#when mike softly told him it was something he had to do. they had plans and he can’t just lay in bed all day

[apollos-boyfriend]

“i don’t want to wake up tomorrow, dad”

[estrellami-1]

If I Should Stay

Part 1 | . . . | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14

After sandwiches, Nancy turns to El. “Could you look for Barb again?”

El sets her mouth and nods. She glances at Steve, who also nods and moves to set up the living room again.

Eddie follows him in and picks up the blindfold. Steve doesn’t try to hide his smirk. “You’ve got questions, I’m guessing?”

Eddie shrugs, leans against the couch. Watches the fabric as he pulls it through his fingers. Right hand, left hand. Right, left. “Mostly thinking I was wrong about you. Even more than I initially thought.”

Steve smiles. “We never got to have this conversation in the future, but I do know what your bandana means.” He stops for a second, watches Eddie’s hands. Right, left. “I’m offering… not an olive branch, per se, but…”

“An invitation?” Right, left.

“Exactly.” He shrugs. “If there’s anything you want to know…” he trails off, lets it hang in the air.

Eddie smiles. “Just one thing.” He holds it up in his left hand. “Who d’you use it on?”

Steve grins and turns away, looking for the remote. “Myself.” His smile falls. “Or- I did. You heard about the Russians, right?”

Eddie steps up beside him. Offers him the blindfold. “Yeah. Makes sense.”

Steve shrugs. “I’d say if I could go back in time, but…” he gestures around with a grin, letting it widen when Eddie chuckles. “Turns out going back in time does nothing for the memories I already have.”

Eddie frowns. “Kinda fucked up, isn’t it? Your body reverted back to its sixteen-year-old self, but your brain is still twenty.”

“I mean, imagine me coming to school one day looking like this, and the next I come in with scars, looking half a decade older. People would talk.”

Eddie hums. “You’re probably right. Still, it can’t be easy, having those mental reminders with none of the physical.”

Steve grins at him. “Did you miss the part where I don’t have concussions?”

Eddie snorts. “Fair enough. Still, I bet the scars looked badass.”

“Very metal,” Steve agrees. “Y’know, if you’d survived? We woulda had matching scars.” He trails a hand down his side. “The bats ripped us both open. Woulda gotten me if you, Robin and Nance hadn’t gotten there when you did. You took on a bat with nothing but an oar from a rowboat.” He turns to look at Eddie. “You told me once, how you’re a coward. How you run.” He shakes his head, looks away. “You didn’t. Not when it mattered. And you won’t this time.”

“Maybe this time we’ll have matching not-scars,” Eddie says, then points at Steve. “And no concussions.”

“And no concussions,” Steve parrots, laughing. “If we have to deal with the Russians again, though? I’m definitely doing something different.”

“We,” Eddie murmurs, shrugging when Steve looks at him. “We’ll do something different. You think any of these kids are gonna leave you alone after this? You think Eleven will leave you alone?”

“I hope not,” Steve answers honestly. “And you? You’re staying?”

Eddie shrugs again. “You said I didn’t run when it mattered. Who’s to say this doesn’t matter just as much? I’m not running.”

Steve smiles softly at him. “You’re a good man, Eddie Munson.”

Eddie levels him with a look. “I sell weed, Steve.”

Steve snorts. “I’m well aware, dude, I’ve bought from you before. If all goes well, I’m planning on buying another.”

Eddie laughs. “Hell, man, if it all goes well, I’ll give it to you, free of charge.”

Steve winks. “I’ll hold you to it,” he says, then leaves Eddie to process while he goes to get El.

Of course wherever El goes, Mike’s not far behind, which means he, Dustin and Lucas follow, and of course Nancy follows, and since everyone else is already in there, Jonathan and Robin follow too, so they all end up crammed in the living room again, with bated breaths and tightly-held hands, as El settles in front of the TV and puts the blindfold on.

Finally, she speaks. “I see her. She is alive.”

Nancy slumps into the couch and lets out a breath.

Then El speaks again. “She does not have very long.”

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[atimeofyourlife]

Learn to forget your biases

written for @steddieholidaydrabbles prompt: angst with a happy ending | rating: t | wc: 925 | tags: hurt/comfort, eddie munson being an asshole, hurt steve harrington, angst, hopeful ending Steve got sick of Eddie constantly putting down everything he liked, leading to a fight. Eddie had to put the work in to make it better.

"Why are you even with me if you can't stand to even pretend to be interested in anything that I like?"

It had been days since the argument, and Steve still felt like shit. He hadn't wanted it to end like that, with a maybe break up. He'd just been feeling so frustrated with Eddie being so dismissive of everything he enjoyed, where he at least tried to understand Eddie's hobbies and interests. At times, it felt like Eddie was trying to make him into a clone of him, and it really gave Steve the impression that Eddie was only with him for his looks. Or because he was the only other queer guy in Hawkins that they knew of.

It had started when Steve was making plans to see the Pacers. He'd got the tickets and was thinking they could get a hotel for the night and make a thing of it. But when he'd brought it up to Eddie, he'd laughed in his face. Asked what had possessed Steve into thinking it was something that Eddie would be interested in doing, and told him he shouldn't have even bothered wasting his money to buy tickets when he could just catch the game on tv. It had hurt, but Steve tried to brush it off. He invited Robin to go with him instead, knowing that even though she wasn't a huge fan of basketball, she would tag along and find a way to make it fun.

But Eddie then booked a last minute gig with the band at a bar in Indianapolis. On the same day as the Pacers game. At the same time. He tried to convince Steve to ditch the game to watch them play instead, saying that it would be a better use of his time, and that he was going to be in Indanapolis anyway, so it wouldn't make any difference. Steve refused, as he'd seen Eddie play in shitty bars so many times. Almost every gig they'd played since they'd been together, even attending when he was recovering from a migraine, not wanting to disappoint Eddie.

The fight was the next day. Eddie kept making jabs about Steve ditching him for a basketball game, claiming that he should have been Steve's priority. Steve couldn't even get a word in edgewise to say how the game had been. And he just got sick of it, remembering how Eddie never gave his interests a chance. Brushing off all mentions of sport. Insulting his taste in music, saying he needed an education in real music. Even making fun of his clothes. It was something he couldn't put up with any more.

In the aftermath of the fight, Steve felt lost. Robin had automatically taken his side, she'd already tried talking to Eddie about his attitude toward Steve's interests, only to get ignored. The kids were split, most of them taking Steve's side, but Dustin and Mike siding with Eddie. Saying that sports weren't worth it, that it made it seem like Steve hadn't changed from his jock days in high school. What did surprise Steve was Gareth and Jeff taking his side. They hadn't even known that Steve had invited Eddie to the game weeks before they'd booked the gig, and that Steve supported them at every opportunity, it made them decide that Eddie was being a dick just for the sake of it.

Steve didn't hear from Eddie for a while after the fight. Until one day he and Robin were working. Robin was manning the desk while he tidied and put away returns in the adult section. He wasn't paying much attention until he heard Robin's voice, a note of anger to it.

"If you're not here to apologize, you can fuck off right now."

"I come in peace." Eddie said, and Steve felt his heart skip a beat. Unsure of what could happen next.

"He's in there." Robin replied.

Steve kept his back to the doorway, just waiting for what Eddie was going to do or say.

"Hey." Eddie said softly, keeping his distance from Steve.

"Hi." Steve replied, turning slightly to face Eddie.

"I fucked up. I really, seriously fucked up, and I'm so, so sorry about it. It isn't an excuse, but I genuinely didn't realize how much of a dick I had been until almost everyone we know beat some sense into me. I was taking my attitude from high school too far and projecting it onto you. I know how much I hate it when people judge me based on my looks and my interests, but here I was doing the same to you. I hate how much I hurt you, and I am so sorry. I just hope you would give me another chance?"

"I. It did hurt, Eddie. You made me feel like I was worth less than you because I don't enjoy the same things you do. You lumped me in with a bunch of assholes who I never even associated with. I want us to work, but it's going to take a lot to prove that you're really in it for me." Steve said.

"I get that. Maybe this can be the start." Eddie held out an envelope, which Steve took. He opened it to find two tickets to the next Pacers game. For some of the best seats in the house. "Wayne had to help me figure out which ones I needed. I was thinking we could go together."

Steve smiled, it was a good gesture. "Yeah. I'd like that."

[medusapelagia]

01 He's back

written for @steddieangstyaugust (prompt: Second chances) and @augustwritingchallenge(Prompt: Canon Divergent) Rating: M Relationship: Steve/Eddie TW: mention of blow jobs Words: 1420

"Come on, Eddie! It's the Championship game!" Steve sighs, trying to help his secret boyfriend to be reasonable. Lucas has joined the basketball team and the final game is due on the same night as their game night.

"I don't care if it's one of your jocks' sacred rituals, it's Hellfire's night,” Eddie replies, shaking his head in disdain, “Lucas knows it and if he doesn't want to miss it he has to come to the theater room. If he doesn’t want to, it's not my problem."

"But you know that's important for him!" Steve insists, looking lazily at Eddie pacing front and backward.

"And the Hellfire is important to me! And to Gar! And Jeff! And Freak… even fucking Mike Wheeler knows that's important and that kid is always on the phone calling his stupid girlfriend. But not on Fridays! No sir! And guess why?”

“Because it’s Hellfire night,” Steve sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Exactly! Because. That. Is. Hellfire's night!" Eddie emphasizes, throwing his hands in the air like it was a great revelation.

"Can't you move it just for one time? It's the final game!"

"Are you fucking crazy? It's spring break! I can't organize a game night on spring break! And next semester I'll be too busy studying, because Edward Munson is going to be the first fucking Munson to graduate in his family, ok? I don't care what that prick of the principal thinks about me! 1986, baby! It's my year!"

Steve smiles softly, he does love Eddie’s enthusiasm and his commitment to the Hellfire club, but he would really like to help Lucas. They have trained together all summer to make sure he made it through the tryouts and even if he never played a game Steve knows that being there is important to be part of the team. He lets out a long sigh, rubbing a hand through his hair, "Come on, Eddie! I'm sure that dedicating one night of your studying time to Hellfire’s Club during the next semester isn't going to fuck your plans to graduate."

Eddie stops in his tracks, his eyes wide with anger, "You don't get it, Steve. It's my last game, ok? The last time I'll DM for the Hellfire. After that, I'll leave my legacy to the younger generation. It's a big deal. And it's important to me! If Lucas knew he would be busy he shouldn’t have joined the laundry basket team."

"Hey, low blow." Steve frowns.

"Fair. Sorry. Not cool. Still. If he knew he wasn’t able to come he should have asked to move the game night. But no. I found out, thanks to you, that the traitor isn't going to attend the last day of the Cult of Vecna Campaign. He didn’t even dare to tell me!"

"First of all, if Lucas told you would have scared him to death. And what's most important is that he couldn't have asked you ahead because there was no way he could have known that the team would have made it to the final! I mean, I was there at every game and I wasn't really optimistic. When Hargrove and I were on the team, things were different, but this year the coach had to do a great job of replacing all the players who graduated and adding new members to the team. It isn't easy, you know?"

"You are talking to me about things that aren't easy? I took your little sheep under my wing. I showed them the ropes of high school! I protected them from bullies… and how do they repay me? With treason!"

"You're being way too dramatic. Is there a way I can convince you to move Hellfire's night? Baby? You know I'd do anything for you." Steve tells him, falling onto his knees and crawling toward Eddie who looks at him with desire.

"You drive a hard bargain, Harrington. Are you saying you'll do whatever I'll ask you to?"

"I will."

"Even if it's something you always refused to do?"

Steve frowns, confused wondering if Eddie could ask him to do something that's a hard no for him. They talked about their limits, deeply, and he thinks he will respect his decisions but…

"Don't look so scared. I have a meeting with Chrissy Cunningham tomorrow. She wants to buy drugs. Yes, I know what you think about drugs but she's eighteen, ok? And she scares the shit out of me. I told her I would have seen her here at the trailer after Hell… after the Championship game. If you promise to be at my place and protect me from the mean cheerleader I might consider moving the Hellfire night after spring break. Oh, and I still want that blow job you seemed to be so willing to offer."

"You know what, I'll make you even a better offer: one blow job now and one after you see Chrissy, to calm your nerves."

"That sounds good."

***

Steve is hiding in Eddie's room. Well, not really hiding, he's just waiting for his boyfriend to get back. He was so anxious about this meeting with Chrissy, as if the sweetest girl alive could have ever been mean to anyone.

The familiar crunching sound of the van's tires rolling on the gravel tells him that Eddie is back even before he slams the door open announcing that the princess is visiting his humble abode. Steve chuckles between himself, his boyfriend is always so dramatic. Hearing him digging, looking for drugs in the trailer, Steve sighs. He doesn't like that Eddie sells drugs but Eddie promises he'll quit the business soon and that if Chrissy decides to take the drugs he'll stay with her to make sure her trip is a good one.

Chrissy and Eddie are chatting in the little living room and Steve is already bored out of his mind, so he starts to take a look at the tapes spread out on Eddie's bed, knowing that between them there's the demo Eddie and the boys are so proud of. Gareth's cousins know someone who knows someone who might be interested in the demo and they are super excited about it. Steve wants to have a taste of their music, so he puts the tapes in the stereo and scares himself to death when a loud music comes out from the speakers.

He should have known that Eddie always keeps his stereo at the maximum volume! He gets closer to the stereo to lower the volume when he realizes that the screams aren't coming from the tape. Or at least not the female's one.

Steve slams the door open and sees Eddie floating on the roof of the trailer, his eyes white and empty. Steve never saw something like that before but he has seen a few strange shit in his young life and that's a code red. He grabs his walkie and gives it to Chrissy, "Push the button and tell that's a code red!" he yells, while he tries to pull down Eddie from the ceiling.

"Come on, Eddie! Get your stupid ass back here." He curses, while Chrissy keeps screaming in the walkie-talkie. Someone might have answered because the trailer's door slams open once more and Max is standing in the living room, asking questions Steve has no answer for.

In the background the Corroded Coffin's tape keeps playing, changing from a screaming song to a sort of slow ballad.

Max has taken hold of the walkie talkie and she's describing what's going on to the others who are trying to find a way to get to the trailer to help. when finally Eddie opens his eyes and falls on the ground, but Steve is there, ready to cushion his fall.

"Steve... are you real? Are you really real?" Eddie asks, touching Steve's face with trembling hands.

Steve catches one of his hands, keeping him tight to his chest, and kisses the long fingers with affection.

"I'm real. You're good. Everything is good."

"I saw a monster, Steve! A real one! He was hunting me down and then… then I heard our song! And I saw you! And I ran to you." Eddie tries to explain while catching his breath.

"You did good, babe. You did well." Steve reassures him, rocking him back and forward.

When the walkie-talkie cracks alive again and Dustin's panicked voice asks what's going on, Steve grabs the walkie-talkie and replies, "He's back."

And none complains about the fact he didn't say: over.

[gender-fluidbees]

who wants to read the first chapter of my byler fake dating wip to decide if I should keep writing it?

The Byers-Hopper living room had been temporarily turned into a large cave of sleeping bags and blankets. They had managed to get away with the excuse of Max and El coincidentally having a sleepover at the same time the boys did. Not at all a mixed event. Dustin had been trying to throw popcorn into Max’s mouth while Lucas bugged Will with the same question he had been asking since he came out to them.

“When are you gonna get a boyfriend?” Lucas whined.

Will rolled his eyes and set his soda down on the floor next to him.

“As soon as I find a gay boy in Hawkins that is out and wants to date me,” he said with a dry tone that implied the odds of that were very slim, at which Dustin scoffed as if personally offended without looking away from his mission.

“Will, if I liked boys, I would be all over you,” he insisted.

They all laughed as Will pulled a disgusted face, though he appreciated the gesture.

“Thanks, man, but I’m good.”

“You must like someone,” said Lucas with a raised eyebrow.

Will’s eyes darted to Mike, lightning quick so no one would catch it, but he met his gaze before looking away and clearing his throat.

“Leave him alone, guys,” Mike said, annoyed. Max’s eyebrows appeared to launch off her forehead but she said nothing. Of course Mike would be the one to help him, to protect him. He always was, wasn’t he?

There was a moment of silence before El stood up and stretched.

“I am getting more pizza,” she announced and Dustin went to join her.

They managed to make it another two hours before the topic came up again. This time, surprisingly, it was El who said something. Everyone else was getting ready for bed and she sat next to him on the floor.

“Do you not like anyone?” she asked earnestly. Will sighed.

“It’s complicated.”

She paused before saying, “I hope it stops being complicated. I hope you get him.”

Will smiled and hugged his sister as everyone walked back into the room.

“What are we talking about?” asked Dustin.

“Boys,” El told him.

“Yes! Get my boy some di-“

“MAX!” Will interrupted before she could finish her sentence. His face flushed a dark red and he shook his head in disbelief. This feeling only increased when he saw Mike trying to cover up a laugh with a cough.

“Something funny, Michael?” he asked.

“Nope,” he said, finally laughing out loud.

That laugh. Will had heard it all his life and yet he never tired of it. The way his nose scrunched and his cheeks dusted with pink. It was Will’s favorite way to draw him.

They had all settled in to watch a movie, and the subject was not brought up, but Will’s mind wouldn’t let the topic go.

When would he get a boyfriend, if ever? Why was he stuck on Mike after all these years? Why couldn’t he just move on?

“Hey,” Mike said in his ear from beside him on the floor, “You ok?” 

Will swallowed. “Yeah, I’m good.”

Mike’s breath had been hot on his cheek and they were pressed up so close against the couch. Will wiped his sweaty hands and excused himself to go to the bathroom. He just needed a moment to breathe.

When he reached the bathroom and closed the door, he finally felt his limbs relax. It had only been about a minute and a half before there was a knock at the bathroom door.

“Yeah?” Will called.

“Will, it’s Mike, I just came to check on you.”

He opened the door to let Mike in and closed it once more. The two boys sat on the cold tile, knees touching ever so slightly.

“What’s going on?” he asked softly and Will sighed deeply.

“It’s stupid, I’m just a bit tired of all the relationship questions.”

Mike nodded sagely and his brows furrowed. Will knew that face. It was the same face Mike made when he had an idea for a campaign. That was a dangerous face.

“Miiiike. What are you planning?” he pouted, shoving the boy.

“Shh, let me think,” he said, putting his finger to Will’s lips for a second. He went cross eyed to look at the hand on his mouth and his heart picked up about ten paces. Mike removed his hand and stood up, beginning to pace the small bathroom and Will stood soon after in confusion.

“Okay, so the party won’t stop bothering you about dating someone, yes?”

