#steve definitely at some point thought nancy was serious

[ronancebyler]

ronance constantly jokes about being in love with eddie and corroded coffin constantly jokes about being in love with steve.

[sp0o0kylights]

Knight Commander Stephan Harrington, Champion of Light, right hand to the newly crowned (and very young) Queen Elaine, was tied up on the floor. 

Unfortunately, so was Eddie.

Which wasn’t intentional--it certainly had not been the plan (not that kidnapping two royal knights had been the plan either)--but it was the outcome that had happened and so, Eddie had to deal. 

Now if only he could get the damn bespelled ropes from entangling him…

“You are incredibly bad at this.” The knight informed him in an amused tone. “Like, insanely bad. You should be ashamed levels of bad.” 

…which would be a lot easier if he wasn’t being heckled. 

“I am not!” Eddie defended, as he finally managed to free himself, throwing the offending, wiggling ropes across the room. Never again would he buy from the cheap spell stall in the market. 

“This is a clear and obvious ploy to get you to feel like I am in over my head and you--both of you!--are falling for it!” 

He leapt to his feet, spinning around and staring down at his captives with a look he hoped was threatening.

(It wasn’t.) 

“We've been kidnapped a handful of times, you know.” Knight First Class Robin Buckley spoke up from her position tied next to her commander. “People tend to put way more thought into it than this.” 

She’d adjusted her position sometime between her initial capture (a spell he'd purchased that Eddie had intended to hit the royal carriage and not the knights escorting it) to sit cross legged, hands bound behind her back.

“At least one thought, anyway. You gotta admit this feels pretty desperate.” Stephan piled on. He’d been more entertained than pissed ever since Eddie had taken himself down with his own tools, and the wisecracks were getting worse. 

“Thank you, Sir Stephan--”

“You can just call me Steve, man.” 

“—but some of us are on a tight deadline here. And for your information,” He brought himself to his full height, trying to loom over them menacingly, “nobody goes around kidnapping royalty unless they’re absolutely desperate.”

Not that he’d succeeded in the “royalty” department, but he’d gotten close enough. 

“Oh that reeks of a tragic backstory.” Robin said, like she was seated at a dinner party and not on the floor. “Did you get cursed?” 

“He looks like the type of guy to get cursed.” Steve agreed, head tilting like a faithful dogs as he examined his captor. 

Frustration overwhelmed him in a wave and Eddie went to angrily yank on his hair before catching himself in the act. As good as it would feel in the moment, it would not help him convince the idiots before him that this was serious, dammit! 

The result was that he flung his hands around wildly for a moment, before storming off across the room of the little abandoned cabin he’d found, face burning a brilliant, obvious red. 

“I didn’t get cursed, I got accused of--oh. Oh, no, I will not be caught monologuing, fuck you!”

He whirled on his heels, pointing a finger at their stupid faces. “Why I did it doesn’t even matter!” 

(Or rather, it did matter—a lot, actually—but not right now. Not to them.

Stupid fucking royal employees and their stupid fucking charmed lives.) 

He wasn’t shrieking, he wasn’t--except he was, and both knights traded a look behind his back as he paced wildly about. “I caught you, and I am going to use you to get what I want!” 

“Right, sure.” Steve said, nonplussed. “Say, did you maybe touch a weird looking, possibly magical item by chance? Or gave your name to a weirdly attractive looking lady who seems to love yapping about royal court band practices and who definitely wasn't one of the Fae?” 

He cast a sly look at his companion with that last line, and was rewarded when her mouth popped open in instant offense. 

“You swore you’d stop bringing that up!” Robin said, snapping a leg out in a kick, nailing her companion in the thigh with one thick boot. 

“I swore I’d stop bringing up the incident with Nancy.” Steve fired back, taking her kicks with ease. “And all those archery lessons you swore you needed, because you apparently hit your head in battle and forgot how a bow worked--”

“Shut up, Dingus!” Robin growled, in tandem with Eddie’s mounting panic. 

This was not, at all, going how this was supposed to. Not that anything had as it was supposed to, since shit went sideways, but the knights were at least could have the decency to be somewhat afraid of him! 

Or angry.

Eddie could work with angry!

This two bit comedy routine he was being subjected to instead of any rational reaction was just the icing on top of the weird cake of his life and he was this close to having a full blown mental breakdown about it. 

Which, of course, was exactly when they had to go and make things worse.

Robin stopped kicking her commander and turned back to Eddie, eyes narrowing with the sharpness of someone who had just put something big together. “Hey, hold on—aren’t you that bard half the kingdom won’t shut up about? Eddie the Balladeer?”

Because naturally, the first time anyone recognized him since his life went to hell, it had to be the people he’d just kidnapped.

(He should have listened to his uncle and become a woodworker.) 

“I was.” Eddie grumped. “More like fuckin’ Eddie the Banished now. But again,” He stressed the word with a harsh flick of both hands, “that doesn’t matter.” 

“Why not?” Steve pressed him. “Pretty sure Dustin is planning on you playing at his birthday party. He’s obsessed with that weird song you do. The one with the bed spring noises.” 

Eddie did not know who Dustin was, but after the chaos of the past two weeks, it was only a matter of time before word of his so-called crimes reached the capitol and shredded whatever remained of his reputation.

“Considering I’ve been accused of murder and my entire damn hometown thinks I’m leading satanic rituals, I seriously doubt that,” he sneered, aiming for something haughty and menacing—anything that would make them start taking this whole thing seriously. 

Steve and Robin exchanged another look, the kind only two people sharing a single brain cell could, the unspoken agreement loud and clear on their faces: ‘Do Not Laugh Right Now.

Which was, frankly, insulting, given the sheer level of trauma that came with being branded a murderer.

“Who accused you of satanic worship?” Steve managed to ask, clearly struggling to keep his words giggle free. “You look like one of those wobbly baby deer. You know, with the big, cute eyes.”

Eddie glowered at him. “Are you deaf? I just said it was the entire town!” 

(He determinedly ignored the fact that Steve had just compared him to a damn woodland creature—and called him cute, on top of it.)

“Is this one of those things wrong place wrong time things?” Robin tacked on, like this was a fun puzzle and not Eddie’s life spiraling wildly out of control. “Like, ‘there’s a dead body on the floor and I’m holding a knife but I swear I just walked in here right before the constable did’ type of situations?” 

“I bet the person he apparently murdered isn’t even dead.” Steve fake-whispered to Robin conspiratorially, eyes never leaving Eddie’s. They were crinkled at the edges in a smile, like this entire thing was getting better by the second. “Money says he helped a fair maiden get out of an awful marriage and the shitty fiancé accused him of killing her.” 

Which is exactly what happened, the fucking dick. 

Jaw swimming with his attempts to get out too many words at once, Eddie sputtered. “Of course she isn’t dea--I mean, I, no!” 

“Ha! Steve you totally nailed it.” Robin said, leaning back in triumph. “Which means Dongus here was trying to kidnap one of the Princes to get someone to listen to you. God that’s so cliche.” 

“It’s not like I asked for it to happen!” Eddie shrilled, tone hitting notes he hadn’t been aware his throat could make. 

“Man, I'm good.” Steve said, ignoring Eddie entirely. "I should've been a detective."

“Please, you’re much better at looking intimidating than actually being intimidating. Why do you think Hopper made you Champion, Mr. Model?” 

Eddie’s hands were in his hair again, and this time, he gave up all pretenses of looking cool and evil and let himself tear at it. 

“Why I’m doing this doesn’t matter because it’s not like you two can fucking help me!” 

That, at least, cut through the good cheer, succeeding in finally getting both knights to shut up. 

“I’m dead if I don’t fix this, but worse is if they go on and target Wayne, or Gareth or the rest of the band, or--” He wasn’t exactly hyperventilating, but he was breathing awfully fast. “I can’t let that fucknut Carver go on a whole rampage and hurt everyone who ever associated with me!” 

Wayne was fairly talented at talking the village down, but that had always been when Eddie had been accused of selling fake potions or replacing the town flag with Jason’s undergarments. 

He was not going to be able to fight off an angry mob, should they decide to make the trek to him. 

“Hey.” Steve said, his voice losing all the humor it had before. “It’s okay.”

“It’s not okay!”

“We can help make it okay.” Robin said gently and it become abruptly clear that his kidnapping victims were now trying to comfort him, because life just had to kick him while he was down. “We’re Knights of the Kingdom, after all.” 

“Oh and I suppose I’m just supposed to untie you and you’ll--what?” Eddie glared at them, hands pulling hard at his hair. “Just let the whole kidnapping thing go? Help me out of the goodness of your hearts instead of arresting me and throwing me in the stockades?” 

Steve shrugged. “I mean, yeah.” 

“I don’t believe you.” Eddie said flatly. 

“Does it help if we tell you this isn’t a contender for the top ten weirdest situations we’ve been in?” Robin asked. “Like, it’s not even close.” 

“No. No it does not.”

“Okay.” Steve said, in a ‘thinking aloud’ sort of voice. “How about this? We give you our words as knights that we’ll help clear your name, and you can stick with us so no one else tries anything until we do.” 

Like Eddie was dumb enough to fall for that bullshit. 

“And why would you do that? What's in it for you to help clear my name?” He challenged them. “We both know the second I untie either of you, you’re going to overwhelm me and take me in. I’m not taking that chance.”

Not with Wayne on the line. 

“Has anyone ever told you you have trust issues?” Steve asked, pushing Eddie right over the edge. 

“I was convicted!” He dropped his hands in a crazed movement, only to smack the back of one against the other's palm in time with his shrieking. “Of! Murder!” 

He must have hit another shrill note, because Steve and Robin both winced. 

“Easy.” Steve soothed. “You know who I am, right?”

Eddie snorted. Sir Stephan’s face was plastered across a shitload of banners all over the kingdom. You couldn’t go anywhere without knowing who the Queen’s Champion was, and Robin was nearly just as famous.

“Yes.” He grit out. 

“Then you know that while I myself don’t have any kind of magic or power, I am tied directly into the Kingdom’s power.” 

In an impressive display of athleticism, Steve maneuvered himself up into a proper kneel, hands still tied behind his back with softly glowing ropes. 

He looked up at Eddie through thick lashes, expression earnest. “If you want, I will tap into it to make you an unbreakable oath. That way I can’t betray you.” 

Stunned into stillness, Eddie stared at him, before his eyes swept to his companion, trying to check if this was some kind of trick or trap or--something else he was too stupid to catch.

Instead of an answer, Robin looked just as shocked as Eddie, her jaw dropping.

“Dingus, you can’t be serious,” She protested, while Eddie finally found his voice to choke out;

“Why would you do that?”

“Because we’re the good guys,” Steve replied, with a smile so bright it could probably power the sun. “and the good guys help people.” 

That was said a little oddly--like he was quoting someone who’d said it many, many times before. 

Eddie opened his mouth, struggling to form the words. 

“How,” he started, his voice cracking on the word. He paused, biting his lip before finally gathering the strength to ask, “How do you know I’m not just lying to you?”

“You?” Steve echoed, the word practically a challenge, but he was still looking up at Eddie through those damn eyelashes, his expression calm, like they'd known each other for a hundred years and would know each other for a hundred more. “No way.” 

They stared at each other for a long, drawn out moment. Eddie didn’t know what Robin was doing, didn’t have room in his brain to even recall her presence in the room. It felt like he and Steve were connected, his entire life was teetering and this moment would decide the outcome. 

Steve had been right. Eddie did have trust issues. Big ones, and this entire situation had only made them worse, but somehow, in that moment, he felt like he could do the impossible.

He could trust Steve.

“Okay.” He said quietly, all his bluster and wild hand movements gone. 

Steve beamed at him.

“Kneel down in front of me.” The knight instructed, and as if drawn by an invisible thread, Eddie did so, dropping down so his face was level with Steve’s. 

“Come closer.” Steve ordered, and waited as Eddie shuffled, closer and closer, until they were barely a breaths width apart, so close he could see the streaks of gold in Steve’s warm, brown eyes. 

