#stranger things confession

[tea-time-with-london]

It was not Steve's fault at all that st*ncy ended. Him trying to get her not to tell barbs parents was literally him trying not to break an NDA that could've gotten her and other people killed. Him trying to get her to go to the party was an attempt to get her to loosen up and stop worrying about it, so that she would break the NDA and get people killed. Steve was not a shitty boyfriend.

Confession #70

Before I answer this, y'all don't have to like...censor ship names with the * on my blog LOL it's okay to type them out.

Okay so...personal opinion...neither Steve nor Nancy were solely responsible for the break up. I don't believe it's fair to place a break up on one person's shoulders. These are two teenagers, who tried to navigate a relationship, while also being exposed to supernatural forces, death, trauma, etc. The blame for their relationship ending is not placed on just one person's shoulders. They're just kids.

Diagnostically, Nancy has PTSD. She meets the criteria for it. This 16 year old was traumatized by her friend's death, and wanting to investigate, to find answers, is quite literally how she attempted to cope with Barb's death. We can make the argument that she had tunnel vision, and the only thing she was focused on was getting justice for Barb, even if that meant breaking the NDA. And sure...maybe she wasn't totally thinking about how breaking the NDA could potentially harm other people...but Nancy knew something was up with the government and Barb's death. Nancy Wheeler, in her own way, wants to make the world a better place, and that includes getting justice no matter the cost.

Steve was exposed to these things, too. Maybe not to the extent Nancy was, but still. The way he copes is by using distraction techniques. This isn't something that can work for Nancy because she is, by nature, a very investigative and answer driven person. She cannot afford to use distraction techniques, like a Halloween party, to cope with her friend's death. This is Steve's coping skill, and that's not a bad thing. They had been working on their costumes, so clearly they were both at one point excited to attend the party, so Steve talking about the party wasn't out of malice, and it wasn't him trying to be dismissive of Nancy even if it could have come across that way. It was him trying to get Nancy to use his coping skill, not knowing that she needed something different. She wanted him to take action with her.

Steve and Nancy, not purposely and not maliciously, hurt each other. There is no 'one is more wrong than the other'. Steve and Nancy got together at a time in their lives where they, unfortunately, could not give the other person what they needed. Nancy could not give Steve the reassurance he needed, and Steve could not give Nancy the action she needed. That is so heartbreaking to think about, given what they've gone through. Steve and Nancy deserve grace and compassion, not blame. If all of us were in their position, we wouldn't want people to blame us. We'd want compassion and understanding.

All in all, they both needed to understand each other more. They both needed to grow, respectively. The one thing I love about season 4 is how you can see their growth. The audience can see Steve becoming more emotionally vulnerable, wanting to take part in the action that Nancy needed in the first place (volunteering to go with Nancy to the library, being the first one to jump in the lake). I believe in season 5 we will see Nancy start to come to terms with her trauma, and realize that it wasn't Steve's fault, or her's, for Barb's death. And there's where the reassurance piece comes into play, with Nancy reassuring Steve that neither one of them were to blame.

I'm curious to see where the Duffers take them in season 5. I'm curious to see the...what did Robin call it? "The rekindling of two flames who never should have been snuffed out." Maybe Steve and Nancy's flames needed to be snuffed out in the beginning, only to be relit and burn brighter in the end.

[strawnger]

i just think that eddie gives the weirdest compliments & steve has a huge embarrassing crush on him

eddie: i want to remove your brain and keep it in a jar.... make a soup from all your thoughts...

steve, blushing: oh uh. you do?

eddie: yes but first i'd poke your brain with sticks. see what happens.

[donttellunclesam]

this a @steddieexchange gift for @soaringornithopter !! Happy holidays, my friend! I had a blast planning this fluffy comic for you. I hope you enjoy it!! 🥰💜

[babydeersblog]

guys, I have something to admit….I am still completely, irrevocably, unbashadely in love with eddie munson

[krazieka2]

I've played the Fire Emblem Husbando Dating Simulator Games

[dragonmama76]

Eddie's head is spinning. He hasn't smoked in days otherwise he would swear he was high as a kite right now. Steve is kissing him and his scent is all around him enveloping him in a haze and Eddie doesn't entirely know what is happening. He fights his way clear to check in, "You want this? With me? This is real?" Steve nuzzles behind Eddie's ear and murmurs, "Yeah, man....of course...it doesn't...it doesn't have mean anything if..."

"Stop" Eddie's voice is somewhere between a whisper and whimper as he pulls back and puts space he doesn't want between them. His eyes burn as tears threaten to form. Fuck, what is he doing? He knows it's stupid. He has yearned to be here in Steve's embrace for so goddamn long and he knows he should just go with it before he loses his chance, but he can't. Almost dying has changed him into a person who can't bear to let important things go unsaid. This is it. This is his moment. No time to roll for initiative or do a charisma check.

Steve is breathing hard, looking lost and Eddie gets momentarily distracted by his beauty, but he has to continue, has to say it before the moment is gone forever. "It does. I'm sorry baby if this is too much, but I want this so much and it does have to mean something." Steve's eyes widen and Eddie forces himself to keep going, nausea roiling in his gut, "For me it would mean everything. Everything. So if that's not what you want, if you're not there then.....it's no. I'm sorry. Just....I can't." Eddie's eyes are pleading for Steve to understand. He hates this. Hates Robin for teaching him about having healthy boundaries. Hates himself for taking it seriously. Hates his stupid messed up heart. He breaks away, looking away from what he imagines is Steve's disdain. Disgust. He almost misses it when Steve huffs out a breath and says, "Okay."

