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harringtonstilinski · 10 months ago

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You're So Dense - Steve Harrington

Author: @harringtonstilinski Characters: Steve Harrington x Henderson!Reader Word Count: 3,239 Warnings: fluff, flashback, use your imagination for steve explaining what he likes about this "mystery girl", Requested: no | yes; came from this prompt list Smut: no | yes; A/N: Hi, friends! If you like this chapter, please do not hesitate to reblog and give some feedback, whether it be in the reblogs, comments, or my inbox. As always, read at your own risk and enjoy 😊

steve harrington playlist

steve harrington masterlist

Dense. That’s the only word you could use to describe your best friend. Your best friend you’ve had since Sophomore year of high school. The very same best friend that was always late for school, who came into class with a freaking bagel from the local bakery. That same best friend who never wore a watch until both of your Senior year.

Who is this best friend? None other than Steve The Hair Harrington. The two of you bonded over your love of music, specifically all the pop music that was constantly playing on the radio, as well as all the music your parents listened to when they were young. Your favorite songs being (They Long To Be) Close To You by The Carpenters and Baby by Styx.

Steve had kept his distance from you, though, when Will Byers went missing, your little brother’s best friend. You were a part of the search parties to look for the little boy, Steve having his own drama with Nancy Wheeler, and eventually, somewhat defeating one of the Demogorgons that had come through from the Upside Down.

Steve and Dustin’s attempts at keeping you away from the tunnels and the Demodogs were fruitless. Steve especially tried to keep you away, but you weren’t having any of it after learning just months before that Dustin was almost Demogorgon food. All you wanted to do was protect Dustin, since you didn’t get the opportunity the first time, and that’s exactly what you did.

You protected Dustin, along with your new friend Robin and Lucas’ little sister Erica, against the Russians that were hiding under Starcourt Mall, as well as the big ass 30 foot Mind Flayer last Summer, and now you’re currently trying to figure out how you all can defeat a new monster by the name of Vecna.

Your little group that consisted of yourself, Steve, Dustin, Robin, Nancy, Erica, Lucas and Max Mayfield were all at the Creel House to get clues on how to defeat Vecna. After Robin threw a brick through the front door window, which was beautiful, by the way, Steve reached his arm inside, unlocking and opening the door.

Steve whistled as he looked back at you before moving to his left, letting the rest of you enter the house, Lucas going to the lamp by the door, trying to turn it on before he said, “Looks like someone forgot to pay their electric bill.”

Snickering, you covered your mouth, concealing the laugh that was begging to be released as you and Dustin held up your flashlights, turning them on.

“Where’d everyone get those?” Steve asked.

Turning around, Dustin faced your best friend before eyeing you. He turned his sights back to Steve, saying, “Do you need to be told everything?”

Placing a hand on his shoulder, you grabbed his attention, saying, “You’re not a child, Steve.”

After his eyes danced between yours for a moment, he said, “Thank you,” as you reached into Dustin’s backpack, retrieving the extra flashlight from the back pocket.

“There ya go, big guy,” you whispered, following Dustin as he dropped the backpack.

What you didn’t know was that Steve’s eyes stayed on your back as you moved, confused as to why you called him that. But what he didn’t know was that your cheeks grew hot at your use of the nickname.

“They just… left… everything,” Nancy said.

“I guess a triple homicide isn’t good for resale value,” Robin added.

Silently agreeing with her as you slowly approached the two girls, you smiled a little to yourself, Robin’s humor your favorite part about her. Your attention was brought from the two of them to Max as she said, “Hey, guys.”

Turning to face Max, you looked at the back of her head before moving your eyes to the clock she was standing in front of, light pointed towards it as she asked, “You all see that, right?”

You moved closer to her, standing between her and Dustin as he and Steve answered, “Yeah.”

“Is this what you saw? In your… visions?” Nancy asked, the redhead nodding her head in confirmation.

“I’m sure this is just an ordinary grandfather clock, Nancy Drew,” you answered, moving the clock and running your hand over the glass covering the face to reveal a small part of it before looking back at Max, to say in a reassuring tone, “It’s just a regular old clock.”

As you softly smiled at her, Steve asked, “Why is this wizard obsessed with clocks? Is he like a… a clockmaker or something?”

Sighing, you walked back over to him, placing your hand on his chest to look into his eyes as you said, “ I think you cracked the case there, Harrington.”

Nancy’s voice grabbed your attention as your breathing hitched a little at Steve’s eyes on yours as she said, “All I know is the answers are here… somewhere. Okay, everyone stay in groups of two. Henderson, stay with your brother and Steve. Robin, upstairs.”

Max walked towards Lucas, putting her hand on his arm as she passed him, saying, “Come on, let’s go.”

You and your brother looked at each other before looking at Steve, the both of you giving him a smile in unison before he sighed. “Was that a sigh?” Dustin asked.

“Yup, totally sounded like it,” you voiced.

“No, I did not sigh,” Steve answered, going around you two to the stairs.

“Why’d you sigh, Steve?” you asked, deciding to pester him.

Climbing the stairs, Steve said, “I didn’t sigh. Just come on, guys.”

“We heard you,” you and Dustin said in unison.

“W-we’re always partners, okay?”

“And what’s wrong with that?” you asked, trying very hard to not look at his ass that was currently in your face.

“It’d just be nice to, I don’t know, mix it up a little,” Steve said.

“Are you we boring you, Harrington? Because I would seriously like to know if you wanna be partners with us or with Nancy.”

When you three made it to the top of the stairs, he turned to face you, a slightly confused look on his face as he asked, “Wait, what? Why would you think–”

Breaking the connection between your eyes, you walked off to the nearest room, closing your eyes and taking a deep breath, releasing it as you heard footsteps behind you, Steve’s voice coming into your ears a few seconds later as he asked, “Hey, Henderson?”

“Which one?” Dustin asked.

“Either.”

Sighing, you asked, “What, Steve?”

“Could you maybe, uh… clarify what sort of clues we’re supposed to be looking for?”

Turning to face him, you answered Steve by saying, “The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes,” in your best British accent, Steve giving you a look as you smiled at him. “Sherlock Holmes,” you said.

When his look didn’t change, you sighed and rolled your eyes, turning and walking to the floor vent on your left as Steve said, “That’s great.”

Bending down, you opened it, picking up a jar and looking at the contents inside, immediately wishing you hadn’t upon seeing a spider inside the glass. Seeing something crawling on your arm from your periphery, you dropped the jar and started running backwards out of the room, screaming while trying to brush the arachnid off of you.

“Henderson, Henderson–”

“Get it off, get it off!!” you screamed, hands landing on Steve’s arms as Nancy’s voice sounded, the girl asking, “What’s wrong?”

“Spi-spider,” you breathed, closing your eyes. “There was a spider. A-a-a black widow.”

Feeling Steve’s arms disappear from your hands, you quickly opened your eyes, watching as he closed the door and came back to stand in front of you, looking above your head as he said, “Don’t go in there.”

Sighing, you closed your eyes again before feeling Nancy’s hand in your hair as she said, “Oh, oh. Wait–”

“What? Is it still on me?” you asked, moving the mirror that was only a few feet away.

Steve and Nancy followed you, the latter saying, “Stop moving, let me–”

“I can get them, Nance,” Steve said, carding his fingers through your hair as Nancy moved to stand beside you. “I got it,” he whispered.

“Thanks, Steve,” you whispered back.

Robin’s voice almost sent you into panic mode as she said, “If there’s a spider nesting in there, you’re never gonna find it until it lays eggs and all the babies spill out.”

“Robin Buckley, you shut your mouth,” you said, sternly. “What’s wrong with you?”

She chuckled as she walked past you three, Steve’s sigh bringing you back to the moment, feeling as if you two were the only ones in the house… or in the world.

“She’s got problems,” he whispered, eyes glued to your hair as he fished the webs out.

Taking a deep breath, you released it, saying, “Yeah, tell me about it.”

“I like that you two are friends. Maybe after we find Vecna, kill him, save the world and stuff, maybe we can all go out or something.”

A smile danced across your lips, Nancy coming in your peripheral as her own smile tried to form. It was no surprise to you that she still might’ve had feelings for Steve, even though she was with Jonathan.

Or maybe it was her way of being friendly with him. You couldn’t exactly remember what it was like with them when they were together, but what you could remember was the fact that she always had a smile on her face any time she was around him… except when Barbra Holland went missing.

Steve’s voice brought you back to the present as he said, “Ya’know, me, you, Nancy, Jonathan when he’s back, maybe Robin, too.”

“And Eddie,” you said, softly. “Can’t forget him. He’s pretty much part of this friend group now.”

“Yeah, I mean, it’s not like we’re dating,” he added. “Me and Robin, it’s not like we’re dating. She told you? That we’re not?”

You started laughing, resting your hand on the table next to you. “Yes, Steven. I know that you two aren’t dating. I know all about Robin, remember? I was there in that mall bathroom when she explained everything. I know that you two are platonic.”

“Platonic with a capital P,” Robin added.

“Yes, ma’am, thank you.”

Using a softer voice that was almost a whisper, Steve said, “I mean… I would date her… it’s just… she’s…”

Your face fell, all the humor dissolving away as he tried to continue explaining, “We’re friends… nevermind… you know… we’re just friends.”

Nancy had moved to stand in front of you, grabbing your hands in hers to give you comfort. She knew about your crush on Steve, and she was happy when you had told her about it a few weeks ago.

“Nancy!” you whisper exclaimed, looking down at her from your spot on the couch. “I need to talk to you. Like, now.”

She nodded her head, getting up from her spot on the floor, to the two of you walking up the stairs of Steve’s house and into his bedroom, where she closed the door behind you. “What’s up?” she asked.

“I think I like Steve,” you blurted out, hand covering your mouth.

Breathing a sigh of relief, she put a hand on her chest. “Well, that’s a relief! I’m glad you finally came to your senses.”

“Wait,” you said, eyebrows pinched in confusion. “You knew?” Chuckling, she said, “It’s kind of obvious to everyone but Steve. The way you look at him, the way you were just sitting next to him.”

“H-how was I sitting?”

“You’re trying not to lean into him. His arm is resting on the back of the couch behind your head! That’s an open invitation.”

Suddenly feeling your cheeks heat up, you quickly decided to come up with an excuse to everyone else downstairs as to why you needed to leave. “I have to go home. I-I can’t be around him right now when I just realized that I like him and-and I just–”

“It’s okay,” Nancy said, putting a reassuring hand on your shoulder. “Just tell everyone you weren’t feeling good. I’ll make sure Dustin gets home.”

Giving her a hug, you sighed, “Thanks, Nance.”

You both went back downstairs and you gave your excuse of not feeling well that you’d see everyone the next day after some rest. Steve had offered to take you home, even though you drove yourself and Dustin, to which you kindly rejected.

After arriving home that night, you talked with your mom about your feelings before you went off to your room to lay down, getting a decent night’s sleep before hanging out with the group the following day.

Feeling Steve’s hands on your shoulders, you were brought back to the present, yet again, as he said, “There. All better.”

Turning to face him, you softly smiled at him and said, “Thanks, Steve.”

Softly chuckling, he looked into your eyes before casting them down to look toward his shoes before he whispered, “Guess we should, uh, get back to the investigation.”

“Right.”

Without missing a beat, he said, “The obvious things are not what people observe.” Snorting, you covered your mouth as he continued, “Or… do… don’t observe… or… whatever the hell you- well… Sherlock Holmes.”

“You get credit for trying.”

“Thanks,” he whispered before turning around and walking into the room that was behind him, leaving you to stand there confused before you turned to face Nancy, the two of you whispering, “What?”

~~~

After everyone found Vecna in the attic with the flashlights and they all burst in your hands, you all left the Creel House and went back to the Wheeler house, where you, Dustin and Steve collected his car.

Once the three of you made it back to yours and Dustin’s house, the latter got out of the car, yawning and made his way inside as you and Steve stayed in the vehicle.

“Hey, Henderson?” Steve said.

“Yeah?”

“Can I ask you something?”

Sighing, you responded, “You can ask me anything, Steve. You know that.”

Looking at him as he nodded, you couldn’t help but think to yourself that he was going to ask about Nancy. That’s where your mind always went to when he needed to ask you a question.

“Do you, uhm… do you like anyone?” he asked, tentatively. Steve was afraid that you’d say yes but not say that it was him. He liked you, that much was certain. The very same night a few weeks ago after you left, he talked with Robin about his feelings for you, the girl simply telling him, “If you like her that much, just talk to her. The worst she could say is no.” So, he decided as the two of you sat in his car that he was going to ask you about it.

“Uhm, yeah. I do.” You smile while giving your answer, wanting so badly to tell him that it was him you liked.

Sighing, he softly nodded his head, looking down at a spot on his jeans. “Do I… do I know him?”

“Very much so.” Looking over at him, you could see the defeat in his eyes and on his face. “Do you like anyone?”

Steve looked at you, a look in his eyes that you should recognize, but was choosing not to read into like you normally did. “Yeah. I do.”

“What do you like about her?”

“What do you like about him?”

Steve thought you had a crush on Eddie, which is what really prompted him to ask you. Was he a fan of Eddie’s? Not particularly, no. Along with everyone in town, Steve thought Eddie was a freak because he liked to play D&D.

You, on the other hand, didn’t think he was a freak. Since Dustin joined Hellfire, your friendship with Eddie grew to the point where it’s like Steve and Robin’s friendship; strictly platonic. Eddie was a sweet soul, not this demonic satan worshiper that the whole town thought he was.

“Uhm,” you said, taking a deep breath. “I like the fact that he makes me smile. He’s not someone I thought I’d be friends with.”

“What was he like?” Steve asked, his curiosity piqued.

Chuckling, you looked out of the windshield towards your house as you said, “A complete asshole. I don’t wanna give too much away, though.”

“No, I wanna know.”

Shaking your head, you looked at him, a small smile on your face. “Tell me about this girl.”

Mimicking your movements, he looked out of the windshield, saying, “She’s amazing. She’s not afraid to speak her mind.” As he started listing off all of the things he liked about this mystery girl, you couldn’t help but feel a little sad.

Tears started to prick your eyes, so that was your cue to get out of the car, Steve’s voice stopping mid sentence.

“Hey, where ya going?”

“Inside,” you said, closing the car door.

Getting out of his seat, Steve said, “Wait, why?”

Your movements stopped as you sighed and closed your eyes. “Because I really don’t wanna hear about this mystery girl.”

What you had failed to realize, in Steve’s eyes, that the mystery girl… was you. But, in your eyes, the mystery girl was Nancy.

“Okay, well… same for the mystery boy you mentioned,” he said, arms crossed over his chest.

“Oh, my god,” you whispered. Turning to face him, you said, “Okay, so I guess I’m just going to have to spell everything out for you because you clearly think I don’t like you when that could not be more wrong.”

Steve’s eyes went as wide as saucers at hearing the words that just escaped from your lips.

“I. Like. You. Steve.” You moved toward him with each word you spoke. “You, Steve. Not some mystery guy. You. You make me smile, you make me laugh. You’re my shoulder to cry on, my protector, even though I don’t need it.

“You’re everything I’ve looked for in a guy, despite the fact that you were a complete asshole Junior year. I like to think I had something to do with that change in you, but we all know it was Nancy that changed you.

“You’re sweet, and caring, and I love the way you’ve protected the Party. I especially love the way you’ve taken Dustin under your wing. He’s needed a brotherly figure since our dad just up and left.”

The two of you hadn’t realized that you were so close to each other, getting lost in the other’s eyes as you had walked towards him during your explanation.

“But most importantly, Steve… I like you because you’re you. Not to mention, you’re hot as hell–”

Your words were interrupted by Steve’s hands cupping your cheeks, his own voice saying, “Shut up, Henderson,” before kissing you. Shock ran through your system for a split second before you kissed him back.

With your lips moving in sync, you got lost in the being that was Steve Harrington.

Pulling away from you for a moment before resting his forehead against yours, Steve took a deep breath before saying, “You’re so dense.”

You chuckled, closing your eyes as your arms came to rest on his shoulders, your fingers lightly playing with the hair at the base of his neck as you replied, “No, Steve. You’re dense."

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

A/N 2: hi, friends! let me know what you thought about! again, please do not hesitate to reblog and give some feedback, whether it be in the reblogs, comments, or my inbox.

Additional Notes: i'm so sorry if this sucks major balls... i don't know how to write dense characters... kbye!! <3

