#spoiler alert it’s Eddie and Mike

[local-redhead-bookworm]

One of my favorite things to do for fun is watch videos breaking down certain media tropes. And I was watching one about the heart of a group. A poorly written “heart” character can be written with the intention to be lovable but are actually annoying sometimes. A character that is written solely with the purpose of being lovable can be really frustrating, especially if every other character adores the heart when the audience realizes that there’s no real justification for that.

Now let’s see if y’all can guess which characters I’m thinking about that fall into this poor writing category.

[afewproblems]

I want Steve to find out about the simultaneous games that happened at the beginning of season 4.

That Eddie insisted that the hellfire session went on as scheduled, despite the fact that Lucas wouldn't be able to make it.

Lucas, one of Steve's kids, who Steve had defended from being beaten up, putting himself in the line of fire from that racist asshole Billy Hargrove.

Lucas, who had been pushed aside and alienated from his longtime friends just because he also liked sports and wanted to try and remain afloat in the ocean of high school.

Lucas, who loved his friends and and enjoyed different things, because spoiler alert you can in fact be a jock and like Dungeons and Beasts or whatever the hell it was called. Steve enjoyed Star Wars and could dunk, proof right there.

But all it took was one word from Eddie, and Dustin and Mike not only didn't go to Lucas's game, but they couldn't even be happy for him about the championship AND their final session of their long-term campaign went on as scheduled despite the absence of the oldest Sinclair.

Sure Jason Carver turned out to be a crazy asshole but Steve knew exactly how it felt to be caught between worlds and the biggest difference was that Lucas had always been a good person.

Unlike him.

One nice thing about his King Steve days was that he knew how to push, and he could turn it on for a day, just to knock some sense into a certain curly haired metal head.

"Hang back a sec man," Steve says almost casually as they exit Eddie's van after pulling into the movie theater. The kids tumble out of the open doors and race towards the building, pushing each other in their hurry to get in line for the second running of Highlander.

"What's up Stevie?" Eddie says, his dimpled grin comes out in full force as he looks Steve up and down, leaning back again the front of the vehicle grill. His arms cross loosely over his Black Sabath shirt and the various rings and chains sparkle in the high afternoon sun. He looks great today.

Focus Steve.

He clears his throat and sighs, trying to get into the heads pace from earlier when he initially found out what happened from Dustin. He had been absolutely furious.

But the flame of righteous fury had dissipated, leaving behind a cold feeling of disappointment in Eddie. It hung heavy and immovable in his chest, he needed to talk to him.

"Hey uh, I heard about the championship game man, Lucas's game".

Eddie tilts his head slightly, his brown doe eyes scanning Steve's face with confusion.

"What the basketball game back in March? That was like six months ago man? What about it?"

"Did you ever apologize to Lucas?" Steve asks, he keeps his face neutral, not wanting to influence the answer as Eddie scoffs. Not a great sign.

"For what Harrington?" And that stings a little, he'd been Stevie for the last two months or so, sometimes a Honey or Sweetheart thrown into the mix and Steve felt that they were barreling their way towards something new.

Steve swallows, he can't let this go, not even for Eddie.

"It was a shit thing to do man, to not let Lucas play and to not let Dustin and Mike go to support him--"

"Those kids know that the campaign comes first, that's the first tenant of Hellfire and they know that going in!" Eddie snarls, he steps forward towards Steve who holds his ground with narrowed eyes.

Fine.

"I thought you were above that sort of thing Munson, judging people for the things they like? Assuming things about a person and writing them off".

Eddie stops, his face paling slightly, his angry expression flickers once but remains in place as he crosses his arms again.

"Those games can't be rescheduled man," Steve continues with a shake of his head, "it's not even the school that decides the schedule for the season, it's the districts and the coaches, and who fucking cares if he was on the bench for most of the season? Because he played! And none of you were there".

Steve sighs and runs a tired hand over his face, "Not even his friends who he has known since pre-school. And with Will gone and Max dealing with all that shift from Starcourt and Vecna it was just the three of them, and you took that from him man".

Eddie stares at him, he says nothing, he doesn't even look like he's breathing right now and Steve feels like shit.

"I'm just saying, if you do that again, to any of them, to my kids," Steve says matter of factly, "then we'll have a problem".

"That supposed to be a threat, King Steve?" Eddie sneers at him, but his shoulders are dropping, and there is no true heat behind the words.

Steve shakes his head as Mike pops out of the double doors of the entrance and yells at the pair of them to, shit or get off the pot because what hell is taking them so long?

"No Eddie, it's not a threat because I'm hoping that you'll do the right thing. Because I know you love those kids and you're not an asshole".

He turns on his heel and heads towards the doors, leaving Eddie with the empty van. His heart thumps wildly in his chest, and the cold feeling in his chest spreads and spreads as he goes over the conversation again and again.

It stings a little to know that he's ruined whatever he had with Eddie but he couldn't let this go, friends don't lie after all.

He grabs their tickets, still buying one for Eddie --just in case, though the other man has not entered the building.

Steve tamps down the tight feeling of disappointment that grows the longer Eddie remains outside. If Eddie takes off, leaving them there, Steve can cover, he'll get Nancy to pick them up or maybe Jonathan --they're on better footing these days. He'll say Eddie had some kind of emergency come up, that Wayne needed him for something.

Yeah, friends didn't lie, but how could he break the kids' hearts like this?

They thankfully don't seem to pick up on this as they chatter about Sean Connery and what flavor of soda to get.

"Oh there you are dude! We thought you got kidnapped!" Dustin suddenly crows beside Steve, he turns to see Eddie behind him, a strange expression on his face.

Oh thank God.

"Nah, just had a quick smoke before the movie man, uh actually I wanted to borrow Lucas for a sec if that's cool?"

The kids look from Eddie to Steve, as though to check if he knows what's going on, Eddie hasn't been this shifty since March when Chrissy's death hit the news.

Steve nudges Lucas by the shoulder, leaning slightly down to say, "I'll grab your snacks, go on".

Lucas gives him a confused look over his shoulder before following Eddie outside the entrance  the doors swing closed just as Dustin whirls on Steve.

"What the hell was that!" He demands with crossed arms and a scowl on his face, his blue eyes scanning Steve's own for something, some information about what is going on outside.

"Yeah, you guys are being weird," Mike snarks from over his shoulder, he's standing with Will and El who watch the interaction with curious eyes, "first you take forever to come in and now this?"

And so much for the kids not picking up on it.

"You guys are pretty nosy," Steve hums, deflecting with a small smile as he ruffles Dustin's curls and steps forward with the rest of the line.

Dustin glares with narrowed eyes and huffs, "Fine, I'll just ask Lucas about it".

Steve snorts, he isn't sure if the kids have even talked about it. They've all been friends long enough now that this one event wouldn't be enough to hurt this kind of friendship. But it's certainly been on Dustin's mind since he was the one to bring it up to Steve that morning.

"Good idea," Steve says with a smile as he steps up the the counter, he looks at the kids before smiling at the clerk, "okay what's everyone having, let her know".

***

The lights have dimmed and the pre-show has started by the time Eddie and Lucas make their way over to the seats Steve and the kids have saved. Steve hands Lucas his popcorn and soda, sprite and orange crush mixed, as he makes his way over to the empty seat beside Dustin. There is a wide smile on his face, and it startles Steve slightly as he realizes he hasn't seen Lucas with one around Eddie in months.

His heart hurts at the thought.

Eddie drops down beside Steve, blowing out a long slow sigh as he does.

He scrubs a pair of ringed hands over his face roughly before finally relaxing into the shitty theater seat and reaching over to snag a handful of popcorn from Steve's bag, spilling kernels all over the place. 

Steve rolls his eyes and tips the bag closer to Eddie who immediately grabs a second handful.

Eddie is facing the screen, but his eyes are trained on the seat in front of him, the projection illuminates his face in whites, yellows, greens, and blues as the movie begins and Steve can't look away.

He eventually tips his face towards Steve, "You were right," Eddie murmurs before finally taking in the screen as he looks away again. Even though he's sitting nearly boneless and slumped in the seat, his shoulders are tense, upset. 

Guilty.

"I'm glad," Steve whispers, and he is.

The icy feeling of disappointment that held his chest in a tight vice grip all morning finally loosens as he leans into the armrest and feels the warmth of Eddie's shoulder soak into his own.

"Thanks Steve," Eddie whispers, his warm breath ghosting over Steve's ear as leans closer, letting their hands brush in the darkness of the theater.

Steve closes his eyes, and lets himself bask in the warmth, even for just a moment.

[ladykailitha]

Batshit Soulmates: Epilogue

Here it is. The end of an era. I struggled mightily with this one because I was so focused on canon that I forgot that I'm a writer and I can do what I want.

Once I got over myself the story just flowed so well it was done in two weeks.

But as I said last week, I'm a little mean to you in this. Spoiler under the cut.

In Medias Res| Prologue|Pt 1|Pt 2|Pt 3|Pt 4|Pt 5|Pt 6|Pt 7|Pt 8| Pt 9|

This ends the way season four does only with all the allies together not just some of them.

