#steddie related of course

[travelingtwentysomething]

Welcome All!

Please reblog if YES so your followers will know!

[fuckin-sick-bih]

i hate the days when i desperately want to write but nothing i like comes out of my attempts at writing :( (side note i do make the "just bex talkin" tag so you guys can block it and ignore my rambling in tags if you want my writing but not my bitching lmao)

[frankenstein-ate-my-left-shoe]

@steddie-spooktober day 3: apples | rated: G | wc: 998

“Wow, he’s really good at that.” Robin remarks as Eddie sloshes back up out of the bucket with yet another apple caught in his grin, “Who'da thunk, huh?”

“Yeah…” Steve breathes, watching Eddie’s hair drip down over his forehead and down his neck, “He’s really good with his mouth.”

Robin chokes on her most recent swig of cider, “I’m sorry, what?!”

“Uh…” Steve feels his face turn hot, “Huh? I didn’t say anything.” He moves to turn away back into the Hoppers’ cabin, an excuse of the bathroom or a new mug of cider ready behind his teeth and Robin on his heels

“Oh no you don’t; you explain yourself this instant Steven Marie Harrington!” She demands, voice much louder than he’d like it to be, “What did you just say about Eddie Munson’s mouth??”

“Nothing that anyone—especially the Eddie in question—needs to hear! Quiet down!” He whispers in a harried tone.

He pulls her into Hopper’s tiny bathroom, snapping the door shut behind him.

“You have a crush on Eddie Munson?! Our Eddie Munson?”

Steve leans back against the door and sighs, letting himself sink to the floor. “Still too loud.” he says, not actually meaning it.

She must’ve been able to tell that he’s trying to stall, so she sinks onto the shallow edge of the tub to wait. One of her knees knocks against the bowl of the toilet, the other against the wall.

“I think I have for a little while now. Since spring break at least.” he confesses, now that he’s in the proper position to do so, here on the bathroom floor.

“You found time to get your first crush on a guy since figuring out you’re bi, and it’s during yet another upside-down related catastrophe.” Robin states rather than asks. “You’re something else, Dingus.”

“Gee, thanks for your support.”

“You have it always, obviously,” she waves him off, “Just surprised that the first I’m hearing about it is when your horny lizard brain tells me for you.”

“It’s been getting really annoying lately.”

“What, having a big gay crush on someone? I feel you.”

“No, lizard brain is being really annoying lately. But yeah, also that.”

Steve’s gaze is stuck on the slightly mis-matched piece of linoleum between his feet, but sees Robin nod her head in his periphery.

Neither say anything for a solid 45 seconds, until: “So what are you going to do about it?”

“Something… eventually… maybe…” he hedges, “Just ‘cause he’s into guys too doesn’t mean he’s into me.”

“Oh yeah, of course he isn’t.”

He rolls his eyes at the sarcasm. “I’m being serious Robin.”

“Me too.”

Steve finally looks up at her.

“Don’t give me that look, I’m being serious about my sarcasm, Steven. Of course Eddie’s into you; you saw how he was flirting with you during the whole Vecna fiasco!” Robin flails her arm around in emphasis, “How he’s been flirting with you ever since.”

“What if that’s not just for me though, he’s annoyingly charming to everyone!”

“He may be charming,” She grimaces (“Hey!”), “But that doesn’t mean he’s out here flirting with anyone!”

“He just feels comfortable with me.”

“Everyone our age knows about Eddie, Steve, and he’s still been his same dorky self with all them. You’re the only one he’s been flirting with nonstop.”

Steve opens his mouth to respond, but closes it again. 

Damn, she’s got a point.

Eddie never calls Jonathan ‘sweetheart’, or Argyle ‘big boy’... he’s heard him say once that Hopper was his first crush when he’d had one too many drinks, but she’s right.. Eddie’s only flirty with him.

Steve suddenly feels all swoopy inside. And it must show on his face somehow, because Robin says “Ew gross, you’re thinking about him aren’t you?”

“No, I’m thinking about Hopper– of course I’m thinking about him!” Steve grins, then pushes him up off the floor. “Okay, okay, I just have to make it through the rest of the day, and I’ll ask him out tomorrow when he comes in to bother us for a free rental at work.”

He looks down at Robin, searching her face for any sign that it isn’t a good plan.

She nods, “Good. Now where are you going to take him?”

The answer to that one was simple, “Movie date at my place.”

Robin snorts, “A bit presumptuous, eh Stevie?”

The floaty feeling in his gut turns into a boulder, “I mean— That’s not what— Obviously I’d love it to—” he cuts himself off for the last time at the smirk on her face. “Oh fuck you.” He shakes his head in fond exasperation as he turns, heading back out of the bathroom.

Robin’s teasing him still when the back door opens and Eddie waltzes in, the round, decorative basket Joyce had been using to put all the apples people fished out of the barrel in his arms and a(nother? The same?) apple lodged in his teeth.

He spots them and puts the basket down on the island, spinning dramatically to lean onto the tabletop to face them.

His hand comes up to grab onto the apple, snapping off a bite and sucking away the juice as he takes it away from his mouth, “Hey Stevie, Birdie,” he says over a mouthful of crunching fruit.

Steve blinks once, then turns to Robin, “I’m not going to survive 'till tomorrow.”

Before she or Eddie can react, Steve is striding across the room and pulling his sodden friend to him in a tart, apple-flavored kiss.

Robin says something about being lookout, but Steve’s too busy feeling Eddie’s mouth on his.

Until Eddie pulls back that is.

“Shit– Eddie, I’m so sorry, I—” Steve stops when Eddie’s finger comes up between them.

Eddie chews once, twice, a third, then swallows down the rest of his bite.

Ah.

“Okay,” Eddie breathes once his mouth is clear. “Now, where were we?” He tosses the apple over his shoulder and descends upon Steve once again.

divider from @saradika-graphics!

[wheneverfeasible]

Wiggly Wednesday?

The brain worms are here again.

I honestly hate Christmas and avoid doing too much for it. However, an idea came to me suddenly and I can’t stop thinking about…

Secret Santa Steddie AU.

In one of Steve’s high school classes senior year, they’re assigned a Secret Santa project. They all put their names in a Santa hat and have to draw one out (returning it for another if it’s their own) and that’s the person they have to secretly give a gift to, either homemade or purchased, but there’s a cap of like…whatever the equivalent of $20 today is back then. Idk.

This is supposed to be a team building type of exercise, something to foster camaraderie, after say maybe a huge argument/fight broke out between Tommy and his group and the Freak, Eddie Munson, as well as some other nerds. Steve is exhausted and doesn’t care for Tommy’s bullshittery anymore, so he didn’t really get involved, though Eddie did throw a few digs his way. Which was hurtful but probably deserved.

Anyways, Steve draws out Eddie’s name.

For the next week or so the last fifteen minutes of class are devoted to questionnaires and such where the students answer questions about themselves directly or they fill in answers to widely asked questions, all used to let the Secret Santas learn about their recipients. Some people take it more seriously than others.

Steve gets to know more about Eddie, who is more blasé about it all, obviously not expecting anyone to give him something good (if they give him anything at all) since he has no friends in the class and most people don’t like him. So Steve, who has never paid Eddie any amount of attention before in the past but has been now and finds himself intrigued, starts observing Eddie outside of class.

Steve knows he could buy Eddie something music related. An easy cop-out gift. But the more he observes Eddie, the more he gets to see the tiny cracks in the Freak persona whenever he spies on him, sees the nerdy but also kind person beneath the leather jacket. And…okay…maybe he starts to develop a sort of crush without realizing that’s what happens.

Maybe he bribes other nerds about Hellfire Club and Eddie and makes certain they don’t squeal about him asking (he doesn’t realize he comes off as threatening, he just thinks he’s being urging), maybe he hears Eddie mention things and then he goes and asks Dustin what they mean, learning it’s from a book series about midgets and some jewelry or whatever, and so an idea forms.

While shuttling the kids about after school, Steve asks Will if he’d be willing to draw something for him, which Steve would pay him for. Will, obviously excited because it’s his first commission job and Steve pays him fairly, agrees.

(Steve may also purchase a patch at the record store they stop at—Will’s request as he wants to buy something for Jonathan—because it reminds him of Eddie, but that doesn’t matter.)

Yadda yadda ya, it’s time to exchange gifts. The teacher has allowed them to drop them off leading up to the Friday before winter vacation to keep the mystery alive.

When Eddie gets his, he’s expecting something more like a prank gift. Instead, he’s gifted a colored drawing (sadly not enough time for a painting) of Eddie dressed as someone named something like Spider or Arrow Gone or whatever, Steve doesn’t really know, but it’s him fighting off a horde of monster things with a flaming eyeball in the background and further back is an erupting volcano.

Steve doesn’t know what the hell is going on, not really able to absorb the massive info dump Dustin gave him, but Will assured Steve that the dude was cool and the battle depicted was awesome and important when he dropped off his old yearbook for model reference. Will’s opinion was enough for Steve of course. He just hoped Eddie liked it, and the patch that he rolled up with the picture.

Eddie is, of course, gobsmacked and trying his hardest not to show it. He scans the classroom to try to figure out who could have given him such an amazing gift, but no one even looks at him. There’s no way he would ever suspect the truth.

Steve ended up getting a can of Farrah Fawcett spray, which everyone laughed at and assumed was a joke gift for a jock, but Steve noticed a small twitch of a smile on Tommy’s face, the only one besides Dustin now who knows his secret.

Later, Eddie’s battle vest is adorned with the patch he received in his gift, a red and black Leviathan cross, but Steve doesn’t know what happened to the drawing. He hopes it didn’t get trashed.

It’s not until later, after everything with Vecna and recovering what was salvageable from the trailer, that he found the picture safely secured behind a glass frame hidden in Eddie’s room. It’s only then that Steve realizes that he might have been a little bit in love with Eddie “the Freak” Munson all this time.

~

Aaaaaaaah sorry this is a little bit of a nebulous ending here. Does this story follow canon and Eddie is dead, never knowing who his Secret Santa is? Or is Eddie recovering from his injuries, fated to recognize Will’s art style and thus learning the truth behind one of his most prized possessions? Who’s to say 🤷

I’m just gonna tag my perma list because I’m lazy. Anyone can be happy to consider this a tag for their own future brain worms tho!

Hostage Hotties:

@derythcorvinus @katyawriteswhump @honeii-puff @scoops-aboy86 @dotdot-wierdlife

@everywherenothere @bumblebeecuttlefishes

[yournowheregirl]

@eddiemonth day 4: rejection

rating: T | wc: 913 | cw: hurt/comfort, general & UD related anxiety, hoh!Steve, pre-Steddie

Eddie flops down on his bed with a load groan.

He blindly reaches for a pillow and once he’s found one, he uses it to muffle his screams. It barely dampens the sound, but he's home alone anyway. He screams and screams until his throat starts to hurt and the tears he tried so hard to ignore, finally well up in his eyes.

Another rejection.

Another place that didn't want to hire him.

Even with all the strings Hopper and those government guys had pulled to clear his name, Eddie can't escape his brand-new reputation of local satanist and serial killer. There was a press conference and everything, and a personal apology from the police department, but it still wasn't enough to sway the public's opinion of him.

But he has to get a job, like yesterday. They'll run out of that government money sooner or later and he can't expect Wayne to continue cleaning up his mess. Wayne's done enough of that already.

Eddie's tried almost every place in town. His first instinct was the record store and the garage, because that's what where his interests and experience lie. They turned him away as soon as he came in to drop off his resume.

When he told his friends about his job search, Steve immediately offered to put a good word in for him at Family Video. Robin would ask their parents if they knew about any job openings and Nancy would do the same, though she'd avoid Eddie's name while talking to her father. Gareth, Jeff and Frank suggested he'd ask for a job at The Hideout, while Jonathan and Argyle suggested the local pizza place, because of course they would.

None of those jobs ever got back to him.

Today was one of his last resorts. The diner on the other side of town had an opening for a dishwasher. Not exactly the kind of job Eddie wanted, but it meant keeping a low profile and it would pay the bills. He'd take the job in a heartbeat, but the restaurant manager took one good look at him and sent him away before she even took one good look at his resume.

"We don't hire murderers." She'd sneered.

Any other day, Eddie would've maybe stand up for himself, made a whole scene, maybe even called the cops to prove his innocence yet again. But he was so burnt out from rejection after rejection, that he just shrugged, got into his van and drove all the way back home.

Even though the screaming helped a little, Eddie can still feel his mind buzzing, thoughts of anxiety swirling around and threatening to swallow him whole if he doesn't do something quick. He rolls off the bed, put whatever tape he can get his hands on into his boombox and turns up the volume to the loudest setting.

Other people might listen to soothing music to calm down, but Eddie needs the loudest, most aggressive music to drown out the thoughts in his head. The thoughts of never getting a job and leaving it up to Wayne to pick up the pieces, driving him to work harder and longer, until his brittle body can't take it anymore. Thoughts of losing their home again, being forced to call Rick again

It's all his fault. Everything is his fault.

Tears slowly roll down his cheeks as the music continues playing, so loud that he doesn't hear Wayne coming home. So loud that he doesn't hear Wayne picking up the phone to call someone. So loud that he doesn't hear the knock on his bedroom door twenty minutes later.

It's not until his bedroom goes completely quiet that Eddie finally notices he's not alone. For a second he thinks it's Wayne, but when he hears a muffled "oh thank God" from the other side of the trailer, he realizes that it must be someone else.

"Y'know, if you were so jealous of my new accessories, you could've just said so. No reason to shatter your eardrums like this." Steve says with a teasing grin. The sunlight reflects on the hearing aids he'd gotten a few months ago and of course, he pulls it off like he's a goddamn Calvin Klein model.

"Sorry."

Eddie's voice is small, barely recognizable to his own ears and Steve immediately picks up on it. His teasing smile fades away as he walks over to the bed and sit down next to Eddie. He shuffles around a bit to find a comfortable seat against the headboard and pats his lap.

Completely drained from his terrible day, Eddie doesn't even try to fight it and cuddles up next to Steve. He rests his head in Steve's lap and lets out a sigh of relief when Steve's hands find their way to his scalp.

"What's going on?" Steve asks softly.

"Another fucking job didn't want me." Eddie mutters against the fabric of his polo.

Steve hums in acknowledgement. "I'm sorry. You wanna talk about it or do you want some quiet time?"

"Quiet, please."

"Alright."

See, with Steve around, Eddie doesn't need the music to drown out his bad thoughts. They float away on their own as soon as Steve cuddles with him and starts massaging his scalp. Or, on other occasions, they float away when Steve distracts him by talking about Robin's hopeless love life.

Steve being there for him just helps, in general.

Eddie doesn't wanna look into that realization too much.

[apomaro-mellow]

Hear me out- the steve is confused by eddies references bingo, but its because eddie is wrong. I think people forget Steve knows star wars (as evident by the harrington/ henderson handshake), and I think it would be a cool subversion of the trope. I think Steve would know a lot and eddie would not be expecting Sports Star Harrington of all people to check him on his shit, so steve being confused when he gets something wrong that seems "glaringly obvious" but is actually some niche nerd trivia would be funny.

It was Steve, Robin, Eddie, and Dustin hanging out in the backroom of Family Video. It was nearing the end of Robin and Steve's shifts on a Wednesday, their slowest day. So they were hiding out here until the clock ran out. Steve was once again defending the ewoks as necessary to the narrative of Return of the Jedi. Eddie was an ewok-hater. Dustin was on the fence. Robin was of no opinion.

Switching gears, Steve decided to voice something else.

"You know what I don't get? Why is it that Obi-wan never considered that Leia could be a jedi?"

Eddie raised a brow. "Why would Obi-wan think for a second that Leia could be a jedi?"

"Why not?", Robin raised a brow. She didn't have a single horse in the race but was ever an instigator.

Eddie held his hands up. "I'm all for ra-ra feminism, that ain't the issue here."

"Then what is?", Steve asked. "Why can't Leia be just as good of a jedi as Luke? And why was it like Obi-wan just...it was like it never even occurred to him."

"Well why would it?", Dustin asked. "Luke's the hero, so of course it's his job to be the jedi and save the galaxy. Leia is just the chick. No offense Robin."

"Um, all offense taken", Robin tossed a Raisinet at him.

"I'd like Stevie here to explain his position", Eddie gestured a hand to Steve.

"So like, Obi-wan knew who Luke's father was, right?", Steve started. "That means this whole time, he must've known that Leia was his sister. Like literally from the beginning when this princess is sending him a message. So why is it that when he and Yoda are having their whole talk when Luke goes to save them he's like 'Luke is our only hope' and Yoda has to remind him there's another? Obi-wan should've already known Leia was related to Luke and thus Vader and that she could be the galaxy's hope too."

Dustin's jaw went to the floor. "Did you just-"

"Robin, Dustin, you need to leave the room", Eddie said, unbuckling his pants.

Steddie bingo under the cut

[libraryofgage]

PJO Steddie Six

One | Two | Three | Four | Five

And we back at it again with the PJO AU

The new series on Disney+ right? Like, that's soon and I'm fucking excited to start watching it omfg

Anyway, hope you enjoy this one! A little more Steddie flirting and some of Steve being a goddess's favorite little guy lol

As always, if you see any typos, no you didn't ;P

-----

"Your, ah, bat," Chiron says, glancing at said weapon leaning against the side of Steve's chair, "it's effective against monsters?"

Around them, the sound of chewing can be heard as the kids descend on the snacks and refilling cups. Dustin, Max, and Erica in particular have chubby cheeks as they shove cookies into their mouths. In comparison, Steve hasn't touched a thing on the table. Not because he doesn't want to, of course, but because he'd rather avoid Lucas inadvertently biting him (it's happened before, he doesn't want it to happen again).

