#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.

[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.

[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. 

[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

[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)

[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.

[artiststarme]

Exes and Oh’s

Based on a prompt from @nburkhardt and some comments from @i-less-than-three-you. I hope you guys like it and please leave your thoughts in the comments!

Title brought to you by @kissaphobic-kas

~*~*~*~

When Robin told Steve that she and Nancy were dating, he was happy for her. Of course he was, his best friend was finally in a true relationship and he was thrilled that Nancy could be who she needed. He had no reason not to be happy and supportive of them. And yet, there was still something holding him back from giving them his full support. 

While it had been literal years since they dated, Nancy had broken his heart. She’d torn it from his chest, trampled all over it, looked at the bottom of her shoe, and called it bullshit. Deep down, Steve was afraid she’d do the same thing to Robin. 

Robin was his best friend and he didn’t want to see her hurt. He’d already had to coach her through the disappointment and dejection of losing the potential of dating Vickie and he’d seen how upset she was after that. He couldn’t even imagine how she’d react to getting her heart broken by Nance or how depressed she’d get when Nancy called her bullshit. It had taken Steve months before he could even look at Nancy without feeling his heart break and he certainly didn’t want that for Robin. 

With every happy smile he gave them came a look of wariness and after a few weeks, everyone started noticing it. 

Robin started creating more distance between them, Nancy started glaring at him when she picked up Robin from work, and even the kids started calling him out on it. Dustin, in particular, made sure to voice his thoughts on the matter. 

“You have to move on from Nancy, Steve! She’s with Robin now. You had your chance with both of them and now it’s just pathetic!” Dustin told him one night when he picked him up from DnD. The little bastard had staged some sort of subpar intervention for him. 

Steve was not amused and was quick to come to his own defense. “What the hell are you talking about? I don’t have a thing for Nance or Robin. I’m happy for them!” 

“Steve, we can see that you still like Nancy but Robin is with her now. You have to get over her,” Lucas said gently. The other kids nodded in agreement and even the other Hellfire guys tilted their heads in agreement. The only kid that didn’t nod or make a nasty remark was surprisingly Mike Wheeler. He had a look of understanding in his eyes like he understood why Steve was hesitant and it was throwing him off. 

Steve sputtered at them, unsure of what to say to make them believe that he truly was 100% over Nancy Wheeler. Eddie, as usual, came to his rescue.

“Hey, listen up you little shits. Steve says there’s nothing going on so that means there’s nothing going on. Drop it or your characters are going to take some serious hit points.”

The kids grumbled a little bit but they did drop the subject for the time being. They all shuffled around to collect their items before marching outside to plan yet another ambush on him, probably. 

Then there was Eddie. His boyfriend that he’d been dating all summer, the best friend turned boyfriend that no one knew about yet. Steve could tell that he was curious. When wasn’t he? But he was trying his best to be respectful despite the obvious tension between Steve and the rest of the Party. Steve couldn’t help but love him just a little bit more for having his back when no one else did. 

Steve mentioned it to Eddie the next day while they were lounging around the Munson’s trailer. “You know I don’t love her still, right? Like Dustin said? That ship has sailed, definitely.”

Eddie’s eyebrow quirked and his face brightened with a cocky smirk. “Yeah Steve, you had my dick in your mouth an hour ago. That ship hasn’t just sailed, it sank to the bottom of the ocean and disintegrated into dust like your heterosexuality. What’s the real issue that’s got you so upset?”

Steve gave him an unimpressed look at his crass but he had a point. Eddie had absolutely nothing to worry about between him and Nancy. He deserved to hear the full story. 

“You remember what happened at Tina’s Halloween party?” Eddie nodded. He’d already told Steve in the past that he’d heard the entire train wreck of a conversation through the thin walls of Tina’s house so he’d had a front row seat to their breakup. “Nancy really hurt me. She called our entire relationship bullshit. She called me bullshit! And that really fucked me up for a long time, still does sometimes. I can’t even hear the word ‘bullshit’ without feeling like a failure even still. I just… I don’t want Robin to have to feel like that. You know?”

Eddie thought for a second before he nodded. “You’re worried about her, that’s understandable. Nancy hurt you and she might hurt Robin too. But she might not. And Robin knows the risks, you told her about how Nancy hurt you, right? She knows what she’s getting into and she’s willing to take that chance.”

“Um no, I haven’t told Robin about it.”

Eddie’s head jerked over to him and he looked at him in shock. “Why not? She’s your best friend, why wouldn’t you complain about your crappy ex with her?”

“Well first of all, that crappy ex is her current girlfriend-” Steve started. 

