#stranger things brainworm

[n33dlew0rk]

I'm kinda illegally rewatching season one and gods how I wish Eddie was a side character all along.

Like how would he not know / be friends with Jonathan? Jonathan who is an artistic loner who listens to The Clash and breaks open a glove compartment with a pocket knife to steal his dad's gun.

How would he not know / ace Mr. Clarke's classes when he was younger? Mr. Clarke that has no issue whatsoever explaining to kids about alternate dimensions because he knows perfectly what the Vale of Shadows is.

I feel ROBBED every time I spot a detail that would go hand in hand with Eddie.

[avalonlights]

"Yes sir."

[remxedmoon]

isat npc designs!!!!! wahoo!!!!!

greyscale versions below :3

i don’t really have much to say about the colors here?? all of these fellas are vaugardian (i think) so i just kept their palettes Warm. i did give claude stains on her coat because i think she drops Chemicals on it all the time and doesn’t wash it throughly enough to get the stains out. other than that all of these are pretty straightforward!!

[snowangeldotmp3]

a study in season 2 nancy wheeler, featuring WILDFLOWER by billie eilish

guilt || grief || ghosts // ribs

[dreamofbecoming]

ok fuck it context now on ao3

—

“I’m freaking out, man!”

“You’re what? Why? This is like, what you’ve been waiting for, isn’t it?”

“I mean, yeah, dude, but now it’s here, it’s happening, and tomorrow it’ll be done and I can’t take it back!”

“Do you want to take it back? Because I think that’s a terrible idea, but if it’s really what you want, I’ll sneak you out the back right now.”

Dustin deflates a little, slumping into the plush chair this weird little church greenroom was nice enough to provide. “No, I don’t want to leave. Of course I don’t.”

Steve puts his hands on Dustin’s shoulders, not massaging, just resting. He doesn’t want to smear too much of his scent onto him before the ceremony, but old habits die hard. Steve suspects he’s always going to want to scent the kids for comfort, even though they’re literally all grown and starting families of their own and don’t need their old omega babysitter anymore.

Case in point, Dustin’s wedding is meant to start in, oh, looks like about 25 minutes, so Steve has to smooth this crisis over double time.

“What’s really bothering you, Dust? You were over the moon yesterday, and the day before that, and every day since you and Susie proposed to each other. Hell, every day since you met! What’s going on now?”

There’s a pause, which is always unsettling coming from Dustin, who hasn’t shut up for more than twelve consecutive minutes in the decade plus Steve has known him, but then he sighs.

“She wants kids.”

Steve’s brow furrows. “And you…don’t?”

Dustin huffs, frustration rising in his scent. “It’s not that I don’t, it’s that I don’t know if it’s a good idea, you know?”

“And you guys haven’t talked about this before now? You’ve been together for like eleven years, dude!”

“We have, of course we have! I’m just thinking about the risks, Steve! I’m a beta, I can’t carry her pups, and pregnancies are dicey for alpha females! What if something happens?”

“First of all don’t call women females, it’s weird. Erica or Nance will definitely smack you for that, and you don’t need a black eye in your wedding photos.” Dustin nods, cringing a little.

“Second, pregnancy isn’t the only option, man, and also it’s her decision. If she wants to carry them, that’s a discussion you need to have with her, but you can’t just shut her down about it. She knew you were a beta when she decided to marry you. She picked you because she loves you, don’t go deciding for her she’s better off with someone else. And besides, if you decide it doesn’t feel right for both of you, you can talk about adoption, or surrogacy, or…I don’t know what all the options are, but I bet there’s tons! Hell, I’d carry for you guys, if you wanted.”

“You would?” Dustin’s eyes get big and shiny almost immediately, and shit, Steve’s gotta shut this down now. The groom can’t be going out there with red eyes and tear stains, Susie will murder Steve on principle.

But he can’t lie to Dustin. Swore he never would, not when it mattered. “Course I would, man, what’s family for? Aw hell, kid, don’t cry, your mate will run me over with her car if your photos are fucked up because of me.”

“I just- I can’t believe you’d do that for me! You don’t even know if I’ll be any good at it!”

Ah, so that’s what this is really about.

“Of course you’ll be good at it, Henderson. You’d be an incredible dad, any kid would be lucky to have you. I mean, your kids are gonna turn out to be nerd city, but that was always a given.”

Dustin gives him a bitchy little eye roll, which was of course Steve’s aim. He still smells anxious, though.

“How can you be sure, though? It’s not like I have any idea what a dad is supposed to be like, you know? It’s why I kept latching onto older male figures, no offense to you and Eddie.”

Little shit. “You should be so lucky, you little twerp.”

Dustin shoves him away, but he’s grinning now, and his scent is slowly returning to the lemon-bright joy that colors it so often Steve just associates it with Dustin’s base scent at this point, so he’ll take the win.

“You really wanna know how I know you’ll make a great dad, Dustybun?”

“Don’t fucking call me that, today’s supposed to be my day!”

“I’m your best man, I’ll call you whatever I want. Seriously though, I have a story for you.”

“A story, huh? I don’t know, Eddie’s more the storyteller in your relationship…”

“I’m gonna go out there and tell your bride to delay the ceremony because you shat your slacks and need new ones, you menace.”

“Okay, okay!” Dustin laughs. “Tell your story.”

“I was gonna put this in my speech later, but I think you need to hear it now, and honestly it might be more about me than you, and I don’t want to steal the spotlight or anything.”

“Not worried about that, but I’m intrigued.”

“You know how when you’re a kid, you learn how to pick out emotion scents by context clues, from like your family and stuff?”

Dustin lifts an unimpressed eyebrow. “Yes, Steve, I’m aware of one of the foundational tenets of our society, which we all personally experienced.”

“Almost fifteen years I’ve known you, and your attitude hasn’t improved one bit, you know that?”

