#but! what's most interesting is when nancy starts opening up to robin about the whole jonathan thing

[snowangeldotmp3]

was listening to the s4 soundtrack again and the track does this make us friends? is just so important to me. i know it's been discussed to hell and back but re-listening to it really drives home how the track is about forgiveness.

nancy's making a friend. she's not had one since You Know Who. she was mean to robin earlier, and nancy asking if they're friends is her olive branch. it's the "i'm sorry. i was an asshole. wanna try again?" because i think, above all, it's nancy forgiving herself.

#sorry not to get emo about nancy wheeler on a random saturday afternoon #nancy wheeler #stranger things #ronance #i've said this before too but there's also something to be said about the fact that the track starts out all dark and gloomy #and closed off #and it's reminiscent of the 'do you remember what you did nancy?' that vecna taunts her with later #but! what's most interesting is when nancy starts opening up to robin about the whole jonathan thing #the song opens up as well!! the song becomes brighter and it opens up!! #and then there's the whole 'it sounds vaguely like the 'nancy and barb' track from s1' stuff but #st details #i've talked about this before i know and if you've seen me talk about it i'm sorry you have to see it again I JUST HAVE A LOT OF FEELINGS

[yournowheregirl]

@eddiemonth day 4: rejection

rating: T | wc: 913 | cw: hurt/comfort, general & UD related anxiety, hoh!Steve, pre-Steddie

Eddie flops down on his bed with a load groan.

He blindly reaches for a pillow and once he’s found one, he uses it to muffle his screams. It barely dampens the sound, but he's home alone anyway. He screams and screams until his throat starts to hurt and the tears he tried so hard to ignore, finally well up in his eyes.

Another rejection.

Another place that didn't want to hire him.

Even with all the strings Hopper and those government guys had pulled to clear his name, Eddie can't escape his brand-new reputation of local satanist and serial killer. There was a press conference and everything, and a personal apology from the police department, but it still wasn't enough to sway the public's opinion of him.

But he has to get a job, like yesterday. They'll run out of that government money sooner or later and he can't expect Wayne to continue cleaning up his mess. Wayne's done enough of that already.

Eddie's tried almost every place in town. His first instinct was the record store and the garage, because that's what where his interests and experience lie. They turned him away as soon as he came in to drop off his resume.

When he told his friends about his job search, Steve immediately offered to put a good word in for him at Family Video. Robin would ask their parents if they knew about any job openings and Nancy would do the same, though she'd avoid Eddie's name while talking to her father. Gareth, Jeff and Frank suggested he'd ask for a job at The Hideout, while Jonathan and Argyle suggested the local pizza place, because of course they would.

None of those jobs ever got back to him.

Today was one of his last resorts. The diner on the other side of town had an opening for a dishwasher. Not exactly the kind of job Eddie wanted, but it meant keeping a low profile and it would pay the bills. He'd take the job in a heartbeat, but the restaurant manager took one good look at him and sent him away before she even took one good look at his resume.

"We don't hire murderers." She'd sneered.

Any other day, Eddie would've maybe stand up for himself, made a whole scene, maybe even called the cops to prove his innocence yet again. But he was so burnt out from rejection after rejection, that he just shrugged, got into his van and drove all the way back home.

Even though the screaming helped a little, Eddie can still feel his mind buzzing, thoughts of anxiety swirling around and threatening to swallow him whole if he doesn't do something quick. He rolls off the bed, put whatever tape he can get his hands on into his boombox and turns up the volume to the loudest setting.

Other people might listen to soothing music to calm down, but Eddie needs the loudest, most aggressive music to drown out the thoughts in his head. The thoughts of never getting a job and leaving it up to Wayne to pick up the pieces, driving him to work harder and longer, until his brittle body can't take it anymore. Thoughts of losing their home again, being forced to call Rick again

It's all his fault. Everything is his fault.

Tears slowly roll down his cheeks as the music continues playing, so loud that he doesn't hear Wayne coming home. So loud that he doesn't hear Wayne picking up the phone to call someone. So loud that he doesn't hear the knock on his bedroom door twenty minutes later.

It's not until his bedroom goes completely quiet that Eddie finally notices he's not alone. For a second he thinks it's Wayne, but when he hears a muffled "oh thank God" from the other side of the trailer, he realizes that it must be someone else.

"Y'know, if you were so jealous of my new accessories, you could've just said so. No reason to shatter your eardrums like this." Steve says with a teasing grin. The sunlight reflects on the hearing aids he'd gotten a few months ago and of course, he pulls it off like he's a goddamn Calvin Klein model.

"Sorry."

Eddie's voice is small, barely recognizable to his own ears and Steve immediately picks up on it. His teasing smile fades away as he walks over to the bed and sit down next to Eddie. He shuffles around a bit to find a comfortable seat against the headboard and pats his lap.

Completely drained from his terrible day, Eddie doesn't even try to fight it and cuddles up next to Steve. He rests his head in Steve's lap and lets out a sigh of relief when Steve's hands find their way to his scalp.

"What's going on?" Steve asks softly.

"Another fucking job didn't want me." Eddie mutters against the fabric of his polo.

Steve hums in acknowledgement. "I'm sorry. You wanna talk about it or do you want some quiet time?"

"Quiet, please."

"Alright."

See, with Steve around, Eddie doesn't need the music to drown out his bad thoughts. They float away on their own as soon as Steve cuddles with him and starts massaging his scalp. Or, on other occasions, they float away when Steve distracts him by talking about Robin's hopeless love life.

Steve being there for him just helps, in general.

Eddie doesn't wanna look into that realization too much.

#eddiemonth #eddie munson #steddie #steddie ficlet #alice's writing adventures #give this boy a hug pls!!! #also not beta'd i just word vomited this so pls excuse any mistakes

[eyesofshinigami]

Brave

Rating: G

CW: None

Tags: Love confessions, fluff, so much schmoop

Prompt: From @sidekick-hero "Love is what makes you brave"

WC: 1812

Written for @steddielovemonth Day 7

Steve, admittedly, has done a lot of really stupid things in the name of love.

He hid so much of himself, what he liked, and who he wanted to be to make his parents love him. He was a perfect child, always seen but never heard, the perfect little trophy for his parents to put on display. He thought that was love for a long time. That it was performative, transactional. If he just did this one thing, surely they would love him, right?

Then, Steve forced himself to fit into a mold. He slid on a mask, played a part that was really easy to hide behind. People like Tommy and Carole seemed to love him when he was mean, when he looked down his nose at people they deemed unworthy of their attention. They would laugh and clap him on the back and keep him close, even if he knew deep down that it made him a little sick. And for some reason he still can’t fathom, it made other people love him too. Well, that superficial, surface kind of love where he was still seen as an object, an achievable goal. Be friends with King Steve and you’ll get something out of.

Transactional.

It wasn’t until Nancy that Steve really began to understand what love really was. He threw his whole self into loving her. In hindsight, maybe it wasn’t the smartest idea to go all in on something that he still didn’t really have a grasp on, but for the first time, it felt like he was being loved for love’s sake.

Until it wasn’t. Until Jonathon. Until the house. Until the world quite literally turned upside down.

Even with that falling apart, it opened up a whole new world of love for Steve. A new understanding to just what the word meant, the weight behind it when it really matters.

Love is protecting those that matter most. Love is staring down the mouth of a hell creature and still swinging even though your arms feel like jelly. Love is redirecting punches so that they don’t have to hurt. Love is diving into a murky lake into hell to help fix what someone else broke. Love is late night drives when you can’t sleep and the nightmares are too much. Love is admitting that maybe, just maybe, love looks a little different than what you expected it to.

Love is being brave.

All of these lessons, all of these people in his life that showed him that love can be so many things, if only you’re willing to give as much as take.

Which is why Steve makes a decision. It might be a bad one, but he’s learned that sometimes love means having to jump into the fray and trusting that they’ll catch you. He knows, deep down, that someone will, even if it’s not the person he really wants to.

“I’m going to do it. Tonight,” Steve declares that evening as he’s shelving movies. He’s working the late shift with Robin, but has plans to hang out with Eddie later. The very thought of it makes him flush, with happiness and nervousness in equal measure. “I’m going to tell him how I feel.”

It was a slow sort of descent, realizing that he loved Eddie. It started with their talk in the woods of the Upside Down, to pulling Eddie’s broken body out of that awful place, to helping him heal once they realized he might actually pull through. He was drawn to Eddie, drinking him in whenever they were together. He loved when Eddie was loud, or when Eddie was quiet, settled. The fact that Eddie trusted him with the different facets of himself blew Steve away. And Eddie listened when he talked. He listened when Steve talked about sports, or his newfound interest in carpentry thanks to helping Hopper fix up the cabin. He listened when Steve couldn’t sleep, or when Steve got scared about what the future was going to bring, now that it felt like maybe they could actually move on from the nightmare that is Hawkins, Indiana. Little by little, it made Steve realize that Eddie made him happy and maybe a little stupid. The good kind of stupid, the happy kind.

Robin turns to look at him, smiling softly. It’s her soft sort of smile, the one she only saves for him when he’s actually doing something for himself. “Good on you, bud. You’ve only been pining for him for months now.”

“You’ll have a pint of ice cream at the ready in case this goes south?”

“Sure, but I doubt you’ll have to worry,” she replies, rolling her eyes. “Now go find something to do before you pop out of your skin. I can see you sweating from here.”

He lasts about another twenty minutes before she lets out a gusty sigh. “Okay, you’re starting to make me nervous. It’s dead in here, why don’t you just leave and head over there now?”

Steve wants to argue. It’s on the tip of his tongue, but she’s right. If he waits any longer, he might just vibrate right through the floor. Once upon a time, he was good at this, smooth and suave and so fucking fake. It was easy to talk to people he didn’t care about, but this? This thing with Eddie?

It matters a lot.

“Okay, okay. Sheesh. I know when I’m not wanted,” he jokes, clocking out and heading out the door.

“Go get your man, Harrington! I expect non-explicit details in the morning!”

He waves her off and gets into his car. The drive takes about fifteen minutes, heading to the little house that Wayne and Eddie got as compensation for their trailer being confiscated for study. Steve’s just glad that Eddie doesn’t have to live in the reminder of where everything went down.

He parks his car and sits for a long, long moment, fingers tight around the wheel and his breath coming in harsh pants. He can do this. He can do this. He can be brave.

“Steve? What are you doing out here? I thought you had work,” Eddie calls from the porch. He must have been sitting out here longer than he thought if Eddie had come to find him.

Steve takes one more big breath before he heaves himself out of the car. “I did, but Rob sent me home. It was dead and she said I was bothering her.” He smiles, trying to ease the angry butterflies he feels building in his stomach. “You good with me coming now? I guess I should have called.”

Eddie smiles, wide enough his dimples pop and Steve wants to feel them under his thumb. “Of course, Stevie. I’m still working on dinner, but you can keep me company.”

Steve eagerly follows him inside, feeling himself relax as he steps through the door. The place is always a little cluttered, a little messy; Steve loves it because it looks like people actually live here. The fact that he’s welcomed into this space makes him feel a little warm and gooey inside. “Thanks, man. What’s on the menu?” He’s babbling, he knows he’s babbling, but he can’t help it.

Eddie gives him a look but answers, “Just some spaghetti. Nothing fancy.” He heads to the stove and starts stirring a pot, the smell of it hitting Steve full force. “You okay? You seem a little off.”

He wants to brush it off, pretend it’s nothing. It would be so easy and he knows Eddie would let him. They’ve learned each other’s tells, when it’s time to push and when it’s time to leave shit alone. Just one more thing that Steve loves about Eddie.

So, no. He needs to say it. For himself, to let go of this thing that he’d been trying to hide for fear of it being yet another stupid thing he does for love. But his love for Eddie could never be that, even if Eddie says no. Eddie will still be his friend, will still love him, even if that love doesn’t look the way Steve wants. He doesn’t expect anything, doesn’t want more than Eddie can give him.

“Uh, well… actually, there’s something I want to talk to you about?”

Eddie nods and sets the spoon down, during the fire down as he turns to face Steve. “I’m all ears, Stevie.”

Steve nods, taking a deep, shaky breath. He can be brave. “Okay, so. Can you… let me just say it? Don’t say anything until I’m done, okay?” At Eddie’s nod, he continues, “Um, all right. So. Uh. Eddie… I’m… I like you. I like you a lot. Actually, I’m pretty sure I’m in love with you.” Eddie’s mouth drops and Steve has to look away, before his heart beats out of his chest and he gets sick from the way his stomach churns. “It took me a while to realize it, but I am. I just… I love you. I love everything about you. Even the weird, shitty parts that I know you don’t like, but they’re part of you, right? And I don’t… I don’t expect you to feel the same, or want me back. It would be great if you did, but like… it’s not why I told you? I told you because you deserve to know. To know that someone loves you because I can’t imagine not loving you anymore.”

There. It’s out there. Steve swallows around the lump in his throat and tries not to count the seconds as they pass. It feels like they’re beating against his ribcage, in time with his pounding heart.

Suddenly, there’s a hand cupping his cheek, gently turning his head until he’s looking at Eddie. The look on the other man’s face is soft, his eyes sparkling and the curve of his mouth small but so so kissable. “Stevie… baby…” The words are like a gut-punch, making Steve weak in the knees. “How could I not love you back, hmm?” Eddie chuckles, his thumb caressing the skin of Steve’s cheek. “Always the brave one of the two of us, aren’t you? I didn’t want to say anything because this… I didn’t want to lose this. If I was wrong, you know?”

“Me too,” Steve whispers. He’s afraid to break the bubble that’s surrounding them, like if he speaks too loud it will break and he’ll realize this was all just a dream or something. “Eddie…”

Eddie doesn’t say anything, he just pulls Steve in until they’re kissing, mouths moving against each other softly as they press closer.

It’s warm. It’s sweet. It feels like coming home.

Something settles in him as they kiss, as they touch and move together in this new way. He wants to cry. He wants to laugh. He feels like he could fly.

#les writes things #steddie #steddielovemonth #rating: g #fluff #schmoop

[wheelercurse]

Let’s put Mike’s monologue in context. And I don’t mean just its place in the story (that it happened thanks to Will) but look at the big picture. Its position in the whole season about truth and lies, but not in a black/white mindset. It’s more nuanced. 

It’s a season where characters sometimes lie, omit some truth, or are mistaken about what it’s the truth. They aren’t always completely honest for different reasons.

The season starts with a misleading scene. And we (the audience) will learn the truth of what happened when El does it too, who also was mistaken. She thought that she had caused the massacre. She had buried her memory thanks to her trauma. 

The following sequence is the narration of El’s letter. In this letter, El lies about her life in Lenora; she isn’t having a good time there. But also she said some things about her family that weren’t true, but she wasn’t lying about it. She just assumed things that weren’t true.: Joyce didn’t enjoy her new job,  Will wasn’t painting for a girl, and Jonathan wasn’t nervous because he was waiting for his acceptance letter. He has it already. 

