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corroded-hellfire · 6 months

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As You Wish - Eddie Munson x Reader, Part 7

A collaboration with my partner in crime @munson-blurbs

Summary: Now that the boys know you and Eddie are together, this should make life easier. Right? Unfortunately, there's still Brittany and the court case to deal with. Not to mention, the age gap now bringing some complications to light.

Note: I will never ever get over the lovely things you all say to me about this series. Some comments make me laugh, some make me cry, but every single one of them means the world to me. I can never thank you enough for reading this series.

Warnings: smut, oral, m!receiving, age gap, older!eddie, dad!eddie, breeding kink, Brittany should just come with her own warning at this point

Words: 7.6k

[As You Wish masterlist]

Gray. Gray everywhere: the clouds roll in, dark and stormy, threatening rain. The overcast weather cloaks the atmosphere in dullness, as though it could sense your mood as you and Eddie head towards Brittany’s house—the same one they used to share.

Ryan and Luke are playing at the Harrington’s house; Steve promised to drop them back home in time for bed, though you imagine it’ll be later than that, given his pushover nature. Just a little pout and a pleading, “five more minutes, Uncle Steve?” is all it takes.

Their temporary absence gives you and Eddie the rare opportunity to speak to Brittany alone; something you typically avoid, but you need to have this conversation sooner rather than later.

Eddie debates whether or not he should knock on the door. It was still technically his home by law, though he certainly doesn’t feel like he belongs here. He decides to let himself in, announcing that you’re both present.

“Hello? Brittany? It’s me. Well, it’s us,” he amends, clearing his throat.

Brittany comes down the hallway from the bedroom and it’s the most unkempt you’ve ever seen her. Her usually flawless blonde hair is pulled up into a frizzy, messy bun on the top of her head, and you swear you’ve never seen the woman in a pair of sweatpants before this moment.

As soon as she sees you, she groans and crosses her arms over her chest. “You can’t just send the boys in?” she asks, an inevitable eye roll gracing her annoyingly pretty face.

“The boys aren’t with us,” Eddie says as the two of you fully step inside the house and you close the door behind you.

“Excuse me?” Brittany just stares at the two of you, the look completely blank, not even any confusion behind those dead eyes. Complete indifference.

Eddie sighs, relaying the explanation. “Steve’s going to be dropping them off later,” he says. He subtly nods for you to follow him more inside the house and away from the door. “We need to talk to you. While they’re not here.”

“Why?” Now the venom is back in her scowl, her lip practically quivering and threatening to turn into a snarl. There’s the Brittany you know.

“Just…” Eddie sighs and runs a hand over the top of his head. “Just come sit down.”

You follow Eddie into the kitchen, as does Brittany, no matter how unwittingly it was. The three of you sit at the table and it’s silent; no one knows what to say or wants to be the one to break the tension.

Leave it to Brittany to be the one to speak first, and though you’re less than thrilled to hear her voice, a very small part of you is glad that someone says something.

“Are you going to tell me why I’m sitting here with you and your tramp? Or are we gonna fucking play charades?”

As Eddie’s hands clench into fists on top of the table, you realize Brittany hasn’t looked at you once since you stepped inside. It brings you an odd air of satisfaction and smugness.

Eddie, meanwhile, is fuming at the derogatory term she used on you, and you can tell he’s about to rip his estranged wife a new one, but you’re able to calm him down by taking one of his fists in both of your hands and massaging it and uncurling his fingers until his tension starts to melt. You’re tempted to press a kiss to the back of it, but you both came here for a reason and now that conversation must be had.

“So, uh,” Eddie pauses to clear his throat, “we just wanted to give you a heads up because the boys already know and they’re not exactly tight lipped. Nor should they feel like they have to hide anything from anyone—especially a parent.” He almost said “especially a mom” but he and the boys know she’s never been much of one to begin with.

Brittany’s eyes finally land on you as her gaze flits back and forth between you and your boyfriend.

“What?” She demands. “What’re you giving me a heads up about?”

“Well,” Eddie says, linking his fingers with yours with the hand that you soothed for him. “We’re together. Like, officially. The boys know and they’re pretty over the moon about it.” Eddie didn’t need to add that bit, but he enjoyed saying it nonetheless. Maybe it’s petty, but he wants to show off how happy he is.

Brittany’s arms drop to the table as if they’re suddenly dead weight. “What the fuck, Eddie?” Her gaze is now solely on him again. “The boys know you’re fucking their babysitter?”

“Jesus Christ, Brittany,” Eddie groans, closing his eyes for a moment as he massages his furrowed brow. “No, the boys know that we have feelings for one another and are going out on dates.”

“Are they even old enough to understand that?” Brittany snaps.

“You just asked if we told them that we were fucking,” you say, piping up for the first time in this conversation. “But them knowing we have feelings for each other is too hard for them to comprehend? They’re not babies anymore.”

The glare Brittany gives you could rival that of Medusa.

“Sorry if you missed the fact that they’ve grown up because you were too busy fucking half the town,” Eddie retorts before he can stop himself.

“You can shut your mouth. You’re not their parent,” Brittany says, pointing a freshly manicured finger at you before turning it on Eddie. “And you can eat shit.”

Eddie sees the opportunity presented to him on a silver platter and he knows he has to take it. “It would still taste better than kissing you.”

Heat rises to your face at his words and Brittany looks like she’s about to hurl a chair at him. Eddie just laughs and leans back in his seat. He wraps his arm around the back of yours and you lean in towards his body.

“Is that all you’re here for?” Brittany asks through gritted teeth. “Because you’re free to fucking leave any time you’d like. You know where the door is.”

Eddie looks at you and nods his head. “I think we’re good to go. Ready, babe?”

“Ready,” you affirm, always eager to be out of Brittany’s presence. It’s the same satisfaction you’d get taking a shower after you’ve been covered in caked up mud and dirt.

Brittany doesn’t bother saying anything as she stands up and storms down the hallway. You and Eddie can’t help but share an amused look and a chuckle as you stand up. There had been so many times back when you were just the babysitter that Brittany would say or do something and you’d just want to look at Eddie like, is this bitch for real? Now you know that all along Eddie wanted that too, and now you’re both on the outside looking in at this angry and pathetic woman who’s more trouble than what she’s worth.

As you’re approaching the front door, an annoyed and frustrated groan emanates from the back of the house. Sucks to be you, you think as your hand twists the doorknob. You don’t think there’s ever been a day in your life that you’ve felt sympathy for that woman, and you don’t intend to start any time soon.

“That went better than expected.”

“Better?” you gawp, still reeling from the barrage of insults hurled your way. Nothing less than what you’d expect of her, but still…damn.

Eddie shrugs. “She didn’t cut my dick off, so…yeah.” His eyes soften when he takes in your rigidity. “Baby, are you…she didn’t upset you, did she?”

“I know it’s stupid—” you start with a sigh, but Eddie cuts you off gently.

“It’s not stupid. C’mere.” He pulls you in for a hug as you stand under the yellow porch light shining as best it can in the dreary evening around you. “I love you. My boys love you. And nothing’s gonna change that, okay?”

You don’t fully believe him—which part, you’re not sure, but his promise is enough for now. “Okay.”

You would think it’s the first time you’re looking after kids ever with the way the butterflies are surging through your bloodstream. They left your stomach when you kissed Eddie goodbye this morning and now they’ve hitched a ride to every other part of your body.

Danny and Amelia have been great all day. Amelia is not a fussy baby, though she does want to be held most of the time. And Danny is a very helpful little boy, always showing you where the different things you might need are: extra diapers, toilet paper, batteries for the television remote, snacks, and even where his dad keeps an old baseball bat with nails hammered into it in the garage.

“N’case someone wanna break in,” Danny informed you, as if this bat a state-of-the-art alarm system.

Both kids drift off on the way to pick the older gremlins up from school. It’s just as well since you wouldn’t be able to concentrate on a thing they’d say anyway. Your thumbs beat out an erratic rhythm on the beige leather steering wheel in the Harrington family’s van—left in your care so that you’re able to transport all six kids at once. You’re more jittery than normal, jumping at every horn that’s blared or siren that’s sounded on the short drive down to the elementary school.

Right before you’d left to snag the four older children, Eddie had called you from work. He had been notified of when his first court appearance for the custody case would have to be. Ever since the phone call you’ve been on edge, the idea of Eddie having to make a case that he deserves to have the kids when anyone with half a brain already knows that he should have them full time. The words “court date” just keep replaying on a loop in your brain over and over again.

You’re only waiting in the Hawkins Elementary School pick-up line for ten minutes before the kids all clamor in the van, loud as all hell as they continue whatever conversation it was they were having on the way to the vehicle. They all buckle themselves in and say hi to Amelia and Danny, who are excited to see them now that the ruckus has woken them.

“Everyone all buckled in?” you ask.

“Yeah!” a chorus of children respond.

“All right, here we go.”

When you get back to the Harrington house, it’s time for Amelia to take a nap. You carry the sleepy girl on one hip while you lay out apple slices and pretzels for the older kids on the dining room table. It doesn’t take long for the crunching and chomping to reach your ears as you head down the hall to Amelia’s room.

Once the kids are done eating, it’s time for them to do their homework. They sit at the dining room table all together, after only minimal push back, visible from where you sit on the couch with Danny. You’re hardly paying attention to some new cartoon about a sponge who lives in a pineapple that Danny is watching. Stupid, you think to yourself. This show will never last.

The first one to finish their homework is Natalie, who moseys on over to sit next to you on the arm of the couch. She has shiny light brown hair that looks like it could give Steve’s a run for his money someday, and wide blue eyes just like her mother. The soft-spoken little girl looks like she wants to say something to you but isn’t sure how.

“How was school, Natalie?” you ask, deciding to try and break the ice for her.

“Was good,” she says. She balances on the arm of the couch and pulls the hem of her skirt over her knees, almost like a nervous habit. Only then do you realize she’s only met you those few times for brief play dates and doesn’t really know you.

“I saw when I walked past your room before that you have a PowerPuff Girls poster,” you say. “You like them?”

“Yes!” her face lights up at the question. “Blossom is my favorite.”

“I like the pink one. With the red hair,” you tell her. “What’s her name?”

“That’s Blossom,” Natalie tells you with a giggle.

“Oh, silly me,” you say, scrunching up your nose.

Apparently, this was enough for Natalie to feel like she could open up and talk to you more. You’re glad; you want her to be comfortable with you.

“Ryan told me that you’re his daddy’s girlfriend.”

It’s the last thing you expected her to say, and you almost choke on your own saliva.

“Oh, uh, yeah. I am.” Your face feels warm, and you wonder if the young girl notices at all.

“You love Uncle Eddie?” she asks, eyes shining as if she’s expecting an epic romantic tale.

“I do,” you tell her, a grin lighting up your own face.

“Ryan’s my boyfriend,” she tells you matter-of-factly.

You remember the way Ryan gets quiet and shy around Natalie or even when she’s simply mentioned. The feeling is decidedly mutual it seems.

“Does Ryan know this?” you ask.

Natalie shrugs, seeming unbothered. “If he doesn’t, he will.”

You can’t help but admire the young girl’s confidence.

“Does Uncle Eddie know he’s your boyfriend?” she asks.

“Yes,” you tell her, letting out a small giggle. I may have had my fantasies for a while there, but this time it’s real.

“Are you gonna get married?”

The unexpected question has your eyes bugging out and your throat going dry. “Okay, that’s enough questions,” you sputter, feeling the heat rising to your cheeks. “Let’s get some homework done.”

“I am done,” she tells you.

“Then, uh, why don’t we see if any of the boys need some help.”

You breathe a sigh of relief when she skips off to check on Ryan, Luke, and Theo. Talks of marriage must wait another day.

You’re reheating some chicken cutlets on the stove when the doorbell rings, almost silenced by the sounds of oil popping and six children playing nearby in the family room.

It’s a bit early for Nancy or Steve to get home, and they wouldn’t ring the bell, so you have no idea who it could be. It sets you on-edge, especially knowing how many kids you now have to protect.

Hugging a sleeping Mia to your chest, you look through the peephole to see none other than Edward Munson standing on the stoop.

“What’re you doing here?” you ask, your excitement quickly turning to frustration when you notice the boxes in his hands. “Is that…?”

Eddie’s too busy short-circuiting at the sight of you holding Mia to pick up on your ire. She looks so perfect holding a baby.

While you’re distracted, Danny and Luke run up to the door. “Uncl’ Eddie brought pizza! Yes!” Danny shouts, and the whole crew erupts into cheers.

“Eddie,” you hiss, trying not to wake Mia, lest you have another child to chase after, “Nancy told me to give them leftovers for dinner.”

“They can have them another time,” Eddie shrugs, “no big deal.”

You shake your head. “Yes, it is,” you insist. “I was given specific instructions to follow, and I’m not about to mess it up on day one.”

Eddie puts the pizza down on the table and rests his hands on your shoulders. “Look at me, okay? It’s just pizza. I’ve known the Harringtons since before they were the Harringtons, and they’re not gonna get mad over this. And if they do, I’ll take full responsibility.”

A tiny smile tugs at your lips despite the anxiety bubbling in your stomach. “You better.”

“Scout’s honor.” He presses a kiss to your forehead and there is a mixture of “aww” and gagging noises coming from the children. “I love you,” he says loud enough for only you to hear.

“You talking to me or Mia?” you ask, giving him a smirk as you cock an eyebrow.

Eddie chuckles and looks down at the sleeping little girl again. Her small back gently rises and falls beneath your hand, the bottom of her dark red downy hair brushing your skin. “Talking to my favorite girl,” he says as he looks back up at you, brown eyes gleaming. “But Little Miss Mia knows how much I love her, too.”

As everyone is finishing up dinner—Mia now happily sitting in the lap of her favorite uncle—the front door opens and both Steve and Nancy step inside.

“Mommy!” Danny calls, already out of his chair and running towards his mom at full speed.

Nancy huffs a laugh and manages to catch him before he can either knock her over or accidentally speed right past her and crash headfirst into a wall.

“Hey,” Steve pouts, resting his hands on his hips. “Mommy’s been going to work every day. Who usually stays home with you? Me! Did you miss me?”

Danny just giggles and hides his face in Nancy’s shirt, having chosen a favorite parent for the evening.

“Hi, Daddy!” Theo calls from the table, waving a tomato-sauce-covered hand high above his head.

“Looks like we missed a pizza party,” Steve says as he walks over to the table. He raises his eyebrows and immediately turns his gaze to Eddie.

You’re slightly nervous that Steve is going to be upset about the pizza and you start to fidget with your hands under the table, already thinking of a way to keep him from getting too angry.

Before you can muster up an explanation, Eddie takes one hand off of Mia and grabs your trembling one to give it a reassuring squeeze. “Stashed the extra pie in my truck so the rugrats didn’t try to sneak a slice,” Eddie tells him with a grin.

“This is why we’re best friends—oh shi-…I mean, sugar. Did I just admit to that out loud?” Steve muses as he turns away from the table to head out to Eddie’s truck.

“Too late,” Eddie calls after him. “It’s already been written down by the stenographer.”

Luke leans in towards you. “What’s a sornographer?” he asks, mouth surrounded by a tomato sauce goatee.

You press your lips together to keep from laughing at his mispronunciation.

“Someone who types all the words people are saying.”

Luke’s eyes widen and he frantically looks around the dining room in search of the mysterious ‘sornographer’. “Where are they?”

This time you can’t hold the giggle in. “Noooo, not here, Luke. Like, in court. With a judge and lawyers and stuff.”

Natalie wipes her hands and face off on a napkin before skipping over to her mother. “Mommy!” she exclaims, wrapping her arms around her.

“Hi, sweetheart.” Nancy gives her a big hug. “How was your day?”

“So good! At school we watched a video with this cute little doggy who was being Sherlock Holmes, and then we came home and had the best time!”

Natalie’s enthusiasm about the time you spent with her this afternoon warms your heart and has the pressure of tears building behind your eyes. She leans into her mom and whispers so no one else can hear, but judging by the way her eyes flit over to Ryan before sliding over to Eddie, you assume she’s telling Nancy about your discussion about boys earlier.

“You’re a silly girl,” Nancy laughs, pressing a kiss to her eldest daughter’s temple.

When Natalie bounds back over to her siblings and friends, you take the opportunity to shyly make your way over to Nancy’s side.

“I’m, um, sorry about the pizza. I know you said to use the—”

Nancy cuts you off with an understanding shake of her head. “Don’t worry about it; I already figured that Beavis or Butthead brought it home.”

“Who’s who?”

She sighs. “I honestly couldn’t tell you.”

Usually, the routine would be for you to leave the Harrington’s with Ryan and Luke, then take them to whichever parent they’re staying with at the time. But, one, Eddie isn’t in his new apartment yet, and two, Eddie was at the Harrington’s as well tonight, so it becomes a group activity to bring the boys to Brittany’s.

The boys insist on being with you in your car on the ride over, which brings a smile to your face that warms Eddie’s heart. As much as he’d love to spend every available moment with them, having them want to be with you was a very close second.

When you park in front of the familiar one-story house, both boys take turns leaning into the front seat to give you hugs that are so tight you’re wondering when they got so strong.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, guys!” you call through your open car window.

“Bye!” Ryan says, throwing you a wave as he hikes his backpack up.

“Love you!” Luke calls back and it just about stops your heart. You’ve always known that the boys care about you and even adore you, but love? Tears prick the corner of your eyes, and you hope the light from the full moon outside is casting a shadow over your car so you can dab at your eyes with some privacy.

Eddie gets out of his truck and walks over the cracked sidewalk to meet the boys in front of the house. Luke takes Eddie’s hand and even in the darkness of the evening you can see Eddie smile at his youngest. Before they can get to the door, it swings open and reveals Brittany waiting there, arms crossed over a fuzzy white sweater. Her piercing eyes land on the boys, move to Eddie, dart to you sitting in your car, back to the boys, and finally land on Eddie again.

“You don’t have to walk them to the door, you know,” she snaps at her estranged husband immediately, not even taking a moment to acknowledge the kids. “You can stay in the car with your homewrecker.”

Eddie is fuming but he won’t show it in front of the boys. Every little insult she throws your way takes a little chink out of his armor and he’s not sure what he’ll do when that armor eventually leaves him exposed.

Instead, Eddie gets down on one knee on the uneven cobblestone path in front of the door so he can give each of his sons a big bear hug goodbye, silently praying what their mother just said goes over their heads.

“I’ll see you guys soon, okay?” Eddie says, shards of his heart being crushed into dust as the moment he has to leave them here with her approaches.

“I’ll miss you,” Luke says, reaching up and gently running his fingers tips over Eddie’s stubble that’s longer than usual. The way Luke studies his father’s face is almost like he’s committing the smallest details to memory. You wouldn’t be surprised if it’s so the boy could find ways to try and look like Eddie even more than he already does.

“I’ll miss you too, bud,” Eddie says, his glass heart completely shattered now. “But soon I’ll have my apartment and we’ll have all the time in the world to hang out.”

“I love you, Daddy,” Ryan says, a sad smile on his face. Ryan has an easier time understanding the dynamics of what’s going on with the divorce and all, and he’s come to realize that his dad doesn’t want to leave him just as much as Ryan doesn’t want him to go.

“I love you, too. Both of you,” Eddie says as he ruffles up both boys’ hair. He stands up and presses a kiss to the top of both of their heads.

“See ya soon, you funky raccoon,” Eddie says, coming up with the ridiculous rhyme on the spot.

It gets the intended response though, as Luke busts out into giggles and replies, “see ya soon, smelly baboon.”

Eddie gently boops Ryan’s nose before he gives them one last smile and heads back down the walkway. He shoots you a small smile as well, that you acknowledge with a little wave. You wish you were both driving in the same car right now. You’d be able to hold his hand and assure him that everything is going to be alright. Deep down, Eddie knows; it’s just nice to be reminded sometimes.

Eddie climbs back in the truck and starts the engine. Once he pulls out onto the road, you follow behind him and make the drive back to your apartment.

As soon as you get to your place, you and Eddie are all over each other. There was barely any preamble as the pair of you got out of your vehicles and met each other at the entrance. A breathy “hi” barely made it out of your mouth before Eddie’s hands were on your hips and his lips were attacking your neck with fervor as you tried to buzz the two of you into your building.

Mere steps from of the staircase, he starts peeling your jacket off your shoulders while you’re still in the hallway.

“Impatient much?” you tease, going in for another kiss and biting his lip purposefully.

“You tell me.” He guides your hand to where his erection strains against his jeans. Without warning, you give a particularly hard rub over his aching cock, just to hear the satisfying hiss that comes from his lips.

You can’t open the door fast enough; luckily, Jess isn’t home to make a sarcastic comment as you pull him into your room and push him onto your bed.

“All mine,” you murmur as you suck on the skin along his collarbone. He tugs on your thighs to pull you up more, so your pussy is on top of his groin. As you continue to grind on him, you feel him softening beneath you. You frown, but try to hide it by ducking your head.

“Is something wrong?” you ask, tucking a lock of hair behind his ear.

“Nope, all good,” he lies through his teeth. Not well either, but you don’t want to press the issue.

You try to push past it, but he can’t deny that there’s an issue when you unbutton his pants and pull down the waistband to reveal his flaccid penis.

“Eds,” you frown, ignoring the shame overtaking you. You’re on top of your boyfriend and he couldn’t be softer if he tried. You make a mental list of everything you hate about your body before asking, “What’s going on?”

He sucks in a harsh breath. “Christ, I…it’s her, okay?” You don’t have to guess who he’s referring to. “All I wanna do is focus on you, but she makes me so damn mad.”

“S’okay,” you keep your voice soft and kiss just below his earlobe. “We can talk about it later, if you want.” He nods, and you continue, “for now, let me help you relax.”

You slide down until your knees make contact with the thin pink rug you have to cushion you from the hardwood floor beneath. Eager lips trail down the sparse patch of hair on his chest, to his tummy, and down to his cock. “Do you think I didn’t notice the way your eyes nearly popped out of your head when you saw me holding Baby Mia?” You giggle when he freezes up. “Tell me, Eds; what were you thinking about?”

“Was thinkin’,” he swallows thickly, “about our baby.”

“Mm, so just me holding our baby? That’s what got you looking at me like that?”

He shakes his head. “N-No, a-also…also thought about getting you pregnant, watching you grow our child…” His dick twitches slightly; you lift it and lick up the underside of his shaft. A seed of pride plants itself in your chest at knowing just what to say to get him feeling excited.

“Keep telling me what you thought about while I make you feel good.” You bring one ball into your mouth and suck lightly, already feeling his length starting to stiffen once more. “Don’t be shy.”

He breathes out slowly. “I want to fill you up every goddamn day and night until it takes, oh, fuck.” His concentration fades in and out as you suck on the head of his cock. “And once I knock you up, you know damn well I won’t be able to keep my hands offa you.”

You hum your acknowledgment, sending vibrations from tip to base.

“Sh-Shit, thinkin’ ‘bout you pregnant and bouncin’ on my cock. Gonna be so perfect.”

Avoiding the temptation to touch yourself, you put one hand on each of his ass cheeks and grab at the flesh, opening your throat to take him deeper. This is all about him right now.

“Gonna keep you pregnant forever. I’ll marry you first, though. Promise.” Heat creeps into your face; he catches the soft smile dancing on your lips before you collect yourself and continue pleasuring him. “You like that? Gonna be my cute little pregnant housewife?”

Your thighs clench together involuntarily, and you quicken your pace. “Fu-uck, baby doll. ‘M close.”

You suck harder, deeper, your nose grazing his pubic hair. Saliva drips down your chin but you can’t be bothered to wipe it away.

“Look at me while I fuck your pretty face,” he orders, and you peer upwards into his lust-blown eyes. “Good girl.”

You cup his balls with one hand and his knees weaken, a string of swears passing his lips as his release coats your tongue and slides down your throat.

He holds out a slightly trembling hand and helps you up off the floor.

“You’re a fuckin’ dream come true.”

A giggle bubbles out of you as he tugs you onto the bed with him and you land on top of his chest.

“I could say the same about you, Mr. Munson.” The slight movement from Eddie’s spent dick beneath you brings a satisfied smirk to your face.

“Jesus, the way you say that drives me crazy,” Eddie admits, still trying to catch his breath.

“I noticed,” you say with a wink.

