i would never pretend to not know you, pt. 1
eddie shifts his van into park and approaches the big red double doors of the harrington house. before he can knock, the door on the right swings open, revealing a smiling steve harrington.
“heard you coming,” he says by way of explanation. “your uncle’s in the kitchen. come on.”
eddie follows steve down the hallway to the expansive white kitchen. the room could fit the entire munson trailer in it two times over. wayne turns from the sink when he hears them coming.
“hey, son,” wayne greets him, wiping his hands on a rag he has tucked into his work belt. “i’ll be done in a few minutes, just gotta get underneath here and sort some things out.”
eddie stands there awkwardly for a minute before steve waves his hand.
“c’mon, we can wait in the den. you want something to drink?”
eddie shakes his head and then follows steve into the next room, which is filled with a big, squishy looking couch. steve practically throws himself down onto the middle cushion. eddie sits as close to the arm of the couch as possible.
“how’d you do on o’donnell’s test today?” steve asks, a crooked grin on his face. “i feel like she might be writing them to torture me specifically.”
“eh, i don’t think it was too bad.” eddie tries to say it in a way that puts an end to the conversation, not really interested in making small talk.
“yeah, well. you’re, like, really good at english.”
“what?” eddie looks over, surprised.
“i mean, i can tell. when you talk in class?” steve looks a bit confused, like he doesn’t know why eddie’s so surprised. “you notice things i wouldn’t have ever even thought about.”
“oh. i don’t know about that. i just say stuff that seems obvious.”
steve snorts. “yeah, obvious to you. it’s cool, you know. how smart you are. i wish i could think like you.”
“you’re smart.”
steve just smiles then, shaking his head a little. just then, wayne comes into the doorway that leads from the kitchen into the den they’re sitting in.
“all right, fellas? i’m all done in here, steve.”
“okay, thanks, mr. munson.”
eddie stands, wiping his hands down the front of his jeans.
“well, see ya,” he says to steve, turning to follow wayne out toward the front door.
steve follows. “hey, maybe you could come a little earlier next week and we could talk about the next quiz?”
eddie looks back at steve. if eddie didn’t know any better, he’d say steve looked almost hopeful.
“uh, yeah, maybe.”
steve smiles. “okay, cool.”
~*~
“you know, steve’s a pretty good kid,” wayne says out of the blue halfway through their drive home.
eddie gives a vaguely positive-sounding grunt in return.
“he could use some friends, i think. he has a tough time.”
“steve?” eddie turns from where he’s focused on the road in front of him to look at wayne in surprise.
“his parents… well, it’s not my thing to tell, but. he’s alone a lot. lonely. you could be nice to him.”
“i’m always nice to him,” eddie grumbles.
“i know, son, but you know what i mean. you remember how you were when you first came to me. isolated. remember how good it felt when you met gareth and finally had a friend to talk to at school?”
“steve has friends,” eddie insists.
wayne sighs. “just think about it, okay?”
“sure.” eddie will do no such thing.
~*~
eddie’s right. steve does have friends. he has people he talks to at school, he has his basketball teammates and his lunchmates, he has the swim team.
but wayne’s also right, because if eddie looks a bit closer, he notices how steve walks home from school alone. how every week when eddie comes to pick wayne up from his maintenance work at the harrington house, steve always answers the door and he’s never seen a trace of his parents there. how steve sits at the diner alone on weekends, struggling through his homework.
~*~
the next week, eddie shows up an hour early to the harringtons’ to pick up wayne. when he rings the doorbell, it takes about two minutes for steve to let him in.
“oh,” steve says surprised. “hi? i think wayne’s still working out back.” he glances down at his watch.
“no, yeah.” eddie rubs at the back of his neck. “you mentioned talking about the next quiz last time?” he holds up the worn paperback he’s been holding at his side.
steve smiles, wide and bright. “cool.”
he leads eddie into the same room they’d sat in last time, flopping down on to the cushions again. eddie takes the same position up against the couch’s arm. he can see steve’s school things spread across the coffee table, papers covered in barely legible chicken scratch.