“I mean before she started dating her and you know it-”

“Second of all, it’s embarrassing. What was I supposed to tell her? ‘Hey Robs, I wanted to let you know that Nancy broke my heart and hurt my feelings because I was a bad boyfriend and I don’t want her hurting you’? That wouldn't go well.” Steve shook his head. No, he didn’t quite know how to fix things with her but talking about his past heartbreak wasn’t going to do it. 

“Stevie, baby. You just have to talk with her and she’ll understand. You guys are Platonic with a capital P soulmates. Just tell her and she’ll understand,” Eddie murmured to him. He kissed the back of Steve’s hand and rubbed the back of his neck. 

“You really don’t care?” Steve asked him. 

“Do I care that you’re concerned for your best friend? Stevie, you could be doing so much worse. Caring for your friend isn’t a red flag. I was accused of murder, which is a pretty big red flag, and you’re still with me,” Eddie laughed. 

“Well that’s because you didn’t do it!” Steve protested. 

“Steve, you could do anything and I would still love you,” Eddie told him earnestly.

“What if I actually killed someone?” 

“Then we’d have to bury the body and then move because my reputation can’t handle any more murder accusations.”

What was Steve supposed to do in response to that besides kiss him?

He did end up talking to Robin a few hours after his talk with Eddie. There were tears, hugs, and a particularly memorable shovel talk between Steve and Nancy. Everything went back to normal and it stayed like that until Mike Wheeler walked in on Steve and Eddie making out. Then, the tentative understanding that existed between them flew right out the window. 

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[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!

[harringtonstilinski]

Always The Babysitter - Chapter One: The Vanishing of Will Byers

Author:@harringtonstilinski​ Characters: Steve Harrington x Olivia Henderson(OC) (eventually) Word Count: 3,008 Warnings: lil' bit of angst, lil' bit of fluff, not proofread Smut: no | yes; A/N: Hi, friends! Another rewrite series is upon us!! I'm so excited for y'all to read this one, and I hope y'all are just as excited!! If you are, please do not hesitate to reblog and give some feedback, whether it be in the reblogs, comments, or my inbox. As always, read at your own risk and enjoy 😊

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November 6, 1983. A normal fall night in Hawkins, Indiana. A Sunday night spent in the basement at my little brother’s best friend’s house. My brother is Dustin Henderson. His best friend is Mike Wheeler. They’re both here with their other best friends, Will Byers and Lucas Sinclair. 

I’m Olivia Henderson, and I do not want to be here. You see, Mike has an older sister named Nancy. She and I used to be the best of friends… before she started dating my other best friend, but we’ll get to that later.

“Something is coming,” Mike said. “Something hungry for blood. A shadow grows on the wall behind you, swallowing you in darkness. It is almost here.”

I watched as all four boys playing a board game called Dungeons and Dragons, or D&D for short. They were all so immersed, I seriously think they all thought I left.

“What is it?” Will asked, almost excitedly.

I smiled at him, so happy to see him excited and happy about something, even if it was just a board game. He’d been through so much with his parents splitting and fighting all the time.

“What if it’s the Demogorgon?” Dustin asked.

I stood up from where I sat on the couch, moving towards the group.

“Oh, Jesus. We’re so screwed if it’s the Demogorgon.”

“It’s not the Demogorgon,” Lucas said, completely sure of his answer.

“It’s definitely the Demogorgon,” I whispered, face scrunched.

“Shut up, Liv,” Dustin said.

Slamming a gaming piece on the board, Mike said, “An army of troglodytes charge into the chamber!”

Lucas pointed at the board like he was right as my brother said, “Troglodytes?” with a smile on his face.

“Told ya,” Lucas chuckled.

Mike went serious as the rest of the group chuckled a little. “Wait a minute.”

I walked slowly around the table, as Mike thought for a moment. “Something is coming. Something hungry for blood.”

“Did you hear that?” Mike said, looking to his left. “That… that sound? Boom… boom… BOOM!” He slammed his hands on the table, the other three young boys jumping a little in their chairs.

“That didn’t come from the troglodytes,” I whispered, now standing behind Dustin. “That… that came from something else.”

Slamming another gaming piece on the board, Mike yelled, “The Demogorgon!”

The boys groaned as I chuckled.

“We’re in deep shit,” Dustin said, to which I smacked his hat off his head.

“Will, your action!” Mike said.

“I don’t know,” the young Byers boy exclaimed.

“Fireball him!” Lucas exclaimed.

“I’d have to roll a 13 or higher!”

Looking at Will, Dustin said, “It’s too risky. Cast a Protection spell.”

“Don’t be a pussy,” Lucas said. “Fireball him!”

“Cast Protection.”

