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sp0o0kylights · 11 months

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S4 Starts with the Demobats Attacking the School / Rejected Stobin Time Travel AU Bit

Eddie's hunched over the table, fingers held up in wicked claws. His hair hangs down as he tilts his head, voice pitched to the maniacal tone of the villain he's finally unleashed on his players.

This is it. The big reveal, the prelude to the boss fight. His players have worked hard to get here, and they stare raptly, caught up in the rising horror of betrayal and terror that Eddie's been weaving around them.

This whole campaign took months to reach this point. His glee cannot be contained and so he channels it into his villain instead; cackling madly before throwing himself upwards, one hand covering his face but with his fingers splayed to showcase one wide eye.

"Now you see your fatal flaw!" Eddie crows. "Pick up your weapons and--"

He slams one hand down on the table.

"--fight --"

He slams his other hand down.

"--for--"

A third bang, far louder than Eddie's own echoes through the room.

Hellfire as a whole jumps --Dustin screaming and Jeff shouting--as Steve fucking Harrington bursts through the drama room's door.

"Why the hell don't you have your walkies!?" He thunders as he flies in, face furious.

Fury bolts through Eddie like lightning, so fast it leaves him temporarily light headed.

"Steve!" Dustin yelps at the same time Mike pissily shouts his name. Both leap to their feet, as Harrington, chest heaving, slams the door behind himself.

"We have a code red!" Harrington spits, eyes focused on the younger Hellfire members. He fumbles with the door for a moment, long enough for Eddie to realize he’s trying to lock it, before the ex-jock strides into the room.

It's not until Steve gets closer that Eddie registers the bat with nails in it. There's a dark, tacky liquid leaking down the sides, little bits of something rancid clinging to some of the nails.

A metallic scent that screams 'wrong wrong wrong!' and oh God.

It's blood.

Real blood, not the fake stuff Eddie once bought for his Dracula costume.

"The Party--" Dustin hisses, head flying comically between Steve and the rest of the table (but most noticeably, down at Eddie’s end, where the older Hellfire members reside.)

"I suggest you read them in or whatever Nance calls it, Henderson, because they're involved now." Harrington says, deadly serious.

Sinclair’s face scrunches up in confusion. "What do you--"

Something screeches outside. The noise raises every hair on Eddie's neck, and temporarily stuns the room into silence.

An echoing scream answers, just as inhuman as the first.

Harrington winces. "Give em the cliffnotes version man, there's a bunch of bats outside."

"Bat bats or--demobats?"

"What do you think, Mike?"

"Fuck." Sinclair hisses under his breath.

"Anyone besides me have any weapons?" Harrington asks and he sounds like he's not hopeful for a yes but is asking anyway.

"Yes Steve, we all brought guns to school. Mines in my locker!" Mike snips, and Harrington levels him with that annoyed look mothers everywhere somehow seem to know.

"I've got my slingshot." Lucas chimes in, patting his backpack. "I uh, I don't go anywhere without it anymore."

Harrington nods, once. His faze ticks up, sweeping across the room to the older members.

"Alright. Anyone else?"

"A knife." Jeff admits after a long pause, his own eyes trained on Harrington's nail bat.

Grant shakes his head, and Gareth, usually the loudest of them, is silent.

A static crackle makes everyone jump, before a tinny voice comes through. "Steve, are you there? This is Nancy."

"Hey Nance. We have an Upside Down situation at the school."

A pause then; "it's not just the school."

"Shit." Dustin hisses. Then adds; "Scale of one to ten, how many bats would you say are outside?”

“Too many.” Harrington answers, running his free hand through his hair. It’s a soothing motion, Eddie has watched Steve enough to know that, but this time something’s different.

Less “shit I flunked my chemistry final” and more frantic, “we’re losing the baseball game and also Hargrove’s being weirdly aggressive again.”

Not that Eddie witnessed such events, just that he had….heard about them.

Sure.

He’ll go with that.

xXx

Wheeler Jr yelps, sliding as a demobat swoops down and beats at him with its wings. Teeth snap close to his head, missing his ear by inches.

He twirls, arms waving madly, until Harrington grabs him, keeping Mike's head down with one hand and jamming his nailbat toward the creature with the other.

The two of them manage to make it into Eddie's van, half falling half jumping, Gareth and Grant slamming the door behind them as demobats dive at them.

"Gun it!" Gareth calls and Eddie does so, the lurch sending Henderson and Jeff tumbling to the floor.

Eddie watches in the mirror as Mike, the most antagonist of the freshman when it comes to Harrington, clings to the ex-jocks shirt for a moment.

Steve's hand has left the back of his shirt, though now Eddie can see his grip has changed to more of a tender hold on the kid. Something familiar and comforting.

"I got you." Steve says quietly and it's only because Eddie's got his attention split between him and the road that he catches it, and the way Mike presses his forehead against Steve's shoulder for a moment before finally sitting up.

Which just confirms what Eddie already knew--for all his bluster and guff, Mike was one of Harrington's too.

xxx

--This is where It turned into the “failed time stobin time travel AU- but I like this part and you need the above for it to make sense so TWO IN ONE--

xxx

Speed running the beginning is starting to become the easiest part, if only because Steve finally knows exactly what to say.

"They're not a part of the party." He mimics Dustin's voice before pointing a finger at him. "We have exactly sixteen minutes before the damn demobats attack you can fill them in in Eddie's van."

The very same Eddie who looks positively aghast. "You actually believe this?"

"Oh absolutely." Dustin says, scooping his nerd crap into his backpack. "Trust me, Steve's not creative enough to come up with something like this on his own."

"Hey." Steve says in warning.

"Also he only gets bitchy like this when something’s gone really wrong." Dustin ads with a look that might have been apologetic--if one squinted and looked at his face sideways.

Lucas, Steve's new favorite, slides slowly next to him. "You sure you're okay?" He asks quietly and Steve pats him on the shoulder for being the only one to care.

“Not at all.” He answers because fuck, he really, really, isn’t. “In the meantime, I need you all to listen very carefully.”

Mike already has his mouth open, patented bitchy look on his face and nope, no, Steve is not letting him derail this conversation.

He let that happen by accident once and Steve’s learned his lesson since.

Pointing at Mike, Steve starts firing instructions. “Do not, under any circumstance, try to fight the bats. They can and have lifted you right off your feet and I will not be jumping for you again.”

Steve’s finger ticked right, to Lucas. “Luc, I know you have your slingshot and a handful of shit to fling in it. You need to sprint to Eddie’s van, then get set up to start shooting so the rest of us have cover. Got it?”

Lucas, Steve was pleased to see, had already dropped into ‘shit’s fucked’ mode. He nods, his own nerdy gear long packed away. He digs through his backpack now, looking no doubt for the slingshot.

Steve was baking him a damn cake when all this was over.

“Gareth.” He continues, pointing at the next guy down the line, watching as he jumps out of his skin (and then looks mad about it, as if it was Steve’s fault he’d flinched.) “You’re weirdly good at counting the bats, so I’m gonna ask you to keep doing that man. As well as keep an eye out for anything ground level, we got surprised by a demodog last time.”

“Shit, really?” Mike groans, throwing his hands over his eyes in frustration.

He was ignored.

Steve skips over Eddie entirely, knowing all too well how much of a trap addressing him could be. “Grant, you’re best on the radio. Once we are securely in the van I need you to call for Nancy and give her an update on what’s happening.

Grant at least, comes onboard immediately, nodding his head and standing.

He got an absolute look of betrayal from Eddie and Gareth for it, but hey that was yet another thing to be addressed later.

Here, Steve slings his own backpack down and off his shoulders, taking the first thing he has in it, out. “Jeff,” He calls, before holding up the box he’d pulled out. “This is a medkit. You know how to use it, so you get it.”

Steve doesn’t toss the box to him this time, instead putting the kit on the table and sliding it over.

Hesitantly, Jeff takes it, eyes darting between Steve and Eddie.

“And Dustin--” Steve says with an air of finality, yanking the second item he’s been looking for out of his backpack, “take off that damn Weird Al abomination and put this jacket on. For some reason the bats keep locking onto it.”

“They want my shirt?” Dustin asks, but does as told, seeming far too delighted at having been given Steve’s old swim team jacket.

“Uh.” Eddie starts, rising to a hunch over the table, head partially tilted.

Steve was pretty sure he did that because he thought it was intimidating (or at least, perhaps was a bad habit because he did it way more often then he didn’t, but that was a thought for Not In The Beginning of The Mess Steve.)

“We have five minutes left before they attack.” Steve says, right over the second (and far more aggressive) “Uh.”

“The van isn’t locked, which is just so safe considering all the drugs in it, Munson.” He can’t help himself, throws the pissiest, most disapproving look he has in his arsenal at a now gaping Eddie.

“No matter who gets to it first, one but Eddie or myself drive it, understand?”

“Oh so now you’re fine with Eddie’s driving!?” Dustin doesn’t stomp his feet but Steve has known him for a while now.

The foot stomping behavior wasn’t one he grew out of until just last year.

“Considering what we’re about to face yes, absolutely I am.” Steve counters rapidly. “Eddie drives like a demon and that’s exactly what we need right now.”

And oh. He’s going to have to say things like this more, because the shocked look that overtook Munson’s face is delightful.

“I’m taking the rear, because I have the bat.” He holds his weapon, watches as the older members of Hellfire finally seem to register what it is. “Everyone got the plan down?”

“Harrington.” Eddie finally starts, voice positively frigid in fury, and Steve is prepared to mouth what is no doubt the line Eddie’s about to say (much like Dustin, he too rarely deviates lines in the beginning) “What kind of game do you--”

Right on cue, something inhuman screams outside.

The bats are here.

“Bicker later, Munson.” Steve says, locking eyes with Eddie. “Goal for now is to survive.”

xXx

The run to Eddie’s van consistently remains to be one of the worst parts of the entire day (minus the other various parts where someone inevitably bites it, thus resetting the entire damn time loop.)

The initial plan had gone smoothly. Lucas reaches the van first, then uses it as a shield while he provides cover with his slingshot.

The little group of Jeff-Dustin-Grant and Eddie all manage to reach it at about the same time, with Steve able to pull the bats off them with a couple of well timed whacks of the nailbat.

This is where everything goes to shit.

Once again, Mike tries to take the spot of “first to die” by swinging his fist at a low flying bat. The tail of the thing immediately catches his wrist, using the momentum of the movement to swing its teeth towards the freshmen’s face.

Steve reverses direction, and knows immediately he won’t be there in time to prevent an injury.

Curses hard, and winds up to swing, right as Gareth snarls out; “Hell no!”

He’s closer to Mike, and despite already having one bat swooping madly at his head, manages to grab the one attacking Wheeler right as Mike trips over his own feet and falls backwards.

A stream of yells and ‘fuck you!’’s follow as Steve bends to yank Mike up, then carries on as wings beat frantically around Gareth’s head.

The other bat dives, latching onto his hip right as Steve manages to grab the one Gareth’s holding. Takes it from him as Gareth screams, trying desperately to rip the demobat that’s gotten its teeth into him, off.

Practice makes perfect, and perfect in this case, is slamming the fucking demobat onto the concrete hard enough to stun it before slamming it to bits with two hard strikes of the nailbat.

Steve isn’t sure how long it takes him to do it, but between Gareth’s screaming and the shrieks of more incoming bats, he knows he doesn’t have much time.

He’s not losing someone. Not here, right at the start.

Not when he already knows how to play out this part.

Gareth manages to rip the creature off himself, and Steve takes it from there, snatching it out of the younger man’s hands and repeating the fling-and-smash move he killed its brethren with.

Does it fast enough that he’s back at Gareth’s side before the guy starts to collapse downward, tears streaming down his face.

“I’ve got you, you’re okay.” Steve tells him, pulling him close and forcing Gareth to wrap an arm around his shoulders. “Put hard pressure on it man, hard, then we’re gonna run for it.”

“Can’t--fuck---” Gareth pants between hard breaths. Blood’s soaked soaking into his jeans, and a glance at it shows it’s a bad bite.

“You can.” Steve tells him, already pulling them both forward.

It doesn’t go well.

Gareth almost goes down twice, leg buckling, and Steve grits his teeth. Knows neither of them are going to make it at this rate.

“Gary!” Someone screams. He can’t quite tell if it’s Jeff or Eddie, but either way, Mike and Dustin have leapt out of the car, flinging rocks and whatever else they can find into the air.

“Careful!” Steve yells as one nearly belts him, but at least it causes enough of a distraction that he manages to toss the bat ahead of himself, wincing at the sound it makes as it hits the ground.

It’s close to Dustin though, who thankfully, takes his cue and snatches it up.

“Stay!”

It’s a command, and Steve says it like a command. The last thing he needs is for Henderson to go charging into a hoard of demobats, especially not after Steve’s witnessed Eddie dying to them on at least five separate time loops.

If not here, then later.

He can’t think about that now though, not when Gareth’s hissing in pain, fingers clutching onto his shirt like a lifeline.

(He is, he realizes, Gareth’s lifeline. The younger man won’t make it unless Steve gets them to the van.

The bats would take him as their sacrifice and if there is one thing Steve was sworn to stop, it’s people sacrificing themselves--or others.)

“Take a breath.” Steve instructs, before bodily swinging Gareth in front of him.

Ignores the yelped cry he makes, and stoops down to get a good hold around his knees.

Grunts as Gareth, having figured out what’s happening, circles his other hand around Steve’s neck as he lifts the smaller man up into a bridal carry.

Ignores the choked sobs that escape Gareth as he does it. The fucking bat bites hurt and what they’re doing right now is no doubt jostling the shit out of the wound.

He’d be crying too if it were him, not that anyone can pick him up like this.

(Deliberately forgets to recall the two times he’s died precisely because of that.

The knowledge that if he’s injured, the amount of people who can drag him to safety solo is numbering close to zero isn’t a helpful one right now.

Neither is any other thought beyond pure focus on getting Gareth into the van.)

From there it’s a matter of running and not falling on his fucking face--or on the guy currently bleeding on him.

They make it though, a fact Steve is very grateful for.

Hands reach out, all of them pulling Gareth in while Steve hustles the rest, not slowing down until he slams the van door shut and yells for Eddie to gun it.

“Jeff, medkit!” he says, but Jeff, bless him, is already on it.

Grant’s speaking into the walkie he’d been given, Nancy’s tinny voice a soothing balm on Steve’s nerves as he, Dustin and Jeff get Gareth laid out in the van best they can.

“Where am I going, Harrington?” Eddie calls from the front, having floored the van the second the doors had slammed shut.

“He’ll be okay.” Steve soothed quietly, one hand going to squeeze Mike’s shoulder, the other looping around Lucas.

If there’s one thing he swears he will be, through every loop, it’s supportive of the damn kids.

They deserve to know someone is in their corner, even if they don’t always believe him.

#this was originally part of the stobin time travel au #but I couldn't make it work #also I think I posted the bottom half before about mike #steve harrington #eddie munson #hellfire #mike as one of steves kids #s4 au #0o0 fanfics

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artiststarme · 1 year

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Love Me For Me

Based on a prompt by @mysticcrownshipper. I hope this meets your expectations! Please leave your thoughts in the comments and if you have any other prompt ideas, send them my way!

~*~*~*~

Steve was having a great time. It was a warm summer day, all of the kids were having a great time in the pool, and there was a strong chance that he would get to see Eddie shirtless today. It was a great day, indeed. It had been weeks since the entire Party could get together and have fun. After everything that happened over Spring Break, having to recover from their injuries in the hospital, and clear Eddie’s name with the cops and the town, they deserved to let loose for a while.

It was different for Steve though. This was his house and he was hosting so it was less about having fun himself and more about making everything amazing for the rest of the Party. Not to mention, he did not want to show off all of his horrific scarring in a swimsuit, thank you very much.

So when Mike makes a comment about being thirsty, Steve is springing up off his lounge chair to get him a drink from the kitchen, maybe a little snack for the rest of the kids. He grabs a handful of juice boxes and some bags of chips. He considered making sandwiches as well but decided that he’d hold off on that until Robin and Eddie got there.

When he went to step back outside, he could hear the muffled talking of the kids and stopped for a second. It sounded like they were talking about him.

“Mike, why do you keep telling him to do things? He’s already letting us use his pool, go get your own damn juice box. He’s not your maid,” Max hissed.

“Well why else would we need to keep him around?” Mike asked her.

“What are you talking about?” Dustin wondered.

“I mean, come on! What does Steve bring to the table besides being rich? He has a pool and a big house and he gives us food. That’s it!” Mike raised his voice to further emphasize his point. It only made it easier for Steve to hear every heartbreaking word.

“He gives us rides too when we need them,” Will added in Steve’s defense.

“Hey, Steve is our friend! Do not be mean to him,” El demanded.

“El, I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. I’m just saying that if he’s our friend because he’s rich. We wouldn’t like him if he wasn’t because what could he give us then? Smart ideas, good conversation, funny jokes? Don’t kid yourself,” Mike patronized.

“Hey, he’s our friend because he protected us from the Upside Down!” Dustin squealed in righteous anger.

“Okay, so he’s good at getting his ass kicked and being rich, that’s still it though,” Mike rebutted. No one said anything to that in response.

The silence of the other kids was heartbreaking. Steve thought that these kids loved him like he loved them, like the little annoying brothers and sisters that he never had. But to hear that they just kept him around for material reasons and not what he could provide characteristically? They were just like Tommy, Carol, and all of his other old friends that just used him instead of liking him. And finding out about it sucked.

Steve turned around and went back into the kitchen. He laid his head on the counter on folded arms. It was fine. No one ever truly liked him for him so what did it matter? He’d always known that the kids felt that way, of course they would. But why did hearing it from them hurt so much? In the midst of his breakdown, he didn’t hear the front door open or the footsteps moving towards the kitchen. In his defense, though, he really wasn’t paying much attention to anything outside his thoughts.

“Steve? Are you okay?” He heard Eddie’s voice before he felt his hand settle to rest between his shoulder blades.

His head shot up from the counter to find both Robin and Eddie looking at him in concern. It sent him over the edge and he lunged at Eddie, wrapping his arms around his torso and shoving his face into the crook of his neck.

“Woah Stevie, are you okay?” Eddie asked him whilst he hugged him in return. “C’mon Big Boy, talk to me. What happened?”

“The kids said they only like me because I have money. ’Cause I have a pool and a car, not because I’m a good person to be around or the fact that I’ve literally put my life on the line for them. It just hurts, they’re just like everyone else.” Steve was proud of himself for speaking without any tears escaping. If he started crying about this, he’d never be able to stop.