Dustin waves imperiously for him to continue. Steve glares at him, but they really are running short on time.

“You ever know a kid who had like, a gap? Some feeling they had never run into before, so they didn’t know what the smell meant?” Dustin shakes his head, looking curious.

“There was this girl in my class when we were like, seven? Eight? Something like that. Anyway, she borrowed Tommy’s favorite eraser, one of those animal-shaped ones with the faces printed on? He loved that thing. The girl, Cassie, she broke it, by accident. Tommy lost his shit. I’d never seen him so angry. And like, you know how little kids emotions don’t really come through that strong? He smelled like, grown-up angry. Filled the whole room. Freaked the teacher out, too. Everyone’s backing the hell up out of Tommy’s way, even me. But Cassie was just confused. Because no adult in her life had ever been truly angry around her, so she hadn’t learned what it smelled like yet.”

Dustin is listening avidly, looking gratifyingly similar to how he does when Eddie DMs.

“Anyway, Tommy slapped her so hard it left a bruise, got his dumb ass suspended. But I just remember being so jealous, you know? Can you imagine? Eight years old and never knew what anger smelled like. Hell, at that point anger was just what home smelled like to me.”

Aw shit, now Dustin just smells sad.

“Do you remember when I drove you to the Snow Ball?”

Dustin’s got his thinking face on now, trying to figure out why Steve keeps jumping all over the place. Sue him, he’s no Eddie.

He nods anyway.

“Before you got out of the car, when I told you I’d come back to pick you up, you gave me this huge smile, and the car filled up with something I’d never smelled before. Not really, anyway. Maybe like, in passing, you know? Like in the hallway at school, but always faint and never towards me, so I never focused on it.”

Dustin’s eyebrows are totally scrunched up now, little genius brain whirring away. Goddamn brat never had any patience.

“I didn’t ask about it, because I wasn’t sure it was important, and also a little because I felt like enough of a caveman around you little rocket scientist dweebs I didn’t need you explaining feelings to me too, but I kept smelling it from you after that. And from El, and a little from Lucas and Max and even once from your mom, but it was just confusing, you know? I couldn’t figure out what was causing it, so I had no context clues to figure out what it meant.

“And then at Starcourt, after Robin and I went to go puke up those Russian drugs—”

“Ditched me and Erica who were very responsibly trying to wrangle you, you mean.”

“Tomato, tomahto, kid. Anyway, I told her I had a crush on her and she panicked and came out to me, so I switched to making fun of her crush so she would know I was okay with it, and suddenly there was that smell again. First time I ever smelled it coming from her. So after everything was done, I asked her.”

“Oh, so you’ll ask her, but not me? Hurtful, Steve.”

Steve rolls his eyes. “Yeah, shithead, because Robbie already knew I was a moron, and she was never gonna want to go out with me, so I didn’t need to impress her. I could look stupid to Rob back then, but I still wanted you guys to think I was cool.”

“Steve, buddy, my brother, my best friend, my favorite jock please don’t tell Lucas I said that, we literally never thought you were cool.”

“Now who’s being hurtful?”

“Just the truth, Munson. I tell it like it is.”

“Ugh, whatever. The point is, I asked Bobbie what she felt for me in that bathroom, and she told me that’s when she realized she would love me forever. That we were going to be best friends.”

Dustin looks stricken.

“That’s what I was smelling all that time. Honey. That’s what I smelled in the car in the Hawkins Middle parking lot. You loved me. You were literally the first person in my whole life who ever did.”

“Steve—”

“This isn’t—look, I know it’s kind of sad and pathetic for kid Steve, but this isn’t about that. It’s not about me, okay? It’s about how my whole life turned around the day Dustin Henderson decided he loved me, because he never stopped. Not for a single second of the last thirteen years, and because you loved me then, I have a platonic soulmate and a horde of little siblings and a mate I adore and more friends than I can count on all my fingers and toes! You’re the one who encouraged me to go to cosmetology school, you’re the one who introduced me to Eddie, you’re the one who stood by me and let me crash on your mom’s couch when my parents kicked me out. My life is full of love, and joy, and purpose, and it all started with you, Dustin. I’m here because you loved me, and because once you started loving me you never stopped. I have smelled honey on you every single day since the 1984 Snow Ball, and that’s how I know you’ll be an incredible father. Because if you have all that love for a washed up ex-jock omega nobody had ever loved before? You’ll have all that and more times a million for any kid lucky enough to call you Dad.”

They’re both crying by now. Susie is gonna kill them for sure, but as Dustin buries himself in Steve’s arms like he’s still six inches shorter, Steve decides it doesn’t matter. This is worth it.

There’s a knock at the door, just in time it seems.

“Dingus, baby Dingus, you in there? T minus 5 minutes, boys, stick those feet in the oven if you gotta!”

“Yeah, Bobs, I hear you! We’ll be out in a sec, no cold feet in sight.”

“Roger that, bubba! I’ll inform the bride!” He can hear her racing off, probably dancing with pre-wedding excitement. For a cynical lesbian who has a new girlfriend every month and swears marriage is an archaic institution built on misogyny and omegaphobia, she sure does love weddings.

“You ready, kid?”

Dustin has taken the brief interlude as an opportunity to splash his face with water from the sink in the corner, so he doesn’t look like he’s been crying to into Steve’s shoulder, but Steve makes sure to straighten his tie and finger comb his curls back into place.

“Yeah, I think I’m ready.” He looks at Steve for a long moment, then throws his arms around him one last time. “I’m really glad you’re my brother, Steve.”

Steve squeezes him tighter for a moment, breathing in the familiar scent of lemon and cut grass and honey. Of family. Of love.

“Yeah, kid. Me too.”