****

Nancy, Robin, and Dustin all returned to Steve’s house to make sure Eddie was safe.

Steve told Eddie that his uncle knew he was alive and would get into contact soon.

Eddie nearly cried in relief. “Thank you, Stevie.”

Then a car pulled up at that exact moment. Then of all things a pizza truck. Steve pushed Eddie into a nearby bathroom and looked out the window.

Out of the pizza truck hopped out both Byers boys, Mike, and the driver, a long haired native boy in a Hawaiian shirt. Then Joyce, Murray, and a very much alive Hopper exited the car.

And Steve’s heart nearly burst. He quickly ushered them all inside. His street had a lot of empty houses since the earthquake, the rich having somewhere else to go, but he didn’t trust the ones that remained.

Everyone was hugging everyone else. Jonathan and Nancy, El and Hopper. Joyce and Will. Everyone was safe. Max and the Sinclairs weren’t there, but they were safe too.

Robin, Steve and Eddie on the sidelines feeling happy that they were all reunited at last.

The first thing everyone did was tell their stories. El started, then the Byers, then Joyce and Murray, Hopper next, Steve and Dustin, then Nancy and Robin.

There was just so much to do.

“He’s still alive,” El said, “I couldn’t kill him. He hurt Max and I couldn’t leave her. I couldn’t leave her and the bastard survived.”

Joyce scooped her up into her arms and rocked her back and forth, gently. “You did the right thing, sweetheart. Max is alive because of you.”

“We’re going to have to find a place to stash Hopper and El until this blows over,” Nancy said. “They can’t stay here, it’s already a risk with Eddie being here. But at least with him, Steve can claim truemate status.”

The heads of all the people who hadn’t been in Hawkins turned to Steve in shock.

“Eddie is your truemate?” Mike wailed. He sat down and put his head in his hands. “Of course he is. Fuck that makes too much sense.”

Steve could only agree, honestly.

Eddie put his arm around his waist and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “I didn’t think so at first, but clearly the universe is smarter than we are.”

Dustin scoffed. “I think that could be said for most of the universe’s population, too.”

Both Eddie and Steve knocked off his hat together.

Robin cackled. “Hey, kids. If Steve’s the mom, then you all have a new step-dad!”

Joyce and Hopper chuckled but everyone else groaned.

Nancy tapped her foot irritated. “Can we get back on to the topic at hand, namely finding a place to put Hopper and El so the government doesn’t find them?”

“My cabin is in pretty shit shape,” Hopper admitted. “But I think if we all work together, we can make it livable again for me and Jane.”

Steve nodded. “That should work. No one found El when she was there before, so they should be safer there.”

“Just not everyone show up at once,” Joyce warned. “Too many people coming and going will alert others.”

Everyone agreed, but as they piled out of Steve’s house the sky lit up in red storm clouds. Ash fell upon Hawkins and ground trembled.

Everyone stopped on Steve’s lawn looking up at the sky, knowing Vecna had finally made his move.

The Upside Down was bleeding into the top world.

The war had begun.

****

I want to thank everyone for coming long with me on this ride. It's been fun!

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[coniangray]

St5 teaser breakdown

(cus im bored) (spoilers, duh....i think)

All these clips are from the first 2 eps cus ofc they wont wanna spoil more that early into production. Like imagine if this felt too much of a sneak peak, the season is gonna be HUGE and this will feel like the 0.00001% of what it actually is lmao.

The school scenes:

i think first scenes, all from episode one.

The boys will catch a signal from the radio the night prior, paralleling s2e1

but this time either will lives with the wheelers or hes at the radio station and they contact from there.

the signal might be near a military base OR

its henrys signal that needs decoding excactly like the scoop troops did in st3.

So, the dynamics here are gonna be reminicent of both s2 and s3e2.

some quotes like "what are you doing on this channel again" and ''I cracked it", "cracked what?","I cracked the code" are also gonna make the cut. This scene will be paralelled with either mike or dustin, since these two were the brain of the party.

BONUS:

And what did robin also figure out in s4? Oh, wait-

I dont actually know what this code is, but i know it needs all four of them to solve it. And what if, in the background of the signal they catch up on little dream of me playing in the background?

The daisy song being broadcasted was accidental; the russians werent planning on including it there or they just did it as a distraction (they might have recorded the code within the crowd of the mall in brought daylight.) So what if the music, even if there is one at the background, is accidental too? After all, this song is mentioned as victors safe space because he called ella fitzgerald an angel, not henrys.

It all has to do with vecna at the end of the day, given how will touches his neck and feels him. This is an early sign of the symptoms, given how later, after school, they grow bigger and wider, giving will his first vision of the day:

And i dont even need to tell yall what this scene paralels lol

same table, but not same tree.

The code solving talk still continues here, because of how convenient it is to have will see the clock, zone out, walk towards it while the rest of the group talks about vecna and him capturing his victims in manipulative ways. In this scene they will bring up metaphors and allegories, just like they did with chrissy and eddie "do you ever feel like youre losing your mind?","i feel like im going crazy right now, doing a deal with the queen of hawkins high".

Also, like eddie said, this place promises safety because no o ne ever goes out there. SO, my bet is, mike chose they go there since eddie mustve told him right before he died.

bet hell say sth between the lines of "We have to go somewhere private. Somewhere no one can hear us." and thatll be most likely during lunch.

And thats where the bullies come in.

In order to continue their scenes out there, they mustve been interrupted by andy and jasons squad, and teased as to what they were doing with the radio on the table, given the leaks we got back in january or mike and dustin being followed by them.

no i have a feeling that during this arguement (after lunch and before the table scene), andy will attack mike and dustin and will will hopefully give a punch, paraleling el and angela in s4 and joyce in s3. This is my guess here, but i hope its true cus poor boy needs to throw hands with sb.

Spoiler alert it might not happen that day cus all of them are safe and sound without a scratch in the table woods scene.

After the woods scene, dustin visits eddied grave with his bike, which vandalized to the gods and guess who did it; thats right the bullies.

which will probably paralel maxs scene on billys grave

I wanna believe we get a heartfelt speech about his and mikes relationship with eddie, warming the ground for more eddie flashbacks to come. No, he wont get vecnad here, but rather found and beaten up by andi and the bullies, cus he was seen with a bruised face later on

and yes, the projector scene is also from the same day.

Another interesting thing to point out here is how the duffers said that our characters will start the season in action, so all the el scenes fighting vecna in the upside down and all the lights flickering, theyre all from the first 2 episodes.

After school and after the graveyard, with propably a few new scenes taking place in the middle, they all go to the new station set, and as it seems the byers are doing a presentation??

Probably from their experience in the uspide down, or most likely explaining sth about vecnas connection.

Orrr its a group thing, idk.

The thing is, dustin is beaten up standing next to steve. My bets are that hell notice dustin is hurt and make a huge deal about it, argue with the party on why he was found like that in the first place.

This would also be a chance to bring up the dynamics from the previous seasons and their flaws, aka dustin being with steve more time than he was with the party or others.

The thing is, in the same scene we see this;

M4tt showing n0ah how to choke.

Things most likely get heated in this scene, and that triggers wills connection with vecna. The mindflayer activates, and he becomes like billy.

And who else flayed choked sb else prior to this?

LETS GO BABY WE ROLL !!

Will will attack someone, most likely steve, cus he was also shown beaten up later in the teaser, especially in the car scene with nancy n johnathan.

Which leads us to this leak;

Its night, right outside the radio station. My guess is that steve tries to escape but part of him stays cus hell its will that attacks, that boy is harmless, right? While will is just there, chocking him and bagginf him to run.

Its the perfect lead up imo; first he feels the mf getting closer, then he has the vision and then he gets activated.

i feel like this is the cliffhanger between e1 and e2, since it would be perfect to have us waiting for steves safety and wills sanity for the next episode.

Bonus bonus;

Nancys Candy striper outfit

Going undercover in ep 1 was not on mybingo card, so im guessing shes an actual vollunteer at the hospital, because shed have to gain trust in order to sneak in and steal files.

but then again, why from tyhe hospital? all this place has ws maxs condition, which was already known to her and the rest of the team.

Involving her with such type of environment is simply to create more paraelels from the hmh scenes in s3.

Now, we also got this leak from april, and its most likely for ep4

the vollunteer is obviously nancy, but for her to return to that outfit, shell have to wear it again. So that means what i said, she became a vollunteer to gain trust and steal the proper files from the turnbows mansion thats connected to the lab.

Wills outfit also indicates its from a later episode.

As for the hopper scenes, idk a lot to break it down. And for el, this must be in ep 1 since this is unfinished bussiness from the piggyback if u nthink abt it

Thats it, hope you enjoyed my brain fart and i hope im right.

[dwobbitfromtheshire]

Eddie has a one night stand, and the end result was a daughter who the mother left with Eddie. Eddie was still in denial that he's in love with Steve. Dustin had started to figure it out, though, especially when Eddie named his daughter Stephanie and nicknamed her Stephie.

"I think you might be in love with Steve," Dustin said as he cradled Stephie.

"Why would you say that?" Eddie asked.

Eddie was completely aware of his attraction to both along with Steve’s but he was completely oblivious towards his feelings for him.

