#steve actually has a way harder time parenting her than eddie does but that's a conversation for another day

[livwritesstuff]

More steddie dads content I really want some Eddie centered like teaching the girls guitar or dnd especially since Robbie is like him I think that they’d bind over a shared interest and he’d teach her stuff from when he was younger!

lol yeah the last few have def been more steve-centric (and also kind of a bummer) so let's switch up the vibe a bit

So, yes, Robbie is Eddie's daughter through and through.

She's stubborn and brazen and loud in her opinions and beliefs. She can be a little flippant about other peoples' feelings when she's not careful, and sometimes struggles to acknowledge the validity in other experiences outside of her own - in other words, she's Eddie to a T. She's even got the same big curly hair (though it's way more well-maintained than Eddie's had been thanks to Steve).

As for hobbies, Robbie is the only one out of Eddie and Steve's three daughters to really take an interest in music.

Eddie is thrilled about this, especially in the early days when Robbie is seven or eight and dying to try out any instrument they put in front of her. She has a natural proclivity for nearly all of them, which is fucking wild to Eddie, but the violin is the one she takes a particular shining towards.

Eddie can't say he'd ever had a resounding interest in classical music, but he wants to support Robbie so he dives into it right along with her.

That shit...

is metal as hell.

Seriously rad.

Eddie anxiously waits for her to be old enough to try out his old electric guitar. He waits until she's fifteen years old - the same age he'd been when he'd gotten his first electric - and then he digs it out of storage and bestows it upon her like the exquisite treasure it truly is.

In true teenager fashion, Robbie is...unimpressed.

She humors him for a bit, and to her credit, she does seem at least a bit intrigued by the almost forty-year-old guitar, but when Eddie offers to show her how to play, she only shrugs.

"I don't want to mess with my technique," she tells him, as if she's not shattering his heart into a bazillion tiny pieces.

"What does that even mean?"

"I dunno," she shrugs again.

Later, once the guitar has been safely put away, Eddie recounts the exchange to Steve.

"I just don't get it," he laments, "She'd be so good at it! I don't get why she won't just give it one chance."

"She's you, my love," Steve tells him, "Are you forgetting all the years you spent rejecting everything outside of what you deemed acceptable. You grew out of it. She will too."

So Eddie resigns himself to waiting it out. Robbie ends up deciding she wants make a career out of playing the violin, and she goes to New York to get her bachelors in music.

Just as Steve had predicted, once she hits college and grows up a little bit, she starts seeing the value in the world outside of the small corner of it she occupies. She comes home from her first semester regaling them with all the things she'd learned, and she catches Eddie by surprise when she asks him to bring out his old electric guitar.

Eddie and Robbie jam in the basement for like five hours before Steve insists they go the fuck to bed, and that "Hazel has school in the morning, in case you lunatics forgot."

(As for dnd, looking at it from the perspective of teenage girls, Steve and Eddie's kids absolutely do not want to think about their dad DM-ing. Eddie can't even breathe the wrong way without his daughters calling him out for being cringe or whatever, never mind executing a whole campaign. They'd die of embarrassment - guaranteed.

Robbie does get super into MTG in college, which Eddie absolutely takes as a personal F-You from his daughter. He gets his revenge by refusing her offers to teach him to play, even though it honestly sounds like a fuckin' blast, but that's a hill he's willing to die on)

[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.

[repentarium]

the truth is I've been dreaming of this tired, tranquil place tag 7/?

ao3

They don't get to hang out in a big group as much anymore, between working more hours and the kids having more school work and even part time jobs, which make Steve and Eddie feel more stressed and also older than they'd like to admit because 'those are children, actually, and they're… working the grill at a fast food place? Uncanny.' Eddie felt especially freaked about it and spent a nice long rant about it during dinner one night after Mike had handed him their takeout with what Eddie was calling his ‘asshole face’ on his face.

If Steve didn’t have Eddie around so much, the lack of Robin and now the kids too would hurt a lot worse, he thinks. It’s harder to sink into the loneliness when Eddie is loud and present enough most days to make up for it, playing around on his acoustic guitar or muttering under his breath as he writes dragon notes into his little books or arguing passionately about the music Steve has rolled his eyes out. It’s enough that when he does get hold of Robin she makes jealous (and loving) little comments about being replaced. 

He assures her that there is no replacing Robin, and there absolutely isn’t, but between Family Video and Eddie he doesn’t have to dwell on missing her so much is all. He’s sure that part of it is just that compared to how alone he was in his parents house all the time having Eddie there every night, a sure thing, feels so safe. 

The Party does manage movie nights all together though, sometimes, overcrowded into the apartment's small living room. 

They're rewatching the Star Wars movies, again, because they couldn't decide on anything and really it's just background noise for catching up most of the time anyway, to Dustin's mild chagrin. 

Steve, Eddie, Dustin, and Will are all crammed onto the couch, and the rest of the Party is sprawled out on the floor, only space left for the coffee table full of pizza and glasses. 

'This is just such a cool fight scene because - I mean look at it!!' Dustin is yelling as he's shoveling chips into his mouth. 

'It's so impractical though, man, it'd never work in real life, like-' Steve gestures at the screen. 

'No but it's cool, Steve!' 

'The physics are stupid. You can see the wires and it totally takes you out of it-'

'Oh are you gonna talk to me about physics, Steve?' 

He doesn't mean anything by it, but he doesn't have his big obvious I'm teasing you voice on and for some reason it makes Steve feel like shit. He'd had a long day at work, had to rush home to leave again and pick up the kids and the pizza, and he hadn't slept properly last night, that probably had a lot to do with it, but he feels himself shrink a little into the corner of the couch anyway, gritting his teeth a little and refocusing on the tv and planning to just ignore Dustin until he gets over it which in the past has had a less-than-stellar success rate if he’s honest.