[voidpacifist]

I have a new brainworm about steve harrington that I need (NEED!!) to share

imagine this for me: it's 1983. nothing eventful happens, at least in the supernatural sense. steve and nancy still date, he still drops his terrible friends when he realizes they're not gonna support him if it doesn't fit their agenda, he still accidentally becomes close to a bunch of seventh graders when nance asks him if he can babysit--

(not that he'd ever say no to her, but it's not what he envisioned the summer of '84 to be like, okay?)

--and overall, things are relatively normal for him. his parents continue to be absent, but they still get excited for him when they learn he has a girlfriend or won a new award at the end of the school year for something sporty or what have you. they're not bad people, they just don't know how to be good parents. and they're always, always away.

but the thing about 1983, is that his final interaction with tommy before he "broke up" their friendship by dating someone kind and sweet and "perfect" like nancy, was him getting absolutely wailed on. enough that he went to the hospital with a severe concussion and some damage to his optic nerve. the doctors told him he already has something going on with his vision to begin with, probably a genetic disease passed down from one of his folks, that increase his chances of going blind earlier in life. meaning, if push came to shove, his vision could go entirely if he got into any more scruples with ex-friends or people who just generally disliked him.

and then lucas sinclair asks him for dating advice, because he likes max mayfield, the new girl in his class, and ultimately it lands steve being the chauffeur for their first date just days after halloween in 1984. by now, he and nancy have broken up — they weren't emotionally available in the ways they needed to be with one another, and steve knows his dream of the future is different from her own. this time, there's no speech about bullshit or faking it. they simply both know that their expiration is upon them and call it quits.

(it still hurts, but he told lucas to shoot his shot, because if there's anything he's learned by dating nancy wheeler, it's that projecting his heartbreak and hurt onto others is a gateway to toxicity in the water; and by god he is not sabotaging this kids emotional maturity, okay? okay)

so he takes the kids to bennys burgers, because lucas insists it's "cool enough" for this girl, and he doesn't want to overdo it by going somewhere too fancy. but when steve returns to pick them up, there's a hiccup in the plan.

billy, maxs step-brother and steve's most recent bother at school, is there, gearing up to try and scare lucas off, or do something worse. steve, anointed babysitter and generally protective friend, steps in without hesitation. the fight that results makes the local news. steve lands in the hospital again.

his vision doesn't go completely, but it goes enough. enough that he can't drive, enough that he'll have to find large print books or simply relearn to read altogether in braille. enough that he's advised to get a cane or a guide dog. enough that, when all is said and done, his old life has been completely upended.

jonathan--

(the same jonathan who has now swept nancy off her feet the way steve used to)

--surprisingly, is the one who ends up getting close to steve after this. he tells steve about what it was like when will was found after being missing for a week, about how he knows it isn't the same, but that he relates to the feeling of oh god, everythings different and nothing I used to have is coming back. he doesn't divulge on the details, but steve knows he's serious about understanding the feeling.

even more surprising is nancy, who commands him every day that god dammit steve, your life is not coming back unless you take it back yourself and then reassures him in the same breath that he's not weak for needing help doing so.

and then the kids join in too. and steve harrington isnt a king anymore of anything, but he's the king of his own life, he's the king of himself. he starts going back to school even when he feels embarrassed to be there, like he's an imposter or ill equipped. he starts going to public places just to meet poorly concealed whispers with something friendly and witty in return. he starts taking his power back in a way that never needs to hurt anyone, that never needs to hurt himself.

he also discovers he loves bright colors — neons and pinks and reds especially. he takes a trip with nancy and barb one day to indy on some sort of girls trip (they've long since made up since the first house party, and barb latches onto steve as a best friend shockingly fast in the wake of his and tommy's split), and it's there that he meets someone punk for the first time. he develops a fixation on the colored hair, the leather and spikes and denim with safety pins in it. he badgers the girls about teaching him how to wear eyeliner.

it's his gateway into punk style, which is then a further path into the subculture itself, into colored laces and battle vests and the politics and social aspects. steve takes to it like a fish to water.

the name steve harrington used to mean something entirely different. even though he calls his parents every day since the incident, even though they've been back to see him multiple times, even though they've tried to be present in their strange, semi-absent way, they still haven't seen him since his transformation from local jock to local punk.

needless to say, he spends a lot more time educating them about his "waywardness" and a lot less time actually excitedly telling them about the next color of his hair. but the harringtons aren't unaware — they can see how while this may be a creative way for steve to begin expressing and discovering himself, it's also an armor. no one really wants to fuck with someone who will trip you with his cane if you're being an asshole, someone who wears a lot of spikes and other sharp objects on their body for fun.

so they let it be. and they stay a little longer, this time.

this shift doesn't go unnoticed by the local gossips, but it also doesn't go unnoticed by the "freaks and geeks" at school. he develops, quite by accident, a reputation that rivals that of the king of freaks at hawkins. eddie munson wears the title proudly, clings to it with every antic and every quip that feeds into the rumors about him. but he respects what it took for steve to get here.

so he invites him along to a hellfire session. which turns into two. which turns into steve becoming a party member, which turns into him excitedly telling the kids he babysits that he gets it now, that yes, they can absolutely host their games at his house as long as they have rides back home.

but as he and eddie get closer as friends, eddie notices that as well as steve has done accepting himself as he is, he still misses the things he used to do without thinking much about needing sight to do it. contact sports and movies and other very visually inclined things. and listen, eddie's happy that steve has renounced the toxic social scene of jockdom, he really is, but he also recognizes a guy who misses pieces of his old life.