“I,” Steve started, in a voice that was both powerful and intimate, “Sir Stephan, Knight Commander of the Kingdom of Light, Queen’s Champion and head of House Harrington, call upon the bonds that make me and that I have made in turn, to hereby swear to you,”

He paused, waiting, and it took Eddie a moment to realize he had never given the man his name.

“Edward Munson, of Town Hawkins.” He muttered, bespelled entirely by the warmth in Steve's eyes. 

“Edward Munson, Bard of Town Hawkins,” Steve said, and oh, what the addition of the word ‘bard.’ did to Eddie’s stomach. The flips it made when he realized just how well Steve was continuing to read him, better than anyone else in his life ever had.

(It made him feel insane.)

“that I will aid in clearing your name, restoring your reputation, and ensuring your safe return to the life you were meant to live.” 

Something built up between them, humming with the buzz of magic. The weight felt tangible, the threads growing thick tying Eddie and Steve together.

“By the powers that be.” Steve whispered, leaning ever so slightly forward, eyelashes lowering. 

Eddie repeated the last line back to Steve, guided by the nudging insistence of the magic that circled them. 

For a second the oath become visible, strings of bright yellow magic surging about, and Eddie was almost drawn to look at it, had he not been distracted by Steve closing the distance between them.

“Wha--” Eddie started to ask, only for Steve to draw the word into his own mouth, sealing their oath with a kiss. 

In the songs Eddie sung, the world exploded when one experienced true love's kiss. Birds sang, and people cheered, fireworks rose to explode in the air. 

This kiss was nothing like that.

This kiss felt like coming home. 

Steve ended it as chastly as he started it, pulling back to smile at him. “And there you have it. One sworn Knight Commander, duty bound to clear your good name.” 

“Uh huh.” Eddie said, blinking rapidly, trying to come back into himself, trying not to look as dazed as he felt. “Right. My uh, name.” 

Steve beamed at him. Tentatively, Eddie smiled back, and if a moment could be warm then this one was the warmest thing Eddie had ever experienced, like a gentle blanket being draped across them both.

It was ruined entirely by the forced coughing that started up next to them. 

“If you two are done now, my arms are going numb.” Robin announced, making Eddie jerk back and Steve roll his eyes. 

“Sorry.” Eddie said automatically, face going red for the third time that day. “I’ll uh. I’ll do that now.”

In his mad scramble to get to his feet and hide how aroused he was, Eddie missed the smug look Steve gave Robin.

In his attempts at removing the spelled ropes from her wrists, he equally missed the sarcastically mouthed ‘Slut.’ Robin aimed back at him. 

He did, however, somehow understand that Robin came with Steve, and that he had just damned himself to their bantering.

Weirdly, it made him feel better instead of worse.

xXx

 “So out of curiosity, what name did you give yourself?” Steve asked a handful of hours later, as the three of them began their trek to Castle Hoosier.

Eddie frowned at him. “Name?”

“You know.” Steve nudged his shoulder against Eddie’s playfully, like they were buddies. “Your evil wizard name, or whatever.”

“I never said I was a wizard, Steve.” 

“You cannot tell me someone as dramatic as yourself didn’t immediately decide to change your name to something ridiculous.” The knight challenged, and Eddie hated how easily the guy had clocked him. “I bet it has evil in the title. Or Mean. Or--” 

“It was Dread Lord Munson.”  Robin interrupted. 

With a grin so wide it overtook her entire face, she turned a little leatherbound notebook to face Steve. There, in Eddie’s spidery scrawl, was the offending name taking up half the page. 

“Where did you get that!?” Eddie squawked, lunging for the book. Robin, in a show of skill he wouldn’t have thought her capable of, tossed it right over his head, into the waiting hands of Steve. 

Eddie spun, cursing wildly as Steve took a look at his personal (!) writings. 

(He hadn't even seen her grab it, dammit!)

He ducked out of the way once, then twice, laughing the entire time, before closing the book with a snap and holding it out to Eddie. 

“Come on, Dork Lord, let’s go get your name cleared.” He said, a fond grin on his face. 

“I hate you. Both of you.” Eddie whined, a blush dusting his cheeks as he snatched his book back, but followed Steve anyway. 

He had the worst feeling he was going to be doing that for a while, now. Even if his name got cleared.

Fucking knights.

Bonus:

“We both know that binding ritual does not involve a kiss, Steve.” Robin said, some time later, quiet enough for only her friend to hear. 

“Ah, shut up Robs. Let me have my fun.” Steve said. “Besides, it sets the tone. Now that he knows what kissing me is like, it's all he’s gonna be thinking about.” 

“Pretty sure all he’s thinking about is clearing his name, Dingus.”

“Okay, yeah.” Steve stressed the word, “but after we clear it? That little scatterbrained bard is gonna be fully focused on me.” He flicked a finger at his own chest, and gave what he thought was his best winning smile. 

Robin made gagging noises.

In retaliation. Steve tried to push her off her horse. 

[steviewashere]

I am itching to write a frat boy Steve Harrington fic. Definitely modern day, no upside down, no supernatural elements. But not one where he desperately wants to leave it or he's being shunned by the other guys or where he feels like he doesn't fit in. Just one where he does stupid shit because it's funny to him.

He's got an estranged relationship with Tommy Hagan, another one of the frat boys. But they both ignite at the opportunity to get drunk, challenge each other to stupid bets (with no real reward), and party with people. Tommy's kind of a dick, but mostly a class clown kind of guy—doesn't do a whole lot of bullying, maybe some friendly teasing that sometimes goes a little too far (because he sucks at gauging his limit).

Steve's a reformed bully. He's learning to just sort of go with the flow, which is aided a lot by being loose and free and goofy and out-of-his-mind stupid at frat parties. He wants to meet as many different people as possible, maybe not become friends with all of them, but he wants to at least broaden his horizons.

He's buddies with a sorority girl named Nancy Wheeler (who also happens to be an ex-girlfriend, but that's water under the bridge), but she's not into partying—more into having a group of girls who want to see her succeed as a journalist (her sorority consists of her high school best friend, Barbara Holland, Tommy's girlfriend, Carol Perkins, a giddy cheerleader, Chrissy Cunningham, and a band geek who wants to be a conductor, Robin Buckley). I think he also becomes friends with Jonathan (although a bit reluctantly) through Nancy, and Argyle through Jonathan.

Steve becomes friends with Robin Buckley. Slowly, but surely. Adores her rambling conversations, which increase when she gets even the slightest bit tipsy with him (she never exceeds a few shots, and when he's with her, he doesn't drink more than that, either). She teases him without hurting his ego, unlike Tommy. He appreciates when she tells him that he's being a meathead, when he's out of his depth, when he's doing something even the slightest bit offensive. With her, he learns about his own sexuality (when she eventually comes out to him during a rather intense frat party—they had too much to drink this time, both loose-lipped and teetering). He learns to appreciate the more nerdy aspects of her, Nancy, and the rest of their sorority. Realizes he's more catty than he thought. Plays soccer with Robin on the weekends, though he sucks in comparison to when they play basketball together.

And through Robin, he meets somebody entirely new to him. Eddie Munson, a metalhead with a raspy voice and a cigarette addiction that Steve can get into, who charms in this weird flirtatious (though unintentional) teasing, who's beyond weird and dramatic, geeky with a touch of defensive. He's got a bite to him that Steve barks right back at, though never meanly. They get along like a house on fire, not a match, a house. Sure, sometimes they drink and party. But Eddie likes quieter things, despite his loud and boisterous personality. They smoke weed and sit on the roof and point out stars, or they talk for hours and hours until they both lose their voice, or they smoke and lay in the grass—absorbing one another's warmth without realizing.

It knocks Steve down, how much he learns to adore somebody like Eddie. Stirring something in him, something he's felt in his drunkest moments with Tommy. But with Eddie, he's completely sober. He's sober with intense emotion and want for a guy he's never expected to orbit around.

And, oddly enough, it's not Robin that tells him to go for it.

It's Tommy. He says something like, "Hey, we may not be best friends anymore, but I know what love looks like, man. And, y'know, considering all your past relationships, maybe it's time that you get something that makes you happy?" His voice is serious, unusually so. And Steve sort of clings to it, like a warm blanket on a camping trip. Tommy then adds something along the lines of, "Be stupid with me, Stevie-boy. Don't be stupid about your feelings. That gets you nowhere. And...I don't know this Eddie guy, not really, but there's something to him. Like a...one of those cloud things that Carol's always talking about—an aura? I could see him drawing you in before you had the chance to get his name."

Steve probably retorts with, "Shut up." And then blushes stupid about it. Because Tommy's never been wrong about these sort of things, no matter how much of an air cadet he can be. And he's also not wrong because when Robin first described to Steve who Eddie was, without giving a name initially, Steve was hooked like one of the fish he catches. (He goes on frat boy fishing trips and has a million photos in his phone of all the trout he's caught. Holds them up to the camera in that Straight Boy Way™️ (trademarked in case you can't see that on your dash), all proud as if the fish is his degree he's going out for.)

Also, I imagine that Steve goes to school to get a bachelor's degree in something like sports science? Or like physical education? Even something like family and human services?

So, line up of fields of study/options because now I want to come back to this:

-Nancy: Journalism -Robin: Music Education or Music Composition -Eddie: English or Music Production or Art -Steve: Sports Science or Physical Education or Family and Human Services -Tommy: Economics -Barb: English or Art History -Carol: Architecture -Chrissy: Special Education and American Sign Language (S.E. is typically a minor, but ASL is almost always a major) -Jonathan: Photography and Composition -Argyle: Neuroscience (I just feel it in my bones that he's like secretly crazy talented in sciences)

I can also think of some of the scenes being texting in group chats. And like with illustrations of Steve holding up his fish? God, my brain is on fire tonight.

[rogueddie]

Thinkin Bout You T | 1,061 words Prompt for @steddielovemonth: Love is going out of your way to do something you know will make them happy

Even though he can admit that it's a selfish desire, Eddie still wants to use Steve's pool. He'd thought that, after finally defeating Vecna and saving Max, they could use it as an excuse to have some sort of party.

He's always wanted to go to one of Steves infamous, exclusive pool parties.

"No," Steve immediately snapped, when Eddie brought it up. It was the first time Eddie had ever really heard him angry. "No one goes in the pool. No one- just, stay away from it. It's off limits. That's it."

He'd been confused, but accepted his answer. It didn't matter what he wanted, it clearly made Steve uncomfortable. It wasn't his place to challenge those boundaries.

... but it did make him curious.

At first, he tried to figure it out on his own. Or, more accurately, tried to gauge how Steve fully and truly felt about the pool.

Steve avoided the thing like it would bite him if he looked at it too long. He always steered conversations away from it, or swimming in general, too.

"I'm worried," Eddie admitted, when he finally gave in and turned to Robin. "He can't keep avoiding pools forever."

"It's not pools," Robin says, reluctantly. "It's his pool, specifically. You'll have to ask him, but... you'd get it. If you knew why."

But the only answer he got from Steve was vague, something about Nancy and bad memories.

"I don't want to know what happened," Eddie starts, worming past Nancy as soon as she opens the door. "I only need to know if redecorating the pool might help. Like, if it's bad memories tied to it then spicing it up so it looks different... that'll help, right?"

Nancy stares at him for a moment, needing a moment to catch up.

"We are talking about Steve?" She finally asks.

"Yeah!"

"Right... um... redecorating..." She looks off to the side, frowning in thought. "It might help. He probably won't want to get in himself, no matter what, but... yeah, changing it up might make him more comfortable with it in general."

"Great! I don't know how to redecorate a pool."

Nancy rolls her eyes.

But she jumps into action. She calls Robin, Jonathan and Argyle, gathering them together so they can brainstorm ideas.

It's Jonathan who suggests they try and make it more kid friendly. Argyle is the one who collects pool decals, agreeing on placing them too. Robin insists on being the one to chose the colors with Nancy's help.

Eddie gets stuck with collecting floats and toys, making a mental list of what they could get.

With their hush money, they're able to put aside a decent amount of money for the budget. They're definitely going to be able to completely change that pool.

Getting the kids to agree to distract Steve for the entire day is too easy. They don't even ask why.