~~~

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

Steve Harrington Taglist: @madaboutjoe

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

Italics wouldn’t let me tag!

~~~

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

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

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

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

Posted on March 7, 2024

#steve harrington x reader #steve x reader #joe keery x reader #steve harrington x henderson!reader

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intermundia · 30 days ago

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Can you tell me which movies, books, comics etc, should i watch/read to get into star wars? I found out about obikin though ffs and i love it!! I really want to get to know more about them

fair warning: star wars is a rabbit hole that goes far deeper than you could possibly imagine. it looks like a puddle and then you step in it and it's actually a lake and you're drowning. so watch out! that said, you're in for a treat bc there's SO MUCH material available.

all the star wars material is basically divided into tiers of credibility, with canon films at the top and legends comics at the bottom. it's best to start at tier 1, move to tier 2 when that's done, and so forth, or else you might get a slightly skewed understanding of the lore.

tier 1: the movies. there's the six core lucas movies, the prequels and the original trilogy, which are the gold standard. that's the heart of it. if you haven't seen them, that's your first task. then other movies like rogue one, the clone wars, solo, the sequels if you feel the need, can round out your understanding of the scope of the lore.

tier 2: the tv shows. there's so many of these and hundreds of hours of content to pick through that fill in gaps between movies. the clone wars is your source for so much obikin interaction. the kenobi show is essential for vaderwan. andor is just good tv, skeleton crew is coming out now and also good. rebels and bad batch are excellent too. there is the mandalorian and other sequels era stuff too.

tier 3: canon books and comics. of the film novelizations (which i still consider solid canon despite disney deciding ex post facto they are not), i highly recommend stover's revenge of the sith. it's the most important book to obikin and one of the best star wars books in general. disney has put out some good canon star wars books, (lords of the sith, padawan, ahsoka, i've heard good things about the thrawn series) and GREAT comics, especially the darth vader run, which i highly highly recommend. all marvel star wars seems to hit so if you like comics you really cannot go wrong reading through any of the 2015-onward marvel comics.

tier 4: legends books and comics my beloved, while wildly varying quality, the good is so so so good. most of the prequels books are now classed this way but were canon when the prequels came out. there is a lot of obikin in books by karen miller (wild space, clone wars gambit). i love all books by james luceno (darth plagueis, labyrinth of evil). greg bear's rogue planet is wonderful for young anakin and young master obi-wan. there's a YA series called jedi quest which has them too. an example for obikin comics is star wars: obsession, part of the larger dark horse republic run, which is good.

i just found a list i made earlier of books with obi-wan and anakin in them if you want to check that out, but star wars extends far beyond the boys if you want to explore. there's just so much good lore and entertainment out there if you look <33

#star wars #sw books #obikin #good luck hehehe

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wonderlanddreamer · 1 month ago

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Over My Dead Body

[Vano Lee × Evie Shelby & Luca Changretta]

When Luca Changretta approaches Evelyn Shelby, believing her to be the blood daughter of his late brother, he doesn't count on Vano Lee being ready to do whatever it takes to ensure he doesn't get anywhere near her.

Evelyn Shelby belongs to @novashelby, and I thank her for letting me use her, along with giving me complete creative freedom to write this. I hope you like it. 🤍

“I'm not armed, boy,” Luca Changretta stood with a sneer etched across his lips, a dangerous glint in his eyes as he regarded the lovestruck boy with a mix of disdain and amusement. It was clear that if he had his way, a gun would be in his hand, ready to put an end to Vano's defiance.

"I don't give a fuck if yer got ya bullet with my name on it, dinlow," Vano spat, his voice unwavering. He curled his arm protectively behind him, wrapping it around Evie and pushing her securely behind him, his body a dauntless shield. "Yer want her, ya gotta go through me, y'hear?”

Evie clung to the back of Vano's shirt, her heart racing as she wished desperately for her nightmare to end. She could practically feel the weight of her father's fury looming over her, knowing well that Tommy Shelby would be livid. Not only had she defied his explicit orders by sneaking out, but she had also ended up with the very boy she was forbidden to see. The irony of her predicament was bitter; the very scenario her father had sought to prevent by locking her away was now unfolding before her eyes.

Tommy's measures were not without reason. Evie was at the center of a dangerous revelation regarding Luca Changretta's late brother, which had ignited a dangerous game of cat and mouse, with Tommy doing everything in his power to shield his baby girl from the potential fallout.

Yet, despite his efforts, Luca Changretta had found her. His presence was a menacing shadow, a reminder of the vendetta that threatened to unravel the fragile threads of her life. In this perilous moment, Vano stood as her only source of protection. Evie knew the lengths he'd go to to keep her safe, and while the thought of anything happening to him terrified her, she was confident in his ability to handle himself.

Luca stepped forward with a measured grace, his eyes fixed on Evie as he extended a hand, offering a small bundle of flowers. "For the girl," he said smoothly, a smirk playing at the corners of his lips.

Vano's response was immediate and fierce. A low growl rumbled deep in his chest as he smacked Luca's hand away with force, sending the delicate blooms tumbling to the cobblestones below. "She ain't interested in yer flowers," he retorted, his voice a defiant snarl.

Luca gazed at the flowers for a prolonged moment, his sneer already devoid of warmth, yet somehow growing even colder as his expression changed. As Luca stepped closer, Vano squared his shoulders, subtly using his hand to guide Evie a step or two backwards. With his towering height, he moved decisively into Luca's personal space, completely blocking Evie from view.

Luca's eyes burned with a menacing intensity as he fixed his glare on Vano. "You have no idea who you're up against, boy. Or the things I could do to you for daring to stand between me and my blood.”

Vano didn't even flinch, standing unafraid in the face of threat. “Try me, big man. Evie don’ want nothin’ t’ do with ya, an’ I ain't scared of thugs like you,”

With a swift, aggressive motion, Luca lunged forward and grabbed Vano, attempting to forcibly shove him aside. However, Vano was ready. Planting his feet firmly on the ground, he resisted Luca's efforts with surprising strength, his muscles tensing as he pushed back against the older man's grip. The initial surprise flickered across Luca's face as he realized Vano was a lot stronger than he had anticipated. Despite Luca's attempts to overpower him, Vano held his ground, his determination unyielding as he fought to protect Evie from the threat before them.

Luca's hand shot out, clamping around Vano's throat with a formidable grip. With a swift, forceful swing, he hurled Vano against the wall, the impact sending a jarring shock through Vano's body. The wall shuddered slightly from the force, but Vano's spirit remained unbroken.

"Give it up," Luca sneered, his voice dripping with menace as he attempted to reassert control.

"Over my dead body," Vano shot back defiantly, his eyes blazing with determination as he stood his ground.

Dazed but determined, Vano summoned his strength and retaliated with a fierce headbutt, connecting solidly with Luca and forcing him to loosen his grip as blood spluttered from his nose.

Evie watched in horror, her heart pounding as she stood frozen for a moment, torn between fear and the instinct to help. Her breath hitched as she witnessed the brutal exchange, feeling helpless but desperately hoping for Vano to come out on top.

Just as the tension threatened to escalate into something far more dangerous, a familiar voice cut through the chaos. "Evie!" Tommy Shelby's authoritative call rang out, slicing through the air and bringing the confrontation to a sudden halt. The sound of her father's voice was a lifeline, snapping Evie back to reality and momentarily pausing the violence. Her eyes darted towards the direction of his voice, a mix of relief and anxiety flooding through her.

“Yer hear that?” Vano spat, “That is yer death comin’ callin’. You an’ I ain't armed, but he will be. Yer gonna die t'day,”

Luca shoved Vano back with a growl, but Vano quickly regained his footing, stepping back to stand protectively in front of Evie. His eyes remained locked on the Italian, unwavering and determined, serving as an unyielding shield for her. Then, from the shadows, the unmistakable silhouette of Tommy Shelby emerged, immediately commanding attention. As all eyes shifted to where Luca Changretta had stood moments before, they found only an empty space. He had gone.

Vano took a moment to catch his breath, stepping back as Tommy approached and enveloped Evie in his arms. Any lingering anger was swiftly overshadowed by the relief of seeing her unharmed. Evie hesitated initially, bracing for a scolding that never came, and only then allowed herself to relax into her father's comforting embrace.

Vano observed the two of them, gradually stepping back to give them space, until Tommy's icy blue glare shifted towards him.

"You."

Vano stiffened at Tommy's authoritative voice, bracing for reprimand, while Evie quickly jumped to his defence. "Daddy, it wasn't his fault—" she began, but Tommy raised a hand to gently shush her.

"I owe you," Tommy said, his tone softening as he addressed Vano. "For keeping her safe."

Vano shook his head, a quiet resolve in his voice. "Yer owe me nothin’, no harm will ever come to her so long as I'm breathin’."

A moment of wordless understanding passed between them, marked by a mutual nod of respect. Vano then stepped back, yielding to Tommy's authority. As Vano turned to leave, Tommy gently wrapped an arm around Evie, guiding her home with a reassuring presence.

#peaky blinders #peaky blinders oc #peaky blinders fanfiction #evie shelby #vano lee #luca changretta #oc x oc #evano

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sky-neverending · 2 years ago

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When Will finally came out to the entire party, he did it from the floor of Steve Harringtons living room. He wasn’t planning on doing it at all. Ever. He was terrified. Terrified of losing the people that meant most to him.

But then he walked in on Steve and Eddie stealing a quick kiss in the kitchen, and he froze, and hell, he almost passed out.

Eddie and Steve rushed toward him, pushing aside how terrified they were to help this poor boy who looked like a deer in headlight in front of them. Steve pulled him into his arms, because he knew that face. It was the same one he had made after Eddie had kissed him for the first time. Before he knew who or what the hell he was. So he just hugged Will until his breathing returned and his face was no longer whiter than a bedsheet.

“You’re okay.” Steve whispered, running his fingers down Wills arm to signify he was there, and that he wasn’t going anywhere. “Come on, take a breath.”

After Will pulled away, he gazed up at the two of them. “You guys are dating?” He said in a whisper, like he was scared someone was going to hear him.

Eddie nodded slowly, holding out a hand. Will took it reluctantly and was led toward the kitchen table, sliding into the seat and staring at Eddie and Steve across from him.

The next words to come from his mouth about shattered Steve’s heart. They were small and timid, meek and filled with fear. It seemed to take everything in Will to get them out without collapsing on the spot.

“And it’s… okay?” He started, eyes glued to the floor. “To be gay?” The last word was barely audible. It came out in a strangled whispered, like he was choking on his words as they pushed their way out his mouth.

“Will.” Eddie said, his voice filling the warm with warmth and comfort. “Will, look at me.”

Will did so, his head moving upward first and his eyes following after, slowing dragging from the floor to the table to Eddie and Steve’s faces. They were red, glossy, like he was biting back tears.

“Will.” Eddie repeated, reaching a hand across the table the testing it on Wills wrist, where the fabric of this shirt met the exposed skin. “There’s nothing wrong with it. Nothing at all.” He smiled softly, leaning forward. “And anyone who tell you that? Doesn’t know what the hell they’re talking about. Okay?”

“Okay.” Will said after a beat, and the corner of his mouth quirked up a little bit. He repeated the word, a bit more confidently this time. “Okay.”

Steve looked at him, his expression full of pride. “We can keep this a secret. If you want, I mean.” He offered, and Will shook his head.

“No. No, I want to tell them. I just- I want to be the one to do it. Is that okay?”

“Of course it’s okay, kid.” Eddie said, patting Will on the wrist gently before pulling his hand away and looping it through Steve’s own. “Take your time. No one’s rushing you.”

The three of them stood, heading toward the kitchen door, when Will paused. “Do they know about you?” He asked, and Steve bit his lip.

“No. No, not yet. I’m not sure i’m quite ready to tell them, ya know?” Will nodded.

“I won’t tell anyone.”

Eddie smiled at him, squeezing Steve’s hand one last time before dropping it and walking back out into the rest of the group.

The next few hours went on as normal. The kids argued for about an hour over which movie to watch before Steve stood up plucked the movies out of there hands, holding them behind his back and shuffling them around. He needed up picking Labyrinth, which was Dustins pick (mostly because Eddie said he loved it).

They settled into their normal spots, Eddie, Steve, and Robin on the large couch, Max in her wheelchair with Lucas and El on the floor beside her, Dustin in a large armchair he had claimed all to himself, and Will and Mike leaning against the front of the coffee table, closest to the television.

And then Will just sort of said it. The movie was paused so Steve could get some more popcorn, but the room was still dark, and the words just spilled from Wills mouth. There was no emotions or theatrics or gathering of attention. Everyone was in the middle of conversation and he just spoke up.

After he said it, the room fell silent, and he could feel the heat of every pair of eyes in the room settle on to him. But he didn’t care. Because he had said it, and a sort of weight he didn’t know he was carrying lifted off his shoulders.

Robin was the first to move. She rushed toward him and pulled him into a hug, practically squeezing all the air out of his lungs as she did so. “I’m so proud of you.” She whispered into his ear, so only he could hear it, and then she pulled away with a soft small and a lingering warmth left behind.

Max was the next to make any noise, letting out a small chuckle from where she sat in her wheelchair. “Way to go, William.” She cheered, partially sarcastic, but there was a hint of pride in her tone. Lucas simply patted him on the shoulder and gave him a reassuring grin, and El shot him a thumbs up from the floor.

Dustin stared up at him from his chair, silent for a moment before a grin spread across his face. “So who’s your crush?” He teased. Will went red.

“Shut up, Dusty-Bun.” Eddie called from the couch, chucking a pillow at Dustin, who poorly dodged it and threw two more back in response.

“No throwing pillows in my house!” A voice came from the hall, and Steve walked in with his hands full of popcorn bowls. “What did I miss?”

“Wills gay!” Dustin supplied helpfully, and Steve shrugged.

“Cool. No throwing pillows in my house.” Was a he said, but Will caught the gleam in his eye as he say down, and the large smile spreading over his face.

Mike never spoke. Not until Will sat down, still and awkward on the floor beside him.

“Hey.” Was all he said, pushing his shoulder into Wills softly.

“Hey.” Will responded.

The two smiled at each other before turning back the movie, but Will couldn’t help to notice how Mike seemed just a tad bit closer than he was before.

And as Will fell asleep that night, head on Miles shoulder, he couldn’t help but grin to himself. He had done that. And he hadn’t lost anyone at all.

i sort of hate this but i spent so much time on it that i’m gonna share it anyway. maybe i’ll make it better later. idk.

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storiesbyjes2g · 2 months ago

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aDOLTing Generation 3 Recap

Hello, gentle readers!

An extra special reader of mine has been absent for a while and is back. Welcome!! I've missed you! I know how much you love this story, but I also know how daunting it will be to go back and read everything. I can't have you lost, so I hope this recap helps! I have no idea where you left off, so I'll do a quick run down of the whole gen for the benefit of all my new recent followers. Welcome, y'all!!

Let's go!

This is Luca! His traits are self-assured, outgoing, and active, and his aspiration is self-care specialist. He's a yoga instructor.

He has a younger sister named Alessia. She is very much the annoying little sister, but he loves her very much.