(he finds himself missing his old life, the life before wayne, all the time, just for the parts that didn't hurt him)

so eddie, much to steves surprise, suggests he try joining the swim team for the final quarter of his senior year. and hey, fuck it, what can it hurt? he's already a nerd now as well as a punk as well as disabled — he can go for one more oddball, not-quite-jock occupation. the coach has several stipulations, all of which steve takes in stride.

he's granted a tryout. he doesn't make it on.

eddie, in his wildest nightmares, doesn't touch sports. he's already athletic in other regards, naturally good at sprinting and lifting heavy things from taking equipment to and from band practice. he doesn't think he actually needs sports, but he's willing to go with steve to lake jordan to keep practicing. he's seen how stubborn harrington is, and he's not about to stop it.

eventually, they do these laps across the lake and back (it's a pretty small lake) just to get high once they're done. and fuck, if steve can swim the length of the lake, he can get a job at the new starcourt mall. and he does. he's there at scoops ahoy the bare minimum of hours they're required to give him to technically say he's employed, but at least he has work. his friends visit him there after their own jobs are done for the day, and eddie consistently shows up just to bug him.

robin, his coworker, is impressed and startled by this version of steve. she'd say she doesn't trust it, but there's nothing to trust really, about the shock of bright green hair or the way his eyes aren't actually that focused looking, or about the way he casually tells stories about getting high and swimming the length of lake jordan. not to mention, the chemistry he can't physically or metaphorically see between him and eddie is laughable to her, and entirely too obvious.

she ends up with one bad trip from the wrong dealer, and steve stays with her through the comedown, and she realizes she would probably die for him, because he sits there and listens to her buzzed ramble about tammy thompson and his bagel crumbs and other dumb shit from when he was still in high school. he's the first person she's ever come out to, and she's the first person he's ever thought could be a soulmate, the kind he'd never give his body but would marry in a heartbeat if she asked him.

he tells her about billy. she tells him about her mother. they tell each other a lot of secrets, more than he's ever told jonathan and nancy, or barb, or even eddie.

and then their workplace gets set on fire from a gas leak after hours. they pack up and go to family video, because they're a package deal. it's barb being on the crew that convinces keith to let steve take the job, and he has a new shtick joking about being a blind guy who likes movies.

then eddie probably takes him to one or two or maybe five. then they maybe make out after one of their swims. then steve starts going to eddies shows at the hideout, starts going with him damn near everywhere, and this was the kind of companionship he needed from the get go but didn't have. the kind where they support each other's interests without changing themselves for it, the kind where there is love born from fierce and unwavering friendship, the kind where loyalty is unquestionable but agreeing all the time is optional. and god.

steve harrington has been blind for a year. and he wears metal in his face and color in his hair. and he and his friends gather for movies just for the enjoyment of it. and he swims the lakes of hawkins with his boyfriend. and he plays dungeons and dragons with the kids who haven't let go of him just yet. and his parents aren't who he needs them to be yet, but they're trying. everyones trying. and eveyrone is enough.

and he's enough, at the end of the day.

[midsummer-semantics]

wiggly wednesday 🪱

Okay sure, this sounds fun. I was tagged by @medusapelagia to share a brainworm/headcanon, and I've been trying to get one to develop more fully so here we go.

Today, I'm thinking about...

Steve and Eddie going through some of Eddie's old things as they pack up to move into their own place. Nancy and Robin are there to help even though that mostly consists of Robin picking through already-packed boxes because she keeps getting distracted by all of the things she finds.

Steve finds what looks to be a really old photo album, the sticky pages holding the photos down yellow with age.

"Oh, shit," Eddie says, taking it from him to flip through. "I haven't seen this in ages. I was sure it was lost when all the shit went down."

"Oh my god, please tell me there's embarrassing baby pictures of you in there," Robin grins, trying to snatch it away.

Eddie holds it out of reach, nearly throwing it as Robin tries to tackle him for it.

"Jesus Christ! I'll show you, just keep your insane paws to yourself!" Eddie gripes.

Steve scoots in closer while Robin and Nancy crowd in on his other side, all wanting a closer look.

There's not many pictures in it and most are grainy and out of focus, black and white and hard to distinguish. But there's a few of a baby with an unmistakeable crop of riotous curls.

"Holy shit, you were so cute," Steve coos, running a finger along the 2D cheek of one photo.

"Excuse you, Harrington, but I'm still cute," Eddie snarks, flipping to the next page.

There's one photo of a young man holding baby Eddie, dark curls so similar to his own atop his head. The photo looks to have been torn down the middle, the right side pressed right against baby Eddie's back, like whoever was on the other side was better left out of the picture long term.

"Huh," Steve hums. "It never occurred to me that I had no idea what your dad looks like."

"And for good reason, babe," Eddie says, fighting not to rip the photo out and burn it. "Thankfully all I got from him was his hair and penchant for hot wiring. Everything else I got from my mom I guess."

"You guess?" Nancy asks.

Eddie nods. "She died when I was a baby and the old man kind of went off the rails after. I suspect this—" he runs a finger along the jagged edge of the photo in the book, "is his handy work."

"That's a shame," Steve says softly. He lifts the plastic covering the photo and peels it off the sticky backing, holding it up to his face to get a closer look — his eye sight is pretty back after so many concussions after all.

"Ya know, if his hair was a little longer, like mullet style, he'd almost look like a dark-haired Billy Hargrove," Steve points out.

Robin snatches the photo out of his hand, holding it out stretched like she can see it better that way instead. "Oh, shit. You're right. That's so weird."

Eddie snatches it back, top lip curled in disgust. "I don't want to speak ill of the dead, but how fucking dare you in any way compare my gorgeous existence to that guy."

Steve snickers and presses a kiss to Eddie's cheek. "I'm sorry, babe. You're right."

The photo gets tucked back into its place and they keep flipping through the book. There's more of Eddie as an infant, a few more of his dad, even a couple of a young Wayne in his military uniform holding a toddler Eddie by his arms as he jumps up, legs gangly and wild. Any photo that might have contained Eddie's mom is ripped, none of them cleanly, and there's only the occasional hand or blur of dark hair. Even still, it does stop happening once Eddie's about six months old.