Steve takes Eddie's face in his hands. Lifts his chin and tilts his head so gently. "Okay?" Eddie repeats lost in whatever is happening. Steve strokes his cheeks so gently as he clarifies, "Okay. It's everything for me too." And Eddie isn't even ashamed of the sob that wrenches out from deep in his chest as their mouths crash together and the world melts away.

Found this in my wip folder. I have no idea what it was supposed to be, so I guess it's just this. Enjoy.

[blushweddinggowns]

I'm all for the angsty overhearing a conversation trope where it's all sad because of a misunderstanding. But I also love the opposite. Overhearing a conversation where the other person is just singing their praises. Especially with Steve and Eddie.

Like Steve being very aware that he likes Eddie, but way too afraid of rejection to actually do anything about it. So he just pines away, and gets closer and closer to him with the full expectation of it never going anywhere. Until one day, he comes to pick Dustin up from Hellfire too early, and he can hear everyone talking through the door. About him. But mostly it's Eddie, his loud voice carrying across the room. And he's just raving about him, and somehow managing to bring him up in conversations that have nothing to do with him.

Do you remember that time Steve saved my life by shoving my guts back into my body? Yeah, that's the level of skill and luck you're going to need to survive this.

Did you guys know that Steve actually gave me this background music? He's weirdly knowledgeable about classical stuff. Isn't that cool? He's so smart and-oh, yeah, the merchant agrees to the deal.

So uh, is Steve maybe seeing anyone? He isn't right? Like he would tell me if he was, wouldn't he?

And he doesn't give a single fuck at the collective groaning of the group whenever he gets going, never failing to pull out the I almost Died saving the world with you card to get them to shut up. And by the time it actually ends, Steve is a glowing, blushing mess who can't stop smiling.

Or the other way around. With Eddie full on assuming he has 0 shot because Steve's, Steve.

The golden boy who could obviously never be into him like that, or any other guy for that matter. So he doesn't do anything about his feelings, he just hangs out with him more and more and falls for him more and more, waiting for the inevitable day when he gets a girlfriend and his fantasies could finally die. Except one day, he spends the night at Steve's, but he isn't in bed when he wakes up. He goes to find him, just to hear him downstairs loudly talking to Robin. Because neither of them know the concept of inside voices when they're together. And he waits at the top, listening in just for the fuck of it, but mostly because he doesn't want to interrupt.

"I just feel like bed sharing the way you guys do is gay as hell," Robin sighed, "Especially at your age. Also, should we even be talking about this with him in the house?"

And before Eddie has time to freak out over that and the possibility he's gotten caught with his feelings, Steve is already answering, "I know right? And don't worry about it, he sleeps like the dead. But I don't know what to do about it. He still hasn't done anything. Am I just reading this whole thing wrong?"

"Well you could try making the first move instead of trying to trick him into doing it," Robin tried.

"And ruin our friendship incase I'm wrong? Yeah, no. Besides, I go like, full dumbass around him when I'm nervous. He's too hot. I'd probably walk into a wall in the middle of professing my undying love."

"Yeah," Robin sighed, "You probably would."

And Eddie is just having a moment upstairs. A full on I think I may have to jump for joy moment. Or even, I think I'm five seconds away from squealing like a teenage girl moment.

Yeah, I like that shit.

[steddieas-shegoes]

if you look deep enough into steve’s eyes, the colors start to shift from a medium-brown to light, almost golden, like his hair in the summer, like his skin when it’s wet.

eddie finds himself noticing these things more often as the year after vecna passes. on the anniversary of nearly dying, eddie thinks he’s noticed everything about steve.

but then steve shows up at his door after dropping the kids off at their respective homes, a smile on his face, and something mysterious in his eyes. something that distracts eddie from the golden specks the reflect off his porch light. something that only eddie really gets to see.

“wanna take a ride?”

“where you taking me, big boy?”

steve blushes, a soft pink that would be warm to the touch if eddie was brave enough to reach out.

“it’s a surprise.”

eddie trusts steve, so he gets in his car and doesn’t ask anymore questions.

steve talks about something dustin did on the way, complaining with a fondness only steve could have for the kid.

it hits eddie as steve pulls onto a side road.

the field.

the wildflowers bloomed early this year, and eddie had mentioned recently that he would like to make new memories in a place where he was facing death or prison exactly one year ago.

he didn’t think anyone was listening, but apparently steve was.

steve parks the car and eddie doesn’t think he can look at him yet. he thinks he’s gonna cry. he thinks he’s so deeply in love with this man that he may never experience anything like it again.

it’s dark, but the moon is bright. there’s still a light chill in the air, but eddie’s still wearing his leather jacket from hellfire earlier, so he barely feels it.

they walk together through the field, close enough that their hands brush, but still more distance between them than eddie wants. he’s surrounded by beauty: the flowers, the stars, steve.

he stops when steve does.

they both look up at the stars for a few minutes, silent so they can hear the crickets and their own heartbeats.

“a year ago, when i almost lost you, i thought about all the things i didn’t get to do or say or know about you. i was angry for a long time.” steve turns to eddie, giving him a sad smile. “it wasn’t fair that you had to go through all of that and i couldn’t do anything. the doctors weren’t doing enough, and the cops weren’t doing enough, and no one understood how important it was that they fix it.”

eddie’s watching him, baffled. he’s not sure where this is going and he’s worried that his own feelings may be clouding his vision.

“i couldn’t make your pain go away. i couldn’t make it easier. i couldn’t help you walk again or play guitar. i just had to watch.”

eddie feels a tug in his stomach, a pull that leaves him breathless.