Steve calls Robins less than half an hour after they call the kids, pleading and whining about the kids plan. He tries to get her to come up with some excuse to get him out of it.

"Sorry," Robin says, wincing. "Need to stay home with mom. Sounds serious."

It takes another half an hour until Lucas is able to radio them, giving them the all clear.

Sneaking round to Steve's pool feels strange. Mostly thanks to how casual it is, how calm the others look despite the fact that they're technically breaking in.

"We're not breaking in," Nancy points out. "We have keys. He said we can come over whenever we want. We're welcome."

"Hey," Jonathan says, snapping his fingers to get their attention. "Come on, we have a lot to do."

And it is a lot.

Working together, they're able to get through the worst of it pretty fast. It's impossible to rush it all though, having to wait for paint to dry or glue to stick.

They've barely sat down, finally finishing everything, when Steve gets back with the kids.

"Woah, this is amazing!" Dustin says, grinning wide, the first to burst out the back doors.

"Holy shit," Mike says, next out. "How did you do all this in that time?"

"What are you guys yelling about?" Steve asks, voice distant.

The kids scramble out of the way, watching the door for Steve, excited.

"Where have you- oh."

He freezes in the doorway, eyes darting around the garden.

"Surprise!" Robin yells, jumping over to him. "You like it?"

"How did you..."

"It was easy," Nancy says, reassuring.

"Eddie noticed that you hate the pool," Robin adds. "He suggested we redecorate. Change it up. Make it something new."

Steve looks between them all, face blank.

"Steve?" Eddie says, shifting nervously.

"Thank you," Steve says. "It's... thank you."

"Does this mean we can use your pool now?" Mike asks.

Steve laughs, though it sounds slightly choked. "Yeah," he says, shaking his head. "Sure, whatever, let's have a pool party."

The kids cheer, rushing off to get changed. The others follow after them slower, leaving Steve and Eddie alone.

"This was your idea?" Steve asks.

"Kinda? We all worked together to actually... do it. I only suggested we do something. Nancy's the brains behind it all, really. And Argyle."

"Still, you thought to do all... this."

"I guess."

"Thank you, Ed."

"Oh, nah, don't. It was motivated entirely by, like... greed."

Steve snorts, disbelieving.

"It was! You never let us use the pool."

"You wouldn't need to redecorate this much to do that."

"That... yeah, I would," Eddie winces at how his voice cracks. "You're overprotective."

"Eds," Steve grabs his hand, finally drawing his attention to how they've drifted to each other. "Just accept the thank you, alright?"

Eddie glances at their hands, half expecting Steve to pull away. But, despite the flush in his cheeks, he keeps a tight hold.

"Alright," Eddie finally says. "You're welcome?"

"Great," Steve tugs at his hand, keeping ahold of him as he drags them to the house. "I have spare swim shorts that you can borrow."

"You sure they won't be too big?"

Steve glances back, just in time to catch Eddie's eyes drifting down. He laughs bumping his shoulder into Eddie's.

"Perv."

"You love it," Eddie teases, expecting Steve to take it ask a joke.

But he smiles, soft and genuine, squeezing Eddie's hand as he says, "I really do."

[blushweddinggowns]

“I am sorry,” Eddie said for probably the millionth time, cringing at the glare Chrissy was sending his way. She wasn’t nuclear pissed but she was pissed, “Don’t look at me like that! You know I’d just be miserable if I went.”

Chrissy sighed, but she didn’t sound very surprised, “I just can’t believe after all that talk, you’re ditching me again.” 

Eddie shrugged, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. But his mind was already made up,  “I’ll owe you twice. But for now I’m staying right here.”

“Yeah, yeah. Cute boy trumps over me, I get it, ” Chrissy joked as she peered over at Steve, “Y’know, you could come with us. It’s only for a few months. And uh, you could bring a friend. Or two.”

It was actually kind of impressive, how fast Steve was able to move to cover Robin’s mouth. The yes was written all over her face, but Steve was ready to be the voice of reason, “Unfortunately, no. Nancy has the BAR exam in a few weeks and Robin has already been enlisted to help her through it.”

“Shame,” Chrissy sighed, laughing when Robin shook Steve’s hand away from her with a glare. But the lack of response made it clear she had no counterpoint. Chrissy went on, her eyes going back to Steve, “But that didn’t explain why you couldn’t go.”

Eddie watched, a little nervous about what he would say. Because while yes, it would be fun to drag Steve around the world on tour with his best friend, Eddie was kind of hoping to keep him to himself awhile longer. 

Steve blushed at the invitation, “That’s uh, quite the offer but-”

“But you should pay him if he goes,” Robin said bluntly, nodding Eddie’s way, “Especially if he quits his job for you. Honestly, I think you should reimburse him for the sick days he had to take because of your lying ass-”

Steve slapped her on the arm, his face on fire, “Robin!”

Chrissy just laughed as she watched them, “See? Stuff like this is exactly why I like you!”

Robin flushed at the compliment, but shrugged , “What? I’m just adding some realism to the whirlwind romance in case he fucks you over again.”

Huh. That was kind of a good point. Eddie hadn’t even thought of that. He didn’t know how it looked to literally add his boyfriend on to the payroll but…

“We could do a trust fund kind of thing?” Eddie offered instead, “That might be easier. No strings attached.”

“Irrevocable?” Robin asked, ignoring Steve trying and failing to shut her up again. 

“That would be the no strings attached part, yes.”

“Ooh, I like that-”

“He’s not going to pay me to be his boyfriend!” Steve interrupted with a huff, looking between them like they were the ones being unreasonable, “You can’t be serious about this.”

Eddie frowned, “Baby, it wouldn’t be paying you to be my boyfriend. You would get it if you dumped me or not. It would be more like…”

“A thank you for being his boyfriend!” Robin finished for him, “Honestly Steve, it’s the least he can do.”

Eddie nodded with her, “It really is.”

Steve stared at him, eyes wide, “Holy shit, you are literally insane. You are a crazy person.”

“Get used to that,” Chrissy sighed as she picked up her bag, “Now I gotta go. Hug me.”

Eddie did just that, sweeping her up into a big hug, one that took her clear off the ground. She laughed as he squeezed her, giving Eddie a quick kiss on the cheek goodbye. She did the same to Steve, though both of them politely looked away when she took things a little further with Robin. Even Eddie was a little surprised. He knew Chirssy could move fast but this seemed a little too… loving. Even for her. 

“I’ll call you when I get back. Just text me when Nancy gets off work,” She said quietly after she stepped back from her, a light flush to her cheeks, “I hope I can see you both again. It was fun.”

“I-yeah. Definitely,” Robin stuttered out, “Will do that. Yes.”

They all waved goodbye, watching her disappear into the airport before turning back for the car. 

“So,” Robin said as she got back into the backseat, “Trust fund. How do we make that happen?”

Steve groaned, covering his eyes with his hand, “Please stop trying to make me into an escort, Robin.”

“Oh my god, has love made you stupid?” Robin asked as she rolled her eyes, “He’s a millionaire who fucked you over. Why shouldn’t you get any money?”

“Babe, for the love of god shut the fuck up. He’s right here.”

“I don’t mind,” Eddie chimed in as he started the engine, “Besides, I think she’s right. It is the least I can do. I just don’t want to make you uncomfortable-

“That isn’t the insane part!” Steve interrupted, pinching the bridge of his nose as he took a deep breath, “Both of you… just stop talking.”

Eddie sighed but listened, glancing in the rearview for Robin’s reaction. She didn’t look pleased either, but when she caught his eye she perked up.

Text me about it, Robin mouthed at him through the mirror.

I will, Eddie mouthed back, snapping his mouth back closed when Steve glanced at him. 

Eddie didn’t think much of it after that. He dropped Robin and Steve off, texted her about the idea on and off throughout the day, checked in on Chrissy when she made it home, then picked Steve up from work. He made him dinner, listened as he talked about his shift, and then pulled him into his lap for some bad reality television. 

It was an incredibly normal night, one that Eddie still couldn’t believe he got to keep. But fuck, was he grateful. 

“Hey, baby?” Steve said around a half-hour in, his voice sleepy and adorable. 

Eddie couldn’t help but kiss his forehead, smiling down at him, “Yeah?”

“Can I see your phone?” Steve sweetly asked.

“Sure,” Eddie said, handing it right off to him. He had nothing to hide, not anymore. He was even back to the convenience of having one phone, his stupid extra donated to charity the day after he got Steve back. Besides, it made sense for Steve to have the code anyway, it was his birthday after all. He didn’t even think about it as Steve unlocked it.

He probably should have thought about it. 

“I fucking knew it,” Steve groaned before shoving the phone right back into his face, “What’s this?”

Eddie blinked at him, biting his lip as he was confronted with a pretty indepth trust plan with Robin. Eddie shrugged at him, guilty as charged when he answered, “You just told us to stop talking then. You never said we couldn’t bring it up later.”

from the next chapter of this fic

[theladycarpathia]

@hellcheeranniversaryweek Day Six - Third Date

“You look like you’re gonna puke,” Dustin says and Eddie resists the urge to thump him. 

“Isn’t this your third date with her?” Jonathan asks, playing with Eddie’s still incomplete Rubix cube. Eddie shrugs. He thinks that maybe it won’t matter if it’s third or thirtieth, he’ll always have butterflies when he knows he’s going to see her. 

“Yes,” he says shortly, fiddling with the buttons on his shirt. Jonathan shrugs. 

“Okay, so shouldn’t you be less nervous?” he points out, twisting a little in Eddie’s desk chair. 

“What I should be doesn’t really matter here,” Eddie gripes. He’s still half convinced that he’s going to fuck this up at some point. She’s perfect, she’s the best thing he could ever have dreamed of and when he inevitably makes a mess of it and she leaves, it’s going to crush him. 

“He really looks like he’s going to puke,” Dustin says bluntly, looking a little fascinated and horrified. “Is that normal?”

“No,” Steve says, without looking up. 

“You’ve had practice at this though,” Eddie retorts. Steve’s dated so much that he could probably write a manual about it but Eddie’s got maybe a paper napkin’s worth of experience. And he has even less on dating people like Chrissy Cunningham. 

He’s always liked Chrissy, even though he’d never admit it to himself. Even in middle school, she’d been amazing. Definitely not made for someone like him. But then high school was over and he ran into her outside the florists where she worked. 

And she agreed to a date. And a second. And a third. Which was kind of the problem. 

“Did he look this bad before the other dates?” Jonathan asks, abandoning the Rubix cube. He can’t have made it any worse than Eddie’s attempts at it. 

“He kind of looks worse,” Dustin says, scrutinizing Eddie carefully. Eddie looks down at his jeans and jacket, feeling mildly offended. 

“Face wise,” Dustin clarifies, prodding at Eddie’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer figurines. “Otherwise you look pretty good.”

“Thanks,” Eddie says and takes another look. He looks…a little not like himself. At least from waist to neck. His hair is the same mess, and the jeans and converses haven’t changed. But he’s taking her to a nice Italian place and he figures that he should look the part. 

“It’s just…” Eddie starts and then feels embarrassed. He shouldn’t be talking about this, especially not with them. Dustin’s a Goddamn child, for pete’s sake, Jonathan and Nancy have been dating for like six years and Steve is a little bit of a whore. They’re not going to understand. 

He’s had sex before, that’s the ridiculous thing. It’s not like he’s sixteen, with no idea of what to do. He’s twenty-two. He’s a fucking adult and his knees shouldn’t be shaking like this. 

“It’s our third date,” he explains and Dustin wrinkles his nose. 

“What has that got to do with anything?” he asks and Steve guffaws. 

“So that’s why you’re worried,” he says, from where he’s lounging on Eddie’s bed. Dustin twists anxiously between the two of them.

“What?” he demands and Eddie immediately regrets bringing it up. 

“Three dates,” Steve says, looking gleeful. Eddie’s…still not quite sure how they became friends. There are times when he can’t quite believe it either. “There’s a rule that you have sex after the third date.”

“I thought it was fourth,” Jonathan chimes in and Steve just rolls his eyes. 

“Either way,” he says, propping himself up on his elbows. “It’s not a strict rule. But a nice restaurant, third date…there’s no reason why it couldn’t happen tonight. Which is why Eddie looks like he’s going to hurl.”