The only one of her traits I remember is paranoid, and I don't really know what her aspiration is. This story is based on the ISBI challenge, and I'm only allowed to control one sim per generation. The story is told from that sim's perspective. I'm sure you can imagine the shenanigans that can happen with autonomous sims!

These are their parents Alessandro (Ali) and Emerald (Emmy). They divorced right before Luca's child birthday.

The divorce rattles Luca a great deal because he idolized his parents and struggled with learning they weren't the man and woman he thought they were, and if they can find themselves in compromising positions, what hope is there for him? (His mom cheated for literally no reason because she's selfish and immature.) It made him reluctant to date and trust his feelings. The problem with that was he had very attractive female friends, and most of them wanted him.

This is Sophia. They met in Mt. Komorebi on his YA birthday trip and kept in touch via Social Bunny. He's in love with her but is afraid to admit it for fear of making a mistake and ending up like his parents. But deep down he knows she's the one, and if they ever hang out IRL he'd never leave her side, so he keeps their friendship confined to Social Bunny until he figures himself out.

This is Maira. They went to school together and ran into each other at a bar one night. She holds a special place in Luca's heart and is one of his best friends. They each considered becoming more for like two seconds, but it never felt right to escalate matters, and they are fine with a platonic friendship. She, like him, had her own demons and was anti-relationships for a very long time.

This is Yasmine. They smashed. She was the most persistent of all the friends and helped him understand woohoo could be casual without strings. Even though he was very gun-shy about women and relationships, the dude was horny all the time and she was very happy to help him with that lol.

This is Xochitl (Chi Chi). They're neighbors, and he thought she was the most gorgeous woman. She has a daughter, and they both talk a LOT. She tried to get him to go out several times, but he always felt guilty because Sophia was always in the back of his mind while meeting all these women. Chi Chi is social and always looking for a good time and quickly figured out he was never going to ask her out. She really just wanted to be friends anyway, so it was all good. They are still great friends today.

As you'd expect, Luca gets to a place where he can separate his parents' drama from his own life and can no longer deny, no matter how many women he meets, and no matter who he smashes, his mind had only ever been on Sophia, and she had his heart from the beginning. He finally asks her out on a proper date, and the night ends nowhere near how he expected.

She asked him to move in! That scared the cowplant essence out of him and caused all that fear and confusion he finally put away to come rushing back. But Sophia is gentle and has a knack for asking poignant questions in a soft manner. She asked if he trusted her and their relationship. He could either answer honestly, man up, and get over it, or lie and go back to being a scared little boy. Thankfully, he answered honestly and started working toward putting those fears to bed for good.

Sophia has known him his entire young adult life and knew all about that stuff and was patient with him as their relationship blossomed. She met the parents and even ghost grandma. Everyone loved Sophia. Luca eventually got to a place where he could tell her he loved her without throwing up, heh. That was one magical night.

Everything happened so fast, and he was too busy finally enjoying life and kinda forgot to tell everyone else his relationship status had changed.

Luca and Sophia went out one night, and Yasmine was there. Luckily there no drama ensued, but he had some explaining to do. Luca told Sophia about all his friends and their statuses and got everything on the table. Sophia has history of her own and was a bit triggered by the situation. She knew Luca hadn't cheated on her because they weren't together, but she didn't know he was talking to other women. She accepts that his friends are women but doesn't really like it. It will take her a while to get over it.

With all of that out of the way, the only thing left to do is...

But before that, he meets a young man from Brindleton Bay named Wade (Dub) Banks. He's from The Banks Dynasty by @mysimsloveaffair. You should check it out if you're not already reading.

He's in town with his lady friend visiting her father. He saw Luca and asked for suggestions on what to do in San Sequoia. They are kindred spirits and become instant friends. He is currently Luca's bestest friend in the world.

Anyway, Luca and Sophia get married, honeymoon in Tartosa, and eventually buy a house in San Sequoia. Instead of living the blissful wedded life, they begin a painful journey.

Their plan was to start a family immediately, but Sophia had a hard time getting pregnant. They tried fertility treatments, but they don't work. She's staring her adult birthday in the face and is afraid she'll never birth her own children. To make matters worse, so many around them are getting pregnant unexpectedly. Dub and his now girlfriend had a reckless night in the hot tub and had a baby girl. Yasmine turns up pregnant with twin girls. Even his sister, Alessia, who he thought would never settle down now has a live-in boyfriend and got pregnant. The cherry on top was learning Luca also had low fertility and they were definitely not having children the traditional way. That was a very dark period that threatened to break them down, but they stayed strong. Eventually they decide to do IVF and announced the pregnancy at Sophia's birthday party. A daughter, Desiree, was born on the eve of Luca's birthday.

Alessia gave birth to triplets (2 boys and a girl) about 12 hours before. Having Desiree brought joy into Luca and Sophia's life, but the painful journey did not end there. His father died shortly after her birth, and his mother died a few days later. As a card-carrying mama's boy, that one hit HARD. He was prepared for Ali dying, but Emmy's death came unexpectedly.

Luca and Alessia struggled through raising their children while grieving their parents. He was especially worried about his sister because she never once desired to have children or lead a domestic life, and now she's raising THREE children on her own. Her boyfriend left during the baby shower and went back to his ex because he was spooked about having triplets. So with Emmy dead, and the boyfriend gone, she's all alone in that big house. Luca gets an idea from Dub and decides to look for a duplex so he and Alessia can stay close and raise their children together and support each other.

Meanwhile, little by little, they pick up the pieces of their lives and adjust to the new normal. Dub and Maia elope and invite Luca and fam to the wedding in El Ciudad Enamorada. They volunteer to babysit while Luca and Sophia go on a much needed date. Their lives had been so heavy and hectic ever since getting married, they hadn't been on a proper date since they found out Sophia was expecting. Having a night to themselves and spending time together as a family for the next day and a half put things in perspective. Luca was in the throws of a midlife crisis and was losing confidence about his purpose in the world. He has loved yoga ever since his mother introduced it to him as a teen, but teaching yoga and opening his own studio was her idea, not his. Without goals of his own, he happily pursued that dream and even tried to adopt it as his own, but it never felt completely right. Dub gave them a money tree for a wedding gift, and it was so timely because Luca was able to be with Sophia the entire time they struggled through infertility. Lately he'd been thinking about getting back to work but wasn't sure if teaching yoga was the right thing. That messed him up for a few days, but he eventually decided his career doesn't define him. He's still a good husband and father even if he doesn't have a job and contribute in society. He will focus on raising Desiree well and shaping her to be the best she can be. That will be his contribution.

Luca finally decides to rent out his father's house to a family with infant twins. He also finds the perfect duplex for him and Less. He lives on one side and she rents out the other. The kids age up, and that is where we are now!

There's lots of subplots I skipped over like the drama with Emmy and her boyfriend Dwayne and shocking developments about Yasmine's children, but this is the basic gist of generation 3. If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask!

#mid gen 3 recap #adolting

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dwobbitfromtheshire · 1 year ago

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A/N: This wasn't supposed to be so long or so angsty, and yet, here we are. . . 🤷‍♀️

What if they accidentally kissed during the Big Boy scene? Aka Eddie's bisexual awakening. . .

Eddie grinned at Steve, Robin peering over his shoulder, but he wasn't looking at her.

"Oh, I'm not going to be the one driving this thing. Harrington's got her, don't ya, big boy?" Eddie smirked.

Big boy? Where the hell did that come from? He hurriedly invaded his space like he does when he feels awkward, and of course, they were already pretty close. Steve just had to move his head. Fuck. Their lips brushed against each other. They froze for a moment before they pulled away. Eddie didn't have any time to think about what just happened because Steve pulled him up, and suddenly, they were peeling out of the trailer park. They were on their way to the War Zone, and Eddie was sitting behind Steve, listening to him talk about his dreams. It gave him plenty of time to think about what the hell just happened.

Holy shit! His first kiss and it was with Steve Harrington. It was an accident, though. It didn't mean anything to him, did it? No, it definitely meant something to him. He wanted to do it again. As he thought about it, his mind began to wonder. More kissing, in the heat of victory. Vecna was dead, vanquished, and Eddie was cleared of any wrongdoing. Steve was grinning as he pulled Eddie into his arms, dipped him, and kissed him like he was a nurse on V-J day. Fast forward years later, and they had a house together. Eddie and Steve were chasing their kids around the house. The sound of their little feet and their giggles filled the home they built together. Wooah, getting a little ahead of yourself there, Munson? Suddenly, a pair of fingers were snapping in front of his face. His eyes came into focus.

"Jesus, what the hell? I thought you were. . .what were you thinking about?" Robin asked with a smirk.

"Sorry, you have to be a higher level to unlock that information, Buckley," Eddie said.

"Damn, is saving your ass not enough?" She laughed. "Anyways, we're going in. Can you babysit Dustin, Lucas, and Steve?"

"I don't need babysitting," Steve scowled.

"The tables have turned, Steve-o. Deal with it," Robin scoffed. "I'm laying my Dingus in your hands. Don't fail me, Munson. Steve, we'll get you clothes and shoes, along with proper bandages."

She followed the others out of the RV after she whispered something to Steve. Eddie was pretty sure she asked if he wanted Eddie to be his nurse. Steve plopped down next to him, his cheeks red. It looked like Dustin was going to join them, but Steve held up a hand to stop him. He twirled his finger, indicating that he wanted Dustin and Lucas to turn around. They rolled their eyes and did it, anyway.

"So. . .are we going to talk about what happened back there?" Steve asked.

"Oh, yeah," Eddie said sheepishly. "I hope I didn't freak anyone out. I was just lost in thought."

"Oh. . .I was actually talking about our lips, you know, connecting. . .but should we talk about that, too?" Steve asked.

"Oh, that. . .I mean, it was an accident, right?" Eddie asked, blushing.

"I mean, it was. . .," Steve trailed off.

"Even if you were into guys, why in the hell would you be interested in me?" Eddie asked.

"You're making assumptions again," Steve said in amusement.

"What other assumptions are you referring to?" Eddie asked.

"Well, you assumed that Nancy and I were still into each other. . .hmm, very wrong about that. Now, you're open to the possibility that I might be into guys, but I definitely wouldn't be into you. You are extremely wrong about the fact that I wouldn't be into you. I was going to say that it was a happy accident," Steve said.

Eddie completely forgot that anyone else was still there when he surged forward to capture his lips. Steve laughed, and Eddie could feel it vibrate against his mouth. Eddie blushed and pulled away.

"Shit, sorry, I forgot we weren't alone," Eddie whispered.

"Don't worry, it looks like they've forgotten too," Steve whispered.

Dustin and Lucas were talking animatedly with one another, their backs facing them. Eddie smiled and went back to kissing him.

[Meanwhile. . .

"So, we're just going to ignore the fact that they're making out behind us?" Lucas whispered to Dustin.

"Yes," Dustin whispered. "We know about Steve, but we don't know about Eddie, so yes, we're going to ignore them until Eddie is ready."]

A moment later, everyone came running in, and Steve quickly pulled away from Eddie before anyone could see them. He jumped into the driver's seat and drove them away to an open field. Erica threw a bag at Steve and Eddie.

"I got you a belt I thought you might like. Steve, I got you some clothes and a jacket that's gonna make you look cool for once. You better wear it. We got you some supplies, and you better tend to those wounds properly because no way in hell is my favorite brother going to die from a dumbass infection," Erica said.

"Excuse me! I'm right here!" Lucas exclaimed.

"I know," Erica said, staring him down before exiting the vehicle.

"This isn't a real suggestion, but if she did face Vecna, she wouldn't even need a weapon, right?" Eddie asked.

"No fucking kidding," Steve said.

"Everyone's out. . .so I'm going to go and let you have some privacy," Eddie blushed.

"Wait, I'm going to need help with my back. . .if you don't mind," Steve said.

"If you wanted me to feel you up, all you had to do was ask," Eddie winked, and Steve scoffed.

Eddie helped him peel off his vest and slung it across the table. He locked the door and turned to face Steve, his cheeks red at the sight of Steve shirtless again. The first time it happened, on that damned boat, and Steve just slung his sweater at him. . .God, there was this jolt of something that awoke in Eddie. He had no clue what it was. . .no, he knew what it was. He just didn't want to admit to it, didn't want to accept it, which is crazy considering how much of everything else about himself he manages to accept. Maybe because it would go against his doctrine again. There was a stirring with Chrissy that he felt. He didn't want to admit that he had a type. No, him liking guys was something he could accept. Steve and Chrissy? No, no way. Chrissy. . .and like a punch to the gut, he was suddenly reminded that nothing was going to happen, not anything because she was dead. He was never going to get to know her, to see her standing in the crowd at one of his shows, or to find out if she would have even been his friend. . .if she would have returned the feelings, or. . . Would she have accepted that he also had feelings for Steve? Shit, he didn't even know what her favorite color was. Oh, she carried around that little pink backpack. Was it pink? Shit. He did not want to build her up in his head, but he knew what kind of person she was in that moment. . . At that picnic table. Will he ever go back to that table and not think of her? It was the loss of knowing her, that he never would, that broke the dam. Suddenly, Steve was cupping his face.

"Eddie?" Steve asked and he burst into tears.

"She's dead, Steve," Eddie sobbed, and Steve's eyes were full of understanding. "I'm sorry, I'm supposed to be helping you and I'm fucking falling apart here."

"It was bound to happen at some point. I'm surprised you managed to keep it together this long," Steve replied.

He pulled Eddie against him and let him cry into his shoulder. Eddie let out a deep, aching sob as he grieved for the girl he never got to know. He whimpered and pulled back.

"I feel like I don't deserve to feel this, but I think I was starting to develop something for her, you know?" Eddie said, sniffling. "Is that okay?"

"Of course, more than okay," Steve said softly.

He leaned against the table and pulled Eddie in between his legs. He rubbed his arms gently before taking his hands in his. Eddie slipped his fingers through Steve’s, interlocking their fingers together.

"After this," Eddie whispered, leaning his forehead against Steve’s. "I'm not going to waste a single moment. I'm going to cherish every single one with you. Ugh! I sound like a sap. Steve Harrington, what the hell are you doing to me?"

"I'm just that irresistible," Steve said with a grin. "You're a cute sap though."

"We only just started getting to know each other," Eddie said. "It seems like all of this is happening so quickly. I fucking ran at lightning speed through my sexuality crisis."

"Yeah, trauma bonding will do that to you. Robin didn't like me at first," Steve said. "But now she's my platonic soulmate, and I can't imagine life without her."

"I just wish it hadn't started like this," Eddie said.

"Look at this way," Steve said, wrapping his arms around his waist. "We would have gotten together no matter what because of Dustin."

"That little shit was determined to get us to hang out," Eddie said.

"And we both would have caved eventually," Steve said, shrugging his shoulders. "That's what I like about you. I don't think there is anything that you wouldn't do for that kid. Neither would I."

"Annoying, isn't it? How he manages to claw his way into collecting older brothers like they're trading cards," Eddie snorted.