Slamming his hands on the table yet again, Mike exclaimed, “The Demogorgon is tired of your silly human bickering! It stomps towards you. Boom!”

“Fireball him!” Lucas said.

“Another stomp! Boom!”

“Cast Protection!” Dustin said.

Looking up at me, Will asked, “Liv, what should I do?”

Shrugging, I answered, “I say cast Protection, but Fireballing sounds fun.”

“He roars in anger!” Mike yelled.

Everyone at the table started talking over each other before Will decided to roll the dice and yell out, “Fireball!” as the dice flew across the table and onto the floor.

The four of them quickly got up and started looking for the dice, wanting to see what numbers Will rolled. Dustin paced while saying, “Oh, my god,” over and over again.

“Mike!” Mrs. Wheeler yelled.

“Mom, we’re in the middle of a campaign!” the middle Wheeler said.

“You mean the end? Fifteen after.”

I looked at my watch with wide eyes, mouth agape after a second. “Shit. Dustin, we gotta go.”

“Why do we have to go?” Will asked.

“Because it’s a school night, Will,” I said, putting my jacket on. I looked at Dustin, watching as he put on his jacket as Will said, “Does a seven count?”

“Did Mike see it?” Lucas asked. “Then it doesn’t count.”

Not totally understanding the meaning behind that, I said, “Come on, boys. I can bring you back over next weekend for another 2 hour game.”

“It was 10,” Dustin said, picking up a box of pizza.

“You been playing for ten hours?”

Ignoring my question, my brother said, “Anyone want this?”

“No,” Will and Lucas said.

“Liv?”

I looked at the ceiling, thinking for a minute. “See if Nance wants it.”

“I thought you were mad at her,” Lucas said.

“Mad? No. Upset? Yes.”

“What’s the–”

“Don’t get involved,” Dustin said. “It’s complicated. Come on, Liv.”

Dustin and I walked up the stairs, and I immediately wished I hadn’t because what I heard made me want to rip my own ears off.

“Yeah, he’s cute,” Nancy said. “Barb, no. I don’t think so.”

Dustin waved at her, trying to get her attention. “Hey, Nancy. There’s a slice left if you want it. Sausage and pepperoni!”

I watched as Nancy rolled her eyes and told Barb to hold on before putting the phone down and walking over to her bedroom door… closing it in our faces.

“Do not let her bother you,” I said, the two of us walking down the stairs and to the garage door. “She’s just being a bitch.”

“There’s something wrong with your sister,” Dustin said as I closed the door behind us.

“What are you talking about?” Mike asked.

Will, Lucas, Dustin and myself all got on our bikes as Dustin said, “She’s got a stick up her butt.”

“Yeah. It’s because she’s been dating that douche bag, Steve Harrington,” Lucas said.

“Watch it, Sinclair,” I said.

“Yeah, don’t talk about Steve like that around Olivia,” Dustin defended. “Douche Bag was her best friend before Nance came along and she started becoming a real jerk.”

“She’s always been a real jerk,” Mike and I answered.

“She used to be cool. Like that time she dressed up as an elf for our Elder Tree campaign.”

“That was me,” I said, riding off with two of the younger boys. I stopped pedaling when I heard Will say, “It was a seven. The roll, it was a seven. The Demogorgon, it got me. See ya tomorrow.”

As soon as Will met me at the end of the driveway, I pedaled behind him after waving bye to Mike. When we made it to Lucas' house, he turned to us and said, “Goodnight, ladies and Liv!”

“Kiss your mom ‘night for me,” Dustin teased. He looked at Will and said, “Race back to our place? Winner gets a comic.”

“Any comic?” Will asked.

“Yeah.”

My chuckle turned into a laugh as Will started pedaling faster towards mine and Dustin’s house. Unintentionally, Dustin yelled, “I’m gonna kill you!”

“I’ll take your X-Men 134!” Will yelled, passing by our mailbox.

Dustin stopped, putting his feet flat on the ground. “Son of a bitch.”

I stopped beside Dustin, laughing, as I heard our mom yell out, “Livvie! Phone call!”

“I really wish she would stop calling me Livvie.”

Dustin chuckled as we made our way up the driveway, parking our bikes before heading inside, where I took my phone call in my bedroom.

“Yeah, hello?”

“Did you do the homework for Click’s class?”

“Hello to you, too.”

“Did you?”