'Stop being a jerk, kid.' Steve can feel Eddie elbow Dustin beside him, even though he’s still looking at the tv too when he checks.

'I'm not being a jerk, Steve's being a moron.' 

'You can make jokes about people if they're funny but you're not being funny, you're being mean.' 

Steve feels his face get warm, and he stares wide-eyed at the screen. He can feel Eddie looking at him, the way he nudges him a little, and when he does it again to get him to look at him he mouths 'You good?' and Steve swallows and nods. 

He thinks it's over and they've moved on, but when he asks a question about the timeline in the movie, trying to patch it up, it makes Dustin mutter 'see, a moron’ quietly enough that Steve can barely hear it.

Eddie shoves him, whole-body but not roughly, off of the couch, and when Dustin starts complaining he interrupts him with a snipped and decisive 'shut up'.

'I don't know what your deal is today, man, if you wanna talk about it we can, but you don't need to be an asshole to your friends.' Then he turns his head to Steve, ignoring Dustin's muttering as he gets up and goes to the restroom and the rest of the party watching awkwardly, and explains his answer to Steve's question quietly to him. 

Steve's looking at Eddie as he speaks, in the glow of the tv screen, and it's like the actual words he's saying fade out for a minute and all he can really think about is the way the whites of his eyes and the shine of his teeth look in the blue of the television.

Then he's saying 'Does that make sense?' and his face is a little scrunched up, so Steve nods back at him. Eddie claps his hand on Steve's knee and stands up, gestures to the hallway and the bathroom, whispers 'I'm gonna go check on him'. 

Steve tries to pay attention to the screen, or even just to Lucas and Max's bickering from the floor, but he can't stop thinking about the way Eddie basically stood up for him. He's had people fighting at his side and saving his life, but for some reason Eddie's ability to see that he was upset about something and fix it before it even spiraled into a real problem (like maybe one that would have him hiding in his room for a while day and forgetting to eat or drink water or talk to anyone) felt… monumental. Like he shined a bright light into the weird little cracks and alleys inside of him and just said 'oh, we can patch this up actually' and then he just did it, easy as you please. 

Will leaves the couch, and when he does he takes his and Steve's empty glass in; when he picks his way back through the crowd he has two full glasses of water, and he sits one in front of Steve. He doesn't say anything but he does a little 'cheers' gesture with his own glass and waits for Steve to pick it up before he matches him taking a drink. 

Steve thinks 'this is the way a family could be, actually' as he takes a long drink and sets the glass down, says 'thanks' to Will. Like maybe for all his fussing and taking care of people, they also want to fuss over him and take care of him sometimes actually, not just Robin and certainly not his parents. Like they were all leaning on each other, maybe, like it's not weak to ask for a little help. 

When Dustin comes back in, Eddie's arm around his shoulder, his eyes are a little red and puffy. The two of them squeeze back into their positions on the couch, and Eddie's arm is flush against his as they watch the rest of the movie. It feels grounding. 

After the last movie, the kids (teenagers, nearly adults, god, but never not kids) start cleaning up and putting things where they belong so Eddie can get them all home like he volunteered to. While they’re bustling around, Dustin asks if he can talk to Steve alone and pulls him into his own bedroom. Eddie catches his eye on the way and gives him a questioning thumbs up, so he shrugs and nods and closes the door behind him. 

Almost immediately Dustin’s eyes are watering and he’s pulling Steve into a tight hug and saying ‘I am so sorry Steve I was being a dick and I don’t even know why, you’re not a moron at all you’re smarter than any of us a lot of the time actually and-’

‘Whoa, hey, Dustin, it’s okay.’ Steve pushes him away to hang onto his arms and look him in the eye. 

‘It’s not okay, man, I didn’t want to hurt you, I wasn’t even thinking.’

‘It’s really alright, okay? I’m kind of a moron, it’s fine.’

‘No you’re not, Steve, and you even saying that is messed up.’

‘I was… joking.’

‘You were half-joking.’

‘Well-’

‘You’re not an idiot, Steve. And I know we joke about it sometimes but it’s not cool, especially because your poor brain is mostly mush anymore from all the fights and the monsters and stuff.’

‘Gee, thanks…’

‘I mean it. If you forget what happened in Star Wars it’s probably because of the head injuries and stuff and anyways it’s not really without plot holes, you know, and it’s just a movie.’

That is maybe the kindest thing that Dustin has ever said to him, denouncing Star Wars, even if it was surrounded by honestly offensive insights.

Steve pulls him back into another hug, kind of just to keep him from accidentally insulting him anymore. When he wiggles his way out of the hug again, he says ‘I really am sorry. You’re the best babysitter, and I mean that. I’m really glad you keep us all around, even if we don’t say it much we all love you.’

And that, coming from dork of a teenager who he loves back with everything he is, is enough to bring tears prickling to his eyes. 

‘I know, man. I love you too.’

‘Don’t be a baby, okay?’ Dustin claps his hand on his shoulder like he’s the parental figure.

Steve rolls his eyes and knocks the hat off of Dustin’s head on his way out of the room again, and things feel light again, back to normal or maybe better. 

When Steve thinks about it later, after Eddie has whisked everyone off in the van, he realizes that Dustin is right. Maybe the multitude of concussions did more than wiggle his eyes around and give him migraines, like the fogginess and the way he forgets words and lyrics sometimes isn’t because he’s not thinking or whatever. A brain wasn’t supposed to be jostled around so much, by shitty dads or racist older brothers or Russians or what amount to literal demons.

It’s not Dustin’s fault for teasing him. If Steve himself didn’t connect the dots there’s no reason for the kids to. 