So since the beginning, they’re telling us, “Watch out. Don’t take everything at face value.”

This season, our heroes sometimes lie, and our villains sometimes tell the truth. Or sometimes, the characters hide some truth. Even some characters gave long speeches where they were not completely honest. I already talked about one: El’s letter. But here are more examples:

Will’s speech in the van, when he’s describing his feelings as El’s. There’s some truth because the feelings are real but not from El.

Robin’s story about why she’s interested in Victor Creel. She started it with: “And I’ll tell you the truth, Anthony. These aren’t my clothes. I borrowed them because I wanted you to take us seriously. Because nobody takes girls seriously in this field.” it’s interesting because she’s telling the truth. Those clothes weren’t hers, and she used them so they could pass as students. Again there’s truth in there, but she’s also hiding something.

Steve’s speech to Nancy about his dream, which later he confesses was true, but he was omitting something. “It’s all true. But I left one part out. The most important part. You’re there.” 

Jason’s speech when he is sure that the Hellfire Club is a satanic cult. “I know what I saw. And I have come to accept an awful truth. These murders are ritualistic sacrifices.” He thinks he has discovered the truth but is mistaken. Again he wasn’t lying, but he was also not telling the truth.

Max’s letter to Billy. She’s not lying per se, but she’s saying all this like she’s suffering because she missed him. But that wasn’t the whole truth like Vecna told her. She was suffering from guilt for being relieved and happy that her abuser had died.

I’m not saying that all the speeches weren’t completely honest, but most were. One that was honest was Max’s when she admitted to Vecna that she wanted Billy to die. “You were just telling the truth.”

She completed her arc, and someone could say that Mike also completed his and told El that he loved her, but that would mean that his arc was about saying ily to his girlfriend, which brings me to another important point. In this season character’s inner conflicts were about learning, accepting or hiding some truth:

El has to learn the truth about the massacre and herself. She isn’t a monster (or a superhero)

Will was hiding his feelings for Mike.

Max has a hard time dealing with his guilt about the truth: She wanted Billy to die.

Jonathan lied about his acceptance letter because he didn’t want Nancy to throw away her dream.

Nancy also pretends everything is fine with Jonathan until she admits to Robin that she is worried about their relationship status.

So it’s not far-fetched to think that Mike’s arc was related to some truth that he was hiding or didn’t accept, especially when we had Will telling him this: “Sometimes I think it’s just scary to open up like that. To say how you really feel. Especially to people you care about the most. Because what if they don’t like the truth?” and Mike nodding in a close-up.

What would it be the truth that he was hiding that he was in love with El? In that case, she would like it. That’s exactly what she wanted to hear when he couldn’t say it.

Some people would say, “well, the truth he was hiding was about his insecurities.” I would think they’re right, but:

They didn’t talk about their insecurities in a proper conversation.

It would be a good character development if we don’t have Will literally encouraging him to talk.

He didn’t use the truth motif when talking about his insecurities.

This brings us to another point.

First, when Mike told El his insecurities about how he was scared of losing her, and one day, she realized that she didn’t need him anymore, so it would hurt more. I don’t think he was lying. Mike is scared of losing people he loves, and he probably would have a hard time saying it because when he loses them, it hurts more. And you will say you’re contradicting yourself. But no, I think he wasn’t saying the whole truth like some characters because there were other reasons why he wasn’t saying ily.

Ok, now back to my point. The use of the motif. Mike used this word in three different scenes, and the curious thing is that his last statement contradicts the first two:

“Listen, the truth is, the last year has been weird, you know […] it’s Hawkins. It is not the same without you”

“But the truth is, when I stumbled on her in the woods, she just needed someone. It’s not fate. It’s not destiny. It’s just simple dumb luck.”

“But the truth is, El, I don’t know how to live without you. I feel like my life started that day we found you in the woods [….] And I knew right then and there, in that moment that I loved you.”

He was telling Will how weird his time in Hawkins had been without him. And then practically said the same thing to El but tried to paint it more romantic. He also said to Will that his meeting with El was dumb luck, and he only knew that she needed someone. But in his monologue, he described that meeting as love at first sight. Also, how could his life have started that day when he was looking for his missing friend, the one whose town isn’t the same without him? So he was lying.

I think deep down Mike knew that he was lying, but he also kept lying to himself about his true feelings. But that’s an analysis for another day.

My point is that Mike wasn’t completely honest in his monologue. There were truth in his monologue, but not everything was true.

#byler #Byler analysis #not really an analysis or well yes it is #but it’s also my thoughts about this season

[jus-let-me-read]

I can imagine like Ronance and Steddie on a double date (they're only out to each other), and the kids find out because they follow them on said date with a different idea in mind. But this definitely takes place when the kids are younger and not like 16. Like for example, it's around the holidays and Steve makes up an excuse on why he can't babysit the kids or drive them anywhere. He tells Dustin he has to buy presents which then prompts Dustin to tell the rest of the gang. Obviously, that then leads to the kids wanting to know what Steve will get them for the holidays. They don't finalize that they'll follow them around until Mike finds out his sister is also going out to the same mall at the same time.

Obviously there's some protests of like "are we actually about to spend a part of our break following a couple of teenagers around the mall, just to find out our present?" But eventually, somehow, they all end up roped up into it with some believing Steve and Nancy will actually just be buying presents, whilst the latter half believes the two are on a date and are trying to light an old spark. Then they see that Eddie and Robin joined them and then they actually just believe it's presents shopping.

They follow them around for a while so confused on why they don't immeaditely start shopping. Some of the gang leave whilst the fruity four are at a local cafe just eating and talking. Mike doesn't leave because he's so sure his sister won't get him a present this year for whatever reason. Will is staying because he tends to just flock to whatever group has the most people he's comfortable with. Dustin refuses to leave because he's confident in finding out what Steve will get him for Christmas. It's a bit of a slow start and the three aren't really catching onto the fact it's a date. In fact, Will is the least interested over the whole thing until a little later on for obvious reasons.

Nancy is sitting next to Robin and she occasionally just whispers in Robin's ear, or the other way around, and the latter will always have this cute, but giddy reaction. They're extra happy around each other because it's their first proper date out in the open. Since the kids aren't close enough to hear they have to go based off of actions alone, and sometimes that isn't much when they aren't acting extremely obvious. Like none of them are full on cuddling, leaning on each other 24/7. The most telling thing ends up being Nancy casually tucking a strand of hair behind Robin's ear, or Robin rambling so much as Nancy just looks at her absolutely lovesick. Where even though they are trying to hide the fact they're dating to the general public they can't exactly hide how much they care for the other.

I imagine that Mike after witnessing his elder sister's two relationships, he kinda picks up on how she acts in that situation, or atleast how she acts around people she likes. Then he sees her acting all flirty or playful in a sense with Robin and he's like "what the fuck??" At first, like momentarily, he assumes it's some friendship thing, or possibly a one-sided crush, but then Robin just stares at Nancy like she put the stars in the sky. Then all the puzzle pieces click for Mike and it's just so many emotions and thoughts. One thought is wondering why his own sister didn't tell him something that's like obviously important to her. Whereas the latter thought is busy processing the fact he essentially stalked his sister as she went on a date.

Steve and Eddie are a lot less obvious than Robin and Nancy during this whole exchange. Yet, despite that, it's obvious they do have some chemistry. And the way they bounce off each other or complement each other's mannerisms is palpable. Steve will say something sarcastic and Eddie would be able to respond with, almost immeaditely, something witty to keep the banter going. Everytime they latch onto a random subject, Robin and Nancy go quiet and let them have their moment. Sometimes Steve will act like he doesn't care that much about what Eddie has to say, but his facial expression and how he acts around him shows different.

Obviously, the first person to notice the very possibility of Steve and Eddie is Dustin. Dustin knows, to some extent, how Steve acts when he's dating somebody, since Steve had given him dating advice. As soon as Dustin notices this, he's the first one to take the risk, and run to a different hiding spot just to find out more. The only reason why he doesn't get found out is because of Mike and Will making sure he doesn't make them get caught. They're now able to hear some of the conversation if the background noise of the mall isn't loud enough, which isn't often but it's still something.

Most of the stuff they talk about is random stuff happening at school, with the occasional mention of some random classmates that the kids don't know exist. What does key the rest of them into the conversation is Robin mentioning the word date, and saying how she's glad they finally had the chance to go out and enjoy life like any other couple. To this Robin discreetly and briefly holds Nancy's hand, whilst Steve and Eddie glance at each other. As if on cue, with perfect timing, the three kids all looked at each other each with varying facial expressions. Mike looked slightly shocked, Dustin was happy, and Will looked like as soon as he was left by himself he'd start crying.

Will is the most affected by this since he was so used to bubbling it up inside. There was also a significant lack of being proud of this aspect about himself. He had gotten bullied by people who pinned point him as gay, simply because he wasn't exactly 'normal' or 'acted normal.' The sudden realization and confirmation of sorts that Eddie and Steve were a couple, as well as Nancy and Robin filled him with so much hope. He felt validated and truly felt like it was okay for feeling the way he does. It gave him hope that someday, somehow, he could have something like that. Just the knowledge that he is not the only gay kid in Hawkins was enough to make him push back tears.

Nancy and Robin knew they were being tailed rather later into the double date. What clued Steve in, was Nancy and Robin both whispering about it and tilting their head to what's behind them. Steve ends up spotting a bit of Dustin's hair behind a plant, and elbows Eddie who follows what he's getting at. The four end up talking in a lower voice about what they should do and how the three even found out. It didn't take them long to connect some dots and the four made the willing choice to act naturally. A couple of minutes later from this, the three kids leave, definitely not wanting to fifth wheel a double date. None of them noticed that they were caught but it did make for a heck of a conversation between Steve and Dustin as well as, Mike and Nancy.

#stranger things #ronance #steddie #robin buckley #nancy wheeler #steve harrington #eddie munson #fruity four #headcanons #dustin henderson #will byers #mike wheeler #i only made this post because i ruined my friends day twice and felt the need to make up for it purely out of guilt

[super-cosmic-library]

The Fruity Four and Taylor Swift

okay, so i was thinking about grown up!fruity four and their opinions on Taylor Swift because I just love the fics where all of them getting to grow old together (shout out Eddie Munson Tiktok Saga), and they’ve got to have opinions on Taylor Swift.

I think we all agree that Steve has the most basic taste in music (affectionately). He listens to whatever is upbeat and popular and will get insanely defensive if people make fun of him. So I’d like to think that Steve is an og Swiftie. He has the aura of a longsuffering fan, and has definitely hopped to her defense in many a conversation with toxic dude bros (read: mostly Eddie and his friends who would playfully make fun of him, but he did get kicked out of a bar for throwing his drink--glass and all--at a stranger for saying she was a talentless slut). When she first stepped onto the scene, Steve would hum along to her singles on the radio on his commute to work. The first album of hers he bought was Fearless, after he heard “Love Story” play exactly once. He fell in love with the artist, and bought her debut album. He followed her career closely after that. (For a good month after Speak Now was released, Steve was dead set on playing songs from it at his and Eddie’s legal wedding, that wouldn’t be able to occur for another few years.)

Corroded Coffin (and Steve) were at the VMAs in 2009 when Kanye stole Taylor’s moment. Gareth and Jeff had to keep both Steve and Eddie from making a scene. Steve because she is his favorite artist (whom he isn’t sleeping with) and she very much deserved the award, and she’s just a kid! His mama bear instincts do not stop at his kids. Eddie because he’s always stood up against bullies. And even though they were all a part of the wealthy elite, no one’s moment should be stolen from them. Even though he knew Eddie didn’t get her music, Steve appreciated that he was just as outraged about the whole ordeal as him.

The next to follow was Nancy. Nancy has the widest taste in music out of the four of them. Growing up, she loved pop music like Steve, and would listen to classical music while studying. When she started spending time with Jonathan, she got into punk and grunge music. As Eddie cemented himself into the group, she opened up to metal, finding she really liked how loud and angry it was. With Argyle and Robin’s influence, she gained an appreciation for reggae, ska, jazz, and indie. She really just likes a little bit of everything.

Nancy came around after the release of Red. She had written an article about the VMAs for her publishers, but didn’t think much else about Taylor until she heard “I Knew You Were Trouble.” Natural journalistic inquiry led her to listening to more of her discography. Steve was ecstatic to finally share this interest with someone, as Eddie and Robin tend to be more pretentious about the music they enjoy, which annoys their partners to no end. Cue Nancy and Steve belting along to “We are Never Ever Getting Back Together” when in the car together.

Eddie didn’t give Taylor’s music a proper listen to until Reputation, and that’s only because Steve had mentioned that a lot of it was in response to the feud with Kanye and the negative attention the media gave her. While it wasn’t quite his taste, he admired the hell out of her for the album. His admiration only grew with her rerecording her masters. She was a total badass for that in his opinion. That’s when he decided to give the rest her music a chance. While he wouldn’t consider himself a Swiftie like Steve and Nancy, he finally understood what they liked about her music. Eddie made a habit of serenading “Hey Stephen” to Steve at random moments around their house--as he tended to do with any song that had Steve’s name in it. Steve doesn’t know if it’s a blessing or a curse that Eddie finally started listening to Taylor; however, every time Eddie started singing the all too familiar song, Steve’s cheeks would turn pink. At one point, Eddie convinced the rest of the band to do a rock cover of the song, and they played it at a show Eddie knew Steve would be in the audience for. 

Robin was the last to become a fan. Sure, she would enjoy it when Nancy put her music on. She especially enjoyed when Nancy would dance her around their kitchen to the slower songs. However, she didn’t make it a habit of listening to Taylor on her own. It just wasn’t the type of music she listened to, and that’s okay. Then Folklore and Evermore were released, and suddenly the singer was in Robin’s top artists of 2020, and she was the one leading Nancy in their kitchen waltzes. 