I sighed, and hung my head. “Yes. But I’m not doing it for you?” I heard yelling on the other end of line. “Go before you get even more trouble for something you probably didn’t do.”

~~~

Since our mom works part time, she lets me take her car to school… but not on this Monday morning. I didn’t mind riding my bike, though. It was good exercise. When the boys and I made it to the high school, I stopped my bike and put it on the bike rack before bidding Lucas, Dustin and Mike a good day at school.

Right as I started walking up the school doors, I watched as Nancy Wheeler did the same. We smiled at each other a little, almost walking together like we used to. She went to say something before her friend Barbra Holland walked up.

“So, did he call?” Barb asked.

“Did who call?” I asked, acting oblivious. I knew exactly who she was talking about.

“Keep your voice down,” Nancy said, almost whining in her tone.

“Did he?” Barb inquired.

“Okay, someone has to fill me in,” I said.

“Barb, I told you, it’s not like that,” Nancy said. “Okay, I mean, yes, he likes me, but not like that. We just…” Nancy stopped at her locker, as did I. Our lockers were next to each other. “Made out a couple times.”

Barb mimicked her as I poked my head from behind Nancy, and said, “Will one of you please quit ignoring me and tell me who the hell she’s talking about?”

“Nance, seriously, you’re gonna be so cool now, it’s ridiculous,” Barb said.

“No, I’m not,” Nancy said.

“Hey, Olivia,” a random girl said.

“Hey, queen Liv,” another girl said.

I sighed, and closed my eyes. “Really wish they wouldn’t call me that.”

“Why?” Barb asked. “Because you got the nickname by association with Steve and now you two aren’t friends anymore?”

I held a finger out to her. “We never said we weren’t friends anymore. We just… drifted apart, is all. Happens all the time.” I looked at the back of Nancy’s head, gesturing to the younger girl. “Back to the task at hand.”

“You better still hang out with us, that’s all I’m saying,” Barb said.

“Us?”

“Yes. Us. I’m declaring you two friends again. But, Nance, if you become friends with Tommy H. and Carol–”

“Gross,” I mumbled. 

“It was a one-time– two-time thing,” Nancy said, opening her locker.

I chuckled as Nancy put stuff in her locker before she grabbed a piece of paper in handwriting that I knew all too well.

Barb and I looked at each other before we said in unison, “You were saying?”

Nancy put the note back in her locker before closing it. She turned to face me, asking with her eyes if I’d meet her at the bathroom, to which I nodded my head and silently told her yes.

The only thing I heard before she walked out of the bathroom was the words to study in a stern, but almost playful voice by Nancy. When Steve opened the door a couple minutes after Nancy walked out, he and I locked eyes. 

“I really hope you’re being careful with her,” I said. “She doesn’t need to have the reputation like all of your other cohorts. She isn’t like that.”

“Liv, I’m not–”

“You better not be. Don’t forget, I know where you sleep.”

He smiled a little, knowing I was right. I guess he decided to have some weird lame-ass comeback ‘cause he said, “Clothes get a little darker there, Henderson?”

When he looked over my head, I realized why he said that. Tommy H. and Carol.

“Yeah, well, I’d rather dress in dark clothing than dress like the ultimate geek,” I said. Turning to face Tommy H and Carol, I really didn’t want to waste my breath on them, so I just rolled my eyes and walked away.

“That’s right,” Carol said. “Walk away.”

Turning to walk backwards, I said, “Hey, Carol. Why don’t you stop being a bitch? Maybe then you wouldn’t have to beg for friendships from people that dress like nerds.” I walked straight to class, not thinking about them for the rest of the morning.

~~~

Third period. Not my favorite, but then again it was my favorite because that meant that lunch was next and all I wanted was to sit on the hood of Steve’s car and eat my lunch without him knowing.

When the Principal and Chief Hopper showed up at the door, knocking on it, my nerves went up about 100%. My first thought was Dustin, that something had happened to him. When the Principal called my name and had me follow the Chief to the Middle School, I kept quiet, not wanting to ask too many questions.

When we got to the AV room and I saw that Dustin was perfectly okay, I sighed in relief, hugging him when they entered the hall. The four of us followed Hopper to the Principal’s office, who joked that he never thought he’d see me in his office again.

Once the boys and I were sitting down on the couch, Hopper started asking his questions, and the boys started talking over each other.

“One at a time, alright?” Hopper said. He looked at Mike and asked, “You said he takes what?” “Mirkwood,” Mike answered. 

“Mirkwood?”

“Yeah.”

Turning to Officer Callahan, Hopper asked, “Have you ever heard of Mirkwood?”

“I have not,” Callahan answered. “Sounds made up to me.” “No, it’s from Lord of the Rings,” Lucas said.

“Well, The Hobbit,” Dustin corrected.

“Here we go,” I sighed. 

As Lucas and Dustin started their bickering, Hopper leaned forward saying, “What did I just say? One at a damn time.” Looking at Mike again, he said, “You.”

“Mirkwood, it’s a real road,” Mike said, before looking up at me.

