, is Aaron Davis.

Aaron Davis first appeared in Spider-Man Homecoming, and if we believe him to portray the same character in Across the Spider-Verse, has evolved into his role as Prowler now.

Prowler with his tech, claws, skills, and general goofy vibe, could fill the role of a Black Panther or Spider-Man for our group, and much like Spider-Man, be the ground level criminal entering this world of Assassins and Gods.

You can also view him as more of a thief than anything else. Like Aladdin or Star-Lord, fitting him into this team but definitely bringing a different perspective as opposed to Bullseye.

I see Prowler as a secondary lead character, one who has Yelena's back over some of the others, and hopefully makes it out of this mission alive.

7. Titania (She-Hulk: Attorney at Law)

Where there are Avengers, there is need for muscle.

Titania is one the secondary villains from Marvel's She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, notably played by Good Place actress Jameela Jamil.

Titania fills the role of a Hulk / Captain Marvel to the group as our resident strong woman, but also takes up Red Guardians role as comedic relief.

As a social media influencer and fashion icon, she'll bring a very different energy than our other two heroines. She also has the tendency to back whoever to keep herself alive, meaning she may team up with the worst of our titular team if there is a coup.

Plus I'd like her to dawn her wrestler outfit.

8. Justin Hammer - MACH-1 (Iron Man 2)

With many of the Avengers roles filled, all we need is left is a billionaire genius playboy.

Since his debut in Iron Man 2, Sam Rockwell fans have been clamoring for the actor to return as Justin Hammer. While we have inklings of him in All Hail to to King & What If, having Justin as comedic relief and the teams resident tech expert can add a different flavor to the team.

While Justin Hammer doesn't have an alter ego in the comics, he could take on the role of Titanium Man like he does in the animated show, Iron Man Armored Adventures.

My only gripe is the name is a little too close to Titania, so I recommend he takes on the name Mach-1, the alter ego of the Beetle when he joined the Thunderbolts.

While he is not The Beetle, he is still a villain pretending to be a hero, and several have taken on the name of Mach-1, so I think it'll be fine.

With just a few notable changes, my MCU team is now complete.

We now have heroes and villains from across the MCU, all with unique skills, powers, tools and motivations.

And once they all suit up...

They'll make one hell of a team.

Thank you so much for reading! Please consider following, and check out my socials and other sites here! And let me know: Who do you think should be on the Thunderbolts*?