#steves parents are shitty

[y0urnewstepp4r3nt]

I feel like Steve is a December baby and his birthday is within a week before Christmas and since his parents are shitty (cause we all collectively agreed) his parents don't come home from the business trips for Christmas or new years let alone Steve's birthday. So Steve never mentions when his birthday is because he's so used to being alone, his parents wouldn't come home, his friends would celebrate with their family's or go on holidays. When someone asks him when his birthday is he always says "Oh it's already passed don't worry about it" or "don't worry it's so far away" something like that. Carol and Tommy would always pester him to throw a HUGE party for his birthday so he did one year but he had it in like June and everyone loved it apart from Steve.

When Steve befriends the kids they don't ask they just assume he does something without them and don't make a fuss. No one in the party makes any comments about Steve's birthday because it's Steve he probably throw partys. Then Eddie comes along and they go the whole year celebrating everyone's birthdays apart from Steve's, and the dude is so confused why No one mentions Steve's birthday so he asks Steve when his birthday is and gets a different answer every time. Eddie eventually gets frustrated and tells Steve he just wants to spoil him on his birthday and treat him like the princess he is. I feel like Steve would tell Eddie randomly a couple days later and Eddie would memorize it and spoil Steve on his birthday when everyone else had dismissed it for his entire life.

Honestly didn't expect that to be so long sorry dudes.

#steve harrington #steve needs a hug #steves parents are shitty #steve is a Christmas baby now #im totally not projecting #christmas #steve stranger things #stranger things #steddie #i have no idea where this is going #eddie munson #steve is a single mom

[sp0o0kylights]

Steve’s mother was the black sheep of her family.

Stella hated the snow, and the isolation of the small town she grew up in. Hated the bright colors, and sheer friendliness of the neighbors. How everyone was always involved in each other’s business, at all times--and how getting involved meant sharing.

Giving up your time for the greater good.

‘We’re one big family!’ Her father had told her, and hadn’t understood why she found the concept utterly revolting.

Just like she couldn’t understand why they never agreed with her ideas. Things would run so much more smoothly with more rules, better regulations. They didn’t need to rely on magic when they had spreadsheets.

Who cared if some people were upset? If some of the workers where put out of jobs, or “hurt” by her changes?

That was how evolution worked.

The strongest survived, and the business world demanded only the strongest of leaders.

She didn’t regret leaving.

Didn’t look behind her for a second, all too happy to go to college and find herself a rich man to make miserable.

Even had a child, though they were never her favorite things. Her Steven of course, would be so much different from the children she’d grown up among or the ones she helped oversee for her father's work.

He wouldn’t cry. He wouldn’t shriek or scream or make demands of busy adults. Steven would know his place, and he would stay in it until he had grown into a reasonable adult.

No unrealistic expectations, not from her son.

And absolutely, 100%, no magic.

(Unfortunately for Stella Harrington and her relationship with her son, magic does not obey the whims of one person.

Particularly not that kind of magic, one far older than Stella could comprehend.)

See: Steve knew where he came from. Would never say it of course, outright refused to put a name to it.

Knew better, even when he was young, than to speak it aloud.

Though his mother had long abandoned any powers given to her, Steve was still born with his. When lonely, he often found he could wander into a different kind of woods. 

One absolutely covered in snow.

Steve should have been cold in those woods, but he never was, not even the first time he stumbled into them at the tender age of seven.

These trees never scared him. Not like the ones in his backyard sometimes did.

The whole place felt rather welcoming in a way his own house had never been, and as Steve had stumbled along following the faint glow of lights, he found himself feeling more relaxed.

Happy.

Even at seven, Steve was smart enough to know he needed to turn back, after a while. That his mother would be furious with him if he caused her to miss the meeting she needed to go to.

That he had a responsibility to be where she put him.

He hadn’t crested the hill yet. Hadn’t quite figured out where the glow was coming from, when he realized he needed to go home--but his trip wasn’t wasted.

A baby reindeer distracted him.

It peeked around a tree, and upon seeing him, came dashing his way.

Steve should be scared, would have been scared, but something in him told him this creature was his friend. He held out his hands and greeted it as such.

He was right.

A few more little reindeer came up over the hill, running around him, and together he played what felt like a game as he walked back in the direction he thought his house lay.

Said his goodbyes when the snow started to wane and made promises to return.

Found, sadly, that he wouldn’t get another chance too for almost a full year. He was too busy, signed up for multiple sports, handed over to tutors and taught life skills by a parade of nannies, none of whom ever stayed for long.

He dreamed of the snow.

The gentle way the woods felt.

It was what made him tell the lie that let him go back.

Steve was eight by then, and smart to how his parents and nannies worked. That some of them overlapped their stays when his parents went away.

So it was easy to tell Mary that she could go.

That it was okay, really. Carla had just called, she was on her way.

Just like it was easy to tell Carla that his parents' plans had changed. Let her know she wasn’t needed after all.

What harm would it do if he was alone for a night? His father kept telling him he was a big boy. Soon he’d be on his own anyway.

The snow found him faster this time, when he went for his walk in the woods.

Delighted, Steve kept an eye out for the reindeer, fingers skittering across tree bark as he looked around, once again tracking the soft glow that came up over the hill.

It was a long walk to that light, but Steve didn’t mind.

Not until he heard the crying.

“Hello?” Steve called, voice prim and proper as always. It was a little high--Tommy teased him endlessly about it, but he had been assured it would deepen.

The crying didn’t stop, but things got quiet for a moment, in the way that happens when someone was trying hard not to be found.

(Steve knew exactly how that felt, not wanting to be found. Wanting to cry for a moment, without someone telling you to toughen up, be a man, ‘God Steven you’re too old for all this--’)

“It’s okay!” Steve rushed out, trying to locate where the muffled sounds were coming from before they ran away. “I won’t tell anyone, I promise!”

Which is right about when he almost tripped over the other kid.

He was hunched against a tree, knees drawn into his chest with brown hair hanging into his eyes. His clothes were a odd--a little like how his teacher had made Steve dress when they’d done a play about the middle ages.

“Who’re you?” The boy asked defensively, wiping his nose with his sleeve.

“I’m Steve.” He said, before kneeling down himself. “Did you get hurt?”

“No.” The boy sniffled. After a moment he added; “M’ Eddie.”

His eyes were large, and reminded Steve of a puppy he once saw. All cute and round and shiny.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you before.” The boy said and it wasn’t an accusation, but it wasn’t friendly.

“I’m not from around here.” Steve told him. “At least, I don’t think I am.”

It was kind of hard to know, given Steve wasn’t sure where here was, exactly--and absolutely knew better than to ask his parents.

“Well then you should go home.” The boy sniffled again.

Steve wasn't put off by it. Tommy had been a lot meaner than this after all, when they'd first met. 

Given their parents made them play together anyways, Steve felt he he could get this kid to like him too. 

"I'm gonna, later. I'm looking for something right now though--you wanna come?" 

Which he felt was a pretty nice offer. Might distract Eddie from whatever was bothering him.

(Steve liked distractions, when he was upset. It made it a lot easier to swallow down the bad feelings.) 

“You shouldn’t hang around me.” Eddie said suddenly. His nose was as red as his eyes, and he refused to look Steve in the eye as he hunched further into himself. “I’m bad.”

“You’re not bad.” Steve told him. 

He got a glare for it.

“How would you know?”

“I dunno.” Steve stopped, brows furrowing in thought. “I just--kinda do. I always have.”

Which was true. Steve was awfully good at identifying who was good and who was bad, from adults to his fellow classmates. It had gotten him in trouble before his mother had sat him down, and told him he just had a good business sense.

That he needed to keep to himself who was good and who was bad, especially the adults, because it wasn’t his place to say such things.

(‘But it’ll serve you well in the future.’ His mother told him, tucking an errant strand of hair back behind his ear. ‘Particularly for business deals.’)

“Well you’re wrong then, because I was born bad.” Eddie scoffed, arms crossing over his chest. “Everyone says so!”

It was dramatic as hell, and Steve couldn’t help the giggle that escaped him.

“I’m sorry!” He said immediately, when Eddie’s face flushed angrily. “I’m sorry it’s just--you look kinda silly.”

He mimed Eddie’s stance for a moment, including a dramatic little huff of breath. It unbalanced him, and Steve ended up dropping on his butt, which made him to laugh even louder.

“No one who does that can be bad.” He said finally, through the giggles. 

“That’s--stupid. You’re stupid.” Eddie said, except he was clearly trying to hide his own laugh at Steve’s antics.

“I’m not stupid--and you’re not bad. I promise.” Steve said, before reaching out a hand, one pinkie extended. “I’ll swear on it.”

“What’re you doing?” Eddie asked him, but he didn’t sound sad now. More curious. 

Curious Steve knew, was a lot better than sad. 

“You wrap your pinkie finger with mine. Then it’s a pinkie swear, which is like--unbreakable!”

That’s what Carol had told him at least, and so far it had held true. Steve figured it must work doubly so, in a place like this.

Cautiously, Eddie reached out, entwining his pinkie with Steve’s. Like any minute Steve would snatch his hand back, and tell him it was all a joke.

Instead, Steve bobbed their hands up and down once, before letting go and asking; “Do you wanna go find that light with me? I wanna see what it is.”

He pointed up the hill, toward the glow that had haunted his dreams.”

“Oh that’s boring.“ Eddie told him, but he had a grin on his face that felt infectious. “It’s just the town. I’ll show you something way better!”

“Yeah?” Steve asked, and let Eddie snatch his wrist, launching to his feet and bringing Steve with him.

In doing so his hair blew, revealing that he had pointed ears.

Steve stared at them in awe as Eddie tugged him further into the trees, until they burst into a clearing filled with gingerbread houses. They ranged from teeny tiny, to large enough that Steve and Eddie could walk in them, and it wasn’t long before the two started a game of tag, broken only by laughter. 

In retrospect, this was his downfall.

Because the little gingerbread houses were really cool, and Eddie was a lot of fun. It was easy to play with him--like the two of them had been made for each other.

Steve had never connected like this with a person before. Never had so much fun with someone before.

Not even with Tommy and Carol, his very best friends.

Eddie seemed to feel the same way, and not even an hour into meeting him, Steve knew he would remember this for the rest of his life.

Remember Eddie.

Steve ended up losing track of time. Stayed so long that his lie was discovered.

The person who came looking for him wasn’t his parents, but looked weirdly like his mom--if his mom were a boy.

He introduced himself as Steve’s Uncle Nick after he called the two boys to him, hands on his hips in a way Steve kind of wanted to mimic.

Steve knew it to be true, in the same way he knew how to find the forest, and if someone was good or bad. A feeling inside him he could tap into, warm and fuzzy in a way that, should he ever be pressed, he might admit to feeling like magic.

