#comeuppance
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Comeuppance - Part 1
Part 2 AO3
It was getting beyond ridiculous now. And if no one else wanted to help, then Dustin would take it upon himself.
Steve had helped him get his first girlfriend. He’d put his body between Dustin and the demodogs in the tunnels, even though he was half conscious and fully concussed. He’d helped them escape from torture and taken the blows in their place. He’d kept silent about his bites while they strategized in Max’s trailer.
He’d been with them through almost everything.
The only thing he’d missed was that first year but even then he was defending Nancy and Jonathan.
Dustin just wanted his brother to be happy.
And if no one else was going to do it, he’d do it himself.
He’d looked at his mother, how much brighter she used to be before his dad had died all those years ago.
He looked at Lucas and Max who always had secret smiles for each other.
He looked at Hopper and Joyce who’d found each other again after years apart, there to support their partner in everything.
He wanted that for Steve.
Steve deserved it.
To be happy with someone.
Maybe Dustin had… breezed through one or two of his mothers romance novels for inspiration, trying to figure out who the perfect candidate for Steve would be. How he could make it happen. What the method might look like.
With that in mind, he pulled in the rest of the Party who seemed to go along with him more begrudgingly than anything. Maybe they’d just gotten tired of arguing with him.
He’d have to examine later if that was something he needed to work on.
How could he become a world renowned scientist or engineer if he didn’t have anyone who would push back against him?
“Eddie!” Dustin called up towards the roof of the trailer, where he could just about make out the small plumes of smoke curling up against the bright blue sky. “Stop sunbathing, we need your help.”
The sounds of Eddie’s chains and jewellery rattled against the roof, telling Dustin he’d just rolled onto his stomach, allowing his arms to dangle down over the edge as he continued to puff away.
Eddie exhaled the smoke in his lungs and took a haughty tone when he said “A man such as myself would never be caught sunbathing, Henderson. That’s jock shit.”
Something caught Eddie’s attention behind him. He glanced back and when he turned towards the Party again he had a self-satisfied smirk on his face.
“Did you hear me?” Dustin crossed his arms over his chest like he’d seen Steve do on numerous occasions before, trying to exude the same authority. “I said we need your help.”
“Alright.” Eddie let out a loud exasperated sigh. Dustin could tell he was playing up his irritation, though. “I’ll bite. What do you need my help with?”
Dustin grinned wide, delighted to be able to expound on his plan. “Steve’s love life.”
Something thudded against the roof of the trailer but Eddie didn’t flinch, didn’t turn to see what it was, just continued staring down at them, blank faced.
“What was that noise?” Mike asked, staring up at him.
Eddie shrugged. “Kicked something. Pray tell, why are you coming to little old me for help with Steve’s love life?”
“You two are friends now, right?”
Eddie snorted into his elbow. “I suppose that’s one word for it.” He muttered, barely audible from all the way up there.
“And you’re a guy his own age.” Dustin had to shield his eyes from the sun as he stepped closer. “He’ll listen to you.”
That got a loud laugh from him. “The hell gives you that idea?”
“He’ll listen to you more than he’ll listen to us.”
“You’d be better off asking Robin.” Eddie propped his chin up on his hand. “They’ve got that weird mind meld thing going on.”
Dustin huffed.
Robin would never hear them out.
“We can’t ask Robin.”
“Well maybe you should stop meddling, you ever think of that?”
Meddling? What was he, a child? Some evil villain? No. He wouldn’t call what he had planned meddling. He was aiding. He was helping.
Meddling implied he didn't know what he was doing, which he did.
He'd researched.
“I’m not meddling. I’m helping. We’re just trying to make the guy happy so what’s the issue? He’s clearly lonely.”
Eddie’s expression hardened. “Clearly lonely, is he? That’s a real charming thing to say about your babysitter, Henderson. Not everyone needs romantic connections in life. He has me, he has Robin. He has Nancy and Jonathan and Argyle. And up until a few seconds ago I would have said he had you all too. But apparently you’re not enough. Because he’s lonely.” He spat out the last word like it had personally offended him.
“He’s been single for so long-”
“Have you considered that maybe he’s happy that way? Or that he already has someone and just hasn’t told you?”
Dustin scoffed, crossing his arms again.
Eddie just wasn’t getting it.
“He’d tell me if he had someone.”
“Oh, you think so, do you?”
“Why wouldn’t he?”
Eddie let his voice drop low. “Because you meddle, Dustin Henderson.”
“Dude, why are you being so defensive right now?” Couldn’t he see that what Dustin was doing was for the best? For everyone? Why did no one seem to want the same things for Steve that he did? “We’re asking for your help to make our friend happy!”
“Why can’t you ask Robin?”
Robin also wouldn’t get it.
“She’s too close to the issue. She won’t be objective. She’ll side with him no matter what.”
“And I won’t?”
“No. Because I know what I’m doing? I’ve researched this? It’s not fucking rocket science. If the idiots in movies and tv can make it happen surely we’ll be able to do it easily.”
The Party was practically a protégé mix of brains. There was no way this could fail.
“Movies and tv.” Eddie muttered to himself like he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Jesus Christ.” He tilted his head back behind him for a few moments, listening for something before turning to face them again. “Alright, listen. I’m not agreeing to anything yet but tell me who’s the other person wrapped up in this?”
Dustin finally allowed himself to smile, proud of the clincher he was just about to reveal.
“Nancy.” He said, puffing out his chest and cocking his eyebrow.
He’d definitely just won this argument.
Except Eddie didn’t smile back at him and immediately agree, like Dustin had been expecting.
Instead Eddie moved his whole head with an eye roll and groaned. “You can’t be serious. He’s over Nancy. He’s told us all many, many, many times. He doesn’t want a relationship with her.”
Fuck sake. What wasn’t Eddie getting about this?
That’s just what people said when they were trying to save their hearts or there was some kind of contrived misunderstanding.
Dustin had seen the way Steve looked at Nancy from the car at the Snow Ball.
He’d heard the things he said to her in the Winnebago.
“Well, I don’t believe it. There has to be a reason he’s not dating Robin and we all heard the Winnebago talk. They’re meant to be. They’re perfect for each other.”
Eddie pursed his lips but stayed silent for a few seconds, considering. “Okay. And what about Nancy?”
Dustin blinked up at him confused. “What about her?”
“What does she say about this whole thing?”
“We can’t tell her, Eddie. We can’t tell either of them. Obviously.”
“Uh-huh. So Steve’s pining after Nancy, then?”
“Yeah.”
“Is Nancy pining after Steve?”
Dustin opened and closed his mouth, trying to formulate his comeback. He hadn’t really… thought too hard about that. But like… why wouldn’t she want him?
He was handsome, he was strong, he had money, he wanted kids, he wanted marriage, he was respected around town.
He was the perfect package!
And actually, if Dustin remembered correctly, she’d smiled at Steve during the Winnebago talk so she was receptive at the very least.
But he didn’t have a chance to articulate his argument because Eddie was barrelling ahead again.
“Oh right, I get it. Nancy doesn’t have any agency in this because the guy should always get the girl no matter her opinion right?”
“No!” That wasn’t what he meant. “It’s not like that-”
“You’re telling me that Nancy Wheeler,” Eddie interrupted, “gun toting, government fighting Nancy Wheeler. The same Nancy Wheeler who is currently working on her exposé of the sexism she experienced at the Hawkins Post, which is due to publish the second she goes to college at Emerson, where she already has an internship lined up, is going to just go along with this? And also, did I forget to mention, she leaves in six weeks? If you do get the two together what’s Steve supposed to do then?”
That was all semantics.
Once they were together they could work that out between themselves! But Dustin knew Eddie wasn’t going to like that answer so he came up with something else quickly because it wasn’t that hard, because this made sense.
“He could go with her!”
“Oh, so fuck any desires he had, then? He’s just gonna drop everything here and go? Follow her like a lost puppy?”
Dustin rolled his eyes again. “C’mon Eddie, now you’re just being combative for the sake of it.” He placed his hands back on his hips, again trying to exude parental authority. “It’ll be good for him to experience things. What does he even have here to drop? I mean, it’s about time he moved on from this town, right?”
“Henderson.” Eddie snapped in warning.
There was a moment of pause where they both stared at each other before Eddie rolled back around to face the back of the trailer. He muttered something in low tones that Dustin couldn’t hear and the next second was clambering down off the roof.
He landed far more gracefully than Dustin would have thought he was capable of before stomping over. “Do not let him hear you say that. He’ll think you don’t care whether he’s here or not.”
Dustin threw his arms out at either side of him. How could Steve possibly think that? He was just stating plain facts! “Of course I care!”
“Then act like it!” Eddie threw his own arms out in a similar fashion. “You’re making these decisions without him. What you’re trying to pull is peer pressure, all of you, you understand that right? It’s barely a step away from bullying.”
“Eddie, c’mon.” Mike crossed his arms, unable to meet his eye. “You’re looking at this all wrong. That’s not-”
“Yes it is. You’re all trying to get him to conform to what you think he should do, regardless of how he feels about it.”
Dustin shook his head, looking up at Eddie and imploring him to understand. What they were doing wasn’t malicious. “I just want him to be happy.”
But Eddie wasn’t relenting so Dustin would have to compromise somewhere to make this work.
“I understand that.” Eddie started. “But this isn’t-”
“Listen okay, FINE.” Dustin huffed. He did not stomp his foot. “I swear if you help us I’ll… I’ll stop if it doesn’t work. I swear, I promise if this doesn’t work and we don’t get Steve and Nancy back together I’ll never meddle in his affairs again. Please, I swear.”
Eddie loomed over him, dark eyes, dark hair, dark clothes, intense presence and Dustin was suddenly reminded of why he was intimidated by him when they first met at school. “On your mother?”
He nodded eagerly, hope starting to rise in his chest. “On my mother.”
“Okay.” Eddie sighed. “If it doesn’t work you are to never stick your nose in his business again, you understand me?”
“Yeah, I get it.” Dustin agreed, his mind already planning far ahead. “But you don’t need to worry about it, it’ll work.”
“You’re so sure of that are you?”
“I know him best out of all of us, I know him.” He tried not to let his smugness through, he really did try. But he couldn’t help it. “This’ll work.”
“I think you’re looking at this through little kid lenses and can’t see past the end of your own nose.”
Dustin opened his mouth in offence. “I’m smarter than you, you know.”
“I know but that doesn’t mean you’re a grown up. You're sure you have all the relevant information? You know everything there is to know and there's no way this could go wrong?” Eddie was acting like he knew something Dustin didn't, which just couldn’t be true. He’d planned for all the eventualities.
“Of course I do.”
“Alright.” Eddie nodded, turning back to his trailer and pulling himself back up onto the roof. “If you’re sure. Now scram, kiddos. I gotta get back to my sunbathing.”
It was all going terribly.
If Dustin didn’t know any better he’d think that Steve was totally checked out from the romance sphere. And he was acting a little weird. During one of their usual rides to the arcade, he’d told Dustin he was happy, which was great but it had come out of nowhere.
“Okay? I’m glad you’re happy?”
“I mean it though.” Steve drummed his fingers against the wheel. “Where I am in life right now, my friendships, my relationships, I’m happy. I don’t need anything to change. I’m good with how things are.”
Dustin had to think back on what they’d just talked about.
They’d been speaking about Steve’s most recent trip to Indy. He’d been a little cagey on what he, Eddie and Robin had been doing up there, but that was probably because it was some weird grown-up thing they were doing that they didn’t want Dustin to know about. Like he couldn’t handle it, whatever it was.
There was nothing they’d talked about that might have led to this.