"Max's mom gave us some Celestial bronze, Dustin figured out how to melt it down, and Will suggested embedding nails in a reinforced bat. So we did," Steve explains, shrugging once.

Sitting in the chair directly to the left of Chiron is Eddie, his fingers drumming on the table as he looks between Steve and the centaur. He's been like that for the past 15 minutes, managing to keep quiet unless he's answering a question or adding a detail about their drive up that Steve missed. It's odd to see him so....restrained, but Steve can tell he's trying to be on his best behavior, likely to give him and the kids a better chance of staying.

Chiron hums in thought, considering the kids. His gaze lingers on El the longest, watching as she sips milk tea from her cup and passes Mike a bowl of grapes when he asks for it. "And you're sure El's powers aren't permanent?" Chiron finally asks.

Steve nods once. "We've timed it before. Worst cases fade in a few hours. Since El and I are related, she can't freeze me," he explains, offering a little more information than he needs to in the hopes of earning Chiron's trust.

The centaur must see through him, but his smile isn't unkind. "I see. And do you know all of their parents? The godly ones, I mean."

Steve nods and points to each kid while listing their godly parent. At the end, he points to himself and adds, "And mine is Zeus, which was probably obvious."

"Just a little," Chiron says. He considers them all for a moment before sighing. "Well, as long as you'll take full responsibility for El and her powers, I am happy to welcome you to Camp Half-Blood."

-------

Camp Half-Blood is nice.

Steve likes the strawberry fields, he's already looking forward to giving the climbing wall a try, and Eddie's brief mention of Capture the Flag earlier has him regularly glancing at the forest. The kids seem eager to explore, too, with Dustin practically lighting up when Eddie points out the Haphaestus cabin's workshop, Will and Erica looking wistfully at the pegasus stables, Lucas and Max practically vibrating with excitement when they pass the practice arena, Mike nearly breaking off from the group to jump into sparkling water on the beach, and El tugging on Steve's hand excitedly when they pass the archery field.

The tour ends in the middle of the cabins by a fire pit. A young girl is stoking the fire, keeping it going and smiling softly as the flames dance in front of her. She glances up to meet Steve's gaze, and he immediately recognizes her. He's ready to greet Hestia when she subtly shakes her head and turns back to the fire.

Steve forces himself to look away, studying the cabins, instead. There's one for each deity, and several other groups of cabins are scattered around the area like they keep adding more. A path of mismatched stone has been paved from each one to the fire pit, keeping them all connected.

His attention is immediately drawn to a cabin with a cloud and thunderbolt above the door. It looks kind of like a marble box with huge columns, a domed roof, and bronze doors that gleam in the sun. It looks imposing, and Steve can't imagine anyone actually staying in it.

"That'll be your cabin," Eddie says, pulling Steve's attention away. He grins when Steve looks at him, rocking back and forth on his feet. "And that's the Athena cabin, the Aphrodite cabin, the Morpheus cabin, Plutus, and Nemesis. Each has a lead camper in charge of getting new campers settled."

Steve blinks, frowning slightly. "What do you mean?" he asks.

"Well, the kids will stay in the cabins of their godly parents."

"No. They won't."

Eddie pauses, seeming to realize there's a problem. He looks at the cabins, then the kids, back to the cabins, and finally settles his gaze on Steve. "It's possible to visit between cabins, but we've never had a camper, like, not live in their parent's cabin."

"Has anyone tried?"

"Well. No."

"Does anyone live in the Zeus cabin right now?"

The moment Eddie shakes his head, Steve leads the kids toward the Zeus cabin. He feels a little resistance when he reaches the door, but he stubbornly ignores it and crosses the threshold to find an empty space. Well, mostly empty. He blinks, looking over the alcoves with golden eagles and the giant statue of Zeus in the middle. From the inside, the domed roof has mosaic clouds drifting across it with lightning bolts striking out from them.

"You've got to be kidding me," Steve says, frowning as he looks around the cabin. A cursory glance reveals that there is, in fact, a single bed somewhat hidden behind the statue of Zeus.

"I'd rather not sleep with your dad staring at me," Erica says, frowning at the statue before looking up at Steve. "I'm sure the Aphrodite cabin won't be so bad." Despite her words, her tone is reluctant, implying she'd rather not sleep with a bunch of strangers.

Steve closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, and turns to look at the kids. Eddie is at the back of the group, watching him with a curious expression. "Okay," Steve says, his tone immediately getting the kids' attention, "I'm going to ask a question, and I want honesty. Who wants to stay in their parent's cabin?"

A few seconds pass in which the kids all glance at each other, silently asking the same question to see if anyone's answer will be different. When none of them raise their hand or say anything, Steve asks, "Does that mean you'd like to stay in a cabin together?"

The kids all nod, and Eddie looks ready to speak when Steve nods and herds the children out of the cabin. He glances at the fire pit, sees Hestia is still there, and tells the group, "Just hold tight."

He strides over to the fire pit and crouches next to Hestia, waiting patiently. After a few moments, the goddess smiles at him and says, "Hello, Steve. Welcome to my hearth. Would you like a cookie?"

Steve nods and takes the chocolate chip cookie that Hestia offers. He doesn't know where she got it from, but he doesn't question it. "Lady Hestia," he says after taking a bite, "I would appreciate your assistance."

"Your father would not appreciate other children in his cabin," she says, her voice gentle and coaxing.

"The kids want to stick together," Steve says, figuring that should be more than enough explanation.

"And what do you want, Steve?"

Steve is about to answer that he wants the same when Hestia meets his gaze. The words die in his throat as he's forced to actually consider the question. What does he want? He wants the kids safe, of course, and they'll be safest with him. But he also finds himself wanting a space of his own, his eyes glancing at Eddie before quickly looking away. He likes the idea of being alone with Eddie, something that likely won't happen unless Steve can put a door between them and the rest of the world.

He takes a deep breath, the two thoughts at war within him. Before he can say anything, though, Hestia smiles. "I'm sure Lord Zeus would prefer you stay in his cabin," she says, a brief flash of dislike crossing her eyes, "so I will work with it."

"And you won't get in trouble?" Steve asks, wondering if he really needs to worry about a goddess. She's doing him a favor, though, so he can't help himself.

"There is little your father can do to me," Hestia says, shrugging as she waves a hand toward Zeus's cabin. Nothing on the outside changes, but Steve knows the inside has been completely overhauled.

He looks at Hestia and smiles brightly. "Thank you," he says, pausing before digging into his jacket pocket and pulling out a pack of gum. "I can give you something better at dinner, but would you like one?"

Hestia lights up and happily takes a stick, carefully unwrapping it before popping it into her mouth. After chewing a few times, she blows a large bubble, grinning when it bursts a few seconds later. "Thank you," she says, beginning to blow another bubble. A breeze kicks up, sending a slight haze of smoke into Steve's eyes, and by the time he clears it away, Hestia is gone.

Steve stands, brushes non-existent dust off his jeans, and walks back up the steps. "Okay, let's try again," he says, flashing a grin at the kids and Eddie before opening the door.

The cabin has, thankfully, changed on the inside. It now has a skylight in the ceiling, allowing sunlight to stream into the room. There are several bunk beds pushed against the walls and three doors on the opposite side of the cabin. Each of the bunks has one of the kids' names carved into it, and the left-most door on the opposite wall has a small sign with Steve's name right in the middle of it.

"How is Zeus not smiting you right now?" Eddie asks, following the kids into the cabin and staring at everything around him.

Steve shrugs, watching as the kids choose their bunks by throwing themselves onto the beds and splaying their limbs out like starfish. He walks over to the three doors. The far right is a bathroom with multiple stalls and showers and the middle is a storage closet with cleaning supplies. He studies the door with his name on it for a moment before taking a deep breath and opening it.

The room inside is large. Like the main portion of the cabin, the room has a skylight. The walls are ringed with real clouds, all of them fluffy and white and leisurely drifting along. In one corner of the room is a small fountain covered in clouds and tiny carvings of women holding urns and smiling. A small bowl next to the fountain is filled with gold coins, and two oversized chairs are set up in the adjacent corner. The opposite wall is covered in shields and swords with one open spot that Steve knows is for his bat. In the middle of the wall, just above the spot for Steve's bat, a large crystal ball hovers, filled with lightning bolts that streak across it.

As Steve takes it all in, Eddie wanders over to the weapon wall and pokes the crystal ball, the door swinging shut behind him. His hair begins to float and stand on end from the static, and Steve snorts. "Don't mess up your hair even more," he says, grinning at Eddie as he bats his hand away.

When their fingers brush, a tiny shock passes between them, an almost imperceptible arc of lightning connecting their fingers before Steve jerks his hand away. "Sorry," he mumbles, frowning slightly. He can dismiss the other two times this has happened (he was surprised by the pool and barely maintaining control outside the camp), but a third time means it's significant, right?

"Don't apologize," Eddie says, reaching out and poking Steve's hand. Another shock passes, and Eddie grins wide. "It's cool."

"It could hurt you," Steve corrects, sliding back a step only for Eddie to follow. He frowns a little more, backing up again. Eddie follows again. They keep this up, amusement budding in Steve's chest and changing his frown into a smile, until Steve is backed up against the wall and Eddie is crowding into his space.

Eddie lights up like he's won and shifts closer. "You wouldn't hurt me, Stevie," he says, utterly confident in his assessment.

Steve snorts, raising an eyebrow at him. "You barely know me," he says.

"That's easily fixed."

"I could be a terrible person."

"You're not."

"I could be. Maybe this is all an act."

Eddie hums softly, leaning closer until their hands are close to brushing and they're inches apart. A low buzz starts to build under Steve's skin, reaching out to Eddie with such desperation that Steve doesn't think before grabbing his hand. Tiny sparks pass between their palms again, and Steve somehow feels himself calming down.

"I don't mind falling for it," Eddie whispers, his smile softening, and Steve finds himself thinking "it" probably isn't the word Eddie actually wanted to use.

He swallows around a sudden lump of nerves in his throat, lost for words and about to just turn to action (kissing seems like a pretty good action right now) when one of the kids bangs on the door. Eddie jerks back, blinking a few times as his cheeks start to flush. "Steve!" Lucas shouts, knocking on the door again, "C'mon, man, we wanna see more of the camp."

Steve swallows again, noting the way Eddie's gaze drops to his throat, and quickly looks away. He pulls the door open, somewhere between grateful for and annoyed by the interruption. "Have you guys figured out who's sleeping where?" he asks, letting himself get distracted by Lucas rolling his eyes and Dustin shouting about Mike stealing his bunk.

------

Tage List

@mugloversonly, @mentallyundone, @hairdryerducks-blog, @carriethesaint, @lunabyrd, @weekend-dreamer7, @farfaras, @littlelady03, @my-tears-are-becoming-a-sea20, @mogami13, @a-little-unsteddie, @itsall-taken, @queenie-ofthe-void, @tinyplanet95, @littlebluejane, @hangoversandhandgrenades, @rabbitwhoeatsstars, @bisexualdisastersworld, @steddieinthesun,

@paintgonewrong, @sadcanadianwinter, @deehellcat, @blanketlicker, @angrydonutdestiny, @booksareportal, @fallingchemicaldiscos, @am-i-obssed-probably, @anne-bennett-cosplayer

@estrellami-1, @fandomcartographer, @steddie-as-they-go, @cris-wants-a-word, @potato-of-the-lord, @plasticcrotches, @enigmahaze, @melodymeddler, @lololol-1234, @sageclipse, @steddiehyperfixation, @livelaughlexa, @genderless-spoon

[steddieas-shegoes]

you're not santa

i may or may not be having a small (this is a lie) crisis over liam believing in santa this year? i am 90% certain he doesn't actually believe in santa and just said he does because he thinks the cool gifts come from santa. meanwhile i am just trying to get the vibes on if i need two wrapping papers this year or not for the same amount of gifts. so anyways working through the feelings with putting the idiots in the situation as always, enjoy.

rated t | cw: the mildest innuendo | tags: fluff, modern au, married steddie, steddie dads, the magic of christmas is all of it not just santa etc

🎅🎅🎅🎅🎅🎅🎅🎅🎅🎅🎅🎅🎅🎅🎅

"You better be quieter this year," Steve slapped Eddie's still bare ass as he hurried to throw on his Christmas pajamas. "Almost woke Maddy up last year. You're lucky I was standing by the door."

Eddie rolled his eyes fondly. "Well, maybe if you hadn't turned the-"

"Just go!" Steve laughed, throwing a pillow at him with deadly accuracy.

Eddie threw it back at him with a smirk. "When I get back, I'm giving you your present."

"You already did, Eds."

"No, that was just one of them," Eddie rushed to say before leaving their bedroom and quietly closing the door behind him.

Both bedroom doors were closed across the hall, so he quickly made his way down the stairs to the garage, where all the gifts were hiding since Robin dropped them off earlier that day.

But when Eddie opened the garage door and flipped the light switch, a voice startled him into nearly turning and running.

"I knew it!"

Sammy.

Their oldest son had been acting very suspicious of Santa related discussions for months now, and Steve had warned him that he was getting to an age where a lot of his friends probably didn't believe in Santa anymore.

"Sammy, why aren't you in your bed?" Eddie put his hands on his hips, identical to the way Steve stood when he was about to have a very serious conversation with one of their three kids.

"Because I saw Auntie Rob bring in a big bag earlier and you and Dad were trying to keep us distracted. So I looked out here while you were cleaning up dinner and saw all these presents." Sammy was standing with his hands on his hips, a mirror image to Steve in every way down to the same swoop of hair and freckles across his cheeks. "And all of these say from Santa, but Santa wouldn't have even come here yet because he was in London one hour ago and London is at least four hours from here!"

Eddie bit back a laugh at how Sammy tried to explain his way through the Santa gifts being here.

"Can I tell you a secret?" Eddie asked, dropping his arms and sitting down on the ground, gesturing for Sammy to join him.

"I already know Santa isn't real," Sammy said as he sat, sounding absolutely miserable.

"What do you mean Santa isn't real?" Eddie asked, pretending to be shocked at the revelation.

"Really, pops? You're gonna act like Santa is real?" Sammy got the sass from Steve, too. It was both annoying and adorable. "I'm seeing the evidence that he isn't with my own eyes."

"Look, Sammy, can I call you Sammy?" Eddie smiled when Sammy let out a laugh. "Santa as you know him isn't real, you're right. But there is a Santa. He's just so busy and can't do it all in one night, so he has presents delivered early for some people, like you and your brother and sister. But he can't ruin the magic, so he left them at Auntie Rob's house for safekeeping."

It sounded airtight. Any kid who wanted to believe in Santa would definitely believe that.

"Dad. Seriously." Sammy was giving him The Look. "I'm nine years old. I have straight As. I'm not stupid."

Which was something Eddie knew of course. He was endlessly proud of all of his super smart kids who did a million times better in school than he and Steve ever did.

But he didn't think believing in Santa was a sign of a kid not being smart.

"You're smart enough to learn the truth, which is that Santa gives the parents a lot more control than we let you think. Don't you think it would be harder to get Maddy to do her homework if I said 'Dad will take a present away' instead of 'Santa is watching to make sure you do your homework'?"

Sammy looked out at the garage, the clutter of children's outdoors toys and broken Christmas decorations and bulk snacks for lunchboxes scattered around.

"So he just gives you the toys when he thinks we've been good enough for them?" Sammy asked, still sounding unsure.

"Exactly! And he usually delivers them a couple weeks early so we can make sure they're wrapped and ready for tomorrow."

"So why keep it all a secret?"

Damn Sammy for always being two steps ahead of Eddie.

"It's more fun this way! Olivia was so excited to leave out cookies before bed, remember? If we told her this, she wouldn't even get to be excited about Rudolph eating the carrots, right?"

"So Rudolph is...real?"

"Okay, that one might be a lie," Eddie gave in on that to sell the rest of it. That's what you had to do with Sammy.

"So who eats the carrots?"

"I take bites and spit them in the trash. You know I hate carrots."

"Why don't you make Dad do it?" Sammy leaned against Eddie's side, letting out a long yawn. He was probably sitting out here for the last couple of hours waiting. He had to be exhausted.

"Dad did a lot of that stuff when you were really little. For five whole years before we switched."

"So he sleeps while you bring out all the presents?"

Eddie's face went red as he thought about what Steve was probably doing in their room right now.

"Yep! He did a lot of baking and stuff all day today so I let him rest," Eddie wrapped an arm around Sammy as his weight became heavier against him. "I think you should probably get some rest, too. Santa wouldn't want your Christmas morning ruined because you stayed up all night."

"I guess." Sammy yawned again. "Can I sleep on the couch?"

"You know Dad's rule. Bedrooms only on Christmas."

"Yeah, but that was for the secret. Now I know."

"But Maddy and Olivia don't. We have to keep this a secret from them, okay?" Eddie paused when he heard some footsteps directly above them. His brows furrowed.

"Maybe Santa forgot one?" Sammy asked, perking up.

"Maybe. Better get to your bed so he doesn't see that you're awake," Eddie nudged him.

No sooner had the words left his mouth than Sammy was rushing out of the garage and up the stairs to his bedroom.

Eddie looked above him, but no more bumps could be heard.

After setting all the presents under the tree in a mostly organized fashion, Eddie got back to the bedroom, where Steve was fast asleep.

He got into bed carefully, not wanting to wake him up, but Steve's eyes blinked open slowly as he curled up under the comforter.

"Took you too long," Steve whispered.

"Sammy."

"What?" Steve's eyes opened all the way and tears were instantly filling them. "Does he know?"

"Sh," Eddie pulled Steve against his chest and ran his hands through his soft hair. "I'll tell you tomorrow. Sleep, love."

