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sweetsweetjellybean · 2 years

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My first fic. I've never written anything before because I'm a pretty terrible writer, but I had this story rattling around in my head and I had to write it out. Feedback is welcome. AO3

The Letter | One shot Stranger Things

Synopsis: After the events of season 4, Steve finds the letter from Max.

Word Count: 1724

Characters: Steve Harrington, Max Mayfield, Robin Buckley, Lucas Sinclair, Eddie Munson, Dustin Henderson

Steve is tired. Bone tired. Working at the emergency shelter with Robin has been filling his time and providing a necessary distraction from his worries. Hawkins is a mess. Seeing neighbors and friends suffering is starting to take its toll on him. Everyone has suffered a loss, whether it was a home, a business, or a loved one. No one will be immune this time. The gates are open, and the battle is coming. How many more will die is anyone's guess.

Robin is saying her goodbyes to Vickie as Steve sits in his car waiting to drive her home. He can't help the smile on his face at seeing his best friend falling in love. "Just please let this one thing work out," he mumbles.

His love life is comparable to the town hall at this point. Crumbling and on fire. Okay, maybe that's a bit dramatic. He has been hanging around a lot of girls lately. Still, his declaration to Nancy had been a disaster. He poured his heart out to her, and she kissed Jonathan right in front of him. He had done the exact opposite of the advice he always gives to Henderson. He let her see him care. In the end, it didn't matter. He wants her happy; that's what's important. She is strong and never really needed him, to begin with. He had allowed hope to creep in after his conversation with Eddie, but Eddie had been wrong.

Steve knows he needs to let it go and focus on more important things, like his buddy Dustin who is still slightly limping. The kid is taking Munson's death hard. Steve is trying to give Dustin space and let the little guy come to him, but that approach doesn't seem to be working. Steve knows he shouldn't let it go on for much longer. He decides he will sit him down to talk tomorrow. Henderson is a great kid. He isn't ever afraid to be himself. Something that Steve struggled with when he was that age. He was more concerned about looking cool in front of everyone. He doesn't want all this to change Dustin, but how could it not? It's going to change them all.

As he drives, Robin rambles on a mile a minute about her conversation with Vickie. "Did she mention anything about boobies?" Steve interrupts, trying to get a rise out of his friend. "Ugh, Steve, you're the worst." Eyes rolling, she launches back into her story. Steve knows she loves him. He doesn't know what he would have done if he had lost her. Lost any of them. A pang of guilt shoots through him as he thinks, I'm glad it was Eddie and not Dustin. It's wrong to think like that, and he knows it. Eddie doesn't deserve that. A fight is coming, and if we don't win, all of us might end up lying with Munson in The Upside Down. With Max still in the hospital, holding on by a thread, he can't think about any more death.

"Earth to Steve? Hello? Dingus, are you still with me?"

Steve parks in front of Robin's house. He's still dropping her off and picking her up every day."Are you ever going to get your license?"

"Why would I do that? We both know you love the pleasure of my company. Without me, you'd have no social life at all. You would become an outcast and move into the woods, and kids would run away and cry when they saw you. I'm performing a public service by being your friend."

"Oh, that's why I drive you everywhere?"

"Yup! Why, what were you thinking?" Robin asks with a smile.

"I'll pick you up at the same time tomorrow."

"Great, go get some sleep. You're cranky." Robin says as she exits the car.

"I don't know why. It's not like Vecna's ass crack has opened up in the middle of town," Steve yells out the window after her.

"That doesn't mean we need to be in a bad mood. Go wash your hair or something, Harrington," Robin says as she disappears inside her house.

After dropping off Robin, Steve heads over to the hospital to look in on Max, as is his routine these days. Lucas is sitting on a chair next to her bed. His eyes are red-rimmed and tired, and he probably hasn't had a real meal in days. Steve walks over to Max's bed. She looks smaller and younger. Maybe it's because she isn't threatening him with a lawsuit. She still wears her neck brace, and her arms and legs are casted. He lightly brushes her fingers with his own.

"Any change?" he asks Lucas hopefully.

"Nothing," Lucas replies as he drops his head into his hands and starts rubbing his eyes.

"Are you alright, Sinclair? Maybe it's time to go home and rest a bit, yeah?"

"Ehh, that's okay. I want to be here when she wakes up."

"Where's your sister?" He doesn't like Lucas sitting here alone all day.

"She was here for most of the day, but she gets annoying, you know?"

"Yeah, I know," Steve says with the corner of his mouth rising slightly. He loves watching Erica give them shit. It was pretty funny as long as it wasn't directed towards him. "Alright, man, call me if anything changes."