"Well, you put Stephie in a tiny little yellow sweater, and I looked into her dresser. . .where on Earth did you get so many baby polos?" Dustin asked.

"I special ordered them from a magazine," Eddie whispered quietly, his eyes wide. "I don't like polos personally, but I think she pulls them off. It does not mean that I'm in love with Steve."

"Her name is Stephie, and I saw her mother. . .she looked like a female version of Steve. I think unconsciously were wishing you with Steve when you were with her," Dustin said.

"Hey! I was awake the entire time I was having sex with her, and so was she!" Eddie said defensively.

"Yeah, that's not what I meant. That's not what I meant at all," Dustin said.

Suddenly, the door opened, and Steve walked into Eddie's apartment carrying a bag.

"Hey, Eds, I made something for Stephie, I think you're going to love it," Steve said.

Eddie grabbed the bag and opened it. Inside was a vest with a tiny Dio patch on the back. It was just like Eddie's. He stared at it for a long time, thoughts swirling in his head. Eddie walked over to Dustin and motioned him to hold Stephie out while he slipped on the vest. It fit perfectly over her sweater. Eddie took his daughter in his arms, staring at her with tears filling his eyes. He didn't say anything for a long time.

"Uh, Eds, are you okay?" Steve asked.

Eddie collapsed onto his knees in front of Steve, his daughter still secured in his arms.

"I'm in love with you, Steve," Eddie said. "And I think I have been for a long time now. I just don't know why I couldn't admit it to myself. I think, maybe, I was scared because besides Wayne and the party, you're one of the best things in my life, and I didn't want to lose that. I know how risky this is. . .that I could lose you by saying this, but man, you are so worth the risk. I named my daughter after you because I wanted her so badly for her to be yours. I want you to be her daddy, and I want you to be my partner in crime. That is, if you'll have us?"

Steve collapsed in front of him, caressing his cheek and placing one hand on top of Stephie's head.

"Yeah, I'll have you. I've been waiting, I just - I was scared too," Steve whispered.

Eddie leaned forward at the same time Steve did, and their lips met in the sweetest kiss. It was soon interrupted by Stephie screeching for attention. Steve laughed as he broke away and looked down at her.

"Hi, sweet girl, I'm your daddy too," Steve sniffled.

"Well," Dustin said, clapping his hands together. "My work here is done. I'm going to find Will a boyfriend."

Will had been out for a while now, and Dustin had always wished for his best friend to find someone other than pining after Mike. Dustin loved Mike, but he could definitely be such an asshole and he always thought that Will could do better. Will was always so nice to him, and he was the most interested when it came to Dustin's creations. Dustin smiled fondly as he left Eddie's. Spoiler alert, the boyfriend Dustin found for Will ended up being himself. Whoops.

[lab-trash]

I am once again begging for an Oblivious Hopper fic. Begging.

Here are more ideas. I like the ones in the og the most, but here are some more.

For pre-relationship (and there might be a crackfic like this already?), Will asking Hopper for advice on how to get with the person he likes. Hopper doesn't realise it's Mike. Maybe he doesn't even realise it's a man. But he is very encouraging, especially since Will both had never shown much interest in anyone, and had been pretty stand-offish around him.

Hopper is like... shocked and devastated upon learning it was Mike.

And now for more established relationship ideas.

Will gushing about a date and Hopper either thinking it was just a friendly hang-out or not realising it was with Mike.

Hopper thinking Mike is coming over to flirt with El even though he's not even like... around her. At all.

Even more so, Mike coming out of Will's room all kiss-dazed and Hopper being disgusted at the fact that Mike and El would do that in Will's room of all places. Despicable.

A bit if pity upon seeing Mike and Will kiss at midnight of New Years.

Just straight up confusion upon seeing Will cooking in the kitchen with Mike wrapped around him. No theories, no suspicion. Just confusion.

Finding Mike and Will on patrol in the backseat. Weird. Maybe they were working on a campaign. El had been participating lately, maybe they couldn't do it at home. And it was very late, maybe no where was really open. Just get home safe, nothing strange going on there.

Will putting a Lot of pressure on getting a gift for Mike on "some random Tuesday." (Spoiler alert, it's an anniversary)

Hummus. Heck, I'd fucking love for hummus to happen with all of their family. Hopper, El, Jonathan, Joyce, even Nancy. Throw the party in there. Byler gets everyone into hummus to hide their relationship. Maybe they only find out upon learning Steve's pulled this shit (potentially with Eddie)

Hopper spectating a D&D game (maybe they're playing at the table or living room or smth, he's just around) and hearing Will or Mike sweet talk the dm (the opposite) into letting them do something they Definitely shouldn't be allowed to do. All the party members groaning in annoyance about it.

Getting mad at Ted for being a dick to his kid and Ted saying "will turned my son gay," much to Hopper's confusion. Because of course Mike wasn't gay. Mike dated his daughter; he would know if Mike were gay.

[chaos-is-beautifvl]

𝐝𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐩 𝐩𝐭. 𝟐

𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠: eddie munson x fem!reader

𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲: after the first accidental and absolutely horrid incident with your dad, eddie isn’t all too keen on the idea of meeting him officially. spoiler alert: he has every reason to be worried || part one

𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠: hopper!reader, fluff, tad bit of angst, ‘freak’ used derogatorily + affectionately, assumptions, hopper being this close 🤏 to having a heart attack, joyce being the best mom (besides steve), slight mean hopper bc he cares about his kids, mike again being a little shit, el being confused, jonathan needing to learn how to read the room & mentions of sex

𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 4596 (these are my blood, sweat, and tears - no actually, i think i got a paper cut)

𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞: the long awaited sequel of doac is here! also, you guys are absolutely insane. 2,000+ NOTES??!! thank you so much! i hope you all enjoy part 2 as much as you did the first. feedback is golden, so please let me know what you think. feel free to send me a request. guidelines here and check out my other eddie fics here!

stay tuned for bonus chapters & maybe a part 3???

“I don’t think I can go through this again... Once was enough, but twice? No, no, no.”

Hopper was strewn across the couch, arms over his head and legs splayed out. He slumped over like he was tired of carrying the world’s weight on his shoulders.

“Can’t do what, Hop?” Joyce questioned, replacing the clothes in the dryer with the clothes in the washing machine. “Let your kid grow up?”

“Grow- Hold on, you’re on her side?”

Joyce rolled her eyes, starting the dryer and bringing her laundry basket over to the table to fold the clothes. “There are no sides.”

“No, no, you are. You’re on her side.”

“Okay, fine. I’m on your teenage daughter’s side, who has done nothing wrong.”

“Nothing wrong-?” Hopper sat up, ignoring the instant head rush that followed. “Joyce, she had a boy in her room - a boy - and if I hadn’t gotten there when I did, who knows what would have happened? I swear, it’s Mike all over again.”

Joyce tossed a pair of mismatched socks on the table, resisting the urge to roll her eyes again. She loves the man, but he constantly pushes her buttons. “I mean, she is at that age. It was only a matter of time before she got curious and started exploring her sexual-”

“Joyce!” Hopper groaned, covering his face with his palms as though that would prevent his ears from hearing her words. “Why the hell would you say that? You know something I don’t?”

She shot him an annoyed look, not withholding her eye-rolling. Heaving a sigh, Joyce turned to her laundry, taking note to sew the hole in Will’s shirt.

“She’s almost an adult. Do you expect her not to know or be interested in those things?” She refrained from using the forbidden ‘S’ word to prevent Hopper freaking out. Again.

“No! What kind of question even is that? What? Do you expect Jonathan and Will to be doing those things?” He threw his hands in the air, returning Joyce’s annoyed look. 

“Will, no. Jonathan, yes. I mean, c’mon, Hopper, you saying you weren’t like that when you were their age?”

The man could only grumble. Joyce was right. While he was significantly older, he hadn’t refined much since his teenage days. The problem was that even though he was as wild and free as ever, that didn’t mean he wanted to imagine or see his kids doing the same. The thought was grossly unfathomable to him.

Joyce sighed as she cast a glance at Hopper. She could see his inner turmoil, and although his reaction was overly exaggerated, she offered him some solace. 

“Look, Y/N is a good girl. I’m sure nothing is or was going on. It’s likely just what she said - they were playing around. Kids do that, you know. If you can somehow pull your head out of your ass, you’ll see why she didn’t tell you about him.” As Joyce was speaking, Hopper opened his mouth to spew what she knew were more excuses. She held her hand up, effectively shutting his mouth. 

“You don't even know the boy. He’s sweet, and he seems to care about Y/N a lot. That should make you happy.”

It did. Hopper wouldn’t admit it aloud, but he was glad that the little punk treated his daughter well, even if the man thought the boy had other intentions.

Joyce snapped as an idea came to mind. She turned to Hopper with a coy grin, and he didn’t like where she was headed. “Dinner. We’ll have dinner. And if you decide you still don’t like it, fine. But you have to try at least.”

After a few contemplative minutes, Hopper begrudgingly resigned, sinking further into the couch. “Fine. Dinner it is.”

——

You don't think you’ve ever seen Eddie so skittish. His eyes were wide and alert, and he constantly looked over his shoulder so he would be prepared if your crazy dad came charging at him again.