“but i watched. and i saw every side of you. and i don’t think i’ll say this right, but i practiced with robin and she thinks i did good.” steve breathes in and turns to face eddie completely. “i learned a side of me that i didn’t know about while i watched you. i learned that love looks different than what i always thought. and i learned that because of you.”

“because of…me?” eddie’s trying not to get his hopes up, but he’s pretty sure they’re higher than ever.

“because you love so loudly. everyone you love knows it and you aren’t scared that they’ll run away. it’s probably because it’s impossible not to love you.”

eddie thinks he actually is experiencing some kind of post-death dream. maybe he got too high in his room and steve never even showed up at his door.

“eddie? did you hear me?”

eddie focuses on steve’s look of concern, on the golden specks in his eyes that the moonlight makes shimmer.

“i don’t know?”

“i said i love you.”

“oh. then, no, i didn’t.”

steve’s face falls and eddie realizes a second too late that his response to steve saying he loves him wasn’t the exact thing he’d been holding back for at least six months now.

“i just thought you should know. um. so i guess i can wait in the car if you wanna stay a bit longer-“

eddie is only staying in this field if steve is with him, so he wraps his arms around steve’s shoulders and hugs him harder than is probably safe.

“i love you. sorry i’m a dumbass and didn’t say it the second you did. i was trying to convince myself this was real life.”

steve laughs against his ear and eddie’s pretty sure they belong like this.

“why now?” eddie asks as he pulls away.

“because i told myself if you didn’t do it by today, i would.”

“how long have you been waiting on me?”

steve lets out a breath. “eight months give or take.”

“that is…much longer than i would’ve expected.”

“yeah, well, imagine being the one waiting.”

eddie smiles at steve, and steve smiles back, and eddie notices a new thing.

steve harrington’s got a crooked tooth. an imperfection to some, a sign of being human to eddie.

“what’s that face for?” steve asks.

“you’re perfect, stevie.”

they kiss in the field where eddie was saying goodbyes a year ago. they look at stars in a clear sky while holding hands and talking about what their future might look like. steve’s head rests in eddie’s lap while eddie traces steve’s lips with his finger, memorizing the curl of his lips when he smiles and the feel of the vibrations when he hums a song eddie doesn’t recognize.

steve picks flowers, and eddie makes a crown, and they both say i love you in a million ways.

they walk along the edges of the field, where the rv was parked while they prepared for the worst. eddie shivers at the memories, but steve kisses his shoulder and the back of his hand and he shivers at that instead.

they ride back, and eddie sings along to whatever songs play on the radio, even if he messes up the words. steve laughs and it’s better than any music they could listen to.

they kiss on eddie’s porch, surrounded by darkness because no one turned on the outside light. it’s so late, no one would see them anyway.

steve stays at eddie’s, but wayne’s home, so they’re quiet and keep their hands above the waist even though they so desperately want to touch, and kiss, and bite every inch of each other.

they still get carried away, which doesn’t surprise eddie at all. what does surprise eddie is how quickly steve sits in his lap, rutting against his stomach and biting back moans and whimpers and eddie laces their fingers together and squeezes, meeting each thrust with his own. neither of them last long, coming in their pants like virgins. they laugh, but they kiss through it, teeth clacking as they gasp for breath.

they take turns in the bathroom in case wayne wakes up. steve comes back into eddie’s room without a shirt and hair slightly damp. eddie feels his heartbeat quicken as steve hops into bed next to him.

they sleep with steve curled against eddie’s chest, eddie’s arms around his back, sweaty but content.

content and happy.

and when the sun rises the next morning, eddie wakes first and notices another new thing about steve: he drools in his sleep.

[miwiromantics]

I’m so hilarious…

[butterflysonnets]

14 year old mike wheeler, monologuing to eleven: i knew from the moment i met you that i loved you

12 year old mike wheeler, the moment he met eleven: crawl out my window and go knock on my house's door so my mom calls child services on you and you can go back to pennhurst asylum or whatever because i'm way too busy — wait did you say you know about will? where is he? is he okay? you can live in my closet if you help me find him

[noihavenosanitythanksforasking]

i don't want the confession to be easy dude

i want messy sobbing in the middle of the end of the world. with hawkins crumbling around them and them clinging to each other, bloody and desperate for the most important person in their lives to understand. I want the first kiss to be on the battle field with the dust from the ud falling around them and the screams of the demagorgans in the background with the stupid capitalized L love song in the background. the desperate 'please don't leave me, i can't live without you'

i want to be DEVASTATED

[tea-time-with-london]

For Byler to happen in s5, the build-up on Mike's part should have also started in s4 and not him ending the season with a declaration of love for his girlfriend. (Even if you argue he wasn't genuine, which makes it kinda fucked up tbh, El still thinks Mike loves her.) Because for the ship to make sense, the Mileven breakup needs to be handled gracefully. (Aka not like Stancy and Byler shouldn't start like Jancy).

El is still our main girl and deserves to be treated with respect here. Making Mike emotionally cheat on her with her own brother is just wrong and cruel. Not to forget, Will also loves El. If you think he would intentionally hurt her and just get with her ex, you don't understand his character. Like for him family is everything, friendship is everything. It would kill him to hurt her. And Mike wouldn't want to intentionally hurt El as well. There is such a messiness that comes along with Byler, I fear the show doesn't have much time to handle it with care.

