#which is what dustin refers to the demogorgon as

[skeletal-butterflyy]

D&D subtext in Stranger Things

Highly, highly requested analysis (no it’s not) of some interesting things I noticed going on with D&D in stranger things. This includes my personal thoughts based on my credentials of; having watched the show more times than i can possibly count over the past 7 years and current knowledge of DnD classes, worldbuilding, monsters, character creation. I’ll have this on the pinned post on my blog and i’ll add a text break because it’s…a lot.

Misc. :

The show starts with and is based off of Dungeons and Dragons, a table top rpg that the characters like to play. In the first season we don’t get much insight into the boys characters or the game itself, it’s used as a device to further the idea that these kids are nerds, they play a nerdy game that involves fantasy and math. As the show progresses it continues to be used to push across certain ideas, like establishing each character in the party and in season three showing how the game might represent the boys as social outcasts and their childhood.

DnD, is used throughout the show but we get to see actual play of the game in season one and four. It’s also used as a way to name the monsters they face (the monsters do get the right ideas across but the game and show versions are actually quite different from each other, especially the demogorgon)

In season 4 the idea of satanism connected to DnD really interested me. Why was everyone connecting DnD to satanism? I mean we know that everyone thought that Eddie was killing all of these people but that doesn’t mean that his club had anything to do with it. The duffers interestingly incorporated the real stigma that was widely held in the 80s against the game. At the time people were going on witchunts against anything regarded as being possibly related to satan. The most interesting part about all of this though is that, Dungeons and Dragons was made by two very devout christian men, Ernest Gygax (one of the founders) was even a Jehovah’s Witness! The two being christian’s though, incorporated a lot of religious themes into the game including clerics and paladins (calm down you fiends i’ll be getting to that) who carry a lot of religious themes and monsters that may represent demons. Outsiders might have seen a game presenting such themes as a mockery of their faith or a way to promote satanism simply by having monsters.

Characters:

I want to preface this by saying the classes that I’ll be talking about aren’t actually time period accurate. The boys would have been playing D&D 1e which had the three classes of : Fighting-man, magic-user, and cleric. While the classes listed are from D&D 2e which didn’t come out until 1989. Anyways.

In season 1, in the first scenes of the show we get to see what is the middle of DnD session before it gets interrupted. We get the basic ideas of their game across, Mike acting as DM presenting the adventure he created to his players while the rest of the party waits in anticipation for what they have to fight next. We also get to see some of will’s drawings of the party and his character

Keep these pictures in mind.

In season 2 when mike and max are arguing in the gym we hear mike say, “I’m our paladin, will’s our cleric, dustin’s our bard, lucas is our ranger and el is our mage.” At first glance it seems like nothing, oh he’s just listing off the party members and their roles and how max doesn’t fit into the party. But when you look at it properly it’s so much more.

Lucas and Dustin could not be more perfect for their chosen classes. Lucas is a ranger which means the ideal stats to be highest would include dexterity, constitution, and wisdom. Dexterity refers to, in this case the hand eye coordination and general reflexes. Constitution refers to a characters stamina and toughness, and wisdom is well, wisdom. Sounds like a certain character that has quick reflexes, has a tendency to take punches pretty well, and has good problem solving skills huh? All of these apply to lucas quite well, AND his weapon of choice is a ranged weapon, the slingshot (wrist-rocket you know what I mean), it’s really quite perfect. As for Dustin, he’s said to be a bard and the highest ideal stat for that class is charisma. Dustin has been proven to be very charismatic, he gets along with people and he can very comedic. Another thing about bards is they will tend to be very eloquent, inspirational, and persuasive, it comes with the territory of having a high charisma score, and we know dustin has a way with words. Dustin’s known for being a an eloquent and persuasive character; he convinced Mike to make up with Lucas after their fight in season one, he convinced a hesitant Mr. Clarke to tell him how to make a censory deprivation tank, he convinced steve to join him in looking for dart, and convinced erica to go through the vents (sort of). So, it makes complete sense for dustin to be a bard.

Taking a look at Mike’s character, his class also makes a lot of sense. Mike plays a paladin when he’s not the DM. A paladin is a “devout warrior” they fight with a cause, to serve their patron deity. They’re often compared to knights because of their values and the armor they usually wear. A paladin is the perfect representation of mike, especially for how will described him during the painting scene, he’s a leader and will throw himself in dangerous situations for the sake of the party, like when he jumped off the cliff for dustin.

Now, remember how will’s drawings, specifically of his character? Remember how mike said that will was a cleric? Will’s character is complicated. Will’s character being a cleric doesn’t make sense but makes so much sense at the same time. His character doesn’t look like a cleric. Clerics might be spellcasters but they don’t traditionally carry a staff or wear robes like we see will’s character does. He wears wizard clothing and has wizard abilities, not to mention in the first scene we see him play DnD and attempt to cast fireball, a spell that is most commonly associated with wizards and sorcerers and he does not seem to get his magic from a deity like a cleric traditionally would. (Clerics can cast fireball but only if they are part of the light domain) So, his character seems to be more of a wizard than a cleric, which is odd.

My theory relating to Will’s character:

Looking back at what mike said, Will’s character class doesn’t make much sense. But, I personally feel like Mike wasn’t being totally honest. First, he listed el, who they might consider to be part of the party but she doesn’t have an actual role in the game, but of course she would be the magic-user/mage. I think that mike made the list based on his feelings about the party specifically regarding will and el. El has powers in real life so it makes sense he assigned her the role of mage, and replacing will for him to become a cleric. It’d be interesting if Will was simply a cleric in mike’s personal thoughts about the party because it would make it so mike views them as very close. Paladins and clerics are very similar in relation to the fundamentals, a paladin is a warrior that swears an oath and serves a deity while a cleric is the servant of a deity that heals and fights. Basically, a cleric does more spell casting and less fighting while a paladin does more fighting and less spell casting. Since the two are so similar it would give a lot of depth to the characters being best friends, who have a much deeper understanding of each other than the rest of the party would. And even if he wasn’t simply a cleric in mikes mind and will the wise is actually a cleric, this would still show that the two having a much deeper connection and understanding of each other was hinted at from the beginning.

[radiosteve]

Something, Everything

Summary: You and Steve Harrington were best friends, and then you were more, and then you weren’t. When it seems like the world is about to end for the fourth time will you be able to set aside the past to help save your friends?

Note: I haven’t posted on here in a super long time, but I’m kind of back! This story is inspired by Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren, which I highly recommend. I’ve changed a lot of the details from the book (especially the timeline) but the basic premise is still there. I just wrote this for fun and it ended up being kinda long. I hope you enjoy!

Warnings: 18+, no use of y/n (reader is referred to as Honey), smut, unprotected sex, dry humping, friends to lovers to enemies(?) to lovers, language, some cannon divergence, fluff, angst, death, slowburn, naked photo.

Pairings: Steve Harrington x reader,  some Eddie Munson x reader

Word count: 16.6k

It all started the night Will Byers went missing. Well, actually it started fourteen years ago, but that cold day in early November 1983 kickstarted the chain reaction that brought you here. Face to face with the one and only Steve Harrington. Your ex-best friend, your ex-almost, your ex-something, your ex-everything. 

When you were startled awake by a phone call from your best friend Jonathan Byers asking if you knew where Will was, you instantly knew something was up. You skipped school, sticking by his side as him and Joyce continued their desperate search for any trace of Will. So when Nancy Wheeler squeezed her way in, bringing up monsters without faces and her friend Barb, you tagged along hoping like hell for any sign of Hawkins’ missing persons. You tried to ignore the part when Nancy said Barb was last seen at Steve’s house, and where Nancy so happened to be when Barb went missing.

It wasn’t until after Will’s funeral, when Lucas pulled you aside and told you about the girl they’d been hiding in Mike’s basement, that you got split up from Nancy and Jonathan’s monster hunting. After you were all briefly reunited in the middle school gym, the new dynamic duo secretly slipped away again, carrying out their plan while you stayed unknowingly with the kids. By the time the people from the lab were taken out and the dust settled from Eleven destroying the demogorgon, and seemingly herself, Will had been found and the world felt a little less upside down. 

Jonathan caught you by the arm, pulling you into Will’s hospital room before you could join the others in the waiting room. With a quick ‘what the hell’ look and a mutter about Steve Harrington and nail bats and fire, you gladly took your seat across the room from Will’s bed until he woke up. You managed to avoid Steve again that day, something you had gotten really good at since that one day the previous year, but that bond that formed between you all that week was something that couldn’t be severed. It didn’t matter if you hadn’t seen him at all or that he only jumped into it at the last second. There was now a select group of people that understood why Hawkins was so different from other small towns and that group now contained the both of you.

When Halloween rolled around you took the kids trick or treating while Jonathan went to Tina’s stupid party. He didn’t even try to convince you to go with him. Knowing Steve would be there was enough to keep Jonathan from even thinking about asking you. But when Jonathan and Nancy came up to you with their plan to get justice for Barb, you were all in. When you all finally got back to Hawkins, noticing the romantic shift in the air between your two partners in crime, all hell had seemingly broken loose. And when none other than the devil himself came tramping out of the woods followed behind Dustin, Lucas, and the new girl Max, you knew for sure that nothing good could follow. 

Despite going to the same school, you had managed to narrowly avoid Steve the past few years. You were in upper level courses while he barely coasted by in the lowest classes possible. It was the first time you had seen each other in nearly two years and it was like the wind had been knocked out of your lungs and spilled out onto the pavement below. He looked like he was about to say something when Dustin finally opened the gate and Chief Hopper came speeding out, effectively saving you from having to talk to Steve. Even back at the Byer’s house you found ways to keep him away. When Eleven came to the rescue, Will was no longer possessed, and the gate was closed, you managed to come out of it all without exchanging a single word or even sparing a passing glance. What you didn’t know was that he pestered Dustin with questions about you on the daily and when he dropped Dustin off at the Snowball that year it took all his willpower to tear his eyes off of the glimpse he got of you through the window. 

By the summer you had gotten a job at the record store downtown, running over to the Hawkins Post to visit your favorite couple on your lunch breaks. It didn’t take long to recognize a few regulars at the record store, one of which being Eddie Munson, who so charmingly explained to you one day why he had to repeat his senior year a third time. He was cute, and a good way to take your mind off a certain hairspray obsessed boy that you heard got a job at the new ice cream place in the mall. So you and Eddie became about as casual as causal can be. He even had you pressed against the wall in the record store’s break room when Nancy came barreling in spewing nonsense about exploding rats and chemicals. 

It wasn’t until you were dragged all across Hawkins and nearly killed a few times that you ended up in the mall and saw Steve Harrington’s beaten and bruised face for the second time since sophomore year. Even you had to admit that despite the blood and vomit stains, he looked damn good in that sailor outfit. But even as Steve drove into the side of Billy Hargrove’s car, saving you all from being driven into head on, you still couldn’t let go of the pain he caused you at the end of sophomore year. And when the dust settled and Chief Hopper was thought to be dead, you couldn’t help but avoid him again, slinking away to comfort Max and El. 

Having no money meant staying in Hawkins and going to community college instead of all the out of state schools you had been accepted into. Nancy stepped up, filling as much of the Jonathan sized gap and becoming your best friend when he moved off to California. You told each other all your secrets, including both of your history’s with Steve. By the time spring had rolled around Eddie had become almost as much of a constant in your life as Nancy. Despite never saying those defining words, you somehow still found yourself curled up against him most mornings. It was because of how close you had both become that you woke up to a frantic phone call from Dustin about Chrissy Cunningham and Eddie and Reefer Rick’s. 

As soon as you opened your car door and stepped out onto the pavement, you instantly wished you never picked up the phone. You silently curse yourself for ever entertaining the idea of monster hunting back in 1983 because now you’re stuck with Steve Harrington and this time there’s nowhere to run. Your eyes trace along his figure while you close the distance between you and the others. He’s changed a lot, although you suppose that you have too. His chest fills out those dumb polos a lot better now and his arms are definitely bigger too. His hair is still the same, although maybe a bit longer, but the stubble above his lip is new. You’re pulled from your silent stare by Robin pointing to the boathouse. 

Following along quietly, you can’t help but notice Steve’s eyes flickering over you the same way you had done to him. Even as he jabs an oar into a tarp covered boat, his gaze still catches on you. It isn’t until Eddie has him pinned against the wall with a bottle to his neck that Steve snaps his focus away from you. As everyone shouts at Eddie to let Steve go, he doesn’t listen until he hears your voice.

“Eds, please let him go. We just want to help,” your calm words bring both Eddie and Steve’s eyes to yours. Eddie gives a slight nod, slowly releasing Steve. As much as you know you should rush to Eddie, you find yourself sliding in front of Steve. “Are you ok?” Steve swears that he can feel his heart stop for a second. The last time you ever spoke directly to him was now almost three years ago, and god did he miss the sound of it.

“Yeah, I’m alright,” Steve finally managed to barely get out after way too long. You nodded, finally listening to the little voice in your head telling you to get the hell away from Steve and check on Eddie. It isn’t until you’ve crouched down beside Eddie, placing a gentle hand on his arm that you’re reminded of something.

“Are you ok?” your voice rang out into the roaring sound of the classroom. It was the first day of kindergarten and before you sat a red in the face, wailing Steve Harrington. He looked up at you long enough to stop crying for a minute and take you in. You were dressed in a pair of well-loved overalls with a striped t-shirt that was clearly way too big stuffed underneath them. As Steve wiped the tears from his eyes he realized that he hadn’t answered your question.

“I’ve never been away from my mom for this long. I- I miss her,” he squeaked out before fresh tears began to well in his eyes. Your eyebrows furrowed as his face turned red again. 

“Is your mom your best friend?” you sat down in front of him now, crossing your legs so that your knees just barely touched his. Steve thought about it and then slowly nodded his head. “My mommy’s my best friend too. Why don’t we let our mommies be our best friends at home and then we can be each other’s best friends here?” you shot Steve a small smile and noticed that his tears had suddenly stopped.

“My mommy calls me Stevie, so if you’re going to be my best friend you have to call me Stevie too,” Steve sniffled out, wiping his nose with his hand. 

“Well then you have to call me Honey since that’s what my mommy calls me,” you held out your hand for Steve to shake.

“Ok Honey.”

You’re dragged from your thoughts by the sound of Eddie’s unsteady voice as he explains what happened the night before. Eddie’s shaking hands find their way into yours as he tries to calm down. There’s a flicker of a frown on Steve’s lips that he quickly corrects as he eyes Eddie’s hand enclosed around yours. Despite all of Steve’s nagging and prodding, Dustin never disclosed the nature of your and Eddie’s relationship, knowing it would do more harm to Steve than good. Steve’s gaze lingers on you for a moment longer before he hears talk of spells, curses, and Vecna.

“Who’s Vecna?” you can’t help but find his eyes as a now frightened Dustin slowly explains. And you know with each word that spills from his lips that your spring break just got hijacked by freaky monsters and gates and the Upside Down. 

After a while, the rest of the gang takes off on a grocery run, leaving you to stick behind with Eddie. He watches you from the corner of his eye as you walk around the boathouse, silently picking through everything littered around the place. You’re caught off guard when his arms wrap around your waist from behind and his nose buries itself in your neck. 

“I really wish I’d taken you up on your offer to come over and watch a movie on Friday instead. Then we wouldn’t be in this mess,” he says, placing a gentle kiss to your cheek before you twist your way around in his arms to face him. 

“Well, maybe you wouldn’t be, but I can guarantee I would’ve been dragged into this one way or another. We’re kind of like a club now except our meetings only really take place just as the world’s about to end.”

“Sounds like a fun club,” the sarcasm drips from Eddie’s words and he leans in, slowly closing the distance between your lips.

“Super fun,” you meet him in the middle, soft lips dancing across his, making him groan as he pulls your body closer. He keeps kissing you as his hands find their way to your ass, giving it a quick slap that causes you to jump a little. Eddie pulls away slowly, just enough to see your face clearly.

“So, you and Harrington?” the question hangs in the air even as your eyebrows furrow and your head shakes side to side.

“What about me and Steve?” you search his face for any sign of what he means, but Eddie’s always been pretty good at hiding his true feelings behind those big doe eyes.

“I know you two have a history. Clearly I have no idea what actually happened because you’re very secretive,” you open your mouth to argue but he cuts you off. “No, no. You so are. Maybe not about most things, but you are about him. I know we’re not technically dating, but I just want you to know that I’m not the jealous type,” now you’re definitely confused. 

“What are you even talking about?” a small giggle escapes your lips while Eddie’s eyes widen into saucers.

“All I’m saying is that if you and Harrington want to make goo-goo eyes at each other from across the room it won’t bother me,” now you’re fully laughing, and Eddie pulls you tighter to him while a grin breaks out across his lips. “What’s so funny, Honey?”

“Steve and I were not making goo-goo eyes at each other. And honestly you saying you’re not jealous only makes me think that you kinda are jealous,” you manage to stop laughing but you can’t hide the smile etched across your face.

“You wish,” Eddie pulls you in again, gently cupping your cheeks in a smiley kiss that’s quickly interrupted by the sound of the door slamming open. The two of you tear apart and Eddie grabs for his glass bottle again, pulling you behind him. It only takes a second for you both to realize it’s just the others returning from the store with food for Eddie. You don’t miss the way Steve’s gaze lingers on Eddie’s protective hand on your wrist as he files into the boathouse with the others. 

Eddie goes to town munching on the food Dustin graciously handed him while they explain that the cops think he killed Chrissy. Eddie shoots panicked glances your way and Robin tries to comfort him with words but ends up making it worse. Even Steve jumps in and despite your hard glare, he and Dustin do nothing but add on to the sense of hopelessness that now fills the air. It isn’t until you all hear sirens in the distance that they finally shut up and Eddie jumps back under the tarp in the boat. You rush to the window, not noticing Steve close behind, and see the cop cars blowing past Reefer Rick’s house. As you peer up at Steve you know that there’s something else going on. 

You slide into the back of Steve’s BMW with Dustin and Max on either side and Steve hits the gas until you see the red and blue lights approaching in the distance. Being in the middle seat means you're the last out of the car and the last to notice Nancy surrounded by police officers. She offers you all a small wave as your feet carry you forward, past the police barriers, and into her arms. Nancy lets out a small sigh of relief and squeezes her eyes shut at the feeling of your embrace. The others catch up and you move your way into the trailer park, sitting at a picnic table close to Eddie’s trailer. A place you’d been a thousand times, now crossed off with police tape. 

Nancy talks about Fred, Dustin talks about Venca, and you do everything you can to ignore the lingering gaze of Steve Harrington. Your attention snaps back as Max makes the connection between Fred and Chrissy and everyone heads back towards Steve’s car. You follow Nancy as she keeps walking away from the others until you hear Steve’s voice  and turn back around.

“Where are you guys going?” Steve’s question is directed at both of you, but his eyes only flicker over to you.

“There’s just something I want to check out first,” she says pointing over her shoulder towards her car.

“And I’m not letting her out of my sight with all this going on,” you speak up next, glancing towards Nancy to avoid looking at Steve.

“No way it’s too dangerous. There’s safety in numbers. You guys need someone to…” he trails off, turning to throw his keys to Robin. “I’ll stick with these two, you guys take my car and go check out the shrink,” Steve heads over to you and Nancy before Robin chimes in about not having a license. Steve squabbles with them all before Robin makes the executive decision that she’ll join you and Nancy instead. 

Nancy explains her discussion with Wayne Munson and his thoughts on Victor Creel during the drive to the library. While you go along with Nancy’s hunch, knowing she’s usually right, Robin questions each and every detail of the theory. You can tell Nancy’s getting annoyed as you wait for the keys to the basement archives, stifling a laugh when she turns to you with ‘help me’ eyes. 

The three of you search through newspaper after newspaper and you try to tune out Robin as much as you can. She’s nice enough but she talks way more than you remember. Nancy, clearly unable to put up with anymore of Robin’s babbling, goes downstairs to look for more newspaper reels, leaving you with a curious Robin.

“So, Honey…” her voice echoes through the now silent room as you set down the book you were looking through about D&D lore and Vecna.   

“Why’d you call me that?” 

“Everyone calls you that.”

“No, my friends call me that,” Robin opens her mouth in faux shock, bringing a hand to her chest.

“Are we not friends? Wow, you’d think saving the world from a human flesh monster and burning down a mall with someone bonds you for life, but I guess I was wrong,” you can’t help the small smile that crosses your lips at Robin’s theatrics. 

“Alright, we can be friends,” a smile lights up Robin’s face and you mirror it back. 

“Good. As your friend, you have to answer all my questions. Why doesn’t Nancy like me?” your smile drops from your face and your hands start to fiddle with the pages in front of you.

“Nancy likes you just fine.”

“I’m not an idiot.” Her eyes bore into yours. “Plus, what’s that thing the kids all say to each other? Friends don’t lie?” you curse Mike Wheeler under your breath for his stupid insistence on honesty.

“She probably just doesn’t like you because she thinks you’re dating Steve and she has other ideas of who she thinks Steve should be with,” it comes out pretty hushed and embarrassed, but Robin hears every word.

“I’m not with Steve. Not in a million years. He is so far from my type. I’d rather let the human population die out before being with Steve,” Robin���s words flood out in a rush of reassurance.

“You’re not a very good wing woman, you know that?” a smirk graces your lips as Robin’s face flushes. “And you don’t have to worry, I know you’re not with Steve.” Robin raises her eyebrows silently asking you ‘how.’ “Unfortunately I know Steve Harrington well enough to know when he’s interested in a girl and he’s not interested in you.” 

“Do you know Steve well enough to know that he’s interested in you?” your breath hitches in your throat and your eyes meet hers.

“Yeah, I do,” you choke out, your mind stopping with the wisp of a memory. 

“You’re so predictable, I really don’t get how she didn’t see right through you,” Steve puts the phone down and turns to you at the sound of your giggles bouncing throughout the room. 

“I have no clue what you’re talking about, Honey,” Steve’s tone is serious but the smile stretching his lips says otherwise.

“Stevie, please. You use the same moves on every girl. If I had a deeper voice and your dumb polo I could pretend to be you, ask a girl out, and she’d never know the difference,” Steve steps closer to you. You’re sitting on his bed folding the laundry he left in a pile on top of it. 

“Hey my polos are not dumb and I am not predictable,” he sits down on the bed next you, nearly knocking over the pile of sweatshirts you just folded. Steve grabs a shirt from the pile as you laugh at him again.

“You so are. You’ve been asking girls out the same way since third grade. We’re almost eighth graders now, you really should switch it up,” you snag the shirt from his fingers when you notice he can’t fold for shit. “Plus I can easily tell when you like a girl.”

“No, you can’t,” there’s something different about his voice now as he pulls his attention towards you. You brush it off, continuing your focus on his laundry.

“I totally can. You make up excuses to be around her, you laugh at all her jokes, especially when no one else does, you constantly nag everyone to tell you about her when she’s not there, and you get all moody when she’s with other guys.” you cross your arms over your chest and plaster on a satisfied smirk when Steve’s mouth drops open slightly. “See told you I could tell.”

“You do realize that you just described how I am with you, right?” the question hung in the air, and you found your jaw dropping just like Steve’s.

“Stevie,” it comes out as a whisper. Steve’s eyes shift from your eyes to your lips as you take a shaky breath. “Are you- do you like…” Steve silently nods, too afraid of what would happen if he tore his gaze from you. Your heart thuds in your chest and the world falls quiet around you. You’d harbored a crush on Steve ever since you figured out that boys do not indeed have cooties. It bothered you that he asked out other girls and never you, but it wasn’t your place to butt in. You were happy with as much of Steve as he was willing to give you. 

Just as Steve was about to lean in, the phone rang, filling the silence. Without tearing his gaze from yours, Steve reached behind him, grabbing the phone from the nightstand and holding it to his ear. With a quick ‘Harrington residence’ and a muffled response from the other end, Steve handed you the phone. You held it up to your ear, hearing your dad’s quiet voice through the receiver. This pulled you out of your trance, tearing your eyes from Steve, until they fell on the folded clothes before you.

“Can you come home sweetie? I picked up an extra shift and need you to take care of your mom for a little. I can leave you a little money to order a pizza for dinner,” you agreed, hanging up after a promise of being there in 10 minutes. Steve’s gaze roamed over you with a sadness you hadn’t really seen before. 

“I better get going,” you spoke softly, getting up from your place on the bed. The moment was gone. You’d both brush it under the rug like nothing happened. You wish something happened. Steve wished something happened. You collected your things scattered around the room and pulled on your shoes. Reaching out for the doorknob, you turned back, catching Steve’s sad eyes. “Bye Stevie, see you soon,” with that you left, heading downstairs and through the door, out to your bike waiting for you in the grass.

“Honey?” Robin snaps you from your trance and you jump a little in your seat. “I said, Steve never told me what happened with you two, but whatever it is, he seems really sorry. Like down on his knees pleading, crying, snot bubbles dripping down his face, sorry,” you scrunch your nose at the image.

“Are you always this descriptive?” 

“Only when I’m nervous,” Robin gives you an awkward smile as you shrink back into your chair. What the hell is taking Nancy so long?

“No need to be nervous, Robs. And no need to try getting Steve back into my good graces. Our history is, uh well, history. I’ve moved on from it,” she eyes you wearily, trying to read your expression. 

“Moved on enough to be with him again?” you shoot her a glare and she backs down. As you open your mouth to talk, she interrupts you. “I know about you and Eddie. Steve doesn’t, but I do. And I know that you're not really dating so don’t try to make any excuses. If you could just hear him out it could clear this whole thing up and you can live happily ever-” Robin’s sentence is interrupted by Nancy bursting back into the room and you’ve never been more thankful to see her. In her hand she holds the slides for the Weekly Watcher, making you even question her a bit. After scrolling through page after page, Nancy finally stops on a story titled “Victor Creel Claims: Ancient Demon Killed Family.”

“I know that I should’ve learned my lesson by now, but from this point on I’ll never question you again Nancy Wheeler,” you chime in, leaning over Nancy and Robin’s shoulders. Between the three of you, you manage to connect the dots between the ancient demon the article described and Vecna. Rushing out of the library, Robin radios to the others, finding out that they broke into the school. Nancy speeds over to the school as fast as she can and you catch up to a very freaked out Max describing her vision and her corresponding symptoms. Your hand reaches out for hers and she’s about to let you take it before a noise echoes through the empty school hallways.