“Yes?” Will said slowly.

“And your family is worried you're lonely, yes?”

“Hey! I-”

“Shut up and let me finish. I want to move out of my dad’s house but he won’t let me…” Mike trailed off as if Will could finish the thought for him.

“Mike, literally what do those things have to do with each other?”

He looked at Will like it was obvious and held his hands out in a general ‘duh’ gesture.

“You date me!”

Will caught a glimpse of the face he made in the bathroom mirror, and no words could describe what that emotion was. Will calls it, ‘my-best-friend-who-is-a-boy-and-very-straight-who-I-am-in-love-with-says-I-should-date-him.’

It took a moment for Will to get the word out of his mouth, as it had gotten very dry. “What?”

“You date me! Pretend, of course-”

“Of course.”

“-so everyone leaves you alone and my dad kicks me out because he’s a piece of shit. Everybody wins!”

After a moment, he deduced that Mike was not joking, and the panic receptors in his brain which never did their job correctly made him laugh. Loudly.

“What are you smoking, Mike?”

“What?” Mike asked, offended. He seemed to think it was a great plan. Will caught his breath and leaned against the wall.

“Mike, no one’s gonna buy that. Also, it is not worth losing your family over a joke. What if he- what if he hurt you?”

As Will tried to get Mike to see reason, some part of him wanted to say yes. Some awful, selfish, thirteen year old part of him wanted Mike in whatever way he could get him even if it was fake. 

Mike seemed to think Will’s words over, and he had a moment of hope that the boy would change his mind.

“You think he would hurt me?” Mike asked, as if this had never occurred to him.

“Mike, I’m not saying your dad’s a bad person, but-”

“He’s the scum of the earth, but continue.”

“People do crazy things when they think someone they love might be g- might be like me.”

Mike’s face twisted in a way that churned Will’s stomach. No, don’t be sad, don’t look like a kicked puppy. 

“Well then we gotta do it.”

“What?!?” Will exclaimed, more confused than ever. He thought he had changed his mind, not egged him on.

“Think about it. If Hawkins has a publicly gay couple, it could make it easier for other people.”

“You want it to be public?” Will screeched. Okay, Mike had officially lost his mind, because if he thought the bullying was bad already, just wait until he announced he was a boykisser.

Mike grinned. “Are you agreeing?”

“No! I’m the opposite of agreeing! I’m disagreeing! I am the antithesis to whatever point it is that you’re trying to make!”

Mike just laughed. “The point is it’s a win-win situation. We say we’re dating, we hold hands in front of people, maybe kiss a few times then we stage a break up. No harm done.”

Kiss. He wanted them to kiss. Well, no, not wanted, but he suggested it. Oh god.

“You do realize if your father kicks you out, you might never speak to him again.”

“If that’s the worst case scenario, then this plan is better than I thought.”

Will sighed again, running his hands over his face. He only had so much willpower. The boy he had been in love with for years was offering a free trial on a silver platter and wouldn’t take no for an answer.

“How would it work?” he asked quietly, trying not to read into the way Mike’s face lit up when he said it.

“We would walk downstairs now holding hands and tell the party we’re dating. Then tomorrow we tell your family. Word gets around, my dad explodes, I move in with Nancy.”

“That’s it? That’s your genius plan? We need to figure out every step. How long have we been dating? Who asked who? When did you realize you were gay? Are you even gay or are you bisexual? Do we…”

Will trailed off and grinded his teeth. Mike cocked his head.

“Do we what?”

“...kiss?”

Mike paused a second before laughing at Will’s hushed tone.

“I would hope so, if we were dating.”

Will rolled his eyes and grabbed Mike by the shoulders to make him look at him, ignoring the way his heart fluttered at the contact. He needed to get this point across.

“Mike. If we were fake dating. If we kissed. Then that means that you would have to kiss me. On the lips. Me and you,” he said clearly, sure that this would be the deal breaker to snap him out of it. Instead, Mike just looked at him with the same serious face, pushing Will’s hands off his shoulders.

“Will. I know. That’s how kissing works,” he said with a shit eating grin.

“And you’re okay with that?”

This was Will’s lifelong dream and worst nightmare all wrapped into one.

“Yeah, I mean, it would be weird if it was like Lucas or something but it’s you.”

He said it so plainly, so surely that Will knew he meant it. And that hurt so wonderfully. His head was spinning. No, he did not want to kiss him, but he would rather kiss him than another boy. He offered.

“Have you ever kissed anyone?” Mike asked, making Will roll his eyes.

“Mike, when would I have ever had the chance to kiss someone?”

Mike just shrugged and leaned back against the sink. “Wanna practice? Y’know, before we kiss in front of someone else.”

Will blanched. “I- I still haven’t agreed, technically.”

His heart seemed to be trying to escape his ribcage and he willed it to calm down. This was not happening. Mike smiled at him, that wonderful smile, and knelt down on one knee, holding out cupped hands in front of him.

“William Byers, will you do me the honor of fake dating me?”

There was a pause, and then, “Ugh, fine. Get off the floor, it’s dirty.”

Mike stood and brushed off his pants with a haughty sort of pride at having convinced him. The boys looked at each other for a moment, saying nothing.

“So, uh, what now?” Will asked, fidgeting.

“You never answered my other question.” Mike said, stepping closer. Will’s heart pounded.

“What other question?”

Mike took another step so he was almost pressed against Will, but not quite.

“Wanna practice?”

Oh god. What was he supposed to say? Which answer was less suspicious? If he said yes, he would seem too eager, but if he said no, it would look like he was hiding something.

Mike studied his face and took a quick step back, looking guilty. “Hey, we don’t have to kiss at all if you’re not comfortable with that. Maybe we’re not a PDA couple.”

Will groaned internally. Had he just missed his one chance to kiss Mike Wheeler? It’s not like that offer was going to present itself again.

“No,” he said too quickly, “I mean, no it doesn’t make me uncomfortable. We can… kiss.”

Mike raised an eyebrow and stepped back into Will’s personal space.

“You sure?”

“M’sure,” he breathed.

Mike slowly reached out to grab his chin and Will tried not to squirm. His hands were big enough to cradle his whole face if he wanted to. He felt himself being tugged forward slightly and Mike Wheeler was kissing him. It was… disappointing. Will forgot to close his eyes or do anything with his lips and his hands were just hanging at his sides uselessly. Mike pulled away slightly. Well, that was it. His first kiss. Wahoo.

“You gonna kiss me back or what?” he asked with a smirk, his voice slightly scratchy, setting every nerve ending in his body on fire.

Their lips touched again, and this time he responded. He closed his eyes and kissed him back. Their lips slotted awkwardly at first, but Will tilted his head to the right and there it was. This was the kiss that he had wanted. It was soft and his heart was in his throat as he was trying so hard to not fuck it up. Mike pressed closer to him, putting a hand on the wall beside him. His lips opened slightly, prying Will’s open as he skated his tongue across his bottom lip. Will inhaled sharply through his nose and pulled away so he could breathe. His lips tingled slightly and he felt like he was only half awake.

“We should probably go back downstairs,” Mike said plainly, looking unaffected. Will drew in a deep breath to steady his thoughts and nodded. Mike stepped away and held out his hand for Will to take.

“Shall we?”

Will took his hand shakily and their fingers interlocked. They had actually held hands before. They did it a lot as kids until they were told they weren’t supposed to. Mike’s hands were much bigger now than they had been back then, and Will hoped his weren’t too sweaty.

They made their way downstairs, hand in hand in the dark living room. All eyes flicked over to them from the TV, aside from Max who hadn’t been looking in the first place.

“What took you so long?” she asked while everyone else silently clocked their intertwined hands.

“Uh, sorry. Headache,” Will said plainly.

“Bullshit,” Max called from the couch.

“What?”

“Bullshit. What happened?”

Although she was blind, Max still never missed anything.

“Uh, well,” Mike said, cheeks coloring, “Me and Will are kinda dating.”

Everyone was quiet for a moment and Will considered taking his chances with a tall building, but then there was a cacophony of, “Finally!” and “I knew it!”, which Mike made a face at, but said nothing. 

Eventually, everyone was tired enough to actually go to sleep, and they began to settle into their sleeping bags.

“What are you doing?” Will asked as Mike pushed his sleeping bag closer to his.

“Shouldn’t we sleep together?”

Will’s mouth went dry at the wording and he just nodded mutely as he crawled in to go to sleep. Mike did the same, so close that Will could feel his breath on his nose. Those lips. He had kissed those lips. Rather poorly at first, but still. Mike shifted even closer and Will swore all of Hawkins could hear his heart beating. Everyone else had already fallen asleep, it being three in the morning, so it was really just them.

“Mike,” Will whispered, “No one’s watching.”

“Just to be safe,” Mike whispered back, and leaned in, pressing their lips together quickly before pulling away and laying his head down, still facing him. “Goodnight, boyfriend.”

Will sighed. “Goodnight.”

If this plan didn’t go to shit, he owed the universe a lot of money.

[bullet-prooflove]

Birthday Celebration Bingo: Surprise Party - Joe Velasco x Reader

Tagging: @plaidbooks @witches-unruly-heart @storiesofsvu @rosaliedepp @thatesqcrush

Part of The Wolf Universe:

Criminal!Joe:

The Wolf - Joe meets his queen in an unexpected place.

Reward - Joe rewards you for your loyalty.

One More (NSFW) - Joe ruins you when you display your devotion. 

Pictures of You (feat: Mike Duarte) - Mike discovers you’re alive.

Bleed - Joe learns the story behind your scars.

Flowers (feat: Mike Duarte) - It’s been a long time since Mike has bought you flowers.

Use Me (NSFW) - Joe surrenders to you.

Love Letter - Terry gives you the letter Joe left for you.

Red Flag - Terry thinks your a red flag in Joe’s operation.

Mi Amor - You decide to tell Joe how you feel.

Joe doesn’t expect to see balloons when he walks through the door of the Soreno’s. He doesn’t expect the confetti cannon that goes off in his face either, showering his expensive suit in a haze of glitter nor the exclamation of surprise that erupts from the guests. He was expecting a quiet, intimate dinner with his wife, not a full on event.

Nobody has ever thrown The Wolf a surprise party. He’s completely stunned as people approach him, shaking his hand, giving them their best wishes. His gaze meets yours across the room and you give him that smile, the one that absolutely ruins him.

You’d been tangled up in one another when he’d told you he’d never had a birthday party. You were talking about your childhood back in Boston, the house where you grew up, the bouncy castle that had deflated when your drunk uncle tripped over the plug.

“We never had parties.” He tells you, his thumb chasing over the apple of your cheek. “My mother was dead and my father was too busy building his empire.”

“It sounds lonely.” You say softly. He can see the sadness in your eyes, the compassion, the empathy. You are the only person he trusts with these parts of himself, the only person he shows his vulnerability.

“Let’s not talk about that.” He murmurs against your lips, his naked body draping across yours. “Not when we could be doing other things.”

You hadn’t forgotten that conversation. You had known that his father was abusive, you’d seen the scars on his back, ran your fingers over them but you hadn’t realised the extent of it. Joe was nothing to that man but clay to mould into his own image. His emotional wellbeing, his happiness wasn’t a factor, especially as a child.

It’s the expression on his face that captures you when he walks into that room, that rare moment of joy on his features. It makes the weeks of planning worth every single second.

“You have been a naughty girl.” He whispers into your ear when he catches up with you. His arm wraps around your waist drawing you to him, his firm body pressing against yours. “Keeping things from me.”

There’s a growl in his voice, it’s dark and teasing as his nose trails up along the curve of his throat, his fingers toying with the knot of the midnight blue wrap dress you’re wearing. One pull is all it would take, but he can’t stand the thought of another man’s eyes on you, even if he’s the one fucking you.

“If you can spare me ten minutes perhaps I can give you your other birthday present.” You say, your eyes bright with mischief as you guide his hand underneath your dress. His fingertips skate over the lace tops of the thigh high stockings you’re wearing and his breathing hitches. “I bought something a little special, something for your eyes only.”

His lips brush over yours, his kiss full with a thousand unspoken promises. You’re wet already, a damp patch growing across the sheer fabric of your panties.

“I’m gonna need more than ten minutes, mi amor.” He murmurs, his thumb chasing along the line of your jaw. “Especially if I want to thank my wife properly.”

Love Joe Velasco? Don’t miss any of his stories by joining the taglist here.

Like My Work? - Why Not Buy Me A Coffee

[band--psycho]

Harvey Specter x Reader- Revelations

I just wanted to say a quick thank you for all the Harvey specter love on my tumblr, it really means a lot! 💛

Thank you to @justah0pelessr0mantic for requesting this story!

I hope you all enjoy this! 💛

(If anyone wants to be tagged in more Harvey stories let me know in the comments or fill out a tag list form which you can find on my masterlist)

“He’s late,” Y/n mumbled, not with annoyance or frustration in her voice but with an anxiety Harvey knew she was feeling; not only from her voice but by the way her legs were bouncing slightly under the table.

“Sweetheart, relax,” Harvey hummed, turning towards her, placing one of his hands on her back and the other on her thigh that was closest to him, in an attempt to stop the anxious tapping. 

“He’s usually late to most things,” he joked, in another attempt to ease her anxiety, as his thumb rubbed small circles onto her back. 

He knew why she was so anxious, tonight was a big night…and although he was trying his best not to let it show, he was nervous too. 

“Maybe we should leave before he gets here?” Y/n suggested turning slightly so that her eyes met Harvey’s. 

“We can’t, baby,” he answered softly; with a sympathetic smile. 

“I know, I know,” she sighed, knowing that Harvey was right. 

She knew they had to tell Mike; she wanted to, she really did. 

She was just worried about his reaction; Mike had always been protective over her, ever since they were kids, Harvey knew that. 

Neither of them had meant to keep their relationship a secret for this long, at first it made sense, neither of them wanted to make things difficult or complicated for Mike if their relationship didn’t work out. 

There had been times before they had planned to tell Mike…but something always came up, an urgent court case or business at the firm. 

Y/n was brought back to her senses when she could no longer feel Harvey’s comforting touch on her back or thigh. 

“I love you,” he whispered under his breath as Y/n's eyes fixed on her brother who was walking towards their table, a confused look evident on his face.

“Y/n?” He asked, his eyebrows narrowing as he sat down opposite the two of them, “what are you doing here?”

At the moment it was as though every word Y/n had ever learned just vanished from her brain; she couldn’t think of a single thing to say to Mike. 

“We…” Harvey began, taking a breath before he intertwined Y/n's fingers with his on the table, “we wanted to talk to you.”

Mike's eyes darted between Harvet and Y/n for a few seconds, before he glanced down at their hands and back up at the two of them.  

“How long?” Mike asked; his tone surprisingly calmer than Y/n had expected.

“Nearly…nearly two years,” she stuttered out; bracing herself for the moment she’d feared the most. 

But Mike said nothing; he just looked at the two of them and smiled, “I’m glad you finally told me.”

“You knew?” Y/n said a little louder than she’d intended to, the shock overwhelming her, however it did end up making some of the nearby diners glance in their direction for a few moments; not that she cared all that much.

“You know I’ve been able to tell when you’re lying to me since you were five,” Mike pointed out; he’d known for a while that Y/n and Harvey had been seeing each other, granted they’d hid it well, for half a year he was completely unaware they were together; he knew she was keeping something from him. 

He just didn’t know what.

And then he saw them together at a coffee shop; they were just talking and laughing and it was then that something clicked. 

The way they looked at each other in that coffee shop was enough for him to know that something was going on between them. 

From that moment on little things that he probably never would’ve noticed became so much clearer. 

He was angry for a while; not because they were together, but because they'd kept this a secret from him; but then he saw how happy his little sister was and he didn’t want to interfere with that. 

“And you’re okay with it?” Y/n continued to question; the tone of her voice expressing the fear of what his answer would be. 

“I would’ve said something by now if i wasn’t,” Mike answered simply; giving Y/n a reassuring smile as she let out a sigh of relief, instantly relaxing into her chair; as Mike turned his attention to Harvey. 

“But if you hurt her, I will have to kill you.”

“I would expect nothing less,” Harvey agreed, another chuckle lacing his voice as he too felt a weight lifted from his shoulders. 

But still one thing lingered…one thing that they hadn’t shared with Mike. 

One thing that made Harveys small smile falter. 

“We…have something else to tell you,” Harvey began, glancing at Y/n before looking back at Mike. 

“I asked Y/n to marry me…”

Harvey was always quite spontaneous and he hadn’t planned to ask Y/n without telling Mike about their relationship first; but he just felt like the time was right and he didn’t want to waste another second without her knowing that, that’s why he asked. 

The words lingered in the air for a few moments as Mike processed what he’d just heard. 

“Well at least you didn’t wait a year and a half to tell me that,” he stated; his eyes going back to Y/n; “I take it you said yes?”

She hadn’t. 

Not yet. 

She couldn’t. 

She couldn’t have said yes to Harveys proposal until Mike knew…that’s why she was so nervous about his reaction; because she wanted to marry Harvey.

“I haven’t given him an answer yet,” Y/n corrected; giving Harveys hand a small squeeze, “I wanted you to know about us before I said yes.”

“Well…I guess I should congratulate you on your engagement.” 

Y/n practically jumped out of her seat to hug her brother; the excitement completely taking control of her body as a beaming smile grew on her lips.

“Thank you,” she whispered in his ear as he reciprocated her hug. 

“I think you should turn around,” he whispered back, his eyes looking at Harvey, who was now down on one knee, holding open a black box in his hands. 

A small gasp left Y/ns lips as she saw the sight in front of her.

Harvey. On one knee. With the most gorgeous ring she’d ever seen in her life.

“Y/n Y/l/n, will you marry me?” 

The word yes came out of her mouth faster than she could even process it; it was such a surreal experience. 

One minute she saw Harvey down on one knee as now she was wrapped in his arms, she was so lost in his embrace that she could barely even register the applause the other diners in the restaurant were giving.

[raccoon-eyed-rebel]

Part 8

Masterlist

Series Masterlist

Part 7 🟣 Part 9

A reverse harem vampire AU ft. Mikey, Marshall, August and Sherlock

Series summary: Somehow, you've managed to live with your boyfriend and his roommates for months before finding out they're vampires, but the real shock first comes when they find out you have a special quality. A quality the guys would love to make use of...

Warnings: Mentions of blood, biting, vampire stuff, mention of needles and stitches. Tell me if I missed something.