After both of you have showered, the two of you go into the kitchen looking for a late night snack. The folder Eddie has been keeping all of the documents related to the divorce and custody in is on the table, an unwanted reminder that you’d hadn’t gotten a chance to really discuss it today beyond that brief phone call.

“So, uh,” you say, breaking the ice as you pull a bag of Cheetos from the pantry, “your first court date is set?”

“Yeah,” Eddie says with a sigh. He slides down into a chair at the kitchen table and you take the one opposite him. “Monday, March 29th.”

He doesn’t offer more information, so you have to do the digging. You hate having to draw information from him like this; you wish he would open up easier. “Did you, o-or rather, did your lawyer tell you what to expect?”

“I’m supposed to have some sort of plan of what I want for the kids,” he shrugs, though his fidgeting fingers tell you that he’s more concerned than he’s letting on. “Like, how I want full custody. But I’m not opposed to Brittany getting visitation rights. I think the judge just kind of wants to hear what both her and I have to say.”

“I imagine she’s going to have a very different plan than you prepared,” you say with a grimace.

Eddie huffs a humorless laugh and rests his head on his propped up fist. “She’ll go for the throat. Use any mistakes I’ve made or bad days I’ve had over the years as an excuse for why they shouldn’t be with me.”

“She’s going to make it brutal,” you say more to yourself than to Eddie. “But I’ll be right by your side the whole time, okay?” You start to reach for his hand, frowning when he looks away. “What?” Did I say something that upset him? Am I handling this right?

“Maybe,” he breathes, carefully considering his words, “maybe you can stay here with the boys?”

His rejection smarts like a slap across the face. He doesn’t want you there. But why?

The obvious answer stares you down: you’re the other woman. The young babysitter who seduced a married man and destroyed his otherwise impeccable relationship, as Brittany will likely paint it.

Shame seeps from your pores; you will yourself to ask him the question burning on your tongue: “Did I do something wrong?”

Eddie can feel his heart break with each word. “Did you—no, it’s just, y’know, don’t want too many cooks in the kitchen.” He inwardly winces at his pathetic excuse, not wanting you to know the truth.

“Right, yeah.” But nothing about this is right; you’re partners—or, at least, you’re supposed to be. If you were in his position, you would love to have him by your side, supporting you. Clearly, he doesn’t feel the same way.

He’s going through a lot, you try and reason with yourself. Maybe a change to a happier subject will lighten the mood. There’s plenty of time before the hearing anyway.

“So, um, my birthday is in a few days.” You lower your voice to a sultry tone, trailing your bare foot up his leg beneath the table. “My friends wanted to take me out and get me wasted for the big 2-1, but I was thinking we should spend it together…in bed…clothing optional?”

Eddie stands up and kisses you, and you think he’s going to accept your offer, but he shakes his head. “Nah, babe. You should go out with your friends. Enjoy your time with them, ya know?”

His head swims with of all of the instances where he’d begged Brittany for cozy nights together when she had wanted to go out with her girlfriends. He doesn’t want you to resent him the way she did.

You’re so young; at your age, he’d go out with his friends, drinking and partying. Is he tying you down? A relationship with a man going through a divorce and who has two kids? At 21 years old? The least he can do is encourage you to have that wild 21st birthday with your friends that you deserve.

“Okay, um, do you wanna come with me? I’d love for you to meet my friends,” you try again, desperate to crack the shell he’s built around himself. You stand and pad closer to him.

Eddie puts his finger under your chin. “Go with your friends, baby. I’ll be around to pick you up if you need a designated driver.”

Tears embarrassingly blur your vision. “Did I do something, Eddie?”

“No, why?” He leans on the countertop, chewing a Cheeto thoughtfully.

“Because…because you don’t want me at the hearing, and you don’t want to celebrate my birthday with me. And if I did something to upset you, I want to fix it.”

He wipes the orange dust on a nearby towel and exhales impatiently. “Babe, I told you. The court stuff is just messy, and I want you to have time with your friends. Don’t read too much into it.”

His nonchalance irritates you. He doesn’t want you around, and he’s playing it off like it’s nothing.

“Jesus, sorry for trying to support you and for wanting to be around you,” you snap, your craving for snacks evaporating as you’re filled with anger. It’s better than the despair that’s threatening to replace it. “I guess I’ll just swing by whenever you need a quickie.”

Eddie winces at your vitriol. “Swing by whenever—what the hell are you talking about? This is more than just sex, we love each other, and you know it.”

You do know it, but you’re too worked up to care about logic. You grab his keys from the countertop. “Go home.” It’s not until the words come out of your mouth that you realize he doesn’t really have a home to go to. The consideration of taking them back flits through your head like a leaf caught in a wind tunnel.

He throws his arms up in the air, defeated. “C’mon, babe. Don’t be like this.”

“Be like what, Eddie? Upset that my boyfriend doesn’t want me around? Frustrated because it shouldn’t be fucking impossible go get you to open up to me? Humiliated because you were soft while I grinded on top of you?!”

“I told you,” he says through gritted teeth, “it was because of all of the shit with—”

“I know; all of the shit with Brittany. I got it.” You roll your eyes. “That’s why I offered to go to court with you, but you said no. So, I guess I’m good enough to use as a distraction, but not—”

“I’m not…I’m not using you. Jesus Christ.” Eddie rakes his hands through his curls. “You wanna be at the hearing with me? Listen to all of the terrible things my ex has to say about me? Be my guest.” His mind goes back to just yesterday at how you were bothered by Brittany’s hostility. It would only be increased tenfold when she’s putting on a performance for the judge.

You’re fuming, hurling words like hand grenades. “After everything we’ve gone through, do you really think I’d take what she says to heart? What, is she gonna complain that you cheated, when she’s screwing half the town?”

Your candor awakens a rage within him. “You know what?” he seethes. “I give up. I spent most of my marriage trying to make my wife spend time with me, and that didn’t work. Now, I’m trying to make sure you have a life outside of our relationship, and that doesn’t work either.”

“I can handle myself!” You bite back. “I know what’s best for me; I’m not a child.”

“Barely.”

The one icy word has tears burning behind your eyes, but you refuse to let them show—it’d only give his insult traction.

“Is that what you think this is, then?” you demand. “Poor, young girl just wants a big strong man to take care of her?”

Eddie looks like he’s about to tear out every last hair on his head. “No! Fuck, why do you keep twisting my words?”

“I have to try and find some meaning behind them when you won’t tell me what you’re really thinking!”

“Jesus Christ,” Eddie groans, rubbing his hands down his face. “You want to know what I’m really thinking? I’m thinking that before this moment I didn’t see you as some whiny brat who’s going to scream and stomp her foot when she doesn’t get her way.”

“And now?” you ask, crossing your arms over your chest.

He sputters for a response. “Now I don’t know what to fucking think. You’re more mature than this—or so I thought. But it seems like now you’re having a goddamn tantrum.”

A tantrum. You’re trying to communicate how excluded you feel, and he reduces it to a tantrum. “I just don’t understand! Why don’t you want me with you?”

Eddie paces a few laps in front of you, his hands on his hips. “You want to know? You wanna know fucking why? Because I know the venom Brittany can spit when she’s not even trying to hurt someone. And when she puts her mind to it? The woman channels Satan himself.” He chuckles tersely, shaking his head as though he can’t believe he’s even entertaining this conversation. “I couldn’t give two shits what she says about me in that courtroom. But she’s going to be hurling her malice in your direction as well and there’s no way I can have you hearing that. She’s vicious and ruthless and I want to spare you from that. I don’t want you there with me that day, but it’s not because I don’t want you at my side, it’s because I want to shield you from that and her.”

The rational explanation should calm your anger, but it only fans the flames further.

“I get to make that decision for myself, Eddie. I am a grown ass woman and I get to decide what I can and cannot handle. You don’t get to make those choices for me and then call it protection. That’s not how this is going to work. And what about my fucking birthday, huh? Trying to ‘shield’ me from something there, too?”

Eddie pinches the bridge of his nose and tries to take a calming breath to steady himself—it doesn’t work all that well. “Sweetheart,” he starts, not missing the ice in your glare at his use of the pet name, “I just want you to go out and have a good time with your friends, okay? That’s all! It’s your 21st birthday, for Christ’s sake. You should be going from bar to bar with your friends, getting free shots and dancing and laughing the whole night. And you want to spend that night with me?” Eddie shakes his head incredulously. “We spend every night together right now.”

“But it’s not just an ordinary night,” you shoot back. “It’s my birthday and I should be allowed to say how I want to spend it.”

Eddie is steadily moving from anger to exasperation. He takes a step closer to you and lays his hands on your shoulders, making sure you’re looking at him.

“You are young. This is when you should be partying and drinking and all that shit with your friends.” He’s practically begging you to understand his perspective. “Not coming to some stuffy courtroom with a man who is going through a divorce and fighting for the custody of his kids.”

“But I choose this,” you say. “I choose you.” You jab your index finger into his chest. “I’m more than capable of making decisions for myself, Eddie. I don’t need you telling me what’s best for me. This is my life and I call the shots. And, for the love of God, can you please stop acting like you’re this ancient old man? I know I tease and call you old all the time but you’re thirty-fucking-two! You are young!”

“I just…” Eddie trails off with a sigh. When he speaks again, his voice is softer, though it’s still tinged with anger. “I just don’t want you to end up resenting me because you spent your early twenties being a shoulder for me to cry on when you should be exploring and enjoying life.”

“I am enjoying life, Eddie. With you!” you insist. “This is what I want. It’s my choice and you can’t take my autonomy away from me.”

“And I would never want to,” Eddie says, voice slightly calmer. “I’m just trying to do what I think is best because I love you. That’s all.”

You drum your fingers on the counter, mimicking a heartbeat. “You don’t get to determine that, Eddie.”

Eddie sighs and rubs a hand over his forehead. “You’re right.”

There’s a beat of silence before you say, “thank you.” Eddie simply nods in acknowledgment. “So, can I come to the courtroom?” you ask, the slightest bit of hope in your voice.

“I still don’t think that’s a good idea, sweetheart,” he admits with a sigh.

Heat rises in your body as your temper threatens to engulf you again. Not wanted, not needed. Disposable. Easily discarded.

“And…what about my birthday?” You should shut up, stop asking questions, but you’re desperate for closure.

Eddie sighs again. His eyes look anywhere but at you. “It’s your birthday. You make the call. I just…I wish you’d go out with your friends.”

“Would you come with me?”

“Princess,” Eddie says softly, and you already know his answer. “I’ll just be a downer. You don’t want me there.”

But you do. None of your words seem to break through that thick skull of his though. You were willing to compromise about going out as long as your boyfriend would come with you, but no. Eddie wants this to be an Eddie-less birthday for you for some reason.

“I think I should stay with the Harringtons for a bit,” he says finally, voice barely above a whisper. “I just…I need to think about things.”

Your bottom lip starts to tremble despite yourself. “Think about…us?”

“Yeah,” Eddie starts, backtracking immediately when he sees the panic in your eyes. “No, no, not like that.” He steps forward, as if to comfort you, but stops himself. “Just…about this.” Eddie gestures vaguely to the space around you. “I think we both need some time to calm down and think.”

You nod and wrap your arms around yourself. Part of you knows he’s right, but part of you wants him to stay here so you can work through it together. But it’s been a long day and it’s not the worst idea to have some time for yourself. “O-Okay,” you say in a shaky voice.

Eddie slips into your room and grabs the duffel bag he’s been living out of. “I’ll, uh, talk to you later,” Eddie says. Everything in him wants to lean in and kiss you—even just your cheek, but he restrains himself.

“Okay,” you repeat, unable to conjure up a more eloquent response.

Eddie picks his keys up off the counter and jingles them a few times between his fingers. He wants to speak but doesn’t know what there is to say, so he nods his head and walks out the front door.

You listen as his footsteps disappear down the hall and once you can no longer hear them, the first sob leaves your lips as you slide down to sit on the kitchen floor and just cry.

#eddie munson #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x you #eddie munson x y/n #older!eddie #eddie munson imagine #eddie munson fan fiction #eddie munson fanfic #eddie munson fic #AYW #AYWS

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apomaro-mellow · 6 months

Note

Tattoo shop AU??

Eddie was devastated when his usual guy packed up shop and went across the country. A good tattoo artist was like a one in a million find. But Chrissy swore by this guy she went to last month.

"He's so sweet and a wonderful artist."

"Taking that with a grain of salt, Miss 1 Single tattoo."

"All the more reason you should go. It was my first time and I didn't feel scared at all with him."

And so there Eddie was, sitting in the chair, about to be worked on by the most beautiful man he'd ever seen. The first time Eddie saw Steve, he wanted to scoff and walk right back out the door. What kind of tat guy had bare arms? It honestly didn't inspire a lot of confidence. But after talking with him and figuring out how to make his new ink work, he found that while Steve was a blank canvas, he was very much experienced.

"Alright, I can tell by how many you have that you're not new to this. But still, I'll say it. Relax. And let's have some fun."

Fun for Eddie was kicking a cop car or experimenting with grilled cheeses. He would not call watching Steve's focus as he tattooed his arm fun. It was intense. It was intimate. Eddie knew he shouldn't be staring. He should be looking at the ceiling or anything else in the room, but he just couldn't help it.

Those thick, dark eyebrows were furrowed in deep concentration and Eddie just couldn't believe he was the focus of it. Technically he paid for this but....Eddie had been through a couple of people before Steve. He'd seen people treat him as just something to draw on. With Steve it was like, well Eddie had never said the reason behind this tattoo, but it was almost like Steve knew how important it was.

When he was finished, Steve still took a moment to inspect it, referencing the drawing Eddie had brought in. It meant Steve continuing to touch his bare arm. God, Eddie felt like a Victorian, getting flustered over an arm touch. Since he was a veteran, Steve spared him the upkeep and aftercare spiel and in a daze, Eddie got up.

"Hey, uh, my number's in the client book, right?"

"Yeah, it is", Steve said.

"You should use it."

Steve gave him an amused smile. "Already planning more ink?"

"Yeah, I'm thinkin' a tramp stamp that says 'You free Friday'?"

"If I'm going to be your go-to guy, I'll have to strongly dicourage that. But we could discuss some other options. Say, on Saturday? When I'm actually off?"

#apo writes #stranger things #fanfiction #steddie #thanks for the ask!

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starshideurfics · 1 month

Text

Daisies

The van is in the shop. And Eddie’s a little high, band practice ran long, so of course he misses Steve. Misses him so bad he *needs* to see him. Right away.

He says as much to Jeff as he stumbles out the door with a wave over his shoulder.

He cuts through a field, distracted for a minute by the wildflowers, thinks how long it’s been since he got Steve flowers. It’s been months, since Valentine’s Day, which *can’t* be right! His baby deserves flowers! To know how much he loves him!

His Stevie deserves pretty things.

Stooping awkwardly, Eddie gathers a small handful of white flowers, not wanting to take too many from their home, to condemn so many to a slow death on Steve’s desk.

He wipes at his eyes, knows he’s overthinking things. He breathes deep, sniffs at the daisies. Smiles again.

Focus renewed on getting to Steve, Eddie tramps along, crossing the field into the woods behind Steve’s house, tripping a little over roots and staying far from the edge of the pool, afraid he’ll lose his balance and fall in, ruin his nice surprise.

He knocks on the sliding glass door, holding out the bouquet expectantly.

Steve answers, smile big as he tugs Eddie inside. “I thought I was supposed to pick you up in an hour,” he says, accepting the flowers.

“You were?” Eddie asks dumbly, trying his hardest to remember said plans, but everything is fuzzy.

“Yeah, but I’m not complaining that you couldn’t wait.” Steve grins, smells his daisies. “I should get these in some water, and I’m guessing you’re thirsty too.”

He leads Eddie to the kitchen, getting the flowers into a vase and handing Eddie a glass of water. Eddie drinks the whole thing in one go, eyes on Steve the entire time. “You take such good care of me, baby. S’why I had to see you.”

“I’m just glad you made it here safely.”

Steve smiles fondly at him and Eddie feels like the sun is shining down on him, warming his whole body. “I’m sorry I don’t bring you flowers more often.”

“Eddie, it’s o—”

“You’re so wonderful, and I need to show you. All the time! You deserve flowers, Stevie.”

“And you brought me such pretty daisies, Ed. You know you don’t need—”

“Daisies. Daisy. Did you know daisy is a contraction of day’s eye? Because it is. And these eyes are all the better off for gazing upon your beauty.”

“How much of band practice was just a smoke sesh?” Steve asks, fond smile still firmly in place as he gently cradles Eddie’s face in his hands.

“We shared a bowl at the end, that’s it. I’m barely feeling it,” Eddie protests.

“Sure.” Eddie can tell Steve doesn’t believe that.

“I can’t help that you inspire the poetry of my heart, Steven! That I look upon your beguiling face and I must let you know the very depth of my love for you! Shouting it from the highest rooftops would not be enough. Filling your house with blossoms would not show my true ardor.

“If only I could place my very heart inside your chest, let it live beside yours, every beat in tandem.” Eddie shrinks then, proclamation finished, throwing his arms around Steve’s ribcage and burying his face against his shoulder.

Steve’s hand comes up to stroke his hair. “I know, love,” he whispers. Presses a kiss to his temple. “You tell me how much you love me with everything you say and do. Thank you, for never making me question how you feel.”

“You’re my Stevie,” Eddie mumbles, muffled a bit by Steve’s shirt. “I’ll always let you know. S’why I should give you more flowers.”

“I love the ones I have already.

#steddie #fanfiction #ficlet #short and sweet

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enam3l · 1 year

Text

these days, rockstar Eddie doesn't give a fuck

read all rockstar eddie stories and lore at #enam3ls rockstar eddie

In 2022 Eddie Munson former lead guitarist and backing vocalist for Corroded Coffin is 57 and he's living his best life

He nearly breaks the internet when in an interview looking back on his career he casually mentions he's bisexual. He said any of his old fans who are bigots are gonna get the shock of their lives when they realise half the songs he wrote before he met his wife were about men.

Eddie is the ultimate girl dad and he loves it. You gave him three beautiful daughters and he stopped touring until they were at least teenagers because he just wanted to be a stay at home dad

His youngest is 22, he once admitted he was pretty suspicious about Y2K so spent the turn of the century in bed with you. Thank god the world didn't end because 9 months later you had your second child together. It also resulted in Corroded Coffin's best selling single to this day 'Millennium Babe'

Speaking of his kids, his oldest daughter came out as a lesbian. Since then every year Eddie is spotted pretty drunk with his family at pride

People are desperate for him to write an autobiography but legally he can't. The CIA made him sign a contract to make sure he doesn't let anything slip about Hawkins and The Upside Down

He's still a huge nerd. The invention of Comic Con was one of the best things to happen to him. He's seen at multiple Comic Cons each year with his old DnD gang

He got an iPhone so he can have group chats with his friends and family. But mainly it was so he could sext you whenever you were apart

Eddie does not know how to use social media so anything he wants to share, he makes his daughters do it for him. He likes to share film and music recommendations with fans and also any nice pictures he takes of you

Once drunk on an Instagram Live with his daughters, he revealed he actually has a tramp stamp. It's a butterfly you drew with your name underneath, you have a matching one with his name. You'd both got them done on a holiday for your anniversary

The best part of being a rockstar with money was spending on the people he loves. He will never admit how much he spent to get Dustin a cameo in one of the new Star Wars movies as a Wookiee

i am so drunk on making rockstar eddie content, let me know if you want more or have any requests 🥺

#enam3l x eddie #enam3ls rockstar eddie #eddie munson fanfic #eddie munson x y/n #eddie munson #eddie munson fluff #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson headcanons #eddie munson smut #eddie munson x fem!reader #dad eddie munson #stranger things fanfic #rockstar!eddie munson #rockstar eddie munson

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babygirl-diaz · 11 days

Text

Buck: What's that? Eddie: What's what? Buck: That tattoo Eddie: What tattoo? Buck: The one on your lower back, Eddie Eddie: What lower back? Buck: Stop playing dumb! You got my name tramp stamped on your lower back! Eddie: Pffttt... You have a name? I didn't know that

#eddie diaz #evan buckley #buddie #911 abc #incorrect quotes #incorrect 911 quotes #would be kinda hot if Eddie did that

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estrellami-1 · 1 year

Text

Forgotten Valentine’s

Robin walks into the break room, where Steve’s trying to get through an article in a magazine he picked up because even on break he’s bored. “Steve? Eddie came to drop this off for you.”

Steve perks up. “Eddie’s here?”

Robin snorts. “No, he popped in for literally like eight seconds, threw this at me with instructions to give it to you, and ran out again.”

Steve grins. “Did he run into the door?”

Robin grins back. “And cursed at it on his way out.”

Steve sighs happily as he takes the note.

Stevie,

Wear something nice tomorrow, big boy. I’m picking you up at 11am sharp.

Robin judges him with her eyebrows. “You two are the bane of my existence.”

“Uh-huh. And Nancy?”

“An angel and the light of my life and can do no wrong, shut up, Steve.” She sighs happily, the exact sound Steve had made less than a minute earlier.

He decides not to point it out.

———————

He does, actually, wear something nice the next day. Eddie does pick him up at 11am, Springsteen playing on the radio, which makes Steve grin at Eddie and lean in for a quick kiss.

“Okay, yes, I love you too, but I’ve got plans, sweetheart, and those plans do not involve getting sidetracked by those lips of yours. Which should be legally classified as a weapon, ‘cause damn, baby.”

Steve just laughs, so in love. “You’re so weird.” He means I love you, and they both know it, so Eddie just shoots him a toothy grin in response.

He takes Steve to a wildflower field. “I considered just getting you flowers, but then I figured this would mean even more, right? So. Tell me what you want. Or pick them yourself, even.” He grins and stretches to grab actual gardening shears and twine from the backseat.

“I’m in love with you,” Steve informs him. Eddie does the thing with his eyebrows where his expression gets all melty.

“I’m in love with you, too,” he says softly, then grins again and shoves the shears into Steve’s hands. “Start pickin’, sweetheart.”

Steve laughs, grabs the shears, and runs out of the car.

After they’ve collected almost a full bouquet—and run for their lives from a bee from an ill-picked flower—they tumble back into the car, love-drunk and giggly, before Eddie manages to collect himself.

“Okay, wow, I’m starting to think buying the flowers would’ve been worth it,” he teases, and Steve just laughs at him. “Anyways. Um. How does a movie sound? I know it’s not necessarily super romantic or whatever but I feel like we could use some down time.”

“Sure,” Steve laughs. “Your place or mine?”

“Mine work for you?”

“Always,” Steve promises, and Eddie’s eyebrows do the thing again, so he reaches to grab Eddie’s right hand and run his thumb over the knuckles.

They head back to the trailer, find a vase for the flowers, and cuddle in closer than absolutely necessary for the movie.

Eddie sneaks away halfway through, citing bathroom. Steve catches on the first time he drops something in the kitchen, but doesn’t say anything, doesn’t even move, just keeps his eyes firmly fixed on the TV.

Dinner is delicious, and romantic as hell, because Eddie somehow found candles somewhere, and they don’t match but that isn’t the point, not when he’s looking at Steve with his heart in his eyes and on his sleeve.

They have spaghetti, and Eddie references that one scene from The Lady and the Tramp, and now Steve’s got his heart in his eyes, and on his sleeve, and they laugh like kids as they try—and fail miserably—to recreate the scene.

It ends with spaghetti sauce splattered on their faces and shirts and the table and somehow the wall. Steve immediately blames Eddie. Eddie just kisses him, which works really well to shut him up.

“Not that I don’t love all this,” Steve starts, surveying the table with a grin, “but is there an occasion or is this just ‘cause? Because this feels like an occasion type of thing.”

An expression flickers across Eddie’s face, there and gone before Steve has time to study it, to figure out what it means. “Just ‘cause, sweetheart, what, I can’t dote on my boy every now and again?”

Steve laughs, pulling him in by the neck to place a sweet kiss to Eddie’s lips. “I’ll never say no to that.”

———————

“Oh my god, Steve,” Robin says the next day. “You’re not gonna believe what Nancy did for me yesterday.”

Steve raises an eyebrow, slightly surprised that they’d both gone on dates, then immediately thinks weirder has happened and puts it out of his mind. “Tell me.”