I sighed and said, “It’s just the name that’s made up. It’s where Cornwallis and Kerley meet.”

Leaning back, Hopper said, “Yeah, alright, I think I know that–”

“We can show you, if you want,” Mike said.

“I said that I know it!”

“We can help.”

As the boys agreed, Hopper disagreed. “After school, you are all to go home. Immediately.” He looked at me and continued, “Make sure they don’t go biking around looking for their friend. No investigating, no nonsense. This isn’t some Lord of the Rings book.”

“The Hobbit,” Dustin said.

“Dustin, shut the hell up,” I said.

As the boys bickered, once again, Hopper looked at me and asked, “Do I make myself clear?”

“Inescapably clear.”

He stood up and looked at the boys, asking, “Do I make myself… clear?”

Once they all agreed, we were let go and Hopper walked me back to the high school, where his car was parked.

Before I walked back into the building, I turned and said, “Hey, Hop?”

He looked at me, pointedly, telling me to correct myself.

I sighed. “Chief.”

At his look of almost relaxation, I asked, “Do you think Will’s in danger or do you think something happened to him?”

He sighed, brushing his hand over his face. “I don’t know, kid. If he went home and then vanished, maybe his dad–”

“That piece of shit wouldn’t come back for his son,” I said, almost angry. 

Hop sighed again. “Look, I’m just not sure. I’ll keep you updated. Get back to class.”

~~~

I looked at my phone, confused, as it rang. I picked the receiver, putting the earpiece to my ear. “Hello?”

“Can you come help me study?”

I sighed into the mouthpiece. “Nance. There’s a curfew in place because of Will missing.”

“Please?”

“Nance, I can’t. I can’t break the curfew.”

She sighed on her end. “You used to sneak out all the time.”

“Yeah. With Steve because we were both little shits,” I chuckled. I sighed, thinking it over for a moment. “Okay. I’ll come over–”

“Nevermind,” she said. “Steve’s here.”

“Don’t get caught,” I said, hanging up the phone. Dustin burst through my door a few seconds later, jacket and backpack on. “What are you doing and where are you going?”

“Looking for Will. You’re coming.”

~~~

Neither boy gave me a chance to try and explain why I didn’t want to go out looking for Will, but alas! Here I am. In the cold. Standing the barriers the police put up. Nice.

Getting off my bike, I mumbled, “You three are going to get me into some deep shit with the police.”

“Like you haven’t been in enough trouble with them already,” Lucas mumbled back.

“Watch it, Sinclair.”

“You feel that?” Dustin asked, a few seconds after a low rumble came from the sky.

I felt a raindrop on the top of my head, so I put my jacket’s hood on to protect my hair. 

“I think maybe we should go back.”

“For once, I agree,” I said.

“No,” Mike said. “We’re not going back. Just stay close.” He and Lucas started going under the barrier while Dustin and I looked at each other, deciding that since we were both here and bound to get in trouble, we might as well just follow the other two.

I’m following three 12 year olds? Gross. 

“Just stay on Channel Six. Don’t do anything stupid,” Mike continued.

The four of us started our hike into the woods in the torrential downpour happening, yelling out Will’s name, in the hope that he’d answer back.

“Will!” I yelled. “This isn’t funny! WILL!”

“I’ve got your X-Men 134!” Dustin yelled. “I really think we should turn back.”

“Seriously, Dustin?” Lucas said. “You wanna be a baby, then go home already!”

I walked up to Lucas and grabbed his jacket, pulling him  back. “Would you quit being a damn bully? Look, we’re all scared! Dustin’s just not that great at hiding it. We’re going to stay searching for Will, even though Hopper told us to stay at home.”

“Did you ever think Will went missing ‘cause he ran into something bad?” Dustin asked. “And we’re going to the exact same spot where he was last seen? And we have no weapons, or anything?” “Dustin, shut up,” Mike said, more calmly than Lucas.

“I’m just saying, does that seem smart to you?”

Putting his hand back to stop my brother in his tracks, Mike said, “Shut up, shut up.”

That’s when I heard rustling and went to stand in front of the three pre-teens. We all turned to our left, not seeing anything. We, then, turned to our right, seeing what looked like a little boy in a yellow shirt, drenched in the rain. 

Upon further inspection, the little boy turned out to be a little girl, and my big sister instinct kicked in like crazy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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~~~

A/N 2:  hi, friends! i hope y’all liked this, and it got y’all excited for always the babysitter. i’m working as hard as i can on it. again, please do not hesitate to reblog and give some feedback, whether it be in the reblogs, comments, or my inbox.