Word count: 4.2k

A/N: I just keep hitting everybody with more info, or so it would seem... I'm glad I got this finished, because Chapter 9 is also well underway, and I hope to get that done today. Are we still good on the smut? Do we need more smut? (I genuinely think this is the longest I've gone without writing smut for a series XD)

@geralts-yenn @deandoesthingstome @summersong69 @teamfan7asy @mis-lil-red @ellethespaceunicorn @sillyrabbit81

The door to Marshall’s room slammed shut uncharacteristically loudly. The boys didn’t slam doors; their movements were far too precise, too controlled for that kind of nonsense. Same went for slumping down on a bed so suddenly that you wouldn’t be surprised if the downstairs neighbors came up to complain about it. Curiosity got the better of you, and you walked to the source of the sounds. In the back of your mind, you wondered if this was a good idea; Mike was away to feed, Sherlock and August weren’t back from work yet… Marshall hadn’t been home since yesterday. What if this wasn’t even him?

“It’s me,” he answered through the still closed door. He’d obviously heard your thoughts.

“Marshall,” you said, pushing the door open carefully, “are you okay?” An answer was completely unnecessary: Marshall was laying in bed, looking pale and exhausted, with dark circles under his eyes. Alright, paler, more exhausted, and darker circles than usual. He was a cop, after all, which appeared to be tough, even on a vampire, so a certain level of tired and grumpy was normal for him.

“No,” he said with a faint smile on his face. “You can come in, it’s fine.” His voice was hoarse, and he looked like he could fall asleep any second.

“You look exhausted.” There was a question in there somewhere, but you had enough trouble finding it yourself, so you didn’t expect Marshall to know, either. “You’re cold. Hungry?” That was impossible, he’d fed not even three weeks ago – which made it all the more surprising when he nodded.

“Starving,” he said softly.

“How?” you wondered. He was colder than any of them usually was when they needed to feed.

“Perp was one of us. Horrible chase. Horrible fight. And then they had me interrogate him for hours, going full speed on the mind-reading.”

“You’re allowed to use that?” It seemed like an unfair advantage. Then again…

“I’m licensed and everything.” You honest to God hadn’t had a clue that that was even a thing. Marshall chuckled, which told you he was listening. You had come to terms with the fact that Mike and Marshall were usually at least a little in your head, even though they weren’t necessarily in your head. Marshall had explained to you that the hearing of thoughts you weren’t planning on saying out loud part of his gift was more or less passive. He couldn’t turn it off, he could at most try to not act on what he heard. The same applied to Mike – who had stated outright that he’d be completely out of his mind to ignore it, and he’d made a point of proving that by deliberately doing so one night in bed. Or rather ‘consequently doing the exact opposite of what he felt you wanted most’, which you still felt did skew the results a fair bit. Nevertheless, you’d – more or less begrudgingly – agreed to let things go back to the way they were, even though you were still getting used to the fact that you couldn’t lie to him.

Then, according to Marshall, there was the active mind-reading, which gave him basically full access to someone’s thoughts, but it cost a lot of ‘battery’, as he’d described it. That battery seemed to be completely empty right now.

“You need to feed,” you said without thinking. “Did they just let you leave like this?”

“I’ll be fine,” he said, but something told you that wasn’t remotely true. “They gave me pretty much everything they had in reserve; it should get me through the night.”

“This is after they gave you a snack?” He laughed at the comparison.

“Yeah. Can you make me something to eat, maybe? A sandwich or something?” You were caught between a rock and a hard place; trying not to offer would be impossible, because the thought was already there, and he’d already heard it. Despite that fact, Marshall didn’t seem keen on accepting an offer you hadn’t even made yet, so you agreed to make him some food.

When you returned from the kitchen, the door to Marshall’s room was locked. Strange… Why would he do that if he needed to eat so bad?

“Just put it down, go to your room, lock the door, and stay there,” you heard from the other side of the door. What the hell? No! “I don’t want to hurt you, get away from me.”

“Walter Marshall, open this door.” It wasn’t a question, but that didn’t make him listen.

“Get. The fuck. Away from me.” Holy shit. That voice… He barely sounded human. Alright, he wasn’t human, so that may or may not have had something to do with that, but still. “Please leave.” A single tear ran down your cheek as you turned around and did what he asked you to do – and that single tear turned into two, turned into three, turned into too many to count once you turned the lock on your bedroom door. You leaned your back against it and lowered yourself until you were sitting on the floor, resting your head on your knees, and crying for God knows what silly reason. Marshall was in so much pain, and there was nothing you wanted more than to help him. Why wouldn’t he let you…

For a moment, you forgot you hadn’t actually made the offer, even though you knew he was in the loop on the fact that you had wanted to, and after a few minutes, you carefully made your way back to his room. The sandwich you’d made him – tuna salad with plenty of mayonnaise – wasn’t where you’d left it. That was good.

Over the past few weeks, you’d become well acquainted with the guys’ preferences when it came to their favorite calorie-dense snacks. For Marshall, it was hard to go wrong with anything that involved bread and mayo, August would be happy with just about any kind of pasta, Sherlock was particularly fond of inhuman amounts of cheese and – as was to be expected – Mike had a massive sweet tooth.

“Marshall?” You knocked on the door, even though you knew there was no way he hadn’t heard you. A soft grunt sounded from the other side of the door.

“Come in.” Did he sound embarrassed? He was lying on his bed, facing away from the door, curled up in a ball. You’d say ‘small ball’, but that would just seem weird when talking about a guy Marshall’s size.

“Are you feeling better?” You sat down on the bed and put a hand on his shoulder. If he was feeling any better, he sure as fuck didn’t look like it. The overly dramatic sigh didn’t help convince you that the answer he gave you was true.

“Yeah.”

“Liar,” you said, and you pushed against his arm. Normally, you wouldn’t be able to move him if you tried your hardest, but now, he just kinda… rolled. “You need to feed.”

“I’ll ask Mike when he gets back.” There was something very evasive about his voice, and normally your first instinct would have been not to pry, but you couldn’t help yourself.

“Marshall, what the hell was that? Just now.” Of course, he tried to avoid giving you an answer by trying to convince you it had been nothing, but you didn’t buy it. When he looked at you, you could clearly see the embarrassment on his face.

“I was just about ready to jump you,” he said. “For food, I mean.” As if you’d expected anything else…

“I have a better idea, move over.” You rolled up your sleeve and waved your arm in front of his face.

“I’d object to this idea, for Mikey’s sake,” Marshall said, “but I’m way too fucking hungry.” You noticed his fangs were down; you could see them when he spoke. It took some shifting around for the both of you to get comfortable, but you found something that worked and that didn’t feel too intimate. There was no way you were going to make him sit on the floor for this, though. He deserved to lie down for a bit.

“I’m going to ask you if you’re sure once.” There was a strange intensity to his voice, and he grabbed your arm so tight it was almost painful. Scratch that, it was painful. As soon as you told him you were sure, he bit down – hard.

“Fuck!” The word was out before you even realized, but he really hurt you when he bit you. The pain didn’t last long, though; within a few seconds, you felt like you were in a nice, warm bath.

You were beginning to construct a theory that the feeling you got varied, depending on the vampire that was feeding on you – although you’d need more experience to really say anything about it – but whether it was true or not, it still felt great. Marshall was rough, clearly starving, sucking on your arm as if his life depended on it – and maybe it did, you couldn’t be sure.

‘It’s not that dramatic.’ The voice startled you, and without thinking, you pulled away from Marshall. Unfortunately, he wasn’t quick enough to bring back his initial death-grip on your arm. His teeth tore a little further into your flesh, leaving you with two serious-looking gashes on your arm as he let you go. It made you jump more than it actually hurt.

“Ow! Fuck!”

“What the damn hell?” Mikey. Within a split-second, Marshall was nowhere to be found, and you were looking around frantically to find out where he’d gone. He was pinned against the wall by Mike, who looked just about ready to rip his throat out.

“Mikey, let go of him,” you said calmly. “Now.” Mike’s grip on Marshall’s throat relaxed, but he didn’t step away.

“I swear I wasn’t trying to hurt her, man,” Marshall said. “You know that.”

“I think you’re going to start explaining why the fuck you were feeding on her in the first place!” His voice cracked when he said it, which might have been funny if the circumstances had been different.

“Mike! Stop being so goddamn… territorial! I am not your property!” Shit, that definitely rubbed him the wrong way. His hand dropped to his side, and he stared at you, mouth hanging open and seemingly on the verge of tears. “He needed help, Mikey.” He still did. Your voice was soft, almost a whisper, and you were fairly sure that one look at Marshall would tell Mike you weren’t lying; he still looked like death warmed up.

“Look at me, man,” Marshall said. There was that familiar look in his eyes, and right now it was the only thing that made him look normal. Which was very, very concerning, because that look still weirded you out. Mike finally backed off completely.

“I’m sorry for jumping you,” he said quietly, “I heard her scream, and then the whole situation just kinda made me lose it.”

“Can we talk about what happened?” you said curiously, raising your arm for the first time since you’d pretty much tried to pull it out of Marshall’s mouth. You slowly remembered what it had been that had made you jump in the first place. “How did I hear your voice while you were feeding?”

“I’m sorry about that, I should have warned you. I didn’t think it would happen, since it was the first time,” Marshall said as he sat down next to you. Mike joined you on your other side and wrapped an arm around you. He pressed something to your arm – a washcloth – and you realized he’d made a pitstop in the bathroom on his way over to you. You hadn’t even noticed. “It’s a sort of… attunement. Common between naturals and feeding vampires, but it usually requires…”

“Attunement?” you asked almost sarcastically. Mike laughed.

“Well, yeah.” Marshall chuckled. “I’m guessing it’s because we’ve been living together for a while now, that’s really the only explanation I can think of.” That sounded plausible. It was strange how completely calm you were about these things now – especially compared to a couple of weeks ago, when you’d been screaming at Mike for not telling you he was a vampire. Which, in hindsight, was really something you should have noticed – it was something you kept beating yourself up over.

“We’ll ask Sherlock when he gets back,” Mike said. There was an edge of curiosity to his voice, and you knew he wasn’t just going to let this go.

“Ask Sherlock what when he gets back?” Sherlock suddenly asked from two feet away, startling you. “I’m sorry, darling, I didn’t mean to startle you. Can I take a look at that?” Before you could answer, he was on his knees in front of you, inspecting the wounds on your arm.

“These are going to need stitches,” he said softly. Marshall’s breath caught in his throat for a second, and you turned your head towards him. He looked absolutely mortified.

“It’s okay,” you said softly. The hand you put on his thigh seemed to calm him down a bit. “It wasn’t your fault.”

“May I inquire as to what happened?” Occasionally, Sherlock sounded like he was stuck in the Victorian era.

“I still don’t quite know, myself,” you answered. Other than ‘some kind of attunement’, no one had actually told you anything, so you turned back to Marshall and waited for your answer. Your completely comprehensible, logical, making-all-the-sense-in-the-world answer. Or so you hoped.

“Right. It was a projection of my gift. Normally, I can hear your thoughts. Because I was feeding on you, you got to hear mine.” Oh. That wasn’t half as scary as you’d thought it was, and definitely more understandable than you’d expected. And now you were going to need stitches in your arm because of something entirely un-scary.

“Shouldn’t we be getting me to a doctor?”

“Right,” Mike said. You noticed the grin on his face and squinted. What was he up to?  “Sorted.” You hadn’t moved. Neither had anyone else, as far as you could tell.

“Mike,” Sherlock warned, but there was a definite chuckle to his voice. “He’s not wrong, though. Do you need to see my degree?”

“What? You’re a doctor?”

“I am. Both M.D. and PhD. Several PhD’s, to be precise,” he said. It somehow didn’t sound like bragging – and it probably wasn’t, given the fact that he’d had nine-hundred years to get those degrees. Marshall chuckled at your thought and confirmed that a new degree every few decades wasn’t necessarily that impressive. You stuck your arm out without thinking, and Sherlock disappeared for half a second, and returned with the necessary instruments to take care of the mess that was your arm.

“That medical degree,” you asked, just to be sure, “when did you get that?”

“I got that renewed in the late nineties,” he said, “when we first had the idea to open the clinic.”

“He finished med school in, what was it?” August had made it home safely, too. “Three years?” You looked up at him. He was casually lounging against the doorframe, as usual. It did something to you, and you were fairly sure you could watch August stand there the whole day. When you first moved in, your friends had asked to see a picture of your roommates. If you had let them stare at those pictures for five seconds longer than you did, you’d have had to mop the floor, you were sure of it. And they were hot, there was just no point in trying to deny that. Mike called you out now, everytime he caught you looking. It was almost as if he was trying to illustrate that he wasn’t completely paranoid in his apprehension to a steady feeding arrangement. The past two weeks, however, it had kinda seemed he’d really been getting used to the idea. You talked about it a lot, you considered that a good sign.

“Renewed?” That was confusing, but the more you thought about it… “How old was the one before that?”

“A hundred years, give or take. I wasn’t practicing, at the time, in case you’re wondering. Though I did keep up to date on the goings on in the field. Medical school was a breeze because of that. You’re done, by the way.” You looked down at your arm, then back at Sherlock, and back down again.

“Why’d you maim her in the first place?” August asked Marshall, still not moving out of the doorway.

“It was my fault,” you said immediately, but August just laughed.

“Easy, princess, I’m just kidding,” he said. He was really making good on his promise to be less of a cunt, you’re just not quite used to that yet. Marshall explained what happened at work to the guys – the story made all three of them wince.

“It was a good thing she was home,” he said, gesturing at you, “I… I was cutting it pretty close. Can I get you anything?” Right, that. You sincerely doubted you were ever going to get used to that.

“Some tea would be nice,” you said. “Unrelated: Anyone up for a movie night?” Marshall and August were both in, Sherlock had some work to finish, but said he might join afterwards. You looked at Mike. He still seemed a little on edge about everything that’s happened.

“I’m really sorry, man,” Marshall said before he left to make you tea. Mike, Sherlock, and August got the rest of the story from you; how you had suddenly heard Marshall’s voice in your head and freaked out. It was a very on-brand thing for you to do, clumsy as you were, and the guys laughed at it once they’d made sure you were okay.

It was off to the living room for movies and snacks from there. Mike made you scream when he scooped you off the bed and rushed you to the couch.

“You lot are getting a little too comfortable just…. vampire-ing about the house. Please remember to approach me at a speed I can perceive. I’m tired of living with four walking jump scares waiting to happen.” You clutched at your chest as if it would stop your heart from breaking out.

“Well, that took you a solid couple of months,” August said. He was right; the guys had been making you jump ever since you’d been living here. Mike pointed out that nothing had changed since you’d found out – except for the fact that Sherlock moved in, which technically meant that you were now hyperventilating over one of them appearing out of nowhere more frequently. All jokes aside, they did promise to keep it in mind.

You got comfortable on the couch, with your head in Mikey’s lap, and your feet in August’s, while Marshall was compelled to set you up with drinks, snacks and a blanket. It was still awkward to practically be waited on, and you silently wondered if that was something you’d ever get used to. You know, in the event you’d actually… Anyway. Something strange caught your eye: Mike and Marshall staring at each other, saying nothing, miming a conversation as if they were speaking.

“Boys,” you said, “care to share this little… exchange?”

“Ask her, it’s not up to me,” Mike said. You had a pretty decent idea of what they were discussing, especially when Marshall continued the conversation.

“But you’re okay with that?” As Mike had just so plainly pointed out, you thought, it wasn’t up to him. You knew Marshall could hear you, even though he didn’t show any signs that he’d received your message or anything.

“You look like death warmed up. Which is ironic, because we’re vampires, and we’re literally… death warmed up,” Mike said by means of an answer as to why he was okay with whatever it was that you already knew Marshall was asking for, but hadn’t actually asked you for. “So, I guess you look even worse than that.”

“Ask me what?” There was no way you could keep the irritation out of your voice, and whatever it is that Marshall wanted to ask you, you were inclined to say ‘no’ to just because of this. “I don’t appreciate you guys talking about me like I’m not here, just so you know.”

“I wanted to ask if you would be okay if I…” He hesitated, although you really couldn’t figure out why.

“Finished dinner?” you offered. From the looks of it, Marshall was content with that suggestion, because he shrugged and nodded. “Sure, why not.” This time, he did sit in front of the couch.

“Wait, other arm, if you don’t mind.” In a fraction of a second, your head was on the other side of the couch, and the guys had all switched seats, too. “I believe I just said; move. normally.” The guys laughed and promised – again – that they’d do their best to remember.

Marshall went much easier on you this time around, meaning mostly that his bite didn’t hurt you the way it had before. After a while, something inside you became a little bit curious about the whole gift-projecting situation.

Hey, you thought – although you did feel a little silly about deliberately trying to strike up a conversation in your thoughts, do you think the projection thing works this time around? You heard Marshall hum softly, as if he was considering it, and waited for an answer. That, too, felt silly. For a moment, you felt like you’d just dreamt the whole thing up. You felt Marshall’s grip on your arm tighten, and at first you wondered why, until you heard his voice again.

Depends, if you can hear this, it does.

“Wow,” you said, and Mike and August both hummed surprised semi-questions at you. “Cool.” You decided – for Mike’s sake – to give him a taste of his own medicine for a change. Now if only he’d notice…

Don’t use me to get back at him, Marshall thought. It was so distinct from your own thoughts, you were almost surprised by it. For starters; it was Marshall’s voice, instead of your own. But there was something else. As if it was further away somehow.

You guys need to know what it feels like. You noticed your face automatically went along with the thoughts, as if you were saying them out loud. There was really no other reason for you to raise an eyebrow right now.

As do you, Marshall retorted, we’re used to it. We don’t do it on purpose. August actually mentioned that he hated how much we talked and how loud we are since you moved in.

“Really?” You turned to August, as if he was going to give you an answer.

“Why are you looking at me?” Right.

“Oh. I was just talking to… Thinking to? Eh… Having a conversation with Marshall,” you said, as if that explained everything. Which – of course – it didn’t, so August was still giving you that look.

You might want to repeat what I said, Marshall’s voice sounded in your head. Right… For the first time, you could imagine how the guys would periodically forget that you couldn’t hear them. Apparently, they’d learned not to get too pissed about that…

“Eh, he mentioned something about you being upset at how much talking and noise there’s been since I moved in,” you said apologetically.

“Convenient, huh?” Mike said with a stupid grin on his face – as if he knew any other kind. You couldn’t help but laugh and nod, though, because there was something convenient about it.

“Alright, yes,” August answered, “it’s been a while since I lived with a human. There’s… a certain form of etiquette involved in dealing with you guys.”

“Is ‘limit sudden movement’ not part of that agenda? Because it should be.” There was a sour tone to your voice, but you couldn’t help it.