“Steve, I’m sorry they said that. They’re just kids, I’m sure they didn’t mean what they said and maybe you heard it out of context! It is cool that their friend has a pool they can swim in and drives them all around town in his cool car. It’s not a bad thing, Steve. I mean, hell, we all take advantage of it. That’s why we keep you around!” Robin said jokingly.

But Steve didn’t take it as a joke. His best friend only kept him around for that too? What about their girl talks and the sleepovers when either one of them had nightmares about being tortured by Russian spies? Did it all mean nothing to her?”

“C’mon Stevie, let’s head back out there. We’re here to have fun, okay? Don’t worry about this, I’m sure you’re thinking that it’s worse than it actually is.” Eddie patted his shoulder and stepped back from his hug, grabbing a Hi-C juice box in his retreat.

Oh my god, they all thought that! Steve had never felt as betrayed and hurt as he did in that very moment. Here he was thinking that he had finally found a family that wanted him but they were just like everyone else. His parents only had him in the first place because society told them to and they only kept him around to show off until he became too much of a disappointment to do so. Tommy and Carol only kept him around for the status that came with befriending the rich boy with rich parents and a big house that always felt too lonely. His teammates on the basketball and swim teams only kept him around for his athletic ability and as soon as the concussions got too severe to play organized sports, they dropped him like a brick.

The Party that he thought was his family was just like everyone else that came before, were just using him to get to an end goal and then were going to drop him just as everyone had before. But at least it was good while it lasted, he guessed. He shook his head lightly to clear his thoughts and pasted a deceitfully fake smile on his face.

“Yeah, I’m sure they didn’t mean it. I’m just overreacting like always. It’s fine, let’s get back out there,” he muttered.

Both Eddie and Robin nodded enthusiastically and started piling their arms up with drinks and snacks. Steve was distracted the rest of the day deliberating the words of the Party. He was so contemplative that he didn’t check Eddie out when he took his shirt off, didn’t notice when El and Will looked at him in concern, and didn’t care when the kids splashed him with water. He just couldn’t fake it as well as he usually could today so he didn’t even try. It’s not like anyone noticed anyways.

~*~*~*~

After a couple of days, Steve was still ignoring the issue. That was his go-to strategy for anything he didn’t want to deal with and it hadn’t failed him yet. It worked when his parents were home and he had to ignore the startling lack of love from either of them. It never failed him when he received a poor score on a test that told him he wouldn’t be going to college or when he couldn’t read the swimming words written on the board when the teacher asked him to. It worked for a while when he ignored the distance growing between him and Nancy after she accused him of murdering Barb.

The point was, he was good at ignoring problems and pretending to be fine when his entire worldview was falling apart. It was fine. Or it was until he ran into Hopper a few days later.

He was just trying to return some Tupperware containers to Joyce, he didn’t want to have a full on conversation with his pseudo-dad or share a cigarette with him when he was trying to quit. Yet here he was, sitting on the stoop of the porch with a cigarette in hand trying to ignore the prying eyes of Hopper.

“What’s going on, Harrington? You missed family dinner yesterday and you didn’t call or anything. We were worried about you, kid.”

Steve’s eyes watered slightly so he pinched his nose to stop the tears. “Um yeah, I wasn’t really feeling it yesterday. Sorry.”

“What’s going on with you? We’re trying to be a family to you kid but you keep pushing us away.” Hopper sounded hurt at the thought and it only served to make Steve feel more guilty.

“I’m sorry, Hop. The kids said something that messed me up a few days ago, I’ll get over it.”

“You better,” Hopper grumbled before taking another drag from his cigarette.

They sat in silence for a moment before Steve asked him a question he thought he needed to know. Looking back, he shouldn’t have. “Hop, why are you guys so intent on treating me like family? Why me?”

He sighed and scratched his beard before answering. “I feel bad for you, kid. You’re all alone in that big house, your parents don’t come home, and you don't really have anything going for you. You work a dead-end job and you don’t have a future to look forward to. Steve, you just seem lost and I have a habit of taking the lost ones in.”

Steve nodded at him and they quietly went back to their cigarettes without sharing any more words. Hop only brought him in because he pitied him. He didn’t love him like a son as Steve had always thought, he felt bad for him and wanted to give him something to look forward to because Steve was too much of a loser to have a life that could mean anything.

He held it together long enough to finish his cigarette, numbingly agree to attend Family Game Night in a few days, and drive to his brother’s house. The tears stayed in until Phil answered the door to his house and upon seeing the crumbling of Steve’s carefully crafted facade, pulled him into a hug. The sobs spilled out of him after that with such force that Phil’s whispered comforts and confused reassurances couldn’t be heard.

They must have stayed in that embrace for upwards of five minutes, just standing in the open doorway, experiencing a strong déjà vu. Steve hadn’t cried this hard since the brutal screaming match between his parents and brother that resulted in Phil being disowned. Phil had held him then too, promising that he would always love him and that he would be around as much as he could be.

The parallel left both of them unsettled so Phil pulled him into the house and to the comfy living room couch he knew Steve loved. He sat on his knees in front of Steve and tried to make eye contact through Steve’s messy hair. “Hey Steve-o, you’re making me nervous, kid. What’s going on?”

“Why am I never enough for anyone?! You left, mom and dad left, Tommy and Carol didn’t fight to stay, Nancy cheated on me because I wasn’t enough, the kids are only using me for my pool, and Hop pities me because I’m an idiot. Why can’t anyone ever just love me for me?” Steve wailed.

Phil’s eyebrows scrunched further in concern, “Steve, what the hell? I’m sure that’s not true-”

“You too?! You’re seriously going to tell me they’re right like Eddie and Robin did? No one ever sticks around for me! They just want the shit I can give them because ‘I’m rich and lonely’ and I’m fucking sick of it!” He yelled at him.

“Steve, I’m not saying they’re right. I’m saying you’re wrong because I didn’t leave. I’m right here and I love you for you. You’re my bratty little brother who gets into weird situations he refuses to explain and hangs out with a bunch of children, a drug dealer, and my boss. You’re weird as hell sometimes but I’m here, okay? You’re not alone.”

“I’m just sick of being used, Philly. For looks or popularity or pool privileges. I just want them to love me.”

“Hey, I’m sure they do. Kids are weird, I was certain you hated me for years when you were a teenager. Kids do that and I’m sure your other friends were just confused,” Phil tried to comfort.

Steve just sighed and ran a weary hand through his hair. The last couple of days had been a whirlwind of heartache, betrayal, and exhaustion. All Steve wanted to do was get away from it all and recoup in a place he didn’t feel suffocated. Then an idea sparked in his head.

“Hey, do you still have your dad’s old cabin up north?”

“Um yeah, I go up there sometimes on my days off. Why?” Phil asked, a knowing glint in his eyes telling Steve that he already knew.

“Can I hang out there for a few days? I just want to get away from all of this.”

Phil observed him for a few minutes before nodding. “Yeah, that’s fine. You can head up today and I’ll meet you up there this weekend after my shifts. You gonna be okay on your own?”

Steve just rolled his eyes at him, “of course I will be. Who do you take me for?”

“The kid that’s gotten four concussions in the past three years from nefarious, unknown causes,” he said completely deadpan.

“Okay, that’s not fair. How do you know it’s nefarious if you don’t know the reason?”

Phil’s mustache twitched in the way it always did when he was about to start ranting. “You-” he took a deep, calming breath and started again. “I don’t want to argue with you right now. I’m going to go get the keys and write you some directions. Just chill here for now or whatever.”

Sure, his life might be spinning out of control and his friends might only be using him to reap the benefits that come with being a neglected rich kid but at least he had his brother. With another comforting hug, Phil gave him the keys and a note, some cash for snacks on the drive, and Steve was on his way. He had the chance for a few days away and he was going to take the time to relax and ponder on his self-worth.

When Phil finished his shifts and could pull himself away from his work, he’d head up to the cabin for some much needed Bro Time. They’d talk about things, drink some beers on the bank of the lake, and make s’mores over a campfire like they used to before life got too complicated for them both. Most of all though, they’d spend time together. It would be Phil and Steve against the world like it always has been.

~*~*~*~

It wasn’t one of the kids that noticed Steve’s abrupt disappearance. The kids, Eddie, and Robin hadn’t reached out to Steve since that disastrous pool party. No, it was Nancy that started putting the pieces together.

When Mike asked her for a ride to the arcade, her hackles raised. “Why do you and your friends need a ride from me? Isn’t that usually Steve’s job?”

“Yes,” he sneered at her. “But Steve didn’t pick up Dustin’s phone call or answer the walkie when he said it was a code red. So we need you to give us a ride. Please.”

Nancy was so confused at Steve’s lack of reply that she didn’t even ask any more questions. She just picked up her purse and told Mike to go get in the car.

Why wouldn’t Steve answer a code red? Out of all of the adults, Steve was the most hypervigilant and high-strung about the walkies. If he’d heard a code red, he would’ve answered.

She had a bad feeling about this so once she picked up all of Mike’s annoying friends and dropped them at the arcade, she went to Family Video to talk to Robin.

“Welcome to Family Video, how can I- oh hi Nance! What’s up?” She asked excitedly.

“Hey, have you heard from Steve recently? The kids couldn’t get a hold of him. Has he talked to you today?” Nancy asked her.

Robin looked perplexed. “He wasn’t home? He called Keith today and told him that he was feeling sick and couldn’t work this weekend. I thought he might be fighting off a migraine or something. Whenever that happens, he holes up in his room in the dark for a few days until it wears off. Where else could he be?”

“I don’t know but I have a bad feeling. When was the last time you saw him?”

“Um, at the pool party he threw on Monday. He said he invited you but you were busy,” he had indeed. Nancy had been touched at the invite but ultimately already had plans with Jonathan. “He said the kids said something that hurt his feelings but Eddie and I thought he was overexaggerating. But you know, he was kind of distant the rest of the night. He was there but not really… you know?”

A picture was starting to form for Nancy. But they couldn’t do anything but worry about Steve. If he wanted to lay low for a while without being pressured by the friends that hurt him, then Nancy wasn’t going to be the one to ruin that. When he got back, she would show him that she cared and hopefully that would be enough.

“Yeah, I know. I’m sure he’s fine. I have to go but I’ll see you later!” Hopefully too much damage hadn’t already been done.

~*~*~*~

The next people to notice were perhaps the most surprising. The Corroded Coffin boys were talking to Eddie before practice in Gareth’s garage when Jeff peered behind his shoulder.

“Hey man, where’s Steve? Did you two have a fight or something?” He asked him.

Eddie just looked at him in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

Jeff returned his look looking just as puzzled. “Steve? I saw him at the grocery store on Monday and invited him to watch us practice. The dude wouldn’t stop raving about your guitar skills so I told him to come see them in person. Did you piss him off or something?”

“Why would you invite him to practice though? You guys don’t even like him.”

“Woah hey, that’s not true! He helped my mom fix her tire like two weeks ago when we were stranded on the side of the road so I love the guy,” Gareth said. “And he completely blasted Andy’s reputation when he was picking on Grant at the arcade last week. Harrington’s a cool dude now.”

Eddie just looked at them in utter bewilderment. What the hell? “Why haven’t you guys told me any of this?”

He was taking a sip of his Mountain Dew when Jeff answered. “Uh, we thought he would tell you. You guys are dating, right?”

Eddie spit his Mountain Dew all over Grant’s drum kit and started choking.

“Dude, what the hell?!”

“Wh-why do you think we’re dating? We’re not and even if I was interested in him, which I’m not, Steve is straight!” Eddie sputtered.

All three of his bandmates looked at him unimpressed. Grant was still fuming at his sullied drum kit, Gareth was over Eddie being an idiot, and precious Jeff looked like he was a hair’s width away from losing his patience.

“Eddie, he is not straight. He’s been flirting with you for months and even told me that he was looking forward to the pool party to see you shirtless. He’s interested,” Jeff said with a sigh that told Eddie he thought he was being a dumbass.

Eddie just stared at them though. “There’s no way. I haven’t even talked to him since that pool party and I’m certain I would’ve noticed him checking me out. There’s no way.”

“Dude, you’re oblivious,” Gareth grumbled.

“He hasn’t reached out or anything in days! That’s not good crushing etiquette!” Eddie stammered.

“Did something happen at the pool party then? How did you fuck this up?” Grant accused.

“I didn’t fuck anything up! He was sad about something the kids said so I comforted him and then we went swimming. Steve never even got in the pool and he didn’t check me out at all. You guys are crazy.”

“That means whatever you said fucked it up! Nice going, dumbass,” Gareth told him.

“Okay, go fix this with Steve. We’ll move practice to Sunday and we want to hear all about how you fixed this. Maybe give him chocolate or flowers-”

“Steve’s allergic to flowers,” Eddie cut him off.

“And prove that you’re sorry and want to date him. Maybe take your shirt off since he didn’t see it in the pool. Just go,” Jeff ordered.

Without another word, Eddie took off. He drove past Steve’s house first but his car wasn’t in the driveway. He drove around Family Video next but still didn’t see the maroon Beemer. Where was this guy? He didn’t see him anywhere.

What he did see on his drive was a police cruiser with a glaring Officer Callahan inside. Eddie had to do a double take to confirm that he was glaring at him. What the fuck, he was driving the speed limit like any other law-abiding citizen, the glare was completely unfounded.

Disheartened at the lack of Steve and confused at the officer’s ire, Eddie went home. He slammed the trailer door open and stalked into the kitchen to get a beer. He didn’t know why Steve was upset or why he was hiding from Eddie of all people but it hurt. It made Eddie angry in turn.

Wayne appeared behind him with an observing look in his eyes. “Eds, I haven’t seen ya this crabby for weeks. Maybe call that Harrington boy over, he always makes you happy.”

Wayne’s words were supposed to make Eddie laugh, maybe argue with him a little bit, anything to get rid of the hostile blankness on his face. What they ended up doing though was causing a panic attack.

Eddie’s breaths started coming in in pants and tears started leaking from his eyes. Wayne thought they were dating too? How oblivious had he been that he hadn’t realized Steve was interested? And how did he fuck it up when he didn’t even know?!

Wayne was far too used to Eddie’s panic attacks. He didn’t ask any questions or question why what he said had caused a reaction. He just collected Eddie into his arms and rocked him like he was a scared kid instead of a traumatized 21 year old.

“Calm down, Eds. Yer okay, everything’s okay. I’m here for you, Uncle Wayne is here. You just needta calm down a little bit. Keep breathing, kiddo. It’s alright.”

After a few minutes and many comforting repetitions on Wayne’s part. Eddie buried his face into Wayne’s shoulder and cried. He knew distantly that their position on the kitchen floor couldn’t be good for Wayne’s back and aching joints but he couldn’t bring himself to move.

“Steve is gone! I looked everywhere for him but I couldn't find him! I fucked it up, I don’t know how but I did and now he’s gone!” He cried pitifully.

“Hey, I’m sure it ain’t because of you and I know he’ll be back. Whatever happened, you can talk it out with him in a couple of days. Just relax.”

He was right, as usual. Steve would come back eventually and when he did, there would be plenty of groveling and apologies. Eddie would make sure Steve knew how sorry he was at whatever he did and would make the kids and Robin apologize for good measure. He would fix this and Steve would never feel the need to escape ever again.

(Meanwhile, Steve is at the cabin having the time of his life, drinking ice cold beers by the lake and watching some deer chilling in the distance. He has no idea that his leaving made a mark but he was sure going to find out in a few days when he gets back.)

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formosusiniquis · 2 months

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Robin Buckley & Steve Harrington WC: 2173 | G | Day 4: Middle Names | AO3

“What are middle names for?” The question bubbles out of Steve as he takes in the picture of Michael J. Fox in Tiger Beat.

It’s the kind of question he thinks of a lot. The kind he’d normally bury in the back of his brain to ponder over on his own when sleep is a far off concept. But Robin is different. They’re so much a part of one another that Steve has stopped holding those questions in his own brain, realizing she likes to puzzle them out and tear them apart like he does.

Only Robin’s base of smarts is a little different, sometimes these questions he has actually get real answers.

He can feel Robin go still beneath him, his head on her shoulder just like hers is on his. With anyone else the position they’d found themselves in this afternoon would probably be uncomfortable. Sprawled out on his bed, technically back to back, Steve is using the bony knob of Robin’s shoulder to raise his head just enough that he doesn’t have to hold the magazine he’s reading up in the air. Robin has taken the top of the bed, her legs make an L where she has them stretched out against his bedroom wall, toes pointed toward the ceiling. Whatever book she’s been reading is propped up against her thighs, too far to actually read without using the binoculars Dustin left behind last week.

He flips another page in the magazine, content the way he always is with Robin, knowing that when she has finished puzzling out the order that she wants to respond to him in that she’ll speak. Steve thinks it’s probably to tell the difference between people. There are so many in the world, eventually you’re going to have two Tommy H.’s in a room and have to use that middle name.

Tommy Allen, the thought of spending two years of junior high and two and a half in high school calling Tommy that in public drags a little giggle from Steve. That would have made them losers of the highest order. Robin makes a noise that reminds Steve of Mrs. Johnson’s cat whenever he’d feed it for her when she was out of town, inquiring but also a little annoyed that you disturbed whatever it was doing before.

He shimmies his arm just enough that she knows he’ll explain it later. Once he figures out a good way to explain how much of being popular is being good at being perceived the right way. Tommy H’s can be popular, Tommy Allen’s get their slightly bucked teeth and bad laughs noticed. She isn’t going to like that, but Steve learned pretty quickly Robin doesn’t like a lot of things about how popularity actually works.

“I think,” Robin says slowly, she’s talking a little funny and Steve wonders now if she’s let the binoculars rest against her chin instead of just putting them down like a normal person. He could turn and look but figures all he’d actually see is the blurry, too close suggestion of Robin’s face. It’s better in his imagination.

“I think,” she repeats, in his head the binoculars wiggle down her chest a little further every time her mouth moves, “it's to continue the family line. That used to be a big thing you know, it’s why men didn’t want daughters because then the family name would die out. So you’d give your kid a middle name to help continue one of the old names from the family that was just going to die if you didn’t keep making your wife have more and more babies that she probably didn’t even want.”

“Oh like JR.”

“JR?”

“Yeah, you know JR. He’s that football player that graduated two years ago. His ears stuck out weird and he always seemed to have, like, a Rudolph zit on his nose.”

“You mean Mark Williams?” She shouts, incredulous.