"See? We definitely would have bonded over him," Steve said.

"We still can," Eddie said and began to work on Steve’s bandages. "What's your favorite color?"

"Yellow, why?" Steve asked.

"Just curious. Mine's red," Eddie said as he began to disinfect his wounds. "Um. . .boxers or briefs?"

"Seriously?" Steve laughed.

"Just trying to get to know you," Eddie said.

"Both," Steve said as he turned around so Eddie could tend to the wounds on his back.

Eddie paused for a moment before giggling.

"Me too," Eddie replied and they both laughed.

As they prepared for war, Eddie couldn't help but think about the times he would get up early and watch the sunrise on the roof of his trailer. Sometimes, Max would join him on the roof, and they would just sit there quietly.

"You listen to the same music Billy did," Max said the first time.

"I am nothing -," Eddie started to say.

"I know," she said quickly. "Billy never would have taken in Mike, Dustin, and Lucas the way that you did. I wish - "

Max started to say, but she choked up and went quiet. Eddie sometimes wished that he had pushed her to say more, but he knew what it was like at that age to be an angry, stricken with grief kid who didn't want to talk. So, he did what Wayne did and let her sit there with him to watch the rise of a new day. He remembered the rays of light coming through, the twinkle of the stars disappearing into the light, and right now, he couldn't help but compare them to the freckles on Steve’s face. He was the sun, a bigger star surrounded by slightly smaller ones. They were protecting him as much as he was protecting them. Does the sun die a little when one of their smaller stars goes out, or does it burn a little brighter? He'd have to look that up.

But what he couldn't help but ponder on was the rays of light coming through during a sunrise. The colors were a multitude of red, yellow, and pink. He couldn't help but think about what that meant, how it oddly made him think of Chrissy and Steve. His type wasn't preppy people, but people made of pure starlight, both lights hidden safely by the sunlight but seen so clearly standing with the darkness, shining brighter and stronger than before. They were all made of stardust, he thought. Some were just more obvious than the others. He thought about that more on the way back to the Creel House. You're trying too hard to be poetic, Munson, he thought to himself. As Max walked by him, Eddie squeezed her hand and pleaded with his eyes. Come back. She squeezed his hand and did the same.

"Steve. . .," Eddie called out.

They were in the Upside Down now. The other three were off to face Vecna while Eddie and Dustin were set to be the distractions for the bats. Promises had been made. Don't be cute. Don't be heroes. Steve whirled around, and Eddie was nearly thrown back by the soft look in Steve's eyes. God, he wanted to. . .just one more time.

"Make him pay," he said.

What if they died? Fuck it. Eddie threw caution to the wind and closed the gap between them, crashing his lips to Steve’s in a harsh kiss. He can worry about the consequences later. Steve gripped his hips as he kissed him back eagerly, his hands holding on tightly to the bullet belt. Eddie smirked. He definitely liked the belt. He broke the kiss.

"I just wanted you to know that I really think that you look hot in your new jacket," Eddie said, breathing heavily.

"Yeah, I'll wear it more often, as long as you promise to wear that belt when we, uh, start hanging out," Steve said.

"Hmm, the belt and nothing else?" Eddie asked.

"S-shit," Steve stuttered, his cheeks turning red as the image broke his brain.

"Seriously?!" Robin scowled and pulled her best friend away. "You said what you needed to say. Let's go! Do not get my best friend all excited in the middle of a mission!"

"I prefer the term 'quest'," Eddie replied, and she rolled her eyes, flipping him off as she dragged Steve away.

He giggled when Robin slapped Steve out of it. Eddie turned around to find Dustin looking up at the sky.

"I didn't see or hear anything unless you wanted me to," Dustin said, his eyes closed. "Although, I really hope that you didn't want me to hear that last part."

"Relax, Henderson, I have nothing to hide from you. I trust you with my life," Eddie replied, causing Dustin to smile before punching him in the arm.

"NEVER put that image into my head again," Dustin said, and Eddie let out a cackle.

It all happened so fast. The most metal concert occurred, and then the next thing he knew, he was rushing to buy them more time. For Steve. For Chrissy. Suddenly, Eddie was lying on the ground as the bats tore into his flesh, and then Dustin was screaming, crying over him. Man, he wanted it so badly to be his year. As his vision grew dark, he thought he heard Steve screaming his name, and then he was floating. Is this what death was like?

Eddie opened his eyes and blinked at the white lights. Wait. . .what the fuck? Was he in Heaven? What idiot allowed him into Heaven? Wait. . .it was real? Well, if hell was real, then Heaven could be real, too. Okay, there wouldn't be an annoying beeping sound in Heaven. . .unless. . .this was hell, and the annoying beeping sound was his punishment. Oh, fuck, was it too late to turn his life around? His vision became clearer, and suddenly, his uncle's face came into view.

"I'm alive?" Eddie asked.

"Yeah, Eds, you're alive," Wayne said tearfully.

"Eddie?" A voice asked.

Eddie looked over and saw Steve on his other side. Eddie grinned.

"Hey, sunshine," he croaked.

"Hey, glad you're awake," Steve said, trying to hold back his emotions. "Everyone is alright. Max has a broken arm, and Lucas's face is busted up, but we have everything all cleared up. You're a free man."

"Holy shit," Eddie muttered.

"You should know that Steve here hasn't left your side, neither has Eddie junior out there for that matter," Wayne said and gave him a soft look.

Wayne was a man of few words, so over the years, Eddie has learned to read his looks. He knew what that one meant. His eyes were full of knowing.

"You know?" Eddie asked with wide eyes. "How the fuck do you know when I didn't even know until everything happened?!"

"Boy, watch your damn language in front of your gentleman caller," Wayne replied. "And you're a terrible liar, especially when you're lying to yourself. I figured you'd tell me when you were ready to accept it."

"Gentleman caller? Wayne, have you been reading romance novels again?" Eddie asked with an exasperated sigh. "I just want to point out that you fucking swore."

"Maybe I have been reading them. So what?" Wayne asked. "And I just want to point out that he's not my gentleman caller. I'm gonna let you two have a minute. Let EJ know what you're awake, and I just remembered I have the perfect hat for him."

"EJ?" Eddie asked as Wayne left the room.

"It's what he's been calling Dustin," Steve said with a smirk.

"Eddie Junior. . .," Eddie muttered. "So, uh, what would have happened if we hadn't accidentally kissed?"

"Oh, you probably would have spent months pining after me, and I probably would have eventually put you out of your misery by asking you out. Maybe," Steve smirked.

"Oh, you would have been the one to pine after me, big boy, so fuck you," Eddie said.

"I hope that's one of your goals," Steve replied with a smirk.

"You really like me?" Eddie asked with a dreamy sigh.

"I really like you, baby," Steve replied and pushed hair out of his eyes.

Even though he was in a lot of pain, Eddie felt absolutely giddy at the nickname.

"You know, before all of this, I really thought that I, uh, hated you, but I think it was always a crush," Eddie blushed.

"I'm glad we were both wrong about each other," Steve said softly as he brushed hair out of his eyes. "You better hurry up and get better because I don't know how long I can wait to take you on a date."

"Uh, Steve, as lovely as that would be, I don't know if going on a date in public after everything that happened would be a good idea," Eddie said.

"No," Steve said, rolling his eyes. "But I was thinking a nice picnic on Mount Weathertop would be very nice and private."

"You're taking me on a date to Middle Earth!? Yeah, I think that's private enough!" Eddie said cheekily and then dropped his smile. "Wait, there isn't a gate that will take us there. . .is there?"

"Sorry to disappoint you. It's a hill overlooking Hawkins," Steve replied.

"Sounds romantic," Eddie replied.

Before Eddie could say anything else, the door burst open, and his room started to fill up. Dustin was at the front of the group, followed by Mike and the rest of Hellfire. Eddie had been surprised to find that Jim Hopper, the same one who used to arrest him and the same who supposedly died last year. Eddie wasn't sure why anything surprised him anymore. Everyone seemed to be talking all at once, but he wasn't paying attention to them. The only thing that he could focus on was the star sitting in the corner of the room.

Eventually, Eddie left the hospital room and healed up enough to trudge up the path to Mount Weathertop with his boyfriend. Now, Eddie was sitting on the blanket with Steve’s head in his lap as he read the Hobbit to him. His voice grew tired, and he tossed it onto the blanket so he could run his fingers through Steve’s hair. They watched as the sun began to set, and as the sky grew dark, Eddie could almost picture Chrissy's smile in the stars that were appearing. He could almost hear her voice telling him that it was okay, that she was free now. Eddie smiled and exhaled.

#stranger things #eddie munson #stranger things s4 #joseph quinn #eddie stranger things #steve harrington #eddie munson lives #steddie #steve x eddie #steve harrington x eddie munson #steddie fanfiction #long fic #bisexual steve harrington #bisexual eddie munson #bi4bi boyfriends #accidental kiss #mentions of eddie's crush on chrissy #the party

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lady-pug · 2 years ago

Text

The Bet

Summary: Dustin cannot believe Eddie “The Freak” Munson has a girlfriend (as pretty as Galadriel, no less), and the boys seem to think the same. Max and Robin disagree, arguing that Eddie is, in fact, a catch. They decide to settle things once and for all through a bet.

Pairing: Eddie Munson x Reader

Word count: 4,9k

Warnings: cursing

Notes: I'm absolutely in love with this one, it's honestly my pride and joy (at least so far). The idea for this one came to me during an Invertebrates class (should I have be paying more attention to the class? probably, but I did end up doing well overall in that subject, so). If you spot any mistakes, please feel free to warn me and I'll correct it right away, and feedback is always welcome and appreciated. I hope you truly enjoy this story.

This is part of a series, but most parts can be read as standalones (so far they are published in cronological order, but this will change).

Reader is female, but no physical descriptions provided (other than being gorgeous, that is!)

Next part | Masterlist | Read on AO3

“I call bullshit.”

“Dustin!” El exclaimed.

“There’s no fucking way you have a girlfriend!”

“Dustin.” El gritted her teeth “Don’t be mean.”

“What? I’m just saying” Dustin explained, completely unphased “that out of all the people sitting on this table, he is the least likely to have a girlfriend.”

“The same has been said about you and yet…” Max smirked in that sardonic way of hers, making the others laugh.

“Do not bring Suzie-poo into this!” the boy rolled his eyes, but his shoulders tensed in embarrassment.

Lunch time at Hawkins High was never a quiet affair. More often than not someone, most likely someone from their usual table (even more often than not that someone was Eddie), would be doing something rambunctious that would attract the attention of every other student in the cafeteria. They had all learned to ignore it and fully embraced their nerd/outcast situation, almost always wearing their Hellfire Club t-shirts. Today, Dustin was the one drawing attention to them, fervorously denying what he had just been told.

“Come on, people.” he opened his arms, gesturing around the table “Let’s face it. Other than Mike, Lucas and I, who already have girlfriends, the most probable person here to get a girl would definitely be Robin.”

“Ouch, Henderson,” Steve punched the boy next to him on the shoulder, with a little more force than necessary “uncalled for. And besides, all she does all day is mope about Vickie, without ever making a move.”

“Uh, actually” Robin piped up “I just asked Vickie out, we’re gonna watch Letter to Brezhnev this weekend.”

Steve groaned, while Dustin’s face conveyed something akin to ‘I told ya’.

“Actually, Eddie, I’ve been meaning to ask, if this whole thing between me and Vickie does work out, can I bring her to one of our sessions?”

“Be my guest.” the man, who was currently being talked about as if he wasn’t even there, answered, his smile never weavering.

“Guys, we’re losing focus here.” Dustin clapped his hands “Let’s get back to the matter at hand: Eddie, your so called girlfriend.”

“What about her?”

“Tell us more about her.”

Eddie’s smile grew impossibly bigger.

“She’s everything my humble heart could ever ask for.”

“Humble, yeah, right.” Steve scoffed, earning him a slap on the back of the head from Robin.

“She is immeasurably intelligent, infinitely kind and would never hesitate to help those in need. Not to mention, she is the most beautiful creature to have ever walked this Earth.”

“How beautiful are we talking?” Lucas asked.

“Galadriel level of beauty.”

A bunch of ‘wow’s and even an impressed whistle, courtesy of Robin herself, sounded from the group.

“What does that even mean?” asked Steve. Dustin narrowed his eyes at the older boy and didn’t even bother with an answer, before addressing his DM again.

"Bullshit! What’s her name?”

Eddie’s once dreamy smile turned mischievous.

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

Dustin scoffed.

“There is our answer. You are making her up.”

“No, I’m not.” Eddie said, a strange calmness in his voice.

“Yes, you are.”

“Why would I make her up?”

“I dunno, you are our DM, you literally come up with the most creative stories as a hobby, which, might I add, might as well be your side job at this point!”

“Why have you never introduced her to us?” Eleven asked, only slightly offended that her new friend hadn’t deemed them worthy of knowing the inner mechanisms of his private life.

Some people shook their heads in agreement.

“She works at the time of our campaigns.”

“How convenient.” Lucas exclaimed.

“If you really want to meet her so badly I’ll bring her around some day.” Eddie shrugged.

"How about this?” Dustin lowered his voice conspiratorially “10 bucks she’s made up and you’re bullshitting all of us.”

“Dustin!” Max hissed.

“I’m in.” Lucas said.

“Lucas!”

“Guys, don’t you think this is a little… cruel? Making a bet at someone’s expense?” El hesitantly pointed out.

Everyone looked in Eddie’s direction at the head of the table, whose face didn’t give anything away.

“Nah.” all the boys, excluding Will and surprisingly including Eddie, said.

“I’m with Dustin.” Mike said, to which El glared at him “What? Easiest money I’ll ever make in my life.”

“Make it 20 that not only she’s real, but she’s also gorgeous.” Robin chimed in.

“Thank you Buckley.” Eddie bowed his head at her.

“Seriously?” Steve almost shouted.

“What, Eddie is a pretty nice guy. If I wasn’t into…” she trailed off, glaring at Steve next to her as he mouthed the word ‘boobies’ “other things,” she emphasized “I’d definitely date him.”

“You are so on, Rob.” Steve indeed shouted this time “You’re going down.”

“El?” Mike asked his girlfriend.

“I don’t know. I’m not really comfortable doing this.”

“Me neither.” Will agreed.

“I’m with Robin on this one.” it was Max's turn to say.

“Alright!” Eddie grabbed a pencil and a rumpled sheet of paper (math’s homework, they noted) “It’s two against four: Buckley and Mayfield vs Harrington, Henderson, Sinclair and Wheeler. Should I mark 20 bucks for everyone?”

The boys, who originally opened the bet at $10 each, all agreed.

“So that makes the final prize a total of… $120.” he eyed all the people on the table with a mysterious grin, his voice morphing into the one he used while performing as Dungeon Master during their campaigns “Do you, my mighty Fellowship, accept this challenge?”

Everyone looked at Dustin, the one who had come up with all that mess, to seal their next step. He stood up and extended his hand for Eddie to shake.

“Hell yeah.”

“I’m telling you, there is absolutely no way in this world, and in the Upside Down, that Eddie is telling the truth.”

Dustin was leading the group around downtown Hawkins on their way to the movie theater for a showing of Top Gun.

“Dustin, man, don’t you think this is going a little too far?” Will asked, a worried look crossing his features.

“I mean, why does he feel the need to lie to us like that?” Lucas interrupted “Not having a girlfriend is not something to be ashamed of.”

“Tell that to Steve.” Dustin smirked, high fiving his buddies, to which El, Will and Max rolled their eyes.

“Maybe because he isn’t lying?” Max said, crossing her arms, annoyed “Has that ever crossed your minds? And that maybe he hasn’t introduced her because you are simply too immature to handle it?”

Mike, Lucas and especially Dustin had the decency to look sheepish for a fraction of a second before diving right back on their shenanigans.

“I mean who in their right minds would date Eddie of all people?” Dustin changed the subject, making Max wave her arms incredulously, giving up.

“Why is it so hard to believe someone might be interested in Eddie?” El asked, half trying to defend her friend and half genuinely curious.

“Well, for one he’s an outcast.” Lucas said.

“So are we all.” Max retorted.

“He’s a freak with a very peculiar set of interests.” Mike gave his input.

“That doesn’t really mean anything, we all enjoy D&D and rock music as well.”

“And he’s on his way to have to do the senior year for the fourth time.” Dustin finished.