“Usually, yes. Which is probably why you didn’t figure out we were vampires for a while. Which, I do feel the need to remind you, we genuinely thought you knew,” Mike said while he played with your hair. With Mike stroking your hair, August keeping your feet warm and Marshall still sucking on your arm, you were just about ready to fall asleep.

“But with all the vampire-talk recently… We figured we could be ourselves a bit more.” August added. That made you feel a bit guilty.

“I’m more than fine with that, if you don’t scare the ever-loving fuck out of me,” you said. It was one thing to watch them fetch things really quickly, or coming over like a bat out of hell when you needed one of them – actually, those things were quite convenient – but to have them just show up out of what appeared to be nowhere… That was something else entirely. The guys seemed to understand that just fine.

“Trust me, I was happy as a clam when Sherlock stitched up my arm in under a minute,” you said – and nobody had any trouble believing it.

“For someone who hates needles, you’re doing pretty well on the whole biting-front,” Mike noted, and you scowled at him. You’d never told any of the guys about your fear of needles, because you didn’t want them to make fun of you. “It’s different. Fangs aren’t needles.” Simple enough explanation, right?

[timaeusterrored]

((College Au Valentines Day bc I can’t help myself))

“Come onnnn J, we gotta do something for him!” Kerry said, climbing onto of his best friend. He straddled his back, Johnny laying face down to try and escape the talk of Valentine’s Day.

“Gotta work, Muse. Can’t.” Lies. Rogue and Mike offered to hold the fort down if he wanted to do something with Vince and Kerry. And the look that Mike gave him told him he kinda had too or he’d rip his other arm off.

There was a gentle knock at the door before the sound of key jingling and Kerry grinned, knowing that meant Vincent was here, bright and early before classes today. “Don’t you two have class?” Since when did Johnny ever care if they had class or not? He didn’t but wasn’t about to give in. Not even when Kerry started to press kisses against his flesh shoulder.

“Ker? J?” Vincent’s voice rang out, once again alerting the two. “Bedroom!” Kerry called back, not moving since he basically had Johnny pinned and Johnny was too lazy to move him. Kerry smiled when he saw their input, wearing his hoodie right now that he had bleach painted himself. “Happy Valentine’s Day!” Sharing a kiss with Vincent always felt like the first time.

“May I ask what’s going on?” Vince asked, especially since he knew Johnny could buck Kerry off of him. “Well in trying to be normal, would you like to go on a date with us tonight?” Kerry asked, and Vincent reddened. “Oh uh.. yeah. But can I plan it?” Suspicious. That got the rockers’ shared attention. “Yes?” Kerry hadn’t actually made it that far so he was kinda relieved Vincent was already planning something. “Perfect. I brought coffee if you’d-“ that’s all Kerry needed to get off of Johnny and high tail it into the kitchen with promises of coffee and knowing Vincent, some form of pastry.

Johnny rolled onto his back and looked up at Vincent, who was watching Kerry walk away with a small smile and definitely checking out his ass. Johnny couldn’t blame him, he did it all the time. How could he not? He also looked at Vincent’s so.

He pulled Vincent on top of him, causing the younger man to yelp out in surprise. “Mornin’.” Vince whispered, before leaning down for a gentle kiss. Johnny didnt know what gentle spirit possessed him when Vincent was around, but he gently tucked a strand of purple hair behind Vince’s ear as they kissed. “Mornin’..”

“Coffee and muffins this morning, hope that’s okay.” He said softly, always wanting to please. Johnny and Kerry never expected or asked Vincent to start doing this when he came by for morning visits so it was always okay. “It’s fine, I’m starving and want caffeine. Up.” He said, and Vincent rolled off of him.

The rest of the day the rockers spent trying to figure out what their input had planned. Kerry had went to one class while Johnny went to the Afterlife to work and keep himself busy with band stuff. He got the text around seven to meet Vincent at his place, Kerry vibrating with excitement by the time they had pulled into the parking lot.

‘Meet me on the roof’, the sign on the door read, along with little hearts. Kerry smiled and dragged Johnny up the back stairs since the elevator didn’t go that high. And neither of them were prepared for what was on the other side.

Fairy lights had been strung up around the roof area, making a faint romantic glow around the roof, and some how making it look beautiful, a rarity in Night City. A small picnic of pizza and Johnny and Kerry’s favorite beer had been set out, on top of a blanket and some lawn chairs around. The only thing missing from this beautiful set up was the one that did it.

“Happy Valentine’s Day.” A voice said quietly from behind them, making them both jump. How the fuck was that kid so quiet! “You like?” Vincent was dressed in his usual ,‘lover boy’ as Nancy called it, flannel and ripped jeans. Good because Kerry was literally in a cut up tank top and Johnny in his busted leather jacket.

“Baby this is amazing!” Kerry was always a sucker for romantic gestures. He pulled their input in first for a deep kiss, Johnny still looking around. He couldn’t believe someone had gone through all this trouble just for them.

“J? You like?” Vincent asked hopefully. Johnny nodded, pulling him into a deep kiss as well. He’d never say it out loud, but the kiss was enough to show his appreciation for what Vincent had done for them. When they pulled apart, Vincent was grinning.

“Let’s eat, I’m starving and it’s definitely gonna get cold if we just make out all night.” Vincent pulled them both over to the area and smiled. Even in Night City, this boy had managed to make something beautiful out of all of it.

[rosesradio]

the heart’s first beat--a byler drabble

word count: 775

warnings: brief discussion of lonnie, hurt/comfort

Will wasn't sure what he did wrong.

He sat against the sycamore tree, and his eyes stung as he tapped his pencil against his drawing. Tied to one of the tree’s thick branches was a giant tire swing, and the thick rope scraped his delicate hands when Will touched it. Mike was there now, in the swing, pushing himself idly. Even at six-and-a-half, he'd grown to be the tallest of the class, the only one whose feet touched the ground when sitting in the swing.

Mike--Michael, the teachers called him, as he hadn't thought to tell them otherwise, because Will was the only one to call him Mike--he was looking at him. He wasn't speaking. Because he just asked if there was trouble at home, with Will's dad, and Will's silence was all the answer he needed.

Will flipped the pages in notebook--his mom couldn't afford a fancy sketchbook like he'd seen on TV, and he didn't expect that of her; his notebook had a tiger on the cover, and she'd gotten it discounted at the store she worked at, and that was the best thing Will could ask for.

He landed on the page he hadn't allowed himself to turn to, as if scared it would turn into something monstrous in the face of his father's words. Words of his own caught in his throat--words, tears, pleas. Whatever it was--the lump in his throat was worth swallowing, to avoid the whole thing.

"I'm sorry I'm not talking," Will said, his voice small. “I just,” he took an unsteady breath. “Got in trouble with dad yesterday.”

“Yeah?” Mike asked, prompting him further.

Will nodded, small fingers tracing along his drawing. It was Mike, in his knight’s armor, brandishing a shield decorated by a heart with a crown on top. Will just liked the design, that was all--when he and Mike played Knights & Wizards, Mike the Knight had a lot of bravery and heart.

“I told mom about how Emma and Mark got married by the slide yesterday. And I thought, maybe...I told her...I mean...we could get married by the slide, too. Because then we could play Knights and Wizards for the rest of our lives. And then...” Will’s eyes watered as he held his thin notebook close, trembling despite the warm April air. “She said that was a good idea. But dad heard and he,” Will shut his eyes, shaking his head.

“Hey,” Mike got down from the tire swing, kneeling down in front of Will. “It’s okay. Your dad sucks, and your mom’s right. That’s two against one, right? I’d much rather marry you play Knights and Wizards than marry someone like Emma. She makes Mark give her the candy from his lunch box every day.”

Will laughed softly, sniffling and wiping his eyes. He looked back down at his drawing, at the heart resting so boldly upon the defensive shield. “Do you think the drawing is stupid? Dad tried to take it away, but mom grabbed it for me...I didn’t mean to cause any trouble...”

“You didn’t,” Mike replied almost instantly. “You never do, Will. Your dad was the one who had a problem. I love the drawing, really...” he gently took the notebook from Will, getting a better look. “If you’ll get in trouble for having the drawing...maybe I could keep it? I’ll hang it up in the basement, I’m the only one who goes down there.”

Will smiled crookedly, tearing off the page gently and handing it over. “Do you plan on starting a whole collection?” he asked, unsure if he was joking or not.

“Of course,” Mike answered, so genuinely it made Will’s face flush. “They’ll be like movie posters for all of our adventures! And this,” he pointed to the heart drawn on his shield. “It’ll be our secret symbol. That we’re a pair, like Emma and Mark. And we are gonna be together, playing Knights and Wizards and anything else we want forever. I promise.”

Will beamed, unable to help but throw his arms around Mike, almost tackling him against the grass. “Thank you, Mike...”

Mike wrapped his arms around Will, returning the hug for only a moment before pulling away--Will knew it was just so potential bullies wouldn’t see, so he didn’t mind.

“Does this mean I can have the candy from your lunchbox?” Will asked hopefully.

Mike groaned, seeming to already regret his decision. “Okay, but only if you promise to make another drawing. With Mike the Knight and Will the Wise.”

Will nodded, flipping the page and immediately getting to work. Oddly--but comfortingly--he could still feel Mike’s eyes on him as he drew.

[farahsamboolents]

As promised, here are the DELETED SCENES from I’m The First In Line (my steddie fic on ao3)

I’M THE FIRST IN LINE: DELETED SCENES

You might recognize some of these passages from the completed fic - the whole point of having a Deleted Scenes is so I can go through and pick out the buried gems when I find a good home for them. Pretty sure I just mushed two different phrases together there, but you get the point. These are all in here for the reusability factor (in either concept or wording), OR to make a point about why I didn’t use them and explain how it goes against the ethos of the completed fic.

(If I kept retrying the same scene over and over, I mushed them all together a little)

Steve breathed another heavy sigh. “I guess I could just pretend. I could still find a girl who wants to be a mother of six.”

“But you don’t want to.”

“No. I want him.”

[END SCENE]

Deleted because “no, I want him” sounded… too much? Right now he just has a crush, he’s not quite ready for marriage and six kids… with Eddie, anyway. The man is ready to build a goddamn family. Slow down. Turn twenty first.

“I can feel it, sometimes.” She said. “When people are in the Upside Down. And I can find them there, too.”

“Yeah, and I can tell when someone took too much, but only if I’m close enough.”

She looked back at him, studying him.

Eddie matched her gaze.

“I heard about that fucked up facility you went to,” he said softly, “they probably made it sound like it was all your fault, right? Like they could fix you?”

She nodded, looking away.

“I went to - not the same, obviously, no superpowers here - but I kinda had the same thing happen. It’s why I live with my uncle, he got me out of there.”

She met his gaze again. “Why?” She said.

He let out a deep sigh.

“Because god hates gays, or some shit.” She looked at him inquisitively, so he continued, “I like boys. Same way you do. Don’t spread it around or anything, there’s a reason I went there in the first place but, if we’re on the topic of things that aren’t our fault.�� He shrugged, shoulders scraping against the concrete.

“It took a lot of time to unlearn the crap that they told me.

[END SCENE]

Deleted because I didn’t want Eddie to come out to El just yet, and didn’t have a way of explaining why he was sent away otherwise. HOWEVER, I still kind of miss the opportunity to have them bond over that. On the other hand, I really really want to make sure I treat that part of his backstory right, and coming out of the closet willy-nilly is dangerous now a lot of the time, and he’s in smalltown Indiana in the 80’s.

The door leading to the house slammed open just then, and they both jumped.

“I found them!” Shouted Mike’s voice, “They’re both by the pool!”

“Jesus,” breathed Eddie, hand over his heart, as he heard a chorus of oh my god and you scared us from the doorway, where everyone spilling out of the house.

He rolled over to get up, fighting against his stiff and aching joints. Fuck, something as easy as standing up should not be this complicated.

He yelped as the ground suddenly flew away from beneath him, limbs flailing wildly for… grip? Balance? He had no idea, but the ground came back, slower, and his feet were placed on the ground just as gently as his cane was placed into his palm.

El was smiling at him as she wiped her nose on her sleeve with the hand was outstretched in his direction just a second ago.

[END SCENE]

Deleted because too many people showed up, and I wanted it to just be him and Steve. I like the idea of El helping him up, though. What I would give to have someone help me up like that some days…

It was the first day of school, according to the walkie-talkie’s nonstop chatter the day previous. The vast majority of Eddie’s friends consisted of teenagers who coordinated a game plan for the first day of sophomore year. The first day of school was a day Eddie knew all too well, and yet, for the first time in six years, he had nowhere to be. It was an odd feeling. It might have even been a nice one, if he had a more pleasant reason to climb out of bed.

[END SCENE}

Deleted because I ended up setting Eddie’s panic attack in late September rather than the first day of school.

It felt peaceful, thought Eddie, to watch the sun rise with Steve by his side. They didn’t talk much, just watched as the sun slowly rose.

Eddie didn’t realize he had fallen asleep until Wayne woke him up with a mug of coffee under his nose.

He was surprised to find that Steve was still there. Wayne handed him a mug as well.

When Wayne ruffled his hair and then Steve’s in turn, Eddie wanted this moment - with Steve’s bashful smile, holding Wayne’s favourite mug, and a comfortable breeze - to last forever.

Steve eventually had to shatter the illusion by leaving for an appointment - some sort of test to make sure he was firefighter ready - but he left behind a warmth in Eddie’s chest, as if he had lit a campfire in there. It was only fitting, Eddie supposed, that he was camped out in there.

[END SCENE]

Deleted because this scene felt unproductive. I kept getting stuck. However, them napping on the front porch together? Golden.

Eddie to Max:  I didn’t even mean to tell you, but now that you know, it’s a 50/50 on reactions. So give me a minute before I play with that ratio again.

[END SCENE]

Deleted because I realized that he was outed to Robin and Vickie who both had neutral reactions (although technically Eddie interpreted them as negative, but that’s neither here nor there), and while I may have failed math, but I know that it’s definitely not a 50/50 anymore. Too bad, though, I liked that line.

He then paused, and his face changed to one of confusion, brows knitting even further into themselves, and his frown was so high that it almost disappeared under his moustache.

“What’re you smiling for, kid?”

Eddie was indeed grinning wryly. “I don’t know, Wayne, maybe because this is the first time since spring break that you’ve actually talked to me like I’m not going to shatter.”

Wayne blinked. After a pause, he said roughly, “You better not have been hurting yourself on purpose for me to get mad at you.”

“Not on purpose, no. I just,” Eddie shrugged, trailing off his sentence.

Wayne sank back into his chair and slowly slid Eddie’s mug back across the table. An olive branch.

“I’m sorry if I haven’t been talking to you right. I’m tired of you being hurt and didn’t wanna be the one doing it.”

[END SCENE]

Deleted because the tension died too fast. Also, has anyone else noticed I make my characters say half sentences and trail off? I keep catching myself doing that. It’s not always bad, but sometimes the quirk is out of character in the moment.

“The Upside Down fucking destroyed me,” he said, voice shaking with a half cooked combination of anger and fear, “And it destroyed you, and it destroyed our home, and it destroyed half of this goddamn town, and it killed Chrissy.”

He swallowed heavily. Wayne looked terrified. He simultaneously wanted to comfort him, and laugh in his face because now you know a fraction of how I feel.

[END SCENE]

I went from “the tension died too fast” to “wow the tension is too high and I don’t know how to pull back from it”. FIGHT SCENES ARE HARD, OKAY. Also I want to have Wayne be like “ok something is fucky with this Upside Down business” without having Wayne be, y’know, in on it. (…Yet.)

Eddie’s eyes flickered to meet Wayne’s briefly, but otherwise he didn’t move.

“I’m sorry.” Said Wayne. “I’m gonna need you to use that cane, though.”

“Oh goodie,” said Eddie, words laced with sarcastic delight, “I love telling people that their favourite murderer has an achilles heel.”

Wayne sighed. “I don’t have answers for you, kid. I just know that hiding from yourself is going to make it hurt worse in the long run.”

[END SCENE]

Might reuse that achilles heel line at some point.

The sirens finally pulled into the parking lot. Eddie felt himself go numb with relief as officers jumped out of the car, surrounding them and shouting.

Eddie wanted to watch Andy get cuffed, but couldn’t really complain when Hopper approached him and Steve.

“You two alright?” He said. Steve looked to Eddie.

“I’m,” said Eddie, and cut himself off. The numbness was giving way to all his injuries, new and old, starting with the pain of his throat from having been strangled.

“I’ll get back to you on that one.” He quipped with a strained smile. His voice was croaky, as if he had a bad cold.

He was dizzy.

Hopper watched him, concerned, and looked to Steve. “Can I trust you to look out for him, or do you two need a ride to the hospital.”

Steve looked back at Eddie again, who began protesting that he surely didn’t need to be hospitalized again, but Hopper cut him off.

“Harrington, I asked you for a reason.” Said Hopper.

Steve looked back and forth between the two of them. When his only response was an irritated expression from Hopper and a confused one from Eddie, his face melted into an embarrassed smile.

“Um, I actually can’t, I can’t hear right now.” Said Steve loudly.

[END SCENE]

Deleted for two reasons: One, why would Eddie go numb with relief at seeing the cops, he called them pigs literally 2,000 words ago (actually it was 1,999, I checked).

Two, I decided that Hop should know about the whole hearing thing ahead of time, since they’re both First Responders.

Steve had something tucked under his arm, and once Eddie was settled in to the ambulance, Steve flipped it around; it was a small whiteboard, and on it, in Steve’s messy handwriting, was. written DO YOU WANT ME TO GO WITH YOU.

Underneath it, in smaller writing, was written sorry for yelling.

Eddie grinned and nodded.

[END SCENE]

When Eddie was younger, he never got the opportunity to pass notes in class.

He wasn’t jealous of the note passing per se, especially when the teacher would steal the notes in question and read out that Tommy H. totally kissed Tiffany behind the gym!, but he was a little jealous of the easy friendship that it represented. He would much rather be passed a silly note in class than have that paper be used to blow a spitball in his hair.

Now, writing little notes back and forth on a spare notepad that a nurse had given Steve, he felt a childish glee as he waited for Steve to finish his sentence.

[END SCENE]

Once the ambulance was moving, Eddie found himself being lulled to sleep by the movement.

The paramedic snapped her fingers in his face. “Oi. Awake.” She said, “We don’t know if you have a concussion yet.”

She turned to Steve before Eddie could complain that he hadn’t hit his head. “You wanna help me keep him awake?” She said.

Steve smiled politely. “You want me to keep him awake?” He said.

[END SCENE

Steve was surprisingly good at hiding his hearing loss.