“Okay, so I get home and there’s a note, and oh my god why are she and Eddie the same, or maybe we’re the same, which we are, but anyways. There’s just a place and time. So I get ready, because I might not know what she’s planning but I know she’s planning something, and I drive over, and it’s the Quarry, and she made me an entire fucking picnic.” She stares at him, wide-eyed, palms flat on the counter as she leans forward. “So we eat, and she has flowers, of course, it’s Valentine’s, and she was so fucking sweet, and then-”

Steve feels like an entire bucket of ice water has been poured on his head. “Wait,” he says, and oh, God, how could he forget, and that’s what the face was about yesterday- “Robs, oh my God, I’m the worst boyfriend in the history of the world, fuck.” He grips his hair with both hands, feels hot tears pricking in his eyes. Shuts them and hisses out again, “fuck.”

“Whoa,” Robin says, “okay, that’s… quite the generalization, bud, and also if it has to do with Eddie, he’s, like, ass over tits for you, I seriously doubt you could fuck up that bad-”

“I forgot,” he whispers, and she shuts up. “I forgot yesterday was Valentine’s. I- fuck, Robs, I gotta go, I gotta-”

“Steve,” Robin says, stopping his spiraling with two firm hands on his shoulders. “Calm down, or I’m stealing your keys. You can’t drive like this. Take a breath. Eddie’s not gonna hate you, okay?”

Steve takes a breath. Another. “But I forgot-”

“I know. And I’m willing to bet Eddie knows. Did he act at all different yesterday?”

“No… no, I mean, he made a face when I asked what everything was for, but then it was gone so quickly I thought I imagined it, and Robs, holy fuck, I don’t deserve him.”

Robin chuckles. “I think you two dinguses exactly deserve each other, actually. Take a breath and go talk to him. If Keith asks I’ll make something up, you know I’m good at that. Clock out, actually, don’t come back, I’ll tell him food poisoning or something. Take your boy on a date, Steve.”

“Okay,” he breathes, then nods. “Okay. I will. Thanks, Robbie.” He presses a kiss to her forehead and runs out.

———————

“You fucker,” Steve says loudly as soon as he’s in the trailer, accusing finger pointing at Eddie, who raises his hands like a kid with a cookie jar and crumbs on their face.

“I don’t know what I did, but I apologize.”

“No, shut up, you don’t get to do that, you don’t get to plan a Valentine’s date for me and then not tell me! Fuck! Eds, I’m so sorry.” He deflates, hand coming down and shoulders slumping. “I wish I could tell you I had something planned, but I didn’t. And I know there’s ways for me to remember, there’s calendars and sticky notes and shit, and I didn’t do any of that and I have no one to blame but myself and I’m sorry.”

Eddie stands, walking over to Steve to pull him into a hug. “Darling, I need you to listen to me on this, okay?” He asks seriously, pushing Steve’s head back to drop a kiss to his forehead. “I don’t care.” He waits until Steve’s brow begins to furrow before continuing. “I don’t care that you forgot. I don’t care that there might be ways to help you remember. I like you for you, not for whatever mask you wore in high school, even if I did have an embarrassing crush on you back then. Point is I’m here for you now, and the you that I’m in love with sometimes forgets some things. Who cares? Not me. I’ll never care. Every day with you is an adventure, Stevie. All the big dramatic love confessions in those romance movies you like so much are basically wedding vows, I know you know this, and there’s a reason sickness and health are in there. Sickness is as low as a person can get. Once you’ve seen them sick, you’ve seen them hurt and upset. If you can love them then, you can love them. And I’ve seen you in sickness, sweets. There’s nothing you can do to make me love you any less. There’s nothing you can do to make me regret going all out for something that made you happy, even if the reason behind it has to shift.”

Steve blinks back tears. “I hate you.”

“Mhm. Love you too. Give me a kiss, sweetheart.”

He does, pressing in close, keeping it closed-mouth but pouring in all his devotion until Eddie feels like he’s drowning in it.

“Whoa,” he murmurs when they pull back, then grins at Steve, keeping him close. “What’d I tell you, about your lips, they’re dangerous, sweets.”

“Shuddup,” Steve says, and buries his face in Eddie’s chest. “I love you so much.” He pulls back suddenly. “Robin gave me the rest of the day off, because she’s the best platonic soulmate ever, and if you’re not busy, can I take you on a date?”

“Steve,” Eddie starts, and Steve will never get over the way that Eddie just says his name. He’s so whooped. “Is this to make up for yesterday?”

Steve shakes his head. Eddie gives him a look. Steve hesitantly nods.

Eddie sighs and rests their foreheads together. “You don’t need to do that, baby.” At one point they started swaying together, and now they’re dancing in the kitchen to no music, and Steve could cry with how in love he is.

“But… you did all that, and didn’t even mention it when I forgot, and Robin says we deserve each other but I kinda feel like you’re a better man than I will ever be-”

“Steve,” Eddie says again, punctuating it with a kiss. “I’m serious. I don’t need it. You don’t need it. C’mon, c’mere, we can have a date right here, there’s a pizza in the freezer and I have movies, c’mon, just come sit with me. This is date enough for me.”

“Eds, c’mon, it’s not just a date-”

“Says who?” Eddie asks. He’s grinning like he knows Steve doesn’t have an answer. He’s right, but still.

“Eddie. It’s Valentine’s.”

“Yup. I know you love it, sweetheart, but it kinda goes against the Munson Doctrine.”

“I thought you did away with that when you kissed me.”

“Pretty sure you kissed me,” Eddie says on reflex, like he does every time. “But my point still stands. It’s nothing but a ploy to make people buy overpriced shit to make themselves feel better about themselves and their love life or lack thereof. I refuse to participate.”

Steve pauses. Grins. “Today’s the fifteenth.”

“That’s correct.”

“Candy’s discounted right now.”

“Fuck,” Eddie whispers, then starts laughing. “Alright, sweetheart, let’s go buy me candy. But that’s it. Then we’re coming back and watching a movie, deal?”

Steve grins, bright and happy and in love, as he leans in for a kiss. “Deal.”

#stranger things #Steddie #Steddie Valentine’s #valentine’s day #steddie fic #steddie kiss #Steve has head trauma and Eddie understands #Robin isn’t paid enough for this #steve harrington #eddie munson #robin buckley #mentions of #nancy wheeler #ronance #but on the side #I don’t know what this is #but I hope y’all like it!#I felt that it was fitting I’d post it the day after #starambles

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indouloureux · 2 years

Text

liquid smooth

eddie munson x reader

summary: eddie's nightmares corrode his nights for the past two weeks. with guilt overwhelming his healing wounds, you let your boyfriend talk to you as a cathartic release.

word count: 2,317

warnings: MAJOR STRANGER THINGS VOLUME TWO SPOILERS. mentions of violence, maybe ptsd, blood and depictions of gore. angst, quick and shitty writing like the duffer brothers, maybe fluff at the end.

a/n: a fix it fic. the one where IT DIDN'T HAPPEN. anyway, hope you all enjoy. mcu!peter coming next (this is me trying)

MASTERLIST

(FOLLOW @bloodstheink TO GET NOTIFIED WHEN I POST)

The space beside you is oddly cold.

You expect it to be warm, full of flesh and comforting arms wrapped around you, his blood flowing through his tatted arms. But it’s not – instead your hand caresses the crumpled part of the blanket you share.

Cold sheets render you awake. You sit up, rubbing the sleep of your eyes and blindly reach for the lamp. Immediately does the warm glow of the bulb illuminate Eddie’s room in a dim glisten, adding an orange dusk to his scattered black and white posters of metal bands you only know half of.

With feet covered by borrowed socks, you leave his bed, wrapping your arms around yourself. And as the sleep withers away into a void, you realize that Eddie is not here – not beside you. Not in the room, and not in the bathroom where you just checked.

“Eddie?” you call, quietly, amidst the silent trailer, afraid of waking up the neighbors and whoever it is that still hunt him down. You notice a lone mug sitting on the side of his table, partly filled with cold coffee. You take it into your hand and gently place it in the sink before you emerge to the small living room.

You see disarranged pillows, no longer in the place where you placed them last night before going to bed. There’s a new cigarette in the ashtray, and with the moonlight slipping through the thin blinds, you see faint smoke emerging. “Eddie?” you call again.

The lack of response presses play to a nervous song that thumps on your heart. Its lyrics circle around your filled head – where could he be? What happened to him? Did he just suddenly leave without telling me? The song an anthem to your worries that have risen these past weeks. Mostly for him, anyway.

That’s when you hear soft humming of a tune outside the trailer from the back. You whip your head to the slippers beside the door and slip it on, ever so softly opening the door and exit the small house and tramp your way behind to see him.

Eddie’s sitting on an old crate of beer, unamplified electric guitar lays on his lap, caressed by his bandaged fingers. Although it’s been a two weeks, you miss seeing the rings on his hand. You cross your arms, and walk towards your awakened boyfriend.

When he sees your socks he stops, looking up at you with a small smile. “Hey, babe,” he murmurs. His voice is accompanied by the air that crumples the fallen leaves of the forest behind, followed by a soft grunt coming from you when you sit on the ground in front of him. “Did I wake you up?”

“No,” you shake your head, resting your chin on his thigh that’s covered by his pajamas, but beneath it is another wrap of gauze. “I just woke up by accident.”

“Did I worry you?”

You wonder if he can hear your heartbeat from inside, or if he felt the decelerating pulse on your wrist when he grabs a hold of it to thumb on your skin. “No,” you say again. “I – I didn’t mean to worry. I know you hate it when I worry.”

“It’s alright,” the croak in his voice is tired, yet here he is, early in the morning with the sign of missing sleep underneath his eyes. “It’s my fault. I’m sorry.”

“Nothing to be sorry for,” you kiss his left knuckle, the one exposed and covered with healing cuts. “It…woke you up again, didn’t it? The nightmare?”

Eddie’s eyes are glossed, the stained glass of his windows form a composition of trauma. He nods, looking away from you. Out of shame, embarrassment, you don’t know.

“Is it the same one?”

He sighs, resting the guitar flat on his lap. “Yeah,” he swallows, accommodated by a laugh that’s so Eddie it hurts, because you know he laughs every time to mask the pain. “Always been. Same one every fucking night, yet I can’t get it out of my head.”

“You said it stopped,” your words are anything but a scold, but you can’t hide the upset that comes with. “Baby, why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t want to worry you,” he sniffs, tears on the edge of his eyes that he blinks away. Eddie looks at your joint hands – wounded mingled with the unwounded. “I don’t…want to be a burden to you.”

“Baby, I’m always going to worry,” you sit up, on your knees, and cup his face in your hands. His bangs almost poke his eyes now, and you let your thumbs brush it in the middle to see his wide eyes – pretty, but damaged. “And you’re not a burden.”

“I keep you up late,” Eddie whispers. “I know you wait for me to fall asleep. And I pretend that I do so you’d fall asleep. You shouldn’t be losing sleep because of me.”

You don’t know what punches you: guilt? Sadness? “It’s not because of you, Eds. It’s because of me,” you hope your words reassure me. “It’s my choice.”

He stays silent for a bit, like he’s thinking of his next words to get away with this conversation. Eddie kisses your palm, smiles when you smile as your thumb comes across the crinkles of his eyes. “Yeah,” Eddie licks his lips. “Let’s go back to bed. I’m coming with.”

Then he kisses you, because he knows you’d say something to protest against his offer. Eddie’s lips are chapped, though it still reminds you of him. His bandaged hand comes up to place itself behind your head to bring you deeper.

But you push away because you know what he’s doing, and you don’t want it to happen. “Eddie,” you murmur against his twitching lips. “Eds, you promised we’d talk about it if it keeps on happening.”

“I know, sweetheart, I know,” he kisses you. Again, not out of want but as a beg for you to forget. “And we can talk about it tomorrow.”

“Eddie, no,” you push him away gently, removing his hand from the back of your head. “I don’t care what time it is. I – I don’t care if I’m losing sleep because you’re losing it too. I told you I’d be here no matter what, and we’re going to talk about it right now.”

His sigh is defeated. “Okay. I’m sorry,” Eddie rubs his forehead with yours.

“Now tell me what happened. Please?”

Eddie has been deferring the elucidation behind his wounds. You weren’t with him the day the night they went to attack – your role had been assigned to watch Max, Lucas, and Erica since they needed the guidance from someone older, given that the rest went to the upside down. And since then, everything went to shit;

You remember seeing Dustin and Steve carry Eddie’s unconscious body right before the “earthquake” happened. He looked like he’d just survived a bloody carnage, body doused in blood of his own, wounds open and throbbing, pulse weakening each second he lacked aid. No one but Dustin knew what happened, albeit you’ve never gotten the chance to ask him due to his ceaseless cries of fear.

He woke up the next day, and nights right after involved startling cries and quiet whimpers of help in his sleep, with you beside him to hush him back to dreamless sleep. You know he’s felt nothing but guilt when he sees your lethargic eyes in the middle of the night, stunned by his wet screams.

“I…I cut the rope back to the trailer,” he begins. “And…I left Dustin and I ran away to distract them. The bats. And…All I did was ran. That was my plan anyway, to run away and take them as far as I could. And then this stupid voice in my head – my voice – told me to just stop running and…face them. Because all my life I’d been running, because I’m nothing but a coward. I’m – I’m no hero. And I’ve got nothing else to do but run until I realized that my friends are out there who need my help.

“So I faced them. And, and I yelled at them and fought back. And then one of them caught me and I-” Eddie lets out a shuddered whimper, fingers rubbing his eyes. “They tore into my flesh and it hurt. And I let them, because I hoped it would help. It worked, though, and I thought I was going to die until Dustin came and tried hauling me back. Then Harrington saw me and just, since then I’ve felt so-… stupid trying to die for a town that hates me.”

He’s saying all this with tears in his eyes. What once was wide and full of undaunted mischief replaced by the horrors of the world that scarred his life like a knife to a flesh. “I feel so fucking stupid for trying to be a hero when I’m not.”

“You are,” you reposition yourself in front of him. “Eddie, you saved people who hate the living shit out of you. You – you saved Dustin, you saved us. You saved me,” somehow, the laugh that leaves you makes your boyfriend smile. “I’m going to agree and say what you did was unbelievably stupid, but your stupidity saved us all.”

You kiss him, again, more as an act of reverence. “You’ve always been a hero. And you’re so, so brave, Eddie. I mean, facing those bats? I don’t think your name should be Eddie the Banished anymore.”

“Yeah?” Eddie smiles at you, tears staining his lips. “What should it be, then?”

“Eddie the Slayer,” you propose. “But instead of like, Dragon Slayer, it’d be Demobat Slayer. I bet you looked so fucking heroic standing up to those monsters.”

“I didn’t kill any of them, baby. They almost killed me.”

“Nobody’s gonna know,” you tease.

“They’re gonna know,”

“No, they’re not. Unless those dipshits start talking about the Upside Down without sounding like crazies, nobody’s gonna know.”

Eddie wipes his tears with the back of his hand, sniffing loudly. “Yeah, but if I would have done something better, Max would be okay right now.”

“It’s not your fault. It’s none of ours, really,” Eddie places the guitar on the ground and comes to sit on the ground with you, but takes your hips into his hands and sits you on his lap with his chin on your shoulder. “It’s that stupid Vecna’s fault. Fucking menace.”

He laughs. You run a hand beneath his shirt, fingertips feeling his adagio healing wounds. “Fucking menace, indeed. Tore my fucking trailer down. But here I am, still living in a trailer that’s two minutes away from mine.”

“Yeah, but we share this one now, though,” you kiss his forehead, relaxed at the loss of grime and dried blood. “You’re a hero, Eddie Munson. Hawkins may not see it, but I do. And so does Dustin.”

“Dustin,” he chuckles. “Bravest little shit I’ve ever met. Second to you, I mean,” Eddie kisses your neck. “And honestly, I don’t even care if people still see me as a freak or whatever. As long as you still see me as who I am, that’s all that matters.”

“Well, you still have to care. You’re still wanted, y’know,” you massage his scalp. “We’ve got a trial next week.”

“Fair point,” Eddie taps his fingers on your thigh, cheek pressing on your bicep. “How’re the little sheep doing?” he looks up at you. “Sinclair? Especially what happened with Max.”

“His parents made me watch him the other day when you were with Dustin,” you rest your head on his, looking on the dark ground. “He’s been reading books to her. And I took Erica back to their home and hung out because God knows how she feels after getting attacked by one of Carver’s acolytes.”

“Wait what?”

“I didn’t tell you?” he shakes his head, worry creased on his forehead. “They found us. Lucas got beat up pretty bad but Jason lost. Max – I was there. I watched it happen while I was trying to fix her player but, somehow like a fucking miracle she survived. Barely,”

“But he shot you,” his cold palm rests on the spot just beneath your sleep shorts – a gauze covers the hole from the bullet Jason put through your thigh. Eddie traces the tapes that secure the bandaid. “I didn’t even get the chance to ask you what happened-”

“Hey,” you take his face into your hands. Eddie looks like he’s about to cry, unneeded guilt overwhelming his bruised chest. “This isn’t about me. It’s about you, okay? And – and I want you to know that I don’t care if you didn’t ask me because-…I just want you to be okay.”

“But we’re going to talk about it, right?” he gathers your hair into one shoulder. Eddie’s liberating eyes know any lie you let out would be injudicious, and so you know you won’t be able to sugarcoat anything that happened to you when he was away, therefore you worry you won’t be able to ease his remorse when you tell him what happens.

You decide that the best you can ameliorate him is levity. “Yeah. I’ll tell you.”

Eddie smiles. He leans in to kiss you – a saudade satisfied in a galore of communicated emotions from a disaster. His warm lips inebriate you, pushes your worries away into the gate that surrounds Hawkins. Vecna’s got your souls corroded, but with shared trauma prosed into a promise of healing together, you don’t mind a damaged soul that’s tethered to his.

“You’re a hero, Eddie Munson,” you repeat, finger running along his healing jawline. “And if everyone doesn’t see that, remember that I do.”

“I’m gonna keep you forever,” Eddie offers you a cathartic smile; a smile so pretty and so Eddie.

“Just don’t do anything stupid again.”

banner by @/lauras-collection

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rosewaterandivy · 5 days

Text

a light on in chicago - I. winning looks like losing (and i'm winning every time)

summary: so it begins, Warped Tour ‘05 baby!

WC: 1550k

a/n: no, I did not forget about this little daydream. it’s coming on summer soon, which means nostalgia and concert going. pop-punk steve is alive and well, my friends!

masterlist || playlist

"She never meant a thing to me, 'cept putting idealists in a body bag" - "Growing Up" // Fall Out Boy

Steve has his Motorola Razr in hand before he reaches the top step of the bus, thumb pressing down on the keypad until 'ace' is selected and holds it to his ear. Tosses his snapback onto the table and sliding onto the banquet seat.

Hearing someone come up the steps behind him, he sees that Nancy has drawn the short-straw and now has to play babysitter.

Typical.

“What are you doing?” It’s not a question so much as a reprimand.

“What do you think I’m doing? I’m calling her.”

“Like we haven’t tried that already, oh about a dozen times.”

Steve scoffs, kicking his feet up on the table. “Then I’ll keep calling until she answers or shows the fuck up.”

Nancy’s eyes roll to the back of her head, “You’re an idiot, Steve Harrington.”

Steve glowers at Nancy as the automated voicemail message recording fill his ears. He grumbles and hits redial just as he hears someone tramping up the stairs.

“I got her!” Eddie bellows, pausing at the top step to catch his breath, “I got her, s’fine Steve. You can calm your tits now.”

He falls onto the couch opposite of Steve and moves to light the cigarette between his lips. Nancy, quick as ever, snatches the cigarette from his mouth and snaps it in half. Eddie squawks indignantly, too caught up in Nancy’s flagrant disrespect to pay attention as a duffle bag is thrown toward him.

It lands with a pained grunt against his chest, “The fuck?” He coughs out, zippo falling between the seat cushions in the chaos.

“Shit Ed,” You huff, falling alongside him on the sofa, “Thought you were gonna catch that, my bad.”

He’s quick to accept your apology with a smile, arm thrown over your shoulders as the duffle bag falls to the ground.

“Steve,” You greet with a tilt of your head.

He snaps the phone shut and fixes you with a look.

“Ooh,” Eddie tsks. “Think mom’s mad.”

Showing up to Warped Tour after releasing a debut album that’s barley a month old in a brand new tour bus and the (mostly) full confidence of their record label has Steve stressed, for lack of a better term. Under the Gun had received generally positive reviews, despite the back and forth with the label over song titles and “overly loquacious” choruses.

While the label didn’t give you all carte blanche to do whatever you wanted on the record, there was the advantage of time this go ‘round. Honorable Mention’s first two releases, an EP and LP respectively, were recorded quickly due to lack of funds for more studio time, and after signing with Island Records, the four of you plus Nance had hauled out to California for three months to write and record.

It wasn’t easy, not by a long shot, composing as a band was rough, as was co-writing lyrics with Eddie, the both of you having vastly different styles. Add to that Steve’s penchant for vetoing things like hooks, verses, choruses, and song titles after hearing them just once while being fiercely protective over his own work— well, let’s just say everyone was happier once the album was locked and management had signed off on it.

So glad, in fact, that you’d actually booked it back to Chicago just to put some distance between you and Steve. Too much tension, all things considered, especially after the incident.

Robin pushes her obnoxious heart-shaped sunglasses into her hair and screeches upon seeing you in the tour bus.

“Babe!”

She falls onto your and Eddie’s legs while Nancy looks on with a shake of her head and a fond smile.

“Glad to see that the three musketeers are back together,” Hop greets, hand affixed to the railing by the font steps. “Er, uh, four musketeers, I guess. Sorry Steve.” He nods to Steve and Nance, kisses his teeth before saying, “You rascals ready to go?”

“Now that we have our lead singer, yeah.” Steve grouses with a cross of his arms. Nance smacks the back of his head.

“So sorry Steven,” You say, voice laden with malice. “But in the event that I hadn’t shown up, I know that you could easily carry the burden of being frontman,” Eddie elbows you warningly. “As you have told me, many, many times.”

“Whatever.”

Hopper quirks a brow at you, unaccustomed to vitriol between the pair of you. “Okaaay,” He drawls, “Ignoring whatever the fuck that was, the first stop is Columbus.”

He goes over the details of what to expect, even though he’ll be there in person for the duration of the two-month tour. Nancy nods taking notes, because of course she does. Steve continues to glower at you because he’s got a stick up his ass. Meanwhile, you initiate a slap fight with Robin and Eddie out of sheer boredom.

“Hey, hey, hey,” Hop scolds you, “Would you cut that out? I already have one teenager to deal with, and I don’t need your bullshit on top of that.”

You perk up at the mention of his daughter, “Is El here yet?”

“She’s coming up with Joyce tomorrow to help with the merch tent.”

Momentarily dejected, you sit back against the cushions, legs in serious danger of going numb from Robin’s squirming. Murray climbs onto the bus during Hop’s little speech, settling in the driver’s seat with a deep sigh.

“Murray,” You say, “I’m so pissed you won’t be with us for the Canadian legs.”

You can feel Rob’s stomach contract in barely repressed laughter.

“Damn mounties,” Murray mutters under his breath, checking the mirrors and adjusting his seat.

“Yeah,” You continue, “It’s a real shame that they banned you from the country. And over what? A simple misunderstanding of—”

“I’m not a drug mule!”

Eddie snorts.

“What an unfounded accusation,” You say with a slow shake of your head. “I mean, what right do they have to do that? So you had some prescriptions, we’ve all been there.”

“Well, it’s a shit country, anyway.”

“Tell ‘em man!”

Steve lobs a water bottle toward Eddie’s head, he moves to avoid it and artfully flips him off.

“Y’done Ace?” Hop asks with a tap of his shoe. “We gotta get this show on the road and you know riling him up only makes his driving worse.”

“Oh,” You smirk, “I’m counting on it.”

Hopper ends the team meeting and says he’ll see everyone tomorrow for sound-check. As he leaves the bus, Steve grabs his phone and hat and heads to the lounge at the back of the bus. Robin scrambles off your lap to follow after him, but not before giving you a hug and kiss.

“Missed you babe!”

“Likewise!” You call after her and grab your bag from Eddie’s feet. “Shall we?” You inquire with an arched brow, offering him your arm.

“Sure thing, sweets.”

Leaving Nance and Murray to their own devices, you follow Eddie down the cramped hallway.

“So I’m over here,” He gestures to the right. “Nance and Rob are just there,” He points to the left. “Which leaves you and—”

“Don’t finish that sentence Edward.”