Following Steve and his trusty lamp, everyone piles into the hallway, coming face to face with an out of breath Lucas Sinclair. He explains that the basketball team is on a manhunt for Eddie and Dustin. You’re all about to shuffle back out to the cars and head to the Wheeler’s when Nancy stops with an idea, grabbing Robin’s arm and pulling her back. 

“What are you doing,” you stop, turning to face them as the others keep walking. She gives you a look, one you know means that you’re not going to like what she says.

“Go with Steve and the kids. I’ve got a plan and I need Robin,” she urges you forward, and Robin shoots her a look that you can’t quite read. 

“I meant what I said, Nance. I’m sticking with you.”

“Go Honey, we’ll be fine. Plus, I think it’ll help for Max to have you with her,” you want to argue with her, but like usual Nancy’s right. You pull her in for a quick hug before chasing after the others and sliding into the back seat of the BMW next to Lucas. In order to keep your distance from Steve, you head up to take a nap in Nancy’s bed once you get to the Wheeler house. It isn’t until much later that Nancy and Robin show up in the Wheeler’s basement explaining their plan to talk to Victor Creel.  

“Please don’t leave me here with him again. Nancy, I can’t take it,” you plead, following her up to her room. She purses her lips as she roots through her closet trying to find an outfit for Robin.

“Come on, Honey. It's been three years; you need to at least learn how to be civil with him. I know he hurt you and that he’s got his flaws, but I really do think he’s changed. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to give him a second chance,” she pulls out a shirt, looking it over before shoving it back on the rack and continuing her search.

“Geez you sound like Robin,” you mutter under your breath and she shoots you a tight lipped look.

“Who sounds like me?” Robin steps through the door, immediately drawn to the cassettes on Nancy’s nightstand and all her other little knick knacks littered throughout the room.

“I was telling Honey to suck it up and stay with Steve,” Nancy glances over her shoulder at Robin messing with her stuff.

“Oh yeah, totally. I think he’d throw a fit if you didn’t. He’d probably complain about being stuck as the babysitter again and we’d never hear the end of it,” Robin moves over to Nancy’s music box, letting out a squeal as a tiny ballerina pops up.  

“Maybe you can find it in your heart to at least listen to his explanation of what happened. You never did give him a chance before,” Nancy’s eyes dart between you to Robin, who is still rooting through her stuff. 

“This is just because you don’t like Eddie,” Robin snaps her head up, clearly intrigued by your assertion. You feel guilty bringing him into this argument. With all the craziness surrounding you, you’d nearly forgotten about the frightened Eddie left all alone at Reefer Rick’s.

“I like Eddie just fine. It’s you that doesn’t like Eddie, otherwise you would actually be dating at this point. Although he doesn’t really seem like the type to settle down,” Nancy shrugs, handing Robin a frilly blouse and skirt that causes Robin to scrunch her nose. You open your mouth to protest but you’re quickly cut off by Nancy’s glance towards her bed. “Did you sleep in my bed this morning?” you shoot her a guilty smile before making an excuse about checking on Max and sprinting downstairs.

After Nancy and Robin leave, you join the boys in awkwardly watching Max hunch over a desk for a few minutes before she gets up to pass out her letters. Your heart breaks with each word that trickles from her lips and the feel of worn paper between your fingers. Max argues with Steve about going to the cemetery until you chime in.

“If you won’t take her I will,” all eyes shift to you, holding out your hands for Steve’s car keys. He gives you a pleading look to reconsider before giving in and heading out towards his car. You give Max a playful nudge and she flashes you a grateful smile. When you get out to the car Max slides into the back, leaving the only empty seat upfront, next to Steve. He looks at you when you get in and you swear you can see the hope in his eyes.

Following a pitstop at Max’s house, the drive to the cemetery isn’t too long, but you can tell everyone is pretty restless by the time you get there. Max argues with Steve about going to Billy’s grave alone and you, once again stick up for her before sliding back into your seat in the car. Steve opens the door, following suit while Dustin and Lucas make up an excuse about needing fresh air and get out. You’re about to grab the door handle yourself when Steve’s voice cuts through the silence.

“Honey…”

“Don’t call me that,” you stare straight ahead, almost too afraid to look at him. Steve takes a second to hide his shock, his face returning to its normal shade after its flush of scarlet at your words.

“I honestly don’t think I can call you anything else,” his voice is quiet and it makes you finally turn your head to him. You realize that he’s nervous, more nervous than you knew Steve Harrington was capable of being. Even in the face of demodogs and other dimensions, Steve had never seemed this overwrought. “I just want to talk, please. I’ve wanted to explain, tried to explain, ever since that day, but you’ve never let me. Just, please, let me,” he sounded desperate, and if you were any less stubborn, you might have actually let him. 

“Now’s not really a good time, Steve,” he shifted back in his seat, processing what you said. Steve. Not Stevie. Steve. He wondered if maybe Vecna had cursed him and all of this was just some long, drawn out nightmare. But here you are, sitting in his car, looking more beautiful than he remembered, and he knows this is real. He wants to say more, but the words get stuck in his throat. Steve feels like he’s about to choke when you look past him, eyes landing on Max, sitting stiffly in front of Billy’s headstone. “Somethings wrong,” you throw open the door, calling for the boys and running towards Max. Her haze covered eyes make you recoil back for a second before you grab her shoulders, shaking them as hard as you can.

“What’s wrong?” Lucas nearly plows into you, trying to look at Max himself. You regret not listening to Steve and letting her go by herself. Steve shouts at Dustin to radio Robin and Nancy while you keep trying to break Max out of her trance. After a minute Dustin shouts something about music and favorite songs, throwing Max’s Walkman and cassettes on the ground in front of you. Sorting through cassettes, Lucas hands Steve a Kate Bush album, clicking it in, putting the headphones over her ears, and clicking play. Everyone stops for a second as the faint sound of Running Up That Hill comes from Max’s ears. 

You think it might be working for a second until Max’s body starts to rise from the ground, no matter how hard you try to hold her down. A scream rips from your throat as you watch what could be Max’s last moments. You think back to the girl in the Mike Myers mask on Halloween a few years ago as tears brim in your eyes. Losing hope with each passing second before you hear a gasp above you and Max tumbles down from the sky. Lucas wraps her in his arms and you all reach out to hold her in some way. 

As the minutes pass and everyone’s breathing returns to normal you realize that in the chaos of the moment your hand found its way into Steve’s. With one glance his way you can tell he’s more than aware that you’re holding his hand and will do anything to keep you from letting go. It takes every fiber of your being to hold back a small smile at how easily you can read him. His hand is warm, but you remember that his body has always run on the warmer side. You can’t help but find yourself getting caught up in a distant memory.

The Snowball hadn’t originally seemed like it was going to suck, but now that you were here, it definitely sucked. Brent Majors had made a big deal of asking you to go with him in front of the whole school at lunch. So you reluctantly agreed, wishing Steve had mustered up the courage to ask you first. He ended up asking Kat Connors to go with him, and despite the fact that she would’ve rather gone with friends, she accepted.

Steve arrived first and was immediately ditched by Kat who got sucked into her group of friends by the punch bowl. With a sigh, Steve plops himself down at an empty table and begins staring at the clock, willing the night to end. He loses himself in the hands of the clock until he hears the gym doors slam open, you emerging behind them. Steve’s breath catches in his chest, the same way it had a million times before, as he takes in the way you sparkle in the beautiful purple dress that your mom picked out for you on one of her good days. It isn’t until his eyes find your arm linked with Brent’s that his heart drops.

When Steve finally catches your eye you shoot him a wide smile and a small wave. Brent drags you past Steve, over to a table across the gym that was already packed with Brent’s friends. After about twenty minutes you realize that Brent has no intention of dancing with you so you get up and excuse yourself. Steve is still staring at the clock, trying his best not to look over to Brent’s table, when you sit down in the empty chair beside him.

“It seems that both of our dates are absolutely against dancing with us,” you speak up, nodding your head over to where Kat still stood engulfed by her friends.

“It appears so,” Steve breathed out, leaning back in his chair. He turns towards you, finally getting a chance to look at you up close.

“It’s as if they come from a town where dancing is illegal or something,” you joke, provoking a smile to appear on Steve’s lips. His lips that you now couldn’t stop staring at.

“That would make a great movie.”

“Are you kidding? That would make an excellent movie,” you smile now, seeing Steve break out of his stupor. “Come on,” you get up, holding out your hand for Steve to take. He gives you a look before you continue. “Let’s show ‘em how to dance,” Steve rises to his feet, gently taking your hand as you pull him towards the dance floor.

The two of you dance circles around the other kids, clearly enjoying yourself way more than all the others. You’re having so much fun with Steve that you completely miss the death stare Brent sends him from across the room. As the night winds down the songs start to slow. When one slow song in particular comes on, Steve grabs your hand and pulls you close. You sway back and forth, enough room between you for the chaperones to not intervene, but not enough for you to not feel the heat radiating off of him. 

“Your hands are warm, Stevie,” a confused smile etches itself onto Steve’s lips, leaving you to scramble for words. “It’s not a bad thing. I mean all of you is warm. You’re always warm,” you feel heat rush to your face and your eyes dart around the room, landing anywhere but Steve.

“Thank you, I think,” he laughs at you now and you can’t help but join. “It’s a good thing that I’m always warm because you are always cold. You need someone to warm you up,” the smile still lingers on his lips, and you can’t help but look at them. Overcome with the closeness of the moment, you take a leap and say something bold.

“What if I said my lips were cold?” you ask, hearing Steve’s breath hitch despite the loud music.

“I guess I would have to warm them up for you,” Steve shakily breathes out, eyes shifting over you. He leans in slowly and you do too. When your lips collide it’s soft, softer than you envisioned it. And as much of a joke it had been, Steve’s lips really were warm. You find yourself lost in the feel of Steve’s mouth on yours, not wanting to ever pull away, until you hear a throat clear behind you. One of the chaperones stands behind you, clearly embarrassed to witness your kiss with Steve.

“Three inch minimum please,” the woman speaks authoritatively before turning on her heel and walking back to the side of the gym. You turn to Steve again and find him already cracking up. It doesn't take much for you to join him.

When the air settles around you and the sun starts to fall behind the trees, Max stands on shaky legs, heading back to the car. No one is in the mood to talk anymore. Even Dustin keeps his mouth shut. The only thing you hear besides the car engine is the faint sound of Kate Bush’s voice coming from Max’s headphones. 

Back at the Wheeler’s basement, Steve falls into an armchair, curling into himself and falling asleep as you sit on the floor beneath him. Nancy and Robin arrive shortly after, reading the room and quietly joining the silence. After a brief conversation about setting up shifts to watch over Max, you find your eyelids growing heavy. You lean back into the space by Steve’s legs, catching a glimpse of Robin and Nancy’s shared look at the sight. Too tired to care, you let your head lull to the side as sleep washes over you. 

Nancy’s hushed words spoken into the walkie talkie wake you a few hours later. The warmth radiating from your shoulder pulls your attention from her. Steve’s leg is pressed up against your right side and it seems as though you’d fallen asleep against it. Sitting up properly now, you shift away from Steve, caught off guard when Nancy shakes Dustin awake next to you, frantically asking about Max. Pushing yourself to your feet you quickly follow them upstairs, finding Max at the table with Holly.

With a mumble about a shower, you head upstairs making a beeline for the linen closet, and pull out a towel. You head to Nancy’s room, finding the toothbrush you left there last time you stayed over and setting it with your towel on the bed. Just as you lift your sweater over your head, Nancy’s door swings open, making you scramble to cover your chest with your arms. Steve stands in the doorway, mouth hanging open in surprise as his eyes stay glued to your chest.

“Steve, what the hell?” you shout, knocking him out of his trance.

“Shit, right. Sorry,” he blurts out, averting his eyes to the ceiling. You quickly shove your sweater back on while he continues. “Max and Nance found something so we’re leaving,” he glances back at you now that your shirt is back on.

“Found what?”

Getting out of the car you find yourself staring up at Victor Creel’s creepy ass house. Breaking in was easy, fighting the chill that runs down your spine as you walk in was not. After a look around, you break off into groups, quickly following Robin and Nancy to avoid being paired with Steve. You can hear his displeasure in being partnered with Dustin again from his voice echoing up the stairs. Exploring the house sets your nerves on edge and it’s only amplified when Steve bursts through a door beside you, running into you and mumbling something about a spider before pulling the door shut. A giggle rises in your chest when you catch sight of the array of spiderwebs littering Steve’s hair.

“You got something,” Steve quickly turns his back to you, angling his head to grant you better access to his hair. Robin and Nancy walk past you reaching to grab a spider web from Steve’s locks. They both shoot you a look while Steve tries to brush off the comment Robin makes about spider eggs.

“So, you two are like friends now?” you hum in agreement. “That’s cool, that’s cool. Maybe when this is all over Robin will finally wear you down enough to let me explain what happened,” you stiffen behind him, plucking the last spider web from his hair. Steve turns to face you, clearly a little disappointed at you shutting down at the mention of your shared past. He’s about to say something when you hear Max and Lucas call for you all downstairs.

Standing in a half circle, everyone watches the lights flicker, making the connection that Vecna must be in the house. Splitting up again you spread out trying to find where he’s moved on to next. Robin finds Vecna first but it’s Steve who’s flashlight leads you all the way upstairs to the attic. The flashlights start to pulse and shatter with intensity, scaring the shit out of everyone. Shaken and scared, you all file back into Nancy’s car heading off to finally shower and get some sleep.

In the morning Nancy drives you to your house to get some clean clothes since your car is still over parked at Reefer Rick’s house. After a quick shower the two of you head back to her house where the others are waiting. When it’s time to pile back in the car to deliver Eddie more groceries and bad news, Nancy stops you from getting in the front seat. She points to the trunk where Steve was already getting in, trying not to make it obvious that he was watching you. With a sag of your shoulders and a dramatic eye roll, you climb into the trunk with Steve, making a point to keep as far from him as possible in such a tight space. You swear you see Nancy smile to herself through the rear view mirror. Best friend my ass. 

Robin does what she does best and rambles on about all the bad news to tell Eddie, doing a bit to distract you from how Steve’s eyes haven’t left you once. Noticing that Nancy has started to slow down, you peer through the windows, seeing the news vans and cop cars. The group hops out, hearing enough of Powell’s speech to know Vecna claimed another victim and Eddie's name was released to the public as the prime suspect. Just then Eddie’s voice cracks through the static of the walkie talkie, telling you all to meet him at Skull Rock.

Back in the car your thoughts race over Eddie. Poor Eddie who’s now witnessed two of Vecna’s murders all while being chased by the police. You can’t help but shift restlessly in the trunk and it’s sure as hell doesn’t help that Steve’s leg keeps brushing against yours. Overcome by anxiety you lean up a bit to look at Nancy through the rear view mirror again.

“Nance, can you maybe drive a little-” your sentence gets cut off as Nancy takes a sharp left turn towards the woods, throwing you into Steve’s lap. Your head hits the window and you let out a moan as your hand shoots up to cradle it. “Faster,” you finish, slowly realizing you’re now practically laying on top of Steve. His eyes are blown wide looking up at you with a hint of lust and recognition. It’s then that the memory resurfaces, making you want to curse under your breath and scramble back up.

After the kiss at the Snowball, everything seemingly went back to normal. Neither you nor Steve were brave enough to bring it up, meaning that you continued to push down your feelings and stay friends. Now you sat on his bed, reading a book while he paced around the room.

“I still can’t believe you wouldn’t let me see you on your sixteenth birthday,” he huffs, stopping at the edge of the bed to glare down at you. You groan, placing an old receipt in between the book’s pages and closing it in your lap.

“I told you Stevie, Mrs. Byers planned out a whole thing and you don’t like Jonathan so I figured you and I could just hang out another day,” Steve, who had returned to his angry pacing, stopped again.

“I don’t dislike Jonathan,” he defends and you let out a laugh. “He just spends a lot of time with you. Time that you could be spending with me,” you roll your eyes at that, about ready to pick up your book and go back to reading before Steve starts talking again. “Why would Mrs. Byers even plan out stuff for your birthday?”

“Because I’m extremely likable ,” you shoot Steve a cheesy grin and he fake laughs in response. “And I’m pretty sure she felt bad since my parents forgot. She just wanted me to enjoy my birthday,” Steve’s face changes at your words. His eyebrows furrow, eyes growing wide and glassy while his lips part. He takes a seat next to you on his bed, offering you his hand, which you gladly accept.

“Your parents forgot your birthday?” his voice is soft and unbelieving. That’s something he’d expect from his parents, not yours. You nod slowly, feeling a burn in your throat.

“I mean, it’s not their fault really. Dad is working crazy hours to try and pay off mom’s medical bills. I don’t think he knows what day it is normally, let alone on my birthday. And with mom-” your throat clogs a bit, trying not to cry as you cast your gaze down at your lap. “With mom we’re just lucky enough if she remembers to put clothes on in the morning. I didn’t really expect her to remember,” you finally look back up at Steve, his hand reaching up to brush a stray tear from your cheek.

“Honey, I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize your mom was getting that bad,” you nod again, not trusting your words. A moment of quiet stretches between the two of you. The feeling of warmth from Steve’s hand comforting you as much as his presence. “You know what?” he stands up slowly pulling his hand from yours. “You’re right, it’s probably a good thing I didn’t come to the Byer’s for your birthday. You probably would’ve spent too much time doing stuff with Jonathan and I would’ve gotten jealous. I mean boring stuff too, like reading,” he reached forward grabbing your book from your lap.

“Stevie! Reading is not boring! Give that back,” you shift onto your knees, trying to get the book from Steve’s grasp. He jumps off the bed, standing just by the side opposite you and waves the book in the air. In a split-second decision, you leap from your spot, tackling Steve onto the ground where he still manages to hold the book out of your reach. Steve flips you over so you’re pinned beneath him as you continue to flail for your book.

A smirk graces his face at the sound of your giggles. He has you caged in with his limbs and despite your squirming, it’s impossible to escape. You try to move up and get the book but you stop at the feeling of your hips brushing against Steve’s. He stops too, stunned into paralysis as the book drops from his hand above you. You lock eyes with Steve, feeling your face heat up, completely forgetting the now abandoned book. As you go to stutter out an apology, Steve mimics your action, grinding his hips into yours slowly. You can feel that he’s already hard after one or two brushes against each other. A gasp escapes your lips and you close your eyes in pleasure.

“Tell me to stop,” he breaths out above you, clearly feeling as good as you are. Steve looks down at you and you peel your eyes open to meet his.

“I don’t want you to stop, Stevie,” he smiles, continuing the motion as the two of you grind against each other, fully clothed on the floor of his room. You both let out moans and gasps as Steve steadies his pace. “Faster. Please, Stevie,” Steve’s heart pounds as he picks up the pace for a few more strokes. 

“Shit, fuck,” he breaths out, quickly standing up and bolting towards the bathroom. You lay confused on the floor, still breathing heavily as you turn your head to look over at the bathroom attached to Steve’s room. Scrambling to your feet, you make your way over to the door, giving it a soft knock.

“Stevie, are you ok?” you’re met by silence when it finally clicks into place. “Shit, did you just-” the door swings open, revealing Steve wearing a new pair of sweatpants while his other pair sits crumpled up in a corner.

“Yeah,” his voice is still breathy and his face is flushed. “It was the way you said it that tipped me over the edge,” he takes you in, with your messy hair and heaving chest.

“Said what?” you ask, confusion overtaking your expression.

“Faster.”

“Shit, are you two ok back there?” Nancy’s question hangs in the air and you can hear all the others turning around to see you still laying on top of Steve. You quickly move up, retreating back to your side of the trunk as your face burns with embarrassment.

“We’re fine, Nance,” you call back, avoiding all eye contact with Steve, who can’t seem to tear his gaze from you now. After another minute or two Nancy stops the car and you waste no time in getting out. You try to ignore the sight of Steve’s deflating shoulders as you scramble as far away from him as you can. Moving deep into the woods, you hear Dustin pick a fight with Steve over which direction leads to Skull Rock. 

“You do realize that Skull Rock is like a super popular make out spot, right?” you trail a bit further behind the two of them with Nancy and Robin beside you.

“Yeah, so what?” 

“Yeah well it wasn’t popular until I made it popular,” Steve says, making you roll your eyes in response. You’re more than familiar with the rumors that spread throughout the school of King Steve taking girls up to Skull Rock. The rumors only started after you stopped talking to Steve and they only made you hurt more. Steve leads the way, much to Dustin’s dismay, and shortly after you all arrive at Skull Rock. There’s no sign of Eddie until Steve says something about Dustin being a butthead.

“I concur, you, Dustin Henderson, are a total butthead,” Eddie jumps down from a nearby rock, and you all turn to look at him. He hugs Dustin first before his eyes fall onto you. Eddie practically sprints towards you, wrapping his arms around you and spinning you into the air. A laugh escapes you when he sets you down, leaning in to give you a quick kiss.

“I’m glad you’re ok. Sorry it took us so long to get back to you,” your arms fall from around his neck, trailing down towards his hands.

“Don’t worry Honey, you’re here now and that’s enough for me,” Eddie pulls you back in for another kiss and you hear a throat clear behind you. Dustin stands watching you both with a face of disgust, while Steve tries to pretend he didn’t see anything. It doesn’t take a 20/20 vision to see the angry red splotches on Steve’s skin and the slight glassiness in his eyes.

Eddie dives into the bags of junk food Nancy hands him and starts to explain the previous night’s events. You can’t help but notice Dustin’s incessant pacing behind you. Nancy connects the dots between the lights in the Creel House and Vecna’s attack on Patrick when Dustin starts shouting and rambling on about magnets and a gate. He leaves it up to Eddie who, after a Lord of the Rings reference, agrees to start the search for the gate to the Upside Down.

Eddie has his arm wrapped around your shoulder the entire trip through the woods, whispering dirty words in your ear to make you giggle. The sun fully sets by the time you reach Lover’s Lake and Dustin’s compass goes crazy. Nancy determines that Vecna must leave an opening behind from his attacks, similarly to the demogorgon. Eddie and Steve pull the hidden boat over, helping Robin in before Eddie hops in offering Nancy a hand. You step over the motor, stumbling a bit and Steve grabs your back to steady you. Eddie eyes him wearily as you mutter a thanks and take a seat next to Nance. Eddie stops Dustin from getting in the boat, which doesn’t stop the flood of protests before Dustin eventually hands over his compass.

“Sorry,” Steve shrugs towards Dustin, pushing the boat away from the shore and settling in next to you. Robin and Eddie paddle out towards the middle of the lake when the compass starts to go crazy. They slow to a stop as you all peer over the edge of the boat. The kids radio out and Robin updates them while Steve starts to strip off his socks, determined to be the one that dives down. After a small fight you all give in and Steve stands, taking off his shirt. An audible gasp escapes your lips at the sight of shirtless Steve and all but Steve’s head turns your way. It’s almost too dark to see the shared smirk Robin and Nancy shoot each other, but you still notice. Eddie tosses Steve a flashlight before he dives down and Nancy counts the seconds on her watch. 

After what feels like way too long, a breathless Steve pops up grabbing the side of the boat. He rushes out words of a snack size gate as something tugs him down for a second. He grips the boat harder, sparing one last look your way before he gets pulled under. With a shout of his name, you leap in after him, pushing through the water as fast as you can until you find the glowing gate. You break through, adjusting to the dim light of the Upside Down while you look for Steve. He’s a few yards away, being attacked by a bunch of bats. You pick up an oar from the boat on the ground when you see Nancy, Robin and Eddie appear from the gate as well. Wasting no time, you swing the oar as hard as you can, taking out a bat at Steve’s side.

“Hey Stevie,” you say breathlessly, before swinging the oar again to smack another bat out of the way. Nancy, Robin and Eddie all attack the bats around you with whatever they can find as well. Eventually Steve is able to get up, tearing the bat from around his neck with his teeth. He spits out blood before meeting your eyes again, and for something that shouldn’t be hot, that was really fucking hot. Nancy starts for the woods when the bats start to swarm the gate and the rest of you follow. 

Huddling under Skull Rock, Steve starts to sway, tripping into the side of it. You reach your hands up to balance him and he tries to brush you off, claiming he’s fine despite the blood loss. You set him down and remove your flannel, leaving you in just your tank top and overalls. Robin rambles to Steve about rabies as you rip the worn fabric and tie it tightly around his waist, covering the bat bites. He stares down at you, chest heaving and eyes wide.

“Too tight?” you ask, trying not to sound as nervous as you feel to be this close to Steve.

“No it’s perfect, thanks,” he sends you a soft smile that you can’t help but reciprocate. You help him stand as Eddie and Robin throw questions at the rest of you about the Upside Down and how it works. Nancy comes to a quick conclusion that you all need to go to her house, retrieve guns, and kill the bats to get back home. Steve takes a step closer to you, reaching over to wipe some blood from the bat fight from your face. You freeze, wide eyes looking up at him as your breath hitches in your chest. The moment is interrupted by Eddie launching his denim vest at Steve’s face mumbling something about modesty. 

The ground starts to shake beneath your feet and Eddie tries to lunge toward you but Steve wraps his arms around you first, pulling your back flush against his chest. Steve backs into the rock behind him, holding it for support until the shaking subsides. The echo of the bats rattles through the air, reinforcing the idea of needing guns. Steve slowly retracts his arm from around you, letting you move away from him. Despite the distance you’ve purposefully created between the two of you for the past three years, you find yourself not wanting to pull away from him. You feel safe in his arms. The way you once did. The way you always did. You catch Eddie’s eyes on you and Steve before he quickly redirects them away.

“What are we waiting for?” Steve says, bringing out the flashlight from before and clicking it on. The rest of you follow him as he leads the way through the woods to Nancy’s house. As you all keep walking, Steve ends up falling into step with Eddie a little ways behind you, Nancy, and Robin. You can’t hear them from how far away you are, but it’s nearly eating you alive wanting to know what they’re discussing.

“What do you think they’re talking about back there?” you break through the silence the three of you created. Nancy and Robin quickly glimpse back at the boys then turn their attention back to you.

“You. Definitely you,” Nancy replies with a small smirk on her lips. 

“Oh shut up,” you give her a playful shove and she giggles.

“I’m serious though. I mean they only have two things in common. Their love for Dustin and their love for you,” you stumble over your own foot at Nancy’s words, making Robin laugh. You shoot her a glare before Nancy goes on. “And since Dustin’s not here I think it’s safe to say they’re all about you at the moment. They’re both clearly jealous of each other,” you open your mouth to argue that Eddie’s not the jealous type but Robin interrupts first.