When the Eras tour was announced, Eddie used his industry connections to score the four of them tickets after TicketMaster had proven to be useless. Eddie, a lifelong fan of attending (and performing in) concerts, found he was more excited to watch Steve enjoy the music than watch the act himself. Robin, who still considered herself just a casual fan, was mostly looking forward to seeing girl in red’s opening set. Steve and Nancy, though? They came up with coordinating Lover inspired outfits. Pastel tye-died jean jackets, pink heart shaped sunglasses, a crop top for Steve. . . They were completely decked out. Eddie was torn between ogling Steve and being upset that he never dressed up this much for the Corroded Coffin shows he attended. In Steve’s defense, this was closer to his normal wardrobe. 

anyways, I think they all listen to her music to some capacity

#Also how annoyed do you think Max got after constantly hearing how much she #looked liked the girl in the all too well short film after it came out #she once threatened bodily harm to the next person in the party who brought it up #and she made good on the threat when it inevitably happened again #it was mike #mike brought it up #fruity four #steddie #ronance #taylor swift #stranger things

[eskawrites]

if you are up to it..one kind of like imaginary what-if is if robin was in s2 or even just after s4 getting flayed and having that whole thing with the rest of the party

i'm sorry anon idk if this is a prompt or hc or what, but just know that i love it, i'm obsessed with the idea.

also this makes me think of @hellsfireclub's flayed!robin au which lives in my mind rent free (actually her entire rebel robin: surviving the upside down tag gives me life, check it out if you haven't, it's everything)

but also also a post-s4 flaying is super interesting to me. i'm really curious about what vecna's original attack plan was once the gate was open. Nancy mentions seeing an army of monsters in her vision, plus some big creature with a gaping mouth, which describes most of the upside down monsters they've seen tbh but also very much describes the mind flayer in s3. but none of those things are hanging out in upside down hawkins as far as we can tell, and nothing comes out of the rift once it's open at the end of the season.

so, like, what if vecna's army fled during the attack and he has to rebuild before he can attack? what if the fastest way to do some damage is to possess people again? and what if, because he takes some part of his victim's consciousness, he sees a glimpse of robin through nancy's eyes when he taunts her in s4?

just imagine vecna deciding that, before he kills el, he needs to get revenge on nancy. and after being in her mind--and seeing her again in the attic, stepping between him and the others--he knows the best way to hurt her is to take away someone else she loves. but it's not enough to just kill her like with barb. no, he needs something more this time. something worse.

enter flayed Robin, and the group is so busy just trying to rebuild and grieve and survive after s4 that it takes too long for them to notice. she pulls away gradually from the group. steve chalks it up to her spending time with vickie, just trying to feel normal in the wake of all they've been through. nancy wonders if she feels guilty, if that's why she avoids max's hospital room or the wheeler's basement or steve's backyard when they're all hanging out by the pool. it's not until one day, when they run into a demodog on patrol and robin screams as nancy shoots it, that they start to realize what's going on

(and by then, vecna knows so much. how they run patrols, all the preparations they've made, all of it. but mostly, he knows how much robin means to nancy. and he knows how much it hurts her when robin looks at her, eyes dark and empty, and says, 'barb was my friend, too, and you killed her.')

#anyway nancy presses a fire poker into robin's back too #robin and will bond over having matching scars #bc they totally would #anon #asks #flayed!robin #making my own tag bc I like this the more I think about it #scratching that ‘Robin gets vecna’d’ itch ‘cause I miss those stories

[oddree13]

Steddie Midwest Emo AU

Steddie and honestly Stranger Things as a whole is ripe for a Midwest Emo AU. Maybe I've been listening to too much Front Bottoms or whatever, but I can't get it out of my head.

Because picture Steve leaving the Upside-Down for the last time and unable to cope with life. And Steve really doesn't think he needs the government-mandated therapy but the kids do, so he goes to set a good example. Because even after everything Steve is still trying his best for the Party even if nothing supernatural is coming after them.

The session start of basic, and he's convinced that the person he's assigned should have Eddie or Robin as a patient with how laid back and weird he is, but he's stuck with Tim for the foreseeable future and he'll deal. He deals until Tim one day brings up music therapy and Steve thinks he should just take the guitar Tim hands him and bash it over his head because he's here to process the hell of his life not learn an instrument.

"I'm not going to be any good at it, Tim."

"Who cares? You've got feelings, and yeah you might not have any skill now, and you may never, but it doesn't matter. Some of the most interesting music happens when your passion is bigger than the tools you have to deal with it. Isn't it great?"

And Steve thinks that Tim took one too many tabs in college but he takes home the acoustic guitar anyway.

It doesn't take long for Steve's passion to surpass his skill, and he really finds that he doesn't care. He doesn't care because he cries for the first time scribbling down his feelings about that spring break.

We keep playing with the numbers We are running out of time We are running, we are running But you're a killer and I'm your best friend Think it's unfair, your situation

He shows his shitty song to Tim who encourages him because for the in months Steve actually talked about something real and not just something he thought he should be talking about.

After a few more sessions and a few more songs, Tim passes him a flyer for an open mic night a few towns over.

"Is this mandatory?"

"If I made it mandatory would that make it easier?"

Steve doesn't nod but Tim tells him to go. So he goes and plays three of his discordant songs and some guy stops him after the show to let Steve know he plays drums. He doesn't understand why but he calls the guy a week later. Raul starts to provide the beat to Steve's arhythmic ranting and it's nice to have someone to just make something with that doesn't know what the catalyst is.

The party finds out when they notice Steve no longer picks the kids up from D&D on Fridays. He says it because they have their licenses. Eddie thinks he's lying.

Eddie, Robin, and Nancy trail him one random weekend and are surprised to find Steve's car parked in front of a bar that has a small line of people waiting to get in. Robin thinks maybe Steve just uses live music to escape but something tells Eddie it's more.

They go to the bar just in time for the MC to announce the lineup and just stand in shock as Steve takes the small stage. None of them get are able to voice their many questions because the drum starts, calling the room to attention, and Steve joins in with a simple three-chord strum.

I have this dream that I am hitting my dad with a baseball bat And he is screaming and crying for help And maybe halfway through, it has more to do with me killing him Than it ever did protecting myself And I believe that, yeah, Dad, maybe no one is perfect But I believe that you were pushing your luck

The trio exchange glances, and listen as for the first time they truly hear Steve Harrington express emotion that isn't carefully masked by a veneer. They watch in awe and don't move, afraid that if Steve sees them he'll stop.

After two more songs, Steve lets the crowd know it's his last one, and there's a collective murmur of discontent, but Steve just laughs. A girl in the front calls out asking him to make it a love song, and Steve tells her he doesn't have any of those, but he can get close enough. He checks in with Raul who starts a steady 4/4 beat for Steve. Before playing his guitar he tells the girl it's a song he wrote about 'a summer he tried trying to impress a guy.' As the crowd whoops, Nancy and Robin turn to look at Eddie who doesn't know what to think.

It's "The cops are coming in" type of sobering up It's a girl who'll never learn that I could not give a fuck My friends are happy, I am happy, I have learned to adapt It's a darker kind of humor and I can still hear them laugh

Because Eddie listens to the lyrics and if he didn't know better he'd think Steve was singing about the summer after spring break - the summer they were all coping, sometimes self-destructively. But then that would mean that-

He doesn't get a chance to finish that thought because Nancy elbows him. He looked up and sees that Steve has spotted them, but he doesn't look away. Instead, he locks eyes on Eddie as he repeats his declaration.

And I will remember that summer As the summer I was taking steroids 'Cause you like a man with muscles, and I like you

#steddie #steddie fics #steddie drabble #steve harrington #eddie munson #stranger things #steve x eddie #midwest emo #myposts #myfics

[owenwillsons]

8.15: every episode of stranger things

i was obsessed with the idea that will byers disappeared at exactly 8.15 in episode one, season one… so i went to every episode and found what happened at 8.15. what i found out was a fascinating series of extremely important events that would occur at 8.15: and i don’t think it’s a coincidence.

let’s go season by season.

note: i’m not going to go episode by episode of what happens at 8.15, because sometimes it truly is somewhat unimportant. but i will address the interesting things that happen. i can make a google doc/spreadsheet/tumblr post with everything but it would probably be kind of boring.

season 1:

chapter one: the vanishing of will byers

this one is the most obvious:

but sets up the pattern of important things happening at 8.15.

chapter three: holly jolly

this one is not as important, but i find it relevant nevertheless.

lucas talking about his wrist rocket!! which is super cute but also i think somewhat relevant because he does use the wrist rocket later in season one, and also in season three. so the introduction of the wrist rocket at 8.15 may be more of a coincidence, but i find it cool anyway.

chapter seven: the bathtub

this one, i think, less of a coincidence.

an unimportant looking shot, but look who he’s answering:

granted: the doorbell doesn’t start ringing at 8.15, nor does papa and his team appear at 8.15. but it is still an event that occurs at 8.15 which i would say is pretty important.

i think this truly solidifies 8.15 as being a larger thing than “just” a byler theory, but something that extends to other characters and the whole universe (which will be further proven later).

chapter eight: the upside down

i just think it’s interesting.

joyce reacts to this saying “but my son’s in there,” and hopper says “put it on” (regarding the hazmat suits).

i think this could actually add to the will byers having powers theory, because although we know later characters can survive in the upside down without hazmat suits, it is initially thought that will survived despite the toxic atmosphere. this could also foreshadow the corrupting nature of the upside down, as it turned 001 into vecna and of course infected will for the next few seasons on as a result of his time there. 

season 2

this is the 8.15 season. rich with different shit happening at 8.15 which is definitely not a coincidence.

chapter one: madmax

oh, what is will looking at?

by the way, this pretty much happens at exactly 8.15. he disappeared into the upside down s1e1 at 8.15, and then he has an episode of the upside down s2e1 at 8.15. not a coincidence.

chapter three: pollywog

that’s dustin, checking out a few books on reptiles. the books that lead him to show dart to the group because it looks like creatures that come from other countries, which leads to will recognising it comes from the upside down. so i would classify it as a relatively important moment. 

chapter six: the spy

we got to it.. my favourite 8.15 moment.

happens exactly at 8.15, it’s insane.

if you are acquainted with the stranger things soundtrack at all, or even specifically byler stranger things songs, you would recognise this as the name of track 7 on the season 2 soundtrack, which is aptly called “the first lie”. it has only played once in the show, which is when jonathan and nancy first kiss. the soundtrack name is a homage to this moment.

here’s the clincher: on the ordered soundtrack (which is not in chronological order, because dixon and stein are menaces) the first lie is put right after eight fifteen. eight fifteen is track 6, and this moment is episode 6 of season 2. super interesting.

but let’s open it up more. the first lie has obvious musical connections to the other “love” songs of the show, including (but not limited to) the first i love you, a song on the stranger things 3 playlist. this song plays when el first says “i love you” to mike… but also when robin comes out to steve. and, of course, i have to mention the lowercase L in the first i love you’s official track name compared to the capital L in the first lie. 

expanding it: the direct musical motif isn’t in eight fifteen, but the vibes are definitely there. you can see the hints of the familiar melody - i would recommend humming alone if you really want to feel out. this kind of similar vibe is also in being different. they actually use the same, or a very similar synthesiser, in both songs. although eight fifteen is not originally a will song (it plays when el is introduced to be living with hopper), it is very similar to a very will song.

what does this mean? 8.15 is not just a will number, but it is also very much a will number. there are musical connections in an el song and a will song, which could suggest something to do with will with powers, or simply a very close connection between the siblings. 8.15 is also very much a deliberate number, and a deliberate time stamp, and it is not a coincidence.

if you want to see the similarities, i made a video here.

(the order i put it in is also deliberate. eight fifteen is a track 6, with the first lie, a track 7, right after it. the first i love you is a track 8 in the stranger things 3 soundtrack, and being different is track 9 in disc 2 of stranger things 4. it is literally 6, 7, 8, 9. not a coincidence)

chapter seven: the lost sister

what is she looking at?

kali and her friends. not everyone’s favourite episode, but definitely an important moment, especially in the context of the episode itself. it could also suggest kali coming back for season 5 (or the duffers’ initial plans to have her involved in the bigger picture)

chapter nine: the gate

firstly, quite an interesting shot. it definitely shows how that is an important part of the map and the puzzle.

secondly, it’s also joyce making the realisation that they need to heat will up to get the “virus” out of him. to clarify, at 8.15 itself, it’s just hopper saying “what?” but it’s in the context of joyce making that realisation, so i count it as an 8.15 moment.

season 3

there are actually quite a few season 3 moments, but not as much to pick apart as it was in season 2.

chapter two: the mall rats

nancy sees this note on the table, which leads her to investigating the diseased rats in mrs driscoll’s house, which of course leads to her finding the truth about what is happening and vecna’s (or the mind flayer’s) different hosts.

chapter four: the sauna test

max gets up to answer mike’s call, which leads to el and max joining the others as they try and defeat billy in the sauna.

to clarify: no, the phone doesn’t ring at exactly 8.15, neither does max get up at exactly 8.15. again, though: still an important 8.15 moment.

chapter five: the flayed

hopper, joyce and murray just manage to escape from grigori with one of their scientists, who we learn is called alexei. alexei becomes an important part of the season and helps them discover that the russians have a “key” to open a portal to the upside down.

other s3 8.15 moments that you can decide whether you consider them important:

chapter six: e pluribus unum - mayor larry provokes grigori, telling him to bring backup next time as hopper managed to defeat him last time. this leads to larry being attacked.

chapter seven: the bite - a drugged steve tells dustin that the russians took the car keys, meaning they have to find another way to get out of starcourt mall.

chapter eight: the battle of starcourt - joyce says goodbye to will. could be read as a way to solidify 8.15 as a will number/time stamp. 

season 4

sadly, season 4 has significantly less 8.15 moments. the moments that do happen only appear later in the season. in my opinion, this could hint at how 8.15 is directly connected to el’s powers - or specifically, el’s connection to the upside down. 8.15 moments only happen once el has regained her powers, thus the number/time stamp only holds significance when she has her connection to the upside down.

or the writers were lazy, and there was no way to shoehorn an important 8.15 moment earlier. who knows.

chapter six: the dive

this memory trip leads to el remembering how she was bullied in the lab - a particularly traumatising memory that eventually leads to el assisting 001, and present el thinking that she caused the massacre at hawkins lab.

also, it’s interesting what papa is saying at 8.15: “one memory at a time”. this could be hinting the importance of memories in season 5 and how it will be an important part of defeating vecna.

chapter seven: the massacre at hawkins lab

el makes the decision to go back in the memory pod, despite her fears and belief that she is a “monster” that caused the hawkins lab massacre. this decision leads to her discovering the truth, and the final piece of the puzzle that 001 = vecna = henry creel.

chapter nine: the piggyback

the context: steve is reminding dustin and steve that they are just decoys in the plan. dustin assures him steve can still be the hero, and eddie says that they are definitely not heroes.

plot-wise, not as important, but thematically it sets up something for eddie to subvert: because, of course, eddie does become “the hero” and ends up sacrificing himself in the process. 

if you are a kas!eddie believer, you can also read it as eddie eventually becoming a decoy for the group to handle before they deal with vecna.

season 5 predictions

the main thing that i would theorise is that at 8.15 episode 1, will gets a vecna episode - or some sort of vision of the upside down (the neck thing). i also want to say that track 10 will be a romantic song - let’s all collectively pray a byler kiss anthem. 

additionally, 8:15 (the time) will be shown to have some significance in the season. some of my theories:

when will goes to the upside down for the second time, in present day 

the time they choose to go back to/they happen to go back to in the upside down, assuming that time travel exists (i believe this) and they have that level of control over it (i believe this slightly less). going back to this time would be when karen stopped the dnd game (credit to @madwheelerz for figuring this out!)

the time the upside down is frozen 

some people have suggested that time freezes when will byers gets transformed. if this is the case, it would probably not be 8:15, as this is when karen stopped the game - unless she lied and stopped them earlier (the first lie?? /j . but seriously, they’re like, 12. it’s a school night. this is a possibility)

maybe will formed a memory of 8:15 on november 6 1983 when in the upside down to cope? looking at what the upside down looked like when vecna was transported, will could have created what the upside down looks like purely from his memories so he could survive

those are just my thoughts - let me know what you think! i might make more theories on here, but if you want to possibly hear more, check me out on @/owenwillsons on tiktok, where i also make edits :)

#byler #eightfifteengate #stranger things #byler analysis #stranger things analysis #will byers #el hopper #eleven hopper #upside down #will byers powers #mike wheeler #analysis #theory #eight fifteen #the first lie #the first i love you #being different #byler endgame #st5 #st5 theory #owenwillsons

[boldlyvoid]

Come on Eileen | Part 7: they're back...