He turns with an impish grin, “What? Not looking forward to bunking with Steve?”

You roll your eyes in exasperation, “Clearly not.”

He’s already claimed the top bunk and throw his crap in it, like some rabid raccoon. You reluctantly toss your bag to the bunk underneath his.

“Why can’t I just bunk with you Ed?”

“C’mon Ace,” He wraps an arm around you, “Y’know I’ve gotta have space for my Sweetheart.”

You gag, earning a swat to the arm from him.

“How was California? Haven’t seen you in ages.”

He settles back against the sofa with you in the front lounge. Murray closes the bus door and pulls out of the parking lot. Nancy has made herself scarce, probably in the back with Rob and Steve, leaving you and Eddie to your own devices.

“Yeah, you high-tailed it outta there pretty fast.” Eddie says carefully, watchful as you tense up and begin to rifle through your purse. He lets you do that for a minute or two before continuing in the same carefree tone. “Wanna tell me why I found your Calvins in Stevie boy’s room after you left?”

You head moves so fast, he’s nearly worried about whiplash. In a flash, your eyes shrink back from their wide, shocked state as you try to school your features into a semblance of calm.

“Oh, he probably just grabbed ‘em by mistake,” You shrug nonchalantly, “We both wear Calvins so.”

“Sorry, let me clarify.” Eddie says with a wicked smirk. “Your thongs, Ace. Why would Steve have those, hmm?”

You scoff. “I don’t know. Maybe he was selling them online or something perverted like that?” You grab your journal and smack it down on the table. “Why were you snooping for my unmentionables, Edward?”

“Ah, you got me.” He laughs, fascinated by how quickly you rose to defense. “Was gonna sell them online. Guess Harrington beat me to it.”

He watched as you saunter toward the back of the bus, on a mission to extricate Rob from Steve’s clutches. Wonders how long the standoff will be this time and who will break first: you or Steve.

It was only a matter of time.

#steve harrington fanfiction #steve harrington x you #steve harrington x reader #stranger things fanfiction #band!au #fic: aloic

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erin-bo-berin · 2 years

Text

Steve Harrington Masterlist

Series:

Exiled | Trying (contains smut)

This Isn’t Goodbye | We Made It

Steve Knows Best | Steve (Still) Knows Best (contains smut)

Sorry | Mistakes | Growth | Love

By Your Side | Trust In Me (L&D Nurse Steve series)

Dad Steve x SingleTeenMom!Reader Series

Smutty Fics:

That Damn Sweater

California Dreamin’

All Your Fault

Desperate Times

The Golden Rule

Can’t Keep His Hands To Himself

Campfire Thoughts

You Aren’t So Bad

Caught In The Act (heated make out sesh)

Harrington’s Got You

Boobies

In Too Deep

Morning Lovin’

Mine

Confidence Boost

Whatever Happens

Birthday Wishes

Make It Fast

The Harrington Touch

Job Well Done

The Bet

Steve’s Own Personal Nurse

Days Spent With You

Rendezvous

Things Thanksgiving Steve Would Say To You

Christmas Wishes

Dirty Little Secret

Fluff & Angst Fics:

Six Little Mice

Karaoke Night (ft. Eddie, Robin, Nancy, Jonathan, Argyle & Chrissy)

The Secret Is Out (ft. all kids, Jonathan, Nancy, Eddie & Robin)

Take Care Of Her (Henderson!Reader ft. Dustin)

His Cinderella

Autumn Kisses

Code Red: Operation Love (ft. the entire party and Murray)

One Day At A Time

Difficult Conversations

No Filter

All Roads Lead To You

Pep Talks With Steve

Steve’s Secret

Seven Times You Knew You Were In Love With Steve

Cravings

Neglected

His Lightweight

The Perfect I Love You

Twin Flames

Polaroids of Love

Pumpkins Galore

Holiday Helper

A Holiday Encounter

Steve’s New Years Kiss

Blurbs:

Steve x Reader: Baby Boy Harrington’s First Christmas

Steve x Pregnant Reader: Breakup Tension & Surprise Pregnancy

Boyfriend Steve x Reader at Jopper’s Wedding

Worried Steve x Injured Reader

Boyfriend Steve x Shy Reader: Meeting The Kids

Steve x Pregnant Reader: Delivery Room Fluff

Steve x Reader’s First Date

Steve x Henderson!Reader Secret Relationship: Dustin Finds Out

Steve x Dog Loving Reader Fluff

Boyfriend Steve x Reader: The Yellow Sweatshirt

Boyfriend Steve x Reader x The Kids: Sleepover

Boyfriend Steve x Reader: Playing Footsie

Steve x Reader: Comforting Steve About Max

Steve x Mom!Reader (ft. Dustin, Lucas and Mike): Your Baby Wanders Off In The Park

Steve x TheaterKid!Reader

Steve x Reader & A Kissing Booth

Steve x Reader (ft. Robin & Dustin): Feelings and Confessions

Steve x Reader: Steve Realizes He’s In Love With You

Steve x Reader (ft. Dustin, Mike, Lucas & Max): A Lady and the Tramp Date

Steve x Teacher&Bookworm!Reader: Falling In Love

Steve x Reader: An Unexpected Meeting (takes place after Snowball scene post Nancy & Steve break up)

Steve x CollegeStudent!Reader: Surprising Steve With Your Pregnancy

Boyfriend Steve x Reader: Bonfire Get Together With The Gang

Steve x Byers!Reader: Returning From California

Steve x Hargrove!Reader: Confrontation With Billy

Steve x His Daughter: She Comes Out To Him

Headcanons:

Steve x Pregnant Reader: His Reaction To Making Her Squirt

#steve harrington #steve harrington smut #steve harrington fic #steve harrington angst #steve harrington fluff #steve harrington hc #steve harrington imagine #steve harrington headcanon #joe keery #stranger things #stranger things hc #stranger things angst #stranger things smut #stranger things fic #stranger things fluff #stranger things 4

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radiosteve · 1 year

Text

Something, Everything

Summary: You and Steve Harrington were best friends, and then you were more, and then you weren’t. When it seems like the world is about to end for the fourth time will you be able to set aside the past to help save your friends?

Note: I haven’t posted on here in a super long time, but I’m kind of back! This story is inspired by Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren, which I highly recommend. I’ve changed a lot of the details from the book (especially the timeline) but the basic premise is still there. I just wrote this for fun and it ended up being kinda long. I hope you enjoy!

Warnings: 18+, no use of y/n (reader is referred to as Honey), smut, unprotected sex, dry humping, friends to lovers to enemies(?) to lovers, language, some cannon divergence, fluff, angst, death, slowburn, naked photo.

Pairings: Steve Harrington x reader, some Eddie Munson x reader

Word count: 16.6k

It all started the night Will Byers went missing. Well, actually it started fourteen years ago, but that cold day in early November 1983 kickstarted the chain reaction that brought you here. Face to face with the one and only Steve Harrington. Your ex-best friend, your ex-almost, your ex-something, your ex-everything.

When you were startled awake by a phone call from your best friend Jonathan Byers asking if you knew where Will was, you instantly knew something was up. You skipped school, sticking by his side as him and Joyce continued their desperate search for any trace of Will. So when Nancy Wheeler squeezed her way in, bringing up monsters without faces and her friend Barb, you tagged along hoping like hell for any sign of Hawkins’ missing persons. You tried to ignore the part when Nancy said Barb was last seen at Steve’s house, and where Nancy so happened to be when Barb went missing.

It wasn’t until after Will’s funeral, when Lucas pulled you aside and told you about the girl they’d been hiding in Mike’s basement, that you got split up from Nancy and Jonathan’s monster hunting. After you were all briefly reunited in the middle school gym, the new dynamic duo secretly slipped away again, carrying out their plan while you stayed unknowingly with the kids. By the time the people from the lab were taken out and the dust settled from Eleven destroying the demogorgon, and seemingly herself, Will had been found and the world felt a little less upside down.

Jonathan caught you by the arm, pulling you into Will’s hospital room before you could join the others in the waiting room. With a quick ‘what the hell’ look and a mutter about Steve Harrington and nail bats and fire, you gladly took your seat across the room from Will’s bed until he woke up. You managed to avoid Steve again that day, something you had gotten really good at since that one day the previous year, but that bond that formed between you all that week was something that couldn’t be severed. It didn’t matter if you hadn’t seen him at all or that he only jumped into it at the last second. There was now a select group of people that understood why Hawkins was so different from other small towns and that group now contained the both of you.

When Halloween rolled around you took the kids trick or treating while Jonathan went to Tina’s stupid party. He didn’t even try to convince you to go with him. Knowing Steve would be there was enough to keep Jonathan from even thinking about asking you. But when Jonathan and Nancy came up to you with their plan to get justice for Barb, you were all in. When you all finally got back to Hawkins, noticing the romantic shift in the air between your two partners in crime, all hell had seemingly broken loose. And when none other than the devil himself came tramping out of the woods followed behind Dustin, Lucas, and the new girl Max, you knew for sure that nothing good could follow.

Despite going to the same school, you had managed to narrowly avoid Steve the past few years. You were in upper level courses while he barely coasted by in the lowest classes possible. It was the first time you had seen each other in nearly two years and it was like the wind had been knocked out of your lungs and spilled out onto the pavement below. He looked like he was about to say something when Dustin finally opened the gate and Chief Hopper came speeding out, effectively saving you from having to talk to Steve. Even back at the Byer’s house you found ways to keep him away. When Eleven came to the rescue, Will was no longer possessed, and the gate was closed, you managed to come out of it all without exchanging a single word or even sparing a passing glance. What you didn’t know was that he pestered Dustin with questions about you on the daily and when he dropped Dustin off at the Snowball that year it took all his willpower to tear his eyes off of the glimpse he got of you through the window.

By the summer you had gotten a job at the record store downtown, running over to the Hawkins Post to visit your favorite couple on your lunch breaks. It didn’t take long to recognize a few regulars at the record store, one of which being Eddie Munson, who so charmingly explained to you one day why he had to repeat his senior year a third time. He was cute, and a good way to take your mind off a certain hairspray obsessed boy that you heard got a job at the new ice cream place in the mall. So you and Eddie became about as casual as causal can be. He even had you pressed against the wall in the record store’s break room when Nancy came barreling in spewing nonsense about exploding rats and chemicals.

It wasn’t until you were dragged all across Hawkins and nearly killed a few times that you ended up in the mall and saw Steve Harrington’s beaten and bruised face for the second time since sophomore year. Even you had to admit that despite the blood and vomit stains, he looked damn good in that sailor outfit. But even as Steve drove into the side of Billy Hargrove’s car, saving you all from being driven into head on, you still couldn’t let go of the pain he caused you at the end of sophomore year. And when the dust settled and Chief Hopper was thought to be dead, you couldn’t help but avoid him again, slinking away to comfort Max and El.

Having no money meant staying in Hawkins and going to community college instead of all the out of state schools you had been accepted into. Nancy stepped up, filling as much of the Jonathan sized gap and becoming your best friend when he moved off to California. You told each other all your secrets, including both of your history’s with Steve. By the time spring had rolled around Eddie had become almost as much of a constant in your life as Nancy. Despite never saying those defining words, you somehow still found yourself curled up against him most mornings. It was because of how close you had both become that you woke up to a frantic phone call from Dustin about Chrissy Cunningham and Eddie and Reefer Rick’s.

As soon as you opened your car door and stepped out onto the pavement, you instantly wished you never picked up the phone. You silently curse yourself for ever entertaining the idea of monster hunting back in 1983 because now you’re stuck with Steve Harrington and this time there’s nowhere to run. Your eyes trace along his figure while you close the distance between you and the others. He’s changed a lot, although you suppose that you have too. His chest fills out those dumb polos a lot better now and his arms are definitely bigger too. His hair is still the same, although maybe a bit longer, but the stubble above his lip is new. You’re pulled from your silent stare by Robin pointing to the boathouse.

Following along quietly, you can’t help but notice Steve’s eyes flickering over you the same way you had done to him. Even as he jabs an oar into a tarp covered boat, his gaze still catches on you. It isn’t until Eddie has him pinned against the wall with a bottle to his neck that Steve snaps his focus away from you. As everyone shouts at Eddie to let Steve go, he doesn’t listen until he hears your voice.

“Eds, please let him go. We just want to help,” your calm words bring both Eddie and Steve’s eyes to yours. Eddie gives a slight nod, slowly releasing Steve. As much as you know you should rush to Eddie, you find yourself sliding in front of Steve. “Are you ok?” Steve swears that he can feel his heart stop for a second. The last time you ever spoke directly to him was now almost three years ago, and god did he miss the sound of it.

“Yeah, I’m alright,” Steve finally managed to barely get out after way too long. You nodded, finally listening to the little voice in your head telling you to get the hell away from Steve and check on Eddie. It isn’t until you’ve crouched down beside Eddie, placing a gentle hand on his arm that you’re reminded of something.

“Are you ok?” your voice rang out into the roaring sound of the classroom. It was the first day of kindergarten and before you sat a red in the face, wailing Steve Harrington. He looked up at you long enough to stop crying for a minute and take you in. You were dressed in a pair of well-loved overalls with a striped t-shirt that was clearly way too big stuffed underneath them. As Steve wiped the tears from his eyes he realized that he hadn’t answered your question.

“I’ve never been away from my mom for this long. I- I miss her,” he squeaked out before fresh tears began to well in his eyes. Your eyebrows furrowed as his face turned red again.

“Is your mom your best friend?” you sat down in front of him now, crossing your legs so that your knees just barely touched his. Steve thought about it and then slowly nodded his head. “My mommy’s my best friend too. Why don’t we let our mommies be our best friends at home and then we can be each other’s best friends here?” you shot Steve a small smile and noticed that his tears had suddenly stopped.

“My mommy calls me Stevie, so if you’re going to be my best friend you have to call me Stevie too,” Steve sniffled out, wiping his nose with his hand.

“Well then you have to call me Honey since that’s what my mommy calls me,” you held out your hand for Steve to shake.

“Ok Honey.”

You’re dragged from your thoughts by the sound of Eddie’s unsteady voice as he explains what happened the night before. Eddie’s shaking hands find their way into yours as he tries to calm down. There’s a flicker of a frown on Steve’s lips that he quickly corrects as he eyes Eddie’s hand enclosed around yours. Despite all of Steve’s nagging and prodding, Dustin never disclosed the nature of your and Eddie’s relationship, knowing it would do more harm to Steve than good. Steve’s gaze lingers on you for a moment longer before he hears talk of spells, curses, and Vecna.

“Who’s Vecna?” you can’t help but find his eyes as a now frightened Dustin slowly explains. And you know with each word that spills from his lips that your spring break just got hijacked by freaky monsters and gates and the Upside Down.

After a while, the rest of the gang takes off on a grocery run, leaving you to stick behind with Eddie. He watches you from the corner of his eye as you walk around the boathouse, silently picking through everything littered around the place. You’re caught off guard when his arms wrap around your waist from behind and his nose buries itself in your neck.

“I really wish I’d taken you up on your offer to come over and watch a movie on Friday instead. Then we wouldn’t be in this mess,” he says, placing a gentle kiss to your cheek before you twist your way around in his arms to face him.

“Well, maybe you wouldn’t be, but I can guarantee I would’ve been dragged into this one way or another. We’re kind of like a club now except our meetings only really take place just as the world’s about to end.”

“Sounds like a fun club,” the sarcasm drips from Eddie’s words and he leans in, slowly closing the distance between your lips.

“Super fun,” you meet him in the middle, soft lips dancing across his, making him groan as he pulls your body closer. He keeps kissing you as his hands find their way to your ass, giving it a quick slap that causes you to jump a little. Eddie pulls away slowly, just enough to see your face clearly.

“So, you and Harrington?” the question hangs in the air even as your eyebrows furrow and your head shakes side to side.

“What about me and Steve?” you search his face for any sign of what he means, but Eddie’s always been pretty good at hiding his true feelings behind those big doe eyes.

“I know you two have a history. Clearly I have no idea what actually happened because you’re very secretive,” you open your mouth to argue but he cuts you off. “No, no. You so are. Maybe not about most things, but you are about him. I know we’re not technically dating, but I just want you to know that I’m not the jealous type,” now you’re definitely confused.

“What are you even talking about?” a small giggle escapes your lips while Eddie’s eyes widen into saucers.

“All I’m saying is that if you and Harrington want to make goo-goo eyes at each other from across the room it won’t bother me,” now you’re fully laughing, and Eddie pulls you tighter to him while a grin breaks out across his lips. “What’s so funny, Honey?”

“Steve and I were not making goo-goo eyes at each other. And honestly you saying you’re not jealous only makes me think that you kinda are jealous,” you manage to stop laughing but you can’t hide the smile etched across your face.

“You wish,” Eddie pulls you in again, gently cupping your cheeks in a smiley kiss that’s quickly interrupted by the sound of the door slamming open. The two of you tear apart and Eddie grabs for his glass bottle again, pulling you behind him. It only takes a second for you both to realize it’s just the others returning from the store with food for Eddie. You don’t miss the way Steve’s gaze lingers on Eddie’s protective hand on your wrist as he files into the boathouse with the others.

Eddie goes to town munching on the food Dustin graciously handed him while they explain that the cops think he killed Chrissy. Eddie shoots panicked glances your way and Robin tries to comfort him with words but ends up making it worse. Even Steve jumps in and despite your hard glare, he and Dustin do nothing but add on to the sense of hopelessness that now fills the air. It isn’t until you all hear sirens in the distance that they finally shut up and Eddie jumps back under the tarp in the boat. You rush to the window, not noticing Steve close behind, and see the cop cars blowing past Reefer Rick’s house. As you peer up at Steve you know that there’s something else going on.

You slide into the back of Steve’s BMW with Dustin and Max on either side and Steve hits the gas until you see the red and blue lights approaching in the distance. Being in the middle seat means you're the last out of the car and the last to notice Nancy surrounded by police officers. She offers you all a small wave as your feet carry you forward, past the police barriers, and into her arms. Nancy lets out a small sigh of relief and squeezes her eyes shut at the feeling of your embrace. The others catch up and you move your way into the trailer park, sitting at a picnic table close to Eddie’s trailer. A place you’d been a thousand times, now crossed off with police tape.

Nancy talks about Fred, Dustin talks about Venca, and you do everything you can to ignore the lingering gaze of Steve Harrington. Your attention snaps back as Max makes the connection between Fred and Chrissy and everyone heads back towards Steve’s car. You follow Nancy as she keeps walking away from the others until you hear Steve’s voice and turn back around.

“Where are you guys going?” Steve’s question is directed at both of you, but his eyes only flicker over to you.

“There’s just something I want to check out first,” she says pointing over her shoulder towards her car.

“And I’m not letting her out of my sight with all this going on,” you speak up next, glancing towards Nancy to avoid looking at Steve.

“No way it’s too dangerous. There’s safety in numbers. You guys need someone to…” he trails off, turning to throw his keys to Robin. “I’ll stick with these two, you guys take my car and go check out the shrink,” Steve heads over to you and Nancy before Robin chimes in about not having a license. Steve squabbles with them all before Robin makes the executive decision that she’ll join you and Nancy instead.

Nancy explains her discussion with Wayne Munson and his thoughts on Victor Creel during the drive to the library. While you go along with Nancy’s hunch, knowing she’s usually right, Robin questions each and every detail of the theory. You can tell Nancy’s getting annoyed as you wait for the keys to the basement archives, stifling a laugh when she turns to you with ‘help me’ eyes.

The three of you search through newspaper after newspaper and you try to tune out Robin as much as you can. She’s nice enough but she talks way more than you remember. Nancy, clearly unable to put up with anymore of Robin’s babbling, goes downstairs to look for more newspaper reels, leaving you with a curious Robin.

“So, Honey…” her voice echoes through the now silent room as you set down the book you were looking through about D&D lore and Vecna.

“Why’d you call me that?”

“Everyone calls you that.”

“No, my friends call me that,” Robin opens her mouth in faux shock, bringing a hand to her chest.

“Are we not friends? Wow, you’d think saving the world from a human flesh monster and burning down a mall with someone bonds you for life, but I guess I was wrong,” you can’t help the small smile that crosses your lips at Robin’s theatrics.

“Alright, we can be friends,” a smile lights up Robin’s face and you mirror it back.

“Good. As your friend, you have to answer all my questions. Why doesn’t Nancy like me?” your smile drops from your face and your hands start to fiddle with the pages in front of you.

“Nancy likes you just fine.”

“I’m not an idiot.” Her eyes bore into yours. “Plus, what’s that thing the kids all say to each other? Friends don’t lie?” you curse Mike Wheeler under your breath for his stupid insistence on honesty.

“She probably just doesn’t like you because she thinks you’re dating Steve and she has other ideas of who she thinks Steve should be with,” it comes out pretty hushed and embarrassed, but Robin hears every word.

“I’m not with Steve. Not in a million years. He is so far from my type. I’d rather let the human population die out before being with Steve,” Robin’s words flood out in a rush of reassurance.

“You’re not a very good wing woman, you know that?” a smirk graces your lips as Robin’s face flushes. “And you don’t have to worry, I know you’re not with Steve.” Robin raises her eyebrows silently asking you ‘how.’ “Unfortunately I know Steve Harrington well enough to know when he’s interested in a girl and he’s not interested in you.”

“Do you know Steve well enough to know that he’s interested in you?” your breath hitches in your throat and your eyes meet hers.

“Yeah, I do,” you choke out, your mind stopping with the wisp of a memory.

“You’re so predictable, I really don’t get how she didn’t see right through you,” Steve puts the phone down and turns to you at the sound of your giggles bouncing throughout the room.

“I have no clue what you’re talking about, Honey,” Steve’s tone is serious but the smile stretching his lips says otherwise.

“Stevie, please. You use the same moves on every girl. If I had a deeper voice and your dumb polo I could pretend to be you, ask a girl out, and she’d never know the difference,” Steve steps closer to you. You’re sitting on his bed folding the laundry he left in a pile on top of it.

“Hey my polos are not dumb and I am not predictable,” he sits down on the bed next you, nearly knocking over the pile of sweatshirts you just folded. Steve grabs a shirt from the pile as you laugh at him again.

“You so are. You’ve been asking girls out the same way since third grade. We’re almost eighth graders now, you really should switch it up,” you snag the shirt from his fingers when you notice he can’t fold for shit. “Plus I can easily tell when you like a girl.”

“No, you can’t,” there’s something different about his voice now as he pulls his attention towards you. You brush it off, continuing your focus on his laundry.

“I totally can. You make up excuses to be around her, you laugh at all her jokes, especially when no one else does, you constantly nag everyone to tell you about her when she’s not there, and you get all moody when she’s with other guys.” you cross your arms over your chest and plaster on a satisfied smirk when Steve’s mouth drops open slightly. “See told you I could tell.”

“You do realize that you just described how I am with you, right?” the question hung in the air, and you found your jaw dropping just like Steve’s.

“Stevie,” it comes out as a whisper. Steve’s eyes shift from your eyes to your lips as you take a shaky breath. “Are you- do you like…” Steve silently nods, too afraid of what would happen if he tore his gaze from you. Your heart thuds in your chest and the world falls quiet around you. You’d harbored a crush on Steve ever since you figured out that boys do not indeed have cooties. It bothered you that he asked out other girls and never you, but it wasn’t your place to butt in. You were happy with as much of Steve as he was willing to give you.

Just as Steve was about to lean in, the phone rang, filling the silence. Without tearing his gaze from yours, Steve reached behind him, grabbing the phone from the nightstand and holding it to his ear. With a quick ‘Harrington residence’ and a muffled response from the other end, Steve handed you the phone. You held it up to your ear, hearing your dad’s quiet voice through the receiver. This pulled you out of your trance, tearing your eyes from Steve, until they fell on the folded clothes before you.

“Can you come home sweetie? I picked up an extra shift and need you to take care of your mom for a little. I can leave you a little money to order a pizza for dinner,” you agreed, hanging up after a promise of being there in 10 minutes. Steve’s gaze roamed over you with a sadness you hadn’t really seen before.

“I better get going,” you spoke softly, getting up from your place on the bed. The moment was gone. You’d both brush it under the rug like nothing happened. You wish something happened. Steve wished something happened. You collected your things scattered around the room and pulled on your shoes. Reaching out for the doorknob, you turned back, catching Steve’s sad eyes. “Bye Stevie, see you soon,” with that you left, heading downstairs and through the door, out to your bike waiting for you in the grass.