“D-Dinner?” Eddie sputtered over his words. “You want me to go to dinner with you and your dad? Your dad tried to kill me!”

The nearby patrons of the cafeteria stopped talking after Eddie's outburst, turning their full attention to you two. You smiled sheepishly, waving a hand dismissively. You were granted a reprieve when someone yelled across the cafeteria, and all staring was redirected.

You sighed, turning back to Eddie. “Look, I know my dad was…”

“Crazy, insane, deranged? Murderous, maybe?”

You grinned at Eddie's interruption. While you felt bad, seeing him so frantic was adorable. You hid your amusement behind your hand, clearing your throat and trying to get back to the issue. “You’re right. He was a bit murderous, but if he got to know you, he would love you.”

Eddie sent you a skeptical look, and you adjusted your words. “Love might be a bit strong, but he would definitely like you. I’m sure. I like you, and I happen to have very great judgment.”

“That’s debatable.” Mike interrupted as he plopped down in the seat next to you. 

You rolled your eyes, “Funny. Don’t think I asked for your opinion.”

“No, what’s funny is how Hopper tried to kill Eddie.” The boy opened a can of Coke, and the sizzling annoyed you just as much as he did. “He was like, ‘I'm going to kill you for dating my daughter’.”

Mike’s impression of Hopper wasn’t that far off, but his levity of the situation deterred your endeavors of convincing Eddie to come to dinner. Eddie was back on alert, not that he’d ever stopped being overly cautious.

“Dating?” Gareth asked as he and the rest of the crew joined the party. To say that you wanted you and Eddie to be alone was understated. “Congrats, guys. I didn’t even know.”

“Thanks, man. Just let me know if you see a man about yea high with a murderous look in his eyes.”

“Context, please.”

“Can we just leave it alone? Yes, Eddie and I are dating. No, you will not get any context.” You quickly shut down the impending questions that would follow once you and Eddie started explaining. 

You don’t think Eddie was paying much attention to the conversation anyway. He resorted to virtually sitting in your seat, hoping you might save him if your dad came around. You wanted to reassure him by explaining that even though your dad was homicidal the first time they met, he wouldn’t actually kill him. But, as you thought about it, you honestly didn’t put a thing past your dad. It is Hopper you're talking about. 

You overheard Dustin asking how nobody caught on to you two dating because he caught on after the first few times you hung out together. You couldn’t help but agree silently. You and Eddie had not been subtle about liking each other at all. 

Pushing the conversation to the back of your mind, you rekindled the one with Eddie. “He said he’d give you a chance, and, believe it or not, my dad hardly goes back on his word.”

Those were the wrong choice of words, it seemed, with how Eddie finally stopped glancing at all the available exits for his escape plan and whipped his head around to look at you with widened eyes.

He was progressively looking like a deer in headlights the more he thought about being brutally murdered by the chief of police. “So, he was, like, serious? About, you know, killing me?”

“Eddie, he never said he was going to kill you.” He didn't exactly say the words, but his actions proved otherwise. You didn't voice those thoughts, though.

Sighing, you grabbed Eddie’s hand. “I really like you, and it would take so much more than my, like you said, deranged dad to change that. And you totally don’t have to go if you don’t want to, but I want my dad to see you the way I do.”

Your words seemed to do the trick. Eddie laughed, and his grin resulted in one of your own. “Could’ve just told me you were obsessed with me, sweetheart.”

You rolled your eyes, pushing him away from you, “Shut it, Munson.” Pursing your lips to hide your smile, you squeezed his hand, “So... dinner?”

Eddie leaned his head back, hair sweeping behind his shoulders. He hummed before sitting up and wrapping an arm around you. “Dinner.” He held up a finger before you could thank him. “But only because I feel bad you’re terribly infatuated with me.”

“I hate you.”

“You love me.”

“Aww, aren’t you guys cute?”

“Shut up, Mike,” both of you groaned, resulting in laughter from the group.

——

You think that inviting Eddie to dinner was a grave mistake. Hopper had been staring Eddie down the entire time, which made for an awkward conversation.

Just when you were about to ask your dad to stop terrorizing your boyfriend, he stabbed a fork in his mashed potatoes. “So, Munson, what are your intentions with my daughter?”

“Dad!” You groaned, sending him an annoyed look.

“What? It’s a simple question. It shouldn’t be too difficult for him to answer. Or maybe it is with all those extra years in school.” He grumbled the last words under his breath, and you were so close to giving him a big piece of your mind when Eddie replied.

“It’s fine, Y/N. And, uh, sir, I have no ‘intentions’ with your daughter. I just think she’s really cool, and she’s such an amazing person. So, yeah,” Eddie glanced over at you, offering a grin. “No intentions, but I really like her, sir.”

You took a sip of water, hoping the coolness would diminish the heat that swarmed your face at his compliments. Eddie was never one to shy away from telling you how he felt, but your heart skipped a beat or two faster with how he looked at you.

Eddie’s response was a good one, and there was nothing Hopper could say as much as he tried, so he only grumbled as he ate his potatoes.

The conversation went back to normal - talk about school, the new mall they were building, blah, blah, blah. Then it took a surprising turn.

Jonathan was pretty quiet during the entire span of dinner, scarfing down as much food as he could. You knew it was due to the hefty amount of purple palm tree delight Argyle left him with on his last visit.

That’s what led to him speaking. “Hey, Eddie…” Jonathan squinted as if he wasn’t sure Eddie was the one sitting in front of him. Eddie hummed, and Jonathan nodded, convinced that Eddie was indeed sitting in front of him.

“You still, uh, you still coming on the trip with us, man?”

Eddie’s head shot up so quickly you would think he got whiplash. His mouth opened and closed like a fish. You sent a wild look to Jonathan, waving your hands to get him to stop talking.

You hadn’t exactly meant for it to be a secret; you just never got around to telling your dad about it. And, in light of recent events, you decided it was best to wait until things blew over, but Jonathan seemed intent on ruining that plan.

Mike raised an eyebrow at your frantic movements, and you coughed, reaching for your water when Joyce sent you a concerned look. It seemed you weren’t transparent enough because Jonathan continued, despite your attempts at diffusing the situation. 

“This chicken is so good, Joyce,” was said as you picked at the piece to prove your point.

“You know,” Jonathan blinked slowly, mistaking Eddie's nonresponse as confusion. “To the Cali trip. I talked to my man, Argyle, and he can’t wait to meet you, you know, thinks you’re pretty rad.”

The silence that followed was loud, terribly so. Your fork was lifted halfway to your mouth with the chicken you suddenly didn’t have an appetite for anymore. 

Mike’s expression developed into shock and slight amusement, which pissed you off, but it wasn’t the time to reprimand him. Will’s widened eyes caught your gaze, sharing your mortification. Joyce looked like she might be close to laughing with how her lips rolled together. You wanted to be annoyed, but honestly, you can’t fault her. 

And El, not knowing why the table’s facial expressions ranged from mortified to humorous, tilted her head in confusion. Her brows furrowed, and you made a special note to start explaining things more. She was lost most of the time, and it’s your job as her big sister to direct her on the right path. That’s something you’ll worry about later, though.

Meanwhile, Eddie looked like he might shit a brick - a perfectly rectangular one. You’re sure you look the same. 

And Jonathan, the cause of the array of facial charades, was just as confused as El until it settled in. You wonder if some genetic thing makes the Byers form similar expressions. His face morphed into shock, like the rest of the crowd. The next he made was guilty, and you’re so glad he feels that way about the mess he created. His shaggy hair flipped around as he turned to you. You could barely understand the words he tried to mouth, but they were apropos of the situation, like ‘I’m so sorry.’ 

He should be.

A harsh clang of silverware on the table made everyone jump, removing them from their stupor. You don’t know how you or anyone else could have forgotten about Hopper. You slowly dragged your eyes over to your dad, and his expression exceeded all your expectations of what it would be. It’s comical and terrifying, and the way Eddie’s face paled, you think he might have actually shit that brick.

Hopper’s face was red, resembling the color of the salad bowl. Like the first unpleasant time he met Eddie, literal steam came from his ears and nose, nostrils flaring as he gripped the table.

You were trying to think of anything that could appease the situation. You screwed up. Majorly. Totally. Tragically. Your heart attempted to flee your chest cavity in hopes of escaping what appeared to be a perfectly disastrous situation.

“What. The. Hell?!” Hopper’s words came out in disgruntled anger, interrupting your meticulous planning, and you wished you hadn't tried to introduce the two. After all, you are the daughter of a cop, and this cop is notorious for taking things over the top.

“Dad, wait, I can explain-” The words tumbled out of your mouth before you thought of an actual explanation.

“Oh, you sure can, missy. Please tell me why you not only lied about who was going on the trip, but you were going to sneak off with him and do god knows what.”

You blubbered over your words as you twisted your fingers. You knew your dad had a temper, that much was evident when he tried to attack Eddie, but this was worse. You hated when he was mad, even more so when he directed it toward you.

“What, you have nothing to say? Go on, tell me! Tell me why my daughter has become someone completely different since meeting this freak!”