Summary: the undead army is awoken.

Warnings: season 4 re-write, canon typical violence, resurrection, zombies, mentions of past sexual assault, electrocution, fire setting, planning for the big fight

Word count: 5.7k

Masterlist

Hop goes off on Brenner and Owens just a little bit harder than Eileen did, rightfully so, as Eleven lay unconscious on the table. She used a lot of energy to keep everyone safe doing the earthquake. What they also learned was the feeling of another gate opening in Hawkins. 

However, how many Venca needed to crack open the earth and reign hellfire down upon Hawkins? They had no fucking clue. They just knew they opened where ever someone has died under Vecna’s curse and it looked like he was trying to spread them out with the distance between Chrissy and Fred. 

Priority 2 was to get Patrick to the lab before he could open the third gate, the main priority stayed keeping Max safe. 

Till then, everyone gathers in the Lab's cafeteria for pizza.

The parents have a million questions and the rest of the plan needs to be assembled, still. They can’t start planning fully till Callahan and Powell get back from their daily patrol, so they eat the most delicious dough in the whole world, topped with amazing choices all thanks to Argyle. 

She feels like she hasn’t eaten in a month as she stuffs slice after slice in her mouth to feed not only herself but their baby. It’s so good she could kiss argyle right on the mouth as a thank you. 

Nancy and Robin are back with Victor who’s reacquainted with his daughter after all these years. Mike meets him too, asking all sorts of questions to Henry for eleven's sake. Both she and Will sit on either side of mike as they talk to him, learning about the man they had to stop at all costs in a few days' time. It was difficult seeing the father of a monster feel so sad knowing his son had to be defeated, but it was the truth. He had to go, there was no question about it. 

At Eileen's table, however, she meets Susie and Eden, who also wants to kiss argyle but not just as a thank you for the pizza. She thinks he’s cute, she told Eddie so earlier when they were painting sigils all over the building. She came with a lot of witchy knowledge for a Mormon girl, it was interesting, to say the least. 

And Dustin was so smitten with Susie. Everyone was nervous to meet her, seeing as the two of them broke out into song all the time, but they were pretty quiet actually. Disgustingly cute, but quiet as they stayed in their own happy bubble together. 

The room is full of laughter and conversations, everyone has someone to talk to. It’s some of the strangest groups of people ever but it works. They all get along like a family, like this is the mess tent in mash, even on their worst days they’d still come together for the same cause. 

They’re all almost done with dinner when the police show back up. Powell and Callahan walk through the doors in a bit of a rush, scared looks on their faces, catching their breath and everyone's attention. “We have a bit of an issue.” 

“What?” Hopper stands up followed by Joyce, Steve and Nancy. They were the real leaders of this fight.

“So uh, we got a call that Jason and his buddies were staying at the Carver’s lake house, and when we got there we discovered Patrick all tied up and something that looked like Jason but wasn’t Jason was guarding him…” Callahan explains. 

“And theres bats in the trailer park,” Powell adds, scared and shaking, “they’re coming up out of the ground where some portal has opened up? There’s about 6 of them out there right now, they’ve killed all the cats and squirrels out there so far and dented the fuck out of our cars.” 

“Brenner said that would happen,” Hop sighs. “Fuck, okay, so we’re going to have to deal with the bats before we can use the gate.” 

“Use it?” Powell repeats, louder than before. “Are you fucking insane? Those bats out there aren’t just normal, they’re fucking huge and they can eat you in one bite!” 

“We’ll figure it out,” Hop raises his voice right back. “We always do. They hate fire, Will can torch shit with his mind now, we’re fine.” 

“Can I hear more about this Jason problem?” Steve wonders for the group, “what do you mean he wasn’t Jason? What was he acting like?” 

“He was shirtless it looked like his skin was peeling, he was trying the kid to a chair on a boat and talking to someone that wasn’t there. We watched from the window of his boat house, he didn’t see us, but it was horrific,” Callahan explains. “Have you seen that before?” 

“Yeah, unfortunately,” Nancy sighs, turning back towards the table of kids staring at her as they listened. 

They knew what was happening. 

Everyone that knows about Billy and Will’s possessions starts to stand and make their way over for a group planning session. “We need to lure Jason away from Patrick and then burn the mindflayer out of him before he finds us here and ruins our plans,” Lucas speaks for the group, scared for Max as much as Eileen is.

Eddie and Eileen get up together, heading over to join the conversation, worried for their own safety with Jason being the chosen one to be possessed. 

“It’s a hive mind right?” Eileen remembers from Nancy’s timeline. 

Nancy nods, “yeah, so the mindflayer, the upside down, the bats, everything feels the same pain, when we’re burning the shit out of Jason, the bats will be at their weakest point.” 

Wayne walks over then, too, “did you say you have to burn some kid?” 

They all nod along but it’s Steve who steps in to explain, “the mindflayer doesn’t like heat, we learned that when he possessed Will and used it to try and get it out of billy… well, the kids did, but they used a sauna and it didn’t work, they couldn't keep him in it long enough.” 

“When it was in Will,” Nancy adds, “he just wanted to keep Will’s powers at bay but mostly the mind flayer and Henry use the host as a spy, so we can’t let him see anything we’re doing. We need to get it out of him.” 

“Seriously?” Will asks, it all started making more sense to him. “They knew I could beat Henry so they tried to take me out first?” Will repeats it in his own words, amazed that everything had a purpose and it wasn’t because he was weak that he was taken. Quite the opposite actually. 

“And he has his powers now,” Eddie pats Will's back, rubbing it gently before his friends light up with excitement and pull him in for cheerful hugs. “So we can use him to—

“You just can’t light Jason on fire,” Wayne raises his hands and shakes his head. “But I can probably electrocute it out of him…” 

“Seriously?” Hopper asks, “how?” 

“At the plant, I have the keys and the security info— I’m the floor manager,” Wayne explains. “We just need a way to get Jason to the plant and secure him in a cage so he can’t escape.” 

“He followed eleven around last time like he could sense her presence,” Mike remembers, “when the mindflayer was in Billy, it wouldn’t let her get too far, he always found her.” 

“So we get eleven to the plant and Jason will follow,” Hopper agrees. “We have the bodies ready to go, we need to get them into the upside down at the same moment the bats are gone…” 

“Or,” Steve steps in, “and hear me out… we bring Will to the gate, and he burns the bats to give you an advantage with Jason? We burned the tunnels 2 years ago when you were getting it out of Will, and it distracted the dogs while you closed the gate… it will be easier to hold Jason down with the bats being attacked.” 

“Yeah,” Will likes that idea. “Hop can go with el, and mom can stay with me, we’re both able to use our powers for this one.” 

“You’re getting tattooed before you go,” Joyce puts her foot down as if that’s not the coolest compromise for a 14-year-old kid. “You’re not going out there unprotected. Any of you. Not after what happened with Max outside.” 

“How many kids are left to get tattooed?” Eddie asks, looking around at the handful of people already sporting his protection sigils. He started with the adults earlier that morning, and with the help from Eden this afternoon, he was mostly through them all. 

Most of them raise their hands, actually all of them except eleven, “okay, Will and Max first, let’s go get them done.” He kisses Eileen before he leaves, stealing an extra piece of pizza first before they’re all off. 

8:30 pm

The plan wasn’t as simple as they wished it would be. 

First, they needed to get Wayne to the plant and set up a cage in which they could trap Jason. 

Once he was ready, Eleven was to get Jason's attention at the lake and with her father's help, they’d drive to the plant with Flayer Jason in tow. 

With him out of the way, they would get Patrick back to the lab so another portal wouldn’t be opened as Team 2 heads to the trailer park. 

At the trailer park, they had the 2 recent dead bodies and a coffin belonging to the one and only, Billy Hargrove, already waiting for them. They just had to be placed in the upside down. However, depending on the bat situation, Will might need to go in there and handle all of the reincarnations sooner rather than later… like tonight, soon.

With the mindflayer leaving Jason’s body, it would be at his weakest and vulnerable to the undead army’s attacks. It was their best choice, but also the scariest.  

It wasn’t just Billy he had to bring back, it was Chrissy, Fred, Barb and the other hikers whose bodies were trapped down there in the upside down library. They never made it out with Will 4 years ago. 

7 people— well, not people, 7 bodies against the mindflayer. It would be the only way they could win, if they don’t have minds, there’s nothing for the mindflayer to consume, they’re just meat suits with a vengeance. 

Eileen still didn’t fully understand how they’d do it, it was still a bit of a mystery how this was all so similar to D&D and how the heck Eddie was always right and knew exactly what to do? 

Team 1 had two sides to it: The diversion and the cleanup team. 

The diversion for team 1 are Hop and Eleven, taking Jasons attention off Patrick and leading him to Wayne at the Power Plant.

Their cleanup consisted of: Callahan, Eddie, Dustin and Lucas. The 4 of them were to bring Patrick back to the lab— and heaven forbid they get there too late for him, plan b is to bring his body to the trailer park. 

Team 2, at the trailer park, is Joyce, Will, Powell, Steve, Jonathan, Nancy and Robin. 

Will had to destroy the bats, obviously, but also keep the coast clear. Nancy, Mike and Steve volunteered to go into the upside down first to gather the bodies of their dead peers as they were dropped onto the other side.

Jonathan, Joyce and Will would join them right after, their family has been through so much there was no way they weren’t sticking together through this one. 

Then there was the rescue team. 

Charles Sinclair, Susan Mayfield and Claudia Henderson, all with very different medical backgrounds, all willing to help keep everyone safe during all of this. 

9:15 pm

She paces the room, her whole body on fire with anxiety, she’s pale as a ghost and barely even there, mentally. Her mom tries to talk to her, asks her questions that fall on deaf ears. She’s too focused on Eddie and Billy and the fact they could meet again today with Eddie knowing the truth— because she knows that if he’s given the chance to be her hero he is going to take it. He’s going to be the man he’s always wanted to be and protect those kids and the people he loves and ultimately her. She knows how he thinks, she knows he’ll want to kill Vecna himself to save Max and ensure that his wife stays happy even if it means she has to raise their child alone. 

She wanted to run after him, she wanted to join him and keep him safe from his hero complex but she was too pregnant to do anything. 

She was at the stage where she was far along enough that she could go into labour and the baby would be born in very critical condition. It was more than just a miscarriage risk at this point, she was stressed enough to give birth and say goodbye to her baby if she made the wrong choices. 

She was terrified for herself, for Eddie, for Max, for her mom… her mom. Oh, her poor mom. 

Susan was scared for Wayne, her own little crush has bubbled over the months of getting to know each other, they’d be grandma and grandpa and they might as well bond… they bonded a bit too well, actually. She didn’t want to lose Wayne, she didn’t want Wayne to lose Eddie. Or Eileen to lose him, either. She didn’t want to lose a grandbaby or her own daughter. She couldn’t even think about the fact that Max was cursed, she was under a spell that has only ended in tragedy this far and it didn’t look good for her. 

Susan was dying inside just at the thought of it all. 

But she was also on duty. As the most medically qualified person on their team (outside Owens and Brenner who nobody trusted at this point) she was on call for emergencies. 

She fiddled with the ambulance keys in her hands, knees shaking as she waits for a call to eventually come through. 

“Hey, don’t pick at that,” Eileen glances at Max fiddling with her new tattoo on her upper arm. “If it gets itchy pat around it, don’t scratch or it won’t heal. Do you want more lotion?”

“No, I’m just uncomfortable,” Max whines. “And I’m bored. What if I listen to this tape so much I end up hating it and then it does nothing for me anymore?” 

“You need to just keep thinking about good memories,” Eileen reminds her. “You must have more we don’t know about, things that you’ve gone through here with your best friends that will go down as the best days of your life.” 

She smiles, “I do have some of those. I have more though since you got here.” 

Eileen finds it in herself to smile back, taking a seat between Max and her mom. “I’m really glad I moved here.” 

Her mom places a hand on her stomach and rubs gently. Max places her hand on her too, it’s a weird group hug full of 3 generations of redheads, “we’re going to all make it out okay, I know it.” 

“Yeah,” she agrees without really thinking the same thing. 

“Phase one complete, I repeat, phase one complete,” they hear Dustin’s voice over the radio. “Flayer is on the move, however, plan 2 is a go.” 

Patrick died. 

Max picked up the walkie again with a sigh, she holds down the button and speaks softly. “copy. Be safe. Over.” 

“We will, over,” Lucas answered that time, making max smile a bit. 

“Team two is in position,” Steve adds over the radio. 

“Cage is ready to go,” Wayne adds. “Any idea on Jason's ETA?” 

“He’s running after hops car, so I’d say 10 minutes? Over,” Eddie adds. 

Eileen sighs at the sound of his voice, “thank god.” 

“See?” Her mom manages to smile. “It’s all working out.” 

So far, at least. 

—

They carefully load Patrick's body into the back of Eddie’s van, he’s all contorted and broken and it’s truly horrific… but they do it. Dustin, Lucas and Eddie followed Callahan in his cop car, directly to the trailer park portal. 

Steve, Nancy and Robin wait in Nancy’s car, Will, his mom, brother and mike are in Powell's car, and the rest of the cop cars surround them in the tree lines of the trailer park's entrance. 

If the bats can’t see or smell them, they won’t attack. So they stay back, they wait with their doors unlocked and the plan beaten into their memory from overthinking. 

Eddie rolls up behind Nancy’s car, waving through the window, and they wave back. Eddie picks up the walkie, a little anxious from how long it felt like it was taking, “everybody okay?” 

“Keep the channel free,” Dustin scolds him but Eddie doesn’t care. 