“Sure, I think it was Mark. His dad was definitely Mr. Williams, but they had the same name so whenever they went anywhere he always called him JR. ‘Hey JR wouldja get that for me.’ ‘If you ever wanna go pro, JR, you’re going to have to learn how to take a tackle.’”

Robin is in fits beside him, the impression is terrible but it’s also exactly what the guy used to sound like gruff but also whistley somehow.

“Wait, wait,” the bed shakes as she adjusts herself, he can feel the weird shape of her ear and the uncomfortable poke of her earrings in the cradle of his arm. “What’s your middle name?”

“You mean you didn’t see it when you rifled through my employee file to find my birthday and social security number?”

“I was looking for important information.”

“So you could steal my identity.”

“So I could make fun of you less on your birthday if it was in the summer or maybe just take the whole day off so I didn’t have to deal with the cavalcade of pretty blondes coming in to fawn over Steve Harrington, real adult man.”

“Ew, the worst way anyone has ever described me. You make it sound like I’m some kind of pervert.”

“They would want you to be,” Robin agrees, “I think it would be part of the appeal.”

“Richard.”

“Theodore.”

“No, dingus,” he relishes the moment that he gets to turn her favorite pet name against her, “my middle name is Richard.”

Robin takes that new information and digests it for at least thirty seconds, but that’s just a guess since she’s laying on the arm that has his watch on it. “Stephan Richard Harrington,” she tries out.

“The one and only.”

“It feels like there should be a number at the end. Stephan Richard Harrington the Sixth, best of his line.”

Maybe if he were a Sixth he’d like it a little better, he thinks. “No, it’s like what you said, continuing family names? Mom named me after her brother that died in the war, and Dad hated that or him or probably both knowing him so I got stuck with Richard so he could be included.”

“Robin Marie Buckley,” Robin offers in exchange.

“Ew.”

“I didn’t ew yours even though it makes you sound like a fancy little rich boy.”

“I am a fancy little rich boy,” Steve says, flipping the front of his hair with a half assed toss of his head, “you’re lying here in my ivory tower.”

“I think ivory towers have less blue plaid.”

“I like the blue plaid, it makes hanging things up easy. I’m sorry we can’t all have this season’s Laura Ashley-”

Robin is, unfortunately, at the perfect angle to punch him directly in the chest. “My parents did that to surprise me when I came back from bandcamp two years ago so I could have a more mature room as a high schooler.”

For all that it’s worth he tries not to sound mean when he snorts, the Buckleys are nice and mostly well meaning or at least they have been every time he’s visited. “And they somehow missed the dresser covered in spiky bracelets and the closet full of grandpa suspenders while they were in there.”

“They mean well,” Robin unintentionally echoes Steve’s own earlier thoughts. “They just don’t… really get me.” Her voice trails off, a little lost, and he hates himself for being the person who made Robin feel like that.

“We should change our names.”

“What and go on the lam?” Robin asks.

“We can, but I don’t think any lambs, sheep, or goats need to be involved.”

Steve sits up in bed, forcing Robin to do the same as he pulls his arm out from under her head. It only takes a quick spin before he’s facing her, grabs her arms so she can’t pull away from how totally and completely serious he’s being. “It’s like you said, it’s about family right?” He says, “You’re more family to me than my douchebag dad has ever been so why do I have to be stuck with his name when I could be Stephan Robert.”

“Not Robin?”

“Don’t wanna make it too obvious, and Robin Stephan probably wouldn’t fly at the name changing place.”

“Robin Stephanie,” she tries slowly.

“I mean obviously if I were a girl I’d go by Stevie,” he jokes.

“We can’t just change our names!” Robin says, she doesn’t sound like she believes it though so Steve is pretty sure he’s winning.

“Why can’t we, people do it all the time, I bet it’s super easy.”

“When they get married! Or like adopted. People don’t just change their names on a Tuesday because they feel like it!”

He tries to give that the thought that it deserves, but he mostly just feels like Robin is making excuses because she’s scared. Maybe it’s the leftover fear from Starcourt bubbling out in a place where she can control, or maybe she just likes her parents enough to be scared of hurting their feelings. One of those things he can relate to more than the other.

“Well Thursday would work better for my schedule.”

“Steve!”

“What! So we get married then, is that the problem? I mean I know I’m not your first choice romantically, but didn’t you say people do that so that they’re safe from people knowing they’re gay.”

Her arms are already out, ready to make a point that would probably be big and dramatic and a little long winded the way Robin likes to be when she’s all worked up like this. But he’s stopped her in her tracks. Face to face he can watch as the outrage melts into something sticky and wet like melted ice cream.

“You’d do that for me?”

“I would pretty much do everything including die for you, getting to be Stephan Robert Buckley would really be more like you doing me a favor.”

He’s getting pulled into a crushing hug before he can blink. He doesn’t mention how he can feel the wet fall of her crying against his neck, if it didn’t embarrass her, it might stop Robin from doing her best to climb inside him like she’s Luke and he’s that weird ice kangaroo. Mascara stains on the neck of his shirt are a small price to pay for a Robin Buckley embrace.

They hold each other for as long as it takes for Robin to feel regular again, and it’s nice. Steve thinks they’ll have to have a different conversation about how rarely he gets hugged just for the sake of it later. Right now this is about family and names and because Robin is family in every way that matters he doesn’t say anything when she wipes away those tears and a little snot with the back of her hand.

“You’ll have to wait until March,” she says, “I’m not getting married until I’m at least 18. I don’t want people thinking it’s some shotgun thing after working with you this summer.”

“As long as it’s before you get your dorm assignment for whatever fancy school you get into. If we’re married I’m pretty sure they have to let us live together.”

“Yeah? Even if I go somewhere like Bryn Mawr?”

He pretends like he’s giving that careful consideration, like he doesn’t already know she really wants to go to some big city where the schools might have a language program and she has a better chance of finding other people more like her.

“Well I guess we could live off campus then, if you really want to go to the lesbian school for lesbians.”

She punches him again. “It is not.”

“I wouldn't want the other lesbians to bully you for being married to a really hot guy.”

“One, I never said yes, dingus. Two, I have a whiteboard that questions how hot you are hotshot.’

“Pretty sure that got burned in the fire so you can’t use that as proof anymore you’re going to need more dates.”

“Data, you need to try to land dates.”

“Same difference.”

She pushes him until he’s laying down, grabs her book from his pillow and he takes that as his cue to go back to his magazine. It takes her a minute to decide how she wants to lay down again, he’s already back on his page about this month’s Hollywood Heartthrobs before she’s decided that his chest makes the best pillow and his arm can prop her book up for her. He isn’t sure what it is today, he wonders if she’s close enough to the beginning that he can get her to read it out loud to him, this month’s Tiger Beat really is lacking.

“Why does anyone think these guys are hot? The guys in Rolling Stone are usually better looking than Alex P. Keaton or the guy from Growing Pains. Johnny Depp is kinda okay, I guess.”

“Stephan Robert!” Robin sits upright again, and Steve thinks he might have accidentally started another capital C Conversation.

#stobin month 2024 #platonic stobin #steve and robin #steve harrington #robin buckley #stobin month #middle names #found family dynamics

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sattlersquarry · 1 year

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the end is here (steve harrington x gn!reader)

Summary: (Season 4 adjacent) Your boyfriend Steve Harrington is keeping secrets from you, and you aren't sure how much longer you can take it. (Title comes from "I Know The End" by Phoebe Bridgers.)

This is a direct continuation of the video store frame-up of '86. You don't have to read that one to get it but I recommend it!

Word Count: ~5.3k

Warnings: angst up the wazoo w/ a happy ending, language, mentions of sex, some violence and mentions of medical emergencies/broken legs/painkillers.

A/N: Tonally, this is quite different from the video store frame up of '86 but I wanted to explore what it'd be like to be an outsider in Hawkins during Season 4 when all the shit is going down.

gif is from the Netflix giphy account

March, 1986

Working with Steve is fun, and your relationship blossoms the more time you spend together. However, there’s still a nagging thought in the back of your mind—the thought that he’s keeping something from you. Something big. You ignore it as best you can, but you have a feeling that your curiosity is going to catch up to you.

And it does the day you clock into your shift and see Steve, Robin, and two of their friends searching the Family Video database for an unfamiliar name.

“Uh, who’s Rick Lipton,” you say, “and why are you four stalking his rental history?”

The group whirls around, startled by your sudden appearance.

“Y/N! Hey!” Steve says. He angles his body so you can’t read the computer. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m here for my shift, same as you,” you say. You crane your neck to get a better look at the screen. “So, does he have mega late fees or something?”

“Who?” Robin asks innocently.

“Who else? Rick Lipton, the guy you’re looking up.”

“It’s nothing like that,” the curly-haired boy with them says. He’s Dustin, one of Steve’s closest friends.

The name of the girl, with plaited red hair and sharp blue eyes, escapes you. Margie…Melanie…Meg…it starts with an M. You’re certain of that much.

“Max and Dustin were just leaving,” Steve says, giving them a look.

Max! That was it.

“But we need you to drive us,” Max says to Steve.

“Drive to Rick’s?” you guess. “Why?”

Steve looks different than you’ve ever seen him. He’s agitated. Not the kind of agitated you’re used to: frustrated with Keith’s many demands or annoyed with his role as resident carpool king. No, he seems…scared.

“Rick and Dustin have a mutual friend,” Steve says coolly, attempting to assuage your curiosity (and failing). “We just need to check up on him, that’s all.”

“And it’s a time-sensitive matter,” Dustin says. “So we need to go now.”

He starts dragging Steve and Robin toward the front doors, Max on their heels.

“Can’t it wait?” you say. “I can’t run the store myself!”

“Sorry!” Robin says with an apologetic grin. “We’ll make it up to you! I’ll cover any shift, promise!”

Steve wrenches free from Dustin’s grasp. He returns to the counter, and you think he’s going to say he won’t leave you alone.

Instead, he reaches under the counter to grab his jacket and car keys.

“I’m so sorry to ditch,” he says quietly. “Seriously, I know this is a dick move.”

“Mm-hm,” you say, eyes narrowed.

“But it’s important. Dustin’s friend might be in danger.”

“What kind of danger?”

“I can’t tell you.”

You scowl.

“Please don’t be pissed,” Steve begs. “It’s a slow day, and Keith will be around later. You’ve got this!”

You’re mad. But you’re also a bit worried. Steve’s very responsible and wouldn’t leave unless it was important. And he still looks so scared…

“Steve…what’s really going on?” You step closer and lower your voice. “Is everything okay with you? I mean, I know you’re worried about Dustin’s friend, but—“

“I’m fine,” Steve says. He kisses your temple. “I’ll call you tonight. Okay?”

You nod and force a smile, watching him race out of the store and unlock his car for his friends. They pile into the BMW and zip away.

Someone clears their throat. You snap your head to the right, where a punk kid with spiky hair stands by the cassettes.

“Do you have the newest Madonna tape?” he asks, shocking you with his music taste, considering his whole vibe.

“Uh, yeah,” you say, thankful for the distraction. “I’ll help you find it.”

***

Steve doesn’t call you that night. Or the next morning.

And when you arrive for your next shift, you’re greeted by Keith at the counter, not Steve or Robin.

“Where’s Steve?” you ask.

“Your loverboy called in sick,” Keith says, before taking a huge bite of a breakfast burrito. You wince as he continues talking with his mouth full: “Buckley is sick too, so it’s just you and me today.”

“Great,” you say flatly. Both Steve and Robin being sick the same day isn’t inherently suspicious—they are best friends and hang out all the time. But after what transpired yesterday, their absence is fishy.

That, plus the fact that Steve had the time to call Keith and not you, sours your mood.

“And since they’re out, I’ll need you to work a double.”

“Fantastic,” you snap. “That's exactly how I wanted to spend my Sunday.”

“Hey!” Keith says. “No sass. Family Video employees must remain upbeat and positive at all times. We want our establishment to be a welcoming place. Not a dark hole of pessimism…like Blockbuster.”

You plaster on a big, fake grin.

“Much better,” Keith says smugly, before disappearing to the back room to file some paperwork.

The day drags on. There isn’t much traffic to the store, due to the announcement that not one but two Hawkins High students were killed. People seem too scared to go anywhere or do much of anything.

On your lunch break, you call the Harrington house. No answer. Either Steve is too sick to reach for the phone on his nightstand, which frightens you, or he’s off with his friends.

You wonder if Dustin’s friend, the one they went to find, is one of the victims. The thought makes your stomach twist. Maybe that’s why you hadn’t heard from Steve or why he wasn’t home—he needed to comfort the younger boy through his grief.

When it’s finally closing time, you decide to drive by the Harrington house to check in. No BMW in the driveway confirms that he’s definitely not home sick.

You feel a bit sick yourself wondering where he is and what’s going on.

***

The next day is your day off. You call Steve first thing when you wake up. You also drive by his house again after breakfast. It’s like he disappeared off the face of the earth…

…until you take a shortcut down Maple Street and see his BMW parked at the Wheeler’s house.

You haven’t heard from him in two days, and his car is at his ex-girlfriend Nancy’s house. You feel numb.

Steve didn’t seem like the type of person to stoop to infidelity, but you haven’t known him for that long. And he (and his friends) are definitely keeping something from you. Maybe all that “Rick Lipton” stuff was a cover-up so Steve could hang out with his friends and cozy up with his ex.

You hate how jealous you feel. You hate how it makes you want to cry, scream, and throw a brick through the BMW’s windshield.

Against your better judgment, you park by the curb and stomp toward the front door. You aren’t usually a confrontational person, but you feel a spark of anger that won’t be tamped down unless you get some answers.

You ring the doorbell and knock, for good measure. A tired-looking, middle-aged man opens the door.

“Can I help you?” Mr. Wheeler drawls.

“Is Steve here?” you ask, trying to keep your voice from shaking.

“The troublemakers are in the basement,” he says. He sarcastically adds, “We already have enough guests to legally be considered a hotel. What’s one more?”

Mr. Wheeler opens the door a bit wider and allows you in, pointing you in the direction of the basement door. You thank him before charging down the steps.

Dustin and Max are down there, along with their other friend Lucas. Max scribbles furiously at the desk while the boys sit on the sofa, heads bent low while they discuss something with hushed voices.

“Where’s Steve?” you demand, scanning the room as if you expect him to pop out from behind a corner.

“Whoa!” Lucas says. “How’d you get in here Y/N?”

“Mr. Wheeler let me in. He’s a real peach. So. Steve?”

“He’s upstairs in Nancy’s room,” Dustin says.

Your eyes widen.

“Not like that!” Dustin says quickly, sensing the miscommunication. “They’re just talking!”

“Talking alone in her room?”

“To be fair,” Lucas says, “Robin’s there too, so it’s not like it’s romantic.”

“And it wouldn’t be!” Dustin says. “Steve only has eyes for you. He told me so.”

“You, and Phoebe Cates,” Lucas corrects.

“Right. You, Phoebe Cates, and maybe Cindy Crawford.”

“Definitely Cindy Crawford,” Lucas says. “Have you seen her?”

Max turns in her seat and glares at Lucas. He gulps.

“I mean, Cindy’s not my type. But Steve loves her.”

Your turn to glare.

“Not as much as he loves you!” Lucas says. He turns to Dustin. “We’re making things worse, aren’t we?”

“Yes,” you say. “I’m gonna go talk to him.”

“You can’t,” Dustin says. “They’re a bit preoccupied. And I know that sounds suspicious, but I promise. Steve isn’t cheating on you.”

“Then what is he doing?” you say. “And why hasn’t he called me?”

“All good questions,” Dustin says. “But I can’t answer them.” He gestures to an armchair nearby. “You can wait for Steve if you want. I’m sure he’d love to see you.”

You consider it, but this whole situation is weirding you out. What are Steve, Robin, and Nancy so preoccupied with anyway? Does it have to do with the murders? And why won’t anyone just tell you what’s going on?!

“I have to go,” you say, voice clipped. “Just tell him to call me.”

You storm up the stairs and out of the house. A sense of dread overwhelms you—dread that threatens to swallow you whole.

***

At around 11 o’clock that night, someone knocks at your apartment door.

In a half-asleep stupor, you stumble to it, gripping your baseball bat. No one should be visiting this late, unless—

“Y/N? It’s Steve! Can we talk?”

You huff and put the bat down, opening the door for your (sheepish-looking) boyfriend.

Your facial expression remains stony as you study him.

“Hey,” he says. He clears his throat. “Can I come in?”

In lieu of a response, you turn on your heel and stomp to your couch. Steve locks the door behind him and follows.

“I’m so sorry,” he says, sitting next to you. He reaches to put an arm around you, and you pull away. He deflates. “Babe—”

“Is this the part where you say you can’t tell me what’s going on?” you snap. “And you promise to call me tomorrow, but then you don’t, and the only reason I’ll know you aren’t dead is because I’ll see your car at your fucking ex-girlfriend’s house?”

Steve closes his eyes and sighs.

“I deserve that. But it’s not what you think. Whatever you think is going on, I promise, it’s not that.”

“So, what is going on?” you say.

He turns away and rubs his face.

“I—”

“You’re sorry,” you deadpan. “Why don’t you throw in one more? Best things come in threes, you know.”

You’re being unfair. You know this. Steve’s obviously very upset about something, and you’re being too harsh. But the way he’s acting, and the way he’s not giving you a real answer why, is driving you insane.

He hesitates and reaches for your hand. You allow him to take it.

“I’m so sorry,” he whispers. His eyes are wide and mournful and desperate. “But I just can’t talk about it. Not right now. I’ll make it up to you. Anything you want me to do, I’ll do it.”

You take a deep breath and feel your anger evaporate at his sincereness.

“You could start by kissing me?” you say.

Steve’s face splits into a grin and he leans in, kissing you softly.

Well, it starts soft. The heat picks up a bit too fast for your liking, and you push him away.

“Whoa buddy,” you say. “I’m so not in the mood for make-up sex right now.”

“I’m sorry,” Steve says, blushing. “I didn’t mean to push.”

“I actually need to get some sleep,” you say. “Care to join me?”

“I really should be getting back,” Steve says, glancing at his watch. “Max is going through a really hard time right now. She needs as much support as she can get.”

You want to know more details, so you try not to be too specific and ask, “Do you think she’ll be okay?”

Steve nods.

“She’s strong,” he says. “She’ll be fine. She has to be.”

He kisses you goodnight and leaves.

This time, he doesn’t promise to call. You aren’t sure if that makes you feel better or worse.