I'm a sucker for friends to lover, but because they set up Mileven and both Mike and Will care about El deeply, I just don't think Byler is worth jeopardizing all of it? Like Mileven is cute, idc, it doesn't mean they're endgame forever they're 14, but making Will date Mike shortly after is going to hurt El. And don't pretend El would be okay and happy she clearly loves Mike and it would devaste her, plus in s2 we can see her jealous side she doesn't play around. In the end, because all three characters are so interwoven, nobody would be truly happy. Will wouldn't be elated because of El, El would be unhappy because her brother betrayed her, and Mike would hate himself for destroying the WillEl sibling bond.

For me, Will's happy end is coming out to his friends and being accepted by them. Idk about Mike if he actually has feelings for guys. It's vague, but he also should live his true self. And for El, I just want her to be happy and alive and that she gets to experience all the things she wants.

Confession #108

I agree. I definitely think Will's happy ending would be accepting himself and coming out to his best friends, who also would accept and love him, too. I truly think that's where the story is going. I could be wrong, but I just can't see how Mike and Will getting together wouldn't be a messy situation for everyone. Like you said, everyone gets hurt in the end. I also don't think Mike likes Will. I think a lot of his actions and expressions have relayed that he knows Will likes him, but he doesn't reciprocate those feelings and just has no idea how to really start that conversation. If the writers wanted to make Byler endgame, they would have set it up better, number one, and number two, long before season five. You don't have Mike confess his love for El in season 4 if you're going to make Byler endgame in season 5. They would have continued separating El and Mike to build Mike and Will's bond. Except...the writers did the total opposite and brought El and Mike closer together. I don't really see how you can make a solid Byler endgame that the audience would be fans of. Realistically, the GA would be lost and confused because it would seem almost out of the blue.

[jumpedthenfell-13]

NEED more ronance fics where Nancy realizes she likes Robin and thinks Robin likes her back and goes. Well. I need to make her confess first

And so she starts subtly trying to flirt with Robin every chance she gets. Touches that last a little longer than necessary, lingering gazes, giving Robin her jacket after dragging her outside during winter, shifting just a little too close and pretending not to notice.

And Nancy’s got it BAD. She makes little homemade gifts for Robin and thinks about how she never did this for Steve or Jonathan. She screams the moment she pulls Jonathan aside because Robin just. Won’t confess???

Jonathan, desperate for this to end, mentions it to Steve who’s just like yeah Robin likes her back and it’s INFURIATING

And the whole time Robin is absolutely clueless. Fully convinced that everything Nancy is doing is actually completely platonic, meanwhile Nancy tried to kiss her last week

[teambyler]

This Wrinkle in Time scene previews how Byler likely will culminate: LOVE lets them "Escape from Camazotz" in s5e6

Every season of Stranger Things has taken inspiration from popular horror and science-fantasy stories. A big theme of A Wrinkle in Time is that it's okay to be different. Camazotz is the planet that's all about conformity: everyone is under the hypnosis of a hive mind(!).

ALL BYLER FANS SHOULD WATCH THIS SCENE!

On Camazotz, Meg's love for her brother snaps him out of his possession which lets them escape Camazotz. (They're siblings but this easily translates into a ROMANTIC confession.) It's VIRTUALLY IDENTICAL to many scenarios Bylers have thought up, where a possessed Mike or Will is saved by love (especially the ChurchGate theories!). Here the hivemind, through Charles, even tries to kill Meg with vines!

I take back what I said about how I predict Mike and Will confess their love. I still love the idea, but episode 6 now definitely being titled "Episode from Camazotz" and I think this scene shows the NEW most likely way Mike and Will culminate their love. (Thanks to @yesimtrashforit for pointing out that this is likely the episode.)

This means we might get a Will "villain arc" where Vecna possesses Will. It would explain why he was taken in s1, why he survived, and why he was possessed: a Will under his control (maybe with powers?) might be a vital part of Vecna's endgame!

Just as in this scene, Will and Mike's internal struggles all come to the fore. Will knows Mike better than anybody and can say the most hurtful things. Will refuses to accept a love confession because he's "a mistake" and "will never fall in love," and lashes out at Mike even harder.

The title Camazotz probably refers to them being in a horrible supernatural place, but also the conformity in Hawkins that demands Mike and Will to not admit their love.

But, like in A Wrinkle in Time, Mike and Will's love triumphs. They refuse to conform: they escape from Camazotz.

-teambyler

[your-stranger-halfblood-things]

Eddie shoved Steve into the nearest tree, cornering him there. "Say that again," he threatened, his arm already pinning Steve's chest down. "I fucking dare you."

Steve furrowed his brows and swallowed slowly. "All I said was that I liked you. Please, can we talk about this? If I got the wrong signals-"

"Wrongs signals?" Eddie laughed. He released Steve. "This is a joke, right? An attempt at friendship?"

Steve shook his head. "No. I like you, Eddie," he said quietly. "Ever since you put that bottle to my throat, something in me flared up."

Eddie scoffed. "Being turned on isn't liking someone. You are King Steve. Clearly you know love." He started walking away, shoving his hands in the pockets of his jeans, and keeping his head low.

Steve felt helpless. "It's not just...me being turned on," he said, following Eddie. The older man didn't say anything, so Steve grabbed his shoulder, forcing him to turn around. "It's about the way you treat the kids, and talk to Nance and Robin. It's how you express yourself without giving a damn about what others think. I admire that about you."

Eddie raised an eyebrow, expecting more, but when none came, he shrugged Steve off him and kept walking. "We don't even get along."

Steve didn't try to follow this time. If Eddie didn't want him then he shouldn't force something onto him.

