#she disintegrated with the demogorgon???

[temptingfatetakingnames]

The Last Steve Harrington Part 12

AO3 Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11

The sky was red and Eddie was terrified.

He was doing his best on defense – his connection to the bats through Vecna allowed him to influence them – but there were just too many. If he had more time to practice he probably could have kept them back but as it was he was barely keeping up with the ones making it through their lines. He could fully influence only one at a time, so he had to wait until one got close to his friends before he could order it to fuck off. Which meant that everyone was suffering from various bites and tail marks but at least no one had been dragged away and strangled. It also meant he had to constantly whip his head around to keep his eyes on everyone. Nancy, Hopper, Joyce, and Johnathan were doing a good job shooting them down but he knew their ammunition could only last so long.

In the middle of it all, a child and a monster locked eyes, a battle raging between them that no one else could see. The strain of it was clear on their faces. Vecna – inhuman and snarling. Eleven – blood dripping from her nose and tiring. She was losing. Her hands shook as she held them out in front her, and a harsh gasp escaped her clenched teeth as she fell to one knee. Vecna approached her slowly, a grin stretching across his evil face. He thought it was over, he thought he had won.

Eddie turned, as if in slow motion, to see Steve suddenly break through the swarm and approach Vecna from behind. Quiet as a ninja. He swung that god damned nail bat at him like it was Excalibur, nothing but pure determination on his face. He must have known it wasn’t going to kill him, probably wouldn’t even hurt him but that wasn’t his goal. Vecna turned to strike at him, and it gave Eleven the opening she needed to get back on her feet.

Steve went flying and Eleven screamed with more rage than Eddie had ever heard from another person. Her eyes went black and the ground caved in around her feet. In that moment of distraction, with Vecna still turned away from her, she put everything she had left into an attack…and Vecna stumbled as Steve hit the ground with a sickening crunch.

Eleven threw her arms out wide and then brought her hands together in a resounding clap that echoed out around her. Everyone fell to their knees as the world went still and silent. Her eyes were still black when she opened them and walked to where Vecna lay on the ground. Tilting his head up to her, he said something that Eddie couldn’t hear. Eleven calmly pointed her finger at his forehead and Eddie watched in awe as he disintegrated before his eyes. Like a wave expanding around her, bats and Demogorgons fell to the ground before they disintegrated too.

Eddie clutched at his chest, a new fear gripping him that with Vecna gone his own tether to life would be cut. But the wave continued around him and he still breathed. Sunlight broke through the clouds, beaming down in patches as the red glow started to dissipate.

“Steve!” Dustin screamed and ran to where he was laying on the ground. He skidded to a stop, and Eddie could see the way his fingers shook as he gently turned Steve over. His chest was rising and falling, but the sound coming out of his throat was labored and wet. Eddie didn’t know much, but he knew that was a bad sound. Dustin pulled Steve’s head into his lap before his fingers moved over his chest, unsure.

“How do I look, Henderson?” Steve asked through the blood filling his mouth.

“You’re gunna be fine,” Dustin lied. Just like he had lied to Eddie. “But you have to get up, okay?”

“Kay,” Steve replied softly.

Dustin pushed his arm under his shoulders and tried to lift him. “Come on!”

Steve tried to help him but his strength gave out and he cried out in pain. Dustin laid him back down, hands fluttering uselessly over his ruined chest.

“Stop, please stop,” Steve said through gasping breaths.

Dustin looked down, tears in his eyes. Steve smiled up at him brightly.

“She got him, right?” he asked.

“Yeah, Steve. She got him.”

“Good… It’s alright, Dustin,” Steve choked out. “It’s alright. I love you...”

“I love you, too.”

Steve closed his eyes, tears slipping out between his lashes and his breathing grew even more labored… and then…

…it stopped.

“Steve?”

“Steve?”

“Steve!” Dustin screamed.

The sky was blue and the sun was warm and Steve Harrington was dead.

Eddie woke with the sound of Dustin’s scream still echoing in his ears. He hadn’t dreamed of that night in a long time. He sighed and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes before he got out of bed. Wayne was already asleep for the day, so he was quiet as he moved through the trailer.

He blinked wearily at the coffee pot, surprised to see a fresh batch steaming on the counter. Wayne must have made it for him before he went to sleep. Good man. He poured himself a cup and took a sip as his eyes slowly adjusted to the light.

He hated mornings.

It was going to be a long day. It was boy’s night tonight which meant his home was going to be invaded by his little sheep.

And Steve.

Probably…

They were definitely going to try and get him to come. He was picking them all up at the Hopper-Byers’ after dinner. He figured there was a good chance of Steve agreeing. He had seemed better lately, more willing to try social encounters anyway.

Eddie thought about the look on his face at the junkyard when he had stopped laughing and started crying. Lost. Haunted. Grief so thick Eddie could feel it every time he was around him. He couldn’t imagine what he had gone through. Couldn’t imagine trying to live with the weight of it all. He was a stronger person than Eddie, that was for sure.

Steve Harrington.

Everything felt different with him back.

…but that wasn’t quite right, was it? Because he wasn’t back. The Steve that Eddie had known was still dead. Gone. Eddie had watched him die. This Steve was someone else, a stranger with a familiar face. He had fucked up with Steve in the hospital, he realized now. But he had been protecting Dustin, protecting them all – like his Steve would have wanted. A familiar face couldn’t be trusted just because it was familiar. Eddie absentmindedly fiddled with his necklace. He was glad he had apologized, but he didn’t regret his guardedness.

He wanted to ask Steve more about their history – or Steve’s and Eds’ history. But every goddamn time he was with Steve someone asked a stupid fucking question that made the man tense and freeze up or lash out with justified anger so Eddie just kept stewing in his curiosity. 

Steve was –

He didn’t know what Steve was.

Eddie sighed, set his mug down and went to change into his overalls. Those engines weren’t going to fix themselves.

---

Eddie was exhausted when he got home from work. The summer days were hot and his body was covered in a sheen of sweat. He stripped out of his clothes and turned the water on in the shower, leaving it on the cold side. Hopping in, he breathed a sigh of relief as the water hit his overheated skin. He closed his eyes and tipped his head back, enjoying the silence and feel of the water.

He didn’t hate the work, sometimes he actually enjoyed himself when something interesting came in. Most days sucked though. Endless oil changes and tire rotations and mindless work that didn’t challenge him. Better than working at the factory with Wayne, which had been his other option after graduating.

Sometimes, he still dreamed of leaving. Going to New York or Chicago. A big city with big ideas where someone like him didn’t have to hide as much.

Though, Hawkins wasn’t as bad as it used to be…

Now that he was out of high school his life felt like his own. He also had a much larger family than he ever could have expected to have. He and Wayne had open dinner invitations to so many houses they never had to cook again if they didn’t want to. Not that they took them up on it too often.

He finished washing, turned the water off and shook his hair out like a dog before he exited the shower. He wrapped a towel around his waist and went into his bedroom to get dressed. After donning his usual black attire, he grabbed his book off the shelf and threw himself down on his bed. He had a little time to himself before he had to go pick up the kids. Opening the book to where he had left off, Eddie read:

“If wishes were fishes we’d all cast nets,” he murmured. It was his mother’s expression and he always used it when he felt the blackness of tomorrow on him. Then he thought what an odd expression that was to be taking to a planet that had never known seas or fishes…

When the room started to get dark from the setting sun, Eddie put his book away and grabbed his keys. Wayne was in the kitchen, sipping a cup of coffee when he walked out.

“Mornin,” Wayne said.

“Evenin,’ Eddie said back.  

Wayne grunted at their overused joke.

“I’ll be outta here in a bit so you can do your ‘boy’s night,’ thing.”

“Breakfast with Frank?”

Wayne grunted again. He didn’t like mornings any more than Eddie did. Didn’t matter that his morning’s started at 7:00pm instead of 7:00am.

“See ya later, Uncle Wayne.”

Wayne waved him off and Eddie left. He hopped into his van, rolled down the windows and turned up the stereo up until he couldn’t hear himself think.

When he turned the corner onto the Hopper-Byers’ street, he saw all the boys waiting on the lawn. Steve in the middle of them all.

He was laughing.

Eddie pulled up to the curb and slowly came to a stop. The boys rushed the van, piling into the back and leaving the front seat for Steve. It wasn’t the first time they had done it, and Eddie was surprised at how soft the little brats were with him, how considerate.

“Hey Eddie,” Steve said as he jumped in. He looked good. His skin wasn’t so pale and he was starting to put on weight. Looking more every day like the Steve Eddie had known and not the gaunt skeletal man they had pulled out of an apocalyptic nightmare.

“Steve.” Eddie nodded to him. Steve smiled but winced a little and blinked a few times quickly. Crap. He reached for the radio dial and turned it down to a more normal level. The kids were screaming at each other in the back and Eddie side-eyed Steve to see how he was doing with the noise. He wasn’t squinting anymore so it must have been a bit better.

“How was work?” he asked.

Eddie told him about his day as they made their way to the trailer park. When he pulled up, the kids rushed out of the backseat before he had even put the van in park. They ran to the door, pushing and shoving and Eddie laughed as Lucas made it through the door first. Lucas usually won. Surprisingly, Will also got to the chair first a lot when he tried for it. Lucas was stronger but Will was scrappy.

Steve asked about the ritual and Eddie explained Wayne’s chair as they made their way inside.

---

When the first movie was over, they took a little break to get more snacks and use the bathroom before starting the next one. The kids were moving around the trailer but him and Steve were sitting on the couch.

“What was your Eddie like anyway? Was he like me?” Eddie couldn’t help but finally ask. He shoved a handful of popcorn in his mouth, embarrassed. He hoped that it wouldn’t make Steve uncomfortable or angry…

Eddie’s eyes widened as a grin spread across Steve’s face instead.

“Eds was great, really friendly and popular – more popular than I was! Captain of the baseball team, too.”

What.

The.

Fuck?

There was no universe where Eddie Munson would be captain of the goddamn baseball team. But Steve just sat there looking at him with that smile on his face and Eddie couldn’t help but think it was the horrifying truth.