“you weren’t in lunch today,” steve says, matter-of-factly.
“uh, no. we do hellfire on wednesdays.”
“thats that game, right?” steve sounds genuinely curious.
“yeah, dnd.”
“what’s it about?”
“what do you mean?”
“how do you play?”
“steve harrington wants to know how to play dungeons and dragons?” eddie sounds a little incredulous, even to his own ears.
steve smiles, a bit smaller than he had at his front door. “yeah, man. you’re into it, right? that’s kind of cool.”
eddie snorts. “i don’t know that anyone has ever been called cool for playing dnd before.”
“you care about it. a lot. that’s cool.”
eddie clears his throat, suddenly uncomfortable. he shifts where he sits.
“or we could talk about the book,” steve says softly.
“yeah, let’s… do that.”
~*~
they’re finishing up work on steve’s review sheet when wayne comes in through the kitchen.
“it’s all cleared up out there, steve,” he calls as he moves to wash his hands in the kitchen sink.
“okay, thanks, mr. munson. i’ll let my parents know.” steve stands from where he’s been sitting and stretches before walking into the kitchen. eddie follows him.
wayne smiles when he sees them. “didn’t know you were here already.”
“yeah,” eddie replies. “just working on some homework.”
“he was helping me understand the book we’re reading in class,” steve adds. “i don’t get it at all, but eddie’s really good at it.”
“that so,” wayne says, drying his hands.
“yeah, you should hear him in class. it’s pretty impressive.”
eddie can feel himself blushing.
~*~
“that was a nice thing you did, kid,” wayne tells him once they’re in eddie’s van. “real nice.”
“just doing homework. easier to do it together than alone, i guess.” eddie shrugs.
“sure.”
~*~
it becomes a regular thing. eddie shows up about an hour early every wednesday and helps steve with his english homework.
“this is really cool of you, man,” steve says after a few weeks.
“everything’s so cool to you, harrington,” eddie smiles, laughing a little. steve pushes at his shoulder, laughing along.
“no, i mean,” steve runs his hand through his hair. “i know people at school think i’m annoying or whatever—”
“i don’t think anyone thinks that.”
steve gives him a look. “i’m not very smart and i ask dumb questions in class. i can hear people sighing when i raise my hand.”
he has a point about the questions. “it’s not a crime to ask a question, steve. how else would you learn,” eddie says anyway.
“well, whatever. i’ve had tutors before but they’ve all kind of—quit or whatever. i can be… frustrating.”
“you’re not frustrating. you just learn differently. that’s not a bad thing. you are smart.” eddie sees the skeptical look still on steve’s face. “and anyway, i’m not your tutor.”
“you’re not?”
“no. i like you, steve. we’re friends.”
steve smiles.
~*~
it’s not that steve harrington himself is a bully. he’s not. he’s nice, actually. eddie has never even seen him so much as surreptitiously trip some poor nerd in the hawkins high hallways.
but he holds a space in the collective hellfire imagination onto which they can project their own high school feelings of inferiority.
steve is good looking. he comes from a good family. he has a lot of money and his clothes are always clean and new. he’s well-fed and girls love him. he somehow skates through all his classes. he is everything that nerdy outcasts hate.
so eddie doesn’t tell his friends about the budding friendship between him and steve. he doesn’t tell them that every week when they ask him to go get milkshakes or to come play video games or to catch a movie that what he’s really doing when he lies to them and tells them he has plans with wayne is spending time with steve.
his friends can’t know. he’s gone on enough tirades against the capitalist jock class that he’d look like a total hypocrite to be hanging out with their de facto king. he’s not sure he’d survive them finding out.
~*~
“did you mean it?” steve asks the following week.
“hm?” eddie doesn’t look up from the page he’s reading.
“when you said you liked me. did you mean that?”
eddie looks up in surprise. “of course i did.”
steve smiles. “good. because i like you too.”
“yeah?” eddie returns his smile.
steve nods, moving a bit closer on the big squishy couch. “but, um. i’m not sure if we mean it the same way.”
eddie swallows. “what do you mean?”