"Wow. So you really don't know what your mom looks like?" Nancy asks finally as they're setting the photo album in a box.

"Oh no I do," Eddie says. "I have one singular picture of her from right after I was born. Wayne saved it for me."

"Oooooo can we see?" Robin pipes in. Eddie shrugs, getting up to dig through a shoebox that Steve's seen before but somehow managed to avoid snooping through — not that he didn't think about it all the time for the last year they've been together.

He comes back with a photo, plopping back into his spot while his friends and boyfriend crowd around him once more.

It's dead silent for several minutes, all of them staring at the picture. Eddie always figured his uncle was on to something when he said Eddie looked more like his mom, but now that he's about her age when this photo was taken, he thinks he can really see it.

On his left, Steve is trying to process exactly what he's looking at. Sure, the woman in the photo looks like she has the same dark hair that Eddie does, though it's a lot less curly, but aside from the hair and the tired look on her face, she could be a dead ringer for —

"Either Mrs. Wheeler has a doppleganger, or a secret twin we don't know about," he says.

He glances at Robin for a second before looking at Eddie and Nancy. They're heads are bowed over the photo, wearing matching expressions of wide-eyed shock.

Wait.

Matching.

Oh shit.

"Eddie," Robin says carefully. "What's your mom's name?"

His jaw opens and closes a few times before he croaks out, "Elizabeth, but Wayne said she only ever went by—"

"Her middle name?" Nancy asks, the fear of knowing the answer obvious in the wobble of her voice.

Eddie flips the photo over to look at the names and date written on the back. He's looked at it a million times, tracing her loopy handwriting so much over the years that it's slightly smudged, but still legible.

Karen Elizabeth Harvey + Edward Wayne Munson, November 1965

"Oh shit."

——————————————

no-pressure tags if anyone also wants to share a brainworm: @tedewitt @hornedqueenofhell @malikat24601 @spectrum-spectre

[badcaseofcasey]

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7

If anyone asked Steve about his words, he’d say he didn’t even remember getting them. That he was so young when it happened, he can't remember. Some would tell him he’s lucky; he knows his soulmate is out there, but he doesn’t know who, so he can date and meet people freely, knowing that one day he’ll meet back up with the person he’s “meant to be with.”

Others would shake their heads in pity, tell him that it must be hard to have met your soulmate and then lost them again. To not remember that magical moment of the words buzzing across his skin as they appeared and he first caught a glimpse of his soulmate. There were entire genres of movies, books, and songs dedicated to that first moment, and he doesn’t get to remember it.

But of course Steve remembers it.

How could he forget the moment when he realized that finally, he knew for sure that there was someone out there who loved him and would keep loving him no matter what? At least, that’s how it felt when it happened, all the way back when he was in elementary school.

He had been at the park one day after school with one of the many nannies he had growing up, his parents away on  another of his dad’s business trips. Even this young, he can remember seeing the other parents at the park and wondering if it was weird that he always seemed to come with his nanny.

Steve was working on building a very intricate sandcastle in the sand box when he heard his words, and felt the accompanying prickle across his rib cage that he would later learn meant his words had snaked their way up his side.

“Hey, wanna fight a dragon with me?”

Part 2

[apomaro-mellow]

Part B

I just wanted a bit of Eddie losing control while protecting Steve and their unborn child and this word vomit came out.

“He’s making FOOLS of us Juliana!” 

Alric Harrington ripped up the invitation that had been sent. His wife sat in a corner, rubbing her round belly worriedly. 

“He gets himself kidnapped, then fornicates with this beast, IS CARRYING HIS SEED, and now...” He breathed in deep. After his outburst his next words were deceivingly quiet. “Now he is planning to parade under the legitimacy of marriage.”

“You don’t really think that he could be...that he could be carrying, do you?”, Juliana’s eyes were glistening. “It’s not possible. It’s-”

“Blasphemy. He has been a stain on the royal family for too long. And I have neglected my duties as a father.”

“My love-”

“I will do what needs to be done! For the sake of our name. So our next child can come into a pure world.”

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

The castle had been buzzing with activity. The kind that Steve would love to oversee. If only his groom-to-be could find it in him to let him go. 

“I would like to get out of bed sometime today”, Steve said.

Eddie growled against his ear, hands pressed protectively around his torso. Most of their mornings for the past month had been like this. Ever since they realized their coupling had taken and Steve was pregnant. With him only being a few weeks along, there wasn’t an official announcement but everyone in the castle knew which meant the rumor was probably flying outside the walls of their home as well.

The day they confirmed it, Eddie immediately went to the balcony and shouted it to the heavens for all to hear. He had been ecstatic, elated. And then horny. And then fiercely protective.

Usually, they were slow to get out of bed for more romantic reasons. Now, Steve couldn’t get Eddie to let him go until his baser instincts were satisfied and knew he and his child wouldn’t meet their end the moment they left the bedroom.

When he was finally able to leave, he was able to look on the wedding preparations. Steve couldn’t help but think about how he had started in this place. Stolen from his kingdom and sulking in a cold dungeon. Now he was a king in all but name.

Preparations went on and just a few weeks into them, Steve received a message from his parents. It was an official announcement. The birth of the new crown prince, Tristan Harrington. When Steve read through it, his hands shook. Eddie held them to ground him.

“They don’t deserve you, love. You don’t need to involve yourself with them anymore.”

“Eddie, it’s not about me.” He put a hand to his belly, thinking of their own future child. “They’re going to ruin him. That’s my brother, I can’t ignore that.”

Eddie kissed his knuckles. “What do you want to do?”

Steve separated the announcement from another letter. “This came with it. My father wants to meet with you.”

Eddie growled. The last time that man called on Steve, his carriage just happened to be accosted by bandits. Eddie still wasn’t convinced that wasn’t somehow his father’s doing.