"Harrington," Eddie said, whipping around, walking backwards, "your attempts are nice, you have a fine ass, your face is cute, and I really love how Dustin looks up to you, but I don't want you to be disappointed in this," he motioned to himself and stopped walking.

"Why would I be disappointed?"

"Uh, first, I'm not a chick," Eddie said, making his way back to Steve. "Second, I'm not into cutesy stuff. Third, the world isn't made for people like us- it'd only put you in harm. You still have a life ahead of you. You don't need to ruin it with some scrappy drug dealing freak."

Steve reached out and took his hand. "You are not a freak." Eddie glanced up and they made eye contact. "And if I want to ruin my life, then alright, at least I'll be doing it with someone I like."

Eddie used his free hand to fidget with a pin on his jacket. He suddenly felt very warm. "Oh," was all he let out, but his mind was racing.

Steve raised his other hand up to Eddie's collar. "I still have your vest, you know. It helps me get through nightmares."

"Yeah?"

Steve nodded before letting go of Eddie's hand. "I like you, Eddie. And it's not just me being turned on when you hold glass to my neck- it's also about the emotions you make me feel when I see you helping people and enjoying your hobbies and expressing yourself."

Eddie couldn't hide it anymore. "The emotions you make me feel also make me know that I like you," he said quietly. "I tried to stop the feeling, shove them down, but it didn't work. I really don't want to drag you down with me, Steve," he pleaded.

Steve crossed his arms. "You're not dragging me down. I'm already down. I just want someone to help me up again." He offered his hand out to Eddie. "Will you help me get there again?"

Eddie nodded without thinking. "Only if you help me," and he took his hand, shaking it. "We'll help each other get back up again, okay?"

"Of course," Steve agreed.

[hitlikehammers]

that tune without the words

“It was nice, walking through those woods, talking to you,” and the tone of his voice in admitting it makes the whole shebang another line item for Eddie’s getting-to-know-Steve file: lift this man’s standards out of the fucking gutter—but then his tone’s turning sorta wry: “Even if it was mostly about how you were impressed that I was less of a douche than advertised.” 💕

rating: t ♥️ cw: mid-S4, Vol2, steve goes back for eddie’s ‘body’, interdimensional bat venom can be a hell of an paralytic inconvenience ♥️ tags: eddie munson lives (to go on a date that’s not walking through dead hell-forests 🎉), steve harrington having a one-sided/unfiltered heart-to-heart with the cute boy who carved his probable bisexuality indelibly intonstone 💎 (no biggie), an over abundance of flirting in times of mortal peril, planning a future in an actively crumbling hellscape=(soon-to-be)couple goals, happy ending (and hopeful ending, too!)

for @steddielovemonth day two: "if you're lost, you can look and you will find me // if you fall I will catch you, I'll be waiting" —Time After Time by Cyndi Lauper

title credit here🪶

When they tangled with Vecna, Eddie’s body gets left behind. Sure, yes, they all know the timeline, the logistics, how the story goes. The gates seal. Supergirl goes nuclear. They kinda-half-lose. The town’s a fucking mess. They gotta lick their wounds.

But the in-between bits get hazy, see.

Specifically when Steve went AWOL and ran back, jumped through the closing gate he’d just barely managed to climb up through in the first place, given the extent of his wounds, and runs for the body they abandoned because he doesn’t leave his people behind.

And somehow in just a couple days, Eddie counted as his people. Even just his body.

The strength, the speed, the stamina to not have been stuck in the Upside Down, to not have dropped the dead weight in the way back up, to not have got suctioned in and crushed in half as the fissures crept closed: that’s the fucking stuff of legends, of parents lifting trucks off pinned children. No wonder they call Steve the mom.

But yeah. Eddie’s body’s left behind.

For like…ten minutes, max.

Then Steve fucking Harrington had to be all Steve fucking Harrington about it, say fuck that, and weigh the risk of two dead bodies as sufficient collateral to leap like it was a fucking two-for-one at Melvald’s.

Bastard made it back, too. Bloody as fuck, everything that’d healed even a little bit torn at least twice as wide in breaking back open; three extra broken bones, with at least on being a rib that there’s genuine concern over puncturing a lung with one more wrong move—and a likely one, given the evidence thus far.

And also, there’s Eddie.

Eddie, who’s breathing, who they don’t know until later whether Steve managed to somehow resuscitate, or if the powers that govern the hellscape zapped him back for nefarious reasons, or maybe they’d all just…fucked up and missed that Eddie wasn’t even all-dead in the first place.

Details, remember. The in-between parts got real hazy.

Eddie knew the truth form the get-go, though.

Having to witness Henderson fall apart, draped across him was maybe the most harrowing thing eddie has ever had to live through—but the point was, he did live through it. Everything was foggy, and he felt like his world was blinking too long in between knowing it was still there, like reality and his place in it were too close to sleep to be rooted, to be trusted, to be sure at all that it would last and that his shitty attempts to get any air in weren’t just painful acts of desperation to delay the inevitable.

But then there had been lips on his lips, and he’d tasted his own blood there but then more blood, other blood.

And his lungs were blissfully full for the first time in what felt like eons.

He wants to turn to find out who’s there, whose mouth had just spared him in his torment for even a few extra moments before the end, but he—

He can’t fucking move. He hadn’t realized that part before—oxygen deprivation, hell of a distraction apparently—but now that he clocks it?

That lungful of air’s gasping out fast as fuck as eddie panic because what’s happening what is happening—

What’s happening is that mouth on his again, giving him back the breath he’s foolishly wasting on panic, coupled with a too-broad hand, palm braced at his chest and fingers curled up his shoulder: firm. Steadying.