“Now how did you get here?” Uncle Nick asked him, like Steve's presence was a surprising little puzzle.

Knowing better than to lie, sensing that his Uncle would be able to tell if he did anyways, Steve told him the truth.

It got him exactly what he expected, which was an upset adult.

Unlike his mom or dad however, his Uncle didn’t yell at him, or grab Steve’s hand in a punishing grip. No nails dug into his skin, no harsh words were hissed. Uncle Nick simply pinched the tip of his nose, before giving a sigh that shook his massive frame.

“Your mom is going to be very upset.” He said finally.

Like Steve didn't know. 

“I just wanted to see the lights.”

“The lights--oh.” Uncle Nick glanced over his shoulder. “Could you see them from your house?”

Steve shook his head.

“No but I could feel them.”

Like a pulse in his chest. A compass, or--a guide.

“He says he can tell who's naughty or nice.” Eddie chimed in, oddly quiet for how loud he had been. “He says I’m good.”

This was said as a challenge, and Steve eyed his new friend out of the corner of his eye. He’d never dared speak to an adult like that, and was both a little in awe of Eddie doing it, and afraid for him.

Something his Uncle seemed to sense.

“Edward, go home.” He said, firm but kind.  Not like how Steve's mom was when she was mad, or his dad when he had a bad day at work.“I’ll come talk to you later. Come on Steve, let me walk you back. I best explain this in person.”

Then he took Steve’s hand in his, while Steve called out a goodbye to Eddie over his shoulder.

“You’ll come back and visit, right!?” Eddie yelled back. 

Steve shouted an affirmative, even knowing it wasn’t likely he’d be allowed.

(Wished with all his heart, that he'd be allowed.) 

“Eddie is really good, you know.” Steve said once he no longer could see his new friend, because it felt important to tell his Uncle that. Necessary, for some reason.

“I know.” Uncle Nick replied gently. “But let’s not worry about him right now, okay?”

“Okay.”

Then they were back in Steve’s woods, the ones that were sometimes unfriendly. In his backyard, and up to the door, and even from here Steve could hear his mother and father screaming at each other, in a tone that made his stomach curl.

“Come on kiddo. Time to face the music.” Uncle Nick told him, and Steve found he really didn’t want to let go of his Uncle’s hand.

He did though.

He was a big boy, and well trained. He didn’t flinch from his parents. Didn’t disobey when his mother demanded he tell her exactly how he got to the fun place, with all the snow--and listened further still when she demanded Uncle Nick take it out of him.

Take what Steve didn’t know--not until his Uncle lost the argument.

Reached into Steve’s chest and did something to him, something that killed that warm and fuzzy thing that had always lived inside Steve.

He cried harder than he ever had before that night. Cried and begged for Uncle Nick to put it back, that he was sorry and he wouldn’t ever use it again if they just let him keep it.

(He promised, he promised, he promised-!)

Sank to his knees and told his parents that it hurt.

They didn't listen, and they didn't put it back.

His father told him to get up off the floor, and then pulled him up when Steve found he couldn’t.

Hauled him to his room, even as his Uncle warned his mother that he couldn’t get rid of it. That he could only suppress it, the same way she suppressed hers, but those words didn’t really matter to Steve just then.

Not when he was hurting, and tired, and found himself wishing for his new friend.

(His mother told him he’d feel better in time.

Steve never did.)

xXx

The hole in Steve’s chest had never filled.

It kept him up at night. The yearning for something just out of reach, tormenting him with a feeling of being hollow.

He didn’t know how his mother could stand it.

Steve stopped fussing about it though--or rather, he stopped the first time his father had slapped him over his complaining.

“Enough, Steven! You’re perfectly fine. Now start acting like it, for fucks sake!” He’d roared, and shocked as he was, Steve had still done what he’d been taught to do.

Toughed it out. Sucked it up. Got over it.

Dumped his entire life into basketball and swimming and other parent-approved activities, even if he felt empty.

He was eight, then ten, then fourteen and soon Steve wasn’t healed, but he'd adjusted. 

Got aloof to the pain as his popularity skyrocketed, and his parents left him on his own while they chased the almighty dollar.

(Secretly, Steve tried to fill the void in his heart with parties and people, alcohol and even the occasional drug, though most just left him feeling worse than before.

It was perhaps how he ended up acting as he did.

Turning from the sweet boy who was always helping others, to someone who was fast with their insults. Popularity was a sharks game, and though he refused to participate in the bullying his friends enjoyed, he made sure everyone knew who the biggest fish in the pond was.

Because the hole was always there, in the back of his mind. The thing inside him that was missing, that made him crave the snow, and the lights, and the boy with pointy ears. 

He might be able to force himself to forget about all of that, if only the hole in his heart would allow him.)

xXx

Five days before his fifteenth birthday, some random guy showed up in Steve’s yard.

This wasn’t unusual--Steve invited a lot of people over.

Tommy and Carol both had a standing invitation to use his pool and Steve often used it to curry favor with the upperclassmen--but even underwater, Steve didn’t recognize the teenager leaning over to watch him swim.

Plus it was a little weird for someone to pop up on a Sunday.

Refusing to be intimidated, Steve surfaced right under the guy, head whipping up to make sure he splashed him in the face.

Laughed as the other guy sputtered.

“Can I help you man?” Steve drawled, hooking his arms on the lip of the pool.

“I’m looking for someone. Steve Harrington?” The guy told him, glaring as he wiped water off his face.

His hair just touched his shoulders, in that awkward stage of growing out that made him look like a pageboy.

Steve tucked that little observation away for later, in case he needed it.

“Congratulations, you found me.” He said, eyeing him over.

Black jeans with holes in the knees, wallet chain and a black shirt with a faded logo of some band Steve had never heard of proudly displayed. A checkered plaid shirt topped the whole outfit, with a red guitar pick dangling around his neck from a chain.

Like the guy thought he was some kind of rockstar, and not in bumfuck Indiana.

Steve raised an eyebrow.

“Though I think you’re in the wrong place. The audition for the new town jester is being held at the high school.”

He got a frown, like the guy knew he was being insulted but didn’t quite want to believe it. “I’m not here for an audition.”

“You sure? Cause you’re definitely dressed the part.”

“Okay, you are definitely not Steve.” He said, arms crossing his chest. He had a ring on each hand, catching the light as he clutched at his arms. “Steve wasn’t this much of a dick.”

Which wasn’t the first time Steve had been called out for his behavior--but it had never been by the people he was supposed to care about.

Those people, the people his parents liked?

They loved it.

“Times change.” Steve told the stranger. Kept his tone light and playful, the way that always made girls giggle at him and guy’s listen.

Well the ones he wasn’t making fun of, anyways.

“People do too.”

He rearranged himself, planting both palms flat against the concrete, bouncing once to build energy before rocketing out of the water.

Stood, and watched with interest as the new guy’s eyes raked over his naked torso, before his whole face flushed red.

How he looked away, like he suddenly couldn’t bare to look at Steve.

“You shouldn't have changed that much.” He muttered, but Steve already had his number.

"Why were you looking for me anyway?” Steve asked as he went and grabbed a towel. Wrapped it around his waist, but kept his upper body shirtless.

Idly scratched at his hip and watched as the guy acted like Steve had practically stripped naked in front of him.

Weirdly enjoyed the little spark it gave him, to watch this guy appear so affected by his bare chest.

Defensive, the stranger bit out; “We were friends. I haven’t seen him in a long time, I was just checking up on him.”

That made Steve pause.

Really look over the guy standing before him.

The fidgeting, the blushing, the way he avoided Steve’s gaze.

He opened his mouth, an odd urge to draw this out guiding him when the hole in his chest pulsed.

Like a convulsion, a miniature seizure that took Steve entirely by surprise.

It had been a long time since it had done that, long enough to throw Steve off his game.

Make him feel unsafe, unmoored.

Abandoned.

“Yeah?” He wheezed, before covering himself and the flood of wrong/want/need with a harsh cough. “Well now I know you’re definitely barking up the wrong tree. I’d never be friends with a fucking queer.”

At that, the guy’s mouth dropped open, head whipping around to stare at Steve in shock.

"Don’t deny it, I can tell. You’re practically drooling over there.” Steve smiled with all his teeth, even as he struggled to keep his breath even. “It’s disgusting.”

“You know what, fuck you. I thought you were different and you’re not.” The stranger spat, with far more venom than Steve was prepared for. “You’re the same as all the rest.”

He scoffed, before whirling on his heel, middle finger high in the air as he stormed off into the woods.

“Have fun with your sad, beige fucking life!” He yelled, voice a little choked up.

“I will!” Steve yelled back at him, oddly heated.

Rubbed his chest when he was gone, before sitting down to try and figure out what the hell just happened--and why the hell his chest hurt so much.

xXx

Steve’s life remained completely and painfully normal--until Nancy Wheeler.

Nancy and her smile, Nancy and her reminder of what it felt like to be loved. 

She didn’t fill the void inside him, but what she did came close.

Felt similar.

Steve found he’d do anything for her, looking at life once again through the lens he had back when he was seven.

It was great.

Better than great--it was the best he’d ever been.

Then Barb went missing.

Shit hit the fan so fast that in retrospect, Steve still doesn’t understand it. There was Jonathan and his camera, with the background of his missing little brother. Tommy and his insults, grabbing Steve up by the collar. Nancy being weird, Nancy ducking him to hang out with the guy who took photographs of them having sex.

Steve's brain tracks it all in little snapshots. The way he realized that maybe Nancy was right--he was way more of an asshole than he thought. How he decided to clean the theater, and then apologize to Jonathan.

(Creepy shit or not, Jonathan’s brother was gone. Steve had never had a brother, but he understood how it felt when something important was taken from you.

How it made you act after.)

There was a shift inside him. Not coming from the void, but from how Steve dealt with it.

And then there was a fucking monster coming out of the ceiling.

This is how Steve learns the magic he once had wasn’t special. That it’s not the only supernatural thing that exists in the world.

Only unlike the snow and gingerbread house and boy with pointed ears and an Uncle that looked a hell of a lot like Santa Clause, this version came with evil government laboratories, the Upside Down and his girlfriend holding a gun.

It was kind of a lot, really.

Particularly because his parents weren’t home.

(They still came home of course, but it wasn’t with the same frequency as it used to be.

The business trips went from once a month, to every other week, to long stretches of away periods. Long enough that Steve spoke to them over the phone more than he did in person, and knew more about business mergers than he ever cared too.

Also his fathers love life, courtesy of his drunk mother.)

Steve didn’t exactly handle it well.