“Honey?” Robin snaps you from your trance and you jump a little in your seat. “I said, Steve never told me what happened with you two, but whatever it is, he seems really sorry. Like down on his knees pleading, crying, snot bubbles dripping down his face, sorry,” you scrunch your nose at the image.

“Are you always this descriptive?”

“Only when I’m nervous,” Robin gives you an awkward smile as you shrink back into your chair. What the hell is taking Nancy so long?

“No need to be nervous, Robs. And no need to try getting Steve back into my good graces. Our history is, uh well, history. I’ve moved on from it,” she eyes you wearily, trying to read your expression.

“Moved on enough to be with him again?” you shoot her a glare and she backs down. As you open your mouth to talk, she interrupts you. “I know about you and Eddie. Steve doesn’t, but I do. And I know that you're not really dating so don’t try to make any excuses. If you could just hear him out it could clear this whole thing up and you can live happily ever-” Robin’s sentence is interrupted by Nancy bursting back into the room and you’ve never been more thankful to see her. In her hand she holds the slides for the Weekly Watcher, making you even question her a bit. After scrolling through page after page, Nancy finally stops on a story titled “Victor Creel Claims: Ancient Demon Killed Family.”

“I know that I should’ve learned my lesson by now, but from this point on I’ll never question you again Nancy Wheeler,” you chime in, leaning over Nancy and Robin’s shoulders. Between the three of you, you manage to connect the dots between the ancient demon the article described and Vecna. Rushing out of the library, Robin radios to the others, finding out that they broke into the school. Nancy speeds over to the school as fast as she can and you catch up to a very freaked out Max describing her vision and her corresponding symptoms. Your hand reaches out for hers and she’s about to let you take it before a noise echoes through the empty school hallways.

Following Steve and his trusty lamp, everyone piles into the hallway, coming face to face with an out of breath Lucas Sinclair. He explains that the basketball team is on a manhunt for Eddie and Dustin. You’re all about to shuffle back out to the cars and head to the Wheeler’s when Nancy stops with an idea, grabbing Robin’s arm and pulling her back.

“What are you doing,” you stop, turning to face them as the others keep walking. She gives you a look, one you know means that you’re not going to like what she says.

“Go with Steve and the kids. I’ve got a plan and I need Robin,” she urges you forward, and Robin shoots her a look that you can’t quite read.

“I meant what I said, Nance. I’m sticking with you.”

“Go Honey, we’ll be fine. Plus, I think it’ll help for Max to have you with her,” you want to argue with her, but like usual Nancy’s right. You pull her in for a quick hug before chasing after the others and sliding into the back seat of the BMW next to Lucas. In order to keep your distance from Steve, you head up to take a nap in Nancy’s bed once you get to the Wheeler house. It isn’t until much later that Nancy and Robin show up in the Wheeler’s basement explaining their plan to talk to Victor Creel.

“Please don’t leave me here with him again. Nancy, I can’t take it,” you plead, following her up to her room. She purses her lips as she roots through her closet trying to find an outfit for Robin.

“Come on, Honey. It's been three years; you need to at least learn how to be civil with him. I know he hurt you and that he’s got his flaws, but I really do think he’s changed. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to give him a second chance,” she pulls out a shirt, looking it over before shoving it back on the rack and continuing her search.

“Geez you sound like Robin,” you mutter under your breath and she shoots you a tight lipped look.

“Who sounds like me?” Robin steps through the door, immediately drawn to the cassettes on Nancy’s nightstand and all her other little knick knacks littered throughout the room.

“I was telling Honey to suck it up and stay with Steve,” Nancy glances over her shoulder at Robin messing with her stuff.

“Oh yeah, totally. I think he’d throw a fit if you didn’t. He’d probably complain about being stuck as the babysitter again and we’d never hear the end of it,” Robin moves over to Nancy’s music box, letting out a squeal as a tiny ballerina pops up.

“Maybe you can find it in your heart to at least listen to his explanation of what happened. You never did give him a chance before,” Nancy’s eyes dart between you to Robin, who is still rooting through her stuff.

“This is just because you don’t like Eddie,” Robin snaps her head up, clearly intrigued by your assertion. You feel guilty bringing him into this argument. With all the craziness surrounding you, you’d nearly forgotten about the frightened Eddie left all alone at Reefer Rick’s.

“I like Eddie just fine. It’s you that doesn’t like Eddie, otherwise you would actually be dating at this point. Although he doesn’t really seem like the type to settle down,” Nancy shrugs, handing Robin a frilly blouse and skirt that causes Robin to scrunch her nose. You open your mouth to protest but you’re quickly cut off by Nancy’s glance towards her bed. “Did you sleep in my bed this morning?” you shoot her a guilty smile before making an excuse about checking on Max and sprinting downstairs.

After Nancy and Robin leave, you join the boys in awkwardly watching Max hunch over a desk for a few minutes before she gets up to pass out her letters. Your heart breaks with each word that trickles from her lips and the feel of worn paper between your fingers. Max argues with Steve about going to the cemetery until you chime in.

“If you won’t take her I will,” all eyes shift to you, holding out your hands for Steve’s car keys. He gives you a pleading look to reconsider before giving in and heading out towards his car. You give Max a playful nudge and she flashes you a grateful smile. When you get out to the car Max slides into the back, leaving the only empty seat upfront, next to Steve. He looks at you when you get in and you swear you can see the hope in his eyes.

Following a pitstop at Max’s house, the drive to the cemetery isn’t too long, but you can tell everyone is pretty restless by the time you get there. Max argues with Steve about going to Billy’s grave alone and you, once again stick up for her before sliding back into your seat in the car. Steve opens the door, following suit while Dustin and Lucas make up an excuse about needing fresh air and get out. You’re about to grab the door handle yourself when Steve’s voice cuts through the silence.

“Honey…”

“Don’t call me that,” you stare straight ahead, almost too afraid to look at him. Steve takes a second to hide his shock, his face returning to its normal shade after its flush of scarlet at your words.

“I honestly don’t think I can call you anything else,” his voice is quiet and it makes you finally turn your head to him. You realize that he’s nervous, more nervous than you knew Steve Harrington was capable of being. Even in the face of demodogs and other dimensions, Steve had never seemed this overwrought. “I just want to talk, please. I’ve wanted to explain, tried to explain, ever since that day, but you’ve never let me. Just, please, let me,” he sounded desperate, and if you were any less stubborn, you might have actually let him.

“Now’s not really a good time, Steve,” he shifted back in his seat, processing what you said. Steve. Not Stevie. Steve. He wondered if maybe Vecna had cursed him and all of this was just some long, drawn out nightmare. But here you are, sitting in his car, looking more beautiful than he remembered, and he knows this is real. He wants to say more, but the words get stuck in his throat. Steve feels like he’s about to choke when you look past him, eyes landing on Max, sitting stiffly in front of Billy’s headstone. “Somethings wrong,” you throw open the door, calling for the boys and running towards Max. Her haze covered eyes make you recoil back for a second before you grab her shoulders, shaking them as hard as you can.

“What’s wrong?” Lucas nearly plows into you, trying to look at Max himself. You regret not listening to Steve and letting her go by herself. Steve shouts at Dustin to radio Robin and Nancy while you keep trying to break Max out of her trance. After a minute Dustin shouts something about music and favorite songs, throwing Max’s Walkman and cassettes on the ground in front of you. Sorting through cassettes, Lucas hands Steve a Kate Bush album, clicking it in, putting the headphones over her ears, and clicking play. Everyone stops for a second as the faint sound of Running Up That Hill comes from Max’s ears.

You think it might be working for a second until Max’s body starts to rise from the ground, no matter how hard you try to hold her down. A scream rips from your throat as you watch what could be Max’s last moments. You think back to the girl in the Mike Myers mask on Halloween a few years ago as tears brim in your eyes. Losing hope with each passing second before you hear a gasp above you and Max tumbles down from the sky. Lucas wraps her in his arms and you all reach out to hold her in some way.

As the minutes pass and everyone’s breathing returns to normal you realize that in the chaos of the moment your hand found its way into Steve’s. With one glance his way you can tell he’s more than aware that you’re holding his hand and will do anything to keep you from letting go. It takes every fiber of your being to hold back a small smile at how easily you can read him. His hand is warm, but you remember that his body has always run on the warmer side. You can’t help but find yourself getting caught up in a distant memory.

The Snowball hadn’t originally seemed like it was going to suck, but now that you were here, it definitely sucked. Brent Majors had made a big deal of asking you to go with him in front of the whole school at lunch. So you reluctantly agreed, wishing Steve had mustered up the courage to ask you first. He ended up asking Kat Connors to go with him, and despite the fact that she would’ve rather gone with friends, she accepted.

Steve arrived first and was immediately ditched by Kat who got sucked into her group of friends by the punch bowl. With a sigh, Steve plops himself down at an empty table and begins staring at the clock, willing the night to end. He loses himself in the hands of the clock until he hears the gym doors slam open, you emerging behind them. Steve’s breath catches in his chest, the same way it had a million times before, as he takes in the way you sparkle in the beautiful purple dress that your mom picked out for you on one of her good days. It isn’t until his eyes find your arm linked with Brent’s that his heart drops.

When Steve finally catches your eye you shoot him a wide smile and a small wave. Brent drags you past Steve, over to a table across the gym that was already packed with Brent’s friends. After about twenty minutes you realize that Brent has no intention of dancing with you so you get up and excuse yourself. Steve is still staring at the clock, trying his best not to look over to Brent’s table, when you sit down in the empty chair beside him.

“It seems that both of our dates are absolutely against dancing with us,” you speak up, nodding your head over to where Kat still stood engulfed by her friends.

“It appears so,” Steve breathed out, leaning back in his chair. He turns towards you, finally getting a chance to look at you up close.

“It’s as if they come from a town where dancing is illegal or something,” you joke, provoking a smile to appear on Steve’s lips. His lips that you now couldn’t stop staring at.

“That would make a great movie.”

“Are you kidding? That would make an excellent movie,” you smile now, seeing Steve break out of his stupor. “Come on,” you get up, holding out your hand for Steve to take. He gives you a look before you continue. “Let’s show ‘em how to dance,” Steve rises to his feet, gently taking your hand as you pull him towards the dance floor.

The two of you dance circles around the other kids, clearly enjoying yourself way more than all the others. You’re having so much fun with Steve that you completely miss the death stare Brent sends him from across the room. As the night winds down the songs start to slow. When one slow song in particular comes on, Steve grabs your hand and pulls you close. You sway back and forth, enough room between you for the chaperones to not intervene, but not enough for you to not feel the heat radiating off of him.

“Your hands are warm, Stevie,” a confused smile etches itself onto Steve’s lips, leaving you to scramble for words. “It’s not a bad thing. I mean all of you is warm. You’re always warm,” you feel heat rush to your face and your eyes dart around the room, landing anywhere but Steve.

“Thank you, I think,” he laughs at you now and you can’t help but join. “It’s a good thing that I’m always warm because you are always cold. You need someone to warm you up,” the smile still lingers on his lips, and you can’t help but look at them. Overcome with the closeness of the moment, you take a leap and say something bold.

“What if I said my lips were cold?” you ask, hearing Steve’s breath hitch despite the loud music.

“I guess I would have to warm them up for you,” Steve shakily breathes out, eyes shifting over you. He leans in slowly and you do too. When your lips collide it’s soft, softer than you envisioned it. And as much of a joke it had been, Steve’s lips really were warm. You find yourself lost in the feel of Steve’s mouth on yours, not wanting to ever pull away, until you hear a throat clear behind you. One of the chaperones stands behind you, clearly embarrassed to witness your kiss with Steve.

“Three inch minimum please,” the woman speaks authoritatively before turning on her heel and walking back to the side of the gym. You turn to Steve again and find him already cracking up. It doesn't take much for you to join him.

When the air settles around you and the sun starts to fall behind the trees, Max stands on shaky legs, heading back to the car. No one is in the mood to talk anymore. Even Dustin keeps his mouth shut. The only thing you hear besides the car engine is the faint sound of Kate Bush’s voice coming from Max’s headphones.

Back at the Wheeler’s basement, Steve falls into an armchair, curling into himself and falling asleep as you sit on the floor beneath him. Nancy and Robin arrive shortly after, reading the room and quietly joining the silence. After a brief conversation about setting up shifts to watch over Max, you find your eyelids growing heavy. You lean back into the space by Steve’s legs, catching a glimpse of Robin and Nancy’s shared look at the sight. Too tired to care, you let your head lull to the side as sleep washes over you.

Nancy’s hushed words spoken into the walkie talkie wake you a few hours later. The warmth radiating from your shoulder pulls your attention from her. Steve’s leg is pressed up against your right side and it seems as though you’d fallen asleep against it. Sitting up properly now, you shift away from Steve, caught off guard when Nancy shakes Dustin awake next to you, frantically asking about Max. Pushing yourself to your feet you quickly follow them upstairs, finding Max at the table with Holly.

With a mumble about a shower, you head upstairs making a beeline for the linen closet, and pull out a towel. You head to Nancy’s room, finding the toothbrush you left there last time you stayed over and setting it with your towel on the bed. Just as you lift your sweater over your head, Nancy’s door swings open, making you scramble to cover your chest with your arms. Steve stands in the doorway, mouth hanging open in surprise as his eyes stay glued to your chest.

“Steve, what the hell?” you shout, knocking him out of his trance.

“Shit, right. Sorry,” he blurts out, averting his eyes to the ceiling. You quickly shove your sweater back on while he continues. “Max and Nance found something so we’re leaving,” he glances back at you now that your shirt is back on.

“Found what?”

Getting out of the car you find yourself staring up at Victor Creel’s creepy ass house. Breaking in was easy, fighting the chill that runs down your spine as you walk in was not. After a look around, you break off into groups, quickly following Robin and Nancy to avoid being paired with Steve. You can hear his displeasure in being partnered with Dustin again from his voice echoing up the stairs. Exploring the house sets your nerves on edge and it’s only amplified when Steve bursts through a door beside you, running into you and mumbling something about a spider before pulling the door shut. A giggle rises in your chest when you catch sight of the array of spiderwebs littering Steve’s hair.

“You got something,” Steve quickly turns his back to you, angling his head to grant you better access to his hair. Robin and Nancy walk past you reaching to grab a spider web from Steve’s locks. They both shoot you a look while Steve tries to brush off the comment Robin makes about spider eggs.

“So, you two are like friends now?” you hum in agreement. “That’s cool, that’s cool. Maybe when this is all over Robin will finally wear you down enough to let me explain what happened,” you stiffen behind him, plucking the last spider web from his hair. Steve turns to face you, clearly a little disappointed at you shutting down at the mention of your shared past. He’s about to say something when you hear Max and Lucas call for you all downstairs.

Standing in a half circle, everyone watches the lights flicker, making the connection that Vecna must be in the house. Splitting up again you spread out trying to find where he’s moved on to next. Robin finds Vecna first but it’s Steve who’s flashlight leads you all the way upstairs to the attic. The flashlights start to pulse and shatter with intensity, scaring the shit out of everyone. Shaken and scared, you all file back into Nancy’s car heading off to finally shower and get some sleep.

In the morning Nancy drives you to your house to get some clean clothes since your car is still over parked at Reefer Rick’s house. After a quick shower the two of you head back to her house where the others are waiting. When it’s time to pile back in the car to deliver Eddie more groceries and bad news, Nancy stops you from getting in the front seat. She points to the trunk where Steve was already getting in, trying not to make it obvious that he was watching you. With a sag of your shoulders and a dramatic eye roll, you climb into the trunk with Steve, making a point to keep as far from him as possible in such a tight space. You swear you see Nancy smile to herself through the rear view mirror. Best friend my ass.

Robin does what she does best and rambles on about all the bad news to tell Eddie, doing a bit to distract you from how Steve’s eyes haven’t left you once. Noticing that Nancy has started to slow down, you peer through the windows, seeing the news vans and cop cars. The group hops out, hearing enough of Powell’s speech to know Vecna claimed another victim and Eddie's name was released to the public as the prime suspect. Just then Eddie’s voice cracks through the static of the walkie talkie, telling you all to meet him at Skull Rock.

Back in the car your thoughts race over Eddie. Poor Eddie who’s now witnessed two of Vecna’s murders all while being chased by the police. You can’t help but shift restlessly in the trunk and it’s sure as hell doesn’t help that Steve’s leg keeps brushing against yours. Overcome by anxiety you lean up a bit to look at Nancy through the rear view mirror again.

“Nance, can you maybe drive a little-” your sentence gets cut off as Nancy takes a sharp left turn towards the woods, throwing you into Steve’s lap. Your head hits the window and you let out a moan as your hand shoots up to cradle it. “Faster,” you finish, slowly realizing you’re now practically laying on top of Steve. His eyes are blown wide looking up at you with a hint of lust and recognition. It’s then that the memory resurfaces, making you want to curse under your breath and scramble back up.

After the kiss at the Snowball, everything seemingly went back to normal. Neither you nor Steve were brave enough to bring it up, meaning that you continued to push down your feelings and stay friends. Now you sat on his bed, reading a book while he paced around the room.

“I still can’t believe you wouldn’t let me see you on your sixteenth birthday,” he huffs, stopping at the edge of the bed to glare down at you. You groan, placing an old receipt in between the book’s pages and closing it in your lap.

“I told you Stevie, Mrs. Byers planned out a whole thing and you don’t like Jonathan so I figured you and I could just hang out another day,” Steve, who had returned to his angry pacing, stopped again.

“I don’t dislike Jonathan,” he defends and you let out a laugh. “He just spends a lot of time with you. Time that you could be spending with me,” you roll your eyes at that, about ready to pick up your book and go back to reading before Steve starts talking again. “Why would Mrs. Byers even plan out stuff for your birthday?”

“Because I’m extremely likable ,” you shoot Steve a cheesy grin and he fake laughs in response. “And I’m pretty sure she felt bad since my parents forgot. She just wanted me to enjoy my birthday,” Steve’s face changes at your words. His eyebrows furrow, eyes growing wide and glassy while his lips part. He takes a seat next to you on his bed, offering you his hand, which you gladly accept.

“Your parents forgot your birthday?” his voice is soft and unbelieving. That’s something he’d expect from his parents, not yours. You nod slowly, feeling a burn in your throat.

“I mean, it’s not their fault really. Dad is working crazy hours to try and pay off mom’s medical bills. I don’t think he knows what day it is normally, let alone on my birthday. And with mom-” your throat clogs a bit, trying not to cry as you cast your gaze down at your lap. “With mom we’re just lucky enough if she remembers to put clothes on in the morning. I didn’t really expect her to remember,” you finally look back up at Steve, his hand reaching up to brush a stray tear from your cheek.

“Honey, I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize your mom was getting that bad,” you nod again, not trusting your words. A moment of quiet stretches between the two of you. The feeling of warmth from Steve’s hand comforting you as much as his presence. “You know what?” he stands up slowly pulling his hand from yours. “You’re right, it’s probably a good thing I didn’t come to the Byer’s for your birthday. You probably would’ve spent too much time doing stuff with Jonathan and I would’ve gotten jealous. I mean boring stuff too, like reading,” he reached forward grabbing your book from your lap.

“Stevie! Reading is not boring! Give that back,” you shift onto your knees, trying to get the book from Steve’s grasp. He jumps off the bed, standing just by the side opposite you and waves the book in the air. In a split-second decision, you leap from your spot, tackling Steve onto the ground where he still manages to hold the book out of your reach. Steve flips you over so you’re pinned beneath him as you continue to flail for your book.

A smirk graces his face at the sound of your giggles. He has you caged in with his limbs and despite your squirming, it’s impossible to escape. You try to move up and get the book but you stop at the feeling of your hips brushing against Steve’s. He stops too, stunned into paralysis as the book drops from his hand above you. You lock eyes with Steve, feeling your face heat up, completely forgetting the now abandoned book. As you go to stutter out an apology, Steve mimics your action, grinding his hips into yours slowly. You can feel that he’s already hard after one or two brushes against each other. A gasp escapes your lips and you close your eyes in pleasure.

“Tell me to stop,” he breaths out above you, clearly feeling as good as you are. Steve looks down at you and you peel your eyes open to meet his.

“I don’t want you to stop, Stevie,” he smiles, continuing the motion as the two of you grind against each other, fully clothed on the floor of his room. You both let out moans and gasps as Steve steadies his pace. “Faster. Please, Stevie,” Steve’s heart pounds as he picks up the pace for a few more strokes.

“Shit, fuck,” he breaths out, quickly standing up and bolting towards the bathroom. You lay confused on the floor, still breathing heavily as you turn your head to look over at the bathroom attached to Steve’s room. Scrambling to your feet, you make your way over to the door, giving it a soft knock.

“Stevie, are you ok?” you’re met by silence when it finally clicks into place. “Shit, did you just-” the door swings open, revealing Steve wearing a new pair of sweatpants while his other pair sits crumpled up in a corner.

“Yeah,” his voice is still breathy and his face is flushed. “It was the way you said it that tipped me over the edge,” he takes you in, with your messy hair and heaving chest.

“Said what?” you ask, confusion overtaking your expression.

“Faster.”

“Shit, are you two ok back there?” Nancy’s question hangs in the air and you can hear all the others turning around to see you still laying on top of Steve. You quickly move up, retreating back to your side of the trunk as your face burns with embarrassment.

“We’re fine, Nance,” you call back, avoiding all eye contact with Steve, who can’t seem to tear his gaze from you now. After another minute or two Nancy stops the car and you waste no time in getting out. You try to ignore the sight of Steve’s deflating shoulders as you scramble as far away from him as you can. Moving deep into the woods, you hear Dustin pick a fight with Steve over which direction leads to Skull Rock.

“You do realize that Skull Rock is like a super popular make out spot, right?” you trail a bit further behind the two of them with Nancy and Robin beside you.

“Yeah, so what?”

“Yeah well it wasn’t popular until I made it popular,” Steve says, making you roll your eyes in response. You’re more than familiar with the rumors that spread throughout the school of King Steve taking girls up to Skull Rock. The rumors only started after you stopped talking to Steve and they only made you hurt more. Steve leads the way, much to Dustin’s dismay, and shortly after you all arrive at Skull Rock. There’s no sign of Eddie until Steve says something about Dustin being a butthead.

“I concur, you, Dustin Henderson, are a total butthead,” Eddie jumps down from a nearby rock, and you all turn to look at him. He hugs Dustin first before his eyes fall onto you. Eddie practically sprints towards you, wrapping his arms around you and spinning you into the air. A laugh escapes you when he sets you down, leaning in to give you a quick kiss.

“I’m glad you’re ok. Sorry it took us so long to get back to you,” your arms fall from around his neck, trailing down towards his hands.

“Don’t worry Honey, you’re here now and that’s enough for me,” Eddie pulls you back in for another kiss and you hear a throat clear behind you. Dustin stands watching you both with a face of disgust, while Steve tries to pretend he didn’t see anything. It doesn’t take a 20/20 vision to see the angry red splotches on Steve’s skin and the slight glassiness in his eyes.

Eddie dives into the bags of junk food Nancy hands him and starts to explain the previous night’s events. You can’t help but notice Dustin’s incessant pacing behind you. Nancy connects the dots between the lights in the Creel House and Vecna’s attack on Patrick when Dustin starts shouting and rambling on about magnets and a gate. He leaves it up to Eddie who, after a Lord of the Rings reference, agrees to start the search for the gate to the Upside Down.

Eddie has his arm wrapped around your shoulder the entire trip through the woods, whispering dirty words in your ear to make you giggle. The sun fully sets by the time you reach Lover’s Lake and Dustin’s compass goes crazy. Nancy determines that Vecna must leave an opening behind from his attacks, similarly to the demogorgon. Eddie and Steve pull the hidden boat over, helping Robin in before Eddie hops in offering Nancy a hand. You step over the motor, stumbling a bit and Steve grabs your back to steady you. Eddie eyes him wearily as you mutter a thanks and take a seat next to Nance. Eddie stops Dustin from getting in the boat, which doesn’t stop the flood of protests before Dustin eventually hands over his compass.