“Seriously, Steve looked like a kicked puppy when Eddie kissed you earlier and the way Eddie threw his vest at Steve definitely had something angsty behind it,” your gaze trails over to the boys behind you, taking in the sight of Steve and Eddie’s faces while they talk animatedly back and forth. They stop walking for a minute and the ground begins to shake again. The force of the earthquake slams you into a tree, knocking you on the ground. Nancy takes off before the shaking stops, heading for the edge of the tree line where she can see her house. Eddie hooks his arms under yours, pulling you up from behind and the rest of you take off after her.

The Wheeler house, a place you’d been to a million times, looks frighteningly different, covered in vines and in such low light. Nancy rushes upstairs, followed by Robin, Eddie, and Steve in front of you. Steve stops halfway, turning his head towards the dining room, catching your attention too. You and Steve share a look, hearing Dustin’s voice echo from that direction and run back down the stairs. Steve calls out to him, progressively getting louder with each try. The others hurry downstairs and you try to explain while Steve continues shouting for Dustin like a crazy person. Nancy brings up Will and the lights, fiddling with light switches that won’t work.

“Guys,” everyone turns towards you as you point at the now shimmering chandelier. They gather around while you stick your hand into the shimmering air, igniting the air around it in a soft light. The others join in, feeling the tingling sensation that it brings when you touch the light. 

“Does anyone know Morse code?” Nancy’s question is met with a chorus of no’s until Eddie shifts to look at her. 

“Wait, does S.O.S. count?” you all turn towards Eddie, hopeful for the first time since you dove after Steve into Lover’s Lake. It only takes a minute or two for Dustin, Lucas, and Erica to notice your signal for help. Talking back and forth on Holly’s Lite-Brite, you all come up with a plan to meet at Eddie’s trailer where there will hopefully be another gate. The five of you rush outside, grabbing the bikes from the Wheeler’s garage. 

“Wait, there’s only four,” you point out, everyone hopping on a bike but you. Steve turns to look at the back wheel of his bike, noticing that his bike belonged to Mike. 

“Mine’s got pegs on the back that you can stand on. Hop on,” he motions you over and your desire to get out of the Upside Down overrides your reluctance to be near Steve. Putting one foot on the first peg, you grab Steve’s shoulders for support, lifting the other foot next. “Hold on tight, ok?” you nod and Steve lifts his feet from the ground to start pedaling as the others follow. You wrap your arms around Steve’s torso, doing your best to avoid the bat bites on his abdomen. Even bloody and shirtless in the Upside Down, Steve still radiates warmth, keeping you comfortable now that you don’t have your flannel to wear. 

Steve’s out of breath by the time you get to Eddie’s trailer, coming to a quick stop in the grass. He helps you off and drops the bike down, following closely behind as you burst through the door. The gate is bright and red as something starts moving beneath it. Suddenly, whatever it is bursts through causing you to jump back, right into Steve’s arms. He moves you behind him, slowly approaching the hole that now covers most of the ceiling. You inch up behind him with Nancy at your side. Dustin’s hat is the first thing you see, making you burst into a bright smile at the sight. You notice the others share a similar look of relief.

The kids bring out Eddie’s stained mattress and you can’t help but catch Eddie’s embarrassed glance your way, knowing that you’re both very aware of how some of those stains got there. Dustin throws a rope made of tied bed sheets through the gate, finding that it defies all laws of physics and holds in place. Robin goes first, falling onto the mattress below. Eddie looks around at you, Steve, and Nancy before moving to go up next. He flops down, being pulled up by the kids. Nancy’s about to go next when she freezes up next to you. You and Steve share a look before looking back at her, seeing foggy eyes and a blank expression.

“Nancy?” you place your hands on her shoulders, trying to  shake her awake. “Nancy, come on, wake up. Nancy!” you shout panicked with Steve next to you, looking equally worried. The others start scrambling, trying to find a cassette tape in Eddie’s trailer that has a song on it that Nancy would actually know. Suddenly, Nancy gasps awake, and you pull her into your arms as her legs give out beneath her. “We’re right here, Nance. You’re ok now. It’s ok,” tears spill from her eyes and you pull her into a tight hug. When she calms down enough to climb through the gate, you help, giving her a boost from below. You go next, catching Steve staring at your ass from the corner of your eye as you climb the rope. 

Once you’re all back right side up, everyone sneaks over to Max’s trailer, not wanting to stay so close to the gate. Nancy heads for the bathroom, needing a minute alone to pull herself together after being trapped in Vecna’s mind prison. Eddie grabs your hand asking Max if he can use her room for a minute.

“As long as you don’t do anything gross in there,” she gives him a glare and he responds with a fake gasp, hand shooting to his chest. 

“When have I ever done anything gross?” Eddie asks in mock offense.

“I mean look at your mattress for one-” Max begins but you cut her off with a promise that nothing will happen in her room. Eddie pulls you in, careful not to touch anything considering how you’re both covered in goo from the Upside Down. He looks nervous, fiddling with his hands as he looks up at you. You are about to speak up and break the silence when he starts.

“No, no. I talk, you listen. Ok?” you nod, meeting his gaze. “When we started hooking up, that was all we intended for it to be. Then we became friends and started hanging out even when we weren’t looking to hook up,” he pauses, searching for the right words.

“Eds,” you begin, but he holds up a hand to silence you.

“Honey, I’m not one for relationships, you know that. And I’m also not one to get in the way of one,” you’re thrown off. When he started talking, you were sure he was going to ask you to be his girlfriend, but now he’s pulled a total 180. “I don’t know what happened between you and Steve. Hell, I might never know, but I see the way he looks at you. More importantly, I see the way you look at him,” he gets quiet, eyes searching your face and waiting for your impending push back. 

“But I like you, Eds,” you choke out, not realizing that you started crying. He lets out a breathy chuckle, holding your hand in his. Eddie’s hands were always ice cold. You’d always thought it was because of those metal rings he wore, but you could never tell.

“I like you too, Honey. So much,” he breathes out a shaky breath, looking down at his shoes and you notice a tear streak through the dirt caking his face. “But you love him,” he looks back up at you and you swear your heart stops beating. “Do you even realize what you called him earlier?” you shake your head, not following. “Stevie. What you used to call him. Back when you were friends. Back when you-” Eddie stops, slowly dropping your hands. “Go get him. Go be happy again. Then I can be happy for you,” he gently cups your cheeks, pulling your head forward to press a kiss to your forehead before leaving you alone, standing in the middle of Max’s room. 

After taking a minute to pull yourself together and wipe the tear streaks from your cheeks, you step back into Max’s living room. All eyes land on you as you settle on the floor next to Robin. She notices your red rimmed eyes and places a comforting hand on your knee. Letting out a breath, you lay your head on her shoulder and she gladly lets you. Nancy emerges from the bathroom. Sitting in a chair that gives you all a good view of her. She describes what Venca showed her, putting two and two together to realize that Vecna is only one person away from fulfilling his master plan. 

Max tries to call the Byer’s, but she’s met with a busy signal again. Nancy becomes hell bent on going back in and killing Vecna, and after a rambling of protests all around Max speaks up, offering herself as the bait. Your heart breaks, realizing how much she’s grown in the time you’ve known her. She’s different now, you all are, but she’s taken more hits than some of the rest of you. Reluctantly, you all agree, forming a plan to get weapons and take down Vecna. Eddie hot-wires his neighbor's camper, throwing Steve into the front seat to drive. Nancy rushes into the seat next to him while the rest of you hold on to anything you can find. You get thrown onto the bench in the back, falling in between Max and Dustin as Steve maneuvers out of the trailer park in the direction of the War Zone. The road stretches and the boys in the back keep a steady conversation.

“I wish Will were here. He’d be able to spy on Vecna for us and make this a million times easier,” Dustin says looking at the trees passing by out the window. 

“I’m glad he’s not here. Poor kid has already been through enough. He doesn’t need to go through this shit too,” you speak quietly, looking up from your hands in your lap to find Lucas, Dustin, and Max staring back at you. “We could use Mike though. One conversation with his sassy ass and Vecna would be ready to abandon Hawkins for good,” a smile creeps onto Max’s lips, knowing her distaste for Mike’s attitude. 

“What would you know about Mike being sassy? He’s hasn’t been rude to you ever since he developed a crush on you back in third grade,” Dustin chimes in, causing your eyebrows to shoot up to your hairline.

“Wha- so just because he’s not here you’re gonna spill all his secrets? Some friend you are,” you joke, still freaked out by the idea of a young Mike Wheeler crushing on you. 

“No, I’d tell you if he were here too. Like this,” he stops talking, eyeing Lucas across the aisle. “Lucas has had a crush on you since second grade,” Dustin receives a pillow to the face thrown by Lucas.

“Dustin’s liked you since fourth grade. Ever since you started helping Will draw out our D&D characters,” Lucas smirks back at Dustin until Dustin tackles him to the floor. You look over at Max who is laughing at the two wrestling each other. Getting up, you move to the front, hanging over the back of Nancy’s seat.

“What are they doing back there?” Steve asks, looking in the rear-view mirror to see Dustin and Lucas still rolling around on the ground.

“Dustin told me that Lucas likes me, then Lucas told me Dustin likes me and now they’re fighting I guess,” you gesture over your shoulder and Nancy turns to see what you’re talking about.

“That’s weird, I’m pretty sure Mike has a thing for you too,” Nancy says, shifting back in her seat to look up at you.

“Seems like you’ve got some competition there little Stevie,” Robin calls out from her seat behind you and Steve’s face turns beat red. The War Zone appears on the right much to Steve’s luck, effectively ending the conversation. Nancy decides that you, her, Steve, Robin, Erica, and Max should all go in to pick out weapons. You file out of the camper and through the glass doors, overwhelmed by the amount of people crowding the aisles. You beeline for the crossbow section, filling a cart with a new crossbow and as many arrows as you can get your hands on. Robin runs past you as you fill your cart, Steve trying to catch up to her. 

“Is she ok?” you ask when she runs through the doors leading outside and he gives up chasing her. 

“She’ll be alright. Just saw someone she knows,” he reassures you, looking at the stuff you’ve piled into your shopping cart. You look up, eyes scanning the room to see what else you need when you spot a familiar face. 

“That makes two of us,” Steve glances towards you, finding your eyes wide. He turns to see who you’ve spotted but you grab and turn him towards you, trying not to pull the person’s attention your way. “Brent Majors,” you whisper and Steve stares at you in shock.

“No way. That asshole’s here?” you nod, glancing back over in Brent’s direction. Just then Brent’s eyes shoot up, locking with yours.

“Shit,” you try to duck behind Steve, but Brent still sees you and starts heading your way. Panicked, you pull Steve closer. “Kiss me,” you plead, Steve freezes in your grasp.

“What?” 

“Brent’s coming over here. He’s always been jealous of you, especially after the Snowball, and maybe if you kiss me he’ll get the idea and-” Steve cuts you off, slamming his lips to yours. It’s better than you remember. Warm lips encasing yours as his chest presses flush against you. Hands trailing down your sides until they find your lower back, pulling you as close as physically possible. You don’t want to pull away, but you’re also painfully aware that you’re now making out with Steve Harrington in a weapon supply store at what very well might be the end of the world. Your hands gently push his chest back when you hear a throat clear beside you. Erica stands next to you with a small look of panic on her face and Brent Majors is nowhere to be found.

“We gotta go,” she gestures over her shoulder to Jason and his basketball goons rifling through the shelves. You nod, quickly pushing your cart over to the checkout area and getting out of the store as quickly as possible with Steve following behind. Steve bursts through the camper doors helping you throw everything you bought inside and making sure everyone else is back and seated before driving off. You end up parked in a field, all the others split off into groups as you stand alone near the trees, testing out the crossbow. Aiming for the tree branches, you shoot over and over, hitting them perfectly almost every time. Your mind keeps trailing back to Steve. The feel of his lips on yours, all the soft touches from the last few days, what Eddie said earlier. Giving in to your racing thoughts, you head over towards the camper where Steve sits with Robin making Molotov cocktails.

“Can I talk to you?” you ask, Steve’s head shooting up to look at you. He nods right away, turning back to Robin.

“You’ll be alright doing this by yourself, right?” Robin nods and Steve stands, opening the door to the camper for you to step inside. He follows behind you, closing the door and sitting next to you on the bench in the back. You close the curtains, shielding the bright sun from your eyes. “Look, I know that you’re mad about everything and you have every right to be, but please let me explain,” he starts, careful to put some space between you.

“No. Not yet. I have to tell you something first,” you look at him, his soft caramel eyes searching over you.

“Ok, tell me,” he says, nodding his head. So, you do.

After the incident on the floor, something had changed between you and Steve. You weren’t quite dating, or at least no one had explicitly said so, but you also were definitely more than friends. No one really knew what was going on between the two of you, but you sort of liked it that way. It was almost as if it was just you and Steve in your own little world. He had his head resting in your lap, letting you lazily trace your fingers through his hair. There were only two more weeks left before the summer, not that you could tell based on the weather. It was too hot outside to do anything. Even the thought of walking the few feet between Steve’s house and the pool in his backyard made you sweat. So you stayed inside, enjoying the A/C and lounging around. Steve had fallen asleep about ten minutes ago, looking so peaceful and calm in your lap. You lean down, placing a small kiss to his lips, making his eyes shoot open.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake-” you’re cut off by Steve pulling you down for another kiss. This one is deeper, more passionate than the peck you initially gave him. Steve shifts beneath you, sitting up and pulling you to straddle his lap. His kisses are warm and fiery, lighting a heat in you that only his touch could bring. Steve tugs on your shirt and without a second thought you lift it up over your head, revealing your bare chest. His eyes widen at the sight and his shirt comes off next, joining yours where it now lays on the floor. You grind into his lap, chasing the same feeling you had that day on the floor.

“Stevie,” you whimper, his hips snapping up to meet yours. His eyes swim with lust and love, finally about to feel you in a way he’s wanted to for so long. 

“Baby, Honey, I’ve wanted to do this for so long,” his words come out in breathy moans beneath you. Steve’s fingers coming up to play with your nipples. “I don’t wanna rush though. Wanna take my time with you,” he continues thrusting against you and you let out a loud moan.

“I know Stevie, but I need you. Need you so bad right now,” Steve stops grinding up into you, so unbelievably turned on. You sit up, removing your shorts and panties, allowing Steve to do the same. Now you sit, completely naked on your best friend’s lap. A small giggle escapes your lips at the thought, a giggle that Steve returns, feeling the exact same way as you. He pulls you closer to him, cutting off the giggles with his lips against yours. His fingers reach down to your entrance, teasing around the outside before gently dipping in. A gasping moan pulls from your chest as Steve pumps his fingers in and out of you a few times. 

“You’re so wet for me already, baby,” his lips latch onto your neck, relishing in the sound of your moans.

“Stevie, feels so good, but I need you in me,” Steve nods, slipping his fingers from you and taking them in his mouth to suck your juices off. He groans at the taste, popping them from his mouth and lining himself up with your entrance. Steve enters you slowly, sinking you down onto him as you wrap your arms around his neck and press your chest to his. You both moan as he bottoms out, wasting little time before Steve starts to pound into you from below. 

“It’s like you were made for me, fuck,” Steve moans out and you clench around him. He increases his speed, thrusts getting sloppier, but you couldn’t care less. You’re on the edge of your orgasm, about ready to tip over. “Fuck, I love you, Honey,” Steve rushes out, giving one last hard thrust before spilling himself into you. The combo of Steve’s orgasm and his words pushes you to the edge, letting out a gasp of Steve’s name as he pulls you back a little from where you cling to his chest. His eyes watch you as you reach your peak. A whole range of emotions rush through him at the sight, but mainly lust and love.

“I love you too, Stevie,” you finally say when you’ve come down from your high. He pulls you back into him, wrapping you in a tight hug before leaning back to give you a bruising kiss. He’s still buried deep inside you as he dips his head, littering your chest with hickies. You laugh through your moans, pulling him back up after a few bruises bloom in order to kiss his soft lips again. Eventually, Steve lifts you off of him and you whine at the emptiness. He lays you on his bed about to get up to grab a washcloth to clean you up when he stops. He grabs his Polaroid camera from his nightstand, holding it up to you in a question. You give him a nod and he kneels over you on the bed, taking a picture of you in your fucked out state. Your chest littered with hickies, hair a wild mess, and legs spread out with Steve’s cum leaking from between them.

“I’m so saving this for later when you're gone,” he says, shaking the photo when it pops out from the camera.

“You gonna keep it with your stack of Playboys?” You ask teasingly and he’s taken aback.

“What Playboys?” 

“The ones under your mattress,” you pause, leaning up with your elbows. “You know, there’s the one with the picture of a girl in it that kinda looks like me? That page is super sticky by the way, you might want to get a new one,” Steve laughs at you, leaning down to press his body back onto yours.

“I’ve got my new one right here,” he waved the photo over you, leaning in to give you a peck on the lips. 

“So romantic,” you respond through his lips, smiling as he gives you kiss after kiss before hopping up to go towards the bathroom. 

About a week and a half later there were only three days left before the end of the school year. Pushing through the school’s front entrance, you immediately spot Steve at his locker with Tommy and Carol. You were never a big fan of either of them but got along with them fine enough for Steve’s sake. 

“Hey Stevie,” you say, joining them at his locker. His eyes soften when he sees you and he wants nothing more than to kiss you, but he knows Tommy and Carol would tease him for it, so he doesn’t. 

“Hey Honey, was just thinking about you,” Tommy wears a shit eating grin as he speaks and you know that it can’t mean anything good. 

“Really? What a coincidence then,” you reply, trying to get out of this conversation as quickly as possible. It’s then that you see Steve looking at Tommy as inquisitively as you feel.

“Well you see, ever since I saw this little number it’s been hard not to think of you,” Tommy holds up a Polaroid picture in his hand and you don’t even have to look at it to know what the picture is of. You reach out, grabbing the photo as quickly as you can, looking around to make sure no one else saw. “You finally came through, King Steve. After years of talking about getting her in the sack, you finally did. Kinda sucks for her though, seems like she’s developed some feelings for you,” Tommy lifts his hand for a high five and Carol belts out her witch cackle beside him. You back away, tears springing in your eyes when Steve turns to you.

“Honey, I didn’t-” Steve begins, but you don’t hear the rest. You take off down the hall and out the doors, running directly into Jonathan. 

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Jonathan asks, seeing the tears in your eyes. You choke out a sob asking him to take you home. Jonathan’s car is pulling out of the school parking lot when you see Steve burst through the front doors, Tommy and Carol snickering behind him. Jonathan pulls up to your house, making you promise to tell him what happened when you feel better before letting you out of the car. You notice your dad’s car is still in the driveway, which confuses you since he should already be at work. Stepping through the door you hear a small sob coming from your parent’s bedroom. Your heart drops, already knowing what you’ve walked into. Fresh tears form in the corners of your eyes when you see your dad laying with his head pressed against your mom’s chest. He hears your footsteps and lifts his head.

“She’s gone, sweetie. In her sleep last night,” your dad sobs out, snot bubbles and tears spilling onto your mother’s nightgown. And that was it. It was too much. Steve and your mom, both gone all at once. After that day you couldn’t think of Steve without thinking of your mom. So, it just became easier to not think of Steve at all. You avoided him, slinking through the shadows at school. Hiding from the hurt that the memories brought you. Insisting on not seeing him again, not even a glimpse, until that night outside the lab when the world nearly ended for the second time.

Steve’s quiet when you stop talking, processing everything all at once. Taking in the information that you’ve had to sit with for nearly three years, while he’s only known it for about a minute now. 

“I didn’t know,” his voice is quiet, attention directed towards his hands in his lap. You’d both inched closer somehow while you had been explaining. “I mean, I knew your mom died, but not until a year and a half later. Not until Nancy told me. And even then, she didn’t tell me that it happened that day,” Steve’s eyes meet yours, tears brim his lashes, clearly feeling guilty in some capacity.

“We didn’t really have a funeral for her. Didn’t post an obituary either. If we did then that would’ve made it real, I guess. Dad and I couldn’t really handle that. So, we had her cremated and kept her name out of the paper,” your voice is quiet, but calm. You’ve grown with time, learned to live with loss no matter how much it still aches from time to time. Steve clears his throat, one tear slipping down his cheek. You wipe it away gently, moving your hand back down to your lap.

“I’m so sorry,” he whispers and you shrug, as if to say ‘it’s not your fault’. “About the photo,” Steve begins, not really sure how to bring it up. “I didn’t give it to Tommy, I swear. I’m pretty sure he found it the weekend before when we had that end of the year party at my house, remember? Him and Carol went up to my room to-” he stops clearly disgusted at the thought. You let out a small laugh at the look on his face, which blooms into a smile at the sound he missed hearing so badly.

“I figured. Well, not at first, but the more I thought about it, the more I knew you never would've done that,” Steve nods, inching the slightest bit closer, hoping you wouldn’t notice. You did.

“And the stuff he said about me that made it sound like I only wanted to sleep with you, that wasn’t true. I loved you, so so much. I still love you, Honey,” he looks worried as the words spill from his lips, but he keeps his gaze locked with yours.

“I figured that out too. I knew you cared too much about me to just want sex and nothing more. We were practically dating at that point anyway,” you stop, knowing Steve was still waiting to see if you’ll say those three little words. Those barriers you’d built up so long ago to keep Steve out, slowly crumbling down. “And I love you too, Stevie,” Steve smiles, at what you said, at your voice, at the nickname, at your cute little overalls, at you. He surges forward, crashing his lips to yours in a kiss that could set off fireworks in the sky, burn down a brand new mall, save a boy from being possessed, fight monsters, and kill an evil wizard from another dimension. It was everything you’ve felt for the last three years and everything else beyond that. Steve pulls back reluctantly, his chest heaving and his hands on your cheeks.

“Eddie,” he breathes out. “You’re with Eddie,” you shake your head and his eyebrows furrow.

“We were just hooking up, but don’t worry, he told me to go for it,” you say, and Steve gives a small nod before pulling you back into another searing kiss. Clothes are stripped in a hurry, Steve’s hand roaming your body. 

“God, I’ve missed you so much,” Steve whimpers, pulling you on top of him, just like before. It’s better than the first time. The two of you are more experienced now since you’ve both slept with other people, but you’re still just as in love, if not more. Steve fits perfectly into you, hitting you just right with every thrust. It doesn’t take long for you to both hit your highs. Coming down in a fit of giggles when a loud knock rattles the door.

“Hey, if you two are done, we’ve got a town to save and a telekinetic to kill,” Robin’s voice filters through the shut door. You share a look with Steve, bursting out into laughter again, getting up to get dressed again. You open the door as Steve sits in the driver's seat. Everyone files in with the weapons and you take the seat across from Steve. He sends you a wink before he takes off, driving away from the field. Max, Lucas, and Erica get dropped off at the Creel house first and Steve continues driving until you get to the woods next to the trailer park. You all go over the plan again, leaving the camper to enter Eddie’s trailer and go into the Upside Down the same way you came out of it no more than 24 hours before. Once you’re all through the gate, everyone goes outside the trailer and Steve stops, giving you, Dustin, and Eddie a lecture about not being heroes. He pulls you to the side so the others can’t hear.

“I still don’t feel good about you staying behind. You should come with us, these two can handle themselves,” Steve looks worried at the prospect of leaving you.

“Are you kidding? They need all the help they can get,” you say, hearing a soft ‘hey’ from Dustin. Ok, so maybe they’re not quite out of earshot.

“It’s just, I just got you back. I don’t want to lose you again.”

“You won’t, Stevie. I promise,” you pull him in by his shirt, kissing him passionately. A few wolf whistles sound off beside you, but you couldn’t care less, flipping them off before you pull away. “Good luck,” you push him back towards Robin and Nancy, the goofy smile on his face from your kiss slowly returning to his more serious expression from before. 

“Make him pay,” Eddie calls out to Steve, who nods in return, giving you one last look and setting off towards the Creel house. You, Dustin, and Eddie make quick work of boarding up the trailer and setting up Eddie’s amp. Eddie starts playing Master of Puppets by Metallica, a song he hasn’t shut up about since it first came out. Eddie’s killing it as you and Dustin both listen along, keeping an eye out for the bats. When they’re close enough, the three of you barricade yourselves in the trailer. It seems to work at first but they start to break through. Dustin jumps through the gate and you’re about to as well when Eddie takes off muttering something about buying more time. 

“Eddie!” you shout following after him as he bursts through the front door, grabbing a bike and peddling away quickly, drawing the bats away from the trailer. You take the crossbow from your back, unloading arrow after arrow into the bats swarming around him. Dustin pops up behind you, swinging his staff at the bats surrounding the two of you, protecting you both while you protect Eddie. A bat knocks Eddie off his bike and others start to swarm around him. You and Dustin creep forward as Eddie stops running away and tries to defend himself. Eddie gets pelted to the ground, a bat taking a bite out of his side before you can shoot it. You take out the others that swarm around Eddie as he keeps trying to smack them away. Suddenly in some kind of miracle they all drop to the ground. Dustin sprints over to Eddie with you close on his heels. He’s still sprawled out on the ground, but not bleeding too badly. 

“I’d offer you my flannel to cover that up, but Stevie beat you to it,” you offer him a hand to sit up which he gladly accepts, placing a hand over the wound with a slight wince.

“It’s not too bad, could be way worse,” he removes his bandanna from his head, pressing it to the wound and standing all the way up. “Is it too late for me to take back what I said about you and Harrington earlier? The sight of you with the crossbow has me all hot and bothered,” you give him a light shove as Dustin gags from beside you.

“Shut up, Munson,” the boys are about to follow you back over the trailer when the ground starts to shake. They both grab onto you, trying not to fall as the ground cracks open, right through the trailer. From then on it’s all a blur. Between Steve, Robin, and Nancy meeting up with you, explaining what happened with Vecna, going back through the gate that now stretched across town, getting Max to the hospital, and finding a better hiding spot for a now patched up Eddie, it all floods together. It isn’t until two days later, when a van with a surfboard on top pulls up in front of Nancy’s house that everything begins to clear up a bit. Out of the van comes Will, Mike, Eleven, Jonathan, and someone else that you don’t know. You wait your turn for Jonathan to hug Nancy before getting over to you. Will’s next, squeezing you tightly and you realize how much he’s grown since you saw him last. El throws her arms around you and your hands find her freshly shaven head. She laughs when you tell her that you’ll figure something out to help her hair grow out faster. Mike approaches you last, enveloping you in his long arms. 

“You know,” you say when he pulls back. “A little birdie told me you’ve got a thing for me. Better not let El find out. I’d hate to see what she’d do to you now that her powers are back,” his smile falls and his face is overcome with anger.