“I think he wants to negotiate. Maybe, in his own self delusion, he’s seeing this as a political marriage. Which means opportunity for him.”

“He doesn’t get to use you like a pawn after he threw you away”, Eddie said, wishing he’d used softer words when he saw how Steve flinched. “I don’t have to meet with him. I am a king, he does not order me.”

“Eddie...if we play our cards right maybe...”, Steve sighed. What he was hoping for seemed so lofty but he just had to believe it. “Maybe they’ll let me be in my brother’s life.”

Steve knew what would probably happen if they didn’t try. His name would be wiped from the royal record, his brother would be left completely in the dark about him and grow up under the same oppressive hand as he did. Or things could be worse to keep him from going down the same road as Steve.

Any anger Eddie had dissipated when he looked into his love’s eyes. He’d do anything for this man. Eddie leaned over, putting their heads together. 

“I’ll talk to him. But you owe me~”, he grinned, starting to kiss at the side of Steve’s face.

“Oh? Pledging myself eternally to you and bearing your heirs isn’t enough”, Steve teased.

“Heirssssss?”

“It appears I’ve bedded a snake.”

“Steve, my light, are you...?”

“I’m barely showing. But Jeff is predicting twins.”

And then Eddie purred and Steve knew he’d lost him. He kept going anyway.

“Robin is saying it’s gonna be a whole litter but I know she’s just teasing like she does-”

Eddie pushed him to the bed and all conversation stopped right there.

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

Unusual for a royal procession, they kept their party small. Eddie didn’t trust the people they were going to. He kept their most loyal back at the castle. Both to keep up with the wedding preparations and to make sure nothing happened while they were gone. Robin had protested but she was the only one Steve trusted with his vision for his wedding day and he needed someone who wouldn’t rile Eddie up the whole time. He loved Robin, but she could be an instigator, which was why they brought Jeff. 

When the castle gates were in sight, Steve held Eddie’s hand and looked to him.

“Now when we get there, you have to promise me-”

“Anything, sweetness.”

“No theatrics.”

“Hm, almost anything.”

“Eddie.”

“Steve, I can’t not make an entrance, I have a reputation to uphold.”

“They’ll be less flexible if they see you as the literal incarnation of darkness. Just try and tone it down a little?”

Toning it down ended up meaning sending a very large horde of crows ahead of them to perch on the walls and rooftops of the castle. When Steve exited the carriage, he gave Eddie a very controlled look before seeing his parents awaiting them. It was the first time he’d seen them in months. Steve had hoped Tristan would be there, cradled in his mother’s arms so that he could meet him right away. But he wasn’t. If Steve had to guess, he was away in the nursery.

“The kingdom welcomes you”, Alric said, with a very obvious undercurrent of ‘but I do not’. His father didn’t even spare him a glance. “I’m sure you must be tired after your long journey-”

“I’d actually like to get right to business”, Eddie interrupted. “But I would like Steve to rest. Wouldn’t want to put any stress on your grandchild.”

Somehow they managed to keep from grimacing, but neither of his parents’ expressions could be called pleasant. Eddie was taken to discuss things with his father, while Steve followed behind his mother. Eddie had ordered Jeff not to leave Steve’s side, so he came along as well.

Walking down the halls that had housed him until recently, Steve felt very much like a child again, under his parents’ thumb. It didn’t matter that he had grown and changed and was even about to be a father himself. One stern look from his mother and all he wanted was to please her.

They came to one of the sitting rooms. Steve remembered spending plenty of nights here when he was very young and still loved in the king and queen’s eyes. Jeff stood at attention at the door while they were served tea.

“Congratulations on bringing my brother into the world.”

“It was an easy birth”, his mother said tersely.

Steve bit his lip. He knew the situation and the events leading up to it were unorthodox, but typically mothers were happy when their children were having children of their own. Couldn’t she look at him and smile a little? Offer up some motherly wisdom? Anything?

“Do you have any advice? For when it happens?”, he asked, putting a hand to his belly.

Her eyes narrowed at the movement but she was saved from answering when a nursemaid came in, holding who could only be his brother.

“We need to talk”, his mother said.

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

“You’ve written quite the essay here”, Eddie said, fingers brushing against the parchment Alric had presented. They sat across from each other. There were royal guards standing sentry all around, which was normal. But Eddie clocked how tense they were. “How about you just give me the broad strokes.”

“Your reputation for eschewing formality precedes you”, Alric glared.

“I find that people use decorum as armor. It means they’re trying to hide something unsightly. Just say to my face that you want to use your own son as a bargaining chip.”

“Are you not a king?”, Alric challenged. “You know as well as I do that we do not live for ourselves, but for our people. We are all bargaining chips from the day we’re born. Steven is no different. Neither are you.”

“And I suppose your newborn is just as expendable?” In fact, Eddie was willing to bet the queen was using the infant to get Steve to fall in line.

“He is the future of this kingdom. And I won’t let anything get in the way of it.”

Eddie laughed. “It’s funny. Had you done this months ago, we could have been over and done.” Having a sit down with this man had been all Eddie wanted. Kidnapping Steve to coerce him had been a last resort and not even that had worked.

“I’d say things ended up in your favor. You got a plaything in the form a crown prince.”

“Your son is more than a plaything. He’s more than a pawn! If you don’t have the decency to respect him now, when he’s the only thing holding me back, then we have nothing to discuss.” Eddie stood and more guards mobilized around them.

Alric crossed his arms. “That boy hasn’t done a damn thing to earn my respect. And neither have you. I could have declared war on you long ago. I didn’t. But playtime is over.”

Three guards tried to tackle Eddie but only managed to get him down for a second before he was shoving them off. But one had gotten a noose around his neck and tightened it. Others began to tie down his limbs.