“We’re good,” Max answers from the ambulance bay. 

“Great over here,” Susie answers from the lab with the parents. 

“Still waiting,” Wayne confirms. 

“Still running from this freak!” Hop screams down the line, “eta 2 minutes! Be ready!!” 

“Moving into the first position,” Powell says over the radio, driving his cop car into the trailer park and alerting the collection of bats around the portal. 

They start to fly and swarm around the car but they don’t attack, they just circle it, over and over, like the protection spell is keeping them at a distance. Nancy drives in next, followed by the car containing Will, and finally, Eddie’s van comes in. 

Will gets out alone, cautiously, and the bats swoop down to get him but they can't. Almost as if they’re hitting a forcefield that no one else can see. 

They can’t fly within 3 feet of him… So he stands there, feet planted firmly and his eyes closed, swarmed by bats as thunder cracks and lightning turns the sky a terrifying purple. 

He turns back to the cars, watching and waiting for the signal, and then it comes through. 

“Jason’s in the cage, I repeat, Jason is in the cage,” Hops voice comes through the radio, scattered and out of breath. “Go phase 2.” 

“WILL!” Joyce yells from the car, window rolled down mere millimetres. “NOW!” 

With his hands balled into fists, he recalls something painful, something sad… being kidnapped and having his childhood stolen from him is enough to light the air on fire and take the bats into his blaze of glory bright enough to make the park look like midday. Their wings disintegrate in the flames, and their bodies melt into goop and drop to the dirt like acid rain. By the time he opens his eyes again, the ground is covered in hot black tar, it stinks like burnt hair, but the sky is clear and dark again. 

Part of Eddie wishes he could see what’s happening at the plant, most of him wants to be there with Wayne to protect him, unfortunately, he’s here with all the dead bodies of people he used to know, waiting for the all-clear to put them in the ground… only not just 6 feet under. 

They were going completely upside down. 

Everyone rushes from their cars as the bats hit the ground, the cops gather the bodies, and they start up the excavator all while Wayne and Hopper are silent on the radio. 

Eddie watches from the sidelines, Steve and Nancy head down into the other dimension and each body is wrapped and prepped to be lowered down to them. Joyce has her arms wrapped around Will, reminding him how proud she is of him while Mike rambles about it being the coolest thing he’s ever seen. Completely unfazed by how much it sounds like love.

“We’re gonna need an ambulance at the plant,” Hopper calls over the radio. “it’s out of Jason but he’s not doing too hot.”

Eddie laughs, that was the worst word choice to make. He was probably chard to a crisp…  

“On it,” Susan answers, “Charles meet me down here at the bay, stat, I’m going to need help.” 

“He’s on his way,” Karen answers for the group, “good luck out there.” 

Eddie sighs, hoping to god Wayne was okay. 

“It’s all working out,” Dustin reminds him. “We just have one last phase to complete.” 

“I want to go down there,” Eddie announces to their group. “I want to be there with Will when he brings Billy back. I don’t trust Billy, especially without his brain.” 

“I can’t let you all go down there,” Powell tries to stop them. 

“You can’t control any of us, the upside down doesn’t fall under your jurisdiction,” Joyce fights back, taking Eddie’s side. “Me and Eddie are going with Will. So are Steve and Nancy.”

“And me!” Robin and Jonathan say at the same time, unable to sit this one out when the people they loved most were already down there. 

Nancy suddenly tugs on the emergency string, the rope moves from the middle and then she’s popping up through the portal just enough to scream, “HELP! THEY GOT STEVE! HE CUT HIS ARM AND HIS PROTECTION IS GONE!” 

They all rush the portal, dropping Will in first and then the rest of them jump down too. By the time Eddie’s down there, Will’s killed the few bats that had wrapped themself around Steve’s neck, strangling him slightly. 

He sits there on the ground, gasping for breath with his shirt covered in blood. Eddie runs to his trailer… well, the upside-down version of it at least, he pries open his old dresser drawer and finds a few shirts and a towel before running back to him. 

“Here,” he hands them to Nancy who rips the shirt up and wraps it tightly around Steve’s wounds. 

“It’s okay,” Dustin shushes him, “you’re okay.” 

Will watches the sky in the background, noticing there are more flying, “we need to go… Like 5 minutes ago!” 

“Help him up,” Nancy asks for help, Dustin and Robin lift Steve and carry him back towards Eddie’s trailer. Everyone follows, leaving the bodies out there in the open. 

“I need to bring them back,” Will worries. “I should do them first and then they can escort us to the library. The bats won’t go after any of us with them.” 

—

When Jason arrives at the lab, he’s still unconscious and burned up and barely alive. They strip him of his remaining clothes and treat all his electrical burns with water and bandages, and they hook him up to an IV to stay hydrated.

Eileen watches carefully as her mom works on him, “how do you know what to do?” 

“I’m treating it like he was struck by lightning,” she announces, “with that strong of a current, it’s the most likely outcome of injuries.” 

“What can I do?” 

“Stay out of here,” her mom orders. “He’s going to wake up soon and god knows what he’s going to react like when he sees you, I don’t want you here when he does.” 

“Right,” she remembers just how much Jason hates her and how unhinged people can get when coming back to life after being shocked. She didn’t want to be in his wake. 

—

Eddie’s never been so on edge in his entire life as they build the pire. 

A giant pile of wood was stacked up in the middle of the trailer park, the bodies wrapped in whatever blankets they could find in other homes on site, then they salted them and stacked them onto the wood. Returning back to Eddie’s upside down trailer once they were done, Will started to freak out about what was to come. 

It was his biggest, hardest part now. 

“I really hope the rules of reincarnation aren’t exactly the same,” Will worries, “cause then Billy won’t come back… you only have 10 days to bring a soul back to its body or else the energy becomes too unstable and the soul gets lost in the ether.”

“There’s nothing like Eleven in D&D, she’s a superhero and so are you now, I think the Phoenix power you possess is going to be able to bring anyone back, no matter what,” Eddie tries to assure him that it’ll be okay even though a part of him hoped that Billy didn’t ever come back.

He’s worried if he sees him there he’s going to swing at him. He wants to swing at him. He wants to kill him again himself.

“Phoenix powers?” Will laughs, “I thought I just had pyrokinesis?” 

“It’s the start of your abilities,” he explains. “Like how eleven’s telekinesis has now become the ability to create forcefields of protection… you have a much more potent gift which only manifests as pyrokinesis at first.”

Will just stares at him. 

He knew this was something he’d have to do, he never questioned the specifics and now here he was learning more about himself than he ever imagined. 

“The Phoenix dies in flames but is also reborn in them, the phoenix rises from the ashes and that’s precisely what is going to happen here. Like in D&D, the spirit of the passed individual heads to Limbo after death to wait 10 days before being transferred to their forever resting spot, unless they’re coaxed back into their bodies. With your powers, by burning them and having them be reborn in the ash, you’re ripping them straight from Limbo and shoving them into their bodies no questions asked. This also means we get to skip the 2-week waiting period for their bodies to even reappear, they should come back almost instantaneously.” 

“Holy shit,” Will can’t believe his ears. “So… will they have brains or not?” 

“Technically not, blood stopped flowing, they’re zombies,” Eddie confirms. “All you need to do is say a little spell, a chant that holds true to your intention here, and it should rhyme too…” Eddie adds for good measure.

“Okay, okay yeah, I can do that,” Will tries to hype himself up a bit more. “What do I say?” 

“You have a few minutes, go sit in my room and think,” Eddie finishes his little pep talk with a pat on the back. 

“You’re going to be a good dad,” Joyce can’t help but smile at him. 

He smiles right back, it was the weirdest place in the world to feel this happy but he was proud of his little family and the fact that people trusted him. It was so new to be so trusted. He could really get used to it. 

Will takes about 20 minutes in the bedroom and returns with a piece of paper that held his spell. “I’m ready.” 

“Let’s do this,” Eddie nodded, opening the trailer door and letting him out first, followed by everyone with a weapon of choice. 

They really had no idea how everyone was going to wake up from the dead. 

Will stands in front of the pire and reads his words back to himself while taking a few deep breaths. He folds the paper up and puts it in his front pocket, running his hands over his jeans to get the sweat off, he was so anxious but this was his job. His purpose. 

He raises his hands, palms facing out. He starts his chant. 

“Power of fire from within 

put blaze upon their cold, damp skin, 

cleanse each body, renew each soul, 

till nothing left but ash and coal. 

I call upon the phoenix power 

to help us in this mortal hour. 

Accept the vessel upon this hearth. 

Complete the cycle of rebirth.” 

In the flame they see a phoenix, landing on the pire as the bodies burn to nothing. The flame turns a deep, deep red and then there’s a flash. It’s so bright everyone shields their eyes and looks away, only to return to the sight of their 4 peers standing in the dwindling ash. 

They all react similar, touching their chest as life is breathed back into their lungs… but they don’t look the same. They’re pale grey from being dead, without blood in their veins, brainless. Yet they remember everything? 

“Harrington,” Billy notices first. “wheeler… Munson? When did you join the party.” 

He can’t help himself. He see’s red as soon as he speaks and then Steve’s holding him back. Jonathan and Mike too, but he’s stronger than all three of them as he shoves them to the ground and speed walks over to Billy. He punches him so hard he goes flying backward. 

Chrissy and Patrick hold him back, a lot stronger, but he puts up a good fights, “I swear to god I’m going to fucking kill you again once this is over you sick fuck! If we didn’t need you’re help you’d still be rotting in the fucking ground.” 

“What the fuck are you talking about?” He laughs as he stands up and dusts himself off. Dressed in a nice suit as thats what he was buried in. 

“You molested my wife.” 

“Who?” 

“Eileen,” Chrissy realizes what’s up and stops holding him back, letting Eddie go and Patrick does the same. But Eddie doesn’t lunge at him again. 

He just stares. “I know everything. You’re scum it's no wonder it picked you last year.” 

“Yeah,” billy agrees. “You know what, yeah I am evil but if it wasn’t for me her sister would be dead so.” 

“Doesn’t redeem you,” he spits back. “Once we’re done here you’re going right back to hell. I hope you like the heat.”

“Harrington,” he calls past Eddie, “care to tell me what the fuck the freak wants me to do before he kills me again.” 

Eddie wraps his arm around Chrissy and takes a few steps back, they form a circle in the middle of the park to discuss everything, with Nancy taking the lead, not Steve. He’s still a bit woozy from his attack. 

“How are we going to kill it?” Billy wonders once he’s been filled in. “That thing is insanely powerful and huge… have you seen the real thing?” 

“Isn’t it the same as it was in the mall?” Joyce asks, scared to know the answer. 

He shakes his head. “No… here it’s, it’s huge.” 

“It’s more like a shadow,” Will agrees. “You saw it in my drawings, it’s that black dust that left my body after my possession. But like, the size of the Brooklyn bridge.” 

“Oh fuck…” Nancy rubs her hand over her face, terrified on the inside. “Okay. Well, we need to get the rest of the dead back and then we’ll get back to that question.” 

“Others?” Chrissy asks. 

“Barb,” Nancy solemnly answers. “And a few hikers, their bodies are in the library down here.” 

“Which we’ve gotta get to before Vecna hears we’re down here,” Joyce reminds them. “It’s a 5-mile walk from here, let’s go.” 

—

March 23rd, 1986   

Powell came back alone around midnight saying everyone went down and sent him back with the message that they were on the way to the library and would be back later. The resurrection went well, Eddie got 1 punch in but it's relatively civil now which makes her shake her head in disbelief. 

Boys were so weird like that. One punch and they’re fine. 

They get their first transmission at 2 in the morning. “Team two is right-side up, making our way home. Everyone accounted for.” 

Everyone that was still awake makes their way down to the lobby of the lab, excited to hear how it went but more so needing to plan what happens next. 

The reunion is sweet… Eddie picks her up and twirls her around even though she feels so sick. She holds him tight and kisses his cheek. “You’re okay?” 

“Harringtons the only one who got hurt,” he points, causing Susan to get her med kit and rush to him. 

They disinfect him right there as the team goes over everything thats transpired in the last few hours. “So everyone is back?” Hop asks. 

Joyce nods, “yeah, they’re all on board and just waiting to learn how they can kill the mindflayer…” 

“I know how we can kill Henry… but not that,” Eleven adds. “The mindflayer is from the upside down, it’s not human… what if we just killed Henry and closed the gates and left it alone? It can’t do any damage without help.” 

“Are you sure about that?” Eileen wonders. 

“Pretty positive.” 

“As long as no one ever opens another gate and falls under its control, we should be fine, right?” Eddie asks, “and even then, we can take them down again.” 

“And with the undead in the upside down, they can rule over the mindflayer… they can become the main predator down there.” 

“Billy will take that role,” Eddie volunteers his new enemy. “What’s the difference between sexual and apex predator?” 

Eileen shoves him, “hey, you got a punch in, drop it.” 

“How can you kill Henry?” Nancy moves the conversation back to eleven. 

“Well,” Max and Eleven turn to each other like they’ve been talking it over. “I need to get into his mind when he’s at his weakest… and we think that’s when he’s got his hooks in someone.” 

“No,” Eileen, Steve and Joyce all point at her at the same time, their mom mode on blast. 

“It’s the only way!” They cry, “he needs to be vulnerable while I’m in his mind and then you guys need to get into the upside down again and find his lair and burn him.”

“And the pieces of his phylactery, remember?” Eddie brings up. “We already agreed it’s the clock from the visions which is at the creel house, it’s probably also where he is when he attacks. It’s the perfect place to build a lair.” 

“Tomorrow we’ll go there and we’ll get the clock,” Hopper assures them. “What’s the other piece?” 

“I think it’s the chess board,” Eleven adds. “It’s what he’d play with all of us in the rainbow room and that’s where he killed them all.” 

“We need to burn them too or he’ll come back.”

General Taglist 

@ncsls0515 @stevesmunsons @reidsbookclub @wroteclassicaly @sweetyyhippyy @manuosorioh @mrs-dr-reid @k-k0129 @eddiemunson-rp 

@fightingdragonswithwho @kyomito @reidselle @venomsvl @nomajdetective @girl-with-an-orange-cat @blairscott @princesseddie 

#eddie munson #eddie munson stranger things #eddie munson smut #stranger things #eddie munson imagines #eddie munson imagine #stranger things imagine #stranger things season 4

[vibrantlifeboringdeath]

you are so SO welcome to tell me your opinions abt stranger things vol. 2

THIS IS THE WORST SHOW I HAVE EVER BEEN OBSESSED WITH. I WANT TO PUT THESE CHARACTERS INTO AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT SHOW WHERE THE DUFFER BROTHERS CANT DO ANYTHING TO THEM ANYMORE. SEASON 2 OF FREAKS AND GEEKS EXCEPT ITS JUST THE STRANGER THINGS CHARACTERS. PLEASE.