“Right… well thanks for letting me know?”
Steve just nodded at him like it was a job well done and the whole thing was just plain weird.
Things got even weirder when he saw Nancy. She was dropping off some of her old study notes to him and she mentioned that it was a good thing that she was single right now. She’d be going away to college soon and she couldn’t stand the idea of dragging someone away from their home just for her sake.
Dustin stared at her a little bewildered but tried to get her to see reason anyway. “Wouldn’t it be nice to have someone there with you, though?”
“No,” she answered lightly, “it would probably add more pressure to be honest.”
Dustin didn’t think there was any way that was true. Surely it would be easier to acclimate with someone from home to keep her company.
But despite his numerous attempts to get Nancy and Steve alone together in situations that could easily turn into dates, with soft touches or glittering eyes or whatever else the fucking books talked about, nothing had happened.
No progress had been made and it was fucking frustrating.
He’d gotten the two of them to sit together, away from the rest of the group at the cinema and they just… watched the movie?
Not once did Steve try to put his arm across the back of Nancy’s seat or take her hand or even whisper to her, getting their faces close together except to nudge her playfully for the popcorn. It was a perfect set up and he was doing nothing with it.
How was Steve so bad at this?
Didn’t he have a reputation in school?
And Eddie was less than helpful.
Every time Dustin leaned forward in anticipation of something happening between the two of them, Eddie would throw a kernel of popcorn at his head with a childish giggle, watching the scene unfold like it was the funniest thing in the world.
Dustin’s next attempt had fallen flat as well.
He’d told Nancy that all the older teens were meeting at the diner for dinner together and had gotten Eddie to pass the message onto Steve. Nancy seemed wary initially but relented surprisingly easily, without much of a fight and Dustin was convinced he was getting better at this.
But the Party watched from the bookshop across the street as the two of them chatted amicably and even laughed together a few times but that was it. They didn’t share any food between them, they didn’t feed each other, they didn’t even get the single milkshake with two straws.
That was a beginner level move!
Dustin was losing his fucking mind, just trying to get those two to do something so he had to go big.
Again he recruited Eddie to help, out of complete necessity this time.
Because there was no way Dustin could sneak into The Hideout to see how this plan was shaping up but he was confident that something would happen this time around.
He told Eddie to do everything within his power to keep the two of them together.
Alcohol is a social lubricant, it shouldn’t be that hard.
Eddie had just scrunched his nose in disgust, mouthing 'social lubricant' to himself.
But even that was a lost cause because when Eddie walkied to update him on their progress a little breathless, probably from playing, he said he’d shredded so hard on stage, Steve spent the whole time watching the performance which was the exact opposite of what they were trying to do.
Dustin was nearly ready to lock the two of them in a closet until they got to it, but he wasn’t there.
Yet.
He had another option up his sleeve.
Which is why he was shocked when Max announced she was pulling out of the whole thing.
“Listen, dipshit. It’s not working.” She’d said, frowning at him.
“It will work! You can’t pull out now!”
“I can and I will. When you come from where I come from you learn pretty quickly to mind your own fucking business if you don’t want a punch in the face and it’s getting there.”
Dustin could do nothing but throw his hands into the air as she stormed off.
It gave him the final push to start ramping things up.
“Eddie, we need you to flirt with Nancy.”
The man in question turned his head slowly and methodically until he was facing Dustin completely, his hand still hovering over the battle map he was prepping.
“Excuse me?”
“If you make Steve jealous, that might be the kick he needs to finally do something.”
“You’re playing with fire here, Henderson. You can’t toy with people’s feelings like that.”
“Who’s toying with feelings? There’ll be no feelings involved.”
“What about Steve’s feelings? What about Nancy’s?”
“You're overthinking this.” These kinds of miscommunications always worked out in the end, come on.
Eddie’s mouth was set in a firm, grim line.
He looked beyond irritated.
“And there’s no way this could possibly blow up in your face, right?”
Dustin looked at him like he had six heads.
Why was he the only one who was seeing sense here? This was how things were done.
He was saved from having to answer by the arrival of Nancy and Mike into the Harrington basement.
Steve barely glanced up at their arrival, just sending a short smile their way, too deep in conversation with Robin about the news or interior design or whatever the fuck grown ups talked about.
Dustin sent a very pointed look Eddie's way who heaved the most put upon sigh, rising from his seat and giving him, the middle finger which he sarcastically reciprocated.
“Hey Nance.” Eddie said, sildling up beside her and oozing charm and charisma. “I'm glad you decided to come today. Don't know what I would've done if I had to go without seeing your pretty face for much longer."
Steve and Robin’s conversation abruptly cut off.
Robin was blinking up at Eddie from her position on the couch with nothing short of bewilderment and Steve just raised an eyebrow looking almost amused.
God damn it, why was he amused?
Nancy herself looked incredibly confused, flitting her eyes in between Steve and Eddie for just a second before Eddie made some kind of hand gesture that Dustin couldn’t see.
Nancy smiled.
“Just a pretty face?” She asked, batting her eyelashes at him which on its own was weird. Dustin didn’t think he’d ever seen Nancy do that before.
“Oh of course not, Lady Wheeler. Everyone knows you’re more than just a pretty face.”
She reached a hand out, grasping his upper arm in a little squeeze. “Dunno if I could say the same thing about you.”
Eddie clutched at his heart, stumbling back a few steps. “Oh! The Lady Wheeler has wounded me most grievously!”
“Oh, stop it, you.” She swatted at his arm. “You’re still pretty.”
Which… this wasn’t how things were supposed to go. Nancy wasn’t supposed to flirt back!
“Would you care to join us?” Eddie asked, sweeping his arm out towards the table where the rest of the Party had finished setting up.
Dustin stared open-mouthed.
Eddie never asked anyone to join unprepared.
“I’ve heard this arena of play isn’t unfamiliar to you.” He continued, lowering his voice and leaning in close to Nancy but he wasn’t quiet enough to stop Dustin hearing him. “I’ve even heard you used to get into costume for the kiddies. You into a bit of roleplay, Nancy?”
Steve widened his eyes at Eddie and twisted his wrist.
Shit.
Steve hadn’t won most human on human fights but he could probably take Eddie to the cleaners pretty easily.
Steve wouldn’t though, right? He wasn’t that kind of guy?
Dustin was, thankfully, proven right when both Steve and Eddie went back to ignoring each other in favour of watching Nancy.
Eddie straightened up and Dustin could see a slight scowl and a glare on Nancy’s face but it was filled with more fond exasperation than outright anger.
Eddie broke away from her with one last wink and took his seat behind the DM screen while Nancy lowered herself down next to Steve and Robin.
“I’m going to pay for that later.” Eddie muttered to himself.
“I think I’m going to be sick.” Mike grumbled, thudding his forehead into the table.
“Chill the fuck out, Romeo.” Dustin hissed. “You’re supposed to be making Steve jealous not getting Nancy to actually like you.”
Eddie just shrugged. “I can’t help it if I’m irresistible.”
Time flew by as they all got sucked into the game and Dustin felt his spirits lifting. Steve kept glancing in Eddie’s direction and it gave him hope that their plan had worked. Maybe he was getting jealous if he couldn’t keep his eyes off him over the top of the magazine he was pretending to read.
Dustin’s suspicions were all but confirmed in the next few days as Steve started to slowly mope around every time Eddie shot a wink in Nancy’s direction or made her giggle.
It was honestly a bit over dramatic the way he’d sigh wistfully towards them or get an honest to god pout on his face.
“This is your chance, dude!” Dustin jumpscared Steve in his kitchen, nearly causing him to spill the popcorn he’d just poured into a large bowl.
“Jesus H. Christ, where the fuck did you come from?” Steve set the bowl down a little louder than he needed to before reaching up to rifle through his cabinets for more snacks.
“Washington.”
“Har har, very funny.”
“I’m serious about this, Steve. Aren’t you jealous seeing Eddie flirting with Nancy all the time? Don’t you want to do something about it?”
"Dunno if I'd call it jealousy." He muttered.
"Come on, you need to like…" Dustin wanted to say 'mark your territory' or something but he was pretty sure if that ever got back to Nancy he'd be six feet deep before he could even blink, so he just mimed a shoving motion.
“You’re not seriously suggesting I punch Eddie for Nancy’s favour are you?”
“No! That’s not what I’m getting at at all, fucking hell. I meant for you to turn on your Harrington Charm I’ve heard so much about! Steal her away from him!”
“I don’t think anyone can ‘steal’ Nancy Wheeler, Henderson.” His tone abruptly shifted from exasperation to something sadder, like he’d flipped a switch. “Besides, what’s the point?" He sighed, like a wistful maiden. "She’s clearly more interested in Eddie than in me.”
“That’s a very defeatist attitude. You haven’t even tried anything yet.”
Steve looked down on him, turning something over in his head before nodding. “Okay. I’ll try. Now help me carry these back inside.”
Dustin happily filled his arms with snacks and followed Steve back out to the living room where the rest of their friends were waiting.
Eddie and Nancy were sitting side by side on the couch, pressed up against each other. Dustin took his seat on the floor along with the rest of the Party, spreading the snacks out in front of him and keeping an eye out as Steve flipped the lights off before making his way over to the two.
“Excuse me there while I just-” Steve lowered himself down, directly in the middle of Eddie and Nancy, practically on their laps until they squirmed away to avoid their legs being crushed under the weight of one muscular jock.
Eddie was biting his lip in the way he usually did when he was trying not to laugh and Nancy had her hand covering her mouth, maybe in shock. Probably in shock.
Robin sat next to all of them in an armchair with her hands covering her face, shaking her head and Dustin had to try very hard not to facepalm into the next century.
God this guy was hopeless.
Steve wiggled a little in place, getting comfortable and placing the popcorn bowl on his lap with a goofy grin. “Are we ready to start?” He asked, plucking the remote from Eddie’s hand and pressing play.
It was only a couple of days later when Dustin’s walkie crackled to life in the dark evening hours.
“Operation White Picket Fence, sound off.” Mike's voice came through.
One by one each member of the Party confirmed they were there, ending with Dustin. “This is Dart the Bard, checking in. Over.”
“This is a Code Orange, I repeat this is a Code Orange. Over.” Mike called.
“Hold on Paladin. We need to wait for Kas. Over.”
“That’s a negative, Dart. We need to talk without him. Over.”
But Eddie was a part of Operation White Picket Fence, even if his participation was working a little too well. Maybe that’s what this was about.
He huffed, endlessly glad they'd decided to stick to codenames, he couldn't deal with his mother overhearing any of this.
“Okay,” Dustin replied, “let’s switch to our backup channel just in case he checks in. Over.”
The Party sounded off their agreement and he turned the dial on his walkie, settling on the right numbers and waiting to find out exactly what was going on.
“The plan is backfiring. It’s going wrong. I overheard Emerson on the phone talking about Kas and Babysitter. She was going on about how she’s really started to like Kas. Like like. She has a full blown crush on him now and apparently it’s helping her move on from Babysitter. Over.”
“Shit. Shit, shit, shitshitshitshit! This is not what was supposed to happen! Over!”
“I know! What the hell are we supposed to do now? Over.”
"We'll tell Kas to stop. Maybe get him to start talking up Babysitter instead. Over."
"I don't want to see my s-Emerson get hurt over this, Bard. Besides, Kas is way better than Babysitter anyway. Over."
"But they're not meant to be! And Kas doesn’t even like her like that! Babysitter and Emerson are meant to be! We'll just have to regroup. Start pushing them harder or something. Over!"
"Yeah, because that's been working out so well so far." Lucas grumbled. "Over."