“Get him to the dungeons for now. We’ll have a public execution in the morning. Juliana should be done with Steven by now.”

Eddie’s struggling paused and all he saw was red.

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

Steve and his mother stood over a crib that had been brought to the room. There, Tristan laid, napping peacefully. 

“Can I hold him?”, Steve asked.

“Steven...this baby will be king one day”, his mother said in response.

“....I’m aware”, Steve said, a little confused.

“I intend to do right with this one. I don’t know where exactly I went wrong with you, but I did.” Her eyes began to wet as if she were truly heartbroken by what her firstborn had become.

“Mother, I-”, he stopped when she held up a hand. It upset him that the move still worked on him.

“I am not your mother anymore. I just can’t be. If any child of mine cavorted with a beast like that I would...” She shook her head and swallowed.

Steve’s own grief was starting to be tempered with anger. “You would what? Say it.”

Juliana moved away from the crib, turning her back to him as she took a deep breath. “I would take my own life, as penance. And if I thought, for just one second that you would turn out this way...”

Steve waited for her to finish. When she didn’t he walked briskly to her side. “You would what? Send me away? Disown me? You’ve already done that.”

“I would have slit your throat”, she glared.

She rendered him speechless. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Jeff tensing.

“Better to start over than allow a stain to spread. Steven, know that I say this with love. As my final act as your mother, to save your soul.”

“What are you talking about?!”

Steve got distracted when one of the royal guards attacked Jeff. Juliana got the jump on him and tied a cloth around his neck, pushing him down onto one of the many couches in the room. As his air was cut off, he thought about how easy he normally escaped something like this. But just because this woman had held the title ‘mother’ over his head, he hesitated.

Had he really been that spectacular of a failure? Was he so wrong for wanting to do right by them? If he just let her kill him, would that fix everything? Would they finally be happy?

Then the skies outside got dark. A screech rumbled through the castle as all warmth seeped out and was replaced by a chill. Steve pushed his mother off and while he was gasping for breath, Jeff came from behind and cracked a serving tray against her head. She fell limp onto the floor.

The air around them crackled and the shadows in the room got bigger. Something was clawing up the walls and Steve ran to the window right before Eddie burst through it. He was a mass of pitch black. Like he couldn’t decide what form to take. The only discernable parts of him were wild eyes, claws, and a maw of sharp teeth which had Alric’s body, slack and covered in blood.

Eddie dropped him at Steve’s feet, presenting. He gave a low groan, the only sign he was still alive. Steve heard his brother crying but had to tend to Eddie first.

“Jeff the, the baby”, he said.

Jeff went right over to soothe the infant while Steve reached for the darkness that was his love. Steve let it surround him, whispering things soft and sweet so that his king knew that he and their child were safe; that he’d done his duty and protected them.

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

Calling the royal council with such short notice was rare. But today was just the day for that sort of thing. They waited in the throne room to know the reason they had been summoned when two figures entered.

Eddie held Steve’s hand as they walked to the two thrones, meant for the king and queen. Eddie led his lover to the throne that was always meant to be his, and sat him in the king’s place. He bowed his head and kissed his hand, then sat next to him.

The council was stunned to silence.

“Alric and Juliana have committed a terrible crime against us, and are awaiting their punishment in the dungeons”, Steve announced. 

That got the men out of their shocked stupor and talking. Eddie wanted to rip out all their throats, but he let Steve control the conversation. Steve held a hand, prompting them to silence. It was as Eddie said, they were relying on decorum and rules to make sense of the madness before them. It honestly was the only thing keep Eddie from painting the walls with their blood.

“They attempted to assassinate King Edward and made an attempt on my life as well. For that, they have been stripped of their titles and any claims to the land.”

“Don’t tell me you propose to take their place”, one of the councilmen chortled. “You have no rights to the throne!”

Eddie growled and Steve rubbed his knuckles to soothe him.

“Fortunately, that won’t be necessary, as the kingdom does have an heir. I have no intention of stealing my brother’s birthright. But he is just a child.”

“Then the law dictates we should induct a regent until he is of age”, another said. “So if you will leave us to that-”

“The law dictates that we are well within our rights to march our armies and take you for all you have”, Steve said. “Do not mistake the grace I give for fragility. I know you all had a hand in that assassination attempt. I only keep you alive because appointing an entirely new council is not worth the hassle. That being said, you will see a decrease in your reach as the merge happens.”

“The merge?”

Eddie grinned, then looked to Steve like an angel of justice.

“Appointing a regent will only encourage infighting and problems down the road. Tristan will be king one day, if he so chooses. And will receive all the education he needs to do so under my wing. Until that day, these lands, which will one day be his, shall fall under King Edward’s rule.”

They were stunned into silence again and Eddie just couldn’t help himself. He was smiling so hard he thought his face might split.

“Welcome to hell bitches!”

Part 1 bc it’s a series now; Read on AO3

[bilbosmom-belladonna]

Wiggly Worm Wednesday 🧠🪱

Thanks for the tag, @soaringornithopter! I’ve never played this game before, and I happen to have been recently attacked by gifted with a new story idea that I definitely don’t have time to write in the near future. So I’ll share it here!

It’s a Steddie omegaverse fic set after Season 2…

Steve Harrington is an omega without a pack. For most of high school he was in a pack with Tommy and Carol, but after things fell apart with them he and Nancy (an alpha) became a little pack of their own. But after they broke up she’d decided to end the pack as well; they’re still friends, but not packmates. Steve’s other friendships aren’t nearly deep enough to make a pack, and while the kids from The Party are great they’re too young to have presented yet, so they can’t be part of Steve’s pack.

And on the surface, that’s fine. Most people his age are still part of their family pack, and their pack of friends isn’t their primary one. Steve being packless at school shouldn’t be a big deal—except it is, because Steve’s parents are out of town so much these days that any pack benefits they once provided him are long gone.