Doesn’t think any of them handled it well, really, even if Nancy blamed him for trying to pretend he was okay. But right as their relationship blew up in Steve’s face, shit started happening again.

Flickering lights and freaky monsters. A group of kids Steve found himself in charge of, who were doing their level best to commit suicide.

(“We’re helping El and Will, idiot!” Mike Wheeler protested in the back of Billy Hargrove’s Camaro when Steve brought up that this was not what being benched meant, and Steve let him have that one given the way the world was spinning.

God that asshole hit like a train.)

Another snapshot, full of fear and fury, and things were over once again. 

Steve was telling Nancy it was okay. She could go with Jonathan, that he could tell it was what she wanted.

It hurt him to do it, but he wasn’t going to be like his own parents.

Realized with a weird amount of clarity, that he wanted to be the very opposite of his parents.

Late in the night, feeling every ache and pain in his body but knowing everyone was safe, Steve finally started the long trek home. 

He didn’t have his car (he hoped that was still at the Byers place) and he didn’t have his keys (no clue where those went but he was praying it wasn’t in the freaky tunnels) and was well into the middle of his walk when his chest started acting weird. Really weird. 

Steve ignored it.

He kept ignoring it, focused on getting back to his bed, and his bed alone.

(Maybe he had been thinking more than that. About how the last time he had truly been happy wasn’t with Nancy, but with Eddie. That he’d give anything to go play in the gingerbread houses again.

Maybe he was even thinking of how warm his Uncle had been, the way he was so gentle when he held Steve’s hand.

How he’d argued against Steve’s parents, when no one else ever did.

It was probably just the head injury.)

Unfortunately--or fortunately, depending on who you asked later--the weird feeling didn't stop.

It grew and grew, until it felt like something was breaking out of him.

Like a cough you’d long suppressed that crawled forcefully up and out of your throat, it both hurt and felt amazing, a pang echoing out through his very core--

Then suddenly there was snow on the trees and Steve was stumbling into a teenager with fluffy hair.

“Sorry.” He muttered, right before he went down on his knees.

“What the hell---” Fluffy haired guy said, spinning around and looking at Steve like he was a ghost. “Oh shit, are you okay!?”

“I’m fine.” Steve lied, even as he gave in and laid down.

Man, this snow was nice.

Comfy and soft, and cold on his face.

There was a string of curses coming from above him, and Steve made the effort to twist his head so he could watch fluffy hair kneel frantically next to him.

“ What happened!? How did you get here!?”

“S’long story man.” Steve slurred, feeling bad and looking worse. His head fucking hurt.

“Don’t suppose there’s a guy named Eddie around? He has uh,” Steve fumbled, hands trying to point to his ears. “Pointed. You know.”

He gestured to his own ear again.

(Figured he might as well ask, given all the snow.)

The Fluffy Hair pulled said hair back at that, revealing his very own pointy ear. “Dude you’re in the North Pole, all us elves have pointy ears.”

The North Pole.

The words Steve had only ever dared to think, and never said out loud.

“Cool.” He said instead, not really feeling like he was inside his own body.

“Just--stay there, okay? My name's Gareth I’m gonna go get someone.” Gareth the elf (an elf, wasn’t that a trip. Did that mean Eddie was also an elf?) said, hands hovering awkwardly in the air, before he darted off, out of Steve’s sight.

“Can you get Eddie?” The question came out in a whine, the hurt in Steve’s chest overtaken by the pain in his head.

He didn’t get an answer.

Which was okay, he thought.

He didn’t really need one.

He had the snow, and the woods that weren’t straight out of a fucking nightmare, and, he could just sleep right here…

“Steve!”

He blinked, and found he must have passed out.

“There you are. Stay with me.” A blurry face was saying. A couple more blinks brought it into focus, and Steve knew this person, even if he couldn't put a name to a face.

The hair was longer, and there were more rings on his fingers, ones Steve could both see and feel as a hand ran along the back of his head.

Worried doe eyes met Steve's own, and just through the curtain of curls, he caught the outline of a pointed ear.

“Ed--ie?” He croaked, unsure.

“Yeah Stevie, it's me. You're okay, we brought you back to my place. Gareth is getting help.”

He was trying to sound reassuring but he mostly just sounded worried.

Not that Steve cared, because he finally figured out why older Eddie was familiar.

“Oh.” He managed, the words feeling like he had to push out. “It was you. By the--pool.”

“What?”

It felt like eons ago. The weird guy, asking after him. Back when Steve had been doing anything he could to fill the void his magic had left behind, and turned into a raging shithead as a result.

“M sorry.” Steve slurred, voice cracking in its honesty. “I was--asshole. M'sorry.”

The look Eddie gave him was wild. Like he couldn’t believe Steve was here, and definitely couldn’t believe Steve was apologizing.

Which was fair. Until last year Steve wouldn’t have ever apologized, to anyone, ever. 

“Yeah you were, but we can talk about it later. Right now I just need you to stay awake.” Eddie said instead. It was gentle, a lot more gentle than Steve felt he deserved.

It made him want to explain, more than anything, what had happened.

“I was tryin to fix…the hole. Inside.” Steve needed Eddie to understand. Needed it more than breathing, just then.

“I know, big boy.” Eddie soothed, and his hands were back in Steve’s hair.

It felt nice.

“S’not an excuse, promise it's not. I was hurt--hurting, and--I was mean.” Steve continued. It was getting harder to think, the world swimming in and out of focus, but this was important.

Perhaps the most important thing he’d done in a long time, sans saving the kids from the demodogs.

“It’s okay, Stevie. I didn’t get it back then but I understand better now and…”

He might have said something more. Steve thinks he was, but then Eddie was shaking him harshly, and Steve realized he might have tried to pass back out.

“Come on Stevie, sweetheart, you can’t sleep right now. You have to stay awake for me, okay? Steve?”

Steve tried to shake his head and hissed when he found out how much that hurt. Breathed in and out through the pain, before his brain connected back to what he’d been trying to say.

“Not jus’ to you.” He panted. “Wasn’t mean just to you.”

That was important too. That Eddie knew he hadn't been targeted. That Steve was a dick to pretty much anyone he came across.

“I know. I've uh, been watching you, from here."

“Yeah?”

“We have this giant globe. Like a crystal ball, but it’s set deep into the floor so you can only really see half of it. It can also connect to snow globes, and it can let you see places. Watch people.”

Eddie’s voice was soothing, the deep timber of it echoing through Steve’s chest. Belatedly he realized his head was in Eddie’s lap.

That felt nice too.

“I was real mad at you but the Bossman--uh, your Uncle, he kinda showed me you once or twice and then I started watching you myself. Sorry I know that’s weird--”

“Least you didn’t take pictures.” Steve wheezed and then tried to grin because that was very much supposed to be a joke.

(He definitely had felt more put together when he dropped the kids off in Billy's Camaro--so what the hell was happening? Had the shock worn off? Adrenaline?

Fuck maybe he should have just driven Billy’s stupid car back to his house, instead of leaving it at Max's house.

Asshole deserved to not know where his car was anyway.)

Then suddenly there was a lot of noise and light and fuck did that all make his head hurt. Hands went all over him, people barking orders, and a girl Steve was pretty sure was his age was peering at him.

“Steve?” She asked, but it sounded distant. Echoey and unclear.

“I can’t keep him awake!”

That from Eddie, who sounded much clearer, if not utterly panicked. 

“It’s okay, I’ve got him.” The girl said, tight but professional in a way that typically belonged to someone used to medical emergencies. “You can let him go now.”

“Are you kidding me, Buckley you’re an apprentice medmage-!”

Steve frowned at that, but found something was drifting over him. A weight, like an invisible blanket pressed down gently, and he had a second to recognize that this too, was some kind of magic before sleep tried to take him.

He fought it for a moment as a thought occurred.

One last thing he needed to say.

“You’re still good. Eddie. You’ve always been--”

The magic took him away.

xXx

It smelled like cinnamon.

Cinnamon and sharp hints of peppermint, the kind that tickled at Steve’s nose as he slowly rose back into consciousness.

Steve winced as he sat up, head itching like ants were crawling all over it. Idly he tried to scratch at his forehead and found himself touching a thick bandage, at about the same time his body seemed to catch on that he was awake.

It reminded him that he had had a hell of a night in the form of an onslaught of aches and pains.

His fingers traced the edge of the bandage as he took in the cheerful red walls surrounding him. The room was the exact kind of kitschy his mom hated, little twirls of white here and there making the place look like the inside of a candy cane.

The center piece was the full size window, taller than Steve was and twice as wide. Fat, fluffy flakes of snow drifted lazily outside it, some sticking to the window panes as they floated on by.

It was a little like being knocked out and waking up in the Wonka factory, but given all the shit that he had been through the past twenty four hours, Steve didn’t mind it.

Snow was infinitely preferable to the weird ash that came out of the Upside Down.

As if sensing he was awake, the door opposite the window swung open. A tray came through, positively stacked with a stupid amount of pancakes and oozing with maple syrup, the type Steve could smell.

“I,” Eddie announced, head just visible above the good, “had a very embarrassing meltdown when they tried to take you away from me. So suck it up Harrington, because you’re stuck with me now.”

Steve stared at him, mildly concerned he was a hallucination.

“I brought you pancakes.” Eddie added, pausing as he approached the bed like he hadn’t actually thought through to this point.

“I see that.” Steve said, just to fill the sudden, awkward silence. “There’s…kinda a lot there, man.”

So much so it was threatening to escape the confines of the tray and drip down onto the carpet.

“You play sports things don’t you?” Eddie defended, making the executive decision to put the tray down on the bed. “Kinda thought you’d need like, a lot, especially if you're healing." 

Steve snorted, but didn’t bother to hide the smile that crept onto his face.

Even if it hurt.

Dragged his gaze from the pile of pancakes now laid before him, to the man fidgeting awkwardly by his bedside.

Realized belatedly, that Eddie hadn’t changed much.

Not since Steve had last seen him, though he never in his life would have thought one of Santa’s elves would wear so much black.

(Frankly Eddie looked just like every other teenage metalhead Steve had ever met, sans the pointed ears. One of which was now pierced and had little metal hoops threaded through it.)

Eddie realized Steve was looking, and bashfully twist a strand of his hair in front of his face.

It was cute.

It made him look cute.

“You might as well sit and help me with this, it’s way too much.” Steve told him.

Which was the truth--Eddie had brought him a shit load of pancakes and Steve wasn’t exactly sure he could chew all that well right now, considering his left cheek was so puffed out it felt like a chipmunks.

Didn’t want to turn down a gift though--or rather, turn down a gift from Eddie.

Who he absolutely still needed to apologize properly too.