Dustin nearly jumped at the sound of the phone ringing elsewhere in the house. He sat, waiting for his mom to pick up. At least if she was on the phone he could be sure she wasn’t listening in.
When the ringing stopped and he could hear the muffled sounds of his mother talking to someone, he continued.
“Babysitter hasn’t been on a date in months and the only person he’s been hanging around with other than Red Bird is Kas! He’s not trying anymore so this has to happen before Emerson leaves for-”
“Dusty? Phone for you.” His mother’s voice came through his closed bedroom door, accompanied by her knock.
“Shit. Hold on, guys. Phone. Over.”
Dustin pushed himself to his feet and opened the door, following his mother down the hallway. “Who is it?”
“Eddie.” She replied with a soft smile.
Speak of the devil. He thought. Well, no time like the present to sort this out.
“Hello?”
“Hey Dusty-Buns.” Eddie’s infuriating smile was audible.
“I told you not to call me that.”
“But it’s so fun! Listen, I need to talk to you about this whole Nancy and Steve thing-”
“Good, because I need to talk to you about it too. You gotta dial it back, man.”
Eddie paused. “What do you mean?”
“You’re getting in too deep with her, you’re starting to pull her attention away from Steve and that was not a part of the plan.”
“Yeah.” He sighed. “I’m not sure if I can really do that…”
“Wha- why? Why, Eddie, why?!”
“I dunno, man.” Dustin could hear him shrug. “I kinda like her.”
“No! Nonononono! You can’t like her! You’re not allowed to like her, why do you like her?!”
“What do you mean I’m not allowed? And as for why, have you met her? You used to have a crush on her!”
“Yeah, when I was a child, you can’t be serious about this, Eddie.”
“I’m super serious about this, Dustin. I like her. I want to ask her out.”
“Jesus Christ this was not part of the plan!”
“And I didn’t want to be a part of the plan from the start! You forced me into it! I told you it wouldn’t work.”
“It will work. It still can work! We're still doing this whether you like it or not. I’ll see you at Steve’s tomorrow. Don’t do anything stupid in the meantime!”
“Dust-!”
Dustin slammed the phone back down onto the cradle, stomping back off to his room, ignoring his mother’s calls after him.
“Guys,” he said, snatching his walkie up from the floor. “Things just got so much worse. We need to come up with a new plan before tomorrow.”
Steve didn't seem too suspicious when Dustin called him to let him know the Party didn’t need a ride to his house for the get together, they’d bike. They needed time to get their plan straight anyway.
All of that was thrown out of the window, however when they pulled up to the Harrington home and heard shouting coming from inside. They all shared a nervous glance with each other, easily recognising the voices as coming from Steve and Eddie.
"-can't believe you would do this to me!" Steve yelled, standing on the opposite side of the living room to Eddie who had his arm draped over Nancy's shoulders. Robin was sitting on the couch between them, unusually subdued with a lollipop in her mouth, her eyes ping ponging between them like she was watching a tennis match.
"Steve, please! I thought you'd be happy for me!" Eddie shouted back, waving his free arm around.
"Happy for you? How could I be happy for you when you're stealing Nancy away from me!"
Nancy gave a little frown but didn’t speak.
“I’m sorry Steve but-”
“You’re supposed to be my friend Eddie!” Steve's voice pitched high like a whining dog and he sniffled… loudly.
“I am your friend! But you can’t expect me to ignore the pull of true love!”
Nancy turned her head to look at him. “True love?” She asked, her tone flat.
“That’s right. True love, shnookums, my precious little rainbow cupcake.” Eddie booped her on the nose and she looked like she was fighting hard not to punch him.
Dustin was horrified. How could everything have gone so wrong?
“This is a complete betrayal! I don’t know if I can ever look at you the same way again, either of you! In fact, I don’t think I can look at you anymore at all!” Steve’s voice was wavering as turned his back on them, facing Robin with his arms crossed who stared at him wide eyed, biting into her lollipop.
“I don’t think there’s anything more I can say to you two. I never want to speak to you again! I never want to see you again!” Steve cried, throwing one hand over his eyes and holding the other out as if to push them away. “Go on, run away together and leave me behind! I wash my hands of you two.”
“That’s too bad Steve, I’m sorry this is goodbye forever, never to see each other again, never to interact or even ask the kids about one another in passing. This is truly a terrible, irreparable breaking of the Fellowship, never to be fixed!”
Jesus they were both laying it on thick, rubbing as much salt in the wound as possible, probably hurting each other terribly in the process. How had it come to this? Was their found family really going to be so broken forever? Dustin didn’t know if he could stomach it.
“Eddie.” Dustin breathed as he and Nancy turned to face them, apparently completely unsurprised to find the Party standing in the doorway. “What have you done?”
“What have I done? I did nothing but follow my heart, struck down by Cupid's arrow! What have you done, Dustin? You started this.”
“This wasn’t the plan, Eddie! This wasn’t the plan!”
Steve turned back around, his face suspiciously dry but Dustin was too far gone to notice.
“You were only supposed to make Steve jealous!” His voice was rising into a shout. “Not fall in love! You were never supposed to seriously flirt with Nancy and I told you not to ask her out! This whole thing was to get Steve and Nancy back together!”
“What plan? What whole thing?” Steve had walked over from his far corner of the room, planting himself down right next to Eddie with his hands on his hips and a stern look in his eye.
Dustin floundered, opening and closing his mouth. “The- we- there was a plan…” he took a deep breath. Well it was all completely fucked anyway, what was the point in keeping it quiet? “The plan was to get you and Nancy back together.”
"Behind our backs?" Steve prompted, not moving. He kept his hands on his hips and kept that hard look in his eyes, waiting for Dustin to continue.
“You haven’t gone on a date in ages, Steve! And you and Nancy were so good together-”
“No we weren’t.” Steve and Nancy cut him off in unison.
“But- it’s- you two are meant to be together! Do the whole white picket fence and babies thing! You just needed a push so I said I’d give you that push!”
"You certainly 'pushed' enough, Dustin." Nancy said, unwinding Eddie's arm from around her shoulders. They were barely even touching now as if some kind of act had been dropped. As if-
"Wait."
"Personally, I think I pulled off 'straight' rather well." Eddie grinned, the picture of smug pride.
"Wait. But this… this was all an act?! But you…” He pointed between Steve and Nancy.
“Listen to me very carefully, Henderson.” Steve raised his hands and began using sign language exaggeratedly along with his speech as though to really punctuate his statement. “I. Don’t want to. Be with. Nancy. Nancy. Does not want to. Be with. Me. Your plan would have never worked-”
But Dustin just couldn’t let this go. He’d been so sure.
“It would have! It would have worked! There were just some,” he gestured in Eddie’s direction, “variables we didn’t think to factor in.”
“There were a lot of variables you didn’t think to factor in. Some of the biggest being how I would feel about this whole thing!" Steve said, jabbing himself in the chest. "Or Nancy! Or Eddie! You just ploughed through without any consideration for our own emotional investments. Did you ever once stop to think why? Did you ever think there was a reason why I’ve refused every time you’ve been bugging me about pursuing Nancy again? Or Robin? Or anyone else? No, you didn’t. You just assumed I wouldn’t know what was best for me or that I wasn’t smart enough to be making my own decisions. That I don’t know my own mind as well as you do.”
Dustin winced. He knew it was a sensitive topic for Steve, people always assuming he was stupid because he couldn’t read quickly or had difficulty hearing. But that’s not what he’d done! That’s not how he’d intended it!
“That’s not-”
“Yes it is. That’s exactly what it is. I’m very familiar with it, I’ve been listening to it my whole life. People making decisions for me about school or sports or whatever because I couldn’t possibly be able to figure it out on my own? I used to see it all the time, I know what it looks like. You ignored every sign, every way this thing could have and would have gone wrong. And because you refused to consider any of these factors you could have blown up some of my most cherished friendships forever! No coming back from it. Permanently damaged. Do you have any idea what that would do to me? To us? We are not your fucking playthings to mess around with, Dustin!"
Panic was starting to settle deep in Dustin’s chest now. He needed backup, he needed something, someone, it wasn’t malicious it was just… he was just trying to help!
“Eddie?”
“Don’t look at me, I am not on your side here, Henderson. I told you how this would end when you first approached me and you wouldn’t listen.”
“But you were bluffing! There’s no way you could have known he wouldn’t want this! You don’t know Steve that well.”
“What happened to 'you're a friend his own age', huh? You’re still assuming you know everything without a complete picture. There’s a glaring puzzle piece you’re missing out on because, and I’m sorry I have to say this, you don’t look at things objectively like a scientist should. You let your emotions run you and again refuse to see past the end of your own nose.”
Dustin crossed his arms, unable to look any of them in the eye. If he had missed something it couldn’t have been something that obvious. He just needed to find out what it was.
“What could I possibly be missing?” He grumbled.
“Oh no, you don’t get to bully that information out of us." Eddie said. "If you were meant to know, then you’d know. But you don’t get to decide what secrets people do or don’t tell you. Part of being a grown up is understanding that.”
“But why… why wouldn’t you tell me something like that?”
“This. This is why, Dustin." Steve answered, running a hand through his hair. "Because you meddle. For months we’ve been telling you not to, but you don’t listen. You’ve made us feel like we have to keep things secret from you because what if you decided this secret thing is a bad thing, even though it makes the people involved happy? If you decide it’s bad or not the best course of action, you might have decided again that you know best and try to break it. Don’t even try to deny it, Dustin, you know it’s the truth.”
“But… but if you’d just told me it makes you happy-”
“You mean like how I told you I was happy where I was now and didn’t need Nancy back in my life romantically? That I was happy with how all my relationships are now?" Steve sighed, shaking his head. "You still tried to fuck with it, Dustin. You still tried to fuck with a good thing because you think you know better.”
“The both of us went to you separately and made it crystal clear that we were happy with things the way they were." Nancy said. "We’d agreed that if you backed off, we’d back off too. But you didn’t. You could’ve destroyed our friendships, destroyed our relationships, destroyed each of us mentally and emotionally. You just kept pushing. You want to be treated like a grownup? Well congrats, you got what you wished for. Consequences. No sugar coating. Grown up consequences. Just like you wanted.”
“But what about the others? They were involved too!”
“And they’ll get their punishment. But we all know you were the ringleader.” Eddie crossed his arms over his chest, unmoving.
“So that’s it? You’re happy being single? Really?” Dustin knew he was pushing. He knew he should have really kept that last comment inside, he really should have.
Because Steve had been irritated, pissed off and upset. But now he was angry. Honestly and truly angry and Dustin didn’t think until this moment that it had ever been directed at him before.
It was a soft anger, simmering and cold and disappointed.
“You still don’t get it.”
Steve was looking at him and underneath the anger and disappointment there was also a streak of heartbreak that Dustin didn’t know what the fuck to do with.
Everyone else was looking at him now, Eddie and Robin were like marble pillars, bracketing Steve at either side with a stern look on their face, Nancy was glaring down at him and all of his friends behind him had wilted.
He was the only one left standing proud and a horrible, terrible part of his brain was saying to him that if everyone in a room was telling him he was wrong, maybe… maybe he hadn’t been as right as he was sure he had been.
“But I-” Dustin stuttered. He… he hadn’t set out to hurt Steve. He would never… “It wasn’t supposed to go like this.”
“Dustin.” That was Nancy, circling around him now until she came to a stop in front of him. “I think it’s time for you to go. All of you.”
“But-”
“If you refuse to leave, it will become trespassing.”