“Sorry,” Steve shrugs towards Dustin, pushing the boat away from the shore and settling in next to you. Robin and Eddie paddle out towards the middle of the lake when the compass starts to go crazy. They slow to a stop as you all peer over the edge of the boat. The kids radio out and Robin updates them while Steve starts to strip off his socks, determined to be the one that dives down. After a small fight you all give in and Steve stands, taking off his shirt. An audible gasp escapes your lips at the sight of shirtless Steve and all but Steve’s head turns your way. It’s almost too dark to see the shared smirk Robin and Nancy shoot each other, but you still notice. Eddie tosses Steve a flashlight before he dives down and Nancy counts the seconds on her watch.

After what feels like way too long, a breathless Steve pops up grabbing the side of the boat. He rushes out words of a snack size gate as something tugs him down for a second. He grips the boat harder, sparing one last look your way before he gets pulled under. With a shout of his name, you leap in after him, pushing through the water as fast as you can until you find the glowing gate. You break through, adjusting to the dim light of the Upside Down while you look for Steve. He’s a few yards away, being attacked by a bunch of bats. You pick up an oar from the boat on the ground when you see Nancy, Robin and Eddie appear from the gate as well. Wasting no time, you swing the oar as hard as you can, taking out a bat at Steve’s side.

“Hey Stevie,” you say breathlessly, before swinging the oar again to smack another bat out of the way. Nancy, Robin and Eddie all attack the bats around you with whatever they can find as well. Eventually Steve is able to get up, tearing the bat from around his neck with his teeth. He spits out blood before meeting your eyes again, and for something that shouldn’t be hot, that was really fucking hot. Nancy starts for the woods when the bats start to swarm the gate and the rest of you follow.

Huddling under Skull Rock, Steve starts to sway, tripping into the side of it. You reach your hands up to balance him and he tries to brush you off, claiming he’s fine despite the blood loss. You set him down and remove your flannel, leaving you in just your tank top and overalls. Robin rambles to Steve about rabies as you rip the worn fabric and tie it tightly around his waist, covering the bat bites. He stares down at you, chest heaving and eyes wide.

“Too tight?” you ask, trying not to sound as nervous as you feel to be this close to Steve.

“No it’s perfect, thanks,” he sends you a soft smile that you can’t help but reciprocate. You help him stand as Eddie and Robin throw questions at the rest of you about the Upside Down and how it works. Nancy comes to a quick conclusion that you all need to go to her house, retrieve guns, and kill the bats to get back home. Steve takes a step closer to you, reaching over to wipe some blood from the bat fight from your face. You freeze, wide eyes looking up at him as your breath hitches in your chest. The moment is interrupted by Eddie launching his denim vest at Steve’s face mumbling something about modesty.

The ground starts to shake beneath your feet and Eddie tries to lunge toward you but Steve wraps his arms around you first, pulling your back flush against his chest. Steve backs into the rock behind him, holding it for support until the shaking subsides. The echo of the bats rattles through the air, reinforcing the idea of needing guns. Steve slowly retracts his arm from around you, letting you move away from him. Despite the distance you’ve purposefully created between the two of you for the past three years, you find yourself not wanting to pull away from him. You feel safe in his arms. The way you once did. The way you always did. You catch Eddie’s eyes on you and Steve before he quickly redirects them away.

“What are we waiting for?” Steve says, bringing out the flashlight from before and clicking it on. The rest of you follow him as he leads the way through the woods to Nancy’s house. As you all keep walking, Steve ends up falling into step with Eddie a little ways behind you, Nancy, and Robin. You can’t hear them from how far away you are, but it’s nearly eating you alive wanting to know what they’re discussing.

“What do you think they’re talking about back there?” you break through the silence the three of you created. Nancy and Robin quickly glimpse back at the boys then turn their attention back to you.

“You. Definitely you,” Nancy replies with a small smirk on her lips.

“Oh shut up,” you give her a playful shove and she giggles.

“I’m serious though. I mean they only have two things in common. Their love for Dustin and their love for you,” you stumble over your own foot at Nancy’s words, making Robin laugh. You shoot her a glare before Nancy goes on. “And since Dustin’s not here I think it’s safe to say they’re all about you at the moment. They’re both clearly jealous of each other,” you open your mouth to argue that Eddie’s not the jealous type but Robin interrupts first.

“Seriously, Steve looked like a kicked puppy when Eddie kissed you earlier and the way Eddie threw his vest at Steve definitely had something angsty behind it,” your gaze trails over to the boys behind you, taking in the sight of Steve and Eddie’s faces while they talk animatedly back and forth. They stop walking for a minute and the ground begins to shake again. The force of the earthquake slams you into a tree, knocking you on the ground. Nancy takes off before the shaking stops, heading for the edge of the tree line where she can see her house. Eddie hooks his arms under yours, pulling you up from behind and the rest of you take off after her.

The Wheeler house, a place you’d been to a million times, looks frighteningly different, covered in vines and in such low light. Nancy rushes upstairs, followed by Robin, Eddie, and Steve in front of you. Steve stops halfway, turning his head towards the dining room, catching your attention too. You and Steve share a look, hearing Dustin’s voice echo from that direction and run back down the stairs. Steve calls out to him, progressively getting louder with each try. The others hurry downstairs and you try to explain while Steve continues shouting for Dustin like a crazy person. Nancy brings up Will and the lights, fiddling with light switches that won’t work.

“Guys,” everyone turns towards you as you point at the now shimmering chandelier. They gather around while you stick your hand into the shimmering air, igniting the air around it in a soft light. The others join in, feeling the tingling sensation that it brings when you touch the light.

“Does anyone know Morse code?” Nancy’s question is met with a chorus of no’s until Eddie shifts to look at her.

“Wait, does S.O.S. count?” you all turn towards Eddie, hopeful for the first time since you dove after Steve into Lover’s Lake. It only takes a minute or two for Dustin, Lucas, and Erica to notice your signal for help. Talking back and forth on Holly’s Lite-Brite, you all come up with a plan to meet at Eddie’s trailer where there will hopefully be another gate. The five of you rush outside, grabbing the bikes from the Wheeler’s garage.

“Wait, there’s only four,” you point out, everyone hopping on a bike but you. Steve turns to look at the back wheel of his bike, noticing that his bike belonged to Mike.

“Mine’s got pegs on the back that you can stand on. Hop on,” he motions you over and your desire to get out of the Upside Down overrides your reluctance to be near Steve. Putting one foot on the first peg, you grab Steve’s shoulders for support, lifting the other foot next. “Hold on tight, ok?” you nod and Steve lifts his feet from the ground to start pedaling as the others follow. You wrap your arms around Steve’s torso, doing your best to avoid the bat bites on his abdomen. Even bloody and shirtless in the Upside Down, Steve still radiates warmth, keeping you comfortable now that you don’t have your flannel to wear.

Steve’s out of breath by the time you get to Eddie’s trailer, coming to a quick stop in the grass. He helps you off and drops the bike down, following closely behind as you burst through the door. The gate is bright and red as something starts moving beneath it. Suddenly, whatever it is bursts through causing you to jump back, right into Steve’s arms. He moves you behind him, slowly approaching the hole that now covers most of the ceiling. You inch up behind him with Nancy at your side. Dustin’s hat is the first thing you see, making you burst into a bright smile at the sight. You notice the others share a similar look of relief.

The kids bring out Eddie’s stained mattress and you can’t help but catch Eddie’s embarrassed glance your way, knowing that you’re both very aware of how some of those stains got there. Dustin throws a rope made of tied bed sheets through the gate, finding that it defies all laws of physics and holds in place. Robin goes first, falling onto the mattress below. Eddie looks around at you, Steve, and Nancy before moving to go up next. He flops down, being pulled up by the kids. Nancy’s about to go next when she freezes up next to you. You and Steve share a look before looking back at her, seeing foggy eyes and a blank expression.

“Nancy?” you place your hands on her shoulders, trying to shake her awake. “Nancy, come on, wake up. Nancy!” you shout panicked with Steve next to you, looking equally worried. The others start scrambling, trying to find a cassette tape in Eddie’s trailer that has a song on it that Nancy would actually know. Suddenly, Nancy gasps awake, and you pull her into your arms as her legs give out beneath her. “We’re right here, Nance. You’re ok now. It’s ok,” tears spill from her eyes and you pull her into a tight hug. When she calms down enough to climb through the gate, you help, giving her a boost from below. You go next, catching Steve staring at your ass from the corner of your eye as you climb the rope.

Once you’re all back right side up, everyone sneaks over to Max’s trailer, not wanting to stay so close to the gate. Nancy heads for the bathroom, needing a minute alone to pull herself together after being trapped in Vecna’s mind prison. Eddie grabs your hand asking Max if he can use her room for a minute.

“As long as you don’t do anything gross in there,” she gives him a glare and he responds with a fake gasp, hand shooting to his chest.

“When have I ever done anything gross?” Eddie asks in mock offense.

“I mean look at your mattress for one-” Max begins but you cut her off with a promise that nothing will happen in her room. Eddie pulls you in, careful not to touch anything considering how you’re both covered in goo from the Upside Down. He looks nervous, fiddling with his hands as he looks up at you. You are about to speak up and break the silence when he starts.

“No, no. I talk, you listen. Ok?” you nod, meeting his gaze. “When we started hooking up, that was all we intended for it to be. Then we became friends and started hanging out even when we weren’t looking to hook up,” he pauses, searching for the right words.

“Eds,” you begin, but he holds up a hand to silence you.

“Honey, I’m not one for relationships, you know that. And I’m also not one to get in the way of one,” you’re thrown off. When he started talking, you were sure he was going to ask you to be his girlfriend, but now he’s pulled a total 180. “I don’t know what happened between you and Steve. Hell, I might never know, but I see the way he looks at you. More importantly, I see the way you look at him,” he gets quiet, eyes searching your face and waiting for your impending push back.

“But I like you, Eds,” you choke out, not realizing that you started crying. He lets out a breathy chuckle, holding your hand in his. Eddie’s hands were always ice cold. You’d always thought it was because of those metal rings he wore, but you could never tell.

“I like you too, Honey. So much,” he breathes out a shaky breath, looking down at his shoes and you notice a tear streak through the dirt caking his face. “But you love him,” he looks back up at you and you swear your heart stops beating. “Do you even realize what you called him earlier?” you shake your head, not following. “Stevie. What you used to call him. Back when you were friends. Back when you-” Eddie stops, slowly dropping your hands. “Go get him. Go be happy again. Then I can be happy for you,” he gently cups your cheeks, pulling your head forward to press a kiss to your forehead before leaving you alone, standing in the middle of Max’s room.

After taking a minute to pull yourself together and wipe the tear streaks from your cheeks, you step back into Max’s living room. All eyes land on you as you settle on the floor next to Robin. She notices your red rimmed eyes and places a comforting hand on your knee. Letting out a breath, you lay your head on her shoulder and she gladly lets you. Nancy emerges from the bathroom. Sitting in a chair that gives you all a good view of her. She describes what Venca showed her, putting two and two together to realize that Vecna is only one person away from fulfilling his master plan.

Max tries to call the Byer’s, but she’s met with a busy signal again. Nancy becomes hell bent on going back in and killing Vecna, and after a rambling of protests all around Max speaks up, offering herself as the bait. Your heart breaks, realizing how much she’s grown in the time you’ve known her. She’s different now, you all are, but she’s taken more hits than some of the rest of you. Reluctantly, you all agree, forming a plan to get weapons and take down Vecna. Eddie hot-wires his neighbor's camper, throwing Steve into the front seat to drive. Nancy rushes into the seat next to him while the rest of you hold on to anything you can find. You get thrown onto the bench in the back, falling in between Max and Dustin as Steve maneuvers out of the trailer park in the direction of the War Zone. The road stretches and the boys in the back keep a steady conversation.

“I wish Will were here. He’d be able to spy on Vecna for us and make this a million times easier,” Dustin says looking at the trees passing by out the window.

“I’m glad he’s not here. Poor kid has already been through enough. He doesn’t need to go through this shit too,” you speak quietly, looking up from your hands in your lap to find Lucas, Dustin, and Max staring back at you. “We could use Mike though. One conversation with his sassy ass and Vecna would be ready to abandon Hawkins for good,” a smile creeps onto Max’s lips, knowing her distaste for Mike’s attitude.

“What would you know about Mike being sassy? He’s hasn’t been rude to you ever since he developed a crush on you back in third grade,” Dustin chimes in, causing your eyebrows to shoot up to your hairline.

“Wha- so just because he’s not here you’re gonna spill all his secrets? Some friend you are,” you joke, still freaked out by the idea of a young Mike Wheeler crushing on you.

“No, I’d tell you if he were here too. Like this,” he stops talking, eyeing Lucas across the aisle. “Lucas has had a crush on you since second grade,” Dustin receives a pillow to the face thrown by Lucas.

“Dustin’s liked you since fourth grade. Ever since you started helping Will draw out our D&D characters,” Lucas smirks back at Dustin until Dustin tackles him to the floor. You look over at Max who is laughing at the two wrestling each other. Getting up, you move to the front, hanging over the back of Nancy’s seat.

“What are they doing back there?” Steve asks, looking in the rear-view mirror to see Dustin and Lucas still rolling around on the ground.

“Dustin told me that Lucas likes me, then Lucas told me Dustin likes me and now they’re fighting I guess,” you gesture over your shoulder and Nancy turns to see what you’re talking about.

“That’s weird, I’m pretty sure Mike has a thing for you too,” Nancy says, shifting back in her seat to look up at you.

“Seems like you’ve got some competition there little Stevie,” Robin calls out from her seat behind you and Steve’s face turns beat red. The War Zone appears on the right much to Steve’s luck, effectively ending the conversation. Nancy decides that you, her, Steve, Robin, Erica, and Max should all go in to pick out weapons. You file out of the camper and through the glass doors, overwhelmed by the amount of people crowding the aisles. You beeline for the crossbow section, filling a cart with a new crossbow and as many arrows as you can get your hands on. Robin runs past you as you fill your cart, Steve trying to catch up to her.

“Is she ok?” you ask when she runs through the doors leading outside and he gives up chasing her.

“She’ll be alright. Just saw someone she knows,” he reassures you, looking at the stuff you’ve piled into your shopping cart. You look up, eyes scanning the room to see what else you need when you spot a familiar face.

“That makes two of us,” Steve glances towards you, finding your eyes wide. He turns to see who you’ve spotted but you grab and turn him towards you, trying not to pull the person’s attention your way. “Brent Majors,” you whisper and Steve stares at you in shock.

“No way. That asshole’s here?” you nod, glancing back over in Brent’s direction. Just then Brent’s eyes shoot up, locking with yours.

“Shit,” you try to duck behind Steve, but Brent still sees you and starts heading your way. Panicked, you pull Steve closer. “Kiss me,” you plead, Steve freezes in your grasp.

“What?”

“Brent’s coming over here. He’s always been jealous of you, especially after the Snowball, and maybe if you kiss me he’ll get the idea and-” Steve cuts you off, slamming his lips to yours. It’s better than you remember. Warm lips encasing yours as his chest presses flush against you. Hands trailing down your sides until they find your lower back, pulling you as close as physically possible. You don’t want to pull away, but you’re also painfully aware that you’re now making out with Steve Harrington in a weapon supply store at what very well might be the end of the world. Your hands gently push his chest back when you hear a throat clear beside you. Erica stands next to you with a small look of panic on her face and Brent Majors is nowhere to be found.

“We gotta go,” she gestures over her shoulder to Jason and his basketball goons rifling through the shelves. You nod, quickly pushing your cart over to the checkout area and getting out of the store as quickly as possible with Steve following behind. Steve bursts through the camper doors helping you throw everything you bought inside and making sure everyone else is back and seated before driving off. You end up parked in a field, all the others split off into groups as you stand alone near the trees, testing out the crossbow. Aiming for the tree branches, you shoot over and over, hitting them perfectly almost every time. Your mind keeps trailing back to Steve. The feel of his lips on yours, all the soft touches from the last few days, what Eddie said earlier. Giving in to your racing thoughts, you head over towards the camper where Steve sits with Robin making Molotov cocktails.

“Can I talk to you?” you ask, Steve’s head shooting up to look at you. He nods right away, turning back to Robin.

“You’ll be alright doing this by yourself, right?” Robin nods and Steve stands, opening the door to the camper for you to step inside. He follows behind you, closing the door and sitting next to you on the bench in the back. You close the curtains, shielding the bright sun from your eyes. “Look, I know that you’re mad about everything and you have every right to be, but please let me explain,” he starts, careful to put some space between you.

“No. Not yet. I have to tell you something first,” you look at him, his soft caramel eyes searching over you.

“Ok, tell me,” he says, nodding his head. So, you do.

After the incident on the floor, something had changed between you and Steve. You weren’t quite dating, or at least no one had explicitly said so, but you also were definitely more than friends. No one really knew what was going on between the two of you, but you sort of liked it that way. It was almost as if it was just you and Steve in your own little world. He had his head resting in your lap, letting you lazily trace your fingers through his hair. There were only two more weeks left before the summer, not that you could tell based on the weather. It was too hot outside to do anything. Even the thought of walking the few feet between Steve’s house and the pool in his backyard made you sweat. So you stayed inside, enjoying the A/C and lounging around. Steve had fallen asleep about ten minutes ago, looking so peaceful and calm in your lap. You lean down, placing a small kiss to his lips, making his eyes shoot open.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake-” you’re cut off by Steve pulling you down for another kiss. This one is deeper, more passionate than the peck you initially gave him. Steve shifts beneath you, sitting up and pulling you to straddle his lap. His kisses are warm and fiery, lighting a heat in you that only his touch could bring. Steve tugs on your shirt and without a second thought you lift it up over your head, revealing your bare chest. His eyes widen at the sight and his shirt comes off next, joining yours where it now lays on the floor. You grind into his lap, chasing the same feeling you had that day on the floor.

“Stevie,” you whimper, his hips snapping up to meet yours. His eyes swim with lust and love, finally about to feel you in a way he’s wanted to for so long.

“Baby, Honey, I’ve wanted to do this for so long,” his words come out in breathy moans beneath you. Steve’s fingers coming up to play with your nipples. “I don’t wanna rush though. Wanna take my time with you,” he continues thrusting against you and you let out a loud moan.

“I know Stevie, but I need you. Need you so bad right now,” Steve stops grinding up into you, so unbelievably turned on. You sit up, removing your shorts and panties, allowing Steve to do the same. Now you sit, completely naked on your best friend’s lap. A small giggle escapes your lips at the thought, a giggle that Steve returns, feeling the exact same way as you. He pulls you closer to him, cutting off the giggles with his lips against yours. His fingers reach down to your entrance, teasing around the outside before gently dipping in. A gasping moan pulls from your chest as Steve pumps his fingers in and out of you a few times.

“You’re so wet for me already, baby,” his lips latch onto your neck, relishing in the sound of your moans.

“Stevie, feels so good, but I need you in me,” Steve nods, slipping his fingers from you and taking them in his mouth to suck your juices off. He groans at the taste, popping them from his mouth and lining himself up with your entrance. Steve enters you slowly, sinking you down onto him as you wrap your arms around his neck and press your chest to his. You both moan as he bottoms out, wasting little time before Steve starts to pound into you from below.

“It’s like you were made for me, fuck,” Steve moans out and you clench around him. He increases his speed, thrusts getting sloppier, but you couldn’t care less. You’re on the edge of your orgasm, about ready to tip over. “Fuck, I love you, Honey,” Steve rushes out, giving one last hard thrust before spilling himself into you. The combo of Steve’s orgasm and his words pushes you to the edge, letting out a gasp of Steve’s name as he pulls you back a little from where you cling to his chest. His eyes watch you as you reach your peak. A whole range of emotions rush through him at the sight, but mainly lust and love.

“I love you too, Stevie,” you finally say when you’ve come down from your high. He pulls you back into him, wrapping you in a tight hug before leaning back to give you a bruising kiss. He’s still buried deep inside you as he dips his head, littering your chest with hickies. You laugh through your moans, pulling him back up after a few bruises bloom in order to kiss his soft lips again. Eventually, Steve lifts you off of him and you whine at the emptiness. He lays you on his bed about to get up to grab a washcloth to clean you up when he stops. He grabs his Polaroid camera from his nightstand, holding it up to you in a question. You give him a nod and he kneels over you on the bed, taking a picture of you in your fucked out state. Your chest littered with hickies, hair a wild mess, and legs spread out with Steve’s cum leaking from between them.

“I’m so saving this for later when you're gone,” he says, shaking the photo when it pops out from the camera.

“You gonna keep it with your stack of Playboys?” You ask teasingly and he’s taken aback.

“What Playboys?”

“The ones under your mattress,” you pause, leaning up with your elbows. “You know, there’s the one with the picture of a girl in it that kinda looks like me? That page is super sticky by the way, you might want to get a new one,” Steve laughs at you, leaning down to press his body back onto yours.

“I’ve got my new one right here,” he waved the photo over you, leaning in to give you a peck on the lips.

“So romantic,” you respond through his lips, smiling as he gives you kiss after kiss before hopping up to go towards the bathroom.

About a week and a half later there were only three days left before the end of the school year. Pushing through the school’s front entrance, you immediately spot Steve at his locker with Tommy and Carol. You were never a big fan of either of them but got along with them fine enough for Steve’s sake.

“Hey Stevie,” you say, joining them at his locker. His eyes soften when he sees you and he wants nothing more than to kiss you, but he knows Tommy and Carol would tease him for it, so he doesn’t.

“Hey Honey, was just thinking about you,” Tommy wears a shit eating grin as he speaks and you know that it can’t mean anything good.

“Really? What a coincidence then,” you reply, trying to get out of this conversation as quickly as possible. It’s then that you see Steve looking at Tommy as inquisitively as you feel.

“Well you see, ever since I saw this little number it’s been hard not to think of you,” Tommy holds up a Polaroid picture in his hand and you don’t even have to look at it to know what the picture is of. You reach out, grabbing the photo as quickly as you can, looking around to make sure no one else saw. “You finally came through, King Steve. After years of talking about getting her in the sack, you finally did. Kinda sucks for her though, seems like she’s developed some feelings for you,” Tommy lifts his hand for a high five and Carol belts out her witch cackle beside him. You back away, tears springing in your eyes when Steve turns to you.

“Honey, I didn’t-” Steve begins, but you don’t hear the rest. You take off down the hall and out the doors, running directly into Jonathan.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Jonathan asks, seeing the tears in your eyes. You choke out a sob asking him to take you home. Jonathan’s car is pulling out of the school parking lot when you see Steve burst through the front doors, Tommy and Carol snickering behind him. Jonathan pulls up to your house, making you promise to tell him what happened when you feel better before letting you out of the car. You notice your dad’s car is still in the driveway, which confuses you since he should already be at work. Stepping through the door you hear a small sob coming from your parent’s bedroom. Your heart drops, already knowing what you’ve walked into. Fresh tears form in the corners of your eyes when you see your dad laying with his head pressed against your mom’s chest. He hears your footsteps and lifts his head.

“She’s gone, sweetie. In her sleep last night,” your dad sobs out, snot bubbles and tears spilling onto your mother’s nightgown. And that was it. It was too much. Steve and your mom, both gone all at once. After that day you couldn’t think of Steve without thinking of your mom. So, it just became easier to not think of Steve at all. You avoided him, slinking through the shadows at school. Hiding from the hurt that the memories brought you. Insisting on not seeing him again, not even a glimpse, until that night outside the lab when the world nearly ended for the second time.

Steve’s quiet when you stop talking, processing everything all at once. Taking in the information that you’ve had to sit with for nearly three years, while he’s only known it for about a minute now.

“I didn’t know,” his voice is quiet, attention directed towards his hands in his lap. You’d both inched closer somehow while you had been explaining. “I mean, I knew your mom died, but not until a year and a half later. Not until Nancy told me. And even then, she didn’t tell me that it happened that day,” Steve’s eyes meet yours, tears brim his lashes, clearly feeling guilty in some capacity.

“We didn’t really have a funeral for her. Didn’t post an obituary either. If we did then that would’ve made it real, I guess. Dad and I couldn’t really handle that. So, we had her cremated and kept her name out of the paper,” your voice is quiet, but calm. You’ve grown with time, learned to live with loss no matter how much it still aches from time to time. Steve clears his throat, one tear slipping down his cheek. You wipe it away gently, moving your hand back down to your lap.