“I just want everything to go well,” Eddie insists, even though the exact same thought had crossed his mind. They’ve kissed - polite pecks at the front door, when he’d dropped her off - but he’s aware that this is becoming something more serious. They text each other every day, they call each other every night and have done since their first date. And while their first date had been coffee and the second date had been a movie, tonight’s dinner and an evening walk definitely sets the stage for more. 

“Then don’t worry about it,” Steve says practically. “Trust me. The more you stress about it, the worse it will be. And she’ll pick up on it too.”

“Great,” Eddie says miserably. He has no idea how to calm down, even though he knows he’s putting too much pressure on himself. “I’d better go pick her up. Lock up when you leave and so help me, Henderson, if even one of those figurines is out of place when I get back.”

“What if you don’t come back?” Dustin asks, hands still wrapped around Giles. Dustin may envy Eddie's collection but they'd been his mom's from the nineties. He's not about to hand them over to Dustin so he can lose Giles' little sombrero.

“If I don’t come back tonight, you’ll have more time to make it to Mexico,” Eddie says bluntly, giving himself one last check in the mirror. He catches Steve’s smirk as he lets himself out of the door. 

But when he returns home the next morning, wearing the same clothes as the night before, every single figurine is still in place.

Because this is Hellcheer, honestly amazed they managed to wait until the third date they're down so bad for each other. I ran out of time to actually write the date. P.s. Chrissy was totally aware of the rule, kicked her roommate out for the night and wore her best underwear. Eddie never stood a chance.

[heard-nsfw-is-back]

part 2. I think this is the first time I've actually written a part 2 to anything I wrote lol.

Literally how do I keep reaching the character limit???

"Uh eyeshadow and fishnets." He answers finally. "But back to you. I didn't even know you had heels." Eddie sounds strained. Steve laughs and wraps his hands around himself. Looking up at Eddie, especially when he looks like that, is too much. Getting hard in the bodysuit is going to get uncomfortable.

Eddie plays with Steve's bunny ears and Steve can't help but watch his arm. The tattoos over the muscles move like they're alive. Steve reaches over and looks at Eddie's nails. They're long and pointy, not shiny and some gold designs on the ring fingers.

"I don't but I can walk in them. Nancy thought it would be funny I guess." Steve replies after a little bit. Eddie coughs and pulls his hands back and stuffs them in his pockets. Steve looks away and they people watch for a while, the silence between them is nice, the music is loud and Steve gets lost in it. "How'd you make the fangs? And the horn?" "Ah clay for the horns and some fake nails and denture glue for the teeth." Steve looks up in surprise. "So they're stuck on there?" Eddie presses his tongue on them. "Nah they'll pop off if I press too hard."

Steve wants to see just how much pressure they can take but Eddie looks like he's in pain. Probably the horns. And the music. Steve points to the stairs. "You want to go somewhere quiet?" Eddie smirks and leans down to Steve's face. "You want to get me alone pretty bunny?" Steve felt his face get hot and pushed him away. "That's not what I meant. You look like you're about to fall over." Eddie's smirk gets softer. "I'm ok, just didn't expect there to be so much to take in." Steve nods. "I get that." "Ah but I bet, Mr Popular, that you're used to this."

Steve shakes his head. "Even in high school, my parties would be 10 people max. It was too much." Eddie purses his lips. "Bet you could handle more." He's flirting right? Steve couldn't tell if Eddie was serious or not. "I could handle a lot." Steve agreed, and decided to push back. Test the waters. "Could definitely handle whatever parties you threw." Eddie plays with his hair. His rings catching the light and the glitter on his cheekbones. "You couldn't handle whatever I gave out." Steve rolls his eyes. "I'm a big boy I could take it." Eddie's eyes flash for a moment. "I bet you could." Hook, line, and sinker.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Steve bites. Eddie looks chagrined. "Sorry, poor word choice." He bows a little, dramatically. "You should watch what you say to the king." Steve jokes, and Eddie falls to his knees. "Forgive me, my king." Fuck. He forgot just how well Eddie rolls with punches. "Take me upstairs, my fallen dragon knight." Eddie grinned and picked Steve up, tossing him over his shoulder.

With a little effort Eddie takes Steve upstairs. The chances of a clear room is slim, so they just find a quiet corner. "How shall I repent?" Eddie swallows and sits down, Steve sitting between his legs, throwing his own legs across one of Eddie's. "Take off these shoes. My feet hurt and I'm too lazy." Eddie laughs, but it sounds a little forced. He reaches down and gently unclasps Steve's shoes and takes them off. Happily, Steve sighs and wiggles his toes. Much better.

[atmilliways]

Twister, Part 2

Hey, @starryeyedjanai, I wrote more of this. It's getting progressively hornier.

2798 words, Teen +

-

“Do you know the rules?”

Steve would take offense at that, but he’s a little drunk and kinda high and Jonathan is definitely holding the rules sideways, so whatever. He just raises his beer with a smirk and says, “Enlighten me.”

It’s a good night. A good night, even though it’s in his too-quiet, too-empty house and his ex-girlfriend is here with her current boyfriend. Between Robin’s motormouth, Eddie’s music, and Argyle’s weed, their party of six is more than up to the task of filling up the silence and the space.

And Steve’s speakers and Steve’s parents’ liquor cabinet—but, he reflects as he leans back in the loveseat and sips his beer, he always has those. 

Robin comes swaying back into the living room from her bathroom break, spots the bright primary colors of the game box, and scowls. “Oh no, not again. I refuse, the last time I played this I ended up with grass in my mouth!”

Argyle turns and blinks bloodshot eyes in her direction. “I thought you were cool with grass, little birdette.”

“Booooo,” Steve heckles, feeling light and giddy and happy and god how come he never throws parties anymore? “You barely even got a scrape. Didn’t even need a band-aid. I got injured enough to need medical attention, and I’m gonna play.”

Eddie plops down next to Steve, a little cramped but whatever, throwing an arm around his shoulders to jostle him and grinning over at Robin. “Yeah, I popped a couple stitches that day but you don’t hear me complaining!”

“That doesn’t make it sound like a good idea,” Nancy points out. She’s tucked into an armchair and trying to look serious, but a grin peeks out around the corners of her mouth. 

“I don’t have stitches anymore, jeez, Mom,” Eddie retorts, and sticks his tongue out at her. That cracks the facade, sending her into a fit of poorly stifled giggles. “The worst blow struck was to Harrington’s hypothetical progeny.”

Steve clinks his beer against Eddie’s, trying to get his attention. “Uh, what’s a ‘geny’ and why am I ‘pro’ for it? Hypothetically.”

On the other side of the table, Jonathan blinks a few times and rotates the instruction sheet one hundred and eighty degrees. “Do we all know how to play this?”

“Let’s let the birdette operate the spinner, brochachos,” Argyle suggests. “No injuries, just spinning . . . unless she spins with it, which I do not recommend. Might get dizzy.” He nods sagely at Robin, who shrugs and nods back. 

“We should do it like a tournament,” Eddie declares, eyes sparking as he rubs his hands together in his enthusiasm. “Pair off, narrow the field, winners play each other for the title.”

“I’ll get a trophy for the winner from my room!” Steve volunteers, jumping to his feet. The energy rolling off Eddie whenever he gets into something like this is infectious, addictive. Steve has been enabling it for months by hosting Hellfire campaigns in his parents’ formal, stuffy dining room, and sees no reason why tonight should be an exception. No one dulls the harsh edges of the Harrington house quite like Eddie Munson. 

He takes the stairs two at a time going both up and down, and only almost wipes out three times. The trophy he returns with is a golden plastic cup from his long gone Little League days; it's the only thing he could find without a sports ball on top.

His friends have already shifted the living room furniture out of the way and spread the game mat out across the floor. Nancy is helping Argyle braid his hair so it won’t interfere with gameplay, Eddie is crouched in front of Jonathan, coaxing him to drink some water, and Robin is grudgingly doing some warmup stretches, apparently talked into participating during Steve’s brief absence. 

“Stevie, look alive!” Eddie pops up, fishes something out of his pocket, and tosses it. 

The throw is high and fast, but Steve jumps for it on instinct. He gives a whoop when he hears plastic rattle on plastic in the trophy cup in his hand, and looks up to Eddie beaming at him, helpless not to beam back. 

“The two highest rolls play first,” Eddie explains, which Steve nods in response to even though his grasp on what that means isn’t great. Still, he knows how to roll a damn die. 

And so the tournament begins. 

-

Here’s the thing: weed and alcohol are not performance enhancing drugs. The first match-up is Eddie and Robin, and it’s not much of a contest. 

“I didn’t want to play anyway, so I’m not even mad,” Robin admits as Steve helps her up from a fall that hadn’t even been that bad—just enough to get her eliminated. “Now I can woman the spinner.”

“Don’t you mean—”

“Nope,” she interrupts, and playfully flips him off before swaying over to where Argyle has been calling out moves from the couch. 

“Her heart wasn’t in it,” Eddie sighs, putting on a mournful pout. (There’s something about this that makes Steve want to poke at his cheeks until the dimples come out, but that is the mind-altering substances talking.) “Kinda makes the victory feel hollow.” 

“She’ll probably make all the moves for harder on purpose,” Steve points out.

Eddie brightens. “You think?”

Honestly? Steve isn’t totally sure she wouldn’t go easier on Nancy, out of some sort of girl solidarity. But he says, “Sure,” and feels quite pleased with himself when Eddie slings an arm around his shoulder in enthusiasm.

“Then by all means, good sir, let us clear the battlefield for the next joust,” Eddie exclaims. “Let the games recommence!”

The next match goes on much longer than the first one. Nancy looks determined, and even Jonathan seems to have sobered up a bit, eyes somewhat clear and movements smooth. But they end up fit together like Russian nesting dolls, Jonathan’s mouth near her neck and Nancy is ticklish. And not sober either. She slips and falls in a flurry of giggles-turned-shrieks of laughter, hands flying up to make her blouse a turtleneck.

“What?” Jonathan catches her, giggles himself as he straightens up. “What’d I do?”

Steve stops paying attention because Eddie is rubbing his shoulders, like a boxer about to enter a ring. It takes up all the real estate in his brain because. . . . When was the last time Steve has even watched a boxing match? When has Eddie, with his general disdain for sports, watched a boxing match?

And also, Eddie gives great shoulder rubs, apparently.

“Okay, Stevie, you’re up next. Get in there and take him out!”

“This is bringing out an extra weird side of you,” Steve informs him. 

“Atta boy, you got this!” Eddie sends Steve stumbling towards the game mat with a light shove and a quick smack to his ass. He laughs as he goes, shaking his head and rolling his shoulders, and he feels loose. He feels good. 

Argyle is the least competitive person Steve has ever played any kind of game against, and that might be why their round takes the longest. Where Steve plays for stability, Argyle seems to be attempting to create a new art form. Somehow, it works. 

It’s not until Robin calls out, “Left hand green!” that it ends. Instead of reaching for the nearest green circle, the dude aims for the farthest corner of the mat, reaching around Steve, and . . . overbalancing. 

“Whoops,” Argyle chuckles up at the ceiling once he finishes rolling. “Sorry man, I got lost in a movement.”

Eddie hops up from where he’d been sitting on the arm of the couch, grinning like a madman. He loops an arm each around Jonathan and Steve’s necks and nearly bashes all three of their heads together. “Fuck yeah, showdown of the Hawkins boys!”

“Can I smoke again first?” Jonathan mumbles. 

“Nooo,” Nancy protests over the top of her beer, “that’d just drag it out. Just play so we can move on to Truth Or Dare, or something.”

“Seconded,” Robin says, and that’s that. The final round is on. 

-

They square off. 

For all Eddie’s big talk leading up to the first spin, the first half of the game is fairly calm. They take their hands and feet and accept their colors quietly, all focused and feeling out each others’ strategies. (Or at least, Steve is. Maybe he misses competitive sports more than he’d realized. Maybe he should join an adult league.)