“I guess I should start off with a thank you.” Steve began, as Eddie dropped onto the bed. “I think you might have saved my life, though I swear I wasn’t doing that bad off before I got here.”

“Robin said the shock wore off.” Eddie told him. He didn’t wait for Steve to dig in, grabbing a pancake and rolling it up like a sausage before stabbing one end in syrup. “She also said you had a hell of a concussion, two cracked ribs and a literal boatload of scratches,”

Which sounded about right, considering.

“Still though.” Steve frowned, looking at his hands. “I mostly just fought off Billy, the demodogs never got me.”

Something he was incredibly thankful for, given the sheer amount of teeth.

“I think you’re downplaying your injuries here, handsome, you gave Robin a hell of a fright. She cursed in four languages." Eddie talked fast, just like the little boy Steve remembered him as.

It made him grin. 

“Handsome, huh?” Steve teased, and regretted it the second it slipped out of his mouth.

He hadn’t meant to call attention to it. Not just yet anyway. Wanted to work his way up to his apology and then the things he had kind of realized on his walk home (and possibly before that, though he thinks he might have…repressed it.)

Given the way Eddie froze, Steve figures he’s got about two seconds to talk himself out of it, before Eddie rightfully shut him out.

“I like it. The nicknames.” He said, which is also not what he intended to come out of his mouth and God he was really blowing this, wasn’t he?

“Steve,” Eddie started, sounding a little strangled and nope, no, he was going to fix this dammit!

“I’m sorry.” He said honestly. “I know I was an ass when you came to check up on me, and I know I said some terrible things to you. I regret it. I regret it a lot, and I shouldn’t have treated you like that.”

“You weren't wrong.” Eddie cut in, twirling a ring on his finger, eyes firmly on it. “I am gay. I am flamingly gay. And I understand if after today, you don't want me here.”

Which apparently answered the question about whether or not elves gave a shit about such things.

(Or maybe they did, and it was humans who cared, and Eddie was giving him an out for it.

Steve figured he’d ask later.

After he had finished groveling.)

“I want you here.” He said, as seriously as he’d ever said anything. “I think the real question is why you would want to help me?”

It was the one thing that didn’t add up. Why Eddie had been so nice, when he’d shown up.

Sure it was one thing to be a good citizen or whatever, help out a guy who was passed out on the ground, but Eddie hadn’t just gotten help.

He’d stroked Steve’s hair. He’d kept him awake.

Hell he called Steve sweetheart.

And now he was here again, right by Steve's bedside, checking up on him.

You didn’t do that for the guy who was a downright douchebag too you, even if it had been a few years.

Eddie bit his lip, before he chanced a look back at Steve, up through his bangs. “Because you said I was good Steve. You were the first person who ever said I was good.”

Quieter he added “And because we were friends once.”

“I'd like to still be friends.”

“Even if I'm gay?”

Steve took a deep breath, and let out a truth that he’d maybe been ignoring for almost as long as he’d tried to forget about the hole in his heart.

“Cards on the table Eddie, I’m not sure I’m not gay Or whatever both is." 

He'd heard the word once from Chrissy, but hadn't cared to remember it.

(Regretted that a little bit.) 

He got a mighty frown in response.

“Don’t do that. Don’t--joke, like that.”

“It’s not a joke.” Steve said slowly, feeling the words as he spoke them. “I think this is part of the stuff I always just--ignored. Didn’t want to deal with it, because my--”

Steve couldn’t bring himself to say magic, and so, aborted the sentence entirely. “I couldn’t deal. So everything connected to this place, to the rest of my family, to you, I just pushed aside. Pretended it didn’t exist.”

Pretended that he was normal.

Just like his parents wanted.

Then he’d met Nancy.

Realized what he felt about her, he’d always felt about Eddie. That the way she looked at Jonathan wasn’t the way she looked at him--and even then, in the love he had for her, Steve hadn’t looked at her like that either.

Steve had been attracted to her for her yes--but initially, maybe, because she’d looked a little like someone else.

Admitted to himself that he the reason he could clock Eddie so fast back when he was fourteen, wasn't because he was that good at reading people, but because he recognized what it looked like to get caught checking out a guy.

“But I could never forget about you.” Steve added because well. “I’ve never been able to forget about you.”

He’d already said cards on the table, hadn’t he?

Might as well reveal his whole hand.

“You were the last thing I thought of, when I was trying to get home. I wasn’t thinking about my house, or my parents. I was thinking about you. I’ve never been able to come back here, not after Uncle Nick,” He cut himself off again, frustrated that he couldn’t just fucking it, but made himself take a breath.

Continue.

“--but I could, last night. I could get to you.”

Technically he’d gotten to Gareth, who Steve probably also owed a thank you too, but hey, beggars can’t be choosers.

Gareth had found Eddie anyway, in the end.

“I absolutely get if you want nothing to do with that, considering I think I’m just now accepting this about myself but. I wanted you to know. You’re important to me, Eddie. You always have been.”

It was weird--Steve should have felt laid bare. Vulnerable now that he’d laid out all these things he’d suppressed, that he thought taken away alongside his magic.

Instead he felt lighter than air.

Like the weight had finally been lifted and he could breathe deep once again.

For a long moment no one said anything and Steve figured this was it, he’d gone too far, when Eddie darted in, pressing a quick kiss to Steve’s cheek.

He pulled away just as fast. Wide eyes searched Steve’s face, as though expecting Steve to change his mind. 

If anything, it just solidified it.

Steve reached out slowly, gently grabbing on of Eddie’s hands. Brought it up to his mouth and kissed the back of it, while maintaining eye contact.

Enjoyed the way Eddie’s face went bright red.

“You’re important to me too.” He managed, voice awed. “You’ve always been important to me. Stevie.”

Finally feeling like he knew where he belonged, Steve grinned back. 

xXx

Bonus

“When I said let him sleep Munson, I didn’t mean with you!” Someone screeched a few hours later, jolting Steve awake.

“He was awake when I came in!” Eddie protested, shoving himself up onto his elbows when the women from yesterday--Robin, Steve thought her name was--stormed in. “We fell asleep together after Robbie, I swear!”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Hi.” Steve said with a little wave, before the two of them could screech some more. “I’m Steve.”

“I know, Dingus.” Robin told him, eyes narrowed in fury. “You’re a member of the Clause family, everyone knows who you are.”

“Oh.” Steve said, though it felt less cool and more weird that someone had finally said it out loud.

That he, Steven Harrington, had an Uncle, and that Uncle was Santa Clause.

‘Dustin is gonna freak.’

“I’m sure Mega-Idiotson here hasn’t told you, but I’m the medmage that saw you last night. Or kinda--see I’m an apprentice medmage, but my teacher was kinda out with the Boss seeing someone a town over and time was tight and we couldn’t exactly wait--”

“Breath, Buckley. In,” Eddie teased, before demonstrating a deep breath on himself, hand sweeping into his chest before he loudly exhaled. “and out.”

“Shut up, Eddie, I’m working up to something here!”

“What is it?” Steve said, feeling like if he didn’t interject Robin would take a while to get to the point.

“I might have accidentally undid whatever was on your magic?” Robin rushed out, so fast Steve nearly didn’t catch it. “Like I can tell that’s the Boss’s magic, and that he did--whatever that was, but I couldn't figure out how to heal you with it there and it was kinda already leaking out so I just--took it off?”

Steve gaped at her.

“You fixed me?” He managed after a moment, hand darting out to squeeze at one of Eddie’s.

“Um. Yes?” Robin cautioned, like she wasn’t exactly sure that’s what she did.

“Oh my god. Oh my god!” Steve laughed, then felt absolutely stupid for not checking in with himself.

Because Robin was right.

The hole was gone--and his magic was back.

How had he not noticed that his magic was back!?

“Eddie, Eddie she’s right--I have it back!”

He turned in bed, dropping Eddie’s hand so he could cup his face and kiss him instead.

“Okay, I don’t need to see this--” Robin complained, but Steve didn’t care.

Could only laugh delighted into Eddie’s mouth, before Eddie deepened the kiss.

(“Guys seriously I am still right here! Can’t you at least wait until I’m gone!?”

“No. Now get out Robin, you’re ruining my moment!”

“It’s okay, Eds. I’ll give you as many moments as you want.”

“Ew, ew, ew-!” )

This whole ass thing on A03 if you'd rather read it there!

#Steve is a member of the Clause family #yes that Clause #Steddie #ACTUAL STEDDIE! #FOR ONCE LMAO #eddie munson #steve harrington #0o0 fanfics #stranger things #Steves shitty ass parents #TW child abuse (yelling and a slap) #TW period related homophobia/slurs #well a badly coping fourteen year old steve throws one at eddie anyway #canon typical violence #this is canon to S1 and S2 #A more realistic look at steves injuries in S2 #dont worry he gets better #childhood friends #elf eddie #this is FLUFFY #angsty #but FLUFFY #ALSO LOOK YOU GUYS I ACTUALLY WROTE A ONESHOT #the second half to the other holiday fic is also done dont worry #this idea just hit me like a TRAIN #1/1 complete

[nymime]

Mike: your parents dropped you on your head as a child?

Steve: bold of you to assume they wanted to hold me or I was even held.

Mike:

Eddie:

Robin:

The Party:

Steve: What?

Joyce: come here, i gonna hold you my big baby boy.

#steve harrington #steve stranger things #stranger things #imagine steve harrington #steddie #steve deserves the world #steve harrington angst #steve has shitty parents #italian steve harrington #angst #steve has bad parents #steve harrington whump #joyce is steve mother #bold of mike to assume that steve it was love by his shitty parents. #Eddie is concerned about steve self love #Eddie is gonna make him see how love is he. #Joyce will fight steve parents.

[munsonfamilyband]

I’m obsessing over Steve and Chrissy being cousins lately. Imagine the potential Shenanigans it presents. For example (most of this is not canon compliant):

Eddie and Chrissy are friends and Steve has a crush on Eddie (this would be post fall from grace for Steve). Eddie complains about Steve all the time because he doesn’t actually know him and Chrissy was sworn to secrecy by Steve so she can’t tell him anything about him, let alone that he’s her cousin.

Eddie finds out that they’re cousins when he and Chrissy are at her house (her parents are like Steve’s and are out of town a lot). They’re hanging out in her living room and he leaves to go to the bathroom but when he comes back, Steve is laying on the couch with his head in Chrissy’s lap talking about a fight he got in with his dad.

Eddie freaks out because “why tf is king Steve here?” and Steve freaks out because “oh god Eddie is here and now he’s seen me all vulnerable” so now Chrissy has to explain that Steve is her cousin and his dad is a POS like hers so they have an open door policy for each other

After that Eddie starts seeing Steve more and slowly learning that he’s not an asshole anymore. It helps that it seems like they aren’t trying to avoid him seeing them together anymore (Chrissy had been telling Steve whenever Eddie would be over so that he wouldn’t run into him).