“Were you not the captain of the baseball team?” he asked with a confused tilt to his head.

It made sense in some ways why Steve and Eds would be friends though, if he had been so different from Eddie.

“No!” Dustin screamed in indignation on his behalf and Steve burst into laughter.

“Got you!” the asshole said and wiped the tears of mirth from his eyes.

“What the hell, Steve?” Lucas yelled.

Steve just kept laughing maniacally. It was the happiest Eddie had ever seen him. And if it had to come at Eddie’s expense? Well, that was fine with him. Steve had a beautiful laugh, full and warm.

“Good one, Steve,” Eddie said and smiled at him just as wide. It was good to see him acting more like himself… or more like Steve?

Shit.

Multiverses were confusing.  

“I knew Eds a lot longer than I’ve known you but from what I’ve seen so far, you two are pretty similar.” Steve paused and speared Eddie with the intensity of his gaze. “Huge nerds with a rough exterior but damn big hearts.”

Eddie felt a blush rising to his cheeks at the heartfelt words so he pulled his hair in front of his face to hide it.

Steve got up and went to the bathroom. Dustin was staring at his back as he walked away, a smile hovering on his lips.

“Captain of the baseball team, my ass,” Eddie said to Dustin who laughed loudly.

“He seems better, doesn’t he?” Dustin asked and looked at Eddie, a hopeful tone in his voice.

Eddie wasn’t so sure about that. He thought Steve might always be one bad question or one bad day away from a complete breakdown. He knew he would be if their positions were reversed. But the joking and laughter was new and could be a sign that Steve was healing.

He nodded. “Yeah, he seems to be better.”

“I wish there was more we could do.”

“You’re doing fine,” Eddie said to him and then turned to the rest of the boys. “You’re all doing fine. Keep talking to him, inviting him to things. Don’t push if he says no. Maybe try not to yell so much in the van, yeah?”

They stared at him in confusion and he sighed. For smart kids they were pretty dumb sometimes. Eddie tapped his head and said, “he’s been hit in the head as many times as our Steve, so he probably gets the same migraines. I’ve noticed him wincing at loud noises.”

“Shit,” Lucas said, eyes wide. “I totally forgot about that.”

“Me too,” Dustin said, looking crestfallen.

Steve had died more than a year ago now. It made sense that they would start to forget things about him. The first time Steve got in his van, Eddie saw the tightening around his eyes and it immediately reminded him of their Steve – of the pain in his eyes that he tried to hide from everyone. He had eventually told them all about the migraines he got and the kids had got better at not screaming in enclosed places. But over time, they had stopped because there hadn’t been a need to be quiet anymore.

Will walked over and sat down beside Eddie and said, “he never tells us how he’s really feeling. When we ask, he always says ‘better,’ with a look on his face that makes us think he’s lying. Why won’t he talk to us?”

Eddie took a moment to think about what to say. After Vecna he had hated the question, ‘how are you?’ and he imagined Steve did too.

“It might not be a lie, Byers,” he said. “It’s just not the whole truth. His feelings are probably complicated and he doesn’t know how to talk about them. I didn’t know how to talk about mine after Vecna. Like I said, just keep doing what you’re doing. It’s going to take time.” 

Will nodded. “Thanks, Eddie.”

Dustin and Lucas came over and started settling down on the floor when Steve walked back into the room. He took the spot on the other side of Will. When everyone was ready, Eddie jumped up to change the tape. His foot caught on the edge of the carpet and he fell to the side, he grabbed onto the table trying to catch himself but ended up knocking the popcorn off and he still fell hard into the edge.  

“Jesus, rolled a ‘nat’ one on that dexterity check, Eddie,” Steve said.

Eddie’s eyes widened at the joke and he turned to look at Steve. The room was quiet as they all seemed to absorb what he said.

“What did you just say?” Dustin asked.

“It was a D&D joke,” Steve replied. “You do play D&D right?”

“Do we play D&D?” Dustin spluttered. “Of course we do! Do you!?”

“With Eds as a boyfriend and all of you gremlins as my friends you think I could get away with not playing? Not a chance.”

Eddie froze at the words, stunned. Steve said them so easily: With Eds as a boyfriend. They echoed in his ears. He still couldn’t quite believe he had heard them. The boys were freaking out but their voices faded into the background as Eddie’s mind spun.

Eds had been Steve’s boyfriend.  

Eddie Munson and Steve Harrington had been together in another universe.

He thought back to the hospital when he had first met Steve, when he called him Eds. There was an emotion in his eyes that Eddie hadn’t been able to name at the time. A desolation that he hadn’t understood…

“I play a half-orc half human barbarian named Chuggington, but his friends call him Chug.” A pause and then, “and yeah, me and Eds were dating.”

Eddie hadn’t heard the question, but Steve’s answer cut through the haze. Only a brief hesitation and he once again said words that would terrify Eddie to speak. Me and Eds were dating. He said it so casually – the sky is blue and the grass is green and me and Eds were dating.

And of course, he named his character fucking Chugginton. Chuggington! Classic Steve –

…But it wasn’t, was it? Eddie couldn’t reconcile it. A Steve who played D&D and dated boys wasn’t the Steve he had known. But then he went and named his character Chuggington? Well, that just screamed Steve.

And the thought wormed its way in before he could stop it – that if, just maybe, he had met Steve a little earlier – that it could have been them?

Nope.

He needed to leave. Go outside and collect himself. He stood up, feeling everyone looking at him. He didn’t say anything, just slipped outside. He could finally place the emotion in Steve’s eyes that day at the hospital…

Heartbreak.

Steve had looked at him like his goddamn heart was breaking.

He took a deep breath and sat down on the steps of his trailer. Reaching into his pocket he took out his cigarettes and lighter, his hand only shaking a little. The wind picked up suddenly and it took him a few tries to get the flame to catch on his cigarette. He took a puff and blew the smoke out into the air.

The door opened and closed behind him and Steve took a seat at his side. Because that was something they did now; follow each other onto porch steps to have deep conversations.

“You didn’t tell them?” he asked.

“I didn’t know,” Eddie replied.

Steve reached into the neckline of his shirt and pulled out the twin to the necklace sitting around his own neck. “This didn’t give it away?”

It dangled from Steve’s fingers and Eddie stared at it. Steve knew the story behind it. Eddie had lied when he said it wasn’t the same. It represented the first time Eddie had a family and a home. He should have put it together. Eds had given it to Steve, which meant Steve had been his family. It just hadn’t crossed his mind that they could have been dating. Close friends, he thought, was the only possibility.

“I knew he cared about you, but not how much. I guess I couldn’t wrap my head around a universe where Steve Harrington was with Eddie Munson.”

It was the truth and spoke to an insecurity that had haunted Eddie since high school. Being with someone like Steve wasn’t even a fantasy he had allowed himself. Perfect, popular, golden boy Steve dating outcast, satanist, Eddie the Freak? Not possible.

“There was at least one,” Steve said and smiled at him, his gaze soft. “Sorry if I made things weird.”

Eddie couldn’t fight back his sigh. “Things have been weird for a long time, Steve.”

Understatement of the goddamn century. Talking to a multiverse traveling Steve Harrington who had been dating him was the tip of the iceberg. Eddie had come back from the dead possessed by an evil overlord so his perspective might be a little skewed, though. Steve looked up at the sky and Eddie looked out at the trailer park, unsure where to go from here. He took another puff of his cigarette before holding it out to Steve. He didn’t notice, still looking up so Eddie cleared his throat. Steve looked down at the cigarette for a moment, a strange look on his face, before taking it.

Damn it, he had to ask.

“So…you’re? –” he couldn’t finish the question. Luckily, he didn’t have to.

“Bisexual,” Steve answered easily as he passed the cigarette back.

“Cool cool,” Eddie said and looked away to take a drag. Bisexual…. Made sense. It would be the perfect moment to tell Steve that he was queer too, that they had that in common. But the words got stuck in his throat. Wayne was the only person who knew. The thought of saying the words to Steve made his heart squeeze painfully in his chest. He wasn’t ready.

The moment passed and they traded the cigarette back and forth until there was nothing left of it.

When he reached down to pick up the ash tray on the bottom step he noticed Steve’s socks – and the handle of the steak knife that was sticking out of it.

“Why is there a steak knife in your sock?”

---

Eddie had drifted off during the second movie. The heat really sapped his energy in the summer and he hadn’t slept well the night before. A scream jerked him into wakefulness and he turned to look around. Dustin had stolen Wayne’s chair at some point and Mike and Lucas were lying on the floor. The couch beside him was empty. Will and Steve were in the kitchen, talking in low tones with their heads close together.

He couldn’t make out what they were talking about but Will looked like he was a second away from crying. Eddie was about to get up and see what was going on when Steve suddenly pulled Will into his arms. He thought his lips were saying, “it’s going to be okay,” but he couldn’t be sure.

Eddie felt his heart soften at the sight. He had noticed the way Will was around Mike and could guess what had prompted the conversation. It was good that he was talking to Steve. The other boys were all engrossed in the movie and missed the tears and hug. A good thing, Eddie thought, they would probably tease and make jokes about it. He turned back to the movie to give them a little more privacy.

It took Will and Steve a minute to gather themselves but they eventually came back over and settled on the couch.

“What’d we miss?” Steve asked quietly.

Dustin hushed him harshly.

Steve just smiled and rolled his eyes before looking over at Eddie.

“The doctors sedated her after she had an episode,” Eddie whispered. “They still don’t know what’s wrong.”

“She really messed up her back doing that stunt,” Dustin said.

“Hey, you can’t shush me and then bring up your little facts.”

“My facts enhance the movie watching experience! You were interrupting for no good reason.”

“Shh!” Lucas said nudging Dustin’s shoulder.

Eddie chuckled under his breath.

He managed to stay awake for the rest of the movie. When the credits rolled, he yawned and stood up, stretching out his tired muscles.

“I’m going to bed,” he said to the room. “You can watch another movie if you want but pull out the couch and make the bed now in case you fall asleep.”

He turned to Steve. “You good to sleep with me?” he asked and then grimaced. Why did he have to word it like that!?