Trespassing? What, was Steve going to call the fucking police on him or something? But a glance back at Steve’s face, resigned and hurt and angry told him that maybe he couldn’t exactly hash everything out right now.
He’d just have to wait for everyone to calm down and then they could work this out.
They could work this all out, right?
“I mean, how could it all have gone so wrong?”
They were all sitting in Will's room, the whole Party in a circle on the floor. Dustin was… confused.
He was angry. He was hurt. He was… so upset. And all with himself because… well because he had hurt Steve. Had been hurting Steve for long enough that Steve felt like he had to hide things from him.
He made Steve feel like he couldn’t talk to him, tell him about this good thing in his life because he thought Dustin might fuck with it?
And yeah, Steve hid shit from them all the time.
His rocky recovery after the Upside-Down, both mentally and physically. The amount of times he had to fight off infection from the road-rash on his back and arms. The nightmares. The panic attacks. The concussions. The hearing loss.
But all those things Steve hid from them because he didn’t want them to worry, he didn’t want to burden them with their problems.
He’d never hidden something from them, from Dustin because he was happy.
Whatever this thing was, it apparently made Steve really, really happy and Dustin never knew. Because Steve had been afraid that if he told Dustin and Dustin didn’t like it for whatever reason, he’d try to take it away, try to meddle.
God, he was starting to hate that word.
Meddle.
It felt so fucking childish.
"It was never gonna go right." Max muttered from in between Lucas and El.
And Dustin didn’t know why it was that that did it, that quiet and slightly accusatory comment from Max who rarely pulled her verbal punches that caused the first tear to spill free.
And they just kept coming. His vision was blurring and there was a terrible lump in his throat, forcing its way out.
The first sob that broke through sent a ripple throughout the group, plunging them into silence and Dustin could feel them all staring.
The next second he was set upon, everyone coming close to get their arms around him or hands on him, to comfort him even though he didn’t feel like he deserved any of it.
“What did I do?” He blubbered. He wasn’t even sure who’s shirt he was crying into. “What do I do? Steve didn’t tell me, he won’t tell me b- because he thinks I’ll try to take it away. Wh- what do I do?”
“Dustin.” Oh, that was Lucas. He was destroying Lucas’ shirt. “Do you understand why what you did was so fucked up? I’m not asking to punish you more, but you can’t fix it until you understand what was broken. It’s science.”
Science.
Yeah, okay. He could understand that.
Can’t just smash pieces back together. You gotta examine them.
“I- I ignored all the times they told me to leave it alone?”
Lucas nodded. “Yeah. Anything else?”
Someone was running a hand up and down his back and someone else had both his hands in a firm grip.
“I… I kept pushing. After they told me to stop. Af- after they told me they were happy. Because I thought… I thought, how could they be happy? I wouldn’t be happy in their position, so they must not be happy. And everything with Steve… trying to push Robin or Nancy towards him because… because he’s supposed to be with someone, right? And they’re his friends so why wouldn’t he want one of them?”
“Same reason you wouldn’t want me.” Max said. “Or El.”
“I did want you once.” Dustin mumbled. There was no point trying to deny the past. Not at this stage.
“And Steve wanted Robin once. But they’ve always been just friends.” One of the hands in his squeezed, and that was probably Max. “Could you imagine someone trying to force the two of us together now? After everything we’ve figured out between us?”
“B-but that’s different. You’re with Lucas.”
“So? What if I wasn’t and someone was still trying to push us together? Or what if we had to hide our relationship because of small minded idiots and we couldn’t say why you and I wouldn’t work out, we just had to hope someone would take our word for it. And then what if they didn’t and just kept pushing?”
Dustin hummed, a weak and shaky thing but he could see her point. It would be fucking torture to try to deal with all of that and to not be able to say anything about it.
What a terrible hypothetical.
“I…” He sniffled, trying not to wipe his nose off on Lucas’ shirt. “I need to apologise. I need… I need to talk to him.”
There was a tap on his shoulder and he glanced up to see Will holding out some tissues.
He took it with a watery smile.
“We’ll help you figure it out.”
Part 2 AO3
@augustjustice
Big thanks as always to @hbyrde36 for her magnificent beta work and to the STWG for their motivation and @hairstevington for her help with the ASL section. 😘
#steddie#steve x eddie#stranger things#eddie x steve#steddie fic#stranger things fic#fanfic#penny00dreadful#steddie fanfic#wip#ao3#dustin henderson#the party#comeuppance#pennys anniversary event
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James Somberton recieved his comeuppance... Illuminaughtii is next
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What are your thoughts on Whumpees that used to be jerks? Cuz I always found jerks that get their comeuppance and become whumpees so cathartically satisfying. Also lessens the guilt for lol
I mostly prefer my whumpees to be likable or possibly to be perceived by others as jerks but aren't really, so I can better sympathize with them. But comeuppance certainly has its place too!
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#big plans#cookbook#cooking#kitchenwitch#greenwitch#indigenouswitch#hedgewitch#food poisioning#medicine#poisonous#poisonous plants#paax#comeuppance#magic#curses and hexes#hex#curse#dont be suspicious
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As fame and the pressure of life on the road hit us, Brian's behaviour became a liability.
At Clearwater, I slept late on 6 May, then joined the others at the poolside along with my girl. Then my girl's friend who had slept with Brian arrived, looking battered and bruised and said Brian had beaten her up. We were disgusted by this. Mike Dorsey promptly disappeared into the motel in search of Brian. When they met, blows were exchanged and Brian suffered two cracked ribs, to the satisfaction of everyone.
Within a couple of days, news of the punch-up had trickled out to the press. We concocted a story. I gave an interview to New Musical Express by phone, saying: "We had a gorgeous pool here in Clearwater and we were doing karate beside it. Brian fell heavily and the next day, a lump came up on his chest. The doctor told him he had cracked two ribs. He wears an elastic belt, which we call his 'corset.' He's recovering rapidly, I'm glad to say." Lies!
excerpt from Bill Wyman's memoir, Stone Alone
#the rolling stones#tw: domestic violence#brian jones#comeuppance#touring#coverup#that same night Keith Richards came up with the riff for ''Satisfaction''
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Wenren E really said You Cannot Kill Me In Any Way That Matters
#just finished the book today!#so good#so so good#read if you like loyalty to romance#vampires#girls who don't end up with the guy#comeuppance#herbos#ghosts#details on how cultivation works#and also a guy who dies twice#arguably three times#and comes back stronger every time#also the herbo is a lady who really wants to go back to being a skeleton and is very put off by all this flesh she has#Loxie has words#devil venerable also wants to know#wenren e
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"Two Old Grumps"
#comeuppance#philosophy#morality#life lessons#short story#short stories#stories#story#poems on tumblr#poems and poetry#poetry#poetic#poem#tales#fairy tales#calligraphy#illumination#illuminated manuscript#manuscript#grumpy#poems
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Sometimes a big, hateful, loudmouthed jerk will just hand you a golden opportunity to laugh at them...
May I ASS you a few questions Mr Jones? 😂😆 🎶 Oooh Aaaass-hozleh meeee-ooooh... Ooooh Sodo-meeee-yaaaah 🎶
And finally, because EVERYTHING is ultimately about gay ponies...
Am I a horrible person for that last one? 🙍😌 I dunno. There's an old saying about giving a fool enough rope and they'll hang themselves. Seems Mr J might stand to learn from the classics. 😁 Or at least from li'l gay ponies. 💜💙💚💛💗
#humor#alex jones#memes#funny#gay ponies#lgbtq#political humor#comeuppance#everything is ultimately about gay ponies
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Comeuppance
Artist: Marco Nelor
TCG Player Link
Scryfall Link
EDHREC Link
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Vigilante Shit
Ladies always rise above
Ladies know what people want
Someone sweet and kind and fun
The lady simply had enough
You decide to show Jason how you play the streets of business.
TW for... language(?) This one was a little late, bear with me here. There’s not a lot of Jason in this one but I felt it was necessary for Vigilante Shit and Bejweled, which comes next.
It was lovely waking up in his bed again.
The first thing you laid eyes on when you awoke was him, bare skin going on forever down to his toes. A slow grin stretched across your lips as you kissed his cheeks, before rising from the bed to get dressed.
You were getting promoted today, whether your upper knew it or not.
-
After sliding your last hairpin into place, you turned to Jason. He had just gotten up, and it was going to make you both late. Watching him at the coffee table, you sighed and went over to him, pressing a light kiss to his hair.
“I’m going to go ahead to the office, okay?”
He nodded, quickly swallowing so he could respond.
“‘Kay. I’ll pick you up after work?”
“Mm.. maybe a little earlier than that.”
Jason smirked. Rising from his chair, he towered over you as he leaned in to nudge your forehead.
“I’ll see you in a bit then, sweetheart.”
And with a quirk of your maroon lips, you headed out the door.
-
Click-clack. Click-clack. Click-clack.
Your heels drummed a clean rhythm into the industrial-white floors as you sauntered through the rows of cubicles, people averting their gazes as you breezed by. No one dared catch your eye as you walked straight toward your boss’ office. The secretary, a usually chatty woman, buzzed you in without saying a word.
“Thank you,” you simpered sweetly, plucking a mint from the bowl on her desk. She nodded, her smile looking more like a grimace.
So everyone knew what you were about to do. Except for your boss himself, that is. He strutted into his office like it was any other day, and for him, it probably was. But you were about to change that.
“Sir,” you greeted him.
“This better be quick, I don’t have all day,” He snapped, slumping heavily into his chair. You hoped he’d kept the desk clean enough for you to use after he was gone. It was a nice, polished piece that you’d rather like to keep.
“Don’t worry sir, this shouldn’t take long.” You said. “Now, I do hope you recall the news article I was a part of a while back.”
And immediately, the atmosphere shifted.
“D-do I? Yes, that one with the Wayne ward, correct?”
You smiled.
“Correct,” you pronounced, your grin turning wicked. “I had planned to move on after it was resolved. But do you know what I happened to receive, just yesterday?”
“I-I couldn’t possibly imagine–”
“This,” you hissed. Your arm drew back and he flinched as you brought your hand down on his desk. “Oh, I’m sorry. Didn’t mean to startle you.”
You had absolutely meant it.
From behind your back, you produced a folder and slid it across to him.
“What is this?” He asked, sweat beading in his hairline.
“Evidence. It helped me make some connections, you see.” Finally, you sat in the seat in front of your boss, crossing your legs. “After that article came out, I couldn’t help but wonder, who could possibly want to jeopardize me?”
“I’m sure–”
“Are you, though?” You fixed him with a sharp gaze. “Because I found out who sent that picture to the press. With a full description of what to write alongside it.”
You whipped out your phone from your pocket. Clearing your throat, you read from the copy of the original article that you had saved. “It seems that women working high positions always fall for the charms of money. An easy way out of work and into rich men’s beds, if you will.”
“You–”
“Jason Todd-Wayne has only been back in town for a few weeks, and he already has a young harlot on his arm. Tell me, sir, what do you make of this?”
He couldn’t answer for the life of him, shaking in his chair and growing steadily redder in the face.
“I see. Not as eloquent with your words now, are you? Only smooth-talking for the press, is that it?”
“Is that a threat, you–”
“What? What is there that you haven’t called me already, using the voice of the media? What is there that you think you have to prove? It’s pathetic, is what it is,” you spat, springing abruptly from your seat. Leaning over the desk, you had his tiny eyes widened with horror. “Tch. I don’t know how I ever stayed in this position for so long with you as my superior. Fortunately–” a smile returned to your face– “that ends today.”
“What?”
“That’s right. I’m calling you out. It’s high time things changed around here. The evidence and my report is already in HR’s hands. I expect to hear from them very, very soon,” you concluded silkily.
