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#like that’s not normal for Mike. None of this is normal for Mike
abiiiiackerman · 2 days
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AOT characters relationships with you.....
Levi Ackerman
At first your relationship with Levi wasn't good at all. You thought he's an arrogant bastard and he thought you're a lazy assed useless doctor who won't survive even a second on the battlefield. He got more pissed on you because he was ordered to train a fragile person like you and had to turn you into a soldier.
On the other hand, you used to get so pissed with him because he was a strict and harsh trainer. Also not to mention he used to insult you as often as he could. You almost shouted at him every day. But little did none of you two know, Levi liked it when you would get angry at him and you really liked shouting at him.
Slowly but surely, you two started to get close. You started to heal his mental and physical wounds, he focused on making you stronger. Not to mention he never hesitated to let anyone know that he was your protector and he would show no mercy to anyone or anything which will try to hurt you in any way.
But with you he was soft. He would cry on your shoulder, reveal his real feelings to you. You helped him to get out of his childhood trauma, showed him how amazing love and physical affection is.... You made him love you so hard that getting worried if losing you, he dragged your ass to the church and married you just when he got the chance. And thus you two become the ideal couple of the survey corps.
Hange Zoe
She's your best friend in the survey corps. Also not to mention you two spend the most time together. You two are like sisters to each other, you pulling her to shower she's pulling you out of your bed in the morning. Though there's a lot of difference between you two.... You two never fail to get along.
Also, she's the main supporting character in your relationship with Levi. Also the main teaser too!
Erwin Smith
Your relationship with him is formal but you two both respect each other. You slowly but surely get his trust and he started to trust you so much that he never imagined making you a pawn of his bet. Also you both support each other mentally if you two get the chance. Like he would console you if you wouldn't be able to save a soldier's life and you would console him if one of his plans would accidentally fail.
Special Operation Squad members
Since you were a member of this squad too and you spent most of your time with them, your relationship with them was pretty friendly. Especially with Petra, you cared for her like she was your little sister. Also you and Oluo would try to mimic Levi together, have fun chatting with Eld and Gunther. They even forced you to meet their family... That's how close you were with them. You were the breath of fresh air and happiness in the squad.
Mike Zacharias
Your relationship with him was just how two colleagues relationship should be. You two would meet often and talk about the normal things out of formality. Also you liked how amazing his smelling ability was, it always amused you.
Eren, Mikasa and Armin
You always cared for them as you little siblings. Especially Armin, who likes to read books just like you. You would chat with him for hours about your favourite books and not to mention support his amazing ideas and encourage him since he was so insecure about himself.
Eren and you had spent enough quality time together. He was so scared of Levi and you would try to reassure him as you would laugh seeing his scared expressions. Also most of the time you two would talk about the titan abilities and you would try to find out how many similarities titans and humans had until it was discovered that titans are actually humans.
Mikasa and you never really spend that much time together.... But you always respected her for her strength and protectiveness and she loved you for always saving Eren's ass from Levi.
Jean Connie and Sasha
Just like the previous trio, you cared for these three the same. Especially Sasha, you probably cared for her the most. You find her always the cutest and the most adorable. You litarery cared for her so much that you sometimes gave her the opportunity to sneak in the kitchen to steal food. Also you loved cooking for her and enjoyed seeing how happily she ate them.
As for Jean and Connie, you would always enjoy their jokes and stupidity. You would sometimes joke with them too to reduce some weight from your shoulder. They were a refreshment for you from the cruel life of the survey corps.
Historia Reiss
You always felt pity for her. You didn't know her until her true identity was revealed. After she became queen and started to work for the homeless-unwanted children, you helped her to run the orphanage and to manage the kids. You were with her during her pregnancy period and helped her to give birth.
A/N: Hello there everyone! So I decided to write my thoughts on what your relationship would look like with the AOT characters. Of course it's my and only my thinking, you guys can think in your way. Here you means 🫵 (if you wanna imagine yourself) also me and my oc.... The oc of the story I've been writing on my ao3 account.
So that's it! Hope ya all have a great day!
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dinitride-art · 10 months
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“Mike wheeler’s armpit of a basement”
“I’ve seen Mike’s room look worse than this”
“I was being a total self pitying idiot”
“Why am I the bad guy”
“One day she’s going to realize that I’m just some random nerd”
“At least Lois Lane is an ace reporter for the Daily Planet”
“I’ve been bullied my whole life”
“Mike’s always whining about it”
“And yet you still have a C in Spanish”
“You can’t even write it Mike”
“You made it super clear that you’re not interested in anything I have to say”
“-and if I said that thing then maybe she’d want me there with her, wherever she is”
“The bad government dudes are after your super-girlfriend right? Right?! Okay, so, maybe the cops can help us find out where she is because they’re gonna kill her, man. And if they kill her, there gonna kill us!”
“Oh, no, no, no, no- it’s a shitty knock off, yeah”
“Who’s that twig with her?”
“That doesn’t mean he’s wrong. I mean, if that guy would’ve lived one more second- one more second- th- we could know where she is. Wh-why didn’t he just say the number? I-I should’ve explained myself, cuz then maybe, Eleven would’ve taken me with her and things would be different but I-I didn’t know what to say”
“And I feel like maybe I-I was worrying too much about El, and I don’t know, maybe I feel like I lost you or something”
“Y’know the last few days, I’ve had to think about the last talk we had. You know, before the cops and the whole word went to shit and everything? I- I guess- I just- I- I dunno- I guess I just wanted to- to say-”
“But… but what if after all of this is over… sh-she doesn’t need me anymore?”
“No I… it’s so stupid, given everything that’s going on. It’s just… I… I don’t know. I just”
“I, love you.”
Mike’s flopping on the floor like a miserable and suffocating fish out of water season. His friends make fun of him. Eddie made fun of his clothes. Karen told Dustin he’s welcome at the Wheeler’s anytime which implies that Mike isn’t really talking to his friends outside of school. Dustin and Mike didn’t know when Lucas’ basketball game was, which implies that they haven’t really been talking to Lucas a lot. Mike did call the Byers but wasn’t able to get through. El and Will are have been in Lenora for months and Mike hasn’t really been able to talk to either of them. El’s been lying to him in her letters and writing and signing letters is a reminder that he’s avoiding writing the word love. Everyone’s telling him that he’s doing something wrong. This kids going through it.
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pepprs · 1 year
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the bull smashing plates in my brain right now.
#dangerously mentally ill atm. about to snap and start screaming and crying hysterically in the middle of meetings.#purrs#it’s fine btw i just need to be honest and i need to ask for comfort and accept it. but i fucking can’t. but i need to and i have to so hel#me god except nothing is going to make up for not getting to be held at b*rth so……. lol. like you can’t just ask people for that. but it’s#the way that i need to be married so bad so i can finally be normal. im completely serious. i need to be married. being someone’s number on#will fix me. and i also need to not have k*ds i think bc mike birbiglias the new one special made me SO deeply angry and upset and i can’t#even take it. like i think maybe no one in love should have kids ever again. i truly believe that. if you can’t give a kid your deepest tru#truest love then it fucks them up for life and if you can do that then it erodes the relationship you have with your partner so. basically#wish i didn’t exist kinda. and i wish none of the good things in my life had happened to me because it gave me hope for things that can’t a#actually happen and i have just been delusional about someday being healed all this time. i will be wounded and alone forever and i want to#go lie in the trench they’re digging in the backyard about it 💃🏻🥳#delete later#i just want to play wobboedogs on the switch and forget i am a human being. that’s all. that’s literally it#cominng back to this a couple weeks later um this was one of the most mentally ill posts i have ever made in my life. sorry 😚✌️ x
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crumbleclub · 1 year
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i was literally doing a costest for '83 Mike/Foxybro when my friends messaged me the trailer dropped lmao. i'm so normal
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kennahjune · 3 months
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Having thoughts of The Party being touchy as all fuck after everything.
Like you cannot enter nor leave any kind of hang out without a hug, high-five, pat, or anything from everyone you were hanging out with.
And then, suddenly, you aren’t able to leave without a kiss or hug of some kind from Steve.
It started after the bullshit that was the Starcourt Mall. The kids were leaving Steve’s house from a DnD session maybe 2 months before the Byers left for Cali.
Dustin was taking forever to pull his shoes on and get out the house to his moms car and everyone was complaining. It was one of those rare times where Steve wasn’t the one carting them all around— they all had their own rides.
Dustin got his shoes on and Steve handed him his bag and— without thinking— pressed a kiss to the top of his hat before waving him out the door.
The rest of the kids are silent until Mike speaks up bitchily “what about us, asshole?”
Steve has no idea what they mean until El points to her head with a grin. Steve deals out head and forehead kisses for everyone and waves them off to their respective rides.
And then it just— sticks. At first it’s with just the kids whenever he sees them. He’ll usually greet them with a hug or an exasperated sigh and then say goodbye with a kiss to their foreheads.
Not even Mike complains. This is the kind of shit he never got while growing up— might as well make the best of it.
And then it migrates to Robin as well, and the Nancy is joining in on the hugs (they’re still too awkward for the kisses but the hugs are enough for now).
And Steve never holds back, not even in public. Again, no one complains.
And that’s how Hellfire finds out about the kissing arrangement (that might be the title of this if I make it an actual fic). They watch as Steve presses a forehead kiss to Mike, Lucas, and Dustin before waving them off and then presses a kiss to Max’s head and giving her a tight hug.
The guys try to make fun of the kids for it but none of them are embarrassed.
“It’s Steve, dude. He’s like a mom.”
“The kisses are actually really comforting.”
“It’s a Party thing.”
And then the fuckery of 1986 and Vecna happens and suddenly Eddie’s in on the hugs and pats and high-fives.
And then.
And then.
He’s in on the kisses.
Steve doles out the kisses like usual one night after Hellfire and gives one to everyone— including Eddie.
And Eddie panics and gives Steve one right back.
And then the kids are going feral about wanting to give Steve a kiss too.
And Eddie leaves during the chaos.
And then they don’t talk about it.
Until Steve and Eddie do it again.
And the kids accept is as the new normal; you have to give Steve a kiss back.
And then Steve and Eddie have an excuse to kiss each other on the foreheads and cheeks and noses.
One night they’re hanging out, just the two of them at the trailer after Wayne left for work.
Steve had greeted Eddie with a tight hug the moment he’d gotten in the trailer. Eddie had squeezed back just as tight if not tighter.
Steve was getting ready to leave, and on instinct leant in to kiss Eddie, but Eddie was also leaning in to kiss Steve. So they meet in the middle and accidentally kiss on the lips.
And then the new normal for Steve and Eddie is kissing on the lips goodbye.
Idk, just Steve being a very touchy feely person makes me so happy
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leossmoonn · 6 months
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Welcome back, Sara!!! For a fluffy Mike idea, maybe just a cozy rainy day spent at home with Mike and Abby? Like watching movies with cups of hot cocoa under a mountain of blankets, and all that jazz
Hi Logan ☺️☺️☺️ thanks for sending this in. I’m always afraid of writing fluff fics bc like everyone wants the smut, but it’s reassuring to have this put in lol
it’s a sunday and mike just so happens to have the day off. he’s been working long and hard hours and you convinced him to take the day off. you and abby are so excited; you two planned the whole day from the moment you woke up to the time it was time for abby to sleep. unfortunately, it’s rainy and a sudden wind chill swept through. none of you need to get sick and mike didn’t want to make making abby carry an umbrella, so you make the quick decision to stay in. abby’s a little disappointed, but you try to make up for it.
the first thing you and mike do in the morning is make a fort with abby. and not just a little four corners fort. no, she makes you cover the entire living room with blankets. even the tv was included! you and mike are dragged into some play-pretend games. for a lot of them mike’s forced to play some sort of villan.
“why can’t i play the hero, abby?” mike frowns. “because that’s her job!” abby points to you.
mike gives you a look and you shrug. “abby’s the director here. cant fight with the boss.”
mike rolls his eyes, wanting to get out of the humid blankets and sleep, but he knows how happy this makes abby. and even though abby is making him play the bad guy, he knows she means it out of love and he also loves getting to spend as much time with abby as he can. watching you act is pretty cute as well.
once abby gets bored of playing in her fort — which is like 3 hours later — she decides she wants to watch a movie.
“let’s clean up first, yeah?” mike suggests. “no! let’s keep the fort up to watch the movie!” abby says.
“abby, no. we had our fun with the fort. it’s time to turn the house back to normal,” mike says. “please say we can keep the fort up!” abby pouts as she looks up at you.
mike gives you a warning look, but you can’t say no to abby. “let’s just keep the fort up for the movie, yeah?”
abby squeals and wiggles back into the fort. mike glares at you. “she’s never going to want to take it down.”