In the ambulance, the paramedic asked him to help keep Eddie awake. Steve just looked between Eddie and the paramedic, and said, “you want me to keep him awake?”

Eddie figured that it was probably just a logical conclusion to make, given the context, but he was impressed nonetheless.

Steve then whipped out a pen and a notepad out of his pocket and began a game of hangman.

Eddie thought it was a little on the nose, given his bruised neck at the moment, but played along. He laughed through the pain when it turned out the answer to Steve’s little game was Dorothy.

He stole the notepad to write who’s that? and doodled a little face that looked confused.

Steve grinned. No idea! He responded.

That was when the ambulance pulled up to the hospital. Eddie had assumed that being brought via ambulance would get him a room right away, but no, they were unceremoniously dumped in the waiting room.

Eddie should’ve been miserable, he knew. His neck ached, his windpipe felt like it was half the size it ought to be, and his tongue was bleeding through the gauze in his mouth, but he was resting his head on Steve’s shoulder as he filled out the paperwork he had been handed. He couldn’t help but focus on the warm little buzz he felt in his chest instead.

He was halfway through the paperwork - something about consenting to treatment, and he was here, wasn’t he - when Steve slipped a piece of notepad paper on top of the clipboard he had been given.

sorry for the dorothy thing I thought you knew

Eddie snorted.

He hovered his pen over the piece of paper for ages, trying to formulate a response, when his name was called. He looked up to see Dr. Owens standing in the hallway, beckoning him over.

It figured. Eddie hadn’t seen Dr. Owens since he had been discharged, but he had been in charge of Eddie’s care since the day that he had been cleared of all charges, and Mike had explained that he was some sort of Upside Down specialist. Eddie mostly remembered him from the absurd amount of blood draws he had taken; he remembered glowering at Owens’ inceasingly apologetic face and asking if they were planning on draining him completely.

Owens had offered him a lot of cookies afterwards, but Eddie had still been on a liquid diet. It really didn’t help matters.

Eddie made his way over, and Owens took the clipboard from him.

“We don’t need to worry about that, we’ve got you all figured out.” He said, “Although it looks like you might want this back?” He handed Eddie the notepad paper. Eddie pocketed it.

A wheelchair appeared behind Eddie, being pushed by a stern looking nurse.

[END SCENE]

I forgot that Steve was under the impression that Eddie was mad at him and should probably behave differently. Also, I thought it was hilariously on the nose to have them play hangman.

“So,” said Steve slowly, “what was the plan, then? Just so we’re on the same page about… you know, cuz we both find each other attractive here.”

“There really wasn’t one.” Said Eddie. “I’m not exactly the kind of guy that makes plans.”

Steve frowned. “Thought you planned out those games?”

“That’s different. That’s fiction.”

“So’s this.”

[END SCENE]

“You’ve got your walls up like the third little piggie, and I don’t blame you.”

Eddie snorted, surprised.

[END SCENE]

“Is trying to scare me away your current escape route?”

“Kinda.”

“Look, man.” Steve said, features softening. “If you really, actually don’t want,” he gestured back and forth between the two of them, “this, then I get it. You…” his mouth formed a frown, and Eddie broke eye contact to stare at the mug again as he braced himself.

“I can get over you, if that’s what you really want me to. It might… it might take a minute.

[END SCENE]

“You know, I always wondered why the Devil was supposed to be the bad guy.” Said Steve. In response to Eddie’s baffled expression, he continued. “Isn’t he just supposed to keep the bad people away from the good ones? It’s a pretty commendable service, if you ask me.”

[END SCENE]

“So, yeah.” Eddie waved his free hand. “And last time I tried to have, like, romance? It turned out to be shit. And I felt like, alright, that’s what I get, it’s, it’s shit. Compromise, you know? It wasn’t a good thing, but it was something.”

“But I… I don’t know. I don’t want to lose you, but I guess somewhere during all of this, this shit, you became something that I could lose. And you’re not shit. And it’s not like… it’s not like everything I lost went easy, you know? Like, the trailer, it…” He made an explosion noise with his mouth, accompanied by a hand gesture imitating a mushroom cloud.

Eddie finally met Steve’s eyes for good as he gave him a sardonic smile. “So. Now’s a good time for you to back out of, finding me magnetic or some shit.”

Steve leaned back against the driver’s side window, studying him. He had one leg up on the seat, wrist dangling casually off of his knee, his other wrist lazily hung over the steering wheel. A somber expression decorated his features.

“So, what’s the plan? Never be happy again?” Said Steve, voice gravelly but not unkind. He tilted his head to the side, eyes piercing Eddie’s like spears.

Eddie shrugged. “You know, outside of DnD, I’m not much of a plans guy. Honestly, I’ve been pretty consistently surprised every time I woke up alive for the past decade. My only plans at any given moment are to make sure there’s an escape route in sight.” He looked down at his shirt. “You think I planned on spilling my guts wearing this? There’s a hole in the armpit.”

Steve snorted. “Am I allowed to say that I still want to kiss you now?”

Eddie glared at him playfully. “Really, you horndog, I tell you all about my terrible childhood and all you can think about is getting in my pants?”

“Hey, you’re the one escalating here, for all you know I was just talking about a quick peck on the cheek.”

“Were you?”

Steve responded with a mischievous grin and raised eyebrows.

“You can continue talking about your terrible childhood if that makes you feel better.”

“No, actually, I think I’m more than done talking about it.” Eddie looked around the car. “I can tell you a little bit about my terrible adulthood, though, because the last time I was in this car I genuinely thought you were the Devil.”

“Well, the last time you were in my car, you said some pretty Devil-ish things.”

Eddie’s jacket was suddenly much too warm.

“Sorry.” Said Steve, looking bashful, “That was… that was probably a rough day for you. I shouldn’t have brought it up like that.”

“Maybe you really are the Devil.” Said Eddie, resisting the urge to fan himself like a prim victorian lady about to faint. “You’ve sure been to Hell enough.”

[END SCENE]

Guess who struggles with emotional scenes! I did like that last one, I just got a flash of inspiration that contradicted it.  

The fire station was located just southeast of Hawkins. There was a lake nearby, but it was the kind of place littered with rich people and country clubs.

Figured that the rich people would plop a fire station right next to a lake. Where on earth might they find water if one of their fancy candles fell on top of their silk tablecloths?

The trailer park, on the other hand, surrounded by the woods and subject to annual heatwaves, would likely burn to a crisp by the time the

[END SCENE]

Yes I did just stop midsentence. Anyway, I relocated the station to be north of Hawkins, and there’s no lake there, according to Hop’s map from season two. I’ve actually done a lot of research on Hop’s map, because I have a sequel in mind that requires specifics on where exactly everyone is, and it’s convenient for me to place the fire station closer to Loch Nora for… reasons… (actually I found a higher definition version of the map after I published the last chapter pre-epilogue, the fire station is right in the centre of town. Oops. Too late to change it within the fic.)

I also did research on the lake that I initially placed the fire station on. It’s called Tippecanoe Lake and there are indeed country clubs there. I don’t know if they’ve been there since the 80’s, but I already cut the scene so I officially absolve myself of research.

“Steve keeps looking for you.” She said, after handing a baffled Wayne his tickets. “He’s pretending he isn’t, but he keeps on staring weird at people who have canes, so either he got really rude to disabled people all of a sudden or he’s looking for you.”

Eddie nodded, fidgeting with his own cane and smiling.

“Are you doing your side job again?” She said.

Eddie jumped. “What? No. Who said -“

“Jonathan and Argyle were gossipping about it, they want to buy from you but they don’t know if you’re selling. Why, what’s your side job?” She gave him a funny look. “I’m just trying to figure out if you can buy another twenty.”

Eddie narrowed his eyes at her. “Where is Steve, exactly?”

She nodded towards the mayor, who was finally handing the microphone off to the Fire Chief. “Near the stage.” She said, referring to the small wooden platform at the front of the room.

[END SCENE]

“He’s like, the MVP of this freaking ball. They’re probably going to pull him onstage soon. And he started Project Child Endangerment 3.0.” She raised the basket pointedly.

The look Eddie and Wayne shared this time was alarmed.

“Are you in-“

“No, he’s just been forgetting that he owes me a lifetime supply of ice cream on top of what he owes me for being a saleswoman, and that’s my way of reminding him.” She gave him a falsely sweet smile. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have tickets to sell.”

She disappeared into the crowd, leaving Eddie and Wayne in stunned silence.

“Do you know what she’s talking about?” Asked Wayne. “Or is this like the fungus story again?”

Eddie shook his head numbly. “Three?”

[END SCENE]

In the first one, I felt like Erica probably wouldn’t capture that behaviour from Steve — it’s a little too subtle unless you were already looking for it, you know? Although I did find it cute that she didn’t understand what Eddie’s “side job” was, because as badass as she is, she’s twelve.

Also, would Steve be MVP or would he instead be mercilessly picked on for being a rookie? Apologies to my dearest Deanna who watched as I struggled with “would Erica use the term MVP or not” only to cut that line entirely. (The verdict was yes, by the way, she’s been to enough of Lucas’ basketball games that she probably would’ve picked it up if she hadn’t heard it elsewhere already.)

Eddie swallowed heavily before turning around to look Steve in the eye, and fuck.

“You clean up nice.” Said Eddie. Understatement of the century, he thought. He never thought he had a thing for men in uniform, but with Steve standing right in front of him in a fitted dark suit, Eddie had a hard time breathing all of a sudden.

Steve’s eyes drifted up and down Eddie’s body, and Eddie regretted the bell sleeves he had chosen to wear.

“I like that colour on you.” He said, to Eddie’s surprise.

[END SCENE]

Nah ,Steve should just disappear and be smug about how he just made Eddie just melt into a puddle.

Will met Eddie Munson for the first time when Eddie was hospitalized.

Mike and Will, and Robin and Steve, had both gone to visit Max independently of the other, each with books in hand, and arrived at the exact same time. Lucas, who was curled up in the lounge chair - lounge chair? - next to Max’s bed, looked up through heavy exhausted eyelids and bluntly stated that Steve and Robin could stay. When Mike began to protest, he pointed at another lounge chair, containing El, who was holding Max’s hand and concentrating.

“You’ll distract her.” Said Lucas.

Will thought that was a little unfair, because he had only met Robin a handful of times but already knew that when she started talking, it was like a woodpecker hammering on a tree, but Mike was already offering to introduce Will to the coolest guy ever just a few floors away, and, well, alright.

When they did meet this coolest guy ever, Will tried very very hard to keep his expression neutral, because quite frankly, his appearance was a little terrifying. He was skin and bones, tangled hair hanging limply off his head, and his skin was paler than the white bandages decorating his neck and arms. The only colour on him was the angry red gashes crosshatched on his cheek, and the stitches that held them together.

Eddie held his eyes wide, and he had a slightly manic grin on the undamaged half of his face as Mike and Will walked in.

“Baby Wheeler!” He cheered. “And… friend!”

An older man lounging in a chair identical to the ones in Max’s room huffed fondly. “They just doped him with something real strong.” He said, amused, not bothering to look up from his worn paperback. “Hope you didn’t come for chit-chat, his head is full o’ rocks right now.”

Eddie didn’t respond, just kept his odd grin as he eyed Will curiously.

“Hi Eddie!” Chirped Mike, almost breathlessly, in a tone of voice that was usually reserved for El. Odd. “This is Will, I’ve men-“

“Will the Wise!” Eddie raised his hands in the air,

[END SCENE]

My first few attempts at the epilogue wound up being set WAY too early, which made a wordcount impossible to manage because I kept wanting to explain everything. Also, I realized afterwards that Will probably isn’t the biggest fan of hospitals after the first two seasons. Poor fuck. However, I did want to work in that El was helping Max recover even before she woke up at first, but the poor thing would be way too busy.

Neither of the pair had partaken since they had arrived in Hawkins. Argyle said he had stashed his stash in a tree somewhere; the only thing scarier than a cop, he had said, was a cop who had just been resur-fucking-rected.

Also, he and Jonathan were staying at the Wheeler’s, and Nancy had guns.

[END SCENE]

Again, I set the epilogue way too early at first. They’ll partake eventually, this was the first few days after their arrival.

“Mm?” He gave her what the party had nicknamed his Parents Love Me smile, or PLM, pronounced plum. It was kind of obnoxious. The most obnoxious part was that it every parent fell for it.

[END SCENE]

Steve had a new version of the PLM; it was a slightly different smile where he acted strange and extra nice around Eddie, which the party was all very confused by until Argyle offered up the idea that maybe Steve didn’t know how to act around disabled people. DPLM didn’t have the same ring to it, though, so they didn’t bother to change its name. As long as they used it sparingly, it was easy to persuade him into something if they used Eddie against him.

They had yet to see the new PLM in action around Max, though. Steve visited her with his girlfriend Robin instead of with the group, but Max reported that he had a habit of cordially agreeing with whatever she said, especially if Robin wasn’t in the room, so they took that as evidence that the PLM was in full force around her, too. Max made it into a game for herself, to try and see what absurd thing she could get him to would agree to; the more tired he was, the more likely he was to politely laugh and nod when she said that demogorgons would make good pets.

[END SCENE]

The PLM was out and stronger than ever. Will, Dustin, Mike, and El exchanged excited glances.

[END SCENE]

“PLM.” Whispered Dustin pointedly, once Steve was focussed on opening more empty drawers. Eddie gave them an inquisitive look.

[END SCENE]

PLM was going to be a little recurring thing throughout the epilogue that got cut for wordcount. It was gonna eventually lead to a scene where Eddie thought the kids just really liked plums for some reason.

“My mom mom’d him.” Said Dustin, not bothering to look up from the character sheet he was filling out. He and Will had decided to make each other the most ridiculous characters they could think of, and whoever got a lower score in Pac-Man would have to play the character, voice included, in the homebrew campaign Mike was working on.

[END SCENE]

Dustin even took it upon himself to recap fake D&D sessions over the walkie talkie, in the hopes that Eddie would come back over the channel with a what the fuck, a cutlass isn’t a long-range weapon, Henderson, wherein they would have the opportunity to trap him into a conversation. But it was quite literally radio silence from Eddie. Instead, they occasionally got an irritated Steve or Robin - or, during one memorable and terrifying instance, Hopper - telling them to shut up already.

[END SCENE]

“I already promised Max I’d visit today, though.” Said Lucas.

Dustin sighed. “Yeah, okay, he’ll probably let you get away with that. He might even give you a ride to her place cuz he feels bad.”

It actually turned out that Steve wasn’t particularly happy about losing one of his promised crew unexpectedly - with all I do for you, c’mon guys - but begrudgingly gave Lucas a ride anyway. Lucas had to squish into the middle seat with Mike for the trouble.

[END SCENE]

“Did you know Steve was deaf?” Said Will, a week later, over dinner.

“He told you?” Asked Hop, as Jonathan and Argyle both exclaimed their surprise. Will’s mom made a surprised sound around her mouthful of burger.

“You knew!?”

“We’re both first responders, he told his team and mine. Paramedics know, too.” Said Hop, mouth full of food. “Seems real shy about it, I’m surprised he told you.”

“He did not.” Said El. “He was at the craft store and Robin and him were speaking with their hands.”

“You can do that without being deaf.” Said Argyle. “My cousins learned to do that so they could talk shit about our abuela. She’s kinda mean.”

“Yeah, but Robin had to yell at him to get his attention.” Said Will, as his mom gently scolded Argyle for his language.

“Then… yeah, he’s probably kind of deaf.” Said Jonathan.

“Of course he is, I just said so.” Said Hop, affronted. “He says it’s worse depending on the day, but he can usually hear pretty fine.”

Huh. Will wondered if this was why he relied on the PLM so much. Smiling and nodding could get you pretty far. Will knew this from experience.

[END SCENE]

Will was just glad that Eddie switched from teaching her ABBA after only a month - he hated the band. Instead, Jonathan and Argyle did the Thriller dance as she practiced her new music, which never failed to make her giggle.

[END SCENE]

This was the “holy crap I wrote so much and I have to cut stuff for the sake of my word count” section. I liked a lot of these concepts, though.

El was laying on the couch with her head in Max’s lap as she read a Wonder Woman comic aloud to her.

[END SCENE]

I wound up changing Max from “enthusiastic friend” to “well, she’s there” throughout the epilogue, but this line was really cute.

“I didn’t like, love camping.” Said Dustin. “Right, Will?” He gave Will a pointed look.

Later, Will would realize he was trying to subtly bring up their pact.

In the moment, though, Will shrugged. “I kinda liked it. And Max is right, Mike really liked it.”

[END SCENE]

This goes against them agreeing for Max and Will’s sake.

Eddie snorted. “You’re lucky my uncle is outta town visiting his pa. You lot would’ve been knocked into next week if you’d woken him first.”

“But he’s not, so, you’ll be a hospitable host and let us stay the night and meet your girlfriend?” Said Dustin brightly.

“I don’t think it counts as hosting when you just admitted to breaking in using a busted doorknob.”

[END SCENE]

He’s way too happy to be burgled.

“Come on!” “We don’t bite!” “It’s just us!” Cried all of their voices in protest.

Eddie just held up a single finger and said shhhh.

The continued complaning.

Eddie continued his unbroken shh. He had an impressive lung capacity.

They finally all quieted.

Eddie gave them all a smirk that really just told them that his patience was wearing thin.

“You little trespassers are lucky I’m not knocking you into next week.” He stated. “You’re real lucky that my uncle is visiting his pa, or I’d be calling the coroner right now. You are going to sleep in the spare room, you’re going to clean up your muck before I drive you home in the morning, and if I’m feeling generous, I might not tell all your parents about your life of crime.”

[END SCENE]

You ever write past midnight and realize that forget that you established that Max knows Eddie is queer? Also I keep trying to excuse Wayne’s absence.

“What do I know?” Said Steve.

“Not a lot.” Said Eddie.

[END SCENE]

He prooobably wouldn’t insult him like that, but that was just such an easy setup. I would totally roast my friends that way, and expect to be roasted that way in return.

[collectionofsinglefathers]

Hawkins, Indiana: Welcome To Hell

Chapter 5: Eleven

Booker walked back into the gym and sat down on the bleachers next to Eleven and the boys. “Did they leave?” Mike asked.

Booker nodded. “Yep. Joyce and my uncle are going to get Will.”

“How?” Lucas asked. “The gate is in the lab.”

“I’m sure Jim has a plan. They’ll be fine,” he told them, and the words came to him so easily, despite the fact that he was far from sure of that statement.

“Where’s Nancy and Jonathan?” Dustin asked.

“They are… doing their own thing.”

Mike raised an eyebrow. “Their own thing?”