Some memorable moments for Eddie are: seeing Steve baking with Chrissy with flour in his hair and then hearing Steve quietly explain that the cookies are low carb so that she won’t feel as bad about eating them (both of their mom’s are obsessed with physical appearance so Steve learned a lot of recipes that make them feel less like shit when they eat them), Steve braiding Chrissy’s hair while she complains about how Jason won’t leave her alone despite having broken up with him months ago and Steve offering casual as can be to key his car

As they get more comfortable around each other Eddie gets more and more hints that Steve may not be straight, but he refuses to acknowledge it for a while because then he would have to think about how he feels when Steve is around. He sees Steve let Chrissy practice make up and nail painting on him, most memorably he sees Steve squeeze his hips into Chrissy’s teeny cheer skirt that barely covers his ass, he hears him comment on men in movies, he sees how he reacts when Chrissy talks about the cute girl from marching band who talks a lot and Chrissy wants to kiss.

It goes on like this for a long time, Eddie getting closer to Steve to the point that they hang out without Chrissy, but neither of them do anything about their mutual attraction. Steve ends up getting a job at the mall and his new coworker is the band girl that Chrissy has a crush on, so Robin starts hanging around them as well.

It all comes to an end when the four of them get drunk at Steve’s house that summer and decide to play truth or dare. Steve gets asked by Robin if he likes anyone and he says yes but refuses to elaborate but when Chrissy gets asked who Steve likes, because she’s been drinking and had at least one joint, just tells the truth and says that Steve has had a crush on Eddie since he was 16. It’s silent for a bit before Chrissy turns to Eddie and asks him truth or dare, he says dare because no way is he admitting to anything, but then Chrissy dares him to kiss the boy he’s been crushing on for months and now Steve is staring at Eddie in shock. Eddie doesn’t even remember moving but suddenly Steve is in his lap and they’re making out in the grass of his backyard.

Chrissy decides to go for it and kisses Robin who freaks out before Chrissy kisses her again to stop her rambling

The four of them become a mysterious pack of friends who are clearly dating in some way but no one can actually tell who is dating who, especially with how few people actually know that Steve and Chrissy are related.

#stranger things #eddie munson #steve harrington #steddie #platonic stobin #chrissy and steve are cousins and I love them #platonic eddie and chrissy Supremacy #love Steve and Chrissy with shitty parents who lean on each other to cope #chrissy when drunk becomes the most confident person ever

[hippielittlemetalhead]

So season 3. Let's do this!

This took so so so long and is not quite where/what I wanted it to be soooo... I am so sorry 😅🥲 this will most likely be 2 parts cause... Yeah, just life man.

Actually some dialogue in this one? Sure, a line or two, as a treat.

(Part1) (part2)

Steve had been working at Scoops Ahoy for a few weeks now and he feels like he's built a decent rapport with his coworker Robin. She's witty and snarky and opinionated and when Steve wears a more tinted lipgloss than he intended resulting in a customer clocking it and saying something rude that he can't help but smile his dead-eyed customer service smile at, she clocks out for her lunch early (and takes an extra 15 minutes) and comes back with a full face of makeup and shoos him into the back with the mascara she bought from the shop a couple stores over. They both start coming to work with at least mascara, eyeliner and lipstick and Steve loves it. He compliments the hand-drawn designs on her shoes and she asks where he got his rainbow heart pin. They mostly disagree on music they listen to -she still lets him drag her to a couple live music nights at The Hideout with him and Billy every now and then anyway- but their politics and basic life philosophies line up pretty well.

He could do without the 'You Rule / You Suck' board, especially when Billy gets in on it and adds tallies from a little notebook he starts keeping when he and Steve hang out outside of kids and work. And the jokes about his kids (and occasionally Billy) when they come through for free passage to the movies. And the jabs about his parents' money like he still has access to that or their house.

He doesn't tell her that he was cut off and disowned and kicked out. He doesn't tell her that he had to get a job to help pay for his community college courses because he was a disappointment that couldn't get into a pre-approved 4-year university and that meant no college fund and he was still a few years away from being 21 and having access to the trust fund his grandparents set up for him when he was still just a lump of forming cells. And even then anything in that will probably be blown on buying himself his own permanent place instead of just a hand-me-down trailer in the middle of the woods so he needs to save for things like bills and a mortgage.

He doesn't tell her that the reason he lets the kids get away with so much is because they're *his* and they've already seen more fucked up shit than the cops in this town (save Hop) and he'll be damned if they don't get to just be kids. He'll be damned if they decide he's someone they need to hide from and sneak around like they hide and sneak from Joyce and Hop cause that's how they didn't know about half the shit the kids got up to while the adults were doing their best to take care of things themselves. He doesn't tell her that he's paying "rent" to the chief of police (it's way less than he should be but it's all Hop would take).

He doesn't tell Robin a lot of things.

Then sometime after Robin finally warmed up to him but before Dustin comes back from camp, Eddie Munson walks into Scoops Ahoy, his metalhead nerdy entourage in tow. He orders a plain scoop of vanilla with sprinkles in a cup and one of the others also orders something small and simple (while longingly eyeing their diabetes-inducing, horribly artificial tasting, bubblegum flavor when Munson turns away) before all of them are squeezing into one of the largest booths, emptying out messenger bags and backpacks of overstuffed binders and scuffed up versions of very familiar looking textbooks. It's like looking at an older -slightly grungier- version of his kids.

"Gentlemen, now that 🎶school's out for summer🎶-" There's a musical lilt as he says it that sounds vaguely familiar to Steve, "-and it has been confirmed that I will in fact be held captive for yet another stint in the hell they call Hawkins High School it is time we confer and conspire for the next year of Hellfire and the little sheep that will be joining our flock." He kinda loses track of it after that because then his kids are rushing in demanding tasters of everything and edging towards the lifting part of the counter with a look in their eyes that speaks of mischief. He puts up the initial fuss about them only visiting him for his backrooms access and that they promised to only come over when there were no customers around. He lets them through anyway.

He notices Munson eyeing him as he puts the partition back in place shaking his head and Robin laughing at him as she washed their ice cream scoops. The one that's vaguely more familiar looking than the rest and reminds him of a taller, angrier, Dustin with a better hair regimen isn't quite glaring at him but is definitely paying more attention than the rest of Munson's posse and seems more suspicious than Eddie's curious.

The metalheads are still there when Billy shows up stinking of chlorine in clothes that are damp where they cling to his frame. The group loosens up a little when he shoots Steve his signature smug smirk as he shrugs on his denim jacket that -like Steve's own jacket hanging out of sight in the staffroom- had begun accumulating patches and pins since Neil's incarceration. Unlike Steve's, Billy's has homages to bands like Mötley Crue, Deff Leppard, Twisted Sister and Guns N' Roses with little trails of shakily embroidered flowers and constellations on the collar and hems and filling the spaces between the patches and pins. Billy also has a small pink triangle on the lapel where Steve has a rainbow. Steve pretends not to notice the way the group goes a little quiet as Billy starts his usual routine of sunnily demanding tasters of all the available flavors and then again with sprinkles to "-really get an idea of their ✨nuance✨, prettyboy" before deciding on a scoop of double chocolate with a scoop of raspberry vanilla in a cup with sprinkles and one of their fresh waffle cones on top. Like always.

"Really branching out there aren't ya, tough guy?" Steve keeps his face as stoney as possible but he can't help the humored edge to his voice.

Billy just winks at him running his tongue over his teeth as he gives Steve an exaggerated leer, "Gotta keep you on your toes, handsome." Robin fake gags and Steve laughs and Eddie Munson turns red as he stares at the two joking jocks. Billy goes quiet as he stares at his ice cream and Steve recognizes the look on his face, tells the blonde to go sit down in their usual booth and he'd be taking his break soon and they can talk about whatever's bothering him.

What's bothering him is Neill getting parole for 'good behavior', Jim only telling the Mayfield-Hargroves almost a week after he was let out because that was actually the same day he himself found out. Billy found out just before a summer basketball practice session and thinks he snapped at an underclassmen he's been trying to get to open up about what Billy is 90% certain is going on in the kid's home, but he knows that cops can't do much if the victim(s) refuse to trust in those trying to help them. He's worried about the kid he snapped at. Worried about Susan and Max. Worried that even with the restraining order Neill will try something. Billy tells Steve he had thought he saw Neill around the outskirts of town during errands or during his turn to haul the kids around a couple of times before Hop told them and now he's sure it wasn't just paranoia. Steve tells him they'll figure it out, reminds him he's not alone in this

That makes Billy smile, small and tired but real and grateful. His shoulders are still tense and there's still a wariness in the smallest crease between his eyebrows that makes Steve ask if there's anything else. They talk about some of the weird dreams Billy's been having that makes Steve encourage him to talk to El. Just to make sure Billy isn't going through what happened to Will the last alternate-dimension-go-around.

They make plans to head out to see the two Hoppers after Steve's shift. Come up with a basic timeline of when and where Billy thinks he saw Neil so they have something to start with for Hop. Put together an idea of how involved Billy wants to be in whatever plan Hop comes up with. They're interrupted by a group of girls swanning into the shop and Steve being yelled at by Robin to get himself back to work. As he gets up from the table Steve levels Billy with a look that makes the blond think about the way Max and the kids described Steve when they talked about how he fought off the pack of demodogs in the junkyard, planting himself between them and snarling snapping danger like Galahad himself.

Steve looks him in the eyes and says "I swear Billy, we're going to get through this, we'll take care of it and keep you and the girls safe. Hop knows what's going on and even Callahan can't get away with letting that piece of shit fall through the cracks after what he pulled." He leans in close and bites out probably louder than he should for the amount of people in the shop, "And if that fucker gets near any of you I've got Darling in Baby's trunk and I am not afraid to use her on a human shaped monster instead."

Author's (rambler's) Notes:

So, that's all I have for season 3 rn I am so sorry. 😭 I'm working on the next bit but I am so burnt out recently and now I'm unemployed cause of the ceiling at my job caving in which does not help the stress. So I unfortunately do not have a timeframe for you. 🥲 A couple of folks asked to be tagged so... Here you are? To be fair I'm not making any promises in regards to the taglist in the future, I will do my damnedest and y'all will have to bear with me.