He stammered, sweat beginning to drip from his slackened cheeks. You scoffed, turning on your heel as you stalked out of his office. Remembering the mint you’d slipped from his secretary, you popped it into your mouth and tossed the wrapper over your shoulder.
When the door shut behind you, you could feel the catharsis sweeping over you.
“Ah,” you sighed, contentment filling you. The secretary jumped in her seat, eyes darting back to her computer. You rolled your eyes. “No need for subtlety, hon. It’s not like you ever used it in your life.”
Her indignant glare only added to the thrill as you continued your walk back to the elevators. You had just made it halfway when your boss’ door slammed open.
“You can’t take this away from me! I will not lose my job to some woman making threats at me in my own office!”
“Really now–” you whirled to face him– “you can’t possibly think you’re in the right here. Don’t embarrass yourself in front of the entire office.”
Veins popped in his forehead as he seethed at you, mouth open to yell more insults at you, no doubt. But before he could, someone’s hand came to grasp at yours.
“Looks like I made it on time,” Jason rumbled, looking around at the shocked gazes of your colleagues. This time, your boss wasn’t the only one to blanch as people noticed the presence of the intimidating Wayne ward.
“Sure did, Jay,” you replied without looking back at him. His hand squeezed yours encouragingly, and you squeezed back.
“You called him–? Think he’s gonna protect you, huh? Getting his rich daddy to back you up?” Your boss yelled, his voice carrying loud and clear throughout the office. All keyboards stopped simultaneously.
“No,” you replied simply. “I’m only doing what’s right by me–and no one is going to question my decisions to make this change, are they?” Your challenging gaze swept over the sea of government employees, no one daring to make a peep.
“Didn’t think so.”
You tipped your head at your ex-boss as the elevator doors closed.
-
“You really did him in, doll.” Jason’s voice was full of admiration as he gazed at you adoringly.
“Mhm,” you hummed, fingers intertwined with Jason’s as you left the building. “Thank you so much, Jay. I couldn’t have done all this without you and–” your phone rang. “--speak of the devil,” you laughed as you answered Dick’s call.
#jason todd x reader#jason todd x you#jason todd#jason todd fic#dc comics#dc#girlboss moment#reader goes off#comeuppance#dick grayson#platonic dick grayson x reader#dick is a homie
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Comeuppance - Part 2 - Complete
Part 1 AO3
Dustin scoffed in offence. “I’m smarter than you, you know.”
“I know,” Eddie said through only slightly gritted teeth, “but that doesn’t mean you’re a grown up. You're sure you have all the relevant information? You know everything there is to know and there's no way this could go wrong?”
The little shit was gonna have to learn one way or the other that he couldn't keep sticking his nose in where it didn't belong.
Teenager or not it was going too far and Eddie had fucking enough of it. These kids had spent so long crash landing in government affairs and coming out unscathed, they seemed to think they were invincible. They seemed to think that consequences didn’t exist for them.
They seemed to think consequences couldn’t exist for them.
Well.
Time for a fucking lesson, kiddos.
Dustin looked at him like he was the biggest idiot in the world. “Of course I do.”
“Alright.” Eddie nodded, turning back to his trailer and pulling himself back up onto the roof. “If you’re sure. Now scram. I gotta get back to my sunbathing.”
He watched them all grumble, somehow believing themselves the smartest kids alive but somehow missing the barely concealed beemer, hiding behind Eddie’s van.
“Those little fuckers are getting too big for their damn boots, I swear to god.” Eddie seethed, flopping back down next to Steve who had been trying to keep his laughs silent this whole time.
“I think they just want what’s best.” Steve smiled over at him, brushing Eddie’s bangs out of his face while Eddie huffed.
“There’s a way to go about that and when the people in question have told them repeatedly to stop meddling, it no longer becomes wanting what’s best, it becomes wanting to be right.”
“They’re young.”
“Yes, they’re young but they’re not stupid. Or ignorant. They’re young but they’re not fucking toddlers who can’t understand why mommy and daddy aren’t living together anymore. And I refuse to continue to let them act like that. It’s borderline sociopathic.”
“Okay, I think that’s going a bit far-”
“Is it? Is it, Stevie? Really?” Eddie rolled his head to the side and plucked the joint from Steve’s mouth. “They don’t care about your feelings on this matter, nor do they care about Nancy’s. You heard them, they hadn’t even considered whether she even wanted you back. Like she was just some cardboard cutout in the shape of a woman who’d go wherever they lead. Have they even met her?”
He looked back up at the bright blue sky, a few dusty clouds drifting past and took a large inhale, holding it deep into his lungs, hoping it would help to chill him out, but it was doing nothing for him.
“And they’re walking all over you and your feelings. What you might want wasn’t considered and it doesn’t sound like it’s going to be considered. I’m just fucking sick of seeing it. It’s not happening. Not anymore. Not on my watch.”
Eddie continued to huff and puff, quite literally, in the silence that came after, glaring at the passing clouds like this was all their fault. He just couldn't believe the audacity of these kids, acting like Steve or Nancy weren't even sentient, just pieces to be moved on a chessboard.
He was still sulking and rigid and probably steaming out of his ears when he felt a hand on the side of his face. His head was tugged to the side and then Steve’s mouth was on his in a kiss so gentle and chaste and sweet, in stark contrast to how firmly Steve was now gripping the back of his head to keep him close. Every inch of tension immediately melted from his body.
“You’re so good to me.”
“I-” Eddie could only breathe out, a little dazed. “I’m really not. It’s just basic decency, to be honest.”
“Okay, then you’re basically decent to me.”
“I try my best.”
“My knight in shining armour.”
“I’m never the knight.”
“Well you are now. And you are to me. Always have been.”
Eddie blinked at him, sure that Steve could feel the thudding of his heart through his neck. Given the way he was nuzzling his nose into Eddie’s pulse and brushing his lips against his skin with small little kitten licks, he probably could.
Steve moved up, hovering right over Eddie’s ear. “And how does my knight feel about getting his dick sucked?”
“Pretty- pretty good. Yeah, pretty good.” He stuttered out, breathy and oh so eager.
“Good. But you’re gonna have to get down off this roof first.”
Eddie's descent was far less controlled this time, he nearly fell on his ass in his mad scramble to get back inside and into his bedroom, Steve following slowly with a lazy grin on his face.
Both Steve and Eddie knew that they had to strike before Dustin was able to do anything and potentially fuck everything up.
The first person they brought in was Robin, though that was less of a calculated move and more that she could tell just by looking at Steve that something was brewing.
He and Steve were supposed to be waiting for Nancy’s arrival at the trailer before they breathed a word but Robin had barely taken a step inside before it was all out in the open.
So now the three of them were waiting for Nancy, Jonathan and Argyle to turn up.
The six of them had a weekly standing date on Sunday evenings to chill the fuck out and while Eddie would have preferred to smoke the fuck up, Robin hated smoking of any kind.
And the smell stuck to everything.
So instead they usually ate the fuck up.
Argyle had taken it upon himself to be the resident weed baker of the group and he, Nancy and Jonathan usually arrived together.
It was kind of hilarious how the kids had never considered that the older teens talked regularly and therefore, that Eddie could spill their secret plan.
He was pretty sure the kids thought they all just sat at home alone, twiddling their thumbs and waiting around for the kids to call them up for the next get together or when they needed a ride.
Like they didn't have their own lives, or their own connections.
Like they needed the kids around to even see each other casually.
It wasn’t exactly like the six of them were the best of friends and Eddie’s trailer was definitely too small to host all of them, but they made it work.
It was the best place to meet up. Nancy, Jonathan and Argyle each lived with one of the kids in the Party. The kids called around unannounced to Steve’s house all the damn time, which was another thing Eddie needed to talk to him about. And Robin’s parents would have inevitably ended up eating some of their brownies, whether they knew what was in them or not, Eddie couldn’t say. But he didn’t want to take the risk.
The trailer was still a risk. Max and Eddie’s trailers were close enough together that she could easily see them all coming and going and she had.
Eddie knew she had.
She’d been outside feeding the neighbours dog once when they’d all arrived.
The rest hadn’t noticed, but Eddie had seen her look directly at them.
He’d been on edge for days afterwards, expecting to be chewed out by Dustin or Mike or any of them for ever dare thinking that they could hang out without the kids, but the bitch-fest never came.
He’d sent her a questioning look when it became clear she hadn’t said anything and she’d just glared at him, like he was being stupid to even ask if she’d spilled the ‘secret’ that shouldn’t even have to be kept a secret.
Well, okay then.
Immediate respect and trust gained there.
By the time the other three were pulling up in front of the trailer, Robin was pissed the fuck off.
Turned out, last time Dustin had tried to shove her and Steve together she’d snapped at him, bitching him out for guiltless manipulation and she had thought she had gotten through to him, considering he didn’t try again.
But now it was obvious he had just set his sights elsewhere.
Eddie had opened his front door, gesturing Nancy, Jonathan and Argyle in with a wide sweep of his arm and a smile. Nancy had barely opened her mouth to greet all of them when Robin stopped her pacing and declared to the newcomers “I’m mad!”
Nancy closed her mouth and blinked. “Okay.” She said slowly. “Who are we mad at?”
“The children.” Robin answered with a twisted up face. “Little fucking gremlins.”
Jonathan sighed, pulling six plates down from their cupboard in the kitchen where he and Argyle were dividing out a Tupperware container of brownies.
“What did they do this time?”
“They’re meddling little fucking…” Robin stood in front of Eddie’s couch, blowing a raspberry through her lips, trying to find the right words. “Meddlers.”
“Very articulate there, Birdie.” Steve smirked.
“Don’t talk to me right now, Harrington.” She pointed at him. “I’m mad on your behalf.”
“Alright, alright.” Jon walked forward with two plates, handing one off to Steve and then Robin. “Why don’t we chill out first,” he said to her, gently, “and then you can give us all the details.”
“I think we’re gonna need to work out the details before we have any of these.” Eddie said, picking up his own plate with a delicious looking brownie complete with rainbow sprinkles and settling himself on the floor against Steve’s legs, who was up on the couch.
“We can pause the brownies for a few, my dudes.” Argyle smiled, dropping to the ground, right next to Eddie. “No rush, they’ll keep.”
Nancy folded herself down into the couch on one side of Steve where Robin threw herself down on the other side, nearly taking Eddie out with her knee and accidentally driving her elbow into Steve’s side.
“I did nothing to you!” He squawked, jabbing her back.
“When do you not do something to me?” She retaliated, reaching for his hair. Steve grabbed her by the wrist and Eddie knew if he didn’t put a stop to this now, they’d never get back on track.
Between the four of them, Eddie, Nancy, Jon and Argyle had all learned the only way to break up a squabbling match between Steve and Robin was to make a sudden loud noise and the two of them would startle like cats.
At one point each of them had attempted to get in the middle instead but that only led to them getting caught in the crossfire.
He put two fingers in his mouth, pushing his tongue back and whistling so loud it set off the Murphy family’s dog outside.
Steve and Robin jumped back as if they’d been shocked but Eddie didn’t give them a chance to protest.
“Back to your original question, Jonathan.” Eddie continued on, even though he felt a short petulant little tug at one of his curls. He was pretty sure it was Steve pouting, but it could have been Robin as well, he didn’t know. He was already turned away. “They are attempting to set Steve up with someone. Again.”
Jonathan and Nancy practically rolled their eyes into the back of their heads. They’d heard it all before, they’d been there for the rants even before Eddie had joined the group. Argyle just smiled, looking between Eddie and Steve.