“Dustin!” he shouts, going over to the boy, berating him loudly. You laugh while watching them argue back and forth. Steve comes up next to you, slinging his arm around your shoulder and letting out a chuckle. 

“You had to tease him about it?” Steve smiles over at you and you place a hand on his chest.

“Will looked a little upset and I can guarantee he’s the reason why, so he kinda deserves it,” Steve laughs, rolling his eyes and placing a kiss on your lips. When the reunions are done, you pile into the car with boxes full of donations. You, Steve, Dustin, and Robin enter the high school gym, quickly dropping off the donations and finding places to help out. Robin is making pb&j’s and Dustin is talking to Wayne Munson while you and Steve sort through clothes. You hear Robin talking to a girl at the sandwich station and it all clicks.

“Oh,” you breathe out, Steve’s eyes following yours. “I get it now,” you grab for the shirt Steve is trying, and failing, to fold.

“Get what?” 

“A few days ago at the library. Robin kept going on and on about how you’re not her type and that she’d rather let humans die off than be with you,” you nod your head towards her and the other girl. “I get it now and you definitely aren’t her type.”

“She really said that? Some wing woman she is,” Steve mutters and you chuckle at him, pulling his face towards you to place a soft kiss on his cheek. It’s then that you hear murmurs erupt over by the big windows. You wander over with Steve and Robin close behind you. What looks like snow falls from the sky, but you’ve seen this stuff enough to know it’s not snow. Steve’s hand finds yours, squeezing it tightly in his warm grasp. You look at him and he looks back at you. His expression says all the same things that you're thinking. That whatever’s next, you can make it through. Together. You can do anything as long as you have Steve beside you. Your best friend. Your boyfriend. Your something. Your everything.

[pinkeoni]

Will’s Creation Powers: A Man, His Dog, and a Baseball Bat

I don’t think I’ve ever made my own concrete creation power post that actually went into detail about this, so let’s discuss how the monsters in the Upside Down perfectly align with Will’s fear of his dad.

Pretty long post and discussions of child abuse under the cut

So right now my working theory is that while Will was being abused by Lonnie as a child, Will’s consciousness traveled to the Upside Down as a place of safety. There, Will subconsiously manifested his fears as the monsters in the UD.

We aren’t told in the show exactly how long the monster have been living in the UD. Perhaps with The First Shadow we will know more, but as far as we know it’s possible they haven’t always been there. We just know that they’ve been there at least before Henry got there, meaning that he at least didn't create them.

Why Do I Think Will Has Creation Powers?

I guess maybe I should explain why I believe that Will has creation powers in the first place.

Let's say you had a character that had certain powers, but you couldn't reveal them until the final season, how would you hint at them so they don't come out of nowhere, all without blatantly revealing them?

Will's art has been a staple of his character since the first season, it's even been used in regards to major plot points. IE Joyce recognizing that El's art in the lab is not Will's art, and Will drawing the tunnels in season two. Will uses art as an outlet for his creativity, but he also uses it to express his emotions, such as hurt, fear, or love.

We also know that Henry needs Will for something, although what exactly hasn't been stated. I don't personally believe that Will was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, given how much we have been shown in season 4 is actually very calculated by Henry. We do know, however, that Henry wants to destroy the world in order to rebuild it in his image. So how would he gain access to an ability like that?

In season two, we learn through Kali that some power users have abilities that other power users don't have. Kali is able to create visions for other people. We also learn that gate opening in a power unique to El, and the "Vecna Visions" that we see is something that we've only seen Henry do. If Will had a power unique to him, and that power was related to his art, it wouldn't come out of nowhere.

Lonnie the Demogorgon

I’ll start with Lonnie, which will lead us to all of the other monsters. He is the main perpetrator here. kaypeace21 has a ton of theory posts on her page that goes into a lot of detail, I reccommend checking them out since it’s my main source of inspiration for this theory.

In my mind the coding between the demogorgon and Lonnie is pretty clear. Lonnie was mentioned as a possible suspect as to who Will could be with. The demogorgon eats its eggs. Lonnie is the predator that is hunting down and hurting his family. Demogorgon literally means “deep father.”

I wanna point out this scene too. Will is talking to Joyce through the wall and he says “It’s coming!” in reference to the demogorgon. It’s not the very next scene, but the next scene with Joyce shows Lonnie arriving at the Byers home.

Chester the Demodog

When the demogorgon appears outside of Will’s house on the night he vanished, Chester barks at the door. (Notice too how Chesters head is positioned right next to a plant, similar to how demodogs have flower shaped heads) When Jonathan goes to see Lonnie a little later, there’s a dog barking in the distance.

Perhaps, whenever Lonnie would come home, maybe after a night of drinking, Chester would bark signaling his return? Maybe Will associates Chester barking with his father?

One of the demodogs, formerly D’Art, was being kept as a pet by Dustin. Chester was Will’s former pet, who seemed to die before the season where demodogs are introduced. D'Art also killed Dustin's other pet, Mews, creating another dead pet correlation.

The Baseball Demobat

This one might seem like the biggest stretch, but if you pair it up with the other two it may not be that far of a reach. We know from season one that Lonnie used to bring Will to baseball games, baseball games that Will didn't even like going to. I propose in a theory here that baseball games may be associated with a particularly bad memory for Will. We see that Will did hold on to a baseball bat, which he uses to destroy Castle Byers with.

The demobats have long tails, similar to the long hilt of a baseball bat.

In season 4, when being attacked by the demobats, Steve grabs one by the tail and swings it to the ground like a baseball bat. Steve is also a character who was seen using a bat before in season 2.

Proposed Timeline:

When Will is a young child, he is abused by his father (possibly on his birthday?)

Will consciousness travels to the Upside Down, and possibly links with the Shadow Monster

Through a fear response, Will creates the monsters in the Upside Down as he associates them with the abuse of his father

Will, however, doesn't remember this abuse (similar to how El doesn't remember the massacre of the lab)

In season 5, Will will likely have to confront these missing memories and his powers will reawaken

[madwheelerz]

Seeing as a lot more compelling evidence than the evidence used in the original theory has come to light, I’ve decided to redo the manifestation theory. So here we go and far warning for any potential plot twist reveals.

Overview

The manifestation theory is a theory of mine that the show operates as one huge D&D game and that a lot of the settings that we see such as characters, locations, and events aren’t real, at least not in the traditional sense. They exist in the real world, but they originated from a child’s mind. Mike’s mind.

First let’s see why Mike would’ve randomly started manifesting monsters. The simple answer is that he wouldn’t not without a reason and certainly not on purpose. What I think Mike did is that he tried to turn back time and succeeded, but with the consequence of having expended the reach of his mind a little too far and releasing beings from the mind. Mike is the DM after all so if anyone might be pulling the strings it’s him.

Let’s provide some evidence that the events aren’t actually happening first.

Do I have your attention yet? Good. What I think happened is that Will died. He was murdered in another timeline and after around a year of learning to use his powers Mike turned back the clock to the last time, he saw Will alive, the initial D&D game. This would’ve been something of a save point and is why so many important things show up in relations to that game.

At 8:15, Karen stops the game. Will dies after rolling a seven, Mike wanted twenty more minutes. The works. Will leaves and is kidnapped into the upside down. If Mike is the writer here, then Will is acting as the main character. The game is built around protecting Will except it’s hitting a point beyond Mike’s control.

The barrier between Mike’s mind and reality is weak and it keeps getting weaker the more time passes. The involvement of time travel explains Mr. Clarke bringing up that multiple world’s interpretation and the references to curiosity voyages.

Mike is highly suspicious in the way that he seems to be constantly framed over dialogue suggesting a connection to other worlds and the “Vale of Shadows”, which is what the kids were originally calling the upside-down.

There is also the way Mike sometimes knows stuff and is completely unable to explain how.

So, none of this is real. We’re in a kid’s game and Mike is the DM. This I think is the reason that the three playlist left belong to Will, Billy – literally the other William, and Mike. Mike’s playlist description is also referring to a 5-hour (season?) D&D session despite the fact that none of Mike’s campaigns are that short nor does his playlist actually last for that long.

So, Mike dies = the upside down dies or something to that effect. The Hawkins National Lab isn’t real, but wasn’t one of their main goal to discover time travel?

Weren’t they pushing so hard that they released monsters onto the world. No one from the lab would’ve seen Will prior to his kidnapping to the upside-down, at least not in enough detail to recreate it quite that perfectly, but Mike saw him. They spoke, Mike was acting weird, Will told Mike that the Demogorgon got him. Why do I think the lab isn’t real well…

This is the very first DM book that Mike has. We get a nice shot of it right before Dustin starts to read about the “Vale of Shadows”. As he’s reading, we see Hopper traveling through the interior of HNL. This is also Mike’s first campaign book, so it makes an appearance twice, which is interesting simply because the DM books don’t seem to appear twice, but especially not in the same season.

When Mike narrates from it is connected with the guy in the lab running from a Demogorgon. It’s also interesting to note that the book is the only DM book that we can clearly see has the design of a building on it. So a building design connected with the interior of the lab. It also carries a small drawing of the cardinal directions right above the building and considering that later Dustin is using a compass to lead them to the lab that’s pretty interesting.

This and the fact that Mike’s D&D campaigns take place in the basement and most gates only open in a basement of some sorts. For example, the HNL basement and the starcourt basement, but also the Mindflayer’s main operation being in the basement of steelworks. Basements, basements everywhere.

Why do I think that Mike might’ve turned back time first?

This and the way that Mike is constantly associated with running out of time. With that I’ll leave you to it, but if you decide to watch the show with this interpretation fair warning it gets trippy.

[bizaar]

Cruel Summer Part 13

First - Previous - Next

pairings: Eddie Munson x fem!reader

summary: After breaking up, you and Eddie do your best to soldier on with your lives, but you slowly begin to discover that there is a stronger line of connection keeping you together than just history…

word count: 11.5k

warnings: swearing, descriptions of violence/the Demogorgon ate Barb, angst, fluff

A.N.: Happy Birthday to me and a very merry unbirthday to all of you! Thank you to everyone who sent such nice comments and asks after the last chapter, I really hope you all enjoy the update!!! if you see typos, no you don't :D

Dustin can’t decide who hates this plan more, Eddie or himself. 

They’ll split into three teams, one at the Creel House to draw Vecna’s attention on this side, and two in the Upsidedown, one to lure the bats away from the house and hold them, and one to send the bastard to kingdom come while his guard is down. 

Simple and more or less straightforward… until a very frustrating though decidedly no less valid question is raised: how do you know the plan is even going to work?

Which is to say, how are you going to make sure the bats will do what they’re supposed to and leave the house unguarded when Team Distraction turns the volume up?

Because if Dustin and Eddie can’t guarantee that their distraction will lure the bats — all of the bats — then Steve, Nancy, and Robin won’t be able to get into the house, and if they can’t get in the house, then they’re dead in the water before they’ve even begun.

As so often happens when the dark storm cloud of sobering truth rolls in on the horizon, they all come to the same simultaneous conclusion.

It strikes like a bolt of lightning in the distance — a brief purpling flash that is so sudden you can’t be sure it was even there until its presence is validated by the staggered clap of thunder following dutifully behind.

That’s what the realization feels like. Loud, pervasive, numbing. It leaves Dustin’s ears ringing in the hollowness it leaves behind. 

One of you is going to have to get out there and do something to lure the bats away — one of you is going to have to be bait.

Naturally, nobody is exactly eager to throw their name into the running for that prestigious task, least of all Dustin, who is under no delusions about being an athlete of any capacity. 

He’s a Hawkins Middle AV club alumnus for Christ’s sake, not exactly the picture of physical prowess. 

The notion itself is enough to set something cold and heavy settling in the pit of his stomach, like something out of a stress-induced nightmare — he knows no one is going to ask him to be the bait, but there is still that nagging pressure of worry.

He can’t imagine what he’ll do if the task falls to him, he can’t imagine what any of you will do. More to the point, he can’t imagine any of you being stupid enough to willingly go and put your life on the line like that.

Only that is not expressly true. Steve would do something that stupid, and he doesn’t even have to imagine it as the older boy steps bravely forward into their Socratic huddle. 

“I’ll do it,” He says, nodding solemnly like he’s just presented himself to steward the one ring to Mordor … though probably not, because Steve wouldn’t get that reference in the first place. 

He’s not Frodo Baggins, he’s just a big brave dog too stupid to know when to stay quiet and save his own life. 

Thankfully, the suggestion goes over more or less like a lead balloon.

“That’s not gonna work, Steve,” Nancy says, a messy halo of curls dancing about her features as she shakes her head, pursing her lips. 

The sting of her rejection is immediately evident across Steve’s face, and Dustin has to wonder just how much of that bravery is actually just plain, old fashioned peacocking to try and impress her.

Even if it isn't, there is not much of an argument to be made against the refusal of his offer, considering the general consensus of the room is more or less in agreement with her. 

It leaves him visibly deflated.

Dustin doesn’t fault him for suggesting he be the one to do it. It is nothing less than entirely on brand for Steve — big damn hero that he is — but in this specific case, it’s more of bonehead thinking rather than the noble gesture he imagines he thinks it is. 

“Why not?” Steve presses, speaking to Nancy more than anyone else in the room, “I’ll lead them away and double back — it’ll take ten minutes tops.” 

He makes a show of dusting his hands of imaginary grime before presenting her with his empty palms, impressing absolutely no one, Nancy especially. 

“Yeaaaah…” Eddie says through his teeth, stretching the word like he knows he’s got something to say that Steve won’t thank him for, “Only that didn’t work so good for you last time, did it, Bud?”

His head lolls left to press his ear to his shoulder as he levels him with a knowing look, squinting at him and scrunching his features in a way that could almost be misconstrued as apologetic. 

And he’s right, Steve does not thank Eddie for so graciously pointing out the shortcomings of his last expedition to the Upsidedown. 

“Last time I wasn’t running away, Bud.” Steve deadpans, hurling the pet name back at him with perhaps a tad too much vitriol. “They caught me off guard, I’ll be ready for them this time.” 

It does nothing to breathe any confidence into their group as a dissenting murmur passes through the cabin of the RV.

Dustin thinks deep down they all know they probably should let Steve do it, despite their misgivings.

He’s really the only one among them with the prerequisite skills for the job – all those sports he played – but there is still a glaringly obvious issue with that plan because Steve has already assigned himself a pivotal role, one Robin is all too happy to remind him of. 

“Listen, Stevie.” She starts, “We all know you’re super impressive or whatever, but this is one thing we don’t need you Galahading yourself over — you’re supposed to be running point up at the house so Nancy can light Vecna’s ass up, remember?”  

“Well, I don’t see anyone else volunteering.” He snaps, crossing his arms over his chest and making a point to scan the room in an expectant glare, suddenly towering over them like some kind of angry lighthouse sweeping the shoreline for signs of life. 

Dustin does his best to shrink out of his line of sight when it passes over him. 

He’s got no business volunteering for something like this, and even if he did, he’s already got his own job with Eddie, acting as his roadie of sorts — at least he thinks so, that’s how Eddie had described it and for his lack of expertise on the matter all he can do is agree. 

If he had to pick someone, Lucas is probably the best substitute for Steve, but he’s got to stay with Max on this side just in case Vecna’s hold grows a little too tight and a musical intervention is needed.

It’s a moot point, anyway, because they’ve already left that group at the Creel House, and Dustin can’t feasibly see doubling back for them just because the plan has changed. 

As far as he can tell, Steve is right, and there’s no one else left to be the bait.

“I can do it.” You offer then, speaking in a small, tentative voice from where you’ve tucked yourself in at the other side of the camper.

There is a shift in the group as everyone moves at once to find the source of the voice, staring in an almost stunned silence like they’d forgotten you were there. 

Dustin feels his heart seize in his chest in a violent spasm that has his intestines responding accordingly. 

Oh, God!

His eyes go wide as he whips around to regard you with something that can only stem from the gut-wrenching, pants-shitting terror he is suddenly gripped in. 

Not you, anyone but you!

Beside you, Eddie mirrors the motion, head snapping up so quickly Dustin is half surprised it doesn’t roll right off his shoulders and across the length of the RV. 

Under such tense scrutiny, you wilt ever so slightly, glancing nervously around the room, looking for any kind of a reaction.

And nobody outright rejects the suggestion like they had with Steve, much to Dustin’s abject horror. 

“I’ll do it.” You say again, this time with a little more confidence, giving a subtle nod as if to punctuate the affirmation. 

Dustin, of course, is ardently against it, but has found that he has been rendered suddenly and woefully mute by the complete and total shock of your suggestion.

Eddie is thankfully not caught in those doldrums, and he is all too happy to tell you exactly how he feels. 

“Like hell you will,” He gawps.

For the lack of any higher functioning brain power, all Dustin can manage is a stupid, emphatic nodding, and when the initial shock begins to fade and more of his brain starts to switch on again, he searches the room for the naysayers of the earlier moment.

He waits for the dissenting murmur, the interjections from prevailing cooler heads going on to explain exactly why you cannot, in fact, be the bait, but they never come. 

It’s just Eddie, telling you you’re crazy if you think he’s gonna let you get out there, and Dustin frantically nodding along like a goddamn bobblehead. 

“Why not?” You demand, sounding almost offended that he would disagree.

“Because it’s a suicide mission.” Eddie presses, putting harsh emphasis on the last two words.

You narrow your eyes. 

“Oh, please,” you start, but he doesn’t let you finish. 

“Babe,” the pet name causes Dustin’s skin to prickle uncomfortably, Eddie doesn’t seem to notice, “You weren’t there, okay? You don’t know what’s down there–”

“Giant vampire bats?” You deadpan, quirking a brow. 

He wires his jaw shut and glares at you.

“And a whole network of vines and tentacles and creepy crawlies that report directly back to the fucker himself,” He presses, only he doesn’t know the half of it.  

“Not to mention the Demogorgon,” Dustin says. 

The room reacts appropriately at the mention of the foe of their past.

You remain unimpressed where you stand, but Eddie twists slowly to regard Dustin with a highly suspicious look. 

“...I’m sorry…” He begins slowly, “The what?”

Steve answers for him, dismissing the question with a vague gesture.

“It’s like I told you, Munson,” he says, “We’ve been through all this before,” 

“Only this time, we don’t have the benefit of having a girl with—” Robin starts, but Eddie cuts her off. 

“Superpowers, yeah, you mentioned — can we just circle back to that Demogorgon thing?” 

“…that’s what happened to Barb.” Nancy says then, getting this strange, haunted look in her eyes as she speaks – the color drains from her face, “… what really happened…” 

The room goes eerily silent, leaving Eddie fumbling to understand what such a cryptic comment could possibly mean.

He looks from face to face, confusion etching itself deeper and deeper into his features as he waits for someone to elaborate. 

“What do you mean what really happened?” He finally demands.

They don’t have to say it, their silence speaks volumes — Barbara Holland’s disappearance had been big news for almost a year — almost bigger than Will’s disappearance, death, and subsequent resurrection.

An honor student ups and skips town out of the blue? Not a chance in hell, not Barb, at least.

As far as Dustin can tell from the hushed conversations he’d overheard his mother having, most people didn’t outright believe it, even if only quietly so.

They preferred to keep their heads in the sand and keep the horrific alternative to themselves: that something terrible had happened to Barb right there in their sleepy little town, and she was never coming back.

It's no wonder the good people of Hawkins had grown progressively more wary of things that didn’t expressly fit their happy little narrative over the last couple of years.  

If only they knew just how right they were to be afraid. 

Eddie blanches as it dawns on him – the bats aren’t the only thing down there that can and will eat you alive if you’re caught. 

“Oh, shit.” He mumbles. 

Then, like you hadn’t heard a thing they’d just said about the bestiary of horrors waiting for them on the other side, you shake your head. 

“I don’t care what’s down there –” You scoff, dismissing the truth of Barb’s horrific and untimely demise with a flippant gesture. 

Eddie whips back around to level you with an incredulous look – eyes out on stalks and as big as dinner plates.

“You gotta be kidding,” He stresses, “Didn’t you hear what they said? Something down there ate Barb.”

“Nobody said that.” You snap.

“Henderson—!” Eddie practically shouts, whipping around to glare at Dustin, though he hardly thinks the look is meant for him, especially with the way Eddie thrusts an accusatory finger back at you, “Tell her!”

“The Demogorgon ate Barb.” Dustin drawls. 

Somewhere to his left, Nancy flinches and he can’t help but feel a pang of regret for putting it in such crass terms, but it is very important to him that you understand the ramifications of what you were about to do. The danger you are putting yourself in. 

You roll your eyes in that same maddening way you always do that lets Dustin know exactly what you’re thinking – that this is all nothing more than D&D bullshit and that they’re blowing it out of proportion to try and scare you out of volunteering. He wishes it were as simple as all that.

He wishes that he wasn’t stuck thinking about the faceless horror that has haunted his dreams since that night in 1983 back at Hawkins Middle. 

And then he feels eyes on him, boring holes into the side of his face. Dustin turns to find Eddie staring at him, brows pulled tight over his eyes, still wide and fearful as the question he doesn’t want to ask forms on the tip of his tongue. 

It hadn’t occurred to Dustin that Eddie didn’t actually expect him to back him up like that, that he didn’t really believe that’s what happened. He was just being dramatic, like always, how was he supposed to know he was right on the money?

It’s visibly sobering, and Eddie clenches his jaw as the urge to ask about it escapes him, and he levels Dustin with a knowing look, nodding curtly.

Yes, the Demogorgon had, in fact, eaten Barbara Holland, as plain and simple and horrific a fact as that. Nothing more need be said about it.

And honestly, a lot more could be said, because that’s not even the worst thing that has happened since the Upsidedown came crashing up into their world, but somehow Dustin knows that nothing he says is going to be enough to deter you. 

“Look, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m the only one who doesn’t have a part to play in this.” You huff.

You bet your ass you don’t. 

You had, in fact, been excluded by design, because that’s the way Eddie wanted it, and Dustin was only happy to agree with him, much to your patent dismay.

Every single one of your arguments had come with just as many explanations as to why you couldn’t go — the least of which were that, despite the new bandages Karen Wheeler had wrapped your hand in, you’re still injured, just as you had stressed on the shore of Lover’s Lake the night before.

“So what?” Dustin huffs.

“So, it’s not fair.” You grouse, halfway to whining about it before Eddie shuts you down. 

“Life’s not fair, Sweetheart,” He says. “The sooner you realize that the better.”  

Harsh but true, Dustin thinks. 

Anyway, what you said is not expressly true – you do have a job. An important job that keeps you very far removed from danger of any kind — you’re supposed to guard the gate in Eddie’s living room from this side in the unlikely event someone comes snooping, and you’re extremely unhappy about it. 

Normally, that would fill Dustin with some sort of gut-wrenching guilt, but as far as he can tell he doesn’t give a shit about how you feel right now.

He only cares about keeping you safe.

You’d already sat arguing about it back in the field when the details of the plan were laid out, nearly spoiling what was just about the closest thing Dustin has experienced to a perfect moment with you in months — running around and playing in the grass in a fit of euphoric, childlike whimsy. It was almost enough to make him forget that there was anything wrong in the world.

That all came crashing down the moment Steve called you back to the camper.

“We really should have someone standing by in case the cops come poking around,” Dustin had tried to explain to your angry, pacing form after they’d broken the news that you were not invited to cross the gate with them. “A-and since you’re so good at thinking on your feet—”

It did nothing to soften the blow of rejection. You’d silenced him with an angry look and spent the next half hour quietly fuming in the furthest corner of the RV you could squeeze yourself into.  

And now you’re volunteering to smear yourself in blood and go willingly into the lion’s den, and no one is disagreeing that it should be you. If that isn’t some form of cosmic justice… 

That’s perhaps what distresses Dustin the most, that you’ve volunteered to go and die, and everyone is just going to let you do it. 

In a shocking turn of events, suddenly he and Eddie are the only sane ones among you.

“This is ridiculous , you guys–”  

“No, you’re not doing it.” Eddie says, slicing the air in a clipped gesture, “End of story. Harrington? Tell her.”

You scoff and open your mouth to protest the supposed finality of the statement, and by extension what Dustin can only imagine is a healthy dose of outrage over any kind of decision involving you being left up to Steve of all people, but he is quick to jump in before you can say anything. 

“Steve!” He stresses, “Tell her!” 

It catches him woefully off guard and Dustin watches as something a little closer to panic than he is comfortable with flashes across Steve’s features. Like being unexpectedly called on in class when you haven’t been paying attention.

Thick brows shoot up toward that immaculate hairline before bouncing back to furrow over Steve’s eyes.

He flexes his jaw and breathes in deeply through his nose, and after a moment’s hesitation, he finally opens his mouth to say… nothing. Dustin can’t believe it. 

He could scream. 

In all the time he’s known him, Steve has never been caught without some kind of a smooth one-liner, a witty comeback. Of all the time Dustin has known him, he has never once been rendered speechless. 

There’s a first time for everything, sure, but why on God’s green Earth did it have to be now? It’s just bad timing. 

Steve stands there, working his jaw like a gaping fish for another agonizing moment of deafening silence, even turning to Robin and Nancy for some kind of support – they have nothing to offer but incredulous stares – but it’s no use, he well and truly has no idea what to say.

You’ve started in again before he can get much more out than a bitten-off “Uuuuhhh….” 

“I’m not just gonna wait around babysitting a hole in the ceiling while you all put your lives on the line,” You bite, and somehow Dustin can’t help but get the sense that even though you’re addressing the room, you’re speaking directly to him – to Eddie, who has spent the duration of your spiel violently shaking his head in outright rejection.

He hardly lets you finish before he makes a harsh sound of incredulous disbelief.

“No.” 

“Eddie–”

“No!”

“Will you shut up and let me do this?” You shout, “I’ll lead the bats away from the house and make them chase me back here–” 

Eddie barks out a bitter laugh that has you clamping your jaw shut with enough force that Dustin hears your teeth click together.

“Right, just like you led Jason and those fuckers away from Rick’s place?” He snaps, his words dripping with disdain, “How’s the hand, by the way? Still hurts?”

Despite their united front, Dustin can’t help the stirring sense of injustice Eddie’s tone kicks up in his chest, rattling around like embers in his ribcage.

He’s not the enemy here, regardless of what his guts are trying to tell him, but the urge to defend you has long since been stronger than any of Dustin’s natural instincts.

Of course, you don’t need him to come running to your rescue – you never have, and he’s starting to suspect that you never will. Some small part of him aches with the grief of that realization. He doesn’t know why, but it feels like a loss. 