“Oh, come on, give the guy a break!” Max snapped “You know what he went through this year, it kinda makes sense that school wasn't his top priority.”

El nodded, agreeing.

“Besides” she said, a tilt to her head indicating she actually meant it “Eddie is a really nice guy and anyone would be lucky to date him.”

“Would you?”

“Would I what?”

“Date Eddie.” Mike told her “Would either of you date Eddie given the chance.”

Eleven and Max shared a look, not even hesitating before they answered.

“Yes.”

“Absolutely.”

“What?!” the boys asked in disbelief.

“He’s a really nice guy!” Max said, linking arms with El.

“He’s really funny.” El complemented, adding a skip to their step.

“And he’s pretty good looking.”

“His hair is cool.”

“And have you seen his tattoos?”

“He’s bitchin’.” El finished, smiling.

Mike and Lucas looked at each other, only slightly worried, while Dustin scoffed, shaking his head in disappointment.

Arriving at the theater, they went to buy the tickets.

“Okay, let’s entertain this crazy idea for a second and say she is real.” Dustin simply couldn’t let the subject go “What do you guys think she’s like?”

“Like him to some degree, otherwise they wouldn’t be together.” Lucas rushed in “They have to have a lot in common.”

After a moment of silence Mike spoke up.

“I could see Eden dating him.”

“Eden?” Dustin asked, perplexed “Suzie’s older sister? When did you- you know what? I don’t even wanna know.”

“But she’s dating Argyle now.” Will pointed out.

“True.”

They finally arrived at the snack booth, a familiar face behind the counter that they knew pretty well.

“Hey, look who it is! My favorite person in the whole world!” Dustin called your name very enthusiastically, a gigantic, very dramatic smile plastered on his face while he leaned his forearm over the counter “Whats up?”

“Flattery will get you nowhere, Henderson.” you rolled your eyes, already used to the boy’s behavior.

“But why?” he whined, head thrown back dramatically “You always give El an extra piece of candy every single time, how come she’s your favorite?”

“Whaaat? I do no such thing.” you retorted, sending a conspiratory wink in El's way “Even suggesting that is an offense to my honor.”

“Ugh, I’m so sorry, miss ‘do-no-wrong.”

You giggled. No matter how much it seemed to annoy you, you absolutely loved those kids and would do everything for them.

“Same as always?”

“You know us too well.” Mike answered.

While you went about preparing the kids’ snacks, they (read Dustin, Mike and Lucas) quickly created a game out of people watching, much to the annoyance of the rest of the group.

“What about her?” Lucas pointed out a girl, plain clothes and nothing truly remarkable about her appearance.

“Nah, they don’t seem like they really match.” Mike countered back before pointing to a stuck up looking girl who seemed annoyed to just exist “How about that one?”

The other boys looked the girl up and down before shaking their heads.

Dustin perked up when his eyes landed on someone coming out of a showing of Poltergeist II.

“What about her?!” he pointed out a woman in darker clothes, excitement lacing his voice “She seems like she would be perfect for him. Look, she even likes horror films!”

Max rolled her eyes so hard they almost popped out of the sockets.

“If he was interested in older women he would be drooling over Mike’s mom.” the corner of her lips lifted in a tiny smirk “How did you describe her? ‘Smoking hot like chicken wings’?”

Mike’s face turned red as he turned to face Dustin.

“What did you say about my mom?!” his next move would have surely resulted in an immeasurable amount of pain for Dustin (and probably a trip to the hospital) had you not intervened at that very moment.

“Alright! Here you go.” you started putting the snacks over the counter “Three large popcorns, one with extra butter, two large sodas, two medium sodas,” you then proceeded to hand the items one by one “Blue Raspberry Airheads for Will, Cry Baby Tears for Max, Gummi Bears for Lucas, Licorice Rockies for Dustin, Watermelon and Cherry Nerds for Mike and last, but not least, a packet of Spree for El.”

As you were sliding the packet towards El, the girl noted that you had given her a Caramello bar, hidden under the other candy. That had been something you had been doing ever since she had first stopped by the theater you work at; she had been mesmerized at the assortment of sweets on display and simply could not choose one. You had overheard her telling her boyfriend that she had never tried any of those, and you had made it your life’s mission to give her as much candy as you could without getting busted by your boss just so she could figure out her favorite kind. So far, nothing had beaten Spree. She smiled at you, grateful for what you’ve been doing for her.

“Hey!” Dustin also seemed to have noticed the interaction “I saw that!”

You and El looked at each other, suppressing a smile.

“Saw what?” Eleven asked, a deadpan look on her face that only made Dustin more exasperated.

After paying and balancing all their food, the kids started heading towards the movie rooms. As they were walking away you called after them.

“Good luck trying to defeat Lareth the Beautiful!” you waved and then added under your breath so they could not hear from the distance “You’re gonna need it.”

“Thanks!” they all responded in unison, not giving it a second though.

After a moment of playful banter, Eleven decided to address something that had been on her mind since they got to the movie theater.

“What about her?”

The others shot her a confused look.

“What about who?” Will asked.

She nodded her head back at the counter where you were wiping out fallen kernels and elaborated, though it ended up sounding more like a question.

“As Eddie’s girlfriend?”

The boys who were in on the bet looked at each other before bursting out in hysterical laughter.

“Her?!” Lucas sputtered out “Dating Eddie ‘The Freak’ Munson?! Seriously El?”

“Little Miss Perfect, Goodie-Two-Shoes over there?” Dustin added “Who works at the nursing home during the week and volunteers at the animal shelter every other weekend?!”

“There is no way!” Mike doubled over.

“Never in a million years!”

“Absolutely not!”

El looked towards Will and Max for support, who only shrugged, as if having given up discussing the subject. But she didn’t miss the quiet look of agreement she saw crossing their faces.

On the other side of town, a similar conversation would take place only a few hours later.

“I’m telling you, Rob” Steve said, placing a recently returned copy of The Empire Strikes Back in its respective place on the shelf “if I can’t keep a girl interested in me for more than a week, there’s no way Munson has a girlfriend!”

Robin hummed, rearranging the collection of Planet of the Apes in the correct order.

“That’s not saying much, you know that, right?” she snickered.

He rolled his eyes at what she was implying.

“Let the guy be, Steve.” she moved on to the next row “If he says he has a girlfriend, then he has a girlfriend. I don’t know why it’s so hard to believe that.”

“We go to the same school as him, right? I don’t know if you noticed but girls aren’t exactly throwing themselves at him.”

“I don’t know if you noticed, dingus, but he’s almost three years older than us. He’s supposed to have graduated by now. I’m pretty sure his girlfriend was in his original class or something.”

“But we were freshmen when he was a junior!” he threw his arms up “I’m pretty sure we would have noticed if he started getting cozy with someone!”

“Steve,” the girl gave him a sad, almost resentful smile “you didn’t even notice me before we started working together last year. You only had eyes for Nancy.”

Steve was quiet, for he knew she was right.

“That and you let those two dickheads Tommy and Carol infiltrate your mind and hypnotize you into becoming a jock!” she tried lighting up the mood, knowing she had hit a sensitive spot for him, which seemed to work as he chuckled.

Their bonding was interrupted by the sound of the little bell over the door, signaling a new client had just come in. Robin started the whole customer service speech while walking slowly towards the counter.

“Hi, welcome to Family Video, how may we help you?” she stopped short once she realized it was you “Hi! Oh my god, I haven’t seen you in a while, how are you?”

“Hey, Robin! I’ve been good, a little busy but what’s new?” both of you giggled, Robin with a bit more flare than necessary.

Steve watched the interaction with a strange kind of fascination.

“What can I get for you today?”

“Let’s see…” you tapped your chin, deep in thought before asking with a hopeful tone “Is Lady and The Tramp available?”

“I got it!” Steve typed it down on the computer “Lucky for you, m’lady, it is.”

Robin stared at him as if he had grown a second head while he retrieved the tape.

“Can I get a second one? I really wanted to watch The Three Caballeros, but I think it’s kind of mandatory to watch Saludos Amigos first.”

The girl checked in and sure enough, it was available. While she checked you out, Steve was busy putting your tapes in a bag.

“Make sure to drop by more often.” Robin said “It’s been so long, we have to catch up eventually!”

“Yeah, come hang out with us sometime!” Steve added, immediately wincing at his own lack of subtleness.

“Will do.” you waved at them and walked out of the store.

Robin slowly turned towards her friend.

“What was that?”

“I don’t know! I kind of panicked!” he rubbed a hand over his face “Who was that anyway?”

“Duh,” Robin stated your name “only the smartest, sweetest and most beautiful girl in school in forever? Straight A’s, always super nice to everyone, incredibly well dressed, kind of a nerd, but no one gave her too much of a hard time?”

Steve continued to stare blankly at her. She sighed, giving up.

“I had the biggest crush on her in sophomore year while she tutored me in math, but she left the following year and I almost flunked without her help.”

Steve shrugged, not really remembering you at all.

“Now that I come to think of it, she used to hang out with Eddie quite a lot back then.”

“No!” he stared at the door you had recently left through “Do you think…?”

“I don’t know!” she shrugged, a seemingly victorious smile spreading across her face “Maybe?”

They stood in silence for a second.

“There is no way a girl as sweet and as hot as her would be interested in Munson of all people!”

“Come on, Steve, that’s so mean!”

Almost a month had passed since that fateful lunch break. Lucas and Mike eventually settled down and forgot about the whole ordeal, but Steve and, especially, Dustin were relentless. Everyday they would bring up the subject of Eddie’s girl, to the point where the other members of Hellfire Club were starting to get annoyed.

“So, Eddie,” Dustin started accusingly, “where is that imaginary girlfriend of yours today?”

Everyone groaned.

“How many times do I have to tell you this?” Eddie rolled his eyes and rubbed both hands down his cheeks “She’s working!”

“At night? In the middle of the week?” Steve added, suspicion is his voice.

“She’s fresh off training so she gets the worst shifts.” Eddie explained, getting kind of tired of the matter.

“Hey, Steve?”

“Yeah, Henderson?”

“You know what that sounds to me?”

“What?”

“A bullshit excuse!” Dustin shouted, pointing his finger in Eddie’s face.

“Uhm excuse me.” a voice sounded from the end of the table “If you two old ladies have finished your daily 3 pm gossip over the window, can we go back to the game? How are we supposed to defeat Lareth if all you do is bicker all day long?!” Erica, who occasionally joined the party if she didn’t have too much homework, piped up, annoyed.

Dustin mumbled, clearly not done talking about it, when an idea struck him all of a sudden, making him punch the table, rattling all of the metal figurines.

“What the fuck was that for, Dustin?!” Max asked, startled, a look of angered surprise on her face that matched that of almost everyone there.

“S-sorry.” he answered, only slightly embarrassed “I-I’m just- excited to maybe finally defeat Lareth?”

He winced, not sounding the least bit convincing even to himself, but the others seemed to have bought it for now.

After the game, in which they hadn’t, in fact, managed to defeat Lareth the Beautiful and frankly almost got all killed trying to do so, Dustin pulled Erica aside, out of earshot from the others, especially Eddie.

“What do you want?” she hissed.

“I need a favor.”

“What makes you think I’d help you?” she crossed her arms petulantly.

“Please?”

She sighed and nodded for him to go on.

“I need you to spy on Eddie for me.”

“Uh, why?”

“We have a bet. He says he has a girlfriend, I think it’s bullshit. Steve, Mike and Lucas agree with me, while Robin and Max, the fools, think this girl is actually real.”

“And what do you need me for?”

“Follow him around, I don’t know. He would never suspect, you’re not part of the bet. Just try and prove that he’s actually lying to all of us”

She thought for a long moment.

“What’s in it for me?”

“What?” he squeaked.

“What’s in it for me?” she repeated with a smug expression “What do I get out of helping you?”

Dustin sighed.

“You can keep my share.”

Erica’s eyes widened and her jaw dropped open.

“Honestly? At this point I just want to prove I’m right. Join in, make the total amount larger and you can keep both yours and my share of it.”

She extended a hand for him to shake.

“It’s a pleasure doing business with you.” and she skipped away to catch up with Lucas.

Dustin hadn’t heard from Erica since their conversation and his faith in her was beginning to waver. A couple more weeks went by before the girl finally joined the Club once more.

“Eddie.” was the first thing she said the minute she sat down in front of the board game “I heard there is a bet of sorts going around.”

“Yes there is, Sinclair the Second.” the man answered and, having a feeling where the conversation was going, grabbed the paper he previously wrote all the names (and it looked somehow even more crumpled than before).

“I’d like to join in.” she said, a large grin on her face.

“It’s $20 per person-” Eddie started explaining before she cut him off.

“Actually I’d like to add 30 bucks.” she said decisively.

Most people around the table looked at each other, impressed and apprehensive at the same time. Dustin on the other hand, nodded victoriously towards his buddies.

“Alright, I have to admit you’re bold, Sinclair the Second.” Eddie did the math “So that increases the final prize to $150. Which side are you joining?”

Erica looked towards Dustin, who discreetly nodded at her.

“I think she’s real.”

Dustin’s jaw dropped.

“Wh-aat?!” his voice cracked from surprise.

“I just don’t see why Eddie would lie, that’s all.” she shrugged nonchalantly.

Dustin shot her a murderous look while Eddie scribbled down her name alongside Max and Robin’s.

“That sure is a good thing. Because she was just talking about requesting to change shifts with a coworker who’s said something about wanting to take more care of his cat during the day.” Eddie finished writing with a flurish “So you might get to meet her pretty soon.”

“Yeah, right.” Lucas snickered, which prompted an elbow to his ribs from Max.

The game proceeded without much hitch after that. After the fiasco that was trying to defeat Lareth the Beautiful the last time everyone was a little apprehensive in trying to take him out again, that was, if they could even find where he lived. But, in a move of sheer luck, Eleven managed to figure out his hideout after scoring 17 while searching an abandoned moathouse. Now all they had to do was attack.

“But I must warn you, my fellow adventurers,” Eddie spoke, his low voice smooth and mysterious while his eyes roamed the face of everyone in the room “every action has consequences. Think through before you strike, for you might not come out of this alive.”

El, who had been feeling brave after a succession of favorably high rolls (which may or may not have had something to do with her powers when she felt she was going to score too low, but you’d never get that out of her as long as she lived), decided to speak up.

“I say we go for it.” everyone stared at her wide eyed “What? We had a lot of time to prepare, everyone has their health full and all their best weapons… we already lost once, what’s the worst that could happen?”

“She’s right.” Lucas agreed, grabbing the dice “Who wants to start?”

“I will.” Steve decided “I’m the weakest of us all, that way if something happens to me you still have a chance to escape and get stronger.”

“No, Steve.” Robin argued.

“No one gets left behind.” Max concluded “I’ll go first.”

“No, I will.” Mike tried ripping the dice out of Max’s hands.

“Come on, let me go first.” El tried to speak, but suddenly the metal doors squaked open, silencing everyone in the room.

Shyly, someone poked their head inside.

“Hey!” you spoke from your place by the door “I hope I’m not too late?”

Eddie practically jumped out of his throne.

“Sweetheart!” he boomed, opening his arms “You are just in time! They are just about to face Lareth the Beautiful.”

“Again?” you asked, fully stepping inside the room.

“For good this time.” he answered with a mirthful smirk. “What are you doing here?”

“Mrs. Johnson let me off earlier from the nursing home. I managed to swap shifts with Mateo, so now I can come to your campaigns!”

Walking closer to the table, everyone gawked at your sudden appearance. You stopped beside the DM’s throne, but Eddie was quick to pull you sideways into his lap, where you landed giggling like a maniac. Turning your head over your shoulder, you pressed a light peck on his lips.

“No way…” Lucas gaped, shaking his head.

“Yes way.” Max retorted, nodding mesmerized.

“Hah!” Robin slapped both her hands on the table, pointing a finger at Steve in front of her.

Confused, you stared at Eddie, whose smile has never looked more smug.

“What is going on?”

“It is you?!” Dustin stood up so quickly his chair scraped on the floor before tumbling backwards onto the floor.

“Is what me?”

“You’re his girlfriend?” Steve started in awe, feeling a tiny pang of hurt on his chest.