He hadn’t really given it a lot of thought beyond the immediacy of the migraines and his suddenly shitty vision, but he makes a note to ask Robin what her thoughts are about the whole brain injury thing the next time they talk, maybe to schedule something with another government neurologist or whatever in addition to the eye doctor. 

Eddie had though. Eddie had given it enough thought and realized it and told Dustin he was being an asshole and explained it to him, why it would hurt Steve’s feelings to say things like that, why he should maybe cool it. He knows that’s what they were talking about in the restroom, doesn’t even have to ask.

He’s washing the glasses in the sink and thinking about how good Eddie is, to him and to the kids and in general, when he comes back (‘honey, I’m home’). He comes in and sits on the counter next to the sink, watches quietly as Steve finishes up. 

‘How are you doing?’

‘Good. Good.’

‘Dustin said he apologized, but I wanted to tell you from him again he’s sorry, just in case he fucked it up somehow. I don’t think he realized what a shit he was being, you know, teenagers. He was still kind of shook up on the ride home.’

Steve nods, dries his hands and puts the towel back on the oven handle. He leans against the stove next to Eddie, who pushes his knee against his side. 

‘I know. It shouldn’t have even bothered me, it’s not like he was wrong, I’m not smart enough to be arguing about physics with the nerds, but-’

‘Shut up, man, you’re a million times smarter than me. Do you think I’m stupid?’

‘Well no.’ Steve means it honestly. He knows that tests at school don’t measure all the kinds of smart you can be. ‘I don’t think I’m smarter than you.’

‘We can agree to disagree. Maybe both of us are kind of smart.’

‘You are smart. You’re like the smartest guy I know, when it comes to people especially. I don’t know how you can always tell something’s wrong with someone, or that I’m getting a migraine, or when I don’t want to cook or whatever.’

‘It’s the trauma I think. Or maybe magic.’

But he can tell Eddie’s laughing it off, pushing the compliment aside. ‘I mean it.’ He looks at Eddie, tries to make him understand how sincere he’s being by sheer force of will. It must at least kind of work, because Eddie smiles and blushes a little, drops his head and bumps his knee against Steve again. 

‘Dustin said something though, kind of got me thinking, about how all the concussions probably fucked with the way my brain works sometimes, like maybe it’s not that there’s something, you know, wrong with me, but it’s like an injury.’

‘Concussions plural?’

‘Don’t get me started. A lot of them. And I didn’t even connect it, you know? I just thought between everyone else saying so, even Nancy and the kids and everything, I just wasn’t so smart.’

‘Stevie, pal, even if you weren’t as smart as the super-geniuses you wouldn’t be wrong. You’re still an amazing friend and babysitter and you know way more about sports and cars than I can ever learn, even with the less-than-legal history.’

Steve is just looking down at his crossed arms, Eddie’s leg still pressed against his elbow. 

‘I think I’m gonna take the government bozos up on that check up, see if they can poke my brain at all. Get the eye doctor penciled in too.’

‘Good. You gotta take care of that big old head you have.’

Steve looks up at Eddie, finally, again, sees the way his eyes are faking sincerity but so clearly goofing around, sparking in the streetlights filtering in through the windows and the light that stays on over the stove (light enough to soothe the shadows but dim enough not to trigger a migraine), and he thinks maybe he’s not replacing Robin but he’s carving his own little space out. He elbows him in the shin, and Eddie jumps off of the counter, laughing loudly as he goes to get ready for bed.

[shushmal]

STILL THINKING ABOUT THEM but tw warnings under cut

tw for references to: incarceration, homophobia, sex work, addictions, over dosing, violence, homelessness

BUT BUT eddie who did jail time in his for dealing, got out at 32 and couldn't find a job, didn't fall into his parents' drug addiction but his alcoholism is just as bad, would have been homeless if not for his uncle who kept him going through YEARS of patience and love, wayne who started getting sick so eddie cleaned up to take care of him, managing to find a job trucking. at 45 finding himself so desperately alone after his uncle passes, spends all his time on the road to keep himself from falling on bad habits, but is desperately lonely thinking he'll never have a partner (internalized homophobia)

BUT STEVE steve who at 15 caught with a boy and gets violently kicked out of his house, has literally no one he can turn to so hitch hikes all they way into the city where he starts doing sex work. he's young and pretty, but he quickly gets addicted to hard drugs. manages to stay alive for years, but gets tired and jaded, doesn't want to put the effort in anymore, the high is never good enough anymore. he OD's a lot. he has no where to live. it's winter and he's so strung out he doesn't even remember how old he is and he's standing outside of a shelter. it's a shelter worker who comes out to let him in, talks to him like he's a human for the first time. she's the one that helps him get sober, to get better. celebrates his 30th birthday with him. except he relapses in a bad way and Robin's devastated by it, so scared for him, because she loves him so much, he's her best friend and he almost died in her arms. he hates himself for it, never hated himself more for hurting her so bad like that. so he runs. hitches across the country exchanging rides and money for sexual favors. gets himself into a lot of dangerous situations. keeps going anyways, because steve's nearing 40 now, a half starved, half coked out old whore, but he's still strong and quick and every time he thinks this is it, Robin's devastated face flashes in front of his eyes so he keeps going. he does this for years.

then it's eddie and it's steve. and eddie's a tough looking guy, hard eyes, rough voice. steve's scrawny and greyed and waned. still he knows what he's good for, and he knows his kind, confident when he climbs up to eddie's driverside window, he can get a ride for a favor. except eddie doesn't want anything from him. shares his road snacks with him. they bicker about the music and the weather. eddie jokes about prison, steve jokes about prostitution. steve puts his hand on eddie's thigh. eddie eyes him out of the corner of his eye and says 'i don't do that for favors' and gently takes steve's hand, gives it a little squeeze in comfort, and sets it back on steve's arm rest. steve steals $5 in retaliation because what the fuck