"Eds-"

They heard a small bump on the roof and then silence.

Steve sat up and looked out the bedroom window, then back at Eddie.

"What was that?"

"Must've been Santa," Eddie teased.

Steve rolled his eyes.

They both stayed up for a bit longer to make sure no other noises happened outside, but fell asleep when there was nothing.

🎅🎅🎅🎅🎅🎅🎅🎅🎅🎅🎅🎅🎅

The next morning, all three kids jumped into their bed, yelling about how many presents Santa brought them and how full their stockings were.

Steve and Eddie made their way downstairs, rubbing their eyes as the kids pushed them down on the couch while they started grabbing gifts.

By the end, the kids were so busy playing with new toys, they didn't notice one more present hiding between the fireplace and the tree. Eddie reached over for it, not recognizing the wrapping paper.

"Did Robbie say she was getting them something else?" he asked, holding the gift out to Steve.

"Nope," Steve took it, checked the tag, then handed it back to Eddie with a shrug. "Says it's for you."

Wayne wouldn't be bringing his gifts for everyone over until that afternoon, so who could this one even be from?

He opened it carefully, worried that it was a prank by Steve and the kids. It wouldn't be the first time they managed to pull off a prank gift.

The confusion only increased when he pulled out a small plastic replica of the London Bridge.

"You don't even like London that much. Who got you that?" Steve asked, resting his head on Eddie's shoulder.

"No idea."

Sammy looked up at them over the new book about planets he got and beamed.

"Santa brought you a present!"

Eddie was suddenly reminded of their conversation last night, how Sammy insisted Santa was just in London and couldn't possibly have made it here.

Eddie had seen a lot of weird things in his life, had ignored a lot of them and passed them up to weird coincidence, but this was different.

He set the replica on the table by the couch and wrapped an arm around Steve's shoulders, kissing the top of his head as he leaned further into him.

"Santa?" Steve asked.

"Must've been a good boy this year," Eddie smiled.

"Uh-huh. I'm sure you were," Steve kissed his cheek before turning back to watch their kids playing on the floor.

Maybe Eddie would have to write a letter to Santa next year to thank him for the gift.

[dodger-chan]

Did I procrastinate by writing steddie fic again? Maybe. In my defense, I think this is very funny. Also on AO3.

Warning for non graphic but frequent discussion of sex.

Like a good number of things, it was Wheeler’s fault.

Under normal circumstances, Eddie would have no problem sitting back in his throne and staying above the fray while his little sheep had their silly arguments. Talking is a free action, etc. etc. And they’d wrapped for the night, were only delaying clean-up. But Wheeler, pressed by his friends to join in the defense of their favorite paladin, had gone with a very explicable but awkward choice of phrasing.

“I mean, Steve doesn’t suck.”

Eddie bit down on his tongue. He wasn’t going to say anything. He was not.

Unfortunately, something about the tepidness, the lackluster nature of Wheeler’s tone only encouraged Gareth.

“Au contraire,” he said, standing and making a gesture that Eddie chose to interpret as homage rather than mockery. “Harrington most assuredly does suck.”

Eddie bit down harder. He couldn’t say anything.

Gareth then began to list a number of harms done to the members of Hellfire that were, for the most part, merely tangentially related to the actions or existence of one Steven Harrington.

Perhaps it had always been a little unfair, to blame the social strictures of highschool on one individual who had no part in designing them and had done little more than anyone else in the way of enforcement. But what was the point of a figurehead if not to take the blame?

Of course no part of Gareth’s speech addressed the one way in which Steve truly did suck dick: literally. Steve had taken to oral sodomy like a duck to water. Eddie would love to claim credit by citing his excellent tutelage - largely by example - but he suspected his boyfriend was a natural.

Eddie tasted blood in his mouth. He couldn't keep biting his tongue. But he also couldn't set the record straight, so to speak. Even if he could tell all of Hellfire that he and Steve were dating, it would be beyond inappropriate to discuss Steve's cocksucking acumen with the freshmen.

“It's an interesting linguistic phenomenon, wouldn't you say?” Eddie interrupted Gareth’s spiel. “You are debating the merits and acceptability of one Steve Harrington, but using as shorthand a term that refers to oral sex. A phrasing that suggests people who give head are lesser than those who do not.

“Without making too many assumptions, I feel safe in saying that most of us would like to enjoy a bit of oral sodomy in the future. Now, I may not be the smartest guy in town, but it seems to me that preemptively insulting the people who might suck your dick is a good way to ensure they never will.”

He gave them a moment to digest his speech.

“So I should have said Steve doesn’t blow?” Mike asked, tentatively.

“Blow comes from blow jobs, so that’s the same thing,” Dustin corrected. A little less confidently, he went on. “Bites, maybe? Biting’s not a sex thing, is it?”

Eddie sighed. Surely there were insults that didn’t reflect some aspect of his sex life. Though biting was, at minimum, not related to oral. And it would probably be easier not to brag about the number of little bruises he’d left on Steve’s neck. And shoulders. And chest. All over Steve’s body, really.

Who was he kidding? He needed to shut this whole conversation down yesterday.

(this now has a sequel)

[justmeinadaze]

Take It Out On Me Part 18 (Steddie X Plus Size Reader)

A/N: Since the last one was so angsty, I bare you this cuteness with the smut. The outfit she wears near the second half is inspired by Pink's outfit from the "Lady Marmalade" video (pictured above).

Warnings: Daddy/Sir Steddie and Plus Size Sub Fem Reader and all that implies (I regret nothing!), SMUT, morning sexy time :D, slight teasing from the reader, degrading, spanking, choking, dirty talk, over stimulation. FLUFF, reader surprises them with a trip to NY to meet her family, they talk about the future a bit when it comes to kids and things like that, they go to a club and dance and have fun, ANGST (slightly), reader runs into some men who try and flirt with her but Eddie puts them in their place, some older folks are rude to the metalhead but reader steps in. I think that all.

Word Count: 9215

“I got you guys a present.”, you beam over at them from your place in the kitchen.

“You got us something? Baby, you didn’t have to do that.”

“I know, Daddy, but after the fire and all the chaos these past few months I thought we deserved something nice.” You held out an envelope for them, your grin growing as Eddie playfully snatched it out of your grasp and tilting down to kiss your lips. 

You watched their faces as he tore it open and held up what was inside to show Steve. 

“Three tickets to New York?”

“Yeah. I thought I could show you around town and then you could meet my family up there. Sir, you are going to love the bars! They have bands there that play 24/7 and Daddy is going to flip when we show him Yankee Stadium. My uncle has season passes because my younger…cousins…” Your voice trailed off as they silently watched you speak with a little smirk on their faces. “What? I didn’t do something wrong, did I? I know we usually talk about things like this but—”

The metalhead’s lips cut you off as he lifted you onto the counter. 

“I think…this is a great idea.”, he grins.

“You’re just really cute when you babble.”, Steve smiles as he hops up beside you and pulls you to his side. “I don’t think I’ve ever been out of Indiana.”

“Me neither.”

“You two are going to love it especially since now I’m old enough to not have my family watching over me. I can show you all the fun places my cousins and I would sneak off to.”

##################

They were both excited to get away but Eddie hated waking up at 6 am to catch the plane. He crashed in the waiting area on your lap and then on your shoulder while you were on the plane. Curling up beside Steve, you noticed while you reading the book in your hand, he was subtly doing the same. After he finished a page, you figured out his fingers would twitch ever so slightly on your bicep and you’d turn to the next one. 

He wasn’t much of a reader if at all. Eddie, of course, loved anything fantasy related and actually suggested the book you were reading. He and you could fly through any novel pretty quickly but during your time on the flight you learned that Steve was a bit of a slow reader. It didn’t surprise you since you helped them both study in high school. Where Eddie struggled to focus on anything he deemed boring, Steve always got frustrated faster when he couldn’t immediately come up with an answer. 

“FUCK! I just don’t get it. This doesn’t make any fucking sense!”

“Daddy, it’s ok. You’re just over thinking it.”

“Because I’m an idiot.”

“You are NOT an idiot. You don’t let me talk down about myself and I’m not going to let you either.”

It always made you sad because he seemed eager to learn and try new things but no one ever took the time to be patient with him especially his parents. To his father everything needed to be done now and the “correct” way. 

“I love you, Steve.”

“Hm? I love you to, baby. Keep reading. I like watching you focus.”

“Mhmm…I think you just want to know if the princess is ok.”

He smiles as he jokingly turns your head back towards the pages in front of you. 

****

“Hey, we should have asked but does your family know about us?”, Eddie asks as he clicks the key into your hotel room door. 

“Yes, my mother did inform them. My parents actually stopped speaking to them for a while around the same time they weren’t speaking to me because my aunt and uncle didn’t see a problem with it.”

He kissed your temple when he heard the sad change of your voice before tossing your bag on the bed. 

“When are we meeting them?”

“Um, in a couple of hours so we have some time to freshen up before lunch slash dinner.”, you giggle. “Kinda like me they want to show you around but my aunt wanted to cook for you so we’re having lunch there and then after my uncle is showing us the town.” They nod as Steve falls backwards on the bed. 

Eddie bounces in beside him, reaching for you to crawl in bed between them. Laying on your back, the metalhead wastes no time resting his head on your chest and on impulse you run your fingers through his hair as the other man wraps his arm around your waist. 

##########

“Hey kids! Well, I guess you aren’t kids anymore but, oh, I’m so glad you’re here.”, your uncle grins as he pulls you into a bear hug. “Alright, so let me take a guess here. This young man with the long hair and tattoos I vaguely see peeking out that drove your mom crazy is Eddie?”

A throaty laugh escapes through his teeth as the metalhead extends his hand for him to shake. 

“Which would make you the pretty boy with the douchebag dad that my brother-in-law hit, Steve.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Well come in, come in.” He excitedly ushers you three forward as he introduces members of the family. “My wife has extended family here in New York to so they’ll be coming over later. And, of course, speak of the devil…”

Your aunt giggles as she shakes her head at her husband before pulling each boy in for a hug. 

“It’s so good to finally meet you. Her mother sent us a copy of those prom pictures! You three were so cute. Y/N, honey, do you want to help me here for a moment?”

“Um, yeah sure.” You mouth your apologies to them but they just grin as your uncle tugs them towards the outside. 

“Oh wow, this is gorgeous.” Steve marvels at the patio in the backyard with a long table under a white awning. There were white Christmas lights strung up along the lining but because of the sun they were off. Further into the yard, there were kids playing that your uncle pointed to and named. 

“Out here on the suburban side, you are able to see the stars so I built this little area so my wife and I would sit outside after our daughter was born. The more kids we had the bigger and more extravagant everything got.”, he chuckles as he pats the boy’s back. “Here, have a seat. I’d love to know more about you. I heard you two got hurt recently. How are you doing?”

“A lot better, thank you. The scars aren’t exactly appealing but…” Steve turns to show him the markings along his outer arm. 

“I didn’t get burned but the gash in my leg is sexy.” 

Your uncle roars with laughter making them smile wider. “I swear to God. When I heard that Kline was responsible I wasn’t surprised. The fucker cut corners in his campaign! I don’t know why people thought a mall would be different.”

“You lived in Hawkins?”

“Oh yeah. Y/N’s mom and I grew up there. I’m older so, full disclosure, I vaguely knew your parents. I actually knew Wayne Munson better than Allen. We hung out a few times but after high school, I came up here to go to college.” He eyes them up and down as they nod. “I imagine my sister already grilled you two?”

“Yes, sir.”, Steve laughed. “A bit more than grilling.”

“Then I won’t give you the third degree but I will do the obligatory ‘If you hurt her, I will kill you’ warning.”

“That’s fair. We’re not perfect but we would never hurt her. We love her.”

Your uncle grins and nods at Eddie’s answer as they continue to talk through the afternoon.

***

By the end of lunch, the boys were in love with your family. There wasn’t one moment through the meal that they stopped smiling or laughing. Your smaller cousins attached to them fairly quickly. Some of the kids asked Steve to play football with them while your youngest cousin made little grabby hands to sit on Eddie’s lap so he could color with her. 

You couldn’t help but wonder if this is what a future with them would be like. Sitting in the backyard after a meal while they played with your children. Maybe you’d have a little boy with Eddie’s laugh who Steve would help with his homework, furrowing his eyebrows like he did in school as they worked together. Or maybe a little girl with Steve’s smile whose eyes would light up as Eddie read her a story like one of his campaigns. 

Did they even want kids? You had never had that conversation but to be fair you three were still so young. You weren’t ready to have any children right now. And what about marriage? Of course, you couldn’t marry two people but what about some kind of symbol or ceremony? Did they want something like that? Steve always wanted to just be. 

“Princess, what are you thinking so hard about?”

You blinked back into the moment to find Eddie’s chocolate color eyes scanning you’re your face.

“Nothing. I’m just watching you two have fun.”

His eyes narrowed playfully in your direction. He knew you were lying and you knew he’d know that but there wasn’t much he could do about it here with your family. 

“Oh Jesus!” You both turned just in time to see Steve being tackled to the ground by giggling kids. “Ok! Ok, I give up. You guys win.”

“I told you, Steven! Those kids are persistent.”, your uncle laughs. “Alright, who’s ready to go tour the city?”

***

Piling into their minivan, your aunt drove towards the lights that practically painted the sky. Your uncle and your eldest cousin tagged along while the smaller kids stayed behind. 

Both men held your hands as they looked out the windows taking everything in. Their eyes lit up as the took in the tall buildings and all the people hastily hustling to their next destination. After parking the car, you all got out and walked around. 

Of course, Eddie promptly noticed a record store and pulled you both in. Your aunt stood beside him as he talked about metal records making her laugh as she asked him more questions. Your cousin tugged you as far away from everyone as possible as you two pretended to browse the albums in front of you. 

“They are both so fucking cute and you get the best of both worlds! The heavy metal bad boy and the cute preppy jock guy. You get Tom Cruise AND James Hetfield!”

“Stop it.”, you giggle as you push her with your hip. “He’s not a bad boy, not like that anyway.”

You stick out your tongue jokingly making her laugh. 

“Do you like…ya know…at the same time or do you say…have one for lunch and then the other for dinner?”

“That is weirdest fucking thing I’ve ever heard you say, Nat.” You both cackle as your grin grows. “And yes to answer your question.”

“Really?!”

“Shhhhh!”

“I would be so exhausted. Hell, I can barely even keep up with the one man I have.”

You don’t see it but they are both watching you from their respective places in the store. They had never seen you come out of your shell this much and to them it was the most beautiful thing they had ever witnessed. Hawkins definitely sheltered your personality.

Steve came up behind you, wrapping his arms around you, and without any hesitation you leaned back against his chest. 

“What kind of music are you into, Steve?”, your cousin asked.

“Um, just the regular stuff I guess.”

“His media knowledge was suppressed.”, you whisper, smiling when his palm comes around to cover your mouth. 

“My dad always listened to that 60 style Frank Sinatra type music so that’s all I really know of.”

“Well, tomorrow night, we will be giving you some education.”

***

Your uncle took everyone to dinner at an Italian restaurant near times square. The boys felt bad when they saw the prices and insisted on helping to pay. 

“Hey no. You are my guests and I make enough money. I have to when you have a billion children.”

“Wow. Calm down over there.”, you aunt laughs as he pulls her to his side and kisses her forehead. 

Throughout the meal, your family got to see a side of them that only Masie had ever really been witness to. While you waited for your food, Eddie slung his arm on the back of your chair and ran his fingers through your hair, occasionally petting the back of your head. The restaurant got a bit chilly and without thinking twice, he took off his jacket and placed it on your shoulders. When you were done eating, Steve held your hand on the table as his thumb caressed your skin. Every now and then he would turn his head to kiss your forehead. 

“Alright kids, I know tomorrow night you have plans with this troublemaker here.”, your uncle teases his daughter. “But I got you a present for tomorrow afternoon.” He grins as he holds up three tickets to a play. “My niece is a nerd but you can’t come here and not at least see one play.”

“Thank you. You didn’t have to do that.”

“I know but I did. Sue me. You should take them to that clothing store you like so you can get something to wear for it.”

“What makes you think I didn’t bring anything already?”

“Because I know you.”

You both laugh as you hug him and the rest of your family before going in separate directions. Dragging them up the street, you guide them to a big two-story store you always came with your family to browse in. 

“This is where I got that outfit I wore that first day of senior year. Hawkins doesn’t really have a big collection of styles to choose from.”

“Well pick whatever you want and we’ll pay for it. Do we need suits or something?”

Eddie whines as he puts down a shirt he was looking at. “Do we have to wear suits?”

“No, Sir.”, you giggle as you push up on your toes to kiss his lips. “But you are supposed to look nice so a dress shirt maybe?”

“I got him. Don’t go far!”, Steve chuckles as he pushes his friend towards the men’s side. 

“I’ll meet you two at the dressing room over here.”

After about 30 minutes, both men find what they need and search for you. 

“Baby?”

“Yeah, I’m here. I think I found something but…” You step out of the room in front of the mirror and turn from side to side. The dress you had on was a gorgeous green V-neck style that cut off just above your knees. The black straps showed off your arms and the black bow tied around you accentuated your hips. “…I’m not sure. What do you guys think?”

They were both staring at you again with glassy eyes like when you descended the stairs for prom. 

“Uh oh. Did I lose you?”

“Goddamn, you look gorgeous.”

“You should wear dresses more. You look amazing.”

“Thank you.”, you twirl like a little girl. “Well, if this is how you feel about me in dresses wait until you see the other outfit I got for you tomorrow night.”

“The cute little black thing we got you in Hawkins?”

“Noooooo, Daddy.” Your grin grows as you bite your bottom lip. “This is something for just us when we get back to the hotel.”