Any thought of not talking back in fear of making your dad angrier disappeared. You could handle him being mad at you - you didn’t like it, but it was tolerable. What you refused to tolerate was him treating Eddie like shit.

Standing up, you slammed your hands down on the table, rattling the silverware and the people at the table. You weren’t known for your outbursts so seeing you in this state was surprising to everyone, even your dad, who raised an eyebrow.

“You do not get to talk to him like that. God, Dad, you wanna know why I didn’t tell you? I didn’t tell you because I knew you’d do this - overreact.”

Hopper’s eyes widened, and he stood as well. “You think this is overreacting? Oh, trust me, you haven’t seen overreacting yet.”

“Don’t you hear yourself, Dad? You haven’t even given him a chance, and yet, somehow, your mind is all made up. Do you see the problem there?”

Out of the corner of your eye, you could see everyone itching to get away from the table, and honestly, you wished you could do the same. But instead, here you were, arguing with your dad about your boyfriend while said boyfriend was sitting next to you, looking petrified.

Hopper sighed frustratedly, dragging a hand down his reddened face. “No, Y/N, the problem is with him. I don’t want my daughter dating someone one step away from being his dad-”

Eddie stood up this time, and all eyes shot to him. He cleared his throat, “You know what, I think I’m gonna go. The food was great, Mrs. Byers, but I have a chemistry test tomorrow. And, well, I wanna pass, so yeah.”

“Ed-” You felt terrible. You wanted this dinner and practically forced him to come even though he was reluctant, and now he was leaving early because your dad couldn’t keep his so wrong opinions about Eddie to himself.

“It’s okay, really,” Eddie grinned at you, trying to show that he wasn’t affected as you were. He whispered the last words, “Hey, at least I know what it’s like dating the daughter of a cop.”

His reassurances did little to reassure you. So, when he left, and everyone at the table was trying to make it seem like they weren’t there, you turned to your dad. There was so much you wanted to say to him. You would have told him how much of a literal asshole he was.

But all you could say was, “You didn’t even try, Dad. You said you would.”

With that, you walked off, following after Eddie, hoping your dad hadn’t ruined your relationship with the one person you didn’t want to lose.

The front door slammed shut, and Hopper had half a mind to tell you to come back inside, but he kept it to himself. It was tense then, and Joyce, who needed to have a lengthy chat with Hopper, told the kids to give them some space.

They hurried away, mumbling, "I have to use the bathroom anyway," and "do you guys wanna play video games?"

Once the table was clear, Joyce turned to Hopper, awaiting an explanation. Hopper plopped down in his chair, covering his face with his hands as he groaned vehemently.

“Do you see what I mean? And she says that I’m overreacting.”

Joyce’s muted response prompted the angry man to remove his hands from his face and send her an inquisitive eyebrow raise. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“C’mon, Hop, do I really have to say anything?”

“So you agree? I mean, I can’t be the only way that sees a major problem with-”

“Jesus, Hopper, are you serious?” Joyce furrowed her eyebrows as she glared at the man sitting next to her. She had put up with his initial disinterest in Eddie because most dads are like that, but she was annoyed now with him actively being an asshole.

“Look, I get it, she’s your daughter, but you’re going to ruin your relationship with her if you continue acting like this.” Hopper opened his mouth to no doubt spout a series of excuses when Joyce held up a hand, signaling him to shut up. “Do you really want to know why Y/N didn’t tell you? She was scared, Hop. Scared of how you might react because she likes a boy you wouldn’t give a first chance. And she hid it because she didn’t want to disappoint you.”

“But, Joyce-”

“No buts, Hop. Eddie, who is very sweet, by the way, hasn’t done anything wrong. You’re letting your judgment get in the way and doing the same thing you did with El to Y/N, and you saw how that worked out. So, you tell me, what is your problem?”

Hopper didn’t answer the question everyone was asking, instead sulking in his seat like a petulant child. He pulled out a cigarette and didn’t even bother to light it, just letting it hang between his pouting lips.

Joyce shook her head, crossing her arms, “We can sit here all night until you fess up, or you can just pull your head out of your stubborn ass and tell me what’s going on.”

The man rubbed his forehead, sitting up in his chair and hanging his head low. He stared at the chip in the floorboards before heaving a dreary sigh. “She’s my girl, Joyce. She’s my little girl, and yeah, maybe I was overreacting-”

“You think?” Hopper didn’t even have the energy to roll his eyes.

“Just- look, I know that she’s getting older. They’re both getting older. But she’s my girl, Joyce, my little girl. What if she gets older and she-” Hopper choked on his words. “What if she gets older and forgets all about her old man?”

“Hop…” Joyce sighed. “Our kids - they’re gonna get older. We can’t change that. But if there’s one thing I know about Y/N," she ducked her head to meet his eyes. “She is never going to forget her dad... as long he stops acting like an asshole.”

Hopper chuckled, wiping a stray tear from his face, “Yeah, you’re right.”

“Give him a chance, Hopper. He makes her happy.”

“Okay,” he resigned. He lit his cigarette, furrowing his brows, “How come you’re always right? Is it like a woman’s intuition thing?”

“No, you’re just a moron most of the time.”

——

“So,” Eddie inquired as he tapped his fingers on the steering wheel, “Got a place in mind?”

After storming out the front door, you made your way to Eddie’s van, thankful it was still there. You thought he would be long gone after your dad practically bit his head off, but no. He had just started his vehicle and was contemplating if this time Hopper would actually kill him when the passenger side door flung open.

“Please don’t kill me!” The words were frenzied as Eddie squeezed his eyes shut and held his hands in front of him as if that would protect him from Hopper’s rage.

You grabbed his hands, laughing as you slid into the van. “Wasn’t planning on it.”

“I don’t know. Anywhere with you is good.”

“M’kay, how about…” He hummed before taking a right turn to a lookout point. “Here?”

“Here’s good.”

For the first time, the air was awkward between you two. You didn’t like it, but you didn’t know what to say. What do you say to someone after your dad was an asshole to them during dinner and then proceeded to call them a freak more than once?

Eddie’s “so…” was said simultaneously with your “I’m so sorry.”

You made eye contact, and he let out a laugh you couldn’t help but copy. “Sorry,” he said after catching his breath, “you can go first.”

“My dad,” you started, looking away from him and instead focusing on the view outside. “My dad was an asshole to you, and I know that I can’t make up for that, but I am so sorry, Eddie. Believe me, if I knew he would act that way, I would have never pushed for dinner.”

“Y/N-”

You shook your head, forcing yourself to make eye contact so he could see your genuineness. “No, Eddie. He said some really hurtful things, and I’m really sorry. And, uh, I would totally understand if you, I don’t know, didn’t want to be with me anymore because, well, who wants to deal with a dad like mine.”

“Do you-” Eddie leaned forward, resting his arms on the steering wheel. “You don’t actually think I want that… right?”

You shrugged, toying with a stray thread on the hem of your shirt. “I would understand if you did.”

“Okay, let’s correct that, yeah? I definitely don’t want to break up. I wasn’t lying when I said all that to your dad.”

You stammered, trying to list all the possibilities why Eddie not wanting to be with you was reasonable. All of which included your dad. 

“I thought it was pretty hot, honestly.”

You raised an eyebrow, finally directing your gaze to him. He smiled sheepishly again, embarrassed. “Your dad is… he’s a work of art, but that has nothing to do with you. And I mean, the way you stood up to him - highly doubt anyone in their right mind would do that - I don’t know, it was interesting seeing you riled up over little ole me.”

“Pretty hot or interesting? Gotta pick, Munson.” You cracked a grin at the red tint that rose to his cheeks

“Hot,” he nodded, certain of his answer. “Definitely hot.”

Then the air was back to normal, and it felt good to breathe it in. You tutted and shook your head, “Who’s obsessed with who, now?”

“Oh, I’ve always been obsessed with you, sweetheart. You’re just in denial about being obsessed with me.”

You could only roll your eyes, turning to face the door so he wouldn’t see the smile on display. The two of you sat in comfortable silence, watching the night settle over Hawkins until Eddie spoke.

“What about you?” You acknowledged his question with a hum. “You sure you still want to be with me? I mean, I know you’re completely infatuated with me." That made you chuckle. “And you’re also pretty close with your dad. Believe me, I don’t want to stop what we have, but I also don’t want to mess that up.”

“I don't want that either.” Eddie frowned slightly, and you realized how your words sounded, so you corrected them. “What I mean is, I don’t want us to end. My dad means a lot to me, and I love him, but I also love you. And I really don’t want to lose you. I meant what I said before. It would take so much more than my crazy dad to make me not want you. Screw this whole goddamn town. I could care less what they think.”

You finished your rant with a huff. You felt relieved, finally having said everything you’ve been holding in since this whole fiasco with your dad and Eddie began.

You don’t know what you were expecting Eddie’s expression to be after your winded rant, but you certainly weren’t expecting to be met with a budding grin. Raising your eyebrow, you questioned why he looked so amused.

“You love me, huh?” You were confused until it hit you. You accidentally told Eddie, of all people, that you were in love with him. 

You’re never going to live this one down.

“Shut up.”