ANWAYS steve sitting in eddie's trailer years later, still a lot like what the fuck waiting for the shoe to drop. it never does. eddie takes off on the road for work a month at a time, but he actually comes home now for his days off. they talk on the phone consistently when eddie stops for the night. steve goes to a local AA. he's never fully sober, but he's off the harder drugs now, the same way Eddie never touches liquor but drinks cheap beer when he's home. it's better. it's better than steve ever dreamed.

it takes a while, but steve eventually reaches out to robin. they cry on the phone for hours at each other. she comes out and spends thanksgiving with them ever year.

thinking about oldman yaoi steddie like—

trucker eddie picks up drifter steve at a pit stop some where in the middle of cornfield ohio. they've both had pretty rough lives, but eddie's a softy and when a pretty guy (despite his ragged appearance) flashes him a smile and says "hey handsome, got room for one more?" eddie lets him up in the passenger seat

a hundred miles later, eddie loses him and the last $10 out of his wallet, but that's okay. to be expected really and steve was pleasant company for a while. he doesn't think he'll ever see steve again.

except that he does, nearly half a year later, and eddie recognizes steve where he's sitting outside a truck stop in new mexico. steve obviously recognizes him too by the way he's carefully not looking at eddie. still, eddie buys two sandwiches and drops one in steve's lap before he heads over to the well-graffied picnic table outside the gas station. it takes a moment, but steve follows, sits across from him.

"i don't want any trouble," he says, warily placing his sandwich in the middle of the table, like an offering if eddie wants to take it back.

"no trouble to be had," eddie tells him, and slides it right back.

they eat in silence after that, and when steve's done, eddie asks if he needs a ride anywhere.

he drops steve off near atlanta this time, sighing when steve refuses to take any money but leaving him with a number to Eddie's trailer if he ever needs it. eddie doesn't take much time off, so he's rarely there, but steve takes the little paper from eddie almost reverently all the same. if he calls, he never leaves a message, and he never calls when eddie's home.

so they don't see each other for maybe a year this time, until one day eddie's passing through tennessee and the roads are wet and icy and there's steve again outside another truck stop. he looks at eddie with wide eyes, like a man that hasn't seen a lot of luck in his life and whispers, "i never thought i'd see you again."

and eddie asks "it's almost christmas time. you might as well come on home with me."

"i don't want to cause trouble with your family."

"no family to trouble," eddie tells him seriously.

so he brings steve home, and they eat frozen pizza for christmas dinner and drink cheap beer for new years. eddie gets called out on the road again, but he leaves steve at home. he calls the first night and steve's still there. and the next night, and the next. and when he's next in hawkins, steve is waiting for him on the porch and eddie thinks he must be mirroring eddie's shock, the two of them surprised that steve's still there.

steve's still there though, 5 years, 10 years, 20 years later, long after eddie's retired from trucking. they got a little RV now and a dog and they roam far and wide, but always together

[cpressmn]

i love love love your prompts. 9 or 19, whichever you prefer <3

i was gonna try to combine them, but all i could think about was your fic so i decided to try and be original instead. hope it's everything you were dreaming it would be <3

19. sitting on each other's laps

“Nope, get up. That’s my seat.” Steve snaps his fingers at Dustin, other hand balancing his plate of pizza.

“You got up,” Dustin counters. “You forfeit all rights to your seat when you get up.”

Steve doesn’t bother arguing with the kid, knowing he’ll be met with a snotty, Those are the rules, Steve. What, you want me to change the universal laws of dibs for you? Get over it. Instead, he frowns at El, settled in between Dustin and Lucas on the couch in the Wheeler’s basement. “You were supposed to save my spot.”

She has the grace to look at least a little sorry. “I tried.”

“You have superpowers. Seems like maybe you could’ve tried a little harder.”

El shrugs, apparently done feeling apologetic.

“She just likes me more than she likes you. More than anyone, actually.” Dustin slings his arm around her shoulders, gummy smile on full display. “I’m her favorite.”

“Ha.” Max’s eyes are unfocused, but she still manages to fling an unimpressed look in Dustin’s direction, shifting in her wheelchair next to the couch.

“I’m her favorite boy,” Dustin corrects.

“Hey! What about me?” Lucas pouts.

“I’m literally her boyfriend,” Mike says from where he’s sitting on the recliner opposite Eddie, taking a break from their discussion about the latest campaign to scold his best friends.

“Tough shit. Still her favorite.”

El looks at Mike, then at Lucas, at Dustin, considering, and back to Mike. “Dustin’s my favorite,” she confirms.

“That’s messed up,” Lucas mutters, accepting Max’s consoling pat on his arm.

“Congratulations,” Steve says dryly, interrupting Dustin’s cheers of victory and Mike’s flustered protests. “Now where am I supposed to sit?”

“You can sit right here, princess.”

Eddie, comfortably sprawled in one of the recliners, pats his lap and grins smugly at Steve, like he knows his invitation won’t be accepted.

It’s been some kind of unspoken competition between the two of them lately, seeing who can get under the kids’ skin the fastest with their excessive displays of affection and pet names. It started with a co-parenting bit the kids developed several weeks back. The dipshits love to tease them, enjoy how frustrated Steve gets when they call him their mom and Eddie their dad, and the best way to get them to lay off, Steve had reasoned, was to lean into it. 

Instead of huffing or rolling his eyes the next time the kids told Eddie to “talk some sense into his wife,” Steve had said, “Eddie agrees with me. Don’t you, honey?” while unnecessarily straightening the collar of Eddie’s jacket, pressed close into his space. 