“she will when it’s time for bed, which is hours away.” you step closer to him, gently putting your hand on his shoulder. “how about i pop some popcorn — the real stuff on the stove — and i make us some hot coca, okay?”
well, who was mike to turn down stove-popped popcorn and hot cocoa. he felt like a little kid again. it doesn’t help that you and abby’s pouty faces were ganging up on him. he sighs in defeat and nods, crossing his arms around his chest.
“fine, but after the movie, we will clean all this up, okay?”
“of course,” you nod. you turn to abby who is lit up with excitement. “can i pick the movie?”
“yep! do you want any popcorn?” you ask her. “yes. can you put m&ms in mine?” she asks. “you got it, babe,” you answer.
you three settle in the fort, abby laying on her stomach right in front of the tv. she chose “Lady and The Tramp”, which was one of her more enjoyable movie choices.
“mike, you’re kind of like the tramp,” abby comments, popping a handful of popcorn and m&ms into her mouth.
you begin to laugh but cover it up with a cough when mike shoots you a glare. “abby, that’s not very nice.”
“he knows it’s true,” she says, kicking her feet up and dangling them in the air. “And you’re like Lady.”
you glance at mike, a small smile on your face. you lean into him, your nose brushing against the scruff on his cheek. “i think what she’s trying to say is that we are perfect for each other.”
the tips of his ears turn pink. he wraps his arm around you, pulling you in so your head rests on his shoulder. “she could’ve said it differently, though.”
you giggle, “nah, i think it’s accurate.” he rolls his eyes, but there’s no denying the smile on his face and twinkle in his eye.
mike ends up falling asleep towards the end of the movie. his head rests on your chest, both arms around your waist to hold you close. your hands are in his hair, massaging his scalp while the credits roll.
“why is he so tired all the time?” abby pouts. “he works a lot,” you say. “but i’m sure he’ll wake up soon. why don’t you help me clean the fort up?”
“do i have to?” abby frowns. “i think mike would appreciate that,” you say.
“ugh, fine. but only if we can have pancakes for dinner.”
you grin and nod, “you got it.”
mike wakes up to the smell of chocolate chip pancakes. he twists and turns on the floor, the sizzle of bacon him bringing him into consciousness. he begins to open his eyes, his back beginning to ache from sleeping on the floor. he hears some giggling coming from the kitchen, sitting himself up on his elbow and peering over the couch. you’re at the stove, a spatula in your hand. abby’s sitting at the table, crayons littering the wood.
“look who’s up!” you exclaim. mike groans softly as he sits up, using the couch as a crutch to stand up. “i’m sorry i fell asleep. between the rain and the pillows —”
“shush,” you cut him off. he walks over to you, wrapping an arm around your waist, his fingers tracing sliver of skin on the small of your back that’s exposed. “i ruined our day.”
“no, you didn’t. right, abs?” you turn to her. “you did snore a lot, but you didn’t,” she says. you smile at mike, “see? all is well.”
“smells good.” he mumbles as he wraps both arms around your waist, placing his chin onto your shoulder.
“me or the food?” you glance at him with a teasing smile. he takes a not-so-nonchalant inhale of your skin. “both,” he answers.
“ew!” abby grimaces behind you two. you and mike both laugh and he presses a kiss to your cheek before pulling away. he brings some plates and silverware out, sitting across from abby and waiting for the food.
mike stares as you two discuss abby’s drawing. he can’t wipe the smiles off of his face. his life was never perfect and he knew it was never going to be, but if he could just keep this — keep you two — he would then be able to call it perfect.
“mike,” abby says with a little pout. “what’s up?” he asks.
“do you have to go back to work tomorrow?” she asks. “i do, but you also have to go back to school,” he states.
“i don’t want to,” she says. mike sighs, the calmness from his body fleeting. “you don’t have a choice, abby. i’m sorry.”
“i… i just mean… i want this day to last forever.”
his eyes widen and glance up at you. you’re rubbing her back soothingly, giving him an encouraging smile.
“maybe we can do something special for dinner again tomorrow,” you suggest. “we can watch a movie and even eat dinner on the couch.”
abby’s face lights up and she nods. “okay! can i pick the movie again?”
“only if you don’t compare me to a dog again,” mike says. abby giggles and puts a forkful of pancakes in her mouth before speaking again. “we’ll see,” she quips.
mike looks back at you, placing his hand inside of yours on the table. your feet slides up his calf, your eyes soft as you look over his face. his heart warms and for the first time in a while, he feels at peace.
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unfinishedslurs · 8 months
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RIP Mike Wheeler’s heterosexuality
“Is being gay contagious?”
Steve stares at his phone groggily before putting it back against his ear. “…Mike?”
“Is it?”
“It’s three in the fuckin’ morning is what it is.” He rubs his nose, Mike’s words finally catching up to his brain. “Seriously, Mike? No it’s not fucking contagious, you’re not gonna get the gay disease or whatever from me. I promise you’ll keep liking girls.”
He’s a little hurt, even though he knows the question is innocent. They’ve been asking a lot of questions, like the inquisitive little assholes they are, but none of them had seemed like they weren’t okay with it. Until now.
“…that’s not what I meant,” Mike says. Steve realizes that his voice sounds shaky, even over the phone.
“Then what—“ he cuts himself off, realizing halfway through his bitching that there was only one reason Mike would call about this. “Oh.”
“Can you pick me up?”
“It’s three in the morning,” he repeats, even as he starts wondering where he left his keys. “Your mom…”
“Steve,” Mike pleads. “Please?”
He sighs. “I’m on my way.”
Mike is sitting on his doorstep when he pulls up, head in his hands. Steve doesn’t have to get out of the car, he stalks to the passenger door with all the vitriol of a boy with too many emotions to hold in, and wrenches the door open hard enough that Steve worries he’s going to break it.
“Watch it, noodle arms,” he says, trying to pretend this is normal. Maybe if he acts like it’s not well past midnight, Mike will relax.
It doesn’t work. Mike slumps in his seat, not bothering with the seatbelt. “Can you just drive?”
Steve drives. Doesn’t really know where they’re going, but it doesn’t matter. Just away seems to suffice.
He eventually pulls into a side road
“I’m scared to even touch another guy now! Because apparently hugging is gay when you’re older, and so is sleeping in the same bed, and telling your friends you love them, and…and I’m fucking scared all the time, ‘cause what if they’re right? How do they know? How can they tell by just fucking looking at me? It’s bullshit!”
“Shit, kid,” Steve says, heartbroken. “Shit. C’mere.”
He pulls him close, and Mike turns his face into the crook of his neck, shaking. His shirt collar starts to get damp.
“I don’t know what to do,” he cries. “I thought it was normal, I thought everyone was just…so scared all the time, and we just didn’t talk about it. But then you said that thing about being afraid and pushing it down, and I didn’t— I tried to ignore it. I tried so hard not to think about it, Steve, I swear I tried.”
“I know you did,” he says quietly. It hits him that he might be the only one who really gets it. Eddie gave up denying it long ago, deciding to evolve into something else for them to focus on. Robin’s a girl. Which doesn’t mean jack shit in most cases, because being a lesbian fucking sucks in a town like Hawkins, but girls aren’t as obsessive about it. Sometimes when they compare notes, Robin will just stare at him.
Mike shakes his head. “I don’t know what I did wrong,” he mumbles tearfully into his shoulder.
“You didn’t do anything wrong,” Steve says with a surprising amount of vehemence. He grabs Mike by his scrawny little shoulders, pulls him away so he can look directly into his bloodshot eyes. “Not a damn thing, do you hear me? There is nothing wrong with you, and anyone who tells you otherwise deserves a swift kick in the balls. Got it?”
Mike responds by bursting into loud, messy sobs.
Steve just keeps holding him, running a hand through his hair and soothing him gently, like he wishes someone had done for him or Robin or Eddie when they were young. Finally Mike pulls away, embarrassment starting to set in.
“Sorry,” he mutters.
“Can I tell you a secret?” Steve asks instead of a meaningless platitude he knows Mike wouldn’t accept.
Mike gives him a suspicious look. “I guess.”
“I’m scared too. All the time.”
“No you’re not,” Mike snorts. “You don’t need to make me feel better just because I’m a pussy.”
“I’m not joking,” he says. “Why do you think I dated girls? Why do you think I went through so many lengths to hide it? It’s fucking terrifying, man. But you know what makes it less scary?”
“Dating girls? Marrying a woman?”
“No.” He pokes Mike’s chest, right over his heart. “People. Friends who love and accept you. Friends who know what you’re going through, even.”
“Do you…” Mike chews his lip. “Do you think Nancy would be okay with it? With me?”
“Absolutely I do. She was okay with me, wasn’t she? And I was her boyfriend.”
“Yeah, but it’s different when it’s your family, right? Sometimes people don’t care if someone is… people don’t care until it affects them. Do you think Nancy is like that?”
He knows Nancy isn’t like that, but that's a talk they’re going to have to have themselves. “I really don’t,” he encourages. “I think she’d be really glad to know this part of you, actually. She loves you.”
“…I know,” he says, shifting uncomfortably. “I don’t… we made this dumb no secrets pact the first time the Upside-Down happened, I don’t know why. It’s stupid. But…I don’t want to keep secrets from her anymore.”
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steddie-there · 1 year
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Eddie notices it first at Dairy Queen.
It's the first time since leaving the hospital that he's been somewhere with the whole party that isn't Steve's house or the Hoppers-Byers cabin. The younger children crowd the counter, talking over each other as they count their money and decide what to get, while the older teens and adults hang at the back, looking at the menu. Then Erica steps over to Steve and says something Eddie can't quite make out. He nods, winds his way through the gremlins, and places his order. When his name is called, he picks up two cups of ice cream and hands one to Erica, who takes it with a smirk and a comment Eddie can't make out, although it has Steve laughing and shoving playfully at her shoulder.
Eddie turns then to look at the other kids but none of them even seem to notice that Steve has seemingly paid for Erica and not them. It's confusing because Eddie is sure Henderson, at least, would be kicking up a fuss about it. Not even Robin says anything.
But, then again, maybe Steve owes Erica money. Or he lost a bet. Eddie is aware how fierce the younger Sinclair is in collecting on her debts, having made the mistake once and once only of asking her to buy him a soda. So, if no one else is bothered, neither is he. He shrugs and enjoys his sundae.
But then it happens again the next week at Baskin Robbins.
And again two weeks later.
When the last ice cream truck left in Hawkins comes through Steve's neighborhood and the only one to get anything is Erica - at Steve's expense, of course - and the other kids don't even grumble beyond wishing they hadn't blown all their allowance at the arcade, Eddie decides he's had enough.
"Okay, what is it with this ice cream thing???" he bursts out as they all settle back down next to the pool.
The burble of conversation stops as everyone turns to look at him, then glance around at each other.
"What ice cream thing?" Mike finally asks, genuinely confused.
"What ice cream... the ice cream thing!" Eddie splutters. "The thing where Steve always buys Erica ice cream and none of the rest of you munchkins seem to care!"
There's a collective ohhhh of understanding, but Eddie is still completely in the dark. He gestures for someone to explain.
"It's because of Operation Child Endangerment," Dustin answers, casual, like it's a normal, non-question-inducing answer.
Eddie scrunches his brows together and lets out a confused bubble of sound at the same time that Steve buries his face in his hands and groans, "I thought we agreed not to call it that."
Erica laughs and wags her finger at him. "Uh, no. Just because you demanded we change it doesn't mean we agreed to."
"...little lost here. What's Operation Child Endangerment?" Eddie asks, glancing sideways at Steve. He can see, between his fingers, that the other boy's face has gone bright red.
Steve groans again and sinks forward to let his head hang by his knees.
And so Eddie finds out everything about the summer of '85 and Starcourt mall. He already knew the basics, but he's still fascinated. Horrified. Impressed.
He watches Steve through the whole retelling, jumbled as it is by the kids all interrupting each other to add something they thought was being forgotten, and feels his heart ache inside his chest for the beautiful boy across from him. Watches him hunch his shoulders when Erica explains the deal they made, the one that's got her free ice cream for life. Watches him puff up a little with pride when Dustin describes him knocking the Russian comms operator out cold. Watches him squeeze Robin's hand when she mentions the Russian torture and drugs. Watches him tug El into a hug when Jonathan talks about having to cut into her leg.
Eddie watches Steve - brave, loyal, loving Steve, who won't break a promise or a deal even after he most certainly could - laughing with their friends, taking their ribbing and teasing them in return, ruffling Dustin's hair and splashing Erica, almost starting a party-wide splash fight.
Eddie waits until everyone is distracted by Max chasing Lucas across the pool after his cannonball knocked her from her floaty, various advice being shouted to both, then moves to sit next to Steve on his pool chair.
"That was, uh, a lot," he says quietly.
Steve bites his lip, turns a little away from the chaos in and around the pool, although his eyes still track the chase, Max having almost cornered Lucas. "Yeah, yeah it was," he replies, just as quietly.