Gameplay goes on for a while before Jonathan straightens with a wince. “This was fun and all, but I’ve gotta stop. My back. . . .” He gives a tiny shrug and Steve remembers getting a vague play by play of Jonathan and Nancy’s fight for their lives at the hospital, telling him in starts and stops while sitting in an ambulance in the Starcourt parking lot. 

“What happened to your back?” asks Eddie, peering up curiously through his hair. Apparently he hadn’t gotten the lowdown on that one. (Wait . . . they’d told him about Starcourt, hadn’t they?)

“Metal chair,” Steve says, at the same time as Jonathan says, “Hospital stool.” They look at each other and shrug—Steve only a little, because he doesn’t want to throw the game by taking his hands off the mat. Close enough. 

Eddie mutters something under his breath about holding out on him, which Steve thinks is unnecessary. First of all, there’s the NDAs. . . . They aren’t allowed to tell anyone, is it their fault it solidified into a habit even after Eddie was dropped into the whole alternate dimension mess? Second of all, Eddie never asked. So, like, the blame is fifty fifty here.

But Robin calls out the next move before Steve has a chance to say so, and the game is back on. Only this time, Eddie’s strategy is wildly different. 

“Left foot red,” Robin says. 

Eddie, crouched on the farthest dots of red, yellow, and blue like a frog, grins with his entire face. He leans forward on his right hand (on green, towards the center of the mat) and swings his left leg out to the red dot on the farthest corner, next to Steve.

Steve’s next move is left foot green, and he keeps it on his own side, waiting to see what his opponent has planned. (That’s why his heart rate is picking up. It has nothing to do with the almost predatory way Eddie is staring him down, making his skin prickle.)

The next call is right foot green, and Eddie’s grin widens. He makes direct eye contact with Steve—and he could move that foot from yellow to the green right next to it, but he doesn’t. Instead, in a distorted echo of the move that had brought him down the last time they’d played, he braces himself up and swings his leg out to the green spot past his own right hand.

Now he’s spread out in front of Steve, legs splayed just shy of Steve’s arm where his left hand rests on the third yellow spot and shirt riding up a little over his flexed core muscles. Feeling oddly caught, Steve finds his eyes fixed on that sliver of skin because he’s almost surprised that Eddie has muscles. Not that—Well, everyone has muscles, obviously, and it’s not like the guy has a defined six-pack or anything, but. Steve had seen Eddie’s attempts at sit-ups a few times in gym, back when they’d still been in school, so he wasn’t expecting . . . this.

“Steve, did you hear me?” Robin complains, cutting through the mild static that had taken over his ears.” Are you even listing? Earth to Steve-o.”

He blinks hard and shakes his head a little. “Uh. What?” (Seriously, what was that. He’s not usually prone to zoning out while partying, not unless he's fall-down drunk. Which he isn't, not by a long shot. So what gives?)

“Left hand green, dingus! I’ve said it like three times.”

Steve considers. There are three open green spots left, one behind him and two on the far side of the mat. Either way he gets to move his arms from between Eddie’s legs, which is . . . for the best, he thinks. Yeah. 

“Whatcha gonna do, Big Boy?” Eddie says in a low tone, too low for anyone else to hear. When Steve gapes at him, Eddie bites his bottom lip and waggles his eyebrows suggestively.

Jesus Christ. Steve can feel his face starting to heat up, but he can’t back down from so brazen a challenge. 

He leans forward and plants his hand on the green spot just past Eddie’s. The move sends him leaning into Eddie’s space, leaning over Eddie a bit, and Steve feels a surge of satisfaction at the way Eddie’s throat bobs at the proximity. Because what, did he expect Steve Harrington to back down? Not fucking happening.

“Left hand blue.”

Eddie moves his hand over one spot, but the way he has to twist slightly for balance lengthens the line of his body and makes the pale sliver a little wider.

“Right foot blue.”

Steve’s right foot was already on that color; he slides it forward until it’s practically under Eddie’s ass. 

“Right hand green.”

Since Eddie can’t reach the green spot behind Steve, he’s forced to retreat to the other corner. It moves their faces further apart, and in the brief moment Eddie glances away to make sure he hits the spot without tipping over, Steve’s eyes zero in on where he’s biting his lip again and. . . . 

Oh. 

Uh-oh. 

It's as though that plush bottom lip holds all the answers—to the distraction, the faster than necessary pace of his heart, the intermittent electric prickle humming under his skin. Steve wants to be the one biting that lip, and he’s just left of sober enough that he nearly follows the impulse, swaying forward slightly without thinking before reining himself back in, eyes going wide.

He can track the exact moment Eddie looks back and notices, a flush rising on his own face and throat bobbing again. It’s not a reaction that says no or stop that, so Steve just sort of . . . lets himself keep staring.

“Right hand red.”

Steve, not sure if Robin is messing with them or if this is just what’s happening, moves his hand to the red spot next to Eddie’s hip. Eddie follows the motion with his eyes, only looking back up once Steve is still again. Is he breathing faster?

Yeah. Yes, he is, they both are. Steve wets his lips unconsciously and Eddie’s eyes follow that too, attention thoroughly captured as though Steve has cast a spell on him. And isn’t that so very . . . interesting. . . .

He thinks about the way Eddie always seems to flirt, and wonders how much of it is real. Quite a bit if how dilated his eyes are now is any indication, a thin ring of rich brown holding back a deep, drowning black. Only now, Steve is starting to realize that he has his own reservoir of want inside. For a while now, it seems, but it’s been biding its time until the right moment to make itself known—right before threatening to spill over.

This time it’s Eddie that Robin snaps at for not listening. 

And Steve who wins the game, when Eddie’s limbs finally give out a few moves later from holding himself up in such a spread-out position for so long. Eddie doesn’t seem too put out by it though, accepting Steve’s hand up and using it as an excuse to stand way too close for just friends. 

“Good game, Stevie,” he murmurs in that low, low tone again, and god but it costs Steve not to haul him close enough to feel the words against his mouth. “Looks like you get to keep that trophy after all.”

He lets go of Steve (whose palm is tingling, why is that suddenly a thing, it’s spreading up his arm and it’s going to be so difficult to act normal for the rest of the evening now) and pats him on the cheek with that same hand. Steve wants to turn and bite it, just sink his teeth right into the meat of the thumb rubbing along his cheekbone. He can guess from the spark in Eddie’s eyes that he might not mind. . . . 

But not in front of their friends. It’s not that kind of party, in spite of the music and the drinking and the drugs, and Steve doesn’t want to be rude and ignore the rest of his guests. 

Eddie’s hand drops with a devilish grin. “Alright, let’s keep this party going. I believe someone said something about Truth or Dare—what do you say, Big Boy? You in?”Steve, breathless and more than willing to find out where this rabbit hole leads, is definitely, definitely in.

[katsu28]

to be alone together

pairing: Steve Harrington x reader

summary: steve has to work on valentine’s day, but maybe it’s not as bad as he thought it would be

warnings: none, 1.8k

a/n: u know i had to do a lil something for my steve girlies too <3 went for a more steve centric pov bc he is the definition of pining simp 

navigation

(gif credits to @harringtondaily)

“Kinda sucks that you gotta work tonight.” Robin’s voice through the phone pressed to Steve’s ear was staticky, but still provided a good distraction from the empty video store around him.

It was Valentine’s Day and Steve had been at Family Video since opening, watching couple after couple come in to pretty much clear the romcom shelves, and yeah, he was a little bummed about it, but there was no point moping around about it any longer than he already had been. 

“It’s whatever, honestly. Not like I had any plans to begin with.” He sighed, shifting the receiver so it was wedged between his cheek and shoulder as his fingers drifted down to fiddle with the pen on the counter absentmindedly. 

“Steve, that’s sad.” Robin replied. Steve wrinkled his nose, a slightly offended noise escaping the back of his throat. “No! I didn’t mean it like that, I just meant that you should be out and about, having a good time.” 

“You know what’s actually sad? You talking to me instead of paying attention to your date.” He shot back, only half serious. “Where’s Nance?” 

“Oh she’s right here. Say hi, Nance.” 

Steve heard a faint ‘hi Steve’ in the background and he returned the greeting. “What are you guys doing tonight?” 

“She made this really fancy pasta thing for dinner, we’re just waiting on the chicken to finish in the oven and I thought I’d see what was going on with you.” Robin sounded casual, but he knew this was her way of checking up on him since he was the only one on shift all day and she knew how he felt about today. 

“Rob, I don’t know how many times I gotta tell you, but I’m fine. It’s really not a big deal.” 

“Why don’t you just close up early, come join us for dinner? We have more than enough food.” 

“You’re seriously inviting me to crash your romantic dinner date with your girlfriend?” He snorted, rolling his eyes playfully. “What does Nancy think of that?” 

There was some shuffling on the other end, a bout of silence, then Robin was back on the line. “She’s giving me a weird look, nevermind. Now that I think about it, it wasn’t my best idea.” 

“I love you both, but you know I can’t.” 

The bell above the door jingled softly, drawing Steve’s attention away from his phone call and to whoever just walked in. 

Shit. It was you. 

You were dressed like you were supposed to be on your date, not here, hair and makeup done up all pretty, floaty dress in his favorite color swishing around your knees as you made your way into the store. It made him wonder if you chose that color on purpose, but he knew that you didn’t. You couldn’t have known you’d be seeing him tonight. Wishful thinking on his end though. 

“Rob, I gotta go,” He blurted, straightening up behind the counter. 

“Wait, what—” 

“I gotta go, she’s—someone’s here, I gotta help her.” 

“She? Oh my god, wait! Is it—” 

“Have a nice date, tell Nance I said bye!” With that, Steve hung up, slamming the receiver onto the base with enough force to send it skittering a few inches. “Hey, Y/N.” 

“Steve!” Your previously downturned lips lifted into a smile, one that had Steve’s heart thudding a little faster in his chest. It always did. “I didn’t know you were working tonight.” 

See, you were also part of the reason he decided to take the extra shift today, but through no fault of your own. You’d mentioned earlier in the week while you were hanging out with him and Robin that someone had asked you out for tonight, and Steve didn’t really know how to feel about it. 

You were friends, but had Steve been harboring a crush on you since pretty much the first day you met? Yes. 

Did he feel an itching sense of jealousy that you were going on a date with someone that wasn’t him? Also yes. 

Would he do anything about it? Probably not. 

Okay, so maybe he knew exactly how he felt about it. Hell, he’d picked up an extra shift to distract himself from it. 

“Yeah, I got called in last minute." A lie. "Aren’t you supposed to be on a date right now?” A casual, not at all hoping that it crashed and burned question. That would be mean. (But also a little gratifying for him.)

You chuckled, a tad bitter as you leaned forward, propping your elbows on the counter, the action sending a whiff of your perfume his way. Steve’s knees almost gave out. “Supposed to, yeah. But the guy never showed up.” 

Steve had to fight a noise of surprise. What kind of dumbass would skip out on a date with you? “Really? That’s—that sucks, I’m sorry.” 

“S’okay. Wasn’t really looking forward to it anyways.” 

“Oh?” 

“I didn’t really know him that well, honestly. He was a friend of a friend, asked me out in front of a bunch of people, and I didn’t really wanna turn him down and make it awkward.” 

“You’re way too nice, Y/N. And he’s an idiot for standing you up.” 

“Thanks, Steve.” You smiled warmly at him, patting his hand. Steve had to pretend his pulse wasn’t racing right now. “What about you? Why’re you here and not out with anyone?” 

“I, uh—I didn’t really feel like going out tonight. Don’t think I’d be a very good date anyways.”

“Oh, you’re just being modest. What girl wouldn’t wanna spend Valentine’s Day with Steve Harrington?” 

The one girl he wanted to spend this day with, he thought. You. 

“You’d be surprised.” He muttered. 

“Well then they’re idiots too.” 

A small smile quirked his lips. “Thanks.” 

“Hey, I just came to pick up some movies and spend the rest of my night shoveling down ice cream, but since we’re both here now and alone, d’you wanna…be alone together? Grab a bite to eat or do something?” 

Steve’s shoulders slumped defeatedly. “I’d love to, but I—I can’t. I gotta stay here til the end of my shift, Keith’s been on my ass about taking off early and as much as I hate the guy, I don’t wanna get fired.” 