Steve blinked a little in surprise. “Yeah, I’m good with that.”

“Coming now or staying up for another one?”

“Now, it was hard enough staying awake through the last one.”

Eddie left the boys to manage the pull-out couch and went into the bathroom to brush his teeth and relieve himself. Steve went in after him, and Eddie headed into the living room to see how the boys were making out. The four of them were piled into the bed, Wayne’s chair abandoned. The third and final movie played on the television.

“Night,” Eddie said and turned back to his room, their chorused ‘good nights’ following him.

Steve was already tucked into his bed, against the wall, when Eddie went in. He was sitting up, his bare chest showing off his healing scars. He had filled out a little more since the lake, his ribs no longer sticking out in such stark definition but he still had a long way to go. He had Eddie’s book in his hands and was reading the back cover.

“I don’t think it’s something you’d like,” Eddie said.

Steve looked up and shrugged. “It might be. I’ve been reading a lot of fantasy lately. Dustin leant me a bunch of books.”

Eddie hummed. “I’ll give it to you when I’m done.”

Steve nodded and handed him the book. Eddie put it on the table before flicking off the light and turning on the fan. He crawled into bed. He was hyper-aware of Steve beside him. The solid warmth of his presence. He had been tired out in the other room, but adrenaline was coursing through him now. Questions he wanted to ask kept running through his head.

“I can hear you thinking,” Steve whispered.

“No, you can’t.”

A little chuckle from the darkness.

“I guess I just don’t understand you.”

“What do you mean?”

“How much you’re like the Steve that I knew and how much you’re different from him.”

“Oh, that! Welcome to my constant dilemma with all of you.”

“Fucking multiverses, right?”

“I had another Eleven come and see me. Skinny little thing with a big scar on her face, popped out of a portal right in front of me!”

“No way!” Eddie exclaimed. “What did she want? Did she try to steal you for her universe?”

Steve laughed. “No, she didn’t try and steal me,” he said and the paused. “She just wanted to know I was alright. She was happy to find me, must have been looking just as long as the Eleven here had been.”

“Wow…” Eddie said and then trailed off. “Do you think more will come?”

A deep breath and release of air from Steve.

“Yeah…I think so,” he replied.   

Eddie’s heart ached. They loved Steve so much. Eleven said she had visited thousands of different universes looking for him, had absolutely refused to give up. Which meant there were thousands of Eleven’s out there looking – another constant alongside Steve sacrificing himself.

Steve Harrington died.

And Eleven wouldn’t stop looking for him.

Eddie was grateful that he seemed to be adjusting, he didn’t know what would have happened if he kept insisting they take him back. Steve was stricken with grief, sad and angry most of the time but he was slowly starting to open up to them. Was slowly starting to tell them about himself and Eddie found that he was grateful for the chance to know him.

Part 13

@just-a-tiny-void @mx-jinxous @child-of-cthulhu @awholedamnmesstbh @phoenix0bird @queenie-ofthe-void @bookworm0690 @estrellami-1 @hbyrde36 @a-gae-af-racoon @nailbatandfreak @newtstabber @novelnovella @meela86 @lenathegay @vampireinthesun @penny00dreadful @questionablequeeries @espressopatronum454 @r0binscript @seths-rogens @fruity-nerd @sani-86 @n0-1-important @swimmingbirdrunningrock @ellietheasexylibrarian @manda-panda-monium @paintsplatteredandimperfect @viridianphtalo @goodolefashionedloverboi @13catastrophic-blues

-Sorry for the delay on this chapter! Life got a bit hectic. -I'm having a bit of a dilemma on some plot point I might want to include and I'm wondering if anyone out there would be cool with me bouncing ideas off them? You would have to be okay with me spoiling bits of the story but if you are at all interested shoot me a pm! -Happy Holidays and thanks for reading!

[erikiara80]

I made a post a few months ago about Will's eyes. At the beginning of S2 they're hazel, but in the shed scene they're brown, and most people believe that it's because he's possessed and the Mind Flayer is controlling him.

But this is Billy's eye when he's possessed. The color never changes.

My theory was that maybe the brown eyes are a hint that Will has powers, since El's eye color changes too, and only when she's using all her powers.

In S1, when she disintegrates the Demogorgon

And in S2, when she closes the gate. She's even a bit veiny, like Will, in the same episode (a hint that powers are connected to the UD?)

But then I remembered the Missing poster in S1. Will's eyes are brown, not hazel.

So, what if the Will we see in the shed scene has always had brown eyes?

Maybe the writers knew they could use his possession to hide the truth in plain sight. The existence of another timeline.

[erikiara80]

And yet the eye color of the other possessed people don’t change, in S3. 

Strange. 

Billy’s eyes, Ms Driscoll’s (not even when she was screaming like a banshee at the hospital), Heather’s, her mom’s. None of the Flayed’s eye color changed. 

Only Will’s. And Eleven’s. El’s eye color changed in 1x08, when she used all her powers to disintegrate the Demogorgon.

And in 2x09, when she used all her powers to close the gate

The parallels between these two... I’m very curious to see if they’ll explain this detail in S5.

“Since the eyes are the window to the soul, physical changes can affect the eyes of a possessed person. Eye color (such as just the irises) can change to different but natural colors. The entire eye itself [may become] infected by black.” x

[erin-bo-berin]

still thinking about how joyce prolly got home from what happened with the mind flayer and will and was probably hungry and she opened her fridge 😭😭 to see a whole ass demogorgon 😭😭 im sorry but its funny because i was watching season 2 ep 9 and dustin and steve were bickering about it

I often wonder what happened to that demodog in the Byers’ fridge 😂 I know when El closed the gate it killed all the dogs and all but I don’t think they actually disintegrated or anything because of that small scene where we saw Dart dead next to the Three Musketeers wrapper (which as crazy as it sounds breaks my heart because he was once cute as a baby 😭) so I’m just imagining like you said her opening her fridge and finding a dead demodog LMAO I really hope Steve made Dustin explain to Joyce because that would’ve been hilarious.

[kurokoros]

Working on outlining season 2 of the ST rewrite and I’m just the conflicted troy meme like do I kill El off at the end of S1 because her plots keep getting worse or do I fuck around and try to fix things even if that means having to do a bunch of shit from scratch???

[willel]

Unfortunately, I still hear whispers saying "People just copy all of El's traits onto Will" and it bothers me endlessly. YOU DON'T GET IT. AT ALL. And you'll probably never read this, but I'm going to type it out anyway.

The point is NOT to copy El's traits onto Will! The point is that Will ALREADY has a lot in common with El! TVTropes is not an official source, but have you looked at their trait list? They've been mirror each other since season 1! Their similarities only become more obvious as each season progresses.

Let's look at some and you tell me if it's really that ridiculous to point out how similar they are.

Beware the Nice Ones: Will is a polite, sweet kid. However, the very first episode shows that when he was threatened by an unknown entity, he immediately ran into a shed to load a gun, and then point it in the direction of said entity. Beware the Nice Ones: Her sweet natured and mellow personality is genuine, but so is the fiery temper she has deep down; push her too far and this girl will not hesitate to melt your brain with a literal Death Glare. Also overlaps with Beware the Quiet Ones.

Does "Beware the Nice Ones" seem ridiculous to you? Does this seem like something someone just made up for the sake of ships or to copy El's traits onto Will? If you want to get logical here, Will's example came before El's did in the show, not that it matters because IT ISN'T COPYING, it's just similar.

Heroic Sacrifice: His D&D character, "Will the Wise", performs a heroic sacrifice during their game in the first episode, a fact which Mike uses to convince his friends to continue the search for Will even when it gets dangerous. He was also willing to die in order to close the gate on the Mind Flayer. Heroic Sacrifice: In "The Upside-Down", El, already exhausted from repeated use of her powers to protect Mike, Lucas, and Dustin, finds herself faced with the Demogorgon about to kill her friends. In response, she pins it against a wall before disintegrating it, but seemingly dies herself in the process. She's Not Quite Dead, though, and returns in Season 2.

They both made a pretty important heroic sacrifice, thinking they were giving up their lives to help their friends and family. Are we gonna pretend like they DIDN'T do that? Even Hopper has his heroic sacrifice moment. We gonna pretend like he didn't because it'd be "copying El"???

Daddy's Girl: She becomes this in Season 2 to Hopper after a year living together, some healthy, plentiful bickering, and her going "runaway-train" on him. When he ends up (apparently) dying in Season 3, she is utterly devastated. Momma's Boy: If having your head screwed-on enough to survive what he goes through, partly thanks to how Joyce has raised him to keep going in a physical and emotional crisis by seeking support, is being a Momma's Boy, then his dad is right.

Season 2 played these tropes so clearly. Every scene that Joyce had with Will was pretty much mirrored with Hopper and El. You know what happens right after that scene where Joyce catches Will in a lie, gets him to confess, and has him crying in his arms? It switches right to Hopper being the opposite of Joyce and not handling the situation well, resulting in El tossing stuff around and crying in her room.

Even at the end of the season, we get Joyce hugging Will so tightly after that terrible ordeal. It's followed by El hugging Hopper after using all her strength to close the gate. Will and El are hugging their parents in the exact same way, on the same shoulder and everything. Guys please. IT'S NOT COPYING, IT'S ON PURPOSE.

Nice Guy: Even though Will spends most of Season 1 trapped in the Upside-Down, he is still shown to be an honest and kind person. Before his taking in the first episode, he admits to Mike that the former's roll landed on a seven and finished him off in their D&D game. When he's rescued and hospitalized near the end of Chapter 8, one of the first things he does when he wakes up is ask if his brother is okay when he sees Jonathan's bandaged hand. Nice Girl: She has a strong sense of right and wrong, even when she has been almost completely socially deprived for most of her life. She also lacks malicious intent and does her best to help and protect her friends, though she goes overboard a couple of times.

If anyone tries to argue Will and El aren't good sweet kids and that this is just "copying El", then you're just straight up completely wrong. They've always been nice, good, and sweet. BOTH OF THEM. Yes, they have their moments, but so does literally everyone else.