"Pretty impressive," Eddie tells him, knocking their shoulders together.
Steve shrugs. He snorts as Max finally catches Lucas and dunks him a couple times before they both dissolve into laughter.
Eddie bumps his shoulder again. "Seriously, dude, you gotta know how cool you are."
"I guess," Steve says, still not looking at Eddie, fidgeting with his hands instead.
Eddie thinks he knows what thoughts might be running around inside Steve's head, so he puts a hand over Steve's. The jittery motions still under his touch. "Hey, you got them out of there. You didn't know what you were walking into and you all got out alive. I call that pretty badass."
Steve finally turns to him. The look in his eyes makes Eddie want to pull Steve close, hold him until that look disappears. But he doesn't, just squeezes Steve's fingers.
The corner of Steve's mouth ticks up, just a little. "Thanks, Eddie." He looks like he might say more, but suddenly Dustin lets out a whoop and they both turn to the pool. Jonathan, Nancy, Robin, and Argyle have started a game of chicken, Nancy on Jonathan's shoulders and Robin on Argyle's.
They watch, laughing, as the girls wrestle until they both go tumbling into the water together and come up spluttering. Steve's head is thrown back, his shoulders are shaking with giggles and Eddie feels a grin stretch across his face.
He leans forward to rest his chin on Steve's shoulder, his hand still over Steve's, a teasing tone in his voice when he says, "So, hey, I was wondering. What would it take for me to get free ice cream for life from Steve Harrington?"
Steve turns his head and Eddie pulls back so they can look at each other. And that's all they do for a long moment, Eddie's breathing speeding up when Steve's gaze drops to his lips.
But all Steve does is turn his hand in Eddie's grip, so he can tangle their fingers together. He squeezes Eddie's hand, then stands, grinning, tugging Eddie up with him.
"C'mon," Steve says, pulling Eddie over to the pool before jumping in with a splash. Eddie ducks away from the water, grinning like a fool. When he catches Erica's knowing smirk, he just shrugs helplessly and follows Steve in.
Maybe he owes Erica some free ice cream, too.
3K notes · View notes
@steddiemas Day 13 -  Snow Day
uh...yeah.. this got way away from me but...here's day 13! (a day late and 4k words more than normal???)
pairing: steddie | word count: 5,201 | rated: T
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The following Thursday finds Eddie and the entire Hellfire Club literally and metaphorically clamoring over each other and his large dining room table while their campaign (Eddie had helpfully told him) continues on.
Luckily, Robin had agreed to spend their night off work from the video store with him.
“So, when are you going to do something about your hopeless Eddie crush?”
“SSshh! Not so loud, Rob!”
She rolls her eyes at him, “Sorry to tell you this Dingus, but I don’t think he’s paying you a single modicum of attention.”
Steve looks over at the table from his spot on the couch; Robin’s right, of course, Eddie’s already halfway onto the tabletop, his arms stretched wide and the rest of him hunched low to the wood.
He’s deep into his story and his voice is dropped low, only the tone of it reaching Steve’s ears.
“He’s such a dork.” Steve sighs, shaking his head.
“Yeah, but you loooove him!” Robin teases, poking one foot that had been with her other on Steve’s lap into his side instead.
Steve rolls his eyes at her, “Hand me another slice of cheese.”
She reaches over to one of the leftover boxes of pizza on the coffee table and fishes out a slice for him, “So what are you gonna do about it?” She asks, handing it to him.
“About what?” he asks, taking down half the slice in one bite.
“Don’t play dumb Steve,”
He sighs, “I don’t know Rob; he hasn’t made a move either! He kissed me first, remember? Right over there!” Steve points to the offending doorway, “Because of you, by the way.” he snarfs down the other half of the slice two big bites.
“I remember.” She nods.
“I honestly don’t know what to do Bob, I want to corner him and kiss him all over his fuckin’ body but how’m I supposed to know if he’d be okay with that? Does he want that?”
“Oh he wants that, believe me.”
Steve narrows his eyes at her. She only quirked a brow at him in return. “What do you know, Buckley?”
Robin snorts out a laugh, “I would say to just go for it, but I feel like he’d freak if you did that out of the blue.”
“So, what, I just say ‘Hey, I really really like you, maybe already halfway love you, and I want to know if you’d like to kiss about it maybe?’?”
“Who’s Steve kissing?”
Steve jumps at Dustin’s voice, suddenly beside him. He knew his hearing was going on his left..Robin told him he was just imagining it.
“OOh, Steve’s kissing someone?” This time it was Lucas, his voice teasing as he passes behind Dustin through the door under the stairs with his arms full of pop cans.
“I’m not kissing anyone,”
“He just wants to.” 
Damn you, Robin. Steve glances quickly to the table, Eddie has his back turned to them.
“Who is it?”
“Uh, it’s…” Steve pauses for a half a second, “None of your business. You guys done for the night?”
“Yeah.. about that..”
Oh no–
“Can we stay the night here? We have to start planning out our characters for the next campaign!”
“You guys are done done?” “Not quite,” Steve turns his head to the right, the older kid Frank is standing in the other doorway from the living room to the hall closest to the front door. “We have one more session then I’m DM-ing the next campaign.”
Steve nods along with Robin (whose head is hanging backward over the arm of the couch closest to Frank). “So you…six? Seven? Want to stay the night?” He's already skimming through the house in his head to where the extra blankets and pillows are stashed. He should have enough.
“No, just us.” Mike confirms, plopping down onto the carpet between the coffee table and fireplace across from the couch. “Me, Lucas, Will, and Dustin.”
Dustin nods, adding “And Eddie was going to stay a little longer to plan his own character, since he’s gonna be able to play in the next one.”
Steve turns back to Frank and the other older kid…Jeff…?, who’s now leaning around the doorway too. “You guys aren’t staying?”
“Nah man, we don’t wanna impose, thanks for having us though.” Maybe Jeff said.
“Yeah, of course,” Steve lifts Robin’s legs off his lap and stands, moving to see the three older Hellfire members off at the door. The Harringtons are polite hosts first and foremost. “Thanks for coming, guys.” What was he thanking them for? It wasn’t like they were here for him.
Jeff’s polite smile seemed to echo Steve’s thoughts, “Of course man, thanks for having us over.” “And for the pizza.” the shortest of the three says to the agreement of the others.
Jeff shakes Steve’s hand, the shortest one (Garby? George? It was something with a ‘G’) smiles again after pulling on his coat before heading out to Frank’s truck.
One of Frank’s solid hands lands on Steve’s shoulder in a friendly pat, and it’s almost enough to miss Eddie slipping out the door behind him into the slow fall of fat snowflakes outside. He was surprised to see a swath of snow had blanketed his front yard since the boys had been here.
Steve almost says something, but hears the guys exchanging their own farewells through the cracked door, so he turns back to the steps. 
Will is already coming back down them, arms full of blankets and pillows, Lucas following behind him.
“I was about to go grab those myself–wait, did any of you dipshits call and ask your parents if you can stay? It’s a school night!” Steve follows the two into the living room.
The four of them immediately look cowed.
“OOohh you better get moving guys,” Robin teases.
“All of you up, you’re calling home.” Steve waves his arm as if to shove them all through the hall into the kitchen. “And no complaints, otherwise you’ll all be piling into the beemer before you can say demogorgon.”
Three of the four boys grumble their complaints as they pass him, “Hey, you’re lucky I’m even letting you stay. Seeing as how I’m the one that’s gonna have to drive you all to school in the morning.”
“You’ll already be driving Robin!” Mike complains
“Yeah but I have pretty privilege.” Robin calls from her spot on the couch.
Steve hears the door click closed, and looks over to see Eddie coming back in.
“Hey–” Eddie disappears down the hall and past the steps, only to reappear in the dining area through the other doorway under the steps. He immediately goes back to whatever papers he’s got on the table.
Steve looks down at Robin, who looks up at him at the same time, his confusion is reflected on her face.
He’s about to go talk to Eddie when Dustin calls for him from the kitchen.
-x-
“Steve! Mom wants to talk to you!”
Eddie hears Dustin call from the kitchen, and he stacks his pile of notes together, finally closing them up into his spiral notebook.
He pauses then. Just staring down at the disheveled wire binding. 
He should go. No need to torture himself further, the kids will understand right? He’ll just make up something about his Uncle needing him home right away tomorrow morning or something. 
Yeah. That should work, it’s not like anyone would call Wayn—
“So. You’re down in the dumps.”
Eddie’s shoulders crowd up against his ears at Robin’s arrival.
“I’m fine.”
“Uh huh.” She doesn’t believe him, of course.
He can hear the sound of Steve’s cheery voice from the kitchen, the tone he takes whenever he’s talking to one of the kids’ parents, and Eddie can feel his face screw up in pain.
“Ah hah!”
“Don’t.”
“I didn’t say anything.” “You didn’t have to,” he bites out, “It’s not like you’re the one having to listen to your crush wax poetic about some girl he wants to kiss stupid.”
He turns to look at her. Robin’s face is blank for a moment, then a barely-there smug smirk appears on her lips.
Eddie’s vision goes scarlet. “You don’t get to be a shithead about it, Buckley. This is all your fuckin’ fault.” he spits out in a low whisper.
“My fault?” she echoes in the same tone, the smile falling from her face. “What’s my fault??”
“You’re the one who made me think I had a chance, weren’t you? The one who put up that fuckin’ mistletoe? Your fault.” He pokes her shoulder accusingly. His volume was getting higher, so he adjusts before continuing. “I should have known there was no chance; he’s the one who said ‘Now we’re even.’ after he kissed me in Melvald’s!”
“He said tha—”
Eddie was practically hissing at this point, just a steady stream of steam escaping him like a cartoon character. “He just felt bad, Robin! He just felt like he owed me something, there’s no goddamn feelings there!”
“Eddi–”
“I gotta go.”
He scoops up his notebook in one hand and snatches up his bag with the other, slinging it over his shoulder.
“Eddie, don’t go–”
He stalks down the hall past the steps away from her voice. He’s almost to his escape when Dustin cuts off his path from the kitchen doorway closest to the front door.
“Eddie, you’re leaving?”
“Sorry kid, gotta go.” He steps around him, “I forgot Wayne needs me home right away tomorrow morning.”
“But you were going to–”
“I’ll help you later, Dustin.” it wasn’t supposed to come out like that.
“Don’t be an ass, Eddie.”
“You know what? Bite me, Mike.” He really shouldn’t be taking his feelings out on the goblins.
“Fuck you, man.”
“Hey! Hey, what is happening right now?” Steve comes out into the hall then, making eye contact with Eddie for a fraction of a second before Eddie focuses on lacing his boots onto his feet.
“Eddie’s leaving,”
“...Okay? And?”
Alright, ouch.
He yanks his laces even tighter.
“And he said he would help us, and now he’s leaving.”
“Oh come off it Dustin, you heard what he said.” Lucas says, an eyeroll in his voice.
“What’d he say?” Eddie’s head told him that Steve’s voice sounded hurt, but best not to believe his head right now. “He said,” Eddie cuts in, “That his uncle needs him home in the morning.”
Steve’s soft “Oh.” was barely audible over the other three arguing back at him.
He yanks the last lace tight to his calf and stands sharply.
“Yeah, so, thanks for having us over, Harrington, I’ll see ya around.” he purposely doesn’t look up at Steve’s face as he says this, focusing on his notebook and bag.
His hand just reaches the doorknob when Robin’s voice calls out from the living room. “Don’t think you’re going anywhere anytime soon, Eddie.”
Because his arm was already in motion when she started talking, the door opens in front of him just as she finishes. 
The slow fat flakes from only, what, 10 minutes earlier? are now flying harsh and sideways across the light escaping Steve’s front door. It’s piling up out there, and fast. Bessie has braved many a winter in Hawkins, but he knows he’d get snowed in by time they got across town to the park. 
Honestly though? Getting snowed in on the side of the road is seeming much more preferable than staying here after his little hissy fit.
“Eddie? Just stay here, man.” Steve sounds much closer than before, “I don’t want something to happen to you–” What Eddie can only assume is Steve’s hand falls to his shoulder, and he immediately turns away from it, closing the front door and letting his bag fall down his arm to the floor in the same motion as he turns into the kitchen without making eye contact with anyone.
The phone is still warm in his palm when he lifts it to his ear, punching Frank’s number into the buttons on the cradle. 
In the handful of rings it takes for him to pick up, Eddie can hear the others whispering to each other, no doubt things like “What’s Eddie’s problem?”, “Why’s he being mean to Steve?”, “Why can’t he control his big gay feelings for his obviously straight friend?”.
Okay, maybe that last one was a bit much for a bunch of sophomores.
“Hello?”
“Frank, you’re home?”
“Uh. Yeah. You called me at home.”