***

The key beeps as you three enter the room and you toss the things everyone had bought that day on the bed. 

“Oh Sir, you should put on MTV so we can listen to some music.”

As you reach for your suitcase to change into your pajamas, Eddie grabbed your bicep and turned you to face him.

“Hey. Don’t think I forgot about what happened at your uncle’s house. What were you thinking so hard about?”

“What happened?”, Steve asked as he took a seat at the end of the bed.

“That’s what I’m trying to find out, Harrington.”

“I feel like this is going to seem out of nowhere but…”, you sigh. “Do you guys want kids?”

Their eyes widen, genuinely taken aback by your question. 

“Right now?”

“No! God, no. I just saw you guys with my cousins today and you were both so adorable. It got me thinking about what you would be like as dads which led to me wondering what you would be like husbands. I got sad because I know we can’t get married but then I was like ‘If we could is that something they would even want? Kids? A house? I mean—”

“Ooooookay! Okay. Slow down, sweetheart. You’re running a mile a minute.” He grins as he cupped your face in his hands. “We’ve never really talked about it but I guess we can do that now.”

“I’m afraid of being a dad.”, Steve blurted. “I don’t want to lie to you, Y/N. I love the idea of kids and being a husband but the notion terrifies me.”

“Me to.”, Eddie agrees. “But… I never thought I’d ever have someone fall in love with me to even have that conversation yet…”, he gestures towards you.

“Be nice to yourself.”, you softly smile as you repeat back verbiage they’ve said to you a billion times. Taking a seat next to Steve, Eddie pulls up the rolling desk chair by the wall so he can be closer to you two. “I’m sorry. I feel like I’m being a needy girlfriend or something which is why I wanted to avoid this—”

“Become a better liar and maybe you can.”, Steve teases. “No, honey, you’re not being needy or coming off that way. I mean, we’ve been seeing each other for, what, almost 3 years now.”

“DO you guys ever think about that stuff when it comes to me?”, you ask shyly causing them to let out a little chuckle. 

They glance at each other before nodding and Eddie slides back to grab a little bag you didn’t even realize he had brought in with him from the store you had just came from. After digging through it a bit, he produces a little black box, and hands it to you. 

Their eyes carefully watch you pull off the top, trying to gage your reaction as you produce a gorgeous silver ring with a red heart stone in the middle and what seemed like the infinity symbol on either side. 

“After finding our outfits, we saw that jewelry section across the way. Steve liked the design and I liked the color with the stone. Kind of reminded me of a ring in one of the campaigns I read in school. The lady behind the counter said it’s a promise ring. You give them to someone you love as like a promise they are yours and one day you’ll get married.”

“After hearing you talk right now…like you said we know we can’t get married but that right there and these rings right here…”  Eddie handed him one of the male bands that matched the ring they gave you. “They’re a promise that if we could we would.”

“Cry baby.”, the metalhead teases as you try to control the tears that fall. “What are you thinking about now, sweetheart?”

“I think… this is really beautiful.”, you giggle as you slide the ring on your finger. “I still think it’s funny that 2 and half years ago I was telling you, Steve, I hate you and now I’d give anything to walk down the aisle with you. That, Eddie, I didn’t even know who you were but now I can’t picture my life without you. That the best decision I ever made was telling Carol she had no ass and getting detention.”

The three of you laugh as Steve pulled you into his arms. After getting ready for bed, you lay between them with your head on Eddie’s chest as you gently caress his skin along his tattoos. 

“Yes, by the way, to answer your question. I have thought about what a suburban life would be like with you. I’d love to get you a house and not a trailer.”

“With a big backyard like your uncle’s.”, Steve adds.

“We would definitely have some beautiful children running around.”

“At least 6.”

“Jesus Christ, Daddy!” You laugh when you feel his wide smile against your shoulder. 

“I just want you to be happy.”

“As long as I’m with you two I am. Thank you for my ring. I love it. I love you.”, you whisper before your eyes close and you fall sleep. 

############

At first you thought it was a dream; the euphoria you were feeling in the pit of your stomach but when you opened your eyes and were met with Steve’s gorgeous honey ones you realized this was your reality. This handsome man was really pumping two of his long fingers inside of your cunt as his thumb lightly pressed against your clit.

“Hey, honey.”, he smiled down at you. “I woke up hard as a fucking rock but I figured…instead of jerking off…I could use you.” You whimpered as his forehead landed on yours. “Is that ok, baby?”

“Of course, Daddy. I’m yours.”

He tenderly kissed your cheek before rolling you on to your side with your back to his chest. You both groaned as he ran the tip of his already leaking cock along your folds. His palm gripped your hip as he gradually pushed himself inside of you, your eyes immediately rolling in pleasure at the feeling.

“Fuck, baby. You feel so good. Always so warm and ready for Daddy.”

Taking hold of his hand, you cling to him as he thrusts steadily into you. His thumb taps your cheek, gesturing for you to turn so he can passionately kiss your lips. 

“Look at me, pretty girl. Don’t take those beautiful eyes off me.” As you clench around him at his words, a small smirk paints his features. “You—fuck—you always like when Daddy compliments you, don’t you, honey?”

When you only nod, his hand slides over to grip your throat as he rolls his hips harder against you. “What do you do when we ask you a question, little girl?”

“I-I answer. Fuck, Daddy, I’m sorry. You just feel so good. Please…”

“Can’t really blame her, Steve. You know how dumb her cute little brain gets when we’re making her feel good.”

Eddie’s sexy, sleepy voice didn’t surprise you since neither of you were necessarily being quiet but you wanted more than anything to turn and see his handsome face but you knew better. 

Steve’s eyes were intensely boring into yours as if challenging you to do it but you behaved.

“I like when you make me feel beautiful, Daddy. Please. Please make me cum.”

His mouth opened in a silent moan and the sight had you squeezing him tighter as he pounded into you. 

“Fuck, baby girl, you…you can’t do that.” Your fingers threaded through his hair as his forehead fell against your cheek and his humid pants warmed your skin. The dam broke and you whimpered as you came. “That’s my good girl. Yes, baby.” Steve thrust into harder a few more times before you felt his release spill inside of you.

When you were finally able to look at Eddie, you were met with his fingers reaching to brush your hair out of your face. He looked angelic with the way the sun slightly peaked through the window of the hotel room. Giving Steve one more kiss, you scoot closer to the metalhead to place your lips on his. 

“Good morning?”, he asks, chuckling when you grin. 

“Yes, Sir. Do you need to use me to?”

“Fuck me. You can’t say stuff like that so sweetly after what I just witnessed and expect me to last long.”

Giggling, you kiss him again before trailing down his chest to his boxers, smiling when you found his cock poking through, desperate to be relieved. 

“Let me take care of you, Master.”

A heavy sigh of pleasure left his lips at your words followed by a throaty groan as your mouth wrapped around him, taking him as far back as you could before steadily bobbing your head.

“That’s it, sweetheart. Fuck. You know I love hearing you choke on my dick.” Glancing up at him, your eyes locked as he flashed you a sexy smirk. “You look so beautiful with your mouth full of me. Do—mmm—do you like sucking your Master’s cock?” 

Your hand continued to stroke him and your mouth released him with a loud smacking sound as drool dangled from your lips. 

“I do, Sir. I love sucking you cock. You taste so good. Please, I need you to cum so I can swallow it all.”

“Jesus Christ, you’re perfect. Put that pretty mouth on me again, sweetheart. I’ll give you what you need.”

As you do what he says, his fingers pull your hair into a makeshift ponytail so he can see you better as he roughly begins thrusting his hips. You stay still, allowing him to use you as his tip hits the back of your throat. Eddie mewls at the sound of your gags and gurgles before his breathing because ragged and you abruptly feel rope after rope of his release hit your tongue.

When he finally releases you from his grip, you crawl up his body till your lips find his before collapsing against his chest. 

“Hey. Come on, honey. We have to shower and get ready if we’re going to make this play your uncle got us tickets for.”, Steve coos as he pokes you side.

“But I’m comfortable.”, you whine, your body jiggling as Eddie laughs underneath you.

“Yeah, yeah. Come on, pretty girl.”

***

They grin as they watch your eyes come to life entering the theater. 

“Lady and gentlemen, your seats will be up those stairs and to the right. Balcony 3.”

“Oh wow, he didn’t have to do that.”

“Is that good?”, Eddie asks.

“Yeah, we’ll have a good view and it will just be us with a few other people.”

Glancing around, you notice an older couple staring before catching your eyeline and looking away. It took you moment and a few more awkward looks before you realize that they are disgusted with Eddie. You thought he looked handsome as ever with his slacks and button up shirt. While he and Steve were talking he had rolled up his sleeves so some of his tattoos were visible and his long hair flowed freely but he did brush it before you left the hotel. He stood out a bit but not enough for them to be giving him the faces they were as they whispered to each other. 

You tried to ignore it as you wrapped your arms around him and nuzzled into his chest but after a while it became almost unbearable for you NOT to say something.

“Excuse me? Yes, hi. If you’re going to keep whispering and making faces I suggest you do it somewhere else.”

“Excuse me! How rude.”

“No, what’s rude is you disrespecting my boyfriend. He’s not doing anything wrong.”

“Kids today. They have no idea how to dress properly nor do they have manners.” They give you and the metalhead one more once over before turning on their heels and heading into the auditorium.

“So…we should have been in New York all this time? Damn, babe. Where did that confidence come from?”, Steve chuckled.

“Ugh! They just remind me of people back home. I wish people could see you like I do.” You circle your arms around him again making Eddie smile.

“Eh, I don’t care what anybody else thinks except you, sweetheart.”

 ###############

While they did enjoy the performance, they enjoyed you more. Eddie finally got to see what Steve was talking about when he told him about that date he took you on back in Hawkins senior year. 

“Dude, she’s so fucking adorable. Her eyes soak up everything and she giggles like a little kid. It’s almost like she forgets she’s watching a play and just gets sucked into the world. Watching it with her THROUGH her eyes…Jesus. I can’t even explain it, man.

After picking up lunch, you three were able to relax a bit before your evening out with your cousin who picked you three up in her car with her boyfriend in tow. 

“Ok, first stop is where my cousin and I always snuck off to when my parents thought we were just hanging out with friends. Which technically isn’t untrue since one my friends live above this store.”, Nat explains as she parks.

You five don’t need to walk far before the boys read the neon above them. 

“Oh, Y/N. You have so many stories you haven’t told us don’t you?”, Eddie grins in your direction. 

“It’s not like I could buy anything or bring anything home. BUT…now that we have our own apartment…”, you seductively smile back.

As you enter the sex shop, you all split up to different sections being that you and your cousin were into different things. You knew when you planned this trip for them you wanted to bring them here because you remembered they had something specific you thought would make a certain part of your playing with the boys a bit easier.

“I know, Sir, you’ve been looking for something more comfortable for my wrists which is hard in our close-minded town but…”, you paused gesturing towards the wall of handcuffs. “I figured we’d have more options here. At most, maybe, we can get a bigger set and then some scarfs or something.”

“Goddamn, you’ve come a long way, haven’t you, honey? I mean it’s not like you were a prude or anything but, I don’t know, you talk about stuff like this more seamlessly now.”

“So do you two.”, you grin as you shrug. “I think it’s just because I trust you more. That was part of the problem before. I didn’t know anything about you two.” You hold out your wrist as Eddie grabs a couple of handcuffs and tests them on you. “Also my parents were sexually conservative. ‘The penis goes into the vagina and then a baby is made.’ That was my birds and bees talk. Ow.”

“Sorry, princess. These are a no.” Eddie hangs the set he had tried to put on you back on the wall and reaches for the next one. “Yeah, Wayne had some difficulties to. I got the basics and then him correcting whatever my father told me.”, he laughs. 

“I learned on my own basically by trial and error. Then whatever they showed us in health class.” Steve wraps his arms around you as he leans his chin on your head. “You know, I don’t think we’ve ever asked this but when or what made you realize you like this?”

“Those feel ok. The fuzzy stuff on top might be distracting.”, you grimace and that’s all the confirmation the metalhead needs to put them back. “What about those leather ones up top there? You did kind of ask me after I came back home senior year. I told you I just knew I didn’t like what I had before and that’s honestly the best way I can answer your question.” You smile as you tilt your head back to kiss his lips. “I didn’t even really think about this until… you scolded me that day in detention.”

You hadn’t even realized that Eddie hadn’t moved for the past couple of minutes but he did have a small smirk on his face. Thinking he was waiting for you to hold out your arms again you did only to find your wrists were already restrained. 

“You didn’t even notice I put them on, did you?”

“Oh wow. No, I didn’t. They aren’t too tight or anything.”, you grin. 

“Well, little one, I think we finally found a winner.” He grins along with you as you jump up to kiss his lips. 

“Is there anything you guys want for you or something else you want to try on me?”

“You know, since we’re having that conversation…when we started this you had no idea what you liked and didn’t like. Do you have more of an idea now?”, Eddie asks.

“IIIII like the way you talk to me. I like the spanking and the handcuffing obviously.”

“Obviously.”, Steve teases.

“What about the belt? We’ve only ever done it that one time. Harrington said you liked it.”

“In the moment, I did. I don’t mind it when you’re punishing me. I don’t think I could do like…that stuff.” They turn to where you point down an adjacent aisle filled with things like whips and flogs. “I like when you two take control and then finding ways to work with what you have.” You whine as you try to explain, covering your face in embarrassment.

“No, no. Hey, I really want you to explain that because I find it interesting. Go on, baby.”, Eddie encourages as Steve tenderly pulls your hands back down. 

“Like with the belt. You punished me with it because it’s what you had and you knew it would work. Fuck. Watching you pull it off in one go…”, you close your eyes as you sigh in pleasure at the memory. “To me that’s more attractive than pausing to go get something like that.” Again, you gesture down the aisle. 

The metalhead’s lips connected with yours once more but it was a soft kiss filled with nothing but love.

“All these years and still surprising me.”

“Still so fascinating.”, Steve adds. 

***

This time you got to watch their eyes light up with excitement when you entered your next destination. This particular bar you and your cousin had always wanted to go to but were never able to get in. Now that you could and were visiting, you finally got the chance. The band on stage was playing a cover of “Crazy Train” causing Eddie to slap Steve’s arm and give him trivia you had heard him telling the former jock before. He was so flabbergasted when he found out he didn’t know who Ozzy Osbourne was.

Your cousin’s boyfriend ordered a round of drinks while you guys found a table near the edge of the dance floor/ mosh pit where you guys could sit and talk.  The metalhead’s wide, ecstatic eyes looked at yours as Billy Idol’s “Dancing with Myself” began to play and he promptly grabbed your arm, yanking you and Steve as you three danced wildly. You heard your cousin’s loud laugh as her and her boyfriend followed making you smile. 

You absolutely adored seeing this side of them; the fun side that just completely let go. You did this for them in many different ways and allowed yourself to be vulnerable for them especially in the bedroom. The fact that they could do that as well just made your love them grow. If you went back in time and met the girl who had just been intimate with them for the first time and told her that the aggressive seemingly angry metalhead and the uptight asshole who was friends with the people that made fun of you would turn into two of the sweetest, funniest, dorkiest men that you had ever met… 

The music changes to a song you and surprising Steve knows but you’re shocked when Eddie grips your hand in the air and tugs your waist to his as he sings along.

“The lights are on, but you're not home Your mind is not your own Your heart sweats, your body shakes Another kiss is what it takes You can't sleep, you can't eat.”

“How do you know this song?!”, you giggle as he flashes you a big tooth filled smile. 

“There's no doubt, you're in deep Your throat is tight, you can't breathe Another kiss is all you need.”

“I work in at a record store remember, sweetheart?”

The metalhead playfully twirls you into Steve’s arms who holds you the exact same way as he sways and sings.

“Another kiss and you'll be mine A one-track mind, you can't be saved Oblivion is all you crave If there's some left for you You don't mind if you do.

It's closer to the truth to say you can't get enough You know you're gonna have to face it, you're addicted to love.”

You cousin grabs your arm after announcing she needed to use the bathroom and you laugh as you watch them pause to watch you leave before continuing to dance like idiots beside each other. 

“I have your thing in the trunk of my car. I’ll give it to you when we drop you guys off.”, Nat grins as she fixes some of her make up in the mirror. “Kevin saw you guys in the handcuff section and asked me if I’d be into that. He said he wanted to talk to them about it when we weren’t around.”

You both laugh as you sit on the counter and continue to watch her. “It’s taken us years to even find some that fit my chubby wrists or don’t hurt me.”

“Isn’t that the point? For it to hurt?”

“Nooooo… Natalie, who have you been talking to?” She grins widely as you blush. “No, they don’t want to hurt me. They want me to submit, to give my entire body and soul to them; to trust them.”

“Do you?”

“I do and I know it’s kind of weird but they do to. I mean, think about it. They were vulnerable enough to let me into their dominate world without judgement and after everything they’ve been through—”

“And you… I remember how sad Christian made you.”

After feeling like you gave the boys enough time to have their conversation, you two exited the bathroom hand in hand before accidently bumping into a group of guys passing by.

“Shit. I’m so sorry. My hips have a mind of their own sometimes.”, you apologize with a polite smile. As you turn to leave, however, a hand places itself on your shoulder.

“Not a problem, baby. You can put those hips to good use if you want to for me in the restroom over here.”

Rolling your eyes, you yank your body away from his as you try to push your cousin back towards you table.

“Oh, come on, it was just a joke—”

“Hey! Do we have a problem, gentlemen?”, Eddie barked as he glared at the men in front of him. “Trust me, it was definitely a joke thinking little boys like you could handle a beautiful woman like her. She needs a grown ass man and she’s already got two.”