Suddenly it’s like you don’t even know he’s there anymore, with the way you’re looking at Eddie. Glaring at him like you’re the only two people in the room. It’s strangely charged, almost intimate, and it makes Dustin’s insides go squirmy like he’s witnessing something torrid.

Somehow it feels like the scene playing out before them is not for their eyes, and Dustin wonders briefly if they ought to leave the room, leave the two of you to this moment.

He watches you bristle, sees your gaze turn to white hot steel, and feels his insides clench for it.

His concern swings hard away from you to land on Eddie’s shoulders, then. Under the molten heat of your anger, he is surely about to whither and melt down to the bone.

Dustin thinks he ought to do something to try and protect him from that, but he doesn’t dare put himself in your line of site. Eddie is made of much stronger stuff than he is, he doesn’t need his help.

“Don’t be an asshole,” You warn him through your teeth.

Eddie throws up his hands and offers you a sarcastic smile, tilting his head ever so slightly like this is all just good, harmless fun. 

“Babygirl, I’ll be whatever I need to be to stop you from doing this.” He says, “Because this is a stupid fucking plan, you’re gonna get yourself killed and when you do, I’m gonna say I told you so.” 

Each point is punctuated by a sharp poke to your shoulder with his index and middle finger, firm enough to jostle you each time he hits home – you slap his hand away before he can poke you again. 

“And here I thought chivalry was dead.” You hum, a harsh, clipped thing oozing with disdain. 

Thankfully, before either of you can really start to fight about it, Robin interjects.

“Children – enough!” She shouts, breaking the spell - you both shrink away from the moment, settling back with arms crossed tightly over your chests, doing your utmost to avoid looking at one another.

Robin continues. 

“We don’t have time to sit around and watch you two go another ten rounds, okay? We’re on a ticking clock here so both of you need to grow up or go in the back and bang out whatever the hell is going on here. Get it out of your system.”

A momentary if not bone-crushing silence falls over the cabin as Robin’s words hang heavy in the air.

It does nothing to help the awkwardness of the moment when Eddie perks up, brows jumping toward his hairline as he gestures toward the pullout haphazardly folded up at the back of the RV.

You roll your eyes, and Dustin pulls a disgusted face.

He looks to Steve for some kind of commiseration only to find him and Nancy fidgeting awkwardly and trying to avoid looking at each other.

Robin looks decidedly pleased with herself as she continues, evidently more than happy to have made the moment exceedingly more awkward than need be.

“Now,” She says, “Everyone is making valid points on both sides. Is this gonna be dangerous? Yes. Is she more than likely going to get seriously injured if not violently dismembered attempting this? Absolutely, but that doesn’t make it an excessively bad plan—” 

“It doesn’t?” Eddie scoffs, which only serves to draw Robin’s attention as she sticks him to the spot with a very pointed look.

“Eddie...” she drawls. 

He squares his shoulders and levels her with an expectant if not uninterested look, hugging himself that much tighter like he’s bracing for whatever it is she’s bound to hurl his way. 

Robin continues, gesturing to you as she speaks. 

“She’s a grown woman – fully consenting – if she wants to get out there and get her ass eaten, that’s her decision to make, not yours.”

Dustin doesn't realize there’s any sort of innuendo behind the words, intended or otherwise, until Eddie makes a harsh, choked sound in the back of his throat. 

Almost immediately, his hand drifts up like he means to clap it over his mouth but switches gears at the last moment to rub at the faint hint of stubble shadowing his jawline, trying his damnedest to hide a less-than-subtle smile.

“Jesus – that’s one way of putting it.” He says, pulling his lower lip in past his teeth.

“Eddie.” You say then, voice lilting in a gently critical tone as your brows come down over your eyes. 

The tension of the previous moment evaporated in an instant, and Dustin doesn’t understand why everyone is suddenly fidgeting and rolling their eyes.

Nancy makes a soft sound of disapproval in the back of her throat, and suddenly he feels like something has flown right over his head.

He hates being the only one not in on the joke. Max might have been able to explain it to him if not entirely unwilling, maybe even Lucas, but on his own he is hopelessly lost among this group of older kids. 

“What?” He can’t help himself from asking, looking from face to face as everyone quickly avoids his gaze, “What’s so funny?”

“Nothing.” You say immediately, “I’ll tell you when you’re older.” 

Dustin still doesn’t get it, but there’s no air in the conversation to ask what exactly he’s missing before Robin addresses you in turn.

There is the faintest pink tinge to her cheeks as she says your name in a commanding if not entirely sheepish way. 

You lean over to smack Eddie’s quivering shoulder as he continues to fight the losing battle against the fit of giggles still threatening to overtake him. 

Before Robin can speak, Steve swoops in, taking her by the arm and literally tugging her back from the center of the huddle.

She wrenches her arm out of his grasp and levels him in a harsh glare. 

“Come on, Rob, give it a rest–” He starts, but Nancy quickly cuts him off. 

“No, she’s right,” She says, then turns to you, “You ought to know what you’re volunteering for”

You, in turn, tilt your head to the right to press your ear to your shoulder.

“Running like hell and hoping they’ll try to make a meal out of me, right?” You deadpan, quirking a brow. 

Like cracking a window at forty thousand feet, all the air is immediately sucked out of the room, taking any sense of levity with it as your words hang heavy in the air. 

Dustin can’t stand it. 

“Oh, come on… come on! There’s gotta be another way.” He presses, “Somebody has got to have a better idea than this.”  

A heavy silence falls over the room, one that leaves a hollow ringing in Dustin’s ears as he waits for someone – anyone to speak.

Somebody has got to have something in the back pocket, some kind of last-ditch hair-brained scheme that doesn’t require anyone to make prey out of themselves.

It’s so quiet he’s half surprised he doesn’t hear the telltale chirping of crickets. 

“Seriously?” He demands, “Nobody?”

When Dustin looks to Eddie for help, even he has suddenly become far too interested in his sneakers, hanging his head until his features are obscured by a frizzy curtain of hair.

It’s madness. It’s got to be some kind of spontaneous contagious insanity that only he is immune to, Dustin can’t think of what else could have such a hold on your tiny group that they’re actually genuinely considering letting you do this.  

Steve rolls his neck in a halfhearted shrug, like this time he’s the one with something to say that is going to be hard to swallow.

“It’s the closest thing to a guarantee we have,” He mumbles, rubbing sheepishly at the back of his neck. “And she’s the only one here freed up to do it…”

“No way!” Dustin says, whirling around to level you with a horrified look, “You know this is crazy, right? You’re gonna get yourself killed!”  

“We’re all gonna get ourselves killed.” You argue. “But if I can buy us a little time before that happens and make sure we take Vecna with us…?”

He shakes his head violently back and forth, hard enough that it just about dislodges the cap from his head.

“Let Steve do it.” He begs, “Steve, tell her you’ll do it–”

He knows he’s whining, he sounds like a petulant child who has just been told something they don’t want to hear – totally uncool – but he doesn’t really care.

He wants to grab you by the shoulders and shake you until it knocks this parasitic idea loose from your brain and you see reason again. 

“Steve’s gotta make sure Nancy gets to Vecna.” You snap.

It drives him to the desperate edge, and before he even realizes what he’s doing, Dustin hurls himself out after you into the abyss. 

“Then I’ll do it.”

There, finally, comes that dissenting murmur again, snatching him back from the precipice and placing him gently back on the ledge. It’s a rescue that comes too little too late and for the wrong person because you’re still freefalling.  

The room fills with a dull discordant roar as all of a sudden everyone seems to have something to say, admonishing him for even suggesting the notion.

On one side he’s got Steve already halfway through a lecture about what will happen to him if he lets Dustin go and do something that stupid, meanwhile, Eddie is reminding him that just because he can do something in D&D it doesn’t qualify him to do the same thing in real life.

Everyone talking at once is at best, mildly overwhelming, and at worst, giving Dustin a headache, but at least everyone is focusing on him rather than agreeing to let you offer yourself up in the Upsidedown.

It feels almost like a chance, like maybe somehow he can grab you and whisk you away from all of this while everyone is distracted.

Maybe he’ll be the one to save you this time – if no one else will do it, he has to save you.

He should know better not to hope for things like that.

“Enough,” You snap, silencing everyone with the sharp utterance of the word – you level Dustin with a look that has him wilting under its heat, “This is happening. It’s gonna be me whether you like it or not. It has to be me.”   

There’s no arguing with you because there’s never any point in it when you get like this. You are a mountain and he is the wind, and no matter how he gusts and howls and rants and raves, you will not be moved … a big stupid, stubborn mountain, and that’s that.

As quickly as it began, the debate fizzles out, and the decision is made. Everyone quietly moves to take their places in the RV again. 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The sun is setting when you arrive, fiery claw marks cut the horizon to ribbons and set it ablaze with oranges and pinks and the faintest smear of purple. It sends a strange chill running down your spine, despite how relatively safe you still are on this side. The danger isn’t here, it’s lurking just below your feet.

For obvious reasons, you leave the RV parked among the trees and cross the threshold back into the Forest Hills trailer park on foot. You move silently, single file like good little ducklings weaving in and out of the trailers, broken down lawn furniture, and laundry lines.

It’s strangely abandoned, eerily so.

The only sound other than the gentle hum of the odd generator or the quiet murmuring of a television is the crunch of yellowing grass underfoot. Every step is like breaking glass and you have to work to remind yourself to breathe.   

You’re leading the way, which is not something you would have typically volunteered for, but among the lot of you, you’ve got the most experience sneaking around the trailer park (besides Eddie of course, but he’s not exactly the ideal candidate to go playing Percy Faucet) so it’s you, just like you’d told Dustin back in the RV. 

It has to be you.   

He’s actively ignoring you now, which is not something you’re sure you’ve ever experienced.

Sure, he’s been mad at you for one reason or another over the years, it would be hard to spend so much time as an authority figure in his life and not have some kind of disagreement crop up between you eventually.

But this time he’s pissed at you for good reason and you can’t rightly blame him for feeling so.

There’s nothing to be done about it. The plan needs bait and you need to feel included, one way or another – you know he’s got to understand that, even if he refuses to admit it.

Even Eddie is resigned to the fact that you’re the only person for this job, as much as you know it’s eating him up inside.         

You arrive at the Munson trailer in no time at all and hold the door as you usher your companions inside – Eddie first.

His mattress remains where you left it, along with the cascading fall of bedsheets knotted together, standing in suspended animation. You do your best not to look at it, or anything else you don’t expressly have to as you follow the last of your party through the door and shut it tightly behind you.

You tell yourself that you’re not going to look at the hole in the ceiling again until you have absolutely no other choice, which is to say until you’re crossing through it. 

A shudder passes through your body at the thought, grinding through you like the crunch of tectonic plates – you’re still not entirely convinced the thing isn’t going to sprout teeth and snap shut on you before you can slip through to the other side.

You’re also not entirely sure you even want to go to the other side, the place where bats had nearly liberated Steve’s head from his body and where Barbara Holland had evidently been dragged screaming into an untimely, violent death – but what choice do you have?

You have to go, especially after the fuss you’d kicked up in the RV. 

Before you can get very far down the line of trying to decide whether or not you’ve made a terrible mistake, Eddie is there, pressed to your side and snaking his hand down to link fingers with you.

You’re close enough that when you turn to look at him, your noses are nearly touching, and all your senses are flooded with him.

The rough pads of his scarred fingers brushing against your skin, the smell of his sweat intermingling with tobacco and something earthier. Some small part of you is worried it’s too intimate for the company you keep, but the way his presence soothes the fearful fluttering of your heart won’t let you protest the proximity.

He pacifies your worries with just a touch and suddenly you don’t care about the hole in the ceiling or the lapse in gravity or the monsters on the other side or anything else threatening to break your brain, all you think is Eddie, Eddie, Eddie.   

“Come with me.” He says quietly and pulls you back through the kitchenette. 

You follow, and for half a moment, you think he may be leading you back toward the bedroom.

Your numbers make for tight quarters in the trailer, especially with everyone trying to maneuver the mattress laid out in the middle of the floor, you imagine if Eddie needed a private moment with you, there isn’t a better place to find one than the bedroom. 

Before you can make it too far down the hall, however, he pivots left and twists the handle of the side door leading to the porch.

An interesting development – you are suddenly gripped in the vice of curiosity and feel the gentle pattering of your heart as a hundred different possibilities race through you.    

“Where are you going?” Dustin calls from where he’d been sulking somewhere behind you, and when Eddie ignores him, he raises his voice, “Eddie! Where are you going?” 

He’s already halfway out the door when he pauses, hardly turning to acknowledge Dustin as he speaks. 

“We’ll be right back,” Eddie says.

You’re almost relieved when Dustin’s eyes flit over to you, silently gesturing at you in the expectation that you’ll give him some sort of answer you don’t have.

All you can do is shrug as Eddie pulls you through the door with a gentle tug.

Your unexpected departure kicks up about as much fuss as you expect it would.

“Oh, you have got to be kidding me!” Steve grouses, nearly stumbling over the coffee table in his hurried attempt to follow you to the door. “What now?”

“We shouldn’t split up, you guys,” Nancy calls, following Steve, “Not when things are so close.” 

Eddie pays them no mind as he heads for the rickety staircase, half rotten from disuse as much as years under the elements.

You’ve never known him to use it, opting always to leap down from the elevated porch instead, garnering many a twisted ankle in his day. You wonder if it’s only his insistence on playing follow the leader that has him taking the safer route for once. 

“Don’t worry about it,” Eddie assures them.

“I am worried about it!” Steve snaps, “Eddie – you’re the most wanted person in Roane County and you guys are just gonna… what, you‘re gonna run off and find a quiet spot to … hash things out real quick?”  

“What’s the problem, Steve?” You sigh, stopping short on the top step and holding Eddie firm to the spot below you. 

You don’t have time for an argument, particularly out in the open air where any one of his neighbors could take a peek out the window and spy him standing there.

Steve is right, but you don’t have to let him know that. As always, he’s all too happy to spell his point out for you. 

“The problem is they’re out there looking for him.” Steve drawls, aggressively stretching the words like he thinks you’re stupid or something. “What part of this seems like a good idea?”

Eddie levels him with a poisonous look.

“Hey Man, this is your stupid plan–” He bites, “You’re the one who said we need the goddamn bait, so we’re going out there and we’re gonna walk the route as many times as it takes for her to memorize it.”

If that’s true, it’s news to you and you can’t say you’re expressly pleased to hear it. 

You’d always done your utmost to avoid the Creel House, considering its reputation for being haunted. That doesn’t mean you don’t know exactly where it is from anywhere you’ve spent a decent amount of time in the duration of your life in Hawkins, if only to make damn sure you steer as clear as you possibly can. 

You don’t need Eddie to walk the route with you, but you’re also not going to contradict him when he’s in a mood like this. 

Steve, unfortunately, is not clued in enough to pick up on the venom coursing through Eddie’s veins.  

“It’s a straight shot through the woods from here to there, what’s to memorize?” His tone is oozing with sarcasm, but you refuse to let him ruffle your feathers.

Whatever this is is important enough to Eddie to risk exposure, so you’ll humor him, and in the meantime, you’ll play nice with Steve so that he’ll let you go without a fight.  

You shake your head and offer him a lopsided shrug.

“It’s like you said,” You say innocently, “It’s a straight shot, so that means we’ll be back in no time.”

Robin appears in the doorway beside him then and pokes her head out, looking curiously between the standoff. 

Your eyes meet.

“How long did he say it would take him?” You ask, “Ten minutes tops?”

Ten minutes running, maybe, much closer to twenty-five at a walk, hurried as it is sure to be. Still, she snorts out a burst of undainty laughter.  

“You did say that, Steve-o.” She hums, elbowing Steve in the side when he doesn’t respond.

A thought flashes briefly across your mind, and you make quick work of undoing your tattered watchband.

“Here,” you say, tossing it to him, “You can even time us if you want.” 

Steve catches the watch with the ease of a lifelong athlete and turns the thing over in his hands, staring down at it and evidently weighing the pros and cons of letting the two of you slip off to God knows where – you could not have told him if your life depended on it.

For all you know, you’re on your way out of town, getting out of Dodge before the shit can well and truly hit the fan.

Yesterday, you might have jumped at the chance, but there are bigger things on the horizon now than the promise you’d made to Wayne out on the road between the trailer park and Benny’s.

Whether you like it or not, you’ve both suddenly got a big part to play in all this. The window of opportunity to just slip away has long since slammed shut.

 After a moment of chewing the inside of his lip, Steve finally relents, heaving a long-suffering sigh and running a hand through those perfectly stunning bouncy tresses.  

“Fine.” He says, “Whatever, but you two better come right back. We’re short on time as it is, we don’t need any unexpected variables —” which is to say they don’t need to stage a rescue mission in the event that someone catches you out in the open.

He snaps his fingers into a point and aims the unbelievably smooth gesture at Eddie, “One time out and back, no detours.”

His shoulders drop as a little bit of the tension brimming there visibly goes out of him, and he gives a curt nod.

When Steve turns his pointing on you, you give him an enthusiastic if not ever so slightly sarcastic thumbs up.

“10-4, Good Buddy.” You say.

Eddie wastes no time after that leading you down the steps and across the park into the nearest copse of woodland, stealing away from the prying eyes of the neighborhood like a couple of horny teenagers sneaking off to fool around.

Somehow you don’t think you’ll get that lucky.

The sun is nearly gone by now, and despite the way it still holds the park in the warm luminescence of golden hour, the woods are steeped in deep blue shadow. 

Eddie doesn’t say a word as you walk, he just holds tight to your hand and pulls you along. You do your best to keep up, but his legs are longer than yours and he’s like a man on a mission, cutting through the trees at such a pace. 

Had you been paying any kind of attention to where you were walking, you would have very quickly noticed that your route is not angled toward the Creel House as he’d suggested, but you’re not focused on anything but the silent walking wall that is Eddie.  

Staring at the broad stretch of his back, you can’t help but feel shut out. You wonder if he’s mad at you, but you swallow the urge to ask him about it. You know you’d only sound pathetic and whiny if you did.

Still, he’s giving you extremely conflicting signals, speaking so softly to you the way he had back at the trailer, holding your hand with such a gentle reverence, but pulling you along behind him to wherever you’re going with no sense of tenderness, all the while actively ignoring you. 

Of course he’s mad, you tell yourself.

He’d been under the impression that this saga would come to an end without you taking part in it, far removed from danger, but he should know better that you won’t be content to just sit on the couch and wait this out while everyone puts their lives on the line.

A misplaced twinge of annoyance bites at your insides at the thought that Eddie could actually be angry at you over this, that he would be pig-headed enough to think you wouldn’t put up a fight over being so summarily benched.

You know he knows you better than that, which means he’s sticking his head in the sand and being stubborn for stubbornness' sake.

You might have laid into him about gender roles in situations of peril, the same you would have had it been you and Dustin out here in the woods, but you’re tired of fighting,  so you bite your tongue and trudge along in silence, doing your best to match his gait. 

The further you go, the darker it gets as the sun disappears from the world and night sets in. You have no idea how long you’ve been walking before the trees part – much longer than ten minutes, you’re sure.

When you finally reach a break in the woods, you realize with a start that you are not standing in front of the Creel House. 

It’s the highway.

A lonely stretch of road somewhere nearer to the fairgrounds than the spooky Victorian, if you had to guess.

It is abandoned, pitch black save for the cosmos wheeling overhead. Hawkins has always suffered from an inexplicable excess of backwood roads completely lacking in streetlights of any kind, making for a rare lack of light pollution in this modern world.

Good for stargazing, but bad for walking anywhere after dark.

Where normally you curse the powers that be for its shoddy infrastructure, you’re thankful for the oversight now as you step out onto the shoulder, confident that in the shadows, you will remain blissfully hidden from sight.

Eddie hangs back as you pad carefully to the road and take a good long look in both directions. No impending cars, so far so good. 

Once you’re satisfied that you’re alone, you twist back around to look curiously at him.

“What is this?” you ask.

He’s fidgeting with his rings, twisting the burnished pig’s head back and forth over his middle finger, and you get the sense that he’s not as mad as you’d thought he was. Much more anxious than anything else.

Suddenly you feel rather foolish for being angry at him for nothing at all. 

“Remember back in ‘83?” He begins quietly, sounding almost shy, “When you were driving me around ‘cause the van died and I couldn’t afford to get it fixed?”

You nod, because of course, you do. You cherish those days. 

Those first few tentative weeks you spent driving around with Eddie Munson in your passenger seat, flipping through your cassettes, messing with your rearview mirror, trading a hundred and one inane questions in an attempt to get to know each other better — you remember the thrill of scandal, how anyone could have looked in and seen the two of you together, going along almost conspiratorially.

You know for certain that you would have been the talk of the town had anyone cared to notice, but the good thing about being more or less an invisible person was how you could get away with something like quietly falling into step with Eddie Munson without anyone batting an eye.

By the time someone thought to check in on you, the two of you were already attached at the hip, and there was nothing to be done about it.

You wouldn’t have it any other way.

Eddie gestures to the spot at the side of the road.

“Time’s stuck down there. It’s still November ‘83,”

You pull a face, wondering idly if he can even see you at this distance. 

“Yeah, I’m still having trouble with that one.” You tease, skipping back across the gravel to close the gap between you and Eddie. 

He remains unamused by the levity of your mood – contrary to what you’d almost fooled yourself into believing, this is, in fact, not a romantic jaunt in the moonlight, and Serious Eddie has come out to play.   

“Pay attention,” He presses, “This is important.”

You can’t help but roll your eyes – where had you heard that before?

“Important like that story about the raccoon?” Your attempt at humor falls flat and Eddie gives you a stony look – Serious Eddie is no fun, but you relent and raise your hands defensively, “Okay, you’re right, I’m sorry… so, time’s stuck. What does that mean exactly?”

It’s a subtle change, but you watch his shoulders drop as a little bit more of that lingering tension from back in the RV eases out of him. 

“It means,” He says, “That the van’s gonna be sitting right here,”

You follow the motion when he points you back to the shoulder of the road, and you stand trying to imagine the big-bodied vehicle sitting there like a crouching beast, the way you’ve seen hundreds of times before. 

“…and?” You prompt, stretching the word lyrically as you turn on your heel to face him again, gently urging him to get to the point. 

It’s nearly pitch black now, and the others will be expecting you back. The last thing you need is Steve getting his panties in a twist and sending out a search party.  

“And… if something happens – if things go wrong and you can’t make it back, I want you to go for the van.” Eddie says solemnly, reaching down and taking your hand, “Shut the doors and barricade yourself inside. You’ll be safe there until I can come and get you.” 

You feel your face pull into a frown. 

“That’s not part of the plan.” You tell him, gently admonishing him for trying to change things in secret. 

Eddie heaves another one of those world weary sighs and shakes his head, messy curls dancing silver in the moonlight across the broad stretch of his shoulders.

“Fuck the plan.” He bites. “It’s a stupid plan.” 

You open your mouth to protest such a dismissal — it’s the only plan you’ve got — but he’s quick to continue before you can get a word in edgewise. 

“Look, I’m not gonna sit here and try to convince you not to do this – you’re so goddamn stubborn, we’ll be here all night – but I am gonna do everything I can to make sure you’ll be safe when things go wrong.”

“None of us can afford that luxury…”

He shakes his head.

“I don’t want to fight about it. Steve’s right. We’ve gotta make sure we’ve got our bases covered, including but not limited to the worst-case scenario.”

Which is to say in the event that everything goes horribly wrong and the monsters eat you alive and Vecna destroys the world.

Or maybe just in case the inevitability that you realize you’re not a track star and this being an impossible thing you’re trying to accomplish catches up to you.

How fast can you run? More importantly, how long can you keep up a sprint like that?

The answer is not something you’re expressly sure you’re ready to consider, but of course Eddie has to consider those possibilities — he’s a cynic.

Bad news first, always. Lucky for the both of you, you’ve always been more of an optimist.

“It’s a little over a mile from the Creel place to home,” Eddie says, and you glance reflexively down at your watch, conveniently forgetting that you’d given it to Steve before you left.

You give a lopsided shrug to try and mask the motion.

“Steve said ten minutes… I can totally do that.” 

Eddie frowns. 

“You think so?” 

No, you really don’t, but you’re not about to let him know that because if you do you’ll never hear the end of it. So instead, you offer a vague gesture that you hope is at least half as casual as you mean for it to be. It doesn’t feel like a successful move. 

“Yeah,” You say, your voice squeaks out an octave higher than normal, and you press your lips into a tight line against how scared you suddenly sound, “Sure, why not?” 

Because you’re not a track star? Because you’d nearly killed yourself just jogging across town less than three days ago and now you’re out here pretending like you’re some kind of Olympic gold medalist preparing for the hundred-yard dash?

Eddie gives you a hard, indiscernible look that makes your insides squirm. Somehow you know he can see right through the bullshit coating to your gooey, terrified center.

You watch as he searches your face for the answer to an unknowable question, and you see a quick flash of the feeling you’d only just managed to suppress. It’s brief, but it’s clear as day, illuminating his features like a bolt of lightning in the distance. 

Doubt. 

You know he’d never say so, but he clearly doesn’t think you can do this. Usually that would have been enough to stir up some kind of violent indignation in you, but suddenly you’re not entirely sure you can do this either.

Sure, you’d done your fair share of sprints in gym class, but this isn’t jogging a twelve-minute mile just to scrape by with a passing grade, this isn’t even making a mad dash from the boat house to the woods to try and escape Jason and the others – which had failed miserably, as Eddie had so graciously pointed out to you. 

This is running as hard and fast as you can until your body is pumping battery acid and your legs threaten to buckle beneath you. It’s running for your goddamn life and the lives of everyone else involved. 

If you don’t make it, no one does, so no pressure, right? 

“How far did you say it was?” You squeak, swallowing hard to try and conceal the tremble in your voice. 

“A mile…”  Eddie says, “Maybe closer to two.” 

Well, shit.

Still, you scoff and dismiss the notion with a wave.

“Easy peasy–” You lie. 

He shakes his head and chides your flippancy with a gravelly utterance of your name, which you candidly ignore.

“–lemon squeezy.”

Eddie says your name again, harsher this time, and grabs you by the arm in an effort to try and bring you back down to earth from the cloud of your delusions, but a sudden flash of lights stops your arguing before it can begin again.

Headlights on the road warn you of the car coming around the bend and send your heart rocketing up into your throat. 

Eddie swears harshly under his breath and takes your hand as you scramble back toward the treeline. 