“I’m so sorry,” he whispers and you shrug, as if to say ‘it’s not your fault’. “About the photo,” Steve begins, not really sure how to bring it up. “I didn’t give it to Tommy, I swear. I’m pretty sure he found it the weekend before when we had that end of the year party at my house, remember? Him and Carol went up to my room to-” he stops clearly disgusted at the thought. You let out a small laugh at the look on his face, which blooms into a smile at the sound he missed hearing so badly.

“I figured. Well, not at first, but the more I thought about it, the more I knew you never would've done that,” Steve nods, inching the slightest bit closer, hoping you wouldn’t notice. You did.

“And the stuff he said about me that made it sound like I only wanted to sleep with you, that wasn’t true. I loved you, so so much. I still love you, Honey,” he looks worried as the words spill from his lips, but he keeps his gaze locked with yours.

“I figured that out too. I knew you cared too much about me to just want sex and nothing more. We were practically dating at that point anyway,” you stop, knowing Steve was still waiting to see if you’ll say those three little words. Those barriers you’d built up so long ago to keep Steve out, slowly crumbling down. “And I love you too, Stevie,” Steve smiles, at what you said, at your voice, at the nickname, at your cute little overalls, at you. He surges forward, crashing his lips to yours in a kiss that could set off fireworks in the sky, burn down a brand new mall, save a boy from being possessed, fight monsters, and kill an evil wizard from another dimension. It was everything you’ve felt for the last three years and everything else beyond that. Steve pulls back reluctantly, his chest heaving and his hands on your cheeks.

“Eddie,” he breathes out. “You’re with Eddie,” you shake your head and his eyebrows furrow.

“We were just hooking up, but don’t worry, he told me to go for it,” you say, and Steve gives a small nod before pulling you back into another searing kiss. Clothes are stripped in a hurry, Steve’s hand roaming your body.

“God, I’ve missed you so much,” Steve whimpers, pulling you on top of him, just like before. It’s better than the first time. The two of you are more experienced now since you’ve both slept with other people, but you’re still just as in love, if not more. Steve fits perfectly into you, hitting you just right with every thrust. It doesn’t take long for you to both hit your highs. Coming down in a fit of giggles when a loud knock rattles the door.

“Hey, if you two are done, we’ve got a town to save and a telekinetic to kill,” Robin’s voice filters through the shut door. You share a look with Steve, bursting out into laughter again, getting up to get dressed again. You open the door as Steve sits in the driver's seat. Everyone files in with the weapons and you take the seat across from Steve. He sends you a wink before he takes off, driving away from the field. Max, Lucas, and Erica get dropped off at the Creel house first and Steve continues driving until you get to the woods next to the trailer park. You all go over the plan again, leaving the camper to enter Eddie’s trailer and go into the Upside Down the same way you came out of it no more than 24 hours before. Once you’re all through the gate, everyone goes outside the trailer and Steve stops, giving you, Dustin, and Eddie a lecture about not being heroes. He pulls you to the side so the others can’t hear.

“I still don’t feel good about you staying behind. You should come with us, these two can handle themselves,” Steve looks worried at the prospect of leaving you.

“Are you kidding? They need all the help they can get,” you say, hearing a soft ‘hey’ from Dustin. Ok, so maybe they’re not quite out of earshot.

“It’s just, I just got you back. I don’t want to lose you again.”

“You won’t, Stevie. I promise,” you pull him in by his shirt, kissing him passionately. A few wolf whistles sound off beside you, but you couldn’t care less, flipping them off before you pull away. “Good luck,” you push him back towards Robin and Nancy, the goofy smile on his face from your kiss slowly returning to his more serious expression from before.

“Make him pay,” Eddie calls out to Steve, who nods in return, giving you one last look and setting off towards the Creel house. You, Dustin, and Eddie make quick work of boarding up the trailer and setting up Eddie’s amp. Eddie starts playing Master of Puppets by Metallica, a song he hasn’t shut up about since it first came out. Eddie’s killing it as you and Dustin both listen along, keeping an eye out for the bats. When they’re close enough, the three of you barricade yourselves in the trailer. It seems to work at first but they start to break through. Dustin jumps through the gate and you’re about to as well when Eddie takes off muttering something about buying more time.

“Eddie!” you shout following after him as he bursts through the front door, grabbing a bike and peddling away quickly, drawing the bats away from the trailer. You take the crossbow from your back, unloading arrow after arrow into the bats swarming around him. Dustin pops up behind you, swinging his staff at the bats surrounding the two of you, protecting you both while you protect Eddie. A bat knocks Eddie off his bike and others start to swarm around him. You and Dustin creep forward as Eddie stops running away and tries to defend himself. Eddie gets pelted to the ground, a bat taking a bite out of his side before you can shoot it. You take out the others that swarm around Eddie as he keeps trying to smack them away. Suddenly in some kind of miracle they all drop to the ground. Dustin sprints over to Eddie with you close on his heels. He’s still sprawled out on the ground, but not bleeding too badly.

“I’d offer you my flannel to cover that up, but Stevie beat you to it,” you offer him a hand to sit up which he gladly accepts, placing a hand over the wound with a slight wince.

“It’s not too bad, could be way worse,” he removes his bandanna from his head, pressing it to the wound and standing all the way up. “Is it too late for me to take back what I said about you and Harrington earlier? The sight of you with the crossbow has me all hot and bothered,” you give him a light shove as Dustin gags from beside you.

“Shut up, Munson,” the boys are about to follow you back over the trailer when the ground starts to shake. They both grab onto you, trying not to fall as the ground cracks open, right through the trailer. From then on it’s all a blur. Between Steve, Robin, and Nancy meeting up with you, explaining what happened with Vecna, going back through the gate that now stretched across town, getting Max to the hospital, and finding a better hiding spot for a now patched up Eddie, it all floods together. It isn’t until two days later, when a van with a surfboard on top pulls up in front of Nancy’s house that everything begins to clear up a bit. Out of the van comes Will, Mike, Eleven, Jonathan, and someone else that you don’t know. You wait your turn for Jonathan to hug Nancy before getting over to you. Will’s next, squeezing you tightly and you realize how much he’s grown since you saw him last. El throws her arms around you and your hands find her freshly shaven head. She laughs when you tell her that you’ll figure something out to help her hair grow out faster. Mike approaches you last, enveloping you in his long arms.

“You know,” you say when he pulls back. “A little birdie told me you’ve got a thing for me. Better not let El find out. I’d hate to see what she’d do to you now that her powers are back,” his smile falls and his face is overcome with anger.

“Dustin!” he shouts, going over to the boy, berating him loudly. You laugh while watching them argue back and forth. Steve comes up next to you, slinging his arm around your shoulder and letting out a chuckle.

“You had to tease him about it?” Steve smiles over at you and you place a hand on his chest.

“Will looked a little upset and I can guarantee he’s the reason why, so he kinda deserves it,” Steve laughs, rolling his eyes and placing a kiss on your lips. When the reunions are done, you pile into the car with boxes full of donations. You, Steve, Dustin, and Robin enter the high school gym, quickly dropping off the donations and finding places to help out. Robin is making pb&j’s and Dustin is talking to Wayne Munson while you and Steve sort through clothes. You hear Robin talking to a girl at the sandwich station and it all clicks.

“Oh,” you breathe out, Steve’s eyes following yours. “I get it now,” you grab for the shirt Steve is trying, and failing, to fold.

“Get what?”

“A few days ago at the library. Robin kept going on and on about how you’re not her type and that she’d rather let humans die off than be with you,” you nod your head towards her and the other girl. “I get it now and you definitely aren’t her type.”

“She really said that? Some wing woman she is,” Steve mutters and you chuckle at him, pulling his face towards you to place a soft kiss on his cheek. It’s then that you hear murmurs erupt over by the big windows. You wander over with Steve and Robin close behind you. What looks like snow falls from the sky, but you’ve seen this stuff enough to know it’s not snow. Steve’s hand finds yours, squeezing it tightly in his warm grasp. You look at him and he looks back at you. His expression says all the same things that you're thinking. That whatever’s next, you can make it through. Together. You can do anything as long as you have Steve beside you. Your best friend. Your boyfriend. Your something. Your everything.

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wheels-of-despair · 1 year

Text

Classy Girl and the Scruffy Boy Pairing: Eddie Munson x You Summary: Eddie's girl invites him over for a romantic dinner and a movie. It's... not exactly what he expected. Contains: Dinner and a movie? Word Count: 1.2k-ish

"Hi," you whisper, easing yourself onto Eddie's lap in the school library.

"Hi?" he responds, a little surprised to see you.

You wrap an arm around his shoulders, and his circle around your waist. He tilts his chin up for a kiss, which you gladly give him.

"So I just found out that Mom has a meeting this evening," you tell him quietly, "and she won't be home 'til late. I'll have the house allll to myself."

"Oh yeah?" he asks, instantly perking up.

"Yuuup."

"What are you gonna do with that big empty house all to yourself?"

"Hmmm…" you wonder aloud, tapping your chin thoughtfully with your free hand. "I thought maybe I could invite this really cute guy over… and I could make him a romantic dinner… and we could watch one of the best love stories ever told."

"Is it a chick flick?"

"It's not a chick flick."

"It's a chick flick."

"It's about a classy girl who falls for a scruffy boy. I think it's technically a love story, but there's some pretty scary stuff in it too. I might need you to hold me."

He looks like he's considering it.

"If you're a good boy, maybe we could even re-enact one of my favorite love scenes."

His eyes widen.

"It might get a little messy, though," you tease with a whisper.

"Sold."

"That's what I thought," you give him a kiss on the forehead and rake your fingers through his hair.

"I've gotta get back to class. Meet you at the van after school?"

He nods, breathing a little harder, his pupils blown. You lean down for another kiss and get off his lap. He gives your ass a smack as you walk away, and you turn to shoot him a fake glare before spinning back around and heading toward the exit with a grin on your face.

He'll never know what hit him.

He was already by the van when you arrived at 3:03. His last class of the day was farther away than yours; he must've run all the way there.

You had him stop by Bradley's Big Buy on the way home to get a few extra ingredients. He didn't mind. It was for him, after all.

When you got home, you put your groceries away, sat at the table, and started pulling homework out of your backpack.

"What are you doing?"

"Eddie, it's not even 4 yet. Are you seriously ready for dinner already?"

He pouts.

"Go get your damn books, I know you've got work to do."

His jaw drops indignantly.

But he listens.

Two hours and several completed assignments he'd been putting off later, he's happily watching you move around the kitchen, making the romantic dinner he was promised. He wasn't thrilled about being tricked into doing work, but you'd helped him get enough done to keep his teachers off his back for a few days, so that was nice. Now, he got to relax, and see what kind of surprise you had planned.

Oh, Eddie. If only you knew who you were dealing with.

Some time later, you bring two steaming bowls of spaghetti into the living room and place them on the coffee table next to your glasses of soda and a plate of bread, buttered and toasted to perfection.

"Do you want me to put the movie in?"

"It's already in," you answer, picking up the remote and turning the TV on, trying to contain your glee. You'd put the tape in while he was taking a bathroom break, not wanting to risk him seeing the box and ruining the surprise.

The VCR clunks to life, and you fast-forward through the previews. You press play and watch him from the corner of your eye.

He's confused. He's so confused.

"This is a cartoon."

You say nothing, struggling to keep your face blank.

Once he realizes he's been had, he grabs the remote and presses stop, then turns to you with a hard look in his eyes.

"What the fuck?"

"What?" you ask innocently.

He gestures to the TV.

"You were promised a romantic dinner and a love story, were you not?"

"You didn't say it was Lady and the Fucking Tramp!"

"I said it was a love story about a classy girl and a scruffy boy."

His jaw clenches.

"You said it was scary."

"Have you SEEN the size of that freakin' rat? That's trying to EAT THE BABY?"

He fumes. He fumes at you for tricking him, and at himself for falling for something like this AGAIN.

"You purposely got me all worked up over a CARTOON!"

"It's not my fault you're a pervert!" You bite back your laughter.

"I had to go to the BATHROOM during ENGLISH and rub one out!"

You lose it.

"THAT'S IT!" he yells and lunges at you, howling with laughter at his expense. Next thing you know, you're on your back and he's on top of you, nipping at your neck and grinding against you.

"Oh yeah, you got me good Munson, please stop this unbearable torture!" you choke out between cackles.

He goes limp, dropping all his weight on top of you. He may look little, but it knocks the wind out of you with an "oof!"

You wiggle, trying to shake him off. He moans. Nevermind.

He lifts his head and cocks an eyebrow. "Wait, what were we supposed to be re-enacting from the DOG movie?"

"The spaghetti scene, duh."

"The what?"

"Have you not seen it?"

"Not… all of it?"

"Get up. This is unacceptable."

"So we're not going to do anything? After all that?"

"I mean, if you don't mind cold bread and reheated spag--"

And suddenly his mouth is on yours, your romantic dinner growing cold just a few feet away.

Your mother returns from her meeting a few hours later, eyes narrowing when she sees Eddie's van in the driveway. She's still wary about you two being alone together. She debates between loudly announcing herself so she doesn't see anything gross, or quietly coming in and catching you in the act, which would secure free, complaint-free labor for the deep cleaning she'd been putting off.

The house is silent when she enters. There's a big pot of spaghetti on the stove, and the kitchen table is covered with books and what appears to be finished homework. Curiosity getting the better of her, she creeps toward the living room, still a little afraid of what she might find.

But it's a blue screen on the TV, a pile of dirty dishes on the coffee table, and two fully clothed teenagers sleeping on the couch. She turns off the TV and goes to get herself a bowl of spaghetti.

You later told her how you Lady and the Tramped him with the promise of a romantic dinner and a love story about a classy girl and a scruffy boy, and she'd laughed almost as hard as you had. (You'd also told her how Eddie had teared up when he saw all the sad dogs at the pound, but she was forbidden from ever repeating that.) That was the day she decided that maybe you could be trusted together. You two definitely weren't like other teenagers.

What she didn't know wouldn't hurt her.

#writings of despair #eddie munson x you #eddie munson x reader #i thought of this after tossing and turning for 3 hours #then finally gave up and got up to write #insomnia is my muse

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oneforthemunny · 3 months

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How are the Eddie’s reacting to their girl getting a tattoo? And what do you think each one would get?

i honestly don't think any of them would act negatively lol. i think they'd all be like "oh cool" and maybe more excited depending on the tattoo, like if it was for them or something.

i remember we kinda talked about how sweet girl definitely has nipple piercings, and it shocked the fuck out of eddie the first time he saw them lol. i think along with that we said she'd have like a little arrowed heart with his initial on the inside on her bikini line.

and nb!reader has one for her girls. a bouquet, with each of their flowers in them but it would be hidden. i think she'd have eddie's name tattoed on her ring finger, probably his signature.

and i think modern!eddie's mean girl would have a tramp stamp idk. like i think she'd have one and eddie fucking loves it.

#oneforthemunny #munnytalks #rockstar!eddie munson #cowboy!eddie munson #modern!eddie munson

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manicformunson · 2 years

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just- eddie with a badass, metal reader? and he’s too nervous to talk to her, hes almost intimidated, but then she goes up to him and confronts him abt his stares??? i’m done for.

do you wanna touch me

pairing eddie munson x fem!reader

summary reader is the girl of eddie's dreams and he can't help but stare at her any and every chance he got. he never expected her to call him out in front of his friends

note i am a firm believer in eddie being a total perv lol also abrupt ending sorry i like to tease :p

Eddie was a creep, he knew it. He literally could not help but drool over the girl in his math class, Y/N was like his hottest wet dream. She was always sporting shirts from his favorite bands, her hair always dyed unnatural colors and sometimes if he was lucky she wore a skirt, showing off a huge dnd dragon tattoo on her thigh. When that happened Eddie always had to pick his jaw up off the floor and excuse himself to the bathroom.

Eddie found himself more often than not rubbing one out at the thought of her plush thighs around his neck and his face buried in her pussy, or her tits squished up against his cock with her tonuge gingerly licking the tip -- the latter being his favorite.

One time he had to run to the bathroom to jerk off after math class when she wore one of those devilish skirts and moved her legs, causing Eddie to catch a glimpse of her panties. It was not his proudest moment.

Even Gareth had mentioned that Eddie was obsessed and that if he had the balls he should just go up and talk to her, but as funny as it was to everyone else, Eddie was intimidated. He had never met a girl who liked heavy metal and had tattoos of DND dragons, plus she was drop dead gorgeous.

Thank god for the weekend though. It was the only time he got a break from Y/N and her unknowing curse on him.

He had no intention of swimming, just soaking up the sun with a cigarette and maybe checking out the mom's in bikinis until he saw Y/N across the pool. He felt as if the breath had been knocked out of him. "Jesus Christ." He muttered when he was able to breathe again.

Eddie had picked up Gareth, Jeff and Dustin for a day at the pool -- solely Dustin's idea but Eddie would later kiss his feet for it. When they got there they had picked out spots near the gate and Eddie laid out on the chair and pulled out a cigarette, promising to look after they're stuff.

He had thought about asking her to join Hellfire since she'd probably enjoy it but the fear of rejection was too much for him. That and it'd be pretty hard to concentrate on a campaign when Y/N's pretty eyes were on him.

She was wearing a simple black bikini but goddamn, Eddie could see that she had a couple more tattoos -- one on her right breast of a bat with no head, some phrase on her hip bone, and when she turned her back towards him Eddie could see she had little wings right above the waist line of her bottoms.

Jeff and Gareth noticed him drooling over her and decided to follow Dustin to the pool, leaving Eddie a mumbling mess. All he could think about is her tramp stamp and how it contrasted against her wet skin, god Eddie had to fight popping a semi right then and there.

"There a reason your staring at me Munson?" Y/N said through a taunting smile, swaying her hips until she was standing over him. Eddie only held his hands up in defense, "I just, I uh. I mean-" Y/N crossed her arms, making Eddie very aware of how her boobs squished against her arms.

"I just wanted, wanted to-" Eddie couldn't think -- she was so much hotter than Eddie had thought. "Wanted to?" Y/N cocked her eyebrow at him, her fingers tapping against her elbows. "Your tattoos! You got, you got nice tattoos."

She laughed at him and Eddie couldn't help but smile at it, even if she was laughing at him. Y/N decided to sit down in the chair beside him and lean in a little, unknowingly giving him access to see the forbidden valleys of her breasts.

"You're practically drooling, and you're trying to tell me it's because of my tattoos?"

Eddie didn't respond, his brain only focused on the tattoo on her tits which made her grab his chin, forcing him to look at her and continue to mumble out nonsense.

Y/N knew that he had a crush on her, it was a bit pathetic but damn did she think it was cute. She couldn't help but tease.

She leaned closer to him, enough that her perfume clogged his senses, and pressed her lips to his ear, "You know, I got a few more tats underneath my swimsuit if you ever wanna see them."

She licked the shell of his ear causing him to visibly shutter and moan. Eddie grabbed her arm, "I, I got a van." Y/N giggled down at his desperate state. "Hm. I was thinking maybe back at my place later. So I could show you all of my pretty tattoos, and you could take the time to appreciate them."

Her hand was now rubbing up and down his arm giving him goosebumps and his head was so foggy with her presents that Eddie couldn't register what she was insinuating, he just nodded.

When her soft lips pressed against his cheek is when he felt his dick jump at the sudden feeling, "See you then pretty boy." And she was gone, leaving Eddie dazed and with a semi.

Little did he know he wasn't being very secretive about his staring, catching her attention and jumping when she starting storming over to him. Oh shit, he thought before trying to come up with an excuse.

#eddie munson #stranger things #joseph quinn #eddie munson x reader #eddie stranger things #eddie munson smut #eddie munson fic #eddie munson x reader smut #eddie munson x you #eddie munson x y/n #eddie munson x you smut #eddie munson x female reader #eddie munson x female reader smut #eddie munson x fem!reader #eddie munson x female character

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shieldofiron · 9 months

Text

Meals on Wheels

(Harringrove, just a flirty little drabble for @disabledbillyandsteveweek day 2 prompt-Family)

Steve thought it was maybe the stupidest thing he’d ever thought of. He and Robin had been having a sleepover and somehow the subject got around to tattoos.

“I would get a pin up girl but that might be tacky,” Robin sighed.

“As far as I’m concerned, the tackier the better,” Steve rolled up to his countertop and poured another glass of wine.

“Oh yeah, what are you getting? A nail bat?”

“Only if it says ‘who wants to get nailed,’” Steve snarled.

“What about a tramp stamp?” Robin took the glass of wine and sipped it. “Eat me.”

Steve thew a saucy look over his shoulder, dripping with king Steve charm, “Please. Look at me. It would say meals on wheels.”

Robin giggled, “Yeah, as long as we’re getting tattoos of wishful thinking I should get one on my hand that says, ‘Pussy destroyer.’”

“‘M just in a dry spell.”

“Yeah, okay,” Robin rolled her eyes, “Would you actually get ‘Meals on Wheels?’”

“Eat fast, eat fresh,” Steve quipped. “I’ll do it if you do, Madam Pussy Destroyer.”

Robin giggled loopily, “You know I did see an article about a tattoo parlor that specializes in sensory safe tattoos.”

“What’cha mean?” Steve wasn’t drunk, but he was a little tipsy on their good fortune in securing a wheelchair accessible apartment this close to the city center. Sure, a lot of rent had to come from their was Starcourt hush money, after Steve been paralyzed and a flayed Jonathan Byers has saved the world, but they he still found it and so Steve was happy to fork over the cash. The location was ideal, even if the city noise sometimes wrecked havoc on Robin’s sensory issues so they’d installed some extra sound proofing. But he wasn’t sure how a tattoo parlor was a part of that.

“It’s super cool, the owner has OCD so he made it so each room is private and soundproofed. They don’t play loud music, and offer headphones if the buzzing is too much, though you can bring your own movies. I’ve always wanted a tattoo, but some of those places are just too loud and busy,” Robin sighed.

“So you’ve always wanted to be a pussy destroyer?”

“No, shut up,” she blushed. “A Lilly, for my grandma.”

“Well maybe tomorrow we can go check it out.

“I wouldn’t want to do it alone.” She bit her lip. “I wouldn’t have the guts.”

Steve shrugged, “ok, you convinced me. It’s tramp stamp time.”

“No, you’re not serious,” Robin giggled.

“You’re my family. If you bleed, I bleed. You tramp stamp, I tramp stamp,” Steve said, only laughing when Robin did.

But then the next morning, his head pounding, he didn’t have too many defenses when Robin had looked at him with those puppy dog eyes and said she’d called and made them an appointment. She’d even brought in his motorized wheelchair and said that she’d buy bagels on the way.

But he was regretting it when they were finally there, and Steve was contemplating actually getting something permanently inked into his skin.

He wasn't sure if he was cool enough for this. He definitely wasn't cool enough for the artist that came in and introduced themselves to Robin. Their name was Eddie and they were practically covered in tattoos, wearing some cool unpronounceable band name t-shirt that they'd sewn to a mini tutu skirt to make a dress. They took Robin back to her room after they went over her sketch, a lilly painted with pale watercolor shades.

Robin squeezed his hand, "You're not gonna chicken out on me, right? I booked the only two person room they have so if you don't show up, I will know."

"I'm not chickening out," Steve laughed, "Though I hope your grandma isn't watching from heaven, because she'll probably see my ass."

Robin snorts, "She definitely saw your ass this morning when I helped you out of the shower. She was a tough old bird, a little of your pale ass won't scare her."

Steve snorted, "I'll see you in a moment."

Steve was starting to feel a little nervous. Honestly after Starcourt, he hadn't been interested in hiding his sexuality at all. Life seemed too short, he might as well unapologetically be himself, bi and disabled and ADHD and slutty and everything that was himself. But maybe the double entendre tramp stamp was a little too out there.

And then... he'd come in.

"Hi, Steve, right?" The guy was stunning, with long blonde curls streaked with blue piled up into a big bun on the top of his head. He offered a large, warm hand and Steve almost melted when they shook.

"Yeah, hi."

"I'm Billy, I'm the owner," Billy smiled, and Steve swore that he could see a cartoon smile, like Billy was an anime prince. An anime prince that had a giant seratonin tattoo that was splattered with that looked like watercolor. "I hope you don't mind that I use some hand sanitizer. I'm working on my handshake thing, but..."

"It's fine, ah... do you mind if I have some too?" Steve held out his hand.

Billy squirted Steve out a little of their fancy hand sanitizer.