“Uh, yeah.” you nodded, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“How?” Mike all but shouted, Eleven smiling triumphantly at his side.

You and Eddie shared a look.

“You know, Wheeler,” Eddie started, smirking “when two people love each other-”

His speech was interrupted by a chorus of repeated ‘woah’s, Steve rushing to cover Erica’s years, Robin doing the same for El, all the while you chuckled at your boyfriend’s antics .

“There are children here, man.” Steve hissed.

“No, I mean it.” Dustin shook his head in disbelief “Why are you dating him ?”

“I told you would never believe me.” Eddie explained.

Your laughter turned into a dreamy smile.

“Eddie is such a sweetheart. He’s charming, he makes me laugh. And I know I can always count on him no matter what. I know he’ll always be there for me.” you beamed softly at him, before turning back to the party, a playful grin on your face “And it doesn’t hurt that he’s incredibly attractive.”

Dustin made a gagging noise while Eddie playfully flicked his hair over his shoulder.

“I mean, who could resist my witful charms, Henderson?”

Erica turned towards her brother, Dustin, Mike and Steve, a proud look on her face.

“Pay up, losers.” she made a come hither motion with her hand “I believe the four of you owe us $50 for each of us.”

She high-fived Robin and Max.

Dustin stared at her, a look of betrayal taking over his features.

“You agreed you’d help me.” he accused.

“No” she said matter-of-factly “I agreed to spy on Eddie for you. And I did.”

Eddie let out a fake gasp, holding an offended hand over his heart.

“You asked Sinclair the Second to spy on me?!”

Dustin held a hand up.

“That’s besides the point.” he turned back to Erica “What happened?”

“I spied on him, just like you asked. And what I found was the both of them” she nodded her head in your direction, where you were still draped over your boyfriend’s legs “being all lovey-dovey with one another. Y’all are just too dumb to see it.”

Dustin shook his head as if he still couldn’t believe it.

“Now that we’ve gotten this out of the way” Eddie’s voice suddenly shifted to the one he used as Dungeon Master “are you ready to take on Lareth the Beautiful once and for all?”

Everyone around the table shouted words of agreement and encouragement, including you. Dustin quickly grabbed the dice, ready to go first. He raised his arms, hands cupped around the dice, and started shaking them. Every member of the club, and now you, stared at him in anticipation, before he hesitated.

“Seriously, though, what do you see in him?”

“Dustin!”

#eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x you #eddie munson x female!reader #eddie munson x f!reader #eddie munson fluff #eddie munson fanfic #dustin handerson being a little shit #stranger things fanfiction #stranger things fanfic

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aceofwhump · 1 year ago

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Have you made a list or notes on whumpy Hallmark and if so where?🥺

You know what, I haven't yet! Let me do that for ya now. And if anyone wants to add their favs please do so!

A Gift To Remember: Darcy (Ali Liebert) hits Aiden (Peter Porte) while riding her bike and he gets knocked out and loses his memory. It’s pretty good.

Love on the Sidelines : Laurel (Emily Kinney) is a struggling fashion designer who finds herself with a job as a personal assistant for Danny (John Reardon), a quarterback sidelined with an broken ankle. Danny is on crutches for most of the movie and is recovery from his injury.

Spirit of Christmas: A young lawyer (Jen Lilley) finds romance with a spirit (Thomas Beaudoin) that takes the form of a human 12 days before Christmas. He was murdered and there are flashbacks to him being attacked and killed.

Christmas Homecoming: Stars Michael Shanks (Daniel Jackson from SG1!!) as an Army Captain recovering from an injury in battle. He's got a broken leg and suffers from survivors guilt and ptsd.

Hailey Dean Mysteries: Deadly Estate for some good poisoning whump of a medical examiner. You want unconscious? medically induced coma? respirator? bedside vigils? worry? waking up with a twitching hand? walking down the hospital floor holding onto their iv pole? Then this is the movie for you!

Love Blossoms: one small part when the main guy, Declan, gets sick with a cold during the movie. It’s kind of cute but the rest of the movie's got nothing.

Second Chances: "A badly injured leg forces fireman Jeff, who lost his father in a fire as a young boy, to rent a ground floor room during his recovery. Thus he moves in with Jenny, a 911 emergency call center operator, and her two young children, Luke and Elsie, who soon dote on him as an ideal substitute father and try matching him with their mother."

My Gal Sunday: Henry (Cameron Mattheson) gets shot in the beginning of the movie.

Signed Sealed Delivered Lost Without You: Oliver goes on a hike with his father. His dad trips and gets a seemingly innocuous injury on his leg but the two of them get lost in the woods and the injury turns out to be life threatening.

A Godwink Christmas Miracle of Love: Eric (Alberto Frezza) is run over by a plow near the end of the film. There's lots of surgery, worry, hospital stuff.

Retreat to Paradise: "Jordan is recovering from a shoulder injury and his grumpiness tempts Ellie, his carer, to leave him to his misery. But will romance finally blossom?"

The Christmas Waltz: Roman (Will Kemp) hits his head due to slipping on an icy sidewalk and has to go to hospital

Taking a Shot at Love: "Sparks fly between a ballet instructor and a professional hockey player as she tries to help him recover from the same injury that sidelined her dancing career." It's not got a lot of whump but it is about a hockey player in rehab.

Martha's Vineyard Mysteries series: The whole series. Jesse Metcalfe's character Jeff was shot on a previous case and the bullet is still in lodged in his back and it causes him pain a lot AND he continually has nightmares about the incident. It's great.

Mystery 101: Killer Timing: Travis (Kristopher Polaha) gets blown up and even though the aftermath doesn't last long its still wonderful. He gets knocked out, there's an ambulance and hospital scene (kinda), worried family members.

Never Kiss a Man in a Christmas Sweater: Maggie O'Donnell (Ashley Williams) accidentally breaks Lucas Cavelli (Niall Matter)'s arm while carrying a Christmas Tree and offers him a room to stay in when he can't find a hotel room cause she feels guilty.

A Timeless Christmas: Charles Whitley (Ryan Paevey) passes out in 1903 and wakes up in 2020.

Aurora Teagarden A Bundle of Trouble: Martin Bartell (Yannick Bisson) gets shot in the shoulder

Christmas on the Range: Clint McCree (Nicholas Gonzalez) is attacked and beaten up pretty badly.

Mix Up in the Mediterranean: Josh (Jeremy Jordan)'s twin brother Julian gets hurt and can’t do a cooking competition so Josh takes over.

The Christmas Cure: Mitch (Steve Byers) falls off ladder and gets a concussion

Love's Christmas Journey: Sheriff Aaron Davis (Greg Vaughan) gets shot in the leg while chasing a robber. His injury is bad and gets infected. He gets a fever and is rescued by an old man who cares for him. The wound needs cauterizing and he suffers fever, chills, and more.

Hearts in the Game: Diego Vasquez (Marco Grazinni) is a hot shot baseball pitcher who has a panic attack during a game which costs the team the game. Turns out it was triggered by the anniversary of his moms death and he has another panic attack later in the movie as well.

Fourth Down in Love is about an athlete who is sidelined by an injury. Broken ribs I think?

Rip in Time: Another fun time travel movie. Rip (Niall Mater) gets knocked out at least once.

Three Wise Men and a Baby: Paul Campbell's character has social anxiety and has a sort of panic attack in the park at the beginning of the movie.

Jolly Good Christmas: Will Kemp's character falls into a frozen river and he comes out shaking and shivering and she gets him a blanket and tea and he needs a hot shower.

That's all I've got for right now. The bolded ones have the best whump in my opinion so definitely check those out first :) Love's Christmas Journey and the Martha's Vineyard Mysteries are A+ whump hallmark movies. Do those first ;)

#hallmark #whump #whumpy hallmark movies #mod replies #ask #whump list

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fisheadz · 2 months ago

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While playing In Sound Mind, I have amassed quite a few little bits and bobs about it, random stuff I found interesting or funny mostly. I’m still collecting more, but here are some my more coherent notes. Spoilers, ofc.

• The welcome mat outside Desmond’s door is see-through, lol.

• In the electronics section in Virginias level, when you stand on top of the cameras, you can double jump. Or at least I could.

• Virginia/Watcher’s head is actually completely cut off from her body, can only really tell when she’s crying in the toy area.

• One of the shopping carts got lodged between two very close shelves at one point, and interacting with it made it go into the floor. One of the wheels is sticking out, and it’s going crazy and it’s hilarious. Can’t get any good pics tho, :(.

• A couple lights at the mart are blue, and they’re right where you need to go. I wonder…….

• Every time you do a tape, the time on the clocks moves up, until they reach midnight at the End. Thought it was a cool detail.

• Tonia liked Virginia in particular, she gave her good scritchies I’m guessing.

• The telescope and chair and stuff on the roof of the Building are from Lucas’ stargazing, can’t believe it took me this long to figure that out DX<.

• In the office, there’s a little hole you can chill in, between the couch and the wall. Hhhooooolllleeeeee!!!

• One of the paintings looks like Micheal Myers, chilling on a chair. That is all.

• The faces in the little crawl space area in Max’s tape, so cool man.

• I was picking up the pill bottle in Max’s tape, y’know the one, and Rainbow walked up to me while I was doing so and said “Feeling lonely yet?” and poofed right after. Like bro I’m about to fight for my life in here gimme a sec will ya?

• There’s an incident report in Allen’s tape about Max’s accident, and I was rereading it when I realized that the "melting road" was never really explained. Like, Allen’s dream about Virginia is feasible I think, but there’s no other explanation given about the road, was there?

• the little game boy things that play music are awesome, and I’m not sure if Desmond/AR has one but if they do lord knows ima find that thing if it’s the last thing I do.

• Not me writing down the names of every minor character mentioned in notes and stuff, so I can make up hc’s about them. For instance, Thomas Khan is a closeted gay man and his favorite pastime is reading bird watching, and Sophia Delatore has like 13 different types of reptiles as pets, with at least 7 of them being different kinds of turtle.

I am so so normal about this game, I swear on my life (crossing fingers very obviously).

Rosemary makes no appearances in Virginias tape, even though she does in every other one, and while I understand that V’s tape is meant as an introduction to what’s coming up, I wanna believe that Rose was there in little subtle ways, like the blue lights so you know where to go in the maze of the store.

I also finally got all of the achievements. All I was missing was "Rodeo Clown" and the whole time I was on the Bull I was just like “where is that damn achievement oh god I’m gonna die”. The Bull spinning in circles trying to get you off is funny to me, idk why it’s just the visual.

One of these days my phone is gonna give up from how many notes I have, solely for this game. I haven’t fallen for a game this hard since, like, Portal, and even then I wasn’t this obsessed with it.

Oh well, it *probably* won’t end in disaster. Definitely.

#ism #indie games #in sound mind #ism desmond #ism virginia #ism allen #ism max #ism lucas #fanfic #ism rosemary #I’m slowly but surely chipping away at little things and making headcanons and theories about them #it’s four am I am so tired bro #but the worms #they won’t let me go #spoilers

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ohno-the-sun · 6 months ago

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Oh boy... here we go:

“Ya did good"

Awww this was so cute🥺

"I think she was a doctor"

Ofc😏 of course she was a marine biologist... I see another fic brewing

I wonder if Mrs. Higuera is human at all... like "i lived my whole life here" very cryptic... and also seen grow up generations... interesting...

“No way his hair is all crazy-like. Moon’s is way better"

Ppfffssstt ... if only moon would hear this...he would hold this over sun for decades!

“It was a couple of months ago. I’d just gotten back from a tour, ya might have known us–the Glamrocks"

Eyooo💃💃💃💃 the band is hereee!!!

Holy shit👀Bonny lore?!?!?!

“I… just need to check something okay? I’ll be back soon"

Ok. This was kind of a dick move Sun. :( I understand why you did it, but in Bright's place I would be so pissed off that he left so suddenly while/after I was having a panic attack/ptsd episode...

Gosh I love Sun'a and Moon's banter😭😭😭👏👏👏👏

"I just want to be good enough for him. A long-forgotten hollowness filled my chest"

Nuuu Bright😭😭😭 This is worse than you being angry at him. At least be angry at him, don't blame yourself🥺🥺 you are not responsible for this. You do your best.

"What am I even thinking? That he’s a fish? Like some H2O Out of Water situation or like that Pixar movie Luca?"

I am glad we both have the same taste in movies♡♡♡🤝

WAIT A MINUTE!!! That book was written by Sun's mom???? How do I realise this just now...

Well... if Bright want to comfirm that this theory is dumb, or true, she just have to open that door when Sun is bathing....

I see the ao3 fic author curse caught you too :,) 🫂 with that flat tire

But AAAAAA I am so excited about what they spoke about with Moon. How did they resolve that?? What is Moon thinking? He did not sounded hostile against Sun... just...against himself... how much did he forget?

AAAAAAAAAAAA

I am going insane from theorieesss. The story is so goood!!!

I thought tho that Sun will bring Moon back to his place. In human form... but I guess that would have been more trouble because Bright is also there... and Moon's unpredictable state...🤔

Loved the Monty part too!!! He felt so in character!!

And I wanna hug Bright so much😭😭😭 that poor bean needs a vacation from this whole thing... and I know it will be worse if they finally know it. But staying clueless is more straining. And I bet Moon was who hurt Bright that day🥺😔... but still can be eclipse... because Moon was small still...(at least that is my hope)

Now I wonder if really Moon was who killed Bonny, or Eclipse... or maybe that was after Moon visited Eclipse, and he ordered Moon to do so... does Moon even remember that?🤔🤔hmmm

AAAAAAA I am so excitedddd!!!!

Waaaa enyter I am eating these theories up I love them so much!!

I always love your thoughts on the chapter waaaa ur noticing so many things

And yess poor Bright, sun again leaving so suddenly and leaving them alone

Waaa I’m glad you liked Monty he’s my other blorbo but man I don’t write/draw him enough

Pftft and yes Sun’s mom doing “research” hmm wonder what on lol

#sundrop #fnaf daycare attendant #moondrop #ask #Luca au #Luca au spoilers

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harringtonstilinski · 1 year ago

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Shut up, Liv,” Dustin said.

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

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

“Told ya,” Lucas chuckled.

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

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

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

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

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

The boys groaned as I chuckled.

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

“Will, your action!” Mike said.

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

“Fireball him!” Lucas exclaimed.

“I’d have to roll a 13 or higher!”

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

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

“Cast Protection.”

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

“Fireball him!” Lucas said.

“Another stomp! Boom!”

“Cast Protection!” Dustin said.

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

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

“He roars in anger!” Mike yelled.

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

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

“Mike!” Mrs. Wheeler yelled.

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

“You mean the end? Fifteen after.”

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

“Why do we have to go?” Will asked.

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

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

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

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

“You been playing for ten hours?”

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

“No,” Will and Lucas said.

“Liv?”

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

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

“Mad? No. Upset? Yes.”

“What’s the–”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“What are you talking about?” Mike asked.

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

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

“Watch it, Sinclair,” I said.

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Any comic?” Will asked.

“Yeah.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Yeah, hello?”

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

“Hello to you, too.”

“Did you?”

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