“i mean, i might like you as more than a friend.”
eddie laughs. “why?” he doesn’t mean to say it. it just comes out.
steve doesn’t laugh though. “you’re smart. you think about things in ways that other people don’t. you care about the things that are important to you, even when other people might think they’re stupid. you’re nice to me when you don’t have to be.” steve’s closer now. “have you ever kissed anyone before?” eddie nods. “i haven’t. only in those stupid games. not for real.”
eddie looks into steve’s eyes. he looks hopeful. eddie swallows again.
“okay…” eddie’s still not sure where this is going. he could take a wild guess, but things don’t usually go the way he hopes.
“would you…” steve bites his bottom lip. “i know i’m—would you want to? kiss me, i mean.”
eddie takes a deep breath and then nods before closing the distance between them, so much smaller now than when they’d first sat down.
steve’s lips are warm against his. the kiss is more chaste than anything, short and sweet before they break apart.
“oh,” steve whispers with his eyes still closed. he licks his lips. “that was—” he opens his eyes, smiling at eddie. “that was really nice.”
“yeah.” eddie doesn’t take his eyes from steve’s lips.
“do you want to—”
eddie’s lips are back on steve’s before he can even finish his question.
~*~
they break apart when they hear wayne coming in through the back door of the kitchen.
steve’s breathing slightly heavier than usual, smiling up at eddie.
eddie tries to smile back, but the reminder of the world around them brought on by wayne’s presence in the house with them has his gut roiling. he’s not sure what shows on his face, but he can see the worry as it creeps onto steve’s face.
“is this—was this okay? are you okay?” steve asks.
“yeah,” eddie replies, trying again for a smile. he thinks he’s a bit more successful this time. “just, uh. this was really fun but. can we…”
���can we?” steve prompts when eddie trails off.
“let’s just keep it to ourselves, yeah? like, don’t tell anyone at school.”
eddie regrets it the minute he says it. steve’s eyes shutter as he watches.
“oh, right. obviously. like anyone would believe me anyway,” steve laughs, but it doesn’t sound quite right.
they’re sitting upright on the couch again when wayne comes into the doorway.
“all set, ed?”
eddie gathers his school bag.
“see you next week, steve,” he says, and follows wayne out of the house.
to be continued perhaps… (no taglists, sorry)
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The Asshole-Of-The-Internet AU
sparx
god. dsmp has internet and comms are iPhones and tommy gets banned from dsmp Twitter so he has to anonpost on dsmp 4chan
hoodie
RKJGHRKGHKJGHERHGJHRHGH
TOMMY ON 4CHAN OH NO
sparx
…………oh no now I have “what if asshole-end-of-the-internet dsmp au”
4chan kiwifarms whatever else
hoodie
they try to radicalize him but it doesnt work bc he literally is in exile
sparx
SCREAMING
okay but au where dream runs 4chan. Wilbur stars as null who fucks up 4chan and then makes kiwifarms when he gets run off the site. tommy is the normie they’re both desperately trying to recruit.
Schlatt runs rise of kings or whatever tf the pick-up artist site is called
hoodie
OH MY GOD YES
sparx
this is perhaps the worst thing ever I have had in my head and I do not say that lightly
hoodie
its SO fucking funny tho
tommy in the reddit dms with wilbur
who is trying so so hard to get him to join his site
but tommy just keeps asking how many bitches wilbur gets from kiwifarms
and wilbur has to say 'niki left me bc i made the site'
sparx
SFAHDJFKGKGLSGSHDKGHRKRL
niki left Wilbur and went to found ovarit
which i think is like. the radfem site heghghgh
hoodieRJKHRJGHGH wilbur radicalised niki
sparx
his dick was so shit it radicalised niki…………..