I'm glad people are liking this and tbh this has gotten more attention than I expected so thanks? I appreciate the appreciation of my ramblings. Feel free to scream at/with me about this au in my asks box and I'll respond when/as I can. I'm just glad people are enjoying this. 🙃

@heartsong18

@knightofthieves

#punk!steve harrington #punk steve au #punk but make it preppy #punk!steve au #punk steve harrington #punk steve headcanons #stranger things thoughts #stranger things season 3 au #pre stobin #platonic soulmates stobin #i will die on this fucking hill #billy antis dni #not apologist #but billy hargrove deserves better #abuse victims deserve love and affection too #neil hargrove is his own warning #neil hargrove can fuck off #steve Harrington has shitty parents #bffs billy and steve #billy and the party #steve and the party #steve and the kids #eddie munson makes a minor appearance #Steve notices Eddie #Eddie notices Steve #bamf Steve Harrington #protective steve harrington #part 3 #rambler writes

[caiusmarciuscoriolanus]

Listen to me right now. Picture this. Steve’s parents are as uptight and shitty as they are always depicted in fics. But in a small duration with which they are home, Steve decides to have the gang over. His mom has been badgering him about meeting his friends. They meet and unsurprisingly are not too over the moon about steves choice in friends. But they’re the type of people to talk about others when they’ve left the room. So they say their quiet introductions to the group. Steve’s mom shakes everyone’s hands in a really fake cordial manner. Steve’s dad does the same. But he stops when he gets to Eddie. They all suck in a breath, half expecting some sort of insult or outburst. But neither come. Instead, Steve’s dad jerks his hand back, and his face gets a little flushed, and he can’t find it in himself to actually look at Eddie. It’s only for a split second before he straightens back up, says his goodbyes, and holes himself up in the garage. They all sense the weird nature of it but don’t talk about it, and spend the rest of the night hanging out. Steve seems to be the only one who knows just how weird and out of character the interaction was for his dad.

The next day he catches his dad working on the family car in their driveway. He decides to address it. He expects his dad to tell him to shut up, or that it was nothing, that Steve was being stupid. But he doesn’t. He sighs or closes his eyes like he wishes he could wish Steve away for a minute. Steve notices the color coming back to his cheeks, and his jaw working like he’s trying to keep himself from crying. He looks Steve dead in the eyes.

“You just had to be friends with the munson boy”

And he stalks off. And Steve’s perplexed. He hadn’t remembered mentioning Eddie’s last name. His parents weren’t in hawkin’s enough and didn’t care to know about the whole drama surrounding Eddie. So how did he know?

It’s only later, months or maybe years later, when Steve’s going through his dad’s things that he finds pictures. Tons of them. Pictures of his dad looking younger and happier. And along side him, in almost all of them, is a young man with long dark hair , dark eyes and a shit eating grin. There are pictures of lake trips. Some of them of the dark haired stranger is under the hood of a car. Some they even have their arms locked around each other, or their hands interlocking. The man looks almost identical to Eddie Munson. On the back of the pictures are dates spanning months(maybe even years) and names. One name belonging to Steve’s dad and the other belonging to none other than Eddie’s own father.

#stranger things #steve harrington #eddie musnon #this idea just came to me okay #nobody come after my neck #i’m emotional #steddie #look I need more parent lore okay #I am a victim of generational trauma #happy go lucky young adult turned shitty parent because of one bad experience” is something I know very well

[stevespookington]

(featuring steve’s parents being neglectful so heads up for that)

All of Steve's friends are always busy during his birthday, he's used to it. It is Christmas after all. A time for families to spend together... well it, it should be.

Steve comes home from preschool one day and he babbles at his mom about Santa and can they leave out cookies, please? Steve doesn’t know how to make cookies but his teacher talked about hot chocolate chip cookies and milk and does this mean that Santa shares his birthday—his mom snaps at him and rubs her head asking for quiet. There will be presents sure, but Santa doesn’t need cookies. He doesn’t learn that year, but isn’t surprised the year after. In the letter his teacher helped him write he asked for a doctor’s kit with the headphone things just like they have in the dress up box at school. He gets a bike that is too big for him.

He learns that he is just for show when he is 9. Dressed up in stiff pants and a scratchy shirt, paraded around while his parents grip his shoulders, steering him towards the new important customer or boss or whoever. There are never any other kids at the parties. There is never any cake either.

They stop hosting the parties at home when Steve turns 13. They say that it is due to the new hotel and its extraordinary ballroom. Steve knows it’s because he isn’t an asset anymore. 12 is pushing it, but he hadn’t hit his growth spurt yet and he was still… cute. Something to show off. Teenagers are just annoying. The pizza place delivers dessert at least…

He celebrates Christmas, if not his birthday, with Nancy after the demogorgon. He didn’t mention his birthday and well, it didn’t come up either. He got a Christmas present at least, a car model that matched the picture on his wall. It goes on his desk next the bowling pin, more decor that doesn’t really match who he is. It was still one of Steve's best Christmases ever. It... it didn't last though. It was bullshit

Robin shows up with a smile, a birthday gift, and a ride to her house (her mom refuses to leave without him, not that he would say no). Steve doesn't even know how she got his address. How she knew about his birthday, but her mom is in the car waving and Robin has a present wrapped in birthday paper in her hands. A birthday present here and evidently a Christmas present under the tree too. It’s chaotic and loud and messy, but he eats Christmas dinner with Robin and her family. And she comes out of the kitchen carrying a cake later and it’s his best birthday ever.

He celebrates with Robin the year after too. But the others look at him sort of pityingly when his birthday comes up, he tries to wave it off. At least Eddie just looks, there’s no pity, just consideration.

The next year Steve and Robin get permission from her mom to be late to the festivities. Robin has a surprise party to get Steve to somehow after all. (It took a lot of planning to figure out Steve’s favorite things for a party and where to host it, they couldn’t be late!)

All of Steve's friends are usually busy during his birthday, he had been used to it. It is Christmas after all. A time for families to spend together...

Well, this year? Steve? Steve spent his birthday and Christmas with his friends. His friends and his family.

#stranger things #featuring steves shitty parents #cw parental neglect #steve harrington #robin buckley #platonic with a capital p #ori writes

[ickypuppi3]

there’s something so freeing to me about the idea of billy, steve, heather and robin just fucking off out of hawkins and living in a shitty little apartment together in a city somewhere

#billy hargrove #steve harrington #heather holloway #robin buckley #harringrove #buckleway #god i hate that town #like i genuinely can’t express how much i need them out of there #fuck hawkins all my homies hate hawkins #nothing but bad vibes now #putting them in a shitty little apartment in a city #where there’s plenty of gay people #because i think they all need it #i mean billy had that #but the rest of them need it i’m telling you #i genuinely just feel like robin would thrive being somewhere with more going on #and heather and steve could do with being away from their parents #experience a little culture people c’mon #let them go into the 90’s in style #maybe it’s because i didn’t grow up somewhere like that #but it just feels stifling idk #even without all the weird shit #i would go insane after a full day there #billy was so valid for hating his life there #so true of you king #the only spin off they do should be this actually #but it’s a sitcom #then i’d watch it #jargyle have to be in it too though #ickyspeaks

[sky-neverending]

heres a little bit from an old draft I wrote! should I continue it?

(tw for brief mentions of domestic violence)

The first time Steve Harrington ran away from home was the night before his thirteenth birthday. It was about an hour to midnight, and he couldn’t sleep. But it wasn’t the normal, excited for the day kind of restlessness like it was for most kids before big celebrations. It was because just down the hall, his parents were engaged in another screaming match. 

He couldn’t tell what they were saying, only that his dad was yelling and his mom was crying and it was so loud that even the pillow he had shoved over his head didn’t drown out the noise. And then there was a slap. And everything was silent. 

Steve pulled himself out of bed, letting his feet call onto the cold hardwood floors as he made his way toward his bedroom door. He wrapped his fingers around the handle and paused, fear rushing through his body as he pulled it open with a small creak that seemed to echo around the whole house. 

His father was in the hall, hand on his belt buckle as he whipped his head around toward the noise. He glared down at Steve, grip tightening around the belt like he was daring him to make the next move. But Steve was frozen, stuck in place as his legs seemed to turn into jello and his ears started pounding and suddenly he was running, sprinting down the stairs and out the front door into the cool air of the night. It was dark, so dark that Steve almost nearly tripped into a car as he made his way down the driveway and onto the smooth road.

And he just started walking. 

He didn’t have a clue where he was going. He just followed his feet, listening for the noise of traffic and praying that he didn’t lead himself into the midst of danger. Not that anyone would care if he died, or got lost, or disappeared into the woods never to be seen again. 

So, he walked. He walked and he walked and he walked, bare feet aching as they made contact with the pavement time and time again. He was wearing nothing but a pair of sweatpants to keep him warm, and his skin began to cool as the wind plundered into him, pushing and pulling him across the road he walked on unsteadily. He walked past houses, illuminated only by streetlights and the moon. He walked until he met a crossroads, and then he turned left. Or maybe right. It didn’t matter, and he didn’t care, he just kept walking. Walking and walking and walking down the bumpy paved roads, every piece of gravel lodging its way into his skin. He walked down a long, straight road that he probably would’ve recognized in the light of day, if he wasn’t completely and totally out of it. 

And then there was a light. A dim yellow glow coming from a window. Steve looked around, letting himself come back to reality from the state of pure nothing he had fallen into. He was standing in a trailer park, about a mile from his house. Probably not even. It was eerily quiet, except for the faint sound of voices coming from the lit window, voices that seemed to get louder and closer with each second.

The door of the trailer clattered open, and a boy ran out, his shadow projecting itself across the grass. Steve watched as he ran, speeding across the dirt and toward the woods behind the park until he was out of sight.

Before Steve could even think, he was following him. Trekking quietly across the ground toward the looming trees, squinting through the darkness for any sign of movement. There was nothing he could see, only still shadows that taunted him and sounds that echoed across the pitch black sky. 

“Hello?” He whispered, taking a chance. “Is there someone out here?” 

The stillness of the air seemed to get heavier when he spoke, the faint sound of leaves crunching coming to a halt. 

Steve spoke again, taking a step closer to the edge of the woods. “I can leave, if you want. I just saw you run in here.” 

No one responded. It was quiet, nothing but the whirring of the wind in Steve’s ear. He sighed. Whoever it was that ran into those woods didn’t want to be found. 

But then there was a voice, drifting softly from the thick lines of trees. It was high and broken, like the person behind it was choking back tears as they forced the words out. 

“Don’t leave.” 

So Steve didn’t. He stayed in place, freezing as a patch of shadows started to move. A figure approached him, trudging slowly across the sticks and leaves that littered the floor. 

As the boy got closer, Steve started to make out some features. He didn’t seem to have any hair, and if he did it was buzzed to the scalp. He looked taller than Steve, but just by a little bit, and a large t-shirt hung off his shoulders and down to his mid thigh. 

“Hey.” He muttered, taking another step closer. Steve let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. 