~~~

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

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

“So, did he call?” Barb asked.

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

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

“Did he?” Barb inquired.

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

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

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

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

“No, I’m not,” Nancy said.

“Hey, Olivia,” a random girl said.

“Hey, queen Liv,” another girl said.

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

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

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

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

“Us?”

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

“Gross,” I mumbled.

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Liv, I’m not–”

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

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

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

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

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

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

~~~

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

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

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

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

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

“Mirkwood?”

“Yeah.”

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

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

“Well, The Hobbit,” Dustin corrected.

“Here we go,” I sighed.

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

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

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

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

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

“I said that I know it!”

“We can help.”

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

“The Hobbit,” Dustin said.

“Dustin, shut the hell up,” I said.

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

“Inescapably clear.”

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

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

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

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

I sighed. “Chief.”

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

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

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

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

~~~

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

“Can you come help me study?”

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

“Please?”

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

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

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

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

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

“Looking for Will. You’re coming.”

~~~

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

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

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

“Watch it, Sinclair.”

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

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

“I think maybe we should go back.”

“For once, I agree,” I said.

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

I’m following three 12 year olds? Gross.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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~~~

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

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

~~~

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

Steve Harrington Taglist: none yet!

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

~~~

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

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

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

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

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aprilludgate357 · 5 months ago

Text

chapter one: the vanishing of will byers

steve harrington x gracie williams(eventually) word count: 7,079 summary: Will Byers goes missing and Gracie finds that babysitting just got a thousand times harder.

“SOMETHING IS COMING… SOMETHING HUNGRY FOR BLOOD.” Gracie murmured dramatically, rising slowly from her seat. Around the table, gasps erupted from all four boys, their heavy breathing echoing through Mike Wheeler’s basement. The group was deeply engrossed in their Dungeons and Dragons campaign, a cherished tradition.

“A shadow grows on the wall behind you, swallowing you in darkness,” Gracie continued ominously, her voice dropping to a whisper.

She had to admit, when Dustin first dragged her into their “party,” she was skeptical about such a nerdy activity. Yet, less than a year later, she found herself not only playing but becoming the Dungeon Master, crafting elaborate campaigns for the boys.

“What is it?” Will asked nervously, glancing around. The rest of the boys murmured, but Gracie couldn’t help but smirk at their anxiety.

“What if it’s the Demogorgon?” Dustin suggested, his voice trembling slightly. “Oh, Jesus, we’re screwed if it’s the Demogorgon.”

“It’s not the Demogorgon,” Lucas assured, though his eyes betrayed his uncertainty.

“It can’t be,” Mike agreed, looking to Gracie for reassurance. She merely shrugged, a playful glint in her eyes.

Gracie decided to heighten their suspense. “An army of troglodytes charges into the chamber!” she exclaimed, dramatically slamming a troll-like figurine onto the table.

Relieved that it wasn’t the Demogorgon, the boys let out a collective sigh. Lucas scoffed, convinced victory was within reach. “Told ya.”

As the boys relaxed, Gracie grinned, enjoying their moment of calm before the storm. She wasn’t done yet. Gasping, Gracie leaped from her seat. “Wait a minute. Did you hear that?” she asked, causing the boys to tense up.

She stomped her feet, mimicking the sound of an approaching monster. “Boom… boom… Boom!”

Slamming her fist on the table, she barely contained her laughter as the boys jumped. “That didn’t come from the troglodytes. No, that came from something else…” She paused for dramatic effect, leaving the boys on edge.

“The Demogorgon!” Gracie announced, slamming the Demogorgon figurine onto the table.

Chaos erupted as the boys shouted in panic. “We’re in deep shit,” Dustin groaned, covering his face.

“Language,” Gracie warned, though her admonishment was drowned out by the commotion.

Turning to Will, Gracie said, “Will, your action!”

Eyes wide, Will looked to his friends. “I don’t know!”

“Fireball him!” Lucas yelled, heart pounding.

“No way! He’d have to roll a 13 or higher!” Mike argued.

“Too risky. Cast a protection spell,” Dustin interjected.

“Don’t be a wimp. Fireball him!” Lucas insisted, his anxiety mounting.

“Cast Protection,” Dustin repeated urgently.

Tired of the debate, Gracie continued, “The Demogorgon is tired of your bickering! It stomps towards you. Boom!”

“Fireball him!” Lucas demanded, the group growing more frantic as Gracie moved the figurine closer.

“Another stomp, boom!” Gracie shouted, stomping her foot for effect.

“Cast Protection!” Mike urged, the four boys looking frantically at Will to make his decision.

“He roars in anger!” Gracie repeated, her tone pressing for a decision. Dustin’s and Lucas' mom would kill her if she didn’t get them home on time. That’s why she’d been hired after all.

Will hesitated, glancing between his friends. After a moment, he made his choice. “Fireball!” he declared, rolling the dice with so much force that it tumbled off the table.

“Oh, shit!” Mike exclaimed, the group scrambling to find the missing die.

“Where’d it go?” Lucas asked, ducking under the table.

“I don’t know!” Dustin cried out, checking under the washing machine.

“Is it a 13?” Mike asked.

“I don’t know!” Lucas repeated.

In the midst of their frantic search, the basement door swung open, revealing a slightly annoyed Mrs. Wheeler. “Mike!” she called, unfazed by the chaos.

Ignoring his mother, Mike and the boys continued their search. Gracie, slightly embarrassed, dusted off her jeans and offered a sheepish smile. “Hi, Ms. Wheeler! Sorry, we kinda got caught up in the campaign.”

Before Mrs. Wheeler could respond, Dustin ran between them, still shouting, “Oh, my God! Oh, my God! Oh, my God!”

Gracie grabbed Mike by the back of his shirt, pulling him to face his mother. “Mike, your mom,” she said, giving him a pointed look that read don't make me look bad in front of the woman who pays me.

Mike, realizing his babysitter’s hint, begrudingly looked up at his mom and pleaded, “Mom, we’re in the middle of a campaign!”

Mrs. Wheeler remained unmoved. “You mean the end? It’s fifteen after.” she argued pointing to her watch.

Gracie stepped in. “Your mom’s right. It’s getting late and I need to take Dustin home anyway.”

“Thank you, Gracie,” Mrs. Wheeler said with a grateful smile before turning back upstairs.

As Mrs. Wheeler left, Gracie turned back to the boys, who were still searching for the dice.

“You heard her!” Gracie said, loud enough for mrs. wheeler's retreating figure to hear. “Let’s clean up.”

The boys groaned, eager to finish their battle against the Demogorgon. “But we’re so close!” Dustin protested.

“Gracie, please! Can we—” Mike started, but Gracie covered his mouth.

Silence fell as Mrs. Wheeler’s footsteps faded. Gracie turned to the boys, her eyes twinkling with mischief. “Okay, let’s find that dice and then we’ll go.”

The boys cheered, their excitement palpable. “Less cheering, more searching!” Gracie whispered-yelled. “I need to get you all home on time if I want to keep my job.”

The boys lowered their cheers but kept their smiles. Dustin pumped his fist in triumph, and Mike and Will fist-bumped. Seeing their happiness, Gracie couldn’t help but smile too.

Seeing the half eaten box of pizza, Gracie grabbed it, walking over to Dustin. "Hey, why don't you bring this up to Nancy?" She asked, knowing the boy had a huge crush on the older girl. Nodding happily at the request, Dustin bounced up the steps with the box in his hand.

Eventually, Gracie managed to get all the boys out of the Wheeler house. The street outside was dark, but biking home was routine for the group. As Lucas, Gracie, and Will mounted their bikes, they waited for Dustin, who was sure to have been rejected by Mike’s older sister.

Dustin emerged with a disappointed look. “So, I’m guessing Nancy rejected your slice of pizza?”

Dustin nodded solemnly. “There’s something wrong with your sister.” He said turning to Mike with a frown.

“What are you talking about?” Mike asked, puzzled.

“She’s got a stick up her butt,” Dustin muttered, only for Gracie to give him a warning look.

“Watch it. That’s my best friend,” she said, but Dustin put his hands up in surrender.

Gracie had known Nancy since childhood, and though she was close with her, she hadn’t really gotten to know Mike until she started babysitting Dustin and his friends.

“I thought we were your best friends,” Mike said, crossing his arms. The boys chimed in with agreement and outrage.

Rolling her eyes, Gracie said, “I mean my best friend who’s age-appropriate. I can’t go around telling people that a bunch of middle schoolers are my best friends.”

"Oh right cause you're so cool." Lucas playfully teased, earning an eye roll from the girl.

Getting back on topic, Dustin shrugged. “Whatever, she’s changed.”

“Yeah, she’s been dating that douchebag, Steve Harrington,” Lucas argued. Gracie mentally sighed at the mention of Steve. She hadn’t meant to let it slip that Nancy was dating him, but she was more open with the boys than she liked to admit.

“Hey, don’t spread that around,” Gracie said, though she knew it wasn’t even really a secret. “But yeah, he really is a douchebag.”

Gracie didn’t hate Steve, but she found him obnoxious and annoying, especially in the way he treated people. Still, Nancy liked him, so Gracie kept her opinions to herself, hoping the relationship was a phase.

“Yeah, she’s turning into a real jerk,” Dustin continued as he mounted his bike.

“She’s always been a real jerk,” Mike said, though Gracie couldn’t fully defend Nancy, who had been a bit mean to her brother and his friends.

“Nuh-uh, she used to be cool,” Dustin argued.

“Like that time she dressed up as an elf for our Elder Tree campaign!” Gracie defended Nancy.

“Four years ago!” Mike retorted, turning to look at Gracie. “And she only did that because you forced her.”

“Just saying,” Gracie shrugged before turning back to the boys. “Let’s get going,” she said, pushing off on her bike. The boys followed, racing down the street.

“I hope we don’t have to bike for much longer,” Dustin said, looking at Gracie. “When are you gonna start driving us?”

“Yeah, aren’t you like sixteen already?” Lucas asked, speeding up a bit. “Mike’s sister is driving.”

“Well, Nancy has a car, which I don’t,” Gracie argued. “Why do you think I babysit you guys?”

“Because you love us?” Will said with a grin.

“Yeah, we’re delightful,” Lucas agreed with a bright grin.

“Angels sent from heaven,” Gracie said sarcastically. “But don’t worry, with all the money your moms have been paying me, I should have a sweet ride in no time.”

Cheers erupted among the boys at the thought of finally ditching their bikes. As they reached the fork in the road, Gracie stopped and turned to Will.

“You sure you don’t want me to bike with you?” she asked.

Will shook his head. “You ask me that every time. It’s only three blocks, and it’s not like I haven’t done this before.”

Gracie still felt uneasy, but she knew she was being overprotective. “Okay then,” she said with a smile. “Just be safe.”

“I will!” Will said, pedaling away. He waved over his shoulder. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow!”

Gracie watched him go, then was jolted from her thoughts by Dustin, who cleared his throat. “Uh, Gracie,” he said, pointing to his imaginary watch.

Looking at her own watch, Gracie gasped. “Oh shit!” she exclaimed, quickly starting to pedal. “Your parents are going to kill me!”

Lucas and Dustin laughed as they followed, shouting in unison, “Language!”

------

Waking up in the morning, Gracie quickly made her way down the stairs to see her mother cooking breakfast and her father reading the newspaper. She was an only child, and her family was just like every other suburban house in Hawkins—sickeningly normal and completely uneventful.

"Morning, honey!" Her mother greeted, Gracie sending her a sweet smile. "Breakfast is on the counter."

"Thanks, Mom!" Gracie said, quickly sitting down to start eating. Her dad was too engrossed in the morning news to look up, not that Gracie minded, used to the entire routine. Halfway through finishing her eggs, Gracie heard the phone ringing from the kitchen.

"I got it!" Her mother yelled, Gracie nodding before turning back to her food. Tuning into the conversation, Gracie could hear bits and pieces.

"Hello, Joyce!" Gracie's mom greeted, having become used to the boys' moms calling for her daughter. "Oh, sure, I'll go get her right now."

Having already heard that Joyce was on the other line, Gracie walked over to the phone, gently taking it from her mom, knowing that it was probably for her.

As her mother walked back over to the sink to finish washing dishes, Gracie put the phone to her ear. "Hi Ms. Byers!" She greeted. "What's up?"

Usually, Joyce would have taken the time to tell Gracie to call her Joyce instead of Mrs. Byers, but she was too distressed to do so. Quickly getting to the point, Joyce replied, "Hi, dear. I was just wondering if Will had decided to stay the night at your house last night."

It wasn’t out of the question to think that he did. Sometimes, when the boys stayed out too late, Gracie offered them a place to sleep over. But last night was a school night, so they had decided to bike back to their respective homes anyway.

Scrunching her eyebrows in concern, Gracie shook her head, replying, "Um, no, he's not here. Did Will not come home last night?" She asked, a pit dropping into her stomach.

"I'm not sure," Joyce nervously replied. "I went to sleep before he came home, and this morning he wasn’t here."

"He should've come home last night. I saw him bike back; he couldn’t have gone anywhere else. Maybe he just biked to school early," Gracie thought, trying to calm herself and Joyce down.

"Maybe," Joyce sighed, but Gracie could tell she wasn’t convinced, and neither was she, to be completely honest. Gracie knew she should've biked back with him, and she kicked herself now for not listening to her gut.

"Honey, you should get going to school!" Her mother yelled from across the kitchen. But Gracie was too distressed to even care about being late.

Hearing her mother from the other line, Joyce quickly let the girl go. "Oh, sorry, I didn’t realize the time. You should go."

Not wanting to hang up, but turning to see her mother's expecting gaze, Gracie only sighed. "Okay, just tell me if you need anything at all. Same with Jonathan."

"Thank you, Gracie," Joyce said sadly before the two hung up. Hanging the phone back on the wall, Gracie sucked in a deep breath at the thought that Will had actually gone missing. The thought was too much to bear. And besides, it was Hawkins, what was the possibility that anything other than the ordinary would occur.

------

"So, did he call?" Barb asked as she, Gracie, and Nancy leaned against the lockers. It was break between first and second period, and the girls were just enjoying some respite and hot gossip about Nancy's love life.

Not that Gracie was fully paying attention. Her mind hadn't left the phone call she had with Joyce earlier that morning, and she only prayed that Will was found before the school day ended.

"Keep your voice down," Nancy giggled as she opened her locker to grab her books.

"Did he?" Barb asked again, wriggling her eyebrows.

Rolling her eyes, Nancy shook her head. "I told you, it's not like that. Okay, I mean, yes, he likes me, but not like that. We just made out a couple of times."

"We just made out a couple of times," Barb mocked playfully. Just then, a girl near them shut her locker, the sound causing Gracie to snap out of her thoughts and refocus her attention back to her friends. She had to stop thinking about Will. He was probably fine. Like she'd told Joyce: He must have just gone to school early.

Barbara, seeing her friend's distress, furrowed her eyebrows and asked, "Gracie, you good? You seem out of it."

Shaking her head, Gracie smiled at the two girls who now stared at her with concern. "No, I'm fine, just... a little tired."

Satisfied with her answer, Barb got back on topic, continuing, "Nance, seriously, you're gonna be so cool now, it's ridiculous."

"No, I'm not," Nancy blushed.

"You better still hang out with us, that's all I'm saying. If you become friends with Tommy H. or Carol—"

At Barbara's comment, Gracie pretended to puke, and Nancy quickly shook her head. "Oh, that's gross! Okay, I'm telling you, it was a one-time—"

"Two-time," Gracie cut in, correcting the girl.

"Two-time thing," Nancy amended, giving Gracie a playfully annoyed look, to which Gracie only shrugged.

"Oh yeah?" Gracie asked raising her eyebrow, "Then what's that?"

All three girls trained their gaze on a folded note, unsure of how any of them hadn't seen it before. Nancy was quick to grab it, a blush grazing her cheeks, which was all the confirmation Gracie needed to know who left her that note.

Both Barb and Gracie leaned in to see what the note read, Gracie rolling her eyes when she saw it.

MEET ME IN BATHROOM. STEVE

"You were saying?" Barb asked as Nancy's cheeks reddened even more. Quickly closing her locker, Nancy gave her friends a shy smile. "I gotta go... want to get to class early."

Laughing, Gracie crossed her arms. "Mhm, whatever you say. Just use protection, okay?"

"Gracie!" Nancy gasped, but did not deny that she was going to see Steve and not class.

As Barb and Gracie watched Nancy quickly scuttle to the girls' bathroom where King Steve was no doubt waiting for her, the girls shared a look before busting out in giggles at their friend's behavior.

Wrapping an arm around Barbara, Gracie led her to their next class, sighing, "Come on, let's actually go to class."

------

Halfway through lunch, Gracie couldn't take the thoughts of Will missing any longer and decided to check for herself to see if he had actually gone to school early or not.

Skipping the rest of the school day, Gracie walked over to the middle school, which was only a five-minute walk from the high school. Looking over at the empty playground, she figured class was still in session but decided to go in anyway to see if maybe she could spot Will in one of the classrooms. She needed some kind of confirmation that the boy was safe.

Walking towards the entrance, she suddenly saw a police car pull up, which was odd. The Hawkins Police Department was practically on vacation throughout the year as nothing happened around here. So when she saw Jim Hopper walk out of the car, her heart beat even faster because not only was the police here, but the sheriff, nonetheless.

Running to catch up with him, Gracie was sure that she'd be met with a grumpy face, as Jim Hopper was known to be a less-than-enthusiastic human being.

Finally reaching him, Gracie knew she was right, a frown etching the man's face which only deepened when he saw who had stopped him.

"What do you want, kid?" he asked stoically, as if the conversation already bored him.

Gracie was unimpressed with his attitude but let it go for the sake of finding out if Will was actually missing. "I was just wondering... are you here for Will Byers?"

Freezing for a second, Jim stared at the girl, shocked that she knew. Quickly covering it up, he sighed, "It's none of your business—and shouldn't you be in school or something?"

Ignoring his irrelevant question, Gracie waved her hand in dismissal. "Is he missing?" she asked, his silence making her heart beat a million times faster.

"Look, kid. I've got work to do, so if you don't mind..." Without waiting for her to respond, Jim turned around and began walking into the school.

Gracie had gotten the insinuation clear as day that he wanted her to get lost, but she didn't care. Quickly catching up with him again, she forced him to stop. "Look, I don't know what you think happened, but he can't be missing."