They hold up their hands in a surrender gesture as the metalhead guides you both to your area. 

“Wow, Eddie. Kevin, you’re going to end up hating them because the more I spend time with them the more they raise the bar for what I expect out of a gentleman.”

Her boyfriend chuckles as he leans down to kiss her lips. “For you, honey, I’ll meet and surpass any bar as long as your happy.”

Eddie takes your hand in his as you lean your chin against his shoulder. “Thank you, Sir.”

##############

“Baby girl! You have been in the bathroom for twenty minutes with this thing you got from your cousin. Should we be worried or jealous?!”

“Calm down, Daddy!”, you giggle as you finish threading everything together. “I’m almost done.”

“Did she just tell me to calm down?”

“She did. I have my belt on if you want to spank her.”

“You do it. I’m too old and tired.” Steve smiles when he hears you laugh again at his comment. 

“Ok! I’m ready! Sir, push play on the radio, please!”

Lazily, he gets up from the bed and does what you ask, leaning against the window as he takes a sip from the beer can in his hand. As “Pour Some Sugar on Me” begins to flow from the little crackling speakers your leg steps out over dramatically from the bathroom making them both laugh.

When you fully saunter out, however, time seems to freeze for them. A few months prior your cousin had gotten a catalogue for the store you guys had visited and sent it over to you in Indiana. While the boys were at work, you browsed the sexy garments until you found one you thought they would like, ordering it, and sending it to Natalie so she could keep it hidden for you with the goal of surprising them. 

Your legs and arms were covered in black mesh material that were perfectly accentuated by the silver heels and bracelets on your wrists. The flower pattern lace around your thighs were clipped in place, attached to the see-through black lace panties hugged perfectly around your hips. Your breasts were covered by a silver, sequined bra that was being slightly obscured by your long, flowing, fluffed up sexily hair that was topped with a black top hat tilted to the side. The silver sequined chocker around your neck drew attention to your face that you had spent time putting make up on to finish out the ensemble.

“Jesus Christ.”, Steve groaned. 

With a sexy smile stretched across your face, you sway in his direction reaching your hands out to run your fingers down his chest. 

“Do you like it, Daddy?” Kneeling on your heels, your palms run down his jeaned thighs as your face hovers just above the massive bulge in his pants. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

Standing to your full height, you make sure your breasts graze his face ever so slightly before turning to give Eddie your attention. The whine Steve tries to hide as you step away from him makes you bite your bottom lip to hide your own moan. 

“What about you, Sir? Do you like it?” You had never seen either of them like this before but especially Eddie. He had been talking pretty much since you met him but this was the first time you had ever found him speechless. Taking his hands in yours, you turned away and pushed your ass into his groin. “Aw. Master reallylikes it.”

As you swiveled around to face him again, your nose grazed his as you reached over to turn off the music. Growing up you never really felt like you had any control over your life. Your parents had a strict mindset on what they wanted for you and how you should be. At school you always felt stuck at the bottom, constantly bullied and ridiculed by the student body. In relationships, you always wanted more, always feeling stifled and hidden. An outsider would think your relationship with the boys was the same; that you had no control. But the truth was you had all the power here.

As you heard Steve’s breathing pick up and watched Eddie’s eyes slowly darken with need, even they knew you could turn away from them and leave. You could say the safe word and decide that tonight you weren’t in the mood. You could rile them up and leave them wanting…and they would respect that still crawling into bed with you as they cuddled you till you fell asleep.

You chose to surrender that will to them because you loved them and wanted them to have that control over you. 

As soon as you nodded, the metalhead’s hand shot out to bring your lips to his for a passionate kiss as his other palm reaches between your legs making you mewl as the lacey fabric presses into your clit.

“Please. Touch me.”

“Show me. Show me what you need.”  His gruff tone turns you on more knowing that when he speaks like that they don’t plan on being gentle. Sliding your fingers into your panties, you moan at the sound of your slick as you thrust two of them into your core. Eddie licks his lips as he watches your face contort with pleasure, quickly throwing off his clothes and spitting in his hand as he strokes his cock. 

“Please, Sir. I need you, baby.”

Grabbing your hair, he roughly turns you around, raising the blinds as he presses you to the window. You guys were pretty high up so not a lot of eyes should be on you but you were in a city filled with buildings that practically touched the sky. 

Kicking your legs apart, you whimpered as he pushed himself into you before reaching for your wrists and pinning your hands to the window. 

“Always so needy, baby. Fuck me. Master’s going to give you what you want. How…how can I deny you when you look so fucking delicious in this outfit.”

Your breath fogged the glass as you panted out moans. Gripping your throat, his hips loudly smacked into yours as you looked out in front of you. 

“Cum for me, pretty girl. Hawkins already know how well we take care of you. L-Let’s show New York to.” Eddie’s fingers glided between your legs and he firmly pressed circles into your nub causing you to roll your lower half meeting his movements. 

“Fuck, fuck, fuck. Y-yes, Sir!” Your pussy clenched tightly around him as you came, whimpering when he didn’t slow as he fucked you through it.

“Goddamn.” Wrapping his arms around you, he yanked you away from the window and threw you to the bed where a naked Steve was stroking his length as he watched you two. You gasped as Eddie’s tongue abruptly flicked against your clit as he shoved three of his long fingers inside of you. 

“Eddie!”

His head shot up at his name but Steve was faster as his palm aggressively grabbed your neck. 

“Color?”

“G-g-green, Daddy. Fuck, I’m sorry! I wasn’t rea—”

“I don’t care. You show us the respect we deserve, right little girl? Right?!”, he snapped as the metalhead pumped into you while his tongue moved faster making it hard for you to focus. 

“Yes, Daddy. I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Sir.”

Lifting up your legs, he guided his cock easily into your dripping entrance and began thrusting into you slowly, grunting as your walls sucked him in. Eddie’s hands roamed the material around your calf as he pressed his cheek against it.

“Mmm…fuck. Our sexy, beautiful girl. All ours.” A loud growl left his chest as he pried your legs open wide and pumped into you at a faster, harder pace. Hands above you suddenly took hold of your ankles bringing them back ever so slightly allowing Eddie to hit deeper inside of you. Your eyes briefly found Steve’s as the rolled back and closed. 

Feeling his cock brush against your nose, you tilted your head so you could run your tongue along the side. He maneuvered his hips to give you better access while still being able to hold you for his friend. 

“That’s it, baby. Fuck. Still a little slut for our dicks, huh? I think we spoil her, Ed.” Eddie barely heard him as he was lost in you trying to pull another orgasm from your body. “I’m not gonna lie, honey. Seeing—mmm—seeing that thing around your neck move every time I touch the back of your throat is driving me fucking crazy.”

The metalhead pushed Steve lightly against his stomach and the boy backed away as Eddie fell forward against and slammed his hips into yours. Your fingers clung to his shoulders as you moaned his title; the louder you were the harder he thrust into you. His hand covered your mouth as you screamed and came. He didn’t slow as he chased his high until his pleasure filled grunts filled your ear as he released inside of you.

You held him tightly as you began to cry.

“Hey. Hey, hey, hey, princess. Color?”, Eddie cooed as he leaned up to caress your face.

“Green. Green I swear. You just…it was so good.”

He smiled as his lips landed on yours. “Cry baby. Do you think you can handle Steve?”

You nodded and as his brown eyes met yours he knew you were still in the right place mentally. You were actually in Steve’s favorite part of your subspace, the overly sensitive little girl that needed her Daddy. 

He climbed in beside you and you rolled on your side so you could face him, humming softly as he ran his fingers through your hair. 

“You had a hat on at some point.”, he mused, grinning when you giggled as he pretended to look around.

“I think it fell off when Master pushed me against the window.”

“Bastard.”

“My bad.”, Eddie sighed playfully.

His large palm slides down your back, over the ass, and to the back of your thigh as he guided your leg over his waist.

“You don’t have to be gentle with me if you don’t want to, Daddy. I can handle it.”

Steve blinks a few times before he smirks in your direct and tugs your body a bit close to his. “Hey, Ed?”

“Stevie?”

“I think we may have to start setting up a particular punishment when it comes to repeating ourselves because little miss here still seems to struggle hearing us when it comes to what she and we can handle.” His hand spanks your behind hard making you yelp. “What has Eddie told you?”

“That you know your body and mine. You would never put me in a position where you or I would be hurt or uncomfortable but if something happened, Daddy, where I did feel uncomfortable I would say our safe word.”

“Good girl, honey.” You happily exhale when he kisses your forehead. “You trust us to know how to take care of you right?”

“Yes, Daddy, I trust you both.”

Bringing his lips to your own, you mewl at the taste of him before a gasp escapes you as he slides his cock into your cunt. This is what Steve was good at, the slow and rough. As he flipped you on to your back, he pulled himself back till just his tip was inside of you, and watched your face as he punched back into you. Just like Eddie, he hit every button inside of you the right way till you were a trembling mess. 

“Does that feel good, baby?”

“Y-yes, Daddy.”

“See? Daddy knows how to take care of you.” His tongue traced the valley between your breasts to your neck where he sucked at skin making you groan as your ran your fingers through his hair. “Fuck, baby girl. I love how tight you get after your cum. If I could I’d make you cum again and again but I don’t know how much long I’m going to last. You just look too fucking good in this.”

As much as you loved how they both made you feel, you were grateful he couldn’t give you more. You could barely handle the one you currently hurtling towards. 

“Maybe your Master can help me.”

It almost as if they had planned it beforehand. Steve lifted up on his arms as Eddie slid his own between you two so his fingers could massage your clit. They barely gave you time to breathe as they worked in tandem to build you up. The leg you had wrapped around him fell as your body shook and your vision was blinded by white.

“There she is. That’s our good girl. Fuck and your pussy is squeezing me so fucking tight.”

“Daddy…please… I can’t…”

“Yes, you can, honey. Eddie don’t stop until she cums again one more time.”, he commanded. 

“Wasn’t planning on it unless told otherwise.”

Their pace didn’t let up and you were so sensitive you knew they’d get another orgasm out of you at this rate. 

“Come on, baby. Daddy needs you to cum again. You can do it.”

“I-I-I can’t…I need…”

Steve caught it in your voice as he looked down at your scrunched up, pouty face. Putting all his weight on one arm, he reached up with his other to wrap around your throat.

“Stop pouting, little girl. It doesn’t sound like to me we were asking. Maybe we’ve spoiled you too much, huh?” Steve hissed through gritted teeth. “Stop acting like you don’t want to cum again. You love the way my cock and his fingers feel, you little whore. Now…fucking…cum.”

Between each of his words in his last sentence he smacked his hips aggressively into yours. That mixed with everything else he was saying was all you needed as Eddie covered your mouth once more and you came hard around Steve’s cock.

That was all he needed as well as his rhythm faltered and he grunted as he thrust his seed inside of you. 

“So yeah, this will be coming home with us.”, the metalhead proclaimed as he lightly slapped your thigh. You and Steve laugh as he tried to carefully pull out of you and fell to your side. “Not that you need to hear this but I’m proud of you for taking the initiative to buy it and wear it. It was only, what, a year ago that you were blushing while wearing a nightie thinking you looked unattractive.”

“You really do look gorgeous in stuff like this, honey.”

“Thank you.”

Eddie turned to glance over at you realizing you were half awake with a glazed over look of bliss. “Op, Steve, we may still be dealing with little miss here.”

“She’s always little miss, Ed.”

You giggled at their banter as you rolled over to face Eddie. “Sir, I’m sleepy.”

“You’re sleepy? Alright, so no shower then but I want to get you out of thing here. Wait, Y/N, baby, you have to stand to take the make-up off.” Your eyes fully open as you look at him quizzically. “Right? I thought you told Steve once it’s bad to leave it on overnight.”

“I love you.”, you grin as you lean towards him to kiss his lips. 

“Pfft, ok. I love you to, cry baby.” He rises from the bed and tugs at your hands to bring you with him as you groan. “Come on. Let’s do this quick so you can crash.”

While you stand in front of the sink in the bathroom, both men scurry quickly around you to get you out of your outfit and help you wash your face.

“So beautiful.”, Steve smiles as he looks down lovingly at your now make-up free features. 

After bringing you back, they climb under the covers with you and tenderly run their hands along your skin, murmuring praises and “I love you”s till you fall asleep. 

#############

@manda-panda-monium @sherrylyn628 @eddiesguitarskills

@needylilgal022 @local-stoner-bitch @katethetank @strangerfreak

@sidthedollface2 @justanotheryn @pedropascalslilbaby

@marsupiooo @mandyjo8719 @bexreadstoomuch

@chelebelletx @perdopascalslilbaby @shayeddie @anaibis

@wroteclassicaly @fireeyes-on-teller-dixon-grimes

@siriuslysmoking @raptorbait529 @miarosso @micheledawn1975

@paleidiot @mrsjellymunson

[xiaq]

Steddie Time Travel Fix-it: Pt. 7

Ao3 Pt. 1 Pt. 2 Pt. 3 Pt. 4 Pt. 5 Pt. 6

Eddie is good at puzzles

Cryptograms, jigsaws, Rubiks cubes, mazes. For all the trouble he has in school, he’s always loved word search and crossword assignments. He finishes first; he saunters up to the teacher’s desk; he slaps it down in the assignment box. He grins as they grade it with grudging respect. The strategy required for D&D was just as appealing, initially, as the escapism.

So. Eddie is good at puzzles.

Until, of course, Steve Harrington appeared in the early-morning hallway of Hawkins high, apparently having turned over an inexplicable and very puzzling new leaf.

Steve Harrington is unsolvable.

And it makes Eddie crazy.

He’d written out a list detailing the nuances of the Steve Harrington Puzzle. That was the title on the piece of the paper he’d torn out of his campaign spiral: There was the sudden friendship with Robin Buckley and the additional strange company he’d been keeping with Nancy and Jonathan and Barb. There was quitting the basketball team and absolutely burning bridges to ash with his former friends.

The panic attacks, related to flickering lights and D&D monsters The kids. The walkie-talkie check-ins and mentions of gates.

Chief fucking Hopper’s involvement.

The weird obsession Steve seems to have with Eddie. The flirting.

The baking.

Okay, the baking could be normal, but it’s still potentially out of character enough that Eddie doesn’t scratch it off the list.

Eddie's first hypothesis is drugs, even though that doesn’t explain everything.

As long as he’s not leaving town, there’s only one person Steve could be getting drugs from if he’s not getting them from Eddie. So Eddie walks to the gas station down the road and calls Rick from the pay phone outside.

“Hey. Weird question. Are you selling hard shit to Steve Harrington on the side?”

Rick laughs at him until he hangs up. That’s fair. It was a long shot anyway.

His second hypothesis is…

Well, that’s the problem. He doesn’t have a second hypothesis. Because nothing explains all of the everything going on with Steve and even drugs only explain like…half of it.

Eddie crumples up the paper and tosses it in the trash and the Steve Harrington Puzzle remains unsolved through Saturday night as he loads up his guitar and amp into Gareth’s mom’s car.

One of them really needs to buy a van or a truck or something. Showing up to your metal gig in a minivan is not the cool aesthetic they’re trying to embody.

Eddie has been trying not to have expectations. Just because Steve said, several days before, that he was going to come to their gig didn’t mean he’d actually show up. And unlike Eddie’s embarrassing, seat-saving hope from Friday, his anxious door-watching as they set up and then take the stage at Hideout does not pay off.

Steve doesn’t show.

Maybe he forgot. Maybe he changed his mind or something better came up or maybe he never intended to come at all. 

It doesn’t occur to Eddie that there’s another potential reason until he gets home, hoarse and jumpy with endorphins to find a note from Wayne by the phone. 

Steve called. Said he’d been in an accident and was sorry he couldn’t come. Sounded rough. Left his number for you.

Eddie calls the number, even though it’s late. It rings. And rings. And rings. They have an answering machine, because of course they do, but the woman on the recording sounds like a stuck up bitch and Eddie lingers, just for a moment, trying to think of something to say, before hanging up.

He tries again on Sunday, just past lunch. Still no answer.

By Monday morning he’s vacillating between annoyance and concern which takes a careening turn down the concern offramp when he catches sight of Steve in the hallway. His face is beat to shit and his neck––

His neck looks like someone tried to fucking hang him.

But despite the bruises and the line of stitches at his temple and the general signs of a thorough ass-kicking, Steve is moving through the tide of students around him with the unmistakable swagger of someone who won.

It really does make Eddie want to see the other guy.

Eddie isn’t thinking. Well, he is thinking, he’s thinking what happened and are you ok. He’s not thinking about optics as he pushes his way through the other students in the hallway, grabs Steve’s wrist and drags him into the bathroom. It’s empty, thank god.

“What happened?” Eddie says, tugging down the collar of Steve’s shirt so he can better see the—Jesus, the ligature marks on his throat. “Are you ok?”

Steve’s hands catch around his shoulders, pushing him back with an infuriating little smile that says he’s enjoying Eddie’s reaction. Enjoying Eddie’s concern about him nearly being killed, the sadistic asshole.

“Hey, easy,” Steve says, “I’m fine. Though that does hurt a little so maybe let go of my shirt, yeah?”

“Oh what, you can pull me into bathrooms and feel me up but I’m not allowed to return the favor?” Eddie snarls.

Steve goes delightfully pink. “Okay,” he says. “I’ve apologized for that.”

Eddie lets go.“And you still haven’t explained it.”

“I can’t.”

“And all of this?” Eddie gestures to encompass the entirety of Steve’s stupid, muscular, injured self. He’s wearing the same jeans and boots as he was on Friday, this time paired with a black T-shirt that is likely intentionally a size too small.  “Can you explain this?”

“I––”

“Can’t.” Eddie finishes with him.

At least Steve looks cowed about it.