The Quiet One: Not to the same extent as El, but he's definitely on the quiet side. The only times he talks at length are when he's around his closest friends and family or when he's being asked about the Mind Flayer; otherwise, he usually hangs back and lets other people do the talking. The Quiet One: Given her upbringing, she's a quiet girl, usually talking only when spoken to and during times of conflict, often preferring hand gestures to get her point across. She's more vocal in Season 2, which in no small part seems to be due to being around Hopper for nearly a year and picking up a lot more vocabulary from him. By the beginning of Season 3, Eleven can talk like a normal girl her age, though she tends toward the terse side, and she sometimes struggles with pronunciation. However, she struggles to articulate herself when stressed, and nearly becomes mute when interrogated by police in Season 4 which… does not help her case with them.

Like... come on. Are you really about to pretend like Will and El aren't the super quiet ones of the group??? You really think this is just "copying El's traits onto Will"??

Trauma Conga Line

Not even gonna copy and paste that one, it's two long for both of them and UNDENIABLY TRUE FOR BOTH.

Unwitting Instigator of Doom

Another undeniably fact that they both caused some oopsies with the Upside Down shennanigans. First it was El. Then it was Will. Then it's El again in season 4. Who knows, maybe it'll switch back to Will again. Either way, IT APPLIES TO BOTH OF THEM and HAS applied to both of them since at least season 2.

For now, I will leave it there. I did not include all of them, nor do I feel inspired to compare the tropes that are very similar for the sake of this essay. I did it in the past and maybe I'll do it again in the future.

It's not a theory that they're similar. It's not something fans are doing because "misogyny" or "because ships". It's literal. It's official. This from the Duffers:

In the episode, Will unveils his painting from Volume 1 and explains the complexities of El and Mike's feelings for each other. To Mike, he's talking about Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), but for Will, Jonathan (Charlie Heaton), and the audience, we can see that he's also talking about himself. The Duffer Brothers both wrote and directed these final two episodes, and through this scene, in particular, they use a variety of camera angles to create a sense of duality on top of Will's speech.

source: https://collider.com/stranger-things-season-4-will-byers-speech-car-scene-sexuality-duffer-brothers-comments/

Ignoring the shipping aspects of this (for the love of god PLEASE focus on the characters here), they are creating a duality between Will and El on purpose.

Will and El are MEANT to be similar, yes, even down to their love lives unfortunately. They have similar personalities. Similar interests. They're similar people, period.

Have you all never got invested in two character who are very similar interacting with each other or forming a familial bond??? Have you never enjoyed some found family??? Do you scoff at the idea of found siblings or not-actually-twins twins? Like???

I'm so confused how you see all these similarities between the characters and what they've gone through and you come away from that thinking, "You're just coping El" or "You just don't want to support a female character". ??????????

The point of them being similar is to BE SIMILAR TOGETHER. That requires TWO characters who are not identical, but SIMILAR ENOUGH.

Will and El HAVE similar trauma because of the Upside Down and the lab. Literally Will was so tired of the tests and questioning that he begged Joyce not to take him back after he that horrible experience in the field in episode 2. Even that wasn't enough to make him want to go back to that place where El was held captive for years and experienced the same stuff. Will KNOWS what it's like.

Will and El have similar personalities. We already discussed them above. Quiet. Kind. Self sacrificial. A little bit snarky when they want to be. Genuinely good kids who easily pass as siblings raised by the same mother. What, is El copying Will now cause she got some bowl cut bangs??? Of course not.

Will and El have/had similar parent dynamics. Season 2 did not spend all that time comparing and contrasting Joyce and Hopper's parenting styles for you to be like "You're just coping El and Hopper's bond." El and Hopper's bond isn't the same as Joyce and Will's bond, it's just similar! As for Hopper and Will, in season 1 and season 2 we saw Hopper step up as a protector and savior for Will, but obviously it's not quite like being a father for him. Still, it was cute that he called him "buddy", showed up to all their appointments at the lab, and carried him around while he was unconscious. Not to mention Will ALSO be paralleled with Sara in season 1 as Hopper and Joyce were trying to resuscitate him. 🙄. I almost take back what I said, Will and Hopper do have a connection, but it still isn't like El and Hopper's.

Will and El are BOTH tied to the Upside Down and the supernatural and have been since the beginning of the show. All of these similarities of theirs? All of it leads back to Henry Creel.

Yeah, I saw some people saying "You're copying El's connection to Henry!" Please sit down and listen.

Just because Will and Henry unfortunately met in 1983 does not suddenly erase all the events leading up to El yeeting Henry through that gate in 1979???? Do you think Will just took a dry erase board and washed all of that away???????? Don't you see how ridiculous that is???

It's CONFIRMED that Will and Henry are tied. We saw with our own eyes how El and Henry are tied. These three are a trifecta of crazy shenanigans that is finally coming to a head, but all you can think about is "They're just copying El"??? SIGH

The conclusion you should be drawing from this is not "Will is copying from El" or "Will is stealing her spotlight" or "If you like WillEl you're probably misogynist" or whatever else you're implying.

You should be realizing that Will is the backup and support El has always needed to defeat this uniquely powerful foe. Just her strength isn't enough to undo all the harm he has done. We've seen her strength and her power. It is unmatched.

But as Will once said, "Sometimes, the bad guys are smart too."

It will take more than her power this time, wouldn't be nice if you know... she had a partner who can take care of the "background noise" so that she can focus on the front lines??? Doesn't that not sound cool? Is that not a satisfying conclusion to all their similarities and parallels rather than making this about your ship wars with Michael Wheeler?

I'm asking you to think big. Think Vecna. Think plot. Think story. Think conclusions. Stop thinking small and digging your heads in the sand. You could be enjoying this story and these characters so much more if you didn't determine their worth and their story through the lense of your ships.

I'm asking people to stop saying WillEl is the equivalent of copying El or being misogynist. I'm asking people to stop using WillEl for their ships. Let them be individuals who can come together to defeat the big bad and live happily ever after with their family, friends, and loved ones.

[crazy-shapes]

ST Vol 2 SPOILERS

I just finished Vol 2, so here are some thoughts.

- The Vecna scream when the Demodogs and Demogorgon got set on fire was so fucking funny

-Why do they continue to do Will so dirty 💀 He got so many cringe-y, over dramatic lines.

-I thought Will pretending that El had asked for the painting to help her and Mike’s relationship was actually really interesting. . . but Will sobbing while Mike was oblivious was so hilarious and sad.

- the lipstick on Robin’s teeth while she was making sandwiches and talking to Vickie was so distracting

-Why did they have to kill Eddie!?!?!? It was so unnecessary. It felt like they did it just for the drama. He wasn’t even posthumously proven innocent. Gutted.

-The scenes with Lucas and Max in the Creel House were top tier. Caleb was right when he said that Sadie was the best actor. They both did amazing.

-Getting to see Lucas and Erica be siblings was really nice.

-Watching Johnathan awkwardly standing in the background of 90% of the reunions while everyone else hugged killed me.

- Jason got let off too easy. Sure, he got ripped in half and disintegrated, but that wasn’t enough.

- the very serious montage of the groups getting ready to fight Vecna with cut scenes of Argyle making a pizza 💀

- the Cali crew returning to Hawkins and dramatically getting out of the van, acting like they fucking did anything.

- the Mike and Hopper Moment was sweet, I’ll give ‘em that.

- The Will and Johnathan heart to heart was sweet too. . . . . But also anytime someone spoke to Will for more than five seconds he started crying. Like, can someone please get him help? I get it, his entire personality is apparently Sad™️ and Gay™️ but it’s getting ridiculous at this point.

- Joyce and Hopper!!!! Finally.

- I like these new Russian friends and was incredibly surprised when neither of them died. . . But I’m sure they’ll be done for in S5. Or just won’t be in S5.

- The parallels of Henry’s Mind Flayer drawing and Will’s!!!

- I loved all of your theories for why Karen had her own poster. Haha.

- Max’s monologue about Billy was actually really good and made sense to their narrative. I see that the Billy apologists aren’t liking it too much tho.

- I’m all for Steve and Nancy ok, but it got too much for me to handle without eye rolling.

- Why were there so many weird filler conversations? They seemed out of place and like they were just trying to throw little character facts out to the audience.

-Why does Mike always look so confused?

- Robin and Vickie are gonna be endgame.

- Robin slow mo throwing the Molotov cocktail and then Nancy firing the shotgun into Vecna was fucking next level.

- Dustin screaming for Eddie as Eddie cut the sheet and moved the mattress so Dustin couldn’t come back in after him. So good.

- Does Argyle not have a family he needs to contact?

- El saying Goodbye to Brenner instead of answering him was Boss AF.

-I loved that Vecna showed Nancy his entire life story and what he was planning to do to Hawkins and was like “go and tell the young girl who I’m creepily obsessed with cause she beat me in a fight once that I’m gonna destroy the world in a tantrum.” And Nancy just said ‘Nah.’

Ok that’s it for now. I’ll shitpost more later.

[flaringgoosebumps]

A demogorgon would've just ate Will Byers but we saw his bike move, we saw the lock unlock itself. Only hearing the demogorgon behind him before he disappeared.

Time literally stopped the day he disappeared in the UD, which made it look like a hell demension. If Vecna's main goal was to kill Eleven, wouldn't he have done that when she disintegrated into the UD in the s1 finale.

Can't wait to see what they do tbh

[jancys-blue-bayou]

Maybe i'm missing something with that whole El sending Peter to the UD thing please explain then. But like, it looked like when she dealt with the Demogorgon in s1, with him disintegrating and then it looked like a portal-thingy on the wall? And he goes to the UD. But like, is that not a gate to the UD then? Or a portal, like the temporary portals? But it’s some contact with the other dimension at least? Either way it undercuts the gravity and weight of s1. Like the gate opening then was a huge deal, First contact with another dimension but uh, this makes it not? Or?

Does this explain anything about why time in the UD stopped when El opened the gate in s1? That that gate was different than the portal or whatever created when Peter went into the UD? Because I don’t get why time wouldn’t have stopped in the UD at first tear in space and time, which must’ve occured when Peter went into the UD?

[hawkinspostbite]

letter 001

Billy,

Everything fucking sucks.