***

The next night, Steve shows up again much too late, looking as if he’s seen a ghost.

He’s wearing the same navy polo and jeans from yesterday. You don’t know how you feel about that, as the reminder that Max and the group are staying at Nancy Wheeler’s house rattles around in your head.

“How’s Max?” you ask, pouring Steve a cup of tea.

“She’s a bit better,” he says. He rubs his eyes. “It’s sort of…touch and go.”

You sit across from him at the table with your own mug and ask, “I hope I’m not being insanely nosy, but is she…sick?”

“Not really sick, exactly. At least, not physically.” Steve hesitates before adding, “She’s grieving. She lost her brother Billy at Starcourt. She hasn’t been the same since then.”

The Starcourt Fire of 1985. It was a big stain on Hawkins history, along with the myriad of disappearances, deaths, and government conspiracies that marred the town’s legacy.

You aren’t sure how to respond. You settle for drinking your tea in a slightly uncomfortable silence.

“You know,” you say after a beat, “I have a bunch of old board games and movies. I could bring them over to the Wheeler’s place tomorrow if Max wants to check them out. It might lift her spirits.”

“No,” Steve says quickly. Off your hurt look, he says, “No, sorry. I mean, we won’t be at the Wheeler’s tomorrow. We’re going for a drive.”

“A drive?”

“Yeah, a drive in the…in the countryside. So Max can clear her head.”

He’s lying to you. He’s lying to you and he’s bad at it and it makes you sad and mad all at once.

“Please, for the love of god, cut the bullshit,” you say. You slam your tea down harder than intended and it sloshes across the tabletop. “What are you guys actually doing?”

Frustration flashes across his features.

“I told you, I really can’t tell you.”

“Bullshit.”

“Don’t say that! It’s not!” Steve says, voice raising. He stands from the table. “I can’t tell you! Why can’t you just accept that?”

You stand as well, crossing your arms.

“You’ve got to at least get your story straight if you’re going to lie, deceive, and leave me out!” you yell. “What is this really about? Because first it was all about Dustin’s friend, and now it’s Max. Or does it have something to do with the murders?”

Steve goes ghostly pale at the mention of the recent killings.

“I won’t tell you,” Steve says firmly, a fraction more calm than he was moments before. “It’s too dangerous.”

“So it does have to do with the—”

“I have to go,” Steve says, storming toward the front door.

“Steve Harrington, you get back here!” you call, following him.

Too late. He’s out the door, slamming it behind him.

As soon as he’s gone, your resolve just crumbles. You cry. You cry, because your sweet, sensitive boyfriend is acting like a different person. You cry because he’s obviously hurting and in some kind of trouble but won’t talk about it, making it impossible to help him. You cry because you don’t want to lose him, because you’ve only been dating for a short time but you might love him. Because you aren’t sure how much longer you can do this.

***

You’re back at the Family Video the next day, working alongside Keith and Randy, a former employee home from college on spring break. Randy’s a pretentious film student who won’t shut up about movies you’ve never seen. It makes you wish you were working with Steve today, despite last night’s argument. You aren’t even sure if Steve wants to be your boyfriend anymore, and that thought tortures you all day.

“The Godfather is a perfect film,” Randy drones as the two of you log returns in the computer. “Have you seen it?”

“No, I prefer comedies.”

Randy scoffs.

“Oh, that drivel?”

“Comedy is not drivel!” you protest. “People need to laugh sometimes.”

You spend the rest of your shift defending your favorite movies, and you seriously consider whacking Randy upside the head when he insults The Muppets Take Manhattan.

Again, you drive past Steve’s house, and are surprised to see his car parked in its usual spot.

“Steve?” you call, banging on the door. “It’s Y/N. Are you home? Can we talk?”

You continue knocking and shouting for him to answer, to no avail. Eventually, his next-door neighbor yells for you to shut it, so you leave.

At 2:30 in the morning, your phone rings. You mumble a “Hello?” into the receiver, wondering if you’re dreaming.

“Hey, Y/N.”

It’s Steve. You figured as much. Who else would call so late?

“Hey,” you say, feeling more awake than you did before.

Part of you wonders if this is evidence of some kind of shift in your relationship. Maybe Steve doesn’t want to actually date you anymore. Maybe he just wants to sleep with you, and that’s why he’s only been visiting and calling late at night, and not talking about what’s going on. You don’t like that thought.

“I’m so glad to hear your voice,” Steve says with a deep sigh.

He sounds weary, and almost hoarse. This panics you. Under normal circumstances, you’d think he was just sick. But now, you aren’t sure what to think.

“Steve, where are you?”

“Doesn’t matter.”

“I think it does! Are you okay? You sound weak.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“I don’t mean it as an insult! Seriously. Do you need me to come get you? Or call an ambulance, or something?”

“I’m fine, Y/N. Just tired. Tired, and missing you.”

“Well, then, why don’t you come over?” you say. You tamp down your worry and try a different tactic: “Maybe we can finally give that make-up sex a try.”

You hear a chorus of “Ew, gross!” and “Gag me with a spoon.”

“Sorry, I should’ve told you,” Steve mumbles, “I’m not alone.”

“Yeah, I got that now. Is Max doing okay?”

“Yeah, she’s fine. We're at her place now. I just wanted to…no, I needed to call you and say sorry. These past few days, I’ve been really shitty to you.”

“You kind of have been,” you say. “But I haven’t been very supportive. I’m sorry too. Whatever’s going on, I hope it, um…gets better.”

“Thanks,” Steve says. “Oh, and about the make-up sex—can we get a rain check?”

“I’ll see if I can pencil you in my busy social schedule,” you tease. “Call me tomorrow night?”

“I will,” Steve says. His voice wavers and he adds, “I promise.”

***

The next night, he does call. Still wearing his gear from the Vecna battle, he calls your house from the hospital payphone minutes after Max is wheeled into surgery.

“Pick up, pick up!” he grumbles. “Why aren’t they answering?!”

“Have you tried calling Family Video?” Robin says. “It’s inventory night. Keith always makes us stay late for inventory.”

“Oh, fuck,” Steve says. He looks at Robin with panicked eyes. “We were supposed to be there for inventory. Did you remember to call out for us?”

“I thought you did!”

“Here’s some more quarters,” Nancy says, appearing from around the corner with a handful of coins. “After you call Y/N, I need to call Max’s mom and the Sinclairs. Robin, have you called your family yet?”

Steve dials the Family Video number and waits with bated breath. He groans when the call doesn’t connect. He needs to hear your voice, to know you’re okay after the earthquake.

Unfortunately, you are far from okay.

You’re at the store doing inventory with Randy, listening to more of his dry takes, when the earthquake hits.

Randy immediately begins to panic.

“There’s no tub!” he screams over the sound of the rattling earth.

“Huh?!” you yell back, holding onto the counter for dear life.

“In an earthquake, you’re supposed to hide in a tub!” He scans the room and gasps. “Or a doorframe!”

He darts toward the doorframe that leads to the back room.

“Randy, stop running!” you scream. “You’ll hurt yourself!”

You notice a tall shelf of tapes tip forward and you surge ahead, pushing Randy out of the way as the shelf hits the ground. In the scuffle, one of your legs gets pinned underneath it.

A bloodcurdling scream echoes through the store. It takes you a minute to realize the sound is coming from you and not from some banshee.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” Randy yells. “Y/N, are you okay?”

The earthquake slows, the violent shaking making way for a quiet rumble. He runs back to you and tries to lift the shelf off of you, with no luck.

“It’s too heavy,” he says, face pinched with fear and a bit of guilt. “Can you move your leg at all?”

You wince and shake your head, tears running down your face.

“I can’t move it,” you say. You sniffle. “It hurts really really bad.”

“I’ll call for help!” Randy says. He grabs the phone off the counter and curses. He tries the second phone, and then races to Keith’s office to try the third. “No signal. I guess the quake took out the telephone lines. I’ll go get someone!”

“Don’t leave me!” you cry out. “Please!”

“I’ll be right back,” Randy says. “I promise! And I’ll reevaluate my stance on comedies, just for you.”

“I appreciate that,” you say through sobs.

Randy rushes out into the night, and you hear him shouting, “Hey, hey! We need an ambulance!”

As you lay alone in the video store in unimaginable pain, you worry. You worry about Steve and his friends, hoping they fared better than you in the natural disaster. You worry about your leg, wondering if you’ll ever be able to use it the same again. You worry that you wasted your time being upset with Steve, and—in a particularly dark moment—you worry that you may never see him again.

After what feels like an eternity, Randy returns with a group of paramedics.

“Hey there,” one of them says. “Are you Y/N?”

“The one and only,” you say through gritted teeth. “I can’t feel my leg anymore. Are you going to have to amputate it? Please say no.”

“Amputations are rare,” another paramedic reassures you. You breathe a sigh of relief. “Let’s get this thing off you and get you to the hospital, yeah?”

***

The rest of the night is a blur for you. The paramedics free your leg and pump you full of so many painkillers, it’s hard to focus on much of anything.

You don’t feel fully like yourself again until the next morning, when you wake up in a hospital bed with a bright blue cast on your leg.

A soft snore to your left indicates company. You are so relieved to see it’s—

“Steve!” you shout, startling him awake. “What happened to your neck?!”

“Y/N, oh my god,” Steve says, jumping from the armchair he was uncomfortably squished into. “How are you feeling? Do you need anything?”

“Did someone choke you?” you say, sitting up against your pillows. “Who do I need to fight?”

“You aren’t fighting anyone until that’s gone,” Steve says, pointing to your cast. He gingerly sits on the edge of the bed, careful of your leg. “Geez, I was so worried about you. I called and called, both the store and your house, and then I saw some paramedics bring you in on a stretcher, and I just panicked. I was so afraid I was going to lose you.”

You reach over and hold both of his hands with yours. He smiles at you, but his eyes are sad.

“I’m here,” you say. You wince. “My leg hurts like hell, and I’ll probably never walk, run, or swim as fast as I used to, but I’m here.”

“I’m so glad you are,” he says quietly. He sucks in a breath. “Max got really badly hurt in…in the quake. She’s unconscious and they don’t know when…if…she’ll wake up.”

“Oh, Steve, I’m so sorry.”

You pull him into a hug, and he holds you tightly.

You know you should keep your mouth shut and just be in this moment with him, but a nagging thought in your mind won’t leave you alone.

“Steve,” you say quietly, pulling away. “I don’t usually believe in ultimatums, because things aren’t usually so black-and-white. But I’m about to give you one. Please don’t hate me.”

Worry flashes in his eyes. He shakes his head.

“I could never hate you,” he says, voice cracking.

You squeeze his hands and say: “If you can’t be honest with me about what’s going on, I think we have to break up.”

Steve’s eyes widen.

“I’m sorry,” you blurt out, before he can say anything. “I know that’s so unfair. But what’s a relationship without honesty and communication, and we just…don’t have that at the moment. I have the sneaking suspicion that this earthquake and the killings are connected, and I think you know more than you’re letting on. The earthquake did this—” You gesture to your leg. “And I feel like I have a right to know the truth. To know what’s hurting you. Please, Steve. Just tell me.”

You watch his facial expression. Unreadable emotions flick across his features, and you can tell he’s brainstorming. Thinking hard, trying to determine the right thing to say next.

“Y/N,” he says, voice low. “It’s dangerous. Really dangerous. I don’t want to involve you if I can help it.”

“Steve—”

“I don’t want you to get hurt—”

“I already got hurt!”

“I won’t put you in any more danger,” Steve says. He looks about two seconds from sobbing, but he says, “Ignorance is bliss, right?”

It guts you to do so, but you gingerly drop his hands.

“Okay.”

“Y/N, can we just—”

“I think you should leave.” You can’t even look at him as you say it, instead staring at some wilting daisies on the windowsill.

Steve opens his mouth as if he’s going to protest, but closes it and nods.

“If that’s what you really want, I’ll go,” he whispers.

You nod, despite the part of you deep down screaming for him to stay.

He hesitates before walking out.

***

A day and a half later, you’ve been discharged from the hospital. From your perch on your couch, you watch ash swirling outside your window. The sight is terrifying, and the news is full of weathermen trying to make sense of the strange weather pattern.

Knock, knock, knock, knock!

You hobble to your feet, clumsy as a baby deer due to your crutches, and open the door.

“Steve!” you say, a bit shocked (yet relieved). He’s got flakes of ash on his head and shoulders, looking like a dusting of snow. “Hey, I was going to call you. I think I made a big mistake—”

“I want to tell you everything,” he blurts out.

You stumble a bit and he grabs your shoulders to steady you.

“Really?” you say. “Because I thought about it, and you don’t have to.”

“I want to,” Steve says. “You’re right. I need to be fully honest. And, frankly, I can’t do this without you.”

So you let him in, and you sit on the couch with your injured leg propped on pillows while he tells you everything. About Will Byers going missing, and how he wasn’t just lost in the woods like everyone thought. About how he came back from another dimension but he brought something dark and twisted with him, an evil sort of presence. How that evil presence latched onto Max’s brother Billy last summer and used him as a general of sorts, collecting more soldiers to create a terrifying monster. How the mastermind behind the plan, Vecna/Henry Creel/One, is the real murderer.

“Everyone thinks it was Eddie,” Steve says, looking down at his feet. “But Eddie sacrificed himself so the bats wouldn’t swarm our version of Hawkins. If he hadn’t done that, the casualties would’ve been a lot worse.”

“And Vecna tried to kill Max too?” you say. The first thing you’ve said since he started his tale.

“He did kill Max. But she came back, somehow. It’s a miracle.”

You aren’t sure what to say. Monsters and alternate dimensions and evil doctors. It’s all the stuff of science fiction…right?

Steve huffs out a laugh at the twisted frown on your face.

“You don’t believe me,” he says.

“No! I do. I’m just…processing.”

“It’s all true,” Steve says. “Every word. And as much as it sucks, I have to help my friends stop Vecna and destroy the Upside Down once and for all. Once we do that, maybe things can get back to normal.”

“Sounds like a plan. When do we start?”

Steve’s brows pull together.

“Uh, did you just say ‘we’?”

“I did. I want to help.”

“No way!” Steve scoffs. “I told you because I didn’t want to keep it from you anymore. Not because I want you to get involved in this fight.”

“Steve—”

“Y/N! Seriously!” Steve says. He laces your hands together. “You’re, like, the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I’m not going to let the person I love throw themselves into this mess. I need you to be safe.”

He looks up and is a bit surprised to see goofy grin on your face.

“You said you love me,” you whisper.

Steve blushes.

“Oh, right. I hope that’s okay?”

“You hope it’s okay that you love me?”

“Uh, yeah. And I hope you’ll take me back, but if you feel like you can’t after everything I told you I understand and—”

You grab him by the collar and pull him in for a kiss. He melts into it, wrapping his arms around you.

“I love you too,” you say, once you finally pull away. “And I am taking you back, and I’ll respect your wishes not to get involved in your monster hunting mission, but you have to promise me that you won’t get killed or something, because that would massively suck.”

“You got it,” he says. He checks his watch.

“You heading out?” you ask, a bit disappointed.

Steve shakes his head.

“Nope. I have three hours until I’m meeting the others to discuss our next move.”

“Three hours,” you say, eyes sparkling a bit hungrily. “Huh. There’s so much we could do to fill that time…one activity I can’t get out of my head rhymes with ‘take-up schmex.’”

“Y/N. Your leg is broken.”

“The medical term is actually ‘smushed,’ so I’m cleared for sexual activity.”

“Is that so?” Steve says. “Well, if your doctor says it’s okay…”

In one fluid motion, he scoops you up in his arms. You squeal in surprise as he carries you to your bedroom.

Hawkins had changed overnight. Everything Steve told you makes it seem like a much scarier, darker place.

But you have Steve, and he has you, and you know that no matter what happens next, nothing is going to change that.

***

tagging some people who asked about it and/or expressed interest in this fic! Y'ALL ROCK @crappymixtape @starry-eyed-steve @mrskeery-mclaughlin @sailor-steve

#steve harrington x reader #steve harrington fanfic #steve harrington x gn! reader #steve harrington #stranger things fanfic #stranger things 4 #steve harrington x y/n #steve harrington x you #steve harrington angst #st fic: r&j

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apomaro-mellow · 1 year

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Steddie Nature Doc 1

When asked why he was suddenly carrying a camera everywhere, Dustin simply answered that having record of their daily life seemed prudent, considering how much weird shit they saw. Looking back on the tapes would remind them they indeed had normal lives. Or he’d actually catch some of the stuff they do for proof. It was getting a little annoying saving the world and not getting any credit honestly.

And Dustin did record mundane things as well, getting a few tips from Jonathan. It was why, right now he was recording the dash while Eddie drove him to Steve and Robin’s new job at the arcade.

“If that one fucker is there, I’m gonna lose it.” Eddie’s voice came from the side, in the driver’s seat.

“You mean Jake?” , Dustin asked.

Eddie practically hissed at his name.

“Do you hate him because he’s in a slightly different counter-culture than you? Or because Steve likes him?”

“Steve doesn’t like him!”, Eddie said a little too quickly.

“He said his hair is cool.”

“....Shit.”

Dustin didn’t think Eddie had anything to worry about when it came to Steve. But it was entertaining to see him squirm after all those times he rolled his eyes whenever Dustin would talk about how cool Steve was. Now Eddie was penning lyrics to wax poetic about his boyfriend’s eyes and worrying if Steve thought he was cool. How the tables have turned.

They entered the arcade and Steve was behind the ticket counter. And Jake was in front of it. Dustin made his way over to Will and Lucas, who were finishing up a game of air hockey.

“Even a mated pair can find trouble in paradise in the form of a rival”, Dustin narrated as he shot the older teens. Steve was having a casual conversation with a guy who wore his hair in a mohawk.

“This particular rival has impressive plumage. An attractive attribute, as it implies a regular hair care regimen. Something creatures like Steve value.”

Eddie was watching with jealousy in his gut. Still, he noticed the way Steve lit up when he saw him. How his hands twitched to reach out to him before remembering where they were. Eddie leaned against the counter, fighting the urge to hip check Jake who just never seemed to get the hint.

“I thought this counter was for tickets, not attention”, he teased to the punk that had been a thorn in his side for weeks.

Dustin grinned from behind the camera. “A smile is usually meant to disarm. But in this instance, Eddie is baring his teeth. A challenge. His species and Jake’s are notorious enemies, often fighting for niche space in environments as small as Hawkins. Who will Steve choose?”