“Well it’s snowin’ like shit outside now, I wanted to make sure you guys got back safe.”
“Oh. Yeah, yeah, I just got in when I heard the phone. Everyone’s home safe.”
“Alright good, I’m gonna stay here at Harrington’s; talk to you later man, I gotta call Wayne.
“Okay Ed, see ya’.”
Eddie jabs his finger into the phone’s switch to end the call, then starts to dial the trailer. Wayne should be just about to leave for work.
“Y’ello?”
“Hey Wayne, it’s me.” Eddie says, turning his face away automatically when someone shuffles into the kitchen.
“Ed, where’ya at?”
“I’m still at Steve’s. It really started to come down so I don’t want to risk driving home tonight.”
“Good. You stay righ’ there, son.”
“Are you still going in?”
Wayne hums in agreement, “Got to.”
Eddie’s stomach sinks, “Wayne–”
“Now don’ you worry ‘bout me boy, I woke up early enough to get the chains on the truck.”
“Fine, fine. Be careful, old man.”
“You got it kid. I’ll see ya tomorrow.”
He hangs the phone back into it’s cradle on the wall feeling much looser now; he’d almost forgotten why he was so wound up, but seized up again as soon as he turned.
Steve was standing at the stove, stirring something that was obscured by his torso. “You want some hot chocolate too, Eds?” he asks, not turning from the stove.
Eddie gives him a short “No.” and goes back out into the hall to unlace his boots once again.
He wanders back into the living room with his bag and plops down in the recliner, pulling out his monster manual and his smaller, less pulverized notebook, the one with the basics of his next character fleshed out in it.
A tiefling bard, one he had imagined as having such thick skin on him that no matter what snide remarks, insults, and bashes to his character were thrown at him, he’d only shrug them off. Something real Eddie’d love to do. A charming, charismatic bard that got all who heard his songs to overlook his hellish appearance.
Wouldn’t that be something.
While he’s mulling over what name to give his bard (he’s waffling between Zarlech and Erron), Robin appears, settling in on the corner seat of the couch beside him.
He tenses up again, thinking she’s going to try talking to him about the too-good-for-this-world man in the yellow sweater in the next room, but she doesn’t. She only sits down and starts back in on the thick Vogue magazine she’d been swiping though since he and his troupe arrived.
Steve comes in with two mugs of cocoa not long after, walking to Eddie first with a soft smile.
“I told you I didn’t want any.”
He regrets his tone as soon as the words pass his lips; Steve looks stunned, the boys’ idle chatter from the coffee table dies off immediately.
Eddie’s face burns in embarrassment, but before he can even open his mouth, Robin says “I’ll take his,” and reaches for the steaming pale yellow mug. 
He passes it over, and stands there for a moment with the other mug before turning and handing it over to Will, the closest to him of the four on the floor.
Steve pinches the bridge of his nose briefly, then turns out of the room. Robin’s up and out of the room not a moment later, saying, “I’ll go help him with you threes’.”
There’s a beat of silence, then: “What. In the actual fuck. Is your problem, man?”
Eddie turns to face the voice; all four teens are staring at him, each one with a different level of incredulousness on their faces. Mike’s is the worst, looking at Eddie like he just killed his dog.  And he’s about to get revenge for it.
“Who do you think you are to talk to him like that, huh?” Mike seethes at him, “This is his fucking house, and you’re gonna sit here and be rude as all hell just because he doesn’t like you back?”
What the fuck?
“What the fuck?” Eddie hears his voice echo his thoughts. “How do you—”
“Steve puts up with enough shit from us as it is, he doesn’t need it from you too.”
There’s surprise on the other threes’ faces, but Eddie’s got an inkling it’s surprise at this coming from Mike and not from the content of the outburst.
“Uh..”
“Mike’s right, Eddie. You’re our friend, but Steve’s our…” Lucas trails off.
“He’s our Steve.” Will says resolutely. 
“He’s our Steve.” Lucas agrees, “And we won’t hesitate to drop you like a dead fish over him.”
Eddie turns his gaze to Dustin, not looking forward to what he might see in his closest butthead’s expression.
Dustin’s face is set in determined lines, and he meets Eddie’s gaze solidly. “I love you both as brothers, man. Don’t make me choose between you two…Though I will choose Steve.”
Robin returns before Eddie can formulate any sort of response to..all that.., pressing a steaming mug of cocoa into each of the boys’ waiting hands.
She came in with four though, and brings the last one to Eddie. “Leave him be for a minute. I’m sure he will be fine, but he’s upset.” He takes the mug from her and she squashes back down into her abandoned seat with a sigh. “Which usually means he’s going to be doing laundry until I make him go to sleep.” 
Eddie spends the next 25 minutes trying to think about what he’s going to say to Steve, what he’s going to tell him was the reason for his bullshit attitude.
For a solid three, he seriously thinks about telling Steve the truth, that he got all pissy at the thought of him sucking face with whoever it is he’s got a crush on, but that’s really not fair to Steve..or to this mystery girl.
At 30, Robin nudges his arm with her bony elbow, so he leaves his book and still-unnamed character on the chair and goes to find Steve.
He follows the sound of music coming from off the kitchen, stopping just outside the door when the low sound of Steve singing along to ‘The First Nöel’ playing softly through the radio.
It had to be that damn song, didn’t it?
…Okay, maybe it’s not so bad if Steve’s the one singing it..
He steps into the narrow room once the radio host comes back on. It’s small, but there’s more than enough room for the machine’s doors to open and to manuver a basket around in here, and there’s a side door out to the yard at the end of the room; there’s neat-ish piles of clothes in front of the washer and overflowing a basket under the dryer door, a few loose dust bunnies and used dryer sheets litter the corners.
Steve’s standing at the dryer, pawing through a seemingly freshly cleaned pile of towels on its top.
He glances up at him briefly when he enters, going back to the pile immediately, “Eddie, hey, sorry for sulking off like that. I just..got into my head a bit.” Even Steve sounded like he didn’t believe what he was saying. “I’ll be back out in a minute, just gotta take care of this load..”
“Hey, it’s alright man. It’s not all on you, you know.” Steve’s hands stop when he looks over, dropping themselves and a half-folded towel back onto the pile. “Look, I’m sorry Steve. My brain is weird sometimes too; I had some of my own shit pop back up for no fuckin’ reason at all and it just..really threw me. I didn’t mean to take it out on you like that, I swear.” 
The truth. For the most part at least. He really didn’t mean to snap at Steve like that over fuckin’ hot chocolate.
“Really, it’s okay Eddie. You did say that you didn’t want any.”
“Yeah, well, that doesn’t give me the right to be an ass to you.” Eddie ducks his head in embarrassment.
“Thank you,” Steve finally says. “I appreciate it, Eds.”
Relief floods through him at the nickname, he meets Steve’s gaze again. “Do you uhm, need help or anything?”
Steve smiles softly, “No, I really do just need to take care of this last load and I’ll be back out there.”
A low howl of wind from outside the side door cuts him off before he can reply.
Eddie groans, “Well that sounds like it’ll be fun…”
All in all, it was fun.
After going back to the living room and confirming with the others that he did, in fact, apologize to their Steve, Eddie sat back down with his notebook and got back to work.
He was slowly absorbed into the boys’ huddle and by time Steve comes back in, all five of them are heavily debating what alignment Zardok the bard should be.
Not 30 minutes later, the lights flicker off above them.
“Aw hell.” Steve mutters from the sofa.
“I’ll start running the tub.” Eddie sighs, pushing himself off the floor and waving his arms in front of him so he doesn’t run into any walls on his way.
“Why would you run the tub?” Dustin asks, incredulous.
“You fill the tub with water in case the pipes freeze while the power’s out. That way you still have water to flush the toilets and get clean and stuff.”
“Thank you Will, exactly.” Eddie says. Smart kid. 
Damn. Why doesn’t he carry a mini flashlight again?
“That’s a thing?” Robin asks, then clicks on a flashlight. Where in the hell’d she get that?
“You don’t need to do that, Eds. The place is plenty well insulated.” Steve assures, stopping him from leaving, “The pipes won’t freeze, I promise.”
“....Lucky bastard.”
Dustin goes to the opposite end of Robin’s couch and fishes another light from between the cushions.
He and the other three make quick work of arranging their blankets and pillows there in the living room, Dustin’s light only going so far as to help continue their brainstorming.
Steve and Robin leave them to it, and lead Eddie upstairs with their light. 
One round of fighting off nightmares later, he’s dragged into wakefulness with the smell of cinnamon.
He re-cinches Steve’s lended sweats around his hips and trudges down the stairs.
There are snores still reverberating from the living room, and Steve is standing in front of the stove flipping something.
A square glass pan with an inch of some sort of mixture in it was sitting on the island across from him along with an open bag of bread and half a dozen eggs still in their carton.
The floor under his feet squeaks when he stops in the doorway, alerting Steve to his presence.
He glances over his shoulder at him, then goes back to the stove to flip something again. “Hey Eds, just makin’ some breakfast, you want something?” He turns to him fully then, leaning his elbows onto a clear patch of the island countertop.
Steve must take his sleepy silence as confusion.
“Oh! The power came back on last night. Well, er..” he looks back at the stove’s clock, blinking 5:08 out at them, “Early this morning, actually.”
Huh. Guess it was confusion.
“Anyway, you want some french toast?” That explains the cinnamon. “Or I can whip you up some eggs…?”
“No, no, french toast is great.” his voice comes out scratchy with disuse. “Thanks Stevie.”
Steve smiles and turns back to the stove, “The coffee machine is on, if you want a cup; I’ll have a plate ready for you in just a couple minutes.”
Eddie wakes up slowly with his coffee, watching as Steve resets the clock on the oven to his watch.
“It’s 8:30 already? Shouldn’t we get the kids up for school?” Holy shit. Who knew Eddie Munson would ever sound so much like a mom.
“Nah,” Steve waves him off, “I was up with my alarm to get them up and ready, but when I got down here, Claudia called. The school called a snow day.”
Steve passes him a plate of toast, already smothered with syrup. “You want powdered sugar?”
“Ooh fancy, fancy,” Eddie laughs, adding a haughty accent to his next words, “Bring me my powdered confectionary Steeves, I wish to dust it upon my imported french breakfast.”
Steve rolls his eyes at him, but passes over a short ceramic container of the stuff.
Lucas is the one up next, going to the coffee machine before acknowledging either of them.
He sips on his cup without adding anything to it, the heathen. Eddie’s own cup was nearly drowned out with milk and sugar.
Slowly but surely, the rest of the house wakes up and wanders to the kitchen, each getting a plate stacked high with sweet cinnamon-y goodness.
Dustin, Mike, and Will are sitting at the little breakfast nook table in the kitchen’s front window, getting steadily louder about their plans for the near eight inches of snow that’s blanketed across Steve’s front yard.
“You’re going to help me shovel it out so I can get you free-loaders home as soon as possible. That’s what you’re going to do.” Steve insists, pushing a plate of toast in front of Robin, the last to get up.
So that’s what originally got them all outside, but two shovels can only get two of them so far with the driveway before any of the other five start fucking around.
The first blow comes from Mike, a well thrown snowball hitting dead center on the back of Will’s head.
Then Lucas lobbed one aimed for Dustin but hit Mike right on the nose.
Will’s shovel was abandoned, teams were made, and Steve was left shoveling alone when the snowballs really started flying.
Robin, Lucas, and Will booked it for the bushes on one side of the yard, immediately packing snow up between them and into gaps in the branches to protect them from the flurry.
And of course, the only other good cover on the other end of the yard from them was Steve’s beemer, so Eddie, Mike, and Dustin dove behind the newly uncovered tires, frantically packing snowballs from the untouched drift under Steve’s car.
“Really?” The three of them look up at the sound of Steve’s voice.
Fuck, he looks so adorable all bundled up like this. Nose and cheeks bitten red with the cold and with the exertion of shoveling, scarf tucked around his neck and into his jacket, the dark blue mittens, one on his hip and one over the handle of the shovel, the matching knit cap—even as he glares disapprovingly at them.
“So you’re not gonna help me, and also subject my baby to enemy fire? Not cool, guys.”
Mike lobs a ball across the yard.
“Join us then! Help us defeat those heathens and we’ll help you with the driveway.”
A snowball smacks into the back passenger side window of the car
“No.”, Steve says with finality and goes back to shoveling.
Another ball soars over the roof of the car and splats across the cleared-ish pavement behind them.
“Awe, you’re no fun Stevie.” Eddie complains, though he’s definitely not complaining about the view he’s got right now.
Dustin sends one back, mumbling out a “Damn! So close..” soon after.
“Bite me.”
Not 10 seconds later, a blast of snow smacks the back of Steve’s head.
Everyone freezes.
-x-
He turns slowly back around to face the three snow-covered idiots crouched behind his car.
All three stare wide-eyed at him, faces flushed with cold.