"Will do, Steve."

When Steve gets home, he can't wait to crash. He tries to avoid having a conversation with his parents. So he just hollers out a greeting on the way to his room. They are just so oblivious, so uninterested in what is going on around them. Even what was happening with their own son. It was just as well they didn't ask. He wouldn't have known how to explain it anyway. Alone in his room, Steve throws himself down onto his bed. He runs his hands through his hair as exhaustion sets in. He's starting to feel older than his years. After pulling his shirt over his head, he throws it on the floor with all his other dirty laundry. Shit, I'm gonna run out of clean clothes soon. One last thing to do before sleep. He gets up and starts gathering up all the clothes for the wash. He hears a crinkling sound when he picks up a pair of crumpled jeans that are half shoved under his bed. He pulls a brown envelope out of the back pocket.

Max's letter. He staggers back to sit down in a chair at his desk. He had forgotten all about it in the chaos. He smooths out the envelope and holds it flat in both hands. He knows her wishes. He isn't to open it unless she is gone. He wonders if anyone else has opened theirs. He sits staring at it for a while. He can feel the weight of the little girl's words impacting him even though he hasn't read them yet. Screw this! If Max has something to say to me, she can damn well do it while she's still here. He tears open the envelope and begins to read.

Dear Steve,

I wanted to thank you for always protecting me. I always feel safe when you're around. No one has ever made me feel safe like that before. You stayed with me and never let me down. So please don't let anyone tell you that you're not smart or not worth it because you are. And so brave. You're the bravest person I've ever met. You put yourself between us and literal monsters. The boys all look up to you because of it. You always take care of us without thinking of yourself. So it's probably not fair to ask you this, but please keep looking out for them. Especially Lucas. He's going to need you when I'm gone. He's going to blame himself, but it's not his fault. He was there for me. You were all there for me. I just couldn't see it. Please don't let them be sad for too long.

Love your Max

XOXO

P.S. She's out there. You just have to find her.

After carefully folding her letter and putting it in his wallet, he puts his shirt and jacket back on. He grabs his keys and heads out.

Rounding the corner into Max's hospital room, he sees Lucas asleep, practically falling out of the chair. Steve puts his hands on his hips in an exasperated pose and starts barking at Lucas. "What's wrong with you, Sinclair?"

Lucas does fall out of the chair now. He scrambles to stand up.

"Get your ass home. I don't want to see you back here until you have had something to eat and a good night's sleep. Are you hearing me?"

"I told you I'm not leaving her."

"I heard what you said, but you're no good to anyone like this. You're no good to her. You know what's coming. You want to help her? Go home. I'll stay."

"You're such an asshole," Lucas says angrily as tears escape his eyes. He tries to brush his way past, but Steve reaches out with one arm and pulls Lucas into his chest.

"She's going to be alright. I know it." Steve says quietly, trying to give the kid a little comfort. He releases Lucas, who looks at him and nods. A little too choked up to speak, Lucas leaves the room. Hopefully, he doesn't fall asleep riding his bike.

He walks over to Max's bed. He gently smooths some hair away from her face and leaves his hand resting on the top of her head. A gesture he always found comforting when he was small. He leans in a little closer to her.

"I'm here, Max. You're safe. I will stay with you, and I will keep them all safe, I promise you. Just get better, okay?"

He stays that way for a little longer, hoping she can feel the warmth of his hand and the truth of his promise. He sits down on what has to be the most uncomfortable chair in the world. Trying to get into a comfortable enough position to sleep, Steve lets out a long sigh.

"Always the goddamned babysitter," he says with a smile and closes his eyes.

#stranger things #stranger things fanfiction #fanfic #stranger things season four #stranger things fanfic #steve harrington #max mayfield #lucas sinclair #eddie munson #robin buckley #dustin henderson #my first fic #steve harrington fanfic #the letter

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noona-la-la-la · 7 years

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(1) So I don't really know why but I would like to just share something with you because you're my fav fanfic writer. I remember when I was like 13 and I would read fanfics on aff and I read a gd x taeyeon one and loved it. Only now that I'm an adult do I realise that the whole story was based on rape. Gd gets dared by his friends to see if he can fuck taeyeon and he ends up raping her and then for like 10 chapters he would show up to wherever she was and rape her.

Trigger warnings. Rape talk. Long answer possibly veering off topic. So I’m putting the rest under a cut.

(2) Like the writer described her crying and trying to push him away and screaming no. He even trapped her in a closet with other people outside so she wouldn't scream while he raped her. And then later they fall in love and get married. The worst part was the character of taeyeons brother even says to her "he raped you". The writer knew that. But me being so young and clueless thought because taeyeons character denied it and said she now loves him, I thought it was ok.