“That means they’re just off sucking face somewhere,” Dustin stated.

“Gross,” Lucas said.

“No!” Mike exclaimed in disgust. “No way!”

“Well, they didn’t go with the Chief, right?” Dustin turned to Booker.

“No,” he told them. “They’re…” He sighed. “They’re creating a distraction.”

Mike’s eyes widened. “For the Demogorgon?”

“The… what?” Booker asked in total confusion.

“The Demogorgon,” he repeated, as if saying the word again was somehow going to mean anything to him.

“Monster,” El said softly when it was clear Booker was still lost.

“Oh… That.” Mike stood from where he sat and began walking towards the door.

“Whoa, hey.” Booker quickly got up and grabbed his arm. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“I’m going to help my sister,” Mike insisted.

“No,” Booker told him. “Absolutely not. We are all staying here. Both Nancy and the Chief asked me to keep you guys safe, and that’s exactly what I’m gonna do.”

“He’s right,” Lucas told him.

“What?” Mike wheeled around at Lucas, shocked that he was siding with an adult. “No, this is insane! We can’t just wait around doing nothing.”

“Mike, in case you forgot, we’re still fugitives,” Lucas informed him. “The bad men are still looking for us.”

“Yeah, and we don’t even know where your sister is,” Dustin mentioned.

“He does,” Mike declared, pointing at Booker.

“Actually, no, I don’t. They didn’t tell me where they were going, just that they had a plan,” Booker told him. “Probably because Nancy is smart enough to know that if you knew where she was, you’d do something stupid, like what you’re trying to do right now.”

“Well… El can find them,” Mike suggested. Booker rubbed his eyes in exasperation, and if any of the boys had been paying close enough attention, they would’ve noticed the family resemblance between him and his uncle in that moment.

“Mike, look at her,” Dustin said, indicating towards Eleven, still sitting next to him on the bleachers. She had turned to prop her feet up on the bleachers and was currently hugging her knees to her chest, her head resting on her knees. “I still think we should stick to the Chief’s plan.”

“Exactly,” Lucas said. “We stay here, keep El out of sight, and keep her safe. That’s the most important thing, remember? Besides, she’s okay. She’s with Jonathan.”

“Yeah, and she’s kind of a badass now, so…” Dustin interjected.

Mike sighed, and he still didn’t seem convinced. Booker put a hand on his shoulder. “Look, kid,” Booker said to him. “I get it, okay? If I’m being honest with you, I don’t like it any more than you do. But there’s nothing we can do about it now, okay? Your sister and Jonathan know what they’re doing… I think they do, anyway.” Mike gave him a look. “They’ll be fine,” Booker insisted.

Mike looked down at the floor and crossed his arms. “Fine,” he said quietly, finally relenting.

Dustin stood up and began walking to the door. Booker put a hand on his shoulder. “Uh, and where are you going?” he asked. “You’re the one who just said to stick with the plan.”

“I am,” Dustin said. “I’m just gonna go get some chocolate pudding.”

Booker furrowed his brow in confusion as Dustin shrugged Booker’s hand off and continued. “I’m telling you, Lunch Lady Phyllis hoards that shit.”

“Are you serious?” Mike demanded from behind him.

“El needs to be recharged!” Dustin called back.

“Dustin, just wait up for a second,” Booker told him. “We all should stick together, all right?” Dustin sighed, but stopped where he was so he didn’t get too far ahead. Lucas stood and began walking over to meet him and Booker crouched down next to El. “You good to go on a little walk?” he asked. She simply nodded and got to her feet.

The five of them made their way to the cafeteria. Eleven seemed fine, but Booker kept close to make sure she stayed steady on her feet. When they got to the cafeteria, Lucas and Dustin made their way towards the kitchen while Mike and El sat down at a table. Booker decided to place himself halfway between them, keeping all four of them in visual range.

There were multiple refrigerators in the kitchen, but eventually, Dustin opened one and then called out, “Found it!” Dustin glanced over his shoulder towards both Lucas and Booker, and he had a big grin on his face. “I knew she was hoarding it. I knew it.” Lucas rubbed his hands together in anticipation and the two boys began grabbing the small containers of pudding. “Always lying, saying she’s out,” Dustin continued on. “Bald-faced liar.” He turned to shout over his shoulder. “Mike! I found the chocolate pudding!”

“Okay!” Mike yelled back, and Booker could help but smile. Booker’s feelings on children had always been fairly neutral. He didn’t hold any negative feelings towards them, but he didn’t really have any majorly positive feelings either. But these kids, they were starting to grow on him. It was something he’d never thought about too much, but there was a small part of him that always wished he’d had younger siblings.

He wasn’t close enough to hear what they were saying, but Booker could see El and Mike talking quietly to each other. From the moment he saw all the kids together, he could tell there was a special little connection between those two. But he didn’t exactly expect Mike to suddenly lean over and kiss El. His eyes widened and it almost felt like his heart was melting, just a little bit. Mike’s eyes flicked over towards Booker nervously, and Booker quickly looked away, trying to act like he hadn’t seen anything to avoid either of them feeling awkward.

Suddenly, lights of a car flashed by the windows. Mike and El caught sight of them as well, and Mike got up and ran for the door. “Mike, wait,” Booker called out, then cursed under his breath and jogged after him. Mike got outside before Booker could catch up, and as Booker got to the door, he watched as a couple of nondescript dark cars and two military trucks pulled up outside the building across the lot that contained the gym.

“Shit,” he whispered under his breath, and then reached forward so he could grab Mike by the arm and pull him back inside. Without missing a step, Mike turned and the two of them began running back down the hallway to the cafeteria.

When they got there, Dustin and Lucas had dumped two armfuls of pudding onto the table in front of Eleven. “We gotta go, now,” Booker ordered.

“They found us,” Mike told them. The other three exchanged looks of panic, then dropped their puddings as Booker urged the children out of the cafeteria and down the hallway.

“Where do we go?” Dustin asked urgently. “What do we do?”

“I don’t know, I…” Booker struggled for an answer. “Maybe we can lose them if we can get to the woods,” he suggested.

“How did they find us?” Lucas asked as they rounded a corner.”

“I don’t know,” Mike answered. “But they knew we were in the gym.”

“Lando,” Dustin stated. In that stressful moment, he could vaguely connect the dots on what Dustin was referencing; he’d seen Star Wars and understood what he meant, but couldn’t at that moment identify who exactly Dustin would be talking about. The options were limited, and all of them were terrifying to consider, but they didn’t have that kind of time. They just had to run.

Unfortunately, they didn’t have a lot of places they could go. As they approached a door leading outside, several soldiers wielding flashlights and weapons burst through it. They all immediately turned and sprinted in the opposite direction down the long hallway. They turned a corner in an attempt to get away and almost ran right into more soldiers, forcing them back into the larger hallway. But as they tried to get to the other end of it, they were cut off by even more.

The group of soldiers they were facing were being led by a woman with short blonde hair and a grave expression on her face. Almost like in slow motion, she raised a gun, pointing it right at El, and Booker could hear the sound of a click. With zero time to have any second thoughts about it, Booker immediately rushed forward and grabbed El by her shoulders to push her behind him and put himself between her and the deadly weapon.

But before he could even begin to move her, the flashlights that were held by many of the agents surrounding them began to flicker and they all froze in place. Slowly, blood began trickling out of their eyes and ears. Booker’s jaw dropped as he looked down at El and realized what she was doing. But before he was able to recover enough to even say anything, all of the agents dropped to the floor, dead.

For a long moment, none of them said anything. Then, El collapsed. Booker stepped forward and caught her before she hit the ground. “El?” he said, turning her head gently towards him so he could see her face. “Hey, can you hear me?”

The boys all got to their knees around them, and Mike shook her shoulder gently. “El, are you okay?” But she didn’t answer, she just laid unconscious in Booker’s arms. “El! Something’s wrong.”

“She’s just drained,” Dustin said.

Booker shook his head. “No, it’s more than that.” She had become ghostly pale and clammy, and along her scalp and around her eyes, her veins were starkly visible. Booker also noticed that, aside from the small trickle of blood from her nose, there was also a small trickle coming out of her own ear. He wiped it away gently. “She pushed herself too much.”

Gently, Booker stopped Mike from shaking her. “We need to get out of here, now,” he told the others as he prepared to lift El into his arms so he could carry her. He wasn’t particularly strong and he didn’t know how long he’d be able to carry her for, but they couldn’t stay.

But then, an authoritative voice called out from around the corner. “Leave her.” Booker looked up and saw an older man with white hair rounding the corner with his own escort of soldiers. “Step away from the child.”

Booker recognized Dr. Brenner almost instantly from Hopper’s research. His jaw tightened in anger and he gently laid El down on the ground so he could put himself in between her and the man that had imprisoned and experimented on the girl for her entire life. “You’re not touching her,” Booker warned, and every ounce of his anger was present in his voice.

From behind him, the boys backed him up, and they all stepped over El on the floor to further block Brenner and the soldiers from getting any closer. “You want her, you’ll have to kill us,” Mike challenged. Booker turned to look at them and saw more soldiers coming up from behind. But he saw them too late to do anything and they were easily able to grab all three boys and restrain them.

“Hey!” he shouted. “Get off of them!” But just as he moved to help the boys, Booker was grabbed from behind as well, and was very quickly slammed face down to the ground, and held there with his arms behind his back. He tried to struggle, but it was no use.

Brenner approached El on the ground as the hallway was filled with the sound of the boys yelling curses and fighting against the men who held them. But it was as if Brenner didn’t see or hear anything outside of El. He gently lifted her into his arms and held her face in his hands. “Eleven?” he said softly. “Eleven, can you hear me?”

The young girl stirred and she slowly opened her eyes to see Dr. Brenner holding her. “Papa?” she said quietly, her voice weak.

Brenner smiled. “Yes, yes, it’s your papa,” he told her, and those words filled Booker with disgust.

El turned her head to look towards the boys who were still struggling against the agents. She briefly locked eyes with Booker, and he could see the fear in her gaze.

“Let her go!” Mike yelled on the top of his lungs. “Let her go, you bastard!”

El whimpered and weakly tried to wiggle out of Brenner’s grasp, but he just shushed her. “You’re sick,” he told her. “But I’m going to make you better. I’m going to take you back home where I can make you well again. Where we can make all of this better, so no one else gets hurt.”

“You’re not taking her anywhere, you son of a bitch,” Booker spat towards Brenner. When he spoke, El turned back to look at him, and as clarity slowly came to her, the more afraid she looked. It made Booker’s blood boil.

She slowly turned her head to look at Brenner and softly said, “Bad.” Brenner’s face dropped. “Bad,” she repeated. Then, El turned towards the boys and reached a hand towards Mike. “Mike,” she called out weakly. “Mike.”

Suddenly, all of the lights in the hallways began flickering wildly and everyone grew still as they looked towards the wall that was emblazoned with a paw print symbol, where the lights shone brightest. “Blood,” Mike said quietly, realizing quickly what was happening.

Booker’s eyes flicked over to the woman that had threatened El who now laid dead on the floor… and the small pool of blood next to her. The men pinning Booker to the floor let go of him as the tiles of the wall suddenly began to crack as a thudding sound came from it, like something trying to break through the wall from the other side. But it looked… wrong. It was like the wall itself began to stretch, almost like it was made of rubber, until finally, something burst through. Its limbs were long, far too long, and its body was a mottled gray. As it pulled itself through, the flickering lights bounced off its mottled gray skin. And its head… There were five different flaps that flared slightly as it growled. But no face.

“Demogorgon,” Dustin said

“Oh, fuck,” Booker blurted out.

Then, it roared, revealing a massive opening where a face should be, and though it was hard to see with the lights flickering so much, Booker swore that the inside of the flaps were lined with razor sharp teeth. The soldiers immediately pushed the boys behind them and stepped around them and Booker to begin firing on it.

Seeing an opportunity, Booker immediately moved to El and scooped her up in his arms. “Run!” he yelled to the boys, and they all sprinted as fast as they could away from the horrible scene.

They moved as quickly as they could through the halls, but it was absolute chaos. The monster was fast and the military forces present were being quickly overwhelmed as it seemed that bullets didn’t do much to slow it down.

Eventually they became cornered in an empty classroom. Booker glanced around and saw a window on the back wall. Booker waded through the desks and placed El down on a table in the back and immediately moved to the window. He looked through the blinds and saw that it led outside. As he began moving things off the counter in front of the window, the boys gathered around El and Mike began speaking quietly to her.

“Just hold on a little longer, okay?” Mike said, holding onto her hand. “He’s gone… The bad man’s gone. We’ll be home soon and my mom, she’ll get you your own bed. You can eat as many Eggos as you want. And we can go to the Snow Ball.”

“Promise?” El asked weakly.

“Promise,” Mike replied.

As the two spoke, Booker grabbed a chair and used it to smash out the glass of the window. The kids all looked up at the sound. “Okay,” Booker said. He carefully moved all the pieces of glass around the window out of the way. “I’m gonna climb out, and you guys hand her over to me through the window, all right?” The boys nodded and Dustin moved to lift El up.

From outside the room, a deafening screech from the monster rang out. It was close. Very close. There were a few more sporadic gunshots. Then, silence.

“Dustin,” Booker whispered, trying to urge him to move El. But before any of them could make another move, the door was taken completely off its hinges and hit the floor, the monster on top of it. It stood, and not even at its full height, it was much taller than any of them. The lights in the room began flickering as the boys began yelling for Lucas to get some type of slingshot he had out as the terrifying creature stalked forward. Lucas shot a rock at it, but it bounced off uselessly.

Booker didn’t give himself any time to think about what he was doing. He just grabbed the chair he’d used to break the window and charged at it. Effortlessly, the monster grabbed the chair as Booker tried to hit it and threw the chair and Booker against the wall.

Booker hit hard, and as he thudded to the ground, his vision swam. It took a few seconds before he could feel a throbbing pain on the back of his head, where it must’ve impacted with the wall. He tried to stand, but his head spun nauseatingly. The pounding of his own heart in his ears blocked out all other sounds, but he could feel the vibration of heavy footsteps on the ground. Slowly, he managed to push himself into a sitting position against the wall… and looked up, right at the monster towering over him. It roared and there was nothing he could do but close his eyes and hope that it would be quick.

A sudden rush of wind brushed past him. He felt something push against his leg, but not painfully. He opened his eyes and saw a desk had been pushed to the side. In fact, all of the desks had been pushed to the sides of the room. And the monster was… gone. Except, no, it wasn’t. It was still in the room. But now it was up against the blackboard, its arms outstretched as if being held aloft.

Booker looked towards the kids and saw El walking towards it. The veins along her scalp stood out even darker on her skin now, and fresh blood dripped from her nose. “Eleven, stop!” Mike yelled. He rushed forward to grab her, but without even looking back at him, she held her hand out and he was launched backwards through the air, sliding firmly into the back wall but not hard enough to hurt him.

Booker tried to stand as well, but his head was still swimming. In the back of his mind, he recognized that he probably had a concussion. She turned to look at him for a single second, and that look told him that even if he could attempt something in that moment to stop her, it wouldn’t work.

El turned her attention back to the monster as she continued towards it. Faintly, he could hear what sounded like the bones of the monster popping and cracking as it was restrained by El’s telekinetic power. She didn’t look away until she was right in front of it, turning to look over her shoulder at the boys behind her. At Mike. “Goodbye, Mike,” she said quietly.

Then, she turned back to the creature. “No more,” El said to it, her voice low and determined. She raised her hand, and the monster let out a deafening screech, causing everyone to wince in pain and cover their ears. After a moment, another scream joined the monster’s and Booker realized it was El. He looked towards where she stood, and saw strange particles coming off of the monster and swirling through the air. But the noise became too much and his eyes clenched shut as he attempted to block it out with his hands.

Another moment passed and the screams faded. Slowly, Booker turned, afraid of what he was going to see. But the only thing he could see were those same particles drifting to the floor, and the mark of impact on the blackboard. There was no sign of El or the monster.

Mike shot to his feet and ran forward. “El!” he called out for her. “El!” The other two boys began to call out for her as well, looking behind and under the overturned desks and chairs. Mike spun around, looking around the whole room, and out into the hallway for El, and Booker could see the tears streaming down his face.

Booker tried to slowly push himself to his feet, but he only managed to get himself up onto one knee before he started to lose his balance. He rested an arm against the wall and squeezed his eyes shut again, trying to will his head to stop spinning long enough for him to stand.

He heard the sound of desks scraping against the floor and felt hands on his arm. “Booker,” he heard Dustin’s voice say next to him. “Jesus, are you okay?”

Booker nodded slowly and opened his eyes. “Yeah…” he said, lifting a hand to the back of his head where he’d hit the wall. It felt wet and he looked at his hand. Thankfully, while there was blood, it was a very small amount. Dustin moved to look as well. “It doesn’t look like you’re bleeding any more than that,” he told Booker. Well, at least there was that.

“I’ll be fine,” Booker said to reassure Dustin. “Just, uh… don’t let me pass out, okay?” Dustin nodded and gave Booker some support as he stood.

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

Eventually, the school was swarmed with emergency services. Booker was sitting on a gurney, He definitely had a concussion, but it fortunately was not too serious.

The paramedic treating him had walked away a moment ago to attend to something else when he heard a car pull up and screech to a halt somewhere behind him. He turned his head to look but couldn’t see the car from where he was. He kept looking, hoping to see Joyce and his uncle, or even Nancy and Jonathan. But then he heard a woman’s voice calling out, “Michael!” and he realized it was Karen Wheeler.

She came into sight as she made her way around a car, her husband Ted by her side, and she caught sight of Booker sitting there. He never really interacted with her before, only knowing her the way people in small towns know of each other, but it didn’t take much observation power to see the fear and worry on her face. He indicated with his head in the direction where he knew Mike sat, just on the inside of an ambulance with a blanket thrown around his shoulders. She immediately made a beeline for it, and let out a soft sob upon seeing him. She pulled him into her arms and held him tightly, kissing him on the head.

The paramedic came back over to Booker and told him they were going to bring him to the hospital, just to be sure he was okay. Mike caught sight of Booker being brought into an ambulance and gently pulled away from his mom. “Booker!” he called out, jogging over. “Are you gonna be okay?” he asked.

Booker reached over and tousled his hair gently. “Yeah, bud, I’ll be fine.”

Mike hesitated for a moment, and then leaned forward and gave Booker a tight hug around his midsection. “Thank you,” he said, his voice muffled slightly.