Eddie’s eyes had widened in surprise, but only briefly. Almost immediately, his hands were settled on Steve’s hips, and he was crooning something ridiculous, along the lines of, “Always, baby.” It had the kids gagging in response, making various faces and comments that all meant the same thing: they hated seeing the two of them act like this. 

Which is, of course, exactly why Steve and Eddie keep doing it.

It’s like a game of Gay Chicken, except the only people they’re trying to freak out are their obnoxious observers. 

So when Eddie offers his lap and looks at Steve like he knows he won’t do it, like this is too far outside the range of Steve’s comfort level, Steve rises to the challenge.

Like he does most things in his life, Steve doesn’t think it through very much, just shrugs and plops down in Eddie’s lap. “Thanks,” he says over his shoulder, relishing the surprised sound Eddie lets slip.

It’s more uncomfortable than he thought it would be, and he shifts around a little, fully blaming Eddie’s skinny ass legs. He’s never actually sat in someone’s lap before, though, so maybe he’s a little to blame, too. 

He always loved being the one with a lapful of the latest girl he was flirting with. He got to wrap his arms around her waist, tug her closer to his chest. It was easy to access her ear for whispered conversations and her neck for teasing kisses. And it was always nice, being that close to someone, the weight of them bearing down on him pleasant. Comforting, even.

This, though, being on the other end of it, isn’t as fun as he thought it would be. His thighs are tense, still holding himself up so he doesn’t crush Eddie beneath him, and he feels about two seconds away from toppling over. 

“You’re not gonna break me, you know.” Eddie’s voice is low, his breath hot on the back of Steve’s neck, and Steve fights like hell to suppress a shudder. He’s supposed to be the one with the upper hand in all this. “I’m stronger than I look. Relax.”

Eddie’s arm loops around his middle and pulls him in, and Steve finally lets himself melt into his hold, resting his full weight on Eddie. He wraps an arm around Eddie’s shoulders and angles his body inward, keeping one leg tucked between both of Eddie’s and draping the leg closest to Eddie across Eddie’s other leg. He doesn’t resist it when Eddie grabs Steve’s outer thigh, keeping him in place. Steve would never admit it, but it’s almost…nice. Being held by Eddie like this. Possibly even better than being the one doing the holding. 

“Must you? There’s a stool, like, right next to you,” Dustin says, pointing to the stool that is, in fact, available and right next to them.

Whatever. Steve shrugs. “This is more comfortable.”

“Aww, sweetheart,” Eddie coos and taps Steve’s nose with his ringed forefinger. Steve narrows his eyes. Leave it to Eddie to keep trying to one-up him. Trying and succeeding, which is the most irritating part.

“Ew,” Max says after Lucas explains to her what they’re doing. “Can you not?”

“Seriously. We were in the middle of a conversation,” Mike adds on, eyeing Steve with disdain.

“And? I’m not stopping you.” Steve takes a bite of his pizza. Pretends like this is completely normal and not at all affecting him in any way.

He feels, more than hears, Eddie chuckling and has to bite back his own smile in response. “Continue, Wheeler,” Eddie beckons, and everyone resumes their conversations before Steve interrupted them so he could sit on Eddie’s lap.

At least, Steve thinks they do. It’s hard to focus on anything other than the way Eddie is unconsciously rubbing his thumb in soothing circles against Steve’s waist. It’s a little dizzying, and Steve blames his recent dry spell on his reaction to such a simple touch. To any of Eddie’s touches as of late. He’s just desperate for any kind of human contact, so it only makes sense that he’s more sensitive to it, no matter who it’s coming from. 

He’s startled out of his thoughts when El makes Dustin’s drink explode in his face. Dr. Pepper drips off his nose, and the room erupts into laughter as he lunges to wipe his face off on her sleeve despite her twisting away, squealing. 

Eddie laughs, delighted, never tired of El’s displays of her powers, and his grip on Steve tightens. When he turns to Steve with his bright eyes and dimpled cheeks, Steve is powerless to do anything but return his smile and hope it doesn’t look too dopey. 

Maybe Eddie would want to try this again during movie night this week. Steve reaches up to grasp his other wrist, properly encircling Eddie’s neck with his arms, and sinks further into Eddie’s hold. The kids would hate it. 

[sp0o0kylights]

Since I’m on a roll, here’s another part I had fun with. Both this and the Steve-Goes-Into-The-Car-Blanket-fort scene are apart of Illustrated which is my lil Soulmate AU. 

“The famed bedroom of King Steve. I feel like I should have made you work harder to get me in here. Rumors say you enjoy the chase after all."  Munson drawls, as they walk down the hallway.  

"Rumors say a lot of things, Munson. Most of it’s-" Steve stops, catches himself before he says the word bullshit and inflicts psychological damage on himself. "Stupid." 

"Stupid." Eddie echoes, teasing lilt to his voice. 

“Tommy once spent six weeks trying to convince last year's freshmen that Ms. Click is in a motorcycle gang.” Steve counters. “Went so far as to try and get the school’s journalist club to fake some pictures for him.”

“That explains the entire debate club's fixation with leather vests.” Eddie says triumphantly, looking like there’s a story he’s about to tackle (likely with many dramatics, because omelets seem to have somehow restored the guy’s energy) but stops dead as Steve swings his bedroom door open. 

“Oh my god why is there so much plaid?” Eddie’s jaw drops, teasing forgotten entirely as they step into Steve’s room. 

Who rolls his eyes. “Why does everyone always say that?”

“Because no one in their right mind has plaid walls, dude.” Munson blinks, dramatically staggering backwards like he’s been hit. “My eyes are being assaulted right now.” 

Steve should be annoyed, but surprises himself when he finds he actually wants to laugh. “Does it help if I tell you I didn’t pick it?”