He pulls you down into the underbrush and you don’t even mind the way your hip lights up in pain as you land awkwardly, holding your breath as you watch the pickup come into view.

It rolls down the road at a glacial pace, adorned with four angry floodlights that illuminate your little copse of woods and briefly blind you.

Through the spots and colors dancing across your vision, you can only just make out the handful of bodies stuffed into the cab, two more kneeling in the truck bed with roving flashlights in one hand and guns in the other.

Christ, they’ve got guns…  

You sink a little lower and move instinctually closer to Eddie as if somehow you’ll be able to shield him from them if it comes to it. As if your fragile, fleshy visage would do anything to protect him if they came out guns blazing.

Smarter than trying to make a human shield out of yourself would be to run, but could either of you really outrun a truck if your lives depended on it?

Not likely.

It makes you wonder how you ever expect to outrun these supposed giant vampire bats… 

You suddenly feel trapped, like a rabbit, crouched and shaking in the underbrush under the threat of baying hounds, watching with wide unblinking eyes until the truck has passed on and the crunch and pop of tires on pavement fades into the night.

When it’s finally gone, you do your best to breathe deep against the stinging adrenaline coursing through your veins like a swarm of angry hornets, but suddenly your chest feels impossibly tight. 

Steve was right, this was not a very smart thing for you to do and it's well past time you ought to be getting back. 

Before you can think to say something, you feel Eddie’s touch as he guides you to look at him with a kind pressure on your jaw. You let him turn you and as you stare back into those big, sad eyes of his, you can’t help but feel a cold wave of doubt bleed into you.

How the hell are you going to do this? How could you be stupid enough to volunteer in the first place and why’d you put up such a fight about it?

What’s going to happen when you let everyone down?

You’re all going to get yourselves killed, that’s what.  

For a moment, it’s all you can do to keep yourself together as you surge forward without thinking, nestling into the crook of his neck and his welcoming embrace. You sigh under the press of his arms as he pulls you close.

You take a handful of deep, staccato breaths, breathing him in and filling your head with the heady musk of everything that is wholly Eddie — sweat and smoke and sandalwood.  

It takes you half a minute to stop shaking, and half a minute more before you feel whole enough to emerge. You offer him a weak smile when you do.

Eddie tucks a loose strand of hair behind your ear and grips your shoulders firm enough that you’re half inclined to think you might bruise.

“Listen to me. Nobody needs you to be the hero here, okay?” he tells you, giving you a gentle shake for good measure. “You’ve already done enough, you don’t have to do this,”

You, in turn, reach up to bracket his face. He leans into it in a way you must think is instinctual at this point, and when your grip slides down to frame his neck, gracing the columns of his throat, you think for a moment you might kiss him, and if you don’t he’ll certainly kiss you. 

Oh, how you wish he would. 

Your eyes dart southward to regard the pillowy softness of his lips, cracked and chapped as they are, and you try to believe his words, despite how patently untrue they are — he still needs you.

“Everybody’s counting on me, Eds.” You hum, then tear your gaze up and away to meet his.

You watch as something flashes across his eyes, an indiscernible look that is tinged with an unmistakable sadness.  

“Then promise me you’ll go for the van if you don’t think you’re gonna make it, okay?… Sweetheart, please… just do this one thing for me.”

You don’t answer, because you’re not entirely sure you can make that promise. 

His expression softens and he breathes out a shaky, uneven breath, shoulders sagging as he tilts forward and presses his forehead to yours. 

“What you said back at Rick’s goes both ways, you know?” He murmurs, “…I can’t lose you either… Not again.” 

Your heart swells and thumps heavily against your ribs. 

“What are you getting at, Munson?” You tease, because it’s all you can do to keep your emotions from bubbling up. “Spit it out.”

Eddie shakes his head, looking positively miserable as he speaks. 

“I love you.” He says, “More than anything – more than everything, and I can’t … Jesus Christ, I’m so scared something’s going to happen and I won’t be there to save you…” 

The sound tumbles out over your lips before you’re even aware of it bubbling up inside of you.

You giggle, and Eddie jerks back from you like the sound had jumped out and snapped at him.

You can’t help it, but it doesn’t make you feel any less guilty to see the hurt look he gives you, like a freshly kicked puppy.

You’re not laughing at him, per se, but you can understand how it might seem like you are. Nobody likes to be reminded of their shortcomings, so you’re quick to correct yourself.

“Oh, Eddie…” you sigh, smiling sweetly at him in the hopes it will ease the sting of what you’re about to say, “I love you, but this isn't the kind of thing you can save me from.”  

It shouldn’t be startling, because it’s true. He'd said it himself, this is a suicide mission at its very best.

What is startling is the way Eddie reacts to hearing you say it, physically recoiling like you’d reached out with the sentiment and slapped him across the face.

“What did you just say?” Eddie gasps.

Suddenly he’s as serious as a heart attack and you’re worried you’ve misread the room. It leaves you reeling.

“...You can't save me?” You squeak out, half afraid of the hurt the statement is going to cause him if you ram it down his throat, despite how maddeningly true it is.

If things go as bad as he expects them to — which, to be quite honest, they very likely will — you don't expect Eddie is going to be able to pull you out of the frying pan, or the fire that follows, no matter how badly he wants to.

Still, his eyes grow bright and he shakes his head violently, sending his curls flying out in all directions.

His voice is tiny as he speaks. 

“No ... before that." He says. "... you said you love me."

You blink back at him in a way you imagine must look owlish and quite stupid, and you watch as he grows strangely shy.

It only serves to deepen your confusion.

"...Did you mean that?" Eddie asks tentatively.

You don't answer right away, though not because you don't, only because the question is startling and you don't expressly know what to say.

The silence that hangs between you is charged and infinite, and suddenly you’ve left the question unanswered too long.

You watch as something akin to disappointment shadows his features. He sighs and pushes up from your hiding spot in the underbrush, and stalks away out toward the road.

It occurs to you much too late that a stunned silence was perhaps not the best way to answer that question, but it had been jarring at worst and deeply confusing at best.

Of course you love him. You feel it so fully with every particle of your being that at times you feel like it’s going to tear you apart, even now after all this time when things ought to have evened out between you.

You’ve certainly told him as much often enough that you’ve worried in the past that the words are losing meaning … how could he think that you don’t?

When was the last time you told him? Surely, out in the field? …No? Well, you definitely told him back in the clearing in the woods after he told you that stupid story and set your hand? Then again maybe not… Back at Rick’s place? No, that was him…

Your heart drops into your stomach as the truth dawns on you.  

Oh shit... you haven’t told him.

How could you have not told him?

You scramble to your feet and nearly topple over in your mad attempt to get through the underbrush to follow him.

“Eddie, wait–” You start, taking clumsy steps toward him before he staves off your progress with a wave of his hand.

“Look, it’s fine, okay? I know you don’t feel the same way, but I don’t want you to say it if it’s not true.” He says, "I don't need you placating me just so I won't have hurt feelings or something—"

“Who says I don’t?” You demand.

It stops him in his tracks.

"What's that mean?" Eddie asks moodily.

"Who says I don't feel the same way?" You say a little slower, putting precise diction into each word, and spelling it out for him on the off chance that there has been a sudden and rapid decrease in IQs out here on the road.

The effect misses its mark. He just stares back at you, bewilderment etching a mask into his features so deep, you wonder idly if you’re ever going to see him make another expression again.

A sticky silence bleeds between you as you both wait for the other to speak.

Finally, you throw up your hands in frustration as you realize that between the two of you, you're the one who has suddenly become exceedingly goddamn stupid.

How could you have let Eddie go on thinking you didn't love him? What were you thinking? Nothing at all, apparently. You are a mean and foolish girl, and you cannot believe how incredibly careless you've been.

“I love you, Eddie," You start, "I’ve always loved you, from the moment I met you. That didn’t stop just because you got in your head and decided you weren’t good enough for me or whatever it was… I loved you even when I hated you … I mean — God — I always thought we were gonna get out of Hawkins and get a little place somewhere together... I thought we were gonna…" You roll your eyes and suppress the urge to hide your face then, gesturing vaguely to try and cover the color creeping up your neck, “...you know… get married and stuff…”

You try to imagine how your old friends would have reacted to hear you admit that. How stunned they would have been to find you when you still belonged to them, already daydreaming about wedding bells and little chapels, secretly scrawling your name sandwiched between Mrs. Munson all over your notebooks.

It’s embarrassing, but it doesn’t make it any less true.

It’s part of what had made the breakup so goddamn hard — you hadn’t seen it coming, you’d fully expected to spend the rest of your lives together.

Eddie makes a choked sound that is somewhere caught halfway between a scoff and something harsher. He blinks back the wetness suddenly brimming in his eyes as he reaches up to rub a calloused hand at the back of his neck. 

“Guess I really went and fucked that up for you, huh?” He sniffs. 

You shrug.

“Who says?” You ask, and when Eddie rolls his eyes, you double down, “Nothing’s changed, Eds—”

“Everything’s changed.” He stresses, stalking back across the clearing to close the gap between you, "How can you say that after all the shit I said ... everything I did? Everything is changed."

Suddenly you’re standing toe to toe, just like you had all those months back in front of the trailer, last summer. 

Somehow the roles feel reversed now as you meet his watery gaze and feel the looming threat of the same choice hanging above your head like a guillotine.

He's right. Everything has changed, but who says you have to accept that? You know he would take it back if he could — the terrible choice he’d made — so who says you have to make the same mistake here and now?

You know better.

You shake your head and watch something akin to terror flash briefly across Eddie’s face at the prospective rejection.

How pleased you are to be able to prove him wrong.

“Not for me,” You say matter-of-factly, “I still love you.” 

Like breaking the surface, he breathes out harshly through his nose and his shoulders sag under the effort of it.

“...You do?” Eddie asks, painfully hopeful, boyish even. 

You can’t help the way your face begins to split into a slow, delighted grin. Finally, you get to mend something that is broken rather than being the one who broke it in the first place.

You nod. 

“I do.”

“...Say it again.” He pleads, eyes flashing with strange and wild desperation, despite the way he’s begun to mirror your smile even before you say it.

You love him and he knows it, he has to know it. 

“I love you,” You repeat, reaching up to curl your fingers around his biceps and giving him a gentle shake for good measure, “Even though you’re a big stupid jerk.”  

He breathes out a wet, shaky laugh and suddenly he looks so fragile you can’t help but pull him a little closer.

Before you can admonish him for being so foolish as to think anything otherwise, his hands come up to frame your face, and he presses a searing kiss to your lips. It steals your breath and your eyes roll shut without your prompting.

You barely have time to process that you really ought not to be doing this so exposed, as chaste as the little kisses he’s begun peppering your face with are. He kisses you again and again, like he physically could not stop himself from kissing you if he tried.

You don’t think he’s trying very hard.

You’re in danger of being seen, standing so close to the road like this. Still, each gentle press of his lips is punctuated with a shaky utterance of his gratitude, blessing you for the reciprocation of the feeling, like he’s been holding his breath just waiting to hear you say it. 

He pulls back a moment to stare reverently at you, searching your features like he's trying to commit them to memory.

You don't let him go very far, clinging to him like you're afraid you'll lose him if you let him go.

"You love me?" he says breathlessly, less a question than a statement of fact.

He nods slowly to prompt you to do the same, and you obey, but he hardly lets you.

Any need to hear you say it again is evidently superseded by the need to keep kissing you, this time it is a hard, wet thing pressed so forcefully to your lips you can hardly move against it.

A peal of joyful laughter bubbles up out of you and you love, love, love.

You feel the curl of his mouth as Eddie kisses you again, muffling the sound with his lips and pulling you that much tighter against him, tight enough that you finally feel him slip back into place to fill the hole he’d left in you last summer, and for the first time in almost a year, everything is right. It fills you with joy.

Blinding, unadulterated, stupefying joy. 

It’s almost enough to make you forget the danger looming, and how once you turn around and head back to rejoin the others, you’ll very likely be going to your deaths… 

[aemiron-main]

A Lumberjack: Brenner and Beorn vs Brenner as a Shapeshifter/Doppelganger

So, I just think it's interesting that Brenner was originally supposed to be dressed like a lumberjack, but Modine insisted on changing his costume:

I think this is interesting because I think it ties into the idea of Brenner being a shapeshifter/him being a shapeshifter/Doppelganger being part of his character from the very start.

But how does it tie in? Well.

The first thing we need to keep in mind is that The Hobbit is a very big source of inspiration for ST- not only are all of the Hobbit movies on the S4 board:

But The Hobbit is also specifically referenced in S1, with things like Will's password to Castle Byers being "Radagast":

And the road Will went missing on being nicknamed "Mirkwood" (and Dustin even namedropping The Hobbit):

Which, speaking of Mirkwood, that now brings us to Beorn (who lived outside of Mirkwood/on the outskirts of Mirkwood) and how The Hobbit connects to Brenner, the Demogorgon, and shapeshifting. So, Beorn was a shapeshifter- specifically, a shapeshifter that resembled a lumberjack, but then could shapeshift into a bear:

Which brings us back to what I said about Brenner being described as resembling a lumberjack initially- and then also brings us to the Demgoorgon being mistaken for a bear/compared to a bear:

And this also brings us to this post that I made about Brenner being the actual Demogorgon/Richard and Martin being meant to represent the two heads of the DND Demogorgon, versus the S1 Demogorgon being a parallel to a DND Doppelganger/having shapeshifting abilities versus the Demogorgon in S1 being mistaken for a bear/compared to a bear.

Long story short: Brenner's totally some sort of shapeshifter/Doppelganger, and I think that him being pitched as a lumberjack initially was meant to be a reference to Beorn, and I think that the connection between the Demogorgon and bears is also referencing Beorn and hinting at the idea that the "Demogorgon" is a shapeshifter, and then like I already said, the connection between Brenner and Beorn ties together Brenner and the Demogorgon.

[givehimthemedicine]

Big Analysis Part 1

Gates, Demogorgons, and Tunnels

[ Part 2 ]

My attempt to iron out explanations for a variety of how-and-when type questions pertaining to.. well, it's there in the title. this is super long, but I really hope you take a look because I think I've got viable explanations if not The Answer for a lot of big questions.

Topics:

The difference between gates and portals

Is the demogorgon Henry?

Is S1, S3, S4 all the same demogorgon?

Why no more portals since S1?

Is Dart the slug Will coughed up?

Where was the demogorgon for seasons 2 & 3?

How the Russians captured the democreatures & particles

How did Dart get in Dustin's trash?

What's the deal with the tunnels? is that the UD?

The significance of the library in the UD

Why do some gates close and others spread?

Theory about the mothergate

Theory about it was a seven / 8:15

this post deals mostly with the literal and not so much predictions/symbolism/character analysis type stuff, but a few topics in the second half start to form theories that flirt with potential spoiler territory, so if you prefer to be surprised about the subject of Will's vanishing in s5, probably don't read.

these sections are ordered to build logic and Realizations as you read straight through, so although I tried to make it browsable, it REALLY makes more sense if you read all of it.

1. Gates and portals

distinguishing gates from portals is not at all my idea, but let me nail down the differences between them because it's super important for the logic of this entire analysis.

both are doorways into the other dimension, both are separated by a goopy pink membrane, but their other qualities aren't consistent. besides who made them and from which direction, some have vines coming out, some don't. some leave no trace, others do.

here's a list of all the different holes I can think of and different qualities they have.

grey is for things we weren't shown, but I filled in based on the logic of the rest and the fact that if it was otherwise somebody would've mentioned it.

so here's the distinction I'm making for the rest of the post:

GATES are opened by humans. they have vines and may be inclined to close or spread, but when they do close, they leave scars:

list of what I consider gates:

'79 in the rainbow room

'83 in the lab (the mothergate)

'83 in the classroom

'84 in Russia just for a minute

'85 under Starcourt

'86 Chrissy, Fred, Patrick, Max gates

most of these are explicitly referred to as "gates" on the show. "door" is also used sometimes to mean gate by both Henry and Alexei.

*vines are always characteristic of gates with the single exception that I'm not certain we saw any in the Starcourt one. it's clearly a legit gate - closing it makes the monster die. I guess it would have vines but doesn't yet, because Alexei says it's not open but openING. I'll remind you when this becomes relevant.

**it looks most logically consistent to me to say that gates always leave scars, but we were never actually shown what either of the laser gates looked like after closing.

PORTALS are small holes opened by the demogorgon which never have vines, always close up pretty quickly, and never leave a trace. list of what I consider portals:

the Byers living room wall, living room floor, living room ceiling, Will's room wall, hallway floor

the Nancy tree where the demogorgon yoinks the deer

the school hallway

the wall in the shed where Will got yoinked

the ceiling of the Lab elevator where the scientist got yoinked

the pool where Barb got yoinked

I can't remember anybody on ST ever referring to one of the temporary holes opened by the demogorgon as "a gate", even though they never explicitly discuss a difference either.

in contrast to gate scars, they make a point of showing that no trace is left behind when portals heal.

"but wait, the demogorgon is totally Henry, doesn't that throw off the data in your stupid little chart?"

no, not the way I understand Henry to "be" the demogorgon. I'll explain more in Is the demogorgon Henry?, but I believe all these portals are being, in deed though not in purpose, opened by the actual demogorgon.

"but wait, what about the time Will opened that portal in the wall??"

no he did not. that was the hole where the demogorgon came through to attack Joyce before - Will found it just before it finished healing.

now, one more huge thing: gates enable portals to be opened.

where am I getting this?

well, if Henry can make a demogorgon open a portal to yoink Will in 1983... why wouldn't he have just done that in 1979? why Henry's whole thing about needing El to open a gate for him, if portals are a thing?

just think: Will got taken when the mothergate opened, but he wasn't taken through the mothergate. the demogorgon didn't grab him in the shed, drag him 2 miles down the road, in the front door of Hawkins Lab, down the elevator [Will and the demogorgon awkwardly listening to elevator music], through the mothergate, back through the Upside Down version of all that backwards, all the way back to his house where they started. no, Will was taken right through a portal in the shed to the UD shed. so what did the gate even have to do with it?

the fact that the demogorgon never opened any portals until immediately after the opening of the mothergate tells us that it couldn't until then.

2. Is the demogorgon Henry?

for sure. but in what sense is critically important. I can think of three ways that we could say Henry "is" the demogorgon:

Henry shapeshifting? This doesn't work for me because I don't think Henry can shapeshift. I don't think what he does to Max in s4 is literally, physically changing his appearance, but rather changing Max's perception of his appearance, like what Kali can do.

and even if he could shapeshift, I don't think that explains what's going on. like wearing an Eleven Halloween costume doesn't grant you telekinesis, Henry shapeshifting as a demogorgon would not personally gain its abilities. and the demogorgon must have abilities Henry doesn't, otherwise he wouldn't need to involve it at all.

Henry tricking observers into perceiving him as a demogorgon? Nah. it showed up in Jonathan's candid photo.

Henry puppeting an actual demogorgon is the only way that makes sense. I believe the demogorgon of s1 is an actual demogorgon that Henry is controlling after possessing it with the Mind Flayer, just like he did to Will.

we see the Henrygorgon open portals a bunch of times, so by whose ability is this happening: the demogorgon, Henry, or the Mind Flayer?

it can't be Henry, because if Henry could open portals himself, he wouldn't need the demogorgon. and it can't be the Mind Flayer, because again, why involve the demogorgon.

portaling can only be the demogorgon's ability, and that's why it's very important that the Henrygorgon is physically a legit demogorgon that's taking orders from Henry, and not somehow Henry in disguise.

"but wait, if portaling is an inherent demogorgon ability, why hasn't the demogorgon been terrorizing Hawkins since forever?"

because you gotta have a gate in order to open portals, and there wasn't a gate open long enough for it to come through until 1983.

3. Is s1, s3, and s4 the same demogorgon?

No.

the one El dispatches in s1 is all burnt because of Nancy & co setting it on fire, but the s3 postcredits one has pristine skin. s1 and s3 are different individuals.

the s3 and s4 look very different, but this dialogue in Hopper's last supper scene explains how they're the same one:

You know why they feed captive predators live prey? Because if they don't, the predator gets bored and stops eating. It needs the thrill of the hunt. And this food isn't to make us strong. It's to make us plump. So we're full of the nutrients and protein that a growing monster might need.

in the s3 postcredits we see them feed a captive prisoner to it, and that's why it's skinny - it's bored. in 4, now that it's been hunting prey that can fight back, it's filled out, muscular, battle scarred. it's so buff Mike would have a poster of it if only it had nipples.

4. Why haven't there ever been any more portals since season 1, if demogorgons and gates are still both a thing?

I first theorized that the demogorgon's ability to open portals gets switched on when at least one gate to our world is open, and off when none are. but if that was it, then the Russian demogorgon should have started portaling all over the prison the moment Chrissy died. I had to get up and take a walk because this ruined my whole thing, but I think I've got it now.

the answer is in the very first scene of the show.

the scientist comes fleeing out from the gate room. but then the thing he's running from is somehow ahead of him, already in the elevator.

to pop out into the RU elevator, the demogorgon had to come from the UD. but we know it was in the RU once already before that, because it already scared the scientist. so how'd it get to the RU that time? it could not have come through a portal to the RU straight from its eternity in the UD, otherwise it would've been doing that since forever.

it's a chicken/egg situation that's only solved by the demogorgon coming in originally through the gate.

Brenner goes down to look at the gate, some guy says "is this where it came from?" and he says "Yes." why TELL us that? the audience can't just see "gaping eldritch hellhole" and "monster on the loose" and put two and two together? this must be REALLY important to be so underlined.

it is. they're showing us that the demogorgon became able to open portals between the UD/RU not just by virtue of the gate existing, but by coming in through it.

the Chrissy gate didn't make the Russian demogorgon able to open portals because it didn't come in through Chrissy's gate. more on that later.

5. Is Dart the slug Will coughed up?

definitely not. those things grow up very quickly, in a matter of days. Dustin found Dart as a pollywog almost an entire year after Will coughed up the slug so there's no way it's the same one.

6. Where was the demogorgon for seasons 2 and 3?

the Henrygorgon of season 1 is either dead or minding its own business in the Upside Down. I don't think it's dead because the same treatment didn't kill Henry.

"but wait, the mothergate was still open, if the Henrygorgon wasn't dead why didn't it just come right back in?"

the process of dematerializing it could also have exorcised it of the MF, so that it was no longer the Henrygorgon. or maybe Henry just didn't want to do season 1 all over again after he already got his ass kicked.

so if season 1's demogorgon is retired, where's the Russian one been during seasons 2 and 3? :)

you know how I said the Russian demogorgon isn't able to open portals because it never came in through Chrissy's gate? well, it never came in through any gate.

how could a demogorgon possibly get to the Rightside Up WITHOUT passing through a gate? there's only one way.

being born on this side.

:) :) :)

The Russian demogorgon is the slug Will coughed up.

"but wait, those slugs grow up to be demodogs, not demogorgons!" they're factually the same animal. here's an interview detailing the creative process for all its life stages from slug to demogorgon, in which ST's VFX supervisor states that the demodog is, quote, "an adolescent model of the Demogorgon."

I'm not saying "wouldn't that be a hoot," I'm saying it can't be any other way. the Russian demogorgon can't be the original one, because it isn't burnt. there were manymany demogorgons born in season 2 (Dart & friends) but it can't be one of them because they all died when El closed the gate. some demogorgons were born at the end of season 1, but all except one were born in the UD where their hosts died (we'll talk about this later), and aren't in play. that leaves only one unaccounted for.

Will coughed it up and it went down the sink, into the sewers of Hawkins. over a matter of days it matured into a demodog and started digging the tunnels of season 2.

7. How the Russians captured the democreatures and particles

Enzo tells Hopper that he's "heard rumors of a monster from America" and in season 3 Erica looks at a steel cage in the Russian bunker and says: "Hey Dustin, how big did you say that demogorgon was?" this spells out for us that the Russian demogorgon was captured in Hawkins and transported to Russia.

this is another reason the Russian demogorgon has to be Will's, and not merely one of Dart's generation that was allowed to grow up instead of being put into suspended animation in those tanks - they want us to know the Russians caught a demogorgon that was already an adult.

I think this is why they made a point of the Starcourt gate being "openING" instead of open - to rule out the possibility that a new demogorgon came in.

since the Russians never opened a gate long/big enough for any democreatures to come through, the demodogs had to be sourced from Hawkins also.

I figure the Russians captured them both underneath Hawkins in season 2.

"but wait, underground Russians were a 3 thing, not a 2 thing!"

you know how long it takes to move that much earth? to have that humongous underground fortress finished and functional by season 3, the Russians had to be well underway during 2. the scene of the failed Russian gate which necessitates them trying again in Hawkins is set in June '84 (that's between 1 and 2). they could have started any time from then on.

In 3x4, we see Hopper look at some land deeds - the people who own Starcourt (Russians) buying up farmland because they "want to expand" - dated 11/13/84. for context, that's like a week after El closed the gate in season 2. the Russians built Starcourt in 1984 to conceal their real construction project, the underground fortress.

so in the process of digging sometime between July-October of 1984 while the mothergate was still open, the Russians must have run into those tunnels that ran all underneath Hawkins. and at that time, the tunnels contained the adult Will-demogorgon and lots of demodogs. they captured the adult and several juveniles - possibly at younger stages when it would've been easier - and put them into suspended animation. they kept the demogorgon awake, and shipped them all off to Russia, where they started feeding the demogorgon prisoners.

"but wait, the Russian demodogs can't be from the s2 Hawkins batch! they all died when the gate closed!"

hang on, I'm about to explain.

now, how on earth did the Russians capture a hunk of the particles?