“I’m just here for a prize”, Jake said to Eddie before giving Steve a wink. He slid his small amount of tickets over and picked out a little prize.

“Better luck next time”, Steve said.

“I’m counting on it.”

From the viewfinder, it looked like Eddie literally wanted to bite his head off, even as he walked away Eddie glared.

“The competitor retreats for now. But he is undeterred.”

---------------------------

"Maybe if you lick him, Jake’ll get the hint”, Dustin said derisively.

Eddie didn’t look away from them. They’d come to the park to meet up with some of the others before going to the baseball field. Both he and Dustin sat atop a picnic table. Meanwhile, Steve was talking to Jake. Why a punk was just strolling around the park, Eddie had no idea. But Jake had seen the bat and just started chatting Steve up and now Eddie was left simmering.

“I’m not gonna lick him. I’m not a child.” Still, some kind of brand on Steve would be nice. But hickeys went away and no one would be able to tell it was his without knowing they were involved already. The cold February breeze came through and Eddie got an idea. Dustin was already turning his camera on as the other hopped off the table and walked off.

“It appears that Eddie is finally about to stake his claim.”

Eddie looked as casual as ever while he sauntered up. The only thing betraying how he felt about Jake was his tight smile. He put a hand on Steve’s shoulder but really he wanted to run it down his back.

“Wait, is he...? Unbelievable”, Dustin said as the scene unfolded. Eddie shrugged off his leather jacket and put it across Steve’s shoulders. “In no uncertain terms, Eddie has officially marked Steve, signaling to his punk enemy that he is not available.”

Dustin zoomed in to catch Jake’s expression, eyes looking back and forth between Steve and Eddie before recognition set in. And then he left. Dustin deftly set the camera down as his friends turned towards him and walked back.

“Still a heart breaker, huh Steve?”, Dustin grinned.

“What’re you talking about?”

Eddie rolled his eyes. “Forget it, Dustin. This guy can’t tell someone’s flirting with him until they write him an entire song.”

“Pretty rich for a guy I asked to help with my pipes and thought I meant actual plumbing.”

“You guys are both idiots”, Dustin said. “That’s why you’re perfect for each other.” And he had the video to prove it.

-----------------------

Once again, Dustin was spying through a crack in a doorway. “Grooming is a common way to show affection for one another”, he whispered. Through the crack, it was clear that Eddie was sitting on the bed, Steve behind him, brushing through the long curls.

“A ritual that is both intimate and occasionally a prelude for-” Dustin stopped when they started kissing and Eddie pushed Steve onto the bed and that was his cue to get out.

----------------------

“What sort of stuff do you get on camera anyway?”, Steve asked one day.

“A lot of things”, Dustin said cryptically.

“Liiiiike what? Do you film your campaigns or something? Or do you just record random stuff and send it to your girlfriend?”

Dustin had in fact sent a tape to Suzie once. “I get some DnD stuff. Some friend stuff.”

“Do you ever record Eddie?”

“Yyyyyes.” Dustin wondered where this conversation was going.

“Would you happen to know his stance on Valentine’s Day?”

“If I give you a hint, what do I get?”

Steve rolled his eyes. He didn’t know where Dustin got it from. “Free rides for a month.”

“I’ve never paid you.”

“I mean I won’t complain for the whole month.”

“Free rides and 50 free tokens.”

“Rides for two weeks and 10 free tokens.”

“Rides, 20 free tokens, and I’ll show you exclusive footage of Eddie.”

Steve was enticed by that and it was clear on his face. What could be on that camera. He held out his hand to Dustin. “Deal.”

They shook on it.

“He’s thinking of getting you a ring.”

“A WEDDING RING?!?”

“Keep your head on, Jeeesus”, Dustin groaned. “You’ve been together barely two months. Not even Eddie is that fast. Like one of his rings. He thinks you like ‘em.”

Steve bit his lip. He did like those rings. And those fingers. And those hands. And th- ”Okay. I can plan for that.”

When February 14th came, Steve found that Dustin hadn’t been entirely truthful. Eddie did give him a ring. He did it right as a gig ended. After singing a song about an unstoppable warrior. Eddie tossed the ring right at him in the audience. Steve’s eyes never broke from Eddie’s as he kissed it.

And Dustin got the whole thing on camera.

Part 3 FINAL

@henderdads

#apo writes #stranger things #fanfiction #steddie #dustin henderson #im thinkin of possibly one more part #that's just dustin chronicling their wedding day #leading up to the reveal of this video

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dickplinko · 2 years

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MY FRUITY FOUR HEADCANONS

• Steve suffers minor memory lose due to the amount of concussions he's had. To help him Eddie leaves little reminders in his car for him

• Steve steals Eddie's rings so much that they've become shared rings, it becomes an inside joke. At some point Eddie proposes to Steve with one of their rings

• The two get a trailer together it's not much but it's theirs and they're together which is more than enough for them. They're happy

• After Barb went missing Steve didn't invite anyone over to his house because he worries it will happen again and he cares too much about them

• Steve gave up swimming and sports because he's insecure about them

• Sometimes Steve gets phantom pain in his healed scares and Eddie gives them kisses and asures Steve that it will be okay

• Eddie collects the most random shit ever and loves little things

• Eddie's love language is gift giving and he randomly gives people he cares about his things like mugs or rings or even pins

• Eddie has never done any drugs harder than weed

• One night in the winter Eddie was driving home and he spun into a ditch and now he gets anxious driving next to deep ditches, he rides the middle

• Eddie got a job working at family video

• The four go on camping trips in the back of Eddie's van

• Nancy and Steve had a conversation about Eddie and Robin geeking out about their partners and how cute they are.

• Robin makes little hand notes with doodles on them for Nancy

• Nacy reads Robin's books before going to bed

• The four have weekly movie nights at Steve and Eddie's trailer

• Eddie convinced all of them to play D&D. They don't do a serious campaign just one shots every now and then. It's very chaotic and fun. Eddie knows that they don't take it super serious but he doesn't mind because he finds it fun.

• There's a room for Dustin in Steve and Eddie's trailer. He stays with them when his mom gets too annoying.

• Eddie once suggested the four get matching tattoos. There was a lot of debate over the design. Nancy said that the only way she'd do it is if Robin designed it. Robin's design was really bad but they all did it anyways because they love her and are happy with their choice

• Steve tried to have a serious conversation with Robin about her and Nancy. He told her that she's a better partner for Nancy than he ever could have been. She makes fun of him for this.

• Max still lives in the trailer park and everytime Nancy and Robin come to the park to see Steve and Eddie they make Max cookies. Max looks forward to the weekly cookies from her moms.

• When Steve and Eddie found out about the cookies they got really upset because they want some too. Nancy and Robin started bringing cookies to movie night because of this but they never talked about it and the expectations of cookies is now there.

• Jason wouldn't leave Eddie alone even after he was proved innocent. When Nancy found out about this she payed him a visit. He left Eddie alone after that

• Nancy and Robin have a black cat. They call him different names and always debate over which one is his real name. Nancy calls him Reginald and Robin calls him Tape Recorder. Nancy finds this both ridiculous and adorable.

• Nancy and Mike both hid their gay relationships from each other fearing that their siblings would judge them. Robin and Will both know this and also talk about it to together as bonding.

• Eddie was really nervous before he asked out Steve and so he talked to Nancy about him and asked her for advice. Nancy gave him so much information about Steve and told him that she's never seen Steve this happy because of anyone before.

#the fruity four #eddie munson #steve harrington #nancy wheeler #robin buckley #stranger things #ronance #steddie

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inairbinad · 11 months

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Steve's Got a Date with a Vampire!

part one of seven | 4.9k | AO3 Now Complete!

Where Eddie wakes up a little bit different, Steve is obsessed, and Dustin gets his Meddling Kids Platinum Badge™. I know I posted a couple teasers from the last chapter of this over the weekend, but friendly reminder that this is primarily an idiots to lovers fic, and they take their sweet ass time getting there. Warnings: None for this part, except the obvious mentions of blood.

Steve didn’t ever really leave Eddie’s bedside, while he was sleeping. The only breaks he took were to shower or go visit Max down the hall. Most nights he stayed past visiting hours, the nursing staff having long given up on trying to stop him falling asleep in an uncomfortable hospital chair—oftentimes with Lucas's head resting on his shoulder.

One of those nights, with Steve already leveled with exhaustion and barely holding his own head up, Robin came in to sit with him.

“Steve,” she all but whispered.

“I’m okay, Rob,” he said automatically. “Just gonna rest my eyes for a bit, then I’ll drive you home.”

“Don’t worry about that,” Robin said, sounding fondly annoyed. “Nancy’s gonna drive me. But—don’t you think you should go home and get some rest?” she tried.

They’d had this conversation every day for the last three, now. Steve hadn’t yet relented.

“I’m just gonna worry if I go home,” he said honestly. “I won’t sleep. At least here I know they’re both still breathing.”

Eddie had made strides in that regard, at least; they’d extubated him earlier that day. There still weren’t any signs of him waking up, though, and there was no change at all with Max.

Robin sighed, apparently having expected that answer. She was quiet for a minute, as they both listened to the slow beep of Eddie’s heart monitor.

“Can I ask you something?” Robin asked, voice still low. “And you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, to be clear.”

Steve had an idea of what was coming next and let it happen anyway.

“Sure,” he said.

“This,” she started, gesturing towards Steve slumped in his chair, “is more than just guilt, isn’t it?”

Of course Robin knew. She always went on about how she couldn’t read social cues very well, but Steve couldn’t ever get anything past her. Maybe it was their “telepathic brain thing” that Dustin always complained about them doing. Sometimes it weirded Steve out a little, but right now he was just grateful for it. For Robin.

“No,” he said. His voice sounded small. “It’s hardly guilt at all, really.”

Robin just made little humming noise to herself. Steve took that to mean she wanted him to keep going.

“I mean, I wish we’d done things differently, obviously” Steve said, laughing bitterly so that he wouldn’t cry instead. He’d go back and do things over a thousand times not to end up here again. “I wish I’d stayed with him and Dustin, maybe. Or dealt with Jason when we’d had the chance…” he trailed off, thinking of Max down the hall, Lucas’s swollen face, and the way Erica jumped at every loud noise now. “I’d do a lot differently—or I wouldn’t do it at all. But I blame Vecna more than I blame myself, believe it or not.”

He couldn’t quite figure out what Robin was thinking, or what the look she was giving him meant. Her eyes were soft, a little sad, but also something else.

“I just,” Steve started, but he didn’t know how to say it out loud. Except he knew Robin was waiting for him to, and that she’d be proud of him if he did. The promise of that propelled Steve forward. “I can’t lose him, Robin. Not when I just got him.”

Steve didn’t think he had Eddie, not really. He just knew how Eddie’s teasing grin made his insides warm. How whichever pet name for Steve fell out of his lips at any given moment made him almost forget the apocalypse they were fighting together. Steve didn’t need to have Eddie as his own, he thought. He just needed to know he was alive, that Steve had more days ahead of Eddie invading his personal space, and leaving Steve breathless when he left his scent of smoke and something spicy in his wake.

“You won’t,” Robin said, something steely in her voice now as she grabbed Steve's hand and squeezed. “Neither of them are going anywhere. Not if I can help it.”

Steve did his best to believe her.

———

On the seventh morning of Eddie’s hospital stay, Steve dragged himself into Eddie’s room like usual. Coffee didn’t really do much to quell his exhaustion these days, but he sipped on some anyway as he got to his new routine. He played one of Eddie’s cassettes—quietly, as he’d gotten plenty of dirty looks from the nurses for being too loud before—humming along as he pulled a chair up next to Eddie’s bed. He was so still, Steve couldn’t help reaching out to thread his fingers around Eddie’s wrist, just to feel his pulse still beating away.

This time it stuttered under Steve’s touch. That was new. Steve looked at Eddie’s face, confused. He looked peaceful, like this. His skin was still cool to the touch, but his breathing was even, pulse slow and now jumpy. Was that a good sign?

“Hey, Munson,” Steve said, settling in. He let his grip around Eddie’s wrist loosen, leaving his hand to cover Eddie’s own instead. “It’s been seven days in here, now. Three since you’ve been breathing on your own again. Max is still asleep, too. I wish I had better news. Dustin misses you. I miss you,” Steve sighed and tried to think of something cheerful to share.

“The press does seem to be buying the government’s alternate serial killer theory, since it’s simpler than ’Satan did it,’ I guess. Wayne said the police are working on closing the case against you, so that’s a relief, at least.” Steve dropped his head into his free hand. What good was clearing Eddie’s name if he wouldn’t wake up to see it himself?

“I was wondering why I wasn’t handcuffed to the bed,” a surprisingly smooth and awake voice said above him.

Steve’s head snapped up so fast his neck cracked. Eddie was looking down at him already, his brown eyes darker, somehow. But they were open, bright, and alive. Steve felt his mouth stretch into a wide grin. He didn’t know what to say for what felt like a long time, just smiling stupidly at Eddie.

“Disappointed by that?” Steve finally replied, then immediately felt like kicking himself. Here Eddie was, waking up from a coma, and Steve couldn’t even figure out how to say something normal. Something like, how are you feeling or can I get you some water, sprang to mind too late. But apparently all Steve’s stupid little brain could manage was something not-so-vaguely flirtatious under Eddie’s gaze.

But Eddie didn’t seem to mind. In fact, if Steve wasn’t totally deluding himself, it seemed like Eddie liked it. He didn’t blush, but he looked flustered. Hungry. Steve let that revelation settle deep into his bones, warm and pooling like syrup.

Then he got his shit together.

“How are you feeling?” he asked, squeezing Eddie’s hand. He was still cold. Eddie’s gaze flicked down to Steve’s neck and back. If Steve hadn’t been analyzing Eddie’s every move—for any sign that he might break, might fall back into a coma, might leave again—he’d have probably missed it.

“Starving,” was all Eddie said with a devilish grin.

Steve watched, somewhat dazed, as Eddie let the doctors marvel over his recovery for about forty-five minutes before checking himself out against medical advice. His bites had already scarred over, completely healed in somewhat miraculous fashion. The doctor’s seemed mildly concerned about Eddie’s circulation, given how much blood he’d lost and how slow his pulse still was. But all of his tests were normal, had been for days now. He didn’t seem to have any muscle atrophy, no loss of brain function. He was just Eddie.

So Steve didn’t argue when Eddie asked him to drive him home as soon as possible. Steve wheeled Eddie down the hall to visit Max before he took him back to the motel where Wayne was staying. Eddie had complained loudly about the wheelchair, only relenting when Steve gently laid a hand on his shoulder and said, “Humor me.”

They sat with Max for a while, sobering Steve’s giddiness at Eddie’s complete turnaround. But Steve knew if anyone had the strength in them to do the same, it was Max Mayfield.

No one was here visiting yet—it was still early by anyone but Steve’s standards. So they took their time talking to her, Eddie giving her the daily update like Steve had done for him. He gave Steve a knowing grin as he said, “We all miss you, Red.”

Steve was too busy looking at his feet in embarrassment, so he didn’t notice Eddie hopping out of his wheelchair at lightning speed.

Then Eddie was in his space again, quicker than Steve had time to even account for. Eddie turned into Steve’s neck and whispered, “Cover for me, Stevie.”

Then he dipped down the hallway and into the stairwell.

Steve fumbled to recover for a minute, wondering what on earth had just happened. He looked to Max’s sleeping face as if maybe she’d know. Steve imagined her usual lazy shrug and his heart ached.

Sure enough, a minute later one of the younger nurses came looking for Eddie with discharge paperwork. Bewildered as he was, Steve could handle this part. He leaned against the door frame next to her and grinned.

“I think he went back to his room for something,” Steve said, before putting on the most convincing show of fake flirting he could muster. It still wasn’t his best—Steve was mostly still thinking of Eddie whispering into his neck and ear—but it worked well enough to distract her. Steve was actually surprised to see her face fall when he brushed her off for Eddie’s return.

Take that, Robin, he thought, picturing her damned tally board. Steve thought this whole endeavor probably warranted a point in the ‘You Rule’ column, but he didn’t care much. He was too busy watching Eddie saunter over to his side with his now-zipped jacket suspiciously full looking, and his grin bright.

“Let’s blow this popsicle stand, shall we?”

Steve was too busy caught up in the thrill of Eddie—alive, probably healthy as Steve had ever seen him, laughing breathlessly as they made their escape to Steve’s car—to even ask what he’d been covering for. He wondered if they’d just robbed the hospital pharmacy.

Eddie seemed to wilt a bit once they got outside and the sun peeked out from behind a cloud overhead, hitting him straight in the face.

“Shit,” he mumbled to himself, ducking back into the shade by the doors. “Didn’t think of that.”

“What?” Steve asked, offering his sunglasses over. Eddie accepted them with a grateful smile, then took a tentative step back into the sunshine.

“It’s nothing,” he said, seeming to relax a little once the sunglasses were on. Steve couldn’t help but notice they looked good on him. “Help me to the car, would you?”

So Steve did, offering Eddie an arm to lean on as they made their way through the parking lot. Steve eyed him carefully, but didn’t ask questions.

Well, at least not until they got into the beemer. That’s when Eddie immediately pulled something out of his jacket—was that donated blood?—then tore into the bag and sucked its contents down like, well, water.

Then Steve had questions. The first of which being a hearty, “The fuck?”

Eddie drained the bag and let his head fall back to rest on the seat, exposing the column of his neck. Steve swallowed, cursing his brain to pay attention to what the hell was happening instead of being a slut for once. Eddie lolled his head to look at Steve and gave him a gleaming, bloody smile.

“So, funny story,” he paused. If Steve had to guess it must’ve been for dramatic effect. “I think I’m a vampire.”

———

Admittedly, the whole vampire revelation made Steve a little anxious in a what-in-the-Vecna-fuckery sort of way, but he didn’t trust Eddie any less over it. Just because he was on the slithering asshole’s radar, Steve didn’t understand why he’d have to worry about Eddie being mind-controlled by Vecna anymore that he did for Max or Will. The whole vampire bit was admittedly a curveball, but so was the rest of Steve’s life at this point.

All the same, Eddie himself had insisted that they give it a few days before letting him around the kids, to be sure. Dustin only gave it twenty-four hours before calling a “family meeting” and inviting everyone over to Steve’s. Steve had not been consulted, but what else was new?

So there he sat, Eddie sandwiched between himself and Robin on his couch, while Mike, Lucas, and Dustin took turns pacing in front of them.