The look Eddie gives him almost makes him laugh anyway. “Who the hell did? Satan?” 

“Close enough. My mom.” Steve turns to look at his room, imagining how someone like Eddie must see it. 

Plaid walls, minimal décor, a bed that’s made (only because Steve’s mother drilled that habit into him) and hideous, matching curtains. The whole set was picked out of a catalog, right down to the stupid, framed car poster. 

The only thing that shows any signs of life is his desk, which is covered in scraplets of paper, pens, a phone and random other objects. 

(Steve’s favorite is a small stuffed penguin wearing a sailor costume. Robin had a matching one, a tribute to the way they had met. It would be the very first thing he’d grab in a fire, one of the very few possessions he owned that Steve truly treasures.)  

“Ahh the fabled Mrs. Harrington. I thought she was made up.” Eddie says, finally  entering the room. He explores it like something might pop out at him, and hell, Steve couldn’t blame him for that either. 

“Yeah. She picked it out when she used to be here more. Before her and my dad fucked off to New York.” 

“And you didn’t immediately renovate?” 

This is the most expressive Steve’s seen Eddie in the last twenty four hours. Feels almost like he’s got the guy back to some semblance of a balanced mental state, which makes the part of Steve that loves caring for people unbelievably happy. 

Steve shrugs. “Honestly, I never thought about it much.” 

Doesn’t mention that these days he tries to spend the least amount of time he can inside his own home, instead bouncing between work, Dustin’s house, and any antics the kids or Robin had pulled him into.

Thinks vaguely that he and Robin may have actually slept in his living room more than his actual bedroom-or, him in her bed, considering how often he sneaks into her room. 

A fact her parents would be furious about except they’re so painfully relieved that they’ve purposefully given Steve some grace. Something Robin hates and Steve does his best to distract her from. 

“Yeah we’re gonna fix that.” Eddie spins slowly, looking all the way up like some bit of personality is hiding out on the ceiling. “Immediately.”

Digs around in one of his pockets, and pulls out a thick black Sharpie, before turning with it to give Steve a wild grin.  “What do you say to a little home makeover?” 

Steve raises an eyebrow at him, before looking over his room once more. “You sure you don’t want a shower first” He asks, to buy himself time to think.

Has a feeling Munson can find the time to shower, nap and cause chaos, in equal amounts. 

Sure enough, Eddie waves him off. “Don’t you worry about me, Steve-o,  I think I can manage to figure out how to use your bathroom after giving this place a little art CPR.” 

Screw it.

Will in fact, likely help Munson channel out whatever leftover emotion he had left into whatever horrors he drew upon Steve’s wallpaper, which at the very least, could always be removed later.

It’s not like his parents can get any more disappointed in him. 

“Fine, just promise me no dicks.” He agrees, with a sigh. 

Eddie cackles. “Don’t you worry man, just watch the master work.” 

Steve rolled his eyes.

Does actually hang around, if only to turn on his cassette player and point out where all his tapes are. 

Leaves when Munson momentarily stops “redecorating” in order to trash Steve’s taste in music, in alphabetical order. 

“I get it, I’m a mainstream prick, you jerk.” He calls over his shoulder as he exits. “Now I’m going to go where I won’t be insulted, and see if Cunningham needs anything.” 

(She doesn’t, but does playfully insult him, having overheard the conversation. 

“Well fuck me I guess.” Steve mutters with a sigh, as she laughs at him.)

[greenlikethesea]

Ahh you mention that in the fair ithilin(??) verse that Steve has head trauma and I was wondering if you had any additional thoughts you wanted share about how that plays out? Also it’s hinted that Megan and Steve not having kids was a source of gossip/concern to the rest of the party and I’m curious if the Megan POV or future stories will touch in that?? Bc his tattoo and s4 speech makes it clear that so much of Steve’s sense of self is built around wanting to take care of people and being there for kids in a way he didn’t experience growing up, so I wonder how those conversations went!! Also I love it and the newest excerpt of the pool was!!!!!!

okay, since this is a two-fer, i'm gonna answer in two parts! @sparklyslug definitely gonna need your help with this one.

this got long, under the cut:

steve's head trauma/disability: i think it's really, really important to establish from the get-go that steve is not stupid. like, not by any means. he's not the most book smart, but it's for reasons listed below -- he's remarkably emotionally intelligent and is one of the very few genre savvy characters of the bunch. a lot of this is pattern recognition and logic, which steve's got in spades, and which seems to survive his frankly alarming head trauma. first of all, since we're built different (better) than the suffer brothers, we actually take into account the throwaway "joke" that steve fell down the stairs as a baby and hit his head, which probably set him up for frequent migraines. i absolutely think he's dyslexic or some other form of learning disabled. though this has not impaired his ability to make connections -- on a recent rewatch, ms. sparkly and i were reminded that he was the person who made the connection that the russians were under the mall due to the song in the background of the recording -- that takes actual deduction skills. would good parents have gotten steve help when he hit his head as a child? when he started performing poorly at school because of his dyslexia? yes, but chip and diane were embarrassed about having a son they actually had to parent, so it was...his fault, largely. he got yelled at for falling down the stairs, and was not taken to the doctor, just kept awake until the worst of it passed. he was just told to try harder. it's part of why he becomes a guidance counselor -- to give kids what they might not be getting at home. now, steve takes a lot of fucking beatings during the canon of the show, and while he's an adult, he's 19 during the events of season 4, which makes his pre-frontal cortex and other parts of his brain not fully developed. the migraines get worse, and his brain fog increases tenfold, with his short term memory permanently damaged. he also develops a bit of a drinking problem in the latter part of his marriage, so that does not help things. (he's sober by the time he and megan get divorced tho!) later, much, much later on, steve stops driving at night and is pretty much always wearing glasses, because the contacts hurt his eyes. eddie, forever a nocturnal creature and the happiest husband there ever was, is more than happy to assist, and thinks steve looks extremely sexy with glasses.