“Are these the worst of your injuries or are there more under your clothes?” 

Steve opens his mouth and Eddie interrupts before he can say anything. “Don’t lie.”

Steve rolls his eyes. “My back is a little beat up, but it’ll be fine.”

“Let me see.”

“What, do you have a medical degree, now?”

“Let me see.”

“Fine. Fine,” he turns, bracing one hand on the sink and using the other to hike up the back of his shirt. “I forgot how goddamn annoying you are when you’re––”

He cuts himself off, going still. His eyes are wide where they meet Eddie’s in the mirror. “I mean. Sorry. Whatever. Look, I’m fine.”

Eddie looks.

“Oh my god.” He’s touching the mottled bruise down the left side of Steve’s spine before he realizes he’s going to do it and by then it’s too late. He tries to be gentle, at least. “What hit you, a truck?”

“Eddie.”

“Are you pissing blood?”

“Only a little. Honestly, I’ve had worse.”

“That’s not reassuring.”

Eddie drops the shirt and lets Steve turn to face him, but he doesn’t step back. Instead, he leans closer still to inspect the tidy line of stitches hugging Steve’s temple.

“At least everything looks clean,” he murmurs, pushing Steve’s hair out of the way. “Did you go to the hospital for these? Please say you didn’t do them yourself.”

He doesn’t get a chance to answer, though, because Tommy Hagan pushes his way into the bathroom. Where Eddie currently has Steve pressed against the sink, nearly hip to hip, with his hand on Steve’s face.

He’s going to die today.

“Oh, fuck off, Tommy,” Steve says with a degree of annoyance that Eddie finds commendable considering the circumstances.

“What are you––what’s going on?” Tommy says as the door slides shut behind him. “Did Munson do that to you?”

Steve scoffs and Eddie should probably be insulted. Steve slides around him, putting himself just a hair in front of Eddie as he half-turns to face Tommy. One of Steve’s hands is on Eddie’s chest and Eddie isn’t sure how it got there, but it’s steady and firm, like he’s holding Eddie back.

“No,” Steve says. “He’s just a concerned citizen. What do you want?”

“He was touching you,” Tommy says, low and quiet and weirdly hurt. 

“He was,” Steve agrees easily. “But there’s nothing wrong with that. Friends touch each other all time, right? No reason to make it weird.”

The words land like a blow. Eddie watches as Tommy physically recoils from them.

“Steve.” Tommy sounds wounded.

“Tommy,” Steve answers, dispassionate.

Tommy’s eyes move to Eddie. Move to Steve’s hand on Eddie’s chest. He turns abruptly and shoves his way back out of the bathroom with a muttered curse.

Steve watches him go, and then, when he turns to face Eddie again, his mouth twists.

“Shit, I wasn’t thinking. I sort of implicated you, there. I swear he won’t tell anyone, though, even if he does think we’re––whatever. I can,” Steve exhales, shoving a hand through his hair, and then winces, either because of the stitches or his side. “I can tell him you turned me down.”

As if that would happen.

“No,” Eddie says. “It’s fine. I mean, a lot of people already assume that I’m––” he knows he shouldn’t ask but he can’t seem to help it, “––wait, are you?”

“Yeah?” Steve says, like it should be obvious. “I like both. Either. All.”

“Right.” Eddie says. Like his entire worldview hasn’t been shaken to the core. “And you and Hagan—?”

Steve leans back against the sink. “I’m honestly not in the practice of outing people, if I can help it.”

“Hey, I’m not going to tell anyone.”

“Yeah,” Steve says finally. “I know.” He’s got his hands braced on the lip of porcelain on either side of his hips. It makes his biceps look enormous. “We didn’t have a thing,” he murmurs. “Not really. I wanted to, which is embarrassing in retrospect, but––” he laughs and there’s nothing comedic to it. “Some guys are just fine with you giving them handjobs in the dark, but god forbid you ask them to kiss you in the daylight, you know?”

Eddie does know.

“Their loss,” he mutters.

Steve bites his lip. “Hey, so. I’m sorry I missed your show. Can I buy you dinner tonight as an apology?”

Eddie might not recover from the conversational whiplash. “What?”

“I can pick you up at seven?”

“Yeah. Sure.”

“Okay, cool. We should get to class.”

And then he’s gone. 

Eddie has a quiet, 30 second, existential crisis before following him.

***

Steve takes them to the diner again: same booth; same waitress.

She doesn’t try so hard this time to get Steve’s attention, either because she learned from last time or because Steve’s face looks like it’s been put through a meat grinder.

Regardless, they’re mostly left to their own devices and Steve gets him talking about the Lord of the Rings and once again Eddie finds himself flailing his way through a long-winded rant while drinking a chocolate milkshake. Steve watches him fondly.

He keeps forgetting that Steve is a giant, potentially dangerous, puzzle that needs solving in the face of his fond looks. It’s really becoming a problem.

Eddie is trying to find an elegant way of inviting Steve back to his place when Steve’s ever-present overstuffed backpack makes a static noise and then Eddie hears the muffled sound of Chief Hopper’s voice saying: Steve, you there?

Steve is out of the booth, throwing money on the table, in seconds.

Eddie scrambles to follow him.

Steve unzips his bag and pulls out the walkie before he’s even out the door.

“Hop?” he asks into the receiver. He doesn’t hold the door for Eddie which Eddie will be bitchy about later.

Are you still at the diner? Hopper asks. He sounds out of breath. 

“Yeah.”

I’m two minutes away, meet me in the parking lot.

“It’s happening now?”

It’s happening now. Sorry, kid, I know you probably haven’t recovered from Saturday yet but––

“No, it’s fine.”

Two minutes, Hopper repeats. Be discreet.

Steve starts running.

By the time Eddie catches up to Steve at the back of  the parking lot, he’s got the trunk of his car open and he’s pulling basketball uniform shirts out of a giant duffel bag. Previously hidden under the layer of jerseys are—guns. 

Holy shit, that’s a lot of guns.

And grenades? Probably. Eddie has never seen a grenade in real life but he’s reasonably sure those are grenades. 

“What.” Eddie says. 

Steve zips the bag back up, cursing, and reaches for a baseball bat wrapped in a towel. Except when he pulls it out by the handle, the towel falls away and Eddie realizes the top of the bat has been gored through with at least two dozen nails: Spiked and lethal and covered in a red brown patina. 

It could be rust.

Eddie is pretty sure it isn’t rust.

“Steve,” he says.

And Steve meets his eyes with a disturbing degree of calm.

Neither of them has a chance to say anything else, though, because Hopper's truck is careening into the parking lot and literally screeching to a stop a few feet away from them.

Steve tosses his bag of guns and his murder bat into the truck bed with a degree of familiarity that Eddie does not want to think about.

“What the hell, Steve,” Hopper is saying through the open window, “what part of be discrete did you not––oh.”

Eddie turns and when Hopper’s eyes settle on Eddie’s face, he stops talking.

 “Eddie,” he says.

And that is not a way that Chief Hopper has ever said Eddie’s name before.

“Hop,” Steve says levelly.

“Fuck,” he says, still staring at Eddie like—Eddie doesn’t even know. Like he’s a ghost, maybe.

“Right,” he says. “Munson.” He drags his attention back to Steve. “We need to go. Now. Is he—“

“No.” Steve says. “Absolutely not.”

“Am I what?” Eddie asks.

Steve is shoving something into Eddie’s chest. Eddie’s hand comes up automatically to close around—keys. Steve’s keys. 

“Do you know where my house is?” He asks.

“Yeah? Everyone knows where your house is, dude.”

“Don’t go home. Wayne is working tonight, right?”

“Yeah, but—“

“I need you to trust me. Please. Go to my house and––wait, no. The pool.”

He looks at Hopper.

“Henderson,” Hopper says. “The Henderson’s house. The other kids are already there. No nearby gates.”

“Gates? What the fuck are you two talking about?”

“We don’t have time for this,” Hopper says.

“Where are you going?” Eddie demands. “What is going on?”

“Eddie,” Steve says, urgent and terrible and wild. “Please.”

There’s an undeniable supplication in his tone, in his eyes, that makes Eddie say: “Okay. Alright. Just––tell me what to do.”

Steve pulls out a sharpie and a butterfly knife from his pockets. He pushes the knife into Eddie’s hand that is already holding Steve’s keys. He takes Eddie’s other arm and turns it palm up, uncapping the sharpie with his teeth. He writes hurried instructions across his wrist.

“Ok,” he says. “There. Take my car. Go to Henderson's house. Stay with the kids until I come back, okay?”

“When will you come back?”

“Late. Early. I don’t know. Before school tomorrow.”

“Steve,” Hopper says.

“Just don’t go back to your house, ok? Don’t go anywhere near Forest Hills or Lover’s Lake. We’ll get a message to Wayne too, but. Don’t go back. Go to Henderson's. Wait for me.”

“Steve,” Hopper says.

He squeezes Eddie’s arm. He lets go like it hurts him.

Steve climbs into Hopper's truck and Eddie watches them pull out of the parking lot with a dread he can’t explain sitting like stagnant water in his chest.

Eddie’s pulse is loud in his ears and heavy in his stomach as he considers the black ink on his arm; the knife; the keys. There’s a thunderhead building, eerie and green, eclipsing the sunset in the distance.

He walks to Steve’s car, closes the trunk, and opens the driver’s side door. He sits. He cranks the engine. 

Dio is playing.

He looks at the instructions on his arm, directing him left onto Main Street, and for a minute he considers obeying. He doesn’t. He puts the car in gear and turns right toward Forest Hills. 

He’ll go to Henderson’s. But Steve is acting like the trailer park is going to get bombed in the night and there are things at the house that…there are things he needs. He still half thinks this is all some giant prank, but Steve’s injuries are real and the guns were sure as hell real and Hopper is real.  If something terrible is going to happen tonight, Eddie has to save his guitar, his mom’s records, the t-shirt from the first concert Wayne ever took him to. He’ll need to get Wayne’s favorite mug and the rosary Wayne’s mother left him and their social security cards and other important documents from the drawer in the kitchen. 

It’ll take five minutes. Guitar. Milk crate of records. One bag of assorted shit. And then he’ll go to Henderson’s.

Five minutes.

In and out.

It’ll be fine.

[steddieunderdogfics]

This week’s writer spotlight feature is:  LadyKailitha! @ladykailitha has 33 fics posted to AO3 in the Stranger Things fandom and 32 of them are in the Steddie Tag.

Our anonymous nominator recommends the following works by @ladykailitha:

Little Runaway

Staking My Claim

I'll Be Your Knight

Eddie's Big Stevie Rescue

"LadyKailitha is a wonderful writer both on Tumblr (shout out to WIP Wednesday, makes my day!!) and on AO3! They absolutely deserve all the recognition and respect for their work. And now I'd like to share the love 🫶"-- anonymous

Below the cut, @ladykailitha answered some questions about their writing process and some of their recommended work!

Why do you write Steddie?

I’m obsessed with them. LOL! On a more serious note, it’s because I relate to the two characters a lot and want to see them happy.

What’s your favorite trope to READ?

Childhood friends. I just love watching them be friends as kids and then grow apart and then back together again. I could read it a billion times and do it again. As long as there’s a happy ending of course.

What’s your favorite trope to WRITE?

AUs. Just all of them. I like canon Eddie and Steve, but putting them in different worlds and still finding ways to make them who they are. chef’s kiss

What’s your favorite Steddie fic?

There are so many good ones but one that I’ve read several times is STRIKE TEN by oaseas. So good.

Is there a trope you’re excited to explore in a future work but haven’t yet?

That’s the best part of steddie is not knowing there’s a troupe I want to write for until inspiration strikes. Like I never thought I’d do a sugar baby/daddy AU, but I’m currently writing one. Ditto for omegaverse, but now I’ve written two from the same universe. But as I’m typing this… probably sentinel/guide. The idea has always intrigued me.

What is your writing process like?

First is day dreaming up an idea. Then depending on how long the idea is, I’ll do a short write up about. If it’s long, then it gets treated with plot beats I want to hit. I don’t consider it an outline, because they aren’t in order. Then I will sit down and start writing. I will do at least 400 words a day and keep at it until I have at least 3 or 4 chapters into it before I start posting.

Do you have any writing quirks?

I have to have a backlog of unpublished chapters because I worry if I’m not putting out stories people will lose interest. It’s also so that if I write myself into a corner I can go back a couple of chapters if I have to and change it to fit the new direction the story is going.

Do you prefer posting when you’ve finished writing or on a schedule?

Definitely on a schedule. I’ve tried waiting until I’m done and I just get too excited for other people to read it and start posting.

Which fic are you most proud of?

Well Met By Moonlight. I’m really proud of the world building and mystery.

How did you get the idea for Little Runaway?

When I first got into the fandom, there was a severe lack of Eddie and Steve postseason 2 and I really wanted to lean into that a bit.

When writing Little Runaway, what was something you didn’t expect?

Max becoming a reader insert in a way. Where you see the characters through her eyes at the end.

What inspired Staking My Claim?

LOL! Steve licking Eddie’s hand like he was a cupcake he didn’t want to share.

What was your favorite part to write from Staking My Claim?

Jeff. I loved how he just kinda rocked up and said, “As Eddie’s boyfriend, you are now my responsibility and no, you don’t get a say in this.”

How do/did you feel writing I'll Be Your Knight?

I love this one. It really does not get enough praise honestly. I loved the idea of the sound of Steve’s lighter as he lights and puts it out over and over again. I just really loved the idea of Steve guarding Eddie because he’s part of the group now.

What was the most difficult part of writing Eddie's Big Stevie Rescue?

The subject matter. It’s one of my darkest fics because Steve gets slipped a date rape drug and the fall out of not trusting the people you care about with the deepest parts of yourself. Also, keeping the tension ramped up.

Do you have a favorite scene and/or line from any of your fics?

I absolutely love the scene with Billy and Steve from “Never Hold Back Your Step…” when Billy gets Steve’s lifeguard job and Steve calls him a washed up surfer. That whole takedown was cathartic as hell.

Do you have any upcoming projects or fics you’d like to share/promote?

I’m currently working on a couple that I think are just so much fun. “The Hellfire Exotic Club” a stripper AU that has been a blast to write. And “Of Butterflies and Backstrokes” the Olympic swimmer AU. I’m proud of that title, too.

Outside of these questions, Is there anything YOU would like to add?

nope!

Thank you to our author, @ladykailitha, and our anonymous nominator! See more of LadyKailitha's works featured on our page throughout the day!

Writer’s Spotlight is every Wednesday! Want to nominate an author? You can nominate them here!

[rebelspykatie]

RWRB Steddie AU - Part 1

Wayne Munson who accidentally won the presidency running on a progressive working class ticket. Eddie Munson, the first son that causes international incidents without even trying. Like the time he made a crude hand gesture towards a foreign dignitary thinking he was saluting them. Or the time he connected his phone to the speakers during a dnc event and blasted Metallica through the entire arena. Or the time he knocked over a child on the lawn of the White House during the annual Easter egg hunt and had to issue an apology to a five year old for stealing their eggs. 

Wayne has reprimanded him more than he’s spoken in front of Congress. The secret service hates him, especially Hopper, who has to drag him back inside when he tries to escape down the trellis and cockblocks him from flirting with the barista at the Starbucks right outside of the White House. 

But nobody hates him more than Prince Steven. He doesn’t even understand why Steve hates him, only that their first interaction was disastrous, leaving Eddie fuming and confused. He remembers seeing Steve all over those teen magazines before Wayne had any political aspirations, his now gorgeous locks once too big for his tiny head and hazel eyes staring back at him from the glossy pages. Gareth never let him hear the end of it when he found those magazines tucked away under his bed, a collection that only grew over the years as Steve got more attractive.

The frosty reception from Steve had Eddie doubting every good thing those magazines ever said about how charming the prince could be. Sure, not a single hair was out of place on his stupid head and his polos were ironed within an inch of their lives, but his smile was fake and a bitchy retort slipped out of his mouth before Eddie could even introduce himself. 

He gave up on playing nice after that, not heeding his Uncle’s advice to stay away and not cause another international scandal while he was trying to make a deal with their prime minister. He practically begged Eddie to keep his big, dumb mouth shut.

Which is of course why The Incident happened. Eddie was a bit too drunk at a dinner for diplomats and their families. He approached Steve and started going on about the monarchy, a bit too loudly, where a very nosy reporter could hear. And that reporter wrote a scathing article about the first son not believing in tradition and how he was trying to undermine the authority of the crown, dredging up old tweets about how useless monarchies are and how Steve is handed things on a silver spoon. 

Wayne’s deal is in jeopardy, so he’s sent to smooth over international relations with the crown, which is a horrible idea considering Eddie’s track record. Staged photo ops have always made Eddie uncomfortable, but he sucks it up for Wayne. He winds up enjoying himself more than he thought possible in Steve’s presence because one of their PR stops is at a teen center where a group of kids regularly plays dnd. 

If it weren’t for a swift tug on the back of his suit from Hopper, Eddie would be standing on the table flailing around about a campaign, having already forgotten about the swath of reporters following them around on this tour. Steve doesn’t appear to know anything about dnd, but the little curly headed boy with an infectious toothy smile keeps tugging him around, talking a mile a minute while Steve fondly rolls his eyes. It’s the most relaxed Eddie has ever seen him. 

He learns that they’re both insomniacs during that trip, stumbling into the kitchen at 2am only to find Steve already there, riffling through the pantry. It’s the first time he’s ever seen Steve without the ramrod straight posture, notices the circles under his eyes and the way he’s always got a line of tension in his jaw. They come to some kind of truce in the dark of night over twin bowls of cereal. Something inside of Eddie unfurls at that, lets go of whatever weird grudge he was holding after their first interaction. 