Booker put an arm around him and glanced up back towards Mike’s parents. Karen gave him a grateful look as she watched, and it took him slightly off guard. He rubbed Mike’s back gently. “Hey, you should get back over to your mom, okay? Don’t worry about me.” Mike pulled back and nodded, wiping at his eyes. Booker did him the small kindness of pretending like he hadn’t noticed Mike’s tears to save him the embarrassment. He returned to his parents as Booker sat down inside the ambulance, the doors closing behind him.

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

An hour has passed and Booker sat impatiently in a hospital room. He wasn’t a high priority at the moment, but that wasn’t what was causing the impatience. He hadn’t yet heard from Jim or Joyce, and he had no idea if they were okay, or if they’d gotten Will. For the last few minutes, Booker had been staring at the open doorway, debating on whether or not to just leave the room and find out for himself. His head still hurt, but the nausea had already passed, and they’d already determined before even bringing him to the hospital that he’d be fine.

“Screw it,” he whispered, sliding off the bed and making his way to the door. But as he grabbed his dark denim jacket, Jim came around the doorframe and sighed in relief.

“Jesus,” he breathed and pulled Booker in for a tight hug. “Are you all right?” he asked after a moment, pulling away to look at him. Some light bruising had begun to form on the right side of his face where he’d hit the ground. It was nothing serious, in fact it didn’t even hurt, but Booker saw anger growing in his uncle’s face. “Did they do this?” he asked, and Booker didn’t need clarification to know who he meant.

“No,” Booker told him. “Uh… the monster did.”

Jim looked at him with shock. “You fought it?” he exclaimed.

“I tried,” Booker explained, emphasizing the keyword as he sat back down on the bed. “It tossed me like a rag doll. Honestly, if it hadn’t been for El, it would’ve gotten all of us.” Jim huffed out a breath and sat down next to his nephew, running his hands over his face. Booker hesitated before speaking again. “They knew where we were.”

With the tension of the chase having passed, Booker had time to go through it all in his head, and one thing stuck. Lando, Dustin had said. Only a limited number of people knew where they were. Where El was.

He glanced over at Jim. Jim’s eyes were cast downward, and in that moment, Booker didn’t need any more confirmation than that.

“We needed to get to Will,” Jim told him. Booker looked down at the ground and nodded. As much as he didn’t like it, he understood. He couldn’t even blame him for it. “And I told them not to hurt you, or the others.”

“Well, I mean… they didn’t,” Booker said. “They restrained us, yeah, but they didn’t hurt us. It looked for a second like this woman was gonna shoot El, but… I honestly think Brenner just wanted her back.”

“Papa,” Jim said quietly, and Booker nodded.

“Will,” Booker said. “Is he okay? Did you find him?”

Jim nodded. “Yeah… It was close, but we got him.” He took his hat off and rubbed his forehead.

Booker sighed. “You did what you had to do… You got him home. Besides, El did take out almost all of them on her own, so…” He shrugged a shoulder. “There’s no way you could’ve known that thing would show up.”

Finally, Jim was able to look at his nephew. “You’re okay?” he asked again.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Booker told him. “It’s just a tiny concussion. I’m good.” Jim laughed softly and put an arm around him, pulling him close, and Booker felt himself relax. He rested his head on Jim’s shoulder. “I was really worried about you,” he admitted.

“Told you I’d be back,” Jim said, and feeling the rumble of his voice in his chest made Booker feel like he was 17 again. They were all each other had and, in that moment, Booker couldn’t have asked for anyone else.

[stoprobbersfic]

in the morning i’ll be better (jonathan byers/nancy wheeler)

rating: teen  word count: 12,152 In which our monster hunters (and monster soulmates) get a night to rest, to reflect, and to have three extremely important conversations.takes place immediately after the end of "the piggyback."

It stops “snowing” after an hour. As they work quickly to board up the roof and windows before the sun sets for the night, they keep an eye on the rot. It doesn’t seem to spread any further.

“What does that mean?” Nancy can’t keep the nervousness out of her voice as they stand in a circle in the cabin’s main room, clean enough and patched enough to be somewhat livable for now.

Everyone is quiet until Mike nudges Will with his elbow. Nancy instinctively reaches for Jonathan’s hand, giving it a squeeze. She can feel the tension radiating off him.

“Tell them.”

“Tell us what?” The same tension rings out in Joyce Byers’ voice. Not for the first time, Nancy marvels that the woman – that the whole family – hasn’t completely crumbled under the strain. It was bad enough when Will was missing. Somehow it’s been even worse ever since.

“You didn’t kill him,” Will’s eyes are dark, sorrowful when he looks at her and Nancy swallows, hard. She suspected, but she’d been trying to believe otherwise. She had shot him so many times but… well, she’s seen enough movies. No body, no proof of death. And there was nothing but smoldering grass on that looking glass lawn. “But you did hurt him. A lot. I don’t know what he wanted to do, but I don’t think he’s strong enough to do it. Not yet. So I think we have some time.”

“How much time?” Hopper asks. Will shakes his head.

“I don’t know. I can just… feel him.”

“Like last year?” Jonathan chimes in. Nancy watches Joyce’s eyes cut over to him.

“What do you mean last year? You never told me about anything last year.”

Will doesn’t give Jonathan a chance to reply. “Not exactly. Last year I could feel him when he was close, when he was working on his plans in the outside world. This time… it’s more like the time he got inside me. It feels like he’s watching me. Well, me and…”

He trails off but they all know where to look. El steps a little closer to Hopper’s side.

“I did,” she admits softly, “tell him I was going to kill him again.”

“Again?!” It comes from them all, a great chorus of surprise. El’s mouth opens and closes, like she’s trying to figure out how to explain, until Hopper cuts her off.

“OK, that’s enough. Everybody, stop.” Nancy is surprised to find she has missed, viscerally, the quiet authority in Hopper’s voice. It always feels like he knows what to do. Nancy appreciates the weight being taken off her shoulders after the week she’s had. “There is nothing we can do right now. This… thing, whatever you called him, it’s hurt, right? It’s weak? Well, so are we. We need to rest, and we need to heal, and I don’t know about you all, but I could use several hot meals and probably a beer. No one here is in any shape to be fighting anyone, whether you look injured or not.”

“How much time do we have?” Nancy directs her question to Will, but he just shrugs.

“I don’t know. Probably a day or two. Maybe longer? But that’s just a guess. I don’t know much more than any of the rest of you.”

“If we’ve got a day, that’s something,” Hopper nods. “We’ll stay here. Jonathan, your friend can drive you into town to pick us up something to eat, right? Make a grocery run? There are some sheets and linens in the crawl space, a couple of cots too I think, for when we had extra guests. We can get those ready while you’re gone.”

“Sure, but—”

“We can’t all stay here,” Nancy interrupts. “We won’t fit.”

“This town thinks I’m dead, Nancy,” Hopper reminds her sharply. “And there’s a monster hunting my daughter.”

“I know,” Nancy bites out, “I’m the one who shot it. Several times.”

Out of the corner of her eye she sees Jonathan smile, then raise his other hand to wipe it away. Perhaps not quite the time for that, but it makes her feel warm inside nonetheless.

“She’s right though,” Mike chimes in, “We definitely won’t all fit, and my mom will lose her shit if I don’t come home tonight. Nancy too. We’ve gotta go back home. And she saw Will and Jonathan and El and Argyle; we went to my house first. She’s going to ask where they are. You guys,” he gestures to El, Will, Jonathan and Joyce, “don’t live here anymore.”

“I’m not letting El out of my sight until we figure out what we’re up against,” Hopper practically growls.

“We can stay with the Wheelers,” Will jumps in, “Jonathan and me and Argyle. Mrs. Wheeler won’t say no to that, she’ll let us share rooms, and Argyle can sleep in the basement.”

“But what about El?” Nancy points out. “She saw her too.”

“We’ll say she’s staying with Max,” Mike offers. “Mom knows she and Max are close, we’ll say she’s at the hospital with Lucas now and that she’s going to stay with Max’s mom to help her. But really, she’ll be here with you two.”

“And that way you know where to find us,” Jonathan directs that at his mom. “I think the phone here still works. Probably.”

Joyce looks thoughtful, and only a little apprehensive. Nancy hopes that’s a good sign.

“OK,” she finally allows. “At least for tonight, I think that’s the best we can do. Nancy, would you mind helping Argyle pick up some food for us, with Mike and Will? I’m sure you’ll need the extra hands, and I’ve got some cash around here somewhere. I just… need to talk to Jonathan before we split up.”

Read more

[local-redhead-bookworm]

Sauna Test AU

After their brainstorming session, the Party booked it over to the pool on foot as fast as they could. They only had a matter of minutes before Billy— or rather, the Mind Flayer possessing Billy, found them.

“So we burn the Mind Flayer out of him, like we did with Will,” Mike finished recapping the plan as El hefted a dummy onto her shoulders.

“And if that doesn’t work, you’re just gonna kill him?” Max spat.

“I’m with Max, guys. That’s not right.” Will rubbed a hand on the back of his neck.

“Will, come on, this is the only way!”

Will glared at Mike. “No.” His voice was firm. “We are not just leaving him like this.”

“We don’t have time for anything else!”

“Mike.” El spoke up softly as she laid a hand on Mike’s arm. “Let Will speak.”

Will nodded in appreciation, pausing before he spoke. “If we close the gate with the Mind Flayer still in him, it will kill him. Do you guys understand?”

“It’s no more than he deserves,” Mike muttered under his breath.

In that moment, Will slipped from calm to a slowly boiling anger. “Why?” He wheeled on his former best friend. “Because he’s been an asshole and a bully?”

Mike’s lips pressed into a firm line.

“None of you know what it’s like, having… him in your head,” Will continued with a shudder. “I do. It’s like you’re trapped in a corner of your head and no matter how hard you fight, you can’t get out. You can see everything you do, but you’re not in control of any of it. The whole time, you can feel that you’re slowly losing parts of yourself to this monster that’s living inside you.” His voice shook and he realized that he was crying.

He wiped his eyes. “No one deserves to feel that way. He doesn’t deserve to die, confused and terrified and alone.” He stared at his friends, almost daring them to disagree.

Max nodded in thanks.

“Okay, what’s the plan?” Lucas asked.

———

It was a little too easy to lure Billy into the sauna, with a CPR dummy and a walkie handling the trickiest part. It was a little more difficult keeping him in the sauna. The way the Mind Flayer screamed and shouted and threatened made Will want to cover his ears and hide, but he refused to. He wasn’t going to be scared if he could help it.

Will was even more frightened when Billy went silent, but the prickling sensation on the back of his neck was gone. Then the pleading started. Will didn’t know Billy well, but someone as brash shouldn’t sound so frightened. In a blurry corner of his mind, Will could vaguely remember saying very similar things. Begging for help, wishing for it all to be over.

“This isn’t working,” El said through gritted teeth. “It’s still in him.”

A pained scream echoed from the sauna, and as if in sympathy, the poker scar on Will’s rib cage pulsed.

“What do we do then? If we let him out, he’s gonna kill us!” Mike gestured toward the door.

“They had to burn him out of me,” Will whispered. “Does anyone have a fire source?” He asked the group.

“Billy probably has a lighter in his stuff somewhere,” Max offered.

With a nod, Will ran to the locker room. Billy’s locker had been left open, thankfully, and after digging for a moment, he found the lighter.

When he returned, he told the others, “Okay, here’s the plan. El, I need you to drop your hold on the door for just a few seconds. I’ll slip inside and burn it out of him.”

Mike grabbed his shoulder. “Are you crazy?! He could kill you or possess you again!”

“I know, but that’s a risk I’m willing to take,” Will replied quietly. “You would’ve done the same for me.”

“Will, come on, we can come up with something else! Don’t put yourself at risk!” Lucas shouted from where he was standing holding a piece of metal pipe.

“There’s no time.” He paused. “If I don’t make it back—“

“Don’t talk like that, you’ll be fine. Whatever you have to say, live to tell us later.” Mike told him and smiled in the same awkward way he had when he and Will had first met all those years ago.

Will took a deep breath to steel himself and, as he nodded, El let her telekinetic hold on the door go. In a split second, Will was inside the sauna.

Billy writhed on the floor, sweat all but pouring off him, but Will couldn’t sense the Mind Flayer’s presence. He could still reach Billy.

“Hey.” He crouched down to the older boy’s eye level. “I wanna help get rid of this thing. It’s gonna hurt, though, so I need you to stay as still as you can.”

Billy stared at him wide-eyed for a moment before he stiffened and Will’s neck prickled.

“William.” The Mind Flayer spoke with Billy’s voice, but with a darker echo that Will could feel in his bones.

“So nice of you to come back, but I’m afraid I don’t need you anymore. I’ve found a far stronger host.” The monster grinned, and raised one of Billy’s hands, flexing his fingers as if testing them. “This one was so easy. So angry, so bitter. And no pesky friends or family members to get in my way.”

The thing’s hand shot out and wrapped around Will’s wrists dragging him closer to a manic snarl but desperate eyes. “I suppose I wouldn’t mind using you to help build my body, even if you were a pathetic host.”

Little William, always too weak. Always a burden to his family and friends. The voice wasn’t speaking out loud anymore, it was worming into his brain.

Will tugged against the Mind Flayer’s vice-like grip. “Get out of my head,” he snarled. With his spare hand, he flicked the lighter and held it to Billy’s arm, holding it against the possessed boy’s skin for as long as possible.

The thing released him with a howl of anger, and the smell of burnt skin filled the humid air. The thing possessing Billy paced the room, sometimes stepping nearer to Will and shrinking back if he held out the lighter.

“El, now!” Will yelled as he made eye contact with her through the sauna window. She nodded, and with one outstretched arm, she pinned Billy to the wall. The Mind Flayer roared and spewed curses at her, swearing to kill all of them, but he was powerless to move so much as a finger from where El held him.

Will darted in close, right next to Billy’s right side. “I’m sorry,” he whispered as he held the lighter to the older boy’s stomach. The Mind Flayer within Billy unleashed a guttural noise that Will couldn’t even put a name to, and his head thrashed wildly, but Will held the lighter in place.

After what felt like an eternity, a fountain of black smoke poured out of Billy, along with him coughing up a concerning amount of black sludge. El caught the smoke with her powers and a clench of her fist destroyed the black particles. Will tossed the lighter onto the black sludge, which erupted into flames. He ran to Billy at the very moment that Max pulled the door open to do the same.

The older boy was collapsed on the floor, shaking and… crying. Will didn’t think Billy was the type of guy to cry.

“Billy, it’s okay, it’s over. It’s gone, you’re safe,” Max murmured reassurances as she took his face in her hands.

“Max?” His voice was hoarse from screaming. “Is this… is this real? Is it gone?”

“It’s gone,” Will nodded. “Sorry about the burns, but it was the only way.”

Billy’s wet curls hid his face as Max and Will helped him to stand. His legs nearly gave out, and the two kids grunted under his weight.

“Careful, you’re gonna be kind of weak after all this,” Will told him. The older boy gasped out an acknowledgment as the two led him into the cooler temperatures of the main building.

“Can you walk?” El asked Billy.

He gritted his teeth before managing to say, “I can if I have to.”

“Good, because we’ve got a thirty-foot flesh monster shambling toward Starcourt Mall as we speak,” Lucas interjected.

Billy dug in his pocket before weakly handing the Camaro keys to Max. “I can’t drive like this. Can you get us there?”

She nodded firmly, settling his weight more comfortably on her shoulders. The group made their way to the car, Billy in the passenger seat and the kids piled into the back row.

“You kids might wanna buckle up, she drives worse than I do,” Billy told them with a weak smirk. True to his word, in a matter of seconds Max lurched out of the pool parking lot, gas floored as they sped toward Starcourt.

[harringtons-cupid]

Jonathan Byers x Reader Fanfic :

To be with you

Part 1:

Words: 3k

18+

Warning:

This Fic isn’t canon but I’m using some events from the show in this. The timeline of this is uncanonly set between Season 1 when Will is missing and Season 4 Vol 1 but the relationships are different.

In this they still live in Hawkins as it wouldn't make sense in this fic.

And Byler are basically a thing too.

Part Two | Part Three | Masterlist | Commissions guidelines

[Feedback/reblogs are extremely meaningful. Please support your content creators]

Jonathan adored you, he was completely smitten by the idea of you. Watching you from afar.

You had been best friends since you were both young, living near each other. Your families had always been close, you were always in each others company.

He was kind and gentle towards you, you had a playful friendship. There were no secrets between you two, he disliked your boyfriends and you disliked his girlfriends.

There was always tension between you two, you wondered if was jealous not of you but of all your boyfriends. In ways, you’d never feel like his girlfriends were good enough that no one could do a better than.

You

But he was your best friend, so you kept your feelings to yourself.

It was Friday, you had just been dropped off by Jonathan. Waving him off to a few houses down, you went inside. Your mom was asleep on the sofa and your dad was nowhere to be seen, you couldn’t remember if he worked nights on Friday’s but you tiptoed into your bedroom anyway.

Your relationship with your parents was strenuous, you were loved but they were not the type of people to show it. You were always left wondering.

Your music played softly through the speakers as you changed into something more comfortable. Long flowing jeans covering in hand painted flowers that were your moms from the 70s, a bright green top and you let your hair flow down your body. Feeling the release of being at home.

You and Jonathan had planned to hang out later today, as you got ready to see him. You heard your mom move about in the living room, curiously you popped your heard out.

It was Nancy, Jonathan’s ex girlfriend. They were perfect for each other but she couldn’t express her feelings to him, leaving Jonathan with a broken heart. You remember the day when Jonathan came to you to tell you that Nancy broke up with him, vividly in your mind. As you looked at her standing in the doorway of your house, your memories flooded back to Jonathan.

Soft, sweet Jonathan.

“Hi Nancy, can I help you?”

You stood awkwardly in the space between the kitchen and living area. Your mom has got up to go to bed, she looked tired. Squeezing your arm tightly with a tired smile as she snuck past you.

Nancy looked down at her feet, her arms were rubbing together. She seemed nervous. You wouldn’t exactly call each other friends, but you had hung out a few times when her and Jonathan were dating.

She always seemed jealous of your friendship.

You stood waiting for her get the courage to speak up to you. Impatiently you began making coffee, lifting up a cup to her indicating that were asking her if she wanted one. She nodded, smiling weakly as you invited her to sit down on the warm couch where your mom was just lay.

As you made the coffee, placing them down on the table in front of you. You blew on your coffee intently looking at her, hoping that she’d speak to you. It took her a few moments before you heard her voice.

Nancy was pretty, her voice was soft and kind. Her and Jonathan were very similar, you always felt sad for them both.