I just verbalized that too.

You weren’t in Hawkins long enough to uncover the truth about what happens behind closed doors.

To the vast majority, Hawkins was normal. Plain as can be.

For you it was normal. Nothing spectacular.

No golden sandy beaches, or salted air. You couldn’t do any of the things you enjoyed here. So I know you know it sucks too.

But there’s so much more than a quiet little town here. Hawkins is dangerous. There are monster around every corner, and they appear when you least expect it.

And I don’t mean metaphorical monsters. I mean literal monsters. Ones made of flesh and blood, just like us. They hunt us down and take us out, every year there’s more. Nobody knows what to do, nobody can come to an answer. And those that do know what’s going on, are sworn to secrecy. So if anyone were to ever see this, I’ll be dead.

Almost three years ago, Will went missing. He was riding his bike home from the Wheeler’s, and vanished. A few days later, a body was recovered from the quarry, and everyone thought it was Will’s. But it wasn’t.

It was a decoy, set up by the Hawkins lab.

We mourned him, had a funeral, he was dead.

On the second night that Will was missing, we found a girl in the woods. It was pouring down rain, and she was in the middle of the woods, alone, and only wearing a t-shirt.

It was Eleven.

She helped us find Will, find the truth. The truth that he wasn’t actually dead.

He was somewhere in an alternate universe. Trapped and alone, and being stalked by a creature.

The creature traveled between lands, hunting us. Nancy, Jonathan, Steve, they fought the monster and scared it away.

Chief Hopper and Mrs. Byers rescued Will from the Upside Down (which is what we called the other place.)

Eleven wasn’t as lucky as the rest of us. She was young, she hadn’t been able to harness her powers to their full ability. Any overextension of herself left her drained, sometimes she could hardly walk.

But she persevered, she disintegrated the Demogorgon with no effort, but not before it dragged her back to the Upside Down with her.

We were devastated when she was gone, but she didn’t stay away for too long.

The next fall, when you moved here, things got bad again.

Will began having attacks of anxiety, he would lash out, and when he wasn’t in one of his episodes he was quiet. He didn’t speak to anyone.

He was being possessed by the Mind Flayer, another creature from the Upside Down. It had latched itself onto him when he was in the Upside Down, and knew the perfect time to make an appearance.

It unleashed an army of Demo-dogs (not fully-grown spawn of the Demogorgon). They killed Bob, Mrs. Byers’s boyfriend, one attacked me. That’s what the scar on my thigh is from. Not from a tree branch.

(And I forgot to mention that Dustin fostered a Demo-dog before it was full-grown. But then it ate his cat and escaped.)

That’s why the Hawkins lab is condemned. It was a blood-bath.

But El came back. She used her powers to close the gate between worlds, and finally we were safe again.

Everything happened right under your nose and you had no idea.

I should’ve told you. I should’ve kept you safe.

There was so much more I could’ve done.

Then came the summer. The happiest time in my life. This wasn’t how it was supposed to end.

We were supposed to be tackling senior year together. You should be playing your senior basketball season. You should be graduating this spring. You should be here.

As far as we know, you were possessed by the same thing Will was. The Mind Flayer.

But it didn’t use you, like it used Will. It destroyed you. It wore you down until you were nothing but a pile of blood and bones. No life, no joy, no future.

It made you do irreversible things. You killed people. You killed so many people.

And just when you had finally escaped, when you’d clawed your way to the surface, it broke you.

You are a hero, solidifying your fate. The moment you stood up to the creature, there was no other way out, except death.

And it really isn’t fair.

It’s not fair to have to go through this life without you. It’s not fair for you to be alone. You should be with the people you love, you should be here.

I didn’t attend your funeral.

I can hardly get out of bed.

I don’t eat, I don’t do much of anything.

I just think.

Thinking about what could’ve been. What should’ve been. All the things we said we were going to do, tossed into the fire and turned to ashes.

My parents are making me see a therapist.

I guess I’ve worried my brother enough that he felt it necessary to call in reinforcements. And after a grueling intervention, I agreed, although I don’t think it’s going to help.

So I’m writing this letter to you, in attempts to “give myself some closure.” To try and get over you. To try to make it go away.

It doesn’t seem to be working.

Love,

Kate

[glitterypinkconverse]

a “quick” volume 2 rant!!

why did they HAVE to kill off eddie? killing him off had literally no affect on the show, and even when dying the town still hates him. and is his body still in the upside down? like what

did they just forget about the road RIPPING APART? and there’s STILL people in hawkins? girl bye i would have packed my bags and left

“two days later” two days later my ass. that was so rushed and so poor. what literally happened those two days that was so unimportant?

i thought the upside down air was toxic. so how did they survive in the upside down ( apart from eddie, we love you man )? makes no sense

HOW THEIR TEETH ARE STILL WHITE AFTER NOT BRUSHING

why did no one apart from eddie’s uncle or dustin care about eddie’s death? or where eddie was? did the whole hellfire club and his band just forget about it or did dustin fill them in on it? same with robin, nancy, and steve

the correlation of “you are never going on vacation again” and hawkins being SPLIT apart. if anything mike’s mom should be GLAD that mike was gone and not there for it all to happen

vickie and robin. i would have loved their relationship if vickie didn’t have a bf and break robin’s heart.

steve and nancy. sure, they have unfinished romance but who gaf at a time where the world is about to end. the writers obv put that scene of steve and nancy in the upside down to get them somewhere, but it just makes no sense. they KNOW robin is a klutz and they would NEVER let robin run ahead of them, in fact they would be stressing out over the fact that their first child is running away when the world is ending and she would very easily step on a hive mind.

i was hoping there would be more backstory for henry, we barely know what dr. brenner did to him and el’s all like “brenners the monster, he made you who you are now”

MURRAY, ANTONOV, AND YURI. where are they?? did anotonov and yuri go back to russia all of a sudden or did they get caught by the americans? who knows

the upside down air filling hawkins and everyone thinking it’s snow. does it look like snow to you 🤨🤨

how the russians even got the demogorgon and the demodogs. i was hoping there would be more intel on it or at least explain how they got it.

byler. that scene in the car where will was talking about himself but saying it was all el broke me. all they’re doing is using will to get mileven somewhere. and i have a strong feeling jonathan knows that will is gay/queer/wtv he is atp

is dr. owens dead or alive? i’m assuming dead but it’s not confirmed

and the military plot. the whole sullivan thing got left unfilled and leads us with questions as to what happened there

max “dying” and el reviving her. poor girl is now stuck with broken limbs and can’t see. but when it happened to el she was fine??? because she had powers and was little??? so confused

NOW DONT GET ME STARTED ON THE FACT THAT LUCAS AND MAX WERE TALKING TO EACH OTHER VIA NOTES. that was the cutest fucking thing ever and they could have had EVERYTHING. they never got to see their movie on friday :(

i’m so glad jason died, respectfully. if jason left lucas and max alone max wouldn’t have died, the 4th gate wouldn’t have opened, and hawkins wouldn’t be covered with the upside down. i blame it all on jason. so glad his body got disintegrated 😊😊😊

DUSTINS LIMPING. GET THAT BOY SOME MEDICAL TREATMENT.

what was even funnier to me was how they all knew about the warfare place, and that scene with nancy and jason, GOD SHE SHOULD HAVE BEAT HIS ASS

there’s so much they could have improved in s4, but they truly did let us on with a heartbreak and questions to be answered. was screaming and crying at my tv with my mom the whole time. volume 2 absolutely BROKE me

[hepaidattention]

with the stranger things s4 vol 2, I want to talk about some of the good things I really loved that happened. It's obviously hard to think about, but so many good things did happen and I wanna just give those a shout out.

1) El and Hopper's Reunion. let me tell you, that was the most emotional and precious moment in all of the show. the way she looked at him as if somewhere, deep down, she never gave up hope he was still alive... the saddest part, to me, in the scene was I realized she never could look for him. she didn't have her powers anymore, so when he "died" she could never do her psychic thing and make sure he was really gone. that must have been one of the hardest things of not having her powers.

2) Hopper and Joyce's Reunion. honestly, just about damn time.

3) Mike's Confession of Love to El. i'm a huge mileven shipper so that was the most precious moment for me. it was so right for them too, because mike really was what always made eleven feel believed in. since s1 he was who always assured her she was amazing, she was a hero, she could do anything. though will's hidden confession of love was heart breaking, he was also so right in how el would always need him because he was someone who brought her out of that darkness and showed her she was more than just a lab rat. she could be a friend, she could be a hero, she could be a daughter. mike isn't always my favorite character, he's always judgey and his temper is all over the place, but one thing about him is he always, always believes in the people he loves. he always makes them feel special and like they belong. and he has never stopped loving el, not one single minute.

4) Jason Disintegrating. i'm sorry I just hated him so so much. the guy was delusional and killed one of my all time favorite characters.

5) Max's Best, Most Loved Menory. i will cry. she was happiest at the snow ball and im just sobbing its fine.

6) Steve Not Dying. i really was prepared for this but thank God they didn't do it. considering s5 will probably continue immediately after s4vol2, because s4 left in a cliffhanger, every character predicted to die is still a huge possibility. so im weary. but boy. thank god he's still around.

7) Hopper Fighting a Demogorgon with a Sword and Winning. what a scene. what a man. just so good.

8) All the Villains in Past Seasons Together. i know its weird but i loved seeing the demagorgon, the demadogs, mind flayer, billy, brenner, the russians, and vecna all in one season. it just feels like it brought all of the seasons together even better.

9) El Getting her Powers Back. it was just epic. like I knew it would happen but when she crashed that helicopter boy howdy was I applauding for her. i also liked how in the end it was implied she could also control the hive mind. when she used her powers to break free she didn't just break the upsidedown vines, she made them get off of her like she had control over them. that was really interesting to me.

10) Vecna Being Behind it All the Whole Time. this was i feel like already a no brainer once he was delivered into the story line, but in a way they also confirmed he was also the one who chased will into the upsidedown in s1.