(3) The writer even had taeyeons father approve of gd even though he knew what he did. And it was a really popular fic. Heaps of people left positive comments and it had like 40 chapters. I guess I wanted to say that to thank you for being really open and honest in your fics and just on your blog about healthy relationships for your readers because there are plenty of shitty writers that are affecting their readers in such a toxic way especially the young ones that don't know any better

There is so much to unpack here, I’m not sure where tobegin. This is all probably the subjectfor a book or a Ph.D. dissertation. Wecould talk about rape fantasies and whether or not it’s moral to write them outin story format. We could talk aboutyoung teens being exposed to sexually explicit material and whether or nottheir still forming brains are neurologically capable of viewing the materialobjectively or judging the content critically. We could talk about the very real examples of women dating and marryingtheir rapists, perhaps to convince themselves that something awful didn’treally happen to them, to minimize the pain by turning it into a relationship. We could talk about rape culture in general,and a world that wants to convince women that rape isn’t really rape, that yourworth as a woman is measured by your sexuality and the man who claims it alsoclaims you, that women just need to get over it… I mean there is a LOT to talk about.

What I want to talk about right now is something I see alltoo often in fanfic and in the conversations I see readers having. While the romanticized rape that existed inthat one fic that you are referring to is pretty easy to spot as problematic –there is also a lot of other types of fics that gloss over consent and it makesme worry. There is this overwhelmingnumber of (mostly young) women clamoring for dominant male fics, they bemoanthe fact that the things that happen in a lot of these fics aren’t happening tothem in real life. They may be virginswho proudly declare themselves to be submissive without ever having experienceda sexual relationship in any form. When reallyall they know is that they find these stories titillating and they like theidea of someone else taking control so they don’t have to make decisions ontheir own. They are women in relationships who sometimes write to me and wantto know how to make their partners dominate them without having to ask for itfirst. As if their partners areresponsible for being able to read their minds. It is the people who tell me they are too shy to ask for what they wantsexually, as if shyness was proof of their submissiveness, and they want toknow how to find a partner who will control them sexually without making themuncomfortable by asking them what they want or what they like.

The problem with all of this is a massive misunderstandingof how a healthy sexual relationship should work. This fantasy that people describe, that showsup in fics, the guy in fics who orders you to get on your knees and suck hisdick on the first date, the guy who the character locked eyes with across thedance floor and surprised her by following her into the bathroom and grabbingher into a passionate kiss without even speaking to her first, that boyfriendthat jealously drags you out of a party for flirting with another man and thenproceeds to throw you over the hood of the car to fuck you as hard as he can…In real life, those guys are fucking assholes. In the fictional world of the story, theycan get away with all of that because the woman they are doing these things tojust coincidentally happens to love everything that is happening to her. These fictional characters are incrediblylucky that they spontaneously decided to do these things to the woman whowanted exactly that. Because in reallife, the chances of that working out is almost zero. In the fictional world, the characters goright to the limit of what their partner finds acceptable and never crosses theline. In real life, you would have noidea where the line is and you would probably be considering whether or not youshould call the police. If the thingsthat took place in some of these fics took place in real life, it’s very likelythat the line would be crossed and you would be in sexual assault territorypretty quickly.

I’m not saying that you shouldn’t enjoy these types of fics,but I want everyone to be able to separate out fantasy from reality. I would love it if my next lover just showedup always knowing exactly what I wanted, when I wanted it, with the exact samesex drive as I have – all the time – but I know that isn’t going tohappen. But honestly, even that wouldlook creepy if it happened right off the bat. For example, I’ve talked before about my love for dirty talk. Nothing gets me going faster than to have mylover pull my hair and call me a slut and a whore. But to be honest, not any lover. If a one-night-stand tried to pull that shitwith me, I’d be mad as hell. I don’tknow that guy well enough, we don’t have any trust built up, I don’t know if he’splaying into a fantasy or if he actually disrespects me. I only enjoy being called those things bysomeone who I know holds me in high regard in real life.

There is nothing wrong with power play in real life, but forit to be successful, it needs to be discussed. Boundaries need to be set. Trustneeds to be developed so everyone knows they will be safe. If you are too timid to talk about what youwant from you sexual partners, then you probably shouldn’t be having sex withthem. Healthy communication is key. Consent is necessary and can also be sexy ashell – which is why I try to make sure it’s included in all my fics. So even when my characters are deeply flawedand totally fucked up, at least I know they won’t be raping anyone.

#advice and opinions #another fucking essay where I get all judgey and what not #Anonymous

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