“Poison,” a voice says low, close to him enough that eddie thinks he maybe feel warmth from it but he’s not sure, he’s not sure what he does and does not feel and that’s most of the fucking terror: “in the venom. My legs were numb as fuck after, the went too deep at the core and it just fanned out, couldn’t feel a fucking thing but the pain til we got supplies.”

The hand moves fuller to his chest like it’s testing something, then the lips are back, filling up his lungs, like someone who knows how this works, who’s done it before—

A lifeguard would know. Would have done it before and…

Okay, like, Eddie didn’t spend most of every summer the past handful of years in a carefully disguised little copse of shadey trees near enough to keep the community pool in his sights because he was planning to get in the water, y’know?

“But then it felt like there wasn’t enough air when I tried to breathe deep, way worse than my legs, like from,” and he touches Eddie’s neck, then, where the bats barely got him by comparison to…other places so Eddie thinks—with the newly-restored moments of oxygen to his brain cells—Steve’s talking about his suspicious noose-shaped souvenir.

Eddie wants to be able to see, wants to see and know with all his sense that this is steve: touching him and coming back for him and saving him and—

“You’re still breathing,” and shit, it’s like Eddie’s prayers are answered without a god believed in, his fucking lucky day, because Steve’s leaning and holding still so the his cheek under Eddie’s nose, and the bow of his lips just at the corner of Eddie’s mouth, gasping out his assessment when the hint of damp the exhale gathers on his skin, all with a kind of relief that feels���too big, really. Like Eddie can’t possibly deserve that. They barely know each other.

But fuck if Eddie—who was very much banking of giving up the goddamn ghost down here just a couple minute prior, especially once everyone had left and he was just staring at the red lightning waiting to be struck down for good—but fuck if Eddie is gonna pretend he doesn’t want to deserve that care and relief, to merit and earn it for himself, specifically from Steve, especially the Steve he’s gotten to know in the last seventy-two hours. All the shit about crisis revealing a persons true nature?

Sign Eddie the fuck up for a) all of Steve Harrington and his truest true nature as well as b) the sworn duty of keeping this far too tightly wound paladin barbarian crossbreed marvel of a specimen from any more crises, and ensuring the opposite instead, maybe like, holding him close. Kissing his neck. Falling asleep in each other’s arms. More…stuff like that.

Time probably moves faster the vacuum of real actual Armageddon, so. He probably can shrug off the ‘barely know each other’ stuff.

His heart’s doing a little floppy-floppy thing with Steve’s mouth still so close; with knowing Steve’s mouth had been closer, so. Yeah. He’s sold, 100% on board. Bring him the dotted line, he’ll be Mrs. Harrington by morning.

Or…evening? It’s just fucking dark here, he doesn’t even remember what day it is.

“Too much,” and Steve’s not moving form where he’s gauging—presumably—Eddie’s breaths at the source, whispering and so, so close as he waggles his hand around; “before, but,” and Eddie gets it quick: too much commotion. To much hysteria, and more than merited, but Dustin’s sobbing? Robin’s shaking, Nancy’s armor-grip on her gun making trying to measure a pulse less than worthless and Steve…Steve has getting them the fuck out before the gates closed, Eddie remembers hearing that—which begs the question of why he’s here again bow, but one thing at a time.

The one thing Eddie wants to focus on is Steve thought to come back at all, and thought it not inpossible to find him alive and not-yet-but-still-eventually-capable-of-kicking, because the bats had numbed him to fuck, too.

And he hadn’t told anyone, Jesus fuck—this man, and giving more shirts about him already than Eddie’s maybe given for anyone, is gonna be what actually manages to put him six feet in the goddamn ground.

“I had a feeling,” Steve says, and Eddie doesn’t have to try and fail to turn to see the triumphant smirk he’s pulling, still relieved but like, vindicated now, too.

“And even if I didn’t,” he sobers quick; “I wasn’t leaving you here.” And Eddie wouldn’t stilled if he was capable of moving in the first place because…yeah, he’s basically figured he was being left here. Was pretty much solidly on his way to making his peace with it too when feet landed close to his knees and lips closed over his own and the rest is…

Is now. Where Steve Harrington doesn’t leave Eddie Munson, even as the world ends in their fucking faces and all proves to be as good as lost.

He won’t settle for them counting among the loses and that’s…

That’s just kinda…wow.

“Was really banking pretty hard on that feeling, too,” and Eddie hears Steve’s voice strain a little, even as there comes a little tiny huff of slightly manic laughter, and a rip of fabric from fuck knows where. “Want to get to know you better, Munson,” he says, tight like he’s holding up tensions, or swallowing back pain and Eddie doesn’t like that, and likes even less that he can do fuck all about it right now.

But if they’re gonna be in the business of getting to know each other better, then Eddie’s filing that sound away in the ‘keep that shit away from Steve forever’ file.

Eddie likes dealing with forevers in his head, because they so rarely work out for him in life. He craves disappointment, maybe; but.

“Walking through the woods, half-fucking paralyzed was some of the,” Steve starts, honest and earnest before Eddie catches half-a-shrug out the corner of his eye and…maybe he’s not the only one who deals in forevers in their head, and if he’s suddenly not the only one, maybe less disappointing could possibly be imminent.

Maybe.

“It was nice, talking to you,” and the tone of his voice in admitting it makes the whole shebang another thing for the getting-to-know-Steve file: lift this man’s standards out of the fucking gutter—then his tone’s turning sorta wry:

“Even if it was mostly about how you were impressed that I was less of a douche than advertised.”