Mike and Dustin's hands raise at the exact same time, both pointing at Eddie.
He can tell from Dustin’s face that it was definitely him that threw the thing at his head, but the panicked, adorable, wide-eyed look Eddie has at the accusation is worth playing along for.
“What?! You traitors!” He scrambles up and back, glancing over and managing to duck a snowball aimed for his head by Robin, “Stevie, sweetheart, darling, you know I wouldn’t do that to you.”
“Do I?” He growls out playfully, advancing on the doe-eyed menace.
“Yes! You know I love you, Steve, I would never betray you like that.” 
The words, even said teasingly as they are, make Steve’s stomach swoop heavily. He’s lucky his face was already red from the wind.
“I don’t know, Eds,” He holds out one mittened hand to Mike as he passes between the two boys. He drops one into his palm. “Sounds like something you would do.”
He raises the snowball and yells out, chasing Eddie around the front of his car to the hoots and hollers of the others jeering him on.
Eddie is not a good runner, and his Reeboks slip and slide as they try to carve a path through the fresh snow in the yard.
He’s quick though, and doges out of Steve’s reach when he almost catches the back of his borrowed puffer coat, launching off toward the side of the house instead.
Oh no.
“Wait, Eddie! There’s a—” Eddie’s dark head of curls disappears under his feet as he slips off over the side of the hill. “Hill—shit!”
Steve spoke too soon even for himself, unable to stop his momentum before he slips down the hill too.
Snow pushes itself under the back of his jacket down the first half of his slide, then one of his feet gets stuck up under him and he tumbles ass-over-tea kettle the rest of the way.
“OOF—” he lands on something much more solid than snow at the bottom.
Eddie’s cackling laughter bursts out from under him, his chest heaving with it under Steve’s own.
“Eddie, you okay, man?”
Steve pushes up on his hands, one on either side of Eddie’s torso, to look down at him properly.
He lost the red hat he’d grabbed when they came outside earlier, gone to the snow somewhere, and his hair is fanned in an almost perfect halo around his head.
The red spots on his face show off the flakes that fall onto them briefly before they melt under the heat of his skin, his mouth open wide and his eyes crinkled shut in laughter.
Steve was already head over fuckin’ heels for this man, but…oh.
Oh.
Eddie has laugh lines.
They’re so deep already, crinkled up at the corners of his eyes, but for a split second, Steve can’t help but wonder how much more they’d be in 10, 15, 20 years in the future. 
And he realizes in that instant that wants so badly to be there to watch them grow longer.
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look out, it's noelle coming in hot with the Oh. Oh. moment!
other parts! Pt. 1 (Day 1) | Pt. 2 (Day 2) | Pt. 3 (Day 5) | Pt. 4 (Day 6) | Pt. 5 (Day 7) | Pt. 6 (Day 11) | Pt. 7 (Day 13) [YOU ARE HERE] | Pt. 8 (Day 18) | Pt. 9 (Day 21) | Pt. 10 (Day 25) also on AO3! this year
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crappymixtape · 1 year
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endless summer
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steve’s pool is always full during the indiana summers and he loves his friends, but he just wants you • *18+ only | (  2.8k, smut, fluff, friends to lovers, steve x you, steve x reader  )
E N D L E S S S U M M E R 🎶 i would die 4 u, art school girlfriend
“Hey, hey. None of that shit in my pool!” Steve was standing on the deck with a hand on his hip, arm waving about as he yelled at Dustin and Lucas who were dragging a half-empty pizza box closer to the edge of the pool.
“We’re hungry!” Dustin protested indignantly.
“Yeah, so hungry,” Lucas added, still dragging along the pizza box slowly as if Steve wouldn’t catch him.
“No, no, no. Get that outta here,” Steve was already around the other side of the pool and snatching the box away from Lucas’ grabby hands, tossing it up onto the patio table. “Children,” he shook his head at both younger boys.
Whatever, was mumbled back to Steve followed by a couple of hidden middle fingers, but the heat was enough to stall any real arguing and before long everyone slipped back into the cool water, lazily floating in the hot Indiana summer.
No one knew what day of the week it was, you only knew when you had to work next – not today – and time didn’t matter. All anyone wanted to do was spend time with each other, normal time, not running-away-from-flesh-eating-bats-time, and it felt perfect. You wished you could stay like this forever.
Stretched out on a lounger, you were the picture of summer wearing a tangerine bikini, a stolen pair of Steve’s aviators, and camped out next to a cooler full of beer and Coke. Whenever you felt your skin protesting against the sun you’d jump into the pool to cool off, but hurried right back to your chair after.
Dustin, Lucas, Mike and Will had spent most of the day trying to shove Max and El in the water, but were thwarted almost every time. I mean, c’mon, it’s El. Like she could’t sense it? Robin and Eddie found their little patch of shade under the only tree in the backyard and passed a joint back and forth until their eyes were glassy and heavy, lips permanently curved into lazy smiles. And Steve? Well. What Steve wanted to be doing and what he was actually doing were two very different things.
He couldn’t help his lifeguard instincts around the pool, sniping at the kids over all kinds of shit – out of love, obviously – but every single time he turned away it was to look at you.
You. Wearing his sunglasses. Your tangerine bikini hugging your curves just right, not leaving much to the imagination. The scent of your coconut sunscreen and citrus shampoo mixed with chlorine and Cherry Coke teasing him every time he walked by, it was almost painful.
Then, finally, the others hauled themselves out of the pool, tired from the heat and shoving each around and playing chicken and summer. You grinned watching as Mike and Lucas both sleepily settled their heads into El’s and Max’s laps atop their towels. Dustin and Will were off talking about Suzie and their next D&D campaign. And Robin and Eddie…well. They were there, but not there, and Steve had picked up the pool net to scoop out the few stray bits of crap the others had dragged into the water.
God. It was like he existed for summer. Like he was made for it. His skin all golden, kissed by the sun and dotted in freckles. Hair, just a touch lighter than it was in the winter, hanging across his dewy forehead. The muscles in his arms tensing and relaxing as he pushed and pulled the pool net through the water. Turquoise swim shorts dripping water, plip plip plip on the patio, clinging to his legs. Sunglasses perched on his head so that he couldn’t hide it if he snuck glances of you over there wearing his aviators.
You could feel his gaze wander up your long legs, your thighs, the soft curve of your hips, that damn tangerine top. And when you lifted a hand to take off your glasses, the grin you gave him was almost cruel. “Looking for something, Harrington?” you called across the patio.
Despite his tanned skin, the flush that rose in his cheeks could be seen from where you were sitting. “What?” fell out of his mouth, dumb in the summer sun, and he propped himself up against the pool skimmer, clearly caught. But then he recovered, just so very Steve. “Just admiring the view,” he gave you a grin of his own and it was your turn to blush.
Biting in your lower lip you put his aviators aside and smirked. “Nice day, hm?” you snarked, swinging your legs over the side of the lounger to stand.
“Oh, definitely a heat advisory in effect,” Steve teased back, discarding the skimmer on the patio at his feet, finally unable to keep himself away from you any longer.
Walking with a purpose he closed the gap between the two of you and took your face in his hands and pressed a heady kiss to your mouth, catching your lower lip between his. You tasted like popsicles and Cherry Coke.
“What was that for?” you murmured against his lips, his hands still holding onto your cheeks as your hands wandered up to rest on his chest.
“For not eating pizza in the pool,” he grinned against you as he went in for another kiss and then leaned in close, his lips to your ear, “I forgot something inside.”
It was so hot, the sun beating down on both of you, but you shivered at his words as goosebumps trailed along your neck. Laughing you tilted your head so that you could meet his gaze and when your eyes met your grin softened and fell. Steve’s eyes. Deep pools of caramel swimming with tiny flecks of hazel and gold. Long brown lashes sweeping his cheeks. Steve. He only had eyes for you.
“I’ll come with you,” your voice was barely above a whisper as you felt a heat rising in your core that had absolutely nothing to do with the hot Indiana sun, and without hesitation his hand was tangling with yours, pulling you through the slider door and up the stairs.
Steve kicked the door shut as you both tumbled into his room and he caught your lips in another kiss before pressing more down your jaw, your neck, to the little hollow behind your ear.
It was hot, the air in his room upstairs was warm and thick and his hands were everywhere all at once. Wandering across the small of your back, trailing the length of your arms, tugging your hips into his. It all made you dizzy, but you kept up.
Wrapping your hands around the back of his neck, you spun him around and pushed him down onto his bed. His eyes went wide for a split second, surprised at the show of confidence, but he came back down from it and grinned up at you. “So damn pretty,” he murmured and you knew he meant it.
“I could say the same to you,” you purred before diving down against him, your bodies finally pressing together, skin meeting skin around your bikini and his trunks. It felt electric. You’d both wanted nothing more after watching each other in the heat, dripping with the glittering turquoise of the pool, longing to look, to touch, to feel.
A groan escaped him as you trailed kisses along his shoulder and up against his stubbled jaw before settling your mouth on his, lightly pulling on his lower lip.
“Been wanting to do this all day,” he mumbled, fingers fumbling with the tie of your top, cinched snug against your body. As it came undone it fell down onto his chest and he stopped short, hands holding onto your waist for dear life. He looked at you like you were the only thing that existed in that moment. You were the only thing that existed in that moment. “Damn,” it was almost reverent, in awe of you. Every curve, every dip, the very softness of you.
Giving him a small smile you leaned down, brushing your lips against his ear, and simply whispered his name. Pulling back the look you gave him shattered any kind of control he’d been grasping onto and he loosed a heavy breath.
In one fell swoop Steve lifted you off of him easily, tossing you down on the bed before bringing his needy mouth to your sun kissed skin again, body meeting yours. You could feel him against you, could feel much he wanted you, and the heat pooling between your legs told you you wanted him just as much.
Steve bit your shoulder gently and he smirked when you sucked in a gasp. “Shit,” you hissed, half laughing half moaning at the kisses he started trailing down your chest and along the soft curve of your breasts.
His face moved down your body, mouth touching every bit of you he could, and then he paused and flicked his eyes up to look at you. “What?” his tongue ran along his lower lip as he grinned, knowing full well what he was doing to you.
Brow furrowing you propped yourself up on your elbows and opened your mouth to reply, but it promptly clamped shut when he slipped his mouth over your nipple, eliciting another moan from your lips. Your head fell back against the sheets as your hands moved to tangle in his hair. “Want you,” was all you could manage, your lips parted as your breath hitched in your throat.
“I know,” Steve’s voice was low, rough, and the grin he’d given you was long gone, pupils blown wide – fuck, he wanted you too. He pushed himself up for only as long as it took to yank his trunks off, his fingers deftly untying your bikini bottoms before tugging them out from under your ass and throwing them unceremoniously to the floor.
Standing at the edge of the bed he stopped and took in the vision you were, all soft curves and tan lines and freckles. Coconut sunscreen and cherry red lips. He leaned forward and ran his hands up your calves, hooking his palms behind your knees, and pulled you to the edge of the bed as he knelt down. Steve couldn’t take his eyes away from yours even as his hands moved to spread your legs apart, thumbs pressing into your thighs.
His fingers swept inward, slipping against the slick between your legs and you saw his eyes flutter closed for a second as he touched you, felt you, jaw clenching as he groaned, “So wet baby, is that for me?”
“Mhmm,” your mumbled yes was tangled up with another moan as he slipped first one finger then two inside of you, his thumb taking up a slow, languid pace as it traced circles over your clit. Steve was so good to you. Took care of you. You came first, always.
He easily found a rhythm as his fingers slipped in and out, in and out, in and out. It was wrecking you and as he picked up the pace your whimpers grew to moans despite biting down on your bottom lip. “You’re so good, baby,” he pressed kisses to your inner thigh, “Want you to come for me.”
Your heart was fluttering in your chest, like a hummingbird caught in your ribcage, frantic and seeking release. One hand still tangled in his hair, the other desperately clinging onto a fistful of sheets as you felt yourself racing closer to the edge. He made you feel so good, his fingers were so good, but he was too far away. You wanted him on you, crushing into you, fucking you.
“Steve,” breathless you begged, “Need you.” And he slowed, knowing exactly what you wanted. What you needed.
“Yeah, okay baby,” he reassured you, climbing over the top of you as he fumbled in his nightstand drawer and grabbed a condom, tearing the foil between his teeth and thumb. Kneeling with a leg on either side of your hips he slid it over his length, pumping his hand up and down a few times before fitting himself between your legs. You were so wet, sweet like honey, and his heart was pounding in his chest when he looked up into your eyes.
He slowly eased himself into you, feeling how tight you were on him, and he let out a groan. “Jesus Christ,” his eyes squeezed shut as he bottomed out, you felt so fucking good, but he quickly opened them again to look down at you. “Okay?” he asked.