Eddie dramatically splayed himself across your lap. He threw his arm over his head, fanning himself with his hand as if he was but a distressed maiden. 

The brunet opened one eye, keeping the other squeezed shut. He held his hand up to his ear, “I’m sorry. I don’t think I quite heard you the first time. Could you repeat that again?” You rolled your eyes, looking away from his simpering grin before you gave in and wore one yourself.

“I said I hated you.”

“I can’t believe that you, Y/N Hopper, love me, Eddie the freak Munson.”

“Yeah, well, unfortunately, you’re my freak.”

Eddie smiled up at you, and this time, you mimicked him. “I guess it’s time to tell you that I’m in love with the daughter of a cop.”

——

🏷 𝐭𝐚𝐠 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭: @this--is--music , @riotkayla , @lili-pond , @murnsondock , @ecikilljoy , @salembridger , @boomhauer , @under-the-clouds , @insssanemind , @reidstea , @th0rswh0res , @graywrites20 , @tracymbcm , @chrisevansangel , @lizziesfirstwife , @wiieiei , @iloveeddiemunsonnnn

——

[putawayurhalo]

Wish You Were Here

Pairing: Steve Harrington x Fem!Reader (use of she/her pronouns)

Word Count: 1.5k

Warnings: ANGST yet again :)

Author’s Note: yeah this sequel took too long to write and it’s super short but spoiler alert: you’re getting a third part, anyways this one is based on a neck deep song this time so enjoy! NOT EDITED BECAUSE I’M LAZY

Main Masterlist | Part One - Emergency Contact

Two months laters

“Steve!” Max shouted as she wheeled down the driveway, “You actually came.” She smiled at the older man, happy that he had taken the letter she sent him seriously.

“Well, you six have grown.” Steve fakes a smile as he pushes his sunglasses up to hide the dark circles - the evidence that he hasn’t been sleeping much - from the younger teens. 

“It’s only been like two months.” Mike scoffed and crossed his arms over his chest.

“We’ve missed you.” El smiled at him.

“We have so much to tell you!” Dustin exclaimed and the six teens started talking over one another Steve not understanding a word any of them were saying.

“Hey! Slow down jellybeans! Let the man have a minute to think… if he can even do that.” Eddie teased Steve, but frowned when Steve just shrugged and didn’t even fight back. “Why don’t you kids go inside, Nancy and Robin probably need help with something.” The kids - minus Max and Will all ran inside, Will offering to help Max up the makeshift ramp Eddie had made for Nancy and Jonathan’s house.

“How was the drive?” Eddie asked Steve as he shoved his hands into his pocket and leaned his left shoulder on his van.

“Fine.” Steve muttered as he grabbed a few wrapped boxes out of his trunk.

“Cut the bullshit, Harrington.” Eddie glared at him as he walked over to help with the boxes. “Your sunglasses might be covering the dark circles, but they aren’t covering the frown on your face or the tear stains on your cheeks so be honest Steve.”

“What, Munson? You want to hear about how I had to pull off to the side of the road after I started driving past the school and Sweet Dreams came on… her favorite song. Last time I actually listened to the song in full was with her in my stupid car and she was shouting the lyrics at people walking along the street without a care in the world.” Steve slammed the trunk door, “I don’t want to reminisce about any of this. I don’t even want to be here, but Max wrote me that letter and begged me to come and told me all the things I was missing… she’s the closest thing I have left to (Y/N), and maybe I should have called more… but I can’t think about her without crying for hours. How am I supposed to go in there with the kids while they talk about her like she’s still around?” Steve was crying again, almost choking on his words. Eddie just looked at Steve with a slight frown, he opened his mouth to say something but the front door swung open.

“DINGUS!” Robin went running to Steve full force jumping on him, almost knocking him onto the ground. “I MISSED YOU!” She shouted as she hugged her best friend and Steve stood there holding Robin, sunglasses falling off his face as he stared into the distance.

“Steve!” (Y/N) shouted from the doorway of one of the class rooms, “I passed!” she ran towards him and jumped on him, hugging him tightly.

“You got your license?” Steve asked her as he hugged her tightly.

“YES! And it’s all thanks to you! Now we both can get out of this town!” She exclaimed as other students pushed past the duo to exit. 

“Where would we even go?” He smiled at her as she leaned back, almost slipping out of Steve’s grip.

“I don’t know, but I do know anywhere’s better than here.” She giggled and it was like music to Steve’s ears.

-

“You know I still remember the first time I let you drive my car.” Steve chuckled to himself as he turned to look over at (Y/N)’s body laying in the hospital bed, machines keeping her alive.

“It had snowed the night before and the road was icy, I really shouldn’t have let you drive but I did and you promised to go slow, but then your favorite song came on the radio, Sweet Dreams, and you accidentally hit the gas and we spun out and you screamed the entire time… It shouldn’t be my favorite memory but it is because after we stopped spinning you looked at me and giggled and then sang ‘Sweet dreams are made of this who am I to disagree’ and I told you that you should sing more.” Steve laughed slightly, “You said you sounded like a Muppet and I had to remind you that you don’t, that Tammy Thompson sounds like one. You laughed for a solid minute after that and missed the ending to the song…speaking off, Max brought a boombox over last time she was here, said music might help you heal or some shit. And Dustin found a copy of Sweet Dreams on cassette… I’ll put it on for you.” Steve got up out of the chair and put the cassette into the boombox, turning the volume up ever so slightly not to disturb any other patients. 

As Steve turned around he heard the flat line noise coming from the heart monitor and nurses rushed into the room, one of them having to physically drag Steve out of the room. 

Steve hadn’t stayed long after that as he lifted to the yelling and shouting coming from the room she had been in. The sounds of Sweet Dreams mixed in there and with that he left, not just the hospital but Hawkins and hadn’t returned until that December after Max’s constant begging once she got an address from Robin to send letters to.

“Earth to Dingus… Hello? STEVEN!” Robin shouted as she slapped Steve.

“Ow! What the fuck was that for?” Steve exclaimed as he pressed a hand to his cheek.

“You went all space cadet on us! Now come on the kids are way too excited that you’re here, even Mike.” Robin grabbed a few of the presents and walked toward the door.

As Steve followed behind her he was greeted by the kids again as he set his sunglasses near the door. El turned toward Max and asked her question; Max just shook her and told her to not do that. Nancy handed Steve a mug full of hot chocolate and smiled softly at him as she gestured toward the living room. Steve nodded and walked into the living room and sat on the couch next to Dustin and sipped his drink, looking around he noticed the tree and the stockings on the mantle - each with their names on it but a spot had been empty.  Erica, El, Will, Dustin, Mike, Lucas, Robin, Nancy, Jonathan, Eddie, and… (Y/N) but his was missing and Dustin took notice of Steve’s curiosity.

“Oh yours is missing beca-” Dustin was cut off by Max throwing a game board piece at his face.

“What Dustin means is yours is missing because Robin lost it and we had to order you a new one! But we have all the stuff that goes in it upstairs, if it doesn’t get here in the next hour or so we’ll just give you the box!”  Max tells him before turning back towards the game and rolling the dice. 

Will looked at Steve and noticed him staring at (Y/N)’s stocking, “It’s tradition…” Will tells him, “Bob still has one at my house and we still fill it with presents.”

El looked up at Steve and touched his arm, “She’s in a better place.” 

Steve clenched his jaw, a better place is right here with him. That’s what he believed but everyone he’s met keeps telling him she’s in a better place. Steve slammed his mug down on the table, “Too bad it’s not what I believe.” Steve muttered before standing up and walking outside, sitting on the porch stairs.

Steve dug into his jacket pocket pulling out his wallet, inside his wallet was a creased Polaroid of him and (Y/N) that Max had taken one night, the two of them laughing at a joke (Y/N) had said but (Y/N) was staring at the camera and Steve was staring right at her like she put the stars, the sun, and the moon up in the sky just for him. “God I wish you were here, angel.” Steve wiped the tears from his eyes, “But you’re not coming back and I have to accept that.” Steve put the picture back in his wallet and threw it, “It should have been me!” Steve shouted, missing the sounds of footsteps coming up towards him, they stopped for a second and then picked up again.

“Steve?” 

Steve’s eyes went wide and he looked up, “(Y/N)?”

Taglist - people who asked about a part 2 - because I feel bad that it took me well over a month to write this: @etherealforever234​ @azydrateanatomy​ @selfdeprecatingnerd​ @phantomxoxo​ @thexplosivegirl​ @bonarvee​

[lilbobagginz]

Umbrella Academy/IT AU?

Here r my headcannons for if the Losers had the supernatural abilities the Umbrellas have! (Slight *spoiler alert* for hidden abilities revealed throughout the show)

Ben- strength/durability (so he can protect kids who were bullied like he was)

Beverly- rumours (this tactic worked well enough for ppl at school so she can use it on those who deserve it)

Richie- sound wave manipulation? (Definitely tries to drown his thoughts out in music and making ppl laugh)

Eddie- immortality/communication with the dead (has a fear of sickness, doesn't know that he can't actually die from anything lol)

Mike- teleportation/time travel (wishes he could go back and prevent his parents deaths)

Bill- tentacles? (needs the extra arms(?) to help protect kids from the same fate as Georgie)

Stan- knife throwing/accuracy (loves perfection and precision)

Anyone have any different thoughts/opinions?