Additional Note: i know that some of y’all are waiting to see your requests, and i promise i’ll get to them. the writer’s block hit really bad with them. atb is the only thing i have motivation to write for at the moment. once i receive my ged, i’ll have more time to sit down and write them.

~~~

Forever / Everything Taglist: @stiles-o-dylan24​​ @stixnstripesworld​ @fandom-princess-forevermore​​​ @quanticobae​​​ @mischiefandi​​​ @kellyashcroft @lauren-novak​​​​

Steve Harrington Taglist: none yet!

If you’re tagged and didn’t want to be, please let me know.

~~~

*Please don’t post my writing anywhere else without my consent. The author of this work will always and forever be @harringtonstilinski​.

All characters, story lines, and plot aside from y/n and her storyline & plot, are all of the work of The Duffer Brothers.

*These works contain material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited.

No part of these works may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author / publisher.

Posted on November 6, 2023 *Happy Stranger Things Day!*

[hermionesmoon]

byers hate/lack of media literacy/homophobia within the stranger things fandom:

this is such a braindead take like tell me you can’t understand media literacy without telling me you can can’t understand media literacy

1. the blatant homophobia- do they even know who the target audience of stranger things is for? like if you have such a big issue with gay characters then stranger things isn’t the show for you

2. calling will and johnathan stale and boring/not understanding will being gay IS a big part of the story- this is actually so insane it’s like these people watch the show with their eyes closed. when johnathan found out about the demagorgan in season 1 he immediately tried to find it to kill it with nancy they came up with a whole plan to capture it at only 16/17 years old. as for will i’m genuinely so mad cause there’s no way. without will there wouldn’t be a stranger things, will MAKES the show in season 1 he went missing and everything revolved around finding him, in season 2 the mind flyer was in him and most of the plot yet again was revolves around him, now in season 3 he did have less of a story which i dislike BUT it did show how he was STILL connected to the mind flayer and could warn everyone when he was near the season also showed how wills childhood was took away from him and how he wanted nothing more but than to have it back also it showed will and mikes friendship changing in season 4 it showed will growing up and realizing he can’t change that he’s gay and he has to learn to except it (which is definitely why the commenter is mad cause they don’t like gay characters obviously), it showed how good a a brother johnathan is the will and how their bond also strengthened, and when they went back to hawkins it tells us that will is STILL connected to vecna which will obviously play a big part in season 5. and i know i said i wasn’t gonna go too much into byler but if we’re being serious byler is literally such a big part in the show in season 1 they wouldn’t have found el if mike didn’t want to go look for will, in season 2 mike stayed by wills side and showed them growing closer, in season 3 we saw a change in mike and wills friendship it seemed like mike was pushing will away for some reason after being best friends since they were 5 then he randomly brought up will not liking girls why would he ever have that thought?? in season 4 we watch mike come to california acting weird and very distant with will to the point where he just started ignoring him for the most part hmm i wonder why??? also he brought up AGAIN about him and will only being friends when will never said otherwise and after that we just see them getting closer and closer while mileven crumbled.

3. saying all will wants to do is play dnd- oh i wonder why.. maybe because at the young age of 12 he had his whole life change in only one night and was trapped in another dimension for a week WHILE BEING HUNTED,HUNGRY,COLD,AND TIRED. in season 2 he was only 13 but was still traumatized about what happened to him on top of still being connected to the upside down and literally living inbetween worlds while also having to deal with bullying then gets possessed and in season 3 he’s 14 the summer finally came and it seems like everything is back to normal so will just wants his childhood back and to play the game he loves with his friends and you’re really gonna get mad over it??

4. johnathan is annoying but shipping stancy- that’s more of an opinion but it’s still not true and simply weird cause johnathan might be annoying to you but he still loves nancy and treats her right unlike steve did (not hating on steve just being realistic) in season 1 steve was just trash and let his friends call nancy a derogatory word in season 2 steve didn’t care that nancy’s best friend had died and wasn’t there for her the way she needed and in season 4 steve was being weird to nancy even tho she had a boyfriend telling her he wants to have 6 kids with her??? like come on now

5.hopes will comes out and everyone forgets about it cause it’s not relevant- this is actually the most insane thing i talked about this in number 2 but i’m gonna talk about how many stranger things fans are homophobic like how the hell- stranger things was created for the freaks/geeks/and oppressed they already have 2 confirmed gay characters and even more queer-coded characters. there’s so many relationships in the show but you’re mad about a boy being gay when it hasn’t even been verbally said in the show while all the other characters in straight relationships are shown all the time when it’s “not relevant” also i noticed how they didn’t say anything about ronin being a lesbian even tho she’s the only one that has come out.. so the person is probably another weirdo who fetishizes lesbians while hating gay men.

can’t wait for them to watch season 5 where most of the season will and mike are together and start dating and hopefully jancy fully comes back together and is endgame

also why do these people act like characters have to be doing something every second for them to be good characters? just because these ppl can’t use context clues and aren’t understanding doesn’t mean certain characters are “stale”

[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.