“Oh, okay. Don’t worry about it, I’m, uh—it’s cool.” Was he hallucinating, or did you look disappointed? 

“Would you maybe wanna, I dunno, stay here? We can watch whatever you want and I know where Robin keeps her work snack stash. That way we can be alone together and I don’t get chewed out again?” Steve blurted hopefully. He was honestly expecting you to say no. Why would you wanna spend the rest of your already shitty night with him in a dingy video store? But then your face split into the biggest smile and you nodded, rocking forward on the balls of your feet earnestly. “Go pick something out, I’ll grab the snacks.” 

You scurried off to browse the near bare shelves, leaving Steve shaking his head amusedly in your wake as he watched you skim the tapes with a look of utmost concentration. He slipped into the back room to grab Robin’s last unopened bag of chips, making a mental note to buy more before tomorrow’s shift before returning to the video area.

He skimmed the store, spotting you in the romcom section, and when he made his way over, you were contemplating the last two tapes on the shelf. 

You beamed at him upon spotting him. “Pretty in Pink or Sixteen Candles?” 

“Am I allowed to say neither?” 

“You said whatever I want, Steve.” You said pointedly, propping your hands on your hips. 

“I did, didn’t I?” He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose between two fingers. You let out a hum of pleasure, sliding your chosen movie off the shelf and wandering towards the TV in the corner. Steve hurried after you quickly, plucking the tape from between your fingertips and running away, not unlike a child would. 

“Steve!” You huffed, whirling on your heel. He grinned mischievously at you, waving it in the air like a taunt. You caught up with him within seconds, lunging for the tape that he held up above his head and away from your outstretched hand. Your body was pressed against his as you reached for it, as you leaned against him in a fruitless attempt to overpower him. “Steve, gimme the tape!” 

“No!” He laughed, but that laughter very soon trickled off as soon as he realized your proximity. You were so close, he could see the color of your eyes clear as day, looking right back at him. You’d fallen quiet too, as if you’d come to the same realization. 

You were nose to nose, faces a hair’s breadth away from each other, the stolen tape in Steve’s hands long forgotten. Every fiber in his body was telling him to pull away, because the longer he stayed here the weirder it would be when he finally did manage to retreat, but no matter how hard he willed himself to move, he couldn’t. Instead, his eyes flicked down to your lips. Your breath hitched almost imperceptibly. 

“Steve?” You whispered, gaze darting around his own face. 

“Yeah?” 

“Kiss me.” 

You didn’t have to tell him twice.

Steve dropped the tape immediately, closing the gap between you and pressing his lips against yours. His hands came up to cup your face, holding you firm but kissing you soft, like he was preparing himself to pull away if you did. But from the way you were returning his kiss, how your hands clutched at the front of his vest to keep him this close, it didn’t feel like you’d be pulling away anytime soon, and that spurred him on even more. 

One hand slid down to settle at your waist, the other curling around the back of your neck as he tilted his head, deepening the kiss just a little bit. 

Steve’s lips felt tingly when he pulled away, tasted of your cherry lip gloss when his tongue darted out to lick them. He was sure to have a little bit on his mouth now, but it wasn’t the worst thing in the world. Not by a long shot. Cherry might’ve just become his new favorite flavor. 

“I really like you.” He breathed, chest heaving against yours. Your lips curved into a soft smile—the same smile that nearly sent Steve’s brain short circuiting every time it was aimed his way. 

“After that kiss, I’d sure hope so,” You replied, smoothing out his wrinkled shirt as best you could. “I like you too, just so you know. Part of the reason I was so okay with my date ditching me. He wasn’t you.” 

Steve could only beam at you, going in for another kiss. In his excitement, he missed his mark, hitting the corner of your mouth instead, but he didn’t care. The girl he wanted all along actually liked him back, and it only took one failed date and an extra shift to find out. 

Maybe working on Valentine’s Day wasn’t so bad after all. 

[steddiealltheway]

Steve tries his hand at writing poetry. Emphasis on try.

It’s not… great. He never was the best writer in high school - just ask Nancy. But really he tries.

Unfortunately, his hobby is discovered by Robin who relentlessly makes fun of him, stealing his little journal away and shouting out some of his lines. Thankfully, the Video Store is empty.

Until Eddie walks in.

Neither Robin or Steve notice him, too busy fighting over the journal with Robin still calls out a few stanzas every so often.

“What’s going on?” Eddie asks, loud enough to get the pair’s attention.

Steve and Robin both look towards him. Steve turns bright red, and Robin races up to Eddie, giddy with excitement yelling, “Steve writes shitty poetry!”

She waves the journal towards Eddie who takes it from her. Steve races up to the counter but noticed that Eddie is already closing it and handing it back to him.

“I have my fair share of shit poetry. I’m sure we all do,” Eddie says casually, trying to brush off Robin’s comment, seeing the slight hurt in Steve’s eyes at the insult.

Steve smiles at him tightly, thanking him with a nod.

Eddie changes the subject.

Over the next few days, Robin, unaware of the damage done, will not stop teasing Steve about the journal. And, of course, she blabs when Nancy comes to the Video Store, unable to stop herself from talking or thinking when she’s around her.

Nancy laughs and comments how she would love to see if he’s improved at all from high school. Joking that maybe Steve can be published in the Hawkins Post.

Steve storms off to the break room, shame and anger taking over his senses. It’s stupid really. They’re just teasing. But Steve was actually excited to fill out this new journal he bought. To have something for himself that wasn’t just sports and babysitting and being known as a dumb asshole in high school.

After a few minutes, the door to the break room opens, and Steve pinches his nose, not in the mood to deal with anymore teasing.

“Hey, you okay?” A voice that is definitely not Robin’s asks.

Steve turns to find Eddie hovering in the middle of the room unfamiliar to him. “When did you get here?” Steve asks.

“A few minutes ago. Robin and Nancy filled me in on… things,” Eddie replies fidgeting with his rings.

Steve nods and sits on the nearest chair, running a hand through his hair. He deeply sighs.

Eddie nods towards the small leather journal Steve left on the counter. “Is this it?” He asks.

“My notebook filled with shit poetry? Yes,” Steve replies, the venom in his tone heavier than he intended.

“May I?” Eddie asks, hand reaching towards it.

Steve nods.

Eddie grabs it and opens it. He flips through a few pages, pausing, squinting, and sometimes zoning out in deep thought. He keeps flipping through pages, reading what seems like every word Steve has written.

Steve can feel the blood rush to his cheeks, embarrassment flooding his veins. Especially when Eddie’s eyebrows furrow while he looks at one page for a few moments too long.

After a while of unbearable silence - except the sharp turning of pages - Eddie says, “It’s not terrible. In fact, it’s actually pretty good.”

Steve scoffs, “Yeah, right.”

Eddie rushes towards Steve and squats in front of him, opening the journal towards the page he was stuck on for so long. “Steve. This right here has so much potential.”

“That right there, is pure shit. You heard Robin and Nancy,”

Eddie runs a hand over his face and admits, “Yes, some of these might be shit poetry. But you know what all of these are?”

Steve ignores the familiar sting of disapproval and deadpans, “What?”

“These are all great song lyrics.”

Steve groans.

“I’m serious!” Eddie says, he starts digging through the drawers in the break room, finally coming across a pencil. “May I?” He asks again gesturing towards the journal.

Steve nods.

Eddie begins scribbling on various pages, crossing out lines, adding to them, writing in the margins, and at one point it even looks like he doodles something. He closes the journal and hands it back to Steve. “Take those as you will, but I really think you’re onto something, Steve. You can always show me anything you write, okay?” Eddie says, resting a hand on Steve’s knee.

Steve grabs Eddie’s hands and squeezes it. “Thank you,” he says sincerely.

Eddie beams at him and stands, pulling Steve up. “Okay, now you have to pick the next movie I get. Robin’s last choice was… not great…” Eddie continues his rant, opening the break room door.

Steve makes eye contact with Robin who gives him an apologetic look, and Steve glances back at Eddie - who is still ranting - knowing he mentioned something to her. Something blooms in his chest, knowing that Eddie understood how he felt before talking to him.

After Eddie leaves, Robin goes on a rambling apology, telling Steve she didn’t actually mean it. Except for a few parts. But then she tries to take that back and fails.

Steve laughs and tells Robin that really it’s okay.

That night, he turns through Eddie’s notes, taking in every word, applying corrections, and writing a few questions and replies to Eddie’s words.

He lands on the last poem he wrote and turns the page which was once blank. Now, there’s a simple heart with the words, “Never change, Steve Harrington,” under it.

Steve stares at the page for a few moments, heart racing. Then, he turns to the blank back section of the notebook and writes a few lines about a boy with curly hair and brown, doe eyes.

[nburkhardt]

Saw this post and couldn’t get it out of my mind :)

His tattoos don’t even cross his mind when he takes his sweater off, too focused on knowing that he’s the only one that could handle swimming to check for a gate. Hoping that for once Dustin’s wrong.

It’s not until Nancy’s using her shirt to wrap around his middle that he remembers, “fuck, did they eat the sunflower?”

All three of them stare at him and in that moment he also remembers, no one knows about his tattoos. The only other person that knows about any of them is the artist who did them and he’s all the way in Indianapolis, probably working on a new design for him.

“Where’s the sunflower?” Eddie breaks him out of his thoughts, “because it seems like those bats just went to town on you. And you have some serious road rash on your back”

He doesn’t have to move far, the sunflower is or maybe was on his left side on the ribcage, fallen petals going down towards his hips. Pointing towards it, he watches as Eddie looks and his eyes wander across his chest. There’s a broken crown sitting on his collarbone, hopefully at least.

“Uh, well, the sunflower has some damage, sorry to say, though that crown is fine. Any, uh any other tattoos?” Eddie tells him and there’s something in his voice that he can’t quite place.

He nods and turns around, there should be an image of the nail bat on his shoulder blade with the lyrics from Mad World, “the dreams in which I’m dying are the best I’ve ever had” wrapped around it.

It’s probably not the best time to worry about the tattoos and should probably worry about the fact that they’re stuck in the upside down but his brain can’t stop focusing on the things that kept him from freaking out for the last three years.

“Woah! That’s metal as all hell, some of the words got a little scraped. But still there”

Eddie’s voice brings him back to the moment and he’s thankful the nail bat is still there. He sees Robin and Nancy talking and then before he knows it, pulling him and Eddie along to who knows where. His focus on the tattoos fade away and in place is just pain from his whole body.

Once they reach top-side again, his tattoos aren’t on his mind. The pain from the bites and road rash is the only thing he’s processing. Not processing that the kids are staring at him both in worry and curiosity because they didn’t know about the tattoos and the sunflower is peaking out from under the makeshift bandage and the broken crown is on display.

Thankfully Nancy gets everyone moving. He gets cleaned up and bandaged with actual bandages. They plan, steal a Winnebago, buy weapons and before Steve knows it, they’re back in the upside down and he’s telling Eddie and Dustin to not be stupid.

After it’s officially over, they’re in the hospital for several reasons. Max’s broken legs and arms, Dustin’s ankle, Eddie’s bites and Steve’s own bites. But it’s over and everyone is safe, that’s all Steve cares about really.

He gets cornered by Robin, and it’s not really cornered since he’s stuck in a hospital bed already. “Ok Dingus, now you’ll be explaining how the hell you managed to keep this a secret from me!”

Shrugging, because he doesn’t know exactly how to explain this. Especially since his brain is feeling like mush with the drugs they have him on. “I like tattoos” is all he says and then promptly falls asleep. He has good reason for it, there’s plenty of time to talk when he’s not high on pain meds.

~

I’m gonna leave it there because I’m lost on how to continue right now. I’ll definitely come back to it to do a part two of the actual conversations and why, how & when Steve got the tattoos. Here’s a better understanding of what they are tho:

Sunflower with fallen petals on his ribcage, the only one with color (his favorite) A broken crown on his collarbone (represents fallen King Steve, this was the first tattoo) The nail bat with lyrics from Mad World on his shoulder blade, “the dreams in which I’m dying are the best I’ve ever had” wrapping around it. Not mentioned because it hasn’t happened yet in the fic, he has a d20 (for Dustin) tattoo planned and a copy of one of Robin’s doodles from her shoes. (He’s a sentimental guy? Okay?!)