[novemberhush]

Tag 9 people to get to know better or catch up with

Thanks for tagging me, @littleblackraincloudofcourse !❤️

Three ships you like - Just off the top of my head, Buddie (Buck x Eddie from 9-1-1), Marvey (Mike x Harvey from Suits) and Chenford (Lucy Chen x Tim Bradford from The Rookie). I have so many more, lol.

First ship ever - These are all from roughly the same time, and I was only a kid at the time, so I’m not sure which came first, but I’d say Maddie Hayes x David Addison from Moonlighting, Jim Dempsey x Harriet ‘Harry’ Makepeace from Dempsey & Makepeace, and Anne Shirley x Gilbert Blythe from the 1985 made-for-television adaptation of Anne of Green Gables and its 1987 sequel. In my teenage years, I seriously shipped Benton Fraser x Ray Vecchio from Due South.

Last song you heard - I stopped at the Tesco Express on my way home from work earlier to see if they had anything I fancied for dinner (spoiler alert - they didn’t) and You Can Get It If You Really Want came on over the sound system, much to the seeming delight of everyone in the store because we all started humming, whistling and, in the case of one customer, even singing along. Oh, and it was the Jimmy Cliff version, not the Desmond Dekker one, or at least it sounded like it.

Favourite childhood book - Ooh, that’s a difficult one! I devoured books as a child (a habit I’ve been getting back into this year and last) and I don’t know if I could pick just one.

Currently reading - The Binding Room by Nadine Matheson (the sequel to The Jigsaw Man, which I just finished earlier this week), and I’m also making my way through a book of short stories called That Was A Shiver, and Other Stories by James Kelman.

Currently watching - I finally got around to watching the last half of the last season of The Blacklist this week, watching the very last episode just last night. I’m also watching reruns of The Closer and the original The Twilight Zone, as well the current seasons of Death in Paradise, Murdoch Mysteries, N.C.I.S. and Law & Order. I’m also watching Tatort Saarbrücken, but I’m trying to make the episodes last because there’s only five of them and the next one doesn’t air until January! I have a whole stack of other stuff I still have to get around to as well, but there’s only so many hours in the day.

Currently consuming - A tin of Pepsi Max.

Currently craving - Ice cream, even though it’s really cold here at the moment.

I tag @imwritesometimes @slow-burn-sally @firemedicdiaz @tulipfromtheinternet @fireladybuckley @smowkie @all-or-nothing-baby @mistmarauder @katries and anyone else who wants to play. No pressure on anyone who doesn’t!😘

[stanstanthebirdman]

the losers play stardew valley

(or, I smash my two current hyperfixations together)

Ben: - usually plays with Bev and patiently waits for her to get house upgrades so he can go absolutely feral with decorating - when he’s playing alone he’s pausing the game every 15 seconds to look up guides and making sure he’s doing the “right” thing - knows how to mod the game and now everyone else asks him for help modding theirs. he agrees, but only if they let him install a horrible grandpa’s bed mod of his choosing - romances Leah

Bev: - has made the most progress out of anyone in the game - has at least three sheds just to produce an ungodly amount of wine - releases all of her stress by yelling at Pierre for not opening early enough/being closed on Wednesdays - has a grudge against Sebastian because he keeps posting requests on the bulletin board but then never leaves his room so she can give them to him - romances Elliott or Emily

Bill: - once he figures out how to mod the game he goes absolutely feral with it - new crops. texture packs. expansions. you name it and he’s probably got it. yes his laptop makes concerning noises every time he opens up the game but he ignores it - Mike, looking over his shoulder at his screen: you have a problem - Bill, happily downloading Strawdew Valley: I don’t know what you’re talking about - names his horse Silver :) - romances Haley or Elliott (and gets into frequent arguments with Bev over him)

Eddie: - “Stardew Valley is such a relaxing game!” not for Eddie it isn’t - you’ll never meet someone else who swears this much while playing Stardew - Richie watches him play sometimes and swears that he doesn’t blink while he’s really focused on something - spends most of his time in the mines, but still has a soft spot for his cows/sheep/goats - gets to level 100 in Skull Cavern out of pure spite - his dog is named after Richie - romances Shane. don’t look too far into this one

Mike: - “oh I’ve worked on a REAL farm before, I’m sure I’ll pick this up fast” - spoiler alert: he does not pick it up fast - gets completely absorbed by fishing and ends up standing there fishing in the same spot for a solid 10 hours - has a pet sea urchin in his room that he puts a new hat on every week - has a permanent grudge against Marnie for never being there when he actually needs her to be - of course he has sheep :) - doesn’t romance anyone, but does let Krobus move in with him

Richie: - “why aren’t my crops growing :(” <-- has forgotten to water his crops for the past 3 days - somehow has the best luck out of anyone with finding rare items. takes great joy in notifying everyone that he’s found ANOTHER prismatic shard and watching the group chat fill up with threats of various levels of violence - loves messing with people in co-op. if he’s not rearranging everyone’s chests he’s following them around giving them rocks every three seconds (”it’s like what penguins do, Staniel, I thought you’d be the one to actually appreciate it!”) - never actually marries anyone, but gets to 10 hearts with everyone anyways just to watch drama unfold

Stan: - has an absolutely GORGEOUS farm. everything is so neatly organized, he has color-coded chests, he’d probably have a separate notebook that he keeps with him just to write down ideal planting/harvest times - has a coop full of chickens all named after the other losers and enjoys updating them on what their chicken counterparts have been up to - got to 8 hearts with Shane just for the blue chickens. hasn’t spoken to him since - romances Penny

[su8arandspite]

on today’s oc hyperfixation we have:

high school freshmen, katy sullivan

the time between the events of summer 1985 and march ‘86 is… difficult. an adjustment period might be the best way to describe it

bc what do you do when the only two people in the whole world who can truly understand you are on the other side of the country? like, yeah, max is her best friend too (mike, dustin, lucas ofc) but her bond with will is different and el? el is the only person who understands what it’s like to have powers she can’t control and when things start to change she’s worried shitless

like okay yeah she’s had the pyrokenesis thing for going on a year now and she has a hold on that but now she’s having visions? or are they dreams? she isn’t sure, but she also knows better than to have that conversation over the phone. and here’s the thing: max is having a hard enough time with her grief as is, and the last thing katy wants to do is burden her friends. so, she just… buries it (is it genetic? yea, we think so. exhibit a: mrs. debbie sullivan, exhibit b: beth sullivan exibit

her time is split between max and the boys, but increasingly so max has been blowing her off and shutting her out. and there’s only so far she can reach for her before it’s up to max to accept it

she is the only girl in hellfire club. and as a tomboy whose only real friends were boys until she met elmax, well, that’s no challenge

katy is a tomboy but she has also come more into her own and found her own sense of style (with the help of her older sister ofc) and let me tell you, bby girl loves a thrift store. dresses like stevie nicks

“kathy, don’t you think those sleeves are a little too flammable for you?” “god, Beth, it’s called fashion! you of all people should know that” “ok but if it catches on fire, i’m not buying you a new one” (spoiler alert: she did)

she is not afraid of eddie munson and i’ll tell you right now, she will go toe to toe with him–no hesitation, if he’s being a dick

especially in that lunch room scene s4 e1. because lucas has been her friend since the dawn of time and eddie? who the fuck does he think he is? lsorry but she is simply afraid of No Man after a year trapped in the ud. especially one defeated by the anerican public school system (a/n: eddie, i love you, these are katy’s words not mine)

she is front row at all of lucas’s basketball games, even if she hates organized sports. because she loves her friends and being away from them for as long as she was, nothing can detract from that now. so if it’s a championship game? yeah, sorry, eddie, but she will watch lucas warm that bench come hell(fire) or high water. he can suck her dick, honestly (and she told him as much)

wait til you see what happens when she finds hellfire club in that parking lot after they stood lucas up

if she hears One More Time how susie is fucking amazing she is going to set dustin’s stupid hat on fire bc !!! who is this bitch really and it’s not like she still has a crush on her best friend or anything bc that’d be weird… right?

she’s a huge fuckin nerd (affectionate) and apparently being behind an entire academic year was not going to stop her from making it high school with her friends. good thing she decided not to skip the first grade when they asked her to

and so what if she’s been forced to attend counseling sessions where she has to pretend she spent a year in some loser weirdo’s basement and not a cold, fucked-up version of hawkins?? miss kelly can fuck off bc she’s fine!! she is! she just doesn’t like the lying and smiling at this adult who doesn’t know anything

bonus note: she will complain about how disgustingly affectionate stethany are, but she loves it every time she wanders into her living room and they’re having a movie night, cuddled up on the couch bc beth is happy and it’s normal and steve lets her rent out r-rated movies and steal from the candy stock at family video

[awesome-opossum-after-hours]

so I saw someone else do this and I wanna put mine out to the internet SO- here's my stranger things s5 wishlist

-Hopper-Byers family [trauma-] bonding

-specifically involving Jonathan, like with either parent tbh

-"Byers Twins" teaming up... possibly super powers involved? like either Will has hidden powers or El helps him get some

-Wayne involvement PLEASE

-going off the former, bc the Duffers said the parents were getting involved, Dustin somehow setting up his mom and Wayne

-as sad as it is, explore Dustin's trauma

-Lucas's too, and honestly maybe they'd bond over it and help each other? they were such a great duo in seasons 1 and 2 and I want that back

-Steve and Robin have a new job at some sort of stupid children's pizza place lmao (Freddy Fasbear core hahaha)

-but in all seriousness they need to still keep a running gag of them having a job together at a new place every season

-badass Karen Wheeler teaming up with Nancy

-overall more parent/child bonding now that the parents will be involved ig?