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

Requests are open! Check my pinned post for details!

[satan-is-obsessed]

I thought about platonic!Stobin being two oblivious idiots while also bery much trying to help rach other out with their love lives soo here we have it.

"Oblivious Soulmates"

Robin walks into Steve's house one afternoon, lounges herself up the stairs, then stops and takes a deep breath.

"You can do it, Buckley." - breathes out and opens the door to his bedroom.

"Steven" she says, face dead serious.

"Robin" he replies and huffs a laugh, however her face doesn't change which makes his face scrunch in concern. "Everything okay?" he adds.

"We need to talk"

"Ah, yeah. I think i know what about, too" Steve was waiting for the day this conversation took place. Preparing himself, thinking about it for a loong time.

"Wait, seriously?" she lights up, drops on the bed, relieved, shoulders slumped again, the tension leaving her body.

"Yeah, I mean, I thought about it for a long time, day and night, came to the conclusion and am good with it." he really did spend a LOT of sleepless night just rolling in his bed, thinking the topic through, making his peace with it.

"God, Dingus. I thought I'll have this huge conversation that's gonna be SO hard and awkward to get through, that you're gonna be mad I even brought it up in the first place, but i just couldn't hold it in anymore. I mean I love you so much, you know that, but it was getting insufferable to be around." she's fully laying down now, looking at the ceiling.

"Dude, I know we share history but I didn't think I was, like, complaining or anything" Steve is feeling a little shy and feels the redness creeping up. Was he really acting like an asshole about the whole thing?

"Wait" Robin pulls herself up on her elbow to see her best friends face better. "What are you talking about?"

"What are you talking about?" the boy looks confused. "I'm talking about your crush on Nance"

"Your crush on Eddie" they both say at the same time.

"WHAT?!" again, both screaming at each other. They jump up as if they got electrocuted, stand on different sides of the room.

"I don't have a crush" again, together.

"Okay, stop talking with me, it's getting creepy" Robin says, calms down, walks back to the bed.

"I came here to confront your sickingly, quite disgusting truly, insufferable pining for Eddie. I mean just ask him out already, I can't listen yo you whine anymore, dude. He's completely heads over heels for you and everyone can see it, he'll definitely say yes." she's basically growling now, as if she's tired of the topic she started.

"I don't, wait, he is? NO! WAIT. I don't- if ANYONE has a crush it's YOU!" he points the finger accusingly at his soulmate "You talk about Nancy ALL. THE. TIME. What she's wearing, what she did last weekend, how smart she is, how she's such a badass, how good her hair looks, etc., etc." Steve is laying next to her now, exasperated sigh leaving his mouth.

They're both blushing beet red.

"You really thought I was here to talk about my crush on Nancy and was about to say you're good with it?"

"Of course, idiot. You're like my sister, my best friend, my soulmate-

"Platonic with a capital P" she adds.

"-platonic soulmate. I just want the best for you cause I love you, dude. It took me some time to get used to the idea cause you know she hurt me, but we all changed, and our relationship wasn't perfect, plus it's been years and I can see the way she looks at you, too. Ever since Jon and her broke up she's been blushing and gushing and keeping her eyes on you wherever we go." Steve nudges Robs now, teasing her a bit.

"I love you. But! You are an idiot, too. You act the exact same way about Eddie. That's the whole reason I'm even here in the first place. You two have been dancing around each other for MONTHS! And you're both single and have been since we met. Quite frankly I'm tired. Tired of seeing and hearing you talk about him day and night, 24/7 everytime we're together it's something new yet the exact same as you already said 1000 times before"

"Okay, wow, so you wanted me to come out about my crush and now you're just bashing me. How about you leave and come back when you feel like being a little more ni-OW!" Steve hadn't had a chance to finish cause a pillow smacked him straight across the face. He pulled it put of the girls hands and hit her upside the head.

"OW!" they're both giggling now, clutching their stomachs.

"You should ask him out, I'm serious."

"So should you"

"Ask Eddie out? I don't think he's my type, Dingus"

"You know what I mean, Robs" Steve turns around to look her in the eyes.

"Yeah, yeah. Okay. How about ... we make a bet? The one that asks their crush out quicker pays for the kids next arcade trip?" Robin suggested.

Without even as much as a second to think about it, Steve is off the bed and running downstairs to the phone.

"Hey! Cheater!" she's screaming, tripping up while running to the staircase.