11) El, Will, Jonathan, and Joyce a family. the way el ran to will when they first reunited was so precious. i always wanted will and el to be brother and sister and this season delivered that. i think the most common trend in st ff is that el and will are siblings and I love it. it was a huge want for me to see in the show that I honestly never expected to really happen. im so glad it did.

[erikiara80]

S5 and the big S2 ideas

If ST is really a story with different timelines and maybe a loop, I wonder: what are the 5-10 big ideas they couldn’t include in S2 but will be a big part of S5 and the ending?

S2 is Will’s big season. We see him at the lab, we meet his doctor, Owens, we see his connection to the UD/Mind Flayer and the the 8:15pm mystery. 

And it’s the season El finds her mother and learns more about her past.

What else did they want to show? Some thoughts...

1)  More of Will visions/now memories and his connection to the MF. Maybe also him actually doing something while he was possessed, and not just drawing and being drugged in every episode.

If you think about it, this could be the part they really cut. No wonder S5 will include S2 ideas. It’s so weird that after the soldiers angered Henry/MF, Will spent so much time sleeping. They didn’t let him do anything, lol. It’s not like what happened to Billy at all. We did see everything with Billy, even him talking to Henry/MF. In the old script Will was even supposed to kill Bob! How? When? That part of the plot probably revealed too much about him, the week in the UD and Henry. But damn, it would’ve been so cool!

2)  More about the tunnels and the effects of them spreading into Hawkins

3)  Also who made them/lived there/took the animals and used them as hosts to build the army of demodogs

A Demogorgon? That’s what the Demogorgon in S1 did to Barb and Will. Was it the same Demogorgon the Russians captured? That cage in S3 was big. They had seen the creature...

Also, could that creature and not Dart be the slug Will coughed up? (I don’t think he told Mike and the others that he coughed up a slug. He only said that he heard the same sound and saw something that looked like Dart: here)

We know that demodogs are young Demogorgons, and that they grow fast. So, if we didn’t see any adult Demogorgon in S2, but in S3 the Russians had a big cage, imo it could mean that there was one adult Demogorgon we didn’t see, that lived in the tunnels, made them, and it took it almost a year to do that and build the army.

As for Dart. There’s something that always bothered me. It only took him three days to grow after Dustin found him. Why did it stayed a slug for almost a year? 

Maybe Dart is not Will’s slug? Will’s slug grew, became the Demogorgon the Russians captured, along with some demodogs (the ones in S4, since they were already building the mall in 1984), and it slowly made the tunnels/took the animals and built the army beneath Hawkins. That would explain why Henry/Mind Flayer waited so long before possessing Will. It wasn’t because of the anniversary of the kidnapping. He needed his army to be ready.

Another option is that the Demogorgon in Russia is the same El disintegrated in S1 (we know Henry survived, so it’s possible). But I still find the whole Dart thing suspicious. 

2) More about Kali

Some flashback of her at the lab, of the day she escaped. Maybe even a mention of someone who helped her (but they don’t show who it was -Henry)

3) More about Terry and Brenner

4) More about Owens. His connection to Brenner. That damn blue ball that is a parallel to Sara’s bracelet? (here) Mentions of Peter?

5)  Mike sensing El. Another very important detail they haven’t explored (yet) 

And of course, there could be other ideas that don’t involve the supernatural plot.

I’m so curious. 

[spellboundmayfield]

Stranger Things rewatch: The Bathtub & The Upside Down

Karen wants to know her kids and she’s going to be there when they’re ready to come to her, whereas Ted thinks he knows his family and doesn’t care to look further

Okay but Hopper gives El a pretty nasty glare for someone trying to help them when they’re all at the Byers house

El sobbing while looking into the bathroom mirror, I will never stop talking about her being associated with reflections

JOYCE AND EL JOYCE AND EL Joyce being the first mother figure in her life, the way she comforts her and their tender exchange before El goes into the bathtub. El puts her head down when Joyce first starts thanking her for her help, maybe there’s guilt there or maybe it’s an odd familiarity in the affirmation of a mother

Still think it’s interesting how death is only referred to as ‘gone’ as if it’s only temporary

When El finds Will in Castle Byers it must’ve felt like a half forgotten dream to him. The thing about Will and El is that they might not interact in the waking world    but they’ll always find each other even in the darkness

When Hop said he knows everything he knows EVERYTHING that weird look he gives El is probably because he already had made up his mind to give her up right there and then

Jancy hand touch, Steve not knowing what the hell is going on but still managing to save Jonathan’s ass, the monster hunting trio was the coolest

Ah yes, the Byers and their inter dimensional connection

Not Brenner trying to make El think that her trying for a normal life is the reason why her friends are in danger I swear to god if he tries manipulating her like this in s4 especially when she already feels more alienated because of the bullying

Mike promising El the snowball with the sound of fucking gunshots echoing in the background I’m only hurting myself by rewatching this

The Demogorgon was looking for El, there’s a blood fest of fresh flesh yet it resisted the smell of blood to go after the Party

The Demogorgon mirrors El as they disintegrate they’re one in the same

“BYERS!!!!!”

Okay but we still don’t know what Hopper getting into that black car was all about

Will looking into the same bathroom mirror El was looking into something something El’s the one on the other side now something looking at each other through the mirror

[stevesnailbat]

fear of the (un)known | steve harrington

chapter ten: keep you by my side with my superhuman might

summary: Grace, or 007 as she had been called, finally escaped Hawkins Lab after seventeen long years. But, freedom is a lot harder than she thought it would be to maintain.

warnings: mentions of death, blood, torture, more angst, Grace using her powers (:

word count: 4.7K

read the rest HERE!!!

Eight grueling hours pass in the elevator and it seems like there’s not any hope for escape at all. All Grace had done for the whole time was think, and think, and overthink. The kids had gotten sleep, Steve and Robin had ran through what seemed like a million ideas, and all Grace could do was sit there and let her mind race. The sinking feeling of whatever is going on having something to do with the lab settled into her stomach about four hours ago, and now she’s afraid she’s not going to be able to get them out of this mess. 

She can hear Steve and Dustin up above bickering about something after Dustin had yelled up the elevator shaft for almost an hour and Robin trying to lecture Erica about not drinking whatever green stuff is in the cylinders. She can only listen, but can’t engage herself in conversation while thinking about what was yet to come. There’s a ringing in Grace's ears like a sounding alarm, telling her to get them out of there as soon as possible. 

“We have company.” Robin says, breaking Grace from her thoughts and making the bickering that once filled the death traps stop. 

Steve peeks his head down from above, listening for the sounds before quickly motioning the three girls to climb up with him and Dustin. The five minutes it takes for the Russians to get to the elevator seems like an eternity for the group, crouching down by the grate they climbed up through. They hear the doors open and voices echoing through the room, all five of them radio silent as they listen. Steve holds up a finger to motion for everyone to be quiet, earning a weird look from Robin and Grace, since nobody was even talking.   

“You smell that?” one of the guards says in Russian, making Grace furrow her brow as she listens. 

“What?” the other asks.   

“Piss.” the first one replies, sniffing the air. 

Grace’s face contorts as she hears them, trying to hold back a giggle at them trying to figure out where the smell came from. She looks over to Steve again, who looks even more confused now by the look on her face. She only shakes her head at him and focuses her attention to the people below again, hearing them beginning to leave the elevator. Steve fixates his gaze on the cylinder that Erica was trying to steal, an idea running through his mind to get them all out in time.   

Once they hear the door beginning to close, Steve rushes to open the grate, grabbing the cylinder from Erica’s hands before jumping down. He shoves the metal container on the ground to stop the elevator from closing all the way, motioning frantically for the other four to go first as he catches Erica’s backpack and slides it under the door.   

Steve whisper-yells to them all as they come through, telling them to hurry up as the glass begins to crack. Erica and Dustin go first, then Robin and Grace. Steve goes last, at eye-level with the cylinder as it gives a few last, strong cracks before giving out. He makes it out with milliseconds to spare, all of them watching nervously as the neon green liquid spills out and disintegrates the floor beneath the elevator.   

“Jesus Christ.” Steve mumbles as the rest of them make small remarks, eyes wide as he looks at the floor practically disappearing where he just was. 

“Holy mother of God.” Dustin says, looking in the direction of the long, sweeping hallway behind them.   

It looks miles long, like it’ll take them hours, even days to cross the whole thing. There’s no real end in sight as they look down the hall, knowing they’ll have to take the journey whether they like it or not. 

“Well, hope you guys are in good shape.” Steve says, pushing out from behind Dustin as he pats his chest. “Looking at you, roast beef.” 

Grace looks to Dustin with a small smile, he’s got an annoyed frown on his face as he looks over at her while mumbling about Steve’s insult.   

The walk seems to be hours long, the only thing keeping them from going insane was the meaningless and random conversations held between them. Grace was still quiet for most of the time, too nauseous from overthinking to even contribute any thoughts. Steve’s the only one to notice her silence, finally putting all of his attention on her after catching a glimpse of her fearful expression one too many times. He falls behind the group a little, reaching his hand out to touch her arm to get her attention.   

When she finally looks at him, a pang of guilt shoots through her. He’s too worried about her, and she hates it. Steve throws his chin to the side as his eyes plead for her to fall behind with him so he can talk to her.   

“What’s wrong?” Steve asks, as if he doesn’t know why she’s internally freaking out about the situation. 

“I just—I can’t stop thinking about, I don’t know.” she laughs bitterly, shaking her head as her thoughts race faster than her mouth can spit them out. “I can’t help but think…What if this has something to do with the lab, Steve? What if we’re dealing with them again?” 

Steve’s eyes widen at the thought, flashes of demogorgons and blood and pain whizzing through his mind as she speaks. The thought alone is enough to nearly send him into a panic, fear of not being able to save everyone making him feel numb for a moment. He shakes his head quickly, trying to hide his fear from her to diminish her panic. His lips curl into a frown as he reaches for her hand to give it a tight, reassuring squeeze, as if to tell her that it would all be okay. 

“I—I don’t want to think that’s what we’re walking towards right now, I really don’t.” he says softly, trying to gain some composure with a deep breath. “But, if it is? Then, we’re still getting outta here alive. I’ll keep you safe.” 