"Kid, I'm not gonna repeat myself. Get lost—"

"I was with him last night!" Gracie continued, trying to convince herself that this all couldn't actually be happening. "I-I mean he was a couple of blocks from his house when we parted. I-I'm telling you if he's in a classroom right now dissecting a frog or some shit like that."

At hearing that she was there with Will when he had gone missing, Jim halted again. He thought back to what Joyce had told him earlier that morning about who was there and remembered her saying something about a babysitter. He had planned to go see her after meeting with the boys first.

"Wait, are you Gracie Williams?" he asked, finally interested in the conversation. " You were with Will last night... so what, you're their babysitter or something?"

Impatient and upset by how little information she had gotten about Will, Gracie rolled her eyes. "Well no shit sherlock, what you think I'm some creep who follows a bunch of middle schoolers at night for fun?"

Pinching his nose, Jim held back his retorts, muttering under his breath, "I hate teenagers."

"We'll get over it."

Looking at the girl in annoyance, Jim sighed before motioning for her to follow him. "Come with me."

------

That's how Gracie found herself in the middle school's principal's office alongside Lucas, Mike, and Dustin, the four boys talking over each other as Jim looked at them as if he wanted to stab his eyes out.

Gracie was still in a daze. It hadn't really occurred to her that Will was officially missing and that the police were after him. This was all her fault; she should've followed him home all the damn way. Mike's voice suddenly snapped her out of her thoughts, the boy in the middle of explaining last night's events to Hopper.

"It was me and him, actually—"

"My house is the first up—" Lucas cut off, all the boys antsy and in shock after finding out their best friend was missing.

Glaring at Lucas for cutting him off, Mike continued, "He takes Mirkwood home—"

Just then, Dustin added his two cents, continuing, "We were racing on a bet and—"

The boys all began talking at once again, their thoughts incoherent to the average ear.

Finally having enough, Jim cut them all off. "Okay, okay, okay. One at a time, all right?"

But none of them shut up, still talking over each other to try and get their point across. Gracie understood everyone's panic. After all, two police officers had just dragged them out of class to inform them that their friend was missing.

Despite being completely out of her mind as well, Gracie snapped her head towards the boys, demanding in a harsh tone, "Hey, shitheads, stop talking."

Just like that, all of them shut up, Jim hiding his surprise at how well the boys listened to their babysitter. Pointing at Mike, he asked, "You. You said he takes what?"

"Mirkwood," Mike quickly replied.

Cocking his head, Jim was confused. "Mirkwood?"

"Yeah."

Turning to his colleague, he asked, "Have you ever heard of Mirkwood?"

"I have not. That sounds made up to me," Callahan replied, shrugging.

Shaking his head, Lucas argued, "No, it's from The Lord of the Rings."

"Well, The Hobbit," Dustin corrected, as Lucas shot him a glare.

"Who cares?"

"He asked!" Dustin shot back, snapping his head towards his friend.

"He asked!" Lucas mocked in a high pitch voice, making Dustin stand out of his chair.

Pushing Dustin back down, Gracie glared at them, the two boys quickly quieting down. Turning back to Jim, she clarified, "Mirkwood, it's a real road. It's just the name that's made up. It's where Cornwallis and Kerley meet."

Nodding his head, Jim wrote it down on his notepad. "Yeah, all right, I think I know that."

"We can show you, if you want," Mike offered, only for Jim to look up harshly.

"I said that I know it!" he snapped, only for Gracie to step in once more.

"Geez, don't get so crabby. He's only trying to be helpful," Gracie said, standing up for Mike. That was another part of being the babysitter to a couple of proud nerds: not letting them take shit when it's not deserved. However, a lot of the time they did deserve it. They could be real shitheads sometimes.

Looking gratefully at the girl, Mike turned back to Jim, earnestly repeating, "We can help look."

"No," Jim said, shaking his head, only for the boys to start protesting.

"No," Jim repeated, this time even more harshly, "After school, you are all to go home. Immediately. That means no biking around looking for your friend, no investigating, no nonsense. This isn't some Lord of the Rings book."

"The Hobbit," Dustin corrected once more.

"Shut up!" Lucas said, Gracie just rolling her eyes, used to their antics.

Completely exasperated, Jim cut in. "Stop it! Do I make myself clear?" Turning to Gracie, he continued, "You make sure they don't do any stupid shit, clear?"

At this, Gracie found herself agreeing with the sheriff for once. She had let down Will Byers, and that killed her more than anybody knew. She'd be damned if it happened again.

"Crystal."

------

After school, Gracie dropped each of the boys off at home, following each one to make sure they all walked through their front door. The events of the day were so exhausting that she would've crashed on her bed if Nancy hadn’t called her to ask if she wanted to come over to study for their chem test together.

And while all Gracie wanted to do was sleep the terrible day away, she couldn’t find it in herself to be both a crappy babysitter and a crappy friend. That’s how Gracie found herself on Nancy’s bed, helping her go through flashcards.

"Sorry I called you late. I was going to go to Steve’s and study..."

"But then you thought about it longer and realized that if you studied with Steve, you wouldn't study at all?" Gracie sarcastically asked, earning a pillow to the face from her friend.

"No... well, yes, but no," Nancy corrected, earning a giggle from Gracie. "My parents are going completely ballistic about Will, and Steve obviously can’t come over here," Nancy said, rolling her eyes. "It’s all so annoying."

Snapping at her friend, Gracie had to bite back her annoyance at her friend mentioning Will’s situation so casually. "Well, I’m sorry his disappearance is so inconvenient."

Immediately seeing her mistake, Nancy winced, forgetting how close her friend was with the boy. "Gracie, I didn’t mean it like that. I’m sorry, that—that was really selfish and insensitive."

Looking back at the girl, Gracie felt her anger fade away, replaced with overwhelming sadness. Sighing, she shook her head, hating that she snapped at her friend. "No, it’s fine—it's just—just that—"

Unable to hold it in any longer, Gracie silently began to shake. Nancy quickly hugged the girl from the side. "Gracie—"

Shaking her head, Gracie looked up at Nancy, heartbroken, with tears silently falling. "It’s all my fault. I’m the babysitter; I’m the one who’s supposed to keep them safe. It’s my damn job, and I completely failed!"

Now, Gracie couldn’t help but softly cry, finally letting all of the feelings she had been repressing out in the open. She had been holding in the entire idea that Will was gone since Joyce’s call, and when Hopper had given her the confirmation on the horrible truth, Gracie still held it in for the sake of the boys. But now, she just couldn’t do it anymore, seeking solace in her friend.

"Gracie, you can’t blame yourself," Nancy comforted as she rubbed the girl’s shoulder. "You couldn’t have known."

"But I had this feeling," Gracie said sniffling. "The second he biked off, I just knew something was off. But I was too caught up in getting everyone home on time, and I—I just let him go anyways."

Feeling her friend’s hot tears on her sweater, Nancy forced the girl to look up at her, repeating, "Gracie, I need you to understand. This is not your fault."

Shaking her head, Gracie tried to move her head to the side, only for Nancy to hold her shoulders tighter, repeating, "It’s not your fault. Say it."

Silent for a second, Gracie was still crying and refused to answer the girl.

"Say it."

Quietly, Gracie gave in to her friend’s adamant request, whispering, "It’s n-not my fault."

Nodding her head, Nancy engulfed the girl in a hug once more, holding her tightly. "It’s not your fault. And the best thing you can do is stay strong for not just the boys, but yourself too. But for now, you can just cry."

Clinging to Nancy, Gracie nodded as she cried into her friend. She knew Nancy was right; she had to be strong for the boys. She wouldn’t let them down, and she couldn’t help but hear Hopper’s words ring in her head:

"Don't let them do any stupid shit."

As crude as he put it, Gracie clung to those words as her mission from now on. Before, it was all fun and games, but not anymore. She wouldn’t let anything happen to them.

Gracie didn’t know how long she cried into Nancy’s arms, but soon she began to calm down. Slowly removing herself from Nancy’s tight embrace, she smiled. "Thanks, Nancy. I really needed that."

"Of course," Nancy replied softly. "What are friends for?"

Just as the girls readjusted to continue studying, a knock was heard on Nancy’s window. As both girls jolted up at the sound, they widened their eyes, wondering who the intruder could be.

Snapping her head to the window, Gracie rolled her eyes at who she saw. "Nancy, your puppy is here."

Ignoring her friend’s sassiness, Nancy stared at the window in shock, trying to wave the boy away. But Steve just knocked again, making Gracie scoff at the boy’s persistence. Who does he think he is to just show up unannounced?

If she were Nancy, she would have let the boy wait out in the cold but of course, she wasn’t Nancy, who gave in to the boy and quickly went over to open the window.

"What are you doing?" Nancy whispered loudly, clearly afraid that her parents would freak out seeing a boy in her room. "I told you I have to stay in tonight—"

"I know, so we'll study here—" Steve shrugged, obviously unfazed. "I don't want you failing tomorrow—"

Scoffing once more, Gracie whispered under her breath, "Because making out will help her get an A in chem."

Thankfully, she said it quietly enough that neither of them heard. Nancy was still trying to get rid of the boy even though she didn't want to. Turning back to her friend, Nancy knew that she would force Steve out of her house if Gracie needed a friend. Sighing, she shook her head. "Look, this really isn’t a good time."

But Steve hadn’t caught on, simply ignoring her and stepping into the room. Once in the room, Steve finally noticed Gracie’s presence. He didn’t know the girl too well, not even having talked with her yet. All he knew about her was from what Nancy had said, which was a lot, as Steve realized his girlfriend really only had two friends.

Sheepishly, Steve rubbed the back of his neck. "Oh, sorry, I didn’t know you had company."

Deciding to finally tune in to the conversation, Gracie sighed. "It’s fine. I should probably get home anyway. My mom doesn’t really want me to stay out too late."

It wasn’t really a lie; her mom had asked her to come back early. It was just a minor request, but when the option came to go back to her comfy bed or watch her best friend and Steve make out, she chose to take her mother’s words very seriously.

Shaking her head, Nancy was adamant, not wanting to make her best friend leave after their conversation. "Gracie, you don’t have to—"

Standing up from the bed, Gracie shook her head at the girl, knowing that even though Nancy would kick Steve out in a heartbeat, she really didn’t want to.

"Nance, really, it’s fine." Gracie assured, a soft smile on her face. "I kind of want to get some rest anyway. It’s been a long day."

Seeing how tired the girl was, Nancy could see that Gracie really did just want to go home. Silent for a second, Nancy conceded, going to give the girl a final hug. "Okay. Just... just know I’m here for you, alright?"

Nodding her head, Gracie squeezed the girl before letting go quickly. "I know."

Looking down, Nancy realized her shirt was tear- and snot-stained from Gracie. The two girls began laughing at the big wet spot in the middle of her pink blouse.

"I’m going to go grab a clean shirt from the washer," Nancy announced to Steve before turning back to Gracie. "See you at school tomorrow."

"Yeah," Gracie nodded as Nancy walked out of the room, shutting the door behind her. Sighing, Gracie suddenly heard Steve awkwardly shuffling from the side of the room. It became all too clear to Gracie that she and Steve were alone for the first time ever, and it made her want to gag again.

As she moved back to the bed to pack her stuff, Steve watched the girl, noticing her tear-stained face but choosing not to say anything, as they were in no way close enough for him to ask her. It was odd for Steve to endure such awkward silence. Usually, girls flocked at the chance to talk with him, let alone when they were by themselves.

But it was clear to Steve that Gracie had no interest in beginning a conversation, something that irked Steve the wrong way.

Walking up to the girl, Steve awkwardly coughed, trying to get her attention.

Looking up from zipping her backpack, Gracie looked at the boy expectantly, internally rolling her eyes at the waiting look Steve was giving her as if he expected her to start talking when he was the one who approached her.

Waiting a beat, Gracie asked warily, "Need something, Harrington?"

A bit taken aback by her blunt tone, Steve quickly recovered, shrugging. "No, nothing. Just trying to be a good boyfriend and get to know my girlfriend’s best friend."

Gracie had had a long day and was in no mood to entertain Steve’s need to be the center of attention. "I think she’ll survive if we don’t become besties."

Taking in her response, Steve looked at the girl trying to read her blank expression. "Look, maybe I'm going crazy, but something tells me you don’t like me very much," Steve said, becoming a bit amused and annoyed by the girl’s unimpressed tone.

"What gave it away?" Gracie asked, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

Playing along, Steve faked ignorance to her sarcasm, shrugging. "Just a feeling. You know, most people might be glad to see that their friend has a boyfriend who climbs on roofs to see them."

Rolling her eyes, Gracie slow-clapped. "Oh, so you want a medal or something?"

Looking back at the door, Steve feigned innocence, smirking. "Isn’t that what Nancy went to grab for me?"

"You’re an asshat, you know that?" Gracie dryly said, earning a scoff from Steve. "And for the record, you climbing on a roof for Nancy was just inconsiderate. She already told you that you couldn’t come over. But no, Steve Harrington does what he wants whenever he wants."

"Is there a problem with that?" Steve asked, smirking.

Laughing dryly at his cockiness, Gracie was taken aback by just how much confidence he had. It was as if he knew he had the whole female race in the palm of his hand, and it pissed Gracie off even more. "You’re lucky Nancy went to open the window because I would’ve pushed you out of the damn thing."

"And kill me?" Steve mockingly asked, dramatically putting a hand on his heart as if Gracie had physically hurt him.

"Please," Gracie scoffed. "Your mountain of hair would’ve broken your fall. At most, you’d get slightly injured—hopefully just enough to damage your unbelievable ego."

At that, Steve’s mouth dropped open, shocked by what Gracie had said. Girls never talked to him with such disdain, and it pissed him off but also spurred something in him he couldn’t describe.

Looking at his dumbstruck face, Gracie sighed, completely exhausted. Grabbing her backpack, she slung it over her shoulder before passing the boy. Not even sparing him a glance, Gracie began walking toward the door, calling over her shoulder, "Goodbye Harrington."

Not even waiting to hear his response, Gracie walked out of Nancy’s room, making her way down the stairs. It was night, and Gracie figured that all the Wheelers were asleep, so she didn’t even bother trying to find Mrs. Wheeler or Mike to say goodbye to.

Walking out the door, Gracie was ready to get to her bed and sleep when she groaned at the exhausting sight before her.

"You’ve got to be shitting me."

Closing the front door, the sound made Mike, Dustin, and Lucas turn around from a bit farther down the walkway, all terrified to see their babysitter crossing her arms in front of them.

"Oh shit, we’re dead," Lucas mumbled, seeing Gracie quickly approach them angrily.

"I thought you said she’d be with Nancy all night!" Dustin whisper-yelled to Mike, who was also froze.

"That’s what I thought!" he whispered back, just when Gracie reached them, fury gleaming in her eyes.

"What the fuck are you guys doing this late at night?" she quietly said, not wanting to wake the neighbors but in a tone so harsh that the boys cowered a bit.

"We just want to help!" Mike exclaimed. "Will’s out there somewhere and—"

"Hold up." Gracie cut him off, still processing Mike’s words. "Are you telling me you’re all out here trying to find Will? Are you serious?" Gracie incredulously asked, her voice slowly increasing in volume.

"We have to try! We can’t just do nothing!" Dustin argued, with Lucas and Mike nodding their heads in honest agreement.

"Yes! Yes, you can!" Gracie shot back. "That’s exactly what you can do—nothing!"

"No, we can’t, Gracie," Lucas replied. "We need to do this... for Will."

Shaking her head, Gracie couldn’t believe the nerve of the boys in front of her. "Absolutely not. All of you, get on your bikes. I’m taking you all home. And if you don’t, I swear I’ll scream so loud it’ll wake this entire town, including your parents, who’ll kick the living shit out of you when they find out. That is if I don’t first."

"Gracie, please!" Dustin begged. "Don’t do this, we’ll be safe—"

"Dustin, I swear to God—"

"Look, if you make us get on our bikes to go home, we’re just gonna run off, even if you tell our parents," Dustin finalized. "So if you want to keep us safe, then your best shot is coming with us. So are you gonna help us or not?"

As Mike and Lucas looked in shock at Dustin’s bravery to stand up to Gracie, they all waited for her reaction, half thinking she’d follow up on her threat and scream her lungs out then beat their asses.

The party had never done anything like this behind Gracie's back. In fact, they had a fight earlier when Lucas insisted on including her in their plan to find Will. But they all eventually decided against it, knowing that Gracie would most likely send them back home. But of course, she had found them anyways and not that any of them would admit it, as they'd been adamant of not needing a babysitter all those years ago, but they would all feel a bit more relieved if she'd be there to protect them on their mission.

His confidence faltering under Gracie’s shocked and hard glare, Dustin rubbed the back of his neck, squeaking, "Please."

Stepping in front of Dustin Mike continued, "Look, we're sorry we didn't tell you but we knew you'd say no and we just had to do this." All three boys silently pleading for the older girl to give in and help them on their less than well thought out mission.

"Yeah please come with us Gracie. We need you." Lucas added on, all three boys silently pleading for the older girl to give in and help them on their less than well thought out mission.

Silent for another second, Gracie recognized the determined look on all the boys' faces. "You guys really are gonna do this with or without me, huh?" Gracie asked, sighing in disapproval but also acceptance.

Not even faltering for a second, the boys immediately nodded their heads unanimously, replying, "Yes."

Pinching her nose, Gracie closed her eyes, trying to come to terms with the entire situation.

"I don’t get paid enough for this shit."

------

Just as they made it into the woods, rain started pouring down on them. As if Gracie needed another sign to indicate that trying to find Will Byers in the rain in the middle of the night was a terrible idea. As they trudged through the woods, flashlights in hand, another crash of thunder roared, momentarily muffling the party’s cries for Will.

"Will? Will?" Mike called as he and the rest of the boys followed Gracie through the woods, their clothes completely soaked in rain by now.

"Byers?" Lucas yelled, directing his flashlight to the left.

"I’ve got your ‘X-Men!’ One-thirty-four!" Dustin tried to coax, earning nothing but silence.

Marching a bit longer, Dustin suddenly stopped, causing Gracie and the rest of the group to pause as well.

"Guys, I really think we should turn back," Dustin suggested, Gracie recognizing the fear in his voice.

Rolling his eyes, Lucas shook his head. "Seriously, Dustin, if you want to be a baby, just go home already."

"I’m just being realistic, Lucas—"

"No, you’re being a sissy—"

"Guys, cut it out," Gracie demanded, the last thing she wanted being yet another fight between the boys.

But Dustin just ignored her, continuing, "You ever think Will went missing because, you know, he ran into someone bad? And now we’re going to the place where he was last seen, and we don’t even have weapons or—"

Gracie wasn’t listening to Dustin’s rant anymore, hearing a slight rustling in front of them. Turning to Mike, he widened his eyes at the older girl, having heard the sound as well.

"Dustin, shut up—"

"I’m just sayin’, does that seem smart to you?"

"Shut up!"

This time, Gracie was the one who scorned Dustin, the boy quickly quieting at her serious tone. "You guys hear that?" Gracie whispered, the boys quickly tuning in their ears to their surroundings at her question.

Once again, there was a rustling from the front of them, this time catching everyone’s attention. Without thinking, Gracie pushed Mike, who had somehow gotten in front of her, behind her next to Lucas and Dustin.

Stepping protectively in front of the boys, Gracie swung her flashlight to the side as she saw a shadowed figure swoosh to the left of them.

With the dark night hiding anything that wasn’t illuminated by the flashlight, Gracie slowly turned her light, ten degrees first, then twenty, swinging her arm in a half circle before halting dead in her tracks. Her breath caught in her throat as she gasped at the bald wide-eyed girl her flashlight revealed.

Yup, there was no way in hell Gracie was getting a wink of sleep tonight.

#steve harrington #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington x oc #steve harrington x original character #mike wheeler #stranger things #lucas sinclair #dustin henderson #will byers #jim hopper #eleven hopper #nancy wheeler #jonathan byers #joyce byers

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