Omegas have to be part of a pack to survive long-term, or go on medication to prevent isolation sickness. But that medication is tightly controlled because it has a euphoric effect on healthy omegas—thank you, Nancy Reagan. Steve’s parents won’t let him get a prescription (“It can’t be that bad, you have so many school friends, dear! What about your little friend Tommy?”) and Steve is too embarrassed to go crawling back to any of his former packs.

So, out of options, Steve goes to Eddie Munson, alpha and resident drug dealer, and pretends that he wants the isolation sickness drug just to get high. Eddie clocks the symptoms of an omega in distress right away, and he knows he doesn’t have a large enough supply to help for long, but he gets Steve the pills and keeps his mouth shut. After all, it’s none of his business what King Steve gets up to in his private life and Eddie has a policy of not getting too involved with his customers. It’s less messy that way.

But every time Steve comes back for more pills he looks worse and worse; they’re clearly not cutting it. One day he actually collapses in the middle of a deal, right there on the picnic table. Panicking, and with his alpha instincts clamoring, Eddie invites Steve to become a member of his pack with the Corroded Coffin boys. And Steve is just desperate enough to take him up on it.

Things are about to get pretty messy after all.

~~~~~~~~

There’s more, but I’ll leave it there for now. Maybe one day I’ll actually write it!

Who wants to share their own brainworms??? I’ll tag @starshideurfics @mojowitchcraft @loverboy-havocboy and @violentcheese. No pressure, of course.

[sebsketchs]

some steddie sketches while i figure out how to draw these two losers

[medusapelagia]

Wiggly Wednesday 🧠🪱

Today my brain is a little bit melted so my brainworm is a short one, but thank you so much @just-my-latest-hyperfixation for the tag!

Today I'm thinking about driving instructor Steve, and Eddie, whose driving license was revoked, attending Steve's safe driving lessons. And during the break, Eddie teaches the other students how to hot-wire a car………. only in an emergency situation of course!

No pressure taglist for sharing Steddie brainworms: @vicecapitain, @kassifieddocuments2, @slippy-slip, @penny00dreadful

[imfinereallyy]

Steddie but in the Purge.

Featuring: platonic stobin, bad parents, and Steve going full protect mode. Do what you will with that.

[justhere4thevibez]

Stranger things rarepair idea: Karen Wheeler x Bob Newby.

Hear me out.

Bob Newby is the opposite of Ted Wheeler. Endlessly kind. Endlessly enthusiastic. Endlessly invested in the people he cares about. Karen just wants somebody to pay attention to her (her weird seeking out of Billy is testament enough to that), and Bob Newby would. He's simply dying to have someone upon whom to lavish affection, and Karen would revel it, unlike Joyce who seemed to brush him off and be overwhelmed by how much he cared.

Plus, he'd be delighted to be dad to the Wheeler kids. Holly would love him immediately, of course. Mike would be kind of an ass to him, but Bob wouldn't take it personally and would wear him down eventually. Plus, he'd actually listen to Mike, and not many grownups do. Nancy would think he was kind of a weird, harmless idiot, but he'd totally disarm her with his kindness and earnestness, and his surprising intelligence re: electrical equipment would impress her. He'd also be super supportive of her desire for a career, and eventually she might even go to him for advice on boys (and he'd tell her, very gently, that maybe she needs to work on being happy with herself first).

You know those couples where the wife is a super model and the husband is just Some Guy™️? That's what they'd look like. All of her country club friends would wonder, why on earth would she pick him? But then they'd see the two of them out on a date (how many of their husbands still took them on dates?) laughing and being silly and in love without a hint of self consciousness, and they'd realize. Bob Newby isn't just some guy. He's the kind of guy you'd actually want to spend the rest of your life with.

And, maybe, just maybe, they'd be a little jealous.

[friendcrumbs]

niche posting but stobin żabka employees.

[eddiemunsucks]

steve having a bone to pick with eddie after hearing about him dropping the kids off home too late after DnD, not once, not twice, but three whole times. he can appreciate him giving the kids a little leeway sometimes, knows they deserve some fun after the hell they've gone through, but after hearing mrs. henderson throw a fit because "dustin is practically asleep in his cereal bowl", steve has had enough. wants to make a point to eddie that he will not tolerate him corrupting his kids, and if they're going to be "co-parenting", then there had to be some ground rules. so, the plan was to stop by eddie's trailer after work and lay into him.

well, maybe steve should have taken the time to calm down a bit before he stormed up wobbly steps to eddie's trailer and threw the door open. should have taken the time to clear his head enough to think to knock. maybe have a better plan in place. because when he opened the door he was met with a sight that made his mouth go dry and his pants get tighter.

eddie was lazing back on the couch, no clothes on except for a pair of plaid boxers due to the summer heat, his long hair draping over his shoulders and the back of the couch as he slowly brought a joint up to his lips and puffed. his eyes were scrunched up in pleasure, his mouth turning into a small 'o' as he pulled the joint back and softly moaned through a cloud of smoke. steve took the time to look at his other hand, which was down his boxers. he could make out the slow up and down motion of eddie working himself, the sight making steve’s face heat up red and creating the urge to shove his own hand down his pants.

he stands there, frozen and watching. until eddie finally looks up at him hazily, between the weed and pleasure steve could tell that he wasn’t really there. explains why it took him so long to notice steve was even there in the first place. he still expected eddie to get up and throw a fit, scream at him and call him a perv for standing there and watching, invading his privacy.

instead, eddie leaves the hand down his pants, keeps it moving slowly, almost like he’s purposefully teasing himself, and takes another drag, pulling away with a smug smirk on his face and exhaling. steve feels like his mind his melting.

“looks like my wet dream has finally come to fruition. care to join, harrington?”