“Yeah,” you felt your body slowly relax as you adjusted to the way he filled you, letting out a sigh, the most perfect melody to his ears, “M’okay.”
ALifting a hand to gently brush your hair away from your dewy forehead he took you in. “So pretty,” he whispered, "So damn beautiful." And then started rocking into you, your hips rising to meet him with each thrust. Slow at first, his forehead falling down to meet yours, one hand holding him over you as the other tangled your fingers with his.
“Oh shit,” Steve hissed as he picked up the pace, both of you panting with the effort as you pushed each other closer and closer to your breaking point. You looked up at him as he fucked into you, his pretty lips parted as he sucked in breaths, moving faster and faster chasing his high.
Letting your hand go he moved his fingers back down to your clit and moved them in slick, heavy circles and the moan you loosed then almost shattered him. “Oh–oh god, Steve, I’m gon-gonna come,” you were gasping for air, as the movements of his fingers grew messy and faster, wanting you to find release before he did, your name leaving his lips over and over like a prayer. And then something in you snapped and your hips bucked heavy against his, your hand flying up to hold onto his bicep like a lifeline as each wave of your climax washed over you.
“Fuck, me too, so close,” Steve’s face almost looked pained as his movements grew hurried and uneven, and then finally his rhythm broke too and his lips parted as his breath hitched in his throat. He finished fast as you clenched around him, guiding him up and over the edge and slowly he rocked his hips to a stand still, both of you messy and sweaty and wrecked.
Letting his head fall forward Steve buried his face in you, pressing light kisses to your collarbone, the crook of your neck, your cheek. He smirked, exhaustion creeping over both of you, and brought his lips to yours, “It’s that damn bikini.”
Laughing you slowly moved to cup his face in your hands and shook your head. “Mental note to wear it more often,” your own little grin tugged up at the corners of you lips as you pressed a kiss to his forehead.
Steve laughed, but it was cut short as he eased out of you and collapsed onto the bed next to you, the fan on the ceiling pushing the warm, thick, summer air around his room. Resting your head on his chest as he settled, you listened to his heartbeat thud, thud, thud against your ear, your breathing slowly evening out along with his.
He ran his fingers through your hair idly, humming low and content, and kissed the top of your head. “So–” he started, voice tired and gravely, but happy, “I…I wanted to tell you that…uh, what I mean is…shit.”
“What is it?” propping yourself up against his chest you looked at him, concern knitting your brow together.
He caught the worry in your eyes and quickly shook his head, his hand finding yours and turning it over to press a kiss to your palm. “No, no nothing bad!” he reassured you quickly, his cheeks flushing pink. “I just,” he sighed, an uncharacteristically nervous laugh escaping him, “I just wanted to tell you I love yo–”
“Steve!”
“It wasn’t my fault–”
“Mike told me to–”
“I did not!”
Voices carried up through the open window cutting Steve off and he jammed his tongue into his cheek. Someone was gonna get it.
“Oh my god, are you kidding me?” irritation gave Steve a second wind and he crossed the room so fast you couldn’t help laughing as you watched his bare ass stop at the window sill. “I’m a little busy here!” he yelled down at the boys, but then you saw his expression change. “Wait, who the hell got pizza in the pool??”
Quiet. Then a barrage of voices.
“Dustin was hungry–”
“I told him it wasn’t allowed, Steve–”
“You know how he is!”
“They’re all lying, Steve!”
Putting both hands over his face he groaned, loud and exaggerated, before letting them drop to his sides. He thought for a moment, then decided he didn’t care and threw his hands up in defeat.
“You know what? You figure it out,” he shouted back down at them and then pulled the sheer curtains shut before coming back to bed.
Laughing he tossed the sheet over both of you, pulling you in close, smiling against your skin, his hands holding you soft and gentle and then he finally whispered against your ear what it was he was trying to tell you all that time.
I love you.
crappymixtape™ • steve harrington masterlist // stranger things masterlist
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ectonurites · 1 year
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miwip wednesday ft a lil doodle hehe...
[text under the cut in case the images are hard to read]
So here he is, still awake and blatantly staring. Watching the rhythmic rise and fall of Will’s chest—one of Mike’s shirts on him since none of his own clothes are in Hawkins anymore. 
Mike has spent a lot of time staring at Will in his life, and once it finally clicked why he liked doing it so much, he’d become hyperaware. Constantly catching himself, trying to look less when other people were around, to go unnoticed, to be subtle. To figure out what amount of staring was normal between friends—sometimes it feels like everybody else already knows things like that, and he just missed the memo. 
Will lets out a soft sigh as he shifts again. His head falls to the side, angled towards Mike, and the hand that had been resting on his stomach now lays by the side of his face. He’s got a better view of Will now for sure, and Mike wishes he didn’t feel like he was doing something he wasn’t supposed to. 
Because even in the low light, even with his eyes closed and his hair all messed up from twisting around in his sleep, Will is beautiful. 
His fingers twitch ever so slightly, a blink-and-you’d-miss-it sort of thing, but Mike’s gaze is drawn to the movement. He doesn’t understand anything anymore, he doesn’t understand Will anymore after the last few days. But god, he wants to. He wants so much. 
Most of all, at this moment at least, he wants to hold Will’s hand—like when they were little kids and that was something he was allowed to do. 
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bellaramseysgf · 2 years
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Baby Bat (E.M)
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Warning(s); none? Just fluff!!
Pairing(s); Vamp/Bat! Eddie Munson x Girlfriend! Reader.
Summary; You bring Eddie with you to work.
A/n; sooo this Is written as Eddie being able to shapeshift as a vampire into a bat! Bc otherwise it’s illegal so🫡
Also, this is short because it’s just a test to see how people like it! If you want more PLEASE tell me!! I’d love to write about it more!!
“You have until the 6th to return them” your customer nodded and thanked you leaving with their videos. Steve walked in for his shift change with Robin “hey Steve!” He was messing with a button on his vest. “Hey! How-” Steve’s eyes locked in on your head and his head tilted “you…when did you get ears?” He questioned. “What? Oh! No that’s just Eddie” you waved him off.
“You say that like it’s Normal!” Steve walked around the counter “it is, you didn’t know he turns into a bat?” Steve shook his head. “Yeah, kinda a power of his” Steve stepped around you seeing the black, furry blob attached to your head. “Awh, I wanna hold him” Steve went to pick him up “Steve I would-” but it was too late.
He woke Eddie up and Eddie immediately started to chip, high pitched almost like he was crying. “Steve!” You scolded and took Eddie back carefully moving him onto your sweater. “Shhh, Shh it’s okay. You’re back with me now” you rubbed your finger gently over his head. “What was that!” “Him cussing at you in bat language” you giggled.
“Seriously, he just doesn’t like people touching him when he’s a bat” “but you touch him!” “I’m his girlfriend, it’s different” Eddie hooked his claws into the holes of your shirt and settled back down into his slumber. “You’re allowed to bring him into work?” He asked and you nodded “he’s mostly quiet so he doesn’t bother anything” you started to label vhs tapes with prices.
“What happens if he turns back into a human?” You shrug “then he’s human?” You turned around to face him “Steve, you really are just a pretty boy” Steve scoffed and went on about his work.
You continued to work until eventually eddie woke back up flapping his wings “big stretch!” You cooed smiling as he let out a quiet chirp nuzzling your chin. He climbed down your sweater hooking himself around one of your belt loops and hanging there. “Silly boy” you booped his tiny nose and he let out another happy chirp.
Dustin walked in along with Mike and max “hey guys!” You said and Eddie perked up flying over to dustin. “Oh! Hi Eddie” Dustin smiled and he settled on his cap “what’s up?” You ask. “Do you guys have dirty dancing yet?” Max asked and Mike gagged “Michael, be nice” you turned to max “I’ve no clue let me get Steve.”
You left to find Steve dragging him back upfront “Max you know I can’t give you that movie, Billy’s rules.” “But he’s not here” max said and Steve sighed. “You’re trying to get me killed” you looked over at him “don’t you have a bat with nails in it? Use that” Steve groaned. “No, I’m not giving you the movie max” she crossed her arms.
“Hmph!” She walked off toward the cassette tapes and Mike followed behind her. Meanwhile, Dustin sat his backpack on the counter “what’ve you got?” You asked and he pulled out cut up banana. “Can I give him some?” You nodded and Eddie leaned down over the brim of his hat chirping for the fruit.
“It’s so much easier to get him to eat fruit in this form” Dustin agreed and you smiled watching Eddie continue to munch on the fruit Dustin would hand him. “How’s the dnd figures coming?” You asked and Dustin shrugged “they’re coming good, messed up on Kas but Otherwise it’s fine.” You nodded “well good! I got that paint you wanted by the way it’s in the back” Dustin perked up “oh! Thanks” you smiled at him.
“Eddie, come” you tapped the front of your collarbone and he flapped over allowing Dustin to go get his paint. Eddie crawled down your sweater and clung you your jeans chirping loudly at you. “Okay, okay calm down” you tugged open your jean pocket and he crawled inside. “Such a sweet boy” you rubbed his head with your finger and cleaned up the banana.
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flowercrowngods · 7 months
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felt like letting mike and steve work through some shit again
cw: descriptions and imagery of them being lost and self-sacrificing, left alone with trauma they have no means to work through, could read as suicidal tendencies or intrusive thoughts
🤍 also on ao3
“What do you want?” Mike asks when Steve sits down beside him, gravel crunching, their feet dangling over the dark and endless abyss that is the quarry at night.
Steve doesn’t answer right away, doesn’t really know what to say now that he’s here, now that he found him. He looks so small, now more than ever, and it reminds Steve so painfully that he’s still just a child. He was always just a child, and children shouldn’t—
It feels like they got their rights at a childhood revoked years ago, and then they were just… supposed to be okay with it. It was expected, it was implied when nobody came to talk to them after.
When all they got was one NDA after another. When none of the professionally trained adults took one look at the children that they were, and asked, Are you okay? What do you need to be okay? I will talk to you once a week and make sure you learn how to be okay again.
Steve feels like a big brother to most of the kids now, sure, but he’s not their shrink, and he sucks when it comes to actually talking about shit. He can be there to drive them anywhere, can provide an evening of distractions and as much of a sanctuary as a house as haunted as his can be.
With everything else, though, he’s helplessly lost. So he says nothing, weighs his words to make sure they come out right — especially for Mike, who’s always just waiting for him to say something wrong and throw it back in his face with the sunny disposition of a feral, rabid cat.
“Hey,” Mike says then, irritated again; but his voice is hoarse, too. Tired. No heat behind it after that stupid fight with Dustin and Lucas earlier tonight that made him snap and leave Steve’s house in a frenzy. “I said, What do you want?”
Steve shrugs, looking ahead into the darkness that feels endless and alluring and deeply terrifying.
I miss my friend! My best friend, Mike!
“Making sure you’re okay.”
You’ve changed, you know that? You’re not the guy who would jump off a cliff for me anymore, I don’t think I even know you anymore!
Dustin’s voice echoes in Steve’s mind as it undoubtedly does in Mike’s, too, and he can only imagine how much that hurts, especially if he’s shivering like that even though the night is warm for early September.
“I’m okay,” Mike says, sounding endlessly annoyed about the fact. Steve almost huffs out a humourless laugh. Yeah, right.
“Sure you are,” Steve says, keeping his tone carefully neutral.
He shrugs off his jacket and drapes it over Mike’s shoulders without a comment, half-expecting him to just throw it into the darkness below. But Mike doesn’t move, is eerily still beside him, pretending not to notice that Steve’s watching him.
“But you know it’s, like,” he starts again and trails off, looking for the right words because this is unfamiliar terrain and the ground beneath his feet is quite literally nonexistent. “It’s fine if you’re not, right? It’s actually really fucking normal to be more than a little fucked up after everything, all that crazy shit. Or just… in general.”
You were twelve, he wants to say. You were twelve and you jumped off from here. You were twelve and you were going to die. And not because of those monsters, not yet. Just because… you were twelve.
Mike doesn’t say anything, but the gravel crunches once more as he reaches for a handful of stones to throw them into the darkness one by one, the void beneath them so enormous that they don’t even hear the noise of impact.
You jumped.
The longer Mike remains silent, the more Steve wants to scream, wants to grab him by the shoulders and shake him, wants to make him see and understand that Steve knows about the scars a decision like that leaves, especially when you live to deal with the consequences.
He gets seizures to deal with the consequences. His ear is fucky, his eye is twitchy, his head is aching constantly, he gets migraines that knock him out for a day or two, all because he wanted to protect his friends. All because he did protect his friends. It worked. They’re safe.
But they’re also unaware of… of everything. Of the horrible stillness as clarity dawns and all signs point to the one way that always seems to work. The one easy way out, and still the hardest of them all when the plan goes wrong and he makes it out alive. When It’s gotta be me is the only thing to say, but later turns into an angry It never should have been me because the world looks different when it’s smeared with your blood.