George on 4chan but he just fuckinf sucks at being nasty
and keeps messaging dream like “there r people being racist on here :/“
hoodie
george on 4chan telling ppl to stop saying slurs
sparx
YEAH YEAH
u see my vision
hoodie
george: idk this is kind of mean :/
dream, typing out smth incredibly evil: its just the internet it doesnt matter
sparx
dream has to pretend occasionally he has morals for the sake of the bussy
which he still has yet to get
him and quackity are moots on some incel website
hoodie
hes in it for the long game
RJHGH quackity is on an incel website bc sapnap and karl left him
sparx
he watches Schlatt’s webinars on negging
hoodie
REJGHRJHHG
quackity: takes notes so he can use it to win back sapnap
quackity is literally the only gay person in a sea of pathetic straight men who are threats to society
sparx
diversity win! this homosexual is a pathetic man who’s a threat to society <3
techno bc he is a chad only has a Snapchat that he uses to post gym thirst trap gains pics
hoodie
RGJHJGRHGH
sapnap is also a chad who only has snapchat
he and techno have each other added
so they can compare gains
quackity hate screenshots all of their posts
and jerks off to them in the private of his sad sad studio apartment
sparx
HRGHRJGJGKD YES
Karl makes Twitter threads so long u gotta use that unroll app for them and refuses to add image descriptions tho george keeps begging him
hoodie
RHGERJHGHG
why is george the most moral person in this au im crying
hes just a normal guy trying to do the right thing
sparx
Tubbo runs a parody account of a major political figure, except he’s actually very smart and has a lot of good ideas and the political figure is very stupid and so a) many people think tubbo’s account is actually the real one and news outlets regularly report his tweets as tho they’re fact, and b) he realises slowly that the guy he’s parodying is actually copying his ideas
hoodie
ERJGHEGHERJGHKJERHGJGHERJHGJHGERJGHJGHRJGHRGH
THATS....OH MY GOD
wait what if the political figure is like Eret or smth
sparx
Tommy: tubbo they banned me from 4chan :(
Tubbo, typing under his “@scrotus” account: wait a second Tommy I’m trying to influence international trade policy with China
hoodie
KJERGHEKJGHJRGHGHRJGRHJGH
clingyduo in this au goes so fucking hard
also dream violating the rules of his own site to ban tommy is SO funny tommy has to go back to reddit
sparx
I do also love the exile implication that it’s possible to get banned from 4chan
YEAH
hoodie
dream just wants tommy's cringe ass off of 4chan
tubbo should honestly be banned from twitter but at this point everyone is convinced hes really eret and eret's actual account gets banned for impersonating a public figure
sparx
hrbrhfhfr YEAH
eret does not attempt to get unbanned bc at this point he desperately needs tubbo to keep his ratings up
hoodie
tubbo is really the only thing keeping the public opinion of him up
tubbo is the last bastion of hope for his reelection
tommy literally is barely aware of all of this hes too wrapped up in whatever tf is happening with wilbur and dream
ranboo has a tumblr
sparx
ranboo has a tumblr and has no idea tf is going on out there
hoodie
eryn used to have a prank youtube but he went too far and got permabanned
JHRGHRJHG ranboo is safe....
sparx
he's busy reblogging fanart of the founders of 4chan and kiwifarms kissing
hoodie
KJRFHEJKGHJGHRJGH
dream considers doxxing ranboo for this crime
bc ranboo is the one drawing that fanart
sparx
YES YES YES
hoodie
wilbur on the other hand turns the fanart into his mousepad
and sends pictures of it to dream
sparx
tommy: ranboo why are you drawing rpf of my brother
ranboo: wait these are real people
ranboo: ............................wait your brother founded kiwifarms?????
hoodie
tommy: yeah
ranboo: ......................tommy im sorry but this has to go in your callout post
tommy: youre making a callout post about me?
ranboo: i have one in my drafts just in case : ( sorry : ( i have one for all of my mutuals
sparx
aLJSDKJFHERJGKHERKJGEFKJGHE
OFC HE DOES
hoodie
this is all said by a guy who has been drawing fanart of kiwifarms founder kissing 4chan founder....hypocrite
sparx
the joke’s on ranboo, tubbo has files on all his friends with their addresses phone numbers known aliases known associates family members birthdays social security numbers and photos of the outside of their house
hoodie
TJGHERHJGHJERHGHRGHJGEGHHGG
tubbo is prepared to drop these if any of them ever cross him
even wilbur wont fuck with tubbo and wilbur also has the full doxes on everyone...expect for dream
this is part of why dream is wilbur's arch enemy
sorry this is the best au of all time
sparx
this is a absolutely the best au of all time
wilbur is obsessed with getting dream's dox
hoodie
wilbur: tommy im not going to help you do your homework, im trying to dox dream
sparx
he's like. tommy. tommy i gotta get dream's dox. there's only ONE way to do this.