“Hi.” He responded back, nerves slipping through him. “Are you okay?” 

The boy scoffed, raising a hand to wipe tears from his eyes. “I’m fine. Just out for a walk.”

“Why are you walking in the middle of the night?” Steve questioned. The boy crossed his arms, shifting his weight to one leg.

“I could ask you the same thing.” He retorted. 

Steve laughed, for a moment, but the boy just stared at him, as if waiting for an answer. He sighed and hung his head as he spoke. “I ran away. From my house. Don’t know how I ended up here.” He explained, shrugging lamely. A hand fell on his shoulder, warm on his bare skin. 

“You got a name, kid?” He asked. Steve nodded. 

“Steve. My name is Steve.”

Even through the darkness, Steve could see the boy's smile, his eyes softening as they gleamed in the moonlight. “Alright, Stevie boy. Let’s get you inside, yeah?”

#stranger things #steve harrington #eddie munson #steddie #stranger things au #stranger things fanfiction #steve harrington has shitty fucking parents #wip #stranger things wip #should i keep writing?

[hazardworld]

Monster Town AU. Vibes.

------

He was being obvious, right?

It’s not like Steve ever needed to hide it in a hidden away town full of monsters.

It was well-known the Harringtons were a family from old old money, so why else would they live somewhere so random in the middle of the midwest?

And while yeah, Steve knew that was could be a more nuanced thing to realize, he thought he’d made it glaringly obvious during his whole reign as "King Steve." How else did anyone think he got so many girls, or convince the Hawkins High halls he was top dog, or pull Nancy Wheeler to even notice him in the first place?

His teeth and nails were pretty obvious of inhumanity, if anything else failed!

All this to say, Dustin was staring at him wide-eyed, slack jawed, ears alert, and his bushy, curly tail, usually happily wagging now slack, when all Steve had done was grab a snack from the freezer and bitten into it.

"Steve…?" Steve swallowed his cold bite.

"Yeah, Dust? …everything good?" He raised his eyebrows expectingly, but nothing changed about Dustin’s expression.

"Why—you—Steve, you just bit into the head of a raw fish. A raw live fish." Steve blinked and looked back down at the fish. Wasn’t alive anymore, was it? He shrugged and looked back at the rising sophomore in front of him.

"Yeah, so?" Dustin sputtered, hands moving wildly in front of him.

"So? SO? Steve, Steve, you bit the head off a live raw fish and all you say is so?!" Steve took another bite of the fish as he watched Dustin’s flabbergasted expression grow into disgust, savoring the fresh, vibrant taste and the crunch of the bones under his teeth.

"Dude, don’t hate on my eating habits!" He said, food in his mouth, and swallowed, "You eat raw meat man, it’s literally the same thing." He finished off the tail with a satisfying crunch and moved to wash his hands as he waited for Dustin’s response.

"Steve, that’s…different! You know it is!" Steve snorted and turned, trying his hands on his mother’s dish towel.

"How the fuck is that different, Henderson?" Dustin rolled his eyes.

"I eat raw meat because I’m a werewolf! It’s in my nature! Last time I checked though, humans don’t eat raw live fish, man!" Steve recoiled. Human? Human? Dustin, his pseudo little brother of three years, who he coached on form shifting, taught how to shave, tried to teach to be confident in himself (though that eventually fell to Eddie), thought he was human??

“What the fuck? Dustin? You can’t seriously be that dumb man!” Dustin blinked, stepping back slowly, looking him up and down, studying him.

“I thought…you haven’t been human all this time and you didn’t tell me??? STEVE!” Dustin launched into him, squeezing him tight with what could only be attributed as a combination of love and werewolf induced strength. It was a little suffocating, but breathing through his mouth gave Steve enough air to get by. He ruffled Dustin’s hair and laughed.

“It’s not like I was hiding it!” Dustin leaned back, releasing his grip but still touching Steve (he had to admit made it a little easier to breathe). He gave Steve a puzzled look, as if what Steve had said was false, but it hadn’t been!

“Yeah, you kinda were, Steve. I don’t even know what you are, man.” Steve frowned.

“Wasn’t King Steve glaringly obvious? Like why else do you think I pulled babes in high school, and the minute I have respect for other people I don’t?” Dustin blinked, thinking, and shook his head.

“I dunno. Stupid high school politics? Upside Down residue smell?” Steve groaned.

“Dude, you’re the little shit genius kid, and you’re being super dumb right now.” He paused and Dustin shook his head again, lost, “fine, fine. Just…go grab me a towel, and meet me poolside.” Dustin frowned, but left anyway over to the public linen closet, where all the personally monogrammed Harrington towels laid.

Steve himself made his way outside, and yanked off his shirt, gills fluttering open in the outdoor, clean air. It  then dawned on Steve that the last time they’d been this exposed to the outside, they’d taken in ashes and shitty gunk from the Upside Down.

He dove into the water, and felt his gills and ears and hands expanded like they usually did in the shower to their full form. His gums throbbed as his second and third set of fangs extended, happy to exist in their natural places again.

Steve concentrated: it had been awhile since his last full shift. He usually let his form run where it felt most comfortable, and luckily, it agreed with his parents’ sentiments of human forms always being better.

He breathed into the sore sensation of his legs stretching and shifting, accompanied by the incessant itching across his cheekbones, upper arms, and chest. Soon, Steve felt the (relieving? He felt really calm, like almost too calm) heavy swish of his long, muscular, scaled tail, and opened his eyes. The sight of it made him giddy: he’d been swimming with two legs for so long he’d forgotten what it was like to see it attached to him.

Its color was gorgeous, a bright medium blue, with flecks of purple, navy, and yellow scales scattered here and there for extra depth, and each scale reflected the sunlight that fell into the pool like a tiny disco ball: bright and holographic. The scales trailed up the center of his chest and his arms, and along his cheekbones to his ears, where his hair had once been, and where the itching sensation from before had subsided.

He looked up above him, to the ripples of the surface, to see Dustin peering over the edge, gaping again, and Steve ginned, rising his head above the surface. Dustin backed up with him, tail wagging wildly, as Steve hung his hands (or, claws now, really) and head over the pool’s edge.

"Dude—dude, you’re a merman!" Steve laughed.

"Siren, actually. Mermaids—that’s gender neutral, like witches, by the way—are way more eye-pleasing, and have to stay near coastlines." Dustin tilted his head in what Steve liked to call his 'puppy confusion' face.

"Eye-pleasing?"

"Less gruesome looking. More pleasing to a human’s eye. Obviously, we all grew up in Hawkins, and with all the Upside Down shit, your opinions of eye-pleasing are pretty skewed, but like, they don’t have claws, or as many fangs, shorter tails, stuff like that." Dustin nodded, understanding.

"I read somewhere mermaids are from freshwater and sirens are from saltwater, is that true?" Steve shook his head.

"No man, absolutely not. As long as the body of water is big and deep enough, you can find either. Mermaids are usually closer to shorelines, whereas sirens prefer deeper, colder waters," Dustin nodded, as if he was taking it all down in a little notebook in his head, which was a look he made often. He moved closer to the edge now, sitting criss-crossed in front of Steve with his face in his hands.

"So...how often to you have to shift like this? Cause you know about me and stuff, I wanna know about you." Steve smiled at this. Obviously, Dustin felt some sort of embarrassment asking him, otherwise he wouldn’t have said the last part so sheepishly.

"Well, as long as I shower often enough, I’m good. I kinda just let my form rest where it wants. My parents always said human forms were the best forms, so I guess it sorta settled there." He shrugged as Dustin’s face turned into something absolutely horrified. What? Was something behind him? He checked, and nothing bad was there. Had something bad happened? Could he smell something Steve couldn’t?

"Steve, that’s not ok!" He blinked. What? Did he do something bad?

"What’s not ok?" He swished his tail a bit to ensure he hadn’t caught it on something, but it was free, so that couldn’t be it.

"Steve, Steve—" Dustin leaned across and grabbed his shoulders, shaking him. "That’s not fucking healthy, man!"

"I’m still very confused, Henderson."

"You’re completely binding your form without any breaks! That’s not healthy!" Steve frowned. No, no he wasn’t! His parents said that’s what he had to do, let his form go human, it was natural, as it should be…

Oh, he was binding his form, wasn’t he?

"Oh, shit." He stared at the edge of the pool, eyes wide, as Dustin reacted above him.

"You’re just now realizing this? Jesus, Steve!" He tutted angrily before grasping Steve’s jaw and forcing him to look Dustin straight in the eyes. "We’re going inside, and I’m calling Robin. We’re getting you a proper everyday siren form." Before Steve could protest, Dustin was up and storming back inside, leaving Steve to get out and go after him.

Part 1/Part 2/Part 3

#siren steve harrington #werewolf dustin henderson #they're brothers your honor #eventual steddie #steve's a bit of a dumb here but it's ok so am i #we don't like steve's shitty parents

[voidrott3d]

Eddie interacting with small kids brain rot.

He takes their baby babble very serious, shushes any adult that interrupts, “Excuse me we’re having a CONVERSATION!” Turns back to chubby cheeked toddler. “as you were saying, man.”

Absolutely hyping them up when they’re coloring/drawing, may or may not cry when the kid tells him they colored it for him. Dad!Eddie would keep every single art piece, macaroni necklace. Steve trying to bargain with Eddy on what can stay up because he can’t even SEE the fridge and Eddie just >:( at him

You look at that goober on wheels and tell me he doesn’t let little kids win they play wrestle him, he dramatically pleads for Steve to rescue him from a three year old on his back, “AVENGE ME HARRINGTON!” and flops over defeated

Eddie covered in kids sitting all around him as he reads the hobbit, very over the top voices. Hell even the adults join the pile to listen to Eddie read.

Teaching them to build fairy homes out in the woods like his mother did with him.

His kid in his bands shirts and he’s teaching them to head bang.

“Should I teach them the family tradition of hot wiring a car Stevie..”

“Eddie if I get car jacked by a toddler we’re divorcing.”

#Eddie Munson #I have dad Eddie brainrot so bad #he’d love being a dad #I think he’d want to give his kids the world cause he doesn’t want them to ever feel as alone as he did #Steddie #IM SORRY THIS POST IS SO UNORGANIZED #I’m half awake #I just think Eddie and Steve have a swarm of babies #they adopt their kid’s friends no questions asked #Eddie bullies the shitty parents #“’That’s your fucking kid man #talk to them like that again where I can hear you and I’ll cut the tongue out of your mouth

[sp0o0kylights]

Someone on Twitter proposed Steve and Gareth as cousins whose family had a major falling out, and then someone else brought it up recently and long story short no idea who to credit the idea too bc you can’t search for SHIT on Twitter but it's theirs not mine. 