Eddie wants desperately to laugh, to bump shoulders with Steve again like he did a little, tries for more when they were walking side by side, he wants so fucking bad—

Then there’s fire in his fucking throat.

“Oh, fuck,” Steve sounds more startled than concerned, where Eddie’s kinda afraid his neck is melting into lava or some shit; “yeah, yeah, baby,” and hold the fuck up, what did Steve just say, what did Steve just call him? Our of nowhere?

The lava feeling’s way less important; in fact, takes enough of a back step to make some sense with Steve’s neck words, with his hand back in Eddie’s chest to brace his shoulder:

“You’re coming back, just keep,” he’d tries to laugh, and the sound had gotten lost on Eddie in the agony but it hadn’t been lost in Steve, his baby, holy fucking shit—

“Oh.”

Steve’s tone is something entirely new; awed a little, floored a little, not bad, so that’s a plus, but…overwhelmed like at the edges but then fucking ecstatic in the middle, which down here shouldn’t even be possible, until his hand pressed a little harder into Eddie’s ribs on the less mangled side and—

“Strong enough to feel, now, even when I still can’t feel everything,” Steve’s face swims, gorgeous and kinda like an answer to the universe in the minimal view space Eddie has to work with as he slowly crawls back online, a process not actually being helped by Eddie putting together what’s causing Steve’s reaction—the way his heart’s pumping’s growing a little undeniable even on his own end, and Steve’s hand feeling the raw effects of Steve on Eddie’s body right now isn’t helping matters at-fucking-all, but also Eddie never wants that touch to leave him ever fucking again, ever.

It’s a delicate sort of contradiction.

“Shit, yeah,” and Steve’s laughing, and it’s a soft joy-tinged thing less than the manic hysteria thus far.

Eddie’s fucking toast, man. No hope for him now.

“Strong enough even if I’m kinda fucking shaking,” Steve holds out his hand that, yeah, is in fact a little trembly but hey.

Eddie can’t feel shit yet too good, but he’s almost certain he’s got to be no better. Blood in his veins certainly ain’t winning any awards for steadiness.

And Steve leans down, this time back with another one of those vaguely hysterical laughs and Eddie can’t see everything outside of the angle his head’s held at just now, and the whole problem really starts with how he can’t feel a lot of shit á la bat venom, but.

If Eddie had any money, he’d actually wager that Steve fucking Harrington. Just touched his lips to Eddie’s neck, just kissed where his pulse would kick between his collarbones. And, true or not, the possibility of that?

Holy fucking shit.

“I hope these aren’t too tight,” Eddie sees the motion from Steve’s shoulder, feels…or thinks he feels the lightest ghost of pressure at his fucked up side: tight. The tearing from before; Steve had been wrapping his sorry ass up.

Talk about Eddie’s goddamn knight in shining armor, Jesus fuck.

“Pretty sure it came down to the fact that their poison hit me like it did because of where they got me the worse, and that’s what made me hope in the first place, you know. Your worst bleeders are in the meat,” and yeah, Eddie really does think that’s real sensation for the soft press of Steve’s hand at his flank, not say nothing of the burning flush to his cheeks, blood’s moving just fine there.

“Fucking deep but not so close to the bloodstream, to pump around and make it worse,” and he touches Eddie’s neck again, and ah: that was why Steve had the reaction he did, mainline to the ticker to get it all swum around. “More of it in you, obviously, because there were more of them, more teeth, but not up here,” and fuck Steve Harrington for the way his hand brushes Eddie’s neck almost tender-like, just…fuck him; “no a direct fucking line to the source.”

Yes. Fuck him. Preferably soon and with Eddie at full sensation and on a horizontal surface that’s not bloodsoaked and vaguely reeking of rot.

Just, y’know. If anyone’s taking note of preferences.

“Thank god for it,” Steve breathes out, the air fluttering over Eddie’s face and he can feel it and he wants to cry, he wants to jump up and dance; can’t do that year but his pulse makes a damn good attempt.

“But yeah, anyway, just walking through hell with you was,” Steve shifts back to the part where he’d seemed to be extolling the virtues of apocalyptic flirting, but before Eddie can file it away to do so much better in whatever’s to come? Steve’s slotting his fingers between Eddie’s own; he can’t feel the whole of it, but he damn well feels enough to know the way they fit is perfect, like they were cut form the same clay millennia ago.

Of course Eddie’s heart goes flippy-floppy again; it fucking has to.

“Not the part about Nance so much, though.”

And Eddie thinks he frowns because…oh.

Oh right, yeah, he really hasn’t had a glimmer of hope in hell that what kinda feels like is happening right now was even on the goddamn table, so…maybe he had tried to funnel his sense of pure and unadulterated loss into at east giving the boy he wanted, what < i >that boy wanted.

Whoops.

Won’t be making that mistake ever again, though, at least. Lesson learned, loud and clear.

“That’s been and gone, man,” steve sighs, a if Eddie needs more convincing. “And I don’t want to go back to where I left it. I want to love someone, who loves me.”

It feels heavy and vulnerable, but all Eddie wants to do is shot me, it can be me, let me have the adventure of learning how to love every bit of you better than you ever thought to even hope after pretty fucking please with a goddamn cherry on top—

“So she’s,” Steve huffs, definitive-like: “out of the picture. She could maybe learn to be that, but, and Steve moves, the most intentionally he’s done it so far to look Eddie straight in the eye when he wraps up the point:

“I’m not interested enough to wait.”

Which means it’s no fucking coincidence, that eye-contact, and Eddie’s ping-ponging pulse for it is 100% prevent valid and then some.