“Steve—“

“No, Grace.” he interjects, looking at her with pleading eyes. "I know you’re the one—the one with the—“ he says, lowering his voice so Erica and Robin don’t hear him. “With the powers, but I’m not gonna let you get hurt trying to save us all. El and Hop still need you up there, we gotta keep you safe too.” 

Steve saves the part where he tells her that he needs her just as much as El and Hop do, because hell—he probably needs her around more than they do. Just the thought of her getting hurt while they’re halfway to hell is painful enough, but her not being around is almost too much for him to think about. She looks at him with a watery gaze, giving him a weak and unconvincing smile in return. There’s nothing more that she wants than to take his worries away, but she knows she can’t do that until they’re out of here and he’s safe.

“Can you—Can you just promise me one thing, Steve?” she asks, blinking back tears as he looks at her expectantly. “Just, please promise me that if there’s something I have to do to save you guys. Even if it may be dangerous, please just—just let me take care of it, okay?” 

“I’m not letting you get hurt, I already said that—“  

“Steve.” Grace interjects gravely, squeezing his hand tightly. “Promise me that you’ll let me do what I have to do and won’t get in my way.” 

He looks to her with a hesitant and pained gaze, a frown etched on his lips as he stares at her. Steve can’t even bare the thought of not being able to save her, but nods hesitantly to appease her.   

“Yeah, I—I promise.” he sighs somberly. 

The conversation is quickly interrupted by the sound of Dustin’s walkie-talkie, muffled and rough Russian words coming from inside the backpack. They all stop in their tracks and kneel to the ground, Erica slinging the backpack off her shoulder before Dustin rushes to unzip it. He picks up the walkie and Robin takes it from his hands, listening intently to see if she recognizes the words. She repeats the phrases as they come, a satisfied smile playing on her lips as she does.   

"It's the code.” Robin says. 

"Wherever that broadcast is coming from—“ Dustin starts, looking up at Robin. 

"It's close.” she interjects.

"And if there's one thing we know about that signal…” Dustin continues, trailing off as he speaks.

"It can reach the surface.” Robin replies, beginning to stand up from the ground. "Let's go." 

Walking into a secret, underground Russian base is one thing, but making sure nobody sees them while in there is a completely different task. There’s three times where they almost get caught, but Steve guides them into hiding safely every time. They’re hiding behind God only knows what now, peering into the main part of the base where there’s dozens of people whizzing around, working hard with stoic, stale gazes on their faces.   

Everyone’s whispering and trying to figure out what to do, but Grace’s mind is elsewhere. Steve’s hand is resting on her leg, his kneeling body pressed against hers as they discuss. She can’t help but stare up at him, unable to actually listen to a word he’s saying as he argues with the kids.   

"All right.” Steve says, interrupting her train of thought, eyes flickering to meet hers for a moment. "We're gonna move fast, we're gonna stay low. Okay?” 

The four of them nod, standing up to follow Steve through the base. They’re still crouched down as they walk, finding anything and everything they can hide behind to make it to where they’re going safely. Grace isn’t entirely sure where he’s taking them—having droned out the whole conversation—but she knows it’s most likely gonna be filled with trouble.   

They eventually reach the door, waiting for one of the Russians to leave so they can go in. Steve looks around and makes sure its clear then quickly gets to the door, ushering them all in before closing the door quietly. Steve’s the last one to notice the man sitting in the chair across the room, looking over at the group with wide and curious eyes. When he stands from the chair and reaches for the gun that’s holstered on his belt, Robin steps in front of the group. 

“Tread lightly!” she says calmly in Russian, holding a hand out towards the man. “Tread lightly.” 

“Who are you?” he asks.   

“Silver cat.” she replies, pointing to herself and the rest of the group. “Silver cat." 

“I don’t understand.” he says, a helplessly confused look on his face. 

“China?” Robin says finally. 

Before either her or the Russian could get another word out, Steve sees him reach for the gun again and lets out a loud scream. They all turn their attention to him as he lunges at the man, throwing him against the control center behind them. He throws Steve off of him quickly, pushing him towards a table before throwing a punch in Steve’s direction. 

He leans back and narrowly misses the Russian’s fist, but is then thrown face first into the table. Steve leans back quickly to elbow the man in the gut and grabs the phone from the control center, throwing it in his hands before swinging it into the man’s head. He falls towards the ground, hitting his head against the countertop with a loud thud before falling flat. Steve’s pants fill the air as he runs his fingers through his hair, eyes still on the man knocked out below him. 

"Dude! You did it!” Dustin says, pointing at Steve with a grin. "You won a fight!” 

Steve chuckles in disbelief, shaking his head as he does. He looks over to Grace, whose eyes are wide and filled with concern, he knows she wants to yell at him for even doing that to try to save them. Dustin walks over to the man on the ground, reaching to his side to grab the tag and key card from his waist. 

"What are you doing?” Erica asks. 

"Getting us our ticket out of here.” Dustin says, waving the card around.   

Grace and Robin look to each other amid the chaos for a moment, but something catches Robin’s eye before she can say anything. There’s a flight of stairs in the corner of the room, leading to somewhere shrouded in blue lights. She treks up the stairs and Grace follows suit, both of them silent and terrified as they see what’s on the other side. Robin goes to get the three at the bottom of the stairs and Grace stays at the door, looking through the small window. 

They finally open the door when they all get up there, all going to stand by the large windows that look out into the light. There’s a control room with plenty of people in it in front of them, but beyond that is a sight that makes Grace’s heart sink into her stomach; the gate is open. She looks over to Steve and Dustin, who are both just as upset as her, unsure of what they can do now.   

"I don't understand. You've seen this before?” Robin asks when they all move back down the stairs. 

"Not exactly.” Steve explains.

"Then what, exactly?” she implores. 

"All you need to know is it's bad.” Dustin says. 

"It's really bad.” Steve adds. 

“Like, end-of-the-human-race-as-we-know-it kind of bad.” Dustin replies, voice sounding slightly panicked. 

"And you know about this how?” Robin asks, sounding equally as distraught. 

"Um, Steve? Where's your Russian friend?” Erica chimes in as they all look to the ground where the man once was. 

The alarms above them begin to sound, sending them all into a panic. Steve rushes to the door, opening it to see the man standing between the other Russians. They turn to him and point, moving in their direction quickly. He turns around and shoves the group towards another door, trying to get them out as quickly as possible. They end up in another room filled with too many people, who all look in their direction, so they rush out a second door and into the main part of the base. Somehow, they make their way to the beam in the middle of the room, which is moving so quickly that they all have to hold on to the railing as they stand there. 

“This way!” Steve calls as the guards approach them quickly, running down the stairs as everyone follows. 

There are men coming from multiple directions now, so Steve pushes two metal barrels at some of them to knock them over. There’s more coming from another direction, gaining on the group quickly. Steve calls out to them to come towards another door and Grace looks back to the man who’s mere feet away from her. Her heart is racing as she does, one of her hands flicking up to put some kind of temporary hold on him in his place. The confused man struggles and lets out a frustrated groan as he tries to move, but his feet seem to be glued in place. 

She holds it for as long as she can, letting go once she gets through the door to focus her attention on holding the door shut. Steve looks at her with wide eyes, noticing the blood trickling down her nose as she presses her body against the door. They yell for Erica and Dustin to go without them, telling them to get help as they step into a trap door within the floor across the room. 

“I won’t forget you!” Dustin calls, making Grace’s heart sink at the thought of them not making it out. 

“Go!” Steve and Robin call out together, watching Dustin finally close the trap. 

“Did you just—“ Steve begins when he turns to Grace with a wild expression. 

“Yeah, I did. Shut up!” she snaps, still holding onto the door for dear life. 

As soon as she stops talking, the door finally is pushed open and the three of them fly across the room, sliding down the wall and onto the floor as the guards flood the room. There’s at least five men in front of them with guns pointing straight at them, so they have no choice but to surrender. They all hold their hands up, waiting to be taken by one of the men. 

Robin and Grace are taken into one room, separated from Steve immediately. Grace knows exactly what they’re going to do to him, but tries to force the image out of her mind before the tears flow from her eyes. It’s a waiting game for the two girls, with nothing to do but sit there and internally panic with their hands—literally and figuratively—tied. 

“How—How do you think we can get out of this?” Robin asks Grace, panic washed over her face as she speaks. “We gotta get out somehow.” 

“We can’t do much—not right now at least.” she responds, trying to stay calm for Robin’s sake. “Dustin and Erica are—they’re gonna get us help, I know they are.” 

“I hope they’re okay.” she says softly, looking over at Grace hopelessly. 

“They’re okay, I’m sure.” Grace rambles, trying to think of anything to make her feel better. “And we’re gonna be okay too, I promise.” 

Robin opens her mouth to say something in return, but the doors of the room are slammed open before she can. Panic rises in both of them as the men march over to them, grabbing them both by the arms. 

Grace’s heart feels like it’s going to beat out of her chest at any moment, unable to even think clearly as the guards pick her up by the arms again. She looks over to Robin, who has a fearful gaze, but tries to give her a comforting—yet most likely not very convincing—smile in return. Robin knows nothing about the Upside Down or Hawkins lab and Grace knows that, but she knows what she has to do if they want to get out alive. 

Robin is struggling as the guards pull them along and into another room, but Grace is calm and collected on the outside, trying to figure out a way to get them out of this mess. They’re both thrown into a new room, the same one where Steve is lying on the floor. He’s unconscious, head resting on the cold, concrete floor and shirt collar covered in blood, which sends feelings of guilt and sheer terror through Grace’s body. 

“Steve? Steve?” Robin calls to him once they’re thrown on the ground next to him, both her and Grace crawling over to his limp body quickly. “What did you do to him? What did you do?” 

The Russian officer in front of Robin reaches down and slaps her harshly, knocking her back onto the ground once again. Grace watches with wide eyes, tears threatening to spill at the sight. 

“Stop!” Grace cries in Russian, making the men all turn to look at her. “Don’t hurt them!” 