Short summary of things that, off the top of my head, infuriated me:

- why did Vecna not kill nancy? why did nancy just get a Villain dialogue and get told to go tell Eleven about it? Vecna even USED the trauna from Barb at the start why wouldnt she have counted for the fourth kill. Why is Vecna such a drama queen they spent THIRTY WHOLE MINUTES EXPLAINING THIS CHARACTER at the end of part 1 and I STILL do not actually understand his motivations??? this would have made sense if it was to El but I'm mad bc Steve and Robin should 100% have had an argument about her favourite song and gotten to save her. It makes it even MORE annoying that thwy left it on a cliffhanger just for Vecna to not even TRY killing her. What a waste

- the russia plot continued to just. Not intsrest me much. This was better bc there was less of it and all driven by a Specific Thing Happening and there was better character stuff but like???? breaking OUT of the prison just to realise they have to break BACK IN,,, you could FEEL the duffers forcing more screen time for their Two Biggest Names into the finale. It annoyed me. However, David Harbour with a Sword was Very Very Good. Reboot Highlander with him please.

- The El plotline similarly felt MASSIVELY padded to fill extended runtimes. In part 1 it ALL led to answering That One Question when it could have been giving us character moments, or telling us more about the actual purpose of Brenner's project.

- Jason was set up in part 1 as the Best Human Antagonist the show has ever had; as threatening a presence as Billy made all the worse by the fact that he was NOT an outisder, he was a leader, a mentor, someone people looked up to, someone people thoight was cool. He turned the WHOLE TOWN against Eddie and the Hellfire club in part 1... and then in part 2 its just him and One Other Guy who turn up to the house. Did they just,,, forget that he did that??? they just completely dropped the most interesting aspect of him in the final act of his presence on the show. So much wasted potential.

- the pacing was just so off. It felt like Steve Robin and Nancy were getting choked out by those vines for like, half an hour of real time while all the other plot threads were resolving. They have absolutely failed to justify the longer episodes imo, there was just. So much Nonsense I had to slog through for the (constantly diminishing) things I'm actually here for

- I get what they're going for with Will but they need to SAY it. Say the WORD. the scene where Jonathan encourages him to be more open was nice but I just. Its not Enough for me. Skating dangerously close to Supernatural territory of 'being aware what the audience wants but cant quite get clearance to do it' in terms of how theyre handling it. It's not ACTUALLY queerbaiting, its just about clear enough, but it FEELS like it you know

- someone told me they were gunna use Separate Ways by Journey and I was PUMPED. My favourite Journey song. They wasted it. They didnt use it for a powerful sequence, they literally just used a really underwhelming remix of it at the end of an episode basically as a trailer for the NEXT EPISODE. It should have been the song Robin used to free Nancy from Vecna and then they should have kissed

- there is 100% a take of the scene in the campervan where Eddie leans in to kiss Steve, and the show would have been better if they went for that

However, the good:

- I DO feel like we got more, and better, character interactions/moments in the two new eps? When they were prepping the weapons to kill Vecna especially, and at the very end when they went to help at the charity thing.

- Eddie playing Master of Puppets. I S C R E A M E D. I do not have words. Oh my god. Fuck. And the way that soundtracked the other stuff going on was also REALLY good, that scene ruled so hard

- The way Max escaped to a Safe Memory, and the way Vecna announced having found her by upside-downing the memory was visually very cool

- the way that everyone, in every plotline, had a hand in beating Vecna (at least for now). That came together really well

- i was expecting to just be really mad if they killed Eddie, but... it really worked for me. People on here seem mad they didnt try and clear his name but like, what exactly were they supposed to say? the tragedy of it really made it stick for me, and the fact that he really did Stay Himself right until the end. The fact that Only Dustin seemed upset about it in the group annoyed me but,,, I liked how it was handled and the scene with his uncle. But the Duffer Brothers NEED to write a character who can overcome his flaws without dying tragically. Please.

- I R E A L L Y felt it what happened to Max. they really sold that for me. I was already crying about Eddie and that really really hit me hard

- Winona Ryder. I do not need to elaborate.

All in all, the stuff that worked for me REALLY worked and I continue to be infatuated with my various blorbos, but... I wish some other Writing Team was happening to them. And I really wish they hadnt lengthened the episodes, or had lengthened them using more character moments instead of like,,, what felt like just a lot of back and forths and fakeouts?

#stranger things spoilers #pls tell me what you thought also!

[fastcardotmp3]

🤡💖👀?

ahh! thank you for asking friend!

🤡 What's a line, scene, or exchange you've written that made you laugh?

I'm not a ha-ha funny writer this one was hard, but this whole interaction makes me smile because they are, in fact, so stupid (sorry it's so long 😫)

“Your version of foreplay is both endearing and the most disgusting thing I’ve ever seen, God bless you both, the dykery is unmatched.” Robin cackles and Nancy shakes her head fondly as she smacks him lightly upside the head and, yeah, that’s better. That’s easier. This is a dynamic Eddie knows well and this is— “I know way too much about you for you to be throwing foreplay stones, Munson.” Eddie’s heart is in his throat and deep down low in his gut, somehow simultaneously, because Steve is giving him this look over his shoulder, all cocky smirking and knowing amusement and something a little too hot to be reasonable too. Steve knows a lot about him, Steve knows way too much about Eddie, but that’s never been an issue before because usually they don’t talk about the fact that they’re fucking out loud in front of their friends and— “Careful, big boy, that works in reverse too,” he shoots Steve his best mocking grin despite the too-fast thrum of his heart and it seems to work, at the very least gets Steve to look back where he’s walking when he laughs brightly into the night sky and giving Eddie the reprieve of his gaze to almost double over with the reeling of his head and heart. Nancy keeps an arm around him as he makes a desperate face at her, screaming silently with the questioning dance of his hands and all the crazy in his spilling out from the wide-open lock of his eyes. She just rubs his back, looks at him apologetically because Eddie Munson is the most pathetic, pining idiot on the face of the fucking planet. “If I run back and get your gun outta the safe,” he speaks quiet enough that they can’t hear him up ahead and fast enough that he doesn’t have the option to stop once he’s started, “would you be willing to shoot me with it?” Nancy’s apologetic look shifts to something unamused and even a little bit displeased. “Talk to him, you big baby,” she hisses under the blow of the cold wind in their faces. “Absolutely not,” Eddie tells her adamantly and Nancy sighs heavily as she leans into her hold on the crook of his arm. “You’re both so stupid.”

💖 What made you start writing?

I've been writing in general in one way or another for most of my life! but the thing that got me to break down and write for stranger things now even though I've been watching it since S1 was the specific sort of potential that came out of season 4 that left so many gaps I want to play around in filling. fic for me is all about filling in the pieces to a world that I love but which doesn't give me everything I want from it, so here I am creating my own satisfaction fjaskldfj

👀 Tell me about an up and coming wip please!

the one that is eating me alive currently is a post-S4, post-possession, Eddie-centric recovery fic in which I am truly putting the poor guy Through It fjksadlj here is a snippet for you because I'm leaving for a work trip this week and probably won't be able to post the first chapter until mid-November

Eddie doesn’t really have nightmares in the traditional sense.  He supposes he should be grateful, either because he’s dodging the same fate that he can hear El going through at three o’clock in the morning some nights or because at least his trauma is interesting or unique or something, but he’s not feeling a whole lot of gratitude lately.  No nightmares. He sleeps through the month of May and even still his body is healing through June and then July, so he doesn’t deal with insomnia either, but it’s just.  It’s the waking up.  The coming back to his body.  Eddie will drift his way up from a dead sleep, the world still fuzzy and his grasp on existence thin, and in those moments between sleep and wakefulness, he’ll just forget. He’ll forget that he’s back, that he’s him, that he won, and he’ll forget that he’s not stuck. Where an abrupt waking may have him flailing on instinct and— and hurting— hitting— It’s the drifting.  The slow. Coming back to the world in that way that’s supposed to be peaceful and nice but instead just locks his muscles up and clenches down on his jaw and makes him scream somewhere deep inside of his own head where no one can hear him, no one knows he’s there, no one realizes that it’s not him he’s not in control it’s Vecna it’s the Upside Down it’s Kas— There’s no consistent way so far as Eddie can find, to come out of the state of pseudo-paralysis he finds himself in upon waking up on these mornings, but he consistently faces them nonetheless. Consistently has to drag himself out of bed and move around just to prove to himself he can. Consistently ends up on the front porch with a cigarette burning between his lips as the hazy sunrise glows mottled and eerie through the trees surrounding the cabin.

#guestbook #dot post #thank you for asking I'm sorry these snippets make this post so long on your dash fajskldfj

[emotionalmusicplaying]

Hi byler family!

I've just finished watching st4 vol.2 so that means that I've officially finished the whole season 4 and I'd love to share with you some thoughts I have... like both byler and general thoughts and ideas

Warning ⚠️ ⚠️ spoilers ahead

I'll start with my overall impressions :

St4 made me a bit disappointed... not only about byler stuff but in general... I don't know what did I expect, but I really do feel disappointed

Eddie💔 that's so heartbreaking that newly introduced and truly good character died in the same season that he was introduced 😢 however, his death was spectacular and in his style... I feel like he deserved way better

I'm happy Hop and Joyce are back and safe... but what happened to MURRAY, ENZO and MURRAY? I can only assume that they are still alive and minding their own businesses rn..

I feel sorry for Dr Owens... he was such a nice guy in my opinion;(

While whole season 3 was loaded with retro vibes and retro stuff I completely didn't feel the same vibes with s4... I know that the circumstances and action and basically everything was different but it is really seen that st4 is much more focused on action than background

The way Vecna kills people is really terrifying and horror like

I feel sorry for Robin because of her crush... after all, in the final scene they talk and something starts to sparkle between them... but still, my heart broke apart when I saw that girl kissing another boy

I hoped for Steddie and Ronance in my deepest dreams and I feel kinda disappointed rn hahah But we still have such wonderful stuff like fanarts and fanfics and the most important- our imagination!

I felt very confused about Stancy but I'm glad that Jancy is ultimately back- I feel kind of sorry for Steve.. but this whole thing with Nancy was really necessary for him to grow up I think

Suzie storyline was funny, you can't tell it wasn't! It was really minor element of the whole story but it was really cool to see Suzie again!

To be honest... I wasn't that much surprised with the ending of volume 1... I expected that Vecna is 001 as I've read about it here, on tumblr, even before the first s4 trailer was released so yeah... I also expected that this blonde assistant was 001 so it wasn't unexpected for me!

We can't trust the Duffers cause they say different things and do different things... to be honest, they irritate me a bit hahah

The issue with Will's birthday is still unsolved... I mean the Duffers like said that they forgot about it but it seems really improbable and without any sense to me that they put a date description on the video.. and also the fact that Will's birthday are the only one certain and official birthday!

That whole issue with the upside down creation is much more interesting to me now! Yeah, El opened the gate two times. However, she didn't create the Upside down- she only opened the gate.. so how was the Upside down created then?

Another veery interesting topic is the Will's connection with Henry and the whole Upside down.. I'd love to read some more updated theories about it!

And the most confusing for me was the ending of the whole season 4 and the issue with Max... is she still alive if the gate was opened at the end of s4? Also that scene where El tried to find her and communicate with her in the void but didn't manage to... I have sort of a feeling that this was just a trial of an artificial sustaining of the Hawkins peace and calm... bringing Max back and her being stuck in a coma was temporary just to let people escape from Hawkins and then again she dies and the gate is being opened again as we can see in the last scene of s4..

I'll make some comments about s4 byler in the another post... see you soon!

#byler #stranger things #stranger things 4 #stranger things spoilers #st4 vol2 #st4 vol1

[clean-bands-dirty-stories]

Limp Noodle ~ S.H.

A/n: I have never once been good at making choices so I’ll be doing both OOF! This request is dirt old but whatever. I’m actually writing requests now look at me go!

Request: “...prompt 20 or 21 Steve Harrington x clumsy male reader” by anon

#20 (here): “I can’t do this without you”

#21: “Guess who broke their nose! Me. It’s me. I broke my nose.”

Word Count: 2000+

MASTERLIST

“Are you SURE that this is a good idea?” The words came from Y/n as Steve parked the car, waving through the windshield window at Jonatan, Nancy, Robin and a new friend, Bianca. They’d all decided on a triple date and like idiots they’d let Steve, Bianca, and Nancy decide so they were now all headed on a hike. Robin was the least athletic of all of them and hated exercise of any kind. Jonathan was the one in the group who hated being outside in the sun and much preferred being inside cuddled on the could other swaddled in bed. Y/n... well Y/n was the single most clumsy person you’ve ever met.

Now, take whatever image that popped in your head when I said that and then make it ten times worse. Then take THAT mental image and multiply by it by ten AGAIN. Y/n was worse. He was absolutely sure he was going to thrip and fall over the side of some steep hill and fully die. He would be lucky to make it out of this trip without a stick going through his eye. Y/n and the outdoors didn’t mix. They never had. He could barely walk, let alone when it was uphill and outside and humid and hard to breathe and everyone was so beautiful and distracting.

Steve didn’t agree with that analysis.

“This is a great idea actually,” Steve decided with complete confidence. “Don’t worry about it okay? You’ll be fine.”

“Incorrect,” Y/n Aries immediately. “We started dating because I tripped seven times and you caught me every single one. I tripped seven times in three days Steve - and that was just the, what, one hour a day you’re with me? In THREE HOURS I TRIPPED SEVEN TIMES!” He was whisper yelling, getting rather heated. “I’m going to knock my head into a tree and bleed out.”

Steve laughed. He reached over, taking his boyfriend’s hands. “Do you trust me?”

Y/n’s shoulders sagged. “That is a cheap trick, Harrington.”

In response Steve only raised his eyebrows. When Y/n refused to answer, Steve sighed. “Y/n. Do you trust me?”

Closing his eyes a second, Y/n held in a sigh. When he opened them again, he managed a small smile. “Yeah. I trust you.” Steve went to get out of the car and Y/n caught his wrist. “Just promise you’re going to stay with me okay? I can’t do this without you. I’m serious.”

Steve rolled his eyes. “Come on Drama King.” They both got out and made their way over to the other four.

“Hey guys!” Nancy greeted warmly. She had calmed a lot since Y/n had first met her. Darkened. But she was still pleasant enough, and Y/n tolerated her for Steve. He didn’t know why they were all friends after Nancy’s brutal ripping up Steve’s heart but... he expected it was that trauma bonding things that Steve and Robin refused to ever talk about with Y/n in the room.

“Hey bestie.” Robin winked at Y/n and he felt himself relax. Around her he always felt more comfortable. She got him on a much deeper level than Steve did. She had actually been the one to set them up after failure after failure of Steve’s attempts on girls who came to the ice cream shop they met at originally. It had gone up in flames recently, but they’d snagged a job at a movie store so they still worked together. Y/n was pretty sure neither of them would have it any other way, even if they sometimes pretended to hate each other.