And it’s always the lost boys who make decisions like that. Steve wonders, some nights in cold sweat, what happens if he makes these decisions without immediate danger. What happens if he just… decides to jump. Decides to run. To give the world more of his blood. Without saving anyone.
It’s not like he wants to — but he’s terrified that it’s just who he is. Who he’s turned into, terrified that his friends will forever expect him to.
And he’s even more terrified knowing that Mike jumped before he learned about monsters. Before he learned about fighting and surviving.
You were a kid, he wants to say again, but his throat is closing up on him.
“I don’t think that’s okay actually,” Mike says after a while, tearing Steve away from his fears. They’re still both looking ahead rather than at each other, but it’s fine. They’re still here. “Like, people say it is, but it feels so empty when they do, you know? Like, sure, yeah, I’m not fucking okay, but what the hell do we do about that now? Oh, right, I know! Let’s throw it in my face that I’m not good enough for you anymore now that there’s no monsters to kill anymore. Now that I’m just Mike, who’s not even enough to be that anymore, sure. Right. Yeah. Let’s pretend it’s all fine, Steve, let’s pretend it’s okay to hurt all the fucking time!”
Mike is shaking now, violent tremors running through his body, and Steve’s first instinct is to reach out and pull him close, to keep him from that edge and take him to his car; turn on the heating and talk there. But Mike seems to need the darkness, seems to need to be faced with endless depth to give voice to his thoughts.
“What Dustin said was messed up. He shouldn’t have said that.”
Mike shrugs, throwing more pebbles into the darkness, though his motions have lost their vigour. “He’s right, though.”
Steve sighs, though not unkindly. “No, he’s not. Hey, listen to me.” He waits until Mike turns to meet his eyes, and he leans forward. “It’s not okay. It’s not right what he said. You don’t deserve to have that shit thrown in your face just because Dustin is a tactless little douche bag.”
Taking a bullet for someone is not the baseline for friendship, he wants to say, and it occurs to him once again how fucked up their perception and idea of friendship must be, now that they’ve all bonded over the most horrific shit and actual grief they never learned how to work through.
It’s not even Dustin’s fault, not really. They’re all just collateral damage to something Bigger, and all they have is each other, leaving them in a vicious cycle that is so, so fucked up.
“Why’d you jump?” he asks eventually, quiet in case the darkness tries to listen in. “Back then, why did you jump?” And do you wish El had let you? Do you sometimes wish that? When your room is quiet and it’s only you living with all those silent, terrible decisions?
Mike shrugs again, but there’s not much fight left in him, Steve can see that, can feel it in the air between them.
“Will was gone,” he says like it explains everything— and it sort of does. Steve has seen the way these boys look at each other when the other’s not looking, he has seen the hurt and the anger and the gentleness stored there, the words unspoken and the fear that, despite interdimensional monsters, kinda goes unmatched.
Because they have each other. They only have each other. And if someone’s suddenly different than what they thought they knew, if someone’s suddenly different, then… Everything might just fall apart.
And Steve wants to grab him again; wants to pull him close and say, I’m the same. We have the same scars. We have the same!
Slowly, carefully, he does lean over now, weaving an arm around Mike’s shoulders and pulling him into his side.
“I get that.”
Mike swallows heavily and exhales shakily. “I don’t think you do.”
“No. I think I really, really do. But it’s okay, Mike. You won’t be alone with this, okay. I’m on your side, you little shit.”
A pause, a beat, a moment’s respite. Then, “Why?”
“Because,” his heart is racing, his mouth trembling around forming the words for the first time, but he knows it’s the right thing to do. Knows it’s important.
Knows it might just save a life.
“Because I fell harder for Eddie Munson than I ever thought possible, and once i found out what was happening, I kind of wanted to jump off a cliff, too. But I didn’t, because I had someone with the same fears as me, and instead of stupid shit we just… Cried together sometimes. Screamed into our pillows. Laughed with and at each other, calling ourselves hopeless, and— I don’t know. It’s really fucking scary, and that doesn’t go away just because you have someone to talk to. But it‘s… better. It’s so much better.”
He huffs, swallowing around the lump in his throat, smiling into the darkness.
“So I’ve got you, okay? Whatever it is, whatever makes you feel like it’s not fucking okay, I’ve got you. You come to me, yeah? Lucas does, Dustin does, even Max does. This is your official, standing invitation and whatever, okay, dickhead?”
Mike shoves at him lightly, still not parting from the rather awkward side-hug they’ve got going on, and Steve is glad for it.
“Okay, okay, geez,” the little shithead says, rolling his eyes which Steve can see even in the dark, and it feels like the edge has moved away from them, like they have solid ground beneath their feet again.
Steve doesn’t say anything more after that, just waiting for Mike to stir to lead him back to the car, load in his bike and take him wherever he feels like spending the night.
But Mike doesn’t move for another long while, and it makes Steve feel like something big has just happened between them. Like they finally have found the common ground that Steve’s been suspecting they had for months now, even years.
Eventually, as they make their way to the car and Mike goes to grab his bike, he speaks up again, but more subdued now.
“Hey, Steve?”
“Hmm?”
“Does… Does Eddie know?”
“About what?” My tendencies to take a leap off the edge?
“You. Being…”
“Oh!” A smile as he unlocks his car and opens the back door to squeeze Mike’s old bike in there with minimal smears of dirt. “I’d hope so, we’ve been dating for months.”
“You’re dating?! You? Eddie’s dating you?”
“Yeah, listen, do you want me to just leave you here or would you rather be thrown out in the middle of nowhere?”
Mike grumbles something unintelligible as he climbs into the front seat, waiting for Steve to start the engine before he speaks up again.
“It’s just, you’re so… How did you even do that?”
Steve laughs at that, disbelieving and all, because, “Trust me, I have no idea. Must have been the ol’ Harrington charm and all that.”
Mike rolls his eyes and crosses his arms in front of his chest, sinking lower in the seats to pout. “You’re so lame.”
“Sorry, I couldn’t hear you over how much I have a boyfriend and you don’t.”
If his heart skips a beat because it still feels like a forbidden truth saying the word out loud despite the playful banter, then he’s ignoring that in favour of revving the engine.
“Asshole.”
“Dickhead.”
“Grow up,” Mike says, but Steve can see the smile he’s not even trying to hide, and he mirrors it with his own as he turns on the radio catching the final tunes of Springsteen’s Dancing in the Dark.
They’re not okay, none of them. But the car is warm, the cliff’s edge is behind them, and they’re not listening to the same ten songs anymore.
They’re getting better, step by tiny step.
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callmedylan · 6 months
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Fnaf Movie But Ness, Vanessa, Cory, Max, and Mike are all just in one big friend group and call themselves the “Fazgang”
‼️Important info‼️: okay so I’ve been thinking about this idea for an AU and stuff where Cory, ness, max, Vanessa, and Mike are all in a silly little friend group and they call themselves the “Fazgang” and they just hang out and stuff. So have some fact, headcanons, and info dump about this hc/AU cause I love it. I ship Vanessa x Max and SecurityWaiter so be prepared for those to be sprinkled in. (I ask that you credit me if you draw or use this AU pls :))) /nf )
Also petition to make Vanessa x max a ship and Call it “LockJaw” (for obvious reasons)
I imagine they all met someway through Mike. Mike introduced Vanessa to Max since him and max have been friends for a while, then Mike meets Ness because him and Abby become regulars at Sparkys and he eventually invites him to hang out with him, Vanessa, and max and the 4 just don’t stop hanging out. Then they one night decide to take a taxi to the place they are going to and Cory is their driver, and nobody really knows how but by the end of the ride they’ve all exchanged numbers with Cory and the 5 make plans to start hanging out.
ness is the tallest out of them all being 5”11 and whenever they are walking with each other down the street his head just sorta peaks over everyone.
the gang will usually hang out and play video games, and If Ness convinces them, they’ll read over random creepypasta stories and urban legends on online forums.
the group has a group chat where they all text each other during work or when they are bored.
Cory tends to rant about the weirdos he has to drive around with ness while ness rants about the rude customers he has to deal with.
Max enjoys writing and wants to be a romance author. She works at a library so she can read the romance books on her breaks.
ness gives the gang a discount whenever they stop in to sparkys and calls it a “personal friend discount” (he technically isn’t allowed to give them a discount but his boss will never know)
The group loves Halloween and they usually dress up and walk around their town to crash any party’s, parades, or to just take Abby trick or treating.
ness convinced the gang to create an online ARG with him with “found footage” recordings and everything but he eventually forgot about it and a large community started to surround it thinking it was real and he ended up having to apologize for it like 10 years later.
ness has a online conspiracy theory forum where he discusses his theory’s, the gang follows it and boosts his posts for him.
the gang likes to go to scary houses during Halloween and they each react very differently. Ness tends to grab at people (usually Mike) to steady himself when scared, Cory is prone to screaming loudly but also charging at the actors (they’ve almost gotten kicked out before because of this), max has a very slow reaction time and tends to just freeze up or swear under her breath when an actor jump-scares her, Vanessa doesn’t react at all (literally, she just doesn’t get scared by that type of stuff), and Mike just acts how any normal person would (or he tries to run off).
ness is gay, Vanessa and Mike are both bi, max is a lesbian, and Cory is straight.
since none of them are close to their families (except for Cory) the group hangs out together during holidays like Christmas. Cory usually visits his family for Christmas and holidays but on years where he can’t visit he’ll spend time with them.
cory made them all each a driving Mixtape for their birthdays.
they each have very differing music tastes. Ness preferring musical music, max prefers old love songs, Cory prefers 90’s hip hop, Vanessa likes alternative rock, and Mike enjoys any type of 90-2000s grunge rock and emo music. (Mike definitely listens to the smiths, the cure, and Alex G)
The gang ate over at Vanessa’s one night and the 5 tried to make dinner but failed and made a mess of her kitchen (they ordered takeout and spent the rest of the night listening to music and cleaning up Vanessa’s kitchen.)
Mike sometimes leaves Abby to be babysat by the gang while he’s off working and he once came back to them all dressed up with glitter makeup having a tea party with Abby (she forced them to do this)
In this AU Max does not die but Vanessa and Mike never tell Cory, Ness, or max all of the extra details. They know the robots are haunted to some capacity but not about Vanessa’s involvement or any specific details.
(This is not canon to the au, just a “what if” scenario) if max were to still die in this AU, Vanessa and Mike would not tell Cory and Ness what happened, out of concern for the twos genuine well being and because of how absurd it seems.
all of them visited Freddys some time in their childhood
Max and Vanessa have a fear of mascot outfits
Ness wanted to do a “paranormal investigation” at Freddy’s for theorizing and emailed the owner several times for about 2 months leading up to the events of the movie (he also begged Mike to sneak him in during his working nights but Mike said no cause he didn’t want to get fired).
cory called them the “Fazgang” once as a joke and it kinda just stuck, now that’s what they and everyone who knows about their group refers to them as.
when Cory and the group went for a drive in his taxi they went on a back road and ended up breaking down in the middle of a dirt road in the woods. (They just finished a movie marathon where they watched the texas chainsaw massacre and Wrong Turn 1, so now half of them refuse to leave the car.)
Abby slept through the entire situation.
Lots of trauma, it’s like a group therapy session 24/7.
all of them get along with Abby, she actually gets excited whenever they hang out (since Mike takes her with him due to not wanting to leave her home alone by herself).
They all share a single braincell.
Ness and max are both 25, Mike is 26, Cory is the youngest at 24, and Vanessa is the oldest being 26 as well but older by a month.
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Ok so I think I may be losing my mind over some plastic wrap lmao
But PLEASE look at this and tell me I'm not crazy and this is actually weird:
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Karen I'm begging you to explain to me why the fuck do you have 2 plastic wrap packages from different brands UPSIDE DOWN in your kitchen cabinet. PLS.
Is it just me?? Is this completely normal and I'm losing my mind over nothing??? I mean probably but WHY ARE THEY THE ONLY THING THAT'S UPSIDE DOWN AND PLUS THEY'RE COMPLETELY LEGIBLE
So since I've spent the last 3 hours looking at fucking plastic wrap let me share some thoughts:
First of all, to structure this mess in some way, let's look at the dates. First, at the Reynolds Wrap invention date. Bc PLS LOOK AT THIS
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Oh. Looks like it was created in 1947. Do you guys wanna know who was also born in 1947??
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I. Uh. What the fuck. WHAT THE FUCK.
"It could be a coincidence" Dude I KNOW I'm just doing this bc I've spent hours researching about plastic wrap and I NEED to tell someone ok y'all are my therapists ksjdalkj
Now the Glad Wrap was founded in 1963, and some pages say that Kali was born in 1963, others in 1964, and others that in s2 she's 16/17 so there's no way she was born back then; so idk about this date.