“That seems unnecessary. Unless you two are looking for a third to which I say more power to you, broskies. But should you be involving a child?”
“We’re not looking for a third, Argyle.” Steve’s hands were idly playing with Eddie’s hair. “The kids don’t know we’re together, remember? The children are involving themselves.”
Eddie nodded, leaning back a little against the grip and trying to get Steve to start scratching him.
“So tell the little dude you’re happy being single.”
“Tried that. Didn’t work. Henderson is convinced that everyone needs to be paired off to be happy. And there’s no convincing him otherwise once he thinks he’s right.”
“Who’s he trying to set you up with?” Nancy asked, turning to Steve.
“You, actually.”
Her eyebrows disappeared underneath her bangs. “Me?”
“Yeah,” Steve nodded. “Exactly. Says we’re perfect for each other.”
Nancy scoffed. “In what universe?”
Steve shrugged.
“We tried that already and it didn’t work out. How is Dustin hypothesising that it will work out this time around?”
Eddie turned, throwing his arm across Steve’s thigh to lean on. “I think he’s been a bit mind melted by movies and tv shows. And I think Mrs. H reads those romance novels. I mean, the two of you are the stereotypical couple and it always works out for them, so why couldn’t it for you?”
“Oh, I don’t know?” Nancy scowled, throwing a hand up in exasperation. “Maybe because I’ve blown up the two romantic relationships I’ve had with people in this room? Because I haven’t been able to be soft since 1983? Because I don’t know who I am outside of monster hunting anymore and being single and fucking off to college is the best way to find that out?”
“And because of this one.” Steve put in, giving Eddie a light tap on the head that he frowned at.
“And because of that one.” Nancy conceded, tapping him on the head as well.
“Okay, so what are we doing about it?” Jonathan asked from Argyle’s side.
Eddie sat up a little straighter. “I have a plan.”
Steve tugged on a lock of Eddie’s hair again. “He has a plan.”
“Well, okay then." Nancy's face told him she was already taking minutes in her head. "Fill us in.”
“Telling the kids to stop isn’t working. Hasn’t been working. So we’re gonna make them stop. Act like we don’t know this is going on behind our backs. Frustrate the shit out of him when it doesn’t work and when he starts to escalate, which we know he will, then we strike. Because we don’t know exactly what he has planned yet, we can’t make any solid plans ourselves. We need to be malleable. We need to be able to change tactics for whatever they come up with.”
“So for now, what? You want us to just go along with it whenever he…” Nancy cast her eyes around, trying to think. “Whenever he locks us into a closet or something?”
“For now, yeah.” Eddie nodded. “You don’t have to act like it’s working, just pretend you don’t know what’s going on. Stay friends. It’ll piss him the fuck off. And when he starts to get more dramatic about it, then we do too.”
“And how will we find out he’s getting more drastic?”
Eddie grinned, holding up the walkie talkie. “They’re very smart kids, but they’re not very clever. They seem to think they’re the only ones who know how to use these. They conspire all the time on them.”
Steve nodded. “They switch stations.”
“They switch between the same two stations and always announce it before they do because they want to stick to ‘proper protocol.’”
“Okay but here's the thing…” Steve dug his fingers into Eddie’s hair and Eddie could tell it was a need for touch, a self soothing motion that had driven it, so he tipped his head to the side, resting his cheek on Steve’s knee and giving him more access. He could feel Steve winding his curls around his fingers, almost nervous. “I think one last opportunity for them to back off wouldn’t go amiss. Just before we start fucking with them. It would make me feel better.”
Eddie exhaled, his body slumping back into Steve’s grip. He’d love to say no. He’d love to tell Steve that there was no fucking need. The kids had opportunity after opportunity to stop. They’d been told so many times that this was none of their business and to stop sticking their nose where it didn’t belong.
But he could never say no to Steve. If it was something that would make Steve more comfortable with the whole thing, Eddie would give it to him.
“Okay. One last chance for them to back off.” He conceded. “But when they don’t listen, then we move forward.”
“You know what helps with brainstorming, my friends?” Argyle lifted his plate into the air with a giant smile on his face. “Brownies.”
Eddie was pretty sure brownies and Little Shop of Horrors wouldn’t be the big help Argyle thought it would be but he was a little too wound up at the moment and needed to relax.
“Okay,” Eddie nodded. “Brownies. Little Shop of Horrors. Scheming.” He picked his own brownie up and took a giant bite.
Under different circumstances, trying to purposefully destroy the plans of a fifteen year old and make sure they failed would feel downright scummy. But under these circumstances it was kinda satisfying.
Dustin had decided to fuck with Eddie’s man again. After repeatedly being told to stop. So the kid dug his own grave, really. He’d been given plenty of chances. Steve had tried his best to convince the kid he was happy where he was in life and if the little defeated slump to Steve’s shoulders was anything to go by, it hadn’t worked.
So if the kid wanted to fuck with his man, he’d get fucked with in return.
Plus it wasn’t like Dustin couldn’t have figured out what the two of them were by now. They’d slipped up a few times and the kid had nearly walked in on them once or twice.
But watching Dustin get more and more irritated when Steve and Nancy only continued to be friendly together was ridiculously enjoyable. Especially as he watched Dustin practically force them together, no matter the clear signals the two were giving off that they didn’t exactly want to be stuck together, away from everyone else in the cinema.
Eddie sat next to Dustin with popcorn on his lap, giggling away as he watched Steve a few rows down, shift uncomfortably in his seat.
They’d seen this movie already. Gone on a date here only last week and Steve had told him after that he couldn’t remember a single thing about it, forever only being able to associate this movie with the feeling of Eddie’s mouth on him in the back of the dark and empty room.
Now he practically snorted out loud, earning a glare from Dustin. He retaliated by firing another piece of popcorn at Dustin’s head and continued to watch Steve uncross and cross his legs again while Nancy gave him a sympathetic pat on the shoulder.
“He told me ‘alcohol is a social lubricant, it shouldn’t be that hard.’” Eddie repeated, raising his voice over the din at The Hideout and making air quotes with his fingers.
Steve nodded, not really paying attention to what Eddie was saying apart from staring at his lips like he couldn’t wait to devour them, but that was to be expected.
Eddie had just come off stage after fingering and thrusting and grinding into his guitar for a full hour, Steve’s eyes glued to him the entire time while Nancy, Jonathan, Argyle and Robin all chatted amongst themselves. The four of them all knew that trying to draw Steve’s attention away when his boyfriend was playing on stage was a lost cause.
Usually Eddie and Steve hung around for a polite amount of time afterward but it was never that long. Nothing got Steve more horned up than Eddie performing on stage and if they didn’t want a quick and dirty in the bathroom or the back of Eddie’s van then they needed to get back to a bed before Steve snapped and tackled him wherever they happened to be.
Road head had happened more than once when Steve’s patience was worn particularly thin. Not that Eddie was complaining.
Eddie always made sure to park his van in the shadows of The Hideout, never quite sure when Steve would lose the run of himself and press him into the nearest surface, the two of them thriving off the risk.
Maybe the Upside Down had fucked with them a little more than they were willing to admit.
Eddie had Steve in his lap, exactly where he needed to be. The only place he ever needed to be. Sitting in the driver's seat of his van, Steve’s hands in his hair and his tongue in his mouth, digging so deep it was like he was trying to taste his stomach acid. His body was bouncing up and down in these tiny little movements, humping himself against Eddie’s body and using him like a pillow in between his legs to chase his own pleasure and god Eddie loved it.
He loved being used by Steve, just as much as he loved taking care of him, gently whispering to him as he cried out his own release, kissing away his tears or turning him into a hazy mess by keeping him on edge for as long as he could handle it.
He loved it. He loved him and if he was good right now, Steve would give him the orgasm of his life once they got home.
Which is why the two of them groaned in frustration, breaking their kiss with great heaving breaths when the walkie crackled from the passenger seat.
“Kas, this is Dart. We are still waiting on an update. Over.”
Eddie shook his head, trying to pull Steve’s lips back to his own. “Ignore him baby, ignore him.”
Steve shook his own head leaning back a little further. “We can’t ignore him, he’ll just keep going until he’s answered.”
Eddie slumped down in his seat, well aware his over exaggerated pout was probably a little on the ridiculous side.
Steve pouted with him, a little mocking, a little mean and he gave Eddie a kiss on the top of his nose.
“Hellooo? Kas?” Dustin sing-songed. “Kas. Earth to Kas. Oooover.”
“Answer the walkie. Tell him I was too busy watching you and I’ll bend you over the bathroom sink. Right in front of the mirror, just like you wanted.”
"You mean just like you wanted."
"Yeah." Steve leaned in, practically breathing over Eddie's lips as he growled out. "Just like I wanted."
All of the air left Eddie’s lungs in one fell swoop, one big whoosh, like he’d been punched (in a good way).
He kept eye contact with Steve, completely powerless to tear his gaze away as he fumbled blindly for the walkie and brought it closer to his face.
“Kas to Dart.” Eddie responded, swallowing, trying to get his breathing back in check, Steve’s gaze burning into his own. “Plan’s a bust. Sorry.” He paused for a second, almost forgetting what the kid was waiting for. “Over.”
The answer was immediate. “A bust?! How could it have been a bust?! Did you make them sit together? Over.”
“Yeah.” Eddie nodded, still trapped in honey-brown eyes. “They sat together. Over.”
“Were they drinking? Did you make sure they were talking? Did you play, like, love songs like I told you to? Over.”
Well.
If the way Steve had been looking at him as he played Grinder and Hell Bent For Leather, rolling his hips against his guitar and getting borderline indecent on stage was anything to go by… they were certainly a type of love song.
“Yep. Over.”
“Then what the fuck went wrong?! Over!”
Eddie shifted in his seat, trying to adjust so he was a tad more comfortable. It was a completely innocent movement, or it was supposed to be, but Steve’s eyes fluttered for just a second and his mouth pressed thin, trying to keep any noise from spilling out.
Eddie’s lips slid up into a smirk and that was probably the reason he was so flippant with his next answers.
“Dunno, Dart. Maybe I was shredding too hard. Stevie boy couldn’t keep his eyes off me. Over.”
“Jesus Christ Kas, that’s the exact opposite of what we wanted! Over.”
“Yeah well, I gotta go. I think I can hear Stevie coming.”
He didn’t even bother to say ‘over’, but he could hear Dustin’s scream of indignation in the second before he switched the walkie off.
He tossed it into the back of the van before all but bodily throwing Steve into the passenger seat and turning the key in the engine.
“Jesus Christ, Eddie.” Steve muttered, adjusting himself until he was more comfortably sitting. “Give a guy some warning.”
“Sorry baby.” Eddie said, peeling out of the car park. “I’m needed in front of a bathroom mirror.”
“Eddie, we need you to flirt with Nancy.”
Okay.
Okay.
So not only was this kid trying to fuck with his man, now this kid was trying to manipulate his man by bringing in some competition? He was, in his own mind, trying to get Eddie to lead Nancy on? And Eddie was just supposed to be cool with that?
Because even if all of the older teens knew that Nancy wouldn’t believe a single flirtatious word that came out of Eddie’s mouth for multiple reasons, Dustin didn’t.
Dustin was willing to take the risk that Nancy might catch feelings or that Eddie might or that Steve could end up jealous and hurt or that neither Nancy or Eddie caught feelings and it was just awkward all around. Awkward and probably friendship destroying.
This was the fucking escalation he knew was coming.
No time for an older teens meeting now, Eddie would have to hope they’d just play along until he could implement as many DM skills into Dustin’s downfall as Steve would allow.