"I'M NOT A CHEATER, JUST HAVE QUICK REFLEXES!!" he screams back, already in the kitchen.

At the end, Steve still loses cause Eddie picks up on the second try while Nancy was walking by the phone the second Robin called. They go on double dates.

[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.

[eriquin]

The Trolley Problem, Part 8

Hello! It's Eddie! Steve has finally noticed him.

(master post)

Part 8

So Steve went back to school with the idea of a plan. He could pretend that the future events were just a story he was writing, and that he was looking for someone to help him with it. Since the story centered around a bunch of kids running around Hawkins, he couldn’t bring it to either Nancy or Jonathan. They would definitely recognize their little brothers. But those kids also got involved in everything because of their shared hobby, and he knew someone at the school who was an expert in that hobby. He just had to figure out how to talk to him long enough to convince him to help.

The cafeteria was always noisy, but sometimes something would set off Eddie Munson and he would launch into a tabletop rant, yelling at the different tables around him about whatever had irked him recently. Today was one of those days. For once, Steve leaned back and paid attention to what he was saying. He was ranting about homecoming, which had already happened a few weeks before, and it launched from there into his disdain for the football playoffs. Steve knew that Hawkins was going to lose its next game, but right now the school was excited about it. Eddie was berating them all for their school spirit. It was funny to watch, and it made Steve laugh about how tightly tied everyone was to their school identities, Eddie included.  

“Hey, Tommy?” he asked, getting his friend to look up from his seat down on the other side of the table. The people next to him looked over as well. Carol was off talking to some girls from her art class, but there were a couple of other juniors sitting with them. Steve gestured for Tommy to come closer so that they could talk without being overheard, and Tommy complied almost immediately.

“What’s up?” he whispered. The way his eyes lit up at Steve having actually initiated a conversation made Steve’s heart ache, just a little bit. He wished that Tommy was someone he could tell about the weird shit that was going to go down, but it was safer if he wasn’t involved at all.

Steve kept his voice low. “Hey, Munson sells stuff, right?” he asked. Tommy looked surprised, but nodded. “You ever buy from him?”

“Yeah.” Tommy got a pinched look on his face. “Why do you ask?” 

“How does it work? How do I get in contact with him?”

“I can get it for you, if you need something.” 

“I know that, Tom, I just—” Steve rubbed his temples. “I need to talk to him about something and I don’t want everyone in the whole school to see, you know? I’d actually rather they think I was buying drugs from him, if anything.”

Tommy frowned deeply. He kept his voice at a whisper, but he sounded pissed when he asked,  “What do you need to talk to The Freak about, Harrington?” 

Steve sighed and leaned back in his chair. “Tom, I really can’t tell you. Look, you just gotta trust me on this. Just this once? I will tell you when it’s over.” 

Tommy pulled his chair closer to Steve. “Look, man,” he said. “Whatever it is, you know I’m in, right? Like, if you have some weird shit you need done, you don’t even need to explain it. Just point me at it, tell me where to be, and I’m there.” 

The sincerity in Tommy’s face almost made Steve cave and tell him. He gave it serious thought. Tommy might balk and not believe him, might think he was crazy, but then again he might just be ready to throw down with whatever monster showed up. Carol, too. And it might get either of them killed, and then Steve would never forgive himself. “Tom, I wish I could tell you,” he said. “But it’s not... I just can’t. Not yet.”

“But you can talk about it to Munson?” Tommy scoffed, but he still kept his voice low.

“Not like you think,” Steve said. “There’s a rumor, and it’s about something dangerous, and I need to ask Eddie some stuff to figure out if it’s true or not. Look, it’s probably nothing. Once I clear it up, I swear I’ll explain why I’ve been acting so weird.” 

Tommy frowned, practically pouting. “You promise?” 

“I promise,” Steve said. Internally, he thought that if he managed to keep Barb alive and Will from being kidnapped, he’d also avoid any fucked up NDAs that the lab might make him sign. Then he could tell both of them whatever he wanted. It wasn’t like they’d believe him. 

Tommy held out his hand for Steve to shake, and Steve did. Then he told Steve how to find the picnic bench out in the woods, and when Munson was likely to be there. “But be careful. He’s kind of skittish and if he doesn’t like you, he’s just as likely to fight you as send you away.”

Steve glanced over at Eddie, who was still standing on the table despite there being a teacher there, telling him off. Eddie had a rounder face than he remembered, but it might’ve been because his hair was shorter, like a bob of chin-length curls. He still wore the same leather jacket and clunky rings. Steve remembered him cowering a boat house, terrified and helpless, and then coming to terms with the reality of monsters and psychic murderers. Underneath the prickly exterior, he was a good guy. “I think I can handle him,” Steve said.