The kids eventually devolved into having a rapid-fire debate about some dude called Kas—who apparently destroyed things? Steve wasn’t sure it really mattered. Dustin kept yelling something about Kas and betrayal, whatever that meant, but Mike was countering with something about evil and alignments. Steve guessed it wasn’t about any dark desires from a chiropractor.

Eddie had finally had enough of their bickering and whistled for them to shut up.

“Look, kiddos. I want a Vecna-free brain just as much as you guys. Well, more than you guys do,” he paused to fiddle with his rings. Steve wondered if they weren’t real silver, or if that was just a myth. Then he realized he’d thought all vampire-related things were myths up until yesterday. He shook himself out of his thoughts as Eddie continued. “If he is secretly hanging out in the ol’ noggin, I can’t tell. But don’t you all keep telling me about a girl with mind-reading abilities? Think she could suss him out?”

The room went silent, blessedly, for maybe one-and-a-half seconds.

“Genius!” Dustin exclaimed.

“Where’s El?" Mike asked Lucas at the same time.

“Will that work?” Lucas questioned over everyone else.

“One at a time, Jesus,” Steve cut in, rubbing his eyes. When he stopped, Eddie was looking at him with some emotion Steve couldn’t quite interpret. He stopped trying and turned back to the kids, who stood there staring at him like they were waiting for assignments. Steve sighed, and pointed at Mike. “You first, Wheeler.”

Mike turned to Lucas. “Was El still at the hospital when you left?”

She spent most of her time with either Hopper or Max these days, so it was a fair assumption.

“She was,” Lucas confirmed. “Is that something you think she can do?”

“Probably,” Mike shrugged.

“Definitely,” Will amended, speaking up for the first time in a while.

And so that’s how Steve ended up going to get El so she could “do a proper seance” on Eddie’s brain, as he’d put it.

“I don’t feel him,” El said about an hour later. “Your mind is strange.”

Robin failed to hide her snickering behind her hand.

“Believe me, kid, I know,” Eddie agreed with a grin.

With everyone more relaxed after that, Eddie regaled the kids with his tale of evading tipping off the nurses to his being awake while he pieced together that he’d woken up not quite…human.

“So I played dead,” Eddie told them and flopped on the floor like a sack of dead weight, letting his tongue loll out of his mouth and everything. Steve watched the hem of Eddie’s shirt ride up just far enough to give him a glimpse of the worst of his scarring. They already seemed to have faded again since the day before. “And hoped like hell I wouldn’t eat anyone before I could figure out how to get down to the blood bank. Then Stevie came to my rescue.” He flashed Steve an exaggerated wink and whisked himself back to his feet as he told everyone how waking up felt.

Eddie apparently had a lot of weird dreams while he was still under, too. When Dustin asked, Eddie explained how most were like watching his body turn cold, like steel—or dreams about blood. He recounted waking up and being overwhelmed by feeling almost everything around him, of being able to hear the heartbeat of the patient in the next room over before the monitor even registered it with a beep.

As an added bonus, Eddie also enjoyed showing off the fangs.

Steve had to work to control his face every time Eddie popped those out. Steve thought the fangs should be freaking him out, but they didn’t in the slightest. To the point where Steve thought maybe there was something wrong with his fight or flight response after one-too-many trips to a different dimension. A normal person would be scared, not inexplicably turned on by the thought of them sinking into the flesh of their neck.

In the interest of not exposing himself as a lovestruck idiot to absolutely everyone in the room—Robin absolutely already knew, based on the looks she’d been shooting him all afternoon—Steve excused himself to the patio for a smoke break. He didn’t usually smoke much anymore, unless he was drinking, largely due to Robin’s incessant nagging about it. But Steve was pretty sure if he had to keep his blossoming crush on his friend the vampire in check, he’d need a lot more nicotine to distract himself.

Except Eddie slid out of the patio door to join him. Steve offered him one from his own pack wordlessly. Eddie accepted with a toothy—but thankfully fang-free—grin.

“Do these do anything for you anymore?” Steve asked, suddenly curious.

“Not really,” Eddie shrugged. “I just wouldn’t know what to do with my hands if I quit. Or for an excuse to leave the room when I’m uncomfortable.”

Steve huffed out a nervous laugh, unsure if that was meant to be Eddie calling him out. Unwilling to really find out, Steve stayed quiet and stared up at the few stars that were starting to show themselves.

“Are you sure you wanna let me drive them home?” Eddie asked after a minute, staring determinedly at his shoes. Steve didn’t know what the hell to make of that question.

“I’m not your mother, Munson,” he tried for a lighter tone.

“True,” Eddie smirked, “but you’re kind of theirs, though.”

Fair, Steve thought. But he still wasn’t sure what Eddie was actually getting at. “What’s this about?”

Eddie sighed and stubbed out his cigarette with a frustrated flourish. “I guess I’m asking if you’re sure you trust me to be around them. By myself. When I’m like…this.”

Steve almost laughed, but managed to hold it in once he saw that Eddie was being serious. He was tucking into himself like a pill bug, like he was expecting the fear and revulsion to finally come rolling off of Steve in waves.

Steve had wondered if it was a delayed reaction on his part, as well, and if eventually he’d be disgusted or freaked out by the whole situation. So far those feelings showed no threat of surfacing, and Steve didn’t really think that they would, either.

Instead, all he felt was relief. He was relieved that Eddie was still alive. Or, well, kind of alive. He never really mastered the logistics of all the vampire movies Robin has made him watch. And really, after all of the Upside Down creatures that had tried to eat them over the years, Eddie seemed positively tame.

Most importantly, he seemed like himself.

So, gently, Steve reached his hand across the empty expanse between them and laid it on Eddie’s forearm. Eddie’s eyes snapped up to meet his own.

“I trust you,” Steve said, putting every ounce of sincerity he could muster into the look they shared. Eddie seemed to believe it, because after a moment he deflated, melting back to lean against the house. “And more importantly, so do they,” Steve added, jerking his head back towards the kids inside.

“Your trust is pretty important to me, too, Harrington,” Eddie admitted with an almost shy smile.

Steve sucked whatever he could out of the last dregs of his cigarette and prayed for the strength to survive being a total goner for Eddie Munson.

———

Max seemed to be improving physically, but there were still no signs of her waking up anytime soon. The longer she slept, and the more things deteriorated in town, the more everyone wanted to find Vecna and finish the job.

Soon enough they all coalesced around a plan to end the Upside Down nonsense once and for all. With El and Will back in town, and Eddie’s newfound enhanced abilities of his own, it didn’t take much. Especially once they realized their old friends the demobats were now more inclined to follow Eddie’s lead than “Old Slitherfuck,” as he called Vecna.

One spring night they snuck into the Upside Down one last time and ended things for good. Max woke up in Lucas’s arms the moment Vecna was done and dusted, and El closed the gates for what they all hoped was the final time.

And now? Well. Now everyone was trying to get back to normal. Or as normal as they could be when they had to figure out ways to steal blood for the vampire in their friend group.

So on they went, trying to settle into yet another new set of skin. Eddie was still wary of himself, Steve could tell, but he never withdrew into isolation or tried to convince everyone they were better off without him.

Which was good, because everyone wanted Eddie around that much more.

Dustin wanted nothing more than to test his abilities, and did test whatever Eddie would let him get away with. Robin asked if they could have vampire movie nights, or if Eddie would find that insensitive (he heartily agreed to it). Nancy had a million questions like the good reporter she was, and she and Dustin often piggybacked off each other’s ideas. Mike tended to go between staring at Eddie in awe and wondering if maybe his sexuality was just “people with superpowers.”

Or at least that’s what Steve and Robin assumed when no one else was listening (and Robin wasn’t pointing out Steve’s own crush on a certain vampire).

Steve was just doing his best to cope. He was getting used to the whole “Eddie Munson is now an undead vampire” situation. Really, he was.

Was he sometimes inexplicably a little bit jealous that he apparently didn’t get enough demobat venom to also be turned? Jealous that he wasn’t the one with superhuman strength and outright awe from the kids at his mere existence? If he was, Steve wasn’t willing to admit it out loud. Because he knew where the jealousy was really coming from, and he certainly wasn’t going to admit how attractive he found Eddie’s new set of pearly whites, no matter how many times Robin tried to get him to.

With everyone’s support (and curiosity), it didn’t take very long for Eddie to finally relish his adaptation into an immortal being either. They’d determined that the sun was hard on him—it made him feel sluggish and itchy, “like Kryptonite"—but he didn’t burst into flame under its rays. Usually he just wore sunglasses and carried around an umbrella like an old-timey gentlewoman who didn’t want to accidentally gain a freckle.

Eddie had been a night-owl before, anyway, so nothing much had really changed there either. Silver didn’t hurt him, mirrors still worked on him, and garlic only made him sneeze. No one was willing to check if a wooden stake would do anything, and Eddie seemed as glad of that as Steve was. Other than the commanding an army of bats, invulnerability, and the obvious diet changes, Eddie didn’t seem all that different.

It was driving Steve wild.

The simplest of flirtatious remarks sent him into a tailspin most days. And Eddie was full of flirtatious remarks by default. The more Steve let on that the flirting flustered him, the more elaborate Eddie got with it.

Eddie’s retelling of his and Steve’s escape from the hospital became more embellished, as well. Steve didn’t exactly know what had happened before he’d arrived to visit that morning, but he was pretty sure it didn’t involve a ravenous Eddie hanging upside down from the hospital ceiling to avoid being caught out of bed while he looked for the blood bank, like Eddie claimed.

Once, he was regaling Will and Dustin with his harrowing journey down into the basement on the “hunt for blood,” as he stood on top of the coffee table in Steve’s living room. (Steve did not have it in him to object to this, a bit of a double standard that Robin mocked him mercilessly over.) Steve was only half paying attention—he’d been there, thank you very much, he remembered what actually happened—from the kitchen while dumping a bag of chips into a bowl.

He perked up though when Eddie said, “Steve was pitifully flirting with a nurse for my benefit—“

“Hey!” Steve protested as he made his way back to the living room. He shoved the bowl into Eddie’s chest and flopped on the sofa next to Will. “She was into it.”

“I could tell your heart wasn’t in it, sweetheart,” Eddie said, and shot Steve a wink. It was so simple, barely even a blip on anyone else's radar, but it had Steve feeling heated through.

Steve tried not to melt into the floor as Will gave him a sideways glance. He did his best to ignore it. The last thing he needed was for someone other than Robin to needle him about his ridiculous behavior.

That particular desire was quickly snuffed out by one Dustin Henderson, though.

———

One day in May, Dustin cornered Steve on their way out of the Henderson house.

“Do you have a problem with Eddie?” Dustin asked him, point blank in his hallway. Steve was suddenly very grateful that Claudia was not at home at the moment.

“No?” Steve couldn’t help but let it become a question. Dustin narrowed his eyes.

“Well, it seems like you do. All you ever do is stare at him, you barely talk, you act like you’re going to jump out of your skin if he even looks at you. Are you afraid of him or something?” Dustin’s face softened, like he was trying not to be quite as harsh as usual. There was still a fierceness there, though, that Steve knew was just born of protectiveness over Eddie.

“No,” Steve replied without hesitation. “Even though you might think that’s a perfectly reasonable reaction to have to our friend the newborn vampire, I’m not afraid of him.”

“Well that’s just it!” Dustin half-yelled, throwing his hands in the air. He just barely missed clipping Steve’s nose. “He’s our friend, but you’re back to treating him like some kind of freak. So if you’re not afraid of him, I’d like to know why you’re being a dick.”

Steve flinched. Dustin wasn’t outright saying it, but he got the implication all the same; you’re acting like King Steve again.

He so violently wanted to reject the accusation that he considered telling Dustin the truth.

It wasn’t like Dustin didn’t accept queer people. He knew about Robin now—thank god—and practically mooned over her for weeks with how cool he found it. Steve was pretty sure Dustin wouldn’t react any differently to finding out he was also a member of the fruit basket, as Robin had dubbed them.

Steve took in the sheer disappointment on Dustin’s face and sighed. He retreated into the living room and plopped on the couch, restlessly running his hands through his hair. Tews came up to him and rubbed her cheek against his pant leg. He gratefully scratched her ears.

Steve knew if he just admitted to the jealousy, Dustin would feel better, but wouldn’t entirely lose that kicked-puppy look. ‘I just want my dads to get along,’ he’d taken to whining whenever he felt like Steve and Eddie weren’t bonding to his specifications. Steve tried not to spontaneously combust each time any of the kids referred to him and Eddie as such.

Fuck it, Steve thought. He knew Dustin would latch on to his confession like Dart with a Three Musketeers, and Steve dreaded the conclusions he’d jump to. But he couldn’t stand to disappoint the kid. He took a deep breath in as Dustin sat beside him. For once, he’d kept his mouth shut instead of berating Steve into submission. He waited patiently, quiet.

“I’m not afraid of him,” Steve said again. “I don’t think he’s a freak. I’m not turning back into King Steve.” He gave Dustin a pained look, who had the grace to look a bit sheepish in response. “I like him, okay?”

“You don’t seem like you—“

“No, Dust,” Steve interrupted. He held Dustin’s gaze this time, hoping he’d connect the dots without too much explanation on Steve’s part. “I like him. I stare and barely talk and tense up because he makes me nervous. But in the butterflies in your stomach kind of way, not the oh god he’s going to kill us all in our sleep kind of way.”

Dustin stayed silent, but his eyes were wide as saucers. Steve wondered if he should give himself a pat on the back for rendering Dustin Henderson speechless for possibly the first time ever.

“You okay?” Steve asked instead, picking at his pant leg. Steve was nearly certain Dustin wouldn’t care that he was bisexual, sure. But he couldn’t help but worry that Dustin still wouldn’t approve—that Steve wouldn’t be good enough, not for Eddie, not in Dustin’s eyes.

Dustin had a knack for surprising Steve, though.

“This is amazing,” he said, eyes practically fucking sparkling with delight.

[PART TWO]

#steddie #steve harrington #eddie munson #fanfic #stranger things #vampire!eddie #dani's drafts #steve's got a date

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obsessive-mannerism · 2 years

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"That's it, baby. Don't stop."

Eddie Munson x Reader (his POV)

Contains: swearing, imaginative bj (oral/male receiving), smut (obviously)

Summary: Eddie had tried so hard not to make you the object of his desire again. But his mind was able to twist even the simplest of your activities into something different.

Author's note: Oops, I did it again! After so many of you liked my first drabble of Eddie fantasizing about the reader, I decided to continue this little trip down naughty lane!

It’s been a few days since Eddie had lost himself in filthy thoughts within Miss O’Donnel’s class. And since then he had tried everything not to gaze at you again. He was actually good at finding different paths to avoid you and it inevitably led to him memorizing your schedule. But there was, of course, one place where he couldn’t completely prevent seeing you: the cafeteria.

He was sitting beside his DnD comrades, who were eagerly plotting against his famously devilish campaign this afternoon. Eddie had his arms crossed in front of his chest, a smile resting on his lips. Yeah, try all you can. But you still won’t be prepared for what’s coming. Garett and Jeff started to whisper, Dustin leaned forward to listen to them and threw Eddie a cautious look. He just raised one eyebrow, still amused by their attempt to outsmart him.

With a sigh, Eddie looked around. The cafeteria was filled with the same shitty, dull people that were always here. Who would be the person to piss him off enough that he would either flip them off or outwit so that they would walk away in total irritation? His brown eyes wandered across the room until he caught you in his eye. Oh, shit. Here we go again.

Unconsciously, Eddie tilted his head to catch a better glimpse of you. You were standing next to the table that you would probably take a seat at every minute now. You were holding a tray with food on it. For something out of the cafeteria, it looked too healthy. He assumed that you took good care of your intake, and therefore your body. There goes his dream to get batshit wasted with you. But it probably was for the better. When Eddie was high he got way too affectionate, and he didn’t want to turn you off.

Quite the contrary, actually. Especially when he realized that you had looked at him as well and gave him that smile again from a few days ago. Fucking hell, Munson. Get it together! He was annoyed at himself, he had tried so hard and yet wasn’t able to withdraw from looking - well basically staring at you, which is why he looked away, without returning the smile. It made his guts wrench to give you a bad feeling like this, but why wasn’t he able to pull himself together when it came to you? Your presence was enough to grab him by the balls and it intimidated the shit out of him. But deep inside, he wanted you to grab more than just his balls.

For a short moment, Eddie’s focus shifted back to his company, but their conversation was now about school and THAT was way too boring for him to listen to. He leaned forward, put his index finger on his lip and his thumb under his chin, while his elbow was resting on the table in front of him. That magnet with your name written all over it pulled his eyes back toward you with an incomparable force and what he saw made him swallow hard. The horny teenager in him had awoken once more.

You were drinking a coke, right out of the fucking bottle. Your lips looked so beautiful around that slim hole made out of glass, while your hand held the bottleneck in a tight grip. Eddie’s head started to rumble and his cheeks got warm, as he imagined that this wasn’t the bottle in your hand and that your lips were caressing something different than the glass. He clenched his fist in front of his face as his imagination got the better of him.

Eddie saw you kneeling in front of him, your big, lovely eyes looking up at him, while you licked the tip of his pounding erection with your wet tongue. He smiled down at you because you were such a good girl. His hand would stroke the side of your face before he grabbed you by your pretty hair and pulled slightly on it. Very gently, but still demanding, he would move his hips toward your mouth, so he would fill it completely with his dick. You seemed to take it just fine. Your body was built perfectly for his. Eddie’s teeth would clench, as he tried to suppress a deep, guttural moan. Your warm, wet mouth just felt too fucking good, so he threw his head back to catch his breath.

But you were apparently not as good as he thought. Filthily, you would start to move your head, despite his hand holding you tightly. Around his dick, you pressed your lips together and started sucking the life out of him. Eddie let out a surprised groan and his grip got a little rougher. But he could never be mad at you. You were so eager to please him with your dirty mouth. And you proved that by taking him back in, just to repeat your treatment with sucking him, not only when you let go, but also while his dick was resting between your lips. You could probably taste his precum on your playful little tongue, and that paired with the fact that you were still looking at him like this was the greatest pleasure you could bear to witness, made Eddie fear for his sanity. You turned him into a groaning mess, and he could feel the vibration of your moan around his cock.