“And I know can’t talk right now, so I get this isn’t really,” Steve sucks his teeth in a genuinely unbearably adorable way; “fair, or probably even like, wholly ethical,” and Eddie’s only been around for days but that sounds like Robin right there, and the feeling of a dangerous pull near his cheek makes him think the urge to smile wasn’t wholly ignored by his beat to shit body, fucking progress.

“So think of it just like a,” he hums, then snaps his fingers as he lands on: “suggestion! A suggestion. Like me, just, putting it out there, which I usually do before anyone feels the same way anyway so this is just like, variation on the theme, but,” and Steve’s eyes are so big, Eddie’s never seen them looks this way before while Steve tips his whole face so Eddie can watch before he can sit up or turn his neck, must be fucking painful but he doesn’t even flinch, and Eddie’s only ever just kinda fallen for the puppy droop of those gorgeous eyes. Now they’re all, big and wide and bright and breathless and holy shit, Eddie’s really is just so screwedbest thing ever.

“I want to take you to dinner, a movie.”

Okay, hold up. That idea, said out loud and meant and directed to him: that might be the best thing ever.

“Maybe a drive in so no one will see if you let me hold your hand, or put my arm around you, or start necking with you halfway through,” like that isn’t making Eddie wonder if he just can’t feel the hard on every piece of him is very convinced he has to have right now, if his body can actually pony up just yet.

“If you want, of course. We could go slow,” and it’s like Steve’s thought about it, like this isn’t just adrenaline and near-death and zero impulse control. It’s most like he…like he actually wants. “Just a movie, even like at my house. Or yours. After they,” Steve clears his throat, the only part he’s even hinted awkwardness in; “after they take care of that.”

Ah. Right. Eddie probably does now have a trailer anymore.

Weird how little he’s caring about that at the moment.

“I could cook, I’m not bad at it,” Steve’s ploughing in with secret knowledge because: Harrington. Apron. Sauce on his cheek. KO-fucking punch to the heart, no survivors.

“Takeout’s fine too, I’d get whatever you wanted,” he pivots before trialing of, chewing his bottom lip then saying a little softer:

“But I would look up recipes too, practice to learn your favorite foods.”

And maybe Eddie really was never supposed to survive the Upside Down. He just maybe completely misinterpreted the way he was gonna fuckin’ die .

“I’d kiss you at the door if that’s okay, if that’s not to far,” then Steve’s bit-sparkle eyes darken even in the hell-dim around them; “or take you to bed if you wanted, but only as much as you were sure.”

And y’known how Eddie’s heat’s been flippy-flopping?

What it starts doing then leave that schoolgirl shit to dhame.

“I want to date you, basically,” and Steve’s shoulders are all squared up, like he’s making a pitch that has any chance of failing, and Eddie does have some working knowing of the past failures…thing, but he genuinely believes those fuckers have been at least partially brain dead to leave a man like this free for the taking, by Eddie of all fucking people.

“I want to try, and see if we can be something,” and the way he says those words, it’s…it’s like a soft perfect flame in Eddie’s chest, the first thing he thinks he can feel again fucking perfectly right,

“‘Cause fuck Eddie, I’ve been looking for something for what feels like forever, and the only thing I keep coming back to for any of it is thinking about you, and ain’t that a plot twist, the deepening of the idea that any of this stretched last what started in that fucking boathouse. “Had a whole-ass sexual awakening over you when you started shepherding my kids, can’t let that go to waste, man.”

And holy shit, dude. Eddie can’t leave him hanging on that confession no matter how mostly-carefree his smile stretches. Because Steve’s been in it since last fall?

Well, Eddie’s not one to easily be outdone.

“What?” Steve squints at Eddie’s face which…okay. He probably looks absurd but he’s trying really hard here, and miming isn’t easy when your muscles don’t want to get on board, yeah?

“Are you,” Steve scrunches his nose; tips his head; considers; “are you trying to,” he frowns, like he’s ready to dismiss what he’s guessing but then says fuck it and leaps:

“Are you trying to whistle?”

Yes, oh my god, sign him up for his marriage license for real, they’re meant to fucking be.

It takes Steve a second to make sense of the absurdity, and the fact that it’s only a second is a feat in itself:

“When I was a lifeguard?”

Eddie watches the timeframe, the length of admittedly varying types and depths but always constant infatuation, start to sink in and then:

“Jesus, Munson, for real?”

And lips are coming for his lips, and he’s real hopeful he can feel them this time but: no. Not yet.

But they fill his lungs up quick and full where he’s getting better which breathing by the minute, but. Any but if a boost is appreciated.

Especially from those lips, felt fully yet or not.

“That’s just because I’m gonna lift you up here in a second to crry you, and it’s gonna hurt like fuck no matter how gentle I try to be,” Steve warns him; “so breathe as slow as you can until I can lay you back down topside.”

Right. Right, because…the Upside Down was breaking apart and they’ve been here how long, fuck, they need to get a mov on…probably.

But Steve doesn’t seem concerned about anything but getting his arms around Eddie to pick him up just right, and then staring at him all star-bright bbsome more, and that’s…way more pressing, to be honest.

“But when we get there,” Steve glances behind him; “how about we look into doing that in a way that’s more spit-swapping, less rescue breathing, that cool?”

And holy fucking shit, Eddie genuinely believes right now that he could fall in love with this motherfucker, what the actual hell.

That, and he thinks he’s gonna enjoy it, to boot.

Jesus H. Christ on a goddamn cracker—

He’s looking forward to it more than the air in his fucking lungs could even hope to rank.

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