@i-less-than-three-you @artiststarme @imfinereallyy (hopefully you don’t mind I used your idea, I couldn’t get the post outta my head)

[outerspacebisexual]

A Place in this World - Steve Harrington

Book A - Part One: Teardrops On My Guitar

This is part one of my new Steve Harrington series loosely based on Taylor Swift songs. Please let me know what you think!

Pairing: Steve Harrington x Reader

Summary: Steve Harrington was always there, just not for you.

*Set sometime in s1, i guess?

Word count: 2.04k

Warnings: swearing, mean king steve, best friend eddie, bullying, i think that's it?

Masterlist

“You know, the longer you look, the uglier he gets.”

You jumped at Eddie’s voice as he appeared beside you. Rolling your eyes, you smacked him on the arm and said, “Liar. And how many times do I have to tell you to stop doing that.”

“Doing what?” He smirked.

You gestured to him. “Just, like, appearing. It creeps me out.” Shifting your eyes back over to Steve, you could feel Eddie doing the same. From where you stood beside your open locker, you could clearly see him down the hall. Well, him and Nancy. Standing very close. Very, very close.

You’d see this happen many times before with many different girls, but this time, Steve seemed genuinely struck by Nancy Wheeler.

“Come on, Stalker, it’s lunch,” Eddie said, clamping his hand down on your shoulder, dragging you out of your slowly darkening thoughts. His sympathetic smile made you huff, but you followed him to the cafeteria anyway.

As a resident of Hawkins, you’d known Steve all your life. You’d even been friendly in middle school when your parents had gotten to know the Harringtons through some business deal. You and Steve had begun to see each other more and more outside of school. Your parents shoved you and Steve together in a room at dinners and the forced proximity aided in becoming friendly enough that you said ‘hi’ to each other at school. That had some-what awkward friendship had continued into high school, but when Steve was with his friends, he wasn’t the same Steve that you knew. He was King Steve, and you were definitely on the opposite side of the social spectrum. So, the casual chats in the hallways reduced and faded to tight-lipped smiles as you passed each other.

Your friendship with Steve had also probably been affected by your tiny, little crush on him. I mean, who didn’t have a crush on Steve Harrington at some point? He was Steve Harrington. But you knew that he was King Steve and you were little old you.

The fact that you lived in a trailer and were friends with none other than Eddie ‘The Freak’ Munson, meant that you were labelled the same. Which didn’t so much bother you as it was inconvenient. There were so many times that you, Eddie, and your other friends were berated for your satanic cults and music taste and dress sense in the halls when you were just trying to live your life.

Plus, you’d been friends with Eddie for years. Neighbours first, then accidental run-ins collecting the mail, then casual hangouts. He’d even taught you how to play guitar, though while he preferred electric, you preferred acoustic. While he slacked off at school, you actually tried. That conversation had been a sore spot in your friendship for ages; you warning him he wouldn’t graduate, him not caring. Now, you’d given up. If he wanted to risk getting kept back, then it was his funeral.

By the time you’d made it to your table, the volume of the cafeteria combined with your late night at a gig last night had a headache beginning to take shape.

You zoned in and out before Eddie clicked his fingers in front of your face.

You blinked looking up to see everyone at the table’s eyes looking at you. “What?”

Eddie groaned and leaned back in his seat. “Are you serious? I just explained it all.”

“Explained what?”

“The basics for the new campaign. We were trying to decide on what afternoon to play.”

“Oh,” you said, shuffling food around on you plate with your fork. “I don’t mind. I—uh—I don’t even know if I’ll be able to play this one.”

Gasps and noises of protest started up, but you quickly shut it down. “All right, quit it. Some of us,” you said glaring at Eddie, “have jobs because we’re poor. The next few months have me working nearly every afternoon after school.”

Eddie scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Can’t Robin take some of your shifts?”

“Nope,” you said. “She’s cutting back her hours, hence me getting more.”

“You can’t take one afternoon off a week? It's just a job. This is our brand new campaign I’ve been working on for months.”

At that, you frowned. “Eddie,” you warned. You’d already talked about your job with him numerous times.

Eddie didn’t back down. “Come on,” he continued. “This is the only campaign where all of us are finally playing, you can’t be the only one who doesn’t. Just tell your boss you need one afternoon off a week.”

“I won’t tell my boss that I need time off to play a stupid new game when he’s the one paying me. I need the money. Just because your uncle lets you do whatever you want doesn’t mean everyone else can just accommodate for you.”

Immediately, you could see the anger building in his eyes, but between your headache and seeing Steve this morning, you couldn’t care less.

He leaned forward and sneered, “Glad to know my campaign is just a stupid new game to you. I’ll be sure to not bother you about it in future.”

The guilt was slowly starting to creep in, but you were too mad to even think about apologising right now. You stood up and started gathering your things. Your headache was building to a crescendo and if you didn’t leave right now, your head was going to explode.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

“Away from you.”

He scoffed again, leaning back and crossing his arms. “Very grown up.”

You didn’t even bother to reply before turning and leaving. Your hands trembled as you got closer to the door.

But before you could make it through them and to your locker where your pain meds were, someone was standing in your way.

It took you a few seconds to recognise that this person wasn’t just standing there by accident. When you looked up from the floor it was Carol Perkins standing there, signature smirky smile plastered across her face.

You attempted to move past her, but she stepped into your way again. You heaved in a breath. “Please move, Carol.”

She tilted her head. “Where are you off to in such a rush, weirdo? Did you and your little boyfriend break up?”

“Carol, please,” you said again, but she didn’t respond. She reached up and wrapped her fingers around a chunk of your hair and pulled it. Hard. It instantly brought tears to your eyes, and you shoved her back, making her stumble. God, that fucking hurt.

You managed one step towards the door when Tommy H. was suddenly in front of you. “Did you just push her, freak?”

“What’s going on here?” Your head spun to the left to see Steve standing there. His eyes flickered between you and Carol and Tommy H. In your mind, you were relieved. It was Steve. Even though you weren’t necessarily friends still, he would help.

“What happened is that she pushed me for no reason,” Carol spat. “Didn’t your mother ever tell you to keep your hands to yourself?” She reached out and gripped your hair again. You tried pushing her away again until you felt a cold liquid running down your head. The sticky substance ran down the side of your face.

“What the fuck?” you blurted out, stepping back when she let go. One step back and then Tommy H.’s orange juice was thrown all over your shirt, making it stick to your skin as you blinked trying to see through the juice that had stuck to your eyelashes.

“Steve,” Carol said.

Your eyes shot to Steve’s.

He wouldn’t, you thought. It was Steve. It was still Steve.

You were wrong.

The drink in his hand was added to the mix of liquids already covering you. You swore you saw him grimace and a flash of something cross his face, but you were moving before you could even think about it.

The laughter from not just those three, but their friends and others in the cafeteria echoed as you race down the halls.

Your locker. You had to get to your locker.

Your hands were slippery as you tried to enter your combination, made harder by the tears clouding your vision. In the distance, you heard the doors slam again and you worked faster, finally getting it open and snatching your pills before slamming it shut and hurrying to the exit.

Fuck school.

Fuck them.

Fuck Steve.

The sunlight outside was almost blinding making your head pound worse. You needed to leave.

Your plan to escape though was foiled when you realised that you’d caught a ride with Eddie this morning.

Reaching up to touch your hair, you felt the disgusting way it had begun to dry.

The exit doors slammed open, and you heard your name being called. You didn’t turn to look at Eddie as he reached you, you just started to sob. He pulled you against him and you didn’t even have it in you to hold him, arms hanging by your sides.

“Hey,” Eddie said, pulling away and running his eyes over your face and hair, down to your ruined shirt. “Let’s go.”

The drive to Eddie’s trailer flew by as you sobbed into your hands.

When he helped you out of his van and into your house, your sobs had finally subsided to silent tears. He sat on your bed as you took a shower, and his own head was in his hands as you emerged, hair dripping onto the carpet.

He looked up and you were both silent as you stared at each other. The silence stretched until you couldn’t take it anymore.

“Eddie, I’m sorry—”

“Don’t,” he said, causing your breath to hitch. “Don’t you dare apologise to me. I’m the one who should be apologising to you.”

You shook your head as you settled back against your headboard. Your pain meds had already started working. “No, I am sorry. I shouldn’t have been so mean to you. I do want to play, but I have to work these shifts or I’ll lose my job.”

“Hey, it’s OK. I was an asshole. I’m sorry for making you feel so bad about working. I was just bummed because I really wanted you to play. It’s no big deal.”

You scoffed. “Don’t lie, Eddie. It is a big deal to you, and I’m sorry I can’t take part this time.”

Eddie shrugged and reached down to pick up your guitar from where it rested beside your bed. “We’ll do a One Shot sometime.” He strummed a few chords, and the sound instantly had your body untensing. “Are you OK?” he asked after a few minutes.

A few moments went by before you said, “I hate them. I hate him.”

Eddie just sighed. “Yeah.”

“I just don’t understand why they hate us so much. They’re so mean to you and me and Gareth and everyone who they deem not cool.”

“I mean, we do have the whole ‘satanic cult’ thing going on, to be fair.” You huffed and he chuckled, placing your guitar down on the bed beside you. “Do you want me to stay?”

He would, you knew. If you asked him to, he would stay for however long you wanted him to. But you really wanted to be alone right now.

You shook your head and he nodded once. “I’ll be home, so just come over whenever.” And then he was gone.

The silence was deafening as you closed your eyes and laid down. You mind wouldn’t stop replaying the fight with Eddie and the incident with Carol and Tommy H. and Steve. The tears threatened to start again as you thought about it.

You knew that you weren’t close. You knew that he was King Steve and popular and those guys were his friends.

But you thought he was your friend, too.

You pulled your guitar closer as you finally let the tears go, fingers flicking over the strings quietly.

Steve Harrington wasn’t a nice guy.

He was just as bad as everyone else.

[findafight]

hi i'm the anon that sent the ask about someone telling joyce and oh my god it being hopper that says it is so good. i can totally see him doing that. i also love that you added steve finding out from murray bc that's always been my preferred hc for how steve would find out. murray saying something about it that's weird and out of pocket is him to a tee imo. poor steve i feel so bad for him in this au, at least hopper is on his side completely. ty for acknowledging how fucked up it is that nancy and jonathan but esp nancy never actually told steve. i wonder what she would've done/told him if steve hadn't bit the bullet and broken up w her.

Thank youuuu (love getting ask mwah) (also idk what to call the au) Listen I loooove Steve and Hopper accidentally adopting each other. In my brain Dustin talked up Steve's hair skills to El at the snowball and she gets all starry-eyed like he knows! Hair? :0 Dustin you have to convince Steve to come over to my house and help me with my hair and I will convince hop to let him come! I also need hair advice!! Hop barely has hair!! Which is how Steve gets a little sister pre S3 (like he always wanted) (he also gets max a bit later too godbless) (sibling collector lmao) Steve 100% calls Hop dad once without realizing and Hopper gets choked up and Steve's like you okay there?? And Hop has to go yeah yeah I'm finE so he doesn't embarrass Steve. That's the shit. (Also makes more Steve and El angst post S3 with hop gone and them being separated ;-;)

Hopper gets to be a jackass to on his kid's behalf and I think that's actually beautiful.

Oh, yeah. The more I've thought about it the more I feel like Steve has no clue Nancy cheated on him. We saw how he acted in S1 when he thought so and while S2 Steve wouldn't be so extreme, he'd definitely be crushed. And with S4...idk I don't think Steve knew about the cheating then. It just seems like he wouldn't. Want to go back after being cheated on? Or that he'd have some serious hang ups with Nancy. Even if he still loved her if he knew she slept with Jonathan, would he want to act on it? Also did he know they were still together? Does she mention Jonathan at all to anyone but Fred?