I can't think of an easier way to capture it than packaged neatly in host bodies. the demodogs the Russians captured were possessed,

"hold it right there, how'd they capture possessed demodogs? wouldn't they just portal away? wouldn't they be all rabid and invincible?" juvenile demogorgons aren't able to open portals. if they could, Dart would've escaped Dustin's cellar that way. and possession doesn't make demogorgons of any age invincible, it just controls them mentally. demogorgons can take 900000 bullets because they're just like that, possessed or not. strong skin or something. but juveniles aren't so tough yet - see Hopper taking out several of them with 1 shot apiece as El closes the gate.

anyway, they took a handful of possessed demodogs back to the facility in Russia and burnt the MF out of them, trapping their combined particles in that holding tank, and then placing the exorcised dogs into suspended animation.

the Russians definitely know about he-likes-it-cold. it's how they're keeping the swirling particles contained behind glass: they've got the area outside its holding tank surrounded with heating elements. it isn't captive because it can't break glass, it's captive because it doesn't want to go toward the heat.

this explains how these several captive demodogs don't drop dead as a result of gates closing: not just because they're in suspended animation, but because they're no longer possessed at the time the gates close.

think of Will in season 2 - they had to hold off closing the mothergate until they burned the MF out of him, otherwise as a part of the army, Will would have died along with all the demodogs.

see, the "democreatures all dropping dead when a gate closes" thing isn't because the creatures just inherently die of homesickness or something, it's because they're almost always possessed by the MF, and the MF is what "dies" (falls down inert) when gates are closed. if the MF "died" while inside Will, Will would have died, but exorcised Will survived the closing of the mothergate just fine, and so did these demodogs. in fact, the exact piece of the MF that was in Will was the piece that was in the flesh monster, and it did "die" when the Starcourt gate closed, which made the monster die.

s4 spells out for us that demodogs/gorgons can and do get possessed by the MF exactly how Will did (the dying Russian guard says that "the shadow went into them"), confirming for us the mechanism for s1's Henrygorgon.

we know the demodogs aren't still possessed while in suspended animation because the shadow wouldn't need to go into them if it was already in them.

"but wait, are we sure those demodogs were possessed in the first place if they were born in the tunnels and not in the actual UD? how did the MF get to them?"

they definitely were possessed because they acted as a part of the hive mind, but I am a bit shaky on how. my best explanation right now is that since the tunnels went right up to the mothergate, the MF could reach into the RU tunnels like it reached through when El was closing the gate, or the demodogs passed freely in and out of the gate and got possessed while in the UD.

8. How did Dart get in Dustin's trash?

my best guess on this one is disappointingly mundane. I saw that shot of Hopper seeing the dead raccoon in the tunnels, and I thought, how about if a raccoon was rooting around in Dustin's trash and coughed up a slug?

this led me down a much more important avenue of thought: where all those demodogs came from. by season 2 there are a LOT. I'd say 20-30 just in that one shot of them falling dead in droves when El closes the gate.

while we do have one demogorgon in play at this time, demogorgons themselves can't reproduce as far as we know. those slugs are planted by a vine.

live bodies are needed to incubate those slugs, but Hawkins is a small town and dozens more disappearances would've surely been mentioned. how then?

animals. Will's demogorgon yoinked any number of animals from the woods to host those slugs, and the slugs soon grew into demodogs which fed on their hosts' bodies.

only they weren't yoinked to the UD, but to the tunnels. that's what that area littered with bones was were Hopper got trapped, the place he called the "graveyard". a demogorgon nursery.

9. What's the deal with the tunnels?

the tunnels act as sort of a bridge area between the RU and the UD.

it's physically the RU, but so heavily infiltrated by the vines and spores due to proximity to the gate that it's functionally the UD. (like how vines and spores spread a little ways into the Lab through the gate, hence hazmat suits needed to even approach it).

it can't be the actual UD, because the hole Hopper digs through to access it doesn't act like a gate/portal. if the tunnels were the UD, if Hopper was even able to break through with his shovel (which humans can't do), he would have fallen into a gravity-reversed UD copy of that pumpkin field. instead, he broke through to a physical tunnel in the dirt.

10. The significance of the library in the Upside Down

ok this is one of my hair twirlingest sections in the whole thing

you know when Will pointed out that spot in the tunnels, and said it was important and the Mind Flayer didn't want him to see there?

and Hopper saw on the soldiers' video feed that they were in "the graveyard," that place Joyce and Bob rescued him from earlier? the demogorgon nursery?

but it turned out Will was just lying about it being important to get those soldiers sent to their deaths?

Will wasn't lying. It really is an important place.

the graveyard is where the ambush happened. and the graveyard is directly underneath the library.

not just because of the X clue, but because, remember how I called the graveyard a demogorgon nursery a minute ago?

and remember what happened to Will in the library?

as above, so below.

the library is the demogorgon nursery of season 1's Upside Down. all six of the yoinked were taken there to get slugged, not just Will.

"but wait, if they were all taken to the library, wouldn't Hopper and Joyce have seen their bodies there?"

they did. people seem to forget.

"but wait, how can Barb be dead in the library if Nancy saw her in Steve's pool in s4?" dead Barb in the pool was a vision Henry gave Nancy to torment her, not current or literal footage.

now check this out.

the Duffers have specifically listed the first Indiana Jones movie as one of their inspirations. remember that scene where they're searching everywhere in that old library for a "ten" marking the location of a tomb? and you know what a roman numeral ten looks like? and Indy finally finds it....

on the floor? and they pull up a tile and drop into a catacombs tunnel full of bones underground beneath the library? that scene sure was neato!!

more X / ten library refs

now remember in the Hopper-stuck-in-the-tunnels part, there's also a moment where he sees a spot of dense vines and tries burning them away and digging his way out? well the vines grow densely like that to cover holes - we saw them quickly grow over and conceal the hole Hopper originally dug into the tunnels. that's why he couldn't find his way out before.

does this not indicate that there was a preexisting but sealed-up hole right there in the graveyard... not another branch of walkable tunnel, but a smaller tunnel leading UP...

to the library??

someone PLEASE Indiana Jones the library floor in s5. it's tile.

"but wait, as far as we know, those tunnels didn't exist until s2, and only demodogs dig, and the only demogorgon in play was already an adult."

right, I am thinking that the slug Will coughed up went on to become the founder of the tunnels, which means that neither the tunnels nor the theoretical library-hole would have existed at the time of the s1 yoinkings.

either Will's demogorgon or any of Dart's friends could've dug the library hole (assuming there wasn't some preexisting ancient tomb under there) but why? why would they need a tunnel from the graveyard to the RU library? and from which direction was it dug? could the five UD demogorgons have dug it down from where they were born in the UD library? I don't think alterations made to the UD affect the RU, but could there be some loophole here given that the tunnels are almost like a bridge dimension? I need to think more.

I'll leave you with this:

remember where Henry found the black widow nest that ended up being his whole life's inspiration? in a vent under the floor in the bathroom? it's giving me Indy under the library floor BIGTIME.

see how the nest is also full of egg sacs? remember how Max stepped on some of those and little baby spiders came out? I just read a little about black window spiders and their egg sacs take about 30 days to hatch. would this be a fun time to mention that Will coughed up that slug 26 days after being rescued? and that Victor Creel said the family had "a month of peace in that house" before the horrors started?

I'm thinking the library was already a significant place for Henry in order for him to take the yoinked there. I'm pretty sure the tunnels were started after the yoinkings, so the graveyard was placed under the library, and not that the library was chosen for being on top of some geographical spot of preexisting importance.

this is where I'll need to hand this topic off to a better analyst because I tend to be too literal, but I think we need to talk about the possibility that something happened to Henry at the library, maybe in the basement. if that's where he took all the yoinked, it must be a significant place for him.

11. Why some gates close and others spread

does the opener of the gate determine its nature? that can't be it. El opened multiple gates that behaved very differently.

the Mothergate started as a crack in a wall and grew enormous. the Lab's controlled burns barely slowed it down its spread. but the rainbow gate was just big enough for Henry and then sealed back up in less than a minute. same with the classroom gate, it sealed up so fast that we didn't even see it.

so what's the difference? why was one huge and spreading and the others small and temporary?

I'm gonna get a little more abstract here than the rest of the post, but bear with me while I take a guess.

the mothergate was created when El made psychic contact with the demogorgon and experienced extreme fear, right? and Chrissy, Fred, Patrick, Max's gates are created when Henry made psychic connections with them and tortured them with fear, despair, hatred, guilt. notice how those are the gates that spread.

the rainbow room gate was created when El overpowered Henry by harnessing her single happy memory of her mother's love. the classroom gate was created when El had such protective love for her new friends that she was willing to sacrifice her life for them.

may I suggest that gate behavior depends on which emotion fuels their opening.

Fear, guilt, bitterness, hate festers. Love heals. but both types of wounds leave scars.

Stranger Things is a live action Monsters Inc

I'll grant you that this symbolism doesn't explain the two gates opened by Russian lasers, but maybe those sidestep the issue due to being artificially created.

anyway if 8-year-old El had successfully overpowered Henry using the power of her sad/angry memories instead of switching to love, that rainbow room gate might have been the spreading sort, the events of 1983/1986 could have happened immediately, and with baby El out of commission, the world would have ended in 1979.

warning - if I'm right at all, we're drifting towards what might be considered spoiler territory for the rest of this.

12. Why did the mothergate open where it did?

when Henry opened gates, they were all formed on the exact spot of the victim's body. and both times El opened gates, they also formed on the exact spot of the victim's body - the wall right behind Henry, and the chalkboard right behind the demogorgon.

if El was the opener of the mothergate, why didn't the gate open right on the "victim" - the demogorgon? and even if we've got it backwards and El is the victim, why didn't the gate open right on her water tank either? Instead of either location, it randomly cracked the wall several feet away.

the boring answer is they probably just hadn't thought out all this gate lore while they were shooting season 1, which was meant to be a standalone with no continuing story.

and while I think that's true to some extent, it doesn't even interfere with the FUN ANSWER, which is:

how about if the mothergate DID form exactly where the "victim" was, and the "victim" was Henry.

Henry, standing in the Upside Down lab during El's Russian spy mission. remembering how she opened a gate in 1979 and trying to recreate it - bracing himself against the nearest wall, knowing that if his plan works, and he can connect with El while she's psychically receptive and get her to experience extreme terror again, another gate will open.

13. It was a seven / 8:15

that seven could be more important than just to show that Will won't lie to Mike.

there are a bunch of other sevens on ST. now, this whole section could be a reach because plenty of them are unrelated, but I can't help notice that a handful of them pertain at least sort of to the bikes/Mike's garage.

"It was a seven"

the 7 on the license plate in the Wheelers' garage

what day does Hopper find Will's bike? the 7th

when the gang has to ride the Wheelers' bikes to Eddie's trailer, he says it's 7 miles away

and if we widen the search to include ones pertaining to DnD, we get a couple more,

Lucas cuts off the thessalhydra's 7 heads at the end of the same campaign

Mike takes 7 points of damage in the s3 DnD campaign

that's like half of the ST "seven" references that I can think of (though I'm sure there are more I've missed) that have some topical overlap with "it was a seven".

PS, the show that's on Ted Wheeler's TV is Knight Rider, and an episode of Knight Rider really did air the night of November 6, 1983. the 7th episode of the season :)

ok, now hold that thought.

s4 Robin says to Nancy, "I know your house is creepily frozen in time, but haven't you always had bikes?" so they take the Wheeler family's bikes to the trailer, and we get one of the coolest cinematic shots in the whole show.

Eddie is on Mike's bike. Nancy is riding her own (unless I'm forgetting, we only ever glimpse it in the garage-bat-practice scene; we know it's hers because it's a girl bike frame). Robin and Steve are on two adult bikes that must be Ted and Karen's.

IF I'm onto something here, this scene came [Vecna voice] so close to the truth, Nancy.

they didn't show us the gang finding and getting on those bikes. they didn't say there were only those four available.

what if I reminded you that we know a specific time frame on Nov 6 1983 - pretty wide time frame actually - when there were more than just four bikes at the Wheeler house.

between roughly 10am-8:15pm, during the ten hour DnD campaign, the party's bikes were there too.

how many bikes does that total? 7.

did I go all that way just for another obscure 7? maybe, but the part that makes me itchy is...

why did s4 have to borderline retcon the idea of Karen and Ted having owned bikes during s1, instead of just putting Steve and Robin on the party's bikes that we saw there canonically? it must be important that they didn't take those specific bikes. hold that thought.

now work with me here...

Will rolled the 7 at 8:15... 7 bikes at 8:15...

this ties in with my eightfifteengate hunch: 8:15pm is the exact time at which the Upside Down is frozen.

IF the 7 bikes thing is important, the Upside Down couldn't be frozen any later than 8:15pm, because the party went home right after Will rolled the seven, so any time after that there wouldn't be 7 bikes there anymore.

now, what doubt I have about the scenario I'm about to pitch isn't at all because it isn't feasible, but because the optics are delightfully goofy depending what we imagine Henry looks like in 1983.

I don't have a solid map of Hawkins, but I know the Lab and Will's house are closer together than Mike's house is from either of them. and our first two sightings of the demogorgon are at Hawkins Lab and then in the road near Will's house. Mike's house would've been significantly out of the way for a stop in between.

what if.... the demogorgon didn't stalk Will home. the lights flickering in Mike's garage? what if that was Henry himself.

I know, that immediately creates a problem: if Henry's at Mike's house, how could he be at Will's house in time for the vanishing? he can't teleport. Will's biking at a fair pace and even raced Dustin part of the way - Henry would have to haul ass the entire way?

you know what means of transportation is available that goes at least as fast as Will's bike?

Will's bike. the upside down one.

THIS is a scenario where it gets important for there to be 7 bikes. for Steve and Robin to have taken Ted and Karen's instead of party bikes.

if the UD is frozen at a time when there are >4 bikes in the garage - and we're certain it was that way at 8:15 btw - Henry could've taken Will's, Lucas's, or Dustin's bike without screwing up the timeline. so that Nancy, Steve, Robin, and Eddie could walk into the UD garage 2 1/2 years later and still find Mike's, Dustin's, Lucas's, Nancy's, Ted's and Karen's bikes.

Nancy naturally would choose her own. Steve and Robin would probably prefer the adult bikes. and Eddie, the newcomer, takes his pick of the kid bikes.

"but wait lol, if Henry had first pick of all 7 bikes why wouldn't he take one of the adult ones?" because he's a cheeky bitch and it'd be just like him to pick Will's bike? also Ted and Karen don't store their bikes in the garage and Henry didn't have time to go rooting around their shed or wherever they keep them while Will was already starting to pedal away.

PS someone please draw for me: Henry, in full Vecna mode, grumpily riding the only bike left in the garage because the timeline got screwed up: a tiny pink tricycle belonging to Holly Wheeler

anyway, 8:15 being the only moment during that night that they timestamped makes me so suspicious about it, because in order to call back to something later for a Big Reveal, you need to make note of it at the time - just not too noticeably. that's why Karen Wheeler opens the basement door and says "it's fifteen after!" and then they bury the "8" in a separate scene, later, when Joyce and Karen talk on the phone. they really wanted the fact that Will rolled the 7 at 8:15 to be documented but not obvious.

I'm still figuring out actual support for the idea beyond that and bikegate but I will keep these lights up until the day I DIE if there's a chance I can prove the UD is frozen at 8:15.

part 2 soon to follow :)

tagged: @mlchaelwheeler @himynameis4 @steviescrystals @strangertwistoffate

[bylertruther]

for those of you that think will is just a "wrong place at the wrong time, no powers or grand significance at all" character:

how do you explain the inconsistencies surrounding will's disappearance? (no blood, was stalked, predator used telekinesis, predator specifically followed him home from mike's house which isn't near the lab, etc)

how do you explain how will managed to survive hiding out in his upside down house? (the demogorgon knew he was there, it would appear in his spot seconds after he fled, instead of attacking him it would go for joyce whenever he would communicate with her, etc)

how do you explain will's manipulation of the lights and the phone? (there's no way he was able to touch them all, even more impossible that he touched them all at the same time, how did he see the letters on the wall if that was after he was taken, and how did he reach through to a whole other dimension?)

why didn't the demogorgon eat or attack will as it did barb? why was he dragged to the library and found entirely intact with not even a scratch on him? every other victim has their body mangled and contorted, but again will is given special treatment. why?

why do you think will was chosen afterward to be the only survivor in henry's new world if your beliefs suggest he's of no use to him?

if henry wanted access to the lab or some other big obstacle in his plans, why not possess someone with access? why not possess a scientist, world leader, or anyone else? why will? why did he choose will in november and then go back for him again if he's not integral to his grand plan?

why is will still psychically connected to henry, as he always has been even before the mind flayer invaded him, if he isn't important to his plans? hawkins has already fallen, the rifts are wide open, and he's going to have even more of an upper hand once his army marches through them. he stole eleven's power to be able to open those gates, so clearly his use for will isn't that. he opened the door himself and now he's here to complete the second part of his plan. why is will still cursed if he's unimportant? why is will still cursed if he's of no use?

how do you explain away hawkins being stuck on the day that will went missing? why did time stop, according to the duffers? and why do they link this to will, if you believe it's eleven's doing? and how do you explain the clock & time references that have always surrounded him and his story in every single season if it has nothing to do with him? '83 wasn't the first time the door had been opened and it remained open for over a year after that. do you think the duffers are just being silly goofy dudes when they say they're going to explore will's connection to the upside down next season?

if will isn't a part of this and it's all henry and eleven, then why do you think the duffers say that will is going to be a focus next season? why do you think jamie speaks so much of the history henry and will have? what do you think henry still wants with eleven after he said he no longer wants her by his side, already has her powers, and was not defeated by her? why did henry have to wait until mike and will were away to open the gates, but expected eleven to come back and didn’t even care that she would?

if will isn't a focus, then why have henry absorb max into his mind and then show us directly after that will can still feel him and is still connected to him? why remind us of our spy on the inside if he's just... not relevant to the plot like that?

why did they make henry and will perfect foils in every which way... if it isn't going to be them in the end? if will is just a side character and not the piece of the puzzle that was always "right [there]" but no one ever saw until it was too late?

if it all boils down to eleven vs henry... why did they have dustin roll an 11 against vecna and lose and then end the season with eleven losing to vecna, too? is that just a coincidence? just like how "the silver cat feeds when blue meets yellow in the west" and henry attacking only when mike is set to leave to meet will in california is a coincidence, too, i bet? and mike and will’s skates adding up to 20, which was the winning roll against vecna in the campaign, are coincidences, too, yeah? bc it's not like mike and will overpowered henry, saw through his plans, and were the ones to defeat him before in s2. none of that could possibly be real or purposeful in a show where every detail matters, nope. eleven is our only Special Little Guy here--no one else.

why would the writers and producers do all of that (and likely more that i'm forgetting off the top of my head) if will is just ... some kid that went missing that one time and that always has bad things happen to him bc fuck him i guess? why is he always connected to the social and supernatural plot, literally connected Directly to the Big Bad Guy every season in a way that no one else on this entire show is, if it's just... a silly coincidence and nothing to look into? if he's just an unfortunate side character with no relevance beyond being a punching bag? why is he given special treatment and considered an outlier case every single time if it's nothing at all and eleven is our only hero here? why is his story the only one with holes in it, holes that are the key to understanding everything, if he's just... nothing really?

like... i just don't get it lol. season four changed Everything. what are you seeing that i'm not?

[thegayhimbo]

Stranger Things Winter Special Review

Warning: The following review contains MAJOR SPOILERS!!!!

Synopsis: It’s the Winter of 1984, and El is celebrating Christmas with the Byers family and her friends for the first time....

Observations:

As far as one-shot, stand-alone comics go, this was enjoyable. The synopsis I gave speaks for itself: It’s about El celebrating Christmas over at Joyce’s house with her friends and family as they give her a cool present (the cover pretty much spoils what said present is), tell her about their favorite Christmas Specials, and help her get into the Christmas mood. The entire comic is basically a Christmas Special of Stranger Things, and I like that.

Something I found clever about the way the Christmas Specials are drawn in this comic when El’s friends are describing them to her is the way El imagines the stories in her head. Because El’s been isolated for almost all of her life (12 years at Hawkins Lab, and an entire year being cooped up in Hopper’s Cabin), she’s been limited in how many people she’s met. So when she’s imagining the Christmas Specials in her head, she substitutes the people (and creatures) she’s encountered in her life in place of the actual characters from those stories.

For example, when Mike is telling her about the origins of Santa Clause, she imagines Hopper as Santa, Joyce as Mrs. Clause, and her friends as elves:

Likewise, when Lucas tells her the story of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, she imagines the Demogorgon in the role of the Grinch:

Same thing with A Christmas Carol, except it's Dr. Brenner as Mr. Scrooge, and Scott Clarke as Bob Cratchit:

And then, of course, there's A Charlie Brown Christmas, where El imagines Dustin and Dart the demodog in the role of Charlie Brown and Snoopy:

The way this was handled by the writers and artists was brilliant.

I also appreciate how they subtly reference El’s time the previous year as a fugitive in the woods. There’s a scene when the Party finds an injured rabbit outside, and El, remembering how she had to eat a rabbit to survive at the time, decides to take the rabbit back to Joyce’s house to fix its leg:

It’s a little sappy, but it works in the context on the comic.

Other references I appreciated:

The call-back to the dog the Byers family had in season 1. They never clarified what happened to him on the show, but the implication was he passed away. This comic confirms that:

There’s also Hopper’s gift of Hungry Hungry Hippos, which I believe was referenced at one point during the show:

There’s another reference I’m glad they included: Remember in the season 2 finale when Steve and Dustin shove a dead demodog into Joyce’s fridge to preserve it “for scientific purposes?” The show doesn’t ever revisit that moment again, but this comic does:

Basically, it turned into sludge, and Joyce was not happy with Steve and Dustin when she found it in her fridge.

I don’t know if that’s officially canon on the show, but I consider it such because it fills in the plot-hole of having a bunch of dead demodogs all over Hawkins after the gate closed with no residents discovering them by accident. It also explains what happened to the Meat Flayer’s flesh-body after the Russian gate was destroyed in season 3:

That must have been a fun mess for Dr. Owens and his crew to clean up! 🤣 

One last thing: This moment from Steve when he’s driving Dustin, Mike, and Lucas to the Byers house:

Sure, Steve. 😂 

On the whole, this is a fun comic with plenty of neat call-backs, nice character moments, and a cheerful Christmas mood. Check it out if you get the chance! :)

[erikiara80]

More thoughts and a little theory about Dawson's Creek

This intrigues me so much. I keep thinking about it and I'm happy I'm not the only one.

This could be about a lot of things: Will and Mike, our world and the UD, and different timelines.

But why Dawson and Pacey? SPOILERS ON DAWSON'S CREEK

I have a theory. Many people thought that Dawson's Creek was about the love story of Dawson and his childhood friend, Joey. That they were endgame. But that's not what happens. Joey ends up with Pacey (the right choice, imo). So maybe the magnet means that the audience thinks that Mike and El will be together forever, but in the last season they'll reveal that Mike's love is Will.

So, Dawson doesn't end up with his childhood friend, but Mike does. I love it.

But these circles are definitely not just about Byler.

In Suzie's room there is a poster of the Constellations of the two Hemispheres, that looks a lot like the drawing. It's also important, imo, that they're talking about finding Nina, and that in S3 Suzie gave Dustin the constant to retrieve the two keys that could turn off the russian machine and close the gate.

The Constellation in the southern Hemisphere can be seen from Australia, which is called 'the land down under'.

Down under. Upside Down. @shippingfangirl013 noticed that this mention of Australia in S1 is probably a reference to the UD.

In fact, a few episodes later El uses the radio to channel Will in the UD

We can also see the word Explorer on Dustin's shirt in those scenes. Another connection with Vecna and the UD. In 4x07 and 4x09 One/Vecna says that he became an explorer. And Karen says that Holly is quite the explorer, after she sees the Demogorgon in the wall.

So, the two circles probably represent our world and the Upside Down. But since we still don't know what the Upside Down and Dimension X are, exactly, they could also refer to different timelines.

Other things that remind me of the two circles.

Two fans behind Dustin, when he throws a knotted bed sheet through the gate, "connecting" the two worlds.

And THIS scene, noticed by @chirpsythismorning

(her screenshots)

I believe that Twelve is Will (or represents Will's role in the story), and that Will and El are twins, so I find it extremely interesting that Brenner says 'If you leave your circle' (you lose) when Twelve is in the frame

And that the game starts with Two and Six. 2x6=12

Maybe Brenner's line is a hint about what happened when Will vanished from our world left his circle and ended up in the UD?

Much to think about.

[gwenstrikesagain]

vecna slash henry slash one

S4:E8

When Robin starts to rant about how they were wrong about Vecna, she refers to all of the names we know him as:

Vecna.

Henry.

and One.

Robin asks what they're calling him now, and I think it is interesting who picks which name.

Erica calls him Vecna.

Dustin and Lucas call him One.

Nancy calls him Henry.

So why are they picking each of these names? and why is that interesting to us as viewers?

First of all, up until this point, Erica has been shielded from most Upside Down gore. She saw El's leg in S3, but she never saw the Mind Flayer in the mall, nor did she see a Demogorgon. She was told what was happening by Dustin. The story was laid out for her, a story that she hasn't lived yet. Dustin acted as a DM for her, laying out the story.

Canonically, Erica is still 11 years old. At her age, Erica's brain will protect her from trauma by considering these things a game, or relating them to a game. Which game would she relate the horror she's hearing about and seeing? The one she has become so passionate about since S3 and the one that directly correlates to the victory she just had. She calls him Vecna, because in her mind they've already defeated Vecna. It is the safest option for Erica.

This is why the very end of E9 is a transforming moment. When Erica breaks into the attic and finds Max dying in her brother's arms, there is a dramatic shift we can see in her eyes (serious kudos to Priah, she's incredible). In that moment, the gravity of the Upside Down hits her as she sees it cause the death of someone she loves in front of her eyes. For the first time, it isn't a game anymore.

Next on the docket: Dustin and Lucas. Unlike Erica, they have seen the gore and horrors of the Upside Down first hand. They have seen the Demogorgon attack and El kill in S1 and the Demodogs that almost killed them in S2. In S3, Lucas sees the Mind Flayer several times. He throws fireworks at it, cuts it off of his friend, and watches it possess and kill his girlfriend's brother in front of her. Meanwhile, in S3, Dustin sees the gate opening, and knows that the roaring he hears over Cerebro promises imminent death for his friends. For those two, and the others, this battle is no longer a game or a comic book.

Dustin and Lucas have seen Eleven defend them on countless occasions. They have seen the power she holds first hand. For Lucas, he has even been on the receiving end of what her powers can do. For those two, and the kids who aren't present, One is the most familiar and understandable way to refer to and understand him. To them, El is their superhero, and One is the villain. Much like the comic books they read, and the games they play, he is a big bad that the good guys will overcome. They've saved the day every other time, and they will do it again.

They have a lot of trauma in their past. Compartmentalizing and placing One in the same box as Eleven is the most comfortable option. One is the big bad, and El is their hero. It is the safest option for them.

Also, they themselves are 14/15. Developmentally, Lucas and Dustin will rely on the familiar as a coping mechanism. Comic books and D&D are the reference they will rely on. In those, however, death is not final. No 14/15 year old boy acts in self preservation. Mortality isn't real to them. Just like in the comics and in their games, danger is not real. They won't die, nor will their friends. In their stage of life, death isn't an option.