Anyway I wrote a lil thing as a warmup 

PART TWO

"Why don't you come sit with Hellfire?" Gareth asked, angrily leaned against the bathroom wall while Steve fixed his hair.

He'd tried not to cling since he entered high school. Tried to keep things on the downlow, least any gossipy mouths started running. 

It was so stupidly, needlessly, hard. 

 His cousin was only two years ahead of him but they'd spent the last year in different schools because of it. 

 That year, and the lack of Steve's presence in it, had grated. Now that he finally had Steve back, Gareth was loathe to play by the rules. 

"Sit with you and Eddie, "the freak" Munson? I'll pass." Steve said, but there was no bite in it. 

That, Gareth knew, was because Steve was  using Eddie as an excuse. 

"You'd like Eddie if you spent five minutes with him, King Steve." Gareth fired back on automatic. His fingers dug into his arms, as he resisted the urge to pace around the bathroom floor. 

Unspoken was all the shit that had taken place.

Steve and Nancy's breakup. The rumor mill in overdrive, first about how Jonathan Byers had taken creep shot photos of them, then about how he'd taken his shot with Nancy herself. 

The supposed cheating, the public fights, the crazy background of Jonathan's little brother being missing. 

Billy Hargrove beating Steve to a pulp. 

Now friendless, Steve had thoroughly fallen from his place at the tippy top of the social hierarchy and between his utter lack of friends and his shit tier parents, Gareth was concerned. 

"You do not want me to sit with you, Gary. I'd tell all your little friends that you're apart of the royal family." Steve turned, making an exaggerated face. "How's Munson feel about cozying up to a Prince?" 

"I'd technically be an Earl, Steve, not a prince." Gareth grumbled. 

He got an eye roll in response. "Somehow I don't think he'll care." 

"I do though." Gareth blurted out, absolutely thoughtless. 

Steve blinked at him. 

"What?" He said. 

In for a penny right?

 "I care." Gareth said, looking down and scuffing a shoe, making it squeak against the grimy tiles. "About you. You dick." 

"Wow Gary you almost sounded loving there."

For once, he ignored the jab. "I'm worried about you, man." He said it quietly, the painful truth pulled out of him almost by force. 

He knew better than anyone how few people Steve had. Knew how his dad was likely taking all the crap Steve had been involved in lately. 

Richard Harrington hadn't been the wedge that had separated his and Steve's mother, but the man hadn't done them any favors, either. 

His intolerance towards the working and lower classes, his demand for perfection, the way he looked down his nose not just on Gareth's parents but on his own wife and son…

Gareth's mom didn't tolerate it. 

Likewise, Stella Harrington didn't tolerate her sister ruining her shot at being a rich trophy wife. 

Both their sets of parents were dramatic and neither of them weren't anywhere near the concept of "good" but at least Gareth's weren't neglectful and abusive. 

Shitty absolutely, but he never worried about getting thrown out, or that his mom wouldn't acknowledge his birthday because he'd "complimented her outfit the wrong way." 

(”It's fine dude she just thought I called her ugly. It was a miscommunication. Dad said it's a good lesson about how women work."

"Casual reminder that your dad's an asshole and also how is telling your mom that she looked lovely in the sunlight telling her she's ugly?”

“It implied she wasn't lovely the rest of the time or some shit, I dunno man.”) 

The BMW was a shitty prize when compared what Steve had dealt with to receive it. 

"I'm okay." Steve said seriously. "It's almost the end of the year anyways. I can tough out having some extra alone time." 

"If you're sure…"

"Yeah man, I'm sure. Thanks though."

Then Steve pulled him into a hug and fuck their parents, who demanded they continued some stupid grudge. Gareth clung to him just as hard as he had at ten. Unsure if he'd ever be allowed to see Steve again.

#steve harringtons shitty parents #steve harrington #gareth #gareth emerson #my beloved lil side character #steve and gareth as secret cousins #SECRET COUSSSIIINS #steve whump #0o0 fanfics

[nymime]

I just can’t stop the thought of Steve as Kevin of Home Alone man.

A little Steve who was blond in his childhood but with the years he got brunette. (like his mom, she was also blonde in her childhood and on her 14 got brunette.)

A menace who is smart in his own way, creating home made traps for the assholes that tried to get in his house, afraid but putting a big boy faceted to beat those thieves of stealing his house, be sassy when those criminals got catch by the police (the old police chief loves him despise his family name, always go to watch him time to time even after he retired). Big dysfunctional family who treats him like trash, big brothers and sisters that he don’t talk with, cousins of his same age who he barely bear them sometimes, a mom who forgets him for stress with the rest of her husband family side, an incompetent dad who is focused in be cool and respected by his brother who is a major asshole. Scared of the homeless man who clean the streets and have a really scary expression according to him, befriend the crazy pigeon lady of the park, who ‘adopts him’ like a pigeon, giving him candies, hugs and funny stories to make him laugh.

And just the party + plus the young adults + older adults finding out cause the old crazy pigeon lady randomly hugged Steve and he hug her back, smiling like a child again when the lady gives him candies and a pat in his cheek, calling him her “sweet pigeon baby” and then just ignored the rest while walking away. The old retired chief who didn’t notice hopper (who in its moment was the one who replace him back them) but he approached Steve with a smile of a grandpa, patting his shoulder while asking him if he captured any other thieves those days, an amused look in his old eyes as he walk away without greeting Hopper cause he didn’t recognize him, to focus in the kid who considered family.

And then just Hopper ask the new chief, Powell, what the fuck is all this about, and the man just give him a huge archive with all the case. Eleven decide to do spooky telepathic magic to see those memories by seeing the archive, and everyone just looks like “:O”.

#steve harrington #stranger things #steve stranger things #imagine steve harrington #steve deserves the world #steve harrington headcanon #steve harrington angst #italian steve harrington #steve has shitty parents #Steve harrington has a big family #steddie #Home Alone Au #Steve Harrington as Kevin #Smart Steve Harrington #Steve harrington is not stupid

[italiansteebie]

Would you mind doing a fic or recommending one for Steve/Hopper or like Steve/Joyce mother or father/son content? Or even like just teaming up! I’d love to see it! It’s just so sweet! I want them to have scenes in the real show! You may have responded to me a long time ago I just can’t remember and there’s a lot to go through to find it.

Hi Hi! It could've been eaten by my inbox !

Here's a short lil thing and some recs under it!

Now Joyce was never too sure about Steve Harrington. She knew the things he'd said about her son and her family, and it hurt. But whenever she looked at the boy, all she could see was a sad, scared, lonely child, who was begging for some kind of guidance.

She just didn't know how to... Well, how to do it.

Until Steve showed up on her door step, tears streaking down his face at 5 am, asking if Will was okay. "Yeah, he's just inside asleep, Steve. Are you okay, sweetie? What's going on?" She could see him shaking, "I- uh. No. Sorry for showing up so late, or e-early. I should go, sorry. S-sorry." He looked panicked and started backing away, and that's when she noticed his car wasn't in the driveway.

"Steve, honey. Did you walk here?" She watched as he swallowed thickly, eyes darting before settling on a hesitant "Yes." She reached for him, pausing when he flinched, "Why don't you come inside?" He nodded and trudged inside. She could see the panic draining from his face, and being taken up by exhaustion. She sat on the couch, pulling a blanket up from the trunk, and patted the cushion next to her. "Come sit, Steve."

She studied him as he flopped on to the cushion. "When's the last time you got some sleep, sweetie?" Steve shrugged, "I- Well. I usually sleep but it is usually filled with nightmares." She tutted, "Why didn't you say anything? You know any of us would be glad to help you." She ran a comforting hand up and down his back. Steve couldn't help but lean in to the gentle touch, it was so uncommon now that someone touched him with out causing pain.

Joyce, ever the observant saw this, and pulled him into a gentle hug. "Why'd you come here, Steve?" She heard him sigh, "I- I had a nightmare, I was in those stupid tunnels- I woke up and I just. I had to make sure it was really over." He stuttered through, tears streaming down his face. Joyce reached and brushed the hair from off of his forehead, "It's okay, Steve. We all get them," She heard his breath hitch, "Just let it out, it's okay sweetie." And then sobs were wracking his body.

She held him, and combed a hand through his hair until his cries settled. She watched his face carefully, seeing how his eyes drooped. She leaned him over, until he was laying down, she stood and placed the blanket over his body. "Sleep, Steve. We'll be here when you wake up."

She bent down and pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead, and walked back to her room. Get some sleep, we'll be here when you wake up.

picking up the pieces by skelterhelter

I'm always picking up by body by the_diving_fox

Still King Steve by Cursed_Willow

#steve harrington #joyce byers #good parent joyce #steve harringtons parents #steve harrington has a shitty father #steve harrington centric #steve gets taken care of #steve gets nightmares #good mom joyce byers #joyce and steve

[suzieloveships]

One of the best things about Stranger things is the the breaking the circle of abuse motive and I really need to talk about it. Like, this show really said; here are five 17-20 years olds, all 5 of them had a shitty life (Steve - child neglet, Robin - gay in the 80s + implied bad relactionship with a parent, Jonathan - abusive father, Eddie - father in prison (I think), Nancy - child of a loveless marriege), it was hard for all of them, and yet all 5 of them said "No, I'm going to do better, I'm going to take care of those kids, whose lifes also sucks, I'm going to make sure they are safe and sound and happy, and that they have better life than me." And I don't know, I just think that really sweet

#stranger things #stranger things 4 #St #steve harrington #robin buckley #jonathan byers #nancy wheeler #eddie munson #mike wheeler #will byers #dustin henderson #max mayfield #eleven hopper #jane hopper #lucas sinclair #erica sinclair #found family #family of choice #netflix #I have such a massive respect to older siblings that became parents to they younger siblings because of a shitty family situation #real life superheroes

[pandagirl45]

Kurt: Dad *peeking inside*

Steve: Yeah Kurt? *painting*

Kurt: why don't you ever talk about grandpa? Pop does

Steve: *thinks for a moment putting down his paintbrush* Well, because my father, wasn't nice. Sometimes, parents aren't good, but your grandma was amazing, she was a nurse. She helped everyone

Kurt: she was nurse? *grins* like pop mom was an emt?

Steve:...huh... yeah but your pop dad was so much cooler

Kurt: is it normal for uncle Tony and Bruce not to mention their fathers then?

Steve: *thinking* [Note to self, avoid a necromancer]

#headcanons #I call Rhodey's mom Cherie #I think read that somewhre either online or a fic #She is an emt it makes sense #Kurt Wagner is their child #kid kurt wagner #nightcrawler as child #steve rogers #warshield #Marvel and their line up of awful and shitty parents