Also Murray. You bizarre jackass. Of COURSE it was him. He'd feel guilty about it because he totally thought Steve knew and he was just trying to be a dickhead but not like. Cruel. so it's awwwkwaaaard and not the fun kind he can manipulate just the sad kind that has Hopper glaring at him.

Yeah... I understand that the writers do not feel like Nancy cheated but I have eyes and media comprehension and know how relationships work and Nancy herself said she had Steve back home to Murray so. What else am I supposed to think. I get why Nancy and Jon don't interact with Steve after the Upside Down but like. Not even to apologize to him? Did Nancy's relationship with Steve mean so little to her? I do think she, at one point, did love Steve, or convinced herself of it and did care for him, but for her to drop him like a hot potato the second Jonathan gets the nerve to make a move (she said she waited a month for him before going back to a probably grovelling Steve [based on how desperate he was at the Byers' to apologize to Jon] and it's like Woah! Okay writers! What do you want us to believe about this relationship?!) So just. Why didn't she actually tell Steve what happened? Idk. Jon I kinda get he and Steve were love rivals and Jonathan is already awkward it probably would have been weird and also it wasn't his place to say! It should have been Nancy!

Honestly if Steve hadn't broken things off....idk. I don't think she necessarily would have continued with both of them, but I think Nancy tends to look for easy ways out of relationship hurdles. So. Maybe it would have festered for a few months, before Steve finally couldn't stand the tension and cut things off there. I don't actually think, based on what we've seen in the show, the scene between Nancy and Steve could have gone any different. Like. It should have. Nancy definitely could have acknowledged her role in the crumbling relationship, but I think Steve letting her go is a significant character beat for him. He chooses he's not going to hold onto someone who doesn't want to be with him. For me that's him trying to move past his issues from his parents and to continue to be better.

Yeah this au is not nice to poor Steve. He does have support! Robin and Eddie are both there and know everything, Hopper and El also know most stuff and are very worried about why he's so keen to leave the house all the time (he doesn't live there but he doesn't...not live there...) Buddy's got issues that will be heightened by all these things happening with Joyce!

[stevieharringtonwifeguy]

i think when steddie have their first baby (not sure if they have more) it's an accidental pregnancy. eddie's been on t long enough that he didn't really think he still could get pregnant, and he hasn't had his period in a while, so it takes him a second to realise why he's been so nauseous lately. wayne picks up the test for him, and waits outside the bathroom door while he takes it. eddie'd moved in with steve like a year ago, but he's so off-kilter he needs waynes stability right now.

the test is positive. eddie walks outside the bathroom and wordlessly hands wayne the test. wayne sees it, puts a hand on eddies shoulder, and asks if this is good news. and now eddie has to think. he always kind of wanted kids, abstractly, and he knows steve does too (six of them, the mother hen), but he always thought that it would be some time nebulously in the future. he feels too young right now, still feels like a kid himself, even if he is in his mid-20s. and carrying a pregnancy to term is resigning himself to at least 9 months of definite misgendering. but also he's not sure he'll ever get a chance like this again. he hasn't had a period in years, so he kind of assumed his uterus was just like. dust and cobwebs at this point. it's probably an act of god this happened in the first place, like what are the chances?

and then he looks down at his stomach. again, it took him a while to realise anything was up, so he's about two months along now and just starting to show, even though his bump is still small enough he thought he was just getting fat. and he thinks about the little bump of life inside of him. his and steve's baby. thinks of him and steve raising it together. and he thinks it might be good news.

but first he has to tell steve. it goes well. mostly well. at first when eddie says he and steve need to talk, all serious and sitting him down at the kitchen table, steve has a minor panic attack thinking eddie's gonna break up with him. but they smooth it over, and eddie tells him he's pregnant. honestly, steve's elated. but then he thinks about eddie, who's a dude, and maybe won't want to go through such a traditionally feminine ordeal as pregnancy. steve'd carry their baby himself if he could (don't read into that, steve), but he doesn't want to accidentally guilt eddie into it if he doesn't want to. so they go back and forth for a bit like 'how do you feel about it' 'idk how do you feel about it' 'idk how do y-' but they eventually do talk it out like the adults they are. eddie can handle it, for their baby. and yeah their apartments kinda small, but it's big enough for one more (robins gonna have to give up her allocated guest room, but don't worry, she's cool with it), and money will be tight, but eddie knows how to make a pay check stretch

eddie's pregnancy is kinda rough. nothing goes seriously wrong, but no obstetricians know how to deal with a pregnant man, and the constant misgendering wears him down a little. the constant pissing and back pain and foot pain and everything pain really don't help matters. but at night he lays down next to steve, who curls around him and lays a hand on his stomach, and they feel their baby kick together. and he thinks it's probably worth it

their baby girl is born in the fall, happy and healthy. they name her alexis (lexie munson), and she grows up into the weirdest little kid ever, with two parents (and aunty nancy and aunty robin and uncle dustin and-) who love her very much. she collects bugs and plays dnd and loves metal and climbing trees. she joins the softball team (that night eddie cries himself to sleep while stevie gloats) and always gets one of her aunts to help her with her homework because her parents are helpless. stevie almost cried the first time she asked, no idea what was going on there.

they're not a normal family, and sometimes lexi gets teased for this. but she goes home to two parents who love her so much, who always support her and her passions, and who would do anything to put a smile on her face. so yeah, not a normal family, but a very, very happy one.

[morganwrites12672]

Steve Harrington x Henderson!Reader

'I'm No Nancy Wheeler'

Steve has never fallen for a type like you. Never.

"How long does your hair take you little fucker," you yell at your brother as he puts in the finishing sprays of some Farrah Facet hair spray.

He had already been in there for half an hour. You still had to basically do everything but change. It didn't matter how long he took at this point. You were always late to class. He never was.

"One more damn minute in there, and you're going to be very late to your favorite class," you want and Dustin burts out of the bathroom, hairspray in hand.

"You wouldn't dare," he says and points the bottle at you. You scoff as you get into the bathroom. He was convinced you would never do something that serious. Mr. Clarke was his favorite teacher, Dustin worshiped the man.

"I would," you say as you shut the door. Your hair was, there wasn't the right word for it. It was a mess.

"Son of a bitch," Dustin yells as you begin working on the mess of hair resting atop your head. Dustin was definitely going to be late.

You finish up and look at your watch, 7:40am. Shit you were a lot later then you had wanted to be. You groan as you walk into your room and grab your backpack.

You take a last look in the mirror, tight flare jeans and a Bowie Tshirt. Bowie wasn't one of the main bands you listened to, but your brother persuaded you to listen to something less metal.

You slip on a black leather jacket before waking into Dustin's room. You notice his alarm clock says 7:42 A.M.

"Dustin, why is your clock set early?" You ask. There is no fucking way he would set your clock an hour ahead. He wouldn't.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit," Dustin yells and grabs his backpack. He did.

"I didn't want to be late," he reasons. You scoff and go to grab your backpack before storming to your car.

Dustin gets in shortly after and you tear out of the driveway. He made you lose an entire hour of sleep. Why? So he wouldn't be late.

----------------------------------------------------------

"Fuck off, I'm no Nancy Wheeler," you say to Steve harrington. He was a total asshole. He expected to get whatever he wants whenever he wants it.

"I'm not with Nancy Wheeler, plus I don't want to be. I want to be with you," he says and you cringe. Ew.

"So. You went from Nancy Wheeler, to Yn Henderson?" You ask him motioning to your attire. Did Nancy Wheeler even know what Bowie was?

"Look, I'm over her," Steve insists. You raise an eyebrow and scoff.

"Okay, what do I have to do to prove it to you?" Steve asks. He was so hopeful you would say something easy so he could just kiss you.

He loved your 'fuck off' attitude and was instantly pulled into a choke hold by you. He hated the fact that he fell for the biggest outcast in the school, but you were worth it.

He was getting over having to deal with all of the pressure of keeping his reputation perfect. Being king Steve wasn't easy.

"Fine. Fuck off and I will think about it," you reply and stalk off. You left to walk to some class you had, either history of math, and thought about it.

The answer was no.

----------------------------------------------------------

It had been two years since you had rejected Steve Harrington. He respected your wishes and waited for you to come to him. You hadn't.

That all changed when you saw working at scoops ahoy in that stupid uniform. Honestly, it should be illegal to look that good.

Steve and his stupid, slutty thighs. Steve and his stupid, slutty waist.

You walked over to the counter and rang the bell. Steve turned around and blushed.

"Get it over with Henderson," he said with a groan. You smiled and let out a little laugh. He had so idea you thought that that stupid uniform was hot.

"I don't know. Maybe you could help me?" You ask and lean on the counter. "I'm thinking cherries jubilee, maybe a banana boat sundae?" You say with a smile as Steve's eyebrows hit his hairline.

"I'm sorry?" He asks. He was very clearly shocked. "is this a stupid prank?" Steve asks.

"I did not plan this. Blame that slutty sailors outfit," you reply with a wink. Steve's jaw drops. You tap your finger under his chin so it doesn't literaly hit the floor.

"So, pick me up at,- what time do you get off?" You ask. Steve is still in shock as you fold your arms over your chest.

He couldn't believe it. He couldnt. You were different

There were a few small tattoos adorning your arms, and your black jeans clung to you. Low on your hips. Steve snapped back to reality and kept his mind from wandering.

How many nights had he pined over you? Wishing and hoping for a single kiss. A single hug even.

"Um, ten," he blurts and you smile before grabbing his hand and writing your number.

"You can pick me up at 11, maybe we could go to the arcade. They are open late on Saturdays during the summer," you say and give him a kiss on the cheek before walking off.

Steve stands in shock. H-

"You rule Harrington," Robin says with utter shock. How had Steve had a girl, a very, very, hot girl come up and basically ask him out?

"I rule?" Steve says and hears a groan.

"Was that my sister?" Dustin asks. That was when it hit him.

Steve had gotten a date with his sister. You despised Steve? Or did you?

Dustin didn't want to find out.

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Requests are open! Check my pinned post for details!

[munsons-maiden]

I saw the ask you received about someone saying that Joe said Eddie would hate it if someone loved him? What does that mean? Like, he said it meaning he wouldn't want a relationship? :(

That's definitely not what he meant; it's canon Eddie would like to have a romantic relationship because when asked in an interview what Joe would have wished for Eddie, or wished to see if Eddie had survived, was to "graduate, if he got to go on tour with Corroded Coffin, dress in better clothes. Maybe meet a nice girl, live a nice life". So the comment definitely wasn't about a romantic relationship.

I interpreted it as either "Eddie would hate to be loved by so many people" or, and that's the most fitting explanation in my opinion, that Eddie would hate to be loved despite wishing to be loved because deep inside he's insecure (the history of parental abuse, bullying and being ostracized would have left scars and no matter that Eddie knows he is worthy of love, that the bullies are in the wrong, some things stick with you).

I think Eddie believes in true love (else he wouldn't have a very genuine and serious heart-to-heart with Steve telling him to get Nancy back, to fight for love because Eddie, who really has no business caring about these strangers' love lives, cares because he can't stand to see lobe losing). He wants love, but he might not believe romantic love is in the cards for someone like him, the way he's been ostracized his whole life for being different, how the world is treating people like him. I think that's what he meant with "these cynical eyes". Someone with Eddie's background would be cynical when it comes to love because he didn't have the most positive examples regarding relationships - his uncle isn't in one as far as we know, and while we don't know much about his parents, we can definitely infer how their relationship might have gone.

But Eddie is also a dreamer. He loves Lord of the Rings and stories, fantasy and tales of dragons and knights and Good conquering Evil, to the point that he immerses himself in a game with exactly these topics. He treats women with genuine respect, and he treats people with genuine kindness as soon as he sees he doesn't need to defend himself because they won't harm him. Just like with Chrissy and Steve, who he thought would be mean and scary but quickly let their kindness correct his judgement, Eddie is cynical be he wants to be proven wrong because in the end, the cynicism is a defense mechanism. If you expect the worst, people will hurt you less, have less power to hurt you. But Eddie wants to be proven wrong. He wants to believe in Good, in kindness, and he has every reason to because he is kind, he looks out for others, gives them a safe space.

I always say this: Eddie might habe the eyes of a cynic - but his heart is that of a romantic.