The officer looks over at her with a curious and devilish gaze, walking towards where she sat on the ground. He studies her for a moment and she tries her best to hide the black numbers etched into her wrist, unsure of how much he knows about her and the rest of the lab experiments. He doesn’t say anything for a moment, turning around to look at the other guards. 

"Put them in the chairs.” he orders, pointing to Steve and Robin, but not Grace.

Grace goes numb with fear, knowing that they were going to try to do to her what they did to Steve next. She knew what she had to do once they took her elsewhere, although she knew she wouldn’t be proud of it. 

"Don't touch me!” Robin cries, struggling against the constraints they put around her and Steve. “Steve—Steve, wake up. Steve? What did you do?” she questions furiously as the officer grips Steve’s hair to roll his head upwards. "Don't touch him! Steve? Steve, can you hear me?" 

"I think your friend need a doctor. Good thing, we have the very best.” the office chuckles, making the rest of the men laugh too before getting cut off by a very bold Robin spitting in his face. He scowls down at her while wiping his face off, but Robin stares back with a confident gaze. "You are going to regret that, little bitch.” 

The officer stands up straight and motions for two of the guards to take Grace into another room, looking at her again with a dark gaze. The guards grab Grace by the arms and pick her up, but she doesn’t struggle when they do. Her mind is too full of horrible and dangerous—but necessary—ideas to fight back yet. 

“I’ll deal with you later, bitch.” the officer sneers to Grace, then walks out of the room alone. 

The guards holding her begin to walk out the door also, but go in the opposite direction to lead her into another room. 

"Bastards. Let us outta here! Bastards! Let her go! Let her go!” Robin calls out desperately before the door closes all the way. 

Grace is thrown onto the floor of a new room, hitting the cool concrete with a thud. The guards make the fatal flaw of not tying her up in a chair, but letting her sit on the floor with only her hands tied as they wait for the officer. It’s quiet in the room for long time, no signs of the officer anywhere for much longer than any of them expected, which gives Grace even more time to work through her plan in the silence. She didn’t need the officer to be there to carry out the whole plan, but needed time to figure out how to save Steve and Robin and find Erica and Dustin without exhausting herself. 

She leans her head against the wall as she waits, eyes squeezed shut as she tries to find Erica or Dustin. A wave of relief washes over her when they flash through her mind, both of them in a room filled with the cylinders of Promethium—or whatever it actually was. She can tell they’re close by devising a plan to save them, but she didn’t want them to go through that trouble all on their own.

Abruptly, she stood up from the ground and looked at the two guards, saying fuck it to the plan of waiting on the officer. They both stand guard when she looks over to them, hands flying to the holsters at their waists. Grace only smiles at them, slowly beginning to manipulate them as she approaches. 

“The officer said I could leave, right?” she asks kindly once she notices their eyes turn to that all-too-familiar tranced state. “He wanted me to come to the control room.” 

The two men nod at her, glassy eyes trained on her as she approaches one of them. Grace almost sighs in relief as they carry on with the trance peacefully, not wanting to hurt more people than she has to. She holds her hands out to one them, motioning for the man to free her wrists. He does so without a word and she smiles at them both before slipping out of the room and back into the hallway.   

She’s on a mission to find Dustin and Erica, and it’s an autopilot mission now. It only takes a few minutes before she runs into them in the hallway, both of them bewildered by her being there. Dustin is holding an electric prod in his hands and Erica has one of the glass cylinders, they were fully equipped and had a plan in place. 

“How did you—“ Dustin starts, but Grace narrows her eyes at him and realization hits him. “Oh—right.” 

“What?” Erica asks, a confused expression on her face.   

“Nothing—We’ll explain later.” Grace says quickly, grabbing the prod from Dustin’s hands to set in on the ground behind them. “We don’t need that.” she says, turning to the young girl and pointing at the neon green liquid in her hands. "Erica, can you break that in that hallway over there so we can set the alarms off and get the officer out of the room? I’ll take care of anyone else that’s in the room.” 

Erica nods and sets on her way down the hall quickly with Grace and Dustin close behind. Dustin’s eyes go wide as the girl slams the glass on the ground, watching the liquid destroy everything in its path as the glass shatters. The alarms sound seconds later and they run back towards the room where Steve and Robin are, making sure to avoid the officer as they do. 

Once they know he’s out of the room, Grace pushes through the doors to see a very beat-up Steve inches away from getting his fingernails pulled out by the so-called Russian doctor. She puts one of her hands up and flicks the metal tool out of his hands, and into the air, slamming it into the wall behind them. The man looks at Grace with wild eyes and lunges toward her, but her force holds him back. 

He struggles against her hold for a while and Grace knows she can’t hold him back for long enough to get them all out, she knows what she has to do. Finally, she lets up from holding him back, giving him a wicked smile when he relaxes too. There’s a very confused look on his face as he watches her. She feels like she’s floating in the moment, never having used her powers to this extent. It’s a terrifying feeling to her, honestly, holding so much power over someone.   

There’s only a few seconds for her to decide what to do, and it feels like the longest moment of her life. All she knows is that she needs to knock the man out at the very least. She extends both of her hands and lets out a yell, watching as the man’s feet come off the floor and he slams into the wall behind him. His head hits the hard wall with a thud and he slides down, body slumped over itself as he does. She’s not entirely sure what she did to him, but whether he was dead or just unconscious was a problem for the other Russians to figure out, not the five of them.   

“Hey, Grace, Henderson!” Steve says with a laugh. “That’s crazy, I was just talking about you." 

“Let’s get you guys outta here.” Grace says, finally looking over to Steve and Robin. 

“Get ready to run!” Dustin says. 

She can tell Steve is drugged when she goes over to untie them, but the situation at hand sobered him up for just a moment. His eyes are wide with fear and bewilderment as he looks to her and it may be the drugs talking but—even in the most inopportune moment—he’s not sure he’s ever been more in love with someone in his life. Dustin and Grace get them untied and lead them back through the hallway, rushing towards the cart that’ll take them to the elevator as quickly as possible. The five of them pile in and Grace doesn’t even have time to protest being shoved into the back with the two drugged teens while Dustin starts it up. 

“Hey!” Steve says to her, his smile droopy as he reaches out to touch her hand. “You didn’t get hurt.” 

“I told you I’d get us outta here, Steve.” Grace says, a bitter smile on her lips as she looks at his cuts and swollen eye. “Are you okay?” 

“Never better!” Steve slurs, laughing giddily as he stares at her. “I’m just glad you’re safe, I don’t know what I would’ve done if you weren’t.” 

Grace knows he’s being more than truthful in the moment, the words nearly stabbing her in the heart as he talks. He doesn’t seem to notice how sad she is, but squeezes her hand as he looks back to Robin to continue their nonsense conversation. Of course, they’re all safe for now. But, Grace knows this is nowhere near the end of the battle they’re about to fight.

tags (join here!): @kurtsbuckethat​ @harringtown​ @nxncywheeler​ @charmed-asylum​ @heart-eye-harrington​ @daddystevee​ @a-magey​ @lemonypink​ @karasong​ @batbatsupermanme​ @used-avocado​ @igotmadskills​ @mikariell95​ @anerroroccurrrrred​ @blueberrylemontea-fanfic​ @ilovebucketbarnes​ @simplesammyx​ @willowrose99​ @charmedtenderness​ 

[etherealellaelf]

My Stranger Things Season 4 conspiracy theory

(Spoilers for season 3) Okay guys, I have a big theory. I’m not sure if other people noticed this, but I’m going to lay it down for you. So You know how they made so many allusions to back to the future in season 3? I think that El and company found a way to travel back in time through the upside down and they were there in episode 8, trying to save Hopper. Perhaps they found another test subject in their new town whose special power is time traveling? I think they succeeded. Here’s why:

So episode One it shows all of the Russians in their suits. They’re green suits with gas masks.

and then here, right before Joyce pulls the plug, here are the workers in red hazmat suits, and for some reason they slow-mo step out and stare at Hopper and it zooms in on their eyes, and are those people familiar? Are they the kids, sort of grown up? One of them looks like Jonathan? 

You might think this is just a coincidence, but remember: color coding. Earlier in the episode you see a bunch of workers running around, but there are some wearing green hazmat suits and some wearing red ones. The red ones seem to be trying to interact with our main characters more than the green ones.  Here are some in green:

and then here are some in red, actually trying to shut off the machine, but they’re just kids, they don’t know how it actually works: 

And then the next shot shows the guys in green running to the right and the guys in red running to the room that Murray is in: 

You may think at first these guys in red are trying to arrest or kill Murray, but what if Murray messed up something and that’s what these time travelers are trying to prevent? What if they succeeded getting in there or told Murray through the door what to do? We don’t see very much of Murray after this, only one shot. But “aren’t you a little short to be a stormtrooper?” Isn’t that hazmat person right there a bit short? Maybe it’s Dustin from the future.

I think that they found out how to work the machine so that it would not kill them, just make a blinding enough light that it would obscure Joyce’s vision of Hopper while El, walking up to her dad with her friends, could pull them into the upside down in time. After all, she was able to disintegrate herself and the demogorgon season one, and she survived. 

Hopper nodding for Joyce to do it.^

^El and Jonathan and possibly people she meets in her new town.

And the upside down has a skewed sense of time. After all, Billy went into the upside down for what seemed like a long time, but he was probably just gone for a little bit. Will also goes into the upside down and seems to be gone for a long time when he’s actually just standing out in the field, hallucinating. This time anomaly will allow for Hopper possibly being popped out of the upside down somewhere in Russia and getting caught by the russians. This would account for the Russian’s mysterious prisoner, “The American”. It’s Hopper, and he’s been saved by El and her time traveling friends. 

One reason I think they would include this twist is because, as stated earlier before, they were making a lot of references to Back to the Future, even having them watch it, showing a poster, having the music hilariously when it cuts back to dustin, and oh yeah, Marty McFly wears a hazmat suit in back to the future, and it looks A LOT like the red hazmat suits, to conceal his identity.  Nice reference, guys.

^Marty, pretending to be “Darth Vader” from the planet “Vulcan”, threatening to melt George McFly’s brains unless he asks his future wife to the Under the Sea Dance. 

Anyway, this has been my theory. I hope you like it!