Now let's go with the ads, starting with Glad Wrap bc it's by far the most interesting one.
I've seen multiple commercials but none of them seemed to have anything meaningful EXCEPT FOR THIS ONE WHICH IS MAKING ME ABSOLUTELY LOSE MY MIND:
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Am I crazy. Do I seriously need to sleep. Or does that look an awful lot like Karen Wheeler??? Especially here in s4????
I mean, the hairstyle and the blond hair, but much more importantly, the outfit.
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Like?????? I mean I get that it's 80's white wealthy woman fashion, fine, but that's a whole load of coincidences???
Now for the rest of the ad, the plastic wrap thingy that attacks the woman is pretty interesting, as well as the clock in the background for Vecna reasons. Regarding similarities with the Wheeler's kitchen, I could only catch due to the low quality the bowl with apples and the phone on the wall (you can't see it on the screenshot but there's a phone behind Mike). I couldn't really find anything about the strawberries, but if y'all know something pls tell me
As a bonus, the ad is from 1987, which as far as I know is when everyone guesses s5 is gonna take place in
Now there's no much to see in the Reynolds Wrap ads, except maybe this one:
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(Ignore the yt bar lmao) Although not as much as the previous one, the woman's outfit in that frame does remind me of this Karen s4 look, the same look she has on that scene the damn plastic wrap came from.
Ik this is all probably meaningless, buuuut do you guys want more meaningless shit??
Let's go back to the Glad Wrap ad. The slogan for that specific ad is "Don't get mad. Get glad." Welp, Vecna's a fan of this last word bc out of 9 times it's said in s5, 4 are said by him.
Let's take a quick look at the most interesting time he says that word. We're in Vecna's monologue in chp 7, and in the same scene just some minutes before, he says this:
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"I could not do that. I could not close off my mind and join in the madness. I could not pretend. And I realized, I didn't have to."
Let's remember the slogan: "Don't get mad. Get glad."
Then, a couple minutes later, in the same scene:
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"And soon, others were born. You were born. And I am so glad you were, Eleven. So very glad."
Now literally two seconds before this last line, this shot was happening:
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And. Um. Do you. Do you guys know what's used for tattoos. Um.
Plastic wrap???
Do y'all get why I said I've a hundred percent lost my mind sjdfisdjfil
Ok so. That was it. Anyways I couldn't find anything else important about the rest of items in the kitchen shelve. If y'all have a better explanation as to WHY TF are those plastic wrap packages upside down and perfectly legible, PLS TELL ME. This said, goodbye
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wiseatom · 1 year
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it's the first kiss, it's flawless, it's really something. it's fearless.
ok i am feeling fearless tonight, and thea byler first kisses are The Byler First Kisses so i am politely requesting a first kiss in the rain!
this was a VILE prompt to send in that i am so emotional about fearless (taylor's version) and byler and byler first kisses. i hate you so much. i hope you love it.
“Probably shouldn’t have taken our bikes, huh?” 
Will looks over at Mike, blinking rainwater out of his eyes – they’re standing under the awning of the entrance to the only bank in town, closed for the afternoon and completely free of any other miserable, rain-drenched suckers. The bikes in question are lying on their sides on the pavement, abandoned in their haste to get under cover. And Mike is completely soaked, dark hair plastered to his forehead and shirt clinging to hm probably just as uncomfortably as Will’s is sticking to his own skin, and he’s got this sheepish, guilty grin on his face. It had been his idea to take their bikes, hadn’t it? Something about we only have a few weeks left of this weather, Will and let’s enjoy the summer sun, Will and it’s only a twenty percent chance of rain, Will, we’ll be fine. 
Famous last words. 
“Well, it was only a twenty percent chance of rain,” Will points out, doing a bad job of suppressing a smile of his own. This one, though, is less in the realm of guilty, and more in the realm of, I told you so, idiot. "How could we have known?"
Mike shoves at him, a playful brush of wet skin on wet skin, and Will laughs. “Shut up,” Mike says, but he’s still smiling. He reaches a hand up, tangling his fingers in his hair as he brushes it up and off of his forehead, and Will immediately looks away, biting his lip – he shouldn’t think Mike looks cool right now. In actuality, Mike looks like a drowned rat; in actuality, Mike is the reason that they’re stranded here, soaked from the rain; in actuality, none of that makes Will want to kiss him any less.
“How long do you think it’ll last?” Mike is asking now, somehow heard over the sound of the rain hitting the pavement and the sound of all the blood in Will’s body rushing all at once to his ears. He crosses his arms over his chest, resolutely staring at the empty office building across the street, at the trees in boxed planters swaying in the wind – anywhere but Mike, willing his heart rate to go back to normal.
“Check your phone,” Will suggests, doing a very good job of keeping his voice even and steady. “Hot tip: if there’s a little rain cloud under the number, that means it’s still going to rain.”
He doesn’t have to look to know that Mike is rolling his eyes. “Really living up to your name, o’ Will the Wise,” he says, and then presumably turns his attention to digging his phone out of the wet, gross pocket of his jeans – or at least, that’s what Will guesses he’s doing. He still won’t look at him, so he wouldn’t really know, but there’s a lapse in conversation that Will can only attribute to looking at the weather app. “It’s only going to last for another half hour,” Mike declares, affirming Will’s assumptions. 
Will lets out a scoff. “Let me see,” he says, more aggressive than he intends to be, but he doesn’t trust Mike’s assessment of the weather at the moment, thank you very much. Good thing Mike has no interest in meteorology, because Will would have way too much fun bursting that bubble. 
In a feat that has taken years of a mixture of natural talent and diligent practice, Will manages to avoid looking at Mike directly, instead just looking at the raindrop-smeared screen of his phone.  Fortunately for Will, Mike is actually right – the app does show that the rain is going to clear in thirty minutes, the forecast free of tiny thunderclouds for the rest of the evening. Unfortunately for Will, his herculean efforts of not looking at Mike are thwarted completely by standing so close to Mike that he can feel the body heat radiating off of him, and he literally jumps back, cheeks burning.
Smooth. He still won’t look at Mike, but he can tell Mike is looking at him, now. Great.
“You’re jumpy,” Mike comments, sounding amused. 
“I’m not jumpy,” Will barks back, rocking back and forth on his heels, which is almost jumping. He plants his feet to the ground instantly, standing as still as possible. 
“You are,” Mike says, taking a step closer to Will, who immediately steps away from him in – well, in a jumpy way. Damn it. “You’re like a little rabbit.” 
Will flushes something violent, his cheeks burning with it, and this is not what he had in mind when he was urging his respiratory system to act normally around Mike Wheeler, please, for once in our pathetic life. 
“I am not,” he says haughtily, still refusing to look at him. 
“You are,” Mike insists, reaching out to grab at Will by the waist. Will yelps and hops away from him, out from under the cover of the awning and nearly tripping over a nearby parking block. Mike laughs at him. “See?” he says, sliding his phone back into his pocket and taking another step towards Will, who hops backwards out of his reach, involuntarily proving Mike’s point. “Bunny rabbit behavior.” 
“Because you’re trying to grab me,” Will seethes, no real heat to it, taking several steps back as Mike steps out into the rain after him. “Go away.” 
Mike only smiles wider, lunging for Will again with his arms stretched out. His fingers brush the wet fabric of Will’s soaked t-shirt, but on account of it being wet and Will once again jumping away from him, he doesn’t quite get a hold on him. 
“Bunny behavior,” Mike repeats, a gleeful sing-song, and Will flips him off. 
“I hate you,” Will spits out, dodging another grab attempt. 
“You don’t,” Mike says. 
“I do,” Will insists, letting out another yelp as Mike comes after him again. He does more than jump away this time, trying to beat the bunny allegations, and instead turns to run towards the other side of the parking lot. 
Mike makes a noise of protest, and Will glances over his shoulder to see Mike start after him. “Come back!” he calls out, following Will’s path through the parking lot, “I’m not agile enough for this!” 
“Not my fault!” Will yells back, though he’s not having much luck, either, the oil from the asphalt of the parking lot working together with the rain to make him slip and slide all over the place. Mike is working against the same conditions, but even with Will’s head start, Mike and his stupid long legs make the distance between them a lot closer than Will would like. “Oh my God,” he screams, jumping away from yet another close call, “get away from me, you freak!” 
“You’re just mad that I caught up to you,” Mike laughs, and then immediately slips in a puddle. It would be funny, except it sends him sliding forward, and his momentum is too quick for Will to react on time – which lets Mike crash right into him, grabbing at the clinging fabric of Will’s t-shirt for dear life. 
“Yes,” Will grits out, trying to squirm out of his grip, but Mike’s hold is firm, “I’m very, very mad. Let go.” 
“Nah,” Mike says, pulling Will closer and spinning them around, their sneakers sloshing with every step. Will grips onto Mike’s biceps, fingernails digging in for some sort of purchase on his wet skin, desperately trying not to topple over backwards and take Mike with him. “I like you right here.” 
They’re close – so, so close – but Will won’t look up, fixing his gaze on Mike’s bony shoulder and the way his shirt clings to it, almost transparent. The rain beats down on them, flattening Will’s hair against his forehead and sending a cascade of water dripping into his eyes, but he doesn’t care. It beats the alternative. 
“You’re an idiot,” he accuses Mike’s shoulder, furiously blinking against the onslaught of rainwater. 
“You like me, anyway,” Mike answers easily, fondly, hopefully. “You like me so much.” 
Despite himself, this makes Will tip his head back to look up at Mike, rain be damned, because that’s not the way a friend says those words. And that’s certainly not the way a friend looks at a friend, either. 
Will blinks, and the entire day restructures itself in Will’s head: Mike, calling him at noon, insisting he find his bike, because he’d be over in twenty; Mike, almost crashing into a fire hydrant, because he’d been too busy looking at Will to pay attention to where he was going; Mike, paying for his meal at the burger joint they’d gone to for lunch, a normal occurrence; Mike, constantly tapping his foot against Will’s beneath the table, brushing Will’s ankle with his toe, something that’s never happened before. 
And then there was Mike, insisting they go grab ice cream and share it, so that they could get the most bang for their buck; and there was Mike, offering his same spoon to Will, waving off Will’s halfhearted concern about germs; and there was Mike, lying back in the grass with him, his body angled towards Will as he let Will ramble about the portfolio he’s preparing for his college admissions; and there was Mike, who offered to bike back with Will all the way to his house, even though it was in the wrong direction from Mike’s own. 
This entire day has been a date. He payed for Will’s food, and played footsie with him, and shared his ice cream, and happily listened to Will rant, and chased him in the rain, and, and – Mike took Will on a date, and Will didn’t even notice until right now. 
Maybe they’re both idiots.
“I do,” Will says now, squinting up at Mike through the rain. He lifts one of his hands from Mike’s bicep to Mike’s hair, ignoring the way that it shakes in favor of pushing Mike’s hair back off of his forehead again. He lets his fingers card through the wet strands, traveling from Mike’s hairline all the way around his scalp so that his hand is resting at the nape of Mike’s neck, its tremor slight, but still there. His voice is steady, though. Braver than he feels. “I do like you so much.”
Mike’s hold on him tightens, pulling Will forward so that their torsos are pressed up against each other, and any and all nerves get washed away with the rain. Holding tight onto that courage and running with it, he uses his grip as leverage to pull Mike’s face down to his, stands on his tiptoes, and brings Mike’s mouth to his.
The first thing Will registers is that wet, the rainwater catching between them, but as Mike’s mouth moves against his, gently pressing for something beyond the static stack of lips on top of lips, the kiss bursts with new sensation. Mike’s mouth is warm, stark but welcome against the chill of the rain, and the strawberry flavor from his ice cream from earlier makes itself known in the next brush of their lips, bringing a sweetness Will hadn’t expected. It’s soft, slick, sweet, and somehow – shy yet fearless, all at once. 
Will lowers himself back to the ground, breaking the contact but bringing Mike down with him. He holds his face close and just breathes him in, all sweet strawberry breath and the fresh muskiness of petrichor and somewhere beneath them both, that same generic bath soap Mike’s mom has been buying for him as long as Will has known him. It’s a mix of old and new and Mike, Mike, Mike, and best of all, it’s his. It’s his. 
“For the record,” Mike says, his breath fanning out across Will’s face, and through the haze, Will wonders why he was trynig to get away from Mike earlier when this is so much better, “I like you so much, too.” 
Will smiles, big and wide and bright enough to banish the storm clouds, but he doesn’t want them to leave. He’s not ready to give this moment up, not yet.
“Good,” he says, bringing his other arm up to wrap around Mike’s neck. Mike’s thumbs brush at his hips through the soaked fabric of his t-shirt, and Will shudders, the feeling soaking him to the bone in a way the rain could never hope to manage. “Kiss me about it.”
And as certain as the rain falling down all around them – Mike does, and does, and does. 
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