“Hey Nance.” Eddie greeted her, putting his back to Henderson and trying to ham it up as much as possible. Nancy was smart. She’d get that something was going on. “I'm glad you decided to come today. Don't know what I would've done if I had to go without seeing your pretty face for much longer."
He could feel the silence that descended over Steve and Robin but he didn’t dare turn, knowing Henderson’s eyes were tracking every micro movement. Though out of the corner of his eye he could see the amusement in Steve’s eyes as he watched his boyfriend attempt to fake-flirt with his ex-girlfriend.
Eddie grimaced a little at the bewildered look on Nancy’s face and he circled his index fingers around each other, silently telling her to go with it.
She gave him an almost imperceptible nod. Thank god for that.
“Just a pretty face?” She asked, blinking rapidly.
“Oh, of course not, Lady Wheeler. Everyone knows you’re more than just a pretty face.”
Nancy grabbed his arm, giving it a little squeeze almost as if to say well done.
“Dunno if I could say the same thing about you.”
Eddie pulled out one of his oldest flirting moves, clutching at his heart and stumbling back a few steps. “Oh! The Lady Wheeler has wounded me most grievously!”
Steve rolled his eyes so hard his whole head moved.
Eddie didn’t think Robin had blinked this whole time. Or closed her mouth.
“Oh, stop it, you.” Nancy swatted at his arm. “You’re still pretty.”
Eddie gave her a little pout. How sweet.
He could practically hear Dustin grinding his teeth behind him and he thought he could freak the kid out even more. Even if that meant breaking one of his own rules.
“Would you care to join us?” Eddie asked, sweeping his arm out towards the table where the rest of the Party who were all staring, fucking flabbergasted.
“I’ve heard this arena of play isn’t unfamiliar to you.” He continued, lowering his voice and leaning in close to Nancy but still loud enough for everyone to hear. “I’ve even heard you used to get into costume for the kiddies. You into a bit of roleplay, Nancy?”
Steve gave Eddie a look, motioning him to dial it the fuck back. Which was definitely fair. If he had been anyone else other than Eddie at that moment Nancy would have probably kicked him in the nuts. And the glare that told him exactly that would happen if he didn’t slow down.
Steve had a little frown on his face and Eddie knew he’d be making it up to him tonight, at least until his jaw started to get really sore.
So he left her off with a wink that was directed at Steve more than her, seating himself behind his DM screen and trying not to smile at the looks all the kids were giving him.
“Did you have fun?” Steve asked him from the couch.
Eddie hung up the phone, having just spent the last twenty minutes talking to Nancy, listening to her attempt to gush about him to him, all the while making sure that Mike was in earshot.
“Mhm.” Eddie smiled, practically skipping over to Steve’s side and throwing himself down in his lap. “I’ve never been so flattered before in my life.”
Steve hummed, running his hands up Eddie’s thighs, bringing them around to tuck into his back pockets and pulling him forward until they were pressed together. “Do I not compliment you enough?”
“I don’t know.” Eddie shrugged, trying to keep his air of nonchalance as Steve began to nose up his neck. “Why don’t you remind me?”
“Why don’t you tell me what the competition is first?”
Eddie lifted his hips, just a little, to take the pressure off, to tease, even as he gripped at Steve’s shoulders and leaned back. He loved the feeling of Steve holding tight to him. Loved knowing that Steve would never let him fall, no matter how far back he went. Loved when Steve would pull him back down with an aggressive yank.
He leaned forward, coming to a stop just a hair's breadth away from Steve’s mouth.
“Operation White Picket Fence, sound off.”
Eddie slumped down in Steve’s hold.
“The timing on these fucking kids, I swear to god.”
“This is a Code Orange, I repeat this is a Code Orange. Over.”
Steve kissed his cheek with a smile. “You and Nance made that call knowing you were gonna get a reaction. What did you expect?”
Eddie shrugged. “I dunno. Ten more minutes?”
“You think we would’ve been done in ten minutes?” Steve asked with raised eyebrows.
“If we wanted to be.”
“Yeah, but did you want to be?”
“No.” Eddie sighed. “No, I didn’t want to be.”
“Okay, let’s switch to our backup channel just in case he checks in. Over.”
“See this is what I’m talking about.” Eddie reached over to grab the walkie, relishing in the feeling of Steve’s big hands keeping him steady. “These little shits think they’re the only people who could possibly be listening in. Think they’re the smartest fuckers in the world.” He turned the dial on the walkie, tuning into the kids super-secret backup channel. “This is practically how you all intercepted the Russians.”
"We'll tell Kas to stop. Maybe get him to start talking up Babysitter instead. Over."
"I don't want to see my s-Emerson get hurt over this, Bard. Besides, Kas is way better than Babysitter anyway. Over."
“Oh, now they’re worried about someone getting hurt? That’s rich.” Eddie scoffed.
“And Mike’s letting his crush on you slip again.”
“Uh, pretty sure his whole deal is because he has a crush on you, sweetheart.”
"But they're not meant to be! And Kas doesn’t even like her like that! Babysitter and Emerson are meant to be! We'll just have to regroup. Start pushing them harder or something. Over!"
“Is he fucking serious?” Eddie jumped up out of Steve’s lap and stormed over to the phone. “Fine, if the kid wants another escalation, I’ll show him a fucking escalation.”
He snatched the phone off the wall, punching in the Henderson home number. It only took a few rings before it was picked up.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Mrs. Henderson. It’s Eddie-”
“Oh hello, Eddie dear. How are you?”
Steve left the walkie on the couch, where they could still hear it in the background and made his way towards Eddie, leaning on the wall next to him.
Eddie tipped the phone away from his ear, holding it between the two of them so they both could hear.
“I’m doing just dandy, Mrs. H. Thanks for asking. Hey, is Dustin in? I gotta talk to him about some campaign notes.”
“Let me go grab him for you, he’s just in his room.”
“Thanks.”
Eddie listened as the phone was gently set down and watched Steve watch him, quirking his eyebrow in question, asking what’s the plan?
Eddie just shook his head and rolled his eyes, telling Steve without saying it out loud that he was fucking done with this shit.
“Hello?” Dustin’s voice was already half accusatory
Eddie smiled, ready to put on a whole body performance and maybe trying to piss the kid off, just a little. “Hey Dusty-Buns.”
“I told you not to call me that.”
“But it’s so fun!” Eddie was already waving his hands around. “Listen, I need to talk to you about this whole Nancy and Steve thing-”
“Good, because I need to talk to you about it too. You gotta dial it back, man.”
Eddie paused, even going so far as to put a confused look on his face. “What do you mean?”
“You’re getting in too deep with her, you’re starting to pull her attention away from Steve and that was not a part of the plan.”
“Yeah.” He sighed, chewing his lip. “I’m not sure if I can really do that…”
“Wha- why? Why, Eddie, why?!”
“I dunno, man.” Eddie shrugged, taking Steve’s hand in his and meeting his eyes. “I kinda like her.”
“No! Nonononono! You can’t like her! You’re not allowed to like her, why do you like her?!”
Not allowed?
Not allowed?
Who the fuck did this kid think he was?
“What do you mean I’m not allowed?” Eddie glared down at the phone. “And as for why, have you met her? You used to have a crush on her!”
“Yeah, when I was a child, you can’t be serious about this, Eddie.”
“I’m super serious about this, Dustin.” Eddie spat back, giving Steve’s hand a little squeeze. “I like her. I want to ask her out.”
“Jesus Christ this was not part of the plan!”
“And I didn’t want to be a part of the plan from the start!” Eddie decided to remind him because apparently the kid had forgotten. “You forced me into it! I told you it wouldn’t work.”
“It will work. It still can work! We're still doing this whether you like it or not. I’ll see you at Steve’s tomorrow. Don’t do anything stupid in the meantime!”
“Dust-!”
Eddie stared open mouthed at the phone, the sound of Dustin slamming it back down ringing through the kitchen.
“That little fucking-” he took the neck of the phone in both hands, squeezing and shaking it, “-demogorgon!”
Steve pried the receiver from his hands, placing it gently back in its cradle.
“Guys. Things just got so much worse. We need to come up with a new plan before tomorrow.”
“So,” Steve drew the word out with a hand at Eddie’s back, “clearly he’s not getting the message.”
Eddie sighed, resting his elbow on Steve’s shoulder and rubbing his eyes. “No, he’s not getting the message.”
“Well,” Steve nodded, picking the phone back up and beginning to dial. “It seems it’s time for the final act, then.”
Robin was pacing up and down in front of Steve’s couch.
“I’m nervous!” She said, grabbing at her hair.
“Why are you nervous?” Eddie asked, tracking her with his eyes from his position across the room. Nancy was sitting beside him, barely checked in, using any spare time she had to go over her flash cards for college, even though she didn’t start for another couple of weeks. They’d asked her if she wanted to put a stop to this, give her the freedom to stress just about college, rather than college and this but she’d just glared at all of them.
“You don’t even have to do anything.” Eddie continued.
“Yeah, but I have to be here. I don’t have the acting chops for this.” She pointed at him. “You know that. You remember what happened in Much Ado.”
“That wasn’t that bad.”
“I knocked over the wall during your gulling! You were supposed to be eavesdropping while badly hidden and then boom!” She smacked her hands together. “The garden hedges suddenly collapsed because I tripped over my own feet!”
“Oh, it was fine.” Eddie waved his hand. “No one noticed.”
“Everyone noticed! And it was fine because you played it off! I wasn’t even supposed to be on stage!”
“Birdie.” Steve grabbed her by the shoulders and steered her towards the couch, pushing her down. “You’re going to be fine because you’re going to sit there and say nothing.”
Robin huffed. “It’s impossible for me to say nothing, you know that.”
“I know, that’s why I got you this.” He plucked a lollipop from the coffee table, handing it to her. “When you hear them coming, stick that in your mouth. If you start to talk it’ll remind you to not talk. Just concentrate on that.”
She stared at the lollipop then looked back at Steve. “You’re giving me a pacifier.”
“Yeah, I am.”
“You know, there’s something to be said here about a man telling a woman to sit down and shut up. I’m only giving you a pass because it’s you.” She scowled, even as she took a seat.
“Wow, thanks Rob.” Steve rolled his eyes and patted her head. “Now you just sit there and look pretty.”
She fired the lollipop at him and he caught it with a raised arm, barely even trying and Eddie wanted to climb him like a tree.
Steve threw it back and even though it landed gently in her lap, she still attempted to catch it with flailing limbs like she was trying to deflect an arrow.
"Look alive." Nancy tucked her flash cards back into her purse and glanced out the window. “Here they come.”
The kids were cycling down the road towards Steve’s house, bickering amongst themselves, slowly getting closer.
“Come on then, my sweet little sugar muffin.” Eddie said, throwing his arm over Nancy’s shoulders as she stood. “We’ll put on a performance worthy of Shakespeare.”
“Don’t call me that.”
Eddie frowned. “My spicy pepper?”
“No.”
“My little prickly pear?”
“Gun or a blunt object, take your pick.”
“Alright,” Eddie held his hands up, keeping an arm around Nancy’s neck while Robin unwrapped her lollipop and stuck it in her mouth. “I hear you, loud and clear.”
“So how do you want to start-?” Steve began to say but was cut off as everyone in the room jumped when Eddie decided to project as loudly as he could.
“We have come to inform our friends of our torrid love affair!”
Steve rolled his eyes.
“Really? Really?” He asked, raising his own voice. “That’s how you’re gonna start?”
While they weren’t arguing, it would certainly sound like it from outside.
“We cannot help it! Our passions have simply taken over us!”