"So I have to be honest, I wasn't sure what to expect when we got the call for a wheelchair themed tramp stamp that said meals on wheels," Billy licked along his lower lip, "But now that I'm seeing you it makes more sense."

Steve could feel himself turning red, "It was kind of a joke-"

"I mean," Billy leaned in, "You do look good enough to eat."

Steve shivered, blush spreading up to his hairline.

Billy straightened, "God, sorry. Sorry, that was so inappropriate-"

"It's fine."

"No, really, I can see if Heather is free to take over the appointment, except that-" Billy bit his lip, "I think I'll still have to be the one to help you onto the table. Maybe if Eddie and Heather work together... God, not that you're like... too big or... shit... I'm sorry."

Steve laughed, "Really, it's fine."

"You're not too big, you're like... perfect," Billy ran a hand down his face, "Sorry. I'm sorry. Chrissy should know she can't give me the pretty guys, I clearly can't handle it."

Steve glanced up, giving him that King Steve sparkle right back, and seeing the way it made Billy's eyes go wide and nervous.

Steve pressed on the joystick to his chair with one finger, running a hand along the tip flirtatiously.

Billy's eyes darted to his hand, and then back to his face.

"I think you can handle me," Steve said smugly, "Don't you wanna try?”

Steve left that day with a bit of a sore ass, though the sensation was soothed a lot by the business card that had Billy's personal number scrawled on the back.

"I can't believe the meals on wheels tattoo got you a date," Robin rolled her eyes as she attached Steve's chair to the floor of his van, tightening the straps down with a shake of her head.

"What can I say," Steve shrugged, "Billy looks like a hungry boy to me."

Robin gagged, "You are my family. But never, ever, say that again."

@intothedysphoria thanks for answering my question on this one.

#disabledbillyandsteveweek #disabled steve harrington #wheelchair user steve harrington #OCD Billy Hargrove #i adore them #harringrove #harringrove ficlet #and some adorable platonic disabled stobin whats not to love

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monstersandmaw · 2 years

Text

Male ‘yautja inspired’ alien x gender neutral reader - Part Three (sfw)

Disclaimer which I’m including in all my works after plagiarism and theft has taken place: I do not give my consent for my works to be used, copied, published, or posted anywhere. They are copyrighted and belong to me.

___

Well, folks. You’ve absolutely floored me with your support for this story. I don’t know where to begin to thank you. Without further ado, here’s Part Three. It’s only had one edit this time, so please forgive any mistakes???

I will just quickly remind you that this isn’t technically a Predator/Yautja fanfic. It’s heavily inspired, but to the people ‘correcting’ my lore mistakes with asks that I’ve largely ignored, it’s not supposed to be ‘canon’ or accurate. It’s just a story with aliens who look like predators because I don’t want to spend time doing research and I love the design. Yes, they are basically a feral predator and a jungle predator, but just not in name and not in lore detail, so there’s no need to ‘correct’ me. Thanks. (Also Croc is gonna get his own story at some point in the future, I’m determined. Just not with this reader)

Contents: mention of loss of comrade’s life, thunderstorm, all the tropes, the start of some classic pining, some misunderstanding, some soft chat, Croc starting to be an exasperated wingman, and everyone’s favourite trope to finish with: there was only one bed... Wordcount: 4744

Part One (sfw), Part Two (sfw)

Neither of the aliens was anywhere to be seen when you finally stepped out into the chilly, misty morning after a night of broken sleep. Your neck twinged and your back hurt something fierce after so many nights with nothing but a flimsy camping mat between you and the lumpy forest floor. Arching your spine and hearing it pop quietly in the still air of the campsite, you moaned and wished for a comfy bed and a hot bath.

“The hell am I doing…?” you whispered.

Groggy, stiff, and more than a little sticky and gritty after days of hiking alone through the pine forest, you knew that face wipes were just not going to cut it for the fourth day in a row.

Given that it would be three days until their backup arrived, you figured you’d hang around the crash site — see if you couldn’t get them to open up a bit more about their culture, and about these other terrifying aliens they were hunting — and then slip away well before their help arrived. No need to push your luck with a species that was not known for being universally peaceful with strangers; after all, their backup might mistake you for the reason they were shot down…

You poked your head into the now-cool wreckage of their ship and stared around at the dark grey, polished metal walls and surfaces. Some areas though looked more like black, woven carbon fibre than metal, with glowing gold panels behind like carved, back-lit amber. They were too far off to see properly though, and with the grounded ship sitting at that angle, it was difficult to make out much else. There were a few doorways and compartments you could have poked around in, but since neither Big Red nor Croc was anywhere to be found in the limited area of the grounded ship that was still accessible, and since you couldn’t read the glyphs on any of the surfaces, you decided to leave it all well alone.

Their stuff was all still at the campsite though, stacked neatly beneath the tarpaulin. They hadn’t tramped off during the night to meet their rescuers at a different rendezvous point then, and you stood with your hands on your hips and stared around the campsite. Your breath fogged the air in front of you and you watched it twist and billow.

For a moment, it seemed as though the scent of fresh smoke drifted through the silent trees, but it could just have been coming from the wreckage, eddying in slow-spiralling drafts around the crash site. The acrid smell of it got in your nose and made you scowl and cough.

Your canteen needed refreshing and a glance down at your hiking gear brought a grimace to your face. After digging out a camping towel and the rest of your dirty laundry from your pack, you headed back to the stream from the previous night to rinse it out, wondering all the while where your two companions were. Even though the autumn air was cold, your clothes were all made of light, quick-drying fabric, and with an abundance of summer-dry pine wood all around you — half of it conveniently shattered to kindling from the impact of the crash — you’d have no trouble starting a fire if you needed a bit more heat.

With no one in sight when you reached the creek, you started by rinsing out your clothes in the clear water. The cold bit into your hands, piercing right down to the bone and making your movements slow and clumsy, but with that eventually done, you draped your laundry temporarily over a branch and weighed up whether you wanted to risk hypothermia just to get yourself clean for a while.

Deciding that getting briefly cold was preferable to remaining perpetually sticky, you stripped off and stepped down into the gully again. The basin of rock at the bottom was just deep enough and wide enough to stand in so that the water came up to lap around your ankles, but it wasn’t the kind of dreamy plunge pool worthy of a travel blog. It was slippery, slimy with green algae, and excruciatingly cold. Still, it would be enough for what your grandmother used to call a ‘cat’s lick and a promise’.

Stark naked, you dunked your upper body into the spattering stream of water and bit back a shriek as it hit your flesh. Hunched over and leaning close to the mossy wall, you rinsed your head and face, scrubbed beneath your arms and briefly between your legs, and then turned your back on the stream to rinse off your shoulders and back.

Turning around revealed a sliver of the view between the trees of the horseshoe valley below, and, more immediately, Big Red standing on a boulder about twenty paces away.

He wasn’t watching you though. Quite the contrary, he had his back to you and was staring off at the same sliver of forest framed by trees, but nevertheless you yelped in surprise at finding him there.

“I will not look,” he said in response.

“Fucking hell,” you spat back at him through chattering teeth as your whole body started to spasm from the cold. “How long have you been there?”

“Not long. I heard movement as I was coming back up the hill, but discovered… you.”

“Right.”

Perfect.

An alien had probably just seen you buck fucking naked, even if for only a second.

“Fuck. Fuck it’s cold.” You thought you heard him chitter a little laugh as you careered and splashed out of the stream like a panicked wildebeest and floundered up towards your camping towel to dry yourself off.

All the while you flailed around with the towel, Big Red remained completely silent and unmoving. Eventually — dry, dressed, and a little bit warmer — you turned around to find him exactly as you’d last seen him, staring out at the misty forest below.

There was something eerily melancholic in the set of his colossal shoulders and the stack of his spine though, and you paused, leaving your laundry where it was and approaching him quietly from behind.

Perhaps it was the cold that had taken the majority of your brain cells offline, but you came over to stand beside him on the flat rock and looked up at him. “Are you alight?” you asked in a soft murmur.

At that, he tilted his head down at you, mask glinting in the misty morning light. “Yes,” he said. After a beat he added, “We — ‘Croc’ and I — We burned our fallen squad-mate’s body at dawn.”

That explained the smoke on the air. With all the goings on of the previous evening, you’d forgotten that he’d said there had been one more.

Your heart twisted in your chest at his words and you reached instinctively for his bare bicep to squeeze the solid muscle with half-frozen fingers. “I’m so sorry,” you said, and turned to leave. “I won’t intrude.”

“Your presence is… welcome,” he rasped, though he returned his attention to the view. “You do not have to leave, though you have lost a lot of heat in that water.”

With a cosy fleece on to help warm you up, it was hardly an inconvenience to keep Big Red company for a while.

Neither of you broke the silence for a long time. Red just stood there with his hands cupped under his elbows, arms hugged across his bare chest, staring out at the trees in the crescent-moon valley below. It was choked in a pale fog beneath a heavy, iron-grey sky, and the details of the landscape blurred into nothing after no more than a quarter of a mile. Birds were still singing though, and Red seemed completely captivated by it.

Eventually, rocking on the balls of your feet to try and keep warm, you glanced back up at him. “What’s your planet like? ‘Secundus’, I mean.”

He spoke without looking down at you. “It is… not like this —” he gestured with his hand towards the gap in the trees “— Prime is more like this, but… the jungle there is… hot.”

“We’ve got hot and sweaty jungles here on Earth too. Croc might be happier there.”

Big Red nodded once.

“What about you?”

“I am used to… arid deserts,” he said. “Heat, sand, rock… Not trees for miles. Not… cold.” He said the word with such bafflement that you wondered if perhaps this was the coldest place he’d ever been.

“You’re cold now?” you asked and he nodded. With a little smirk, you said, “Well, maybe you should wear some more clothes then, you big exhibitionist.”

At that, Red did look down at you. At least, you thought he was looking. It was hard to tell with the mask on. His mandibles pinched inwards, puckering his mouth into a tight kind of scowl. “You are still below average temperature for a human,” he said.

“I’m warming up though. The walk back up to the camp should help too.”

Big Red nodded. “You should go.”

“Do you want me to?”

After a pause, he shook his head. The movement was so tiny you might have missed it altogether had not his braids clicked together softly.

“Can I ask you something else then?”

Again, he nodded. “So many questions.”

“Can you blame me?”

He laughed quietly at that and shook his head.

“Do you see in heat? In infra-red, I mean?”

Another nod. “I can see with my eyes too, but… they are weak. Especially here. The mask… lets me see the distance… and details.”

“Is that why you keep it on all the time?”

A long moment of silence stretched between you. “No.” He didn’t seem to want to elaborate more on that and you inhaled deeply, wondering what to ask next.

“How does it work?”

He sighed and raised his hand to his face. He lifted the mask off and immediately turned his face away from you again so that you couldn’t see him properly.

He was almost tall enough for it to work.

In profile though, you could just about see the delicate, prehensile mandibles, and a flat looking face that sloped up towards his large cranium, and you even glimpsed small, very deep-set eyes. His skin was a greyish red, like campfire ash, that faded to a pale, speckled gold in the centre of his face, and he didn’t seem to have the coronet of short spikes that Croc did just before the start of his cylindrical ‘braids’.

Without turning towards you, he stuck his hand out and offered his mask to you, inside facing upwards. You took it carefully in both hands, tearing your eyes away from what you could see of his face to stare at the mask, turning it over to stare at the smaller details. It was heavier than you’d expected it to be, but while the outside was made of stark, smooth bone, the inside was a warm, dark metal, similar to that of the ship’s interior. It was obvious that there were no eye-holes like there were in the metal ones you’d seen in the footage back at the base, and there were tiny little pads all over the inside that tingled when you ran your fingers over them. Some kind of electrode, perhaps.

“Is this how I saw all those images yesterday?” you asked and he grunted assent. “Never imagined I’d be plugging my brain into a piece of alien technology like it’s the fucking Matrix.”

He chirruped in confusion and almost turned to look at you, but caught himself in time. “I… do not understand.”

“It’s a film from the late nineties,” you muttered, returning your gaze to the mask and turning it over to look at the bone side. Trailing a fingertip along the tiny, almost cuneiform carvings that had been delicately engraved into the surface in an interlocking pattern, you asked, “Do you guys have movies?”

“Yes, but not like you do. They are… generated with… something close to what you call computer.”

“Boring. No actors and celebrities then?”

He shook his head. “We have famous warriors.”

“Naturally,” you quipped and he clicked his mandibles at you in amused agreement. “I think you’d like The Matrix,” you said, glancing up at him again. He was still angled away from you but you could feel his whole attention on you just the same. “I wonder if you could watch it in your head with this… Actually, that would be kind of perfect. The premise is that humanity is trapped in a kind of simulated reality, while machines feed off our bodies for energy but there’s this one guy — you know what, never mind. You should just watch it if you can.”

His mandibles twitched into what you’d come to assume was a slightly exasperated smile. He clicked at you but didn’t say anything in English.

When he didn’t move for a long stretch of minutes, either to take the mask back or to show you his face, you went out on a limb and asked, “Why don’t you want to look at me?”

He tensed and rotated his torso just a fraction further from you and shook his head, making his waxy ‘braids’ rattle against each other across his powerful shoulder and back muscles. The desire to touch, to feel his cool, hard skin beneath your fingertips was almost overwhelming again.

Exhaling in resigned defeat, you nudged his mask against the crook of his elbow and turned away while he took it in fumbling fingers. You left him standing on the rock and headed back up to the camp without looking at him. You were different species, after all, and you couldn’t expect to understand every little nuance of custom in a single day. Maybe Croc would explain it to you, if you could get him alone.

Croc was actually already back at camp when you trudged in with your armful of wet laundry, and he had started a cheery little campfire going too, despite the damp weather. You used the bit of spare cabling he offered you from the ship to string a temporary washing line between two trees, and draped your wet clothes over it to start drying off. That done, you approached Croc’s fire and asked if you could sit.

He grinned up at you from where he was perched on a crate and nodded enthusiastically.

“Big Red told me about your friend. I’m sorry,” you said.

Inclining his head formally, he said, “He is… at peace now. It is… the way of all our warriors.”

With a nod, you left the matter there. “How’s your arm?” It looked blackened and burned, but he seemed oddly sanguine about such a significant loss.

Again, he just shrugged.

“Is it… painful?”

Croc nodded. “A little,” he admitted. “But when we are… back on the mothership, I will… have a… How do humans call it…?” He mimed slotting something over the stump with his hand.

“A prosthetic?” you ventured.

“Yes! Though I have seen yours…” He didn't look impressed. “Ours are… permanent. Many warriors have… lost limbs… fighting the enemy. It is not so bad to… get made a new one.”

You nodded. “We could use tech like that,” you said under your breath. “Red told me a bit about this ‘enemy’ of yours… where are they from?”

The fire cracked and popped, and Croc told you what he could in his faltering way about the enemy they had fought for millennia on their planet. Apparently they had begun to spread off-world, and so his kind had followed, hunting them down. Croc then began to ask you a bit about your life, and about humans in general, and while you were sitting there, the mist thickened into a sheeting drizzle. You raced to pull in your laundry while Croc watched and laughed at you for trying to save the fabric, and once you’d dumped it all in your tent in a damp pile, you returned to sit with him again under the shelter of the tarp.

“Wear no clothes,” he said. “Then nothing to worry about!”

“Easy for you to say,” you scoffed, laughing. “Look at you! You’re both built like a tank!”

The rain drifted across the crash site in thick curtains, and despite the fleece and the protective tarpaulin, it wasn’t long before the elements started to creep down your collar and make you shiver.

“Red’s gonna get cold out there,” you murmured. There had been no sign of him for hours.

“Boss knows… how to take care of… himself,” Croc shrugged, but he didn't say it with his usual, affable confidence. He was worried about his friend too. “I must… take care of my weapon,” he announced, and you hoped to God that wasn't a euphemism.

Luckily it wasn’t, and he rose and returned a moment later from the ship with a complicated looking weapon that resembled some kind of sci-fi blaster gun. He laid it down on top of a crate, took out some kind of maintenance kit, and got to work.

You watched in silent fascination while he worked, and when he was just tightening the last screws on the casing, you asked about Red’s mask.

“Croc? Can I ask you something?”

He straightened up from his work, a tiny screwdriver held in his thick, clawed fingers like a surgeon’s knife. His yellow, reptilian eyes met yours, openly intrigued and he nodded. He seemed to enjoy answering your questions when he could.

“How come Big Red wears a mask all the time but you don’t? Is it a different species thing?”

Croc laughed at that, and half-turned his attention back to tightening whatever it was in the weapon that needed it. “No. But you have great honour… in seeing a warrior without their… helmet,” he said. There was a playful lilt to his tone that was almost self-effacing. From the way he said it, you got the impression that it would have been a great honour if he’d actually been given the choice about it, but now that it had happened, he didn’t mind.

His words kindled a sinking feeling in your gut though; Red clearly didn’t think you worthy enough of the honour of seeing his face, despite having saved his squad-mate’s life. Then again, you supposed it was fair enough. You barely knew him, and you were an alien too, in his eyes. Why should you get the honour of seeing him anyway?

Croc watched your reaction carefully. “My helmet…” he said, “It was destroyed… in the crash. When —” he cut off to make a series of clicks that clearly formed a name, though it didn’t sound like Red’s “— was killed and… that hole was blasted into the ship,” he said, indicating the gaping maw in the hull, “My helmet took… damage. Broken. I will manage without technology though.” With an honest-to-God, conspiratorial wink, he added, “Boss would struggle without his… He cannot see well with his eyes. And I am… much smarter than him. Adapt much better to Earth…” With another coltish grin he leaned in closer and added, “And much better looking, even to humans.”

Without warning, just as you barked a loud laugh, a small section of pine log hurtled through the air towards Croc. He spun and shot it out of the sky with the freshly-conditioned weapon, where it shattered to a spray of tinder on impact. He roared a belligerent, joyful challenge while debris rained down around you, and you turned to see Big Red standing on the far edge of the clearing, his shoulders rising and falling noticeably as he breathed. Then he spread his jaws as wide as he had when he’d charged you down the day before, and bellowed back at Croc.

Croc laughed and shook his head, responding to his superior in their own language. Croc then shot you a look when you just stood there in shock. “He challenges me. You are doubly honoured, human,” he said with a wry intonation that wasn’t dimmed by his difficulties in getting the sounds out around his sharp mandibles. “You get to watch two great warriors of our kind fight.”

“But… your arm,” you faltered, horrified. “Croc, you’re still healing…”

The shock must have shown in your face because he just laughed again. “We spar, small human… Not a real fight. Though,” he added with a few taunting clicks of his mandibles in Red’s direction, “Boss will not hold back.”

The ensuing fight took your breath away.

Croc reached into the cavity of the ship and tossed a small, metal stave over at Red, who caught it deftly and activated it to turn it into another one of the long, harpoon-like spears that were holding up two points of the canvas roof over part of the campsite.

The clearing naturally formed a kind of fighting ring, and the two circled each other with the familiarity of old sparring partners.

Croc said something that was clearly a taunt, but Red didn’t fall for it. He let Croc go first, whirling the spear around one-handed with surprising deftness. He clearly missed his other arm though, and went to grab the spear with a limb that was no longer there a few times, but once the two got into their stride, it was incredible. They danced around each other until finally Red struck with whip-crack speed. He swept Croc’s legs out from under him and held him in place on his back with the spear point steady at his throat. When Croc clicked at him, Red stepped back formally and waited for him to rise.

Red was faster and more precise than Croc, but Croc, even with his recently-acquired disability, was as powerful as his namesake, and more than once he knocked Red to the ground with a grunt of expelled air from his lungs. Once he even nicked Red’s upper arm with the blade at the tip of the spear, sending a trickle of lime green blood down his rust-red skin.

The way they moved together through the rain in perfect synchrony was mesmeric. Time passed, and it could have been minutes or hours before they finally drew to a halt.

They bowed, breathing hard, mandibles open, and then stepped close to one another. Touching foreheads as they had done the previous day, they touched their fang-tips to each other’s and then relaxed, turning away. Both of them were breathing hard, chests rising and falling while the rain poured off them like water down a cliff face.

“I’ve seen the soldiers on the base fight before…” you said as Red stalked over and grabbed a canteen of his own from the ship’s supplies, upending it into his stretching maw. The liquid was an unappetising pinkish-purple, the same as the plants you’d seen in the footage of the alien they were hunting, and although he drank deeply, he was obviously listening to you. “…But I’ve never seen anyone fight like that. You two are…”

“Impressive?” Croc grinned, coming up beside Red and slapping his commander on the small of his back, well out of the way of his braids.

Red tossed a snide comment over his shoulder at Croc, who laughed. “I can still… almost beat him… with only one arm. Boss is losing his… edge. Even with an audience.”

Big Red shook his head and quietly offered Croc the bottle, which he took.

The three of you settled down by the fire after that while the weather worsened, and by late afternoon, you had listened to them tell you, in their stilted, awkward way of speaking English, about how their ships worked, what the structure of their society was like, and roughly how many of their kind there were on Earth at the moment. Not many. Not enough to face the enemy, you realised.

“You’re going to need humans to get involved in this hunt too, aren’t you?” you asked, and after exchanging a brief look, both Croc and Red nodded. “You want me to talk to my boss when I get back?”

“I will show you… what you need to know… about them,” Big Red said, tapping his mask with a claw again. “You can tell them. Prepare.”

Puffing your cheeks out, you exhaled and nodded.

They ate rations that seemed similar to what you were living off — necessary, but not something they’d pick given the choice — and as night closed in and the weather picked up to a lashing rain, you dashed across the muddy crash site and dived into your tent for the night to write up your notes. You had a small camera with you, but you hadn’t dared ask them if they would consent to being filmed, and something about it made you feel… wrong somehow. It turned them from a vastly intelligent, sapient race into something akin to laboratory specimens for analysis, and that didn’t sit right with you.

Three hours later, as a full-blown storm crashed down on the forest outside, you began to shiver. It wasn’t so much the cold, though the damp was creeping up through the earth, through the groundsheet and into the mat, but good, old-fashioned fear. You’d never been outside in this kind of weather before, and although your tent was military-issue, its flapping walls felt very flimsy.

A tree fell with an ear-rending series of cracks a little while later and you forced yourself to breathe steadily. It did absolutely nothing for your galloping heart rate, and you curled in on yourself, huddling more tightly in your sleeping bag and trying not to whimper. Like a child, you wanted to draw something over your head and hide away until it was all over.

An indistinct roar rose above the howling wind and you opened your eyes to see a figure silhouetted against the fabric of your tent like a slasher from a horror movie. For a wild moment, your mind went completely blank until you recognised the timbre of the roar. It was Big Red.

With shaking fingers, you unzipped your tent and a face full of rain and spray blasted in almost immediately.

“Not safe…” Red growled, reaching into your tent with his huge hand and practically yanking you to your feet.

“Wait!” you shrieked, flailing. “Let me put some boots on before you drag me out into a fucking storm!”

Red released you and stepped back. Water cascaded in rivulets down his bare, hard skin, and the contours of his body were illuminated by the steady glow of a flashlight that must have come from their ship.

You stuffed your feet into your boots, grabbed your phone and the small emergency pack from the top of your rucksack, and bundled yourself up into a waterproof.

Praying that your flimsy tent would still be there in the morning, you stepped out, zipped it up again, and scuttled at Red’s side towards the hole in the side of the hull of his ship.

“Now what?” you yelled up at him above the racket of the wind that raced past the opening.

Red didn’t waste time with words, and just pointed. A small hatch was open in the ship’s inner wall that you could have sworn was closed earlier, and you ducked unquestioningly through it to find a cosy chamber, though everything was rotated ninety degrees after the crash. A bunk had been bolted to the bulkhead, but Red had dragged the mattress off it and laid it on the wall which was now the floor.

“If you do not… mind,” he said. “You may sleep here. It is safer than out there.”

You nodded. “What about you?”

“I will go with Croc.”

Red turned to go, but something made you call out to him. “Wait.”

He stopped halfway through ducking out of the doorway and regarded you.

“You could stay,” you said. “I’m smaller than Croc. You’ll have more room.”

“You… would not… mind?”

With a little smile, you shrugged out of your waterproof and crossed to hang it from a peg near the door. He watched you closely, as though expecting you to change your mind.

The water that was still dripping off your coat made a musical little rhythm as it hit the floor and you shook your head. “So long as you dry yourself off first, I don’t mind at all.”

___

Next Chapter --->

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