tommy: stalk hi-
wilbur: seduce him
tommy: ...............aight i'm out
hoodie
RKJHGJHH
tommy: have fun you fucking freak
wilbur: oh i will, i will : )
tommy:
sparx
tubbo, absently, scrolling twitter: do you want me to make homosexual sex illegal? i could probably do that
ranboo: my fanfic is coming true?!
tommy: ..................................what the fuck is wrong with both of you
hoodie
tommy: why is everyone i know a wrongun??????
ranboo: im not a wrongun...am i?
tommy: you draw fucking art of my brother making out with dream ofc youre a wrongun!!!!
tubbo: im going to outlaw rollerskates
sparx
DSKJFSHHKGJ tubbo's just casually running a country
hoodie
tubbo is basically the president at this point
shockingly a positive thing when we compare it to dsmp canon
that was not so positive for tubbo
karl makes a thread about how tubbo isnt actually the real president but tubbo just responds saying 'yeah im a parody account' and literally no one believes him
sparx
everyone's like, oh, our eret, so witty! so funny! look how down and hip with the kids he is
hoodie
RGJGHRJGH
hoodie
also im watching a schlatt video rn and honestly schlatt needs to be in this au more
i think he should be the third person trying and failing to radicalise tommy
sparx
OKAY BUT THIS AU IMPLIES SCHLATT MANAGES TO LIKE. TAKE KIWIFARMS FROM WILBUR
front page news that's like "I'M THE EMPEROR NOW BITCH"
hoodie
HE SHOULD ERKJGHJRHGHGHG
he fucking stages a coup
sparx
jannies lockout
hoodie
RJKGRJGHGH
wilbur is literally flipping things in the other room
HIS GLORIOUS SITE....HIS KIWIFARMS....
his unfinished symphony
sparx
UNFINISHED SYMPHONY OF KIWIFARMS
hoodie
JRHGH
schlatt perma bans wilbur and tommy's accounts and also doxxes wilbur
then hes like 'if i find out any of the users here are female im banning them too'
this is how wilbur and niki eventually end up teaming up bc he convinces her that schlatt is the true evil
sparx
HOWLING
HE WOULD
hoodie
'this is a manly site for men ONLY'
sparx
niki: wilbur i will work with you if you publicly record a video saying ur dick is tiny and ur head game sucks
wilbur: ........... :( ok
hoodie
wilbur: anything to get my site back.............
sparx
ranboo: so that new video from wilbur..... uhh. anyone else think it was kinda....... 😳
tommy: ranboo. my brother. i am going to kill you.
hoodie
tommy: ranboo you have one last chance to apologize or i will end your life right here and now
ranboo: sorry for being gay 😔
tommy: not sorry enough!!!!!!
sparx
SORRY FOR BEING GAY
im gonna shit
hoodie
RJGHGGHGH
ranboo is sorry for being gay for your brother, tommy
sparx
hmmmm who have we forgotten in this au
hoodie
hmmmmm tina fundy
fundy is a scorned kiwifarms mod who thought he was wilbur's fav
sparx
JSHDFKJDFHG
fundy: i was your SON wilbur
wilbur: fundy. you're 19. i am 21.
fundy: your SON
hoodie
fundy: you ABANDONED ME
wilbur: i was literally kicked off of my own site
sparx
fundy: i'm gonna kill myself now
wilbur: lmao. -wait NO DON'T
hoodie
TJKGHRGHRGJH
wilbur: wait bro are you joking?
wilbur three days later: i think he actually did it
fundy, not dead: taught him a lesson lol
sparx
skdjfjsdkjghdfkjghdfkj
hoodie
this au is a blessing
sparx
it's Something!!!!
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