“It’s Will again. Mike told me that him and Jonathan were going out to look for him. I assumed Jonathan had told you but since loosing Barb. Well I don’t have many female friends”

You sat there froze, your coffee was wobbling on the table as your leg was shaking. Your heart sunk, Will means so much to Jonathan. Just thinking about the worry and sorrow that Jonathan would be feeling at this moment, made it hard for you to focus on anything else. Nancy had continued talking to you rapidly, staring at her as you picked up your hot coffee. Trying not to spill it everywhere, your hands were shaking so fast.

You felt Nancy’s hands touch yours with your spare hand that was stretched out on the table. The feeling of warmth cursed through your body and you began to calm down, she looked worried. Worried for her brother and his companion.

You all knew about the unconfessed feelings between Mike and Will, Jonathan disliked Mike but he saw how Will looked at him. Lusting after him, he found himself always bringing Mike with him. He did care about Will, that was obvious but he had a terrible way of showing it.

You both drank up your coffees, Nancy had driven over in her parents car and offered you a ride. You were unsure what she planned on doing but you assumed it had something to do with the boys.

As you sat in the car, you thought about Jonathan. Wondering where he was, if he was okay. You just wanted to comfort him.

“Where you thinking of going then Nancy”

“Well Mike suggested that they were going to look round near the Hawkins lab, at the school and check Castle Byers”

Castle Byers.

You remembered when Jonathan showed you the ideas of Castle Byers, you laughed jokingly but every day that Will was gone. You sat in there with Jonathan, calling out for Will searching every corner of the woods. He fell asleep in your arms, you’d moved the hair across his face as he slept. You’d held him as he cried, he was so sad but you knew that in ways your presence comforted him.

“So did Will go to school today?”

“No, I don’t think so. I know that him and Mike have been getting bullied. So Mike thinks it might have something to do with that”

Jonathan had told you all about their problems, he knew that Mike and Will had been bullied by two boys in the year above them. Will was strong but Mike found it hard not to retaliate.

As you pulled up to Hawkins lab, it was closed. It felt creepy standing watching in, voiced echoed outside of the lab. You wondered if there was anyone still working at the lab, you knew a few people who had jobs there but not this late.

You both searched around the perimeter of the lab, shouting any of the boys names in cause they were still around here looking for Will.

Nothing.

You searched for couple more minutes before Nancy got spooked by the rustling of a few bushes and decided that you guys go via the school before heading back to Castle Byers.

Nancy’s car was the only one in the car park as you pulled up, the gym door was left ajar. Sneaking through the school, you got goosebumps at the erey silence as you called out the boys names once more.

You reached the corridor where the science lab is located as you and Nancy rushed through the small corridor, the lights flicked gulping you both quicken your pace. But you were too slow as the lights flickered off, Nancy scrambled in the dark grabbing your hand and squeezing it tightly. You could feel her body vibrating from the nerves.

“It’s okay. We’ll get out soon. We might just have to run. Can you do that”

“Yeah”

Her voice sounded small and scared, you tightened your grip on her hand and picked up a pace rushing through the corridor in the dark. You could hear loud noises behind you, something was following you but it was too dark to see anything. Gulping loudly as you made it to a fire exit, pushing hard on the door together. With all your weight you both managed to get the door open in time to hear the screeching disappear, what was once the Upside Down had quickly changed back into reality. Nancy’s hand was still firmly holding onto yours as the daylight streamed into their faces. She didn’t let go of your hand until you reached her car, walking round the car and turning it on. You were stood watching the school in an amazement but fear.

Jumping back out of your thoughts to hear a Nancy calling your name, you got into the car and she drove off quickly. The fear was still pulsating through her body, she was shaking rapidly. You touched her arm lightly, feeling her calm down. Looking at you and smiling weakly.

“To Castle Byers now. I’m hoping that they have found Will. Do not want to go through that again”

You don’t reply to her as she speeds through red lights, desperately wanting to be away from the school. In no time they reached Jonathan’s house, Joyce and Jonathan’s cars were parked out in front. You sensed a great deal of real but worry still filled your mind.

As you got out the car, you heard their front door swing open to see a exhausted tearful Joyce weakly smiling at you both. You rushed towards her, she embraced you into a hug.

You never felt unloved by Joyce, she looked after you like you were on one of her own. She had 3 of her own children already.

El and Mike broke up a while ago, Mike like Nancy found it difficult to express him feelings to her. Everyone knew that Will was the reason but neither El or Mike realised.

As you hug Joyce, you breathe in her scent. How could one woman smell so nice through stress and grief?

She looked over at Nancy as you let go of her, looking around to see any sign of Jonathan. Joyce's opinions of Nancy fluctuated throughout her and Jonathan's relationship. She had confided in you alot, you knew of her strong opinions. But she gestured for a hug, you wandered inside leaving them two outside together.

The house was quiet, it looked like they had been searching for Will at home. You couldn't hear Jonathan's voice, as you opened the backdoor looking out into the forest behind their house. You sighed and ventured through the woods, it was dark and cool beneath the shade of the trees. You shivered lightly as you continued to walk through until you reached a slight opening, it was brighter here slivers of light pieced through the trees and shone on what appeared to be...

Castle Byers.

Voices were heard indistinctively as you softly walked closer to the castle, you recognised both voices. Whispering into the opening of the tent two names, you hoped would answer back.

''Jonathan? Will?''

Without hesitation, you heard two replies calling your name. Your stomach bubbled with excitment as you heard movement getting closer to you. It was Jonathan. His eyes were slightly red, which you couldn't tell whether it was due to the obvious tears that stained his face or the weed he had been smoking.

You blinked and suddenly felt his warm embrace, he picked you up with his arms wrapped tightly around your waist. Your faces were so close that you feel his hot breath against your neck, causing you to tingle. Slowly moving your head so that your lips were almost touching, it was silent around you as your eyes met.

In that moment niether of you has a single thought going through your mind as you kissed him. It was beautiful, his lips felt amazing against yours. You felt all gooey inside as he put you down and placed his hands cupped around your face. You kissed him passionately, it felt natural. You didn’t need to try hard or pretend you’re enjoying being kissed by someone who kissed like a dishwasher.

He was a good kisser. Very good

Not realizing, a moan escaped your mouth. He didn’t flinch, as if he’d dreamed about this moment his whole life. He kissed you harder, rougher as you both stood in the woods between Castle Byers and his house.

Will was talking to Mike in the tent, neither of you listened to him. Assuming that they were playing a game in there, you continued kissing.

You kissed your lips were sore and red, taking a big gasp of air just in time to hear distant voices rushing towards them.

They jumped apart quickly, you rushed inside Castle Byers with Jonathan following behind you. Will and Mike looked startled as if you just interrupted them, you blushed squishing together to avoid knocking into the two boys.

The tent door ripped open, Nancy poked her head looking at Mike and you. She looked happy but disgruntled at the closeness of you and Jonathan.

His hand was placed by behind your back, your shoulders touching. Your heart was racing, you found it hard to not lean into him discretely.

You were feelings things you had never even thought of about Jonathan, just nearly touching him made your heart flutter. Your breathing was almost gasping, you wanted this situation to be over as you ached for his soft touch.

Something you never thought you would be dying for. Lusting for, in the tent of his Brother’s childhood tent, a place where you, Jonathan and Will had always played in. But it felt different this time, it had lost its innocence.

You and Jonathan were no longer just friends.

“Right, well I might head off”

You spoke into the awkward silence, the boys had turned their attention back to their game. You, Nancy and Jonathan all diverted glances between each other. You really wanted the moment to be over.

It was already weird enough that Nancy practically crushed your hand with hers, there had an uncomfortable silence on the drive over here. You knew she kind of regretted it but she didn’t awkwardly apologize or anything, which made you wonder.

Her and Robin were awfully close.

You got up as your thoughts glazed over the possibility of Robin and Nancy being together and chuckled to yourself as you slid past Nancy. Not noticing that Jonathan had got up and was following after you.

He stopped in front of you, aware that Nancy’s eyes were burning into the back of your skull.

“Let me walk you back”

You were going to contest, tell him that your house was simply next door but there was a twinkle in his eyes as he looked at you. It made you lust for him, your breath was fast and tight.

You began walking with him, side by side slowly l through Jonathan’s house. The time went fast in those few seconds before you both awkwardly stood in your doorway, staring at each other.

You hadn’t seen Nancy follow you two, as you beckoned him into your house. Her eyes didn’t leave your front door for a few moments afterwards before she drove off in her car angrily.

Inviting Jonathan into your home felt exciting this time, he usually made himself at home here. He felt comfortable around your parents but today, he sat awkwardly on your bed as you routed through tapes and tapes of music until you found the perfect song for this occasion.

It was a double sided tape containing random songs of the Clash, the Beatles and The Doors. Your dad had made the mixtape for your mom in the 60s when they were dating.

Jonathan eased up at the music playing through your speakers, you sat down on the bed next to him. Your hands were almost touching, he hooked his fingers round yours loosely. You looked down at your fingers, lifting your eyes up meeting his. You felt breathless looking into his beautiful eyes, he looked so pretty with the shadows bouncing off his features.

There was so much feeling in not being touched but needing to be, especially by someone you had called a friend all these years. Yet he looked so irresistible, so much so that if he didn’t kiss you right this second you would combust.

His fingers were still loosely intertwined with yours as you fell back onto your bed, he followed soon after. Lying side to side, you moved your head closer to his, staring in his eyes. Your music still playing quietly in the background, you wanted to kiss him. Taste his lips once more, your eyes were focused on them. They were pink, chapped and rough which grazed against your lips not long ago.

You like you were looking at different person, still your best friend but he looked handsome. His arm was round you, feeling his warmth as your bodies lightly touched. Cosying up to him, you felt your eyes drift. He moved some of your hair out of your face and softly kissed your cheek.

When you woke up suddenly from the surprised nap, he was still lying in the same position next to you. You smiled lightly, placing your hand on top of his. The warm sensation of your hands touching awoke him slightly, his sleepy eyes looking at you desperately.

It had got dark outside as your tape was no longer playing any music, you got up from lying on your bed, Jonathan sat up watching you intently. You placed your jacket over you that you had taken off earlier, his eyes were staring at you turning around you met his eyes. You felt your breath sweep away, he was admiring you. You felt lusted after, a feeling that was unusual to you but you liked that it was Jonathan.

''Would you like some coffee? Or we have a smoke''

He smiled at you, it was refreshing. Smiling back at him, you felt stupid for asking him to drink coffee knowing that it makes him anxious but you knew that he wanted to smoke with you. He after all did introduce you to smoking.

You felt safe around him when you smoked, he was funny and charming. You always laughed around him, he made you happy. You sensed mutual feelings from his.

You both stood up, leaving your room and put into your house. You can hear your parents sleeping in their bedroom as you both crept past them and out of the house. Once you were outside, the cool brisk air hit your faces making them rosy and cold. You smiled widely at him as he lead you towards his house, Joyce and Will had long gone to bed. The house was quiet but still full of love, Jonathan’s room carried his scent mixed with weed and aftershave.

Since the blending of the Byers/Hopper family, they had added an extension onto the house where El’s room was. You and El spoke often, being an older girl she asked you things that Max was unable to. It was nice, she felt like a younger sibling.

Jonathan didn’t feel like a sibling to you, he now felt more than a friend. You were unsure where you stood with him but you were excited to explore your feelings with him.

Niether of you two had spoken about this kiss but you had noticed that he stared at your lips more. Or maybe he had always been looking but you were blind to it.

As you watched him in the dark shadows of his room rolling up for you both, you felt captivated by him. He was so interesting to you. This new person was sat in front of you, you knew that he was still your best friend but you knew that you could love him if he let you.

Tagged:

@oo0lady-mad0oo

[shenevertricks1831]

Connor Murphy x Reader (psych ward pt 2, Connor's Release)

Once Connor and Y/N meet in a teen psych ward their relationship is immediately in jeopardy as Connor is released.

A/N: So I apparently have a lot of inspiration stemming from Connor Murphy, and other Mike Faist characters...so it looks like this will be a multipart headcanon series; and I might make something for some of his other characters as well..anyway enjoy!

⚠️TRIGGER WARNINGS: mentions of emotional and mental abuse, uhm I think that's it for this part; but as always I suck at warning so read at your own discretion.

-Since that first day you and Connor became inseparable.

-Any time you were allowed to be together you two were practically conjoined at the hip.

-Whether it was holding hands during group, or snuggling up while watching a movie, or coloring together during free time.

-The staff had never seen Connor so calm and at peace.

-But the last 24 hours everyone had been on edge; the staff, Connor, and you.

-Connor was scheduled to be released soon.

-He was going to be out a whole 2 days before you.

-It didn't seem that bad; but since you two had connected you'd been together almost all the time.

-And there were many unspoken questions about what would happen not only after his release, but after yours as well.

-It was Monday afternoon during free time in the recreational area. You sat next to Connor at a table near the window.

-You were both coloring. It seemed like a somewhat childish pastime, but you both found it relaxing.

-Only today your head wasn't in it. Your gaze kept drifting to the window, trying to distract yourself from the lump that'd been in your throat all day.

-Connor took notice that you'd stopped scribbling and rested its hand on top of yours.

-"Hey." He spoke softly pulling you from your thoughts. "What's going on?" He squeezed your hand, softly reassuring you that you could tell him anything.

-You closed your eyes, feeling tears threaten to fall. "Connor, we need to talk."

-He felt his heart drop at your words.

-"Whats gonna happen?" You choked out quietly. "You get out tomorrow. Do you," you paused trying to swallow the lump in your throat, "even want to keep in contact?"

-Connor pulled you to him and hugged you to his chest tightly.

-"Of course I do," he muttered into your hair, "the mere thought of leaving here without you breaks my heart."

-Connor slowly released his hold on you, pulling back and looking into your eyes.

-"If you will still have me after meeting me in the psych ward and knowing all my baggage, then I'd have to be crazy to let you go, and when you get out I will be waiting for you. And I don't mean that in a cheesy way, I mean I will literally be waiting outside the front door with flowers and a kiss just for you."

-You were quietly crying when he finished speaking.

-Connor leaned forward, wiping your tears away and gently kissed your forehead.

-Resting his forehead against your own he closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and held onto your hands.

-Taking in a shaking breath, you spoke quietly.

-" How's this gonna work? We'll still see each other right?" You hated asking these questions out loud, it made the reality of the situation real.

-Connor did his best to smile, keeping his head down and playing with your hands.

-"Well, this city isn't that giant." He squeezed your hands gently, "And you said your mom's moving in with your aunt, which means you'll be at a new school.."

-Over the days together you'd told Connor about your mothers plans to leave your step father after years of mental and emotional abuse.

-The last straw in their relationship had been your suicide attempt, which was sparred by your step fathers abuse; so now your mother had begun the divorce process.

-Your mother had already began moving all your and her belongings to your aunt and uncles house.

-Once you were released you'd join her to live with your family across town.

- And then you'd transfer to a new school, the one your cousin attended.

-Connors fingers brushed over your knuckles soothingly.

-"Ya know," Connor spoke just above a whisper, "there's only 3 high schools in the district." He paused, taking a nervous deep breath, "That means there's basically a 50% chance that you'll transfer to my school."

-Slowly you smiled up at him knowing he was right.

-"And what if I don't end up at your school?" You softly asked.

-"Y/N, babe, you've been here for me when no one else was. A different school isn't gonna keep me from you. If you want this, us, to work then I'm all in. You've made me the happiest I've been, in a psych ward of all places. A different school won't keep me from you,"  he kissed you knuckles, "I promise."

*****

-It was the morning of Connor's release.

-You barely got to say goodbye.

-Well actually you two had gotten to say goodbye the night before.

-But that morning the most goodbye you got to give him was a teary eyed half smile and a small wave.

-You were separated by a glass window.

-Connor sat next to a woman, you assumed was his mother, they sat in front of a receptionist desk.

-You watched him till he left with his mother.

-He turned and gave you a small wave, mouthing 'I love you' before he walked out of the building.

-And then you felt like your heart broke.

-You'd never had a boys say they loved you, even if it was just silently mouthed, but you didn't know if it was real or if you'd see him again.

-With tears running down your face, you quietly moved to the table you and Connor would always sit at, and began to color.

-As Connor followed his mother to the car he silently cried.

-He knew it sounded stupid and dramatic, but he felt like he'd left a part of his heart behind.

-Cynthia could tell something was wrong, but she waited until they were in the car to say anything.

-"Connor," she spoke slowly, almost timidly, "are you okay hun?"

-Connor wasn't sure what came over him, but he broke down.

-He began to sob, reaching over the cars middle console and wrapping his arms around his mother burying his face in her chest as he cried.

-Both of them were mildly shocked.

-Neither of them could even remember the last time Connor had actively sought out his mother's comfort.

-With her arms wrapped around him Cynthia softly talked to her son.

-"Sweetheart what's wrong?" She did her best to not allow her voice to crack.

-Connor squeezed his mother tighter as his tears kept coming. "I-I didn't wanna leave her."

-At first Cynthia was confused, she didn't understand what her son ment, and then she remembered the girl she'd seen inside.

-The girl who was watching her son and trying to smile through her tears.

-Slowly she pulled back from her son and looked in his eyes. "Tell me about her," She slowly reached for her sons hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze, "please."

-"I love her." Connor whispered.

-Connor and Cynthia sat in the parking lot as Connor explained everything to his mother. He explained who you were, why you were there, what was going to happen when you got out, and how he wanted to be with you still.

-He was secretly so thankful that his father hadn't come with his mother that morning. He could only imagine how much shit Larry would of had to say about all this.

-After everything was out on the table Cynthia took a deep breath. "Well, Connor, do you know what her favorite flower is?"

-"What?"

-"If your supposed to be here with flowers when she gets out you should probably make sure you get some she likes." She spoke matter-of-factly.

-Connor looked at his mother, slightly stunned. "(your favorite flower). Th-that's her favorite." He quietly uttered.

-"Alrighty then."  Cynthia smiled as she turned the key in the ignition. "I'll make sure to order a bouquet of (Y/F/F) and have them ready to go Thursday morning before she's released," she grabbed her sons hand and squeezed it, turning her smile toward him, "and then I'll have you here before she's released."

-Connor looked at his mother in wonder.

-He wiped his eyes once more before he spoke.

-"Thank you Cynth-" he paused a moment and glanced at his moms hand still holding his own, "Thanks mom."

-Then he smiled at her. And Cythia realized that was the first time in years he'd called her mom.

-She knew her husband wouldn't understand. He wouldn't be able to comprehend that their son had fallen in love in the teen psych ward.

-But she was willing to help her son; she saw a spark of hope in her son she hadn't seen in years, and she was not going to ruin that for Connor.