Steve sighed, hands on his hips. “Okay, fine.” He muttered before getting loud again. “I can’t believe you would do this to me!”
Just in time too as the kids slammed through the front door, barging in like they owned the place.
Well shit, Eddie thought. Time for a show.
"Steve, please! I thought you'd be happy for me!" Eddie shouted back, waving his free arm around. Honestly, he’d given better performances than this and Steve was trying his best.
"Happy for you? How could I be happy for you when you're stealing Nancy away from me!"
Nancy glared at Steve from Eddie’s side and the grimace he gave in return said sorry.
“I’m sorry Steve but-”
“You’re supposed to be my friend Eddie!”
Friend. That still ticked him. Friends didn’t have other friends tongues up their-
Nope. Stop. This was serious business. Could he not go five minutes with Steve in the same room without getting stupid horny over him?
“I am your friend! But you can’t expect me to ignore the pull of true love!”
“True love?” Nancy asked. Like she was saying Really? You’re going that far?
And well… Eddie never really knew when to stop pushing, did he?
“That’s right. True love, shnookums, my precious little rainbow cupcake.” When Eddie booped her on the nose, she dug her nails into his side hard and he had to put all his effort into not reacting.
Dustin was staring around at them like they’d all set his fucking house on fire or something.
“This is a complete betrayal! I don’t know if I can ever look at you the same way again, either of you! In fact, I don’t think I can look at you anymore at all!”
Steve had to turn to face Robin to hide his grin from the kids and Robin just chewed on her lollipop, trying not to react.
“I don’t think there’s anything more I can say to you two. I never want to speak to you again! I never want to see you again!” Steve cried, hamming up the drama in a way Eddie knew was adopted from his own mannerisms and Jesus Christ he was so in love. “Go on, run away together and leave me behind! I wash my hands of you two.”
Eddie sighed. “That’s too bad Steve, I’m sorry this is goodbye forever, never to see each other again, never to interact or even ask the kids about one another in passing. This is truly a terrible, irreparable breaking of the Fellowship, never to be fixed!”
Okay.
Maybe they’d gone overboard on the drama a tad, but who could blame them?
Dustin certainly looked like he was taking it all seriously, wide eyed and open mouthed as he and Nancy turned to face him.
“Eddie.” Dustin whined. “What have you done?”
Excuse me, the fuck?
“What have I done? I did nothing but follow my heart, struck down by Cupid's arrow!” Eddie sent the full force of his glare at the kid. “What have you done, Dustin? You started this.”
“This wasn’t the plan, Eddie! This wasn’t the plan!”
And now Steve was coming over, interrogating Dustin and Dustin was fucking arguing back like he wasn’t the one in the wrong, looking between all of them with something like realisation on his face.
"Wait."
He was staring between Steve, Eddie and Nancy, finally connecting the dots.
"Personally, I think I pulled off 'straight' rather well."
Being into girls wasn’t the issue, being exclusively into girls though? Pretending he wasn’t undressing Steve with his eyes every time he looked at him?
That had been the real challenge.
Steve was pouring his heart out, trying to get Dustin to understand why everything he’d done was so fucked up, but the kid was just looking for an escape route.
“Eddie?”
Like hell.
“Don’t look at me, I am not on your side here, Henderson. I told you how this would end when you first approached me and you wouldn’t listen.”
“But you were bluffing! There’s no way you could have known he wouldn’t want this! You don’t know Steve that well.”
“What happened to 'you're a friend his own age', huh? You’re still assuming you know everything without a complete picture. There’s a glaring puzzle piece you’re missing out on because, and I’m sorry I have to say this, you don’t look at things objectively like a scientist should. You let your emotions run you and again refuse to see past the end of your own nose.”
And even then, even after all of that, Dustin still wanted to demand answers out of them.
“What could I possibly be missing?” He pouted, petulant and childish.
“Oh no, you don’t get to bully that information out of us." Eddie said. "If you were meant to know, then you’d know. But you don’t get to decide what secrets people do or don’t tell you. Part of being a grown up is understanding that.”
“But why… why wouldn’t you tell me something like that?”
“This. This is why, Dustin." Steve answered, running a hand through his hair. He was getting more and more stressed by the second. While he spoke, his shoulders were becoming tenser, his face was becoming harder and Eddie knew that he was going to need a little while to recover after this. He’d be so emotionally drained and all Eddie wanted to do was scoop him up and take him away from everything, from all this.
Let him live his life outside the kids, outside Hawkins, be young again. Be carefree.
Even after all this, explaining to Dustin why this was so fucked up, he was still trying to deflect. Bring in the other kids in a hope his consequences would be lessened.
Fat chance.
Then he had to go and make that one last comment.
“So that’s it? You’re happy being single? Really?”
Eddie wasn’t even really feeling angry anymore. Just so incredibly disappointed. He put a steadying hand on the small of Steve’s back, out of sight and Robin’s hand came to join his not long after when Steve said “You still don’t get it.”
Dustin tried to defend himself one last time, but they were all done with him. At least for now.
While Nancy corralled the kids back outside Robin lifted her head, speaking to the two of them, the only two left in the house.
“So that went…”
“As well as we could have hoped?” Eddie asked, taking Steve’s hand in his.
Steve just shrugged, turning away from the two of them in the empty echoey house and silently making his way upstairs and Eddie felt his heart crack.
Steve loved those kids, so for something like this to happen, such a big fallout… it must be killing him.
And he was probably blaming himself for everything.
“What do you think?” He asked Robin. “Give him a few minutes or wait for him to come down?”
“We’ll give him a few minutes. I’ll go up to him then.”
Eddie nodded, watching the top of the stairs like Steve was still visible, standing there. “I think I might take him away. Just for the weekend or something. Take him to Indy. Have some fun.”
“And show him that he could get away from all of this, permanently, if he wanted to?”
“Maybe.” He finally managed to tear his eyes away from the stairs and back to Robin. “You’re coming, if it ever does happen. We’ve got a spot on the floor of the van with your name on it.”
“Wow, thanks.” Robin rolled her eyes. “What if I fuck off to college?”
“We’ll fuck off to college with you.”
Robin tried to bite down on a smile, punching him in the arm as she passed.
“What a fucking sap.” She muttered, disappearing upstairs while Eddie went to the phone, ready to order his weight in pizzas.
In the following weeks, Eddie got to watch as Steve slowly began to open up to the idea that maybe he didn’t need to be one of those who was born, lived and died in this shithole of a town.
The kids, though they had leaned on him an awful lot, mostly whenever he could do them favours, were starting to come to terms with the fact that they had legs.
Steve had refused every single request for a ride. He privately let Eddie know that of course he’d go out for them if it was an emergency but it never was.
This was a small town and they had bikes.
They should never have been able to get away with those demands in the first place.
The first time it happened, they couldn’t believe it. They almost believed Steve had gotten into an accident rather than follow through on his refusal to come get them.
Which led to anger.
Which led to Steve freezing them out for a solid two weeks. Not talking to them. Not interacting with them at all.
Until they learned he was a human with his own feelings and not a robot they could all walk over.
They’d been getting around on their own before they met Steve and they’d be getting around on their own after.
It didn’t take long after that for them to come back with their tails tucked between their legs.
Eddie had been having the time of his life, spoiling the shit out of his boy, taking him out to the city every chance he got and sometimes even further.
Just adventuring in the van as far as they could conceivably go before Steve had to be back at work and Eddie had to be back so Wayne didn’t lose his damn mind.
They’d gotten the travel bug and they refused to share about their adventures with the kids, no matter how much they bugged them for it.
Dustin was incredibly subdued.
It got better as time went on but it wasn’t until nearly a month later that Steve, cuddled up on Eddie’s couch, revealed that Dustin had called over earlier that day out of nowhere with a long handwritten letter that he’d been working on for a while.
The kid had read it aloud to him, having to pause multiple times to calm his tears so he could continue, but he got through it.
Steve hadn’t even bothered to hide his own tears from the kid.
It was slow going, but they were healing.
Steve had sworn that the contents of the letter were between the two of them and he’d never break that promise.
Dustin had stayed the night and things were getting better.
Eddie snuggled down, pulling Steve in tighter to his chest and couldn’t help but smile. The kids were learning to be more independent from Steve, no longer using him as a glorified taxi.
Steve was learning to love himself more, not allowing himself to be walked all over.
And they were planning.
Planning for a future. Their future.
Away from the soul sucking presence of Hawkins and everything it had taken from them.
Eddie couldn’t wait.
Part 1 AO3
@augustjustice @estrellami-1 @starman-jpg @hallucinatedjosten @pizazzmcjazz @hallo-spaceb0y @goodolefashionedloverboi
Big thanks as always to @hbyrde36 for her magnificent beta work and to the STWG for their motivation.
#steddie#steve x eddie#stranger things#eddie x steve#steddie fic#stranger things fic#fanfic#penny00dreadful#steddie fanfic#ao3#dustin henderson#the party#comeuppance#pennys anniversary event
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MEgain's (isolated) future 😘😚
I thank God for the future courageous matriarchs, like the fictional Emily Gilmore, who will set MEgain straight in the coming decades. Unfortunately we won't be privy to these iconic moments, but they will occur and it's what she deserves.
There is something quite satisfying about watching multiple versions of self absorbed, smug, low rent harlots get their comeuppance through the "class" of people they worked to impress by stepping on top of innocents.
I dropped out of Stars Hollow & the Gilmore family about 20 years ago. As I catch up with the characters, I'm delighted to see multiple versions of the FUTURE social pariah, Mrs. Harry Markle Mountbatten Windsor-?______, receive her comeuppance.
Example #1: Shira Huntzberger, a dumb, smug wife who Emily Gilmore sets straight during a social function
youtube
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#2-Serena, Renford's 4th wife, who Emily rejects at a DAR interview: "You're not gettin' in honey! You are never going to get in!" 😊
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Messed up thought came to me when looking at your Prime Leo AU, but what if, if Leo is healed. He is not actually... Healed?
Like they are able to help him stop doing all the messed up stuff,(like killing the entire planet) but because Prime does not want to let go of Leo, (so much so they would kill Leo and themselves to keep Leo,) they just, have to keep Prime in Leo's head.
So while trying to heal Leo, Leo just keeps on having Prime in his head. Having a forever parasite in his mind, talking to him. And the only thing his family can do is ground him and remind him that Prime is lying. Which is hard because some days Leo does believe in Prime's words.
So Leo is just stuck, forever with Prime. Keeping hope that his family will figure it out. While Leo's family can't do anything but just keep reminding Leo to ignore Prime.
okay who are you and how the fuck did you get inside my head!?!?
/j
but..yea, the biggest and main plot twist of this au is that prime and leo can't be seperated. like, yes, prime is defeated and leo get his mind and body back, but like you said, prime won't ever let leo go (obssessive possessive creep that one is)
it was a last-ditch attempt that legit almost killed leo in the process, and the worst part is that prime would've seen that as a win-win. if leo died, then they would've died together. if leo survived, then prime's main (and now only) goal of keeping leo as their host still goes on
the good new is; no one knows that prime is still alive!!
the bad news is; no one knows that prime is still alive.....
#at the very least they can't abuse leo anymore#but still#it's not like a teenager with powers could kill what in all purposes is pretty much an alien god#but hey....a small amount of happiness is needed here#but some good news: prime is locked away in the same little room they locked leo in sooo#comeuppance#sonny answers#prime leo au
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Something that just made me laugh:
If Sam does reveal Densi having a girl or boy in Hawaii and then LA gets a reboot with Gemmill as the showrunner he’ll have to cater the show around someone else’s idea.
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