“That’s it, baby. Don’t stop”, he would heavily breathe down at you, to encourage you to suck harder, take him in deeper and move your head faster. You obeyed, like the good little girl you were. Eddie’s other hand would rest on the wall behind you to support himself, as his knees started to shake beneath him while you were relentlessly sucking, licking, and riding him with your mouth. You completely charmed him when your tongue stroked his length and Eddie took this opportunity to grab his erection by the root, to then gently slap your soft tongue with it. The sound you made afterward made his dick pulsate. He imagined that you were just as turned on by this as he was, your wet pussy desperately clenching for him. But oh, he would definitely cum inside of your mouth, but only with your consent. Though only the thought that you would take every last drop of him was almost enough to finish him off.

While you made him lose his sense of time and space, your hands were tenderly stroking along his thighs. Apparently, you could read his mind, because you murmured: “I want to taste you”, while your tongue was playfully circling around the tip of his gleaming dick. You simply took his breath away, as he shoved himself back inside your mouth and let out a long-drawn-out moan. All of his ten fingers were now buried inside your hair, loosely keeping your head in place, while he fucked your filthy, but beautiful mouth. He was keen on making that wish of yours come true.

Eddie felt a hand pushing his shoulder. He shook his head and arrived back at the cafeteria. You were standing next to him and looked down at him with a confused expression. Eddie stared at you with his brown eyes opened wide, as he tried to ignore the pounding erection within his pants, begging to break free and release itself on you. Fuck!

It seemed like you were waiting for him to say something, but Eddie had not been in this dimension for the past minutes. The others were staring at the both of you, but Dustin seemed to sense your predicament when he said: “Eddie, she asked you if she could join Hellfire club.” Oh, shit. Oh, no. How was he ever going to concentrate if you were sitting at the same table, probably right next to him? “Um…”, he said hesitantly to buy himself, and his dick, some time to calm down and snap back to reality. “What’s your class and level?”, he asked finally, forcing himself to smile at you so you wouldn’t feel rejected like before. You seemed nervous as you were rubbing your thighs together. Wait a fucking second. Was this code for a date? No, it couldn’t be.

You said that you didn’t know anything about that yet, but you wanted to try something new and learn from him. Oh, baby. I’ll teach you alright.

Eddie’s smile grew wider, as he held out his hand to welcome you. When your slender hand touched his, he felt like lightning had struck him from within. You seemed to feel the same way, as you were pausing and looking into his eyes intently. That’s where it hit him. He wouldn’t be able to keep away from you any longer. And he would try his hardest to make his fantasy come true. To make you his good girl.

#eddie munson #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson smut #eddie munson fanfic #stranger things 4 #st4 #hope you enjoy you filthy animals

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jadeylovesmarvelxo · 2 years

Text

Mysterious and Spooky 🖤🕷

can I request something like reader is a new student at Hawkins and they have a personality like Morticia Addams & Eddie falls in love with them immediately?

Requested by anon. 🖤 I hope you enjoy.

Some quotes are by Morticia and I've written them in a different font so you know what ones they are ❤

Likes, comments and reblogs are much appreciated! ❤🙂 I do not give anyone permission to copy my work.

🎃

Talk at Hawkins High School was rife about the new girl y/n. Half the students were fascinated by her and the other half were terrified.

Spooky, kooky and a little mysterious she joined Hawkins in October and set the gossip train alight.

The aura she held was one of confidence, she had a quick wit and entranced those who she met.

Fred had told a sceptical Nancy he was sure she was a witch. Nancy proceeded to call him an idiot.

Jason was torn between thinking she was hot and being seriously spooked out by her while Chrissy was an absolute sweetheart and befriended her straight away.

She walked right into the cafeteria on her first day composed and ignoring the talk that was amped up as she walked over to join Chrissy who had kindly invited her to sit at her table.

Talk ranged from her black knee-high boots, lacy black dress and spider earrings to what lipstick made her lips look that red to other ruder whispers.

"Why do you wear all black. Don't you own any other colours?". Stacy one of the cheerleaders whispered to her and Chrissy told her off for being so rude.

"Black is such a happy colour don't you think? Delightful even". Stacy blinks stunned and she smirks amused.

Well, she did ask.

"I prefer yellow, it's the colour of sunshine". Stacy retorted stifly and y/n looks at her aghast.

"Oh, how frightfully dull. You poor thing". Stacy stares at her stunned and y/n has enough of her gawking and turns away engaging Chrissy in conversation instead.

She was very unaware of the curly brown-haired boy who was gaping at her. If hearts could come out of his eyes they would.

As soon as Eddie spotted her for the very first time he fell in love. He had never seen someone so beautiful in his life.

For the first time in a long time. He was rendered silent and practically floated over to the table she was at, dropping on his knee and gazing at her.

"Jesus H Christ, you're what I've been looking for all my life". She grins.

"So dramatic darling. I love it. My name is yn. What's yours?". She gave him her preferred hand and he kissed it gently.

"Eddie, Eddie Munson and sweetheart you are the queen in my dreams".

Y/n loved to listen to the rumours about herself, she particularly liked the one about her being a witch (She wishes) and that she liked to put a spell on unsuspecting suitors.

Ridiculous of course but the things people liked to believe were outlandish at times.

It could sometimes get annoying though, so she dressed all in black and liked to wear scarlet red lipstick, ruby red nail polish and loved all things spooky and macabre.

What was the big deal? Was she really the most exciting thing in this small town that was meant to be strange itself?

Of course, she knew about the rumours here, missing kid disappears for a week then comes back, spooky woods, possessions, a girl with superpowers that involved psychic abilities specifically telekinesis, monsters and secret experiments.

Just because half the town liked to keep their head in the sand others didn't. Her mother who loved all things supernatural and otherworldly just like she did had gotten all the gossip from her father who joined the police team.

One person whose attention she did love though was Eddie Munson. The minute they met it was like it was fated. Of that, she was sure of.

Speaking of which she spotted Eddie who was surrounded by his sheeples as he liked to call them - the freshman boys Dustin, Mike and Lucas.

"Hi, beautiful". He drops to his knees takes her hand and kisses it, trailing feather light kisses up her arm then pulling her in for a long passionate kiss.

The minute she met Eddie when he wandered over to where she sat with Chrissy on her first day she fell for him.

They had been joined at the hip ever since.

"How's my princess?".

"Oh, my love, this morning I looked out and it was so stormy, the lightning and thunder. The rain? All gloomy and wild, It is rather romantic don't you think? I love it"

He smiles indulgently and kisses her forehead. Others watched them as they passed but the two of them paid the people no mind.

Y/n cups his cheek as he watched her with reverence.

"I love you, my princess". He murmurs into her ear and she grins.

“You are dearer to me than all the bats in all the caves in the world. I love you to my love”

The three boys stared at each other used to how Eddie and y/n acted but sometimes they were caught off guard.

The two of them really were perfect for each other, soulmates if you will.

In this life and in eternal life too

🖤🎃🍁

#eddie munson imagine #eddie munson x female reader #spooky reads

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flamingo-writes · 2 years

Note

Heyyyyyy, sooo I was thinking bout being Mike's older sister, and dating eddie secretly, but then, Ed has to mention his girlfriend( they still dont know who it is, just that he has one),but none of the hellfire boys believe him and then one night, in a make out sesh on his throne, the boys come in the room,( eddie "forgot"😉 it was DnD night) and Mike is just like, shooketh and it's really funny, sorry if it's too precise or detailed

I was away for the weekend and hardly had time to write. But, As soon as I saw this request I fell in love with it and started writing it right away. It took me some time to get done bcs adult life sucks, and this kinda turned out longer than expected 🤡 but that shouldn’t come as a surprise at this point. This also turned out fluffier than expected, I wanted this to be funny but it turned out to be more soft and fluffy… with some funny parts ofc.

Im also implying that the design of the Hellfire shirt was made by the reader.

Got To Be Real — e.m.

Eddie Munson x Wheeler!Reader

Title based off N.I.B. by Black Sabbath

Word count: 3.6K

Warnings: None that I can think of. Mentions of the reader having an active sex life, I guess?

Mixtape Masterlist

Mike unfolded the new shirt Eddie had thrown at them. Giving a new shirt to each and every one of the members of the Hellfire Club, making sure he handed the right size at everyone. Dustin chuckled next to Mike as Mike admired the details, the D20, a sword in fire, the logo, it all looked pretty badass, Mike thought.

“Oh shit, Eddie, these new shirts are amazing. Where did you get them?” Dustin asked as Mike wasted no time and put it on over the Star Wars shirt he was wearing.

“Oh, my girlfriend does screen printing” Eddie replied.

Dustin laughed again, this time differently, as Mike’s eyebrows knitted together in confusion and looked up, meeting Eddie’s dark eyes incredulously. Girlfriend?

“Whoa, whoa, your what now?”

“My girlfriend, Henderson” Eddie said in a sassy voice.

“Yeah right”

“You don’t believe me?” He asked, his voice growing more serious, as the look in his eyes changed quickly.

“I me-mean, I rarely see you talk to girls, you know, you intimidate most people…and screen printing is such an odd hobby…” Dustin said, justifying himself with a nervous giggle as he tried to reach at straws for whatever could help him from seeing Eddie’s wrath.

“My sister does screen printing” Mike said, looking at Dustin.

“Your sister is an art student…” Dustin blurted out “Besides, she’s living in Indianapolis, she’s not dating Eddie”

Eddie frowned, his look only growing more and more serious and colder, looking at Dustin, as if he wasn’t making any sense.

“I mean, yeah…She’s been acting odd ever since she started college, I think she might be dating someone, though…but every time I ask she refuses to tell me” Mike added, making Eddie chuckle and look away, rolling his eyes annoyed.

“She’s dating some dude from college…” Dustin stated as if it were obvious.

"Are you done chit chatting, kids?" Eddie interrupted bitterly.

"How’s your girlfriend called, then, Eddie…" Dustin asked with a defying look.

Eddie chuckled.

"That’s none of your goddamn business, Henderson" Eddie growled.

"Because she isn’t real" Dustin intervened.

Mike hit Dustin on the ribs with his elbow, as Dustin flinched and whined. Mike giving him a look with wide scared eyes, hoping that Dustin would het the message that he was pissing Eddie off. However, Dustin raised his eyebrows confused and shrugged, making Mike sigh and roll his eyes.

"Can I level with you?" Eddie's voice suddenly sounded calm "Assuming my girlfriend was imaginary, then why would I bother lying to you about where I got the shirts?" He asked.

"Good question," Dustin said, "But I still think it’s odd we’ve never seen you with a girl before, and you don’t tell us her what name is—"

"Henderson," Eddie cut him off with a serious low growl.

"Yes?"

"Give me back that shirt"

"Wha-what?" Dustin laughed uncomfortably "C’mon Ed…I-I’m kidding. This shirt is very cool, and your girlfriend is very talented. Tell her I said these are amazing…" Dustin mumbled nervously, as he clung to his shirt

"That's what I thought" Eddie said.

The last Friday of every month was Hellfire Club Friday. The last Friday of every month, they knew they couldn’t make any plans, as they were going to spend the entire afternoon playing D&D. However, you had forgotten that little detail.

Every time you returned to Hawkins, you usually spent the Friday nights and Sunday mornings with your family before driving back to Indianapolis. And the entirety of your Saturday with your boyfriend, Eddie. And you knew Eddie usually held campaigns on Fridays, but it was hard to track when exactly, and you knew he liked to take his time carefully planning everything, going over his notes from previous campaigns. You admired his dedication to his craft.

This, as well as his creativity, among many other things were what made you fall in love with him. Four years of high school, getting together every once in a while to play D&D, even though you two belonged to different social groups, you still got along pretty well. And slowly fell for each other over the course of your high school years, and started going out on dates in your last semester.

And while Eddie didn't get to graduate with you, that didn't stop him from asking you to be his girlfriend. And moving to Indianapolis for college did not stop you from saying yes.

And for two long years, you'd manage to keep your relationship afloat and going strong. While the both of you wished you could see each other daily as opposed to a few times a month, you made up for it by calling each other on a daily basis.

And during your last phone call, Eddie sounded particularly needy and whiny, begging you over and over again to go see him on Friday after school.

And saying no to him required a whole deal of effort. And yet, you couldn't bring yourself to say no to him. You left Indianapolis earlier than you usually did, to get to see your boyfriend for a while before your usual expected arrival at your parent's home.

Needy was an understatement. Eddie was sitting on his throne, with you straddling him. His lips attached to yours, devouring and swallowing every sweet noise that came out of your mouth. A slow yet passionate kiss, telling you exactly how much he'd missed you.

His hands roaming underneath your shirt, as you knew this make out session was going to end up with the both of you hot and bothered, as you wouldn't be able to do much in there without drawing suspicions. That, and you were running out of time. But boy, was it nostalgic. Your first kiss looked something like this. It had started as a shy kiss with the Dungeon Master after the last campaign of your high school and him confessing his feelings for you.

However, Eddie had deliberately missed the little detail that today was Hellfire Friday, and everyone else was on their way to the classroom where Eddie was taking his time teasing you. Touching your soft spots, tasting your needy moans, and making sure you knew how much he missed you and how much he needed you, although he knew he’d have to wait until tomorrow to finally claim you as his once again. Right now it wasn’t about making love to you, it was about getting to fool around, and proving his point to the newest members of the Club who didn’t believe him when he said he had a girlfriend.

"Wait, she's back already?" Dustin asked Mike curiously as they turned left on the hall, making their way to the Hellfire Club.

"Yeah she said she finished this term earlier because she aced everything and doesn't have to show to her finals…" Mike explained, telling him how your summer holidays had basically started earlier this semester.

"Whoa, she's so cool!" Dustin sighed.

"I know, night? Anyways, I asked her if she could pick me up after the campaign tonight since Nance will be busy, and I doubt my dad wants to miss on his game on the TV to pick me up…" Mike said.

"Could she give me a ride back to my place?" Dustin wondered.

"Yeah, of course. She loves you," Mike added.

As they stopped in front of the door, they pushed the door open, unaware of what they were both about to see. As the door creaked open, the heard a soft moan, and quickly exchanged uncomfortable stares before Dustin finished pushing the door open. The door made a louder creaking noise, and the horror that soon took over their faces could not be compared to anything they’d ever seen.

"Oh, oh! What the fuck?!" Dustin yelled, realizing there was a girl sitting on Eddie’s lap.

"Shit, Eddie, next time could you—" Mike whined, as shocked as Dustin, however, his voice was cut off, and he felt his jaw fall to the ground, as he put the pieces together, paralyzed, shocked.

"Shit, fuck" You growled in a low voice as you recognized your little brother’s voice and looked the opposite direction, knowing it was useless, but still clinging to the teeny tiny chance of managing to go unnoticed or at least unidentified.

"Sis?" Mike’s voice freezing your blood.

You sighed deeply and exchanged stares with Eddie, noticing a little mischievous grin on his face as you squinted, thinking he was behind all of this. You then turned to look at your little brother, and uncomfortably waved at him. Not muttering a single word.

"You're dating my sister?"

"Eddie's your boyfriend?!"

Both Mike and Dustin spat, shocked and incredulous as they replayed the conversation they had regarding Eddie’s girlfriend, and thought about the chances of it being you and wondering how obvious it was. Screen printing was an odd hobby to have, but you did…and Eddie’s girlfriend did too. Now that Mike did the math, it was obvious that Eddie and you were classmates, on his first run of the senior year, you’d been acting odd for the last two years, not really talking about your boyfriend but making it clear that you had one, Ed never really engaging with other girls aside of short simple interactions. You two had similar tastes in music, you’d taught Mike and his friends to play D&D…now that Mike thought about it, it was more possible than he’d thought.

“ Did you plan this?" You hissed, squinting at Eddie.

"Maybe" He said, as you rolled your eyes and got off his lap, fixing your shirt and your skirt.

"I can't believe this" Dustin said.

"So, all the… marks I saw on your neck, Eddie…" Mike murmured, making Eddie laugh.

"Ew, no, Mike stop!" Dustin begged as you rolled your eyes and felt your face heating up, and besting your head in your hands.

"Gentlemen," Eddie said in a calm voice as you looked up from your hands and turned your gaze to meet his. "I'd like to present to you my beautiful, talented, incredibly smart, and very real girlfriend..."

"Real? Oh, Ed—" You groaned and chuckled softly "Yeah, I should've imagine Mike was going to join your D&D club, and I should’ve imagined they were not going to believe you have a girlfriend…" You said looking at Eddie as he shrugged.

"How are you two—" Mike asked baffled.

"Eddie and l actually met in this same club, we became close friends, and I don't know, shortly before I graduated, something happened between us and we started dating" You explained.

"But you moved to Indianapolis for college!" Mike snapped.

"Aw, that's actually cute" Dustin said, noticing they way Eddie rested his head against your chest and you brought a hand to his hair, as he held you close to him.

"Yeah, so? I still come here at least twice a month to see you guys, and also to see Eddie" You replied, as Eddie’s hand grabbed you by the waist and pulled you closer to his throne, wrapping his arm around your hips as you stood in front of his seat and he gave Mike a cheeky grin.

"You have any idea how hard it's to keep a long distance relationship, Wheeler?" Eddie asked.

"It's pretty hard..." Dustin said. Thinking of Susie.

"Mike's girlfriend moved to California..." You said softly, letting Eddie know.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Mike asked you.

"We'll talk about this later, Mike, I don't feel like doing this right now, in front of all of hellfire…" You said, as Dustin and Mike exchanged stares and then looked over their shoulders, noticing the little audience they’d gathered; the rest of the Hellfire Club, who knew Eddie wasn’t lying about having a girlfriend "And, Eddie," You said looking at Eddie "Give Mike a ride home after you guys are done" You said as he chuckled and looked at you.

"What?" Eddie asked with a puzzled chuckle.

"Be a good boyfriend and give my little brother a ride" You said caressing his cheek with your hand. "Would you do that for me?" You said pouting at Eddie.

"Oh this is your revenge, isn't it?" Eddie said quitting as you giggled.

"Yes" You replied and leaned forward kissing his forehead.

"Oh, shit, no! I was going to ask you if you could give me a ride back home!" Dustin whined, knowing Eddie would not give him a ride back home.

"Of course, Dustin. I can give you a ride!" You said looking at Dustin and smiling.

"Oh come on!" Eddie complained "Your evil, Wheeler" You looked at your boyfriend, raising an eyebrow, feigning a naive look.

"Am l?" You asked.

"You're so gonna pay" He murmured, giving your hips a slight squeeze.

"Me? You're the one who set up this! If anything, you owe me, Munson" You said with a grin.