-Eddie somehow PLEASE, ideally back from the dead but it seems more likely that they'd bring him back as a Vecna vision (that'd rip me to shreds but hey at least more content)

-feel like this is self explanatory but Max being okay

-BUT FIRST, Vecna using her as a puppet

-more of a theory I have that I want to be correct, but I want them to show where she is, if she's alive but El couldn't find her. since Max wasn't totally gone when Vecna got disintegrated, what if she's trapped in Vecna's mindscape?

-badass Erica moment. spoiler alert she actually single-handedly defeata Vecna by roasting him so goddamn hard he cannot recover

-please not let this end badly but I want a Steve and Dustin callback to the "no. if you die, I die" line. AGAIN tho nothing bad should come of it please

-let Sam Owens be alive. #justice for Sam

-let Dart somehow come back and help save Dustin #justice for Dart

-Mike and Nancy acting like actual siblings but like not just fighting. like, looking after each other

-holly being sentient, yk she'll be about 10/11 it's about damn time

-IF he does come back, I want a fucking Twilight-style scene to For Whom the Bell Tolls where the camera spans the Upside Down around the trailer, dramatically and all that. on the last bell chime in the intro when the bass starts, it zooms into Eddie, laying dead on the ground. a gnarly hand reaches into frame in front of his face, and Eddie's eyes fly open. boom roll credits as the song goes on

-lastly, I do not care WHO he gets this with. even if it's some rando. but I NEED a scene at the end where we see Steve driving a Winnebago, hair blowing in the wind, with his six little nuggets that he deserves. when they arrive at their destination, we see everyone [who survives lmao] possibly with their future families, setting up a little campfire and connecting like the goddamn wonderful little Found Family they are!!!

[kinghairington]

🌡 with Steve please?

Spoilers for season 4 / 554 words / What happens after Steve was attacked in the Upside Down without any treatment.

After the demobat attack in the Upside Down, Steve does get sick.

It’s not a possession, something they’ve dealt with before, but a poison running through his veins.

Joyce tries to create an anecdote before anything else. It works for roughly an hour before his veins begin turning black again and they’re back to the beginning.

The only thing that seems to help is letting it run its course.

Hopper figures this is some sort of defense to kill victims in the Upside Down where they don’t have access to fresh, breathable air or drinkable water. So Steve does show progress within a few days.

But, for those days before his skin regains its natural color and he can stay awake for more than a few minutes at a time, when he is alert enough to know what’s happening, Steve is sure he’s going to die.

Robin stays by his side as long as she can before her parents start asking questions and she’s all but forced to return home. When she leaves her station of keeping cold compresses on his body to help with his body temperature, Joyce takes over. She doesn’t know Steve as well as the other kids, which was why she let Robin take over for a while, but she can’t stand for the kids and the group to lose another member to the terrors of the Upside Down.

Nancy visits a few times to check on him alongside Jonathan and Mike and Lucas. Whenever Lucas can be pulled from Max’s side at the hospital.

Dustin is there the most, but he’s distant toward everyone else and can’t stand to be in the same room as a presumably dying Steve for long. Eddie’s death is still fresh in his memory and feelings. He’s not sure which cause of death would be worse, but he knows he can’t watch it happen again. Not to Steve.

It takes a few more days of forcing liquids in him and keeping him from burning up for it to make its way through his system. The relief is almost immediate and it wakes him up from a deep slumber, eyes snapping open as he gasps for air. As if he has just raised from the dead. A part of him feels like maybe he has.

Hopper is the one watching over him when he comes to and the surprise of that alone causes another gasp to escape his mouth.

Good to see you, too, kid.

He’s glad to see the man alive, but it’s a shock that he is and also a reminder that anything is possible as long as the Upside Down exists.

The first thing he asks for after water is where Dustin is. The last time he saw him was at the makeshift shelter in the school.

Dustin is understandably unsure when he approaches the bed Steve is still laying in, but now he sitting up and it feels so good to have control over his own body again.

He asks if he’s real and if he’s sure he’s okay before engulfing Steve in the tightest hug possible. The relief is immense. He’s okay, Dustin is okay, they’re mostly all okay and, most importantly, together. When he feels his shoulder wet with tears, he silently pulls Dustin closer. Maybe they both need it.

[mooifyourecows]

Started the 4th season of Stranger Things, gonna post my thoughts as I finish episodes so like, potential spoiler alert

okay so episode one

The entire Jonathan/Nancy scene made me so angry lmao STOP WASTING MY TIME WITH THIS GARBAGE

The whole tone is different?? Like the previous seasons had that kinda tropey jokey feeling from time to time but it took itself a little more seriously, especially season 1. But this one is like... wacky silly camera angles and sweeping swinging shots between scenes and goofy wacky prop comedy hehe finishing each other's sentences even though they're not together or talking about the same thing uhhhhhh it's just very silly

Not that that is BAD... just different

I like Eddie so far though. I thought he was gonna be a little Too Much™️ but by the end of the episode I decided that yes I like him. I can already see there being a point later on when his whole "theres no shame in running away" line is gonna either come in clutch or come back to bite him or someone else in the ass. Im gonna make a prediction that there's gonna be a scene where there's an option to run or fight and he's gonna stay and fight and then either save the day or die valiantly. Bonus points if throughout the show he constantly says to run away or chooses to run away until finally he's like "no, not this time" and then bam dead

I'm not mad at the whole "Lucas wants to be popular while the rest are content with being freaks" drama. Like I know it's kinda overdone but this show has always played into the popular tropes to create some tension between the characters so I don't think it's too weird

Eleven's drama is fine too. Being the new kid and getting bullied and also grappling with grief of losing her parent, I get it. She's acting kinda pitiful though? Like, she's always been really straightforward and strong and unyielding and now she's kinda just... rolling over? I understand she's in an entirely new environment and dealing with grief and loss of her abilities but still....

Pretty sure the skull monster thing is Papa. Maybe. Idk like it's weird that they're showing it so immediately in the first episode and it's just... preying on people's trauma, I'm guessing? Strange. But not Stranger Things Strange.

Idk so far I'm wondering how it's going to connect to the past seasons. Right now it feels like I'm watching a whole different show.

God I just hope there's less Nancy and Jonathan. Or their entire fucking plot lines aren't completely about their stupid fucking terrible romance. They have no chemistry and I despise their whole shtick. They'd be so much better characters if their stories were based more around being a big brother/sister to Will and Mike

Honestly idc about any of the romances other than Joyce and Hopper. Unless Steve and Eddie fuck because I'd be amenable to that. I might care about Robyn and Vickie but haven't seen enough of Vickie yet so who knows, they might wind up as boring as Jonathan and Nancy (or any of the kids' romances which I also don't care about even though they're not really terrible or whatever)

Erica is perfect as always though. I reeeeeeally liked the scene where that chick is singing the national anthem and Erica and the boys are slow motion walking to their dnd game. With the American flag cape? You can't spell America without Erica!

No further comments. Will watch another episode tomorrow

[dwobbitfromtheshire]

Writing prompt: If the Byers had stayed in Hawkins and Will became a nerd jock like Lucas. He joins the basketball team with Lucas, and they've both been practicing with Steve. Something that Jonathan doesn't like it at first. . .until Argyle (yes, Argyle for whatever moves to Hawkins because Argyle is necessary. . .Argyle is life) drags him, and Nancy. Not only does Jonathan recognize that Steve isn't the same person he's held in his head all this time, but he's also very hot. Eventually, Jonathan starts going to the games, not just because of Will and Nancy but because of Steve.

Meanwhile, Mike is still in shock that his boyfriend is a jock. El teases him, laughing that at least her boyfriend isn't (although I still like the idea of her joining the squad with Chrissy as her mentor) and then reassures Dustin that she'd still love him if he was. Mike and El were at that stage now where they could tease each other even if they did miss being together sometimes. They were happy. Her relationship with Dustin had surprised all of them and even each other when Dustin started helping her with her English. Although Mike quickly warmed up to the idea when he saw Will, free from his bowl cut and hair all sweaty, get put into the game with Lucas. Of course, with Will and Lucas both being in Hellfire as well as having their friends from Hellfire support them, Eddie had no other choice but to make some changes. . .but suddenly, he had an excuse to go see Chrissy.

SOMEONE ELSE WRITE THIS I HAVE TOO MUCH ON MY PLATE. . .too late, I finished writing it in my head. . .*spoiler alert* they all live happily ever after.