But, in E9, they both lose. Dustin loses Eddie, and Lucas loses Max. Both of them watch as the big bad wins, and the ones they love most die in their arms. This is no longer a comic book with classic heroes and villains. They have escaped relatively unscathed in the past, but now? Now the danger is in their faith and it is throwing their mortality in their faces. Not only is death final, but it is personal. This is human, and this battle is no longer safe.

Finally, Nancy refers to him as Henry. When she is cursed by Henry, he shows her his childhood. Specifically, he shows her what he looked like as a human child. In S3, when Max and Mike are arguing, Nancy reminds Mike that El is her own person in control of her own decisions. In the moment, we get a glimpse into how Nancy sees El. Unlike Mike, she doesn't look at El and see a superhero or only her powers. Nancy sees that El is a kid, and a young woman making her own decisions. In the same way, Nancy sees Henry as a boy who has made his own decisions.

To Nancy, he is human. He isn't the antagonist in a D&D match, or the supervillian in a superhero's comic book story: he is Henry. Nancy sees Henry as a man who has chosen evil, and has chosen to torture.

She never had the luxury of seeing this as a game, or heroes verses villains, like the others. This has been human and real to Nancy from the moment Barb disappeared. She never had the luxury of ignoring mortality. Her best friend was killed at the very beginning of all of this.

Developmentally, at 17/18, Nancy is coming to terms with adulthood and what that means for her. With it, she is facing the fact that she is mortal, and her decisions will influence her future. The college she goes to, the friends she choses, and who she decides to love are things that do not feel safe: they feel vulnerable.

Of them all, Nancy is the most in tune with what they are facing. As such, she immediately jumps into action. Nancy makes the decision to go into the Upside Down, to allow Max to be bait, to assign Eddie and Dustin to distraction duty, to step forward and pull the trigger on someone she sees as a man, not a monster.

Nancy is the leader this season. Robin says it herself, Nance is in charge. That responsibility, and the choices that came with it, will haunt her. She made the plan, and assigned tasks just as she would at the school newspaper. The deaths and injuries that occurred under her orders will follow her, just as Barb's death had followed her.

Next season, it will be interesting to see if the group unites in what they refer to Henry/Vecna/One as. Will they be a united front, facing an enemy they see in the same light, or will they still be divided?

[thestrangestthing89]

Junkyards and Broken Down Cars

I'm not really sure where I'm going with this. It definitely means something but I haven't seen any other analyses of what the broken down cars could represent. Other than it occasionally meaning that someone is stuck. But it seems to mean more than that.

S1

El misleads the boys and messes with the compasses when they are trying to find the gate to the Upside Down. They get in a big fight here. Mike and Lucas fight because Lucas calls El a traitor and Mike tries to defend her, but then realizes she did lie. El accidentally hurts Lucas and knocks him out and Mike gets mad at El. She gets scared and runs away. The junkyard here is a place they weren't intentionally trying to go, El directed the compasses there because she didn't want them going to the gate.

The same group (Lucas, Dustin, Mike, El) go to the junkyard when they are hiding from Brenner and the lab people. It doesn't provide them safety though. They are found and almost get caught by them. But Hopper contacts them and they tell him where they are and he saves them.

We get to see into the Upside Down at the end of the season when Joyce and Hopper go there to get Will out. All of the cars are broken down.

The only other reference to cars this season is when Jonathan checks the trunk of Lonnie's car for Will. This car isn't broken down though, but they draw attention to it which is why I'm mentioning it here.

S2

Jonathan's car gets messed with by the lab people. Him and Nancy are trying to get caught by them because they want to get evidence against them. The lab takes something out of Jonathan's car so it won't start. They fix it later when they are leaving the lab.

They once again hide out in the same junkyard as S1 (Steve, Lucas, Dustin, and Max this time). They deliberately lead the demogorgon there. They build a shelter in the broken down bus to protect them. But they thought it was only one demogorgan when it's several. They quickly are out of their depth and in danger. But the demogorgon get called away.

S3

Jonathan mentions to Nancy that they are lucky his car still runs at all.

A possessed Billy messes with Nancy's car so the group can't escape the mall. They fix the part he took out by taking a part from the model car in the mall. The model car technically runs but it's just for show. El uses telekinesis to attack the Russians with it. So that ends up broken too.

Hoppers police car gets shot at and catches fire in the woods. He tries to fix it so they can keep running away from the terminator dude but he's unsuccessful.

Another car reference is Joyce and Hopper stealing Todd's (the todfthr) car. This happens shortly after Hopper's police car catches fire and they need a mode of transportation. Hopper pretends it's for official police business. They use this car to get to Murray, to drive to the carnival, and then to the mall. Steve ends up crashing it here saving the group from Billy.

There aren't any junkyard visits this season and no visits to the Upside Down.

S4

Jonathan's car is broken down. It's an old car that was about to break down over the summer. This is a pretty clear reference to Jonathan being stuck and not knowing what he's doing with his life.

Jonathan and Argyle golf in a junkyard. They are discussing what Jonathan is doing with his life and hitting golfballs at the broken down cars.

Mike, Will, Jonathan, and Argyle bury the body of the government agent that died protecting them. Here it's a place of shelter. It protects them from being followed and allows them time to figure out what to do next. Will is also blending into the background here. His clothes are the same color as a lot of the scenery around them. This combined with the burying the body seems like a reference to him hiding and burying his feelings.

Not a car but the group in Russian tries to escape and the helicopter they need is broken down and in need of fixing. Obviously they are stuck in Russia without it.

The cars in the upside down don't work. Nancy, Robin, Steve, and Eddie need to find bikes to get around.

Eddie on the Lover's Lake - the boat is broken down

There is a tire in Lover's Lake when Steve swims down to the gate. Not sure if this has to do with the whole run down car theme but it was noticeable.

When Steve get's pulled through the gate on Lover's Lake, the boat is broken down and covered in vines on the UD side. No water.

The Stranger Things stage production had an interesting line. Hopper's car won't start. It's significant enough that they include it in a brief blurb about the show.

The cars not working in the UD might have something to do with the atmosphere. Maybe it causes them to break down and rust. But it's an interesting parallel to all the junkyards in the right side up. I'm curious what other people think of this.

[wheelercore]

A small pt 2 to my mikefredtedvictor parallels thoughts but what is up with all four of them being associated with the grandfather clock/predators/UD monsters. Because I've beaten this dead horse idk but they literally repeated this 2 separate times with Steve and Jonathan in s4

Newspaper + cross legged + some reference to "predators" (the tiger poster behind the grid towel and the ewoks cartoon). Hell Steve even chastises Dustin specifically before sitting down like that for like. Literally no reason. Which is very familiar. I mean watch the scene for yourself- the way it's shot is very deliberate if you know what you're looking for.

(and don't get me started how the blue light + bowl behind Steve is reminiscent of the lights in Eddie's trailer- which represented the "boundary" Chrissy crossed into her vision where vecna (predator) was waiting. Or how those lights are similar to the two lights on the Creel doorway and one of the first things we see when the Creels first walking into the home is the grandfather clock).

I mean and we already know about Mike stuff [insert size comparison of s1 Mike to the demogorgon idk I can't find the image here]. *Puts on tinfoil hat* kill your father, become your father, and then marry your mother. The clock represents the inevitability of you becoming your father- and it's also associated with UD monsters/predators. Henry looked into the clock and achieved the abilities to kill his family (his mother and Alice being associated with rabbits- prey), just like how Victor had killed a family during the war.

[madwheelerz]

Today I’ll go over my favorite proofs regarding the manifestation theory and also a rant that I had said I would do ages ago, but never got around to. I’ll be doing these in order of season so it should be easy enough to follow along.

Season 1

In the very first episode we are introduced to the boys playing DnD and witness Will make a failed roll. We get this dialogue between Lucas and Will-

Which essentially warns us against Mike knowing things. Of course, this doesn’t work out because Will does tell Mike about the failed roll.

Then he gets kidnapped by the Demogorgon, essentially continuing the game in real life. It’s also interesting to note that the events seem to follow a continuation of the first DnD game that the boys play because the monsters are week to fire, but it won’t kill them completely most likely due to the initial failure in the game.

Season 2->3

I’d also like to point out that Mike knowing things is weird. He shouldn’t know them. Hopper calls him out on it when he says that they can’t just kill the monsters with guns.

The next thing is a combination and barely involves season two, but remember that super angry terminator dude who just hated Hopper’s guts for no reason and seemed to want to hunt him down in season 3? He looked like he came right out of a movie, but he also didn’t seem to have any motive to hunt down Hopper the way that he did. He was on Hopper’s case even before the entire ordeal with Alexei. Here’s what Hopper says before running into this guy.

Surely, that’s the only time he’s said something like that-

Live terminator reaction lmao

In conclusion, this man has no reason to distaste Hopper except for the fact that a drunk Hopper bumped into him. This guy proceeds to probe around looking for Hopper and not Alexei while referring to him as a “psycho”. Aside from seeming like he got plucked straight out of a movie to be some avenger because a kid found him cool, he’s more clearly targeting an American cop as opposed to the traitor.

The only person who currently has beef with Hopper, thinks he’s “crazy”, and would absolutely prefer some distance between them (cough*ill-annoy*cough) is Mike.

Also, El’s powers notably don’t become targeted by the Flayed in season 3 until after the big argument that has every ganging up against Mike to let her use her powers.

There’s also the entire thing with Suzie and the Russian code. It’s mainly weird because of how they have Suzie point out that Dustin should know the code because it’s a constant. There is no way that the writers are actually trying to convince us that a bunch very intelligent scientist came up with the idea to use Planck’s constant as a code, but a kid particularly dedicated to physics might have.

Season 4

Jason’s speech is like insane to me so I’m going to transcribe the bites of it that are important to me and give a manifestation theory overview of it because I think about it a lot.

“And I’ve come to accept an awful truth.

These murders are ritualistic sacrifices.

This isn’t incorrect Vecna is lowkey sacrificing people in order to open the gates.

And Eddie Munson is the leader of one of these cults.

Mike too lol.

The mall fire. All those unexplained deaths over the years.

The leader is the one that’s being blamed for everything but given that Eddie wasn’t introduced until this season so it’s impossible to say that he caused all of this to happen from the get-go. Mike on the other hand has been around since season one and given that episode one frames the events that occur to be continuation of the game, he was the Dm for it wouldn’t be that big of a stretch to apply this to him. Particulary when Mike is attributed as a leader for the first time this season while we have the chaotic mess of the leader supposedly being responsible for the events that are unfolding. Also the episode two summary goes ‘A plane brings Mike to California – and a dead body brings Hawkins to a halt.’ This sort of pairs the two events and we go from the cops looking into the events to Mike arriving in California from a visual standpoint.

A lie designed to conceal the truth.

Hiding him.

The frames of the Wheeler parents absolutely means that this has to be about Mike in my opinion. Mike is the only him who both Ted and Karen could be trying to hide and protect. It’s also not like Mike is not in danger. We see Nancy shut down Jason’s attempts at finding out Mike’s whereabouts later on.

Allowing him to… to continue his rampage.

This ironically reminds me of the Wheeler parents not getting involved with Mike lashing out in season two at the dinner table. They let him lash out and do whatever until it become inconvenient for them and by the time that had happened they still went about it in a way that was pretty bad

…”

[apartmentnumber4]

Ugh sorry to rant about dumb media but like I’m gonna complain about the recent seasons of Stranger Things sorry

.

The first season of Stranger Things was so fucking iconic. It had the perfect balance of references to 80s media which it was taking inspiration from and it’s own extremely original story line. The lights on the wall, the eggos, Eleven’s dress and wig, it was all literally iconic and invaded the media and I think that’s a good thing.

Despite the fact that it was dealing with alternate dimensions and aliens and shit it felt somewhat grounded. I mean, a small town in 80s Indiana, that is my bread and butter right there (partially because I’m from Indiana but whatever). I wasn’t alive during the 80s but everyone that I know who was tells me that it was so right about everything. The brownness (Like the color) that pervaded, the DnD, riding on bikes, I know these aren’t exclusive to the 80s but it felt right. Even the fact that the kids were pulling names from their DnD both felt like a great plot point but also believable. Of course they would, if they weren’t into DnD these 12 year olds probably would have pulled their names from something else because that’s how kids are.

Even the second season was pretty good. It didn’t have the iconic-ness that the first season did, but the Mindflayer was still a decently scary villain, Will got more screen time, and at the end it seemed to wrap the story line up nicely what with Mike and El getting to go to the snowball, Will finally being safe, etc.

And then season 3 happened. I will maintain as I’ve said to IRL friends before that Season 3 and 4 feel as though the Duffer Brothers got contracted for 4 (actually 5) seasons, finished the story and 2, and then went “well shit now we have to keep this going.”

It started to rely why way more on the stereotypical 80s, with the neon colors and the mall and GAP, not saying that its necessarily bad but its a complete shift from the og mood of Stranger Things.

They keep adding characters that they immediately kill off. And like, Barb had a purpose in both season 1 and 2, Billy technically had a purpose (although I think he could have been left out if they had ended on season 2). But what did Eddie, as much as he is a fun character, actually add to the story? I love Bob, but did he add anything if they were willing to completely forget about him season 3?

They also went from fun monster hunting and honestly a seeming criticism of American government to going Russia bad (And I know that there is a war happening w Ukraine rn but it wasn’t when season 3 came out and also do you honestly think they’re doing that out of sympathy for Ukraine or to push an overall pro America agenda), and they’ve even sanitized the monster plots. The demagorgon was Iconic, but what has it been reduced to but a weird plot where Hopper and some Russians have to fight one (that looks so different from the original one) in a work camp/prison. The mindflayer was reduced to a shitty cgi blob, the demogorgon/demodogs are basically nonexistent, and now we have some shitty guy that looks like a cross between a burn victim and a tree stump.

It’s insulting! It’s not the original stranger things. Even the parts that people praise such as Will being officially gay feel awkward and lackluster.

They took a group of kids who obviously loved one another and made them seem to despise each other - and they can’t seem to give a clear answer as to why except “growing up.” There’s so much potential conflict but they ignore it for this dumb shit.

They sacrificed the original main groups (the kids, the teenagers, and the adults) for ~quirky duos~ such as Dustin and Steve, and while I always expected the groups to overlap some its not as fun when Steve and Dustin don’t even know what Mike, Lucas, or El (or Will) are doing because they’re off having their own independent adventure.

It outgrew itself. That much is clear. And I get that that’s what shows do and what getting a bigger budget does but it’s disappointing. Especially because I go online and see people lauding it and I feel like an idiot. Do you guys genuinely think Vecna is good character design? No seriously. I’m asking, because everyone seems to think so and in that case I can only imagine that I’ve lost my mind. Is Eddie really that interesting, or is he just easy to ship Steve with?

Please, if you agree with me reach out because I need someone to not just complain to but also discuss how I think it could have been done better.

[aemiron-main]

vecna is the mindflayer. seriously.

first of all let’s just look at the physical/design similarities of henry vs actual mindflayers/dnd mindflayers. this ALONE is very obvious evidence that henry is intended to be based on/tied to mindflayers, everything right down to the tentacles and the clawed hands.

(UPDATE/EDIT TO THIS POST. When I say Henry, I mean 001/Vecna/whoever the fuck because at this point between Brenner and Henry and Edward, there’s so many options and I do think it all leads back to Brenner)

DND is how the kids attempt to understand the world and threats around them- Henry/Vecna was the ‘demogorgon’ who took Will. Henry/Vecna was the mindflayer who possessed Will. And now, he’s Vecna trying to kill people. It’s just different names for Henry while the kids use DND to try and understand the world around them. I talk about this more in this post. Anyway, let’s get into more similarities between Henry and mindflayers:

“Mind flayers were sadistic aberrations feared by sentient creatures on many worlds across the multiverse due to their powerful psionic abilities. From their twisted lairs deep in the Underdark, these alien entities sought to expand their dominion over all other lifeforms, controlling their minds to use them as obedient thralls.They consumed their victims' very personality by extracting and devouring their brains while they were still alive.”

Let’s break this first wiki excerpt down. First of all, we have the reference to “powerful psionic abilities,” which, very obviously applies to Henry, as his powers are described as psionic abilities.

Second of all, we have “twisted lairs deep in the underdark.” Vecna’s mind lair is literally twisted with all of the twisting vines and looking at these official renditions of the underdark compared to Henry’s mind lair, it becomes obvious that Henry’s mind lair was inspired by the underdark and by mindflayer lairs- it’s literally called his mind lair.

Third, we have “expand their dominion over all other lifeforms,” which is very clearly what 001 is attempting to do. He talks about how the current structure of the world is “unnatural,” and he talks about wanting to reshape the world and we very clearly see him literally trying to expand his dominion onto all other life forms when he opens the gates and brings the UD (his dominion) into Hawkins. We also have the mindflayer-nazi parallels and 001-nazi paralells Steve saying “like the Germans?” when Dustin first describes Mindflayers in season 2 and then Dustin corrects Steve, going “you mean the Nazis?” So, mindflayers have already been paralleled to nazis in ST and 001 has quite a lot of Nazi coding, and the nazis, obviously, were focused on ‘expanding their dominion,’ to put it very mildly. @heroesbyler made a great post explaining 001 and Nazi imagery more in-depth. 

Fourth, we have “controlling their minds to use them as obedient thralls.” This is exactly what Henry does with the flayed in s3. I don’t think I need to explain this one very much, because this is EXACTLY what happens to the flayed in s3, and we see flayed like Billy adopt 001’s exact mannerisms and in s4 when Vecna is talking to El in his mind lair, we get a flashback to the scene of flayed billy with el in the cabin because ‘flayed billy’ was 001, he’s the one controlling their minds. 

And fifth, we have “they consumed their victims' very personality.” This is literally 001. Text-of-the-show 001. He talks about how his victims are still “with him,” in his mind, and Brenner talks about how 001 LITERALLY consumes his victims�� personalities, consumes/absorbs everything about them.

Let’s look at even MORE similarities between Henry/Vecna/001 and mindflayers:

“A mind flayer's body was, in fact, a gruesome mockery of the humanoid form. Their skin ranged from mauve to greenish-violet in color. Mind flayers that were healthy from brain-rich diets excreted a thin film of slimy, glistening mucus that kept in moisture.”

“A gruesome mockery of the human form, mauve to greenish-violet, a thin film of slimy, glistening mucus that kept in moisture.” Cmon. ST Vecna literally becomes mauve LMAO and he’s a gruesome mockery of the human form with how he’s become distorted and how he was once human but now is literally a mockery of that form, he mocks humans and tries to separate himself from them but is still technically human, just a grotesque version of it, he is LITERALLY a mockery of the human form. plus the glistening slimy mucus. i think that ‘tentacles squelching wetly’ and ‘wet footsteps squelch’ speak for themselves, and we can clearly see that Vecna is covered in a thin film of slimy mucus. he literally glistens. 

As well, we have:

“Mindflayers were megalomaniacal in the extreme, tyrants driven by an immense ambition and intrinsically ruled by an overwhelming sense of self-importance. The mind flayers sought nothing less than world domination, knew their destiny was mastery over the universe and the ultimate prize they yearned for was complete dominion over all the planes of existence, with the power to reshape reality and all within it to fit their otherworldly designs. However, mind flayers did not believe themselves to be horrifying monsters.”

“megalomaniacal in the extreme,” this one speaks for itself i think. look at 001’s monologue during the massacre. yeah. 

“immense ambition and overwhelming sense of self-importance,” this, yet again, is 001. he is extremely ambitious and sees himself as being inherently superior to people and creatures he deems lessers and talks about how he is a predator and compares himself to a spider and talks about how spiders are the most important predators, literally referring to them as ‘gods of our world,’ he has delusions of godhood, and he refers to humans as pests when most people would refer to spiders as pests when the reality is that neither is a pest and it’s a matter of perspective and henry is a hypocrite because his attitude towards humans is the same attitude humans have towards spiders, which ties into the heavy themes of repeating the cycle of abuse that are present with henry. 

“nothing less than world domination/mastery over the universe/complete domination over all planes of existence,” I already explained this earlier, but 001 very clearly wants others to bend to his will and align with his plans and will force them to do so. 

“power to reshape reality and all within it to fit their otherworldly designs,” 001 straight up verbatim talks about wanting to reshape reality repeatedly, such as in the rainbow room with el and in his mind lair with el. he wants to reshape it how HE sees fit, he wants to enforce his own form of conformity, he wants it to fit his ‘otherwordly designs,’ this is literally completely, exactly henry. he wants to reshape everything and everyone within reality too, literally ‘all within it,’ he tries to mold and shape and destroy people and everything in the world in addition to the world itself. he literally tries to mold/shape/groom el into joining him so that she fits in with his plans/designs. 

“did not believe themselves to be horrifying monsters,” 001 doesn’t see himself as a monster, he sees himself as a saviour initially, and although he later seems to imply that he may acknowledge that he is a monster (although thats a whole post in and of itself because its still up in the air), he doesn’t seem to think it’s a bad/horrifying thing, and instead, talks about  how brenner is not a monster and rather is an ordinary, pathetic man. but it’s worth remembering that henry’s abuse at the hands of virginia happnened under the nose of an ordinary, pathetic man (victor), and that the real ‘monsters’/bad people in henry’s eyes are the pathetic, ordinary ones because THOSE are the ones who  have hurt him. henry tries to separate himself from them and from humanity as a whole. 

And we also have:

“In the minds of the illithids, their kind acted as agents of "Order", forces of law tasked with taming a chaotic and unguided universe. They saw the various races in its confines as potential thralls with no supervision, living out aimless existences and working with no direction. In this role as multiversal caretakers, the mind flayers constantly worked for what they saw as the betterment of the cosmos, asserting their ultimate control to provide the restoration of order that only their superior species could bestow to all the multiverse.”

“tasked with taming a chaotic and unguided universe,’ 001 talks constantly about the world being chaotic and unbalanced and how predators like himself and spiders need to be the ones to bring balance to it/tame it/guide and shape it. 

“potential thralls with no supervision, living out aimless existences and working with no direction,” this is so, SO similar to what 001 talks about in his ‘wake up, eat, work, sleep, reproduce and die’ speech. he sees others’ existence as aimless and directionless and LITERALLY turns them into thralls in s3 as a result of it. 

“the restoration of order that only their superior species could bestow,” COME ON THIS IS SO 001!! he literally talks about how him and el are ‘superior,’ and how he needs to restore order to a broken world and how spiders were the predators that immobilze the weak and restore order by doing so and how he later talks in the yellow UD about becoming the predator/spider he was always born to be. he sees himself as being the superior species (spiders/predators) that needs to restore order that can only be restored by him/people like him/fellow members of the ‘superior species’ like el. like spiders are literally a different species, it’s not just a parallel of henry wanting to bestow order, it’s literally henry seeing himself as a superior different species (spiders) and that in and of itself being the reason why he needs to bestow order, when in reality, he isn’t a spider or a superior species and instead, only ‘became’ such/tried to become such because he already wanted to impose his own form of order, he isnt imposing order BECAUSE he’s a superior species the way he thinks he is, instead, he is only a ‘superior species’/wants to become a spider so to speak BECAUSE he already had that desire to enforce his own order before he ‘became’ that ‘superior species’. he’s a hypocrite. 

“The mindflayers strongly believed in their manifest destiny, and viewed the task of bringing the multiverse to heel as one of great importance. The illithids instructed all who questioned this view to look at the biological facts, how they stood at the top of the food chain and how all others naturally fell beneath them. While the illithids recognized that other creatures resisted their control, they perceived this as a natural result of reality's current state, the unknowing thralls within not knowing any better than to fight their masters.”

“how they stood at the top of the food chain and how all others naturally fell beneath them,” AGAIN WE ARE BACK TO THE SPIDERS!! LITERALLY A FOOD CHAIN WITH 001/VECNA SEEING HIMSELF AS A SPIDER AND HOW THEY IMMOBILIZE AND FEED ON THE WEAK JUST LIKE HE IMMOBILIZES HIS VICTIMS IN TRANCES AND THEN FEEDS ON THEM TO FUEL HIS POWERS!!

“they perceived this as a natural result of reality's current state, the unknowing thralls within not knowing any better than to fight their masters.” again, henry sees others as naturally inferior to him and acts as if they fight against him because they are inherently incapable of seeing and understanding his vision because they are of a different, inferior species compared to him. 

“One mind flayer sees ye, and they all see. One mind. One nasty, suspicious mind.” This ties into the hivemind. Henry is the mind of the hivemind, he’s the one that sees everything that’s happening through it, he’s the one that controls it. 

“Despite being capable of doing so, a mind flayer that limited itself to such a restricted diet was rare. Mind flayers savored the minds they consumed, and the brains of thinking beings were preferable to those of lesser lifeforms. Experiences and emotions were the part that made the meal truly fulfilling, and the intelligence and imagination of the victim were a key factor in how highly rated a brain was. Various other elements influenced the flavor of a brain: a sense of great self-importance gave brains a pleasing tanginess, those afflicted with demonic madness were more succulent than sane ones, and active, magic-filled, and experienced minds were among the tastiest of all.”

ST VECNA LITERALLY STALKS HIS VICTIMS BECAUSE THEIR SUFFERING FUELS HIM AND MAKES HIS CONNECTION WITH THEM STRONGER, HE’S MORE ABLE TO INFILTRATE THEIR MIND, THEIR MINDS ARE ‘AFFLICTED WITH DEMONIC MADNESS’ (demonic literally used to reference henry when victor speaks about the ‘demon’ in their home) AND HIS VICTIMS’ MINDS BECOME MORE ‘SUCCULENT’ AS HE TORMENTS THEM/THEY FUEL HIM MORE THE MORE TORMENTED THEY ARE!!! 

“Illithids were all sexless, without male or female biological sex, and once or twice in their life they would lay a clutch of eggs from which tadpoles hatched. Tadpoles that survived to maturity were put through the ceremony of ceremorphosis, where each was implanted into a humanoid victim and devoured its brain, taking its place and merging with the body to transform it into a new illithid. Only some humanoid species were suitable hosts for illithid tadpoles.”  Dart/the slug that will coughs up is literally referred to as a tadpole by dustin (even though it isn’t one, they’ve paralleled it to one), and it’s heavily implied that Henry was the one who put the vine in will’s throat, as the actual demogorgon has zero means of doing so and henry is the one who is shown to be controlling the vines. 

This is literally a VERY BRIEF OVERVIEW of things that point to henry being the mindflayer, i’m going to do a deep dive into it at some point, but. yeah.