hooooooo boy okay the kids thing is so delicious and complicated, because this was really such a joint effort. we're beyond thrilled with how well megan has been received, because we love her so much. so steve wants a family, right? i think that because of his upbringing, he thinks that has to mean a spouse who is a woman and literal children that they have together, and marrying megan at first is the guarantee of that. and megan's super gung ho about that too, but she also has something to prove -- when steve and megan get married, cheryl's a little girl, and amy has just been born. her sister erin, mother of those children, has a happy marriage to her college sweetheart and two adorable rugrats. there's competition there. and they're SO young, everyone's telling them to enjoy being married for a little while first, enjoy their careers, enjoy their house! but things...shift. megan really likes working, loves her job and loves the lifestyle it provides. and steve's queer identity tilts what family means to him on its axis. makes him see a more community based sense of the word. he already has kids, they call him all the fucking time at all hours of the day and night. he works with kids. he doesn't need to come home to children of his own, necessarily.

[avengerscompound]

The Tower: Happily Ever After - 2

The Tower: Happily Ever After An Avengers Fanfic

Series Masterlist | Character Refrence PREVIOUS //

Pairing:  Avengers x OFC, Bruce Banner x Bucky Barnes x Clint Barton x Wanda Maximoff x Steve Rogers x Natasha Romanoff x Tony Stark x Thor x Sam Wilson x OFC (Elly Cooper)

Word Count: 1849

Warnings:  Pregnancy and minor language on chapter.

Synopsis: Almost 40 years after Elise Cooper first crashed into Natasha Romanoff outside the library at Columbia University, she and the Avengers are adapting to a near-immortal life together with their large brood of children.  Yet things aren’t perfect.  Life is moving on without them and they’re starting to discover who isolating being immortal can be.When Angela comes and asks Thor to take the throne of Asgard once more, the group leaves Earth in the hopes that they will find their Happily Ever After there.

Chapter 2: Anger Issues

When Marya returned home from school that day we were all ready to meet her.  Marya was sixteen years old, a little taller than I was, with dark hair and light brown eyes - just like Bruce.  Those weren’t the only things she’d inherited from her biological father.  She was extremely intelligent and had been skipped ahead a grade in school.  There had been talk about skipping her ahead more than that, but it wasn’t something encouraged in schools due to the strain it has on children’s emotional and social development.  So instead she was finishing up high school with her peer group while taking college courses as electives.

She also had her own little green problem.

Her powers worked differently from Bruce’s.  She could turn into a hulk, and that transformation could be triggered by extreme negative emotions - not just anger, but when she was really sad or anxious too.  Unlike Bruce though, she never had to worry about sharing her body with another person.  When she changed she was always herself and generally she had such precision control over the transformation that she could do it on command, much as Bruce could after the bonding ceremony all those years ago.

She looked around suspiciously at us as we called her over to the couches by the large window, typically the place where we had family meetings.  It was usually where we spoke to the kids if they had done something they probably shouldn’t have.  We took an approach with our parenting where they didn’t usually get in trouble for misbehaving.  Rather we tried to think of a real-world consequence for what they’d done.  For example, if they were fighting they had to sit down and listen to each other’s grievances and then work out a way to both come to an understanding about how the other feels and try to make each other feel better.  It didn’t always work, but we figured it was better than arbitrarily making them go sit in the corner.  So it made sense that she’d think she was in trouble for something.

“What’d I do?”  She asked, dropping her backpack on the ground while she stood looking at her gathered parents.

“Why don’t you tell us?”  Sam teased.  “And we’ll tell you if that’s it.”

“I’m not falling for that,” Marya snarked, folding her arms across her chest.

“Honey, sit down,” Steve said, gently.  “You’re not in trouble.  We just need to tell you something.”

Marya sat down carefully, looking at everyone with deep suspicion.  “Is someone else pregnant?  Are you trying to populate Earth with just our family?”

“No,” Clint laughed.  “What the hell?”

I rolled my eyes.  “Honestly, honey, I sometimes think the same thing,” I said.  “But that’s not what this is.”

“Your Aunt Angela came to visit today,” Steve explained.  “She’s giving up the throne of Asgard.”

“Does that mean Riley’s going to be queen?”  Marya asked, looking over at Thor.  “I can’t believe my sister’s going to be the queen of a whole other planet.”

Thor shook his head.  “Riley is still too young to rule by Asgardian standards.  My people - our people - would consider that the equivalent of having Zak as their king.  I have to step up and take the lead.”

“Which means, we are moving to Asgard,” Steve finished.  “I know that...”

“What?”  Marya yelped, interrupting Steve as she blinked at us.  “When?”

“Within the month,” Steve said.

“But I have school!”  Marya shouted.  Her fists clenched and she started to turn green at the edges.  “And what about my friends?  You can’t just take me away from everyone I ever knew!”

“Mar,” Bruce said, gently.  “Deep breath.  Get that under control.”

“Don’t tell me how to feel!”  Marya shouted, slamming her hands on the coffee table and sending a large crack through the heavy wood.  I jumped a little, startled at her violent reaction, and the green started to creep into her arms starting at her hands, making her muscles swell and double in size.

Sam moved forward and crouched in front of his daughter, taking both her hands in his and looking into her eyes.  “Marya,” Sam said with a gentle yet commanding tone.  “I know you’re upset, but you need to talk about this rationally.  If you can’t talk about it, you’re gonna have to go to your room to cool off first.”