It starts with a text. Steve sends him an article with the most ridiculous picture of Eddie, asks if he wakes up looking like that every morning. They’re teasing each other, taunting remarks about their status, realizing they have more in common than they thought. All summer, Eddie’s eyes are glued to his phone, anticipating texts from HRH (his royal hairiness), late nights dedicated to learning everything about Steve. Chrissy, the vice president’s daughter, corners him before the annual Halloween Party, forces him to invite his new friend Steve. She says it with a tone he doesn’t really understand, but it’s one that brooks no argument.

Maybe he learns all too well what Chrissy meant when it’s close to midnight and Steve pushes him against a tree outside and kisses him so thoroughly Eddie’s lost all oxygen to his brain. It changes the course of his entire life. He can’t stop thinking about it, feels the phantom taste of Steve on his tongue, but Steve isn’t answering his calls and Eddie doesn’t get a chance to corner him until a charity event almost a month later. 

They take each other apart that night, spend hours learning each other's bodies. Confessions spilled into the sheets they’re tangled in. Steve admits that his father arranged for him to be seen with Nancy Wheeler, who he has no interest in. They decide to try something casual, see each other when they can, get some much needed relief from the public eye. But Eddie’s never been the casual type, and he doesn’t think Steve is either, not after their nightly talks. He falls hard and eagerly hopes for more every time they meet up, wishing that Steve wouldn’t flee from his bed the next morning. 

Wayne’s pretty busy, running a country and all, but he eventually puts the pieces together on Eddie’s disappearances and his trips coinciding with events where Steve is present. His uncle knows him better than to think they’re just friends. Eddie never really had to come out to his Uncle, but they do have an intense talk on whether he’s ready to be perceived in that way by everyone in the world, Wayne apologizing for putting him in the spotlight. 

But Eddie feels forever about Steve. And Wayne’s presidency brought him to this man, to the love of his life, so there’s no way he could be upset about any of it.

If only Steve felt forever about him.

Part 2

[fullyinconsequential]

Here’s a 3am Steddie rant I think every Steddie lover (and possibly hater) should hear. I have no goal to convert anyone—just to say that the ship did not actually “come from nothing.” Here’s why:

I don’t understand how there wasn’t Steddie foresight in the writer’s room.

So they play it up in season 3 like Steve just can’t get the girl and when he does she’s not the right girl and yada yada yada—cool beans. I love his character arc with Robin, their friendship, her queerness. I love their entire bathroom interaction.

Specifically: “It’s somebody that I didn’t even talk to in school. Maybe cuz Tommy H. would’ve made fun of me, or I wouldn’t be prom king…. First of all, she’s hilarious. So funny. I feel like this summer I have laughed harder than I have laughed in a really long time. And she’s smart—way smarter than me…. She’s honestly unlike anyone I’ve ever met before.”

Traits Robin Also Has that Eddie Shares:

Outcast

Band Kid

The Witty Banter

Eddie’s personality is VERY Robin. Not perfectly so, but maddeningly close.

Another point:

This is just the same person in different gender specific fonts, A.K.A. Steve’s “love interest” versus a guy who called him “big boy” completely unprompted and interrupted a tender moment between him and his “love interest” and complimented him for an entire scene while Steve wore his clothes.

So, really, one of them’s Steve’s love interest and the other is Nancy Wheeler /hj.

I write a lot, and as someone who both writes and consumes an abhorrent amount of media, whoever wrote this down, casted and costumed this way, and allowed for the interactions between Steve and Eddie to be as nuanced as they were (EX: the scene in which Eddie steps forward like he has more to say to Steve before he goes off and kills himself) had to have known what was going to happen. There is simply no way of not seeing it.

And if they didn’t want people shipping Steddie at the scale which they do, here’s what went wrong:

First: defaulting to Steve wanting his ex back is just plain shitty writing. It means you don’t know where to go with the character anymore, and since you’re certain he’s done all the growing he can do, he’s just gonna double back to the conflict he was in in the FIRST SEASON.

Are you serious right now, bro?

Steve’s arc as a character has been absolutely heartwarming to watch. If anything, he’d have been better off given the “I need to figure out how to be happy on my own” narrative. Throwing him back at Nancy is a cop out, a big one.

Second: Eddie. Throwing Eddie in the mix was absolutely a WILD decision, because he looks like Nancy, he banters like Robin, and GENDER IS NO LONGER A PLAUSIBLE REASON FOR AN AUDIENCE TO DENY CHEMISTRY, OR EXPLAIN IT AWAY. Not in the year of our lord 2023, no sir. Not unless you’re going to explicitly state in some way to an audience that these characters are DEFINITIVELY STRAIGHT. And with Eddie, they went as far off that course as possible.

The outcast stuff. The D&D stuff. The hatred of the system. The mysteriously living with his uncle and not his parents. THE HANKERCHIEF IN HIS BACK POCKET.

So essentially, this is what they did:

They took a beloved character, flubbed over his character arc because they weren’t sure what to do with it.

Then, they created a SECOND beloved character, made him likable, lovable, even, and relatable. Then they gave him half and half personality and looks of Steve’s last two love interests. Then they gave us scenes of them together where they showed chemistry, genuineness, and playfulness.

Then they EXPECTED that we as an audience had enough heteronormativity left as a society to say—oh, those two guys aren’t flirting with each other even a little bit because they’re two guys and obviously that doesn’t happen.

WHEN IN THE SAME SEASON WE WATCHED WILL AND ROBIN GO GAY PANIC AND DESPAIR LIKE?????

Pick a side pick a side, are your characters fucking gay or is your audience fucking blind?

Point being, I have some friends IRL who don’t really get this. They think Steve and Eddie hardly interacted enough for there to be romance at all, but I think it’s less about how much they interacted and more about the (unintentional) set up they were given by the writers.

Steve’s a truly beloved character and I don’t know on ST fan that wants to see him just end up back with Nancy Wheeler like his entire character arc was just to “get the girl” and “have six kids.” Which he already has by the way.

Anyway, that’s just my two cents. I’m not advocating for anyone to ship them, I’m just saying it’s honestly a perfectly logical conclusion to make, especially if you CARE about Steve as a character, you know? We want him to be with someone genuine, someone who challenges him to be better, to be different than he was. Nancy couldn’t handle doing that. Robin could, but they’re platonic af.

So why wouldn’t it be Eddie?

Rest in peace, by the way. You would’ve loved this text post.

[wheneverfeasible]

Sickness of the Heart

wc: 5.5k || rating: T+ || cw: sexual themes, language, slut-shaming (but for a good cause) || summary: After ending his FWB relationship with a!Eddie, o!Steve must deal with the humiliation of a self-imposed rejection sickness while interacting with the other members of Corroded Coffin. Flight of Icarus compliant. Angst with an open ending. || ao3

Note: This fic does contain a brief summary of Paige’s involvement in Flight of Icarus, so while it does contain some spoilers, this also means that you do not need to have read the book to enjoy this story. Also, while this is technically a Steddie fic, Eddie doesn’t actually make an appearance in the story itself lol.

This fic is partially inspired by @fkinkindagauche ‘s fic The Unbearable Horniness of Steve Harrington in relation to Steve’s rejection sickness. Excellent read if you haven’t yet!

-

Steve was going to murder Dustin.

Or maybe he’ll let him live, he hasn’t decided yet. The kid didn’t really know the whole story, after all, so it wasn’t like he knew how utterly lost and devastated Steve felt right now, the rejection sickness curling through him in sharp pangs and dull aches. He didn’t know how much Steve’s heart was breaking with every step Steve took towards Gareth’s garage.

The only benefit was that Steve knew Eddie was out of town, setting things up with Paige for their chance of redemption. The pretty beta had reached out after the news of Eddie’s trial had made front page news even outside of Indiana, her boss apparently wanting to give Eddie a second chance at making it big in the music industry.

Eddie had been floored, energetic, and even the boys in Corroded Coffin couldn’t fault him if he ditched them again to make a better life for himself. They all knew he deserved it after everything. Except, Eddie had told them point blank that he was never running again, never turning his back on those he cared about. Had agreed to the offer to audition properly, but only if all of Corroded Coffin was invited too. All or nothing, he’d said.

After a bit of back-and-forth, Paige’s boss agreed.

It had been the final nail in the coffin for this thing between him and Eddie.

The facts were this:

During Eddie’s first senior year, Paige, with her fancy music scout assistant L.A. job, had been visiting her family in town and stumbled across Corroded Coffin playing at The Hideout. As anyone with even a passing interest in music could clearly see, she discovered Eddie and was instantly impressed with his talent and passion for music. They had…hit it off.

It had led to an offer to audition. But just for Eddie. And Eddie? Young and stupid and running away from a town that already hated him just for being his father’s son? Well, he had agreed. And then said father had come back and ruined everything, had burned those bridges for Eddie before disappearing once again and taking with it Eddie’s chance of a better life.

Had, in fact, been directly responsible for Eddie getting into drug dealing with led to…everything.

The relationship with Paige had ended messily, but not as devastating as it could have been. At least, that was Steve’s understanding of things. Over the course of his and Eddie’s…thing…the older alpha had talked about his past, slowly revealing all of this to Steve who had opened up about his own traumatic past, about his guilt over Barb, his and Robin’s torture at the hands of evil Russians, and how his parents had never truly loved him, made all that much more obvious when his secondary gender presented as omega.

It had been nice. For a moment, Steve had been able to pretend that it was something more than it actually was. Could pretend that when Eddie called him beautiful as he moved inside him, that the alpha had meant it as more than just what a good lay Steve was.

It had never been more than that, however. No matter how much Steve desperately but secretly wished otherwise.

Helping Eddie recover, then also serving as a character witness for Eddie’s trial, the two of them had grown into something actually resembling genuine friends and not just two people thrown together because of otherworldly forces and trauma. Eddie even spent a large part of his time at Steve’s house as they all prepared for Eddie’s trial, whether with the larger group or just on his own.

And then Eddie’s rut hit, unexpectedly and most likely brought on by stress from the trial, and…well…well Steve actually hadn’t had a decent lay in a while since he’d been dating betas and other omegas almost exclusively since Nancy. He missed being with an alpha. Missed being able to let himself go and fall into omega space, which he trusted Eddie with since he was his friend first and foremost.

The offer had been met with incredulity, but Steve had pointed out that things with the trial and his defense would get messy if Eddie lost control if he either tried to weather it alone or find another omega to share it with, and Steve was game if Eddie was. Purely transactional, just two bros helping each other out, never to be spoken about again.

Except neither had been prepared for how compatible they were with sex, even if they weren’t always compatible in their day-to-day friendship. So, after the embarrassment and awkwardness went away, they settled on a deal. When Steve’s heat came around, Eddie would help him out too. And he did not too long later, and it was just as great as the first time too.

And then they had sex when neither rut nor heat was present.

It was drunken sex, sure, celebrating not only Eddie’s freedom with the long trial finally being over but also celebrating the high school diploma Eddie had received in the mail that day, but it was sex all the same. And then it kept happening. Just two bros helping each other let off steam while enjoying some fantastic orgasms. Friends with benefits and that was it.

Except that wasn’t it for Steve.

No, his days of just enjoying being casual ended when he’d fallen in love with Nancy, when the idea of a Winnebago full of pups had begun to seem like something he could actually have, and he’d been chasing that high ever since. Even when he casually dated after Nancy, it has always been in search of someone to share that future with.

Enter Eddie Munson, a ridiculously nerdy and unhinged alpha who loved Steve’s honorary pups as much as Steve himself did. And yeah, they bickered all the time, clashed and argued and didn’t really have much else in common and sometimes jabbed each other with pointed insults from high school, but the sex was fantastic and Eddie was…surprisingly sweet. Sensitive. Caring. Considerate.

Eddie was annoying and hyperactive and made Steve want to tear his hair out sometimes, but he was also exactly the sort of alpha that Steve had always wanted. Steve wasn’t certain when it actually began, but it was when he was watching Eddie carefully roughhouse with the pups one day that he found himself looking forward to how Eddie would be with their pups.

And that horrifying realization had been the beginning of the end.

He knew Eddie didn’t think about him like that. Honestly, how could he? First of all, Eddie deserved better than the town slut, not that Steve ever felt ashamed about being said slut. He liked sex and he though he eventually wanted a happily-ever-after of his own, he wasn’t opposed to sleeping around until he found it. If he ever did.

Now though, realizing that his inner omega had apparently decided on yet another alpha that he knew he could never truly have, he began wondering if he was just doomed to never being properly mated. But then it wasn’t just his inner omega craving Eddie’s alpha. It was Steve himself craving all of Eddie.

He had fallen in love with Eddie Munson. And he didn’t even know when it had happened.

Which, of course, meant that he had to end things. Immediately.

The rejection sickness he’d gotten after Tina’s party had been…intense. He’d been angry too, or really just heartbroken. He’d only been able to push it down, reason with the sickness, when he decided that it was just the alcohol and the stress and the guilt and had decided to apologize for…whatever he needed to apologize for. And then It happened and the sickness was pushed back even further to deal with everything until…

Well, when he saw Nancy and Jonathan and smelled them, he knew it was well and truly over. Then the sickness hit him back harder than ever. He knew he couldn’t suffer through that again, not like that. And he knew with a certainty that losing Eddie would make his previous sickness feel like a walk in the park if he let himself fall even more deeply in love with Eddie than he already was, if he let his inner omega start even more of the courting process than it had already tried.

It hadn’t been pretty. It wasn’t that Eddie had any genuine feelings for him outside of friendship and lust, but Steve suddenly breaking things off had been…complicated. More than he had expected it to be. But Paige had come sniffing around again by then and Steve knew…fuck, he knew how considerate Eddie was.

If he knew that Steve felt the way he had, that Steve’s omega had already claimed him as his alpha, then Eddie would be a self-sacrificing idiot and give Steve what he wanted even if he didn’t want it. To spare Steve that pain. Especially if Steve accidentally got knocked up, which was seeming more and more of a possibility when Steve’s stupid omega brain kept forgetting to take his birth control because it wanted to be knotted and pupped up.

Eddie had his whole life in front of him, and now a chance to actually make it out of Hawkins and live his big rockstar hero dreams. And the chance to be with the only person Steve knew that Eddie ever had actual feelings for. Steve couldn’t take that from him. So he broke up with him…as much as you can break up with someone who was just your friend that you’re ostentatiously just using for good sex.

Eddie had been rightly annoyed when he’d arrived at their regularly scheduled dick appointment time only to be kicked out with blue balls and told that it was never happening again. Among a few other sharp words to get the point across.

Steve probably should have called him before Eddie made it to his house, before Eddie had paid for the dinner he was bringing that night, but Steve couldn’t bring himself to say the words over the phones that for all he knew were still tapped by the government.

Steve could tell that Eddie had been a bit offended too, and worried. Of course Eddie would worry that he wasn’t doing enough in bed, that he wasn’t good enough in bed, which had to be a kick to an alpha’s ego no matter who it was. Steve couldn’t really just say that he was ending things so that Eddie could get with Paige again and move out of Hawkins, however.

So he played up the angle that he was growing bored, that he was looking for something new now, even as his inner omega railed against such lies. He wanted more, certainly, but more with Eddie. Which Eddie couldn’t give him. Sure, Eddie might stick around like a martyr if Steve flashed him that pleading omega look he knew Eddie’s alpha was weak for, but that didn’t mean that Eddie himself could give Steve what he most desperately wanted: Eddie’s heart.

Which led to now, with Eddie meeting with Paige at her big fancy grownup job and no doubt rekindling old flames, and Steve stuck in Hawkins having to return one of those Dipshits and Dingbats books that Dustin had borrowed from Gareth.

The band was practicing, even without their frontman Eddie being present, and as Steve turned off the engine of his car and grabbed the ratty old book in question, he could make out something over the sporadic noise about behind the scenes footage and their eventual rise to fame.

Which…yeah. Steve knew that it wasn’t a question of if but of when. Metal still wasn’t really his preferred style of music, but he’d gone to some shows, had even been to a few of the band’s practices after he and Eddie started messing around, and he knew the boys were talented. Any music exec would be stupid to pass them up.

He grimaced a little behind his sunglasses when, with a discordant screech of Jeff’s guitar, the racket stopped. The boy in question was glaring at him, which…fair, he supposed, since he was the one that broke off the thing with Eddie, but it wasn’t like it was anything more than just sex. Nothing to warrant the glares he was receiving from the whole band.

But then, they’d never really been too keen on Eddie being friends with him, much less hooking up, and it wasn’t like they could hide that with how their scents had begun mingling. Another sign that it was high time to break it off, before it entered beyond accidental courtship and drifted into accidental bonding.

“What are you doing here, Harrington?” Gareth growled, the scent of annoyed alpha only causing Steve to fumble slightly as he brought up one hand in mock surrender and the other holding the book.

“Henderson wanted to make certain you got this back before you left,” he huffed, pushing his sunglasses up over his head to squint at the trio glaring back at him. He waved the book a little, hoping one of them took it from him so he didn’t have to step further into the garage. No one did.

“Why didn’t he just bring it himself instead of sending you of all people?” Gareth scoffed with a small sneer, never having really been Steve’s biggest fan. Not that Steve could really blame him; he knew people like Steve hadn’t made Gareth’s life easy, including Gareth’s own father.

“Ask him yourself, asshole,” Steve muttered, cocking one hand on his hip impatiently. Though the other two were only betas and thus didn’t have much in the way of scents, their posturing didn’t leave any doubt that they didn’t like him.

He just…didn’t know why. Besides Gareth, the other two had seemed relatively okay with Steve hanging around. Jeff had even once been actively friendly, while…uh…fuck. Steve always forgot the other one’s name. Stan? No. Doug? No. Grant? He was fairly certain that was wrong too. Whatever. Anyways, he had only cared that Steve didn’t get in the way of practice or their non-Hellfire DnD games after Eddie graduated.