“Hey loser,” Y/n joked back. Robin shoved him and he laughed, accidentally ramming into Jonathan as his feet almost came out underneath him. “Sorry,” Y/n mumbled.

Robin scoffed in amusement. “I always forget you have two backward feet.” This was something she said often, in reference to the popular statement of ‘two left feet’. One day Robin had proclaimed that Y/n was something worse than two left feet, and then being backward had kicked off as an inside joke.

“I’d you have that problem standing still, how do you think you’re going to do on a hike?” It seemed Bianca was trying to get in on the joking, but it hit a hard cord with Y/n.

He wasn’t in the mood to joke. “What can I say? Great day to die.” He put on the fakest smile ever. “Come on everyone!” Then he began to surge ahead, onto the trail, and the others scrambled to catch up.

It didn’t tale long for Nancy and Bianca to hit the head of the trail. Steve dutifully stayed by Y/n, but he watched the girls head with a sort of forlorness. Because Y/n was so slow and Jonathan and Robin lagged even behind him, the two girls in front were racing up and down the steep sides of the path they were on, jumping over logs and hopping up on stumps to make the path harder. They were laughing hard and having a great time. Y/n knew that Steve desperately wanted to join them.

What kind of a boyfriend would Y/n be to stop him? “Go on,” Y/n sighed, nudging Steve forward encouragingly.

Steve looked at Y/n with an expression that tried far too hard at innocence to succeed. It was so obvious he was full of crap that Y/n was rolling his eyes before the brunette even spoke. “What? What do you mean? I’m having a great time with my boyfriend which was the point of this whole thing. Have I bored you already?”

“No, but I’ve bored you. Go and do parkour with the bad ass chicks up there. Go on.” Steve hesitated, but when Y/n shot him a look, he finally did speed ahead to catch up and join in the unnecessary shenanigans that gave Y/n extreme anxiety just imagining himself doing. He sighed watching Nancy and Steve. He knew that things were WAY over between them, but Y/n found a little jealousy in the way they worked together so fluidly. They were perfect for each other - even as friends. She just kept up with him and challenged him in a way that Y/n never could, and Steve thrived.

Slowing down in his moment of annoyance, Robin and Jonathan caught up to him. “Welcome to the world of those who have to sit back and wonder why they’re not still dating,” Jonathan sighed. His voice was as laced with bitterness as Y/n’s thoughts were.

“They’re so complimentary,” Y/n complained.

“You could argue that you guys are the same,” Robin pointed out. “You both hate doing anything outside or away from home. You both love reading and photography. I mean Y/n’s incredible view of the world allows him to be a great writer, but it also connects you two. Writing and photography aren’t far from each other and you prod that every day. Nancy can’t slow down enough to appreciate things like Jonathan does, and we all know Steve is no reader.” She chuckled. “And we’ll never know how awkward and snappy got buff and pretty.”

Jonathan and Y/n smiled at that. “Imagine another world where Nancy and Steve stayed together. Then maybe you and me would have-“ suddenly he lost his words as he tripped, and Jonathan reached out to catch him. The two boys busted up laughing. “That’s the second I have to say both sorry and thank you for your reflexes Mr. Byers.”

“Ah anytime. That’s what friends do. Share interests and talk about alternative world where they’re dating and catch each other when they almost die.”

That made Y/n laugh harder.

Suddenly there was a very unpleasant thump and a scream. The three in the back snapped their attention to the three ahead and saw Nancy and Bianca freeze and look back at Steve, who had landed on the ground. His hands had risen to cover his face, and he slowly turned on his side, curling in on himself. It seemed like he’d misstepped at some point and tripped and fallen.

Perhaps Y/n shouldn’t have been the one they worried about on this trip...

-

When they finally got Steve to the hospital, it was a mess. There had been blood everywhere, and Y/n’s weirdly good driving had saved the day in a pinch once again. They’d gotten there quickly and in one piece without getting pulled over.

Only an hour later they were given news. Steve came out with the skin around his nose already bruised and puffy. “Guess Who broke their nose,” he mocked in a song songey voice.

“Me?” Y/n joked.

“Me!” Steve agreed, pointing at himself. “It’s me. I broke my nose.” He slung an arm over Y/n’s shoulders and the other four covered their mouths to hide laughs. People wouldn’t be forgiving in public if it got out that the two men were dating, so they were trying to be lowkey.

The Doctor came over behind Steve. “He’ll be fine. I’ve given him direction son how to ice it and even given him some pain killers to help with the next few hours. But it is just a broken nose, so nothing too severe.”

“Thanks,” Y/n told the Doctor. They left then, everyone heading home. Y/n designated himself in charge of caring for Steve, and called his parents to let them know that Steve ‘got tired’ after the hike and totally knocked out. They didn’t mind, liking that Steve was actually spending time with other kids again, so it went without too much problem.

As Y/n was tucking Steve into bed, Steve caught his hand to still him. “I love you.”

Y/n’s eyes widened. They hadn’t said that yet but... well, if hypotheticals with Jonathan had taught anything today, it was that Y/n was glad he was in this version of things, even if it was a little more complicated this way. So he meant it when he replied, “I love you too Stevie.”

Steve glared. “Not Jonathan?”

“Jon-“ Y/n’s deep confusion cleared as he realized what had been happening right when Steve had tripped. Jonathan and Y/n had been close. Laughing. Talking. Touching. “Oh my god Harrington did you break your nose because you were being a jealous idiot?”

“Maybe,” Steve grumbled, looking away.

Y/n laughed, gently tugging on his chin so their eyes met again. “Please sweetheart, you can’t get rid of me that easily. Me and my two backward feet are going to plague you for the rest of our lives.”

Steve’s eyes got very soft. “Do you really mean that?”

Getting sincere, Y/n leaned down and kissed Steve’s forehead. “Stephen Harrington, I’ve never meant anything more. I know we can’t get married or anything, or even date publicly, but... I don’t care. And maybe that’s some really forward thinking and we haven’t been dating that long, but I fell... a LOT of times in my life. It only made sense that the first time someone ever caught me, it was you. And it made me realize that I was gifted with my two backward feet so that one day I’d fall for you.”

Steve groaned. “That was painfully cheesy.”

“Okay, okay,” Y/n dismissed, rolling his eyes. The sweet moment was completely ruined.

“No seriously I would break my nose again before hearing that-“

Y/n reached over, turning the light off before climbing into bed with Steve. “Shut up Harrington, or I WILL break your nose again.”

Steve laughed before pulling Y/n close so they could fall asleep curled up with each other. “My cheesy, dumb, clumsy boy,” Steve mused quietly.

That made Y/n scoff. “If either of ya is the dumb in this relationship it’s YOU, Harrington.”

“Shut up,” Steve whispered. It was quiet a while before he finally followed up with, “I’d like that future with you too.”

To hide his smile, Y/n mumbled, “Good night Stevie.”

After a second, Steve replied, “Good night, Y/n.” And for now, that was the end of it.

#steve harrington #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington imagine #steve harrington x male reader #stranger things #stranger things imagine #stranger things x reader #stranger things x male reader #joe keery #joe keery x reader #joe keery imagine #bisexual steve harrington #bi steve harrington

[inthelonelycoolbeforedawn]

Harringrove April Days 3, 7, & 22: Spring Break, Daisychain, & Yellow

Spring break was Billy's favorite school holiday.

He didn't like winter vacation because that meant Christmas, and Christmas meant mean Grandma Hargrove, and pretending not to be bored listening to all the old people talk, and lots of yelling and his mom crying afterwards.

Summer was okay, because as long as his chores were done he got to play with his friends and spend more time at the beach.

But spring break was the best, because he got to spend time alone with his mom while his dad was at work.

Sometimes they'd stay home. They'd go to the park a few blocks away, then she'd read him his favorite stories and play toy cars and teach him how to make cookies.

Sometimes they'd go to the beach to swim and walk along the sand, looking for shells or rocks or sea creatures. When he started learning to surf, she'd watch, cheering him on. They'd usually stop for ice cream on the way home.

Sometimes they'd go for walks. She would point out the plants and flowers they passed in neighbors' gardens or along the hiking trails. Once they found a meadow full of wildflowers and she taught Billy how to make daisy chains. She smiled when he proudly set the lopsided daisy crown he'd made all by himself on her head, and she wore it the whole time they sat there watching clouds drift lazily across the sky.

No matter what they did it was nice, and every year Billy looked forward to spring break.

Until the day Neil came home early and found them in the yard, laughing as they blew on dandelion puffballs and making wishes on the tiny, feathery seeds.

"Scattering goddamn weeds everywhere," he shouted. "Do you know how hard I work to keep this lawn looking nice?"

Billy snuck off to his room but he could still hear his dad yelling about goddamn weeds and turning the boy into a pussy with that goddamn hippie shit.

His mom stopped wishing on dandelions after that.

And Billy stopped looking forward to spring break.

*

They moved when Neil married Susan. This house was bigger but had no yard, just a cracked concrete driveway with an old basketball hoop at the end.

Billy spent hours out there, practicing. Neil didn't mind, because real men were supposed to be interested in sports and cars and girls. And he was good at basketball. Liked it even. It was better than baseball at least.

He hated the dandelions that sprang up in the cracks though.

Max ran over them with her skateboard, not even noticing. But Billy noticed every time another little yellow flower popped up, and made sure to stomp on them when he ran and jumped for the net.

Part of him ached every time he squished one. He wondered if they felt pain, if they knew what it was like to be crushed and smothered, yanked up and thrown away.

But a bigger, louder part of his brain sneered that those kinds of thoughts were for faggots and pussies, and he wasn't a faggot or a pussy.

So he smothered those thoughts, crushing them down like his feet crushed the dandelions.

*

They had a bigger yard in Hawkins, and Neil made it clear that Billy was old enough now to take responsibility for keeping the yard maintained. He discovered he hated shovelling snow, longing for sunny skies and ocean waves as he cleared the walkways and the driveway. But slowly the snow melted, and his next task was raking up all the dead grass and leaves, tidying up last fall's debris to make sure the lawn looked good for summer.

When the first dandelions poked up through the grass, little bits of sunshine dotting the lawn to announce the coming of spring, Billy went out with the weedkiller.

He sprayed the poison over the plants, soaking them in it, making sure not a single one survived.

At the dinner table that night, he blamed his red-rimmed eyes and hoarse voice on the chemical fumes. Luckily Neil believed him.

*

Spring turned to summer, and suddenly everything he ever knew was uprooted.

It was October when they finally released him from the hospital. By then the world was gray again, the plants and trees and flowers dying off for the long Indiana winter.

There were a few bright spots though.

He was staying at Joyce Byers' house. It was crowded, since Hopper and El had moved in too. But he shared a room with Jonathan, who was a surprisingly understanding roommate and didn't even expect him to talk if he didn't want to.

He passed the days doing his exercises and whatever household chores he could manage. He spent time with El and Will, and with Max, who visited as often as she could.

And sometimes Steve came over.

The entire group had formed deep, lasting friendships as they all healed together, and Billy still couldn't quite believe he was part of that group now. But he'd apologized, and meant it, and they were willing to give him a chance.

At first he'd just join in when Steve and Robin brought the rest of the kids for movie nights. Then they'd started hanging out without the kids, occasionally going to Steve's house, or to a movie, or the diner. Jonathan and Nancy had even come along a few times.

But, as winter turned to spring, there'd been a few times when it ended up being just Steve and Billy. And the more time Billy spent with Steve, the more he realized he couldn't deny his feelings anymore.

He was in love with Steve. And he had to tell him. It might cost him everything - Steve himself, all the people who'd taken him in and given him a home, who he'd begun to trust and care about - but he couldn't keep lying to himself or anyone else.

He got his chance when Steve came over on an unseasonably warm April day. Hopper and Joyce were at work and the kids were at school, so they had the house to themselves.

"Hi," Steve said when Billy answered the door. "I'm off today so I thought we could, um. Hang out. If you want. It's such a nice day, it'd be a shame to waste it, right?"

"Yeah," Billy said. "You want to sit outside for a bit?"

"Yeah, okay," Steve said.

With his sunny smile and a yellow T-shirt Billy had never seen him in, he looked like a personification of spring. He was beautiful.

Billy pulled the door closed and they settled onto the old porch swing that creaked when it rocked. Steve's arm bumped Billy's, and their thighs were almost touching.

They rocked on the swing slowly, not talking.

And then Steve spoke.

"They're kind of pretty," he said.

Startled, Billy turned to him. "What?"

"The dandelions." Steve gestured towards the Byers' front lawn, dotted with the little yellow flowers, some already gone to seed. He chuckled. "I know most people think they're weeds - my parents hate them - but I don't know. I kind of like them."

"Me too," Billy blurted, before he could stop himself. He looked down. "My mom - she always said if you blew on the seeds and made a wish it would come true."

"Yeah?"

Steve's voice was soft. Billy was too scared to look at him.

"Yeah."

"Well, my grandma said if you blow on a dandelion and all the seeds come off, the person you love loves you back."

Billy tried to laugh. It came out as more of a wheeze.

"Maybe they're both right," Steve said. "Your mom and my grandma."

"Maybe," Billy said quietly.

"Do you want to, uh - ?" Steve took a deep breath, lacing his fingers together, then untwining them and laying his hands flat on his thighs. "Find out?"

"Okay," Billy whispered.

They stood up in unison and walked down to the grass. They both plucked a dandelion and faced the road.

Billy closed his eyes and blew as hard as he could. He hesitated before opening his eyes, almost afraid of what he'd see.

He was holding an empty dandelion stalk that matched Steve's, the little white seeds mingling, dancing away on the breeze.

"Did your wish come true?" Steve asked softly.

Billy kissed him in response, just a brief, tentative touch of his lips to Steve's. He drew back immediately, expecting Steve to scrunch his face up in disgust, shove him away, and run.

Instead Steve took his hand and drew him in for another, longer kiss.

Billy didn't even realize he was crying until they parted and Steve's thumb was on his cheek, gently wiping away his tears.

He put his arms around Steve, hesitantly at first, tightening his hold when Steve hugged him back.

"I guess your mom was right," Steve said.

"I think your grandma was right too," Billy said, when he could speak again.

"Yeah," Steve said, eyes soft and smile warmer than the sun. "Totally."

#harringrove #ficlet #my writing #harringroveapril #just me smashing a bunch of prompts together #into this big pile of garbage

[musecharm-writes]

Bad Influence, Pt 4 (Steve Harrington X Reader)

Summary: It’s time for the first check-in with Hopper and the date with Steve.

Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV

On Friday morning, you come into work early again, and you’re pretty sure that you’re going to throw up. Today is the first “check-in” with Chief Hopper, and even though you’ve been working your tail off, you’re so worried that it won’t be enough.

Joyce must be able to tell how you’re feeling (some kind of mother’s intuition or something, you guess), because she goes suspiciously easy on you for most of the day, keeping you on the register for the most part, and when you start to get too antsy to deal with customers, she takes over for you, ushering you away to take inventory.

You get so invested in cataloguing that you almost miss the break Joyce usually gives you to eat. Luckily for you, that’s exactly when Chief Hopper shows up.

(Oh, did you think ‘luckily?’ You meant unluckily, because you still pretty much feel like your stomach is about to make an emergency ejection.)

You hear his voice as you’re stepping out of the back, and you almost want to turn around and go right back in. Before you have a chance, though, he spots you and starts your way.

“Hey, kid,” he says, taking his hat off. “How ya been?”

You smile, uncertain. “Hasn’t Ms Byers told you already?”

He shrugs. “Yeah. But maybe I wanna hear it from you, too.”

You pick at the hem of your Melvald’s vest. “It’s been… fine. I’m handling it, I guess.”

“You guess?”

You drop the hem of the vest and scrub a hand down your face. “No. No, I really am handling it.  I just… Have a lot of other stuff to deal with, I guess. This is actually the one thing that’s going pretty well, believe it or not.”

Chief Hopper nods. “Well, that’s something, at least. Good to hear you’re trucking along.”

You swallow. “So… So I’m good, then?”

He nods again, putting his hat back on. “Yep. You’re good,” he pats you firmly on the shoulder a couple of times, and you feel the tension melt out of your body. As he turns to leave, he says, “See ya around, kid. Take the weekend off.”

You go back out to the front, and Joyce looks at you expectantly.

“Well? How was it?”

You sigh. “Good. It was good.”

--

There are six hours until the date, and Steve is definitely not freaking out.

Really, he isn’t.

...Okay, maybe just a little.

“Do you think these jeans are too tight?”

Robin rolls her eyes. “Steve--”

“Are sneakers too informal, should I wear something else?”

“Steve--” Dustin tries.

“Shit, this is a horrible idea, I should just call and cancel before it’s too late--”

“STEVE!” Robin shouts, effectively cutting off his panicked rambling. She grabs his face, squishing his cheeks gently. “It’s okay. Your jeans are fine, maybe swap those shoes for a less dirty pair, stop panicking.”

Steve takes a deep breath. “Okay. Okay, you’re right. Sorry.”

“Look, you have six hours until the date,” Dustin reasons. “Even if you decide that you wanna wear something else, there’s still plenty of time -- too much time, even. You don’t have to have everything figured out yet.”

Steve sighs. “Look, Henderson, I don’t expect you to get this since Suzie lives in Utah and you only see her at camp, but when you’re going on a date you need to be prepared way in advance. It takes time to look good, dude. Besides, the first date is the most important date, I have to make a good impression.”

Dustin considers this and then shrugs. “I guess that makes sense.”

Robin shakes her head as she looks at them in disbelief. “You two have no idea how dating works, do you?” She looks at Steve. “How did you get Nancy to go out with you, again?”

“Oh yeah?” Steve put a hand on his hip. “How are things going with Tina, Ms Hypocrite?”

Robin’s cheeks reddened. “Fuck off.”

--

When you get home after your shift, you kick your shoes off and flop down on the couch.

You’d been so worried about the check-in with Hopper, and now, you almost feel like the build-up was all for nothing. Now, all you have to do for the rest of the weekend is relax.

It’s hours later when you start to get the feeling you’re forgetting something. You’re sure it’s nothing, though; if it was super important, you would have written a note for yourself somewhere to keep yourself from forgetting.

You have a hot shower to decompress, take a pit stop in the kitchen for some Froot Loops, and then immediately go back to the couch for some channel surfing.

At around 6:30, you realise what it was you were forgetting: your date with Steve is tonight.

And you only have half an hour until he comes to pick you up.

“FUCK!” You sit up so fast that you bang your knee against the coffee table, but you can’t feel it through the adrenaline. You dash to your room and start ripping through your closet. Eventually, you find clothes that are clean and seem date-worthy. You grab your favourite boots, and go to your dresser to dig up your lucky socks.

You finish getting ready as fast as you can. You’re about to go to the living room to wait for Steve before hesitating, eyeing the cigarettes on your desk.

You sigh. Went to the trouble of getting them. Might as well.

Grabbing the carton, you tamp the cigs, shake one loose, and tuck it into your sock, along with your Zippo.

--

When Steve gets to your house, he’s six minutes early -- which, he tells himself, is just way too early, and you’d probably be super annoyed if he rang the bell so soon.

Which, of course, gave him several minutes to sit in his car and overthink things.

What if this wasn’t a date? What if you just thought he was trying to apologise for being a jerk in Melvald’s? Shit, he should’ve been more obvious that he was trying to ask you out… But he was so nervous you would say no if he just asked outright. What if he told you it was meant to be a date, and you wanted to leave because you weren’t interested? He doesn’t want you to stop wanting to hang out with him just because he wants to date you.

By the time he’s come to the conclusion that he’ll just keep the date thing to himself and see what happens, it’s 6:58, and he figures he’s as ready as he’s gonna get.

He goes up to your front door and rings the bell.

You answer, and it feels like Steve’s heart is about to explode.

“Hey,” you say, a nervous-looking half smile on your face.

“Hey,” Steve replies breathlessly. After a beat of silence in which he realises he’s staring at you, he adds, “Uh, you ready to go?”

“Yeah. Where we goin’, by the way? You never said.”

Right. Steve knew he’d forgotten something. “W-- Uh, we could… We could go to the Hawk? See if there’s anything good playing? Or get dinner at Benny’s?” He feels for his wallet, pulls it out and peers inside. “...Shit. Um, we may have to stop by my house real quick first though, I don’t have my cash on me.”

You shrug. “Fine by me.”

Steve nods, a little jerkily. “Cool. Right, let’s roll.”

He walks you around to your side of the car and opens the door for you, and you smile at him, which gives him fucking heart palpitations, but it also makes him a little more confident in the whole date thing.

He decides to test his luck and does a bonnet slide, hoping you’re the kind of person who might think that looks cool.

When he gets in the car, you say, “Nice one, Harrington,” in a slightly teasing tone, and it makes his face feel warm. Score!

He turns the key in the ignition and says, “How d’you feel about rock ‘n’ roll?”

You grin.

--

Sitting in the passenger seat of Steve Harrington’s BMW, watching him sing along to Owner of a Lonely Heart, you feel more confused than ever.

You’d convinced yourself, sitting on your living room couch, not to think of this as a date, just in case -- because Steve never called it one, so maybe it wasn’t one. But with him opening the car door for you, and then the stupid (awesome) bonnet slide… maybe it is? You would be lying to yourself if you said you didn’t want it to be, anyway.

On the other hand, he hadn’t really planned what he wanted the two of you to do. Maybe he hasn’t been nervous all this time because he wants to go out with you; maybe he’s just worried you’re mad at him for the thing at Melvald’s.

Before you can work yourself up about it any more, you’re pulling into the driveway of the Harrington’s veritable estate.

For a second, you’re so dumbfounded by the pristine state of the house and yard (not to mention the size) that you forget where you are. Then, you turn to Steve and say, “Uh, should I wait in the car, or…?”

Steve turns the car off. “Hm? Oh, nah, you can… You can come in. My parents aren’t home, but just so you know, Dustin and Robin are in there, and uh… Just, please don’t let anything they say reflect poorly on me.”

“Uh,” you say. “Okay.”

When the two of you get inside, you find the curly-haired kid and Robin Buckley standing in the foyer. The curly-haired kid -- Dustin -- has his hair coated in Pomade and neatly combed, and he’s wearing a suit and a comically obvious fake moustache. Robin has her hair pinned back, and she’s wearing a string of pearls, matching earrings, and white elbow-length gloves with her regular clothes.

It’s a ridiculous sight.

“What the-- What the hell are you two doing?”

Dustin and Robin turn to him, and they both grin.

“Ah, it’s our dearest son, Steve,” Dustin says, affecting an imitation of an adult man’s voice. “Welcome home, son.”

“Why, darling!” Robin says, her voice altered to sound like that of a cultured socialite. “It seems our little boy is on a date!”

Steve’s friends are pretending to be his parents. That’s actually kind of cute. (And, best of all, it confirms that this is a date, which really helps alleviate your anxiety.)

You glance over at Steve and notice that he’s blushing like crazy.

“Will you two cut it out?” He hisses.

They don’t pay him any mind.

“Make sure you have our Stevie back home by eight o’clock,” Dustin says, reaching up to twirl the ends of his fake mustache.

“Yes, of course, Mr Harrington,” you say seriously. “And might I say, Mrs Harrington, you look just stunning this evening.”

Robin guffaws loudly, holding a gloved hand up to her cheek. “Oh, aren’t you the charmer! This one’s a keeper, Steve, dear.”

Steve sighs. He ignores his friends, and to you he says, “I’m gonna go up to my room and grab what I need and then I’ll be right back, okay?”

You nod. “Yeah, sounds great. I’ll be here.”

The moment Steve is too far to hear, Robin says, “Hey, seriously, thanks for giving our doofus a chance. I know he comes off as kind of a dunce sometimes, but he means well.”

You shrug. “I get it. I’m not perfect, myself.”

Dustin interjects with, “Steve sure seems to think so.”

You aren’t sure what to think of that, so you just laugh awkwardly.

In the next moment, Steve comes racing down the stairs. He looks up and sees the three of you standing around not saying anything and squints critically.

“What’s going on? What did they say to you?”

You shake your head, forcing a plain expression. “Nothing.”

He looks between Dustin, Robin, and you again before saying, “Okay. Let’s go.”

As you’re leaving, Robin calls after you (foregoing the impression this time), “Make sure you use protection, Stevie!”

--

When you’re back in the car, on the way to the diner for dinner, Steve says, “Hey, I’m really sorry about them. They’re weirdos, they can’t help it.”

You laugh. “It’s fine. I think your friends are funny.” You look down at your lap, and then turn your head to examine his face while he drives.

He’s handsome, in a soft way. You’d never really noticed it in school, for whatever reason, but now, up close, it’s practically all you can notice.

He glances over and catches you watching him, and he smiles at you nervously.

“What’s up? Somethin’ on my face?”

“No,” you say softly. “Just… Looking at you. And thinking.”

He glances at you again, but keeps his eyes on the road, even though you can tell he really wants to look at you. “About what?”

You, you want to say, but it feels too honest to share. Instead, you say, “Why we never talked in high school. I feel like we could’ve been friends, if we hadn’t been running in different circles.”

He nods. After a moment, he says, “I feel bad. I barely remember you from high school. Probably because I was so focused on being ‘King Steve,’” he finishes bitterly.

The corner of your mouth quirks up. “And look at you now. Hanging out with a band geek and a freshman.”

He laughs, and it’s one of the most beautiful sounds you’ve ever heard.

“Yeah,” he says softly, looking over at you again, “look at me now.”

--

The diner is one of your favourite places to eat, so Steve is winning serious points bringing you here. (Not that he was short on points to begin with.)

The two of you grab a table by one of the windows, and a waitress comes over to take your order pretty quickly. You both order burgers and fries -- most people do at Benny’s.

“Hey, so, this is probably the worst thing to ask, but Nancy and Jonathan made me promise I would ask you about it if I got the chance,” Steve begins.

You sigh. “You wanna know about when I got arrested, huh?”

Steve purses his lips and nods. “You can say you don’t wanna talk about it if you want.”

“No, I guess it’s fine,” you pick at a crack in the table. “I… was stealing from Melvald’s. It was a shitty impulse decision and I shouldn’t have done it. But I just… Okay, so, you’re allowed to judge me for this if you want, but I smoke. Cigarettes. I ran out a couple weeks ago and I felt like absolute shit. I’ve been saving allowance money from my mom to buy another pack, but I forgot to bring it with me when I left the house. I already had the carton in my hand, so I just…” You shrug and put your head in your hands. “I didn’t even think. I just did it.”

Steve looks at you with his eyebrows raised. “Wow,” he says. “That’s… really heavy. I’m sorry.”

“I hope it doesn’t make you think of me any differently.”

He shakes his head. “No! No, no. I mean, I get it. I’ve done things I’m… not necessarily proud of, too. You don’t have to let your mistakes define you, or whatever.”

It’s exactly what you needed him to say.

Before long, your food comes. The two of you spend two hours talking over food -- telling stories, laughing at each other’s jokes. It’s amazing. It’s so much fun.

You want it to last forever.

Unfortunately, at around 9:30, you remember that you forgot to make dinner for your mom. You let Steve know you need to be home soon, and he seems disappointed, but he calls the waitress over to get the bill.

“I’ll be right back,” you say, pushing back from the table. “Bathroom.”

While you’re on your way into the bathroom, you bump into Hopper, who’s on his way out.

“Oh! Hi, Hopper!” You say, surprised, but not unpleasantly so.

“Hey, kid,” he says. “What’re you doin’ out so late on a weeknight?”

You grin. “I have a date.”

He arches a brow at you. “With who?” He looks past you into the diner, maybe trying to figure out which table you came from.

“Steve Harrington.”

His eyebrows climb up toward his hairline. “Really? Huh. Kid doesn’t really seem like your type.”

You shrug, feeling your face get warm and hoping it isn’t obvious in the lowlight of the hallway. “He’s cooler than he seems, I guess.”

Hopper hums. “Right. Well, have fun. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” he pats you on the shoulder. 

As he leaves, you call, “I won’t!”

--

When Steve pulls into your driveway, he puts the car in park and keys the car off. Then, the two of you sit in silence for a moment.

Apparently, neither of you want the night to end.

“I’ll walk you to your door?” Steve says tentatively.

You nod.

He comes around and opens your door for you, offering a hand to help you up.

You lace your fingers with his, grinning cheekily.

The two of you walk up together, hand in hand, stopping in front of your door.

“So… Guess this is it, huh?” Steve says.

You bite your lip. “Hey, Steve?”

“Ye--?”

You lean in and kiss him on the cheek. He feels a warm flush bloom outward from the spot where your lips touched.

“I had fun tonight. I wanna do it again sometime. Call me?” You say. At first glance, you seem confident, but Steve can read the hopefulness in your eyes as easily as he feels his own.

“Yeah,” he says decisively. “Yeah, I’ll call you. Tomorrow?”

You grin. “Tomorrow sounds great.”

#stranger things x reader #stranger things reader insert #stranger things fanfiction #stranger things #x reader #reader insert #steve harrington #steve harrington x reader #joyce byers #jim hopper #robin buckley #dustin henderson #writing #writing blog #reader insert blog #x reader blog #cigarettes #smoking #theft