She started crying and pulled her hands out of his.  “It’s not fair!” She cried.  “I don’t even get a say about whether or not you take me away from my friends.  My whole goddamn planet?”

“Honey,” Steve said, wrapping his arm around Marya’s shoulders.  “I know this is tough.  I really do.  But we’re partially doing it for you.”

“I don’t see how taking me from my friends is somehow supposed to be good for me,” she grumbled.

“Alright, kid,” Natasha said.  “I’m going to give you some harsh truths here.  You’re going to lose them anyway.  Maybe not all of them anytime soon, but the ones you would have kept in your life you’d have had to watch age and die.  Just like we all have done and are with our friends and family.  We want to save you what’s happening with Rose.  We don’t want you to have to fall in love and then watch them fade out while you’re stuck looking like you can’t buy a beer.”

Marya started crying harder and fell into Steve’s side and Wanda glared at Natasha.  “You didn’t have to be so harsh,” Wanda snapped.

“Well babying her wasn’t doing it either,” Natasha argued.  “She needs to hear it.  She might not like it, but going to Asgard is what’s best for her.”

“Can’t I even finish school?”  Marya begged.  “I could stay with Eddie - or Rose.  Or one of my friends.  And then… then I’ll come.”

“There will be school for you on Asgard,” Thor said.  “And it will teach you things that far outreach anything any of you have learned on Midgard.  Riley and Pietro both attend and they learn of the world tree, and alien languages, advanced mathematics, and magic.  You are already holding yourself back to fit in, daughter.  You would never have to hide any part of you in Asgard.  Not your intelligence, and not this -” he tapped her arm where it was still tinged with green.

“And I’ll make it so you can talk to your friends here.  We’ll set up a line of communication,” Tony added.  “Don’t worry.  I’ll make sure my kids don’t go without Tumblr and Instagram.  Imagine how many followers you’ll get posting selfies in Asgard.”

“I already have a tonne of followers, dad,” Marya sniffed.  “I’m a Skjodbærer.”

“Yes, you are,” Tony said.  “And don’t you forget it.  The whole universe is yours.”

“We’ll make sure we come back to visit,” I said.  “We all still have friends here, and places we like to spend our time.”

“Yeah, who’s going to annoy Katie-Kate if I’m not around?”  Clint joked.

Marya let out a small laugh that was still more tears than actual laughter.  “I’m sure she’d hate not being annoyed by you.”

“Yeah, that’s right,” Clint said and patted Marya on the thigh.

“We aren’t doing this to punish you, Mar,” Sam soothed.  “I promise.  We’ve all been talking about this for a long time, and we were going to wait, but your dad can’t anymore.  He has to go and rule his kingdom.  And sometimes we have to give up what we want to do for what we need to.”

Marya let out a long slow breath and nodded.  “I know.  I know, dad.  They’re still my friends though and I’m still sad about it.”

“I know,” Wanda said.  “Being sad is normal.”

“Can I have a goodbye party?”  Marya asked.

“Look who you’re talking to,” Tony teased.  “The biggest.”

She sat silently for a moment and nodded again.  “If I really hate it, can I come back again?”

“You need to give it a proper chance,” Steve said.

“I will,” she assured him.  “I just… I don’t…”

“If you really hate it, you can come back,” I said, cutting Steve off before he had a chance to reply.  “We won’t like it, but our kids being happy and healthy is the thing we want most.  We just think… in the long run, this is the best option for that.”

“I know,” Marya said.  She looked around at anyone and kicked at her bag.  “Can I go now?”

“One thing first,” Steve said, tapping the table where she cracked it.  “What are we going to do about this?”

Marya sighed and looked at it.  “I’m sorry,” she said.

“And…?”  Steve pressed.

“And… I’ll go see if I can find someone who can repair it.  If I can’t, I’ll shop for a suitable replacement.  And… and I’ll volunteer at the soup kitchen for the Sundays before we leave as a stand-in for the fact I don’t need to earn money to pay for these things.”

“Good girl,” Steve said.  “Dinner will be at 6.30.”

Marya stood up and grabbed her back.  “Okay.”

“Marya,” I said.  “We love you.”

She smiled a little and nodded.  “I love you all too.”

We watched her disappear up the stairs and Bruce sat back and ran his palms over his scalp.  “I really need to help her deal with her anger.”

Bucky patted his arm.  “It’s usual teen stuff.  We’ve seen it before -” he gestured to me “- we’ll see it again.”

“Yeah, but when any of the others got upset we didn’t have to worry about them breaking the building,” Bruce said.

“Umm… do I need to remind you about that tantrum Riley had that meant we had to remodel her room,” I said.

Bruce chuckled and nodded.  “Right.  I guess.”

“It won’t hurt to work with her more,” Sam said.  “But don’t think that her having a temper is on you.  She’s hyper-intelligent and smart kids often deal with anxiety because they’re always thinking ten steps ahead about all the potential terrible outcomes.”

“Tell me about it,” Tony snarked.

“Yes, Tony, you’re a genius, we all know,” Bucky teased.

“I do not like that I am the reason for her distress,” Thor said.  “We could always go back to how it was before Angela took the throne.”

“And barely get to see you?”  Clint said.  “I don’t fuckin’ think so.”

“That’s not going to happen, Thor,” Steve said.  “We’ve been talking about this for a while.  It’s time.  Sometimes kids have to move because their parents are.  It’s not fun for them.  But she will adapt and it is better it happens sooner than for her to fall into this society's expectations for when she should be doing things.”

Thor nodded, though he didn’t look completely convinced.  

“Alright,” Clint said, clapping his hands.  “Enough about moody teenagers.  We have a lot to work out.”

“It’s going to be a big change,” I said.  “But we’ve gotten really good at those, and in my experience, they always worked out for the best.”

// NEXT