Now they all looked at him like how they had at the beginning, when they hadn’t trusted the former jock, when they had only seen King Steve and hated everything about him on principle, only seeing another Jason Carver instead of the dude who had stood up for their friend in trial. Whatever. It didn’t matter. It didn’t hurt.

At least, that’s what Steve kept telling himself.

He didn’t let himself think about how Jeff had once clapped him on the shoulder when he had embarrassedly brought some fudge he had made, trying out a new recipe to take to the Hopper-Byers’ during one of their semi-regular get-togethers that had originally cropped up during preparing for Eddie’s trial. Now it just became a thing they did for fun.

He also didn’t think about the other one (Jesus, seriously, what was his name again?) had jokingly argued with Eddie about what class Steve would be, certain that he’d be a basic fighter while Eddie had been adamant that he’d be a paladin. Steve hadn’t known what any of it meant, but the two of them had laughed at the end and it had been with Steve, not at him.

Even Gareth had, on occasion, been almost nice to him, settling Steve on the worn red couch at the back of the garage with noise cancelling headphones and some magazines of his mother’s when practice had run long and Steve was supposed to pick Eddie up to meet up with Jonathan and the others.

Now everyone just stared at him with unconcealed looks of annoyance and disdain. He hated it. Even though it wasn’t them his omega wanted, he still felt another sharp spasm of pain from the rejection of Eddie’s pack.

It must have showed on his face, or the way his body twitched and the arm holding out the book dropped, because a brief flash of concern whisked across Gareth’s expression and he stood up from his seat behind the drums, his nose crinkling.

“You smell like shit, Harrington,” he stated, moving around the drums to get slightly closer. At least the smell of annoyed alpha was dissipating.

“Gee, thanks,” Steve dryly said with a roll of his eyes. He swallowed against the burn of bile in his esophagus and held out the book once more. “Look, just take the damn book so I can go.”

A part of him was tempted just to drop the book, to let it fall and hit the concrete ground uncaring if the edges got fucked up or not. But these were Eddie’s friends and his inner omega wouldn’t let him do anything that might upset the alpha he wanted as his own. Pathetic as that was.

Gareth moved closer then, and Steve finally thought the younger boy would finally take the stupid thing from him, but instead Gareth’s hand shot out to grab hold of his wrist with a frown on his face. The touch of another alpha that wasn’t the one he wanted sent another roil of nausea through Steve’s belly, and he struggled hard to get his arm released, causing Gareth to simply tighten his hold.

“Let go of me!” Steve hissed. He saw the other two move forward towards them, but Gareth waved them back with his free hand, which they reluctantly listened to, though Jeff frowned as he glanced over his shoulder towards the back of the garage.

“You look sick, Harrington,” Gareth said instead of doing as he’d asked. “You smell sick too.”

“He’s right,” the other one, the bassist, said after a moment of consideration while Jeff’s head cocked to the side, an unreadable expression on his face. “I can’t smell you all that well, but you look terrible.”

“Don’t tell me,” Gareth scoffed, taking a long, deep sniff over Steve that caused him to blanche. “You really have the audacity to have rejection sickness when you’re the one who dumped Eddie?”

Steve pursed his lips and grabbed the book with his free hand to shove it at Gareth’s chest, forcing the younger boy to fumble and take it while moving back a step. He glared at them, wiping at his now freed wrist as though he could wipe off Gareth’s touch. Asshole.

“Don’t be such a fucking knothead,” Steve snarled, and no, maybe he didn’t get to have the intimidation of an alpha, but omegas would be fierce in their own ways. He crossed his arms over his chest and glared at the others who were more or less gaping at him now.

And he knew, okay? He knew it was weird, being sick when he had been the one to call it off, and it wasn’t like they were even anything other than fuck buddies letting off steam together. There had never been anything but friendship and lust between them. But try telling Steve’s omega that. His nesting had been insane.

It was only by some miracle that Eddie hadn’t been clocked in to Steve’s growing emotions and affections. That he hasn’t seen just how delusional Steve had been for that brief moment when he actually thought, maybe, just maybe, just for once the person he liked might like him back, might see him as something other than a stupid, used up, good for nothing, filthy, dirty, worthless—

“Look, I’m not an idiot, okay?” Steve snapped out, flushing not just in anger this time but also embarrassment and shame at the way his eyes suddenly grew wet. He blinked rapidly, his fingers digging into his biceps. “I knew what it was and what it wasn’t. I know it was just sex for Eddie, okay?”

Steve huffed out at Gareth’s suddenly blank expression, pleased that he had at least gotten the jackass to shut the fuck up and stop stinking the place up with his pissed off alpha pheromones. He deeply sighed, moving his sunglasses to hook in the collar of his shirt to run a hand through his hair before glaring at Gareth who had moved a couple steps to the side. Putting more distance between them maybe?

“I know that someone like Eddie and someone like me would never actually happen,” he muttered, and putting it into words with someone else had the bone deep aches from the sickness sending another wave of pain.

“What do you mean, ‘someone like Eddie,’” the bassist scoffed, his hackles rising, though he exchanged looks across the garage with Jeff. Gareth sneered as well, but there was also a shrewdness in his eyes, his nostrils flaring as he took in more of Steve’s scent.

Steve rolled his eyes, throwing up a hand in frustration. He didn’t know why he was even still here, why he was trying to defend or justify himself, but his omega was telling him that these were his alpha’s packmates and thus deserved the truth.

“Like I said, I’m not an idiot,” he reluctantly said. “Eddie is…Eddie’s…” Steve huffed at himself next, scrubbing his hand over his eyes at the prickly feeling of fresh tears. He normally wasn’t much of a crier, but the hormones affecting him from the rejection sickness had him closer to blubbering at all hours of the day more than he would like.

Worse even than when it had cut through him after Nancy.

“Eddie is brilliant, okay?” he finally managed to get out, even if he was annoyed at needing to say this at all. He wished he could have just dropped the book off and left. “He’s so much braver than he gives himself credit for, he’s amazing with the pups, he’s creative and smart and and considerate and kind and probably one of the best people I’ve ever known. He’s a goddamn hero, whether he wants to believe it or not.”

Though these three had no idea what Eddie had gone through, not truly, they did know that there was more to the story than they had been told. Steve had always been quite vocal about talking about how amazing Eddie had been for the trial, and though he had to flub some of the details, everything he said had been true. Eddie was a hero, even if Eddie himself always denied that.

“And he’s hot,” Steve couldn’t help adding, with another small flush of embarrassment. “He has those stupid doe eyes that you want to spill all your secrets to, and that stupid grin that’s larger than his face, and the stupid way that even when he can’t seem to sit still, his entire focus is on you when you talk…”

Steve scoffed, ashamed of how wet it sounded, and rolled his eyes as he once more wrapped both arms tightly around himself. “And then there’s me. The asshole. The douchebag extraordinaire. The bully. The slut whose only redeeming quality is how easy of a lay I am and daddy’s money, which, by the way, I’m probably being cut off from soon, so really, what else do I have to offer except a used up pussy half the town has been in?” he sneered.

His self-hatred was probably a little too obvious with that, and he didn’t know why he said all of that anyways. Probably it had just been festering away inside of him with no one to unload on, at least no one who wouldn’t try to soothe him and lie to him and say that he wasn’t any of those things.

And yeah, maybe saying he’d slept with half the town was an exaggeration, but he had probably slept with at least half the chicks (and some of the guys) in high school, no matter their designation.

The problem was that Steve’s omega craved human connection. He never really had it growing up, his alpha father too focused on everything wrong with Steve and his beta mother too focused on making certain her husband didn’t stray to inbetween an omega’s legs…again. So Steve found physical comfort where he could, even if it meant opening thighs or mouth for anyone who shot him an interested look.

And then there was Eddie. Eddie, who never treated Steve like something shameful. Eddie, who had admitted he was wrong about Steve, even if Steve didn’t think he had been. Eddie, who even in rut had checked in on Steve and made certain he felt safe and unharmed. Eddie, who for a short amount of time almost made Steve feel good enough.

Which was the problem. Because Eddie didn’t mean it the way that Steve wanted him to, didn’t see Steve as anything other than a friend he could conveniently get off with, an omega who would never form attachments or come up with unrealistic ideas about them.

Except Steve thought he had probably been attached even before Eddie’s rut. Had too many ideas that were beyond unrealistic; they were straight up impossible. Eddie would never want Steve the way that Steve wanted Eddie.

Not when he had someone like Paige waiting for him, not when he had a future ahead of him outside of this stupid town. Steve couldn’t trap Eddie into a life he never wanted.

“So, what, you broke it off because Eddie doesn’t love you?” Jeff finally asked, his voice sounding odd and a bit louder than necessary. Steve wished he’d shut up. “You’re a used up slut of an omega with no redeeming qualities so obviously Eddie would never want to actually be with you outside of sex because he’s such a great guy and you’re not, is that it?”

Steve didn’t know why Jeff was repeating what Steve had said like that, but the words still caused him to flinch back slightly to hear someone else say them. He glared at Jeff, even as he had to hastily wipe away a traitorous stray tear that had slipped down his cheek.

“What does any of that matter,” the bassist asked. “Why would that send you into rejection sickness if you know nothing could ever come of this thing you two had? You were just using him for sex too, weren’t you?”

Steve’s frown cut across to the other beta, brow furrowing. Why did he sound weird, like he was leading Steve to say something he absolutely could not say? Not because it wasn’t true, but because it would break his heart to say it out loud.

“Come on, Harrington,” Gareth took up the goading next, taking a predatory step towards Steve who hastily took a step back. “You were just fucking, weren’t you? It didn’t mean anything to you. You were just treating Eddie like some glorified sex toy to get off, admit it. Just after an easy knot.”

“That’s not true,” Steve muttered, ducking his chin down even as he glared at Gareth with all he was worth. “I would never…” He shook his head in frustration. “That’s not how it was.”

“Nah, I think that’s exactly how it was,” Gareth said with a cruel smirk. “Why else would you have dragged him around, using him whenever you needed a good dicking. You got bored of him, isn’t that it? That’s what you said. You had enough of trailer trash like him, your bit of rough and rumble, and so you booted him so you could move on to the next target. What, gonna crawl back to Hagan next?”

Steve jerked back as though slapped. “That’s not true!” he repeated in a louder shout. “I would never use Eddie like that. He’s not trailer trash. He’s better than anyone else in this goddamned town, which is why he has to leave and never look back.”

Gareth smirked, his scent turning pleased, like Steve had said exactly what he wanted to hear. “So you broke up with him because you thought he deserved better?” he mocked, stepping closer again, though this time Steve didn’t budge. He glared furiously at Gareth, his chest heaving with his fury at the boy’s words. “Why the hell would you ever care about trailer trash like him?”

“Because I love him, dammit!” Steve yelled, eyes snapping with all the pent up emotions he never let himself actually feel, and—oh.

It truly did break his heart to say those words aloud. Steve’s face crumpled immediately, all the tears he’d been fighting back now overflowing his eyes spilling down both cheeks.

Even Gareth reacted, taking a step back and further to the side, obviously putting more distance between him and Steve’s distressed omega smell. The other boys shifted uncomfortably, likewise disturbed even without the superior senses to pick up just how much of Steve’s distress and rejection sickness was eating away at him. God, Steve felt so pathetic.

Hastily wiping at his face (not that it mattered as fresh tears continually replaced those wiped away), nose snotty and leaking, Steve glared as much as he could at the three of them. He was so angry, and so hurt, and so resigned to know that this changed nothing.

“Are you happy now?” he spat out, hating how his voice warbled and cracked. “Do you think I’m seriously stupid enough to think I ever had a chance? That I wasn’t anything more than an easy lay for him too? People like me don’t deserve happy endings. Not like Eddie does. He was going to end things anyway so I just did it for him. Assholes,” he muttered, finally turning away to leave because what else was there to say? How much more could he be hurt?

Steve paused. Right.

Turning back around, he bared his teeth as he pointed aggressively at the younger boys, shoulders back and tone once more falling back into the old familiar role of King Steve, even through the tears. “And don’t you lot say shit about this to anybody. Not to Eddie, not to the kids, not even to your fucking grandmas, are we understood?”

Jeff snorted, and Steve hated him more than he ever had for the amused look on his face. “Oh, we won’t say anything. Don’t worry, Stevie.”

Hurt clawed its way back up his throat, jaw quivering at the old familiar nickname, his sickness sending bile he had to rapidly swallow back down. All he wanted was to crawl into bed and wallow and tried to forget the alpha he wanted more than anything to be his and his alone.

Turning back around, Steve shoved his glasses back on his face before wrapped his arms around himself as he made his way back towards his car, fighting back the sobs that wanted to overtake him as he felt the rejection over and over and over again with every step away from his alpha’s pack.

He almost wished he had never met Eddie at all, had never met someone who, for such a short time, made him feel seen and heard and, biggest lie of all, like he was worth something after all.

As if he could ever be more than the bullshit he knew he was.

~

“You get all that?” Gareth asked finally after the three of them watched Steve’s car drive away. He glanced over his shoulder as Jeff moved around the drum set to the camcorder they’d set up to film today’s practice.

Jeff fiddled with the device that had been hiding in plain sight this whole time, the red light indicating it was recording until Jeff switched it off. He pressed another button and the side popped open, allowing him to pull out the vhs with a triumphant wiggle of his brows.

Gareth grinned at the other two with a pleased set to his shoulders, two matching grins meeting his own. “Excellent. After all, we said we wouldn’t say anything to Eddie. Not our fault if he overhears something he wasn’t supposed to when viewing our practice session,” he said with an easy shrug.

“Thank god, because I was sick of his moping. Should we send it overnight express to him now, or let them suffer a little longer?” Jeff laughed, wiggling the vhs in his hand.

“God, I’d say let them suffer because they are going to insufferable after this, but Eddie would skin us alive if we let his omega suffer like that for a moment longer than necessary,” Gareth grimaced, the others wincing in agreement.

“Ugh. And we thought they were bad before,” came the grumbling response, and Gareth could only snort as he glanced at the boy on the bass.

“How soon until they’re pupped up do you think?” Jeff slyly teased.

“After Eddie sees that tape?” Gareth asked with a roll of his eyes. “Same day, Jeffy. Same fucking day.”

Still, Gareth knew they were all three pleased for their friend, and as they ended practice early to get the tape sent out as soon as possible, he had the distinct feeling that when they left town in a few days, Steve would be with them.

-

Hostage tag: @derythcorvinus

Promised tag: @katyawriteswhump

[steventhusiast]

STWG daily prompt 17/9/23

prompt: working together

pairing/character(s): pre-steddie (eddie hates steve) and robin

-

"Oh, hell no." Is all Eddie can think to say when he walks into Scoops Ahoy for his first day of work to see none other than Steve "the King" Harrington stood behind the counter in the stupid uniform they're all forced to wear.

"Excuse me?" Harrington says, brows furrowed in offence.

Eddie gives him a once over and scoffs when he notices he's put the hat they're obligated to wear on the counter instead of on his head. Of course the king wouldn't respect something like a uniform.

"Can I help you?" Harrington continues when Eddie doesn't say anything, just keeps glaring at him.

"Nope. I'm actually your new co-worker, my liege." Eddie says, voice tense and smile a little mean as he says the last few words. Harrington gives him a short nod, and gestures to the door behind him.

"Break room's back there."

Eddie rolls his eyes, even though Harrington's obviously just trying to help, and goes through the door. He breathes a sigh of relief when he sees Robin from band stood with a pocket mirror in one hand, adjusting her hat on her head.

She looks up when he walks in, and a grin slowly covers her face.

"Eddie Munson. Huh." She mutters to herself, "You finally decide you need a straight job instead of drug dealing?"

Eddie scoffs and rolls his eyes, but doesn't make a comment. He's still doing his.. Side job. It's lucrative, what can he say.

"Can you believe King Steve is working with us?" He says instead of anything related to her words. Her eyes light up and she nods in agreement.

"I know right? Kill me now." She groans, and dramatically flops back into the chair she's sitting on.

Eddie goes to the employee restroom to change into his uniform (he wouldn't be caught dead in it outside of the workplace, he doesn't care he has to come in early and leave a little late for it). By the time he comes back into the breakroom, he notices that Harrington is stood in the doorway, hands on his hips like an upset mother.

Unfortunately, Eddie also notices some other things. Before, he'd only been able to see Harrington belly button-up. And sure, Harrington's face and hair and moles that seem to be everywhere are attractive on their own. But now, he can see everything below that. And the shorts are a lot tighter on him than they are on Eddie, for some reason. His thighs are deliciously thick, almost bulging out of the bottom of the shorts, and the bulge at his crotch leaves little to the imagination...

Not that Eddie would ever be attracted to Harrington. The man represents everything Eddie hates about Hawkins. He's preppy, he's upper-middle class with everything handed to him on a silver platter, he's a jock, and he was bully-adjacent for most of his high school career. So. Aesthetically pleasing? Maybe. Someone Eddie would ever be attracted to? Not in a million years.

He lets himself look anyway. No shame in window shopping.

"Your shifts started ten minutes ago." Harrington says after a moment of standing there, and then swiftly goes back to manning the cashier.

Robin rolls her eyes and starts getting up to follow him, and Eddie glances at the clock and realises that, shit, Harrington's right. And he may heavily dislike him, but Eddie's not going to be an actual dick for no reason.

"Right. You gonna be showing me the ropes today, your highness?" Eddie tries to sound less mean this time. Maybe he'll survive this job if he manages to poke fun at Harrington on the clock.

"Don't call me that."

It's going to be a long summer.