After exchanging playful, yet defiant stares and a little bit of bickering, you left going to your parents house, leaving the guys to finally play Dungeons and Dragons. And, as the afternoon got wasted away, Eddie could easily go into his Dungeon Master persona, and guide and narrate the guys through their adventure, however, Mike had a harder time concentrating. A million questions flooded his mind and was eager to know the answers to them all. He knew asking Eddie mid game would only end in Eddie telling him to focus and to take the campaign seriously, and he knew better than to provoke Eddie, specially during a campaign.

And finally, when the time came to go back home, the awkward tension was palpable in Eddie’s van. Neither of them wanted to be in that situation. It was haunting and asphyxiating. But somehow, Mike felt this impending need to ask, and get at least one answer to at least one of the many questions that had been haunting him.

“So, uh…you’ve been dating my sister since she graduated?” Mike asked awkwardly, he noticed the way Eddie's hands gripped the steering wheel.

“Are we really going to have this conversation?” Eddie hissed.

“I mean, knowing my sister, I’m pretty sure this is why she asked you to bring me home”

Eddie sighed deeply, Mike's words circling his mind, and thinking about it.

“Well. Yeah, you’re right. This does sound like something she’d do…” Eddie said defeated, “And yes, we’ve been dating for two years now…”

“That’s a long time…”

“Yes it is,”

“And uh,” Mike said biting the inside of his cheek “Do you…love her?” Eddie snickered sarcastically.

“You think I’d be enduring along distance relationship if I didn’t?” He replied bitterly and gave Mike a quick glare.

“I’m just asking” Mike stiffened and shrugged.

“Yes, man. I love her,” Eddie added. “She’s…perfect. She’s smart, and talented. She likes the same music as me, she never judged me nor let my reputation get in the way of our friendship back when she was in high school…you know, she got along with the popular kids, and she was still friends with me, and god,” Eddie sighed “She plays D&D too. Seriously, the girl of my dreams…” His voice softened.

Mike wondered if he'd ever heard Eddie talk in such a sincere way. Sure, Eddie wasn't scared to speak his mind, but he'd never heard Eddie talk in such a soft voice. Even when he talked about things he liked, he kept his cheeky arrogant tone. Not this time. His voice softened, and sounded almost dreamy.

"Oh, I didn’t know that…" Mike whispered, not sure what to reply.

"If you’re worried that I might hurt her or whatever, don’t," Eddie said glancing quickly at Mike "She seriously means so much to me, I’d never do anything to hurt her" He said, that sincere soft voice remaining.

Mike nodded and looked back at the windshield, looking into the road as he still had several questions circling his mind.

"I know it's…none of my business but…can I ask why are you guys keeping your relationship a secret?" Mike asked, not sure how Eddie would react to his question.

"Because I asked her to," Eddie said with a flat voice, eyes glued to the road as he took a turn, getting close to Mike's place "I know your parents won’t be exactly accepting of their daughter dating someone like me, and I don’t want to put her in a difficult position…" Eddie explained.

Mike thought about it. And while, perhaps, their mom could warm up to Eddie, their dad would most likely disapprove. His father already told Mike on a daily basis to stop wasting his time with D&D. He also complained to you about the kind of music you listened to. If he were to meet Eddie, it would definitely start an argument with you.

"Her friends in Indianapolis know we're dating…" Eddie added, "So it’s not entirely a secret. I actually know her friends from college. When she can’t come here to Hawkins I drive to Indianapolis to see her…" Eddie explained.

"Oh, wow…Eddie that’s cool. I mean, that you go to her when she can’t come here…I’m sure it means a lot to her…"

"Yeah?" Eddie said parking outside your parents' house and looking at Mike. "Well, I'd do anything for her"

"Yeah, that's very cool of you…" Mike replied awkwardly "Well, thanks for the ride, Eddie…And, I think it’s cool that you’re dating my sister, I always saw my sister acting all cheesy and in love but she never talked about her boyfriend, she only said he was the best that has happened to her…" Eddie chuckled.

"Really?"

"Yeah, but don’t tell her. She’ll know I told you and will kick my ass" Mike whined, making Eddie laugh out loud.

"Oh, I’m so sorry Wheeler, but I cannot keep that promise in particular…" He teased looking at Mike.

"Oh man," Mike chuckled softly looking away.

"Off you go, kid. I guess I’ll wait for your sister to come back from driving Henderson home,"

"What if my parents see you?" Eddie chuckled looking at Mike’s stern face.

"They never do," Eddie’s arrogant tone came back "I’ve snuck into your sister’s room countless times before and no one has ever noticed"

"You what?" Mike snapped.

"See? Not even you’ve noticed" Eddie chuckled victorious.

"What the hell is wrong with you guys, seriously"

—

“I know you’re here, Ed. I saw your van parked in the corner…” You said walking into your room noticing the open window.

Normally you’d leave it unlocked, however, not open. At least not when you’d leave the house. And after returning from giving Dustin a ride and chatting with him about the whole Eddie situation, finding your window open and Mike already home, and a very familiar van parked in the corner a few houses away from yours…it was all too suspicious.

"Welcome home, princess" Eddie said emerging from your closet, as he dramatically opened your closet doors.

You met his dark eyes and smiled walking towards him as you wrapped your arms around his shoulders, and he hugged you back, lifting you up. You took a deep breath, feeling the familiar scent of his cologne and cigarette smoke. He did the same thing unconsciously, taking in the smell of your shampoo and his favorite perfume of yours.

"Did you enjoy the ride with Mike?" You asked him breaking the hug.

"We had some bonding time, yes…" He replied as you gave him an approving nod, "You seriously never told anyone" Eddie added, you met his stare and shrugged.

"You told me not to, and of course I was going to keep my promise to you" You said smiling softly at him.

Over the course of your friendship, Eddie learned you weren’t the best at keeping secrets. Or at least to your friends and family. Two years in a row you completely ruined the surprise and always told him what you’d gotten him for his birthday before you even had the chance to hand him his present. He was sure the secret would eventually slip and you’d tell at least Nancy. But not even Nancy knew.

"Your little brother told me you made it pretty clear you had a boyfriend but never talked about him…" Eddie said walking to your bed and sitting on it as you followed him, stopping in front of him, bumping your knees against his.

"Of course he told you…" You chuckled, looking into his dark brown eyes, almost black as you brushed his cheek with your hand.

"He also said that I’m the best that has happened to you?" Eddie asked as you rolled your eyes playfully and he noticed the way your cheeks lit up. "He said, and I quote ‘She never talked about her boyfriend, but she only said he was the best that has happened to her‘ or something along those lines…"

"I-I mean, you know that already, Ed. How many times do I have to tell you that I love you more than anything for you to realize you’re the best thing to happen to me?" You said cupping his face, as you stared at him tenderly. Eddie closed his eyes slowly, humming, as you noticed a subtle blush on his cheeks.

"Hm, I love you too, sweetheart. So, so much, it’s stupid" he said, as you leaned down and kissed him sweetly "As soon as I’m out of here, I’ll catch up with you in Indianapolis, and we can forget about everything else…it’ll be just you and me, babe"

"I can’t wait, Eddie" You whispered.

"Fuck, me neither. I am seriously madly in love with you" He said as he pulled you closer, making you straddle him.

"Good. As you should" You replied with a cheeky grin and kissed him again.

#eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x you #eddie munson fluff #eddie munson fanfic #Eddie Munson #eddie stranger things #stranger things x reader #stranger things eddie #stranger things eddie munson

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eddieexcellence · 2 years

Text

SOUR CANDY

Part i: the original babysitter

E. Munson x Fem!reader

Synopsis: back in Hawkins for spring break, the reader is back from college. She gets sucked into the madness again for the fourth time with her best friend and younger friends. Plus an unexpected and unwelcome face.

Type: fixit fic, angst/comfort, enemies to lovers trope

Warnings: SPOILERS! Cursing, mentions of anxiety, stress eating, reader having brave mama bear facade

Author’s note: AGAIN SPOILERS!! SPOILERS!! Might have some of the S4 events out of place or loosely mentioned fic starts S4 Ep4: Dear Billy?? but my attempt at a fixit fic and to ignore what happened in the finale, fting a trope I haven’t seen too much written for Eddie yet-ish(maybe I haven’t dug in enough to the search results for Eddie munson x reader I’ve dug pretty darn deep, tag me if you have any fic recs)?? I thought it’d be interesting and I do plan on making this a little series just bc I do tend to drag things 👀. Hope you like! Also only mention of Eddie in this part. Next part will have reader and Eddie interact!! Sorry if it doesn’t get to the nitty gritty as quickly :—)

You weren’t due home for another two days, promising your roommate to take a detour and drop them off home and spend time with them before returning to your hometown of Hawkins for spring break. Those plans changed quickly as you returned to your dorm from the laundry room so you could finish packing for the week, when your RA for your hall was standing in your room looking unimpressed.

“Y/l/n, the floor’s phone lines have been backed up with several people calling for you.” The older girl picked at her nails annoyed. “Mostly a, uh, Stefan Harrison? Also a foul mouthed little shit, Dustin Hendrickson?”

“Dustin Henderson and Steve Harrington?” Y/n corrected the snarky woman across from her.

“Yeah yeah them two.” She didn’t care to really properly remember their names, already irritated by how much that Dustin character cursed at her. “They even called the building security to get ahold of you sounds pretty important, and I have other students that would like to use the phone as well so if you can sort this out—“

You didn’t give your room advisor anymore time to talk as you rushed to the end of the hall to the phones. You didn’t have a good feeling about what Steve and Dustin were calling about as you could feel your stomach sink. The phone continued ringing as another student was about to answer.

“Move it!” You snapped, shoving through the short line of students ignoring their shouts of protest followed by groans as you picked up. “Hello?”

“Jesus h Christ Y/n! Took you long enough!” Dustin’s panicked voice reaches your ears.

“What’s going on?” You asked in a hushed whisper avoiding the other students' impatient stares.

“We’re still gathering the details, but we need your help—“ Dustin started to say, but a muffled static noise and him arguing as someone else cut him off.

“Y/n avoid Hawkins!” Steve ushered in. Steve is always trying to be the dutiful best friend as he always was for you. Protecting you or at least trying his best. Most of time it just made you more curious; hell even the reason you got brought into the Upside Down originally.

“Don’t listen to him! We need you!” Dustin in the background shouted.

“We don’t need you involved!” Again Steve trying to remain cool and calm even when you can hear his tense edge in his tone.

“Y/n! Max could be in trouble!” You heard another voice in the background more gentle but still holding the same urgency as Dustin. It was Nancy.

“We don’t need her involved!” He argued. “She was almost killed the last time!”

“Steve we are down Mike, Will, Jonathan, and El! We need her here to help!” You could hear Nancy refute back.

You rubbed the bridge of your nose at all the commotion on the other end of the line. You could feel the knot start to form in your stomach as you knew what you needed to do, which was way different from what you wanted to do. To crawl under a rock and hide. The kids needed you, more importantly Max needed you. Always having a softer spot for the younger girl since you first met and you saw her late oldest step brother treat her like shit.

Steve was yelling incoherently on top of whatever Dustin and nance were yelling about.

“Steve!” You yelled, stopping him mid tangent. “Do you forget who the original babysitter is? I’ll be damned if you do this without me and something happens to Max or any of you. Where do I need to meet you?”

You could hear Dustin whoop and chant in the background, and reply for Steve. “The Wheelers, please haul ass Y/n!”

“Copy Henderson,” you said before hanging up.

You never pressed on the gas pedal so hard, speeding to get to your small hometown as quickly as possible. Your thoughts racing in the process, maybe not making for the most safest road trip. You didn’t even tell your roommate anything, just apologized and handed her $20 for a bus ticket before you shoved your clothes into your luggage and took off. It was only 9am when you came back from the laundry room, you hit the ‘welcome to Hawkins’ sign by a little after 12’o’clock, when normally you would’ve been there closer to 1pm.

Part of you hoped this was a sick joke so everyone could get you home sooner to hang out. Steve was excited and had some plans for you, Robin, and him to do while you were here. Nancy already had the movie selection’s picked for a girl’s night, and all the gossip she couldn’t tell you on the phone or in letters. More importantly the younger kids were ready to tell you all about their first year of high school, especially Max who hasn’t been herself since Billy died. Deep down you knew that wasn’t the case. So you prepared for all the worst case scenarios as you pulled into the tidy kept driveway of the Wheelers where Mike and Nancy lived. You could see Steve's shiny BMW and Nancy’s station wagon parked in front. It was midday and Nancy’s parents were off at work leaving just you guys alone.

You nervously drummed your fingers against your steering wheel as you tried to muster the courage to go inside and for the fourth time most likely have your world turned upside down (all the irony intended). Feeling your breathing quicken and your chest get tight, you felt an anxiety attack start. You haven’t had this feeling in a few months, and though you started getting them since Nancy’s best friend Barb had died and Will went missing when you first got into the chaos it still wasn’t easy to manage the attacks. You took deep breaths, and remembered what your mom told you when you felt an attack come on.

Five things you can see: the green grass, the car freshener hung on your car mirror in your peripheral, the shiny garage door in front of your car, a squirrel eating the flowerbed by the front door, and several bright yellow boxes of the Sour Patch Kids littering your passenger seat floor (your guilty sweet tooth that everyone knew about.)

Four things you can feel: your steering wheel, the seat covers of your car, the necklace your grandma gave you against your neck,and the bead of sweat threatening to drip down your forehead from the increasing temperature of your car.

Three things you can hear: your steadying pulse, the sound of wind chimes, and the cars passing further down the street.

Two things you can smell: your mint car freshener and your perfume you had on.

One thing you can taste: the faint taste of the sour patch kids you ate on your way home.

Unbeknownst to the group of kids and young adults that you were already outside having an anxiety attack, they were all having a heated discussion. Or moreso Steve was.

“If she finds out he’s involved, she’ll single-handedly kill me and come for you next, Henderson.” He had his hands on his hips pacing around the basement. Max, Lucas, Dustin, Robin, and Nancy sat around watching the distressed man.

“She’s going to find out,” Robin objected.

Nancy nodded, “Besides, Y/n cares more about Max’s and the kids safety than worrying about a high school rivalry.”

That caused Steve to scoff, “rivalry? She got her heart crushed by him! Why she chose to like him of all people—“

“What’s so wrong with Eddie?” Dustin cut in.

“Yeah, what’s so wrong with him?” Robin raised an eyebrow amused, knowing Steve would need to watch his words carefully around the younger eccentric boy. Dustin has worshiped Eddie ‘the freak’ Munson since they met on his first day of high school.

That caused Harrington to sputter, “n-nothing! It’s just if you didn’t know her back then, you didn't see how upset she was after he crushed her ego during the end of freshman year and how she acted that summer.” He faltered. A big reason he didn’t want you here was because once you came back, and got involved, everyone would be in more trouble than they already were if he guessed correctly. Along with tension between the metal head and you. He wouldn’t know how’d you react to the idea of Eddie wanted for ‘satanic sacrifice’ on top of the kids, Nancy, Robin, and him harboring him at the abandoned boat house. That was the main reasoning he tried to convince himself with.

“If I didn’t know you better, Harrington, sounds like you’re almost jealous.” Robin chastised her older friend with a smirk tugged at her lips.

That caused Nancy to roll her eyes annoyed, knowing you since she first started dating Steve. You were the only friend of his that she liked and created a connection with. She had heard both the Steve side and the Y/n side of the Eddie story. Two very different renditions if you asked Nancy, and she opted to believe your side more. Always knowing Steve had a certain protectiveness of you since you were his childhood best friend, and you weren’t as arrogant and stuck up your own ass like his old jock friends either.

“Steve, I think she’s a big girl now, and can keep her emotions in check to help Hawkins.” Nancy said seriously. “Remember who was the original babysitter?”

“Can everyone stop rubbing that in my face!” Steve exclaimed, throwing his hands out in dramatic fashion.

“Throwing what in your face Harrington?” You asked, walking down the stairs to the basement. He could already tell you were uneasy but you offered a hint of a smile making eye contact.

“What would Heidi think if I changed my hair up!” He tried to lie smoothly.

“The Upside Down has essentially framed the person you hate the most, Eddie Munson, for murder, but it’s actually a dark wizard named Vecna that has killed Chrissy Cunningham and Fred Benson. And soon I’ll be next if we don’t get a move on!” Max wasted no time as soon as you graced their presence, not caring for the sugar coating tactics Harrington went for.

“For Christ sake Maxine!” Steve looked up, gripping his hair stressed out at the word vomit she laid on you.

“Hey Y/n, so excited you were able to come home for spring break.” Robin said meekly waving to you as Max ran to you and gave you a bear hug.

You froze in disbelief, “C-Chrissy Cunnigham died? F-fred from journalism and yearbook too? What the hell did I walk into?” Your stare was blank and voice small as the last bit processed making you grip the redhead tighter, one hand rubbing her back and the other gently playing with the end of her ponytail. It comforts your overwhelmed senses from the newfound information. “A-and and y-you’re,” you choked at the sentence not being able to comprehend.

“I’m next.” Max validated as she pulled away. Dustin and Lucas were next with the hugs opting for a group hug rather. You were just standing there dumbfounded. You didn’t care about the minor major detail with Eddie ‘the freak’ Munson, you were sure when the shock wore off you would when things were able to make more sense.

“What did I say about laying it on thick?” Steve reminded the group.

You cleared your throat, “no, no. We need to get to the bottom of this if we only have so much time.” You composed yourself quickly. It didn’t matter about you or your feelings, you weren’t the one cursed?

You've been through this three other times with them, you were the original babysitter, the one that spent hours reading the boys Dungeon and Dragon books front to back of rules and characters. Hell you even reread the Lord of the Rings and older science fiction novels you had read in middle school if it meant to gain a scrap of knowledge to help. You were the one that bandaged their boo-boos when the boys were younger. The one that took Max and El under your wing when you met them. You took shit from Billy to defend Max. You brought the teenage girls to the mall and roller rink giving them your wiser unsolicited girl advice when you’d hear them gossiping about Mike, Lucas, and in El’s case her Hopper issues. That was something Harrington or Nancy didn’t have on you.

You sat in between Nancy and Robin both gave you squeezes in reassurance almost preparing you for everything they were about to tell you.

“Now rather than throw me in a mind fuck,” you looked over at Max with a stern maternal like stare. “Start from the beginning with details, please.”

#eddie munson #Eddie munson x reader #Eddie munson imagine #stranger things imagine #Steve harrington x reader #Joseph Quinn x reader #Joseph Quinn imagine #Eddie munson smut #eddie munson fanfic #eddie munson fic #my writing #eddie munson headcanons #sour candy fic

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